 Complete the following phrase:  Ong was an ethnic Chinese born in Kuching, Raj of Sarawak. He went to boarding school in Singapore, where his natural manual dexterity and his determination to achieve perfection first became manifest.  Appointed as school barber but with no practical experience in the art, he trained himself to the high standards that were to become his hallmark by paying his fellow scholars for the privilege of cutting their hair. Having decided on a career in medicine, his application to Singapore Medical College in April 1940 was turned down for logistical reasons. He entered the University of Hong Kong to study medicine, but in 1941 when the 