Wednesday 15 August 2018

Westlands boy getting recognised


A story that appeared in The Star newspaper's Metro North section yesterday (14th Aug 2018). Would you know Dato' Khoo Yeoh Gan Hong, the former Penang Scout Commissioner with a double-barrel surname?


If your eyesight's bad 😜 and you cannot read the text in the image above, this was the pertinent section that was written about him:
NINETY-YEAR-OLD former Penang State Scout Commissioner Datuk Khoo Yeoh Gan Hong was the oldest Scout to receive the Bintang Kesetiaan Mutiara during the World Scouts Day award ceremony at the Ixora Hotel in Prai, Butterworth.
Khoo, a father of five and grandfather of eight, was a school teacher before he joined the Penang Education Department as the Organiser of Schools. He retired from service in 1983.
“I urge youths to join Scouting and accept the challenges,” said an elated Khoo.
Recalling his trip to Melbourne, Australia, to attend the Scouts Jamboree from December 1948 to January 1949, Khoo said he boarded a train from Penangto Singapore.
“I was lucky to find some well-wishers who collected enough money to buy me a ticket on the boat.
“Upon reaching Fremantle, I took a train to Melbourne.
“I did not have a passport then but fortunately, a bank manager who knew me helped by standing as a guarantor for my passport application in Singapore,” he said.
Khoo added that he managed to make it in time for the jamboree’s opening ceremony.
“It was a long journey but luck was with me,” he said, adding that he would never forget all those who helped him attend the jamboree.
Khoo became a Scout in 1940 when he was studying in Westlands School. After the Second World War, he went to Penang Free School where he joined the Hamilton Scout Troop and studied there till 1948.