Meet Mr. John Cheah, founding member of 1st KL

This came by way of both 1st KL's Facebook Fan Page and 1st KL's Facebook Group - the story of Mr. John Cheah who was a founding member of 1st KL in 1954. He went on to become the founder of the 1st Melaka BB Company as well as a dedicated member of the Rotary Club. It is very inspirational to me that the seeds of good works planted early on in his life has come to bear much good fruit!

[By the way, this reminds me of my encounter with another founding member of 1st KL, Mr. S.Y. Shim!]

This story originally appeared in the New Straits Times, which you can read online here. 

John Cheah when he was a member of the Boys Brigade.

From Boys' Brigade to stalwart Rotarian
I JOINED the Boys' Brigade when I was 12, and was in the Kuala Lumpur Boys' Brigade (B.B.) Company in 1954 when it was first chartered.

The Boys' Brigade was attached to the Wesley Church Kuala Lumpur, while I was studying at Methodist Boys School Kuala Lumpur. With the help of the late Kuah Beng Choon, a primary school assistant principal of Anglo Chinese School (ACS) primary school, we proposed the idea of forming the first Malacca B.B. Company.

At that time, I was 21 years old and with Kuah, we formed the Malacca B.B. Company which helped a great many youths.

With ardent support from fellow church members, Kuah and I recruited 70 boys to join the Malacca B.B.
With donations, we bought uniforms for the boys and instruments such as the three-sided drums, a bass drum, two tenor drums, a cymbal, six flutes, six bugles and a maze.

We got the Australian and New Zealand officers from the Terendak Camp in Malacca to assist with the training of the boys, especially in the drill and marching.

With regard to the flute and bugle band, we were fortunate to have the help of the late Dr Willie Low, who taught the boys to play the drums while I taught them to play the bugle as I was a bugler.

Together, with the help of the Terendak Camp B.B. officers, we got the band going in tune.

The band later won the first prize in the Bugle section of the Malaysian B.B. Band Competition in 1966.

I left the B.B. in 1967 to further my studies in civil engineering at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, United Kingdom.

A deluge of pleasant memories with the B.B. inundated me recently as I was escorted into the opening of the 21st District 3310 Presidents Elect Training Seminar (PETS) and Assembly held in Johor Baru, recently, by the B.B.

I arrived for dinner, accompanied by my wife, Doreen, who was introduced to me by Kuah.

Back in 1966 when I married Doreen, the B.B. was the guard of honour at our wedding.

After serving as a Rotarian for 36 years, I am happy to be invited to be the guest-of-honour at the 21st District 3310 PETS and Assembly.

The Rotary, which is 106 years old, has been guided and led by illustrious presidents and their Rotary International (R.I.) boards of directors and legislation councils, which have made R.I. a successful non-governmental organisation serving the community worldwide.

When I joined Rotary in March 1975, its motto was To Dignify the Human Being, a theme which struck a chord in my heart and those of caring Rotarians to do what we could for children born in slums and ghettos. We were committed to end the suffering of polio-stricken children.

In 1979/1980, I became the president of the Rotary Club of Johor Baru. The motto of the club was Let Service Light The Way.

Our service in bringing hope can be seen by countless examples with success stories both locally and internationally.

R.I.'s most successful endeavour is the Polio Plus programme which was started by Rotarians in 1985.

Recently, we had Rotarians in our district who walked from Kuala Lumpur to Johor Baru to raise funds for the programme.

When I was a public health engineer in 1970, I was involved in the malaria eradication programme.

My fellow Rotarians and I were invited by the state government to sit in the committee of the communication for behavioural impact programme, launched by the Health Ministry, recently.

If the programme is found to be successful, Malaysia can use this to reduce, control and eradicate the spread of dengue.

John Cheah, 70, was the Rotary District Governor of District 3310 for 1990/1991 and is also the Johor Baru MCA Division Public Complaints Bureau chairman.

Interview by Chuah Bee Kim.

Original article: From Boys' Brigade to stalwart Rotarian