Saturday 15 January 2022

An autobiography titled "𝑳𝒐𝒈"

I never got to ask David Hwang Hong Shi why he named his pictorial autobiography as Log but I was offered an answer by his wife, Molly Ooi. 

In his younger days, David had been a very active Scouter and he was a King's Scout from his schooldays at St George's Institution in Taiping. His interest in Scouting had continued throughout his working life, first as a Scout Master at Westlands (Primary) School in the 1950s and which carried through to Penang Free School in the 1960s and early 1970s, later at Westlands Secondary School until his retirement from government service, and finally at the International School of Uplands. The Scout movement will remember that they had to keep a log book of their activities and this was the reason why David's autobiography was simply called Log

The book chronicled his life's work from his schooldays till his final retirement as General Manager of Penang Club and then the founding of the Taman Sri Nibong Residents' Association. Log is privately produced and there is not more than 50 copies in print. I consider myself lucky to have received a copy. 

Actually, I visited the couple yesterday afternoon to collect it and we spent time reminiscing on the past: not that our careers crossed paths but he was already a school master at Penang Free School when I entered Form One in 1966. True to his outdoorsy lifestyle, he was a Physical Exercise teacher at the school. Fast forward later to 2012 when Molly and I were co-editors of FIDELIS, the coffee table book of The Old Frees' Association, David was always in the background to give advice on certain matters when required. That was when I got to know him well.

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