You can't take the scouting out of a boy!

One of the experiences growing up that I cherish is that of being in a Boy Scout. I began my scouting when I left a primary school in my village of Pak Badol (Sekolah Kebangsaan Pak Badol), and my parents enrolled me in a remove class, a transition class of a year on intensive English instruction from Malay medium of instruction during the primary years. The year was 1969 if I recall correctly when I was at Sekolah Menengah Kamil, in Pasir Puteh, some 12 miles from home and I resided in the school hostel. Boy Scout is one of the extra-curricular activities that students were encouraged to join and there I was.

I joined as a regular member but soon was nagged to take on leadership roles. Talk about peer pressure and a scout leader I remained. Our usual get-together were full of fun and we ventured to hold campfires on school grounds and on numerous occasions we travelled to area beaches to camp.

I did not know why I took to scouting but it tended to hang on me. During those years, I remember hiking in hot sun through the remote villages and crossing a swamp, using a compass for a merit badge was very appealing to me. Perhaps it was because of a simple challenge with an equally simple response: "just to do it" and quit talking that makes an awful lots of sense. We started from  an old unused airport landing runaway at Gong Kedak. It was built by the British during WW2 and I heard that now it has been upgraded to become an active airforce base. During those days, when we were there, there was not a single soul visible. It was concrete runnaways baked in hot tropical sun surrounded by mangrove plants. But from there, we started our hiking using a compas and a map heading for the Semerak beach (now known as Pantai Bisikan Bayu?)

This is a 1969 picture of my troop at Sekolah Menengah Kamil, Pasir Putih, Kelantan, Malaysia.

This was in 1971 while I was at Sekolah Menengah Kamil, Pasir Puteh, Kelantan. The picture was taken on school campus ground. I was the troop leader. Fifth from the left in the middle row.

This was in 1974 while I was at Sekolah Menengah Sains Pulau Pinang, Bukit Mertajam. I think the picture was taken when we camped at Pantai Merdeka. I also was a troop leader. Second from the top left

This was in 1981 while I was at Camp Blackhawk, Owasippe Scout Reservation, near Muskegon, Michigan. Sixth from the left on bottom row. To my fellow scouts, I was affectionately referred to or known as "Phred" (to this day, I might add!).

[more to come]