In memory of a great historian

Wake Service for Professor Cheah Boon Kheng at Nirvana Funeral Parlour in Petaling Jaya.

I FIRST came to know Cheah Boon Kheng (pic) when he was a student in my class back in 1967. I had just joined the History Department of Universiti Malaya as a tutor while Boon Kheng had by then worked for a number of years as a journalist in The Straits Times.

Even at that time I was struck by two sets of qualities displayed by Boon Kheng in his work. He had the instinct of a good reporter to recognise what subject was important to pursue. And he had the maturity, the skill, and experience to write well.