Malaysian historian Khoo Kay Kim a fan of football, Tamil films and joget

Prof Emeritus Khoo Kay Kim doesn’t consider himself retired – far from it. Photo: The Star/Muhamad Shahril Rosli

For several generations of Malaysians, the name Khoo Kay Kim is synonymous with Malaysian history. Most people first encounter Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Khoo in history textbooks – where he is usually listed as one of the authors.

Widely regarded as the country’s national historian, he has served for over 50 years in Universiti Malaya’s history department. He was also instrumental in the drafting of our national philosophy Rukunegara after the 1969 race riots in Kuala Lumpur. As such, he is often called upon publicly to provide his expert opinion on matters of national history.