The combined services of the golden eight to shooting sport in Malaysia total 277 years.
Chia Woh’s love affair with shooting started in 1959 when the Selangor Shooting Association had its office at Jalan Alor, Kuala Lumpur.
Chia Woh, who is the current NSAM deputy president, was an out-and-out administrator who rose from the rank and file. Strangely he was never a shooter. Until today, his fellow NSAM’s and SSA’s colleagues have been wondering how he could muster so much of energy and interest to devote 44 long years to shooting.
Cheng Wah’s love affair with shooting began in 1963. He started as a shooter cum hunter but never excelled at any. That prompted him to serve as a range officer before graduating to a Class A technical technical.
Despite four decades of faithful service, Cheng Wah said he has lost none of his enthusiasm although he might not be as fast and energetic as before. “I’m more than willing to serve NSAM and SSA if they still want me.”
Lee Huat started his career with SSA before moving on to NSAM in 1967. He was then an energetic twenty-something (but don’t ask for his age) whose passion was seeing paper target and numbers.
Not surprisingly he settled as NSAM’s classification official and until today, he is still serving as a Class A classification delegate and his devotion to the sport has not waned one bit.
His main passion these days is training young officials. He said the key to mastering classification is dedication and a willingness to learn.
Ally Ong’s sojourn with shooting began in 1970 when he showed his potential as a national junior skeet shooter. The following year he graduated to the senior rank and by 1973, he became the youngest Seap Games skeet gold medallist.
He became the deputy president of SSA and NSAM in 1975, before taking over the helm of the national body when Tun Tan Siew Sin passed away in 1987.
He retired from competitive shooting in 1989 to concentrate on running the SSA and NSAM.
Tan Sri Dato’ Dr Tan Lai Kim, a well-known property developer in Kuala Lumpur, started his fledging career with the SSA in 1970 and to-date has contributed 33 years of service to the sport.
He admitted to being a big-time game hunter and it was there that he developed an interest for shooting.
Since he never rose to the rank of a state or national shooter, he thought he could better serve the sport by being a vice-president of SSA.
Chu Pu Yam was a gangling manager of a gun shop in Kuala Lumpur in the sixties and it was through his regular dealings with SSA’s shooters that he got bitten by the shooting bug.
He became a member of SSA in 1971 and since then he has served in various capacities as a committee member of SSA and NSAM. He is now the club manager of the Subang Shooting Range.
Ong Hoon Chin was involved in managing Police shooting competitions in 1972 and since Police was one of the most active affiliates of the NSAM, he naturally got into the national body as one of its technical officials.
For the greater part of his 31 years of contribution to shooting, Hoon Chin concentrated on running state, national and international championships. After his retirement from Police, Hoon Chin continued to serve shooting by joining SSA.
His most memorable achievement came in 1984 when he was selected by UIT as a technical delegate for the Los Angeles Olympics.
Dato’ J.J. Raj was at one time a chief police officer of Selangor and like Hoon Chin, his involvement with shooting occurred naturally armed uniform-officer. In fact, he is one of the most knowledgeable figures of shooting sport in Malaysia.
He has contributed 28 years of invaluable service to shooting and Dato’ Raj doesn’t seem to be losing his appetite for the sport.
He is now the NSAM secretary for international affairs besides being the secretary general of SEASA, an executive committee member of the ASC and also the Asian Clay shooting Federation.
Fittingly these long-serving eight are known as the golden pillars of NSAM and SSA and the best thing for shooting is that shooters can count on their experience and vast knowledge for sound guidance.
