In the mid-60s, he had a daily morning radio show, ‘Exercise with Teoh’ – a suggestion by then prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman who wanted a fit nation. Today, Teoh never misses a day in the swimming pool.

Fresh in mind and bursting with energy, Teoh swims 25 laps daily in a 30-metre pool, “to stay physically and mentally fit.”

Teoh, an exceptional man who lived an extraordinary life as a lecturer, is the toast of FMT’s tribute to educators in conjunction with Teachers’ Day today.

For many, the ex-lecturer of then Specialist Teachers’ Training Institute (STTI) is the ‘father of physical education’ in Malaysia.

Teoh who was a symbol of the fitness culture from the 1960s-80s, devoted much of his time to improving the physical wellbeing of Malaysians and set up an association dedicated to the cause.

He also created the first fitness test for students nationwide, led by specially-trained teachers, to cultivate a love for physical activity and build fundamental movement skills in a fun, positive and motivating environment.

To STTI graduates, he was the heartbeat of their physical education department, which he set up in 1959 and managed, until his retirement in 1980.

His legacy includes well-developed professional courses in physical education (PE) that gained accreditation to graduate studies in universities overseas.

Teoh’s teaching life was intimately connected with the educational needs of an emerging nation, a life of fascinating exploits and of selfless service.

As the founder of the Physical Education Association (PEAM) in 1962 and the Royal Life Saving Society, Malaysian Branch (RLSS) in 1964, Teoh rubbed shoulders with royals, aristocrats, national leaders and intellectual luminaries of his day.

However, Teoh, who played a defining role in the careers of many PE teachers, insisted that STTI students were the main contributors to the development of a fit lifestyle, sports and recreation in the country.

“STTI was synonymous with physical education because of them,” he said.

He said STTI was the fount of PE from the 60s through to the 80s, when teachers, heads of PE departments in colleges and universities had their seminal training at the institute.

STTI-trained teachers were appointed administrators and coaches under the scheme which became the model for several countries in the region, he said.

“Their dedication in improving the quality of teaching PE in schools produced successful athletes at the national and international levels,” said Teoh, who was given a scholarship to study PE at Carnegie College, Leeds in England.

The infrastructure and facilities at STTI gave the impression that the institute was a physical education institution rather than a multi-disciplinary establishment, he added.

Teoh said he was saddened that the facilities, including an Olympic-sized swimming pool and a 400m running track where national athletes trained, were in a deplorable condition today.

He said the blueprint for a national sports development programme had been planned at the end of the 50s and the late Toh Boon Hwa, played a big role in the growth of the School Sports Council of Malaysia (MSSM) as its secretary-general.

In the 60s and 80s STTI graduates became state school sports secretaries and their efforts ensured the high standard of sports in the schools, he said.

PEAM, he said, also contributed to the maturity of national and international sportspersons through its various programmes that were also meant for ordinary citizens to keep minimum standards of fitness.

He said the most successful of the courses was the multi-tiered sports science courses for coaches.

Among those on hand to midwife the delivery of the courses was Leonard de Vries, an outstanding alumini of STTI (now Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Ilmu Khas in Cheras).

Malaysia soon had a rich line of experts. Idris Nordin became the first Malaysian to gain a doctorate in physical education from the University of Oregon, US, in early 1970 followed by de Vries from the Columbia University, New York, in 1975.

By the time de Vries became president of PEAM in the early 80s, more coaches obtained doctorates and the concept of PE became all-inclusive.

The national body’s name had to reflect the idea’s largeness and PEAM was rebranded as the Malaysian Association for Physical Education, Sports Science and Fitness.

Teoh said another contribution of the STTI alumni to the society was the development of water safety and lifeguarding programmes in Malaysia.

The story behind the formation of RLSS in Malaysia is absorbing. In 1962, a young Teoh received a call from the British High Commission inviting him to meet Lord Louis Mountbatten at Carcosa, the then residence of the high commissioner.

“I was overwhelmed by the invitation, yet anxious,” said Teoh, who was a teacher in Ipoh when the war clouds enveloped Japanese-occupied Malaya from 1941-1945 and knew of Mountbatten as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the region.

He said the sight of the Earl Mountbatten of Burma and the first governor-general of independent India, resplendent in his uniform with the insignia of Admiral of the Fleet, was as “intimidating as it was glorious.”

Against a phalanx of generals and officers on the manicured lawn at Carcosa, Mountbatten asked Teoh to sit beside him in the only other chair in the garden.

Soon, the young lecturer and the royal, a maternal uncle of the late Prince Philip, began talking as equals.

Mountbatten wanted Teoh, who was a member of RLSS, United Kingdom, to form a similar organisation in Malaysia as per the wish of Queen Elizabeth to have such bodies in the Commonwealth.

That was the beginning of organised life-saving in the country and the start of a long friendship with Mountbatten during which time he met generations of British royalty including Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

In 1976, Teoh handed over the presidency to Hamdan Sheikh Tahir who retired as the director-general of education. Eight years later, in keeping with national needs and aspirations, it was called the Life Saving Society Malaysia.

Teoh said one of the highpoints in his career was in 2001 when he received the King Edward VII Cup from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for his contributions to the life-saving movement in the Commonwealth.

Coincidentally, Teoh was educated at King Edward VII school in Taping where he was born.

Looking back at his days at STTI, Teoh credited the other departments that also pivoted the progress of education and culture in the country.

Teoh said before STTI opened, teachers were either trained in the teachers’ training colleges in the country, or at Kirkby and Brinsford Lodge, both in England.

The teaching of non-academic subjects was often neglected or deemed unimportant until STTI came to the fore, he added.

Apart from PE, STTI offered subjects such as art and craft, music, home economics, wood and metal work, library science and later included special education for students with visual and hearing impairments.

Teoh, who was a lecturer in PE in Universiti Sains Malaysia after his retirement from 1981 to 1983, hoped the current STTI will create its own history and be well remembered by its graduates.