CP Ho - high-flyer

Former Reuters man CP Ho (photo) has had the distinct honour of being elected chairman of the board of governors of the Geneva-based NGO International Social Service.

CP, as he is universally known, is the first Asian to serve in this post. The ISS network covers 120 countries helping children and families facing complex problems centred on migration and re-establishing family links. Since its founding in 1924, ISS has helped several million children and families worldwide.

Born in Hong Kong and raised in then Malaya, CP worked for Reuters from 1957 to 1967 based in the Hong Kong bureau, which then and for many subsequent years focused mainly on monitoring regional radio stations and news services.

CP’s first worldwide beat with Reuters came in 1959 when, while he was working the graveyard shift, Peking Radio gave what proved to be a momentous announcement: the Dalai Lama had crossed into India after his epic escape from Tibet. The report prompted a bit of head-scratching on CP’s part because the radio used the Dalai Lama’s unfamiliar Chinese name. However after checking that it was indeed the Dalai Lama, CP’s story went out, handily beating the opposition.  

The new ISS role for CP, who is also chairman of the NGO’s Hong Kong branch, is far from being that of a ceremonial figurehead. He has already been instrumental in raising considerable sums for the ISS branch in Greece, now under severe pressure as a result of the Middle East-European migrant crisis.

Now aged 77, CP shrugged off the effects of a serious heart attack suffered seven years ago to pursue his mountaineering ambitions, scaling Mount Kilimanjaro. Still not short of energy, in 2014 CP learned and qualified to fly light aircraft. A high-flyer indeed! ■