KUALA LUMPUR – Former MIC vice-president Tan Sri K.S. Nijhar has died at the age of 85.
The death was confirmed by his family.
Nijhar, the Subang MP from 1999 to 2008, was among the highest-ranking Punjabi Sikh members of the Tamil-dominated MIC.
He also served as parliamentary secretary of the International Trade and Industry Ministry from June 1989 to June 1991.
Nijhar was born in Pengkalan Hulu, Perak, in 1936. He studied at St Xavier’s Institution in Penang in the late 1940s to early 1950s.
In June 2016, he released an autobiography titled “The Bullock Cart Boy”.
According to the Asia Samachar portal, Nijhar was born on a bullock cart somewhere between Kroh and Kelian Intan in Perak.
“As a Punjabi Sikh who spoke no Tamil, my political career seemed hopeless. It took three years just to be an ordinary member,” Nijhar was quoted as saying during the launch of his book, which coincided with his 80th birthday.
In 1980, then MIC president Tun S. Samy Vellu appointed Nijhar as chairman of two new bureaus – economics and education – to address pressing issues facing Indians.
“I was the first Punjabi Sikh since Tun Sambanthan’s time in 1955 to hold any national-level portfolios in MIC,” he said in his book, referring to former minister Tun V.T. Sambanthan, who was party president from 1955 to 1973.
Nijhar was then appointed a senator in 1985.
“This was the first time MIC nominated a Punjabi Sikh for the Senate, and I was only the second Punjabi Sikh in Malaysia’s history to sit in the Senate, after Senator Paramjit Singh, president of PPP (People’s Progressive Party),” he said in the book.
“The only other notable Sikh in the political landscape was in the opposition, namely the late Karpal Singh,” he said, referring to the former DAP chairman who served as MP for Jelutong and Bukit Gelugor.
In June 1997, Nijhar made history once more when he became the first Punjabi Sikh to be nominated by MIC for the Panglima Setia Mahkota Malaysia award, which carries the Tan Sri title and is the second-highest state award after that granting Tunship.
He served with dedication in MIC, in the footsteps of several party stalwarts including the late Sardar Budh Singh, who was the political outfit’s founding member and second president from 1947 to 1950.
Socio-economist Datuk Denison Jayasooria recounted that he worked closely with Nijhar between 1997 and 2008 when the former was executive director, and the latter, chairman, of Yayasan Strategic Sosial.
“He had a fine analytical mind and compassionate heart, and was very encouraging all the years I served with him and other board members of the foundation,” said Denison, who is principal research fellow at the Institute of Ethnic Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, in a Facebook post today.
He quoted Nijhar’s son Rabin as saying: “Dad has peacefully travelled to a better place. He departed last night at 8pm. He had a very bad stroke, and was not able to recover due to his age.”
Nijhar’s son-in-law, Datuk Nitin Nadkarni, said Nijhar’s final rites were performed this afternoon – a small service held in the presence of immediate family members at his home, followed by cremation at Xiao En Memorial Park in Nilai.
Legacy of incepting MIED
Meanwhile, Senator Datuk Seri S. Vell Paari said Nijhar’s great legacy is the Maju Institute of Educational Development (MIED) that was set up in the 1980s.
He told The Vibes that his father, Samy Vellu, and Nijhar came up with the idea of MIED – MIC’s educational arm – during a drive.
“They were travelling from somewhere in Pahang to Kuala Lumpur, when my dad hatched the idea with Nijhar, and they put in the initial seed money... and look at it today.”
Vell Paari said losing Nijhar is like losing a family member.
“He was a brother to my dad, an adviser and counsel.
“He never failed to call me and ask about dad, who has been unwell for a while.
“This is a great loss to my father and to me. I am sad that I was unable to see him due to the lockdown.
“To me, it is (like) losing an uncle who had taught me about politics, business and life.” – The Vibes, June 16, 2021
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