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K. S. Nijhar

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In this Indian name, the name Nijhar is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Karnail Singh.
Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Dato' Dr.
K. S. Nijhar
PSM SPMJ JMN
ਕਰਨੈਲ ਸਿੰਘ ਨੇਜਾਰ
Member of the Malaysian Parliament
for Subang
In office
29 November 1999 – 8 March 2008
Preceded byM. Mahalingam
Succeeded bySivarasa Rasiah
Majority7,152 (1999), 15,460 (2004)
Senator
In office
1985–1991
Prime MinisterMahathir Mohamad
Parliamentary Secretary,
Ministry of International Trade and Industry
In office
1989–1991
Prime MinisterMahathir Mohamad
MinisterRafidah Aziz
(Minister of Trade and Industry, 1989–1990, Minister of International Trade and Industry, 1990–1991)
Personal details
Born
Karnail Singh Nijhar A/L Amar Singh

(1936-07-02)2 July 1936
Pengkalan Hulu, Perak, British Malaya (now Malaysia)
Died16 June 2021(2021-06-16) (aged 84)
Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Resting placeXiao En Memorial Park, Nilai, Negeri Sembilan
CitizenshipMalaysia Malaysian
Political partyMalaysian Indian Congress (MIC)
Other political
affiliations		Barisan Nasional (BN)
SpouseMolina Sinha Nijhar
Children2
Alma materUniversity Malaya
OccupationMember of Parliament
ProfessionPolitician, economist, educationist and entrepreneur

Karnail Singh Nijhar (Template:Lang-pa), or simply known as K.S. Nijhar, (2 July 1936 – 16 June 2021) was a Malaysian politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Subang from November 1999 to March 2008, Vice-President of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), a component party of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition and Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of International Trade and Industry from 1989 to 1991.[1][2]

Early life and education

Nijhar was born in Pengkalan Hulu, Perak, on 2 July, 1936, on a bullock cart somewhere between Kroh and Kelian Intan in Perak.[3][4] His father, Amar Singh, an immigrant from Punjab, came to the Malaya in 1926 as a labourer in Rahman Hydraulic Tin Mine. Growing up, Nijhar had to stay in a kampung house without any basic amenities and had to depend on wells for water and Hindu temples for free meals because of poverty. He never owned a pair of shoes as a kid and was illiterate until the age of nine.[5]

While a student at St Xavier's Institution in Penang, he earned money as a ball boy at clubs with tennis courts. He continued to excel at school however, and between 1947 and 1954 received high scores on examinations.[2]

Early career

Before he joined politics as a MIC member in 1974, he was a lecturer in economics at the University of Malaya and one out of only two Indians with a PhD in economics in Malaysia at the time. The Malaysian government sought his help for various initiatives during his early years as an academic, such as for the development of "academic staff salaries for Malaysian universities" for the Justice Harun Hashim Commission. Arshad Ayub, director of Institut Teknologi Mara (now UiTM), had engaged him as a part-time lecturer and to help develop the curriculum for the school of business administration.[5]

Politics

Nijhar was the highest-ranking Punjabi and Sikh in the MIC ever, since MIC President V. T. Sambanthan's time in 1955, to hold any national-level portfolios in the Tamil-dominated party even as a Punjabi Sikh who spoke no Tamil.[6] To top it off, he was one of the seven MPs from the MIC, making him a minority within a minority. He climbed to the MIC's eminencies beginning in 1981 as a central working committee (CWC) member and later as treasurer-general for nine years, secretary-general for four years, and vice-president for nine years.[5] In 1980, he was appointed by then MIC President Samy Velu as Chairman of the Economic Bureau and Education Bureau of MIC where he had contributed setting-up the MIC's educational arm, Maju Institute of Educational Development (MIED).[2]

He was also appointed a Senator in 1985, the first time MIC nominated a Punjabi Sikh for the Senate and was only the second Punjabi Sikh in Malaysia's history to sit in the Senate, after Senator Paramjit Singh, president of People’s Progressive Party (PPP).[2] He was re-appointed again for the second-term Senatorship in 1988. Around this times, he was appointed parliamentary secretary to the ministry of trade and industry during which time he also served as a member of the first National Economic Consultative Council.[5]

However, when elected as MP later in 1999, he was not the sole Punjabi Sikh in the Parliament as the other one was Karpal Singh of the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) then. In the Parliament, he sat on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on National Integration.[7]

He won the parliamentary seat of Subang in Selangor twice in 1999 general election and 2004 general election before he was dropped as a candidate for the 2008 general election, where the BN candidate replacement for the constituency, S. Murugeson was defeated by the candidate from People's Justice Party (PKR), Sivarasa Rasiah.[8]

Business

Nijhar left politics at 72. He acquired a security company, Cisco (M) Sdn Bhd in 1979 which was being run by is son, Rabin.[5][9]

Personal life

Nijhar had married lecturer Molina Sinha Nijhar.[3][10] The couple has a daughter Premeeta Singh Nijhar and son Rabinder Singh Nijhar.[5]

Death

Nijhar died at the age of 85 at 8.00 pm on 16 June 2021 after having a critical stroke.[5][11] His final rites were performed along with a service held among close family members at his home in Bukit Pantai, followed by cremation at Xiao En Memorial Park in Nilai the next day.[2] Nijhar is survived by his wife, two children and five grandchildren.[5]

Publication

In June 2016, he released an autobiography narrated to his daughter Premeeta, titled "The Bullock Cart Boy".[2][3]

  • The Bullock Cart Boy (2016) ISBN 978-967-415-369-4[4]

Election Results

Parliament of Malaysia: P107 Subang, Selangor[12][8]
Year Government Votes Pct Opposition Votes Pct Ballots cast Majority Turnout
1999 K.S. Nijhar (MIC) 36,137 55.49% Irene Fernandez (PKR) 28,985 44.51% 67,847 7,152 73.11%
2004 K.S. Nijhar (MIC) 32,941 65.33% Mohd Nasir Hashim (PKR) 1 17,481 34.67% 52,017 15,460 75.67%

Note: 1 Mohd Nasir Hashim amid contesting under the PKR ticket in the 2004 election, is a member of PSM.

Honour

Honour of Malaysia

See also

References

  1. ^ "Two Punjabi members in Malaysian Indian Congress". North India Times. 7 September 2009. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "K.S. Nijhar, one of highest-ranked Punjabi Sikhs in MIC, dies at 85". The Vibes. 16 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  3. ^ a b c "Memoir angkat semangat setia kawan" (in Malay). Berita Harian. 20 July 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  4. ^ a b Tan Sri Dr K. S. Nijhar (2016), The Bullock Cart Boy, MPH Group Publishing Sdn Bhd, ISBN 9789674154721
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h "KS Nijhar: 'Bullock cart boy' to political, corporate leader". Free Malaysia Today. 18 June 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  6. ^ "Former MIC leader Nijhar releases 'The Bullock Cart Boy'". Asia Samachar. 5 July 2016. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  7. ^ "MIC representatives should be rational when dealing with views and opinions from the Opposition on national integration". Lau Weng San. DAP Malaysia. 9 September 2005. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Keputusan Pilihan Raya Umum Parlimen/Dewan Undangan Negeri" (in Malay). Election Commission of Malaysia. Retrieved 4 February 2017. Percentage figures based on total turnout.
  9. ^ "Member Directory: Cisco (M) Sdn Bhd", Persatuan Industri Keselamatan Malaysia (PIKM)
  10. ^ "Retired Graduates from Class of '79 Reunited with Their Retired Lecturers After a Space of Almost 40 Years", akmal ahmat, Persatuan Pustakawan Malaysia (PPM)-Librarians Association of Malaysia, 11 May 2017, retrieved 20 June 2021
  11. ^ "Former MIC veep KS Nijhar passes away at 85". The Star. 16 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  12. ^ "Malaysia General Election". undiinfo Malaysian Election Data. Malaysiakini. Retrieved 4 February 2018. Results only available from the 2004 election.
  13. ^ a b c "Semakan Penerima Darjah Kebesaran, Bintang dan Pingat". Bahagian Istiadat dan Urusetia Persidangan Antarabangsa. Prime Minister's Department (Malaysia). Retrieved 25 October 2018.
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