Sikh youth, Sikhi parchaar

It has been an eventful year for the Sikhs in Malaysia. Our fellow Sikhs have been blessed with some major promotions and appointments, and the Sabha has chartered some new grounds.

Appointments, promotions

Dato Himmat Singh has been promoted to Secretary General of the Ministry of Works, a very senior position in the civil service. We have Dato Amar Singh made the Deputy Police Chief of Kuala Lumpur. On the political front, Dato Jaspal Singh was made a Senator (see page 1).

This year, Datuk Suret Singh retired as the director of the Road Safety Department. He has been passionate about road safety, pushing forward various changes to make the roads safer for us all. Of course, Suret is a long-time sewadar of the Sabha. He was instrumental in raising funds for the purchase of Sabha’s previous headquarters at Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur. Recently, he was involved in Global Sikhs activities (see page 9). We were also invited to a luncheon in honour of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Malaysia.

Samelan 2011

Fellow sewadars and dear members of the Sanggat, let me now share a little on the Sabha front. All successful organisations review their programs and reinvent themselves from time to time to stay relevant and help them stand out in their respective fields.

The Annual Gurmat Parchar Samelan is Sabha's signature activity. We had tasked the job of reviewing our Samelan programme to Exco member Sardar Mohan Singh. He has in turn roped in a group of 20 or so dedicated Naujawans to assist him in this challenging task.

These Naujawans have worked hard, brainstorming for some months. They made a presentation to the Sabha Exco and senior sewadars. We were impressed.

We are heartened to see our younger generation rising up to the challenge. We should all rejoice. They are our children, now all grown up. Many of them are products of the Samelan.

Of course, they are not working in a vacuum. They are improving on what their predecessors had done. They owe it to their seniors who have brought the Samelan to the level it is today.

Sikh youth, Sikhi parchaar

Samelan aside, we have seen the introduction other programmes targeted for the Sikh youth, with Sikhi parchaar in mind. One of them is the Chardikala Run, organised together with Gurdwara Sahib Petaling Jaya in conjunction with Guru Nanak's birthday. That's the anchor photo of the latest issue of The Sikh. In a nutshell, that is what we are. We are here for the Sikh youth and Sikhi parchaar. It goes without saying that we need your continuous support, involvement and encouragement. God bless.

[This message appeared in the Jan 2012 issue of THE SIKH  released at the Annual Gurmat Parchar Samelan 2011 which ended in Klang, Selangor, on Dec 24, 2011. Sabha members should be getting their copy soon]