Ara Damansara

Reported by HN:

THE MALAY MAIL : Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
by Ian Pereira

ROLE MODEL: Balakrishnan during his heydays with AIBDHE was affectionately known to friends as “Radio Bala” for his yeoman service to the broadcasting industry.

He rose to prominence through his contribution to the development of Radio-Television Malaysia (RTM), the National Broadcasting Training Centre (NBTC) and the Asian Institute of Broadcasting Development (AIBD).

Born Balakrishnan Ramanujam in Teluk Anson on Dec 26, 1936, Radio Bala died at his home in Ara Damansara on May 25, aged 72, leaving fond memories of a loyal friend, a formidable intellectual and a humanitarian. Balakrishnan was one of four boys of seven children born into the family of rubber plantation conductor Ramanujam and his wife Krishnamma. Despite his modest circumstances, Bala completed his secondary education at the Anglo-Chinese School and entered the University of Malaya in Singapore in 1956. He graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Economics and Indian Studies.

Balakrishan then joined RTM as a broadcaster, primarily overseeing Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam and Telugu programmes in the station’s Indian section. He soon carved for himself a niche in broadcasting and was regarded as an authority on Tamil literature.

Occasionally, he also read the news and presented his own programmes such as Voice of the UN and replied, with candour and panache, to listeners who wrote in. Director-General Tan Sri Dol Ramli was Bala’s mentor and guide at that time.

Other prominent broadcasters who worked with him were Ooh Kheng Law, Bosco D’Cruz, John Abraham, and Leslie Dawson. Among his contempories was also  Datuk Faridah Merican.

With the departure of the British in those pioneering days, Bala brought experienced broadcasters from India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan to help train local talent. He moved on from RTM to found the NBTC before joining the Unesco-funded AIBD as its founding managing director. His extraordinary drive and intellectual energy helped to make these institutions respected players in the broadcasting industry.

For his outstanding contribution to the development of broadcasting, he won a fellowship from the prestigious  Ryerson Institute of Canada in 1988. He was a good sportsman, keeping goal at both football and hockey and aptly called “Goalie Bala” after a onetime clearance from his goal saw the ball amazingly speed into the opposite goal.
But after 12 years with AIBD, he bowed out in 1988.

He eventually set up a consultancy and managed a few enterprises dedicated to the service of his fellow men.
At the same time he was also chairman of Tamil Osai, a broadsheet Tamil daily until it folded in 1991 and then board chairman of Makal Osai, another Tamil daily.As much as he contributed to broadcasting, Bala was also a scholar and a gentleman.

His gentle nature, humanity, humility and generosity touched people of all races and all ages. His reach, as an unofficial doyen of the Indian community, was wide. Without political accreditation Bala worked with community leaders like the late Datuk K. Pathmanaban and Datuk S. Subramaniam to help improve the living standards of the Indian community.

Bala was generous to a fault. He would never turn away empty handed anybody who sought his counsel or asked for academic or financial help.

He continued to chair the Rama Subbiah Scholarship Fund, providing less privileged students with opportunities and loans for higher learning.To his many friends, Bala was a role model of a person who never let adversity or life’s setbacks cloud his optimism or diminish his faith in human nature.

His nature was to share – your grief was his sorrow, your joy was his happiness, your toil was his labour. He relished every opportunity to entertain friends, often introducing them to little known banana leaf restaurants all over Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya.

His phone conversations with friends would not end with a promise to meet soon, but he would tie them down for a specific date to share a meal, replete with bonhomie and intellectual repartee.

Even when he was not in the pink of health, he would insist on having friends over to his home for lunch or dinner.
His cheerful and dutiful wife Girijah would add her culinary skills to turn up delightful meals at home. Bala and Girijah complemented each other.

In the last few years, Bala endured illness on the back of a positive attitude, courage and fortitude. He tried hard not to let his failing health diminish the joy he could, and did, bring to all who called on him.

He is survived by Girijah, four children – girls Anuratha and Dr Lakshmi and sons Venkatagiri and Srithar, and five grandchildren – Sailesh, Manishaa, Nikkhil, Trisha and Dhiren.