|
|
|
Nurris Ishak
New Straits Times,
August 19, 2006
KUALA LUMPUR: He was there to help in 1991 after a powerful
explosion ripped through the Bright Sparklers fireworks factory in Sungai
Buloh.
Twenty-six
people were killed, more than 100 were injured, and the explosion
flattened everything within 500 metres of the factory.
He was in
Hulu Klang in 1993 after a block of the Highland Towers condominium
collapsed.
K. Balasupramaniam has been part of scores of rescuers,
helping people, saving lives.
Then one day, he found himself lying
on a road, unable to move or speak, barely able to draw breath. He had
been in a motorcycle accident, and passers-by thought he was
dead.
"They covered my face with a newspaper. Then a photographer
taking a picture lifted the newspaper up. My lips were torn and bloodied,
but I managed to whisper: 'Help me'.
"I remember he jumped and
yelled: 'Hey, he's still alive!' Only then did they rush me to the
hospital."
Balasupramaniam is the founder and chairman of the
Malaysian Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association (MVFRA), the body he
started just four years earlier.
For his deeds and courage, and his
work in promoting safety and health, the New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
and PricewaterhouseCoopers selected him as the Young Humanitarian last
year.
Bala, as he prefers to be known, said the accident, which
occurred in 1994, strengthened his determination to save lives.
"God gave me a second chance," he said.
"I am a free
thinker, but I believe in His existence. I believe that some things are
meant to happen. It is these unexpected little twists in life that give me
a purpose, a motivation to take the road that not many would
take.
"My volunteers and I have walked through fire, swum through
strong currents, climbed mountains and jumped from buildings to save
lives."
Rescuers could not always get to a disaster or an accident
in time, and people died, he said, adding that victims' families got a
sense of closure when rescuers found the bodies and could bury
them.
He remembers his first body recovery, a seven-year-old boy
and his sister who drowned in an oxidation pond.
"They were hugging
each other when I found them. My heart just broke into pieces.
"I
think that is the hardest part of my job, when I have to bring in the
bodies of children. They had so much to live for."
The good
memories are what power him on.
"It's a great feeling when I am
able to help save lives. That feeling is enough of a reward for me. Money
cannot buy the feeling you get after saving a life," he said.
Since
winning the award, Bala has continued to conduct training, and give talks
on safety and survival to schoolchildren and members of the public with
his MVFRA volunteers.
He also conducts programmes such as City
Survival, Home Safe Home, Road Survival and the Fire Kids Club Safety
Workshop.
"I hope to open a Children's Safety Academy so that
children can learn about safety in a fun way. Safety needs to be taught
from an early age."
This year, NSTP and PwC are looking to honour
other Malaysians who have gone beyond the call of duty and performed
outstanding acts of public service and selfless deeds.
Nominations
for the Malaysian Humanitarian Awards 2006 are open until Sept 11.
Information and forms are available at www.nstp.com.my and pwc.com/my, or
call 03-2282-3131 ext
|
|
|