Datuk Murugasu who served as the Honorary Secretary of FA of Malaysia secretary from 1980 to 1987, has been bed ridden since three years ago.
Datuk Murugasu took over as the honorary secretary from another respected administrator, Datuk Kwok Kin Heng. Datuk Paul Mony Samuel replaced Datuk Murugasu in 1987.
Datuk Murugasu was among the first few officials whom I met when I started reporting and after the first meeting, he called my office to enquire if I really was from the organization I was representing. He was a careful administrator who worked well with his boss, Tan Sri Hamzah Abu Samah.
During the period Datuk Murugasu was the Honorary Secretary, football was going through its glory days and was enjoyed by almost everyone in Malaysia. Datuk Murugasu was born on 8 September 1924 in Kuala Lipis in Pahang. He has his primary education in Kampar, Perak and completed his Senior Cambridge at Anglo Chinese School in Ipoh.
He worked as a teacher from 1948 to 1959, beginning at Trade School in Kuala Lumpur an later at the Kajang High School before moving to the Pasar Road English School.
He joined the Election Commission in 1959 and served as the State Election Officer in Kota Bahru (1961-1965), Seremban (1965-1970) and Kuala Lumpur from 1970 until his retirement in 1974.
Datuk Murugasu joined FAM in 1973. He served his “apprenticeship” with the dynamic Datuk Kwok Kin Keng in FAM taking over in 1980. He held the post for seven years and served under two presidents – Tan Sri Dato’ Setia Raja Haji Hamzah bin Abu Samah and HRH Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah.
He was honoured by the HRH Sultan of Pahang in 1983 and conferred a Datukship
List of FA Malaysia Secretaries:
Datuk Kwok Kin Keng (Honorary Secretary)
Datuk T. Paul Murugasu
Datuk Paul Mony Samuel (Executive Secretary, later General Secretary)
Datuk Syed Ahmad Kuning (HS)
Datuk Dell Akhbar Khan Hyder Khan (GS)
Datuk Seri Ibrahim Saad (GS)
Lt. Jen (B) Datuk Azuddin Ahmad (GS)
I was one of those quite shocked and distressed to see no write-up on the passing of Datuk Paul Murugasu in the main stream media. Perhaps, this was because, none of the current crop of reporters knew the man. Still, the sports editors could have asked a former colleague to write a few lines, recalling his contribution to Malaysian football.Datuk Paul was never an easy man to deal with if you were meeting him for the first time.With him, you had to win his confidence. Having done that, you had to make sure, you worked hard at staying on the right side of him.As a young reporter, I faced this peculiar predicament often. He was always suspicious of reporters and ordered his staff to keep a close watch on documents whenever there were any of us around.Those days, reporters did their leg work and were often "mooching" around FAM House in Jalan Maharalela. To me, it was always fun to try and pick up some useful info and then confront him- just to see the look on his face. He would growl from behind his desk and very reluctantly volunteer to confirm or deny the info. It happened so often with the Merdeka Tournament. But Datuk Paul also had a king heart beating inside him and when he was in one of his better moods, would actualy sit you down and have a chat. Unfortunately, it was not often. I remembered calling him a few years ago and his first question was, " what do you want? You fellows only call when you want something". That was Datuk Paul for you! Looking back, I wish had called him more often just to say hello. He was to me, a good friend, who helped mould my career as a sportswriter.may God grant his soul rest.
ReplyDeleteSubramaniam Alagasundram