BHASI3/4 Difficult Decisions
Channel: 50FACES
Date: 2015-05-05

He was nominated to the Hindu Advisory Board by the then Minister of Social Affairs Mr Othman Wok and he served there for 4 years. In serving the community at the Hindu Advisory Board he was part of some of the important decisions that were taken that would affect the Indian community in Singapore. Post separation from Malaysia, Singapore government wanted the number of holidays in Singapore to be reduced. The difficult decision to choose one holiday for the Indian community rested with the Hindu Advisory Board. M.K. Bhasi recalled the challenges faced and how Deepavali was chosen as a holiday, which all Indians could relate to. With rapid progress in Singapore, there were also many incidences of relocation or demolition of Hindu temples and prayer sites, which met with resistance and the advisory board had to step in to mediate. Many tricky situations like this were successfully managed during the tenure of M.K. Bhasi at the Hindu Advisory Board.