Secretary General
Ybhg. Datuk Balwant Singh Kler
ASTC’s Secretary General and long time ITU Technical Official, Balwant Singh Kler is Datuk.
The “Datuk” is equivalent to a “Knighthood” of Great Britain. Datuk Balwant Singh Kler was
selected for the award because of his lifetime contribution to promote Sabah specifically and
Malaysia in general as a tourist destination through sports.
Datuk Balwant Singh Kler born 11/09/1938
he is residing (Sabah) Malaysia. Datuk
Balwant Singh Kler is proudly married to
Datin Sarjit Kor Kler and father of one son
and one daughter.
Datukship award ceremony in Istana.
Mr. Balwant’s father Datuk Gurbaksh Singh
Kler migrated to North Borneo in the early
1920s. He was not a very healthy man and
was suffering from heart palpitations. The
doctors advised him to walk three miles a
day and go for swimming on Sundays. He
was also advised to take only filtered water.
Since walking took too long to cover the 3
miles, Gurbaksh started running the
distance. After he began to feel strong and
healthy, he decided to take part in a 100
yards race organised by Jesselton Sports
Club. Unfortunately he finished 50 yards
behind the winner. This prompted Subehdar
Dewa Singh Maan not only to scold him for
his dismal performance but he added salt to
the wound by remarking that Sikhs never
lose out to the natives and not by a 50 yards
margin in a 100 yards race.
He rubbed-in further by saying that his performance was an insult to the Sikh community. This
remark stirred Gurbaksh Singh Kler to start training seriously. He ordered books on athletics
from England for his training regime and a year later he participated in 440 yards, 880 yards, and
one mile and three miles races and won all of them by wide margins. This then prompted
Subehdar Dewa Singh to claim that he had coached Gurbaksh Singh but Kler did not counter this
false claim.
Sports indeed saved the life of Gurbaksh Singh Kler and it is well known in Malaysian sporting
circles that he devoted his entire life to sports and became a walking encyclopedia of athletics
track records of Malaysia and Asia. During his training sessions he used his three sons and two
daughters as his guinea pigs and turned them into sportspersons.
In 1962 he organized a 3000 meters race in Sabah for girls and no girl came forward to
participate. He ordered his daughter, Harcharan, to run and she completed the race. Only
thereafter did other girls join in to compete in long distance events.
The sporting spirit has prevailed in the KLER FAMILY. The first runner in the KLER RELAY
TEAM for DATUKSHIP was Gurbaksh Singh Kler himself, who was awarded the Datukship of
Sabah in 1978.
He was followed by his youngest son, Jaswant Singh Kler, as the second runner with a Datukship
in 1996. Then came the turn of the eldest son, Dilbagh Singh Kler, as the third runner with a
Datukship in 2005 and finally came the turn of the second son, Balwant Singh Kler, who
eventually completed the missing link of the quartet with the award of Datukship on 24th
October 2009.
Ybhg. Datuk Balwant Singh Kler is a Life Member of Asian Athletic.