Last whistle for former Fifa referee Jaswant Singh

By Asia Samachar Team | MALAYSIA |

DSP (Rtd) Jaswant Singh Sran, one of the first Sikhs to become an international football referee, passed away today (19 May) at a quarantine centre after several residents of Wisma Tatt Khalsa were found positive for Covid-19.

Jaswant, 80, was one of the residents at the complex in Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur, which had also placed on humanitarian grounds some six dozen Indian passengers who were stranded at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) earlier.

“We are still waiting for the autopsy report to find out the actual cause of death as the deceased was found to be negative in all three tests. Two tests were done before, while the last one was done this morning,” his younger brother Dr Kalwant Singh told Bernama.

Jawant, a certified FIFA referee, was managing a car park at Wisma Tatt Khalsa.

Among others, Jaswant had refereed top football matches in Malaysia including those involving Malaysian legends like Soh Chin Aun and Mokhtar Dahari in the 1970s and 1980s, according to an entry at the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) social media platform.

“He was stickler for fitness and a no nonsense coach,” Malaysian sports commentator Tony Mariadas, who had known him personally known since the late 1970s said in a blog post.

On May 15, Asia Samachar had reported that two Indian tourists housed at a gurdwara complex in Kuala Lumpur on humanitarian grounds have been sent to hospital for observation after testing positive for Covid-19.

The rest of the Indian passengers, who were stranded at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) after India began cancelling in-coming flights in mid-March, tested negative and have been sent to a teacher training facility for a 14-day observation.

The passengers were part of the 73 people tested on 7 May at Wisma Tatt Khalsa, the complex adjoining to Gurdwara Sahib Tatt Khalsa, after the authorities placed the surrounding area under an enhanced movement control order (EMCO). This is done for locations with a high number of Covid-19 cases.

The Indian tourists were some of the 300-odd stranded passengers who were sent to Tatt Khalsa, Gurdwara Sahib Puchong and a number of other places to wait out until they could catch their return flights.

RELATED STORY:

Two stranded Indian passengers housed at Tatt Khalsa test positive for Covid-19 (Asia Samachar, 15 May 2020)

KL gurdwara to house some Indian passengers stranded at KLIA (Asia Samachar, 21 March 2020)