NEW DELHI: Malaysia’s famous Indian classical dancer and choreographer Datuk Ramli Ibrahim has received one of India’s top national awards this year in recognition of his cultural work.
Ramli is one of the 10 individuals from ASEAN countries to be given the Padma Shri award as India celebrates 25 years of its dialogue partnership with the Southeast Asian bloc.
The award acknowledges Ramli’s 40-year career as a classical Odissi dancer and trainer, his Bharatnatyam performances, and the setting up of Sutra Dance Theatre in Malaysia.
Ramli, aged 64, who has undertaken many dance productions including the Odissi production, Ganjam, has received critical acclaim for his performances in India.
He was awarded India’s prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2011, the first for a Malaysian.
Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour in India, is given every year to people for their distinguished services in various fields.
The awards are among various honours given on India’s Republic Day on January 26, which marks the day the country adopted its current constitution.
This year’s celebration is special for India as 10 ASEAN leaders attended the Republic Day parade on Friday in an unprecedented gathering of so many heads of state and government as guests of honour on the occasion.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said the Indian government announced the award for one person from each ASEAN nation in a symbolic gesture to mark the silver jubilee of India-ASEAN relationship.
Among the other ASEAN recipients of Padma Shri awards were Brunei’s Malai Haji Abdullah Malai Othman in the field of medicine, Indonesian sculptor I Nyoman Nuarta, Singaporean diplomat Tommy Koh and Thailand’s supreme patriarch Somdet Phra Ariya Wongsa Khottayan.
Others on the list are Vietnam Buddhist Sangha secretary-general Nguyen Tien Thien, Philippines businessman Jose Ma Joey Concepcion III, Myanmar historian Thant Myint-U, Bounlap Keokangna of Laos, and Cambodia’s Hun Many. - Bernama