Newspaper Article

A short but fruitful posting

Balan Moses

2009

Overview

[Ashok Kantha], who leaves on Nov 9 for his new posting as Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, is an unassuming career diplomat who flew into Kuala Lumpur in 2007 to create a flurry of interest among Malaysians on ties with India. They opened new ground in the bilateral relationship with their unique personalities that drew commonality in their zest to take ties a notch higher, something they had in common with succcesive Indian envoys here dating back to 1957. I had sat with Kantha earlier that day in his office at the high commission not too far away wondering how he would sum up his 30 months as India's top diplomat in Kuala Lumpur. Kantha smiles when asked about what he had achieved in his relatively short term here: his first task was to permanently remove the long lines of people gathering outside the mission for visa's by outsourcing it. He also managed to set up the Indian Cultural Centre at CapSquare (it will be opened on Wednesday), an idea floated by former Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during a visit to Kuala Lumpur in 2003.

• Publisher: The New Straits Times Press (M) Berhad
• Subject: Kantha, Ashok