Datuk Karam Singh Walia was an environmental journalist and proverb and pantun figure of the early 2000s died at the age of 67 at his home in Klang, Selangor at 3.30 am due to liver cancer. For those who grew up in the 90s and early 2000s, Datuk Karam Singh was a familiar face due to his reports on environmental pollution on TV3's Main Bulletin.
What made the deceased unique was not the topic he brought up but his different style of presentation and his habit of closing every report using pantun or Malay proverbs that were rarely heard. In an interview more than 10 years ago, the deceased said that the collection of pantun and proverbs he used was found in an old book that had been thrown away.
His appearance with the black TV3 jacket and sunglasses was so well known that it was parodied in various local shows and comic strips. Although he retired from broadcasting in 2014, the late's iconic phrase "This is not a new story" is still well-known, especially among Gen X and Millennials. On the internet, macro templates of the late's face with pantun have been used on social media platforms, forums (such as Cari and LowYat) and stickers in messaging applications since the early 2000s.
Born in Teluk Intan, Perak in 1959, the late worked as a teacher before entering the world of journalism. In his career of almost 20 years, the late won various awards such as the best environmental television journalist from the Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) four times and the Seri Angkasa Award twice.
To honor his services and remember him as the earliest Malaysian meme figure, allow me to end this report with a proverb. "The tiger dies leaving behind stripes, Karam Singh Walia dies leaving behind names, memes and a generation that appreciates Malay proverbs more".
