G. Gnanalingam

The Singapore-born captain of industry, who grew up in Port Dickson and Kuala Pilah, was of Sri Lankan Tamil ancestry.

Gnanalingam adopted “flexi-port & fast-port” approaches in advocating changes and defying conventional practices to cargo and ship handling, including by implementing integrated port charges,” the citation read.

Gnanalingam was credited with introducing innovative measures to win traffic during the 1997/98 financial crisis that saw Port Klang achieving positive growth as well as fostering feeding to Westport.

A marketing director with British American Tobacco, he was the man behind such projects as bringing live telecasts of football's World Cup to Malaysian homes in the 80s.

It was in 1989 that Tan Sri Gnanalingam made his mark in Malaysian sports when, as a marketing consultant, he turned the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games into a money-making event.