Video: © Kendelia Videos.
Charismatic and engaging, Captain Bala has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience in search and rescue operations, drawn from his almost 30 years of fieldwork (28 years, if we begin from 1991 till 2019) locally in Malaysia as well as internationally.
Captain Bala founded the Malaysian Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association (MVFRA) in 1991 and it was registered a year later in 1992. It eventually became known as the Malaysia International Search and Rescue or MISAR, of which he is the chairman (and founder). He is also a crime prevention specialist.
MISAR has been involved in overseas search and rescue operations such as the April 2015 earthquake in Nepal (the Gorkha earthquake), the Sichuan earthquake in 2008 and the Peru earthquake in 2007, just to name a few.
We had the opportunity to meet and speak with Captain Bala at the Doubletree By Hilton Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A day earlier, he had conducted the Luminox Code Red Survival Course at MISAR headquarters at 32 Jalan Wirawati 6, Taman Maluri 55100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
His signature leather biker vest adds to his persona and we just had to ask him whether it was a part of his uniform. It isn’t and he wears it because it allows him to conveniently store his Everyday Carry (EDC) in the pockets.
Did you know that some leather biker vests have leather gun pockets “… to store a full-sized Colt .45 ACP [Automatic Colt Pistol]. Hmmm, is it also any wonder why Captain Bala is also a member of the Selangor Shooting Association?
Now, what are some EDCs in Captain Bala's pockets? He willingly offered us an impromptu show and tell session. Interestingly, what he had in his pockets at the time we asked wasn’t the usual number of EDCs he would have normally carried.
#MISAR #Luminox #Everydaycarry
18 сен 2024
