Speaking on the telephone to Asia Samachar, an online newspaper for Sikhs in the region, Harjit said, “This is one for all Sikhs, not me alone. I’m the face and the voice of the Sikhs.”

Harjit is a familiar face for most Malaysians who watch the prime time news on telly.

Calling it “yet another feather in the cap for Sikhs”, Harjit, 63, was bestowed the title Datuk Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah (DSIS) on the occasion of the Sultan of Selangor’s 71st birthday.

Despite retiring five years ago as the principal assistant director of TV news, Harjit still goes on the air like clockwork at RTM, something he has been doing for the past 43 years and counting.

“I will be calling it a day next year,” he said however, after having successfully made it into the Malaysia Book of Records in 2011 as the longest serving newscaster. Way to go, Harjit!

Harjit joined RTM as a radio deejay in 1972 and found his true calling as a newscaster the next year when he started reading news on television.

“Ever since the first time I tuned in to the radio, I knew I wanted my voice to be heard too,” he was reported to have said in an interview all those years ago.

Harjit is well known for his flawless diction of both spoken Malay and English, and for being the only Sikh newscaster at RTM.

Joking to the media about his fame, Harjit good-naturedly related how he was known among his friends as RTM, and no, it did not mean Radio Television Malaysia, the station he worked for but “Regular Turbanned Man”.

Harjit was one of the 101 people who received various titles and awards from Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah of Selangor at his birthday investiture ceremony at the Istana Alam Shah.