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Proud moment for mum as navy daughter makes history

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Retired matron from Pahang proud to see daughter receiving her commissioning by the US president.

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Free Malaysia Today
Janushaa Balakrishnan and her mother Saraswathy Subramaniam after her graduation from the US Naval Academy. (Saraswathy pic)

GEORGE TOWN:
It was a proud moment last week for retired matron Saraswathy Subramaniam as she watched her youngest child graduate from the US Naval Academy, the first Malaysian woman to do so.

Her daughter Janushaa Balakrishnan Muthiah, 23, a senior cadet officer of the Malaysian navy, spent four years at the academy, graduating with a double degree in computer engineering and electrical engineering.

Janushaa was among 1,200 students of the academy, with the rank of midshipmen, who took part in the graduation and commissioning ceremony before US President Joe Biden,

Saraswathy, 63, formerly of Kuala Lipis hospital, said her daughter had always wanted to be an engineer, unlike her two elder sisters who are doctors.

She said Janushaa had been a straight-A student at Clifford School and Sekolah Sains Kuantan. She then went to Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) to do her foundation year.

Free Malaysia Today
Janushaa and her family with the then US ambassador to Malaysia Kamala Lakhdir before leaving for Annapolis in 2018. (US Embassy pic)

Saraswathy said her late husband had insisted that she go to Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia after leaving secondary school. “If not for her late father’s brainwashing to enter UPNM, I don’t think she would have clinched this.”

Janushaa’s father, Balakrishnan Muthiah, 63, a hospital supervisor, died in 2019 from a heart-related ailment.

“She was already in the US, and the academy made sure that she was sent immediately to Malaysia to pay her last respects,” said Saraswathy.

Another Malaysian, cadet Putra Nadeem Damanhuri Ahmad Damanhuri, has graduated from US Air Force Academy.

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