Alfred Thambiayah

Hon.
Alfred Thambiayah
MP
அல்பிரட் தம்பிஐயா
Member of the Ceylonese Parliament
for Kayts
In office
1947–1956
Succeeded byV. A. Kandiah
Personal details
Born(1903-11-08)8 November 1903
DiedOctober 1, 2009(2009-10-01) (aged 105)
Political partyAll Ceylon Tamil Congress
Alma materSt. Anthony's College
St. Patrick's College
St. Benedict's College
St. Joseph's College
OccupationBusinessman
EthnicityCeylon Tamil

Alfred Leo Saverimuthu Thambiayah (Tamil: அல்பிரட் லியோ சவரிமுத்து தம்பிஐயா; (November 10, 1903 – October 1, 2009) was a Ceylon Tamil businessman, centenarian, politician and Member of Parliament.

Early life and family

Thambiayah was born on 8 November 1903 in Karampon on the island of Velanaitivu in northern Ceylon.[1][2][3] His father was a ship owner in Kayts.[2] He was educated at St. Anthony's College, Kayts, St. Patrick's College, Jaffna, St. Benedict's College, Colombo and St. Joseph's College, Colombo.[2]

Thambiayah married Rajeswari, daughter of Adigar Sellamuttu.[3] They had two sons (Shivantha and Ravi) and two daughters (Subodhini and Indumathi Renuka).[3]

Career

Thambiayah began his business career aged 21 by leasing the Olympia Cinema.[2] He then went into business with Chittampalam Abraham Gardiner, establishing the successful Ceylon Theatres Ltd.[2] Later on Ceylon Theatres bought Cargills & Millers and Thambiayah served as chairman/managing director of the latter.[2] Thambiayah acquired Cargo Boat Dispatch Company, a shipping company, in 1936 from Harry and John Cosmas.[2][3][4] The company grew to control the majority of the business out of the Port of Colombo.[4]

Thambiayah stood as an independent candidate in Kayts at the 1947 parliamentary election.[2] He won the election and entered Parliament.[2][3][5] His opponent A. V. Kulasingham filed a legal petition stating that Thambiayah was disqualified from contesting the election as his Cargo Boat Dispatch Company had contracts with the state-owned Colombo Ports Authority. Judge Basanayake found in favour of Kulasingham and declared the Kayts election void.[6] Electoral law didn't allow appeals against the judgement so the United National Party dominated government hurriedly passed the Election Petition Appeal Act No. 1 of 1948. Thambiayah appealed and judges Wijeyewardene, Canekeratne and Windham over ruled Basanayake's judgement and re-instated Thambiayah as the MP for Kayts.[7]

Thambiayah was instrumental in the construction of road links to Velanaitivu from Jaffna peninsula and Pungudutivu.[2] He also helped build schools, hospitals, roads, dispensaries and post offices on the island.[2]

Thambiayah was re-elected at the 1952 parliamentary election as an All Ceylon Tamil Congress candidate.[2][8] The ACTC left the UNP government in 1953 but Thambiayah chose to remain with the UNP.[9] Thambiayah, like many Tamil UNP politicians, left the UNP in 1956 over its support of the Sinhala Only policy.[9]

Thambiayah stood for re-election in the constituency at the 1956 and March 1960 parliamentary elections but on each occasion was defeated by the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (Federal Party) candidate V. A. Kandiah.[2][10][11]

Thambiayah's company suffered a set-back when the Port of Colombo was nationalised in 1958.[4] Thambiayah started diversifying his business interests, turning his company into a shipping agency house, taking shareholdings in Hatton National Bank and establishing Hotel Renuka in Kollupitiya in 1970 after the government started offering tax incentives to the hospitality sector.[2][4]

Today Thambiayah's company is known as Renuka Holdings PLC and is one of Sri Lanka's largest conglomerates.[12] Thambiayah's daughter Indumathi Renuka Rajiyah is the company's chairperson and his grandson Shamindra Vatsalan Rajiyah is the executive director.[12][13]

He died prior to October 2009, aged no older than 105.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Directory of Past Members: Thambiayah, Alfred Leo". Parliament of Sri Lanka.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Chandrasekera, Duruthu Edirimuni (7 July 2013). "Alfred Leo Thambiayah: Trailblazer in entrepreneurship". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka).
  3. ^ a b c d e Arumugam, S. (1997). Dictionary of Biography of the Tamils of Ceylon. pp. 220–221.
  4. ^ a b c d "Origins". Renuka Holdings PLC.
  5. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1947" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2009.
  6. ^ "Kulasingam V Thambiayah". LawNet. Archived from the original on 14 July 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  7. ^ "Thambiayah V Kulasingham". LawNet. Archived from the original on 14 July 2013. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  8. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1952" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2009.
  9. ^ a b Rajasingham, K. T. "Chapter 15: Turbulence in any language". Sri Lanka: The Untold Story. Archived from the original on 8 February 2002.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  10. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1956" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2009.
  11. ^ "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1960-03-19" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2009.
  12. ^ a b Chandrasekera, Duruthu Edirimuni (2 December 2012). "Renuka Group – Leaving a lasting legacy". The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka).
  13. ^ "Reuka Holdings PLC: Annual Report 2012" (PDF). Colombo Stock Exchange. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  14. ^ "Obituaries". The Island (Sri Lanka). 17 October 2009.

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