Alfred Thambiayah

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Honourable
Alfred Thambiayah
MP
அல்பிரட் தம்பையா
Member of the Ceylonese Parliament
for Kayts
In office
1947–1956
Succeeded by V. A. Kandiah
Personal details
Born (1903-11-08)8 November 1903
Political party All Ceylon Tamil Congress
Alma mater St. Anthony's College
St. Patrick's College
St. Benedict's College
St. Joseph's College
Occupation Businessman
Website 1908~1976, 2001~current

Alfred Leo Saverimuthu Thambiayah (Tamil: அல்பிரட் லியோ சவரிமுத்து தம்பையா; born 8 November 1903) was a Ceylon Tamil businessman, 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 the 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]

References

  1. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links