Pathmanaban Selvadurai (9 June 1933 – 18 July 2024), better known as P. Selvadurai, was a Singaporean former politician and lawyer. A former member of the

People's Action Party The People's Action Party (PAP) is a major Conservatism, conservative political party in Singapore and is the governing contemporary political party represented in the Parliament of Singapore, followed by the opposition Workers' Party of Singap ...

(PAP), he served as the Member of Parliament (MP) representing Bukit Panjang Constituency from 1967 to 1972 and the MP representing

Kuo Chuan Constituency Kuo Chuan Constituency was a constituency in Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and ...

from 1972 to 1984. Selvadurai died on 18 July 2024 at 92.

Early life and education

Selvadurai was born in the

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements () were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under control of the ...

(present-day Singapore) on 9 June 1933 to Ceylon Tamils. He studied at Monk's Hill Primary School and

Raffles Institution Raffles Institution (RI) is an independent educational institution in Singapore. Founded in 1823, it is the oldest school in the country. It provides secondary education for boys only from Year 1 to Year 4, and pre-university education for both b ...

. He also went to London University College and

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

where he became a

barrister-at-law A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching the law and giv ...

. Before joining politics, he was a member of the governing board of NTUC's Research Unit and a

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

of the Industrial Arbitration Court.

Career

Political career

Selvadurai made his political debut at the 1967 by-elections, where he contested for Member of Parliament (MP) representing Bukit Panjang Constituency, being elected unopposed. At the 1968 general election, he contested for MP representing Bukit Panjang again, being elected unopposed again. That same year, Selvadurai was a part of a 4-member team that went to

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

. In 1969, he opened Chestnut Drive Secondary School (now Greenridge Secondary School). In the 1972 general election, Selvadurai contested for MP of

instead of Bukit Panjang as then-new candidate Lee Yiok Seng was believed by the PAP to "muster support of the Chinese and Malays" due to his

multilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

. Selvadurai went against P. Manokaran of

Barisan Sosialis Barisan Sosialis (BS), also known as the Socialist Front, is a defunct left-wing political party in Singapore. It was formed on 29 July 1961 and was officially registered on 13 August 1961 by the leftist faction of the People's Action Party (PA ...

(BS) and was elected with 73.69% of the vote. In 1974, Selvadurai and Chiang Hai Ding presented a

private bill Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. A private bill is a proposal for a law affecting only a single person, group, or are ...

, the Roman Catholic Archbishop Bill, which was passed the following year. In the 1976 general election, he contested for MP of Kuo Chuan Constituency again, against Ng Ah Chue of BS, and was elected with 74.42% of the vote. The following election, he contested for MP of Kuo Chuan Constituency again, against Sim Chit Giak of BS, and was elected with 75.92% of the vote. He announced his retirement from politics in 1984.

Law career

In 2008, Selvadurai joined Tan Rajah & Cheah as a

consultant A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...

. He had previously served at

Rodyk & Davidson Dentons Rodyk & Davidson LLP is one of Singapore's largest law firms, with around 200 lawyers who are qualified in various jurisdictions such as those of Singapore, Australia, England and Wales and India, and with offices in Singapore and Myanmar. ...

as a partner and later consultant for over 40 years. He also served as a member of the

Singapore National Eye Centre The Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) is a national eye specialty centre in Singapore. SNEC manages more than 380,000 patient visits and over 41,000 surgeries annually. Its services include Corneal & External Eye Disease, Cataract & Compreh ...

, the Singapore Arts School, and as president of the Indian Fine Arts Society.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Selvadurai, Pathmanaban 1933 births Singaporean people of Indian descent 2024 deaths 20th-century Singaporean politicians 20th-century Singaporean lawyers 21st-century Singaporean lawyers Singaporean people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Members of the Parliament of Singapore People's Action Party politicians Alumni of University College London Raffles Institution alumni