Sri Padhmaraja Seenivasagam (1918–4 July 1975), also known by his initials SP, was a three-term MP in Malaysia who served as leader of the People's Progressive Party. Along with his brother

Dharma Raja Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma (1724–17 February 1798) often referred to as Rama Varma I or Dharma Raja, was the Maharajah of Travancore from 1758 until his death in 1798. He succeeded his uncle Marthanda Varma, who is credited with the title o ...

(DR), SP Seenivasagam was known as a formidable lawyer and parliamentarian in the formative years of Malaya after independence. He led the PPP to a sweeping win in the

Ipoh Ipoh (, ) is the capital city of the Malaysian States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Perak. Located on the Kinta River, it is nearly north of Kuala Lumpur and southeast of George Town, Penang, George Town in neighbouring Penang ...

municipal council elections in 1962, becoming the council's president. At this time the PPP held sway in Ipoh, while the Socialist Front was dominant in George Town and Malacca. However the federal government led by Umno then banned local council elections. Following the May 13 racial riots and the death of his brother in 1969, SP made the decision to bring PPP into the ruling

Barisan Nasional Barisan Nasional (BN; ) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1974 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties to succeed the Alliance Party. It is the third largest political coalition with 30 seats in ...

coalition. He lost his parliamentary and state seats in 1974 when he contested under the BN banner. He was then appointed to the

Dewan Negara The Dewan Negara (; Jawi script, Jawi: ) is the upper house of the Parliament of Malaysia, consisting of 70 senators of whom 26 are elected by the State legislative assemblies of Malaysia, state legislative assemblies, with two senators for ea ...

in 1975 but passed away three months later.

Early life

SP Seenivasagam was born in Ipoh in 1918 and attended the Anderson School. He studied law at the

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 ...

, London, before the outbreak of the second World War. After the war he began his career as advocate and solicitor in 1949, working at the family firm S Seenivasagam & Sons.

Political career

In the 1959 elections, he contested and won the Menglembu parliamentary seat. He garnered 14,338 votes, comfortably defeating rivals from the Alliance (Wong Kok Weng) and Socialist Front (Idham Khatib) with a majority of 8,046 votes. He also won the Kuala Pari seat in the Perak state assembly. He was to win both seats on three consecutive occasions holding them from 1959 to 1974. While in the opposition, the Seenivasagam brothers led the PPP to form the short-lived Malaysian Solidarity Council (MSC) in 1965 comprising multi-racial parties like 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 ...

and the United Democratic Party. Their contemporary Syed Husin Ali said that while the brothers were in the progressive camp, they were often seen as the voice of non-Malay perspectives. The 1969 racial riots paralysed the nation and Parliament was suspended for 17 months. This eventually led SP to make the decision to bring the PPP into the newly formed Barisan Nasional coalition. Both SP and the PPP were punished heavily for this in the 1974 elections. The party was almost wiped out and SP suffered a big defeat in Menglembu at the hands of DAP's

Fan Yew Teng Fan Yew Teng (, ; 12 May 1942 – 7 December 2010) was a Malaysian human rights activist, educator, trade unionist, politician, and writer. He served as the Acting Secretary-General of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a Member of the Parl ...

. He also lost his Kuala Pari state seat to Lim Nyit Sin of DAP. On 14 April 1975, he was sworn in as a member of the Dewan Negara.

Legal cases

In 1952, Seenivasagam defended a young Chinese girl named

Lee Meng Lee Meng ( zh, c=李明; 1926–2012), also romanised as Lee Min, was a Malaysian Chinese communist guerrilla and a leading member of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM). She took part in guerrilla resistance against the Japanese occupation of ...

who was arrested for alleged militant communist activities during the Emergency. Lee was captured by the British Malayan police force in Ipoh in July 1952 and tried for having a hand grenade in her possession. She was sentenced to death for her responsibility in issuing orders for several murders, but the case brought the brothers significant attention. In 1965, his brother DR made an allegation of corruption against then education minister

Abdul Rahman Talib Abdul Rahman bin Talib (1916–1968) was a former minister of Malaysia. He served as minister of transport, health and education. In 1965, opposition MP DR Seenivasagam made an allegation of corruption against Abdul Rahman Talib in Parliament, ...

in Parliament, and repeated it in front of a huge crowd, including Rahman, at the Chinese Assembly Hall. Rahman sued DR for defamation, with SP representing DR. Rahman lost the case and resigned as minister. In 1971 he represented DAP's then Kampar MP Fan Yew Teng in a sedition appeal over a conviction for publishing an offensive article by then Penang DAP chairman Dr Ooi Kee Siak in the party’s newsletter The Rocket. SP successfully argued the appeal for Fan on the grounds of technicality and a retrial was ordered. Ironically it was Fan who challenged and defeated SP for his Menglembu seat in the 1974 elections.

Election results

Honours

Seenivasagam was awarded Paduka Mahkota Perak of the

Order of the Perak State Crown The Most Illustrious Order of the Perak State Crown ( Malay: ''Darjah Kebesaran Mahkota Negeri Perak Yang Amat Mulia'') is knighthood order of the Sultanate of Perak. Background It was founded by Sultan Yusuf Izzuddin Shah on 12 December 1957. ...

in 1963 from Sultan Idris of Perak. In 1965 he was awarded the Dato Paduka Mahkota Perak, and in 1972 the Sultan elevated him to the title of Datuk Seri. * : ** Knight Grand Commander of the

(SPMP) – Dato' Seri (1972) ** Knight Commander of the

(DPMP) – Dato' (1965) ** Commander of the

(1963)

Death

On July 4, 1975, he died of heart failure at his official residence. He was survived by his wife Puan Seri Danapakia Devi, who passed away in 2006. Just prior to his death, the Ipoh Town Council in June 1975 proposed to rename Hugh Low Street and Belfield Street after DR and SP, but after some objections, he withdrew his consent. Today, a road formerly known as Clayton Road, near Saint Michael’s Institution in Ipoh, has been renamed Jalan SP Seenivasagam in his honour.

References

* * *{{Cite web, url=https://www.ppphq.online/abouteng.html, title=MyPPP - About, website=www.ppphq.online 20th-century Malaysian lawyers Malaysian people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Malaysian people of Tamil descent Tamil politicians Malaysian Hindus Malaysian politicians of Tamil descent 1918 births 1975 deaths Malaysian politicians of Indian descent People from Ipoh Malaysian political party founders Malaysian socialists Members of the Perak State Legislative Assembly People's Progressive Party (Malaysia) politicians Malaysian MPs 1959–1964 Malaysian MPs 1964–1969 Malaysian MPs 1971–1974