HISTORY INSIGHTS 🇲🇾🇲🇾 MALAYSIA

[MysteRy]

The man behind Thomas Cup.

The idea for such a tournament, the single greatest event in the history of badminton, was conceived by Sir George Alan Thomas. Born in 1881, Thomas only started playing badminton at age l8 when he joined the United Services Badminton Club at Southsea, Hampshire. Thomas, at the end of his first season, reached the semi-final round of the All-England Championships’ men’s doubles competition.

Three years later, in 1903, he bagged his first title — the All-England mixed doubles championship. That became the first of Thomas’ long list of successes. Throughout his playing career, Thomas won a total of 90 national titles, which comprised 2l All-England championships, 3l Scottish championships, 26 Irish championships and 12 French championships. That impeccable record, unbroken until today, will very likely stand for all time.

Though he won greatest fame as a badminton player, Thomas reached the highest class in other fields as well. He was one of the last eight in the 1911 Wimbledon lawn tennis championships and entered the semi-final round in the men’s doubles in 1907 and 1912. For two years, 1922 and 1934, Thomas was British chess champion.

Thomas’ honoured place in badminton didn’t rest entirely on his performances on the court. Elected to the committee of the Badminton Association of England in 1909, he became vice president in 1930. Four years later, Thomas became the first president of the International Badminton Federation. In 1939, he donated the silver cup which still bears his name but due to the outbreak of World War II, the first international tournament was postponed until 1948.

Lim Chuan Geok, who was President of the Badminton Association of Malaya at that time, thanked the Malayan people and the Singapore Government for their generous financial support in making the team’s European trip a reality. He also expressed his heartfelt gratitude to fans for their overwhelming number of congratulatory messages and apologised for not being able to reply to each one of them individually.

His humble words struck a chord with me. Prior to this Thomas Cup success, badminton was a little known sport and Malaya was never considered a force to be reckoned with. Public funding was rare let alone monetary rewards for the players. Yet, the men played their hearts out and brought the ultimate glory to a nation which so desperately needed good news after the devastating Japanese Occupation and Second World War.

Taking care of a team on an extended tour was a gruelling affair. While the Americans, Danes and Indians each had a captain, a manager and an adviser to look in to their needs, Lim had to fill all three roles himself.

His first job upon arrival in London was to secure a badminton hall where the players could get regular practice and accustom themselves to exacting playing conditions where three-set matches were fought out without an interval and the damp English air slowed the shuttle down considerably.

Malaya’s first Thomas Cup campaign drew to a successful end when Thomas presented Lim with the trophy and paid the winning team a glowing tribute by saying that Malaya played really great badminton and was worthy winners.

I take some time to reflect upon Thomas’ parting words as the curtains fell on the on first Thomas Cup tournament: “I hope that this championship will promote the growth of the game and friendship among nations of the world.”

Today, the Thomas Cup has grown from strength to strength with more countries participating in this biennial competition. Denmark became the fifth and most recent nation to win this coveted cup, joining Malaya (now Malaysia), China, Indonesia and Japan in the elite list.

Source and image credit:

NST Online - Thomas presenting Lim with the cup after the Malayan team overcame the Danes in the final.

[MysteRy]

D. R. Seenivasagam

Darma Raja Seenivasagam (1925, Ipoh - 15 March 1969, Ipoh) was a prominent leader of the People's Progressive Party (Malaysia) (PPP) which before 1959 was known as Perak Progressive Party . He is of Ceylonese Tamil ancestry his father was a Ceylonese lawyer from Jaffna.

He founded the PPP along with his brother, S.P. Seenivasagam in 1953 after breaking away from the Labour Party. They were both prominent lawyers in Malaya prior to forming the party. The PPP's stronghold was in Perak and it received a lot of support, especially from the ethnic Chinese voters.

In the 1954 elections, first in which PPP was participating, he was elected to the Town Council of Ipoh and Menglembu under the ‘Alliance’ ticket (UMNO, Malayan Chinese Association, Malayan Indian Congress). He lost in the 1955 Federal Elections but won a seat in the by-elections in 1956.

Seenivasagam was elected in a by-election in 1957 to the Ipoh parliamentary seat vacated by Tun Leong Yew Koh who went on to become Malacca's first Governor.

While in the opposition, Seenivasagam lead the PPP to form the Malaysian Solidarity Council (MSC) in 1965 comprising multi-racial parties like the People's Action Party and the United Democratic Party (UDP). At the MSC's first and only general meeting, several leaders from these parties gave speeches supporting a Malaysian Malaysia. Seenivasagam in his speech accused the Alliance of using Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia to "bully non-Malays".

In the parliamentary elections of 1959, the PPP won all the four seats in Perak. He passed away 2 months before the election of 1969 but the PPP repeated its success.

Source and image credit:

Alehetron

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Janaky Athi Nahappan

Janaky Athi Nahappan (1925 - 2014) is a founding member of the Malaysian Indian Congress and one of the earliest women involved in the fight for Malaysian (then Malaya) independence.

She was born on 25 February 1925 in Kuala Lumpur. Nahappan grew up in a well-to-do Tamil family in Malaya and was only 16 when she heard Subhas Chandra Bose's appeal to Indians to give whatever they could for their fight for Indian independence. Immediately she took off her gold earrings and donated them. She was determined to join the women's wing, the Rani of Jhansi Regiment of the Indian National Army. There was strong family objection especially from her father. But after much persuasion, her father finally agreed.

At the age of 17, she left for India to join the Indian National Army (INA) and rose to the rank of Captain and Second in Command of the Rhani of Jhansi Regiment, the only women's regiment in the INA.

During World War II, she fought against the British at the Burma-India border for India's independence.

After the war, Nahappan helped John Thivy to establish the Malayan Indian Congress in 1946, which was modelled after the Indian National Congress. The party saw Thivy as its first president. Later in life, she became a senator in the Dewan Negara of the Malaysian Parliament.

She was Wanita MIC chief and had served as chairman of the MIC Batu branch and also as the party's central working committee (CWC) member.

She met Athi Nahappan, who was then a newspaper reporter in 1948 and they married a year later.

Janaky was also known for her active role in various social welfare organisations, and was commissioner of the Selangor Girl Guides Association.

She was also involved in the National Council of Women's Organisations.

She received numerous awards and recognition both nationally and internationally, and was the first woman of Indian origin outside India to be awarded one of India's highest titles — the Padma Shri by the president of India in 2000 for her social welfare work and her service to the Indian National Army.

Source: The Sun Daily, Gmediatv

Image: Gmediatv - Facebook