Hindraf forum to remember labour movement heroes

The forum will be to honour two late Malayan labour rights movement leaders - A Ganapathy and P Veerasenan.

GEORGE TOWN: Hindraf will hold a public “commemoration” forum on May 10 to pay tribute to two late Malayan labour rights movement leaders – A Ganapathy and P Veerasenan, both of whom died at the  hands of British colonial masters in 1949.

Describing them as “great workers, human and civil rights activists”, Hindraf chief P Waythamoorthy said the forum was to remember and create public awareness on the two Malayan heroes.

“They were falsely accused by British colonialists as terrorists when they were real champions of people’s rights.

“They struggled and fought to free Malayan labourers from hegemony and oppression of colonial system,” Waythamoorthy told FMT here today.

He said the oppression of working class, especially Tamil-speaking community, had existed unabated from day one until today without a permanent solution in near sight.

He said the struggle of Ganapathy and Veerasenan was still relevant today even though the adversary was no longer the British colonialists.

“Current working class people and their leaders of all categories, including displaced estate workers, should attend this event to share their experience and keep their spirits refreshed in this long journey,” said Waythamoorthy.

Ganapathy, only 21 then, was hanged in Pudu Jail on Wednesday morning of May 4, 1949.

A day earlier on May 3, Veerasenan, only 22 then, was gunned down by a British troop in Negeri Sembilan.

Critics, including India External Minister Dr BV Keskar, pointed out then that both men were transformed and branded from unionists to bandits, outlaws and criminals, and executed within a three-month period.

Critics questioned on whether it was British strategy to scare people with communist insurgency and clampdown on Malayan liberation movements.

Ganapathy, first president of the 300,000-strong Pan-Malayan Federation of Trade Unions (PMFTU), was detained by the British on March 1, 1949, prosecuted two weeks later on March 15 and was sentenced to death for alleged possession of  illegal firearms.

Execution of Ganapathy sent shock waves to Indian public in India, especially Tamil Nadu – the deceased leader’s native province, Malaya and Singapore.

There had been no information too on whether the Sultan Selangor in the Council had considered the plea for mercy made by Indian people on behalf of Ganapathy and when the plea was rejected.

The late Kamaraj Nadar, president of the Tamil Nadu Congress then, led Tamil-speaking public worldwide to mourn and condemn Ganapathy’s execution by the British.

“The British government in Malaya has done a great injustice to India by ordering the execution of one of her sons in total disgraced of protest lodged by the Indian authorities in Malaya,” Kamaraj reportedly said.

SR Venkataraman, member of the Servants of India, urged New Delhi administration to lodge an emphatic protest against the British military administration in Malaya on Ganapathy demise.

Veerasenan had assumed the post of PMFTU president after Ganapathy’s arrest.

Veerasenan was formerly president of the Singapore Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) and the Singapore Harbour Labourers Union (SHLU).

As SHLU president, he was one of the leaders responsible for repeated port strikes in Singapore.

According to news report then, the British 1/7 Gurkha Rifles shot dead Veerasenan in an ambush on an alleged bandit camp near Pertang in Jelebu, some one hour drive from Seremban.

British military spokesman then described the bandit camp as being the first brigade headquarters of the National Liberation Army of Malaya.

A police spokeman reported then that Veerasenan was shot as he stopped to pick up his pack.

Reports quoting sources revealed that Veerasenan was killed  trying to retrieve his belongings, especially his diary in which all information regarding union activities were recorded.

It was reported that Veerasenan last attempt to destroy those documents was to soak the pages of his diary with his blood so that the British troop would only get hold of, but not read, the vital information.

“Such was his dedication towards his movement and belief,” said Waythamoorthy.

Critics until today argued that newspapers then controlled by the colonial government, had portrayed British troops as heroes, whose bravery acts had supposedly saved Malaya nation from the so called “communist bandits” like Ganapathy and Veerasenan.

They argued that after reading the Batang Kali Massacre, people would realise on how they were fooled by the British government.

“British cowardly act of killing innocent rubber tappers in Batang Kali has been hidden from the people for more than 50 years,” they noted.

Panelists of speakers at Hindraf forum will be its advisor N Ganesan, Malaysian Socialist Party (PSM) secretary-general S Arut Chelvam, author of “The Malaysian Indian Dilemma” M Janakey Raman, civil righs activist Balakrishnan and Paul Gardiner.