D.R. Seenivasagam

Who is D.R. Seenivasagam?

Darma Raja Seenivasagam was a prominent leader of the People's Progressive Party 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. 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 in 1965 comprising multi-racial parties like the People's Action Party and the United Democratic Party. 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".