Remembering the People’s Progressive Party of Malaya

DURING the British rule of Malaya, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) was the sole and most active Opposition party in the 1950s.

The party was founded in Perak by two Tamil Ceylonese brothers, DR and SP Seenivasagam, who were British-trained barristers from London’s Inns of Court. They fought for the rights of the poor, particularly petty traders, hawkers, taxi drivers and those who were illegally detained.

During this period, local government elections were introduced in urban areas. Ipoh then was known as a municipality and in the Ipoh municipal council elections, the PPP captured a majority of the seats and SP Seenivasagam was elected council president. The Ipoh election became a role model for municipal council elections throughout the country and even influenced the enactment of the Local Government Act 1976.

This was when the Alliance – the forerunner of today's Barisan Nasional party and comprising Umno, MCA and later MIC – controlled the Federal Government; at one stage the PPP became a partner in the Alliance to fight for an urban seat in Ipoh. However, this marriage of convenience did not last long, and the PPP soon broke away and continued as an Opposition party.

It was during these pre-Merdeka times that PPP actively worked with Datuk Onn Jaafar, the founder of Umno, and also with Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, Ahmad Boestman of Socialist Rakyat party, and Dr Bahruddin Ali Helmy of the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (now known as PAS) for Malaya’s independence.

Onn was a man of vision and a leader who could anticipate how the country should develop in the years ahead. He wanted Malaya to have multiracial political parties, and his conviction of this was so great that he left the party he founded when he couldn’t make Umno a multiracial party. He went on to form the Independence of Malaya Party and then Parti Negara.

Onn was a rare true leader and his formation of Umno will always be his particular legacy, one that eventually lead to the formation of present day political parties including Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR); I am currently a senior member of PKR under the leadership of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

I can confidently say I am a senior politician as I have served right from the time when Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj was the first prime minister; and it gives me added honour to say that I also had the privilege of meeting the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong of the Federation Of Malaya, the Yang di-Pertuan Besar Negri Sembilan Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman, who read law at London’s Inner Temple, the very same institution where I too read law from 1964 to 1967.

So as our country celebrates the 66th National Day on Thursday (Aug 31), I, as a living witness of history, would like to remind Malaysians of the efforts made by the Seenivasagam brothers and party members like Khong Kok Yat (who was an Ipoh councillor) to make the PPP an active Opposition to the Alliance that raised important issues like multilingualism.

The PPP’s birthplace was Tambun, Perak, in 1953, and the party was first known as Perak’s Progressive Party when it made Ipoh its base. In 1955 the name was changed to the People’s Progressive Party with the view to expanding nationwide.

They say history repeats itself: My colleague Anwar stood in the constituency of Tambun under the Pakatan Harapan ticket and become the Tambun MP after the 15th General Election last year.

As for me, after the death of SP Seenivasagam, I was elected PPP president and served from 1975 to 1995. At the age of 39, I was also appointed a Senator upon the recommendation of Malaysia’s third prime minister, the late Tun Hussein Onn.

SENATOR (RTD) SI RAJAH

Kuala Lumpur