Kundan Lal Devaser was the fourth president of the

Malayan Indian Congress The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC; ta, மலேசிய இந்திய காங்கிரஸ், Malēciya Intiya Kāṅkiras; formerly known as Malayan Indian Congress) is a Malaysian political party. It is one of the founding membe ...

from 1951 - 1955. It was under Devaser's presidency that the MIC joined the

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

in 1954, which was then a political coalition formed between the

United Malays National Organisation The United Malays National Organisation (Malay: ; Jawi: ; abbreviated UMNO () or less commonly PEKEMBAR), is a nationalist right-wing political party in Malaysia. As the oldest continuous national political party within Malaysia (since its in ...

and the

Malayan Chinese Association The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA; zh, 马来西亚华人公会; ; ta, மலேசிய சீனர் சங்கம், initially known as the Malayan Chinese Association) is a uni-racial political party in Malaysia that seeks to ...

. The political alliance has stood the test of time over 50 years and continues today as the

Barisan Nasional The National Front ( ms, Barisan Nasional; abbrev: BN) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1973 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties. It is also the third largest political coalition with 30 se ...

President of MIC

The

had contested in the 1952 Kuala Lumpur Municipal Elections in alliance with the

Independence of Malaya Party The Independence of Malaya Party ( ms, Parti Kemerdekaan Malaya) was a political party in British-ruled Malaya that stood for political independence. Founded by Onn Ja'afar after he left UMNO in 1951, it opposed the UMNO policy of Malay supr ...

(IMP) under Dato' Onn bin Jaffar and other non-communal organisations. However, the 1952 election proved MIC's attempt to preach and practise non-communalism would not prevail in Malayan politics when communalism was the winning factor. The defeat has shown MIC that it stands a better chance by joining the Alliance as it was the most workable and effective form of political machinery in the Malayan context. According to Rajeswary Ampalavanar, author of The Indian Minority and Political Change in Malaya 1954-1957, the MIC leadership was quite eager to join the

but there was some resistance within the party’s broader membership. They were willing to support the move if the party could secure some concessions from the Alliance on inter-communal issues, particularly on education. Then MIC president K.L. Devaser came under heavy criticism from the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

media for not addressing the pressing issues facing the community. While he was quite outspoken, his influence was largely among the urban-based Indian elite and he lacked wider grassroots support. Some in the party felt that there was a need for a leader with a stronger relationship with the party’s grassroots. In March 1955, reports in the local daily Tamil Murasu urged Tamils to boycott the MIC. Tun V. T. Sambanthan, then a state MIC leader, emerged during this period as an alternative candidate for the party leadership. Going by historical records, he was literally coerced into taking up the presidency. Another candidate, P.P. Narayanan, was approached by party leaders but turned down their invitation because he wanted to concentrate on union activities.

Malayan Independence

As an

government

backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

, Devaser was involved with the debate over the draft Federation of Malaya Constitution in the

Federal Legislative Council The Federal Legislative Council (also known simply as the Legislative Council) was the legislative body of the Federation of Malaya and the predecessor of the Malaysian Parliament. It was formed in 1948 after the abolition of the Malayan Union and ...

(the precursor to the

Parliament of Malaysia The Parliament of Malaysia ( ms, Parlimen Malaysia) is the national legislature of Malaysia, based on the Westminster system. The bicameral parliament consists of the Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives, Literal translation, lit. "People's A ...

). He criticised the changes made to Article 10 making it unreasonable by removing judicial review of limitations imposed under the Article as proposed by the

Reid Commission The Reid Commission was an independent commission responsible for drafting the Constitution of Malaysia, Constitution of the Federation of Malaya prior to Federation of Malaya, Malayan independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northe ...

and giving the executive more powers. He argued: Despite his objections, the Legislative Council approved the modified draft.

References

* ''The Indian Minority and Political Change in Malaya 1954-1957''; Rajeswary Ampalavanar {{DEFAULTSORT:Devaser, K. L. Malaysian politicians of Indian descent Malaysian politicians of Tamil descent Malaysian Hindus 1912 births 1978 deaths Presidents of Malaysian Indian Congress