Samuel Pennington Thavarasa Tambimuttu was a

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...

lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament.

Early life and family

Tambimuttu was born in 1932. He was the grand nephew of

E. R. Tambimuttu Emmanuel Rasanayagam Tambimuttu ( ta, இம்மானுவேல் ராசநாயகம் தம்பிமுத்து, translit=Im'māṉuvēl Rācanāyakam Tampimuttu; born c1890) was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer, politician and member ...

, member of the

State Council of Ceylon The State Council of Ceylon was the unicameral legislature for Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), established in 1931 by the Donoughmore Constitution. The State Council gave universal adult franchise to the people of the colony for the first time. It r ...

. He was married to Kala, daughter of Senator M. Manickam. They had a son Arun. Tambimuttu was a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

Career

Tambimuttu was a

proctor Proctor (a variant of ''procurator'') is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another. The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts: * In law, a proctor is a historical class of lawye ...

and practiced law in

Batticaloa Batticaloa ( ta, மட்டக்களப்பு, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu''; si, මඩකලපුව, ''Maḍakalapuwa'') is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the B ...

. He was chairman of Batticaloa Citizen's Committee. In this capacity he would intervene on behalf of youths arrested by the paramilitary Special Task Force. Tambimuttu had been a member of the

Tamil United Liberation Front The Tamil United Liberation Front ( ta, தமிழர் ஐக்கிய விடுதலை முன்னணி, translit=Tamil Onrupattatu Viduthulai Munnai, si, ද්‍රවිඩ එක්සත් විමුක්ති ප� ...

for a long time. He contested the 1989 parliamentary election as one of the

Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front The Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) is a series of Sri Lankan political parties and a former militant separatist group. Militant separatists The EPRLF was formed in 1980 by K. Pathmanabha (Padmanaba), Douglas Devananda, Su ...

's candidates in

Batticaloa District Batticaloa District ( ta, மட்டக்களப்பு மாவட்டம் ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu Māvaṭṭam''; si, මඩකලපුව දිස්ත්‍රික්කය ''maḍakalapūva distrikkaya'') is one of the 25 dist ...

and was elected to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. Tambimuttu was

assassinated Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

on 7 May 1990 outside the Canadian High Commission in

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

. His wife Kala died on 16 May as a result of injuries sustained in the assassination. The assassination was blamed on the rebel

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

References

1932 births 1990 deaths Ceylonese proctors Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front politicians Members of the 9th Parliament of Sri Lanka Assassinated Sri Lankan politicians People from Batticaloa People killed during the Sri Lankan Civil War Sri Lankan Methodists Sri Lankan Tamil lawyers Tamil politicians Tamil United Liberation Front politicians 1990s assassinated politicians {{EasternLK-politician-stub