P. Veerasenan was a notable labour unionist from Singapore. He was once the President of Standing Committee of Singapore General Labour Union (SGLU) as well as the vice-president of Singapore Federation of Trade Unions(SFTU). In his career, he befriended with S.A. Ganapathy, the former president of Pan Malayan Federation of Trade Unions (PMFTU), and

Abdullah CD Cik Dat bin Anjang Abdullah, commonly known as Abdullah CD (born 2 October 1923), is a former Malaysian politician who served as chairman and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM). Biography Abdullah was born on 2 October 1 ...

, chairman and currently General Secretary of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).

Political activism

He succeeded Ganapathy as the president of Pan Malayan Federation of Trade Unions (PMFTU). On 18 August 1946, under his leadership, Singapore Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) organised a mass protest of 5000 was held in Singapore. He strongly criticised the Malayan Government's immigration policy and condemned negotiation by the government to bring in more Indian labourers into

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

. He also advocates the prohibition of alcohol products among the Indian labourers as it could foresee adverse effect on the labourers. He also condemned the Advisory Council for not representing the Indian community at all in Malaya. SFTU also made an appeal to the Indian Government, Indian National Congress,

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

and the All-India Muslim League to double check on the proposed influx of Indians to Malaya.

Death

On 19 March 1949, S.A. Ganapathy was arrested at Waterfall Estate in Rawang. On 3 May 1949, a day before the prosecution of his friend, S.A. Ganapathy, he was shot dead by the British in his camp at

Jelebu The Jelebu District (Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Jolobu'') is the second largest district in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia after Jempol, with a population over 40,000. Jelebu borders on the Seremban District to its west and Kuala Pilah District to i ...

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan'') is a state in Malaysia which lies on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It borders Selangor on the north, Pahang in the east, and Malacca and Johor to the s ...

from 1/7 Gurkha Rifles. His camp was described by the military spokesman as being the First Brigade Headquarters of the Malayan National Liberation Army.

References

{{Communism in Malaysia 1949 deaths Malaysian communists Singaporean communists People from Tamil Nadu Tamil diaspora in Singapore Singaporean trade unionists