This is an excerpt of the story about the upcoming play Sambanthan which is written and directed by my friend, Bala and is the stage performance debut for my friend, Peter.
For convenience sake, I have editted some paragraphs.
Sambanthan’s life story
By Sharmila Billot
29 February, 2008
To honour Tun Sambanthan;s achievements as well as celebrate Malaysia’s 50th birthday, the Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry, Istana Budaya and Fenomena Seni Pentas have come up with Sambanthan, a theatre performance chronicling Sambanthan’s life story.
Sambanthan will be staged at Auditorium Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia Tourism Centre in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur from Feb 29 to March 4 at 8.30pm daily.
Written and directed by S.T. Bala, with music composed by Jay, the drama is in Tamil, Bahasa Malaysia and English with Bahasa Malaysia subtitles.
The play features A. Kisukumar and veteran English theatre actor Mano Maniam as the young and old Sambanthan respectively, Datuk Jalaluddin Hassan as Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra and Dr Peter Low Meng Tuck as the third MCA president Tun Tan Siew Sin.
“Sambanthan is a man of greatness. Youngsters today don’t know much of this great leader who fought for the cause of Indians and the independence of our country along with the Tunku,� said Bala.
“The play is his life story condensed in two hours. It portrays his political career, marriage to Umasundari, and his inspirations and achievements that made history.�
“I want to remind youngsters of what he has achieved for the Indians.
“It is an inspirational story of one’s sacrifice for one’s people to break out of poverty and the readiness of our founding fathers to break down racial and religious barriers to forge a united nation.
“I did extensive research on him and worked closely with Sambanthan’s wife Uma and his only child Deva Kunjari in coming up with the storyline.�
“From what I have learned of him, Sambanthan was a man of vision for his community. Indians were a minority then and they were very poor.
“He mooted the idea of a co-operative to help plantation workers during the British Occupation.�
Citing history, Bala said: “Sambanthan and K.R. Somasundram worked closely to buy their first estate at Bukit Sidim in 1960. A co-operative called National Land and Finance Co-operative Society (NLFCS) was set up.
“He persuaded workers to buy shares, which cost RM100, in the cooperative. At the time of his death in 1979, the cooperative had bought more than 19 estates and had a membership of 85,000 workers.�
Today NLFCS has 19 estates totalling 14,000 hectares as well as investments in palm oil, property and banking.
“Sambanthan only had the welfare of his community at heart. He also wanted Indians to accept Malaysia as their family and country, and he worked towards that goal.�
Sambanthan was also one of the delegates who went to London with Tunku to present the Reid Commission with the memorandum asking for independence.
Born on June 16, 1919, Sambanthan died on May 18, 1979. He served as Health Minister (1957-59), Works, Posts and Telecommunications Minister (1959-71) and National Unity Minister (1972-74).
Catch Sambanthan from Feb 29 to March 4 at Malaysia Tourism Centre at 8.30pm. Tickets are priced at RM20 and RM30. Call 03-4026-5558 for more information.
