Devan Nair

His Excellency C. V. Devan Nair
Devan Nair
3rd President of Singapore
In office 23 October 1981 – 27 March 1985
Prime Minister	Lee Kuan Yew (1959–1990)
Preceded by	Benjamin Henry Sheares
Succeeded by	Wee Kim Wee
Member of Parliament for Anson
In office 1979–1981
Preceded by	P. Govindaswamy
Succeeded by	J.B. Jeyaretnam
Personal details
Born	Devan Nair Chengara Veetil 5 August 1923 Melaka, Malaysia
Died	6 December 2005 (aged 82) Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	Malaysian
Political party	People's Action Party
Spouse(s)	Avadai Dhanam
Children	4
Profession	Labour unionist
Religion	Hinduism

Devan Nair Chengara Veetil, also known as C. V. Devan Nair (5 August 1923 – 6 December 2005), was a Malaysian and Singaporean politician. He served as the third President of Singapore. Before his presidency, Nair led the Singaporean trade union movement and founded the National Trades Union Congress in 1961. He had also founded the Democratic Action Party in Malaysia. He was elected by the Parliament of Singapore on 23 October 1981, and served as President until his resignation on 28 March 1985.^[1]

Early life

Born on August 5, 1923 in Malacca, he was the son of a rubber plantation clerk, I.V.K. Nair, who was originally from Thalassery, Kerala. He and his family migrated to Singapore when he was 10 years old and he received his primary education at Rangoon Road Primary School before enrolling in Victoria School for his secondary education where he passed his Senior Cambridge examination in 1940.^[1]

Career

After the second World War, Nair became a Normal Trained teacher and taught at St Joseph's Institution and later, at St Andrew's School. In 1949, he became General Secretary of the Singapore Teachers' Union.^[1]

Initially, a member of the Communist Anti-British League, he joined Lee Kuan Yew's People's Action Party (PAP) in 1954. He was the only PAP member to win in the Malaysian general election, 1964, winning the Bangsar constituency, near Kuala Lumpur. He stayed in Malaysia after the Separation, forming the Democratic Action Party,^[2] but returned to Singapore to lead the labour union movement and founded the National Trades Union Congress. Once during his political action during the 1950s, Devan Nair was detained in a Singapore prison by the British government. There, he read the writings of Sri Aurobindo, particularly the Life Divine and became his lifelong admirer and disciple. He visited Pondicherry and nearby Auroville a number of times and wrote and spoke on Sri Aurobindo's vision in the United States, Canada and other countries.

He entered the Singapore Parliament in 1979 by winning the Anson seat in a by-election and retained the seat in the 1980 general election, but resigned the seat in 1981 to accept the largely ceremonial office of President.^[3] This resulted in a by-election of the Anson seat which was then won by opposition leader Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, the first time in Singapore since 1972 when an opposition party candidate won a Parliament seat.

Resignation

On 28 March 1985, Nair resigned in unclear circumstances. Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew stated in Parliament that Nair resigned to get treatment for alcoholism, a charge Nair hotly denied. According to Nair's counterclaim, he resigned under pressure when their political views came into conflict and Lee threatened him to a game of chess to then oust him as president. Nair also alleged that he was fed drugs to make him appear disoriented and that rumours were spread about his personal life in an attempt to discredit him. In 1999, an article about the case in the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail resulted in a libel suit by Lee.^[4] Some claimed that the suit was thrown out of court after Nair's counterclaim.^[5] However, in a letter to the New York Times, it is said that Lee agreed to discontinue the suit only when two of Nair's sons issued a statement, reported in the Globe and Mail on 1 July 2004, maintaining that Nair was no longer mentally competent to give evidence in court.^[6] The Globe and Mail statement concluded that "having reviewed the records, and on the basis of the family's knowledge of the circumstances leading to Mr. Nair's resignation as President of Singapore in March, 1985, we can declare that there is no basis for this allegation (of Mr Nair being drugged)."^[7]

Post-presidency and death

After his resignation as President, Nair and his wife migrated first to the United States in 1988 where they settled in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Then later they moved to Bloomington, Indiana. The couple later moved to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, where they lived out for the rest of their lives. His wife, Avadai Dhanam, died on 18 April 2005 in Hamilton, whilst Nair, who had developed severe dementia, died on 7 December of the same year as his wife in Hamilton, Canada.^[8]

Family

Nair is survived by his daughter, three sons, and five grandchildren. His eldest son, Janadas Devan,^[9] is a senior editor with the Singapore newspaper The Straits Times. His second son, Janamitra Devan, was the former Vice-President of the International Finance Corporation,^[10] and the World Bank. His third son, Janaprakash Devan^[11] died in Melbourne, Australia in 2010. His only daughter, Vijaya Kumari Devan continues to reside in Hamilton, Ontario.^[12]

References

1. "Mr Devan Nair". www.istana.gov.sg. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
2. Woon, Leven. "http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/09/23/why-no-dap-founder-portrait-at-party-premises-by/". MToday News Sdn. Bhd. Retrieved 5 December 2015. External link in |title= (help)
3. Singh, Bajinder Pal. "Thailand's Indians hope for stability, peace after coup". Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
4. "SW: Former president Nair criticises suppression of dissent". singapore-window.org. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
5. Lee v. Globe and Mail (Nair v. Lee)
6. "Letters:Devan Nair". New York Times. 22 December 2005. Retrieved August 2011.
7. "Former Singapore leader stricken by illness". singapore-window.org. Retrieved August 2011.
8. Pandiyan, M.Veera. "LKY: Insights from a comrade turned foe". Star Media Group Berhad. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
9. "Growing up in the Presidents' shadow". my paper. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
10. http://www1.ifc.org/wps/wcm/connect/corp_ext_content/ifc_external_corporate_site/about+ifc/organization/about+ifc+-+mgmt+group+-+janamitra+devan
11. "Janaprakash Devan and Fiona Fernandes - Marriage Record". Graphiq, Inc. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
12. "Devan Nair helped shape Singapore". Asian Pacific Post. Retrieved 5 December 2015.

• Dodsworth & Brown Funeral Home (Robinson Chapel)
• "AROUND THE WORLD – AROUND THE WORLD – Singapore President Out – Drinking Problem Cited – NYTimes.com". query.nytimes.com. 29 March 1985. Retrieved 18 November 2010.