Doing his best to keep martyred Ganapathy’s memory alive

MALAYSIANSKINI | The most celebrated figure of the Malaysian trade union movement is almost certainly PP Narayanan, who was the founding president of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress. 

However, keen students of history will tell you that SA Ganapathy, the first president of the 300,000-strong Pan Malayan Federation of Trade Unions (PMFTU) was another early important figure.

Born in Tamil Nadu, India, in the 1910s, Ganapathy was orphaned at an early age and brought to Singapore by his uncle. As an influential trade unionist and a Communist, he was hanged in the early days of the Emergency by British authorities in Malaya, on May 4, 1949, after being convicted for the possession of firearms.

While that period of history is murky and often coloured by one’s political sympathies, amateur historian Saminathan Munisamy found Ganapathy’s story a fascinating one and he has devoted many years of study and research to tracking down archival information that may shed light on the truth about Ganapathy.

In 2009, Saminathan founded a blog dedicated to preserving Ganapathy’s memory and he has been involved in a number of projects, including a recent exhibition at the Netaji Hall Indian Cultural centre on the former unionist’s life...