Tan Sri Devaki Krishnan, who holds the record of being the first woman to contest and win a seat in the municipality of Kuala Lumpur, is all for the revival of local council elections. She represented the Bangsar area as one of the 12 elected councillors in the 18-member council until 1955. (The six appointed councillors were representatives from the business sector and from minority groups including the Eurasians and Ceylonese.)
Devaki says ratepayers were deprived of getting candidates who could best serve the community under the existing system of appointing local councillors. “Local authorities face many problems because councillors are not represented by the people. Many of them sit in councils not knowing the people’s woes,” she adds.
Devaki says she is grateful to Datuk Onn Jaafar, the founder of Umno who left the party to set up the Independence of Malaya Party (IMP), for persuading her to go into politics. She was then a teacher in her 20s.
She recalls that much of the campaigning was done on a mobile stage – a lorry with fluorescent lights, which carried four chairs and cone-shaped speakers. The sari-clad Devaki had to be very careful when climbing a ladder to get to the back of the lorry.
“We had rallies at many places like the Kilat Club, Bukit Bangsar, the railway quarters at Sentul and Sentul Pasar. “Each rally would begin with Onn’s speech, followed by an MCA representative after which the then Railway Union president R. Renumal would speak.” Devaki says the speeches were on the IMP’s manifesto and about what the people could gain by supporting it.
Among her achievements as a councillor was to get piped water supply and standpipes for people in Kampung Abdullah Hukum and Kerinchi. “I had to attend to many complaints from the people. Residents in Bangsar and Brickfields who complained about having to travel far to post their letters got letter boxes set up nearer to their homes.”
“The main concerns were to fight for the rights of the constituents but my rapport with the British president of the council and the OCPD helped to resolve many problems.” “I needed a lot of help so I would sit with Datuk Onn and another lawyer, one Mr Ramani,” she shares, adding that the IMP head office was located behind the Sultan Abdul Samad building.
“Those days there were strong ties among people of all races and religions. “In school we had religious studies. I had to study the Old and New Testament and achieved an A for the subject in my Form Five although I continued to be a Hindu. “My parents were open to idea of me gaining knowledge of other religions,” she says.