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Dr. P.P. Narayanan

Dr. P.P. Narayanan
Born	15 February, 1923 Tolanur, Kerala, India
Died	19 February, 1996 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
Citizenship	Malaysia
Years active	1943 - 1994
Spouse	M.K. Dakshayani
Children	5
Parents	Chettur Narayanan Nair (father) Palayil Janaki Amma (mother)

Early Childhood and Education

P. P. Narayanan (Palayil Pathazapurayil Narayanan) was born on 15^th February 1923, in Tolanur, Palakkad District, Kerala, India. His parents were and Palayil Janaki Amma and Chettur Narayanan Nair, who was the nephew of (Sir) Chettur Sankaran Nair (Morais (1984), Introductory pages).

He moved to Malaya to further his education, where he completed the Malayan Senior Cambridge Examination in 1940 and enrolled in the Technical College in Kuala Lumpur, intending to become an electrical engineer. However, he had to discontinue the course due to lack of funds (Morais (1984), p.53) and the Japanese invasion of Malaya in December 1941 during World War II.

Forced to work, instead of study, he found employment in 1942 as a daily-rated winchman in a tin mine (The Rawang Tin Fields) in Rawang, Selangor, collecting a wage of one Straits dollar a day. Here he had his first direct contact with manual laborers and saw how they were eking out a meagre existence with little chance to improve their lot. To remind him of those days of hardship, Narayanan carried with him a small payslip from the mine until his passing (Williams (2007), p.12).

In mid-1943, Subhas Chandra Bose (Netaji) visited Malaya, attracting “vast crowds, not solely comprised of Indians, [who] flocked to attend what were perhaps the largest political gatherings hitherto held in the country (Harper (1999), p.45).” Narayanan traveled to Kuala Lumpur to hear Netaji and was completely inspired by his speech canvassing moral and material support for the Indian National Army (INA) that pledged to fight against colonialism and herald social reforms. Narayanan donated a gold ring he had purchased with his meagre savings as a daily-rated worker, and enlisted with the INA soon after (Netaji Centre (1992), p.67). He was among the first batch of recruits from Selangor to be sent to Singapore for officer training (Leon (2015), p.183). On being commissioned in 1945, he served as a quartermaster in a camp in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, before being appointed the Station Staff Officer (Netaji Centre (1992), p.67).

Trade Union Work

The post-war period after 1945 was characterized by widespread unemployment, food shortages, long-hours of work and low rates of pay. Narayanan managed to find employment as an apprentice clerk in a rubber estate in Selangor. He later moved to become a clerk in another estate in Negeri Sembilan. His experiences in the estates provided him first-hand information on the appalling conditions suffered by estate workers (then referred to as labourers) (Morais (1984), p.2)." The fate of the Indian workers was even worse; brought in as indentured labourers to work in the rubber estates and public works, they were already marginalised prior to the war. They were being paid one cent an hour and worked for 12 hours a day, for 7 days a week. At the outbreak of the war, wages averaged at 60 cents for a 12-hour workday. After the war, employers were seeking to restore the status quo (Baradan (26 February 1995), p.13).

The young Narayanan felt moved to help the workers by forming a union with ten others. Barely 23 years of age, he was elected to serve as the Secretary of the Negeri Sembilan Plantation Workers Union. He rose and “dominated the Malayan trade union movement for several decades, [and] was a towering figure in the trade union movement in Malaya and internationally (Comber (2015), p.164)”.

Six months after the formation of the union, he resigned as estate clerk and devoted his time fully to nurturing the union. He was allotted a salary of 125 Straits dollars but it never came regularly. The first bicycle he purchased was repossessed when he could not make the third instalment payment. And, when once the Union’s phone bill could not be settled, Narayanan reluctantly pawned his wedding ring, hoping to redeem it someday. That day never came (Morais (1975), p.37).

Narayanan faced strong competition from the communists who had spearheaded the anti-Japanese campaign (with British help) and had re-emerged as post-war heroes. They were pushing hard to form trade unions themselves, taking advantage of workers facing hardships due to the dislocations in the immediate post-war period. Being a staunch anti-communist, Narayanan steered his Union and, later, the nascent trade union movement in the country, away from communism to one based on democratic principles without affiliation to political parties or party politics. Individual members were free to support the political party of their choice, but the movement had to be seen as apolitical with the freedom to align with parties or politicians sympathetic to the cause of labour (Comber (2015), p.163).

In 1954, Narayanan’s union in Negeri Sembilan merged with four other small unions that were representing estate workers in Perak, Melaka, Johor and Alor Gajah, to become the National Union of Plantation Workers (NUPW)—the largest in the country, and at one time, the largest in Asia (Comber (2015), pp.163-164). He was elected its general secretary and kept the post until his retirement in 1992. The NUPW not only provided estate workers with a united front but also succeeded in fighting for, and gaining albeit gradually, improvements in wages, conditions of service, living conditions, and legal protection from abuses and exploitation.

Although Narayanan’s union membership was predominantly Indian estate workers, his vision was to promote solidarity among workers at all levels. He was the moving force behind the formation of a national labour body in 1950 that became known later as the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) and served as its first President. He subsequently returned to serve as president on several more occasions.

Legislator

Narayanan was sworn in as a member of the Federal Legislative Council in February 1948. The Hansards of the period show that he not only fought fiercely to protect the rights of the workers but did so with much humour and humanity (Morais (1975), Chap.9).

He was one of four people who represented the Malayan Legislature at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in London in 1953. A teetotaller, he caused a furore by refusing to toast the Queen with wine as was the custom. Instead, he toasted Her Majesty with water—an act that was widely publicised in the British press.

Towards Independence and Nation-Building

In 1948, just before the Emergency, The Communist Party in Malaya issued a secret instruction that the party should take control of progressive mass institutions like trade unions, youth and women’s organisations and place them under the direct leadership of the party. Efforts were to be intensified through Communist-controlled trade unions to create labour unrest. Then labour unions could be strengthened as they could be the communists’ strongest weapon (Comber (2015), p.163). Narayanan proved to be a major stumbling block to their aspirations.

In October 1951, Sir Henry Gurney, the serving British High Commissioner in Malaya was assassinated by guerrilla agents. His replacement, Sir Gerald Templer, only took up his post after a gap of about four months in February 1952, during which time the guerrilla activities had intensified. He was a decorated military officer and was amply qualified to handle the military aspects of the problem. Moreover, Gurney had already started implementing the Briggs Plan to cut supplies and support the guerrillas were receiving from the unassimilated Chinese population scattered along the fringes of jungles. The Plan involved the resettling of nearly half a million Chinese into “New Villages” that were ringed with barbed wire and patrolled regularly by police. Templer’s immediate task was to continue implementing the Plan.

Templer also needed the support of the Indians, who were largely in estates which were being targeted by the guerrillas who wanted to destroy the economy of colonial Malaya. The communists were also intimidating the estate workforce in attempts to regain control of the labour movement that they had lost when many union leaders aligned to them went underground at the onset of the Emergency (Comber (2015), p.3). But his personality did not allow for easy friendships. Templer was suspicious of the Tunku, who led the Malays and had an uneasy relationship with Tan Cheng Lock, the Chinese leader (Comber (2015), p.9). A British civil servant in Malaya had noted that “[b]ehind his penetrating gaze there was a tough, even a harsh quality, an intimidating character, whose mordant tongue and vivid language would unquestionably make him some enemies in Malays (Comber (2015), p.13).” A local historian was more direct in his assessment: “Templer was a feared man, who became notorious for his violent temper and intemperate language (Cheah (2009), p.137).”

Narayanan, who had tremendous influence in the estates, was a nationalist but opposed to militant communism. Templar saw in him an important ally to fight the communist threat. He, therefore, enlisted "the cooperation of P.P. Narayanan, a Federal Legislative Council Member, a powerful trade union leader, and the first President of the Malayan Trades Union Congress and General Secretary of the National Union of Plantation Workers (Comber (2015), p.162).”

Narayanan had no difficulty working with Templer; The former had cut his teeth on driving hard bargains with arrogant and abrasive European planters and estate managers, long before he met Templer. Comber, in his book on Templer, wondered aloud if Templar’s views of Narayanan might have been different had he known that Narayanan had fought against the British colonial forces in Malaya as part of the INA (Comber (2015), Chapter 7).

These speculations notwithstanding, the records show that both men worked with mutual respect for one another, although it did not stop Narayanan from expressing public dissatisfaction with some of Templer’s actions. And surprisingly, Narayanan’s views were taken seriously. On one occasion, Narayanan recalls in his biography, he had suggested that Templar visit some of the worst areas affected by the insurgency like Bahau (in Negeri Sembilan) and Yong Peng (in Johor) to help build the morale of the people there. Several day later, Templer called him to say he had just returned from Bahau. He then added, “Well, you see, I do listen to people like you (Morais (1975), pp. 61-62).”

Just prior to Narayanan’s departure for London as part of a four-man delegation that represented the Federal Legislature at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in London, Templer reminded Narayanan that the trip provides a rare opportunity to meet the heads of the Malayan rubber and tin industries in the UK, and volunteered to get the Colonial Office in London to arrange meetings with them. And Narayanan indeed did meet them (Morais (1975), pp. 61-62).

Not until recently has the role of the anti-communist trade union movement in the fight for Malayan nationhood been acknowledged. Writing in 2015, Comber noted that the “Trade union movement was one of the strongest forces working for a Malayan nation (Comber (2015), p.164),” a fact that is conspicuously absent from Malaysian history books.

International Work

Narayanan put the Malaysian trade union movement on the world map when he participated in the Free Labour Conference in London in November 1949. He was one of three persons who represented the movement even before the national body, Malayan Trade Union Congress (MTUC), was formed. It was at this meeting that the proposal to form an international umbrella body of free trade unions was passed. From this proposal was born the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in 1949 (Zaidi (1975), p.41). Aged 26, Narayanan was possibly the youngest participant and was unknown in the international gathering of the leading lights of trade unions from around the world. A documentary of the event identified Narayanan as “a young Asiatic friend”. In a strange twist of destiny, this young Asiatic would eventually helm the world body some 25 years later.

During this trip, his first outside Asia, Narayanan took time to visit, among other places of interest, the British Parliament, Westminster Abbey and Hyde Park. On his return, he observed with his typical humour: “After seeing the Parliament and Hyde Park, I felt there were two confusing phrases in the English language. One was the Speaker of the House who seldom speaks, and [the other was] Hyde Park, where they seldom hide anything from the public (Morais (1984), p.51).”

Narayanan went on to be first elected as the President of the Asian regional wing of the ICFTU, a position he held from 1969-1974. Subsequently, he was unanimously elected President of the ICFTU world body in 1975 and held the post for four consecutive terms until his retirement in 1992. He was the first (and only) developing nation leader to hold this office.

Similarly, he moved from being the Vice President of the International Federation of Plantation, Agricultural and Allied Workers (IFPAAW) (1957-1987) to head it between 1988-1992.

Awards and Recognition

Recognition for his services came by way of honours and awards. He received the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service in 1962 and was the second recipient from Malaysia (the first being Malaysia's first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, himself).

He was honoured posthumously when a major road in Petaling Jaya, in the state of Selangor, was named Jalan P.P. Narayanan (a.k.a. Persiaran P.P. Narayanan) Coincidentally, the road is a logical extension of Jalan Templer (named after Gerald Templer) where the headquarters of the NUPW had been situated during Narayanan’s lifetime.

Final Days and Passing

Narayanan resigned as secretary general of the NUPW and gave up almost all his other numerous positions in 1992 on account of poor health and passed away four years later, on February 19, 1996, just a week after he turned 73. Condolence messages poured in from all over the globe and from local trade union comrades, and well-wishers. The Malaysian Prime Minister was joined by the Labour Minister and several members of the cabinet in expressing sorrow at his passing. An obituary that appeared in a nationally read newspaper made the following observation:

“His demise also brought to an end Malaysia’s high-flying involvement in international trade unionism, a feat not emulated by other Malaysian trade unionists in recent years. It will be quite a while before any other local unionist—if at all—makes it as big as P.P. internationally….More than anything and anyone else, P.P.'s single biggest contribution was organising the rubber estate workers under an organisation where their salaries and terms and conditions of service were gradually and steadily improved. More important than that, getting organised brought with it legal protection from abuse and exploitation."

Another report summarised his life thus: “At 23, he founded his first trade union. At 25, he became the youngest member of the Federal Legislative Council, and at 27, he was elected the first President of the MTUC. Before he was 42 (Edit: He was 52, as noted in citation), P.P. Narayanan..had reached the pinnacle of his career as president of a world labour centre with 90 million members in 120 countries.”

Further Reading: Papers, Talks, Books and Other Publications

• Wages -- Malaysia -- Rubber industry and trade.
• National Union of Plantation Workers : A Talk
• P.P. Narayanan - the Asian trade union leader. Forew. by Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra A1-haj
• Relationships at the place of work : their effective regulation and the impact on them of external relationships and national policies
• Trade unions role in development
• Role of trade unions in South East Asia
• A policy statement on our immediate tasks
• Wages -- Malaysia -- Rubber industry and trade.
• Social and economic contribution of rural unions to development

My first Article - Expanding on trade union leader P.P. Narayanan

Category:ICFTU Asia and Pacific Regional Organisation