David V. (26 August 1932 – 10 July 2005) was a Malaysian unionist and former opposition politician. He won a seat in the Malaysian parliament twice representing the constituencies of Bangsar and Damansara. While in parliament, he was known to be fearless and vocal in raising issues concerning the Indian community in Malaysia. He later became the Chairman of the World Tamil Association in 1984.David was a founding member and secretary of Selangor Factories Association in 1953. He was known as King David among local and international trade union circles and served as MTUC secretary-general from 1976 to 1992. He was also the Transport Workers Union secretary-general from 1958 to 1995. David was best known for setting up the Workers Institute of Technology (WIT) in Port Klang in the early 1970s, which provided education opportunities for thousands of workers children over the years. At the international level, he served as the executive board member of the International Transport Federation and the International Confederation of Free Trade Union, and represented Malaysian workers at numerous International Labour Organisation (ILO) conferences in Geneva, Switzerland.He was elected as Kuala Lumpur town councillor and became Transport Union secretary in 1958. In 1959, he was elected Bangsar Member of Parliament. In 1978, David defeated Malaysian Indian Congress strongman, Deputy Minister S. Subramaniam for the Damansara parliament seat.David became Chairman of World Tamil Association in 1984. He was arrested under the Emergency Ordinance in 1958. He was also arrested under Internal Security Act in 1964, 1969 (after May 13 racial riots) and 1987.David died in July 2005. He had served the workers for nearly 40 years from 1958 until he fell sick in 1995.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 10:29:09 +0000
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