the-zz-chetty-malacca-families-in-singapore-final-2-dec-2013

Married to David Littrell, an engineer, they have two children and are settled in Phoenix, Arizona, USA 3 Family of Ardy Pillay 17 Mdm.. For this reason, he was also known both in Malacc

A Collaborative Project (see Annex A for co-authors)

Led by Gerald F Pillay

Point of Origin –Malacca during the early Sultanate

Introduction

The rediscovery of the history of the Chetty Malacca was pioneered by the late Mr B.Sithambaram Naiker, an outstanding leader of the community who passed away in 1986 Hismonograph “Chetti of Malacca”, with an impressive collection of pictures, was publishedposthumously by his son Mr S Vengadesan Naiker, PBM, and may be found at

http://malaccachetty.blogspot.com/2011/08/history-of-malacca-chetty-community.html

This historical quest was taken up by a Singapore educationist, historian and author, Mr Samuel

S Dhoraingam Working closely with Mr Naiker and others, he wrote the first substantive history

of the community entitled, “Peranakan Indians of Singapore and Melaka”, published by theInstitute of Southeast Asian Studies in 2006 (IBSN 981-230-346-4)

In Mar 2011, Gerald F Pillay, a Malacca-born Chetty Malaccan and retired Singapore civil servant,began writing the “Story of Odiang”1 a chronicle of his late father Francis Joseph Pillay This ledhim to review the available information about the community In the process he produced asubstantial update of their history, which he decided to make available independently on theInternet at http://chettymalacca.wordpress.com/2011/08/17/welcome-friends/

The Association of Chetti Melaka (Peranakan Indians) of Singapore was inaugurated on 19 Jan

2008 Under the leadership of its current President, Major (Ret) Ponnusamy Kalastree, the

1 This Story is available at http://geraldpillay.wordpress.com/the_story_of_odiang/

association has been the major catalyst in the current revival of public interest in and theresurgence of the community The President has urged that the history of the Chetty Malaccadiaspora in Singapore, and their further extension abroad from the island, be captured before all

is lost with time This monograph seeks to respond to this challenge It complements the earlierstudies, which form the necessary background to the present work

A Community Collaborative Exercise

This exercise, although led by the undersigned, could only happen with the participation of thecommunity Through the association, I was delighted to find all-round encouragement Variousmembers of the community pointed out people with a store of memories The latter in turnshowed a readiness to be “examined”, so as to contribute whatever they could Mostlyimportantly, I found some key members of the community who shared a common “grand passion”

to find out the antecedents of their families and the history of the community They havecollaborated unstintingly in the exercise These co-authors worked separately but followedcommon guidelines and definitions In all cases, they have shared their own precious data,painstakingly collected over the years They have followed common leads, searching out andquestioning their friends, elders and relatives, even to the extent of calling them overseas and inone case visiting them in the course of travel It has been an equal collaboration in all cases, andthe partners truly “own “the write-ups associated with them These co-authors are acknowledged

in their proper place, but I would like here to record the thanks of the community to them, forwithout their participation, it would not have been possible to carry out the exercise At the centre

of things has been Ponno Kalastree, who marshalled relevant persons to see us, and to whom Iwish on behalf of all to express our whole-hearted gratitude

The approach has been eclectic, doing what is available first, and is on-going In the process we2

look forward to covering the Chetty Malacca community substantially, At the end of each release

we list, and will list, those families we have come to know of and still hope to reach It has takenmore time than originally expected, due to interruptions Parts 1 and 2 were begun in Mar andSep 2011, and the other parts now being released mainly from Apr 2013 One consequence ofthis is that the cut-off dates of the different parts vary, depending when we stopped It is hopedthat the release of these reports will encourage readers to provide us with missing information,families and links We envisage adding and amending from time to time as necessary

Scope of the Exercise

We recognize that there has been leakage of the Chetty Malacca population from Malacca toSingapore (and other parts of Malaysia) from the beginning of the last century if not earlier Theyleft to seek better employment and educational prospects The overall impression, however, isthat for Singapore the significant migration and family-building momentum began in the decadebefore the Japanese Occupation - with the arrivals continuing after the war Migration in bothdirections carried on through the period of political changes in the 1950s and 1960s untilSeparation in 1965, with net gains on the Singapore side Thereafter, the immigration andmanpower policies on both sides of the causeway became the determining factors

As a result, we see the Singapore diaspora as comprising tiers or generations as follows:

2 “We” means the collaborators in this exercise While each has worked with me

independently of the others, they all share the common basis of work and views expressed in this Introduction.

Time Frame (migrated or born

Fourth (next)

In this exercise, the approach is by families Our objective has been to establish the historicalscenario in respect of the first generation where available, and then the senior current and thecurrent generations We have confined ourselves to what is in the public domain as available Wehave not undertaken any research In point of fact, other than Mr Dhoraisingam’s book to which

we are deeply indebted, we find that there have been no surveys or published research on thediaspora of Singapore Family records and histories, to the extent they exist, have also not byand large surfaced yet We have therefore had to rely on the recollections of people, includingthird parties

Our strategy has been as follows:

 to establish the main families in Singapore in and around the 1950s viz the seniorcurrent generation

 From the above baseline, we proceed to capture their recollections of how their families

or their predecessors, viz the first generation, migrated to Singapore, and establishedthemselves; and

 Thereafter, we have sought to establish the growth of the third or younger currentgenerations of these families, but only sketchily

 We will leave the fourth generation to be written up by their parents or the youngercurrent generation

 Wherever possible, we have checked our findings with the families concerned

The general feeling is that with the passing of the first and senior current generations, much hasbeen lost Again, many of the younger generations have migrated further abroad The depth ofcoverage varies with each group, depending on the source We have a scheme of enquiry, buthave been happy to report both what is known and what is known to be unknown

This report is not a social history The outcome will be an historical delineation of the main ChettyMalacca families today in Singapore Our particular interest will be the links to Malacca It will not

be a numerical or comprehensive review Within the limits of this exercise, we concentrate on thefirst and senior current generations As for the current generation, we try to capture as a minimumtheir sons and daughters and their basic progress We would have fulfilled our purpose if we cancapture sufficient of a scenario to prompt and stimulate members of the community to check outerrors and omissions, search for their own family histories and records, and either add to ourwork or write their own contributions It is beyond our resources to cover the next or fourth

generation The community will have to depend of the current generation to fill in the picture, both

in terms of the on-going local growth and the further migration abroad

We are writing only about the diaspora in Singapore We look forward to others, including thoseliving abroad, to do the same in respect of their territories These would include updating of thesituation in Malacca itself, other parts of Malaysia, and overseas countries such as Australia,Britain, Canada, USA, etc

Related Matters

We see the value of this undertaking to be

 As the Chetty Malacca community becomes far flung and dilute, there will be a minimalbody of historical material from which future generations can learn about their past andtheir heritage;

 We will encourage future generations to research and write about the community indifferent parts of the world; and

 Through the Internet and modern media, we can integrate, preserve and share in ourcommon identity and heritage

Although there are a number of variations in use, we have retained the name “Chetty Malacca” asstandard for description of our community We also retain the use of the historical name

“Malacca”, but do use “Melaka” where contextually required In a similar way, we use the oldplace names Names of persons always present a problem, with the penchant of the ChettyMalacca to use familiar or nicknames and forget their true names or their spellings In ourrenditions we have done the best we can with names orally given, but cannot vouchsafe for theiraccuracy We also make the best possible estimates of dates We would much appreciate inputs

on these and related matters

There is no intention to ascribe relative importance to the families in the order we describe them.Where related we have placed them together We are aware that we are unlikely to be complete.But, our intention is at minimum to log in all the families that come to our knowledge, regardless

of how meager or inaccurate the coverage on each Where our co-authors have uncoveredinformation relating to earlier generations or family members who moved to other parts ofMalaysia as well as overseas, we have retained them in our narrative They are too precious tolose Omissions of families or people are entirely our fault, and due to ignorance We apologiseand hope to be corrected Finally, thank you, readers, for your support and interest

Disclaimer

We, the project coordinator and the co-authors, have done our best to reflect informationconveyed to us correctly We disclaim any intention to be biased or slurred We sincerelyapologise if we have offended anyone No co-author is responsible for the work of another co-author Ultimately, the undersigned assumes sole and full responsibility if anything goes wrong

Mrs Lorraine Netto, nee Letchimy Pillay, daughter of M T

Pillay now settled in Perth Australia

2 Family of Arunasalem

Kanagasabai Pillay

11

Mrs Sarojini LIttrell, nee Sarojini Pillay, daughter of

A.Visvanathan Pillay @ Amby and Sigamany Pillay, daughter of M T Pillay Married to David Littrell, an engineer, they have two children and are settled in Phoenix, Arizona, USA

3 Family of Ardy Pillay

17

Mdm Sally Pillay, nee Tayna Sellam Pillay @ Chelong

daughter of M T Pillay, whose husband was the late George Pillay, son of Ardy Pillay She is presently resident

in Johor Bahru, Malaysia

4 Family Group of

Pasurama Babok Pillay

19

This Part has been researched, compiled and written up in

its entirety by Devastry Parasurama Bok @ David Bok, grandson of Parasurama Babok Pillay and eldest son of

Kalastri Devasingam Bok (Baba) He is a distinguished gospel educator He is married to Annabella Tay Chin Chin and they live in Singapore They have two sons and one daughter

5 Family Group of

Ramasamy Suppiah

Naidu

26

Major (ret) Ponnosamy Kalastree, only son of Kalastree

Suppiah, and President of the Association of Chetti Melaka (Pernankan Indians) of Singapore; and

Devastry Parasurama Bok @ David Bok, the eldest son

of Kalastri Devasingam Bok (Baba) He is a distinguished gospel educator He is married to Annabella Tay Chin Chin and they live in Singapore They have two sons and one daughter

6 Family of Dasuah Sangra

Chitty

30

John Pillay, 9th child of Sangra Chitty He is married to Joan Gomes with two children, and is settled in Singapore

7 Family Group of Nenek

Kathai S.Sundrum Sanasee, first cousin of Francis Joseph Pillay @ Odiang, was the first person, in Mar 2011, to suggest

recording of the history of the family and the community Hethen proceeded to relate as much as he could recollect He passed away soon after that on 18 Jul 2011; and

Philips Roy Sanasee, second eldest son of S.Sundrum

Sanasee is a Senior Lecturer at ITE, He is married to

32Sushila with two children They are settled in Singapore .

A The First Generation

The late Mr Muthukrishnan Thevanathan Pillay (better known as M T Pillay) was perhaps themost prominent leader of the Chetty Malacca community in post-war Singapore He wasgenerally known among his peers and across all communities as “Baba” He was born in Malacca

on 10 April 1897 His natural parents were not known It is believed he was of Bengali descent,for he always kept a “kudumi”, a mini-tail of hair at the back of his head, after their fashion Heand the late Mr Murugah Pillay were adopted by the parents of the late Mr.Velu Pillay, and allthree boys were raised as brothers Velu became a senior and respected leader of thecommunity, and was also known as “Velu Susu” because he owned a sizeable agriculturalholding in Baching dedicated to both farming and a dairy business

M.T Pillay was educated at St Francis’ Institution and completed the Cambridge Thereafter, it isbelieved he worked in various government clerical positions in Malacca before appearing on thescene in Singapore in the mid 1930s working for the government in similar occupations He waswell established in an executive position in the Accountant General’s Department by the time thewar broke out There is a well known story that just before the British surrendered to theJapanese, he had on his own initiative burnt all the British notes in the Treasury For this andother services, he would in due course be made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) by HisMajesty King George VI It appears that he was before the war already well established in life, for

he owned a modern brick-and-concrete bungallow at 10 Ceylon Road This house was totallydestroyed by a direct hit during a Japanese air-raid There is another true story that whileeverything was reduced to rubble, a picture of the Sacred Heart which he kept always lighted inthe house was the only item found completely unscratched Letchimy adds the following note:

“the Picture of the Sacred Heart my father venerated for decades is a Miraculous Picture On theday of his passing in T.T.S.H the perpetual light at the picture went off until the police came todeliver the bad news After the family received the bad news, the perpetual light for somemiraculous reason came on again.” It is presently in her home in Perth, Australia, and continues

to be lighted

Co-Authored with

Mrs Lorraine Netto, nee Letchimy Pillay, daughter of M T Pillay now

settled in Perth Australia

Before his moved to Singapore, M T Pillay married Balamba, who was a cousin of Nonya,Kechik, Lembek and Pusong and who like him was also adopted into the family of Vellu Susu.

M T Pillay’s family has always been closely associated with that of Achi Manga This is notsurprising as Achi Manga was married to the uncle of Velu Susu, and so both M.T Pillay andBalamba were her nephew and niece respectively by marriage Achi Manga was the doyen of thelarge settlement of the Chetty Malacca community at Kampong Pantai 1, bordering the sea atTranquerah, Malacca, and was famous across all local communities for the legendry quality of hercakes Her daughters were Bulat and Berat Unfortunately, M T Pillay’s first wife died early,leaving behind only one surviving daughter, Sivagamy @ Rose M T Pillay had a property inKampong Pantai 1 at that time For this reason, he was also known both in Malacca and inSingapore as “Baba Pantai”

In Singapore he married, a second time in 1935, to Papathe, daughter of Madam Avirami, alsoknown as Nenek Jambol, who in turn was the sister of Mr Apoo Pillay, also known as Topey or

Mama Dollah depending who was addressing him (see separate entry below) Resident at Ceylon

Road, they had four daughters and one son, in the following order of seniority: Letchimy,Marimuthu @ Marie, Tayna Sellam @ Chelong, their only son Muthu Krishnan and their youngestdaughter Sarada Sarada was for a while adopted by Achi Manga M T Pillay also had a legallyadopted son, Khoo Teng Gin @ Johnny Pillay

During the Japanese Occupation, the M T Pillay family lived with another Chetty Malacca family,that of the late Mr Sababathy at Kovan Road After the war, M T Pillay resumed his career withthe Account General’s Office But in 1946, it was found expedient for the family to move toMalacca They lived first on Velu Susu’s farm at Bachang, and then moved to their own premises

at Dato Manila Lane By all accounts this was an unsatisfactory period of separation By 1948, M

T Pillay had settled his affairs and purchased a large new bungallow at 9 Teo Kim Eng Road, offJalan Eunos, and the family returned to Singapore to live there

M T Pillay continued at the Account General’s Office until retirement as Account at in 1958 Atthat stage he was literally the kingpin of Singapore’s financial administration; it was well knownthat every paycheck and voucher in the country had to be passed by him before payment could

be made He passed away on 6 Sep 1960

M T Pillay was a loyal Hindu all his life and supported the causes of the “Sri Poyatha VenayagarMoorthi Temple, Melaka”, the Trustees and Management Committee of which held and managedthe many Hindu temples and shrines belonging to the community in Malacca He was a staunchsupporter of the Ramakrishna Mission in Singapore, and worked closely with Dr Chota Singh, adistinguished leader of that mission He donated generously both in time and money to both Itwas also well-known that he had a strong devotion to the Christian religion, as evidenced by thepicture of the Sacred Heart he venerated He was baptised a Catholic before he died, taking thenames “Mathew Terrence” for “M.T.”

B The Senior and Current Generations

We may conveniently summarise M T Pillay’s children and their children, who form the currentsenior and current generation of the family, as follows:

 T Sivagamy Pillay (1928) @ Rose She married A Visvanathan Pillay @ Amby, son of

the late Mr Arunasalam Kanagasabai Pillay This second generation family is followed up

under the latter’s family history, (see separate family listing).

 Letchimy Pillay (1936).@ Lorraine She married Alfred Netto, a second generation

Singapore non-Chetty Malacca Indian, in 1969 Letchimy became a Catholic, with thebaptised name of Lorraine They have a daughter (Sharon) and two sons (Terence andAshley) Alfred worked for Societa Commissionaria, Associated Motor Industries and AirExpress International, and Letchimy with the CPF, before the family migrated to Perth,West Australia in 1989 All their three children are now settled down with a total of fourchildren of their own

(a) Their eldest daughter Sharon was born in 1970 She obtained her degree in WesternAustralia, majoring in Asian Studies & Politics She had a scholarship to study inChina for one year, furthering her education in Mandarin She later found a job withthe Australian High Commission in China for a couple of years and appeared onNational TV in China promoting Australia, speaking in Mandarin She then joinedmulti-national interior-design and furbishing giant Haworth Inc USA She wastransferred to Hong Kong and then Canada, is and now in Michigan USA Sharon ishappily married to a German, Steffen Lipsky,

(b) who is a design engineer in Haworth; while she is the manager of the H.R.Department They have just had a baby girl, Sophie

(c) Terence was born in 1972.He studied environmental science, but half way throughwent into the coffee business with his brother, Ashley, for 10 years He then studied tobecome a pilot and has a pilot’s license, but without a job Later, he decided to finishhis studies in environmental science He has now graduated and is prospecting for ajob in this field He is happily married to an Australian lady, Holly Crosswaite, a

professional photographer, who is at the moment a part-time student at MurdochUniversity, majoring in Business Management They have 2 daughters, Sansia &Ajda

(d) Ashley was born in 1973 He first worked for Hayatt Hotel, and then went on, withTerence as his business partner, into the coffee business called Infusion Later hebecame a Manager with Sun Glass Hut Then he decided to go into partnership withthe Defensive Driving School as a Driving Instructor He is engaged to a Dutch lady,Esther Levi, who lectures at the University of Western Australia in Zoology Theyhave a daughter, Noa Maya, born on the same day as her cousin Sophie(9.Mar.2012)

 Marimuthu Pillay (1938) @ Marie She married Pakirisamy Pillay, son of the late

Murugah Pillay, who was the brother of Velu Susu of Bachang, (see separate family listing) The progress of this second generation family is recorded under Murugah Pillay’s

family

 Tayna Sellam Pillay (1939), @ known as Chelong, married Sinnathamby A Pillay, also

known as George, son of Ardy Pillay The progress of this second generation family is

recorded under Ardy Pillay’s family (see separate family listing) On conversion to

Catholicism, Chelong adopted the name Sally

 Muthukrishnan Pillay (1941), @ M C Pillay, @ Christopher Pillay, married Norah Chia, a

Singapore Peranakan lady On conversion to Catholicism, he added the nameChristopher as his middle-name He served as a career officer in first the SingaporePolice Force and then the Singapore Armed Forces before retirement in the rank ofMajor They have one daughter, Tanya, who is married to Murali Nair The latter couple inturn have one son, Nikhil Nair

 Sarada Pillay (1942) married Chandra Marimuthu Mudaliar, Achi Manga’s grandson She

had a lifelong career in the service of the NTUC in administrative duties beforeretirement They have a daughter Savira Lyani Mudaliar

 Johnny Pillay (1933) @ Johnny Khoo Teng Gin Legally adopted son of M T Pillay,

Johnny married Peggy Lee Mei Ching The have a son and a daughter The former,Terrence, married Amelia See and they have three children, Natasha, Alicia and Eliza.The latter, their daughter, Bettina Khoo, married Adam Ho, and they have on son, Caleb,and one daughter Danielle

.2 Family of Apoo Pillay

As near as may be estimated the late Mr Apoo Pillay would have been born in the 1880 if notearlier It is also surmised that he was born in Malacca, but he can be placed in Singapore early

in the next century He may in fact be among the pioneers of the Chetty Malacca community tomigrate to Singapore We know that he was educated in Malacca Again, he might well have beenamong the first five or six cohorts of Chetty Malacca children to go to school with the set up ofEnglish schools under the British He worked in Singapore in a legal firm before retiring

Mr Apoo Pillay’s familiar name was “Dollah”, and he was known throughout the community as

“Topey Dollah” (granpa) or “Mama Dollah” (uncle) depending on the juniority of the personaddressing him; there were none senior to him We know that he was married and had nochildren, but nothing else of his married life We were equally unable to find information, within thelimits of our search, about his parents, but it must be available But we do know that he had asister Madam Avirami Pillay, who was better known as “Nenek Jambol” (grandma) Her daughter,Pavathe, became M T Pillay’s second wife After the war, Nenek Jambol and her brother lived atthe latter’s residence at 9 Teo Kim Eng Road Both have since passed away

Mr Apoo Pillay had a brother, by the name of Gonathan Pillay He was married to a ChettyMalacca lady, and they had a daughter, also named Avirami The latter became the wife of thelate B S Naiker or “Embong” as he was known.) He had a mistress by the name of VeronicaWee Guat Choon They had a daughter Rosie Pillay who married Noel Santa Maria from Malaccaand they settled in Australia many yaears ago

Mention must be made of Sandy Gurunathan Pillay He is reported as the brother in law of Mr.Apoo Pillay He became the first person from the community to attain professional status, as a lawyer based in Singapore It is reported that Apoo Pillay helped finance his legal studies He married an Irish lady, had two daughters, Joan and Terry, and settled in Britain

3 Family of Murugah Pillay

The late Mr Murugah Pillay was the brother of Velu Susu of Bachangand, therefore uncle “of M.

T PIllay He migrated with his family to Singapore in the immediate post-war years He had twosons, who also settled in Singapore, viz,

 Pakirisamy, who married Marie, daughter of M T Pillay He worked for the British Army as

a Driver, and then as a Forklift Operator at an airport before retirement He passed away

on 16 Jan 011 They had two sons, Krishna and Anandh, and a daughter, Shanti, whowas born between the two sons The eldest son, Krishna is a deputy principal of aprimary school, is married to Marakartham and have a daughter Niylana The youngerson, Anandh, is married to Helen, a Swedish lady and they are settled in Sweden Theirdaughter, Shanti, is a nurse

 Dollah, who married Valli, a Chetty Malacca lady They had four sons, Rajan, Deva,Rama, and Mogan, and one daughter, Sitha

A The First Generation

It is the recollected history of the family that their forebear was one Kanagasabai Pillay, a traderfrom Jaffna, Jalapanam, Ceylon (now Sr Lanka) who settled in Malacca in the 1860s and married

a Chetty Malacca lady, Tulasi Amma The couple moved to Singapore at some stage, when theybought what would become the family residence of the next two generations, at No 10 Lorong MTelok Kurau To them was born a son, Kanagasabai Arunasalem Pillay in the 1890s, who in lateryears was also known as Baba There is no other information known at this point in time about hissiblings, if any, or the other members of his parental family or where they lived in Malacca

In 1915, Baba married Avirami Chitty also known as Nonya, sister of Bachik and Inchik, of the

Ardy Pillay family line (see separate family listing) Married in Malacca the couple migrated to

Singapore and took up residence at No 10 Lorong M, Telok Kurau For our purpose, KanagasabaiArunasalem Pillay is the head and he and his spouse represent the first generation of thisdiaspora family The couple had six children, four boys and two girls, all born in Singapore

Little is known of Baba’s background, except that he worked as a civil servant, and became one

of the leading seniors of the Chetty Malacca community in Singapore From the dating, it would

appear that he was older by perhaps half a decade than M T Pillay (see separate family listing),

the other senior leader of the community with whom he was very close This means that hebelonged to the very first pioneer cohorts of Chetty Malacca children who were sent to school atthe turn of the last century The English schools being opened by the missionaries and thegovernment at that time – among other things to provide local staff for the government services –represented the first opportunity in their history that the community had the chance for aneducation The more far-seeing and wealthier families, among them no doubt Kanagasabai Pillay,did not fail to take advantage of the opportunity

B The Senior and Current Generations

We briefly summarise below the particulars of the six children of Kanagasabai Arunasalem Pillaywho form the second generation, and head their families The latter in turn form the thirdgeneration and fourth generations We also include information as available of the latter’s childrenwho form the fifth generation - and indeed the burgeoning growing living edge of the future ChettyMalacca people3

 Eldest Child (son) – A Kanagasabai Pillay @ Joe Pillay (1917 – 1996) Joe had a long

and respected career in government service, rising to Legal Assistant in the Attorney

second generation head The generations within each family (ie second, third and fourth) are listed tiered relative to one another Within each generation, the names are ranked by seniority Where the fourth generation have children, these are included with them, without a further fifth generation tier Gender is not always indicated, and not where it is apparent from the name and circumstances.The information coverage

is “as available” Names may not be correctly spelt With feedback these limitations will be removed.

Co-authored with

Mrs Sarojini LIttrell, nee Sarojini Pillay, daughter of A.Visvanathan

Pillay @ Amby and Sigamany Pillay, daughter of M T Pillay

Married to David Littrell, an engineer, they have two children and

are settled in Phoenix, Arizona, USA

General’s Chambers before he retired in in 1972 He married Vallimay Pillay @ Cho

(1925 – 2009), daughter of Dasuah Sangra Chitty (see separate family listing) They had

two children a daughter and a son, whose particulars are as follows:

 Avirame Pillay (1944- ) who became a teacher and is now retired In 1972, she

married, Mathew Siva, a non-Chetty Malacca Indian, a journalist and managingeditor They in turn have two children

 Sharon Siva (1973 -_) who is a lawyer and is married to Andrew Potts who is

of Canadian extraction They are settled in Singapore and in turn have twochildren, Sean Anil and Jack Devan

 Lawrence Siva (1975 - ) who was educated in USA and is settled now inSingapore He works for a multinational company

 Rajagopal Pillay (1949 - ) who worked for Singapore Pools and is now retired In

1973 he married Jenny Lee, a Chinese lady and they have four children asfollows:

 Sheila Pillay who is an architect and unmarried

 Jacinta Pillay who is a lawyer and is married to a Chinese gentleman fromSarawak They have two children

 Kishen Pillay who is a Lawyer and unmarried, and

 Charlene Pillay

 Second Child (son) – A Visvanathan Pillay @ Amby (1920-1976) Like his elder brother

Amby also worked in the civil service, as a clerical officer His office was at FullertonBuilding (then also known as the General Post Office or GPO) He retired in December

1975 The family have many memories of him at his favourite hobbies which revolvedaround repairing, tinkering with and tweaking cars and radios His pride and joy was hisVespa From time to time he also produced a gadget or a radio, put together from spareparts In 1950, Amby married T Sivagamy Pillay @ Rose, the eldest daughter ofM.T.Pillay by his first wife, Valamba This marriage was very close to the hearts of bothfathers, who wished to see their two great families united The couple had two children, adaughter and a son, as follows:

 Sarojini Pillay (1951 - ) @ Saro, their daughter Over the years, Saro has worked

in various corporate roles, including marketing and management, and currentlyhas a successful practice in real estate In 1974, she married David LawrenceLittrell (1947 - ), a Caucasian American He was originally from the oil industry,but moved into a wider career in Business Development and Sales andMarketing He retired in 2010 They have two children, as follows:

 Davinia Rose Littrel (1979 -), their daughter, who graduated with a degree inBanking and Finance and is now the Sales and Marketing Manager ofEcoVenture, an outdoor adventure company In 2007, she married GrahamIan Malkin, an Englishman, who is the Managing Director and Head of FieldStudies in a Private School in Dubai, UAE, where they are presently living.They have no children to date

 Dirk Derrick Littrel (1982-), their son, who is the Operations Manager of TurfParadise, which is a Horse Racetrack Ranch, in Phoenix, Arizona USA He

is presently also pursuing a degree in Business Management

Saro and her husband David are currently also settled in Phoenix, Arizona withtheir son

 Thevanathan Pillay (1953-) @ Nathan, their son, who is a Lawyer for CASE

(Consumers’ Association of Singapore) He is presently divorced He has twodaughters, as follows

 Shalini Pillay (1992-), who just graduated this year in Accountancy, from theUniversity of Kent

 Nashita Pillay (1992-), who is presently an undergraduate at the SingaporeManagement University (SMU) pursuing Psychology She completed hersecondary education at the Singapore Sports School where she excelled inNetball

 Third Child (son) – A Ramanathan Pillay @ Nathan (1923-2000?) Unlike his elder

brothers, Nathan worked in the private sector Both for the firms who employed him and

in his own business, Nathan was a technical person, his skills revolving around engineand plant maintenance, servicing and repair He rode a motor-cycle and was alwaysbustling about In 1940 he married Pappama Kanavathi (1927-2002) @ Pappu andbetween them they had 10 children, six sons and four daughters, as follows:

 Arunasalem Pillay (1941 -), @ Bachik, their eldest son, who has had a career in

sales He married Savithri @ Usha, and they have three sons, as follows:

 Suresh, the eldest who works in Information Technology

 Devadason, the second, who also works in Information Technology

 Ramesh, the youngest, who also works in information Technology

 Muthumah Pillay (1947-) @ Kamala, their second child and eldest daughter She

married a widower Balraju s/o Periana, a non-Chetty Malacca Indian There aretwo children, as follows:

 Mohanas Sundram, her husband’s son by his first wife He is married toValiamah, a non-Chetty Malacca Indian They have no children., and

 Purnima d/o Balraju, their daughter, who is an undergraduate at the NationalUniversity of Singapore

 Thegarah Pillay (1950-), their third child and son, who married Valiamah, a

non-Chetty Malacca lady They have no children?

 Manjulah Pillay (1952), their fourth child and second daughter, who married

Kanagalingam, a non-Chetty Malacca person They have three children, asfollows:

 Tamarai Selvi, their daughter, who is single

 Rajalingam, their elder son, who married Lyndia Lee, a Chinese lady Theyhave 2 children, as follows:

 Enswaran Lingam, and

 Ishwari

 Mahesalingam, their younger son, who is married to Shoba They have nochildren yet

 Kumaran Pillay (1953) their fifth child and third son He married Saratha Bai, his

first cousin, daughter of Kamachi Pillay @ Jaudi She is a physiotherapist, andthey have two daughters, as follows:

 Sharmala PIllay, their elder daughter, who is also a physiotherapist like hermother She is married to Ravi Panner Selvam, and they have a daughter,Trishna; and

 Kamini Pillay, their younger daughter, who was a nurse and is now amakeover artist

 Mohan Pillay (1954 - ) @ Morgan, their sixth child and fourth son Morgan

married Sares, and they have two sons, as follows:

 Anand, the elder, and

 Devan

 Chandra Pillay (1957 - ), their seventh child and fifth son He married Florence, a

non- Malacca Chetty lady, and they have two children, as follows:

 Vijay Pillay, the elder and their son, and

 Casandra Pillay, their daughter

 Dhanaletchemi Pillay (1957 - ), their eighth child and third daughter, She

married K Money, a non—Malacca Chetty person, and they have three children,

as follows:

 Reuben, their eldest son

 Jeeven, their second son, and

 Megan, their youngest and daughter

 Jamuna Rani Pillay ((1960-), their ninth child and fourth daughter, She married

Richard Mahindaphala, a Sri Lankan, and they have two children, as follows:

 Raina, their daughter

 Ryan, their son.

 Ravi Pillay (1965-), their tenth child and Sixth son., He married Melissa, a

Eurasian lady, and they are two children, as follows::

 Kierran, their son

 Carra, their daughter

The family are now resident in Perth, Australia

 Fourth Child (daughter) – Tulasi Amma Pillay @ Mickey (1926?-2000?) In 1947, she

married Manapuri Padmanabham, A Telegu gentleman from India Together, they had atotal of 10 children, five daughters and five sons, and are now settled in Perth, Australia.The children are as follows::

 Venkata Lakshm (1948-) @ Mimi Mimi is single and is residing in Perth.

 Vuma Maheshwari (1949) @ Papa She married Govinda Pillay @ Frank, son of

Otek, and they have three children and are resident in Singapore Their childrenare as follows:

 Rebecca Pillay, their eldest daughter She married Philip Malcolm, an Indianfrom USA and they have one son, Isaiah, and one daughter, Hannah

 Mark Pillay, their eldest son He married Phillida, a Singapore Indian lady, andthey have two sons, Jayden and Ethan

 ,Leroy Pillay, their younger son He married Tina, also a Singapore Indianlady, and they have two daughters, Dayna and Shayna

 Chinni Krisha, (1950-) He married Clara @ Nina, a non-Malacca Chetty lady, and

they are living in Perth They have a daughter Christabel

 Bhupathy (1951) @ Jingli Jinx He married Sonia Anamalay, and they have two

children, a daughter Alena and a son Roy They are all residing in Perth

 Pushpakantham Padmanabham (1952-) She became a Christian missionary and

is currently in Cambodia

 Deviki (1953 -) She married Ramakrishna Thegaraju and they have two sons

Ganesh and Jevan The family reside in Perth

 Usha (1954 -) She married Jodi Ramalingam, and they have four children, two

sons and two daughters and the family are settled in Perth Their children are :asfollows”

 Michelle, the eldest daughter, who married Zakia They have two children,Faith and Zyan

 James, the eldest son

 Rachel, their second daughter

 Joshua, their younger son.

.

 Gopalan (1955-) @ Omar Abdullah He became a Muslim and married Hajijah

They have three children, Nurbeha, Zulkfli and Taufiq, The family live inSingapore

 Sinnapathy (1956 - ) He married a Chinese lady, Jeanette Tan Bee Wah, and

they four children, three daughters Semantha, Stephanie and Sarah, and theiryoungest a son, Elijah The family ive in Singapore.:

 Anandh (1957 - ) He married Prema Doma, and they have three children, Josiah,

Ezekial and Ezra They all live in Perth

 Fifth Child (son) – A Krishna Pillay (1930?-2000?) Krishna was a salesperson by

occupation and was well-known as a footballer playing for the national level In 1953, hemarried Kamachi Pillay (1937-200?) @ Jepun, daughter of Bachik Chitty, who is still alive.They have three children, two daughters and one son, as follows::

 K Valliamay Pillay (1954 - ), the eldest daughter who married Maniam Chitty

 K Indrani Pillay (1956 - ) their younger daughter, and

 K Subramaniam (1957-) @ Maniam, their only son, who is married to Janeka

Their only daughter is Rinaswary Pillay

 Sixth Child (daughter) – Kamachi Pillay (1930?-) @ Jaudi In 1954 she married

Muthukrishnan Sinnasamy @ Johnny and they had only one daughter, Saratha Bai

(1955-) The latter went on to marry her first cousin Kumaran Pillay and had two children,see under husband’s name

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Completed in Apr 2013

Updated Oct 2013

PART 3

Family of Ardy Pillay

Ardy Pilllay’s family is one of the major families of the Chetty Malacca community The family seatwas in Bachang Although he never emigrated from Malacca, the family has played a seminal part

in the growth of the diaspora in Singapore Ardy Pillay married twice, to two sisters, the secondupon decease of the first

From his first wife he had one child:

 Nonya

Nonya married Inchik, the brother of the wife of Arunasalem Pillay, head of another prominent first

generation family (see separate listing), and she had the following children:

separately (see separate listing)

From his second wife, Ardy Pillay had the following children:

Mdm Sally Pillay, nee Tayna Sellam Pillay @ Chelong daughter of

M T Pillay, whose husband was the late George Pillay, son of Ardy

Pillay She presently resides in Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Of these above, the following by marriage formed diaspora Singapore families, namely:

 Nelachi Pillay was a teacher and married David Row, a non-Chetty Malacca person who

was the principal of a school for the blind trained in New Zealand in Braille They havethree children

 Sinnathamby @ George Pillay (1931) married Teyna Sellam Pillay @ Chelong @ Sally ,

daughter of M T Pillay George was a Telecoms Technician and passed away in 1986,while Sally was a qualified nurse but retired soon after marriage in 1962 Although theyresided in Johor Bahru and continue to do so, the family have been in continuousinteraction with the community in Singapore and may be counted as a member of thediaspora They have three children who are settled in Singapore:

 Alfred George Pillay, who is a member of the Singapore Police Force

 Wilfred Pillay, who is an aerospace instructor

 Sandra Pillay, who is married to Dr Goh Chin Soon, a skin specialist

When the Chetty Malacca families in Malacca and Malaysia are recounted, this family’s presencewill fully surface

Completed in Mar 2012

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