Former Member of Parliament M. S. Themis passed away last week. An octogenarian, he was the last survivor of the 1956 political and cultural wave spearheaded by Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike who unleashed an era of the common man.
Themis, a postal trade unionist, became a national symbol of the common man’s representative in Parliament when the voters of Colombo Central elected him as their MP at the General Elections held on April 5, 1956. It was hailed as the dawning of the era of the Pancha Maha Bala Vegaya ( the five forces) consisting of the, sangha, veda, guru, govi, kamkaru led by S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike.
Humble origin
Themis, a man of humble origin, a postal peon by profession was elected to Parliament from Colombo Central with a narrow margin of 43 votes in the surge of the Pancha Maha Bala Vegaya.
He was a true product of the peoples’ era, unlike those with academic credentials from Oxford or Cambridge or for that matter from a local college. He had his formal training in trade unionism which qualified him to enter the portals of the national legislature.
A senior Parliamentarian and one time Prime Minister, Dr. W. Dahanayake once told Themis, he was one of the best ten Parliamentarians in the then House.
Themis lost nothing of his fearless and radical character in Parliament and had the distinction of having moved the most number of Private Member’s Motions during his tenure.
Fiery speaker
As a fiery speaker, he contested the 1956 General Elections at the age of 23. Pieter Keuneman, a contemporary of his, of the Lanka Communist Party polled 42,296 votes as the first Member of Parliament, and Sir Razik Fareed of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party obtained 26,522 votes and became the second member, while M. S. Themis who contested the election from the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna got 20,375 votes and became the third member to be elected from Colombo Central, having beaten Dr. M. C. M. Kaleel, a UNP stalwart by a mere 43 votes into fourth place.
Themis’ victory made him the first worker to sit in Parliament. He was also the second youngest MP, while Nikaweratiya’s Mudiyanse Tennekoon (Podi Putha) was the youngest.
The 1956 Parliament witnessed a ‘People’s Government’ and the representatives were from a wide cross section of society. The Colombo society was much amused when a postal peon, M.S Themis, had been elected an MP, but the newly elected representatives like Themis did conduct themselves in a manner becoming of an MP to uphold the dignity and decorum of Parliament.
Manuel Savariappage Themis was born in Thulhiriya in 1932. The son of an electrician, he grew up in Colombo, to which the family moved for numerous economic reasons. He had first attended the Dedigamuwa Junior School and later Gauthama Sastralaya, Wellampitiya.
However, his basic education was complemented by various night schools. As a distinguished feature, whatever he had gathered by way of the verities of life was obtained in the ‘University of the World’.
Long journey
Themis started his long journey as a telegram messenger of the Postal Department on a salary of Rs. 20 a month, supplemented by a ‘delivery allowance’ that gave him Rs. 70-105.
It was obvious from the beginning that Themis’ job was not just confined to a mere employee of the department. He was thrown into the trade union movement within a couple of months and later became an agitator and a fighter to secure the rights of the workers.
He had been subjected to two years probation period, but after a year and eight months he was sacked by the Divisional Superintendent for ‘insubordination and misconduct’. However, he was later forgiven.
Themis at the age of 18 was elected as the Vice President of the All Ceylon Post and Telecommunications Union and the following year he was elected its Secretary.
He also held the post of Joint Secretary of the the All Ceylon Public Service Trade Union Conference.
He resigned from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in 1959 and left the government along with Philip Gunawardena.
Resignation
His resignation speech, made to Parliament on July 7, 1959, is published in a booklet titled “Asadharanayata, ayukthiyata viruddhava”. Themis’ command of the language, his eloquence, and commitment to his constituency is most admirable .
He lost his seat in March 1960. “I didn’t have the money, and there were too many people who were jealous, especially, the Left, who resented a trade unionist having taken off on his own,” he is supposed to have said.
After he lost his seat during the 1960 General Elections, Themis changed the course of his life, venturing into the business field as a successful printer and publisher.
He was gifted with a quench for reading and spent quite a lot on books, magazines etc to be always in the spotlight. “It was a hard time for the family. I had only my vehicle, my wife and child. From 1960 to 1964, we moved from apartment to apartment, and room to room.
Dispute
One day, after a dispute with the landlord, we spent the night in the car at Galle Face Green,” he once said, reminiscing his past. Since then his stationery company, Royal Mailhouse Pvt. Ltd. has done extremely well and he created for himself and his family a fairly comfortable lifestyle.
As a model politician, he was generous to refund all the allowances he had drawn as a Member of Parliament back to the national coffers when several of his peers requested former Speaker M.H. Mohamed to make some gratuity payments to them.
In this regard, it is worthwhile reading a paragraph of his letter to the Speaker, “ In my said letter, while indicating my desire to return whatever monies I drew, I further requested you to direct your officials to inform me in writing the amounts that I drew then to enable me to return same.”