Draft:Hollupatherage James Caldera Kulasingha

Kulasingha in 1951

Hollupatherage James Caldera Kulasingha (1899 or 1900 – 8 December 1982) was a politician and merchant who served as a member of the Legislative Council of Singapore from 1951 to 1955. He unsuccessfully contested the Southern Islands Constituency seat in the 1955 Singaporean general election as a member of the Progressive Party, losing the election by a narrow margin. He was conferred the Order of the British Empire in 1955 for his activities in the Southern Islands.

Early life and education

Kulasingha was born in Sri Lanka in 1899 or 1900.

Career

In March 1927, Kulasingha was elected honorary secretary of a committee of Buddhists in Kuala Lumpur opposing the screening of the film The Light of Asia as it would "injure the religious susceptibilities of those who profess the Buddhist religion". In November 1939, he was elected to the committee of the newly formed Sinhalese Association of the Federated Malay States which aimed to raise funds for the Malayan Patriotic Fund, a war charity. Kulasingha was appointed the honorary secretary of the Association of Non-Government Employees in Kuala Lumpur. He fled to Singapore as he was "hounded" by the Kempeitai during the Japanese occupation of Malaya. However, he then "went underground" and left for Johor, where he began working as an assistant at a rubber estate. After the end of the occupation, he returned to Singapore, where he settled permanently.

By May 1948, Kulasingha had become the chairman of the Pasir Panjang Village Committee, which also oversaw the Southern Islands. As chairman, he visited the islands on two separate calls in the month to assess the living conditions on the islands, which were in a state of "neglect". Reportedly, one of the islands faced poor fresh water supply, many children were forced to travel long distances on sampans to attend a Malay school on Pulau Seraya and medically, residents received only one visit from a nursing sister every fortnight. He recommended that government storage tanks be installed on the islands, that a pre-war structure on the islands be converted into a hospital, that the Fisheries Department should "sponsor schemes to improve the methods of fishing" and that poultry farming among the residents be encouraged. In July, he suggested that a fire station be built to serve the villages on Pulau Brani and that the free ferry service between the island and mainland Singapore be "resuscitated" as residents could not afford the 25-cent fare for a ferry. In August, he claimed that he would "complain" to the Rural Board about how the Pasir Panjang area lacked a post office and a "through" bus service. By September, the committee had been renamed the Pasir Panjang Rural District Committee.

By February 1949, Kulasingha had become a member of the Special Voluntary Constable, established by the committee and comprising locals. Kulasingha wrote to the Rural Board in May 1949, suggesting that a Chinese-language school be built behind the Alexandra Road Police Station as, according to him, around 400 children in the area did not have a school to go to.

He was nicknamed the "King of Southern Islands".

Personal life and death

Kulasingha married in Malacca on 26 January 1949. He had an adopted daughter. He began living with the family of D. S. Kannangara, a business parter of his, on Neo Pee Teck Lane in Pasir Panjang. He died at Alexandra Hospital.