Dato' Sir Ernest Emmanuel Clough Thuraisingham or E.E.C. Thuraisingham (Tamil: இ. இ. சி. துரைசிங்கம்) (28 August 1898 – 30 March 1979) was the first local Member (Minister) for Education in the Communities Liaison Committee formed to build communal fraternity in British-ruled Malaya, from 1951–1955. He is also the first Asian chairman of the Selangor Turf Club.
Better known by his last two names, Clough Thuraisingham's passion to do the best for Malaya was matched only by his love of horse racing and his large American car, a red Chevrolet Impala. He was also popularly known in the horse racing fraternity as "The Dato". His dream was to see a united Malaya and stood for racial equality.
Early life
Thuraisingham , was born in Taiping, Perak on 28 August 1898. He was the second son and child among six children of Kasinathar and Meenachi Clough.
After graduating on 19 December 1922 with a BA degree in Law & Political Economy at Cambridge University, and to practise law, Thuraisingham studied and did his pupillage at Middle Temple in the Inns of Court in London and became a Barrister-at-Law in 1924. Thuraisingham played soccer, tennis and hockey at Cambridge and later played soccer semi-professionally with the Tylehurst-on-Thames Soccer Team in the Berkshire Soccer League.
Urged by his father, Kasinathar Clough, Thuraisingham set up a legal practice in Singapore in 1925. He practised law in a partnership with M.V. Pillai and Charles Peng Siong Wong, another Cambridge lawyer. Being so close to Johore meant that he could also manage his father's large rubber estate in Skudai across the causeway as his parents and siblings had moved back to Jaffna in Sri Lanka by then.
Family life
Thuraisingham, while at Cambridge, married Ethel Mary Huggins in December 1920 and they had twin girls, Rani and Joan. Their marriage was a sad one because it was difficult for a Ceylonese Barrister to practise law in England at that time and, if they returned, difficult for an English woman married to a Ceylonese lawyer in Colonial Malaya. And so they reluctantly parted, Thuraisingham returning to Malaya in 1925.
Later Thuraisingham married Pearl Sayampanathan, a teacher at St. Mary's School for Girls, Kuala Lumpur. He met her at a friend's house in Singapore in 1929. With the imminent Japanese occupation of Singapore, Thuraisingham then moved with Pearl to Kuala Lumpur in 1942 and set up home at 7B Treacher Road. He had three children with Pearl – Balendra, Patmalar and Thevendra. Pearl's death in 1947 from a medical mishap devastated him; she had a severe asthma attack and was unable to get timely medical help. This happened at a time when the politics of race was complicating the vision of Dato Onn for an independent multiracial Malaya. Typically, Thuraisingham managed to juggle family life with the many demands of his political endeavours and legal career.
Sometime later Thuraisingham married Thayamany Muthuvelu, a widow with a daughter Gowri, and between them they had three children – Raja, Chandramani and Meenachi. Together they raised seven children in a house often filled with visiting relatives, friends and political allies.
Datin Lady Thayamany Thuraisingham was a devoted wife to Dato Thuraisingham. She also nursed him lovingly during his ailing years at their home in Bukit Travers.
Hobbies and friends
Thuraisingham loved horse riding and horse racing. He owned a stable of race horses which captured the imagination of the racing public.
Sporting Gesture the First won the Selangor Turf Club (STC) Class 1 Division 1 Gold Vase in 1952. Another horse, aptly named Commotion, often created havoc before the gates were opened and ran like the thunder to win the mile (circa 1959) at the STC. Yet another horse, Bowdler, broke the 6-furlong sprint record at the STC (circa 1960) which remained unbroken for several years.
His love for horse riding and for horse racing was shared by the Sultan of Johor; together they owned a Class 1 stallion, Heroden, winner of several cups in the 1930s. This alliance led Thuraisingham to Onn Jaafar with whom he forged a close friendship that culminated in a political camaraderie that lasted over three decades. His camaraderie with Dato Onn strengthened with the Japanese occupation of mainland Malaya fuelling their common desire for Malayan independence.