Avadai Dhanam Lakshimi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Avadai Dhanam | |
|---|---|
.jpg){kind=spacer} Dhanam in April 1953 | |
| First Lady of Singapore | |
| In role 23 October 1981 – 28 March 1985 | |
| President | Devan Nair |
| Preceded by | Yeo Seh Geok |
| Succeeded by | Koh Sok Hiong |
| Member of Parliament for Moulmein Constituency | |
| In office 21 September 1963 – 8 February 1968 | |
| Preceded by | Lin You Eng |
| Succeeded by | Lawrence Sia Khoon Seng |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Avadai Dhanam Lakshimi 1925 |
| Died | 18 April 2005 (aged 79–80) |
| Party | People's Action Party |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4; including Janadas |
| Parent(s) | Avadai Thevar (father) Anjalaiammal (mother) |
Avadai Dhanam Lakshimi (1925 – 18 April 2005) was a Singaporean former politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) representing Moulmein SMC from 1963 to 1968 and the First Lady of Singapore when her husband, Devan Nair, served as president of Singapore from 1981 to 1985.[1]
Dhanam became the first female MP of Indian ethnicity, when she was elected as the MP for Moulmein SMC in 1963.[2] In her role as an MP she was known for her public health advocacy.
Serving in the role for 5 years, she retired in 1968, continuing to serve in the public service. She married Devan Nair in August 1953, who later became the President of Singapore.
Born in 1925, Dhanam was a fourth-generation Singaporean Indian of Tamil descent with ancestry from Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India as the daughter of a contractor, both her parents died before she was 11. She was brought up by her mother's brother and her maternal grandmother along with her five siblings.[3] Her grandmother later died during the Japanese Occupation.[1]
Due to her family's poverty, she was only educated up to primary three.
During World War II, she took up sewing and farming to support her family.
Marriage
Dhanam met her husband during childhood at Rangoon Road School. Her husband, then an anti-colonial protestor, was detained in prison from 1951 to 1953. Upon his release, they married in August 1953. During that period, she gave birth to two children, including journalist, Janadas Devan. During her husband's second political detention, from 1956 to 1959, she raised her children and managed her family by herself.[1]
During her political career, she and her husband served as Members of Parliament (MP) in two different countries, with Devan Nair serving as the People Action Party's sole MP in the Malaysian Parliament for Bungsar Constituency until 1969.