{"id":56148,"date":"2012-10-10T09:32:35","date_gmt":"2012-10-10T09:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=56148"},"modified":"2012-10-13T19:11:46","modified_gmt":"2012-10-13T19:11:46","slug":"obituary-p-a-subramaniam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/obituary-p-a-subramaniam\/","title":{"rendered":"Obituary: P. A. Subramaniam"},"content":{"rendered":"

By S.Ganesan<\/a><\/span>–<\/strong><\/p>\n

P.A. Subramaniam received his secondary education at the Jaffna Hindu College, and thereafter graduated from the then University of Ceylon, Faculty of Engineering in 1963. He then worked for the Public Works Department, the \u00a0Department of Highways\u00a0(as Superintending Engineer) \u00a0\u00a0and the State Development and Construction Corporation\u00a0 ( as\u00a0 Deputy General Manager) , \u00a0specialising in\u00a0highways and bridges.\u00a0 He was on the \u00a0Board of Directors of the Ceylon Mineral Sands Corporation during 1970-77. He also served as a \u00a0Honorary Secretary of the \u00a0Institution of Engineers. He was also a member of technical committee that established the Ceylon Graphite Corporation and was\u00a0 Secretary to the Committee of Inquiry into the Industrial Development Board of Ceylon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

P.A. Subramaniam<\/p><\/div>\n

PA undertook graduate studies at the\u00a0University\u00a0of\u00a0Birmingham\u00a0leading to a Master\u2019s degree in Engineering.\u00a0He was made a Fellow of the Institution of Highways and Transportation, United Kingdom. He worked \u00a0overseas \u00a0in Nigeria \u00a0\u00a0for several years \u00a0and\u00a0 spent \u00a0over\u00a0fifteen\u00a0 years ( \u00a0including several years as\u00a0 Chief Engineer\u00a0) with international consultants\u00a0ACER Hyder Consultants\u00a0 (Freeman Fox International), first in\u00a0the Middle East and then in East Asia\u00a0before settling down in Perth, Australia with his family. Fondly nick named \u201cshort sleeve\u201d in\u00a0 some \u00a0work places, he was always hard working, popular and won the hearts of his fellow engineers and\u00a0site workers.<\/p>\n

PA\u2019s great virtues were his \u201csimplicity and intellectualism\u201d. Growing up in Jaffna\u00a0\u00a0 during the early post-colonial period, he was attracted to Marxist explanations of society\u00a0and approaches to eliminate \u00a0\u00a0economic inequalities, caste and \u00a0race based discriminations in Sri Lanka and particularly \u00a0Jaffna society. As a passionate student of\u00a0Marxism and politics, he gained an in \u00a0depth knowledge of\u00a0 both the theory and practice of\u00a0conflicts\u00a0between man,\u00a0nature, classes\u00a0and the state, and the dictates of local, regional and\u00a0international\u00a0entities. The benefit was there for us to see and be guided by. For the last five decades, PA stood out among his people for his intense opposition\u00a0to all forms of human\u00a0exploitation and oppression \u2013both within and outside Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

Even before he completed his studies at the University of Ceylon, he had become a front line worker with the socialist movement in the South, continuing his active involvement throughout the 1960s and 1970s. \u00a0Total disillusionment with the politics of the South, drove him closer during the last 15 years to Tamil political movements. He contributed actively to many publications. PA often differed from me and others regarding\u00a0compromises between\u00a0nationalistic tendencies and socialistic strategies, we nevertheless recognised that his positions were always anchored in his fundamental beliefs. PA said it clearly: “For me oppression (whether it is violent or non-violent, armed or unarmed) is terrorism. Opposing oppression in any form is not terrorism and I am always at home to be on the side of resistance, whether enlightened by Marxism or not.\u201d He stood for the right of (external) self determination of cultural nations but he did not rule out solutions to national\u00a0\u00a0 conflicts within a single country.<\/p>\n

At a personal level, PA was totally devoted to his family.\u00a0 Both PA and his beloved wife Rani always provided the best for their children\u00a0Nakkeran and Kavitha, both of whom today are successful physicians in Australia.<\/p>\n

Always congenial in his dealings, trusted by all, PA\u00a0was\u00a0a valuable resource in times of personal stress.\u00a0PA\u00a0made us laugh\u00a0with his\u00a0sharp-witted comments, and wherever he went generated a joyous mix of\u00a0\u00a0 sarcasm, cynicism, convictions and laughter.\u00a0 \u201cPA had \u00a0genuine feelings for \u00a0his fellow men and \u00a0women and worked hard to alleviate their problems\u201d. An intellectual from Jaffna\u00a0with an innate orientation to social commitment, he will be recalled among the likes of A.Vaithilingam, Vice chancellor K.Kailasapathy, Professor K.Sivathamby, \u2018Tamaki\u2019 Sivaram and others.<\/p>\n

The interpreters of the Bhagavad Gita extol the virtues of worldly men dutiful and devoted to their families, and, yet, detached sufficiently in time and spirit to care for and serve\u00a0ordinary suffering people. The Gita locates\u00a0these humans into the class of sattvic\u00a0<\/em>beings destined for the heavens.<\/p>\n

May his soul rest in peace.<\/p>\n

P.A. Subramaniam passed away on October\u00a0\u00a0 4, 2012 at the age of 73.\u00a0 He \u00a0leaves behind his beloved wife\u00a0Rani and children Kavitha and Nakkeran.<\/p>\n

*Dr S.Ganesan studied with P.A .Subramanian at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Ceylon (1959-63). He later worked as a Professor at The University of Hong Kong (1977-2004).\u00a0 Tributes to PA\u00a0from our\u00a0class mates: K.Suntharalingam,\u00a0N.Kugadasan, P.H.B Samarawickrema, N. Madusoothanan and others are included \u00a0in the obituary.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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