| Honorific-Prefix: | Hon. |
| Alfred Thambiayah | |
| Native Name: | அல்பிரட் தம்பிஐயா |
| Native Name Lang: | ta |
| Honorific-Suffix: | MP |
| Constituency Mp: | Kayts |
| Parliament: | Ceylonese |
| Term Start1: | 1947 |
| Term End1: | 1956 |
| Successor1: | V. A. Kandiah |
| Birth Date: | 8 November 1903 |
| Party: | All Ceylon Tamil Congress |
| Alma Mater: | St. Anthony's College St. Patrick's College St. Benedict's College St. Joseph's College |
| Occupation: | Businessman |
| Blank1: | Ethnicity |
| Data1: | Ceylon Tamil |
Alfred Leo Saverimuthu Thambiayah (Tamil: அல்பிரட் லியோ சவரிமுத்து தம்பிஐயா; (November 10, 1903 – October 1, 2009) was a Ceylon Tamil businessman, centenarian, politician and Member of Parliament.
Thambiayah was born on 8 November 1903 in Karampon on the island of Velanaitivu in northern Ceylon.[1] [2] [3] His father was a ship owner in Kayts.[2] He was educated at St. Anthony's College, Kayts, St. Patrick's College, Jaffna, St. Benedict's College, Colombo and St. Joseph's College, Colombo.[2]
Thambiayah married Rajeswari, daughter of Adigar Sellamuttu.[3] They had two sons (Shivantha and Ravi) and two daughters (Subodhini and Indumathi Renuka).[3]
Thambiayah began his business career aged 21 by leasing the Olympia Cinema.[2] He then went into business with Chittampalam Abraham Gardiner, establishing the successful Ceylon Theatres Ltd.[2] Later on Ceylon Theatres bought Cargills & Millers and Thambiayah served as chairman/managing director of the latter.[2] Thambiayah acquired Cargo Boat Dispatch Company, a shipping company, in 1936 from Harry and John Cosmas.[2] [3] [4] The company grew to control the majority of the business out of the Port of Colombo.[4]
Thambiayah stood as an independent candidate in Kayts at the 1947 parliamentary election.[2] He won the election and entered Parliament.[2] [3] [5] His opponent A. V. Kulasingham filed a legal petition stating that Thambiayah was disqualified from contesting the election as his Cargo Boat Dispatch Company had contracts with the state-owned Colombo Ports Authority. Judge Basanayake found in favour of Kulasingham and declared the Kayts election void.[6] Electoral law didn't allow appeals against the judgement so the United National Party dominated government hurriedly passed the Election Petition Appeal Act No. 1 of 1948. Thambiayah appealed and judges Wijeyewardene, Canekeratne and Windham over ruled Basanayake's judgement and re-instated Thambiayah as the MP for Kayts.[7]
Thambiayah was instrumental in the construction of road links to Velanaitivu from Jaffna peninsula and Pungudutivu.[2] He also helped build schools, hospitals, roads, dispensaries and post offices on the island.[2]
Thambiayah was re-elected at the 1952 parliamentary election as an All Ceylon Tamil Congress candidate.[2] [8] The ACTC left the UNP government in 1953 but Thambiayah chose to remain with the UNP.[9] Thambiayah, like many Tamil UNP politicians, left the UNP in 1956 over its support of the Sinhala Only policy.[9]
Thambiayah stood for re-election in the constituency at the 1956 and March 1960 parliamentary elections but on each occasion was defeated by the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (Federal Party) candidate V. A. Kandiah.[2] [10] [11]
Thambiayah's company suffered a set-back when the Port of Colombo was nationalised in 1958.[4] Thambiayah started diversifying his business interests, turning his company into a shipping agency house, taking shareholdings in Hatton National Bank and establishing Hotel Renuka in Kollupitiya in 1970 after the government started offering tax incentives to the hospitality sector.[2] [4]
Today Thambiayah's company is known as Renuka Holdings PLC and is one of Sri Lanka's largest conglomerates.[12] Thambiayah's daughter Indumathi Renuka Rajiyah is the company's chairperson and his grandson Shamindra Vatsalan Rajiyah is the executive director.[12] [13]
He died prior to October 2009, aged no older than 105.[14]
. Dictionary of Biography of the Tamils of Ceylon. 1997. 220–221. S. Arumugam.