KUALA LUMPUR: As Tan Sri Devaki Krishnan blew the candles on her birthday cake last Saturday, she officially achieved her lifelong dream of becoming a centenarian.
Devaki, dubbed as the "Grand Dame of Malaysian Indian politics" is the first woman elected to be in public office and is currently the last few of the Merdeka generation to live to this day.
Her bold leap in the Kuala Lumpur Municipal Election in 1952, a seat she retained in 1955, is seen as the breakthrough for political participation among women in a male-dominated field.
Umno's founder and Independent Party of Malaya president Datuk Onn Jaafar had personally approached her to join his party, having seen her oratorical and leadership skills.
She has had the distinction of meeting and knowing all Malaysia's prime ministers, including Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
"It's been her lifelong dream to live till 100. Prior to her birthday, she was feeling excited and jovial as she would have the opportunity to meet people.
"It has been the greatest privilege of her life to be a part of the history of the formation of this beautiful nation.
"She has been extremely fortunate to witness from the early tin mining Malaya to the resource rich multicultural Malaysia that we have become. She is very proud and loves her country," said her grandson Rohan Ramakrishnan.
Rohan, who grew up with Devaki, said the patriotic Devaki never failed to emphasise the importance of inter-ethnic interfaith relations as this cauldron of culture was Malaysia's most greatest asset.
During the 1969 racial riots, Devaki was also in charge of the medical clinic as a member of the Civil Defence Force where she helped care for victims and the homeless, which numbered around 3,500, at Stadium Merdeka.
"Having lived through the May 13 riots, she had made it her lifelong ambition to ensure that communal relations were positive among the citizenry.
"She always told me, if we lose the ability to live in a cross-cultural Malaysia, that would spell the end of the nation as the very fabric of it from the Merdeka years was built on this foundation," he said.
Rohan shared that Devaki had always emphasised the importance of equality, being fair and honest.
"She always hoped that the basic communal values of interfaith and inter-ethnic relations would continue to prosper so that we would have a very progressive society.
"At times when she sees racial tensions, she gets very upset because our forefathers fought so hard for the formation of Malaysia; having gone through the atrocities faced by Malayans during the Japanese occupation and the exploitation by the British," he said.
Rohan said his grandmother often spoke of past events in her life with her fondest memory being winning her second term in the 1955 elections for the Bangsar seat and being paraded across the streets of Kuala Lumpur in an open top car.
He said it was even more fulfilling because she had been a teacher, a very respected profession, and her students had helped her with canvassing.
"Back then, it was all about social and community service. You really served your community for the greater good and the job was very fulfilling. She loved meeting people and talking to them, and that is something that defined her life routine.
"As a free-spirited and playful young kid, I was sent to live with her at a home called Brindavan in Brickfields, in hopes of being a little more disciplined. While there, people would turn up unannounced and ring the bell. It could be a marriage issue, an education loan, or communal dispute – she won't turn anyone away," he said.
In a time where women were generally homemakers and were confined to the kitchen, she chose to be a revolutionary character, Rohan said, and it was in Devaki's blood to be the wind of change.
Her father was the last Controller of Post and Telecoms of Malaya and her Sri Lankan heritage, where women since the 1900s had been in politics, was the initial catalyst.
The opportunity to meet illuminating figures such as India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who had visited Brickfields for a speech at the time, further inspired her will and desire to push for an independent Malaya free of the colonialists.
She was also the first woman in the Bangsar area to drive a car having been taught by her late husband, P. Krishnan, a wealthy businessman.
The recent 15th General Elections, he said, gave her a flashback of the election fever of canvassing and meeting the rakyat as her grandson Datuk Ramanan Ramakrishnan had contested in Sungai Buloh against former Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
Coincidentally, Devaki and Khairy's mother are lifelong friends.
As we celebrate International Women's Day, Devaki can be seen as an exemplary role model for women not only in Malaysia but across the globe.
Among the significant awards presented to her was the Serving Sister of St John Award by Queen Elizabeth, Tokoh Wanita Award and Tun Fatimah Award for her contributions to women empowerment and welfare services. She was also a founding member of the Malaysian Indian Congress and remains a life member.
She also holds the distinction of being the first Malaysian of Sri Lankan descent to be conferred the Panglima Setia Mahkota award, which carries the Tan Sri title.