Devamany Krishnasamy

In this Indian name, the name S. Krishnasamy is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Devamany.

Devamany s/o S. Krishnasamy (Tamil: தேவமணி கிருஷ்ணசாமி, romanized: Tēvamaṇi kiruṣṇacāmi; born 10 September 1958), also known as S. K. Devamany, is a Malaysian politician. He was the Deputy President of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), a component party of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. He served as the Senator and the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (EPU).^[1] Previously, he served Speaker of the Perak State Legislative Assembly from 28 June 2013 to 30 June 2016. He formerly served as Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department under the Barisan Nasional government while being member of the Member of Parliament of Malaysia for the Cameron Highlands constituency in Pahang for two terms from 21 March 2004 to 5 May 2013.

Yang Hormat Dato' Sri Devamany Krishnasamy SSAP DIMP SMP PPT
தேவமணி கிருஷ்ணசாமி
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department
In office 27 June 2016 – 9 May 2018 (Economic Planning Unit)
Monarchs	Abdul Halim Muhammad V
Prime Minister	Najib Razak
Minister	Abdul Rahman Dahlan
Preceded by	Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy
Succeeded by	Mohd Radzi Md Jidin as Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs
Constituency	Senator
In office 19 March 2008 – 15 May 2013 (Unity and Performance Management)
Monarchs	Mizan Zainal Abidin Abdul Halim
Prime Minister	Najib Razak
Minister	Bernard Giluk Dompok (2008–2009) Koh Tsu Koon (2008–2013) Idris Jala (2009–2015)
Preceded by	Position Established
Succeeded by	Position Abolished
Constituency	Cameron Highlands
Speaker of the Perak State Legislative Assembly
In office 28 June 2013 – 30 June 2016
Monarchs	Azlan Shah Nazrin Shah
Deputy	Nasarudin Hashim
Menteri Besar	Zambry Abdul Kadir
Preceded by	Ganesan Retanam
Succeeded by	Thangasvari Suppiah
Constituency	non–MP (Barisan Nasional)
Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Cameron Highlands, Pahang
In office 21 March 2004 – 5 May 2013
Preceded by	New constituency
Succeeded by	Palanivel Govindasamy (BN–MIC)
Majority	6,260 (2004) 3,117 (2008)
Personal details
Born	Devamany s/o S. Krishnasamy (1958-09-10) 10 September 1958 (age 66) Semanggol, Perak, Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia)
Citizenship	Malaysian
Political party	Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC)
Other political affiliations	Barisan Nasional (BN)
Spouse	Saraswathy Nallaiah
Children	3 daughters
Alma mater	University of Malaya (UM)
Occupation	Politician

Personal life

Devamany was born on 10 September 1958 in Semanggol, Perak and received his early education at King Edward VII School in Taiping.^[2] In 1978, he qualified as a teacher from the Special Education Teachers' Institute in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur. He then furthered his studies and graduated with a degree in Malay Literature from University Malaya in 1982.^[3]

Dewamany is married to Saraswathy Nallaiah and the couple has three daughters.

Political career

Devamany was picked to be the treasurer general of Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) replacing Tan Sri Mahalingam in 2008.^[4] He becomes MIC current Deputy President after winning the party re-election in 2015^[5][6] when ROS nullified the 1 December 2013 party's earlier election in which he failed to retain the Vice-President position he previously held since 2009.^[7][8]

Devamany was first elected to the Parliament of Malaysia in the 2004 election for the seat of Cameron Highlands, Pahang.^[4] He held his seat in the 2008 election despite widespread losses by the MIC, leaving him as one of only three MIC members of the Dewan Rakyat. After the 2008 election, Devamany was appointed a Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department.^[9][10]

For the 2013 Malaysian General Election, Devamany was selected to contest the Sungai Siput, Perak parliamentary constituency. However, he was defeated by incumbent Michael Jeyakumar from Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) who had contested under the tickets of People's Justice Party (PKR).

On 28 June 2013, he was voted in as the new Perak State Legislative Assembly Speaker, receiving 31 votes to his opponent's 28.^[11] He served as the Perak State Legislative Assembly Speaker from June 2013 to June 2016.

Devamany was appointed as Senator and once again as the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (EPU) in the federal government on 27 June 2016.^[1]

Election results

Parliament of Malaysia^[12][13][14]

Year	Constituency	Candidate		Votes	Pct	Opponent(s)		Votes	Pct	Ballots cast	Majority	Turnout
2004	P078 Cameron Highlands		Devamany Krishnasamy (MIC)	10,226	72.05%		Apalasamy Jataliah (DAP)	3,966	27.95%	15,202	6,260	65.92%
2008			Devamany Krishnasamy (MIC)	9,164	60.25%		Apalasamy Jataliah (DAP)	6,047	39.75%	16,456	3,117	70.14%
2013	P062 Sungai Siput		Devamany Krishnasamy (MIC)	18,800	45.17%		Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj (PKR)	21,593	51.89%	41,617	2,793	80.70%
							Nagalingam Singaravelloo (IND)	197	0.47%
2018			Devamany Krishnasamy (MIC)	15,210	35.60%		Kesavan Subramaniam (PKR)	20,817	48.72%	42,726	5,607	77.68%
							Ishak Ibrahim (PAS)	5,194	13.84%
							Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj (PSM)	1,505	3.52%

Honours

• Perak :
  • Recipient of the Distinguished Conduct Medal (PPT) (1998)^[15]
• Pahang :
  • Grand Knight of the Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang (SSAP) – Dato' Sri (2012)
  • Knight Companion of the Order of the Crown of Pahang (DIMP) – Dato' (2008)
  • Companion of the Order of the Crown of Pahang (SMP) (2007)^[16]