He then sat for the Ceylon Civil Service examination and topped the list of passers leaving his nearest rival 100 marks behind and scoring more marks then the candidates who came out first in the Indian Civil Service Examination.
This means he topped the list of the Indian Civil Service examination. The Commonwealth Civil Service exams were open to all candidates of the Commonwealth who had attained high academic qualification from Universities. Today's equivalent would be an exam open to academics from around the world to a limited number of top government administrative positions.
Mr. B. Ponniah also sat for his Bar examinations in England and passed these as well. After his graduation from Cambridge with a Triple First, he was invited for dinner to 10, Downing Street by Mr. Stanley Baldwin, then Prime Minister of England.
Please allow me this freedom to insert a statement here about Mr. Baldwin's Christian conviction that will bless many; he once said, "I prefer to sink with Faith intact rather than swim without it."
At that time the 3rd World Colonies were beginning to demand more self-rule with Gandhi leading the charge in India. As such, the British Government of the day had a policy of nurturing good relationships with future leaders from the 3rd world. Hence Mr. Benedict Ponniah's invitation to dinner.
After the war, Mr. B Ponniah visited friends and relatives in Malaya before taking up the position at the Secretariat at Ratnapura Kacheri Ceylon, which is equivalent to a local Secretariat. We do not know where he was stationed during the war years, but it was not in Malaya. At that time Ceylon was an important Colonial post ranking after Canada, Australia and India. As such, his appointment to the Secretariat at Ratnapura was a very important posting for an Asian.
He married the sister of his Cambridge classmate. She was an Indian from Gujarat whose father was serving as a judge in Ceylon. We do not have particulars of her qualification.
He was from the inception a Government Servant. In 1939 he was appointed Chairman of the 1st International Labour Conference to be held in Singapore. At that time he was in the offing for the position as 1st Under Secretary to the Secretary General of the United Nations. The appointee for the post of 2nd Under Secretary was the delegate from Burma, Mr. U.Than. En-route to Singapore, he stopped in India and had tea with Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India.
Sometime during his travels he confirmed his acceptance of the UN post. Whilst in Singapore, Mr. B Ponniah stayed at Government House and was permitted use of the facilities at Tanglin Club (Whites only club). Special permission was granted to his younger brother Wilfred Ponniah to have tea with Mr. B. Ponniah at Tanglin Club.
Another world renowned individual who studied Law at Cambridge, a few years after Benedict was Lee Kuan Yew - the first Prime Minister of modern Singapore. He attended Fitzwilliam College. Mr Lee graduated with the rare Double Starred First Class Honours in the year 1949.
(Mr Lee Kuan Yew is presently in an Intensive Care Unit. Some Government Minsters have written a note on their Facebook to pray for him. We understand that he is not a believer but we will continue to trust that our Dear Lord will give him a personal visitation.)
We convey our deepest condolences to the family of Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore who sadly passed away today. At 3-18 am, 22nd March 2015. May he Rest in Peace.The legacy is he brought tremendous prosperity, security and peace to Singapore.
I must record it here that Mr. Lee originally worked as a lawyer in a firm called Laycock and Ong. It was Christopher John Laycock, A. P. Rajah and C. C. Tan ( the famous geneticist) who broke through and founded Singapore's first multiracial club, The Island Club to which all Asians were welcome to join. This was in total contrast to the Tanglin Club. It was the Japanese occupation that fashioned the political gene in Mr Lee. Something tells me that Benedict Ponniah and Lee Kuan Yew would have shared many things in common. Mention must also be made of Kwa Geok Choo, more popularly known as Mrs Lee Kuan Yew. She shone like Benedict Ponniah and was also a brilliant Queens Scholar. Mrs Lee studied Law at Girton College, Cambridge.
It so happens that as I am writing these lines I am also reading his book, "The Singapore Story-- Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew", it's a fascinating read especially how he firstly acquainted himself with his soon to be wife, Kwa Geok Choo. Very sadly at 5-40 pm on 2nd October 2010, she passed away in her home. Aged 89 years. She has indeed left some lasting memories.
(Just suffice to say that it was in July/ August 1995 that we last visited Singapore. Our family were blessed to stay in the Singapore Hilton for a week- a very comfortable stay. Anton had the privilege to present a talk in a Church there. He remembers that the majority of the congregation were from the Sindhi community.
In Memory of my dear Mother, Theresa Jeyamani Nicholas
Mr & Mrs Lee Kuan Yew and Benedict Ponniah were all awarded fist-class honours degrees. The world will know that the eldest son of Mr. Lee, Brigadier-General Lee Hsien Loong since 12th August 2004 is the current Prime Minister of Singapore. He also graduated from Cambridge, (Trinity College), gaining First Class Honours in Mathematics. Pedigrees are fashioned from formidable family backgrounds. May our children Paul and Jannine Nicholas follow this trail.
{A picture of Paul & Jannine with the family is at the bottom of this page which includes a very brief report of their exciting résumé.}
Mr. B. Ponniah visited Malaya after having chaired the 1st International Labour Conference at the Victoria Memorial Building in Singapore. This Conference was a great success. He attended a dinner in his honour hosted by my visionary Grandfather, Mr. B.P.Nicholas amongst others. The prestigious gathering assembled at this dinner knew that Mr. Benedict Ponniah was planning to return to Ceylon to make arrangements to take his family with him to Geneva, Switzerland. After dinner en route to Seremban, Negri Sembilan he was involved in an accident. This very sad event took place on October 6, about 6-30 pm, at the 5½ mile Kajang-Kuala Lumpur Road.The car was being driven by Mr. Stanley Ponniah. As a result of injuries sustained he died at Kuala Lumpur General Hospital at the young age of 34. The funeral was held in Seremban, Malaya against the insistence of Mr. Edwin Nicholas, (the son of B.P. Nicholas) who wanted to have same held at his residence in Kuala Lumpur because top British dignitaries were expected to attend the funeral. The British Government provided an RAF plane for Mr. B. Ponniah's brother Father Robert Ponniah to fly from India, where he was stationed to Malaya to attend the funeral.
From the International point of view, Mr. B Ponniah was the 2nd most important figure after the Secretary General of the United Nations. Shortly after Mr. B Ponniah's death, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Dag Hammarskjold met with a fatal air crash, September 1961. Mr U. Thant, a Burmese who was appointed 2nd under Secretary after Mr. B Ponniah was eventually appointed Secretary General of the United Nations. But for his untimely death, Mr. B Ponniah, had he survived the accident, may have been Secretary General of the United Nations.
