The well known interpreter who did yeoman service

Sellaiah Kumarasamy English/Tamil and Tamil/ English Parliament interpreter passed away, recently in his village Alaveddy.

He joined Parliament senate as an interpreter in 1961 . He worked in some Ministries also as an English/Tamil, Tamil/ English interpreter. After retiring having served 40 years in Parliament, he served as a relief interpreter from 1997 to 2012. He was honoured by the previous Speaker Chamal Rajapakse in 2012. At a Farewell for Mr. Kumarasamy, Former Secretary General of Parliament B.D.Dasanayake said SK had performed a long and dedicated service to Parliament.

During his career Mr. Kumarasamy earned the respect and commendation of political leaders, members of Parliament and the Secretary-General whom he had the privilege to work with.

Another feather in Mr. Kumarsamy’s cap was his involvement in translating the trilingual manual of the standing orders in the Senate. SK also attended many International conferences assisting political leaders in their deliberations.

Mr. Kumarasamy had a London matriculation certificate in English, Latin and Tamil when he joined the Senate, coming first in the examination for interpreters to the Senate.

SK was the official interpreter at various conferences including the long drawn- out All Party Conference sessions, the Law Reforms Commission, the Inquiries on the Ceasefire Monitoring Commission and the International Islamic Conference. He was commended for his remarkable performance at the historic Thimpu talks in Bhutan in 1985.

In July 1969 when the historic moon landing was relayed over the Voice Of America (VOA), Radio Ceylon had engaged him to relay to Tamil listeners the VOA commentaries.