Hollupatherage James Caldera Kulasingha (4 January 1900 – 8 December 1982) was a Singaporean politician and merchant who served as the chairman of the Pasir Panjang Rural District Committee and as a member of the Singapore Rural Board from 1949 to 1959. A member of the Progressive Party, he was elected to the Legislative Council of Singapore in 1951 representing the constituency of Bukit Timah.
He contested the Southern Islands Constituency seat in the 1955 Singaporean general election as a member of the Progressive Party, losing the election by a narrow margin. After the Progressive Party's defeat in the election, it merged with the Democratic Party to form the Liberal Socialist Party and Kulasingha was elected its vice-chairman. However, he and over a hundred other members left the party shortly before the 1959 Singaporean general election. He then unsuccessfully contested the Pasir Panjang Constituency in the election as an independent.
Nicknamed the "King of Southern Islands", Kulasingha was known for his contributions to the region, for which he was conferred the Order of the British Empire in 1955.
Early life and education A Sinhalese, Kulasingha was born in the town of Matara in Ceylon on 4 January 1900. His father was a merchant who manufactured rope and he had an older brother and a younger sister. He received his education at a Christian mission school run by the Church of England Mission and completed the Junior Cambridge examinations. Although his father was a Buddhist, Kulasingha was sent to the mission school as he would not be able to learn English otherwise, and learning the language was necessary for a job under the British. His father died when he was 8 or 9 years old, after which the family was supported by the inheritance received and his uncle. He joined the scouts in sixth or seventh standard. In his teenage years, grew disillusioned with the local Caste system, which eventually led him to emigrate to British Malaya. He also converted to Christianity around this time. After graduating, he began working at an office as a clerk. Kulasingha left Ceylon for Singapore when he was 18 without telling his family, who would have forbidden him to leave, and with the help of his friends. Despite this, he remained in contact with his family.
Career Kulasingha remained in Singapore for 2–3 months unsuccessfully looking for a job at a commercial firm. He then left for Kuala Lumpur by train after hearing that there may be more opportunities there instead. He was then hired as a junior clerk at a local firm. After a year, he left to join the firm Cumberbatch & Co. as the boss of the first firm was "not very pleasant". He started at the company as a junior clerk. In March 1927, Kulasingha was elected honorary secretary of a committee of Buddhists in Kuala Lumpur opposing the screening of the film The Light of Asia as it would "injure the religious susceptibilities of those who profess the Buddhist religion". He was put in charge of the insurance department of Cumberbatch & Co. in 1938 or 1939. In November 1939, he was elected to the committee of the newly formed Sinhalese Association of the Federated Malay States which aimed to raise funds for the Malayan Patriotic Fund, a war charity. He also served as the Patriotic Fund's secretary and organised the Sinhalese Women's Sewing League, which aimed to provide clothing to those who had lost their homes in bombings. Kulasingha was appointed the honorary secretary of the Association of Non-Government Employees in Kuala Lumpur.
Kulasingha fled to Singapore, by train around December 1941 as he feared the Kempeitai. He went to live with his brother-in-law on Havelock Road and remained in Singapore even during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore. While in Singapore, he visited his boss, who had been detained as a prisoner of war. He was given a letter authorising the organisation of the office. Around six months before the Japanese surrender and the subsequent end of the occupation, Kulasingha fled to Pengerang in Johor. While there, he began working either as an assistant at a rubber estate or as a market gardener in a "lonely district". After the occupation, he returned to Singapore and began living in a "rattan house" in Pasir Panjang. He founded a business in 1946 with two other partners, Sinhalese he had met during the occupation, with each of them investing $1000. Kulasingha himself managed the business. The firm, located on Anson Road was a forwarding agent which supplied security guards to ships. There were initially only two to three competitors. However, many more organisations offering similar services were formed around 1948 to 1949, leading to stiff competition. His workers began unionising in this period, although the company remained profitable. He claimed to have met "reasonable" demands by the unions and that the "unreasonable" demands were "scrapped" by them. The firm continued to perform well until the early 1960s. However, competition had grown heavily by the mid-1960s, as had the salaries. Despite this, he claimed that the firm was never "at the loss" and that business was "not bad" following Singapore's gaining of independence in 1965.
Pasir Panjang Rural District Committee and the Singapore Rural Board (1948 – 1959) By May 1948, Kulasingha had become the chairman of the Pasir Panjang Village Committee, a Rural District Committee which also oversaw the Southern Islands. Initially, he did not receive payment as chairman. He would make trips to the Southern Islands weekly or fortnightly. As chairman, he visited the islands on two separate calls in May to assess the living conditions on the islands, which were in a state of "neglect". Reportedly, one of the islands faced poor fresh water supply, many children were forced to travel long distances on sampans to attend a Malay school on Pulau Seraya and medically, residents received only one visit from a nursing sister every fortnight. He recommended that government storage tanks be installed on the islands, that a pre-war structure on the islands be converted into a hospital, that the Fisheries Department should "sponsor schemes to improve the methods of fishing" and that poultry farming among the residents be encouraged. In July, he suggested that a fire station be built to serve the villages on Pulau Brani and that the free ferry service between the island and mainland Singapore be "resuscitated" as residents could not afford the 25-cent fare for a ferry. In August, he claimed that he would "complain" to the Rural Board about how the Pasir Panjang area lacked a post office and a "through" bus service. By September, the committee had been renamed the Pasir Panjang Rural District Committee.
By February 1949, Kulasingha had become a member of the Special Voluntary Constable, established by the committee and comprising locals. Kulasingha wrote to the Rural Board in May, suggesting that a Chinese-language school be built behind the Alexandra Road Police Station as, according to him, around 400 children in the area did not have a school to go to. In the same month, Kulasingha was appointed a member of the Rural Board in place of the recently deceased Cheong Hock Chye. In September, he lodged a "protest" against an experimental fish pond around the residences of 10 families in the area, which had resulted in 12 cases of children falling into the pond and the residents being unable to move forward with renovations. He successfully advocated for the cost of night soil removal services to not increase. He was re-appointed to the Singapore Rural Board as an unofficial member for 1950. By February 1950, he had been elected the vice-president of the Singapore Sinhalese Association, and unsuccessfully advocated for the flying of the Ceylonese flag in Singapore on the independence day of the Dominion of Ceylon. He had also become a member of the Progressive Party, as he was in favour of Singapore gradually gaining independence. Later that month, Kulasingha successfully secured $4000 and 15 acres of land along Lim Chu Kang Road as compensation to a group of 150 squatters who were left homeless after their homes along Coronation Road were demolished to make way for a housing estate. He had taken a "personal interest" in their case. In March, he was elected a committee member of the Progressive Party. Kulasingha was "instrumental in bringing about the Sino-Malay cooperation" for the funding and the construction of a school on Pulau Semakau which opened in April. By then, he had also become the president of the Singapore Sinhalese Association. In the same month, he was appointed the Rural Board's representative on a committee which would "advise the Government on the sitting of community radio receiving sets."
In July 1950, Percy Joseph of The Singapore Standard wrote that if "any one man" could be credited with Pasir Panjang's "remarkable growth" it would be Kulasingha. According to Joseph, Kulasingha was then visiting the islands in the area once a month. He had proposed that a community hall be built along Buona Vista Road. This hall, which was to be completed later that year, was the first community hall on the island to be built in a village. Joseph claimed that Kulasingha often served as a "mediator" or "magistrate" for Pasir Panjang residents. Kulasingha had also started two evening classes teaching English to adults with plans for a third and in the midst of setting up another school on the islands for the children of Malay fishermen in the area. The first two English classes were held at the Tanglin Tinggi Malay School as the Anglo-Malay Evening School. The first was founded in January while the second was established in April. When it was announced that Pasir Panjang would be receiving a post office only in 1951, Kulasingha criticised the delay, opining that the area, which then had around 30,000 residents, "badly" required a post office. The third English class, held at the Hua Chiau Chinese School was opened by John Le Provost, the Adult Education Officer, in August. In the same month, the Sinhalese Association adopted a crest which he had designed. The following month, he was appointed to the Council of Adult Education and the committee to "consider the provision of bus shelters." In December, he was re-elected to the Rural Board for a three-year term.