DR NAGALINGAM RASALINGAM - A breif survey by Dr. Harry Rasiah

My good friend Dr Rasalingam has established himself in three different spheres of activity during his long active life.  From our school days at Royal College he was an outstanding sportsman; he became a doctor and after he established himself and his family in Auckland, New Zealand he became a human rights activist championing the cause of migrants.

Best known possibly as a badminton player he was triple national champion. He also excelled in basketball, which was a new sport at Royal and became the team’s second captain. When hockey was inaugurated in 1955, Ras took to the field with gusto and would have captained after Lionel Almeida, but due to age restrictions that honour fell to Harry Rasiah!  

The photograph shows him seated on the Principal’s left with team mates ‘Bongo’ Rajendra, Godwin Daniel, Wijedoru, T K N Thilakan, Ramanathan, ‘Papa’ Samarasinghe and coaches Hugh Aldons and ‘Budge’ Metzeling and of course Mr Hockey Lennie de Silva the master-in-charge.

One might have thought that was sufficient for anyone to handle but Ras was also Middleweight Boxing Champion and Head Prefect too.  One of his boxing team mates was Rahula Silva who became a national champion while still a schoolboy.

Moving into Medical College in 1957 he continued his sports. On the basketball court he played alongside his former school mates Thurairajah and Sri Skandarajah and they were a formidable trio for the Varsity All Blacks – and all three excelled in badminton too.

Despite being such a good sportsman, Ras was there for any party.  When the results of the 1^st MB were announced and I had won an Exhibition – the princely sum of Rs50.00 – we took to our scooters and hit the town to celebrate!

After passing out as a doctor, he was posted to Badulla for his internship.  At that time for reasons cited by the Health Department as ‘over production’, newly qualified doctors were not guaranteed employment and as a result Rasalingam and many others became part of a mass exodus who sought greener pastures abroad, in his case New Zealand, where he and his batch mate Freddie (Dr U D F Abeysekera) set up a joint practice which thrived until they both decided to retire and sold up.

Rasalingam’s eldest brother Amirthalingam joined the army but along with many other officers left the army.  In 1983 their mother was seriously manhandled by the goon squads and their house ransacked. These events may have led him to take up cudgels on behalf of the many Tamils who fled at that time.  He came to be considered an active member of the Diaspora and could have been arrested had he dared to visit Sri Lanka. 

The RAS Migration Centre in Auckland has helped hundreds of Sri Lankans to settle in New Zealand.  They are taught English and also made familiar with local customs and mannerisms so that they can more easily be accepted by their local communities.  For this work he was recognised by the New Zealand government and given an award.  He and his wife Malar both work for the Refugee Council of New Zealand Inc.  Their son is a Cardiologist in New York where Ras’s brother Sunderalingam has long been a respected Physicist.  Their daughter is a lawyer, also residing in the USA.

Rasalingam lives in retirement in New Zealand.