Trade unions David was a founding member and secretary of
Selangor Factories Association in 1953. He was known as 'King David' among local and international trade union circles and served as MTUC secretary-general from 1976 to 1992. He was also the Transport Workers Union secretary-general from 1958 to 1995. David was best known for setting up the Workers Institute of Technology (WIT) in
Port Klang in the early 1970s, which provided education opportunities for thousands of workers' children over the years. At the international level, he served as the executive board member of the International Transport Federation and the International Confederation of Free Trade Union, and represented Malaysian workers at numerous
International Labour Organization (ILO) conferences in
Geneva,
Switzerland.
Politics David was elected as
Kuala Lumpur town councillor and became the Transport Workers Union's secretary in 1958. In 1959, he was elected
Bangsar Member of Parliament under the ticket of the
Malayan Peoples' Socialist Front as well as the state seat of Pantai, both in Selangor. However, in 1964, he lost his seat to
Devan Nair of the
People's Action Party although he kept his state seat. In 1969, David returned to parliament by winning the
Dato' Kramat seat in Penang and was re-elected to his Pantai state seat for the third time, both under the newly formed
Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia. When Gerakan joined the
Barisan Nasional in 1973, David resigned to join the
Parti Keadilan Masyarakat Malaysia (Pekemas). In the 1974 general election, both his Dato' Kramat and Pantai seats were abolished in a re-delineation exercise. David contested in the Jelutong parliament seat (also in Penang) for Pekemas against Rasiah Rajasingam, a former Gerakan colleague, but lost. In 1978, as a candidate of the
Democratic Action Party this time, David defeated
Malaysian Indian Congress strongman, Deputy Minister
S. Subramaniam for the
Damansara parliament seat. He failed to retain his seat again in 1982 to
Tan Koon Swan who later became
Malaysian Chinese Association president. In 1986 and 1990, David was elected as
Puchong Member of Parliament and, in 1995, stepped down for health reasons. David was arrested under the Emergency Ordinance in 1958. He was also arrested under
Internal Security Act in 1964 and 1969 (after the 13 May race riots). David became chairman of the World Tamil Association in 1984. He authored a book, Freedom that Never Came, chronicling his views on the post-independence period in Malaysia. ==Death==