When he was elected the first non-white mayor of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England, last year after 48 years, he proved that colour and creed do not play a part in any public election, at least in his part of the world.
First, he had to win in the ward of Rastric, which has 5,000 voters with 90% of them being mainly white. He did and next, he had to face the winners of the 51 other wards in the district for the mayorship.
“With the exception of one who was of Pakistani origin, I had to contend with 50 white candidates. And I managed to win, thanks to the support of the local community which votes on merits, not colour or creed,” he told FMT in a phone interview.
The 70-year-old Pillai, who still holds a Malaysian citizenship with a British permanent residency status, said that in the UK, anyone can run for office as long as they were Commonwealth citizens.
Campaigning during the election was not “that tough” for him as he and his wife ran a nursing home which endeared them to the community, and his passion for social and health development put him in a good stead.
“My role model was the late prime minister Margaret Thatcher, whose leadership style attracted me quite a bit when I was working as a male nurse then. So I joined the Conservative Party and have not turned back since,” he said.
Pillai was elected in May last year but took the chain and robes of the mayor’s office for the borough of Calderdale officially only on May 19 this year because of Covid-19 restrictions. Calderdale is about 300km northeast of London.
Asked if his race and nationality had been used by any of his rivals in the run-up, he gave an empathic “no”, saying that the sky is the limit for anyone who is willing to work hard to overcome the odds.
“I have been away from Malaysia for more than 50 years, so I don’t know how it is there. But I guess my success to date is testimony to how far one can go with merit as the main consideration,” he said.
He entered public office as a councillor of Calderdale in 2011, having worked for the Conservative Party since 1989. He was Calderdale’s deputy mayor for two consecutive terms before this.
Pillai paid tribute to his wife Beverley, who he said was his pillar of strength throughout his community health and public office journey.
“She is also a nurse at the local Huddersfield Royal Infirmary. I have three boys namely James, 26, Jonathan, 23, and 19-year-old George.”
However, you cannot take the Malaysian out of Pillai where food is concerned. He still craves for durians, nasi lemak and roti canai although they are not exactly the favourites of his family members.
“They don’t like durians, saying it is smelly, but they don’t mind watching me eat. It’s pretty expensive here but I just love them. As for nasi lemak, there are some Malaysian shops that sell them. But it is nothing like the ones wrapped in a banana leaf and paper,” he said.
Pillai’s father was a senior anti-malarial health Inspector in the then Malayan Railways. He started his early education at Methodist (ACS) Ipoh (1958-1960), followed by Methodist (ACS) Seremban (1961-1966), and finished up at Methodist Boy’s School Kuala Lumpur (1966-1970).
Pillai left Malaysia to train as a nurse in London, England, in 1971 after being offered a scholarship at the prestigious Moorfields Eye Hospital in London.
“I am waiting for the Covid-19 situation to stabilise because I want to come to Malaysia to visit my family in Seremban and friends and holiday in Penang, where my family loves to spend time,” he said.