Events moved quickly now. There was a progressive polarization of the political climate. The two Senior Ministers, Mr. Gamini Dissanayake and Mr. Lalith Athulathmudali who had left the government and formed their own political party, The Democratic United National Front (DUNF) were posing a considerable challenge to the ruling UNP. The original intention of this group was to get the President impeached, and to assume control of the party. But President Premadasa outwitted them. Now, this breakaway party was beginning to pose a significant challenge. Needless to say all this was accompanied with great bitterness. This was certainly something that the President was not prepared to forgive or forget. The Provincial Council elections were now due and candidates from various parties were in the field vying for votes.

Mr. Athulathmudali along with his former Ministerial colleague and others were also keenly contesting this election. On the late evening of April 23, 1993, when Mr. Athulathmudali was addressing a political rally at Kirulapone, a gunman shot him. He was rushed to hospital where in spite of all efforts by doctors, he succumbed to his injuries. There was an outpouring of grief and anger in the country. Mr. Athulathmudali was a respected and popular figure. He was widely identified as a future leader of the country. The bitterness of the political battle that preceded his assassination was such that a great many people suspected the President of having been behind it.

The fact that there were others who were thorns in the government’s side, who mysteriously disappeared, or like in the case of Richard de Zoysa turned up dead in the sea, strengthened this perception. People openly began accusing the President. The state of public feeling was high and running against the President. The voices of a few, more reflective people who thought that the President couldn’t possibly have had a hand in this, because he would have known well enough that such an act would boomerang on him, were drowned out. Mass feeling at the time was not conducive to any sober analysis. There was an unprecedented crowd at his funeral, and angry people threw stones at some government buildings on the way to the cemetery. The Ministry of Public Administration was one such institution where several windows were broken.

Assassination of President Premadasa

The information was that the President was greatly distressed at what had happened, and the imputations and accusations made against him. People working close to him reported that he was hurt, angry and at times almost hysterical. This came out in what was to be his own final political address eerily enough at the same Kirulapone venue at which Mr. Athulathmudali was killed. Recordings of his speech at this rally indicate that he was very emotional and greatly disturbed. He was clearly not the disciplined and controlled person he normally was.

Towards the end of his address, in a voice which virtually amounted to a screech he said something like “you can assassinate me if you want to, but don’t assassinate my character.” Just a few days later, on the May 1, he and those around him were blown up by a suicide bomber, when, reportedly against the advice of his security personnel, he was out on the road near the Armour Street Junction of his beloved Colombo Central electorate directing and encouraging, the UNP May day processionists who were on their way to the Galle Face Green for the May day rally which he himself was going to address.

The nation was stunned. This was a President who looked so strong and indestructible.

The people responded with mixed feelings, after the initial shock. Some lit crackers in celebration, the first time this has happened on the death of a national leader. This showed how polarized our society had become. On the other hand, the President’s very strength, indomitable nature and his uncompromising refusal to take no for an answer created a climate of fear. It was not a comfortable experience working with him. Even if you got on well with him, you still felt a little off balance. Very few people would have felt completely comfortable with him – he was not a predictable person.

I myself felt this sense of ambiguity when working with him, although he was always courteous and never interfered. I did not have this kind of feeling when at different times, and for different periods, and directly or indirectly I had to work with leaders like Mrs. Bandaranaike, Mr. Dudley Senanayake, Mr. J.R. Jayewardene, Mr. D.B. Wijetunge and Mrs. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. President Premadasa was very result oriented and had many strong qualities. Making people feel at ease in his presence was not one of them.

Visit to the United States and Germany

Prime Minister D.B. Wijetunge was sworn in as President. Given the trauma, the transition fortunately for the country was remarkably smooth, a transition in which senior minister and later Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe played a major and critical role. On May 19 I had to go to New York, on my way to Connecticut for my son’s convocation at Eastern Connecticut State University where he was due to receive a B.Sc. degree in Management Science, with the subsidiary subject being Economics. He had done very well, passing out Summa Cum Laude and also being admitted to the Honor Society in Economics, based on his performance.

Out of the hundreds who graduated that day only about seven had passed out Summa Cum Laude. He had done his 13 years of schooling here, and then on Minister Lalith Athulathmudali’s strong recommendation joined the Institute of Technological Studies, (ITS) at Narahenpita, an American Campus. This was the only institution in Sri Lanka at the time which could have offered the teaching for a degree which combined management, economics and a strong programme in computer science which our son was looking for.

The fact that we needed to support him financially in the United States only for a little over a year, almost two and half years of the course being conducted here in Sri Lanka, was an added attraction. In New York, I stayed with Dr. Stanley Kalpage, our Permanent Representative at the United Nations and his wife Chitra, who were generous and genial hosts. After the visit to Connecticut, I flew on to Frankfurt, Germany to begin an official visit.

The German authorities, and their International Aid Agency GTZ had made excellent arrangements, and drawn up a varied and interesting programme, which not only took me to universities, schools and Ministries, but also many other places of interest in Frankfurt, Bonn, Heidelberg, Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin. I had an erudite companion attached to me all the time who drove me around and accompanied me during the whole tour. I was spared the bother therefore of attending to anything at all connected with my travels, lodging and the numerous other matters, which surface on a visit such as this.

I was able therefore to totally relax and concentrate on substance. This companion, Mr. Neumann, who had a Master’s degree and was very well read, and spoke excellent English was later to head the GTZ office located in the Ministry. In the meantime, we spent many pleasant hours discussing a whole range of subjects. As a parting gift he presented me with a most interesting book, “The Tao of Physics.” Whilst in Bonn I met our Ambassador Karu Jayasuriya and his wife Vasantha. They were friends. Both of them as well as Lalith Hettiaratchi of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service, who worked with me when I was Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Co-operatives, and who was now Deputy Ambassador, as well as his wife made me feel completely at home. Their warmth and hospitality were memorable.

Leaving The Education Ministry – summons by President Wijetunge

I arrived back in Sri Lanka on June 6 to a Ministry and a public service buzzing with rumours that I was to be sent as Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Home Affairs. It was common knowledge at the time that all was not well in that important Ministry. Some serious incompatibilities seem to have developed between the Minister, Mr. Festus Perera and his Secretary, Mr. Junaid. Reports circulating in the public service had it that the Minister was in a state of near constant irritability, that he often used to shout at officers and humiliate them in public, in the presence of trade unions and other delegations, and that he seemed to trust nobody.

His “Mini Cabinet” meetings were reputed to be “mini” in the sense of the Sinhala term “Mini” which meant death! The rumours were that many of the existing officers were trapped in the Ministry with no way of getting out, and that there was nobody who had the remotest wish of wanting to get in!

Such was the state of affairs when President Wijetunge summoned me to see him on June 8. I knew this was not to inquire after my health. The rumours about my impending appointment now took on some validity.

I went to see the President somewhat unhappily. Mr. Wijetunge greeted me cordially and affably as he was wont to do. In my own case, I had also worked with him, once when he was Minister of Information and Broadcasting and once, when for a brief period, he was Minister of Food. After the exchange of pleasantries and inquiries about my visit to Germany, he came to the point. “Dharmasiri, I have a big problem in the Ministry of Public Administration. I want you to please go there and assume duties immediately as Secretary.”

I asked him “Why me?” and went on to say that I still had uncompleted work in the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. He said, “No, please go. Festus cannot get on with Junaid, and there is a major crisis there. It is a very important Ministry. I don’t want a breakdown there.” “Who is coming to Education?” I asked. “I have decided to send Weragoda across from Fisheries” the president replied. I had by now cleared enough messes in a long career. I had no particular desire to go and clear another mess. “Why don’t you send Weragoda direct to Public Administration?” I asked, “instead of sending me into another mess just after clearing up a mess in Education.”

The President then virtually pleaded with me. He said “No, nobody else can handle Festus except you. Believe me I have called for and looked at the list of Secretaries. You are the only person Festus will respect,” and when I kept on looking at him, he said “Dharmasiri, please go. I can’t change the Minister.” That did it. I didn’t want to embarrass the President by persisting in reluctance. “I need a few days to wind up matters here,” I told him. “I will go and assume duties on June 16.” This was in a week’s time. The President was relieved. He thanked me warmly and I left.

An outpouring of emotion

I did not bargain for the impact the news of my going had on the Ministry. During the next few days hundreds of officers came to see me. Those who could not get to me telephoned me at home. They were very upset. Some were in tears. I was surprised, deeply touched and sometimes overwhelmed by the depth of the reaction. There was much work to be done before I left, including briefings, meetings and attending to many issues which officers wanted to finalize with me before my departure. I had to write a number of letters including to the Chairman UGC and the Vice Chancellors and various other colleagues in the system informing them of my going. This had to be done as a matter of courtesy. I was deeply touched by the replies I received from most of them.

My final day in the Ministry was June 15. The monthly Development Committee Meeting with the Provincial Secretaries of Education, the Provincial Directors and others was fixed for the morning of this day. My officers solicitously inquired from me that since this was my last day and since the meeting was going to take about three quarter of the day, whether it could be postponed, for the new Secretary to fix a date. I thanked them for their concern, but since this date had been fixed a month previously, I said I would proceed with it, since a last minute cancellation would inconvenience many officers. Besides, it was too important a meeting to postpone.

Secretaries could come and go. When the meeting ended at about 2.30 p.m. and when I announced to the Provincial Secretaries and Provincial Directors of Education and others that I had only a few hours left in the Ministry, there was total silence and shocked disbelief. I was deeply touched by the words of some of the Provincial Secretaries and others who spoke with great feeling. Some said that they had somewhat mixed feelings since I was going as Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration and therefore, as the head of the public service. They said that it could not be said that my presence was not needed there too.

I had to gently intervene and curtail the speeches, because the hour was late and they had not had their lunch. There was also a farewell organized by the Ministry, the Departments and other agencies a little later that afternoon. I just did not have time for lunch that day because there was a stream of officers who wanted to speak with me. This went on until I was reminded that everyone had gathered on the ground floor awaiting my arrival. There was as large a crowd gathered as on the day that Mr. Lalith Athulathmudali bade farewell.

Many spoke. Many of the speeches were quite emotional. When I looked around there were many officers, both men and women with tears pouring down as they stood. The crowd was so large that except for a few of us, providing seats was not possible. As the speeches went on well past 4.30 p.m. no one moved. Normally there is a rush to catch a bus or a train All this affected me too, and when it came to my turn to speak, I spoke with great difficulty. It is not easy to speak when you see so many tearful faces around you. It was a very emotional moment for all of us.

Never in my life, before or after had I experienced such spontaneous mass emotion, and this from officers of a Ministry, which many of my friends out of a feeling of kindness for me, thought I should not have gone to, at the time I was originally appointed as Secretary. The staff had also contributed and bought a huge brass lamp and some other items as gifts. It was with a heavy heart that I left the Ministry for what I thought was the last time, that evening. I was not to know that fate had other designs in store for me.

(Excerpted from In Pursuit of Governance, the autobiography of MDD Pieris)