I was selected for Cabinet office from my first term of entry to Parliament. Under the presidential regimes of CBK,Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena I held many important Cabinet posts including Finance Minister.

I spent 26 uninterrupted years as a Member of Parliament from 1994 – 2020. I am perhaps one of a few MPs who could boast that he has never been defeated at the hustings. Very powerful MPs have had long spells in the wilderness though one could not honestly say that it has done them much good. The effect of landslide elections as in 1956, 1970, 1977 and 2004 was that prominent members had to give way to newcomers or local favourites.

This has not always been so. For instance the Bandaranaikes and Senanayakes were returned regularly in the early days. But all others including Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, NM, Colvin, Mahinda Rajapaksa and his siblings, the Gunawardene family of Boralugoda and even JRJ, Premadasa and other party leaders have on occasion suffered the sting of defeat. However with the coming of Proportional Representation (PR) party leaders have had the advantage of heading the district lists.

I have been even more fortunate in being se, Education and Foreign Affairs though admittedly for shorter spells than I would have liked. In this chapter I will highlight some of my experiences as a Minister in the background of the policies and politics of the time.

My first appointment came as a result of the move of our “Gang of Four” from the UNP to the People’s Alliance led by CBK. In her Cabinet CBK included representatives of the smaller parties that helped to constitute the alliance. Accordingly the MEP [Dinesh Gunawardene], LSSP [Bernard Soysa and later Batty Weerakoon and Athauda Seneviratne] CP [Indika Gunawardene] and EPDP [Douglas Devananda] were accorded representation in the Cabinet.

The Secretary of the PA wrote to me to nominate two members of our group to be given Cabinet rank. After an internal consultation it was decided to nominate me and Nanda Mathew for those posts. Initially we were appointed Ministers with Special Responsibilities. Later Nanda was appointed Minister of Shipping and I was given the portfolio of Northern Rehabilitation – both positions which were held by President CBK previously. While the majority of the PA were happy about our entry there was bound to be some who were apprehensive of this move since it could affect their personal ambitions.

Lakshman Kiriella for instance was piqued that he had not been given Cabinet office by CBK. Now he found a new competitor in Kandy. When I met Mahinda Rajapaksa he asked me sourly “Now what will happen to Kiriella?” This perhaps may have been the beginning of Kiriella’s drift towards the UNP which was sealed sometime later when he decided to join his class mate Ranil and open a new chapter in his life as a UNP leader.

In fairness to me it should be stated that he was for a long time engaged in a “ding dong” battle with Anuruddha Ratwatte who was the leader of the Kandy SLFP group. Similarly there was a bitter battle between Wijayapala Mendis and Jeyaraj Fernandopulle for Katana. Jeyaraj who was angry that he was not given Cabinet rank by CBK gravitated towards the Mahinda camp. He was further aggravated by Mendis’ arrival.

With Mrs. B in her last days

Anyway we got some bad vibes from the Rajapaksa faction which had looked on these developments as a way of strengthening CBK’s hand in government at their expense. Later I became a member of CBK’s “kitchen cabinet” which included Lakshman Kadirgamar, Mangala Samaraweera, Anura Bandaranaike and on occasion Maithripala Sirisena. We would meet at least thrice a week in President’s House when CBK would entertain us with good wines and home cooked meals finishing with a wood apple merangue. Later after CBK was in the wilderness, Maithripala would complain of our “wine parties” to ingratiate himself with Mahinda Rajapaksa who was ever on the lookout for a slight or humiliation directed at him by the Bandaranaikes.

Northern Rehabilitation

My first Cabinet office was a great challenge. As Minister of Northern Rehabilitation I had to set up a new outfit since earlier it was run out of the Presidents office. We had to find new office space and furnish and staff it. Fortunately Norris Obadage – a colleague from Peradeniya University days and a senior SLAS officer – was appointed as my Permanent Secretary and these tasks were accomplished without much difficulty.

Also since a Minister was allowed a five-member personal staff I could accommodate my political employees who could better service the needs of my electorate. This was not as easy as it sounds as I was changing party affiliations and some of my die hard UNP supporters left me. We had to reach out to new supporters who were sympathetic to the SLFP. That we were successful was attested by the fact that I nearly doubled my vote in successive elections. This was a difficult task since my new SLFP colleagues jealously guarded their vote base and were not amused when several of their supporters came over to my side.

The Ministry of Northern Rehabilitation, though relatively unknown, played an important role in our ethnic relations. While the LTTE did occupy large swathes of territory in the North, Sri Lankan governments, of all persuasions, maintained the infrastructure of the northern districts in common with the other districts in the country. This was because for us all our people were citizens of a unitary nation and were equally entitled to the services of the state. Thus the provincial administration from the Government Agent downwards, education, higher education, agriculture and health services and other allied services were maintained at a great cost by the centre.

The LTTE was canny enough to allow these services to continue though in fact our public servants had to tread a thin line. I was proud of our public servants who coped in spite of material and social difficulties. For instance the GA and his assistants would cycle to work. So did university professors and medical staff in Jaffna. Perhaps our most difficult assignment was to keep the food supplies – rice, sugar, flour etc., and medicines – moving.

It must be said that every thing did not go perfectly well. On occasion the LTTE would commandeer food supplies. But in general they found it convenient to let our convoys through. When the situation got bad I used my ingenuity and contacted my Tamil friends of University days. For instance I found that Sri Shanmugarajah, NM Perera’s favourite Samasamajist from Peradeniya University who had retired to a farm in Vavuniya, had some influence over LTTEers who were his students.

When there were logjams and poor people were desperate for food I got Shan to intercede and quickly allow food convoys to go through. We were lucky in that there were excellent SLAS officers like Ganesh who was GA Jaffna and Mrs. Charles of Vauniya who could tackle difficult life and death problems. I instructed them not to take foolhardy decisions.

I decided to look beyond the mere supplying of essential services to Northern province and examine some perennial problems of the peninsula which I had been aware of from my Civil Service days. In those days I enjoyed visiting the peninsula in my official capacity, especially studying water issues. At that time the Permanent Secretary for land and irrigation was Sri Kantha, a kindly old CCS who had been a Government Agent of Jaffna and was a confidante of CP de Silva.

He would talk of Iranamadu tank which was the biggest reservoir in the district. Later it was repaired as a mega ADB project and today forms the centerpiece of drinking water supplies to Jaffna and irrigation facilities to paddy fields in Kilinochchi. We supported a project suggested by a British funding agency for a study of ground water in Jaffna district as the supplies were running low due to a draw off by agricultural wells.

Ironically due to the war and restricted demand there was sufficient water at that time but it boded ill for the future. Similarly we promoted the dredging of Kankesanturai harbour which had been cluttered by sinking vessels to prevent amphibian landings by Sea Tigers. That project was completed after the defeat of the LTTE.

I must say a word here about the magnanimity of the Sri Lankan state. Though criticized by the diaspora, government services were provided without interruption even in the contested areas. Take for instance education which was dear to the Tamil people. The school and university system functioned effectively – teachers were paid, text books were distributed and national examinations were held simultaneously with the South. The regional education office functioned despite difficulties like electricity failures and lack of transport.

Since fuel was scarce public servants, professors, teachers and students travelled by bicycle as mentioned earlier -an old tradition in the peninsula. Even children of high ups in the LTTE sat for national public examinations since examination department certificates were useful for them to migrate to the west. Similarly health personnel including medical specialists rode bicycles to their places of work.

There were constant complaints that medical supplies were hijacked by LTTE cadres to treat their wounded. It is quite likely that many of those professionals were sympathetic to the LTTE. But there were others like Rajani Thiranagama and Ratnajeevan Hoole who were critical of LTTE repression. They were gathered round a publication called “Broken Palmyra” which criticized government forces and LTTE alike. Rajani was killed by LTTE cadres near Jaffna University.

There was much hope when Jaffna Campus was opened in the seventies. Many well known young Sinhala professors volunteered to teach in the Sinhala department set up there. However with the LTTE resuming violence, Sinhala students and teachers were hastily brought back to Colombo. Some Sinhala students were attacked and crippled for life. They came back south with their illusions shattered.

After taking over the Ministry of Northern Rehabilitation, I and Secretary Obadage tried hard to establish contact with our Tamil friends from University days. Obadage made an unannounced visit to the North to confer with the GA and his senior staff. I remembered an incorrigible rioter called Pararajasingham who was our favourite disrupter in Arunachalam Hall. After graduation he went back to Jaffna as a teacher. He sent several messages to me encouraging us to stand firm against the LTTE. Later I learnt that Para had been murdered by the LTTE. My tenure as Minister in this office was short as elections to Parliament were to be held on October 10, 2000.

Parliamentary Election 2000

In this election which was held on October 10 2000, I was contesting as a SLFPer for the first time. All the long standing leaders of the SLFP in Kandy were in the fray and the election was likely to be a hard fought one, especially because some candidates who were unsuccessful in earlier elections were raising the caste issue among their voters. Fortunately there was a groundswell of support for me as those party members who were disappointed with their representatives, whom they overwhelmingly supported in 1994, began turning to me. Also the growing middle class in Kandy which was generally supportive of the UNP backed me in this election.

This was particularly true of many University teachers who supported me voluntarily as did my University friends like Wijaya Wickremaratne and Lal Wijenaike who were leftists. Lal’s wife, who was the daughter of a well known Trade Unionist, was a speaker on my platform. CBK also threw her weight behind me informing recalcitrant local councillors that she would like to have me returned to Parliament to join her Cabinet.

This message was conveyed to them by SB Dissanayake who acted as her “eyes and ears” in the hill country. The UNP felt the absence of vote getter Gamini Dissanayake and I was able to scoop up some of that vote also. The upshot was that I could substantially increase my votes when compared to the votes I received in 1994 as a UNP candidate.

The allocation of Parliamentary seats in Kandy district in 2000 were as follows;

SLFP six seats, UNP five seats and Muslim Congress one seat. The winning SLFP candidates were:

Anuruddha Ratwatte – 152,511, DM Jayaratne – 85,711, M Aluthgamage – 71,653, Sarath Amunugama – 68,738. Lakshman Kiriella – 57,424 and Ediriweera Weerawardene – 35,388

However in the national tally the SLFP/PA could win only 107 seats which was short of an outright majority. It had to go into an alliance primarily with the Muslim Congress to form a new government. This boded ill for the CBK government because the UNP began to woo the Muslim Congress which was led by Hakeem since Ashraff had been killed in an air accident. The helicopter carrying Ashraff was on its way to Ampara when it hit a hill near Kadugannawa during bad weather killing all on board.

His wife had contested Ashraff’s old seat and won. She sat in Parliament but Hakeem called the shots. We got news that he appeared to be succumbing to UNP blandishments. He had become close to Milinda Moragoda and as I well knew he was Ranil’s schoolmate and confidante.

Another bad omen for the SLFP was the sudden death of Mrs. Bandaranaike who was returning from Horagolla after casting her vote. It was traumatic for the Bandaranaike siblings as well as for our party which was being run by PM Ratnasiri Wickremanayake since CBK was still recovering from her injuries. I was greatly saddened by Mrs. B’s death since I had associated closely with her as her Director of Information in the 1970-1977 period.

A few of us led by Mangala had met her with a bouquet of flowers to show our appreciation at Rosmead Place just a few weeks before her death. There were moves and counter moves which culminated in the return of Speaker Anura Bandaranaike to the SLFP after making up with his sister CBK. This in turn led to heartburn among certain senior elements of the party who began to nurture ambitions of reaching the top since the heir apparent had defected to the UNP with their blessings.

The strong comeback engineered by CBK in 1994 was losing steam, particularly because the northern war debilitated her management of the economy. It was leading to internal friction which broke out in the open before long. The charade I will now describe was another example of the deteriorating discipline within the SLFP camp.

In her backroom discussions with her close associates CBK had decided to appoint me as the Minister of Agriculure. SB Dissanayake, my student at Vidyodaya University, had particularly urged this step as this was an area in which not much progress had been achieved. Farmers were a major constituency which had backed the SLFP even though the UNP had a good record of investing in the agriculture sector.

DM Jayaratne who was given this position had done little to develop agriculture and was easily persuaded to spend Ministry funds on useless vanity projects like converting a hill in Gampola, his electorate, into a park in which he built a dagoba to look like a mangoosteen with a carrot as the pinnacle. Fertiliser distribution was messed up by setting up rival corporations to which he appointed his supporters as Chairmen and other officials. He became a prisoner of fertilizer companies and its agents.

Accordingly CBK had prepared my letter of appointment as the new Cabinet Minister of Agriculture. Jayaratne was to be appointed the Minister of Irrigation which itself was an important Ministry. When as a courtesy too senior SLFPer, CBK had informed DMJ of the proposed change of portfolio a few minutes before the swearing in ceremony, he blew a fuse. He threatened to jump out of the window if his old portfolio was not restored to him. CBK panicked, recalled our letters of appointment and switched portfolios.

Thus on October 19, 2001 when I should have been appointed the Minister of Agriculture, I left Presidents House as the new Minister of Irrigation – another example of the fast deteriorating authority of CBK and the conspiracies that were being hatched within and outside the government.

Irrigation and Water Resources

I spent a little over a year as the Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources till the election of 2002. This was the most enjoyable period of my Cabinet career. Perhaps to compensate me for the agriculture fiasco, CBK had added the subject of the National Film Corporation to my Portfolio. This gave me much satisfaction as I had been the founder Chairman of the NFC in 1972.

Large reservoirs (tanks) canals and other water bodies are located in all parts of the island. I realized that ours was essentially a “hydraulic civilization” on a par with Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar which were all Buddhist states. The “Naga” emerging out of the water was a central part of Buddhist culture. It was the “Naga” which spread its hood over the Buddha to save him from the elements when he was meditating for realizing the doctrine. The iconic Naga is now the symbol of the Mahaweli project as envisaged by two history addicts – JRJ and Gamini Dissanayake.

My portfolio took me to the length and breadth of the country to view a mighty irrigation system which would have otherwise escaped me however much I had studied Wittfogel’s classic work entitled “Hydraulic Civilisation” and my friend RALH [Leslie] Gunawardene’s studies of our Dry Zone civilization. It was as though my lifelong interests were coming alive. CBK who had read my research article on Chandrikawewa and an adjoining colony told me that it influenced her to give me the Irrigation portfolio. Her insight was right on the mark and I undertook my responsibilities with great satisfaction.

The only unhappy Minister was Anuruddha Ratwatte who was the previous Minister of Irrigation. He told me that he had looked forward while returning from the war zone to landing his helicopter near the NCP tanks and enjoying a country rice meal wrapped in a lotus leaf. He lost both the war and his lotus leaf wrapped lunch.

Another plus point for me was that I would be working with top class professionals – Irrigation Engineers and Technical Assistants. Working in far flung areas, usually away from family and home, they worked with a dedication which greatly impressed me. As a Government Agent I had worked with many of their “legends”-Silva Gunasekera, Alagaratnam, Ratna Cooke, Manamperi, Rosa, Hewavisenti and Godfrey Silva, on major irrigation projects – Uda Walawe, Chandrikawewa, Samanalawewa and Minipe and was easily recognized as a friend by the engineering community.

A senior SLAS officer Bandusena who was the brother-in-law of CCS colleague Hemasiri Premawardene, was appointed as my Permanent Secretary. He was a close relative of Kusum Balapatabendi – the Secretary to the President, and the seniormost bureaucrat in the country. Since Prema and I were immediate neighbours and his wife and mine were contemporaries at Peradeniya I realized that I was getting high level cooperation from the start and would have a free hand in a Ministry which was usually subject to frequent pressures from politicians.

I decided to take bold steps and make a “splash” in my new assignment. The Irrigation department has vast resources like circuit bungalows, vehicles, foreign funding and highly skilled and trained engineers in large numbers. But I realized early that greater coordination and productivity needed to be achieved. The Director of Irrigation was Jinadasa a competent and amiable leader who was respected by the staff. ‘Their hero however was former Director Ponrajah – a multitasker who had returned from training at Imperial College, London and virtually written all the departmental manuals singlehanded.

It was difficult to have a conversation with the engineers without Ponrajah’s name being invoked time and time again. It was then that I realized the great contribution made by Tamil Engineers and Civil Servants in maintaining our greatest asset – the historic hydraulic infrastructure built by ancient kings and restored and added to by national minded leaders like DS and Dudley Senanayake, CP de Silva, JR Jayewardene and Gamini Dissanayake. It was a heritage worth saving from the depredations of opportunist politicians and plain crooks who later headed this nation.

(Excerpted from Vol. 2 of the Sarath Amunugama autobiography) ✍️