KEN BALENDRA- THE LOSS OF A VISIONARY INDUSTRY LEADER

BY Dr. Dayanath Jayasuriya P. C.

I met Ken for the first time in 2000 when he was appointed as the Chairman of the SEC where I was Director General to succeed an ex-Central Banker, Dr. W. Hettiarachi. He called me to John Keells no sooner his appointment was announced. He had obviously been briefed about me.

His first question was ‘what have you heard about me?’ I then asked him whether he wanted to know the truth or a diplomatic answer. “Definitely the truth” he said with a cynical smile on his face. I recalled that when there was a major power crisis (I was then in New Delhi) he made the smart move of providing diesel run generators on an interest-free basis to traders who stocked Keells food products on the condition that they cannot use the freezers for the products of rival companies.

I said I felt that this was a smart move as some companies went out of business. Then he wanted to know the diplomatic answer. I said the SEC badly needed as its Chairman a person with private sector mentality and not someone with a Government Kachcheri mentality. He then laughed and we got down to discuss more serious business.

The stock market was not doing well at all and after several discussions we agreed to follow a path of deregulation. Within a few weeks almost one-third of highly restrictive regulations and rules were repealed. The emergence of a market friendly regulator immediately paid rich dividends. Ken was a firm believer in stakeholder consultations and all proposed changes were made subject to comments before finalization.

During our first meeting Ken asked me whether it is true that meetings of Commissioners run into six or seven hours. He was horrified and said that once the agenda for the next meeting is prepared I should indicate the approximate time limit for each agenda item. The ultimate aim was to finish within an hour.

He did say that those who wanted to talk at length could do so after the meeting had concluded. After about two or three meetings we were able to finish within an hour. Ken never accepted the small salary that was offered to the Chairman. He also did not want to travel outside Sri Lanka for IOSCO meetings. Understandably, he even refused to use the old car that was assigned to the Chairman.

After he assumed duties as Chairman of the Bank of Ceylon, his visits to the SEC were confined to days when we had meetings of the SEC and of the Insurance Board, of which too he was the first Chairman. We had an understanding that one of us will call the other on any important matters and I often walked to his impressive office at the Bank of Ceylon for a chat after lunch.

We became good friends- a friendship that lasted until his premature illness. Ken never sought to influence the Secretariat and paid heed to the suggestions of the Secretariat staff members and never undermined them. He was a thinker far ahead of his times and stock market related business decisions had a deep sense of maturity of judgment.

Sri Lanka has lost a leading business leader whose guidance would have been particularly useful at this juncture in the country’s history. Ken was famous as a rugby player and people still talk about his time at Royal.

Ken would have made an ideal Ambassador for Sri Lanka on any overseas diplomatic assignment but perhaps those in power failed to recognize his role. However, he was conferred national honours with the title ‘Desamanya’.