More parliamentary giants I was privileged to know

Lalith Athulathmudali

Lalith Athulathmudali served Parliament for over 14 years as the UNP MP for Ratmalana. He held several important ministerial portfolios. Among these were Minister of Trade and Shipping, Minister of National Security, Deputy Minister of Defense, Minister for Agriculture, Food and Cooperatives as well as Minister of Education and Higher Education.

I initially came to know Lalith as a student at Royal College , though he was a few years younger to me. At Royal he shone exceptionally winning many of the College prizes and excelling in sports, especially athletics. His father Don Daniel Athulathmudali was a Barrister-at-Law and served in the First State Council (1931-1935).

1 distinctly remember his father attending the Royal College prize giving to see his son winning so many prizes and saying that he was keen to send him to Oxford. After his college education he went up to Oxford University where he excelled in the academic fields and brought honour to himself and his country by being the first Sri Lankan to be elected as the President of the Oxford Union. He became a Barrister-at -Law in the UK. He returned to Sri Lanka and made a mark as a lawyer and lecturer in law here as he had in Israel and Singapore.

Having earned many tributes for his eloquence, he was appointed to the 1977 JR Jayewardene cabinet first holding the Ministry of Trade and Shipping and later other other important assignments including Minister of National Security and Minister of Education. As Minister of National Security and Deputy Minister of Defence he proved his mettle during the height of the war against the LTTE. He was responsible for founding the Mahapola Scholarships which, till today, grants students at state universities substantial financial help to continue their university studies.

August 18, 1987, is a day I will never forget. President Jayawardena was in Parliament to address his party’s parliamentary group meeting. The day ended in mayhem with a grenade thrown into the meeting room. As I entered it after the explosion, Lalith lay on a stretcher but was conscious even though he was bleeding profusely from his back. Later I heard he had been seriously injured by the grenade that was thrown into the room as it had ricocheted off the polished table at which President Jayewardene and Prime Minister Premadasa sat and landed under the chair Lalith was seated in the front row making a hole about eight inches wide in the ground.

Lalith was swiftly taken in the ambulance I had placed outside the Member’s Entrance to the House to deal with any possible emergency via the back entrance to Parliament, to the Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital where he was given immediate medical attention. Lalith had especially requested that his doctor friend Dr. K. Yoheswaran be summoned to attend to him. I knew Dr Yoheswaran well too as my late brother, Nissanka Seneviratne, Professor of Physiology and he had been fellow House Officers at the General Hospital many years back. Moreover, my daughter Shanika had a very close friendship with Dr Yoheswaran’s daughter Dilani from their school days, lasting even up to date though Dilani is now domiciled in Boston, USA.

Dr Yoheswaran, who passed away in his nineties, who I met recently told me that at the Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital, there were three surgical teams with Dr S.A.W. Goonewardane, Dr D. Bandaranaike

Dr Yoheswaran, now 92, who I met recently told me that at the Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital, there were three surgical teams with Dr S.A.W. Goonewardane, Dr D. Ranasinghe and himself specially to cater to soldiers who had received injuries at war time and that not a single soldier had died during his surgical career. Dr Rienzie Pieris was the Hospital Chairman at the time.

On the fateful day , Lalith had been in the OPD on the ground floor and then been moved to the operating theatre. He had recognized Dr Yoheswaran instantly. He had been given a blood transfusion but the doctor had decided that immediate surgery was essential and Lalith had inquired if a local anaesthetic could be given to which he said ‘No’. Dr Suriyakanthi Amerasekera was the Anesthetist on duty that day.

The theatre had been crowded with lots of doctors. The surgery had lasted two or three hours as there had been multiple injuries. A colostomy operation was also done removing his spleen. A few days later I visited him in hospital and found him recovering but still weak. I offered him all the services of Parliament to help him have a speedy recovery . Everyone was relieved that after three weeks in the hospital, fully recovered, he was released to go home. Lalith returned to parliament and contributed to debates with great prowess.

A few months later in October 1987, Lalith had proceeded to the USA for a check up to the prestigious Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York. A team of three medical specialists had stated that despite the serious injuries he had received, he was now in robust physical condition. Dr Alan Weiss, Consultant in Surgery had tested him from head to toe and singled out for special mention the Consultant Surgeon who had attended on him, Dr K. Yoheswaran.

With the retirement of President Jayewardene and Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa being elected President, there was disquiet within certain sections of the Government and Lalith was among those whose name came up as one not seeing eye to eye with the new Executive. About a year into his first term in office, in 1991, the country and Parliament were all agog with news of an impeachment motion against President Premadasa.

Amidst these developments, Lalith visited me in my room one day and in the midst of a friendly conversation I asked him, “Lalith, why are you rocking the boat?” Lalith promptly replied, “Why are you asking me? Why don’t you ask your Speaker?” hinting that the then Speaker. M. H. Mohamed was privy to the move to impeach the President.

An illustrious politician’s life was cut short when Lalith was shot by an unknown assassin while addressing a political rally in Kirulapone in April 1993. The name of Lalith Athulathmudali finds a firm place in the records of Sri Lanka’s Parliament.

K.B. Ratnayake

K.B.Ratnayake served parliament for over 19 years starting from 1962. He served as Chief Government Whip, Minister of Transport and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Sports. He also served as the Speaker of Parliament from 2

August 25, 1994 to October 2000.

I recall his entry to Parliament very well. Educated initially at Hartley College in Jaffna and playing cricket for that school, he was one of the very rare members who spoke fluently all three languages: Sinhala, Tamil and English. He had a warm personality and during his tenure as Parliamentary Affairs and Sports Minister, he worked very closely with us. It was during this time that a new Act of Parliament was introduced by him which provides all Members of Parliament who have served the Legislature for over five years, a lifelong pension.

This Act is still very much in force and all parliamentarians who have served the Legislature for five years are entitled to a pension. This piece of legislation I may add has come in for some valid criticism as the ordinary public servant is entitled to a pension only when he or she has served 10 years or more in a pensionabloe post.

With his warm personality, Mr.Ratnayake endeared himself to all of us serving in the Parliamentary Secretariat. He invited us to his gracious home in Anuradhapura. His daughter Malkanthi was a very distinguished member of the Public Service until her retirement.

I was also privileged to have joined him in the year of my retirement in 1994 when he led a Commonwealth Parliamentary Delegation to Banff in the Province of Ontario in Canada. His warm and friendly personality has left a lasting impression on those of us who had the privilege to work closely with him.

Stanley Tillakaratne

Mr. Tillakaratne served parliament for over 21 years staring from August 1960. He was Speaker of the House from 1970-1977. 1 had the privilege of associating with him from around the time he first entered parliament as the MP for Kotte and so much more during his long period as Speaker. During his time, he was known to be controversial and sometimes a fiery orator. By the time he assumed duties as Speaker; he had mellowed down and sought my advice and help when rulings had to be given as Speaker.

An incident I remember well involved a ruling that had to be given by him over a controversial matter even though I cannot recollect the exact matter. He insisted that I contact Prime Minister Mrs. Sirimavo

Bandaranaike to ask her what she felt about it before he gives his ruling. I told him this was a matter for those of us in Parliament to tackle but as he insisted, I telephoned the Prime Minister. As Mrs. Bandaranaike came to the phone, I prefaced my remarks saying,” Madam, I am ringing you on the Speaker’s instructions.” She snapped back,” Why are you calling me? This is entirely a matter for the Speaker and you.” And the call ended. So, I reported back to him and after much discussion between us, I drafted a ruling for him.

On a slightly personal level, he once told me to help his wife Chandra over a pension matter. When I spoke to Mrs. Tillakaratne, I found that some unknown person had been forging her signature and collecting the pension due to her. I promptly intervened in the matter and I was relieved when she thanked me for my efforts and said that she was receiving her pension.

During his tenure I was privileged to have been the secretary to a parliamentary delegation visiting North Korea where we met with the country’s elusive leader Kim IL Sung. Stanley invited me often to his ancestral house in Kotte where I used to meet his nephew Dr. Susantha Dharmatillake, a dentist and an old friend of mine.

Gamini Jayasuriya

Gamini Jayasuriya served parliament for over 19 years starting from March 1960, Over these years, he served as Minster of Education, Minister of Health, Minister of Agriculture Development and Research and Minister of Food and Co-operatives.

I came to know Gamini as a fellow Royalist and most of all as the representative of Homagama which was the constituency in which my father was born and cremated. I also had the privilege of knowing his wife Sita Hevawitarana and came to know his son Prasanna and wife quite closely. In Parliament, he was well versed on the subjects he spoke on; was always relevant and spoke with great sincerity.

He came to be known for his uprightness and impeccable honesty and integrity.

I will never forget his very kind gesture when he came to my room to speak with me on a personal matter. My doctor father left for me seven acres of coconut land in Katuwana which was in his constituency which I visited only when plucking was taking place. He called on me to apprise me that the Urban Development Authority had identified this land being owned by an absentee landlord and was intending to acquire this land to establish an industrial zone. He warned me about it even though he did not have to only because of our personal relationship.

A few months later, the land was acquired with a gazette notification announcing the takeover. I could not object to it but when compensation was duly paid to me, I told the UDA that the land of seven acres was grossly undervalued and that I should be paid a higher compensation. The UDA kindly increased the original valuation but it was nowhere near the current market price. However I had to be satisfied with that.

In the year 1987, Gamini took the unprecedented step of resigning from his ministerial portfolio, over disagreements with President J.R.Jayewardene over the Indo-Lanka Agreement of that year. He did not stop there. After a few days, he walked into my room and handed over to me his letter of resignation as MP for Homagama. I recall telling him that though he had resigned from his ministerial portfolio, there was absolutely no necessity for him to resign from his Parliamentary seat. My few words were of no avail though I told him Parliament and the country needed people of his stature, education and above all impeccable honesty and integrity. He thanked me and said he would not change his mind. It was a sad day when he said goodbye to Parliament.

A few years later, Gamini passed away and the country lost a principled politician. He is still remembered as a politician who possessed all these noble attributes.

(Excerpted from Memories of 33 year in Parliament by Nihal Seneviratne)