by Jayantha Perera

When I returned to Sri Lanka from Sussex in 1982, the Director of ARTI requested me to oversee farmer training programmes. He appointed me the first Editor of the Sri Lanka Journal of Agrarian Studies. I invited Prof B H Farmer of Cambridge University to write the inaugural article of the journal on changing scenarios of agrarian systems in Sri Lanka. He was a well-known expert on Sri Lanka’s Dry Zone agriculture. He was the author of Pioneer Peasant Colonization in Ceylon: A Study in Asian Agrarian Problems (1957). Farmer was the committee chairman who investigated the post-colonial development prospects of irrigated agriculture in the Dry Zone and contributed to revising and updating the Land Development Ordinance of 1935.

I soon realised that the ARTI needed a journal in Sinhala to publish articles on agrarian issues. I obtained the approval of the ARTI Board of Governors and funds for the journal. The Director asked me to be the Editor of the Sinhala journal as well. In a short period, I built an articles bank and published each journal bi-annually. As the Editor of the two journals, I cultivated several enemies when I refused to publish poor-quality papers in the journals. A professor at Colombo University submitted an unrevised conference paper, which I refused to accept. He complained against me to several ARTI Board members, requesting them to remove me from the editorship. At the same time, I found several ARTI colleagues were unhappy with my academic advancement and promotions. They first tried to destroy my reputation by circulating kala pattara (anonymous letters) and then openly confronting me on issues such as the frequency of journal publications and the quality of articles. A few informed the Ministry of Agriculture and Development that I conducted research according to my own agenda and published my friends’ papers in the journals, and the Director connived with me on such activities.

When the Director’s post at the ARTI became vacant, I saw an opportunity to further contribute to the institution as the most senior deputy director. I applied for the position, knowing it would be a significant step in my career. A friend of mine, the Director of Establishment at the Ministry of Home Affairs, advised me to meet the Hon. Minister to introduce myself as a candidate. He warned me that my chances of securing the Director’s post were slim without this meeting. He kindly arranged for me to meet the Minister.

My appointment with the Minister Gamani Jayasuriya was on a Tuesday. The Minister arrived at the Ministry of Agriculture and Development at 3 pm in a short-sleeved green shirt, a white pair of trousers and a well-polished pair of sandals. I saw an imported cigarette packet and a gold lighter in his right hand. He paused for a moment, smiled, and went inside his office. After half an hour, his private secretary called me into the Minister’s office. When I entered his large, cosy office, I saw the Minister going through papers with a lighted cigarette in his left hand. He smiled and beckoned me to sit down across the large table. I had my CV, two of my books and several papers that I had published. I kept them on the table. The Minister continued to review his documents without paying attention to me. About 20 minutes later, he smiled again and asked me in English in a very soft voice:

“How can I help you?”

“Sir, I am a candidate for the Director’s post at the ARTI, and I came to introduce myself”, I replied.

“When did you join the ARTI?” he wanted to know.

I told him, “About 15 years ago. At the ARTI, I am its most senior grade 1 researcher. I obtained my MA and PhD from Sussex University, and the ARTI assisted me in completing my higher studies.”

“How old are you?” he was keen to know.

“I am 36 years old, sir,” I told him.

“Hmm. 36 years, 36 years, 36 years. Hmm”. The Minister muttered something and continued to read his papers. After five minutes, he asked me, “Don’t you think you are too young for the position?”

“No, sir. I am the most senior researcher and joined ARTI at its inception.”

“Hmm, inception, inception, inception”, he repeated, focusing on his papers. He was looking for a paper, and suddenly, he pulled a large sheet from the bundle. I saw the President’s Seal on the paper; it was an approval letter from the President for him to travel abroad. He smiled and rang the bell. His secretary entered the room. The Minister told him to prepare the travel documents and handed over the letter.

Suddenly, he raised his head and addressed me: “You are only 36. If I appoint you as the Director of the ARTI, you might have to stay there another 25 years before retirement. You should not spend your entire life at the ARTI.”

“Yes, I agree. But why don’t you allow me to work five or 10 years at the ARTI as its Director? Then I may find another job elsewhere or go abroad,” I replied. He smiled again and started reading his papers. He stopped his reading and looked at my eyes without a smile.

“You are a young man. You must first experience the world. Travel, write more books, and enjoy life before taking over a boring additional burden,” the Minster advised.

“Sir, if I do not get the position, I may leave the ARTI,” I told him.

The Minister smiled again. “That is alright. I say you should go and see the world, do more research and teaching, and come back when you are about 50 years old. Then the government should be able to find a suitable job for you,” the Minister continued. His acceptance of my possibility of leaving the ARTI showed his understanding of my career aspirations.

He wanted to see the books and papers I kept on his table. He glanced through them, nodded, and said, “Thank you.”

I left the Minister’s office thinking I should leave ARTI as early as possible. Because I took study leave for three years, I signed an agreement to serve ARTI for twenty years, but I had served only seven years. I knew that ARTI would demand that I pay the value of the scholarships, although I worked out the scholarships through my own effort. Two days later, I withdrew my application for the director post at the ARTI.

The ARTI had become a more hostile place for me. One colleague requested the Director to investigate his complaint against me, saying that I had threatened him by walking into his office with another colleague. A formal investigation began with an Additional Secretary of the Ministry as the arbitrator. He knew me well. I told him that he was wasting his time being the arbitrator. I pointed out that my interest in staying at the ARTI was fast eroding.

The Additional Secretary was sad and told me he thought the inquiry would take us nowhere. He suspended the investigation. His brief report to the Board emphasised that the ARTI should do its best to keep its senior researchers, as it had invested enormous amounts of money and time in their postgraduate studies at good universities. Having worked on agrarian issues for several years and with higher qualifications, he pointed out they had become leading specialists in agricultural and agrarian fields. Therefore, it would be a disaster for ARTI to lose them in trivial matters.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was the appointment of a member of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service as the Director of the ARTI. He removed me from the post of Deputy Director and “promoted” me to the position of Research Associate with an annual salary increment. I was relieved not to have any administrative work and to be a full-time researcher.

The IDRC in Canada invited me to participate in one of its international conferences on ‘An Assessment of Technology and its Impact on Society’ in Ottawa. I got a telephone call from the Canadian Embassy requesting me to come to the embassy for an interview. The visa officer asked a few questions about my studies at Sussex University.

He remarked that the university was a hotbed of radical students and wanted to know my status. I told him that Sussex University was the best university to study development and other social issues such as poverty and gender. He hesitated for a few minutes and approved my visa. The IDRC workshop allowed me to meet outstanding scholars and establish contacts with some of them. I read a paper on agricultural mechanisation in Sri Lanka.

Soon after returning from Ottawa, the new Director of the ARTI asked me to ‘act’ for a Division Head who was on leave. I refused to do so. I told him to appoint a junior officer in the Division to act as the head. He informed the Board of Directors and filed a case of ‘insubordination’ against me. I wrote to the Board about my frustrations with the ARTI and the risks the Board had taken in appointing a person, such as its current Director, who needed training and experience to lead a team of researchers on agrarian matters. The Board told me it would not proceed with the Director’s complaint.

In early 1988, the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) selected me as its first Senior Research Fellow. The same day, I submitted my resignation letter to the Director of the ARTI. He refused to accept it, but I left the letter on his desk, packed personal belongings, and said goodbye to friends at the ARTI. I left the ARTI with a great sense of relief and happiness. The chief peon cried when I said goodbye to him. I consoled him and told him, “One day, you too could become the Director of this institute if you play your cards right.”

As a ‘think-tank,’ the IPS had close links with the Ministry of Planning and the Treasury. At the IPS, my monthly salary increased tenfold. Two professors from the Institute of Social Studies of the Hague and a local research fellow were permanent employees of the IPS. Chandi Chanmugam was the first Director of the IPS. He allocated me a generous research budget and ample freedom to carve out an area for research. I chose rural employment in Sri Lanka, a topic I had mastered at the ARTI for 15 years.

Gamani Corea, Chair of the IPS Board of Governors, organised an international conference on Sri Lanka’s economy to launch the IPS research programme. I handled the section on rural economy and changes and read a paper on changing patterns of rural employment at the conference. Soon after the meeting, the IPS Director and the Chair of its Board encouraged me to start a mega research project on rural employment and agrarian change. I wrote a detailed proposal and obtained the approval of the IPS Board.

I could not move forward with my research programme. The ARTI Director had complained to the Ministry of Agriculture and Development that I left the ARTI without obtaining approval from the ARTI’s Board. He insisted that I should be returned to the ARTI. The Ministry wrote to the IPS about sending me back to the ARTI. The Ministry pointed out that the ARTI needed qualified researchers, and the IPS should only usurp scholars from other government agencies with their consent.

The IPS took the position that I had signed a contract with the IPS to carry out a research programme, and it had already spent money on its preparatory work. The Director of the IPS had requested the Minister of Finance to intervene and to retain me at the IPS. Discussions continued without an outcome. I resigned from the IPS after serving it for only eight months. I joined an American development agency called Development Alternatives Inc (DAI), which started a USAID project in the Mahaweli B region, saying goodbye to the government service.