by Rajan Philips

Political Coming of Age

Both the observance of Independence Day and its erstwhile detractors would seem to have come of age at last, after 77 years. Tongue in cheek commentators have been harping too much on the irony of a JVP-led government celebrating independence. But the JVP was not the first political organization to question the authenticity of the island’s independence in 1948. That honour goes to the LSSP, rather the BLPI, the LSSP’s more doctrinaire variant at that time and led by a formidable triumvirate of theoreticians – Colvin R de Silva, Leslie Goonewardene and Doric de Souza. They memorably called the 1948 independence “fake independence.” It became a part of the political rhetoric of the Left and the JVP gave it a new life among the younger generations of Sri Lankans.

But over time the ‘fake independence’ characterization faded away and after 1970 when the LSSP was part of the United Front government, Leslie Goonewardene formally acknowledged that the old characterization had not been wholly correct. Sri Lanka, he conceded, was able to exercise complete independence in spite of imperial checks in the areas of defense and external affairs, and constitutional limitations. Sri Lanka was able to do whatever its parliament and government wanted to do – the good, the bad and the ugly – all in equal measures. Finally, in 1972, Sri Lanka was able to discard its dominion status, adopt a whole new autochthonous constitution, and declare itself a republic.

Challenging Times

Now after 77 years of independence and 53 years as a republic, Sri Lanka has come a full circle with a JVP President presiding over independence day celebrations last February 4. The political coming of age, so to speak, after 77 years has come at a challenging time for the country. This year’s ceremonies have been described as modest with more cultural and less militaristic emphases. The once controversial Tamil version of the National Anthem was sung to mark the end of the ceremonies. A week earlier the President had visited Jaffna and by all accounts he endeared himself to the people and was well received by them.

In his Independence Day address, President AKD spoke about the many cleavages that are tearing Sri Lanka: “Not only … the ethnic, religious, and caste divisions, … (but also) the entrenched prejudices that exist between political representatives and the populace, between institutional leaders and their staff, between passengers and public transportation operators, between government employees and the citizens they serve, between educators and students, and so forth.”

Critics will cavil that the JVP itself in its earlier incarnations had contributed to aggravating some of these cleavages. But give the man plenty of credit, we have not had a recent president who could provide such an organic assessment of our sociopolitical problems and sincerely commit himself to addressing them. But the tasks on the President and his government are tall and unrelenting. The still new JVP President and the NPP government have been in office for a little over 77 days – following the November parliamentary election. Yet there are those who seem to insist that the new government should be held responsible for solving all the accumulated problems of 77 years in just 77 days.

For the sake of argument, the NPP itself may have contributed to this notion by its own insistent campaigning that nothing has been done right ever since independence, and that only a new NPP government that will put everything right for Sri Lanka. This premise was incorrect however attractive it may have been for polemical posturing. All that said, there is no question that there are pundits who are holding the current fledgling government to a far more stringent standard of accountability than they have held governments that have come and gone in recent past. With only 77 days on, a balanced accounting of the new government should look at not only what it has done or started doing, but also what it has not been able to do as well as what it has steadfastly refused to do. Let us take the last point first.

This government has distinguished itself from its many predecessors from choosing not to do a number of things. For starters, and this is a unique start for Sri Lankan politics (save for the 1956 SWRD government), there is no family in government. There is no nepotism in government appointments. There is no interference in police matters or in government procurement. There is nothing corrupt about this government, and the main criticism appears to be that the government is not moving fast enough, or it is being selective, or even revengeful, in taking action against past corruption and corrupters.

The Rajapaksa Princely State

Corruption comes in many forms. It is corrupt not only to take bribes but also to insist on entitlements that are inappropriate even if they are interpretively legal. Former presidents are entitled to their pensions and reasonable benefits. Should every one of them be given a rent-free mansion at prime locations in Colombo, with a long retinue of security and staffers, is a legitimate question to ask even if there is self-servingly passed legislation to support such post-presidential prodigality.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi famously terminated the payment of privy purses to the ruling families of India’s erstwhile princely states and passed a constitutional amendment in 1971 to implement it. The courts approved it with the exception of some individual cases involving those who had held ruling powers before independence in 1947. It would seem that in the reckoning of at least one former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, the whole island has once been his princely state. Hence, his claim to palatial entitlements in retirement.

President Dissanayake and the government should handle this matter not politically; but let government officials send a formal letter to the former president explaining why it is inappropriate for him to insist on this palatial entitlement but leave the matter of either vacating the property or claiming squatter rights entirely to Mr. Rajapaksa’s discretion. Leave it to him and his family to do the explaining to the people why he thinks he is entitled to this facility whereas every other retiring person has to make ends meet within the pension or EPF. And there is no assurance that people will get their pension or EPF after what he, his brothers and their economic whiz kids had done to the economy.

If at the time of independence, Sri Lanka had the Uncle Nephew Party (UNP), 77 years later there is a Sri Lanka Privy-Purse Party (SLPP). The positive difference is that the UNP was in power in 1948, but in 2025 the SLPP is out of power and the UNP is on life support. If the SLPP thinks it can claw back to power by making a public fight over the retirement mansion of its former president, so be it. And if the SJB thinks its fortunes will swell if it throws its support behind the Rajapaksa mansion-grab, so be it too!

The 1977 Legacies

In looking at what this government has done, has been doing, and has not done or not been able to do what needs to be done, we can invoke the year 1977 as a frame of reference. 1977 is a significant watershed year that marked the displacement of parliamentary democracy with executive presidency, created the so called open economy, and expanded irrigation and agriculture that led to self-sufficiency in rice production but subject to the vagaries of weather.

Year 1977 also saw the start of the riotous deterioration of ethno-communal relations and their rapid descent into open warfare. In foreign policy, the long (1977-1994) UNP government began with a sharp turn to the west, rebuffing India and abandoning non-alignment, but ended with the controversial Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement and the 13th Amendment that came appended to it.

The 1977 watermarks are significant in themselves, but they are doubly significant now because the NPP government has set itself up to be measured by what it may or may not do with the principal legacies of 1977. For instance, the government is committed to restoring parliamentary democracy and reforming the executive presidency. These changes are now expected to be implemented within three years, but there is no indication of how the political relationship between communities will be addressed in a new constitution even though the government should be commended for its sociopolitical approach in envisaging a ‘post-racial’ Sri Lanka. For now, let us give the government kudos for its intentions and time for their implementation.

The government will ultimately succeed or fail by how and what it does about the economy. So far, it has been steady in its start and going by the old wisdom the government must be getting it right inasmuch as it is being criticized by those who fancy themselves to be to the Left of the government and others who know that they are to its Right.

The President has set a target of achieving USD 36 billion from export earnings by 2030. While there is no way out of settling our foreign debt without export expansion, the government should be mindful that the USD 36 billion target needs to be supported by a detailed and feasible plan based on an identified export product mix and importing countries. Otherwise, it will turn out to be another tall talk like what Ranil Wickremesinghe did – promising one million jobs but doing nothing to create even one thousand identifiable jobs.

Within the economy, the rice situation has already become the pinch point. If it is not rice, it is coconuts, and even if they are imported they cannot be distributed immediately, because someone is not making customs official happy enough to do the work that they are paid for. The government seems duly concerned about these problems, but it is still trying to find a way out of the cycles of surpluses and shortages, let alone resolving them.

Notably, the government and especially President AKD are now realizing the huge data gap in the supply and distribution of rice, that some of us have been harping on recently. That is a good start, but there is not too much time for the government to assemble data and make decisions. The PMB, as some of us have argued could and should be used as a regulatory and data mining agency guiding the market rather than as a direct market actor competing with private rice millers. The PMB cannot be a regulator and competitor at the same time.

In foreign policy, the government would do well to use to its advantage the chaos that the new Trump administration is unleashing on the world, by staying below the radar and dealing with reliable partner countries to steer Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange economy to stability and reasonable success. The President has proved himself to be ambidextrous between India and China, and the challenge for the government is to leverage the competing geopolitical interests of the two Asian giants to advance Sri Lanka’s economic interests without being submerged by them.

One obvious challenge facing President AKD is about making clear that the NPP is a lot more than its executive president. People are yet to see the full cabinet in full flow. President AKD is easily one of the better, if not the best, executive presidents the country has had as measured by the attributes of comportment, collegiality, and being consultative. But even he needs to possess and project a team of equals who are similarly capable. One can only wish that the restoration of cabinet government will be achieved and matched by other positive advancements as the government completes one year in office before the 78th independence anniversary.

By Sanjeewa Jayaweera
(first published in Feb. 2022)

Much information is available in the public domain about Desamanya Ken Balendra (KB), the visionary Chairman of John Keells Holdings (JKH) who recently celebrated his 81st birthday. For quite some time, I have wanted to pen a tribute to the great man but hesitated to do so as I felt many others ranging from his close friends from school days to those who worked closely with him, are more qualified to write about him.

However, given his advancing age and health challenges, I felt that it was my duty as a former employee of the John Keells Group of over 25 years to express my admiration and appreciation to a man under whose leadership JKH forged to be the largest conglomerate in the country.

Leader par Excellence and Numbers Savvy

Great leaders are a rare breed, whether in politics, sports or business. Arjuna Ranatunga is acknowledged to have been an inspirational leader. He was not the best batsman in the team. However, he galvanized others to perform to their maximum capability, created an ethos of self-belief and risk-taking and used his instincts to strategise a winning formula and backed potential players. Under his astute leadership, a world cup winning team was assembled. I do not think too many will disagree that KB did the same with JKH over a more extended period and left a solid foundation upon which his successors could take the group to even greater heights. Just as Arjuna is synonymous with Sri Lanka cricket KB will always be synonymous with JKH.

Having joined the JKH Group in 1993 as an Assistant Manager, I was appointed as a director of a subsidiary company only about a year before KB retired in 2000. My day-to-day interactions with him, therefore, were minimal. Still, his influence and leadership style were ever-present in the working environment. My early recollections of him were how he smiled and greeted whomever he met when walking along the corridor. Despite his stature, he seemed friendly.

However, I soon realized that most of my superiors were pretty nervous or even petrified when preparing for meetings with him. As a member of the finance team of the hotel sector, I remember extensively collating figures and information for them before a meeting. They all knew that KB was pretty savvy with figures. In the book “They Call Him Ken”, authored by Savithri Rodrigo (SR), the former Group Finance Director Anushya Coomaraswamy expresses her amazement at KB’s grasp of numbers despite not having formal financial training. She further states, “He expected answers for questions he brings up and stops you peremptorily in the corridor if he wants an answer. So, you had to have the facts and figures at your fingertips. That is the kind of training which keeps you on the ball. If you didn’t have the data he wanted, he was not happy, and he showed it!”

Work Ethic and Super Sense of Humour

The JKH culture was built around the principle “play hard, play smart, play together and have fun.” The Chairman was undoubtedly an embodiment of such a work ethic. Moreover, his sense of humour was legendry amongst those who worked closely with him. Many anecdotes are chronicled in the book referred to in the previous paragraph and Richard Simon’s account of JKH titled “Legacy”.

The one that I enjoy the most is how KB as a board director, had requested David Blackler (DB), the then deputy chairman, to get board approval to buy a new vehicle for the company trading in diamonds to replace the sad-looking Sri Lankan assembled Upali Mazda. KB felt this was necessary to be on equal footing with the wealthy gem merchants who used to turn up in rather expensive cars. However, DB had said that this would not be possible as the board was, in any case, weary of the project. So, the story goes about how KB then proposed that DB, a white Englishman, dress up as KB’s chauffeur as none of the gem merchants had a white chauffeur! KB had felt that this should negate the disadvantage of arriving in a dilapidated car! I am sure the story has undergone a few iterations over the years, but hopefully, the readers will appreciate KB’s humour.

Succession Planning

One of KB’s most profound and far-reaching decisions early into his tenure as Chairman of JKH was appointing Susantha Ratnayake, Ajit Gunewardene and Anushya Coomaraswamy, all in their early thirties, to the Board of John Keells Holdings Plc. It was highly unusual for Sri Lankan companies or, for that matter, anywhere else in the world to appoint people as young as that to the main board of the holding company that was also listed. As SR in her book says, “His perceptive judgment of people has proven to be spot on.”

No doubt in appointing them, he was thinking of succession planning, a crucial but often neglected aspect of leadership. He undoubtedly would have been pleased when Susantha and Ajit took over as Chairman and Deputy Chairman in 2005 and successfully steered the group to even greater performance for nearly 15 years.

During KB’s tenure, senior management was structured into three layers known as “A” team, “B” team, and Team 2020. Although it might sound hierarchical, it was more a case of fitting people to slots where the seniors could mentor them and also give them an indication of their future path in the group as long as they kept performing. Team 2020 comprised talented youngsters he believed would be in senior management of JKH by 2020. Coincidently when I retired in 2018, nearly 80 per cent of the twenty senior-most had been at JKH for more than two decades.

Significant Investments and Initiatives during the decade

The substantial investments and initiatives JKH undertook under KB’s leadership are explained below. They have all stood the test of time and have contributed significantly to the JKH bottom line over an extended period.

The acquisition of the Whittalls Group in 1991 for Rs 300 million was to prove an excellent decision. At the time, however, the investment was considered risky by many in the private sector. The two hotels were in financial difficulties due to the civil war raging from 1984. In addition, Ceylon Cold Stores (CCS) was under government control, and the unions were ruling the roost. Nevertheless, the deal gave JKH ownership of two hotels (291 rooms) in Bentota, Hikkaduwa, and CCS, the manufacturer of Elephant House soft drinks and ice creams owned nine acres of prime land in Colombo. Despite severe challenges, particularly from the unions, the JKH team comprising Sumithra Gunasekera, Raji Goonewardena and Jit Guneratne slowly but surely brought about the necessary changes to CCS to be a highly profitable enterprise and compete on equal footing with Coca Cola on market share. As a result, I believe the initial investment was recovered in less than five years.

In 1994 JKH raised US$ 35 million by issuing Global Depository Receipts (GDR) from overseas investors. It was a first of its kind by a Sri Lankan company, and its success was a feather in the cap of JKH and KB and his team comprising Kailasapillai, the deputy chairman, Ajith and Anushya. The issue of GDR taking place amidst a civil war speaks volumes of KB’s vision and confidence in JKH and, of course, the investors in JKH. The JKH share has been the most sought after by foreign investors, and until recently, nearly 50 per cent of the shareholding was with foreign investors.

In 1995 the JKH Employee Share Option scheme was introduced and launched. I believe we were one of the first to introduce this rewards scheme in Sri Lanka. Once again, it was a brilliant initiative to bring a sense of ownership and loyalty amongst the management staff. Undoubtedly, the scheme’s success in the ensuing years enabled many of us who worked at JKH in that era to build a secure financial safety net for ourselves.

In 1996 JKH invested in the Maldives by acquiring an 80-bedroom hotel. It was our first overseas investment, and I was fortunate to be involved in the acquisition. Our management team comprising of less than 10 quickly transformed a “dead” hotel into a thriving property. When I joined JKH, I realized that one of JKH’s great strengths was its systems and procedures and was thrilled to see how seamlessly they were implanted in the Maldives. Jagath Fernando, the then MD of the Leisure Sector and Jayantissa Kehelpannala, the Head of Sales, Marketing and Operations, provided excellent leadership that contributed to our success. As a result, the investment was recovered in a record quick time of fewer than four years. Given the lucrative returns, JKH quickly added more properties in the Maldives to its portfolio and the Maldives is now a significant contributor to the group.

In 1999 JKH and P&O, a renowned international shipping line, and several others entered into an agreement with GOSL and the SLPA to develop the South Asia Gateway Terminal (SAGT). This was after four years of arduous negotiations! The project was the brainchild of Susantha Ratnayake, the then head of the transport and logistics sector of JKH.

A great story that is part of JKH folklore is how when Lord Sterling, the Chairman of P&O, had said, “Ken, do you know that the issued capital of this company is going to be about a hundred million dollars and we from P&O are putting in twenty-six million dollars. What can you do?” Without batting an eyelid, KB had said, “We’ll match it.” Vivendra Lintotawella, the then Deputy Chairman and Susantha had a shock and thought, ‘Chairman, has gone bonkers.’ However, KB explains in the book ‘Legacy’ that JKH had the money from the GDR issue. That SAGT has been a highly successful investment is to state the obvious.

Retirement from JKH and the Legacy

On December 31, 2000, KB retired from JKH and handed over the baton to Lintotawela. It was the end of an era for us all who had worked with him. During his tenure, JKH had grown to be a highly diversified conglomerate with the highest market capitalization on the Colombo Stock Exchange. In its December 1998 edition, Fortune magazine listed JKH among the top 10 stocks in Asia. However, for most of us, his impact as the first Sri Lankan Chairman of JKH went way beyond just numbers. His skills as a visionary leader, combined with his uncanny ability to select and promote people who can deliver, made many of us perform that extra bit which is the difference between being good and excellent. He made us believe that anything is possible and wanted his team to “think big.” It was a way of life. For many of us, JKH was “the family.”

In her book, Savithri sums it up quite appropriately “What most old hands cannot forget is that Ken was inextricably linked with both the past leadership and pending legacy of John Keells. Some would even venture to say that John Keells is what it is in the present largely because of Ken – an assumption that Ken, with his usual modesty, dismisses lightly.”

In my view, the ethos that he created has resulted in JKH being voted as “the most admired” corporate entity in Sri Lanka for decades. Undoubtedly, those who succeeded him have continued his excellent work and even built on them. I was mighty pleased to read recently that the JKH Annual Report was voted the most transparent. I am not surprised because that is the culture that has existed in the group.

Charming, Charismatic yet Outspoken Statesmen

Despite being a hard taskmaster, as his former boss, David Blackler, says, ” Bala’s personality was a fine blend of charm and charisma, an asset that was a much sought after commodity in a rapidly expanding and diversifying conglomerate.” No doubt a quality that benefited JKH immensely over the years when dealing with politicians, overseas business partners, diplomats and even tricky superiors and subordinates! Given JKH’s significant exposure to the leisure industry, relationships with our overseas business partners during the civil war were crucial.

Romesh David of JKH says in the book, “In the chaotic aftermath of the 1983 riots saw major charter tour operators, many of which were global giants, retain their commitments to Sri Lanka based solely on the assurances given by Ken, driven by the confidence and close personal rapport they had with him. Being articulate, personable, warm, and friendly added to his charm and the building of some strong business relationships in his time.”

The book by SR includes a pictorial representation of a Reuter report titled “Private Sector Needs Guts.” The article, I believe, was published in 1994. It states, ” Mr Balendra, who as the chief executive officer, has guided the fortunes of the 125-year-old company since 1990, is one of the few private-sector bosses unafraid to express strong views on the country’s political, economic and social fabric.” KB had said, ‘The private sector should openly be able to criticize the government, suggest policies. That does not mean we are in politics,’ The report goes on to say, “His outspoken views have probably caused the company trouble. It fell foul of former president Ranasinghe Premadasa two years ago and was the target of a vicious campaign by rivals and state-owned media.”

I doubt my article has done sufficient justice to Mr Balendra. I feel I have just touched the tip of the iceberg. I am sure many will write with greater authority about the Corporate Colossus, who was voted by LMD in 2003 as the most effective business leader in Sri Lanka since the country’s independence in 1948.

I would also like to acknowledge Ms. Savithri Rodrigo, the author of They Call Him Ken, from which I’ve quoted extensively.

The article was initially published in the Sunday Island edition on 27 February 2022 and is being republished because Ken Balendra passed away on February 3, 2025.

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Pharmaceutical drugs prescribed by medical specialists – doctors – are taken universally. This brand of medicine named allopathic medicine, also known as biomedicine, conventional/ mainstream /or orthodox medicine, is preferred to our native medicine or Ayurveda, by the majority of city folk. Till recently, ordinary people like me were unaware of the inherent danger in use and overuse of prescribed drugs and for every ill consulted a so called Western doctor.

As children in Kandy we were taken to consult either Dr Anthonisz or Dr Win in their dispensary just past the warren of lawyers’ office dens down a road close to the Dalada Maligawa; followed by Dr Frewin. Independent me consulted a wonderful woman GP and consulted a specialist (very rarely), only if she advised it. Dr Vimala Navaratnam was our family doctor for long. I joined a private medical service a couple of years back paying an annual fee (nominal) but a visit of a doctor and his team costs Rs 5,000/- .

Also like most Sri Lankans at the onset of anything unusual, I would make a bee line to a specialist doctor whose fee now has risen to almost Rs 5,000/-. With tests to be done or without, his prescribed drug list is usually long. Recently going to a specialist I was to take two histamines and another drug. The result of drug taking was much worse than the ill I suffered, which I must say abated.

A GP retired from England knew I was prescribed two drugs for an aching arm: a painkiller and the other to counteract probable resultant stomach imbalance. He laughed and advised me to let my body cure itself, aided by plenty water and mental calmness. It worked. It was then he said: “Every ill does not need a pill”, and added more deaths are caused by taking of unnecessary drugs and of course, overdoses.

Medical drugs can be killers

I quote here info gathered by googling, the input statement being ‘pharmaceutical drugs kill’: “Our prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer in the US and Europe. Around half of those who die have taken their drugs correctly; the other half die because of errors, such as too high a dose or use of a drug despite contra-indications.”

“Prescription drugs kill 300% more Americans than illegal drugs; prescription drugs kill one person every 19 minutes; prescription drugs now kill more people than heroin and cocaine combined; prescription drugs are now killing more people than traffic accidents…”

Sadly, most people don’t know that properly prescribed prescription drugs kill people, contrary to what we are made to believe by the Big Pharma and their agents, the so called doctors. “In the USA for example, 100,000 Americans die as a result of drug use each year. This excludes prescription drug abuse, which causes this number to skyrocket even higher. This is more than or equal to the number of people who die from accidents, Alzheimer’s, Influenza and Diabetes.”

The Sri Lankan scene

I googled with searching statement ‘Deaths in Sri Lanka due to pharmaceutical drugs’.

Retrieved two articles. One is from the Sunday Times, July 23, 2023, titled Spotlight on recent incidents of deaths in state health sector. The article with table and statistics starts thus: “The Health Ministry appointed a seven member ‘Expert Committee’ to investigate the recent incidence of drug allergies and their after-effects…..” This article was an interview by Kumudini Hettiarachchi with the NMRA Chief. No need to go any further since now much is known about the allergies and death caused by bad drugs imported.

The second is an article issued by the Directorate of Healthcare Quality and Safety. It details a meeting of health personnel in Colombo to celebrate of World Patient Safety Day, in 2022, with theme ‘Medicine without Harm.’ WHO, in 2019, at its 72^nd Assembly declared that annually on September 17, observance would be on promoting all aspects of patient safety.

At the meeting I read about, chief guest was then Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, and keynote speaker Prof Galappatty who addressed the gathering virtually from the UK; her topic: ‘Medication without Harm.’

It is the practice now for most well to do or even economically just managing people to go to specialists, she noted. Quoting an article published in the US, she said that about 44,000 -98,000 people died every year due to medical errors, defined as “adverse events or near-miss events that are preventable with the current state of medical knowledge. Of these approximately 7,000 are due to medication errors, which mean “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of healthcare professionals, patient or consumer.”

In England she said, medication errors were more prevalent among older people who are on multiple medications. In Sri Lanka about 46% of the population have poor knowledge of medicine and about 8-12% are involved in self-medicating with allopathic medicines. She further noted that awareness creation about pharma medicines shout be a priority. A National Plan on Medication Safety was constituted under her initiative, covering the key domains proposed by WHO, namely systems and practices.

Observation

As said before, even if economically hard pressed for cash, specialist doctors are channeled for all illnesses deemed by the sufferers to be serious, though they often are not. The retired doctor from UK says the GP over there spends much time on a patient and does not prescribe drugs unless deemed absolutely essential. He adds that ‘pill pushing’ should be minimized by local doctors, GPs and specialists alike, and more consideration given to the patient’s purse and investigative tests ordered minimally. Patient education to be promoted.

A British visitor told me some years ago that what he noticed most on his first drive from Katunayake to Colombo was the abundance of pharmacies with drugs stocked almost spilling on the pavement. He also said that once he socialized with the locals, he noticed their almost universal shifting of conversations to illnesses they have, medicines they take. Yes, this seems to be a minor national trait.

My doctor friend is involved in spending much to help poor children in their education and in their food intake. He said let’s start a campaign to encourage people to take less drugs and resort to other methods of healing: mind conditioning, meditation, increased intake of water and of course recognizing the danger of even pharma drugs.