Present Government

History of Governments

Presidents of Sri Lanka

Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (1994 till now) Dingiri Banda Wijetunge Prime Minister in 1989 Junius Richard Jayawardene Prime Minister (1977–78) and President (1978–88) Premadasa, Ranasinghe Prime minister 1978–88, president from 1988 William Gopallawa First President of the Republic of Sri Lanka 1972

Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka

Ratnasiri Wickremanayake 2005 - till date
Mahinda Rajapakse 2004 - 2005	Ranil Wickremasinghe 2002-2004	Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka 2000-2002	Ms Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga 1994-1994
D. B. Wijetunga 1989-1993	Ranasinghe Premadasa 1978-1989	Dudley Senanayake 1952-1953	Bandaranaike Sirimavo 1960-1965
Stephen Senanayake 1947-1952	Dr W Dahanayake 1959-1960	Sir John Kotalawela 1953-1956	Solomon West Ridgeway Bandaranaike 1956-1959

Percy Mahendra 'Mahinda' Rajapakse (born November 18, 1945) is the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, and a Sri Lankan politician. Rajapakse was also the country's Prime Minister from April 06, 2004 until November 21, 2005. He is married to Shiranthi Rajapakse and is the father of three sons Namal, Yoshitha and Rohitha. Human Rights Watch has accused the Sri Lankan government headed by President Mahinda Rajapakse of complicity and failure to respond to anti-Tamil genocide in Trincomalee.The suspected involvement of government forces is further strengthened since "Human Rights Watch is unaware of any strong public statements by the president or direct steps to increase security in the district. Some persons displaced by the violence reportedly did not receive emergency government assistance for four days."

Early life
Rajapakse was born to Sinhalese Buddhist parents in Weeraketiya in the southern rural District of Hambantota. His father was Don Alwin Rajapakse, a prominent politician and independence agitator. Rajapakse was educated at Richmond College, Galle, Nalanda College, Colombo and Thurstan College, Colombo. He was a film actor for some time and played extras in some of the Sinhala movies.

He worked at the Vidyodaya University (now University of Sri Jayawardanapura)before studying law, which he was still doing in 1970 when he was elected as Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) member for the Parliamentary seat of Beliatta in the Hambantota District, which his father had represented between 1947 and 1960. His candidacy was supported by the United Corporations and Mercantile Union, of which he was Chairman of the Vidyodaya University branch.

In 1974 he received his law degree from the Colombo Law College and took his place at the bar, becoming a human-rights lawyer, and practiced law in his rural district Hambantota. He lost his parliamentary seat in the landslide defeat of the SLFP in 1977. During the 1985 by-election campaign of Mulkirigala electorate in Hambantota district, for which his brother Chamal Rajapakse contested representing the SLFP, Mahinda was jailed by the then UNP government for unproven allegations of keeping unauthorised fire arms.

In Opposition
In 1980 he became the President of the Sri Lankan Committee for Solidarity with Palestine. In 1989 he was re-elected to Parliament to represent Hambantota District under Proportional Representation. He came into prominence as a leader, together with Manorani Saravanamuttu, of the Mothers Front, which organised the mothers of the "disappeared" in the white terror of 1988-90 instigated by a terrorist group that called themselves Deshapremi Jathika Vyaparaya or 'Patriotic National Movement'.

In the early 1990s he was elected to the Central Committee of the SLFP and was part of a re-organisation drive. He also organized and led the Pada Yatra march from Colombo to Kataragama in protest against the United National Party government, which was primarily responsible for its downfall.

Minister of Labour and Vocational Training (1994 - 1997)
Rajapakse was the Minister of Labour and Vocational Training in the cabinet of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga from 1994 to 1997. He created controversy when he moved to introduce a Workers' Charter, which sought to establish Trade Union Rights, a Wages Commission, Social Security, a National Trade Union Training Institute and facilities for the adjudication of industrial disputes. His labour reforms were resisted by employers who asked the then-President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to remove him from the Labour Ministry (which was done). His Labour charter was not implemented.

As the Minister of Labour and Vocational Training, he achieved the following:

•Created the Vocational Training Authority (VTA) serving the rising need of unemployed youth.
• Through the concept of “Skills for Life – Jobs for Skills,” opened 225 vocational training centres throughout Sri Lanka. The youth who were unable to enter universities were trained in these centres in varied job skills.
•Funds of the Employees Trust Fund (ETF) were invested in profitable ventures. The profits were given back to the employees. The Salt Corporation is one such venture.
•Established a Year 5 and higher education scholarship scheme for children of migrant workers.
•Established an insurance scheme called “Suraksha” for migrant workers.
•Took initial steps to establish a Hospital for the ETF members.

Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (1997 - 2001)
After Rajapakse was removed as the Minister of Labour, he was then appointed as the Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

•Initiated a housing program called "Diyawara Gammana" for fishermen and their families.
•Initiated the first ever university for oceanography known as "Sagara Vishwavidyalaya."
•Introduced a special banking scheme called “Idiwara Banks” for fishermen.
•Established a Coastal Guard Unit, a much needed security system for an Island nation, to stop the illegal fishing activities and protect the coast of Sri Lanka.
•Provided fisheries communication equipment to improve the efficiency through the use of technology.
•In addition to the Portfolio of Fisheries, he also held the Portfolio of the Ports and Shipping for a short period of three months. Within this period, he took the initial steps to construct Hambantota Harbour.

Prime Minister and President
After the Parliamentary Elections of 2004, in which the United People's Freedom Alliance was victorious, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was widely expected to appoint her close advisor and former Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar as Prime Minister. However, due to pressure from grass-root level party supporters and perhaps because Kadirgamar was perceived as lacking popular credentials or because he is a Sri Lankan Tamil and a Christian, Kumaratunga had to select more popular Mahinda Rajapakse instead. Rajapakse was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s 13th Prime Minister on April 06, 2004.

As the Prime Minister, he was also put in charge of Information and Communication Technology Agency (2004 - To Date):

•Re-energized the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka.
•Taking the Information Technology (IT) and computer literacy to rural areas under the “Nanasala” project. The Nanasala project is an initiative to introduce several models of the telecentres or knowledge centres to be established in all parts of Sri Lanka to spread ICT services to the rural and semi-urban populations.

Minister of Highways (2004 - 2005)
While Rajapakse was the Prime Minister, he also held the Ministry of Highways.

•Initiated "Maga Neguma" project to build rural and city roads and highways, and allocated funds to each and every local government area.
•Proposed and planned to construct fly-overs to minimize traffic congestion in the Colombo city.

Political Position
Unlike some members of the new government coalition, Rajapakse is believed to support peace talks with the Tamil Tigers as a means of ending the civil war with the Tamil secessionist movement. But his recent alignment with extremist political parties such as JVP and JHU raised large concerns within his own party. SLFP leader and then President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga openly accused Rajapakse of pushing the country towards war because of his pact with nationalist forces.

President (Nov 2005 - To Date)
Rajapakse was chosen in front of Anura Bandaranaike, brother of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, as the Presidential Candidate of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party for the Presidential Election held on November 17, 2005. Rajapakse was up against Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe, the leader of the United National Party (Sri Lanka's largest political party) in this election. Rajapakse defeated Wickremasinghe and took office as President on November 19, 2005]. His victory was largely due to the mass support from the southern sinhala-buddhist voters. Also, in the north-east, the LTTE called for a boycott of the polls from Tamil voters in areas under their control, and are rumoured to have prevented a large section of voters from visiting the pooling booths, although the turnout was also low in areas under government control.

After becoming President of Sri Lanka, Rajapakse reshuffled the cabinet, demoting several prominent people including Anura Bandaranaike. As many former Sri Lankan Presidents performed, Rajapakse became the Defence Minister as well as Finance and Planning Minister in the new cabinet, which was sworn on November 23, 2005.

Human Rights Abuses
As President of the Sri Lankan government and Defence minister, Mahinda Rajapakse has been held responsible for a significant deterioration of human rights in Sri Lanka. This includes increased number of alleged abuses and according to the Asian Human Rights Commission, the dismantling of the independent Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission since being elected president in November 2005.

•NESOHR (North East Secreteriat on Human Rights) report on alleged murder of at least 20 Tamil individuals since February 23rd 2006 by the Sri Lankan military and govt. backed paramilitaries.

•NESOHR (North East Secreteriat on Human Rights) report 45 deaths and 100 disappearances from 20th Nov. 2005 to 9th Jan 2006 by Sri Lankan military and government backed paramilitaries.

•Human Rights Watch has accused the Sri Lankan government headed by President Mahinda Rajapakse of complicity and failure to respond to widespread anti-Tamil violence (pogrom) in Trincomalee town.

•The UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings noted circumstantial evidence of widespread government (headed by Mahinda Rajapakse) extrajuidicial killings of Tamil civilians.

•NESOHR allegation of extrajudicial killing by state-armed forces in Puthur, April 2006

•SLMM Mission head, Ulf Henricsson has accused Sri Lankan government forces of extrajudicial killings of civillian in Tamil Tiger strongholds in the island's North East

•US State Department Human Rights Report 2005 notes unlawful killings organized by government agents, forced disappearances, imprisonment and torture and discrimination based on race, sex, disability, language and social status particularly after the election of President Mahinda Rajapakse.

•Reporters Without Borders report murder of Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan, a correspondent of the Tamil-language daily Sudar Oli in the eastern city of Trincomalee shot dead for exposing murders and abuses committed by suspected government backed Tamil paramilitary groups.

•Reporters Without Borders report raids on Tamil newspapers, Tamil journalist have been killed, received death threats, repeated physical and psychological threats, been arrested, detained and harassed by members of the state security forces .

•Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Sri Lanka Free Media Movement
(FMM) all voiced outrage over the lack of progress in the investigation into the murder Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam "Taraki" Sivaram, the editor of the Tamilnet news website and columnist for the Sri Lankan Daily Mirror newspaper on April 28th 2005.

This has led to a culture of impunity within the Sri Lankan state headed by President Mahinda Rajapakse, where victims of human rights abuses due to government forces have little recourse in pursuing justice due to the dismantling of the independent Human Rights Commission.

Unlike in India, the Sri Lankan cabinet is headed by the Executive President, who is both the Head of State and Government and the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The role of the Prime Minister is largely nominal, as the President is the head of the executive and determines portfolio allocation and the size of the cabinet.

Wickremanayake is a former Prime Minister (August 2000-December 2001) who succeeded the late Sirimavo Bandaranaike after she resigned from the position at the age of 84. He is a senior vice-president of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).

Wickremanayake is known to toe a Sinhala-hardline position. The new Prime Minister is also one who is seen as holding hawkish views on the resolution of the decades-long separatist conflict and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Recent evidence from a Sunday Leader investigation allege his close ties to the criminal underworld and a plot to murder the head of the Tamil-owned Maharaja Corporation.

During Presidencies of former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, he held the Public Administration, Home Affairs and Plantation Industries portfolios. The decision to appoint Ratnasiri Wickremanayake as the Prime Minister appears to be taken at the last-minute, as his name did not figure in political circles until the night of November 21, 2005.

Wickremanayake was educated in Millewa Primary school, Dharmapala Vidyalaya, Pannipitiya and Ananda College, Colombo, a prestigious Buddhist school in Colombo and later joined Lincoln's Inn for Barrister of Law Degree but ultimately chose to enter politics rather than appear for the exam. He was elected President of the Ceylon Student's Association in the United Kingdom in 1955. Wickremanayake returned to Sri Lanka following the demise of his elder brother Munidasa who was in active politics representing the western provincial Parliamentary seat of Horana before he could sit for final Barrister's exam. On his return to Sri Lanka, he was elected to the legislature in 1960, from Horana for the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (then a part of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna alliance). Wickremanayake joined the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in 1962. In 1965, he was re-elected to the legislature for Horana from the SLFP.

Wickremanayake received his first ministerial appointment in 1970, when he was appointed Deputy Minister for Justice in the United Front government under Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike. In 1975, Wickremanayake was appointed Minister of Plantation Industries and the next year was also Minister of Justice. Like many other party stalwarts, Wickremanayake also lost his Parliamentary seat in the landslide defeat of the SLFP in 1977. He became General Secretary of the SLFP in 1978.

He rose to higher office in the government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, becoming Minister of Public Administration, Home Affairs and Plantation Industries in 1994, and also being named the leader of the SLFP parliamentary party. He became Prime Minister in 2000 after the resignation of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, and briefly headed a minority SLFP government supported by the JVP for a year. His time as Prime Minister ended in October 2001 when the legislature after it became apparent that his government was about to lose a no-confidence motion.

After the SLFP won the 2004 Parliamentary Elections, Wickremanayake was appointed Minister of Buddhist Affairs, Public Security, and Law and Order, and Deputy Minister for Defence. He held both posts until being made Prime Minister in 2005.

Wickremanayake is seen by many as taking a harder stance on the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. During his previous term as Prime Minister, he refused to consider talks with the main Tamil militant group, the LTTE, until they unambiguously renounced terrorism. He has called for Sri Lanka's family planning policies to be modified, to encourage people to have more children and thereby produce more recruits for the Sri Lankan Army. As an opposition politician, he also spoke against the present ceasefire arrangements at the time they were put in place.

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