The late Mohamed Salim Aboobakr, former Deputy Mayor
of Colombo in 1950 will be remembered with love and
gratitude this week for the great services he rendered
to the people and to the country.
M.
S. Aboobakr first entered politics in the year 1936
as a pioneer member of the Lanka Samasamaja party.
He belongs to the first generation of the left leaders
of Sri Lanka along with such stalvarts of the calibre
of Phillip and Robert Gunawardena, Dr. N. M. Perera,
Dr. Colvin R. de Silva, Dr. S. A. Wickramasinghe,
Bernard Soysa, M. G. Mendis and Pieter Keuneman.
Aboobakr was a strong believer in scientific socialist
politics and was a patriot and the friend of the working
class. A fire brand politician.
He was a champion in the struggle against the capitalist
and feudalist exploitation.
He was elected in 1946 to the Dematagoda ward as
an M.M.C. and was elected Deputy Mayor of Colombo
in 1950. A vetran trade unionist, he exercised his
powers in; favour of the down trodden and for the
rights of the poor rate payers. Being the first trotskyite
member to be elected to the above position. He was
also the first leftist Muslim to contest the first
general elections as a candidate to the Polonnaruwa
seat.
He served the people for over 14 years and it was
during this period that he became the first person
to address the municipal council in Sinhala and later
a resolution to declare May 1st, as a paid holiday
for the working class. He moved resolutions in the
C.M.C. to re-name the streets of Colombo, resolved
and paved the way for the establishment of public
transport which is now an act of parliament. He was
an excellent debater of facts and figures. His contributions
to local politics, trade unionism and revolutions
made him a feared but respected leftist whose dynamic
personality and noble character are hitherto monumental.
His entire life was a struggle and sacrifice for
the benefit of the working class which is now part
of history and which cannot be forgotten or erased.
In 1985 at the age of 72 M. S. Abu was confined to
his bed because of his ill health, the former President
R. Premadasa in the capacity of Prime Minister of
Sri Lanka visited M. S. Aboobakr’s residence
at 153, Veluvana Mawatha, Dematagoda and chatted for
an hour.
It must go on record that the Prime Minister did
not go to Abubakar empty handed he carried a yellow
file on his hands, together with a larger white envelope.
The file contained the deeds of title to the house
in which the former deputy mayor Abubakar had lived
for 44 years.
He had, he wrote to the Prime Minister, attempted
to purchase the house under the clauses in the law
which permit of such a purchase. But the owner’s
agent, after agreeing to a fixed sum of money, had
welshed on the deal at the last moment. Hence he appealed
to his old friend and colleague Prime Minister Honourable
R. Premadasa.
Now, the house which he could not buy has been gifted
to him. And what was in the envelope? This is a little
present for you from the Colombo Central UNP organisation
said honourable Premadasa as he pressed the envelope
into his old friend’s hands before he said good
bye.
The
Father of the Modern Nation. The First Prime
Minister of Sri Lanka. 1948 D.S. Senanayaka
submitted a proposed constitution in 1944 that
underscored the importance of maintaining the
state's religious neutrality.In
response, Britain appointed a commission in
that year, led by Lord Soulbory. He
recommended that a constitution should be drawn
up, similar to the one proposed by Senanayake's
group. |
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It
provided for internal self government in the island
while retaining some imperial safe guards in matters
of defence and foreign policy.
Following the independence, D.S Senanayake was elected
as a prime minister and, together with his UNP party,
formed the first independent government. His opponents
mostly were Tamils and communists. At first his government
runs smoothly, concentrating on maintaining a strong
economy, strengthening social services and also weakening
the opposition. In order to achieve the last policy,
the government disfranchised the hill-country Tamils
by depriving their citizenships. (Eventually, between
1960s and 1980s some of the hill-country Tamils were
repatriated to India while others were granted Sri
Lankan citizenship.) D.S Senanayake was killed in
an accident in 1952 and was succeed by his son, Dudley
Senanayake.
During the period of Dudley Senanayake as a prime
minister, he failed to accomplish one of the first
policies instituted after the independence. It was
free rations of rice policy but as this rice was imported
and its price started to escalate worldwide, the attempts
to increase the price of rice in the country (in 1953)
resulted in mass riots and many deaths followed by
the announcement of state of emergency. Dudley was
resigned and was replaced by his uncle, Sir John Kotelawala,
who easily was defeated in 1956 general election and
the next coalition led by SWRD Bandaranaike of Sri
Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).
In His Regime:
The Government maintained close links with the United
Kingdom even after independence through agreements
on defence, external affairs and membership of the
Commonwealth.
These agreements with Britain were expected to safeguard
the security and sovereignty of the country. Thus.
the naval base at Trincomalee and the air base at
Katunayake were kept under British authority.
The citizenship of the country was defined and negotiations
were initiated with India on repatriation of plantation
workers of Indian origin who were not eligible to
obtain citizenship.
The country's diplomatic relations during this period
were mainly with the Western countries because of
the strong trade relations with those countries. The
important exception was the recognition of the People's
Republic of China by Sri Lanka in 1950 and the establishment
of trade relations with her under the Rubber-Rice
Pact signed in 1952.
The development of domestic agriculture became the
first priority in the policy regime of the first post-independence
Government. Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake who had
been campaigning for self-sufficiency in food since
the first State Council period when he was the Minister
of Agriculture emphasised the development of agricultural
infrastructure to step-up paddy and other subsidiary
food crop production. Thus, the settlement of farmers
in the Dry Zone which was started in the 1930s was
pursued with increased vigour. The land policy was
mainly geared towards transfer of land to the landless,
under the settlement schemes and for expansion of
villages.
A start was made in developing the hydro-power potential
of the country with the commissioning of the Laxapana
station in 1950.
The two development programmes prepared during this
period, i.e., the Six Year Development Plan 1951 -
1957 and the Six Year Programme of Investment (1954
- 1959), placed major emphasis on investment in agricultural
infrastructure. The private sector was expected to
play a leading role in the development process.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka was established in
1950 by replacing the Currency Board System, to implement
an independent and flexible monetary policy.
Welfare measures inherited by the new Government
were expanded systematically. These measures included
free education up to the tertiary level, free health
facilities for all, and above all, the provision of
food, mainly the staple food, rice, at a subsidised
price for all.
The Korean War boom of 1949 - 1951, caused by the
sharp rise in rubber prices during the Korean War,
enhanced foreign resources and encouraged the expansion
of welfare measures. Later, these measures exerted
tremendous pressure on government budgets . In 1951/52,
welfare expenditures accounted for 29 per cent of
the government current expenditure, even exceeding
the expenditure on development.
The welfare measures, however, helped the country
to maintain investment in human capital at a higher
level and have been responsible for lifting the human
development status of the country well above most
other developing countries and even some developed
countries.
Conflicting views among the different groups within
the UNP surfaced by 1951, and as a result, a group
of government members led by Mr. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike
crossed the floor to join the Opposition and formed
the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in 1951. This marked
the birth of a major party with the capability of
forming an alternative government.
Sirimavo
Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike |
Born
April 17, 1916 , Ratnapura, Sri Lanka died
October 10, 2000 , Colombo, Sri Lanka.
In full Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike
stateswoman who, upon her party's victory
in the 1960 Ceylon general election, became
the world's first woman prime minister. She
left office in 1965 but returned to serve
two more terms (1970–77, 1994–2000)
as prime minister.
|
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The family she founded with her late husband, S.W.R.D.
Bandaranaike, rose to great prominence in Sri Lankan.
1916–2000, Sri Lankan political leader, b.
Sirimavo Ratwatte. She and her husband, S. W. R. D.
Bandaranaike, converted to Buddhism from Christianity
before he became prime minister of Ceylon (now Sri
Lanka) in 1956. After his assassination (1959), she
became the first woman in the world to serve as a
nation's prime minister. She led the Sri Lanka Freedom
Party, which her husband had founded, and headed two
coalition governments (1960–65, 1970–77).
As prime minister, she emphasized Buddhist and Sinhalese
nationalist policies and promoted a new constitution
(1972) that proclaimed a republic and changed the
country's name to Sri Lanka. The coalition broke up
in 1975, and her government was defeated in 1977.
She was expelled from parliament in 1980 and stripped
(1980–82) of her civil rights because of abuses
as prime minister. She reentered politics in the late
1980s and was an unsuccessful candidate for president
in 1988. In 1994 her daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga,
was elected president, and appointed Bandaranaike
prime minister, a post she held until she resigned
because of ill health in 2000.
Bandaranaike, Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias, prime minister
of Ceylon in 1960-65 and 1970-77, the first woman
to hold such an office was born in Balangoda and attended
convent schools. In 1940 she married Solomon Bandaranaike,
who in 1956 became prime minister. They
had three children. After his assassination
in 1959, she assumed the leadership of the Sri Lanka
Freedom party that Bandaranaike had formed, and having
won the elections of 1960 she became prime minister.
She pursued the pro-Buddhist, pro-Sinhalese socialist
policies that her husband had begun, but gradually
lost support and was defeated at the polls in 1965.
Returning to power in 1970, she nationalized certain
industries and made the country a republic under the
name of Sri Lanka. Her government, however, was plagued
with ethnic dissension and economic deterioration,
and it was thoroughly defeated in the elections of
1977. Charged with abuse of power while in office,
she was expelled from the National Assembly and stripped
of her civil rights in 1980; her rights were reinstated
in 1986.
Bandaranaike was not politically active until 1959,
when her husband was assassinated. She led the nationalist
Sri Lanka Freedom party to win the parliamentary elections
of July 1960 and was named prime minister to succeed
her husband's replacement.
To reduce foreign influence in Ceylon, which was
ruled by Britain until 1948, Bandaranaike replaced
English with Sinhalese as the nation's official language.
Christian mission schools and Western-owned oil companies
were nationalized. She also moved to place opposition
newspapers under government control and attempted
to mediate the 1962 border dispute between India and
China.
Economic decline and social unrest led to her party's
defeat in the March 1965 elections and to her resignation
as prime minister. However, a victory in the May 1970
elections returned her to office at the head of a
coalition government. The failure of her policies
to remedy widespread unemployment and other economic
problems led to her defeat in the 1977 elections.
In 1980 she was convicted of misuse of power and expelled
from Parliament.
The former prime minister suffered another defeat
in the 1988 elections.
Dudley
Senanayake (1911-1973) |
With
the Hon D S Senanayake's death, the mantle
of leadership of the United National Party
fell on Dudley Senanayake. Dudley Senanayake
who became both leader and Prime Minister,
dissolved Parliament in 1952 and held fresh
elections.
At
this Election, and United National Party polled
1,026,000 votes and recorded a percentage
five points higher than in 1947. Fifty four
United National Party candidates were elected
to Parliament.
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This marks the First time a political party achieved
a two-thirds majority in Parliament in Sri lanka. In
1953 Hon Dudley Senanayake resigned from the Premiership
and the Party Leadership due to ill health.
He
was the member for Kurunegala and the Acting
Minister of Agriculture and Lands in the First
State Council (1931-35), Minister of Communications
and Works in the Second State Council (1936-47),
Minister of Transport and Works, and the Leader
of the House in the First Parliament of Ceylon
(1947-52) and the Second Parliament (1952-53).
He
was the Prime Minister of Ceylon (1953-56) and
was also the Minister of Defence and External
Affairs. |
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He
was created a member of the Privy Council (PC) on
22.4.1954, when sworn in at Queen's House on the only
occasion when a meeting of the Privy Council was held
in Ceylon.
Jayawardene,
Junius Richard |
1906–96,
prime minister (1977–78) and president
(1978–88) of Sri Lanka. Active in Sri
Lankan politics since the early 1940s, he
was a founding member of the United National
Party. Supporting a new presidential constitution
(1978), he stressed free-market, pro-Western
policies and large-scale development and won
elections in 1977 and 1982. In
1983, however, he was unable to prevent civil
war between Tamils and majority Sinhalese;
the unrest continued through the remainder
of his presidency, despite Indian intervention
(1987).
|
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Ranasinghe Premadasa was chosen as the United National
Party candidate for the Presidential Elections in
1988. In the same year, he won the Presidential Elections,
On the 2nd of January 1989, Mr J R Jayewardene retired
as President in terms of the Constitution.
On his retirement Mr Ranasinghe Premadasa was sworn
in as the Second Executive President of Sri lanka.
Mr Ranasinghe Premadasa polled 2,569,000 votes at
this Presidential Election.
At the General Elections held in 1989, the United National
Party once again achieved victory, polling 2,837,000
votes. The first Sri lanka head of state to become the
chairman of the SAARC was Mr Ranasinghe Premadasa.
The
Fifth Leader of the United National Party, Mr
Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated on the
01 of May 1993. Mr D B Wijetunge succeeded him
as the sixth Leader of the United National Party.
Leader of the house Mr.Ranil Wickremesinghe
became prime minister. At the General elections
held in August 1994, the United National Party
under the Leadership of Mr D B Wijetunge Suffered
defeat. |
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At the Presidential Elections held in November 1994,
The United National Party was defeated once again.
In this election the United National Party's Presidential
Candidate Mr Gamini Dissanayake, fell victim to a bomb-attack.
Shortly before Election Day. Mrs Srima Dissanaayake
was selected as the substitute Presidential Candidate
by the United National Party. As an inevitable outcome
of the turbulent conditions that existed in the country
and also within the Party at this time, the United National
Party polled only 2,700,150 votes at this Presidential
Election.
President
of Sri Lanka Few Asian leaders match the political
pedigree of Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga.
And none, arguably, has experienced the degree
of tragedy that has marked her life. That, perversely,
is why she may one day be remembered as the
person who finally put an end to her country's
civil war.Kumaratunga's mother, Sirimavo Bandaranaike,
became the world's first female prime minister
in 1960. Those were times of great change, and
the Socialist mother put her young Marxist daughter
in charge of land reform. |
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One of the first things she did was to strip her
own wealthy family of most of its extensive holdings.
This kind of determination has been one of the hallmarks
of Kumar-atunga's life and political career - and
she has sometimes needed it in ample measure. When
she was elected PM - and later president - Kumaratunga
pledged to seek an end to Sri Lanka's political violence.
Ranil
Wickramasinghe who became Sri Lanka's Prime
Minister in December 2001, has pledged to pursue
efforts to start peace talks to end the country's
long-running ethnic conflict. A lawyer by profession,
Mr Wickramasinghe was first elected to parliament
in 1977 and quickly moved up the party ladder
after Ranasinghe Pramadasa was elected President
in 1989. |
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He was made the minister of industries and leader
of the house, and then went on to be prime minister
for 16 months until Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's
Alliance coalition came to power in 1994. In the same
year, he became the leader of the United National
Party. Mr Wickramasinghe improved his party's image
by appointing a disciplinary commission to get rid
of corrupt party members.
