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there’s only him Today, as the only surviving founder member of the United National Party (UNP), Mr.Jayaweera still recalls with precise detail his 60 years in the rough and tumble of Sri Lankan politics, having had the rare distinction of being there when one of the landmark events of Sri Lankan politics took place - the creation of the UNP. His entrance into politics was a result of a chance meeting with J.R.Jayewardene at Dharmaloka Vidyalaya in Kelaniya where he worked as a teacher in 1943. He accepted an invitation from JR to become his Co-ordinating Secretary and subsequently became the Administrative Secretary of the Ceylon National Congress (CNC), one of the leading political movements in pre- independence Ceylon. "I stepped in at the tail-end of the freedom struggle and followed the polices of D.S.Senanayake. It was my patriotic feelings that dragged me into politics," Mr. Jayaweera said. And when the UNP was formed in 1946 to bring all different political groups together, and when D.S. Senanayake said in his usual thundering voice - "Now that we are all united again, let's call it the United National Party,'" Mr. Jayaweera as the Administrative Secretary of the CNC was busy recording the proceedings. "Not only did I write down the name United National Party but I also gave it a Sinhala translation "Eksath Jathika Pakshaya" - the name which has stuck till today. Mr. Jayaweera was born in Kelaniya on November 7, 1925, second in a family of four and it was his father who was fully involved in social work who inspired him in the same direction. “My father was a railway employee and was the Chairman of the Railway Uniformed Staff Union. He was a leader taking the side of the Department in the first railway strike organised by A.E.Goonasinha who worked as a parcel clerk at the railways, Mr. Jayaweera recalled. He finished his education at Dharmaloka Vidyalaya and Vidyalankara pirivena and having passed the final London matriculation exam, began his teaching career at the same school in 1943 teaching Sinhala, English and Civics. "In 1944, the 24th anniversary of the Ceylon National Congress was held on the grounds of Dharmaloka Vidyalaya. It was here that J.R.Jayewardene asked me to join him," he said. Thus began the journey during the course of which he too joined with fervouring the freedom campaign with other patriotic Ceylonese. To-date he continues to be an active background member of the UNP. The backdrop to the creation of the UNP was set off by several events preceding it. The CNC initially had in its membership Dudley Senanayake, J.R.Jayewardene, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, J.L.Kotalawala (later Sir John) along with almost all the prominent persons engaged in the freedom struggle but SWRD who was a Vice-President chose to leave it over some disagreements and this brought to light the differences within its fold. With it came the departure of some of the members of the minority communities who left to form parties of their own and so emerged the Tamil Congress, the Malay Association and the Burgher League. "I was firmly with JRJ and Dudley and went all over the county with them to meet the remaining members of the minority communities to re-organise the CNC and also to get those left back into the fold," he said. It was at this juncture that a proposal was made to get the communist politicians too into the fold but this did not meet with the approval of D.S. Senanayake. This move disturbed DS and he kept away from the re-organisation of CNC. Subsequently, George E. de Silva took over as leader of the CNC and the re-organisation work started. "Although they started work without DS in the leadership, they were very obedient and faithful to him and they did not hold meetings in the congress office during the re-organisation period. Instead most of the meetings were held in the Polski hotel in Slave Island (now Hotel Nippon). "Finally JR and Dudley were successful in collecting all the minority leadership together and then pleaded with D.S.Senanayake to take back the leadership of the CNC." "A meeting was called at the headquarters of the CNC at Borella Flats and when everything was ready for the meeting to began, D.S. Senanayake asked me to ring up S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and ask him to come to the meeting. Then he took the phone from me and all others present heard him say "Don't worry about the name Solomon, you come to the meeting." A while later S.W.R.D. came to the meeting accompanied by Mr.Kotalawala and Mr. Kannangara. At this point A.F. Molumore (later Sir Francis Molamure - First Speaker of Parliament) queried, “What shall we call the party?" to which D.S.Senanayake who was in the Chair suggested the name United National Party. It fell to Mr. Jayaweera to record the proceedings and after he had written down his own Sinhala translation for the name of the new party DS turned to P. De S Kularatne (Principal Ananda College and State Council Member for Ambalangoda/ Balapitiya) and asked P. De S, what is the suitable Sinhala term?" Mr.Kularatne who was seated close to Mr. Jayaweera looked at his desk and said, "Well this young man has written the correct term." Next, A. Mahadeva (Leader of the SC and Vice President of the CNC) was asked by DS how it should be called in Tamil to which he replied "Iiykkiya Deshiya Kachchi." "Then I did not know how to write Tamil so I wrote it down in English letters. And that was the birth of the UNP," he said. The Party's inaugural meeting was held on September 6, 1946. And for a while almost every prominent political figure in the country was brought together irrespective of race or religion. Having worked in the shadow of so many prominent men, when asked whom he most admires among these leaders, Mr. Jayaweera does not seem to want to choose one. He admires each of them for their own unique qualities and polices, he replies. It was D.S. Senanayake's polices of freedom, sovereignty and prosperity to the country, which drew him into the fold and till today he continues to be a stanch supporter of the party but is disturbed by the lack of attention that present politicians are paying to the interests of the people. "As someone who has been in political life for the past 60 years I see now how the entire political system has changed. It has become a battle to come to power and safeguard that power," he said. And political campaigns, Mr. Jayaweera said no longer talk of the citizens and voters of country and how their lives can be made happier, comfortable and satisfactory. "In the future the voters will refrain from exercising their franchise because they have no strong elders or group of persons who will look after them and make their livelihoods happier and more prosperous," he warned. Mr. Jayaweera is a multi-talented personality and politics has not been his only interest. He has written 38 books on various subjects ranging from archaeology, education, short stories and pottery and was conferred the national honour of "Kalabooshana" in 2004. Strangely despite his close connections to politics and politicians, he has preferred not to contest elections preferring to stay on the outside looking in and has infact turned down an offer to contest or enter Parliament on the UNP national list. It is his vigorous campaign as a devoted Buddhist to protect Buddhist archaeological sites, which he most likes to focus on now. For this work, he was recognised by all three Nikayas of the country and conferred an honorary degree. He continues to be a member of the national executive committee of the UNP and lectures at the Ranjan Wijeratne Political Academy, tutoring young aspiring politicians on the political history of Ceylon, the independence struggle and the creation of the UNP. And he remains as devoted to his principles, as he was when he first took to the political stage to voice Ceylon's cry for independence from British rule. |
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