Appreciations
View(s):A pioneer in transport professionalism
Rohan Abeywickrema
Rohan Abeywickrema who passed away on November 9 was my friend and professional colleague for over three decades. His contribution to my own life will live on to the end of my days, as it would in and through the life of countless others.Rohan (or Rohaan as he would spell) joined the then Ceylon Shipping Corporation (CSC) in 1973 as a Management Trainee fresh from school – Ananda College. His father passed away when he was 17 years and he decided to take responsibility for the family. He received a UN Fellowship for his higher studies and obtained a B.Sc. in International Transport from the University of Wales, Cardiff, UK. On his return in 1978, he was appointed to the R&D Department of the CSC.
He provided leadership for a 560 TEU container service replacing break bulk, the first of its kind in South Asia and was instrumental in negotiating Neptune Orient Lines, Singapore, one of the best in South Asia at that time to partner with CSC. His proposal for a service to USA via Hong Kong also materialised when Maersk Lines entered in 1983. His contributions to the shipping sector in that critical time of reform and advent to containerization were significant, particularly his pioneering work in promoting coastal / feeder shipping which began in 1980. He was also one of the early promoters of digitalisation in shipping.
In 1986 he resigned from CSC, and as Manager of Coastal Shipping of Ceylon Shipping Lines, to which he had been seconded and co-founded Green Lanka Shipping (agents for Evergreen), thereafter Sea Consortium Lanka Ltd, where he was its Managing Director before setting up Sathsindu- a Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier (NVOCC) company in 1990.
My association with Rohan began during my early days with the Chartered Institute of Transport (CIT), later the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport (CILT). In 1978, Rohan was one of first Sri Lankans to become a member of CIT, most likely the first from the shipping sector, to join with the likes of Derek Wijesinghe, Eng. L.S. de Silva, John Diandas, Mandri Sahabandu, Prof. D.S. Wijeyesekera, M.C. Premaratne and H.A. Premaratne to pioneer setting up CIT (Sri Lanka Section) in 1984.
Rohan sought me no sooner than I returned from my higher studies, to bring me into the Ex-Co. In CIT’s fledgling days, he actively sought young people with promise and badgered them to help CIT position transport as a profession in Sri Lanka. He and Anoma were eager hosts to all the informal functions of CIT/CILT. More than one former Treasurer has confided how he made good all operational shortfalls personally.
Vernon de Rosairo recounts how in 2000, Rohan took him to meet Ministers and MPs to get CIT incorporated under an Act of Parliament. Rohan served on the CIT/CILT Council for over 30 years, was elected a Fellow member and its Chairman (Sri Lanka section) in 1993 and 1994. He was an International Vice President for CILT from 1997 to 2001 (the first from Sri Lanka) and Honorary Fellow in 2005, only the second Sri Lankan after John Diandas to be so recognized with CILT’s highest award of honour, which hardly anyone knows since he bore it so humbly.
An active member of the Jaycees, he was JCI National President in 1991, also a key figure in the British Scholars Association of Sri Lanka serving as its President in 2009/2010. He was also an active member of the Ceylon Association of Shipping Agents (CASA).
It was Rohan who made road safety a personal passion for me with his insistence that professionals were not doing enough. He dragged me to meetings with every Minister and Secretary of Transport and with insurance and media houses, challenging them, about their indifference to the rampant increase in road accidents. In 2001/2, we served in the advisory committee that proposed setting up of the National Road Safety Secretariat.
In 2004, it was my turn to get him involved in the Ministry of Transport when professionals were invited to help reform the land transport sector. From day one, we faced opposition from within the government itself. He sat with me on the boards of the National Transport Commission and the Sri Lanka Transport Board during those difficult times. In 2019 we were invited back to serve on the Advisory Council of the Ministry of Transport, but it was too deep in multiple political strangleholds for us to salvage. He worked for the ADB in the Maldives. He served on scores of boards, expert panels, task forces, committees.
In 2002, the Chartered Institute of Shipbrokers honoured him with a lifetime award for his services to the sector. Rohan’s interest in land transport had not distracted him from his commitment to the shipping sector. He was a director of the Ceylon Freight Bureau. He championed getting cruise ships to Sri Lanka.
He was firm in his values and expressed his concerns publicly. His criticism of the decision to construct the Hambantota Port, political meddling with the terminals in the Colombo South Port, and the handling of the Xpress Pearl disaster last year, did not go well with those in power or even other professionals who did not want to displease those in power. He was one who took risks to fight for what was true and what was good for Sri Lanka and the shipping sector – often a lone voice. Sri Lanka is in trouble today, just for the want of a handful of people like Rohan Abeywickrema.
With Anoma being in air travel, he had keen insight into aviation matters as well. He was truly a multimodal transport professional. He even contributed to academia, by actively supporting the formation of the Department of Transport & Logistics Management at the University of Moratuwa and was instrumental in getting the Sri Lanka Society of Logistics and Transport (SLSTL) started in 2014. I was awed to realise that he had presented over 50 technical papers and presentations at conferences and seminars in Sri Lanka and overseas.
He was genuinely concerned about people. He invested in creating good values and professional ethics. He was pained to see the dismantling of institutional norms and attraction to the superficial and glamorous. Rohan would challenge people at meetings, he would challenge them at elections. He was always a servant of whatever he chose to be passionate about. A slight stutter did not stop him from appearing on radio and TV interviews.
Some saw him as a perfectionist, others as a strict disciplinarian. Yet to many, he was a mentor, a ready source of help and counsel. To many he was tough and stubborn, but those who took the trouble to understand him, saw his kind heart and the concerns for which he stood his grounds. I have heard stories of how he went out of the way to help others in their time of need, including during the 1983 riots. He profited by giving. He cared little about what he got.
Rohan was proud of Seneka, his elder daughter doing a MBA in Supply Chain, and thrilled that younger daughter Aneka was proceeding to higher studies in Corporate Finance in Cardiff, where he completed his studies.
Goodbye, my friend, it has been more than a privilege, but a blessing to have known you. Thank you for leading by example. As Matshona Dhilwayo, the African-born philosopher noted “To help people takes strength; to inspire people takes wisdom; to rule over them takes virtue, but to elevate them takes love.”Rest assured that those that have valued and profited from your work, will continue to build on them, with love for Lanka and for all humankind.
Amal S. Kumarage
Steadfast in faith and living with charity
BRIAN FORBES
‘Here was a man with no guile in him.’
The demise of my first cousin Brian Forbes on October 17, removes the eldest of our family in Sri Lanka, from our midst.
Brian’s father Clifford and my father, Victor were step-brothers. Brian with Lorraine and Hamish were the children of Clifford and Muriel Milhuisen, a widower when she married Clifford. I was the youngest in a family of six, and Brian was an elder brother to me in reality.
Always accessible, I used to visit him in Dehiwela also hometown to me, to borrow books from his personal library for tutorial writing in History at University Entrance level.
After graduation from the University of Ceylon, Brian joined the Bank of Ceylon, serving at its headquarters in Fort. He married Joan Pereira, who became a foremost florist, much sought after. The couple first resided at Bogala Flats, Colombo 5, and later moved to Kalyani Road, Colombo 6.
Many of Brian’s family had migrated to Australia since the ‘fifties. After the passing, away of Brian’s father in the early sixties, his mother and sister Lorraine too migrated to Australia. Brian and Joan became the representatives of the family in Sri Lanka. Nigel a son, and Karen a daughter completed their family.
Brian climbed to the top, at the Bank of Ceylon which had with the passing of time set up its Headquarters at the building of the Grand Oriental Hotel, Fort. As a banker, Brian specialised in the agricultural sector serving a couple of years in Chilaw. He also benefitted from overseas postings in Lesotho and Tanzania.
Later, because of his experience, he received overseas assignments from the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Rome. When he retired from the Bank of Ceylon it was at a Deputy General Manager level.
With the passing of the years, Brian had unfortunately developed an eye disease, which took him for treatment to Singapore, on at least seven occasions. During this period, he also used to visit Australia Unfortunately, the eye specialists were not successful in saving the sight in one of his eyes.
However, this did not deter him from his favourite pastime – reading. Brian, until almost recently, used to borrow books from the British Council and Public Libraries.
As one deep in his religious convictions, Brian would in retirement, combine his daily walk with offering daily Mass at St. Lawrence’s Church, Wellawatte usually. He was also on the Committee at St. Lawrence’s to determine the distribution of assistance to impoverished families in the parish.
For Brian, service to his Creator, through his neighbour, was a routine activity. I had, since retirement in December ‘97 moved to Anuradhapura from Colombo. Since then, Brian would be the first to visit me, whenever I was in Colombo for medical reasons usually.
Brian and Joan, along with Nigel were the first of my relations to visit me after I had made Anuradhapura my place of retirement. They arrived one morning bearing a bumper Christmas hamper in a large presentation box, which is still with me.
Steadfast in faith, living with charity, Brian is certainly already rewarded in eternity, with what he hoped for.
Well done, Brian! A race very well run.
Ray Forbes
He shared his excellent knowledge with many others
Srilal Rienzie Jayetileke
Srilal was born on October 5, 1944, the eldest son of Carl and Ivy Jayetileke of Ratnapura. He was educated at St.Anne’s College Kurunegala where he was a popular football player, and went on to the University of Ceylon Katubedda.
He had valuable knowledge on gemmology and geology and also about history, pre-history, architecture, native medicine, minerals and fossils.
He served in the Department of National Museums, Colombo, from 1971- 1990 as Curator Geology and in the Natural History Museum as well. He designed a stamp about Sri Lankan gems and on his recommendation, a first day cover was printed. Srilal’s knowledge about Sri Lankan minerals and gems was excellent, knowledge that he freely shared with so many others.
Srilal and I were married in January 1979 at St Theresa’s Church Thimbirigasyaya. He was a talented artist who used to paint and do wood carvings as a hobby. He was also a good pianist who played beautifully by ear. All our family members enjoyed the music. Our daughter Sonaly and granddaughter Nicolia have inherited his talent.
Srilal had a pleasing personality and helpful to everyone. A kind-hearted person, he had many friends.
He had to experience an unexpected situation in life when he suffered a stroke which caused temporary paralysis due to the psychological impact of the tsunami. After treatment for some time he was discharged from hospital and it was thanks to our late Uncle Rangith that we were able to get native treatment at that crucial time that helped him recover to a great extent, at a famous ancient hospital known for treating paralysis called “Keraminiya” located at Mawanella. Srilal was back to normal after the treatment and lived with the family for another 18 and a half years and we were able to celebrate our Ruby wedding anniversary.
Despite of all the situations he had to face in life, his memory was unaffected. He was very much attached to the family, safeguarding our children Sonaly and Jehan all the time.
God called Srilal to rest on August 13, 2022. His demise is indeed a loss to all our family members.
May his soul rest in peace.
Loving wife Melony
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