Sunday Times 2
Hameed’s legacy lives on, Harispattuwa bears witness to it – Appreciation
View(s):- 96th Birth Anniversary of late Dr A.C.S. Hameed
My late brother, Dr. A.C.S. Hameed, was born on April 10, 1929. He entered parliamentary politics in March 1960, representing Akurana, which later became part of the Harispattuwa electorate.
He continued to represent and serve Harispattuwa for 39 years without a break until his death on September 3, 1999, after a short illness.
In 1977, when the United National Party under President J.R. Jayewardene returned to power, A.C.S. Hameed became the first Sri Lankan to hold the foreign affairs portfolio, which was held previously by the head of government.
It was noted that President Jayewardene rarely intervened on foreign policy matters, seeking to act through Foreign Minister Hameed.
President Jayewardene had implicit faith in Foreign Minister Hameed that he would do what was right in furthering the interests of the country.
Along with the Foreign Ministry, Dr. Hameed was also made responsible for the Immigration Department for a short period. He made it possible for people to get their passports without a guarantor, which made it a great convenience for the people. Even today, this is practised.
The Middle East employment boom was from 1973, and according to the Central Bank report in 1977, only 10,000 Sri Lankan workers had gone for employment to the Middle East by then.
The only embassy we had in the Middle East was in Egypt, and Dr. Hameed opened embassies in Kuwait, Doha, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the U.A.E., and today thousands of Sri Lankan women and men are working in these countries, and millions of dollars are being sent to Sri Lanka by these workers.
Sri Lanka held the chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1976 to 1979 and was called upon constantly to deal with some of the thorniest international issues of non-alignment. In many ways Sri Lanka was able to make a viable contribution to foreign affairs, and this brought in many economic benefits to the country. This dovetailed neatly with Jayewardene’s policy of the open economy in that many countries to which Sri Lanka had lent its diplomatic assistance were happy to help in the form of economic aid to Sri Lanka.
Dr. Hameed helped the Buddhist community in many ways. He built the Seemamalakaya Warathenna at Harispattuwa at his cost and helped most of the Buddhist temples in his electorate.
He also helped the Muslim country by appealing to President Jayewardene to amend the Finance Act No. 11 of 1963. The act had deprived the Muslims of the rights to buy and sell lands without proving their citizenship, and as a consequence, thousands of deeds were stagnating in the land registries without being registered.
It was a problem actually faced by the Muslims of other parts of the country than the central province, as people had ‘Ge’ names on their birth certificates.
President Jayewardene and the cabinet later amended this act, thereby enabling Sri Lankan Muslims to buy and sell lands without proof of their citizenship, like any other citizen of Sri Lanka.
Harispattuwa was the second largest electorate after Colombo Central. When Dr Hameed, in 1965, was elected as the MP for Akurana, Harispattuwa, though it was adjoining Kandy, was an undeveloped electorate with about 1230 villages without proper roads, electricity, water and school buildings.
By about 1985 he developed the electorate, building roads, providing electricity to all the villages, pipe-borne water and setting up tubewells.
He gifted percussion music band sets to all Maha Vidyalayas and ensured every Maha Vidyalaya got a new two-storey building.
He was accorded a doctorate in political science by the HANKUN University of the Republic of Korea in 1978 and an honourary doctorate of letters by the Sri Jayawardanapura University in 1990.
He authored and published some books, which include The Pursuit of Peace, Disarmament, Multilateral Approach, Foreign Policy Perspective of Sri Lanka, The Owl and the Lotus, and Spring of Love and Mercy.
Allahumma-ija’l qabrahu Rawdathan min Riyadul Jinan Wala Thaj-al Qabrahu Huffrathan min Hufrin Niran.
May Allah Almighty grant the highest felicity to this departed soul in Jennathul Firdous!—Aameen.
-Abdul Ghafoor
(Brother)