Appreciations

Gamani Jayasuriya

I would like to take this op portunity pay tribute to a very distinguished former member of this House who was also a close personal friend.

At the time Mr. Gamani Jayasuriya resigned from the post of Minister of Agriculture and Food of the J.R. Jayewardene cabinet, he was hailed as a courageous and honest politician. He was honest, firstly, in terms of his personal behaviour. I do not think that in his long career in politics there was a single instance when anybody could point a finger at his conduct and say that it was unbecoming of a public representative.

He was also honest in the sense that he was guided by very strong principles. He had very clear and fixed ideas about public morality, about responsibilities of people who had been endowed with certain privileges by the virtue of their birth. There is a Latin word called 'gravitas' which refers to the special responsibilities and obligations of people who have more than their share of the good things of life. There are many in this country who think that a privileged birth entitles them to run roughshod over the needs of their country and their people. But in the case of Mr. Gamani Jayasuriya we have a fine example of a person who felt that all those privileges brought with them extra responsibilities, and that what was given to him at birth, he had to repay to his society a thousand fold. Such people are rare in any country, but in our country especially they are extremely rare. Therefore it is all the more appropriate that we take this opportunity to remind ourselves of his greatness.

As several speakers said before me, this was largely a result of his upbringing in the shadow of Anagarika Dharmapala. I have had the opportunity of reading Anagarika's diaries. He was, I think, the only public figure in this country who made daily diary entries from an age of about eighteen or nineteen to almost his dying day. Therefore people interested in the Anagarika's career could follow his life day by day.

There are references to Gamani Nanda Jayasuriya in his diaries. He had come often to see the Anagarika Dharmapala at Maligakanda with his mother, Sumana Devi and you read of the delight with which the Anagarika writes about the visits of this little child.

Only recently, we had the occasion to refer to an article where they painted the Anagarika as very authoritarian and almost a character who renounced fun and joy. But if you read his diaries, what a lot of affection he had for his grand nephews and grand nieces. Gamani Jayasuriya shared this strong value based upbringing. It is very easy these days to laugh at religious upbringing. But I think in the case of the late Gamani Jayasuriya we find a very good example of how a religious upbringing helped to fashion him as a man who was dedicated to honesty and decency in public life in this country.

He had told me on several occasions how his life was changed by the Anagarika's influence. There were times when as a schoolboy from Royal College and as a young man who was an executive at Don Carolis Company when he could have easily been extravagant. But he told me that he was always influenced by his mother whose dying wish he obeyed.

At one time they thought that she was going to die and she called her little child and said "I am only asking one favour from you that you should dedicate your life for the good of the Buddha Sasana."

Gamani Jayasuriya did not forget, he told me, the pledge he made to his mother. So right through his life he had this sense of moral value. I am happy to say that the Hon. Gamani Jayasuriya has shown us that political office is a very ephemeral thing. For him, giving up office was not a major calamity. Right through his life he was very conscious of the interests of the Sinhala Buddhists of this country. He had a special concern for them.

I hope I am not disclosing a secret, when I say that it was late Mr. Dudley Senanayake's intention, which he shared with some of his colleagues, that one day, Mr. Gamani Jayasuriya should sit in the Prime Ministers chair. Mr. Rukman Senanayake will confirm that. It should be part of the historical record.

In England, when Mr. R.A. Butler died they said that he was the best Prime Minister that England never had. On this occasion we his associates could describe Gamani Jayasuriya as perhaps the best Prime Minister that Sri Lanka never had.

Be that as it may, he later became a very loyal member of the J.R. Jayewardene Cabinet. In the letter written by President J.R. Jayewardene accepting Gamani Jayasuriya's resignation showed that there was a great deal of affection between the two.

He was a multi-faceted person. He had so many interests in life. I think one of the problems in this country is that most of our politicians do not have a wide variety of interests. He was from Sirimedura, Meegoda. He enjoyed going there. But he was never seat-fixated. Therefore it was very easy for him to speak out on issues that he felt very strongly about.

So we are paying tribute to a man who played a major role in the history of modern Sri Lanka. He was a stalwart of the United National Party. He shared its victories and defeats. At the same time he was a perfect gentleman. He was a very genial person. He had a very infectious laugh, something he shared with Mr. Dudley Senanayake.

In every sense we have lost an exemplary politician and on our side we have lost a great colleague. We could go to him to discuss any matter- it could be political or religious or it could be personal.

All of us in this house, have in one way or the other been touched by his generosity. We have been touched by his commitment to moral values and we have been influenced by the fact that we must exert all our efforts to create communal amity and retain the character and integrity of our motherland.

Extracts from a speech made in Parliament by Dr. Sarath Amunugama

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