Rohan Abeygunawardena

The other day, while we were chatting after dinner, my friend Fasal Izzadeen asked me, Rohan, who was the best prime minister Sri Lanka ever had?” I told him I couldn’t name the best prime minister, but I could name the best prime minister Sri Lanka never had.” A bit surprised, he asked, Who is he?” Lakshman Kadirgamar (LK), The Cake That Was Baked At Home,” I said without batting an eyelid.

This remarkable patriot and intellectual of our country completed his secondary education at Trinity College, Kandy, where he excelled in academics and a variety of sports, including cricket, rugby, and athletics, earning the most prestigious award a sportsman can achieve at his alma mater, the Trinity Lion.” He then entered the University of Ceylon in 1950 and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree in 1953. Afterward, he joined Ceylon Law College and passed all his examinations with flying colours. He was admitted to the Ceylon Bar in 1955. Later, he attended Balliol College at the University of Oxford for postgraduate studies, where he became president of the Oxford Union in 1959. LK obtained a Bachelor of Letters (B.Litt.) in 1960.

He was an expert in commercial, industrial, labour, property, and international law, practicing in Sri Lanka and the UK. In 1991, he was appointed as a President’s Counsel.

• Achievements in the International Spear

There were two notable career achievements in the international sphere. First, he became the first-ever person to conduct a formal investigation of a country on behalf of Amnesty International when he investigated the insurgence of Buddhist-Catholic violence in Vietnam in 1973. The other is that he served as a consultant at the International Labour Organisation in Geneva and as director of the Asia-Pacific region at the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

His findings in the Vietnam affair were very interesting. He interviewed a vast cross-section of people that included Buddhist monks, Catholic priests, professors, teachers, professionals, and ordinary people both young and old. Although political and religious extremists in Ceylon sought to create the impression that a religious war between Buddhists and Catholics was fought in that country, he realised that it was not so.

The struggle was against the autocracy of a powerful family created by Ngo Dinh Diem. Diem, who was in exile, returned to the country to become the prime minister at the request of the last emperor of Vietnam, Bao Dai (Keeper of Greatness”). Dai’s government was backed by the US. Diem then ousted the emperor at a referendum and made himself president of South Vietnam in October 1955. Diem established an autocratic regime that was staffed at the highest levels by members of his own family who were Roman Catholics. His preference for fellow Roman Catholics made him unacceptable to Buddhists, who were an overwhelming majority in South Vietnam. When the National Liberation Front, or Viet Cong, from North Vietnam launched an increasingly intense guerrilla war against his government, he used heavy-handed and ineffective tactics to suppress them, which deepened the government’s unpopularity and isolation.

When forces killed several people at a rally celebrating the Buddha’s birthday, Buddhists began staging large protest rallies, and three monks and a nun immolated themselves. Those actions finally persuaded the USA to withdraw its support from Diem, and his generals assassinated him during a coup d’état. Thereafter the struggle was for unification of the country and rid of USA forces, which Vietnamese achieved in April 1975.

• Leaving Ceylon

LK left Ceylon in 1971 following the JVP insurrection that year, moving to England and practising in London for three years.

LK served in 1974–6 as a consultant for the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Then in 1976, he took up an appointment with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), in which he was appointed in 1983 to the newly created post of Director for Asia and the Pacific.

LK was the author of several scholarly articles published in international legal journals such as the Modern Law Review, South African Law Journal and Conveyancer and Property Lawyer. He served as Director, Industrial Property Division, and Director, Development Cooperation and External Relations Bureau for Asia and the Pacific at WIPO until he was overlooked for the post of Deputy Director General.

He resigned in May 1988 and moved back to Sri Lanka in the following year.

• Going into Politics and becoming Minister of Foreign Affairs

In the general elections held on August 16, 1994, the People’s Alliance secured the largest number of seats in parliament, and on August 19, its leader, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (CBK), became prime minister.

Soon after this victory, she attempted to persuade LK to enter politics. Although LK was initially hesitant, he decided to join CBK when her mother, Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, phoned him and convinced him to join her daughter’s cabinet. LK would have realised that his knowledge and experience were crucial for navigating the country he loved through this tumultuous period.

He was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs on August 19, 1994, the same day CBK assumed the role of Prime Minister.

CBK then achieved a landslide victory in the presidential election held on November 9, 1994, and took the oath as the fourth executive president of Sri Lanka.

LK was reappointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs on November 12, 1994. He took over the ministry during the peak of the country’s civil war between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Moreover, the country’s image had been significantly impacted by the riots and suppression of the JVP insurgency in the 1980s. The European Parliament alone passed 18 resolutions, along with several in the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, against Sri Lanka, influenced by LTTE lobbyists concerning her human rights record.

Assessing the situation, LK, being a professional himself, aimed to transform the Sri Lankan Foreign Service into a genuinely professional entity, similar to those in developed countries. He accomplished this to a certain extent, as noted by senior career diplomat Kalyananda Godage in his article for the Daily Mirror titled “Lakshman Kadirgamar: A brilliant lawyer, an intellectual, and above all, a principled humanist.”

LK played a key role in enhancing Sri Lanka’s relations with numerous countries and sought to establish the nation as a responsible member of the international community.

He then worked tirelessly to isolate the LTTE internationally, advocating for the group to be recognised as a terrorist organisation. His diplomatic efforts led several countries, including the United States and the European Union, to ban the LTTE, which deprived the organisation of a primary source of funding.

LK became the number one enemy of the LTTE.

When Shane Warne justified Australia’s decision not to play in Colombo during the 1996 Cricket World Cup by claiming he would be killed by a bomb while shopping, the quick-witted LK reportedly responded, “Shopping is for sissies.”

• CBK’s Second Term as President

CBK won the 1999 presidential election despite being nearly killed in an LTTE assassination attempt at her final rally three days before Election Day.

She appointed her mother, Sirimavo Bandaranaike (Mrs.B), as prime minister, and LK was reappointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Due to her declining health, Mrs.B stepped down in August 2000 and passed away after a brief illness on October 10, 2000, at the age of 84. CBK appointed Ratnasiri Wickremanayake as the prime minister to succeed her mother.

LK’s address at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, held on 23rd September 1999, was significant for Buddhists worldwide and especially for Sri Lankans.

LK at UN General Assembly

He stated: Allow me, therefore, to suggest to this august Assembly that as third millennium of human history opens it would be fitting to recall the immense contribution to the understanding of the human condition that the teachings of Buddha made two thousand five hundred years ago. I suggest further, Mr. President, that it would be appropriate to honour the Buddha by declaring that Vesak, the sacred day for the Buddhists the world over, be observed as a special day by the United Nations. Mr. President, a Resolution to this effect sponsored by a number of countries will be introduced in the General Assembly, at the current sessions of the assembly. The Government of Sri Lanka would commend this resolution to the attention of the General Assembly.”

UN then adopted its resolution A/RES/54/115 summarised as: Resolves that without cost to the UN, appropriate arrangements shall be made for international observances of the Day of Vesak at UN Headquarters and other UN offices, in consultation with the relevant UN offices and with permanent missions that also wish to be consulted.”

LK, a Tamil Christian, successfully presented the case for implementing the recommendations made at the World Buddhist Conference held in Colombo in 1998, which urged that Vesak Day be declared an International Holiday.

• Recession in 2000

Many economic projects initiated by the CBK government failed, and the country was in recession by 2001.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in real terms contracted by 1.4 percent. This marked the first negative growth reported since independence in 1948.  The lowest growth recorded previously was 0.2 percent in 1971, a year when economic activities were crippled as a result of a youth insurrection led by the JVP.

The temporary deviation of the economy in 2001 from its long-term growth trend of approximately 5 percent per annum reflected a negative outcome from several factors that impacted both the aggregate supply and aggregate demand sides of the overall economy (Central Bank of Sri Lanka Annual Report – 2001).

At this stage, a few ministers betrayed the PA government and joined the UNP. Chandrika dissolved the government, and the general election was held on 5th December 2001. The PA lost the election. Ranil Wickramasinghe formed a government with UNP and those dissident MPs of PA, which was called UNF or United National Front.

Ranil signed a ceasefire agreement with Prabakaran, the LTTE leader, initiated by the Norwegian government in February 2002. However, Ranil made several politically unpopular strategies to resurrect the economy and put it back on track.

Ranil managed to get the help of the international community to organise a conference on the reconstruction and development of Sri Lanka in Tokyo on the 10th of June 2003. The participating donor countries and international organisations have demonstrated their willingness to extend assistance to the entire country, to a cumulative estimated amount, above US $4.5 billion over the four years, 2003-2006. However, there were conditions attached based on peace negotiations between the government and LTTE.

The JVP considered the actions of UNF as an anti-people, pro-imperialist, pro-separatist programme and had discussions with Chandrika’s SLFP to ally with a programmme based on people-friendly policies to stop the re-colonisation and division of Sri Lanka.

The former Foreign Minister Kadiragama too was very critical of the ceasefire agreement.

The SLFP and the JVP formed the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in January 2004.

• Request by JVP to Appoint LK as Prime Minister

According to then JVP leader Somawansa Amerasinghe they requested the President Chandrika Kumaratunga to appoint Kadiragama as the Prime Minister because they considered he was a true Sri Lankan in every sense of the word.

Somawansa later wrote in an article published by Sunday Times, He was an example to those of us within our country of the model Sri Lankan embodied within himself, the characteristics of what being a Sri Lankan was all about – rising above narrow racial, religious and other divisions, but at the same time being a personification of all that is Sri Lankan – tradition and culture, tolerance, patience, and equanimity. Although he was, as most would acknowledge, the best Foreign Minister of independent Sri Lanka, we felt that the Foreign Minister’s portfolio was too small a place for a man of his stature.”

Somawansa further said, We saw in Mr. Kadirgamar a person who was proud of his origins. He was proud to be a Sri Lankan. He stood up to the international community and spoke to them as their equal.”

When an interviewer from BBC asked LK whether he was a traitor to the Tamil people he said “People who live in Sri Lanka are first and foremost Sri Lankans, then we have our race and religion, which is something given to us at birth”. “We have to live in Sri Lanka as Sri Lankans tolerating all races and religions.”

To prevent the deterioration of the country’s security, as pointed out by the JVP, President CBK dissolved parliament.

The general election was held on April 2, 2004, which was won by the UPFA. The cabinet of the new Alliance government included four members from the political bureau of the JVP.

However, Chandrika never appointed LK as Prime Minister.

• The Cake Was Baked At Home

The Oxford Union unveiled a portrait of their 1958-59 president LK, on the 18th of March 2005. This was a great honour bestowed by the Oxford Union on only 15 others in its 183-year history.

He made a short speech at the ceremony where he said, “I would like to, if I may, assume that I could share the honour with the people of my country, SRI LANKA. I had my schooling there, my first university was there, I went to Law College there and by the time I came to Oxford as a postgraduate student, well, I was relatively a mature person. Oxford was the icing on the cake but the cake was baked at home.”

Then on the 18th of February 2015, LK’s portrait was unveiled at his first University, the University of Peradeniya senate room by the then Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Athula Senaratne.

Thus two universities in the world honoured him by unveiling his portraits.

LK was assassinated by the LTTE on August 12, 2005. An LTTE sniper shot him as he was exiting the swimming pool at his private residence in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo 7. However, the LTTE denied responsibility for LK’s assassination.

Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Executive Director, Centre for Policy Alternatives wrote: LTTE denials notwithstanding, the government and the police investigators have come to the clear conclusion that the LTTE is responsible for the killing. And from this stem the consequences for the peace process and ceasefire. (Refer his article published in The Morning Leader of 17 August 2005 under the title “Kadirgamar killing: Blow to Peace”)

This great patriot’s 93rd birthday falls on April 12, and this article serves as a tribute to the best Foreign Minister Sri Lanka ever had and the Best Prime Minister Sri Lanka Never Had.”

If LK had not assassinated and succeeded in bringing peace (which he probably would have achieved), the grateful Sri Lankans of all races would have elected him as their President. If that had happened, Sri Lanka wouldn’t have faced the political and economic problems she experienced in the last two decades.

Rohan Abeygunawardena

You may contact the writer on abeyrohan@gmail.com