{"id":156687,"date":"2026-06-08T15:48:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T22:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=156687"},"modified":"2026-06-08T15:48:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T22:48:34","slug":"handpicked-by-the-president-my-journey-in-transforming-a-state-corporation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/06\/08\/handpicked-by-the-president-my-journey-in-transforming-a-state-corporation\/","title":{"rendered":"Handpicked by the President: My Journey in Transforming a State Corporation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

In 1989, five years after returning to Sri Lanka from the United Kingdom and Norway, where I had worked on offshore oil and gas projects in the North Sea, an unexpected opportunity changed the course of my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One afternoon, a friend visited my home and asked whether I would be interested in heading a government institution known as the Road Development Authority. At the age of 39, with a background in mechanical engineering rather than civil engineering, I was surprised by the suggestion. Nevertheless, I believed that management, discipline, and integrity were more important than professional labels, and I agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My name was forwarded to the President. However, I later learned that the Secretary to the Ministry of Highways was not enthusiastic about the appointment and was reluctant to accept me as chairman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weeks passed. Then I received a message from the Secretary to the Treasury asking me to come to the President\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that time, I had never been involved in politics. I had never met the President, nor had I met the Secretary to the Treasury. Wearing my best suit, I arrived at the President\u2019s Office and waited nervously in the reception area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon, the Secretary opened the door and called my name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I walked into the President\u2019s office. The President was seated with his senior secretary. He looked up and asked a simple question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How old are you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirty-nine, Sir,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He paused for a moment and then asked, Can you run the Colombo Land Development Board, which was later renamed the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout my professional career, I had never been in the habit of saying, I will try.\u201d Instead, I answered confidently:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, Sir.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The President then instructed me to read the Act governing the institution and prepare to take over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within a week, my appointment letter arrived. A driver was sent to my house to take me to the Corporation\u2019s office at Almanat Building, where I officially assumed duties as Chairman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The very next morning, while being driven to the office, I noticed one of the Corporation\u2019s tractors hauling a trailer full of earth at around seven o\u2019clock in the morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked my driver to stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opening the car window, I called the tractor operator and asked where he was taking the soil so early in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unaware that I was the newly appointed Chairman, he casually asked me whether I wanted some soil delivered privately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I smiled and replied, I\u2019ll let you know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later that morning, I instructed security personnel to bring him to my office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poor fellow arrived visibly shaken when he discovered who I was. Rather than punish him immediately, I decided to let him go with a stern warning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By then, word had already begun to spread throughout the organization that a new chairman had arrived with a determination to run a clean and disciplined institution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That incident taught me my first lesson in leadership: people must know that integrity begins at the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second lesson came only a few days later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commissioner of Bribery contacted me personally to congratulate me on my appointment. During the conversation, she informed me that the Corporation\u2019s Land Manager had allegedly solicited a bribe from her husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I immediately called the manager to my office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prepared in advance was a letter of resignation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I confronted him directly and informed him that he had two choices: sign the resignation letter or face formal investigation by the Bribery Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a tense silence, he signed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He then requested permission to return to his office to collect his personal belongings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, I instructed security officers to escort him directly out of the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The message was unmistakable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corruption would not be tolerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These early incidents marked the beginning of an extraordinary journey in public administration. Although I came from an engineering background, I quickly discovered that managing people was far more challenging than managing machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technical knowledge can build roads, reclaim land, and construct infrastructure. But leadership requires courage, fairness, decisiveness, and the willingness to make difficult decisions when necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My appointment by the President was not merely a career opportunity. It was a test of character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back today, I consider those experiences among the most valuable lessons of my professional life. They taught me that institutions can only be transformed when leaders are prepared to lead by example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s public sector possesses immense talent and potential. What it requires is honest leadership, accountability, and the determination to place national interest above personal gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was the principle I tried to uphold throughout my years of service to this country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regards

Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Sarath Obeysekera In 1989, five years after returning to Sri Lanka from the United Kingdom and Norway, where I had worked on offshore oil and gas projects in the North Sea, an unexpected opportunity changed the course of my life. One afternoon, a friend visited my home and asked whether I would be interested […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-sarath-obeysekera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156687"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156688,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156687\/revisions\/156688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}