Striking out abroad to educate my children

Excerpted from volume ii of the Sarath Amunugama autobiography

By 1982 I had completed five years as a Secretary. During this period our Ministry had undertaken many new projects including the successful introduction of television to the country. During this busy time I could not give my family the attention they deserved. My elder daughter, Ramanika, was 17-years old and was a good student in the science stream of Bishop’s College. I remember one prize giving at Bishop’s where she received her prize from Mrs. Elina Jayewardene. The chief guest was JRJ who had started his schooling at Bishop’s. He introduced himself as the oldest old boy of Bishop’s.

My younger daughter Varuni was 15-years of age and the winner of the all island oratorical contest organized by the British College of Speech. They were both at an age when they could benefit from foreign schooling which was very much in vogue then as there were no International schools. Their richer classmates had been sent abroad by their parents who could spend lavishly on their progeny. That option was not open to us public servants in those days.

Today corruption is so rampant that politicians and public servants use their ill gotten gains to finance their children’s education abroad. In our time the only possibility was for us to find employment abroad, particularly in an International Agency which paid handsomely, for the education of children. I therefore thought it prudent to think of a spell abroad though I never contemplated the possibility of settling down in another country, as some of my colleagues had done.

Fortunately my parents were fit and healthy and well looked after in our ‘Mul Gedera’ in Nugawela by my sister and younger brother and their spouses. So the chances of a ‘soft landing’ abroad were good in my case. Fortunately two job offers were clearly in my horizon. One was the Secretary-Generalship of the Asian Media Information and Communication Center (AMIC). The other was the post of Director of the newly created International Programme for the Development of Communication [IPDC] in UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

My friend Reinhard Keune with whom I worked out the establishment of our TV Training Centre in Colombo with Friedrich Ebert Stifftung (FES) funding had asked me whether I would be interested in accepting the post of Secretary General of AMIC. My name had been proposed by Fontgalland and Sinha who realized that after Lakshmana Rao’s departure AMIC had lost its credibility and were faced with a withdrawal of FES funding.

Without FES support which had initially enticed Lee Kwan Yew to sponsor AMIC, Singapore too would have pulled out of the agreement. I had heard the FES chief addressing the Singapore PM as ‘Harry’- so strong were their links. As an AMIC member and Committee member I knew the organization inside out. I told Reinhard that I will have to discuss his offer with my Minister as well as his FES bosses in Bad Godesberg.

I had received an invitation to a conference of Media scholars organized by UNESCO and held in Munich. I could fly from Munich to Cologne for a meeting with Grunwald, the Chairman of FES. This was agreed to and we met in a well-appointed FES guest house in Bad Godesberg. At lunch there Grunwald assured me of continued support for AMIC and I agreed to make the necessary arrangements for my appointment With the Sri Lankan Government.

When I broached the subject with Anandatissa he gave me his blessings, adding mischievously that he knew that it was only a matter of time before I left for greener pastures. I then wrote direct to the President detailing my services and informing him that I was leaving primarily for the sake of my children’s education. I heard later that DBIPS Siriwardhana had been unhappy that I had written direct to the President. But since I was appointed Secretary by the President I did not see anything remiss in my sending my resignation letter direct to him. The President agreed and only requested me to see him at home before I left for Singapore.

Once my appointment as Secretary General of AMIC was announced many of my friends wrote to congratulate me. I was especially touched to receive a letter from Sarachchandra referring to our longstanding friendship. He wrote, “I am sorry we are going to lose you soon. Your presence will be much missed in cultural circles-particularly your incisive comments and your forthright opinions. You happened to remind me once on a visit that I had advised you to remain in academic life and not to go into administration.

“Now I feel that my advice has been wrong. You would have been as poor as I am if you had taken my advice. Wish you all the best in your future career and I hope we will get a chance to meet off and on as you fly between Colombo and Singapore” [Feb. 16, 1982]. I also had a letter of congratulation from Amaradeva who referred to our long association from my Peradeniya University days [Feb. 19. 1982]. Father Ernest Poruthota wrote a characteristically generous letter.

“This is a very personal letter full of a million thanks for the great respect and collaboration you have always shown to me all throughout the days we have known each other. This great collaboration was both on a personal capacity and in my capacity as the National Director of the OCIC (International Catholic Film Organiztion). From the SLFP days to the UNP era of TV you have been a friend, guide and a ‘Godfather’ to the OCIC. Without you many tasks we have done for the past 10 years of OCIC activities in Sri Lanka would never have been possible. I must thank you over and over again for this” [Feb, 20, 1982]. I have retained these letters among my memorabilia.

The most heartfelt farewell came from the tough and militant print workers. As I had mentioned earlier in this book, several pressing problems of the working men were solved by me with my Minister’s blessings. They had responded magnificently to the President’s call to print school text books which were issued free to all the school children in the country. The workers had gone all out to print these books on schedule even foregoing their overtime payments.

When following the general strike a large number of printing workers were dismissed I persuaded my Minister to take them back on the argument that we could not get trained workers to replace them. Their leader Wimalasena of the LSSP was very grateful as many other Unionists not only lost their jobs but also could not face their members who were left with no income. Many such poor strikers committed suicide. Others lived for the rest of their lives in utter poverty.

When I became Finance Minister many years later I gave them compensatory payment. But by that time many of them were dead. Colvin and Bernard Soysa visited me and Anandatissa in our

homes to thank us personally for our humanitarian gesture. The newspapers of the time reported the extraordinary gesture of the workers.

“Minister Anandatissa de Alwis on Saturday described his Ministry Secretary Sarath Amunugama as an efficient and able administrator who had brought honour and prestige to his country. De Alwis was speaking at a farewell ceremony held in honour of Amunugama by the employees at the Government

Press on the eve of Amunugama’s retirement from Government service. De Alwis said there are two types of administrators in the country. One category restricted their knowledge and experience

to themselves while the other shared their knowledge, experience and views with others for the common good of the people. Amunugama belonged to the latter category.” De Alwis who admitted that there had been disagreement between him and Amunugama over certain issues, said on most

of those occasions Amunugama’s advice was both timely and prevailed because they were far sighted. Amunugama he said was an adept in taking correct decisions in a split second.

Government Printer Neville Nanayakkara said Amungama had endeared himself to both officials and employees of the Government Press. Vice President of the workers’ Trade Union, Mr. Cyril, said Amunugama was the first administrator to be honoured by all the employees of the Government Press. Amunugama had not only provided many services and amenities to employees at the Government Press but had also helped to erase the stigma attached to them.

Mr. Amunugama said that he had always given due credit to the workers at the Government Press and tried to understand their problems and grievances in the proper light. This had helped them to set up an efficient administration at the Press. Amunugama turned down a gold ring gifted to him by Press employees as a memento and requested them to sell it and utilize the proceeds to improve their canteen.”

When Lalith Athulathmudali heard of my new assignment he very kindly undertook to write to some Singaporean Ministers who were his students in the Law faculty of Singapore University when he taught there. At this time I had many friends near Flower Road who were neighbours of Lalith. The Abeywardenes, Lakshman Jayakody and ‘Bull’ Weeratunga’s family lived close to each other. Lalith was a frequent visitor and we got to know each other well.

He had respect for CCS officers of my vintage and brought many of them, particularly old Royalists, into his Ministry. Dharmasiri Pieris, an old Thurstanite and my contemporary at Peradeniya, was his efficient Permanent Secretary. As Secretary of Tourism I was an ex-officio board member of the Lanka Oberoi Hotel which had been built by the State Trading Corporation which came under the purview of Lalith who was the Trade Minister.

The Chairman of the Hotel Company – Asian Hotels Corporation Ltd – Ranjan Wijemanna and Deputy Chairman Razik Zarook were his close confidants. So I had good relations with Lalith who was considered a stickler for protocol, but was good enough to write on my behalf to his student, Professor Jayakumar – a powerful Singaporean Minister. Lalith’s name opened many doors for me in Singapore.

Jayakumar was very helpful and reminded me that we had met earlier in Lalith’s house in Flower Road when he had called on his former teacher. Lalith had impeccable academic qualifications having won degrees in law from Oxford and Harvard. He taught law in Israel and Singapore.