VICTOR LLOYD WIRASINHA

Nineteen years ago, on February 9, 2004, this country lost a great public servant and a fine human being who was blessed with a full life and good health for 91 years which he enjoyed right to the end.

Those who knew, or knew of V L Wirasinha – (Uncle Victor to us, the close friends of his four children – late Vyette Goonetilleke, Nimal Seneviratne, Shiranee Urala-Dissanayake and Rohini Jayamanne ) – will ever remember him as a wonderful man with a razor sharp mind , a classicist par excellence, an upright, efficient and an outspoken civil servant, a concerned and law abiding citizen, a good Christian, and most of all, as possessing four qualities that radiates greatness in any human being: integrity, simplicity , an adoring love for family and abiding concern for colleagues and friends .

Studying at Richmond College Galle , he carried away the Darrel Medal, the highest honour a student at Richmond could earn. At the age of 17, he completed his Cambridge Senior, read Western Classics at the University College of Ceylon in Colombo and entered the prestigious Ceylon Civil Service as a cadet at the age of 22.

He served in Ratnapura, Badulla, Jaffna, Hambantota, Nuwara Eliya, Mannar, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Batticoloa, Pelmadulla, Matale Kegalle, New Delhi and of course, Colombo, and functioned in various capacities as required of the Ceylon Civil Service. This included Office Assistant to GAs, Additional Superintendent of Prisons, Additional Police Magistrate, Additional Commissioner of Requests, Additional District Judge, Assistant Government Agent, Government Agent, Commissioner for the Registration of Indian and Pakistani Persons , Commissioner of Parliamentary Elections, Commissioner of National Housing, Director of Commerce and Controller of Imports and Exports and Permanent Secretary to a number of Ministries, the last being the Ministry of Health from whence he retired to join Messrs Lewis Brown & Co Ltd where he served for almost 13 years as its Managing Director.

Thereafter he was appointed the Chairman of the National Institute of Business Management, and was ‘recalled’ into service, to the Ministry of Industries and Scientific Affairs on the demise of its incumbent Secretary – a decision which he, in hindsight, deeply regretted.

His unyielding stand on the infamous “Hydrocracker Project” earned for him the wrath of the Minister, and he was removed as Ministry Secretary. He was then offered the position of Chairman of the Public Services Commission’s Committee on Education Services, which he agreed to accept after much deliberation. A lot of pressure was brought to bear on him and his Committee, by politicians seeking transfers of teachers outside laid down procedure. But his committee proceeded with impartially and transparency , inspite of “representations of MPs becoming intolerable” at times.”

The last straw was when the highest in the land intervened to have an art teacher’s routine transfer out of a Colombo school cancelled . VL could not comply as it was not in accordance with the transfer scheme and there were no compelling compassionate grounds either.

The next day, when he went home for lunch, he found a letter awaiting him, informing him that he had been removed from office with immediate effect. Thus , was his unsung exit from Government Service. Puckishly, in his Memoirs, ‘No Cousin, I’ll to Fife’ he writes , ” ‘So to fresh woods and pastures new,’ with salaams to Cyril and Junius Richard.”

VL always stood for the truth . One of his famous phrases was “the truth is a glorious but hard mistress that never consults, bargains or compromises.” An anecdote will not be out of place here. An Englishman, W H Moore was the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Housing , when VL was the Commissioner of National Housing in 1954. One morning VL had to meet Moore in his office, for consultations, when he found the latter gazing intently at a letter. Moore looked up and asked:

“Wirasinha,you wish to know what this Member of Parliament tells me?” “I’d like that” replied VL. Moore continued:”He says that ‘honesty is the best policy’.VL responded, “Well, I had to write an essay in school on this topic, and my essay consisted of only six words: Honesty is the ONLY policy. I was awarded maximum marks.”

This incident obviously had a lasting impact on both VL’s public and private life . His honourable exit from public service, over the art teacher transfer , will always serve as a reminder ‘that the best thing is the correct thing.

To further illustrate his courage in the discharge of his public office, another anecdote says it all. When he was the Commissioner of Parliamentary Elections, Mr JR Jayewardene , then Minister of Home Affairs called him “My dear man.”. His retort was only to be expected and is crisply recounted in his memoirs.

It was a question relating to just one blank missing ballot paper in the Buttala poll.. The Minister phoned VL about this, who said that he had nothing to say until he received a report, which he had already called for from the GA Badulla, the Returning Officer. “My dear man, you must say something now, or we may lose the election,” said Mr Jayawardene . VL retorted, ” I am not your dear man, I am the Commissioner of Elections!”

He was awarded the OBE in 1952. He was an active member of the YMCA and spent much of his leisure hours playing the violin and viola or listening to his fine collection of classical music with his family. He was also the President of the Classical Association of Ceylon ,and traveled widely in Europe, America, Australia and many African and Asian countries.

After his retirement and until his demise, he lived with his youngest daughter and son-in-law, Rohini and Nihal Jayamanne, when he found time to write his memoirs and to the newspapers on national and international issues.

Many of us enjoyed the hospitality, love and warmth of the Wirasinha home which dear Aunty Lillian ( who predeceased him in 1987) ensured was extended in no small measure. We will always remember this gracious and lovable couple. Their sons-in-law, Air Cdre Ranjit Goonetilleke, Hilton Seneviratne, Lakshman Urala-Dissanayake and Nihal Jayamanne were blessed with four wonderful and talented ladies ,who did their parents proud as dutiful wives , loving mothers and fine friends.

An admirer

Victor Wirasinha held the belief that all it took for evil to flourish was the silence of good men…… Indeed, this was a man for all seasons.!

By a Friend of the family