“When I was born we were in the Third Word and we’re still there as I’m ready to die”

Sunil Perera said it all in his song

Gamini Fonseka

(Continued from last week)

After my return from London, I continued my audit work during this time especially on the plantations side. I had the privilege of auditing John Keell Thompson White Limited and many other companies such as Julius and Creasy which was then headed by the legendary Mr. Naidoo, and Volanka Limited, a Swiss company headed by another great Swiss man called Mr. Chanson. I became a partner in my firm on October 1, 1972 succeeding my one-time hero BAR Weerasinghe of cricketing fame. I was then considered a very young man holding partnership of that great firm called Turquand Young. After marriage, we moved to my in-laws home at No. 8, De Fonseka Place, Colombo 5.

The great Dr. Colvin R de Silva who had Marxists ideas was a brilliant man in the cabinet of Mrs. B. He was then Minister of Constitutional Affairs and Plantation Industries. The entire Parliament was converted into a Constituent Assembly and he brought a new Constitution that changed the name of our Island to Sri Lanka. Perhaps this was a mistake as Ceylon tea was world famous and tea was the main foreign exchange earner of the Island. It however gave the Sri Lankans a national identity. The Governor General who represented the Queen of England was replaced by a home-grown President in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

In early 1973, a baby girl was born to us and we considered her a gem of an addition to our family. It was a very joyful event in my life and the parents from my side and my wife’s were overjoyed with the new arrival. How I got my land at De Fonseka Place, near my in-law’s home where we lived, was a remarkable coincidence. My wife did not like me building a house at Longdon Place as I planned, telling me that this was somewhat away from her parents’ home. Though she was most reluctant, I managed to persuade her and got an architect to design a house for us when a strange coincidence occurred.

The Colombo Brokers Association, runnig the share market then, met in our Board Room as we were their Secretaries. Mr. Errol de Fonseka, who lived in a mansion in De Fonseka Place, was a Share Director at Forbes and Walker Limited. He was mortally scared that his property in Colombo would be acquired by Mrs. B’s Government, he told me, “Gamini, I have blocked out the place I live in and if you know of any prospective buyer, please let me know.” I told Errol to hold on to the blocking plan and give me 24 hours to decide whether I wanted a block myself.

I came home and gave my wife the news. “Don’t hesitate. Grab the opportunity,” she said. I told Errol the next morning, when he as usual came for the Colombo Share Market meeting that I will take one plot for myself and another for my sister-in-law who was then in Zambia with her husband. He fixed a price of Rs. 60,000 for my block of 16 perches and reduced Rs. 2,000/- off the second block which was the same size but located in a corner of the property.

I funded the entire purchase of my block with my wife’s dowry and my father-in-law paid for the next block. It was a unique deed which the legendary Bertie Amarasekare of Julius and Creasy conveyanced for us. This was because a property at De Fonseka Place was purchased by a Fonseka and sold by a De Fonseka with the deed executed by another Fonseka, my father who became a lawyer on his retirement from Public Service.

In my many overseas travels I found this a great advantage as the immigration officers used to always wave me through noticing my name was the same as the street where I lived!

In late 1974 things became very difficult in Sri Lanka. My senior partner advised me to go to our London office once more, this time as a manager, as I was then a partner in my local firm. He arranged all the necessary formalities and told me to save foreign exchange to fund a course at Cranfield School of Business Studies while I was in the UK. Before my departure, I did my CIMA exams in Sri Lanka, parts one to four and to my surprise came first in the world in the part three Finance and Accounting paper. I was placed third in the world on the overall part three examination. This was a pleasant surprise as I took only a few days leave from work to study for my parts three and four.

I then sat for my final Examination of CIMA in November ’74 and proceeded to London with the objective of accumulating funds for Cranfield. On Christmas day 1964, I departed on Kuwait Airways to London while my wife and daughter left for Lusaka to join her sister whose husband was then working in Zambia. We were departing within about half an hour of each other to different parts of the globe.

I went to London and was greeted by my sister and brother-in-law who had gone earlier to Exeter to do his PhD. They greeted me with open arms and we drove back to Exeter via Bristol. On January 1, I was due to start work at my London office which was by then called Turquands Barton Mayhew(TBM) at Tavistock Square. My sister and brother-in-law dropped me at my office in London. By then I had arranged with a colleague from the days I served articles to stay in their home at South Wimbledon.

I learned from the Ceylon News to which my friend subscribed that there was an era of political uncertainty in Sri Lanka. While I was in London I learned that Mrs. B had introduced the infamous takeover of foreign-owned plantations in Sri Lanka, the top export earner for the country. Once again it killed the entrepreneurship skills of the major community. A Labour government under Harold Wilson was in power at that time in the United Kingdom. They gave a loan to Sri Lanka to compensate the sterling companies taken over by the Government. With the enforcement of the G.O.B.U Act, they took over many business undertakings mainly foreign owned such as Ceylon Oxygen, BCC, Colombo Gas and Water Company and Colombo Commercial Company. Lake House was also acquired by the government which said it wanted to broadbase the owning company.

Mrs. B later realized her folly, sacked her Marxists allies and went for an election in 1977. Earlier she had created two Plantations Conglomerates namely JEDB and SLSPC to handle the Plantations that were taken over under Land Reform Law. India watched the implementation of the Land Reform Law in Sri Lanka with a hawk eye and realized that it would be a folly to go the Sri Lankan way and instead encouraged their big companies to venture overseas and acquire plantation companies operating in India.

I think this was a very wise move by India as Tata which had many businesses took over the tea plantations in Assam. Thereafter, they acquired Tetley Tea Company worldwide with the strong Tetley brand name. Recently, they were a strong bidder for the tea operation of Uni Levers ultimately losing the battle to a Venture Capital company in US. Uni Lever Tea business consisted of the famous Brooke Bond and Lipton tea operations worldwide.

I returned to the Island driving a Volkswagen Saloon Car overland from London to Colombo. We visited 11 countries on this trip to India starting from France, driving through Switzerland, Italy, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Having completed this journey in 30 days we had to still mark time for six weeks in India to catch the ferry from Rameswaram to Talaimannar Pier and then to our home at De Fonseka Place.

This was an experience of a lifetime as we passed through many countries and had many new adventures. During our six weeks in India waiting for the ferry, we toured the length and breadth of that country and arrived in Colombo on January 17, 1977.

The outcome of the General Election of 1977 was a decisive moment in the history of Sri Lanka. In June 1977, a UNP Government under the leadership of JRJ swept into power with a five sixths majority in parliament and changed the destiny of Sri Lanka. Unfortunately JRJ used the ‘Cow and Calf’ election symbol of the Congress Party in India in his campaign saying that “like in India, the cow and the calf will lose here to,” drawing a parallel between Mrs. Indira Gandhi and Sanjay and Mrs. B and Anura. This antagonized Mrs. Gandhi and I think was a fatal mistake made by JRJ resulting in us losing Mrs. Gandhi’s and India’s goodwill.

In 1977, another event took place in my life which was the advent of another baby girl to our family whom we consider a diamond. JR had a top class Cabinet with Prime Minister Premadasa and Ministers such as Gamini Dissanayake, Ronnie de Mel and Lalith Athulathmudali whom I came to know personally being world class.

JRJ opened up the economy and floated the Sri Lankan Rupee which was pegged at Rs. 13 to the Pound Sterling and Rs. 07 to the US Dollar. He implemented the huge Mahaweli Development Program drawing assistance from abroad thanks to his International stature. It was no easy task to accelerate the 30-year Mahaweli Program within a six-year time frame. There were many dams that had to be built such as Victoria, Rantembe and Kotmale and thereafter do the downstream development which stretched to areas such as Manampitiya and relocate so many families in the Mahaweli areas.

He had to find the money for these dams which cost an enormous amount. By the goodwill he commanded and shrewd strategy he was able to win the hearts and minds of the British people who gifted us the Victoria Dam as an outright grant to Sri Lanka. The Randenigala Dam was built with Canadian help on a soft loan. Kotmale was built with Swedish assistance, again with concessionary interest. Simultaneously, JRJ bought television to Sri Lanka with Japanese help. Many other projects at that time such as Jayewardenapura Hospital and the new Parliamentary Complex were outright gifts from Japan.

The Japanese never forgot JRJ’s memorable speech in San Francisco after the end of the World War Two. His unforgettable quotation from the Buddha that ” hatred will never cease by hatred but by love” opposing reparation demands against Japan. This paid off many years later under his presidency with Japan helping us to modernize the Katunayake International Airport at very low interest credit spread over 40 years which we could easily pay back with returns from the project itself.

Another speech he made at the time he was entertained by then-president of United States, Ronald Regan also brought in very valuable American assistance to Sri Lanka by way of investments in the free trade zones and USAID in Sri Lanka. I was fortunate to spend professional time with government agencies during this period as I was involved in many management consultancy assignments in 1970’s and 80’s.

Unfortunately two tragic occurrences in 1983, the disappearance of Upali Wijewardene (JRJ’s nephew married to Mrs. B’s niece) and the racial riots between Sinhalese and Tamils caused irreparable damage to the Sri Lankan economy. Thereafter, there was political struggle in 1983/84 when JRJ retired and there was a competition between Premadasa, Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake who were equally capable to run for president. Mr. Premadasa became the candidate and won the presidency but did not survive his full term being brutally assassinated by an LTTE attack. A week earlier, Lalith Athulathmudali who survived two previous attacks was also assassinated. Six months later, Gamini Dissanayake was also a victim of a bomb. My hero Ronnie de Mel retired from politics after presenting many successful budgets in Parliament.

During this time President Premadasa spearheaded many privatization exercises. On behalf of Ernst and Young (EY) I was involved in these exercises which meant that I had to go to the general treasury almost on a daily basis. I got involved in many activities where EY won the contracts such as introducing tariffs for the Water Board, establishing the Housing Development Finance Corporation on the lines similar to India, venture capital studies in Sri Lanka and introducing the venture capital industry and many more assignments both in the public and private sectors.

I was exhausted by the 1990’s and after assisting the legendary Mr. NU Jayawardene, many of whose companies I was involved in, the last being the establishment of the Sampath Bank, I retired from the partnership of Ernst and Young on September 30, 1991. Thereafter, I was appointed the Chairman and Chief Executive of Walker Sons and Company Limited from October 1, 1991 which positioned I held till June 2007 when I retired completely having sold the majority shares at Walkers to a Malaysia based Infrastructure Company.

I had completely retired from all walks of public life as by the time I reached 60 completing many milestones in my life. There were so many political upheavals in Sri Lanka during this period which remain unresolved as we approach the 75th year of Independence on February 4, 2023.

I often think of singer Sunil Perera’s famous words saying, “When I was born, Sri Lanka was a third-world country and when I am ready to die we are still a third-world country.” However I am optimistic that Sri Lanka will come out of all these troubles and this thrice blessed Island will never go down in history as a failed nation.

(I thanks my grandaughter, Nimansa Weerasena for typing this for me. My email contact is fonsekag@gmail.com)