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| Wednesday, 8 December 2004 |
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Anil Kumar Moonesinghe: Stormy petrel of the Centre-Left I have had the pleasure of knowing Anil Moonesinghe for over a period of 60 years - the reason for this half century span and more is that apart from associating with him very closely during his Parliamentary tenure of 27 long years, we were second cousins.
My mind goes back to the halcyon times when his parents, Piyadasa and Beatrice Moonesinghe, used to visit my parents' home in Havelock Road bringing with them Anil. A feature, indelibly stuck in my mind was the act, of his father, bringing with him on his social call, his own tin on Huntley and Palmers biscuits - an indication of the family background and social strata that he hailed from. Anil had his entire education at Royal College, under the strict discerning eye of E. L. Bradby, the last of British pedagogues at Royal. While at Royal he won his colours in athletics, at which sport he later excelled in his short stay at the University of Ceylon, Colombo. He in fact represented University of Ceylon at the All India Universities Athletic Meet which was held regularly in those years. Soon, Anil was seeking greener pastures abroad and thanks to his generous and affluent parents, he found his way to UK where he joined the Middle Temple. He passed out as a Barrister and was enrolled soon after. It was in those early formative days that Anil showed a distinct penchant for left of centre politics and found himself closely involved with a young Labour Movement. He joined the British Communist Party in 1946 and the British Labour Party in 1948. Possibly the early beginnings of his association with Trosskyite politics in Ceylon began there. Unknown to many, Anil cut his teeth in Municipal politics and contested a seat at the Colombo Municipal Council elections. At this time, also involved in local politics, were stalwarts such as Dr. N. M. Perera, Mrs. Vivienne Gunawardene, T. Rudra, Dr. Osmund Jayaratne and Robert Gunawardene and Anil joined the progressive groups of the area, working for the amelioration of the conditions of the poorer sections of the community. The Lanka Sama Samaja Party which had in its ranks distinguished politicians of the ilk of Dr. N. M. Perera, Dr. Colvin R. de Silva, Leslie Goonawardene and Bernard Soysa, welcomed into its ranks young, dashing and debonair Anil and gave him nomination for the Agalawatte seat. The Young Turks of the Sama Samaja Movement referred to him as the Aneurin Bevan of Sri Lanka - being the stormy petrel of the movement. He won the Agalawatte seat in the historic elections of 1956, which swept the President's father into political leadership. After the tragic assassination of the then Prime Minister in 1959, 1960 witnessed the only year in which two General Elections were held in the short space of 3 months, March and July - Anil was successful at both elections, representing his old Agalawatte constituency and was invited to join the third Cabinet of Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike in June 1964 as Minister of Communications when the LSSP allied itself with the SLFP. In March 1965 he won his seat from the same constituency again, but sadly had his election declared void two years later. He was also a leading figure in the Trade Union Movement and formed the United Corporations and Mercantile Union. In 1970, when the Coalition Government of Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike was elected to power, he was given the onerous post of Chairman of the Ceylon Transport Board. He served in that post till 1975 and worked with utmost dedication and enthusiasm and commitment to provide the harassed traveller a better service. I recall with nostalgia, one Saturday afternoon when I visited the Pettah Bus Stand at 2 in the afternoon to drop a passenger, I saw Anil himself, in the searing heat of the afternoon, supervising and directing the taking of passengers and the dispatch of buses. It portrayed very clearly his deep sense of dedication to the post he held, rather than giving directions from his air conditioned office which others may have done. In later years Anil resigned from the LSSP, of which he was Secretary and joined the SLFP. Soon after, in May 1983, when there was a by-election, he won the Matugama by-election by defeating the UNP candidate. Seated in the Opposition ranks, Anil performed a useful role, speaking articulately and examining issues with a focused mind. In his long span of 27 years in Parliament, his final years were spent as Deputy Speaker and he was respected by both sides of the House for his impartiality and fairness. In later years he was chosen to be Sri Lanka's Ambassador to Austria with accreditation to the United Nations and the Balkan countries of Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Jugoslavia and Bosnia-Hersgovenia. Being a grandson of the Rev. Anagarika Dharmapala, he worked a lot for the revival of Buddhism and immersed himself in the upliftment of the activities of the Maha Bodhi Society, becoming its President in later years. Anil, above all, was deeply respected for his honesty, integrity and efficiency. He was deeply committed to any cause that he undertook. He had a great vision for a united Sri Lanka, which regrettably he did not see because of his untimely passing away. He was totally simple and approachable and his many many constituents of the Kalutara District will bear testimony to this. - Nihal Seneviratne |
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