Social worker remembered

M S M Salley:

The 4th death anniversary of M S M Salley fell on December 18, 2006. Salley was a social worker and a soccer lover since his youth. He began his life as a social service worker and honorary teacher in the night school for the poor and the needy, organized by the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa at Sucharita.

Having received his education at Zahira College Colombo, he used to participate in protest marches and also served in the St John' Ambulance Service. He was commended for his service during the death of S W R D Bandaranaike.

During the time of Dudley Senanayake's Government, he took part in the cost of living protest march along with Bandaranaike in 1957 and was remanded for 14 days.

He worked in the political field with the Bandaranaike dynasty. He was one person who went against the party decision to get out of the collation in 1977. He was the member of the Communist Party and a member of the inner powerful central committee of the party.

Salley often travelled to the Soviet Union and German Democratic Republic. He was also the chairman of the Kamkarupura (Workers' Town), Samagipura (Unity Town) and Sirimapura, which was a project to honour the late Sirima Bandaranaike. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace by the then Justice Minister in 1970.

He served as a member on the Board of Directors from 1970-1977 in one of the biggest multi-purpose cooperative societies and was appointed by the then Trade, Food and Cooperatives Minister. During that time the Cooperative Society ran without any bank loans and with huge profits. Salley helped the Hameed Al Hussain School and the Fathima Girls' School by donating new buildings. He also helped Al Nassar Maha Vidyalaya and D S Senanayake College. He met Muslim religious leaders around the world. He was an invitee at the World Muslim Unity Conference held in Washington in 1997, under the spiritual guidance of Sheikh Nazim Haqqani, the Supreme Leader of the Naqshabandi Thariqa in the world.

During the visit Salley met and appealed to Sheikh Nazim to pray for Sri Lanka. He held office in several Muslim organizations in Sri Lanka and was actively involved with the community. He is one of the architects who were responsible for the formation of the National Council of the YMMA of Sri Lanka. It would be no exaggeration to state that it was the single-mindedness of his purpose coupled with his organizational abilities that saw the birth of this council. His pioneering zeal has borne fruit to the extent that now there are other organizations with similar aim and ideas affiliated to this council. Incidentally this council is affiliated to the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) of Saudi Arabia. Salley served in various capacities of the council in uplifting the organization to service the Muslim community. He was also an architect in forming the Islamic Socialist Front.

In the realm of sports Salley served as follows: Sri Lanka Gymnastic Association President, Sri Lanka Football Association Council Member, Colombo Football League General Secretary and Colombo Football League Treasurer. During his time in office he invited several foreign teams to Sri Lanka and in appreciation of his services he was invited to the Soviet Union in 1963 and 1969.

Salley worked day and night for the poor people and had many sleepless nights on their behalf. A man who did not believe in caste, creed or race, Salley's advice to his children was to respect every human being. 'Country before self' was his motto.