Tissa Wijeyeratne
Encyclopedia
Suratissa Diyasena Wijeyeratne (Sinhala:සුරතිස්ස දියසේන විජයරත්න) (17 February 1923 - 11 July 2002) (known as Tissa Wijeyeratne) was a Sri Lankan politician, diplomat, barrister and businessman. He was also Additional Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence
, and Senior Advisor (Foreign Affairs) to the Prime Minister
.
. He was the eldest son of Sir Edwin and Lady Leela Wijeyeratne, of Buddenipola Walauwa
, Kegalle
. Sir
Edwin Wijeyeratne
was a former Cabinet Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development. Tissa Wijeyeratne had two younger brothers, Nissanka and Cuda Wijeyeratne. Nissanka Wijeyeratne
was a politician, civil servant, diplomat and Diyawadana Nilame
.Dr
Cuda Wijeyeratne who is a consultant psychiatrist
.
. Wijeyeratne left school in 1941 and pursued further studies in Switzerland before studying Law in London & then he was admitted of the Inner Temple
in 1945.
.jpg)
in 1959 and became a Barrister-at-Law in 1960. He returned to Sri Lanka a year later and started a practice as a lawyer in Kegalle
. His forte was Criminal Law
. Soon he became one of the most successful lawyers in the Sabaragamuwa and Central Province.Wijeyeratne was instrumental in obtaining rights for Sri Lankan lawyers to wear the national dress to courts. He was the first lawyer since Sri Lanka's independence to appear in courts attired in the national dress of Sri Lanka.
. During this time, he became a member of the British Communist Party.
He returned to Sri Lanka in 1956 before completing his Barristers examinations, and became a full-time activist of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka
. He subsequently became the party's Chief Organiser for the Kegalle
Electorate. During the late 1950s and 1960s, he maintained close links with the university community at Peradeniya
, visiting the university on several occasions to deliver political lectures. In the General Elections 1960 (March) he contested Kegalle Electorate from the Communist Party but was defeated. Tissa Wijeyeratne later joined the Sri Lanka Freedom Party
. He was an active member of the party from 1965 onwards, but did not contest the parliamentary election, 1970.
, France
and Switzerland
. As Ambassador, he strengthened Sri Lanka's diplomatic and trade relations, particularly with European countries and promoted tourism and traditional Sri Lankan exports while maintaining close links with these countries.
Tissa Wijeyeratne returned from France in 1974 and was appointed as the Additional Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs and Defence
and Senior Advisor (Foreign Affairs) to the Prime Minister
, where he was largely responsible for foreign affairs. He was also one of the main organisers of the 1976 Non-aligned
Summit in Sri Lanka. During this time, he expressed strong public opinion for the formation of a separate Foreign Ministry
in Sri Lanka. This was later implemented by President J.R Jayawardena
.
As Additional Secretary, Wijeyeratne placed strong emphasis on the Sri Lankan national identity within the foreign service. In order to implement re-organisation of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service to this effect, he consulted representatives from several public service trade unions so that the foreign service represented the views of the people. He brought a Sinhalese and Tamil oriented dimension to the Foreign Office, recruiting locally educated youth to nurture Sri Lanka's identity in missions abroad. He also proposed the initiation of a Diploma course in Diplomacy at an institute of foreign affairs that would be affiliated to the University of Sri Lanka
, providing training opportunities to hopeful diplomats. His proposal was materialised in 1975 as the Bandaranaike Institute of Foreign Studies. Wijeyeratne left the foreign service in 1976 and returned to the Kegalle Bar
.
economist E. F. Schumacher
lent the company its motto "Small is Beautiful". He grouped together influential businessmen in the city of Kandy amidst a group of influential lawyers and embarked on his final career. Thus in 1978, he formed what is today Sinhaputhra Finance Ltd, a Central Bank Registered Finance Company, of which he was the founder Chairman. The company commenced business in 1979 under the name of Sinhaputhra Agricultural and Industrial
Finance Ltd. and focused initially on providing vehicles to rural areas for the transport of their produce to markets. He also became an active member of the Finance Houses Association of Sri Lanka, and was part of an active team that spearheaded the enactment of useful legislation. During his tenure, he also helped promote the establishment of the Sri Lanka Institute of Credit Management to strengthen the industry.
Edmond Asoka Bulankulame and Ivy Senanayake Bulankulame of Nuwarawewa Walauwa, Anuradhapura
. Tissa and Visakha Wijeyeratne had one daughter, Kalpana and a son, Ravana, who is the current Managing Director of Sinhaputra Finance Ltd, Kandy
.
Ministry of External Affairs and Defence
The Ministry of External Affairs and Defence was a ministry of the Government of Ceylon that conducted and managed all of Ceylon's relations with other countries and its military matters from 1947 to 1977.-History:...
, and Senior Advisor (Foreign Affairs) to the Prime Minister
Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike was a Sri Lankan politician and the world's first female head of government...
.
Early life
Tissa Wijeyeratne was born 17 February 1923 to a leading family from Sabaragamuwa in Sri LankaSri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
. He was the eldest son of Sir Edwin and Lady Leela Wijeyeratne, of Buddenipola Walauwa
Walauwa
Walauwa is the name given to a feudal/colonial manor house in Ceylon built by native headmen. It is also reference to the feudal social systems that existed during the colonial era.-Kandyan Walauwas:...
, Kegalle
Kegalle
Kegalle is a town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It is located on the Colombo - Kandy road. Its 48 miles/78 km away from Colombo and 24 Miles/40 km away from Kandy. It is the Capital City of the Kegalle District which is one of the two districts belonging to Sabaragamuwa province...
. Sir
Sir
Sir is an honorific used as a title , or as a courtesy title to address a man without using his given or family name in many English speaking cultures...
Edwin Wijeyeratne
Edwin Wijeyeratne
Sir Edwin Aloysius Perera Wijeyeratne, KBE was a Sri Lankan politician, diplomat, and one of the founding members of United National Party. He was a Senator and Cabinet Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development in the government of DS Senanayake...
was a former Cabinet Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development. Tissa Wijeyeratne had two younger brothers, Nissanka and Cuda Wijeyeratne. Nissanka Wijeyeratne
Nissanka Wijeyeratne
Deshamanya Nissanka Parakrama Wijeyeratne was a Sri Lankan politician, civil servant and diplomat. He was also the Diyawadana Nilame of the Temple of the Tooth from 1975 to 1985...
was a politician, civil servant, diplomat and Diyawadana Nilame
Diyawadana Nilame
Diyawadana Nilame is the office of chief lay custodian of Temple of the Tooth, Kandy, Sri Lanka. Formerly an office of the Royal household, today it remains a prestigious position, enriched with over two thousand years of history to safeguard and carry out ancient rituals for the most sacred Relic...
.Dr
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
Cuda Wijeyeratne who is a consultant psychiatrist
Consultant (medicine)
In the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, and parts of the Commonwealth, consultant is the title of a senior doctor who has completed all of his or her specialist training and been placed on the specialist register in their chosen specialty...
.
Education
Wijeyeratne completed his primary and secondary education at the prestigious Royal College ColomboRoyal College Colombo
The Royal College of Colombo was founded in January 1835 in Colombo. It is considered to be the leading Public School in Sri Lanka...
. Wijeyeratne left school in 1941 and pursued further studies in Switzerland before studying Law in London & then he was admitted of the Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
in 1945.
Legal career
Wijeyeratne was called to the BarBar (law)
Bar in a legal context has three possible meanings: the division of a courtroom between its working and public areas; the process of qualifying to practice law; and the legal profession.-Courtroom division:...
in 1959 and became a Barrister-at-Law in 1960. He returned to Sri Lanka a year later and started a practice as a lawyer in Kegalle
Kegalle
Kegalle is a town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It is located on the Colombo - Kandy road. Its 48 miles/78 km away from Colombo and 24 Miles/40 km away from Kandy. It is the Capital City of the Kegalle District which is one of the two districts belonging to Sabaragamuwa province...
. His forte was Criminal Law
Criminal law
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
. Soon he became one of the most successful lawyers in the Sabaragamuwa and Central Province.Wijeyeratne was instrumental in obtaining rights for Sri Lankan lawyers to wear the national dress to courts. He was the first lawyer since Sri Lanka's independence to appear in courts attired in the national dress of Sri Lanka.
Political career
As a student, Wijeyeratne was a committed Marxist and student activist. He was President, Ceylon Students Union in London and later joined the international student movement. In 1951, he led the first Ceylon delegation to the World Festival of Youth in MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. During this time, he became a member of the British Communist Party.
He returned to Sri Lanka in 1956 before completing his Barristers examinations, and became a full-time activist of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka
Communist Party of Sri Lanka
The Communist Party of Sri Lanka is a communist political party in Sri Lanka. At the last legislative elections, on 2 April 2004, the party was part of the United People's Freedom Alliance that won 45.6% of the popular vote and 105 out of 225 seats....
. He subsequently became the party's Chief Organiser for the Kegalle
Kegalle
Kegalle is a town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It is located on the Colombo - Kandy road. Its 48 miles/78 km away from Colombo and 24 Miles/40 km away from Kandy. It is the Capital City of the Kegalle District which is one of the two districts belonging to Sabaragamuwa province...
Electorate. During the late 1950s and 1960s, he maintained close links with the university community at Peradeniya
University of Peradeniya
The University of Peradeniya is a world renowned state university in Sri Lanka, funded by the University Grants Commission...
, visiting the university on several occasions to deliver political lectures. In the General Elections 1960 (March) he contested Kegalle Electorate from the Communist Party but was defeated. Tissa Wijeyeratne later joined the Sri Lanka Freedom Party
Sri Lanka Freedom Party
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party is one of the major political parties in Sri Lanka. It was founded by S.W.R.D Bandaranaike in 1951 and, since then, has been one of the two largest parties in the Sri Lankan political arena. It first came to power in 1956 and since then has been the predominant party in...
. He was an active member of the party from 1965 onwards, but did not contest the parliamentary election, 1970.
Diplomatic Role
In the 1970s, Wijeyeratne was appointed as Sri Lankan ambassador to the UNESCOUNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. As Ambassador, he strengthened Sri Lanka's diplomatic and trade relations, particularly with European countries and promoted tourism and traditional Sri Lankan exports while maintaining close links with these countries.
Foreign Affairs Career
Ministry of External Affairs and Defence
The Ministry of External Affairs and Defence was a ministry of the Government of Ceylon that conducted and managed all of Ceylon's relations with other countries and its military matters from 1947 to 1977.-History:...
and Senior Advisor (Foreign Affairs) to the Prime Minister
Sirimavo Bandaranaike
Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike was a Sri Lankan politician and the world's first female head of government...
, where he was largely responsible for foreign affairs. He was also one of the main organisers of the 1976 Non-aligned
Non-Aligned Movement
The Non-Aligned Movement is a group of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. As of 2011, the movement had 120 members and 17 observer countries...
Summit in Sri Lanka. During this time, he expressed strong public opinion for the formation of a separate Foreign Ministry
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Sri Lanka)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a ministry of the Government of Sri Lanka that conducts and manages Sri Lanka's relations with other countries...
in Sri Lanka. This was later implemented by President J.R Jayawardena
Junius Richard Jayewardene
Junius Richard Jayewardene , famously abbreviated in Sri Lanka as JR, was the first executive President of Sri Lanka, serving from 1978 till 1989. He was a leader of the nationalist movement in Ceylon who served in a variety of cabinet positions in the decades following independence...
.
As Additional Secretary, Wijeyeratne placed strong emphasis on the Sri Lankan national identity within the foreign service. In order to implement re-organisation of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service to this effect, he consulted representatives from several public service trade unions so that the foreign service represented the views of the people. He brought a Sinhalese and Tamil oriented dimension to the Foreign Office, recruiting locally educated youth to nurture Sri Lanka's identity in missions abroad. He also proposed the initiation of a Diploma course in Diplomacy at an institute of foreign affairs that would be affiliated to the University of Sri Lanka
University of Sri Lanka
The University of Sri Lanka was the only university in Sri Lanka from 1972 until 1978. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced the University of Ceylon with the University of Sri Lanka. In 1978 it was separated...
, providing training opportunities to hopeful diplomats. His proposal was materialised in 1975 as the Bandaranaike Institute of Foreign Studies. Wijeyeratne left the foreign service in 1976 and returned to the Kegalle Bar
Bar (law)
Bar in a legal context has three possible meanings: the division of a courtroom between its working and public areas; the process of qualifying to practice law; and the legal profession.-Courtroom division:...
.
Finance
During the late 1970s, Tissa Wijeyeratne being a firm believer in uplifting the life of rural communities in Sri Lanka, ventured into finance. His deep belief in the economic philosophy of BritishBritish people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
economist E. F. Schumacher
E. F. Schumacher
Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher was an internationally influential economic thinker, statistician and economist in Britain, serving as Chief Economic Advisor to the UK National Coal Board for two decades. His ideas became popularized in much of the English-speaking world during the 1970s...
lent the company its motto "Small is Beautiful". He grouped together influential businessmen in the city of Kandy amidst a group of influential lawyers and embarked on his final career. Thus in 1978, he formed what is today Sinhaputhra Finance Ltd, a Central Bank Registered Finance Company, of which he was the founder Chairman. The company commenced business in 1979 under the name of Sinhaputhra Agricultural and Industrial
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
Finance Ltd. and focused initially on providing vehicles to rural areas for the transport of their produce to markets. He also became an active member of the Finance Houses Association of Sri Lanka, and was part of an active team that spearheaded the enactment of useful legislation. During his tenure, he also helped promote the establishment of the Sri Lanka Institute of Credit Management to strengthen the industry.
Family
Wijeyeratne married Visakha Bulankulame, a well known Sri Lankan artist. She was the daughter of DrPhysician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
Edmond Asoka Bulankulame and Ivy Senanayake Bulankulame of Nuwarawewa Walauwa, Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura, , is one of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka, famous for its well-preserved ruins of ancient Lankan civilization.The city, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies 205 km north of the current capital Colombo in Sri Lanka's North Central Province, on the banks of the historic...
. Tissa and Visakha Wijeyeratne had one daughter, Kalpana and a son, Ravana, who is the current Managing Director of Sinhaputra Finance Ltd, Kandy
Kandy
Kandy is a city in the center of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is one of the most scenic cities in Sri Lanka; it is both an...
.
See also
- List of political families in Sri Lanka
- Sir Edwin WijeyeratneEdwin WijeyeratneSir Edwin Aloysius Perera Wijeyeratne, KBE was a Sri Lankan politician, diplomat, and one of the founding members of United National Party. He was a Senator and Cabinet Minister of Home Affairs and Rural Development in the government of DS Senanayake...
- Sri Lankan Non Career Diplomats
Further reading
- In The Pursuit of Governance (A memoir of over three and a half decades in the public service of Sri Lanka) by M.D.D Pieris, 2002, Stamford Lake Publication ISBN 955-8156-98-1