Tea at Parliament and Sunday lunches: Sam Mama’s lasting influence

In 1963, when I was fourteen years of age, I was first taken to tour the House of Representatives. Sam Mama had been appointed the Clerk Assistant to the House of Parliament. At that time the Parliament of Ceylon consisted of two chambers: the House was the elected chamber with 151 MPS while the upper chamber, the Senate, was constituted of 30 members. The wealth of debating talent of the 5th Parliament was evident that day as we sat in the gallery and watched the proceedings.

C.P. de Silva led the Government in the House. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the Prime Minister, was a Senator. T.B. Illangaratne, one of the best Sinhala speakers, and Felix Dias Bandaranaike were present. Dudley Senanayake was the Leader of the Opposition and his Deputy was J.R. Jayewardene. The Federal Party’s S.J.V. Chelvanayakam and Dr. E.M.V. Naganathan were also present. The Left had a formidable array - Philip Gunawardena, N.M. Perera, Colvin R. De Silva, Peter Keuneman and Philip’s brother Robert. There were also two independents, W. Dahanayake and R.G. Senanayake. It was a great pleasure to watch these members debate. Their polished oratory, their precise statements, their adherence to parliamentary decorum and their sharp wit made it an educational, intellectual and entertaining exercise. It was a far cry from today where undisciplined uproar passes off as debate. Therefore, it was not surprising that this visit kindled in me a lifelong interest in Parliamentary proceedings. Yet the debate in the Chamber was not the only event for the day. Sam Mama invited us to tea at the Parliament restaurant which was famous for its sumptuous teatime spread. This concluded my first experience in Parliament.

Sam Wijesinha was married to Mukta, my father’s only sister. Sanjiva, their eldest son who was born one month after me, Anila, his daughter, and his youngest son, Rajiva (now an MP) were all there at that legendary house, Lakmahal, where the family would meet up for lunch every Sunday. Sunchance of day lunch was a key event every surviving 1964. week. My grandmother and my faYet events took an ther presided at either end of the unexpected turn when long table which was loaded with an Sirimavo Bandaranaike succeeded extensive array of dishes. On occain breaking the Left alliance and sion, Sam Mama would take us in his forming a coalition with the Lanka Jowett Javelin to Galle Face Green Samasamaja Party and the Commuor to Fountain Café where we were nist Party. The new Government anbought candy floss. nounced its intention to muzzle the

Once I asked Sam Mama whether press by establishing a Press Council he had any regrets about leaving the and all of a sudden there was a Attorney General’s Department to heightened sense of urgency in polijoin Parliament, and hetics.told me he had none. From the time Sam Mama Without much ado the Press Counmoved to Parliament, the Sunday cil Bill was introduced to the Senate lunch discussions became more inand approved without delay. But teresting. Both my father, who was trouble began to brew in the House the Managing Director of Lake when the Bill was read for the first House at the time, and Sam Mama time and the Speaker asked the trawere insiders in politics. Most of the ditional question, ‘When?’ This was time, some of the other lunch guests a reference to when the Bill was to be present were civil servants or those taken up. It so happened that the on the fringe of politics. It was an inminister in charge of the Bill had teresting period. Mrs Bandaraforgotten to table the notice that naike’s government was becoming scheduled the second reading of the unstable; she was under attack in Bill in writing, as required by ParliaParliament by the Opposition. The mentary Standing Orders. On the UNP led the agitation on the rising other hand Lakshman Rajapaksa, cost of living and corruption. The the uncle of Mahinda Rajapaksa, Left Parties had got together and who was in the Opposition, had alpresented 21 Demands, which were ready given written notice for the backed by the Trade Unions. The Bill to be taken up on the 2nd of FebFederal Party was still carrying on ruary 1965. This meant that the Bill its agitation in Jaffna. Even students could not be taken up immediately like us were insightful enough to re(on the 13th of October) as planned alize that the Government had little by the Government. As a result of this intervention, the Press Council Bill became a non-starter; not even the Ministers realized what had happened. This was actually a shrewd opposition strategy that had been worked out by Dudley Senanayake, J.R. Jayewardene and my father - Esmond Wickremesinghe - who had also got the assistance of an old friend, Philip Gunawardena, the leader of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna.

The Government was wondering how to undo the damage caused by the Bill that had now fallen by the wayside. It was in the midst of all this that Sam Mama succeeded Ralph Deraniyagala as the Clerk to the House. His brother-in-law, Esmond, and his nephew Lakshman Rajapaksa were part of the Opposition team that was attempting to defeat the Government that had agreed to his appointment as Clerk to the House. It was certainly a baptism of fire for the new Clerk who had to advise the Speaker and the Govern- ment on the next steps to be taken.

The Sunday lunch discussions on politics became even more exciting. I had a ringside seat. While my father spoke of politics, Sam Mama used to talk of Parliamentary proceedings and the options open to the Government at each stage. Ultimately, the only way out for the Government was to prorogue Parliament. Of course, when Parliament was resummoned the Government had to present the throne speech and put it to the vote. The Government lost by one vote. All this happened in the first six weeks of Sam Mama’s new job. He was picking up fast. In the meantime, I was learning about politics and Parliament from these lunch table discussions.

Looking back, the Sunday lunches that November were dominated by intense discussions on the fast-unfolding political scene. Yet my father never told any of us what he, Dudley Senanayake and J.R. Jayewardene were plotting. Sam Mama, on the other hand, handled a delicate situation with great tact. He had relations on both sides of the House; some of those in government, like Neil de Al- wis and Felix Dias Bandaranaike, were relations by marriage to the Wickremesinghe family. Outside the House was his brother-in-law, my father, working on consolidating the Opposition.

But this was not the only time he was caught in the middle of contending relations: closer to his family were D.A. Rajapaksa - Mahinda's father - and D.P. Atapattu - Ranjith Atapattu's father - both contending for Beliatta. I used to meet them from time to time in his room, but never together.

The General Elections of 1965 brought in a UNP coalition headed by Dudley Senanayake. The newly elected members of this Parliament were Sirimavo Bandaranaike, R. Premadasa and D.B. Wijetunga. This was the beginning of a close association between Sam Mama and R. Premadasa who often consulted him on Parliamentary procedure. Much later, when I was Leader of the House, President Premadasa would still ask me to ‘speak to Sam’ about the various Standing Orders of Parliament.