Maha Amarasinghege Anandatissa de Alwis (21 August 1919 – 22 August 1996) was a Sri Lankan journalist, marketer and politician. He was the Speaker of the

National State Assembly The National State Assembly (NSA) was the legislative body of Sri Lanka established in May 1972 under the First Republican Constitution. The assembly was introduced by Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike under the United Front Government replac ...

, a

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

and the fourth

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

of the North Western Province of Sri Lanka.

Early career

De Alwis started his career as a journalist, serving as a war-time reporter. Later he served as

private secretary A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family. The role exists in ...

Sir John Kotelawala General Sir John Lionel Kotelawala ( si, ශ්‍රිමත් ජෝන් ලයනල් කොතලාවල; 4 April 1897 – 2 October 1980) was a Sri Lankan statesman, who served as the 3rd Prime Minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) fro ...

. He thereafter moved into advertising, working as a

copy writer Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or ...

with Reggie Candappa at Grant McCann Erickson. He then left Grants to join

J. Walter Thompson J. Walter Thompson (JWT) was an advertisement holding company incorporated in 1896 by American advertising pioneer James Walter Thompson. The company was acquired in 1987 by multinational holding company WPP plc, and in November 2018, WPP merg ...

. He left J. Walter Thompson in 1965, to take up the post of

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...

to the Ministry of State, under

J. R. Jayewardene Junius Richard Jayewardene ( si, ජුනියස් රිචඩ් ජයවර්ධන, ta, ஜூனியஸ் ரிச்சட் ஜயவர்தனா; 17 September 1906 – 1 November 1996), commonly abbreviated in Sri Lanka as ...

who was the Minister of State. De Alwis was the first permanent secretary appointed from the private sector. In 1970, when the

United National Party The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...

was defeated, De Alwis resigned as permanent secretary and established his own advertising company, ''De Alwis Advertising Company''.

Political career

A long-standing remember of the

, Anandatissa de Alwis had served as first editor of the party journal "Siyarata" and the first president of the All Ceylon United National Party Youth Front. He had also served as its General Secretary. Anandatissa de Alwis contested the 1952 general election and the 1956 general election from the Kotte electorate from the United National Party, but was defeated by Robert Gunawardena. He was elected to parliament in 1977 general elections from the Kotte electorate and was elected as Speaker on 4 August 1977 and served till he stepped down in 1978. During his tenor he was instrumental in shifting parliament to the new parliament complex in Kotte. He was thereafter appointed as

by President J. R. Jayewardene. In 1994 he was appointed Governor of the North Western Province by President Wijethunga and served until 1995.

References

Speakers of the Parliament of Sri Lanka Governors of North Western Province, Sri Lanka Government ministers of Sri Lanka Permanent secretaries of Sri Lanka Members of the 8th Parliament of Sri Lanka United National Party politicians Alumni of Ananda College 1919 births 1996 deaths Sinhalese politicians {{NorthWesternLK-politician-stub

Early career

Political career

See also

References