Malwattege Simon Andrew Peeris,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(20 September 1904 - ?) was a Ceylonese businessmen and politician. Peeris was the owner and managing director of the Uva Bus Company, a major transport company in Uva Province, as well as the Gardia Motor Service Company Limited and the Trading and Forwarding Agency Limited. On 11 March 1944 Peeris was elected to the State Council at a by-election for the seat of

Bibile Bibile (also spelled:Bibila) is a town located in Monaragala District, Uva Province of Sri Lanka. Bibile's land is important to Sri Lankan agriculture. It was well known for oranges An orange is a fruit of various citrus species in the fa ...

, however the unsuccessful candidate,

Wijeyananda Dahanayake Wijeyananda Dahanayake ( si, විජයානන්ද දහනායක ta, விஜயானந்த தகநாயக்கா; 22 October 1902 – 4 May 1997) was a Sri Lankan politician. He was the Prime Minister of Ceylon from Sept ...

, petitioned the courts against the election results with the court overturning the result and awarding the seat to Dahanayake. At the 2nd parliamentary election, held between 24 May 1952 and 30 May 1952, Peeris ran as the United National Party candidate in the Badulla electorate. He secured the position of second member, polling 12,047 votes (30% of the total vote), which was only 403 votes ahead of

J. C. T. Kotelawala James Cornelius Thomas "Jack" Kotelawala (16 December 1910 – 1992) was a lawyer and Ceylonese politician. Early life and education Kotelawala was born on 16 December 1910, in Hindagoda (Badulla District, Uva), the son of James Kotelawal ...

, who had been elected as the second member at the 1947 elections. In March 1954 Peeris was appointed as the inaugural president of the Uva Young Men's Buddhist Association. In 1956 Peeris was awarded an

in the

1956 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1956 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 2 January 1956 to celebrat ...

for his parliamentary service representing the Badulla electorate. He retained his parliamentary seat, as the second member of Badulla, at the 3rd parliamentary election, held between 5 April 1956 and 10 April 1956, receiving 14,724 votes (33% of the total vote) 6,184 votes behind Kotelawala. On 1 January 1958 the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna coalition government nationalised all private bus companies, including the Uva Bus Company. At the 4th parliamentary election, held on 19 March 1960, the Badulla electorate was changed to a single-member constituency. As a result, Peeris switched to the newly created Passara electorate, again running as the United National Party candidate. He was successful winning by a narrow margin of only 70 votes over the

Sri Lanka Freedom Party The Sri Lanka Freedom Party ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය, translit=Śrī Laṁkā Nidahas Pakṣaya; ta, இலங்கை சுதந்திரக் கட்சி, translit=Ilaṅkai Cutantirak Ka� ...

candidate, Amarananda Ratnayake. However, as neither of the major political parties managed to obtain a sufficient majority in the election a new election was called. At the July elections for the fifth Parliament which followed four months later, Peeris failed to retain the Passara seat, losing to Ratnayake by 602 votes. Peeris contested Passara at the 6th parliamentary election, held on 22 March 1965, winning back the seat from Ratnayake, 6,022 votes to 5,694, a margin of 328 votes. He subsequently served as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Commerce and Trade in the Third Dudley Senanayake cabinet.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peeris, S. A. 1904 births Sinhalese people Sri Lankan businesspeople United National Party politicians Members of the 2nd Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 3rd Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 4th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 6th Parliament of Ceylon Date of death missing Ceylonese Officers of the Order of the British Empire