Tissa Wijeyeratne
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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 A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
.


Early life

Tissa Wijeyeratne was born 17 February 1923 to a leading family from Sabaragamuwa in Sri Lanka. He was the eldest son of Sir Edwin and Lady Leela Wijeyeratne, of Buddenipola
Walauwa Walauwa or walawwa is the name given to a feudal/Colony, colonial manor house in Sri Lanka of a Native headmen of Ceylon, native headmen. It also refers to the feudal social systems that existed during the colonial era. The term walauwa is derive ...
,
Kegalle Kegalle ( si, කෑගල්ල; ta, கேகாலை) is a large town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It is located on the Colombo–Kandy road, approximately from Colombo and from Kandy. It is the main town in the Kegalle District ...
. Sir
Edwin Wijeyeratne Sir Edwin Aloysius Perera Wijeyeratne ( Sinhala: ශ්‍රිමත් එඩ්වින් ඇලෝසියස් පෙරේරා විජයරත්න) (8 January 1889 – 19 October 1968), known as ''Edwin Wijeyeratne'', was a Sr ...
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 Diyawadana Nilame is the office of the chief lay custodian of the Temple of the Tooth, Kandy, Sri Lanka. Formerly an office of the royal household, at present it is the trustee for the Temple of the Tooth as defined by the ''Buddhist Temporal ...
. Dr. Cuda Wijeyeratne who is a
consultant psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...
.


Education

Wijeyeratne completed his primary and secondary education at the
Royal College, Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janua ...
. Wijeyeratne left school in 1941 and pursued further studies in Switzerland before studying Law in London & then he was admitted of the
Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...
in 1945.


Legal career

Wijeyeratne was called to the
Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...
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 ( si, කෑගල්ල; ta, கேகாலை) is a large town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It is located on the Colombo–Kandy road, approximately from Colombo and from Kandy. It is the main town in the Kegalle District ...
. His forte was
Criminal Law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law i ...
. 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 Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
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 The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and the International Union of Students after 1947. History The festival has been held regularly since 1947 as an eve ...
in Moscow. During this time, he became a member of the
British Communist Party The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...
. 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 The Communist Party of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කොමියුනිස්ට් පක්ෂය, ''Sri Lankavay Komiyunist Pakshaya'' ta, இலங்கை கம்யூனிஸ்ட் கட்சி, trans ...
. He subsequently became the party's Chief Organiser for the
Kegalle Kegalle ( si, කෑගල්ල; ta, கேகாலை) is a large town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It is located on the Colombo–Kandy road, approximately from Colombo and from Kandy. It is the main town in the Kegalle District ...
Electorate. During the late 1950s and 1960s, he maintained close links with the university community at
Peradeniya Peradeniya ( si, පේරාදෙණිය, translit=Pēradeniya; ta, பேராதனை, translit=Pērātaṉai) is a suburb of the city of Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a m ...
, 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 The Sri Lanka Freedom Party ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය, translit=Śrī Laṁkā Nidahas Pakṣaya; ta, இலங்கை சுதந்திரக் கட்சி, translit=Ilaṅkai Cutantirak Ka ...
. He was an active member of the party from 1965 onwards, but did not contest the 1970 parliamentary election.


Diplomatic career

In the 1970s, Wijeyeratne was appointed as Sri Lankan ambassador to the
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
, France and
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. 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

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 A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
, 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. 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 The University of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය, ta, இலங்கைப் பல்கலைக்கழகம்) was the public university system of Sri Lanka from 1972 to 1978. Est ...
, 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 or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...
.


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 British economist
E. F. Schumacher Ernst Friedrich Schumacher (16 August 1911 – 4 September 1977) was a German-British statistician and economist who is best known for his proposals for human-scale, decentralised and appropriate technologies.Biography on the inner dustjacket ...
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.


Family

Wijeyeratne married Visakha Bulankulame, a well known Sri Lankan artist. She was the daughter of Dr Edmond Asoka Bulankulame and Ivy Senanayake Bulankulame of Nuwarawewa Walauwa,
Anuradhapura Anuradhapura ( si, අනුරාධපුරය, translit=Anurādhapuraya; ta, அனுராதபுரம், translit=Aṉurātapuram) is a major city located in north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central ...
. Tissa and Visakha Wijeyeratne had one daughter, Kalpana and a son, Ravana, who is the current managing director of Sinhaputra Finance PLC, and the current Honorary Consul for France in
Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills ...
. Champagne Toast … as France’s jewel in Kandy’s Crown celebrates Golden Jubilee
Colombo Diary. Retrieved 10 May 2017.


See also

* List of political families in Sri Lanka * Sri Lankan Non Career Diplomats


References


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


External links


The Wijeyeratne Ancestry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wijeyeratne, Tissa 1923 births 2002 deaths Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Ambassadors of Sri Lanka to France Ambassadors of Sri Lanka to Switzerland Members of the Inner Temple Permanent Delegates of Sri Lanka to UNESCO Sinhalese businesspeople Sinhalese lawyers Sri Lanka Freedom Party politicians Sri Lankan Buddhists Sri Lankan communists Tissa