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JR’s battered briefcase and what he brought from Japan
Prematilaka Mapitigama , Secretary to President Jayawardene during his retirement recalls memories of the man behind the politician
The people of Sri Lanka saw President J.R.Jayewardene, as a politician and the architect of the present Constitution. He held many a position over a wide span of fifty years, the position of the first Executive President of Sri Lanka.

In his multi -faceted political career there are only a very few who knew him as a man and not as a common politician. Whilst most politicians find it difficult to shed their assumed role in public life, only a few great men succeed in preserving their original identity. President Jayewardene was one.

When I first went to work for him I was, as most others, under the illusion that he was a difficult and pedantic man to work with. Quite unwillingly and yet under the persistence of Mr. Gamini Dissanayake, I applied for the post of Secretary and reluctantly assumed duties, after being selected from among six other applicants. I hardly knew, as a Senior CAS officer, what it was to be the Secretary of a retired President, but it took me only one or two months to learn that I was wrong in my presumption. He was an adorable man who always listened to what you had to say.

He was attached to his wife and he always turned up at 'Braemar', their home for lunch or dinner whenever Mrs. Jayewardene was at home and not accompanying him. She was always at his side even when he walked up to the dais at Galle Face Green when he took oaths as the first Executive President before Chief Justice Neville Samarakoon. The table and three chairs where they sat are now exhibited at the museum of the Jayewardene Centre. This museum is a unique treasure trove which exemplifies the outlook of a man who considered every gift he received as Prime Minister or Executive President from Kings and Queens and other Heads of State and dignitaries as belonging to the people of Sri Lanka.

It was a unique experience to accompany him when he toured Japan in 1991. I had my hands full in making preparations before the tour as well as during our stay in Japan. After all arrangements had been made he called me and said:"Mapitigama, make sure you take the cheque books with you. We might have to pay for our keep! "I took the cheque books along with me. However, after the royal treatment we received in Japan it would have been an insult to the Japanese government if I offered to pay! As we were about to return he said,"Mapitigama, are you sure you didn't have to pay?"

"No, Sir. They had taken care of everything."
"Alright, after we land in Sri Lanka make sure that everything is checked by customs."

It was done as he ordered, but after coming through the VIP exit he met me on our way out at the general exit. "Have they checked all the baggage?"
"Yes Sir."
"But they did not check my bag. Go back and tell them to check it."
By 'bag' he meant his hand luggage which was a battered briefcase with an ancient padlock and tied with a length of red tape to keep the cover in place. By the time I reached the counter the customs officer had ticked off the luggage.

"This is H.E.'s hand luggage,” I said, placed the bag on the counter and gave him the rusted key. The customs officer opened the bag to find an old face towel, a torch, a candle, a box of matches and a bottle of mouth wash! He was so embarrassed he closed the bag shut and said with a grim face,"Please take it away!"One might say, "Well this was a fast one to conceal other things he brought." No. Certainly not. He had immunity to bring anything he wanted and what he received as gifts are still there at the Jayewardene Centre as the property of the people.

His sense of humour was unique too. Once at a ceremony in the new Supreme Court Complex, seeing the President looking through a window at the recently cleared landscape, Justice Ranjith Dheeraratne approached him and inquired:
"Your Excellency, you are looking at the Law College?"

He smiled and replied"No Ranjith. I was trying to place the first bar we practised, the Crown Hotel Bar! How we made a beeline for a quick one after each test paper."

On another occasion at a ceremony in Girl Guide Headquarters he had quipped: "I am glad you and my party had the same symbol and the same colour. I wonder who went after whom!"

As young lawyers the President, N.E. Weerasooriya, H.R. Perera, E.B. Wickramanayake and L.A. Rajapakse made a team and called themselves 'The five of us’. At a function to bid farewell to Dr. Wickrama Weerasooriya who was leaving Sri Lanka to assume duties as High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Australia, the President in his speech mentioned about the 'five'. "They were all King’s Counsel, except myself. But I became the President who could create Kings’ Counsel. So I do not regret that I left the Bar after ten years practice with these distinguished gentlemen."

On President Premadasa's assassination when a section of the party leadership requested him to take over temporarily President Jayewardene was unmoved. He referred them to the provisions of the 1978 Constitution. As Professor K.M. de Silva puts it, "With that terse commentary on the succession to Premadasa, JR went back to his library to do what pleased him most in his retirement, to oversee the establishment of the J.R. Jayewardene Centre at the house in which he had spent part of his childhood and the early years of his professional career."

JRJ remembered
A ceremony to mark the 98th birth anniversary of President J.R. Jayewardene will be held on September 17 at 10 a.m. at the J.R. Jayewardene Centre in Colombo. A memorial stamp and first day cover will be released under the patronage of Minister of Posts and Telecommunications D.M. Jayaratne. The chief guest at the event will be Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara while Milinda Moragoda will deliver the memorial speech.

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