Sunday Times 2
The journey of a loyal SLFPer: From Pera to people’s heart
On the first death anniversary W. Karunajeewa, Attorney at Law and political strategist, I, on behalf of the Alumni Association of University of Ceylon Peradeniya, wish to write a few lines of appreciation of my late friend for 44 years.
He was born in the southern hamlet of Kamburugamuwa in October 1946 to a family of traders. His father hailing from Thalpe in the Galle district married from a Kamburugamuwa family whose business interests were in Kandy. Eventually Karunajeewa moved with his parents to Kandy and his father lost his personal business in Pusselawa and his family had a difficult time. They were living in Bowala during this time and he did not have the opportunity to attend a top school in Kandy. He studied at Bowala Maha Vidyalaya.
W. Karunajeewa
A born leader, he was intelligent and an orator par excellence. He passed the GCE Ordinary Level examination in 1962 with high grades, and entered Dharmaraja Vidyalaya in Kandy for Advanced levels. At Dharmaraja, he led the Sinhala debating team, and after passing the GCE Advanced level examinations Karu entered the University of Ceylon Peradeniya in 1965.
When I entered Peradeniya University in 1968, it was the autumn where student activities blossomed through left politics.
Although Karu was in his final year as a B.Com undergraduate, he was more occupied with SLFP activities in the Kandy and Matale Districts. He spoke at pocket meetings together with Hector Kobbekaduwa, Monty Gopallawa, G B de Silva, Anurudhdha Ratwatte , D.M. Jayaratne and others.
On February 2, 1969, the Peradeniya Campus witnessed a clash between soldiers and students. This came after the Dudley Senanayaka Government housed the soldiers at the university’s gymnasium ahead of Independence Day celebrations in Kandy. The students did not like this and during the night drunk soldiers and students had a confrontation. As freshers at Jayathilaka Hall we witnessed the commanding leadership given to the students by a sarong clad man, whom we found to be the elusive Karunajeewa we were eager to meet. That was the beginning of our long friendship.
The life at Peradeniya groomed his leadership qualities. His oratorical skills made him a sought-after student. He was also involved in Buddhist Brotherhood activities which enabled him to associate with Prof. K.N. Jayathilleka, Prof. D.E. Hettiarachchi, Prof. N.A. Jayawickrema, Prof. W.S. Karunaratna and several other Buddhist scholars.
Although he had Trotskyite inclinations, he joined the late Monty Gopallawa, Malcolm Wijithapala and others to establish an SLFP organisation in the university.
In 1967, he organised a coalition of SLFP and CP students and captured the student council’s power for the SLFP for the first time. The party held the council until 1974, long after Karunajeewa left the University. He was instrumental in building the Inter-University SLFP Student Front with the cooperation of Vidyalankara, Vidyodaya and Colombo University SLFP organisations. Karu graduated in 1969 and after the SLFP’s victory at the 1970 elections he left Matale and returned to Kandy. After passing the General Clerical Examination, Karu came to Colombo and served as a clerk for a short while at the Postal Department. Later, he joined the Peradeniya Central School as a commerce teacher.
After the 1971 insurrection, Hector Kobbekaduwa requested him to be his public relations officer and he was instrumental in organising public rallies during the early days of the Land Reform Commission. Later he joined the Land Reform Commission as Director, Nuwara Eliya. During this period he closely associated with Janavegaya group members such as Sunethra Bandaranaike, Kumar Rupesinghe, Monty Gopallawa, Nanda Ellawala, Siripala Leelaratna, Karunasena Jayalath, Dharmasiri Jayakody Ariyawansa Pathiraja, Dr. Alagiyawanna and several intellectuals and journalists. He also brought a section of the JVP youth into mainstream politics. In fact, it is during this period that the late Vijaya Kumarathunge met Karu and entered politics.
In 1973, Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike requested him to resign from public service and accept the position of SLFP Administrative Secretary at the new party office at T B Jayah Mawatha. This position he held till May 1981 until the fateful split of the SLFP occurred and one faction ousted the other and sealed the party office.
History has been unkind to Karunajeewa as some still blame him for the role he played during this period. However, as s close friend, I know how he worked hard to unite the two factions at a time when Ms. Bandaranaike had been stripped of her civic rights.
During this period, he was elected to the Kandy Municipal Council where he used his debating skills to be a popular opposition figure. However after the SLFP split in 1981, he decided not to contest at subsequent elections. Had he pursued in politics, he would have been a brilliant parliamentarian.
Karu never recovered from the shock of power politics in the SLFP and decided to rebuild his life. He married in 1974 and was a father of a boy and a girl. Kusum his wife was never involved in political activity at Peradeniya but was a victim of the 1971 Insurrections. She was arrested mistakenly by Police when she was going home with some university students after the closure of the university. She was released due to the timely intervention of SP Shanmugam.
Karu was determined to start life over and applied to the Law College and was successful and qualified as an Attorney at Law in 1987.
Although out of party office activities during this period he helped and advised any political associate who came to him. He worked whole heartedly for the 1982 presidential battle. He played a role in bringing Maithripala Senanayaka back into the party fold to support Hector Kobbekaduwa.
By 1988, Karu had started his legal career but together with Halim Ishak, he gave his utmost for Ms. Bandaranaike’s campaign at the Presidential Election though his health started to fail with a bad heart condition. However, he survived and worked in Colombo and other suburban courts as an Attorney at Law and sharpened his knowledge under eminent legal luminaries. It is during this period that he got involved in the formation of the Colombo Chapter of the Peradeniya University Alumni Association. He was a member of the Executive Committee for several years but due to pressure of professional work, he never took high office.
A loyal member of the SLFP, he helped Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Padayatra and the party’s other activities.
After the 1994 victory, Rajapaksa recognised his sincere service to the party and made use of his organizational skills and honest leadership qualities for his political activities and to turn around three establishments – the Employees Trust Fund, the Fisheries Corporation, and the People’s Bank. Karu made them vibrant organisations. Rajapaksa handed over to Karu the task of winning the Galle District at the 2005 Presidential Election. Karu united a fractured SLFP and obtained a majority of more than 100,000 votes.
I sincerely believe the demise of Karu with his vast experience with the SLFP is a big loss to the Rajapaksa administration, the SLFP and his friends. Of course, he will be missed by his wife, two children, his sisters, their children and other members of the extended family to whom he was the mentor guide and fatherly figure who stood by them as a pillar throughout their good and bad times.
I am sure all those people who benefited from his advice will certainly miss him at their times of crisis. He was a source of strength to the workers of the institutions he headed.
Prior to his death, he had several times considered retiring from work but always he used to tell us, his close friends, that he wanted to stay as chairman of the People’s Bank until a solution to the pensions discrepancy issue affecting new entrants to the bank was found. I hope the greatest tribute the nation can give this humble and honest administrator on his first death anniversary is to persuade the President in his capacity as Minister of Finance to fulfil his aspirations to solve the pension anomaly of state bank employees.
May he attain the supreme bliss of Nirvana!
C W. Jayasekera
(Former President, Alumni Association of the University of Peradeniya, Colombo Chapter)