Another fellow journeyman from Matale, Amarananda Somasiri Jayawardena (AS) was a 22-year old Assistant Establishments Officer, when I joined the Central Bank in 1958. We discovered a shared link in the fact that his primary education had been at St. Agns’ Convent, my Alma Mater. AS got a double promotion to Standard Four when he joined [...]

The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

A. S. Jayawardena: The banker’s banker

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Another fellow journeyman from Matale, Amarananda Somasiri Jayawardena (AS) was a 22-year old Assistant Establishments Officer, when I joined the Central Bank in 1958. We discovered a shared link in the fact that his primary education had been at St. Agns’ Convent, my Alma Mater. AS got a double promotion to Standard Four when he joined St. Thomas’ College (STC), Matale, and two years later received yet another double promotion to Standard Seven. Thus, he was the youngest candidate to sit for the SSC Examination where his performance earned him an exemption from the London Matriculation. This was so singular a feat at the time, that Principal Charles Robinson, declared a half holiday for the entire school in his honour.

Apart from the empathy that Matale folks have for each other, I like to believe that AS looked out for me because I was so far away from home and when I got married to Thiru, a fellow banker, AS was pleased to sign as my witness. Having completed his post-primary education at Royal College, AJ entered Colombo University to earn a BA Special Degree in Economics. W.A. Wijewardena, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, has revealed that AS’ marks at the university entrance examination were at such a high level that he was exempted from the first year exam and was allowed to read for a special degree straightaway. He is perhaps the first Sri Lankan to complete a four year special degree course in three years.

Correction
“Bluster, fire and
fury with my “Boss”
In the reflections article under the above headline carried two weeks ago, the name of the senior deputy governor was erroneously given as Sarath Rajapathirana. The correct name is D.W. Rajapathirana. Our apologies to Sarath Rajapathirana.
In the meantime, this series of Central Bank reflections ends this week.

 

 

 

In the mid-’60s, he left on a Bank scholarship for postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics (LSE), where he read for his MSc in Public Sector Economics and came under the tutelage of some of the greatest economic thinkers of that time. But what defined the man was his own brand of thinking in whatever station he functioned; whether it was in the commercial banking sector, the international financial sector, or as Ministry Secretary in the course of several regime changes. In fact, AS’ career path is illuminated by assorted high posts.

In the 1970s, with an Edward S. Mason Fellowship under his belt, AS set out to Harvard Kennedy School (Harvard University) to obtain a mid-career Masters’ Degree in Public Administration. Here, with other young leaders from across the globe, he was exposed to the challenge of addressing “the world’s most compelling development challenges.” After my husband and I retired from Bank service, our contact with AS became fairly tenuous, since his journey took him to faraway places, his career path on a trajectory towards the future stewardship of the Central Bank.

When I resumed my career in the mid-70s, first at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI) and thereafter in the non-government sector, it was inevitable that our paths should cross. AS was our first choice whether it was to deliver a keynote address, serve as a panelist or discussant, or preside over some event or the other.  I remember when SEEDS (Sarvodaya Economic Enterprise Development Services), relocated to its new home “Arthadharma Kendraya, in Moratuwa in November 2000, the eminent guest invited by Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne to formally commission the new building was none other than A.S. Jayawardena. Fate willed it that at a later date; AS should serve this institution as Chairman of the Board.

AS’ tenure as Governor of the Central Bank commenced in November 1995. It was the culmination of a long journey marked by bouts of storm and sunshine. But destiny still required something more from him, something which would bring out the iron in his soul.  It was the 31st of January 1996, and within minutes the Central Bank and its environs had become Sri Lanka’s “Ground Zero” when LTTE suicide bombers rammed a truck bomb into the Bank’s entrance, demolishing the first two floors, killing 41 officers and endangering the lives of more than a thousand others. For AS, this proved to be the definitive moment of his life.

From inner resources he found the fortitude to lead his band of survivors to keep the country’s financial heartbeat ticking – a huge moral victory for the entire country. Recalling this incident, AS says that after the initial shock, what came to his mind was a vision of the phoenix – a beautiful, mystical bird in Greek mythology, which, as it rises anew from the ashes of its fiery death, has become a universal symbol of “rebirth, renewal and indestructibility”. Four years later when the gutted floors of the old building had been rebuilt and a new building had emerged from the embers, as it were, AS commissioned renowned artist Tilake Abeysinghe to construct a mural of a phoenix to adorn the lobby.

Also to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Bank in the year 2000, he turned to the healing power of music to immortalize the Bank’s strength and resilience by inviting young sitarist, Dharshan Pradeep Ratnayake, to create a commemorative symphony. Pradeep’s composition, Indrakeelaya (the unshaken), embodies the four themes of peace, conflict, lamentation and hope.  This then is the legacy of the man, hardcore pragmatism allied to a visionary ideal not only for the Central Bank but for the country as a whole. It was 2004, and AS had served in the public domain for nearly half a century. It was time now to lay down the burden of office. In 2005, A S Jayawardena was conferred the title Deshamanya, meaning ‘Pride of the Nation’— the second highest national honour, in recognition of his 46 long years of distinguished public service.

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