DEMISE OF MANGALA SAMARAWEERA – OUTSPOKEN MATARA DISTRICT MAVERICK POLITICIAN & FORMER MINISTER
By: Upali Obeyesekere – With files from International Media
Mangala samaraweera
News has reached us that Mangala Samaraweera has passed away today. Sri Lanka’s former finance minister Mangala Samaraweera passed away Tuesday in hospital where he was being treated for Coronavirus. According to hospital sources, he was receiving care in the intensive care unit for several days and was responding well. However, he suffered a cardiac arrest on Monday night and suffered another cardiac arrest on Tuesday morning. He was put on the ventilator but succumbed to the virus.
The 65-year-old Samaraweera contracted the virus earlier this month and was receiving intensive care unit (ICU) treatment at the Lanka Hospital, despite being fully vaccinated. He was the second highest ranking Sri Lankan politician to succumb to coronavirus after the death of former parliamentary Speaker WJM Lokubandara.
An outspoken politician hailing from the Matara district, Samaraweera left parliamentary politics in 2020, focusing his abilities on forming a broader alliance of like-minded, independent liberal thinkers.
Born on April 21, 1956, Mangala Pinsiri Samaraweera was educated at Royal College Colombo. He left for the U.K. soon after leaving school and obtained a fashion and textile designing degree from Central St. Martins in London, England.
Politics was in his blood as he grew up in the shadow of his late father Mahanama Samaraweera who was a well known parliamentarian who represented Matara. Following in his father’s footsteps, Managala embarked on a political career after returning to Sri Lanka in 1988. He contested and won the important southern electoral seat of Matara to enter parliament in 1989. He left parliamentary politics in 2020 after a three-decade stint serving the nation in various capacities under the stewardship of Presidents Chandrika Banadaranaike, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena.
In the January 2015 presidential election, Samaraweera played a key role as a joint spokesman of the opposition coalition candidate Maithripala Sirisena, who unseated former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, one of Asia’s longest-serving leaders.
Samaraweera was the foreign minister and had worked hard to ease international pressure on Sri Lanka over alleged war crimes by the military in the 26-year war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
As foreign minister, Samaraweera was able to get a two-year extension to implement fully the commitments that were made under the 2015 resolution, though the United Nations had expressed concern at the “slow progress” of reforms in Sri Lanka.
Previously, he was foreign minister under Mahinda Rajapaksa from 2005-2007, but Samaraweera formed a new party and backed the opposition after Rajapaksa sacked him. He had also served as minister of port and aviation, urban development, media and information, and post and telecommunication since 1994.
As the telecommunications minister between 1994-2000, he revived the island nation’s telecom sector with the privatisation of state-run Sri Lanka Telecom with NTT of Japan buying 35 percent, and introduced private operators.
Popular for his political shrewdness and strategic decision making in winning elections, Samaraweera was considered as one of the kingmakers in local politics. A free thinker in politics, he stayed true to his principles even when doing so would be politically disadvantageous to him. Samaraweera was also known for being a staunch defender of minority rights and a vocal proponent of liberal democracy. He often courted controversy, being one of a handful of Sri Lankan politicians to openly challenge cultural norms and their self-appointed purveyors.
The services rendered by Samaraweera to the people of Matara and the country have and will be enjoyed by numerous generations. He built his career on the principles of democracy and Ffeedom, values that he fought to ensure all Sri Lankans enjoyed.
Life is impermanent but death is permanent. Rest in Peace, Mr. Mangala Samaraweera – you served our nation of Sri Lanka to the best of your ability.
