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| Thursday, 25 November 2004 |
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D. A. Rajapakse, distinguished scion of a respected Ruhunu clan by Chandra Edirisuriya D. A. Rajapakse was born on March 30, 1905 to Don David Rajapakse Vidanarachchi Ralahamy of the village of Medamulana in Weeraketiya in the historic Ruhunu Rata and Dona Gimara Weerakoon Ratnayake. He received his early education at Weeraketiya School and higher education at Richmond College, Galle. He studied in the Commercial Form and left school to take up planting. He played cricket and football for the college teams. His hobbies were social service, paddy cultivation, cattle farming and planting. D. A. Rajapakse who lived a simple life refused to accept the State Council seat that fell vacant owing to the sudden death of his elder brother D. M. Rajapakse who had earned the accolade the Lion of Ruhuna in 1945. But owing to public appeals he agreed to contest - the by election held on 08.08.1945 and was returned uncontested to the Hambantota seat thus entering active politics. He held membership of the Agriculture and Lands Executive Committee in the State Council upto 01.07.1947. He was again elected by popular vote as the member for Beliatta in the first Parliament on 14.10.1947. He left the United National Party along with SWRD Bandaranaike in 1951 and sat in the opposition. Bandaranaike did not know that someone was following him and had thought that it was his shadow. He was again the member of the House of Representatives in the Second Parliament from 29.06.1952 to 18.02.1956. He was elected as the member for Beliatta in 1956 and served as the Parliamentary Secretary (Deputy Minister in today's parlance) to the Minister of Land Development and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Lands and was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Lands in 1959. He was elected member for Beliatta in the fifth Parliament on 20.07.1960 and served as the Deputy Chairman of Committees and the Deputy Speaker upto 17.12.1964. He passed away on November 07, 1967 ending a long and distinguished service to the people. He was unassuming and collected but nevertheless a political leader who could take a people friendly decision. The present Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and Deputy Minister Chamal Rajapakse are two of his sons. D. A. Rajapakse was a noble son of Ruhuna who represented the people of the Hambantota district in the legislature for nearly two decades. He was a political colossus whose contribution to the people of Giruwapattuwa and Magampattuwa was immense. The Rajapakses of Giruwaya have given leadership and represented the interests of the rural agricultural population. That the shawl they wore with the national dress was the colour of Kurakkan, which is the traditional diet of the people, alone shows their affiliation to the rural population. D. A. Rajapakse was a political leader who strived for social justice. His service was aimed at bringing about well-being of the rural poor. He did not believe in the political ideologies in vogue in his day but rather had anti-imperialistic and nationalistic ideas. It is indeed very fortunate to be able to write about true sons of mother Lanka like him who were generous to a fault. He was a hero among leaders in that he did not build up a private fortune but rather worked to enrich human society. What was foremost in his heart and mind was the solving of social problems. He was progressive in the fullest sense of the word. He never hurt the feelings of even his enemies. He was not voluble. The few words he spoke nourished society. He spent all his wealth for the welfare of the people. He was fully behind the 'Revolution of 1956' that dawned the 'Era of the Common Man'. He did yeoman service to this country when politics was decided by big money. His character is an example to the younger generation to emulate. The fact that his golden qualities are remembered by many even decades after his demise vouch for the fact that he was an honest politician and had an unblemished character. D. A. Rajapakse was a tower of strength to Philip Gunawardhana, Minister of Agriculture and Lands in the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna government of 1956 in implementing the Paddy Lands Act which lifted the rural farmer and revolutionised the rural economy. One of the most valuable services rendered by D. A. Rajapakse to our motherland was the bringing up of his children who are committed to the hilt to the service of the ordinary people. It was present Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, his illustrious son, who roared like a lion raising his voice both locally and internationally on behalf of the helpless youth of his country during the infamous period of terror 15 years ago. At a time when young men and women were taken from their houses and brutally killed, he fought against the violation of their fundamental rights. D. A. Rajapakse followed the path trod by the sons of Ruhuna of the past. His love for the people was such that he gave away a gold chain (havadiya) which was a heirloom, by removing parts of it from time to time, to meet the needs of the downtrodden. He went against the British imperialists and their local agents at a time when only a few dared to defy their authority. The voice of the rural folk of Giruwaya began to ring once again in the State Council when D. A. Rajapakse reluctantly agreed to fill the void created by the untimely death of his elder brother D. M. Rajapakse. Although he served his beloved people as State Councillor, Member of Parliament, Deputy Minister, Deputy Speaker and Minister for nearly two decades, he never thought of residing in Colombo. He was with the farmer as before. He was the chief dayaka of the Mulkirigala Viharaya and many more temples in the area. He remained the friend of the farmer to the end of his life. He was brave enough to come to the State Council wearing the Kurakkan coloured shawl symbolising the rural economy. The contribution of Ruhuna to preserve the whole country as a unitary State, the liberation of the country from foreign invaders and bringing about economic, political, religious and social development, have been unique throughout our history. This has been the special mission of those who were born, bred and lived in Ruhuna including my kingsman Charlie Edirisuriya, MP, who was called 'Rhino of Ruhuna'. This was accomplished in our recent history by D. A. Rajapakse. His elder brother, D. M. Rajapakse, fulfilled that duty before him. The people of especially Mulkirigala, Beliatta, Hambantota honour them and are grateful to them even today for their selfless service. It is evident from the fact that four of their sons and a granddaughter were sent to Parliament by the people of these areas. D. M. Rajapakse did not bow down to the British imperialists. He earned a reputation as a politician who represented the farmers. He nurtured the Sinhala Buddhist culture. D. A. Rajapakse carried forward his mission. Veteran, Social, Political and economic analyst J. R. P. Suriyapperuma delivering the D. A. Rajapakse memorial lecture in November 2001 said that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse is entrusted with the onerous responsibility of building a new, strong economy in Sri Lanka deriving strength from the South, based on the Hambantota harbour. There were three pioneering personalities who marked ruhuna in South Sri Lanka on the political map of Sri Lanka. These three were S. A. Wickremasinghe from Matara district, W. Dahanayake, who with his twin brother Kalyanapriya were my father's batchmates at the Government Teacher Training College situated at the present Thurstan College premises, from Galle district and D. A. Rajapakse from Hambantota district who represented these districts in the State Council. "He was elected five times to the legislature of our country - elected on the genuine votes cast with sincerity and affection by grateful people. He was the epitome of what Prime Minister Herbert Asquith (1st Earl of Oxford) said on the eve of the 1914 -18 war "in public politics as in private life character is better than brains and loyalty more valuable than either." D. A. Rajapakse remained to his dying day a gentleman in full possession of all three ("Reflections on D. A. Rajapakse" by Sam Wijesinghe). "Don Alwin Rajapakse was perhaps the most outstanding democratic politician produced by the Ruhuna region. D. A. Rajapakse was undoubtedly a politician par excellence and a noble human being. He showed genuine goodwill towards the ordinary masses, mixed with them and even joined the workers in his paddy fields in ploughing and harvesting paddy. That explains why the memory of his pleasant unassuming personality has not faded even thirty five years after his demise" said Professor W. I. Siriweera in November 2002. Kamala Rajapakse Wickramasuriya, daughter of D. M. Rajapakse in her tributes to her uncle D. A. Rajapakse, has said: "D. A. uncle as I remember him, befriended all of us, was a father to us, who were fatherless and school-going-children. All of us including uncle DA, had nothing to fall back on. The few properties inherited were all mortgaged to a businessman in Matara, and we were left with paying enormous sums of money, in the way of interest which kept on growing like the 'Salvinia' weed, ever multiplying but never subtracting." "We too felt the impact, as children having had to sacrifice many a need. Sometimes it told hard, when our boarding fees ran into arrears which made us to face embarrassing situations. "It was amidst all the sorrow and heartaches, that uncle D. A. emerged uncontested at the by-election to the Hambantota seat which fell vacant after father's death. The heartening news spread through Ruhuna, giving everyone a deep sense of security, because we knew that now we had sheltering care." |
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