Tribute: The sixth Death Anniversary of Anil Moonesinghe falls today:

Anil Moonesinghe - A leader par excellence
 

Dinesh Gunawardena

A nil Moonesinghe was a politician and a trade unionist from the outset. It had indeed been these involvements that gave him the necessary tacit knowledge to excel in all the endeavours in which he was involved. Trade unionism gave him the impetus to excel in interpersonal relations, whether with top level workers, with the officers or with the ‘elite’. He moved among people with consummate skill and ease.

The oration he made, in both languages, marking the death anniversary of ‘Kandasamy’, a worker who was a target of the rain of bullets fired by an anti-worker regime in the General Strike of 1947, still reverberates in our ears.

This was some fifty years ago. It was such a perfect speech and was executed with meticulous attention to details. He was then just back in the island, after a successful professional and educational pursuits in England.

The people were convinced that ‘young Anil’ was made of ‘sterner stuff’ able to inspire and lead our society. That was the prowess he displayed even at the incipient stages of his career.

With the great change that took place in the country in 1956, young Anil was elected as a radical MP for the Lanka Sama Samaja Party from Agalawatte.

His family background meant that his political philosophy was grounded in the cultural traditions of the people of this country: he was as much a part of the radical tradition coming down to us from Anagarika Dharmapala as he was of the international Marxist tradition. He was thus a man born of the country and for the country.

destiny

Anil Moonesinghe

Anil’s involvement in the biggest transport organisation in South Asia, namely the Ceylon Transport Board or CTB as it was known, may be considered an intervention of destiny. The way the organisation had been run had sent wrong signals to the country and particularly to the commuter population.

Nationalising such a venture was considered ‘politically crazy’, a political misadventure. The main argument for this negative perception was that the country was not ready to take over and run such a complex organisation. Transport is a labour-intensive industry and therefore demands a highly structured, quality driven organisation for it to be a productive venture.

The criticism about timing was partly true, as the late ‘50s and early ‘60s were not the best of years to undertake the consolidation of such a scattered, individually-run collection of companies, only one of which, the South West Bus Company of Sir Cyril Soysa, was run with any degree of competency.

Management concepts, techniques and managerial experience were at a low ebb. The National Institute of Business - NIB (which is now the National Institute of Business Management - NIBM) had only just commenced its activities.

ideals

Against this backdrop, nationalising the private bus passenger transport industry was a bold step in the right direction taken by the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna government of SWRD Bandaranaike, in the realisation of its socialist ideals.

Anil Moonesinghe, as a young, novice MP, was one of those to support the nationalisation bill in Parliament. Nationalising such a widespread operation - that had an impact on the entire country - and, more specifically, getting the total fleet of buses operational by 1st January 1958, was seen as a miracle. This challenge was made easier by the backing and support of such political stalwarts as Maitripala Senanayake and my late father.

improving

In 1964 Anil became the Minister of Communications, with responsibility for the transport system. He applied himself vigorously to the task of improving the CTB as well as the Railways and the Port. Unfortunately, his period in the cabinet was too short for him to restructure the transport system in the manner he intended.

Anil was appointed as CTB Chairman, 12 years after nationalisation - and he planned a multi-faceted approach to resurrecting the institution, by infusing new blood. He upgraded its managerial competencies and skills and also recruited several batches of management trainees, to all its major functional areas.

This approach paid high dividends, as within a few years the industry became robust and vibrant. The commuting public breathed a sign of relief on witnessing, within a very short period of time, the rejuvenation of an industry, noted for its travails.

A training arm was organised both for the lower ranks as well as for the managerial staff. Infrastructure facilities were improved. Operations were re-structured based on studying commuter demands and operational bases were expanded by increasing the number of depots to over 100.

It was during his tenure of office as chairman that the CTB was developed to operate on a scientific footing. Measurements were introduced to ascertain the efficiency of every facet of the industry.

Cognisant of the high labour-intensive nature of the industry, staff was recruited on projected future needs. Training, skills enhancement and discipline were considered three main hallmarks of a CTB employee.

The concepts of teams and participative management were introduced (through Employees’ Councils), to the management system, to improve standards, enhance worker-commitment and strengthen worker involvement in the decision making processes.

Anil introduced operational discipline by displaying running and route numbers as well as destinations on buses and systematising terminal controls through efficient and effective time-keeping.

The measurers taken by him guaranteed more regularity in the operation of the running schedules. Way-side breakdowns were brought down to a bare minimum. As a result, the reliability of operations increased and the commuters could rely on (i) the time tables, (ii) the first and last trips on the routes schedules, (iii) courtesy and promptness of service (iv) cleanliness of buses and premises, (v) courtesy and disciplined conduct of the staff and, most importantly (vi) safe and accident-free operation. Hence it was an exemplary era in the annals of the country’s bus passenger transport industry. In fact, State owned bus operations to-date, have been run on the solid foundation that was laid by this political and managerial visionary.

noble

He represented the Matugama electorate for a considerable period, and Parliament honoured him by bestowing on him the prestigious post of Deputy Speaker. He was born for this noble task, as he had the skill, courage, political maturity, language-competency, clarity of communication and above all sincerity of purpose, to accomplish the onerous tasks of this high post.

I became close to him at the time we were both members of the opposition in Parliament after the by-elections of 1983. I reminisce with nostalgia on the fruitful association I had with Anil Moonesinghe. He was a democrat in decision making and a socialist in rendering services to Mother Lanka.

He was exemplary and fulfilled every task assigned to him as a ‘mission possible’. His illustrious character is a role-model for us all. He possessed emotional-intelligence in abundance. This is a boon for all leaders and organisations. He was a motivational leader as well and inspired everyone who was and around him.

I recall with gratitude the long hours of discussion with him when I was the Minister of Transport (2001-2002), during a short visit of his to Parliament. I followed up with a Bill to set up the CTB again. The Cabinet of Ministers approved it, but with the fall the Government it went into cold storage. Anil would have been the most jubilant of men, to hear the re-establishment of the CTB.

I have only touched on one aspect of this great man; and much remains unsaid. His leadership went where few dared to venture. “Leadership is going where no one else has gone”. He trod on unfamiliar ground and met with unexpected success. We salute this great man.

(The writer is Minister of Urban Development and Sacred Area Development)