Biographic sketches of up-and-coming Sri

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 001688

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, INR/NESA

PLEASE ALSO PASS TOPEC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09-29-13
TAGS: PINR PGOV PREL CE
SUBJECT: Biographic sketches of up-and-coming Sri
Lankan politicians

Refs: Colombo 1684, and previous

(U) Classified by James F. Entwistle, Deputy Chief of
Mission. Reasons 1.5 (b,d).


1. (C) Para two contains brief biographic sketches of
ten up-and-coming Sri Lankan politicians. Four of the
sketches are of governing United National Party (UNP)
politicians, three are of opposition People's Alliance
(PA) politicians, and one each from the radical Janantha
Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP),the Tamil National Alliance
(TNA),and the Muslim National Unity Alliance (NUA).
One of the biographic sketches is of a woman politician:
Chandrani Jayasinghe of the UNP.


2. (C) Brief biographic sketches follow:

UNP POLITICIANS
===============

>>> NAVIN DISSANAYAKE: Dissanayake, 34, is a UNP MP
from Nuwara Eliya in Sri Lanka's central highlands. He
was first elected to Parliament in 2000 and was re-
elected in 2001. He currently serves as Deputy Minister
of Plantation Industries. He hails from a very well-
known family; his father, Gamani, was a major UNP leader
who was assassinated in 1994 by the Tamil Tigers. He
also benefits from his close relationship with Deputy
UNP Leader Karu Jayasuriya, the Minister of Power and
Energy, who is his father-in-law. Dissanayake is
clearly on his way up in UNP leadership ranks, but he
has a bit of a controversial reputation. He has a poor
relationship with A. Thondaman, the head of the tea
estate Tamil Ceylon Worker's Congress (CWC),the most
influential party in Nuwara Eliya. More importantly, he
is believed to be currently on the outs with Prime
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is said to consider
Dissanayake a bit of a loose cannon. Friendly toward
the U.S., he recently attended a USG-sponsored
conference in Hawaii. He was educated at Colombo's
prestigious Royal College and graduated from the
University of Sussex in the UK. He is a lawyer by
profession, attending the Middle Temple in London. He
speaks excellent English and is Sinhalese Buddhist.

>>> SAJITH PREMADASA: Premadasa, 36, is a UNP MP from
Hambantota District in Sri Lanka's deep south. He was
first elected to Parliament in 2000 and was re-elected
in 2001. He serves the governing coalition as Deputy
Minister of Health and Nutrition. His father, then-
President R. Premadasa, was assassinated by the LTTE in

1993. Due to his father's manifold connections,
Premadasa has many links in UNP circles, which should
help him as he tries to ascend into UNP leadership
ranks. Premadasa is highly respected as a well-
informed, active MP. He was educated at Royal College,
and also studied in the UK and the U.S. He is an IVP
nominee in 2003. His wife, Hema, is a well-known
Colombo socialite. He speaks excellent English and is
Sinhalese Buddhist.

>>> CHANDRANI JAYASINGHE: Jayasinghe, 39, is a UNP MP
from Anuradhapura District in north-central Sri Lanka.
She was first elected to Parliament in 2000 and again in

2001. She comes from a political family; her father,
the late Chandra Bandara, was the Minister of Power and
Energy in President J.R. Jayawardene's government.
Educated in Sri Lanka, she is a graduate of the
prestigious St. Bridget's College in Colombo and the Sri
Lanka Law College. She is considered a possible
candidate to become a minister or a deputy minister in
any re-shuffling of portfolios. She is a practicing
attorney in Anuradhapura, as is her husband. She speaks
good English and is Sinhalese Buddhist.

>>> SAGALA RATNAYAKE: Ratnayake, 35, is a UNP MP from
Matara District in Sri Lanka's deep south. He was first
elected to Parliament in 2000 and again in 2001. His
father, the late Kolitha Ratnayake, was the owner of a
large tea estate and chairman of the State Plantation
Corporation, which oversees all state-owned tea estates.
At present, Ratnayake is Deputy Minister of Power and
Energy, working under Minister Karu Jayasuriya. He is a
close ally of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe. An
excellent vote-getter, Ratnayake has a relaxed,
easygoing manner. He is a graduate of Colombo's Royal
College. He later attended Lewis and Clark College in
Portland, Oregon, and has a bachelor's degree from the
University of Munich in business administration. He
speaks good English and is a Sinhalese Buddhist.

PA POLITICIANS
==============

>>> ARJUNA RANATUNGA: Ranatunga, 40, is a PA MP from
Colombo District. He was first elected to Parliament in

2001. His father, Reggie Ranatunga, is a fellow PA MP,
representing Gampaha District near Colombo. Ranatunga
entered politics after a highly successful cricket
career with Sri Lanka's national team. He was the team
captain from 1989 to 1999, including during its Cricket
World Cup win in 1996, and many Sri Lankans consider him
a hero for his role in that victory. Ranatunga is
believed to be very close to President Kumaratunga, who
reportedly convinced him to run for Parliament as a PA
candidate. He ran for president of the influential
Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka in June 2003,
but was defeated. In addition to his political
activities, he is involved in a private insurance
business. He is a graduate of Colombo's Ananda College,
a well-known Buddhist high school. He speaks excellent
English and is Sinhalese Buddhist.

>>> VADIVAL PUTHTHIRASIGAMONEY: Puththirasigamoney, 52,
is a PA MP from Nuwara Eliya district in Sri Lanka's
central highlands. He was first elected to Parliament
in 2000 as a UNP member, switched parties, and was
selected as a PA MP on the party's National list in

2001. He has long been a political and social activist
on behalf of the tea estate Tamil community. In an
affiliation with the CWC early in his career, he was a
high-level committee member for the party and a
representative of its estate trade union. Due to his
party switching ways, Puththirasigamoney now maintains a
frosty relationship with both the CWC and the UNP. He
was an IVP participant in 1988. Most recently, he was
the Deputy Mayor of Nuwara Eliya prior to his election
to Parliament. He speaks excellent English and is a
Tamil Hindu.

>>> DILAN PERERA: Perera, 41, is a PA MP from the
Badulla District in Sri Lanka's central highlands. He
was first elected to Parliament in 1994 and has been a
member since that time. In the previous PA government,
Perera served as Deputy Minister of Justice. Prior to
his election to Parliament, he was a member of the Uva
Provinical Council. He is a graduate of Royal College
and the Sri Lanka Law College. He is considered a close
associate of Dr. Sarath Amunugama, the chief PA
spokesman and a senior MP. Perera maintains a law
practice in Badulla, speaks good English, and is
Sinhalese Buddhist.

JVP
===

>>> VIJITHA HERATH: Herath, 40, is a JVP MP from
Gampaha District. He is one of the relatively few
public faces of the JVP (the party strictly controls its
public interactions). He is considered intelligent and
articulate, and is said to be very close to JVP General
Secretary Tilvin Silva. Herath has made many strident

SIPDIS
comments against the direction of the peace process. He
also recently visited North Korea and was quoted in the
press as expressing admiration for the system there.
For these views and others, he is considered a firebrand
of sorts even within JVP norms. Although a member of
the JVP throughout the group's 1988-89 insurrection,
Herath did not serve in the group's military wing and
was not implicated in any armed attacks on the
government. He speaks some English and is Sinhalese
Buddhist.

TNA
===

>>> GAJENDRA KUMAR PONNAMBALAM: Ponnambalam, 29, is a
TNA MP from the All-Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC)
representing Jaffna District. His father, Kumar, was
the head of the ACTC, but was assassinated in 2000. His
grandfather, G.G., was the founder of the ACTC and one
of the most important Tamil politicians in Sri Lanka
from the time of independence in 1948 until the 1970s.
Ponnambalam, who is bright and quite articulate, is a
strong advocate for Tamil causes and is considered
relatively close to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE). He is willing to criticize the LTTE in private,
however. Ponnambalam is strongly pro-peace process and
friendly to the UNP government. A lawyer by training,
he speaks excellent English and is a Tamil Hindu.

NUA
===

>>> M.L.A.M. HIZBULLAH: Hizbullah, 40, is a NUA MP from
Batticaloa District in the east. He first entered
Parliament in 1989. He is very close to Ferial Ashraff,
the leader of the NUA, and is an opponent of Rauf
Hakeem, the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, the
country's largest Muslim party. Hizbullah is considered
pro-peace process, but is a strong critic of the LTTE,
especially over the group's harassment of Muslims in the
east. Hizbullah is an outstanding vote-getter, with a
warm, friendly temperament. While mildly critical of
U.S. policy in the Middle East, Hizbullah denounces
terrorism and refrained from publicly criticizing
Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was an IVP participant in

1999. He speaks excellent English and is a Muslim.


3. (U) Minimize considered.

LUNSTEAD