Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03COLOMBO1988
2003-11-18 11:52:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Colombo
Cable title:  

Biographical sketches of key advisers to

Tags:  PGOV PREL PINR CE 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 001988 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, INR/NESA

PLEASE ALSO PASS TOPEC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11-18-13
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR CE
SUBJECT: Biographical sketches of key advisers to
President Chandrika Kumaratunga

Refs: Colombo 1984, and previous

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

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 001988

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SA, SA/INS, INR/NESA

PLEASE ALSO PASS TOPEC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11-18-13
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR CE
SUBJECT: Biographical sketches of key advisers to
President Chandrika Kumaratunga

Refs: Colombo 1984, and previous

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


1. (C) Para three contains brief biographical sketches
of key advisers to Sri Lankan President Chandrika
Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. The advisers are divided into
three general (and sometimes cross-cutting) "circles":

-- (I) Family members, including senior People's
Alliance/Sri Lanka Freedom Party (PA/SLFP) MP Anura
Bandaranaike (brother) and Sunethra Bandaranaike
(sister);

-- (II) Members of her PA party, including senior
PA/SLFP MP's Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sarath Amunugama, and
Mangala Samaraweera, as well as Governor of the Southern
Province Kingsley Wickramaratne;

-- (III) Key members of her office staff, including
Senior Presidential Adviser Mano Tittawella (who is also
a close relative of the President's),Presidential
Spokesman Harim Peris, and Secretary to the President
W.J.S. Karunaratne.


2. (C) Para four contains brief biographic snapshots of
Cyril Herath and Tilak Ranaviraja, the new secretaries
(second-in-command) of the Defense and Mass
Communications Ministries respectively. Both officials
are reported to be close allies of President
Kumaratunga's, who installed them in their positions on
November 4 following her takeover of these ministries
(see Reftels). At the time, President Kumaratunga also
took over the Interior Ministry, but left Interior
Secretary N.M. Junaid in his post.

SIPDIS


3. (C) Brief biographical sketches of key advisers to
President Kumaratunga follow:

I) FAMILY CIRCLE
--------------

-- ANURA BANDARANAIKE, 54, the younger brother of the
President, is a senior PA/SLFP MP, and also serves as
the Senior Adviser to the President on National
Integration. Bandaranaike first entered Parliament in
1983 and continues to represent Gampaha District,
northeast of Colombo. Bandaranaike has had a checkered
political career, joining the SLFP in 1973, but
resigning to join the United National Party (UNP) in

1993. He was Speaker of Parliament for a brief period

from 2000-2001 and, in late 2001, suddenly rejoined the
SLFP. Bandaranaike is known to have an up-and-down
relationship with his sister, the President, but he has
access to her and is known to provide her with advice on
peace process and on political issues. Recently,
Bandaranaike has been involved in discussions on forming
an alliance between the SLFP and the extremist Janatha
Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). He is known to strongly favor
such an alliance. He has made no secret of his desire
to succeed his sister as leader of the PA/SLFP. These
ambitions put him at odds with Opposition Leader Mahinda
Rajapakse, who also covets the top job. Bandaranaike
was educated at Royal College, a prestigious high school
in Colombo, and the University of London. A bluff,
heavy-set man, he is not married and is Sinhalese
Buddhist.

-- SUNETHRA BANDARANAIKE, age 60, is President
Kumaratunga's older sister. Oxford-educated, she
launched the Sunera Foundation in 2001. This NGO
focuses on rehabilitating those who have been physically
disabled during the course of Sri Lanka's ethnic
conflict. Sunethra is a strong supporter of the PA, but
is not overtly involved in politics. She follows social
and cultural issues closely, however, and is believed to
have the ear of her sister on such matters. Sunethra is
twice divorced and has no children. She is Sinhalese
Buddhist. She lives in Colombo, but travels overseas
frequently.

II) PA CIRCLE
--------------

-- LAKSHMAN KADIRGAMAR, 70, is a close adviser and
confidante to President Kumaratunga. He is also a
senior PA/SLFP MP. Kadirgamar was Foreign Minister from
1994 to 2001 in the then-PA government. Oxford-
educated, Kadirgamar was an extremely successful lawyer
-- a world class authority on intellectual property
rights -- before joining the PA government. As foreign
minister, Kadirgamar's key duty was dealing with the
ethnic conflict, and, in that role, he served as
international spokesman for the GSL's perspective on the
war. He was also heavily involved in the public
presentation of the GSL's policies on the war to the Sri
Lankan public. In general, Kadirgamar is a moderate on
peace-related issues, expressing strong support for a
negotiated settlement to the conflict and ethnic
reconciliation. He remains strongly suspicious of the
Tiger leadership, however, and is reluctant to trust the
group too much in the negotiating process. As of
November 2003, however, his skeptical approach has taken
center stage, with Kadirgamar harshly attacking the
Tamil Tigers' proposals regarding the formation of an
interim administration in the north/east and making
public references to the "so-called" peace process. The
Tigers and many other Tamils do not look at Kadirgamar,
a fellow Tamil, in a positive fashion, to put it mildly,
and he is believed to be high on the Tigers' list of
potential targets. For that reason, although he is no
longer foreign minister, he continues to reside in a
fortified government residence. Kadirgamar is Christian
and is married.

-- SARATH AMUNUGAMA, 64, is a PA/SLFP MP from the
central district of Kandy and serves as spokesman for
his party. He began his career as a government civil
servant before entering Parliament in 1994. He was
Minister of Local Governments in the previous PA
government. An articulate, intelligent public speaker,
Amunugama is a fierce PA hard-liner, who is believed to
press the President to take on the UNP at every
opportunity. He holds two post-graduate degrees from
Canadian universities. He is Sinhalese Buddhist.

-- MANGALA SAMARAWEERA, 47, is a PA/SLFP MP from Matara
District in the south. First elected to Parliament in
1989, he was previously the main SLFP organizer for
Matara, where his father also served as MP. He was
Minister of Posts and Telecommunications in the previous
PA government. Samaraweera is another PA hard-liner,
who is said to advise the President to hit out at Prime
Minister Wickremesinghe and the UNP government whenever
possible. He is also one of the major proponents of an
alliance between the PA and JVP. A former academic,
Samaraweera attended the University of London and is
openly homosexual. He is Sinhalese Buddhist.

-- KINGSLEY WICKRAMARATNE, 64, is the Governor of the
Southern Province (which includes Galle, Hambantota, and
Matara Districts). He first entered Parliament in 1989.
Formerly chairman and CEO of several leading private as
well as public sector companies, he was the Minister of
Internal and External Trade, Commerce and Food in the
previous PA government. Wickramaratne was defeated in
parliamentary elections in December 2001 and was given
the governor position as a sinecure. He continues to
advise the President on economic and trade issues. He
is Sinhalese Buddhist, and is married with two children.

III) PRESIDENTIAL STAFF
--------------

-- MANO TITTAWELLA, 43, is a Senior Adviser to President
Kumaratunga, and Senior Director General of the Planning
and Implementation division of the Presidential
Secretariat. A relative of the President's (a cousin),

SIPDIS
Tittawella worked for major Sri Lankan banking and
securities firms until 1997, when he was selected by the
then-PA government to be the Director General of the
Public Enterprise Reform Commission. Tittawella was
also the head of the government-run Peoples' Bank until

2001. The DCM, who has met with Tittawella on several
occasions, describes him as smart and accessible, and
notes that Tittawella is quite open in identifying
weaknesses in the President's performance. It is clear
that Tittawella has moved beyond the economic issues he
was originally brought into the President's office to
deal with. Tittawella, for example, is the main
working-level contact with the UNP governing coalition
in negotiations concerning the political stalemate
brought about by President Kumaratunga's November 4-5
takeover of three ministries and suspension of
Parliament. Tittawella was also one of the few
individuals present at the
November 12 meeting between the President and PM in
which they first met face-to-face to discuss the crisis.
He attended Royal College and holds an MBA from the
University of Edinburgh. He is Sinhalese Buddhist and
is married with two children.

-- HARIM PEIRIS, 34, is the President's chief spokesman.
Following President Kumaratunga's November 4 takeover of
the Defense, Interior and Mass Communication Ministries,
Peiris was also made chairman of the state-run
Rupavahini television corporation. Peiris, who was
educated in the U.S. (and holds an MBA form the
University of Houston),tends to espouse pro-U.S. views,
and is highly articulate and friendly. He is probably a
moderating influence on the President. He was
previously a financial analyst and has a background in
investment banking. He is an evangelical Christian
Sinhalese and hails from Colombo where he attended St.
Thomas, a well-known private high school.

-- W.J.S. KARUNARATNE, 63, is the Secretary to President
Kumaratunga. After working in several ministries in
senior administrative positions in past UNP and PA
governments, Karunaratne was appointed additional
secretary to the President in 1997 and was made

SIPDIS
Secretary to the President in 2003. He is an adviser to

SIPDIS
the President more on the implementation of policy and
not so much on substantive issues. He did postgraduate
studies at Cambridge University. He is Sinhalese
Buddhist from Kandy. He is married.


4. (C) Biographical information on the new secretaries
of the Defense and Mass Communications Ministries
follows:

-- CYRIL HERATH, 69, is the new Secretary of the
Ministry of Defense. He served as Inspector General of
Police (IGP) from 1985-88 and the Director of the Police
National Intelligence Bureau from its creation by the
then-PA government in 1998 until 2001. Herath was also
the chairman of the National Savings Bank from 1994-

2002. He is considered to be very close to the
President. While he has held police and intelligence
positions and is generally well-regarded, he does not
have direct military experience. He is Sinhalese
Buddhist and is from Anuradhapura in north-central Sri
Lanka.

-- TILAK RANAVIRAJA, 61, is the new Secretary of the
Ministry of Mass Communications. Formerly the chairman
of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri
Lanka until 2003, Ranaviraja served the previous PA
government as both the Secretary to the Ministry of
Health and Secretary to the Ministry of Mahaweli
Development (a massive dam/hydroelectric project in
central Sri Lanka). Ranaviraja was also the deputy
chief of mission at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington
from 1988-1990, and again for a brief period in 1994.
He is considered to be very close to the President. He
is Sinhalese Buddhist and is married. He is from Kandy.


5. (U) Minimize considered.

LUNSTEAD