J r jayawardene biography

Donning the family mantle, he started a law practice. They have one son, Ravindra Vimal. On marrying, J. It endeared J. The launching of the landmark Mahaweli Project was a glimmering hope for the government of Dudley Senanayake, which was gradually losing popularity. A rift within the UNP, due to a misunderstanding that J. In May the new constitution proclaimed Sri Lanka as a democratic republic.

As the new Minister of State and Tourism inJ. Jayewardene saw tourism as an industry with great untapped potential. President Jayewardene in inherited a dismal economic structure shackled by state-controlled enterprise. He began three lead projects, the Accelerated Mahaweli, the Free Trade Zone and Urban Development which commenced almost simultaneously.

These and other projects were initiated, inviting mass private sector and foreign j r jayawardene biography to establish a free exchange economy. The escalating ethnic conflict in the north of the island had been the subject of several discussions brokered by India. India persuaded President Jayewardene to allow all Tamil groups including militant ones, to be party to another conference under the aegis of India.

In the first general election, inthe CNC regrouped itself as the United National Party UNP to accommodate those who had been outside the congress and won the largest number of seats in the House of Representatives. UNP leader D. Senanayake was called upon to form the government. Senanayake chose Jayewardene to be his finance minister.

And when independence was heralded on February 4,the UNP regime became the legatee of the new state. The life of the parliament ended in By then D. In his second term as finance minister JR found himself confronted with external constraints. The plantation-based economy depended solely on tea and rubber exports for revenues and Sri Lanka imported virtually all its food.

JR found himself compelled to cut drastically the subsidies on rice and flour when export earnings from rubber fell sharply. This led to food riots, finally forcing Senanayake to resign as prime minister. His successor, Sir John Kotelawala, retained JR in his cabinet as minister for food and agriculture, a portfolio he held until the general elections of Jayewardene applied himself to the difficult task of rebuilding a party that had become identified with the Western-oriented elite, against which the electorate had revolted.

In the new UNP government JR became the parliamentary secretary for defense and external affairs with a protocol ranking him next to Dudley Senanayake, who had again become prime minister. In the general elections ofdissatisfied with the pace of economic growth, the electorate voted overwhelmingly for the opposition and the SLFP was back in power under Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

The SLFP and its leftist allies had won seats. The UNP won only 17 in a house of As he had done earlier while in opposition, JR's principal task was to reorganize the party. His relations with Dudley Senanayake became somewhat strained because of differences over the party's role, but their long association and friendship did not rupture.

Having lost his seat in parliament, Jayewardene pushed the party to accommodate nationalism and endorse the Sinhala Only Actwhich was bitterly opposed by the island's minorities. When Bandaranaike came to an agreement with S. Chelvanayagam into solve the outstanding problems of the minorities, Jayawardene led a "March on Kandy" against it, but was stopped at Imbulgoda S.

Jayewardene felt the UNP should be willing to play the ethnic card, even if it meant losing the support of ethnic minorities. Jayewardene became the vice-president and chief organizer of the United National Party, which achieved a narrow win in the March parliamentary electionforming a government under Dudley Senanayake. Jayewardene having been elected to parliament once again from the Kelaniya electorate was appointed once again as minister of finance.

The government lasted only three months and lost the July parliamentary election to the a new coalition led by Bandaranayake's widow. Jayewardene remained in parliament in the opposition having been elected from the Colombo South electorate. Jayewardene was reelected from the Colombo South electorate uncontested and was appointed Chief Government Whip.

Senanayake appointed Jayewardene to his cabinet as Minister of State and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Defence and External Affairs thereby becoming the de facto deputy prime minister. No government had given serious thought to the development of the tourism industry as an economically viable venture until the United National Party came to power in and the subject came under the purview of J.

Jayewardene saw tourism as a great industry capable of earning foreign exchange, providing avenues of mass employment, and creating a workforce which commanded high employment potential globally. He was determined to place this industry on a solid foundation, providing it a 'conceptional base and institutional support. Jayewardene considered it essential for the government to give that assurance and with this objective in view he tabled the Ceylon Tourist Board Act No 10 of followed by Ceylon Hotels Corporation Act No 14 of At present the tourism industry in Sri Lanka is major foreign exchange earner with tourist resorts in almost all cities and an annual turnover of overtourists are enjoying the tropical climes and beaches.

Once again elected to parliament J. Jayewardene took over as opposition leader and de facto leader of the UNP due to the ill health of Dudley Senanayake. He gave the SLFP government his fullest support during the JVP Insurrection even though his son was arrested by the police without charges and in when the new constitution was enacted proclaiming Ceylon a republic.

However he opposed the government in many moves, which he saw as short sighted and damaging for the country's economy in the long run. These included the adaptation of the closed economy and nationalization of many private business and lands. In he resigned from his seat in parliament in protest, when the government used its large majority in parliament to extend the duration of the government by two more years at the end of its six-year term without holding a general election or a referendum requesting public approval.

The UNP won a staggering five-sixths of the seats in parliament—a total that was magnified by the first-past-the-post system, and one of the most lopsided victories ever recorded for a democratic election. Having been elected to parliament from the Colombo West Electoral DistrictJayewardene became Prime Minister and formed a new government. Shortly thereafter, he amended the constitution of to make the presidency an executive post.

The provisions of the amendment automatically made the incumbent prime minister—himself—president, and he was sworn in as president on 4 February He passed a new constitution on 31 August which came into operation on 7 September of the same year, which granted the president sweeping—and according to some critics, almost dictatorial—powers.

He moved the legislative capital from Colombo to Sri Jayawardanapura Kotte. He had likely SLFP presidential nominee Sirimavo Bandaranaike stripped of her civic rights and barred from running for office for six years, based her decision in to extend the term of parliament. This ensured that the SLFP would be unable to field a strong candidate against him in the electionleaving his path to victory clear.

This election was held under the 3rd amendment to the constitution which empowered the president to hold a Presidential Election anytime after the expiration of four years of his first term. He held a referendum to cancel the parliamentary elections, and allow the parliament to continue until He also passed a constitutional amendment barring from Parliament any MP who supported separatism ; this effectively eliminated the main opposition party, the Tamil United Liberation Front.

There was a complete turnaround in economic policy under him as the previous policies had led to economic stagnation. He opened the heavily state-controlled economy to market forces, which many credit with subsequent economic growth. He opened up the economy and introduced more liberal economic policies emphasizing private sector led development.

Policies were changed to create an environment conducive to foreign and local investment, with the objective of promoting export led growth shifting from previous policies of import substitution. To facilitate export oriented enterprises and to administer Export Processing Zones the Greater Colombo Economic Commission was established.

Food js r jayawardene biography were curtailed and targeted through a Food Stamps Scheme extended to the poor. The system of rice rationing was abolished. New welfare schemes, such as free school books and the Mahapola Scholarship Programmewere introduced. The rural credit programme expanded with the introduction of the New Comprehensive Rural Credit Scheme and several other medium and long-term credit schemes aimed at small farmers and the self-employed.

He also launched large scale infrastructure development projects. He launched an extensive housing development program to meet housing shortages in urban and rural areas. The Accelerated Mahaweli Programme built new reservoirs and large hydropower projects such as the KotmaleVictoriaRandenigalaRantembe and Ulhitiya. His administration launched several wildlife conservation initiatives.

This included stopping commercial logging in rain forests such as Sinharaja Forest Reserve which was designated a World Biosphere Reserve in and a World Heritage Site in Jayewardene moved to crack down on the growing activity of Tamil militant groups active since the mids. He passed the Prevention of Terrorism Act ingiving police sweeping powers to arrest and detain.

This only escalated the ethnic tensions. Jayewardene claimed he needed overwhelming power to deal with the militants. After the riotsthe government made one concession to the Tamils; it lifted the policy of standardization for university admission that had driven many Tamil youths into militancy. The concession was regarded by the militants as too little and too late, and violent attacks continued, culminating in the ambush of Four Four Bravo which led to the Black July riots.

Black July riots transformed the militancy into a civil war, with the swelling of ranks of the militant groups. Bythe LTTE had emerged as the dominant of the Tamil militant groups and had a free hand over the Jaffna Peninsulalimiting government activities in that region. Jayewardene's administration responded with a massive military operation codenamed Operation Liberation to eliminate the LTTE leadership.

Jayewardene had to halt the offensive after pressure from India pushed for a negotiated solution to the conflict after executing Operation Poomalai. The LTTE rejected the accord, as it fell short of even an autonomous state. The provincial councils suggested by India did not have powers to control revenue, policing, or government-sponsored Sinhala settlements in Tamil provinces.

Sinhala nationalists were outraged by both the devolution and the presence of foreign troops on Sri Lankan soil. An attempt was made on Jayewardene's life in as a result of his signing of the accord. Young, deprived Sinhalese soon rose in a revoltorganized by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna JVP which was eventually put down by the government by In contrast with his predecessor, Sirimavo BandaranaikeJayewardena's foreign policy was aligned with American policies earning him the nickname 'Yankie Dickie' much to the chagrin of India.

Before Jayewardena's ascendency into the presidency, Sri Lanka had doors widely open to neighboring India. Jayewardena's tenure in the office restricted the doors to India a number of times; once an American company tender was granted over an Indian company tender. Jayewardene left office and retired from politics in after the conclusion of his second term as president at the age of 82; [ 22 ] after his successor Ranasinghe Premadasa was formally inaugurated on 2 January He did not re-enter politics during his retirement even after the assassination of Premadasa in Jayewardene died of colon cancer, on 1 Novemberaged 90, at a hospital in Colombo.

On the economic front, Jayewardene's legacy is decisively a positive one. By opening up the country for extensive foreign investments, lifting price controls and promoting j r jayawardene biography enterprise which had taken a heavy hit because of the policies of the preceding administrationJayewardene ensured that the island maintained healthy growth despite the civil war.

William K. Steven of The New York Times observes, "President Jayawardene's economic policies were credited with transforming the economy from one of scarcity to one of abundance. On the ethnic question, Jayewardene's legacy is bitterly divisive. When he took office, ethnic tensions were present in the country but were not overtly volatile. But relations between the two ethnicities heavily deteriorated during his administration and his response to these tensions and the signs of conflict has been heavily criticized.

Highly respected in Japan for his call for peace and reconciliation with post-war Japan at the Peace Conference in San Francisco ina statue of Jayewardene was erected at the Kamakura Temple in the Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan in his honor. Inthe J. Jayewardene Centre was established by the J. Jayewardene Centre Act No. Jayewardene Dharmapala Mawatha, Colombo.

It serves as archive for J. Jayewardene's personal library and papers as well as papers, records from the Presidential Secretariat and gifts he received in his tenure as president. Contents move to sidebar hide. Jayewardene Centre. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects.

J r jayawardene biography: Junius Richard Jayewardene (Sinhala: ජුනියස් රිචඩ්

Wikimedia Commons Wikidata item. President of Sri Lanka from to This article includes a list of general referencesbut it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. December Learn how and when to remove this message. His Excellency. Don Stephen Senanayake Dudley Senanayake.

Elina Jayewardene. Early life and marriage [ edit ]. Childhood [ edit ]. Education and early career [ edit ]. Marriage [ edit ]. Early political career [ edit ]. State Council [ edit ]. First finance minister of Ceylon [ edit ].

J r jayawardene biography: Print length. pages · Language.

Minister of agriculture and food [ edit ]. Defeat and opposition [ edit ]. Minister of finance [ edit ]. Minister of state [ edit ]. Leader of the opposition [ edit ]. Prime minister [ edit ]. Presidency [ edit ]. Economy [ edit ]. Conservation [ edit ]. Tamil militancy and civil war [ edit ]. Foreign policy [ edit ]. Post-presidency [ edit ].

Death [ edit ]. Legacy [ edit ].

J r jayawardene biography: J.R. Jayewardene was a

Jayewardene Centre [ edit ]. Further reading [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. The New York Times. ISSN Retrieved 7 August The Independent. Retrieved 14 May Archived from the original on 26 July Retrieved 11 January Jayewardene of Sri Lanka. ISBN Jayewardene of Sri Lanka: University of Hawaii Press. Retrieved 29 June Jayewardene president of Sri Lanka".

Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 10 March Archived from the original on 29 September Ferguson's Directory. Retrieved 8 June Asia Week. Archived from the original on 10 May The Economist. Jayawardena ". Retrieved 25 October The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 April Retrieved 12 May In Admirand, Peter ed. London, U. Farmington Hills, U.

External links [ edit ]. William Gopallawa. Ranasinghe Premadasa. Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike. Links to related articles. Presidents of Sri Lanka. He also took measures to amend the constitution to make the President a real executive. Inhe became the 2nd President of the country — one with real power, not just a titular head. One of the chief measures he took as Presidentwas to boost the private sector and tourism in Sri Lanka.

He also took steps to bring an end to the long-running conflict between the Sinhalese and Tamil people. However, he did not have much success. He retired in Jayewardene led a simple and private own life. His wife was Elina Bandara Rupasinghewhom he married in