J. R. Jayewardene: Sri Lanka’s First Executive President
Junius Richard Jayewardene (17 September 1906 – 1 November 1996) was a Sri Lankan lawyer who served as prime minister of Sri Lanka from 1977 to 1978 and as president from 1978 to 1989. He led the United National Party to a landslide victory in the 1977 parliamentary elections and became the country’s first executive president under an amended constitution.
Early Life and Education
Born in Colombo to the prominent Jayewardene family, he was the eldest of twelve children of Hon. Justice Eugene Wilfred Jayewardene KC and Agnes Helen Don Philip Wijewardena. Known as Dickie within his family, his younger brothers included Hector Wilfred Jayewardene, QC and Rolly Jayewardene, FRCP. His uncles were Colonel Theodore Jayewardene, Justice Valentine Jayewardene, and media baron D. R. Wijewardena.
Jayewardene attended Royal College, Colombo, where he excelled in sports, playing for the college cricket team and captaining the rugby team in 1924. He served as head prefect in 1925. Following family tradition, he entered the University College, Colombo in 1926 to pursue the Advocate’s course, then entered Ceylon Law College in 1928. At Ceylon Law College, he won the Hector Jayewardene Gold Medal and the Walter Pereira Prize in 1929. He passed his advocates exams in 1931 and began legal practice.
On 28 February 1935, Jayewardene married Elina Bandara Rupasinghe, daughter of Gilbert Leonard Rupasinghe, a notary public turned successful businessman. Their only child, Ravindra “Ravi” Vimal Jayewardene, was born the following year. The family settled at their house Braemar in 1938.
Career and Achievements
Jayewardene developed strong nationalist views in his student years, converting from Anglicanism to Buddhism and adopting national dress as his formal attire. In 1939 he became Joint Secretary of the Ceylon National Congress with Dudley Senanayake, and in 1940 was elected to the Colombo Municipal Council from the New Bazaar Ward.
He was elected to the State Council in 1943 by winning the Kelaniya by-election following the resignation of D. B. Jayatilaka. During World War II, he contacted the Japanese along with other nationalists to discuss a rebellion against British rule. In 1944, he moved a motion in the State Council that Sinhala alone should replace English as the official language.
After joining the United National Party as a founder member in 1946, Jayewardene was reelected from Kelaniya in the 1st parliamentary election and appointed Minister of Finance in 1947 by D. S. Senanayake. He was instrumental in establishing the Central Bank of Ceylon under American economist John Exter’s guidance. In 1951 he served on the committee to select a National Anthem for Sri Lanka. The following year he was elected President of the Board of Control for Cricket in Ceylon. He played a major role in re-admitting Japan to the world community at the San Francisco Conference.
As finance minister, Jayewardene struggled to balance the budget amid mounting government expenditures, particularly for rice subsidies. His 1953 proposal to cut these subsidies provoked fierce opposition and the 1953 Hartal campaign, forcing him to abandon the plan. Following Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake’s resignation, Sir John Kotelawala appointed him minister of agriculture and food and leader of the house.
The 1956 parliamentary election brought a crushing defeat for the United National Party at the hands of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party led by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike. Jayewardene lost his parliamentary seat in Kelaniya. Out of parliament, he pushed the party to endorse the Sinhala Only Act, which was opposed by the island’s minorities. When Bandaranaike agreed with S. J. V. Chelvanayakam in 1957 to address minority concerns, Jayewardene led a “March on Kandy” against the agreement but was stopped at Imbulgod.
Throughout the 1960s Jayewardene clashed with party leader Dudley Senanayake over ethnic issues, believing the UNP should be willing to play the ethnic card even at the cost of minority support. He became vice-president and chief organizer of the United National Party, which won the March 1960 parliamentary election. Jayewardene was reelected from Kelaniya and appointed minister of finance again, though the government lasted only three months and lost the July 1960 election.
The United National Party won in 1965 and formed a national government. Jayewardene was reelected from Colombo South uncontested and appointed Chief Government Whip, then Minister of State and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Defence and External Affairs, becoming de facto deputy prime minister. He championed tourism development as an economically viable venture, seeing it as capable of earning foreign exchange, providing mass employment, and creating a globally competitive workforce.
Notable Events and Milestones
Jayewardene led the United National Party to a landslide victory in the 1977 parliamentary elections and served as prime minister for half a year before becoming the country’s first executive president under an amended constitution in 1978. He introduced an open economic system in 1978 that brought the country out of economic turmoil caused by the preceding government’s closed economic policies. However, his social policies, including his response to the Black July riots of 1983, have been accused of heightening ethnic tensions and contributing to the beginnings of the Sri Lankan civil war, which lasted from 1983 to 2009.
Additional Resources
More detailed information about J. R. Jayewardene’s life, political career, and legacy is available through Wikipedia and other biographical archives documenting Sri Lankan history and politics.
