US embassy cable - 03COLOMBO1988

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, current biographies 
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