How he got a place at the high table and rode in state with President Marcos through Manila
Premadasa liked to travel abroad and during his period of 11 years as prime minister, visited many countries. The term ‘prime minister of Sri Lanka’ gave him instant recognition and a status far above what he enjoyed customarily at home since J R was both head of state and head of government.
Constitutionally, he was nothing more than another minister. But abroad, except for the most scrupulous of protocol officers who knew Sri Lanka had an executive president, he was to all intents and purposes the head of government of his country. Our unstated policy was ‘if they don’t ask, don’t trouble to tell them’.
On a visit to the Philippines in 1981 he used a clever stratagem to win a seat for himself at the high table at the international conference convened for ministers of housing. As prime minister he was invited, and stayed at the Malacanang Palace in Manila, within the presidential complex buildings. President Marcos was to open the conference, and Imelda, who was then the Governor of Greater Manila was to receive him at the entrance to the Convention Hall.
Premadasa contrived to pay his courtesy call on Marcos at the Presidential Palace just before the time fixed for the formal opening of the Conference in down-town Manila, and managed to persuade Marcos to allow him to ride to the Convention Center with him in the presidential car. This gained him an unexpected and completely impromptu state drive into the city. It was marvelous to see the aplomb with which he acknowledged the cheers of the crowds who thronged the road to see Marcos with his new and unknown friend by his side.
The two of them, Marcos and Premadasa, marched up to the stage but there was no chair there for Premadasa since his assigned place was with the other ministers of housing in the front rows of the hall. After a hurried consultation on stage, another chair was produced, some shuffling around and space made, and all ended well. Premadasa finally got to make his speech first, from the stage and not from the podium as the other ministers of housing had to do.
The Premadasa family with PM Thatcher in London
I got the distinct impression that General Carlos Romulo, the famous war hero who was Marcos’ foreign minister and mastermind of the opening ceremony – peeved at what was happening – was not too pleased. But Premadasa had stolen the show and received a loud cheer from the small group of Sri Lankan expatriates present in the hall.
But in spite of all the adulation and honour he usually received there were some negatives for him in visits abroad. The basic problem was that it upset his carefully planned daily schedule and his avid preference for Sri Lankan cooking, above all the gourmet dishes and gastronomic delights the host would serve.
His tastes in local cookery revolved essentially around well-boiled red rice, vegetarian dishes with the simple kola mallun as an absolute necessity. So, our ambassadors abroad were to be frequently seen bringing in to the London Hilton, the Waldorf Astoria in New York or wherever he bedded-down for the night, string-hoppers with assorted sambols and other Sri Lankan delicacies in the early hours of the morning in food-warmers. They apparently did not mind it at all as it gave them credits which they could, and did later, cash-in to their benefit. Premadasa also disliked the cold, not only of winter which forced him to encumber his body with layers of socks, scarves, thermal underwear and overcoats, and even the chill of a June morning in London. On his visits to Europe and Canada, especially, he often commiserated with the Sri Lankan diplomatic staff who endured stoically, in his view, the generally miserable weather and could not comprehend their eagerness to seek foreign postings.
Mrs Premadasa, whom he would call Hemawathie – her full name and not the shortened Hema – which most others did, was a great support to him on these visits. She enjoyed making new friends and did not mind at all indulging in the small talk, which is an essential part of diplomatic conviviality. The host country leaders found her inherent charm and good looks appealing and she helped the receptions and dinner meetings go with a swing.
The only part of her which was a problem on foreign visits was her invariable inability to keep to time. This was mostly because of the inevitable last-minute shopping. There was a great deal of good-natured ribbing between husband and wife on this score but once or twice the delay would be serious and Premadasa would be fuming.
On these occasions he would turn to me for help and plead in Sinhala, “Bradman, please ask her to hurry up”, as he walked up and down the hotel lobby, ready for departure with the motorcade revving up.
Needless to say, I was not always successful in getting her down in the next few minutes. I found that she, like Mrs Bandaranaike before her, found the European habit of kissing the back of a lady’s hand when saying welcome or goodbye not very nice, to say the least.
Premadasa too on his day and in his element was a lively conversationalist. He had a fund of anecdotes illustrating some particular quirk in the human personality. He related these with an eye for detail and imagery which was riveting but the joke was usually on someone else. Balasuriya, his private secretary, and Evans Cooray, his press secretary, were often the butt-end of his stories for the crazy situations they sometimes got themselves into.
Between the two of them, Premadasa and Hema on their visits abroad made a host of Sri Lankan friends which led to many exciting projects – to image-building for Sri Lanka abroad and to the building up of a reservoir of expatriate funding for local social projects. One of the most innovative of these was the Sevana Foster Parents Scheme in which a small regular donation from an expatriate could be used to benefit the life of a poor child in Sri Lanka.
President Jayewardene used Premadasa liberally for foreign missions. He became a familiar figure at CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings). His contributions were listened to with attention and the observations he offered at Lusaka received appreciative notes from both the hosts, Chairman Kenneth Kaunda and Sridath Ramphal.
It was very encouraging and I was happy to have been part of it. The particular item for which Premadasa was lead-speaker was ‘community participation in development’, and with the first-hand local experience we had, we made a good job of it. He received a personal letter from President Kenneth Kaunda acknowledging his contribution.
At this meeting in Lusaka the future of Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) was the controversial issue. Premadasa entered into the spirit of the discussions with gusto and made some useful contacts. But as usual his primary purpose was to win something for Sri Lanka. He set his sights on clinching the British ODA grant from Britain for the Victoria Project.
Premadasa had always had an unreserved admiration for Margaret Thatcher. He respected her directness and the strength of her leadership. She had fought a hard battle to come up to where she was from her often referred to ‘grocer’s daughter’ background. He empathized with people who had got to the top by means of hard work and merit, not birth. Their acquaintance had begun in October 1975 at Blackpool in England at the Annual Conservative Party Conference when Margaret Thatcher was leader of the opposition.
In 1978, soon after forming his government, President Jayewardene had approached the Labour Government in Britain for funding of the Victoria Dam, one of the five projects of the Mahaweli scheme. The preliminary approvals had been given, but soon thereafter Harold Wilson’s Labour Government fell. The Conservative Government of Mrs Thatcher, facing an economic crunch, were not looking at Overseas Development Aid that favourably.
It was then that Premadasa decided to put on the pressure. On the way to CHOGM, he first stopped in London, seeking the customary courtesy call on the prime minister (which was in his case invariably granted). He met Mrs Thatcher and Lord Carrington at her No 10 office and pleaded the case for Victoria. Thatcher was impressed with the way he put forward the case. But try as he might, he could not get a commitment from her in London.
Premadasa knew he was going to have a further chance of meeting Margaret Thatcher in Lusaka. Thatcher was under extreme pressure at CHOGM and the frontline states, Zambia, Tanzania and Kenya, in particular, were cornering her for quickening the pace of Zimbabwe’s independence. Premadasa worked behind the scenes and at the conference table to work for a compromise acceptable to Britain.
He moved closely with Julius Nyerere of Tanzania. The seating order around the table helped since the alphabetical order put Sri Lanka and Tanzania together. Mrs Thatcher was mindful of the support Sri Lanka gave during the meeting.
Each delegation had been provided with a comfortable villa in the Mulungushi enclave, specially prepared for the CHOGM delegates. There was a good deal of inter-villa entertainment and Premadasa invited Mrs Thatcher to have lunch with him, along with a few others on the third day of the conference. Although she was indisposed that day, Mrs Thatcher came for the lunch. On leaving, she handed Premadasa a little card – the size of a post card – on which were typed these words :
Sri Lanka I am glad to be able to tell you that we are now in a position to offer a UK contribution to the Victoria Dam Scheme. This would he in the form of a grant of up to 100 million over six years towards the costs of the design and construction of the dam and power station. It would, of course, be subject to normal UK grant conditions.
Margaret Thatcher
Lusaka 6th Aug 1979
Premadasa’s persistence had paid off. But he was not fully satisfied. There was one more nail to be struck to make the picture perfect. The card had not been signed. Anyone else would have been happy to go home with 100 million pounds. But as usual Premadasa wanted it not only in writing but signed, sealed and delivered as well.
Before the afternoon sessions commenced, he directed me to go around to the UK delegation side of the table and get Mrs Thatcher’s signature on the note. It was with some embarrassment that I pushed through the officials to Mrs Thatcher’s side. But she was all typically British courtesy. “Of course,” she said, pulling out her pen from her handbag, “how forgetful of me!”
(Excerpted from Rendering unto Caesar, Autobiography of Bradman Weerakoon)
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