Sudath Gunasekara Mahanuwara.
4.11.2017.
MS Themis silently died last year unsung an unheard and his mortal remains were interred at Kanatta attended by his only daughter, granddaughter, a small group of family members and friends. The usual votes of condolence and flatteries sung in Parliament in respect of those who have not done a scent worth thing for the country were not heard. Even his death passed unnoticed other than to the funeral parlor staff as our daughter in Colombo whom we asked to pay our respect as we were unable come down due to ill-health told us.
But his name remains immortal in the annals of history in this country as the only MP who refused to receive a pension and refunded it back. I am personally aware of what he said and did as I was the one who drafted the letter to the Speaker at his request at his home. This small man therefore in my opinion remains a legend in the political history of this country, shame for all other politicians who not only get a pension for no service done to the country or people but for deceiving the people and robbing public money, by way of princely salaries and various other allowances, perks and benefits like official bungalows, vehicles, foreign jaunts at public expense culminating in robbing the nation’s coffer, the Central Bank with impunity.
In the good olden days we have heard of politicians like CWW Kannangara, MD Banda, PB Wanninayaka and even Bandaranayakas who sacrificed everything they had in the name of service to people. In fact it was Bandaranayaka the founder of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party who once said ‘Minisage Parama Yutukama Minisata Sevaya Kiriimai .But can you seven dream to see a single politician of that caliber around you today. For them it is an all-time secure job plus a fraud and a mega javarama only. You need to get elected or nominated only once in life time. After that everything is set for ever for seven generations. Can you ever imagine such things happening in a country where some older generation of politicians died as paupers; where the foundation of social fabric is woven and mauled on Buddhism and where the state craft was founded on the golden principles of Dharmasokian ethos of statecraft.
Almost all people in Sri Lanka know MS Themis who was elected in 1956 as the third MP for Colombo Central under the MEP Land slide victory under the visionary leadership of SWRD Bandaranayaka. They also know him as an ex postal peon who was sacked by the then UNP Government for fighting for the rights of working class in the Postal Department. He was an embodiment of the common man in Parliament, Bandaranayaka the visionary had in his mind when he decided to open the doors of Parliament to true representatives of the people. But how many in this country know the magnanimous gesture he made as a politician by returning Rs 20,190.31 cents in 1993. 09.15. MS Themis set the rhythm for the new generation of politicians in 1956, a welcome departure from the old fashion politics of privileged towards real representative democracy.
Let the example set by MS Themis be an eye opener to all present day self-centered parasitic politicians created by JR in 1977 by Passing the Pension Act No 1 of 1977 enabling even those (living then) who had served in the State Council and further who founded an entirely a new political culture where politics became a shameless mega fraud the politicians since then have become highway robbers of public funds and treacherous traitors of the Motherland causing misery and doom in place of peace, prosperity and sanity to its people and the country at large.