Top 10 Sensational Facts about Maithripala Sirisena

Maithripala Sirisena by Mr Sudath Silva from Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Sensational Facts about Maithripala Sirisena

Maithripala Yapa Sirisena is a politician from Sri Lanka who presided as the country’s seventh president from 9 January 2015 to 18 November 2019. Sirisena is Sri Lanka’s first president from the North Central Province of the country and does not belong to the traditional Sri Lankan political elite. He is currently a member of parliament from Polonnaruwa.

1. His father was a world war II veteran

Maithripala by Kremlin.ru from Wikimedia Commons

On September 3, 1951, in Yagoda, a village in the current Gampaha District, Maithripala Sirisena was born. He was the eldest of 12 children, including 5 brothers and 6 sisters.

His family moved from Yagoda to Polonnaruwa after his father, Pallewatte Gamaralalage Albert Sirisena, a World War II veteran, was granted five acres of paddy land in the area of Parakrama Samudra. Schoolteacher Yapa Appuhamilage Dona Nandawathi was his mother.

2. His interest in politics started when he was in school 

At Thopawewa Maha Vidyalaya and Rajakeeya Madya Maha Vidyalaya in Polonnaruwa, where he received his education, he first became interested in politics.

Sirisena joined the Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist) as a teenager while still in high school and developed a strong bond with the party’s leader N. Shanmugathasan through party activities. He participated in a communist party anti-government demonstration in 1968 that was dispersed by police using baton charges.

3. He was chosen as the secretary of the SLFP Youth Organisation

In Polonnaruwa, the SLFP member of parliament for Polonnaruwa, Leelaratna Wijesingha, chose him at the age of 17 to be the secretary of the SLFP Youth Organization. At the age of 19, he was sentenced to 15 months in prison in 1971 for allegedly taking part in the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Insurrection.

After being released from prison, Sirisena joined the Anura Bandaranaike-led All Ceylon SLFP Youth Organization and entered national politics. Sirisena joined the SLFP in 1978 after serving at several governmental organizations.

4. He studied agriculture 

Gorky Mukhina by Vladimir OKC from Wikimedia Commons

Sirisena completed three years of study at the Sri Lanka School of Agriculture in Kundasale, where he graduated in 1973 with a diploma in agriculture. In 1980, he graduated from the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Russia with a diploma in political science.

5. He was elected to parliament in 1984

Sirisena ran for parliament in the Polonnaruwa District in the 1989 parliamentary election as one of the SLFP’s candidates, and he won. Having run this time as a People’s Alliance (PA) candidate, he won re-election to the House of Representatives in 1994.

He was first appointed general secretary of the SLFP in 1997; he later left that position. Sirisena attempted to lead the SLFP as general secretary in August 2000 but lost to S. B. Dissanayake. Sirisena was instead made one of the SLFP’s Deputy Presidents. After Dissanayake defected to the United National Party in October 2001, he was appointed general secretary of the SLFP (UNP).

6. He helped deal with the food crisis

Victoria Dam by Exploreslk from Wikimedia Commons

In November 2005, after the presidential election 2005, Sirisena was named Minister of Agriculture, Environment, Irrigation, and Mahaweli Development by newly elected President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

In response to the global food price crisis of 2007–2008, Sirisena launched the “Api Wavamu – Rata Nagamu” program, which aims to increase regional food production on a national level. Every year, festivals of tilling were held in each divisional secretariat, which helped the program replant more than 1 million abandoned paddy fields. The endeavor was seen as a huge success and was known as his “green revolution.”

7. He was almost assassinated as he acted as Defence Minister

Women of the LTTE by Salix Oculus from Wikimedia Commons

During the Sri Lankan civil war, Sirisena held dual positions: Minister of Agriculture and Acting Minister of Defense a number of times. When some of the greatest alleged war crimes were allegedly perpetrated during the final two weeks of the civil war, he served as acting defense minister.

According to Sirisena, the LTTE may have attempted to kill him at least five times. On October 9, 2008, a convoy in which Sirisena was traveling was assaulted by a suicide bomber from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam at Piriwena Junction in Boralesgamuwa, Colombo. Seven people were hurt, and one person died.

8. Sirisena sought to combat cigarette and alcohol consumption 

President Maithripala Sirisena by Prime Minister’s Office from Wikimedia Commons

At the 2010 legislative elections, Sirisena was re-elected, and in April of that year, he was appointed minister of health. Sirisena worked to reduce the nation’s cigarette and alcohol use during his tenure.

He also brought the Cigarette and Alcohol Act to parliament, which prohibits cigarette packaging with pictorial warnings. He created a national medicinal drug policy that was modeled on Seneka Bibile’s Sri Lankan national pharmaceuticals policy.

Due to pressure from numerous multinational corporations and some parts of the government, the act’s recommendation that 80% of packaging feature visual warnings were instead decreased to 60%. Sirisena was chosen to serve as one of the Vice Presidents of the World Health Assembly in May 2014.

9. He managed to win the presidency against Rajapaksa

Rajapaksa received 47.58 percent of the total votes, while Sirisena received 52.42%. Rajapaksa prevailed in 10 of the polling districts, while Sirisena won 12 of them. In contrast, Sirisena was only able to win in 70 electorates whereas Rajapakse did so in 90. The outcome was universally viewed as shocking. Rajapaksa appeared to be invincible when he called the election in November 2014.

10. He was accused of Nepotism 

Kumarasinghe Sirisena by Ranganastc from Wikimedia Commons

Despite commitments made during the campaign, Sirisena has been charged with nepotism ever since taking office. In January 2015, just a few days after taking office, Sirisena’s brother Kumarasinghe Sirisena was named chairman of the state-owned Sri Lanka Telecom.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, the prime minister, and a number of senior cabinet ministers expressed opposition to the appointment. In February 2015, Chathurika’s spouse, Thilina Suranjith Wewelpanawa, was named public relations officer at the Ministry of Defence.

Sirisena is the department’s minister of defense. When Sirisena traveled to New York City in September 2015 for the United Nations General Assembly’s Seventieth session, his son Daham went with him.

Sirisena promised to modify the constitution to allow power-sharing with the minority Tamils, eliminate a strong executive presidential system within 100 days of taking office, and look into allegations of abuses during the final stages of the war between the government and Tamil rebels.

Unmet hopes of effective government, ethnic unity, and economic success characterize the conclusion of Sirisena’s presidency.