Following is a profile of Sri Lanka's newly-appointed Finance and Media Minister Mangala Pinsiri Samaraweera who assumed office on May 22.
Following is a profile of Sri Lanka's newly-appointed Finance and Media Minister Mangala Pinsiri Samaraweera who assumed office on May 22.
Key facts:
- Born on April 21, 1956, Samaraweera obtained a fashion and textile designing degree from Central St. Martins in London before entering politics in 1988. He represents the southern district of Matara in the national assembly.
- In the January 2015 presidential election, Samaraweera played a key role as a joint spokesman of the opposition coalition candidate Maithripala Sirisena, who unseated former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, one of Asia's longest-serving leaders.
- Samaraweera was the foreign minister until May 22 and had worked hard to ease international pressure on Sri Lanka over alleged war crimes by the military in the 26-year war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
- As foreign minister, Samaraweera was able to get a two-year extension to implement fully the commitments that were made under the 2015 resolution, though the United Nations had expressed concern at the "slow progress" of reforms in Sri Lanka.
- Samaraweera was one of the most trenchant critics of alleged corruption and human rights violations by the Rajapaksa administration.
- Previously, he was foreign minister under Rajapaksa from 2005-2007, but Samaraweera formed a new party and backed the opposition after Rajapaksa sacked him.
- He had also served as minister of port and aviation, urban development, media and information, and post and telecommunication since 1994.
- As the telecommunications minister between 1994-2000, he revived the island nation's telecom sector with the privatisation of state-run Sri Lanka Telecom with NTT of Japan buying 35 percent, and introduced private operators.
- From a political family, Samaraweera has been in parliament since 1989.
- In October 2013, a local court issued an order to arrest him and 10 others for alleged involvement in obstructing a peaceful protest to oust party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, the current prime minister.
- Popular for his political shrewdness and strategic decision in winning elections, Samaraweera is considered as one of the kingmakers in local politics.
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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