Mallawa Arachchige Gamini Jayawickrama Perera (, ; 29 January 1941 – 17 February 2024) was a Sri Lankan politician. He was a United National Party member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka for the Kurunegala District between 1994 and 2020, and had previously represented Katugampola in the National State Assembly from 1977 to 1989. Perera served many cabinet positions in various Sri Lankan governments, including being the Minister of Buddha Sasana, Minister of Wayamba Development, Minister of Sustainable Development and Wildlife, Minister of Food Security and the Minister of Irrigation and Water Management. Perera also briefly left national politics to become the Chief Minister of the North Western Province and serve in the North Western Provincial Council. Perera helped represent Sri Lanka's interests internationally as the chairman of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, a position he was elected to in April 2016. Furthermore, he held the position of chairman of the United National Party during a significant period of his career.

Early life

Perera was born on 29 January 1941 in Kurunegala in the North Western Province. He came from a large family, with one of his brothers being Lincoln Perera, who later served as the Secretary of the Ministry of Plantation Industries. He received his primary and secondary education at Nalanda College in Colombo. An ardent cricket enthusiast, Perera actively participated in the sport during his school years. He was a member of the college's first XI team and eventually became its captain. He led the team in the Battle of the Maroons big match against Ananda College in 1960, which ended in a draw.

Political career

Perera's political career began in 1968 when as a member of the United National Party he began to participate in local government politics. He quickly rose through the ranks of the party, attracting the attention of the party leadership, which enlisted him into national politics in 1973. In the 1977 elections, which saw a resounding victory for the UNP, he secured his initial parliamentary seat representing the Katugampola constituency. Subsequently in 1982, then President J. R. Jayewardene appointed Perera to the position of District Minister of Kurunegala in his cabinet. With the advent of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord and the establishment of Provincial Councils in Sri Lanka, Perera briefly left national politics to pursue a role in regional governance. In 1988, he contested and triumphed in the provincial council elections for the North Western Province, and as a result, he became the inaugural Chief Minister of the North Western Province. Returning to national politics in the 1994 elections, Perera emerged victorious from the Kurunegala District. Throughout much of his tenure in parliament, he found himself situated on the opposition benches, apart from a brief interlude when he served as Minister of Irrigation and Water Management under the Chandrika Kumaratunga administration in 2001. These dynamics of his political involvement experienced a shift with the election of Maithripala Sirisena in 2015 and the establishment of a UNP-led administration. During this period, Perera assumed various ministerial portfolios, including the Minister of Food Security, the Minister of Sustainable Development and Wildlife, and the Minister of Buddha Sasana. Following a constitutional crisis in 2018, Perera and his colleagues in the sitting administration faced temporary dismissal from their governmental posts under the short-lived Sirisena-Rajapaksa-led government. However, subsequent no confidence motions and Supreme Court rulings led to their reinstatement. Perera resumed his duties as Minister of Buddha Sasana and was additionally entrusted with the portfolio of Minister of Wayamba Development. However, following the election of Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2019 and the formation of a Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)-led government, he opted to depart from governmental responsibilities and chose not to seek re-election in 2020. In 2021, he deviated from the party line by openly criticizing UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. Perera alleged that Wickremesinghe was attempting to broker a deal with the then-incumbent SLPP-led government. Furthermore, he lamented the significant losses suffered by the UNP in the 2020 parliamentary elections.

Personal life

Perera married Rohini Perera and they had two children, with one of his children being a former Provincial Council member, Asanga Jayawickrama Perera. He was a devout Buddhist.

Death

Perera died on 17 February 2024, at the age of 83 in his residence situated in Kurunegala. He had been seriously ill for some time at the time of his death. Perera's funeral took place on 20 February 2024, at the Pannala Stadium grounds in Pannala, Kurunegala District.