Caluadewage Cyril Mathew (30 September 1912 – 17 October 1989) was a Sri Lankan politician, member of

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, representing the Kelaniya electorate, and served as the Minister of Industry and Scientific Affairs in the Jayewardene cabinet (1977–1986). Mathew joined the

United National Party The United National Party (UNP; , ) is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Sri Lanka. Founded in 1946, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties for several decades. The UNP has served as the country's ruling party ...

and was appointed its joint general secretary in 1956 and served until 1967, when he resigned after falling out with the party leader

Dudley Senanayake Dudley Shelton Senanayake (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක: ; 19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973), was a Sri Lankan wikt:statesman, statesman who thrice served as Prime Minister of C ...

. Mathew was elected to the

House of Representatives of Ceylon The House of Representatives was the lower chamber of the parliament of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1947 by the Soulbury Constitution. The House was housed in the old State Council building in Galle Face Green, Colombo and met for the ...

in the 1960 March general elections from Kolonna from the United National Party and was re-elected in the 1960 July general elections. He contested the 1965 general elections from

Bandarawela Bandarawela (Sinhala language, Sinhala: බණ්ඩාරවෙල, pronounced ; ) is the second largest town in the Badulla District which is away from Badulla. Bandarawela is away from Colombo and about away from Kandy, the two largest cit ...

and was defeated by R. M. Appuhamy. He was elected at the 8th parliamentary elections, held on 21 July 1977, representing the Kelaniya electorate for the United National Party. He was known for his hard-line position against the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

's political aspirations. He was appointed as the Minister of Industry and Scientific Affairs in July 1977. He is widely regarded as one of the key ministers responsible for instigating the anti-Tamil pogrom of July 1983, where he was seen leading mobs to burn Tamil businesses. The pogrom subsequently resulted in the outbreak of a 26-year civil war. Mathew was expelled from the cabinet and the governing United National Party by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

J. R. Jayewardene Junius Richard Jayewardene (; ; 17 September 1906 – 1 November 1996), commonly referred to by his initials JR, was a Sri Lankan lawyer, public official and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1977 to 1978 and as the secon ...

in 1984 after publicly criticising a conference called by Jayewardene to redress grievances of the Tamil minority. Jayewardene's successor,

Ranasinghe Premadasa Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa ( ''Raṇasiṃha Premadāsa''; ''Raṇaciṅka Pirēmatācā''; 23 June 1924 – 1 May 1993) was a Sri Lankan politician and statesman who served as the third President of Sri Lanka from 2 January 1989 unt ...

, subsequently reinstated Mathew's party membership. He died of a heart attack on 17 October 1989. Mathew was the author of the book ''Sinhalese! Rise to Protect Buddhism'', which urged Sinhalese to "stand up for their rights and protect their values". He also issued a pamphlet ''Who is the Tiger'', a collection of his inflammatory speeches made in 1979. His son Nanda was also a member of the parliament and later held several ministerial posts, including Minister of Sports and Youth affairs, under successive UNP government

He was later appointed by President

Chandrika Kumaratunga Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (; ; born 29 June 1945), commonly referred to by her initials CBK, is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the fifth President of Sri Lanka, President of Sri Lanka from 12 November 1994 to 19 November 2005. ...

and President

Mahinda Rajapaksa Mahinda Rajapaksa (; ; born Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa; 18 November 1945) is a Sri Lankan politician. He served as the sixth President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015; the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 2004 to 2005, 2018, and 2019 to 2022; the ...

as Governor of the

Uva Province The Uva Province (, , ) is one of the nine provinces of Sri Lanka. The province has an area of 8,500 km2 and a population of 1,266,463, making it the 2nd least populated province. The provincial capital is Badulla. Uva is bordered by the East ...

References

External links

UTHR report on 1983 riots
1912 births 1989 deaths Sinhalese nationalists Members of the 4th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 5th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 8th Parliament of Sri Lanka Industries ministers of Sri Lanka United National Party politicians Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Sri Lankan Buddhists {{WesternLK-politician-stub

See also

References

External links