John Arthur Amaratunga was a

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

ese politician. He was the

Minister of Information and Broadcasting The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is a ministerial level agency of the Government of India responsible for the formulation and administration of rules, regulations and laws in the areas of information, broadcasting, the press, and th ...

and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs (which was under the Prime Minister) in the

Third Dudley Senanayake cabinet The Third Dudley Senanayake cabinet was the central government of Dominion of Ceylon, Ceylon led by Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake between 1965 and 1970. It was formed in March 1965 after the 1965 Ceylonese parliamentary election, parliamentary ...

and an appointed member of the

Senate of Ceylon The Senate was the upper chamber of the Parliament of Ceylon, parliament of Dominion of Ceylon, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1947 by the Soulbury Commission. The Senate was appointed and indirectly elected rather than directly elected. It ...

from 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 ...

. A closed confidant of

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 ...

, in the 1950s he served as member of the Gal Oya Development Board and was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

1951 Birthday Honours The King's Birthday Honours 1951 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of King George VI to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those count ...

References

Members of the Senate of Ceylon Ceylonese Members of the Order of the British Empire United National Party politicians Sri Lankan justices of the peace and unofficial magistrates {{SriLanka-academic-bio-stub