Mervyn Silva
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Hewa Koparage Mervyn Silva ( Sinhala:හේවා කෝපරගේ මර්වින් සිල්වා; Tamil:மேர்வின் சில்வா) (born 25 March 1944) also known as "Merviya" is a Sri Lankan politician, Member of Parliament and a former government minister.


Political career

Silva entered politics by joining the
Sri Lanka Freedom Party The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP; ; ) is a centre-left political party in Sri Lanka. Founded by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike in 1951, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties from the 1950s to the 2010s, serving as the main rival of the c ...
in
Hambantota District Hambantota District ( ''hambantoṭa distrikkaya''; ''Ampāntōṭṭai māvaṭṭam'') is a Districts of Sri Lanka, district in Southern Province, Sri Lanka. It is one of 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of t ...
but later 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 ...
. At the 1994 parliamentary election Silva was elected to represent
Hambantota District Hambantota District ( ''hambantoṭa distrikkaya''; ''Ampāntōṭṭai māvaṭṭam'') is a Districts of Sri Lanka, district in Southern Province, Sri Lanka. It is one of 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of t ...
for the UNP. He later rejoined the
Sri Lanka Freedom Party The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP; ; ) is a centre-left political party in Sri Lanka. Founded by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike in 1951, the party was one of Sri Lanka's two main parties from the 1950s to the 2010s, serving as the main rival of the c ...
. At the 2004 parliamentary election Silva was a
United People's Freedom Alliance The United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA; ''Eksath Janathā Nidahas Sandānaya''; ) was a political alliance in Sri Lanka founded by former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga in 2004 and dissolved by former Sri Lankan President Ma ...
candidate in
Colombo District Colombo District ( ''kol̠am̆ba distrikkaya''; ''Koḻumpu Māvaṭṭam'') is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a D ...
but failed to get elected after receiving only 2,236 preference votes and coming in last place amongst the 23 UPFA candidates in the district. However, in May 2004 he was appointed as National List MP for the UPFA, replacing his wife who had resigned to allow Silva enter Parliament. In January 2007 Silva was appointed Non-Cabinet Minister of Labour. At the 2010 parliamentary election Silva was elected to represent
Gampaha District Gampaha District ( ''gampaha distrikkaya'', ''Kampakai Māvaṭṭam'') is one of the 25 Districts of Sri Lanka, districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. It is the second most populous district of Sri Lank ...
for the UPFA. Afterward he was appointed Deputy Minister of Mass Media & Information. This caused strong protests from journalists because of Silva's history with the media.
Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...
described the appointment as "asking an arsonist to put out fires". Silva resigned as Deputy Minister of Mass Media & Information in May 2010 but was immediately appointed as the new Deputy Minister of Highways. On 3 August 2010 Silva subjected government official Mohammed Ishan Murshuk to public humiliation by tying him to a mango tree. Silva invited the media to witness the official's humiliation. This resulted in public outrage and demonstrations by government officials. On 10 August 2010 it was announced that Silva had been dismissed from his ministerial post and suspended from the SLFP. However, a subsequent SLFP disciplinary cleared him of all charges and on 8 September 2010 he was reappointed to his ministerial post. On 11 April 2011, Silva's Parliament Affairs Secretary Jayasena Mudiyanselage Buddhi with two Policemen in uniform and an underworld gangster who is a henchman of Silva had arrived in an official vehicle belonging to Silva, and attempted to extort five million rupees from a scrap metal businessman in Grandpass. However that businessman who happened to be a friend of the Defence Secretary got them arrested while they were threatening & demanding the kappan money from him. When things became too hot and beyond the control of Silva, he immediately disassociated all connections with Buddhi saying that his Secretary had left the employment couple of weeks before. However even if it is so Silva could not explain; how that person who had left Silva's staff managed to take the official vehicle belonging to Silva and got the two policemen released from the police station in Silva's electorate on this extortion mission two weeks later. Just after the defeat of President Rajapaksha in 2015 presidential elections (held on 08.01.15), Mervin Silva tried to distance himself from the outgoing President and hinted that he would be joining the new President. When a journalist questioned him about the switching his alliance, in front of many media personnel including the Reuters Reporter in Colombo, Silva shouted at the journalist in foul language and stated that he is not tied to anyone and whoever wins or lose he is not going to change his attitudes & behaviour. Within a week after the presidential elections, Mervyn Silva and so many SLFP parliamentarians pledged their alliance to the new President Maithreepala Sirisena to retain their seats in the parliament and to stabilize their political power. Then further to be in the good books of the new president, Mervyn Silva made a complaint to the CID on 16.01.15 blaming all Rajapaksha brothers on several murders and massive scale frauds.


Relations with media

On 27 December 2007 Silva and his bodyguards stormed the offices
Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation The Sri Lanka Rūpavāhinī Corporation (; ), also known as Jathika Rupavahini (lit. National Television) or simply as Rupavahini, is the national television network of Sri Lanka. The term Rupavahini literally means "purveyor of images" in the ...
where Silva assaulted SLRC's news director T. M. G. Chandrasekera. SLRC employees then took Silva hostage and demanded he apologise. When Silva refused the SLRC employees assaulted him. Most of those SLRC employees had fled Sri Lanka and had sought asylum in other countries. On 4 August 2008 Silva and his bodyguards assaulted
Sirasa TV Sirasa TV is a digital, terrestrial television network in Sri Lanka. It is the sister channel of ' TV 1' (Previously MTV Channel and MTV Sports) which was established in 1992. Sirasa TV was started in 1998 as a sister to its radio network Sir ...
journalist Saliya Ranawaka and cameraman Waruna Sampath and seized their equipment at the opening of a flyover at Thorana Junction in
Kelaniya Kelaniya ( ) is a suburb of Colombo in the Western Province, Sri Lanka, Western Province, Sri Lanka. Located from Colombo Fort, it is known for the Buddhist temple built on the banks of the Kelani River, which divides the suburb from Colombo Di ...
. Silva was tried for the assaults but was acquitted after the
police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...
failed to file any charges against him. However, earlier Silva had agreed to pay the Sirasa cameraman Rs. 750,000 compensation after the
Supreme Court of Sri Lanka The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka (; ) is the Supreme court, highest court in Sri Lanka and the final judicial instance of record. Established in 1801 and empowered to exercise its powers subject to the provisions of the Constitution of Sri Lanka ...
heard a Fundamental Rights petition filed by the cameraman. In 2017, in a Christmas advertisement for Sirasa TV's radio channel YES FM featuring Sri Lankan celebrities singing
Jingle Bell Rock "Jingle Bell Rock" is an American Christmas music, Christmas song first released by Bobby Helms in 1957. It has received frequent airplay in the United States during every Christmas season since then, and is generally considered Helms' list of sign ...
, Mervyn uttered one verse not featured in the original song "Media Jingle Lords! You can't control me! Jingle on the clock!". The advertisement was never aired on TV afterwards because of Mevyn's relationship with the media industry.


Presence in Mega Star reality show

However Silva worked in co-operation with media during his appearance in the Swarnavahini Mega Star reality program as a judge. His controversial remarks about the contestants became a wide topic of discussion and drew the attention of the general public. He made many remarks about the opposition MP Rosy Senanayake, MP Ranjan Ramanayaka and MP Upeksha Swarnamali. During the live final show held at Sugathadasa indoor stadium he made many rude remarks over contestant MP Upeksha Swarnamali expressing his desire to drink her breast milk which at the time was criticized by many celebrities led by Cheruka Weerakoon.The ‘Mega Star’ mayhem , DailyFT – Be Empowered
Ft.lk (1 November 2010). Retrieved on 20 November 2012.


See also

*
List of political families in Sri Lanka This is a partial listing of prominent political families in Sri Lanka. Abdul Majeed *A. L. Abdul Majeed (15 November 1933 – 13 November 1987) also known as Mutur Majeed, former Deputy Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Member Par ...


References


Biographies of present MPs – Parliament of Sri Lanka
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silva, Mervyn Sri Lankan Buddhists Government ministers of Sri Lanka Members of the 10th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 13th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 14th Parliament of Sri Lanka Living people 1944 births