Desegurunansela Gedera Dr.A.C.S. Hameed’ passed away on September 3,1999. He was a Member of Parliament from 1960 to 1999 representing the Akurana Electorate, which was changed to Harispattuwa in 1965 a multimember constituency in the Kandy District.
The Harispattuwa electorate was situated a few miles away from Kandy, in 1960 it was a rural electorate comprising of about 230 G.S divisions sans electricity, no proper roads to connect the villages, school buildings neglected very badly etc.
Dr Hameed started meeting his voters every weekend in an office at the 7th-mile post in Akurana regularly commencing in 1960.
Sometimes there were more than a few hundreds of voters at this office coming to Him with various problems. He knew his supporters by their names and also from which village they came from .They were overjoyed when Dr.Hameed’ inquired about their fellow villagers & village affairs.
There were thousands of Muslims, Buddhists and cabinet ministers and Parliamentarians present to pay their respects at his funeral at his village house in Kurugoda
Most of the people would have letters adressed to Government Departments explaining their problems. Most others would have been asked to come to the Kandy Kachcheri and other Departments in Kandy to solve their problems on the spot during weekdays.
Dr. Hameed was never known to calque the term of “SALAKA BALANANG” a rather common term used by most Sri Lankan Politicians.
He would never leave a problem to be solved tomorrow if a solution could be arrived at today. Sometimes He would say” touch the hearts of the people you serve and they will be back to you for more.”
His success in Politics was not an accident. It is the result of his hard work much before 1960 with an attitude. Leadership was in his blood. Much before he entered Parliament in 1960. He practised speaking in Sinhalese and Tamil apart from his being an orator in English from 1960 to 1999 he contested 8 elections and won all of them with Sinhala Buddhists supporting him and working for his victory when other Buddhist candidates were contesting in the same Electorate.
Success comes by treating ‘your followers with love and respect. in 1977 he was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs a portfolio hitherto held by the Head Of Government until 1977. He was also in charge of Immigration.
As Minister of Foreign Affairs, he also had to take charge of the Non-Alignment movement as He had been appointed as the Chairman of the Non-Alignment movement for Sri Lanka.
These duties made him a frequent traveler to Non-Alignment countries and also to most of the capital cities of the world to popularise. The Late President J.R.Jayawardena’s open economy, a policy under which The Free Trade zone operations commenced, The restriction on import policy was relaxed, entrepreneurs were encouraged to start industries which could contribute towards the economy of the country etc.
As Minister in charge of Immigration, he ordered that all citizens could obtain a passport by submitting their Birth Certificate & Identity Card. No guarantor were needed to provide guarantees to the persons obtaining passports.
As minister of Foreign Affair’s and the acting Head of the Non-Alignment movement, He was blessed to be able to meet interesting and influential leaders of the world from all walks of life. Another secret of his phenomenal success was his habit of allocating time off for thought every morning for 45 minutes. While in deep contemplation with eyes closed so nothing could disturb him. Sometimes while analyzing a problem he was known to say “Run towards your Fears.”
He believes that we generally “get from life what we give to others.”
God gave him the talent and happiness to prepare and speak at U.N. Non-Alignment meetings fluently in all three languages in Parliament. and at public meetings to drive a point home.
He always found the time to relax and write short stories, poems, books etc. He published a book of religious poetry titled “Spring of Love and Mercy” and other books such as the “Owl And The Lotus”,”Foreign Policy Perspective of Sri Lanka” etc.
In the Harispattuwa electorate from 1977 to 1994, He connected all 230 villages with motorable Roads, supplied electricity’ to the entire electorate, provided for drinking water facilities for the entire electorate, provided job opportunities in the Teaching profession for thousands of Muslims & Sinhalese from Harispattuwa.
It was a wonder for the people of other electorates to figure out how Minister Hameed performed all these deeds for the people of his electorate in Kandy even though he happened to be out of the country most of the time.
When he is in the country his biggest enjoyment was meeting his constituent at His Kandy residence- He was the only Minister who met The LTTE leader Prabakaran in Jaffna.
There were thousands of Muslims, Buddhists and cabinet ministers and Parliamentarians present to pay their respects at his funeral at his residence in Kurugoda. It was a touching and sad sight to see even Buddhists priests weeping along with others when the body of late Dr.A.C.S. Hameed was borne to the Mosque for burial which showed the respect and admiration they all had for him.
We pray all mighty Allah to bless him and find him a place in Jennathul Firdouse - Ameen,
Brother Ghafoor
