Condolence messages on the demise of
Mr. A. C. S. Hameed

He stood for peace – President

The country lost Mr. A. C. S. Hameed at a very crucial and decisive time when his services were much needed, President Chandrika Kumaratunga said in a condolence message yesterday.

"We are all aware that he stood for peace and he tried his best to bring an end to the ethnic crisis. In recent years he has been a strong supporter of the need for political consensus for meaningful devolution of power as a measure of achieving peace. Just a few days before his sad demise he led a delegation of his party in the new round of talks between the PA and the UNP under the auspices of the business community", the President stated.

It further said:

"I learnt with shock and grief, the passing away of Mr. A. C. S. Hammed, a veteran parliamentarian of the United National Party. Mr. Hameed counts over 40 years of experience in the legislature and won the affection and respect of all the parliamentarians and the people of this country. He distinguished himself as a member who always tried his best to uphold the highest standards of conduct in parliament. He also earned plaudits of a wide spectrum of the international community.

I extend my deepest sympathies and that of our government to you, your sons, Amirha and Asique and daughter Arusha, relatives and friends, to the people he represented for so long and to the United National Party."

A. C. S. Hameed – the end of a great innings

Few of his friends would have realised that A.C.S. Hameed, the veteran UNP parliamentarian who died suddenly on Friday night was 72-years old. He carried his years well and if he had any infirmities, he made light of them. He slipped way from the national scene as unobtrusively as he entered it.

Hameed was something of a phenomenon in the contemporary politics, having an unbroken innings in parliament from March 1960 from when he was consecutively elected to eight parliaments. In March next year, he would have clocked his fortieth year as an MP - something that few politicians in Sri Lanka have been able to achieve.

More than anything else, the diminutive man from Akurana was the personification of friendliness and good humour. He could always get over a tricky situation with a joke or a light remark that took the sting out of a tricky situation. I well remember an occasion over thirty years ago when Hameed was holding court to his constituents in his room at Sravasti when an applicant for a bus driver’s job wanted some help to get into the CTB.

The MP sized up the situation very quickly. "How tall are you?" he asked. "I can help you to get the job if I know how to make you two inches taller." The man was a little shorter than the prescribed minimum height for bus drivers.

He was always an electorate man from multi-member Akurana and had very close rapport not only with his constituents but also his fellow MP. Time was when Hameed made hay about the dry fish shortage in the 1970s telling electorate meeting that once Lankans were used to thora dry fish. When times were harder, they had to make do with mora and after that eat pora - rotten dry fish that would be usually diverted for fertiliser or animal feed.

His friend, fireworks magnate D.G.H. Sirisena of Ali Don firecracker fame who was his fellow MP for Akurana, admitted that what Hameed manthrithuma was saying was true. But what’s to be done? "So if you like, roast me and eat me." It sounded much better in the original Sinhala: Mawawath puchchala kanda ko, he said.

Hameed didn’t let Sirisena have the last word. He told his grinning supporters that the people who had progressed from thora to mora and pora were now being treated to ali dora!

Hameed enjoyed his long spell as Foreign Minister, in 1977 taking on a portfolio that had previously been the responsibility of the head of the government. Diplomatic skills came naturally to him because he was tactful by temperament and knew how to feel his way in any situation. J.R. Jayewardene and R. Premadasa in their day and Ranil Wickremesinghe now knew how to use those skills for tricky negotiations. It was Hameed who dealt with the TULF on the Thirteenth Amendment and the LTTE during an earlier round of peace talks. Right now he was in the thick of finding a UNP-PA consensus and SLMC leader M.H.M. Ashraff was with him when he passed away. He was building bridges to the last.

He would make a joke of those skills. There was an after dinner speech he made at the Queen’s in Kandy when he was felicitated on being made Foreign Minister in 1977. He told a story there about the difference between a lady and a diplomat.

"If a diplomat says ‘yes’, he means maybe. If he says ‘maybe’, he means no. And if he says ‘no’ he’s no diplomat. But when a lady says ‘no’ she means maybe. When she says ‘maybe’, she means yes. And if she says ‘yes’ she’s no lady!"

He was a devoted family man and an equally devoted electorate man able to take the rough and the smooth in politics with equanimity. The large crowd at his funeral at Akurana yesterday testified to his popularity. Good-bye my friend. We’ve had great times, great conversations and great laughs. We’ll all miss you.-- M de S.

Glowing tributes to a great statesman
Shocked, difficult to bear the loss — Ashraff

Minister of Port Development, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, M. H. M. Ashraff states:

"We are shocked by the sudden demise of the senior politician and statesman A. C. S. Hameed. This is another great loss that the country will find it difficult to bear.

To be an MP for 40 uninterrupted years was not an ordinary achievement. He was a key player in finding a solution to the national ethnic question. He stood like a rock by the side of President Jayewardene at the time the most controversial Indo-Lanka agreement was signed. His loyalty to different types of UNP leadership was never in doubt. He gave the fullest co-operation to President Premadasa when the President wanted the IPKF out of Sri Lanka. Since then, he had the singular fortune of having led the abortive peace negotiations between the Govt. of Sri Lanka and the LTTE.

For the sake of peace to his motherland he even risked his life and went all the way to Jaffna to have dialogue with the LTTE. At the age of almost 65 he did not mind being transported on a push bicycle by the Tigers in Jaffna. It should be noted for the purposes of record that when the plane took off the grounds after his last talks with the LTTE; the Tigers even went to the extent of attempting to shoot it down.

He accepted grace as well as disgrace in political life with the contended smile and patience of a saint. His loyalty to UNP was not in any way shattered on the occasion that he was removed from the chairmanship of the party and his portfolio as a Foreign Minister.

Mr. A. C. S. Hameed, always had the interests of the Muslims at heart. The future of the minority communities was a subject that was always dear and near to him. He founded the Muslim political rights movement and did not fail to remind the Muslims regularly of the importance of having their names included in the electoral register. Incidentally, Mr. Hameed happen to be the only Muslim UNP politician who appreciated the need and role of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress.

Mr. Hameed’s continuous blessings was available to the SLMC from its very inception upto his last breath. This is amply proved by the fact that the SLMC leader stood by his side when he departed life.

At the Parliamentary Select Committee appointed to discuss the Govt’s proposals for peace, Mr. Hameed played a major role. History will record that it was Mr. Hameed who moved the far-reaching amendment to the proposal that the proposed Regional Councils should function on the model of the Donoughmore Constitution which was accepted by the government.

Mr. Hameed led the UNP delegation in all the peace talks initiated by business community led by Mr. Lalith Kotelawala. I met him last on Wednesday at BMICH during one of these bipartisan dialogue and had the pleasure of sitting down with him for almost half an hour on an one-to-one basis after the closure of the meeting. Now I realise that through this last dialogue between us, God Almighty had chosen to guide my own political career. In strict confidence he told me the details of the many meetings he had with Mr. Anton Balasingham during his last visit to London, a couple of weeks ago. At the time of his death, Mr. Hameed was having talks with all the Tamil political parties as well as the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress. He was an effective and perhaps the last bridge we had to cross many a river in the present Sri Lanka’s political turmoil. All the Tamil parties including the LTTE felt in Mr. Hameed a gentleman in whom they could confidently discuss matters.

The only respect that the country could pay to this great statesman is to expedite the peace process to the satisfaction of all sections of the people.

His last advice to me was to look after my health and security for it is only on the strength of a healthy physical body and mind one could serve the people for a long time. He also told me not to expect gratitude from people in public life for expectation of thankfulness leads to frustration. He told me that I should consider all my services only as a charity for the sake of God.

To conclude in his own words Mr. Hameed during the last forty years has constructed mountains of charity for his motherland as well as to the Muslim community. Allah Almighty will certainly forgive his failings as a human and embrace him with abundance of mercy and infinite love. With tears, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the National Unity Alliance (NUA) raise our heads before the Lord of this universe for Mr. Hameed."

Irreparable loss to nation— Prof. G. L. Peiris

Minister of Justice Constitutional and Ethnic Affairs and Deputy Minister of Finance Prof. G. L. Peiris yesterday said that "the demise of Mr. A. C. S. Hemeed was an irreparable loss to nation."

"I was deeply greived by his death as I knew him from the time I was the Vice Chancellor of Colombo University during which time Mr. Hameed was in charge of universities as Minister.

"He handled the most difficult situations at that time with great fact and understanding" Mr. Hameed at the time of his death was engaged in some extremely complex and delicate negotiations with regard to the ethnic problem.

"He worked towards a solution with great devotion and perseverance and his death at this time was irreparpable loss to nation," Prof. Peiris said.

Shock to all who knew him — Fowzie

Alhaj A. H. M. Fowzie, Minister of Transport and Highways and President, SLFP Muslim Federation states:

"The news of the sudden death of my beloved friend Mr. A. C. S. Hameed, former minister came as a shock to the people who had known him.

"Mr. Hameed served the people of this country for many decades, having been elected to parliament in the year 1960, by the people of Akurana. He held the very responsible portfolios of Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Justice and Higher Education during the UNP regime.

"This smartly dressed, kind hearted and friendly gentleman was the trouble shooter at many a occasion when the then government had to solve differences between trade unions and authorities.

"The passing away of Mr. Hameed will be felt profoundly at a time of significant political developments, which are taking place in the country. He was the leader of the UNP delegation at the peace talks initiated by the all parties committee. The deliberations of the committee are almost at a point of reaching an agreement. This would have brought to an end the ethnic conflict, which crippled the economy of the country and the prosperity of the people.

"The demise of this illustrious politician who has left an indelible impression in the hearts of the people of Sri Lanka and more particularly, the Muslim community of the country.

"May the merciful almighty Allah grant him Tennethul Firdous.

An amiable politician – Collure

Raja Collure, Gen. Sec. of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka states: "We are shocked to learn of the sudden death of Mr. A. C. S. Hameed, Member of Parliament and former Minister who held the portfolio of Foreign Affairs for a long period.

"Mr. Hameed was an amiable politician who had won the respect of even his adversaries for his positive approach to issues relating to democracy and the ethnic problem.

"He took a keen interest to bring about political consensus on questions of national concern. This was most evident in his efforts to develop a bi-partisan agreement on the solution of the ethnic problem.

"The appointment of the late Mr. Hameed to lead the UNP delegation to the business community sponsored negotiations between the UNP and the PA for a bi-partisan solution to the ethnic problem generated some hope for a positive outcome. His sudden demise at this juncture, therefore, is a great loss to the country. The best tribute that can be paid to him by his party (the UNP) is to help evolve a bi-partisan solution to the ethnic problem."

Sincerely committed to peace effort — Sampanthan

The late A. C. S. Hameed was sincerely committed to finding a negotiated solution to the national conflict which would bring peace to Sri Lanka and also be acceptable to the Tamil and Muslim people, TULF General Secretary R. Sampanthan and Senior Vice President V. Anandasangaree said yesterday in a condolence message.

"The sudden death of Mr. A. C. S. Hameed MP veteran parliamentarian has come as a sad surprise. Mr. Hameed was a sober, mature and experienced politician whose views were well considered and clearly articulated. He was frequently the chief negotiator on behalf of the United National Party on knotty issues including the peaceful resolution of the national question. Mr. Hameed played an important role in the negotiations between the Government of President J. R. Jayewardene and the Tamil United Liberation Front which led to the enactment of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the establishment of Provincial Councils with a measure of devolved power.

"We convey to the members of the late Mr. Hameed’s family and to the leader and members of the United National Party our very sincere sympathies on the passing away of a colourful and outstanding political personality," the message added.

Raja Collure, Gen. Sec. of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka states: "We are shocked to learn of the sudden death of Mr. A. C. S. Hameed, Member of Parliament and former Minister who held the portfolio of Foreign Affairs for a long period.

"Mr. Hameed was an amiable politician who had won the respect of even his adversaries for his positive approach to issues relating to democracy and the ethnic problem.

"He took a keen interest to bring about political consensus on questions of national concern. This was most evident in his efforts to develop a bi-partisan agreement on the solution of the ethnic problem.

"The appointment of the late Mr. Hameed to lead the UNP delegation to the business community sponsored negotiations between the UNP and the PA for a bi-partisan solution to the ethnic problem generated some hope for a positive outcome. His sudden demise at this juncture, therefore, is a great loss to the country. The best tribute that can be paid to him by his party (the UNP) is to help evolve a bi-partisan solution to the ethnic problem."