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List of presidents of Sri Lanka

The president of Sri Lanka is the elected head of state and the chief executive of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). The president is a dominant political figure in the country. The office was created in 1972, as more of a ceremonial position. It was empowered with executive powers by the 1978 Constitution introduced by J. R. Jayewardene.

Presidents

 * Parties

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: List of presidents of Sri Lanka


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Mount Alberta

Mount Alberta is a mountain located in the upper Athabasca River Valley of Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. J. Norman Collie named the mountain in 1898 after Princess Louise Caroline Alberta. It is the most difficult of the 11,000ers from a climbing point of view.

Mount Alberta is the fifth-highest peak of the Canadian Rockies and the third highest in Alberta. It is situated 80 km southeast of the town of Jasper, just beyond the Northern extent of the Columbia Icefield. According to the Climber's Guide, Mount Alberta is "One of the finest peaks in the Rockies, a singular uplift that is difficult on all sides."

Climbing
The first ascent was made in 1925 by members of the Japanese Alpine Club: S. Hashimoto, H. Hatano, T. Hayakawa, Y. Maki, Y.Mita, N. Okabe. The team was guided by Hans Fuhrer, H. Kohler and J. Weber, and the leader of the team was Maki. This team consisted of four Keio University alpine club members and two Gakushuin University alpine club members. They started climbing on July 21, 1925. After some difficulty in dealing with an overhang and a steep series of ledges for 16 hours, they reached the top and ceremoniously planted an ice axe. The ice axe was left as a symbol of their achievement. The second party that achieved the ascent found this ice axe 23 years later, and brought it back to the American Alpine Club in New York. The handle of the ice axe had been broken by the ice and rocks. In 1969, the handle was found by a Japanese party, and the two parts were put together in Tokyo in 1997. This ice axe is now exhibited in Jasper Yellowhead Museum.
 * History

The second ascent was completed in 1948 by Americans Fred Ayers and John Oberlin. In 1958, the first ascent by a Canadian team was completed by Neil Brown, Hans Gmoser, Leo Grillmair, Heinz Kahl and Sarka Spinkova.

There are a number of standard climbing routes:
 * Routes
 * Japanese Route (Normal Route) V 5.6
 * North Face VI 5.9 A3
 * North-East Ridge V 5.10

title: Mount Alberta


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Shoutcast

Shoutcast (formerly SHOUTcast) is a service for streaming media over the internet to media players, using its own cross-platform proprietary software. It allows digital audio content, primarily in MP3 or High-Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding format. The most common use of Shoutcast is for creating or listening to Internet audio broadcasts; however, there are also video streams. The software is available to use for free or as a paid cloud service with additional professional features.

In the early days of esports for video games, Shoutcast was used by some to stream play-by-play commentary, leading to the term "shoutcaster" as a name for esports commentators.

History
Created in 1998, Shoutcast's streaming protocol uses metadata tags and responses that all start with ICY, which stands for "I Can Yell." Nullsoft was purchased by AOL on June 1, 1999.

On January 14, 2014, AOL sold Nullsoft to Belgian online radio aggregator Radionomy Group; no financial details were publicly announced. In 2018 the software was rebranded from its original name of SHOUTcast to Shoutcast. In 2020 Radionomy shut down its own streaming service and migrated to the Shoutcast platform.

Software
The Shoutcast software uses a client–server model, with each component communicating via a network protocol that intermingles audio or video data with metadata such as song titles and the station name. It uses HTTP as a transport protocol.

Shoutcast servers and clients are available for FreeBSD, Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, and Solaris. There are client-only versions for Android, BlackBerry OS, iOS (iPad, iPhone), Palm OS and webOS (Radio Hibiki), PlayStation Portable, Windows Mobile, Symbian S60 and UIQ, Nintendo DS (DSOrganize), and Wii.

The output format is supported by multiple clients, including Nullsoft's own Winamp as well as Amarok, Exaile, foobar2000, iTunes, Songbird, Totem, XMMS, and Zinf. If the client does not support the Shoutcast protocol, then the Shoutcast server sends the stream without the metadata, allowing it to be heard and viewed in clients such as Windows Media Player. Shoutcast servers are usually linked to by means of playlist files, which are small text files (usually with extensions .pls or .m3u) that contain the URL of the Shoutcast server. When that URL is visited in a Web browser which identifies itself as Mozilla-compatible (as most do), the server will return a generated Shoutcast server info/status page, rather than streaming audio.

In 2010 VideoLAN dropped support for Shoutcast from VLC Player at AOL's request, as Shoutcast's license forbade its integration into other software that contained free or open-source components, additionally specifying that it "forces us to integrate the spyware and adware based Shoutcast Radio Toolbar inside your browser". An alternative to Shoutcast is Icecast

Popularity
A feature of Shoutcast servers is the ability to optionally publish server information, including the current number of listeners, in a directory of stations that Shoutcast maintains on their website. Site visitors can pick a station to listen to and download a playlist file for use in their own Shoutcast-capable media player.

In 2011 up to 900,000 concurrent listeners could be seen on public Shoutcast streams during peak hours. The maximum and minimum number of listeners fluctuates widely during a day, with roughly three times as many listeners during peak hours as at low use times.

85,317 stations were streaming using Shoutcast.

title: Shoutcast


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David Wilson, Baron Wilson of Tillyorn

David Clive Wilson, Baron Wilson of Tillyorn, (, born 14 February 1935) is a retired British administrator, diplomat and Sinologist. He was the penultimate Commander-in-Chief and 27th Governor of Hong Kong (from 1987 to 1992). He served as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the British Monarch's representative to the Assembly, in 2010 and 2011. He is also one of the two living former governors of Hong Kong with Chris Patten. He retired from the House of Lords on 12 February 2021 after sitting as a crossbencher for over 28 years.

Early life and career
Wilson was born in Alloa in Scotland on 14 February 1935 and was educated at Trinity College, Glenalmond, and Keble College, Oxford (1955–58, Master of Arts), and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (PhD in contemporary Chinese history, 1973). He studied Chinese at the University of Hong Kong from 1960 to 1962 and then served in the British Mission in Beijing. He is fluent in Mandarin and has mastered basic Cantonese and spent 10 of his 30 years as a diplomat in China.

In 1968 Wilson resigned from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to edit The China Quarterly at the School of Oriental and African Studies. After rejoining the Diplomatic Service in 1974 he worked in the Cabinet Office and then, from 1977 to 1981, as Political Adviser to Sir Murray MacLehose, then Governor of Hong Kong. Following that he became Head of Southern European Department in the FCO and then Assistant Under Secretary for Asia and the Pacific during which time he was head of the British side of the Working Group engaged in drafting the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong and then, in 1984, the first Senior British Representative on the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group (中英聯合聯絡小組) set up under the Joint Declaration. When Sir Edward Youde died in Beijing on 5 December 1986, Wilson replaced him to become the Governor of Hong Kong on 9 April 1987.

Hong Kong governorship
As governor, Wilson had to deal with the fallout in Hong Kong from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing. He also encountered the Vietnamese refugee problem, which steadily grew worse and led to the 1988 policy of repatriating those found not to qualify for refugee status (see bắt đầu từ nay). In October 1989, Wilson proposed, in the Governor's Annual Policy Address, the building of an airport on Lantau Island, known as the Rose Garden Project (玫瑰園計劃, see Hong Kong International Airport). The proposal was created out of concern that Kai Tak Airport, which had been in use since the beginning of aviation in Hong Kong, was not equipped to handle modern aviation needs.

In December 1991, Britain announced the removal of Wilson as the governor, who had been widely criticised by Hong Kong's pro-democratic camp, three months after their strong performance in Hong Kong's first direct elections to the Legislative Council. Wilson left Hong Kong in June 1992 following the completion of his five-year term as governor. Before his retirement Wilson embarked on political reforms that paved the way for eighteen legislators of the Legislative Council to be directly elected by the people of Hong Kong.

Wilson was succeeded by Chris Patten, who was then-British Prime Minister John Major's Conservative ally, and had risen to become Chairman of the Conservative Party, and a former Member of the Parliament who was recently defeated in the general election before was being appointed.

Name in Chinese
When Wilson studied Mandarin Chinese at The University of Hong Kong, he was given the Chinese name Wei Dewei or Ngai Tak-Ngai ; "Wei" was short for "Wilson", while "Dewei" is a Chinese transliteration of David. However, when he arrived in Hong Kong to take up the position of Governor of Hong Kong, it was noted that the Cantonese pronunciation of his earlier name sounded almost nothing like his actual name.

Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times commented that Wilson's previous Chinese name sounded too much like "hypocrisy to the extent of danger" (偽得危). Kristof also noted that the surname and the third character can each be divided into components meaning "1,800 female ghosts" (千八女鬼). According to Chan Chung-kwong of RTHK, some locals referred to the name as "two ghosts knocking at the door" (雙鬼拍門), which is unlucky and inappropriate for a governor's name.

When Wilson assumed his position as Governor of Hong Kong, he changed his Chinese name to Wai Yik-Shun, the Cantonese Chinese pronunciation of which is more similar to his English name. The new name also has a more favourable meaning and was composed of 33 strokes, said to be a lucky number.

Post-governorship
After his governorship and elevation to a life peerage with the title Baron Wilson of Tillyorn, of Finzean in the District of Kincardine and Deeside and of Fanling in Hong Kong in 1992, Wilson became the chairman of the energy company Scottish Hydro Electric plc. (later Scottish and Southern Energy) based in Perth, Scotland from 1993 to 2000. He was a member of the board of the British Council (and chairman of its Scottish Committee) from 1993 to 2002; a director of the Martin Currie Pacific Trust from 1993 to 2002 and Chairman of the Trustees of the National Museums of Scotland from 2002 to 2006. In 1996 he was appointed a vice-president of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society; and he was the Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen from 1997 to 2013, succeeded by the Duchess of Rothesay. He was president of the Bhutan Society of the UK (1993–2008), the Hong Kong Society (1994– ) and the Hong Kong Association (1994– ). Wilson was made a Knight of the Thistle in 2000. He served as Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge from 2002 to 2008. He was President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from October 2008 to October 2011, when he was succeeded by Sir John Arbuthnott. In January 2010 he was appointed Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for 2010.

Wilson informed the Clerk of the Parliaments that he would retire from the House of Lords on 12 February 2021 under the provisions of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014.

Places named after him
The 78-kilometre Wilson Trail, containing ten hiking segments aligned north–south in Hong Kong, is named after him, as is the Lord Wilson Heritage Trust (衛奕信勳爵文物信託) established in December 1992 to preserve and conserve Hong Kong's heritage.

Personal life
Wilson married Natasha Helen Mary Alexander, daughter of Bernard Gustav Alexander, in 1967 and they have two sons, Peter and Andrew.

Views
Wilson defended Hong Kong Police during 2014 Hong Kong protests, claiming the actions taken by the police were "largely proportionate". During the 2019 Hong Kong protests, he was against the British government's interference into the situation, stated "we cannot and should not try to tell the Hong Kong Government what to do" in a speech given at the House of Lords. he believes such demonstrations "started peacefully" with "a majority of young people who were clearly well-intentioned and concerned about their own future", but continued with an increasing amount of violence; he believed the police brutality during the event should be remedied, but "it is worth remembering not only that the police have been under enormous strain week after week, weekend after weekend, but that their families have also been threatened".

Wilson was criticised by the pro-democracy camp for not moving more quickly towards a fully elected Legislature based on universal suffrage and for paying too much attention to the views of the Government in China in agreeing arrangements for a process of increasing the number of fully elected seats up to and beyond the transfer of sovereignty in 1997.

Honours

 * Knight of the Order of the Thistle (KT), 2000.
 * Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG), 1991 New Year Honours.
 * Honorary Fellowship of Keble College, Oxford, 1987.
 * Honorary degrees from the University of Sydney (1991), University of Abertay Dundee (1993), Chinese University of Hong Kong (1996), University of Aberdeen (2004) and the University of Hong Kong (2006).

Styles

 * Mr David Clive Wilson (1937–1972)
 * Dr David Clive Wilson (1972–1987)
 * His Excellency The Rt Hon. Sir David Clive Wilson, K.C.M.G. (advanced G.C.M.G. in 1991) (1987–1992)
 * The Rt Hon. The Lord Wilson of Tillyorn, G.C.M.G. (1992–2000)
 * The Rt Hon. The Lord Wilson of Tillyorn, K.T., G.C.M.G. (2000–present)

title: David Wilson, Baron Wilson of Tillyorn


text:
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" is a satirical poem and Black Liberation song by Gil Scott-Heron. Scott-Heron first recorded it for his 1970 album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, on which he recited the lyrics, accompanied by congas and bongo drums. A re-recorded version, with a full band, was the B-side to Scott-Heron's first single, "Home Is Where the Hatred Is", from his album Pieces of a Man (1971), featuring a distinctive bass-line by jazz bassist Ron Carter. It was also included on his compilation album, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1974). All these releases were issued on the Flying Dutchman Productions record label.

The song's lyrics either mention or allude to several television series, advertising slogans and icons of entertainment and news coverage that serve as examples of what "the revolution will not" be or do. The song is a response to the spoken-word piece "When the Revolution Comes" by The Last Poets, from their eponymous debut album, which opens with the line "When the revolution comes some of us will probably catch it on TV".

It was inducted to the National Recording Registry in 2005.

In 2021, it was ranked at No. 258 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Best Songs of All Time".

Cultural references in the poem
Each verse has several cultural references:
 * "Plug in, turn on, and cop out", a reference to Timothy Leary's pro-LSD phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out."
 * "Skag", term for heroin
 * "Pigs", term for police
 * "Process", term for using chemicals to straighten a Black person's hair
 * Xerox, best-known manufacturer (at the time of the poem's writing) of photocopying machines
 * Richard Nixon, 37th president of the United States
 * John N. Mitchell, U.S. Attorney General under Nixon
 * General Creighton Abrams, one of the commanders of military operations in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War
 * Mendel Rivers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee during the period of the Vietnam War (Rivers' name appears in the original 1970 recording, but not in the re-recorded 1971 version, being replaced by Spiro Agnew)
 * Spiro Agnew, 39th vice president of the United States under Nixon
 * "Hog maws", sometimes misheard as "hog moss", soul food made from the stomach of a pig
 * Schaefer Award Theatre, an anthology of theatrical films that aired on several U.S. TV stations
 * Natalie Wood, film actress
 * Steve McQueen, film actor
 * Bullwinkle, cartoon character
 * Julia, the lead character on the half-hour television sitcom series Julia starring Diahann Carroll.
 * "Give your mouth sex appeal", from Ultra Brite toothpaste advertising
 * "The revolution will not get rid of the nubs", the nubs being beard stubble, from a Gillette Techmatic razor advertisement of the period
 * Willie Mays, baseball player
 * "NBC will not be able to predict the winner at 8:32", a reference to television networks predicting the winner of presidential elections shortly after the polls close at 8 p.m.
 * Whitney Young, civil rights leader
 * Roy Wilkins, executive director of the NAACP
 * Watts, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, alluding to the Watts Riots of 1965
 * "Red, black, and green", the colors of the Pan-African flag
 * Green Acres, a U.S. television sitcom
 * The Beverly Hillbillies, a U.S. television sitcom
 * "Hooterville Junction" (a corruption of Petticoat Junction, a U.S. television sitcom, and its fictitious location)
 * "...will no longer be so damned relevant," a statement of approval toward the rural purge that led to the above three shows being canceled
 * Dick and Jane, generic white couple derived from white children, a brother and sister, featured in American basal readers
 * Search for Tomorrow, a popular U.S. television soap opera
 * The Brighter Day, another U.S. television soap opera
 * "Hairy-armed women liberationists", participants in second-wave feminism
 * Jackie Onassis, the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy's widow, seen during the period in television broadcasts of Kennedy memorials
 * Jim Webb, U.S. composer
 * Francis Scott Key, lyricist of "The Star-Spangled Banner"
 * Glen Campbell, U.S. pop/country music singer, then hosting The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour
 * Tom Jones, Welsh pop music singer, then hosting This Is Tom Jones
 * Johnny Cash, U.S. country music singer, then hosting The Johnny Cash Show
 * Engelbert Humperdinck, British pop music singer, then hosting The Engelbert Humperdinck Show
 * Rare Earth, all-white U.S. rock band signed to Motown Records (this band is only referred to in the 1971 version)
 * "White tornado", advertising slogan for Ajax cleanser, "Ajax cleans like a white tornado"
 * "White lightning", a term for moonshine, the name of a 1950s country and western song by George Jones, and an American psychedelic rock band.
 * "Dove in your bedroom", an advertising image associated with Dove anti-perspirant deodorant
 * "Put a tiger in your tank", an Esso (now Exxon) advertising slogan created by Chicago copywriter Emery Smith
 * "Giant in your toilet bowl," a reference to Liquid-Plumr commercials saying that it cleared so well it was like "having a giant in your toilet bowl" with an animation of a large arm using a plunger on your toilet.
 * "Things go better with Coke", a Coca-Cola advertising slogan
 * "Fights germs that may cause bad breath", from Listerine advertising
 * "Will put you in the driver's seat", reference to advertising slogan for Hertz car rental

title: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised


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Ranasinghe Premadasa

Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa (රණසිංහ ප්‍රේමදාස Raṇasiṃha Premadāsa; ரணசிங்க பிரேமதாசா Raṇaciṅka Pirēmatācā; 23 June 1924 – 1 May 1993) was the third President of Sri Lanka from 2 January 1989 until his assassination in 1993. He also served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 6 February 1978 to 2 January 1989. This makes Premadasa the longest-serving uninterrupted Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, having served in the post for nearly 11 years. He was the first person to be conferred with Sri Lanka's highest civilian award, the Sri Lankabhimanya in 1986 by President J. R. Jayewardene.

Early life
Ranasinghe Premadasa was born on 23 June 1924 at Dias Place, Colombo 11, to the family of Richard Ranasinghe (Ranasinghe Mudalali) of Kosgoda and Battuwita Jayasinghe Arachchige Ensina Hamine of Batuwita, Horana. Premadasa was the oldest of five children, three sisters, and one brother. His father was engaged in the transport business in Colombo employing rickshaws.

He received his early education at the Purwarama temple under Ven. Welitara Sri Pannananda and secondary education at Lorenz College, Skinner's Road, South Maradana and at Saint Joseph's College, Colombo under Rector Fr. Le Goc.

At age fifteen, Premadasa started the Sucharita Children's Society, which later became the Sucharitha Movement, a volunteers organisation with the objectives of uplifting the economic, social and spiritual development of the low-income people living in shanty areas of the capital. He was the full-time organizer of the community development project in the area in 1939. These youth who enrolled in his development movement refrained from taking liquor and avoided smoking and gambling. Premadasa too was a teetotaler.

Ceylon Labour Party
Allying with A. E. Goonesinghe, the founder leader of the Ceylon Labour movement, Premadasa started his political career in 1946 joining the Ceylon Labour Party as a full-time member and campaigned for Goonesinghe in the 1947 general election. In 1950, he was elected to the Colombo Municipal Council as a member of San Sebastian's Ward.

United National Party
Having realized the limited future prospects in the Labour Party in the mid-1950s, Premadasa supported Sir John Kotelawala's attempts to remove the then-incumbent Mayor of Colombo, Dr N. M. Perera of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party. In 1955, Premadasa succeeded T. Rudra as Deputy Mayor and joined the United National Party in 1956 following the successful removal of N. M. Perera as Mayor of Colombo in February 1956.

From the UNP, Premadasa contested the 1956 general election from the Ruwanwella electorate but lost to N. M. Perera. Following his defeat, he joined J. R. Jayewardene working for the party reorganization under Dudley Senanayake and served as the secretary of the Religious Affairs Committee of the Buddhist Council appointed by the government to organize the 2500th Buddha Jayanthi celebrations. The following year he joined the protest march to Kandy on 3 October, which had been organized by J. R. Jayewardene. The march was disrupted at Imbulgoda by thugs led by S. D. Bandaranayake.

Premadasa was elected as the third Member of Parliament from Colombo Central in the March 1960 general election. The short-lived Dudley Senanayake government was defeated in three months and in the July 1960 general election that followed he polled fourth in the three-member constituency of Colombo Central. In 1961, he re-entered the Colombo Municipal Council having been elected from the Cinnamon Gardens Ward and served till 1965. During this time, he worked to open preschools for poor families and initiated vocational training centres in sewing and tailoring for the youth.

Minister of Local Government (1965–1970)
Premadasa successfully contested the Colombo Central electorate in the 1965 general election and was elected to parliament and appointed as Chief Government Whip and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Local Government, M. Tiruchelvam. When Tiruchelvam resigned in 1968 after the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi left Dudley Senanayake's government, Premadasa was promoted as Minister of Local Government and became a minister in Senanayake's cabinet. During his tenure, he instituted a bridges programme using pre-stressed concrete components, created the Maligawatta Housing Scheme and became known in the local governments across the island. Premadasa turned Radio Ceylon, the oldest radio station in South Asia, into a public corporation – the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation on 5 January 1967.

Opposition and the Citizens Front (1970–1977)
In the following 1970 general election, Premadasa was elected as the first Member of Parliament for Colombo Central and sat in the opposition with J. R. Jayewardene, the Leader of the Opposition. Premadasa was appointed Chief Opposition Whip. Furthermore, he was elected chairman of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth Inter-Parliamentary Association held in Australia.

Premadasa was a member of the Constituent Assembly which drafted the constitution of 1972. Premadasa called for reforms of the party which Dudley Senanayake refused, resulting in Premadasa resigning from the party working committee. He went on to form the Samastha Lanka Puravesi Peramuna, known generally as the Puravesi Peramuna or Citizens Front. Building up the Citizens Front, he was in open conflict with Senanayake who had recently healed a rift with Jayawardane. Amidst this conflict, Senanayake died on 13 April 1973 following a heart attack and Senanayake loyalists found fault with Premadasa. Jayawardane, who became UNP leader came to terms with Premadasa, who stopped the Citizens Front and returned to fully support the UNP, driving up its membership at grassroot levels and becoming the Deputy Leader of the party.

Minister of Local Government, Housing and Construction (1977–1978)
Premadasa was re-elected as the first member of parliament for Colombo Central in the general election in 1977 and was appointed the Leader of the House and the Minister of Local Government, Housing and Construction.

Prime Minister
In the following year, when J. R. Jayewardene became the first Executive President of Sri Lanka, he appointed Premadasa as Prime Minister. Premadasa began to define the new role of the Prime Minister under an executive president. He took residence at Temple Trees, retained the use of the Prime Minister's Lodge and established a new prime minister's office at Sirimathipaya. He began representing Sri Lanka internationally, having led the Sri Lankan delegation to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1979, where he secured British funding for the construction of the Victoria Dam. He headed the Sri Lankan delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in 1980 where he addressed the general assembly.

Continuing to hold the portfolios of Local Government, Housing and Construction; he initiated his political program, shelter for the poor, after the United Nations declared a Year of Shelter. His proposal to declare 1987 as the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless was unanimously accepted at the 37th session of the United Nations General Assembly. Other policies included Jana Saviya, the instrument he used to help the poor, a foster parents scheme, the Gam Udawa project with which he tried to stir up the stupor in the villages, the mobile secretariat whereby he took the central government bureaucracy to the peasants, the Tower Hall Foundation for drama and music, and the pension schemes he initiated for the elder artistes. On the economic front, the garment industry project that he initiated became a forerunner in earning foreign exchange and provision of employment in the villages. Premadasa served as prime minister from 1978 to 1988, with little rifts with President Jayewardene with the exception of the latter's signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord. Jayewardene decided to step down after his second term and Premadasa was nominated as the party candidate for the presidential election set for December 1988.

Premadasa was elected as the 2nd executive president of the country at the 1988 presidential election, gaining 2,569,199 (50.43%) votes and defeating former Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike, who came in second with 2,289,860 (44.95%) votes. Premadasa became the first non-Govigama politician to be appointed Prime Minister and elected president of Sri Lanka.

Presidency
Soon after being elected president, Premadasa dissolved parliament and called for fresh elections. In the 1989 parliamentary election in February the UNP gained 125 seats in parliament, forming a government with a majority in parliament. At the time he became president, the country faced both a civil war in the north and a communist insurgency in the south, both key issues Premadasa concentrated on, with particularly ruthless actions against the insurgents. The security forces brutally put down the revolt and killed many of its leaders.

Monetary policy
Premadasa also concentrated on a grassroots-level economic development drive, focusing on the provision of housing, poverty alleviation and the upliftment of the poor. He encouraged the building of model villages with clean water, transport infrastructure, schools and health centres. He encouraged the establishment of small-scale industries (mostly garment-related) in poor areas by giving factory owners low-interest loans and a share in textile quotas for the United States and Europe. The Gam Udāwa programme is one of his best-known achievements in this area, along with the Janasaviya programme that is today part of the Samurdhi scheme.

JVP insurrection
Appointing Ranjan Wijeratne as Minister of Foreign Affairs and State Minister for Defence, Premadasa had Wijeratne clamp down on the JVP insurgent activity in the south which had been paralyzing the state machinery and economic activity of the island since 1987 with its target killings, its unofficial curfews and work stoppages. Operation Combine launched by Wijeratne successfully suppressed the insurgency by brutally suppressing and killing its leaders, including JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera by late 1989 and effectively ending the insurrection by early 1990.

Civil War
His handling of the country's civil war was less successful. In the north, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam faced off against the Indian Peace Keeping Force. the Indian presence on the island was unpopular, and Premadasa requested India to pull out its troops. In order to force the IPKF to leave the island, he authorized a clandestine operation to supply arms to LTTE to fight the IPKF-backed Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front, a collusion that came to light in the report published by the Sri Lankan Presidential Commission to inquire into the 1992 assassination of Lieutenant General Denzil Kobbekaduwa. While the IPKF was recalled by New Delhi in 1990, the government's war with the LTTE resumed, beginning Eelam War II, which ended in a stalemate five years later. The 1990 massacre of Sri Lankan Police officers, which occurred after the policemen were asked to surrender to the LTTE in Batticaloa at Premadasa's request, was later established to have been performed with the same weapons he had supplied them.

Impeachment attempt
In September 1991, Premadasa faced an impeachment attempt in parliament led by his two formidable rivals in the UNP, Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake. He defeated the attempt by adjourning Parliament and Speaker M. H. Mohamed dismissed the impeachment stating a lack of signatures after several parliamentarians who supported the impeachment later withdrew their support after facing threats. Premadasa expelled Athulathmudali and Dissanayake from the party, who then went on to form their own political party, the Democratic United National Front (DUNF).

Country name change
In 1992, Premadasa changed the country's English name from Sri Lanka to Shri Lanka on the advice of soothsayers, who predicted it would improve the country's fortunes. The change was reverted after his assassination in 1993.

Assassination
Ranasinghe Premadasa was killed along with 23 others on 1 May, Saturday, 1993, around 12.45 p.m. during UNP's May Day rally in Colombo, by an LTTE suicide bomber. The explosion took place at Armour Street-Grandpass Junction in Hulftsdorp, Colombo while President Premadasa was unofficially supervising the procession as it was heading towards the Galle Face Green from Sugathadasa Stadium. The suicide bomber was later identified as Kulaveerasingam Veerakumar alias 'Babu', a close friend of the President's valet E. M. P. Mohideen. He rode a bicycle towards the President, left it near the President's Range Rover and walked towards the President when security personnel attempted to stop him. Despite this, Mohideen allowed him to get close to the President, when Veerakumar detonated the explosive device. Killed in the explosion were Mohideen, SSP Ronnie Gunasinghe and most of Premadasa's personal staff. Another 38 people were injured in the bombing including seven who were seriously wounded. Confusion prevailed as it was unclear what had happened, with Premadasa and his security detail missing. His death was only confirmed two hours later by his personal physician when the remains of the president were identified by his ring and watch.

The site of the explosion was cleaned within hours before a proper investigation was conducted. The May Day parade continued even after the explosion for some time. An island-wide curfew was imposed hours after the assassination. Prime minister Dingiri Banda Wijetunga was sworn in as the new acting president in the afternoon. The government did not announce the death of President Premadasa until 6 p.m. local time when state television Rupavahini broadcast a tape of BBC's report of the incident. A period of national mourning was announced until the funeral. Police claimed that they recovered the severed head of a young man suspected to be the bomber, which was found to have a cyanide suicide capsule, bearing LTTE tradecraft in his mouth. His state funeral took place at Independence Square, Colombo on 9 May 1993.

Legacy
Amongst Sri Lankans, Premadasa has left behind a mixed legacy. While he was seen as a spokesperson of the poor, common man, his handling of the country's two civil conflicts, the JVP insurrection and the Sri Lankan Civil War, have been heavily criticised.

The R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, which was built under Premadasa's supervision in 1986, still remains named after him.

The Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa Memorial is a statue depicting Premadasa, which stands in Hulftsdorp, Colombo.

The Former President Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa Memorial Monument stands at the location of the bomb blast, at the junction of Armour Street and Grandpass Road in Hulftsdorp.

Ranasinghe Premadasa's son, Sajith Premadasa, went on to become a politician in his own right. Sajith ran for president in 2019, winning 41.99% of the vote. He is the current Leader of the Opposition representing the Samagi Jana Balawegaya political party, a breakaway party of the United National Party his father once led.

In popular culture

 * The 1993 Indian Tamil-language film Gentleman was rewritten by the director S. Shankar based on the assassination of Ranasinghe Premadasa after a request by film producer K. T. Kunjumon. The film was in the post-production stage when Premadasa was assassinated, and the film was released on 30 July 1993.
 * The 2013 Indian Hindi-language film Madras Cafe, which takes place during the Sri Lankan Civil War, refers to a Sri Lankan president being killed by a suicide bomber. While the film never names Premadasa, he is the only Sri Lankan president to be assassinated in this manner.

Personal life
Premadasa married Hema Wickramatunge, the only daughter of Mr and Mrs Wickramatunge Arachchige Charles Appuhamy of Bandarawela on 23 June 1964. They had a son, Sajith, and a daughter, Dulanjali. A hard worker, Premadasa was known for rising early and following a strict routine. He lived and worked from his private residence and office, Sucharitha even during his tenure as prime minister and president.

title: Ranasinghe Premadasa


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User talk:ExParrot

Hello, welcome to Wikipedia. Here are some useful links in case you haven't already found them;

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Angela 05:27, Nov 8, 2003 (UTC)

Hello again, your work on business cards is great, but there's already an article called business card! That one doesn't contain all the information your new one does though, so you may want to merge the two. If not, you can list it on the Duplicate articles and someone else will fix it. Anyway, good work. Angela 05:44, Nov 8, 2003 (UTC)

Damn, and I was doing so well :D I'll merge the two. -Michael

Just make sure you check that an article exists first before making a new one :) A good hint is to look at the singular form of an article, since almost all articles are at the singular. Thanks, and keep contributing! Dysprosia 05:59, 8 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Category:Wikipedians in New Zealand
Hi, You might want to consider adding User NZ res to the top of your user page, which will add you to this category automatically and also add a nice graphic. Onco_p53 08:30, 14 November 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:ExParrot