Going under armed escort as Chairman SLBC and Director of Broadcasting

On being told of my new assignment in the SLBC, I went home and dismissed the Prime Minister's office car.

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Although I could have used it to go to the SLBC, technically I was no longer Secretary to the Prime Minister, and therefore, not really entitled to use it. I decided to drive my Morris Minor to go there. News travels very fast in this country. Even before I had got home there had been numerous telephone calls. Now, calls were coming in at the rate of one every three or four minutes.

Most of them were from my friends and colleagues and many of them expressed their sympathies and concerns at my going to the SLBC rather than congratulations. Till then I did not fully realize, the kind of public opinion that prevailed, in regard to the SLBC as a place of work. I made a mental note that this had to change.

One of the callers informed me that the important UNP Trade Union, the Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya (JSS) had gone to see the Prime Minister to protest at the appointment of someone who had closely worked with Mrs. Bandaranaike, to an important state media institution like the SLBC. I was very happy to hear this news and thought deliverance was at hand.

I now telephoned Mr. Menikdiwela, and told him about the information I had, and suggested that if this was true, it would be better for me to do something else. Mr. Menikdiwela laughed and said "Yes, some of them came to see us, but we told them that you were an outstanding public servant and not a politician and directed them to co-operate with you fully."

There was no further recourse, and I was getting ready to go. But it was difficult to have lunch, because the phone was ringing constantly. In desperation my mother put some food on a plate and began feeding me. To her I was a 40-year-old child who had to be fed, in case he went away without eating.