G. L. Peiris

Gamini Lakshman Peiris (Sinhala:ගාමීණි ලක්ෂ්මණ් පීරිස්) (born 13 August 1946) is a Sri Lankan politician and academic. He is a former Cabinet Minister of External Affairs and a former member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.He is the current Minister of Education and a national listed member of parliament from the SLPP party

Hon.

Gamini Lakshman Peiris

MP
ගාමිණී ලක්ශ්මන් පීරිස්
Minister of Education
Assumed office
12 August 2020
PresidentGotabaya Rajapaksa
Prime MinisterMahinda Rajapaksa
Preceded byDullas Alahapperuma
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
23 April 2010 – 12 January 2015
PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa
Preceded byRohitha Bogollagama
Succeeded byMangala Samaraweera
Minister of Export Development & International Trade
Minister of Industrial Development
Minister of Justice
In office
1994–2001
PresidentChandrika Kumaratunga
Preceded byHarold Herath
Succeeded byW. J. M. Lokubandara
Member of the Sri Lankan Parliament
for Colombo District
In office
2000–2001
Member of the Sri Lankan Parliament
for National List
In office
2001–2015
In office
1994–2000
Assumed office
2020
Personal details
Born (1946-08-13) 13 August 1946
Political partySri Lanka Podujana Peramuna
Other political
affiliations		United National Party, Sri Lanka Freedom Party
Alma materUniversity of Ceylon, Colombo
University of Oxford

Early life and education

Peiris was born to Glanville Peiris, a diplomat who was the former Director-General of External Affairs and Ceylon's Ambassador to West Germany and Myanmar, and Lakshmi Chandrika Peiris.[1] His uncle was Bernard Peiris, the former Cabinet Secretary. Educated at Sri Sumangala College Panadura and S. Thomas' College, Mt Lavinia, he entered the law faculty of the University of Ceylon, Colombo and won the Mudliyar Edmond Peiris award. He won a Rhodes Scholarship to read for a PhD at New College, Oxford, and graduated in 1971. He also gained a second PhD from the University of Colombo in 1974.[2]

Academic career

Joining the academic staff of the University of Ceylon, he went on to become a Professor of Law and the Dean of the Faculty of Law before taking office as the second Vice-Chancellor of the University of Colombo following the assassination of Prof. Stanley Wijesundera during the height of the 1987–89 JVP Insurrection. He served as Vice-Chancellor from 1988 to 1994 until leaving to take up politics. He had Fellowships from Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and London. He was a Rhodes Scholar of the University of Oxford (1968-1971) and All Souls College of the University of Oxford in 1980–1981. He was a visiting fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies of the University of London in 1984, distinguished Visiting Fellow of Christ College, University of Cambridge and SMUTS Visiting Fellow in Commonwealth Studies at the Cambridge University (1985-1986). He was also Associate member of the International Academy of Comparative Law in 1980 and Senior British Council Fellow in 1987.

Political career

People's Alliance Government (1994-2001)

Peiris was a close confidant of the former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, who appointed him as a national list member of the parliament following the 1994 election. Thereafter, Mrs Kumaratunga, then Prime Minister, appointed him as Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Deputy Minister of Finance. He was also given the portfolio of External Trade at the start. In a subsequent Cabinet reshuffle, he was given two additional portfolios—Ethnic Affairs and National Integration—which were hitherto held by the President. During his tenure as Justice Minister, he brought in over 30 pieces of new legislation which were considered innovative and in accordance with the needs of modern times.[2]

In 2001, Peiris fell out with President Kumaratunga and defected to the opposition, effectively bringing down the government.

United National Front Government (2001-2004)

After leaving the PA, Peiris joined the opposition United National Party led United National Front (UNF), which captured power in the subsequent general election.[3]

When the UNF government headed by the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe engaged in peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Peiris was appointed as the chief negotiator.[4]

Defeated government (2004–2015)

He was then encouraged to shift to the UPFA in 2004 under the leadership of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. On 9 January 2015, he shifted as opposition MP representing UPFA. In the 2015 election, he lost his seat in parliament as he was not selected from the UPFA national list.[5]

New Political Party (2016)

He was named the chairman of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna on 1 November 2016.[6] Following the appointment he was removed from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.[7]

See also

References
  1. "Gentleman politician". Archived from the original on 17 January 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2011.
  2. "G.L. Peiris CV". Asian-affairs.com. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 March 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Sri Lanka talks snag 'resolved'". BBC News. 7 January 2003. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  5. "Daily Mirror - UPFA, UNP national lists announced". Dailymirror.lk. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  6. "'Our Sri Lanka Freedom Front' changes name; GL named Chairman". Adaderana.lk. 2 November 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  7. "SLFP membership of G.L Peries cancelled - Gold FM News - Srilanka's Number One News Portal". Hirunews.lk. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
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