(Excepted from the autobiography of MDD Pieris, Secretary to the Prime Minister)

Malaysia:As I have mentioned earlier, 1976 was a year when the Prime Minister had to engage herself in a considerable amount of foreign travel. In early November 1976, she had to embark on state visits to Malaysia, the Philippines and Japan. These three countries were visited during the course of one journey. The main party that accompanied her consisted of Ambassador Arthur Basnayake, Director-General of Foreign Affairs; Dr. Mackie Ratwatte; Mr. A.T. Moorthy of the Foreign Ministry; Mr. Leelananda De Silva of the Planning Ministry and myself.

We left on November 5, and had a brief stopover in Singapore, arriving at 12.05 p.m. Arrangements had been made by the Singapore Government to take us to the official guesthouse “The Istana” where we were served lunch. At 2.30 p.m. the Prime Minister, accompanied by me called on Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore at the Prime Minister’s office which was situated on the same grounds as the ‘`Istana”. It was a half an hour discussion, centering mainly on the International situation after Mao’s death in China, and post-Vietnam issues.

Mr. Lee expressed himself with his customary incisiveness and clarity. After this meeting, we had to get back to the airport to board our flight to Kuala Lumpur. We took off at 4 p.m. and arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 4.50 p.m. The Prime Minister was received at the airport by the Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Hussein Onn and his wife and a host of other important personalities. After the guard of honour, and other customary airport ceremonies, we were taken in a motorcade and lodged at the state guesthouse named “Istana Tetamu” situated at the top of a high hill.

In the evening, we had an informal dinner with our High Commissioner Mr. Alagiyawanna at his official residence. After our return from dinner, Arthur Basnayake, Leelananda de Silva, A.T. Moorthy and I worked till 1.30 a.m. on the Prime Minister’s main speeches, communiques and other matters.

Next day, November 6, Tan Sri Ghazali, the Malaysian Home Minister called on the Prime Minister at 9 a.m. mainly to thank her for the assistance rendered by her when, on the almost desperate request of the Malaysian government, she had permitted a plane carrying Japanese Red Army Terrorists to land at the Bandaranaike International Airport for refueling.

I remember something of this incident, which had occurred several months earlier. One day, we were working with the Prime Minister, at her office in Republic Square, when an urgent call came from the Malaysian Prime Minister. It had to do with a hijacking of an aircraft which was in Kuala Lumpur and the complex factors involved apparently necessitated a refueling stop in Colombo, if at all this found agreement with the Sri Lanka government.

Hence, the desperate call from the Malaysian Prime Minister. The Prime Minister, after listening and clarifying a few points requested him to call her back in an hour. There were senior officials of the Foreign Ministry also with her during this conversation, and we immediately stopped everything and discussed this issue. The Prime Minister possessed a bold and intrepid character and she was of the view that we had a duty, if at all possible to assist a friendly country in the region when it was in dire need.

She was an internationalist in outlook, and believed that countries had to perform certain international obligations even if they were inconvenient or possibly dangerous. She therefore quickly discussed matters with Secretary, Defence and Foreign Affairs WT Jayasinghe; the Army Commander General Sepala Attygalle and others and decided to permit the hijacked aircraft to land for refueling. She conveyed this decision to an immensely relieved and pleased Malaysian Prime Minister.

Later, during the night the plane landed in a blacked out airport with only the runway lights on, and surrounded by heavily armed troops, commandos and armoured vehicles, refueled and took off once again to its ultimate destination somewhere in the Middle East. The Malaysians were naturally very grateful and it was to express this gratitude in person that the Malaysian Home Minister had now arrived. I myself had met and come to know the Minister a little, in 1974 when I attended the Senior Symposium on Policy organized by the Asian Centre for Development Administration, and this gave me an opportunity to renew our acquaintance.

Later in the morning the Prime Minister and party were taken to the National Mosque to attend a brief ceremony at the Hero’s Mausoleum. At 10 a.m. talks between the two Prime Ministers and their delegations commenced in the Prime Minister’s office. The seating arrangements were interesting. We did not sit round a table, as is generally customary at such meetings, but sat on cozy and comfortable chairs facing one another across some low tables on which were placed different kinds of food.

On the Malaysian side, besides the Prime Minister, there was the Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, a smart, well informed and youthful looking person of about 50 years or so; the Foreign Minister; the Foreign Secretary; their High Commissioner in Sri Lanka and a few others. On our side, besides the Prime Minister there were Arthur Basnayake, Mackie, Moorthy, Leelananda De Silva, High Commissioner Alagiyawanna and myself.

The discussions took place in an atmosphere of great informality and cordiality. The Malaysian Prime Minister and others once again thanked the Prime Minister warmly for coming to their assistance in an hour of dire need. The talks concluded at 11 a.m. and at 11.15 a.m., the Prime Minister and delegation were conducted to the national Operations Room and a briefing given about its working. After the briefing, our delegation split up, the Prime Minister, the High Commissioner and I proceeding to the Royal Palace for an audience with the King at 12.30 p.m., followed by a lunch hosted by him in honour of the Prime Minister.

There was a very distinguished gathering from the Malaysian side, which included the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister; the Chief Justice; the Chief of General Staff; the Inspector General of Police and others. After lunch, and after a brief rest, we accompanied the Prime Minister to the Hotel Equatorial to a 5 p.m. reception for her organized by the High Commissioner and the Sri Lanka community. We got back in time to dress and go for the 8 p.m. banquet hosted by the Malaysian Prime Minister in honour of the Prime Minister at Parliament House. There were the usual speeches and toasts followed by a cultural show. Back at 11 p.m., I worked with the senior members of our delegation till 2.15 a.m. attending to the cables to Colombo, communiques, etc.

On the 7th morning we visited the Free Trade Zone. Since we were free from official engagements at lunch time, Leelananda De Silva and I took the opportunity of visiting Mr. & Mrs. Baku Mahadeva and having lunch with them. Baku was still the Director of the Asian Centre for Development Administration. We had only one more official engagement on the itinerary that day, and this was the banquet hosted by the Prime Minister in honour of the Malaysian Prime Minister, at the Hotel Equatorial.

We got back at 11 p.m. and as usual got down to work. We reviewed the speeches and statements of the Prime Minister to be delivered in Manila. There were also lengthy cables to be dictated to Colombo. We finished once again at 2.15 a.m. This now seemed to be our regular finishing time. Next day

we left for Manila. At 9.15 a.m. the Malaysian Prime Minister and wife came to the Istana to accompany the Prime Minister to the airport, for a ceremonial send off. We arrived in Singapore en-route at 11 a.m., and were met on arrival by a Minister of the Singapore Government. The stay at the airport was about one hour and 45 minutes. But even at these moments work never seemed to leave one. Mr. Wickremaratne, the General Manager of Air Ceylon was there, and he wanted to discuss with me various problems pertaining to the Air Ceylon-Air Siam Agreement, which they were negotiating. Most of the transit time was taken up with this.