Caluadewage Cyril Mathew (30 September 1912 – 17 October 1989) was a Sri Lankan politician, member of parliament,[1] representing the Kelaniya electorate,[2] and served as the Minister of Industry and Scientific Affairs in the Jayewardene cabinet (1977–1986).
Mathew joined the United National Party and was appointed its joint general secretary in 1956 and served until 1967, when he resigned after falling out with the party leader Dudley Senanayake.[3]
Mathew was elected to the House of Representatives of Ceylon in the 1960 March general elections from Kolonna from the United National Party and was re-elected in the 1960 July general elections. He contested the 1965 general elections from Bandarawela and was defeated by R. M. Appuhamy. He was elected at the 8th parliamentary elections, held on 21 July 1977, representing the Kelaniya electorate for the United National Party.[4]
He was known for his hard-line position against the Tamil's political aspirations.[5] He was appointed as the Minister of Industry and Scientific Affairs in July 1977.[6] He is widely regarded as one of the key ministers responsible for instigating the anti-Tamil pogrom of July 1983, where he was seen leading mobs to burn Tamil businesses.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13] The pogrom subsequently resulted in the outbreak of a 26-year civil war.[14]
Mathew was expelled from the cabinet and the governing United National Party by President J. R. Jayewardene in 1984 after publicly criticising a conference called by Jayewardene to redress grievances of the Tamil minority.[15] Jayewardene's successor, Ranasinghe Premadasa, subsequently reinstated Mathew's party membership. He died of a heart attack on 17 October 1989.
Mathew was the author of the book Sinhalese! Rise to Protect Buddhism, which urged Sinhalese to "stand up for their rights and protect their values". He also issued a pamphlet Who is the Tiger, a collection of his inflammatory speeches made in 1979.
His son Nanda was also a member of the parliament[16] and later held several ministerial posts, including Minister of Sports and Youth affairs, under successive UNP governments.[1] He was later appointed by President Chandrika Kumaratunga and President Mahinda Rajapaksa as Governor of the Uva Province.
^"Hon. Mathew, Caluwadewage Cyril, M.P." Parliament of Sri Lanka. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
^Peebles, Patrick (22 October 2015). Historical Dictionary of Sri Lanka. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 229. ISBN 9781442255852.
^Perera. "Cyril Mathew revolted against Dudley in 1960s and JR in 80s : Can a Divided Party Rule a Nation?". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
^"Result of Parliamentary General Election 1977" (PDF). Department of Elections, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
^"The Peoples Alliance Government in Sri Lanka". Archived from the original on 14 May 2005. Retrieved 13 March 2006.
^Sri Lanka Year Book 1977(PDF). Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka. pp. 17–18.
^Rubin, Barnett R. (1987). Cycles of Violence: Human Rights in Sri Lanka Since the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement. Human Rights Watch. ISBN 978-0-938579-43-4.
^T. Sabaratnam, Pirapaharan, Volume 2, Chapter 5 – The Second Massacre (2003)
^"Reflecting… 40th Anniversary of 'Black July': Have We Truly Learned from History? - Opinion | Daily Mirror". www.dailymirror.lk. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
^Daily News, Being ‘in and out’ of the UNP
Controversial Cyril Mathew
Wednesday, December 6, 2017, https://archives1.dailynews.lk/2017/12/06/features/136507/controversial-cyril-mathew
^The Week, V.S.Jayaschandran, August 14–20, 1983, Lanka Burns, pp. 16-21
^L.Piyadasa, 1984, Sri Lanka: The Holocaust and After, London:Marram books, p.81, 86
^M.S Venkatachalam, 1987, Genocide in Sri Lanka, Delhi:Gian Publishing House, p.67
^Hoole, Rajan (3 September 2013). "July 1983: Ranil Wickremasinghe Followed Cyril Mathew". Colombo Telegraph. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
^"Deaths". Washington Post. 19 October 1989. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2013 – via HighBeam Research.
^"Hon. Mathew, Caluadewagey Nanda, M.P." Parliament of Sri Lanka. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
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