Ex-Parliamentarian, ex-Minister of Mass Communications, ex-Project Minister, Attorney-at-law, Imthiaz Bakeer Markar has compiled a collection of his speeches made during his 16 year parliamentary career.

Before commenting on the 619 page book (priced at Rs. 850.) I deviate to describe the very colourful launching ceremony that took place at the Kularatne Hall , at Ananda College, Imthiaz’s alma mater, on May 6, 2008.

Long before the scheduled commencement of proceedings, every available seat in the spacious hall was occupied so much so that even senior cabinet ministers had to be content with being seated in the second row.

The function itself was chaired by the Speaker W.J.M.Loku Bandara who in his usual colourful manner suggested that every parliamentarian should read the book which has been named ‘My Heart-Beat’.

The Chancellor of the Vidyalankara University, Ven. Welamitiyawe Kusaladhamma, Ven. Diviyagaha Yasassi were accommodated at the head table as were Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leader of the Opposition and of the UNP, Minister Karu Jayasuriya, himself an old Anandian, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, Leader of the House and a long time associate of Imthiaz, Mr. Sithendra Senaratne , President of the Ananda College OBA., Principals of Ananda College, Zahira College, Gampola , Holy Cross College, Kalutara, and the Rev. Mother Superior of Holy Family Convent, Kalutara, Imthiaz’s first school . Of all the four schools where Imthiaz had his education, only one, (Gampola Zahira ) belonged to his religious denomination. Thus young Imthiyaz was able to widen his horizons and outlook in life. Bakeer Markar (Snr.) got his son admitted to the premier Buddhist School in spite of the fact that the leading Muslim school, Zahira , was practically across the road from Ananda !.

The book launch was a multi-faceted function where all the teachers who were present including Mrs. Reggie Ranatunga, (mother of Minister Arjuna Ranatunga ) were felicitated. Erananda Hettiarachchi, a Premadasa ‘find’, brilliantly compered the event which was also a sort of cultural pageant with song and dance items of young Anandians were put on show. A Grade 7 student , who rendered a Mohideen Baig master piece deserves special mention. He had been an All Island singing champion.

Imthiaz, himself a gold medalist at Ananda, apart from being the leader of the College debating team, in his very moving and emotional speech, made reference to two other ‘gold medalists’ at Ananda - Ossie Abeygunasekera and Ratnasiri Rajapaksa. It was indeed an irony of fate that both Ossie and Ratnasiri died young for God loved them both.

Coming to the book itself, it is a collection of speeches ranging from such varied fields as education, housing, industries and the role of the ‘small man,’ Deng Shiao Peng Gorbachev, Philip Gunawardena, armed forces and police, sea erosion, road development, fisheries harbour , displaced persons, water supply and prevention of waste, the roll of the opposition in a democracy, post and telecommunications, parliamentary privileges, lowlands development, Gam Udawa, youth problems, transport, trade unionism, industrial relations etc. etc. etc.

He also made valuable contributions when references were made to deceased MPs. Amongst such contributions the book records the speeches Imthiaz made when the condolence motions of Ranasinghe Premadasa , Norman Waidyaratne, Walwin A. de Silva, Cyril Mathew, Merryl Kariyawasam, S.I.Jafferjee,, G.M.Premachandra, Dr.Gamini Wijesekara, Ossie Abeygunasekara, Dr.M.C.M.Kaleel, M.E.H.Maharoof, Al Haj Dr. Badiudin Mahmud, Yasaratne Tennakoon, Sir Cyril de Zoysa, M.D.Kitchilan, Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Jabir A.Cader and Sunil S.Abeysundara .

Although Imithiaz is a devout Muslim and professed the Islamic faith, he was an exponent of Buddhism which he made full use of in parliamentary debates.

Making his maiden speech on 9.8.88 in Parliament, he concluded his contribution to the Universities (Amendment) Bill by quoting two stanzas from the Dhammapada (chapter on fools) thus :

(It is better to refrain from doing deeds that cause repentance and whose consequences one has to bear with tearful eyes)

(That deed is well-done, after doing, which there is no repentance and the consequences of which can be borne with satisfaction and pleasure)

Imthiaz first entered Parliament as a ‘chit’ M.P. upon his father M.A.Bakeer Markar (Snr) the elected first Member of the Multi-member constituency of Beruwala having had to relinquish his parliamentary seat upon being appointed Governor of the Southern Province.

Under the constitution promulgated during the Jayeawardene regime, provision was made for the leader of a party to either nominate or opt for a by-election in the event of a vacancy arising in the Parliament elected in 1977.

The UNP. which came to power with a steam roller majority, opted to nominate MPs in most instances rather than test the will of the people. Members of Parliament so nominated ‘behind the back of the people’ came to be contemptuously branded as ‘chit’ MPs.

Imthiaz, a firm believer of ‘people power’ dipped the bitter ‘chit MP’ pill in the sweet honey of democracy when he summoned all the UNP organizers of the Beruwala constituency and asked them to elect their future MP by secret ballot. The delegates numbering 98 to a man unanimously voted for Imithiaz!.

Imthiaz later on went on to win the parliamentary elections to the Kalutara District which were conducted on a district basis from 1989. Although Muslims were a minority in the Kalutara District (the majority being Sinhala Buddhists) Imthiaz progressively increased his ‘preferential votes’ at every election. Securing a clear majority over the candidates from the majority community.

Imthiaz was a firm believer of the Lincoln adage that the ‘ballot was stronger than the bullet’.

He had the knack of capturing any audience, whether it be Sinhala, Tamil, Buddhist, Christian or those professing the Islamic faith by apt quotations from the Dhammapada, the Bible, the Bhagavat Geetha and the Holy Koran.

One cannot do justice to Imthiaz’s oratorical skills by writing of him or of his book. He has to be heard in person to really appreciate his immaculate pronunciation the clear and unambiguous diction , and words flowing as not from Dunhinda nor Diyaluma but Niagara!

Speaking on the vote on education in the Budget debate of 15.12.1989, Imthiaz emphasized that if a Leader follows true Buddhist based policies, no harm will occur to the other communities – specially the ethnic minority communities.

This statement coming from a Muslim Leader is indeed very laudable.

Referring to the then Minister of Youth Affairs , Sports and Rural Development S.B.Dissanayake under the Chandrika regime, Imthiaz reminded the Minister of his university days where he spearheaded the Communist Party Student Movement and pleaded with the minister not to view youth problems within water tight compartments but to act fairly and honorably.

Speaking in the Budget debate on 1.12.1992 under the Transport and Highways vote, Imthiaz expressed the view that the vesting of ownerships to the employees of various Institutions has created a sense of responsibility in them, which in turn contributed to increased productivity.

Imthiaz was an MP who was loved and respected by both the government and the opposition MPs whether he sat in government or opposition. He was always very courteous and had a genuine but ready made smile in his face. This is not to mean that Imthiaz always exhaled sweet aroma or fragrance.

On rare occasions he erupted and reduced the opposition to smithereens. But this was more the exception than the rule and on one such exceptional occasion – also during the course of the Budget debate on 5th Dec. 1996, he fiercely defended the UNP Government’s policy on Housing, Construction and Public Utilities hitting all round the wicket which prompted the Chair to comment that ‘normally a very soft spoken Member of Parliament was in a fighting mood’.

This writer had the good fortune to be a colleague of Imthiaz in Parliament from 1989- 1994 and he never failed to help a colleague whenever the necessity arose. This was aptly demonstrated when he helped the writer in successfully implementing both a regional ‘Gam Udawa" (Village Reawakening) and a ‘Nagara Udawa’ (Town Reawakening) simultaneously in Ambalangoda.

Imthiaz in his address at the launch invited the critics who would review the book to leave no stone unturned in commenting on it. He said that he would welcome any criticism however harsh or unpleasant it may be. The book contains Imthiaz’s contributions made in Parliament during a period spanning 15 years representing initially the Government Party, then the Opposition.

The writer’s only sour point is the question that pops up - ‘how many of the present day Parliamentarians care to read such a book containing a wealth of information on varied subjects?’. It is sad to note that the reading habits of the people - including the politicians have come to an all time low ebb.

Imthiaz’s ‘My Heart Beat’ is a must for every budding politician. Every school library should have a copy of this and let it not gather dust in the shelves of the Parliament Library like so many other good books.

This writer remembers President Premadasa often lamenting that MPs did not use the excellent facilities in the Parliament Library. The writer who still frequently visits the Parliament Library for reference work has seen only a few regulars like R.Sampanthan making use of the library.

Imthiaz’s father had a black Volkswagan in which he attended courts and also came to Parliament in the early days. In his speech, paying a glowing tribute to his father Imthiaz narrated an incident where he as a very small child stole a ride in the ‘luggage’ of the ‘Volks’ when his father was going to Colombo. Since the ‘Volks’ had its engine in the rear and luggage in the front, this statement intrigued this writer as to how one could hide in the ‘boot’ of a Volkswagan. Imthiaz told the writer that he was so small that he hid in the narrow space behind the rear seat of the car and the engine and it took sometime for the father to discover what the noise that was emanating from behind the rear seat was!

Imthiaz was placed in an unenviable predicament at his very first cabinet meeting. He arrived wearing a short sleeved shirt only to be told by Minister Lalith Athulathmudali that it was not the proper attire for the cabinet. Lalith advised Imthiaz to rush home and change his shirt as President Premadasa would not allow a person not conforming to etiquette to sit in cabinet. This writer was told by a member of the Presidential Secretariat that as the cabinet meeting was about to commence, he gave his ‘coat’to Imthiaz. Imthiaz however put the record straight by saying that heeding Lalith’s advice he rushed to his Wellawatta home and donned a tunic shirt and returned to the cabinet office only to find that the meeting has already commenced – something President Premadasa would not have readily condoned.

At the launch of Imthiaz’s book, his mentor and former minister, Sirisena Cooray was seated next to the writer. When copies of the book were being presented, Cooray told this columnist that Imthiaz was kind enough to send him a copy of the book in advance. Copies of the book were presented to about 20 invitees and a number of them asked the writer after the function as to why Cooray was side-tracked. Was it because of the presence of Ranil?

I told them that Imthiaz had already sent Cooray a book long before the event. But how many others would have known that?. I told Imthiaz that it would have pleased Cooray to have been presented with another copy at the launch. Imthiaz readily agreed and that is the hallmark of a gentleman and a leader.

The audience was pleasantly surprised to see Ranil grace the occasion in spite of it being a ‘Parliament Day’ and his party was engrossed in the Eastern Province Provincial Election.

Relations have been somewhat sour between Ranil and Imthiaz during the past – a situation which President Mahinda Rajapakse wanted to capitalize on for he knew that the trilingual Imthiaz with an unblemished personal and political track record would be and asset to him. But Imthiaz spurned the many local and foreign offers made by Mahinda proving that he was a man who could not be ‘bought over’.

It was very clear that Ranil was waving an olive branch and judging from the tumultuous response from the audience it was clear that the people expect Imthiaz to return to his political ‘Maha Gedara’. So be it!