Milinda Moragoda

Asoka Milinda Moragoda
Colombo Municipal Councillor
Senior Adviser to President
Former Cabinet Minister of Justice and Law Reform
Former Cabinet Minister of Tourism, Economic Reform, Science and Technology
Personal details
Born	June 4, 1964 (1964-06-04) (age 47) Colombo, Sri Lanka
Nationality	Sri Lankan
Political party	Sri Lanka Freedom Party (2011-) UPFA (2007-)
Other political affiliations	Sri Lanka National Congress (2009-2011) United National Party (-2007)
Spouse(s)	Jennifer Moragoda
Alma mater	International Institute for Management DevelopmentSwitzerland.
Website	Milinda Moragoda's Website

Asoka Milinda Moragoda (Sinhala:අශෝක මිලින්ද මොරගොඩ) (born 4 June 1964) is a Sri Lankan politician and businessman. He is Opposition Leader of the Colombo Municipal Council and was, until recently, a Senior Adviser to President Mahinda Rajapakse. He was a former Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament representing the Colombo District. He had served as Minister of Justice and Law Reform, Minister of Tourism from 2007–2009, Minister for Economic Reform, Science and Technology and Deputy Minister for Plan Implementation and Development from 2002-2004. Moragoda was first entered to Parliament as a National List Member in 2000 and was reelected in 2001 and in 2004 before losing his seat in the 2010 general election.^[1] He was the leader of the newly re-established Sri Lanka National Congress (SLNC) but disbanded his party in August 2011 in order to join the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the main party of UPFA. He was the UPFA mayoral candidate in the October 2011 municipal election in Colombo^[2] and is now Opposition Leader of the CMC.

Early life and education

He was born to Moragodage Christopher Walter Pinto and Yasodha Neiliya Jayawardena, daughter of N. U. Jayawardena who was the former Governor of the Central Bank of Ceylon. Educated in Sri Lanka at the prestigious Royal College Colombo, he went on to study in Europe and in the US graduating with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland. Moragoda was a Fellow of the Weatherhead Centre for International Affairs (then known as the Centre for International Affairs) at Harvard University from 1994 to 1995.

Political career

Before he entered politics, Moragoda was the Founder Chairman of Mercantile Merchant Bank Ltd (MMBL), an investment bank and private equity company in Sri Lanka with interests in a wide range of business sectors. He was also involved with the creation of the Colombo Stock Exchange, and served as an alternate director on its first board. During his tenure in business, Moragoda also served on a large number of corporate boards.^[3]

During his political career of almost 10 years, Moragoda has worked in a number of key areas. He was one of the principal Government negotiators, in the peace talks of 2002-2004. He also functioned as the principal interlocutor with the international donor community. As the Minister of Economic Reform, Moragoda spearheaded the government’s economic reform programme. He also gave leadership to the development and implementation of Sri Lanka’s ambitious ICT policy, E-Sri Lanka.^{[4][5] [6]}

Moragoda was reelected to Parliament in 2004. In 2007 he along with Karu Jayasuriya Deputy Leader of the main opposition party, the United National Party (UNP), and 17 other senior UNP MPs lent their support to the Government. He was appointed as the Minister of Tourism by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. During his tenure, he was able to successfully implement the Tourism Act of 2001.^[7] He also restructured the Tourist Board and created a transparent mechanism for appointments with the necessary balances to include important industry stakeholders.^{[8] [9]}

In July 2009 he was appointed as Minister of Justice and Law Reform. As Minister of Justice, he was assigned the responsibility of the rehabilitation of former LTTE children cadres. Working together with members of civil society, government, the Sri Lanka Army and international aid agencies, such as UNICEF and the International Organisation for Migration, a successful programme was set up at The Hindu College, Ratmalana which has brought in over 200 of these children as boarders for rehabilitation and education.^[10] This programme which is an example of a successful public - private sector partnership has been commended by various sections of the community.^[11]

Moragoda has founded a number of non-profit organizations. Among them is the Milinda Moragoda Institute for People’s Empowerment, under whose aegis operates a humanitarian de-mining programme in the North and East which has been in operation since 2002 ^[12] and Apeksha, a free English Education Programme for children of low income families.^[13] Apart from his business and political career he has been involved in diplomacy, media and academia.

Honors

• Order of Rio Branco conferred by the Government of Brazil for services he rendered to Brazil as Honorary Consul for Brazil (1990–2004)
• Global Leader of Tomorrow (2000–2005) World Economic Forum
• Young Global Leader (2005–2009) World Economic Forum.^[1]

See also

• Ministry of Justice and Law Reforms

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Commission Members: Biography". UNDP. http://www.undp.org/legalempowerment/who/biographies/moragoda.html. Retrieved 2008-04-24. 
2. ^ "UPFA to name Moragoda for Colombo mayor’s post". the Nation. 23 August 2011. http://print.dailymirror.lk/news/news/53962.html. Retrieved 2011-08-23. 
3. ^ http://www.milinda.org/insidepages/About_Milinda/About_Milinda.htm
4. ^ http://submit.apnic.net/mailing-lists/s-asia-it/archive/2003/06/msg00057.html
5. ^ http://www.apdip.net/projects/2003/eassap/colombo/keynote1/view?searchterm=moragoda
6. ^ http://www.dailynews.lk/2003/06/26/fea01.html
7. ^ http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2007/8/18628.html
8. ^ http://www.srilanka.travel/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=428&Itemid=56&lang=en
9. ^ http://www.businesstoday.lk/cover_page.php?issue=215
10. ^ http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2009/11/22/bringing-back-the-child/
11. ^ http://www.news.lk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12655&Itemid=52
12. ^ http://www.milinda.org/insidepages/Community_Services/Pro_De-mining.htm
13. ^ http://www.milinda.org/insidepages/Community_Services/Pro_English_Classes.htm

External links

• Milinda Moragoda's Website
• Statement contributed by Milinda Moragoda at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
• Malaysian Tourism Minister Meets His Sri Lankan Counterpart
• A Warm Heart, a Cool Head, and a Deep Breath: Speeches
• "Peace with Development" - by Minister Milinda Moragoda
• The Power of Attitude Milinda Moragoda in Action on YouTube

Persondata
Name	Moragoda, M
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	4 June 1964
Place of birth	Colombo, Sri Lanka
Date of death
Place of death