In celebration of the month of International Women’s Day, Brunch together with Brunch.lk is celebrating women in Sri Lankan politics. For Episode 3 of the series, we sat down with former parliamentarian and Member of the Opposition Hirunika Premachandra.
After the tragic death of her father Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, she joined politics in 2014 as a young woman, joining her father’s party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, to contest for the Provincial Council for the Western Province.
Currently a member of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), Premachandra remains a significant figure in Lankan politics and an inspiration to aspiring young female politicians.
Speaking with Brunch, Premachandra shared with us her journey as a woman in leadership and how she has overcome the many challenges that have come her way.
You joined politics following your father Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra’s murder. However, were it not for that tragic event, do you think you would have entered politics? Was it something you were always interested in?
I was always interested in politics. Even back when I was in school, I was the deputy head prefect and from the age of about 10 or 11, my inspiration has been Chandrika Kumaratunga. I remember once, when she was attending the National Day and I was only a little girl, even back then I was able to see her charisma. That was the moment I knew I wanted to do something like her, I wanted to stand out and to engage with the public.
Our house was always a very public place — from morning till night, there were always people in the house, even in the kitchen – because my father was an activist and he was involved in trade unions. Because of this, so many union leaders were at our place and it was a busy environment that I got used to and I always mingled with these people.
This was one of the reasons why I was interested in politics but my father’s idea at the time was that I should first finish my education and settle down and once I had kids I could then enter into politics. But unfortunately, after my father’s murder, things changed. My mother was originally planning on contesting, we felt that I was too young as I was only 23 and all I wanted was for justice to be done. But the people in Kolonnawa gathered and said it would be better if I were to contest rather than my mother and after a lot of conversations, I agreed to contest to the Provincial Council.
My father’s idea when it came to politics was that there were certain milestones a woman should complete — complete her education, get married, and have kids – but now I think that mentality has changed. I think it is good that I started so young because by starting so young, I have gained so much experience and learned so much.
As a young female politician, how has your experience been in Sri Lankan politics?
As a woman, it is challenging, mainly because I think people believe it is a man’s job. It’s a boy’s game and that is one of the reasons many women hesitate to get into politics. There are other reasons of course and if we consider all the women who are in politics now and those who used to be, I think that I was someone who had to face so much mudslinging and that was mainly due to the fact that I was a woman.
You don’t hear about this kind of character defamation or see these kinds of allegations made towards men because people think it is a man’s job. For example, in my case, if I have allegations of stealing public money or something, that is fine [it is an accusation all politicians face at one point or another], but all this defamation is all based on my personal life.
I think women are scared to get into politics because of this. Why would they get into a mudpit like this and have to endure it? People can cook up just about any story. From day one since I started politics, the gossip has always been related to my personal life.
What sort of factors do you believe tend to discourage women from getting involved in politics in Sri Lanka?
Like I said before, they don’t want to get into this mudpit but, if we all think it is not suitable for a woman, then there won’t be a chance for us to get these opportunities. Yes, it is difficult, but you should have courage. I can only take my example – you can see what has happened to me over the past few years and how I went through all of these hardships.
But if you know what you are doing is right and if you are true to yourself, it doesn’t matter what people say – you can keep moving forward. That is my mantra. I am very true to myself and I have always shown my real self. You cannot continue a lie and so I have remained very open. Because someday, the truth will reveal itself so I think it is most important that you are true to the public because as politicians, we are public figures and people look up to us so you cannot continue a lie.
For example, people ask me about my tattoos. There is actually a rumour that I have a tattoo of the Buddha on my shoulder which is not true but what I want to say is that I have not hidden my tattoos. It is my private life and it is what I like to do but I have not hidden them from the public. Just because I am a politician, I do not want to hide my true self.
There are very few female members in Parliament and all come from different backgrounds, representing different political ideologies. Despite this, is there a sense of sisterhood between the female parliamentarians?
We have a women’s caucus in Parliament and all the women politicians are in that. Even in my time when I was in Parliament, we used to sit together and would always talk about our general problems, how the problems we face affect us, and how we deal with them.
Back in our time also, all of the women politicians from all the parties would get together and if something were to happen to a woman in Parliament, we would always stand up for her, which is actually something that we should really appreciate.
But of course, this is not always the case. If you look at the incident concerning parliamentarian Rohini Kavirathna, where another parliamentarian says something to you that is derogatory (they insulted her in the session), I didn’t see many women talk about it and stand up for her. There were those in the same party and even they never talked about it. I think these are the things we need to change in Parliament and also society. We always see women drag down fellow women, especially when they talk in interviews or in public. But we need to start standing up for women, because I think, whoever the woman is, you must take that woman along with you.
This is so very important because there are very few female public personalities whom you can see rising. It is important that we give chances to other women, especially young women and girls. We should set an example as public figures.
We continue our conversation with Hirunika Premachandra on the Brunch YouTube channel. Do tune in to find out Hirunika Premachandra’s views on the LGBTQ community and how she believes that to be gay or lesbian is a very normal thing and further watch her express her experience with postpartum depression and how the State has let down the public when it comes to mental healthcare.
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