Dr M. Haris Z Deen
COLOMBO : Six years have passed since the passing of Marhoom Al Haj A.H.M.Azwer; nevertheless, people still remember him for his simplicity and kindness, amongst other things. But certainly, he is missed in the Sri Lanka Parliament for his eloquent exposition of factors in English as well as the other two vernacular languages,
In an article in “Ceylon Today” on 10 August 2014, Journalist Prasad Gunawardena reminisced, “If the records of the Parliament Hansard are perused, National List MP A.H.M.Azwer will enter the Guinness Book of Records for the highest number of interruptions made, since being appointed in 1989. If there was no Azwer in the House the Chamber became boring”.
This is undoubtedly true; the sparkle that was Azwer is no more and parliamentary debates have lost the openness of elocution possessed by people like Azwer. “For entertainment, he (Azwer) chose C.V.Goonaratne”, says Journalist Prasad in his article. “Former Speaker. K.B.Ratnayake called Azwer ‘the heckler in the House’ and Deputy Speaker Gamini Fonseka identified him as ‘Jack in the box’, as Azwer always sprang up from his seat to raise a point of order,” wrote Prasad. These quips on Azwer by the Hon. Speaker and Deputy Speaker were made in good spirits and fun. They were all good friends in and outside parliament.
Writer Prasad recalls in his piece cited above that “He (Azwer) also holds the record for being responsible for creating the most number of situations that ended up in uproar in the House, which led the Speakers and others to suspend sittings. He (Azwer) can certainly outsmart all Parliamentarians in democracies worldwide in forcing the Chair to suspend sittings. Once Speaker M.H.Mohamed quipped, ‘I must tell President Premadasa to make you {Azwer) the Speaker so that this House will not be disturbed. That was Azwer in Parliament. Azwer’s humour was reciprocated in the same tone by those to whom Azwer addressed them. The main exchanges were between Azwer and CV, who was equally competent in entering humorous cudgel with Azwer. It was all done in a friendly spirit. Azwer’s behaviour in parliament earned him the title “Mister Point of Order” from the English newspapers, while the Sinhala media named him “Parlimenthuwe’ aneya” (Parliament’s nail).
These are, however, besides the point. Azwer’s expressive ability and his debating eloquence in all three languages – English, Sinhala and Tamil and his aptitude to recite poetry equally in all three languages – most importantly relevant to the subject under debate, has as yet not been matched by any other Member in the Sri Lanka Parliament. Hansard Volume 221 No 3 bears testimony to Azwer’s trilingual poetry capability.
Azwer was a simple man who ensured that he kept in touch with his ordinary clan despite having had the opportunity to engage with monarchs. After meeting Queen Elizabeth II after attending the Commonwealth conference, which Azwer attended as a Sri Lankan representative, he quickly ensured that he visited his friends and relatives equally.
Azwer met Saudi Arabian kings and royalty many times only to present himself as a Sri Lankan representative for the moment, and these events were not known to have made the amiable Azwer forget his roots or the common touch.
However, the humanitarian aspects of Azwer’s life within and outside parliament make reading exciting. Just before the 1956 general elections, Azwer was the Honorary Secretary of the All Ceylon Muslim League (ACML) Youth Front. To the dismay of the ACML hierarchy consisting of Marhoom Al Haj Falil A Cafoor and Marhoom Dr M.C.M.Kaleel amongst others, Azwer invited the Late Advocate Philip Balendra Tampoe, General Secretary of the Ceylon Mercantile Union and a solid LSSPer to address the League. Tampoe, as usual, made an excellent speech to a packed audience at the end, which declared his intention to contest a seat in the multi-member Colombo Central constituency. Azwer and Budree Hashim campaigned for Tampoe, but he lost to postal peon Themis.
Amongst Azwer’s contributions are his efforts to get the BOAC/Qantas agency employees of James Finlay reinstated when the agency was taken over by the then Air Ceylon, by taking it upon himself to appeal to Marhoom M.H.Mohamed who was Minister of Labour at that time.
Furthermore, Azwer, as private secretary to the Speaker, Bakeer Marcar, campaigned relentlessly for a pension scheme for private secretaries, which I am reliably informed that he succeeded. Another vital contribution of Azwer towards his parliamentary colleagues irrespective of party affiliation, is the issue of entry passes to parliament even when they are no longer members. Now, past members of parliament need not wait in corridors of the chamber waiting for passes to be issued by the Speaker.
