Mervyn Silva

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Sri Lankan politician

title: "Mervyn Silva" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["sri-lankan-buddhists", "government-ministers-of-sri-lanka", "members-of-the-10th-parliament-of-sri-lanka", "members-of-the-13th-parliament-of-sri-lanka", "members-of-the-14th-parliament-of-sri-lanka", "living-people", "1944-births"] description: "Sri Lankan politician" topic_path: "society/religion" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mervyn_Silva" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Sri Lankan politician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

FieldValue
honorific-prefixHon. Dr.
nameMervyn Silva
honorific-suffixMP
officeDeputy Minister of Highways
term_start8 September 2010
term_end12 January 2015
term_start25 May 2010
term_end210 August 2010
office3Deputy Minister of Mass Media & Information
term_start323 April 2010
term_end35 May 2010
office4Minister of Labour
term_start42007
term_end42010
constituency_MP5Gampaha District
majority5151,085 Preferential Votes
parliament5Sri Lanka
term_start522 April 2010
term_end526 June 2015
constituency_MP6National List
parliament6Sri Lanka
predecessor6J. A. Mary Lucida
term_start62004
term_end62010
constituency_MP7Hambantota District
parliament7Sri Lanka
term_start71994
term_end72000
birth_date
nationalitySri Lankan
spouseJ. A. Mary Lucida
partySri Lanka Freedom Party
otherpartyUnited People's Freedom Alliance
childrenMalaka Silva
residence296/7 Park Road, Colombo 05, Sri Lanka
alma_materMahinda Vidyalaya,Maligakanda
captionMervyn Silva in 2023
::

| honorific-prefix = Hon. Dr. | name = Mervyn Silva | honorific-suffix = MP | image = | office = Deputy Minister of Highways | term_start = 8 September 2010 | term_end = 12 January 2015 | term_start2 = 5 May 2010 | term_end2 = 10 August 2010 | office3 = Deputy Minister of Mass Media & Information | term_start3 = 23 April 2010 | term_end3 = 5 May 2010 | office4 = Minister of Labour | term_start4 = 2007 | term_end4 = 2010 | constituency_MP5 = Gampaha District | majority5 = 151,085 Preferential Votes | parliament5 = Sri Lanka | term_start5 = 22 April 2010 | term_end5 = 26 June 2015 | constituency_MP6 = National List | parliament6 = Sri Lanka | predecessor6 = J. A. Mary Lucida | term_start6 = 2004 | term_end6 = 2010 | constituency_MP7 = Hambantota District | parliament7 = Sri Lanka | term_start7 = 1994 | term_end7 = 2000 | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = Sri Lankan | spouse = J. A. Mary Lucida | party = Sri Lanka Freedom Party | otherparty = United People's Freedom Alliance | relations = | children = Malaka Silva | residence = 296/7 Park Road, Colombo 05, Sri Lanka | alma_mater = Mahinda Vidyalaya,Maligakanda | occupation = | profession = | signature = | website = | footnotes = | caption = Mervyn Silva in 2023 Hewa Koparage Mervyn Silva (Sinhala:හේවා කෝපරගේ මර්වින් සිල්වා; Tamil:மேர்வின் சில்வா) (born 25 March 1944) also known as "Merviya" is a Sri Lankan politician, Member of Parliament and a former government minister.

Political career

Silva entered politics by joining the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in Hambantota District but later joined the United National Party.

At the 1994 parliamentary election Silva was elected to represent Hambantota District for the UNP. He later rejoined the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.

At the 2004 parliamentary election Silva was a United People's Freedom Alliance candidate in Colombo District but failed to get elected after receiving only 2,236 preference votes and coming in last place amongst the 23 UPFA candidates in the district. However, in May 2004 he was appointed as National List MP for the UPFA, replacing his wife who had resigned to allow Silva enter Parliament. In January 2007 Silva was appointed Non-Cabinet Minister of Labour.

At the 2010 parliamentary election Silva was elected to represent Gampaha District for the UPFA. Afterward he was appointed Deputy Minister of Mass Media & Information. This caused strong protests from journalists because of Silva's history with the media. Reporters Without Borders described the appointment as "asking an arsonist to put out fires". Silva resigned as Deputy Minister of Mass Media & Information in May 2010 but was immediately appointed as the new Deputy Minister of Highways.

On 3 August 2010 Silva subjected government official Mohammed Ishan Murshuk to public humiliation by tying him to a mango tree. Silva invited the media to witness the official's humiliation. This resulted in public outrage and demonstrations by government officials. On 10 August 2010 it was announced that Silva had been dismissed from his ministerial post and suspended from the SLFP. However, a subsequent SLFP disciplinary cleared him of all charges and on 8 September 2010 he was reappointed to his ministerial post.

On 11 April 2011, Silva's Parliament Affairs Secretary Jayasena Mudiyanselage Buddhi with two Policemen in uniform and an underworld gangster who is a henchman of Silva had arrived in an official vehicle belonging to Silva, and attempted to extort five million rupees from a scrap metal businessman in Grandpass. However that businessman who happened to be a friend of the Defence Secretary got them arrested while they were threatening & demanding the kappan money from him. When things became too hot and beyond the control of Silva, he immediately disassociated all connections with Buddhi saying that his Secretary had left the employment couple of weeks before. However even if it is so Silva could not explain; how that person who had left Silva's staff managed to take the official vehicle belonging to Silva and got the two policemen released from the police station in Silva's electorate on this extortion mission two weeks later.

Just after the defeat of President Rajapaksha in 2015 presidential elections (held on 08.01.15), Mervin Silva tried to distance himself from the outgoing President and hinted that he would be joining the new President. When a journalist questioned him about the switching his alliance, in front of many media personnel including the Reuters Reporter in Colombo, Silva shouted at the journalist in foul language and stated that he is not tied to anyone and whoever wins or lose he is not going to change his attitudes & behaviour.

Within a week after the presidential elections, Mervyn Silva and so many SLFP parliamentarians pledged their alliance to the new President Maithreepala Sirisena to retain their seats in the parliament and to stabilize their political power.

Then further to be in the good books of the new president, Mervyn Silva made a complaint to the CID on 16.01.15 blaming all Rajapaksha brothers on several murders and massive scale frauds.

Relations with media

On 27 December 2007 Silva and his bodyguards stormed the offices Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation where Silva assaulted SLRC's news director T. M. G. Chandrasekera. SLRC employees then took Silva hostage and demanded he apologise. When Silva refused the SLRC employees assaulted him. Most of those SLRC employees had fled Sri Lanka and had sought asylum in other countries.

On 4 August 2008 Silva and his bodyguards assaulted Sirasa TV journalist Saliya Ranawaka and cameraman Waruna Sampath and seized their equipment at the opening of a flyover at Thorana Junction in Kelaniya. Silva was tried for the assaults but was acquitted after the police failed to file any charges against him. However, earlier Silva had agreed to pay the Sirasa cameraman Rs. 750,000 compensation after the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka heard a Fundamental Rights petition filed by the cameraman.

In 2017, in a Christmas advertisement for Sirasa TV's radio channel YES FM featuring Sri Lankan celebrities singing Jingle Bell Rock, Mervyn uttered one verse not featured in the original song "Media Jingle Lords! You can't control me! Jingle on the clock!". The advertisement was never aired on TV afterwards because of Mevyn's relationship with the media industry.

Presence in Mega Star reality show

However Silva worked in co-operation with media during his appearance in the Swarnavahini Mega Star reality program as a judge. His controversial remarks about the contestants became a wide topic of discussion and drew the attention of the general public. He made many remarks about the opposition MP Rosy Senanayake, MP Ranjan Ramanayaka and MP Upeksha Swarnamali. During the live final show held at Sugathadasa indoor stadium he made many rude remarks over contestant MP Upeksha Swarnamali expressing his desire to drink her breast milk which at the time was criticized by many celebrities led by Cheruka Weerakoon.

References

References

  1. (10 August 2010). "Sri Lankan minister who tied up official is sacked". [[BBC News]].
  2. Jansz, Frederica. (2 May 2010). "Meet The Real Mervyn Silva". [[The Sunday Leader]].
  3. "Result of Parliamentary General Election 1994". Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.
  4. "General Election 2004 Preferences". Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.
  5. Wijitha Nakkawita and Sanjeevi Jayasuriya. (19 May 2004). "Four new MPs and a switch". The Island, Sri Lanka.
  6. "New Cabinet of Ministers sworn in". The Official Website of the Government of Sri Lanka.
  7. "Parliamentary General Election – 2010 Gampaha Preferences". Department of Elections, Sri Lanka.
  8. (24 April 2010). "New Ministers and Deputies". [[Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka).
  9. (27 April 2010). "Rights group decries Sri Lanka media appointment". [[BBC News]].
  10. (5 May 2010). "Mervyn resigns from media". [[Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka).
  11. (5 May 2010). "4 Sri Lankan ministers, 6 deputy ministers take oaths". [[TamilNet]].
  12. (4 August 2010). "Samurdhi officers declare war on Mervyn". [[Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka).
  13. Bandara, Kelum. (11 August 2010 }}{{dead link). "Mervyn sacked". [[Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka).
  14. Expected exoneration for Mervyn. (1 September 2010). "Expected exoneration for Mervyn". [[Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka).
  15. (8 September 2010). "Mervyn is back". [[Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka).
  16. "- YouTube".
  17. (8 November 2014). "Halloween Night Horror: How Minister Mervyn Silva's son Malaka and his Security Personnel Assaulted British Couple Brutally at Colombo Nightclub".
  18. "ලසන්ත වික්‍රමතුංග, භාරත ලක්ෂ්මන් ඇතුළු ඝාතන රැසකට වගකිව යුත්තේ ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ - මර්වින් සිල්වාගෙන් සී.අයි.ඩී. ය ට පැමිණිල්ලක්".
  19. (31 December 2007). "Discipline' minister Mervyn Silva". [[BBC]] Sinhala.
  20. (30 December 2007). "Media freedom in Sri Lanka under grave assault". The Nation, Sri Lanka.
  21. (4 November 2021). "Business".
  22. (8 August 2008). "Journalists slam President, police". [[BBC]] Sinhala.
  23. (20 February 2009). "Minister Mervyn Silva acquitted". [[BBC]] Sinhala.
  24. (17 December 2008). "Minister Mervyn Silva to pay Rs. 750,000 to MTV/Sirasa cameraman". [[Sunday Times (Sri Lanka).
  25. "12 Celebrity Days of Christmas 2017 {{!}} The 12 Celebrity Days of Christmas for 2017 #12CelebrityDaysOfChristmas #Yes101 {{!}} By YES FM Sri Lanka {{!}} Facebook".
  26. [http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=4499 The Island]. Island.lk. Retrieved on 20 November 2012.
  27. DailyFT – Be Empowered]. Ft.lk (1 November 2010). Retrieved on 20 November 2012.

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sri-lankan-buddhistsgovernment-ministers-of-sri-lankamembers-of-the-10th-parliament-of-sri-lankamembers-of-the-13th-parliament-of-sri-lankamembers-of-the-14th-parliament-of-sri-lankaliving-people1944-births