The King of Cocoa - The Legacy of Upali Wijewardena: From Toffee to Tragedy.

By Kasun Sapumohotti

In the mid-1960s, an attractive young man visited an advertising agency in Colombo. He met the designer there and asked for a design for the toffee wrapper required for his new toffee industry. The designer immediately rejected the request. The young man left the advertising agency. On the second day too, the aforementioned young man came and met the designer and made the request. The answer was still "no.” The young man who left came back on the third day, then on the fourth day, and then on the fifth day without giving up his efforts. Finally, the designer created the design of the wrapper. That ambitious young man is none other than Philip Upali Wijewardena, the best entrepreneur Sri Lanka has produced in recent history.

Philip Upali Wijewardena was born in Kamburupitiya on February 17, 1938 to Mr. Don Walter Wijewardena, the first president of the Kelani Vihara Dayaka Sabha and Mrs. Anula Kalyanavathi Wijesinghe of Miriswatta Walawuwa, Kamburupitiya. He was a member of the prestigious family generation called Sedawaththa Walawwa and his grandmother was the famous Mrs. Helena Wijewardena. He had two elder sisters named Anoja Wijewardena (later she married Prof. Stanley Wijesundara) and Kalyani Devi Wijewardena (later she married General Sepala Artigala's brother Dr. Gamini Artigala). Unfortunately, his father passed away about a year after Upali's birth in 1939.

With the death of his father, Ceylon felt the heat of the Second World War around the world. At that time and took Upali and his sisters and their mother went to her born village in Kamburupitiya. Growing up there, he received his first education (hōdiya at that time) from Narandeniya School. He had better memory and logic than his peers. After spending about 6 years in Kamburupitiya, Upali returned to Sedawatta walawuwa in Colombo and enrolled in the Colombo girls College, where both her elder sisters attended, for primary education. (Boys were also enrolled in the primary grades of girl's colleges at that time.) After primary education, he entered the Royal College of Colombo.

Horse riding was one of Upali's hobbies. One day, riding his horse, Upali went to see the Kandawala state at Ratmalana Observing this visitor, Sir John Kotelawala sent a guard to bring him to Kandawala Walawwa. Later, Upali Wijewardena told the veteran journalist Mr. Nandasena Suriyaarachchi that after talking to Sir John Kotelawala and preparing to go, Sir John said, "You are our relatives, in a little more time, I will teach you the game of 'Polo' on horseback."

In 1953, at the age of 15, Upali Wijewardena left Sri Lanka for St. John's College, Leatherhead, England for his further education. After leaving school in 1956, he entered Cambridge University to study economics. Passing second class honors in Economics, Upali came to Sri Lanka and went to the port of Trincomalee to get the M.G. type racing car that his mother had promised him. On the way to the port of Trincomalee to Colombo, he went to a car race held in Magasthota and returned home after taking second place.

Meanwhile, Upali secured a job at Lever Company after successfully navigating several competitive interview rounds. Upali, who had a very close relationship with the workers, was seen by Some individuals in higher positions perceived him as a potential threat. After some time passed, due to an argument between one of the high position men, Upali, who was frustrated, left his job and left his monthly salary on the table. But it was the beginning of a business empire Sri Lanka had ever seen.

When he was wondering how to quit his job and start a new business, his dear employee of the Lever Company, Rajaram (somewhere Murugaiya) came and told him that his father had a sugar ball making machine and was selling it as the business was losing money. Upali bought the manual machine with his savings, installed a motor in it and He, along with Rajaram, started the sugar ball industry. After a while it developed well and while the business was still there, he started a business called Delta Toffee on Blumenthal Avenue with the help of his grandmother. But the toffee didn't go well. Due to its fast-dissolving nature, it failed to reach the masses. Upali was not moved by it. Filling the trunk of his vehicle with books on the toffee industry, took an aluminum chair in the factory to the machine and worked with the workers until the right term of the toffee was found. Finally, he succeeded. Using his business acumen, he took the Delta Toffee name to the forefront of the business world within a year.

Then he toured Sri Lanka. It was more research than a trip. After his visit, A radio was introduced to the market, revolutionizing the Sri Lankan business world. Since the radio called "Unique" was made suitable for every province, everyone from the chief of village to the farmer in the paddy field could easily listen to the radio.

Upali Wijewardena was a man who followed his own beliefs. He developed a love for gem business and went to Ratnapura, got good knowledge about gem industry, and started exporting gem. He used the huge profit from it to manufacture cars. Upali took the first Mazda car manufactured at the factory in Homagama Galawilawatta and went to Kelaniya Rajamaha Vihara and offered it to the chief monk of the temple Thalewala Vijitha Dhamma Rakkhita Thero for the use of the temple. The demand for the Upali Mazda increased rapidly and in the meantime Upali introduced another car called the Upali Fiat.

While things were going on like this, Upali Wijewardena attended a party held for the retirement of one of her close relatives. Mr. Deranger, who was the head of a famous chocolate company at that time, was also present and after talking to him, one of his close friends, who saw Upali engaged in thought, asked him about it.

“That man Deranger asked me for the Delta. I'll give that guy a delta toffee."

Soon after buying shares from his uncle, Senator Sarath Wijesinghe and others, he became the majority shareholder in the chocolate company. After that Upali Wijewardena appointed a new board of directors. It was the delta toffee given by Upali Wijewardena to Mr. Deranger. That chocolate company is none other than “Kandos” chocolate company.

In the meantime, He went to Malaysia and initiated business by establishing a factory named Kandos Malaysia. At the same time, he started a Kandos chocolate factory in Singapore and within two years, he brought the cocoa production to the highest level in both countries and distributed chocolate products in countries like Hong Kong, Thailand, and Australia, which became very famous. Upali Wijewardena was so popular that one day a group of people from a Singapore Kandos factory got lost at an airport in Malaysia and were being interrogated by Malaysian Immigration Department officials. They repeatedly asserted that they had come to meet Upali Wijewardena. But Malaysian officials said there was no such person in the country. Then when they said the name Kandos, the Malaysian officials spoke to Upali Wijewardena and resolved the issue and finally said,

"We don't know his name. Everyone in this country calls him “King of cocoa."

During that time, Kandos owned 40,000 acres of land in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, in 1977, his cousin JR Jayawardene's government appointed him to the position of Director General of the Greater Colombo Economic Commission. He was assigned to select a suitable territory and to establish a free trade zone there. He stated that if investors and foreigners coming to Sri Lanka want to influence the country, it would be better to establish a free trade zone near Katunayake Airport. Also, he was eager to bring investors to Sri Lanka by his personal wealth while traveling abroad. The investors brought in this way directly and indirectly solved the employment problem in Sri Lanka and it was also a great help to the economy of Sri Lanka.

Also, when Upali Wijewardena took care of the work, He had a competent director, Ananda Pelimuhandiram, to manage the operations of Upali companies in an orderly manner. His name is Ananda Pelimuhandiram. Upali appointed Anand to the directorship because of his skills and business knowledge as he came to Upali’ Company as a trained controller.

An emergency call was received on Air Force Captain Mani Seneviratne's office phone.

"Hello, Captain Mani Seneviratne, is speaking."

“Hello Captain. I am Ananda Peli Muhandiram, Director of Upali Group. Mr. Upali Wijewardena is waiting to meet you. Can you come as soon as possible?”

"Okay, I'll be back after finishing work in the office."

After finishing work in the office, Air Force Captain Mani Seneviratne met him at Upali Wijewardena’s residence on Thurston Road. Upali's knowledge of aircraft surprised him.

"I am thinking of buying a helicopter," Upali Wijewardena told Mani Seneviratne. A few weeks after that conversation, Upali said that he had ordered a helicopter and asked Mani Seneviratne if they would like to join his company. Mani Seneviratne's reply was that he would think about it and give an answer. The next day, a printed application was received at Mani Seneviratne’s house, and he resigned from the Air Force and joined the Upali Company.

On January 9, 1979, he visited Kelani Vihara from the helipad of his home as the first trip from the helicopter that was brought and because it was difficult to land near the temple, the helicopter started its journey like that with the helicopter circling three times around the chetiya.

In the meantime, Upali purchased a Cessna plane and enlisted the services of Noel Francis Ignatius Anandappa, the best pilot in the air force and the squadron leader who flew Sri Lanka's first MiG jet, to fly it. When air travel increased in the country, he bought a twenty-seater plane and started an air service between Colombo, Anuradhapura, Jaffna and Trincomalee. Upali established a branch of his company in America, gaining access to the world market.

Meanwhile, Upali thought of bringing the dawn of development to his mother's village in Kamburupitiya. A program called Ruhunu Udanaya was established for this purpose and a new board of directors was established to manage it. The Malawararaachchi member of the Kamburupitiya Constituency asked for a separate university for Ruhuna itself, but due to some low-minded politicians in the south, that opportunity was lost, and the University of Ruhuna was received about a decade later. But the Kamburupitiya Upali Wijewardena Conference Hall built by Ruhunu Udanaya can still be seen inside the Narandeniya National School.

Meanwhile, he started another business. That is journalism. The step he took to change the Sri Lankan social system, which has been corrupted by various forces by educating the entire community, was to start the Upali Newspaper Company. The Island, which started on October 4, 1981, at Homagama Galawilawatta, became a newspaper of the people of Sri Lanka.

In early 1982, Upali bought a Lear Jet 35 A type aircraft for Rs.15 crores as it wanted to do its business on a global scale. Upali Wijewardena customized it according to his needs. The aircraft has two engines, a speed of 600 miles per hour, a climb of 4,900 feet per minute, and seating for less than 20 passengers at an altitude of forty thousand feet. The plane also has a small retractable dinghy that automatically activates if the plane somehow crashes into the sea. It usually has everything you need to survive for a few days. But this plane did not contain the "black box".

The date was a cold Sunday in 1956. The young Upali, who was lying on the floor of his accommodation in England, reading a newspaper, saw the news of Prince Ali Khan, who had died in a plane crash. After looking at it for a moment, he turned to his cousin Ranjith Wijewardena and pointed to the news and said, "I want to say goodbye in the same way." Fate is so amazing.

On January 31, 1983, Upali boarded his Lear Jet 35A jet and went to Malaysia for some business. According to newspaper reports, he has had several legal disputes with several landowners in the country, which he has won. Also, according to some other newspaper reports, he went to Malaysia to start a new chocolate factory. Anyway, on January 31, 1983, he left Katunayake and arrived at Subang International Airport in Kuala Lumpur. (Now Sultan Abdul Ashiz Shah Airport). After staying for a few days, his Lear jet was taken to Singapore for maintenance. After maintenance work, Test Run was brought back to Malaysia after two test runs by pilot Noel Francis Ignatius Anandappa himself. But after being brought in, after a fault was reported in the cockpit temperature control switch, engineer Tom Boyd from Singapore corrected the fault and after a test run, the pilot Anandappa concluded that the plane was fit for flight.

At around 7.55pm Malaysian time on 13 February 1983, the pilots of the Upali’s jet announced the flight plan to the relevant air traffic control centers via the Aeronautical?Fixed Telecommunications Service (AFTN). Thus, the flight plan is obtained for the safety of the aircraft. If any aircraft does not contact the relevant air traffic control center at the scheduled time of the flight plan, it will be investigated using nearby aircraft within 5 to 15 minutes. If there is no response within 15 minutes, the air traffic control centers on the route of the plane will be informed using the signal name INSARPA (no information). If there is no response, ALERSPA (attention) will be given using the signal name. If no information is received within 40 minutes, a signal name indicating DISTRESPA (disaster) is issued to all air traffic control centers. Then the relevant agencies become aware and start searching for the plane. According to the flight plan of the Upali’s flight, the flight departing at 8.41 pm Malaysian time passed through the Medan air traffic control center in Sumatra and entered Sri Lanka air traffic control center space from a point called "Panka" in the Indian Ocean and was scheduled to arrive in Katunayake Colombo at 9.40 pm Sri Lanka time.

On February 13, 1983, Upali Wijewardena came out of his house called Coco Villa in Malaysia at around five in the evening because of a phone call that he had delayed for three hours. After arriving, Upali Wijewardena boarded his Lear jet which was parked at Subang Airport and sat in the third seat as usual. Because everything from the communication facility he needed was provided near that seat. Among the group returning to Sri Lanka were Upali Wijewardena, Director of the Upali Group Ananda Peli Muhandiram, Director of the Upali Group in Malaysia S.M. Ratnam and Upali's assistant A. Senanayake of Kamburupitiya. The aircraft was piloted by Noel Francis Ignatius Anandappa and co-pilot by Sidney Soysa.

It took off from Subang International Airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at 8.41pm Malaysian time as scheduled for a 3-hour 30-minute flight with fuel for a 5 1/2-hour flight. About 15 minutes later, at 8:56 p.m., the flight requested permission to climb to 27,000 feet from the Subang Air Traffic Control Center. Then the pilot Anandappa had reported the speed of the plane as 744 km per hour. Requested permission received. The plane reached 27,000 feet and 8 minutes later at 9.02 pm the plane suddenly disappeared from the radar screen of the Subang Air Traffic Control Center while it was over the Malacca Straits.

Meanwhile, Air Traffic Control Center, Katunayake, Sri Lanka, started investigating the non-arrival of Upali Wijewardena’s Lear Jet at the Point ‘Panka’. Katunayake Air Traffic Control Center, which first inquired at Kuala Lumpur's Subang Airport, then requested an American warplane flying near Panka to search for the Upali jet using the code names NOVEMBER 482 UNIFORM. After three times the warplane announced that there was no sign of the Upali jet, the INSARPA announcement, then the ALERSPA announcement, and after 40 minutes the DISTRESPA announcement, issued an announcement that the Upali aircraft was missing. The surprise here is that the Medan Air Traffic Control Center in Sumatra should have issued these three announcements, but the Medan Air Traffic Control Center did not announce this until the Katunayake Air Traffic Control Center issued the three announcements.

By the next day, Reuters informed the world about this. Indonesian and Malaysian security forces launched operations to find Upali Wijewardene's Lear jet. Meanwhile, a Bulgarian pilot of the Balkan Airlines said that while he was flying to Sri Lanka the night before, he heard a message on the radio that a plane was trying to reach Colombo near the east coast of the island. (Later investigations showed that there is no truth in this statement.) Based on that statement, the American Ambassador to Sri Lanka, John Reed, ordered the Seventh Naval Fleet stationed at the Diego Garcia military base to search for the Lear jet of Upali Wijewardene 500 to 600 miles away from the coast of Sri Lanka. Accordingly, two ships and two aircraft of the Seventh Naval Fleet came to search for the Upali plane.

By the 15th, operations had diverged when residents of Tanjug Karang, Sumatra, reported seeing a plane crash into the sea on the night of the 13th. With that, the head of the Indonesian search team, Lt. Col. Gatot Pujopertono, launched operations in the area. Also, the radar system of the Butterworth Air Control Center in Penang area has seen an aircraft disappearing around the time of the Upali aircraft's disappearance. It was assumed that this could be a radar signal received when the plane crashed into the sea.

Meanwhile, Reverend Padugala Ananda Thero, the chief Monk of Kudumbigala Aranya Senasana, has informed the police that he saw something like a ball of fire falling into the sea at around 8.45 pm on Sunday 13th, and since the R 61 air service route between Colombo and Malaysia passes through it, investigations should also be conducted. Appropriate action was taken and farmer who does traditional chena cultivation in Panama and two fishermen from Batticaloa also claimed to have seen a fireball descend into the sea.

Meanwhile, several countries joined forces to search for Upali Wijewardena’s Lear Jet. Three ships and two planes along with two Minesweeper ships belonging to the Indonesian Naval force, two ships and a Hercules C130 aircraft belonging to the Malaysian Naval force, two ships and two planes of the United States Seventh Fleet, a P3C Orion aircraft equipped with the most advanced technology used by the United States at the time. an Australian aircraft, assistance from England, India and Singapore and a satellite from the Soviet Union were engaged in the search for the Lear jet. In addition, Sri Lanka's Dvora-class fast patrol boats, two other planes of the Upali company, and an aircraft of the Consolidated Engineering Company also carried out operations in the waters around Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, on the 21st, a wheel suspected to be of an airplane was found near an island called Pulau Pangdun, and when asked about it from the Lear Jet Company, it was informed that the wheel was not a wheel of the Lear Jet.

Meanwhile, after several months of investigation, only the wheel, a wooden box, and a life preserver were discarded from a ship and some iron plates were found. Eventually all investigations were called off and Upali Wijewardene's Lear Jet disappeared without a trace, another great mystery.

At the time of this accident, Upali Wijewardena was married. She was Lakmini Ratwatte, a young lady of the famous Ratwatte generation. Her father Sivali Ratwatte is the brother of the world's first Prime Minister Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike. With this marriage, two of the most powerful political families in Sri Lanka were connected. But shortly after Upali's disappearance, Upali Wijewardene's wife, Lakmini Ratwatte Wijewardene, married Nimal Welgama (Kumara Welgama's brother), an employee of the Wijewardene Upali company, and after that she changed her name to Lakmini Ratwatte Welgama. After that, the right to Upali Wijewardena’s inheritance went before the law, and it became another news. The judgment in the case between Upali Wijewardena’s wife and two sisters was handed down in January 1999, giving Upali's wife the right to his property.

Upali Wijewardene, the charismatic and wonderful businessman, had an estimated net worth of 50 million dollars in the 80s. Many people believe that if he were alive today, he would have been one of the ten richest people in the world. Some people are of the opinion that the situation in Sri Lanka will not be like this today. He was also the first businessman to recognize the Sri Lankan public consciousness. Upali Wijewardena is still considered a symbol of Sri Lanka's success and a model to be emulated by entrepreneurs as often mentioned in entrepreneurship lectures. 2024 will be 41 years since the disappearance of Upali Wijewardena, who started his business world with a toffee and became known as King cocoa in a short life span of 45 years. He is a character that should be remembered often.

Sources: February 1983, from newspapers and the internet. Photos from relevant newspapers. All photos must be credited to the respective journalist. Avoid copying photos without permission.