Features

Non Governmental Organizations and becoming a UN civil servants

Published

3 years ago

2023/02/26

Excerpted from volume ii of the Sarath Amunugama autobiographhy

With the New Information Order debate occupying centre stage many global NGOs of both left and right ideological backgrounds entered the field of research and training in mass media. The most influential and well-funded of these was the Asian Mass Media and Information Centre [AMIC] which was set up as a joint venture of the Freidrich Ebert Stiftung of Germany and the Government of Singapore. AMIC was located in Singapore in a building provided by the Singapore Government.

The Chairman of the Board was their Director of Information who was a friendly, efficient and hard drinking colleague named Roy Daniel who had joined Lee Kuan Yew when he set up the Progressive Peoples Party [PPP]. Since I served AMIC first as a member of the Governing Board and later, fora short time, as its Secretary-General more about it will be written later in this chapter.

Another influential NGO which entered the field of media research and training was IPPF – The International Planned Parenthood Federation, which was well funded at least till President Ronald Reagan cut off funding for it under pressure from his pro-life backers. IPPF had its head office first in Geneva and later in London.

Early in its history I as Director of Information in the 1970 regime of Mrs. Bandaranaike, organized a seminar on family health with Angela Molnos who was a Director of IPPF working out of Geneva and closely associated with WHO .We brought out a book of essays on family health in South Asia which was published by IPPF. I also organized a seminar in Colombo with the assistance of the then deputy Minister of Health Siva Obeyesekere on Family Health of which Bradman Weerakoon, then GA Amparai, was a participant.

Following this Bradman then took a special interest in this field and later became the Secretary-General of IPPF with its office in London. Many Sri Lankan health media personnel were trained by IPPF in its heyday. It advocated a more enlightened policy towards women and family health which went a long way in ameliorating the living standards of poor women. It worked closely with UNFPA the special programme set up by the UN to promote progressive family health and population policies.

The UNFPA was backed by President Jimmy Carter whose mother had been a social service volunteer in India and imbued her son with a sympathetic understanding of the poor. However racists on both sides of the divide were fanatically opposed to this programme and with Ronald Reagan in the White House the US withdrew backing for this initiative leading to its virtual demise.

While Bradman Weerakoon joined IPPF, Neville Jayaweera who also faced the wrath of Mrs. B left the CCS and joined the media division of the World Conference of Churches after a sudden conversion to Christianity. He became a star speaker of the WCC and helped in drawing its considerable financial resources to the field of media criticism and training. Since much of its funding for training came from Scandinavian churches I met Neville on my visits to Norway and Sweden on behalf of UNESCO. I allocated funds from UNESCO to both IPPF and WCC later at a time when they were in financial difficulties. It was a notable coincidence that three of the global media organizations were headed by three ex-CCS Bradman, Neville and myself at a crucial juncture in the debate.

But the Media NGO which made Sri Lanka its home base was the Norway funded Worldview International Foundation which worked very closely with our Ministry. Its founder was Arne Fjortoff, a leading Norwegian broadcaster who has now spent virtually his whole adult life in helping the poor and the neglected of the Asian region to use media to overcome their poverty. I associated with him practically from his first days in our country. More details will be given later about my role as the Deputy Secretary-General of WIF.

Good Bye to All That

By the beginning of the 1980s I had been in the field of media for over fifteen years as a civil servant. I felt that it was now time to move on. JRJ was getting ready to contest the Presidency for the second term and if I did not leave now it would not be possible to depart amicably after his campaign was launched. As mentioned earlier, all the CCS officers for whom there was a global demand could find good assignments in the UN system or in other international organizations.

Bradman and Neville had joined international organizations well below their capabilities. They were punching below their weight because both had missed the timing of their departure. They felt they had no alternative but to leave the country to escape Mrs. B’s wrath. JRJ himself did not favour them; so they had to hurriedly accept what was available at that time. My own CCS batchmates were leaving the public service, some even by retiring without a pension. The first to go was Raja Gomez who joined the Commonwealth Secretariat. He was followed by Bernard Wijeweera who also joined an International Agency. Harsha Wickremasinghe joined ESCAP for some time but came back after a few years.

Tragically two of my batchmates – Tissa Gunasinghe and Buddhin Gunatunga – died young. Before us, there were a flock of CCS seniors who migrated to all parts of the world. I was lucky to have several top positions offered to me. This was because I had high visibility as a player in the New Information Order debate. Only a few other civil servants have been ‘branded’ as specialists having come in as generalist CCS to the public service.

This was a time for specialists and Gamini Corea, Jayantha Dhanapala and I were perhaps the only Sri Lankan bureaucrats to carve out a globally acceptable specialist status for ourselves. That was mostly a matter of fortuitous timing and a lucky roll of the dice. We were lucky to be recognized as a ‘brand’ when the global decision makers became interested in our respective fields of specialization. Another crucial qualification was our linguistic skills. Without proficiency in at least one international language it is not possible to enter the UN at a senior level. With my proficiency in English and French I had plenty of job offers.

Ananda Guruge

I mentioned that timing was importantwhen joining International organisations. The best example of mistimingwas Ananda Guruge. I had a special relationship with Ananda because my father was his teacher and mentor in Deiyannewela. My father had a special care and regard for bright students and Ananda was the brightest and the best of the lot. For my father he could do no wrong and Ananda reciprocated that affection. He was freely at home in our residence in Deiyannewela where my father would listen patiently to his recital of successes.

Ananda’s father worked in the Kandy Post Office and was a great friend of my father. He had migrated from Weihena in Galle district and married a lady from Kandy and settled down there. He too was a fascinating talker and would tell us about his village and Galle which I as a school boy at that time, lapped up. Later his experiences were reinforced in my imagination by reading Martin Wickramasinghe’s novels of the Deep South. It may have been that my father with his Panadura background was more attentive to the descriptions of the sea and Galle life than other listeners who had no hope of

even seeing the “Ho Gana Pokuna” which was the way Kandyan villagers imagined the sea. Ananda who was about 12 years older than me was my surrogate elder brother. Every Sunday we, and my cousin Nimal who lived with us and attended Trinity College, would walk to Katukelle for religious instruction. Our Sunday school was located in what was then called Gandhi College which faced the Peradeniya road at Katukelle. Gandhi College was a private school for the people of estate areas though others from far away also came to learn English there. The most famous alumnus of this college was D.M. Jayaratne who went on to become the Prime Minister of the country. He probably picked up his radicalism at an early age because many of the Socialist and Communist Party supporters lived in Katukelle and used the Gandhi College Hall for their clandestine meetings.

On Sundays the college hall was turned into a Sunday school and we sat on the school benches to receive instruction on Buddhism. But I remember even now that our Sunday school was a hotbed for radicals because we learnt songs about Gandhi, Nehru and Patel and the Indian Freedom struggle which we sang at the beginning of the day [Gandhi, Nehru, Patel Vani Weeravaro – Indee Nidhasata etc]. Many of our volunteer teachers wore the ‘national dress’ and the monks were mostly from the Amarapura Nikaya including the priest from Deiyannewela Temple who taught Ananda, Nimal and me the rudiments of Sanskrit.

Even now I can recite those slokas from memory – a weapon I deploy when I speak at public meetings, which impress the monks no end. So much so that I overhear monks say “Now he will begin with the slokas” when I get up to speak. But I was hoist on my own petard, when in Ratnapura Ridgeway Tillekeratne became the Government Agent. He was a Sanskrit graduate and probably one of the best scholars in the field. I thought it more prudent not to utter my slokas in his presence.

Kirielle Gnanwimala, the famous scholar monk of Ratnapura, who sensed my predicament, told his audience that one Sanskrit scholar was more than sufficient for Ratnapura district. Henpitagedera Gnanaseeha was another outstanding Sanskritist in Ratnapura. Unlike me Ananda applied himself to his Pali and Sanskrit studies and entered the University with a scholarship in Oriental languages. Earlier he had done brilliantly in the ‘Prachina’ examination held by the Oriental society which entitled him to be called a ‘Prachina Pundit’.

My father would laughingly say that while Ananda scored high marks and won a prize, his teacher in Sanskrit and Pali, our Temple priest, had failed the exam. Ananda followed it up with a first class degree in Sanskrit and sailed into the CCS. He was an outstanding civil servant of his time and an indispensable official in the Education Ministry. When I was in two minds about joining the CCS, having been appointed to a permanent post in the Department of Sociology at Peradeniya a few months previously, my father wanted me to discuss my dilemma with Guruge. I went to his residence and told him of my preference for the University.

He did not mince his words. He told me to accept the CCS post. If I wanted to research problems and write articles, he said that it was better done as a civil servant as it will have more credibility than the writings of University staffers. As usual he cited himself as an example. He had already got his PhD and was the leading figure in setting up Vidyodaya and Vidyalankara universities. In fact he was playing a dual role as Professor of Oriental Languages at Vidyodaya. I went back to Kandy, reported Ananda’s advice which was enthusiastically endorsed by my father, and decided to begin work as a Civil Servant.

Ananda was one of the earliest Civil Servants to join UNESCO when it was mostly concerned with education. Being a senior official of our Education Ministry he was easily recruited to the UN body. While this was no doubt prestigious it was a case of bad timing. He was comparatively young and had accepted a junior position in UNESCO. All UN posts are classified in a uniform way. The Professional categories are classified from P5 to P1 in ascending order. Senior to that are the Director levels D1 to D2. Above that are ADGs and the Director General himself. So the range of employment is from PI to DG. Guruge would have joined early at P2 level which meant that he had a hard grind to the top in his institution.

Gamini Corea, Jayntha Dhanapala and I were lateral entrants. This meant that we could join at a senior level. For instance when I joined UNESCO at D1 level Guruge was a P4 having slowly risen within his department. By joining laterally at a later point of time I was several steps ahead of him. Thus I, many years junior in the Ceylon Civil Service, could enter UNESCO at a much more senior level than the earlier entrants among whom was Ananda Guruge.
That however did not prevent us from renewing our old friendship in Paris where he was transferred after a long stay in the Bangkok office of UNESCO. I lived in Rue Jean Daudin and Ananda and his wife Sujatha lived in nearby Rue Pasteur and we met regularly in office and on social occasions. He always encouraged me and was delighted when I got my Doctorate in Paris.

I always referred to Ananda as my role model which pleased him and brought back memories of my father’s affection for him. On his last visit to Sri Lanka, Dinesh Gunawardena and I had planned a felicitation dinner for him. I was to be the chief speaker. Unfortunately we had to put it off because Ananda had to leave for a meeting in Bangkok. We planned to meet soon in Colombo but it was not to be. A busy man who neglected his health, he died of a heart attack while flying to keep an appointment for a lecture on Buddhism.

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Features

The US-China rivalry and challenges facing the South

Published

23 hours ago

2025/12/11

Sahan Weerasooriya

Prof. Neil DeVotta making his presentation at the RCSS.

The US-China rivalry could be said to make-up the ‘stuff and substance’ of world politics today but rarely does the international politics watcher and student of the global South in particular get the opportunity of having a balanced and comprehensive evaluation of this crucial relationship. But such a balanced assessment is vitally instrumental in making sense of current world power relations.

Thanks to the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS), Colombo the above window of opportunity was opened on December 8th for those sections of the public zealously pursuing an understanding of current issues in global politics. The knowledge came via a forum that was conducted at the RCSS titled, ‘The US-China Rivalry and Implications for the Indo-Pacific’, where Professor Neil DeVotta of the Wake Forest University of North Carolina in the US, featured as the speaker.

A widely representative audience was present at the forum, including senior public servants, the diplomatic corps, academics, heads of civil society organizations, senior armed forces personnel and the media. The event was ably managed by the Executive Director of the RCSS, retired ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha. Following the main presentation a lively Q&A session followed, where many a point of interest was aired and discussed.

While there is no doubt that China is fast catching up with the US with regard to particularly military, economic, scientific and technological capability, Prof. DeVotta helped to balance this standard projection of ‘China’s steady rise’ by pointing to some vital facts about China, the omission of which would amount to the observer having a somewhat uninformed perception of global political realities.

The following are some of the facts about contemporary China that were highlighted by Prof. DeVotta:

* Money is steadily moving out of China and the latter’ s economy is slowing down. In fact the country is in a ‘ Middle Income Trap’. That is, it has reached middle income status but has failed to move to upper income status since then.

* People in marked numbers are moving out of China. It is perhaps little known that some Chinese are seeking to enter the US with a view to living there. The fact is that China’s population too is on the decline.

* Although the private sector is operative in China, there has been an increase in Parastatals; that is, commercial organizations run by the state are also very much in the fore. In fact private enterprises have begun to have ruling Communist Party cells in them.

* China is at its ‘peak power’ but this fact may compel it to act ‘aggressively’ in the international sphere. For instance, it may be compelled to invade Taiwan.

* A Hard Authoritarianism could be said to characterize central power in China today, whereas the expectation in some quarters is that it would shift to a Soft Authoritarian system, as is the case in Singapore.

* China’s influence in the West is greater than it has ever been.

The speaker was equally revelatory about the US today. Just a few of these observations are:

* The US is in a ‘Unipolar Moment’. That is, it is the world’s prime power. Such positions are usually not longstanding but in the case of the US this position has been enjoyed by it for quite a while.

* China is seen by the US as a ‘Revisionist Power’ as opposed to being a ‘Status Quo Power.’ That is China is for changing the world system slowly.

* The US in its latest national security strategy is paying little attention to Soft Power as opposed to Hard Power.

* In terms of this strategy the US would not allow any single country to dominate the Asia-Pacific region.

* The overall tone of this strategy is that the US should step back and allow regional powers to play a greater role in international politics.

* The strategy also holds that the US must improve economic ties with India, but there is very little mention of China in the plan.

Given these observations on the current international situation, a matter of the foremost importance for the economically weakest countries of the South is to figure out how best they could survive materially within it. Today there is no cohesive and vibrant collective organization that could work towards the best interests of the developing world and Dr. DeVotta was more or less correct when he said that the Non-alignment Movement (NAM) has declined.

However, this columnist is of the view that rather being a spent force, NAM was allowed to die out by the South. NAM as an idea could never become extinct as long as economic and material inequalities between North and South exist. Needless to say, this situation is remaining unchanged since the eighties when NAM allowed itself to be a non-entity so to speak in world affairs.

The majority of Southern countries did not do themselves any good by uncritically embracing the ‘market economy’ as a panacea for their ills. As has been proved, this growth paradigm only aggravated the South’s development ills, except for a few states within its fold.

Considering that the US would be preferring regional powers to play a more prominent role in the international economy and given the US’ preference to be a close ally of India, the weakest of the South need to look into the possibility of tying up closely with India and giving the latter a substantive role in advocating the South’s best interests in the councils of the world.

To enable this to happen the South needs to ‘get organized’ once again. The main differences between the past and the present with regard to Southern affairs is that in the past the South had outstanding leaders, such as Jawaharlal Nehru of India, who could doughtily stand up for it. As far as this columnist could ascertain, it is the lack of exceptional leaders that in the main led to the decline of NAM and other South-centred organizations.

Accordingly, an urgent task for the South is to enable the coming into being of exceptional leaders who could work untiringly towards the realization of its just needs, such as economic equity. Meanwhile, Southern countries would do well to, indeed, follow the principles of NAM and relate cordially with all the major powers so as to realizing their best interests.

Features

Sri Lanka and Global Climate Emergency: Lessons of Cyclone Ditwah

Published

23 hours ago

2025/12/11

Sahan Weerasooriya

Floods caused by Cyclone Ditwah. (Image courtesy Vanni Hope)

Tropical Cyclone Ditwah, which made landfall in Sri Lanka on 28 November 2025, is considered the country’s worst natural disaster since the deadly 2004 tsunami. It intensified the northeast monsoon, bringing torrential rainfall, massive flooding, and 215 severe landslides across seven districts. The cyclone left a trail of destruction, killing nearly 500 people, displacing over a million, destroying homes, roads, and railway lines, and disabling critical infrastructure including 4,000 transmission towers. Total economic losses are estimated at USD 6–7 billion—exceeding the country’s foreign reserves.

The Sri Lankan Armed Forces have led the relief efforts, aided by international partners including India and Pakistan. A Sri Lanka Air Force helicopter crashed in Wennappuwa, killing the pilot and injuring four others, while five Sri Lanka Navy personnel died in Chundikkulam in the north while widening waterways to mitigate flooding. The bravery and sacrifice of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces during this disaster—as in past disasters—continue to be held in high esteem by grateful Sri Lankans.

The Sri Lankan government, however, is facing intense criticism for its handling of Cyclone Ditwah, including failure to heed early warnings available since November 12, a slow and poorly coordinated response, and inadequate communication with the public. Systemic issues—underinvestment in disaster management, failure to activate protocols, bureaucratic neglect, and a lack of coordination among state institutions—are also blamed for avoidable deaths and destruction.

The causes of climate disasters such as Cyclone Ditwah go far beyond disaster preparedness. Faulty policymaking, mismanagement, and decades of unregulated economic development have eroded the island’s natural defenses. As climate scientist Dr. Thasun Amarasinghe notes:

“Sri Lankan wetlands—the nation’s most effective natural flood-control mechanism—have been bulldosed, filled, encroached upon, and sold. Many of these developments were approved despite warnings from environmental scientists, hydrologists, and even state institutions.”

Sri Lanka’s current vulnerabilities also stem from historical deforestation and plantation agriculture associated with colonial-era export development. Forest cover declined from 82% in 1881 to 70% in 1900, and to 54–50% by 1948, when British rule ended. It fell further to 44% in 1954 and to 16.5% by 2019.

Deforestation contributes an estimated 10–12% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Beyond removing a vital carbon sink, it damages water resources, increases runoff and erosion, and heightens flood and landslide risk. Soil-depleting monocrop agriculture further undermines traditional multi-crop systems that regenerate soil fertility, organic matter, and biodiversity.

In Sri Lanka’s Central Highlands, which were battered by Cyclone Ditwah, deforestation and unregulated construction had destabilised mountain slopes. Although high-risk zones prone to floods and landslides had long been identified, residents were not relocated, and construction and urbanisation continued unchecked.

Sri Lanka was the first country in Asia to adopt neoliberal economic policies. With the “Open Economy” reforms of 1977, a capitalist ideology equating human well-being with quantitative growth and material consumption became widespread. Development efforts were rushed, poorly supervised, and frequently approved without proper environmental assessment.

Privatisation and corporate deregulation weakened state oversight. The recent economic crisis and shrinking budgets further eroded environmental and social protections, including the maintenance of drainage networks, reservoirs, and early-warning systems. These forces have converged to make Sri Lanka a victim of a dual climate threat: gradual environmental collapse and sudden-onset disasters.

Sri Lanka: A Climate Victim

Sri Lanka’s carbon emissions remain relatively small but are rising. The impact of climate change on the island, however, is immense. Annual mean air temperature has increased significantly in recent decades (by 0.016 °C annually between 1961 and 1990). Sea-level rise has caused severe coastal erosion—0.30–0.35 meters per year—affecting nearly 55% of the shoreline. The 2004 tsunami demonstrated the extreme vulnerability of low-lying coastal plains to rising seas.

The Cyclone Ditwah catastrophe was neither wholly new nor surprising. In 2015, the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) identified Sri Lanka as the South Asian country with the highest relative risk of disaster-related displacement: “For every million inhabitants, 15,000 are at risk of being displaced every year.”

IDMC also noted that in 2017 the country experienced seven disaster events—mainly floods and landslides—resulting in 135,000 new displacements and that Sri Lanka “is also at risk for slow-onset impacts such as soil degradation, saltwater intrusion, water scarcity, and crop failure”.

Sri Lanka ranked sixth among countries most affected by extreme weather events in 2018 (Germanwatch) and second in 2019 (Global Climate Risk Index). Given these warnings, Cyclone Ditwah should not have been a surprise. Scientists have repeatedly cautioned that warmer oceans fuel stronger cyclones and warmer air holds more moisture, leading to extreme rainfall. As the Ceylon Today editorial of December 1, 2025 also observed:

“…our monsoons are no longer predictable. Cyclones form faster, hit harder, and linger longer. Rainfall becomes erratic, intense, and destructive. This is not a coincidence; it is a pattern.”

Without urgent action, even more extreme weather events will threaten Sri Lanka’s habitability and physical survival.

A Global Crisis

Extreme weather events—droughts, wildfires, cyclones, and floods—are becoming the global norm. Up to 1.2 billion people could become “climate refugees” by 2050. Global warming is disrupting weather patterns, destabilising ecosystems, and posing severe risks to life on Earth. Indonesia and Thailand were struck by the rare and devastating Tropical Cyclone Senyar in late November 2025, occurring simultaneously with Cyclone Ditwah’s landfall in Sri Lanka.

More than 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions—and nearly 90% of carbon emissions—come from burning coal, oil, and gas, which supply about 80% of the world’s energy. Countries in the Global South, like Sri Lanka, which contribute least to greenhouse gas emissions, are among the most vulnerable to climate devastation. Yet wealthy nations and multilateral institutions, including the World Bank, continue to subsidise fossil fuel exploration and production. Global climate policymaking—including COP 30 in Belém, Brazil, in 2025—has been criticised as ineffectual and dominated by fossil fuel interests.

If the climate is not stabilised, long-term planetary forces beyond human control may be unleashed. Technology and markets are not inherently the problem; rather, the issue lies in the intentions guiding them. The techno-market worldview, which promotes the belief that well-being increases through limitless growth and consumption, has contributed to severe economic inequality and more frequent extreme weather events. The climate crisis, in turn, reflects a profound mismatch between the exponential expansion of a profit-driven global economy and the far slower evolution of human consciousness needed to uphold morality, compassion, generosity and wisdom.

Sri Lanka’s 2025–26 budget, adopted on November 14, 2025—just as Cyclone Ditwah loomed—promised subsidised land and electricity for companies establishing AI data centers in the country.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told Parliament: “Don’t come questioning us on why we are giving land this cheap; we have to make these sacrifices.”

Yet Sri Lanka is a highly water-stressed nation, and a growing body of international research shows that AI data centers consume massive amounts of water and electricity, contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.

The failure of the narrow, competitive techno-market approach underscores the need for an ecological and collective framework capable of addressing the deeper roots of this existential crisis—both for Sri Lanka and the world.

A landslide in Sri Lanka (AFP picture)

Ecological and Human Protection

Ecological consciousness demands

recognition that humanity is part of the Earth, not separate from it. Policies to address climate change must be grounded in this understanding, rather than in worldviews that prize infinite growth and technological dominance. Nature has primacy over human-created systems: the natural world does not depend on humanity, while humanity cannot survive without soil, water, air, sunlight, and the Earth’s essential life-support systems.

Although a climate victim today, Sri Lanka is also home to an ancient ecological civilization dating back to the arrival of the Buddhist monk Mahinda Thera in the 3rd century BCE. Upon meeting King Devanampiyatissa, who was out hunting in Mihintale, Mahinda Thera delivered one of the earliest recorded teachings on ecological interdependence and the duty of rulers to protect nature:

“O great King, the birds of the air and the beasts of the forest have as much right to live and move about in any part of this land as thou. The land belongs to the people and all living beings; thou art only its guardian.”

A stone inscription at Mihintale records that the king forbade the killing of animals and the destruction of trees. The Mihintale Wildlife Sanctuary is believed to be the world’s first.

Sri Lanka’s ancient dry-zone irrigation system—maintained over more than a millennium—stands as a marvel of sustainable development. Its network of interconnected reservoirs, canals, and sluices captured monsoon waters, irrigated fields, controlled floods, and even served as a defensive barrier. Floods occurred, but historical records show no disasters comparable in scale, severity, or frequency to those of today. Ancient rulers, including the legendary reservoir-builder King Parākramabāhu, and generations of rice farmers managed their environment with remarkable discipline and ecological wisdom.

The primacy of nature became especially evident when widespread power outages and the collapse of communication networks during Cyclone Ditwah forced people to rely on one another for survival. The disaster ignited spontaneous acts of compassion and solidarity across all communities—men and women, rich and poor, Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, and Hindus. Local and international efforts mobilized to rescue, shelter, feed, and emotionally support those affected. These actions demonstrated a profound human instinct for care and cooperation, often filling vacuums left by formal emergency systems.

Yet spontaneous solidarity alone is insufficient. Sri Lanka urgently needs policies on sustainable development, environmental protection, and climate resilience. These include strict, science-based regulation of construction; protection of forests and wetlands; proper maintenance of reservoirs; and climate-resilient infrastructure. Schools should teach environmental literacy that builds unity and solidarity, rather than controversial and divisive curriculum changes like the planned removal of history and introduction of contested modules on gender and sexuality.

If the IMF and international creditors—especially BlackRock, Sri Lanka’s largest sovereign bondholder, valued at USD 13 trillion—are genuinely concerned about the country’s suffering, could they not cancel at least some of Sri Lanka’s sovereign debt and support its rebuilding efforts? Addressing the climate emergency and the broader existential crisis facing Sri Lanka and the world ultimately requires an evolution in human consciousness guided by morality, compassion, generosity and wisdom. (Courtesy: IPS NEWS)

Dr Asoka Bandarage is the author of Colonialism in Sri Lanka: The Political Economy of the Kandyan Highlands, 1833-1886 (Mouton) Women, Population and Global Crisis: A Politico-Economic Analysis (Zed Books), The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka: Terrorism, Ethnicity, Political Economy, ( Routledge), Sustainability and Well-Being: The Middle Path to Environment, Society and the Economy (Palgrave MacMillan) Crisis in Sri Lanka and the World: Colonial and Neoliberal Origins, Ecological and Collective Alternatives (De Gruyter) and numerous other publications. She serves on the Advisory Boards of the Interfaith Moral Action on Climate and Critical Asian Studies.

Features

Cliff and Hank recreate golden era of ‘The Young Ones’

Published

23 hours ago

2025/12/11

Sahan Weerasooriya

Cliff Richard and Hank Marvin’s reunion concert at the Riverside Theatre in Perth, Australia, on 01 November, 2025, was a night to remember.

The duo, who first performed together in the 1950s as part of The Shadows, brought the house down with their classic hits and effortless chemistry.

The concert, part of Cliff’s ‘Can’t Stop Me Now’ tour, featured iconic songs like ‘Summer Holiday’, ‘The Young Ones’, ‘Bachelor Boy’, ‘Living Doll’ and a powerful rendition of ‘Mistletoe and Wine.’

Cliff, 85, and Hank, with his signature red Fender Stratocaster, proved that their music and friendship are timeless.

According to reports, the moment the lights dimmed and the first chords of ‘Move It’ rang out, the crowd knew they were in for something extraordinary.

Backed by a full band, and surrounded by dazzling visuals, Cliff strode onto the stage in immaculate form – energetic and confident – and when Hank Marvin joined him mid-set, guitar in hand, the audience erupted in applause that shook the hall.

Together they launched into ‘The Young Ones’, their timeless 1961 hit which brought the crowd to its feet, with many in attendance moved to tears.

The audience was treated to a journey through time, with vintage film clips and state-of-the-art visuals adding to the nostalgic atmosphere.

Highlights of the evening included Cliff’s powerful vocals, Hank’s distinctive guitar riffs, and their playful banter on stage.

Cliff posing for The Island photographer … February,
2007

Cliff paused between songs to reflect on their shared journey saying:

“It’s been a lifetime of songs, memories, and friendship. Hank and I started this adventure when we were just boys — and look at us now, still up here making noise!”

As the final chords of ‘Congratulations’ filled the theatre, the crowd rose for a thunderous standing ovation that lasted several minutes.

Cliff waved, Hank gave a humble bow, and, together, they left the stage, arm-in-arm, to the refrain of “We’re the young ones — and we always will be.”

Reviews of the show were glowing, with fans and critics alike praising the duo’s energy, camaraderie, and enduring talent.

Overall, the Cliff Richard and Hank Marvin reunion concert was a truly special experience, celebrating the music and friendship that has captivated audiences for decades.

When Cliff Richard visited Sri Lanka, in February, 2007, I was invited to meet him, in his suite, at a hotel, in Colombo, and I presented him with my music page, which carried his story, and he was impressed.

In return, he personally autographed a souvenir for me … that was Cliff Richard, a truly wonderful human being.