Features

THE DRAMATIC END – Part 31

Published

4 years ago

2022/01/9

Sahan Weerasooriya

CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY

By Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil

President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada

Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum

chandij@sympatico.ca

A Surprise at the Union AGM

The hotel union of Coral Gardens was hoping to deal with the new Manager, Major Siri Samarakoon more effectively with input from their superiors. The annual general meeting (AGM) was expected to re-establish the strength of the union. A very important chief guest, Mr. Bala Tampoe (Comrade Bala) was attending, A notice came from the hotel union to Major ‘informing’ the management of the details related to their AGM. Major wrote in bold letters across the notice, “Approved by the Manager”, signed the notice and placed it on the union notice board himself.

After all the hype, Comrade Bala arrived at the hotel in an old car and was given a rousing welcome by his devoted followers. They covered him with fresh flower garlands and ceremonially ushered him from the entrance of the hotel to the employee dormitory area where the AGM was to be held. The union was ready for the magic to happen. I was in the office in my chef uniform listening to the loud cheers of the employees celebrating the visit by their hero Comrade Bala.

I was thinking of what would happen after the AGM. At that time, Major appeared in the office dressed in a bright red shirt and a pair of jeans. I was surprised and asked him if he was going out somewhere. “Yes, of course, to the union AGM,” he said in an excited voice. When I asked him, “Are you invited to the AGM?” he said that, “As the Manager of the hotel I am their host and I certainly do not need any invitation to go anywhere in the hotel.” I was baffled, when he said, “Chandana, let’s go and have some fun with these bloody communists.”

Around 100 employees attending the AGM were shocked to see Major and I marching bravely towards their leader just before the meeting commenced. That was the first union meeting I had ever attended. I followed Major and sat right in the front row after shaking hands with Comrade Bala, who looked confused by our surprise appearance. At 4:00 pm sharp, at the exact time the AGM was supposed to commence, the Major went to the podium, took the microphone in his hand, checked the sound and addressed the gathering, uninvited.

The Major stated the importance of commencing such meetings promptly, as busy people like him do not like to waste time. He then compared himself to Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Bala Tampoe, as all four were lawyers or legal scholars. After that, Major gave a lengthy and informative lecture to the union on how he admired Karl Marx’s theories and philosophies on economics and socialism. Then he compared communism in USSR, China and Cuba. He argued that unions must embrace concepts that benefit members rather than the concepts that boost the egos of their selfish leaders.

He ended his unsolicited lecture by saying that if anyone at the AGM needs to learn more about socialism, communism or unionism, to make an appointment to consult him. He wished the union all success and left before any questions were posed to him. “Chandana, let’s leave this AGM to do some productive work,” he said while marching away, proudly. Comrade Bala and his loyal followers looked totally baffled.

Russian Roulette – Fire or Promote?

Towards the end of the tourist season in 1977, we had two more managers on our team. Sabinus Fernando had just retired from the National Milk Board as the Personnel Manager. He was an expert in handling tough unions. Neville Fernando was a volunteer Lieutenant of the Army who was previously trained by Major. He looked after security. Although they were on the management team of four, Major designated Sabinus and Neville as General Supervisors I and II. I familiarized both in hotel operations.

One day, Major had a special management meeting with one agenda item – terminating the services of either the President (Edmond) or the Secretary (Kalansooriya) of the hotel union. “Let’s break the union by promoting one leader and sacking the other. Let’s decide which one gets sacked.” Major sought our input, with a sadistic laugh. As there were no clear grounds for dismissal, I voted against such action, but the other three managers agreed to fire the younger and more radical union leader – Kalansooriya. I felt that the whole voting process was choreographed by Major. “What happens to Butler Edmond?” I questioned. “Let’s promote him as the Restaurant Supervisor!” Major concluded.

Major delegated three members of his management team specific tasks to implement his strategy:

= Chandana – Training, developing and promoting Edmond with new uniforms, good increment and benefits.

= Sabinus – Building a special case file for Kalansooriya and continuously provoking him until he makes a major mistake. “Sabinus, if you can provoke Kalanasooriya in such a manner for you to get slapped on the face by him in public, that would be perfect!” Major suggested. He was not joking.

= Neville – Getting Security Guards to check Kalansooriya thoroughly every time he leaves work while further harassing him with frequent questioning.

The very next day, I promoted Edmond and issued general notices to all employees. Edmond was very pleased with his new title and impressive salary increase. He came to our office with a big smile to thank Major and myself. “Sir, should I wear a tie to work?” a highly motivated Edmond asked us. Major did not want to spend any more hotel money for buying ties. Therefore, he told me, “I say Chandana, I see that you have a big collection of ties. Just give this chap a couple of your old ties.” I did so immediately, without asking any questions.

After that even when Edmond was off duty, he travelled home wearing my old ties, as that was a status symbol in his village. Before issuing the letter of promotion to Edmond, Major told him, “Edmond, one thing you need to do before your promotion is confirmed. You must resign from the hotel union.” “No problem, Sir, I will do that now.” Edmond said.

Timely, but Unfair Action

By early April, 1977, on the last day of the tourist season, when the last European tour group left the hotel, the occupancy dropped down to single digits. Major terminated Kalansooriya’s service on that day, as the last tourist coach left the hotel. Major had drafted a long letter with many legal terms. He managed to get the letter of termination issued from the head office and signed by a member of the board. We were expecting a strike, and if that happened, Major was prepared to close the hotel for the off season of six months to focus on maintenance and upgrading projects.

The union delegates wanted to meet with the management to discuss what they termed as: “a revengeful and unfair dismissal”. During that emotional meeting, a few union delegates broke down in tears. Major looked very sorry and spoke softly, “My heart goes to Kalansooriya, but unfortunately my hands are tied as the letter was issued and signed by my superior – the Hotel Company Director from the head office.” The union delegates then asked. “Can’t you speak with the Director and try to convince him to give Kalansooriya a second chance?” Major responded, “Sure, I will ask that when the Director returns to Sri Lanka after his current two-month holiday in England.” That was the end of the story.

After a week, there was no more talk about Kalansooriya among employees. Although, now not a part of the union that he built and led over 10 years, Edmond appeared to be a popular supervisor. Major took a one-month vacation making me the Acting Manager, once again.

Meeting JR

One morning in May, 1977, the kitchen became busy with a last-minute order for a Sri Lankan lunch for 50 persons of a major political party. As the majority of cooks were on their annual leave during the off season, I did most of the cooking. When the group arrived, I realised that it was for then Leader of the Opposition and the Member of the Parliament for Colombo South, where I was registered to vote. The veteran politician, Mr. Junius Richard Jayewardene (JR) was campaigning hard to bring his United National Party (UNP) back to power and become the sixth and the oldest person to become the Prime Minister of Ceylon/Sri Lanka. At age 70, he appeared to have a lot of energy to do three rallies a day during a three month-long campaign.

When JR arrived at the hotel, his 50 close supporters expected him to have lunch with them in the restaurant, but he had a different idea. When I greeted JR on his arrival at the entrance of the hotel, he wanted to meet with the Hotel Manager. I told him that I was acting for the Manager who was on vacation. JR said, “I thought that you are the Chef.” “Yes, Sir. I am. Do you need anything apart from lunch?” I inquired.

JR wanted a room and all newspapers of the day. I knew that JR had given strict instructions to his followers to boycott all newspapers published by the Lake House Group which had been taken over by the government of Sirima Bandaranaike. Therefore, I quickly asked, “Except the Daily News and Dinamina?” “I need to read all news papers including those two prior to my next rally this afternoon.” He was very clear. I ushered him to his room and arranged for his lunch to be served there. Then, while I was leaving his room, JR requested, “Can you stay and chat with me?”

JR had a quick wash and sat for lunch by himself while glancing through the headlines of the Daily News. I kept standing for over an hour chatting with JR. He sounded optimistic of a landslide victory during the general election scheduled for July 21, 1977. As the voters of Ceylon/Sri Lanka gave the victory to the main opposition party at all five general elections held after 1952, it was not a difficult prediction. Overstaying their term by two additional years by the government of Sirima Bandaranaike, motivated the voters to opt for a change. As arguably the father of modern-day tourism, JR was happy that I was a graduate of the Ceylon Hotel School. He was also pleased that I was from Colombo South and his namesake.

In the midst of our chat about various topics, including tourism, sea erosion, supply chain challenges stemming from the closed economic policy, frustrations of the local population; JR asked me, “Didn’t we meet at Sirikotha (UNP head office) some years back?” I said, “Yes, soon after your party suffered a big loss at the general elections in 1970.”

As a young child, listening to my fathers’ interesting stories about his interactions with then Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, I became interested in politics. When my father asked me what job I’d to do, I made him laugh by saying that, “I want to be like Banda.” I then followed activities of charismatic political leaders of Ceylon and around the world. In fact, as a pre-teen, one of my key hobbies was maintaining an album of photographs and articles about various politicians such as JFK, Nehru, Mao, Nasser, Jomo Kenyatta, Castro, Che, SWRD and JR.

In the late 1960s, I also became a big fan of Pierre Trudeau. I was fascinated how he rapidly rose to the position of the Prime Minister of Canada only after a short two and half years as a member of the parliament. I was delighted when Pierre Trudeau visited Ceylon to open the Colombo airport re-built and expanded with generous funding from Canada. With hundreds of other school children, I stood in line under the hot sun along the Galle Road for hours holding a Canadian flag to cheer this charismatic leader.

Three people – my father, and two politically-active classmates of mine at Grade 11 (Imthiaz Bakeer Markar and Sarath Kongahage – both who became lawyers and leading politicians in later years) encouraged me to get involved in politics. When I was 16 years of age Imthiaz took me and a few other students of Ananda College to meet the newly elected leader of the UNP – JR, who wanted to recruit young members to his political party, which he was re-uilding then, with the assistance of R. Premadasa as his right-hand man.

“How come you did not join the UNP in 1970 and get into politics? You would have done well,” JR said. I told him that owing to undemocratic practices by all political parties in Sri Lanka, I lost interest in that career option. However, he was happy that I was focused on a long career in tourism and hospitality, which he believed would be the main industry in Sri Lanka in years to come.

After he finished his lunch JR thanked me and said that he will now rest. “At my age, I realised that I am more productive if I break my long days into two with a short cat nap in between” he said.

Hosting JR, Again

Over the next 12 years, I hosted JR a few times at hotel functions during his two terms as the first Executive President of Sri Lanka. My last meeting with JR was in 1993, when I conducted a quick tour of the upgraded historic wing of the Mount Lavinia Hotel at his request. By then he had retired from politics and I was planning to leave Sri Lanka to re-commence my international career.

During that last meeting JR told me how as a young man he and his buddies partied at the Little Hut Night Club of the Mount Lavinia Hotel. “Your Excellency, why don’t you bring all your good friends and have a night out at the Little Hut. Pick any day and I will make all arrangements including a live band to play all your favourite songs all night long” I offered. JR smiled, thought about it, looked at his wife, and then said, “Thank you very much. Let Elina and I think about it. The challenge is that most of my former buddies have now passed away.” He was 87 years of age then, but still had that quick wit. Mr. J. R. Jayewardene was the first of 35 heads of state or government I hosted during my career as an international hotelier.

Socialism Rejected

As predicted by JR the election results on July 21, 1977 was a landslide victory for the UNP, which won 140 of the 168 seats in the National State Assembly. Controlling over 83% of seats, JR was able to initiate several amendments to the constitution and become far more powerful than all his five predecessors of the independent Ceylon/Sri Lanka. The leftist parties which controlled the trade unions lost all 19 seats they had held previously. Major took great joy in announcing to his small management team that the era of the communist unions in Sri Lanka had just ended! “Let’s bring the number of members in the Coral Gardens Hotel union to zero within a month,” said Major expanding his new vision.

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Features

Race hate and the need to re-visit the ‘Clash of Civilizations’

Published

3 hours ago

2025/12/25

Sahan Weerasooriya

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese: ‘No to race hate’

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has done very well to speak-up against and outlaw race hate in the immediate aftermath of the recent cold-blooded gunning down of several civilians on Australia’s Bondi Beach. The perpetrators of the violence are believed to be ardent practitioners of religious and race hate and it is commendable that the Australian authorities have lost no time in clearly and unambiguously stating their opposition to the dastardly crimes in question.

The Australian Prime Minister is on record as stating in this connection: ‘ New laws will target those who spread hate, division and radicalization. The Home Affairs Minister will also be given new powers to cancel or refuse visas for those who spread hate and a new taskforce will be set up to ensure the education system prevents, tackles and properly responds to antisemitism.’

It is this promptness and single-mindedness to defeat race hate and other forms identity-based animosities that are expected of democratic governments in particular world wide. For example, is Sri Lanka’s NPP government willing to follow the Australian example? To put the record straight, no past governments of Sri Lanka initiated concrete measures to stamp out the evil of race hate as well but the present Sri Lankan government which has pledged to end ethnic animosities needs to think and act vastly differently. Democratic and progressive opinion in Sri Lanka is waiting expectantly for the NPP government’ s positive response; ideally based on the Australian precedent to end race hate.

Meanwhile, it is apt to remember that inasmuch as those forces of terrorism that target white communities world wide need to be put down their counterpart forces among extremist whites need to be defeated as well. There could be no double standards on this divisive question of quashing race and religious hate, among democratic governments.

The question is invariably bound up with the matter of expeditiously and swiftly advancing democratic development in divided societies. To the extent to which a body politic is genuinely democratized, to the same degree would identity based animosities be effectively managed and even resolved once and for all. To the extent to which a society is deprived of democratic governance, correctly understood, to the same extent would it experience unmanageable identity-bred violence.

This has been Sri Lanka’s situation and generally it could be stated that it is to the degree to which Sri Lankan citizens are genuinely constitutionally empowered that the issue of race hate in their midst would prove manageable. Accordingly, democratic development is the pressing need.

While the dramatic blood-letting on Bondi Beach ought to have driven home to observers and commentators of world politics that the international community is yet to make any concrete progress in the direction of laying the basis for an end to identity-based extremism, the event should also impress on all concerned quarters that continued failure to address the matters at hand could prove fatal. The fact of the matter is that identity-based extremism is very much alive and well and that it could strike devastatingly at a time and place of its choosing.

It is yet premature for the commentator to agree with US political scientist Samuel P. Huntingdon that a ‘Clash of Civilizations’ is upon the world but events such as the Bondi Beach terror and the continuing abduction of scores of school girls by IS-related outfits, for instance, in Northern Africa are concrete evidence of the continuing pervasive presence of identity-based extremism in the global South.

As a matter of great interest it needs mentioning that the crumbling of the Cold War in the West in the early nineties of the last century and the explosive emergence of identity-based violence world wide around that time essentially impelled Huntingdon to propound the hypothesis that the world was seeing the emergence of a ‘Clash of Civilizations’. Basically, the latter phrase implied that the Cold War was replaced by a West versus militant religious fundamentalism division or polarity world wide. Instead of the USSR and its satellites, the West, led by the US, had to now do battle with religion and race-based militant extremism, particularly ‘Islamic fundamentalist violence’ .

Things, of course, came to a head in this regard when the 9/11 calamity centred in New York occurred. The event seemed to be startling proof that the world was indeed faced with a ‘Clash of Civilizations’ that was not easily resolvable. It was a case of ‘Islamic militant fundamentalism’ facing the great bulwark, so to speak, of ‘ Western Civilization’ epitomized by the US and leaving it almost helpless.

However, it was too early to write off the US’ capability to respond, although it did not do so by the best means. Instead, it replied with military interventions, for example, in Iraq and Afghanistan, which moves have only earned for the religious fundamentalists more and more recruits.

Yet, it is too early to speak in terms of a ‘Clash of Civilizations’. Such a phenomenon could be spoken of if only the entirety of the Islamic world took up arms against the West. Clearly, this is not so because the majority of the adherents of Islam are peaceably inclined and want to coexist harmoniously with the rest of the world.

However, it is not too late for the US to stop religious fundamentalism in its tracks. It, for instance, could implement concrete measures to end the blood-letting in the Middle East. Of the first importance is to end the suffering of the Palestinians by keeping a tight leash on the Israeli Right and by making good its boast of rebuilding the Gaza swiftly.

Besides, the US needs to make it a priority aim to foster democratic development worldwide in collaboration with the rest of the West. Military expenditure and the arms race should be considered of secondary importance and the process of distributing development assistance in the South brought to the forefront of its global development agenda, if there is one.

If the fire-breathing religious demagogue’s influence is to be blunted worldwide, then, it is development, understood to mean equitable growth, that needs to be fostered and consolidated by the democratic world. In other words, the priority ought to be the empowerment of individuals and communities. Nothing short of the latter measures would help in ushering a more peaceful world.

Features

The perennial challenge of peace-keeping and reconciliation

Published

3 hours ago

2025/12/25

Sahan Weerasooriya

Christmas

Peace on Earth to all people of good-will is the perennial and the pristine song of Joy and hope aired in every nook and corner during every Christmas season commemorating the Birth of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. In his own day, Jesus of Nazareth was himself a wonderful instrument of peace and reconciliation in his own homeland of Palestine. He was open to all classes of people, whatever their ethnicity, race, language or social class with preference particularly to the sectors of the poor among these social strata. He would freely crisscross the various regions of Palestine which at that time was tri-partite: Galilee in the north with its fishing villages, lakes graced with wonderful beaches and imposing ranges of hills and valleys; Samaria in the middle and Judea in the deep south which located the religious centers of Judaism with its magnificent temple and also housed the State buildings of the Roman prefectures.

Liberation from Oppression

Entire Palestine was colonized with Caesar sitting in Rome his capital and having his legates governing the local provinces. People too were living in the expectation of a Messiah who would fight the colonial power and thus bring liberation to their oppressed motherland. There was a strongly prevalent messianic current of hope circulating and the longing for the day and the appearance of the Messiah, the liberator. Though inundated by Roman paganism and constantly under the threat of foreign invasion, the people kept to their traditional religious beliefs with their festivals, pilgrimages, rituals and rites and laws.

Unfortunately, there was a historic breach with the breakaway of the Samaritans from the Jews, both claiming to be authentic descendants of their earliest patriarchs. They had different holy centers of worship. Jews considered the Samaritans a hybrid race enabled by the inter-marriages encouraged by the invading Assyrian foreigners (721 BC) with the local population that were not deported by the invaders. It was a historic schism that had very sad socio-cultural, religious and political repercussions. As time went by, this enmity had created many tensions and had percolated into many other serious issues that caused estrangement within the country. The story of the Good Samaritan who came to the rescue of the Jew fallen among the robbers along the road to Jericho and the sole leper who returned to thank Jesus following his healing and who happened to be a Samaritan are gospel incidents that strived to heal this division and bring reconciliation among the two dissenting groups. Creating confusion among the general public was also the fact of the misunderstanding of the mission of the Messiah wholly thought of as a purely political liberation which was only a partial truth.

The homeland of Jesus was desperately in need of a profound spiritual and religious revolution. There had to be a more humane understanding of the Law of Moses, the great code of the national ethic and putting relationships in their correct perspective despite the fact that the land was surrounded on all sides with kingdoms and ruling monarchs who were pagan and the worship of idols was rampant. People treasured their religious and cultural traditions and were in great fear of them being lost when invading foreigners threatened their sovereignty and even territorial integrity. Their very land was sacred for it was the land of their God and therefore defended against any foreign pagan aggression. In fact, there had been often and on many insurrectionist movements rebelling against the Roman colonial rule that were summarily crushed.

Religion at the service of Freedom & Liberation

Jesus Christ saw the need of introducing a new spirituality based on a new ethic to restore the religious sensibilities of Israel. From the mountain he taught the classical sermon on the Beatitudes which declared the poor as blessed and those who suffered persecution for the sake of justice and righteousness as blessed too. It would be the meek who will inherit the earth and those who are merciful would be the true children of God. Pharisaical spirit of religion that is subservient to the letter of the Law that kills and false religiosity limited purely to rites and rituals were to be empty of meaning. Love of God to be total had to be matched with the love for the neighbor. Even enemies were to be loved without conditions. Self-righteousness had no place in the spirituality he propounded. People have to be fed both with spiritual food of truth as well as material nourishment to feed their hunger as he multiplied fish and loaves in the Galilean mountains to cater to the thousands who had flocked to hear him and sought blessings of healing and solace. Many were stunned wondering how the son of a carpenter could have such wisdom and powers even over demons who rattled at his presence. Simple jealousy, unfounded fear and a great amount of misunderstanding and suspicion finally caved in from his enemies, the religious authorities of Jerusalem and the Roman governor that led to that shamefully blatant and unjust condemnation ever recorded in legal history: the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.

In some ways the celebration of Christmas, which is the commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ is being caricatured with commercialism and mere external fanfare with décor and illuminations. The deeper truth is that we are celebrating a spiritual event that was decisive in history: God entering the world in the real physical and bodily appearance of a human being. He made humanity make its peace with God and brought enlightenment about the mystery of life and death declaring the importance of love and respect of others in neighborly love and forgiveness. Like an industrious fisherman he cast his net into the deep and distant waters for an abundance of harvest that would bring civilization itself a mighty haul of blessings. Christianity is very much alive in its two millennia history cutting across cultures and civilizations witnessing to the belief in God and the dignity of man who has an eternal destiny. This religion is pro-life in all dimensions: safety of the unborn, the sacredness and inviolability of every life, the sanctity of marriage, life-beyond death, no violence of any kind, no wars, no nuclear weapons, no arms race or unwarranted ethnic or racial superiority, no danger to sovereignty of nations and their territorial integrity and safe haven for refugees and migrants of every hue.

It is in some of these very difficult issues that peace-keeping and work of reconciliation are becoming global priorities. Science and technology alone are no saviors of humanity embattled as it is in problems that appear to be very dramatic and far extensive. In no way should human beings become victims of their own creations however impressive they may be. Humanity must be the center of our global concerns and innovations with everything serving it towards a better quality of life. A Human being must never be instrumentalized in dehumanizing experiments. On the contrary, he must be served in all things so that his unique place in creation may not be displaced and continue to be the final point of reference in all world’s undertakings and ventures. To this must all regional and international bodies commit themselves in earnest. Christianity considers Jesus Christ the Lord to be the goal of human history, the focal point of the longings of history and of civilization, the center of the human race, the joy of every heart and the answer to all its yearnings as the great Vatican II Council document put it (Gaudium et Spes 45) while the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ. Indeed, nothing genuinely human fails to raise an echo in their hearts (Gaud. et Spes 1).

Christianity & Secularity

It is this spirit of Jesus Christ that impels Christianity to be closely involved in the world society’s journey which registers the triumphs and failures of history. Wherever it has gone, it has opened hospitals for healing the sick, schools for education and other charitable institutions thus playing the role of the Good Samaritan in keeping the fires of charity and compassion alive in a society always prone to various kinds of natural disasters and human conflicts that bring misery and suffering. Christianity favors an economic system that is neither radically socialist nor downright capitalistic and holds primacy of labor over capital, thus taking a clear anti-Marxist stand in this ever important socio-political issue. The dignity and working conditions of the worker with the issue of a living wage, pension benefits, sharing of profits, private enterprise are considered important human issues to be dealt with within the parameters of social justice and labour rights. Democratic principles are preeminently Christian in outlook empowering people to make the needed political options in constructing a system of governance and rule that benefits the common and the greater good. Christianity wishes its voice to be heard in international fora and in contexts in which important decisions affecting people globally are made.

If the spirit of Christmas is to endure beyond its usual annual celebration, the challenges of the Christmas event must be faced and due response to its newer questions met with courage and hope. In the concrete, they are the peace among nations, inter-religious harmony, war against terror and fundamentalisms, economies without disparities and respect for human rights as well as basic freedoms. These are all elements for reconciliation and building-blocks for peace-keeping. Military superiority and economic imperialism are the most satanic forms of modern paganism that plague our world creating so much suspicion, instability and tensions. More spirit of listening, dialogue and understanding are in demand for a stable world and a new form of warm humanism. In emulation of Jesus Christ the eminent peace-maker and reconciler, it behoves that all those who claim to be peace-makers and agents of reconciliation pursue the same mission. Thus, the spirit of Christmas is preserved ever alive.

by Rev. Fr. Leopold Ratnasekera OMI
Ph.D., Th.D.

Features

So this is Christmas …

Published

3 hours ago

2025/12/25

Sahan Weerasooriya

The world over, Christmas is being celebrated today. However, in our part of the world, Christmas, and the lead up to the New Year, will be observed on a sombre note.

With this in mind, I wish my readers a Blessed Christmas and let’s hope 2026 will be a good one … without any fear.

Several known personalities also send their greetings and best wishes to The Island readers:

* Noshin De Silva (Actress):

Happy Holidays to everyone across our beautiful island! As we move toward the end of the year, my heart goes out to all communities affected by the recent floods and severe weather. In these challenging weeks, we have also witnessed the true spirit of Sri Lanka through the humility, compassion, and unity of people coming together to support one another. May this season bring comfort to those rebuilding, gratitude to those giving, and hope to us all. Wishing everyone Peace, Healing, Great Health, and a very Happy New Year!

* Melloney Dassanayaka (Miss Universe Sri Lanka 2024):

As we celebrate the blessings of Christmas and step with hope into a brand-new year, I am reminded of the strength, resilience, and spirit that define us as Sri Lankans. This festive season invites us to reflect, to appreciate what we have, and to look ahead with courage.

Be positive and embrace every opportunity that comes your way. Be smart, be brave, and work hard for yourself, because your future is shaped by the determination you carry within.

May this Christmas fill your hearts with peace and joy, and may the New Year bring you endless possibilities, renewed strength, and the confidence to pursue every dream.

Wishing you a Blessed Christmas and a Bright, Prosperous New Year!

With love and warm wishes.

* Raffealla Fernando (Photographer/Designer):

Wishing you a beautiful, light-filled Christmas and a New Year overflowing with inspiration.

As a photographer and designer, I’m constantly searching for the moments, colours, and stories. that make life extraordinary and this season always reminds me how much beauty there is in the simple things: warm laughter, shared memories, and the quiet magic of togetherness.

Thank you for being part of my creative journey this year.

May your holidays be filled with genuine joy, and may 2026 bring you new adventures, brighter light, and endless reasons to smile.

This season, I’m also wishing for something close to my heart: for Sri Lanka to rise up bigger, better, and stronger. Nothing more to ask for than peace in these turbulent hearts, peace of mind for every soul, and the strength to rebuild our country in the coming year.

Merry Christmas, and a Vibrant, Inspiring New Year.

* Andrea Marr (Singer – Australia):

Wishing you all a Blessed Christmas and a Joyful New Year. May the message of Christmas remain in your hearts and give you peace.

* AROH (Music group):

We thank you for sharing your year with us, for every lyric sung, every rhythm embraced, and every stage shared. Your incredible support fuels our passion and continues to inspire the music we create.

Although the past few weeks have seen heaps of problems cropping up, may your Christmas be filled with Joy, Peace, and the beautiful harmony of family and friends.

Also, may the New Year bring you prosperity, health, and a score of exciting new possibilities.

We look forward to connecting with you through music in the coming year, as well.

* Melantha Perera (Singer):

Music heals the soul, and sharing its gift this season fills our hearts with joy.

May our melodies spread love to every soul, making our Creator smile as we celebrate His birth.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a New Year in perfect harmony!

* Natasha Rathnayake (Singer):

As we close another year and step into a new one, may this season remind us of what truly matters — kindness, connection, and love for all living beings.

Let’s carry forward the lessons, the healing, and the gratitude we’ve gathered, and step into 2026 with open hearts, courage, and compassion.

Wishing you and your loved ones a Christmas filled with blessings and joy, and a New Year that inspires clarity, creativity, and love in all that you do.

With love, and abundance of blessings!

God bless.

AROH

* Sohan Weerasinghe (Singer):

Yes, Christmas is back and 2026 is around the corner. It’s time once again to convey my good wishes and also to remind myself to be careful of my waistline as I have a weakness for goodies, especially Christmas cake!

Have a fabulous Christmas and New Year and you also must do your utmost to help the needy people around you, especially those affected by the disaster that took us all by surprise; give till it hurts!

* JJ Twins (Duo):

As the magic of Christmas fills the air and a brand-new year approaches, we extend our heartfelt thanks to our wonderful community for your continued support. May this festive season bring you joy, peace, and time spent with those you cherish.

We also take this moment to warmly wish Ivan Alvis a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year filled with success and happiness.

Jesus bless you all, and may you have a Christ-filled Christmas and New Year!

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Bright, Successful New Year!

* SEVEN NOTES (Music group – Dubai):

SEVEN NOTES

As we celebrate the joy of Christmas and welcome the dawn of a brand-new year, we extend our heartfelt wishes to the readers and the dedicated team of The Island newspaper.

May this festive season bring peace, love, and harmony into your homes, and may the New Year 2026 be filled with success, good health, and new opportunities.

Thank you for inspiring communities across the globe with trusted journalism and unwavering service.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year 2026.