Features

Building a family, land reforms and developing a new mango variety

Published

4 years ago

2022/03/20

Foundation for a successful gem and jewellery business also laid

He struck up a relationship with a Philipino agricultural scientist attached to the ADB in Anuradhapura and they worked together to identify a mango which Sri Lanka could be proud of. We had about 12 varieties but the mixture did not yield profitable results. With a lot of experimentation they finally came up with the variety now known islandwide as the TJC mango, registered with the Department of Agriculture as the TOMEJC (named after Tom Ellawala and Juan Carlos).

by Nalini Ellawela

(Excerpted from her recently published autobiography)

Our three children were born in the short space of three and a half years. Although we had maids to attend to the mundane needs, those early years took a terrible toll on my physical well-being. But as I look back, it was like running a nursery class with all three children wanting the same thing at the same time. Fortunately, Nilanthi, the eldest and being a girl, was given to minding her own business and preferred to entertain herself from a very early age by looking at pictures and books. No dolls for her. She just did not bother to handle them.

In the meanwhile, the boys kept fighting with each other and were given to understand from a very early age that they should not brawl with their sister. Toys were very difficult to come by in that era of socialism. Fortunately, we lived on the estate and they had the open spaces as well as the river and the irrigation canal, to give them the kind of fun that today’s children lack.

By the end of December 1964, we decided to move into Battaramulla where we had a small house and a five-acre block of land. This was ideal for a small farm and, with the agricultural background that he had, Tom immediately wanted to go in for livestock. Before long, we had collected a herd of heavy milk yielding buffaloes and set up a thriving Buffalo Curd business. Polduwa Farm Curd was the dessert of choice for all the fashionable ladies of Colombo 7. Fancy myself, after a degree in law at the University of Peradeniya, being referred to as the Kiri Nona whenever I entered the Kollupitiya market! I can assure you that they did not teach me how to make good quality curd during those years at Peradeniya.

One of the first things I had to do to make myself independent was to get my driving license. Tom had, in the meantime, mentioned that I should do everything to make myself self-reliant. This required me to have an understanding of what funds we had and how to handle them. We had a rather powerful car – a Ford Zephyr with a six-cylinder engine and, when I went for my driving test, I was driving at the high speed of 40 m.p.h when the examiner asked me whether I always drove in this reckless manner.

After the license was given, I began to get about on my own, though rather nervously. I soon realized that I had a serious handicap and could not under any circumstances multi-task. I had to concentrate on what I was doing, and if I let my mind stray even for a moment, I would miss my track.

Both Tom and Nilanthi were subject to asthmatic attacks and the doctor suggested seaside living to get over this difficulty. So, we moved into a house in Carlwil Place, Kollupitiya, away from the flowering grass fields of Battaramulla. Nilanthi may have been 10 when she finally got over her breathing difficulties and perhaps the seaside did help. Upto that point of time she was ailing and spent half the year at home. She must have been about six years of age when she went into a severe asthmatic attack which refused to subside even after about 30 injections. She had turned blue and the doctors were thinking of putting her into the iron lung when she finally rallied. I must have aged about 10 years over that incident.

Born into an Anglican Christian family and having married an Anglican Christian, we did not have any problems in finding places for our children in our old schools. Nilanthi was admitted to Ladies’ College and the boys to St Thomas’ Preparatory School. In spite of a very unhealthy and troublesome start to her schooling career, Nilanthi was able to distinguish herself academically in due course. She went on to a career in the medical world as a University teacher.

Chanaka and Suresh, having enjoyed one year of nursery at Ladies’ College, were admitted to St. Thomas’ Prep school which was only five minutes away from home. They were constantly battling with each other till they entered their teens. Chanaka was the accident prone one giving us nail biting experiences. Stitches were common for Chanaka. The chin, wrist and the thigh show the scars of his daring moves.

The boys did not have the same academic backing in Sri Lanka as Nilanthi when they finished with Prep School. This led to their transfer to the International School at Kodaikannal for the A/L years. While Chanaka, the elder, moved on to a course in Gemmology in America, Suresh, the youngest, returned home, wanting to join the business straightaway. By this time, the business was picking up and Tom had set up an office in Carlwil Place with three or four assistants. But I was not willing to let Suresh handle money at 17, without being mature enough to understand that money was only a tool. So with great difficulty and a lot of persuasion he was sent off to England where he was to follow a degree in Business Management.

As I look back on those turbulent years, I admit that I too was not mature enough to handle the complicated ramifications of interpersonal relationships and financial imbalances that we were confronted with. Life was extremely difficult and challenging, but I do not recall despondency or depression. Money was never in plenty but we always had what we really wanted or maybe needed.

My husband

My life story would not be complete if I did not draw a comprehensive picture of the man I had chosen to live with. As I look back, I am full of appreciation of the wonderful qualities he had (not forgetting his weaknesses!) to enrich my life and the quality of the family we developed together.

His mother had passed away at the early age of 39, when he was only 17. As to what scars this incident left on the adolescent mind is something I have always tried to understand. His caring and compassionate ways must have been surely inherited from his mother, because his father was a strict disciplinarian and stern in his relationships. For the 10 years I knew him, the ritual of ‘good morning’ and ‘how are you’ were the only verbal exchanges that were made freely.

Our partnership, which originated through parental goodwill, lasted for more than 59 years. In keeping with the traditions of those times, our marriage was, to a large degree, an ‘arranged’ one. For a marriage which rose from a background such as this, one would imagine that our life together was humdrum and boring. Left to my own devices it may have truly turned out to be so. But my husband was of a more romantic disposition and lifted our relationship to an exciting and warm level.

Very early in our life together it became quite clear that “attachment with detachment”was to be our life’s guiding force. He was willing to give me total freedom and trusted me implicitly in whatever I did and wherever I went. As the father and husband he gave leadership to the family and provided us with our needs, fun and enjoyment. But he left decision making within the family unit to me. While he was busy building houses and earning the money for me to burn, I had to spend my time and energy to guide our children through to rewarding pursuits as well as keep myself gainfully occupied.

Tom had a very expensive hobby. While others went in for wine,women and song, he went in for building structures with brick and cement. Since he had missed his vocation, his creative capacity to design and build was tested over the years. Architects or engineers were never consulted. Plans were never drawn. A simple baas from the village was all he needed. Building walls and breaking them down was child’s play. If ever I was away from the country, at a workshop or seminar, I was always confronted with additions to the house on my return. His capacity for innovation and creativity were his outstanding qualities. Additionally, there was an intense desire to use waste material as well as ‘rejects’ which most people would not touch. The Metige at Mahausakande is an outstanding example of this skill.

He also loved to take a challenge. When all others were giving up, this was the right time for Tom to enter and prove his mettle. There was a Frenchman who had come to Sri Lanka and was working with one of the leading companies in Colombo crafting high-end jewellery, who was introduced to Tom. At this time, we did not have a workshop and knew little of the craft. One day, I came home to Carlwil Place when I found our drawing room converted into a workshop. The need for consultation or discussion had not occurred to him.

This was my first insight into the man and his mysterious way of letting go of material assets. Here was someone who was desperately in need of finding a new way of income generation and he took the opportunity with both hands. With that brave inroad, he was able to set up a company which, today, ranks as one of the best jewellery manufacturers and exporters in the country.

The first lesson I learned through this experience, which was, to say the least, shattering for any housewife, was that happiness cannot be achieved through material assets. Personal power is not through the exterior but from the interior. We both picked up a simple lifestyle, comfortable, yet ostentatious, while being more conscious of the ethical demands of healthy living.

Tom was quick at picking up the technical stuff as we entered the digital era in our middle years. As for me, even a single button sent my head into a spin. When computers came along, he insisted that I become familiar with the machine if I wanted to be a useful person in the community. I shrank from the challenge for as long as I could, but one year when I was away at yet another conference, he purchased a laptop, had it placed on my desk, and told me on my return that I should not behave like a village idiot. This pushed me into learning the basics of word-processing with the help of my young secretary at the Sumithrayo office. In my fifties, I was young enough to learn something new. How grateful I am today for this great push he gave me.

In a long journey of over 80 years, Tom has gone through many vocations and income generating activities. Starting with rubber plantations, he moved onto Gem and Jewellery manufacturing and from there to producing the TJC, a mango which has its own flavour and attributes. I noticed that he was given to pioneering ventures, which began to bore him once the challenge was over, and then wanting to move onto something new. This would happen at regular intervals of four to six years.

The only interest he did not leave behind for something new was his wife. From the rubber plantations, he started the farming activity at Battaramulla, where he built up a fine herd of heavy milking buffaloes. But with the introduction of the Parliament complex to Sri Jayawardenapura the farm had to be closed down. Before Land Reform, he also had this consuming passion about photography and was acclaimed as a prize winning photographer.

With the change in livelihood following Land Reform, attention was turned to gems and, thereafter, jewellery. It is important to note that whatever he put his hands on, he reached out for the best. He bought his own ‘hang poruwa’, the local cutting machine, and learned how to cut a gem. He was of the view that to tell others how to do it, one had to know the technique oneself. Ultimately, he could fashion a stone as well as anybody who called himself a professional lapidarist. It was much later that the electric machine came to Sri Lanka and he was able employ his own cutters.

This was followed by a community development scheme at Ellawala. Keen to offer employment to the villagers, he recruited and trained about 60 young men and women, having set up a lapidary in the village. He also took a toy making industry to Ellawala, but that was short lived. The village school that his father built got a face lift and village life took on a new vibrancy.

With the change in government and the installation of President Chandrika, he was offered the Chairmanship of the Gem Authority. During this spell at the Gem Authority, he took the opportunity to modernize Ratnapura as the City of Gems. Many changes were effected in the gem trade, both at the public and private sector levels, during his time as Chairman. In recognition of the work he did, the then President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaranatunge, honored him with the Desamanya title.

When that was done, he went back to the land, but now at Dambulla, where the Directors of Ellawala Exports – the mother Company – wanted to invest in agriculture. They had leased out the land from the Mahaveli Development Authority and planted it with a variety of mangoes. Tom now left the active management of the company he founded in Colombo in the hands of the younger generation and turned his attention to making the mango plantation a profitable one.

At 82, he spends much of his time in and among the mango trees, talking to the trees as well as the staff. He makes a special effort to keep himself active but the lack of a consuming and challenging prospect does seem to lower his spirits every now and then. At the point of writing and on the eve of his 83rd birthday, he is visibly feeble both in spirit and body. Not yet accustomed to spending a day quietly without action, he is not the man that he used to be.

Land Reform and change in lifestyle

Mercifully, Tom’s father passed away just before the Land Reform Bill was brought into operation. He would not have survived it as land and ownership of land was his great pride and joy in life.

In 1970, with the implementation of the Land Reform Bill, our lifestyle was beset with serious issues. Left with only 50 acres (mostly fruit trees) and three children all under the age of 10, our financial needs were rather heavy, even in those days when money was not so important. Tom was always ready for a challenge. He was not willing to give up and spend a lifetime of complaining about the injustices of the State.

Tom decided to take up, at a professional level, the only other income generating activity he was familiar with. Coming from Ratnapura, the city of gems, he felt he could cope with the business of buying and selling gems. The village of Ellawala had yielded some of the finest gems in the past. But upto now, the family engaged in the business of gemming and selling the rough to the traders, mostly Muslim. This was not serious business but gave a little extra pocket money every now and then. To have a comprehensive idea of the business, he arranged for a period of understudy with a friend who had established himself as a dealer of repute in Singapore. He left for Singapore in 1974, leaving me to handle the family affairs for one year.

There he learned to cut and polish a gem, to recognize, value and buy them aswell as how to set up a retail business. This was made possible because his brother-in-law, Lyn De Alwis, was stationed in Singapore, helping with the establishment of a Zoo. 1974 was also an important milestone in my life. This was the year that the Founder of Sri Lanka Sumithrayo, Joan De Mel, invited me to help her set up the organization.

After Tom’s return from Singapore, he set himself up on a small scale and began buying and selling gems. A business that he was able to walk into because of his connections with Ratnapura and Eheliyagoda. The gem traders were willing to trust him as his father was well known in the district and used to give them all the gems that came out of his gem pits. Up to this time, the gems were sold to the traders and the family had not actually entered the trade.

These years were very unsettling but we were both emotionally ready and mature enough to face the challenge and overcome the difficulties we had to face. The children did well in school and I had all the time to be with them at home. When the youngest, Suresh, turned 10 and he was busy on the cricket field, I began to look for a pursuit that could bring me a sense of fulfillment. By 1977, the business was picking up and the new Jayawardene government opened the doors for free trade. Reluctantly, I worked in the office but the activity really did not stimulate me. However, in these difficult times one could not be too choosy.

During these years, we also tried to emigrate to Australia, but without success. A close friend suggested we consult our stars and took us with our horoscopes to a renowned astrologer based in distant Badulla. I recall how he mentioned that we were not destined to suffer the indignities of forsaking one’s mother land! Furthermore, he told me that I would never be able to earn by doing a job although qualified to do so. He cautioned Tom to provide for me well and virtually keep me in clover.

This caused a lot of amusement at that time and I have always reminded him about the astrologer’s words of advice. I immediately set up an informal contractual agreement for the two of us. “You earn, I burn.” This has been the active logo for our enduring partnership of more than 50 long years.

For all the work I have been involved with after my 35th year, I was able to offer my services as a volunteer because Tom earned while I burned! However, he never once questioned me on how I was using his hard earned earnings.

My entire perception about material wealth and the desire for multiplying as well as stashing away our income took a remarkable turn after 1970, when we were left with only 50 acres to call our own. It was a frightening prospect with growing children to be fed, clothed and educated. As we look back on those challenging years, we realize that fate has been very kind to us although the State was not. We were never in want, but we were also not given to luxurious or wasteful living.

It was during these times that we began to understand that money could not buy happiness. However, we had to move on to a city-oriented, money-based business lifestyle. Far different from the village based, estate life which was leisurely and certainly more healthy in its holistic sense. Society was fast moving into a consumer oriented, materialistic lifestyle where money was flowing in fast and goods were becoming freely available. Suddenly, you needed money to buy all the tantalizing goods which were being offered. How does one learn the difference between needing and wanting?

Looking back on the actual impact of the Land Reform Bill of 1970, I realize that my entire value system took a turn with this event. There was no room for bitterness. The State took away what was rightfully ours and left us to identify new income generating sources. While others perished with the accompanying stress, Tom was able to pick up the threads and start a new way of life. The coffers were virtually empty but we were never in want. We entered a period of enjoying the simple joys of family life and faced the challenges of this new lifestyle with equanimity.

(From changing attitudes and values by Nalini Ellawela)

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Features

Why Sri Lanka Still Has No Doppler Radar – and Who Should Be Held Accountable

Published

24 hours ago

2025/12/14

Thilina Walpola

Eighteen Years of Delay:

Cyclone Ditwah has come and gone, leaving a trail of extensive damage to the country’s infrastructure, including buildings, roads, bridges, and 70% of the railway network. Thousands of hectares of farming land have been destroyed. Last but not least, nearly 1,000 people have lost their lives, and more than two million people have been displaced. The visuals uploaded to social media platforms graphically convey the widespread destruction Cyclone Ditwah has caused in our country.

The purpose of my article is to highlight, for the benefit of readers and the general public, how a project to establish a Doppler Weather Radar system, conceived in 2007, remains incomplete after 18 years. Despite multiple governments, shifting national priorities, and repeated natural disasters, the project remains incomplete.

Over the years, the National Audit Office, the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA), and several print and electronic media outlets have highlighted this failure. The last was an excellent five-minute broadcast by Maharaja Television Network on their News First broadcast in October 2024 under a series “What Happened to Sri Lanka”

The Agreement Between the Government of Sri Lanka and the World Meteorological Organisation in 2007.

The first formal attempt to establish a Doppler Radar system dates back to a Trust Fund agreement signed on 24 May 2007 between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). This agreement intended to modernize Sri Lanka’s meteorological infrastructure and bring the country on par with global early-warning standards.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on March 23, 1950. There are 193 member countries of the WMO, including Sri Lanka. Its primary role is to promote the establishment of a worldwide meteorological observation system and to serve as the authoritative voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, and the resulting climate and water resources.

According to the 2018 Performance Audit Report compiled by the National Audit Office, the GoSL entered into a trust fund agreement with the WMO to install a Doppler Radar System. The report states that USD 2,884,274 was deposited into the WMO bank account in Geneva, from which the Department of Metrology received USD 95,108 and an additional USD 113,046 in deposit interest. There is no mention as to who actually provided the funds. Based on available information, WMO does not fund projects of this magnitude.

The WMO was responsible for procuring the radar equipment, which it awarded on 18^th June 2009 to an American company for USD 1,681,017. According to the audit report, a copy of the purchase contract was not available.

Monitoring the agreement’s implementation was assigned to the Ministry of Disaster Management, a signatory to the trust fund agreement. The audit report details the members of the steering committee appointed by designation to oversee the project. It consisted of personnel from the Ministry of Disaster Management, the Departments of Metrology, National Budget, External Resources and the Disaster Management Centre.

The Audit Report highlights failures in the core responsibilities that can be summarized as follows:

· Procurement irregularities—including flawed tender processes and inadequate technical evaluations.

· Poor site selection

—proposed radar sites did not meet elevation or clearance requirements.

· Civil works delays

—towers were incomplete or structurally unsuitable.

· Equipment left unused

—in some cases for years, exposing sensitive components to deterioration.

· Lack of inter-agency coordination

—between the Meteorology Department, Disaster Management Centre, and line ministries.

Some of the mistakes highlighted are incomprehensible. There is a mention that no soil test was carried out before the commencement of the construction of the tower. This led to construction halting after poor soil conditions were identified, requiring a shift of 10 to 15 meters from the original site. This resulted in further delays and cost overruns.

The equipment supplier had identified that construction work undertaken by a local contractor was not of acceptable quality for housing sensitive electronic equipment. No action had been taken to rectify these deficiencies. The audit report states, “It was observed that the delay in constructing the tower and the lack of proper quality were one of the main reasons for the failure of the project”.

In October 2012, when the supplier commenced installation, the work was soon abandoned after the vehicle carrying the heavy crane required to lift the radar equipment crashed down the mountain. The next attempt was made in October 2013, one year later. Although the equipment was installed, the system could not be operationalised because electronic connectivity was not provided (as stated in the audit report).

In 2015, following a UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services) inspection, it was determined that the equipment needed to be returned to the supplier because some sensitive electronic devices had been damaged due to long-term disuse, and a further 1.5 years had elapsed by 2017, when the equipment was finally returned to the supplier. In March 2018, the estimated repair cost was USD 1,095,935, which was deemed excessive, and the project was abandoned.

COPA proceedings

The Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) discussed the radar project on August 10, 2023, and several press reports state that the GOSL incurred a loss of Rs. 78 million due to the project’s failure. This, I believe, is the cost of constructing the Tower. It is mentioned that Rs. 402 million had been spent on the radar system, of which Rs. 323 million was drawn from the trust fund established with WMO. It was also highlighted that approximately Rs. 8 million worth of equipment had been stolen and that the Police and the Bribery and Corruption Commission were investigating the matter.

JICA support and project stagnation

Despite the project’s failure with WMO, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) entered into an agreement with GOSL on June 30, 2017 to install two Doppler Radar Systems in Puttalam and Pottuvil. JICA has pledged 2.5 billion Japanese yen (LKR 3.4 billion at the time) as a grant. It was envisaged that the project would be completed in 2021.

Once again, the perennial delays that afflict the GOSL and bureaucracy have resulted in the groundbreaking ceremony being held only in December 2024. The delay is attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic and Sri Lanka’s economic crisis.

The seven-year delay between the signing of the agreement and project commencement has led to significant cost increases, forcing JICA to limit the project to installing only one Doppler Radar system in Puttalam.

Impact of the missing radar during Ditwah

As I am not a meteorologist and do not wish to make a judgment on this, I have decided to include the statement issued by JICA after the groundbreaking ceremony on December 24, 2024.

“In partnership with the Department of Meteorology (DoM), JICA is spearheading the establishment of the Doppler Weather Radar Network in the Puttalam district, which can realize accurate weather observation and weather prediction based on the collected data by the radar. This initiative is a significant step in strengthening Sri Lanka’s improving its climate resilience including not only reducing risks of floods, landslides, and drought but also agriculture and fishery“.

Based on online research, a Doppler Weather Radar system is designed to observe weather systems in real time. While the technical details are complex, the system essentially provides localized, uptotheminute information on rainfall patterns, storm movements, and approaching severe weather. Countries worldwide rely on such systems to issue timely alerts for monsoons, tropical depressions, and cyclones. It is reported that India has invested in 30 Doppler radar systems, which have helped minimize the loss of life.

Without radar, Sri Lanka must rely primarily on satellite imagery and foreign meteorological centres, which cannot capture the finescale, rapidly changing weather patterns that often cause localized disasters here.

The general consensus is that, while no single system can prevent natural disasters, an operational Doppler Radar almost certainly would have strengthened Sri Lanka’s preparedness and reduced the extent of damage and loss.

Conclusion

Sri Lanka’s inability to commission a Doppler Radar system, despite nearly two decades of attempts, represents one of the most significant governance failures in the country’s disastermanagement history.

Audit findings, parliamentary oversight proceedings, and donor records all confirm the same troubling truth: Sri Lanka has spent public money, signed international agreements, received foreign assistance, and still has no operational radar. This raises a critical question: should those responsible for this prolonged failure be held legally accountable?

Now may not be the time to determine the extent to which the current government and bureaucrats failed the people. I believe an independent commission comprising foreign experts in disaster management from India and Japan should be appointed, maybe in six months, to identify failures in managing Cyclone Ditwah.

However, those who governed the country from 2007 to 2024 should be held accountable for their failures, and legal action should be pursued against the politicians and bureaucrats responsible for disaster management for their failure to implement the 2007 project with the WMO successfully.

Sri Lanka cannot afford another 18 years of delay. The time for action, transparency, and responsibility has arrived.

(The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of any organization or institution with which the author is affiliated).

By Sanjeewa Jayaweera

Features

Ramifications of Trump Corollary

Published

1 day ago

2025/12/14

Thilina Walpola

President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth look on, at the White House, in Washington, Dec. 2, 2025

President Trump is expected to close the deal on the Ukraine crisis, as he may wish to concentrate his full strength on two issues: ongoing operations in Venezuela and the bolstering of Japan’s military capabilities as tensions between China and Japan over Taiwan rise. Trump can easily concede Ukraine to Putin and refocus on the Asia–Pacific and Latin America. This week, he once again spilled the beans in an interview with Politico, one of the most significant conversations ever conducted with him. When asked which country currently holds the stronger negotiating position, Trump bluntly asserted that there could be no question: it is Russia. “It’s a much bigger country. It’s a war that should’ve never happened,” he said, followed by his usual rhetoric.

Meanwhile, US allies that fail to adequately fund defence and shirk contributions to collective security will face repercussions, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declared at the 2025 Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California. Hegseth singled out nations such as South Korea, Israel, Poland, and Germany as “model allies” for increasing their commitments, contrasting them with those perceived as “free riders”. The message was unmistakably Trumpian: partnerships are conditional, favourable only to countries that “help themselves” before asking anything of Washington.

It is in this context that it becomes essential to examine the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy, issued last week, in order to consider how it differs from previous strategies and where it may intersect with current US military practice.

Trump’s 2025 National Security Strategy is not merely another iteration of the familiar doctrine of American primacy; it is a radical reorientation of how the United States understands itself, its sphere of influence, and its role in the world. The document begins uncompromisingly: “The purpose of foreign policy is the protection of core national interests; that is the sole focus of this strategy.” It is the bluntest opening in any American NSS since the document became a formal requirement in 1987. Whereas previous strategies—from Obama to Biden—wrapped security in the language of democracy promotion and multilateralism, Trump’s dispenses entirely with the pretence of universality. What matters are American interests, defined narrowly, almost corporately, as though the United States were a shareholder entity rather than a global hegemon.

It is here that the ghost of Senator William Fulbright quietly enters, warning in 1966 that “The arrogance of power… the belief that we are uniquely qualified to bring order to the world, is a dangerous illusion.” Fulbright’s admonition was directed at the hubris of Vietnam-era expansionism, yet it resonates with uncanny force in relation to Trump’s revived hemispheric ambitions. For despite Trump’s anti-globalist posture, his strategy asserts a unique American role in determining events across two oceans and within an entire hemisphere. The arrogance may simply be wearing a new mask.

Nowhere is this revisionist spirit more vivid than in the so-called “Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine”, perhaps the most controversial American hemispheric declaration since Theodore Roosevelt’s time. The 2025 NSS states without hesitation that “The United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere.” Yet unlike Roosevelt, who justified intervention as a form of pre-emptive stabilisation, Trump wraps his corollary in the language of sovereignty and anti-globalism. The hemispheric message is not simply that outside powers must stay out; it is that the United States will decide what constitutes legitimate governance in the region and deny “non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities… in our Hemisphere”.

This wording alone has far-reaching implications for Venezuela, where US forces recently seized a sanctioned supertanker as part of an escalating confrontation with the Maduro government. Maduro, emboldened by support from Russia, Iran, and China’s so-called shadow fleet, frames Trump’s enforcement actions as piracy. But for Trump, this is precisely the point: a demonstration of restored hemispheric authority. In that sense, the 2025 NSS may be the first strategic document in decades to explicitly set the stage for sustained coercive operations in Latin America. The NSS promises “a readjustment of our global military presence to address urgent threats in our Hemisphere.” “Urgent threats” is vague, but in practical military planning, vagueness functions as a permission slip. It is not difficult to see how a state accused of “narco-terrorism” or “crimes against humanity” could be fitted into the category.

The return to hemispheric dominance is paired with a targeted shift in alliance politics. Trump makes it clear that the United States is finished subsidising alliances that do not directly strengthen American security. The NSS lays out the philosophy succinctly: “The days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over.” This is a direct repudiation of the language found in Obama’s 2015 NSS, which emphasised that American leadership was indispensable to global stability. Trump rejects that premise outright. Leadership, in his framing, is merely leverage. Allies who fail to meet burden expectations will lose access, influence, and potentially even protection. Nowhere is this more evident than in the push for extraordinary defence spending among NATO allies: “President Trump has set a new global standard with the Hague Commitment… pledging NATO countries to spend 5 percent of GDP on defence.”

In turn, US disengagement from Europe becomes easier to justify. While Trump speaks of “negotiating an expeditious cessation of hostilities in Ukraine”, it requires little sophistication to decode this as a form of managed abandonment—an informal concession that Russia’s negotiating position is stronger, as Trump told Politico. Ukraine may well become a bargaining chip in the trade-off between strategic theatres: Europe shrinks, Asia and Latin America expand. The NSS’s emphasis on Japan, Taiwan, and China is markedly sharper than in 2017.

China looms over the 2025 NSS like an obsession, mentioned over twenty times, not merely as a competitor but as a driving force shaping American policy. Every discussion of technology, alliances, or regional security is filtered through Beijing’s shadow, as if US strategy exists solely to counter China. The strategy’s relentless focus risks turning global priorities into a theatre of paranoia, where the United States reacts constantly, defined less by its own interests than by fear of what China might do next.

It is equally striking that, just nine days after Cyclone Ditwah, the US Indo-Pacific Command deployed two C130 aircraft—capable of landing at only three locations in Sri Lanka, well away from the hardest-hit areas—and orchestrated a highly choreographed media performance, enlisting local outlets and social media influencers seemingly more concerned with flaunting American boots on the ground than delivering “urgent” humanitarian aid. History shows this is not unprecedented: US forces have repeatedly arrived under the banner of humanitarian assistance—Operation Restore Hope in Somalia (1992) later escalated into full security and combat operations; interventions in Haiti during the 1990s extended into long-term peacekeeping and training missions; and Operation United Assistance in Liberia (2014) built a lasting US operational presence beyond the Ebola response.

Trump’s NSS, meanwhile, states that deterring conflict in East Asia is a “priority”, and that the United States seeks to ensure that “US technology and US standards—particularly in AI, biotech, and quantum computing—drive the world forward.” Combined with heightened expectations of Japan, which is rapidly rearming, Trump’s strategic map shows a clear preference: if Europe cannot or will not defend itself, Asia might.

What makes the 2025 NSS uniquely combustible, however, is the combination of ideological framing and operational signalling. Trump explicitly links non-interventionism, long a theme of his political base, to the Founders’ moral worldview. He writes that “Rigid adherence to non-interventionism is not possible… yet this predisposition should set a high bar for what constitutes a justified intervention.”

The Trump NSS is both a blueprint and a warning. It signals a United States abandoning the liberal internationalist project and embracing a transactional, hemispherically focussed, sovereignty-first model. It rewrites the Monroe Doctrine for an age of great-power contest, but in doing so resurrects the very logics of intervention that past presidents have regretted. And in the background, as Trump weighs the cost of Ukraine against the allure of a decisive posture in Asia and the Western Hemisphere, the world is left to wonder whether this new corollary is merely rhetorical theatre or the prelude to a new era of American coercive power. The ambiguity is deliberate, but the direction of travel is unmistakable.

[Correction: In my column last week, I incorrectly stated that India–Russia trade in FY 2024 25 was USD 18 billion; the correct figure is USD 68.7 billion, with a trade deficit of about USD 59 billion. Similarly, India recorded a goods trade surplus of around USD 41.18 billion with the US, not a deficit of USD 42 billion, with exports of USD 86.51 billion and imports of USD 45.33 billion. Total remittances to India in FY 2024 25 were roughly USD 135.46 billion, including USD 25–30 billion from the US. Apologies for the error.]

by Nilantha Ilangamuwa

Features

MEEZAN HADJIAR

Published

1 day ago

2025/12/14

Thilina Walpola

selfmade businessman who became one of the richest men in the Central Province

I am happy that a book about the life and contribution of Sathkorale Muhamdiramlagedara Segu Abdul Cader Hajiar Mohamed Mohideen better known as Meezan Hadjiar or Meezan Mudalali of Matale [1911—1964] written by Mohammed Fuaji -a former Principal of Zahira College Matale, has now been published by a group of his admirers and relatives. It is a timely addition to the history of Matale district and the Kandyan region which is yet to be described fully as forming a part of the modern history of our country. Coincidentally this book also marks the centenary of Meezan Hadjiars beginning of employment in Matale town which began in 1925.

Matale which was an outlier in the Kandyan Kingdom came into prominence with the growth of plantations for coffee and, after the collapse of the coffee plantations due to the ‘coffee blight’ , for other tree crops . Coffee was followed by the introduction of tea by the early British investors who faced bankruptcy and ruin if they could not quickly find a substitute beverage for coffee.They turned to tea.

The rapid opening of tea plantations in the hill country demanded a large and hardworking labour force which could not be found domestically. This led to the indenturing of Tamil labour from South India on a large scale. These helpless workers were virtually kidnapped from their native villages in India through the Kangani system and they were compelled to migrate to our hill country by the British administration .

Meezan Hadjiar

The route of these indentured workers to the higher elevations of the hill country lay through Matale and the new plantation industry developed in that region thereby dragging it into a new commercial culture and a cash economy. New opportunities were opened up for internal migration particularly for the more adventurous members of the Muslim community who had played a significant role in the Kandyan kingdom particularly as traders,transporters,medical specialists and military advisors.

Diaries of British officials like John D’oyly also show that the Kandyan Muslims were interlocutors between the Kandyan King and British officials of the Low Country as they had to move about across boundaries as traders of scarce commodities like salt, medicines and consumer articles for the Kandyans and arecanuts, gems and spices for the British. Even today there are physical traces of the ‘’Battal’’or caravans of oxen which were used by the Muslims to transport the above mentioned commodities to and from the Kandyan villages to the Low country. Another important facet was that Kandyan Muslims were located in villages close to the entrances to the hill country attesting to their mobility unlike the Kandyan villagers.

Thus Akurana, Galagedera, Kadugannawa, Hataraliyadde and Mawanella which lay in the pathways to enter the inner territory of the Kings domain were populated by ‘Kandyan Muslims’ who had the ear of the King and his high officials. The’’ Ge’’ names and the honorifics given by the King were a testament to their integration with the Sinhala polity. Meezan Hadjiars’’ Ge ‘‘name of Sathkorale Mohandiramlage denotes the mobility of the family from Sathkorale, an outlier division in the Kandyan Kingdom, and Mohandiramlage attests to the higher status in the social hierarchy which probably indicated that his forebears were honoured servants of the king.

Meezan Hadjiar [SM Mohideen] was born and bred in Kurugoda which is a small village in Akurana in Kandy district. He belonged to the family of Abdul Cader who was a patriarch and a well known religious scholar. Cader’s children began their education in the village school but at the age of 12 young Mohideen left his native village to apprentice under a relative who had a business establishment in the heart of Matale town which was growing fast due to the economic boom. It must be stated here that this form of ‘learning the ropes’ as an apprentice’was a common path to business undertaken by many of the later Sri Lankan tycoons of the pre-independence era.

But he did not remain in that position for long .When his mentor failed in his business of trading in cocoa, cardamoms, cloves and arecanuts and wanted to close up his shop young Mohideen took over and eventually made a great success of it. His enterprise succeeded because he was able to earn the trust of both his buyers and sellers. He befriended Sinhalese and Tamil producers and the business he improved beyond measure took on the name of Meezan Estates Ltd [The scales] and Mohideen soon became famous as Meezan Mudalali – perhaps the most successful businessman of his time in Matale. He expanded his business interests to urban real estate as well as tea and rubber estates. Soon he owned over 3,000 acres of tea estates making him one of the richest men in the Central Province.

With his growing influence Meezan spent generously on charitable activities including funding a water scheme for his native village of Kurugoda also serving adjoining villages like Pangollamada located in Akurana. He also gave generously to Buddhist causes in Matale together with other emerging low country businessmen like Gunasena and John Mudalali.

Matale was well known as a town in which all communities lived in harmony and tended to help each other. As a generous public figure he became strong supporter of the UNP and a personal friend of its leaders like Dudley Senanayake and Sir John Kotelawela. UNP candidates for public office-both in the Municipality and Parliament were selected in consultation with Meezan who also bankrolled them during election time. He himself became a Municipal councillor. The Aluvihares of several generations had close links with him. it was Meezan who mentored ACS Hameed – a fellow villager from Kurugoda – and took him to the highest echelons of Sri Lankan politics as Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was a supporter and financier of the UNP through thick and thin.

Though his premature death at the age 53 in 1965 saved him from the worst political witch hunts under SWRD Bandaranaike who was his personal friend it was after 1970 and the Coalition regime that Meezan’s large family were deprived of their livelihood by the taking over of all their estates. Fortunately many of his children were well educated and could hold on till relief was given by President Premadasa despite the objections of their father’s erstwhile protégé ACS Hameed who surprisingly let them down badly.

It is only fitting that we, even a hundred years later, now commemorate a great self made Sri Lankan business magnate and generous contributor to all religious and social causes of his time. His name became synonymous with enterprise in Matale – a district in which I was privileged to serve as Government Agent in the late sixties.He was a model entrepreneur and his large family have also made outstanding contributions to this country which also attest to the late Meezan Hadjiars foresight and vision of a united and prosperous Srilanka.

by SARATH AMUNUGAMA.