Features

Entering Australia, early resistance and the platform for Dilmah’s success

Published

2 years ago

2023/10/1

(Excerpted from the Merrill Fernando autobiography)

Australia and neighbouring New Zealand feature very prominently in my story as it was in Australia, in 1985, that I launched ‘Dilmah’ as a brand. I was familiar with the markets in those two countries as I had been exporting to both since my early days in the export trade. I had also made very useful connections during my days as one of the major bulk tea suppliers from Sri Lanka to Australia.

The late Bill Bennet, who, in the early 1950s trained as a tea taster at Heath & Co in Colombo, where he represented Bushells’ interests, became a good friend. A very friendly, large-hearted man, at that time he was also very much a mentor to me. Later, he joined his father in the family tea company, H. A. Bennet & Sons in Australia and, eventually, became its owner. He sold much of my bulk tea in Australia.

In my move from bulk to branded tea, his advice and guidance were invaluable. As was the case with many of my business associates, he and his family became very close to mine. For close upon 50 years, we never failed to meet on my visits to Melbourne, Australia. I was deeply saddened by the recent passing of this gentle and generous man.

Bill introduced me to his brother, Peter, and Jack Sholer, who owned the Australian Tea & Coffee Company, which used to supply private label tea and coffee to supermarkets. Since the demand for tea bags was growing and their factory was unable to meet the production increase, they turned to me for help. It was a very useful opportunity for me as, soon afterwards, I made a major breakthrough when I was awarded the contract to pack ‘Farmland’ tea bags for G. J. Coles, then the largest supermarket chain in Australia.

Initially, as I will describe in a subsequent chapter, my export initiatives of value-added tea were inhibited by restrictions on shipping opportunities and the differentiated freight rates for bulk and value-added tea. Those issues had to be resolved with a mix of confrontation, subtlety, and influence leverage and, after a long battle, I was able to achieve a reasonable parity.

In 1977 I acquired two tea bagging machines at a cost of around USD 500,000, but for about two years I was unable to generate any business. Eventually, after relentless promotion on my part, personally carried out, I obtained a decent opening in the G. J. Coles supermarket chain. I developed private labels for Coles, Woolworths, Franklins, Safeway and other smaller supermarket chains, within a year.

Max Currie, Head of Tetley and Lyons Australia, and I, established a very good relationship and I supplied him with tea bags under the Tetley label. I also encountered episodes of sabotage of my tea, most likely by his staff, as they would have feared that Max might transfer all the Tetley business in Sri Lanka to me. I went across to Australia and proved that a cigarette butt, which was allegedly found in one of my packs from Sri Lanka, would, most probably, have been introduced at the Aussie end, as that cigarette brand was not available in Sri Lanka! Eventually, after they secured their own tea bagging machines, I stopped supplying that label.

This was also a period of stringent exchange control regulations. Spending money abroad, even for genuine businessmen, was restricted to 10 pounds sterling per day for a 21-day maximum. Max was aware of this issue and was always generous to me with spending money, which was very useful. Despite my protests he continued this practice even after controls were relaxed.

Family ties in business Romeo and Drake of South Australia

Max was also the Chairman of the Victoria Economic Council, a very influential position in a Labour Party Government body. He offered me some very generous concessions, including a proposal for me to transfer tea bagging machines and to set up an operation in Melbourne, for which he would find the necessary land. He also offered me funding through the Economic Council. However, I explained to him that my philosophy was to provide employment in my country and to ensure that the benefits of value addition would remain in Sri Lanka.

His wife, Meris, too became our friend as she was especially fond of both Malik and Dilhan. She presented them with lovely sweaters and other woollen clothing when they were schooling in England. Max moved on a few years ago but Meris continues to live in Melbourne and I do not fail to meet her whenever I visit that city.

Why Dilmah?

`DILMAH, ‘the brand name that now symbolizes Quality Pure Ceylon Tea in over a hundred countries, was coined by combining the names of my two sons, Dilhan and Malik. When I linked the names of my two sons to my brand, I was demonstrating my commitment to my promise to deliver a quality product at a reasonable price, and the credibility of my pledge to the customer. My brand was as part of my family as my two sons were. In retrospect, despite the early setbacks and the initial misgivings of advertising and marketing experts about the potential of a brand name, which, in their view, did not seem linked to tea, it proved to be one of the best marketing decisions I had ever made.

The trial launch took place in 1985, in Australia, with a decent-looking but by no means impressive pack. This was well before the art of the graphic designer and five colour printing. I designed my own pack and first called it ‘Dilma’. I was then 55 years old and close to the age when most people retire!

My friend Gamini Goonesena, formerly a famous cricketer both in England and Sri Lanka, was then working for the Australian advertising agency, appointed by the Sri Lanka Tea Board, as the official media company for the promotion of Sri Lanka tea brands in Australia. Gamini helped me source a distributor, Aeroplane Jelly, a small, family-owned, jelly-producing company. I selected it because they had good access to the retail trade, especially in New South Wales.

However, I made slow progress with them and it soon became clear that the challenge of marketing a new product category like tea, in a highly-competitive environment, was beyond their capabilities. Therefore, I moved to Mauri Foods whilst George Patterson, a leading advertising agency, re-designed the package, which remains much the same to this day.

Patterson developed a new campaign strategy, with one of the first key initiatives being consumer testing of the brand name, ‘Dilma’. The results indicated that ‘Dilma’ did not have sufficient punch to create significant brand awareness and visibility. There were doubts about its appeal to a highly-sophisticated market like Australia. However, the creation of a new brand name was out of the question; quite apart from the sunk costs and the prohibitive additional cost of rebranding, my sentimental attachment to the brand name precluded any such consideration.

Finally, following rigorous consumer testing, it was decided to add the ‘H’ at the end of ‘Dilma’ and rebrand as ‘Dilmah’. Thus the brand was born. It was relaunched with a new packaging design, which was printed in Singapore to ensure highest quality in presentation.

Early struggles

I came up against stiff resistance when I tried to find a supermarket chain which would give ‘Dilmah’ space on its shelves. The Coles supermarket chain buyer whom I approached maintained that he was happy with the tea brands he was already selling and that he did not see the need to add to the portfolio of selling brands which had been around for generations. I had many friendly arguments with him, trying to get him to understand that big brand owners were simply looking for profit, without any concern for the consumer, who is driven to buy whatever is on the shelf, regardless of the quality of the product.

I tried to convince him that what was on the shelf was commodity tea and that whilst the brand names remained the same, the contents had changed and the consumers, who had been weaned on quality Ceylon Tea, were now being deceived by an inferior product. Finally, either convinced by my arguments or simply to appease my insistence, he accepted two Dilmah products and put genuine, quality Ceylon Tea back on the Coles supermarket shelf.

It was also a watershed moment in my life as a tea entrepreneur; for the first 38 years I had been supplying tea in bulk to blenders and packers around the world. With the launching of my own brand, ‘Dilmah,’ I took the first steps towards the fulfilment of a promise I had made to myself, as a young man in his novitiate in the tea trade.

Initially, despite my long experience in tea and my knowledge of multinational marketing strategies, I was still a bit naive. It was my intention to price Dilmah 20 cents above the market leader, but the Coles buyer would not agree. In deference to his opinion and advice, I priced it at AUS Dollars 1.89, 10 cents less. I was delighted with what I had achieved, in ignorance of what was to follow.

As Dilmah was relatively small, unknown, and, in my perception, posed no threat to the established multinational brands, I never expected a reaction from them. However, the then market leader discounted its tea to AUS Dollars 1.49 at the very next promotion. I was both disappointed and dispirited. I assumed that my long-held dream to bring Pure Ceylon Tea back to the consumer would have to remain as such. I fully expected Dilmah to be taken off the shelves when it came up for review three months later.

The Dilmah philosophy was a threat to the multinational operational style. The foundation of the latter, a well-entrenched colonial concept, is to subjugate the producer by acquiring his product in bulk, as a raw material, and to add real value by branding, packaging, and marketing elsewhere. Dilmah had broken that mould by adding that value in the country of production itself. If many others were to follow that example, the mass market traders’ business would be at serious risk. Hence, the immediate retaliatory response in Australia, which included aggressive media campaigns mounted by Lipton, Bushells and Lanchoo the then market leaders to counter my entry in to the Australian market with Dilmah.

Nabi Saleh: a chance meeting led to a lifelong Friendship

Therefore, in the background of an envisaged worst case scenario, I was rendered speechless when, at my next visit to the Coles buyer, he said: “I have good news for you.” Apparently, never before had he received so many messages from happy customers, as he did about Dilmah, commending the product. The callers had thanked Coles for bringing real Ceylon Tea back in to their cups. That marked the beginning of the Dilmah success and the confirmation of my long-held belief, that if you deliver good quality consistently, the consumer will extend patronage. The brand is built and sustained by the happy customer.

Australia was a market with other, inherent advantages for a proposition such as Dilmah, as that market offered many house brands and generic packs, largely of Ceylon Tea. Whilst all such packs were under importers’ brands, with suppliers and origins changing from time to time, it was still an important part of Australian business and a pattern of trade and distribution common in other Western countries as well.

The opportunity given to me earlier, to provide such house brands and generic packs to retailers, gave me an invaluable insight in to the dynamics of the Australian tea market. That experience with the distribution system, and my connections with the retailers and their management, enabled me to very effectively introduce my own brand later.

Having first worked with Mauri Foods, I moved to Cerebos Australia whilst working with a few other foodservice importers. Subsequently, with the sales of Dilmah gathering momentum, I set up ‘Dilmah Australia’ as a company and a marketing platform, to operate in association with Broker Counterpoint Marketing Services. The latter functioned as regional brokers whilst we managed the customers and logistics through a logistics company. I recruited Cindy Dean, wife of a good friend, Ishan Ratnam, as the General Manager of Dilmah Australia. Thus, with my own team in place, I was beginning to achieve my goals for Dilmah in Australia.

However, I found that our distributors did not always share my passion for Dilmah and, as a result, I had to constantly review marketing strategies and distribution arrangements. One disappointing experience was with Valcorp, in 2008. I found that this company, headed by John Valmobida, did not possess the competencies and attributes necessary to drive Dilmah with the kind of energy that I liked to see. Finally, when we were unable to arrive at a resolution of issues regarding distribution of Dilmah in Sydney, Valmobida suggested that the operations agreement between us be cancelled.

I immediately agreed and resisted all his subsequent attempts to change my mind. From then on, having given Valcorp a couple of months’ grace, we set up our own distribution, eventually managed by Rohan Meegama, the son of my Shipping Manager when I was at A. F. Jones. Rohan was the Warehouse Manager for Valcorp and, despite the misgivings of both colleagues and friends, I set him up in the warehousing business on his own and entrusted our distribution in Australia to him. He has been doing an excellent job ever since.

Consequences of stress

That was a particularly trying time for me personally as, under the strain of resolving problems that were cropping up in all the major cities in Australia where we were in business, I actually fell physically ill. I was flying between cities almost on a daily basis and as a result of developing a seemingly unquenchable thirst, consuming large quantities of lemonade and other carbonated drinks. It was one of the most stressful periods in my life.

After a very strenuous spell in Australia I returned to Colombo soon afterwards, flew to London, still feeling terribly unwell but understanding the reason. A couple of days after I landed, the late Daya de Silva, then my doctor in London, diagnosed that I had come in for Type 2 Diabetes! An incipient condition had been triggered in to a major health episode by work stress. He wanted to immediately hositalize me but agreed to let me stay at home on the strict understanding that I would ring him twice a day, to personally report on my condition.

In the launching and promotion of Dilmah tea in Australia, I had to contend with humiliation, disappointment, and interventions designed to damage my progress. In addition, there was also opposition from people in Sri Lanka itself. However, whilst I was deeply shaken by the fierce and often unscrupulous competition from the multinationals, I was also inspired by the welcome reception to the concept of a quality tea that I eventually received from the supermarket buyer and the consumer. My persistence at that level paid off and resulted in supermarket chains agreeing to stock my products.

A refreshing counterpoint to the initial hostility I faced in Australia was the friendly reception, from the Romeo & Drake families of Adelaide, both running independent supermarket chains in South Australia. My association with these two families goes back to over 40 years. In the charming nature of such close-knit, traditional family businesses, very much like mine, the relationship has been extended to the second and third generations.

Rodney Arambawela, a proactive official

Rodney was Sri Lanka’s Tea Commissioner in the Middle East (Gulf Region) from 1975-1982. During this period of service he was stationed in Dubai, before it became the sophisticated and modern centre of business activity that it is today. I got to know him then and shared with him, my ideas for the launch of a Pure Ceylon Tea brand of my own.

In 1982, during Major Jayawickrema’s period as Minister of Plantation Industries, Rodney was appointed as Tea Commissioner to Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. His appointment came at a time when the market for Ceylon Tea in Australia had declined alarmingly, with Australian packers opting for cheaper tea from different origins, more suitable for tea bags. Rodney’s remit in Australia, as defined by the minister himself, was to strategize the revitalization of the Ceylon Tea market in the country.

Apart from my own knowledge of the Australian market, the market research that Rodney conducted after assuming duties in Australia, provided statistics which were very helpful in the launch of Dilmah in that country. He was also very supportive in the early promotional campaigns and took an active part in the related activities. His proactive response to the project, and his enthusiasm for its successful implementation, was in complete contrast to the passive and often obstructionist attitude of some of the members of the Secretariat in Colombo. After leaving the Tea Board in 1988, Rodney reverted to an academic career but still continued his promotion of Dilmah in various forums. His assistance to the cause of Dilmah in Australia has been invaluable.

Nabi Saleh my friend

My story of Dilmah in Australia would not be complete without mention of Nabi Saleh, a highly-educated, Iranian-Australian businessman and commodities trader. I met Nabi, quite unexpectedly, about 40 years ago at the Franklins Supermarket, Sydney, whilst we were both waiting to meet the same buyer, Michael Hansel. We were competitors at first. but later became trade associates and, more importantly, good friends.

Nabi was then a private label supplier to Franklins and other distributors. through a small-time packer in Indonesia. After that first meeting. Nabi bought private label tea from me as well. In 1995 Nabi became the owner/Chief Executive Officer of Gloria Jean’s Coffee, a venture he developed into a worldwide success. Nabi admired my vision for Pure Ceylon Tea and was of assistance to me in establishing Dilmah in Australia. Like me, Nabi is also a man of great faith.

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Features

The Great and Little Traditions and Sri Lankan Historiography

Published

20 hours ago

2025/04/2

Sahan Weerasooriya

Prof. Obeyesekere

Power, Culture, and Historical Memory:

History, broadly defined, is the study of the past. It is a crucial component of the production and reproduction of culture. Studying every past event is neither feasible nor useful. Therefore, it is necessary to be selective about what to study from the countless events in the past. Deciding what to study, what to ignore, how to study, and how deeply to go into the past is a conscious choices shaped by various forms of power and authority. If studying the past is a main element of the production and reproduction of culture and History is its product, can a socially and culturally divided society truly have a common/shared History? To what extent does ‘established’ or ‘authentic’ History reflect the experiences of those remained outside the political, economic, social, and cultural power structures? Do marginalized groups have their own histories, distinct from dominant narratives? If so, how do these histories relate to ‘established’ History? Historiography today cannot ignore these questions, as they challenge the very notion of truth in History. Due to methodological shifts driven by post-positivist critiques of previously accepted assumptions, the discipline of history—particularly historiography—has moved into a new epistemological terrain.

The post-structuralism and related philosophical discourses have necessitated a critical reexamination of the established epistemological core of various social science disciplines, including history. This intellectual shift has led to a blurring of traditional disciplinary boundaries among the social sciences and the humanities. Consequently, concepts, theories, and heuristic frames developed in one discipline are increasingly being incorporated into others, fostering a process of cross-fertilization that enriches and transforms scholarly inquiry

In recent decades, the discipline of History has broadened its scope and methodologies through interactions with perspectives from the Social Sciences and Humanities. Among the many analytical tools adopted from other disciplines, the Great Tradition and Little Tradition have had a significant impact on historical methodology. This article examines how these concepts, originally developed in social anthropology, have been integrated into Sri Lankan historiography and assesses their role in deepening our understanding of the past.

The heuristic construct of the Great and Little Traditions first emerged in the context of US Social Anthropology as a tool/framework for identifying and classifying cultures. In his seminal work Peasant society and culture: an anthropological approach to civilization, (1956), Robert Redfield introduced the idea of Great and Little Traditions to explain the dual structure of cultural expression in societies, particularly in peasant communities that exist within larger civilizations. His main arguments can be summarized as follows:

a) An agrarian society cannot exist as a fully autonomous entity; rather, it is just one dimension of the broader culture in which it is embedded. Therefore, studying an agrarian society in isolation from its surrounding cultural context is neither possible nor meaningful.

b) Agrarian society, when views in isolation, is a ‘half society’, representing a partial aspect/ one dimension of the broader civilization in which it exits. In that sense, agrarian civilization is a half civilization. To fully understand agrarian society—and by extension, agrarian civilization—it is essential to examine the other half that contribute to the whole.

c) Agrarian society was shaped by the interplay of two cultural traditions within a single framework: the Great Tradition and the Little Tradition. These traditions together provided the unity that defined the civilization embedded in agrarian society.

d) The social dimensions of these cultural traditions would be the Great Society and the Little Society.

e) The Great Culture encompasses the cultural framework of the Great Society, shaped by those who establish its norms. This group includes the educated elite, clergy, theologians, and literati, whose discourse is often regarded as erudite and whose language is considered classical.

f) The social groups excluded from the “Great Society”—referred to as the “Little Society”—have their own distinct traditions and culture. The “Great Tradition” represents those who appropriate society’s surplus production, and its cultural expressions reflect this dominance. In contrast, the “Little Tradition” belongs to those who generate surplus production. While the “Great Tradition” is inherently tied to power and authority, the “Little Tradition” is not directly connected to them.

g) According to Robert Redfield, the Great and Little Traditions are not contradictory but rather distinct cultural elements within a society. The cultural totality of peasant society encompasses both traditions. As Redfield describes, they are “two currents of thought and action, distinguishable, yet overflowing into and out of each other.” (Redfield, 1956).

At the time Redfield published his book Peasant Society and Culture: an Anthropological Approach to Civilization (1956), the dominant analytical framework for studying non-Western societies was modernization theory. This perspective, which gained prominence in the post-World War II era, was deeply influenced by the US geopolitical concerns. Modernization theory became a guiding paradigm shaping research agendas in anthropology, sociology, political science, and development studies in US institutions of higher learning,

Modernization theory viewed societies as existing along a continuum between “traditional” and “modern” stages, with Western industrialized nations positioned near the modern end. Scholars working within this framework argued that economic growth, technological advancement, urbanization, and the rationalization of social structures drive traditional societies toward modernization. The theory often emphasized Western-style education, democratic institutions, and capitalist economies as essential components of this transition.

While engaging with aspects of modernization theory, Redfield offered a more nuanced perspective on non-Western societies. His concept of the “folk-urban continuum” challenged rigid dichotomies between tradition and modernity, proposing that social change occurs through complex interactions between rural and urban ways of life rather than through the simple replacement of one by the other.

The concepts of the Great and Little Traditions gained prominence in Sri Lankan social science discourse through the works of Gananath Obeyesekere, the renowned sociologist who recently passed away. In his seminal research essay, The Great Tradition and the Little in the Perspective of Sinhalese Buddhism (Journal of Asian Studies, 22, 1963), Gananath Obeyesekere applied and adapted this framework to examine key aspects of Sinhalese Buddhism in Sri Lanka. While Robert Redfield originally developed the concept in the context of agrarian societies, Obeyesekere employed it specifically to analyze Sinhala Buddhist culture, highlighting significant distinctions between the two approaches.

He identifies a phenomenon called ‘Sinhala Buddhism’, which represents a unique fusion of religious and cultural traditions: the Great Tradition (Maha Sampradaya) and the Little Traditions (Chuula Sampradaya). To fully grasp the essence of Sinhala Buddhism, it is essential to understand both of these dimensions and their interplay within society.

The Great Tradition represents the formal, institutionalized aspect of Buddhism, centered on the Three Pitakas and other classical doctrinal texts and commentaries of Theravāda Buddhism. It embodies the orthodoxy of Sinhala Buddhism, emphasizing textual authority, philosophical depth, and ethical conduct. Alongside this exists another dimension of Sinhala Buddhism known as the Little (Chuula) Tradition. This tradition reflects the popular, localized, and ritualistic expressions of Buddhism practiced by laypeople. It encompasses folk beliefs, devotional practices (Bali, Thovil), deity veneration, astrology, and rituals (Hadi and Huunium) aimed at securing worldly benefits. Unlike the doctrinally rigid Great Tradition, the Little Tradition is fluid, adaptive, and shaped by indigenous customs, ancestral practices, and even elements of Hinduism. These Sinhala Buddhist cultural practices are identified as ‘Lay-Buddhism’. Gananath Obeyesekera’s concepts and perspectives on Buddhist culture and society contributed to fostering an active intellectual discourse in society. However, the discussion on the concept of Great and Little Traditions remained largely within the domain of social anthropology.

The scholarly discourse on the concepts of Great and Little Tradition gained new socio-political depth through the work of Newton Gunasinghe, a distinguished Sri Lankan sociologist. He applied these concepts to the study of culture and socio-economic structures in the Kandyan countryside, reframing them in terms of production relations. Through his extensive writings and public lectures, Gunasinghe reinterpreted the Great and Little Tradition framework to explore the interconnections between economy, society, and culture.

Blending conventional social anthropology approach with Marxist analyses of production relations and Gramscian perspectives on culture and politics, he offered a nuanced understanding of these dynamics. In the context of our discussion, his key insights on culture, society, and modes of production can be summarized as follows.

a. The social and economic relations of the central highlands under the Kandyan Kingdom, the immediate pre-colonial social and economic order, were his focus. His analysis did not cover to the hydraulic Civilization of Sri Lanka.

b. He explored the organic and dialectical relationship between culture, forces of production, and modes of production. Drawing on the concepts of Antonio Gramsci and Louis Althusser, he examined how culture, politics, and the economy interact, identifying the relationship between cultural formations and production relations

c. Newton Gunasinghe’s unique approach to the concepts of Great Culture and Little Culture lies in his connection of cultural formations to forces and relations of production. He argues that the relationship between a society’s structures and its superstructures is both dialectical and interpenetrative.

d. He observed that during the Kandyan period, the culture associated with the Little Tradition prevailed, rather than the culture linked to the Great Tradition.

e. The limitations of productive forces led to minimal surplus generation, with a significant portion allocated to defense. The constrained resources sustained only the Little Tradition. Consequently, the predominant cultural mode in the Kandyan Kingdom was, broadly speaking, the Little Tradition.

(To be continued)

by Gamini Keerawella

Features

Celebrating 25 Years of Excellence: The Silver Jubilee of SLIIT – II

Published

20 hours ago

2025/04/2

Sahan Weerasooriya

Founded in 1999, with its main campus in Malabe and multiple centres across the country—including Metro Campus (Colombo), Matara, Kurunegala, Kandy (Pallekele), and Jaffna (Northern Uni)—SLIIT provides state-of-the-art facilities for students, now celebrating 25 years of excellence in 2025.

Kandy Campus

SLIIT is a degree-awarding higher education institute authorised and approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and Ministry of Higher Education under the University Act of the Government of Sri Lanka. SLIIT is also the first Sri Lankan institute accredited by the Institution of Engineering & Technology, UK. Further, SLIIT is also a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and the International Association of Universities (IAU).

Since its inception, SLIIT has played a pivotal role in shaping the technological and educational landscape of Sri Lanka, producing graduates who have excelled in both local and global arenas. This milestone is a testament to the institution’s unwavering commitment to academic excellence, research, and industry collaboration.

Summary of SLIIT’s

History and Status

Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) operates as a company limited by guarantee, meaning it has no shareholders and reinvests all surpluses into academic and institutional development.

* Independence from Government: SLIIT was established in 1999 as an independent entity without government ownership or funding, apart from an initial industry promotion grant from the Board of Investment (BOI).

* Mahapola Trust Fund Involvement & Malabe Campus: In 2000, the Mahapola Trust Fund (MTF) agreed to support SLIIT with funding and land for the Malabe Campus. In 2015, SLIIT fully repaid MTF with interest, ending financial ties.

* True Independence (2017-Present): In 2017, SLIIT was officially delisted from any government ministry, reaffirming its status as a self-sustaining, non-state higher education institution.

Today, SLIIT is recognised for academic excellence, global collaborations, and its role in producing IT professionals in Sri Lanka

.A Journey of Growth and Innovation

SLIIT began as a pioneering institution dedicated to advancing information technology education in Sri Lanka. Over the past two and a half decades, it has expanded its academic offerings, establishing itself as a multidisciplinary university with programmess in engineering, business, architecture, and humanities, in addition to IT. The growth of SLIIT has been marked by continuous improvement in infrastructure, faculty development, and curriculum enhancement, ensuring that students receive world-class education aligned with industry needs.

Looking Ahead: The Next 25 Years

As SLIIT celebrates its Silver Jubilee, the institution looks forward to the future with a renewed commitment to excellence. With advancements in technology, the rise of artificial intelligence, and the increasing demand for skilled professionals, SLIIT aims to further expand its academic offerings, enhance research capabilities, and continue fostering a culture of innovation. The next 25 years promise to be even more transformative, as the university aspires to make greater contributions to national and global progress.

Sports Achievements:

A Legacy of Excellence

SLIIT has not only excelled in academics but has also built a strong reputation in sports. Over the years, the university has actively promoted athletics and competitive sports by organising inter-university and inter-school competitions, fostering a culture of teamwork, discipline, and resilience. SLIIT teams have secured victories in national and inter-university competitions across various sports, including cricket, basketball, badminton, rugby, football, swimming, and athletics. SLIIT’s sports achievements reflect its dedication to holistic student development, encouraging students to excel beyond the classroom.

Kings of the pool!

Once again, our swimmers have brought glory to SLIIT by emerging as champions at the Asia Pacific Institute of Information and Technology Extravaganza Swimming Championship 2024. They won the Men’s, Women’s, and Overall Championships. Congratulations to all swimmers for their dedication and hard work in the pool, bringing honour to SLIIT.

Winning International Competitions

SLIIT students have participated in and excelled in various international competitions, including Robofest, Codefest, and the University of Queensland – Design Solution for Impact Competition, showcasing their skills and talent on a global stage.

Here’s a more detailed look at SLIIT’s involvement in international competitions:

Robofest:

SLIIT’s Faculty of Engineering organises the annual Robofest competition, which aims to empower students with skills in electronics, robotics, critical thinking, and problem-solving, preparing them to compete internationally and bring recognition to Sri Lankan talent.

Codefest:

CODEFEST is a nationwide Software Competition organized by the Faculty of Computing of Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) geared towards exhibiting the software application design and developing talents of students island-wide. It is an effort of SLIIT to elevate the entire nation’s ICT knowledge to achieve its aspiration of being the knowledge hub in Asia. CODEFEST was first organised in 2012 and this year it will be held for the 8th consecutive time in parallel with the 20th anniversary celebrations of SLIIT.

University of Queensland – Design Solution for Impact Competition:

SLIIT hosted the first-ever University of Queensland – Design Solution for Impact Competition in Sri Lanka, with 16 school teams from across the country participating.

International Open Day:

SLIIT organises an International Open Day where students can connect with distinguished lecturers and university representatives from prestigious institutions like the University of Queensland, Liverpool John Moores University, and Manchester Metropolitan University.

Brain Busters:

SLIIT Brain Busters is a quiz competition organised by SLIIT. The competition is open to students of National, Private and International Schools Island wide. The programme is broadcast on TV1 television as a series.

Inter-University Dance Competition:

SLIIT Team Diamonds for being selected as finalists and advancing to the Grand Finale of Tantalize 2024, the inter-university dance competition organised by APIIT Sri Lanka. The 14 talented team members from various SLIIT faculties have showcased their skills in Team Diamonds and earned their spot as finalists, competing among over 30 teams from state universities, private universities, and higher education institutes.

Softskills+

For the 11th consecutive year, Softskills+ returns with an exciting lineup of events aimed at honing essential soft skills among students. The program encompasses an interschool quiz contest and a comprehensive workshop focused on developing teamwork, problem-solving abilities, leadership qualities, and fostering creative thinking.

Recently, the Faculty of Business at SLIIT organised its annual Inter-school Quiz Competition and Soft Skills Workshop, marking its fifth successive year. Targeting students in grades 11 to 13 from Commerce streams across State, Private, and International schools, the workshop sought to ignite a passion for soft skills development, emphasising teamwork, problem-solving, creativity, and innovative thinking. Recognising the increasing importance of these soft skills in today’s workforce, the programme aims to fill the gap often left unaddressed in the school curriculum.”

The winners of the soft skill competition with Professor Lakshman Rathnayake: Chairman/Chancellor, Vice Chancellor/MD Professor Lalith Gamage, Professor Nimal Rajapakse: Senior Deputy Vice – Chancellor & Provost, Deputy Vice Chancellor – Research and International Affairs Professor Samantha Thelijjagoda, and Veteran Film Director Somarathna Dissanayake.

VogueFest 2024:

SLIIT Business School organised VogueFest 2024, a platform for emerging fashion designers under 30 to showcase their work and win prizes.

T-shirt Design Competition with Sheffield Hallam University:

SLIIT and Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) UK collaborated on a T-shirt designing competition, with a voting procedure to select the best design.

SLIIT’s Got Talent

: The annual talent show, SLIIT’s Got Talent 2024, was held for the 10th consecutive year at the Nelum Pokuna Mahinda Rajapaksa Theatre on 27th September 2024. SLIIT’s Got Talent had the audience energised with amazing performances, showcasing mind-blowing talent by the orchestra and the talented undergraduates from all faculties.

Other events:

* SLIIT also participates in events like the EDUVision Exhibition organised by the Richmond College Old Boys’ Association.

* They hosted the first-ever University of Queensland – Design Solution for Impact Competition in Sri Lanka.

* SLIIT Business School also organised the Business Proposal Competition.

SLIIT Academy:

SLIIT Academy (Pvt.) Ltd. provides industrial-oriented learning experiences for students.

International Partnerships:

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Features

Inescapable need to deal with the past

Published

2 days ago

2025/04/1

Sahan Weerasooriya

The sudden reemergence of two major incidents from the past, that had become peripheral to the concerns of people today, has jolted the national polity and come to its centre stage. These are the interview by former president Ranil Wickremesinghe with the Al Jazeera television station that elicited the Batalanda issue and now the sanctioning of three former military commanders of the Sri Lankan armed forces and an LTTE commander, who switched sides and joined the government. The key lesson that these two incidents give is that allegations of mass crimes, whether they arise nationally or internationally, have to be dealt with at some time or the other. If they are not, they continue to fester beneath the surface until they rise again in a most unexpected way and when they may be more difficult to deal with.

In the case of the Batalanda interrogation site, the sudden reemergence of issues that seemed buried in the past has given rise to conjecture. The Batalanda issue, which goes back 37 years, was never totally off the radar. But after the last of the commission reports of the JVP period had been published over two decades ago, this matter was no longer at the forefront of public consciousness. Most of those in the younger generations who were too young to know what happened at that time, or born afterwards, would scarcely have any idea of what happened at Batalanda. But once the issue of human rights violations surfaced on Al Jazeera television they have come to occupy centre stage. From the day the former president gave his fateful interview there are commentaries on it both in the mainstream media and on social media.

There seems to be a sustained effort to keep the issue alive. The issues of Batalanda provide good fodder to politicians who are campaigning for election at the forthcoming Local Government elections on May 6. It is notable that the publicity on what transpired at Batalanda provides a way in which the outcome of the forthcoming local government elections in the worst affected parts of the country may be swayed. The problem is that the main contesting political parties are liable to be accused of participation in the JVP insurrection or its suppression or both. This may account for the widening of the scope of the allegations to include other sites such as Matale.

POLITICAL IMPERATIVES

The emergence at this time of the human rights violations and war crimes that took place during the LTTE war have their own political reasons, though these are external. The pursuit of truth and accountability must be universal and free from political motivations. Justice cannot be applied selectively. While human rights violations and war crimes call for universal standards that are applicable to all including those being committed at this time in Gaza and Ukraine, political imperatives influence what is surfaced. The sanctioning of the four military commanders by the UK government has been justified by the UK government minister concerned as being the fulfilment of an election pledge that he had made to his constituents. It is notable that the countries at the forefront of justice for Sri Lanka have large Tamil Diasporas that act as vote banks. It usually takes long time to prosecute human rights violations internationally whether it be in South America or East Timor and diasporas have the staying power and resources to keep going on.

In its response to the sanctions placed on the military commanders, the government’s position is that such unilateral decisions by foreign government are not helpful and complicate the task of national reconciliation. It has faced criticism for its restrained response, with some expecting a more forceful rebuttal against the international community. However, the NPP government is not the first to have had to face such problems. The sanctioning of military commanders and even of former presidents has taken place during the periods of previous governments. One of the former commanders who has been sanctioned by the UK government at this time was also sanctioned by the US government in 2020. This was followed by the Canadian government which sanctioned two former presidents in 2023. Neither of the two governments in power at that time took visibly stronger stands.

In addition, resolutions on Sri Lanka have been a regular occurrence and have been passed over the Sri Lankan government’s opposition since 2012. Apart from the very first vote that took place in 2009 when the government promised to take necessary action to deal with the human rights violations of the past, and won that vote, the government has lost every succeeding vote with the margins of defeat becoming bigger and bigger. This process has now culminated in an evidence gathering unit being set up in Geneva to collect evidence of human rights violations in Sri Lanka that is on offer to international governments to use. This is not a safe situation for Sri Lankan leaders to be in as they can be taken before international courts in foreign countries. It is important for Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and dignity as a country that this trend comes to an end.

COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION

A peaceful future for Sri Lanka requires a multi-dimensional approach that addresses the root causes of conflict while fostering reconciliation, justice, and inclusive development. So far the government’s response to the international pressures is to indicate that it will strengthen the internal mechanisms already in place like the Office on Missing Persons and in addition to set up a truth and reconciliation commission. The difficulty that the government will face is to obtain a national consensus behind this truth and reconciliation commission. Tamil parties and victims’ groups in particular have voiced scepticism about the value of this mechanism. They have seen commissions come and commissions go. Sinhalese nationalist parties are also highly critical of the need for such commissions. As the Nawaz Commission appointed to identify the recommendations of previous commissions observed, “Our island nation has had a surfeit of commissions. Many witnesses who testified before this commission narrated their disappointment of going before previous commissions and achieving nothing in return.”

Former minister Prof G L Peiris has written a detailed critique of the proposed truth and reconciliation law that the previous government prepared but did not present to parliament.

In his critique, Prof Peiris had drawn from the South African truth and reconciliation commission which is the best known and most thoroughly implemented one in the world. He points out that the South African commission had a mandate to cover the entire country and not only some parts of it like the Sri Lankan law proposes. The need for a Sri Lankan truth and reconciliation commission to cover the entire country and not only the north and east is clear in the reemergence of the Batalanda issue. Serious human rights violations have occurred in all parts of the country, and to those from all ethnic and religious communities, and not only in the north and east.

Dealing with the past can only be successful in the context of a “system change” in which there is mutual agreement about the future. The longer this is delayed, the more scepticism will grow among victims and the broader public about the government’s commitment to a solution. The important feature of the South African commission was that it was part of a larger political process aimed to build national consensus through a long and strenuous process of consultations. The ultimate goal of the South African reconciliation process was a comprehensive political settlement that included power-sharing between racial groups and accountability measures that facilitated healing for all sides. If Sri Lanka is to achieve genuine reconciliation, it is necessary to learn from these experiences and take decisive steps to address past injustices in a manner that fosters lasting national unity. A peaceful Sri Lanka is possible if the government, opposition and people commit to truth, justice and inclusivity.

by Jehan Perera