Features

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

Published

3 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

New mediation law for smarter dispute resolution of civil and commercial disputes – I

Published

22 hours ago

2026/06/16

Sahan Weerasooriya

The Mediation (Civil and Commercial Disputes) Bill was passed by the Parliament on Thursday, June 11, 2026. Harshana Nanayakkara, Minister of Justice and National Integration, introduced the Bill, and explained its provisions and value for Sri Lanka and global developments in the use of mediation. Encouragingly, it was passed unanimously.

Sri Lanka’s commitment to provide legislative support for the use of mediation is timely and most welcome. Given that the backlog of cases pending before courts is over a staggering 1.1 million, it is clear that Sri Lanka is yet another country that remains challenged to find responses to make dispute resolution more efficient. The impact of laws delays is serious and damaging not only to the disputants personally, but also for businesses and the economic development of the country. The delays in concluding cases impacts the economy adversely, both directly and indirectly, but are often seen only as an access to Justice concern. This is unfortunate. In many jurisdictions across the globe, alternative dispute resolution processes (ADR), such as mediation, have been introduced to alleviate laws delays. While Sri Lanka enacted legislation (1988) to provide for mediation in respect of minor community disputes of a low monetary threshold, the enactment of the new law heralds a commitment to provide for the recognition of a disciplined regime for its use for higher value civil and commercial disputes.

The new law provides for the recognition of mediation as a dispute resolution option that can be voluntarily selected by parties, and for a governance regime to ensure that mediations are conducted in compliance with certain standards which are globally accepted. It provides statutory recognition to the principle that a mediated settlement agreement that has been signed by the disputants, is valid in law. It does not provide for any management control by government or establish entities. In addition to the voluntary reference by parties, a court can also refer a dispute in an action before it, to mediation, at its discretion, after considering all circumstances and if considered appropriate. The voluntary nature of the process is not affected because, while the court can refer the dispute to mediation and the parties must then engage in the mediation, there is no compulsion for the parties to settle against their will.

The law sets out the obligations of Mediators, disputants and the Service Provider. Certain categories of disputes cannot be referred to mediation. These are disputes the settlement of which requires the inclusion of terms that can be given effect to, only on a decree of court, such as the termination of a marriage or a declaration of nullity of marriage or the adoption of a child or the partition of land to obtain rights in rem. A schedule sets out eleven (11) categories of actions that cannot be settled by mediation. However, matters relevant to such disputes may be mediated for the purpose of submitting terms of settlement to court for consideration of incorporation in a judgement, decree or order in compliance with applicable law.

The new law also provides that in a mediation, certain key principles of the process must be complied with. These include the confidentiality and the without prejudice rule in respect of matters discussed at the mediation; the rule that Mediators must be neutral and impartial; the party centric nature of the process that provides primacy to the wishes of the disputants including that it is they that determine the outcome and that a settlement is reached only if all disputants agree to the terms; the noncoercive role of the mediator whose duty is to facilitate and manage the process using mediation specific skills and techniques, but is debarred from imposing a decision. Although a settlement agreement is valid in law, provision is included to obtain a decree of court, based on the terms of the settlement. A mediated settlement agreement can be set aside on an application made to court, on specific limited grounds which are provided for, including that it is offensive to the public policy of the country. If the parties are unable to agree on a settlement, a certificate of non-settlement is issued. The provisions of the law are based on international best practices and principles articulated in the 1988 UN Mediation Convention (the Singapore Convention) and the UNCITRAL model law.

The popularity of mediation has grown for its value in being time efficient, cost effective and party centric. Parties have control over the outcome and have the space to discuss their concerns, fears and interests and need never agree to settle unless fully satisfied that settlement terms address their interests. Disputants are free to walk out of a mediation process at any time, if dissatisfied with the progress. The discussions are confidential and a valuable feature is that the process offers an opportunity to reduce acrimony which is prevalent in most disputes, and to restore fractured relationships which is very important in family and business related disputes. This benefit and the prospects for governments to reduce the cost of the administration of justice, by using mediation, is articulated in the preamble to the 2018 UN Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation (2018) which states that the use of mediation results in significant benefits.

Pursuant to the interest generated within the country regarding the value of using Mediation for commercial dispute resolution, and heralding what we like to see as the initial steps of a Mediation boom in the country, several positive advancements have taken place –

* Parties have opted to include mediation in the dispute resolution clause in contracts;

* Given that mediating disputes requires very specialised techniques and skills, many professionals, including predominantly Lawyers, have engaged in training programmes offered by international training bodies that offer accreditation;

* Trained Mediators are engaged in an effort to form themselves as a professional Organisation;

* Mediation Advocacy training programmes have been held to train Lawyers on their niche role in the mediation process. That role is distinctly different to that of a court Lawyer who’s obligations are centred on an adversarial approach where the dispute is adjudicated in terms of the law alone. Hence lawyers need training to be useful within a non-adversarial process which is party centric and has a focus on reaching a settlement, based on the interests of disputants.

* Sri Lanka enacted the Recognition and Enforcement of International Mediated Settlement Agreements Act No. 5 of 2024 (the UN Mediation Convention Act) and ratified the Convention becoming the 14th country to do so. Sri Lanka will be seen as an investor friendly country in respect of dispute resolution where mediation is used, since it offers an enforcement regime which is recognised universally.

* The landmark determination of the Supreme Court (SC SD 22 of 2025) in the challenge by the Bar Association to the constitutionality of the Mediation (Civil and Commercial Disputes) Bill, found that none of the provisions of the Bill were unconstitutional and gave a judicial sign off to statutory provisions that seek to ensure that mediation services are provided in this country, in a disciplined manner in compliance with universally accepted standards.

* Perhaps, inspired by the statutory obligation imposed on judges to attempt pretrial settlement of disputes, in terms of the Small Claims Court Act and the Small Claims Court Procedure Act (both of 2022) and the Civil Procedure Code provisions on Pretrial Conference and Pretrial Orders, 125 District Judges were recently trained (with support from the ADB) in Mediation. The training provided a dual benefit – it provided training in skills that are required to settle disputes and equally importantly, provided a comprehensive understanding of how mediation will function when judges themselves refer disputes for settlement by private mediators.

* Trained Mediators are already conducting mediations with success.

* A not-for-profit guarantee company, the International ADR Centre – www.iadrc.lk ) was established in 2018 as a joint venture of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and the Institute for the Development of Commercial Law & Practice (ICLP) to promote ADR and is actively engaged in promoting mediation through training, disseminating information and creating awareness among stakeholders, including the business sector. In addition to the International ADR Centre, “Udecide” is a project that promotes training of mediators and other activities that enrich the mediation culture.

* Commercial Mediation has been included in the Masters level programme at the Colombo University;

* The Sri Lanka Law College offers a component on Mediation in the Post Attorney Diploma programme, which commenced recently.

The private sector was actively engaged in the drafting of the Mediation Bill under the leadership of the International ADR Centre, which held many stakeholder consultations to obtain feedback from those that were conversant with the subject. The Centre had previously assisted the government to draft the UN Mediation Convention Act (Act No. 5 of 2024).

Several international Organisations that previously provided for resolution of disputes by arbitration, have provided for institutional rules to provide mediation services. These include WIPO and the ICC. Specifically, in relation to Investor State dispute resolution (ISDR), the International Bar Association (IBA) adopted its Mediation Rules in 2012 and ICSID (of the World Bank group) adopted its Mediation Rules in 2022. UNCITRAL, which is currently working on reforming ISDR, promotes mediation, observing that the use of mediation could reduce the costs of ISDS and also preserve relationships between the investor and the State. UNCITRAL has formulated provisions on and Guidelines for, Mediation for investor state dispute resolution.

(To be continued)

by Dhara Wijayatilake
Attorney-at-Law; Former Secretary to the Ministry of Justice; Director and Secretary General of the International ADR Centre.

Features

A Testament to the Sri Lankan family

Published

22 hours ago

2026/06/16

Sahan Weerasooriya

The passing of Dr. Devanesan Nesiah a few days ago brought back memories that spanned more than four decades. Devanesan signed the witness register at my marriage in 2002. It was a year of hope. The Ceasefire Agreement between the government and the LTTE had brought a respite from a war that had devastated the country for nearly two decades. The possibility of peace seemed real. It was fitting that Devanesan should be present on that occasion because his entire life was dedicated to building bridges across divides and seeking rational and humane solutions to conflict. He was a friend, mentor, and guide whose life embodied values that Sri Lanka, indeed the world, needs today.

In reflecting on Dr. Nesiah’s life, we need to be reminded that the forces that unite us as a people in Sri Lanka are stronger than those that divide us, and that the bonds of human affection can transcend even the deepest divisions of ethnicity, history and politics. I first met him in 1984. I had just had my very first newspaper article published in the Jaffna-based Saturday Review. The editor was Gamini Navaratne, a Sinhalese. This was a reminder that even during the darkest period of ethnic conflict, the bonds between communities remained strong. The article I had written was based on my encounters with the anti-Tamil violence of July 1983.

At that time, Dr Nesiah was the Government Agent of Jaffna. Tens of thousands of Tamil people who had fled violence in the south had been transported to the north by a government that had failed to protect them. He came up to me at an event, introduced himself, and told me that he liked what I had written. He also said that he would soon be leaving for Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and that we could meet there. Over the next three years, Devanesan and his wife Anita adopted me into their family. I used to visit them two or three times a week, not only to be given meals by Anita but to discuss matters with Devanesan. These included the academic papers and newspaper articles that were written. Later, Anita earned her PhD in religion and served on the boards of many civic organisations, including the National Peace Council.

Practical Solution

In 1992, we had both returned to work in Sri Lanka when Devanesan invited me to accompany him to Jaffna to celebrate the eightieth birthday of his father, K Nesiah, the distinguished educationist affectionately known as Professor Nesiah. The older Nesiah had been a leading member of the Jaffna Youth Congress. This remarkable movement championed complete independence from British rule, national unity, and the eradication of social inequalities based on caste and communal identity.

At a time when many feared that independence would lead to majoritarian domination, the leaders of the Youth Congress chose instead to place their faith in a shared Sri Lankan future. They believed that people from different communities could build a common nation while preserving their distinctive identities. So did Devanesan. This vision remains relevant today. It needs to be actualized.

The tragedy of Sri Lanka’s post-independence history is not that diversity exists. Diversity exists in every society. The tragedy is that we often allow diversity to become a source of fear, though we share many of the same values of family, hospitality, respect for elders and compassion towards others. During our visit to Jaffna in 1992, we met representatives of the LTTE administration, including Raheem. The discussion turned to the controversial issue of merging the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Dr Nesiah argued that if the merger could not be achieved due to political opposition, it might be more rational to seek greater powers for provincial councils instead. Raheem disagreed. Devanesan was interested in finding practical ways to achieve justice and coexistence. That was characteristic of him.

Devanesan Nesiah was a student of conflict and strategy. He became a doctoral student of Professor Thomas Schelling, who would later receive the Nobel Prize for his pioneering work on conflict and cooperation. Schelling’s insight was that even in the midst of conflict, there are usually common interests that adversaries share. Even adversaries locked in a struggle usually depend on each other for the outcome they each want. The challenge is to identify those common interests and build upon them. Conflict is not simply a contest between enemies. It is also a search for ways to coexist. Together as students and peace practitioners, we applied those theories to the Sri Lankan context to understand what was going on and to share that understanding with the Sri Lankan people.

Rational Empathy

Dr Nesiah spoke his mind, truth to power. He was a man of logic, rationality, and principle. His integrity came at a cost. His public service career experienced many ups and downs because he refused to accommodate irrational or corrupt demands. There were periods when he was sidelined into that administrative limbo known as the “pool” and assigned no substantive responsibilities for refusing to give in to political demands. Like the rest of his larger family, most notably the Hoole family of Jaffna, he would not abandon his principles. In 2018, to protest the action of President Maithripala Sirisena in sacking the then government he returned his Deshamanya Award (Pride of the Nation) national civil honourn which was soon thereafter overturned by the Supreme Court as being unconstitutional. His commitment was not to personal advancement, but to what he believed was right.

My wife Sumadhu recalls a story he told her. One day, while travelling on official duty, he told her how he had seen a thalagoya, a monitor lizard, trussed up and being taken away for slaughter. The sight of the creature’s suffering affected him deeply. He said he saw tears in its eyes and described the moment of awakening. From that day onwards, he gave up eating meat.

The story brings to mind the biblical story of the conversion of St Paul on the road to Damascus and the Buddhist exhortation, “May all living beings be well and happy.” But the deeper significance lies not in religious comparison. It lies in the awakening of empathy.

That was the essence of Dr Devanesan Nesiah’s worldview. The prejudices that society often imposes through ethnicity, religion, caste, or gender had little hold on him. He saw them as human constructs that often served to privilege some while excluding others. Such were his values that made him an extraordinary human being. Dr. Nesiah lived according to that understanding. He showed that integrity can survive amidst conflict. He reminded us that reason and compassion are not opposites but partners, that what unites us as Sri Lankans inhabiting our common island home has always been greater than what divides us, and we need to build our institutions accordingly.

I am proud that he was my friend. I am grateful that he was my mentor.

by Jehan Perera

Features

City of Dreams …Heartbeat of Colombo

Published

22 hours ago

2026/06/16

Sahan Weerasooriya

Enroute

If Colombo’s nightlife had a pulse, you’d find it 23 floors up, at Gatz, City of Dreams, Cinnamon Life.

The entertainment lounge has shed its old skin and stepped out supper-club style — think dim lights, clinking glasses, and live music that doesn’t ask you to choose between dinner and a show. You get both.

What’s more, at the new look Gatz the music never stops and it’s all happening seven nights a week … with live entertainment, and this is the scene, beat by beat:

Monday and Tuesday: Top Hats with Daniella/Naomi, from 7.00 pm onwards.

Sohan, Kamal Munasinghe (GM, Cinnamon Life) and Imran of
Funtime Entertainments

One of Colombo’s most sought-after bands is now a Monday-Tuesday ritual.

With a super repertoire, Top Hats can swing from lounge jazz to dancefloor fire. Big venues love them. Now Gatz gets to claim them.

Wednesday: Enroute with Gananath & Debbie – from 7.00 pm onwards.

Want New York at sunset? This is it. Gananath & Debbie transport you straight to the heady days of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Ray Charles …old-school cool, live and unfiltered.

Thursday to Sunday: Terry & the Big Spenders – from 8.00 pm onwards.

Terry & The Big Spenders

The crowd favourite. A super big band sound that owns the 70s, 80s and 90s.

If you’ve been waiting for horns, harmonies, and nostalgia with volume, Terry & the Big Spenders deliver it nightly. No wonder they’re a huge hit.

Gatz is now an entertainment lounge, in Supper Club style, with Happy Hour very day, from 6.00 pm to 8.00 pm because the night, they say, should start with a toast.

And, from July, weekends at the Gatz go global. Local and foreign guest stars will be around to entertain you. Gatz is certainly booking big.

Wow! That would be another exciting experience for those patronising the most talked about venue in town.

In charge of the new setup is our legendary entertainer/singer Sohan Weerasinghe, along with Imran of Funtime Entertainment.

The twosome, with invaluable assistance from the General Manager, Kamal Munasinghe, and the entire team at Cinnamon Life, have built Gatz into more than a venue. They have turned it into the “Heartbeat of the City.”

So come for happy hour. Stay for Terry’s horns, Sing-along with Enroute and Dance with Top Hats, all on the 23rd floor, and while Colombo sparkles below the bands will take you higher.

Remember, the heartbeat is loudest at Gatz.