Features

The Commonwealth

Published

4 years ago

2022/07/31

Unlike UN bodies, the Commonwealth and its Secretariat do not have the same high profile in Sri Lanka or in any other country. That should not mean that the Commonwealth is an unimportant organization. The Commonwealth has its value in many fields, specially in promoting informal negotiations and contacts and in technical assistance. There are many similarities and connections among Commonwealth countries, largely in the fields of administration and governance and in education, and therefore important opportunities for closer interaction.

I have always thought of the Commonwealth as a useful institution and that Sri Lanka has the opportunity to make use of it more. Until the early 1970s, Commonwealth affairs were largely dealt with by the Foreign Ministry, and its technical assistance work was handled by the External Resources Division of the Planning Ministry. In the 1970s, however, there was an increasingly economic dimension to the work of the Commonwealth Secretariat and as a result I was drawn to it as Director of Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Planning.

My main engagement with the Commonwealth came through my participation at two Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGMs), the first one at Kingston Jamaica in May 1975 and the next one in London in June 1977. The CHOGM is a very unusual inter-governmental meeting. There were about 40 members of the Commonwealth at the time, and unlike other international gatherings, it is largely informal. The meeting is conducted in one language, English, and there are no translations and interpretations. That alone leads to a sense of informality.

The host country chairs the meeting, and although the meetings can be tense, there is no acrimony. The Heads of Governments meet round a table (at least those days), and only two officials were allowed at any one time to sit behind each Head of Government. There was opportunity for frank exchanges and across the table interventions and set piece speeches were rare. At the two CHOGMs I attended there were crowded agendas.

The Kingston meeting I attended with the Prime Minister Mrs. Bandaranaike, was fascinating. The Sri Lankan delegation consisted of, apart from the Prime Minister, Tissa Wijayaratna, Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, N. Balasubramaniam, a Director at the Foreign Office, Dhanapala Samarasekara of the Foreign Ministry, Sunethra Bandaranaike, the PM’s Coordinating Secretary, Dr. Mackie Ratwatte, the PM’s Private Secretary and myself We stayed at the Sheraton Hotel in Kingston.

When we got to the hotel, we found that only four members, apart from the Prime Minister could stay as guests of the Jamaican Government. Other members of the delegation had to pay. Mrs. Bandaranaike was particular about the expenses of her visits abroad. She had a great sense of financial rectitude and accountability to Parliament. She told me and Balasubramaniam to share a room at the Sheraton so that the expenses will be low. I told the PM that I would prefer to go to another hotel close by which was cheaper. She said that it was not satisfactory as we have to be close to her. So I had to share a room with Balasubramaniam. I relate this story to illustrate Mrs. Bandaranaike’s frugality with public money. This is unimaginable nowadays.

As I said before, only two members of the delegation could sit behind the Prime Minister at any one time. I was the only one dealing with economic affairs, and as economic issues took up a lot of the time, I was inside the meeting room for most of the time. We were there for ten days, and during that time, the informality was such that you get to know other heads of government, during tea breaks and at other times. Talking of informality let me relate a few stories.

Pierre Trudeau Prime Minister of Canada was at the meeting, and he was in his prime. He had married a beauty, and they had come with their little child, and they were the great attraction in Kingston. That little child was Justin, now the Prime Minister of Canada. I met Trudeau many times during the Conference and became a nodding acquaintance. He was one of the most charming of Prime Ministers. He was friendly with Mrs. Bandaranaike, as he had visited Sri Lanka in 1973 and had been her guest.

I remember him in Colombo on that visit as I had to be present when Prime Minister Trudeau addressed a press conference at Temple Trees. Trudeau had told Mrs. Bandaranaike that he wished to meet a Sri Lankan astrologer and Mrs. Bandaranaike recommended one of them. Trudeau at that time was aged 49 and was not married. The astrologer told Trudeau that he will be married within the year and that prediction had come true. So when Trudeau met Mrs. Bandaranaike in Kingston, this matter of Sri Lankan astrology was referred to.

There was Mrs. Indira Gandhi, staying at the same Hotel Sheraton and we met many times informally. She left the Conference early, as her friend, Sarojini Naidu’s daughter had passed away. The others who were there were Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore, Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, General Gowon of Nigeria, Gough Whitlam of Australia, Wallace Rowling of New Zealand, and others.

There was also Mujibur Rahman from newly created Bangladesh. He was nurturing a strong grievance against Sri Lanka and Mrs. Bandaranaike, and he was not at all friendly. Sri Lanka had provided landing facilities to Pakistani aircraft on their way to East Bengal during the uprising and breakup from Pakistan. He was there with his young son of ten years, both to be assassinated within the next three or four months in a Bangladeshi coup.

The Foreign Minister, Kamal Hossain, whom we knew was also unfriendly, although he was to be friendly with me later on when he ran a development institute at Oxford. He and his wife visited us in Geneva years later. Michael Manley, the Prime Minister of Jamaica chaired the Conference with great panache and skill.

At the meeting itself, the main agenda item was the proposal for a new scheme for stabilization of primary commodity prices submitted by Harold Wilson, the British Prime Minister. This was at the time of North South tensions, and Harold Wilson was offering an alternative scheme to that of UNCTAD. In presenting this proposal, Harold Wilson took some time over it.

The CHOGM was meeting just the same week that the Vietnam war was ending and US forces were fleeing Vietnam. This had rattled the Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and he made a long and rambling presentation (unlike his usual precise self) on the dangers of what is happening in South East Asia. When Harold Wilson made his proposal, Lee Kuan Yew at the end of Wilson’s speech, shouted at Wilson and said that if this kind of presentation from a prepared text was to be the pattern that will be the end of informal discussions at CHOGMs.

Wilson hit back and said that he had listened to a rambling, illogical speech from Harry (meaning Lee Kuan Yew) and that was tolerated. I saw them later shaking hands at the tea interval. The Vietnam war was a subject of discussion at the meeting, and there was a sharp exhange of views between Lee Kuan Yew and Mrs. Gandhi.

Sri Lanka had one matter of substantive interest at the meeting. We had presented a paper on the Brain Drain, following on our own report In Sri Lanka on the subject. We proposed that there can be reciprocal arrangements among Commonwealth countries. Briefly what we said was that the developed countries could contribute to the building of technical educational capacities in those countries which are losing skills, so that there are extra capacities to allow for an outflow. This triggered a valuable discussion on the brain drain but there were no firm decisions.

There was another issue where Mrs. Bandaranaike wanted me to brief her in Kingston. Harold Wilson had proposed that the subject of machinery of government be taken up for discussion at the traditional weekend retreat for heads of government. No officials are present on these occasions. Mrs. Bandaranaike wanted to take up the subject of Cabinet proceedings and cabinet agendas, where relatively minor issues are discussed, and large long term issues are neglected. She wanted to open up a discussion on the framing of cabinet agendas and cabinet committees. I briefed her and she told me later that there was a lively discussion.

An important issue at the CHOGM was the election of a new Secretary General for the Commonwealth. Arnold Smith of Canada was the first and the only SG so far, and he was there in Kingston for his last meeting. He had done a great job in building up the Secretariat. The new candidate was Sridath Ramphal from Guyana. He was the Attorney General and Foreign Minister of Guyana. The Caribbean countries were pushing for him. There was no contest and he was selected to be the SG which he held for the next 15 years.

This was far too long, and later, the CHOGM decided to restrict the tenure of an SG to two terms totalling eight years. Shridath Ramphal, unlike Arnold Smith, was a politician and a flamboyant personality whose view of the Secretariat was in contrast to his predecessor. He was a more activist Secretary General and saw his role as an equal to other heads of government.

Another matter was the appointment of a Committee of Experts to examine the current state of international economic relations from a North South perspective. This arose directly from the discussions on Harold Wilson’s paper on international trade in commodities. The Commonwealth had both developing and developed countries and it was felt that a consensual position could be developed within it, so that the North-South tensions in UN forums could be reduced.

Aliste McIntyre, Head of the Caricom Secretariat and an academic was appointed to head the Committee. They produced a very useful report. Alister was later to be deputy secretary general of UNCTAD during the days of Gamani Corea, and after his retirement he was knighted. When we were in Geneva, he was also there and we became family friends, also working together in UNCTAD.

When I lost my job in Colombo in late 1977, Alister had recommended me to Sridath Ramphal to be the Director of Economic Affairs at the Commonwealth Secretariat, but that could not materialize, as the Government of Sri Lanka was not in favour of my appointment.

Daniel Arap Moi, Vice President Kenya was there acting for Jomo Kenyatta. At that time, Sri Lanka had made a proposal, within the framework of tea negotiations, to establish an Organization of Tea Exporting Countries (OTEC). This was a proposal I had suggested to the Prime Minister and she was glad to pursue it. The objective was to take the tea negotiations out of FAO’s control, so that tea exporters can generate more goodwill and better and more innovative ideas.

Kenya had not been helpful with regard to this proposal. So I thought that an intervention by Mrs. Bandaranaike might help. At a tea break, during the conference, I suggested to Mrs. Bandaranaike that she has a word with Arap Moi. It was all very cordial and he promised to see what he can do. The next thing I heard about it was when our high commissioner in Nairobi, Kenya (W.T Wijekulasuriya, former Mayor of Galle) sent us a press cutting of a speech by Arap Moi in the Kenyan highlands where tea was grown. Arap Moi had said that the Sri Lankan Prime Minister had wanted to control the expansion of tea production in Kenya!

Queen Elizabeth 11 as Head of the Commonwealth was present at Kingston, and threw a glittering party to the Commonwealth Heads of Government on board HMS Britannia, anchored in Kingston harbour. Some of us were able to have a look in at the party. I remember Tissa Wijeyaratna being recognized by the Queen’s private secretary, Michael Charteris, whom he had known in his London days and he never forgot to mention it to us repeatedly.

There was a small but active Sri Lankan community in Kingston who felicitated the Prime Minister. Tony and Charmalene (Perera) Bennet were there and Tony, who is a chartered accountant had been in Colombo working with the United Nations and for some time in the Planning Ministry. When discussing cricket, Tony told me that he could take me to meet George Headley, the great West Indian cricketer, known as the “Black Bradman”, who was living in reirement.

So we spent a delightful morning having breakfast with George Headley at his simple residence. George Headley showed me some cricketing artifacts associated with cricketers like Wally Hammond and Nawab of Pataudi, cricketers of his generation. Tony and Charmalene have remained our friends and now they live in England.

The second CHOGM I attended was in London in May 1977.1 was in Geneva, the previous six weeks working with UNCTAD on the non aligned proposal for a Third World Bank when I got a telephone call from Dharmasiri Pieris, Secretary to the Prime Minister, asking me to go to London and assist Felix Dias Bandaranaike who was to lead the Sri Lankan delegation at the CHOGM. Mrs. Bandaranaike, who was to have come to London cancelled her visit, due to the announcement of the General Election in Sri Lanka.

Felix was in London at a clinic recuperating from an eye infection. I met him there and he wanted a few things done.The CHOGM in London was not as interesting and informal as at Kingston. The Heads of Government were more preoccupied and they had other business to conduct in London. We did not stay in the same one or two hotels as in Kingston. James Callaghan, who was the British Prime Minister chaired the meeting and I remember listening to a wide ranging survey of the global economic situation from Denis Healey, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

From Ghana had come the army general who was then the ruler of that country (if I remember right, it was General Acheampong), resplendent in his army uniform. When he returned to Accra from the Summit meeting, he was shot dead at the airport, in a military coup. At this meeting, I renewed my contacts with Moni Malhotra of the Commonwealth Secretariat, who had been Mrs. Gandhi’s private secretary, and who was now with the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Queen Elizabeth, invited the officials, accompanying Heads of Government for a Buckingham Palace party and it was informal. I had a two minute chat with the Queen, and I told her that I had seen her on her 28th birthday in 1954 in then Ceylon. This made her think about her Ceylon visit and she had many questions to ask me. She had confused memories and she was mixing up tea plantations and elephants and the Polonnaruwa rest house.

Apart from CHOGMs, I had other interactions with the Commonwealth. One meeting I remember clearly is the Commonwealth Ministers Meeting on Food Production held in London in 1974. 1 accompanied the Minister Hector Kobbekaduwa and Mahinda Silva, the secretary of the ministry to London. It was a very pleasant visit and working with the minister and his secretary were most enjoyable. It was a roundtable meeting chaired by Judith Hart, the then Minister of Overseas Development in the UK. She was a brilliant chairperson.

We listened to a superb exposition on the problems associated with food and hunger by Michael Liption, from the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex who was advising Judith Hart (Lipton had been a member of the Seers mission to Sri Lanka). The Commonwealth also organized sometime in 1973 a meeting on Tea in London. Most tea exporting countries were in the Commonwealth.

I met Anne Weston, then with the Overseas Development Institute in London who was advising the Kenyan delegation, for the first time. Since that time, Anne has worked with me in many projects in Geneva and London. Anne later became Vice President of the North South Institute in Ottawa.

My association with the Commonwealth over a period of seven years leads me to the conclusion that it can be a very useful body for countries like Sri Lanka, if the opportunities are appropriately identified.

Mrs. Bandaranaike found CHOGMs very useful to her. While officials and even Ministers attend large numbers of conferences and seminars, Heads of Government have very little opportunity to interact personally, and the Commonwealth meetings were in the nature of a seminar or workshop on foreign, political and economic issues for them. For this to happen, CHOGMs have to be informal occasions.

What happened in Colombo in 2014 was a travesty of what a CHOGM experience should be. It is my belief that if we wish to strengthen institutions like the Commonwealth, then we should be actively engaged with them continuously so that we in Sri Lanka can influence and shape events, There is a trend now for institutions (the United Nations, the Commonwealth) to dominate the shaping of agendas and programmes, with little regard to the interest of less influential countries. A few powerful countries have come to dominate these institutions. There is no reason why we cannot reverse this trend.

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Features

Concept of living wage and cost of living

Published

4 hours ago

2026/04/29

Sahan Weerasooriya

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) now defines a living wage as the wage level necessary for workers and their families to afford a decent standard of living, given national circumstances, for normal hours of work. This standard of living is operationalised through the cost of essential goods and services, typically including food, housing, healthcare, education, transport, and a modest allowance for contingencies and social participation.

In contrast, “cost of living” in economics is a broader price index concept that tracks the overall prices of a representative consumption basket but is not inherently normative about what constitutes decency or dignity.

Living wage methodologies effectively translate a cost-of-living basket, specified for a given family size and living standard, into a monthly income requirement for workers, thereby linking real wages to human development objectives rather than only to market productivity.

Methodologies for computing a living wage

Most contemporary living wage estimates follow a structured “cost of a basic but decent life” approach built around three steps: defining a reference family, costing a normative consumption basket, and converting that cost into a wage per worker.

The Anker methodology, widely used in global supply chains and in Sri Lanka, is a leading example: it defines a model family (e.g., 2 adults and approximately 2–3 children), estimates the cost of a low-cost nutritious diet, adequate housing, and non-food essentials, and then allocates that cost over expected number of full-time workers per family.

Within the Anker framework, the food component is based on locally appropriate diets meeting caloric and nutritional norms, priced using local market surveys and adjusted for waste and home preparation.

Housing costs are derived from standards for minimally acceptable housing (e.g., durable materials, sufficient space, basic services), using rents or imputed rental values from empirical fieldwork. Other essential expenditures, health, education, transport, clothing, and a small margin for unexpected events, are typically estimated as a percentage mark-up over food and housing costs, derived from national household survey data.

Finally, the methodology sets a reference number of workers per family, divides total family living costs by this number to get a net living wage, and then adjusts to a gross living wage by adding payroll taxes and mandatory deductions. Periodic updates are made using consumer price indices (CPIs) to reflect inflation or deflation and, where necessary, new field surveys to capture structural shifts in prices and consumption patterns.

Sri Lanka’s living wage estimates and their link to cost of living (Anker Methodology)

Sri Lanka has been the subject of several living wage studies, notably for the tea estate sector and for urban and rural areas, using the Anker methodology.

In the tea estate sector, an updated 2024 Anker report estimates the cost of a “basic but decent” standard of living for a typical family at about LKR 78,067 per month (approximately USD 260), implying a gross living wage of LKR 48,584 per month (USD 160) and a net, take-home living wage of LKR 44,357.

For urban Sri Lanka, the Anker Living Wage Reference Value was originally set at LKR 84,231 per month in April 2022, corresponding to a net living wage of LKR 77,492 plus social security contributions. After cumulative inflation of about 36.9 percent between April 2022 and June 2025, the updated gross urban living wage is estimated at approximately LKR 115,291 per month (around USD 385), consisting of a net living wage of LKR 106,068 and social security contributions of LKR 9,223

These Sri Lankan figures are explicitly derived from cost-of-living calculations: they incorporate the cost of food, housing, utilities, health, education, and other essentials at local prices and then convert these into wages per adult worker, assuming roughly 1.7–1.8 full-time earners per family. Because living wage estimates are indexed to actual price dynamics, periods of high inflation, as Sri Lanka experienced in 2022–2023, translate almost mechanically into sharp upward revisions in living wages, underlining the tight coupling between living wage levels and the evolving cost of living.

Comparative living wages: Sri Lanka and other countries

Cross-country comparisons require careful normalisation because living wages reflect local prices, family structures, and social norms, but several datasets provide a structured basis for comparison. [asia.floorwage](https://asia.floorwage.org/living-wage/calculating-a-living-wage/)

The Asia Floor Wage Alliance, for example, publishes a regional living wage benchmark expressed in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, with a 2024 benchmark of 1,750.54 PPP dollars per month converted into local currencies using country-specific PPP exchange rates.

Using this PPP-based approach, the 2024 living wage equivalent for Sri Lanka is estimated at around LKR 158,353 per month, assuming a PPP exchange rate of about 90.5 Sri Lankan rupees per PPP dollar.

This PPP-normalised figure is substantially higher than the Anker 2024–2025 estate-sector and urban living wage estimates in nominal rupees, partly because the Asia Floor Wage benchmark is set to ensure a more harmonised standard across Asian garment-producing economies and uses a single PPP wage target.

These figures indicate that, within this PPP-based framework, Sri Lanka’s living wage in local currency is relatively high compared to countries such as India and Bangladesh, but the comparison reflects both different PPP exchange rates and domestic price structures.

From a cost-of-living perspective, this pattern is consistent with Sri Lanka being a lower-middle-income country with relatively higher prices for some essentials compared with low-income South Asian economies, especially after recent macroeconomic and inflationary shocks.

Global patterns and high-income economies

Global datasets covering more than 200 countries show that typical-family living wage levels, whether calculated in PPP or nominal terms, tend to correlate positively with national income levels, with North America, Western Europe, and Australia displaying the highest living wage values.

In this global distribution, living wages in middle- and low-income regions of Asia, Africa, and Latin America are lower in absolute terms, though the ratio of living wage to median wages or statutory minimum wages can be high, underscoring the gap between decent-work standards and prevailing labour market outcomes.

Interestingly, some studies note that rural living wage estimates can be relatively high in poorer countries because limited infrastructure and service availability raise the cost of accessing a given standard of living, such as safe water, transport, and education.

For Sri Lanka, rural Anker living wage benchmarks similarly reveal the importance of non-food costs, such as transportation to schools, health facilities, and workplaces, in shaping the total family budget, despite lower nominal rents in many rural areas.

Living wage, social policy, and Sri Lanka’s development trajectory

The emerging international consensus around a living wage is rooted in the human rights-based notion of a “decent life” rather than a subsistence minimum or an arbitrarily set statutory floor.

From a social science perspective, incorporating living wage benchmarks into wage-setting institutions, collective bargaining, and social dialogue reorients labour markets toward social reproduction, intergenerational mobility, and social cohesion, rather than merely cost competitiveness.

For Sri Lanka, where recent crises have eroded real wages and increased household vulnerability, living wage estimates such as the Anker urban and estate-sector benchmarks provide an analytically rigorous yardstick for evaluating whether current wage policies and social transfers are adequate relative to the actual cost of a basic but decent life.

Comparisons with regional PPP-based benchmarks like the Asia Floor Wage suggest that, while Sri Lanka’s living wage requirement in local currency is relatively high, the country also faces significant affordability challenges, especially for low-paid workers in export sectors and informal employment, whose earnings often fall short of these normative thresholds.

In policy terms, the living wage framework highlights the need for coordinated approaches that combine wage-setting reforms, inflation-sensitive social protection, and productivity-enhancing investments, so that rising living-cost-consistent wages do not simply translate into inflationary spirals or employment losses.

For empirical research in Sri Lanka, these benchmarks open avenues for micro-level analysis of wage gaps, household coping strategies, gendered labour outcomes, and the distributional effects of macroeconomic adjustment, all anchored to a transparent and internationally recognised living wage methodology.

(The writer, a senior Chartered Accountant and professional banker, is Professor at SLIIT, Malabe. The views and opinions expressed in this article are personal.)

Features

Buddhist philosophy and the path to lasting peace

Published

4 hours ago

2026/04/29

Sahan Weerasooriya

Echoes of ‘The Walk for Peace’

The international Walk for Peace’ reaching Colombo, joined by a large number of monks and devotees, led by spiritual leader Ven Bhikku Pannakara, with the peace dog ‘Aloka,’ completing the 161 km journey.The walk commenced in Dambulla on April 22 following the main ceremony at the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura.Pic by Nishan S.Priyantha

by Ven. Dr. Kirinde Assaji Nayaka Thero
Chief Incumbent, Gangaramaya Temple, Hunupitiya, Colombo

Throughout human history, one of the greatest and most complex challenges has been the establishment of lasting peace and the maintenance of harmonious coexistence. While peace is often understood simply as the absence of war or armed conflict, a deeper, spiritual perspective reveals it as a profound state of social and mental harmony. It is an ideal that must be cultivated within individuals as well as across societies.

Buddhism offers one of the most practical and timeless philosophies of peace. The teachings of the Buddha are rooted in non-violence and the four sublime virtues—loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. Central to this philosophy is the idea that true peace in the world begins with inner peace within the individual. Conflict, the Buddha taught, arises not on battlefields but within the human mind, driven by greed, hatred, and delusion. Without overcoming these negative forces, lasting peace in the external world remains unattainable.

In today’s world, marked by geopolitical tensions, economic competition, and social unrest—this inward approach to peace is more relevant than ever. Despite technological advancement, humanity continues to grapple with violence and division. The Buddha’s teaching points instead to an internal struggle: a battle against anger, jealousy, and ignorance. Rather than weapons of destruction, Buddhism promotes wisdom, compassion, patience, and discipline as the tools to overcome conflict.

The path to peace begins with understanding its causes. Just as muddy water becomes clear when left undisturbed, the human mind achieves clarity and calm when negative emotions are subdued. This principle is reflected in the Buddha’s intervention during a historic dispute between the Sakya and Koliya clans over water, where he reminded them of the greater value of human life, thereby preventing bloodshed.

In a world increasingly threatened by conflict over limited resources and political power, such lessons remain highly relevant. The Buddha also emphasised the principle of moral causation—actions have consequences.

Yadisaṃ vapate bijaṃ tadisaṃ harate phalaṃ
Kalyaāṇakariī kalyaṃ papakariī ca papakaṃ
Pavutthaṃ tata te bijaṃ phalaṃ paccanubhossasiti

“As one sows the seed, so does one reap the fruit.

The doer of good receives good results, and the doer of evil receives evil results.

Dear one, whatever seed you have planted, you will experience the corresponding fruit of it.”

At the heart of Buddhist ethics is respect for life. All beings fear harm and seek happiness, and therefore, violence against others cannot lead to true well-being. This message is particularly significant in an era where the race for power and advanced weaponry continues to overshadow compassion and humanity.

The fundamental moral discipline in Buddhism is respect for life and opposition to harming living beings. The Buddha taught that all beings desire happiness, and fear suffering, and that harming others will not lead to happiness.

Sabbe tasanti dandassa
sabbe bhayanti maccuno
attanam upamam katva
na haneyya na ghataye.

“All tremble at violence; all fear death. Comparing others with oneself, one should neither kill nor cause others to kill.”

Despite technological advancement, the world appears to be moving backwards in terms of compassion and peace. Power-driven politics and the race for advanced weaponry cannot provide lasting solutions. Global leaders, diplomats, and policymakers must urgently recognise the importance of the tolerant, balanced, and non-violent approach taught in Buddhism. Protecting the right to life of all beings, and acting with compassion beyond divisions of race, religion, or politics, is the only true foundation for world peace.

Sri Lanka, as a nation nourished by the essence of Buddhism, has long upheld this principle. The Sri Lankan tradition, rooted in boundless loving-kindness and compassion, strives to uphold human values even amidst the harsh realities of global politics. From the respect shown by King Dutugemunu towards King Elara, to Sri Lanka’s stance at the 1951 San Francisco Peace Conference invoking the words “Hatred is never appeased by hatred,” to recent humanitarian acts in rescuing sailors in distress—these all reflect a single philosophy: valuing human life above all divisions.

The presentation of a “Joint Declaration for Peace” by the Mahanayake Theros at Gangaramaya Temple recently reaffirmed Sri Lanka’s commitment to global peace. Despite global power struggles, Sri Lanka continues to stand as a symbol of compassion and peace, reminding the world that human kindness is more powerful than weapons.

Institutions such as the Gangaramaya Temple have played a vital role in fostering social harmony. Through charitable, educational, and cultural programmes, the temple has encouraged unity across religious and ethnic lines, while also promoting interfaith dialogue and cooperation.

The annual Navam Maha Perahera, organised by the temple, stands as a powerful symbol of national unity, bringing together people from diverse backgrounds in a shared celebration. Similarly, vocational training and educational initiatives have helped empower young people from all communities, strengthening social cohesion.

A recent “Walk for Peace,” led by Venerable Pannakara Thero and supported by the monastic community, further underscored this commitment. More than a physical journey, it represented a spiritual effort to cultivate peace within the human heart and spread a message of compassion to the wider world.

One of the most touching aspects of the event was the participation of a dog named “Aloka,” which accompanied the monks throughout the journey. This simple yet powerful image reflected the Buddhist teaching that all living beings value life and deserve compassion, highlighting the universal nature of peace.

Ultimately, the Buddha’s message remains clear: peace cannot be achieved through hatred or violence. True peace arises from self-discipline, moral conduct, and the cultivation of a pure mind. As the teaching states, avoiding evil, doing good, and purifying one’s mind is the path laid down by the Buddha.

Let us plant the seeds of peace within our hearts and nurture them with loving-kindness. (“Sabba papassa akarananṃ – kusalassa upasampadā – sacitta pariyodapanaṃ – etaṃ Buddhana sasanaṃ”)

In a time when global tensions continue to rise, this timeless message serves as a powerful reminder that lasting peace begins within each individual—and that compassion remains humanity’s greatest strength.

“Devo vassatu kalena – sassa sampatti hetu ca
Pito bhavatu loko ca – rajaā bhavatu dhammiko”

(“May the rains fall at the right time, bringing about abundant harvests.

May the world be joyful and prosperous.

May the ruler be righteous and just.”)

Features

Peace march and promise of reconciliation

Published

1 day ago

2026/04/28

Sahan Weerasooriya

Peace walk in progress

The ongoing peace march by a group of international Buddhist monks has captured the sentiment of Sri Lankans in a manner that few public events have done in recent times. It is led by the Vietnamese monk Venerable Thich Pannakara who is associated with a mindfulness movement that has roots in Vietnamese Buddhist practice and actively promoted among diaspora communities in the United States. The peace march by the monks, accompanied by their mascot, the dog Aloka, has generated affection and goodwill within the Buddhist and larger community. It follows earlier peace walks in the United States where monks carried a similar message of mindfulness and compassion across communities but without any government or even media patronage as in Sri Lanka.

This initiative has the potential to unfold into an effort to nurture a culture of peace in Sri Lanka. Such a culture is necessary if the country as the country prepares to move beyond its history of conflict towards a more longlasting reconciliation and a political solution to its ethnic and religious divisions. The government’s support for the peace march can be seen as part of a broader attempt to shape such a culture. The Clean Sri Lanka programme, promoted by the government as a civic responsibility campaign focused on environmental cleanliness, ethical conduct and social discipline, provides a useful framework within which such initiatives can be situated. Its emphasis on collective responsibility and shared public space makes it sit well with the values that peacebuilding requires.

government’s previous plan to promote a culture of peace was on the occasion of “Sri Lanka Day” celebrations which were scheduled to take place on December 12-14 last year but was disrupted by Cyclone Ditwah. The Sri Lanka Day celebrations were to include those talented individuals from each and every community at the district level who had excelled in some field or the other, such as science, business or arts and culture and selected by the District Secretariats in each of the 25 districts. They were to gather in Colombo to engage in cultural performances and community-focused exhibitions. The government’s intention was to build up a discourse around the ideas of unity in diversity as a precursor to addressing the more contentious topics of human rights violations during the war period, and issues of accountability and reparations for wrongs suffered during that dark period.

Positive Response

The invitation to the international monks appears to have emerged from within Buddhist religious networks in Sri Lanka that have long maintained links with the larger international Buddhist community. The strong support extended by leading temples and clergy within the country, including the Buddhists Mahanayakes indicates that this was not an isolated effort but one that resonated with the mainstream Buddhist establishment. Indeed, the involvement of senior Buddhist leaders has been particularly noteworthy. A Joint Declaration for Peace in the world, drawing on Sri Lanka’s own experience, and by the Mahanayakes of all Buddhist Chapters took place in the context of the ongoing peace march at the Gangaramaya Temple in Colombo, with participation from the diplomatic community. The declaration, calling for compassion, dialogue and sustainable peace, reflects an effort by religious leadership to assert a moral voice in favour of coexistence.

The popular response to the peace march has also been striking. Large numbers of people have been gathering along the route, offering flowers, water and support to the monks. Schoolchildren have been lining the roads, and communities from different religious backgrounds extend hospitality. On the way, the monks were hosted by both a Hindu temple and a mosque, where food and refreshments were provided. These acts, though simple, carry a message about the possibility of harmony among Sri Lanka’s diverse communities. It helps to counter the perception that the Buddhist community in Sri Lanka is inherently nationalist and resistant to minority concerns that was shaped during the decades of war and reinforced by political mobilisation that too often exploited ethnic identity.

By way of contrast, the peace march offers a different image. It shows a readiness among ordinary people to embrace values of compassion and coexistence that are deeply embedded in Buddhist teaching. The Metta Sutta, one of the most well-known discourses in Buddhism, calls for boundless goodwill towards all beings. It states that one should cultivate a mind that is “boundless towards all beings, free from hatred and ill will.” This emphasis on universal compassion provides a moral foundation for peace that extends beyond national or ethnic boundaries. The monks themselves emphasised this point repeatedly during the walk. Venerable Thich Pannakara reminded those who gathered that while acts of generosity are commendable, mindfulness in everyday life is even more important. He warned that as people become unmindful, they are more prone to react with anger and hatred, thereby contributing to conflict.

More Initiatives

The presence of political leaders at key moments of the march has emphasised the significance that the government attaches to the event. Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya paid her respects to the peace march monks in Kandy, while President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is expected to do so at the conclusion of the march in Colombo. Such gestures signal an alignment between political authority and moral aspiration, even if the translation of that aspiration into policy remains a work in progress. At the same time, the peace march has not been without its shortcomings. The walk did not engage with the Northern and Eastern parts of the country, regions that were most affected by the war and where the need for reconciliation is most acute. A more inclusive geographic reach would have strengthened the symbolic impact of the initiative.

In addition, the positive impact of the peace march could have been increased if more effort had been taken to coordinate better with other civic and religious groups and include them in the event. Many civil society and religious harmony groups who would have liked to participate in the peace march found themselves unable to do so. There was no place in the programme for them to join. Even government institutions tasked with promoting social cohesion and reconciliation found themselves outside the loop. The Clean Sri Lanka Task Force that organised the peace march may have felt that involving other groups would have made it more complicated to organise the events which have proceeded without problems.

The hope is that the positive energy and goodwill generated by this peace march will not dissipate but will instead inspire further initiatives with the requisite coordination and leadership. The march has generated public discussion, drawn attention to the values of mindfulness and compassion, and created a space in which people can imagine a different future. It has been a special initiative among the many that are needed to build a culture of peace. A culture of peace cannot be imposed from above nor can it emerge overnight. It needs to be nurtured through multiple efforts across society, including education, religious engagement, civic initiatives and political reform. It is within such a culture that the more difficult questions of power sharing, justice and reconciliation can be addressed in a constructive manner.

by Jehan Perera