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UNESCO and having a good time in Paris with Lankan friends

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Excerpted from volume ii of the Sarath Amunugama auobiography

“Since war begins in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the foundations for peace should be sought’

UNESCO Motto

At the age of 43 I became a senior official of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Is a specialized body of the UN on a par with FAO, WHO and ILO. After the war, by common consent, the UNO was located in New York, while the other four agencies were set up in three major European cities – FAO in Rome, WHO and ILO in Geneva and UNESCO in Paris. Needless to say the relevant host countries were happy to accommodate the UN and provide many local services as part of their responsibility.

A large number of nationals provided basic services while the professional staff represented the UN’s global membership. The first Director-General of UNESCO was the British scientist Julian Huxley, the brother of Aldous, who is credited with writing the motto quoted at the head of this chapter. He established the ground rules of the organization which were very British in character. The DG in my time was Mahtar M’Bow from Senegal who, though alleged to favour Africans, made an attempt to have a fair distribution of positions.

The fact that Sri Lanka was not over represented unlike the Indians and Bangladeshis may have been an added factor in my favour when I became a candidate for the post of Director of the IPDC. India had a strong candidate for the post in Unnikrishnan who was the Managing Director of the Press Trust of India. I knew Unni when he was the PTI correspondent in Colombo before he was promoted to be its General Manager.

He had invited me for some PTI seminars held in Bombay after I became the Secretary of the Ministry of State. I was

lodged in a hotel in the heart of the city which had been the haunt of Krishna Menon when he was a member of the Lok Sabha and Minister in the Nehru Cabinet. The hotel was close to the PTI office. That honour did not work for me since I came down with viral hepatitis after my stay in Bombay.

There was also a whole host of African candidates including a well-regarded Professor of Communications from a Nigerian University. As mentioned earlier, on being selected I was asked to assume duties at the earliest possible date. I replied that I will be available from September 1, 1982.

UNESCO Headquarters is located in two buildings which are close to each other in a salubrious quarter of Paris. The main building designed by Le Corbousier with sculptures by Henry Moore outside and paintings by Picasso inside, is in Place de Fontenoy facing the main entrance of the French Ecole Militaire which is the legendary army school in which Napoleon was trained.

Close-by across the road is the newer ‘Batiment’ [building] built in Brutalist style which houses the Culture and Communications division and branch offices of the embassies of the countries represented in UNESCO. In the basement is also the duty free commissary which is well patronized by the staff and is invariably choc-a-block, particularly on Fridays when the ever thirsty officials stock up for their weekend parties.

The DG, M’Bow, the former Minister of Education of Senegal, was located in the Fontenoy building which had a floor for his administrative staff. He also had an apartment on the top floor in which he lived with his wife and where occasionally he invited us for dinner particularly if it was in honour of a visiting dignitary from our part of the world. Once he invited the visiting Balangoda Ananda Maitriya Thero for a ‘dane’ in his residence, where we were the helper. The reputed monk was very old and not in his proper senses. In his ‘anusasana’ he said that the world was held aloft by tortoises. My friend an Indian architect who translated the priest’s words into French told me that he had edited out a lot of the gibberish so that the highly educated audience would not laugh at the old monk.

Another dinner was held for a few of us who were to accompany M’Bow to New Delhi to participate in it seminar on communication and also meet Indian PM Indira Gandhi. Indira was a fluent French speaker who had represented India in the Governing Council of UNESCO when she was a member of Shastri’s cabinet. So no translators were needed and our DG, who was always nervous about his poor English, had a long and pleasant conversation with the Indian PM.

Secretariat

The IPDC office was located in a tower in the new building in Rue Miollis. Top levels of the tower was occupied by the communications division of UNESCO. Gerard Bolla as ADG ruled the roost from the topmost floor. In the floor below were the ‘intellectuals’ led by Antonio Pasquali [Venezuela] and Alan Hancock [UK] who together with us at IPDC, dealt with the conceptual issues of the New Information Order.

Two floors below were taken by the `engine room’ which comprised of media specialists who provided training and advice to national media institutions of the ‘Third World. They were basically technicians who could fix practical problems of the media. They were led by Pierre Naveaux, a hard drinking Belgian who had been the head of a Film Unit there and his assistant Frank Goodship [Canada].

There were also numerous broadcasters who were led by a Philipino ‘Choy’ Arnaldo. Choy had been with Radio Veritas, the Catholic Broadcasting station located in Manila.

Later Lakshman Rao [India] joined Hancock on a short term assignment. They were a motley crew who were somewhat nervous about the interest in a new Information Order by member states and the establishment of IPDC. Earlier they had an easy time girdling the globe advising radio stations and film units. My challenge was to coopt their services and their budgets to achieve the objectives determined by the Governing Council of IPDC which were to create a transformation in global media capability and its practice.

In the IPDC secretariat I was assisted by Claude Ondobo from the Camaroons who had his work cut out because of the demands of the emerging African countries for both technical assistance

and training. The majority of African members in our governing council came from authoritarian states which were getting a ‘bad press’ in western media and wanted IPDC to do something about it.

Since our focus was on developing countries I encouraged Claude to increase African participation in IPDC activities and also sought funding for those projects by creating ‘funds in trust’ with money from

Scandinavian countries.

Our ADG Bolla also made sure that the IPDC had good secretarial assistance. The leader of our support staff was the experienced Madame Hoareau, an English woman married to a Frenchman, and who had earlier been Bolla’s private secretary. It was a kind gesture on his part to help me who was new to the UN bureaucratic practices which entailed a lot of form filling. I also had the feeling that this placement helped the ADG to keep tabs on the activities of the IPDC.

The UNESCO establishment from M’Bow downwards was apprehensive that due to political interests, IPDC could function outside their chain of command. I am sure that Hoareau would have given good reports about us because Bolls soon began to treat us as his favourites. The second secretary of our office was Nadia, a friendly and capable lady of emigre Russian stock, who by a happy coincidence was earlier married to a Frenchman named Jacques Renault whose family had tea plantations in Talawakelle.

Jacques was close to Sri Lankans in Paris and would unfailingly attend our embassy parties. Nadia had visited Talawakelle as a young bride and had good memories of Sri Lanka though by this time she was divorced and Jacques had married a well-known artist who too was a regular participant at our embassy soirees. Once, when on holiday back home, I visited Jacque’s tea property. The present Tea Research Institute is located on lands acquired from his company before they were restricted to fifty acres by land reform.

There is a beautiful old church on this property, but it is badly neglected now. In addition to the regular staff we also had a young French `stagiare’ who helped Claude with his African projects. This over allocation of resources to IPDC was queried by UNESCO’s staff management committee of which Ananda Guruge was a member. Bolls and I appeared before them and after listening to us the committee decided to approve the current allocation of staff. That was the only time I had to cross swords with the management reviewers of UNESCO.

Paris — `The City of Light’

Right from my school days Paris was the city of my dreams. That fascination may have begun with the stories which Mr. Kannangara, our middle school teacher had spun for us – tales of the Count of Monte Cristo. Once a week he transported us to pre-revolutionary France when narrating the adventures of Jean Valjean and his adversaries. At about the same time we saw films about the ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’ who spirited noblemen away from Paris and the guillotine.

In our University days we were inspired by the French Trotskyites and as supporters of the LSSP read every instruction sent to our leaders by the ‘revolutionaries’ of the Fourth International based in Paris. The struggles between the different lines’ espoused by Trotskyite intellectuals within the Fourth International as played out in LSSP tactics on the ground in Sri Lanka, which varied from time to time, were diligently explained to us by Doric de Souza in his weekly clandestine lectures to us in Peradeniya. As the poet Wordsworth said of the French Revolutionary era, which may well be used to describe us in our youth; “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive; but to be young was very heaven”.

Though I settled down in Paris in 1982 I had visited ‘The City of Light’ every year since 1977. From my first visit in the 1960s I had attended several meetings in Paris and also spent time with friends there. For instance I was in Paris in 1981 when the French Socialist Party won the Presidency with Francois Mitterand as its candidate. We joined in the partying on the Left Bank which went on till morning and saw red roses, the attractive symbol devised by the ‘avant garde’ marketeers of Mitterand, that were strewn everywhere.

On another occasion, as I have related earlier, I joined the multitude of young men who accompanied the cortege of Jean Paul Sartre for burial at the cemetery in Montparnasse. I had witnessed the massive May Day rallies organized by the CGT or the Communist Party’s Trade Union as it wended its way from the heart of Paris – the Bastille. Equally impressive were the military parades marking the Fourth of July. I naturally looked forward to an interesting stay not only in my new job but also in the wonderfully artistic city which had been mercifully spared the bombings which had obliterated cities like Berlin, Dresden and parts of London.

My first task was to find lodgings till I could get more spacious accommodation when my family arrived. I was lucky in that my many friends helped me to settle in comfortably. Three of my best friends in Paris – Manu Ginige, Premachandra and Navaz – were all living in apartments in a building in Rue de Lilas in Paris 19, close to the Buttes Chaumont. This had been once the Bohemian quarter of Paris and was now a Communist stronghold.

Premachandra was a Communist who had as a young man first migrated to Moscow from Colombo. After some time there he had crossed over to Paris and married Irene, a girl of Greek nationality .He had raised a family of two girls and a boy and was working as a ‘cordon bleu’ chef in Radio France. He was missing Sri Lanka badly and had managed to persuade his friends, Ginige and Navaz, to occupy flats in his building. There was another vacant flat in the building and I rented it.

Our presence was duly noted by other flat mates, many of them Communists, who jocularly called our building ‘Maison Sri Lankaise’ or Sri Lanka House. Prema and his wife loved to cook and most evenings were spent in his or Manu’s flat eating, drinking and discussing politics. Any Sri Lankan politician coming to Paris – but particularly Dharmasiri Senanayake their long standing friend – was entertained by the Premachandras.

All the visitors were asked to bring along were Sri Lankan newspapers and ‘pol’ arrack which he shared with us. Since Prema was a practicing chef who used to cook for the bigwigs of Radio France, he would try out his classical French menus on us. Needless to say we were happy to oblige him and compliment him on his mastery of French cuisine. On some Sundays we would go with him to the local arrondissement market to see him buying fish and poultry after examining and prodding the product.

The local charcouterie staff reserved special cuts of meat for him and the butcher was happy to be complimented by a cordon bleu chef. After about six months in Rue de Lilas all of us began to put on weight because of Premachandra’s sauces and sugary confections. Prema who was smoker into the bargain, got a heart attack to which he succumbed several years later. His only exercise was a Sunday stroll in the nearby park selling the Communist Party newspaper, ‘Le Humanite’.

Another visitor to Prema’s apartment was Esmond Wickremesinghe. He too was fond of good food though he had been warned about his health. Later we arranged an apartment for him with cooking facilities, close to UNESCO headquarters. A staffer from the embassy Abeyratne would cook his cholesterol and sugar free meals as ordered by the doctor. Whenever I hosted a party in my apartment I would invite Ananda Guruge and his wife Sujatha as well as Daniel Lefevre of UTA who also loved good food, to join our gang.

Since Manu and Navaz were embassy staffers at that time I would invariably join them in their soirees. Duty free liquor flowed freely at these parties and friends of Sri Lanka from all professions would congregate to support the embassy. Among the regulars were Bernard de Gaulle, a nephew of the famous leader, Jacques Renault and his wife who were artists, Daniel Lefevre and local heads of travel Companies like Neckermann, Club Mediteranee, UTA and Accor.

Some of the big wigs of French companies operating in Colombo were also present sometimes with their Sri Lankan representatives who were visiting Paris. A smattering of Asian ambassadors and local businessmen were also invited. Though usually it was bitterly cold outside the parties suitably fuelled by hot drinks and chillied curries went on late into the night. Sri Lankan parties were popular since unlike the Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis we served vintage scotch and champagne at our parties.

After Ananda Guruge became the Ambassador he stopped serving liquor and attendance dropped dramatically, especially from among the foreign guests. In Paris there were Embassy parties almost every evening as most countries were represented in France. Each Embassy wanted to outdo the other in attracting the Parisian elite. Good champagne and top of the order whiskeys were a great incentive for inveterate party goers who went from one embassy to another and were not averse to bad mouthing the poorer embassies.


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Features

Cyclones, greed and philosophy for a new world order

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6 hours ago

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2025/12/8

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Floods caused by Cyclone Ditwah in Sri Lanka

Further to my earlier letter titled, “Psychology of Greed and Philosophy for a New World Order” (The Island 26.11.2025) it may not be far-fetched to say that the cause of the devastating cyclones that hit Sri Lanka and Indonesia last week could be traced back to human greed. Cyclones of this magnitude are said to be unusual in the equatorial region but, according to experts, the raised sea surface temperatures created the conditions for their occurrence. This is directly due to global warming which is caused by excessive emission of Greenhouse gases due to burning of fossil fuels and other activities. These activities cannot be brought under control as the rich, greedy Western powers do not want to abide by the terms and conditions agreed upon at the Paris Agreement of 2015, as was seen at the COP30 meeting in Brazil recently. Is there hope for third world countries? This is why the Global South must develop a New World Order. For this purpose, the proposed contentment/sufficiency philosophy based on morals like dhana, seela, bhavana, may provide the necessary foundation.

Further, such a philosophy need not be parochial and isolationist. It may not be  necessary to adopt systems that existed in the past that suited the times but develop a system that would be practical and also pragmatic in the context of the modern world.

It must be reiterated that without controlling the force of collective greed the present destructive socioeconomic system cannot be changed. Hence the need for a philosophy that incorporates the means of controlling greed. Dhana, seela, bhavana may suit Sri Lanka and most of the East which, as mentioned in my earlier letter, share a similar philosophical heritage. The rest of the world also may have to adopt a contentment / sufficiency philosophy with  strong and effective tenets that suit their culture, to bring under control the evil of greed. If not, there is no hope for the existence of the world. Global warming will destroy it with cyclones, forest fires, droughts, floods, crop failure and famine.

Leading economists had commented on the damaging effect of greed on the economy while philosophers, ancient as well as modern, had spoken about its degenerating influence on the inborn human morals. Ancient philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, and Epicurus all spoke about greed, viewing it as a destructive force that hindered a good life. They believed greed was rooted in personal immorality and prevented individuals from achieving true happiness by focusing on endless material accumulation rather than the limited wealth needed for natural needs.

Jeffry Sachs argues that greed is a destructive force that undermines social and environmental well-being, citing it as a major driver of climate change and economic inequality, referencing the ideas of Adam Smith, John Maynard Keynes, etc. Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Laureate economist, has criticised neoliberal ideology in similar terms.

In my earlier letter, I have discussed how contentment / sufficiency philosophy could effectively transform the socioeconomic system to one that prioritises collective well-being and sufficiency over rampant consumerism and greed, potentially leading to more sustainable economic models.

Obviously, these changes cannot be brought about without a change of attitude, morals and commitment of the rulers and the government. This cannot be achieved without a mass movement; people must realise the need for change. Such a movement would need  leadership. In this regard a critical responsibility lies with the educated middle class. It is they who must give leadership to the movement that would have the goal of getting rid of the evil of excessive greed. It is they who must educate the entire nation about the need for these changes.

The middle class would be the vanguard of change. It is the middle class that has the capacity to bring about change. It is the middle class that perform as a vibrant component of the society for political stability. It is the group which supplies political philosophy, ideology, movements, guidance and leaders for the rest of the society. The poor, who are the majority, need the political wisdom and leadership of the middle class.

Further, the middle class is the font of culture, creativity, literature, art and music. Thinkers, writers, artistes, musicians are fostered by the middle class. Cultural activity of the middle class could pervade down to the poor groups and have an effect on their cultural development as well. Similarly, education of a country depends on how educated the middle class is. It is the responsibility of the middle class to provide education to the poor people.

Most importantly, the morals of a society are imbued in the middle class and it is they who foster them. As morals are crucial in the battle against  greed, the middle class assume greater credentials to spearhead the movement against greed and bring in sustainable development and growth. Contentment sufficiency philosophy, based on morals, would form the strong foundation necessary for achieving the goal of a new world order. Thus, it is seen that the middle class is eminently suitable to be the vehicle that could adopt and disseminate a contentment/ sufficiency philosophy and lead the movement against the evil neo-liberal system that is destroying the world.

The Global South, which comprises the majority of the world’s poor, may have to realise, before it is too late, that it is they who are the most vulnerable to climate change though they may not be the greatest offenders who cause it. Yet, if they are to survive, they must get together and help each other to achieve self-sufficiency in the essential needs, like food, energy and medicine. Trade must not be via exploitative and weaponised currency but by means of a barter system, based on purchase power parity (PPP). The union of these countries could be an expansion of organisations,like BRICS, ASEAN, SCO, AU, etc., which already have the trade and financial arrangements though in a rudimentary state but with great potential, if only they could sort out their bilateral issues and work towards a Global South which is neither rich nor poor but sufficient, contented and safe, a lesson to the Global North. China, India and South Africa must play the lead role in this venture. They would need the support of a strong philosophy that has the capacity to fight the evil of greed, for they cannot achieve these goals if fettered by greed. The proposed contentment / sufficient philosophy would form a strong philosophical foundation for the Global South, to unite, fight greed and develop a new world order which, above all, will make it safe for life.

by Prof. N. A. de S. Amaratunga 
PHD, DSc, DLITT

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SINHARAJA: The Living Cathedral of Sri Lanka’s Rainforest Heritage

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2025/12/8

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Damp and thick undergrowth

When Senior biodiversity scientist Vimukthi Weeratunga speaks of Sinharaja, his voice carries the weight of four decades spent beneath its dripping emerald canopy. To him, Sri Lanka’s last great rainforest is not merely a protected area—it is “a cathedral of life,” a sanctuary where evolution whispers through every leaf, stream and shadow.

 “Sinharaja is the largest and most precious tropical rainforest we have,” Weeratunga said.

“Sixty to seventy percent of the plants and animals found here exist nowhere else on Earth. This forest is the heart of endemic biodiversity in Sri Lanka.”

A Magnet for the World’s Naturalists

Sinharaja’s allure lies not in charismatic megafauna but in the world of the small and extraordinary—tiny, jewel-toned frogs; iridescent butterflies; shy serpents; and canopy birds whose songs drift like threads of silver through the mist.

“You must walk slowly in Sinharaja,” Weeratunga smiled.

“Its beauty reveals itself only to those who are patient and observant.”

For global travellers fascinated by natural history, Sinharaja remains a top draw. Nearly 90% of nature-focused visitors to Sri Lanka place Sinharaja at the top of their itinerary, generating a deep economic pulse for surrounding communities.

A Forest Etched in History

Centuries before conservationists championed its cause, Sinharaja captured the imagination of explorers and scholars. British and Dutch botanists, venturing into the island’s interior from the 17th century onward, mapped streams, documented rare orchids, and penned some of the earliest scientific records of Sri Lanka’s natural heritage.

Smallest cat

These chronicles now form the backbone of our understanding of the island’s unique ecology.

The Great Forest War: Saving Sinharaja

But Sinharaja nearly vanished.

In the 1970s, the government—guided by a timber-driven development mindset—greenlit a Canadian-assisted logging project. Forests around Sinharaja fell first; then, the chainsaws approached the ancient core.

 “There was very little scientific data to counter the felling,” Weeratunga recalled.

“But people knew instinctively this was a national treasure.”

The public responded with one of the greatest environmental uprisings in Sri Lankan history. Conservation icons Thilo Hoffmann and Neluwe Gunananda Thera led a national movement. After seven tense years, the new government of 1977 halted the project.

What followed was a scientific renaissance. Leading researchers—including Prof. Savithri Gunathilake and Prof. Nimal Gunathilaka, Prof. Sarath Kottagama, and others—descended into the depths of Sinharaja, documenting every possible facet of its biodiversity.

Thilak

 “Those studies paved the way for Sinharaja to become Sri Lanka’s very first natural World Heritage Site,” Weeratunga noted proudly.

A Book Woven From 30 Years of Field Wisdom

For Weeratunga, Sinharaja is more than academic terrain—it is home. Since joining the Forest Department in 1985 as a young researcher, he has trekked, photographed, documented and celebrated its secrets.

Now, decades later, he joins Dr. Thilak Jayaratne, the late Dr. Janaka Gallangoda, and Nadika Hapuarachchi in producing, what he calls, the most comprehensive book ever written on Sinharaja.

 “This will be the first major publication on Sinharaja since the early 1980s,” he said.

“It covers ecology, history, flora, fauna—and includes rare photographs taken over nearly 30 years.”

Some images were captured after weeks of waiting. Others after years—like the mysterious mass-flowering episodes where clusters of forest giants bloom in synchrony, or the delicate jewels of the understory: tiny jumping spiders, elusive amphibians, and canopy dwellers glimpsed only once in a lifetime.

The book even includes underwater photography from Sinharaja’s crystal-clear streams—worlds unseen by most visitors.

A Tribute to a Departed Friend

Halfway through the project, tragedy struck: co-author Dr. Janaka Gallangoda passed away.

 “We stopped the project for a while,” Weeratunga said quietly.

“But Dr. Thilak Jayaratne reminded us that Janaka lived for this forest. So we completed the book in his memory. One of our authors now watches over Sinharaja from above.”

Jumping spide

An Invitation to the Public

A special exhibition, showcasing highlights from the book, will be held on 13–14 December, 2025, in Colombo.

“We cannot show Sinharaja in one gallery,” he laughed.

“But we can show a single drop of its beauty—enough to spark curiosity.”

A Forest That Must Endure

What makes the book special, he emphasises, is its accessibility.

“We wrote it in simple, clear language—no heavy jargon—so that everyone can understand why Sinharaja is irreplaceable,” Weeratunga said.

“If people know its value, they will protect it.”

To him, Sinharaja is more than a rainforest.

It is Sri Lanka’s living heritage.

A sanctuary of evolution.

A sacred, breathing cathedral that must endure for generations to come.

By Ifham Nizam

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Features

How Knuckles was sold out

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2025/12/8

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Knuckles range

Leaked RTI Files Reveal Conflicting Approvals, Missing Assessments, and Silent Officials

“This Was Not Mismanagement — It Was a Structured Failure”— CEJ’s Dilena Pathragoda

An investigation, backed by newly released Right to Information (RTI) files, exposes a troubling sequence of events in which multiple state agencies appear to have enabled — or quietly tolerated — unauthorised road construction inside the Knuckles Conservation Forest, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

At the centre of the unfolding scandal is a trail of contradictory letters, unexplained delays, unsigned inspection reports, and sudden reversals by key government offices.

“What these documents show is not confusion or oversight. It is a structured failure,” said Dilena Pathragoda, Executive Director of the Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ), who has been analysing the leaked records.

“Officials knew the legal requirements. They ignored them. They knew the ecological risks. They dismissed them. The evidence points to a deliberate weakening of safeguards meant to protect one of Sri Lanka’s most fragile ecosystems.”

A Paper Trail of Contradictions

RTI disclosures obtained by activists reveal:

Approvals issued before mandatory field inspections were carried out

Three departments claiming they “did not authorise” the same section of the road

A suspiciously backdated letter clearing a segment already under construction

Internal memos flagging “missing evaluation data” that were never addressed

“No-objection” notes do not hold any legal weight for work inside protected areas, experts say.

One senior officer’s signature appears on two letters with opposing conclusions, sent just three weeks apart — a discrepancy that has raised serious questions within the conservation community.

“This is the kind of documentation that usually surfaces only after damage is done,” Pathragoda said. “It shows a chain of administrative behaviour designed to delay scrutiny until the bulldozers moved in.”

The Silence of the Agencies

Perhaps, more alarming is the behaviour of the regulatory bodies.

Multiple departments — including those legally mandated to halt unauthorised work — acknowledged concerns in internal exchanges but issued no public warnings, took no enforcement action, and allowed machinery to continue operating.

“That silence is the real red flag,” Pathragoda noted.

“Silence is rarely accidental in cases like this. Silence protects someone.”

On the Ground: Damage Already Visible

Independent field teams report:

Fresh erosion scars on steep slopes

Sediment-laden water in downstream streams

Disturbed buffer zones

Workers claiming that they were instructed to “complete the section quickly”

Satellite images from the past two months show accelerated clearing around the contested route.

Environmental experts warn that once the hydrology of the Knuckles slopes is altered, the consequences could be irreversible.

CEJ: “Name Every Official Involved”

CEJ is preparing a formal complaint demanding a multi-agency investigation.

Pathragoda insists that responsibility must be traced along the entire chain — from field officers to approving authorities.

“Every signature, every omission, every backdated approval must be examined,” she said.

“If laws were violated, then prosecutions must follow. Not warnings. Not transfers. Prosecutions.”

A Scandal Still Unfolding

More RTI documents are expected to come out next week, including internal audits and communication logs that could deepen the crisis for several agencies.

As the paper trail widens, one thing is increasingly clear: what happened in Knuckles is not an isolated act — it is an institutional failure, executed quietly, and revealed only because citizens insisted on answers.

by Ifham Nizam

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