Features

Amend the Constitution: end racism

Published

3 years ago

2022/12/18

by Kumar David

Article 15 of the Indian Constitution states that the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth and so on. The text-box in this piece is an abbreviation of this Article and had the Sr Lankan Constitution contained such a provision the Sinhala Only Act, the chapter on Buddhism, the Indian & Pakistani Citizenship Acts, caste-based prohibition on entering temples and such abhorrent provisions would, in theory, have been ultra vires. Unfortunately, however, such shameful provisions would actually have been lawful in Sri Lanka subject to a referendum after their parliamentary enactment. The disgraceful thing about this country is that such referenda would have been carried by thumping racist majorities.

Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar a polymath who headed the committee that drafted the Constitution of the Republic India was a Dalit (“untouchable” or Gandhi’s Harijans, the children of God) and made no bones about it. He was Law and Justice Minister in Nehru’s first Cabinet, an economist, social reformer and human-rights advocate. His early methodological affinity to Marxism is unsurprising. In the land of the Gautama who was born in Nepal, of Gandhi who spent two intellectually formative decades in South Africa and of Mother Teresa of Albanian descent, such things were possible. At home in Lanka those who protected people of another race or faith during riots, rape and arson had to be themselves shielded from miscreants of their own race and faith.

Democracy Stillborn by Rajan and Kirupaimalar Hoole traces the plight of Sri Lanka to the battles of the 1920s over the championship of labour by Ponnambalam Arunachalam. His ouster in 1921 from the Ceylon National Congress, led to the domination of estate capitalism and blended an anti-working-class stance in general with communalism and the disenfranchisement of plantation workers. The legal battle about the citizenship of plantation workers compromised the judiciary too. Habeas corpus affirmed in the Bracegirdle case of 1937 was undermined by the 1947 Public Security Ordinance permitting “murder in good faith.” With the complicity of the Tamil and Muslim elite, politics which was anti- labour at first, turned ethno-chauvinist surrendering Parliamentary political power to Sinhalese exclusivism. Organised labour, weakened by the exclusion of plantation workers, was finally crushed by the UNP government in the General Strike of 1980. The right of habeas corpus, rendered virtually extinct by the 1979 PTA, made way for the cruel joke of the 2007 ICCPR Act.

The Hooles diligently and painstakingly recount the legislative, juridical and administrative history of this country since 1901 and express hope for the survival in a “mangled” form at least, of the Separation of Powers and a revived judiciary with the courage to declare bad laws invalid. Indeed, all across the world extremist, racist and neofascist assaults are proliferating, hence the Hooles’ thesis may seem legitimate not only in domestic discourse but also internationally. However, when history repeats itself it does so to the strains of a different melody.

But let me make a personal remark first. I got to know Rajan more than 40 years ago when he was a final year student in my Electrical Power Systems class at the Peradeniya Engineering Faculty. A clever but grumpy fellow, methought, youth is only a passing ailment. I am not sure if he is talkative and jolly now.

Global Context

Global growth is slowing sharply and countries are falling into recession with consequences that are devastating for developing economies. As Central Banks simultaneously hike interest rates in response to inflation, the world is edging toward recession in 2023 and the emerging financial crises will do lasting harm in developing economies. Though Central banks are raising interest rates inflation will not come down. Furthermore, the political scenario of spreading global extremism voids usual recession-recovery expectations. The Biden Administration finds it a matter of existential necessity to a take stand against extremism (racism, “election deniers”, reinvigorated Trumpism, a fundamentalist anti-abortion surge versus feminist outrage and a primitivist majority in the Supreme Court). Therefore, the Administration is pumping money into consumer’s pockets; fiscal stimulation; a $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, tax credits and rebates for energy-efficient vehicles and renewable electricity. Then there is the Ukraine war and political uncertainties such as the victory of neo-fascists in the Italian elections and the strengthening of the far-right in France, Poland Hungary, Denmark and elsewhere in Europe. Worry is justified.

Actually, what I am humming and hawing about is the Hooles’ hopes that a revived judiciary will have the courage to declare bad laws invalid. And when they suggest that talk of “revolution is discredited” they oversimplify the “mangled processes” maturing in the innards of global capitalism. Things now are different from the familiar post-war recession-recovery cycle. Global recession, a deep-recession or even a depression cannot be ruled out and complicate the aforesaid purely political picture. The processes are different this time and need to be fleshed out with their own empirical detail. Is a decade of global capitalist durability possible, or will it be a deeper recession than usual?

Comments on coverage

The authors are at their best in the scholarly presentation of how British juridical and colonial administrative practices challenged and eventually ended the denial of habus corpus and even contributed to the downfall of slavery in the Empire (pages 76-79). In Sri Lanka conversely since independence “governments have shown their repressive character by targeting the right of habeas corpus by legislative acts” and since 1978 by muzzling the judiciary. The historical scholarship of chapter two may prove to be the most informative section of the book for the lay reader unfamiliar with this history. The early chapters also expose the class bias and racial shakiness, if not worse, of the old “national leaders” DB Jayatilleke, DS Senanayake, James Peries, DR Wijewardene and SWRD Bandaranaike.

The book is a 730-page hagiography of Ponnambalam Arunachalam – I must hasten to add that I am not suggesting that loquacity is the outcome of matrimony. Many share the view that Arunachalam was the greatest Ceylonese political figure of the Twentieth Century. I will not dream of attempting to summarise the book’s argument in my 1,700-word column. Read it, you cannot afford not to, or you will miss a wealth of carefully researched detail. Chapter 11 on the Citizenship Act debates, convey a great deal of information about the intrinsic racism of Sinhala leaders and Tamil treachery (not only GG). While the book pays justifiable homage to Sarath Muttetuwegama I am surprised it makes no mention of two far more important leftists of the same period, Vijaya Kumaratunga and Vickrmabahu Karunaratna. The Hooles are strong on textual scholarship but alas have little grasp of left-politics.

An edited summary of chapter subheadings of the first part (up to page 480) of this 750+ page book is as follows and gives a flavour of its scope.

Champion of Labour (Arunachalam, Coup in the Ceylon National Congress, Tamil Mahajana Sabhai, Indian Labour Short-changed, Oligarchy of Planter-Politicians, Donoughmore and Status of Indian Labour, Formation of the Left, Blaming Indian Labour for Landlessness, Mooloya, Bandaranaike Cleanses Electoral Rolls, D.S. Senanayake, George E. de Silva, B.H. Aluwihare, Release of LSSP Detenus. Independence, Unions, Extending Colonial Repression, Undermining Working Class, Jayewardene and Keuneman, Ponnambalam and N.M. Perera, Naganathan and Nadesan, Jennings, Citizenship Act, Ponnambalam ditches Plantation Tamils, Chelvanayakam, Political Imperative to Shackle the Judiciary, the Ceylon Act: Invalid, Absurd and Impossible, Supreme Court clears the way for Disenfranchisement, Taming the Judiciary: Undermining Separation of Powers.

The second part of the book from about Independence right up to the present time are dealt with in equal detail in pages 480-649, I am not providing a summary because it is better known and for reasons of space. There are also nine useful Appendices, a Bibliography and an Index in the remaining 80 pages.

I am a believer in the maxim that brevity is the soul of wit. If one can possibly say it in 25 words why drag it on for 250? On this count I should not be an admirer of Hoole & Hool’s tome. But they can be forgiven the length because of their admirable coverage of socio-political and labour movement perspectives.

I will now explore some associated issues. There is for example a comment in a newspaper by Ranga Jayasuriya on Nov. 1, 2022 asking how come Britain has an Asian, Hindu Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and the US elected Barrack Obama, but no Lankan Tamil or Muslim came even close to reaching the pinnacle? Is it that in the early stages, Tamil politics was not a reaction to a Sinhala Buddhist majoritarian threat, but rather it was driven by Dravidian societal, caste and elitist imperatives? This of course is abundantly clear in the post-independence period where GG Ponnambalam’s reactionary Tamil Congress, and SJV’s quaint Federal Party and its successors, came to delineate the scope and nature of Tamil politics.

The aforementioned comment does not rub off on Arunachalam who “Kumari Jayawardena describes as far ahead of his colleagues in championing self-government and universal suffrage”. His vision was that of a Ceylon that would in about 20 years be a non-sectarian democracy along the lines of Switzerland. He noted “The slums of the poor, though not so bad as in the big cities of Europe, are nests of filth and disease. Children run about untaught, uncared for, their mortality running into hundreds per thousand.” Michael Roberts says in https://thuppahis.com/2022/12/04/caste-in-jaffna/ that M.M. Mahroof, a researcher into caste, makes the distinction “The Tamil system is based on a notion of pollution; the Sinhala is not. The former is supplemental to Hinduism the latter antithetical to Buddhism. Non-Govi castes are often wealthy and powerful, non-Vellala castes are not. Govi negation of others is subtle, Vellala negation of others is overt and offensive”. Was Arunachalam not a champion of the fight against caste prejudice in Tamil society of his day? Or is this an anachronistic question to ask?

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Features

UN’s challenge of selective accountability without international equity

Published

24 hours ago

2025/06/17

Sahan Weerasooriya

Volker Türk

The visit of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, later this month may possibly be overshadowed by the eruption of hostilities in the Middle East following Israel’s attack on Iran. The High Commissioner’s visit to Sri Lanka relates to the series of resolutions passed by the UN Human Rights Council over the past sixteen years since the end of the war. It will highlight the contradiction in the rules-based international order when geopolitical interests override legal commitments. These resolutions highlight the importance of protecting human rights during times of conflict and ensuring accountability for war crimes. They are part of the enduring legacy of international human rights and humanitarian law, as exemplified by the Geneva Conventions and the global post-war consensus that atrocity crimes should not go unpunished.

The High Commissioner’s visit is likely to provoke criticism that the United Nations is pursuing Sri Lanka’s adherence to international norms with greater zeal than it shows toward violations by more powerful countries. There appears to be acquiescence, indeed even tacit approval, by influential states in response to Israel’s military actions in both Iran and Gaza on the grounds of existential threats to Israel. Similar military actions were taken in 2003 by the US and the UK governments, among other international powers, to destroy weapons of mass destruction alleged to be in Iraq. One of the central arguments made by critics of the UN’s engagement in Sri Lanka is that double standards are at play. These critics contend that the United Nations disproportionately targets weaker countries, thereby reinforcing an international system that turns a blind eye to powerful countries and, in doing so, undermines the credibility and coherence of global human rights standards.

The arrival of the High Commissioner is also likely to reignite internal debate in Sri Lanka about the purpose and legitimacy of UN involvement in the country. The question is whether international standards effectively contribute to national transformation, or do they risk being reduced to symbolic gestures that satisfy external scrutiny without generating substantive change. There will be those who regard international engagement as a necessary corrective to domestic failings, and others who see it as an infringement on national sovereignty. The question of accountability for war crimes committed during the three-decade-long civil war remains a deeply divisive and sensitive issue. Sri Lanka, with its own complex and painful history, has the opportunity to lead by example by reckoning with the past unlike many other countries who justify their atrocities under the veil of national security.

International Breakdown

The modern international system emerged in the wake of two catastrophic world wars and the recognised failure of early twentieth-century diplomacy to prevent mass violence. At its core was a collective pledge to establish a rules-based international order that could maintain peace through law, institutional cooperation, and multilateral governance. The development of international human rights and humanitarian law was most pronounced in the aftermath of the mass atrocities and immense human suffering of World War II. The powerful nations of the time resolved to lead a new global order in which such horrors would never be repeated.

This vision of a rules-based international order as a safeguard against a return to the law of the jungle, where power alone determined justice was institutionalised through the United Nations, the Geneva Conventions, and the establishment of international courts such as the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. However, this international system has come under increasing strain in recent decades. Recent events show that it no longer functions as originally envisioned. In practice, the consistent application of international law, regardless of the status or power of a state, is frequently compromised. The selective enforcement of legal norms, particularly by powerful countries, has eroded the legitimacy of the system and calls into question the universalism at the heart of international law.

At present, at least three major international conflicts taking place in Ukraine, Gaza, and now the confrontation between Israel and Iran, illustrate a sustained breakdown in the enforcement of international legal norms. These conflicts involve powerful states that openly defy legal obligations, with the international community, especially its more influential members, often remaining conspicuously silent. Only a handful of countries, such as South Africa, have chosen to raise issues of international law violations in these conflicts. The broader silence or selective rationalisation by powerful countries has only reinforced the perception that international law is subject to political convenience, and that its authority can be subordinated to geopolitical calculation. Earlier examples would include the ruination of prosperous countries such as Iraq, Libya and Syria.

Uphold Consistency

The Sri Lankan situation illustrates the importance of preserving an international legal system with mechanisms for credible and impartial accountability. Sri Lanka, so far, has been unable to address the issues of accountability for serious war-time human rights violations through internal mechanisms. However, the broader lesson from Sri Lanka’s experience is that international norms ought not to be applied selectively. If global institutions aspire to uphold justice by holding smaller or less powerful countries accountable, they must apply the same standards to powerful states, including Israel, Russia, and the United States. Failing to do so risks creating the perception that the international legal system is an instrument of coercion and selective punishment rather than a foundation for equitable global justice.

Despite the prevalence of double standards in international practice, it remains in Sri Lanka’s national interest to support the principles and implementation of international law. The existence of international law, however weak, offers some level of protection that smaller countries have when faced with the predatory behaviour of more powerful states. For this reason, the Sri Lankan government must do all it can to uphold its prior commitments to the UN Human Rights Council and implement the promises it has made to the fullest extent possible. In multilateral forums, including the UN, Sri Lanka must reassert these commitments as strategic assets that help to defend its sovereignty and legitimacy. At the same time, Sri Lanka needs to take up the challenge of using these international platforms to highlight the problem of selective enforcement. Sri Lanka can contribute to the broader call for a more principled and consistent application of international law by demonstrating its seriousness in protecting vulnerable populations and position itself as a responsible and principled actor in the international community.

Engaging with the past in accordance with international standards is also essential for Sri Lanka’s internal reconciliation and social cohesion. The principles of transitional justice—truth, accountability, reparations, and institutional reform—are not only universally applicable but also critical to the long-term development of any post-conflict society. These principles apply across all contexts and periods. If Sri Lanka is to evolve into a united, stable, and prosperous country, it must undertake this process, regardless of what other countries do or fail to do. Only by acknowledging and addressing its own past can Sri Lanka build a future in which its multi-ethnic and multi-religious character becomes a source of strength rather than weakness.

by Jehan Perera

Features

A model for reconciliation

Published

24 hours ago

2025/06/17

Sahan Weerasooriya

Volker Türk

Conciliation between parties to a conflict involves two basic processes. The common factor to both is identifying the perpetrators associated with the conflict and holding them accountable for their actions, because of the belief that atonement for the violations committed help the aggrieved survivors to ease their pain without which reconciliation is not possible. One process involves Voluntary Admission of the TRUTH to the point of admitting guilt on the part of the perpetrators for the violations committed and Forgiveness on the part of the victims. Another process is to establish the TRUTH through mechanisms set up to investigate the scope and extent of the violations committed and identification of the perpetrators responsible, so that they could be punished to the extent of the law, thus assuaging the pain of the aggrieved. This is Retributive Justice.

The features common to both processes are that violations committed are in the PAST, which, in the case of Sri Lanka span, over a period of 16 to 30 years. Under such circumstances, ONLY Voluntary Admission would identify the perpetrators, while in the case of Retributive Justice, the credibility of the investigations to establish the TRUTH, based on which perpetrators are identified, would vary from questionable to inadmissible after the lapse of 16 to 30 years.

The first process cited above, namely Voluntary Admission followed by Forgiveness, was adopted by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa. This attempt failed to meet expectations because one of the parties, who was to participate and make Reconciliation meaningful, refused to participate in the exercise. Furthermore, others see such processes as too idealistic because outcomes of the Reconciliation process require the full participation and genuine commitment of the parties to the conflict. Consequently, most countries opt for the second process, which is Reconciliation through Retributive Justice despite the fact that it is dependent on the credibility of the evidence gathered over decades and, therefore, has the potential to be flawed.

ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES

TO RECONCILIATION

If admission of Guilt and Forgiveness is realistically not an option, or the limitations of mechanisms to establish credible evidence is also not a dependable option, the only alternative most countries adopt is for time to heal the grievances between parties to the conflict in a manner that best suits their respective social and civilisational values Since such an alternative leaves grievances that initiated the conflict to resolve itself on its own accord, the inevitable outcome is for societies to stay divided and frustrated thus making them fertile grounds for conflicts to recur.

The primary reason for the failure of the options hitherto pursued is that it limits the process of Reconciliation ONLY to violations associated with the Conflict. It does not factor in the grievances that initiated the conflict. This aspect is completely overlooked in the processes that involve admission of guilt followed by forgiveness or in Retributive Justice. Consequently, accountability based on Retributive Justice, advocated by the UNHRC and recommended by some in Sri Lanka, remains far from what is needed for meaningful Reconciliation.

It is, therefore, imperative that Sri Lanka presents a viable alternative that is NOT rooted in PAST actions but in the PRESENT because it is in the PRESENT that the livelihoods of those affected by the conflict have to be restored and their sense of hopelessness healed. Furthermore, Reconciliation, based on the PRESENT is recognized as the principal pillar in meditation as being the most rewarding to contribute to overall human wellbeing.

THE ALTERNATIVE

The approaches pursued by Sri Lanka were to appoint Presidential Commissions of Inquiry, Presidential Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, Task Forces to investigate and gather evidence with Foreign participation and the ongoing Evidence Gathering Mechanisms of the UNHRC, to name a few. In the midst of these attempts, Sri Lanka also set up the “Office for Reparations” (OR) under Act, No. 34 of 2018 and the Office on Missing Persons (OMP).

The stated Objective of OR was the recognition given by the Act to “a comprehensive reparations scheme anchored in the rights of all Sri Lankans to an effective remedy will contribute to the promotion of reconciliation for the wellbeing and security of all Lankans, including future generations”. Whether these Offices were set up with the conscious intention of focusing on the PRESENT while continuing to engage with Retributive Justice mechanisms that focus on the PAST, is not known.

The title of the 2018 Act states:

“AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE OFFICE FOR

REPARATIONS; TO IDENTIFY AGGRIEVED PERSONS ELIGIBLE FOR

REPARATIONS, AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE PROVISION OF INDIVIDUAL

AND COLLECTIVE REPARATIONS TO SUCH PERSONS…”;

Its Vision is: “To create Reconciliation among Nationalities and ensure Human Rights through Economic and Social Prosperity”.

Its Objectives are:

1. To formulate and recommend to the Cabinet of Ministers, policies on reparations to grant individual and collective reparations to aggrieved persons.

2. To facilitate and implement such policies on reparations as approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, by the office for Reparations, including specialised policies on public education, memorialisation and on children, youths, women and victims of sexual violence and persons with disabilities.

3. To establish links to ensure the compatibility of the office for reparations with other mechanisms aimed at reconciliation.

4. To monitor and evaluate the progress of delivery of reparations to eligible aggrieved persons

GRANTS TO FAMILIES OF MISSING PERSONS

“The (OR) makes monetary grants to victims of conflict as a form of reparations. The focus of the OR is to assist aggrieved persons (victims) in ways that will provide meaningful assistance that is sustainable. Hence, the grant is not intended to serve as compensation but is given as a form of monetary relief. Families of missing persons are included in Livelihood development programmes, with particular focus on women who are heads of households”.

“Families of missing persons are among those to whom monetary grants are made by the OR on receipt of confirmation from the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) that the person is in fact missing. In terms of section 11(a) of the OR Act No. 34 of 2018, the OR is empowered to “receive recommendations with regard to reparations to be made to aggrieved persons, from the Office on Missing Persons.”

“Since the year 2022, the OR has received recommendations from the OMP to make payments to claimants in respect of a family member who they confirm are missing, after the conduct of an inquiry by the OMP into complaints made to the OMP by the family member (a claimant). The sum granted is Rs. 200,000/= per missing person, and is the same as the sum granted to applicants who make direct requests to the OR for monetary relief on the basis of the death of a family member”.

The three-step procedure followed by the OR on receiving the recommendation from the OMP is as follows-

STEP 1- OBTAINING INFORMATION FROM FAMILY:

“The letter received from the OMP confirms that the person named therein is reported missing, based on documents produced to the OMP, and recommends that a payment be made to the complainant named therein.

The information in the letter is sometimes inadequate to affirm the identity of the missing person and ascertain whether any previous grants have already been made to the family of that person on a direct application made to the OR. Hence the OR proceeds to obtain necessary information from the OMP and/or the complainant regarding – (1) the identity of the claimant and the missing person (Name, address, NIC number if available), to check from the OR information system whether a payment has been made previously and (2) the Bank Account to which the grant money should be remitted.

Where appropriate, the OR requests an affidavit from the claimant to state that no member of the family has previously received any payment on account of the death of that family member. A template of the Affidavit is provided by the OR”.

STEP 2 –

Processing the claim on receiving information.

STEP 3 –

Remittance of grant money to claimant.

CONCLUSION

With the conclusion of the Armed Conflict in Sri Lanka in May 2009, the approach to Reconciliation recommended Internationally, by the UNHRC, and by some Sri Lankans, was to address accountability for violations committed during and after the conflict through mechanisms of Retributive Justice that involve investigations, evidence gathering followed by prosecution. Over the years, Sri Lanka has laboured under these pressures without any meaningful outcomes as far as Reconciliation is concerned. This has been the experience with other countries as well.

The primary reason for this being the inability to gather credible evidence associated with violations committed over the PAST 16 to 30 years for Reconciliation to be meaningful. Furthermore, since the process is time consuming, the impression created is that no Government is serious about Reconciliation. This has left the survivors of all communities frustrated and disappointed in respect of their emotional and physical aspects of living in the PRESENT.

In the meantime, Sri Lanka set up the Office for Reparations (OR) and Office on Missing Persons (OMP) in 2018. Over the last seven years, these Offices have been working in the shadows, focusing on the physical needs and priorities of the survivors with a focus on the PRESENT and not on the PAST. This enables visible and tangible benefits to the survivors which is far more meaningful to their daily physical living with feedbacks to their emotional wellbeing, as well, than attempting to uncover the TRUTH of what took place decades ago. However, the need to expand the mandate of the OR to cover the development of Policies that address the causes that initiated the conflict is imperative.

Hence, the present Government should make the expanded Objectives of the OR the theme of their model for Reconciliation because the relevance of the PRESENT has its roots in meditation that promotes living in the PRESENT as being the most rewarding for human wellbeing. This model should first be discussed with a representative group of communities in Sri Lanka followed by first presenting it to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, during his visit to Sri Lanka, and then to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva as a Resolution for acceptance.

by Neville Ladduwahetty

Features

Unique mashup cover…

Published

24 hours ago

2025/06/17

Sahan Weerasooriya

Mayuka Aparnatha may not be seen and heard in all parts of the country, performing live on stage, but he is certainly a star on social media, and has done modelling, as well – both ramp and photographic.

His preference, at the moment, he says, is to work on cover songs, adding that he does his covers with a touch of his own.

His latest song is titled ‘Asai Mannam’ and it has just been released. It is his fourth cover and also marks his first-ever mashup.

According to Mayuka, ‘Asai Mannam’ is a unique Sinhalese interpretation of the South Indian hit ‘Asa Kooda’ by Sai Abhyankkar and Sai Smriti.

“I consider this cover special because it’s a mashup with the song ‘Ma Diha’ by Dilu Beats. To my knowledge, this is the first-ever Sinhala cover of ‘Asa Kooda.’”

Mayuka’s musical journey began when he was very young.

Mayuka in action in the ‘Asai Mannam’ video

“Coming from a musical family, where my grandparents were involved in stage and drama, I naturally gravitated toward singing. I took part in inter-school competitions, as a child, and was fortunate to win a few. It has always been my dream to become a singer.”

Mayuka says he received formal training at KK Music, adding that he began making his music by starting with cover songs on YouTube.

Prior to ‘Asai Mannam,’ he has released three other covers, which are also available on his YouTube channel – MAYUKA.

Of course, one would say that the turning point in his musical career was when he participated in The Voice Sri Lanka, aired on Sirasa TV, and competed under Coach Raini’s team. He progressed until the battle rounds.

“Being a part of that show was a dream come true and something I can proudly tick off my bucket list.”

Mayuka went on to say that creating this official cover and music video of ‘Asai Mannam’ has been a rewarding experience.

“Music has always helped me through emotional and mental challenges, and I sincerely hope my songs can do the same for others, whether by healing, comforting, or simply bringing joy.”

Says Mayuka: “I’m deeply grateful to everyone who has supported me so far. I hope those who resonate with my style will continue to listen, and I look forward to sharing more music with you in the future.

“I’m also incredibly grateful to be featured in The Island newspaper. Thank you so much for the support.”