Features

D. R Wijewardene 1886-1950, newspaper baron and all time great in the struggle for Independence

Published

2 years ago

2023/12/24

Thilina Walpola

CHIEFS AND FRIENDS

(Excerpted from Selected Journalism by HAJ Hulugalle)

Don Richard Wijewardene was one of the formative influences of our times. Had he died in his early youth, the history of Ceylon during the past 30 years might well have been different. He was not merely a powerful newspaper proprietor, though to be one was a considerable achievement as never before had a Ceylonese succeeded in establishing a newspaper on a sound business foundation.

Lorenz tried with the “Examiner.” Hector Van Cuylenberg with the “Independent,” the de Soysa family with the “Standard” and the “Morning Leader” and Sir P. Ramanathan and the Jayewardene brothers with the “Ceylonese.” Each of them had some measure of success but none on the same scale and of the duration of Wijewardene’s great enterprise.

D. R. Wijewardene was first and last a patriot. It was the love of his country which led him to prepare, as a student in England, for his life’s work. It was his realization that the struggle for independence was the one most worthy of a wealthy young man’s energies that guided him to politics. Although he possessed a strong personality he had not sufficient confidence in his ability to excel in debate or sway crowds by power of speech. He chose the far more effective method of influencing men by establishing newspapers, among the best in Asia and published in the national languages as well as in English.

He was the third son in a family of nine and was born at Sedawatte, where his father, the late Muhandiram D.P. Wijewardene, a wealthy merchant and contractor, lived within easy reach of Colombo, where he had a very successful business. Richard Wijewardene was educated at St. Thomas’ College when Read was Warden and the Rev. G. A. H. Arndt was Sub-Warden. His teachers included Swinburne, Meynert, J. S. H. Edirisinghe, C V_ Pereira and E. Navaratnam. Among his contemporaries were D. S. Senanayake and Francis Molamure.

From St. Thomas’, Wejewardene went to Peterhouse, Cambridge. He has told us that it was in his undergraduate days at Cambridge that his interest in politics began. “There was a wave of unrest in India, as a result of Lord Curzon’s action in partitioning Bengal, and prominent Indian leaders came over to England and addressed meetings to enlighten the British public on the situation in their country.

Among them there was Lala Lajpat Rai, a great nationalist and scholar, who had been deported under an obsolete law. Bepin Chandra Pal and Surendranath Banerji, generally known as the silver-tongued orator of Bengal, drew large audiences.

There came to England also Mr. Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a member of the Imperial Legislative Council, a statesman who made great sacrifices in the service of his country. He impressed on me that every educated young man, Indian or Ceylonese, had a part to play in the public life of his country and must be prepared to make sacrifices for his country’s welfare.

I met Gokhale often at the National Liberal Club and had many long and interesting talks with him on political questions of the day. He asked me to accompany him on his great mission to South Africa as one of his secretaries. To my great regret I was not able to accept the invitation.”

Wijewardene’s friend and mentor during his student life in England was F. H. M. Corbet, an influential barrister with Ceylon connections. Among those who worked in Corbet’s chambers at the time, and whom Wijewardene met frequently, were Patrick Hastings, later to become Attorney-General of England and Brooke Eliott, who practised in Ceylon and Madras. Corbet had many friends in the House of Commons and showed him the ropes “in the delicate task of interesting Members of Parliament in the domestic affairs of a Crown Colony.”

Wijewardene organized the first Reforms deputation to be received by Colonel Seely (afterwards Lord Mottistone) on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Marquis of Crewe. The deputation was led by Mr. H. J. C. Pereira K. C., and included Mr. E.W. Perera. Wijewardene organized a second deputation two years later, this time to meet Mr. Lewis Harcourt, the Secretary of State. He induced Sir Baron Jayatilaka and Sir Marcus Fernando to join it.

On his return to the Island from the exhilarating atmosphere of British politics, Wijewardene found local conflicts distinctly parochial. He was not interested in a career at the Bar, but to Hultsdorp he went because it was there that all political movements were set afoot. Ponnambalam Ramanathan and James Peiris had retired from the Bar but H. J. C. Pereira, Hector Jayewardene, E.J. Samarawickrame, Francis de Zoysa, R. L. Pereira, E. W. Perera, D. B. Jayatilaka, and younger men like E. T. de Silva and M. A. Arulanandam, were knocking at the door of the political arena. But there was only one seat in the legislature to which they could have aspired, the so called Educated Ceylonese Seat, to which Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan had been elected.

The riots in 1915 were suppressed in a brutal manner and political agitation was prohibited by a strict censorship. As soon as this was relaxed D. R. Wijewardene, who had resigned his commission in the Ceylon Light Infantry, re-organized the Ceylon National Association. He persuaded Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam who had retired from the Civil Service to deliver an address on “Our Political Needs.

” The outcome of this was the formation of the Ceylon Reform League, formed for the purpose of putting forward the case for a substantial measure of responsible government for Ceylon. D. R. Wijewardene was joint Secretary of the League with W. A. de Silva. The Ceylon National Congress was formed the next year under the presidentship of Sir P. Arunachalam.

Wijewardene also helped Arunachalam and James Peiris to organize the Ceylon Social Service League and was one of its joint secretaries. He had so impressed the older politicians by his remarkable grasp of current affairs and organizing capacity that he was always in the inner councils of the Reform movement. On one occasion Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam wound up his presidential address to the National Congress with a tribute to Mr. Wijewardene who, he said, always worked quietly “like a process of nature.”

D. R. Wijewardene’s major contribution was the moulding of public opinion through the highly successful newspapers he conducted. Their success was due not only to business ability and political knowledge but even in greater measure to a flair for journalism. Although he had never been a reporter or political correspondent he was always the best news-gatherer of his papers. Though he very rarely put pen to paper, the columnists and leader-writers were inspired and encouraged by his uncanny gift of reading the public mind. One of his staff would sometimes feel that the public would not stand for the line taken by him on some controversial issue but “The Chief’ was usually proved correct.

D. R. Wijewardene’s interest in journalism was stimulated by daily reading of the London “Daily News” then edited by A. G. Gardiner. Among the regular contributors to that paper were Arnold Bennet, G. K. Chesterton, Spencer Leigh Hughes and Charles Masterman. When he founded a newspaper himself, Wijewardene called it the “Ceylon Daily News.” In the meantime he owned a half share in a Sinhalese newspaper called the “Dinamina” published from Norris Road in which D. B. (later Sir Baron) Jayatilaka wrote most of the editorials.

The “Ceylon Daily News” was and remains the keystone of the edifice which Wijewardene built up. Writing on its twenty-fifth birthday, the late Orion de Zylva, one of its brilliant staff, wrote:

“When the ‘Daily News’ was published on January 3, 1918, certain ideals were aimed at. To turn these ideals into a deed required in the doer a spirit of determination and high adventure.

“The way of Ceylonese journalism up to that time was for the most part crazy-paved with broken fortunes and shattered hopes. To make the prospect even more discouraging the “Ceylonese,” launched a few years earlier by a group of able and patriotic men with a confidence sustained by hope, had only recently failed. But Mr. Wijewardene was not deterred by these unhappy omens. Purchasing the plant and machinery of the “Ceylonese” and engaging the services of some of its staff and other competent assistants he boldly started the enterprise he had planned and which his powers of organization were to develop into a mighty force for the country’s good.

“In achieving this, he proved that any person possessed of perseverance and drive and fired by an intense desire to attain an ideal could not only command success in business but that he could make a success of a business of the most intricate and complicated kind involved in the running of several newspapers.

“To Mr. Wijewardene’s everlasting credit let it be remembered that he dared and executed what was nothing less than a constructive revolution in journalism such as it had been up to the time he entered the field. The “Daily News” was to be a newspaper with a soul. Though with convictions and opinions of its own, it was to give a fair show always to other convictions and opinions. It was meant to appeal to all thoughtful men and women anxious for the country’s welfare and advancement irrespective of race or creed.”

D. R. Wijewardene bought the assets of the “Ceylonese” for Rs. 20,000. He bought the “Ceylon Observer” and Ferguson’s Directory for a lakh and twenty thousand rupees from a syndicate financed by the late W. H. Figg and representing the European Association.

He leaves a group of half a dozen newspapers, in a palatial home equipped as well as any newspaper organization in the East and giving to the readers daily in all the languages of the country “all the news that’s fit toprint,” independent views, a valuable medium of culture and an indispensable arena of public debate. For 30 years he gave himself up fiercely and wholeheartedly to the exacting business of conducting these journals.

At the start there were many financial and other problems. The “Daily News”first came to life under the shadow of a war censorship. Paper was difficult to get and shipments were uncertain owing to the German submarine campaign. There were already two other English morning newspapers in the field and the editor of one of them, the late Armand de Souza, a redoubtable journalist, was then in his prime. Wijewardene took the bold step of cutting the price of the “Daily News” to five cents when the rival papers were charging ten cents.

The older proprietors and editors did not encourage special articles from outside contributors. Wijewardene did so. Leading men in every walk of life took pride and pleasure in writing for the paper. Contracts were made with well-known English publicists fora regular flow of articles into its columns. Reuters were pressed and paid to improve their services and the London office of the paper was strengthened both from the business and editorial angles. Sir Baron Jayatilaka introduced Frederick Grubb who became London correspondent for 15 years.

Development of the newspaper enterprise meant investment of large sums of money. There was no Bank of Ceylon then and some of the European banks would not lend without the guarantee of a shroff. Wijewardene had often to mortgage his private property to finance the business. The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited, was incorporated after the “Observer” was purchased and the new building was put up at a cost of two lakhs – nowadays a trifling sum – raised by a debenture issue. There were anxious times as during the great depression when advertising revenue sank to small proportions.

Wijewardene was a good judge of men and did not, unfortunately, suffer fools gladly. This and his success sometimes gave him a reputation for arrogance. But it was his natural shyness and dislike of the limelight which made him something of a man of mystery, a “dens ex machine.” He always had loyal workers, men who were ready to be driven hard because they respected his integrity and devotion to duty.

S.J.K. Crowther, whom he had known in England, joined him in 1919 as editor of the “Daily News” and continued in that position until 1931. The partnership was a happy and fruitful one and helped to lay the solid foundations on which the paper stands. But no man worked harder than Wijewardene himself. Even after he bought his delightful house in Diyatalawa he found little time for relaxation and those who went up with him for the week-end were always aware that he had not left his worries behind.

His cares and anxieties were of various kinds and he seemed to enjoy them as some people enjoy a drug. He was always bothered about public affairs and kept in touch with them by telephoning his few political friends. He was a student all his life and was constantly digging into official publications to discover subjects for editorials. He had a habit of extracting information about various matters from persons he met at weddings, funerals or in the course of his walks round Victoria Park. Whatever the question under public controversy, he had a reliable informant who gave him the background.

He was sometimes misinformed, but was never afraid to form an independent opinion regardless of personal relationships. Part of the reasons for the life of a recluse he led was that he tried to be free from influences which might sway him from the path of duty as a newspaper man. As a politician he had been brought up as a liberal with strong radical leanings, and this he remained to the last. When Ceylon got her independence the Prime Minister paid a well-deserved tribute to him as one of the architects of the country’s freedom.

Wijewardene was incapable of disconnecting from the switchboard of a newspaper’s ramifications. He would sometimes get up from the dinner table and go to the telephone to make a suggestion to an editor or to inquire from a sub-editor whether an important speech in the legislature had been adequately reported. He was an exceptionally able businessman and gave the major part of his working hours to the dull details of the counting house but his chief interest in journalism was news and the moulding of opinion.

For a conscientious proprietor a newspaper is not an understanding spouse but a jealous mistress. Lord Beaverbrook, who did not work half as hard as Wijewardene has written: “The business of producing a newspaper requires a type of mind which is very rare indeed. You Must he ready to put your whole heart and soul, your stomach, your liver, your whole anatomy, into a task which will appear most of the time to be dangerously stimulating and occasionally positively revolting.” (Millionaires and their Newspapers – Humbug and Ignorance)

It is not Lake House that will be a monument to the life of D.R. Wijewardene. The enduring monument will be his contribution to the building of the nation. He was not a man without faults. He was not often prepared to see the other side of a question. He was not always tolerant. He was frequently too preoccupied with his own problems to give a thought to the problems of even his nearest colleagues.

He relaxed so rarely that he had almost driven laughter out of his life until his health broke down and he was compelled to abandon his work. But at heart he was a kindly man. It is possible that he regretted nothing more in his later years than the hours he stole from his home and his friends and sacrificed to his business. He loved books, pictures, trees and flowers, but he denied himself of the pleasures they give. There is no respite for mortal creatures. Even a noble achievement must be paid for. By the death of D. R. Wijewardene, six years short of the Psalmist’s span, Ceylon loses one of its few great men.

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Related Topics:D S Senanayake D.R.Wijewardene Morning Leader

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Features

More state support needed for marginalised communities

Published

1 day ago

2026/02/13

Thilina Walpola

A landslide in the Central Province

Message from Malaiyaha Tamil community to govt:

Insights from SSA Cyclone Ditwah Survey

When climate disasters strike, they don’t affect everyone equally. Marginalised communities typically face worse outcomes, and Cyclone Ditwah is no exception. Especially in a context where normalcy is far from “normal”, the idea of returning to normalcy or restoring a life of normalcy makes very little sense.

The island-wide survey (https://ssalanka.org/reports/) conducted by the Social Scientists’ Association (SSA), between early to mid-January on Cyclone Ditwah shows stark regional disparities in how satisfied or dissatisfied people were with the government’s response. While national satisfaction levels were relatively high in most provinces, the Central Province tells a different story.

Only 35.2% of Central Province residents reported that they were satisfied with early warning and evacuation measures, compared to 52.2% nationally. The gap continues across every measure: just 52.9% were satisfied with immediate rescue and emergency response, compared with the national figure of 74.6%. Satisfaction with relief distribution in the Central Province is 51.9% while the national figure stands at 73.1%. The figures for restoration of water, electricity, and roads are at a low 45.9% in the central province compared to the 70.9% in national figures. Similarly, the satisfaction level for recovery and rebuilding support is 48.7% in the Central Province, while the national figure is 67.0%.

A deeper analysis of the SSA data on public perceptions reveals something important: these lower satisfaction rates came primarily from the Malaiyaha Tamil population. Their experience differed not just from other provinces, but also from other ethnic groups living in the Central Province itself.

The Malaiyaha Tamil community’s vulnerability didn’t start with the cyclone. Their vulnerability is a historically and structurally pre-determined process of exclusion and marginalisation. Brought to Sri Lanka during British rule to work for the empire’s plantation economies, they have faced long-term economic exploitation and have repeatedly been denied access to state support and social welfare systems. Most estate residents still live in ‘line rooms’ and have no rights to the land they cultivate and live on. The community continues to be governed by an outdated estate management system that acts as a barrier to accessing public and municipal services such as road repair, water, electricity and other basic infrastructures available to other citizens.

As far as access to improved water sources is concerned, the Sri Lanka Demographic Health Survey (2016) shows that 57% of estate sector households don’t have access to improved water sources, while more than 90% of households in urban and rural areas do. With regard to the level of poverty, as the Department of Census and Statistics (2019) data reveals, the estate sector where most Malaiyaha Tamils live had a poverty headcount index of 33.8%; more than double the national rate of 14.3%. These statistics highlight key indicators of the systemic discrimination faced by the Malaiyaha Tamil community.

Some crucial observations from the SSA data collectors who enumerated responses from estate residents in the survey reveal the specific challenges faced by the Malaiyaha Tamils, particularly in their efforts to seek state support for compensation and reconstruction.

First, the Central Province experienced not just flooding but also the highest number of landslides in the island. As a result, some residents in the region lost entire homes, access roadways, and other basic infrastructures. The loss of lives, livelihoods and land was at a higher intensity compared to the provinces not located in the hills. Most importantly, the Malaiyaha Tamil community’s pre-existing grievances made them even more vulnerable and the government’s job of reparation and restitution more complex.

Early warnings hadn’t reached many areas. Some data collectors said they themselves never heard any warnings in estate areas, while others mentioned that early warnings were issued but didn’t reach some segments of the community. According to the resident data collectors, the police announcements reached only as far as the sections where they were able to drive their vehicles to, and there were many estate roads that were not motorable. When warnings did filter through to remote locations, they often came by word of mouth and information was distorted along the way. Once the disaster hit, things got worse: roads were blocked, electricity went out, mobile networks failed and people were cut off completely.

Emergency response was slow. Blocked roads meant people could not get to hospitals when they needed urgent care, including pregnant mothers. The difficult terrain and poor road conditions meant rescue teams took much longer to reach affected areas than in other regions.

Relief supplies didn’t reach everyone. The Grama Niladhari divisions in these areas are huge and hard to navigate, making it difficult for Grama Niladharis to reach all places as urgently as needed. Relief workers distributed supplies where vehicles could go, which meant accessible areas got help while remote communities were left out.

Some people didn’t even try to go to safety centres or evacuation shelters set up in local schools because the facilities there were already so poor. The perceptions of people who did go to safety centres, as shown in the provincial data, reveal that satisfaction was low compared to other affected regions of the country. Less than half were satisfied with space and facilities (42.1%) or security and protection (45.0%). Satisfaction was even lower for assistance with lost or damaged documentation (17.9%) and information and support for compensation applications (28.2%). Only 22.5% were satisfied with medical care and health services below most other affected regions.

Restoring services proved nearly impossible in some areas. Road access was the biggest problem. The condition of the roads was already poor even before the cyclone, and some still haven’t been cleared. Recovery is especially difficult because there’s no decent baseline infrastructure to restore, hence you can’t bring roads and other public facilities back to a “good” condition when they were never good, even before the disaster.

Water systems faced their own complications. Many households get water from natural sources or small community projects, and not the centralised state system. These sources are often in the middle of the disaster zone and therefore got contaminated during the floods and landslides.

Long-term recovery remains stalled. Without basic infrastructure, areas that are still hard to reach keep struggling to get the support they need for rebuilding.

Taken together, what do these testaments mean? Disaster response can’t be the same for everyone. The Malaiyaha Tamil community has been double marginalised because they were already living with structural inequalities such as poor infrastructure, geographic isolation, and inadequate services which have been exacerbated by Cyclone Ditwah. An effective and fair disaster response needs to account for these underlying vulnerabilities. It requires interventions tailored to the historical, economic, and infrastructural realities that marginalized communities face every day. On top of that, it highlights the importance of dealing with climate disasters, given the fact that vulnerable communities could face more devastating impacts compared to others.

(Shashik Silva is a researcher with the Social Scientists’ Association of Sri Lanka)

by Shashik Silva ✍️

Features

Crucial test for religious and ethnic harmony in Bangladesh

Published

2 days ago

2026/02/12

Sahan Weerasooriya

A political protest that led to governmental change in Bangladesh mid last year. (photograph: imago)

Will the Bangladesh parliamentary election bring into being a government that will ensure ethnic and religious harmony in the country? This is the poser on the lips of peace-loving sections in Bangladesh and a principal concern of those outside who mean the country well.

The apprehensions are mainly on the part of religious and ethnic minorities. The parliamentary poll of February 12th is expected to bring into existence a government headed by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Islamist oriented Jamaat-e-Islami party and this is where the rub is. If these parties win, will it be a case of Bangladesh sliding in the direction of a theocracy or a state where majoritarian chauvinism thrives?

Chief of the Jamaat, Shafiqur Rahman, who was interviewed by sections of the international media recently said that there is no need for minority groups in Bangladesh to have the above fears. He assured, essentially, that the state that will come into being will be equable and inclusive. May it be so, is likely to be the wish of those who cherish a tension-free Bangladesh.

The party that could have posed a challenge to the above parties, the Awami League Party of former Prime Minister Hasina Wased, is out of the running on account of a suspension that was imposed on it by the authorities and the mentioned majoritarian-oriented parties are expected to have it easy at the polls.

A positive that has emerged against the backdrop of the poll is that most ordinary people in Bangladesh, be they Muslim or Hindu, are for communal and religious harmony and it is hoped that this sentiment will strongly prevail, going ahead. Interestingly, most of them were of the view, when interviewed, that it was the politicians who sowed the seeds of discord in the country and this viewpoint is widely shared by publics all over the region in respect of the politicians of their countries.

Some sections of the Jamaat party were of the view that matters with regard to the orientation of governance are best left to the incoming parliament to decide on but such opinions will be cold comfort for minority groups. If the parliamentary majority comes to consist of hard line Islamists, for instance, there is nothing to prevent the country from going in for theocratic governance. Consequently, minority group fears over their safety and protection cannot be prevented from spreading.

Therefore, we come back to the question of just and fair governance and whether Bangladesh’s future rulers could ensure these essential conditions of democratic rule. The latter, it is hoped, will be sufficiently perceptive to ascertain that a Bangladesh rife with religious and ethnic tensions, and therefore unstable, would not be in the interests of Bangladesh and those of the region’s countries.

Unfortunately, politicians region-wide fall for the lure of ethnic, religious and linguistic chauvinism. This happens even in the case of politicians who claim to be democratic in orientation. This fate even befell Bangladesh’s Awami League Party, which claims to be democratic and socialist in general outlook.

We have it on the authority of Taslima Nasrin in her ground-breaking novel, ‘Lajja’, that the Awami Party was not of any substantial help to Bangladesh’s Hindus, for example, when violence was unleashed on them by sections of the majority community. In fact some elements in the Awami Party were found to be siding with the Hindus’ murderous persecutors. Such are the temptations of hard line majoritarianism.

In Sri Lanka’s past numerous have been the occasions when even self-professed Leftists and their parties have conveniently fallen in line with Southern nationalist groups with self-interest in mind. The present NPP government in Sri Lanka has been waxing lyrical about fostering national reconciliation and harmony but it is yet to prove its worthiness on this score in practice. The NPP government remains untested material.

As a first step towards national reconciliation it is hoped that Sri Lanka’s present rulers would learn the Tamil language and address the people of the North and East of the country in Tamil and not Sinhala, which most Tamil-speaking people do not understand. We earnestly await official language reforms which afford to Tamil the dignity it deserves.

An acid test awaits Bangladesh as well on the nation-building front. Not only must all forms of chauvinism be shunned by the incoming rulers but a secular, truly democratic Bangladesh awaits being licked into shape. All identity barriers among people need to be abolished and it is this process that is referred to as nation-building.

On the foreign policy frontier, a task of foremost importance for Bangladesh is the need to build bridges of amity with India. If pragmatism is to rule the roost in foreign policy formulation, Bangladesh would place priority to the overcoming of this challenge. The repatriation to Bangladesh of ex-Prime Minister Hasina could emerge as a steep hurdle to bilateral accord but sagacious diplomacy must be used by Bangladesh to get over the problem.

A reply to N.A. de S. Amaratunga

A response has been penned by N.A. de S. Amaratunga (please see p5 of ‘The Island’ of February 6th) to a previous column by me on ‘ India shaping-up as a Swing State’, published in this newspaper on January 29th , but I remain firmly convinced that India remains a foremost democracy and a Swing State in the making.

If the countries of South Asia are to effectively manage ‘murderous terrorism’, particularly of the separatist kind, then they would do well to adopt to the best of their ability a system of government that provides for power decentralization from the centre to the provinces or periphery, as the case may be. This system has stood India in good stead and ought to prove effective in all other states that have fears of disintegration.

Moreover, power decentralization ensures that all communities within a country enjoy some self-governing rights within an overall unitary governance framework. Such power-sharing is a hallmark of democratic governance.

Features

Celebrating Valentine’s Day …

Published

2 days ago

2026/02/12

Sahan Weerasooriya

Valentine’s Day is all about celebrating love, romance, and affection, and this is how some of our well-known personalities plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day – 14th February:

Merlina Fernando (Singer)

Yes, it’s a special day for lovers all over the world and it’s even more special to me because 14th February is the birthday of my husband Suresh, who’s the lead guitarist of my band Mission.

We have planned to celebrate Valentine’s Day and his Birthday together and it will be a wonderful night as always.

We will be having our fans and close friends, on that night, with their loved ones at Highso – City Max hotel Dubai, from 9.00 pm onwards.

Lorensz Francke (Elvis Tribute Artiste)

On Valentine’s Day I will be performing a live concert at a Wealthy Senior Home for Men and Women, and their families will be attending, as well.

I will be performing live with romantic, iconic love songs and my song list would include ‘Can’t Help falling in Love’, ‘Love Me Tender’, ‘Burning Love’, ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight’, ‘The Wonder of You’ and ‘’It’s Now or Never’ to name a few.

To make Valentine’s Day extra special I will give the Home folks red satin scarfs.

Emma Shanaya (Singer)

I plan on spending the day of love with my girls, especially my best friend. I don’t have a romantic Valentine this year but I am thrilled to spend it with the girl that loves me through and through. I’ll be in Colombo and look forward to go to a cute cafe and spend some quality time with my childhood best friend Zulha.

JAYASRI

Emma-and-Maneeka

This Valentine’s Day the band JAYASRI we will be really busy; in the morning we will be landing in Sri Lanka, after our Oman Tour; then in the afternoon we are invited as Chief Guests at our Maris Stella College Sports Meet, Negombo, and late night we will be with LineOne band live in Karandeniya Open Air Down South. Everywhere we will be sharing LOVE with the mass crowds.

Kay Jay (Singer)

I will stay at home and cook a lovely meal for lunch, watch some movies, together with Sanjaya, and, maybe we go out for dinner and have a lovely time. Come to think of it, every day is Valentine’s Day for me with Sanjaya Alles.

Maneka Liyanage (Beauty Tips)

On this special day, I celebrate love by spending meaningful time with the people I cherish. I prepare food with love and share meals together, because food made with love brings hearts closer. I enjoy my leisure time with them — talking, laughing, sharing stories, understanding each other, and creating beautiful memories. My wish for this Valentine’s Day is a world without fighting — a world where we love one another like our own beloved, where we do not hurt others, even through a single word or action. Let us choose kindness, patience, and understanding in everything we do.

Janaka Palapathwala (Singer)

Janaka

Valentine’s Day should not be the only day we speak about love.

From the moment we are born into this world, we seek love, first through the very drop of our mother’s milk, then through the boundless care of our Mother and Father, and the embrace of family.

Love is everywhere. All living beings, even plants, respond in affection when they are loved.

As we grow, we learn to love, and to be loved. One day, that love inspires us to build a new family of our own.

Love has no beginning and no end. It flows through every stage of life, timeless, endless, and eternal.

Natasha Rathnayake (Singer)

We don’t have any special plans for Valentine’s Day. When you’ve been in love with the same person for over 25 years, you realise that love isn’t a performance reserved for one calendar date. My husband and I have never been big on public displays, or grand gestures, on 14th February. Our love is expressed quietly and consistently, in ordinary, uncelebrated moments.

With time, you learn that love isn’t about proving anything to the world or buying into a commercialised idea of romance—flowers that wilt, sweets that spike blood sugar, and gifts that impress briefly but add little real value. In today’s society, marketing often pushes the idea that love is proven by how much money you spend, and that buying things is treated as a sign of commitment.

Real love doesn’t need reminders or price tags. It lives in showing up every day, choosing each other on unromantic days, and nurturing the relationship intentionally and without an audience.

This isn’t a judgment on those who enjoy celebrating Valentine’s Day. It’s simply a personal choice.

Melloney Dassanayake (Miss Universe Sri Lanka 2024)

I truly believe it’s beautiful to have a day specially dedicated to love. But, for me, Valentine’s Day goes far beyond romantic love alone. It celebrates every form of love we hold close to our hearts: the love for family, friends, and that one special person who makes life brighter. While 14th February gives us a moment to pause and celebrate, I always remind myself that love should never be limited to just one day. Every single day should feel like Valentine’s Day – constant reminder to the people we love that they are never alone, that they are valued, and that they matter.

I’m incredibly blessed because, for me, every day feels like Valentine’s Day. My special person makes sure of that through the smallest gestures, the quiet moments, and the simple reminders that love lives in the details. He shows me that it’s the little things that count, and that love doesn’t need grand stages to feel extraordinary. This Valentine’s Day, perfection would be something intimate and meaningful: a cozy picnic in our home garden, surrounded by nature, laughter, and warmth, followed by an abstract drawing session where we let our creativity flow freely. To me, that’s what love is – simple, soulful, expressive, and deeply personal. When love is real, every ordinary moment becomes magical.

Noshin De Silva (Actress)

Valentine’s Day is one of my favourite holidays! I love the décor, the hearts everywhere, the pinks and reds, heart-shaped chocolates, and roses all around. But honestly, I believe every day can be Valentine’s Day.

It doesn’t have to be just about romantic love. It’s a chance to celebrate love in all its forms with friends, family, or even by taking a little time for yourself.

Whether you’re spending the day with someone special or enjoying your own company, it’s a reminder to appreciate meaningful connections, show kindness, and lead with love every day.

And yes, I’m fully on theme this year with heart nail art and heart mehendi design!

Wishing everyone a very happy Valentine’s Day, but, remember, love yourself first, and don’t forget to treat yourself.

Sending my love to all of you.