Features

Fiddling while the nation burns

Published

3 years ago

2023/05/21

by Dr F E Dias

Section 365A of Sri Lanka’s Penal Code criminalises “any act of gross indecency” between persons. One would have imagined that it would be a grave and substantial challenge for a reasonable person to justify that acts of gross indecency and carnal intercourse against the order of nature, should be declared human rights, and be sanctioned, endorsed and celebrated.

UN CEDAW

On February 21, 2022, the notorious CEDAW committee of the UN, a battery of unelected radical feminists who issue recommendations to governments of the developing world as if they had the authority to mandate, decided that the sovereign nation of Sri Lanka should repeal 365A and endorse and encourage lesbianism together with other ingredients in the alphabet soup. They even decreed inter alia that the government should provide training to the nation’s law enforcement agencies regarding the normalization of homosexual activity inclusive of bisexualism, even tagging transgenderism into the melée.

On August 24, 2022, MP Premanath Dolawatta submitted a private member’s bill to parliament seeking to amend the penal code in order to legalise sodomy among youth who have reached their 16th birthday, and adults, as long as it was consensual, and between humans. A concession was provided that the provision on bestiality will remain unchanged, although the reasoning for justifiying homosexuality can be likewise applied to justify bestiality.

It was deemed that Sri Lankans have “an extremely backward notion” regarding deviant sexual behaviour – id est it is queer not to be queer. “Modern psychiatry” was said not consider sodomy to be perverted, and that the perversity of sodomy was a Victorian and colonial remnant – perhaps expecting that the populace will acquiesce to institutionalisation of queerness since they no longer desire empire. While it was activism rather than integrity that removed ego-syntonic homosexuality from the manual of mental disorders, and the mental health of the perpetrator does not determine the perversity of the act, irrelevant arguments and unsound reasoning cloak the reality that these attempts at transmogrification of Sri Lankan culture is in fact subordination to neocolonialism.

US President Biden has stated that LGBT “rights” are core to US foreign policy, and the US is the largest donor to the United Nations. Freshly returned from Davos, the president of bankrupt Sri Lanka which is on its knees before the IMF, stated that the Government will not oppose the Dolawatta bill.

UN HRC

The national report obsequiously submitted in late 2022 for review by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council’s Working Group during its 42nd session held in Geneva, indicated the Sri Lankan government’s keen desire to conform to the LGBTIQ+ ideologies, even mentioning the prevalence of a legal gender recognition certificate that could be obtained in three to five days by “transgender” persons. When men obtain this legal certification that they are, for example, women, they could with impunity enter female washrooms and shower cubicles – and compete against real women in sports. Anyone who objects, let alone resists this insanity will be accused and perhaps penalized for harassment, discrimination and all else that is whined about.

The Working Group of UN bureaucrats, some from the wealthy countries and others from Latvia, Costa Rica, Czechia and Uruguay, issued a report on February 1 resolving that the sovereign nation of Sri Lanka should repeal section 365 and 365A, and normalize not only LGB and T but also I, Q, and the even more vague “+”, that encompasses all conceivable “genders”, “gender identities” and sexual orientations – including paedophilia.

The representative from Chile required Sri Lanka to ensure the legal prevention of persons with homosexual inclinations from seeking and receiving rehabilitation or therapy, thus providing clarity to their objectives which is not the well being of individuals struggling with unnatural desires, but the propagation of a culture of vice. The directives from the UN HRC if pursued would logically lead to the position where it would be illegal for a kleptomaniac to seek remedy, and illegal for a therapist to provide treatment to cure his disordered propensities – and our government would repeal the penal codes concerning theft because the apparatchiks of a supranational organization seeking global government mandates it.

The Fifth Column

Activists such as Ambika Satkunanathan state that “progressive” values associated unnatural and obscene acts related to sodomy and gender dysphoria being put into the educational curriculum of the state’s children would be a high priority, and indicated that textbooks could be changed even prior to the sanctioning of grossly indecent carnal acts by law. She also stated honestly that the legislative proposal at hand is merely a “small step” in the journey into establishing in this nation what would be a polychromatic dystopia. While it will be commendable to treat each human being with respect and dignity since they are human beings, it does not imply that all human acts, lifestyles and lusts need likewise to be respected, since there is a distinction to be made between the sinner and the sin. Those inflicted with tuberculosis need to be loved and protected, and not made afraid or harassed, but this does not require the national repeal of the BCG.

A petition was filed in April 2023 for the sake of protecting decency by Jehan Hameed, Shenali Waduge and Athula De Silva, pointing out the unconstitutionality of the proposed bill of MP Dolawatte, stressing on the scandalization of the nation’s children when their elders betray them, and the escalation of sexually transmitted disease especially involving viruses received anally from one man who passes it on anally to another.

A flurry of intervening petitions was subsequently submitted in support of decriminalising acts of gross indecency, many petitioners being ex-officio radicals already long in the tooth. Some of the persons who support the promotion of homosexuality ironically are associated with Saving Children, Child Protection and Child Rights. Less surprisingly, others are passionate promoters of abortion and have decades of experience in lobbying for the abortion of Sri Lanka’s children, often in association with foreign-funded NGOs. The local arm of the global abortion business International Planned Parenthood Association, namely the SL Family Planning Association which for years have inter alia been corrupting the nations’ youth, subtly encouraging promiscuity with the promise of the availability of abortifacient drugs and devices to flush out the consequences, is another intervening petitioner. HIV services are also in the fray, since without homosexuality, HIV services will cease to be required.

Roots and Reasoning

While it is understood that international pressure, money and pride are decisive forces driving this agenda, the reasoning put forward for propagating LGB, T and other diverse concepts collectively, and the associated assault on the virtue of self-restraint, traditional marriage and the natural family, deserves scrutiny. While proposed variously and emotionally, the underlying rationale is the alleged discrimination, harassment and fear of violence felt by persons self-identifying under one or more of the letters of the rainbow. It is of the essence to recognize that the deception occurs via conflation of genuine problems, with the justification of the lifestyle – while its raw reality, inevitable consequences and ultimate objectives are camouflaged.

Let us consider a thief, practicing or non-practicing, having an inclination to theft or devoid of it, as long as thief is her identity. Suppose she goes to a bank and is harassed by the teller, and discriminated against by the manager, and made afraid by the cashier. The fitting course of action would be first to investigate whether these were her unfounded perceptions, whether incidents occurred and if so whether they were intentional. It would subsequently be necessary to find out the causes for these incidents, and whether they were related to the black and white horizontal stripes on the thief’s top, whether she insinuated deviously that the cashier issued one note less when he didn’t, whether the manager tried to over-charge her for the cheque-book for personal gain, or if the security officer at the exit didn’t open the door for her as was expected simply because he was lazy.

Whether her wallet was forcibly examined, and whether she refrained from complaining to the GM due to self-doubt regarding receipt of fair treatment on account of her thief-like garb and demeanour or for other unrelated reasons, wrongs done need to be rectified, and the nation and its institutions already have sufficient laws and rules to deal with it. If these laws are not enforced, then non-enforcement is the problem, not the law. While it is acceptable that every citizen should be treated equally by the law, it would be ridiculous to make theft legal on account of thieves’ feelings of vulnerability. Even more ridiculous would it be, if not only theft, but also laundering, pilfering, misappropriation, burglary, smuggling, and even “+” were to be legalized, and children’s school text books were amended to portray the goodness of LPMBS+ as a “small step” in the journey towards equality.

Deceit

The reason to normalize sodomy, as a first “small step” is not for the reason of enabling homosexuals to proceed with their lifestyle – which they already are doing, nor for the protection and care of individuals suffering from various deviant sexual inclinations who may seek a safe and understanding environment to proceed with their conversion or rehabilitation. It is evident that individuals having unnatural sexual inclinations, and who choose to indulge in them, cannot be penalized as long as they commit their sins in private. The victim of any action, not only sodomic, when coerced or brought about through “threat of unlawful detention”, “fear of death or hurt”, or when consent has been obtained via the “use of force, or intimidation” has protection through law already, so stressing on the consensuality of unnatural acts as justification for legalizing gross indecency would make little difference to extant private practitioners – and is irrational as a basis for amending the code.

Rather, decriminalization and subsequent efforts at “equality” for the entire ideological LGBTIQ+ spectrum is to enable propagation permeation proliferation empowerment and inculturation of its philosophy and lifestyle, that would even eventually legally enable the penalization of efforts to protect natural marriage, to affirm the natural family and to prevent scandal in society so that civilizational demise may proceed unhindered. The abortion mongers, the geriatric feminists and anti-life and anti-family NGOs and activists backed by their international patrons seek to change the law in order to change culture, and with culture to change our children, and thereby change the nation’s future.

Dystopia

Apart from homosexuality becoming more evident in society and homosexual displays becoming commonplace consequent to its approbation, sodomic marriages will be sought, since it would not be equality if a man may marry a woman, but not a another man, and vice versa. It will be harassment and violation of alleged human rights if three or four may not be wedded together, if two could, and the possibility of a dog being thrown into this communion is not remote or unrealistic. Caterers or hospitality providers who do not wish to provide services on such occasions on matters of principle will face litigation and a threat to their business since they would need to treat all customers equally, especially those categorized as oppressed.

Further when all colours of the rainbow are legal and equal, it will be necessary to extend the already fashionable and irrational gender equality practices to more than women. Presently companies are bending over backwards with diversity-hiring and -promoting in order to have parities in positions of power, and currently women are breaking ceilings and making news, and quotas are being legislated for them.

To ensure equality and to break the bias against all “genders” there will consequently arise requirements to eliminate under-representation of homosexuals and other “genders” on the boards and in the leadership of all institutions, since that would be “gender equality”. Naturally, a significant proportion of the population will be inclined to identify into these expanded privileged categories to obtain status, positions, and scholarships that they could not have achieved were they grounded on competency, and the beta males can transition into women to fill the women’s quotas in power positions.

The legal transgender certificate will enable a woman certified as a legal man to pray among the men in a mosque, and “mother” and “father” could be words found to be offensive and replaceable by parent 1, parent 2, and even 3, 4, 5 as the case may be, since equality requires that “throuples” may have children, even if they cannot beget them. These are but the tip of the “decriminalize homosexuality” and “LGBTQI+ equality” project. And what is mentioned is not the outpouring of a deluded imagination but examples of actualities in nations that followed the rainbow and found a can of worms at the end of it.

Silence is Assent

What the United Nations Organisation, its committees, the NGOs, and the local activists and special rapporteurs have been working on for decades, sustained by the billions of dollars from their patrons, is a redefinition of values. Chastity among the young, and life-long marriage between a man and a woman who are open to fruitfulness and are faithful to each other, are the essence of strong natural families – which are the fundamental units of society and the bedrock of a stable and thriving culture. The demeaning of marriage, the corruption of youth, and the destruction of the natural family are the means through which nations are weakened and made vulnerable to control.

Uganda, under similar attack from activists in NGOs and Western governments pushing the LGBT agenda, has taken a courageous stand. President Museveni says he has “rejected the pressure from the imperialists”. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the State of the Nation address on February 18th declared that gender propaganda is the greatest threat stalking a nation’s children. In April 2023, at the UN’s Commission on Population and Development conference, 22 nations resisted their colleagues from the Western countries and defeated the Biden administration’s attempt to include LBGT education for children, under the far broader scope of the euphemistic “comprehensive sexuality education” in the resolution document of the 56th session. And yet, will Sri Lanka sing and dance as society and culture takes the next leap headlong and happily into self-disintegration? This is the conflagration of civilisation, albeit in a kaleidoscopic inferno.

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Related Topics:Ambika Satkunanathan CEDAW Premanath Dolawatta

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Features

More state support needed for marginalised communities

Published

2 days 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

3 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

3 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.