Features

Minds and Memories picturing 65 years of Sri Lankan Politics and Society

Published

11 months ago

2025/04/13

Group Photo at the Celebration of Life for Kumar David

Last week I made mention of a gathering in Colombo to remember Kumar David, who passed away last October, as Comrade, Professor and Friend. The event was held on Saturday, April 5th, a day of double significance, first as the anniversary of the JVP insurrection on 5th April 1971, and now the occasion of the official welcome extended to visiting Indian Prime Narendra Modi by the still new JVP-NPP government. The venue was the Ecumenical Institute for Study and Dialogue (EISD) on Havelock Road, which has long been a forum for dialogues and discussions of topics ranging from religious ecumenism, Liberation Theology and Marxist politics. Those who gathered to remember Kumar were also drawn from many overlapping social, academic, professional and political circles that intersected Kumar’s life and work at multiple points. Temporally and collectively, the gathering spanned over six decades in the evolution of post-independence Sri Lanka – its politics, society and the economy.

Several spoke and recalled memories, and their contributions covered from what many of us have experienced as Sri Lankans from the early 1960s to the first two and a half decades of the 21st century. The task of moderating the discussion fell to Prof. Vijaya Kumar, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at Peradeniya, who was a longtime friend of Kumar David at the university and a political comrade in the LSSP – especially in the Party’s educational and publication activities.

Vijaya Kumar recalled Kumar David’s contributions not only to Marxist politics but also to the popularization of Science that became a feature in several of KD’s weekly contributions to the Sunday Island and the Colombo Telegraph. Marshal Fernando, former and longtime Director of the EISD welcomed the participants and spoke of Kumar David’s many interactions with the Institute and his unflinching offer of support and advice to its activities. EISD’s current Director, Fr. Jayanath Panditharatne and his staff were extremely helpful.

Rohini David, Kumar’s wife of over 50 years, flew in specially for the occasion from Los Angeles and spoke glowingly of Kumar’s personal life as a husband and a father, and of his generosity for causes that he was committed to, not only political, but also, and more importantly, educational. An interesting nugget revealed by Rohini is the little known fact that Kumar David was actually baptized twice – possibly as a Roman Catholic on his father’s side, and as an Anglican on his mother’s side. Yet he grew to see an altogether different light in all of his adult life. Kumar’s father was Magistrate BGS David, and his maternal grandfather was a District Judge, James Joseph.

Kumar had an early introduction to politics as a result of his exposure to some of the political preparations for the Great Hartal of 1953. Kumar was 12 years old then, and the conduit was his step-father, Lloyd de Silva an LSSPer who was close to the Party’s frontline leaders. From a very young age, Kumar became familiar with all the leaders and intellectuals of the LSSP. Lloyd was known for his sharp wit and cutting polemics. One of my favourite lines is his characterization of Bala Tampoe as a “Lone Ranger in the Mass Movement.” Lloyd’s polemics may have rubbed on Kumar’s impressionable mind, but the more enduring effect came from Lloyd’s good collection of Marxist books that Kumar self-admittedly devoured as much as he could as a teenager and an undergraduate.

Electric Power and Politics

Early accounts of Kumar’s public persona came from Chris Ratnayake, Prof. Sivasegaram and Dr. K. Vigneswaran, all Kumar’s contemporaries at the Engineering Faculty that was then located in Colombo. From their university days in the early 1960s, until now, they have witnessed, been a part of and made their own contributions to politics and society in Sri Lanka. Chris, a former CEB and World Bank Electrical Engineer, was part of the Trotskyite LSSP nucleus in the Engineering Faculty, along with Bernard Wijedoru, Kumar David, Sivaguru Ganesan, MWW Dharmawardana, Wickramabahu Karunaratne and Chris Rodrigo. Of that group only Chris and MWW are alive now.

Chris gave an accurate outline of their political involvement as students, Kumar’s academic brilliance and his later roles as a Lecturer and Director of the CEB under the United Front Government. Chris also described Kumar’s later academic interest and professional expertise in the unbundling of power systems and opening them to the market. Even though he was a Marxist, or may be because of it, Kumar had a good understanding of the operation of the market forces in the electricity sector.

Chris also dealt at length on Sri Lanka’s divergent economic trajectories before and after 1977, and the current aftermath of the recent economic crisis. As someone who has worked with the World Bank in 81 countries and has had the experience of IMF bailout programs, Chris had both warning and advice in light of Sri Lanka’s current situation. No country, he said, has embarked on an economic growth trajectory by following standard IMF prescriptions, and he pointed out that countries like the Asian Tigers have prospered not by following the IMF programs but by charting their own pathways.

Prof. S. Sivasegaram and Dr. K. Vigneswaran graduated in 1964, one year after Kumar David, with first classes in Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering, respectively. Sivasegaram joined the academia like Kumar David, while Vigneswaran joined the Irrigation Department but was later drawn into the vortex of Tamil politics where he has been a voice of reason and a source for constructive alternatives. As Engineering students, they were both Federal Party supporters and were not aligned with Kumar’s left politics.

It was later at London Imperial College, Sivasegaram said, he got interested in Marxism and he credited Kumar as one of the people who introduced him to Marxism and to anti-Vietnam protests. But Kumar could not persuade Sivasegaram to be a Trotskyite. Sivasegaram has been a Maoist in politics and apart from his Engineering, he is also an accomplished poet in Tamil. Vigneswaran recalled Kumar’s political involvement as a Marxist in support of the right of self-determination of the Tamils and his accessibility to Tamil groups who were looking for support from the political left.

K. Ramathas and Lal Chandranath were students of Kumar David at Peradeniya, and both went on to become established professionals in the IT sector. Ramathas passionately recalled Kumar’s effectiveness as a teacher and described his personal debt of gratitude for helping him to get a lasting understanding of the concept and application of power system stability. This understanding has helped him deal with other systems, said Ramathas, even as he bemoaned the lack of understanding of system stability among young Engineers and their failure to properly explain and address recurrent power failures in Sri Lanka.

Left Politics without Power

The transition from Engineering to politics in the discussion was seamlessly handled by veterans of left politics, viz., Siritunga Jayasuriya, Piyal Rajakaruna and Dishan Dharmasena, and by Prof. Nirmal Dewasiri of the History Department at the University of Colombo. Siritunga, Piyal and Dishan spoke to the personal, intellectual and organizational aspects of Kumar David in the development of left politics after Kumar David, Vasudeva Nanayakkara and Bahu were no longer associated with the LSSP. Dewasiri reflected on the role of the intellectuals in left political parties and the lost to the left movement as a whole arising from the resignation or expulsion of intellectuals from left political organizations.

While Kumar David’s academic and professional pre-occupation was electric power, pursuing power for the sake of power was not the essence of his politics. That has been the case with Bahu and Sivasegaram as well. They naturally had a teaching or educational role in politics, but they shared another dimension that is universally common to Left politics. Leszek Kolakowski, the Polish Marxist who later became the most celebrated Marxist renegade, has opined that insofar as leftists are generally ahead of their times in advocating fundamental social change and promoting ideas that do not resonate with much of the population, they are unlikely to win power through electoral means.

Yet opposition politics predicated on exposing and decrying everything that is wrong with the system and projecting to change the system is fundamentally the most moral position that one can take in politics. So much so it is worth pursuing even without the prospect of power, as Hector Abhayavardhana wrote in his obituaries for LSSP leaders like NM Perera and Colvin R de Silva. By that token, the coalition politics of the 1960s could be seen as privileging a shared parliamentary path to power while dismissing as doctrinaire the insistence on a sole revolutionary path to power.

The two perspectives clashed head on and splintered the LSSP at its historic 1964 Conference. Kumar David and Lal Wijenayake were the youngest members at that conference, and the political genesis of Kumar David and others at the Engineering faculty that Chris Ratnayake outlined was essentially post-coalition politics. In later years, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Bahu and Kumar David set about creating a left-opposition (Vama) tendency within the LSSP.

This was considered a superior alternative to breaking away from the Party that had been the experience of 1964. Kumar David may have instinctively appreciated the primacy of the overall system stability even if individual components were getting to be unstable! But their internal efforts were stalled, and they were systematically expelled from the Party one by one. Kumar David recounted these developments in the obituary he wrote for Bahu.

As I wrote last week, after 1977 and with the presidential system in place, the hitherto left political parties and organizations generally allied themselves with one or the other of the three main political alliances led by the SLFP, the SLPP and even the UNP. A cluster of them gravitated to the NPP that has been set up by the JVP under the leadership of Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Kumar David supported the new JVP/NPP initiative and was optimistic about its prospects. He wrote positively about them in his weekly columns in the Sunday Island and the Colombo Telegraph.

The Social Circles of Politics

Sometime in late 2006, Rohan Edrisinha introduced Kumar and me to Rajpal Abeynayake, who was then the Editor of the Sunday Observer, for the purpose of writing weekly columns for the Paper. Bahu was already writing for the Sunday Observer and for almost an year, Bahu, Kumar and I were Sunday Island columnists, courtesy of Rajpal Abeynayake. In 2007, Prof. Vijaya Kumar introduced us to Manik de Silva, already the doyen of Sri Lanka’s English medium editors, and Kumar and I started writing for the Sunday Island edited by Manik. It has been non-stop weekly writing a full 18 years. For a number of years, we have also been publishing modified versions of our articles in the Colombo Telegraph, the online journal edited by the inimitable Uvindu Kurukulasuriya.

Writing mainstream rekindled old friendships and created new ones. It was gratifying to see many of them show up at the celebration of life for Kumar. That included Rajpal Abeynayake, Bunchy Rahuman, Gamini Kulatunga, Ranjith Galappatti, Tissa Jayatilaka, NG (Tanky) Wickremeratne, and Manik de Silva. Vijaya Chandrasoma, who unfortunately could not attend the meeting, was particularly supportive of the event along with Tanky and Ramathas. Tissa and Manik spoke at the event and shared their memories of Kumar.

Dr. Santhushya Fernando of the Colombo Medical Faculty provided organizational support and created two superb video montages of Kumar’s life in pictures to background theme songs by Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. Manoj Rathnayake produced a Video Recording of the event.

In a quirky coincidence, five of those who attended the event, viz. Manik de Silva, Vijaya Kumar, Chris Ratnayake, S. Sivasegaram and K. Vigneswaran were all classmates at Royal College. On a personal note, I have been associated with every one of them in one way or another. Chris and I were also Engineers at the Hantana Housing Development in the early 1980s, for which the late Suren Wickremesinghe and his wife Tanya were the Architects. And Suren was in the same Royal College class as the other five mentioned here.

In the last article he wrote before his passing, Kumar David congratulated Anura Kumara Dissanayake for his magnificent political achievement and expressed cautious optimism for the prospects under an NPP government. Many in the new government followed Kumar David’s articles and opinions and were keen to participate in the celebration of life that was organized for him. That was not going to be possible anyway with the visit of Prime Minister Modi falling on the same day. Even so, Prof. Sunil Servi, Minister of Buddha Sasana, and Religious and Cultural Affairs, was graciously present at the event and expressed his appreciation of Kumar David’s contributions to Sri Lankan politics and society.

by Rajan Philips

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Features

Illegal solar push ravages Hambantota elephant habitat: Environmentalist warns of deepening crisis

Published

6 hours ago

2026/03/19

Sahan Weerasooriya

Land earmarked for the project

A large-scale move to establish solar power plants in Hambantota has triggered a major environmental and social crisis, with more than 1,000 acres of forest—identified as critical elephant habitat—cleared in violation of the law, environmental activist Sajeewa Chamikara said.

Chamikara, speaking on behalf of the Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform, said that 17 companies have already begun clearing forest land along the boundaries of the Hambantota Elephant Management Reserve. The affected areas include Sanakku Gala, Orukemgala and Kapapu Wewa, which are known to be key elephant habitats and long-used movement corridors.

He said that what is taking place cannot be described as development, but rather as a large-scale destruction of natural ecosystems carried out under the cover of renewable energy expansion.

According to Chamikara, the clearing of forests has been carried out using heavy machinery, while large sections have also been deliberately set on fire to prepare the land for solar installations. He said that electric fences have been erected across wide stretches of land, effectively blocking elephant movement and fragmenting their natural habitat.

“These forests are not empty lands. They are part of a living system that supports wildlife and nearby communities. Once destroyed, they cannot be easily restored,” he said.

The projects in question include a 50 megawatt solar development undertaken by five companies and a larger 150 megawatt project implemented by 12 companies. The larger project is reported to be valued at around 150 million US dollars.

Chamikara stressed that these projects are being carried out in a coordinated manner and involve extensive land clearing on a scale that raises serious environmental concerns.

He further alleged that certain companies had paid about Rs. 14 million to secure support and move ahead with the projects. He said this points to a troubling failure of oversight by state institutions that are expected to protect forests and wildlife habitats.

“This is not only an environmental issue. It is also a serious governance issue. The institutions responsible for protecting these lands have failed in their duty,” he said.

Chamikara pointed out that under the National Environmental Act, any project of this scale must receive prior approval through a proper Environmental Impact Assessment process.

He said that clearing forest land before obtaining such approval is a direct violation of the law.

He added that legal requirements relating to archaeological assessments had also been ignored. Under existing regulations, large-scale land clearing requires prior evaluation to ensure that sites of historical or cultural value are not damaged.

“The law is very clear. You cannot go ahead with projects of this nature without proper approval. What we are seeing is a complete disregard for legal procedure,” Chamikara said.

The environmental impact of these activities is already becoming visible. With their natural habitats destroyed, elephants are increasingly moving into nearby villages in search of food and shelter. This has led to a sharp rise in human-elephant conflict in several areas.

Areas such as Mayurapura, Gonnooruwa, Meegahajandura and Thanamalvila have reported increasing encounters between humans and elephants. According to Chamikara, more than 5,000 farming families in these areas are now facing growing threats to their safety and livelihoods.

He warned that farmers are being forced to abandon their lands due to repeated elephant intrusions, while incidents involving damage to crops and property are rising. There have also been increasing reports of injuries and deaths among both humans and elephants.

“This is turning into a serious social and economic problem. When farmers cannot cultivate their lands, it affects food production, income and rural stability,” he said.

Chamikara also raised concerns about the broader environmental consequences of clearing forests for solar power projects. While renewable energy is promoted as a solution to reduce carbon emissions, he said that destroying forests undermines that goal.

“Forests play a key role in absorbing carbon dioxide. When you clear and burn them, you are increasing emissions, not reducing them. That defeats the purpose of promoting solar energy,” he explained.

He added that large-scale deforestation in dry zone areas such as Hambantota could also affect local weather patterns and reduce rainfall, which would have further negative impacts on agriculture and water resources.

Chamikara called for a shift in policy, urging authorities to focus on more sustainable approaches to solar power development. He said that rooftop solar systems on homes, public buildings and commercial establishments should be given priority, as they do not require clearing large areas of land.

He also recommended that solar projects be located on degraded or abandoned lands, such as areas affected by past mining or other low-value lands, rather than forests or productive agricultural areas.

“Renewable energy development must be done in a way that does not destroy the environment. There are better options available if there is proper planning,” he said.

Chamikara urged the Central Environmental Authority and the Department of Wildlife Conservation to take immediate action to stop ongoing land clearing and investigate the projects. He stressed that all activities carried out without proper approval should be halted until legal requirements are met.

He warned that failure to act now would lead to long-term environmental damage that could not be reversed.

“If this continues, we will lose not only forests and wildlife, but also the balance between people and nature that supports rural life. The consequences will be felt for generations,” he said.

The situation in Hambantota is fast emerging as a critical test of whether development goals can be balanced with environmental protection. As pressure grows, the response of authorities in the coming weeks is likely to determine whether the damage can still be contained or whether it will continue to spread unchecked.

By Ifham Nizam

Features

Why Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings need to be at the heart of conflict resolution

Published

6 hours ago

2026/03/19

Sahan Weerasooriya

Mahatma Gandhi

All credit to the Tamil Nadu government for taking concrete measures to perpetuate the memory of the renowned Mahatma Gandhi of India, who on account of his moral teachings stands on par with the likes of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Confucius and Jalaluddin Rumi, to name a few such all-time greats. The time is indeed ripe to draw the world’s attention to the Mahatma’s humanistic legacy which has resonated in the hearts of peace-oriented sections the world over down the decades.

Under its mega developmental blueprint titled ‘ Tamil Nadu 2030’, the Tamil Nadu government, among other things, intends transforming villages into centres of economic growth in conformity with the Mahatma’s vision of making the village the fundamental unit of material and spiritual advancement. Thus will come into being the ‘Uttamar Gandhi Model Villages Project’, which will be initially covering 10 village Panchayats. (Please see page 3 of The Island of March 11, 2026).

The timeliness of remembering and appreciating anew the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi resides in the utter lawlessness that has been allowed to overtake the world over the last few decades by none other than those global powers which took it upon themselves to usher in a world political and economic order based on the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Mainly in ‘the dock’ in this regard are the permanent members of the UN Security Council.

As is plain to see, the international law and order situation has veered out of control. Principal priorities for the international community or what’s left of it is to prevent the current mainly regional war in the Middle East from degenerating dangerously into another world war, coupled with the task of eliminating the possibility of another nuclear holocaust.

The most scorching of ironies is that the world’s ‘number one power’, the US, has virtually lost its way in the ‘Global Disorder’ it has been party to letting lose. For instance, instead of making good its boast of militarily neutralizing Iran and paving the way for the constant flow of fuel and gas from the Strait of Hormus by itself and Israel, it is now appealing to the rest of the West to come to its assistance. Not surprisingly, US allies are indicating their unwillingness to help pull the US’ ‘chestnuts out of the fire’.

Oil and gas are the veritable life blood of countries and going ahead it should not come as a surprise if impatience gets the better of the major powers and the nuclear option is resorted to by some of them under the dangerous illusion that it would be a quick-fix to their growing economic ills and frustrations.

All the above and more are within the realms of the possible and the need is pressing for humanistic voices to take centre stage in the present runaway crisis. As pointed out in this column last week, Realpolitik has overtaken the world and unless the latter is convinced of the self-destructive nature of the major powers’ policy of ‘meeting fire with fire’ to resolve their disputes, annihilation could be the lot of a good part of the world.

For far too long the voice of humanity has been muted and silenced in the affairs of world by the incendiary threats and counter-threats of the big powers and their allies. No quarter has been bold enough in these blood pressure-hiking slanging matches to speak of the need for brotherly love and compassion among nations and countries. But it’s the language of love and understanding that is the most pressing need currently and the Mahatma in his time did just that against mighty odds.

At present the US and Iran are trading threats and accusations over military-related developments in the Gulf and it’s anybody’s guess as to what turn these events will take. However, calming voices of humanity and moderation would help in deescalating tensions and such voices need to go to the assistance of the UN chief and his team.

The Mahatma used the technique of ‘Satyagraha’ or the policy of non-violent resistance to oppose and dis-empower to a degree the British empire in his time and the current major powers would do well to take a leaf from Gandhi. The latter also integrated into the strategy of non-violent resistance the policy of ‘Ahimsa’ or love and understanding which helped greatly in uniting rather than alienating adversaries. The language of love, it has been proved, speaks to the hearts and minds of people and has a profoundly healing impact.

Mahatma Gandhi defined the ideal of ‘Ahimsa’ thus: ‘In its positive form, “Ahimsa” means the largest love, the greatest charity. If I am a follower of “Ahimsa”, I must love my enemy or a stranger to me as I would my wrong-doing father or son. This active “Ahimsa” necessarily includes truth and fearlessness.’ (See; ‘Modern Indian Political Thought; Text and Context’ by Bidyut Chakrabarty and Rajendra Kumar Pandey, Sage Publications India, Pvt. Ltd., www.sagepub.in).

In the latter publication, the authors also defined the essence of ‘satyagraha’ as ‘protest without rancour’ and this is seen as ‘holding the key to his entire campaign’ of non-violent resistance. From these perspectives, the teaching, ‘hatred begets hatred’ acquires more salience and meaning.

Accordingly, the voice of reason and love needs to come centre stage and take charge of current international political discourse. The UN and allied organizations which advocate conflict resolution by peaceful means need to get together and ensure that their voices are clearly heard and understood. The global South could help in this process by seeing to the vibrant rejuvenation of organizations such as the Non-aligned Movement.

An immediate task for the peace-oriented and well meaning is to make the above projects happen fast. In the process they should underscore afresh the profound importance of the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, who is acclaimed the world over as a uniting and healing political personality and prophet of peace.

If the Mahatma is universally acclaimed, the reason is plain to see. Put simply, he spoke to the hearts and minds of people everywhere, regardless of man-made barriers. The language of peace and brotherhood, that is, is understood by everyone. The world needs more prophets of peace and reconciliation of the likes of the Mahatma to drown out the voices of discord and war-mongering and ensure that the language of humanity prevails.

Features

Exciting scene awaits them …

Published

6 hours ago

2026/03/19

Sahan Weerasooriya

The Future Model Hunt extravaganza, organised by Rukmal Senanayake, and advocacy trainer Tharaka Gurukanda, held in late January 2026, has brought into the limelight four outstanding contestants who will participate, at the international level, this year – Sandeepa Sewmini, Demitha Jayawardhana, Diwyanjana Senevirathna, and Nimesha Premachandra.

Nimesha took the honours as Mrs. Tourism Sri Lanka 2026 and was featured in The Island of 05th March,

Sandeepa Sewmini was crowned Miss Supranational 2026 and will represent Sri Lanka at the big event to be held in Poland later in the year.

A Business Management and Human Resources student, she will be competing under the guidance of Rukmal Senanayake from the Model With Ruki – Model Academy & Agency.

The Mister Supranational Sri Lanka crown went to Demitha Jayawardhana, a 20-year-old professional model and motocross rider.

Apart from modelling he is engaged in his family business.

Demitha Jayawardhana: Mister Supranational Sri Lanka 2026

Demitha is also a badminton player with a strong passion for sports, fitness and personal growth.

In fact, he is recognised for his strength, discipline, and passion for fitness.

A past student of Wycherley International School and St Peter’s College, Colombo, Demitha is currently in his second year of Economics Management at the Royal Institute of Colombo.

He will represent Sri Lanka at the 10th edition of the Mister Supranational pageant, in Poland, in August, 2026.

Mister and Miss Supranational are annual international beauty pageants, held in Poland, and are designed to discover new talent for the modelling and television industries and produce instant celebrities.

The competition focuses on elegance, intelligence, and social advocacy, with contestants, representing their countries.

The newly appointed Miss Teen International Sri Lanka 2026 is Diwyanjana Senevirathna.

She was crowned at the Future Model Hunt and will represent Sri Lanka at the Miss Teen International 2026 pageant in India.

Diwyanjana is noted for her grace and dedication to representing the country at this prestigious event that aims to celebrate talent, intelligence, charm, and individuality, and provide a platform for young girls to showcase their skills.