By Anura Gunasekera

It is more than two weeks since the matter of the Speaker, Asoka Ranwala’s doctorate, or lack of it, was raised in public. If he does have one, it is sufficient time for him to have produced the necessary evidence and laid to rest the ongoing speculation. When my daughter acquired a doctorate from a university in England, she was ceremoniously presented with an ornately inscribed scroll, on thick, parchment paper , along with a foolish hat.

To me, a non-academic, it seemed a paltry outcome for the several years of intense study which preceded the award but that, apparently, is how these systems work. Perhaps Waseda University of Japan, the institution alleged to have conferred the doctoral degree on Ranwala, does not emulate old-fashioned British institutions, but there still needs to be tangible, physical evidence of such an award, with which Ranwala came away from that institution.

Ignore the flippancy of the above paragraphs. The issue of the Speaker’s doctorate is a very serious matter. I understand that Ranwala has been using the prefix, “Dr”, for many years before his investiture as the Speaker of the 10th parliament of Sri Lanka. During the run-up to the recent presidential election, he has been introduced on stage as “Dr Ranwala”. Therefore, he deliberately made the world believe that he was a, “Dr.”

Recently there was some talk of Ranwala’s daughter offering an explanation but that is a ridiculous, unacceptable response. An explanation must come from Ranwala, personally, and not from a member of his family. It is a very simple matter, actually; either he has a doctorate or he has been deceiving the world for many years. In the case of the former he needs to furnish immediate proof to the public and if the latter is the reality, he must apologize for having been a public fraud and withdraw from governance.

To be the Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, a person must be compliant with the conditions of Articles 89 and 91, of the Constitution of the Republic of Sri Lanka. Neither of those articles specify that the Speaker should be literate, or that he should even be able to read, write and speak, in any known language. In fact, there are simply no minimum educational qualifications for those aspiring to represent the people of Sri Lanka in parliament, although there are clearly specified minimum educational qualifications for any person who applies for employment within the Parliament premises, even if it be the position of security guard, premises cleaner, or a minor employee, respectfully distributing glasses of water and cups of tea, to thirsty legislators within the chamber of representatives.

Then why is the issue of the Speaker’s qualifications of such importance?

When public figures, especially those occupying vital positions such as the Speaker of the Parliament, make a false claim about their educational qualifications, it undermines public trust in the political system. The NPP-JVP machine captured power in the last general election, largely on the promise of restoring principled governance to a corrupt country. I voted for candidate AKD at the presidential election in the fervent expectation of transparent governance. Thus, every elector who contributed to elevating the NPP to power, has the right to know whether Ranwala actually possesses the educational qualifications he claims, although those have no relevance to his current position in Parliament, or to the effective delivery of his responsibilities.

This matter is important because it highlights broader issues of accountability and transparency within governance. When public officials are permitted to misrepresent themselves, it points to a lack of scrutiny in the vetting of candidates for positions of power and influence. The fact that such claims go unchecked, also calls in to question the mechanism the party has in place, for ensuring ethical standards and honesty among its members.

Therefore, the quick and equitable resolution of this issue is crucial and central to entire ethos of the NPP regime, as the expectations of honourable conduct it has inspired within the public, is greater by an order of magnitude than that which was expected of any previous regime. It is also an issue which has been seized gleefully by an enfeebled Opposition, to discredit the government, and to move public focus away from the investigations into issues of corruption within earlier regimes, represented by many members now in the Opposition. The Ranwala affair is the first litmus test, of the present regime’s publicly declared ethos of doing only what is right. It needs to prove to the expectant polity that it means business, on every front.

Speaking of the Opposition, the ridiculous, just concluded (or is it?) charade regarding the appointment of individuals to the respective national lists of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and the New Democratic Front ( NDF), illustrates the incompetence, the indecisiveness and the lack of leadership ability of the two party chiefs concerned. It is relevant to remind the reader that these two, Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW) and Sajith Premadasa (SP), were highly vocal in the run-up to both the presidential and the general election, about the lack of governance experience within the NPP. It immediately begs the question, if one does not have the necessary control and influence within the party, to decide on a simple but important internal party issue like a nomination, how can one aspire to govern the country? In reality it is not just an internal party issue but one that concerns the entire national polity, as it is entitled, as of civic right, to see that all 225 seats in the legislature are filled.

Moving on to two equally pressing issues, the high price of coconuts and the non-availability of popular varieties of rice, both are embedded in histories which long precede the installation of the present government.

Coconuts have become progressively more expensive because of increasing consumption and declining production. According to the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB), the annual production ranges from 2,800 mn nuts to 3,000 mn, whilst the combined domestic and export processing demand is around 4,000 mn nuts, annually.

The year-to-year variability of production is linked to climate variations, further compounded by a steady increase in coconut based products since 2012 (EDB). Coconut trees have an economically productive life-span and need to be replaced periodically. However, new planting has also declined drastically, with 2.28 million seedlings being issued in 2021, as against 9.73 million in 2012 and 6.81 million in 2013 (EDB). The 2021 crop had been very high (CRI) but the embargo on inorganic fertilizer imposed around that time by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has resulted in declining yields thereafter.

Wild animal depredation also has had a significant impact, suppressing yields and discouraging new planting, resulting in possible decline of production for the future as well. The industry assessment is that the 2024 production will reflect a 40% decline on the 2023 output. Around 33% of the total production is assigned for value added export products with the balance going in to domestic consumption. Thus, with the off-take by industries remaining constant, the volume available to the domestic sector has declined drastically. The grim reality is that unless the national industry is realigned, with viable, sustainable solutions for current problems, coconut prices will continue to rise periodically, well in to the foreseeable future. Solutions should also be able to strike a sensible balance between animal rights and farmer requirements. Animal rights activism, which takes place largely in affluent zones of residential Colombo- acted out by well-to-do urbanites of the city who have never had to defend a paddy harvest from a hungry elephant- has no relevance to the desperate realities of destroyed crops in Dehiattakandiya, Girandurukotte and Ethiliwewa.

The rice shortage, notwithstanding the obvious causes which have been ignored by successive governments in thrall to wealthy rice millers – again not attributable to the present regime – needs both a short-term and a long-term solution. Importing rice from India, as a knee-jerk response to the hunger of an angry nation, is not a sustainable solution but a one-time fix. It cannot happen again as the same scenario is played out the next year as well. The unalterable reality is that we are a rice eating nation and irrespective of the obstacles, that need must be appeased. “Let them eat cake”, whether Marie Antoinette said it or not, is not acceptable.

This regime has a two-thirds majority in Parliament and is headed by a president with supreme power. Should he, as an immediate solution, decide to take the most drastic steps in order to break the rice-millers’ stranglehold on rice stocks, a famished nation will applaud and the Opposition, if they understand what is good for them politically, will not dare raise a whisper in protest.

There are also the many questions which are being asked, regarding the status of pending investigations related to past corruption in high places. The difficulties in resurrecting dormant criminal investigations are understood; files are mislaid, papers vanish, evidence is lost, witnesses die, disappear or are terrorized in to silence, impartial investigators are neutralized and replaced with compliant stooges, cases by the dozen, against the high and mighty, are dismissed whilst authority is subverted. Previous regimes, especially those with the members of the Mahinda Rajapaksa “famiglia” in the right places, reduced these tactics to an exact science.

President AKD himself, in his speech at the recent Anti-Corruption Day, with brutal clarity, exposed the issues involved with reference to actual cases. In the audience were officials who, during previous regimes, may have been complicit in the very acts described in the previous paragraph. This nation, which catapulted the NPP-JVP to power as a last resort, will appreciate a commentary from the president himself, on all of the above issues. From time to time it needs to be assured that the regime is moving in the right direction, and the best person to put its collective mind at rest is the president himself.

We have charity dispensed by generous local persons, by foreigners who feel love for this country and wish to do something to express it, and of course by organizations and set-up Trusts. What I write about this Sunday, the day following Unduvap Poya, is the subtle transformation of a village in Peradeniya which is my mother’s birthplace where my siblings and I were also born. The village is Boyagama.

My nephew Rohana Weerasekera was the pioneer who brought about this spiritual awakening of the village by donating his share of the property inherited from his mother. Thus it was a single donor and donation I write about.

Rohana was very generous and caring by nature; giving of help and kindness even as a boy. Then, having had a successful career in England and Canada, he wanted to donate everything he possessed during the latter stages of his life. Assisted by his younger sister who is a meditator herself and was impressed by the most Ven Uda Eriyagama Dhammajiva Thera’s promotion of the concept of Sati Bhavana – mindfulness meditation – Rohana offered the land to the Sati Pasala Foundation. On behalf of the Foundation, Most Ven Dhammajiva accepted the gift, at which ceremony I too was present.

The idea to promote the concept of mindfulness – development of sati – particularly in children, was prominent in the Ven Bhikkhu’s mind from many years ago. True to his pragmatic personality, he formulated a project and launched it, encouraging and actively participating in conducting meditation sessions with school children during weekends and out of school hours. Then he got the education department to accept his proposal of making sati meditation a part of the school curriculum. These were significant developments to benefit children, adults, and the country.

In May 2017, the biggest boost to the fulfillment of his meritorious act was the inauguration of the Sati Pasala Foundation with many devoted persons coming together to support him. Ven Dhammajiva Thera was persuaded to be the Foundation’s spiritual leader and main advisor. The Foundation has flourished and grown stronger and promotes sati among children and adults of all races, religions, ages and status.

The concept is fast spreading in the entirely of Sri Lanka; primarily in schools and extending to universities, hospitals, health care centres, government departments and organizations; the Forces, rehabilitation centres. Competent sati trainers tirelessly travel around the island sharing their expertise with those desirous of ‘mindful living.’

The Place

The particular piece of hilly land donated is in Boyagama, Nagastenna, which slopes down to a paddy field named Rankumbura. The most striking and valued on the land is a very old Bo tree right at the top which once a year turns pink with its new sprung leaves. Beside the Bo tree is a small area with tombstones of various sizes, the largest being grandfather’s. That is our family interment ground. Earlier, cremations were done on the land with huge log pyres being put up. Now only the clay pot of ash of the family member cremated in a crematorium is brought to Nagastenna for interment.

Rohana, while on annual holidays from overseas, fenced the land; built a wall around the Bo tree accommodating offerings in veneration, and grew varicolored frangipani and assorted flowering bushes and red anthuriums. He built a house with fine toilet facilities for the caretaker and his family

In conjunction with his sister who had returned home from the US, he decided to donate Nagastenna to be utilized for holding sati meditation. He built some of the necessary infrastructure; the Foundation once it took over the land built the rest – halls, walking pathways etc and two wattle and daub, one-roomed dwellings, one now used by a resident monk and the other by Ven Dhammajiva Thera when he visits. And thus the meditation centre named Sri Kalyani Sevana Sati Pasala, so named in memory of my niece of that family who died at a young age was set up on a solid foundation.

Meditation

The location, surrounding, ambience, beauty and palpable peace of the place are ideal for a meditation center. A less used motorable road passing alongside is a further convenience. The neighboring residents and temples welcomed the conversion of the land to serve a spiritual purpose. School children from surrounding areas, ranging in age from six to 16, gender mixed and of all three races gather together on Sundays to spend a short day of sati meditation. Preaching by a monk starts the day. Instructions and guidance by volunteer teachers; both sitting and walking meditation; discussions and refreshments including lunch follow. Often elders who bring the children, stay on.

On Thursday it is mediation for seniors: those of Boyagama and adjacent villages. My niece tells me that six months ago when meditation sessions for these persons was started, the attendance was less than 10 and mostly elderly women. The composition of the group is now around 45 on average, and includes younger women and men – young adults to the elderly. Many close their kades for the day and three wheeler drivers forego their earnings so they have time to meditate.

This is remarkable when you consider that they forego their livelihood for four days of the month to devote time to their spiritual development. It certainly is the influence of the remarkable Most Ven Dhammajiva Thera and the pull exerted by the beautiful sloping hillock which surely emanates an ambience of sanctity and serenity. I have felt the vibes when I visit Nagastenna.

My niece Dhammika and her friends, and other volunteers from in and around the village see to food for the meditators – tea, refreshments and lunch. Then came a request from the village women that they be given the opportunity to gain merit by preparing and offering the noon meal. Thus the supply of everything needed for meaningful immersion in beneficial bhavana. Generosity and kindness at their peak.

Greatly appreciated by our family is Most Ven Dhammajiva mentioning in his sermons on more than one occasion that the interment ground has to be preserved and protected. The veneration of the Bo tree has been a practice from many decades ago.

Offered are:

Itemized are the benefits offered by the Sati Meditation Centre which seem to be widely appreciated.

Encouragement and provision of facilities and training to practice and make sati meditation a daily habit of both children and adults;

Inculcation of the positive influence of sati on impressionable minds of children and young adults which need gentle guidance towards what is mentally and physically healthy;

The offer of a safe place and sanctuary for children whose lives may be troubled; thus giving them happiness.

Serious, sustained dedication and observance of the practice of Dhamma, Sila and Dhana (generosity).

Inducement and inculcation of hope and happiness in both children and adults.

Nurturing of a sense of unity among those who participate; which fellow feeling spreads among the villagers.

Sri Kalyani Sathi Pasala at Nagastenna, Boyagama, has extended its outreach to include sati training for school teachers, members of the University of Peradeniya Engineering Faculty (Ven Dhammajiva having been an undergrad) and other organizations and units.

It is both heartening and joyful to say that within a comparatively short time this ‘sati pasala’ has brought prominence and light to a village in Peradeniya and its reputation and influence are fast spreading through the Central Province. The late donor and his sister, assisted by multiple volunteers in and around Boyagama, including the most efficient dedicated resident Venerable, continue the good work. Most Ven Uda Eriyagama Dhammajiva is a frequent visitor. Deep gratitude is extended to all of them and the villagers who brought about this amazing transformation of a little tucked away hamlet to a beautiful, peaceful sanctuary for children and adults to further their spiritual growth in the Kandy District.

by Rajan Philips

Writing obituaries becomes a poignant burden when those near and dear to us keep taking their turn while we wait for ours in life’s departure lounge. I have had my share of writing obituaries in the last two years, but this one gets preciously close because Sivandran, who passed away suddenly in Semarang, Indonesia, was my roommate throughout our Peradeniya years and later after graduation. We were best friends.

We were emailing on November 28 and his last email said that his health was a hassle; so, he was winding down in Indonesia and was heading home to Perth. Next day I received the sad news of his demise. “Death, be not proud,” John Donne’s Holy Sonnet came to mind, but more in anger than as assurance of what comes “one short sleep past.”

Sivandran graduated in Civil Engineering, in 1972, and went on to obtain his MSc and PhD in Geotechnical Engineering at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok. He married Indrakanthi in 1976, at a gala wedding hosted by her parents, R. Yogarajah and Indranee Yogarajah, in their house that had once been the old Eighty Club on Queens Road. Sive was already bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and was onto a number of initiatives in Colombo. Their two sons, Gajan and Subajan, were born in Colombo.

The family moved to Perth, Australia, after 1983. He had earlier spent time in Australia when he had a two year (1980-82) affiliation with Monash University in Melbourne. In Perth, Sive turned to waste management and recycling industry with a global focus to find a satisfying outlet for his intelligence, enterprise, organizational abilities and entrepreneurial ambitions. We met in Canada when he came on a visit to solid waste recycling facilities in Vancouver and Guelph run by municipalities.

What he started in Perth eventually led him to land in Semarang, as Jakarta is too congested, and launch a new company, the PT Indo Energy Solutions, for extracting feedstock from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) and supplying it as raw material for low carbon fuel production in Indonesia and elsewhere. The company is quite far flung in Indonesia – the head office in Semarang, marketing offices in Jakarta, processing and storage facilities in Lampung and six other locations, and multiple sites for waste collection from Palm Oil Mills. Sivandran had built up multiple clients within Indonesia, along with BP Singapore and clients in EU countries.

Sivandran had been scouting the Southeast Asian region for a number of years before locating his enterprise in Semarang, the capital of Central Java. Kanthi joined him from Perth, and Semarang became a convenient hub for them to travel from – to Perth and to Chicago and Singapore to visit Gajan and Subajan, their families, including their two grand children, Ella and Caiden.

Gajan and his wife Rebecca studied Environmental Engineering in Australia and went on to complete their PhDs at MIT. After stints at the Ohio State University and Boston Consulting, Gajan has recently started a faculty position as Professor at the Quantitative Science Centre, University of Washington, Seattle. Rebecca works as an international Consultant in Water and Climate Research, Public Engagement and Communications. Ella is their daughter, Sive’s and Kanthi’s first grandchild.

Subajan did Mechanical Engineering and followed it up with an MBA from HEC Paris, the well known French business school. He was a Director with Deloitte’s Asia in Singapore, and has now joined Bureau Veritas in Paris, working in Strategy, M&A and Sustainability. His wife Renee is a Psychologist with specialization in Early Childhood Development. They have a son, Caiden, Sive’s and Kanthi’s grandson.

Gajan and Subajan and their partners have done their parents proud. Sive was obviously pleased and proud that his two sons were well set on their own trajectories of accomplishments and achievements. It would have been gratifying for Kanthi, the children and the grandchildren to have had Sive around for many more years. That was not to be. But they have long memories of him that will stay with them without growing old or weary. I would hope that the few reminiscences that I sprinkle below will be a little addition to their trove.

Reminiscences

Sivandran was the youngest son of V. Coomaraswamy and Rukmani, after four sisters and two brothers. His father was an Irrigation Engineer, the family lived in Colombo and Sive started schooling at Royal College. He moved to St. John’s College when the family relocated to Jaffna after 1958. Old Coomaraswamy was a good volleyball player, known as “beauty Coomaraswamy” in the Department for his aerial smashes. Card games, especially bridge, carrom and table tennis were popular pastimes of old school Irrigation Engineers, and Sive’s whole family was groomed in them.

Sive was a shrewd bridge player and was also a good badminton player, thanks to his bother Vijeyndra. Vijey was a final year Medical student at Peradeniya when we entered Engineering, and already a national badminton player for Ceylon. Sivandran was student champion at Peradeniya and was captain and member of the University badminton team. Dr. Vijeyndra passed away in England a few years ago, and Sive’s surviving siblings are his oldest brother Mahendra, himself a Civil Engineer of the Colombo faculty vintage, now living in Perth; and sister Pathma Sokkanathan, a Lawyer, living in London.

Old relationships may not mean much for the younger generation, but it is worth recalling that Sivandran’s mother was the youngest sister of GG Ponnambalam, Q.C., a dazzling lawyer and a political colossus during the middle decades (1930-1970) of the twentieth century. Her other brother, Rev. GM Balasundaram OMI, was a prominent Catholic Priest in the Jaffna Diocese. The two brothers were exceptional orators of their generation.

Sivandran’s oldest sister Parameswari, a doctor, married Alfred Duraiappah, who would not only become the Mayor of Jaffna but would go on to create a national upset by defeating GG Ponnambalam in the 1960 March and July elections in Jaffna. Ponnambalam’s first defeat in 25 years. So, as a 12-year old, Sivandran would have had an early exposure to the tumults, as well as the twists and turns of the local Jaffna politics. But he was never consumed by politics at any level.

Yet, Sivandran had a real talent for organizational politics which he would quietly use to set his own goals, but always to positive ends, and skillfully pursue them without ruffling feathers, making arguments or hurting feelings. They were all evident throughout his university days at Peradeniya and later in Bangkok, and they would have come to full fruition in his entrepreneurial ventures. He was also a conscientious and disciplined student, who would never miss a lecture, was punctual with his coursework, and would divide his time efficiently between subjects regardless of whether he liked them or not.

We were first year roommates at Jayatilaka Hall. There were three of us sharing the room, including Karunaharan, Sive’s classmate at St. John’s College, and now living in Sidney. Our room was on the ground floor in the south wing of the Hall, and our balcony opened quite a vista extending through the expansive sports fields, the Arts Faculty, the Main Library and the Geography Theatre. The vista is still there even as it is etched in my mind.

From our early interactions, it became apparent that Sive knew more about galaxies and planets, and I knew more about federal and unitary constitutions. Outside studies, Sive was busy with badminton and Sports Council politics. I was drawn to debating and perorating in Tamil at the Tamil Sangam, and in English at the Engineering Students Union. Sive had no interest in voluble participation, but would provide critical observations on my omissions and lapses. We had many contrasts, but for all the years we were roommates, we had no differences over anything. Once at the Nallur Temple, he got me to remove my shirt to accompany him to the Sanctum Sanctorum. The first and the only time I have stood shirtless in a public square.

After Jayatilaka Hall, we moved to Meewathura, right by the Mahaweli River, renting a room in staff quarters and cooking our own food. Eating out became a convenient excuse. What was also convenient was that my uncle, Rev. Thani Nayagam had retired from the University of Malaya and was living in Lewella. He would invite us for weekly meals that were served and partaken with priestly aplomb. Sive took it in his stride but would later have a good laugh at the whole formality of the experience.

For our final two years, we moved to the Nell wing of the Akbar-Nell Hall that had nothing scenic about it, but was very convenient as it was next door to the Engineering Faculty. A good majority of the students who were with us at Akbar-Nell are now living abroad. Many of them left after 1983, and quite a few of them have died. I have not seen Sive in person for some time and occasionally lost contact with him. But when we resumed contact some time last year, it was as if we had never stopped corresponding. In his last email he said, “Hope to meet with you someday.” I caught its premonition only when it was too late. I have to live with that till it is my turn.