A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Thursday, June 15, 2017
Sangakkara’s many steps towards reconciliation and sensible institutional governance
By Michael Roberts-June 14, 2017, 8:16 am
In
July 1983, Chokshanada and Kumar Sangakkara – in step with some
Sinhalese, Malay and Burgher and other Sri Lankan families and in
implicit opposition to the actions of Sinhalese people of violence
–sheltered a number of Tamils who were in severe danger from the
assaults on person and property that was a frightening element of the
pogrom that occurred then. Many Sinhalese families in the central and
southern districts protected their neighbours and/or friends in this
manner. In conjectural manner, one can say that humane considerations
and cultural traditions of alms-giving and amity informed such actions
--- a dimension of riots/pogroms in southern Asia that has been
sidelined in historical studies of various "riots" in southern Asia.
Perhaps inspired thus and perhaps encouraged also by the ecumenical
spirit nurtured by his parents as well as Trinity College, Kumar
and Yehali have continued this line of enterprise. In a significant
step Yehali was beside Kumar when he visited St. Patrick’s College in
Jaffna in April 2011 during the World Cup.
This was a reconciliatory outreach at a significant moment, one
complementing the several measures taken by Sri Lanka Cricket to foster
cricket in the north and east –efforts further consolidated by Kushil
Gunasekera and the Foundation of Goodness with the active participation
of cricketers spearheaded by Murali, Sanga, Mahela and others.
This signal was capped in outstanding manner by the content of Kumar
Sangakkara’s Speech at the Cowdrey Lecture for the MCC in July 2011 – a
presentation which an English acquaintance from Surrey considered the
best MCC speech he had heard thus far. It was a talk threaded by
political messages for all Sri Lankans – and for all those espousing
hate.
I had the good fortune to meet Sanga’s parents in pursuing a historical
venture arising from my researches into the Hannadige Pieris family. I
can readily endorse what Kumar emphasises about his parents in his
recent session with Rex Clementine. Like his parents, Kumar Sangakkara
is a lover of aesthetic good things. Among these pleasures are books. A
little bird told me that he purchased that cricket tragic Mahinda
Wijesinghe’s stock of cricket books. From just one encounter with him I
am also alive to Kumar’s taste for books on Sri Lankan history.
More to the point, Sangakkara’s eminent good sense is only too evident
in the comments essayed in response to Rex Clementine who is to be
commended for his enterprise in this regard. The kind of dirty politics
encountered within the history of the SLC board is, alas, found in
virtually all institutions in Sri Lanka and has bedevilled our politics
for decades.
I thank Rex and Kumar sincerely for the insights they have provided
through this exchange. I only wish that my pal "Hema" was still in this
world so that he could have could have derived the same sort of pleasure
I did from this exchange. DH de Silva was my cricketing ‘enemy’ in
Galle in 1955 and my cricketing mate at Ramanathan Hall and Peradeniya
in the late 1950s. He had re-invented himself as a tennis coach while
working as Municipal Commissioner in Kandy. It so happened that he
tutored Kumar’s elder sister at tennis in Kandy in the 1980s and I
believe Kumar also received tennis tips and cricketing tips from him.
Knowing him as I do Hema would not have let young Kumar escape
‘cricketing advice’. In fact, the families became firm friends and the
Senior Sangakkaras stayed with de Silva relatives during Kumar’s first
tour of England. So, Hema would have simply lapped up this Q and A
exchange in the Sunday Island.
Thank you, Kumar. Keep batting as commentator within both the cricketing and political fields.