Mangala Samaraweera – A Legend Of Humanity & An Icon Of Peaceful Co-Existence, Is No More!

By Mohamed Harees –AUGUST 27, 2021

Lukman Harees

‘True icons are larger than life, unforgettable with an elegance that’s mesmerizingly timeless’ – Francois Nars

Mangala Samaraweera, fondly referred to as Mangala, a former Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka and a notable advocate of  peaceful coexistence breathed his last, in a Colombo hospital , after treatment for COVID-19-related complications failed. He was 65. Earlier this month, Mangala contracted the deadly virus amid Sri Lanka’s deadly fourth wave that forced the government to impose an island-wide lockdown. May his soul rest in peace.

Both local and global leaders paid glowing tribute to him, including his arch political foes – the Rajapaksas notably Sri Lankan President and the Prime Minister. Former President Chandrika K. Bandaranaike rightly referred to his ‘impeccable personal ethics which will be hard to match in Sri Lanka’s political arena’. Tamil political leader Sampanthan summed up one of Mangala’s prime missions in life when he stated in tribute, that he was a ‘Sri Lankan in the true sense of the word” who wanted all citizens to unite on the basis of equality, justice, and dignity to form a united Sri Lankan nation and take Sri Lanka on the path of progress and prosperity. By his death all Sri Lankans irrespective of ethnicity or religious differences have lost a genuine leader of very high principles’. This was one aspect in his exemplary life which brought him closer to the minority communities, both Tamil and Muslims which became vulnerable, being the target of many racist majoritarian hate groups, specially in the Post war history of Sri Lanka. He was indeed a great communicator who championed reconciliation amongst all our peoples all his political life.

Hailing from the South, he built his political career specially under two SLFP Presidents – Chandrika and Mahinda. He created a stir in Sri Lankan politics when he was sacked as a minister by Mahinda Rajapakse in 2007, after which he formed a new political party called the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (Mahajana) Wing which merged into the United National Party in 2010. He served as Foreign Minister twice, from 2005 to 2007 in Mahinda Rajapaksa’s first term as President, and from 2015 to 2017 in the Yahapalana government, when he engaged closely with the international community.

The decisive role he played in respect of ensuring post-war accountability and transitional justice, however did not go down well, both with the majority Sinhalese as well as the Tamil communities for different reasons. He consistently slammed the culture of militarisation, ethnic and religious polarisation in Sri Lanka, calling for “a radical centre”, with a “commitment to liberalism and centrist values”.  Minister Mangala  took a pivotal role in forming the Office on Missing Persons during the previous regime, which earned the admiration of the international community. He sought to assuage the majority community which harboured the view that it will be a witch hunt in order to prosecute war heroes, by stating, ‘it does not aim to benefit only one community and does not threaten another. It is merely a truth-seeking mechanism that aims to investigate and find out the truth about those identified as “missing” or who have disappeared during times of conflict’.

In the light of the adverse global publicity Sri Lanka had to face specially in the Rajapakse regime days, it could be said in the overall context, that Mangala  was able to take Sri Lanka to the world stage from a “dismal pit” to a certain extent. In 2016, the International Institute for Middle-East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES) presented him a high award for “special contribution to the reconciliation and coexisting of different groups in Sri Lanka” and citing his signal contribution to the development of Sri Lanka into a successful and equitable multi-ethnic, multicultural, multireligious and multilingual country.

Mangala’s role in defending the dignity and rights of Muslims as equal citizens of Sri Lanka, at a challenging point during the Post war period, cannot be forgotten. He was among the first top level politicians who came forward to speak against the demonisation of the Muslims, when the notorious BBS was hunting down the Muslims in every quarter with State patronage. As an Opposition politician, he exposed the State funding to the BBS group through a defence Ministry sources during Mahinda’s regime. In 2017, Mangala also condemned the attack by a group of Buddhist monks on the hapless Rohingya refugees, describing it as a “shameful act,” and called for strong action against the perpetrators.

In the post Easter tragedy, he slammed a leading Buddhist monk’s controversial comments targeting Muslims and urged “true Buddhists” to unite against the “Talibanisation” of the religion.  His message came days after a senior monk attached to Asgiriya accused Muslims of “destroying the country”, and called for their stoning and a boycott of Muslim-run shops and businesses. He was the only prominent politician then to directly challenge the Asgiriya-affiliated monk’s racially-charged comments,  He tweeted ‘True Buddhists must unite NOW against the Talibanisation of our great philosophy of peace and love of all beings. No Buddhist can condone a statement to stone another human being to death, even if it emanates from the robed orders’. Mangala also  challenged Rev Ratana who engaged in an opportunistic ‘fast unto death’, demanding that three Muslim politicians resign over alleged links to Easter suspects.  He also courageously accused Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith too, of “fanning the flames of hatred and communalism, as he visited the fasting monk.

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