Lalith Athulathmudali was a man of many talents – Minister Moragoda


(by Asanga Warnakulasuriya)

Photo – Minister of Economic Reforms, Science and technology Milinda Moragoda and Srimani Athulathmudali, the wife of late Lalith Athulathmudali on their way to participate in the Lalith Athulathmudali Memorial Oration at BMICH. (by Samantha Weeraisiri)

The second round of peace talks is “Half full to many while half empty to others”, Minister of Economic Reforms, Science, and Technology Milinda Moragoda said on Wednesday.

Addressing the Lalith Athulathmudali Memorial ceremony held at the BMICH, the Minister further said, “We are not in either black nor white, but grey”. We have just completed one third of the journey, the toughest part of the journey is ahead of us”, minister said.

Answering a question raised by the audience about the progress of the peace talks, the minister said, it was decided at the peace talks that three separate committees will be put to deal with the present situation in Jaffna. The three committees will deal with resettlement, de-escalation and politics respectively. The minister admitted the fact that one of the biggest challenges faced by the government is the law enforcement in North.

The oration was organised by the Lalith Athulathmudali Foundation on the topic”, Sri Lanka: which way for the future”. The minister said, “Athulathmudali, a man of many talents was a scholar, teacher, linguist, advocate and a barrister”.

He was educated at Oxford and Harvard, absorbed the best that western cultures had to offer and; but he never substituted those cultures for his own, which always remained that of a Sri Lankan and a Buddhist. Lalith used to say that it was not “Kauda Hari”, that mattered but “Kumakda Hari”, Minister added.

He said, “Whether he was addressing a political gathering in Sinhala, or addressing the Oxford Union in English, or a group of students in Germany, he was equally at home, equally able to enthrall his audience.

Lalith Athulathmudali forged for himself a personality and a vision was uniquely a Sri Lankan and brought to the fore those charismatic features that had enabled Sri Lanka’s leaders to inspire our people to reach the greatness they achieved in the ancient times, Minister said.

The minister called “jealousy” as the most tragic by-product of our divided society recalled a fable attributed to one of the former Prime Ministers visit to Hell. “Having died, our hero went to hell, where he was given preliminary tour by the Devil himself. Hell consisted of several deep pits, each of which was reserved for punishment of the sinful from a particular country. Each was guarded at the surface by the demons, who kept pushing back those who tried to escape the punishment by climbing out. They eventually came to a pit with no guards at all, and our hero had asked whether it was in use. “Oh, no”, said the devil, this pit is quite full. But this is the Sri Lankan pit and it needs no guards. Each time someone tries to climb out others inside pull him down!”.

The Minister inviting the leaders of all faiths said, “I invite the Maha Sangha, the repositories of our highest values, to come together to determine the common essentials of their beliefs and to propagate them to turn back the tide of violence that has blighted our nation”.

Srimani Athulathmudali, daughter and relatives of Lalith Athulatmudali participated in this ceremony.