It is 60 years since Sri Lanka gained independence from the colonial rule. Only a few of us, be it politicians or professionals or otherwise, have taken pains to look back and analyze where we were right and where we went wrong and if so why. A few years back Milinda Moragoda commenced writing a column to a Sinhala newspaper in attempt to provide rational explanations to such questions while closely analyzing the country’s journey since independence.

Fashionable future

Making use of the lessons learned from the past experiences, he proposes policies on which the country’s future should be fashioned. In his column he reminded us that the best way to learn from our mistakes is to engage in self-analysis and self-criticism.


An anthology of articles printed in the column by Milinda Moragoda is now available as a book. The book which is entitled Kedapatha (Mirror) is subtitled “60 years with Independence” was edited by the veteran journalist and renowned editor of many a newspaper, Edmond Ranasinghe.


The people of this country know Milinda Moragoda not only as the politician who propagate a different political culture but also as a person who makes a genuine attempt to disseminate opinions and ideas he himself believes in. Although many channels were used for this exercise, the most successful of them all was his column in Lankadeepa in which he discussed a wide range of subjects. Politics and economy were the subjects most frequently discussed.


However, in some of his articles he makes use of the insights and visions of the prominent world leaders he closely associated, in order to drive certain points home to the reader.

An appropriate title

When we read the articles in the book, we feel that it was aptly named Kedapatha or Mirror as it is apparent that he attempts to bring the period since independence in front of a mirror and review, analyze and scrutinize in order to learn.


There is no doubt that the easiest thing in the world is criticizing and placing the blame on the others when there is a mistake made. When there are unresolved issues in society after 60 years of independence, it creates the most conducive context to do just this and throw out pledges that nobody has any intention of keeping during the political rat race to grab power.

Familiar politics

In his writing, he never displayed any inclination to indulge in this familiar political practice. Instead, we see that Moragoda strives to convince his readership that all of us, politicians and ordinary citizens alike, are responsible for mistakes made in the past 60 years. He reiterates that no one person or one institution could be held responsible for the failures for which we have paid and are still paying dearly.


His articles draw attention to the damage caused by the lethargic attitude of the nation which sadly lacked the dedication required to develop a new vision appropriate for the country. He points out that we could see the true picture only by looking at ourselves through a mirror.


On the one hand Kadapatha could be seen as criticism levelled against the entire society. On the other hand it could be considered an attack on the so-called leaders of our society. The society in general is under the misconception that social leadership belongs only to the politicians. The author stresses that all of us become leaders by making our contribution to build a prosperous nation and no one should be considered less important.

Rifts and conflicts

At the beginning of the book Moragoda expresses his objective of writing the series of articles that are unusual for an ordinary political abundant.


“Even after 60 years of independence, the country is in confusion. The people are tensed. As a result society has become a cornucopia of divisions, rifts and conflicts.


“Did the rulers who governed the country for the last 6 decades bring this unfortunate situation on us? It is important that issues should be resolved through open dialogue. Through these articles, I aspire to create an environment that is conducive and build up a forum for an open discussion. I consider this to be a mirror or a looking glass from which we could scrutinize ourselves with clarity. I believe that the moment has come for us to go before a mirror and question ourselves of our own behaviour and conduct.”


In his articles Moragoda analyses the prerequisites and qualities required for leadership to govern the country.


It is apparent that his analysis was made with thorough knowledge of country’s own history as well as the world history. He also makes an attempt to point out what could be achieved through self scrutinization and constructive self criticism. Following is an extraction from the article “What is Leadership.”

Definition of leadership

“Professionals who take up the task of leading the country should have the ability to put their vision through to the masses and convince them. They should also be able to guide the society towards productive goals. There could be instances when people do not clearly comprehend the goals set out by the leaders as such goals could be based on long term visions.


What went wrong with us was words of our leaders were translated into quite different messages due to social divisions and were subjected to unending debates and arguments which led to unprecedented divisions in the society.”


We’ve heard many stating that differences of castes do no longer exist in our society. However, the truthfulness of such statements is subjected to serious doubt when decisions are made on the facts such as person’s sports club or the school he or she attended. Such decisions deprive many people of opportunities.


When sections of the society are marginalized by the mainstream for many reasons they become dissatisfied and frustrated. With dissatisfied, frustrated and restless social segments which are frequently expanding, it would not be possible for a country to concentrate on development.”

Eliminating division

The need of the hour is to eliminate these numerous divisions existing in our society.


Most of these social divisions were deviously introduced in the past to prevent attempts for independence. The gospel truth is that no struggle is won by any society when it is divided for every conceivable reason.
We have been celebrating independence for 6 decades.


However, the real independence will be elusive for us until we conquer the mammoth challenge of uniting our society.


After 30 years of suffering, our armed forces under the able guidance of President Mahinda Rajapaksa liberated the country from the clutches of terrorism. In his victory day speech, the president stated that there are no divisions in this country other than the majority that loves the country and a small minority that doesn’t.


Long before the Head of State expressed this opinion, Moragoda in his articles has been saying that the country should be freed from the manacles of divisions and should be united in order to achieve any meaningful independence.


He has further said that the future of the country will be in peril if we fail to comprehend this reality even after 60 years of independence from colonial rule.