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A tribute to Minister Kadirgamar assassinated three months ago : Walking through corridors of culture with Lakshman Kadirgamar
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Many nights have passed since the glow of Lakshman Kadirgamar's life and thoughts were extinguished existence. My mind refused to come to terms with this tragedy.
Finding any solace in written expressions failed miserably as my despairing mind rejected the flow of thoughts and fingers remained numb.
This evening (August 31st) there was a convergence of emotions! As if by some strange coincidence, Rajini Tiranagama's graphic biography, 'No more tears, Sister', made its visual presence at the Peradeniya Arts Faculty.
With each image her memory reached out to me in an anguished cry surging me into the tortured history of an island society in search of its precarious existence in the post colonial period.
If Rajini, a humane person who braved all oppressive forces perpetrating social injustice in the name of 'liberation', there are many others who sacrificed their gentle breath of life so that humanity may perpetuate the meaning of its valued existence. Rajini's tragedy was inherent in the dialectical contradiction of a liberation movement transforming itself into totalitarianism.
Lakshman and Rajini died challenging those very forces of social fascism. Living images of Richard Zoysa and Neelan Tiruchelvam played on the screen unfolding the pathetic narration of a society increasingly brutalised with each decade.
Memories of repression and the bloody carnage of 1971, 1983, 1988/89, the massacre of Tamil-speaking political detainees at Welikada prisons and countless other senseless dehumanised acts of depravation unleashed on fellow humans in the name of 'good governance', social justice, nationalism and patriotism, in the north and the south of this island, were thrown at me with sheer ferocity. It finally opened up the floodgates of my pent up thoughts - more in anger than as objective responses.
Emerging from my somnolence and around midnight I brought myself to watch the funeral ceremony of Lakshman Kadirgamar what Harsha had taped for me. While the pictures were in motion my mind kept drifting back to events and moments in the company of a gentle human being.
Fleeting memories of the happy evening we all shared at the BCIS on the fateful evening, an exuberant Lakshman Kadirgamar, and then the dreaded phone call on my return journey to Kandy, are now but a muted memory. After a period of three weeks my thoughts were slowly liberated and I consoled myself the best way I knew - by ordering the events celebrating Lakshman Kadirgamar in my mind.
Let me recount the events after the happening. Walking down memory lane from the past to the present was never so difficult for me as in the case of this event. The past carried too many memories that we more confusing than painful.
Tissa Jayatilleke and I had mutually agreed not to visit the house and see him rest in a 'box'. As much as we were nurtured in a culture that taught us the nature of impermanence of mind and matter, the thought of death at that moment was not only revolting, it was unacceptable. Our relationship with him celebrated a higher essence of life and culture. It was a precious living memory of a loving friend who cared; who worked with us but never imposed himself on us. It was an association of quality that humbled a University Professor.
We drifted towards Independence Square and stood by a fence well before the procession reached its final destination. The statue of D. S. Senanayake at Independence Square stood in all its majesty, patiently waiting as a proud father does to receive a son who would soon return to him along Independence Avenue. DS must have grieved at the prospect of witnessing the Swan Song of yet another son of Mother Lanka who did not compromise her independence, dignity and territorial integrity.
It is ironic that this very son had to make his final curtain call at 'Independence Square'! I almost sensed DS's hawk eyes sweeping the crowd and narrowing his brows with utter disgust as he sighted forked tongued hypocrites who were shamelessly lamenting and at the same time relishing the thought of rushing back to the negotiating table to share the Sri Lankan pie (or whatever crumbs that is left of it) with the cannibals.
At that hour it was sobering to stand with the less privileged and the humble who surrounded us. The thought of sitting in a special enclave did not appeal to us either. What is so special about a VIP enclave at a funeral anyway? It was more befitting to stand among the people and share their grief. They had arrived from distant places to revere a decent human being.
These folks were not the decision makers. Nor would these humble people sell out this country for a few bucks and a fractured crown to the cannibals and their patron saints, the Vikings. Not because they knew Kadirgamar personally but they valued what he stood for and what he represented as a statesman of the highest order. Above all they trusted him! It was written on almost everyone's face that 'he gave his life for us'. That is a powerful testimony of acceptance and vote of confidence!
The wailing sound of the military band added an atmosphere of sombre and misery to the air. The moment of truth dawned on me. Lakshman has finally left us.
As his mortal remains passed where we stood, I reached out to Tissa seeking enough strength from him to escape an eerie vortex that was drawing me into an abysmal void. Having Tissa as my friend and companion at that moment was an invaluable consolation.
Our shared thoughts were on the same individual who had touched us in a very special way. Soon after the mortal remains of Lakshman Kadirgamar passed us we retreated from the Square. We cursed the cruel flames impatiently waiting to embrace a patriot who had developed a poetic love for this land and its people. Before we left the ground I noticed tears on the faces of many individuals.
They are the real children of the soil and not the whisky-sipping middle class yuppies, section of the media mafia and self-proclaimed metropolitan academics and intellectuals, following their upward social mobility, had now the audacity to pontificate about the 'reasonable anger' of the Cannibals who carried out this execution. Many of them have done well for themselves posing as 'peace merchants'.
They are the Walking Dead while Lakshman Kadirgamar has emerged larger than life after his demise.
Individual, society and culture
I wish to keep this narration simple because Lakshman made everything look so simple and less complicated. I also do not wish to overplay the role of the individual churning out a Great Man. Greatness is not made, it is achieved. The individual is always positioned as a product of his or her time, a product of society and its dynamics. My exercise here is not to write a biography of Kadirgamar.
I am most certainly not qualified enough to accomplish that task. Kadirgamar shaped his thinking in response to existing sociopolitical realities, be it questioning the domination of the Western cultures as President of Oxford Union in England or as a senior statesman in Sri Lanka challenging the social fascist hegemony of the LTTE.
The Sri Lankan society to him was not a complex one. His worldview was quite uncomplicated. Every one of its citizens had a right to live in dignity within this island and no one could deprive another of that sacred right. His philosophy of life, political philosophy and cultural philosophy, both, as a Sri Lankan and as un uncompromising internationalist, derived from this simple axiom.
He vehemently denounced any tribal and parochial labels as his identity. The Sri Lankan identity enriched by a three thousand years old multi cultural ethos shaped his intellectual personality celebrating, cultural diversity. A liberal to the core, who nurtured the best of democratic norms, it is not surprising that Kadirgamar opposed right down to the wire any centrifugal forces threatening the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka thereby depriving this island society of its inclusiveness.
When one recognises Kadirgamar as a Civilized and Cultured Human Being, his personality must be set against those who are uncivilized. The uncivilized in this context goes beyond the uncultured, the barbarian and the savage.
These terms were used within our traditional societies and by Colonialism to identify those outside the mainstream culture and those of a lesser culture. The specific term denoting those outside the pale of all cultured and less cultured categories in human society, is Cannibal.
Cannibals are those who devour other humans. In strict anthropological terms there is, endo Cannibalism and exo Cannibalism where such beings not only consume their own kin but also their 'enemy'. Anthropological studies do not record the existence of endo and exo cannibalism within the same society elsewhere in the world.
The LTTE therefore is a rarity. They simply devour all those who do not share their worldview. Be it individuals from Tamil speaking as well as other ethnic and language communities, who cherished civilized democratic norms, humane values, and those who unveiled the best of humane aspirations through their poetry, intellectual writings and people-friendly political activity had to be devoured at the sacrificial alter, outdoing the Aztecs in their blood letting ritual.
They represent a species they yet remain at the primordial level of physical and mental evolution. All patron nation-saints in the West, who suffer from Post World War Guilt Syndrome, who harboured and apologized on behalf of such Cannibals were given an advance warning by Lakshman Kadirgamar of this predatory carnivorous species one day scaling the wall in their own backyard. Being a man of reason he also pleaded to look into the causes that give rise to terrorism but cautioned them not to play footsy with terrorism.
The Cultural Scope
Working with Kadirgamar on culture was a privilege and education. Much has been written on his contribution towards Buddhism position in the world through the UN and his closeness to some members of the Buddhist clergy and the Buddha statues that adorned his private office.
Kadirgamar took ride of the fact that he had won the Light of Asia Contest as a student of Trinity College. While some wish to make him an exclusive Sinhalese and Buddhist, others have misread his liberal attitude as a way of patronizing the majority community.
His respect for all religions, languages and cultures expressed in numerous eloquent speeches were not for mere pubic consumption and 'playing to the gallery' as some may wish to believe. It was a way of life for Kadirgamar through absolute conviction of his belief that while taking pride in his or her culture one must celebrate and respect other cultures.
Respect for diversity was his norm. Kadirgamar's genuine concern for the 'Voice of the Voiceless', especially the Tamil and Muslim communities under a totalitarian regime in the north and the east deeply grieved him.
On several occasions he noted the alarming growth of a cultural void in the north and the east due to the dehumanisation of those communities under social fascism. His concern for the preservation of culture at the grass roots level was carried out without much fuss. In dignified silence Lakshman and Suganthi assisted the traditional craftsmen of Kandy and the renovation of Kandyan Crafts building around the lake.
Few perhaps realise that he had a vision and plan for cultural activities marshalled through our foreign policy. It was a multi pronged strategy that linked the national cultures to the international cultures. We worked on this aspect prior to his second term as Minister.
As the Chairperson of the SAARC Foreign Ministers Committee he put in place a comprehensive plan for a three-month archaeological training program at Anuradhapura bringing the middle level resource persons from the SAARC countries to Sri Lanka.
These young professionals would, within the next ten years, hold all key positions in regional archaeology and heritage management. This programme was expected to forge a strong bond amongst them enhancing both regional cooperation in culture leading to a better understanding and concerted action in the future.
This plan was shelved for a couple of years as priority had to be given for an urgent project on children suffering from AIDS in the region. All this did not deter his efforts tirelessly working at the preliminary plans of establishing the SAARC Performing Arts Centre near Kandy.
At the back of his mind was the dissemination of Sri Lankan culture to the world, representing the salient features of its multi cultural mosaic and negating the terrorist claims of exclusiveness as a justification to ethnic cleansing and partitioning this island.
While he assigned high priority to the role of economics and financial aspects in our foreign policy, Kadirgamar gave equal importance to the cultural dimension that was to be activated through our overseas missions. His personal involvement in designing the Wesak card to the international community took immaculate planing by Kadirgamar himself.
The text he insisted must be trilingual. The young diplomats were to represent the best elements of this island culture and not conduct themselves as some moronic administrators who mechanically push the AR & FR devoid of any aesthetic vision. 'If I need simple-minded administrators I could always staff our embassies with clerks and not diplomats'.
His vision to develop the accomplished pro-active junior diplomat was a long-term plan. He was proud of his young diplomatic corps and had great faith in their ability to carry out this new vision and mission. He set in motion a taught course that had elements of culture in a lecture series and for the future trainee diplomats we planed out a hands-on field study at our heritage sites as a familiarization program.
This ambitious program of training the young diplomat was carried out with Manel Abeysekera at the tastefully redesigned Colonial house at Horton Place where the Foreign Service Training, Sri Lanka Institute of International Relations was located.
Being a man of cultured taste he let it reflect in his habitat, be it his residence or other official buildings of the Foreign Ministry. Kadirgamar took pains to refurbish the Ministry where members of the Foreign Service could take pride of their work place. He wished to have the total cultured personality representing Sri Lanka as its emissaries.
Kadirgamar's vision for this project went beyond the individual diplomat. He initiated cultural programs with every visit he made during his tenure as Minister. Spectacular documentaries complied under his supervision depicting the cultural essence of this country; its people, their histories and cultural diversity were unfolded during his visits overseas.
He ensured that our cultural stars such as Visharada Amaradeva perform to dignified overseas audiences. The original plan we worked out for a high profile archaeological exhibition with the Japanese ambassador during one of Akashi's visit to Sri Lanka had Kadirgamar's blessings as he realized its value as a long term investment disseminating Sri Lankan culture to Japan and in turn attracting up market tourists to Sri Lanka. One of the last missions we carried out on his behalf was our participation at the Asia Middle East Dialogue held in Singapore this April.
This gathering had a critical focus on the economic and cultural dialogue between the two regions that was to develop as a mutually beneficial process blending tradition with modernity. Kadirgamar's advance net working had carved out an important niche for Sri Lanka among many giants who had arrived at that assembly.
Conversely, he did not hesitate to use all his diplomatic skills in damage control. Last year he conveyed a stiff message to all client countries to stop the demand so as to cease the supply of Buddha-printed underwear reaching their markets. Many an eyebrows were raised over his persuasive vocabulary dished out to senior foreign diplomats at his ministry office in Fort. This curt but definitive message reached them loud and clear. I had a first hand experience of the 'advocate' side of the Minister.
Kadirgamar viewed the Indian dimension as a political and cultural imperative and reality. He also had a very personal affection for India and trusted her goodwill. It is well known how India reciprocated this valued friendship with Kadirgamar and stood by him, even after his death! The cultural imperative had a wider scope and a mutually dependent dynamic. To him it was a natural continuum of our legendary and historical relationship with India. This relationship was galvanised through several binding factors.
The Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies was resurrected under his able guidance and it became a hub for an India orientation. In the last three years a galaxy of Indian academics, military personnel and other specialists in the field of economics and international relations converged at high profile seminars and conferences chartering joint policies on security, conflict resolution, economics and culture. This was further enhanced by a link established between the BCIS and the School of International Studies at Jawaharalal Nehru University, New Delhi.
It was his personal persuasion that brought in Sage Publications (India) as a partner publisher to the BCIS. Kadirgamar was personally involved with the able assistance of Tissa Jayatilleke in the making of the first issue of the journal.
This was a crowning success and he did not attempt to hide his elation at its launching ceremony on 12/8. On the evening of that fateful day Kadirgamar outlined his ambitious program for the Rajiv Gandhi Centre at the BCIS with Indian Government assistance, and made the tragic prediction that he may not live to see its birth! His cultural tour of South India was to take place in the month of October in 2005.
The elegant volume celebrating the work of Stanley Kirinde's valuable work of art is a testimony to his capacity to coalesce political studies with cultural work at the BCIS. Only an individual with a cultured nature could carry out such a vision to its logical conclusion.
The Outreach Program for Shared Culture we initiated for an archaeological study of South Indian sites by graduate archaeology students of Peradeniya and the Jetavana archaeological site received his blessing and he put the foreign ministry resources in Chennai at our disposal through the able assistance of Deputy High Commissioner, Sumith Nakandala.
The participation of youth in the promotion of cultural plurality was seen as a positive development negating parochial images of culture. His total faith in the next generation made him have a very accommodating attitude towards the JVP, which many did not understand or did not wish to understand.
The youth of this party admired his sentiments and publicly saluted him and stood by him unto his death. On that last evening he discussed in all earnest on ways and means of publicising high profile writings by Sinhala and Tamil speaking youth expressed in the vernacular.
Sage Publications readily agreed to publish quality translations of such articles written in the Sinhala and the Tamil languages. Those who wish to label Kadirgamar as a traitor to the Tamil people must take serious note of this information and look at themselves in the mirror.
Epilogue
'Sudharshan, do you have time to talk over some matters?' This was his gentle way of entering into a dialogue over the phone. It conveyed an explicit character of quality about Lakshman. This expression itself indicated the premium he put on our time and respect for the professional.
The sound of those gentle and cultured words will echo in my mind for years to come as a message of humility. To me, after Ananda Coomaraswamy, Kadirgamar epitomised the best qualities of Classical Sri Lankan culture blended with the highest cultural norms of the Internationalist. No one has the right to deprive any society of such an elegantly accomplished individual who believed in the beauty of all encompassing culture of human dignity.
I could not find better words to express his inner feelings other than some lines that flowed from the pen of Leon Trotskey before his tragic death. ".... Natasha has just come up to the window from the courtyard and opened it wider so that the air may enter more freely into my room.
I can see the bright green strip of grass beneath the wall, and the clear blue sky above the wall, and sunlight everywhere. Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression, and enjoy it to the full" (27th February 1940. Coyoacan in Mexico). In many ways they had a shared destiny.
Both were internationalists, brilliant intellectuals, sophisticated cosmopolitans and cultured individuals of the world. They were forced into restricted lives and were brutally assassinated by agents of totalitarianism.
The LTTE may have finally accomplished its task of eliminating one of Asia's most cultured humans. Yet Kadirgamar's memory and ideals will be a permanent beacon to all those who value quality of life and the culture of dignified humane aspirations.
Prince of Dignity, your task is done. Rest with ease and enjoy the poetry of life you inspired in others!
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