K.C. Kamalasabayson - An appreciation

COLOMBO: It is my sad responsibility to bid farewell to an individual who added class to everything he touched, an icon in his time. K.C. Kamalasabayson was a distinguished lawyer who reached the highest level in the official Bar, raised the position of Attorney-General to new heights and most important of all, re-emphasised man as the centrepiece of humanity.

Kamalasabayson’s life was sustained by his faith in Hinduism. The Hindu business model gave life to his devotion to public management which he so excellently served. Brahma was the creator, Shiva the Schumpetarian creative destroyer and sustainer and Vishnu, the humanitarian.

In public management, creation of policy is by the politician who had received the mandate to do so from the electorate, implementation by the public servant both by destroying dated structures and systems while retaining its best elements. He does so, acting humanely, particularly providing a safety net of assistance to the helpless and the underprivileged.

Kamalasabayson, while upholding the majesty of the law did not allow it to become mere legalism. The Buddha said that the role of man is to serve man. Kamalasabayson’s view of the law was that it was part of Plato’s viewpoint of justice and virtue and practised to serve man.

Sri Lanka today, is at a very interesting stage of her political and implementation evolution. There are two centers of power, holding different visions of what has to be done, a position unfamiliar to traditional Brahmic assertion. Implementers of policy have got caught up in this nutcracker, many, succumbing to angst abandoning hope and individuality.

The immediate post-colonial implementors would have managed the situation without intruding into Brahma’s zone of responsibility or compromising fundamentals of individual responsible behaviour.

Kamalasabayson, though chronologically later, was of the old mode of public manager, offering firm guidance not only with knowledge but wisdom, but when fundamentals of good conduct were at risk, resolutely standing up.

Kamalasabayson leaves us giving hope to a cynical generation that dharma is yet possible. His colleagues, the staff of his department and the general public would in unison stand up and say, this was an Attorney-General.

I would miss his dharshan.

Dilan Perera , Minister of Justice