“Lakshman was proud to be Sri Lankan”

Mrs. Suganthie Wijayasuriya Kadirgamar ‘s speech at the 25th Anniversary Celebrations of the Sri Lanka United National Association (SLUNA) in Toronto on August 30, 2008.

(September 04, Toronto, Sri Lanka Guardian) Mrs. Kadirgamar thanked SLUNA for inviting her and said it was a difficult task to speak of her late husband Lakshman’s life in such a short space of time. She therefore said she would confine her comments to the period 1994 to 2001, and the years 2004 and 2005 when he served as Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. In order to understand his thinking, she quoted the following from a television address given by Lakshman in 1994 stating his reasons for entering the political arena:

“ I have had a privileged life by birth, by education, by access to opportunities, and I have always felt that a time must come when you must give something back to the society in which you have grown up and from which you have taken so much. So-called educated people must not shirk responsibilities in public life. I have reached that stage in my life when, without being heroic about it, I feel I should participate more fully in public life. If you treat the democratic process as one of extreme and sustained confrontation and hostility to those of different persuasions then there is little scope for independence and objectivity in politics. Independence based on reasoned positions, even in dissent, can only be healthy for a party and for society as a whole.”

When he undertook the Foreign Minister’s portfolio in the Government of Sri Lanka in 1994 he had a daunting challenge ahead of him. The new government extended the hand of peace to the LTTE along with a devolution package, which the latter rejected and recommenced hostilities. With various international organizations taking a biased and pro-LTTE approach, and the adverse reporting made his task more difficult. Lakshman worked tirelessly day and night, regularly briefing opinion makers in the west. He argued that Sri Lanka could not be divided on ethnic or religious lines as its citizens were so heavily intermingled.

Lakshman was proud to be Sri Lankan. He wanted the new generations to look at each other in the spirit of Sri Lankan brotherhood and sisterhood, transcending narrow differences. He steadfastly stood for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka.

Despite threats to his life from the LTTE, he was not deterred from standing for what he believed to be right.

- Sri Lanka Guardian