I write this letter because elections seem to be at hand for Sri Lanka. On May 7, 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered, and the next day was celebrated as Victory in Europe Day (VE Day). Three months later (August 15 ), Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender and the Second World War officially came to a close on September 2. But between that May and September, a general election was held in Britain, the first after 10 years, elections having been suspended during the period of crisis.

Winston Churchill is generally regarded as the greatest war leader Britain has had to date. Unlike the LTTE leader whose goal was to form an independent state, the German leader’s aim was nothing less than to conquer the whole of the British Isles.

During the dark and bleak days, with the rest of Western Europe conquered (and prior to America’s entry into the war), England faced Hitler and his army, reputed to be one of the best the world has seen. During those testing times, Churchill, by his presence and rhetoric, was an inspiring, rallying figure: "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."

It is not difficult to understand the sense of gratitude, admiration (sometimes bordering on adulation) and affection the British people of that time had for Churchill, their saviour.

Elections were held in July 1945, just two months after the war ended, and Churchill was confident he would be chosen by a grateful public. But the people’s preference was otherwise, and the great victor of the war, lost.

The Labour Party under Clement Attlee came in with a landslide majority, getting 393 seats while Churchill and the Conservatives won only 197. Most Sri Lankans — most being Sinhalese — see Mahinda Rajapakse as their President-hero, the one who led the country to military victory over the Tamil Tigers.

This being the case, an equivalent scenario would be if in Sri Lanka an election were held tomorrow, and President Rajapakse lost to a socialist party. If the response to this hypothetical parallel is an exclaimed (if not outraged) "Impossible!" would that be a positive reflection on the nature and wisdom of Sri Lanka’s electorate?

It is not that the British were ingrates, but the country faced many and major problems of reconstruction and, while recognising and applauding Churchill’s gifts and contribution as a war-time leader, the people felt that Labour would be better able to deal with the tasks facing the country.

In other words, they rationally kept their electoral choice for the future of the country separate from the emotions of admiration, gratitude and affection for services rendered to it in the immediate past.

That the British have not forgotten, and never are likely to forget, Churchill’s war-time contribution is seen, not least, in his statue outside the House of Parliament: symbol of that system of government and way of life which he had helped to protect.

Gratitude for military victory can, and should, be expressed in ways other than through election to the highest political office — that is, provided there are others better suited for the work at hand. The Labour Party assumed power and began the much-needed social reconstruction and restructuring, for example, building the national transport and health systems.

Churchill believed in democracy — but only where his own people were concerned. On others, he would maintain the forcible occupation of their territory: "I have not become the King’s First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire."

He would not have agreed to withdraw from India, Ceylon and other British territory, unless compelled to do so. He was also a racist: foreign occupation and racism invariably go together. Churchill said it was "nauseating" for him to see Mahatma Gandhi, a man "posing as a fakir of a type well known in the east, striding half-naked" up the steps of no less than the august palace of the representative of the "King-Emperor," and to talk with him on terms of equality.

Military leaders are not uncommonly chauvinist. That is a great part of their appeal to the populace — and their danger, and ultimate destructiveness.

It is hoped that Sri Lankans will, politically, be as rational, wise and mature as the British were then. This is neither to suggest that the present government is incapable of undertaking the task of reconciliation and construction ("construction" in more than material terms) nor is it to affirm the contrary.

The intention is only to urge that, in making their choice for the future, the electorate will be guided by reason rather than be swept along by euphoria and an emotionalism in the flood of which a wrongly expressed sense of gratitude plays the major, if not the only, part.

Let sanity prevail

Scenes of mass celebration, of raban playing, flag waving, lighting of firecrackers and baila dancing on the streets of Colombo celebrating ‘victory’ over the Tamil Tigers were seen on TV recently.

Some of them were not even born in July ’83 when communal rioting killed over 2000 minority Tamils and made over 500,000 of them refugees in a matter of two days.

The Sinhalese have therefore no real cause for mass celebration of the demise of the Tigers — created by the "Sinhala Only" policy and several other anti-Tamil policies. We are all happy that the war has ended after a long and arduous 26 years.

But it has also to be remembered that there are also many Tamils who were at the receiving end of the Tiger violence. It was not a war caused by a foreign enemy, but a civil war which was caused by racism and bad governance, with historical animosities going back to ancient history.

What is needed now is a good Buddhist leadership to replace the anti-Tamil Buddhist leadership that forced the Tamils to take up arms and demand a separate state, as being the only alternative to be free from Sinhala state terrorism.

There has now to be a complete change of perspective. Can the Buddhist leadership with the deeply ingrained chauvinistic thinking, change its perspective? As they say "One can’t make old dogs learn new tricks." So we can only hope for a younger generation to step in.

The war together with ancient history has proved that the Sinhala Buddhist nation is not compatible with the Hindu Tamil minority. Obviously, promising to grant immediate secession is not practicable at this stage. But by generous devolution to the Tamils, it is possible that in the course of time, they would inexorably move away from the need to secede.

The Sinhalese must now realise after the war, that the Tamils are here to stay and that they have as much a historical claim as the Sinhalese, who proudly claim they are Aryans who have originated from far away Bengal — which would logically make Bengal their mother country — as the Tamils would say. Unless the Sinhala Buddhist majority — with those with Portuguese names like Fonseka and Fernando — are ready to accept this, it would be hopeless.

May the Triple Gem and Lord Shiva bless the troubled, though independent island of Sri Lanka.

Politicians killed by the LTTE...

I regret to note in The Sunday Leader of May 31, the under noted list — in which you have omitted, or forgotten to include the name of late Ossie Abeyagoonasekera — Member of Parliament and National Leader of Mahajana Pakshaya, who died due to an LTTE attack (we believe). Since many newspapers continue to make the same mistake, I am copying same to others. Trust this will receive the attention of the media, and will be corrected.

Thank you. 

The article did mention that 59 others were killed along with Gamini Dissanayake and this included all those who died at the site and Abeyagoonasekara who later succumbed to his injuries sustained from the Thotalanga bomb blast. The names were too numerous to mention. Due to an oversight, we have failed to include late Ranjan Wijeratne who was killed on March 2, 1991. 

We regret the error.

MR for Nobel Prize 2010

My candid opinion is that the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2010 should be awarded to President Mahinda Rajapakse for the leading part he played in destroying the world’s most ruthless terrorist organisation, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

These terrorists led by Velupillai Pirapaharan during the last 30 years (a) ruthlessly killed countless thousands of innocent Sri Lankans of all communities apart from members of the armed forces, ( b) virtually imprisoned hundreds of thousands of civilians of his own community in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka, (c) destabilised the entire Sri Lankan economy and (d) caused billions of rupees worth of damage to the property of this country. In addition to killing several leaders of the Sinhala community, Pirapaharan, to further his unbridled ambition of becoming the sole leader of the Tamils, also assassinated many moderate Tamil leaders.

My considered opinion is that President Rajapakse’s name should be the first to be considered for the Nobel Prize for Peace for the next year.

Professor C. C. Balasubramaniam, Founder Professor of Pathology of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna and later, Professor of Pathology, North Colombo Medical College, passed away peacefully on November 3, 2008, after serving his country with quiet dedication, and guiding generations of medical students in Jaffna, Peradeniya and North Colombo.

He leaves behind his devoted and gentle wife Kausa, his only daughter Darshi and beloved grand daughters Meera and Neeraja (Gigi).

Prof. Bala, born on November 9, 1918, was the son of Mudaliyar Chelliah and Ponnammah Chelliah of Chundikuli, Jaffna.

Being the youngest in a family of four male siblings he was the centre of attraction and the principal beneficiary of family love and affection. After his primary and secondary education at St. Patrick’s College, Jaffna, he gained admission to St. Joseph’s College, Colombo, to study for university entrance.

In pursuit of Mudaliyar Chelliah’s dream of making his youngest son shine as a brilliant lawyer, young Bala was reluctantly persuaded to gain admission to the Ceylon Law College to become a proctor. Bala however had other ideas kindled by his love for medicine and a desire to emulate his grandfather’s vocation in life.

His conflict became compulsive enough to make him stand up to his father and say good bye to a carrier in law and embark on his cherished career in medicine.

After graduating as a doctor in 1948 with honours, Bala’s early career was nourished and nurtured by the guidance of such eminent members of the profession at the time as Dr. Wijerama and Professor Milroy Paul. Later he was posted to the provinces where his services were rendered to rural Ceylon.

In 1955 he proceeded to the United Kingdom to pursue post-graduate studies in pathology and clinical medicine and, in due course, succeeded in getting memberships of both the Royal Colleges of Pathologists as well as the Royal College of Medicine.

Few years later, he was elected a Fellow of both these Colleges. In recognition of the services he had rendered in these fields, the Ceylon College of Physicians also conferred the honour of electing him a Fellow of that College.

His qualifications and training in medicine and pathology made him a highly respected clinical pathologist; during his long tenure as consultant pathologist at the Kandy General Hospital he was affectionately referred to by his colleagues as the ‘walking encyclopaedia of medicine.’

After a short stint as consultant pathologist at Prince Charles Hospital in Wales, UK, he was appointed as the Founder Professor of Pathology in the Faculty of Medicine, Jaffna. Being a devoted son of the soil, he put his heart and soul to found and develop the Department of Pathology. The pathology museum he established, which is still being used for teaching and examinations, is testimony to his relentless dedication to the cause of pathology education.

In 1990 when he left his Nallur Road residence for his daughter’s confinement in Colombo, little did he realise that he had said goodbye to Jaffna. The escalation of the ethnic conflict was to isolate him from his own native surroundings.

Years later he was to tell me that shortly after he had left his Jaffna home the ‘boys’ had robbed him of all his belongings leaving behind only the shell of his house –– the dispossession of his library which he had lovingly collected over the years added to the intensity of his poignancy.

When I first met Prof. Bala in 1991 he had reached the sunset of his professional and academic life. By then he was physically wracked by years of diabetes and emotionally devastated by the personal tragedy that had befallen his only daughter; for him, the devouring flames of ethnic violence that had engulfed the country were beyond comprehension.

It was at such a juncture that I was selected by Prof. Bala as a temporary lecturer in his department. The physical and emotional traumas did not dampen his attitude to help me professionally.

I was then a fresh graduate considering pathology and paediatrics as possible future career paths. He allowed me to conduct most of the teaching, reporting of specimens, performing post mortems, and conducting clinico-pathological meetings –– he virtually pushed me into the deep waters of pathology!

His intention was to make it easy for me to make up my mind one way or the other –– which is exactly what I did at the end of my attachment with the department. At the end of nine months when I was leaving for my internship, Prof. suggested that I return to the department and start training in earnest under his guidance.

After completing my internship and a further 10 months in Anuradhapura I decided to return to Prof. Bala’s department. The sound foundation I received there helped me so immensely in my postgraduate training that I am ever indebted to this wonderful man.

Although Prof. was a quiet and contemplative person brilliant in his academic and professional stature, the conversations we had while travelling between Colombo and Ragama gave me insights into his broader character and interests.

His eyes sparkled when he walked down memory lane and recalled his childhood in Chundikuli when he had to stand up to his father on career changes. He told me how as a young medical student he used to cycle with his friend Mackie Ratwatte to a stately home down Rosmead Place where a youthful and radiant Sirimavo treated them to tiffin while a thoughtful SWRD would pace the colonnaded verandah puffing at his pipe.

He had an impish sense of humour and a twinkle in his otherwise mournful eyes when he related the pranks they played on the handful of female medical students who had dared to invade a male-dominated profession at the time. Prof. was an avid reader with wide interests in the arts and literature; he would quote the Bhagavad Gita or Shakespeare with equal ease.

He had bitter memories of the terrible carnage inflicted by the "IPKF Saviours" recalling how they ran amok in the Jaffna hospital killing doctors, nurses, patients and bystanders. He was a helpless witness to this orgy of killing during the last months of 1987 following the Indo-Lanka Accord.

During my contacts with him I found that his two granddaughters Meera and Gigi were very much a part of his mental preoccupation and concern. He wanted to secure their future through a good education. Prof. was fortunate to see this dream come true when Meera graduated as a doctor and little Gigi entered medical school. With his last wish thus fulfilled, I am certain Prof. Balasubramaniam was ready to meet his Maker in peace and contentment. I pray for his soul to be with God.