Lasantha, my Editor and Friend
by Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu
Lasantha Wickrematunga was my editor and friend over the last one and a half decades. He was an intrepid fighter against corruption, partisan and plucky, mischievous always and Macchiavellian sometimes, he dared to dissent and to push to the hilt the media’s contribution to a vibrant functioning democracy in Sri Lanka. His murder leaves a huge void in the ranks of the defenders of democracy and human rights in this country. He was an example many admired, but which few have yet to emulate.
Lasantha was also one of a handful of people in the media who truly recognized and appreciated the inherent pluralism of Sri Lanka and the need to arrive at a new social contract, which would encompass the aspirations of all of the peoples of this country. He ensured that his newspaper would have space for minority opinion and concerns when most were wittingly or unwittingly caught up in the majoritarianism of the day. Not for him the orthodoxy of the times, with its stifling stereotypes and biases. His newspaper gave more space than any other to the plight of IDPs , to the carnage wrought by the war on combatant and civilian alike and to the need for a political and constitutional settlement of the ethnic conflict. His is the only paper that had the courage and conviction to publish an editorial exposing the hypocrisy and inhumanity of homophobia.
His killing is an egregious act of terrorism against democracy in our country. The greatest tribute to his life and work will be for his death to serve as the catalyst for a broad coalition against the terror and terrorists who threaten our freedom. This coalition must include the apathetic and unknowing and all those who read the Leader to salve their conscience and by doing so, avoid direct action. As Lasantha always believed and as his life and work have demonstrated, there is never a good or auspicious time to act to arrest the slide into darkness. Democracy requires constant vigilance; it requires us in our country to do something about this darkness, NOW. No one should abstain; no one should believe that this is a duty that can be delegated.
I will miss the Monday morning call reminding me about my column and the chats about the challenges facing our country, the chuckles about the “good” and the “great”, the whiff of scandal and the looming crises. But most of all, I will miss an intrepid fighter like no other, in the fight to protect and strengthen the values we shared and without which our country will be doomed.
Lasantha, knowing you, remembering you will always help me, in the words from Tennyson’s Ulysees - to seek to strive to find, and not to yield.