Celebrating the saving of life: Civilian Bravery Awards in Sri Lanka

Below is an interview with Kasun P. Chandraratne, the President and Founder of the Foundation for Civilian Bravery in Sri Lanka which recognises annually those who save others’ lives in this nation. 

By Surya Vishwa 

Q: What inspired you to initiate this award?

I was walking along the pavement of Colombo Fort more than 27 years ago when I came across an old Readers Digest on sale, and I bought two of them. One had a story of a girl aged nine years in the United States saving her father when their horse kicked him on the head. This girl was presented with the Gold Medal by Carnegie Hero Fund Commission and it was presented by then US President Ronald Reagan. This article kindled in me a passion to form a similar organisation in Sri Lanka. 

I made a proposal to the then Lankan Government in 1992/1993 to form a ‘President Trust for Civilian Bravery’ and a Bill was drafted by me for this purpose and was sent to then President. The officers studying my proposal had a question: “Are there such people in this country?” My proposal did not see the light of day.

So I formed the ‘Foundation for Civilian Bravery’ as a trust of mine in 1993 and established by Act of Parliament No. 4 of 2009.

Q: Could you trace the concept of Civilian Bravery in Sri Lanka?

 Sri Lanka never knew Civilian Bravery for two reasons; back in the past it was the monarchy system in which only the King and Royal blood could claim bravery. In the past history we don’t know of any civilian hero (other than kings and the royal blood or those directly or indirectly connected with monarchy). What I mean is that we don’t have much knowledge of any history of ordinary civilians coming up with bravery in civilian contexts, if we leave out backdrops such as Uva Wellasa or those connected with colonial imperialism and civilian response. Of course there may have been many instances of civilian bravery in normal life contexts which have not been formally recorded. 

But the fact is that in general we don’t have a phrase in Sinhala or in Tamil for Civilian Bravery. At the beginning we called it uyck ùr;ajh or fmdÿ ck ùr;ajh but as it did not convey proper meaning we coined a word as advised by Kalasuri Arisen Ahubudu as úreck ùr;ajh. It could be argued that the absence of a word indicates the absence of such a concept in the past.

When we try to analyse a bit deeply we can see that the feudal system that followed monarchy, also did not recognise ordinary folk as brave. In an overall aspect this applies to the whole of Asia as all of them had a monarchic rule and then the feudal system at a certain time.

Civilian bravery is well-known in countries where there was no king or where the role of monarchy was underplayed in society. In USA, there was no King. Same similarity in Australia. Civilian bravery is prominent in the UK but the tone of monarchy there is different.

With the formation of the Civilian Bravery Foundation in 1993 we wanted to hail the concept of civilian bravery in everyday life and this concept took foothold in Sri Lanka. Those who are celebrated are those in any strata of society – any human being who saves the lives of others. 

Q: Is there any difference between the Lankan and international bravery awards?

Ours is very similar to medals of Carnegie Hero Fund Commission of US as I have followed their model with modifications. They recognise such incidents under the theme of Civilian Bravery. However, in UK where the Queen is the chief patron, civilian bravery related to saving fellow human beings is seen as humane acts.

The Sri Lanka Civilian awards differ in two folds:

The first is that in the definition of bravery our focus is not confined to human beings alone.

The second reason is that for Sri Lanka, civilian bravery is a vision. In UK and Australia, these are humane acts.

Q: Has there been any national level patronage in Sri Lanka for this humanistic and Buddhistic mission? 

I have devoted 27 years now for this cause. We do not maintain an office for the Foundation. There is no staff either. There is some support from Government institutions here and there depending on the officer. These are mostly carried out on personal relationship basis. The Speaker acts as the Chief Patron in comparison with UK where the chief patron is the Queen. Why we want this awards supported nationally in Sri Lanka is because it recognises humanity and encourages compassion and empathy through bravery in saving a living being which is justly fitting a Buddhist country.

Q: Could you speak about the awards for this year?

 There are seven incidents selected for awards. Mostly they are related to saving lives from drowning. One case is saving from a suicidal attempt at the Victoria Reservoir. The approach we adopted this year was to elevate to a higher level not confining to grass roots alone. On that basis it was decided that the IDH medical staff are to be recognised for their dedication at the first wave of the coronavirus.

Q: What is the support you need in general to improve the award more?  

 Currently the speaker of the Sri Lanka Parliament is the Chief Patron. Our awardees have participated at the national independence parades over the years and they may continue to do so. So far we have had 26 National Civilian Award ceremonies and the 27th is scheduled to be held on 7 May this year. Yet we have no office; it is confined to be in my chambers. We have no staff and annually we struggle to raise funds. We should have a fund sufficient to present awards and hold a ceremony and maintain an office. Further at times we need to help the awardee. Specially as the present case. When the breadwinner dies his or her family needs to be supported and the education of the children has to be looked into. 

(For more information about this mission please see the below website of the Civilian Bravery Awards. http://www.civilianbravery.org.)