Appreciation: Sajeewa Samaranayake

The white-clad crowd that came unendingly to the new crematorium at Kanatte in the forenoon of 16 April at the height of the New Year holidays was, by any reckoning, extraordinarily diverse and numerically exceptional. We all realised only then that Sajeewa Samaranayake commanded a constituency that perhaps he himself was unaware of. The secret was the human being he was. 

We can now reflect on the trajectory of this exceptional outpouring of empathy and respect for a professional, a colleague and a soul mate. He had touched the hearts of so many lives of children, women and men in the course of a driven activist career. 

It was a lengthy integrated career as committed innovative Child Protectionist and intellectual stretching backwards in years from a public intellectual linked to many institutions , invited Vice Chairman of the NCPA until controversially dismissed, independent Child Protection Consultant , UNICEF ‘s Child Protection Officer, and to start it all, a State  Counsel. No wonder he was co-present in a swathe of arenas in multiple roles as a creative and highly independent civil society player.

A study course in Child Protection in London as a young State Counsellor had had a transforming impact on his life. He discovered his inner passion, child protection, and enriched it in the enhancing culture of that heady environment. He was able to nourish there those new roots so propitiously, because in himself he carried the genes of abundant sensitivity. We may further note in passing, that his parents had a respected history of social engagements in varied roles as progressive teachers of their time.

Since this initial turning point, he never looked back. Thus started what we may call a Long Apprenticeship, where he guided himself to build up new spiritual and intellectual resources. This process lasted several decades where he read extensively in a multi-disciplinary frame. His entry point was Buddhism and Sri Lankan/Asian history and religions. This commitment paid rich dividends. 

He internalised the core of these many experiences and encounters. A central preoccupation was how our internal Sri Lankan line of cultural authenticity was disrupted and contaminated by colonialism and the zigzag of its subsequent journey in the modern period. He was particularly concerned with the impact of these past processes on our value and knowledge systems and the quality of facile false consciousness they produced.

The subject of the Self, and its many common and subtle variants, was a particular concern. First, he distinguished it from the Ego. Ego consciousness was dominant. The real Self and Selfhood lay concealed and one had to realise it through serious introspection. All spiritually-oriented persons attempted to live at this deeper level.

Human relationships with children, women and men, meant so much to him. He believed so much in relationships, when common social mores indicated its opposite-living for oneself. Connected to this value was his penchant for communication. He was a natural communicator. That made him a sought after trainer of diverse groups. One of his favourite concepts was Citizen Education and Civility.

This last year marked a qualitative maturation in him. He started writing features to the Daily FT. Those who read them obviously encouraged him to pursue this public engagement. Now that it has been arrested, let’s hope that selections from his voluminous earlier writings will he assembled in his memory. More than ever, he is now a role model. 

– Susil Sirivardana