Siri and Niranjala Galhenage says…We have no political affiliations, but join the rest of the community in grieving the untimely demise of a popular politician who fought for the territorial integrity of our country.
Our sadness was compounded by reading the excerpts of an interview Mr Fernandopulle had given, a month ago, to the Sunday Observer (reproduced in the Daily News of Tuesday 8, 2008), in which he gave the following reply to a question regarding his political aspirations: "… I am a member of the minority community, so I do not have any hope of becoming the Prime Minister of this country."
His statement was particularly poignant, and paradoxical, considering his remarkable capacity to transcend ethnic, religious, heredity and regional boundaries and present himself as a Sri Lankan. If the sentiments expressed in his reply had any basis, we as a nation should hide our collective face in shame. What hope is there then, for those of us who aspire to a united Sri Lanka?
Isn’t there still room for us to mature as a nation?
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