At the 25^th Anniversary celebrations of the Liberal Party of Sri Lanka,January 20^th 2012

We should begin this 25^th anniversary celebration of the Liberal Party of Sri Lanka with a moment of silence in memory of the Founder of the Party, Chanaka Amaratunga.

Our Chief Guest, Mrs Srima Dissanayake, Mrs Swarna Amaratunge, President of the Party, and all our distinguished participants and members of the Party, I am honoured to welcome you today to this seminar. Mrs Dissanayake is no stranger to the Liberal Party, for when she stood for election as President of Sri Lanka, in 1994, it was on a manifesto that Dr Amaratunga had drafted for her late husband. Gamini Dissanayake was recognized by our Founder as the best hope for Liberal Democracy in Sri Lanka, and his death was a tragedy from which it took the country a long time to recover, and which his party is still struggling to overcome. Unfortunately in Sri Lanka we tend to forget the past, or rather we dwell on what causes dissension and harm, and learn nothing from the examples of statesmen such as Gamini Dissanayake.

I would also like to welcome the speakers who are here to talk about the contribution of Liberalism to Sri Lankan politics. It is important, even while we disagree about various aspects of political thought and practice, to recognize what we have in common. Our speakers today represent a range of political parties, but they all have in common a commitment to democracy and pluralism, to economic development and social justice.

The Liberal Party is glad to have brought together so many voices of reason, that seek consensus rather than confrontation, unity rather than disharmony. All too often in Sri Lanka politics has been the preserve of extremists and those who seek to exclude others from the benefits of political activism. We as Liberals believe in inclusive politics, and we believe that the policies we advocate will benefit all. As Dr Amaratunga explained so graphically many years ago, Liberalism is individualist, egalitarian, universalist and meliorist. It believes in the primacy of each of us as against collectivization, it believes all men equal in worth, it holds that we are all kin and avoids classifications that divide, and it holds firm in the belief that we must constantly pursue reforms that will improve social institutions and political arrangements.

Dr Amaratunga’s writings, and other articles from the Liberal Review as well as our policy statements over the years have been brought together in the volume that we launch today. Entitled ‘The Liberal Party of Sri Lanka: History, Philosophy,Presentation’, it is an invaluable account of political thought and practice - or perhaps lack of thought and reactions rather than actions – over a quarter of a century. I am grateful to Prof Rajiva Wijesinha for having compiled the book in a short time, and to Tharindi Karawita of International Book House for having worked relentlessly over the last week to prepare it in time. I hope the book will be read by many, and studied in detail both by current practitioners and future students for its insights.

When the Party was started, many of the ideals it upheld were scorned by the majority of politicians in Sri Lanka. They had been used to the socialist consensus of the period after independence, our own more extreme version of the Butskellist consensus in Britain. Since however we were a deeply colonized nation, we took British example too far, and stuck with the philosophy of the London School of Economics long after Britain had outgrown that. When however it failed signally to deliver on development, we switched in the late seventies to capitalism of the most irresponsible sort, with no concern either for equity or for accountability through democratic practice. The result was the bitter resentments that broke out in several youth insurrections, and the culture of violence that we had to suffer before finally beginning to emerge into the light.

But we have to continue to affirm the principles of democracy and justice if we are not to slip back into violence. I hope that all of you here today will take away with you the inclusive vision that our Founder presented with courage and commitment in the eighties. I believe it still has much to offer us, and I hope this seminar will also be a time of renewal of values that are meliorist, universal, egalitarian and individualist, that appeal to the best in all of us.

I conclude by asking Prof Wijesinha to introduce the discussions and to present copies of our latest publication to our Chief Guest and our Speakers.