An old friend is no more

You are an angel in heaven above Safe in the arms of God’s pure love, Watch over us with a glorious shine Rest in peace, little brother of mine.

Lawyer, parliamentarian and diplomat, Mangala Moonesinghe as he was popularly known, passed away recently at the ripe age of 85 years. My good friend Nihal Seneviratne, former Secretary General of Parliament, paid a handsome tribute to him a few days ago and I thought I should also pay my felicitations being a long standing friend and associate.

Mangala celebrated his 85th birthday at his residence at Park Flats with a very few friends. I and my wife, Shakuntala, are very happy that we were able to join a very small number of friends to participate in the event.

Born in July 1931, he belonged to a family long dedicated to the study, practice and propagation of the Dhamma. He was closely related to Anagarika Dharmapala who undertook with great commitment and dedication to revive Buddhism in Sri Lanka in the early 20th century when the practice of this great religion was in jeopardy with foreign influence.

He had his secondary education at Royal College, Colombo, a Government school not committed to any religion or community but equally open to all sections of the population. It was an atmosphere in which students were able to study among colleagues from different religious and communal background. At the time English was the official language and the common factor that bound together the Sinhala and Tamil students. Now all three languages are taught in the school.

Mangala joined Royal in 1943 and was well known as a pole vaulter. I was myself at Royal at that time but a number of years behind him. He did not know me then but I knew him as a senior and a sportsman. At that time at Royal very few undertook pole vaulting. I could well remember at one of the College sports meets a handful of athletes participated in pole vaulting. As the bar was raised several times participants dropped out and finally Mangala was left adding gently to the height he was able to clear.

I still remember vividly in his final year at the sports meet he was challenged by Gamini Goonesena, the well known cricketer of Royal and Sri Lanka. At one point Mangala was unable to clear the raised bar in the first two attempts. On the third and final round the bar tilted and unfortunately fell down. Gamini was able to clear one or two more bars and was the winner of the pole vault event that year.

After leaving school Mangala proceeded to UK to study law and qualified as a lawyer at Middle Temple in London and later was an advocate at the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

After returning to Sri Lanka, apart from practising as a lawyer he took to left wing politics where his cousin, Anil Moonesinghe, was an established figure in the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) led by outstanding personalities such as Dr. N.M. Perera and Dr. Colvin R. de Silva.

In 1960 March general elections Mangala unsuccessfully contested the Bulathsinhala seat in the Kalutara District as a candidate of the LSSP. However, in the July Elections that followed it was a sure seat for the anti-UNP forces with a no contest pact among the antiGovernment parties. However, the LSSP decided to nominate for that seat Edmond Samarakkody, who contested the late Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake at Mirigama in the 1947 elections and was a veteran of the LSSP. By the time of the next general elections in 1965, Samarakkody had left the LSSP with some others to form their own party due to ideological differences and Mangala was then the obvious choice of that party for Bulathsinhala. Mangala won that seat though the UNP formed the Government under Dudley Senanayake. From 1965-1970 he remained a Member of Opposition in Parliament.

I came to know Gnana Coomaraswamy in the Peradeniya Campus of the University of Ceylon from 1955-1959 and we both specialised in Economics. After leaving the university, I was a frequent visitor at Gnana's residence in Barnes Place, Colombo 7, as she lived with her sister Meena Ratnam, wife of late Dr. Kumaran Ratnam, one time Mayor of Colombo who ran the Ratnam Hospital at Union Place. I was an observer to the developing romance between Mangala and Gnana. They have a son and a daughter.

Always with a ready smile, Mangala had friendly relations with members of his own political party and rival political parties. Tall and handsome he had an outstanding personality. At the same time he had the innate ability to walk with the highest without losing the common touch and mixed freely with ordinary peasants and workers.

In mid 1970s Mangala left the LSSP because of the policy differences and joined the SLFP influenced by Anura Bandaranaike, a leading figure of that party. In the 1977 general elections, which was a landslide victory for the UNP he was defeated in his own electorate Bulathsinhala but gave a good fight to his opponent.

In the 1994 general elections, although his party SLFP won under the leadership of Chandrika Kumaratunga, he was unable to win the seat in the Kalutara District in the newly introduced proportional representation system. He concentrated on his constituency Bulathsinhala and neglected other areas of the district which also counted under the new system.

The Government then sent him as a diplomat as the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in London. Thereafter he assumed duties as the High Commissioner in India in New Delhi. He was in India during a difficult period when relations between the two countries were far from satisfactory. However, he used his charm and diplomacy to maintain good relations with those who matter in New Delhi.

At one time when he was out of active politics he played an important role in the establishment of Marga, an institution established by Godfrey Gunatilake, a former civil servant to conduct studies on political, social and economic matters of interest to the public.

Mangala had no enemies but only friends. Political differences were confined to the political arena and never beyond. His charming wife Gnana, whom we had known for a long period, is herself well known as a writer of short stories, a book on Buddhism titled "Thus have I heard" and numerous articles to leading newspapers on current affairs.

Mangala will be remembered by friends, political associates and political opponents for his charming and friendly demeanor always with a smile.

May this gentle personality living with good-will to all, the noble quality of Buddhism of Metta, realise early the peace and contentment of nibbana.

May all beings be well and happy!