The Uncrowned Media King Of Sri Lanka
Mervyn de Silva ( Middle)
Mahinda Rajapaksa
“Mr. de Silva was undoubtedly the uncrowned media king of Sri Lanka and he rose to this level only because he wrote what he wanted. He will wine, dine and light the best Cuban cigar presented to him by the leader of the country, but he could not be dictated to by anyone. To him, friendship and other considerations were secondary to ethics in journalism. In this context I feel that the journalists in Sri Lanka should emulate these great qualities of Mr. Mervyn de Silva.”
Mervyn de Silva 15th Death Anniversary June 22, 2014 - *This article originally appeared 15 years ago, in the Ceylon Daily News of July 3rd, 1999
I will be falling in my duty if I do not pen a few words of appreciation about Mr.Mervyn de Silva who I admired very much for his knowledge, genuine friendliness and most of all his ability to call a spade a spade.
Whenever I met him, which happened to be at least twice a month during the last 25 years, I always made it a point to have a serious chat even for a minute. I valued his ability to provide an unbiased interpretation of the current political issues and his forecast on such matters were always accurate.
It is with a very heavy heart that I recollect some past meetings and I begin to feel that I have lost a very useful and genuine friend. First I came to know Mr.de Silva through my cousin the late Mr. Lakshman Rajapaksa. Both of them were regulars at the Orient Club. Being a Royalist he was also very close to late Mr. George Rajapaksa, his fellow alumni. Read More
