Ven Maduluwawe Sobitha & The Imperatives Of True Tribute

By Krishantha Prasad Cooray –November 18, 2015

Krishantha Cooray

I first met Ven Madoluwawe Sobitha Thero almost a decade ago, through my father-in-law Padmavarna Wijayatilake. The first impression marked me. There was an aura about Sobitha Hamuduruwo. That’s why when a friend, Martin Pieris, wanted to write a book about prominent Sri Lankan personalities, I said that Sobitha Hamuduruwo not only has to be in it but deserves to be featured in the cover.

In all my encounters thereafter the impression I had of Sobitha Hamuduruwo as a visionary and a fearless leader who could mobilize people to a just cause was reaffirmed time and again. He had a good understanding of the state of things in the country. He had a vision of what this country could be and he had a road map that would take the country there. Most of all he had the patience and will so necessary to make it all a reality.

Sobitha Hamuduruwo always championed causes that he considered were just. He never worried about consequences which were often harsh and included injuries to his person. Despite this, he seldom focused on the identity of the person or party that caused him injury, choosing instead to concentrate on systems and processes that produced such outcomes. Through it all, he never lost sight of the objectives that prompted him to choose a particular course of action.

He was not alone in sensing the destructive and undemocratic path taken by Mahinda Rajapaksa, but to his credit even as he took on the man, he understood intimately that the individual was the product of a serious systemic flaw. This does not mean that he didn’t criticize the individual. When General Sarath Fonseka was arrested, he was quick to point out what others knew but were scared to articulate: ‘The defeat of the LTTE was being converted into a victory of a family’.                                      Read More