On “The resurrection of Kotelawala”
Your editorial two Sundays ago, brought to mind Mark Anthony’s oration at Caesar’s funeral: ‘The evil that men do live after them; the good is oft interred with their bones;’
LK (Lalith Kotelawala) is still alive and well and living in some comfort at his residence in Colombo’s Havelock Town.
But a man can well die many times over before that final inevitable calling.
The thrust of what you said was, to my recollection, that even now in the wake of the abject misery brought to so many by the collapse of his empire, LK should have the sensitivity to remain silent, instead of seeking justification for his plight, even to the extent of deriding ‘The Kalu Salli Gollo’ whose money he was quite willing to accept and use for his enterprises.
However, is it not faintly possible that, having fallen heavily from the dizzying heights of economic power and faced the fury and derision of others who suffered from that fall, that LK, so long without a defender, could not resist the opportunity given him to say something; however ill judged, in his own defence?
Amidst the anger and abuse, one does hear from time to time; of some act of generosity, even magnanimity, or of support given to a struggling entrepreneur who consequently was able to make good.
Again, in the case of the Ceylinco Group, money had been converted into substantially successful enterprises, providing a living for many. Some institutions within the group, though shaken to their foundations, have been resilient. However, the Empire, at that time, came to be structurally flawed, and the dangers of a domino effect were openly discussed. Was LK so stubborn or obtuse, or both, not to have taken advice from the many professionals around him, or could it be that advise was not strongly expressed? And again, whatever happened to those valuable assets which LK says disappeared into the pockets of Very Important Persons?
These matters will once again be before Court soon.
Till then, let us suspend judgment on whether LK is indeed another Sakvithi!
M.H
Colombo