Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM, FRCP/FRACP Spokesperson, USLA

The United Sri Lanka Association (USLA)  Wellington NZ continued it’s unbroken record of commemorating and honoring the Ranaviru for their sacrifices of life,  limb, blood , sweat and toil to rescue Sri Lanka from terror that enabled all to enjoy the unrestricted freedoms all have enjoyed since 18^th of May 2009 .

President of USLA  Mr. Ranjaith Nanayakkaa commenced proceedings with a two minutes silence followed by lighting of lamps in memory of the Ranaviru  in which all attendees participated.

In his address  USLA President traced many of the factors that lead to the conflict & the many high points in the three decade long rescue . He also recalled the many efforts USLA made during the war to help their rescue efforts, especially with constant countering of misinformation. After the end of the war, USLA sent many donations of funds and equipment like computers and medical equipment for the well fare of the Ranaviru, now being housed in the many Seth Maduras” through out the country.

SL’s newly appointed High Commissioner  in Wellington,  HE Mr. Prasanna Gamage followed with a very erudite discourse , for the benefit  especially of the young audience present, and traced the many reasons for the SL economy lagging behind similar countries and economies despite Sri Lanka’s many resources and advantages .

USLA spokesperson. Dr. Chula Rajapakse  who followed congratulated the President and management committee of USLA  for their unwavering resolve to hold this commemoration , which was more than he could credit Colombo with. However, he observed , that when HE the President graced Colombo’s commemoration , lead in by the red motor cycle escort, it served as a much more respectful and appropriate tribute to the Ranaviru  than what a Deputy Minister could have done, as was the plan till the last minute.

The spokesperson also observed that living in NZ as he does, he is constantly reminded of the need to commemorate the ranaviru sacrifices, at the ANZAC commemorations annually on the 25^th of April , three weeks before Ranaviru day. Here the sacrifices of soldiers from over one hundred and fifteen years earlier,  at Gillapoli at start of first world war , are the main focus of commemoration . All the inspirational speeches at these commemorations reinforce  the importance of not forgetting these sacrifices , to which they owe their current freedoms  and the importance of passing on this awareness to the younger generation.

In recent years consequently   more and more young folk have been attending. Additionally the Governor General  and the Prime Minister are always present at these events., Another object lesson for Sri Lanka.

Reflecting further, Dr Rajapakse added , the Ranaviru sacrifices were made to ensure that the integrity of Sri Lanka was maintained. Whilst terrorism was the challenge then, Economy is the challenge now. A low hanging fruit that has come to the rescue of this is tourism. However, the potential contribution from NZ to this end , remains stifled due to the  difficulty of air access from NZ to SL.

In this regard the irony is that four Emirates  double decker A 380 planes carrying about 500 passengers each  leaves Auckland every night, on their way to Dubai, paying $2000 per plane for emergency landing rights at the Hambantota  Mattala Airport, as it is the only airport in it’s flight path with a runway long enough to land these big planes , once it leaves the shores of Australia.

Turning to the SL HC he urged Sri Lanka  to raise with Emirates Airline the possibility of one of these planes in turn, dropping off and picking up passengers from Down Under”  at  Mattala, with little additional expense  or disruption to the flights and passengers, but hugely impacting on connectivity.

This drop off has the potential to  bring in significant additional custom to Emirates and could eventually cater to the difficult to reach south Indian traffic too, if connections between Mattala and south indian destinations become a reality in the future. Mattala is very well situated , better than Colombo, to cater to the tourism destinations of the Yala national park, south western and eastern costal destinations and central hot spot of Ella,  all with good motor way connections with Mattala.

The meeting was followed by an Elle tournament in memory of the ranaviru , in which the young attendees participated enthusiastically. This too is expected to be an annual event.

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM

FRCP/FRACP

Spokesperson, USLA

25.4.25