Kadir
in Oxford's hall of fame
From Anthony David in Oxford
Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar joined a galaxy
of selected leading alumni of the world famous Oxford University
whose portrait was unveiled in its great portals.
On
Friday, Lord Christopher Patten, former Chairman of the Conservative
Party, Governor of Hong Kong and Commissioner for External Relations
of the European Union and now Chancellor of the University did the
honours before a distinguished audience.
Mr.
Kadirgamar was President of the Oxford Union in 1958, and is the
14th office-bearer of the Union to have his portrait, done by a
young Sri Lankan artist Mohan Senadheera, hanging in the Debating
Society. He is only the second Sri Lankan after the late S.W.R.D.
Bandaranaike.
Other
Union office-bearers whose busts or potraits are displayed at the
Union include British Prime Ministers William Gladstone, Herbert
Asquith, Lord Salisbury, Harold McMillan, Edward Heath, former Pakistan
Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Roy Jenkins and Michael Heseltine.
The
183-year-old Oxford Union is considered the oldest non-parliamentary
debating forum in the English-speaking world. It has often been
referred to as the "playground of power".
The
first man of "colour" to hold office in the Oxford Union
was S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, who became Secretary and Treasurer in
1923-24. The first "coloured" President of the Oxford
Union was D.F. Karaka from India, who later became a distinguished
journalist. Lalith Athulathmudali (1957) and Hilaly Noordeen (1983)
were other Sri Lankans to become President of the Union.
Among
the congratulatory letters Mr. Kadirgamar received were those from
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Deputy Singapore Prime Minister
S. Jayakumar, Bangladesh Foreign Minister M. Morshid Khan, Indian
leader of the Opposition (Rajya Sabha) Jaswant Singh, former Indian
External Affairs Minister Yaswant Sinha, Sri Lankan Speaker W.J.M.
Lokubandara, Sri Lankan Chief Justice Sarath Silva, UN World Intellectual
Property Organisation Director General Kamil Idris and Lord Naseby,
Joint Chairman of the All Party Sri Lanka Group in the British House
of Commons and House of Lords.
One
of the letters he received was from Peter Jay, who later became
the Editor of the Economist and Britain's Ambassador to the United
States. This is what he wrote;
"It
was 26th February, 1959 - I enclose your order paper in proof of
my words - that on the occasion of the visit M. Pierre Mendes France,
Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar, Balliol, President, called upon Mr. Peter
Jay, Christ Church, to propose the motion " This House is alarmed
by recent events in France ", the events in question being
as you will recall, the arrival in power of General Charles de Gaulle.
Also on the order paper were Jeremy Lever, now and for many years
an ornament of the Oxford Literary and Debating Union Trust which
has done so much to keep the financial wolf from the Union's doors,
Mr. Major, your countryman Lalith Athulathmudali, who like you served
in very high office before his tragic death, and Conrad Russel,
who as Earl Russell served with such independence of mind in the
House of Lords until his recent death. By your generous invitation
to me to speak on this occasion you helped to launch my own, not
so much glittering career as, random walk through life, for which
I have remained ever since most grateful.
"At
the risk of embarassing you further, I would add one personal note.
Your dignity and integrity through all the vicissitudes of Union
politics impressed me hugely all those years ago when we were young
and eager. It led to me going through the adult world telling those
I met that the nicest and most decent man I ever met came from Sri
Lanka and was the President of the Oxford Union. His name was Lakshman
Kadirgamar".
President
Chandrika Kumaratunga also sent her Foreign Minister a letter from
Colombo where she says, "it is no doubt a tribute to your intellect
and flawless eloquence and your ability to understand, study and
find solutions to difficult problems".
Striking
a personal note she says refers to her own father's portrait hanging
at Oxford, and says that her Foreign Minister has "done your
motherland proud". |