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Kadirgamar the perfect product of Trinity
“Trinity owes me nothing and I, like all other Trinitians, owe Trinity a debt that can never be repaid”, said Lakshman Kadirgamar when recalling his days at Trinity in his address as Chief Guest at the Prize day celebrations in 1992. He further said that he never regretted coming to Trinity in 1942 during the Second World War although all his brothers had been at Royal.

Lakshman Kadirgamar was the Senior Prefect and Captain in cricket when I was promoted to the Upper School in 1950. He was Kadir or Lakshman to us, not Kadir or Kadi. Slim of build, he nevertheless had a commanding presence, especially before the commencement of morning assembly in the school hall. He was probably the last senior prefect who was allowed to use the cane, when ‘birching’ was an acceptable form of punishment.

We saw him at Asgiriya at hurdles (Athletics Lion in 1949), leading the cricket team, and as Rugby three quarter. I vividly remember him practicing the reverse pass flipping the rugger ball behind his back, and at quadrangle cricket of a Saturday morning, batting, in khaki shorts, facing Napier House.

He once remarked that at cricket we were more intent on ‘saving the day’ rather than winning it. Indeed he saved us in the second innings, against St. Anthony’s with Lala Wadsworth in 1949 at Asgiriya, and again in 1950 with Gnanasekaram at Katugastota. He very modestly turned down a cricket Lion in 1950 saying that he was not quite upto standard; a Lion was awarded to Eustace Rulach. Kadirgamar being a ‘Lion’ was on the committee which adjudicated on the award of Lions.

Equally, if not more impressive than his prowess in sports were his academic achievements as scholar, prize winner, writer, speech-maker, debater and co-editor of the school magazine with Terry Unamboowe.

Two extracts from their editorial for 1949 are worthy of repetition here.
‘Our cricket has been the cause of great anxiety, but we hasten to add that our performances in the cricket field are no indication whatever of the standard of the school. We sincerely hope that cricket will be kept in its place – it is a game and only a game.’

The editors also show their concern for the neglect of English and General Knowledge, and complain that: ‘Living in quiet and peaceful surroundings we are apt to forget the world outside….education is not a soulless preparation for a mechanical existence….and wisdom is to be acquired not from books alone but from debate and discussion and from association with men’.
I echoed these sentiments in my first prize day speech in 1999 when I said that:

“Our students must not merely center their lives around books and examinations, games and other school activities. They must remain alive to the world around them, to the problems our people face, to the achievements and successes of the country as well as its weaknesses and failings. Only then can they say they are educated”.

Fifty years after their editorial some of our concerns were roughly the same.
Kadirgamar did not lose his interest in education, and in recent years would write and speak with characteristic perspicacity and awareness especially on university education and its role not only in imparting values of scholarship and learning but also in training students to contribute to the welfare and progress of the country. He stressed the need to “instill the habit of critical thinking in the minds of the student population”. He was equally emphatic that the benefits of collaboration between the government and the private sector education, economic and other fields should “percolate to all sections of our society and to all regions of our land”.

He left Trinity to read for a degree in Law in the University of Ceylon, capping an outstanding school carrier, winning the Ryde Gold Medal for the best all-round boy in 1949. His Prize day speech in 1950 is a part of Trinity’s recent history.He always acknowledged Trinity’s contribution in preparing him for the university and beyond – through its great teachers, the multiculturural composition of the student body, the boarding, sports and other activities, and as a “great leveller”. Trinity and its traditions meant a lot to him and of all the Principals it was the legendary A.G. Fraser whom he respected and admired most.

The school although founded essentially for the Kandyan community, grew to embrace children of all the communities from all parts of the island, and even from abroad. This friendly reception apparently left an indelible impression on Kadirgamar who wrote “the school was made for them: generations of Kandyan boys gave so much to the school. We were outsiders; they welcomed us with open arms and generous hearts”.

These sentiments and the spirit of indebtedness to Trinity may well have lain at the kernel of his championing of the unitary state and the coming together of all communities as equal partners in the country’s progress. I might add that in the not-so distant past many boys from Trinity and other schools studied in Jaffna, and were more than welcome there. He shared with many others the apprehension over the growing culture isolation of the children of the North and East engendered by the internecine conflict of the past two decades.
An interesting footnote to his Trinity sojourn is the annual debate with St. Thomas’ in 1949 when TCK, led by Kadirgamar along with Timothy Nanayakkara, P.C. Gunewardena and N.S. Madugalle proposed “That it is in the interest of Ceylon to federate with India”. I wonder what he would have had to say if reminded of this.

Kadirgamar was ‘lost’ to Trinity, so to speak, in the period encompassing studies for a degree in law at Peradeniya, then at the Law College and Oxford University, his legal practice and employment abroad in International Organizations.In later years he was very supportive of the school as President of the O.B.A., and member of the school’s Board of Governors. He also initiated and guided the project for the School Archives which was brought to fruition during the tenure of Principal Leonard De Alwis. This was the first such ‘repository’ in local schools and is visited regularly by many other schools for guidance in setting up their own archives.

The Trinity OBA recognized his contributions to Sri Lanka as a statesman of international standing by awarding him, along with Jayantha Dhanapala, the Trinity prize for International Affairs at the Night of the lions award ceremony in 2000.

Kadirgamar was Minister of Foreign Affairs when I was appointed Principal of Trinity in 1999, and he wrote me a gracious and encouraging letter saying, inter alia, in his inimitable fashion,” it gives us old boys great satisfaction to see that the hand of the grand old lady will be held by you as she steps gracefully into the new century”.

Ambition and exceptional talent were conflated to make Kadirgamar the skillful and confident politician – Foreign Minsiter he was in the last decade of his life. He was not without his critics and detractors, yet the spate of articles following his demise are a testament to the respect and regard with which he was held in Sri Lanka and abroad.

A memorial service will be held for him on Sunday the 11th September at 10.30 a.m. at the College Chapel.
Professor W.R. Breckenridge

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