When the army liberated the Kokavil Railway Station a few weeks ago, many defence correspondents mentioned the name of Captain Saliya Upul Aladeniya, who paid the supreme sacrifice on June 11, 1990 whilst defending the Kokavil camp, which at the time was being manned by a mere 60 odd soldiers.
When orders finally came to withdraw from the camp (this was during the Premadasa regime), a large number of troops inside were already wounded after 14 days of continuous fighting. There was no way to evacuate them. The brave commanding officer, 26-year-old Capt. Aladeniya, did not want to leave his injured men behind in order to save his own life. He defied the order to abandon camp. The last communication received from him was: “Don’t worry, Sir, I will fight till I die.”
Capt. Aladeniya was posthumously awarded the Parama Weera Vibhushanaya (PWV) medal in recognition of his heroic act, thus becoming the first recipient of the PWV honour.
He sacrificed his life to safeguard a civilisation that is more than 2,500 years old. He did this so that millions of others can live a peaceful life, with dignity. A noble and meritorious act such as Captain Aladeniya’s deserves more than a military medal and a decoration. To many, Captain Aladeniya is almost god-like.
One of the first things the government should do is to build a devale in honour of Captain Aladeniya at Kokavil. It does not have to be an elaborate, expensive structure.
Likewise, once Elephant Pass is liberated, another devale should be built in the name of the late Corporal Gamini Kularatne, the second soldier to receive the Parama Weera Vibhushanaya. Corporal Kularatne has already become part of our folklore, and is referred to as the Hasalaka Weeraya.
In this modern, over-Westernised society of ours, our temples seem in danger of losing their original identity. People are a lot less reverential than they used to be.
Acts of veneration these days are more like acts of respect. Ultimately, it is our understanding and espousal of our own culture and history, and not what we have learned from the West, that will save us.
Western-educated pundits like to tell us that the LTTE is invincible, and that nowhere in the world has an arms struggle based on ethnicity been militarily defeated. In this light, it would not be inappropriate to see heroes like Aladeniya and Hasalaka Weeraya as deities and to build temples in their name.
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