by Sachi Sri Kantha, January 6, 2026
This year marks the 25th anniversary of my current status as the honorary resident columnist of Ilankai Tamil Sangam website. For awarding this opportunity to me and giving me a free hand to write what is in my mind (which is not libel inducing), I thank the late Dr. Rajan Sriskandarajah and the current editor of the website
Apart from my numerous profiles of South Indian Tamils and Eelam Tamils which had appeared in this website, it was my pleasure to provide to non-Tamil readers and students, my personal take on the activities of Sinhalese ethnics who lived in the 20th century. As a unique exercise, I thought of compiling a list of my published profiles of 27 Sinhalese Intelligentsia and Dimwits whom I admire and resent. These are arranged in the chronological order of appearance below. This exercise was done primarily for my own reference, for easy access and verification, because I hesitate to repeat myself. Thus, this list, spans in years from 2003 to 2025.
As of January 7, 2026, the links provided are still accessible. But, I cannot vouch, for how long this will remain so.
Prof. Rohan Gunaratna – academic
https://www.sangam.org/ANALYSIS/Sachi_9_12_03.htm in 2003
https://sangam.org/rohan-gunaratna-revisited/ in 2014
Sarath Ambepitiya – High Court judge
https://sangam.org/score-one-again-for-karma/ in 2004.
Bradman Weerakoon – ranking government official and author
https://sangam.org/rendering-unto-caesar-a-book-review/ in 2004
Chandrika Kumaratunga – ex-President
https://sangam.org/taraki/articles/2005/12-10_Karuna_and_Kalkudah.php?uid=1369
in 2005.
Mervyn de Silva – reputed journalist
https://sangam.org/revisiting-mervyn-de-silva/ in 2005
https://sangam.org/2012/06/Remembering_deSilva.php?uid=4770 in 2012
Junius Richard Jayewardene – ex-President
https://sangam.org/taraki/articles/2006/11-06_JR_Cartoons.php?uid=2040 in 2006.
Chandra Fernando – ex-Inspector General of Police (IGP)
https://sangam.org/taraki/articles/2006/03-18_Chandra_Fernando.php?uid=1594 in
2006.
Mahinda Rajapaksa – ex-President
https://sangam.org/taraki/articles/2006/01-30_Mischievous_Game.php?uid=1480 in
2006.
https://sangam.org/taraki/articles/2006/08-26_Pit_List.php?uid=1902 in 2006
https://sangam.org/president-mahinda-rajapaksa-victim-king-kavan-tissas-curse/ in 2015
Edmund Samarakkody – prominent Leftist politician and author
https://sangam.org/2007/01/Samarakoddy.php?uid=2187 in 2007
Dayan Jayatilleka – writer and ‘a jack of all trades’ (son of Mervyn de Silva)
https://sangam.org/2008/03/Dissecting.php?uid=2804 in 2008
https://sangam.org/2010/09/Who_Killed_Rajani.php?uid=4071 in 2010
https://www.sangam.org/2011/03/UNESCO_Hoax.php in 2011
Anura Bandaranaike – Cabinet minister (son of Solomon and Sirimavo Bandaranaike)
https://sangam.org/2008/03/Anura.php?uid=2845 in 2008
Ranasinghe Premadasa – ex-President
https://www.sangam.org/2008/05/Premadasa_Assassination.php?uid=2906 in 2008
https://sangam.org/premadasas-saber-rattling-with-rajiv/ in 2023
Solomon Bandaranaike – ex-Prime Minister
https://sangam.org/2009/09/Bandaranaike_Assassination.php?uid=3691 in 2009
https://sangam.org/2009/10/Bandaranaike_Assassinations.php in 2009
Buddharakkitha Thero and Somarama Thero – Conspirator and Assassin
https://sangam.org/2009/10/Bandaranaike_Assassination_3.php?uid=3710 in 2009
Sirimavo Bandaranaike – ex-Prime Minister
https://sangam.org/2010/10/Sirimavo_Bandaranaike.php?uid=4097 in 2010.
Sepala Ekanayake – hijacker, drug courier and fake hero
https://sangam.org/2012/07/Ekanayake_Story.php?uid=4798 in 2012
Gothabaya Rajapaksa – military man and ex-President
https://sangam.org/2012/07/Gota_War_Review.php?uid=4803 in 2012.
https://sangam.org/public-pummeling-of-rajapaksa-rascals/ in 2022
Hasantha Wijenayake – cartoonist
https://sangam.org/on-sri-lankan-political-cartoonists-stray-dogs-and-hypocrites/ in 2012.
H.A.I. Goonetileke – esteemed bibliographer/librarian
https://sangam.org/ian-goonetileke-anti-tamil-riots-july-1983/ in 2013
Prof. Carlo Fonseka – academic and quasi politician belonging to LSSP
https://sangam.org/prof-carlo-fonseka-1933-2019/ in 2019
Dr. Senarat Paranavitana – distinguished epigraphist
https://sangam.org/revisiting-the-academic-fraud-of-epigraphist-senarat-paranavitana/
in 2022.
Prof. Michael Roberts – academic historian cum anthropologist
https://sangam.org/a-rebuttal-from-tangential-tamil-sniper/ in 2022.
Ranjith Perera – author
https://sangam.org/the-gospel-according-to-the-sri-lankan-sinhalese-army/ in 2023
Cyril Mathew – Tamil baiting UNP Cabinet minister.
https://sangam.org/looking-back-an-item-in-cyril-mathews-dossier/ in 2024
H.L.D. Mahindapala – Tamil baiting journalist
https://sangam.org/h-ldon-mahindapala-1931-2024/ in 2025
Prof Gananath Obeyesekere – renowned anthropologist
https://sangam.org/prof-gananath-obeyesekere-1930-2025/ in 2025
I also identified quite a number of Sinhalese individuals for their humorous pranks and public pecadilloes in an annual series I wrote from 2010 to 2016, with the title ‘Art Buchwald humor awards’. For obvious reasons of not repeating my awardee selections, I had to terminate this series at the end of 2016.
Art Buchwald humor awards 2010
https://sangam.org/2011/01/Buchwald_Humor_Awards.php?uid=4210
Art Buchwald humor awards 2011
https://sangam.org/2012/01/Humor_Awards.php?uid=4570
Art Bychwald humor awards 2012
https://sangam.org/art-buchwald-humor-awards-2012/
Art Buchwald humor awards 2013
https://sangam.org/art-buchwald-humor-awards-2013/
Art Buchwald humor awards 2014
https://sangam.org/art-buchwald-humor-awards-2014/
Art Buchwald humor awards 2015
https://sangam.org/art-buchwald-humor-awards-2015/
Art Buchwald humor awards 2016
https://sangam.org/art-buchwald-humor-awards-2016/
Notes
Among those listed above, I have not met anyone face to face. But I had corresponded with Mervyn de Silva (1929-1999) by airmail during 1980s and 1990s. I still communicate with Prof. Michael Roberts (b. 1938) during the past few years, via email. With Prof. Carlo Fonseka (1933-2019), I was engaged in a public duel, via the correspondence columns of Asiaweek (Hongkong) magazine during 1991-1992.
Now, as an exercise, let me classify the above listed 27 individuals (25 men and 2 women) as belonging to either intelligentsia or dimwits, based on their words and deeds. All had some level of recognition in public life. Intelligentsia is defined in the dictionary as ‘class of intellectuals regarded as possessing culture and political initiative’. Dimwit is defined as, ‘stupid (person). For clarity, I subdivide the two groups further into two more sub-groups using the adjectives definite (i.e., having exact limits) and borderline (i.e, line of demarcation). My grading is as follows:
Definite intelligentsia: Bradman Weerakoon, Mervyn de Silva, Junius Richard Jayewardene, Edmund Samarakkody, Solomon Bandaranaike, H.A.I, Goonetileke, Carlo Fonseka, Senerat Paranavitana, Michael Roberts, Gananath Obeyesekere.
Borderline intelligentsia: Rohan Gunaratna, Dayan Jayatilleka, Anura Bandaranaike, Ranasinghe Premadasa, Buddarakkitha Thero,
Borderline dimwit: Sarath Ambepitiya, Chandrika Kumaratunga, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Somarama Thero, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Hasantha Wijenayake, Ranjith Perera, Cyril Mathew,
Definite dimwit: Chandra Fernando, Sepala Ekanayake, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, H.L.D. Mahindapala
I explain how I divided the 7 executive political leaders of Sri Lanka among these four categories. Solomon Bandaranaike and J.R. Jayewardene belong to definite intelligentsia category. Premadasa belongs to borderline intelligentsia category. While Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa belong to borderline dimwit category, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa can only fit into the definite dimwit category because, he ran away from his elected job, to escape the anger of Sinhalese hoi polloi.
The post-Independent curse of Sri Lanka is the family nepotism (aka, pedigree politics) hoisted by illiterate Sinhalese hoi polloi in the general elections to the top banana position. Bandaranaike family had three members (husband-wife- daughter), Rajapaksa family had two members (siblings). Not to be omitted was the Senanayake family with two members (father-son). In this collection of my profiles, Senanayake family is excluded. But please check the category divisions, I had allocated to Bandaranaike and Rajapaksa families. Bandaranaike family also had an additional member (son Anura Bandaranaike), whose position was usurped by the Rajapaksa family, by taking advantage of sibling family intrigues of the 2nd generation of Bandaranaikes. There is no doubt that pater Solomon Bandaranaike did belong to definite intelligentsia group. But, mater Sirimavo Bandaranaike and daughter Chandrika had to be placed as borderline dimwit group. Majority among the Tamils blame pater Bandaranaike for the Sinhala-Tamil ethnic rift initiated 1956. I disagree. The reason being, even Solomon Bandaranaike’s political opponents belonging to the UNP (like J.R. Jayawardene) and Marxists turned nationalists (like Philip Gunawardene) also promoted the same message among the Sinhalese hoi polloi.
The main curse fell on the island with the anointing of Bandaranaike’s wife Sirimavo Bandaranaike (a borderline dimwit). Because of her lack of knowledge, she came to depend on her nephew pompous Felix Dias Bandaranaike (1930-1985) and the Rasputinic Badiuddin Mahmud (1904-1997) to prop her decision making from 1960 to 1965, and again from 1970 to 1977. The same pattern repeated with daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga as well. Due to her borderline dimwit status, Chandrika had to depend on the politically-naive lawyer Lakshman Kadirgamar (1932-2005) to navigate the international political route, from 1994 to 2005. Though Badiuddin Mahmud and Kadirgamar were non-Tamils, we should note a difference. While the deeds executed by Mahmud during his tenure as the Minister of Education were beneficial to his ethnics, the deeds executed by Kadirgamar during his tenure as the Minsiter of Foreign Affairs were detrimental to Tamil ethnics.
Though my writing has been variously ‘tagged’ by my circle of critics, I indulge in this profiling, for a specific reason. I do relish the garland offered by Prof Michael Roberts, as ‘a Tangential Tamil Sniper’ in 2022. For those who missed it, the link is,
[https://thuppahis.com/2022/09/13/exposing-sachi-sri-kantha-a-tangential-tamil-sniper/]
Quite many facts and opinions compiled and recorded in these profiles by me may not be easily available in digital database, and omitted in the standard Wikipedia and Encyclopedia entries of these individuals. It was also a delight to see my views included in the Wikipedia entries of a couple of individuals like Edmund Samarakkody and Dayan Jayatilleke (as of Jan 7, 2026), by other vigilant Wikipedia editors.
I wish to continue this profiling of more Sinhalese scholars and dimwits. A couple of individuals I’m interested now are, anthropologist Dr. Nandadeva Wijesekara (1908- ?), the author of ‘The Sinhalese’ (1990) book, and a Nobel Peace Prize wannabe cum Sarvodaya brand activist A.T. Ariyaratne (1931-2024).
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