Malinda Seneviratne

Malinda Seneviratne (born 1965) is a Sri Lankan nationalist activist, writer, poet and journalist. The Editor in Chief of The Nation,[1] Malinda is known for his anti-American political views and espouses the Jathika Chinthanaya school of thought pioneered by Professor Nalin de Silva and Gunadasa Amarasekara.

Early life and education

Born to Gamini Seneviratne, who was a civil servant, and Indrani Seneviratne, a teacher, Seneviratne was educated at the prestigious Royal College, Colombo and in 1983 was selected to the University of Peradeniya in the Arts stream. While studying at the University, Malinda was offered a scholarship from Harvard University to major in sociology. He graduated in 1993 and enrolled at Cornell University to commence work on a PhD, however after completing the course work, he dropped out.

Political Activism

In 1992 Malinda Seneviratne along with Patali Champika Ranawaka, Athuraliye Rathana Thero and others participated in a meeting at a temple in Wadduwa. It was here that foundation was laid for Sri Lanka's first ever green left wing nationalist political group "Janatha Mithuro" (Friends of People) inspired by ideological input of Professor Nalin de Silva, Dr Gunadasa Amarasekara et al. The meeting however was broken up and its participants including Malinda were incarcerated for several days. He was one of the early advocates of a military solution to the insurgency perpetrated by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) and questioned legitimacy of the claim for a separate state for Tamil people in Sri Lanka. He became an activist with the National Movement Against Terrorism aligned with his friend Champika Ranawaka and was later to become a member of Champika's party Sihala Urumaya, that campaigned on a Sinhala Buddhist nationalist platform. Malinda contested Jaffna municipality as Sihala Urumaya candidate in 2000. Malinda Seneviratne supported the then Prime Minister and current President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapakse when he contested in the Presidential Election 2005.

Opposition to 13th Amendment to the Constitution

Malinda Seneviratne is a staunch opponent of the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution which he believes was forced on Sri Lanka by India and further strengthens separatism. On this count Malinda had several high profile exchanges with Dr Dayan Jayathilake, a supporter of the 13th Amendment.

Election Monitoring in the US Presidential Election 2004

In 2004 Malinda Seneviratne was invited by a US non-profit organization Pax Cristi to monitor US Presidential Election of that year. He went to the US and spent a week in Florida, the state in which allegation of election malpractices originated after previous election in 2000. His experiences during this sojourn as well as a general critique of American polity at large was compiled into an essay named "Love Notes to Democracy".

Poetry

Malinda Seneviratne's collection of unpublished poems were shortlisted for the Gratiaen Prize in 2011. In the year 2013 his latest collection titled 'Edges' was shortlisted again for the Gratiaen price and at the awarding ceremony which was held on the 24th of May 2014, he was awarded with this precious accolade. With this achievement he is recognized as the very first Sri Lankan writer who has been regarded as included in the Gratiaen shortlisting for the highest number of time so far since the inception of the said award.

References

  1. ↑ Malinda Seneviratne, The Gratiaen Prize 2011 - Shortlisted Authors

http://www.voiceoftheturtle.org/contributors.php#cnt78 ccs.ukzn.ac.za/files/COLLECTED%20LOVE%20NOTES.pdf


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