It is obligatory on the part of adherents of democracy the world over to bow their heads in remorse and reverence to the memory of five Al-Jazeera journalists who were killed in what appears to be a targeted Israeli military strike in the Gaza. Prominent among them was Anas al-Sharif, a journalist who won the esteem of the world of democracy for his courageous and conscientious reporting of the endemic suffering of the people of the Gaza.

The killing of the journalists would, rightly, be seen by the defenders and practitioners of democracy as an attempt at suppressing press freedom and the freedom of expression. That is, two fundamental freedoms of humanity have been brazenly violated. In other words, truth-seeking has been murderously assaulted. It is up to the civilized world to ensure that it is not allowed to bleed to death.

Very rightly, press freedom is considered a defining essence of democracy. Minus press freedom and the closely allied freedom of expression humanity would verily ‘be in chains’. Accordingly, it is the responsibility of all those who cherish their individual and collective freedoms to denounce the killing of the Al-Jazeera journalists. They need to stand up and be counted.

The recent killing of the five journalists in the Gaza was preceded by the 2022 killing in the West Bank, in an Israeli attack, of Palestinian- American journalist Shireen Abu Aqla. What makes their killings particularly remorseful and revolting is the fact that they were felled in ‘targeted’, coldly calculated attacks. That is, the truth was sought to be suppressed. Accordingly, democratic opinion the world over is the poorer by their unconscionable slaying.

However, the task facing the world of democracy is to bring the killers of the above notable journalists to justice. Would justice, indeed, be served? This is an issue of the greatest magnitude in this connection but if the killing of Abu Aqla is anything to go by no such momentous development would come to pass and the international community would be compelled to look on in helpless and embarrassed silence as the blood-letting continues.

In the short term, though, the independent press the world over and the champions of democracy would need to be vocal, visible and unambiguous in their denunciation of the killing of the journalists. Protest demonstrations are very much in order and the press in Sri Lanka too should consider it obligatory to demonstrate its outrage over the killings.

While the UN is in a state of helplessness over such lawlessness for quite obvious reasons it is in the power of the US to put things right on this score to some extent by holding Israel accountable for the crimes in question. The fact that it is ‘the world’s most powerful democracy’ makes it stringently obligatory on the US’ part to protect press freedom and other values that are of fundamental importance to democracy.

However, the US’ reluctance to take issue with Israel on the killings while exposing its official posturing on democracy as duplicitous establishes the weight that Realpolitik considerations carry in its formulation and implementation of foreign policy. That is, global power and influence are of greater importance to the US than fundamental freedoms and values that define and enrich democracy.

What gives added salience to the above questions are current, crucial developments in the Ukrainian theatre. US President Trump is seemingly going the ‘extra mile’ to help settle the Ukrainian tangle through a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday but the US’ tolerance of Israeli military excesses in the Gaza calls in question the sincerity of the US as a peacemaker. However, there could be some basis to widespread claims that the US President is passionately focused on clinching the Nobel Peace Prize, come what may.

However, it is not only the US that has much soul-searching to do in the current turn of developments on the international stage. The South too needs to do likewise. This applies in particular to the more economically vulnerable states of the South.

This is on account of the fact that most of the latter states prefer to shy away from taking on major powers of an authoritarian mould in the Eastern hemisphere on whom their economic dependence is great but would criticize the US and its allies uninhibitedly on human rights issues. Such adoption of double standards needs to be decried. Authoritarian repressive states today dominating the BRICS, for instance, are as open to censure as the US and Israel are on human rights violations and excesses. These BRICS heavyweights too need to be spiritedly opposed by democratic opinion everywhere.

On the question of bringing peace to the Ukraine these issues need to be strongly focused on. Press freedom and national sovereignty are sides of the same proverbial coin. The major countries of the South would be guilty of gross partiality if perceived US irregularities on the foreign policy front are criticized by them while the fact that Ukraine’s sovereignty has been violated by Russia is ignored or glossed over by them for instance. All fundamental freedoms are intertwined and constitute an organic whole as it were.

Richard Simon’s monumental two volume history of S. Thomas’ College runs into 869 quarto-sized pages, inclusive of endnotes but excluding front matter and indices of subjects and persons. The book is extremely well written, in a very erudite but engaging style, and unique in that the history of the school (founded in 1851) is interspersed with that of Lanka (i.e. its political, economic, ecclesiastical and educational landscape), covering the 200 years, from 1801 to 2001. In fact, the book is subtitled, “The entangled histories of Lanka and her greatest public school”. I cannot, in this article, hope to be truly representative of Simon’s magnum opus, but will focus on aspects and themes that struck me. Apart from being purely illuminating and both sobering and inspirational, history can also serve as a critique of the present, and I make some attempts at this, too.

One of the chapters in Volume I is titled “Men of Stone”

– referring, of course, to Thomians fashioned by Warden William Stone. But all Thomians, as well as S. Thomas’ College itself, are also often described by the term ‘grit’ (the title of a chapter in Volume II) – literally small pieces of stone, but used metaphorically to characterise the trait of perseverance. SWRD Bandaranaike himself is portrayed as displaying this attribute through his calm demeanour on his deathbed after being fatally shot down while in office as Prime Minister. The chapter on Stone is titled “The Cornerstone”, reflecting his central role in the school, not only in shaping its values, but also in overseeing its transition from Mutwal to Mt. Lavinia. I recall my grandfather saying that the early Thomians were called “Gal Palliye’ Kollo” (boys from the stone church), a reference to their grit through an analogical link to the then Anglican cathedral on their Mutwal premises, described by Bishop James Chapman (both the founder of the school and first Anglican bishop of Colombo) in his memoirs as having its foundations and columns constructed of stone. As you may have guessed, the above serves to justify the title of this article.

Simon identifies four key wardens of the school while giving them appropriate chapter titles – Rev. Edward Miller, “The Paragon” (1878-1891); Rev. William Buck, “One of the Boys” (1896-1901); Rev. William Stone, “The Cornerstone” (1901-1924); and Rev. Reginald De Saram, “The Defender” (1932-1958) – after all of whom four of the school’s houses are named today. As you may gather, the titles of Simon’s chapters are as intriguing as their contents. The author speaks highly also of Neville de Alwis (1983-1998), who is credited with a restoration of the college after somewhat of a decline.

The continuity of both funds and heads was a serious problem that S. Thomas’ had in its early years, with Bishop Chapman having to intervene from time to time. Edward Miller’s tenure is the one that put the school on a firm footing after such vicissitudes, which included the collapse of the coffee plantations. The patience, humility and fortitude of the Paragon would have been a key factor in such stabilisation. We should marvel at the commitment of these early pioneers of modern education in Sri Lanka, and, indeed, try to emulate their willingness to leave the comforts of the familiar for service in the uncomfortable.

Although the youthful William Buck was warden for only six years, he is probably immortalised for his statement on the tension between a public school’s intra and extra mural activities: “A public school does not exist only, or chiefly, for the culture of the mind – there is a nobler culture even than this, the culture of character. The first and primary object of a school is to turn out men, and so long as there is an advance in the manliness and honour of our boys, I care but little what happens in other respects”. This tension exists to date, with Buck’s sentiments preserved in the school – the trick, however, is to ensure that there is, in fact, a tension, rather than ‘one-way traffic’ (to change the metaphor) in one direction or other. It is also interesting that the Buck House motto is “Mens sana in corpore sano” – “A healthy mind in a healthy body”.

We now come to William Stone, whose chapter title could even have been “The Enigma” (which title Simon allocates to a separate short-lived warden). For one thing, Stone came from a working class background, and would have completed a Cambridge education probably only because of a conjectured benefactor. Simon wonders whether this is why Stone preferred Ceylonese company to that of his compatriots on his sojourn in this land. This warden was, however, one of the most erudite the school has had, being a Greek scholar of considerable repute and serving as a Classics lecturer at the University College in Colombo, after his wardenship at S. Thomas’. This did not prevent him, while being warden, to introduce a ‘Commercial’ stream of study, to promote a very practical education that was readily supported by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce. Stone was thus attuned to the realities of the future in his time. He also ensured, after the relocation to Mt. Lavinia, that the limited funds available were used first for constructing science labs, while the chapel had to wait its turn. His churchmanship, too, was of the non-ritualistic ‘low church’ form, and somewhat at variance with the ‘high church’ tradition that has dominated the college chapel. So, although William Stone may have been the greatest warden the school has had (“The Cornerstone”, according to Simon), he certainly did not easily fit the mainstream of sentiment that the school represented; and there is surely a lesson in that.

By the time Reginald De Saram became warden, the school needed a “Defender” – i.e. against populist Lankan sentiment that the British public school type elitist education offered at institutions like S. Thomas’ had outlived its time, if not actually prevented the flowering of a more ‘grassroots’ educational system in the country. A lot of Volume II (1948-2001) is devoted to this fascinating tension, which was heightened by nationalistic feelings engendered by Ceylon’s independence from British rule. De Saram is portrayed as fulfilling his ‘defender’ role admirably, in some cases even ‘going on the offensive’ (to remain with the metaphor) and stealing a march over other nationalists, especially through his fostering of an enviable array of Sinhala teachers, whose “Hela havula” movement (one seeking to promote indigenous purity in the Sinhala language) found a home at the college. The son of one of those teachers is today a Professor of Sinhala at the University of Colombo, after having studied at S. Thomas’ himself and later obtaining a doctorate from Cambridge University.

In fact, although S. Thomas’ is often identified with an ethos of westernised education, Simon’s history makes it clear that, apart from the Hela havula teachers, there were many subsequent nationalists of various hue who passed through its portals as students, including SWRD Bandaranaike, Anagarika Dharmapala, Ediriweera Sarachchandra and Devar Surya Sena, who is mentioned here because he provided the musical setting for the Sinhala Anglican liturgy. The book also describes how Thomians were victorious in the All-Island Inter-School Sinhala Debating Championships in 1978 – almost 50 years ago, to be sure, but just 30 years after Independence and on the 50th anniversary of the Sinhala Literary and Debating Society. So, today, on the 175th anniversary of the college, there are various competitions being held on English essay writing and oratory, open to students all over the country. That is a good way to celebrate Thomian contributions to English language competence over the years. But maybe the school should follow this up with corresponding competitions in Sinhala, as well, because she has clearly played a part in the fostering of that language, too. Arisen Ahubudu, one of the Hela havula teachers, is a household name in Sri Lanka.

The school’s contributions to Tamil are not so evident, maybe because institutions in Jaffna had a monopoly on that. But it did produce SJV Chelvanayakam, who is referred to in the book as having been a master at Mutwal under Warden Stone (in Volume I). He would have been a contemporary of SWRD Bandaranaike, both in school and politics, and their “Banda-Chelva” pact in 1957 is reported on in Volume II. Perhaps, S. Thomas’ should take greater cognizance and ‘ownership’ of “Chelva”, as they do of “Banda”; because while the latter is either consigned to the pages of history or blamed for all our current ills in some quarters of the South, the former is still treated with respect and affection in the North as “Thanthai (Father) Chelva”. Maybe that could have been another chapter title for Simon to write on. It is rumoured that Banda and Chelva were members of the same college debating team as well; and perhaps S. Thomas’ could think of adding Chelvanayakam’s name to its English inter-school debating competition, named after Bandaranaike.

Schools, such as S. Thomas’ that were established in 19th century colonial Ceylon, were western in orientation because their principals or headmasters (‘wardens’ at S. Thomas’) came from the west. In fact, it was an unwritten rule that such wardens be graduates of Oxford or Cambridge Universities (and also ordained Anglican ministers). Although this was not always possible after the middle of the 20th century, many of the wardens had overseas exposure. It is this exposure that bestowed upon these schools a link to the outside world and a global perspective.

There were others masters from overseas who helped in this process as well. Special mention is made of W.T. Keble, a historian who was also the first Headmaster of the Kollupitiya branch school, and R.L. Hayman, a scientist (and more pertinently an ‘outdoorsman’) who was a Headmaster at the Gurutalawa branch school. At Mt. Lavinia, however, they joined forces in fostering The Literary, Scientific and Historical Society – “an exclusive club for the brainiest boys, membership being by invitation only, which met every Friday evening to listen to lectures and discussions on assorted highbrow subjects” (e.g. readings from Chaucer, recordings of Elizabethan madrigals, lectures on ‘Heavy Hydrogen,’ etc.,). The school has been trying, for some time now, to broaden the horizons of A/Level students through a Current Affairs class, but the above exclusivity in the domain of the mind (similar to that in a competitive sports team) may be something that will spur the best students to subsequent heights of intellectual achievement. And this was possible in the day because of teachers with such expertise and global exposure. Once again, schools like S. Thomas’ appear to be seeking overseas expertise today in sports (e.g. rugby) coaches, but not so much for cultivating the mind. Rev. Roy Bowyer-Yin emulated Keble and Hayman in the field of music, and was responsible for transporting the much-loved festival of nine lessons and carols from Cambridge to Mt. Lavinia. He also helped a few boys to further their musical exploits globally.

Schools that have long histories develop strong traditions. Tradition will of course be tested against current relevance, but will also serve to critique the superficial interests of immediacy. S. Thomas’ had two institutions that are specifically mentioned in its Board of Governors Ordinance, namely the Divinity School and the Orphanage. The former has been relocated to the Cathedral Premises and the latter closed down in 1940. I am not calling for a re-establishment of these institutions in the school. But their presence in the premises must have surely shaped the character of the school and its boys. So, perhaps today’s school can consider the setting up of contemporary structures for serving the poor, presumably in nearby communities, and exposing the boys to the process too; and also for religious education. One possibility for religious education (in its broadest sense) is a model similar to that adopted by King’s College London for their Associateship of King’s College (AKC), conducted in parallel with all its other programs and open to all students and staff, which is described in its website as being “at the heart of the College’s commitment to an international, interdisciplinary, and innovative curriculum … [and] seeks to foster an understanding of different beliefs and cultures that can be taken into wider society”.

(To be continued)

(The writer, a Thomian schoolboy, from 1965 to 1975, and member of the S. Thomas’ College Board of Governors, from 2002 to 2010, is an emeritus professor in civil engineering of the University of Moratuwa, professor at the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology, and a past president of the National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka.)

by Priyan Dias

While congratulating Adithya Weliwatta on being crowned Queen of International Tourism 2025, and also winning the Best National Costume award in the competition, held in the Philippines, I would also like to touch on the requirements needed to win some of the globally recognised beauty pageants … let’s say the Big Four – Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss International, and Miss Earth.

1. Miss World, founded in 1951, is one of the oldest and most prestigious pageants, focusing on charity and humanitarian work.

2. Miss Universe, established in 1952, is known for its glamorous evening gowns and swimsuit competitions, with a focus on women’s empowerment.

3. Miss International,founded in 1960, emphasises on women’s roles in society, international understanding, and cultural exchange.

4. Miss Earth,launched in 2001, focuses on environmental awareness and conservation, promoting eco-friendly practices and sustainability.

These four pageants are widely recognised and respected globally, with winners often becoming international celebrities and ambassadors for their respective causes.

To impress at such prestigious international beauty pageants, contestants need to focuss on authenticity, confidence, and preparation, and this includes developing a strong personal brand, practicing interview skills, understanding the specific pageant system, and also the importance of a positive attitude, staying informed on current events, and showcasing a unique talent or advocacy.

According to former winners of globally recognised beauty pageants, these are the Key Strategies required, if one is to take the spotlight:

Authenticity and Personal Brand

Contestants need to be themselves and develop a unique personal brand that reflects their values and passions. This includes identifying a personal advocacy or platform that resonates with them and the pageant’s values.

Confidence and Poise

Confidence is crucial, and former winners suggest practicing public speaking, interview skills, and stage presence to build self-assurance. Judges are looking for confident and comfortable contestants in their own skin, as this can help them stand out from the other competitors. A confident contestant is more likely to be remembered by the judges and can leave a lasting impression.

Preparation and Knowledge

Thorough preparation is essential. This includes understanding the specific pageant system, researching current events, and developing a strong portfolio that showcases skills and achievements.

Positive Attitude and Grace

Adithya Weliwatta: Crowned Queen of International
Tourism 2025

Maintaining a positive attitude and exhibiting grace under pressure are qualities that judges often look for. This includes handling setbacks with composure and demonstrating a genuine desire to learn and grow.

Talent and Advocacy

Showcasing a unique talent and having a well-defined advocacy can help a contestant stand out. This could be anything from singing or dancing to public speaking or community service.

Physical Fitness and Appearance

While beauty pageants are increasingly recognising the importance of inner qualities, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and presenting oneself well are still important.

Dress to Impress

Contestants are judged not only on their appearance but also on their sense of style and fashion. By selecting the right wardrobe and accessories, contestants can showcase their unique personality and style and leave a lasting impression on the judges.

Select the right outfits for each portion of the competition. This includes choosing a stunning evening gown for the formal wear portion, selecting a stylish and comfortable outfit for the interview portion, and choosing a unique and eye-catching costume for the talent section. One must also remember to choose the right shoes, jewellery, and accessories to complement each outfit.

Mental Well-being

Former winners also highlight the importance of mental well-being and self-care. They advise contestants to prioritise their mental health and seek support when needed, as the pressures of pageantry can be intense.

Interview Skills

If you’re preparing for a beauty pageant, improving your interview skills is crucial to winning. The interview portion of the competition is often the most important, as it allows the judges to get to know you beyond your physical appearance.

Current Events

Being knowledgeable about current events is an important aspect of winning a beauty pageant. Pageant contestants are often expected to be well-informed about current events, social issues, and political developments, as this can demonstrate intelligence, awareness, and engagement with the world. Contestants should also research the issues that are particularly relevant to the pageant’s platform, or theme, and be prepared to discuss these issues with the judges.

Volunteer

Volunteering in your community can help you win a beauty pageant by showing the judges that you are not just focused on your appearance but also on making a positive impact on the world around you. Look for a cause. or organisation. that you’re passionate about, whether it’s animal welfare, environmental conservation, or helping the homeless.

Your Walk

How you walk is an essential aspect of winning a beauty pageant, as it is one of the first things the judges will notice about you. Stand up straight, with your shoulders pulled back and your chin up. This will help you look confident and poised. If you’ll be wearing heels during the pageant, practising walking in them is important. Start with a lower heel and work up to the height you’ll wear during the competition.

Keep your steps small and controlled, and don’t rush. This will help you maintain your posture, balance and look graceful. Walk with purpose and confidence, imagining you are walking towards a goal. It will help you look determined and focused. Practice turning smoothly and gracefully, whether a quarter or a complete turn.

Finally, remember to smile! A smile will make you look friendly and approachable.