For virtually being the opposition in a country where the collective opposition lacks both imagination and fire, Lasantha has paid the supreme price. He was the embodiment of a true opposition, the voice of dissent. There is little wonder as to why the assassins strike journalists and not politicians of the day, for the ruthless assassins obviously do not consider the elected representatives as a worthwhile challenge.

Lasantha would walk around the office biting his pen, a man full of boyish energy, getting excited when we lay hands on a good story. He got the biggest kick from a good story.

Heartbreaking

It is heartbreaking to think that he would never walk away with my breakfast or take bites off my vegetarian sandwiches, grimacing that ‘rabbity food’ had no place in a carnivorous world. My ‘papadams’ too will never go missing.

Personally, Lasantha was my inspiration, my reason to give up legal practice and to continue at The Sunday Leader. He was also the biggest reason for my journalistic growth — the editor who created the space for me to spread wings and celebrated my success like a doting father. If I call myself an investigative journalist of any worth, I owe it all to Lasantha.

A high-energy personality, everything about Lasantha was also about the art of the possible. With his mischievous smile and buoyant personality, he would make our workload light. And he would make me write five full-paged articles and if I were to wrinkle my nose, wanting to refuse but unable to say no, he would grin and say "Yes you can."

A week ago, a partially torn page of a Sunday Leader edition arrived by post. The story on that page read: ‘The capture of Killinochchi a media circus.’ Across that in red paint, the written words read: "liwwoth maranawa" (If writing continued, you will be murdered). With a dismissive gesture and his characteristic smile, Lasantha instructed the editorial secretary to throw it into the dustbin!

In November, he was to work on an investigation on the assassination of Gen. Janaka Perera. As always, the story excited him no end. "They should never know we had this story. If they find out, we will be bumped off," he said.

Symbol no more

But we also believed for all his ill concealed dislike for Lasantha, President Mahinda Rajapakse needed Lasantha to survive — as his symbol of the existence of media freedom in Sri Lanka. As criticism mounted on Sri Lanka’s sagging human rights credentials and media freedom, the Presidential remarks were: "There is Lasantha Wickrematunge, freely driving around with no security and continues to publish a newspaper that vilifies my regime and even my family."

Lasantha’s fault was that he told the stories that others did not have the courage to print or broadcast. He gave voice to the marginalised, the oppressed and stood for an inclusive society. This is the price for such idealism.

Lasantha earned both brickbats and bouquets for his journalism. I would like his detractors to reflect upon two questions that I pose here. Was Lasantha’s pen mightier than the T 56 that his life had to be snuffed out to still that golden pen? When Lasantha stood up for good governance, parity and a pluralistic society that accommodates all communities, was he wrong?

It was just the final Friday we had with him that Lasantha cautioned a journalist cryptically that deadlines were deadlines. "Even if there is a funeral, the show must go on."

The following Friday, journalists appeared to be remembering those words. With downcast faces in mourning black and white, sniffing, some openly sobbing, they still wrote their tributes. And managed their general stories. Lasantha would have been so proud of last Friday’s editorial scene.

‘Security’

We had bleeding hearts on Monday as our much-loved editor was being laid to rest. It devastated us to have some security types demand that we produce our media accreditation cards to prove that we were Sunday Leader staff and indeed journalists. For a movement I wondered whether I was seeking access to my own Editor’s funeral or some corrupt and stupid politician’s burial. Had Lasantha lived, the security men would have received a lecture they would not forget in a hurry.

Now that he is gone, we have been thrown into the deep end. It is now required of us to sustain his memory, continue that legacy and give voice to those Lasantha gave representation to.

We can only try to live his dream and fight for the same ideals. That’s the spirit in which he nurtured us. Do not doubt whether the legacy of our brightest light would be continued. It will for we can.

Lasantha was the very celebration of diversity and dissent. So instead of the appalling silence of the ‘good people,’ may a thousand flowers bloom

COURTESY:The Morning Leader