A close friend gone, but never forgotten

I have never written an appreciation before. Especially about a friend who was so near and dear. When his wife and journalist Kamani Hettiarachchi asked me to write a piece on Kamal to mark his death anniversary, I was hesitant for two reasons. First, I was not used to writing a formal appreciation of somebody who was a responsible senior journalist that had been respected by many. Second, it was still unthinkable to comprehend the fact that he is not among us anymore. It has been a year since our close friend Kamal Liyanaarachchi had left us forever. 

Although, no introduction is needed for members of the media fraternity to remember him, Kamal was a senior journalist with a career span of about 30 years in the mainstream Sinhala newspaper journalism; having worked as an editorial reporter cum political columnist for Yukthiya, Eththa and Lakbima newspapers. Why I called him a responsible journalist is because of his ability to secure an influential position in the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI), as the Sinhala Complaint Officer of the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka (PCCSL). 

I was introduced to Kamal about 20 years ago by my bosom buddy and senior political reporter Kasun Yapa Karunaratne, who is presently domiciled in the United Kingdom. We met at a pub in Kompannavidiya and over a several rounds of drinks to realise that our ideals on contemporary politics and many other things in life were pretty much similar and interesting. Since then the number of times we sat down for casual chats as well as analytical discussions were innumerable and the bonding grew and we became lifetime buddies, till he took an early exit from life’s journey. 

Unlike many of us career scribes Kamal possessed a range of unique standards and principles, which he held firm in practicing journalism. From maintaining sources and getting all the sides to a news story based on any given issue, Kamal always did his homework in line with modern day popular tools like fact checking even way before it was practised in Sri Lanka. He did thorough research in fact finding missions, collected each and every press release, legal document pertaining to the constitution and Parliament Acts and used his personal rich library of books on countless topics. 

This practice granted him an important position at the PCCSL where he was focused on mediating and inquiring into public complaints against the mainstream print media which was all aimed at making his contribution towards creating a clean newspaper culture having integrity. 

His involvement at the SLPI expanded as a media trainer and activist. He is dearly remembered among the provincial journalist fraternity in Sri Lanka for the series of workshops he had organised to upgrade their knowledge and also train many in house journalists on the Right to Information Act. 

Also, his role as a thorough organizer at the annual journalism awards for excellence by the Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka (EGOSL) for many years was highly commendable and praised by top newspaper editors. 

Kamal’s sheer dedication to his work once got himself in trouble. He could not prepare his own suit for the journalism awards evening till the last minute due to his work load. Since Kamal and I had similar physiques my black suit came in handy and saved him that day. Since Kamal had to go on a long trip back home in Payagala, many a times I have managed to drag him along to my place in Nugegoda to spend the night; to the utmost displeasure of his beloved wife Kamani and the two daughters. When I asked him to join me in going to my place the only question he would throw at me was “how am I suppose to go to work tomorrow morning in this same shirt? My colleagues will think I got wasted last night and slept over at someone else’s house,” to which I used to respond saying, “Don’t worry. I’ll give you something to wear tomorrow also.” Just for the record he had a permanent sarong, a toothbrush and a razor at my place. 

Although, he was about seven to eight years my senior his loving advice came like from a caring elder brother I never had. It’s not once or twice his assistance had come in favour of me when I was in a spot. When I first joined the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA) in 2005 there were three teams contesting for the election of new office bearers. 

The first team was led by senior journalist Daya Perera of Lake House whilst the second team was led by equally senior scribe Daya Somasiri of the same institution. This was just weeks before Mahinda Rajapaksa became President. The third was our team was led by now exiled journalists Sanath Balasooriya and Poddala Jayantha.  Our team comprised the spirit of youth and popular figures in the media field like Manjula Wediwardena, Athula Vithanage, Sampath Deshapriya, Prasanna Fonseka, Bulitha Pradeep Kumara, Kasun Yapa Karunaratne, Kanchana Marasinghe, Lasantha Ruhunage, Ajith Seneviratne, Dushyantha Kumara and Gnanasiri Koththigoda to name a few. 

When the polling concluded and the counting began a representative from each team received the opportunity to witness the counting process. Kamal was sour representative and he used to come out every now and then and give us an update about the winning trends of the three teams. Something which I haven’t forgotten to date is how he said that my name was constantly coming up like a ‘leaping horse’ in the counting of the preferential votes polled for our team. To my surprise I was one of the two candidates who got the highest number of votes that of 113 to lead the executive committee from our team, the other being senior defence reporter Prasanna Fonseka (Silumina); now domiciled in Switzerland. 

He did thorough research in fact finding missions, collected each and every press release, legal document pertaining to the constitution and Parliament Acts and used his personal rich library of books on countless topics

Kamal was a media activist batting for press freedom and freedom of expressions. Due to the potential existing of springing up a conflict of interest due to his job at SLPI he never took a front line position. 

With the assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunge, many journalists who were at the forefront of the five media movement protests campaigns (Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association, Sri Lanka Tamil Journalists Association, Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum, Federation of Media Employees Trade Union and the Free Media Movement) who felt that their lives were under tremendous threat sought political asylum. 

Even I myself had the opportunity to leave the country for a study programme in England. When I returned with a tear in his eye he murmured, “Everyone left and only I remained here, without a friend to associate. I never thought even you’d return,” he said hugging me. 

Since then until I last met him in December 2021 and before leaving my place as usual on the following morning in one of my shirts his final advice to me was “machan, go easy on booze, we have a lengthy task to do.” Kamal who I considered as one of the five lifelong friends of mine bade adieu on the following February 2022). May his wishes to achieve a better media culture come true.