
All of us, politicians and non-politicians, have a responsibility to make our nation a better place to live in and to keep working with determination to ensure the realization of our dreams for our nation – a peaceful, stable, reconciled and prosperous Sri Lanka for all, where the dignity of each and every individual is upheld.
අපේ රට ජීවත්වීම සඳහා වඩා යහපත් තැනක් බවට පත්කිරීමට දේශපාලකයන් වන සහ නොවන අප සියලු දෙනාටම වගකීමක් ඇත. අපේ ජාතියේ සිහින සැබෑ කිරීම උදෙසා අධිෂ්ඨානයෙන් වැඩකිරීමටත්, සෑම කෙනෙකුගේම ආත්ම අභිමානය සුරැකෙන සාමකාමී, ස්ථාවර සහ සෞභාග්යමත් ශ්රී ලංකාවක් ඇතිකිරීමටත් අපට වගකීමක් ඇත.
எமது நாட்டை உயிர் வாழ்வதற்கு மிகவும் உகந்த இடமாக திகழச் செய்வதில் அரசியல்வாதிகள் மற்றும் அரசியலில் ஈடுபாடற்றவர்களாகிய நம் அனைவருக்கும் பொறுப்பு உள்ளது. எமது இனத்தின் கனவுகளை நனவாக்கிடும் வகையில் அர்ப்பணிப்புடன் செயலாற்றுவதற்கும், அனைவரினதும் சுய கௌரவம் பாதுகாக்கப்படும் சமாதானமான, நிரந்தரமான மற்றும் சௌபாக்கியம் நிறைந்த இலங்கையை ஏற்படுத்துவதற்கும் எமக்கு பொறுப்பு உள்ளது.
This space is dedicated to preserving and continuing the vision and work of Mangala Samaraweera for the inspiration and engagement of present and future generations.
It is a site of memoriam, but also a platform for connecting to onward projects
aligned with his dreams for our beloved Sri Lanka.




















When I first visited party activists in my home town in 1988, many of them introduced me to others as “Khema’s boy” and told me that, if I needed their support, I should come back with my mother. Even today, there are still people who refer to me as “Khema’s boy,” and I am always proud to be called so.
1988 මම මුලින්ම මගේ ගමේ පක්ෂ ක්රියාකාරීන් මුවගැහුණම ඒ අය මාව අනෙක් අයට හඳුන්වා දුන්නේ ඛේමාගේ කොල්ලා කියලයි. ඒ අය මට කිව්වා, ඒ අයගේ සහයෝගය අවශ්ය නම් අම්මාත් එක්ක එන්න කියල. අදටත් සමහරු ඉන්නවා මාව හඳුන්වන්නෙ ඛේමාගේ කොල්ලා කියල. ඒ ගැන මං ඇත්තටම ආඩම්බර වෙනවා.
1988 ஆம் ஆண்டில் முதன் முதலில் நான் எனது கிராமத்தில் கட்சி செயற்பாட்டாளர்களை சந்தித்த போது, அவர்கள் என்னை ஏனையோருக்கு பேமாவின் மகன் என அறிமுகம் செய்தனர். அவர்களின் ஆதரவு எனக்கு அவசியமாயின், அம்மாவுடன் வருமாறு எனக்குக் கூறினார்கள். இன்றும் என்னை பேமாவின் மகன் என அழைக்கும் சிலர் இருக்கின்றனர். அதை எண்ணி நான் மிகவும் பெருமை கொள்கின்றேன்.
Born April 21st 1956, Mangala Pinsiri Samaraweera was the youngest of three born to Mahanama and Khema Samaraweera in the southern Sri Lankan district of Matara. This min-documentary captures his story at the time of his 30th anniversary in politics in 2019.


Dearest Mangala, You will live with every battle waged to build a better Sri Lanka.
A country where Freedom, Honest Governance, Inclusivity and Respect for Diversity will reign supreme. A country with a governance system that truly cares for its people and not its politicians. You were the embodiment of this all. And you will live in the hearts and actions of everyone who will stand up against injustice and corruption.
- H.E. Hon. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Former President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
හිතාදර මංගල, වඩා යහපත් ශ්රී ලංකාවක් වෙනුවෙන් කළ සියලු සටන් සමග ඔබ සැමදා ජීවත් වනු ඇත.
නිදහස, අවංක පාලනය, සහජීවනය, සහ විවිධත්වය වෙනුවෙන් වූ ගෞරවය රජකරන රටක්.. දේශපාලකයන් ගැන වෙනුවට සැබවින්ම ජනතාව ගැන හිතන පාලන ක්රමයක් ඇති රටක්.. මේ සියල්ලෙහි ප්රතිමූර්තිය ඔබයි. එමෙන්ම අයුක්තියට සහ දූෂණයට එරෙහිව නැගී සිටින සෑම කෙනෙකුගේම හදවතේ සහ ක්රියාවෙහි ඔබ සදා ජීවත් වනු ඇත.
- ගරු චන්ද්රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක කුමාරතුංග
ශ්රී ලංකා ප්රජාතාන්ත්රික සමාජවාදී ජනරයේ හිටපු ජනාධිපතිනිය.
அன்பின் மங்கள, சிறந்த இலங்கைக்காக மேற்கொள்ளப்பட்ட சகல போராட்டங்களுடனும் நீங்கள் எந்நாளும் வாழ்ந்தீர்கள். சுதந்திரம், நேர்மையான ஆட்சி, ஒருமைப்பாடு மற்றும் பன்முகத்தன்மைக்காக கௌரவம் ஆளும் நாடு…
அரசியல்வாதிகளுக்காக அன்றி மக்களைப்பற்றி சிந்திக்கும் ஆட்சி முறை நிலவும் நாடு… இவை அனைத்தினதும் முன்னுதாரணம் நீங்கள். அதுபோன்று அசாதாரணம் மற்றும் மோசடிகளுக்கு எதிராக குரலெழுப்பும் சகலரினதும் உள்ளங்களிலும் செயற்பாடுகளிலும் எந்நாளும் உயிர்வாழ்வீர்கள்.
கௌரவ. சந்திரிகா பண்டாரநாயக்க குமாரதுங்க
இலங்கை ஜனநாயக சோஷசலிச குடியரசின் முன்னாள் ஜனாதிபதி

At this critical juncture, our country needs an alternative ideology based on democracy, freedom, brotherhood and unity based on justice and the rule of law. We need an ideology that protects the environment, plants and animals too. Let us now move towards a true patriotic ideology based on liberal democracy.
මමෙ අතිශය වැදගත් සන්ධිස්ථානයේදී, අපගේ දේශයට අවශ්ය වන්නේ, ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය, නිදහස, සහෝදරත්වය මත පදනම් වූ විකල්ප දෘෂ්ටිවාදයක් සහ යුක්තිය හා නීතියේ පාලනය මත පදනම් වූ එක්සත්භාවයකි. පරිසරය, ගස්වැල් සහ සතුන් ද රැකගන්නා දෘෂ්ටිවාදයක් අපට අවශ්යය. අප ලිබරල් ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය මත පදනම් සැබෑ දේශප්රේමීත්වයක් වෙත යොමුවිය යුතුය.
இந்த முக்கியத்துவம் வாய்ந்த தருணத்தில், எமது நாட்டுக்கு ஜனநாயகம், சுந்திரம், சகோதரத்துவம் மற்றும் ஒற்றுமை அடிப்படையிலான rட்டம் மற்றும் ஒழுங்குக்கான மாற்று சிந்தனை அவசியமாகியுள்ளது. சூழல், தாவரங்கள் மற்றும் விலங்குகளையும் பாதுகாக்கின்றது. முற்போக்கான ஜனநாயக அடிப்படையிலான தேசப்பற்றுள்ள கொள்கையை நோக்கி நாம் நகர்வோம்.


Samaraweera Foundation
1988 මම මුලින්ම මගේ ගමේ පක්ෂ ක්රියාකාරීන් මුවගැහුණම ඒ අය මාව අනෙක් අයට හඳුන්වා දුන්නේ ඛේමාගේ කොල්ලා කියලයි. ඒ අය මට කිව්වා, ඒ අයගේ සහයෝගය අවශ්ය නම් අම්මාත් එක්ක එන්න කියල. අදටත් සමහරු ඉන්නවා මාව හඳුන්වන්නෙ ඛේමාගේ කොල්ලා කියල. ඒ ගැන මං ඇත්තටම ආඩම්බර වෙනවා.
Without fundamental human rights, strong institutions, right education, economic development, ensuring constant safeguards against corruption and robust checks and balances, democracy will always be in peril…. In countries like mine, for all good intentions and political will to succeed, and for democracy to be strengthened, all stakeholders must feel that their development is being cared for and their lives are improving.
මූලික මානව අයිතිවාසිකම්, ශක්තිමත් ආයතන, නිවැරදි අධ්යාපනය, ආර්ථික සංවර්ධනය, දූෂණයට එරෙහි ස්ථාවර ආරක්ෂණයන් තහවුරු කිරීම සහ ශක්තිමත් සංවරණ හා තුලන නොමැති තත්වයන්හිදී ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය හැමවිටම අවදානමට ලක්වේ. මගේ රට වැනි රටවලදී, සියලු යහපත් චේතනාවලදී සහ ජයග්රහණය සඳහා දේශපාලන අධිෂ්ඨානයේදී, ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය ශක්තිමත් කිරීම සඳහා, සියලු පාර්ශ්වකරුවන් හට තම සංවර්ධනය ගැන අවධානය යොමු වී තිබෙන බව සහ ඔවුන්ගේ ජීවිත සංවර්ධනය වෙමින් තිබෙන බව හැඟිය යුතුය.
அடிப்படை மனித உரிமைகள், உறுதியான நிறுவனங்கள், சரியான கல்வி, பொருளாதார அபிவிருத்தி, மோசடிகளுக்கு எதிராக தொடர்ச்சியான பாதுகாப்பு மற்றும் துரிதமான சரிபார்த்தல்கள் மற்றும் சமநிலைப்படுத்தல் போன்றன இன்றி ஜனநாயகம் ஆபத்தை எதிர்கொள்ளும்… எனது நாட்டைப் போன்ற நாடுகளில், சகல உட்கருத்துகளும் அரசியல் அபிலாஷைகளும் நிறைவேறுவதற்கும், ஜனநாயகம் வலிமைப்படுத்தப்படுவதற்கும், சகல பங்காளர்களும் தமது அபிவிருத்தி பேணப்படுவதாகவும், தமது வாழ்க்கை முன்னேற்றம் காண்கின்றது என்பதையும் உணர வேண்டும்.

His talent for design was what got him a first from St Martin’s... He had made connections into the world of fashion that were not only pioneering but kept Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan fabrics at the centre of all his designs … I recall him saying, “If Gandhi could promote the use of Indian fabric for the betterment of Indians and to overthrow an empire, I could do the same here!”
- Chandri Peiris, Actor, Dancer & Model & Friend of Mangala
ඔහුගේ මෝස්තර නිර්මාණ දක්ෂතාව හේතුවෙන් ඔහු උගත් ශාන්ත මාටින් කලා විශ්වවිද්යාලයේ ඔහුගේ කණ්ඩායමේ සෑම වසරකම පළමු ස්ථානය ඔහුට හිමිවුණා. ඔහු මෝස්තර ලෝකයට ගෙන ආ පුරෝගාමී නිර්මාණවල හදවත වුණේ ශ්රී ලංකාව හා ශ්රී ලාංකික රෙදිපිළියි. ...“ඉන්දියානුවන්ගේ යහපත උදෙසා ඉන්දියානු රෙදි ප්රවර්ධනය කර අධිරාජ්යය දණගස්වන්නට ගාන්ධිට පුළුවන් වුණානම්, මටත් එය කරන්නට පුළුවන්,” කියා ඔහු එදා කී හැටි මට මතකයි.
- මංගල මිතුරු චන්ද්රි පීරිස්, නළු, නර්තන ශිල්පී හා නිරූපණ ශිල්පී
செயின்ட் மார்ட்டின்ஸில் இருந்து அவருக்கு முதன்முதலில் கிடைத்த வடிவமைப்புத் திறமைதான்... அவர் முன்னோடியாக மட்டுமல்லாமல், இலங்கை மற்றும் இலங்கைத் துணிகளை தனது அனைத்து வடிவமைப்புகளிலும் மையமாக வைத்து ஃபேஷன் உலகில் தொடர்புகளை ஏற்படுத்தினார்... அவர் கூறியது எனக்கு நினைவிருக்கிறது. , "இந்தியர்களின் முன்னேற்றத்திற்காகவும், ஒரு சாம்ராஜ்யத்தைத் தூக்கியெறியவும் இந்தியத் துணியைப் பயன்படுத்துவதை காந்தியால் ஊக்குவிக்க முடிந்தால், நான் இங்கேயும் அதையே செய்ய முடியும்!"
- சந்திரி பீரிஸ், நடிகர், நடனக் கலைஞர் & மாடல் & மங்களவின் நண்பர்
අපි සීරුවෙන් - நாம் அவதானத்துடன் - On Alert :
An anthem created by Mangala & the composing artists and creatives to inspire Sri Lankans to unite and move forward with their minds and hearts open.


1988 මම මුලින්ම මගේ ගමේ පක්ෂ ක්රියාකාරීන් මුවගැහුණම ඒ අය මාව අනෙක් අයට හඳුන්වා දුන්නේ ඛේමාගේ කොල්ලා කියලයි. ඒ අය මට කිව්වා, ඒ අයගේ සහයෝගය අවශ්ය නම් අම්මාත් එක්ක එන්න කියල. අදටත් සමහරු ඉන්නවා මාව හඳුන්වන්නෙ ඛේමාගේ කොල්ලා කියල. ඒ ගැන මං ඇත්තටම ආඩම්බර වෙනවා.
‘Children, Worship your parents and teachers. But, do not worship politicians. You do not need to worship them’
ළමයිනි, ඔබේ මව්පියන්ට හා ගුරුවරුන්ට වඳින්න. දේශපාලකයන්ට වඳින්න එපා. එසේ කිරීම අවශ්ය නැහැ.
குழந்தைகளே உங்கள் பெற்றோரையும், ஆசிரியர்களையும் வணங்குங்கள். அரசியல்வாதிகளை வணங்காதீர்கள். அவர்களை நீங்கள் வணங்க வேண்டியதில்லை

1988 මම මුලින්ම මගේ ගමේ පක්ෂ ක්රියාකාරීන් මුවගැහුණම ඒ අය මාව අනෙක් අයට හඳුන්වා දුන්නේ ඛේමාගේ කොල්ලා කියලයි. ඒ අය මට කිව්වා, ඒ අයගේ සහයෝගය අවශ්ය නම් අම්මාත් එක්ක එන්න කියල. අදටත් සමහරු ඉන්නවා මාව හඳුන්වන්නෙ ඛේමාගේ කොල්ලා කියල. ඒ ගැන මං ඇත්තටම ආඩම්බර වෙනවා.
The tyranny of the few can only be defeated if the silent majority – the true patriots – come forward for the greater good of the people and the country.
කිහිප දෙනෙකුගේ අධිපතිවාදය පරාජය කළ හැක්කේ නිහඬ බහුතරය වන සැබෑ දේශප්රේමීන් ජනතාව සහ රට වෙනුවෙන් යහපත උදාකරදීම සඳහා ඉදිරියට එන්නේ නම් පමණි.
ஒரு சிலரின் அராஜகமான செயற்பாடுகளை, மக்களினதும் நாட்டினதும் நலனுக்காக அமைதியான பெரும்பான்மை – உண்மையான பற்றாளர்கள் ஆகியோர் முன்வந்தால் மாத்திரமே தோற்கடிக்க முடியும்.


Jayanthi is Mangala's older sister and, similar to her mother & aunts, one of his closest supporters having worked to canvas and organize for him over the decades. Her professional career was primarily in the arena of tourism in which she served for over 25 years.

Chanchala is Mangala's niece. She founded the Matara inspired agri-food brand Kimbula Kithul & also brings her background in rights advocacy, advertising, & education to collaborations with Freedom Hub. Read the lessons she learned from her Mangala Mamma here.
Chitranganie is Mangala's cousin. A former Chairperson of ICTA, a current Director of the University of Colombo School of Computing, Board Director of the World Summit Award - a UN initiative, & board member of two rural BPO companies in Anuradhapura & Jaffna.
Mangala’s former Private Secretary (2015-2017) & former Head of Policy and Research at the Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms. Amita is an independent public policy analyst and writer and a graduate of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Princeton University.
Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu is the founder Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) & a leading expert on governance & human rights. Prior institutional leadership includes to the Task Force on Consultations on Mechanisms for Reconciliation, the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute, Transparency International, Amnesty International Asia Region, & Centre for Monitoring Election Violence, to name a few.


Design by Gimhani Galgedara || Development by Samir Lalani of October Digital || Content by Chanchala Gunewardena
All Rights to Chanchala Gunewardena 2022