By Ilica Malkanthi Karunaratne

Through legend and lore, both historical and literary, giants have a special place. People are always fascinated by these larger than life characters from the real giant–Goliath–to the fictional giant of Jack and the beanstalk fame.

Dudley Senanayake and Anwar Ibrahim can both be considered giants among men; particularly among politicians and statesmen of our time. One similarity is their firm stance against corruption, lawlessness and injustice. Dudley, as Anwar mentioned, was one of the first leaders among Asians to focus on poverty eradication. Another similarity which I noted after reading through some of Anwar’s publications is that Dudley, a devout Buddhist, and Anwar a devout Muslim, both believed that no ethnic group or religion was superior to the other. They believed not only on good relations and harmony among ethnic groups in their own countries but also in friendship and cooperation among all races in the world. One of Dudley’s most famous sayings was: ‘I long for the day when every Sri Lankan can say with pride this is my own, my native land”

Reading through Anwar’s writing on The Asian Renaissance, I noted an important passage which read: “Properly instituted democracy will ensure order and stability. Because it allows for legitimate grievances to be aired and contentious issues to be openly debated, democracy prevents the accumulation of violent and disruptive forces. The pursuit of economic prosperity is no justification for the persistent and flagrant deprivation of political and civil liberties.” Continue reading ‘Dudley Senanayake and Anwar Ibrahim are both epitomes each in their time of liberal democracy.’