Tribute to Mel Gunasekera (1973-2014)
The Founding Editor/ LBO
This page is dedicated to the memories of Mel Gunasekera
A journalist of distinction, who knew no bounds to her loyalty - to her family, profession and friends.
Lakshaman Bandaranaike - Publisher LBO
Mel Gunasekera (1973 -2014)
Who knew no bounds to her loyalty
Mel took over the challenge of building LBO at a time most people were skeptical about the future of web as a delivery mechanism for news. That was way back in 2000 when the web was in Jurassic Age. In Sri Lanka, she created a wholly new branch of journalism and a new art and form of writing financial news. LBO would not have reached where its today, if not for her commitment and leadership.
She was fiercely independent and never bowed down to commercial or political pressure. She was committed-stubbornly- to the highest standards of her profession. Mission of her life was to serve the rights of her readers-right to know unbiased, accurate and insightful news, timely.
Relentless pursuer of truth, Mel was guided by only one voice- the powerful voice of her own conscience. Once, during the early days of LBO, Mel reported on a landmark regulatory action against a powerful service provider. The company together with the PR and advertising agency brought much pressure upon her to retract her stories. She didn't deviate from her principles and continued to cover the story.
That was Mel, a shinning light of financial journalism in Sri Lanka.
Mel was ever so effervescent- who lived her life to the fullest, packing her days with her work, other interests and time for her family and friends. She was funny and loving. Never a boring person to hang out with, her conversations were always full of witty remarks and often interrupted by her own loud laughs.
Mel's untimely death in the hands of an assailant brings us close to the reality of the lowest of depths our society has fallen. A piece of metal was more valued than a human life by the coward who murdered a wonderful human being at her prime age.
We lost Mel, at a time this country needs more of people like her.
With her death- her brother lost a loving sister, her parents a wonderful daughter and the rest of us, her friends, lost a friend who knew no bounds to her loyalty.
Sleep well my friend.
--Lakshaman Bandaranaike - Publisher LBO
Vajira Premawardhana
This is not something that I even dreamt that I will ever have to write.
Cold shivers ran through my body when I saw the SMS from a news website announcing Mel's passing away. I could not believe my eyes. How could this happen to her ? Is this message for real or somebody's sick idea of a joke ?There was only one way to find out and I immediately went to her house at Battaramulla. From a distance I saw several police vehicles parked down the road which told me the story.
I met Mel for the first time when she came to cover the launching of a website by my former employer little over ten years ago. We became friends and over the years our friendship grew stronger. Both of us changed jobs but we kept in touch, calling each other often to share news about the business world and stories about mutual friends. I found Mel to be a happy and a cheerful person and there were many times when she cheered me up when I was depressed over issues at work.
I spoke to her for the final time little over a week ago, in relation to a work matter which involved getting some information from her employer. When I hung up on her I didn't know that it was for the last time... ever..
I still cannot believe that Mel is no more.... that we will not see the cheerful smile ever again. It is not real. I wish that this is a dream that I could wake up from soon.
Mel, your body is no more.. but you will live in our hearts until the day we die.
May you rest in peace.
Amal R Dias
It was way back in 2000 if I recall right that I first crossed paths with Mel when I used to be a more regular at the forums & then also occasionally socially too.. For me then she was just another person who I've met through Lakshman & of course Asantha. Out of many, Mel was one of the few who kept in touch through out while even Asantha I lost contacts who I used to keep in touch quite regularly.
But the first moments it self she fascinated me simply because of her interest to the subject of course it was mostly IT, technology & a bit of business. She always made me feel good showing keen interest on my opinion & then talking further I realized what an awesome person to talk to who had magnificent contributions her self obviously later we all knew, at least I did.
Then time went by and a few years later my attendance was not so regular at the forum. By then we had already exchanged contact numbers and chatted or checked with each other occasionally on similar matters.
It's been awhile since I've been to a forum but we would still bump into each other mostly at a business function where she would be there to cover the event but always took time to find a seat to catch from where we left may even be from a few months back.
The beauty of her was that even if I bump into her at some place she would always have a story to tell & don't fail to get a bit more than a 'what's up, how are things or what you up to now?' through out mostly with a gin or with that nice wide smile of hers.
The last time was a couple of months back at the opticians where I called her standing a bit further away.. She was in a mighty rush but still picked up the phone to say will call back. I then tapped on her shoulder but that was the most brief encounter I had with Mel, the last one, where she took off in a hurry promising to call back. That call of course never came but we had opinions shared over fb on & off.
She was not my closest buddy but always appreciated her not really for the credentials but for simply what came out of her & what she perceived to be.
Left is the character to be cherished & wishes with blessings to rest peacefully.
Good bye Mel
Sanjeewani De Silva
I got to know Mel best after I started presenting LBR. We would have endless chats and I would try to convince her that where I worked before was a responsible corporate citizen even though it was a controversial industry. We would debate, until the set was ready for me to start recording.... And all of this with her million dollar smile. On a good day when she was working late...we would still be talking in the car park. We became friends and she moved on and I moved on....our discussions on the economy and the business front continued and she would never fail to ask how my children were..... I have only met a few who went to great lengths to finish a story and finish it well, and Mel was one of them. I still can't believe she is gone....as Amal says"it was a shock and many aftershocks"... Mel you will be missed! Rest in peace my friend.
Anonymous
"As said in precedence
Relentless, shining, effervescent
Some voices speak
For those who know not how
Some voices speak
For those who shirk their own
In the wake of your's….doused
May a thousand voices bloom"
Terry Anzur, Fulbright Specialist and Media Trainer, USA
In 2008, I was hired by the government of the Republic of Maldives to help prepare their state radio and TV broadcasters for the country's first multiparty democratic presidential election. But I wasn't the only journalist involved in the ambitious journalism training program. Mel Gunasekera was there first.
To appreciate what Mel did, you have to know that in many developing countries "business reporting" amounts to little more than taking bribes to publish press releases. Mel was different. An established journalist from Sri Lanka, Mel was able to teach the Maldivians about business journalism. She asked tough questions and recognized that compelling stories must be built around compelling characters. Her integrity could not be bought and she set the same high standards for her students. We clicked right away.
A few years later in 2010, I received a Fulbright grant to teach journalism workshops in Colombo and Male. Mel welcomed me to Colombo and helped me understand the challenges journalists were facing in a post-conflict environment with a government that did not welcome media scrutiny. We also enjoyed food and conversation at the Cricket Club, because you can't understand Sri Lanka without a passion for its national sport. Some of the journalists in my workshop were writing for LBO, the business news website that Mel helped to launch.
Mel was a world-class journalist who was modest about her talent. She could have made it at the Wall Street Journal or any major financial publication. She chose to use her skills in Sri Lanka. I always enjoyed it when she posted one of her stories on social media. Here is a link to one of my favorites.
It has been heartwarming to read all the tributes to Mel from those whose lives she touched. I hope there will be more. Her stories should be collected and printed out to inspire future journalists covering Sri Lanka and the world. She always went beyond the press release to get to the heart of the truth. Perhaps there should be an annual prize for business reporting in her memory. I am deeply saddened that a senseless act of violence robbed all of us who will never read the powerful stories she had yet to tell. RIP dear friend. I already miss you.
Nalaka Gunawardene
So it was a known construction worker cum odd job man who killed senior
Lankan journalist Mel Gunasekera.
The man, hunted down within the same day Mel was stabbed to death
in her suburban home, was apparently familiar with the place and the
family’s routine. When she recognised him, burglar had instantly turned
killer.
Case closed? Prima facie, it seems so. But in a land where so many crimes
are simply not solved and culprits never caught, some can’t believe this
swift and efficient crime investigation. Public trust in institutions, once
lost, is hard to regain.
Conspiracy theories won’t bring Mel back. Neither would heart-felt
eulogies from her many friends and colleagues. But the latter helps the
living: for those who knew and adored her to cope with grief.
Mel would have been bemused by the spontaneous expressions of
appreciation that have been pouring out on social media. I can almost
hear her say, “Aiyo, what a fuss – get a life, men!”
But life is precisely what has become worthless in our troubled land. Life
today is so cheap it can be snapped away at the slightest provocation. Or
even without any.
According to police, the killer stole just LKR 1,200 (USD 10) and her mobile
phone. No other motive is suspected.
Any death is a tragedy, but what do we make of a killing done for small
change and a piece of metal?
As mutual friend Rohan Samarajiva noted: “She should be writing my
eulogy, not me hers. The young should not predecease the old. We should
have built a country where a young journalist could take the bus with
no fear and spend a Sunday morning in her own house without getting
murdered. The war brutalized us. Killing became nothing.”
As young blogger and researcher Sharanya Sekaram asked in a tweet:
“When we will change from being a nation of the dead and mourned to
one of the alive and celebrated?”
Genie runs amok
I don’t think anyone has the answer. Or maybe everyone does.
By coincidence, on the very Sunday morning Mel was snatched away, I
was reading Paulo Coelho’s 2011 novel Aleph and came across an unusual
quote. It’s an idea the author heard from a man in Tunis: “In our culture,
the criminal shares his guilt with everyone who allowed him to commit the
crime. When a man is murdered, the one who sold him the weapon is also
responsible before God.”
I’m more concerned about immediate culpability than any next-worldly
liabilities. Perhaps that Tunisian wisdom applies to us here and now.
Aren’t we all contributors to the dreadful nightmare that has just
consumed Mel? It has been nurtured by our indifference, denial (or
worse) for decades.
This ‘genie’ is home-grown: a beastly manifestation of our own collective
reptilian psyche. For years, it did our bidding. Many among us cheered it
while others looked away. The few who questioned -- or sounded caution
-- about brutalising an entire society were shouted down.
Now, nearly five years after the war ended, the big bad genie just won’t
behave. It won’t get back in the bottle. It’s running amok, terrorising
hapless citizens. Almost like a snake eating itself…
How do we protect ourselves from the phenomenon of our own making?
Can we outrun our own shadows?
Fences or walls don’t help much. Elaborate home security systems can
give us an illusion of safety. In any case, how many can afford gated and
guarded communities? Do we want to live with 24/7 surveillance by
private security and have ‘armed response’ -- as done in affluent parts of
South Africa?
No arrangement is fail-safe. As Samarajiva noted, “we built fortified
houses that were death traps should the perimeters be breached.”
Has the breakdown of law and order in Sri Lanka reached such levels that
we must now live in eternal fear inside our homes? Are we slowly joining
the ranks of the perennially scared residents in sprawling metros like
Johannesburg, Mexico City and Bangalore?
What next? Travel only in convoys at night, and start carrying small arms?
Which way forward?
Surely, there must be another way. A bumpy and slow road that would
probably be, but explore it we must.
Call it a path of healing, sharing and caring. Researchers might give it more
lofty labels like ‘inclusive growth’, or ‘post-conflict transformation’. We
can’t leave it to the government alone; individuals and community groups
have to play a key role.
The metaphor of roads is apt because we have had a frenzy of road
building since the war ended. Oh, we do need to fix the long neglected
infrastructure: better roads not only enable movement of people and
goods, but also spur entrepreneurship. We all gain.
Asphalt and concrete are necessary – but not sufficient. They need to be
matched by ‘soft’ aspects such as social cohesion and social safety nets. So
that no one gets left behind, or feeling too bitter…
Only by investing in collective human security can we hope to boost our
personal security. This is not new idea; implementing it doesn’t need to
burden the overstretched state either.
For example, Sri Lanka’s largest development organisation, the Sarvodaya
Shramadana movement, has long advocated and practised a balanced
approach to economic development. In thousands of villages across the
island, they have engaged people to live by a slogan: “We build the road --
and the road builds us!”
In its haste to rebuild and grow fast, is post-war Lanka forgetting these
and other proven strategies? Can we afford to race ahead leaving many
citizens to fend for themselves? What happens when pent-up anger and
frustrations spill over or blow up?
I’m not suggesting a simplistic link between these macro trends and the
private tragedy that snuffed out Mel’s life. But none of us can claim to be
innocent victims.
In Tunisian wisdom, at least, we all share the responsibility for things that
go wrong – and the obligation to put things right again.
This isn’t a call to charity, but an invocation of enlightened self interest.
No one is immune or fully shielded from crime, pollution, disasters and
epidemics.
In another century on the other side of the planet, pondering the
imminent outbreak of the biggest of all wars, an Anglo-American poet
wrote an evocative verse titled 'September 1, 1939'. It belied the
helplessness of an individual against the forces of ultra-nationalism and
tyranny.
I keep returning to Auden, who has captured our imperative so aptly:
“There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die.”
Indika H
I was very sad to hear this tragic incident and i am sure she will find eternal peace in heaven. I have never
met her but have spoken to her a couple of times over the phone a few years ago and i am so much
saddened by the fact that she had sent me an email a couple of days ago requesting for her to be included
in our company mailing list.
I noted many people talk about how her career as a journalist, etc. but what about the loss to the family.
There may be another journalist to fill her role, but can anyone replace the loss to the family and loved ones.
It is so tragic and am sure there is one of many tragic incidents taking place in this country.
This is just one indication of emergence of break-down in society than law in my view. There has been some
improvements of safety of citizens due to increase surveillance, etc., but unless steps are taken to stop
eroding values in the society, these kind of things may continue to happen.
With my limited knowledge and interaction with society, I noted two main reasons for the breakdown in the
society.
One is the trend of values and practices populated by “super” class in the society. I will give you two
examples which I encountered: while I was driving close to Vihara Mahadevi Traffic lights (before
surveillance cameras were installed), a flashy sports car blocked me and stopped me. It was obvious he was
under influence of “drugs” and he threatened me for some traffic fault which I never committed. Of course he
wanted to get into fight with me and he started beating my car. I tactfully apologized and pleaded and went
away. If I argued and said something he could have even killed me. Colombo’s super society has broken
down so much due to wrong values implanted sometime by no other than their own elders. They consider
spending enormous amounts of money on partying (which of course involve drugs) as normal thing to be in
the society. Some media further promote such trend.
Why would parents give tens of thousands for their young sons and daughters to party (for one night alone).
When super class promotes values like these it trickles down to lower levels which try to follow them.
Another classic cause of breakdown in society is the “media”. Media is responsible to spreading all the
wrong values and making people “dumb” and live in a “floating like stake continuously for hours wanting
dumbest things”. People gradually begin to think these things they show are normal things and absorb these
behaviors and value. May some media think it is advantageous to do so (sometime to show their power). But
in the process they spread competition, greed, violence, etc – from very young age.
For example this killing is obviously motivated by greed and his loss of sense of value of a human life. Why
cant that man make a decent living doing what he does and may professions like these actually earn more
than some executive jobs. But when you look at media, often such professions are associated with some
bad side.
Shehara Jayasinghe
Every good memory of Mel should be remembered and celebrated. She was never stingy with her time and
was a great teacher. i knew her when i worked at ETV, but she came to my church and helped us with a
media workshop last year, that was my last encounter with her.
What a spirit she had, she will never be forgotten for how much she has contributed and given to the media
world. Thank you Mel, may you be rejoicing in heaven...
Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne
Mel was one of the first journalists I took to see the Elephant Gathering in Minneriya. During many hours of
conversation I was struck by how nice a person she was and her intelligent curiosity as a journalist. It’s a
loss for Sri Lanka to lose someone like her.
Nirmalie
Mel was a great teacher. She was fiercely independent. I doubt there are many journalists of her ilk anymore
and her demise is a very real loss to our country. I can't believe she's gone.
May her soul rest in peace.
Sadeesh Krishnapillai
Dear Mel,
Memories still linger in my mind about the days when we met for a week-long training on News Room
Management at Habarana. You had been a thoughtful thinker; you daringly put forwarded your arguments;
you had facts and figures to support your fearless discourses. Apart from that, you had been a nice human
being to share you love for humanity with all of us despite the fact that you had been single female journo
among all news editors of leading electronic media institutions.
Good by Mel, We love you.
Ruchira
Really, really sad to hear and bear this loss. May you Rest in Peace!
My deepest sympathies to her family and friends.
Dinidu de Alwis
Today on Facebook, Nalaka Gunawardena sumed up Mel. I shall not call her a fellow journalist, because
there were many more rungs on the ladder that people like me had to climb before we could reach where
she was. But, like Nalaka says, she was very amiable, fun loving and stayed above the fray.
She was also ever-willing to talk, and ever-willing to listen. Was full of advice, and would take time off to
teach. (Mel, I have a style question? Mel, do you know anybody who can get me this information? Mel,
where can I find this report? Mel, this. Mel, that).
She is no more, but she will always be there. She will also, from those who loved her, be loved. Always.
Indika Sakalasooriya
I’m not going to write about Mel’s prowess as a journalist. There are enough people who could do that. I’m
going to talk about Mel, the friend I lost. When I started as a business reporter, Mel was at the helm of her
career, among the top few real business journalists in the country.
There was no need at all for her to take notice of us podiyans. But she took the trouble and I started getting
emails from her almost on a daily basis. The emails contained her comments on my stories—the things I
have missed and places where I could have spiced it up.
It didn't take a long time to transform this teacher-student relationship into a very strong and fruitful
friendship—at least on my side. Mel, I would miss your regular morning calls, awesome wit, gossip sessions
and most of all, your gleaming smile. Rest in Peace dearest Mel!
Sasanka De Silva
Yes this is indeed very sad news and the trend of fortifying ourselves has to stop somewhere and as you
correctly said that we should encourage eyes on the streets.
May her Rest in peace
Damien DZ
Dearest Uncle, Aunty and Dayan, even though I've never got an opportunity to meet Mel, been in the
Television and Media industry I felt so shocked and deeply saddened of your great loss. Been a Christian
guy and having such a strong faith in Jesus I am so confused and so lost as to how come our beautiful
country has become so violent and filled with crimes, murders, suicides.
I truly feel your pain as I my self have lost so many close loved ones. I know my words cant take your pain
away and rest assured my daily prayers are with you all and May God grant you all the strength and courage
to get over this tragic event and May Mel Rest In Peace in Lords Arms. My Deepest and Sincere heartfelt
sympathies.
God Bless You and May you find comfort in Jesus.
Tribute to Mel Gunasekera (1973-2014)
