Tribute: C : Heart of a poet, mind of a scientist

It is with great sadness I learnt of the demise of Judge Christie Weeramantry, a friend and a mentor. In his passing away, the International community has lost a towering legal mind who served as an exceptional judge, eminent jurist, and outstanding professor, with boundless dedication, utmost humility, and commitment for nearly seven decades. Above all, he was a phenomenal human being. We shall indeed miss his noble service.

My association with Judge Weeramantry dates back to his first visit to the United States in April 1969, on a lecture tour of North American Universities.

From then onwards, I have continued to marvel at the depth and breadth of his scholarship, and was immensely enriched by his friendship and guidance.

It is astonishing that a man who had a long career as a Judge, a professor, and active in public affairs should have published so many volumes expounding the intricacies of law, ethics, philosophy, religion, and the environment.

None more important than his singular contribution in pointing out the danger to civilization resulting from unbridled scientific and technological advances, and creating an awareness of the extent to which modern technology is undermining basic human rights. He saw as he puts it, “the importance for the human future of these two all-important forces-human rights and technology, being harnessed to move in unison rather than independently of each other”.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke reflecting on one of Judge Weeramantry’s publications on the subject, ‘Justice Without Boarders’, described the book as a “truly monumental work”, and pointed out that the topic dealt with is “nothing less than the survival of humanity, and the necessity of making the right use of the awesome new powers that Science, and it’s (occasionally ugly) sister Technology have given us.”

Of Justice Weeramantry’s many writings on the role of law in containing the power of science and technology, what stands out are brilliant judgements he authored at the World Court.

Among them are his Dissenting Opinions on the Nuclear Tests and Nuclear Weapons Cases, where he made a powerful plea for containing the destructive powers of nuclear weapons. In his memoirs, he said, it was, “the high-water mark of my judicial life and of an opportunity given to a few lawyers indeed, to use their legal learning for the betterment of all humanity and of all generations to come.

No cause could be greater, no decision more important and no endeavour so worthwhile.” He considered his own Dissenting Opinions in the trilogy of cases relating to Nuclear Weapons as the “sort of pinnacle to my lifelong efforts to use the law for the betterment of the human condition – not just nationally or regionally, but globally, and not just for our time but for generations to come.”

He thus unwaveringly continued to warn us of the potency of science and technology for the destruction of our social structures, the environment, and eventually, humanity itself, if moral and ethical values were to be ignored in their pursuit, and constantly challenged the international community to follow a higher moral and ethical standard, while building a more equitable and peaceful world.

He was a jurist who had the heart of a poet and the mind of a scientist.

A pacifist and humanist who constantly struggled for global peace and justice, Judge Weeramantry has created an enduring legacy that is to be universally valued.

Judge Weeramantry, in his last days was comforted by the thoughts of his many friends around the world, as expressed in a 900-page felicitation volume that has been completed this week in celebration of his 90th Birthday.

 Nandasiri (Nandi) Jasentuliyana

President Emeritus, International Institute of Space Law Former Deputy Director General, United Nations, and Director, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

Cecil Wikramanayake: Ebullient character full of life!

The demise of Cecil Wikramanayake has taken away yet another old time journalist who served as a Staff Reporter at the then Evening Observer and the Sunday Observer.

This is to remember Cecil Wiks as he was known to one and all, an ebullient character full of life, with a kind of bubbling energy that amazingly infected all those who came in contact with him. And, if there ever was a human dynamo it was Cecil Wiks.

He had a long stint with the Observer and besides reporting on every day affairs, he specialized in covering the tough Water-Front in those early nationalized times. How could one forget his weekly Citizen Perera column highlighting the common man’s woes and the contributions made to the Round About column of the Observer.

He was subsequently promoted as a sub editor and crossed over to the Ceylon Daily News under its editor, Earnest Corea and took to subbing like a duck to water. He subbed the Second and City Editions of the Sports Pages and we would meet six days of the week when I was in charge of the Production Unit and became firm friends.

I recall, despite the bustle, the rush and press times in mind, he would corner me and then take out a mouth organ from the deep regions of his trouser pocket and with one leg tapping time, play There’s a Tavern in the Town and several more popular songs. He would end this short musical interlude with a flourishing bow the Blue Danube Waltz. I would only stand and applaud.

In early life, Cecil was a competent stenographer and honed his skills in the halls of justice.

He would sit beside the judges and record the proceedings and then earned the awed respect of the litigants who even addressed him as Podi Nadu Hamuduruvo and many were the anecdotes he recounted of those times.

He was also the first journalist to have ridden a monstrously large Harley-Davidson motorbike and then one night crashing into a bollard at the Bambalapitiya junction.

He went sprawling, lost a couple of teeth, broke his nose and earned severe dark bruises and cuts. He came back from hospital and told us rather cheekily that like the legendary cat he too has nine lives.

He was the first English speaking local journalist to be taken prisoner by the LTTE. He went up North in search of a story and came back with a story of his brief sojourn in a Tiger Camp.

This was the Cecil Wiks I knew and remember. He was a journalist first, a motor mechanic, a raconteur, a musician, a bundle of energy, a great pick-me-up for frayed nerves, a gentle soul and a gentleman.

And now – may the Green Green Grass of Home lie gently over him.

– Donald Nugawela 

Source: Sunday Observer