UNESCO recognized SL history chronicle “Mahavamsa” as a world heritage. It records island’s path as per the memories/ views of respective editors. Mahavansa describes in approx. half a paragraph about the services of King “Mahasen” who still is venerated by the masses as “God Mahasen”. The ‘Abayagiriya’ sthupa which is bigger than the ‘Ruvanweliseya’ is believed to be his contribution. At the same time chronicle discusses the works of King Dutugemunu in 16 paragraphs. Different people have different opinions on the interpretations as it was written centuries after certain rulers. Learned Parakrama Karunaratne living in Peru is among many to analyze the Mahavamsa in his latest book. Parakrama also notes the China – SL bond in his writings. It is however, fortunate to have a base document to enlighten Sri Lankans (with comparatively short memory) on how SL was ruled by Sri Lankans, Indians, western colonizers & even dual citizens.

Although China never colonized SL, two civilisations have had strong bonds dating back to Anuradhapura era. Sri Lankan Buddhist nuns were invited by China to establish ‘Bikkuni sasana’ (Female Priesthood) after it was established in SL by Sangamiththa (daughter of Asoka the great).   Dutugemunu ruled during the 2^nd century BC (Ref SL history) & during the time Chinese were already implementing competitive recruitment systems for public administration. Accordingly competitive examinations were based on the teachings of Confucius (who lived during the time of Buddha) have been held to select the best people. The answer scripts have been re written by another person before being marked to prevent examiners recognizing candidates from handwriting (Ref. Chinese history).

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena recently reminded that none (including elected officials) can interfere in competitive examination marking schemes. Within the closely knit 22 million it will be difficult to prevent nepotism but the soft spoken PM should not be taken light as it is directly connected with maintaining high social management standards necessary for crisis recovery. As SL worked with China long before the 2^nd Century BC, many including Monk Fa Hian (visited around 412 AD), King Upatissa’s brother Mahanama (SL Ambassador to China during 462 - 468 AD) & Ambassador Jayapala (1420s AD) may have reminded Sri Lankans about Chinese best practices such as open competitive examinations but they may have forgotten.

Education minister recently raised concerns about the violation of the rights of millions of Children due to the actions of few short sighted individuals who are only concerned about their own rights during the education administrative selection processes. Some at Diyawanna commented on the Minister’s concern & it was felt that the cat was out (Ref Media). It is the responsibility of the public to put the right people at the right place so cats cannot hide.

(Views expressed are personal).