A Welcome Reception for High Commissioner organised by the Melbourne well wishers

October 20, 2015

A Welcome luncheon reception for  High Commissioner  Somsundaram Skandakumar was organised by the well wishers of Melbourne at the Grand on Sunday the 18th.

The event was a sell out and 300 guests representing a wide cross section of the community, associations and schools together with a few distinguished Australians graced the happy occasion.

Dr Quintus de Zylva delivered the welcome address, reflecting largely on the chief guest’s honorary tenure with the cricket board and Selva Kanagasabai proposed the toast, expanding on his commercial life with Sri Lanka’s oldest business firm George Steuarts.

Nihal De Run was master of Ceremony.

In his response the High Commissioner referred to the recent political changes that had taken place as a huge window of opportunity for genuine peace, reconciliation and prosperity in Sri Lanka. . He appealed to all to come together and support unreservedly His Excellency the President in his noble vision for the country and all its people.

He cited Australia as the finest example of how a Nation could prosper when there was social harmony in a multicultural environment that showed mutual respect.
He concluded his absorbing speech with the lines, ” Language divided us in the fifties; Let one unite us now – the language of Compassion, as preached by Lord Buddha: the only one as Mark Twain once said, which enables the blind to see and the deaf to hear.”

He was accorded a standing ovation.

Prasanna Gamage , Consul General in Melbourne proposed the vote of thanks.
The Deputy High Commissioner Himalee Arunatilaka Serasinghe was also present.

Standing left to right :
Shabi Meerwald, Ron Meerwald, Nihal de Run, Diedre de Run, Sandy de Silva, Lilith de Silva, HC, Ranjini Dassanaike, Quintus de Zylva, Athula Ratnayake