Lasantha Pethiyagoda in Colombo Telegraph, 11 June 2026, where the title runs thus: “Suddek Alluwath Api Goda” (Latch Onto A White Foreigner, We Are All Set)”
Most luxury homes in fishing villages are either owned or funded by white foreigners or offspring through their often-dubious relationships with local boys, girls, women or men. No longer did fishermen, sculptors or mask-workers train their kids to follow their own trade or seek educational qualifications. Latching onto a white-skinned foreigner became the life goal.
Prof (Emeritus) Lasantha Pethiyagoda
The villagers whose families manage to net white foreigners jealously guard their catch, not allowing other would-be suitors to approach them with their wares, saying “this is our white (may apey sudda)” almost as if he or she “belonged” to them. They are often treated like kings or queens, everyone deferring to them, constantly addressing them as Sir or Madam regardless of their lowly status back home.
It is common knowledge that with these opportunistic paedophiles also come the latest most vile psychotic and hallucinatory drugs that ultimately destroy whole families. Until a few years ago, there was political patronage at the highest levels for the lucrative narcotic trade.
The sex trade is unfortunately not limited to the tourism industry. It is rife in garment factories where especially poor girls and women work for a pittance. Their major income is often derived from offering up their bodies on the streets at night, to rich merchants or other nocturnal blackguards.
In recent times, yet another avenue of illegitimacy and sex crime was exposed with the chief monk of the eight holy worship places in the north-central province. As another thug in robes recently remarked, it is a very common occurrence to service paedophile monks or priests with the often-coerced consent of parents. Although his remarks intended to dilute the gravity of the crime, it has been a norm that no one dared expose publicly as the saffron robe seemed to be above the law. It has been clear for decades that hypocrisy reigns supreme in our resplendent isle, where certain crimes are taboo while the most tragic ones are ignored.
With the momentous and revolutionary change of government from ruling class to working class power, it was expected that paradigm changes to long-held malpractices, unethical and grossly illegal practices would be severely curtailed using state power, which has been democratically and legally conferred to the people’s party.
Yet, there seem to be internal forces that pull against the progressive features of official policy. The future generations are the precious stones that lie hidden in the deep mines of society in our blessed motherland. That treasure should not be squandered.
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For the past 10 years or so, I have been collecting published literature on the general theme of ‘Sexuality in Sri Lanka’. As such, this feature by Prof. Lasantha Pethiyagoda is of interest. But, I’m rather dismayed that specifics are missing. For instance, the first sentence begins with ‘Ever since foreign tourism was introduced to Sri Lanka…’ When was it? Was it after J.R.Jayawardene regime’s entry in 1977 Or was it in 1950s, when a few British wanderers entered the locales, such as Arthur C. Clarke and Mike Wilson, for tax-breaks in their professional activities? Here is a link to Arthur Clarke’s 1964 report in Expedition magazine. [https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/ceylon-and-the-underwater-archaeologist/]
Or, was it during the pre-Independent decades? Strangely, not a single locally powerful individual (whether politician, businessman) was identified. Finally, can anyone tag the year for the origin of “Suddek Alluwath Api Goda” usage in village lore?
Some Pertinent Comments SACHI.
NOTE …. THESE TPS REFs …https://thuppahis.com/2014/05/28/about-ceylon-arthur-c-clarke-pablo-neruda-ak-coomaraswamy/ … AND …. https://thuppahis.com/2025/03/23/the-thriving-undersea-world-around-shipwrecks-around-sri-lanka/
NOTE TWO: I believe Arthur C Clarke was a homosexual and the homosexual strands in SL society may have been one of its attractions. … AND SO TOO was the sea… whether for skin diving or surfing in season.
Yes, I believe so too Michael. Arthur C. Clarke is perhaps the most famous Western figure to have sought a permanent haven in Sri Lanka, but he was far from the first. The broader trend of creative exile intensified after 1895. The catalyst was the trial and tragic downfall of Oscar Wilde—a terrifying turning point in Europe that sent generations of gay intellectuals fleeing into the warm and accepting embrace of Ceylon.
Looking even further back to 1890, the pioneering British poet and philosopher Edward Carpenter had visited Ceylon where he marvelled at the fluidity and freedom of sexuality within traditional South Asian society. Following the Wilde trial, this path became well-trodden by older giants of theatre and literature. The novelist Somerset Maugham and the brilliant playwright Noël Coward both frequented Colombo’s iconic Galle Face Hotel, using the island as a glamorous colonial playground and creative checkpoint. Coward had a deep personal connection to the country; his brother Erik lived there during the 1930s working as a tea planter in Matale, outside Kandy. During World War II, Coward returned for a significant period to perform concerts for the troops and meet with his good friend Lord Mountbatten, holding court at the Galle Face Hotel while sipping cocktails and mixing with local and international travellers.
This transnational network eventually grew to include the celebrated writer Christopher Isherwood, whose pioneering work as an openly gay man linked him to a literary circle that later drew the Australian painter Donald Friend and the American novelist Gordon Merrick to the country. In 1952, the bisexual American composer and novelist Paul Bowles fell so deeply in love with the landscape that he purchased Taprobane Island –—a private, secluded rocky outpost off the southern coast. A few years later, in 1956, the composer Benjamin Britten and his life partner, tenor Peter Pears, toured the island to give recitals and immerse themselves in the vibrant local social scene over tea and cultural exchanges.
By the mid-1950s, this creative allure expanded to Hollywood’s elite as Sri Lanka became a premier backdrop for international cinema. Bisexual screen icons like Sir Alec Guinness and Sir Laurence Olivier spent months on the island filming masterpieces like The Bridge on the River Kwai and Elephant Walk, mixing with local high society at the Galle Face Hotel.
The openly gay documentary filmmaker Basil Wright, a close friend of Britten, was similarly captivated by the island’s beauty while filming his cinematic masterpiece, Song of Ceylon. Mention must also be made of Count Jacques d’Adelswärd-Fersen, the wealthy French novelist who famously built a sanctuary for gay intellectuals on Capri. Fersen viewed Sri Lanka as a rare paradise where the human body and sexuality were treated with a spiritual freedom—a liberation that Europe had violently stamped out.
Seeking refuge in Sri Lanka became a grand tradition for the Western gay intellectual. From the Victorian rebellion of Edward Carpenter to the mid-century exiles of Paul Bowles and Arthur C. Clarke, the island served as a continuous sanctuary for homosexuals. Shielded by wealth and foreign privilege, these men forged a distinct legacy of creative freedom, transforming Sri Lanka into a legendary, geographical antidote to Western repression.