Prove the Irregularity or Withdraw the Allegation: Dr. Karunasena Kodituwakku

The President’s Fund was established in 1978 during President J. R. Jayewardene’s tenure, with the advancement of education and knowledge as one of its four main objectives

In response to the statement made by Minister Anura Karunatilake in Parliament regarding the scholarship for his daughter I. N. Kodituwakku received from the President’s Fund in 2006, former Minister Dr. Karunasena Kodituwakku yesterday said the allegation were baseless.   
Dr. Kodituwakku said the following in a statement on the remarks made by the Minister.   
My daughter received her President’s Fund disbursement to attend Columbia University, the prestigious Ivy League university in New York, established in 1754 and considered a world top-ten university. She was offered a place at Columbia in January 2005 while she was still completing her undergraduate studies. However, since Columbia offered her only a partial scholarship and she did not have funds to cover the balance, she deferred her place at Columbia and applied to various scholarships. Her applications to the American Association of University Women, the PEO International Peace Scholarship Fund, International House New York, as well as the President’s Fund, were successful, enabling her to take up her place at Columbia the following year, in September 2006. Her President’s Fund scholarship came to a value of US$ 10,000, or one million rupees at the prevailing exchange rate of Rs.104, and it covered about one-fifth of her tuition and fees.  
Contrary to the corruption implied by Minister Karunatilake, my daughter followed the standard procedure expected of any Sri Lankan citizen to apply to the President’s Fund. She submitted an application in answer to an annual newspaper advertisement and was called in front of an interview board that included Professor Sunil Ariyaratne (current Chancellor of the Aesthetic University of Sri Lanka), which recommended her name for a scholarship. Minister Karunatilake is free to seek clarification from the eminent Professor to find out if there was any undue influence on their recommendation. The Minister’s statement is an insult also to this eminent panel which recommended suitable recipients for this prestigious funding.  
The Minister implies that my daughter received a President’s Fund scholarship solely due to my undue influence, but I deny this to the fullest. It should be noted that I was not even a member of Parliament at the time she applied for and received the President’s Fund scholarship. The government was headed by President Mahinda Rajapakse and the UNP was in the opposition. In fact, I myself was politically victimized during this time period by the University of Sri Jayawardenapura, but that is a story for another time.  
Minister Karunatilake’s implication is also disrespectful to my daughter’s achievements that led to her receiving this funding. In 2001, she sat for local A/L’s in the maths stream and was offered a place at the University of Sri Jayawardenapura. However, after achieving a 93% percentile score on the Kenyon exam, she received a full scholarship to Kenyon College, a prestigious, 200-year-old liberal arts college in Ohio, USA, and chose to study there and graduated with Highest Honours. When she went in front of the President’s Fund interview panel, Vijitha Yapa Publications was in the process of publishing her first book, which came out in August 2006 and went on to win both the Gratiaen Prize and the State Literary Award, a rare achievement. In response to the Minister’s further implications that President’s Fund scholarship recipients may not graduate or return to the country, I would like to clarify that my daughter did graduate from Columbia University with a Master of Fine Arts (the terminal postgraduate qualification in this field), and she did return to Sri Lanka and work here until her marriage.  
The President’s Fund was established in 1978 during President J. R. Jayewardene’s tenure, with the advancement of education and knowledge as one of its four main objectives. As such, contrary to the understanding of the Minister and the public, who may be aware of the fund solely in terms of its recent notoriety due to untoward payments towards various politicians’ medical expenses, the fund has historically been used to provide funding to many talented Sri Lankan students who qualified for prestigious universities abroad but could not afford the astronomical costs. The first name that comes to my mind is famed pianist Rohan De Silva, who received funding to attend the world’s best school of music, The Juillard School in New York, and has since been invited by multiple US presidents to perform at the White House, including when President George Bush hosted Queen Elisabeth II. I myself have attended his concerts in Beijing, Tokyo, and Seoul, where he performed for countless distinguished guests, giving a tremendous recognition to Sri Lankan talent.  
It is a worldwide practice to award scholarships based on merit, and not just need. Even when Minister Lalith Athulathmudali introduced the Mahapola scholarship scheme, 10% of the funding was reserved for those with best results, irrespective of their socio-economic status.