by Radhieka Peeris Prasanna Vithanage’s earliest memories of cinema stem from the time he was five years old. As a little boy he was excited to be treated to the movies by his parents, to watch both Sinhala and Hindi movies. Almost four decades later, he is able to remember storylines of each and every …
Continue reading ‘Prasanna Vithanage: Controversial Cinematic Journey of a Creative Rebel’ »
By Sarath Chandrajeewa The decision to award degrees for visual and performing arts was taken in 1974 as a result of a long struggle by the lecturers and art students. Some of today’s main universities were functioning as campuses of the University of Sri Lanka at that time.
By Liyanage Amarakeethi Last two months have been educational for me as, I am sure, they have been for all of you. During our trade union action last year, many of us in our generation, those of us who are mid-career academics in this university, learned from our seniors how to stand up for our …
Continue reading ‘Our Duty as Intellectuals is to Speak Truth to Power’ »
by Salma Yusuf A growing number of sports persons and organisations have sought to intervene in conflict zones to encourage reconciliation between estranged communities. The international community unanimously declared the year 2005 as the International Year of Sport and Physical Education, serving as formal recognition of the added value of sport as a peace-building factor.
By Risidra Mendis The international demand for rare seashells, from Sri Lanka has resulted in a well-organized illegal export trade. Seashells though protected under the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance (FFPO), face the threat of being wiped out due to this ongoing illegal export trade.
by Olympia Shilpa Gerald For Joseph from Chilaw in Puttalam district in North-West Sri Lanka, the yearly pilgrimage to India has always been a thanksgiving mission after being cured of sores that covered his body. It turned nightmarish this year.
By R. Hariharan Introduction Sri Lanka is undergoing catharsis after a resurgent Sri Lankan army ended, on 19 May 2009, the twenty-five-year-long national ordeal at the hands of Velupillai Prabhakaran and the LTTE. Since 1983 Sri Lanka had waged war against the LTTE in three spells that ended in a stalemate.
by Sarath De Alwis September 5th is the 83rd Birth Anniversary of Mervyn de Silva) “The eagle landed softly on the moon. Now Mr.Nixon will land even more gently in Peking” wrote Mervyn De Silva on 22 July 1971 in the Ceylon Observer. Neil Armstrong passed away this month. The 83rd birth anniversary of Mervyn …
Continue reading ‘56 Years After ’56:Remembering Mervyn de Silva on his 83rd Birth Anniversary’ »
by Mano Ganesan We very strongly condemn the treatment meted out to the Srilankan pilgrims in Tamilnadu today and yesterday. These hooligan TN groups by their lunatic behaviors are only encouraging their counterparts in Sri Lanka. These protests and near attacks on the Lankan civilians, which included touring Lankan Tamils as well are staged under …
Continue reading ‘We strongly condemn attacks on Srilankan pilgrims and Civilians in Tamil Nadu’ »
By Jayadeva Uyangoda If we were to count on the repeated denials issued by the Ministry of External Affairs during recent weeks, there would be no South African mediation effort in Sri Lanka to bring about a political settlement to the ethnic conflict. The official statements however suggest that the Sri Lankan government has responded …
Continue reading ‘South Africa can Play a Useful Role of Engagement with the Government and TNA’ »
By Camelia Nathaniel Recent reports have indicated that many politicians act with impunity by disregarding the rule of law. This year alone legal action has been initiated against 42 politicians, most of them from the ruling party, for their involvement in various crimes. From the killing of a tourist to raping a 13-year-old and beating …
By Udaya Gammanpila India is very lucky. When India dreams of influencing Sri Lanka, it gets opportunities without much effort. The latest is its appointment to a panel by the United Nation’s Human Rights Commissioner, Ms Navaneethan Pillai. She appointed a panel consisting of three nations to assess the progress made by Sri Lanka in …
(Minister of Economic Development, Basil Rajapaksa, describing himself as a generally silent person, says he is doing a silent job stabilizing the country’s economy. In an interview with Ceylon Today’s sister paper Mawbima, he speaks extensively on a range of issues including his electorate Gampaha, his political career, the current state of the Indo-Lanka relations …
by Gen. Liang Guanglie (Text of speech made by Gen Liang Guanglie, State Councillor and Minister of National Defence of the People’s Republic of China at the Defence Services Command and Staff College of Sri Lanka on August 30, 2012 It gives me great pleasure to visit Sri Lanka and meet with all the friends …
By Dilrukshi Handunnetti (Celebrity author, columnist and activist Arundhati Roy speaks to s Handunnetti about being labelled a ‘negative writer’, of informed and engaged citizenry, casteism, feminism and the joy of being published in the local languages) Her reputation as a ‘rebel writer’ is something that makes Arundhati Roy glow. “It must be that child …
Continue reading ‘Arundhati Roy:”The Cinderella who Gladly Smashed her Glass Slippers”’ »
By Shamala Kumar The university system in Sri Lanka is at a standstill. The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA), the umbrella body of 43 university teachers’ trade unions, is attempting to negotiate with a government that sees even the acknowledgement of FUTA’s position as a threat to its power and control.
By Vishalini Sivarajah In May, I travelled to Kosovo with ten other students from McMaster University on a trip facilitated by the Global Youth Volunteer Network, a non-profit volunteer organization. For the month, we worked with an organization called the Balkan Sunflowers (BSF). Rand Engel, an American living in Kosovo, founded this organization in 1999 …
Continue reading ‘A Different Perspective: My Global Experience in Kosovo’ »
by Gamini Weerakoon Just a few months ago Champika Ranawaka was strutting about the political firmament like an up and coming world champ. Sri Lanka, he declared, was the only country in South Asia that did not suffer power cuts. He as the Minister of Power would provide electricity to every household in Sri Lanka …
by M.A. Sumanthiran M.P. Last Sunday I asked the question whether Tamils in this country can be glibly asked to ‘forget the past’ and move forward? Today I wish to list out the promises made to the Tamil People and their representatives, particularly after the General Elections of April 2010. It must be remembered that …
by Namini Wijedasa The Supreme Court last week took up three petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Economic Development Ministry’s Divineguma Bill. The court’s determination will be conveyed to Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa on Thursday. The three-judge bench that heard submissions comprised Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake and Justices Priyasath Dep and S.E. Wanasundera. The petitions were …
by Marianne David and Cheranka Mendis The safari savagery that erupted last week with mobile tented safari operators being attacked seems to have reached a ceasefire of sorts, following two meetings between stakeholders on Wednesday. Employees attached to Mahoora Safari Camps, Kulu Safaris and Leopard Safaris were assaulted by mobs affiliated to the Tissamaharama Jeep …
by Shanika Pitigala Passing this location through tarred roads, viewing its beauty at a glance, one really cannot appreciate the full range of treasures contained in in the Peradeniya Gardens. Walking beneath the shade of the giant palm trees and inhaling the fragrance of unknown numerous flowers, life arrives even more fresh than one expects …
by Kishali Pinto Jayewardene Dictators who believe that they are immune from being brought to justice for the crimes that they commit should take a long, hard look at what is happening around us in the wider global community. And let me add a caveat right at the start. This is not a precursor to …
by C.A.Chandraprema This will be the last Sunday before the elections to the Eastern, Sabaragamuwa and North Central Provinces and everybody is wondering which way the cookie will crumble. While the opposition has basically abandoned hope in the NCP and Sabaragamuwa provinces, all hope is concentrated on the East. Here too hopes are centred not …
Continue reading ‘Tamil National Alliance is Actually Quite Weak in the East’ »
By Tisaranee Gunasekara “Outside a doll, inside the plague”. – Greek Proverb Mega is a classic despotic-obsession. The largest, the tallest and the longest are absolutely irresistible to the nastiest, the meanest and the deadliest. Neither economic logic nor common or garden reason has any say in these pageants of megalomania.
By Namini Wijedasa Sri Lanka’s domestic rights situation will be closely analyzed by the international community during the UN Human Rights Council’s sessions in November. And in its country report recently submitted to the council – and published on the HRC website on Friday – the government has declared itself willing and ready to cooperate. …
Continue reading ‘Govt takes U turn and will cooperate with UNHRC for Universal Periodic Review’ »
by Tisaranee Gunasekara “Aim to win several elections in a row, so that the rules of the political game and the whole atmosphere of public life can be changed… Mobilize every (dirty) trick in the book of politics to achieve what others haven’t achieved….”:John Keane (The Life and Death of Democracy) In a truly democratic …
by Mano Ratwatte I was saddened to hear about the thugs in Anuradhapura assaulting a doctor because he wanted to move unhindered on a road. If the story reported is accurate, this is a terrible thing. It reminds me of something that happened just before the 1970 elections.
TRICHY: The Kalai Kaviri College of Fine Arts in Trichy has had to pay a heavy price for hosting Sri Lankan students at its premises. Volunteers of Naam Thamizhar stormed the institution accusing them of harbouring Sri Lankan nationals and conducting cultural programmes with the latter.
THE Buddhist monk, staring intently at the smoke rising from an incense stick, said the government was destroying state-provided education because it was “easier to control uneducated fools”. Maduluwawe Sobitha is an influential figure among Sri Lanka’s majority Sinhala population. He is also a loud critic of the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Written statement to the 21st session of the UN Human Rights Council (10-28 September 2012) Sri Lanka’s failure to account for serious violations of human rights has created a climate of impunity where arbitrary detentions, torture and other ill-treatment, enforced disappearances, and custodial killings continue unchecked. More than three years after the armed conflict with …
by Malathi Rangarajan It was nostalgia unplugged for many of the yesteryear actors and musicians in the audience at the celebration to mark the beginning of the 14th year of Jaya TV. The occasion also saw the Kings of Melody — Viswanathan and Ramamurthy – honoured for their yeoman service to Tamil cinema. The Chief …
Asanga Abeygoonasekera and Rohan Gunaratna Introduction Policy and decision-makers worldwide are grappled with managing ethnic and religious tensions that breakout into conflicts. Today, ethnic and religious violence constitute the predominant form of global conflict. About 70-80% of conflicts are driven by destructive ideologies that seek to divide and legitimize violence against ethnic and religious communities. …
Continue reading ‘Reconciliation after Terrorism: The Sri Lankan Experience’ »
By Faiszer Musthapha “We must use our minds as rigorously to plan for peace as we have used them to plan for war.” – Martin Luther King. As the election period has dawned again in Sri Lanka, the above quotation reminds us what our responsibility should be in the context of post-conflict nation building and …
by Amanda Hodge In its 1970s heyday – before war and poverty made movie theatres a luxury northern Sri Lankans could ill afford – the Sridhar Cinema was Jaffna’s “A Number One” film house. The smart new cinema, with its dress circle and regular Bollywood offerings, was hugely popular in the northern capital, as was …
by Jagath Gunawardana The Red-wattled Lapwing is the commonest and the most widespread wading bird in Sri Lanka. It is better known by its distinct four-part call that has earned it nicknames such as ‘Did-he-do-it’, ‘Pity-to-do-it’, and ‘Pewit’. It is yet another bird that has adapted itself well to the changes brought about by man …
Continue reading ‘Red-wattled Lapwing: Wide-spread Wader with a distinct four -part call’ »
By Charitha Ratwatte A historic battle took place in the Kande Uda Rata Rajadhaniya, in the course of one of the many invasions by the Western colonial powers who once occupied what was known as the Maritime Provinces of Lanka, at the site of the ford at Wagolla village, a crossing point of the Mahaweli …
by Kath Noble The rise of Basil Rajapaksa has been rapid to say the least. Having spent years out of the country pursuing other interests, his return to support his brother’s presidential campaign was unexpected. Even more surprising was the popular backing he managed to acquire within a very short period in an unfamiliar district …
By Satyajith Andradi The great composers Johann Sebastian Bach and Tyagarajar hailed from two worlds different from one another in space, time, race, language, religion, social order and musical tradition; Bach lived in Germany, whilst Tyagaraja lived in South India, in present-day Tamilnadu; Bach died in 1750 whereas Tyagaraja was born seventeen years later in …
By Ernest Corea UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon’s decision to attend the 16th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM16) in Tehran from 26-31 August follows the precedent set by his predecessors and reaffirms the interlinked relationship between the UN and NAM. NAM has been described as the largest politically-oriented body in the world, second in membership …
by Salma Yusuf The notions of justice and equity are paramount in any endeavour to establish and sustain national security. The sentiment was consistently resonant in the submissions and interventions made by a range of speakers from diverse backgrounds at the fifth annual International Symposium of the Sir John Kotelawala Defence University held last week. …
By Maheesha Mudugamuwa The Future Leaders’ Conference (FLC) – Season 4 began yesterday (28) in Jaffna College with 500 youth leaders, between the ages of 15 and 18, from 75 schools across the country participating. Sri Lanka Unites (SLU) is hosting the FLC for school children, who have exhibited potential for leadership. It will be …
Continue reading ‘Season Four of Future Leaders Conference Gets Underway at Jaffna College’ »
By N Sathiya Moorthy The revelation that most, if not all, of the SMS rumours that caused panic among North-East Indians studying or working in south Indian cities and towns originated in Pakistan should be cause for concern in more ways than one. It throws up possibilities of ‘cyber crime’ that had not been considered …
By MICHAEL MOORE and OLIVER STONE WE have spent our careers as filmmakers making the case that the news media in the United States often fail to inform Americans about the uglier actions of our own government. We therefore have been deeply grateful for the accomplishments of WikiLeaks, and applaud Ecuador’s decision to grant diplomatic …
By S. P. Udayakumar Prime Minister, Prime Minister, why did you keep coal When none of your predecessors ever had this foal? Did you sell non-players and new ones all the Black Gold So thermal power goes down and nuclear becomes bold?
By Ranil Wijayapala Once a thriving industry in the centre of the Eastern province, the Valaichchenai paper mill after years of slow operations and going through the restructuring program initiated by the State Resource Management and Enterprise Development Ministry, is now gearing to resume its full capacity to become a jewel of the Eastern province …
By Gopalkrishna Gandhi Until 7,000 years ago, the sea around Adam’s Bridge being 10 metres lower than it now is, the southeast coast of India and the northwest coast of Sri Lanka were umbilically linked by land. The people of the two landmasses moved for millennia with ease, doubtless in both directions, across what is …
BY M. Thiyagarajah In the great Hindu epic Mahabharata, it is often said, particularity in the context of war of words between Prince Dhuryodhana and Prince Dharmaraja, that it is good to listen to whoever has a comment to offer or advice to make. Going by this maxim, the comment by UN agency, IRIN that …
Ayesha Zuhair Interviews Outgoing Canadian High Commissioner Bruce Levy Q: What are your views on the Action Plan to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC)? Do you feel that it adequately demonstrates the government’s commitment towards peace, justice, and reconciliation?
by Lalith “saku” Armbapolla Residents in the historic Heritage City – Kandy are disappointed and disturbed in the manner in which the Kandy Municipal Council Heavyweights in the Council deliberately having things their own way with the support of some of the elected members to gain personnel benefit and making a good deal of the …
Continue reading ‘Heritage City Kandy on the Decline due to Municipal Council Maladministration’ »
by Ifham Nizam All countries in the region are gearing up for the World Crocodile Conference, where the Crocodile Specialist Group’s 22nd Working Meeting will be held in Sri Lanka in May next year—with head counts of the three main species. Leading herpetologist Anslem de Silva says that head counts of the species in Sri …
by Professor S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole While agreeing with The Hon. Ranil Wickremesinghe’s statement that “Education blunders led to terrorism” (DM 20 Aug. 2012), I am writing to correct his claim that “the arms struggle in the North began with students being unable to enter universities. This happened in 1973, 1974 and 1975.” The insidious …
by Prof.Rajiva Wijesinha M.P. I have been deeply disturbed by some reactions to what seems a spate of criminality relating to the abuse of children. The argument is that we should respond to this by reintroducing capital punishment. This is absurd, and not only because punishment should always fit the crime. Capital punishment for murder …
Continue reading ‘Reintroducing Capital Punishment for Child Abuse Offences is Absurd’ »
by R. M. B Senanayake The Bishop of Jaffna has issued a statement setting out the ground realities in the Northern Province. We can expect the bishop to be reasonable and objective rather than be swayed by emotion and emotional attachments to ethnicity. So we hope and pray that his statement will receive the attention …
Continue reading ‘Re-settlement that has been Carried out by the Government is Inadequate’ »
By W.A Wijewardena The closure of the Sri Lanka’s State university system by the country’s higher education authorities recently is not quite an unexpected move. When the strike action by the academics of the State university system had paralysed most of the universities and all attempts at bringing the striking academics within the Government’s solution-frame …
Continue reading ‘Perilous state of higher education and Ominous closure of State universities’ »
By Vishnuguptha “Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision.” – Ayn Rand, Russian-American Novelist Forgotten are the days when people waited in line for two to three hours to buy a loaf of bread; forgotten are the days when rice was not …
By Camelia Nathaniel The frequent breakdowns at the Norochcholai Power Plant and the ongoing power cuts has seen Minister of Power and Energy, Patali Champika Ranawaka receiving plenty of flack from the public as well as the media, the past few weeks. What does the minister, who once promised never to impose power cuts, have …
Continue reading ‘‘If No Rain by September We will have Serious Problem’ – Champika Ranawaka’ »
By Udaya Gammanpila The Tamil Eelam Supporters Organization (TESO) held a pro-Tamil Eelam Conference on 12 August in Tamil Nadu, under the patronage of its former Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi. Organizers of the conference had to overcome several legal barriers since the LTTE is a banned organization in Sri Lanka. They took all possible steps …
Continue reading ‘‘If you Love Eelam You Should Oppose Tamil Eelam’’ »
Speech delivered by ‘Kalaigner’ Karunanidhi at the Conferance of Tamil Eelam Supporters Organization (TESO) held at YMCA Ground, Royapettah in Chennai on Sunday, Aug 12, 2012:
by Tisaranee Gunasekara “….ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process”. Stanley Milgram (The Perils of Obedience) The Rajapaksa regime’s obvious antipathy to the just demands of the university dons and its striking indifference to the ballooning crisis in the education …
Continue reading ‘Rajapaksas do not want a citizenry which thinks, doubts, questions and dissents’ »
by M A Sumanthiran M.P I have argued on this forum and elsewhere that Sri Lanka needs to take deliberate steps in a new direction. I have contended that stability is contingent upon the distribution of power away from the Centre. I cited several examples to illustrate that the de-evolution of power need not come …
ASTRONAUTS do not like to be called heroes. Their standard riposte to such accusations is to point out that it requires the efforts of hundreds of thousands of backroom engineers, mathematicians and technicians to make space flight possible. They are right, too: at the height of its pomp, in 1966, NASA was spending about 4.4% …
Continue reading ‘Neil Armstrong First Man on the Moon Passes Away’ »
by Mahendra Gunawardane Everybody knows by now that the Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) has been leading an all out trade union action of university academics. However, it has not been so widely known that there are some lecturers who refused to join the strike action. Some of them continue to teach their students …
Continue reading ‘Why some University Teachers are not Participating in the FUTA Strike Action’ »
by Deepal Warnakulasuriya The strike action by the Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) started on July 4 is still continued and discussions and efforts taken to meet their demands so far have been failed. Higher Education Ministry and University Grants Commission (UGC) had stopped their July salaries and last Wednesday (22), they closed the …
Continue reading ‘An Interview with FUTA President Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri’ »
by Tisaranee Gunasekara “….it’s a show, it’s a show” -Mookie and Sam The Chinese deal to provide Sri Lanka with a communication satellite and a space-academy was one of the fastest BOI projects to get off the ground, according to the proud-boast of the state-media. Unsurprisingly; there is an intimate connection between the Ruling Family …
Continue reading ‘Main Purpose of Rajapaksa Development is the Development of the Rajapaksas’ »
by Rajan Philips The acutest commentary on the current political situation has come from the Maha Nayake of the Malwatte Chapter, the Most Venerable Thibbotuwawe Siddharatha Sri Sumangala Thero. He reportedly told a delegation of the striking Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) that the country’s five great political forces (Pancha Maha Balavegaya) are now …
by Kishali Pinto Jayawardene At first look, the sight of darkly unsmiling men with a few women scattered among them, gathered together in a dilapidated school hall of an impoverished village deep in the dusty interior of the East of Sri Lanka is both formidable and unsettling. A litany of questions The tense translator whispered …
By Namini Wijedasa Like any other trade union action, the strike by university lecturers will have to end in the coming weeks. It is only a question of time, and of an appropriate exit strategy. Several ministers have already indicated that a draft agreement is ready for signing between the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations …
By Namini Wijedasa The Friday Forum, a group of concerned citizens comprising some of Sri Lanka’s most distinguished professionals, recently issued a strong statement decrying the deterioration of the education sector. One of its most active members, Prof. Arjuna Aluwihare last week warned that the politicization of universities had reached unacceptable levels.
by Ahilan Kadirgamar The resignation last week of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairperson Tilak Karunaratne, after he blamed “a mafia of high net worth investors and their crony stockbrokers” for mobilising political pressure, has further exposed the crisis in the stock market. Over the last year, there has been much discussion of two aspects …
By Frederica Jansz Tilak Karunaratne, the former Chairman for the Securities and Exchange Commission says that President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Minister of Finance brought pressure on him to resign from his post as chairman SEC. Excerpts of the interview:
by Baradwaj Rangan On the penultimate day, in mid-August, of the month-long annual festival of the Nallur Kandaswamy Temple, Alarmel Valli is sitting cross-legged in front of a makeup mirror, spine as upright as a skyscraper, in a modest room. The morning has not begun well. She frets that she has made one eye bigger …
Continue reading ‘Unique Three Day Festival of Song, Dance and Music in the Heart of Jaffna’ »
By D.B.S.Jeyaraj Eastern Provincial Elections and the Muslim Congress -2 Sri Lanka Muslim Congress “Thavisalar” (Chairman) and Batticaloa District Parliamentarian Basheer Segu Dawood is in the eye of a political storm. The fifty –two year old politician from Eravur in Batticaloa district has resigned his post as Deputy Minister of Co-operatives and Internal Trade but …
Continue reading ‘Segu Dawood Saga: Another split in the Muslim Congress?’ »
By Vishnuguptha “One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.” – Oscar Wilde It’s been three months since the release of former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka from prison. The euphoria that his release generated is slowly fading away. The after-dinner gossip is gradually being replaced by more constructive, innovative and friendly advice. …
Continue reading ‘Sarath Fonseka – The wild card in Sri Lanka’s politics’ »
by Mike Andree As expected, the Bar Association made a fortuitous turn for the better and to the relief of those who sincerely believe that the real freedom of the people lies not in their political leaders, but in an independent un-politicized judiciary. It was not very long ago that the members of the public …
by Ariyawansa Ranaweera The cultural and social upheaval of 1956 was not something that occurred all of a sudden. Their genesis could be traced to the struggle for independence, Anagarika Dharmapala’s crusade for national revival. But that year was a watershed in that the long suppressed emotions of the people on politics, social and cultural …
Continue reading ‘Sarachchandra, Sugathapala de Silva and the Evolving Nature of Sinhala Drama’ »
by Camelia Nathaniel The southern coast is facing the threat of an imminent environmental disaster, as a Greek merchant ship carrying a load of crude oil has sunk in the seas off Panadura. The 155 metre long Thermopylae Sierra, registered to Thersarco shipping company in Greece, had been anchored one nautical mile off the coast …
by Martin Regg Cohn Returning to Pearson Airport from vacation, I’m always jolted by the sight of our border guards clad, incongruously, in armoured vests. Any threat to Canada’s border security from knife-wielding assailants is surely infinitesimal: passengers are pre-screened for weapons before boarding flights.
Australia says it will increase its intake of refugees to 20,000 a year, from the current 13,750, in line with recommendations by an expert panel. PM Julia Gillard said the jump of 45% was the biggest increase in 30 years.
by Nayanima Basu Sri Lanka has apparently informed Indian authorities it was not keen on having a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with India, as it feared granting more Indian access to its markets would destroy that country’s domestic industry. However, it has made its own set of fresh demands to consider under the Free …
Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka Informs India That it is not Keen on Signing CEPA’ »
by Devanesan Nesiah and Chulani Kodikara (Report of Findings of fact-finding visit to Mannar – 8th and 9th August 2012 by Citizens’ Commission on the Expulsion of Muslims from the Northern Province by the LTTE) On 18th July 2012 there was a protest outside of the Magistrate’s Court in Mannar that turned violent. According to …
by Lindsay Murdoch in Bangkok Sanjeev ”Alex” Kuhendrarajah, the spokesman for 254 Sri Lankan asylum seekers who refused for months to leave their boat at an Indonesian port, has resurfaced in Thailand, telling how he escaped capture by people-smuggling agents he had betrayed. Mr Kuhendrarajah, 30, says he spent 12 months moving around Malaysia to …
Continue reading ‘Sanjeev ‘Alex’ Kuhendrarajah Re-surfaces in Thailand’ »
by Amanda Hodge Like thousands of his Sri Lankans, Palitha plunged deep into debt for a gruelling passage to a first-world job and the chance to buy land and a home for his family. A decade ago, a relatively paltry US $2500 bought him a fake passport and a terrible 52-day boat journey from Sri …
Continue reading ‘Sudden Rush of Sri Lankan Asylum Seekers to Australia is Mystifying’ »
By Nalin Abeysekera Sri Lanka is experiencing the dividends of peace at the moment. The economy has expanded at a healthy growth rate of 7.9% during the first quarter of this year, from the same period a year earlier. A Global Survey carried out by the ‘Equity and Bond Trading Institution’ chose Sri Lanka as …
by Salma Yusuf I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion… I want the full menu of human rights” Desmond Tutu, Today, NBC, 9 January 1985 The disproportionate focus on human rights from a negative perspective has sadly resulted in detraction from understanding the role that human rights can in fact play in …
By Ayesha Zuhair Amidst the Western world’s psychological warfare against Iran, 42 heads of state including Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa have confirmed plans to participate in the forthcoming summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Iran’s capital city, Tehran. News that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi will attend the …
by Gemunu Weerasinghe Rain, Rain Go Away Go and rain in the catchment areas Where Champika is crying for rain Lest his fortunes may vary!
By Andrew Scott Where ever there is knowledge, Where ever there is virtue, Where ever there is beauty, He will find a home. Dr Ananda Coomaraswamy was born exactly 135 years ago on August 22, 1877. His mother was English while his distinguished father, Sir Muttu Coomaraswamy, was a devoted Hindu who was also the …
By Charitha Ratwatte One reason for poor communities the world over responding to the service facility provided by Micro Finance Institutions (MFI) to take in the small amounts of savings the poor generate on a daily or weekly basis is the security offered by the cash being securely looked after at a remote location. Research …
By Prof.Rajiva Wijesinha M.P (Text of the presentation by Prof Rajiva Wijesinha, MP at the Defence Seminar 2012 – ‘Towards Lasting Peace and Stability’ held on August 10, 2012) I will begin with what might seem a paradox in the current context. I believe that much more must be done by the Armed Forces to …
by Gotabaya Rajapaksa (Full text of the speech delivered by Secretary Defence at Graduation Ceremony of the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS) on 21st August 2012 at BMICH, Colombo) I would like to thank the Board of Governors of the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies for having invited me to be the Chief Guest …
by Maneckshaw Arohara – hail the almighty – was the rhythm of Jaffna for the past one month as the people of Jaffna embraced the annual festival of the Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil and the spiritual atmosphere the festival brings with it. Needless to say, the majority of the residents also opted to forego meat of …
by Dawpadee Kawshalya ‘Shraddha’ or devotion is the first door that reveals the marvels in the path to ultimate wisdom. Unwavering faith in a devotee can land him/ her on the shores of nibbhana, where the former plays a vital role in combining the more sophisticated essentials such as courage, wisdom and self-awareness. Ever since …
by Kath Noble Rauff Hakeem is a generous man. A week or so ago, he issued what he referred to as an ‘unreserved apology’ to all Buddhists in Sri Lanka for a remark he made on the campaign trail that some people had interpreted as an insult to the Sangha. Indeed, he didn’t just say …
by N Sathiya Moorthy In a recent interview, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had this to say: “The region looks up to India and India must examine itself whether or not it is doing the right thing in dealing with its neighbours…What they are doing is the best thing or not…” Similar sentiments have been …
by Meena Kandasamy (Meena Kandasamy, poet, writer, activist and translator, on the city, its people, sights and sounds) Give it to Chennai for chutzpah, for her courage to take on the world. For all the laidback calm, she launched the Home Rule League to overthrow the British, the Anti-Hindi Agitation to show New Delhi that …
Continue reading ‘No Other City Shall Ever Seduce you in the ‘Tamizhachi Style’ of Chennai’ »
KANNADA is ailing. It has speakers, of course—nearly 50m of them, mostly in southwestern India. It’s the official language of the state of Karnataka, where active film, television, and music industries broadcast Kannada voices to millions of people. Writers have written in Kannada for nearly 1,500 years, producing a body of literature that includes a …
Continue reading ‘Kannada Language Under Threat in Karnataka Capital of Bangalore’ »
by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka On the 1st of August , Colombo based pro-government English daily “The Island” quoted a top UN official praising the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) for ‘achieving excellent results in its Northern and Eastern rehabilitation and resettlement programme and post-conflict economic development drive’. In Kilivetti-June 2008-pic: Drs.Sarajevo Wrapping …
Continue reading ‘Sampoor: Destroying a Community for Development in the name of Security’ »
by Vishnuguptha “The heights by great men reached and kept, Were not obtained by sudden flight. But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upward in the night.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow When one looks at the messy situation the United National Party (UNP) finds itself in today, some political pundits ponder as to whether …
Continue reading ‘Karu-Sajith-Sarath Fonseka Trio will be an Instant Hit with the Voters’ »
By Udaya Gammanpila The Western countries change their slogans quite often. In early 2009 their slogan was ‘declare a ceasefire!’ Thereafter, it turned to different slogans such as ‘Resettle IDPs,’ ‘Punish war criminals,’ ‘Stop abductions,’ ‘Disarm paramilitaries’ and ‘Establish Northern Provincial Council.’ The latest slogan of the Western community is ‘Speed up demilitarization of the …
Continue reading ‘Why the Govt Cannot Further Reduce Military Strength in the North’ »
On 14 August the feast of the Sillalai church was marked on a grand scale. Many Sillalaians from all over the island and abroad travelled to the village especially to take part in its celebrations. It was a time for reunions between those who had left the village and those who still lived there.
by Kishanie S. Fernando The Madhu festival is said to be like no other church feast in the island. The jungle seclusion and travelling distance only strengthens one’s faith. The camp atmosphere where everyone is called to prayer on blaring loudspeakers relaying morning and night payers, masses, litanies, rosaries and hymns in English, Sinhala and …
Continue reading ‘All Roads Lead to ‘Our Lady of Madhu’ in August’ »
By Stuart Littlewood ‘People in public life are not always as clear as they should be about where the boundaries of acceptable conduct lie.’ – Nolan Committee. “Who will own Mitt Romney if he is elected?” asks Philip Giraldi after Romney’s trip to Israel to raise campaign funds. The Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1966, …
Continue reading ‘Seven Principles of Conduct for Political Leaders in Public Life’ »
by Hemantha Warnakulasuriya If you want succeed in politics, you have to exude charisma. Voters tend to soft-pedal allegations of corruption made against such a politician. The iconic leader with charisma and charm is permitted to rule unchecked. Peasants and the common man are swayed by the oratory and the sheen emanating from his glowing …
Continue reading ‘1956:When Ordinary Men got Absolute Power a New Culture of Corruption Dawned’ »
R.Sampanthan Member of Parliament, Trincomalee district, Parliamentary Group Leader, Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi. Hon. Speaker, Parliament, Jayewardanapura. Sir, I hereby give notice that I shall on Wednesday 22nd August 2012 at adjournment after question time, as a matter of urgent public importance as per the agreement reached at the Leaders’ Meeting move the following motion …
By Sanjayan Rajasingham University students have different opinions about the strike action by the Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA). Some oppose it, and went to court to get lecturers back to work. Others have expressed support. However almost all are annoyed at the time lost. In writing this I do not intend to exhaustively …
Continue reading ‘Reflections on the FUTA Strike Action from an Undergraduate’ »
by Col R Hariharan Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (DMK) leader M Karunanidhi seems to have quietly acquiesced to New Delhi’s pressure to shift the focus of his widely publicized “Eelam Tamils’ Rights Protection Conference” on August 12 from ‘Tamil Eelam’ to ‘Eelam Tamil.’ The exercise was more than semantics; except for two – Thol Thirumavalavan of …
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By Salma Yusuf It has been said that since wars begin in the minds of men and women, it is in the minds of men and women that the defences of peace must be constructed. Logically following from this has been the statement by Maria Montessori that ‘establishing a lasting peace is the work of …
By N Sathiya Moorthy If there is one thing about the recently-held TESO conference at Chennai, capital of the south Indian State of Tamil Nadu, that stake-holders and other protagonists from all sides, in Sri Lanka and elsewhere, have to understand, it is this. There is truth in the considered view that the understanding of …
by Ariyawansa Ranaweera One of the unpardonable and lasting damages the LTTE perpetrated on the body politic of Sir Lanka is the killing of Liberal intellectuals and moderate Political leaders across the language divide. It is not necessary to name the victims because, every public spirited person is aware of this dastardly act.
by Fr JC Pieris The other day General Sarath Fonseka (SF) declared that he would be guided in governance by the Buddhist Dasa Raja Dharmaya (DRD) not by Marxism, Capitalism or any other ism. We understood what he wanted to say though the isms and the Decalogues are different. There are two great popularly known …