Opinion
Monthly Archives: May 2013
Like in Iran and Saudi Arabia, BBS wants to give Sri Lanka and the Rajapaksas a Sinhala-Buddhist religious police
Saudi Arabia is the perfect example of what can happen to a country, even in our own time, when a ruling clan combine religion with politics to perpetuate itself in power.
“The BBS will take immediate steps to form a ‘Cane Force’ against those who act in a manner insulting to Buddhism during the Wesak season”. Rev. […]
Devolution, Sri Lanka’s defence and security
G.L Peiris and the unit of devolution
Prof G.H. Peiris in his latest response (‘The Case against the Thirteenth Amendment’, The Island Midweek Review, May 22-23, 2013) to my article in The Island of 15th May 2013, argues that the distribution of ethnicity renders the district rather than the province the more suitable unit of devolution […]
Hate, dishonor and the agony of peace in Sri Lanka
“To change masters is not to be free” – Jose Marti (eddosrios.org )
The photograph is iconic; Alavi Moulana, 83 years old and an SLFP veteran of 52 years, bending down and kissing the hand of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
That picture is revelatory of the current Lankan reality at multiple levels. It shows what citizens have to do […]
SRI LANKA : Fourth Anniversary war victory celebrations will impede reconciliation and foment triumphalism
May 19 will mark the 4th anniversary of the end of Sri Lanka’s three decade long civil war, but with the absence of a joint commemoration to
remember all who lost their lives in it as recommended by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). The end of the war has greatly improved the lives of […]
How to make miracles happen
CandleAid
I didn’t need a map to get there. Elmo had helpfully sent a Google Earth graphic together with the invitation. The location was St Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa, just off the road down which my maternal grandparents had lived. Captain Elmo Jayawardena, aviator, master mentor of pilots, award winning writer, is Moratuwa’s Hemingway or more accurately, […]
A questioning people and a united opposition would be hell for Rajapaksa siblings
“Never will tyrants freely consent to the extirpation of servitude….” – Thomas Raynal
Of all the spectres the Rajapaksas fear, Oppositional-unity would arguably be the most terrifying.
The Rajapaksas began getting jittery when it became evident that the May 15th demonstration against the electricity hike would be supported
by both the UNP and the JVP. The usual bag of […]
Massive land grab of private land by Sri Lanka’s military deals death blow to reconciliation hopes
The acquisition of about 7000 acres of land in the Jaffna peninsula has become a major issue that impacts upon the post-war reconciliation
process. The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission recommended the release back to their owners of private lands taken over for military purposes during the war. This was also the position taken by President […]
Resist Rajapaksa rule or be condemned forever to a life of servitude
“….instead of looking for necessary and sufficient conditions of change we must train ourselves to be on the lookout for unusual historical developments, rare constellations of favourable events, narrow paths, partial advances that may conceivably be followed by others…. We must think of the possible rather than the probable”. – Albert Hirschman (New York Review of […]
Read MoreUN High Commissioner for Human rights can now visit Sri Lanka with authority
“The significance of the US draft is the establishment of an international mechanism to monitor an internal process.”
— Tamara Kunanayakam, Sri Lanka’s representative at the UN Geneva, 2011-2012, in an interview on 17 March 2013
The resolution gives monitoring powers to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – OHCHR. An external mechanism is mandated […]
Loutishness has become as much of a Sri Lankan norm as injustice, abuse and corruption
“Everything is going to end in violence….and who knows what limits of madness will be reached?”
Georg Forster (Works XVII)
A Presidential offspring hammers a referee, in full view of hundreds of spectators.
An Appeal Court Judge has a temper tantrum in an international airport and throws a water bottle at another Judge.
Fellow referees do nothing either to […]
Saturday, December 21, 8:40 pm
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Opinion
Devolution, Sri Lanka’s defence and security
Opinion
Hate, dishonor and the agony of peace in Sri Lanka
Statements
SRI LANKA : Fourth Anniversary war victory celebrations will impede reconciliation and foment triumphalism
Opinion
A questioning people and a united opposition would be hell for Rajapaksa siblings
Opinion
Massive land grab of private land by Sri Lanka’s military deals death blow to reconciliation hopes
Opinion
Resist Rajapaksa rule or be condemned forever to a life of servitude
UN High Commissioner for Human rights can now visit Sri Lanka with authority
Loutishness has become as much of a Sri Lankan norm as injustice, abuse and corruption
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