Yearly Archives: 2011

November 29, 2011 · 7:03 pm

Al-Jazeera and Indi CA compare the JVP and the LTTE

SEE   indi.ca/2011/11/hero–days-of-the-jvp-and-ltte/ for UTube video of AL JAZEERA’s Phil Rees’ film on the JVP with young Mahinda Rajapaksa as a spokesperson for that cause and his subsequent and recent interview with President Rajapaksa……

Hero Days Of The JVP And LTTE by Indi Samarajiva

The LTTE Great Heroes Day is coming up, and the JVP’s November Heroes Day just passed. Both groups terrorized, tortured and tried to kill their way to political change, and yet both feel that there is something to commemorate. While I support mourning the dead, I think it’s folly to say that they died for something more than sociopathic assholes promoting a corrupted cause. Continue reading →

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November 29, 2011 · 4:31 am

The US prison scene: the mind boggles

Padraig Colman Courtesy of The Nation, where it appears under a different title …. SEE

http://www.nation.lk/2011/11/27/newsfe7.htm Continue reading →

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November 28, 2011 · 5:52 pm

Cheap mass rail transport not Expressways is the WAY for the FUTURE … Expressways = carmageddon

Chandre Dharmawardana, courtesy of the Island, 27 Nov. 2011

The Southern Expressway is an example of the government’s policy “to ensure that all segments of the country receive the dividends of development”, as stated in the Daily News article announcing the “Gateway to Wonder” (Daily News 26-11-2011). The integrity and governability of a nation depend on its transport system. The Romans knew it. The British were quick to build roads and railways, to move troops and haul commercial products to imperial markets. Since then, Sri Lanka’s roadways stagnated at the level of the British era, while the gross population quadrupled.
The road usage increased much faster. Hence any type of road improvement is an essential step. The present government has done wonders in the Eastern Province, and things are moving mightily in the North. However, it is also time to look to the future – even just ten years from now. The southern highway is the first and longest unit of the proposed network of expressways for Sri Lanka. Naively, one would think that this would unclog the roads, and the expressways would enable people to get to any part of Lanka in no time. Continue reading →

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November 27, 2011 · 6:01 pm

The Rajapaksa Government and the Tamil Diaspora: will the twain ever reconcile?

Rajan Philips, courtesy of the Sunday Island, 27 November 2011

On Nov. 13 I wrote about the intersecting trajectories of the Commonwealth and Sri Lanka. The Tamil Diaspora is entangled with both. Although the Diaspora is of recent origin, the Sri Lankan Tamil problem is as old as Sri Lanka’s independence and its association with the post-colonial Commonwealth. Early days, as I said last week, were halcyon days. The Tamil problem seemed permanently settled, at least going by the results of the 1952 election, when the UNP and the Tamil Congress, both part of the incumbent government, won spectacularly in their respective domains.

“The UNP is good enough for the country for twenty five years and that is good enough for me,” G.G. Ponnambalam had earlier told Colvin R. de Silva. “Many a plan of men and mice go astray”, rued Colvin and he would be proved right, not for the last time! Colvin’s more ominous prophesy came later: Two languages, one country; one language, two countries. Again, he was not heeded and again he was proved right. Continue reading →

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November 27, 2011 · 4:56 pm

A lopsided conference on RECONCILIATION fails to address tasks not accomplished

Ranga Jayasuriya, courtesy of Lakbima News, 27 November 2011

The inaugural conference on national reconciliation held last week at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies was pretty much a feel good affair. Precious little was spoken of political reforms or political engagement with Tamil political parties, and a question about ‘uncovering and acknowledging’ the past was responded to with an assurance that a list of civilian deaths that occurred during the conflict is forthcoming. Perhaps, too little, too late. The conference was expected to showcase the government’s achievements in post conflict transformation. But, it was a reference which was relegated to the latter end of the keynote address of defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa that caught the attention of the media. He said that the government was preparing a list of people who died during the conflict. “The approach the government took in this regard was a very professional one. The Department of Census and Statistics, which is the official government arm for these matters, conducted a complete census of the concerned area,” Rajapaksa said. Continue reading →

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November 25, 2011 · 6:43 pm

Impunity and Civic Irresponsibility

Anura Gunasekera

On the day of the recent elections, Duminda Silva, ruling party politician, with his entourage of armed official and unofficial enforcers, rampaged  through the streets of Kolonnawa, physically brutalizing and intimidating the opposition. Although the area had been heavily policed, the compliant and neutered arm of the law chose to remain limp, permitting Silva an unfettered run of the electorate. The culmination was a firefight in which fellow stalwart Baratha Premachandra was killed, along with three others of his party and Silva himself critically injured. Reports are that Silva fired the first shot on Premachandra, whilst one of his bodyguards, significantly a serving policeman, fired the rest.

This incident encapsulates both the  political culture of  the day  and the culture of violence that pervades our society.  Brutalized by three decades of interracial warfare – I use the word interracial with design and calculation-  and  the  killings of combatants,  non-combatants and the other excesses that have  been part of it, our society  has become inured to violent death, Continue reading →

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November 17, 2011 · 6:28 am

When the saints come marching in

Ramesh Thakur,** courtesy of the Canberra Times, 12 November 2011

Two recent events have brought home some ugly truths. A Sri Lankan-origin Australian tried (unsuccessfully) to lay charges against the President of Sri Lanka, visiting Perth to attend the Commonwealth summit, for alleged war crimes during the final weeks of the war against the Tamil Tigers. Meanwhile, another former head of state has been buried in an unmarked grave in the Libyan desert. Muammar Gaddafi and one of his sons were captured, wounded but alive, and executed on the spot. A shocked and outraged “international community” is demanding a full and credible investigation, just as it did with charges of war crimes by the victorious Sri Lankan armed forces.

It is hard to know how much of this self-righteousness reflects the innocence of “inner-city elites” about the realities of war, and how much is double standards bordering on racism. With due deference to English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, war is always nasty and brutish, but not always short. The Sri Lankan civil war was very, very ugly. Spread over 26 years in a unique fusion of ethnic-religious cleavage, insurgency, terrorism and secession, it claimed 80,000 people. Continue reading →

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November 17, 2011 · 4:09 am

“The LTTE shipping fleet … operated with impunity in spite of a range of laws governing international shipping operations,” Columbage

Shamindra Ferdinand0, in The Island, 17 November 2011, where the ttitle reads “UN agency promises probe into LTTE maritime ops”

The Sri Lanka Navy on Tuesday (15) urged the UN agency, International Maritime Organisation (IMO), to investigate how the LTTE had operated a fleet of ships in spite of being a proscribed organisation. Rear Admiral J. S. K. Colombage raised the issue with Ms. Brenda Pimental, IMO’s Regional Coordinator, at the Galle Dialogue 2011, at the Light House Hotel, Galle. The SLN veteran pushed the IMO for a cohesive inquiry to identify shortcomings in the system and adopt remedial action.

Colombage said that the illegitimate LTTE operation could be a case study for the UN agency. The official was responding to Ms. Pimentel, after she presented a 30-minute paper on ‘Current Challenges in Global Maritime and IMO initiatives’ on the second-day of the confab attended by 19 countries, including nuclear powers, US, Russia, China, France, India and Pakistan. Although the government of Sri Lanka had acted swiftly and decisively when asked to implement the International Ship and Port Facility Code (ISPS Code), Sri Lanka’s plea for action against the LTTE wasn’t heeded. Continue reading →

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November 17, 2011 · 4:03 am

Friday Forum’s concerns about Government controls in Uni-admin

Courtesy of the Island, 17 November 2011, where it appears under a different title

This an open letter Friday Forum has sent to all Vice Chancellors of Universities, members of Senates/Councils of Universities, Deans of Universities, all academics of Universities, the University Grants Commission Chairman and Members , the Secretary and Officials of the Ministry of Higher Education and the Minister of Higher Education

Dear Colleagues,

The Friday Forum is very concerned that the standing of the national State universities is being adversely affected by recent events.

Academic freedom and autonomy in academic matters has been a feature of the national university system from the time the University of Ceylon was established in the 1940s. These values have been confirmed by a Supreme Court decision where academics challenged certain amendments to the Universities Act as constituting violations of university autonomy and academic freedom. Continue reading →

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November 15, 2011 · 1:31 pm

The Tax Poem for Siri Laka

Mervyn Weerasooriya, an original entry from the Retired Commissioner General of Inland Revenue**

Tax his land, tax his bed,
Tax the table at which he’s fed.
Tax his tractor, tax his mule,
Tax his cow, tax his goat,

Teach him taxes are the rule.
Tax his work, Tax his pay,
He works for peanuts Anyway!
Tax his pants, Tax his coat.

Continue reading →

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