Gerald Peiris Forecast was Spot-On

A Note received from Gerald Peiris, Friday 15^th November 2019 … 12.56 pm

Gota, I think is going to be a definite winner, despite all the anti-Rajapaksa propaganda, Al Jazeera being just one source of such viciousness. Throughout the campaign Gota maintained a sense of dignity and balance (vis-a-vis the subject of ethnic relations) and has provided hope for the future of the country replacing the widespread despair that prevailed earlier. Sajith has been so hopelessly bad in his platform performances, sounding more like an undergrad firebrand contesting at a university student council meeting, focusing (to an incredible extent) on the theme of what a great guy he is.

Regards, Gerry

Thuppahi Editor’s Note

My friendship with Gerry Peiris goes a long way back to Ramanathan Hall in 1957 where we happened to sit at the same dining room table. It extended to our meetings when I visited Cambridge in the early/mid 1960s and then as colleagues in the Arts Faculty at Peradeniya University from 1966-76 — when our interactions in the course of producing Modern Ceylon Studies and participating in the discussions at the Ceylon Studies Seminar brought the two of us into regular interaction and debate.

While Gerald Peiris is a geographer, he is, in my assessment, one of the best scholars Sri Lanka has produced within the Arts disciplines. EVER. His work embraces economics and politics. Indeed, I wax bold to announce that he is one of our best economists.

His work has been built on extensive as well as intensive fieldwork in many parts of the island …. especially in Kandy District. How many investigators have ever visited the remote village of Udagaldebooka Hasalak in that district? The latter is not an isolated example …. on several occasions Gerry has provided me with choice ethnographic insights arising from his travels and investigations. As such, he has developed good soundings of the lifeways and thinking of the Sinhala-speaking peoples.

That is why I took his “verdict’ seriously when it reached me on Friday evening – though I did not disseminate the view to anyone (not my style that).

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   BIBLIOGRAPHY

Michael Roberts 2018 “Nationalist Studies and the Ceylon Studies Seminar at Peradeniya, 1968-1970s,” 2 October 2018,  ………………………………………………….. https://thuppahis.com/2018/10/02/nationalist-studies-and-the-ceylon-studies-seminar-at-peradeniya-1968-1970s/

Sanjaya Mohotti Arachchige 2019   “Gota, the Change Agent We need– Here is why,” 28 October 2019, http://asiantribune.com/node/93165

MR Badrakumar 2019 “A Populist Strongman in the Wings,” 18 October 2019, http://asiantribune.com/node/93165

ELECTION RESULTS IN BRIEF

Daily Mirror : “Gota victorious in sixteen districts”

Kalutara, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Monaragala, Ratnapura, Badulla, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Gampaha, Kandy, Matale, Polonnaruwa Colombo, Kegalle and Anuradhapura districts at the presidential polls.