Senaka Weeraratna
Please note that the following article was provided on the 9th of July 2020, before the Dornhorst Memorial Prize was amended to be awarded to the Most Outstanding Royalist on the 16th of July 2020
“All Royalists of the present generation should specially remember two great Royalists, whose defense of the College in its darkest days saved Royal. They are Sir Richard Morgan (1851) and Frederick Dornhorst, K.C. (1916)” ….. ……. S.S. Perera in History of Royal College
In this era of political correctness and moral extremism exemplified in the Me Too movement, the assault on ‘offensive’ statues of famous men with questionable attributes, etc, etc, let me tweak the nether regions of these evangelical reformists by featuring Donald Friend, an Australian homosexual and paedophile of a brazen disposition, who displayed a wide range of artistic talents and happened to sojourn in Ceylon for quite a while — linking up with the talented and wealthy Bawa brothers (themselves members of the gay middle class community in the island’s tolerant ‘climate’– an environment that also attracted Arthur C. Clarke) …. Michael Roberts
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Andrew Taylor & Tammy Mills, in Sydney Morning Herald, 11 July 2020, with this title
Australians living overseas have criticised the Morrison government’s decision to make it harder to return home, while forcing people to pay for two weeks in quarantine has been labelled as “almost cruel”.
Matthew Spence worked in the aviation industry in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, until he was made redundant on June 30. Mr Spence said flights from Malaysia to Sydney were sparse, and he was booked on the first available flight on July 18. “I am concerned that the intake cut will result in flight cancellations, further adding to the stress of Aussies trying to return,” Mr Spence said. “If you are an Australian citizen you have the expectation that you can always return home when you need to.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison ordered airlines to slash the number of flights and available seats to Australia from Monday to reduce the number of international arrivals in a bid to relieve pressure on hotel quarantine.
Shanika Sriyananda in Sunday Observer, 12 June 2020, where the title runs “Saved through blood, sweat and tears”
Her voice quivers when she reads out the certificate given by the Government in honour of her son’s bravery; she could not find words to express her feelings. Even after nearly 21 years, she still cries recalling how her ‘Saliya putha’ embraced her before leaving home for duty, proudly carrying his uniform.
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News Item in Ozlanka, 17 Jul 2020,…. “Peradeniya University Alumni Association of NSW (PUAAN) donates AUD 12,500 (Rs 1.5 Million) to COVID-19 Healthcare and Social Security Fund in Sri Lanka”
Peradeniya University Alumni Association of New South Wales (PUAAN), donated $12,500 (Rs.1.5 million) to the COVID-19 Healthcare & Social Security Fund in Sri Lanka on Monday 11th May 2020. The founder President of PUAAN Janaka Seneviratne and his wife Pearl Seneviratne made the presentation on behalf of PUAAN to Major General (Rtd) K.B. Egodawele, Director General of the fund in the presence of Mr. Sugeeshwara Bandara, private secretary to the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (extreme right).
Michael Roberts
I wonder how many people exploring the range of ruins at Polonnaruwa visit the Museum maintained by the Archaelogical Department (located near the rest house on the edge of the Parakrama Samudra? Its items are not brilliant, but there is some interesting fare. But let me pinpoint the pinnacle exhibit: a reconstruction of what today’s scholars think the everyday Sinhala cultivator lived in: a wattle and daub hut.
This edifice has been constructed beside the Museum, It is more than a little worse for ware ….. but the dilapidation adds lustrous realism to the scenario
While middle class community organisations that organise beach clean-ups along the Colombo foreshore and at other resorts do receive a modicum of publicity, there are other hands in menial roles devoted to the cleanliness of Sri Lanka’s beaches and/or the security of the hotel surrounds. Let us salute them.
These men sweeping and cleaning up the beach at Nilaweli beach were, as far as I could gather, employees of the village council rather than the hotel nearby
Smrti Daniel, in Sunday Times, 12 July 2020, with this title “Fortifying Galle Fort. A massive project aims to restore the defence works from our colonial past”
As restrictions around the pandemic eased this month, a team of workers returned to Galle Fort. They are in the middle of a two-year restoration project that has them clambering over the great bastions, excavating echoing underground chambers and clearing out an ancient drainage system – all part of an ambitious effort to restore this UNESCO World Heritage Site to its full glory.
Conservation of the gun platforms of the Neptune Bastion
Michael Roberts
Prince of Wales (left, front) and Repulse (left, behind) under attack by Japanese aircraft. The destroyer Express in the foreground.
The crew of the sinking Prince of Wales abandoning ship to the destroyer Express. Moments later, the list on Prince of Wales suddenly increased and Express had to withdraw. Observe the barrels of the 5.25 in guns, which were unable to depress low enough to engage attackers due to the list.
Filed under authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, electoral structures, ethnicity, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, law of armed conflict, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, transport and communications, world events & processes, World War II
thuppahi
