Both Professor Michael Morley (a Kiwi musical maestro) and Professor Justin Labrooy (a Sri Lankan medical specialist) were captivated by the Belvoir production of Counting & Cracking created by the playwright Suntharalingam Shakthidharan which has been one of the highlights of the ongoing ADELAIDE FESTIVAL.
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The primary objective of this short article is to examine and evaluate the social impacts and legal consequences of Shamima Begum’s case. It has been reported that Home Office has already sent a letter to the family of Shamima saying that it has decided to revoke British citizenship of Shamima. According to INDEPENDENT newspaper “The Government has deprived Shamima Begum of her British citizenship, allegedly making her stateless and violating international law” (19/2/19). Yet, her new born baby has been given every right to settle in the UK. However, the secretary for justice has said that Shamima Begum has right to return to UK, but she should face the court of law in this country. This contrasting view has created some legal debates in the UK about this issue.
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Cassie Tongue in Time-Out, 16 January 2019, where the title is “Counting and Cracking review” ….. with Brett Boardman’s PICs …. and highlighting added
It’s only January, but we have an early contender for the best play of the year in Counting and Cracking. And we certainly won’t see another play like it any time soon. Set in a recursion of town halls – a Sri Lankan-style one built inside Sydney’s landmark Town Hall – Counting and Cracking takes place in both Colombo and Sydney, in the 1970s and 2004, and always keeps one foot in each world; as we are about to see, the past and present are not so easily separated.
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Publication forthcoming:
* “Migration at Extremes”. Keynote address at the conference Colonial and Wartime Migration, 1815-1918, Amiens, France, 12-14 September, 2018.
* “Migrants in Crisis in Nineteenth-Century Britain.” In The Oxford Handbook of Migration Crises, edited by Cecilia Manjvar, Marie Ruiz and Immanuel Ness. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.
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A NOTE from Sam Samarasinghe, 11 November 2018: “Here is the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Bond Scam article, “The Bond Issue Controversy: An Analysis” that you wanted. It was published in March 2015 in The Island and the Financial Times. In April 2015 the weekly newspaper Ravaya published a Sinhala translation. Groundviews carried the English version. We pointed out that the crux of the issue was “insider trading” a practice that is common in white collar financial crime almost everywhere. Our article tried to explain the technical maneuver that led to the fraud. The Presidential Commission that investigated the bond scam in great detail later confirmed what we stated in the article. We were not conducting a criminal investigation to find out those who were culpable. That is a job for the Criminal Investigation Department.”
Sam Samarasinghe and Dushyantha Mendis: “The Bond Issue Controversy: An Analysis.” in GROUNDVIEWS, 26 March 2015, https://groundviews.org/2015/03/26/the-bond-issue-controversy-an-analysis/ … where several comments can also be found
The issue of government bonds on February 27 has raised a huge controversy, involving questions as to the competence of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), and also allegations of insider dealing. The government has been slow to respond to the public outrage the controversy has evoked. This article tries to explain the intricacies of the issues involved in this controversy. We believe that a more informed public will be better able to hold accountable those who are responsible for the events that occurred and thereby contribute to the cause of Yaha Paalanaya. Continue reading
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ONE: News Item in Derana, 4 August 2o18, taken from Associated Press. …. entitled ”
German authorities have arrested a Sri Lankan man suspected of involvement in killing captured government soldiers as a member of the Tamil Tigers rebel group a decade ago. Federal prosecutors said a judge ordered Thursday the 36-year-old, identified only as Sivatheeban B. because of German privacy rules, detained pending a potential indictment.
Pic in Derana
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ONE = “Deported Lankan asylum seekers arrested,” Item in Daily News, 12 September 2018
The CID had arrested nine Sri Lankan men yesterday when they arrived in the country having been deported from Australia. They were produced before the Negombo Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
The Police Media Spokesman’s office told the Daily News that the nine men who had gone to Australia at various stages and had claimed refugee status had been deported by the Australian Government on a special charted flight yesterday. Upon their arrival, the CID had taken the men into custody. They are in the age group of 27, 29, 36 and 48 years and are residents of Munalama, Kochchikade, Udappuwa, Chillaw, Vavuniya, Batticaloa and Trincomalee, the police said.
Soeren Kern, item from The Gatestone Institute , 18 April 2018, …. where the title is “Germany’s Dysfunctional Deportation System”
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AFP Item in DAWN, 10 February 2018, where the title runs “For refugees, it’s a choice between death in Afghanistan or bitter life in Pakistan
Death awaits you in Afghanistan, says refugee Mohammad Wali, insisting he prefers to endure a grim existence in a Pakistani camp than return home and be killed. Islamabad has increasingly put Afghan refugees in the crosshairs in recent weeks, saying that militants hide in Pakistani camps and calling for refugees to be repatriated as part of a campaign to eliminate extremism.
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Fiona Harari, in the Weekend Australian Magazine 27/28 Jan 2018, where the title reads “Last Testament”
Survivors of Nazism who have adult memories of the Holocaust are a fading group. Born in 1926 or earlier, they were at least 18 when the war ended. The war consumed a small fraction of their lives, percentage-wise. But its legacy endures in their memories, their outlooks and, increasingly, in their dreams. They are the last living voices of a generation that was not meant to be, men and women now in their 10th and 11th decades who have defied not just the law of a nation that sought to annihilate them, but the law of nature that not so long ago would have dictated a much shorter lifespan.
Mala Sonnabend. Picture: Fiona Harari
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thuppahi
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ri Lankan-born German man Yogendran G. (C), seen on January 18, 2016 in Hamburg, raised more than 81,000 euros ($88,000) for combat and terrorist activities ©Christian Charisius (Pool/AFP/File) 