Category Archives: communal relations

December 3, 2023 · 12:36 pm

Debating the Value of Tangential Historical Forays

Michael Roberts

 A FEW DAYS BACK, on 28th November 2023, I circulated this item among Lankan aficianado…. [ Let me add, here, that I was prompted to do this by the burgeoning world debate on the Palestinian-Israeli War that has been raging since August]. ………………………………………………………………….. https://thuppahis.com/2014/11/18/cartographic-photographic and -illustrations-in-support-of-the-memorandum-analysing-the-war-in-sri-lanka-and-propaganda

ROHANTHA GUNARATNA in Canada responded in critical fashion. …. So I circulated his Memo to some personnel  with this NOTE: “I encourage responses [to his Memo] from interested personnel – here, quite deliberately, reaching out beyond Lankans to Indians and Brits familiar with the Lankan scene in that period past.”

 

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November 29, 2023 · 8:49 pm

High-Profile Burghers & Other Exotic Personnel in Olde Ceylon

Rodney Vandergert, whose title reads thus: “Random Musings of A Senile Mind,”.… an article which appeared on web on 4th March 2006 at https://kermeey.blogspot.com/2006/03/random-musings-of-senile-mind.html …… reproduced with selective highlights in this version … & brought to my attention by Charles Schokman of Australia

“Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven” Wordsworth: Preludes

In the Nineteen Forties and early Fifties, Bambalawatte was the centre of the universe. It was where all the meaningful action took place and where the principal actors were mainly Burghers and a group of expatriates drawn from half a dozen nationalities.

This was brought most forcibly to my mind after reading the recent obituaries which appeared in the local press – one to Zoe Jayatilleke by Tita Nathanielsz; the other to David Gladwin Loos , C.C.S.. by Bradman Weerakoon.                                                             

Rodney Jonklaas, Mike wilson  & Arthur c. Clarke at seaside in Ceylon 1950s

 

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November 22, 2023 · 3:35 pm

Michael Roberts Papers at Adelaide University Library

Michael Roberts Papers, mainly on Sri Lanka ……MSS 0031 …. AT = University of Adelaide Library………………………………………………. https://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/special/mss/roberts/transcripts%20list

Philip Gunawardena

Edmund R Leach

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November 15, 2023 · 12:30 am

How Collective Belief Heals War’s Hidden wounds

Daya Somasundram, Alvin Kuowei Tay & Rajitha Wickremasinghe, in Cambridge Core Blog, 2 November 2023 ... with the highlights being imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

The mental and emotional aftermath, particularly from modern warfare that targets civilians, is profound. Civilians suffer alongside combatants, facing deaths, injuries, chronic disability, torture, disappearances, multiple displacements with uprooting of whole communities, loss of homes, destruction of essential services, infrastructure and environment. These traumatic experiences lead to a wide range of mental health issues, from depression, anxiety, PTSD, and substance abuse to family and collective trauma impeding personal and community recovery.

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November 13, 2023 · 1:29 am

Sinhala Monarchical Imagery in Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Past Political Pitch

Michael Roberts .… reproducing an article presented earlier in the COLOMBO TELEGRAPH in the year 2012…. an article bearing a different title: viz. “Populism And Sinhala-Kingship in the Rajapaksa Regime’s Political Pitch” … an article that also appeared under a differeTn title in GROUNDVIEWS in January that year

On 4th December 2011 the Sunday Island carried a headline: “Mahinda ready to meet General Fonseka’s family over pardon” — with a picture alongside showing President Mahinda Rajapaksa seated in an armchair perusing an official document – a document in royal red and marked by a recognisable state seal. It is the juxtaposition of the headline and image that drew my interest. In my reading as an analyst attentive to indigenous cultural threads, this combination suggested several interrelated motifs, namely, that

  1. President Rajapaksa is the epitome of sovereign power, vested with the rights of clemency on high, just like Sinhalese kings of the past who could be supplicated by condemned subjects who crawled on their knees to the palace gates (mahāvāsala) and begged for pardon for their evil-doings or crimes;[i]
  2. President Rajapaksa is akin to a manorial lord of the past, a patrimonial figure who is readily accessible on his verandah to subordinate officials, tenants and other people seeking favours from this font of noblesse oblige;
  3. President Rajapaksa is a son of the soil, native to core. After all, what can be more native than a hansi putuva? He is, therefore, as personable as approachable.

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October 23, 2023 · 7:54 pm

Talking about Oral History Work on Ceylon in the 1960s

Adilah Ismail in the Sunday Times,  7 June 2015,  where the title is “Colourful history of a historian” … with highlighting imposed by the Editor Thuppahi viz, Roberts himself

Looking back on his ‘going-down memory lane interviews’ with retired Britishers and Sri Lankans who served mainly in the Ceylon Civil Service, Michael Roberts who was in Sri Lanka recently, talks to Adilah Ismail about the beginnings of a passion.

In Colombo last week: Michael Roberts. Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
It’s the late 1960s: On most Fridays, Michael Roberts would make his way towards Colombo from Peradeniya, [1]  recording equipment balanced at his feet and his bag filled with assorted clothes strapped to the back of his trusty scooter. Navigating the sharp curves and turns on his two wheeler, once in Colombo, he would spend his weekend sprinting from one interview to another.

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October 9, 2023 · 11:41 pm

Buddhist Shrines as Weapons of Political Intrusion in the Today

Editorial in Daily FT, 8 June 2023, which is entitled “Archaeology Department must act impartially in N & E” … with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

The past few months have seen several protests held in the North and East over the acquisition of land to construct new Buddhist shrines. It has been alleged that Buddhist monks aided by army personnel have been engaged in these questionable activities with the tacit approval of the Archaeology Department which have led to tensions among the local population and the military.

At a recent meeting with Archaeology Department officials, President Ranil Wickremesinghe weighed in on the issue and chided Department officials for taking money from Buddhist monks to carry out their work and reminded them that they do not work for a private firm but a Government institution that has to act according to the law.

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October 4, 2023 · 10:33 pm

A Combative Interview with Deustche Welt faced by President Ranil Wickremasinghe

Deutsche Welt  ……  Oct 3, 2023 #ranilwickremesinghe #exclusiveinterview #SriLanka

“We take a closer look at Sri Lanka, with a special DW interview with President Ranil Wickremesinghe. The country has faced crisis after crisis, both political and economic, and there is no clarity on how the government and the people can recover and get back on their feet. DW’s Martin Gak questions the Sri Lankan president about the crises the country faces.”

…….  https://www.youtube.com/user/deutsche..

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October 1, 2023 · 8:26 pm

The Dutch Fort in Gurunagar, Jaffna

MAR Manukulasooriya, in the Sunday Observer, 1 October 2023 with this title “A distinctive Dutch archaeological site in South-East Asia”

The Jaffna Fort is near the coastal village of Gurunagar [within the Jaffna Peninsula]. It was built by the Portuguese in 1619 under Phillippe de Oliveira as a four-sided garrison with ramparts, corner bastions and moats following the Portuguese invasion of Jaffna.

 

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September 26, 2023 · 12:37 pm

A Riotous Reading of the India-Sri Lanka World Cup Encounter at Eden Gardens in 1996

John De Silva

I am very surprised to hear people talk about the near riot that occurred at the end of the World Cup Semi Final match between India and Sri Lanka, 13 March 1996. Why are people so quick to jump to conclusions? Why are people not more understanding? Here is what ACTUALLY happened.

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