Category Archives: education

April 13, 2021 · 3:38 am

The SBS: Marine Commandos of the Sri Lankan Navy

Michael Roberts

A recent article by Dishan Joseph (see below) has marked the role of a commando outfit known as the SBS, or Special Boat Service, that was developed within the Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) during the Eelam Wars.  The story is complex and demands an elaborate ‘companion piece’ that is attentive to time, combat locations, initiatives and the lessons derived from a remarkable and formidable enemy, namely, the Sea Tigers. In war one becomes like one’s opponent in order to survive. The innovativeness of the LTTE was monumental and its sea-faring capacities were one reason why it outdid-and-outbid the other Tamil militant organisations in the fight to lead the claim for independence for Thamililam during the 1980s/1990s.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under education, Eelam, ethnicity, female empowerment, historical interpretation, insurrections, island economy, landscape wondrous, law of armed conflict, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, modernity & modernization, nationalism, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, suicide bombing, Tamil Tiger fighters, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, unusual people, war reportage, women in ethnic conflcits, working class conditions, world events & processes

April 12, 2021 · 10:58 am

Prince Philip’s Indelible ‘Marks’ in Sri Lanka

Photo courtesy of my old student pal Piyasiri Wickramasekara ….more details below

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, charitable outreach, chauvinism, cultural transmission, education, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, modernity & modernization, patriotism, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

April 8, 2021 · 2:40 am

Order of the Rising Sun for Professor Purnendra Jain in Adelaide

ADELAIDE UNIVERSITY New Item

Emeritus Professor Purnendra Jain (School of Social Sciences) was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays With Neck Ribbon by the Consul-General of Japan, Mr. Junji Shimada , in a ceremony on 26 March 2021. 

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, education, heritage, life stories, literary achievements, unusual people, world events & processes

April 7, 2021 · 3:24 am

Sustaining Memory as a Central Facet of Transitional Justice

Gehan Gunatilleke: “The Right to Memory: The Forgotten Facet of Transitional Justice* with highlighting emphasis imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting — Milan  Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting (1979)

Introduction

Memory does not explicitly feature among the four pillars of transitional justice: truth, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence. Hence the precise role memory plays within a transitional justice process is often left to those negotiating the contours of the process. Memory is a vital ingredient in ascertaining the truth and in securing evidence to ensure justice for victims and survivors. Moreover, memorialisation of loss has a place in the symbolic initiatives owed to victims and survivors under the reparations pillar. Meanwhile, public memorials commemorating man-made tragedies contribute towards a society’s collective commitment to non-recurrence. Thus memory often becomes the lifeblood that preserves and binds the traditional pillars of transitional justice.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, education, European history, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, nationalism, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, war crimes, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

April 4, 2021 · 11:00 am

GoMicro at the Cutting Edge via Sivam & Jarrad

Sivam Krish and Jarrad Law in cooperation with Flinders University

“By combining our skills in engineering, product design and software development we have realized some exciting possibilities across many disciplines.   It has taken us into new areas where we have found collaborators whom we enjoy working with, opening new doors and new possibilities that we now believe can transform with AI and Phone Microscopy” — is the opening gambit in thier web site.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, economic processes, education, landscape wondrous, life stories, meditations, performance, photography, sri lankan society, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes

April 2, 2021 · 2:14 am

Debating Human Rights in Warring Contexts

Chandre Dharmawardana, 30 March 2021, in Email Memo entitled “Alleged Human Rights Abuses of the Sri Lankan Army” ………..  a memo commenting on responses to his previous Essay[i] … with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Ramesh Somasundaram, (commenting on the Thuppahi website) is absolutely right in saying “that the Sri Lankan governments and the Sri Lankan military personal have been correctly accused of human rights abuses. “Sri Lankan Soldiers have been accused of grave crimes, and they should be investigated and brought to trial. Many of the soldiers were simply carrying out orders, and so the high command must bear the final responsibility except in cases where the soldiers exceeded their acts as soldiers and acted even more inhumanely than needed.

Situation Map 2 February 2009 — an excellent work by, I think?, the Daily Mirror

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, atrocities, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, chauvinism, communal relations, conspiracies, economic processes, education, ethnicity, Fascism, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, Hitler, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, vengeance, war crimes, war reportage, world events & processes

March 31, 2021 · 4:43 am

Randolph Ranjith Alwis of Sri Lanka & Adelaide: Epitaphs in Depth

ONE: from Victor Rebikoff OAM, and Former FECCA Chair 1992-96

I am deeply honored to have been asked by the Alwis family to provide this personal eulogy on my close friend Randolph Alwis AM whom I have known for over 35 years since we became the Presidents of our respective State and Territory Multicultural Communities Councils in the early 1980’s and as a consequence Deputy Chairs of Australia’s peak community body FECCA – viz, -the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia. At that time both of us were the ‘young guns’ at the forefront of Australia’s multicultural movement and became closely involved in working with Commonwealth, State and Territory governments in the initial introduction of culturally and linguistically appropriate services for migrants and refugees Australia wide.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, charitable outreach, communal relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, education, ethnicity, governance, heritage, language policies, life stories, performance, politIcal discourse, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, social justice, sri lankan society, tolerance, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world events & processes

March 29, 2021 · 1:28 pm

Western Real-Politic at UNHRC Sesions in Geneva, 2021

Chandre Dharma-wardana,24 March 2021, whose preferred title is “The Real-Politik behind the UNHRC Actions and What the West Aims to Achieve in Sri Lanka” …  … note PS at end….. End Notes are by Thuppahi

The core-group of Western countries behind the UNHRC resolution have their own highly developed intelligence sources of information on the Eelam War as it was of intense interest to the Western nations – in fact the foreign ministers of UK and France actually came to Colombo to intervene personally.[1] Given that level of interest, they had reams of information on the Eelam War. Lord Naseby has exposed the tip of this hidden iceberg of information possessed by the British Government alone.[2] The US, the Indians, the French, Germans, and most of all the Norwegians possessed first-hand information. None of that has been exploited by the UN, but remain hidden because, in all probability, what is in them are of little use to the agenda of the core group of nations behind the UNHRC resolution.

Continue reading →

2 Comments

Filed under accountability, american imperialism, British imperialism, centre-periphery relations, conspiracies, disparagement, doctoring evidence, education, Eelam, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, war reportage, world events & processes

March 22, 2021 · 2:05 pm

Ameer Ali’s Academic Works and Career

Recent Essays of Some Significance 

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS as set out in Wikipedia, …. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ameer_Ali_(academic)  …. clearly not updated

Ali, A. (2016) From Islamophobia to Westophobia: The long road to radical Islamism. Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs, 3 (1). pp. 1-19.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under accountability, australian media, British colonialism, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, democratic measures, devolution, economic processes, education, Eelam, electoral structures, fundamentalism, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, Indian traditions, Islamic fundamentalism, island economy, jihad, landscape wondrous, language policies, life stories, LTTE, modernity & modernization, Muslims in Lanka, nationalism, patriotism, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, religiosity, religious nationalism, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, travelogue, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes

March 21, 2021 · 1:45 am

Highlights of the Jesuit Era at St. Aloysius College, Galle

K. K. de Silva, as Compiler……. (at Sacred Heart Convent: 1943-44; then at SAC:1945 -1958; on Staff in 1959) … with highlighting being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi

Introduction
St. Aloysius College & St. Mary’s Cathedral stand together on Mount Calvary Hill, known in earlier times as ‘Poraka kande’ or Gibbet Hill, in Galle. The Hill was the place where executions were carried out during Dutch rule, & Hemantha Situge, a distinguished old Aloysian, refers to its  significance in his blog of 31 Dec. 2012 titled “The Scaffold City Galle”.

Continue reading →

3 Comments

Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, economic processes, education, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, performance, religiosity, sri lankan society, teaching profession, unusual people, world events & processes