Category Archives: Indian Ocean politics

July 1, 2023 · 7:57 pm

François Valentijn’s Book on Ceylon in 1724-26

Thiru Arumugam, in The CEYLANKAN, 2023, where the heading runs thus: “François Valentijn wrote a 462 page ‘Description of Ceylon’ 300 years ago”

Part 1: Francois Valentijn (1666–1727), Fig. 1, was a Dutch Calvinist Minister employed by the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie or VOC) which established its Asian base in Batavia, which is present day Jakarta in Indonesia. Between 1724 and 1726 he published a book in Dutch titled Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien¹ (Old and New East Indies) which was in five volumes and eight books in all. The book describes various countries including Ceylon. His description of Ceylon is in Volume 5 and is 462 pages long. The interesting point is that he never set foot in Ceylon!

D98PE4 Ds. Francois Valentijn, famous for his voluminous work on the Dutch East India Company, a clever compilation from essays or studies, written by others. His book contains a lengthy chapter under the heading ‘Descriptions of the Cape of Good Hope’, 1726.

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Filed under authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, Dutch colonialism, economic processes, ethnicity, European history, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, politIcal discourse, Portuguese in Indian Ocean, power politics, religiosity, sri lankan society, transport and communications, world events & processes

June 26, 2023 · 2:07 am

Kochi: A Jewish Town without Jews

Christabel Lobo, in Times of Israel, 20 December 2020 ,where the title reads thus: “India’s Jew Town only has a few Jews left, but traditions and landmarks remain”

A sign denotes Kochi’s ‘Jew street,’ as it is known locally, which once was a hub of Indian Jewish life. (Christabel Lobo/ via JTA)

KOCHI, India (JTA) …………Take a walk down this coastal city’s “Jew street” today and you’ll find bustling Kasmiri storefronts selling Persian antiques, pashmina shawls and traditional Islamic handicrafts — a stark contrast to the neighborhood’s heyday when every household was Jewish.

“There are only two people left in Jew Town. One very old, who spends most of her time in Los Angeles, and one other,” said Shalva Weil, a senior researcher at the Seymour Fox School of Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a leading figure on the Jewish communities of India.

Once a vibrant community of approximately 3,000 at its peak in the 1950s, only a handful of elderly Jews now remain in a city of some 677,000. According to Weil, there really is no community in Kochi anymore

“You won’t find more than five or 10 Jews,” she said.

Unlike other dwindling Jewish communities around the world, the Jews of Kochi did not leave their country due to persecution or hardship. Rather, it was the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 that attracted many from the mostly Orthodox community to emigrate and start a new life in the Jewish homeland.

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June 19, 2023 · 1:04 am

Amitav Ghosh: Straddling the Mediterranean & Indian Worlds

Dr. Shalva Weil, in https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/in-an-ancient-land-trade-and-synagogues-in-south-india/

The Calcutta-born novelist Amitav Ghosh tells the tale, in his novel In an Ancient Land, of a medieval traveler by the name of Abraham Ben Yiju who conducted an import/export business from Cairo through Aden to India. Ben Yiju was a member of the Synagogue of Ben Ezra, or the”Synagogue of the Palestinians”, as it used to be known while it was still standing, in Cairo, at the end of the nineteenth century. It was in that synagogue that congregation members used to accumulate and store their papers and manuscripts. The last In an Ancient Land Revisited Trade and Synagogues in South India document that is known to have been deposited in this Genizah was a get, a divorce settlement, authorized in Bombay (today Mumbai).

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Two Sinhala Bowlers win Tamil Indian Hearts via Chennai Super Kings

Venkat B Krishna in The Indian Express, 24 May 2023…. where the title reads “How CSK’s Tamil fans fell in love with two Sinhalese players Pathirana and Theekshana””

Things have changed after years of strained relationship when CSK were forced not to play Sri Lankan players at home, and a famous actor had to pull out of a Muralitharan biopic.

There is something special brewing in Chennai this season apart from their obsession with MS Dhoni. Two Sri Lankan cricketers – Matheesha Pathirana and Maheesh Theekshana – have become the fans favourite at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, where not so long ago players from the Island nation couldn’t take the field because political tensions in the aftermath of the Eelam war that ended in 2009.

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A Konkani Baila that Crosses the Indian Seas

This lively presentation was sent to me as a venture of “Batticaloa Burghers singing in three languages”. But digital commentary indicates that the words are (mostly?) Konkani … and raises questions as to where exactly this lively collective was located when they sang. SEE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=munAPKRQ0nk So, that means we are definitely in Thuppahi territory! Ole! Ole! Hai Hoyi! ………. Thuppahi.

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May 19, 2023 · 6:20 pm

Hashish, Heroin, Sea Cucumber & Migrants: Sri Lanka Navy’s Seizures Today

Items in The Island, 19 May 2023 ….

ONE: https://island.lk/navy-takes-hold-of-smuggled-dried-sea-cucumber-and-contraband-in-kalpitiya-seas/

A search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Navy off Sinnaarichchalai, Kalpitiya on Thursday night, led to the apprehension of 02 suspects with about 193kg of dried sea cucumber and several other contraband items which were being smuggled.

Among the recovered items were; about 193kg of dried sea cucumber, 33600 shampoo packets (6ml each), 198 balm vials (50g each), 1 A/C plant and 1 Voltage Stabilizer (230 V). The suspects, contraband items and the dinghy were taken into naval custody and were handed over to the Customs Preventive Office in Katunayake for onward legal action.

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For Lanka: Addressing Srinivasan’s Statement on the IMF Programme

Krishna Srinivasan’s Address in Colombo in His Capacity as Director of Asia and Pacific Department, IMF, May 15, 2023

What does this challenging global environment mean for Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka, as you know, has been facing a severe crisis (A) involving back-to-back economic shocks. We have been deeply concerned about the impact of the crisis on the Sri Lankan people, particularly the poor and vulnerable groups, and about the economic costs arising from the delay (B) in the country’s access to external financing.

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May 3, 2023 · 10:40 pm

The Tale of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka, 1987–1990

Compiled by Gp Capt Kumar Kirinde, SLAF [retd] …. from ………… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Peace_Keeping_Force and Google Images

Introduction

The Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lankan Civil War between Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan military.

The main task of the IPKF was to disarm the different militant groups, not just the LTTE. It was to be quickly followed by the formation of an Interim Administrative Council. These were the tasks as per the terms of the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord, signed at the behest of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Given the escalation of the conflict in Sri Lanka, and with the pouring of refugees into India, Rajiv Gandhi took the decisive step to push this accord through. The IPKF was inducted into Sri Lanka on the request of Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene under the terms of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord.

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April 29, 2023 · 12:12 am

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and Its Diplomatic Path of Conflict Resolution

A China Watcher

India and China’s defence ministers sit down for talks at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) security summit in New Delhi, with Pakistan’s top diplomat and Russia’s defence ministers present. It was a very productive meeting with a strong emphasis on diplomacy to resolve disputes.

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Filed under accountability, China and Chinese influences, economic processes, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, Pacific Ocean politics, politIcal discourse, power politics, power sharing, security, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, tolerance, world events & processes

April 28, 2023 · 7:15 pm

USA’s Double Standards: A Payback Today for Sri Lanka’s Refusal to Kow-Tow in 2009

Item in the DAILY MIRROR, 28 April 2023… with this title “Designating Karannagoda; Russia hits back at US: Says West should not interfere in other countries affairs”

The United States has designated former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda, for his alleged involvement in gross violations of human rights. The US State Department said that Karannagoda has been designated pursuant to Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2023, due to his involvement in a gross violation of human rights during his tenure as a Naval Commander. As a result of today’s action, Karannagoda and his wife, Srimathi Ashoka Karannagoda, are ineligible for entry into the United States.

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Filed under accountability, american imperialism, atrocities, centre-periphery relations, Eelam, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, law of armed conflict, life stories, military strategy, nationalism, news fabrication, patriotism, power politics, propaganda, Rajapaksa regime, sea warfare, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, Tamil civilians, Tamil Tiger fighters, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes

Category Archives: Indian Ocean politics

François Valentijn’s Book on Ceylon in 1724-26

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Kochi: A Jewish Town without Jews

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Amitav Ghosh: Straddling the Mediterranean & Indian Worlds

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Two Sinhala Bowlers win Tamil Indian Hearts via Chennai Super Kings

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A Konkani Baila that Crosses the Indian Seas

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Hashish, Heroin, Sea Cucumber & Migrants: Sri Lanka Navy’s Seizures Today

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For Lanka: Addressing Srinivasan’s Statement on the IMF Programme

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The Tale of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka, 1987–1990

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USA’s Double Standards: A Payback Today for Sri Lanka’s Refusal to Kow-Tow in 2009

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