Category Archives: life stories

August 31, 2019 · 3:18 pm

The Kili Rasputin manipulating Sirisena’s Presidency

TB Bambaradeniya, in Colombo Telegraph with this title “Why The Maharajas Hate Karu Jayasuriya: Failed Coups And The Number 8”

The reclusive Chairman of the Capital Maharaja Organisation R. Rajamahendran, or Kili Maharaja as he is better known, has manipulated and steered the Maithripala Sirisena presidency almost from the outset.

Kili Rajamahendran capitalised quickly on Sirisena’s gratitude to the Sirasa network for being courageous enough to cautiously back his candidacy, when his campaign was being blacked out across all other media loyal to the Rajapaksa regime. Hours after Sirisena was sworn in as President in January 2015, Kili installed failed UNP politician Shiral Lakthilake as coordinating secretary at the Presidential Secretariat. Kili convinced Sirisena to take Shiral Lakthilake on board during a breakfast meeting soon after the election. Lakthilake being staunchly anti-Ranil Wickremesinghe, helped to begin the cold war between President and Prime Minister that has crippled governance for nearly five years and prompted Sirisena to attempt a coup-d’etat in October 2018. Continue reading →

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August 31, 2019 · 4:47 am

A Despairing Appraisal of Sri Lanka from a Patriot Expat from Rome

Alex Van Arkadie … from http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2019/08/04/opinion/observations-lankan-visit-june-july-2019-sri-lanka-again-asia%E2%80%99s-teardrop

Seemingly, following the church massacres last April 2019, there are a growing number of Christians as well as sympathizers who seem to understand better the miracle following repetitive Christian martyrdom of the 21st Century – (although it also sounds rational when critics say that the Lankan Catholic Hierarchy should exercise a cautious degree of restraint in public announcement, pronouncement or proclamation).

Fortunately after the Easter Sunday killings, religious convictions have helped bind many of the devout of all faiths and doctrines though underlined by either a sense of resignation to the powers of ‘karma’, or in acceptance of the Will of the Lord as when hopefully invoking in fraternal brotherhood, ‘Insha Allah’… Continue reading →

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August 28, 2019 · 5:50 pm

Christian-Buddhist Dialogue in Sri Lanka in Modern Times

The World Council of Churches (WCC) [partnered] in organising the 13th annual conference of the European Network of Buddhist-Christian Studies to commemorate the birth centenary of Lynn A De Silva, a pioneering figure in Christian-Buddhist dialogue. The conference, which is considered one of the most high-profile international conferences on crucial issues within the Buddhist-Christian encounter, [took place] at the Arch Abbey of St Ottilien, near Munich, Germany from 27 June–1 July 2019.

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August 27, 2019 · 5:18 am

Presidency Stakes: “Devolution is the Key Issue” says Jehan Perera

Jehan Perera, in The Island, 26 August 2019, with this title “A Presidential Candidate the People want”

The main opposition party, the SLPP, was the quickest off the mark to propose its candidate. Their candidate, former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has the advantage of being both a known and unknown quantity. On the one hand, he is known as being one of the primary architects of the military defeat of the LTTE, once believed to be an undefeatable politico-military force and enjoying local and transnational support. On the other hand, as a former army officer and public servant, his performance as a politician is untested and unknown. In the context of the widespread disillusionment against established politicians, this is an advantage to which the SLPP’s political opponents need to find an answer.

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August 26, 2019 · 9:10 am

Sri Lanka’s Prejudiced and Petty Rulers

Rifat Halim in LankaWeb, 22 August 2019, in http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2019/08/22/three-idiots-and-a-blind-woman/

Three Idiots is a classic Hindi movie that features a group of morons. Sri Lanka has gone one step further by producing three modayas and a blind woman in real life. Future historians would be hard-pressed to explain Sri Lanka’s civil conflict (1983–2009). How could a small section of a microscopic minority terrorise the country for so long? In 1983, Sri Lankan Tamils were barely 10% of the populations and the LTTE (also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a minuscule group

The answer lies in the stupid rivalry of the politicians. Every time the Tigers committed an atrocity, the politicians blamed someone else. They were so transfixed by their petty quarrels that they were blind to the big beast.

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August 25, 2019 · 7:20 am

Sri Lankan Pageant in Los Angeles

Nandasiri (Nandi) Jasentuliyana, in Sunday Times, 24 August 2019 …. with pictorial illustrations due to Moran Perera

When the annual Sri Lanka Day was celebrated in the historic city of Pasadena this year, Sri Lanka took its rightful place among the ethnic festivals held in America. The featured event of the day was the ‘Pageant of Lanka’, a miniature Kandy Perahera. It took the breath away of the onlookers who filed along the historic route of the annual New Year’s Day Rose Parade, the most prestigious parade in America.

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August 25, 2019 · 6:53 am

Sri Lankan Astronomers at the Cutting Edge of Space research

Meera Srinivasan, of The Hindu, 24 August 2019,, with this title ” Sri Lanka on an astronomical high”

In Sri Lanka’s political terrain, national security and the presidential race are the main talking points this season, both bringing a measure of anxiety for many. Almost lost in that buzz is the quiet achievement of a team of Sri Lankan scientists in outer space.

Astronomers from the country have sighted two new ‘exoplanets’, or planets outside the solar system, a rare feat in the study of stars and galaxies that puts Sri Lanka in a special league. The effort involved mining through several thousand files of data captured by the NASA Kepler/K2 mission over the last decade. “It was both effort and chance,” says Mahesh Herath, the 28-year-old scientist who led the team.

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August 25, 2019 · 6:17 am

Decline in Tourism and the Blame Game: Where Sinhala Buddhist Extremism is a Major Ingredient?

Hilal Suhail in Facebook

If you have invested in Sri Lanka’s tourism and hospitality industry, then it would serve you well to keep up with the international media coverage of Sri Lanka in recent weeks. The island nation’s reputation has taken a massive beating and it’s unlikely tourism will pick up any time soon. There is no point blaming the foreign media and claiming there is some conspiracy against Sri Lanka, and puff pieces promoting tourism by the Ministry of Tourism and other social media campaigns are pointless and won’t convince many outsiders to take the risk in visiting.

The international media is highlighting the terrible actions of some in the Sinhalese majority, and the violence and discrimination unleashed by Buddhist extremists for decades. The Easter bombings aren’t being solely blamed on Muslim extremists by the international media, they are focusing on the incompetent Sri Lankan police and military who failed to prevent the attacks, despite possessing intelligence beforehand to do so, and also for having caused a situation in Sri Lanka where religious and ethnic minorities are not protected.

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August 23, 2019 · 6:32 pm

Shavendra Silva Appointment in USA’s Gunsights

Rajeewa Jayaweera, in Island, 23 August 2019, with this title “Howls against Gen. Silva’s appointment”

The appointment of Lieutenant-General Shavendra Silva as the 23rd Commander of the Sri Lankan Army by President Sirisena has resulted in howls of protests from leading members of the so-called international community including the UNHRC Chief. In the home front, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has condemned war time Divisional Commander Gen. Silva’s appointment. Nevertheless, they wholeheartedly supported wartime army commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka’s bid for the Presidency in 2010. TNA spokesperson MA Sumanthiran MP tweeted, the appointment “was a serious affront to the Tamil people.” Sumanthiran forgets the election of his leader who recognized LTTE Supremo Prabhakaran as the sole representative of Tamil people, as Leader of Opposition in the Parliament. It was an equally serious affront to the Sinhalese people. People refrain from giving voice to their feelings on the subject due to the charade called reconciliation.

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August 22, 2019 · 2:52 pm

The US Embassy in Colombo: Its Internal Structures and Lines of Responsibility

An article entitled “Ambassadors don’t make policy. They just carry out orders from their administrations” has drawn useful clarifications from two Sri Lankan ‘Insiders’ who worked within the US Embassy in Colombo in the late 20th century and more recently during Eelam War IV, namely, Daya Gamage and Brig. Sri Mudannayake.

 

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