Category Archives: life stories

November 27, 2012 · 4:20 am

Adelaide University establishes scholarship link in Sri Lanka

Courtesy of The Island, 27 November 2012

 Professor Quester is the lady in a blouse and Dr. Amal Karunaratne is the elegant gent with silver-hair to our right

The University of Adelaide, one of Australia’s leading research-intensive universities and ranked among the top one per cent worldwide, is for the first time offering a scholarship for a Sri Lankan student to study for a bachelor’s degree. Prof. Pascale Quester, Pro Vice Chancellor (Academic), Adelaide University, addressing a ceremony to announce the Lindsay McWha Accomodation Scholarship, valued at AUD 6,250, to a Sri Lankan student, at the Cinnamon Grand in Colombo on Friday, said that selection would be strictly on merit and it had to be taken in the year for which it was offered and could not be deferred. Continue reading →

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Filed under Australian culture, australian media, cultural transmission, economic processes, education policy, life stories, sri lankan society, world events & processes

November 27, 2012 · 4:10 am

Chandrika bewails recent encroachments on the judiciary

Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, in The Island, 27 November 2012, where the title is “Democracy, the State and the Judiciary”

The last few months have seen several attempts at interference with the proper functioning of the judiciary. The Mannar incident, the unprecedented statement of the Judicial Service Commission, the physical attack on the Secretary of the JSC who released the statement on the direction of the JSC, use of State media to attack the judiciary, especially the Chief Justice, and now a Motion to impeach the Chief Justice. A Member of Parliament who submitted the motion to the Speaker has publicly stated that the reason for the impeachment motion is the Supreme Court’s determination on the Divineguma Bill. As that Bill seeks to make severe inroads into the areas of competence of Provincial Councils while concentrating power in the hands of a single Cabinet Minister, such a determination was only to be expected. But, in the intolerant political environment that pertains today, judicial decision unpalatable to the Government are not tolerated. Continue reading →

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Filed under accountability, life stories, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, propaganda, Rajapaksa regime, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, unusual people, world affairs

November 26, 2012 · 1:40 pm

Velupillai Pirapāharan: VEERA MARANAM

Michael Roberts

 That the LTTE talaivar, Velupillai Pirapāharan, died a heroic death as a vīra maranam on the 18th or 19th May 2009 is now certain.[1]Though Tamil sources claim that he shot himself with his pistol when he and his troops were trapped in the mangrove swamps on the eastern shoreline of Nandhikadal lagoon, the weight of evidence suggests that he was hit by a bullet “traveling diagonally across VP’s skull, probably from left forehead to right rear of skull –[a bullet that was part of] either a rifle round, or a rifle-calibre round”(David Blacker, email to Roberts, 14 February 2012).

 

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Filed under accountability, Eelam, historical interpretation, life stories, LTTE, martyrdom, military strategy, patriotism, power politics, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, Tamil Tiger fighters, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world affairs

November 21, 2012 · 2:34 am

The UN hacks off its own toes

Kath Noble, courtesy of the Island, 21 November 2012, where the title is “The UN’s plan for making white people feel better”

Last week I felt like I had been transported back in time. We were back in those awful first six months of 2009, when I was by turns horrified at the plight of the people caught up in the fighting in the Vanni and disgusted with the way in which the international community was responding.

Of course, we all wanted to stop the war. I hate violence. But as I argued then and continue to believe, at that point, the only way the war was going to stop was with the defeat of the LTTE. Prabhakaran would not give up on Eelam. He was going to continue his vicious campaign against the Sri Lankan state and all its communities until he was caught or killed. Our task, therefore, was to minimise the damage. We had to try to ensure that it was done with as little death and destruction as possible. Continue reading →

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Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, Eelam, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, life stories, martyrdom, mass conscription, military strategy, news fabrication, NGOs, power politics, prabhakaran, propaganda, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, UN reports, world events & processes

November 21, 2012 · 2:13 am

Rajapaksa Dynasty’s Concentrated Power: Question Marks

CHINA POST where the title reads “Power concentration in Sri Lanka threatens economic possibilities”

From foreign hotel towers sprouting on Colombo’s seafront to the new motorcycles and mobile phones buzzing in war-ravaged Jaffna, at first glance, Sri Lanka seems to be living up to its claim as Asia’s latest frontier market. But private businesses are not investing enough, threatening the boom that has swept the island since the end of a long ethnic conflict, while President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family are tightening their grip on the economy and institutions with what critics see as an unusually personalized system of government. The global economy may be in poor shape, but with 17 percent growth since the war ended in 2009 and an eye-popping 200-percent rise in the stock market, investors should be flocking to Sri Lanka’s palm-fringed shores. Instead, even home-grown businesses are shy. Continue reading →

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Filed under accountability, economic processes, growth pole, historical interpretation, island economy, life stories, LTTE, politIcal discourse, power politics, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

November 16, 2012 · 6:38 pm

Tamil Goodbye — Sri Lanka

Journeyman Pictures anchored by Mark Davis of SBS

SEE   http://youtu.be/owDY94bpY2A ………

…. AND   http://thuppahis.com/2012/07/30/a-flourishing-bibliographical-tree-tamil-migration-asylum-seekers-and-australia/#more-6461

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Filed under asylum-seekers, australian media, economic processes, ethnicity, immigration, island economy, life stories, LTTE, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, tamil refugees, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes

November 15, 2012 · 1:00 pm

From Bio-tale and Anecdote to Issues of Housing and Ethnic Rapprochement in the North

TWO IRIN ESSAYS

I:  “Needs outstrip housing construction in north”

SELVANAGAR, 14 November 2012 (IRIN) – Rajina Mary, a 38-year-old widow and mother of four looks at her new home in Sri Lanka’s northern former conflict zone as if admiring a long-lost relative. But in reality, the home’s mostly unplastered walls bruise anyone who leans on them too hard, and there are large holes in the walls for non-existent windows and doors; the floor is cemented only in the living area. No one wants to stay indoors between mid-morning and late-afternoon because the house heats up like a furnace due to asbestos roofing sheets. Continue reading →

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Filed under historical interpretation, life stories, LTTE, pilgrimages, politIcal discourse, propaganda, reconciliation, rehabilitation, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, truth as casualty of war, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes

November 10, 2012 · 5:16 pm

Operation Mänik Farm

With the closure of the Mänik Farm Transitory Welfare Shelters in Vavuniya District, where most number of Internally Displaced people had been housed since 2009, Stamford Lake (Pvt) Ltd has launched “Operation Mänik Farm”– a story that says about what really happened in Mänik Farm. Stories of the Mänik Farm Transitory Welfare Shelters have been echoing from mid of 2009 and even today, many wonder what really happened in Manik Farm? What was it like working in Mänik Farm? What was it like being in Mänik Farm? And many more unanswered questions…… “Operation Mänik Farm” gives the answers. It is a story narrated by a Humanitarian Worker on the difficulties of providing relief to the massive displaced people, its complexity and, gives the answers to many who are curious to hear the ‘secrets’ of Mänik Farm. Continue reading →

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November 10, 2012 · 3:28 pm

How Aussies miss the Boat: The Many Dimensions of Migration and Asylum-Seeking from Sri Lanka

Shanaka Jayasekera, in Q and A with the Sunday Observer, 29 July  2012, where the title was: “Economic concerns main reason – Counter-terrorism expert”

Apart from crime stories, boat people, who risk their lives on a deadly journey to Australia have ‘decorated’ the front pages of most of the local newspapers as well as Australian newspapers. Australia, with a steady influx of asylum-seekers, has become the most sought after destination among Sri Lankans fleeing the country via Indonesia, which is the transit hub. Sri Lankan men and women, despite surveillances by the Sri Lanka Navy and being frequently arrested, leave the shores in risky boat rides arranged by local human smugglers by paying with their meagre savings.

In an interview with the Sunday Observer , Shanaka Jayasekara, Lecturer, Centre for Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism (PICT), Macquarie University of Australia said in the absence of LTTE terrorists, who restricted the exodus of youth out of the Vanni as they required human resources, now the Vanni people were risking their lives to ‘earn more dollars’.

He said the pro-LTTE lobby groups use the Sri Lankan asylum seeker issue to discredit the Sri Lankan government. ” They see the media value in boatloads of Sri Lankans claiming political asylum overseas as an opportunity to keep international attention on Sri Lanka. As every boatload arrives, you will see Tamil activists defaming and discrediting Sri Lanka in the media”, Jayasekara said. Continue reading →

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November 10, 2012 · 3:16 am

To be or not to be Sri Lankan? … That is the question!

Theruni Sebastiampillai, from The Island, 10 November 2012 … noting *** at end

How do I define my identity? At first glance, the answer would be simple and clear: I am a French citizen with Sri Lankan origins. This would be enough for any administrative paperwork. But in daily life, the reality is quite different depending on the situations that we are facing.

The first question would be:  Am I French or Sri Lankan? I was born in France, I studied in France, I live and work in France. So what could be more natural than to feel French? Continue reading →

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