The 19th May marks the final defeat of the LTTE and its Eelam Movement …. Thuppahi **
The 13th anniversary of National War Heroes’ Day was commemorated in a simple ceremony this afternoon (May 19) at the Battaramulla National War Heroes’ Monument with the attendance of Commander -In-Chief President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the Chief Guest
Standing L-to-R:
Secy Def Gen Kamal Gunaratne, Maj Gen Nandana Senadeera (retd) Chairperson Ranaviru Seva Authority; President Gothabaya, Genl Shavendra Silva, the Commander SL Navy and the Commander SLAF.
Gerd von Dincklage-Schulenburg seems to have been a world traveller and adventurer with daring do. Of German stock he was in Ceylon in the 1950s and cut quite a figure in Royal College and at the Kinross Swimming Club at Wellawatte beach according to Hugh Karunanayake (a Royalist now living in Melburne) who had this to osay: “He cut quite a figure with his long hair and riding his motorbike bare bodied through the streets of Colombo. He lived somewhere near Flower Road and attended Royal College for a couple of years.”
What is more, von Dinklage and Hugh Stewart were “were the first to introduce snorkelling and spear fishing into Sri Lanka. I think their base was the Kinross Swimming Club in Wellawatte” according to my niece Barbara Webster nee Stewart (of Perth now). Hugh, certainly, stoked my interest in snorkelling around Galle fort.
Be that as it may, we are fortunate that Barbara was able to supply a photograph, a faded one, of the two young adventurers at Kucheveli when the Stewart family were on holiday there.
Barbara adds: “It was taken when the family were holidaying at Kuchevali. The two men were very good friends, excellent swimmers and adventurers. ”
Campaign to repeal Tamil Genocide Education Week Act (TGEWA), for the sake of all Sri Lankans
Dear Friends,
The Ontario provincial government of Canada passed a law on May the 6th to educate all Ontarians on a Tamil Genocide in Sri Lanka. The bill 104 that was passed is titled Tamil Genocide Education Week Act (TGEWA). Now, the schools in Ontario have no choice but to teach Tamil Genocide in Sri Lanka as a curriculum element, especially during the week ending May the 18th, every year. This is a myth propagated by the Pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora, which despite not having a single shred of solid evidence keeps on repeating a lie, hoping that it would be established as fact.
Mr C .… an orignal piece for Thuppahi** … with highlighting being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi
I found Asoka Bandarage’s essay was okay, but it suffers from a few argumentative flaws I will discuss in this article. The writer has made many claims. Some of these I agree with. Her main argument comes towards the end of the article which may be summarized as follows: Sri Lanka must avoid being exploited by foreign powers or caught up in geopolitical adventures played out between India, China and the US – a goal which it can achieve by creating food and energy security for itself by exploiting natural resources, and she mentions an area of Sri Lanka containing oil and gas resources. We know Sri Lanka is a fertile land and can easily sustain rice and food crops, if managed properly.
Mujib Mashal and Skandha Gunasekara, in NY Times article,14 May 2022, where the title reads “A Ruling Family on the Run as Sri Lanka plunges into Economic Ruin,“
From left, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa in 2018. The family has dominated Sri Lanka for the better part of two decades. Credit: Eranga Jayawardena/Associated Press
Once empowered by triumphant ethnic nationalism after a brutal civil war, the Rajpaksa dynasty has been wht its own allies call incompetence and denial. As the guests sat down for a banquet dinner last summer at the grand colonial-era home of Sri Lanka’s president, the small talk soon turned gravely serious.
Andrew Symonds, the former Australian allrounder who played in 26 Tests and 198 ODIs in an international career spanning from 1998 through 2009, has died in a car accident in Queensland.
Symonds was 46 and was involved in an accident outside Townsville where he lived in retirement.
Port News, 3 March 2022,where the title reads thus “Hambantota Port wins big at Global Port Forum Awards 2021″
The Hambantota International Port was named “Multi-Purpose Port /Terminal of The Year 2021 & Port Infrastructure Development of the Year 2021,” at the recently concluded Global Port Forum (GPF) awards earlier this week.The Awards ceremony, held at the Shangri-La, Dubai, brought together organisations and professionals from across the world’s Ports & Terminals industry, to a gala event, where the highest contributors of 2021 were recognised.
HIP won two of the most coveted awards, ‘Multi-Purpose Port / Terminal of The Year 2021’ and ‘Port Infrastructure Development of the Year 2021,’ after a stringent process conducted by the forum to select the most deserving in each of the categories. Global Ports Customers and Senior Port Experts from the Global Ports Council made up the prestigious panel of judges who were involved in the shortlisting and selection process.
Premila Thurairatnam, an essay that will appear in THE CEYLANKAN of May 2022 ….. with highlghting imposed by the Editor, Thuppahi
Further to my article in the November 2020 issue of The CEYLANKAN entitled The Extraordinary Alagu Subramaniam, I present the findings from my research into how this short story writer formulated some of his stories almost a century ago. He was commended in the Encyclopedia of Post-Colonial Literatures in English as an exemplar of professionalism in the short story and that he wrote fiction of merit1. So, I think my effort on his work is worthwhile.
Alagu in 1947 aged 37 when he returned to Ceylon from England
