Category Archives: self-reflexivity

February 7, 2020 · 8:38 am

Our Anthem FOR Hearts and Minds

Michael Roberts

The full-frontal challenges from Janaka Perera and Daya Hewapathirane[1] to my advocacy of the National Anthem being sung in Sinhala and Tamil are on different scales, the one moderate and the latter extremist/chauvinist. But they are not totally apart. Both indulge in cherry-picking examples from the world beyond Sri Lanka to bolster their prejudices. More significantly, the moderate claims of JP work insidiously to bolster the extremists like DH and, worse still, to alienate moderate Tamils (the extremist Tamils, in my assessment, are beyond conversion to amity or sanity).

 

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February 5, 2020 · 11:26 pm

For the Singing of the National Anthem in Sinhala Only: Two Adamant Voices

On the 21st January 2020 two personnel who are part of an “Email Collective” in which I am a member (mostly as a recipient) raised challenges by a comment within the Thuppahi route (Perera) and by an Email Note to the Collective (Hewapathirane) — arguing for the singing of the national anthem in Sinhala Only. Expecting the issue to arise on February 4th and overwhelmed with work on my two websites and other pursuits, I did not respond immediately. Janaka Perera is nothing if not persistent and has tapped me on the shoulder again.

Let me place their theses in the public domain first so that other voices can chip in. My answer will appear in a day or so as a separate entity.

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February 5, 2020 · 2:58 pm

Facing the Geneva Threat: Lessons not Learnt

Neville Ladduwahetty, Island 29 January 2020, in with this title “GENEVA: Lessons NOT Learnt”

 

Lady Justice reading a book

According to a report in The Island of January 23, 2020, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella had stated “that the new government’s stand on the Geneva accountability resolution would be based on the position taken by former Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana, P.C. on behalf of the previous government…”.

“The Government of Sri Lanka at the highest political levels, has both publicly and in discussions with the present and former High Commissioner for Human Rights and other interlocutors, explained the constitutional and legal challenges that preclude it from including non-citizens in its judicial processes. It has been explained that if non-citizen judges are to be appointed in such a process, it will not be possible without an amendment to the Constitution by 2/3 of members of the Parliament voting in favour and also the approval of the people at a referendum”.

 

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February 5, 2020 · 1:17 pm

Ecumenical Sri Lankans sing Anthem in Both Indigenous Languages

News Item in Colombo Gazette, 4 February 2020

Concerns were raised today over the failure by the Government to sing the National Anthem in Tamil at the main Independence Day event at Independence Square. The National Anthem was sung only in Sinhalese, which was a shift from the policy of the former Government which decided to sing the anthem in Sinhalese and Tamil in order to promote reconciliation among the communities.

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February 3, 2020 · 4:39 pm

Sri Lankan Airlines in Mercy Mission to Wuhan and Back

News Item Colombo Page, 1 February 2020: “Mercy flight to Wuhan:  SriLankan Airlines expresses gratitude to its courageous crew members and staff”

Feb 01, Colombo: Sri Lankan Airlines expresses its profound gratitude to its patriotic and loyal staff members who volunteered to operate Flight UL1423, the airline’s mission of mercy that brought back our students from Wuhan, China, on Saturday 1st February 2020.

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February 3, 2020 · 2:20 pm

Mattala Route for Mercy Flight from Wuhan for Lankan Students

News Item in Colombo Gazette, 1 February 2020 …. https://colombogazette.com/2020/02/01/flight-with-sri-lankan-students-from-wuhan-lands-at-mattala-airport/

The flight with Sri Lankan students repatriated from Wuhan landed at the Mattala Airport this morning and the students were transported to the Diyatalawa Army camp in a special bus, under tight security.

Following the direction of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Ministry of Foreign Relations in coordination with the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Beijing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China and the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka, facilitated the return of the 33 Sri Lankan students and their family members to Sri Lanka from Wuhan.

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February 3, 2020 · 1:55 pm

The Asia Society Policy Institute in Melbourne Talks the Walk

The Asia Society Policy Institute opens its first international presence in Melbourne with the appointment of Richard Maude as a resident Senior Fellow. He will also serve as Executive Director, Policy for Asia Society Australia.

For more than 60 years, the Asia Society has sought to explain the diversity of Asia to the United States and the complexity of the United States to Asia, and to be a bridge in problem-solving within the region and between Asia and the wider world. With a solution-oriented mandate, the Asia Society Policy Institute builds on this mission by tackling major policy challenges confronting the Asia-Pacific in security, prosperity, sustainability, and the development of common norms and values for the region.

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February 3, 2020 · 4:05 am

Yamuna Sangarasivam: Teaching Dance and Her Dance with Michael Jackson

Julia Smith: “Michael Jackson and the Anthropology of Dance,” …… https://www2.naz.edu/dept/sociology-anthropology/faculty-and-staff/yamuna-sangarasivam/

 Yamuna on right with a student

How did Yamuna Sangarasivam get a chance to dance with Michael Jackson in his iconic “Black or White” video — which premiered in 27 countries to an audience of 500 million?

Although she was a huge fan of the King of Pop, she never imagined that she would meet him, let alone dance a duet with him in one of his music videos! She heard of Jackson’s call for ethnic and modern dancers and auditioned — along with more than 3,000 others — because the amazing opportunity blended her passions for the anthropology of music and the anthropology of dance with her expertise in Odissi dance (classical dance tradition of Orissa, India).

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February 3, 2020 · 3:14 am

Stanley Jayaweera as Sturdy Administrator & Diplomat – A Vale from a Son

Rajeewa Jayaweera, in Sunday Island, 2 February 2020, where the title runs – “A bygone era diplomat of perspicacity. A third-year remembrance of my father”

‘If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch’ – Rudyard Kipling

My father, Stanley Robert Jayaweera (SJ), passed away on February 4, 2017, four months short of his 90th birthday. Over the last couple of years, I have penned several articles of his work, besides one in May 2017, of the different phases in our father-son relationship. This article would be the last. As memories begin to fade, they too need to be reposed.

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January 28, 2020 · 10:49 am

Jehan Perera evaluates New President’s Cautious Approach

Jehan Perera, in Island, 28 January 2020, where the title is “Adopt a problem solving approach for the north”

Contrary to expectations the government is treading a cautious path with regard to past commitments on controversial matters made by the previous government. This may be disappointing to its more nationalist supporters. They might have expected an immediate change of approach and rescinding of agreements they see as unfair or not in the national interest. In the run up to the presidential election campaign, the present government’s front line campaigners claimed that the MCC grant of USD 450 million by the US government that had just received cabinet approval would endanger the country’s national security. Members of the government and their nationalist supporters were emphatic in saying that the former government had betrayed the country. This effectively sank any prospect of election victory that the former government’s presidential candidate may have had.

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