Category Archives: self-reflexivity

August 22, 2025 · 1:10 am

Vijaya Kumaratunga in Wikipedia

FROM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijaya_Kumaratunga

Kovilage Anton Vijaya Kumaranatunga (Sinhala: කොවිලගේ ඇන්ටන් විජය කුමාරණතුංග; Tamil: விஜய குமாரணதுங்க; 9 October 1945 – 16 February 1988), popularly known as Vijaya Kumaratunga, was a Sri Lankan film actor, playback singer and politician[1] regarded as one of the most popular icons in Sri Lankan cinema of all time. He was married to former Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaranatunga from 1978 until his assassination in 1988. He was the founder of Sri Lanka Mahajana Party.[1]

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August 21, 2025 · 9:41 pm

The Ethnic Abyss in Sri Lanka Still Remains

Dr S.  I. Keethaponcalan,in where  the title reads “Sri Lanka’s Ethnic Conflict: From Reconciliation To Reescalation – Analysis,” … pubd on 21 September 2023 at EURASIA REVIEW ++

The national discourse in Sri Lanka moved from conflict termination to reconciliation with the end of the war in 2009. This essay argues that the concerned parties should shift the discourse from reconciliation to de-escalation because (1) the reconciliation project failed, and (2) the ethnic conflict shows signs of reescalation. It also argues that the possibility of anti-Tamil riots in the future cannot be dismissed.

               Reconciliation Failed

When the war ended in 2009, domestically, none of the parties were interested in reconciliation. The Tamils had more severe problems to deal with. For example, mourning their dead, finding disappeared members of their families, and resettling the internally displaced community members were some of the immediate issues the Tamil community encountered. Reconciling with the Sinhalese was the last thought in their minds. Therefore, they were not concerned about postwar reconciliation. None of the Tamil leaders discussed the need to promote reconciliation.

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August 21, 2025 · 5:15 pm

Remembering Vijaya Kumaratunga Today

Michael Roberts

 SEE David Jeyaraj’s Vale ….. https://thuppahis.com/2025/08/10/in-memoriam-vijaya-kumaratunga/ … FOR the original Thuppahi version, which does not have the highlighting emphases from my hand that can be seen NOW.

A NOTE:  David Jeyaraj provides readers with a wide-ranging and incisive account – one which I recommend strongly. Sri Lanka’s political circles lost a visionary political figure when the JVP assassinated  Vijaya Kumaratunga  on the 16th February 1988. For Chandrika, Yasodhara and Vimukthi, of course, it was a tragedy.

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August 21, 2025 · 4:51 pm

Yasodara Kumaratunga’s Inventive Mind: Free Verse from London

Michael Roberts in Adelaide, August 2025

Among a small pile of photgrpahs, letters and papers left by my departed elder sister, Estelle Fernando, is a printed ‘pamphlet’ published by Yasodhara  Kumaratunga, the  eldest daughter of Vijaya Kumaratunga and Chandrika Bandaranaike.

It presents thirteen brief  poems coined by Yasodhara when she was “in exile in  London” — as  the Foreword by an unknown person  tells us. These were “written by Yasodhara between the ages  of 8 plus 1/2 years – 11 years” during a period when she  was beginning to learn English after an education in Sinhala.”

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August 21, 2025 · 2:11 pm

Sachi’s Review of Bradman Weerakoon’s Autobiography

Sachi Sri Kantha,  reviewing  Bradman Weerakoon, Rendering Unto Caesar, Vijitha Publications, Colombo, 2004, 396 pp. under the title  “Rendering Unto Caesar: a Book Review”**

Of the millions of Sri Lankans born in the 20th century, Bradman Weerakoon is the only fellow to be blessed uniquely.  He was blessed for the first time in the year of his birth (1930), when his police officer father Edmund R.Weerakoon christened the name of legendary Australian cricket batsman Donald Bradman to him.  In 1930, Bradman became a phenomenon in the cricket arena by scoring 974 test runs in his England tour.  Bradman Weerakoon was blessed again – the only Sri Lankan – to serve nine Sinhalese politicians who held nominal executive power from 1954 to 2004.  Thus, Weerakoon was privy to the thoughts and work styles of these nine politicians (John Kotelawela, Solomon W.R.D. Bandaranaike, W. Dahanayake, Dudley Senanayake, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, J.R. Jayewardene, R. Premadasa, D.B. Wijetunga and Ranil Wickremesinghe) whom he has sketched in this memoir.  In addition to the nine leaders, even the first prime minister Don Stepehn Senanayake also receives passing mention, as the father of Dudley Senanayake.

Bradman Weerakoon

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August 18, 2025 · 9:23 pm

Lankan Migrants to Australia in Limbo

Lisa McGregor in ABC.Net.Au,  15 August 2025, bearing this  title “Former immigration minister Alex Hawke calls for action on bridging visa backlog with thousands left in limbo”

Rathy Barthlote and her two daughters live in fear of their future. (ABC News: Simon Winter)

A former Coalition immigration minister has joined calls for the government to resolve the status of thousands of asylum seekers on bridging visas. A group of around 8,000 asylum seekers who arrived between 2012 and 2013 and whose claims were rejected under a now abolished system remain in legal limbo. The Department of Home Affairs says people with new, credible claims relating to their asylum applications may request ministerial intervention.

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August 18, 2025 · 7:12 pm

Seeking …. Travelling As A Goal ….

Fazli Sameer, … The Compass Café …… If you donno where you’re going, then, any map will do

It was the sort of café people stumbled into without planning. A little crooked building on a side street that never seemed to appear on Google Maps. The hand-painted sign above the door read: “The Compass Café, Directions Served Daily.” Situated in the heart of Kollupitiya, on Green Path, the ambience was amazing and many young people made it a regular place to hang out in the evenings.

Inside, the air smelled of strong coffee and cardamom buns. A jumble of maps covered the walls: ancient parchment, subway diagrams, star charts, even children’s doodles of treasure islands. Every table had a globe, most of them cracked and faded.

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August 18, 2025 · 3:41 pm

Reaching Across the Skies: Young Avishka

Ifham Nizam ✍️in The Island, August 2025… with this title “From Skies to Scripts: A young editor taking Sri Lanka’s stories to the world,”  Published

At just 26, Avishka Mario Senewiratne has already done what many spend a lifetime trying to achieve. A trained pilot, published author, historian, and now Editor-in-Chief of The Ceylon Journal, Senewiratne is fast emerging as a defining voice in Sri Lanka’s literary and historical landscape. But behind the titles lies a story of deep passion, quiet perseverance, and an unwavering love for history – and the written word.

 

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August 18, 2025 · 1:24 pm

Deathscapes in Recent World History

Richard Koenigsberg, whose  chosen title is “LOVING WHAT KILLS US:  The History of the Twentieth Century”

 

Loving what kills us: what Nazism was.

Loving what kills us: what the Second World War was for the Japanese.

Loving and Dying for Stalin: what Russian Communism was.

Loving and Dying for Mao: what Chinese Communism was. Continue reading →

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August 17, 2025 · 12:58 am

Reading Richard Simon’s THOMIA

Uditha Devapriya, via Thilina Walpola in The Island, 10 August  2025 …………….. Review of “Thomia: The Entangled Histories of Lanka and Her Greatest Public School” by Richard Simon. In 2 volumes. Lazari Press. 869 pages.

Richard Simon’s Thomia is a massive undertaking, though to describe it as such is to indulge in cliches hardly deserving of such books. Where does one begin with a publication like this? It is, as the author notes at the beginning, not just a history of “Lanka’s greatest school”, but a fairly comprehensive and I would say eclectic history of Sri Lanka before and after British rule. The author is at his best when he draws attention to the parallel histories of school and country. Needless to say, he is at his best throughout.

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