Category Archives: sri lankan society

March 26, 2023 · 4:06 pm

Ceylonese Volunteers in the Midst of Trench Warfare Carnage – World War One

Suren Ratwatte, whose chosen title reads as “Battle of the Somme and the Trinitians at the frontlines” …. while his text has had Highlights imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Suren Ratwatte writes about the bloodiest chapter in the history of the British Army in WW II, where his grandfather Sir Richard Aluwihare and three other schoolmates faced the brunt of enemy fire.

What remains today: The trenches in France where the 29th Division (among whom were the young soldiers from Ceylon), fought in 1916. Pix by Suren Ratwatte

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March 26, 2023 · 1:11 am

Serving Sri Lanka: Skandakumar on Mevan Pieris

Somachandra Skandakumar’s Address at the Launch of Mevan Pieris’s THE COMMUNITY,21 March 2023 … with highlighting imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

Chief Guest Professor G.L Pieris, Guest of Honour, the  Reverend Warden Marc Billimoria, distinguished Guests, Ayubowan ,Vanakkam, Assalam Aleykum, Good evening,

It was three years ago that an equally eminent Thomian Anura  Tennekoon invited me to speak at the launch of his book. Today I am privileged again by one of similar standing and must thank Mevan for the opportunity. Such moments merely reinforce the values of our two great Institutions, where the fierceness of competition on the playing fields have led to the strongest of bonds off it .

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March 26, 2023 · 12:27 am

Sri Lanka’s Woes: “Truthseeker’s” Insights in April 2022

An EMAIL NOTE from Gus Mathews in UK, 25 March 2023 **

This a fascinating read that throws some light into the present-day financial woes of the current predicament in Sri Lanka. It was published some time ago, but it is as illuminating as ever.

REFERRING TO https://thuppahis.com/2022/04/27/the-yahapaalana-legacy-and-three-major-international-events-processes-driving-sri-lanka-to-bankruptcy/#more-61140

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March 25, 2023 · 9:06 pm

In Suspense: The Hundredth Royal-Thomian Match in 1979

Richard Simon  … with highlighting imposed by the Editor Thuppahi

The 1979 Royal-Thomian cricket match may not actually have been the hundredth in the series, as it was proclaimed to be, but was certainly regarded, at the time, as the most important Royal-Thomian ever played. Richard Simon’s forthcoming book, STC: The Unauthorised History, captures not only the game itself, but also much of the behind-the-scenes competition, lobbying, manoeuvring and occasional skulduggery that accompanied the selection of coaches, team members and other important participants. Below is part of Simon’s description of the match.

✥

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March 24, 2023 · 10:48 pm

Keenie Meenie Mercenary Operations in Lanka in UK Gunsights

Phil Miller, in Declassified UK, March 14, 2023

A former SAS commander whose mercenary business in Sri Lanka is under investigation for war crimes has left millions of pounds in his will.

     Attached photo of Colonel Johnson leading an SAS parade in 1960. (Image: Imperial War Museum)

One of Britain’s most rapacious mercenaries amassed a fortune worth £4m before his death in 2008, an investigation by Declassified UK has found. The soldier of fortune, Colonel Henry ‘Jim’ Johnson, was once described by a senior British diplomat as having “political ideas [that] are probably to the right of Genghis Khan” – a reference to the infamously brutal Mongol emperor.

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March 24, 2023 · 10:00 pm

Dharshan Weerasekera’s Array of Essays and Books

Author Archive for Dharshan Weerasekera

International Law Implications of Canadian Parliament’s Motion on ‘Tamil Genocide’

Saturday, November 26th, 2022

By Dharshan Weerasekera Courtesy The Island On 18 May 2022, the Canadian House of Commons adopted without opposition a motion introduced by Rep. Gary Anandasangaree recognising 18 May of each year as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day” (www.parliament.ca). This follows a Bill adopted by the Ontario legislature in May 2021 calling for the week following May […]

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March 24, 2023 · 4:00 pm

The Royal-Thomian Cricket Match: Its History

Uthpala Wijesuriya, in The Island, 17 March 2023,where the title presented is  “The Earth’s Greatest Rivalry” … while the highlighting in this presentation has been imposed by a Thuppahiyaaaaaaaaa.

The Royal-Thomian or the Battle of the Blues, the world’s second oldest uninterrupted cricket battle, will unveil for the 144th consecutive year this week. The encounter pits the boys bearing the crests of the Elephant and Palm Tree against those bearing the Cross and Dove.

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March 23, 2023 · 4:28 am

Sri Lankan Military in Judicial Gunsights Over May 2009 Incidents

Groundviews, 14 March 2023, where the title reads “Military to Face a Day of Reckoning Over the Disappeared”

In a landmark case last month, the Vavuniya High Court ordered the army to produce three LTTE members who had surrendered to the military in May 2019 and have been missing ever since, in response to a habeas corpus case filed by their wives.

 

 

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March 22, 2023 · 4:01 am

TW Roberts R.I.P. ……. July 1976

A Vale in[1] Appreciation, From Miss Norah Roberts                                                                                                            Fort, Galle,  10th July 1976

Letter to: The Editor, “Sunday Observer”, Colombo

  T.W.ROBERTS ……………………………. An Appreciation[2]

At the age of 17 my father, Thomas Webb Roberts won the Barbados Scholarship from Queens College, Barbados, and entered the Oxford University where he passed both the Classical Mods and Grates in the first class before he was 21. He topped the list in the open competition for the Colonial Civil Service. He also found time to get married when he was only 18, to my mother[3] who was also 18. When he came out to the C.C.S. at 21 he had 3 children, Isabella, T.F.C and G. C. Roberts.[4]

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March 21, 2023 · 5:04 am

The Insidious Work of American Soft-Power Agencies

 An Observer in a Georgian Black Sea Resort Town

The NED/CIA have been using soft power to target the youth and media institutions in countries around the world. Take Georgia and Hong Kong as case studies.

Protestors rally against the draft law outside the Georgian parliament in Tbilisi.

In the last few weeks, the Georgian parliament, the elected representatives of the country, tried to introduce a Foreign Agent’s Register Act just like the one Australia introduced in 2018. The Georgian version used very similar language to the US foreign agent’s registration law which was passed in the 1930s.  Suddenly, the Georgian youth came out on to street demanding the government reject this draft law. EU leaders labelled the proposed Georgian foreign register law as being “against EU values”, even though almost all EU countries have the same law.  This is a repeat performance of what happened in Hong Kong in 2018-2019.

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