Category Archives: sri lankan society

July 27, 2018 · 8:10 am

Facing Foursquare: Lalith Weeratunga in Q and A with Daily Mirror

Ranjith Ananda Jayasinghe, in Daily Mirror, 25 July 2018http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/I-never-took-orders-from-members-of-the-Rajapaksa-family-153131.html, where the title is “I never took orders from members of the Rajapaksa family”

Secretary to the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Lalith Weerathunga, in an interview with our sister paper Deshaya spoke about the charisma of the ousted president, the times during which the war raged and the controversial manner in which former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka was arrested. This marks the first time during the past four years that Weerathunga obliged to grant an interview to a newspaper.   

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Filed under accountability, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, world affairs

July 26, 2018 · 2:10 pm

Ajit Kanagasundram’s Tale of Lanka and Singapore

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Filed under authoritarian regimes, British colonialism, colonisation schemes, economic processes, energy resources, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, security, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, transport and communications, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes

July 26, 2018 · 5:29 am

The Demons within the Proposed New Constitution: A Trojan Horse?

CA Chandraprema, in The Island, 25 July 2018, where the title is“The nature of the State and the Presidency” … with emphasis added by The Editor, Thuppahi

The new draft constitution prepared by a panel of experts, for the consideration of the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly is now out. The panel of experts who prepared this draft comprised the following: Prof. Suri Ratnapala, N. Selvakkumaran, Prof. Navaratna Bandara, Asoka Gunawardena, Suren Fernando and Niran Anketell. Proposed Article 1 of the draft constitution describes the Sri Lankan state as follows: “Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is a free, sovereign and independent Republic which is an aekiya rajyaya/ orumiththa nadu, consisting of the institutions of the Centre and of the Provinces which shall exercise power as laid down in the Constitution. In this Article aekiya rajyaya // orumiththa nadu means a State which is undivided and indivisible, and in which the power to amend the Constitution, or to repeal and replace the Constitution, shall remain with the Legislature and the People of Sri Lanka as provided in this Constitution.”

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July 22, 2018 · 7:20 pm

Bunfight over Galle Cricket Stadium due to Heritage Issues

Champika Fernando, in Daily Mirror, 22 July 2018, where the title runs “Galle Stadium conundrum: The inside story”

Citing UNESCO requirements that do not exist, the Government decided this week to demolish the pavilions at the historic Galle International Cricket Stadium and to relocate the venue elsewhere. Government representatives at a recent meeting resolved to demolish the “intrusive” constructions and to set aside land in Pinnaduwa for a new cricket stadium. Among them were four ministers: Vajira Abeywardena and Sagala Ratnayake from the Southern Province, Sports Minister Faiszer Musthapha and Cultural Affairs Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakse.

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Filed under accountability, architects & architecture, cricket for amity, cultural transmission, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, legal issues, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, Sri Lankan cricket, sri lankan society, world affairs

July 20, 2018 · 2:28 pm

Export Strategy for Sri Lanka Initiated

Editor, News-in-Asia, 20 July 2018, where the title is “Sri Lanka launches ambitious 5 yr National Export Strategy to boost economic growth”

The Sri Lankan government has launched a five year National Export Strategy (NES) to boost foreign investments, foreign exchange earnings and employment, the Daily FT reported Friday. Addressing the launch of the five year NES strategy, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the key objective of the NES  was to increase the capacity of the local export sector, improve trade performance and competitiveness and ensure different sectors of the economy evolved to grab a share of the global market in reaching the government’s goal of 28 billion US dollars in export revenue by 2022.

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Filed under commoditification, economic processes, export issues, foreign policy, island economy, modernity & modernization, performance, politIcal discourse, power politics, sri lankan society, world events & processes

July 17, 2018 · 2:49 pm

A Slashing Critique of All Lanka’s Political Houses via a Bhikkhu who strangulates a Cop

Tisaranee Gunasekara, courtesy of Colombo Telegraph, 15 July 2018, where the title reads “Clowns Or Murderers: Our Hobson’s Choice” …. with emphasis being the hand of The Editor, Thuppahi

The news was sensational, yet it was downplayed. The chief incumbent of a temple in Ratnapura strangled a police sergeant to death. The monk has been absconding after being charged with sexual abuse. The sergeant went to the temple to hand over the summons. He went alone and unarmed; after all, he was going to a temple to meet a monk. The sergeant’s screams alerted the neighbours who called 119. When a police team rushed to the temple, the monk greeted them with a hand grenade.

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Filed under atrocities, authoritarian regimes, disparagement, fundamentalism, governance, historical interpretation, Hitler, landscape wondrous, life stories, news fabrication, politIcal discourse, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, vengeance, violence of language, working class conditions, world events & processes

July 13, 2018 · 11:20 pm

Prabhakaran oversees digging at Mass Grave in Mannar Town

Daily News Item, 13 July 2018, where the title is“ Mass grave discovered in Mannar”

A mass grave with 38 skeletons has been discovered in Sri Lanka’s former war zone where the government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels were engaged in pitched battles in 2009, officials said today.  Skeletal remains of around 38 people have been found during the ground digging to build a new construction at the old cooperative store site in the northeastern town of Mannar. 

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Filed under atrocities, military strategy, politIcal discourse, prabhakaran, sri lankan society, taking the piss, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, trauma, vengeance, war crimes, world events & processes

July 12, 2018 · 3:50 am

Neville Jayaweera’s Vavuniya Diaries on the JVP Insurgency of 1971

THE VAVUNIYA DIARIES (recollecting the first JVP uprising 5th April 1971 – 19th August 1971)

by Neville Jayaweera, Government Agent Vavuniya Administrative District 1970-1973

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Filed under accountability, atrocities, caste issues, conspiracies, economic processes, female empowerment, governance, historical interpretation, insurrections, island economy, JVP, landscape wondrous, legal issues, life stories, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, trauma, unusual people, vengeance, war reportage, world events & processes

July 10, 2018 · 2:11 pm

Accusers Accused — by Lord Michael Naseby

Item in Daily Mirror, 9 July 2018

Baron Lord Naseby said both the UK and the US were guilty of atrocities and that the two countries should inform the UN Human Rights Commission to withdraw the resolution against Sri Lanka. Lord Naseby, the President of the All Party British Sri Lanka Parliamentary Group, said this after reading the UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee report published on June 28.

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July 8, 2018 · 2:52 am

Figures…Roaming…Roaming the Sri Lankan Countryside

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Filed under art & allure bewitching, landscape wondrous, slanted reportage, sri lankan society