Category Archives: sri lankan society

September 4, 2016 · 9:43 am

Victor Melder’s “Randolph” Problems. A Split Personality

Victor Melder of Rhythm of the Wheels 

I have had several messages from my cyber world contacts asking why the name change from Victor to Randolph Melder. Whilst some believed it was a SCAM, others thought I was having a mid-life identification crisis, yet others wanted to know the new email address!! At birth I was named Randolph Johnny Victor Melder, and from day one used Victor as my first name, so as to distinguish me from my father – Randolph Joseph Churchill Melder, as he used his first name Randolph (Rando) for identification.

aa victorImagine the confusion, as all official documents carry my official name – Bank, Medicare, GP Services Driver’s Licence etc, to have them call out Randolph (in the words of a friend with the same problem), I am tempted to scream, Randolph Melder died in 1989.       Continue reading →

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September 3, 2016 · 2:54 pm

The Missing in Lanka: An Old Bibliography … Further Supplemented

The passage of the Office of Missing Persons Bill in the Sri Lankan Parliament and the highlighting of this issue in Groundviews makes it imperative for serious analysts to scour the literature and take note of the problems in pursuing the topic in circumstances beset with continuing propaganda associated with a deadly war where agit-prop tactics were central to the activities of all sides. The “sides” include liberals, radicals and humanists whose ideological commitments sometimes clouded judgment and ability to assess ground realities.

No one is free of subjectivity. So all subjectivities and readings have to be put to the test. This includes the claims — whether related quietly or histrionically — by grieving relatives. Their power of conviction and force of telling — just study some of the pictures — does not gaurantee truth of tale. They could have been misled or been primed by agit-prop stories that have been imbibed, absorbed and are now, today, retailed powerfully and with truth effect. The point here is that GRIEF can distort interpretation and that sympathetic hearts can be misled. A clinical approach must adhere to pragmatism in due measure.

disappearances --Pic WSWS 04-alternative2013-01-30 19.34.38 ++ Continue reading →

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Filed under accountability, atrocities, cultural transmission, doctoring evidence, economic processes, gordon weiss, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, military strategy, politIcal discourse, power politics, prabhakaran, propaganda, psychological urges, Rajapaksa regime, reconciliation, rehabilitation, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, tamil refugees, Tamil Tiger fighters, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, UN reports, vengeance, war crimes, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes, zealotry

September 3, 2016 · 11:04 am

Groundviews on Disappearances and the OMP

MISSING -GV 22

Raisa Wickrematunga: “Searching for Answers: The Road to the OMP,” 30 August 2016, https://groundviews.org/2016/08/30/searching-for-answers-the-road-to-the-omp/

Bhavani Fonseka: “The Office on Missing Persons: A New Chapter or Another Empty Promise?” 18 August 2016, https://groundviews.org/2016/08/18/the-office-on-missing-persons-a-new-chapter-or-another-empty-promise/

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September 2, 2016 · 3:14 pm

The Tamil Tigers are part of Jeremy Corbyn’s Fantasy World

Padraig Colman, courtesy of https://pcolman.wordpress.com/2016/09/01/corbyn-and-the-tamil-tigers/

Part of the dissatisfaction with Corbyn arises from his tendency to espouse causes which have little to do with the reality of practical politics in the UK itself in 2016. As recently as April 2016, Jeremy Corbyn said he fully supports Tamils in their struggle to achieve self-determination in Sri Lanka.

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Corbyn Supports Freedom Fighters:  To a certain western mind-set everything is black or white, minorities are always oppressed and discriminated against, governments must be bad, and rebels must be romantic freedom fighters. I recall that in the 1970s, my own trade union in the UK was contributing funds to the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, known as the Tamil Tigers) because they were obviously “freedom fighters” defending the oppressed Tamil minority.

In 1983, Jeremy Corbyn became an MP. In Sri Lanka, 1983 is remembered  with horror for the pogrom known as “Black July”. Thirteen soldiers were killed by the LTTE. Anti-Tamil riots ensued and lasted for ten days with property being destroyed and up to 3,000 people being killed and 200,000 displaced. Continue reading →

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September 2, 2016 · 2:55 pm

Critical Reflections on Biology and Patriarchy in the Mahavamsa within the Context of Sinhala Nationalism Today

Andi Schubert, in The Island, 31 August 2016, where the title is “Some selective (bio)logical readings of the Mahawamsa” = see Col-Telegraaph version for commentary = https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/some-selective-biological-readings-of-the-mahawamsa/

In a recent article on the confrontation between those holding the “Different Yet Equal” vigil and prominent members of the “Sinha Le Jathika Balamuluwa,” Prof. Susirith Mendis poses a very interesting challenge. In drawing out the critical role that blood plays in Sri Lankan politics, I read what Prof. Mendis is doing as an encouragement to think biologically. What I hope to do therefore is to examine the relationship between (bio)logy, i.e. the logic of the reproduction of life, and politics as it emerges in our current political discourse.

aa--MAHAVAMSA Continue reading →

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August 31, 2016 · 3:30 am

Reading Amunugama’s Study of Anagārika Dharmapala in LION’S ROAR

Tissa Devendra in The Island, 31 August 2016, where the title reads “

I quailed when asked to review Sarath Amunugama’s 700-odd page work on Anagarika Dharmapala’s life and times. I wondered what else was there to write about this colossus who strode across the Buddhist scene in the ‘Ceylon’ of little more than a century ago. So many of his statues adorn our towns and so numerous are the books, pamphlets, learned articles, both in English and Sinhala, published in Sri Lanka, India, Britain and America that there seemed little new to say. But Sarath Amunugama — administrator, politician, art lover and, above all, a meticulous scholar — has overcome my reluctance with his comprehensive, yet eminently readable, study of the Anagarika’s life and times, aptly titled The Lion’s Roar- a singularly apt description of the reverberations that the Anagarika caused in Colonial Ceylon and India.

Anagarika Continue reading →

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August 30, 2016 · 9:48 am

The Iconic Kandalama Hotel in Lanka last December 2015

Elmo Leonard,  courtesy of The Sunday Observer, where the title is” Heritance Kandalama achieves 64% occupancy in December”

How did Heritance Kandalama (earlier Kandalama Hotel) reach an occupancy rate of 64 percent for December 2006, amidst so much adverse publicity levelled against this island in recent months? And, this achievement is even more singular, considering that for December 2005 her occupancy was 84 percent? Heritance Kandalama is more than a fairy tale, and supersedes the ageless Sleeping Beauty, where human and animal life of a kingdom went into hibernation for a century while the trees continued to grow wild. This spell was broken when a handsome prince discovered the dormant city, and drawn by the splendour of the princess in slumber, kissed her, reactivating life.

KANDALAMAKandalama is in the environs of Dambulla, the rock hue temple, built by a king of Sri Lanka’s first recorded capital, Anuradhapura, reminding of his exile, in that place. It is also just 25 kilometres from Sigiriya, where a rock fortress is reputed as the ‘8th Wonder of the World’ built by a patricidal king, with a very rare and refined sense of artistry. Continue reading →

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August 30, 2016 · 1:55 am

One Sunny August Evening along the Galle Ramparts

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Continue reading →

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August 29, 2016 · 2:04 pm

“Alvin” and Corporal Nawarathne receive Prestigious World De-Mining Award

tNews Item

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The US-based Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI), engaged in provision of technical support for clearance of landmines world-wide, has selected the Sri Lanka Army’s Mine Detection Dog (MDD), Alvin and its handler, Lance Corporal G.N.W.M Nawarathne of 7 Field Engineer Regiment, Sri Lanka Engineers (SLE) as the MLI’s ‘Team of the Year – 2016’ to receive the MDD Award of the Year – 2016 during the ‘Clearing the Path’ Gala celebration on 26 October 2016 in Washington, DC.  The two-member Army de-mining team, Alvin and its handler, Lance Corporal Nawarathne has been working together to-date since 28 December 2011, having de-mined approximately a land area of 73,340 sqm   in the North and East. Their operations have so far recovered 20 Rocket Propeller Grenades (RPGs), 48 grenades, 137 Anti Personnel Mines (APMs), 24 unexploded ordnance, 18 detonators and 243 ammunition and other explosive remnants of the war. Continue reading →

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August 28, 2016 · 3:34 am

Ban Ki-Moon faces Thalif Deen on Eve of Sri Lankan Visit

Thalif Deen, courtesy of The Sunday Times, 28 August 2016, and … where the title is  “UN Chief non-committal on international judges for war crimes probe here”

In an exclusive interview, UN Chief Ban Ki Moon talks to Thalif Deen at the United Nations, ahead of his visit to Sri Lanka on Wednesday

NEW YORK—UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who will be on an official three-day visit beginning Wednesday, singled out the “ tremendous progress” made by Sri Lanka in overcoming development challenges, including in the health and development sectors. “Successive Governments have promoted strong growth policies that have reduced poverty and increased living standards throughout the country,” he noted. In an exclusive interview with the SundayTimes, Ban spoke of the peaks and valleys in the UN’s politically-fluctuating relationship with Sri Lanka, while at the same time, lamenting the slow movement towards implementing “transitional justice and reconciliation.”

SRILANKA-UNREST-UN-BAN...U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (r) is greeted by IDPs (Internaly Displaced Percons) as he visits Manik Farm in Sri Lanka on May 23, 2009. Just days after Colombo declared victory over Tamil Tiger, he toured the sprawling Menik Farm camp, 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Colombo, which was jammed with civilians who had fled the war zone. AFP PHOTO/JOE KLAMAR (Photo credit should read JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images)

SRILANKA-UNREST-UN-BAN…U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (r) is greeted by IDPs (Internaly Displaced Percons) as he visits Manik Farm in Sri Lanka on May 23, 2009. Just days after Colombo declared victory over Tamil Tiger, he toured the sprawling Menik Farm camp, 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Colombo, which was jammed with civilians who had fled the war zone. = AFP PHOTO/JOE KLAMAR ... in May 2009

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