Category Archives: sri lankan society

September 25, 2014 · 12:48 am

TRAVEL PULSE sees good future for Tourism in Lanka

James Ruggia, in The Daily News, 24 September 2014, where the title is “What’s Next for Sri Lanka’s Growing Tourism?”

Sri Lanka finally seems to have moved the conversation away from the past to the more appealing power of its tourism attractions including tea plantations, blue whale watching, highlands, wildlife viewing, beaches, lakes, rivers and jungles. In August the country had already welcomed its millionth visitor, a development that has tourism officials optimistic that they can reach their 2014 goal of 1.5 million visitors. Last year the country attracted about 1.2 million visitors and is targeting 2.5 million in 2015.

KITULGALA WGwhite water rafting White water rafting at Kitulgala

In the immediate aftermath of the war, it was difficult to attract tourists or investment. International hotel companies were among the first tourism concerns to enter the country with Marriott, Hyatt, Mövenpick and Shangri-La leading the charge and several tour operators are now also wading in the waters. Continue reading →

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September 25, 2014 · 12:16 am

Bradman Weerakoon questions Jayaweera’s Account of Language Policy in the 1960s

Bradman Weerakoon Jaffna_fort_entrance NEVILLE 11

 “The Making and Un-Making of History – Neville Jayaweera’s ‘Exorcising the Past and Holding the Vision’. … reviewed by Bradman Weerakoon, in The Sunday Island,  7 September 2014

Neville Jayaweera’s Memoir on his period of service as Government Agent Jaffna between August 1963 and 1966 is as Michael Roberts says in his Foreword a veritable feast of information to be mined. This was a defining phase of our history. It saw the Tamil resentment in the North on account of the ‘Sinhala Only’ Act (1956) grow into a full – blown civil disobedience movement. That spun into the 30 year war we were all caught up in until recently. Neville Jayaweera (NJ) in Jaffna was at the epi – centre of the storm as it developed.

NJ’s detailed recall of incidents of many years ago, assisted by the daily diary he kept, should help fill many of the gaps in the history of those times. Only a few of us are yet around to bear personal witness to what really happened and it makes such memoirs of history as it happened, invaluable. Continue reading →

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September 24, 2014 · 9:26 am

Reviewing Neville Jayaweera’s Account of a Critical Phase in the Sinhala Tamil Conflict

Jaffna- “Exorcising the Past and Holding the Vision” An autobiographical reflection by Neville Jayaweera

I> REVIEW ONE by R. M. B Senanayake, courtesy of The Island,  24th September 2014

We may ask the question what it is that Neville Jayaweera wants to convey to the public and to posterity through his autobiographical reflections? Direct or first-hand experiences of events impart a special depth as opposed to the third hand reports of the same events. Those of us who were Jayaweera’s contemporaries in the CCS in the 1960s, such as I, can confirm that his narration of those experiences in Reflections is generally a correct portrayal of the history of those times. One might not share all of his views, but his work is a sparkling revelation, full of spiritual substance, candour and intellectual depth.

What impressed me most in Neville Jayaweera’s (NJ hereafter) Reflections was his inherent sense of justice and fair play and, as Susil Sirivardena says in his Preface, his granite-hard commitment to conscience and humanistic values, He was influenced entirely by the Buddhist concepts of avijja (ignorance of things as they are) the yatharthaya and maya (illusions) and concludes that “within Buddha’s epistemology there is no room for ethnic divisions, for nationalisms or even for patriotism.” Continue reading →

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September 21, 2014 · 10:55 pm

Crossing the Lines: Tamil Escapees from the Last Redoubt meet the Army

SinhaRaja Tammita-Delgoda, an essay written in April 2009 while embedded with the SL Army … with an abbreviated version  published in The Independent in UK on 16th April 2009 under the heading “Casualties of War” … with images added by Editor, Thuppahi. .** 

PART I:

From Paranthan, the road to Vallipuram is rich and green. Great expanses of paddy stretch out before you, clumps of palmyrah dot the land and little streams of water trickle by. As we near the fighting paddy fields give way to broken buildings and blasted vehicles. Twisted trees and uprooted trunks line the way. Everything is covered with a layer of brown dust. An occasional boat lies stranded on either side of the road, reminders of a last desperate attempt by the Tamil Tigers to hold back the tide. Blasting a reservoir in the path of the advancing Sri Lanka army, Tiger cadres counterattacked in boats, riding upon a wall of water. The water however, has receded and the Tigers have retreated.

10-- 103a-out of NKL SRILANKA/  Continue reading →

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September 21, 2014 · 9:12 pm

Marga and CHA provide a Third Narrative of Eelam War IV

Jeevan-e1411036663379Jeevan Thiagarajah in Q and A with BricsPost

On September 14, a delegation of Sri Lankan NGOs submitted to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) a report titled Issues of Truth and Reconciliation: Narrative III – the Last Stages of the War in Sri Lanka. The UNOHCHR, and the Sri Lankan government, have recently began separate probes into alleged human rights abuses committed during the period 2006-2009, one of the bloodiest in Sri Lanka’s 26 year civil war.

The Narrative III report states that there are a number of different accounts of the last phase of the civil war – including documented data from the Sri Lankan military, international NGOs such as Human Rights watch – among others, and eyewitness accounts collected by the Jaffna University Teachers for Human Rights.

Narrative III was published in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, New Delhi, and Geneva and is expected to be taken to New York, DC, Brussels, London and, Pretoria. Continue reading →

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September 21, 2014 · 8:38 pm

Revisiting Eelam War IV

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMichael Roberts

It is a cliché to say that the study of Eelam War IV is a complex topic. But such a truism has to be reiterated over and over again in the face of the propaganda war that has prevailed from the outset in 2006 to this day — given the plethora of half-truths, fabrications and slipshod assessments that have beset the topic.

The literature in print, internet and visual (videos, photographs) media is as enormous as complex. For a single person to master the data is well-nigh impossible. Though I have engaged in this work from early 2009, I find that “new data” enters my compass every week. By “new” I mean material that I was not aware of or have not had time to digest. Continue reading →

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September 18, 2014 · 10:25 am

Fabulous Bird Snaps from Marcel Bandaranaike in Lanka

Marcel bird 33 Changeable Hawk Eagle

 Marcel bird 155 

ALSO SEE http://www.dailynews.lk/?q=local/top-seven-wild-sri-lanka-flagship-species

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September 18, 2014 · 10:18 am

Wild Life Reserves of Sri Lanka

Marcel Bandaranaike, courtesy of The Aloysian, April and August issues, 2014

Mihintale, in the ancient kingdom of Anuradhapura located in the North Central province of Sri Lanka is said to be the world’s first recorded (247 BC) wild life & nature reserve established by King Devanampiyatissa, a convert to conservationism. Further evidence of this deep rooted concern to the conservation of wild life is found in an inscription engraved on a stone slab at Anuradhapura’s majestic Ruwanveli dagoba, attributed to the 12th century king Nissankamalla, forbidding capture, killing or commercial trafficking of any animals within a radius of 7 (gauvva) from the city.

At present, some of the better nature reserves in the Indian Sub-Continent & South East Asia for Leopard & Elephant are found in Sri Lanka. MARCEL 101

There are 21 national parks in Sri Lanka maintained by the Department of Wild Life Conservation.

  1. Angammedilla National Park           11. Lunugamvehera National Park
  2. Bundala National Park                12. Madura National Park
  3. Flood Plains National Park               13. Minneriya National Park
  4. Gal Oya National Park                        14. Pegion Island National Park
  5. Galway’s National Park                      15. Somawathiya Chaitiya National
  6. Hikkaduwa National Park                 16. Udawalawe National Park
  7. Horagolla National Park                    17. Ussangoda National Park
  8. Horton Plains National Park    18. Wasgomuwa National Park
  9. Kaudulla National Park                      19. Wllpattu National Park
  10. Lahugala National Park                       20. Kumana National Park (Yala East)

21. Yala National Park Continue reading →

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September 18, 2014 · 9:21 am

Don Martino De Zilva Wickremasinghe (1865-1937) — Savant, Linguist and Epigraphist … with Notes about HCP Bell, Archaeologist (1851-1937)

Thiru Arumugam, courtesy of The Ceylankan, Journal 67, vol XVII:3, August 2014, pp. 18-22.

Thiru photoThiru Arumugam

Don Martino De Zilva Wickremasinghe was born in the Southern Province in 1865. He passed away in 1937. He was educated at Richmond College, Galle, which was originally called ‘The Galle School’. It was founded on 25 July 1814 by the Weslyan Methodist Missionaries and is the oldest English medium school in the country. Although he did not have a Bachelor’s degree, Wickremasinghe was appointed Lecturer in Tamil and Telugu by the University of Oxford. Subsequently he became Head of the Dravidian Department, University of London. He lectured at the School of Oriental Studies, University of London which was renamed in 1938 as the School of Oriental and African Studies. It has been described as the world’s leading Institution for the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle-East. The jewel in its crown is the Library with over a million volumes. Wickremasinghe was completely fluent in the following languages and lectured in most of them at University level: English, German, Sinhala, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit.

Wickremasinghe photo2 a grainy image of Wickramasinghe taken in London in 1899

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September 17, 2014 · 2:46 pm

Sam Wijesinha, A Man for All Seasons, appreciated in Death and Life

SAM WIJ photoI. Tissa Devendra: “Sam Wijesinha’s Official Career Has Been Characterised with Absolute Integrity and Tempered with Humanity,” 2 September 2014, courtesy of The Island and DBSJeyaraj.com **

Hon. Prime Minister, Mr. Sam Wijesinha, members of his extended family- stretching from Getamana in Ruhuna to Canada’s Great Lakes-, distinguished ladies and gentlemen,

It has been a great honour to be invited to speak at the launch of this fascinating book on Sam Wijesinha – celebrating his life of service to Sri Lanka, and Parliament in particular. It is also a wonderful tribute to the personal values he exemplifies in the civilized ambience of ‘Lakmahal’. Continue reading →

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