Mahela Jayawardena :https://twitter.com/mahelajay/status/971269970964381696
Sanath Jayasuriya :https://twitter.com/sanath07/status/971296370408808449
Kumar Sangakkara :https://twitter.com/kumarsanga2/status/971293153969000449 Continue reading
Category Archives: welfare & philanthophy
Machang. China as Sri Lanka’s Best Friend
Don Manu in Sunday Island, 18 February 2018
Even as the Chinese New Year of the Dog dawned this Friday, it is becoming crystal clear that China is fast turning out to be Lanka’s best friend.. And that this country, reduced as it is to the nadir of its economical and political existence and the recent loss of its moral compass, should grip the hand of friendship. China, for whatever reason, has so earnestly extended to her. If last week’s election result showed the political negative Yin of Chinese philosophy, it has become vital that the nation embrace the positive Yang on the economic front and anchor its last buck and its first faith to the growing power of the Chinese Yuan.
Filed under american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, British imperialism, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, charitable outreach, China and Chinese influences, commoditification, export issues, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, landscape wondrous, modernity & modernization, patriotism, power politics, security, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, taking the piss, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Individual Subjectivity in the Appraisal of 70 Years of Independence: Explorations in Groundviews
What does it mean to be Sri Lankan?
70 years after independence, our identity is defined mostly along majoritarian lines, which can be traced back to the divisions created under British rule. These divisions have contributed to violence and war, in the years since 1948.
To this day, there are communities who feel that what is commonly projected and defined as the Sri Lankan identity does not reflect their reality, or themselves. Looking at this, Groundviews produced a series of videos exploring identity and belonging in a country emerging from war, but not yet out of conflict.
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, communal relations, economic processes, education, female empowerment, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, language policies, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, LTTE, modernity & modernization, nationalism, patriotism, politIcal discourse, power politics, racist thinking, religiosity, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, social justice, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, tolerance, truth as casualty of war, unusual people, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Colombo City in Singapore Style? Its Hinterland Trumps That Idea …. Witness: The Recent Elections
Wilfred Jayasuriya
I assume that the government is using the Singapore model of economic development, which focuses on services and not on agriculture or industry. In the 1970s when economic development or development economics became the favourite subject of politics and economics I was lucky to do a one year post graduate diploma in Oxford University for government officers. One question raised was “How valid is the Singapore model?” and the short answer given by Robert Mabro, an Egyptian academic who ran the course was: Singapore has no hinterland.
Filed under accountability, economic processes, electoral structures, heritage, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes
Political Turmoil NOW: Charting Prospects and Pathways with Huge Question Marks
SWR de A Samarasinghe, in Island, 13 February 2018 where the title is “Ups and Downs of Sri Lankan Politics and Looming Political Uncertainty. The Local Government Elections
Last Saturday’s Local Government (LG) Election dealt a stunning blow to President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the two respective political parties, UPFA and UNP, that they lead and paved the way for the major political comeback of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Filed under accountability, democratic measures, economic processes, electoral structures, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, parliamentary elections, political demonstrations, politIcal discourse, power politics, reconciliation, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, welfare & philanthophy, world affairs
Is Sri Lanka creating A Dungeon for Itself?
Kalinga Seneviratne 4 February 2018 with this title “Sri Lanka Celebrating Independence In Chains Of Its Own Making” at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sri-lanka-celebrating-independence-chains-its-own-kalinga-seneviratne/
While Sri Lanka “celebrates” 70 years of independence from British colonial rule this month, its sovereignty is being threatened as never before since gaining independence in 1948 – tempting one to remark that Sri Lanka is celebrating ‘independence in chains’. The strategically placed Indian ocean island is an important lynchpin in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which western powers – especially the United States and Britain – are keen to sabotage as its success would end their hegemony in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
Sri Lanka troop transport catamaran in 2004-wikiemedia Commons
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, human rights, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, military strategy, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, Presidential elections, propaganda, Rajapaksa regime, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, war reportage, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Three Clowns at Election Corral! Sri Lankan Politics in a Nutshell
Rajan Philips, in Island, 3 February 2018, where the title runs thus “Lanka at 70: Political circus interrupts the country’s constitutional odyssey”…. with highlighting here being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi
As the country marks the seventieth anniversary of independence, its principal political leaders are out-clowning one another and turning the whole political system into a circus of clowns. There is no other charitable way to describe what the President, the Prime Minister and the former President are doing in a desperate three-way shootout – to either produce the best scorecard or avoid the worst scorecard for their respective parties and alliances in the local government elections next Saturday. The scorecard that will be used for political bragging and the commentaries that will go with it will have two lines: the national tally of votes and the number of local bodies won, with special mention for trophy municipalities – Colombo being the big one.
Filed under accountability, authoritarian regimes, communal relations, democratic measures, devolution, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, island economy, language policies, Left politics, life stories, modernity & modernization, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Cardiologist Kumar Gunawardane of Townsville Honoured
News Item in Sunday Island, 27 January 2017
A Sri Lanka-born cardiologist, Dr Kumar Gunawardane, has been bestowed the most prestigious award – CONSULTANT EMERITUS by The TOWNSVILLE HOSPITAL AND HEALTH SERVICE BOARD. The presentation was made by the Minister for Health, Queensland, Dr. Steven Miles at a glittering staff excellence award ceremony. This was attended by many local dignitaries including the state and federal parliamentarians and the Mayor of Townsville Cr Jenny Hill.
Indian Aid is without Strings says Ambassador Sandhu
Editor, NewsInAsia, 4 January 2018, where the title runs India’s only aim in Lanka is to cooperate and collaborate with it, says envoy Taranjit Singh Sandhu””
The Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, has said that India’s only agenda in Sri Lanka is to “cooperate and collaborate” with it, and that Indo-Lankan bilateral cooperation is all about “sharing and caring” and devoid of “caveats and riders”. Speaking here on Wednesday following the signing of an agreement by which Sri Lanka will purchase 209 state of the art ambulances with an Indian grant of US$ 15.02 million, the Indian envoy quoted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who said in July 2016 that India joins hands with its dear and near partner, Sri Lanka, to cooperate on projects, “based on Sri Lanka’s own choices and priorities for development.”
Filed under accountability, centre-periphery relations, cultural transmission, economic processes, governance, Indian religions, island economy, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, suicide bombing, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Geo-Political Power in the Human Rights ‘Órder’
Richard Falk, in Island, 28 December 2017, where the title is “Human rights, democracy & international liberalism””
The liberal exclusion of collective rights should be reviewed, and the tendency to gloss over the existence of poverty and gross inequality endemic in capitalist societies should be subjected to critical scrutiny. As well, the tendency of socialist or state-dominated societies to undervalue civil and political rights of individuals should be equally scrutinized.
Filed under american imperialism, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, democratic measures, discrimination, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, terrorism, the imaginary and the real, truth as casualty of war, war crimes, welfare & philanthophy, working class conditions, world events & processes
