January 26, 2021 · 2:12 pm

A Blaring of the 1956 Sinhala Chauvinist Trumpet ….. AGAIN!

“Way Forward” in Lanka Future and #FAKENEWS, 22 February 2018 where the title reads “The racist anti-Sinhala journalists — past and present”

Officially, Sri Lanka got its Independence in 1948.

However, it was not until 1956 that the masses were truly freed. In the years from 1948-1956, the “British Raj” style of government continued in Sri Lanka. The ruling politicians were all of the kalu-suddha variety. Minorities ruled the country because they were the ones with the education and training, and contacts, required to obtain all the plum positions.

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January 25, 2021 · 2:11 pm

The 43 Group in Ceylon: Their Story

Rohan de Soysa,  copy of a PowerPoint Presentation made to the National Trust of Sri Lanka on September 29, 2016 by Rohan de Soysa transcribed into text format …. with coloured underlining [as distinct from that in black] being emphasis imposed by The Editor, Thuppahi

The Origins: The `43 Group was the first modern art movement in Sri Lanka. It arose because a group of artists felt that the art being practiced and taught at the time was too academic and rigid; nor did it attempt to follow new developments in European art since the early 20th Century. They therefore decided to form a group more open to these new developments but with a distinct Ceylonese stamp and flavour.

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January 24, 2021 · 12:49 pm

Embuldeniya and Tirimanne Combo strike Five Times … thus far

England batting vs Sri Lanka at Galle in the Second Test, late January 2021

ZAK CRAWLEY = ct Tirimanne b Embuldeniya …… 05

7.1 edged and gone straightaway! No sighters to Crawley! An impeccable left-armer’s dismissal, round the wicket, angled in and dipping on an off-stump line, biting sharply to kiss the edge, and a simple snick to the lurking slip! Big problems at the top of the order for England. And big problems for the foreseeable in this innings! 5/2

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January 24, 2021 · 10:23 am

Shukra Munawwar shows Lankans how to forge Charitable Togetherness

Nayomini Weerasooriya, AT https://nayominiweerasooriya.com/2021/01/18/one-young-girl-who-united-all-sri-lankans-and-she-wears-a-head-scarf/amp/?__twitter_impression=true) WITH THIS TITLE “One young girl who united all Sri Lankans.. and she wears a head scarf…

“When Shukra Munawwar excelled in the Sri Lankan version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ on a local TV channel, the 17 year old schoolgirl from the South of Sri Lanka, brought all Sri Lankans together in one joyous celebration.BIt was not just her sincerity, her candid and cheerful demeanor that captured the hearts across religious and ethnic divides. It was her story, her talent, her skill and her determination.

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January 24, 2021 · 9:13 am

Nabbed at Last! Tse Chi Lop caught in Amsterdam

BBC News Item, 24 January 2021, entitled “Tse Chi Lop: Alleged Asian drug lord arrested in Amsterdam”

Police in the Netherlands have arrested the alleged head of one of the world’s biggest drugs gangs, on a warrant issued by Australia. Tse Chi Lop – a Chinese-born Canadian national – is said to be the head of The Company, which dominates a $70bn illegal drugs market across Asia. Listed as one of the world’s most wanted fugitives, Mr Tse was detained at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport.

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January 24, 2021 · 8:30 am

The Dutch Burghers in Sri Lanka Today

Prabath De Silva, in Daily Mirror, 21 January 2021, with this title “The Dutch Burghers in Sri Lanka”

 “We are a vanishing tribe in Sri Lanka. The first paternal ancestor of my father’s family who arrived in Sri Lanka in 1774 was Pieter Scharenguivel. He was a Quarter Master in the service of the United Dutch East India Company which ruled the maritime provinces of Sri Lanka from the middle of the 17th century to 1796. The Dutch Burgher identity and consciousness within the family I grew up in was extremely significant. It played a role  in the conversations, traditions, customs, food, perceptions and social interactions. During the British colonial rule, our community produced eminent surgeons, doctors, legal luminaries, judges, engineers, sportsmen, musicians , historians and artists etc.” , said Anne-Marie Scharenguivel (65), a management accountant and a member of Sri Lanka’s tiny  Dutch Burgher community of less than 30000 people.

Mrs. Anne-Marie Scharenguivel

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January 23, 2021 · 2:07 am

Sangakkara at Cricket: Pictorials

Michael Roberts

In moving from a pictorial depiction of the parental and local urban background where Kumar Sangakkara has been nurtured, to a photographic ‘sketch’ of his cricketing endeavours, it will be easy for readers to forget the dangerous Sri Lankan circumstances hanging over the cricketing scenario within Sri Lanka in the period when Kumar strode on to the field in Sri Lankan colours – from the mid-1990s. These were the sporadically continuous dangers hanging over the urban and rural byways around Colombo and Kandy as a result of the Eelam Wars and the capacity displayed by the Tamil Tigers in mounting suicide assassinations as well as massive blasts directed at high-profile urban targets.

Tiger Bombing of the Central Bank in the Fort, Colombo, 31 January 1996

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January 22, 2021 · 2:06 pm

A Joust between a Tamil Nationalist and a Thuppahi Mongrel

Michael Roberts, in Sri Lanka Guardian, 12 September 2011
 Early in September [2011] I circulated an item describing efforts mounted by private enterprise in cooperation with the Sri Lankan state (military as well as government agents) to alleviate the life world of Tamil people being re-settled in the northern Vanni – a continuation of efforts in the IDP camps at Menik Farm in 2009 – through the establishment of psycho-social units working on the mental health of children in particular. Clearly, this note and its documents were part of the empirical terrain relevant to the propaganda war raging since early 2009.
My focus was on the ideologies permeating the thinking of Sinhala-speaking people over the centuries. It is my speculation that similar deep structures permeate the thinking of Tamil-speaking people in Sri Lanka and India; and for that matter, mutatis mutandis, most of the people in India. It will call for a brave Tamil scholar to investigate and disclose this phenomenon today.

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January 22, 2021 · 10:54 am

China Sanctions Pompeo and Other Trump Wheeler-Dealers

Item in The Island, 22 January 2020, with this title “China slaps sanctions on 28 Trump administration officials, including Pompeo”

China has imposed sanctions on 28 former Trump administration officials, including outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, agency reports said yesterday. In a statement released just minutes after President Biden took office, China’s foreign ministry said it had decided to sanction those “who have seriously violated China’s sovereignty and who have been mainly responsible for such U.S. moves on China-related issues.”

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January 21, 2021 · 5:06 am

Galle Port, Fort and Cricket Grounds in Profile

Courtesy of Dushy Perera

ANOTHER VIEW …in Wikipedia

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