PK Balachandran
Rajapaksa Modalities: Basil as Lone Ranger Jack of All Trades
Editorial in The Island, 31 July 2020, bearing this title “Battles and Puzzling Moves”
SLPP founder and chief strategist Basil Rajapaksa has said something very interesting in a recent press interview. He has explained why he is not contesting the upcoming election. Others in the SLPP are guided by Rafferty’s rules, to all intents and purposes, in trying to win; they and their supporters flout election laws and health guidelines with impunity.
Intra-party battles for preferential votes are raging in some political parties, and the worst affected is perhaps the SLPP, whose candidates are hurling abuse at one another openly. Only the JVP-led coalition is apparently free from such problems. What we see in the SLPP, which brought down the yahapalana government, is like a Nat Geo wildlife programme, where big cats fight fiercely, unable to share the flesh of the animals they jointly pursue and kill.
Operation London Bridge: When Queen Elizabeth Passes Away
Filed under life stories, unusual people, world events & processes
Cultural Cross-Fertilization as the Road to Amity
Raj Gonsalkorale, in DailyFT, 4 August 2020, with this title “The Northern Province: The centre for Tamil culture in Sri Lanka”
As much as the Sinhala Buddhist culture and its richness should be recognized, the Tamil culture, in particular the Tamil Hindu culture and its universality, too needs to be recognized. All Sri Lankans should be proud that the country has two such ancient cultures as its foundations.
– Pic by Shehan Gunasekara
http://www.ft.lk/columns/The-Northern-Province-The-centre-for-Tamil-culture-in-Sri-Lanka/4-704036
Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. … The word “culture” derives from a French term, which in turn derives from the Latin “colere,” which means to tend to the earth and grow, or cultivation and nurture.
Filed under Australian culture, australian media, Buddhism, centre-periphery relations, charitable outreach, communal relations, cultural transmission, democratic measures, economic processes, education, governance, heritage, Hinduism, historical interpretation, Indian traditions, language policies, life stories, politIcal discourse, reconciliation, religiosity, Saivism, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil migration, tolerance, welfare & philanthophy
Clandestine Tiger Forays in Sri Lanka, 2012-20
Camelia Nathaniel in Ceylon Daily News, 4 August 2020, where the title reads “Forces thwart attempts to revive LTTE terror”
Since the LTTE’s defeat in 2009, there have been several attempts over the years to revamp the terror outfit. From 2012 there have been 12 such attempts that are on record. All of these incidents have had some form of foreign hand in them. Intelligence units are investigating these incidents and the international connections.
Filed under accountability, conspiracies, Eelam, historical interpretation, landscape wondrous, life stories, LTTE, politIcal discourse, refugees, security, self-reflexivity, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, sri lankan society, Tamil civilians, Tamil migration, Tamil Tiger fighters, unusual people, world events & processes
Galle Fort: Demography, 2018
The Population of Galle Fort in 2018
Muslims 561
Sinhalas 432
Tamils 14
Malays 02
Burghers 02
Foreigners 60 …… Total 1071
Filed under architects & architecture, British colonialism, cultural transmission, education, ethnicity, European history, heritage, historical interpretation, island economy, landscape wondrous, life stories, literary achievements, performance, population, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, teaching profession, tourism, travelogue, unusual people, world events & processes
Verite Research Background Fact Sheet on the 2020 Parliamentary Election
An Aussie Foundation that is an US Handmaiden
Echo Hui, ABC Investigations, and Hagar Cohen
The Federal Government’s foundation that was meant to “turbocharge” relations with China is beset by dysfunction, a lack of purpose and possible conflicts of interest, say senior insiders.
Key points:
- A new National Foundation for Australia-China Relations was announced by the Federal Government in 2019
- Former consul-general to Hong Kong says two recent appointees may have conflicts of interest
- One of the directors runs a newspaper that has links to Falun Gong, an anti-communist party religious movement
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, australian media, authoritarian regimes, centre-periphery relations, China and Chinese influences, citizen journalism, disparagement, economic processes, education policy, foreign policy, governance, historical interpretation, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, taking the piss, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, world events & processes
Erudite Voices seeking Limits on Election Landslide
I = Rajan Philips: “On your marks, get set – for the weakest parliament to face the gravest crises” 2 August 2020, https://island.lk/on-your-marks-get-set-for-the-weakest-parliament-to-face-the-gravest-crises/
II = Lucien Rajakarunanayake: “save Democracy froma Two-Thirds Majority,” 3 August 2020, https://island.lk/save-democracy-from-a-two-thirds-disaster/
III = Sumedra S Amarasekera: “Reality of two-thirds power in parliament,” 3 August 2020, https://island.lk/reality-of-two-thirds-p: ower-in-parliament/
Filed under accountability, democratic measures, governance, heritage, historical interpretation, human rights, Left politics, legal issues, life stories, modernity & modernization, parliamentary elections, politIcal discourse, power politics, self-reflexivity, sri lankan society, unusual people, world events & processes
Moninna and Ranjit Goonewardena of 15 Parawa Street, Fort, Galle inscribed in Word Pictures by Coombe and Perry
The text is Chapter 7 in Juliet Coombe and Daisy Perry’s absorbing Around the Galle Fort in 80 Lives alas presented here without Coombe’s imposing camera work … so that readers have to make do with one family snap and my amateur ‘flourishes’
Behind the unassuming door of Number 15, Parawa Street lies a unique collection of family antiques that have been passed down through five generation of the Goonewardena family. The door opens and the visitor feels an immediate allure as their eyes are met by dozens of quirky, individual treasures. The most striking feature is the collection of animal horns that are mounted on the walls around the entrance room – the antlers of a stag, the giant, thick, curving horns of wild buffalo and the small tusks of wild buffalo and the small tusks of a wild boar. Both the Sri Lankan jungle and the country’s colonial past seem to be emblemized in these trophies that Mr, Goonewardena’s gran father was given as a gift when he was working in a public works department in Batticaloa. In the 1950s Queen Elizabeth awarded him a medal for his public service but unfortunately he died before he could receive it.
Moninna, Dilum, Piyum and Ranjit at their very best
