News Item in Sarawak Report, 24 February 2020, with this title “Malaysia’s Meltdown Moment – The INSIDE STORY”
Malaysians have just spent a weekend with heart in mouths thanks to a bunch of desperados who were not prepared to take no for an answer with the announcement on Friday by the ruling coalition that all parties were happy to accept Tun Mahathir as a leader till the end of the year and could leave at his choosing.
VISIT and LISTEN … https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w172wq56p7pmrx
… 24 Feb 2020 …………….Available for 29 days
“The Chinese have done a remarkable job” — An American epidemiologist from New York who has just returned from quarantine in China
“A balanced appraisal of China’s response to the virus from WHO and one other Western expert which is non political and counters right wing views in the US and Australia Newshour – Coronavirus: soon a pandemic?”
An Email Memo from Ruki Fernando, a human rights activist within Sri Lanka
Dear Michael, I present herewith some personal information in response to your Memo.
Please find a a report, based on both incidents reported in mostly local media, but also some not reported, but narrated to me and colleagues directly in private. published Friday, 21st Feb. night SL time https://www.inform.lk/repression-of-dissent-in-sri-lanka/
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Lt. Com Chaminda Walakuluge, in Ministry of Defence Site, 15 February 2020, …. where the title is “Chartered from Wuhan and quarantined at Diyathalawa”
“If you want to describe this place, it’s awesome” Suganthan said. “I will tell all my friends and family that the hospitality and care we received here is beyond ‘star grades’. I have never ever been to a military facility before” Suganthan continued to share his experience at the Diyathalawa Quarantine facility, which was set up by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to quarantine the group of Sri Lankans evacuated from Corona virus hit Wuhan.
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An INFORM Item … https://www.inform.lk/sunila-abeysekara/
Sunila, a founder member of INFORM, exemplified how the global and local intersect. For over 40 years, she worked for justice and redress for human rights abuses in Sri Lanka during a time of great challenge and conflicts. Her work placed a special emphasis on gender, human rights and peace building, which included documenting the impact of conflict on civilians, introducing nonviolent strategies of conflict transformation and challenging impunity to hold perpetrators accountable. Hers was a holistic vision that addressed many issues, ranging from violence against women to sexual and reproductive rights, including the rights of communities, such as sex workers, people living with HIV/AIDS, and lesbian, gay, and transgender people. She also nurtured and supported countless women and men of all ages the world over, inspiring many, both directly and by example, to challenge abusive authority at the local, national and international levels.
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Challenges to Recent HR Allegations from Amanda Hodge and Others
A recent criticism by Amanda Hodge in The Australian is one mark of the vociferous claims that human rights activists are under threat in Sri Lanka today under the new regime. Former Minister Eran Wickremeratne’s public claim in the Colombo Telegraph of 21st February that a witch-hunt is in progress and that the Swiss embassy issue had led to the unjustifiable hounding of Dharisha Bastians, Krishantha Cooray and former CID Director Shani Abeysekera adds fuel to this fire. The second of these claims is bracketed here for further comment when more information reaches us.
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David Runciman reviewing NO SPIN by Shane Warne in the London Review of Books … and deploying the title Fat Bastard
Amanda Hodge, in The Australian, 20 February 2020, with this title “Fear campaign ‘silencing Sri Lanka activists’
Three months after Sri Lanka’s feared former security minister Gotabaya Rajapaksa won a shock presidential victory, rights groups say security forces and intelligence agencies have intensified surveillance and intimidation of activists and families of victims of his former regime.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa in October 2019 …. Photo by Tharaka Basnayaka/NurPhoto via Getty Images
New York-based Human Rights Watch has called on the new government to end the intimidation of activists and families of those forcibly disappeared during the country’s 28-year civil war, including the 10 years in which the Rajapaksa family held power until its defeat in 2015.
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Michael Roberts
A magnificent all-round performance saw the Sri Lankan Women’s team upset the pecking order in T20 women’s cricket during the warm-up matches being played in the Karen Roltan Oval in my ‘home-town’ of Adelaide this Tuesday 18th February. England are up there among the leading sides in this form of the game and Sri Lankan lost badly to South Africa in the warm-up on Sunday.
An England batswoman returns to the pavilion in manifest annoyance (at herself)…while heroines in the making, Chamari and Hasini wait to open the innings
Filed under landscape wondrous, life stories, slanted reportage, Sri Lankan cricket, tolerance
Dayan Jayatilleka, in Financial Times, February 2020where the title runs “Learning Lee Kuan Yew’s lessons for Lanka”
Unarguably, Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) is the most universally respected Asian statesman of our time. He is esteemed from Washington to Havana, from Moscow to Beijing; from East to West and North to South, both for the quality of his mind and his conspicuous practical success as a transformational leader.
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thuppahi
