Thuppahi's Blog

September 13, 2019 · 3:25 pm

Namel Weeramuni: Life and Theatre, Theatre as Life

Nandasiri Jasentuliyana aka “Nandi,” in Sunday Times, 1 September 2019, where the title is “A Legendary Author’s Autobiography”

Namel Weeramuini’s compelling autobiography was launched on his 85th birthday, before a large audience at the Namel Malini Punchi Theatre yesterday.We live in a global village where the main road has many forks and takes us on many incredible journeys. It is increasingly difficult to know the final destination of these journeys. It means we choose the life we want for ourselves often amid uncertainty.

Namel Weeramuni Attorney at Law

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September 13, 2019 · 10:10 am

Dr Narendran Rajasingham: A Tamil Sri Lankan Indomitable and Sincere

Michael Roberts, courtesy of Colombo Telegraph, 13 September 2019, where it has a different title

This NOTE is a felicitation of Dr Rajasingham Narendran – a presentation that is long overdue. Narendran was a graduate from Peradeniya University’s Agriculture Faculty, a food scientist with international expertise who was also a fearless advocate for the Sri Lankan Tamil peoples circumscribed within a firm Sri Lankan perspective. He stood for truth in reportage and brought a clinical mind to the appraisal of horrendous circumstances – among them the decomposition of dead bodies in war-torn locales. Continue reading →

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September 11, 2019 · 1:50 pm

Ceylon University College Dons in 1933: A Photo that is A Treasure Trove

We are indebted to Thiru Arumugam and the latest issue of THE CEYLANKAN produced by the Ceylon Society of Australia for the two photographs reproduced here. I invite readers and old University personnel to provide pertinent bio-data on any of the individuals here who served the University and society over the next few decades. I will be initiating this task below as time goes by.

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September 11, 2019 · 11:03 am

Send them to Lanka? Aussie Opinion Poll on the Nadesalingam Murugappan Case

Geoff Chambers in The Australian, 10 September 2019, where the heading runs “Most back kicking out asylum-seekers who aren’t refugees”

Most Australians believe that asylum-seekers deemed not to be genuine refugees should be deported regardless of other considerations. A Newspoll survey conducted last week showed 64 per cent of voters believe asylum-seekers who are considered by the courts to not be refugees should be deported, with 24 per cent saying they should be allowed to settle in Australia.

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September 11, 2019 · 10:49 am

A Testing Issue: The Nadesalingam Murugappan Asylum Claim

ONE = Simon Benson & Rosie Lewis, in The Australian, 4 September 2019, where the title runs “Tamil asylum case sets path for 6000 others”

Scott Morrison has vowed to send home more than 6000 illegal immigrants who have had their refugee claims rejected, as he brushed off Labor attempts to drag his religious faith into the debate over the deportation of a Sri Lankan family. The Australian revealed on Wednesday that those 6000 asylum-seekers are engaged in similar legal appeals to that of the Tamil family who will learn today whether their eleventh-hour Federal Court bid to prevent their deportation has succeeded.

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September 11, 2019 · 6:46 am

A Sob Story? Hodge in Batticaloa batting for the Nadeshalingam Family

Amanda Hodge in The Weekend Australian, 7/8th September 2019, where the title is “Mum’s fears for asylum son tainted by time with Tamil Tigers”

On the scuffed green walls of Nadeshalingam Murugappan’s family home in eastern Sri Lanka, a maxim written in English — a language none of the occupants can read — hangs above the television in a room full of anxious relatives. It says: “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” Whether “Nades” and his wife Kokilapathmapriya “Priya” Nadarasa end up back in the rural Sri Lankan district of Batticaloa they fled separately years ago — this time with two Australian-born daughters in tow — could be decided before the end of the month.

Nadeshalingam ‘Nades’ Murugappan’s mother Alakamma in the family’s village home in Batticaloa district, Sri Lanka. Picture: Benislos Thushan

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September 11, 2019 · 2:28 am

Facing the Friday Forum: Scathing Criticisms of Their Readings

On the 3rd September 2019, I invited a selected body of individuals to review and comment on the article in the ISLAND newspaper of 3^rd September presented by a cluster of eminent intellectuals with the headline “Presidential Elections And The Peoples’ Options” – an item that has also been reproduced in Thuppahi too with a different title.

AAA VINOD M Vinod Rajiva

These invitees are busy people and one could not expect responses from all of them. However, I received two critical evaluations from Rajiva Wijesinha and Vinod Moonesinghe; while Rajeewa Jayaweera has penned an appraisal in his regular column in the Island. Gerald Peiris indicated that his close friendship over many years with some of the key personnel precluded any engagement; but he presented comments on the Forum’s evaluation of the JVP on the foundations provided by a long history of engagement with the JVP as well as more recent exchanges with some of its personnel. Continue reading →

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September 11, 2019 · 1:19 am

Evaluating Jehan Perera’s Assessments of the Presidential Candidates

Edward Upali in Canada, via Email Memo to Thuppahi, September 2019**

In his opinion piece on the Presidential Stakes Jehan Perera (JP) evaluates three of the more likely candidates at the next Presidential Election in Sri Lanka (SL). However, I have some concerns relative to the criteria he uses to evaluate the prospective candidates. It is a common practice in Problem Solving, to use the same criteria to all alternatives and score them to choose the best solution. However, JP who claims to be a lawyer by training, appears to use several sets of criteria /attributes to evaluate three prospective Presidential Candidates.

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September 10, 2019 · 10:51 am

Sri Lanka’s President-to-be: Evaluating the Evaluations

Rajeewa Jayaweera, from Island, 9 September 2019 where the title is “Hobson’s choice with Presidential Candidates”

Two recent articles published in The Island were eye-openers. The first was titled ‘Presidential Elections and the Peoples Options’ by a group of eminent persons collectively known as ‘Friday Forum.’ The other was titled ‘Milinda reminds seven cold economic truths as politicians go into overdrive with promises’ by former politician and minister Milinda Moragoda.

Goonesekere; Jayaratne; and Moragoda