November 5, 2018 · 4:25 am

Constitutional Melee: Dayan vs Rajan, Sanjana, Asanga and the Ethical Hosts

Both lawyers and political scientists have essayed interpretations of the present constitution: a BATTLE  rages in front of a yawning GOALMOUTH.  I present some samples here 

A = Rajan Philips … vs the President’s treacherous coup so to speak

B = Dayan Jayatilleka  — for the political legality of the act

C = Sanjana Hattotuwa — versus the goals spurring the act and despondent about the populist anti-democratic weight of popular opinion within the social media in Sinhala favouring the Presidential coup

ALL  adding to the plethora of views on the political struggle for power ….. and thereby  expanding the numbers in the MELEE in front of the wide-open GOAL ……….

….. while the principals are no doubt visiting the kattadiyas and other facilitators  of shrines of Mahason, Kannagi, et cetera in notorious/beloved spots in various parts of the island

Pic by Juliet Coombe

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November 4, 2018 · 3:33 pm

Sorcery, Premeditated Murder, and the Canalization of Aggression in Sri Lanka

Gananath Obeyesekere, being an academic article [1] published initially in 1975 in the American Ethnologist, Vol. 14,  pp.1-23 …. and is also available in pamphlet form as No. 11 in the Studies in Society and Culture Series organised by the late Ananda Chittambalam and Michael Roberts … ISBN 955-9195-10-7 … while the illustrative snaps are impositions by the Editor, Thuppahi  and are intended to suggest the atmosphere called into being by the supplicants seeking support and/rt vengeance at the shrines

It is my intention in this paper to deal with a series of interrelated problems. First, we will consider the following specific questions and propositions: (a) How far can we make inferences about personality and social structure from official statistics computed by government agencies, in this case statistics on homicide and crimes of violence ?

Criminology as a discipline is especially concerned with this problem, and recent criminological studies in Sri Lanka have made social structural, cultural, and personality inferences from the statistical data (Wood 1961; Bloch 1960; Jayewardene and Ranasinghe 1963). At the outset, let me emphasize that I am not concerned with the conventional debate about the accuracy of governmental statistics. I agree with the criminologists who have worked on this problem that Sri Lanka’s official statistics on homicide and violent crimes are reasonably accurate, and on the face of it there is perfect justification for using these data for social analysis (see Wood 1961). Continue reading →

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November 3, 2018 · 9:41 am

A Naked Display of Double Standards by the West in Sri Lanka

Tamara Kunanayakam, in Island, 3 November 2018, where the title is Tamara: Why was West silent on wrongdoings of former regime”   ………..Note: the highlighting is the work of The Editor, Thuppahi

Tamara Kunanayakam, Economist, Expert on international affairs, Former Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN at Geneva, Former Cha”irperson/Rapporteur of the UN Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development yesterday asked why West had been silent on some grave wrongdoings of the ousted Premier Wickremesinghe.  Kunanayakam, speaking at a briefing organized by Eliya Organization said: “What is the explanation for the West’s silence on the postponement of local government elections for some three years and delays in holding Provincial Council elections, all under the Premiership of Ranil Wickremesinghe?

 

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November 1, 2018 · 3:18 pm

Regulating Sabda Pujā: Did British Regulation of “Noise Worship” Trigger the 1915 Riots in Ceylon?’

Shamara Wettimuny, a reprint of an article in the LSE International History Blog, in May 2018, where the title is Regulating Religious Rites: Did British Regulation of “Noise Worship” Trigger the 1915 Riots in Ceylon?’

Violence targeting the Muslim community has recently increased in Sri Lanka. Yet the scale of the violence is relatively small compared to events that took place a hundred years ago. In 1915, a dispute over a Buddhist procession near a mosque led to island-wide communal riots in Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka). This article revisits this historical event. It explores how the rise of ethno-religious nationalist ideologies in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries converged with British regulation of ‘noise worship’ to trigger the most destructive episode of violence between Sinhala-Buddhists and Muslims to date.

Kandy in early 20th century

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November 1, 2018 · 3:15 pm

Young Tamara Kunanayakam in Central Europe, 1970s-to-1980s

Michael Roberts

 With Tamara Kunanayakam what you see and hear is what you get: no subterfuges, straight-talking without frills or obscurantisms. Seeking to explore the events in Geneva from 2011 when she was our Permanent Representative there for a short spell, I met her in her rented home in Battaramulla in June 2016 in the convivial presence of her French husband and their dog Hombrito.[1]

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November 1, 2018 · 9:34 am

Illegal! Sirisena’s Coup Indefensible insists Welikala

Asanga Welikala, in Groundviews, 1 November 2018, where the title reads  “Nailing Canards: Why President Sirisena’s Actions Remain Illegal, Unconstitutional, And Illegitimate””

There have been intense public debates over the meaning and interpretation of the Constitution, and especially the far-reaching changes introduced by the Nineteenth Amendment in 2015, since the dramatic and ongoing attempt at an unconstitutional transfer power that began on the evening of Friday 26th October. Unfortunately, the discussion has been clouded by the attempts of those who are trying to uphold the approach taken by Maithripala Sirisena and Mahinda Rajapaksa, to present arguments that are – at best – simply wrong, without any valid legal basis, or based on a lack of understanding of the Constitution – or at worst – motivated by a deliberate desire to lie, dissimulate, distort, and misinform the public.

 

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November 1, 2018 · 2:30 am

The DBS Jeyaraj Column in DAILY MIRROR

Ashraff: Single most popular mass figure in Eastern Muslim politics

October 23 is the 70th Birth anniversary of legendary Muslim Congress leader M.H.M. Ashraf…

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November 1, 2018 · 2:21 am

Turmoil in the North Too? Jeyaraj Clarifies

D. B.S. Jeyaraj, in Daily Mirror,  27 October 2018

 

 

Canagasabapathy Visuvalingam Wigneswaran  has announced the launch of a new political formation known as the “Thamizh Makkal Koottani” meaning Tamil People’s Alliance (TPA). The retired Supreme Court judge who was until a few days ago the Northern Province Chief Minister has split from the “Thamizh Thesiya Koottamaippu” or the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and declared his intent to form the TPA which is expected to electorally-target the TNA. Some may even argue that the raison d’etre for the ‘new’ TPA is the objective of politically undermining the ‘old’ TNA.
The Tamil National Alliance is the premier political configuration of Sri Lankan Tamils. The chief constituent of the TNA is the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) referred to in English as the Federal Party (FP). The TNA contests under the House symbol of the ITAK in elections. C.V. Wigneswaran  contested the Northern Provincial Council elections in September 2013 as the chief ministerial candidate of the TNA. He contested as the ITAK candidate in the Jaffna District with the backing of other TNA constituents at that time, namely the TELO, PLOTE, TULF and EPRLF.

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October 31, 2018 · 3:45 am

Tamara Kunanayakam slams Western Intervention in Lanka’s Political Order…. and evokes Egyptian Comparisons

Tamara Kunanayakam: her Eliya Briefing: entitled “On the current political crisis in Sri Lanka” Colombo,  30 October 2018

I will express myself on the international aspects of the political crisis in which the country finds itself today and their far-reaching consequences for the country’s sovereignty and independence, which must be taken into account in all its dimensions if an appropriate response is to be formulated.  We are facing blatant external interference in a domestic political process, an act inadmissible to any sovereign state. A climate of insecurity is being created artificially by the defeated allies of the West whose objective may be to provoke a violent situation that will provide justification for external intervention to restore them to power, if necessary, by force.

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October 30, 2018 · 2:45 pm

Galle Literary Festival 2019: The Stars

Sunday Times, 26 October 2018:  “Fairway Galle Literary Festival 2019 : Attending Authors Revealed”

The Fairway Galle Literary Festival is set to take place from January 16- 20, 2019. This marks the tenth anniversary of The Festival,  establishing itself as a much anticipated and highly acclaimed fixture on the South-East Asian cultural calendar. The list of attending authors was revealed yesterday at a media briefing. The author briefs are given below

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