August 2, 2017 · 4:31 am

Lanka walks tightrope in Indian Ocean Political-Naval Manoeuvres

Shamindra Ferdinando,  in The Island, 2 August 2017, where the title is “China makes headway as Lanka walks tightrope

Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on July 22, 2017, took delivery of an Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel (AOPV) built by the Government of India owned Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL).

On the invitation of Navy Chief Vice Admiral Ravi Wijegunaratne, President Maithripala Sirisena will commission the vessel as SLNS Sayurala (P 623) today (August 2) at the Eastern Container Terminal, Colombo harbour. It’ll be the first occasion a President participates in such a ceremony, in wartime or peacetime Sri Lanka. The AOPV is fitted for 76 mm main weapon though the SLN is exploring the possibility of mounting MBRL with stabilized platform developed by Research and Development. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will be among the invitees. Continue reading →

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August 2, 2017 · 4:17 am

Rapporteur Emmerson’s Threatening Visit

Neville Ladduwahetty,  in The Island, 2 August 2017, an essay entitled  “Ä Special Rapporteur’s visit”

The visit of Ben Emmerson Q.C., aUN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, to Sri Lanka from July 10 to 14 was concluded with a statement to the media in which he warned Sri Lanka of “dire consequences” unless the Government fully implemented the Geneva Resolution 30/1. An Associated Press report in The Washington Post of July 15 states: “…that even those as recently as late last year have been subjected to torture…”. Continuing he had stated: “In Sri Lanka however, such practices are very deeply ingrained in the security sector, and all of the evidence points to the conclusion that the use of torture has been and remains today endemic and routine”. His report adds that torture is routine, “for those arrested and detained on national security grounds.”

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August 1, 2017 · 6:36 pm

The Jaffna Peninsula Plus: Fundamental Water Issues

Jeevan Thiagarajah,  courtesy of Daily News, 31 July 2017, where the essay is entitled “Jaffna: Dead or alive”

Many things can be inferred in the title today! The intent is to say Jaffna can become an arid dessert if it runs out of water. The Jaffna Peninsula is unique in geology and aquifer conditions. The limestone is an important aquifer, and together with thin sand layers form an extensive cover providing a source of drinking water and irrigation across the Jaffna Peninsula. The suitability of water for any use is determined not only by the total amount of salt present in the water but also by the type of salt that is present.

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August 1, 2017 · 4:51 pm

Dangerous Signs and Disturbing Precedents

Island Editorial,where the title is “Nightmares and flashbacks

What is unfolding on the political front reminds us of the J. R. Jayewardene era when trade union struggles, including the 1980 general strike, were brutally crushed and the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord and draconian laws foisted on the public while national assets were sold for a song. However, the present-day rulers have gone a step further; they have surpassed JRJ who could only toy with the idea of rolling back the electoral map. He held a referendum in lieu of a general election in 1982 however rigged it may have been. But, today, elections have been put off indefinitely on some flimsy pretext in blatant violation of people’s franchise. The Old Fox promised us a righteous society, of all things, and his followers in the present dispensation have pledged to usher in good governance (yahapalanaya).

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August 1, 2017 · 1:06 pm

Teleology in Cricketing Rules

 Michael Roberts

Aristotle asserted that the intrinsic telos of an acorn is to become a fully-grown oak tree.[1] Kant dwelt on the concept of telos as a regulative principle, while it is said that teleology was foundational in the speculative philosophy of Hegel. Without much knowledge of these theorists’ exegesis, I nevertheless invoke them in criticizing the MCC for its failure to adhere to the principle of telos – or basic common sense – in insisting on Law 29 relating to the issue of whether a batsman has made his ground before being stumped or run out.

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July 31, 2017 · 4:44 pm

Madras Murder Most Foul

Benjamin Golby,  courtesy of  ESPNs The Cricket Monthly, May 2017, where it is entitled  Madras machinations”” .

  

In Madras the umpire was murdered and it made us all uneasy. If this was the sort of place where umpires got murdered, then what chance had a handful of foreign cricketers? And without an umpire, who would enforce the rules? Who would give people out or let them stay in?

Foul murder is a constant delight of cricket’s fiction. Ted Dexter’s ghostwritten Testkill has a left-arm Australian bowler crumple dead mid-Ashes delivery. Carolyn Morwood’s female first-class cricketer sleuth, Marlo Shaw, relaxes with a net mid-murder investigation. Jock Serong’s The Rules of Backyard Cricket, from 2016, features a Warne-esque anti-hero bound and gagged in a car boot at the Australian captain’s behest.

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July 30, 2017 · 4:40 pm

Keezhadi Archaelogical Site in Tamilnadu dated as 2200 years old

News Item in Island, 20 July 2017 entitled “Life existed in Tamil Nadu 2,200 years ago!”

Carbon dating of an archaeological site at Keezhadi in Tamil Nadu’s Sivaganga district has confirmed that two samples sent from the site are indeed nearly 2,200 years old. This confirms what has been surmised by experts for some years that the sites date back to the Sangam era. The Keezhadi dig that started in 2013 provides archaeological evidence of ancient Tamil life that has so far been known largely from texts like Sangam literature.

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July 30, 2017 · 4:01 pm

Hambantota Port Deal from Many Angles

PTI Item: “Sri Lanka, China sign USD 1.1 bn Hambantota port deal” Jul 29, 2017

Sri Lanka today signed a USD 1.1 billion deal with China to sell a 70-per cent stake in the strategic Hambantota port to a state-run Chinese firm, a move that could raise security concerns in India.  The deal had been delayed by several months over concerns that the deep-sea port could be used by the Chinese Navy.
Cash-rich China has invested millions of dollars in Sri Lanka’s infrastructure since the end of a brutal civil war in 2009.  As part of the deal, the stake in the loss-making port has been sold to China’s state-run conglomerate China Merchant Port Holdings (CMPort).

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July 29, 2017 · 5:32 pm

James Taylor, Tea and Empire in Victorian Ceylon

“Tea and empire. James Taylor in Victorian Ceylon ” by Angela McCarthy and Tom Devine … is now in print,  July 2017, Manchester University Press, 272 pp, ISBN: 978-1-5261-1905, Price: £25.00

 

This book brings to life for the first time the remarkable story of James Taylor, ‘father of the Ceylon tea enterprise’ in the nineteenth century. Publicly celebrated in Sri Lanka for his efforts in transforming the country’s economy and shaping the world’s drinking habits, Taylor died in disgrace and remains unknown to the present day in his native Scotland. Using a unique archive of Taylor’s letters written over a forty-year period, Angela McCarthy and Tom Devine provide an unusually detailed reconstruction of a British planter’s life in Asia at the high noon of empire. Continue reading →

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July 29, 2017 · 5:12 pm

Galle’s Eternal Charm

Bandu de Silva, a reprint from The Island, 26 August 2012 … A Review Article on Galle As Quiet as Asleep by Norah Roberts

The title Galle as Quiet as Sleep made me reflect for a long time. I asked myself how this title could fit in. Finally, I reconciled myself to it. Yes, Galle’s heritage is a quiet one. The people of Galle as Norah Roberts will tell us made their contributions quietly. Even now, the town after dusk or at early dawn is so calm and placid that one does not get the feeling of being in a big city. Certainly not like Kandy which has lost its old charm. Kaluwella with its old Kittange with the Kovil adjoining it still reminds one of the 19th century or early 20th century. One could still have a glass of plain tea served by a Tamil boy in an old style tea kiosk as one met with in Batticaloa at Habarana twenty years ago. The Tamils do good business thee without any problem.

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