July 9, 2017 · 4:10 pm

Asela from Adelaide explores Sri Lankan Affairs in Chats with Six Committed Lankans

Courtesy of Asela aAtukorala and his blog site …. http://aselaatukorala.blogspot.com.au/2017/07/six-sri-lankan-specialists-discuss-sri.html … where the title reads: “Six Sri Lankan Specialists Discuss Sri Lankan Issues”

I travelled to Sri Lanka in May this year and had the opportunity to meet several specialists to discuss Sri Lankan issues that were mostly related to politics and economics. In this article, I’ll be sharing the highlights of my meetings with the 6 people I had the privilege of talking to.    

Monday 8th May 2017 ….This was the first meeting which was at Verité Research. Their workplace was an old house re-done as an office and it had great architecture.

Janeen Fernando

That afternoon, I met Janeen Fernando who’s the Head of Politics at Verité Research. As part of his role, he’s in charge of the Sri Lankan trilingual political tracking site Manthri.lk. I’ll now list some highlights from our discussion.   Continue reading →

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July 7, 2017 · 10:25 am

High Tea at Canberra as Lanka’s Tea Trade stimulates the World Palate

News Item from High Commission — Canberra, 7 July 2017

The Global Ceylon Tea Party celebrating the 150th anniversary of Ceylon Tea got underway on 6th July with the first party in the Pacific region being held in Canberra at the  Sri Lanka High Commission. Specially identified Tea businesses, Tea traders, travel writers & firms and selected academics, officials, diplomats were invited to this unique event.

The programme commenced with a video presentation on the symbol of quality that is Ceylon Tea, and High Commissioner S. Skandakumar addressing the gathering with an overview of the long traditions to ensure the quality and standard that are synonymous with Sri Lanka’s tea industry which has put the country on the world map.

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July 6, 2017 · 1:54 pm

Sri Lanka at the Crossroads of History in the Pre-Modern Past

Sri Lanka at the Crossroads of History

Sri Lanka at the Crossroads of History cover

Edited by Zoltan Biedermann and Alan Strathern | June 2017 Continue reading →

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July 3, 2017 · 10:31 am

Sydney is now a Chinatown?

Rose Brennan, in the Daily Telegraph

AUSTRALIA’S greatest city is now more Chinese than British — with yesterday’s Census data revealing how much the incredible boom in Asian ­migration has changed the face of Sydney. In the past 25 years, the percentage of overseas born ­migrants in Sydney residents from China has risen an ­incredible 500 per cent. And for the first time ever, the greatest proportion of ­migrants in the Harbour City are from China rather than England.

 Paul Wong was just 18 when his family came to Sydney from Hong Kong

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June 30, 2017 · 2:33 pm

Hanging on to THAT which one values

Elderly woman on a cruise…………….. Amazing how your values change as you age

! I LOVE THIS WOMAN

An elderly lady was standing at the railing of the cruise ship
holding her hat tight so that it would not blow away in the wind.

A gentleman approached her and said, “Pardon me, madam..

I do not intend to be forward but did you know that your dress
is blowing up in this high wind?”

“Yes, I know,” said the lady.

“I need both my hands to hold onto this hat.”

“But madam, you must know that you are not wearing any panties and your privates are exposed!” said the gentleman in earnest.

The woman looked down, then back up at the man and replied, “Sir, anything you see down there is 75 years old.  

I bought this hat yesterday!”

 

 

 

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June 29, 2017 · 3:08 pm

Tactical Push ‘n Shove on Sea and along Air in Asylum-Seeker ‘War’

Simon Benson,  in The Australian 29 June 2017, where the title is  “People-smugglers downsize to beat barricade”

Border protection officers intercept a people-smuggling boat, whose occupants were sent back to Sri Lanka on Monday
Border authorities are facing a new wave of people-smuggling operations described as “micro-ventures” designed to penetrate the naval barricade, with smaller, less detectable teams using more perilous sea routes.In what Border Protection ­officials claim is the emergence of a new model designed to test the Turnbull government’s resolve, four of the eight intercepts at sea since February last year have carried fewer than eight people.

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June 29, 2017 · 2:40 pm

Jayathma Wickramanayake is on the UN World Stage

Ruwini Jayawardana,  in Daily News, 28 June 2017, where the title is  “Passion, Poise and panache!”

She is certainly going places. Incoming UN Youth Envoy Jayathma Wickramanayake will taking office as the second Youth Envoy in the history of the United Nations System next month. She will be succeeding Ahmad Alhendawi of Jordan.

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June 29, 2017 · 10:04 am

In Appreciation of Saman Kelegama

Shavindra Fernando. in Daily News, 29 June 2017. with the title reading as “Last conversation with a beautiful mind”

My last conversation with Dr Saman Kelegama was about Oxford. It was a place that he was so fond of, and he always remembered his Oxford days with gratitude. He read Industrial Economics for his doctorate at St Catherine’s College. He was a St Cat’s man. Some of us Reuter Fellows, the first reporters to be sent to Oxford in the late 1980s got to know him at St Giles, where we were housed at Queen Elizabeth House.

The press was focused on Sri Lanka at that time, though the Sri Lanka fraternity was tiny as always. The Indian army had been asked to leave by the Sri Lanka government under siege by the JVP Marxist rebels. Kelegama’s views were of interest to us. He was a Sri Lankan who had studied Mathematics in India and was seen as someone who had insight into the psyche of both countries. Continue reading →

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June 29, 2017 · 8:58 am

Burgher Tennis Club in Galle, circa 1928

Burgher Tennis Club

Left to right – Standing: Messrs R. W. E. de Vos, Vyvil Loudowyk, Fred Bastiansz, E. F. C. Ludowyk Jnr., R. A. de Vos, Bubsy Austin, E. F. C. Ludowyk Snr, W. Colin-Thomé, Dudley de Kretser, Arthur Arndt, Bertie Toussaint

Seated: Miss Mina de Vos, Miss E. Koch, Mrs Glen Altendorf, Mrs Bertie Joseph, Mrs R. A. de Vos, Mrs Bertie Toussaint, Miss Rita Kale, Mrs E. F. C. Ludowyk, Mrs W. Colin-Thomé, Mrs Dudley de Kretser, Mrs Bessie Bartholomeusz,

Seated on ground: Earnleigh de Krester, Miss Owen Ludowyk, Miss Ina de Zilwa, Miss Mabel Arndt, Miss Mavis Ludowyk, Miss Dagmar Toussaint, Francis Toussaint.

A NOTE: I discovered this photograph mounted on cardboard in my Mss depository. I could not recollect how I got it but on my recent trip to Sri Lanka David Colin-Thome informed me that his mother Moira had presented it to me.  Percy Colin-Thome would have been the person who identified all the personnel for me when I placed the image  in my sister’s book, Galle As Quiet as Asleep. The late  Percy Colin-Thome, a gentle soul we all miss, worked closely with meand Ismeth Raheem in preparing the book People Inbetween during the late 1980s. Continue reading →

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June 29, 2017 · 5:41 am

52 Tea Parties to boost Ceylon Tea …and swamp that in Boston

THE Sri Lankan High Commission will celebrate 150 years of the tea industry in its country with a global tea party across time zones.

High Commissioner Somasundaram Skandakumar says the invitation-only tea party, which will be held on July 6 at the Sri Lankan High Commission in Yarralumla, will be echoed at all 52 Sri Lankan diplomatic missions at precisely 5pm in each time zone around the world. It’s been organised by the Sri Lanka Tea Board, which is the government’s main arm for promoting Ceylon tea, in collaboration with the Colombo Tea Traders’ Association. Continue reading →

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