May 7, 2017 · 3:15 am

Sri Lankan Airlines in Deep S**t !!

AFP News Item

A US equity firm that bid to buy a stake in Sri Lanka’s loss-making national airline has pulled its offer, officials said Saturday as the carrier scrambled for a new partner. TPG, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, has withdrawn its bid for a 49 percent stake in Sri Lankan, dashing hopes of a quick revival of the airline. “After completing the due diligence, regrettably TPG have informed us they will not pursue a potential investment in Sri Lankan airlines,” Sri Lankan Chairman Ajith Dias said in a memo to his staff. “It is their opinion that allocating the human and financial resources to make the airline profitable will not realise sufficient returns compared to the many other investment opportunities that are available to them,” Dias said. There was no immediate comment from TPG. Chairman of Sri Lankas national carrier Sri Lankan Airlines Ajith Dias addresses journalists during a press conference in Colombo on October 5, 2016. (ISHARA S.KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images) Continue reading →

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May 5, 2017 · 10:24 am

Nicobar Pigeon penetrates Australia

Victoria Laurie,  in the Australian, 5 May 2017, where the title presented is “The dodo’s gorgeous island-hopping relative finds its way to our shores”

A Nicobar pigeon has been found in the Kimberley.

A gorgeously plumed pigeon ­described as the closest living descenda­nt of the now extinct dodo has been found by Aborig­inal rangers in the Kimberley.The Nicobar pigeon has never before been found on the Australian mainland, but was spotted by Bardi Jawi rangers walking across a road near monsoon vine thickets at Chile Creek on the Dampier Peninsula last month.

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May 5, 2017 · 9:57 am

Sri Lankan Ingenuity! Only in Sri Lanka!!!

I have placed this real-life image in the cricketique web-site as the source of inspiration for Lasith Malinga’s hair style, but a comment from Mevan Peiris suggest a re-location to this web-site so as to promote wider acknowledgement. Indeed, I told Mevan that some millionaire-crank should consider purchase this item wholesale and gifting it to the Museum of Modern Art in New York as a remarkable artifact.

 In such an event, the millionaire would have to resolve the problem of what he should do with the bloke upon the husks at left earlobe !!

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May 5, 2017 · 5:01 am

Malaravan’s War Journey for Tiger Tamils, 1990s

War Journey, being translation of  Por Ulaa reviewed  here by three Indian intellectuals

ONE > R.K. Radhakrishnan: “A Heroic Life after Death,” 8 July 2013, The Hindu

Just as political parties in India used music, theatre and cinema with stunning results, the LTTE relied on the written word, and folklore, with the help of platform speakers in Tamil. Heroes are created long after their death. The embellished folklores, the sexed-up citations, even made-up stories of courage, valour and sacrifice — all contribute to the creation of a hero from an ordinary human being, who is often left without a choice of how, why and if he/she will be remembered or celebrated. Institutions and movements seek to capitalise on the emotional appeal of the ‘supreme sacrifice’ to further ‘The Cause.’ Continue reading →

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May 5, 2017 · 4:05 am

A Martyr for Allah — Jabar, the Assassin, in Sydney

  Rhiam Deutrom, in The Australian, 5 May 2017, where the title runs “Cheng killer Farhad Jabar feted as ‘martyr’ by accused co-plotters”

Farhad Jabar was celebrated as a “warrior” and a “martyr” in the days after the teenager shot unarmed NSW police finance employee Curtis Cheng in the back of the head, outside the Parramatta Police Headquarters, a court has heard. Farhad, killed by special constables during the attack in 2015, was allegedly given an illegal pistol by the men at the centre of a committal hearing this week in the Downing Centre Local Court. Talal Alameddine, 24, Mustafa Dirani, 23, Milad Atai, 21 and Raban Alou, 19, are facing charges relating to planning a terrorist act and supplying the .38 calibre pistol to Farhad. All but Mr Alou were present at court this week, dressed in prison-issued green tracksuits and seated together in the dock.

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May 4, 2017 · 10:18 am

Perinpanayagam’s Study of the LTTE Strand of Tamil Nationalism

Anushka Perinpanayagam, paperback, 2010 …

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is a nationalist organisation which has been a key player in Sri Lanka’s ethnic war. Like the early Tamil nationalist groups in Sri Lanka, the LTTE professes to be a secularist organisation. This tradition of secularism distinguishes Tamil nationalism from its Sinhalese counterpart. A small group of academics, however, has debated whether the LTTE is truly secularist. The debate focuses on the LTTE’s ritual calendar and commemorative events which draw on religious symbols and which, according to some critics, have the character and quality of religious events. This project intervenes in this debate by analysing how scholars use the terms ‘religion’ and ‘secular’ when discussing the LTTE and Sri Lankan politics. In addition, this book investigates how the LTTE’s claim to be secular impacts upon its narration of history and its discourse around death and dying. This work is useful not only for those interested in the Sri Lankan situation but also for those who wish to explore nationalism, modernisation and the categories of religion and the secular.

 https://www.facebook.com/anushka.perinpanayagam

The book can be purchased via AMAZON = http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/xmlui/handle/10063/1784… with illustrations below being from the Thuppahi stock associated with my work on the “sacrificial devotion” of the Tamil Tigers — work which is considered intelligently by Perinpanayagam in association with the writings of Peter schalk Dagmar Hellmann-Rajanayagam and others.  Continue reading →

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May 3, 2017 · 3:05 pm

Self-Inflicted Torture by Proxy Discerned by British Court of Appeal in rejecting a Tamil’s Claim

Stephen Wright, in The Daily Mail, 22 April 2017, with the tile reading as “Asylum seeker from Sri Lanka let himself be tortured with hot iron bars to support his bid to stay in Britain”

* The man, 35, said they showed how he was badly treated in his native country 

* The Court of Appeal ruled it was a ruse called ‘self-infliction by proxy’ or SIBP

 * Lord Justice Sales also raised doubts over his relationship with the Tamil Tigers 

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May 3, 2017 · 12:01 pm

Preserving the Sikkim Palace Archive: Digitalisation Project

Alex-McKay-250x250 Alex McKay, reprint from IIAS NewsLetter, where the title reads “The Sikkim (India) Palace Archive Digitilisation Project” …. Emphasis by highlighting is the imposition of The Editor, Thuppahi

The Indian Himalayan state of Sikkim, which separates Nepal to the west and Bhutan to the east, emerges into the historical record with the establishment of the Namgyal dynasty in the 1640s. As a Buddhist kingdom Sikkim’s closest cultural links were with their northern neighbour Tibet, but during the 19th century they were increasingly drawn into the orbit of their southern neighbour, British India. The colonial government sought to establish diplomatic and trading relations with the Tibetans as well as to ensure the security of their northern frontier from any threat in that direction. Sikkim offered them a “stepping stone” to Tibet and despite Sikkimese efforts to avoid alienating either of the two powers the British appointed a Political Officer in 1889 who ruled Sikkim under the Princely State system. A series of Political Officers then oversaw the administration of Sikkim down to Indian independence in 1947. In 1975 the 12th and final ruling Chogyal (King/Maharaja), Palden Thondup Namgyal (1923 – 1982), was deposed by India and Sikkim was merged into India. It exists today simply as a state of India, albeit with certain administrative distinctions.

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May 3, 2017 · 11:20 am

A Jesuit Servant of the People –Two Affirmative Voices applaud Fr. Paul Caspersz, s.j.

.ONE. Rajan Philips: “Celebrating the life of a Jesuit Socialist: Fr Paul Caspersz, SJ (1925-2017)”

 “My legs have carried me for 90 years. Now they have earned their well-deserved rest”, he would tell his visitors at the Jesuit House in Akkara Panaha, Negombo, where he spent the last years of his life confined to his bed and a wheel chair. Now his entire mortal coil has earned its rest.

Fr. Paul Caspersz, a priest of the order of the Society of Jesus for 65 years, died last Wednesday at the age of 92. His funeral was in Kandy, where he lived for over 40 years, and he was laid to rest at the Lewella Jesuit cemetery. It was difficult to see Fr Paul unable to walk, although he was otherwise his usual self. Tall and handsome, he was well proportioned in physical appearance. He was equally well adjusted in his character and in his bearing. He was inspired as a teenager to become a Jesuit and to go to Oxford as a Jesuit “after reading a page or two about Ignatius Loyola and the Jesuits in the context of the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation”, in the unlikeliest of sources ‘A History of England’ by T.F. Tout. He accomplished both and remained true to his faith, his celibate life, and the fierce commitment of Jesuits to the first cause that inspired them. Fr. Paul was much more. Continue reading →

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May 3, 2017 · 4:43 am

In Appreciation of Geoffrey Bawa amidst an Architectural Rift of Seismic Scale

David Robson  ….. re-printing an old essay in The Daily News, 24 December 2013, in an article entitled “Remembering Bawa”

In this article, originally published in Indian Architect & Builder,  architect and writer David Robson pens an intimate and personal account of the life and work of Geoffrey Bawa – an incredible architect with an unparalleled legacy in Sri Lanka and south-east India.

Ten years have rolled by since Geoffrey Bawa’s death and fifteen since ill-health forced him to hang up his tee-square. It’s time to take stock: what was his legacy? How were his ideas disseminated? What influence has he had? What were his qualities? Who was Geoffrey Bawa?

 Bawa at Lunuganga in the 1990s Continue reading →

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