February 1, 2016 · 1:45 pm

Sri Lankans monster their way to Success at the Australia Day Parade in Adelaide

AS elephant The Sri Lankan contingent in the annual AUSTRALIA DAY Parade in Adelaide on 26th January 2016 won the award for the “Most Creative Presentation.” This presentation and its format was organised by the newly-formed SL Association of South Australia. The Sri Lankan Tusker, a masterpiece, was created by the very talented artist Mr Priyantha Peiris. Needless to say there were also dance troupes and drummers. A note and an “appeal” from Dr. Sarath Senadheera are presented below after the series of pictures.

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February 1, 2016 · 2:07 am

The Vitality of THE HUMANITIES as Central to University Education

Anne Blackburn, from The Island, 30 January and 1 February 2016, where the title is “Why we need Humanities in our university curriculum” …. The text of the keynote speech delivered by Professor Anne Blackburn, Cornell University at the Inauguration of Postgraduate Institute of the Humanities & Social Sciences on January 27, 2016.

It is a great honor to speak on the occasion of the inauguration of the Postgraduate Institute of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Peradeniya. I was myself a student at this university in the 1980s, and again in the 1990s, and I always return to this extraordinarily beautiful campus with feelings of gratitude and positive memories. As an undergraduate student in the mid-1980s I heard lectures in History, Political Science, Sociology, Philosophy, and Buddhist Studies from some of Sri Lanka’s brilliant scholars. During the early 1990s it was my privilege to be attached to the Department of Sinhala, receiving expert and illuminating doctoral guidance for a dissertation related to Kandyan Period history and literature. So I speak with you today as one of Peradeniya’s former students, someone who has benefited greatly from the expertise of this university’s dons, spent many hours in the university library, and drunk my share of tea in both the canteens and the Senior Common Room.

article_image      PERADENIA BLLOOM 11PERA BLOOM 22 Continue reading →

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January 31, 2016 · 2:36 pm

The Katikavatas or Promulgations by Sri Lankan Kings Aimed at Cleansing the Saasana

Gananath Obeyesekere, in The Island, 30 January 2016, where the title is “A note on Katikaavatas or promulgations by Sri Lankan kings,” … http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=139524

In view of the controversies on the right of monks to unilaterally regulate the Buddhist order (sāsana) let me state that unlike in medieval Europe there were no Pope’s in Sri Lanka and it was the kings who had the final say in matters of the reorganization of the Sangha, admittedly with the consent of monks. These promulgations or katikāvatas were established for the purification of the order by kings who consulted distinguished monks before any promulgation was formulated. I am indebted to the important study of the subject by Nandasena Ratnapala, The Katikāvatas: laws of the Buddhist order of Ceylon, published in both Sinhala and English in 1971 which ought to be widely distributed and made known to the Buddhist public.

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January 29, 2016 · 1:47 am

Theatre of the Dangerous and Crazy in Lanka

Jayatilleke de Silva, in The Daily News, 29 January 2016, where the title is  “Theatre of the absurd in local politics”

A section of the members of the Sinha Le organisation that gathered opposite the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy last Saturday to give a special pledge. Picture by Asela Kuruluwansa

Adolf Hitler claimed that Germans are of Aryan stock and that they are superior to other races. That is why he wanted to purify Germany by destroying the Jews. The world knows how this doctrine of racial superiority ended. It developed into the dangerous doctrine of fascism. In his crusade for world supremacy hundreds of Jews and others were put in concentration camps and executed. Of course Hitler appealed to the people in the name of patriotism and socialism to grab power “democratically”. The most deplorable factor in that situation was not the acquiescence of the ignorant but the silence of those who knew where Hitler was heading.

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January 28, 2016 · 3:46 pm

Uyangoda on Constitution-Making NOW

UYAN -SSA Jayadeva Uyangoda, in the Daily News, 28 January 2016, where the title is “Constitution making – some points for reflection”

Sri Lanka has once again entered the uncertain path of drafting and adopting a new constitution. Not surprisingly, political opinion is becoming increasingly divided and even acrimonious over a variety of issues. The most contentious at present is the process of constitution making. The content of the new constitution is next in line.

Debate: Intensification of the political debate, polarization of views and contestations among diverse positions need to be expected when what is usually understood as the ‘supreme law of the land’ is set to be revised. There are two main reasons for this. First, constitutional reform is about the reorganization of state power. It entails questions such as the nature, role and place of the state in the political life its citizens. It seeks to alter the existing framework, structures and organization of state power. It is always the case that there is a multiplicity of incompatible views and approaches to clash with each other at moments of reforming the state.

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January 28, 2016 · 2:34 pm

Aussies from Elsewhere: Our First Day … and Beyond

Stephen Brook, in The Australian, 26 January 2015

For those who came to Australia across the seas, what was day one like? … not beaches, barbecues and booze?**

His Excellency The Honourable Hieu Van Le 1977, aged 23, from Vietnam

Hieu Van Le

My wife Lan and I arrived in Darwin Harbour early one morning, having travelled by boat as refugees from post-war Vietnam. We didn’t comprehend how large Australia was until we flew to ­Adelaide. As the hours passed, Lan asked me to check if the crew weren’t flying us back to Vietnam. We will always remember that first night walking out of the Pennington Migrant Hostel in Adelaide — the streets were so quiet. Having grown up in the war, we could now appreciate what it was like to live in a peaceful country.

Throughout the first months, we were overwhelmed by the generosity of people offering assis­tance and making us feel welcome.

Now, at the age of 62, it is truly a privilege to serve this great nation as Governor of South Australia. Continue reading →

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January 28, 2016 · 9:38 am

The Political Agenda behind Woolf’s Village in the Jungle

Shihan de Silva Jayasuriya, in The Island, 26 January 2016, where the title is “The Political Agenda behind the Literary Work”… http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=139247

Leonard Woolf (1880-1969) is an important figure in international relations and imperial history but he was also a writer. The literary genius of his wife Virginia (neé Stephen) overshadowed him. This is partly due to lack of recognition of Woolf’s own novel, The Village in the Jungle which is shaped around a marginalised group of jungle dwellers in Ceylon/Sri Lanka. The Village in the Jungle (1913) ranks on par with E M Forster’s Passage to India and George Orwell’s Burmese Days but predates both these works; eleven years before Passage to India (1924) and twenty years before Burmese Days (1934).

aa-SHIHAN

 

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January 27, 2016 · 10:31 am

Marvels of the Australian Outback .. Celebrating AUSTRALIA on Australia Day

Sarah Elks, in The Australian, 27 January 2016, deploys two European workers to celebrate Australia Day via its iconic outback

AUS Daphne Luyten, 30, from Belgium and Richard Larsson, 21, From Sweden reflect on their Australian work experience near Birdsville with station manger Don Raymond
As a fierce sun dips beyond the horizon on Adria Downs cattle station, Belgian ex-police officer Daphne Luyten examines her bruised shins and blistered palms and decides she’s lucky. Lucky to be in a peaceful far-flung corner of Australia’s Simpson Desert, lucky to be far from the terror raids that have shocked her homeland, and lucky even to have the hard-won bruises and blisters, earned during a long day branding mischievous calves recently.

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January 27, 2016 · 10:07 am

Riaz Hassan’s Survey of Islamophobia in Australia

Meredith Booth, in The Australian, 20 January 2016, with headline ” One in 10 Australians are “highly Islamophobic” and have a fear or dread of Muslims, a University of South Australia study has found”

Riaz Hassan said the survey was the first “pulse” taken of Australians’ perceptions.

The University’s International Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding has surveyed 1000 Australians, finding 10 per cent of people had negative or ­hostile attitudes towards Muslims, with the elderly, less educated and those with a poor attitude towards migrants more likely to hold such views. The level of worry about terrorism in Australia had a strong influence on their views, the report, provided to The Australian, said. Riaz Hassan said the survey was the first “pulse” taken of ­Australians’ perceptions towards one of the country’s most diverse religious communities and he hoped more research would be done to gauge shifts in attitudes. Continue reading →

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January 27, 2016 · 9:55 am

Remote Incitement Terror and Sameh Bayda’s Arrest in Australia

Dan Box & Mark Schliebs in The Australian, 27 January 2016, where the title is “Terror Documents on Teens’ Phone”

Sameh Bayda last used the ­encrypted messaging service Telegram at 5.12am on Wednesday, January 13. A few hours later, counter-­terrorism police raided his house. Seizing the teenager’s phone, which he had used to access that encrypted app, they found three documents allegedly containing written instructions, including from terrorist group al-Qa’ida, “connected with the preparation for a terrorist act”. One of these, written in Arabic, provided “instruction on how to carry out a successful stabbing attack”, a court was told yesterday. Another, also in Arabic, ­detailed “how to make an improvised explosive device”. The 18-year-old former Granville Boys High School student faces the prospect of up to 15 years in prison.

BAYDA Sameh Bayda Continue reading →

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