February 11, 2015 · 2:55 am

Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, 1877-1947: Art Historian, Writer and Philosopher

Thiru Arumugam

“The artist is not a special kind of person; rather each person is a special kind of artist” Ananda Coomaraswamy.

Sir Muttu Coomaraswamy (1834-1879) was the first Ceylon Tamil Knight. He was a lawyer and Member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon. He was the first non-Christian Asian to be called to the English Bar. He married a wealthy English lady, Elizabeth Beeby, who was a Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria. They had one child, Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, who was born in Colombo in 1877.

AK COOM Ananda grew up in England, where he studied at the University of London, graduating with first class honours in Geology and Botany. Having returned to Ceylon in 1903, he was appointed as the first Director of Mineralogical Surveys. In 1904 he identified the mineral Thorianite and his work on this subject led to the award of a Doctor of Science degree from the University of London. He called it Uraninite in an article in Spolia Zeylanica and then followed an extended correspondence with double Nobel Prize winner Madam Curie about its radioactivity. She suggested that it be called ‘Coomaranite’ but he declined the honour. Continue reading →

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February 10, 2015 · 2:25 am

Uyan and Jehan: The Tasks and Problems Ahead in Sri Lanka

I. Jayadeva Uyangoda: “Rebuilding Institutions in the Transition from Soft Authoritarianism,” Island,  9 February 2015,

the THREEA political goal that warrants sustained attention of the new Sri Lankan government as well as the democratic reform constituencies is the rebuilding of public institutions of democratic governance, accountability, autonomy, and checks and balances. Democratic governance requires the presence of institutions of governance that are strong enough to withstand the pressures of authoritarian regimes and at the same time flexible enough to re-invent themselves to meet the new challenges of democratic demands, coming from various social constituencies. Such institutions are crucial for the sustenance, continuity, and survival of a democratic political order. Continue reading →

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February 7, 2015 · 11:54 am

Devendra in Laconic Hindsight: The 1956 Revolution Overturned?

Tissa Devendra in The Island, 5 February 1956, where the title is “Revisiting ‘MaraYuddhaya’ of 1956″

When the General Election of 1956 was declared the UNP was not expected to lose. They thought to counter the mainly Sinhala Buddhist and Leftist opposition with richly coloured posters of temples in flames with the slogan “Save Buddhism from the Flames of Marxism”. However, a united opposition of the Sinhala-speaking ‘underclass — namely, the Pancha Maha Balavegaya of Sangha, Veda, Guru. Govi, Kamkaru — and the Left parties led by the charismatic SWRD swept the UNP into, what he thought would be, ‘the dustbin of history’

john k AS MARA 1956 Continue reading →

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February 5, 2015 · 2:25 am

A Flying Scholar for All Seasons: An Appreciation of Graeme Hugo from Canada

Louisa Taylor,  4 February 2015, in  http://themigrationist.net/2015/02/04/migrationist-community-mourns-the-loss-of-prof-graeme-hugo/where the title is “A Gentleman and a Scholar: Migrationist Community Mourns the Loss of Prof. Graeme Hugo”

graeme in OTTAWAIt was one of those steamy late June days in Ottawa, blasting sun one minute and drenching rain the next. Inside the minimalist cool of the Carleton University Art Gallery, Professor Graeme Hugo stood at a podium painting vivid pictures of a world in motion. His words were simple, his delivery understated, but Hugo’s presentation packed a punch. Continue reading →

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February 5, 2015 · 1:34 am

DEW Gunasekera in Profound Q and A with Chandraprema

DEW Courtesy of The Island, 5 February 2015, where the title is “Chandrika said only Mahinda can win”

Communist Party leader and opposition parliamentarian D. E. W. Gunasekera speaks to C. A. Chandraprema about the unexpected outcome of last month’s presidential election and the situation that has arisen in the country with the fall of the Rajapaksa regime.

Q. You had been warning the government not to hold the presidential election early. So obviously you were not surprised by the result.

No. We did an analysis of past election results from 1977 onwards including the results of the 2005 and 2010 elections. Our assessment was that Tamil votes for the UPFA from the North and East will increase, but not substantially. Mahinda used to get about 20% of the Muslim vote. But because of the Bodu Bala Sena that was lost almost completely. Even in our party, Muslim members refused to vote for Mahinda. I met the president about three times to discuss the presidential election. The first time, Vasu, Tissa (Vitharana) and Lalith Weeratunga were also present. Continue reading →

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February 4, 2015 · 1:10 pm

Project BEAP: Dr. Young and Strathmore Rotary forge a Major ‘Runway’ of Medical Relief in Lanka

Dr. David A. Young an orthopaedic surgeon in Melbourne is a household name among Sri Lankan cricketers because of the repair work he has done on so many of their players, both well-known and lesser known. He has joined the Strathmore Rotary Foundation and its engine room men Nihal de Run and Arjuna Samarakoon in venturing on a major corporate project in association with the Government of Sri Lanka. Centered upon a mega work in establishing an emergency teaching hospital at Batticaloa which will have outreach linkages with Karapitiya, Amparai and Jaffna hospitals, an agreement was signed in 2012 by the then Minister of Health, Maithripala Sirisena; while the President of the time, Mahinda Rajapaksa, supported the project.

Young and De Run with MS  Hon Maithripala Sirisena shakes hands to express his support for the Proposal. In the picture are Dr David Young, Nihal de Run and Indrajith Fernando, Deputy Chairman of the management Committee in Colombo.              

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February 4, 2015 · 7:01 am

Some Pointers for You, Mr President Sirisena

Chandra Wickramasinghe

sirisena oathsWith the new political dispensation of President Sirisena and the solemn pledges that have been held out to bring about a transformation of the  political culture that prevailed in the country, by ensuring good governance and the strict enforcement of Law and Order in the country,the citizens of  SL have high expectations that this Regime will live up to their hopes and expectations. In this context,  I  feel it is necessary for the public to have an idea of what the concept of good governance really  denotes. I have no doubt that  President Sirisena is sincere in working towards the realization of the pledges given by him. But one has to realize that the radical transformations envisaged, would necessarily involve corresponding changes in the mind –sets of of the players, both politicians and officials, who have routinely got accustomed to certain patterns of behavior, which may have been advantageous to them over the years and to move away from them now, might spell a somewhat painful adaptation, to a good many of them! But once the policy imperatives are unequivocally laid down  ,the pace would be set,I am sure,  for everyone to comply and conform.   Continue reading →

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February 2, 2015 · 1:42 am

The Call of Galle and Its Environs: A Flock of Foreigners

Avantika Chilkoti, in the Daily News, 2 February 2015

The price of homes along the country’s southern coast have rapidly increased since the end of civil conflict in 2009 The ruined ramparts of Galle Fort feel out of place in this peaceful seaside town. The bastioned stone walls, built by Dutch settlers in the 17th and 18th centuries, seem to belong to a faraway era when there was a threat of bloody conflict, not in what is now a quiet bay in southwest Sri Lanka. In fact, as recently as 2009, Galle wasn’t so far from bloody conflict. Although the south of the island remained relatively safe, a civil war ravaged the north for 26 years. The small number of foreign investors that invested in this picturesque town despite the violence has now rapidly increased since the government defeated the separatist Tamil guerrillas.

“We love Galle because it combines something of the charm of a Mediterranean, medieval town with the exotic, tropical landscape,” says Hamish Macdonald, a British expat with property in Colombo and Galle. “The beaches are beautiful.” DSC00056 Mosque and New Lighthouse from old lighthouse bastion on south west corner of the Fort — Pic by Michael Roberts in 2011

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February 2, 2015 · 12:51 am

Whose Terrorism? A World of Double Standards

Adam Goldman, courtesy of the Washington Post and the Sydney Morning Herald, 2 February 2015 where the title reads “CIA, Mossad killed senior Hezbollah figure in 2008 car bombing”

On February 12, 2008, Imad Mughniyah, Hezbollah’s international operations chief, walked on a quiet night time street in Damascus after dinner at a nearby restaurant. Not far away, a team of CIA spotters in the Syrian capital was tracking his movements. As Mughniyah approached a parked vehicle, a bomb planted in a spare tyre on the back exploded, sending a burst of shrapnel across a tight radius. He was killed instantly.

The device was triggered remotely from Tel Aviv by agents with Mossad, the Israeli foreign intelligence service, who were in communication with the operatives on the ground in Damascus. “The way it was set up, the US could object and call it off, but it could not execute,” said a former US intelligence official.

IMA 11- Hezbollah militants carry the coffin of slain commander Imad Mughniyah through the streets of Beirut in 2008  Hezbollah militants carry the coffin of slain commander Imad Mughniyah through the streets of Beirut in 2008 — Photo by Reuters

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February 1, 2015 · 3:21 am

Romesh Hettiarachchi confronts the Tamil Diaspora

Romesh Hettiarachchi in Canada sends a Letter of Reflections to the Tamil Diaspora immediately after his Reflections on the Presidential Elections via the Colombo Telegraph, where the usual variety of bog-comments can be found

Romesh-Hettiarachchi--150x150Dear Bala Thambi,**

I hope this letter finds you well. I’ve heard the weather in London, England is pretty cold this time of year, though I can’t imagine it being as cold as Toronto (-22 deg. C. brrrr!).

I am writing to you in response to your various online reactions to the election of President Sirisena in Sri Lanka. I must admit a certain fascination following the various changes in your viewpoints since November, watching while you called for Sri Lankan Tamils to boycott the Sri Lankan elections and criticized other Diaspora Tamil groups who urged every Sri Lankan Tamil to vote in the elections. While I know that there are many Tamils who think differently than you (after all, few generalizations can be made regarding a group as varied and diverse as the Tamil Diaspora) I do want to address your perceptions that the election of President Sirisena has not changed anything. Continue reading →

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