Dr. Malcolm Jansze with his adopted family in Horana, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka Burgher Family Genealogy – Research and data collection done by Dr. Malcolm Jansze in Sri Lanka
His Story: I was interested in genealogy at about age 8 years when my grandmother chatted to me about hers and grandpas large families. From then I drew up charts and went to the church to confirm my grandparents births and dates etc. By age 14 years I was drawing up charts for our families. Continue reading
A Mass of People from all walks of Life assemble at Galle Face Green in Colombo Continue reading
The Editors of Bloomberg, in where the title is “Is Sri Lanka the next Myanmar?”…..
After the stunning ouster of strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in last week’s elections, another small, strategically vital Asian nation would appear to have rejected China’s embrace. Whether the U.S. and India can exploit this opportunity, however, will depend on whether they recognize what’s unique about Sri Lanka.
The first thing to appreciate is that voters weren’t necessarily driven by resentment of China. They elected Maithripala Sirisena as president because they had tired of the opacity and perceived cronyism of Rajapaksa’s administration, symbolized in part by multibillion-dollar projects handed out to Chinese companies with little oversight. Elites had begun to fear that Beijing would soon demand more political and military influence as part of its largesse. Yet, unlike Myanmar, which shares a land border with China, such concerns remain somewhat theoretical. Sri Lanka has vast infrastructure needs — and therefore good reason not to reject Chinese money entirely. Continue reading
Filed under accountability, american imperialism, disparagement, economic processes, governance, historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, modernity & modernization, politIcal discourse, power politics, Rajapaksa regime, Sinhala-Tamil Relations, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, truth as casualty of war, welfare & philanthophy, world events & processes
Kabir Taneja, 25 January 2015, in The Diplomat, where the title is “A Game Changer for China and India in Sri Lanka?”
India may be celebrating the election result in Sri Lanka, but China is in the region for the long haul.
On January 18, a Reuters reported claimed that Sri Lanka’s now former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, had expelled the station chief of India’s intelligence agency in Colombo after accusing him of working against his government and supporting the opposition. India denied the claim, but the report serves as an example of Rajapaksa’s thorny attitude towards New Delhi, irrespective of the face presented by public diplomacy. Continue reading
Filed under historical interpretation, Indian Ocean politics, island economy, military strategy, nationalism, politIcal discourse, power politics, Presidential elections, Rajapaksa regime, slanted reportage, sri lankan society, the imaginary and the real, transport and communications, world events & processes
Courtesy of http://ccc-canberracriticscircle.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/dancing-for-gods-chitrasena-dance.html
Filed under cultural transmission, performance
Bill Stephens, 16 January 2015 for the Canberra Critics Circle, at http://ccc-canberracriticscircle.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/dancing-for-gods-chitrasena-dance.html
It’s been a long time between visits. The Chitrasena Dance Company from Sri Lanka, last performed in Canberra in 1972, headed then by the charismatic founder of the company, Chitrasena and his wife, Vajira. After a week performing at the Sydney Festival the company returned to Canberra for just one performance, this time with Chitrasena’s grand-daughters, choreographer Heshma Wignaraja, and principal dancer, Thaji Dias, at the helm.
Chitrasena Dance Company Drummers
The Chitrasena Dance Company specialise in Kandyan dance, a 2,500 year old ritual-dance tradition which only evolved into a performance art in the 20th Century with the emergence of virtuoso dancer Chitrasena who is credited with bringing the traditional dances from the village rituals to the modern stage. Over the years his children and grand-children have continued his tradition, evolving, adapting and refining the ancient art form to suit the modern stage. Continue reading
In the Sunday Island, 25 January 2015. with title as ““Friday Forum on Independence Day and other urgent concerns
The Presidential election of January 8, 2015 saw a resurgence of the democratic process in Sri Lanka, driven by an electorate which, in unprecedented numbers, exercised its franchise to choose not merely a President, but the future it wanted for the country, the Friday Forum said in a statement issued last week.
“The election showed us that Sri Lankans in all parts of the country, irrespective of ethnic or religious differences, united in their resolve to restore good governance and the rule of law and to resist authoritarianism. This provides a foundation on which the newly elected administration must build a new framework of democratic governance that promotes inclusivity, diversity and pluralism. While many issues need attention we concentrate for the moment on the following,” it said.
Professor Savithri Goonesekere, nee Ellepola
Independence Day: “We urge that the celebrations be kept simple and dignified without major military and military hardware demonstrating parades, floats, and the use of school children. The occasion should promote new standards of simple and disciplined lifestyles. Most important is to use the opportunity to remember the victims of the civil conflicts which Sri Lanka has endured since independence, to pledge our collective commitment to peace and reconciliation, and to resolve that there should never be such violence in our country again. We call upon the government, as a sign of our commitment to national unity, to ensure that the national anthem is sung in both Sinhala and Tamil, and that this practice be continued. Continue reading
Clive Williams, courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald, 2 January 2015
The good news is that in 2015 Australia will probably be a less dangerous place, with areduced likelihood of us being killed in an act of mass terrorism – but the bad news is that the world outside is a more dangerous place, with a greater likelihood of Australians becoming terrorism victims overseas.
In the recent past, under the medium-level threat, the worst-case concerns in Australia had been multiple-bombings of the kind favoured by al-Qaeda (AQ), or an active shooter attack like the ones conducted in Mumbai in 2008 and by Anders Bering Breivik in Norway in 2011. Continue reading
Izeth Hussain, in The Island, 24 January 2015, where the title is “Making Sense of the Presidential Election”
After the Presidential elections which are widely regarded as having been “stunning”, most Sri Lankans are now engaged in trying to appraise their significance. We have to begin by trying to establish why exactly Mahinda Rajapakse lost. In my article “After the elections”, published on January 10 but sent to the Editor well before the election results were announced, I wrote, “If Maithripala Sirisena squeaks through, or wins with a substantial majority as I have been confidently expecting, the prospects will be much brighter for a restoration of a fully functioning democracy”. The underlying reason for my confident expectation was something that has been well-known since people began living under the State, by which I mean among other things a centralized body holding exclusive coercive power. It has been established beyond dispute that power tends to go to the head, an excess of power tends to go excessively to the head, from which follows folly and hubris, the pride that goes before nemesis, the fall. It seemed to me that MR particularly by his participation in the creation of an utterly egregious Muslim ethnic problem showed folly and hubris of an order that had to lead to his nemesis. Continue reading
thuppahi
