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Sun, 09 Aug 2020 Today's Paper

DBS Jeyaraj Column

TNA suffers electoral setback in North and East polls

08 Aug 2020 - 0     - 9421

The long awaited 2020 Parliamentary Elections has concluded with a 71% voter turn out despite the difficulties imposed by the COVID -19 Pandemic threat. Appropriate health procedures were followed by the authorities with enthusiastic cooperation of the people.

TNA Must Seek India’s Help To Protect 13th Amendment

25 Jul 2020 - 0     - 12197

The Rajapaksa regime is all out to get a two-thirds majority in parliament through the forthcoming elections on August 5. The avowed objective of such a steam-roller majority is to promulgate a new Constitution or enact Constitutional amendments unilaterally.

CWC, Jeevan Thondaman and Nuwara- Eliya Tamils

18 Jul 2020 - 0     - 14886

The hills of Nuwara Eliya are vibrantly alive with the hectic sounds of parliamentary electioneering! Nuwara Eliya district with its picturesque landscape and salubrious climate elects eight members in the 225 member parliament of Sri Lanka. 577,717 registered voters in the district are eligible to cast their ballots at the forthcoming elections scheduled for August 5.

Comrade Shan and the Tamil Militant Armed Struggle

11 Jul 2020 - 0     - 6387

The China of today is vastly different to the China that I knew of in my younger days.

“Col” Karuna’s Eastern Tiger Revolt Against LTTE Chief Prabhakaran.

27 Jun 2020 - 0     - 9596

inayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias “Karuna Amman” a.k.a. “Col” Karuna has got himself into hot water by shooting his mouth off at an election meeting in the East. Currently Karuna Ammaan is the chief candidate on the Amparai District list of the ‘AhilaIlankai Thamizh Maha Sabha’ (All Ceylon Greater Tamil Council). With an intense election campaign being conducted, political party speakers and propagandists are engaged in banter and riposte with ea

Plot within TNA targeting party spokesman Sumanthiran

13 Jun 2020 - 0     - 11455

Mathiaparanan Abraham Sumanthiran was in the eye of a raging political storm some weeks ago due to a YouTube interview given by the 56-year-old President’s Counsel cum politician to the ‘Truth with Chamuditha’ show.

When Thondaman clashed with MR…

30 May 2020 - 0     - 27165

Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC) leader and Cabinet Minister of Livestock and Rural Community Development, SaumiyamoorthyArumugam Ramanathan Thondaman died of a cardiac arrest on May 26.

Did the Tigers form TNA in 2001?

16 May 2020 - 0     - 7840

Former Jaffna District Parliamentarian and Spokesperson of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Illankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), Mathiaparanan Abraham Sumanthiran is currently in the eye of a political storm. The YouTube interview given by the 56-year-old President’s Counsel cum politician to the “Truth with Chamuditha” show conducted by senior journalist Chamuditha Samarawickrama is the reported cause of the controversy.

Will President Gazette a Fresh Date For Convening a ‘New’ Parliament If Elections Are Postponed Again?

09 May 2020 - 0     - 7704

The Elections Commission has scheduled June 20 as the new date for the postponed election of April 25. Eight Fundamental Rights petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court regarding the holding of elections on June 20.

Politics of Postponing Parliamentary Elections Amid a Pandemic

25 Apr 2020 - 0     - 5235

The world including Sri Lanka is undergoing a pandemic crisis of colossal proportions. The Island nation however is in double jeopardy as it is in the grip of two crises simultaneously.

Despite Covid-19, can Sri Lanka conduct safe elections like South Korea?

20 Apr 2020 - 1     - 3828

Sri Lanka’s Election Commission, comprising former Commissioner of Elections Mahinda Deshapriya, retired Legal Draftsman Nalin Abeyesekera PC and Ex-Jaffna.....

’’We must abandon the idea of elections anytime soon’’- Sumanthiran

06 Apr 2020 - 0     - 12590

Former Jaffna District Parliamentarian and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Spokesman M. A. Sumanthiran PC engaged in an informative conversation with the “Daily Mirror”...

How Will the TNA fare at Parliamentary Election?

24 Mar 2020 - 0     - 8391

The deadline for the 2020 Parliamentary Elections nominations scheduled for April 25 ended at noon on Thursday, March 19th

Ranasinghe Premadasa’s “Citizen’s Front” revolt in UNP

14 Mar 2020 - 0     - 10802

“Gedara Hitiya Rosa Kekula Rosa, Rosa” was the opening line of a lilting Baila song in Sinhala that was hugely popular in the seventies of the last century.

Arrest, detention and release of ‘Tiger Twelve’ in Malaysia

29 Feb 2020 - 0     - 10671

In October last year, twelve Malaysian nationals of Tamil origin were arrested by the Malaysian Police over suspected links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and alleged involvement in terrorist activity.

SL’s Chinese connection and Pompeo’s designation of Shavendra Silva

22 Feb 2020 - 0     - 7690

“May you live in interesting times” is a saying that is believed to be an ancient Chinese curse. Many writers and speakers often use this expression or phrase and attribute Chinese origins to it. In spite of the widely-held belief about Chinese links, recent studies by etymologist scholars and linguistic researchers have revealed that there is no evidence of this saying having a Chinese origin.

Charismatic actor-politician may have changed the nation’s destiny

15 Feb 2020 - 0     - 9520

The political landscape of Sri Lanka seems gloomy and desolate. Most of the actors who strut about the political stage posing as visionaries and leaders are in actuality empty vessels devoid of substance. Proverbial wisdom tells us empty vessels make most sound.

Tamils want to sing national anthem in their mother tongue

11 Jan 2020 - 0     - 10761

This is my third and final column in the trilogy of articles about the singing of Sri Lanka’s national anthem in Sinhala and Tamil languages. I would have very much liked to write about hot topics like Ranjan Ramanayake’s voice recordings or President Gotabaya’s policy speech or internal troubles of the UNP,

Past under Mahinda resurfacing under Gota

04 Jan 2020 - 0     - 14271

2020 has dawned! Greetings for the new year to all readers. My article in this column last week about moves being contemplated to forbid the singing of Sri Lanka’s national anthem in Tamil at the 70th Independence Day event seems to have been received well, judging by the positive responses I have been getting from readers this week. What makes me most happy is the fact that an overwhelming number of these responses have been from Sinhala reade

Singing national anthem in Sinhala and Tamil languages

28 Dec 2019 - 0     - 11076

The news item appearing in Dailymirror last week was like a bolt out of the blue. It said the national anthem would be sung in Sinhala language only at the forthcoming celebratory event of Sri Lanka or Ceylon gaining full independence from the United Kingdom in 1948. The practice adopted since 2016 of singing the anthem in Tamil too would not be followed. This is what the news item penned by Sandun A. Jayasekera said:

Dawn of Ceylon independence and birth of Tamil Federal Party

21 Dec 2019 - 4     - 6910

December 18, 1949 was a red letter day in the political history of Sri Lankan Tamils known as “Ilangaith Thamizhar” in their mother tongue. On that day, a group of sixty Tamils including two parliamentarians and two senators launched a new political party with the avowed goal of establishing an autonomous State for Tamil-speaking people of Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was known then) within a united island. The new party was named in Tamil as “Illankai T

Switzerland connection in LTTE fundraising activity

14 Dec 2019 - 0     - 15988

Recent events have focused the media spotlight on the Federal Republic of Switzerland known officially as the Swiss Confederation. The landlocked European nation is respected highly on a global scale due to its policy of armed neutrality. Despite the impeccable credentials of Switzerland, the country is being viewed negatively by influential sections of the Sri Lankan people. There is suspicion that an orchestrated campaign is being pursued by ce

“New” Rajapaksa regime under President Gotabaya

30 Nov 2019 - 0     - 10499

The election of Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the seventh Executive President has effectively demonstrated that the “Ruhunu Rajapaksas” have come to stay as a dynastic political force in the country. As stated last week in the first of this two-part article, the patriarch of “Medamulana Dynasty” was Don Alvin Rajapaksa (D.A. Rajapaksa), the father of Chamal, Mahinda, Gotabaya, Basil and five other children.

President Gotabaya spearheads return of Ruhunu Rajapaksas

23 Nov 2019 - 0     - 16172

The 2019 presidential election is over and Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been elected as the seventh Executive President with a thumping majority. The result seems to have upset the calculations and predictions of many a commentator and analyst writing in English both in Sri Lanka and abroad. It has indeed been amusing to see some of them “blaming” the voters for going against the grain of their assessments. What they fail to realise is that

Presidential race: Ordinary People Expect Better Economic Prospects and National Security

02 Nov 2019 - 0     - 7862

This writer devoted several hours in the past fortnight to communicate with a cross-section of Sinhala media personnel in the Southern, Central, Sabaragamuwa, North Western and North Central Provinces of Sri Lanka. A few journalist colleagues in Colombohelped to put me in touch with them. Our discussions were focused on the upcoming presidential election and about how chief presidential candidates were likely to fare. I was very much interested i

‘Gotaphobia’ - Who’s afraid of Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa?

19 Oct 2019 - 0     - 14671

“Onna Babo Billo Enawaa” was a familiar threat often used by grown-ups to frighten children into obedience in those days. Fear would be instilled into children that the kidnapper with the sack (Goni Billa) would grab them if the kids did not do as they were told. Nowadays, a few people resort to such threats in dealing with children.

How Karu and Malik Helped Ranil and Sajith Make Peace

12 Oct 2019 - 3     - 12228

The political spectacle“Ekwa Idiriyata” (Forward Together) that unfolded on October 10 at Galle Face Green has elevated the morale of the green party to ecstatic heights. A mammoth crowd -- estimated by some of being in the range of six digits – gathered on the shores of the Indian ocean to see, hear and cheer the United National Party (UNP) leaders. A festive mood was much in the air as the DNF’s presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa launched

Aftermath Of Bandaranaike’s Assassination: INVESTIGATION TO INDICTMENT

28 Sep 2019 - 0     - 7137

Sixty years ago on September 25, 1959, Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (SWRDB) the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka then known as Ceylon was shot and seriously wounded by a Buddhist monk named Ven.Talduwe Somarama Thera. Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike succumbed to his injuries the following day. The fourth Prime Minister of Independent Ceylon/Sri Lanka passed away on September 26, 1959 exactly twenty-two hours after he had been shot.

The Prime Minister Is Dead

21 Sep 2019 - 2     - 14152

“The Prime Minister is Dead” was the striking headline in extra-large, bold letters of a special edition published by the now defunct “Times of Ceylon” on the morning of Saturday, September 26, 1959.

At the Presidential Poll Can EPDP chief Douglas get Tamil votes for Gota ?

09 Sep 2019 - 1     - 8222

Ever since the name of Gotabaya Rajapaksa began to be bandied about as a potential candidate at the Sri Lankan presidential elections, doubts have been raised as to whether the former defence ministry secretary could win at the hustings.

TODAY'S HEADLINES

Large crowds to congratulate MR

08 Aug 2020

SLPP wins record-breaking 145 seats

08 Aug 2020

Not satisfied with election result: NPP

08 Aug 2020

Constitutional changes only after much thought: SLPP

08 Aug 2020