Nature, rationale and need for security

In early 1990 while in parliament, opposition MP Mahinda Rajapaksa who was then campaigning on human rights violations in the South during President Premadasa’s rule, was called by State Defence Minister Ranjan Wijeratne and told personally, he would be provided with two army personnel for security reasons.

Vesak 2017: Towards a peaceful and just society

Vesak 2017 will be a little more than thrice-blessed for Sri Lanka with the United Nations deciding to celebrate the Vesak festival here, with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nepal’s President Bidhya Devi Bhandari being among the VIPs attending it.The three-day international Vesak conference at the BMICH here will have a significant theme, “A peaceful and just society”.

‘The SAITM Issue’ and the politics of misnaming

Whoever is against SAITM should also be opposed to fee-levying institutions such as private nurseries, tuition classes, outfits that offer all kinds of certification and practices such as channelling services. This is an argument that is widely tossed around by those opposing opposition to SAITM. 

May Day: A catalyst of future politics

This year’s May Day commemoration appears to have become the catalyst that determines the nature of politics in the months to come. It is now obvious that the Joint Opposition, led by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, displayed a show of power by filling the Galle Face expanse with its supporters, a challenge believed by many as impossible to be accomplished.  

MAY DAY 2017: THE TIPPING POINT

 By Dr.Dayan Jayatillleka -“And it’s all over now, Baby Blue” (Dylan) When you’ve passed the tipping point, things are never the same again. You cannot sustain the existing equilibrium nor can you go back to the old one. May Day 2017 was such a tipping point.   

Vesak is about solidarities

Sri Lanka is bad news. There’s a garbage dump everywhere you look, metaphorically speaking.

Was JR an opportunist, a racist, both or neither?

 I have already penned many a column on wide-ranging political moves, policies and principles of Junius Richard Jayewardene ......

Gautama Buddha introduced the pragmatic way of life

Twenty six centuries ago, an unprecedented and extraordinary epoch was dawn in our human history which a multitude of people still respectfully commemorate and spiritually celebrate, not blindly but realistically....

Emmanuel Macron: Why Sri Lanka and South Asia can’t do a France

The French say they love revolutions. Yesterday they usurped one, electing 39-year-old Emmanuel Macron as the new President of....

National Reconciliation Policy: Hope at last - EDITORIAL

At the historic January 2015 presidential election it was widely accepted that a huge minority community vote played a key.....

TODAY IS WORLD RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT DAY - EDITORIAL

Today, May 8, is World Red Cross Day, the birth anniversary of the founder of the Red Cross - Henry Dunant. Dunant the founder....

False-flag chemical weapons attack: Re-play of an old US ploy to smash Syria?

As the fallout of the April 4th chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhun in Syria continues to unfold, contradictory reports on....

Cyber politics comes of age

For cyber security experts mainly focusing on the contentious notion of cyber war, year 2017 is the 10 years anniversary...

A minimum programme for local councils in Sri Lanka

People in many parts of the world are increasingly critical of their governments and other elected political institutions at different....

PM presents valid claims for 20th Amendment - EDITORIAL

When the Provincial Councils were set up in 1987, in terms of the controversial Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, there was widespread...

Geetha , Gotabhaya and the dual citizenship issue

Kumara Vidugalage Dona Geetha Samanmalee Kumarasingha popularly known as Geetha Kumarasinghe is in the eye of a politico-legal storm. The glamorous actress turned politician who was elected to Parliament in August 2015 from the Galle district on the United People’s Freedom Alliance(UPFA) ticket has been unseated by an Appeal court ruling.  

An African president convicted of war crimes

Last May a court in Senegal convicted and sentenced to life-imprisonment Hissene Habre, the former ruler of Chad, for the crime of torture and crimes against humanity. On Thursday last, an appeal court upheld the sentence and now Habre, who ran from Chad after a coup in a military transport that airlifted him, his entourage and a Mercedes to what he hoped would be a luxurious exile in Senegal, is languishing in an ordinary prison cell.  

Diagnosis of the GMOA’s conduct

Amid conflicting or contradictory reports on the success or failure of yesterday’s so-called general strike, a major question has arisen over the role of the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA). The medical officers’ union claims or boasts that with about fifteen thousand members it is one of the most powerful trade unions in Asia.   

The state of the Police and policing the state

When Maithripala Sirisena announced that he would run for President against Mahinda Rajapaksa, he was flanked on one side by Rajitha Senaratne. Sarath Fonseka is a Field Marshal, is an ex Army Commander and was the candidate that the Opposition fielded against Rajapaksa in 2010. Champika Ranawaka is the General Secretary of the coalition that promoted Yahapalanaya in August 2015.

May Day done with: What Next?

“Major venues were full of heads. But all heads are empty heads.” My sorry conclusion on crowds at May Day festivals. May Day was undoubtedly a huge three cornered political competition among Sirisena, Wickremesinghe and Rajapaksa. 

Just as apartheid ended in South Africa, so will it in Palestine

Since the creation of Israel in 1948, almost all United States’ Presidents have been either ignorant of the true story behind the Palestinians’ suffering or advocates of injustice, however much the victimised Palestinians shout ‘Nakba, Nakba.’

Countering protests under good governance:

President Maithripala Sirisena’s reported suggestion at the Cabinet meeting last week that former army commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka be given the task of running the essential services uninterrupted cannot be a joke, as suggested by Labour Minister John Seneviratna.  

Implementing Transitional Justice measures- A reality check

?Transitional Justice refers to the set of judicial and non-judicial measures that are implemented in countries which are coming out of a period of armed conflict, or state repression, and are in transition to a state of peace and good governance. Transitional justice is the process through which It is sought to redress the wrongs done, to make reparations and bring about reconciliation and non recurrence. This process includes institutional re

Confusion reigns over proposal to assign SF to deal with emergencies

Confusion reigned within the government regarding the proposal to appoint Minister Sarath Fonseka, the one-time tough, battle-hardened Army Commander to deal with the emergency situation arising due to trade union actions. It evoked a provocative response from the trade union leaders. Let alone, the govt ministers started taking on each other on the matter, with some denying the veracity of this proposal and the others vouching for its accuracy

For the poor, not just charity but justice

At May Day rallies there were resolutions to provide a better deal for workers in the coming months and years. Essentially the human dignity of workers and their families need to be restored. Doles and acts of charity are good but we need to go to a higher dimension and do justice to the workers. This will be achieved when a just society is created.   

Post May Day blues (for the blues and greens)

May Day (in Sri Lanka) is not about workers. It’s about show. This time it was about challenges thrown and accepted, one-upmanship and bragging rights.

Art of compensating victims of natural disasters

It has been more than two weeks since a section of the Meethotamulla garbage dump had collapsed, snuffing out the lives of many....

Meethotamulla - crash of trash… have we no shame?

The pile of garbage was as tall as a 14-storey building. Its collapse was crushing, no pun intended. Two weeks ago the death toll....

Media, Our Best Hope On World Press Freedom Day

The 2016 media freedom report card makes for uncomfortable reading.    Impunity for those who kill....

Meethotamulla debate: Only a blame game - EDITORIAL

It was very clear that when the Mahinda Rajapaksa led UPFA faction of the joint opposition demanded a parliamentary debate....