Are we turning Lanka into a Macau? - Editorial

Despite strong and widespread protest by Mahanayaka Theras, hundreds of Buddhist monks, leaders of other religions and civic action groups, the Rajapaksa regime made a second attempt in Parliament yesterday and succeeded in pushing through colour-washed regulations for the setting up of two huge casinos.

Editorial - EPF money is sacred: Stop this gambling

One of the most progressive laws introduced since independence was the Employees' Provident Fund Act of 1958. It was introduced and implemented by the S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike Government as the biggest ever social security scheme that today has ......

Foolish bravado:Nobody becomes a somebody

A week ago, he was virtually a political non-entity, a man who was one of many in a long list of ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) politicians who held sway in their regional strongholds. A few minutes of foolish bravado have now changed the life of Eraj Ravindra Fernando.

H’tota attack flashes international spotlight on SL

The journalists, assigned for the coverage of United National Party (UNP) MPs’ visit to Mattala International Airport last Thursday, sensed the impending danger as they noticed a gang assembled near the entrance.

EPF dwindles away in bad investments

The following observations were made in connection with the overall investment of Rs. 73,948,947,927 made by the Employees’ Provident Fund as at 31 December...

MEDIA FREEDOM IS NOT A LICENCE TO ABUSE

Conventional media — radio, television, the newspapers and now the new social or web-based media should play a positive and informative role in society.  Media freedom is in fact the

Will Lady Luck accompany a common candidate?

There is a search for a common oppositional candidate as the possibility of a presidential election has been announced by pro-government media. With the miserable election results it may be wise for the president to...........

We must not drown in a water crisis

Amid warnings that the world is running short of fresh drinking water and that the super-powers or others may go to war to grab control of fresh water resources just as they did to grab fuel supply sources, recommendations have been made for the Sri Lankan Government to introduce tough regulations to....

Pistol wielding drama in Hambantota

Attention is now drawn towards the Mayor of Hambantota - Eraj Fernando, for the alleged assault on the UNP parliamentarians who visited Mattala Air Port and Hambantota Harbour,  on a fact-finding mission on April 17 (Thursday), 2014.

Concrete dinosaurs vs human existence

“I suppose, I must walk to church”. About a hundred years ago, it happened to be a caption that appeared in every newspaper in the USA, attributing to President Woodrow Wilson (1913-21). During the First European......

Editorial - Are paper qualifications the answer?

President Mahinda Rajapaksa had said at the Getambe Rajopawanaramaya on Saturday that he hopes to introduce amendments to the Constitution with a view to absorb qualified people into politics.

Uva election is an opportunity to project UNP unity Assault on UNP MPsAnother blot on good governan

UNP Badulla district parliamentarian Harin Fernando, a vocal member of the opposition, at an interview with Daily Mirror expressed his views on the UNP crisis, the election results and the way forward for the ‘grand old party’. Below are texcerpts from the interview

Beyond Ethnicity and Religion The Challenge of Creating Social Citizenship

There are not many societies in the world that are socially and culturally uniform. This is particularly so in societies that attracted migrants from other territories. America attracted and accommodated a wide range of ethno-religious groups into its fold. The process of accommodation of diverse communities there was.....

The horror of the ‘Hambantota doctrine’ - Editorial

If further evidence was required of the breakdown of the rule of law and the politicisation of the Police Department, it came live with television footage when five UNP parliamentarians—elected representatives of the sovereign people visited the Rajapaksa homebase of Hambantota for a.....

AN ABORTIVE ATTEMPT TO REVIVE THE LTTE

The traditional April new year named ‘Jaya’ or Victory dawned on a positive note this year for Sri Lanka. A massive security operation launched by the Sri Lankan armed forces had resulted in the deaths......

JR’s Executive Presidency wish lives on

At the General Elections of 1977, the UNP headed by J.R. Jayawardene, presented its manifesto to the people. By its manifesto, the UNP sought a mandate from the people inter-alia “to draft, adopt and.....

Editorial - Gabriel Garcia Marquez – thank you for the inspiration

The world lost two greatest minds within the first four months of 2014. The death of the Nobel Prize-winning writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude—”the greatest revelation.....

Putin has more trumps in Ukraine gamble

Amid tough talk and military buildups by Moscow and the West, the crisis in Ukraine has now shifted from Crimea to the country’s east along Russia’s western border. Just like Crimea, the eastern regions of Ukraine are largely inhabited by Russian-speaking people. Following Crimea’s example....

This Indian government has done well

E.M. Forster, the English novelist, wrote in his “Passage to India” of India “swelling here, shrinking there, like some low, indestructible, form of life”. But the India of today is a totally different place from 1920. Economic growth was tiny in British times (even though a large network of....

Good Friday: Finding God in all things - Editorial

About 2,100 million Christians all over the world mark Good Friday today— the holiest day on which they believe the Lord Jesus willingly made himself the sacrificial Lamb of God to be crucified to show how high, how deep and how wide God’s love is which surpasses human understanding, expectation or imagination.

End of Bogambara prison Reviving debate about Capital punishment

The overwhelming endorsement to re-activate capital punishment by a large majority of visitors to the Bogambara prison after its shift to Pallekele has given food for thought to the Cabinet and President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

India’s clear message to TNA, Diaspora and Pillay

The Foreign Secretary of India in a recent interview with CNN, made India’s independent stand and pragmatic approach towards much talked about International Inquiry on war crimes to be carried out in Sri Lanka, crystal clear to the world, particularly TNA, Tamil Diaspora representing rump LTTE, UNHRC....

A unique hub of governance

It is strange that many countries do not appear to emulate the example of Sri Lanka in its policies of governance. After all we have so many systems of governance from the single unit of authority at the apex, to a parliament, provincial councils, district administration, divisional administration, city, urban and....

Good medicine to revive patient-friendly health service - Editorial

In one of the healthiest moves for the New Year, Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena is this month expected to introduce in Parliament tough new legislation for the implementation of a National Medicinal Drugs Policy based on Professor Senaka Bibile’s Essential Medicines Concept which scores of.....

Women’s participation in labour market is more important than oil for Norway - Grete Lochen

A wide-ranging interview with Grete Lochen, Ambassador for Norway in Sri Lanka on women’s contribution to national development and political participation, engagement in peace processes and the United Nations

Why world’s biggest carnival of democracy matters

The world’s biggest carnival of democracy is in full flow. It’s a carnival in every sense of the word – in terms of sheer drama, spectacle and colour, along with all that hurly-burly and exuberant noise, the parliamentary elections in India have set new benchmarks that are hard to match anywhere else in the world

False assumptions and erroneous theorisation

There is a school of thought that believes that the common action programme of the Left with the UNP was a meaningless exercise, to say the least. They go on to claim that it was helpful to the UNP leader to stabilise his leadership within the party, but brought discredit to the left leaders.

Global warming: Don’t wait till it’s too late - Editorial

In the afterglow of a happy but the hottest ever National New Year we need to reflect deeply on the latest United Nations report which warns that just a few decades remain to halt global warming and head off its most catastrophic effects. The report according to the widely respected National Geography magazine........

Tiger vs. Tiger Tenth Anniversary of Revolt Led By Eastern LTTE Leader “Col” Karuna

Ten years have passed since the once dreaded LTTE experienced an internal politico-military revolt spearheaded by its erstwhile Eastern regional commander Vinayagamoorthy Muralidharan alias “Col”Karuna. The revolt lasting six weeks from March 3 to April 11, 2004 was......

Significance of Bak Full Moon Poya Day Buddha’s Second visit to Lanka

Five years after the Enlightenment Gautama Buddha visited Sri Lanka for the second occasion. The objective of this visit was to convince the rulers of Lanka- Naga Kings and their followers that hatred is not appeased by hatred but by non-hatred. Naga kings