No serendipity for Sri Lanka

The recent impeachment of Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice, Shirani Bandaranayake, has re-focused international attention on the country. Catherine Ashton, head of the EU’s External Action Service, has expressed “considerable concern”.

Buddhism and Blood Ivory

Sri Lanka customs confiscated blood ivory from Kenya last year. The tusks were being smuggled to Dubai from Kenya. The tusks weighting over 1,500 kilos have been valued over Rs 400 million. More than 200 African elephants had been massacred to obtain these tusks.

Your children are learning from you - Editorial

What we need to bequeath to our children are the high moral and spiritual values that will help them to face the future and the challenges of the world. Most believe that giving the best education or endowing them with material possessions alone would suffice.

A POLICY ON DIASPORA ENGAGEMENT

Sri Lankan Diaspora communities ought to be engaged with some seriousness in our post-war nation-building and reconciliation efforts. Engaging the diaspora will not only improve our foreign and international relations but also contribute to internal national stability:

Post-Impeachment Future and the Role of the Judiciary

In several previous statements the Friday Forum expressed its deep concern about, and its opposition to, the manner in which Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake was impeached. The entire episode deeply offends all sense of decency and fairplay;

Surviving an unsurpassable tragedy

“When am I going to return home mother? When will I be able to sit with my family for a meal once more? . . .” a quivering voice at the other end of the phone line had inquired Rafeena on December 12 last year. Although her daughter’s questions caused grief and helplessness.....

‘Malala inspired children worldwide’

The bravery of Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who was shot at, has inspired children around the world to fight for a better education, key figures in a UN campaign have said.

Editorial - Tight-lipped indifference at the massacre of heritage

Sri Lankans are a sentimental lot. However, the peculiarity of the sentimentalism lies in the fact that, those who do not brook even the slightest insult to the ‘Sri Lankanness’ at the hands of the foreigners tend to go tight-lipped and closed-eyed, when a damage of a similar nature is caused by a native.

Duruthu Poya Gauthama Buddha’s first visit to Lanka Subjugation of Jatila Brothers and the pledge to

Duruthu Full Moon Poya day falls on the first month of the calendar year i.e. January and hence the celebration of Duruthu poya is the first event in the Sri Lankan Buddhist calendar. It was on a day like today, nine months after the Enlightenment, that Gautama Buddha.....

Real and Phantom Per Capita Income

The Per Capita Income (PCI) is derived by dividing the Gross National Product/Income (GNP/I) of a country by the total population of a country during a given period of time. It is a commonly used yardstick for practical and analytical purposes.

Editorial - Hundred richest people can eradicate world poverty

In the picture postcard city of Davos in Switzerland, some 35 world leaders, top bankers and industrialists and the leaders of world financial institutions are meeting at the World Economic Forum in a bid to salvage the globalised  capitalist  market economic policies. 

China’s growing presence in Africa

Go Into the casino in Tanzania’s capital, Dar Es Salaam and what strikes you? The overwhelming number of players...

Religious leaders must come forward together

For more than 2500 years, whenever there was a national crisis, the Buddhist clergy has come forward...

Obama’s second term - A tryst with history

President Barak Obama officially began his second term on Sunday after a White House ceremony held to meet...

Role of Lawyers in protecting the Independence of the Judiciary

The societies that sprang along the river valleys of the East and those of the Mediterranean considered women weaker than men. Aristotle thought that women were weaker and impulsive than men. Plato had a better reflection of women’s abilities.

Predicament of Premadasa

The political fallout from the impeachment crisis has affected not only the ruling United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA) but also the main opposition party, the United National Party (UNP) as well and its ‘former’ deputy leader Sajith Premadasa appears to be an unfortunate victim.

THE RIGHT TO PERSONAL SECURITY

The Friday Forum is gravely concerned about the security and wellbeing of persons who have taken positions regarding the impeachment contrary to that of the government, and continue to do so. These comprise judges and other state officials, lawyers, various civil society groups and individuals.

Editorial - Privatisation of the CEB – move towards a national catastrophe

Power has always been a delicate political subject and perhaps nowhere in the world it has become more evident than in the South Asian region where attempts to privatise electricity have played havoc with the lives of people.

Rizana: Tragedy of denied justice

Rizana Nafeek’s tragedy is that she was a Muslim and a poor Sri Lankan. As a result, she gets little sympathy from either her fellow Muslims or from non-Muslim fellow countrymen.

Sacking a CJ with minimal domestic political fuss or costs

Hats off to the Rajapaksa regime, the Machiavelli of Medamulane has pulled it off. Sacking a Chief Justice and getting away with it is no easy task and few governments succeed.

Post impeachment scenario

According to the UNP, the government impeached Dr. Shirani Bandaranayke in a clear attempt to gain full control of the Judiciary and to administer it according to its whims and fancies. Further it said that the removal of Dr. Bandaranayke from the post of Chief Justice was illegal and therefore Mohan Peiris could not be accepted as Lanka’s Chief Justice.

Editorial - When money cannot bring the dead back to life

When it comes to Sri Lanka, not all those who board planes go on joy rides. There are those who cross the seas in search of employment. As much as wanderlust compels one to venture out of one's egg shell comfort, poverty too pushes individuals towards wide open doors; whether they lead to heaven or hell is entirely another matter.

Foreign Policy and Domestic Stability

It is beyond dispute that Sri Lanka’s three decade conflict was externalised due to a combination of factors, ranging from the presence of an active expatriate community abroad; the involvement of foreign facilitators in the peace process; and the presence of foreign peacekeeping forces in 1987.

Let Rizana’s execution be a lesson

Rizana Nafeek’s story came to a tragic end with her execution last week. The incident that received a massive media attention is a conspicuous reflection of the social, economic and political tragedy the Sri Lankan society has been dragged into.

Rahul is willing

Rahul Gandhi has finally assumed the number two slot in the Congress — a role that has been his for the asking. Yet in the time-honoured tradition of the First Family, he resisted the inevitable.

Shadows over democracy - Editorial

The change of heads at Hulftsdorp last week has virtually silenced the Judiciary and shaken one of the bastions of democracy. Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake was virtually forced to leave this highest judicial office while armed men turned the superior courts complex into a fortress,.....

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE IMPEACHMENT DRAMA

The impeachment of a judge of a superior court is indisputably a tragic event to be dealt with  due solemnity and wholly divorced from all considerations of extraneous matters such as party affiliations and `loyalties’; prospects of rewards; political gain etc.

Sri Lanka and International ramification

Some nations turn their tragedies into fortunes while others fall from one tragedy to another. Sri Lanka, which at present is facing the Bergmanian ‘hour of the wolf’, is an apt example of the latter. Instead of steering the post-LTTE phase towards the creation of a united Sri Lankan nation and a much longed for terror free polity

100 Tibetan self-immolations against China

A young Tibetan in southwestern China has died after setting himself on fire, rights groups have reported, marking the second self-immolation protest in a week and lifting the total to nearly 100.

Editorial - Depoliticizing universities

Every time the university lecturers and the non-academics, in their weeklong trade union struggles, go to ask for more, the gates of the universities are closed against the faces of the students. The same is true when the student groups within the universities go to show their fist power in order to win their demands.