Power and the glory of Mahavamsa

In the opening paragraph Bhikku Mahanama, the Father of Sri Lankan history, makes it clear that he didn’t sit down to write the Mahavamsa because he had oodles of time hanging on his hands and did not know what to do with it.

US and SL Govt shutdown; distinction without a difference - EDITORIAL

On January 11, 2019, hundreds of US federal government employees who were sent on compulsory leave, and out-of-work US government contractors both of whom were victims of the US Government partial shutdown, protested outside the White House. 

Another Elephantine disaster waiting to happen?

There is possibly no other wild elephant who is more famous in Sri Lanka than Rambo, of the Uda Walawe National Park, (UNWP). For the past two decades, Rambo has patrolled the stretch of the UNWP bund, and he has now become a permanent fixture there.

Breast milk, pseudoscience and half-truths about substitutes

In 2016, President Maithripala Sirisena launched a mission for Sri Lanka to grow our own nutritional food without the use of sometimes poisonous, chemical fertilizers, weedicides, pesticides or preservatives. At present, Sri Lanka imports junk foods or processed rubbish by spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year. At the same time, a country that was largely self-sufficient in fresh milk, now spends almost 500 million US dollars a year on

Taiwan is not going back to China

Those, like some highly placed people in the US Government and Congress, who say it is inevitable that Taiwan with its population of 24 million will one day return as part of mainland China rather as Hong Kong did,

Bonded Beyond Belief: The Forgotten Great Bank Heist

The daughter of Minister Ravi Karunanayake, 15 months ago rushed to defend her father in an impassioned post: she said it was unfair for people to blame her father alone for the CB bond fiasco. “My father is a victim of character assassination,” Onella Wiranthi Karunanayake in a lengthy Facebook post lashed out at media reports on her father, saying they were “paid” by those who wanted to bring her father into disrepute.&n

The federal bogey again

Politicians seem to deem that they have solved all economic issues faced by the people or addressing economic issues is not any of their responsibilities. Their main focus is centered on how to capture power or remain in or retain power.

prov. governors as political agents and “Rajapaksa phobia”

President Sirisena had requested UPFA parliamentarians to pressure the government to hold Provincial Council elections, reported DM online last Wednesday.

Let’s have school children who know the law - EDITORIAL

The approval given by the Cabinet to include law as a subject in the school curriculum must be commended. This is because Sri Lanka is not regarded as a nation that abides by the law.

Whatever Trump does, Sri Lanka needs to deliver transitional justice and take the high road

In 2012, addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council sessions Sri Lanka’s then Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe questioned the United States’ moral right to bring in a resolution, while it itself was being accused of committing war crimes.

Kolombians and Kolombian-Wannabes

Recently, Subo De Zoysa made an interesting comment on my commentating predilections pertaining to Kolombians and others. He said, ‘when you write in English, you speak AT the Kolombians. When you write in Sinhala, you speak TO the people.’   

Train stories which expose our politicians

The inspection train tour from Beliatta to Matara marked a new beginning for Sri Lanka Railways, but it also brought to light the fact that development work can’t be separated from politics. Train journeys offer a wonderful way of telling stories about a country. The Matara-Beliatta extension of the Southern railway was tested under 

Education, the best investment for a just society

One of the United States’ founding fathers, statesmen and civic activists Benjamin Franklin has said an investment in knowledge pays the best interest. Albert Einstein a genius in modern science has pointed out that education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. The radical philosopher Malcolm X also 

Is national existence of Sri Lanka threatened?

Sri Lanka is an island situated in the south of India spanning 65,610 k.m. The composition of the population is 74.9% Sinhala, 11.2.% Sri Lankan Tamils, 9.2% Sri Lankan Muslims, 4.2% Tamils of Indian origin and 0.5% other communities. India whose population consists of more than I billion, and is fifty times bigger than Sri Lanka,

Prez steps up efforts for his candidacy at next presidential polls

That President Maithripala Sirisena desires to be the next presidential candidate surfaced once again when newly appointed General Secretary of his Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Dayasiri Jayasekara made some utterances to that effect early this week.  Jayasekara said that his party wished to field President Sirisena as 

Noise pollution; Let’s listen to the sound of silence

Right next to the National Institute of Mental Health; popularly known as Angoda hospital, there is a playground. The ground is used for matches between sports clubs and during the festive seasons for carnivals, all with loud speakers and loud music.   

Politicians are both: The cause and effect of corruption

“The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference.” ~Bess Myerson   A rustle of leaves emanated something beckoning a gentle sigh of an old man. Bending tree trunks and wavy paddy, pregnant with budding grains underneath, were absent. In the distant landscape, the horizon is a blending of shady 

To Re-assess, to re-think

A New Year has begun, new opportunities present themselves, new horizons to explore but most importantly and most of all, positive thinking, must be the hallmark of every Sri Lankan if we are going to get our country back on the right track!!! It is not correct to say it is all in the hands of the politicians – Oh No! Our country would be 

New Year dawns and yahapalanaya breathes it’s last…

I do not enjoy Black Humour, yet come to think of it, remember, exactly four years ago, to this date, how the yahapalana government was sworn-in at Independence Square? Weren’t those unbelievable scenes, where an individual who had not been the leader of either of the two main political parties, becoming the sixth Executive 

CV ridiculed the army and ridiculed himself

Former Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran who always seeks popularity among Tamils in the North by provoking Sinhalese has again opened a can of worms by belittling the great service rendered by the security forces, especially the Army in rescuing and providing relief to the people of Wanni who were caught in the recent floods in the are

Politicians who rule the roost and destroy education of nation’s children

Sri Lanka is not the only country that has seen a gradual decline in the quality of education over time; but this is one of the few such places which pride that deterioration as ‘progress’. Half-baked

Religious frenzy in Kerala

Kerala, in South India, which hots up as a result of pilgrim travel during this part of the year, is boiling due to violence and tension.  The roads leading to the 85 km jungle path have drawn aggressive protesters who are checking vehicles to ensure there aren’t women of menstruation age whishing to make the pilgrima

Temple entry has been a key issue in Kerala’s history

The on-going imbroglio over admitting women of reproductive age into the 800-year old Ayyappan temple in Kerala, which has engulfed the entire State, is not the first temple entry controversy in 

Today is Lasantha Wickramatunga’s Death Anniversary Let us remember not to forget

When truth is replaced by silence, the silence is a lie - Russian poet and dissident Yevgeni Yevtushenko The right of dissen

January 8-120th, 10th & 4th Anniversaries Hectic Task: Can ‘Maithri-Dayasiri Rescue SLFP?

January 8, 2019, marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of SWRD Bandaranaike; the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunge and the fourth anniversary of the election of Maithripala Sirisena to the office of Executive President of Sri Lanka. Sirisena’s birth also coincides with the inauguration of Bandaranaike’s new party, the Sri La

CHANGING SCENES OF LIFE THROUGH 2018

The latter part of the year just past, was certainly an annus horribilis with a threat to democracy, which made civil society rise in protest In  an unprecedented way.

Coming Geo-Tech Wars

Modern wars of all nature which led to the advancement of technology, military technologies became part of civil techno infrastructures, and are more dual use technologies especially with information, computation and Artificial intelligence leading the way in the late 20th to early 21st Century. 

The Sri Lankan ship of state is drifting directionless - EDITORIAL

The Constitutional crisis which developed with the the events of October 2018, has unfortunately not ended in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s Court ruling, the President’s actions in dismissing.....

Time to act: My hopes for 2019

As this fresh new year begins, many of us will take a moment to reflect on the one just passed, and the many events it brought with it, all of which have inevitably shaped us.

Helping others is the essence of our religions

The Christmas season formally ends tomorrow with the feast of the three Wise Men, kings or magi as they are referred to in the scriptures or in other writings. Of equal importance to the world today – with issues such as poverty alleviation assuming crisis if not break down proportions – the parable of the fourth Wise Man is also significant.