A footnote to Bond Commission report

Last week, President Maithripala Sirisena swung his ‘sword’ that he recently vouched to use. The UNP had a good deal of its vital parts cut off. It would be nursing those wounds throughout the local government election campaign, which it was earlier expected to win hands down. The president in his much awaited statement on the report of the Presidential Commission appointed to investigate the alleged irregularities in the Central Bank

Post-election issues stymie Government Formation in Nepal

Elections to the 275-member Lower House of the Nepalese parliament – House of Representatives – were held between November 26 and December 7, 2017. Earlier, elections to the legislatures of the seven provinces had been concluded. The Left Alliance, comprising the Communist Party of Nepal - Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), and the Communist Party of Nepal - Maoist Centre (CPN-MC),swept the elections to the House of Representatives.&

A ROBUST REGULATOR: A FUNDAMENTAL INGREDIENT IN A SUSTAINABLE MARKET ECONOMY

I first published an article with the above-mentioned caption, in the “Accountant” (now “Abacus”) the magazine of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka....

DS Senanayake Vs SWRD Bandaranaike: Battle for Control

Don Stephan Senanayake, as in Shakespearian ‘dogma’, was not born great, but achieved greatness and greatness, to a certain extent was trust upon....

Global war against fake news - EDITORIAL

A few days back, hosting media for a New Year reception, French President Emmanuel Macron announced his government’s plan to bring....

Battle against climate change: Get young people involved

Though the United States President Donald Trump is still insisting that climate change is a Chinese hoax, a bomb cyclone or a powerful blizzard battered the U.S. Northeast yesterday, knocking out power for tens of thousands of people and snarling travel amid a cold snap that has gripped much of the US for a week and killed more than a  dozen people.   

Why Constitutional reform is a threat

The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution is considered the first constitutional reform effected under Yahapalanaya Government. Reducing Presidential Immunity to some extent, making President responsible to the Parliament, restricting number of terms a person can be elected to the office of 

Govt. urged to return lands to people of Paanama

The International Tribunal on Evictions has sent an official communique dated 26th December 2017 to Sri Lankan authorities including President Maithripala Sirisena, Secretary to the President Austin Fernando, Minister of Land and Parliamentary Reforms Gayantha Karunathilaka, Minister of Tourism and Christian Affairs John Amaratunga, Land Commissioner R. M. C. M. Herath, Provincial Land Commissioner East D. D. Aruna Dharmadasa and others, to imple

Star footballer is now president of Liberia

It was late 2003, the Liberian war was winding down after taking the lives of 250,000 civilians, spawning a small army of deadly child soldiers, and I was sitting at lunch in Monrovia inside the president’s palatial office and residence with the American ambassador on my right and George 

Bond Commission report; A tough lesson for politicians

Dismissing criticism by cynics and opposition leaders, President Maithripala Sirisena on Wednesday, assured that effective and immediate legal action would be taken against those facing serious charges in the report of the Presidential Commission, which probed the Central Bank bond transactions from February 1, 2015, to March 31, 2016.

Trump gambles with aid, but Pakistan has the ace

The United States President Donald Trump’s first tweet for 2018 concerning foreign relations should have been on North Korea. Instead, he targeted Pakistan.

Unity Government Impaled By Bond Commission But Sri Lanka’s track record on Commissions of Inquiry h

Hard on the heels of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) headed by President Maithripala Sirisena and the United National Party (UNP) led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on the so-called National Government having lapsed on December 31, the President on Wednesday made public the findings of the report of the Presidential Commission on Central Bank bond scam, to the utter disappointment of the UN

Predictable Crises All Round Either way, the results would leave very little possibility for the Sir

The popular question that is making the rounds is “Who would come on top, at this election?” They mean “Which party?” Will MR and his SLPP (Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna) outnumber Sirisena’s SLFP and the UPFA? What most, want to know in advance is the outcome of the elections.

Pakistan undertakes policy reversal to address fertilizer issue in Sri Lanka

Not only did the fertilizer crisis create effects in local politics but it also involved the decision making process in Pakistan as a country exporting such agriculture inputs. Apart from the apparent absence 

Right of Reply Fair exchange is no robbery

Government must be really disappointed that police still couldn’t find a valid reason to arrest former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Any foreigner who reads the above opening statement of this article may wonder what is happening in this country. A government is looking for reasons to 

Wilpattu: Missing the ecological wood for communalist trees

Last week I wrote that Wilpattu should be the core issue of the forthcoming local government elections because the said election has taken on a national character and because ‘Wilpattu’ is a national issue.   

Fighting to keep children alive

J. K. Rowling the famous author of the Harry Potter series has written a shocking and shameful story on institutionalized orphans mainly in Third  World countries.   

Sri Lanka’s way forward… let’s think outside the box

Another year is now history; nothing much to write home about. Politically, 2017 has been one of the non-eventful years. For most of us, barring some personal achievements for a few, it has been a terrible disappointment. Seventy years after 

The UNp Elite’s Neo-liberal Indianism

Whatever one may think it is, the real importance of the upcoming local authorities elections is that of a nationwide referendum on the model that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe is implementing and seeking to entrench. What is that model? 

Sri Lanka: A Regressive Society

  A careful analysis of the developments in diverse fields in this country over the past 50 years or so leaves little doubt that Sri Lankan society has been on a gradual, regressive path. This proposition may appear to be inconsistent not only with the outward 

Feb.10 poll: A test for the free media

All telecasting, broadcasting and print media shall be neutral and impartial in their reporting of election-related matters and shall not discriminate against any contesting 

Future of the UNP-SLFP marriage

2018 should be the year Sri Lanka finally prioritises on economy and evolves a political cohesiveness that supports economic development. However, there is an acid test: the future of the UNP-SLFP unity government. The memorandum of understanding between the two parties lapsed on December 31; the SLFP says a decision will be taken after the local government elections. 

Douglas Ranasinghe: Second to none

Sena, the protagonist of Madawala S. Ratnayake’s Akkara Paha, embodies for me the failure of the post-1956 youth to realise their social aspirations. Lester James Peries selected Milton Jayawardena, then an unknown player, for the role in his adaptation, while days after his choice was finalised he was visited by Vijaya 

Rajinikanth is an advance guard of the BJP in TN politics

As 2017 ended on Sunday, Tamil filmdom’s superstar Rajinikanth made the much expected announcement of his entry into Tamil Nadu politics.   

Let’s make 2018 a green year

The New Year 2018 dawned today with the usual mixture of virtue and vice. Joy and goodwill, understanding, sharing and caring were among the virtues we show to a large extent among the people. The vice came largely in the form of wasteful expenditure, luxury and extravagance such as 

SL Army to Mali as UN goes to War

2017 was a year of many global events that unleashed waves and waves of global disruptions; their repercussions will be felt for many years to come. The unrivalled change agent probably would be the 

Politics in the New Year

Three years ago in January 2015, democratic change with the overthrow of the authoritarian Rajapaksa regime was a great moment of hope. For social institutions and movements – the effective guardians of democracy – that moment provided the space to again organise without fear. In some 

Intrepid Educationist 100 Years on...

One hundred years ago, on Jan 1, 1918, an unknown young man was appointed as Principal of Ananda College. Patrick de Silva Kularatne, barely 25 years old, had just graduated from the University of London and had no working experience whatsoever. He was charged with accelerating 

Positives and Negatives of 2017

In our last editorial for 2017, the Daily Mirror analyses the positives and the negatives of what happened this year in the socio-political, economic and other areas.

How political interference has made SriLankan wobble

In the search for a private stakeholder for the Airline, the UNP-SLFP Government altruistically contributed to the National carrier’s accumulated losses bringing it to a staggering 200 billion rupees as at end of 2017.