What a strange budget. Broadly they are taxing the rich and giving stuff away to the poor. There are a lot of one-time taxes (wut?) on big companies, taxes on people with big houses, vehicle importers, etc. At the same time, prices of a lot of consumer goods are reduced, salaries are increased for government workers, hand tractors will be ...

I’m voting for Maithri this Thursday. For me it’s pretty simple. I’d like to be ruled by a government, not a family. I’m not related to Rajapaksas so I’d rather take my chance with laws. Why Maithripala This is what Maithiripala is promising: Mahinda Rajapaksa was a ‘pleasant man’ then. I too joined him in the Pada Yatras . This is why ...

Maithripala Sirisena has appointed his new Cabinet of Ministers, nine State Ministers and eight Deputy Ministers. Who are they and what does it all mean? Terms Ministers In Sri Lanka, Ministers are members of Parliament with a direct executive role. They control staff, budgets and do stuff. State Minister This is new to me. It seems to basically mean junior ...

The Bodu Bala Sena (racist Sinhalese force) is headquartered, under the protection of a powerful monk, in the Sri Sambuddha Jayanthi building at Thumulla Junction. While they go around threatening violence and harm to Muslims and other minorities in a very un-Buddhist way, no one has coherently protested against them. Until now. The Group Buddhist Questioning Bodu Bala Sena ...

Kama crowd back when it was called Zanzibar, the last time I went there You’re honestly in more danger at an expensive Sri Lankan nightclub than in the depths of any slum. In the worst Colombo neighborhood people generally reserve violence for friends and family and fear the law. In Colombo nightclubs you’re generally OK, but since the war ...

Climate change is happening – as much as US politicians deny it – and the changing environment will hit Sri Lanka hard. How, exactly? Sea Level It would actually take a sea level rise of 8m for coastal Sri Lanka to be literally underwater, but a projected range of 0.2 – 0.6m would still wreck havok. For all this stuff ...

It’s the morning after the election and things still aren’t entirely clear. I heard some crackers at 7:30 in the morning, but I think my neighbors were just tired of waiting. The streets are quite empty the morning after. Shops are closed, business is slow. It’s like Avurudu, the nonagathaya, when no one does any work or goes out. In ...

I just read an interesting report from the Social Scientists Association. They polled 1,500 people across Sri Lanka on a variety of issues, from how they felt about the economy to the ethnic issue to the current government. It’s a short, well-presented report. What I’ll do is compare what the main parties are running on (IMHO) and how that compares ...

Maithripala Sirisena has announced his cabinet today, one day behind schedule according to his 100 day plan. But that’s fine. He spent all yesterday actually consolidating control of Parliament so the government could do everything it’s promised to do. The cabinet is being announced. I’ll update it here as I hear. You can watch live on Sirasa here. Anyways, I’m ...

Manthri.lk is a site being launched this Friday (hence not live yet) which monitors and rates MPs. Broadly, for their productive time in Parliament, measuring how much they speak on topic and how much off. That’s a start and I assume they’re going to do the data collection and analysis. With that as a base there’s a lot of ...

Damn cool. Can’t wait to try it out. Finally the Central Bank has budged (on mobile companies not being banks and not being able to handle money) and we should be able to use our phone for payments, and sales. This is the promise, I haven’t yet seen the system, but it sure looks promising. This has benefits for ...

You get this error message when you visit banned sites. The Sri Lankan government is now asking that news websites not only register, but that they also pay Rs. 100,000 for the privilege, plus Rs. 50,000 annually. This addresses the ruling parties personal and financial insecurity in one blow. It’s also an extremely chilling tax (they call it a ...

A CHOGM traffic map, with RISK pieces. The Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting ended in Sri Lanka last week. Aside from messing up traffic for a few days, it was a big event that didn’t really have a big impact. The strange and by this point predictable thing was that it became, in the international media at least, about ...

Pic via Thinakkathir. I’m a Buddhist and have the utmost respect for the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, that being the community of practice. There are, however, claimed and robed Buddhists who are a shame to us all, to all Sri Lankans. For example, in Panamai, a mob led by a Buddhist monk has stolen a statue from ...

Pirith string at a Sarvodaya ceremony. Buddhism is not racist. The ideas and practice of Buddhism involve meditation, perception of impermanence and ultimately what we would call a renunciation of self. Being a Buddhist, however, is not just that. Being a Buddhist fundamentally involves taking refuge in three things – the Buddha, the Dhamma (his teachings) and the Sangha ...

7 Things You Don’t Miss About Mahinda… BuzzFeed News, which has really invested in investigative journalism, has interesting coverage of international dodginess involving the Rajapaksas. It’s interesting because it shows the wasteful and rent-seeking way that government operated. In this case, SLT was forced to invest $10 million in a shell company which did little besides pay a Rajapaksa nephew ...

Seriously, almost every Sri Lankan woman I know has been harassed, masturbated at, or sexually assaulted. I’m not saying Sri Lanka’s a horribly rapey country, but we still have a ways to go on basic civility and respect. Sexual assault is much more prominent than you’d think, but let’s focus on sexual harassment here. I can say with some ...

Devotees at Sri Maha Bodhi, 2009 I was thinking about it. If you go to any temple it’s primarily full of women, aunties mainly. That’s who’s upholding the Sinhala Buddhist faith, really. And yet I don’t see many aunties in the BBS. Any, really. It seems to be a bunch of men, including monks with drunk driving violations, practicing ...

Pic via @AzzamAmeen I’ve been out of the game for a minute, in which time the military has fired on protestors in Weliweriya and now a mob has attacked a mosque in Grandpass, at the end of Ramadan no less. It is insanely rude to attack a place of worship at anytime, but on the eve of Ramadan it’s ...

Jesus giving communion, photo frame in Pettah. There’s been a lot of talk about violence and hate speech towards Muslims, but it’s going on against Christians too. A lot. According to RSQ, “A mob led by three Buddhist monks attacked a prayer meeting in Colombo last week, beating the pastor unconscious.. On the same day, Praise Prayer Lanka Church ...