Former TNA leader and veteran politician R Sampanthan has raised important concerns that are shared by many outside his party’s constituency. China. He is worried that ‘Chinese influence on Sri Lanka has grown exponentially’. This goes counter to a foreign policy that has ‘followed non-alignment for decades,’ he says.Sampanthan is particularly upset that the Government has privileged China over India. ...
‘Kuda Hora’ (Umbrella Thief) is a story that many have grown up with. It’s a fascinating tale of umbrella after umbrella being stolen to the consternation of not just those who lost theirs but the entire village. And of course the reader. The culprit is eventually found — it is a monkey. And all the stolen umbrellas are found hanging ...
Sajith Premadasa has promised to take us back to the ‘Premadasa Yugaya (Era)’. He has not said ‘I mean, only the good parts of that time’. I mean, he hasn’t acknowledged anywhere that there was any wrongdoing during his father’s watch or the time when his father was the Prime Minister in J.R.Jayewardene’s government. With that statement, however, he ...
Eric is a common name in the United States of America. I’ve met many Erics in my time but one of them I will never forget. This Eric lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I met him more than twenty years ago and might never see him again. Eric was a panhandler. That’s ‘American’ for beggar. Sanitized term, sociologists and literary theorists ...
[A tribute to Lanil Kalubowila]The first time I heard the words ‘Disce aut Discede’ not only did I not know what they meant, the fact of my ignorance did not bother me one bit. The truth is, I didn’t understand most of the words among which these three Latin words were couched. I heard people sing the college song at ...
Guess who will get the last laugh! Elections come and go. People and parties come to power. They come and go. Agreements sometimes have longer shelf lives. This is why we have to be very worried about the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact which Cabinet approved recently. Sure, it’s a ‘project’ that was mooted a long time ago, negotiations ...
A bud is a metaphor and it is one that has naturally led to over-use because it is the party symbol of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the nelum pohottuwa. ‘The bud will bloom,’ they said with as much conviction as the rhetoricians of other parties predicted its withering. The results are out but the metaphor-play has not ...
It’s not just another punchi chandaya or ‘minor election.’ If the local government election has by default taken on a national character then it is due to the undue importance attached to it by a government that has clearly been fighting shy of facing the voter. It is ‘national’ for other reasons. For example, the main political parties/coalition in the ...
A tribute to Sybil Wettasinghe on her 90th birthdayFifteen years ago, after interviewing this grand old lady who is forever young, I called my wife and said, "parana yaluvek hambuna" (I met an old friend). “Sybil,” I added. She was thrilled. Neither of us had met her before. Years later, we would, along with our two daughters, but she was ...
We all have ‘earliest memories’. Among what I remember of ‘early days’ is my Montessori teacher, first days in school, my older brother Arjuna preparing to go as a Berec Battery at the fancy dress parade of the sports meet when he was in Grade One and my classmate Gihan Wijeratne being adjudged the winner of the fancy dress ...
A general election will be held soon. That much is certain. Indeed, if not for the term-related clause in the 19th Amendment Parliament would be dissolved by now. This Parliament feels old. Older than a little over four years. Those of the UNP (United National Party) and the SLFP (Sri Lanka Freedom Party) in Parliament have in fact lost ...
Painting by Prasanna WeerakkodyIn 2002 when the United National Party (UNP) was briefly in power there were plans to celebrate, yes ‘celebrate’ (!) the 500th anniversary of the Portuguese arrival in the island. It was as though that party had no notion whatsoever about about the relevant history. Those plans were scuttled when the UNP was defeated in 2004 April, ...
Not too long ago when economic, social, political circumstances were not too different to what we have now in Sri Lanka there were some individuals who shouted themselves hoarse insisting that Sri Lanka was a failed state. Maybe they’ve quite lost their throats now. Maybe selective blindness has deteriorated to complete myopia. At any rate they are silent now, even ...
