Wild promises and pledges are part and parcel of election campaigns. Sajith Premadasa has certainly been quite liberal in dishing out goodies or rather promising to do so. And yet, the promise of sanitary pads for women does strike a chord. Makes sense. Of course it would be an insult to all women to believe that any woman would ...
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, during his speech at the Independence Day celebrations, not unlike his predecessors, rolled out what could be called a ‘should-be’ list, implying that things are not in order but should be and could be. He spoke of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the state and the importance of public confidence in these for a country ...
It must have been more than thirty years ago. Ravin Gooneratne, then an architecture student at Moratuwa University, introduced me to Don McLean through ‘Vincent.’ Ravin was a man of many talents. He could sing. He could paint. And philosophize too. And he told me about Vincent Van Gogh. The song, also called ‘Starry, starry night’ after a painting by ...
When news broke out that Dr Dayan Jayatilleke was nominated by President Maithripala Sirisena to be Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Russia, the immediate reaction for those (still) loyal to the President and/or the Prime Minister were thrilled. This is because Dayan was widely seen as a staunch backer of the former President and more crucially his brother Gotabhaya. Gotabhaya ...
H.L.D. Mahindapala, in an article titled ‘Exact nuance of CHOGM’s success’ points out that under normal circumstances ‘a loose, scattered and wobbly institution like the Commonwealth should have withered and died shortly after its birth. It has survived for 64 years without any tangible benefits to the collective or individual members. Perhaps it indicates the strength of an abiding ...
Dear Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, what do you have to say about the murder of Lasantha Wickramatunga (never mind that Ranil Wickremesinghe said Sarath Fonseka was involved)? What do you have to say about white vans? Ekneligoda? Thajudeen? And how about the mausoleum built for your late parents?If these are the questions you were waiting for me to ask, sorry. These are ...
Mr Harischandra Nanayakkara (Second from left) with former colleagues If you asked any Old Royalist who attended the school in the second half of the last century the teachers they remember most, there are a few names that are bound to come up. It has to do with the particular individuals being exceptional educationists as well as veritable institutions as ...
If not the Rajapaksas, their supporters are certainly perturbed by the New York Times (NYT) article on wrongdoing regarding the China Harbour Engineering Company, which is one of China’s largest state-owned enterprises. The NYT piece has since been dismissed by the Rajapaksas, their spokespersons and the Chinese Embassy in Colombo.The NYT has claimed that the company had paid large ...
The Yahapalana Siamese Twins President Maithripala Sirisena is on a roll. He said that he didn’t know who drafted the ‘100 Days Program’. He hinted that Ranil Wickremesinghe had without his knowledge asked the Air Force Commander to release helicopters to transport Mahinda Rajapaksa (who had lost the presidential election the previous day) to Hambantota. And on Thursday (May ...
Way back in the year 1988 an island-wide poster stamped in the public conscious the notion of political teaser advertisements. It was a simple question: මේ කව්ද? මොනවාද කරන්නේ (Who is this [and] what is he doing? It did not come in colors associated with any of the major parties. It was in orange. It was duly followed by a ...
There was a day in the year 1979 that broke my heart. It was a day on which the hearts of many Royalists, young and old, were broken. It was on the third day of the Centenary Encounter between Royal and St Thomas’. Royal, led by Ranjan Madugalle, were clearly the strong team and by tea the match was all ...
Constitutions are not always made with good intention. Even when the intention is good the unexpected trumps the word. They are supposed to be documents of the ‘forever’ kind, but if one thing is certain it is the fact that the sum total of human knowledge is but a speck of dust compared to the universe of human ignorance. And ...
TEAM 83 with their die-hard fansThey were the oldest among the Old Boys of Royal College who had gathered at the CR&FC grounds. They had gathered to play rugby. That’s six-a-side rugby. Inter-batch. Organized by the Group of ’91. Three categories: Over 40, Between 30 and 40, and Below 30. The members of the Group of 83 or ’83 Batch’ ...
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