A transcript of a presentation by Azucena Morán, Research Associate, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Postdam, Germany. +49 331 28827 701; azucena.moran@iass-potsdam.de; https://youtu.be/IKQnIL7L35o (10:25-28:00 min); Also at Puravesis Sabhava virtual webinar on July 29, 2022, moderated by late Nirmani Liyange https://www.facebook.com/citizensforumSL/videos/757600282151566. Well, first of all, I’d like to say that I’m really honored to be here. Truly thankful to be ...
People have given the green light for a bold new step to do away with the executive presidency. The next 100 days are crucial as the form and shape of the new presidency emerge. The Maithri manifesto talked about a redefined presidency representing national unity and taking on other responsibilities as needed. Mr. Maithripala Sirisena has the ability to make it much more. If executive ...
Electoral reform logjam broke loose when MPs agreed to an increase to the size of the parliament from 225 to 250. The idealists are up in arms. What is the ideal size of the parliament? What is the ideal mix of representation? They are asking now. These are good questions, but, unfortunately that bus left long ago, as far back ...
2018 නිදහස් දිනයේ දී ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවේ උත්තමාචාරයත් හා රජයේ පාලනය යටතේ ඇති පාසල ගුරු විද්‍යාල හා වෙනත් ආයතන වල ආචාරත් පිළි ගනිමින් අපේ ජනාධිපතිවරයා ජාතිය අමතා කල කෙටි කතාවේ මගේ අවධානය යොමු වුනේ ආර්ථික නිදහස පිළිබඳ ඡේදයටයි. We must also remember that true freedom does not comprise only of political freedom, Our independence is not complete until economic and cultural ...
The MOU signed by the joint opposition was largely about abolishing the presidency, bringing in good governance and not much more. The theme of their latest campaign video – ‘a leader to bring back disappearing human values or මැකෙනා මිනිස්කම් රකිනා නායකයා” — is much more promising. What are these disappearing human values and what structural changes, beyond the abolishing ...
Claudia. That’s her name, I think – the name of the woman who was with Senasinghe when he was allegedly beaten up by Malaka Silva and his men. According to news reports, Claudia had told to the police that she did not see a beating up or a pistol in Malaka’s hand. How did Senasinghe got beat up so bad? ...
Writing in Sinhala used to be practically impossible but I had no intention of learning the Wijesekera keyboard, a relic of type writer era. Then I discovered University of Colombo’s Unicode converter on the Web. දැන් මම වතුරේ දාපු මාලුවා වගෙ. මහප්පරාන නැති නිසා අකුරුවල පෙනුමෙ පොඩි ප්රස්න තියෙනව, ඒත් කල්පනා කරලා බැලුවම මතක් වුනා මාර්ටින් වික්රමසින්හ මැතිදුන්ගේ ලිපියක්, ජන ...
An email I received under the title “Should our heritage be used to buy minority votes” implied that minorities in Sri Lanka can not have full rights as citizens. The email referred to the news item on Colombo, 04 July on Asiantribune.com about Sri Lanka Government donating land from Colombo 12, for “All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama” the Council of Muslim ...
This Vap poya day of Novermber 05, 2006, I attended the ‘Seela Vyapara’ at my old school with great expectations, but I had to cut short my day and return home in deep distress after hearing a mean monk’s mean sermon, which later turned out to be more than mean. ‘Mavalare Bhaddiya’ Thero, a priest from the Kuppiawatte Temple, Colombo, ...
People have given the green light for a bold new step to do away with the executive presidency. The next 100 days are crucial as the form and shape of the new presidency emerge. The Maithri manifesto talked about a redefined presidency representing national unity and taking on other responsibilities as needed. Mr. Maithripala Sirisena has the ability to make it much more. If executive ...
We hear so much hair-splitting about a Sinhala Buddhist State v. a Multi-ethnic state or whatever. I’d say let’s stop fighting about the bells and whistles on our Constitution and focus on what matters. What matters is that there is one law for all and all are equal under the law. The rest is commentary (with apologies to a ...
Claudia. That’s her name, I think – the name of the woman who was with Senasinghe when he was allegedly beaten up by Malaka Silva and his men. According to news reports, Claudia had told to the police that she did not see a beating up or a pistol in Malaka’s hand. How did Senasinghe got beat up so bad? ...
Writing in Sinhala used to be practically impossible but I had no intention of learning the Wijesekera keyboard, a relic of type writer era. Then I discovered University of Colombo’s Unicode converter on the Web. දැන් මම වතුරේ දාපු මාලුවා වගෙ. මහප්පරාන නැති නිසා අකුරුවල පෙනුමෙ පොඩි ප්රස්න තියෙනව, ඒත් කල්පනා කරලා බැලුවම මතක් වුනා මාර්ටින් වික්රමසින්හ මැතිදුන්ගේ ලිපියක්, ජන ...
An email I received under the title “Should our heritage be used to buy minority votes” implied that minorities in Sri Lanka can not have full rights as citizens. The email referred to the news item on Colombo, 04 July on Asiantribune.com about Sri Lanka Government donating land from Colombo 12, for “All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama” the Council of Muslim ...
This Vap poya day of Novermber 05, 2006, I attended the ‘Seela Vyapara’ at my old school with great expectations, but I had to cut short my day and return home in deep distress after hearing a mean monk’s mean sermon, which later turned out to be more than mean. ‘Mavalare Bhaddiya’ Thero, a priest from the Kuppiawatte Temple, Colombo, ...
One good thing about terrorism is that it makes conventional war look stupid. The true weapon of terrorism is collateral damage. When terrorists consider people collateral they don’t become any worse terrorists because they are already at the bottom. When governments consider its own people collateral it is reprehensible. It is of the highest order of reprehensibility when a government ...
There is nothing prettier than a lighted Atapattam lantern against a dark sky. Driving from Rajagiriya to Battaramulla the streets are lighted up by pairs of yellow, orange, green lanterns. There is street lighting along that road but no lights. The contractor is Sumal Perera, I have been told. He lives in the neighborhood on Tickell road. Should drop by ...
Why does anybody want to live in Sri Lanka, if there are other choices? Why deal with corruption, stupidity, headless bodies and bodiless heads, if you have a choice. These are questions that seem to come up more often than I like. What did the great sage of India have to say about location? I turn to the Mangala ...