Costly WASTE in the Heart of Canberra

An Ode in the Face of The Terrorist Liberation-Fighter

  Jane Russell

“[This poem was presented] a small pamphlet called “Ganga” published in Colombo in 1978: it was aimed at the boasting men of violence everywhere – the Warriors of Terror whom in the guise of Freedom Fighters were inflicting further violence on already violated communities:

To Aloysius-Ludovico (The Terrorist)

I am tired of hearing you sing
the anthems of Freedom and War…
How joyously you crack the whip
and bellow out the tune above the drums!
But the faces of my friends haunt me
in the mornings when I see Death’s Armada
With its pirate’s flag of torture trailing….
what does it matter, your Freedom?
They are dying, my friends and their children…

Nalliah Thayabharan, thank you for reminding me of this poem written in despair in Colombo 30+ years ago. A whole generation has grown up since then but the same (better) poem is probably being written today in Syria by some unknown idealist…..as the song goes “When will we ever learn?”

Gargantuan Calamity Looming in Sri Lanka — As Foretold

V ictor Ivan, whose preferred title is  “The Present Crisis is likely to End Up in a Serious Disaster” …. itself his translation of his article in Sinhala

Of the Executive Presidents who had ruled the country prior to Maithripala Sirisena, J.R. Jayewardene and Mahinda Rajapaksha can be described as those who had mostly and increasingly exhibited the majesty and the prowess of the post. Both had adequate powers to do so.  In fact, J.R. Jayewardene boasted that the only thing he could not do is to make a man a woman, or vice versa. Dr. Colvin R de Silva,a most erudite expert on constitutional affairs ,once said that even if the President had lost his mental capacities, it would involve a lengthy process to remove him from office and as such we are compelled to be tolerant with a President who is not only unsuitable for the post but also has lost his mental capacities.

Utter Constitutional darkness in Sri Lanka. A Sunday Times editorial falls prey

Darshanie Ratnawalli

+++ This article is in the line of interpretation within difficult terrain presented by Gerald Peiris in Thuppahi yesterday as well as Peiris’s earlier intervention on this front elsewhere. Early signs suggest that both Peiris and Ratnawalli may be censored by the Editors of the principal newspapers, but hopefully Colombo Telegraph will be more open to her submission. For the readers to get some sense of the  conflicting interpretations, I append a short list on both sides of the fence. A long list will demand a journey into the year 2019. Text highlighting is by the web editor.

The editorial of Sunday Times, arguably the most prestigious Sunday newspaper in Sri Lanka, stated on 11/11/2018 that “Article 33 (2) (c) which gives blanket powers to the President to dissolve Parliament at his wish” is a provision that “comes from the original 1978 Executive Presidency Constitution.” This is an error when you consider that in our present Constitution, every other provision under 33(2) – 33(2)(A), 33(2)(B), 33(2)(D), 33(2)(E), 33 (2)(F), 33(2)(G), and 33(2)(H) comes from the JR Constitution, while 33(2)(C) is the only provision that DOES NOT.

Such an error in such a reputed source shows in what darkness the public is fighting the battle to find the true Constitution of Sri Lanka. To give the proper context, the relevant paragraphs in the ST editorial must be quoted in full.

In Praise of Traitors: Intimacy, Betrayal, and the Sri Lankan Tamil Community

Sharika Thiranagama, Chapter in Suspicion, Intimacyy and The Ethics of State-building, ed. by S. Thirangama and Tobias Kelly, , University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.

 

ABSTRACT: In a 2006 Canadian Sri Lankan Tamil pamphlet called Thurohi (Traitor), the author tells his diasporic audience, “many of us fled and came to this country. Why? Our life’s duty is to survive. But what is our historical duty? To be traitors” (Jeeva 2006, 3; emphasis added).1 The war between the Sri Lankan state and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) drew in Sri Lanka’s three largest ethnic groups: The majority Sinhalese, the minority Sri Lankan Tamils, and Sri Lankan Muslims; the latter, while war-affected, were not active in the conflict. The primary battlefields and areas of LTTE control were northern and eastern Sri Lanka. In May 2009 the war came to a bloody close in a stand-off with the Sri Lankan Army and the death of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and most senior leadership. This end came long after the writing of this chapter and is not its subject…….

Cliffhanging Situation Still? …. After Strong Supreme Court Intervention

Sam Samarasinghe, aka SWR de A Samarasinghe,  courtesy of Colombo Telegraph, 14 November 2018,  where the title reads “Pulling Back From The Brink: The Supreme Court Verdict & Its Implications”

Yesterday, November 13 evening, the third branch of government, the Judiciary in the form of the Supreme Court, dealt a blow for Sri Lanka’s fragile democracy when it issued a stay order on dissolving parliament effective until December 07. The Election Commission will suspend all action to hold parliamentary elections on January 5. In doing so the Supreme Court put the country first, as it should. In effect this allows the Speaker to recall parliament. 

“Me First” In sharp contrast, the president, who is the head of the executive branch, has been acting in the last two weeks with impunity, largely in his own self-interest. The legislative branch (parliament) has become an auction house where bribery reigns, cabinet office is available as a bribe for partisan behavior and self comes before country for very many MPs.

Remembrance Day 1918

Lucy Robinson: “Remembrance Day: How Australia celebrated the first Armistice Day 100 years ago

ABC South East SA  ….Posted yesterday at 11:30pm .…https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-11/how-australia-celebrated-the-first-armistice-day-100-years-ago/10454904

PHOTO: Military figures addressed the crowd in Sydney from a replica sailing ship set up like a stage.(Supplied: Australian War Memorial, P04370.003)

As gunfire ceased on the Western Front on the morning of November 11, 1918, Australia’s first war correspondent Charles Bean observed “the gates to the future silently opened”.The armistice which secured the end of World War I had been signed at dawn, marking the conclusion of a four-year conflict that had claimed more than 60,000 Australian lives.Confirmation would take several hours to reach Australia, where crowds were gathering in the streets at the first whispers of the news.