Mahinda has got a two thirds majority in Parliament and is using it to extend his term. This is not because he was necessarily so powerful, it was more because the opposition was so weak. Mahinda told Ranil that he was going for an Executive Prime Ministership, invited Ranil to Temple Trees, gave him a [...]
Jack Anderson, the controversial American columnist of the 1970s, in his work The Anderson Papers, quotes a tyrannical CEO of the notorious American corporate giant ITT addressing a meeting of ITT executives: ‘Gentlemen, I have been thinking. Bull times zero is zero bull. Bull divided by zero is infinity bull. And I am sick and [...]
The approach is simply breathtaking. And the place itself, picture perfect. But all this beauty hides the harsh reality that Arugam Bay really isn’t what it should be. Located on the long forgotten east coast of the island, Arugam Bay is world famous as a surfers paradise and with the end of the war, tourists [...]
The most immediate threat to Sri Lankan democracy is not the rapid monolithic build up of administrative and political power by the Rajapaksa clan, but the visible crumbling of the opposition. The response to the build up of a power bloc evincing anti-democratic tendencies in a country with a history of democratic traditions is the [...]
I am addressing this communication to the Editor of The Sunday Leader newspaper and wish to offer my comments for approval or rejection by you. It’s nothing but an absolutely shameful article under the heading “The Exodus.” You obviously belong to the new modern trend of our society. I am a mother (to be a [...]
I am part of a dwindling and slightly pathetic race called the English Speaking Elite, or the Esé. Despite filling out ‘Sinhala Buddhist’ on every police report (they ask), I cannot really speak Sinhala. If I’m under arrest it somehow comes back to me, but for casual inquiries I can’t. The Esé were once the [...]
From the media we gather that Mervyn Silva has at last been booked. Looking at the past history of Mervyn Silva, it could be said that Silva took a leaf from the lamppost killings of the LTTE, when he tied a samurdhi worker to a tree. From the latest reports from Kandy, we learn that [...]
In years past, courts-martial meted out justice with firmness and fair play. The members of the court sifted the evidence, was advised on the legal aspects by the judge advocate, then judged matters according to their experience in the armed service. The members were always of higher rank to the accused and had been selected [...]
The continued closure of Bullers Road one year and three months after the end of the terrorist war defies analysis. It is a gross inconvenience to many as if you wish to proceed to Borella from Thunmulla junction — instead of doing an immediate right turn from Highlevel Road, you are sent all the way [...]
There are times when one simply cannot believe the attitude of the government. It acts with an impunity never quite before seen and unlikely to be seen elsewhere either. They send out signals to the international community with no apparent care in the world for what our overseas trading partners think. The case of stripping [...]
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