By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole I fled Sri Lanka first under LTTE death threats in March 2006 and a second time in August 2011 after detailing election malpractices in Pitfalls in the President’s Alliance with the EPDP – A Visit to Kayts on Elections Day (The Sunday Leader 24.07.2011). If I had been untruthful, the [...]
By D. B. S. Jeyaraj The week saw Justice minister and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakeem, protesting against President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s controversial move to circumscribe devolution by amending the Constitution. The protest lodged by Hakeem at the weekly cabinet meeting held on Thursday June 6, 2013 was overtly backed by National Languages and [...]
By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole American Asians – engineering demographics The US population is 72% White, 16% Hispanic, 13% African American, and 5.6% Asian (2010 figures). Asians are 13.1% of American engineers. Asians garner 16% of the prestigious Ivy League university admissions. According to the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) 24.1% of engineering professors [...]
By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole Many Tamils who have suffered at the hands of the LTTE have tended to see others on LTTE hit-list with some sympathy. For those on the list, with a dedicated sense of service to the Tamil people and unquenchable thirst for justice, the choice was simple when faced with assassination [...]
By Dr. Devanesan Nesiah The focus of my article in The Sunday Leader of 5 May was on the need for Northern Provincial representation. It now looks as if those elections may be held in September 2013. I will elaborate on the likely consequences of representation, or the lack of it, drawing on past experience in [...]
By S. Sivathasan When the Jaffna Development Council started functioning a Minister who made frequent official visits to Jaffna was Hon. Gamini Dissanayake. His known closeness to the President lent some significance to the discussions he had with Mr. Nadarajah the Chairman of the Council. A warm rapport developed between the two. To the Chairman [...]
By Liyanage Amarakeerthi When I heard about the Boston explosions I had many hopes. First, I hoped that my teacher, who is at Harvard, was safe. Second, I hoped no one was killed. Third, I hoped there was no any Muslim connection to the explosion. Finally, I hoped Boston, one of my favourite American cities, [...]
By Shanie If you will tell me why the fen appears impassable, I then, will tell you why I think that I can get across it if I try… from I May, I Might, I Must, Marianne Moore (1887-1972) Fifteen months ago, when the year 2011 was drawing to a close, the political climate in Sri Lanka was [...]
By Jehan Perera President Mahinda Rajapaksa was among the first in the international community to respond to the bombing of the Boston Marathon. In a message to the US President he condemned the Boston bomb attack while conveying condolences over loss of lives. Other government leaders and commentators took the opportunity to remind the world [...]
By Tisaranee Gunasekara “The history or the future of Sri Lanka does not belong to any group”: Ranasinghe Premadasa - (Speech on 12.11.1990) Character can be fate, for both individuals and collectives. The answer to where Sri Lanka is headed depends, at least in part, on what Sri Lanka is. In 1956, the dominant Sinhala opinion [...]
