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Archive for the ‘Colombo’

7 May, 2012
Chandra Jayaratne
13 Comments
Colombo,
Politics and Governance,
Reconciliation

Democracy, Good Governance, Human Rights and the Effective Implementation of the LLRC Report

Photo credit JDS Aung San Suu Kyi, the Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, 1991 in a contribution titled “Human development and human dignity” stated that “Respect for human dignity implies commitment to creating conditions under which individuals can develop a sense of self-worth and security. True dignity comes with an assurance of one’s ability to rise to the challenges of the human situation. Such assurance is unlikely to be fostered in people who have to live with the threat of violence and injustice, with bad governance and instability or with poverty and disease. Eradicating these threats must be the aim of those who recognize the sanctity of human dignity and of those who strive to promote human development. Development as growth, advancement and the realization of potential depends on available resources—and no resource is more potent than people empowered by confidence in their value as human beings. The concept of human development is no longer new. But some analysts…

7 May, 2012
Michael Meyler
5 Comments
A-Z of Sri Lankan English,
Colombo,
Language

A-Z of Sri Lankan English: R is for rubber slippers

Image courtesy Odel They’re called thongs in Australia, jandals in New Zealand, Hawaii chappals in India and Pakistan. According to Wikipedia, they’re known as slip-slops in South Africa, go-aheads in the South Pacific, japonkis in Poland, and vietnamkis in Russia. The standard term in the UK and the US is flip-flops. Here in Sri Lanka they’re most commonly referred to as rubber slippers; also bathroom slippers, and Bata slippers (or Batas). And some of us like to talk about our Arugam Bays. To a speaker of British English, slippers are an item of footwear worn inside the house. They are usually closed but loose-fitting, and often fur-lined to keep your toes warm. It’s unlikely that you would step outside in them. But in other less chilly parts of the English-speaking world, the word slippers is more likely to refer to any type of open sandal, usually made of leather, plastic or rubber, including flip-flops. In South Asia, slippers are the…

Extra Time

The latest news from the family-run, once independent island, is the appointment of a presidential committee to decide upon which recommendations to adopt regarding the erstwhile ethnic question, which has been subsumed into the unitary enterprise of the war-fighting, now North and East-occupying, government dedicated to paying appropriate attention to the international human rights lobby and European and American states. Nothing like a committee to push the football away, like the many formed and dissolved in the past without achieving laws, but which gained time for the family to work and play.

Some Thoughts on the Eve of 2012 Vesak

Image courtesy Reuters Two Veask Poyas have come and gone and three years have sped by since May 2009 when the prolonged war with the LTTE ended. And we Sri Lankans are yet trapped in post-war rhetoric and caught up in punches and counter-punches arising from different visions of what post-war Sri Lanka ought to be. Debates on who is a patriot/nationalist and who is a traitor have raged. Some Sri Lankans, sadly, have tended to the viewpoint that saving face is more important than national self-preservation and self-respect. Is one who has a honest disagreement with the government in office, no matter how different and opposed to that of the establishment point of view his/her opinion may be, actually a traitor? No fair-minded Sri Lankan will think so. Conversely any citizen who uncritically agrees with everything the establishment says or does is not ipso facto a patriot or a sensible nationalist. Happily most Sri Lankans, not blinded by bigotry…

5 May, 2012
Kalana Senaratne
57 Comments
Colombo,
Features,
Identity,
Kurunegala,
Politics and Governance,
Post-War,
Reconciliation,
Religion and faith

Mobs, Monks and the Problems of Political-Buddhism

Original photograph REUTERS/Damir Sagolj It is always a curious and odd little matter, to witness how even Buddhists become so obsessively attached to ‘sacred’ lands and in protecting them, commit acts seemingly prompted by hatred, delusion and ill-will. Ideally, lands should not become ‘sacred’ for simple reasons. The Buddha, in attacking the rigid and unethical caste-system during his time, placed great stress on the importance of deeds or action. That was why it was said (in the Vasala sutta) that one did not become a Brahman (or an outcast) by birth, but by deed. That wonderful message ought to have taught us a very valuable lesson, which, to rephrase the Buddha, could be stated as follows: that a land becomes a ‘sacred’ (or Buddhist) land not by anything else but only by the words and deeds of those inhabiting that land. Even a place of religious worship would lose its sacredness if, in the guise of religion, all manner of…

Too brown, Too dark, Too Ugly

Color-Blinding-Beauty-How-Our-Obsession-With-Skin-Color-Is-Erasing-Our-Ethnicities

Top left to bottom: Advertisements for Fair & Lovely, Clean and Dry Intimate Wash and Vaseline’s Fair & Handsome, from Meets Obsession Recently, a close member in my family gave birth to a beautiful boy. I have yet to visit her, but I have seen a picture of the tiny infant. He is adorable. Although, we must all admit that newborns are quite odd-looking with their squishy faces, slightly flattened head, and half-opened eyes that seem too large for their faces. But gazing at the picture, I could see my mother in the corner of my eye, waiting for a chance to comment on something that I had not picked up when looking at the photograph – the colour of his skin. This angered me. Not surprisingly, I must say as this is just one of those random moments where I remain completely baffled by the way my family thinks. She went on about how my family members, including the…

3 May, 2012
Groundviews
0 Comment
Colombo,
Features,
Identity,
Peace and Conflict,
Politics and Governance,
Religion and faith

Not In Our Name: Campaign update and video

After the email update reproduced below was sent on 2nd May, less than a week after the Not In Our Name initiative was launched, Deshabandhu Jezima Ismail, senior lawyer and HR activist JC Weliamuna, two-time Secretary to Presidential Commissions of Inquiry into Disappearances MCM Iqbal, well-known economist Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, Prof. Michael Roberts and Ranjini Obeyesekere, both leading academics, Tamil activist, poet and academic Cheran, Channa Daswatta, one of Sri Lanka’s best known architects and Harsha de Silva, Member of Parliament, along with dozens of others, have signed up to the initiative. “I put my name here just to give evidence to my children that at some point in the future, if they happen to suffer from communal violence as a result of what happens under president Rajapakse Government, their father did his bit to condemn his silence.” – Thrishantha Nanayakkara “The conduct of some of the Buddhist monks at Dambulla was disgraceful. It was an insult to the Buddha.” – Mangala…

2 May, 2012
Ameena Hussein
152 Comments
Colombo,
Features,
Identity,
Kurunegala,
Peace and Conflict,
Politics and Governance,
Religion and faith

The Mind of Compassion: Buddhism and Violence

A lion carries a dead wild boar in his mouth. He is walking through the grasslands, victorious after the hunt. On the dead boar is a crudely imprinted crescent moon and star. This is an image found in a Sinhala Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/මාගේ-හෘද-සාක්ෂිය/351343628228268) that among other things compares Sri Lankan Muslims to wild boar, puppies (the Sinhala wording is cruder) and crows. The Facebook page has more than 5,000 likes and increases daily. It is only one of many that stalks cyberspace. This is Sri Lanka in 2012! We are recovering from 26 years of war but it seems like some of the citizens of this country want to be at perpetual war. The latest fracas is the ‘Dambulla incident’ where a mob led by Buddhist monks of the area are agitating for what they call an illegal structure masquerading as a mosque to be torn down as it contaminates the sacred Buddhist area of the Dambulla temple. It is…

2 May, 2012
P. Vijaya
3 Comments
Colombo,
Identity,
Politics and Governance,
Religion and faith

Some Critical Reflections on the Silences on Secularism: A Response to Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge

Photo courtesy Hemant Buch via JDS In a piece published on Groundviews on 29 April, Ms. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge (CBK) makes many pertinent observations on religion and society in South Asia. Underlying all her arguments however, is a certain reading of secularism that warrants contestation, which is the aim of this piece. Every time we fail to articulate the specificities and diversities in the history of secularism and allied Constitutional practices, and use ‘western’ in an unqualified and uncritical manner to mark it, as CBK does, we not only err factually but also succumb to the binaries of either an exclusivist or inclusivist approach to religion. Contrary to what CBK implies there is no ‘western’ idea of secularism in the sense of a single coherent approach to the separation of religion and state. As Charles Taylor points out, the two paradigmatic cases of secularism in the West, that of France and the USA have very different historical trajectories and characteristics. In the…

30 Apr, 2012
Ranil Senanayake
20 Comments
Colombo,
Identity,
Politics and Governance

Where do we come from?

Photo by author The current controversy on the identity and significance of the series of mounds linking Rameshwaram in India with Mannar in Sri Lanka has attained international attention due to a proposal to dig a channel though it. It might also help address a burning question today ‘Where do we come from ?’ The environmental risks of the project were ignored in the pursuance of ‘economic expediency’ until, the tradition of the land spoke of its importance. It was the route that Rama followed in his quest to rescue Sita from Ravana. The developers suggested that these are nothing but mounds of sand, but what if science, rigorously applied, suggests that there might indeed be a historical reality to what sceptics have dismissed as myth? That these mounds might represent a part of the southern hills of that mythical land called Kumari Kandam? Studies of the coastline of India and Sri Lanka during the progression of the Holocene Transgression…

29 Apr, 2012
Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga
17 Comments
Colombo,
Features,
Politics and Governance,
Religion and faith

The State and Religion in South Asia

The Christian Tribes of Khandamal Under Siege

Photo by Massimiliano Clausi, courtesy SAJA Secularism implies the relationship between Religion and Politics, more specifically between Religion and the State. The concept of secularism has drawn its sources from the philosophy that Humans can order their lives and their societies without recourse to transcendant or supra natural powers, and hence they could also organize and manage the State and its government , without direct connections with the religious establishment. Thus evolved the concept of Secularism and the separation of the Sate from Religion, taking root in Europe and spreading its message across the globe. In South Asia, the concept was popularized in the 20th century, mainly during the anti-colonial struggles and the consequent formation of new, independent States in the 2nd half of the century. Until this period, in South Asia, as in the West and other parts of Asia, the State and Religion were closely intertwined. Religion played an important role in legitimizing the State and rulers, the degree…

29 Apr, 2012
Devanesan Nesiah
5 Comments
Colombo,
Diplomacy,
International,
International Relations,
Peace and Conflict,
Politics and Governance,
Post-War,
Reconciliation

The Geneva Debacle of March 2012: The lessons not learnt

Photo courtesy Vikalpa The outcome in Geneva last year (March 2011) of the voting on Sri Lanka’s conduct of the war and related human rights record was very clearly in favour of the Sri Lankan government. The line up in the voting and the scale of the majority were such that is appeared that this year too the outcome would be similar, despite some recent wavering by India. But the conduct of the Sri Lankan government in the mean time was so counter- productive that it precipitated the debacle of March 2012. We should have anticipated the disaster but it seems to have taken the Sri Lankan government by surprise. If the Sri Lankan government had learnt at least the main lessons that it had opportunities to learn in recent years, the voting would have been very different – perhaps even more favourable to the Sri Lankan government than last year. Apart from mindlessly deflecting votes that could have come…

28 Apr, 2012
J C Weliamuna
1 Comment
Colombo,
Human Rights,
Human Security,
Peace and Conflict,
Politics and Governance,
Post-War

Discovering the White Van in a Troubled Democracy: An analysis of ongoing “abduction blueprint” in Sri Lanka

The author demonstrating in Colombo against white van abductions. Photo courtesy Vikalpa. In a country that has achieved so much in literacy, education and social development, is it not indeed unfortunate that “White Van” has frightened the entire nation? Appearance of a white van assures a disappearance of some one. If you Google or do any other internet search (or any media that is not controlled by the Government) on Sri Lanka, “White Van” resembles the Defence Authorities of our country. Are we not ashamed of it? “White van operation” is the most used mode of enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka at present. Enforced disappearance violates a range of human rights including the right to security and dignity of a person, right to a legal personality, humane conditions of detention, right to fair trial, right to a family life and when killed, the right to life. The disappeared person is often tortured and in constant fear for life, removed from…

27 Apr, 2012
Hans Billimoria
14 Comments
Colombo,
Gender,
Identity,
Peace and Conflict,
Post-War

Buddha wept as we beat our women

54% of adolescent girls in Sri Lanka feel that a husband is justified in beating his wife. The UNICEF Global Report Card on Adolescents 2012 however is not available yet to try and unpack this further. What do they mean? Surely, they cannot be suggesting that the arbitrary violence that some wives are subject to in Sri Lanka is acceptable; burned rice that results in cut lips and black eyes? It must be wives that were somehow overly flirtatious with another man. Wives that have behaved, or even worse, dressed, inappropriately. Wives that have proved to be whores! What about those husbands that use wives like dogs? Psychologists call it displaced aggression, commonly known as kick-the-dog syndrome. Surely the adolescent girls can’t mean these husbands? Their wives did nothing more than open the door and welcome them home. What about the husbands that come home inebriated and then proceed to beat their wives to a pulp for looking at them…

26 Apr, 2012
Dr. P. Saravanamuttu
4 Comments
Colombo,
Human Security,
Peace and Conflict,
Politics and Governance,
Post-War,
Reconciliation,
Religion and faith

Human Rights and Reconciliation Challenged in Dambulla and by Disappearances

In more ways than one, a sleeping Buddha in Dambulla Rock Cave Temple. Courtesy University of Peradeniya Whilst the country awaits the decision of the regime regarding which recommendations, if any, of the LLRC report it will implement, human rights and reconciliation continue to be challenged, by disappearances and now, the ugly spectre of religious intolerance. From October 2011 to March 2012, there have been some 56 cases of disappearances and abduction recorded. Some 29 of these have been in February and March of this year and 19 happened whilst the UNHRC was in session. Of the 29 cases, 16 have been reported from Colombo and 08 from the Northern Province. Five of the cases reported from the north are said to be ex-LTTE cadre who had been detained, released and then abducted. Egregious cases include that of Mr Ramasamy Prabhakaran who was abducted in Colombo two days before his fundamental rights petition was to come up before the Supreme…

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Archive for the ‘Colombo’

Democracy, Good Governance, Human Rights and the Effective Implementation of the LLRC Report

A-Z of Sri Lankan English: R is for rubber slippers

Extra Time

Some Thoughts on the Eve of 2012 Vesak

Mobs, Monks and the Problems of Political-Buddhism

Too brown, Too dark, Too Ugly

Not In Our Name: Campaign update and video

The Mind of Compassion: Buddhism and Violence

Some Critical Reflections on the Silences on Secularism: A Response to Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge

Where do we come from?

The State and Religion in South Asia

The Geneva Debacle of March 2012: The lessons not learnt

Discovering the White Van in a Troubled Democracy: An analysis of ongoing “abduction blueprint” in Sri Lanka

Buddha wept as we beat our women

Human Rights and Reconciliation Challenged in Dambulla and by Disappearances

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