Why Sri Lanka must ‘win’ at UNHRC
The following is an excerpt from a statement recently made by Ambassador Eileen Chambarlain Donahoe JD PhD, top US diplomat to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC): The case of Sri…
Author: Chaminda Weerawardhana
Abuse, violence and bullying: Post-war Sri Lanka is indeed a peaceful place
Photo courtesy JDS The idea of writing this note came to mind after watching the recent interview between an Indian media personality and Sri Lanka’s Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, Public…
The absence of Patriotism, Pluralism and Cosmopolitanism: ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ in retrospection
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOGRAPHS Former Sri Lankan child soldier Warnakulasuriya Anthony Sunil Rexy (right) laughs with other inmates as they play earlier this month at a government rehabilitation center in Ambepussa. Original in…
The Darusman Report: Reflections on the real challenges ahead for Sri Lanka
In less than two weeks since the Darusman Report (hereinafter referred to as the Report) was handed over to the United Nations Secretary General (hereinafter referred to as UNSG), a large number…
O country, Thy National Anthem…
It was reported lately that an interesting issue came up at a recent cabinet meeting, namely, the National Anthem of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. It was also reported that…
Managing diplomacy with melodrama: Sri Lanka’s Madness
Photo courtesy Flickr photostream on the NFF protest The point of departure for this note is the fast unto death by a government (cabinet) Minister, hereinafter referred to as VW, in front…
Freedom to create, censorship and the future of Sri Lankan cinema: an anecdote
NB: The following is a brief (and therefore rather incomplete) note on the censorship and state-control imposed on present-day Sri Lankan cinema, where filmmakers are forced to be conscious of the prevalent…
Sithuvili: On war’s end and a year later…
Prelude: The following is a ‘fragmented reflection’, on present-day Sri Lanka, war’s end and related issues. The objective was to capture the thought process of a citizen ‘thinking’ about these issues as…
Presidential promises and necessity for change? Sri Lankan voters at crossroads
This note concerns the forthcoming Presidential election in Sri Lanka, due on 27 January 2010. As several insightful articles on the polls have already appeared on most crucial of elections since the…
National referendums and the aspirations of a diaspora: a Saturday morning reflection
A week ago (Saturday 12 December 2009), I came across a news report about a referendum organised by Tamil nationalist activists in France, in order to [quote] say yes or no for…
Press freedom in the cyber age
When I first heard of indispensable machine, I left the island on voluntary exile. Some seven years later, the information technology landscape of Sri Lanka has seen dramatic transformations, in keeping with…
The SLAS entrance exam: an age-limit of near madness
This note concerns the government gazette notification (available at http://www.dailynews.lk/2001/pix/GazetteS09-10-16.pdf) on the open competitive exam for recruitment to Grade III of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS). The SLAS is unarguably the…
A note on a father
It was one of those phone calls that one would always remember, the shock it generates pervades all through a lifetime. On Monday 17 August 2009, I received a phone call from…
Sending Dayan home: the triumph of folly in Sri Lankan politics?
I was tempted to write this article after a few days of reading different news reports about the ‘sacking’ of His Excellency Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka, Sri Lanka’s permanent representative to the United…
On women’s attire and gender equality: pondering on the long way ahead
I was strongly tempted to write this article after reading an article entitled on July 10 2009. We learn that the writer of the said article is a journalist working for a…