Of a Disciplined Society
Photo courtesy Lesley Barnes On the day that marks a week since a new era of Sri Lankan politics dawned, the country that voted for a hinted at during the Mahinda Rajapaksa…
Colombo
Implications of the populist frenzy of the Presidential Election
Photo courtesy In the aftermath of the 2019 Presidential Elections which concluded another era of the Sri Lankan political journey, it is necessary to delve into the fragility of the Sri Lankan…
New Co-Editor
is pleased to welcome Minoli Wijetunge as the platform’s new co-editor. Minoli is an academic, trainer and researcher. Her studies primarily focused on education and its many intersections such as gender and…
6 points for a first-time voter after 2019’s Presidential Election
Photo courtesy Editors note: The following was sent to by a regular contributor, who wished to remain anonymous. It was written by the contributor for a young, first-time voter who had been…
Sri Lanka’s Presidential Election: Healing the Wounds is the New Task
Photo courtesy Star Online Sri Lanka’s eighth presidential election held last Sunday has produced an outcome that has surprised the winners, the losers as well as the observers. The most obvious, and…
8 January 2015: Memories from a Future-Past
By the evening of January 08th 2015, I had a slight headache. It was a headache of excitement and uncertainty fueled by an inability to eat or sleep. It was also a…
Rehabilitation
The outgoing president of my former country just pardoned Jude Jayamaha, murderer of the young Yvonne Jonsson, who had dual Sri Lankan and Swedish nationality, bludgeoned to death in an apartment at…
The Aftermath
AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena via Yahoo News Gotabaya Rajapaksa (Interview with the ITN – 24.2.2010) If Gotabaya Rajapaksa wins the presidency, he and his family will have two priorities: secure the premiership for…
Bearing Responsibility for Evil: A Note on Electoral Choices and Burdens
AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena via Yahoo News As the presidential election heads into its final stretch, handwringing over the lesser of the two evils is reaching its tortured apex. The most terrible strain…
Abiding by Sri Lanka’s Democracy
Photo courtesy A Presidential election is a unique opportunity for Sri Lankan voters to have a direct say in our constitutional democracy. At this time, the way in which we exercise our…
Boycotting an election: Can we afford it?
Photo courtesy Verite Research The Tamils won the 2005 Presidential election – for Mahinda Rajapaksa. They did so not by voting for him. They did so by boycotting the election. In 2005…
Helping Gotabaya to murder democracy?
AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena via Yahoo News Gotabaya Rajapaksa (Interview with Chris Morris of the BBC) In 2015, a majority of Lankans voted to give themselves a democratic government. Do we vote to…
A week that will shake Sri Lanka’s future
Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe via PRI Who is winning? This seems to be the question many people these days are keen to find an answer to. Whenever this question is put to…
Is Sajith slowly pulling ahead as Gota fails to gain traction?
The 2019 presidential election, rather predictably is shaping up politically, very similar to its precedent in 2015. On that occasion, the then ruling Rajapakses’ sought an unprecedented third term and was rebuffed…
Addressing the Multiple Crises in Sri Lankan Education: For the Attention of Candidates in the Presidential Election 2019
Photo from Sri Lanka’s entire system of education, at pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary levels, has been facing multiple crises. Attempts made in the recent past to address some aspects of these…