Between a Horek and a Mule
Over 6 decades of independence and universal adult franchise and SL has reached probably the lowest points of its political life. Listening, reading and drawing inferences from what’s coming out and not…
Elections
‘Uncivilising’ Sri Lanka
The SLPC Chairperson, Hudson Samarasinghe, is using vulgar telecasts and thereby contributing to the degeneration of language and public discourse within the country. The rudest forms of language used to refer to…
The 2010 Elections: Finishing the War on Terror & Beginning the Battle for Democracy
The 26th of November 2009 went by without Vellupillai Prabhakaran making his annual Mahaveera Speech. We can effectively say that he and the LTTE died on the beaches of the Nandikandal Lagoon…
Chavez, the Cynics and the “Big Lie” of the Presidential Campaign
[Editors note: The author and the commentator Doomed to Repeat had a length exchange of ideas on the author’s previous pos This article refers to the specific comment by Doomed to repeat…
Mindless emotionalism and absence of thinking in Tamil politics
With “Sinhala hegemony” in its most dramatic form, the advancing Sri Lankan armed forces, closing in, Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism could not convince the Tamil Nadu voter of its cause and case,…
The Presidential Election: A Diabolical Deception!
This up-coming presidential election would be comical, if not for the fact that it is deceptively diabolical. The contention between incumbent president Mahinda Rajapakse and retired General Sarath Fonseka and the arguments…
Is post-war Sri Lanka at grave risk of a “Fat Tail” failure?
Eurasia Group, a leading global political risk research and consulting firm earlier this year listed ten countries that may fall risk to “Fat Tail”.  To those of you not familiar with the…
Sarath Fonseka – A potential De Gaulle or Chavez?
Sarath Fonseka’s dramatic exposure of Gotabhaya Rajapkse’s role at the final stages of the war marks a new turn in the presidential election. From now on the extremist layers among the Sinhala…
The Tamil Population and the Politics of Boycotts and Non Participation
The first opportunity that the population of this island had to vote in an election based on universal adult franchise was in the State Council elections of 1931 under the Donoughmore Constitution.…
Tamil politics in Sri Lanka: Time to stop being suicidal
“ It was Prof Robert Pape who put it on the record: the Tamil Tigers fielded many more suicide bombers than any Middle Eastern or “jihadist” group. Suicide within the Tamil nationalist…
Reading election polls: To be misled or to be empowered?
Our past experience about elections in Sri Lanka confirms that there was hardly anything that parties and candidates did not exploit for their advantage. In the eve of elections, the incumbents in…
An Unprecedented Presidential Election and the Future of Sri Lankan Democracy
Never before has such a major rift opened up between the political and military leadership in electoral politics as what has been witnessed over the recent months. By luring Sarath Fonseka to…
The Battle of the ‘Commons’ and (De) militarizing the Sri Lankan Society – Part 1
“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Benjamin Franklin “Common candidate” Gen. Fonseka and “common man” Mahinda Rajapaksha must both face,…
A brief response to Dr G.L. Pieris
I refer to Dr G.L Peiris’s interview extracts published by the . He says “Any legislative measure to abolish the executive presidency must satisfy two conditions – it must be supported by…
The Dynamics of the “War Heroes’ Battleâ€
Undoubtedly, Comrade Wickramabahu will attract a politically mature vote-base around him – particularly those who are disgusted with the Mahinda-regime’s fascistic rule the way it’s been treating the Tamil civilians. This minority…