A Man for all political Seasons: Dr Dayan Jayatilleka
Dr Dayan Jayatilleka[1] Julian Barnes [2] On first reading Dr Dayan Jayatilleka one is seduced not only by his prose but by the battery of great names he uses to support his…
Politics and Governance
Silva’s Report, Role of International Community and Reconciliation in Sri Lanka
One of the most fundamental challenges of peacemaking and peacebuilding is confronting the past while building a just foundation for the future. Fighting impunity and pursuing peace are not incompatible objectives –…
The Final Report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission: A Response
Photo courtesy JDS The concluding report of Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was finally made public in mid-December, after multiple delays and an interim report that went mostly unnoticed….
WILL THERE BE A REGIME CHANGE IN SRI LANKA?
Image courtesy New Security Beat A regime change takes place only if the majority of people in a country want a change. In Sri Lanka today not many people would want it….
PROBLEM & SOLUTION: PARAMETERS OF POSSIBILITY
Photo courtesy JDS The New Year brought a valuable gift in my email. It was a dossier entitled ‘Seeking Space for State Reform’ and carried an even more beguiling subtitle, ‘Consensus and…
Quo Vadis, the Conga Line?
When Sri Lanka vied for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, there was a telling photograph taken at one of the bashes the regime threw in the Caribbean, the culminating event of a labour…
How hard is it to admit fault, Ambassador Wickramasuriya?
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the US, Jaliya Wickramasuriya, recently responded to the Crisis Group Report’s assertion that assault on women in Sri Lanka is on the rise. On the one hand, the…
Good English skills over a University education?
Image courtesy , by Ajith P. Perera It was not so long ago that the post-nominals was a sure route to employment in the administrative cadre of the Government of India, in addition to being a…
Ending the Exile and Back to Roots: Fears, Challenges and Hopes
[Editors note: The author was married to Dr. Rajini Thiranagama (née Rajasingham), a Tamil human rights activist and feminist murdered in 1989 by the LTTE. She was one of the founding members of…
Extravagance veiled as National Pride: Brief analysis of Corrupt Public Expenditure in Sri Lanka
Lessons from China or Tunisia? Just few months ago, in response to a public outcry for more accountability and transparency in the use of public funds, the State Council, which is the…
Killer Representative
I am assembling the scene, a local hood and his gang come to a Christmas Eve gathering at a beach hotel, want to dance with foreign women, see a bloke from town…
Reconciliation – What is the Big Deal?
It looks like the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) took their job far more seriously than expected. Some stake holders in the Government who insisted that it is fully worth spending…
VIOLENCE AND ITS MORAL DILEMMAS: FIDEL ACCORDING TO DAYAN JAYATILLEKA
Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka’s book, , is a significant contribution towards understanding one of the enduring intellectual dilemmas in the theory and practice of politics: the ethics of the use of violence. Dayan’s…
A Petition to President Barack Obama
The breaking news that JR Jayawardana had won the 1977 general election by a 5/6 majority is one of my vivid childhood memories. Perhaps, the fact that my father was an ardent…