News Archive for Jan 2015 Courtesy Adaderana Though it was planned to reduce the budget deficit through the interim budget of the new government to 4.4 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the government revenue deficit being increased by Rs. 149 billion is a significant feature. The total revenue expected by the government for 2015 would be reduced to Rs. 1,622 billion as compared to the former government’s estimate of Rs. 1,689 billion and the reason for this is the concessions provided on a range of consumer items, pointed out Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake. While the current spending has risen from Rs.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15) S. Akurugoda Soon after the Prabhakaran-Ranil Pact (MoU prepared by the notorious 'Peace Maker' Norway and initiated by the so-called international community) was signed , I remember, an article written by Dr Gunadasa Amarasekara titled ‘Sama Diyareddde’appeared on a newspaper (in March 2002). For those who have not read this ‘decapitation drama’, let me quote this great novelist’s and patriot’s own words used to describe what it is all about. ‘Diyaredden Bella Kapanawa’ is a pithy Sinhala saying to illustrate how one is decapitated or destroyed without his being aware of what is happening to him. He is... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
Shenali D Waduge On 8th January 2015 Sri Lankan voters voted for a President to lead the nation. The election that was to vote a President ended up with a Prime Minister being sworn in followed by close to 50 MPs majority belonging to the UNP while the rest composed of MPs that crossed over from the previous government and those that were part of the common alliance. With the next election being the general where all MPs will need to go before the people including the PM, there appears to be a rush to resort to change the constitution.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA In the matter of an application for an order in the nature of a writ of Prohibition under and in terms of Article 140 of the Constitution Jayantha Liyanage 14/7 Dharmapala Avenue Pollatthapitiya Kurunegala ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
Shenali D Waduge As we approach what we are told is to be our ‘independence’ day it is good to ponder exactly how independent we are and what we connote to mean as being an independent nation. Are we to celebrate the symbolism of being called a ‘sovereign’ nation or do we feel and act as one? More importantly to feel independent we must know from what we became independent from. Essentially the cruelty that our people suffered under the tyrannical rule of the 3 colonial invaders has never been given due publicity by even post-independent leaders. None have... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
By Rohana R. Wasala Courtesy The Island In his opinion piece in The Island (24-01-2015) Professor O.I. Illeperuma urges the authorities to re-open the Maligawa road immediately. I, for one, share Professor Illeperuma’s great concern with the problem of air pollution in Kandy that has led to an increasing incidence of respiratory diseases particularly among school children attending schools in the vicinity. To show how sharply the air pollution levels in Kandy dropped when this road was re-opened for traffic in 2002 after it had been closed since the 1998 January bombing of the shrine, he writes: “When Hon. Ranil... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge Provencher and Keyes (2011) define positive mental health as feeling well, functioning well, and being resilient in the face of life’s challenges — improves quality of life and is integral to overall health and well-being, even when there are on-going limitations caused by mental health problems and illnesses. According to Buddhism mental suffering is due in large part to imbalances of the mind (Gunaratana, 1985; Wallace & Shapiro, 2006). Numerous Jātaka stories indicate the mental imbalance caused by Akusal Chitta (or pathological mind). These pathological elements impact the mental wellbeing. Dr. Yukio Ishizuka, a Harvard trained Japanese... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
By Charles.S.Perera They the 100 day Ministers would not have even dreamt they would be Minsters this soon. If UNP had contested the elections with Ranil Wickramasinghe as the leader they would have surely lost again. This time it is through sheer good luck, and thanks to Maitripala Sirisena they have become 100day Ministers in a mostly UNP Government of 100 days. But what they are doing as “chance” Ministers is sniffing dirt to accuse the previous government for corruption, fraud, and irregularities committed by it. It is 20 days since good luck hit them but they have done... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
by Orpheus Perera Good Governance "Yahapalanaya" concept was a conspiracy for UNP to come to power using Maithripala Sirisena as the cats paw. Mithripala Srisena was one of the 12 children of a poor ex soldier who got 6 acres of Paddy Land from DS Senenayaka under Polonnaruwa govi Janapadaya. He worked as a Grama Sevaka for a little salary before he got the scholarship to Maxim Gorky Institute of Literature to do Russian Political science. Before that in 1971 he was sent to prison for one and a half years for JVP activities and re-rehabilitated. It is very... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
- Kumar Moses What goes around comes around. It is remarkably valid for King Abdulla (1924-2015) of Saudi Arabia. About 10 years ago a Muslim housemaid from Sri Lanka by the name Rizana Nafeek was attending to a baby in Saudi Arabia. The baby died in her care and she was blamed for it. Poverty and the 2004 tsunami that devastated her home led her to work in the Kingdom despite her young age. Many appealed against her execution but failed. As a last resort a state level mercy plea was sent to Saudi Arabia’s king Abdulla. It was rejected... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
Susantha Wijesinghe. WITH NO MALICE TO NONE. I wrote to that Foolish Ex-President Mahinda to cancel the Elections, the moment the present Mr.President Maithreepala crossed over after eating Hoppers. It was a personal email letter, with possibly one inch letters in RED. It was copied to all Tri Forces Commanders, the IGP, and the Prime Minister. None of these recipients took no notice. FOOLS. It was Strategy that mattered at once. If he cancelled the Elections, the Minister of Health would have had to change his stance. Not only he, but Ranil, Chandrika, JHU, JVP, TNA, and the whole unholy... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
Prof.Nalin de Silva කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලය විසින් විශේෂ කැබිනට් පත්රිකාවක් මගින් මොහාන් පීරිස් මහතා අගවිනිසුරු ලෙස පත්කිරීම නීත්යානුකූල නොවේ යැයි තීරණය කර ඇති බවත් ඒ අනුව ජනාධිපතිවරයා ශිරාණි බණ්ඩාරනායක අගවිනිසුරු ලෙස පත්වී ඇති බවත් වාර්තා වෙයි. මේ වාර්තා පිළිබඳ සත්යාසත්යතාව කුමක් වුවත් අද (2015ජනවාරි 28) ශිරාණි බණ්ඩාරනායක ශ්රෙෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට ගොස් ඇත. මෙහි දී අපට ප්රශ්න ගණනාවක් යහපාලනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඇති වෙයි. මොහාන් පීරිස් මහතාගේ පත්වීම නී්යානුකූල නොවන බවට අමාත්ය මණ්ඩලයට තීරණය කළ හැක්කේ ව්යවස්ථාවේ කිනම් වගන්තිය යටතේ ද? පත්වීම නීත්යානුකූල ද නැත්ද යන්න ව්යවස්ථාදායකය වූ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවටවත්, එහි අංගයක් වූ කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයටවත් තීරණය කළ නොහැකි ය. විධායකයටත් එය කළ නොහැකි ය. කැබිනට් රැස්වීම්වලට... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
Mahinda Rajapaksa Former President of Sri Lanka To the Venerable Maha Sangha, all Reverend Clergymen and the People of Sri Lanka Numerous allegations have been levelled against me, my family and my government both before and after the recent presidential election. If there are allegations of wrongdoing against anybody, there are established procedures that can be followed. What we see instead is a media blitz meant to vilify me and to mislead the public. I wish to state my position on these matters so that the people will not be misled by this unprecedented campaign of vilification by interested parties.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
'Sri Lankan Patriot' This essay is written to ally misconceptions and in most cases, downright lies that were spread by the opposition during the period 2006-2015 and now who have formed the new Government in Sri Lanka. When Mahinda Rajapakshe came to power in the latter part of 2005, he was bequeathed a country which was suffering a thirty year civil war with no end in sight. He realised that if the war went on and on, Sri Lanka will only get deeper and deeper into trouble. He therefore ensured that an effective team was put together and all... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
'Sri Lankan Patriot' There are over 6,000 permanently disabled soldiers have been provided rehabilitation and even houses in some cases. All other forces members who amount to over one lakh? have been re-trained in peacetime tasks such as restoration of roads, bridges, buildings especially in the Northern Province and even in the restoration of canals etc in beautifying Colombo. I would like to ask the new Government, why after thousands and thousands of our forces members sacrificing their lives, are you giving ‘more powers’ to the provincial councils? Sri Lanka is one country and every islander has the right... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge My heart cried When my feet touched Auschwitz Although many years have passed It seems like yesterday I was brought here Along with my family We traveled three nights in a cattle train Fully packed and had no space to move When my little sister asked for water I gave my water bottle with a small loaf of bread Then she slept on my lap But I was awake all the time When the train stopped The Doors were opened There were no welcome signs The SS men came with guns and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
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Dilrook Kannangara The manner in which the Chief Justice was removed resembles Pakistan under General Zia-Ul-Haq or Pervez Musharraf. Mohan Peiris was not removed from his post by legal means. The threats he faced while serving as the Chief Justice until his removal were not seen in this country's history. The parliament was not consulted on his removal and the proper procedure was not followed. It was totally dictatorial for the president to remove the Chief Justice illegally, appoint the former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayaka, get her to resign and appoint another in her place. This is a despotic... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
Prof. Hudson McLean Re my article - “Did ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa turn Temple Trees into a Dog House?” Thank you Gentlemen for your opinions. However, whilst disagreeing with my statements, mario_perera Says: January 28th, 2015 at 8:01 pm "The truth is that every previous president would have done so if only his or her hands were not tied by international interferences. There were umpteen occasions when the war could have been ended, but India, mainly, stood in the way." I presume, that you agree,that, although previous Presidents had the power..... " I said...... Neither CBK nor Ranil Wickremasinghe could... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
චන්ද්රසිරි විජයවික්රම ජනවාරි 27, 2015 පෝප්තුමාගේ අවවාදය හා 13 වන සංශොධනය "එක පවුලක් ලෙස ජීවත්වන්න යයි" පෝප්තුමා ලංකාවාසීන්ට අනුශාසනා කර ගියේය. ඉන්පසු දිනක ඉස්ලාම් ත්රස්තවාදීන් ප්රංශ කාටූන් පත්තර කන්තෝරුවට පහරදුන් සිද්ධිය ගැන එතුමා කියා සිටියේ "යමෙක් ඔබේ අම්මාට අපහාස කලොත් ඊට යම් ප්රතිචාරයක් ඔහු විසින් ඔබගෙන් (මූණට තදබල පාරක් හෝ වෙඩි උණ්ඩයක්) බලාපොරොත්තු වියයුතු බවය." මේ දෙකෙන් ලංකාවාසීන්ට දුන් අවවාදය කොළඹ කාඩිනල්තුමා විසින් පෝප්තුමාට ලියාදුන් කථාවේ තිබුණ දෙයක් විය යුතුය. දෙවන කියමන ක්ෂණයකින් ඉබේම එතුමාගේ හිතට ගලා ආ අදහසක් විය යුතුය. පුදුමයකට මෙන් එය "ඇහැට ඇහැක්" යන පරණ බයිබල් කථාවද සිහිකරවයි. කෙසේ වෙතත් මේ අවවාද දෙක ලංකාවේ 13 වන... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
Prof. Hudson McLean After an election, specially when the Party-in-Power gets booted-out, mud-raking is a global pastime. Every new incoming Leader and his followers first priority is to ram-in the negatives before any thing else. In the case of the ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa, MR deserves a better "Goodbye" handshake, for saving Sri Lanka from blood-shed of 30 years. Neither CBK nor Ranil Wickremasinghe could do bugger-all to bring an end to LTTE Tamil Terrorism which, MR with the support of GR & General (?) Sarath Fonseka concluded in style. The Island is at Peace, but for how long? All... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
By Rohana R. Wasala Courtesy The Island These days, the phrase ‘good governance’ reverberates across the media reporting on Sri Lanka. It refers to a vague concept that is being used by the West and their opportunistic allies as a very effective weapon against our country to keep it destabilized for their own purposes, while trying to alienate us from the relatively more sincere friends in the region that we have had for over a thousand years. (Human rights violation charges are another weapon. Even when there are some genuine reasons for raising issues such as poor governance and rights... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/15)
Presented before the parliament by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake.... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 30/01/15)
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe declared last week that his government would implement the 13th amendment to the country’s constitution. After nearly three decades, the amendment, which provided for the limited devolution of powers to the Tamil elite on a provincial level in the island’s north and east, has never been carried out fully.... -Full Story- (dbsjeyaraj.com - 30/01/15)
SRI Lanka’s new government has formally blocked a $400-million casino resort project in the country proposed by James Packer’s Crown Resorts, fulfilling an election pledge by new President Maithripala Sirisena. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told the Sri Lankan parliament yesterday that gazette notices that gave tax concessions to three casino projects, including Mr Packer’s integrated mixed-development project, had been amended. “We have decided to ban such approval for casinos,” Mr Wickremesinghe told parliament. “But they can conduct all other activities,” he said. Outside parliament a cabinet spokesman said all casino licences would be reviewed and gaming would be restricted to... -Full Story- (theaustralian.com.au - 30/01/15)
It was reported that a committee has been appointed by Navy Commander Vice Admiral Jayantha Perera to investigate the legitimacy of Yoshitha Rajapaksa’s ranks as a Navy Officer. Speaking to the media, Navy Media Spokesman Commander Kosala Warnakulasuriya said that the committee was formed following the complaints lodged by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).... -Full Story- (lankanewsalert.com - 30/01/15)
Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s sons Yoshitha and Rohitha are to be removed from the captaincy of the Rugby teams of the Navy and Army respectively, on the instructions of a highly placed official, informed sources said yesterday.... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 30/01/15)
The new government, in its budget, slashed the prices of 13 essential items, domestic gas, kerosene oil while announcing a host of relief measures for the general public including a monthly pay hike of Rs. 5000 for public servants effective from next month and a Rs.1000 increase on pensions from April. Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake made his budget speech outlining the proposals to be implemented during the 100-day programme of the new government.... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 30/01/15)
Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake presenting the interim budget 2015 today said that the option of dual citizenship would be available to all persons of Sri Lankan origin and granted after due evaluation. A payment of Rs. 500,000 will have to precede each individual request. Furthermore, provision will be made for foreigners seeking resident status in Sri Lanka who are in a position to invest US$ 10 million in the country. All such applications would be subject to the approval of Defence Ministry, and would need to be renewed every 5 years. The visa fee for such persons will be Rs.... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 30/01/15)
Senior Advisor Jayantha Dhanapala briefed United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on the policies of the newly elected President Maithripala Sirisena and the government. Foreign Ministry said that Mr. Dhanapala also met President of the Human Rights Council Joachim Rücker as well as all the members of the Human Rights Council.... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 30/01/15)
Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, the opposition charged that the manner in which Shirani Bandaranayake was appointed as the Chief Justice and the removal of former Chief Justice Mohan Pieris, was wrong. Speaking in Parliament, MP Dinesh Gunawardena said that the Parliament is the only entity that can remove a Chief Justice from his position. And added that this is a sad incident that has taken place in the history of Parliament.... -Full Story- (newsfirst.lk - 30/01/15)
A new Mansion tax has been introduced by the Government, Ravi Karunanayaka said a short while ago. Mansion valued at over Rs.100 million or comprising over 5,000 square feet will be taxed Rs.1 million per house. All Sri Lankans who migrate to another country will be liable for a 20% exit tax, Karunanayaka added. He also added that a super gain tax of 25% will be applicable for organizations that record a profit of over Rs. 2000 million.... -Full Story- (adaderana.lk - 30/01/15)
Sri Lanka's new president has reinstated the former chief justice two years after she was sacked by his predecessor over corruption claims. However, her return is thought only temporary as reports say she is to retire now her name has been cleared.... -Full Story- (BBC - 29/01/15)
The political sources pointed out yesterday that the ruling coalition has reached consensus on the proposed constitutional amendment that will primarily seek to introduce a dual executive system of governance and on the re-instating of the independent commissions. Reportedly the proposed formula will be presented in Parliament early next month to be discussed with the main opposition. However in the event that these constitutional reforms are enacted, President Sirisena will remain as the Head of State, but with reduced powers. He will retain the defence portfolio and the power to appointment provincial governors and on several other subjects including that... -Full Story- (lankanewsalert.com - 29/01/15)
CJ 43 Shirani Bandaranayake’s reinstatement has a legal basis due to a serious loophole in the legal process adopted by the previous governor when impeaching Dr. Bandaranayake, senior lawyer Saliya Pieris explained. “Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake was removed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa without a request from Parliament. The motion passed in Parliament in Jan 2013 did not contain an address for removal which is a mandatory requirement as per the Constitution. The motion merely reproduced the earlier resolution seeking to appoint a select committee to inquire,” Pieris stated following the reinstatement of Dr. Bandaranayake.... -Full Story- (asianmirror.lk - 29/01/15)
The Defence Ministry today announced that former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka is entitled to his rank of Four Star General, medals, pension and other privileges which were stripped of in 2010, by two Army tribunals before he was cashiered and imprisoned. “Entitlement to wearing of all decorations of General (retd) G.S.C Fonseka, former Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Army who left an indelible legacy of gallantry by directing the Army to wipe out LTTE terrorism from Sri Lanka, has been restored, following the full Presidential amnesty, granted by HE the President Maithripala Sirisena, in terms of the... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 29/01/15)
It was reported that Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a statement today charged that Numerous allegations have been levelled against me, my family and my government both before and after the recent presidential elections. The Full statement says. To the Venerable Maha Sangha, all Reverend Clergymen and the People of Sri Lanka Numerous allegations have been levelled against me, my family and my government both before and after the recent presidential election. If there are allegations of wrongdoing against anybody, there are established procedures that can be followed. What we see instead is a media blitz meant to vilify me... -Full Story- (lankanewsalert.com - 28/01/15)
From: Charles.S.Perera Your Excellency, We convey our deepest sadness at our failure to have mustered enough votes to retain you as the President of Sri Lanka for another fruitful period of development. We miss you very much Your Excellency, we know that today we breath as a free people without fear or constrain because of the determination you had to eliminate terrorism despite great risk to yourself. We are therefore ever grateful to you for having unified Sri Lanka, part of which had been given to be kept under terrorist control under a CFA signed with the terrorists ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/15)
By Malin Before appointing Arjun Mahendran as Governor of Central Bank, were you both aware of the his connection with Raj Rajratnam? Current CB Governor Arjun Mahendran is a childhood friend of Raj Rajaratnam as admitted by him. Here is evidence. http://archives.dailymirror.lk/2005/07/12/ft/15.asp Arjun Mahendran as a top banker (now CB Governor) while commenting about Sri Lanka Stock Exchange in the year 2005 has mentioned about his childhood friend Raj Rajratnam. Quote The basic problem with Sri Lanka is it's an illiquid market and it's far too small for a typical international portfolio,” said Arjuna... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/15)
By Chandrasiri Atukorale We are sick of hearing corruption allegations now being made against the former President Mahinda Rajapaksha. There, we see nothing but mere mud-slinging. Corruption and vices sprang in this country with the open economy we got under J.R. Jayawardena regime. When Mr. J.R. Jayawardena made the present constitution his desire was this: the Auditor General must be committed not to the constitution but to the Government of the day. We must not take things in politics at it’s' face value. Every issue in politics should be studied in conjunction with some other issues in politics. Things... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/15)
ධර්මසිරි සෙනෙවිරත්න දෙමල කොටි ත්රස්තවාදී බෙදුම්වාදීන්ටත් ඉන්දියානු රාජ්ය ත්රස්තයන්ටත් තමන් විසින් ලංකාවට ගෙන ආ කුලී කාරයන්ට යන එන මන් සැපයීම ට අවශ්ය වූ ඉංග්රීසින් උන් තමන්ට බරක් නොවෙනසේ එහෙත් සිංහලයන්ට බරක් වෙනසේ පදිංචි කිරීමේකාර්යයට කල උප්පර වට්ටියක් වුත් 75% ක සිංහලයන්ට කිසිදා අවශ්ය නොවූත් ඔවුන්ගේ අදහස් වලට පට හානි වුත් 13 රටට අවශ්ය වන්නක් නොවේ මෙය බෙදුම් වාදයට රුකුල් දෙන්නක් මිස විසදුමක් ද නවේ වර්ධරාජා පෙරුමාල් එය ඔප්පු කර පෙන්නුවේය ජනපති බලතල මගින් එය ව්යර්ථ කළා මිස බෙදුම් වාදී න් පසු බස නැත. උතුරේ නැගෙනහිර මුස්ලිම් කාරයොත් එකතු වුනොත් එම පලාත්වල ජනමතයක් පමණක් පවත්වා දෙක එකතුකර ස්වාධීනත්වය ප්රකාශ කිරීමේ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/15)
Dr Hector Perera, England My scientific energy saving cooking idea is not “spring chickens”, I experimented the technique for many years in order to improve the technique. When I came to England unlike in Sri Lanka, I had to sleep, study and cook in one room. That is because I couldn’t afford no more than a single room in a large house. One of my good friends bought a large house for his son and daughter while they were studying in England because he could afford but I couldn’t afford at the start. I am sure everybody understand that... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/15)
Police Media Spokesperson SSP Ajith Rohana said that investigations revealed that “Wele Suda” had made payments to MP Duminda Silva. Police Media Spokesprson SSP Ajith Rohana addressing a media briefing this afternoon said that Court has ordered a probe into all accounts under the name of MP Duminda Silva at all financial institutions. SSP Rohana noted that this step was being taken to aid investigations into alleged ties between the MP and drug baron Wele Suda.... -Full Story- (newsfirst.lk - 28/01/15)
BY DR DAYAN JAYATILLEKA PRE-INDEPENDENCE DAY THOUGHTS 2015:THE FUTURE STATE OF THE NATION In the run-up to Independence Day 2015, we must thank God for Mr. Sumanthiran. He is indubitably a moderate and an intellectual. Let us give thanks also for the Sunday Observer, which is a state-run newspaper not given to running stories or distorting them in a manner inimical or embarrassing to the government of the day. Therefore, when Mr. Sumanthiran says something to the Sunday Observer, I take it seriously because I know I am on safe ground. Mr. Sumanthiran tells the newspaper that the TNA... -Full Story- (dbsjeyaraj.com - 28/01/15)
As the dust settles following an unexpected result in Sri Lanka’s recent presidential election, the focus has gradually shifted from discussions on what was behind the incumbent’s loss to what lies ahead with the new administration. President Maithripala Sirisena’s campaign focused mainly on domestic affairs, related to corruption and government reform, yet requires a firm pivot towards prioritizing external affairs as well.... -Full Story- (thediplomat.com - 28/01/15)
Police Spokesman Ajith Rohana said today a Court Order was obtained from the Colombo Magistrate’s Court to check all accounts held by Colombo District United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MP Duminda Silva at several banks and financial institutions. The Court Order was based on a statement made by narcotics kingpin ‘Wele Suda’ and included the checking of accounts held by two others as well. “The accounts belonging to Duminda Silva, Wele Suda and his wife held at 82 banks and financial institutions will be probed. During interrogations by the CID, Wele Suda revealed that he doled out money obtained from... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 28/01/15)
Steps will be taken to arrest former minister Wimal Weerawansa’s wife, if Immigration and Emigration Controller confirmed that she had violated the Emigration and Immigration laws by holding two passports giving contrary information, Police said. “We have requested the Immigration and Emigration Controller to inform us whether she had violated the Emigration and Immigration laws, if she had done so we will arrest her,” Police Spokesman Ajith Rohana.... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 28/01/15)
Dilrook Kannangara Sri Lanka will be like Zimbabwe pretty soon if UNP remains in power and in control of economic policy and finance. This is driven by UNP's China-averse policy driven by its Indian and US backers. Only China can sustain Sri Lanka economically and if the China support is taken out, the Sri Lankan economy collapses. With $55 billion loans and annual loan servicing of $8 billion (including mandatory repayment of the principal) it is no easy task sustaining the economy. Loan repayments and interest payments take 40% of government expense budget. This has been the case... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/15)
Shenali D Waduge The people of Sri Lanka have short memories. They have forgotten decades that bore bloodshed, fear and destruction. That past cannot be forgotten. That past is replete with remnants that continue to plague the nation requiring it to remain under eternal vigilance. Do we want to sacrifice and reverse all that we have gained for petty political points and be checkmated by those that have been conspiring for years to divide our nation? Do we not remember that it was our own that ceded the nation to the British in 1815 and we were almost on... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/15)
Laksiri Warnakula A salutary remark Our beloved land still exists, undivided and should I say not very much united? However, the credit for preserving what Sri Lanka has been for thousands of years in its entirety should go to Mr M. Rajapaksa. And the ones, who try to belittle what he did in that regard, are doing something not right. After all, he did not kowtow to the west or bend down in the face of enormous pressures brought on him, both within and without. I do not want to write anything about 'why Mr Rajapaksa... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/15)
In Retrospect By Sarath Kumara January 24th 2015 The following item carries startling as well as revealing information about how the unitarity of the Sinhala Nation once again may have been compromised through covert cunning and how the voting was manipulated to appease Western Powers through Indian involvement and the craftiness of Chandrika Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickremasinghe! This also points to a conspiracy of major proportions.So how can the nation trust such opportunists if this is verifiably true regardless of the Chinese angle and the various interpretations which deemed it unsavoury~ not for the Nation of Sri Lanka but those... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/15)
Defeated former President and current patron of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) - Mahinda Rajapaksa says he will not form other political parties or political alliances that would split up the SLFP regardless of the spite he has to face. He made the remarks yesterday (January 25) while meeting senior stalwarts of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) held at the Parliament Speaker's official residence in Colombo.... -Full Story- (srilankamirror.com - 27/01/15)
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) today complained to Defence Secretary B.M.U.D. Basnayake against former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son Yoshitha who is a Lieutenant in the Sri Lanka Navy. JVP Western provincial councillor Nalinda Jayatissa said Yoshitha Rajapaksa did not have the minimum qualifications to be enlisted in the executive branch of the Navy. “Navy Commanders are selected from the executive branch. One needs to pursue science subjects to join this branch. However, Mr. Rajapaksa was recruited in violation of these regulations,” Dr. Jayatissa said.... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 27/01/15)
The Ministry of External Affairs says that over one thousand people have obtained dual citizenship in an illegal manner, after the year 2011. Deputy Minister of External Affairs Ajith P. Perera said that investigations have commenced into the situation. He also said that a programme to speed up the process of providing dual citizenship will be implemented.... -Full Story- (newsfirst.lk - 27/01/15)
While denying allegation that his mother was involved in a gold racket, MP Namal Rajapaksa said yesterday that if anyone wanted to take revenge politically they should only attack his father or himself and not the other members of his family. “If political revenge is the main objective, attack my father and myself, and stop making false allegations against my mother and brothers,” the former president’s son tweeted.... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 27/01/15)
The Bribery Commission has ordered the Immigration Department to impound the passport of former Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage for three months.... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 27/01/15)
නලින් ද සිල්වා පසුගිය 8 වැනි දා මෙරටට අරාබි වසන්තය උදාවිය. එය වසන්තයක් වන්නේ රටට නොව බටහිරයන්ට, ඔවුන්ගේ අනුගාමිකය ඊනියා උගතුන්ට හා දෙමළ ජාතිවාදීන්ට ය. අප වැනි නූගතුන්ට, සාමාන්ය ජනයාට දැඩි ශීත කාලයකට ඉදිරියේ දී මුහුණ දීමට සිදුවනු ඇත. ජාතිය පාවාදුන්නෝ දෙමළ ජාතිවාදීන් සමග පෙම් කෙළියේ පසුවෙති. ඔවුන්ගේ මධුසමය ගෙවෙනු ඇත්තේ සිංහලයන්ගේ මළකඳන් පාවෙන ලේ විලක ය. අද සිංහලයන්ට නායකත්වයක් නැත. කිසි දෙයක් කරගත නොහැකි පිරිසක් තැන තැන ඊනියා සාකච්ඡා පවත්වති. එහෙත් ඔවුන්ට අරමුණක් නැත. සාකච්ඡා තේ බීමට සීමාවෙයි. ආණ්ඩුව ඉතා ඉක්මණින් තම පරාජය වසා ගනු ඇත. පෞද්ගලිකව ගතහොත් මට කළ හැකි දෙයක් නැත. පිරිස් සංවිධානය කිරීමේ ලා... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/01/15)
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was planning to submit a comprehensive Cabinet paper on how the government should counter allegations against Sri Lanka in the report of an investigation conducted by Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights to be presented for the consideration of UN Human Rights Council when it next meets for its 28th session in Geneva on March 2015, a spokesman for the PM’s office said yesterday.... -Full Story- (The Island - 26/01/15)
Political circles are abuzz about the many ‘behind-the-curtain’ political games were played out over the days from the Presidential Election Day. They speak about conspiracies to retain power while the then administrators dismiss these allegations. However, the truth of many stories about political game-play is yet to be established. The latest political game unfolding states, it was hatched by none other than the former SLFP National Organizer and Cabinet Minister Basil Rajapaksa.... -Full Story- (dbsjeyaraj.com - 26/01/15)
Helping Sri Lanka’s New Democracy In this piece of high handed journalism you have desecrated the sacred flag of Sri Lanka by altering it with figures riding the lion with an American Flag. No Sri Lankan will accept your idea of graphic alternation to their national flag. You need to apologize profusely to Sri Lanka for desecrating the national flag of Sri Lanka. Protests will be made to the NY Times too. Ryan Goodman, the author of this article speaks with authority as if Sri Lanka’s future should be determined by his recommendations that are based on suggested interference... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/01/15)
By Mario Perera, Kadawata What we are witnessing in New Zealand is a sad spectacle of Sri Lankan cricket. To put it succinctly, the national team is in shambles. If we look at the classification table, it is Australia and South Africa that head the list. Then come New Zealand, India. After them comes Pakistan. Then only would Sri Lanka and the West Indies find their spot. What went wrong with the team? Practically everything. We do not have an opening batting combination. Dimuth Karunaratne has been dismal failure. Of the ancient Trinity composed of Dilshan, Sangakkara and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/01/15)
People, needless to say, expect a lot from President Maithripala Sirisena’s government. During his short but emphatic election campaign, the President, who was then the Common Candidate of the opposition, made repeated promises on ending family rule, eradicating nepotism, establishing rule of law and ensuring good governance. Now, President Sirisena has arrived at a place where he has to walk the talk and start living up to the expectations of the people – something easier said than done!... -Full Story- (The Sunday Leader - 25/01/15)
BY DR DAYAN JAYATILLEKA There are at least two fundamental challenges facing the new Sri Lankan government and both are of long standing. One is the North-South question, which is my shorthand for what is variously called the Tamil National Question or the ethnic problem. The other is the South-South Question. While this latter naturally embraces the party political competition, which is now intra-party as well as an inter-party issue, that is not the hub of the problem. The crux of the South-South problem today is that of forms of government: Presidential or parliamentary.... -Full Story- (dbsjeyaraj.com - 25/01/15)
By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Michigan State University Thomas Piketty's Capital, a volume of 700 pages has been hailed as " a very important book". Paul Krugman has stated that the book is a "landmark". Economist Branco Milanovic of the World Bank has dubbed it as "a watershed book in economic thinking." Capital is a treatise on how wealth inequalities have evolved in capitalistic economies and is an outcome based on statistical studies of income inequality in many Western countries like the USA, France and UK. After an analysis on the distribution of wealth and the structure of inequality... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/01/15)
Although a special report on the alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka is to be presented before the UNHRC in March, the government is keen on getting this postponed till September after urging to consider the present political situation in the country. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights - Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has said that the report is to include investigations done between January 2014 - December 2014 as well as the activity of the LLRC appointed by the previous government.... -Full Story- (srilankamirror.com - 25/01/15)
India may be celebrating the election result in Sri Lanka, but China is in the region for the long haul. On January 18, a Reuters reported claimed that Sri Lanka’s now former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, had expelled the station chief of India’s intelligence agency in Colombo after accusing him of working against his government and supporting the opposition. India denied the claim, but the report serves as an example of Rajapaksa’s thorny attitude towards New Delhi, irrespective of the face presented by public diplomacy.... -Full Story- (thediplomat.com - 25/01/15)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that 29 high commissioners and ambassadors have been called back to the country. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ajith P. Perera stated that new appointments will be made.... -Full Story- (newsfirst.lk - 25/01/15)
Arjuna Mahendran has been appointed as the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka by President Maithripala Sirisena. He has nearly 30 years of extensive experience in the financial services industry across Asia, serving in both private companies and public sector organizations, and holds a Master of Arts in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Oxford.... -Full Story- (Sunday Leader - 25/01/15)
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday said political parties have agreed to implement the thirteenth amendment as a solution to end the country's over three-decade-old ethnic conflict involving the Tamil minority. "All parties have agreed to solve the ethnic problem within the framework of the thirteenth amendment. We are continuing our talks," Wickremesinghe said while addressing a gathering at Deniyaya in the south.... -Full Story- (Zeenews - 25/01/15)
Charles.S.Perera Your Excellency the President, My felicitations for your election as the President of Sri Lanka, Some voted for you and some against you. That is understandable as it is how democracy works. Therefore when you became the President some people were happy, while those whose candidate lost at the election were sad and dejected. Now that you have won the elections and sworn in as the President of Sri Lanka you should be generous and graceful in victory, and request your entourage to be like wise. You cannot denounce or allow your partners in victory to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/01/15)
By M D P DISSANAYAKE The country is in urgent need of a strong political grouping headed by the Father of Modern Sri Lanka, former President Mr Mahinda Rajapakse. The general public is realizing that they have exchanged Ginger and bought Chillie. The country require a new visionary political culture recognizing the rightful place for majority Sinhalese. In Sinhalese dominated country, fighting for the protection and enhancement of rights of majority is not racism. For fear of antoganizing the minority and inevitable bashing by the imperialists international community, no one, including the former President took the front line as... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/01/15)
By Kusal Perera Presidential poll concluded over a fortnight ago, witnessed the opposition campaign especially in the South focusing heavily on corruption and fraud allegedly committed by the Rajapaksa regime. Media is now reporting on massive corruption that had gone extensively viral than even the opposition campaigners ever imagined. What would come of them will only be seen in time to come. This new government under the presidency of Maithripala Sirisena most fervently promised the people of this country of a clean, corruption free, compassionate rule. Most concerned citizens now expect this government to deliver such clean and accountable rule.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/01/15)
By Rohana R. Wasala The embryonic beginning of representative government in Sri Lanka occurred in 1833, just eighteen years into the British occupation of the whole of the country, with the establishment of the Legislative Council of Ceylon along with the Executive Council of Ceylon on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission. At the beginning, however, there wasn’t even a modicum of people participation in government, but there was a clear suggestion of the divide and rule policy of the British and the particularly discriminatory treatment of the majority community deemed necessary by the rulers for the purpose of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/01/15)
By M D P DISSANAYAKE "Appam (Hoppers) you made for us very tasty, we like it-நீங்கள் எங்களுக்கு மிகவும் சுவையாக செய்யப்பட்ட அப்பம், நாம் அதை விரும்பவில்லைNīṅkaḷ eṅkaḷukku mikavum cuvaiyāka ceyyappaṭṭa appam, nām atai virumpavillai" The overwhelming majority Tamils in all parts of the country have demonstrated their feelings towards Sinhalese, through their voting patterns. These are some of the things Tamils told us: You Sinhalase are fools; 2. You foolish Sinhalese have liberated us from Terrorist Killer Prabha, now we have gained freedom; You fools have protected our internally displaced persons in their thousands, fed and nourished them;... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/01/15)
There is an attempt to water down the promise given to the public at the presidential election to abolish the executive presidency through the 19th amendment to the constitution, reports say. At the high level discussions regarding this constitutional change, the JHU has argued that the promise given should be defined again. Minister Rajitha Senaratne, who has built a close link with Athuraliye Rathana Thera, is supporting the JHU stance, say our sources.... -Full Story- (lankanewsweb.net - 24/01/15)
The Mahanayake of the Asgiriya Chapter Most Ven. Udugama Sri Buddharakhita Thera yesterday expressed his concern and the displeasure over the decision to reopen the road in front of the historic Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy. The Thera expressed his views in response to an intention put forward by the Leader of the House and Minister of Plantation industries Lakshman Kiriella, when he paid a courtesy call to see the Asgiriya Mahanayaka Thera yesterday (22).... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 24/01/15)
Ajith Dias has been appointed as the new Chairman of SriLankan Airlines replacing Nishantha Wickramasinghe. Dias was a Director of Brandix and was the former Chairman of the Free Trade Zone Manufacturers Association (FTZMA), a member of the Textile Quota Board and a member of the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC).... -Full Story- (asianmirror.lk - 24/01/15)
The Colombo Chief Magistrate today ordered authorities to temporarily impound the passport of Avant Garde Security Services Chairman, Major Nissanka Senadhipathi, in connection with the controversial floating armoury found in the Galle Harbour. The order was issued following a request made by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), police spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said.... -Full Story- (adaderana.lk - 24/01/15)
Two weeks after an electoral upset that ousted Sri Lanka’s long-reigning strongman, the country’s new leaders are racing to investigate allegations of corruption under the previous regime and are rushing to enact legal and constitutional changes they say are aimed at reestablishing rule of law.... -Full Story- (srilankamirror.com - 24/01/15)
UPFA to take disciplinary action against public representatives for ‘violations’ The United People’s Freedom Alliance announced on Thursday that disciplinary action will be taken against its public representatives who render support to change the governance in parliament, provincial councils and local government institutions. In the communique issued on Thursday, UPFA General Secretary Susil Premajayantha says that information has come light over UPFA public representatives preparing to join other political parties or produce affidavits of support in a bid to change the governance of the respective political institutions.... -Full Story- (newsfirst.lk - 23/01/15)
The high security zone surrounding the Presidential palace in Colombo has been lifted. As a result of this decision a number of roads in Colombo including the Janadhipathi Mawatha, Sir Baron Jayathilaka Mawatha, Chatham St. as well as Bauddhaloka Mawatha have been opened for vehicular traffic. A group including the Minister of Public Order, Disaster Management and Christian Affairs John Amaratunga were present when these roads were opened to the public once more.... -Full Story- (newsfirst.lk - 23/01/15)
The “Tamilnet”website long regarded as the mouthpiece of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE)organization has in a news report revealed details of an alleged “understanding”involving among others the current Foreign Affairs minister Mangala Samaraweera and Tamil National Alliance(TNA)national list parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran that was arrived at in Singapore in the year 2013.... -Full Story- (dbsjeyaraj.com - 23/01/15)
By DR. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA Who and what do we take more seriously? Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s promise made to the Sri Lankan parliament of ‘the implementation of the 13th amendment within the unitary state’, or that which his Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera has disclosed in New Delhi, India, while “talking to a select group of journalists”?... -Full Story- (dbsjeyaraj.com - 23/01/15)
The Cabinet has approved the setting up of the Committee Against Corruption (CAC) headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to probe the incidences of large scale corruption that had taken place in the past. The CAC comprises Ministers Mangala Samaraweera, Patali Champika Ranawaka, Rauff Hakeem and parliamentarians Anura Kumara Dissanayake, R. Sampanthan, M. A. Sumanthiran and Democratic Party Leader Sarath Fonseka along with Dr. Jayampathi Wickremaratne, J. C. Weliamuna and Malik Samarawickrema. It was set up on a recommendation by the National Executive Council (NSC).... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 23/01/15)
P.G. Kumarasinghe, a brother of President Maithripala Sirisena has been appointed as Chairman of Sri Lanka Telecom. He assumed duties amidst a simple ceremony this morning (22 January). Sirisena is also the CEO/General Manager of the State Timber Corporation (2006- To date) and also he is working as post of Board Director at Land Reclamation & Development Company Ltd.... -Full Story- (adaderana.lk - 23/01/15)
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption has issued a directive to the Department of Immigration and Emigration (DIE) to seize the passports of former Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Ajith Nivard Cabraal and Parliamentarian Sajin Vass Gunawardena.... -Full Story- (adaderana.lk - 23/01/15)
President Maithripala Sirisena, issuing a special order, has made a directive to drop all charges against former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka and restore all his civic rights, army titles with immediate effect. Fonseka was appointed Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) by President Rajapaksa on 15 July 2009. He was the first person appointed CDS under the newly approved Chief of Defence Staff Act, which was supposed to give the CDS more responsibilities in co-ordinating the armed forces.... -Full Story- (adaderana.lk - 22/01/15)
The Government has reduced the price of petrol by Rs 33 and diesel by Rs 23 per liter while price of kerosene has been reduced by Rs 16 per liter with effect from midnight tonight (21), the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) said. The pump price of 92 octane petrol per liter has been reduced from Rs. 150 to Rs. 117, while the diesel pump price has reduced from Rs. 111 to Rs. 95, and the price of Kerosene reduced from Rs 91 to Rs 65.... -Full Story- (adaderana.lk - 22/01/15)
LankaWeb Weekly Editorial Jan.21st 2015 " You Can Fool some of the people all the time and all of the people some of the time but never all the people all the time" Abraham Lincoln..... ..Perhaps is an apt summation of what happened to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Presidential election concluded recently. He is undoubtedly someone who has done a great service to all the people of Sri Lanka although in so doing he has also committed certain grievous errors which proved to be harmful to himself as well as being a heavy penalty to the Sinhala Nation which once adored him as an... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/01/15)
By Gomin Dayasri 100 - day government is off to an astonishing start. President Sirisena appoints Cabinet Ministers and the Leader of the Opposition to display bi- partisanship to an embarrassing maximum. Party leaders enter into a marriage of convenience between the fractions of the SLFP to hold a shotgun wedding solely for their own benefit. Did they give mind to those who voted for the UPFA and on whose votes their parliamentarians still thrive and enjoy benefits? Failing to give mind to the voters caused the majorities to evaporate and the fiasco enacted lately tends to lose more votes.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/01/15)
Prof. Hudson McLean Most of the writers in LankaWeb keep on stressing the "Importance of a United Undivided Sri Lanka", whilst a few promote rather jaundiced racist lines of Sri Lanka on Divisive by Race - Creed - Ethnicity. A Broad Question to Readers of LankaWeb & Beyond! Should the division of Sri Lankan or Ceylonese be based on such principles? Or should the honour of being a Sri Lankan be awarded to any human who has the Right to Vote and to hold a Sri Lankan Nationality either by Birth or by Naturalization, loyal to Sri Lanka? Many... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/01/15)
By Charles.S.Perera The keyword on which President Maithripala Sirisena's government came in to being is "corruption", therefore that has to be kept on going for the Government to exist. There is however no lack of it as the UNP Ministers of SLFP President Maitripala Siriesena's government keep on finding new instances of "corruption" on hearsay, without any proof what ever. It is like a game where you are asked to relate an acceptable story about corruption regarding any one connected in someway to the Rajapakse regimes, the one whose story is the most acceptable get the prize. Strangely now, ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/01/15)
By Dilrook Kannangara Voters are already in for a great disappointment. Instead of promised good governance and "Maithri Palanaya" before the election what is delivered after the election is mud governance and "Vairi Palanaya". Is it the natural response to the inability to deliver on the promises made during the election campaign? Where is the salary increase promised to public sector employees? Where is the price reduction of food items and petroleum products? Has president Sirisena taken his voters for a ride? In short this is not good governance at all! At most it is mud governance –... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/01/15)
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa today asked the new government to immediately stop acts of “political revenge”, a day after his country home in Tangalle was raided by police. He stated that several incidents of his supporters being attacked and harassed in various parts of the country after the election, have been reported and that the recent incident in Agalawatta, Kalutara is a case in point.... -Full Story- (adaderana.lk - 21/01/15)
Army commander Lt. Gen. Daya Ratnayake, who is presently on his second service extension, is to be sent on retirement upon completion of 57 years of age on February 22, reports say. The defence ministry has also informed Maj. Gen. Prasad Piyasagara Samarasinghe, who is eyeing the post following Ratnayake’s retirement, to retire too.Followng Ratnayake’s retirement, Maj. Gen. Mahesh Senanayake is to be appointed the Army commander. Senanayake is now back in Sri Lanka after he fled the country following the arrest of former Army chief Sarath Fonseka.... -Full Story- (lankanewsweb.net - 21/01/15)
In an interview with the Indian network NDTV, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe said that the new governing coalition in principle has agreed to the implementation of the 13 amendment to the constitution. In addition he also said that the new government will deal with the United Nations differently and hoped to engage with the UNHRC in contrast with the previous Rajapaksa regime. PM Wickramasinghe however added that jurisdiction to punish those responsible for alleged war crimes will remain with Sri Lanka as the country is not a signatory to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.... -Full Story- (dbsjeyaraj.com - 21/01/15)
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his first parliamentary address after assuming office in the new administration headed by President Maithripala Sirisena -- said the Government would preserve the unitary character of the Constitution when introducing constitutional reforms. He outlined the plan for the execution of the 100-day programme and said the Government would introduce the 19th Amendment to the Constitution for the establishment of independent commissions which were rendered worthless under the 18th Amendment.... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 21/01/15)
Prof. Hudson McLean When the Korean Airlines executive Ms Cho Hyun-ah, abused her power over a packet of peanuts, as the daughter of Cho Yang-ho the Executive Chairman of Korean Airlines, she was publicly "Grounded" from all her powerful positions in the company. http://tinyurl.com/k892e2f http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/13/world/asia/korean-airs-chairman-removes-daughter-from-executive-posts-after-nut-incident.html?_r=0 Similar incidents are now racing around Colombo by Dhumb Sirisena, the newly empowered son of the newly elected President Maithri Sirisena. Actually looking at the Dhumb Sirisen photos in Facebook, he resembles somewhat like, Namal Rajapaksa, but with a face more like a common ill-educated thug. Unless, President Sirisena uses his own personality to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/01/15)
With a new government taking office in Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may travel to Colombo in March. If he does go, it will be the first state visit by an Indian PM since Rajiv Gandhi's trip in 1987.... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 20/01/15)
Wayamba Distilleries, a brewery of which former Minister Johnston Fernando is a stakeholder, was sealed by the police today (19). Asian Mirror reliably learns that a warehouse belonging to the Wayamba Distilleries has also been sealed by the police along with the brewery. The police is yet to issue a statement to media as to why the brewery and warehouse was shutdown.... -Full Story- (asianmirror.lk - 20/01/15)
Sri Lanka Freedom Party Parliamentarian, Mahinda Samarasinghe said that the election violence against UPFA supporters have mounted considerably over the past few days and the UNP has to take disciplinary action against its grass root level support base, who were perpetrators of such violence.... -Full Story- (ceylontoday.lk - 20/01/15)
The Tangalle Police today search the Carlton Residence of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Tangalle for a Lamborghini car. The Tangalle Police had received a tip-off that there was a Lamborghini at Carlton House and therefore they had obtained a search warrant from the Tangalle Magistrate’s Court.... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 20/01/15)
This is one overseas fan base that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party BJP would not wish to flaunt. “We wish we had a leader like Narendra Modi,” says Dilantha Withanage, chief executive of Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), the hardline Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist organisation that was accused of attacking Muslims and Christians in Sri Lanka last year, which led to Mahinda Rajapaksa losing the votes of the minorities and the presidential elections this month.... -Full Story- (indianexpress.com - 20/01/15)
Prof. Hudson McLean Was Mahinda Rajapaksa aware of the alleged corrupt dealings of his own brother Basil Rajapaksa Secretary of Economic Affairs under ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa? With another brother Gothabaya Rajapaksa as Secretary of Defense, with Security under his domain, GR must have been aware of goings-on? And then, did the arrogant son, Namal Rajapaksa was known to throw his weight around the inner circles, roaming the Island in his fancy expensive sports cars, live beyond his means on ill-gotten gains, as a Member of Parliament? If these allegations are proven, should litigation be taken against Corruption at the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/01/15)
Charles.S.Perera A period smitten by an unfathomable human savagery by a group of Tamil terrorists ended with the emergence of a National Sinhala Buddhist leader without an equal in the past before 2005 nor at least for a few decades to come in the future. That great national leader of great significance to Sri Lanka is Mahinda Rajapakse. He will remain so what ever his enemies with unclean hands and poisonous mouths are all out to implicate him for falsely invented crimes to make him unpopular amoung the people and perhaps take away his civic rights. ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/01/15)
H. L. D. Mahindapala Offering changes to the status quo always has a charm that appeals to people at all levels. Changes are also inevitable. That is the eternal law. But change for what? And how far can changes go to make a real difference? These are nagging questions that make people believe that the more you change the more it remains the same. The perennial hope is change for the better. But does change always change for the better? The vaunted "Arab Spring" is one recent example where change did not change for the good of the people.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/01/15)
Chandrasiri Atukorale Under the Rajapaksha Regime the war we fought was not against Tamil race, but Tamil separatism appeared in the guise of Nationalism. It is this fact that many of our Sinhala politicians have lost sight of despite those heavy casualties. Today many of our elected representatives are using such terms like Nation, Race in a manner prejudicial to the rights of the native Sinhala majority. Hardly a day passes without something being said about finding a solution to the Tamil problem in the North & East. Very often they refer to it as a Tamil national problem.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/01/15)
Ajit Randeniya The apparent fascination of the new interim government of Sri Lanka with colonialism is beginning to surface in key areas. All the promises to introduce good governance appear to have fallen victim to the colonial traps designed to fool the former colonies through brain-washing them to think and operate only within the parameters set by the former colonisers. Two of the key measures introduced so far - the declaration of strong commitment to Latimer House principles of the Commonwealth and the establishment of an Executive Council show a disturbingly intense slavishness to colonial ideology. The new rulers... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/01/15)
Dilrook Kannangara There is no doubt Mahinda lost the election. It w as a mathematical certainty as he invested far too much on the minority which turned against him by 2012 and the majority was deprived of meaningful economic benefits. As per strict interpretation of the law, a candidate wins the election by winning over 50% votes. As such Sirisena won win a margin of 155,436 votes. This is what the Election Commissioner declares. In other words, Sirisena would not be president had he won 155,436 (or thereabout) votes less (provided the total valid votes remain same). There is... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/01/15)
Dr Hector Perera, London I wanted to let some people know about this energy saving cooking idea then before that I wanted to see how these so called Sri Lanka ladies cook. What they add to make curries such as chicken or fish is up to each individual. Most of the local cooking was done by adding a mixture ground on the traditional MIRISGALA. I like that idea because it is freshly made, no added chemicals and preservatives. There are bottles with readymade curry paste with added chemicals and preservatives to prevent them going off. They add these curry... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/01/15)
Papal visits to Sri Lanka seem to be uncannily linked to regime changes in the island nation. The first Pope to visit Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) was Pope Paul VI on December 4, 1970. He had been invited by Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake, but he was received by Senanayake’s successor, Sirimavo Bandaranaike. Between the invitation and the Pope’s visit to Sri Lanka, the right wing United National Party (UNP) government led by Dudley Senanayake, had been replaced by a left wing coalition led by Sirimavo Bandaranaike of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).... -Full Story- (newindianexpress.com - 19/01/15)
Sri Lanka's new government will review Chinese infrastructure projects awarded under the previous administration, a junior minister said, a move bound to please Indian and Western powers concerned about Beijing's access in the island state. On Friday, the government said it would review a $1.5 billion port deal with China Communication Construction Co Ltd over concerns about the Chinese company getting land on a freehold basis in a high-security zone.... -Full Story- (Reuters - 19/01/15)
There is a mystery kidney disease that for years has been killing thousands of farmers in Sri Lanka's rice basket — and as it spreads, locals are becoming increasingly fearful. In 20 years the disease has killed up to 20,000 people and sickened up to 400,000 more; some villages report it causes as many as 10 deaths a month.... -Full Story- (independent.co.uk - 19/01/15)
Asian Mirror Sri Lanka expelled the Colombo station chief of RAW in the run up to this month's presidential election, accusing him of helping the opposition oust the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa, a Reuters report said, citing ‘political and intelligence sources.’ However, the report added that an Indian foreign ministry spokesman denied any expulsion and said that transfers were routine decisions. Rajapaksa has told Reuters that he did not know all the facts while the new government in Colombo has said it is aware of the reports but cannot confirm them.... -Full Story- (asianmirror.lk - 18/01/15)
R. Chandrasoma The negative things that were done to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, similar things were done to President Obama by those who opposed him. President Mahinda Rajapaksa inherited a mess of a country in 2005 from CBK/RW. He took the demoralized army and with Col. Gotabaya Rajapaksa refurbished it and defeated the LTTE in 2009. He saved 300,000 TAMIL civilians from LTTE and built them homes and gave them their lives back. Even the LTTE cadre were rehabilitated and allowed to enter society. The West which had been supportive of LTTE right along, started making allegations against MR... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/01/15)
By M D P DISSANAYAKE The new government is already being pushed to the corner, whilst President Mathreepala Sirisena is safe in his role constitutionally, Mr Ranil Wickremasinghe is not safe as the Prime Minister. Firstly, he has obtain the majority confidence on the floor of the House to comply with the constitution. Secondly he has to accept every Tom. Dick and Harry of UPFA to obtain the majority confidence. The second scenario is beginning to annoy the supporters of the government, as the former unpopular MPs and Ministers continue to support RW. Even if the Prime Minister-elect is successful... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/01/15)
by Dharshan Weerasekera The United States is increasingly being accused of exporting only belligerence, war, and destruction to the rest of the world, instead of more positive and pleasant things. For instance, conservative commentator Paul Craig Roberts, writing in Counterpunch magazine, has said, “US government officials routinely criticize other governments for being undemocratic and for violating human rights. Yet, no other country except Israel sends bombs, missiles, and drones into sovereign countries to murder civilian populations.... -Full Story- (foreignpolicyjournal.com - 18/01/15)
The Nation One and a half months ago, Mahinda Rajapaksa, the fifth Executive President of Sri Lanka, seemed invincible. He was surrounded by a family clique who wielded immense power in the country’s political sphere. He was the war-winning President as well as the leader of the Commonwealth nations who met in Colombo one and a half years back. It looked as if the opposition, which was already in shambles due to internecine power struggles, had only meager chances of defeating him.... -Full Story- (nation.lk - 18/01/15)
Sunday Island Former Minister Mervyn Silva yesterday lodged a complaint with the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) against former Minister Basil Rajapaksa, MP, and ex Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa over alleged fraudulent activities and crimes committed by them. After making a CID complaint, the Gampaha district parliamentarian told the media gathered outside the complex that he did not believe in taking revenge on anybody, but it was they "who took revenge from him".... -Full Story- (The Island - 18/01/15)
Dr. Mareena Thaha Reffai Now that a new era has dawned in our country may we wish that all our wishes come true? May we form a list of the wishes and keep adding to it so that one day all of them will come to pass? After all what is life without dreams? This is an ad hoc list. I hope others will keep adding their wishes and we can try to implement them in whatever way possible. We wish all members of parliament declare their assets now and when they leave the post, whenever that may... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/01/15)
Daily Mirror The travel ban imposed in some parts of the country on foreign passport holders has been lifted in a directive by President Maithripala Sirisena, Defence Ministry’s Media Centre Director Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasuriya said today. The decision was made at the first national security council meeting under the leadership of the new President. They had taken into consideration the prevailing peaceful situation in the country, he said.... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 17/01/15)
News First Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe assumed duties as the country’s Prime Minister today, Friday January 16, subsequent to religious observances at Temple Trees. A large group including the Maha Sangha were present for the event organised to mark the Prime Minister’s assumption of duties today.... -Full Story- (newsfirst.lk - 17/01/15)
Sri Lanka Mirror Minister of Plantations - Lakshman Kiriella has been appointed as the Leader of the House. Also, minister of Mass media, Gayantha Karunatillake has been appointed as the Government Chief Whip. Meanwhile, Nimal Siripala de Silva has been appointed opposition leader while John Seneviratne has been appointed Opposition Chief Whip.... -Full Story- (srilankamirror - 17/01/15)
AdaDerana The Attorney General (AG) of Sri Lanka has instructed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to investigate a complaint regarding an alleged coup attempt by the country’s former President whilst the election results were been released on 9 January. The country’s new foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera yesterday (15) lodged a complaint with the CID requesting an investigation into an alleged last-minute coup attempt by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa after he lost last week’s elections.... -Full Story- (Adaderana - 17/01/15)
Prof. Hudson McLean The article published The minority supremacy Nalin de Silva, with the map of Sri Lanka clearly proves that, if not for the Minority Vote, MR would have swept through into the Presidential Throne. In a way this is a good lesson to all Sinhela community realize their mistake(?) and in the future to select their "best" candidate to lead a Unified Sri Lanka. The question is; If MR is the best candidate to Lead the Nation again? In the absence of any other suitable potential leader, "The Known Devil is Better Than Unknown Angel". MR won... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/01/15)
චන්ද්රසිරි විජයවික්රම හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අමාරුවේ වැටුනේ වැඩිපුරම ඔහු වටා සිටි කළුසුද්දන් නිසාය. වත්මන් ජනාධිපති මෛත්රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතාත් මෙසේ කළුසුද්දන්ගේ ග්රහනයට වැටීමෙන් වැලකිය හැක්කේ ආපසු රජයේ නිලතලවලට එන 2005 ට පෙර යුගයේ කළුසුද්දන්ගෙන් ප්රවේශම් වීමෙනි. මෙම ලිපිය මහින්ද මහතා අමාරුවේ වැටුන අවස්ථා කීපයක් හා මෛත්රීපාල මහතාට ඔහුට සමහර විට නොපෙනෙන එහෙත් පිටසිට බලන අපට පේන අවස්ථා තුනක් සලකා බලන්නේ මේවා ලියන විට දෙන්නාම අමනාපවීමට ඉඩ ඇතිබවද වටහා ගෙනමය. මේ දෙන්නාම රටගැන සිතා සිංහල ජාතිය, සිංහල බෞද්ධයා ගැන සිතා එකමුතුව ජාතික ආණ්ඩුවක් සදාගන්නවා දැකීම අපේ ආශාවය. කළුසුද්දන් මහින්ද නිවාජ් කබ්රාල්ට මහ බැංකුව භාරදීම මහබැංකුවේ සේවකයින්ට කල අපහාසයක් පමනක්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/01/15)
Asian Mirror The National Advisory Council, which was scheduled to meet on January 12 according to the 100 Day Program of the Maithripala Sirisena government, held its first meeting today.Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake confirmed that the first meeting of the National Advisory Committee had its first meeting this evening.The council has discussed on the constitutional reforms and the timetable according to which the changes will be tabled at the parliament.... -Full Story- (asianmirror.lk - 16/01/15)
NY Times A week after taking office, Sri Lanka’s new president reached out to ethnic Tamils in the country’s north on Thursday by appointing a new governor for the Northern Province, replacing a retired army commander with a retired diplomat.... -Full Story- (NY Times - 16/01/15)
News First Senior Co Chairman of the Party, A.H.M Fowzie states that the necessary steps to transfer the leadership of the SLFP from Former President Mahinda Rajapkasa to President Maithripala Sirisena will take place when the Central Committee of the SLFP convenes on Friday.A.H.M Fowzie added that those members who left the party will be reinstated during this meeting.... -Full Story- (newsfirst.lk - 16/01/15)
Nalin de Silva (Article not published by the Island) It was in 1833 the Legislative Assembly was established by the English colonialists, which comprised 10 official members and six unofficial members. All the unofficial members and four of the official members were appointed by the English governor while six of the official members were members of the executive committee. Thus in essence all the members were appointed by the governor. Of the six unofficial members three were Europeans, one was Sinhala, one Tamil and the other Burgher. There were no Muslims. This was the beginning of minority communal politics... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/01/15)
By Rohana R. Wasala Courtesy The Island I hail the final result of the free and fair election so efficiently conducted under the outgoing administration as confirmation of the fact that democracy remains still safe and untouched in this country. The coming together of many diverse, formerly well-nigh irreconcilable factions, but which were eventually bound by a common aim (that of dislodging Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa from power, come what may) demonstrates the great potential that such pan-Sri Lankan unity has for causing even more positive change in the country without resorting to violence. The change of government, however brought about,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/01/15)
H. L. D. Mahindapala Sri Lankans are now living in the very early days of the promised “ideal country” which, according to the Manifesto of Maithripala Sirisena – Ranil Wickremesinghe – Champika Ranawake government, will be created within six years. The attention of the readers is drawn to the following two edited news items to indicate the early trends of this path-breaking political journey. Please note the date “January 29” which is most relevant to both news items. News Item 1: The Daily Mirror (January 13, 2015) : “The Mini-Budget of the new Government’s 100-day programme will be presented... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/01/15)
චන්ද්රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි ජනාධිපතිවරණය නිමවී අැත. අප සෘජුවම මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ජයග්රහණය උදෙසා කටයුතු කල අය වෙමු. මේ තරගයේදී මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ජයග්රහණය යනු රටේ ජයග්රහණය ලෙස දුටුව අප තවමත් රටේ ජයග්රහණය වෙනුවෙන්ම කටයුතු කරන පෙරමුණ ගන්න ජන ප්රජාව වෙමු. දැන් මෙෙත්රීපාල සිරිසේන යනු මෙරට ජනාධිපතිතුමා බැවින්; රට රැක ගැනීමේ කාර්යයට උපරිම වශයෙන් ඒතුමාවද දායක කරගත යුතුමය. ඒතුමාව මේ රට රැක ගැනීමේ කාර්යයට දායක කර ගැනීමට නම් ඒතුමා යනු කවරෙක්ද? වර්තමානෙය්දී ඒතුමාට උරුමව අැති කාර්යභාරය සම්බන්ධව දේශපාලන දැක්මක් අපට තිබිය යුතුය. ඒතුමා කවරෙක්ද? ඔහු තුල අැති ගුණාංග කවරේද? ඒ්වා මේ අවස්ථාවේදී රටේ අාරක්ෂාව හා ඒ්කීයභාවය වෙනුවෙන් භාවිතා කරන්නේ කෙසේද?... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/01/15)
වෛද්ය රුවන් එම්. ජයතුංග ලන්ඩනයේ සෙන්ට් තෙරේසා රෝහලට ඇතුළු කරනලද මහලූ රෝගියා හුස්ම ගත්තේ සෙමෙන්ය. ඔහු රෝහලට භාරදුන් පුද්ගලයා රෝගියා පිළිබඳ වැඩි විස්තරයක් දැන සිටියේ නැත. මහල්ලා වැන්දඹුවකු බවත්, ඔහුගේ එකම පුතා ස්කොට්ලන්තයට ගොස් ඇති බවත් රෝගියා භාරදුන් පුද්ගලයා හෙදියට කියා තිබි‚. රෝගියාගේ ඇඳුම් බෑගයත්, දිනපොතත්, බයිබලයත්, රූසෝගේ කෘතීන් කිහිපයකුත්, නැගෙනහිර යුරෝපයේ සිතියමකුත් රෝහල් කාර්ය මණ්ඩලයට භාර දී තිබු‚. රෝගීන් භාරගන්නා ස්ථානයේ සිටි ලියන්නා ඇසූ ප්රශ්ණවලට උත්තර දී තිබුණේ ද අඩ වශයෙනි. එම නිසා රෝගියාගේ රෝග ඉතිහාසය පිළිබඳව වැදගත් යමක් මොහුගෙන් ලබාගැනීමට නොහැකි විය. මෝඩ පහේ බේබද්දකු බඳු වූ මෙම පුද්ගලයා ඇඳ සිටියේ කලූ පැහැති කිලිටු කබායකි. ඔහු නොනවත්වාම කහිමින්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/01/15)
George Rupesinghe Sydney, Australia Your reporter Dharisha Bastians, in her/his account of the Pope's visit to Sri Lanka, syndicated in The Sydney Morning Herald on 15 January, refers to former President Rajapakse's "refusal to address concerns about postwar reconciliation." Surely Bastians must be aware that it was Rajapakse who set up the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission whose report was submitted years ago and some recommendations of which have been put in train after careful study. Further recommendations were under careful scrutiny owing to political and security implications. It is not true that ethnic Sinhalese Buddhists have "long been hostile . .... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/01/15)
Dr.Tilak Fernando After glancing through a recent Sunday newspaper article on a new resolution adopted by the 193 member UN General Assembly surrounding the mysterious plane crash that took place as far back as in 1961 in which the Swedish born UN Secretary General Dr. Dag Hammarskjöld perished with another 15 members of the team, my good friend Peter Wijesinghe came out with some fascinating information enriching the news report linking the late Dr. Neville Kanakaratne, former Sri Lankan Ambassador. Dr. Dag Hammarskjöld had been a legal adviser to the UN Special Representative in Congo, who was subsequently assigned... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/01/15)
By The Editors Is Sri Lanka the next Myanmar? After the stunning ouster of strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in last week-s elections, another small, strategically vital Asian nation would appear to have rejected China-s embrace. Whether the U.S. and India can exploit this opportunity, however, will depend on whether they recognize what-s unique about Sri Lanka.... -Full Story- (bloombergview.com - 15/01/15)
By mahinda Just as I mentioned in the episode 02, the drama continue according to the agenda and script of the Unholy alliance consisting of LTTE,UNP,CBK,RANIL, RAW, CIA etc. The Governor of North PC has been removed and replaced by a civilian who could not protect the integrity any longer, he who is a govt. servant will dance to the tune of masters. The division of our beloved motherland is on the way. Removal of Governor is just the tip of the iceberg. Await within next 100 days you will get a “Aluth Ratak” (A New Country out... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/01/15)
Nalin de Silva (Article not published by the Island. ) The Presidential elections scheduled for 8th January 2015 is on nidahasa of the country more than anything else. I prefer the word nidahasa to other concepts such as sovereignty, independence etc., and I associate the nidahasa with eksesath rajya a form of unitary state. Thus it is nidahasa and eksesath rajya that will be decided on the eighth and the battle lines have been drawn with people who prefer nidhasa on one side and the people who are prepared to be instructed either directly or indirectly on the other side.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/01/15)
Vajragnana Warnakulasuriya With the inauguration of the new Parliament as per the manifesto of the alliance, people were invited to submit any corrupt and illicit dealings that had taken place by the people responsible to run the country within the last ten years of Mr.Mahinda Rajapaksa's regime. On a parallel note the Tamil Diaspora and the International community wanted to investigate the alleged war crimes only during the last phase after the conclusion of the conflict in Sri Lanka. It looks like the good Governance is prepared to ignore the injustices done in the by the present rulers in... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/01/15)
Sunday Times Editorial It was democracy that was the ultimate winner at Thursday’s Presidential election. Sri Lanka’s somewhat questionable recent record on elections was put back on track and for that, much of the credit must go to the Elections Commissioner, all those men and women who showed what the Public Service of this country is capable of and to the Tri-Services and the Police. The outgoing President Mahinda Rajapaksa was dignified in defeat as were the new President Maithripala Sirisena and the new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe magnanimous in victory. Many were the fears that President Rajapaksa, should... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/01/15)
Adaderana Military spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said he is unaware of Rajapaksa’s order to the military to back him, maintaining that the military stayed out of all the stages of the electoral process. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has denied allegations that he tried to cling on to power, saying he decided to let then-opposition presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena assume the country’s top post after looking at the trend of election results in the early hours of Friday. “When U.S. State Secretary John Kerry spoke to Rajapaksa over the phone, the former president assured him there will be a smooth... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/01/15)
Prof. Hudson McLean During the tenure of MR, he maintained cordial and civilised contact with the Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickramasinghe. A few had negative comments. When MR defeat was announced, it was Ranil who had the courtesy to visit Temple Trees to arrange the transition of power. One point which bothered MR was the possibility of an act of revenge by Sarath Fonseka. With the new President Maithree Sirisena offering guarantees of safety & security to the Rajapaksa brothers, dignified civility entailed. And MR reached Ranil Wickremasinghe really through the Side Exit. That was the end of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/01/15)
Hot News The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) today complained to the Bribery Commission against 12 persons including, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Basil Rajapaksa, Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Namal Rajapaksa about alleged financial frauds committed by them. Complaints were made against former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Carlton Super Sports Club, former Internal Trade Minister Johnston Fernando, former Ports Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardane, Tourist Board Chairman Senanka Guneratne, Managing Director of Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau Rumy Fawzer and Chairman of National Lotteries Board, as well. The complaint states that it was a widely accepted fact that the default of the bonds by... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/01/15)
Dr. Daya Hewapathirane It would be a most opportune time and a gracious gesture on his part, if the Pope seeks forgiveness from the Buddhists and Hindus of Sri Lanka, for the widespread injustices and human rights violations and offences the Catholic church has committed in the distant and recent past in our motherland. SRI LANKA : BRUTALITY OF CATHOLICS The CATHOLIC PORTUGUESE with their gun powder and soldiers, brought in a reign of terror to Sri Lanka, our motherland. They resorted to ruthless torture and killing of local inhabitants, especially the Sinhala Buddhists, destroying and plundering their settlements,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/01/15)
By M D P DISSANAYAKE Before joining the MS alliance, the Great Cricketer Arjuna Ranatunga said on public stage that he has an agreement with Chandrika that corrupt MPs and Ministers in UPFA government will not be taken into the new regime. In fact he has told Chandrika if corrupt MPs and Ministers are taken into the new regime, he will be the first to resign from the MS government. Similarly, Patali Champka said before the election that Karuna Ammam should be arrested and should not be allowed to leave the country. This is a challenge for Arjuna and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/01/15)
Dilrook Kannangara Writing to Lankaweb a writer asked the above question. This is just one of hundreds of questions raised by the people. In the current context, this is the most pertinent of all questions posed. The continuation of the new government, promises made to the people and most importantly the electoral calculous depend on this. It is very easy to break things up but very difficult to build something. The driving force behind the Common Opposition was to defeat Mahinda which was achieved. When the euphoria dries and reality strikes, the Common Opposition may find there are many... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/01/15)
Hot News Samurdhi development officers’ union has made a written complain to the Auditor General that Rs 1400 million of Samurdi funds have been withdrawn from the Samurdhi bank account on the 6th January before the Presidential election.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/01/15)
Hot News Sri Lanka's former president Mahinda Rajapaksa has denied government allegations that he attempted to remain in office after it became clear that he had lost last week's election. In comments published on Twitter as Pope Francis landed on the island, Rajapaksa insisted he had readily accepted "the people's verdict" in what was his first reaction to last Thursday's polls. Newly elected President Maithripala Sirisena's top aides - Minister of Health Rajitha Senaratne and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera - have alleged that Rajapaksa had tried to use the military to prevent the election result from being released... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/01/15)
George Rupesinghe Sydney, Australia While the leaders of Europe and other countries hold hands with France in their hour of sorrow and unite against acts of terrorism, it is timely to remember that no such gesture of solidarity and comfort was extended to the people of Sri Lanka when they were the target of worse atrocities over a period of thirty years. Suicide bombers roamed the country, a Prime Minister, a President, and dozens of politicians were assassinated. Entire villages were attacked and over tens of thousands of people ruthlessly slaughtered by the vicious terrorist Tamil Tigers (LTTE). People... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/01/15)
Dr. Mareena Thaha Reffai, Dehiwela It is heatedly argued in many circles who is responsible for the victory of the president Mr. Maithripala Sirisena in the last historic election. The Minorities claim they are responsible since they voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Maithripala Sirisena and the Sinhala Buddhists claim it is their own propaganda which really made a difference. If we think about it logically, it is simple to realize that without the votes of either of them he could not have won. It is the collective voting of the entire country which made him victorious. Even though the south is... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/01/15)
Hilmy Ahamed Nepal, after centuries of rule by powerful monarchs embraced democracy in April 1990. After several unsuccessful campaigns against the Government, the Nepali Congress allied with several Communist parties in a pro-democracy movement, pushed the King of Nepal to concede their demand for democracy. This came about as protests mounted, the armed forces fired on unarmed demonstrators in Katmandu, killing dozens and prompting a surge of sentiment against the king, government and authorities. The puppet Government of the monarch fell within days and opposition won sweeping concessions from King Birendra Bikram Shah Dev, who lifted a 29-year ban... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/01/15)
Prof. Hudson Maclean Sri Lanka electorate and the players have reached political maturity. The ancient civilization of the Sinhela have demonstrated proudly to the world how democracy is played in this little Island. The politicians behaved with decency and the voters, who normally end-up carving-up a few hearts & souls, with a few funerals after the voting, surprised the foreign observers, with the civility & decency. The new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, according to the news reports acted with civility and dignity, as the go-between negotiator behind the security screens at Temple Trees. One thing which really surprised me,is... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/01/15)
By mahinda The election concluded officially and as according to the majority votes Sirisena won and was installed as president is the general picture been painted for the ordinary Sinhela Buddhists the owners of the country. Although the final winners are Ealaamists and Al Qaida/Jihadists, the Sinhela Buddhists are forced to believe that they won a just rule (Yaha Paalanaya) Proving the foreign hand and conspiracy that worked behind entire pre election drama and now the post election drama being continued according to the RAW and CIA agenda well camouflaged and cutting grass under the feets of Sinhela Buddhists.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/01/15)
Hot News Twenty seven Cabinet ministers in total were sworn in before the President at the Presidential Secretariat. After swearing-in of the Cabinet Ministers, State Ministers, President MaithripalaSirisena said it would be an interim-cabinet and that General Elections would be held after the completion of the 100-day programme.“This is only a temporary Cabinet appointed to ensure the successful completion of the 100-day programme. Thereafter we will go for General Election which should be kept in mind when serving the people to the best of their ability. I want all ministers to work efficiently and be always mindful that we will... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/01/15)
ධර්මසිරි සෙනෙවිරත්න චම්පික හා රාජිත දෙන්නා සුපුරුදු වහසි බස් බෙනෙමින් මහින්දගේ රජයේ සියලු දුෂිතයන් ට දඬුවම් කරන බව ප්රකාශ කරති වැඩේ නම් හොඳය හැබය් මුල්ය වංචා කල අ යට වඩා මුලින්ම දඬුවම් දිය යුත්තේ වසර තිස් ගණනක් තිස්සේ කොටිත්රස්තවාදීන්ගෙන් අසරණ මිනිසුන් මැරෙන්නට ඉඩහැර හා කොටින්ගේ ශක්තිය වැඩි කරමින් රට විනාශ කරන්නට වැඩ කල අනෙක් දේශපාලකයින්ට දඬුවම් කිරීමය් දේශය විනාශ කිරී ම රටේ මුදල් හොරකම් කිරීමට වඩා භයානකය . චන්ද්රිකා අනුරුද්ධ ගේ කකුලෙන් අද යුද්ධ කිරීම වලක්වා ප්රභාකරන්ට රට වසර 10 කට දෙන්නට තත් ක ළාය . නොදුන්නේ නොගත් නිසාය මවැනි යෝජනාවක් කිරීමද දෙමළුන්ට උදගේදිදීමකි උන් පසුව අල්ලා ගන්නේ ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/01/15)
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . Canada 12 January 2015 Hon. Jason Kenney, MP., PC Minister of Employment & Social Development & Multiculturtalism House of Commons, Ottawa Dear Jason Kenney: Thank you for forwarding John Baird, Minister of Foreign Affair’s statement of congratulations on a Sri Lanka’s Successful Presidential Elections. That was magnanimous on the part of John, who had slapped and trampled Sri Lanka under former gutsy President Mahinda Rajapaksa who had no compunction to toe Canada’s line to support the Tamil rump in Canada, that John did with his anti-Sri Lanka Nepean Jig at the United... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/01/15)
By Takis Fotopoulos Yesterday, Paris saw the 'biggest' rally in France's history, as the French Interior Ministry described it. This was of course hardly surprising, as the entire political part of the Transnational Elite (TE-i.e. the elites which run the New World Order of neoliberal globalization, based mainly in the G7 countries), attended it. On top of this, it was a prominent country-member of the same elite that organized it. The main aim of the rally was ostensibly to condemn terrorism. Yet, as I will try to show, it was the same TE, which also created the phenomenon of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/01/15)
H. L. D. Mahindapala When J. R. Jayewardene went back to “Braemar” at Ward Place, his private residence, after leaving the Presidency, he noted ruefully in his memoirs that there was hardly anybody to meet him the next day. Chandrika Kumaratunga too complained that there was no one to put even a spoonful of sugar in her cup of tea once she fell from grace and returned to Horogolla, her ancestral home. Of course, this ”King Lear” syndrome has been enacted in every corner of the earth and it is not peculiar to Sri Lankan leaders. Power attracts mostly... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/01/15)
Courtesy Sunday Times Millions of Sri Lankans learnt only by late Friday morning that the major thrust by Opposition political parties brought an end to the near ten year rule of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. As the counting began in centres countrywide after polls ended on Thursday, families and friends sat around their television sets for the results. There was fear in the minds of most. Only a day earlier, in the main cities, shops and supermarkets were crowded by people panic buying stocks of food to cope with a possible post-poll curfew on Friday, marred by violent incidents. There... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/01/15)
Well wisher, When President Mahinda R lost the election I felt a sense of desolation, which I feel most of Sri Lanka felt. Even the celebration by the Opposition seemed to be half hearted. I feel I was fortunate to witness history being made by President Mahinda R (MR). When we look at our history there are certain figures that stand out and MR is one of them. True leaders have a vision, and an ability to carry out their vision even in the face of impossible odds. They provide leadership to the ordinary people to make them do... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/01/15)
Ranjit Abeywardena The just concluded presidential election was a coup by foreign elements, Its broader similarities to the 1815 ousting of the King Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe II by the British are uncanny to the initiated observer; They based their campaign on tarnishing his image of the local ‘king’ as ‘cruel’ and corrupt, and just as in that case, they co-opted the local ‘radala’ and other elements - a hotchpotch of losers in local politics and Buddhist monks who wouldn’t know the country’s Constitution from Ummagga Jatakaya - to execute their plan. The foreign conspiracy to steal political power in... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/01/15)
Hot News Instigated by former President Chandrika Bandaranayake, a break away group of 21 member of SLFP central committee met today at Wijerama Road Colombo and appointed President Maitripala Sirisena as the party president and pledged support to President Maithripala Sirisena a short while ago. Among the MPs who pledged support the President are Dr. Sarath Amunugama, S.B. Nawinne, Vijith Vijithamuni Soysa, Piyasena Gamage, Reginold Cooray, Janaka Bandara Tennakoon, Athauda Seneviratne and North Western Province Chief Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara. They have appointed Chadrika Bandaranayake as their adiviser to the party. Meanwhile SLFP Secretary Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said that the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/01/15)
Prof. Hudson McLean Although I have remained silent for three years, I have followed the goings-on in Sri Lanka with interest. First of all, may I comment that the Sri Lankan politics could also be written as a Shakespearen play. The latest event symbolises Julius Ceaser. "Et tu, Brute!" cried Julius Ceaser, as he spilt blood on the steps and died. In the Sri Lanka scenario, Mahinda "JuliusCeaser" Rajapakse survived the first attempt by his own, decorated soldier, ex-General Sarath Fonseka. The second attempt on the 8th January 2015, displaced him from the Throne, but will still "Live to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/01/15)
චන්ද්රසිරි විජයවික්රම දකුණේ සිංහල දේශපාලකයින් සමග එක්ව වැඩකරන දෙමල ජාතිකයින්, දෙමල ද්රෝහීන් කියා හංවඩු ගැසීම 1930ස් ගණන්වල සිටම ක්රිස්තියානි දෙමල බෙදුම්වාදීන් අතලොස්සකගේ පහත් දේශපාලන උපක්රමයක් විය. ජේන් රසල් නම් ඇමෙරිකන් නෝනා ඩොනමෝර් ආණ්ඩුක්රමය ගැන ඇයකල ආචාර්ය උපාධි පර්යේෂණ පොතෙන් මේ පිළිඹද උදාහරණ කිහිපයක්ම ගත හැකිය. මට ඒ අයගේ නම් දැන් මතකයට නොේ. එක නමක් නම් ජී ජී පොන්නම්බලම් ය. මහාවංශයට හා සිංහල ජාතියට අවමන් කල පොන්නම්බලම් නිසා 1930 ස් ගණන්වල ගම්පොල සිංහල-දෙමල ගැටුමක්ද ඇතිවිය. එහෙත් ඔහුටද දෙමල නායකයින් කියා ගන්නා කොටසක් විසින් ටැමිල් ට්රේටර් ලේබලය ගැසුවේය. මේ කාලයේ ඔහු දෙමල ජනයාට සිමෙන්ති, රසායන හා කඩදාසි කම්හල් ලබාදුන්නේ ලංකාවේ කර්මාන්ත... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/01/15)
Chanaka Bandarage The writer had worked numerous times with the Great SL Gunasekera, and takes pride identifying himself as a close friend of SL. For over 30 years SL was engaged in the struggle against Tamil separatism in Sri Lanka. Many times he was the lone voice against Tamil terrorism, especially in the legal scene. SL wrote vigorously in multiple journals and attended meetings and forums. He represented the country at Thimpu Talks, on behalf of all peoples of Sri Lanka. During the midst of the Tamil war, SL received death threats. He knew he would not receive protection... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/01/15)
By Gomin Dayasri Initials S.L surpassed surname Gunasekera. Branded to blend with the land of his birth - his name attracted shades of love and despair. Reciprocally, he loved those who made the country proud and despised those that discredited his cherished land. His countrymen to their inclinations called him a patriot or racist: he accepted both as compliments without a blink. Never was a seasonal man. He timed his exit on a date other events take precedence. That was his life style to remain away from the limelight. To call him a patriot was to reduce him. To... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/01/15)
Hot News Confirming his mud-slinging website created story, Mangala Samaraweera, the spokesman for new President Maithripala Sirisena, said Sunday that the Cabinet would investigate the alleged coup attempt by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to stay in power when results showed he was losing last week's election. Samaraweera said: "People think it was a peaceful transition. It was anything but." He said Rajapaksa stepped down only after the army chief and the police inspector general refused to go along with him. Samaraweeera said Rajapaksa had planned to deploy the army stop the vote count when it became clear that he... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/01/15)
By Dean Nelson, New Delhi Courtesy The Telegraph (UK) Tamil vote fuelled Maithripala Sirisena to victory despite his pledge to shield the Rajapaksa family from war crime investigations The noisiest celebrations for the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa, were not in the capital Colombo but in the Tamil North and over Adam’s Bridge, the ancient causeway which once connected Sri Lanka to India. As Tamil activists pointed out, it was their votes which had defeated him – the victor, Maithripala Sirisena, won around a half of the country’s majority Sinhalese votes but the lion’s share in the Tamil north... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/01/15)
H. L. D. Mahindapala The post-January 8 euphoria of the winners is inevitable and predictable. The effusive triumphalism is a natural expression of embracing the electoral victory of Maithripala Sirisena. Winners, of course, are entitled to their glorious moment of triumph, however ephemeral it may be. Not even “Paki” Saravanamuttu can object to the triumphalism of the victorious forces making and sharing kiributh in the streets. Mahinda Rajapakse too has played his role by gracefully withdrawing from “Temple Trees”. Now he will have enough time to contemplate what went wrong under his stewardship and, more importantly, in the campaign.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/01/15)
ධර්මසිරි සෙනෙවිරත්න එජාප ය , දෙමල පක්ෂ මුස්ලිම් පක්ෂ හා හෙළ උරුමය යන අපි දන්නා තාත්තලා ත් නොදන්නා තවත් තාත්තලාටත් ජාතක වී දරුවෙක් ඉපදී ඇත . මේ සියලු තාත්තලා එක එක ජාතියේ ය. දන්නා හැටියට දෙන්නෙක් ත්රස්ත්යන්ය දේපල අයිති උරුමක්කාරයන්ගෙන් දේපල කඩා ගැනීමට මේ ත්රස්තයන් උත්සාහ කරන විට උරුමක්කාරයෝ තමන් නියම උරුමක්කාරයන් නම් විරුද්ධ විය යුතුය එජාප තාත්තා බටහිර ගැ ත්තෙකි චන්ද්රිකා . වින්නබු අම්මා නම් එජාප තාතා ගේ අදහසට කමතිවනු ඇත . එහෙත් උරුම ය ඒ ගැ ති බවට විරුද්ධ විය යුතුමය .දරුවා හදන්නේ කාගේ ප්රතිපත්ති යටතේද යන පැණය මවට ඇත . තාත්තලා ඇනකොටා ගනීද සෝභිත... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/15)
Shenali D Waduge The US and Western Christian nations have made clear their foreign policy objectives in Asia. The focus of Pope Francis, head of the Roman Catholic faith and the State of Vatican is also Asia. Asia is seen as having the greatest potential for the expansion of Catholicism. When the Church declares the Third Christian Millennium as “a great harvest of faith will be reaped in this vast and vital continent,” it definitely means harvest of souls and conversion of non-Catholics to Catholicism. Should non-Catholic nations and nationalities not therefore have the right to prepare for eventualities... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/15)
Dr. Mareena Thaha Reffai, Dehiwela “Of all the sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”So said John Greenleaf Whittier. Watching Mahinda Rajapakse leaving, one marvels at the fact that we have absolutely no control of what tomorrow holds for us. One day you are king, and the next day you are nothing. No body. Analyzing the election results one can see he still had a good number of people who wanted him to come back, for reasons we will not know, but the following was not small. He could have been the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/15)
P.Ariyasinghe Presidential Elections have come and gone. People wanted a change. The new President won by 51.28 per cent of the votes and took oaths as President. And everyone is waiting for the implementation of the proposed 100 day Program and hopes that it brings good for the country. But there are concerns with regard to the appointment of Ranil as Prime Minister. He took oaths as Prime Minister. According to the Constitution the Prime Minister is appointed from the party which has a majority in Parliament. Ranil does not have a majority and he is short... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/15)
Dilrook Kannangara In 2010 Mahinda won with an astounding lead of close to two million. But within just five (5) years, he lost 2.3 million votes to a hitherto unknown contestant. How did that happen? It is important to get it right. Otherwise the UPFA and the Rajapaksa clan will be condemned to nothingness for the foreseeable future. In 1956, 1970, 1977, 2004 and now in 2015 Sinhala voters have shown they are ruthlessly against minority appeasement. Sinhala voters who ended the mighty Senanayaka clan in 1970 over the Dudley-Chelva Pact is a lesson to all. It can happen... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/15)
Badulla District Parliamentarian Nimal Siripala de Silva said today UPFA assured its support in carrying out the common opposition’s 100-day programme . “We will not obstruct the common opposition’s 100-day programme. We hope they will carry out it as promised. People voted for Maithripala Sirisena because they approved their programme. We also expect to help him in carrying out it in matters that we can approve of,” he said. Mr. de Silva said they would accept the new Prime Minister even though there were some constitutional issues in appointing him. “We are not going to raise any technical issues,” he... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/15)
January 2015 Sunday January 11 A Cabinet of not more than 25 members, including members of all political parties represented in Parliament, will be appointed with Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister Monday January 12 In order to strengthen democracy, a National Advisory Council will be set up inclusive of representatives of parties represented in Parliament as well as Civil Society organizations. Monday January 19 Parliament will meet Tuesday January 20 The Standing Orders will be amended and, in terms of Proposal 67/10 now... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/15)
By M D P DISSANAYAKE "IT'S THE HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE" VAIKO We wish to thank the vast majority of Sri Lankan Theravada Sinhala Buddhists for providing the Happiest Day in his life to MDMK General Secretary Vaiko. The Hindu newspaper reported on 9 January that Vaiko has said "Today is the happiest day in my life and every Tamil family is celebrating the fall of Mahinda Rajapakse". The news item continued its reporting as "The MDMK cadre in Tuticorin rejoiced on Friday over the defeat of former Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the presidential elections. Celebrations... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/15)
චන්ද්රසිරි විජයවික්රම මෛත්රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතාගේ පොදු පෙරමුණට එකතුවූ සියළුම දෙනාමවාගේ බොදු බල සේනාවට විරුද්ධවූ අයය. එකම මීට වෙනස් කොටස වූයේ ජාතික හෙළ උරුමය (රතන හිමියන් හා චම්පික රණවක) ය. බොදු බල සේනාව හා මෛත්රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතා අතර සාකච්චාවක් ඔවුන් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට පක්ෂව කතා කිරීමට තීරණය කිරීමට පෙර පැවැත්විණ. මෙම හමුවේදී දෙපාර්ශවය මොනවා කතාකලාදැයි රට නොදනියි. ඉන් පසුව බොදු බල සේනාව මහින්දට පක්ෂව කතාකලේ මහින්දගේ ඉල්ලීමක් නොමැතිවය. මේ දෙපක්ෂය අතර යම් සාකච්චාවක් තිබුනාද, නැද්ද කියා අපි නොදනිමු. ඔවුන්ගේ තීරණයට හේතුව වශයෙන් බොදු බල සේනාව කියා සිටියේ මෛත්රීපාල පිලේ ඉන්නේ අතීතයේ ඒකීය රජ්යය බෙදීමට තැත්කල අයත්, මුස්ලිම් අන්තවාදී කොටසුත්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/15)
Anjalika Silva (USA) The Election is over. All the mudslinging and propaganda stunts that were visible and annoying are over. The loud call for a regime change has happened and many promises have been made both visible and invisible to voters. The two sides are almost equally divided with the majority being a thin sliver that accounts for mostly the minority votes that didn’t want Mahinda Rajapakse. Corruption and nepotism was a major issue. The Executive Presidency that is still in place was one of the pivotal issues – discussions resulted in promises that ranged from abolishing to modifying... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/15)
Dr. Mareena Thaha Reffai/ Coordinator, Almuslimaath. Dehiwela Almuslimaath, The Srilankan Association of Muslim women and Girls welcome you and wish you all the best Mr. President. Needless to say, just like those who wished you to come to power, we are overwhelmed by your magnificent victory. We feel it is the victory of the voice of the oppressed people, especially the minority, even more pointedly the Muslims. The agony the Muslims had to face in the latter part of last regime, specifically the Muslim women, needs no repetition. We openly expressed wish for a change and fervently prayed to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/15)
Ada Derana ... -Full Story- (https:/youtube.com/ - 10/01/15)
By Afshain Afzal Since long “Foreign Recruitment Centres” have been established in Afghanistan and Pakistan, through which Asians and Arabs are being offered foreign citizenships. The aim of such a recruitment is that foreign citizens, having dual nationalities will be sent back to the countries of their origin to serve as mercenaries to achieve US’ and other foreign nation’s objectives. Today foreign intelligence agencies and their front offices claim that they have brigades of Pakistanis serving and retired government officers and staff who are working for them. They include bureaucrats, Armed Forces personnel, government employees and others. One wonders,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/15)
The White House Office of the Press Secretary On behalf of the American people, I congratulate the people of Sri Lanka on the successful and peaceful conclusion of Sri Lanka’s presidential election and incoming President Maithripala Sirisena on his victory. I also commend the outgoing administration of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa for facilitating a swift and orderly transition of power. Beyond the significance of this election to Sri Lanka, it is also a symbol of hope for those who support democracy all around the world. International and domestic monitors and observers were permitted to do their jobs. Sri Lankans... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/15)
P.Ariyasinghe, Melbourne Maithripala Sirisena has taken oaths as President. He made pacts with everyone opposed to Mahinda. Mahinda failed to recognise that those who were around him were corrupt . Most Ministers were arrogant and corrupt to the core and were basking in the glory of former President's victory over the terrorists. Some alleged that Mahinda was authoritarian. Corruption and the cost of living were two major factors which went against him. During the elections the new President made never ending promises. For eg a salary increase of Rs.15,000, cancellation of motor cycle loans for public servants, cost of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/15)
SUHASINI HAIDAR Courtesy The Hindu He had highlighted the foreign debt “trap” in manifesto Sri Lanka watchers in India believe that with Maithripala Sirisena coming to power in Sri Lanka, the island nation’s tilt towards China will be reduced considerably. They have been critical of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa for his “tilt towards China” and ignoring India’s pleas to grant devolution of powers to the Tamil-majority northern region, as he had repeatedly promised. “The tilt towards China will be reduced considerably with this stunning victory, and, if India is willing, it can be given the advantage... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/15)
Hot News Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal submitted his resignation from the post of Central Bank Governor to pave the way for the new President to appoint a person of his choice a news report said. “It’s a good thing for a new president to have a new governor, so I have paved the way for that.” Cabraal, who held the post since 2006, is the first high profile Rajapaksa appointee to step down since the election. Meanwhile, UNP Parliamentarian Dr. Harsha De Silva today said that Mr. Cabraal should answer to the financial allegations during his tenure before... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/15)
Hot News President Maithripala Sirisena sworn in as the 6th Executive President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka before Supreme Court Judge K. Sri Pawan at the Independence Square in Colombo, a short while ago. Taking oaths President Maithripala Sirisena vowed not to contest for a second term in future signalling abolition of executive presidency within his term. Shortly after Sirisena's swearing-in United National Party (UNP) Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in by president Maithripala Sirisena as Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister this afternoon at the same place. The move paves the way for a consensus government that will rule the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/15)
... -Full Story- (https:/youtube.com/ - 09/01/15)
President Mahinda Rajapaksa phoned Maithripala Sirisena early this morning and congratulated him on his impending victory and inquired from the Common Candidate when he would assume duties, Presidential Spokesman Mohan Samaranayake said. President Mahinda Rajapaksa left Temple Trees, after a discussing with Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and the Cabinet assuring a smooth transfer of power, Presidential Media Division said. -... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/01/15)
ධර්මසිරි සෙනෙවිරත්න දේශප්රේමී එස් එල් ගුණසේකර ගේ හදිසි අභාවය විසින් සනිටුහන් කලේ ජාතික ඛේදවාචකයක්'''' අ ත ''''ළඟ බවය් . මයිත්රී දිනුවේ මුස්ලිම් හා දෙමල අන්තවාදීන් චන්ද වලිනි එනිසා දිනුවේ මයිත්ත්රී නොව අන්තවාදීන්ය පැරදුනේ මහින්ද නොව සිංහල බෞධ්ධයන්ය . රටේ උරුමක්කාරයෝ පැ රදී පරදෙෂක්කාරයෝ ජයගැනීම මයිත්ත්රී නාමයම කැළැල් කරය් . එහෙත් මයිත්ත්රී මහතාණෙනි ඔබ ප්රමාද නැත. මහින්ද 13 අහෝසි නොකර තෙපර බබා සිටි නිසා ඔහුට පුර්ණ වීරයෙක් වී යන්නට නොහැකිවිය . ඔබ දෙමල අන්තවාදීන්ට යට වුනොත් දේශද්රෝහියෙකු ලෙස හංවඩු ගැහෙන්නේ මහින්ද එළවීමට දෙමල මුස්ලිම් අන්ත වාදීන් උසිගැන්වීම නිසාය . ගමේ මිනිහෙකු වන ඔබ සිංහල බෞද්ධ කමෙන්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/01/15)
ධනුෂ්ක රාමනායක පුලතිසිපුර ලක්ෂ උයන ගොවි ජනපදයේ ඉපිද ලොව දිනන්නට සමතෙකු ලෙස හැදී වැඩුණු මෛතී්රගේ දෙමාපියෝ සියනෑ කෝරළයේ ගණේමුල්ල ප්රදේශයෙන් රජරට ගොවි බිම් වෙත සංක්රමණය වූවෝ ය. දෛවෝපගත ලෙස, මෛත්රීගේ උපත සිදු වූයේ 1951 සැප්තැම්බර් 02 වැනි දින ශී්ර ලංකා නිදහස් පකෂය නිල වශයෙන් ආරම්භ වී හෝරා කිහිපයක් ගෙවී ගිය තැන ය. ශී්ර ලංකා නිදහස් පකෂයේ පුරෝගාමී නායකයා වන බණ්ඩාරනායක ශී්රමතාණන්ගේ ජන්ම දිනය වන ජනවාරි 08 වැනි දා සමස්ත විපකෂයේ මහා සම්මත අපේකෂකයා වන මෛත්රී, ජනාධිපතිවරයා ලෙස ජනතා ඡන්දයෙන් පත් වනු ඇත්තේ රාජධානි යුගයෙන් පසුව රජරටින් බිහිවන පළමු රාජ්ය නායකයා වශයෙනි. මෛතී්රගේ පියා දෙවන ලෝක යුද සමයේ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/01/15)
By Sarath W Financed by Ranil’s backers, the ‘regime change’ specialists and Chandrika’s backer the Indians, well supported by the minorities, Colombians and the Catholics Sirisena has become the president of Sri Lanka. The majority of just over 450,000 votes has made him the president of the ungrateful Tamils and Muslims. Does this means Sirisena has to give into Tamil and Muslim Demands, and be a puppet president? His main promise to the Sinhalese who voted him was to create a 5 star democracy and eliminate corruption. He can keep most of his promises by inviting the honest and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/01/15)
Courtesy dna Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaderSubramanian Swamy on Friday said the new Sri Lankan Government is going to be a hotchpotch of so many parties, as theBuddhist clergy and Islamic parties have also joined this new coalition. "What is to be watched is the new government that is going to be hotchpotch of so many parties, all kinds of divergent expectations. There was united only on one thing, to defeat Rajapaksa. But now, the Buddhist clergy and Islamic parties have also joined this new coalition. So, this kind of hotchpotch is not going to be very good for India... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/01/15)
ධර්මසිරි සෙනෙවිරත්න පරාජය බාරගෙන මහින්ද ගෙදර යන විටම කැබිනට් එ කේ ඇමැතිවරුත් ඉල්ලා අස්වීම ට කටයුතු කර ගැන යන බව අලුත්ම ආරන්චියය් ' යහපාලනයක් ගෙනයන බව කියන යට එසේ කිරීමට ඉඩදී අපි සියලු දෙනාම අස්වෙමුයය් මහින්ද යෝජනා කර ඇත. මයිත්රී ශ්රී ල නිපා යෙන් අස්වී නැත. ඔහු අ ත ලකුණ යටතේ ම ශ්රී ල නි පය මුල් කරගෙන ආණ්ඩුවක් පිහිටුවීම ට කටයුතු කරන බවත් පක්ෂයේ සභාපති කම භාරගෙන කටයුතු කරන්නට අදහස් කරන බවත් දැනගන්නට ඇත. එවිට කැමති ශ්රී ල නි ප මන්ත්රීවරු ඔහු සමග එකතු වනු ඇත . එවිට ඒ ජා ප යට කුමක් වෙය් ද . මේ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/01/15)
Dr Hector Perera London Take a few examples of cooking utensils such as aluminium saucepans, cast-iron utensils, stainless-steel vessels, glass utensils, aluminium and Teflon-coated non-stick pans then our traditional clay pots. I think some of you remember, ‘Ambalamae pina walan kadak gena’ then what happened? Each type of cookware affects the flavour of the food prepared in it. For this reason, one needs variety in cooking utensils to achieve optimal results. Cast iron pots have been around since the frontier days and it was the most popular cookware at the turn of the century. Types of cooking The... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/01/15)
Dr.Tilak Fernando Sri Lanka, originally known as 'Pearl of the Indian Ocean', with full of spiritual values and treasures had appeared as a magnet for travellers from around 350 BC. After going through a complete metamorphoses of names ranging from Taprobane, Simundu, Salike, Sila Diva, Serendib and Zeilan, finally the island was known as 'Ceylon' at the time she became independent on 4th February 1948. Until 1972, Ceylon had a Commonwealth government with Queen Elizabeth II as the Head of State and Queen of Ceylon. William Gopallawa (MBE) served as the last Governor-General of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/01/15)
Hot News Based on the postal votes counted in most of the districts and on analysis of some of the district results declared so far, the votes in the majority Sinhala areas are equally divided between two candidates which makes easy for the common opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena to get the majority required through the minority votes in the predominantly Mulism and Tamil areas of the country. Among the southern districts, In Galle Mahinda Rajapakse received 241,107 votes while Maitripala Sirisena received 315,981Votes and Mahinda Rajapakse lost Badulla electorate also by 2600 votes.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/15)
චන්ද්රසිරි විජයවික්රම 2015 හදිසි ජනාධිපති මැතිවරණයට පසුව සිංහල බෞද්ධයාට අත්වන කලදසාව කුමක්ද? ඔවුන් නැවතත් අතරමං වෙන්නට පුළුවන්ද? කවුරු දිනුවත් නැතත් (දුප්පත් කතෝලිකයින් නොව), කොළඹ කාඩිනල් නම් දැනටමත් දිනා ඇත. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මේ රටේ සිංහල බෞද්ධයින්ට කල වෙනස්කම් හිතට කාවදින ලෙස සිංහල ජනයාට පෙන්වා දුන්නේ බොදු බල සේනාවය. මහින්ද හා දි මු ජයරත්නලා යුරෝපීකරණයට ලක්වූ කළු සුද්දන් අනුව යමින් බහු ජාතික, සර්වාගමික බට්ටන් වූයේ, අතීතයේ බණ්ඩාරනායක හා ජේ ආර් ජයවර්ධනලාගේ තරුණ පරම්පරාව නැවත බෞද්ධාගම වැළඳගත් (ඩොනමෝර් බෞද්ධයින්-සර්ව ජන චන්දය) ආකාරයටම, හුදෙක් මුස්ලිම් හා දෙමල චන්ද ගරා ගැනීම උදෙසාද යන සැකය දැන් සනාථ වන්නේ මේ මැතිවරණය සිංහල ජාතිවාදය අවුස්සා දිනාගන්නට... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/15)
P.Ariyasinghe,Melbourne According to reports, nearly 70 per cent had voted in most districts, without any incidents. In an unlikely event of Sirisena winning the Presidential elections, it will be Chandrika who will be at the helm of affairs in Sri Lanka. Ranil and his cohorts will be dumped in the background. She will be back on the saddle and manipulate Sirisena how to run the country. For eleven years she wrecked the country and now she is back fingering in politics and throwing her weight around. Her only ambition is to put 'Horagolla' on the stage. However, we hope... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/15)
Sri Lanka Hot News Sri Lankans today voted in large numbers in the bitterly contested presidential election in which incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa is seeking a record third term against his friend-turned-foe Maithripala Sirisena, with an unusually high voter turnout in Tamil and Muslim areas. There were no major reports of violence, although private monitoring group the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) said some voters had been prevented from voting that ended at 4 pm local time. Election officials estimated more than 65-70 per cent voting in most places in the first seven hours of voting. Some 1,586,598... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/15)
By M D P DISSANAYAKE The statements issued by the Secretary General of United Nations just prior to the commencement of the election on 8 January, was a reflection on your support for imperial elements who have thus far failed to solve the burning issue of eradication of terrorism. Your official statement by implication is delivering a the following message to the Government of Sri Lanka and the International community. Your message is: "IF PRESIDENT MAHINDA RAJAPAKSE IS WINNER BY TOMORROW, THEN THE ELECTION IS NOT FAIR. BUT IF YOUR PUPPET MATHIREEPALA SIRISENA WINS YOU WILL PRIASE THE... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/15)
ධර්මසිරි සෙනෙවිරත්න දැන් වෙලාව හත්වෙනිදා රෑ 12.30ය් .අටවෙනිදා අළුයමය් රටේ ඉරණම තීරණය වෙන්නට තව ඇත්තේ පැ ය කීපයය් වටින් ගොඩින් එලිය වැටී ගෙන එනවිට අපි දැල්වූ පහනේ තිරයඑලියට ඇද දළඹු කඩා වැටිය අලුත් කර යහමින් තෙලුත් දමා අඳුර දුරු කරනු පිණිස ආලෝකය වැඩි කරමුද. නැත්නම් කටින් පිඹලා පහන නිවා දමමුද? නැවතත් අඳුරේ අතපත ගාන්නට ලැස්ති වෙමුද .? 1815 පරදෙශීන් අපව ඇදගෙන ගියේ අඳුර දෙසටය 1948 රට බාරගත් වලිග කබා කාරයෝ ඉංග්රීසින්ගේ ඒජන්තයින් වීම නිසා පූර්ණ කියා අර්ධ නිදහසක් වන '''dominian '' තත්වය යටතේ අප සුදු වහලුන් සේ තබා ගත්හ . 1972 ජනරජ ව්යවස්ථාව සිරිමාවෝ විසින් අනුමත කරන... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/15)
By Charles.S.Perera I was seated outside the house surfing the internet for latest information enjoying the welcome warmth of the sun after months of rain, when my neighbour the teacher walked in complaining of a headache . She was looking sad and depressive I proposed a panadol. She refused and said it is all because she is discouraged and disappointed. Many of her colleagues she says are stupid and do not understand what really is at stake in this Presidential election. She says that they form into groups and discuss the coming elections. She had asked what they propose... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/15)
Gihan R Waranakulasuriya Keep President Mahinda Rajapaksa For Future generations Revisiting the past This article is to bring you to the recent past of Sri Lanka and analyse the influence of the United States of America (USA) and Britain on the Sri Lankan affairs. Forgetting the past is a common matter for all human beings. With the passing of time and generations, the circumstances and experiences of each generation differs. Telling stories of the past allows nations to celebrate their history as well as allowing them to learn from their mistakes. However, as we observe the unfolding political situation in... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/15)
P.Ariyasinghe, Melbourne Today the people of Sri Lanka go to polls to elect a President. President Rajapakse went for elections two years ahead as he had confidence of winning. There is peace in the country and the people are moving about freely from one end of the country to the other because of President Rajapakse. He had the courage to fight a 3 decade war and finish it to the end. All his predecessors fought the war half-heartedly. Chandrika, who is now bulldozing around, hid behind barricades in fear of the LTTE. Even now she calls the world's No.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/15)
ඇයි මගේ ජන්දේ මහින්දටම දෙන්නේ ? “මචං සපෝට් එක කාටද ? මෙදා පොටේ මෛත්රීට දියං ආ !” සමහරු මට එහෙම කියනවා . මම දෙන්න තියෙන්නේ එක උත්තරයයි . “අනේ බෑ මචං මගෙ ජන්දෙ මහින්දට” ඔන්න ඊට පස්සේ සමහරු හොඳට හුස්ම ඉහළ පහළ අරගෙන මෛත්රී භාවනාව වඩන්න පටන්ගන්නවා “මහින්දට කඩේ යනවා , කඩේ යනවා කඩේ යනවා . “ සමහරු මන්තරයක් මතුරනවා වාගේ දවසකට තුන් හතර වතාවක් මට කඩේ යනවා කියලා නොකියා කීම දැන් සාමාන්යයි .උන්ට මොනවත් නොකියන මම කට පියාගෙන හිතෙන් හිතෙන් මගේ මනාපේ පරිස්සං කරගන්නවා . “අරූ මහින්දට කඩේ යනෝ… යනෝ ” කියලා මාව පෙන්වලා නොසෑහෙන්න කෑගහන එවුන්ට බැනලා වැඩක්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/01/15)
Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam's Prime Minister Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran Clarifies http://world.einnews.com/pr_news/242744758/sri-lanka-elections-rudra-refused-the-secret-agreement-with-basil-rajapakse There is a serious allegation made by the members of the opposition alliance claimed that the secret agreement has signed between the government led by the President Rajapaksa and the Prime Minister of Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) while quoting a “secret email”. “This e-mail was passed to the media by a group that has broken away from the LTTE Tamil diaspora. Following the defeat of the LTTE the Tamil Diaspora has got split up into about ten factions. Basil has written this mail to Rudrakumaran after... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/01/15)
Ratanapala 7 Jan 2015 The main problem in Sri Lanka politics is not a problem of not discriminating against the minorities, but a problem of the majority being discriminated and not being given their due place to run the affairs of the nation. The Sinhalese having divided roughly in the middle between two rival political parties have negated themselves of any political clout. Having scraped through an election victory they have to go wooing the minorities to form a stable government and to get important legislation passed in the parliament. Sinhalese have democracy only on the election day and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/01/15)
By Rohana R. Wasala Courtesy The Island “…FUTA executive committee member and ex-FUTA Chief Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri emphasized that there was absolutely no basis for a government claim that Maithripala Sirisena’s election would be detrimental to national security. …. (and) … accused Sri Lanka’s former ambassador in Geneva Dr. Dayan Jayatilleke and presidential media spokesman Mohan Samaranayake of propagating falsehoods to cause panic among the electorate”. I am quoting from The Island today (January 5, 2015). (The Colombo University don was addressing the media at Solis Hotel Pita Kotte.) This would be very comforting news for us if his... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/01/15)
ධර්මසිරි සෙනෙවිරත්න වසර තිහක් තිස්සේ මරණ බියෙන් මුසපත්ව දොට්ට පිලට බහින්න බයේ බැරුව ගැහෙමින් සිටි ලංකා වාසීන්ට බියක් හැකක් නැතිව ඉන්නට ඉඩ ලබා දුන්නේ මමය් . චන්ද්රිකා ර ටෙන් කොටසක් වසර දහයකට ප්රභාකරන්ට දෙන්නට සුදානමින් සාම තවලම් සුදුනේලුම් වැනි රට පාවාදෙන මගෝඩි වැඩවල යෙදෙමින් බටහිරයන්ගේ හා ඉන්දියානුවන්ගේ ව්යාපෘති රට තුල දියත් කර රටේ උරුමක්කාරයන් පාවාදෙනවිට රනිල් කලේ ප්රභා සමග හොර ගිවිසුම් ගසා බු ද්ධි අංශය සහ මුලින්ම විනාශ කිරීමය් මිලේනියම් සිටි පාවාදීම වන්නක් වෙන රටක සිදුවුයේ නම් එය කල අය වෙඩිතබා මරා දමනු ඇත. එහෙත් මේ රටේ මිනිස්සු ඔවුන් නායකයින් ලෙසින් බාර ගනිති . ඔවුහු මම රටේ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/01/15)
Sajith's Statement on Mr.Prabhakaran How can I stand side by side with Chandrika who is calling the killer of my beloved Father Mr. Prabhakaran? - Sajith Premadasa VIDEO: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=338924936302826&set=vb.311724569022863&type=3&theater Common Opposition Who're They? Former Minister of Science & Technology Champika Ranawaka Reveals Secrets of the Parties in the Common Opposition and links they had with LTTE. How Can they work together for Good Governance in Future? VIDEO: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=338668269661826&set=vb.311724569022863&type=3&theater Family Businesses of Maithree Even Though Maithree Talks About Good Governance, It is a fact that Maithree Family Was Running Businesses in Polonnaruwa District illegally. ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/01/15)
... -Full Story- (https:/youtube.com/ - 07/01/15)
P.Ariyasinghe, Melbourne At a recent media conference Maithripala Sirisena had said, 'When Mahinda Rajapakse claimed at an interview that nobody was going to challenge him, I was next to him and felt sorry for him... I came out because I could not stay anymore with a leader who plundered the country, govt and national wealth...' Therefore, Sirisena is a snake under grass as he had been in the govt as a Minister all these years basking in the President's popularity and enjoying all the plums of office, and waiting to be Prime Minister. But as this did not materialize... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/01/15)
Dilrook Kannangara First comes the nation; second and third too comes the nation. Is there anything that comes ahead of the nation? Surprisingly yes. There is. Sinhala ethnicity, Sinhala language and Sinhala Buddhism are much more precious than Sri Lanka because it is the Sinhalas who defend Sri Lanka. In known history, this nation was subjugated in whole or in part for over 650 years and it was the Sinhalas who liberated it time and again. The nation could revert back to how it was before those invasions thanks to the protection of the "Sinhalaness" of the people.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/15)
RANJIT WICKREMERATNE Not only my sincere wish but majority of the citizens wish is for you to win this election and become the President of Sri Lanka for the third time which is a new thing for the country. No other leader has come forward for a third term except you and I wish that you will serve the country democratically and good Governance for another so many years to come. Every citizen's wish is good Governance. People like to live a decent life without any bad habits in the society. People like to live in Peace,to have good... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/15)
By Mahinda The election campaign has concluded victorious to MR, however the servile to west idiots and those who are willing to become subjects of LTTE believe that the my3 wins. Should my3 wins, the end of the drama will be three countries! In the North its Ealaam the homeland for over 150 million Tamils from all over In the East its Safaristan the country that will be ruled by Mecca The rest is for the Chicken fight ( Kukul pora) of divided Sinhela mass will be ruled from Vatican The immediate and long term consequence to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/15)
By Rohana R. Wasala The firm conviction of some young Sri Lankans here in Melbourne Australia whose opinion I have had the opportunity to sound regarding the relative prospects of the two principal presidential candidates appears to be that Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa must and will be defeated at this election. Of course, this statement is based on my personal experience of interacting with a handful of individuals and it should not be taken as indicative of any general lack of common sense or sophistication in these matters among young Lankan expatriates in Australia, who are there, in the first place,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/15)
ධර්මසිරි සෙනෙවිරත්න අරන්තලාවේදී බික්ෂුන් ඝාතනය කරන විට , ශ්රීමහා බෝධි යට ගිනි බිඳින විට , දළදා මාලිගාවට බෝම්බ ගහනවිට ගිනිතබාගන විරුද්ධත්වය පල නොකළ මිනිහෙක් මයිත්ත්රීට රට දෙන්න කියා ගිනිතබා ගන්න විට පුංචි පහේ සැකයක් අප තුල ඇතිවීම වැලක් විය නොහැක. ප්රබාකරන් මරන්නට හසලක වීරයාමෙන් දිවි නොදී මේ මිනිහා ප්රභා මරා දැමු මහින්ද ගෙන් දැන් රට මයිත්රී ට පවරා දෙන්නට හදන්නේ මයිත්ත්රී කොටින්ට හිතවත් චන්ද්රිකා සහ රනිල් සමග එකතුවී ඇති නිසාද. මෙය නම් කොටි සහ කොටි හිතවාදී සිංහල පක්ෂ වලින් මෙහෙය වූ ''ව්යාපෘතියක් '' ලෙසම .හැ ගීයය් මහින්ද ගේ රජය ගැන ජනතාව ගේ කලකිරී ම ලොවට... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/15)
Susantha Wijesinghe When Champaka Patali Ranawaka in his right hand displayed a large photograph of a FAKED photo shopped Picture of President in '' thurulle'' ( to use Champakas expression) with a super imposed picture of KP, on Mr. Lester James Peries's photo, ven. Rathana Thero was seated on his right watching him. It cannot be inferred that Ven. Rathana Thero did not know the DECEPTION and the MANIPULATION by Champaka. It clearly shows that Ven Rathana concurs in what Champaka is doing, and is complicit to a despicable fraud. This is a serious matter and should end up in the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/15)
---කීර්ති හේවාගොඩ (Sumal) මෝදීගේ ඡුයග්රහනය පසුව කලාපිය බල තුලාවේ සිදුවූ සම-අසමතුලිතතාවන් විමසන අතරම, මෑත දී චන්ද්රිකා ගේ ආගමනය සමගත් චම්පික රණවකලාගේ තුච්ඡු පාවාදීම හමුවෙත් ,මොවුන් මෛත්රී නම් "සහල් හොරා" ඇතුළුව ද්රවිඩ හා මුස්ලීම් ඡුාතිවාදී පක්ෂ සමග එකතුව ඡුනාධිපතිවරණයකින් රට පාව දීමට යන මොහොතේ, ශි්ර ලංකාවට අදාල භු-දේශපාලන වටපිටාව ගැන වැටහීමක් ලබා ගැනීම ඉතාමත් වැදගත් වන්නේ එම කුමන්ත්රණය පරාඡුය කිරීමට අවශ්ය උපක්රම සහ උපායමාර්ග සාධනය කර ගැනීමට අපට හැකියාවක් ලැබෙන බැවිනි .අපේ ලංකාවේ සමහර මිනිස්සු මීට වසර ගණනාවකට පෙර ඉන්දියාව පෝක් සමුද්ර සන්ධිය හරහා හදන්න ගිය සේතුසමුද්රම් කෘතිීම සාගරික ගමන් මග ගැන දන්නේ නැත.. එකෙන් වෙන්න තිබ්ුණු අතිවිශාල පාරිසරික හානිය... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/15)
In an interview with the Daily Mirror, Minister Weerawansa responded to the allegations against the government concerning rampant corruption carried out in the guise of development, the role of several embassies and foreign spy services in the formation of the common Opposition movement and the importance of the Executive presidency in preserving the unitary status of the country.... -Full Story- (https:/youtube.com/ - 06/01/15)
In an interview with the Daily Mirror, Minister Weerawansa responded to the allegations against the government concerning rampant corruption carried out in the guise of development, the role of several embassies and foreign spy services in the formation of the common Opposition movement and the importance of the Executive presidency in preserving the unitary status of the country.... -Full Story- (https:/youtube.com/ - 06/01/15)
P.Ariyasinghe, Melbourne At a recent media conference Maithripala Sirisena had said, 'When Mahinda Rajapakse claimed at an interview that nobody was going to challenge him, I was next to him and felt sorry for him... I came out because I could not stay anymore with a leader who plundered the country, govt and national wealth...' Therefore, Sirisena is a snake under grass as he had been in the govt as a Minister all these years basking in the President's popularity and enjoying all the plums of office, and waiting to be Prime Minister. But as this did not materialize... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/15)
By A.A.M.NIZAM (Former Sri Lanka Freedom Party Vice President–Matara Electorate Central Committee) The racist Rauf Hakeem who worked extensively against the President in 2005 Presidential Election and did the same thing in the 2010 presidential election as well has joined the chauvinist, extremist, treacherous and anti national unholy alliance of 100 days Sirisena this time presenting demands which are extremely dangerous for this country and endangering the Muslim community and placing the Muslim community in a confrontational path shattering the peace and harmony that existed between the Muslim community and the Sinhalese community who lived for centuries as brethren... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/15)
By Prof. Shantha Hennayake Department of Geography, University of Peradeniya As a responsible citizen of this nation I consider it is my duty to tell the nation why should the people of this nation vote for Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa at the forthcoming presidential election. The current debates on who should become next president is mulled with negativism, personal allegations, hatred and anger, personal frustrations, lies and exaggerations and finally false and deceitful promises. I believe we need to raise the debate to a positive plane so that the voter can take a decision on merits, accomplishments and the contribution to the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/15)
ජාතිය, බලය ලබාගැනීමේ පටු අරමුණ සහ වෛරය පිරිමෙසිමේ උවමනාව වෙනුවෙන් පාවාදීමක් සිදුවන බව බොදු බල සේනා සංවිධානය දිගින් දිගටම සදහන් කලා. මෙහි ප්රධාන සැලසුම් කරුවන් කිහිපදෙනාගෙන් එක් අයෙකු වන රාජිත සේනාරත්න හිටපු දීවර ඇමතිවරයා විසින් සිදුකල සාකච්චාවක හදපටයක් අන්තර්ජාලයට එකතුවී තිබෙනවා. පහත ඇති එම හදපටයට හොදින් සවන් දෙන්න සහ ඔබම තීරණය කරන්න දිනාගත් දේශය නැවත පවා දෙනවද?? නැද්ද?? යන්න.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/15)
The UNP deputy leader Sajith Premadasa expresses his ideas about the former president Chandrika Bandaranaike addressing the killer of his father as ” Mr. Prabhakaran”.Please view the video ‘‘මගේ පියා ඝාතනය කළ මිනීමරුවාට ‘මිස්ටර් ප්රභාකරන්’ කියා අමතන අය සමඟ එකට සිටීම ලැජ්ජාවක්’’ තම පියා ඝාතනය කරන ලද ප්රභාකරන්ට හිටපු ජනාධිපතිපතිනිය විසින් ‘මිස්ට ප්රබාකරන්’ යයි ඇමතීම ගැන එජාප නියෝජ්ය නායක සජිත් පේ්රමදාස අදහස් පල කරයි. මිනීමරු ප්රභාකරන්ගේ ඝාතනයට ලක්වූ එජාප නායකයන්ට අගෞරව නොකර අශුද්ධ සන්ධානයෙන් ඉවත් වෙන්න සජිත්-නවීන්ගෙන් හිටපු මහලේකම් තිස්ස අත්තනායක ඉල්ලයි සිතාරා සේනානි මිනීමරු ප්රභාකරන් වෙතින් ඝාතනයට ලක්වූ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/15)
Dr. D. Chandraratna It is rather distressing as a Sri Lankan to even think that a man from the rural hinterland has agreed to lead a Western sponsored Coup d’état. But his ignorance of world events and the machinations of hegemonic powers in a struggle for supremacy in the modern world after the collapse of Berlin Wall and the resurgence of China, contesting the world leadership in the foreign relations area, will not sink into the limited capacity of Mr Sirisena's brain, impervious to intelligence. I cannot recall the name of the author but he wrote in the Lanka... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/15)
Photographs appear side by side in key Tamil Tiger haunts Sirisena, Ranil in Jaffna today to herald this ‘pact with Tamil Tigers’ With the TNA announcement yesterday that the Alliance has decided to support common candidate Maithripala Sirisena, photographs of Prabhakaran and Sirisena side by side appeared in key Tamil Tiger haunts in both Toronto and London, our sources say. To many observers in both capitals, this did not come as a surprise given that Suren Surenthiran of the TGTF, the hilariously named Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, had stated in an Al Jazeera interview earlier this month that... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/15)
මහාචාර්ය කේ. කරුණාතිලක, කැළණිය විශ්වවිද්යාලය මෙවර ජනාධිපතිවරණය මෙතෙක් පැවති ජනාධිපතිවරණයන්ට වඩා වෙනස් ස්වරූපයක් ගැනීමට වැදගත් වී ඇති එක් හේතුවක් වන්නේ එ් සඳහා ලැබුණු කාල සීමාවන්ය. එය බැලූ බැල්මට හදිසි ජනාධිපතිවරණයක් යැයි කීම නිවැරදිය. මැතිවරණ ප්රචාරණ කටයුතු සඳහා සති පහක පමණ කාලයක් ලැබීම ප්රධාන අපේක්ෂකයන් දෙදෙනාටම වාසි සහ අවාසි ඇති කරයි. ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂට (මින් ඉදිරියට මහින්ද* වාසියක් වන්නේ ප්රතිවිරුද්ධ අපේක්ෂකයන්ට සංවිධානය වීමට ඇති කාලය කෙටි වීමයි. විශේෂයෙන් ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක මෛත්රීපාල සිරිසේනට (මින් ඉදිරියට මෛත්රී* මෙය අවාසි සහගත තත්ත්වයකි. එහෙත් ඔහුට පක්ෂව ඇති වූ රැුල්ලට සාපේක්ෂව බලනවිට එය මහින්දට අවාසියක් වන්නේ යම් සමාජ ප්රවණතාවයක ඇති අවධි දෙස බලනවිට එය... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/15)
Susantha Wijesinghe. Mr. Champaka Patali Ranawaka, we had a lot of faith and confidence in you and Mr. Udaya Gamanpila, as sri lankas true Patriots, who will someday take the whole country out of this Tamil Menace by Sambandung and his racist coterie, not forgetting the Tamil Diaspora. When you two left the Government, we were very unhappy. Yet we thought you would bring out your thoughts into action. No it did not happen as we envisaged. When you decided to join a motley crowd of political failures in governance and corrupt personalities, Mr. Udaya Gammanpila clearly saw your... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/15)
Chamikara Weerasinghe Daily News The wife of legendary artiste and doyen of Sri Lankan cinema, Dr. Lester James Peries, Sumithra Peries yesterday noted that responsible political leaders should avoid using doctored pictures just because they are available on websites. Jathika Hela Urulaya Leader Champika Ranwaka who publicised the picture concerned, had said that he had downloaded this picture from a website, and he cannot vouch for its authenticity. She was commenting on a picture in which her husband and incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa appeared had been doctored to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/15)
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චන්ද්රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි වර්ෂ 2015 ජනවාරි මස 8 වෙනිදා මෙරට සුවිශේෂී ජනාධිපතිවරණයක් පවත්වයි. මේ ජනාධිපතිවරණය යනු ඉතා වැදගත් ජනාධිපතිවරණයක් වන අතර මෙහි ප්රතිඵල තුලින් මෙරට පාලනය සදහා ජනාධිපතිවරයකු තෝරන අතරම; මේ රට තුල පවතින ජීවමාණ මළකදන් වන්වූ නිවට නියාලු පුද්ගලයින්ගේ ජන සංඝණනයක්ද සිදුවේ. මේ වනවිට පවතින තත්වයන් හා ෂාධක විසින් වර්තමාන ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සුවිශේෂී ජයග්රහණයක් ලබන බව මනාව පෙන්වා දේ. අපි එහෙම ලියන විටම අප දරණ මතයට එරෙහිව දකින සමාජය, ක්ෂණිකවම අපෙන් අසන්නේ;මොනවද ඔය කියන හා පවතින තත්වයන් යන්නයි. මේ රටට, මේ කියන ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය හා බැදි දේශපාලනය උරුමවූයේ 1947දීය. එදා සිට අද දක්වා මෙරට සිදුවූ සියලු කරුණු... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/01/15)
Mahinda Weerasinghe The Author of ‘The Origin of Species According To the Buddha’ Part II Buddhist “Sensory Becoming” principle contra Darwin’s “Natural Selection” Extraordinarily enough, it is taken for granted that, it is through Darwin’s famous work ‘The Origin of Species’ that the world first stumbled upon the evolutionary process of species and its shadowy workings. Indeed now these Darwinians were promoting that we swap these fatalistic ‘magical’ creeds of the Judeo-Christian verity with this newly revealed ‘Scientific’ mechanistic one, of theirs. Darwinists are absolutely convinced that ‘natural selection’ is a ‘scientific theory’, just as the true believers are of the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/01/15)
Ratanapala 5 Jan 2015 If Sirisena wins Eelam will not be a distant dream of the racist Tamils. It will become reality just like Kosovo with the intervention of the Western forces. Let the politicos and the powers that be too understand the implications if the unthinkable were to happen. Marine and Oceanic Resources 200 Mile International Economic Zones - Sri Lanka and Eelam Call for land powers is the thin end of the iceberg that is Eelam. With the granting of land powers Sri Lanka will loose the 2/3 of its International 200 mile economic zone. Ocean is... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/01/15)
Ratanapala 5 Jan 2015 Eelam, water wars and a permanent state of war across an undefined and moving border! Water wars and a permanent state of war! River systems that cross the 2008 Eelam Boundary Potential flash points for war Majority of Sri Lankans living in the contested areas are peasant farmers, for whom, land and water are the only life giving resources. Without a central authority to decide on the use of land and water resources there will be constant conflicts across waterways of Sri Lanka. Every waterway crossing of this undefined border will become a... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/01/15)
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H. L. D. Mahindapala When Bishop Rayappu Joseph, one of the most rabid and committed promoters and protectors of Tamil fascist tyranny, raised his hands that blessed Velupillai Prabhakaran in the past and placed them on the head of Maithripala Sirisena the other day, he was signaling, in an unambiguous political act, that he was blessing what he considers to be the second coming of Prabhakaran. This symbolizes the peak point of the anti-national forces ganging up to embrace Maithripala Sirisena as their new Messiah, in the absence of Prabhakaran. This also means that Bishop Rayappu representing the Tamil-wing... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/01/15)
Dilrook Kannangara Sections of the Opposition may make an attempt on the life of Maithripala in the last few days leading up to the election and blame the government. Given the tide he has created, it is a good starting point for the ambitious Opposition politicians to field their own candidate who have been failing all these decades. If such an unfortunate event takes place, the blame will be on the government and the rulers will become unpopular among the people. In addition, the Opposition may also get sympathy votes running into a few hundreds of thousands. Compared to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/01/15)
By Chandrasiri Atukorale Mr. Maithreepala Sirisena is going around the country saying that he will abolish the present Executive Presidency in 100 days, if he is elected president at the forthcoming presidential election. At the same time he also says that he will appoint Mr. Ranil Wickremasignhe as his Prime Minister. What next is not clear. Herein lies the crux of the whole matter. As regards the abolishing of the executive presidency Mr. Ranil Wickramsgnhe say quite a different thing; instead of abolishing it, he says he will retain it subject to few amendments (17th & 18th). Another Maithree... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/01/15)
Ratanapala – 4 Jan 2015 With the formation of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in 1951, the majority Sinhalese became a near non-entity in Sri Lankan politics. Sinhala polity got bifurcated and each half went of separate ways in a manner suicidal to each other. This provided and opened up untold vistas for the minorities to play divisive politics to the detriment of the Sri Lankan nation. Ever since that time the minorities have been the kingmakers, movers and shakers in Sri Lankan politics except for very brief periods of time. They were behind unequal demands for the asymmetrical... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/01/15)
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The Island Editorial January 4, 2015, 9:13 pm There are only three more days to go for the presidential election and the indefatigable propagandists of the government and the Opposition are fighting the final battle with guns blazing. Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (CBK), who is leading the Opposition campaign from the front, has drawn a great deal of fire for calling the dead LTTE leader ‘Mr. Prabhakaran’ recently in Jaffna. Defending the use of the title at issue to refer to Prabhakaran, CBK has, at a media briefing the other day, faulted Government Spokesman and Media Minister Keheliya... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
Dr. Kamal Wickremesinghe No one has ever accused Mangala Samaraweera of possessing appreciable amounts of common sense, decency or political integrity. His attempt to explain Chandrika Kumaratunga’s calling the murderous terrorist Pirapakaran “Mr Prabhakaran” - as demonstrating her Sinhala Buddhist upbringing - however, was a low act even by his own standards. In the attempt, Samaraweera looked like a spoof of Charlie Chaplin, just landed on his head awkwardly, trying to get back on his feet, straightening the derby hat and fixing the tie as if nothing happened. The... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
Nadira Gunathilleke People who talk against the Executive Presidency do not have even an iota of knowledge about it. In my opinion, we should retain the Executive Presidency forever, not only for another five or 10 years. The Executive Presidency is the most modern and most popular system of government in the world at the moment. There are 91 countries that have adopted different models of the Executive Presidency. But there is no resistance against the system in any of those countries. The Parliamentary system which is not... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
Country ruled with a clear people-friendly vision Ethnic and religious harmony safeguarded Dharma Sri Abeyratne in Kantale The government will never allow any force to destroy hard won peace and ethnic harmony and bring back the dark era again, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said. He said the country is ruled with a clear people-friendly vision, safeguarding ethnic and religious harmony. The President was addressing a UPFA election rally in Kantale on Friday. The rally was organised under the theme... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
Ratanapala 4 Jan 2015 The 13th Amendment in its various manifestations will be in for consideration with Eelamist Tamils if Sirisena wins. It is best if Sri Lankan electorate come to know the implications of giving into Eelam demands. Let the politicos and the powers that be too understand the implications. Part 1. Indefinite, non existing, but a moving Eelam border Eelam Stamp “”…” Issued clandestinely in 1980 and the 2009 Ealam Map First and foremost the so called Tamil Land has no definite borders. There is no record in history the shown borders or anything else... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
Nimal Rajakaruna From two of my previous articles I pointed out how the true nature of Champika Ranawaka has been exposed as a pseudo nationalist and a traitor. From the news item on Lanka C news (link below), it is shown how a photo of President Mahinda Rajapakse taken with Veteran artist Dr Lester James Peries has been photo shopped by Champika to show that it was a photo taken with Kumaran Pthmanathan alias KP. http://lankacnews.com/sinhala/main-news/126870/ Most of us cannot believe that a man who posed himself as a nationalist to save Sri Lanka and got elected to parliament... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
Jayantha Liyanage.Sinhala Jathika Peramuna (SJP) It is very sad News that Sinhala Nationalist expats are now divided into two camps similar to Sinhala people here in Sri Lanka. SJP was of the opinion that Sinhala Nationalist expats living in the western countries as well as in Australia are politically and intellectually above the ordinary voters here in SL because of their higher living standards and good knowledge of English language. During the past three years, SJP have been exchanging views through emails and by meeting them personally with a certain group of Sinhala nationalist expats and under no circumstances... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
BY M D P DISSANAYAKE The total number of registered voters for the 2015 Presidential Election will be 15,044,090. In 2010 the registered voters stood at 14,088,500 and the valid votes obtained by all candidates reached 10,393,613 after allowing for the rejected votes. Therefore, in 2010 the net participation rate of valid voters represented 74%. The 2015 net participation rate of valid voters are likely to be between 74-76% with a likelyhood of greater participation of voters in Northern and Eastern Provinces. The following projections have been calculated on the basis of geographical and historical analysis of 2005 and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
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By Chandre Dharmawardana. [ The author and his colleagues, during his days as the Head of the Dept. of Chemistry, Vidyodaya University, developed the fledgling “food science diploma” into a well-grounded food technology course, constructed its course content, basic experiments, and hired its young staff in the early 1970s. Today it is a full-fledged university department, where some of the early recruits had reached full-professor level and even retired. ] In reacting to my recent article entitled “The presidential polls – What about agriculture and health?” that appeared in a number of electronic journals, various comments have appeared. As... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
LankaWeb Weekly Editorial Jan.6th 2015 President Mahinda Rajapaksa has done a great service to all the people of Sri Lanka. Irrespective of ethnicity, all the communities within this country as well as many other sources particularly in the field of investment, tourism and those who believe in the freedoms that need to be enjoyed by all with no compromise to aspirants of secession and supporters of degenrate terrorism have greatly benefited by the President's leadership. A hallmark surely of a democratic country where people have the freedom to express their views and thoughts although no provisions for nation destructive rhetoric and incitive language published... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
By Garvin Karunaratne There is many an indication that outside forces are at work within our shores with sinister ideas of controlling our country today. In our living memory many are the instances where outside forces did interfere with us. This has taken different forms. Denying us Aid is an indirect interference. The USA is a master in this. In my words, “Various ploys are in place like the PL480, a Scheme to give flour at low interest, at discounted prices and even at no interest to countries till the peoples palate gets used to flour as their staple... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
by Garvin Karunaratne I have just read the news item that three LTTE cadres were caught making an atom bomb in Bangalore. I enclose a copy of that news item in the Rivira. This is supposed to have been a unit under Prabhakaran that was sent way to india on the eve of defeat. ඉන්දියාවේ බැංගලෝරයේදී පරමාණු බෝම්බ හැදූ කොටි තිදෙනෙක් දැලේ Published on Saturday, 03 January 2015 03:00 පරමාණු බෝම්බ නිෂ්පාදනය කිරීමේ මෙහෙයුමක නිරතව සිටි එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ සාමාජිකයන් තිදෙනකු ඉන්දියාවේ බැංගලෝර් පොලිසිය මගින් පෙරේදා (01) අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන ඇත.රුපියල් කෝටි 150ක මුදලකට ව්යාජ මැණික් ගල් තොගයක් විකිණීමට යාමේදී මොවුන්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
by Shenali D. Waduge There is an issue that has been overlooked. Firstly, it is the manner that Maithripala was parachuted to the role of Opposition Candidate ignoring the line-up UNP contenders including Ranil Wickremesinghe. Next, is the factor that emerges from numerous UNP crossovers to the possibilities of the UNP party diminishing into oblivion if Maithri emerges winner. This last allegation deserves merit on account of the Maithri camp slowly disassociating itself from the initial slogan of handing power over to Ranil after 24 hours which became 6 months and now it appears Maithripala will stand full Presidential... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
ධර්මසිරි සෙනෙවිරත්න හින්දු ඉන්දියාව විසින් හිමාල අඩවියෙන් සොයා සපයන ලද'''' ' බෞද්ධ දේශ භංග ''''' ශාඛයේ පස්පංගුව වනේ දමා කොටා එංගලන්ත සභාවේ ආශීර්වාදය ලැබූ ශුද්ධවූ ජලයෙන් වසර තිහක් තිස්සේ කකාරා ජීවන්කර '''සර්වභේද වාදී කල්කය ''' ද මුසු කර නිපදවූ ''' ද්වේශාරිෂ්ටය '''' චන්ද්රිකා තාක්ෂනය උපයෝගී කරගෙන රහසේ සිංහල දේශය වෙත කන්ටේනර් පිටින් නොමිලේ ලබාදී ඇති අතර චෞර රැජිණිය විසින් ගව්රව සම්ප්රයුක්තව හිස මත තබා ගෙන ගොස් රායප්පු ජෝසෆ් ගේ අශීර්වාදයද ඇතිව පළමුවෙන්ම ඉන් බිඳක් මයිත්රියට මුසුකර දෙවනුව විචිත්ර ධර්ම කතික '' සෝභන '' ' හා විප්ලව රතන හා මුදුරුවරුන්ටද පොවා දැන් රට පුරා බවුසර් මගින් බෙදමින් සිටින්නීය. උරුමක්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
P.Ariyasinghe, Melbourne TNA leader Sambandan, in an interview with the Daily Mirror had said that, 'the LTTE has now been destroyed and in such a scenario how can the TNA be its proxy. The TNA has never been an LTTE proxy..' But during the hey days of the LTTE, TNA had openly declared that the LTTE was the sole representative of the Tamils. And at present even though the megalomaniac is dead, the LTTE is not. The LTTE is very active overseas. Therefore, a Tribunal appointed by the Delhi High Court has found that LTTE has links to anti-national... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
By Charles.S.Perera At the meetings of the President Mahinda Rajapakse, the speakers make very moving speeches attacking the Opposition for its most unfounded accusations against the President and his government. The Opposition accuses the government for the absence of good governance, corruption, and nepotism. But they have forgotten that when UNP, JR Jayawardhana, R.Premadasa, Ranil Wickramasinghe and Chandrika Kumaratunga were in power there was bad governance, worst form bribery and corruption, political assassinations , nepotism and a goon culture helping their lackeys and the underworld mafia they supported for their protection and do their dirty work. But on the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
Nalliah Thayabharan Since the 1950s Western imperialists have been in the business of regime change, assassinations and propping up client states to pillage the wealth of nations. In 1953, England and America overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mosaddegh of Iran. The coup was orchestrated by the intelligence apparatus of both countries after Mr. Mosaddegh nationalized the oil industry that was controlled by foreign interests. They set up Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (the shah of Iran) as a puppet authoritarian ruler who relied heavily on U.S. support. In 1961, in the Congo, the CIA in collaboration with Belgium... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
ධර්මසිරි සෙනෙවිරත්න බටහිර රටවල් හා ඉන්දියාවත් බුදුදහමට විරුද්ධය. ආගමිකයන් වශයෙන් කිතුනුවොත් හින්දුනුත් බුදුදහමට විරුධය. අනෙක් පැත්තෙන් ඉස්ලාමිකයෝ තමන්ගේ ආගම හැර අනෙක් සියලුම ආගම් වලට විරුද්ධය, ඉස්ලාමිකයෝ ලංකාවේදී වැඩියෙන් ම විරුද්ධ බෞධ්ධයන්ටය. ඒ මෙරට බෞද්ධ රටක් නිසා තමන්ට රජවෙන්නට බැරි නිසාය . ප්රානඝාතයේ යෙදෙන හැම ජාතිකයෙක්ම හැම ආගමිකයෙක්ම බුදුදහමට විරුද්ධය. සොලියෝ වසර දහස් ගණනක් තිස්සේ අප විනාශ කිරීමට උත්සාහ ගත්හ. පරංගි ලන්දේසි හා ඉංග්රීසින් බෞද්ධයන් විනාශ කිරීමට කල හැකි හැම දේම කළහ එහෙත් මොකක්දෝ හේතුවකට සියයට 30 කට වඩා අබෞද්ධ කිරීමට මේ පරදෙශීන්ට නොහැකිවිය මෙතෙක් අප විනාශය කරා ගියේ හෙමින් හෙමින්ය. දෙමල කුලී කාරයන් මෙහි පදිංචිකළ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
ඊයේ (1) දිනයේ අමාත්ය බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා හමුවූ සුදත් අප්පුහාමි මහතා ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ දෑත් සවිමත් කිරීමට පූර්ණ වශයෙන් කැපවීමට ප්රතිඥා දී ඇත. මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඔහු අද දින ප්රවෘත්ති සාකච්චාවක් පැවැත්වීමට නියමිතව ඇත. එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ යහ පාලන කණ්ඩායමේ සාමාජිකයකු වන හොර ආචාර්ය හර්ෂ ද සිල්වා මහතා මැරයින් 50ක් පමණ සමග සුදත් අප්පුහාමි මහතා පැහැරගෙන ගොස් ඇති බවක් වාර්තා වෙයි. සුදත් අප්පුහාමි මහතාගේ ජීවිතයට යම් තර්ජනයක් වුවහොත් එහි වගකීම හර්ෂ ද සිල්වා මහතා විසින් භාරගත යුතු බව දේශපාලන විචාරකයෝ පවසති. ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
ALI SUKHANVER The Boston Review published an article of C. Christine Fair on 16th of last October with the title, Is Pakistan in ISIS' Crosshairs? C. Christine Fair is a well known American analyst on South Asian political and military affairs and a member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies as well as of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is also a senior fellow with the Counter Terrorism Center at West Point. She is considered a very staunch advocate of the US policies in the South Asian Region. The article says, ‘Pakistan has long been home to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
By. R.W. Ranjith Pemasiri Multilateral and bilateral convention donors offer around US$ 200 m to US$300 m per annum for the highways sector in compliance with its eligibility and procurement guidelines. However, the funding provisions are not sufficient to carry out a large scale accelerated development program. The predicament is whether we should open up other avenues to obtain funding with appropriate regulatory measures to achieve the development targets or we should confine to the limited funding from conventional donors and thus achieve a slow growth in development in highways? The obvious choice is to look for new funding... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
University of Politics Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has been asked to keep away from the New Democratic Front Presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena's campaign after her controversial statement, pampering the late LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, severely affected the joint Opposition's campaign. Chandrika called the megalomaniac Tiger leader as Mr. Prabhakaran and apoligised to the Tamils in the North for what had happed during her tenure. While calling Prabhakaran a gentleman, Chandrika promised to withdraw more than 50 percent of the Security Forces now in the peninsula if they elect Maithripala as the President. She also promised to "restore the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
by Uditha Kumarasinghe UPFA Colombo District Parliamentarian Thilanga Sumathipala said that New Democratic Front (NDF) Presidential Candidate Maithripala Sirisena's 100 day program is totally an eyewash. It is just to get the focus on the media as well as the so called people who are clamouring for reforms in the administrative set up. The MP in an interview with the Sunday Observer said that this is a kind of document to get public attraction by knowing very well that it is not practicable at all. Thilanga Sumathipala MP ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
by K.M.H.C.B. Kulatunga The traitor will finally meet his waterloo by Friday after the masses verdict at the 2015 Presidential election would be announced. He has packed all his baggage and even obtained air tickets to a Western destination. He has already obtained Schengen visa, along with that if the British and the US, keeping his travel options open. Unlike Sarath Fonseka who face the challenge even after he was abandoned by the common Opposition after his defeat, Maithripala Sirisena will not have guts to face the challenge single handedly. With his mentor Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga getting ready to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/15)
The member of parliament Achala Jagoda has joined with common candidate Maithripala Sirisena.He is a member of parliament who came from the JVP had jumped to the national freedom front and had been in the UPFA government but had acted independently.He had failed in his attempts to become a UPFA seat organiser in the next election and had crossed in anger.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/15)
... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/15)
Lucien Rajakarunanayake As we consider the historical importance of the Year 2015 in the politics and governance of this country, it is interesting to note that beginning with 1505, when the Portuguese first came to this country and began the colonization process, in the fifth year of the 16th Century, the triple quinary year in two subsequent centuries have been of much historical importance in this country. The colonial dominance over the maritime regions of the country that began with the arrival of the Portuguese in 1505, reached... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/15)
Shenali D Waduge The right to religious freedom does not and should not include the right to convert. Thus, those that are sent on missions to convert understandably cannot be expected to be treated as heroes particularly by a nation that is heir to an unique Sinhala Buddhist civilization lasting for over 2300 years, still carrying a majority Buddhist population and struggling to remain so. That forms the basic foundation of the increasing opposition in Sri Lanka to the sham campaign of the Catholic Church and pro – Christian local mainstream press to project Joseph Vaz, Goa born Christian... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/15)
Compiled by Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D. "His complete dedication, in unbroken military service of over six decades, has inspired untold thousands of Canadian youth. His tireless and unselfish contributions to his community, his country and his fellow man, in war and in peace, have been of outstanding benefit to Canada and Canadians." (Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame) On April 5, 1942, the Japanese Empire made an unsuccessful attempt to invade Ceylon (Sri Lanka).Ceylon was strategically important as it had command and control of the Indian Ocean and was a “mere stepping stone” to India. Having effectively put an end to Allied... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/15)
S. Akurugoda Just over five years ago we were able to show the entire world, how powerful our unity and strength was. Firstly, the decision to end terrorism was taken firmly by the peace loving, right minded patriotic people of this land at the presidential election held in 2005 by defeating the ‘puppet of the west’ and electing the right leadership to achieve the target. Secondly, the President elected made the right decision by appointing the right people to the right places prior to the operations against terrorism. Thirdly, the President and his team commenced the operations at the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/15)
P.Ariyasinghe, Melbourne The request from Hakeem, leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, for a separate Administrative District was rejected by the govt and he joined Sirisena. Because obviously he had agreed to this. But he says that there was no agreement on this . Can people trust him? TNA MP Suresh Premachandran addressing the media before the announcement to support Sirisena had said, 'The prospective candidate we decide to back, should compromise to withdraw the army from the North and the East...' Therefore, Sirisena would have definitely agreed to this request as well. However this week, speaking to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/15)
ආචාර්ය්ය ජානක වංශපුර ඡන්ද ගුංඩු යනු දේශපාලකයින් විසින් ඡන්ද කාලයට දෙන බොරු පොරොන්දුය. නමුත් විපක්ෂය කථා කරන යහපාලනය සාමාන්ය ඡන්ද ගුංඩුවලටත් එහා යන භයානක කථාවකි. මෙහිදී මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ඇත්තටම යහපාලනයක් ගෙන ගියේද නැද්දවත් මෛත්රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතාට යහපාලනයක් ඇති කල හැකිද නැද්ද යන්න තබා උවමණාවක් තියේද යන්නවත් විපක්ෂයේ යහපාලන කථාවට අදාල නොවේ. යහපාලන කථාව නිර්මාණය කර ඇත්තේ සිංහළුන්ගේ ඇස් වලට වැලි ගසා ඔවුන්ගේ ඡන්දය හොරා කෑමටය. එසේ සොරාගෙන සිංහළුන්ගේ ඡන්දය ඔවුන්ගේම ස්වාධිපත්යයට එරෙහිවන ලෙස හැසිරවීමටය. එනම් රටේ ෙසෙවරීය කෙලසීමටය. යහපාලන කථාව සෙප්පඩ විජ්ජාවකි. වාසනාවකට බහුතරයක් සිංහළුන් එය අවබෝධ කරගෙන සිටිති. ඊනියා යහපාලනයක් ගැන කථා කරන්නට යෙදුනේ අද ඊයේ නොවේ.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/15)
Janaki Chandraratna – Perth, Western Australia After several clandestine meetings in Singapore and Vienna and strong denials of the existence of Ranil/Maithipala, Maithipala /TNA, and Ranil/TNA Agreements, the cat is out of the bag with TNA agreeing to support Maithipala in the forthcoming Presidential election. TNA has made it clear that they are not interested in handouts from Maithipala Government but a clear implementation of TNA demands in return for the Tamil vote. At this stage R Sambandan has not publicized any TNA demands as such. It is however very clear to the discerning observers that these demands include... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/15)
Courtesy Rivira ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී පොදු අපේක්ෂකයාට සහාය දැක්වීමට එක්වූ දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානය සහ ශ්රී ලංකා මුස්ලිම් කොංග්රසය උතුරු හා නැගෙනහිර පළාත් නැවත ඒකාබද්ධ කිරීම පිළිබඳව දැනටමත් අභ්යන්තර සාකච්ඡා අරඹා ඇතැයි ඊයේ ‘රිවිර’ අනාවරණය කර තිබිණ. මෙම සාකච්ඡා මගින් එළැඹෙන සාමූහික තීන්දුව පොදු විපක්ෂයේ සහාය ඇතිව ක්රියාත්මක කිරීමට කටයුතු කරන බවද පැවසේ. ඒ අතර මෛත්රී පාලනයක් තුළ උතුරු පළාතට මුදල් බලතල ඇතුළු සියලු පරිපාලන බලතල ලබාදෙන බව හිටපු ජනාධිපතිනි චන්ද්රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක කුමාරතුංග මහත්මිය පසුගියදා යාපනයේ පැවැති ජනහමුවකදී පැවසූ බවද වාර්තා වේ. මෛත්රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතාගේ ආණ්ඩුවක් මගින් දෙමළ ජනතාවගේ අභිලාෂයන් හා ගැටලුවලට විසඳුම් ලබාදීමට පුළුල් බලය බෙදීමක් සිදුකරන බවද ඇය පවසා ඇත. ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/15)
By Don Wijewardana Developing nations with independent policies that displease the West always run the risk of regime change. It does not matter whether the action was in the national interest. Sooner or later it will come to bite, with the timing and intensity of intervention depending on the strategic significance of the country concerned. For instance Iraq was so unfortunate to own large oil reserves that it invited direct and devastating intervention. Libya came a close second. The ‘Arab Spring’ that engineered popular uprisings involving a range of Middle East countries was another facet of the phenomenon. Further... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/15)
P.Ariysasinghe, Melbourne According to a survey conducted among Colombians by the Colombo University Sirisena is ahead in the poll. This is no surprise, as in Colombo nearly 60 per cent are non Sinhalese. Even among the Sinhalese only about half are Buddhists. And everyone knows that most people who live in Colombo have a 'Kultur' life. It is also no secret that the Catholics are for the UNP. The Church was against Free Education. The Church fought tooth and nail against the schools take over with the support of the UNP. During the Presidential elections in 2010, Colombo University... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/15)
Rajanram B Our motherland is at cross road due to the unpatriotic provincial parties, childish politicians like Mrs Chandrika Kumaratunga, greedy politicians like Mr Maithri Bala Srisena and power hungry politicians like Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe who are ready to sacrifice his own country men to achieve their petty objects. Mrs Chandrika Kumaratunga over and again proves her a lunatic patient. She encourages Tamil extremism by glorifying politically flavoured gangsters who the Tamils hate and reject secretly. Actually Mrs Chandrika Kumaratunga should be prosecuted for glorifying terrorism. She is not bothered of the security of innocent citizen. How can any... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/15)
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'We do not want pacts or agreements but to achieve our objectives' Tamil National Alliance leader Parliamentarian R. Sambandan has told Foreign Correspondents that what the TNA wants is to achieve their final objectives under a future 'Maithree' government. Sambandan had disclosed this when foreign correspondents spoke to him after a TNA press conference recently and posed several questions. The questions asked and the answers given by Sambandan are as follows: Q: Has the TNA signed a pact with Maithripala Sirisena? A: What we want is not pacts... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/01/15)
Sandasen Marasinghe Chandrika Kumaratunga's assertion in Jaffna that she would cede all powers to the Northern Provincial Council, and offer greater devolution would -- along with Maithripala Sirisena agreeing to Hakeem's demand of the Eastern administrative district -- lead to the Balkanization of the country, said External Affairs Minister Prof. GL Peiris addressing the press yesterday at the SLFP headquarters. He said granting separate administrative districts on an ethnic basis would leave the country in pieces -- a Balkanization of the variety that took place in Eastern Europe. Different... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/01/15)
By Nikolai Starikov Translated by Val from Osa How long the West is willing to pay for the crumbling economy of Ukraine without guarantees of the beginning of its war with Russia? The Western strategy rule says: lost control over the territory - create the Antithesis. It is possible to understand what is happening in Ukraine, it is much more difficult to evaluate and forecast the development of events. Whatever the case, it is necessary to consistently follow one rule: set emotions aside. Blood, death and destruction are the most serious emotional blows, but if you follow your... -Full Story- (vineyardsaker.blogspot.com.au - 02/01/15)
By Charles.S.Perera Some say they would vote for the President Mahinda Rajapakse as there is no alternative. That however should not be the reason why we should vote for the President Mahinda Rajapakse. Because there is no alternative to Mahinda Rajapakse, as he is the only man worthy of holding the reins of Executive Presidency. Others say that the opposition has not been able to present a candidate comparatively above or in level with the profile and the character of the President. What ever the critics say about the President Mahinda Rajapakse, the opposition candidate Maitripala Sirisena has not... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/15)
ආචාර්ය එච් එම්. කොඩිසිoහ රාවුෆ් හකීම් මහතා සිය කණ්ඩායමත් සමග එකවරම රජයෙන් ඉවත් නොවී දිගු කලක් කේවල් කර ඇත්තේ ලොකු කුට්ටියක් කඩාගන්නට බවත් එය වත්මන් ජනාදිපති ගෙන් නොලැබීම නිසා ඔවුනුත් පොදු අපේක්සකයා හා එක්වි ඇත. ඔවුන් වත්මන් ජනාධිපතිගෙ පාලන ප්රතිපත්ති රටට අහිතකර නිසා විරුද්ධ වූවානම් එළියට බැසියයුතුව තිබුණේ හෙළ උරුමය ඇතුළු අනිත් විරුද්ධ කණ්ඩායම් සමග සමගාමිවය. එහෙන් මෙහෙන් එකතුවෙන ඕනෑම මහින්ද විරෝදීයෙකුට තම පසුම්බියෙන් යමක් දීමට ඇති මේ පොදු අපේක්සකගේ සැබෑ ස්වරූපය මොකක්ද? ඔහු සමග අත්වැල් බැදගත් අය සැබෑ දෙසප්රෙමින්ද? මේ තත්වය තේරුම් ගැනීමට දේසපාලන විද්යාඥයෙකුට කෙසේනමුත් පක්ෂයකට ගැතිකම් නොකර මද්යස්තව සිටින අයෙකුටනම් අගක් මුලක් තේරුම් ගත නොහැකිව ගල්ටික්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/15)
Insight By Sunil Kumar January 1st 2015. As the New year 2015 dawns in Sri Lanka the rumour mongering about President Mahinda Rajapaksa's imminent defeat is fast becoming somewhat of a spurious joke as the media divided into two factions, one for the President and the other for the unholy alliance of Maithripala Sirisena, Ranil Wickremasinghe, Chandrika Kumaratunga and their opportunistic supporters such as Rauf Hakeem,. Rajitha Senaratna et al, the dregs of the pro LTTE TN, some of the JHU and certain undesirables from the JVP who have no real agenda for a better Sri Lanka beyond envisioning their chances albeit... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/15)
By Garvin Karunaratne . When I was Senior Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services I was in charge of the administration of the entire department comprising a staff of 4000 with some thirty staff ranks. We had to find the ablest of the Assistant Commissioners to handle key districts like Anuradhapura and Kurunegala where the volume of work was easily double that of any other District. I had endless discussions with the Commissioner J.V.Fonseka all to find who would be best for the job. Later on as the Government Agent at Matara District I had to see that the ablest... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/15)
Interviewed by : A.A.M.Nizam President Mahinda Rajapaksa is the only Sri Lankan leader admired and esteemed by the whole Muslim world. The service rendered to the Muslim community in Sri Lanka and for the cause of Muslims throughout the world, particularly for the Palestinians by President Mahinda Rajapaksa since 1970 is unprecedented. Since independence until Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa became the President of this country, there were only one or two Cabinet Ministers in all governments. It is President Mahinda Rajapaksa who appointed a large number of Muslims as Cabinet Ministers for the first time in Sri Lanka and many... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/15)
The Common Opposition Candidate, My3 is being blessed by none other than of of the biggest champions of the LTTE, Mannar Bishop, Rayappu Joseph. The Common Opposition Candidate, My3 is being blessed by none other than of of the biggest champions of the LTTE, Mannar Bishop, Rayappu Joseph. The picture says it all....good luck Sri Lanka, you will need it if My3 wins the election. If Tiger Supremo Velu was alive, My3 would have got the blessings from him too! What a waste of thousands of young lives we sacrificed to save this nation from Tiger Terrorists.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/15)
වෛද්ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග ලාල් සෝමසිරි ලාල් සෝමසිරි ව්යාපාරයේ පහළ මට්ටමේ සිටි සාමාජිකයෙකු වුවද එක රැයින් ඔහු සුප්රසිද්ධ චරිතයක් බවට පත් වූයේ විෙජ්වීර සමඟ අම්පාරේදී අත්අඩංගුවට පත් වී යාපනය බන්ධනාගාරයට ගොස් විෙජ්වීර විසින් එවන ලද පණිවිඩයක් සනත් බොරළුකැටිය අතට පත් කිරීමෙනි. පහර දිමක් සිදු වන්නේ නම් පියතිලකගේ නායකත්වයෙන් 500ක පිරිසක් යාපනය බන්ධනාගාරයට එවිය යුතු බව එම පණිවිඩයේ අන්තර්ගතව තිබුනි. එහෙත් රෝහණ විෙජ්වීර අ.යු.වි. කොමිසමේදී තමා මෙවැනි පණිවිඩයක් ලාල් සෝමසිරි අත නොඑවූ බව ප්රකාශ කළේය. අවසානයේදි මෙය ඉතාම සංකීර්ණ සිද්ධියක් වූයේය. මෙම සිද්ධිය පිළිබඳව හරි හැටි කරුණු දැන සිටියේ විෙජ්වීර, සනත්, පියතිලක, ප්රේමරත්න හා ලාල් සෝමසිරිය. වර්තමානයේ ඉන් තිදෙනෙකු ජීවතුන්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/15)
The Daily News Govt acquired all public entities sold for a song by previous governments Chaminda Perera in Minuwangoda People should decide as to whether this country is to be divided into parts according to the needs of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sambandan and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader Rauff Hakeem or remains a united country where people of all communities live in peace, at the forthcoming Presidential election. "Certain individuals of previous governments earned massive amounts of money by purchasing arms... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/15)
By Daya M, Australia Tamils in Sri Lanka wielded disproportionate power, due to British colonial policies, until the late 1960s as they held most of the executive posts in Government Departments, Corporations and in the private sector. This power gradually diminished as SWRD Banaranayake’s national language policy started kicking in. This loss of power and control over the majority race led them to cry discrimination and ask for a separate State or a Federal Government. This Tamil ethnic problem, as well as the Muslim problem, can be solved easily by adopting the following recommendations which, if promised to implement... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/15)
Dr. Tilak Fernando It was an open secret that A.C. S. Hameed, during his two terms in office as the Foreign Minister in a Sri Lankan Government Cabinet, ran the Ministry according to his own whims and fancies by treating this most prestigious government institution as his own personal establishment! He made some bewildering moves, in an autocratic fashion, by appointing many stooges to various Sri Lankan Missions abroad. The most ironic appointment he made, which has gone on record, can be considered as the re-appointment of a penalised... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/15)
By A.A.M.NIZAM (Former Sri Lanka Freedom Party Vice President–Matara Electorate Central Committee) In the first part of this article readers were enlightened the carnage being carried out by the “100 days Sirisena’s” brothers mafia robbing and exercising a monopoly of natural resources , causing hardships and hazards to the people of the North Central Province. Let us now examine what this “100 days Sirisena”, the supreme agent of Sri Lanka’s anti national and treacherous forces says in his 100 points promissory note to be implemented within his pipedream 100 days. Points 1 to 17 are slightly modified borrowings from... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/15)
by Dr D.Chandraratna In 44 BC The Roman General and Director Julius Caesar was murdered in broad daylight in the theatre of Pompey by assassins led by Junius Brutus, Caesar's best friend. Hence the famous words, Et tu Brute, Even you Brute said Caesar before he died. Only part of this tale is applicable because Mahinda Rajapaksa'a shoulders were capable of bearing the great weight of responsibility protecting Sri Lanka with the stone hands of giant Atlas. The current President like the Colossus of Rhodes, which is a potent symbol of superhuman grandeur, is able to execute the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/15)
Rajanram B Dear Chandrika Kumaratunga, Please remember that there are plenty of people who have got nice and healthy ideas for their community. They are good people. We need them. But not every one can achieve the good ideas and sustain them for long. This is very hard job. you need to have divine blessing, great strength, courage and clear vision. Our country, mothers and fathers, men and women, girls and boys, and and children need a stable government, safe atmosphere, peace and prosperity, and development and infrastructure. All essential base for a good society is there for last... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/15)
P.Ariyasinghe, Melbourne The TNA is for the division of the country. SLMC is asking for a separate Administrative District for Muslims, in another words a separate state for them. So the goals of the TNA and the SLMC are the same. Then, this week the media reported that Sirisena had a meeting with 'Tiger Bishop' Rayappah Joseph, who openly supported the terrorists. Sirisena who is famous for signing pacts must have signed a pact with him as well. Obviously, Sirisena has some agreement with the TNA The UNP leadership had no courage to put forward a candidate. At one... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/15)
ධර්මසිරි සෙනෙවිරත්න සිරිසේන හවුල දිනුවොත් සම්බන්දන් ඊලාම් ජනපති වෙන බව ටක්කෙටම කියන්නේ නල්ලය්යා තම්බිරායන් නම් දෙමල ජාතිකයෙකි ඔහු ඒ ගැන සතුටු නැත. එනිසා අනෙකුත් යට ඔහු අනතුරු අන්ගවය් මේ අනතුරු ඇඟවීම විශේෂයෙන් සිංහල බෞද්ධයන් විසින් සැලකිල්ලට ගතයුතුය අවලම් ත්රස්තයින්ට උඩගෙඩි දුන් චන්ද්රිකාත් කොටි සමග හොර ගිවිසුම් ගසා උන් බලවත් කල රනිලුත් බලයට ගෙන එන්නට ''මයිත්ත්රී බලය '' යොදා ගන්නේ බට හිරයන්ය දෙමල වාර්ගික කම්කරුවන් සිංහලේ පදිංචි කල ඉංග්රීසින් දැන් දෙමළුන් වෙනුවෙන් පෙනීසිටිති ඉන්දියාව උන් ආපසු ගැනීමට වෙයය් බයෙන් එයටම උඩ ගෙඩි දෙති . අපි විදවමු. සියලුම කුණු සිංහල බේරුවල් බොක්කටය යාන්තම් උතුරත් නැගෙනහිරත් මහින්ද විසින්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/15)
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