Virtually all Norwegian media on February 16 carried the Norwegian apology to Sri Lanka for the issuance of LTTE stamps by the Norwegian postal service. The apology termed LTTE images and symbols as illegal and inappropriate. VG (Verdens Gang), Norway's newspaper with the largest readership, carried a story headlined "Norway Apologized for Tamil Tiger-Stamps" that includes some quotes attributed to the Sri Lankan Ambassador in Oslo.
Ambassador Rodney Perera had mentioned that the Norwegian apology was, "absolutely necessary. We are very pleased that the apology said that the stamps had illegal and inappropriate images. It is very important for us that the Norwegian government recognize that is what they are."
He also mentioned that this action can be "compared with someone sending out stamps abroad with Breivik's image." He was referring to the Norwegian terrorist who killed 77 people in July last year.
The ambassador also said, "It is a very small group that ordered these stamps. They had pictures of Prabhakaran, the deceased LTTE leader, and the flag that was used in all of the terrorist attacks."
Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa, the Norwegian Minister of Post and Telecommunications, has also confirmed in writing the already expressed sentiments of Posten Norge on the matter.
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry website now links the apology to the website of the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo. Thus, Norwegian action on the matter is firmly recorded all around.
This is the first time ever, according to diplomatic sources, that political authorities, officials and the media in Norway have mentioned, officially and publicly, the illegality and inappropriateness of the display of LTTE images in Norway. Hence, it is a major turning point for Sri Lanka to get the LTTE branded as a terrorist entity in Norway.
S'pore orchids then for JR, now for MR
It looks like some visiting Presidents of Sri Lanka have their names to new clones or orchids in Singapore.
This week, one was named Mahinda-Shiranthi. This was after the visit of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and first lady Shiranthi to Singapore.
On September 17, 1979, President J.R. Jayewardene and his wife Elena were honoured when their names were given to a new variety of orchid.
Lot of hot air, but no action
The air conditioning in the President's office at the Parliament Complex failed generating a lot of hot air. That it occurred on the last day of the budget when President Mahinda Rajapaksa was present made matters worse.
Now an inquiry has found that the cause was the 'lack of supervision'. However, no one wants the matter pursued.
PM's political quip on fasting
It was a solemn occasion where Sri Lanka Jamath E Islam launched the commentary on the Quran in Sinhala. Speaker after speaker spoke of the role of religion in the spiritual development of man. But the speech made by Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne, the chief guest of the ceremony which was also attended by Buddhist monks, was different in tone and tenor.
Unlike the other speakers who extolled the virtues of inter-religious harmony and stressed upon the importance of unity in diversity, the ever affable Prime Minister, sporting his usual smile, apparently played to the gallery and won the accolades of the largely Muslim crowd at the Bandaranaike Centre of International Studies auditorium on Thursday.
After espousing matters spiritual in keeping with the mood of the ceremony, the Prime Minister shifted gear to talk about his personal relations with the Muslims.
He said that he grew up among Muslims and that at times he felt he was part of them, so much so he has been for the past 16 years sort of observing the Ramazan fast which he described as a meritorious act that made the rich to realise the pain of poverty.
However, drawing laughter, he said he would take a glass of water or a cup of tea during the fast.
But what he said next drew louder laughter. He said: "Don't think I am talking too much about fasting because I want to encourage the people to practise it to tide over the current difficult situation in the wake of the recent price hikes."
Maj. Gen. Silva in war of words with Lee
Major General Shavendra Silva, Sri Lanka's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, who commanded the Army's 58th Division during the closing stages of the LTTE conflict in 2009, is battling on another front: this time, a war of words with blogger Matthew Russell Lee.
The dispute is over Silva's election to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Advisory Panel on Peacekeeping Operations.
The Sri Lanka mission, acting on behalf of Silva, has already fired off two letters to Lee challenging his arguments.
Lee has not only responded to the letters in his blog but also continues to keep the issue alive at every UN media briefing even eliciting a scoop from UN Human Rights High Commissioner Navi Pillay who said she had already written to the Secretary-General expressing her misgivings about Silva's election. The letter was news to the UN media corps.
And that has prompted a second battle front, as the Sri Lanka mission pitched into Pillay dismissing her comments as "unfair and unethical".
"We find it difficult to understand the concerns being articulated at present, on the basis of unconfirmed allegations and accusations," the mission said in a statement released at the UN.
Responding to our story in these columns last week, Lee says he rebutted the Sri Lanka letter "less than 24 hours after they sent it."
He also says the District Court of New York dismissed Silva's case on "diplomatic immunity"-- not on the allegations made against him. "I hope the Sunday Times will update," he writes.
Diplomats who preach the Rule of Law
It was around 6 p.m. on Thursday and the rush hour traffic was flowing in across the Bambalapitiya-Duplication Road junction.
Two police officers deployed there were trying their best to keep the traffic flowing. One of them standing on the opposite side of the road was making sure that bus drivers picked the passengers and moved on.
From an adjoining lane a car bearing a DPL (Diplomatic) number arrived and parked on the side of the road blocking one of the four lanes.
A foreigner emerged from the car and pointed out to the police officer that he was going into the super market.
The policeman throwing his hands into the air came running towards the vehicle - a black Benz. But the foreigner had gone into the supermarket and returned five minutes later.
He got into his vehicle and drove off. A three-wheeler driver who was an onlooker remarked, 'If I had done that the reaction would be different'.
And they want us to observe the Rule of Law!
Minister fishes in the wrong strait
On Friday two Cabinet ministers were explaining to the media about the government's relief measures to overcome the fuel crisis.
Fisheries Minister Rajitha Senaratne took time off to explain the implications of the US sanctions on Iran. Dr Senaratne said Iran had already threatened to close down the "Palk Strait" cutting off a key supply route.
Minister Dullas Allahapperuma quickly whispered in his ears that there was no threat of blocking Palk Strait, but it was the Strait of Hormuz which he should be referring to. Dr. Senaratne corrected himself soon.
Mihin machinations
Government insiders say that moves are afoot to form another budget airline after the controversial Mihin Lanka incurred colossal losses.
Some of the prime movers behind the fledgling budget carrier, insiders say, are the same persons who floated Mihin Lanka, which has eaten a part of the resources of the national carrier, SriLankan Airlines.
How hot is hot, Vasu?
One time Lanka Sama Samaja Party firebrand now National Languages and Social Integration Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara has sent in a response to our piece last week headlined "Heated Argument between President and Vasu." He states that "your report that ….I had an argument with His Excellency the President, at the Cabinet meeting held previously. This is factually untrue."
Jamis Banda adds: Well, if Minister Nanayakkara claims it is not "heated" if it is compared to his more "heated" contributions to debates as an opposition member, he may be right. But those were in the days gone by when left leaders were breathing fire and brimstone. However, it was factually correct. Who raised issue over the non-functioning of the Parliamentary Petitions Committee? What followed? Will he answer?
Why the name board for Dilan Perera?
A West Asian carrier touched down at the Bandaranaike International Airport after a flight from Dubai and Male this week.
As the gleaming Boeing 777 was connected to the air bridge, Business Class passengers walked out. Just as they stepped on the bridge, there were a few in neatly clad saris holding out name boards.
One, a ground hostess from the Airports and Aviation Services Limited (AASL) held out a name board which read 'Dilan Perera.'
The Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare, a non-Cabinet rank, held his hand aloft to be identified. Then she politely urged him to wait a few seconds until he was taken to the VIP lounge.
Obviously the AASL staff did not know who Dilan Perera is. Or was it another staffer who ordered her to display the board?
Diplomats who preach the Rule of Law
It was around 6 p.m. on Thursday and the rush hour traffic was flowing in across the Bambalapitiya-Duplication Road junction.
Two police officers deployed there were trying their best to keep the traffic flowing. One of them standing on the opposite side of the road was making sure that bus drivers picked the passengers and moved on.
From an adjoining lane a car bearing a DPL (Diplomatic) number arrived and parked on the side of the road blocking one of the four lanes.
A foreigner emerged from the car and pointed out to the police officer that he was going into the super market.
The policeman throwing his hands into the air came running towards the vehicle - a black Benz. But the foreigner had gone into the supermarket and returned five minutes later.
He got into his vehicle and drove off. A three-wheeler driver who was an onlooker remarked, 'If I had done that the reaction would be different'.
And they want us to observe the Rule of Law!
Maldivian crisis in UN also
What happens to a Permanent Representative at the UN when his or her government falls or is ousted from power -- as in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya? They have little or no choice: either switch political loyalties to the new government (whether it came to power either through a mass uprising or a political coup) -- or resign and head home proving that no "permanent representative" is ever permanent.
Mohamed Ghafoor, the Permanent Representative of the Maldives to the UN, was the fourth such envoy to face this dilemma. An appointee of ousted president Mohamed Nasheed, Ghafoor has called it quits. But was he ambivalent?
A scheduled UN news conference was cancelled at the eleventh hour. The next day his deputy, Thilmeeza Hussain, was listed as holding a news briefing of her own. But that was cancelled too.
The UN media corps was beginning to wonder whether the media briefings and the cancellations were due to mixed signals coming out of the Maldives. But it may still be reflective of the political uncertainty spreading across the embattled island nation.
Lanka's prince Remi as clueless bumpkin
How many centuries ago did Sri Lanka see the last of the royal kingdoms in the North? Well, a new British TV comedy series aired in the U.S. last week, titled "Undercover Princes" and set in Brighton, England, features a "prince" each from India, Sri Lanka and South Africa. The prince from Sri Lanka goes by the (fictitious?) name of Remigius Kanagarajah "of the royal family of Jaffna".
All three ex-royals are let loose among modern day "party-hearty women of Brighton" where the visitors from the former British colonies are portrayed as "clueless bumpkins on the British dating scene, serially rejected, despite their energetic efforts," writes New York Times TV critic Mike Hale.
The review was titled "Royals Seeking Romance, Disguised (but not as Frogs).
How is it, asks Prince Remi from Sri Lanka, "that all the women who dance with him turn out to have boy friends when it's time for the bar to close?"
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