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Ms. Kumaratunga at the Hyde Park rally

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga turned up in Kandy for the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Bala Mandalaya (branch) meeting. It was addressed by President Maithripala Sirisena. Thereafter, she joined him on a helicopter ride to Matale for a similar meeting also addressed by Sirisena. Her vehicle and security entourage went by road to Dambulla where Minister Janaka Bandara Tennekoon entertained the VIPs for lunch. The next stop was for an SLFP Bala Mandalaya meeting in Puttalam.

Ms. Kumaratunga, however, chose not to travel there. She said that the slipper she was wearing had given way forcing her to walk barefoot in the Tennekoon household. She therefore returned by road to Colombo. However, some SLFPers claimed that she was unhappy over not being given an opportunity to speak. This was after she was heckled at a party meeting in Kurunegala recently soon after President Sirisena had finished his speech and left.

On Friday, Ms. Kumaratunga, did not stay at the SLFP May Day rally for long. She had good reason to leave soon. Every time her name was announced by a speaker on the dais, a section of the crowd booed and jeered loudly. She stayed less than 45 minutes at the venue.By contrast, every time former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s name came up, the cheers were loud and long. President Maithripala Sirisena received a lukewarm response. So it was hoots for Chandrika, wild applause for Mahinda and polite clapping for Maithripala. Who orchestrated all this is the question that needs no answer.

Quack after quake: Football and foot in the mouth
When the Sri Lanka Air force C-130 Hercules transport plane touched down at the Katunayake airbase with the under 14 Sri Lanka girls football team and the coaches, who had been left stranded by the Nepal earthquake, everyone was happy to be at home. But they were really tired.
They were escorted in a bus from the Air Base to the civil movement office where drinks and lunch were served. The media were told to wait outside until they finished. However, impatient journalists of the electronic media, keen to get their story first, barged into the hall with their equipment and began grilling the girls. The young sportswomen were speechless.
In the midst of this melee, the team’s coach, a Japanese, was approached by two Sports Ministry officials who jokingly told him that he must be not fazed by the Nepal earthquake experience as he was from a country prone to such natural disasters.
One of them was sure this was not the first earthquake the coach had experienced. “You may not have been worried. Compared to the one in Kobe, Japan, this seems mild. That was pretty bad, wasn’t it?” he asked. This left the Japanese coach also speechless. All he did was smile. One wonders if Lankans who experienced the 2004 tsunami would be immune to fear and trauma, if they experience such a situation again, as the Sports Ministry officials seem to assume.

Still Mahinda for Tamil announcer
Looks like three months isn’t adequate time for some people to get used to a new President. At the SLFP May Day rally in Hyde Park, one announcer twice referred to the country’s leader as “President Mahinda Rajapaksa”.
Both times, he corrected himself. But it could not have been a pleasant experience for President Maithripala Sirisena, who was on the stage.
Or perhaps he didn’t understand it as the announcer was speaking in Tamil.

Prince Hussein and Erik Solheim during a meeting in Paris this week

UNHRC chief tells Solheim Lanka report in September
During a visit to Paris this week, the United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein met Erik Solheim, Norway’s one time envoy for peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.
One of the subjects of discussion between the two was the impending report of the three-member team that probed alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka. Prince Hussein told Mr. Solheim that the report would be definitely presented to the UNHRC in September this year.
Mr. Solheim is now Chair of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) based in Paris.

More about politics than workers’ rights 
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s May Day Rally was not so much about the working class as it was about various politicians. So far did the ego-boosting extend that some sections of the “workforce” wore t-shirts emblazoned with the names of politicians or electoral districts. The garb came in various shades of blue.

These are usually seen at election rallies — apt, because the SLFP May Day event ended up being very much a political meeting. One group was observed wearing “Polonnaruwa” T-shirts; another “Badulla” T-shirts.  Yet another crowd had on “Hirunika” T-shirts. Spying that lot, a hack wryly commented, “Someone should produce a teledrama called ‘Hirunika’. Then, at least, those T-shirts won’t go to waste.”

Was Wimal giving MR a running commentary?
Hectic behind-the-scenes consultations to seek the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in Parliament last Tuesday saw some interesting moments. One front bencher said Wimal Weerawansa, the National Freedom Front (NFF) leader, was walking in and out of the chamber to make phone calls.
Was Weerawansa, a staunch supporter of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, giving the latter a periodic commentary? At least the front bencher thought so.

Wi-Fi dansala from Foreign Ministry
The Foreign Ministry has become the talk of the town with its programme of a special “Wi-Fi Dansala” at the Vesak zone in Colombo Fort during the festival period.  It was weeks earlier that the Government introduced a free Wi-Fi service at railway stations islandwide targeting users of smart phones.
However users of the facility say that to avail themselves of it, it is mandatory to register themselves giving their NIC numbers.

According to the Information and Communications Technology Agency (ICTA), the IT arm of the Government, so far nearly 1,800 people have subscribed for the facility. Some, however, fear that their online activities may be monitored by the authorities if they register for its use and question why it is necessary to register themselves to use a free facility.

19A: Garlands  for NM’s statue
Some of the admirers of the late Trotskyite leader N.M. Perera had not forgotten his words when the 1978 Constitution was adopted. He forewarned of the dangers it posed.

So, soon after it was known that the 19A was adopted, they went up to his statue at the Ayurveda Hospital junction in Borella and garlanded it.
Among them were constitutional lawyer Jayampathi Wickremeratne who played a key role in drafting the 19A.