Stories from the waves before 2004 tsunami
When the tsunami hit Sri Lanka on December 26, 2004, it was not only one of the worst catastrophes but in terms of terminology, it was the first time, most Sri Lankans heard the word tsunami. Yet there is a background to it in the ancient chronicles, the Krakatoa volcanic eruptions and the tidal waves [...]
The liability and viability of impeaching the executive president
Now the curtain has closed on the political drama which temporarily rendered Sri Lanka helpless without an authoritative and legitimate Government, and consequently brought the Public Service to a standstill. It also brought crisis and uncertainty to the national economy, national security and international relations. What signalled the end of this disastrous period was the [...]
Getting ready for the presidential stakes
The apt aphorism of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga — ‘Katay Pus’, ( soil in the mouth) — we thought was the best description to describe the stunned, forlorn faces that were moving in a daze on Hulftsdorp Hill at twilight after the unanimous verdict of the Supreme Court. For more than fifty days some learned constitutional [...]
Germans turn to ‘medibus’ as doctors desert villages
CORNBERG, Dec 21 (AFP) – For years after the last doctor left the small German village of Weissenborn, 79-year-old former mayor Arno Maeurer had to rely on his car to reach the nearest clinic, as a chronic shortage of practitioners gripped his rural region. But this year a clinic started coming to him. The “Medibus” [...]
Make Sangamitta Day National Women’s Day
This year, Unduwap full moon day falls on December 22, the day commemorating the arrival of Theri Sangamitta, who brought with her a branch of the Great Bodhi tree at Buddhagaya. It was 2,264 years ago that Thera Mahinda arrived in this island. According to Geiger, that was in 246 B.C. on the full moon [...]
Queen’s Christmas message reaches jubilee milestone
Every year, on Christmas Day, at 3p.m., millions of us around the country tune to watch the Queen’s Christmas message. It has been more than 60 years (1957) since her first speech was broadcast on television, complete with sound and pictures (which had taken five extra years to effect). It is delivered at 3p.m. to [...]
A comeback for Congress: Mounting disillusionment with BJP
NEW DELHI – The stunning victory this month of the opposition Indian National Congress in three elections to state assemblies – the local “parliaments” that decide who governs federal India’s 29 provincial units – is a major blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The elections’ outcome has dramatically upended Modi [...]
The genesis of political prostitution in Sri Lanka
George Bernard Shaw once quipped that politics is the last resort of the scoundrel. Oscar Wilde was believed to have said that patriotism was the refuge of the scoundrel. Most of this ilk of beings have one thing in common: they seek power to gain access to the huge financial largesse that comes within the [...]