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It is a well known secret that almost all Tamil nationalist parties based in the North, including one-man led splinter groups, are trying to capitalise on the otherwise questionable legacy of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The main purpose is to keep its legacy intact and convert whatever goodwill it had into electoral votes. Some parties have been fairly successful in doing so in the recent past.

An ongoing competition to claim ownership for the LTTE’s legacy unfolded at Nallur in Jaffna this week during the commemoration ceremony to remember one of the outfit’s commanders–Rasaiyah Partheepan–whose nom de guerre was Thileepan. The ceremony was held near his demolished memorial.

The Tamil National Peoples’ Front was among the parties which was on the front line when it came to organising various events to mark the day, but some splinter groups from the party and another self-proclaimed group of former LTTE cadres tried to grab the credit on Tuesday.

The event turned ugly when it came to who was going to light the oil lamp as many individuals claimed they would be the fit and proper person to commemorate the slain LTTE commander who passed away on a fast-unto-death campaign in 1987. During the heated arguments minutes after a former cadre was eventually given the opportunity, others tried to stop him–leaving an individual with burn injuries, while another was badly assaulted.

As these ugly scenes unfolded, some Tamil political leaders who claimed to represent the people were on the sidelines witnessing the events, refusing to intervene in the mayhem.

A war survivor who came all the way from Kilinochchi to take part in the event was heard saying in the crowd, “Do not try to do politics with the LTTE tag, if they cannot do anything for the people other than this, they can simply leave and go somewhere.”

The hellfire music festival which took place on Friday with an abridged name; 'Fire'

Musical show: Mayor intervenes to take hell out of fire

Eventually the show was held on Friday night under the watch of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) officials after the Mayor imposed conditions that the event should be held in a manner that it does not harm religious feelings.

Police had to put a special security unit with over 100 personnel around the tower on Friday night to ensure there were no trespassers while vehicles were parked along the pavements of all adjacent main streets- even in front of the Colombo fire brigade.

The concert goers who purchased tickets at Rs 5000, Rs 6000 and Rs 15,000 had different level of access and entertainment facilities starting from free booze to the company of complete strangers with heavy music in the backround. The event organiser announced that the one
night concert recorded Rs 30 million as revenue.

A local who was passing by to witness the fire crackers that lit the night sky noted if any foreigner happens to see this, he or she wouldn’t believe it is happening in a bankrupt nation. “ As of now, living in this country itself is like hellfire,” he muttered.

Skyrocketing food inflation hits Parliament

Skyrocketing food inflation has finally reached Parliament with the Housekeeping Committee deciding recently to increase the prices of a meal for Parliamentarians by Rs 100.

Following the revised prices, meals for MPs were fixed at Rs 300 while for journalists covering proceedings, it would be Rs 150.

A Parliamentary official said even the number of items on the menu had been reduced from eight to five but they pointed out that most of the MPs bring their food from outside, or order from high-end hotels.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank on Friday said the country’s food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 94.9 per cent last month from 93.7 per cent in August, while non-food inflation (Y-o-Y) increased to 57.6 per cent last month from 50.2 percent in August.

Sri Lanka: From middle income nation to wearing only one shoe

Not many Sri Lankans are aware of how their motherland is perceived within the region or in a global context in the wake of the worst economic crisis the country is going through. For some of our neighbours in the region who used to look up to Sri Lanka for its standard of living and literacy rate etc, the sudden fall of Sri Lanka which was a middle income country just a few years ago to a bankrupt nation is still unbelievable.

This was evident when a local who was on a working trip to Kathmandu, Nepal last week happened to visit a busy pavement shop at Thamel for shoe shopping. Upon learning that the individual was from Sri Lanka, the bargain shifted towards the economic crisis in the country, the unceremonial ouster of a President and more importantly, the Sri Lanka cricket team winning the Asia Cup recently.

After a lengthy discussion and hearing about the grassroot situation in the country, the shop owner who is an ardent fan of Sri Lankan cricketers declared a significant amount as discount for the purchase considering the plight of his client’s home country.

The visitor, who was a bit embarrassed hesitantly accepted the discount, but the last question from the shop owner put him in a fix. He asked: “No other country accepted a President who was forced to flee, but why did Sri Lankans allow your man to return home?” The local thought it was better to leave with the bargain than try explain the intricacies of the Sri Lankan Constitution to the man.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe with ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa

When elephants fight ordinary citizens get crushed

President Ranil Wickremesinghe returned home on Friday night after completing a tight scheduled official visit to Japan and the Philippines.

One of the main objectives for his visit was to secure support from the Japan-led initiative for the debt restructuring process and restore diplomatic ties which soured in the past due to disastrous decisions taken by the previous administration.

Addressing the 55th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank Board of Governors in the Philippines, President Wickremesinghe said amid major economic stress, Sri Lanka had undertaken an unprecedented fiscal effort as part of the Government’s commitment to restoring the country’s debt sustainability.

President Wickremesinghe, who still leads the grand old elephant party for decades, and is known for his sarcastic remarks, used a local saying to explain the current plight of small developing economies that are at the receiving end of potential global recession and a war in Eastern Europe.

“As they say in many of our countries, when the elephants fight, it is the grass that is crushed. This is the predicament of many of our member countries. Therefore, we must overcome the geopolitical rivalries to address the major threats to our existence, otherwise we will all fail leading to instability in our region reminiscent of Europe after World War I,” he said.

In the local context, it did not matter whether elephants or ants get crushed, but at the end of the day, ordinary citizens had to pay the price.

Mandatory retirement age: Southern PC official seeks third extension

Despite the recent Government announcement of the mandatory retirement age at 60, at the Southern Provincial Council a senior official sought an extension citing various reasons.

The official,who had already secured two extensions and was seeking another– potentially a year long one–in the state sector was scheduled to vacate office by September, but he forwarded his request weeks ago seeking a further extension.

Following the announcement by the Government as a cost cutting measure, many senior government officials found themselves in a difficult position since they obtained loans from banks with a repayment scheme till they reached 65.

A just retired government official asked a pertinent question: “How come politicians in this country never seem to be retired at all?”

Tamil Nadu Hindu extremists in conflict with Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s crises–most of them are self-inflicted due to mismanagement of the economy and bad policies which allowed some foreign elements with vested interests to critique or get involved in the country’s internal affairs for the wrong reasons.

As India’s Hindutva forces tried to influence their ideologies across the Palk Straits, there are enough causes where they can get involved in post-war issues in the North and Eastern parts of the country, quite apart from the Central Highlands.

The latest such attempt is one such outfit called Hindu Makkal Katchchi, based in Tamil Nadu. Taking advantage of Hindu sentiments over the dispute between the Archaeology Department and the Thirukoneswaram temple in Trincomalee, its leader Arjun Sampath wrote to the Deputy High Commissioner of Sri Lanka based in Chennai on a local dispute with wild historical claims.

“If the Sri Lankan government with a brute Buddhist majority in Parliament as a part of its unholy, un-Buddhist programme of Buddhist expansionism and aggression wants to do what Baber did in Ayodhya a few hundred years ago, we, 1200 million global Hindus, will not shut our eyes and ears to keep quiet,” the outspoken leader declared while demanding a “hands-off” policy over 400 acres of land claimed by the temple as a Hindu preserve and enclave region.