I wrote some a few thoughts this morning in response to the Government’s decision, taken last night, to withdraw from the Ceasefire Agreement with the LTTE signed in February 2002. This significant decision gives us a hint of the Government’s thinking on war and peace and what we can accordingly expect it to say and do this year.

1. Waging war will be the government only priority this year. It will through any means necessary and violently if need be, erase all real and perceived obstacles in its war efforts.

2. The government will scoff at international opinion. The end of the CFA means the end of the SLMM. The end of the SLMM means that a significant mechanism with which …

continue reading

My article published in Vikalpa, in Sinhala, deals with this government’s deplorable record of securing and strengthening media freedom in Sri Lanka in2007. My immediate response is to the Media Minister’s contestation of the recent PEC report that ranked Sri Lanka as the world’s 3rd most dangerous place for journalists.

The Media Minister’s self-styled interpretation of journalists / journalism is pitifully blinkered and deliberately narrow. As I note, it is also an essentially inhumane stance as he, by extension, justifies the killings of media workers who do not fall under the Government’s definition of journalists. In this light, it is important to recognise that the Free Media Movement, along with four other leading trade unions and journalists organisations, …

continue reading

My article deals with the decrepit condition of the medical profession in Sri Lanka today. Notwithstanding the dedication of some in the profession, the overwhelming perception is that the profession is reaked in corruption and malpractice. I include in my article several anecdotes I heard recently regarding the levels of corruption amongst doctors. There are strong rumours that those who have stood up against the corruption have been killed.

I ask what can be done in this situation to address this growth of corrupt practices. Please read my article in full, in Sinhala, here or download it as a PDF here.

The 14th of August was an eventful day. According to the Sinhala media, the Police “discovered” claymores and explosives at the Ideal Lodge in Wellawatte on this day. As was discovered later, Ideal Lodge is also where 7 of the petitioners in the Supreme Court case against the unlawful and reprehensible eviction of Tamils from Colombo by the Chief of Police and this government reside.

Several interesting aspects of the Sinhala media coverage of this incident are evident to the keen reader. As noted in my article in detail through direct quotes from headlines, the reporting was overwhelming sensational. Four leading Sinhala dailies stated that the LTTE was responsible for the explosives that were “discovered” without quoting a single source. What …

continue reading

The recent furore over the sale of duty free vehicles by the JHU is fodder for my latest article. There are several versions to this. The Ven. Rathana thero asserts that the vehicles were sold to strengthen the coffers of the JHU. Also of the JHU, the Ven. Medananda Thero then asserted that the vehicles were not in fact sold. However, former Assistant IGP Kotakadeniya, a lay member of the JHU, in an interview with Ravaya on 22nd July 2007, openly admitted that the vehicles were sold. In yet another twist, the Spokesperson of the JHU in Lankadeepa the next day refuted Kotakadeniya claims that the vehicles had been sold. However, he also admitted that the duty free vvehicles were …

continue reading

පුරවැසි සටහන්: ඩලස් ඔබට ඇහෙනවාද?

My first post on public transport in Sri Lanka (see Dallas - Are you listening?) ended with a challenge to the Minister of Transport to do something about the dilapidated public transport mechanisms.

Part 2 brings out more examples of a dysfunctional system that subjects thousands of citizens to hellish commutes every single day. I point to the existence of mafias of private bus owners as well as political ineptitude that has led to the dramatic decline in transport services. No amount of complaints by the general public seem to alleviate their suffering. All promises to reform the system have failed.

Once again I appeal to the current Minister of Public Transport - try to make …

continue reading

My article is based on vignettes of commuting in public transport. The first short story is on a trip down South to see my mother and the travails of a journey from Galle to Ambalangoda. My second story is on my journey to work on Monday, on a bus plying the 101 route. On Tuesday, not only was I short-changed, but I was nearly killed alighting from a bus which did not even offer a ticket in return for my fare. On another journey from Colombo to Ibbagamuwa, I was unfortunately entreated to the choicest Sinhala expletives throughout the journey by those in charge of the bus.

I have written many letters to successive Transport Ministers through the media. Since my …

continue reading

A Tragi-Comedy in Three Parts

Act I
“& Co.” is a political satire on Swarnavahini that’s quite hilarious, until of course we realise we are essentially laughing at the tragedy that is Sri Lanka today. Comedy flourishes as a form of political commentary precisely when political repression is the greatest. For example, one SMS I received after the eviction of the Tamils in Colombo last week read:

“Limited offer! Stay in a Colombo lodge and win a free to Vavuniya and back! Courtesy, Ministry of National Security. Call Gota on XXXXXX”

Soon after however, I got another SMS:

“A one time offer! Those who forwarded the previous message to more than 10 people will be picked up from the Fort Railway Station and transported, one …

continue reading

The recent massacre of a family in Delgoda gripped the attention of the media recently. Reports today indicate that several houses of those suspected to be behind the massacre were torched by the local community. I link this senseless violence and brutality to society that is no longer moved by these events.

Sensationalism aside, do we really care? The Delgoda incident, the numbers of those killed in the battlefield, criminals shot by the Police, those abducted and murdered by persons unknown - we seem to be drawn to the events themselves, but are unable to see the clear erosion of a larger humanity.

All this, I argue, at a time when religious fervour is at unprecedented heights.

This is a sombre reflection, …

continue reading

In this article I explore two issues. One, the murder of Don Bolles in America and the other, the recent virulent verbal attack by the Defense Secretary against Champika Liyanaarachchi, Editor of the Daily Mirror, on the 17th of April.

The first section is in essence a paean for investigative journalism that’s instructive for those in the media field in Sri Lanka. The second section explores some of the recent disturbing trends that colour media freedom in Sri Lanka, and increasingly, the lack thereof. I note that it’s two years since Sivaram was brutally killed, with no investigations active to bring the culprits to book. I end on a solemn note, lamenting the strangulation of free media …

continue reading