Lanka Needs to Change its Stance on Free Trade Agreements - EDITORIAL

For over five years, we the Lankans have been dabbling with the idea of entering into Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with India and other countries in the Asia region. Today, once again, we are....

The Judicial Power of the People and a ‘Presidential Interpretation’ of our Constitution

“Since 1972 this country has known no Monarch, and the President has not inherited that mantle. All his powers are limited by the provisions of the Constitution.” - Dissolution of Parliament Case (2018)

Scrapping the Executive Presidency; Hypocrisy to the Core

Media reports state that the government is considering the abolition of the Executive Presidency instead of holding the next Presidential election which is constitutionally scheduled to be conducted later this year - between September 18 and October 18. One website quoted former President Maithripala Sirisena as stating that President Ranil Wickremesinghe has tasked a group of lawyers with looking into the abolition of the Executive Presidency.

Abu Dhabi heralds Era of Religious Accommodation in Islamic West Asia

Due to the demographic changes brought about by economic growth, the Islamic United Arab Emirates (UAE) is beginning to shed its traditional objection to the public practice of other religions, especially idol worship. On February 14, Abu Dhabi heralded a new era of religious accommodation by allowing Hindus, a very large community of expatriates from India, to build a grand temple. Significantly, the land for it was donated by the UAE governm

Abolishing the Executive Presidency; Prudent Proposal - But DISSOLVE PARLIAMENT FIRST

A prudent suggestion is to abolish the Executive Presidency through a referendum, ensuring that the process....

Language: A Catalyst to foster National Unity - EDITORIAL

Sri Lanka is described as a multilingual country but this definition could perhaps be deceptive when reflecting on the past and....

Debt Restructuring and Hidden Agendas

Two years ago in February 2022, Sri Lanka rapidly descended into an economic crisis that had long been in the making. The war in Ukraine...

Nalanda Mourns the Loss of Hon. Gamini Jayawickrama Perera

Mallawa Arachchige Gamini Jayawickrama Perera, (29 January 1941–17 February 2024) was a politician and a member of the 15th Parliament....

Upali Wijewardene, Free Trade Zone and “The Island”

Today (Feb 17) is the birthday of Sri Lanka’s popular business magnate Philip Upali Wijewardene. If Upali Wijewardene were among the living now, he would have celebrated his 86th birthday this year. Alas, this was not to be as the Lear Jet he was travelling in disappeared on 13 February 1983, just 4 days before his 45th birthday. It was my privilege to be associated with Upali Wijewardene slightly and briefly during the years 1978 to 1983. As a

Rocking the Cradle while Pinching the Baby

One of the main points that were highlighted by the media from the policy statement presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe on February 7 after opening of the new session of the Parliament was the need for unity among major political parties in Parliament. He questioned as to why the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) cannot join the government if the Sri Lanka Podujana Permuna (SLPP) can do so in the interest of the country. He also questioned as

The Health Sector and a Nation held to Ransom

The health sector is one of the most important departments in any country. Recently, we had a Health Minister who dumped drugs unfit for human consumption on an unsuspecting population. Trade unions demanded his prosecution, and they were right. Now these self-same unions are attempting to hold the nation to ransom via unreasonable demands for what amounts to a huge Rs. 35,000 travel allowance. Two days ago, striking health workers once again ca

Thinking Beyond a Profession and Entering the Market - EDITORIAL

There was a popular breakfast show on television a few days ago where singers Bathiya and Santhush shared their ideas about being successful in music; the business that’s close to their....

Israel’s genocide juggernaut to hit Rafah, despite global appeals

Never has an Israeli government been as cruel or malicious as Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government, which is planning to unleash what is feared as the worst phase of Israel’s genocidal....

Wildlife: 50,000 Species Meet the Needs of Billions Worldwide

Despite widespread criticism especially by some media groups which obviously have some vested interests, President Ranil Wickremesinghe – giving steady leadership to the heavily divided Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) government – is making steady progress in pulling Sri Lanka out of its worst ever economic and debt crisis. These moves come in an election year but some critics are alleging that the President might try to put off the elections

Can We Build a World-Class City with Third-World Public Transport?

Colombo is a city in a hurry. New hotels, shopping malls and highways are mushrooming everywhere, and the skyline keeps growing upwards, promising to take us to a world-class future. I went to Galle Face and Port City recently to soak in the Global City in progress. As I was admiring a brightly-lit skyscraper, I was jolted back to reality by a rickety old bus pulling up in front of it. Somehow, the blueprint to make Colombo world-class seems to h

Akin to Deck Chairs on the Titanic

There are worrying signs that policymakers and political parties simply have not grasped the magnitude of the problem....

NGO Activities Amid Closing Civic Spaces - EDITORIAL

On 10 February, this newspaper drew attention to a ‘not so new’ law – the ‘Non-Governmental Organisations (Registration and Supervision) Bill.....

Counterfactual History: ‘Rohana Wijeweera visiting New Delhi in 1987.’

On the eve of JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s much-talked-about visit to India, let’s take a journey into counterfactual....

Living Happily Off Loans

President Ranil Wickremesinghe presented his latest policy statement while opening the new Parliament session on February 7. Contrary to his previous policy statements and special statements on the economy it did not contain so many plans that his government is going to implement, yet it has much food for thought. Wickremesinghe at the outset painted a rosy picture on the situation. He said that the inflation, which stood at a daunting 50.6 per

Putting Fetters on Live-In Relationships

Earlier this month, the Legislative Assembly of Uttarakhand, a North Indian State at the foot of the Himalayas, passed a Uniform Civil Code (UCC). While most of the provisions were progressive, there were some which put fetters on “live-in” relationships, to the extent of criminalizing them. These provisions have come in for much criticism on the grounds that they invade privacy and individual liberty guaranteed by the Indian constitution. The

Apologetic Marxists: Yanis Varoufakis and Techno-Feudalism

In 2015, Yanis Varoufakis was appointed Finance Minister of Greece by socialist Premier, Alexis Tsipras. The Euro debt crisis crippled.....

An Election’s A Brewing, Will We See JVP Policy Changes? - EDITORIAL

India’s invitation to the JVP/NPP and its leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake – popularly known as AKD – has made political....

Generals & General Elections: Retired Military Officers in the Politics of SJB and JVP

“The follower is always far behind the winner” emphasizes the idea that those who follow, copy or imitate are usually not as successful....

JVP’s Love-Hate Relationship with India

When Opposition Leader, Sajith Premadasa criticized the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) citing a clause in the latter’s “Policy Declaration” published in 1977 about confiscating “means of production” belonged to private institutions, the leader of the JVP and the National People’s Power (NPP), Anura Kumara Dissanayake advised him to get himself updated as it was a document published about half a century ago when there was a socialist bloc of coun

Darkness in the Midst of a Heatwave

We are in the midst of a heatwave. Temperatures are rising, the days are bright, but for the majority of our people, this is a very dark era. Dark, because they can see no way to break out of the stark poverty-stricken situation they find themselves in. Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country in January 2020, the numbers of people who found themselves out of employment rose to an astounding 500,000, according to figures provided by the Centr

The Kaithady Explosion that Rocked the LTTE on Valentine’s Day

“The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry,” penned the Scottish bard, Robert Burns in his poem, “To A Mouse”. This truth was brought home in an explosive manner to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), 37 years ago, when a massive explosion rocked the Kaithady area in the Thenmaratchi division of the Jaffna peninsula.

When the ‘Weight’ of Bread is Too Much to Bear! - EDITORIAL

The study of the history of bread in Sri Lanka provides us with an interesting story. Despite Sri Lankan homes trying to dissuade eating bread - stating that such foods invite disease early in life...

Covering Gaza: The imperialistic media deception

Do as I say, not as I do. This is the mantra with which the imperialist West keeps its colonial or neo-colonial projects going. This duplicity is also evident in the imperialists’ media policy. Often....

Racism Degrades both the Perpetrator and the Victim

Opening a new session of Parliament on Wednesday, President Ranil Wickremesinghe outlined a policy statement, amid indications that the country is recovering from one of its worst economic and debt crises, but whole lot of other issues need to be tackled, including the disruptive factor of racial discrimination which has plagued Sri Lanka since independence in 1948. In this area, there were and still are several issues – Tamil Congress leader, G.

New Delhi Focuses On Exploring Unknown NPP

There was a time when people in this island nation feared the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). That was a time known as the ‘insurgency’. We saw the worst of this insurgency in the late 1980s, and this was a time when there was an Indian Peace Keeping Force in this island; sent here to help the Sri Lankan security forces in the fight against terrorism. Fast forward the clock to 2024, and now the JVP has grown to form an alliance (National People