Solution for Somali Piracy has to be found on Land, not at Sea

The SalamaFikira (FP) Group, a leading global security and risk management firm, warned in January, that despite a perceived decline in Somali piracy, recent incidents indicate that the menace has not been eradicated and remains a formidable challenge. By January 2011, 736 people were taken as hostages and 32 ships were captured by pirates. Piracy impeded the delivery of shipments and increased shipping expenses, costing an estimated US $ 6.9 bil

Police Action Alone is Insufficient to Combat Rising Crime - EDITORIAL

Since 2021, there has been a serious uptick in the crime rate in our country. Statistics show criminal activity in our land has seen a dramatic rise since 2021. Data from the Police Department....

Independence and Self-Sufficiency: Co-operation in Times of Crisis

For close to a decade and a half I have been studying co-operatives, particularly as I was preoccupied with questions about the post-war reconstruction of Jaffna. As I watched the failure of development....

Unlocking Independence and Freedom within Yourself

The 76th ‘February 4th’ has passed, marked by four days of aerobatics, consuming considerable aviation fuel and time. This prompts questions about resource usage during such events. The primary....

Will ITAK New Chief, Sritharan put the Tamil Movement on a Radical Path?

Although Jaffna district Member of Parliament, Sivagnanam Sritharan had told the media on what principles he would lead the struggle for the political rights of the Tamil people after being elected...

Dialog Television celebrates Independence weekend by offering access to the full bouquet of channels without any additional charge

Sri Lanka’s #1 Pay-TV service provider, Dialog Television, has announced access to its extensive array of channels at no additional charge to all viewers from 2nd - 5th February 2024, targeting....

SJB Protest Turns Out A Damp Squib

Electioneering is in the air. The usual rounds of protests are commencing. The NPP/JVP combine commenced their programme to ‘educate’ the electorate of issues at hand some time ago. On Tuesday, the main opposition party (SJB) held what it expected to be a massive demonstration against the ‘Online Safety Bill’ (OSB), the imposition of taxes, various price hikes and a skyrocketing cost of living. The party expected to bring into Colombo 50,000 p

Celebrating the Deaths of ‘Others’

How did you feel when the news about the tragic death of State Minister Sanath Nishantha first reached you? Did it make you feel sorrow or happy? Indeed, we all might have felt either one of the two, though sometimes we might have regretted rejoicing over the tragedy later. There is a debate now going on in social media over celebrating deaths, after the same social media circulated a lot of cheery posts on the death of Sanath Nishantha. The gene

Fund cuts for UNRWA point to a clash of civilisations

Peace-loving people worldwide are probably sick and tired of seeing and hearing the triumph of evil and injustice. Each time they hoped for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip so that the besieged...

Being Used in a Nation that Forgets - EDITORIAL

Sri Lankans are known for forgetting their history fast. This piece of writing is not about dementia or amnesia. It’s about history that fades away quite fast in our brains, because the subject matter....

Wetlands: Nature’s Sponges, Vital For Our Well-Being

The government last week put through the Online Safety Bill despite protests that it is a drastic step towards curbing dissent. Opposition speakers said that the Supreme Court had proposed 13 changes but they had not been included. They asked the Speaker not to sign the Bill, but the Speaker later announced that the Supreme Court changes had been included and he would sign it. While focusing on issues such as online safety, the government in thi

Wanted: An Authentic Minister of Finance Sri Lanka Has Not Had One, For Three And A Half Decades

Congratulations to the Supreme Court for finding three Rajapaksa brothers, two former Central Bank Governors and two former Treasury Secretaries guilty of the sustained economic mismanagement that led to the 2022 economic-cum-debt crisis. The judgement is at the frontier of jurisprudence. There is no precedent for this kind of ruling about such a broad and complex policy question. But the incompetence was so gross and visible that the court could

76 Years of Independence - Looking Back in Retrospect - EDITORIAL

Sunday, 4th February will mark 76 years since our country gained independence from the British. Unlike India and Pakistan....

Sanath Nishantha and the Cheapness of Politics in Our Times

State Minister Sanath Nishantha Perera, at his death, upsurged another bout of deep political polarization in the country....

“Yukthiya” Cannot Succeed without the Cooperation of the Masses

No law abiding person who wants a country free of crimes and the drug menace would belittle or discourage a campaign launched by the authorities to accomplish that purpose. In the same breath, on the very ground of being a law-abiding person, he/she would not like to see the campaign tarnished by possible or apparent personal agendas of anyone or any group and the highhanded activities of the personnel on the ground. Despite questions posed by

The Contribution of Siam and Burma to Buddhism in Sri Lanka

It is well known that monks from Siam and Burma (as Thailand and Myanmar were called earlier) helped stem a decline in the practice of Buddhism, and contributed to its democratization in Sri Lanka during certain periods in the island’s history. The circumstances which necessitated help from Siam and Burma, the process of securing such help, the role of the Dutch in it, and the results of foreign involvement are vividly described by Auckland Univ

Horton and Arunachalam: a Distinct Disparity in Significance

The Article titled ‘Choosing between Robert Wilmot Horton and Ponnambalam Arunachalam’ regarding the change of street name....

The Online Safety Act; For Whose Safety? - EDITORIAL

On 18 September 2023, the government gazetted a draft bill to establish an Online Safety Act with defined powers and....

Decoding Complexity: Implementing Systems Thinking in Decision-Making

Systems thinking has been an academic school of thought used in engineering, policy-making and more recently adapted by businesses....

From Wijeweera to AKD - Changing Faces of the JVP

Election fever is in the air. Whether it be in the south with over 70 percent of the population or the Northern Province (which is home to the largest minority), elections are a hot topic. In the south, three political parties - namely the National People’s Power (an alliance of individuals and organisation centred around the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna - JVP), the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and the United National Party (UNP) have named their ca

Can The New ITAK Leader Help Bring About Reconciliation?

Many in the south seem to confuse the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) with the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), the group that can be considered to be the main Tamil political party in the country, especially in the north. This confusion was evident by the news items carried by some of the south based newspapers on the election of the Leader of the ITAK last Sunday (January 21). Some Sinhala newspapers said that Sivagnanam Sritharan was elected

The Attack on ITAK Jaffna MP, Shritharan in Anuradhapura

The media spotlight is focused to a great extent on Jaffna District Parliamentarian, Sivagnanam Shritharan these days. The 55 year old former school principal has been elected as the President of Sri Lanka’s premier Tamil political party, the Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi (ITAK) known in English as the Federal Party (FP). Shritharan has been elected an MP continuously since 2010. Shritharan contested the ITAK Presidential election on a pro-LTTE pl

Guns and Sri Lankan ‘Roses’ - EDITORIAL

Yesterday was a Poya Day (Duruthu Poya), and people placed flowers in front of Buddha statues all over the country, but we can safely say that roses have not been the favourite of Buddhists. This....

Palestinian crisis: Obstacles on path to two-state solution

As Israel’s inhuman onslaught on the Gaza Strip continues, the talk of a two-state solution is being bandied about by world leaders, especially those from the Global South. Though....

Think Science, Think Peace: Include more Women and Girls

With Sri Lanka struggling to meet its debts and stabilise the economy, vital areas include high technology and the new dimension of the positive aspects of Artificial Intelligence (AI). As in most countries, men dominate these areas, and it is important for developing countries like Sri Lanka to get more women involved, because as a popular say, “Man smart, woman smarter.” So it is, in the case of high technology. On February 11, the United Nati

Looking at Sri Lankan Independence through the eyes of Singapore

In less than two weeks time, Sri Lanka will celebrate its 76th National Independence Day, giving its citizens enough memories to ponder on what kind of ‘independence’ they’ve enjoyed over the years. To begin with, we must ask ourselves the question whether we can afford to remain at home and relax on February 4th? If not, then we must take a quick look at the word ‘independence’, and see whether we can relate to it. Given the present situation i

Why isn’t Lanka’s ‘War on Drugs’, taking on Drug Barons? - EDITORIAL

In December 2023, Public Security Minister, Tiran Alles announced with much fanfare, the launch of ‘Operation Yukthiya’. Within a 22-day spell, authorities apprehended a total of 29,475....

What is the JVP’s Economic Policy?

Hats off to the JVP lady who promised that when the JVP/NPP comes to power, it will legalize prostitution! If Sri Lanka is to undergo the next phase of social revolution, which the JVP promises....

We need a Foolproof Mechanism for Presidential Pardon

Many hailed the recent Supreme Court ruling on the case against the granting of Presidential pardon to former Parliamentarian Duminda Silva who had been convicted for the murder of former Presidential Advisor Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra on October 8, 2011, calling it a landmark judgement. However, their stand on the mater does not seem to be so different than the decision by former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to grant the pardon to Silva. Bot

Choosing between Robert Wilmot Horton and Ponnambalam Arunachalam

Changing names of places and roads bearing the names of foreigners is common in countries that have gained independence from foreign rule. Such changes can be easily justified in some cases where the foreign ruler was despotic, but in others it may be a bit tricky as both personalities may have had significant contributions to their credit. In most cases, the personages displaced are driven into oblivion despite their contribution to society, and