Press freedom, a boon for economic recovery

Sri Lanka ranked 150 out of 180 countries in the 2024 Edition of the Press Freedom Index, published annually by Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontiers - RSF) is a remarkable drop of 15 positions from 135 to 150 when compared to 2023. However, Sri Lanka has been ranked higher than India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. India is ranked 159th, Pakistan 152nd and Bangladesh 165th. Norway is ranked in the top position and Eritrea in the last po

US House passes anti-Semitism curbing Bill as university students turn against Israel

The United States House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed a Bill that would expand the definition of anti-Semitism (anti-Jew). The Bill was passed when university students across the US had risen to condemn Israel’s genocide in Gaza. It now goes to the Senate for consideration. When it becomes law, the “Anti-Semitism Awareness Bill” would allow the US Federal Department of Education to restrict funding and other resources to campuses p

Israel vs. rest of the world – this is worse than Netanyahu thinks

Those who think that those who oppose Israel’s brutal war in Gaza are just Arabs, Iranians and a handful of lefties in Europe ....

Wages and worker rights take back seat on May Day - EDITORIAL

May Day came and went. Yet very few words were spoken regarding working conditions in the country. Strangely, it was the head ....

‘Spanner in the Works’: Proposed Estate Worker Wage Hike in the Balance?

President Ranil Wickremesinghe made a groundbreaking announcement during the May Day rally of the Ceylon Workers....

“Ranil Ralla” : Will Wickremesinghe ride on a winning wave?

May Day was at one time a significant event of the workers, for the workers and by the workers. It is not so nowadays where the working class has been relegated to the back seat. The political class has taken over. The rhetoric however echoes and re-echoes on May Day but the reality is different. The May Day events have been turned into a political exercise where competing political parties engage in a show of strength by mobilising huge crowds.

Message from the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Yoko Kamikawa on her visit to Sri Lanka Japan is confident Sri Lanka will emerge from current crisis -Japanese Foreign Minister

The following is a statement by the Japanese Foreign Minister who is visiting Sri Lanka on a two-day tour from May 4-5.

88/89 Bheeshanaya: A shared bloodbath

If one goes through the social media posts and some of the statements made by the politicians in the mainstream media for the past few days about the dark period of 1988/89, he would definitely be at a loss to imagine the United National Party (UNP) governments under Presidents J.R.Jayewardene and Ranasinghe Premadasa to have suppresse

Gaza genocide: ICC’s credibility is at stake

Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the sometimes tacit and sometimes overt support it gets from the United States and other pro-Zionist Western states have exposed the charade....

Can an eight-hour shift vouch prosperity? - EDITORIAL

The May Day rallies held across the country on Wednesday were significant from a workers’ point of view unlike ever before because all potential presidential candidates have....

World press freedom day: The rights and the wrongs

Historically and traditionally, democracy’s four pillars have been the Executive, legislature, judiciary and the press or media. In recent years, social media has also come to the scene largely with dramatic reports, some of which are alternative facts, twisted reports or outright lies, as we see. The United States’ Republican Party Presidential candidate, Donald Trump, is seeking re-election in November while he faces more than a hundred crimin

Navigating SOE reforms in an election year

Sri Lanka’s current State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) reforms coincide with an unprecedented economic crisis and the 2024 election year. The economic crisis heightens the need for reforms, but the election timing dictates that privatization should be off the table for now. Instead, reforms should focus now on fixing management, transparency, competition, and regulation. This will substantially improve the value of these SOEs to investors as well as so

Implement Premadasa’s policies to overcome current economic crisis

As one who had the opportunity to serve as the Chairman and Director General of the Greater Colombo Economic Commission and later converted to the Board of Investment....

May Day: Not capitalism, but dogmatism has almost killed trade union movement

Rarely any other time, save the campaign rallies, would the politicians speak so passionately about labour rights as they would today, the International Workers’ Day. But, in this quirky interest....

Are doctors’ unions making threats again? - EDITORIAL

The doctors in our country seem to be girding up their loin cloths for a possible fight with the government in the aftermath of a government decision to set up a medical faculty at the ‘National....

A call to end ‘Corporal Punishment’ and create a fear-free childhood

Today, I stand at the intersection of corporate leadership and social responsibility, deeply reflecting on the vital role we play in shaping a society that cherishes and protects its most vulnerable members—our children. Today, 30 April, is the International Day to End Corporal Punishment and I invite you to join me on a journey of reflection, action and commitment towards eradicating this deep-rooted societal ill. Addressing our biases A study

What’s wrong in having private medical education?

The government made two important decisions recently on medical education in the country. One was to establish a medical faculty at the National School of Business Management (NSBM) in Homagama and the other was to enroll local students at the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University to pursue medical degrees. Cabinet spokesman Bandula Gunawardena said on March 12 that the proposed medical faculty would come under the direct supervision and

Early Buddhism’s links with urbanisation and commerce

In sixth century BC, Buddhism thrived in the Gangetic Plain in North India due to urbanisation and the development of trade. According to the renowned scholar of Buddhism in India, Balkrishna Govind Gokhale, Buddhism began to decline in India when urbanisation and trade yielded place to feudalism. In his paper in the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies (Vol Number 2, 1982, University of Wisconsin Madison), Gokhale says th

Law reforms stagnate in Lanka while world marks global Day to End Corporal Punishment

Corporal punishment affects over 1.3 billion children worldwide and is the most common form of child abuse globally and in Sri Lanka, where complaints of cruelty against children have increased by three-fold in the past ten years. As the world celebrates and respective governments pledge to do more to abolish a heinous crime against children on International Day to End Corporal Punishment on April 30th, neither the Government of Sri Lanka nor

If you don’t like to say genocide, think of it as mass murder

When Israel launched a massive bombardment of the Gaza Strip in retaliation to the Hamas cross-border attack on Oct 7, 2023, I had divided sympathies, especially in view of the atrocities....

May Day and the plight of Lankan workers - EDITORIAL

This Wednesday is May Day, a day set apart to commemorate the struggles and gains made by workers and labour movements the world over. Very sadly, in our country, workers’ day has been usurped....

Dishonouring May day’s Haymarket Mayhem Heroes on May 1

The Haymarket affair, which occurred in Chicago 138 years ago, marked a significant moment where labour protests advocating for an eight-hour workday turned violent, resulting in the deaths of several....

Sri Lanka: A preferred haven for European senior citizens seeking serenity

While the concept of permanent tourism may seem novel, its implications for countries like Sri Lanka are profound. Unlike traditional short-term visitors, permanent....

Ranil’s evolving strategy to win 2024 presidential poll

The first part of this article published in the “Daily Mirror” on April 20, 2024 under the heading “Ranil Wickremesinghe caravan moves on despite barking dogs” evoked a lot of reader responses. In a climate of Ranil-bashing, many seem to be happy that Wickremesinghe’s courageous decision to accept the challenge of leading the country on the road to economic recovery and the limited yet commendable progress achieved by his Government has been ack

The SLFP mess; for whose benefit?

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leaders who had been imprisoned for their involvement in the 1971 Insurrection followed an untraditional strategy subsequent to their release from prison in 1977, in their pursuit of political power. They, instead of mainly encountering the United National Party (UNP), the then ruling party, chose first to attack the leftist parties which were the third force then, to capture that position and then take on the

A common sense alternative

I hope to convince the reader that despite some of the commentary, Sri Lanka is not on the road to recovery. Numerous predictably dysfunctional policies with questionable....

Israel’s US-backed genocide in Gaza, 200 days on

What horrible times are we living in? “Never again” was the resolve that led to the formation of a rules-based world order in the aftermath of World War II, in which some 80 million people....

Death on the racetrack - EDITORIAL

The tragic motor car accident that snuffed out the lives of seven people and injured over 20 people must be reviewed critically. At the time of writing this column only two drivers...

Politicking on the Easter Sunday massacre at its 5th anniversary

Five years ago, on Easter Sunday, a group of local Islamists carried out coordinated suicide attacks targeting three churches and tourist hotels, killing over 270 worshipers and tourists and wounding 500 others. The fifth anniversary of that heinous crime, which fell last Sunday (April 21), turned out to be a sordid display of politicking by the political parties, the catholic clergy and other usual culprits, who claim to campaign for justice for

Girls in ICT and political leadership roles

While most Sri Lankan politicians and the people are focused on elections—what elections and when or whether they will be held—it is more important to give attention and priority to issues such as gender equality. It is especially important to focus on the role of women in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the upcoming technological revolution that could manifest through areas like artificial intelligence. Today, the United Natio