Among Tamils Who Blame Him For Disappearances by Lauren Frayer, National Public Radio, Washington, DC, November 14, 2019 <iframe src=”https://www.npr.org/player/embed/778638245/779041626″ width=”100%” height=”290″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” title=”NPR embedded audio player”></iframe> On a roadside in northern Sri Lanka, a dozen women in bright-colored saris squat in the shade of an open canvas tent, waving tattered photographs at passing… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
The Lesser Evil?
by Viruben Nandakumar, Tamil Guardian, London, November 11, 2019 In the lead up to the Sri Lankan Presidential election 16 November, both Sinhala and Tamil political commentators have quipped that this election is a clear cut choice between “two evils” and have insisted on drawing parallels to the 2015 and 2005 elections. These commentators have… Read more »
Still No Choice
Tamil Guardian editorial, London, November 4, 2019 Artwork by Keera Ratnam. As Sri Lanka gears up for a presidential election in just a few weeks time, Tamils on the island find themselves faced with a familiar decision. Almost five years after an election that was hailed as the dawn of a new era for Sri… Read more »
Civil War Along Ethnoreligious Lines
by Berkley Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, August 1, 2013 This case study addresses the underlying ethnic and religious tensions behind the Sri Lankan Civil War (1983-2009), a conflict led by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) on behalf of the Hindu Tamil minority against the Sri Lankan government and the Buddhist Sinhalese majority…. Read more »
TNA on 2019 Presidential Election
http://tnapolitics.org/
Lurking Fears of Tamils After Presidential Election
On November 16, 2019 by Thambu Kanagasabai, LLM [Lond.] Former Lecturer in Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, November 9, 2019 The Presidential election on November 16, 2019 will usher in a new President, either Gotabaya Rajapaksha or Sajith Premadasa. Intensive campaign with promises suiting the locations and people are pouring from candidates to woo… Read more »
Sri Lanka’s Presidential Election & the True Face of the TNA
by Kumarathasan Rasingam, November 7, 2019 The cat is finally out of the bag. The secretly well-kept decision of TNA to back Sajith Premadasa of the United National Party is now disclosed 10 days before the election, after playing the hide and seek and cat and mouse games. TNA leadership particularly Sumanthiran and Sampanthan have… Read more »
Sri Lankan Clan With Close China Ties Plots Political Comeback
The Rajapaksa family’s prior rule was stained by allegations of human-rights violations and corruption, sparking worries in Western capitals by Saeed Shah, The Wall Street Journal, New York, November 7, 2019 COLOMBO, Sri Lanka—A controversial political dynasty that made Sri Lanka a centerpiece of China’s efforts to expand its influence in Asia and defeated an… Read more »
A Belated Recognition of Genocide by the House
For too long, Turkey bullied America into silence. Not anymore. by Samantha Power, The New York Times, October 29, 2019 On Tuesday, by a vote of 405 to 11, the House of Representatives defied the Turkish government’s intimidation and, for the first time in 35 years, passed a resolution that recognized the Armenian genocide. In acknowledging… Read more »
Public Administration and Minority Language
The Case of District Administration in Amparai, Sri Lanka by Mohammad Agus Yusoff, Athambawa Sarjoon, Nordin Hussin & Azmi Awang, Public Administration Research; Canada, Vol. 4, No. 2; October 2015 ISSN 1927-517x E-ISSN 1927-5188 Abstract Even though minorities have gained international linguistic recognition, accepting and admitting minority languages in public affairs has been a contested issue in many countries. In… Read more »
The Internal and International Dimensions of Sri Lanka’s Presidential Elections
A Gotabaya Rajapaksa presidency will have serious repercussions for both Sri Lanka’s internal governance as well as its international partnerships. by Ana Pararajasingham, ‘The Diplomat,’ Washington, DC, October 23, 2019 On November 16, Sri Lankans will go to the polls to elect their next president. Although more than 30 candidates have nominated themselves, the contest… Read more »
In Simple Terms, the Choice is Between Dictatorship & Democracy
Presidential election 2019 by Jayadeva Uyangoda, Sunday Observer, Colombo, October 19, 2019 With the presidential election campaign now well underway, it appears that the contest is between the two main candidates, Sajith Premadasa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa. In the absence of scientific polling in Sri Lanka, no credible voter sentiment analysis is available. Therefore we are… Read more »
World Bank: Making (De)centralization Work
by World Bank, Washington, DC, October 13, 2019 See Chief Economist for South Asia video summary here Full report here In a focus section, the report highlights how, as their economies become more sophisticated, South Asian countries have made decentralization a priority to improve the delivery of public services. With multiple initiatives underway across the… Read more »
Sri Lanka Presidential Hopeful Says Won’t Honor Deal with UN
by Krishan Francis | AP in The Washington Post, October 15, 2019 COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A former Sri Lankan defense chief who is a front-runner in next month’s presidential election said Tuesday that if he wins, he won’t recognize an agreement the government made with the U.N. human rights council to investigate alleged war crimes during… Read more »
Identity, Choices and Crisis
A Study of Muslim Political Leadership in Sri Lanka by ARM Imtiyaz, Journal of Asian and African Studies 48(1) 47 –63, 2012 Identity_Choices_and_Crisis_A_Study_of_M Abstract This study attempts to understand the choices made by Muslim political leaders in general, and after independence in particular. Muslim leadership has been broadly classified into two categories based on their… Read more »
Tamil Parties in North-East Stipulate ‘Acid Test’ Terms to SL Presidential Candidates
by TamilNet, October 14, 2019 The demands translated from Tamil to English follow: New constitutional processes that uphold unitary system of rule should be rejected. The Tamil national question of Ilangkai [Ceylon] must be resolved through a federal framework with the realisation that Tamils constitute a nation with distinct sovereignty and that nation is entitled… Read more »
Came Forward for the Rights of Minorities
– M.K. Sivajilingam by Morning Leader, Colombo, october 13, 2019 Sivajilingam told The Sunday Morning that it is high time a candidate was put forward to fight for the rights of the minorities. Below are excerpts of his interview with The Sunday Morning: What made you decide to contest the presidential election? This is the… Read more »
Do You Think The Tamil Ethnic Question Would Ever Be Solved?
by C.V. Wigneswaran, Colombo Telegraph, October 14, 2019 C.V. Wigneswaran Someone asked: Do you think the Tamil Ethnic question would ever be solved and all Sri Lankans could travel along a common path to peace and prosperity? My response was: Yes of course! The time is ripe now for the resolving of the so called… Read more »
Why was Ranil Politically Assassinated by Prabha in 2005?
by KKS Perera, Daily Mirror, Colombo, October 14, 2019 Prabhakaran gambled hoping for an easier challenger Ranil’s meek reaction to Dissanayake rhetoric on Karuna and unreliable nature during the peace-talks The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) effectively chose the President of Sri Lanka in 2005. Yes, the Tigers did it – a few… Read more »
The Role of Emerging Technologies in Military Conflicts
by Izumi Nakamitsu, Inter-Press Service (IPS) Izumi Nakamitsu is UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs* STOCKHOLM, Oct 10 2019 (IPS) – Throughout history, technology has transformed armed conflict. The carnage of First World War battlefields is a stark example of what happens when advances in weaponry outpace the normative frameworks around its use. Today, we are experiencing… Read more »