by Wakeley Paul; published March 12, 2004 IRAQ AND SRI LANKA: COMPARED, CONTRASTED AND ANALOGIZED Bernard Lewis, the scholar of Islam, wraps his political opinions on Iraq in a historical blanket. They have never had a democratic tradition, he argues, therefore democracy will be an ill advised imposition of a political system upon a people who… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Politics
Email Campaigning
by A Colombo Resident; published March 12, 2004 E-mail campaigning is on in this election. Up to the last election they used the fax. Buddhist monks are also campaigning using e-mail. Here is a sample…just for fun!! The extra benefits of voting for the Sangha. Today giving a dana or inviting a monk in Colombo and… Read more »
Amnesty’s Concerns re Sri Lanka
TO: Ambassador Devinda Subasinghe, Embassy of Sri Lanka FROM: Jim McDonald, Sri Lanka Country Specialist, Amnesty International USA RE: UN Human Rights Committee’s concluding observations DATE: February 24, 2004 On December 1 of last year, the U.N. Human Rights Committee issued its concluding observations (the “Observations”) on Sri Lanka’s fourth and fifth periodic reports under… Read more »
Facts & Opinions About American Elections
by Wakeley Paul; USA, published March 9, 2004 SOME FACTS AND OPINIONS ABOUT THE ON COMING AMERICAN ELECTIONS: HOW DOES IT AND CAN IT AFFECT EELAM? I am sure my views do not meet with [the editor’s] approval and are therefore highly controverial from an average Tamil viewpoint. That is what makes it interesting. It should… Read more »
Iraq Shiites Fail to Sign Charter
by Dexter Filkins; The New York Times, March 6, 2004 Iraqi Shiites, in a Blow to U.S., Fail to Sign Temporary Charter The article in the temporary constitution now in dispute deals with the ratification of the permanent constitution, which is supposed to be written sometime next year. According to language agreed on this week, the permanent… Read more »
Franchise Denied
by Tamil Guardian Editorial; published March 6, 2004 Franchise Denied: The Tamil vote has been thwarted – again As Sri Lankans go to vote at their third parliamentary elections in the space of five years, large sections of the Tamil people are once again to be hampered in exercising their right to vote. As at the… Read more »
Pay Any Price?
by Janadas Devan; The Straits Times, Singapore, March 5, 2004 http://www.straitstimes.asia1.com/columnist/0,1886,145-238457,00.html? LAST year, as United States forces were conquering Iraq, Middle East expert Bernard Lewis attacked those who thought US plans to install democracy in Iraq were bound to fail. Janadas Devan They think Arabs aren’t ready for democracy, he said accusingly. He, on the other… Read more »
Lions vs. Tigers
by Kopel, Gallant & Eisen; March 3, 2004 What is particularly interesting about this article is that, because of the distinct ideological position of the authors – weapons in the hands of ordinary citizens are a requirement for freedom – , the conclusion reached is different from the usually monolithic Western viewpoint on the Sri Lankan… Read more »
Election Cartoon
Published March 3, 2004
Sri Lanka Scene: Peace Cry to Win Votes
by T. Sabaratnam; Colombo, March 1, 2004 Weekly Review Now, the battle is to win votes with a peace cry. President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe are competing with each other to show to the electorate that their government would be in a better position to usher in permanent peace in Sri Lanka. In… Read more »
Dynasty Strikes
by The Action Group of Tamils; Kotte, Sri Lanka, February 22, 2004 The Sinhala President Chandrika Kumaratunga is locked in a personal power struggle with Sinhala Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe. We, The Action Group of Tamils (TAGOT), had anticipated Kumaratunga’s shenanigans almost two years ago. In our Press Release of 18 March 2002, we said she… Read more »
Letter to the International Community
by Dr. Victor Rajakulendran; published March 2, 2004 An open letter to the International CommunityPresidents Prime Ministers Foreign Ministers and Foreign Secretaries of Democratic Nations Your Excellencies Re: Parliamentary Elections in Sri Lanka As you all may be aware, due to the political bickering between Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranayake Kumarathunga (CBK) and Prime Minister Ranil… Read more »
Political Bifurcation Inevitable
by Taraki; Daily Mirror, Colombo, February 27, 2004 Polarization of political forces inevitable The Parliamentary power equation after the April 2 general elections is set to sharply reflect an acute polarization of political forces in Sri Lanka. The seats in Parliament are going to be divided mainly between two fundamentally distinct political formations. On the one… Read more »
The Lion & His Shadow
by Rajkumar Sivapathan; originally published February 27, 2004 School children from all over the world study great stories of how an arrogant lion demanded one animal per day from the inmates of the forest and eventually was tricked and killed by a small hare. It is no doubt that leaders of the world would have read… Read more »
Mind Your Own Business
by Wakeley Paul; originally published February 27, 2004 “WHY DON¹T YOU MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS” says Lakshman Kadirgamar to Deputy British Foreign Secretary What does this portend? The situation in SL sends the shivers up the affluent; the Tamils and the international community interested in continuing the peace process which was begun by the UNF and… Read more »
Will the Election Solve the Impasse?
by Dr. Victor Rajakulendran; originally published February 26, 2004 Will President Chandrika Bandaranayake Kumarathunga’s snap election solve the current political impasse in Sri Lanka? Background of the impasse Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranayake Kumaratunga (CBK) and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesighe (RW) have been locked in a power struggle for months. The feud reached a climax last… Read more »
Kurds Demand Vote on Independence
By Barbara Plett, BBC, February 25, 2004 BBC correspondent in Baghdad Kurdish activists have collected 1.7 million signatures on a petition demanding a referendum on the future of northern Iraq’s Kurdish region. For the past decade, Kurds have ruled their own affairs, out of the reach of former strongman Saddam Hussein. Their status in the… Read more »
Tamil Aspirations and Traitors
R Shanmugananthan, originally published February 24, 2004 The recent editorial in the Tamil Guardian on ‘Expressing Tamil Aspirations’ at the forthcoming elections is timely. Though greed of the Sinhala politicians – and in particular Chandrika Kumaratunge – is the reason for this election, the outcome will have far reaching consequences. Firstly the way Sinhalese people will vote… Read more »
The “New World Order” and Tamils – a Comment
by Rajkumar Sivapathan; February 12, 2004 The events in the past couple of years have changed the life style and attitude of most people in the world. The attack on WTC and the events followed affected many people. The main thing that affected the Tamils was the hurried inclusion of the LTTE, the only organisation that struggles… Read more »
Open Letter to President & PM
by Dr. Victor Rajakulendran; originally published February 24, 2004 An open letter to Sri Lankan President and the Prime Minister February 12, 2004 Her Excellency, Chandrika Bandaranayake Kumarathunga The President of Sri Lanka His Excellency, Ranil Wickramasinghe The Caretaker Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Your Excellencies Re: The current political crisis Your Excellency the President, you… Read more »