The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

Columns

Political Column

The urgent telephone call came to President Mahinda Rajapaksa when he was on an official visit to Ukraine. The caller was Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Maldives. He urged Rajapaksa to use his good offices to resolve a deepening political crisis in his country.

5th Column

Time is short; life is precious!

For instance, just this week, first there was GLP losing the GSP. Well, you can hardly understand what he says at the best of times, but first he tells us that we don’t need the GSP and that we can survive without it. Then he visits the European Union, pleading for it. Then, when he loses it, he says, it doesn’t matter. That’s a bit confusing, isn’t it, Mahinda maama, even for an absent minded professor?

The Economic Analysis

Good financial management needed with or without IMF

One of the criticisms of the budget was that it followed IMF policies. These were described by some in the opposition as following neo classical liberal policies. Ironically the 1977 liberalisation of the economy that the UNP ushered in were basically neo classical liberal economic policies with a few adaptations. What is sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander! It is one thing when in government another when in opposition.

Lobby

Death fasts and double-edged politics

With an almost two third majority in Parliament, getting the Budget passed was an easy task for the ruling UPFA but the committee stage debate was somewhat a stormy affair with a barrage of opposition criticism levelled at the government for mishandling the economy, curbing media freedom and bungling the country’s foreign relations.

Focus on Rights

Our destructively defensive mode

It is a fact that much of the criticisms now leveled against Sri Lanka by international human rights actors have also been consistently levelled against states seen to be habitual violators of international human rights norms, including Israel. This is something that we need to remind ourselves of, if we are not to be trapped in a destructively defensive mode.

Talk at the Cafe Spectator

Who were the booruwas?

Playing cards at a funeral is a rural custom. The idea is to help visitors in a funeral house to keep awake through the night. At a funeral this week in Nugegoda, the card game turned to what was termed ‘booruwa’ or ‘asking-hitting.’ It was for money.