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As Fonseka continues tirade, here are some dramatic revelations

As Fonseka continues tirade, here are some dramatic revelations

Former President removed him from post of Army Commander because he was planning to arrest Jagath Jayasuriya House leader says Field Marshal’s war crimes claim a personal opinion, but it sparks controversy SLFP insists executive presidency must remain and seeks not to enhance PM’s powers The Sri Lankan who won bouquets and brickbats worldwide for [...]

Tied down in all the wrong places

Tied down in all the wrong places

My dear Lalith, I thought I must write to you when I heard the news that you had been sent to prison for one and a half years for something that you are supposed to have done while you were serving as Mahinda maama’s secretary a few years ago. I am told that you were [...]

Have we reached a turning point in our export performance?

Have we reached a turning point in our export performance?

Are we seeing the end of the gloomy trade tunnel? Does the four consecutive months of increasing export earnings mean that we have reached a turning point in our export performance? This depends on whether export earnings will continue to increase in the second half of the year. A continued surge in exports could reduce [...]

Tilting windmills at blathering politicians is no answer to rule of law failures

Tilting windmills at blathering politicians is no answer to rule of law failures

A former Army Commander or two jousting before the television cameras for sport, alleging war crimes against each other, is a seducing sight for public consumption. But this is not what the crisis of justice in Sri Lanka is all about. No political or military leader can plead absolution Indeed, these deeply cynical games distract [...]

Baring it all seems unbearable to MPs sans Code of Conduct

Baring it all seems unbearable to MPs sans Code of Conduct

Parliamentarians are easily irked by bad press, which is why MPs often raise privilege issues in the House to put the record right on reports that show them in bad light. This week one such issue cropped up over media reports of a large number of MPs’ failure to submit their assets and liabilities declaration [...]

Akila’s workless jobs: Driver for school without vehicle, cooks without kitchen

Akila’s workless jobs: Driver for school without vehicle, cooks without kitchen

Offering jobs and ensuring votes at the next elections are standard operating rules for politicians. Otherwise, they will not be able to return to Parliament.Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, who represents the Kurunegala District, is just one such politician who follows this dictum to the hilt. No harm, one would say, since job opportunities are [...]

Crime and Punishment: The White Cloth scandal

Crime and Punishment: The White Cloth scandal

As the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s permanent secretary Lalith Weeratunga was ignominiously led out of the court room on Thursday, hand manacled to his partner in crime Anusha Pelpita, former Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, and bundled into the Black Maria to transport them to the Welikada prison, perhaps, the last words King [...]

Such clever chaps run our palanaya

Such clever chaps run our palanaya

Who wants education qualifications to make laws for our nation when those who have made them much of the time have done so without the paper certificates? Readers might remember that earlier this year a former chancellor of Peradeniya University lamented that 94 of Sri Lanka’s current crop of MPs do not have the GCE [...]

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