http://www.sundaytimes.lk Official website of the Sunday Times Newspaper in Sri Lanka Sat, 22 Nov 2025 20:05:09 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://www.sundaytimes.lk/251123/columns/medicine-shortages-online-safety-act-raised-during-health-and-mass-media-ministry-expenditure-debate-622163.html 23 November 2025 @ 12:28 am [caption id= quot;attachment_622164 quot; align= quot;alignright quot; width= quot;200 quot; caption= quot;Health and Mass Media Minister Dr Nalinda Jayatissa quot;] lt;img class= quot;size-full wp-image-622164 quot; title= quot;Nalinda-jayatissa quot; src= quot;http://sundaytimes.lk/251123/uploads/2025/11/Nalinda-jayatissa.jpg quot; alt= quot; quot; width= quot;200 quot; height= quot;249 quot; / ... http://www.sundaytimes.lk/251123/columns/northern-governor-slams-officials-ngos-for-failure-to-uplift-people-622128.html 23 November 2025 @ 12:03 am The Northern Province administration had been taken to task by residents and civil society members in the past for being inefficient and lethargic for obvious reasons. It was a damning moment when Northern Province Governor and former District Secretary N. Vedhanayahan publicly criticised senior officials in the higher rungs of the provincial officialdom, saying they were clinging to their seat... http://www.sundaytimes.lk/251123/columns/spotlight-on-namal-as-joint-opposition-rally-makes-waves-with-first-salvo-622121.html 22 November 2025 @ 11:49 pm lt;p align= quot;center quot; gt; lt;strong gt; nbsp; lt;/strong gt; lt;/p gt; lt;ul gt; lt;li gt; lt;em gt; lt;strong gt;Meeting held amid obstacles mdash; restrictions on the use of loudspeakers, a power cut, and inclement weather; Mahinda and Ranil notable absentees lt;/strong gt; lt;/em gt; lt;/li gt; lt;li gt; lt;em gt; lt;strong gt;Govt. members dismiss the meeting as having lit... http://www.sundaytimes.lk/251123/columns/rallying-force-622117.html 22 November 2025 @ 11:45 pm lt;p style= quot;text-align: left; quot; align= quot;center quot; gt;My dear Mahinda lt;em gt;maama lt;/em gt;, lt;/p gt; lt;p style= quot;text-align: left; quot; gt;I am writing to send you belated birthday wishes as you celebrate your 80th birthday. I thought I would see you at Nugegoda because you said in Kandy that you would attend, but you weren rsquo;t there. Here rsquo;s hoping many mor... http://www.sundaytimes.lk/251123/columns/right-turn-reflections-on-change-in-govt-s-economic-policies-621993.html 22 November 2025 @ 9:53 pm lt;p style= quot;text-align: left; quot; align= quot;center quot; gt;The debate on the second reading of the JVP/NPP government rsquo;s second budget dwelt on many diverse issues. As usual, many of the speeches had no relevance to the budget. lt;/p gt; lt;strong gt;Policy change lt;/strong gt; One issue that was raised by opposition members was whether the JVP/NPP government rsquo;s economic... http://www.sundaytimes.lk/251123/columns/a-beachfront-cafe-and-a-buddha-statue-trincomalee-simmers-or-does-it-really-621988.html 22 November 2025 @ 9:50 pm lt;p style= quot;text-align: left; quot; align= quot;center quot; gt;In Sri Lanka, where engineered lsquo;community tensions rsquo; can erupt out of the blue, so to speak and as suddenly subside, it was no surprise to see that, just two days after the so-called lsquo;unrest rsquo; in Trincomalee this week between local monks aggravated by the rhetoric of political monks further aggravated by po... http://www.sundaytimes.lk/251123/columns/fair-pay-for-mps-a-cornerstone-of-clean-governance-voluntarism-leads-to-dysfunctional-governance-621954.html 22 November 2025 @ 9:07 pm In the heat of the last Presidential and Parliamentary elections, few issues stirred public emotion as strongly as the question of political entitlements. Years of waste, privilege, and impunity had left voters deeply resentful of those in power. Against this backdrop, the National People rsquo;s Power (NPP) entered the campaign with a message that appealed to public anger: politicians, they argue... http://www.sundaytimes.lk/251123/columns/buddha-statue-episode-could-well-have-set-the-country-afire-621927.html 22 November 2025 @ 8:20 pm More than two thousand years ago, the Buddha was asked by his chief disciple whether he could erect a statue of the Buddha for the benefit of those who came to worship him in his absence from the grove where he usually dwelled. The Buddha rsquo;s response to Ananda was a firm lsquo;no rsquo;. He said to Ananda, lsquo;Do not erect statues of me, Ananda, for statues will only divert them fro... http://www.sundaytimes.lk/251123/columns/turning-this-nation-into-a-vassal-state-621921.html 22 November 2025 @ 8:18 pm Speaking at the budget debate the other day, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath announced how within a year in office Sri Lanka had entered into 70 MoUs with countries across the globe. Though he did not employ the rhetorical skill of one of our distinguished foreign ministers, Lakshman Kadirgamar, perhaps for lack of the skills that the late foreign minister used during his time, including in bil...