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With a no-confidence motion being launched against Prime Minister and Education Minister Harini Amarasuriya in Parliament over the controversy of the school book for Grade Six, one of the opposition political parties, the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi, condemned the move and noted the prime minister is subjected to hate speech both online and offline by lawmakers, discrediting her name and office.

Following the stand taken by the party, the party’s Parliamentary Committee, led by leader S. Shritharan, met PM Amarasuriya in the House, but they had something different on the agenda to discuss. They took up the issue of how Tamil history and facts related to the Tamil community are excluded from the textbooks for schoolchildren.

They urged the PM to appoint a committee consisting of academics from universities in the North, East and Peradeniya to revise the textbooks and include Tamil history and significant events in the revised school curriculum.

The MPs also pointed out that Tamil textbooks for Grade 1 include several mistakes due to poor translation and urged her office, in her capacity as Minister of Education, to appoint capable officers to ensure error-free textbooks.

Weather warnings ground northern fishermen; Tamil Nadu looters have a field day

In keeping up with the weather advisory issued by the Department of Meteorology since Wednesday, Northern fisherfolk have stayed away from going to sea due to a fresh depression that emerged in the Bay of Bengal.

However, for the Tamil Nadu mechanised bottom trawlers across the Palk Strait, it was business as usual—three days of fishing in northern waters.

As Mullaitivu fishermen anchored their fibre fishing boats due to rough seas, they witnessed from the shore how the massive Indian bottom trawlers plundered their fishing resources.

Pointing to a lack of action by personnel from a Navy base not far from where the looting was happening, a frustrated fisherman was heard saying to his colleague, “It’s like taking from one hand and giving away from another hand. They (TN fishermen) come and rob our fisheries resources, and then the flood relief for us is also sent.”

Protest against Harini: Gender bias says NPP

While opposition politicians were gathering signatures in the Matugama area yesterday for a public petition against the education reforms, National People’s Power (NPP) MP Nilanthi Kottachchi led a group of women protesting against harassment and a misogynistic attitude towards women in the same town.

This came amid claims that Prime Minister and Education Minister Harini Amarasuriya is facing abusive personal attacks over the textbook controversy because of her gender.

Mahinda’s party draws ex-MPs, lights up SLPP members

After being forced to vacate his official residence on Wijerama Road following the passage of the Presidents’ Entitlements (Repeal) Act last September, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa moved to his private residence at Carlton House in Tangalle.

While those close to Mr Rajapaksa had been looking for a suitable house in Colombo for him to move back to the city, it took some months until such a residence could be found.

The former president, however, was back in Colombo this week as he moved into a new residence on Poorwarama Road, Kirulapone. He hosted a dinner on Monday for former SLPP MPs who supported him.

Among those in attendance were several former MPs; that caused some surprise. They included former ministers Dr Ramesh Pathirana and Anura Priyadarshana Yapa. Dr Pathirana was actively supporting former president Ranil Wickremesinghe, while Mr Yapa now leads the People’s Alliance (PA), which also includes the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). The two spoke cordially with former President Rajapaksa and reminisced about past experiences.

While their attendance does not mean that the two former ministers are going to work with the SLPP, a party source said the presence of the two alone was a source of great strength for the SLPP.

Emblem after emblem; problem after problem

The Public Security Ministry this week fell into a familiar large language model (LLM) pitfall after failing to verify an AI-generated image of Sri Lanka’s official national emblem before publishing it on its website. The distorted emblem replaced the traditional lion with a skewered, goat-like figure, while the Dhamma Chakra above was substituted with seven spherical shapes.

The state emblem that underwent facelifts

The website was taken offline shortly afterwards, and the emblem was replaced — only for another altered version to appear. In this iteration, the Sinhalese heraldic sun symbol at the lower right was warped, with its traditional rays missing. Following widespread online ridicule, the authentic national emblem was restored on Saturday, although the website remains “temporarily unavailable”.

Deputy Public Security Minister Sunil Watagala said the error had taken place when the ministry website was being overhauled and that it has since been corrected.

Wickremesinghe leaving the OGF cinema after watching Sanda Dadayama

Ranil takes to performance art

With the weight of the presidency off his shoulders, former President Ranil Wickremesinghe is taking it easy and keeping himself busy engaging in the arts.

Last Wednesday he attended the screening of Asoka Handagama’s Sanda Dadayama (moon hunt), which was screened at the One Galle Face cinema. On Thursday evening he was spotted watching a Sinhala stage drama at the Lionel Wendt Theatre. He also took time to speak to well-wishers during his outings.

Bill to abolish former MPs’ pensions gazetted

The Minister of Justice this week gazetted the Parliamentary Pensions (Repeal) Bill, which would do away with the pension paid to former MPs.

Under the terms of the bill, any person who is entitled to receive a pension in terms of the provisions of the Parliamentary Pensions Law, No. 1 of 1977, section 9 of Act No. 1 of 1982 or section 9 of Act No. 47 of 1990, will cease to receive such pension once the law is enacted.

Social media comment leads to interdiction

A Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau employee saw red recently when he received a letter stating he had been interdicted from his post.

His crime was that he had posted unflattering statements about his bosses at the Bureau on his social media accounts. An inquiry is pending.

Secretary’s remarks cast doubt on seriousness of education reforms

Along with Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, Education Ministry Secretary Nalaka Kaluwewe is also under attack for lack of oversight in the preparation of new curricula for schools.

He accompanied the Prime Minister when she visited the Malwatte and Asgiri chapter Mahanayakes to explain to them some of the challenges facing the sector.

“I am not an educationist, but these reforms are long overdue. We will not be including any web links in future modules, and we will not repeat whatever mistakes are there,” the secretary said, trying to reassure the chief prelates.

However, his words only exposed that the education reforms have not been given the due consideration and seriousness that the subject deserves in the haste to push through the changes.

Outgoing US Ambassador Julie Chung meeting Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath ahead of her departure

FM hails departing Julie Chung; big farewell bash tomorrow

Outgoing US Ambassador Julie Chung has been busy making farewell calls ahead of her departure from the country on January 16 after serving in Colombo for almost four years.

She called on Foreign Affairs Minister Vijitha Herath this week to bid adieu. The Foreign Minister thanked her for her role in US assistance to the country, particularly during the recent Cyclone Ditwah emergency, and for her swift action in revoking the US State Department’s warning to its citizens in Arugam Bay about a terror threat in October 2023, after the Sri Lankan government provided a security assurance.

The minister noted that she was the most popular US ambassador to serve in Colombo. Ms Chung, who has been a controversial figure during her stay in Colombo, said she has had the rare opportunity of being in Colombo during the tenure of three presidents—Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Ranil Wickremesinghe and the current president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

Before her departure, a grand farewell party has been planned for tomorrow, where politicians and diplomats will mingle with members of Colombo high society. Whether Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in whose ouster from the presidency Ms Chung is said to have played more than a small part, will be among the invitees is anyone’s guess.