January 31, 2005

Headline news

Sri Lanka is a country where journalists lick the boots of big businessmen and politicians. If you read a local daily you might go away thinking that all businessmen in the country are saints, and industries do not pollute or...
Posted by raditha at 12:27 PM

January 30, 2005

Sinhala Literature

Sinhala literature is gasping for breath. The sinhala extremists are always screaming about protecting our cultural heritage from foreign forces. Either this culture no longer exists or it's a lie. Today I went to a book exibition and sale for...
Posted by raditha at 8:44 AM

January 29, 2005

The prime minister is stupid says the first brother

The president's brother Anura, is often a great source of embarrasment for the president and her government. Tbough the president was reported to have said to the newspapers "Anura speaks rubbish", it appears that he does occaisionally speak sense. The...
Posted by raditha at 12:20 PM

January 28, 2005

Windfall for public servants

People who work for the government of Sri Lanka are a pampered lot. Each department is hugely overstaffed and that means they rarely have to do any work, they can simply pass the buck to someone else. The end result...
Posted by raditha at 1:04 PM

January 27, 2005

Red Herrings

The tsunami relief campaign is going forward at a snails pace in some areas. In other areas, nothing has happened so far. The vast state machinery has not moved one inch to help the effected. In the middle of this...
Posted by raditha at 11:56 AM

January 26, 2005

A month after the tsunami.

It's now a month since the tsunami ravaged our coast line with the sad loss thousands of lives. All hopes that we had of rebuilding a better Sri Lanka has now unfortunately faded. The comment by the prime minister that...
Posted by raditha at 2:02 AM

January 25, 2005

Beach Hotels

It was reported in the newspapers that 30 million dollars worth of new hotel projects are on hold because of the government's 300 meters rule. A large number of reconstruction projects of the hotels effected by the tsunami are also...
Posted by raditha at 5:03 AM

January 24, 2005

If you can't beat them join them

"If you can't beat them join them", that sums up the attitude of the country's opposition. The UNP, the main opposition party, has proven with out any doubt that it is incapable of winning elections in this country. So then...
Posted by raditha at 10:01 AM

January 23, 2005

What really happens to the aid

If you are thinking of sending aid to Sri Lanka hold on to your money for the moment. The government of sri lanka has no interest in the well being of it's people much less the well being of the...
Posted by raditha at 2:15 PM

January 22, 2005

Sri Lanka White Eye

Toady I had the fortune of seeing the largest flock of Sri Lanka White Eyes that I have ever seen. The Great Western area, though it's home to a wide variety of birds, did not seem to have a large...
Posted by raditha at 5:14 AM

January 21, 2005

Four Different laws for Four different groups of people

The tsunami has created five different groups of people in the coastal regions of Sri Lanka. 1) People on the west coast - Largely uneffected except for damaged fishing boats. 2) People on the south coast - lost lives and...
Posted by raditha at 1:04 PM

January 20, 2005

No more elections

At the foundation laying ceremony for the new hambantota town, the president has claimed that there will not be another election for another 5 years. When the president makes such utterences they are usually in Sinhala, so that they do...
Posted by raditha at 9:42 AM

January 19, 2005

500 acres falls under the axe

When the president said she wants to make colombo a garden city, I foretold that the trees are doomed Today we see that 500 acres of forest has been cleared to start a new town for hambantota. It would have...
Posted by raditha at 10:18 AM

January 18, 2005

Editor to be arrested

Courts have orded that the Editor of the Sunday Leader, the only newspaper in Sri Lanka with the courage to criticise the government and big businesses should be arrested. No more needs (or can) be said....
Posted by raditha at 10:24 AM

January 17, 2005

Government hampers reconstruction.

Fishermen want to go back the sea. Hotel owners want to open their doors to tourists again. Ordinary people want to rebuild their houses. Unfortunately none of these people can do what they want to do because of the government...
Posted by raditha at 2:24 PM

January 16, 2005

Pongal

Yesterday was pongol day, How different things are this pongal day when you compare with the events of last year. Last year the political situation in the country was very different, the PA and the JVP had just joined their...
Posted by raditha at 5:38 AM

January 15, 2005

Speed Cops and Malkohas

There are no traffic cops in Sri Lanka only speed cops. You can drive from one end of the country to another with your horn blaring and you will not be stopped. You can drive at night either with blazing...
Posted by raditha at 3:36 AM

January 14, 2005

State of Emergency and making hay.

Apparently we are now living under a state of emergency. The government has silently declared emergency status on the 4th of january. No publicity was given at all to the declaration, which is obviously in keeping with the governments policy...
Posted by raditha at 2:46 AM

January 13, 2005

No more wetlands

The president of sri lanka has two great talents, the first is lying with a straight face. The second is her ability to destroy wetlands. Since the tsunami struck, a new rule has been enforced that forbids the construction of...
Posted by raditha at 6:17 AM

January 12, 2005

How often do tsunamis strike?

Sri Lanka, unlike lots of other countries has a recorded history. Though the authors of the mahawahsa, the great chronicle of Sri Lankan have been economical with the truth, it's unlikely that they would have lied about a tsunami striking...
Posted by raditha at 6:12 AM

January 11, 2005

The great land grab and the 300m rule

For decades Sri Lankan politicians have been falling over each other trying to grab state lands. The tsunami has given them an ideal opportunity for them to get hold of a few more acres for their luxury bungalows. We often...
Posted by raditha at 6:02 AM

January 10, 2005

The year that was

Everything else that happened in Sri Lanka 2004 has been overshadowed by the boxing day tsunami but some events are worth recalling lest we forget. The year 2004 dawned with lots of hope. The economy was finally getting back on...
Posted by raditha at 7:41 AM

January 9, 2005

Warne vs Murali and the Tsunami

Until the start of the year the most unpopular sportsman in Australia probably was Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan. The most unpopular sportsman in Sri Lanka was easily Shane Warne. How things have changed after the tsunami. Today were...
Posted by raditha at 2:32 PM

January 8, 2005

In the meantime .....

Now is the time for extra vigilance in Sri Lanka. I am by no means asking that you keep your eyes on the ocean or the siesmograph. That would be a futile excercise as our met dept staff or the...
Posted by raditha at 5:59 AM

January 7, 2005

Tsunami relief: An MP rolls up his sleeves at last

Todays' newspapers carry the first photo (that I have seen) of an MP actually rolling up his sleeves and getting to work in the disaster area. Sri Lankan members of parliament are a pampered lot. They never do any work...
Posted by raditha at 8:33 AM

January 6, 2005

Tsunami a Boon for SL Government.

It's hard to believe that a disaster which resulted in more than 150,000 deaths can be a boon for anyone, but all around us you can see people profiting from it, none more than the government of Sri Lanka. Just...
Posted by raditha at 2:05 AM

January 5, 2005

A Tidal Wave of Stupidity.

Around 40,000 people have died due to the combined stupidity of the meterogical deparment and geological and mineral bearau. Had the employees of these organizations been vigilant thousands of lives could have been saved. Just after the tsunami struck Sri...
Posted by raditha at 9:15 AM

January 4, 2005

What does the JVP think of Norway now?

The war mongering JVP (a formet terrorist organization, now one of the partners in the goverment) has been carrying out protest campaigns against Norway's involvement in the peace process. For nearly three years they have been insisting that Norway should...
Posted by raditha at 8:31 AM

January 3, 2005

Back to Galle

Returned from a trip to Galle and the amount of rebuilding that needs to be done is mind boggling. Everywhere you see crews working hard at clearing the rubble. Some of these crews are families working to clean up and...
Posted by raditha at 9:21 AM

January 2, 2005

Human Vultures

A pheonix has not yet risen from the rubble of the tsunami's destruction but all sorts human vultures have. The most prominent and most noticable are the politicians. They are stumbling over each other in their haste to get to...
Posted by raditha at 11:36 AM

January 1, 2005

A new year a new hope

The new year has arrived in battered and bruised Sri Lanka bringing with it hopes of a new start. It's everyone's wish that we should now strive to build a better Sri Lanka. As for me I have my doubts....
Posted by raditha at 5:43 AM

 

Sri Lanka  :  Kelani Search  :  Gallery  :  Related Links  :  Home

Travel  :  Places  :  Accommodation :  Business  :  Events
Politics  :  Geography Quiz  :  Map  :  Recipe  :  ISP
India  :  Maldives  :  More Pages
Message Boards

Home  :  Search  :  Sri Lanka  :  Web Design
What's new  :  What's Cool  :  Site Map
Links  :  Feedback  :  Blog

Copyright © Raditha Dissanayake 2003