Author Archive for N.A.de S. Amaratunga

SL economy, IMF claims, and reality

Monday, March 11th, 2024

N. A. de S. Amaratunga Courtesy The Island Peter Breuer, Chief of IMF Mission to Sri Lanka has claimed that the Sri Lankan economy is showing signs of progress. The monetary and fiscal measures like tax increases and particularly the debt moratorium may have resulted in giving some breathing space for the country to recover […]

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Amarasekera’s latest work – A reflection on the present predicament

Monday, October 30th, 2023

Reviewer – N.A.de S. Amaratunga Review of the novel Mahagedera”  Author – Gunadasa Amarasekera Publisher – Visiduna Prakashakayo Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera’s allegorical little story Mahagedera” has within it the story of our present pathetic state, struggling in the grip of neo-liberalism, lacking in genuine patriotic leadership, intellectual guidance, civilisational consciousness, a national economy, unable to […]

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“Galle Face Protest: Systems Change or Anarchy? – Politics, Religion & Culture in a Time of Terror”

Sunday, October 1st, 2023

Reviewer –   Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga PhD, DSc There are two major impressions that the discerning reader will not miss while reading Galle Face Protest: Systems Change or Anarchy? – Politics, Religion & Culture in a Time of Terror”,writtenby Sena Thoradeniya. One is the vast amount of information it carries regarding the machinations that the […]

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Nimal Senanayake’s battle against Viral Diseases

Monday, May 29th, 2023

Book review by Prof. N.A. de S. Amaratunga  PhD, DSc Prof. Nimal Senanayake MD, PhD, DSc, FRCP, eminent neurophysician, creative writer, and film producer continues his major endeavour to educate the public on common diseases and for this purpose he has produced a series of highly readable small books on these topics. Viral diseases that […]

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Pope’s view on Proselytization and its relevance to Sri Lanka

Tuesday, May 23rd, 2023

Prof. N.A. de S. Amaratunga DSc Pastor Jerome Fernando’s controversial methods adopted to spread his version of Christianity in Sri Lanka has raised a hornet’s nest and the president of the country has instructed the CID to investigate into the matter. In this context it may be vitally important to be aware of the opinion […]

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A Book on Rabies for the public – by Prof. Nimal Senanayake

Monday, May 1st, 2023

Reviewed by Prof. N.A. de S. Amaratunga PhD, DSc Prof. Nimal Senanayake (NS) professor emeritus, eminent neurologist and creative writer and producer of drama and films, continuing his commitment to write in Sinhala on important health issues for public education, has published the seventeenth in the series and the chosen subject is the deadly Rabies […]

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Origin of religions, cults and their conflicts

Wednesday, April 19th, 2023

Prof.  N.A.de S. Amaratunga  The purpose of this article is to show how and why man created religion and how man himself is destroying it. Religion was created by man in his search for solutions to the human predicament, full of defilement, insatiable greed, uncontrolable hatred, ignorence, self-ego which caused immense mental dissatisfaction and sorrow. […]

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Failure of the World Economy

Saturday, February 4th, 2023

N.A.de S. Amaratunga The new wealth produced by the world since 2020 has been USD 42 trillion. Two thirds of this huge amount of wealth has gone into the pockets of 1% of  the world population which comprises the billionares of the world. The whole of the rest of the world population, ie 99%, will […]

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Origin of Tamil and Sinhala languages – its relevance  

Tuesday, January 31st, 2023

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga DSc Tamil is one of the languages in the Dravidian family of languages which include Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and also several minor languages numbering more than twenty. Dravidian languages have been spoken through out India from North to South and East to West for centuries long before the arrival of Aryans. […]

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IMF China and debt-trap

Saturday, November 12th, 2022

by N.A.de S. Amaratunga Courtesy The Island The above topic is relevant to all countries experiencing economic crises for IMF and China, it appears are alternative and perhaps competing sources for economic aid and they are both accused of causing debt-traps for the recipient countries. IMF is accused by people like Joseph Stiglitz of manipulating […]

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Two faces of the “Aragalaya”

Thursday, September 29th, 2022

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga DSc When goons attacked Aragalaya” at GFG one woman activist, an actress I think, shouted at her comrades Polu bima damanda. Passata yanda, bithiyata hettu wenakan yanda” (Drop your sticks. Retreat back up to the wall). That depicts the peacefull face of the Aragalaya”. On another day when a crowd surrounded […]

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Whither Tamil Politics ?

Saturday, July 24th, 2021

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga  DSc TNA leader R.Sampanthan has called for a re-merger of Northern and Eastern Provinces and he has said that the problems Tamils face cannot be solved without the two provinces coming together. Moreover he has raised the matter with the American Ambassador Ms. Teplitz. The Tamil leader may have fired a […]

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TNA has asked for almost a separate state

Wednesday, January 20th, 2021

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga  TNA has submitted its proposals to the Experts Committee appointed to  draft a new Constitution. What they have asked for is far in excess of the devolution package granted in the 13th Amendment. The powers that are demanded exceeds those granted to the states in India which is a federal country. […]

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Convince India that PCs are a useless burden

Wednesday, January 20th, 2021

N.A.de S. Amaratunga Indian Foreign Minister in his recent visit to Sri Lanka has firmly told the government that the 13th Amendment must be implemented in a united Sri Lanka. Unitary state is not acceptable to India probably because it is not acceptable to TNA and Tamil separatists. India has been reminding our governments when […]

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TNA has asked for almost a separate state

Wednesday, January 13th, 2021

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga  TNA has submitted its proposals to the Experts Committee appointed to  draft a new Constitution. What they have asked for is far in excess of the devolution package granted in the 13th Amendment. The powers that are demanded exceeds those granted to the states in India which is a federal country. […]

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SJB proposal to adopt Constitution made by ‘yahapalana’

Friday, December 25th, 2020

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga   PhD, DSc  One of the leaders of the Samagi Jana Balavegaya has proposed that the present government, instead of wasting time over drafting a new Constitution and trying to reinvent the wheel. should adopt the draft Constitution that the ‘yahapalana’ government put together which, he says, could not be taken forward […]

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Can we afford Elections and Provincial Councils?

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2020

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga DSc Government, it is reported, is thinking of holding PC elections in April next year. It is improbable that either the Covid or the economy would be in a satisfactory situation by April next year to allow elections for an institution that is largely non-essential.  Our economy has recorded negative growth […]

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National integration and 13th A

Friday, November 20th, 2020

N.A.de S. Amaratunga National integration would mean that in a country which is inhabited by several ethnic communities everyone would harbour similar feelings and thinking about matters of national interest like independence, territorial integrity, sovereignty etc. Development of such sentiments cannot be forced on a people. In this regard what the Indian philosopher S. Radhakrishna […]

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Biden victory – Implications for the World and Sri Lanka

Saturday, November 14th, 2020

Prof. N. A. de S. Amaratunga   DSc Joseph Biden has decisively won the US presidential elections in November 2020 though President Trump also did extremely well getting more than 47% of the popular vote. This indicates towards a politically divided America and that Trumpism, or the nationalism that he gave leadership to, could influence future […]

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China is a True Friend, not a gift horse

Saturday, October 17th, 2020

N.A.de S. AMARATUNGA Courtesy The Island Epithets like Trojan Horse” and Greeks bearing gifts” have been used to refer to offers of assistance by foreign countries to Sri Lanka, when the country is battling a Covid second wave and an economic crisis (The Island 12.10.2020). Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” is an […]

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Power sharing arrangements in conflict resolution

Sunday, October 11th, 2020

N.A.de S. Amaratunga  As discussions on drafting a new constitution gathers momentum the ethnic problem may assume significant importance as it has been an intractable issue in the politics of Sri Lanka. Some political scientists believe that ethnic based conflicts could be resolved by power sharing methods that strengthen democracy (Hartzell CA, 2015) while others […]

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Ethnic Problem and Constitution Reforms

Friday, October 2nd, 2020

N.A. de S. Amaratunga A new constitution is being planned and a committee comprised of leading intellectuals has been appointed to draft it. One of the difficult issues the committee would have to grapple with would be the ethnic issue. Several aspects of the ethnic issue may have to be taken into consideration when tackling […]

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Genealogy of Concept and Genesis of 13th Amendment – A Reply

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2020

N.A.de S. Amaratunga Prof. Gamini Keerawella (GK) in an article titled Genealogy of Concept and Genesis of 13th Amendment” (The Island 16th & 17th Sept. 2020) attempts to show that the 13th A was not something forced on us by India, that it was a concept discussed by political leaders starting before independence and that […]

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Constitution Reforms

Wednesday, September 16th, 2020

N.A.de S. Amaratunga The 19th A is being replaced by the 20th A and a new constitution is being planned.  A Committee has been appointed for the drafting of a new constitution comprising some of the leading intellectuals in the country. That would be the fourth new constitution for the country since independence. And there […]

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13th Amendment is a Federal Instrument

Monday, August 24th, 2020

N.A.de S. Amaratunga Our hapless people battered and bruised by four years of ‘yahapalana’ , the two bank robberies, foreign interference, UNHRC Resolutions, separatism, Easter bombs and Covid have finally crawled to polling booths and stuffed the ballot boxes with lotus buds. Even the creators of the lotus bud may have been overwhelmed and shaken […]

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Sampanthan and The Five Ishwarams of Lord Siva

Wednesday, July 1st, 2020

Prof. N.A.de S. Amaratunga TNA leader S.Sampanthan in his letter to the President regarding the Presidential Task Force for Archaeological Heritage Management in the Eastern Province makes reference to a statement made by Paul E Peiris about the five Ishwarams of Lord Siva which are to be found  in the coastal regions of Jaffna, Trincomalee, […]

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Nation, Nation-State and The Tamil Kingdom – A reply to L.C.Arulpragasm

Wednesday, January 29th, 2020

Professor  N.A.de S. Amaratunga  DSc L.C.Arulpragasam’s (LCA) article which appeared in three parts under three titles; Decolonization, Nationalism, the Nation State and Democracy – Part I” (Sunday Island, 14.10.2018), Some Unchronicled Consequences of the Colonial Period – Part II  (Sunday Island, 21.10.2018) and The ‘State Nation’ Versus the ‘Nation State’ ” (Sunday Island, 28.10.2018)   is […]

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Intractability of the Tamil problem

Thursday, January 23rd, 2020

Prof. N. A. de S. Amaratunga To understand the nature of the Tamil problem and why it remains apparently unresolved one must examine its history and origin. It has its origin in Tamil separatism which dates back to 1930s. Tamil separatism is a Tamil construct. When independence for Ceylon was being considered by the British […]

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Shift from Neo-liberalist economy to Nationalist economy – an imperative need

Sunday, November 24th, 2019

N.A. de S. Amaratunga Courtesy The Island The countries which have benefited from Chinese assistance in Asia, Africa and Europe have not suffered a breach of their independence and sovereignty or lost any significant extents of resources. The world economy, international relations, and geopolitics are at present influenced by two strong ideologies; neo-liberalism and nationalism. […]

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Agreements that are Betrayals

Monday, November 4th, 2019

N.A.DE S. AMARATUNGA Courtesy The Island In the 2500 long history of this country there have been several betrayals that had adversely changed its destiny. Some of them were forced on the rulers and some engineered by them. And some could have been avoided. An act by a ruler that compromises the independence and sovereignty […]

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