Chanaka Bandarage According to Professor Bent Flyvbjerg of the University of Oxford, nine out of ten megaprojects in the world end up in failure. The biggest drawback in megaprojects is their cost overruns. In the US alone, about 65% of the megaprojects have failed. In Sri Lanka, since Independence successive governments have adopted a ‘bigger […]

Chanaka Bandarage The Mahaveli Development Program is the largest multipurpose national development program of Sri Lanka. The program included irrigation development of about 365,000 hectares of land and development of hydro power of 470 MW capacity. The original master plan was for the completion in 30 years, but in 1977 it was expedited to be […]

Chanaka Bandarage It was reported in the news media that the Cabinet has approved the erection of a Nelson Mandela Statue in Colombo, without government funding.  Currently it is planned to be installed at the Colombo Public Library premises. The request has been made by the South African High Commission in Colombo. Is this the […]

Chanaka Bandarage After the Southern Expressway was opened (aka Southern Highway), a poor villager in Kurundugaha Hethapma told the writer that to celebrate the opening he prepared and treated his fellow villagers with Kiribath. The writer met him again several years after.  He asked the villager whether or not he was benefitted by the expressway […]

Chanaka Bandarage Impressions Edward Henry Pedris is one of Sri Lanka’s least recognized National Heroes.  He was killed by the British more than 105 years ago in Welikada Prison, on the charge of Treason. True a statue of him was unveiled by the Prime Minister Premadasa in 1987, and a playground and a stadium were […]

Chanaka Bandarage Mr Bogoda Premarathne is a pioneer in streamlining Sri Lanka’s education system.  As the Commissioner of Examinations he devised a strategy to release public exam results (O/L and A/L) within few weeks of their completion. This was a remarkable achievement as in the 1970s it took many months for the results to be […]

Chanaka Bandarage With the advent of 20A bashing the dual citizens has become a pastime of many. It has now become a fashionable social phenomena. Currently dual citizens are seen as a ‘pariah community’.  They are attacked from left, centre and the right. They are despised in every corner. They are seen as the reason […]

Chanaka Bandarage The Constitutional Council (CC) is a 10 member constitutional authority tasked with maintaining the Independent Commissions and monitoring their affairs. The CC is aimed at depoliticising the public service. The CC was first established in 2000 under the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution. In 2010 President Mahinda Rajapaksa replaced it with a Parliamentary Council, under the Eighteenth […]

Chanaka Bandarage There is an argument being made that in accordance with Article 150 (3) of the Constitution the President has power to appropriate funds from the Consolidated Fund only until 20 April 2020; hence, the dissolved Parliament should be reconvened. This argument is wrong. The writer states that in accordance with Article 150 (3), […]

Chanaka Bandarage Rap music evolved around 1960s from hip hop music. It involves delivering existing songs in hip hop style, rock rhythms and fast beats. Sri Lanka’s current young performers are heavily involved in rapping music (songs).  By doing so, they do a great disservice to our highly respected, old, established songs. Dhanno Budunge is […]

Chanaka Bandarage Sri Lanka is full of crows. A writer’s friend joked him that in Colombo there are more crows than people! Crows live in groups; they work together. They thrive on trash; basically any kind of food waste. Some think crows are good as they clean up the environment. This is a misconception. The […]

Chanaka Bandarage General Spitting and expectorate (eg. phlegm, mucus) People do not care about spitting in public places.  They have become accustomed to it. They will continue to do it freely and openly, without fear.  It is very bad for sanitary and health reasons. Their actions cause environmental pollution/public nuisance.  It is very bad for […]

Chanaka Bandarage Article 70 (1) of the Constitution – ‘The President may by Proclamation, summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament’. The law is very clear, the President has clear power to dissolve the Parliament (Article 33 (1) also provides this power. Accordingly, the President issued a gazette notification on 2 March 2020 dissolving the Parliament.    […]

Chanaka Bandarage There is widespread condemnation of clearance of the precious Wilpattu National Park to resettle Muslim IDPs. If the allegation is true, the last two governments (2010 – 2019), and the ex-Muslim Minister who is in the centre of the allegation, have committed a serious offence.  News emanating from the North now shows that […]

Chanaka Bandarage Galle Face Green was established in 1859 by Governor Sir Henry Ward, for the sole purpose of recreation.  A 1.6 km long promenade was constructed along the oceanside, especially with the purpose of ladies and children to saunter and take in the air. Galle Face originally was spread over a much larger area than […]

Chanaka Bandarage The previous government signed an agreement with a Chinese bank to obtain funds to build a Light Rail system from Malabe to Fort via Borella.  This is only the first stage of the proposed project. The idea was to eventually cover the whole of Colombo with Light Rail. The estimated cost for stage […]

Chanaka Bandarage Even before the Portuguese’ arrival, Pettah had been a major trading place.  Due to its proximity to Colombo Port (Kolom Thota), the Kotte kings erected warehouses in Pettah to store spices, vegetables, fruits, grains, ivory and timber geared for export. Pettah (also, Fort) used to station tusker elephants that Sri Lanka (then Sinhale) […]

Chanaka Bandarage Muslim bashing is fashionable in Sri Lanka. Muslim bashing is considered politically correct in Sri Lanka. Muslims are a minority in this country. They comprised less than 10% of the population. Muslims congregate in groups. They wear garments that are specific to them. They live within closely knitted communities. They help each other […]

Chanaka Bandarage Is Sunil Rathnayake innocent? If Sunil Rathnayake received a Presidential pardon just because the previous President pardoned convicted Tamil Tigers, it is not a good reason for the pardon. ‘Two wrongs don’t make a right’. The President, who is also the ex-Defence Secretary, would not have released Sunil Rathnayake unless that was the […]

Chanaka Bandarage After the war, all governments have miserably failed to settle the displaced Sinhalese (numbering about 50,000) in the Northern province.  In the past five years, the governments have embarked on a massive ‘Sanhindiyawa’ campaign, placing lots of onus on the Sinhalese to embrace Tamil culture and Tamil way of life. For this, a […]

Chanaka Bandarage The government should be commended for imposing a 24 hour, island-wide curfew. It was a brave decision.  Sri Lanka is possibly the first country in the world to impose a 24 hour, island-wide curfew. We are also one of the first countries in the world to shut down schools. Many countries have followed […]

Chanaka Bandarage This Part is prepared basically to respond to comments made by readers in the two earlier articles about this topic. Within our country, we can say anything.  We can glorify ourselves and of course, everyone will be happy. But, the facts asserted must be 100% true. Also, the rest of the world must […]

Chanaka Bandarage This write-up is posted in Lankaweb with a view to further clarify the article that I posted in Lankaweb on 10 March 2020, titled ‘Distortion of Our History’. I reproduce from the Grade 6 and 10 textbooks where the history is wrong or questionable (the Sinhala texts below): Please note that the italicized texts […]

Chanaka Bandarage Prabhakaran was hell-bent on distorting Sri Lanka’s history. He launched a campaign with Anton Balasingham in the helm to attack Mahavansa. The LTTE discounted Vijaya’s arrival (more than 2500 years ago) and stressed that Tamils are Sri Lanka’s indigenous people.  According to them, Buddhism existed in Sri Lanka prior to Mahindagamanaya and that […]

Chanaka Bandarage The British Conservative Party election manifesto in page 53 states: We will continue to support international initiatives to achieve reconciliation, stability and justice across the world, and in current or former conflict zones such as Cyprus, Sri Lanka and the Middle East, where we maintain our support for a two-state solution”. The text […]

Chanaka Bandarage JR Jayawardane stated that in the Constitution that he drafted in 1978 he could do anything except, ‘change a man into a woman and vice versa’. When the Executive Presidency was introduced, Dr NM Perera asked the question If an insane person becomes a president, what would be the state of the country?” […]

Chanaka Bandarage It is Sinhala infighting that will bringforth the country’s downfall and creation of the Eelam Denying the Sinhalese the right to live in most parts of the north and the east and other acts of discrimination against them in those areas is the biggest problem that Sri Lanka faces today Sri Lanka is […]

Chanaka Bandarage Dr NM Perera balanced his budgets largely by increasing alcohol and cigarette prices. Worldwide, governments use alcohol to increase its revenue base.  Very seldom would a government lower the price of alcohol. In the recently delivered budget, Sri Lanka went against this trend and reduced the price of beer. This is very strange. […]

Chanaka Bandarage The current Northern Provincial Council (NPC) is a racist government. The NPC discriminates against the Sinhalese in the North. At the moment the NPC does not have the Land and Police powers (under the 13th  Amendment, the Land and Police powers were granted to the provincial governments; but JR Jayawardane, realising the danger, […]

Chanaka Bandarage The British ruled Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) for 150 years. During that period both the Sinhalese and the Tamils lived as British subjects. There are no records that the Tamils like now were then demanding more power for themselves. When Sri Lanka received independence in 1948, the British acknowledged that the North and […]