By Rohana R. Wasala Continued from January 16, 2026 Before continuing, please let me correct a serious error (a senior moment, a senile memory slip) that occurred in Part I, while updating an earlier piece of writing; in paragraph five their of, I went on the presumption that KD’s predictions were meant to apply to […]

By Rohana R. Wasala Sunday Island (June 2, 2024) published an interesting article entitled ‘Quo vadis?’  by retired electrical engineering professor, public intellectual and political economics commentator  ex Marxist agitator Kumar David, who died about four months later. I used to admire him, in spite of what I perceived as his rough edges. I liked […]

By Rohana R. Wasala Continued from January 02, 2026 From my perspective, it is an obvious fact that Sri Lanka as a country/nation is still left in the lurch politically, economically and morally. The biggest problem is that there is no inspiring leadership. Strong moral leadership is a key component of good governance. ‘Raja bhavatu […]

By Rohana R. Wasala HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY READERS! Why is national identity so important for a people? AI provides us with an answer worth understanding critically (Caveat: Even AI wisdom should be subjected to the Buddha’s advice to the young Kalamas): ‘A strong sense of identity is crucial for a people as […]

By Rohana R. Wasala Continued from December 9, 2025 During his rousing speech, Harin Fernando anticipated SLPP national organiser Namal Rajapaksa’s straightforward declaration of his resolve to end the JVP/NPP regime as soon as possible. The latter’s battle cry might have sounded premature even to some of his less attentive fellow members of the SLPP […]

By Rohana R. Wasala The Joint Opposition rally dubbed the ‘Maha Jana Handa’ (Vox Populi/ Voice of the People) held at the Ananda Samarakoon Open Air Theatre, Nugegoda on November 21, 2025 has suddenly acquired an increasing potential to be remembered as a significant turning point in post-civil conflict Sri Lankan politics, in the wake […]

By Rohana R. Wasala We survived Pharaoh, we’ll get through this too. Just over two weeks ago, Israelis commemorated the second anniversary of the horrific October 7 terror attacks carried out by Hamas in Southern Israel. During the raid, the Islamists massacred in cold blood about 1200 men, women and children including babies, and took […]

By Rohana R. Wasala Continued from October 1, 2025 Bhante Missaka (Mihintale) Kamalasiri, a Sri Lankan scholar monk well known as a guided meditation teacher working in association with the Buddhist retreat centres of  the Star of the North and the Metta Meditation Center, Minnesota, USA, made some important revelations about the elusive Ariyamagga character […]

By Rohana R. Wasala An exclusive Sinhala language BREAKINGNEWS episode on a suspicious, so-called ‘truth connect tv’ youtube video (uploaded September 22, 2025) announces that the United Nations Organization recommends the appointment of a Truth Commission to re-establish the Sihela identity”. I remember seeing almost the same video with slightly different lay persons speaking in […]

By Rohana R. Wasala  Don David Hewavitharne, who later became the famous Anagarika Dharmapala, was born in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on September 17, 1864. David Hewavitarne was at the beginning of Sri Lanka’s difficult transformation from a British monarchical colony to an independent sovereign republic in 1972. When the American theosophist, retired military […]

By Rohana R. Wasala Speaking at the 60th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, on September 8, 2025, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism, Vijitha Herath, made an unequivocal pledge on behalf of his country, ‘to advance the rights and well-being of all Sri Lankans through our own […]

By Rohana R. Wasala Professor Michael K. Jerryson of Youngstown State University, Ohio, USA,  testified on the subject of ‘Human Rights Concerns in Sri Lanka’ before the ‘Subcommittee on Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, House Committee on Foreign Affairs (of the U.S. House of Representatives) on June 20, 2018. While delivering his […]

Rohana R. Wasala That distressful video of 24 year old Israeli hostage Evyatar David, made to dig his own grave in a Gazan tunnel reminded me of the harrowing accounts of the worst anti-Semetic violence perpetrated on Jews in the last century under Germany’s NAZI leader Adolf Hitler during World War II (1939-45). From the […]

Rohana R. Wasala The desert will rejoice, and flowers will bloom in the wastelands. The desert will sing and shout for joy; it will be as beautiful as the Lebanon Mountains and as fertile as the farmlands of Carmel and Sharon. Everyone will see the Lord’s splendour,  see his greatness and power. –Isaiah 35: 1-2 This is an expanded version of […]

 by  Rohana R. Wasala Continued from Wednesday, August 13, 2025  Time the West backed off and allowed the unitary state of Sri Lanka to fulfill its own destiny based on ‘peace building’. It is also time to reflect that both Sinhalese Buddhists and Tamil Hindus value, respect and venerate the lotus flower with its symbolism […]

by Rohana R. Wasala According to a news report carried in The Island of July 31, 2025, a group of senior representatives of the Sarvajana Balaya (SB) including its leader Dilith Jayaweera MP and Dr Channa Jayasumana had a meeting with Ihab Khalil, the Ambassador of the State of Palestine, two days earlier on Tuesday […]

By Rohana R. Wasala Continued from Friday, July 25, 2025 One is tempted to ask whether it is on purpose that president Anura Kumara Dissanayake has given the portfolio of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs to Hiniduma Sunil Senevi who is alleged to come from a non-Buddhist background, instead of to a more acceptable MP […]

By Rohana R. Wasala President Anura Kumara Dissanayake participated in the inauguration ceremony of the 74th Upasampada Vinaya Karmaya (Rite of Higher Ordination) of the Sri Lanka Ramanna Nikaya held at the Mahaweli Grounds in Galnewa, not far from his native village of Tambuttegama, on the afternoon of June 30, 2025. The  main Upasampada rite […]

By Rohana R. Wasala Continued from June 21st, 2025 My rough English version of what General Ratnayake uttered in Sinhala does not at all do justice to his smart observation. I’ll explain this in a while. Let’s first take a look at the background to the event (namely, Charles Thomas’s ‘Sihinaya’ programme at the Padeniya […]

By Rohana R. Wasala The ‘Lanka Leader’ (ලංකා ලීඩර්) Sinhala language YouTube channel of May 27, 2025 published a news item  under a headline which may be translated as follows:  Public umbrage at General Daya Ratnayake for insulting the Mahanayake Theras” According to the YouTube channel, the retired former Army Commander  General Daya Ratnayake participated […]

By Rohana R. Wasala Continued from May 22, 2025 For the twenty-two year old Anagarika Dharmapala, his encounter with the fifty-four year old Sir Edwin Arnold proved to be a pivotal moment in his life as a Buddhist revivalist and international Buddhist missionary (of his own characteristic Buddhist model). His acquaintance and his later mentor […]

By Rohana R. Wasala Continued from Tuesday 13th May 2025 Light of Asia’s ‘stunning impact in Ceylon’ forgotten and the ‘Uncrowned King’ buried One of the dozen of books that Nehru got from his father, when he was imprisoned  in a Lucknow jail by the British in 1922, was a copy of The Light of […]

By Rohana R. Wasala This article is dedicated to the memory of Sri Lankan patriot, humanitarian, and friend of fellow global Buddhists, Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar, who was instrumental in winning official recognition for Vesak as an international holiday at the United Nations in September 1999, on the eve of the 3rd Millennium Jairam Ramesh quotes […]

Rohana R. Wasala Lesson 2: Renewal begins with  children Timothy Snyder (55) maintained interaction with his two children (ten year old son and the younger daughter) while he was in a Florida hospital at the beginning of 2020.  No doubt, his wife Marci Shore (53), also teaching history  at Yale University then, helped this loving […]

Rohana R. Wasala Sri Lanka becoming a macbethian sick state? The traditional ritual of anointing medicinal oil (or ‘hisa thel gaema’ in Sinhalese, literally, applying oil to the head) is unique to the Sinhala Aluth Avurudda observances. This year, the ritual was performed at the auspicious moment of 9:04 a.m. (Sri Lanka time) on Wednesday […]

By Rohana R. Wasala  සුභ අලුත් අවුරුද්දක් වේවා! The Sinhala Aluth Avurudda or the Sinhalese New Year is celebrated in the month of Bak according to the traditional lunar calendar of the Sinhalese people. The name ‘Bak’ comes from the Sanskrit word ‘bhagya’ meaning ‘fortune’. The month of ‘Bak’ corresponds to April in the Gregorian […]

Rohana R. Wasala In the despicable absence of an urgent practical response on the part of the JVP Anura Kumara Dissanayake-led NPP government to the devastating 28th March earthquake in Myanmar, Hon. ex-president Ranil Wickremasinghe has made a very timely and sensible proposal regarding how to assist our disaster stricken fellow humans in that country. […]

By Rohana R. Wasala I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Caesar……. My readers, alert as usual, may be wondering why this essay is entitled ‘The Case of Karu Jayasuriya’ instead of […]

By Rohana R. Wasala Continued from Friday, March 7, 2025  Leaders should lead us as far as they can and then vanish. Their ashes should not choke the fire they have lit.  Part I of this article ended with the following two sentences: When countries are unequal partners, the weaker nations become subject to various […]

Rohana R. Wasala After Ranil Wickremasinghe and Anura Kumara Dissanayake became president one after the other (in 2022 and 2024 respectively) without any sign of full-hearted public approval, though, their social media admirers shared posts that claimed that they both had made a substantial contribution to ending the separatist terrorism that had plagued the country […]