Rataviru Vlog

By Sena Thoradeniya

A controversy has emerged, creating space for conspiracy theories regarding who persuaded the former Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to accept the interim presidency following the resignation of GR in 2022.

The question of whether the US Ambassador Julie Chung or Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay was responsible for persuading him remains contested. The controversy has generated speculation and competing narratives. Wimal Weerawansa, in his Nine, The Hidden Story” (2023) attributed the intervention to Julie Chung. My own study, Galle Face Protest: Systems Change or Anarchy” (2023) arrives at a similar conclusion, though through independent analysis of publicly available evidence. I reached the same conclusion through a careful analysis of US involvement, presented in a dedicated chapter entitled US Footprints at the Galle Face Protest Site”. This analysis drew upon Julie Chung’s Twitter communications as well as the timeline issued by the US Embassy, which directed protesters toward strategically significant establishments. Based on these sources, I concluded that Julie Chung compelled Mahinda Yapa to assume the presidency.

To elaborate, my reasoning rests on the sequence of events at Galle Face, the content of Julie Chung’s Twitter messages, and the discernible evidence of U.S. involvement, which I examined extensively in my book. Importantly, I did not consult politicians, or individuals close to the upper echelons of power in arriving at this conclusion. As I am not a journalist, I did not consider it necessary to seek the opinions of those directly involved. Moreover, given the explosiveness of the situation, I refrained from soliciting external perspectives, relying instead on the widely shared understanding with my friends and colleagues that Julie Chung played an active role in the protests – an understanding substantiated by her public communications stated above.

It is a well-known fact that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) plays a crucial role in advancing United States foreign policy objectives: has often been mediated through a network of ostensibly independent institutions. These include the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and its affiliated organizations such as the International Republican Institute (IRI), the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Research & Exchange Board (IREX). In addition, funding has been directed toward a wide array of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and media initiatives, including Media Empowerment for a Democratic Sri Lanka (MEND) and ROAR (Restore Our Alienated Rights) Media.  In my book I have elaborated how collectively, these entities have functioned as instruments within a broader U.S. project under the stewardship of Julie Chung aimed at overthrowing (and possibly assassinating) a popularly elected President.

The methodology relied exclusively on observable events, public statements, and social media activity. Given the volatility of the situation, and the widespread acknowledgment of Julie Chung’s active role in the protests, further interviews were not deemed necessary.

Additional contextual evidence reinforces this interpretation; Julie Chung’s prior role as the then US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs (and her boss Victoria Nuland, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, mastermind of the US instigated protest campaign at Maidan, Independence Square in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine), to the murder of Haitian President Jovenal Moise in July 2021. This provides a precedent for her engagement in political transitions. Chung had met with Moise just before his assassination, nearly one year before the almost murder of GR, just after Chung was posted from that Caribbean crime scene to a new coven (specifically refers to a group of witches gathered for ritual) here in Sri Lanka. After the assassination of Moise, Ariel Henry was selected as the Prime Minister by a group of diplomats called Core Group”, consisting of the ambassadors to Haiti representing Brazil, the EU, France, Germany, Spain, Canada and of course the US.  Henry was accused of having links to the killers of Moise.

Julie Chung presented her credentials to President GR on 25, February 2022, just 34 days before the Mirihana incident. Nuland visited Sri Lanka in March 2002. She met with GR on 23, March 2022, 8 days before Mirihana outrage.

From the day Julie Chung  assumed her ambassadorial duties, and prior to the eruption of protests we closely observed her meetings with almost all the Ministers, leading politicians affiliated to all registered political parties, high ranking military officers, religious dignitaries of all denominations, custodians of temples and churches, NGO bigwigs, so called civil society activists, media personnel, business captains, academics, scientists, marine biologists, those who have graduated from the US, LGBTIQ+ activists, visual   artists, writers, youth leaders, representatives of marginalized communities, war affected and displaced persons, differently abled persons, and protest leaders – many of whom she met repeatedly, almost ritualistically.

Her extensive travels across the country, visiting Southern Province, Eastern Province, Northern Province, Hill Country as the self-appointed Viceroy of Sri Lanka, which she engaged with provincial NGOs and other actors, collectively underscore the depth of her involvement. Thus, pawns were recruited, brainwashed and positioned for the final assault.  These patterns of activity reinforced our conclusion that Julie Chung was the central figure in compelling Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to assume the presidency.

In my essay titled, Speaker’s Statement: Julie Chung and Her Fellow Conspirators in the Dock Again” posted in Lankaweb on March 27, 2024, commenting on former Speaker’s statement made immediately after the No Confidence Motion of the joint opposition on 21 March, 2024, I discussed the following: who pressurized the Speaker, GR’s action or inaction, presidential aspirants among the conspirators, Haiti, the American test run proposed for Sri Lanka, role of protesters and  conspirators, near storming and bringing the Parliament under the control of the protesters as instigated by JVP stalwarts (victory over the Rajapaksa dictatorship would not be complete without seizing the Parliament”) and Avatars of 1988/89.  

Shamindra Ferdinando, in his The Island” Midweek Review” article titled, Clandestine visit to Speaker’s residence: Finally, Mahinda Yapa sets the record straight” (10 December 2025) reveals that it was the then Indian High Commissioner in Colombo Gopal Baglay who asked him to accept the Presidency immediately. 

Accordingly, Sunanda Madduma Bandara, author of Aragalaye Balaya” who served as Senior Advisor (Media) to President Ranil Wickremesinghe disclosed Baglay’s intervention in his book. Shamindra says that obviously the author has received the blessings of Abeywardena and Wickremesinghe to disclose this. 

E-con E-news in its 7-13 December 2025 issue tells this about Sunanda Madduma Bandara: He appears to be a hand who writes and yet his hand is moved by other hands”; Madduma Bandara is unreliable as a narrator as media advisors” tend to be”. Again, in its 14-20 December issue says: Madduma Bandara’s media assertions have been frequently found to be numerically challenged and terminologically inexact”.

One website labelled Madduma Bandara as a propagandist. Daily Mirror Online reported that Madduma Bandara’s claim to widening trade deficit to the recent relaxation of import bans was referred to FactCheck.lk and classified as FALSE.

Madduma Bandara may be described as a political figure whose career reflects adaptability across different political regimes, having benefitted from the patronage of leaders across the political spectrum. A staunch supporter of the United National Party (UNP) since his undergraduate years, he first received political favour under R. Premadasa. Subsequently, he was appointed Secretary to the State Ministry of Mass Media by another Abeywardena, Luxman Yapa. During the presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa, Madduma Bandara served as Director of Information and, in 2014, was appointed Vice Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya by Mahinda Rajapaksa. He also held the position of Director General at the Ministry of Economic Development under Basil Rajapaksa.

His career trajectory was not without controversy. In 2016, Luxman Kiriella, the then Minister of Higher Education in the Yahapalana government, recommended Bandara for the Vice Chancellor post, a move that drew wide criticism and controversy. The Court of Appeal case Prof. Yapa Mudiyanselage Sunanda Bandara v. University of Kelaniya (CA Writ No. 134/2012–2013) further illustrates the contentious nature of his career ambitions.  An acolyte posting a post in LinkedIn said, Professor Sunanda and his rivals engaged in a race of institutional collusion and conflict” as political conflicts and rivalries increased inside the faculty, (this writer thinks that this statement grammatically correct, but semantically sounds like Madduma Bandara is equally responsible for institutional collusion and conflict!). Most recently, Ranil Wickremesinghe, succeeding Gotabaya Rajapaksa, appointed him as Senior Advisor on Media.

His publication appears as political glorification of Ranil Wickremesinghe, his present political master.

A respected political analyst who attended this book launch told this writer that Mahinda Yapa in his speech at this book launch, did not disclose that it was Baglay who persuaded him to accept the presidency. The responsibility however lies with GR who failed to reveal full situation in his book, The Conspiracy to oust me from the Presidency, how internationally sponsored regime change made a mockery of democracy in Sri Lanka” (2024),  (Janadhipathi Dhurayen Ma Nerapeeme Kumanthranaya- Jathyanthara Anugrahayen Woo Regime Change Meheyumen Sri Lankawe Prajathanthravadaya  Haellu Woo Hati” in Sinhala (2024), thereby creating an open-ended space for speculation. A former MP vouched to me that Mahinda Yapa confided in him that it was Julie.

Bringing Baglay into this controversy appears to be an attempt to absolve Julie by the UNP, while simultaneously allowing another conspiracy theory to emerge in which Baglay is positioned as the scapegoat. At this juncture much will depend on Baglay’s response; so far, he has not made any clarification. It seems unlikely that Jaishankar or Modi will allow him to do so. His silence serves the interests of both the US and India.

Even Baglay’s successor, Santosh Jah, the current High Commissioner, continues to maintain a stoic silence on this matter. As the present incumbent, it is his responsibility to ensure that no further space is created for conspiracy theories, particularly given the diplomatic implications for the country he represents.

While attending, Hiru, Salakuna” talk show on December 15, 2025, Wimal Weerawansa stated that Mahinda Yapa had confided to a friend that it was Julie who persuaded him. Contributing to this emerging theory, WW further suggested that Baglay may have visited Yapa following Julie’s departure.

Pages 98 and 153 of Maddma Bandara’s book are interesting:

Page 98
Baglay’s arrival at the Speaker’s official residence was sudden and unexpected. The residence was surrounded by a large crowd of protesters, yet Baglay did not disclose how he managed to reach the premises during such a tumultuous time, nor the route he had taken. Once inside, he made a bold promise: the crisis could be ended within 45 minutes – if he accepted the Presidency.

Page 153
Maddma Bandara recounts that Baglay insisted on appointing a member of the Rajapaksa family as Prime Minister. GR, however, vehemently rejected the proposal, warning that such a move would only ignite a fresh crisis.

Maddma Bandara reveals that the media reported that Mahinda Yapa would ascend to the presidency, and the story was carried across all newspapers. Yet, none of the outlets disclosed their sources or revealed who had provided them with this information. The same lack of transparency applies to Maddma Bandara: he does not divulge the origins of his account regarding Baglay’s sudden arrival, Baglay’s insistence on appointing a member of the Rajapaksa family as Prime Minister, or GR’s vehement opposition to that proposal.

Who would believe the author’s claim that Baglay insisted on appointing a member of the Rajapaksa family as Prime Minister, when Baglay himself was entangled in a grand conspiracy to oust GR – and GR, in opposing the move, was effectively standing against his own clansmen?

Following the events of May 9, 2022, all members of the Rajapaksa family holding political office – including Mahinda Rajapaksa (then Prime Minister), Chamal, Basil, Namal, and Shasheendra – tendered their resignations.

In this context, any suggestion of appointing another member of the Rajapaksa family as Prime Minister was both illogical and politically untenable. To insist upon such a proposition, as reportedly advanced by Baglay, undermines the credibility of diplomatic reasoning and appears detached from the prevailing political realities. Madduma Bandara paints Baglay as a diplo-mutt, rather than a seasoned career diplomat. If he were truly a mutt like our own people, Modi would never have posted him to Canberra, an especially important posting for India as a member of the QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue), which focuses on the so-called Indo-Pacific Region. India’s relations with MR were strained and the Indian media widely welcomed his ouster in 2015.

By this time, public anger and opposition were overwhelmingly directed at the Rajapaksa family. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s retreat to a naval base in Trincomalee was besieged by protesters, while vehicular traffic toward Katunayake International Airport was halted and searched under the watch of armed security forces, as demonstrators sought Basil Rajapaksa’s blood (Kaputa innawada”?). Against this backdrop of widespread hostility, Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s response to the collective resignations of his family members was not made public. It was believed that GR initiated MR’s resignation. Consequently, claims that he rejected a proposal to appoint another Rajapaksa as Prime Minister are not only inconsistent with the political climate but also contextually misdirected.

A political analyst has interpreted this book as an attempt to enhance Ranil’s public image (personal communication). However, the author’s sources are limited exclusively to the works of GR and Wimal Weerawansa, which are employed merely to reinforce his own arguments. Notably, both Shamindra Ferdinando and Shenali Waduge have written extensively on this subject, yet the author appears to be unaware of or has chosen not to engage with their contributions. This omission represents a significant scholarly shortcoming, particularly as the author positions himself as an academic and a former Vice Chancellor.

Media Release  Bandula Kendaragama

Dear Newspaper Editor,
The opening of spillway gates at the Kotmale Dam and the resulting flooding of downstream settlements and urban areas, including Gampola, Weligalle, Gelioya, Peradeniya town, the University of Peradeniya, Botanical Gardens, Getambe Temple, Kandy courts complex etc., attracted international attention. The incident highlighted the necessity of examining dams-related flood events from multiple perspectives, particularly dam safety and operational decision-making, the effectiveness of the communication and early-warning systems, evacuation procedures for at-risk populations and livestock, and the protection of property and critical infrastructure.

The objective of this Media Release is to assess the limitations and importance of existing communication systems during dam emergencies and to explore options for improvement.
Yet, I am waiting to receive Dam Safety Emergency Management Plan (DSEMP) and the Evacuation Plan (EP) of the Kotmale Dam for a more accurate and comprehensive assessment of the existing procedures and communication protocols.

I was present at the Zoom discussion held on 30 December 2015, hosted by the Ministry of Science Technology. During the Zoom discussion, the Arthur C Clarke Centre made a statement that they could have produced the flooded areas in about 10 minutes from the satellite data. It appears that this invaluable information is not available to Mahaweli Authority and the Disaster Management Centre (DMC). This calls for proper coordination of stakeholders to judge on a disaster. Shame!!! This showed unawareness of 21st century technology.

At the end of the presentation, it was unanimously agreed that a Zoom Workshop be held on 14 January 2026 with a wider stakeholder like Hon. K
Media Release on 01 January 2026

Who is the Culprit of November 2025 Floods due to Gate Opening?
Bandula Kendaragama (WhatsApp +61403204066)

D Lal Kantha (Minister Irrigation and Mahaweli), Director General (Irrigation) and his senior staff, Director General of the DMC and his senior staff, Regulator of the Telecommunications, GAs and AGAs senior staff, Dam Safety Heads of the CEB and Water Board, CTB Deport Managers in the potential inundation areas, School Principles of the large schools in the potential inundation areas, Heads of Buddhist, Catholic / Christian clergies in the potential inundation areas, Head Of Railways in Kandy etc,, The Author is in the view that the Governors of Central and Nuwara Eliya Districts, Director of Hospitals (Gampala, Peradeniya and Kandy), Head of the CEB, Kandy be invited for the Zoom Workshop to be held on 14 January 2014.
The Author is under the view that the Dam Safety Regulators Office be housed at the Presidential Secretariat or at the Office of the DMC.

I wish to would draw the attention of decision makers that the following actions be taken to strengthen dam safety governance and emergency preparedness in Sri Lanka.
1)
Those people / organisations of November 2025 floods should be investigated by a transparent mechanism, and not on political or emotional, partial rhetoric. The demand for a parliamentary standing committee inquiry may support such decision.
2)
Enhance existing communication systems by introducing satellite phones, long-range HF radio communication sets, and other independent communication technologies to ensure reliability during mobile network failures.
3)
Improve dam emergency notification systems through multiple dissemination methods, including voice sirens, Mobile Apps, SMS alerts, WhatsApp messages, Kotmale site vehicles, Police and hired on-road vehicles, and drones fitted with remotely controlled loudspeakers.
4)
Offer Dam Safety as a compulsory subject in all civil / mechanical / electrical power / electronic communication Engineering faculties of universities.

Media Release on 01 January 2026
Who is the Culprit of November 2025 Floods due to Gate Opening?
Bandula Kendaragama (WhatsApp +61403204066) Page 3 of 11

5)
Develop national dam safety guidelines under the leadership of the Sri Lanka National Committee on Large Dams (SLNCOLD), with the participation of experienced local and expatriate dam safety engineers.
6)
Establish a Central Dam Safety Unit at the Real-Time Monitoring Centre currently operating in Polgolla to serve as the national focal point for dam safety monitoring and emergency coordination.
7)
Engage the Legal Draftsman Office to prepare the legal framework—namely, a Dam Safety Bill—based on the national dam safety guidelines to be developed by the SLNCOLD.
8)
Present and debate the Dam Safety Bill in the Parliament, ensuring appropriate legislative and national accountability.
9)
Establish an independent Dam Safety Secretariat and appoint a Dam Safety Regulator. It is recommended that the Dam Safety Secretariat be located within the Presidential Secretariat to ensure independence, institutional authority, and effective inter-agency coordination.

The writer, Bandula Kendagagama, is a Specialist in Dam Safety, Instrumentation and Earthquakes living in Melbourne. The copy of the CV of the writer is attached. The Author can be contacted by email Bandula.Kendaragama@gmail.com and WhatsApp +61403204066.

විසල් මහනුවර වැඩසටහෙනේ වාණිජ ජාලයේ හිටපු ලේඛම් ,පාලිත ආරියරත්න

මහනුවර මහා නගර සභාව විසින් ලබන ජනවාරි 01 වනදා සිට සියලුම ආකාරයේ වීදි වෙළඳාම් සම්පූර්ණයෙන් තහනම් කිරීමට තීරණය කර ඇත. නගරයේ පිරිසිදුකම සහ සුන්දරත්වය රැකගැනීමත්, මහජනතාවට නිදහසේ ගමන් කිරීමට අවහිරයක් නොවීමත් මෙම තීරණයේ ප්‍රධාන අරමුණ ලෙස නගරාධිපතිවරයා සඳහන් කළේය. මෙම තීරණය නගර මධ්‍යයට පමණක් නොව, මුළු මහනුවර නගර සභා බල ප්‍රදේශයම ආවරණය කරයි.

නමුත් මෙම තීරණය දෙස විවිධ ආකාරයෙන් බලන පිරිසක් සිටින බැවින් මෙහි ඇත්ත නැත්ත සොයාබැලීමට මේ දින කිහිපයේ විදි වෙළදුන් සහ කඩසාප්පු වෙලදුන්ගෙන්ද අසා දැනගත් කාරණා බොහෝය. ඒවා කෙටියෙන් මෙසේ සදහන් කල හැක.

1.සමහර වෙළදුන් විදි වෙළදාම සදහා යොමුවී ඇත්තේ තමන් උගත් උනත් රැකියා නොලැබීම, සමහර විට තම දෙමවුපියන් තමන් බාල කාලය හෝ තරුණ අවදියේදී විවිධ කාරණා නිසා මියයාම ආදී කාරණා හා ඉතා දැඩි ආර්ථික නිසා තම පවුල්ව රැකබලාගැනීමට.

2. සංගීත–හා කලා අංශයට , නිර්මාණ වලට දක්ෂ මිනිසුන් තම දක්ෂකම සදහා නියමිත අගයක් නොලැබීම මත එම  දක්ෂයන් විදි වෙළදාම හා විදි අයිනේ සිට චිත්‍ර හා නොයෙක් විදිහේ පින්තුර හා වෙනත් ද්‍රවය විකුණමින් තම ජීවිත රැකගැනීමට.

3. වීදිවල උපන් දරුවන් එනම් ඔවුන්ගේ දෙමවුපියන් මුළු ජිවිත කාලයම ජිවත් වී ඇත්තේ විදි වෙළදුන් වශයෙනි අද ඔවුන්ගේ දෙවෙනි පරම්පරාව වන තරුණ ළමුන් විශේෂයෙන් දළදා විදිය දෙපස අද දක්වා කුමක් හෝ මින්සුන්ට අවශ්‍ය භාණ්ඩ විකුණා ජීවත්වේ. ඉතා විමර්ශන ඇසකින් බැලුවිට මෙම ළමුන් හටද මහනුවර අවටින් නිසි පාසලකට පවා ඇතුල් වීමට ලැබී නැත , ඔවුන්ගේ ළමුන්ද මේ ඉරණමට ගොදුරුවී තිබේ.තම දෙමවුපියන් නිසි අධ්‍යාපනය නොලැබීම නිසා මෙසේ ඔවුන් සියලන්ම මහමග තිබෙන ඉතා දුෂ්කරවූ විදි වෙළදාමට යොමුවී ඇත.මොවුන්ගේ පරම්පරාවම මහනුවර ඇති වීදි වෙළඳාම මත ජීවිකාව ගෙනයාම.

4.පත්තර විකුනන්නන් , මෙම ලිපිය ලියු කතෘ ඇතුල්ව අද උසාවි,පොලිසි,අධ්‍යාපන කාර්යාලව සිටින හපන්නු,ගුරුවරු, නායක හාමුදුරුවරු, හා සමාජයේ සිටින සියලුම දෙනා මෙම පත්තර වෙල්දුන්ගෙන් දැඩි ප්‍රයෝජනයක් ගත්තේය, අද දිනද ඔවුන් ගේ මෙම අසරණ විදි වෙළදාමෙන් සියලුම දෙනා ප්‍රයෝජනයට ගන්නා බව දුටුවේ. මෙවැනි වෙලදුන්ගෙන් පාසල් යන ළමුන්හට, රැකියා විරහිත පිරිස් හට රැකියා සොයාගැනීමේ අයදුම් පත මුද්‍රණය කොට අඩු මුදලට විකුණා කොපමණ පිරිසකට සේවාවක් කර ඇති බව මහනුවර හා ඒ අවට සිටින කිසිවෙකුට මැනබැලිය නොහැක. අප ඔවුන්ගෙන් විමසු කාරණය වුයේ ඔබගේ අගය ඇයි මොවුන් විසින් අමතක කලේ කියා, ඔවුන් සමහරෙක් පැවසුවේ. අපේ දුපත්කම දඩමීමා කරගත් උඩත් බුද්ධිමත්තු මෙසේ අපහට තැලීම අදහා ගත නොහැකි බවයි. ඔවුන් ඉතා දුප්පත් මින්සුන් වූ නිසා ජීවිතය රැක ගැනීමට මෙසේ විදි දෙපස සිට පත්තර විකුණන වී ජීවිතය පවත්වා ගත්  බවයි.

5.එදා වෙල සොයාගන්නන් විසාල ප්‍රමාණයක් විදි වෙළදුන් වශයෙන් සිටි. ඔවුන් හටද මෙසේ මෙම විදි වෙළදාමට බැසීමට සිදුවී ඇත්තේ දුප්පත් කම නිසාය.

දැනට ලංකාව පුරා හා මහනුවර අවට සිටින වීදි වෙළඳුන්ගේ වර්ග

ආහාර වෙළඳුන්: කඩල, බුලත්, කුස්සියට අවශ්‍ය පොඩි පිහි, කිරිපිටි, මස්, මාලු, රොටී, කෝත්තු, ආප්ප, හා පොඩි කෑම විකුණන අය.

පත්තර සහ පොත් වෙළඳුන්: දිනපතා පත්තර, ළමා පොත්, අයදුම් පත්‍ර, පාසල් පොත් පත් හා අනෙකුත් උපාංග විකුණන අය.

පළතුරු–එළවළු වෙළඳුන්: ගොවිතැනෙන් ගෙන ආ පළතුරු, එළවළු, මාලු, හා ගෘහ භාණ්ඩ විකුණන අය.

ඇඳුම් සහ රෙදි විකුණන වෙළඳුන්: සාධාරණ මිලට රෙදක්ක, ඇඳුම්, සපත්තු, හා අතිරේක උපාංග විකුණන අය.

අත්කම්–කලා වෙළඳුන්: අත්කම්, මල්, අභරණ, ඇන්ටික්, හා දේශීය චිත්‍ර විකුණන අය.

සංගීත–කලා වෙළඳුන්: වීදිය මත ගීත ගායනා කරන, කලා–නිර්මාණ විකුණන, චිත්‍ර ඇඳ විකුණන අය.

ගෘහ භාණ්ඩ වෙළඳුන්: කුස්සිය සහ එහි ඇති ඉවුම් පිහුම් උපකරණ, සෙල්ලම් බඩු, හා දිනපතා භාවිතා කරන භාණ්ඩ විකුණන අය.

ඉලෙක්ට්‍රොනික–පොඩි උපකරණ වෙළඳුන්

රූපලාවන්‍ය භාණ්ඩ වෙළඳුන්

ඉන්ජිනේරු–උපාංග වෙළඳුන්

ඉලෙක්ට්‍රොනික–පොඩි උපකරණ වෙළඳුන්

සංචාරක–සොව්නියර් වෙළඳුන්: විදේශීය හා දේශීය සංචාරකයන්ට

ආයුර්වේද–ඖෂධ වෙළඳුන්

පාරම්පරික වෙළඳුන්: පරම්පරාවෙන් පරම්පරාවට වීදි වෙළඳාම මත ජීවිතය ගොඩනගන පවුල්.

ආගමික–අසපුව වෙළඳුන්: දේවාල, පන්සල්, හා කෝවිල් අවට මල්, පූජා භාණ්ඩ, හා ආගමික ද්‍රව්‍ය විකුණන අය.

වීදි වෙළඳාම් සම්පූර්ණ තහනම නිසා මේ විදි වෙළදුන්ගේ අසරණ පවුල්වලට අනාගතය පිළිබඳ භය සහ අවිශ්වාසය අනිවාර්යෙන් මතු වේ.  පාසල් යන දරුවන්ගේ සිට සමජයට කුමන ක්‍රමයකින් හෝ  උපකාර කළ වෙළඳුන්ව එක්වරම හෝ අනාගත බලාපොරොත්තු ගොන්නක් දී හෝ මෙසේ අයින් කිරීම සමාජීය මනෝවිද්‍යාත්මක අහිමිවීමක් වශයෙන් ගත හැක. ඒවගේම රටේ සමහර ඉතා දක්ෂ කලා ශිල්පීන්ට වඩා සංගීත–කලා අංශයෙන් දක්ෂයන්ගේ එම හැකියාවන් මුළු රටේ හා ලෝකයේම මිනිස් සාමජය හට  ගෙන යා නොහැකිවීමත් දුර්වලකම හා මනෝවිද්‍යාත්මක අහිමිවීමක් වශයෙන් ගත හැක..

කෙනෙකුගේ පැවැත්මේ අවශ්‍යතාවය නිසා තවත් කෙනෙකුගේ ඇගේ නොවැදී ගමන් බිමන් යාමේ අවශ්‍යතාවයක් නිසා තද බදය අඩු කිරීමට හෝ යුරෝපයේ ආකාරයේ විදි අපරට තුලද හිතින් මවා ගැනීම කෙධාවචාකයකි. මෙම අනවතරණ පුහු උත්සහයන් නිසා දුප්පත් පවුල් විශාල ගණනක් ආදායම අහිමිවේ. කඩයකට ගොඩ වැද මහනුවර අවටින් අඩු මිලකට භාණ්ඩයක් සොයාගැනීම ඉතා අපහසු වේ. කඩ පමණක් ඉතුරු කිරීමෙන් ජනතාවට අඩු මිලට, ඉක්මනින්, සහ පහසුවෙන් බඩු ලබාගැනීමේ අවස්ථාව හිමි වීමට වඩා තරඟ කාරිත්වය අඩුවීම නිසා හෙට අනිද්දා අඩු මුදලට හෝ පහසුවෙන් ළමයින්ට අවශ්‍ය සෙල්ලම් බඩුවක්, කුස්සියට අවශ්‍ය පොඩි පිහි තලයක් හෝ, ඇනයක් කරකවා ගැනීමට හෝ නියපොතු කපා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය කැපීමේ උපකරණයක් ගැනීමටත් සාප්පුවකට ගොඩ වැදීමට සිදුවේ.තිබෙන කඩවල් ගනනත් මදිවේ.

රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන් සහ අනෙකුත් ජනතාව පවා ඔවුන්ගේ ජීවිතයේ විවිධ අවස්ථාවලදී වීදි වෙළඳුන්ගේ සේවාව භාවිතා කිරීම අද දිනද සිදුවිය.ඔවුන්ව ඉක්මනින් විදි තුලින් අයින් කිරීම අතීතය නොසලකා හැරීමක් වශයෙන් ද ගත හැක. පරම්පරාවෙන් පරම්පරාවට ගිය අසරණභාවය විදි වෙළදුන් සමුහයකට මෙසේ සැළස් මකින් තොරව ඔවුන්ගේ රැකියාවට බාදා කිරීම නිසා සමාජයේ තිබෙන දුප්පත් පොහොසත් අසමතුලිතතාවය තවත් ගැඹුරු කරා ගෙනයයි..

මුළු ජිවිත කාලයම ගියත් බුලත් විට, කඩල ටික, ඇපල් ගෙඩියක් විකුණා කා තම අඹු දරු සම්පත රකිනා  මේ විදි වෙළදුන් හට  කිසිදාක කඩවල් හිමිකරුවෙකු වීමේ ඉඩකඩ ඔවුන් හට  නොමැති නිසා නීතිගත වෙළඳාමට යාමට අවස්ථාවක් ඔවුන්ට කිසිසේත්ම නොලැබේ. සමහර විදි වෙළදුන් හට කඩ සාප්පු  තිබුණත්, ඉහළ කුලිය සහ ගාස්තු නිසා ඒවා රඳවාගැනීමට නොහැකිව, වීදි වෙළඳාමට යොමු වී තිබේ. විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක් අද පාරට වැටි ඇත්තේ ඔවුන්ගේ ජීවිතය ගොඩනගන්නේ වීදි වෙළඳාම මත පමණක් නිසාය.

ඉහතින් කි සමාජ ප්‍රශ්නවලට පිළිතුරු සෙවීමට අවරුදු දෙකට වැඩි කාලයක වෙහසවී ඇති අතර විසල් මහනුවර වැඩසටහන තුලින් අපි එය එළිදැක්වුවෙමු. JICA වැඩසටහන් තුළ නගර සැලැස්ම සහ සංවර්ධන තීන්දු ගන්නා ආකාරය විද්‍යාත්මක විග්‍රහා , දත්තඑකතුකොට සමාජීය–ආර්ථික අවශ්‍යතා මත පදනම්ව එය සිදු කළේය. එම  ක්‍රියාවලිය සාමාන්‍ය නගර සභා තීන්දු හෝ දේශපාලන තීන්දු වලට වඩා වඩා ගැඹුරු සහ සම්පූර්ණ තීන්දු තීරණ විය. JICA හා විසල් මහනුවර නගර සැලැස්ම ඉදිකිරීමේ ඉදිරි පියවරසදහා  තීන්දු ගන්නා විට, නගර සැලැස්ම, ආර්ථිකය, සහ සමාජීය බලපෑම් පිළිබඳ ගැඹුරු පර්යේෂණ සිදු කළේය. රාජ්‍ය ආයතන, පෞද්ගලික අංශ, සහ ජනතාවගේ අදහස් එක්කරමින් සමගිව තීන්දු ගත්තේය. නගර සංවර්ධනය පමණක් නොව, අධ්‍යාපනය, ගොවිතැන, ආර්ථිකය, සහ පාරිසරික කළමනාකරණය වැනි ක්ෂේත්‍රවලටත් අප කෙසේ ඇතුල් විය යුතුද යන්නද එහිම සදහන්වේ.

මේ විදි වෙළදුන් හා සමහර පිරිස් කියා සිටියේ Kandy Nights” වැනි රාජ්‍ය අනුග්‍රහයෙන් සිදු කරන රාත්‍රී වෙළඳපොළ වැඩසටහන් තුළ වෙළඳාම පිළිගන්නා අතර, වීදි වෙළඳුන්ගේ ජීවිකාව පමණක් නවත්වන තීන්දු අසමතුලිත බව පෙන්වන බවයි. එය හරියට හිගන්නාගේ පාත්‍රයට හෙන හුරා වැටුනා හා සමානයි. තවද  මහනුවර පමණක් විදි වෙළදාම තහනම් කිරීම, අනෙක් නගර සහ ගම්වල වෙළඳාමට අනාගතේ කෙසේ බලපායිද? පිරිසකට ඉඩදී තවත් පිරිසක් එම සමානම ජිවිත රැකියාව අහිමි කිරීම සමාජයේ  අසමතුලිත සහ අසාධාරණ තවත් තීව‍්‍ර කිරීමක් වේ.

මෙසේ මොවුන්ව සම්පූර්ණයෙන් ඉවත් නොකර, නීතිගතව කල හැකි අවම ප්‍රමිතිය සොයා බලා සහ ඔවුන්ගේ අපේක්ෂා බිඳ නොවැටෙන ලෙස  නියමිත ප්‍රදේශවලට ගෙන යාම හා අසරණ වෙළඳුන්ට අඩු කුලියට නව කඩවල් සහ නීතිගත වෙළඳාම් මධ්‍යස්ථාන සැලසීම එම ප්‍රදේශ ගැන රජයේ අනුග්‍රය ඇතිව ප්‍රවර්ධනය කිරීම,මෙම විදි වෙළදුන්ගේ දරුවන්ට නිසි අධ්‍යාපන සහ රැකියා අවස්ථා සැලසීම, නව නීති හෝ නගර සැලැස්මවල්  සකස් කරන විට ජනතාවගේ සහ වෙළඳුන්ගේ අදහස් සලකා බැලීම අනිවාර්ය කාරණයක් ලෙස සැම දේශපාලන පක්ෂයකම කල යුතු කාරණයකි. ඊට හේතුව ජනතාවට නොසලකා හැරීම අනිත් පැත්තෙන් ගතහොත් එය දේශපාලනය නොසලකා හැරීමක්ද වේ.

 වීදි වෙළඳාම් සම්පූර්ණ තහනම” නගර පිරිසිදුකම සහ සුන්දරත්වය සුරක්ෂා කිරීමට උත්සාහයක් වුවත්, ජනතාවගේ ජීවිතය, අයිතිවාසිකම්, සහ සමාජ විශ්වාසය සුරක්ෂා නොකළොත්, අනාගතයේ විශාල අර්බුදයක් අප සමාජය තුල මතු වේ. අසරණ වෙළඳුන්ගේ ජීවිතය සුරක්ෂා කිරීමේදී, නගර සැලැස්ම සහ නීති පනවන විට දෙන්නම් කාසිවලට නොව නිසි නුවණින් විමසා සමාජ සාධාරණයෙන් සදහා ක්‍රියා කළ යුතුය.

තමබාපු කඩලා ගොට්ටේ සිට වීදි වෙළඳුන්ගේ අඩුවට රසලැබූ බඩ පුරවාගත් ඔබ, ළමා පත්‍රයේ සිට වීදි වෙළඳුන්ගෙන් දැනුම ලබාගත් ඔබ, තම නිරුවතට වසා ගැනීමට සාධාරණ මිලට රෙදක්ක මිලදී ගත් ඔබ, අද ඔබේ රාජකරියක් මත වීදියෙන් පන්නා දමන්නේ ඔබේම පිරිසයි. එය අසරණ වීදි වෙළඳුන් හට දුන් මාරු පහරක් බව දන්නේ ඔවුන්ම පමණයි. ඔවුන්ද මිනිසුන්ය.”

ලිපිය අවසන වීමට ළඟ නිසා මා කෙටියෙන්ම යමක් කියන්නම් : 

COVID-19 පසුකාලීන ආර්ථිකය ගොඩනගා ගැනීමට චීනයේ Tianjin නගරයේ වීදි වෙළඳුන් නැවත ආපසු ගෙන ආ අවස්ථාවක්.” by https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1189895.shtml

 රුසියාවේ වීදි වෙළඳුන්ගේ පින්තූරයක් — IMAGE by themoscowtimes.

චීනයේදී කොවිඩ් -19 පසුකාලීන ආර්ථිකය ගොඩනගා ගැනීමට වීදි වෙළඳුන්ට නැවත අවසර දුන්නා. රුසියාවේදී පාවිච්චි කරනලද භාණ්ඩ  සහ අනෙකුත් නැවත පාවිච්චි කළහැකි ද්‍රවය වලට අවසර දුන්නා එය හුදෙක් ආර්ථික පීඩනයන් නිසා ජනතාව  වැඩි මිලට භාණ්ඩ ගැනීමට නොහැකි නිසා අඩු මිලට භාණ්ඩ ගන්න වීදි වෙළඳාමට නැවත අවශ්‍යතා දීමට යොමු වුණා.

ගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමනි , අසරණ වීදි වෙළඳුන්ගේ ජීවිතය සහ අනාගතය රැක ගැනීමට ඔබගේ මනාපූර්ව අවධානය යොමු කරන ලෙස අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වෙමු. මෙම ලිපිය ඔබ හට ඇස ගැටුනොත්, අසරණ වීදි වෙළඳුන්ගේ ජීවිතය රැක ගැනීමට යමක් කරන්න.”

අසරණ වීදි වෙළඳුන්ගේ ජීවිතය රැක ගැනීමේදී, නීතියට වඩා මනුෂ්‍යත්වය උසස් යැයි අපි සැමට කරන්නෙමු.”

ඔබ සැමට සුබ නව වසරක් වේවා !

විසල් මහනුවර වැඩසටහෙනේ වාණිජ ජාලයේ හිටපු ලේඛම් ,පාලිත ආරියරත්න

The6Sixes

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Colombo Dockyard’s majority shareholder, Onomichi Dockyard of Japan, recently divested 51% of its shares to an Indian shipyard. 

The transaction, I am informed, was carefully structured by Sri Lankan legal and financial professionals, without ministerial influence. 

The final stage is now underway, with additional shares being issued to existing shareholders. This development brought back memories.

 At the time of privatization, the Government had offered 10% of the shares to the Dockyard workers. However, when 

I took over the Shipyard under Japanese management, more than a year after privatization, those shares had still not been released.

 I personally met the then Interim President, the late D. B. Wijetunga, and persuaded him to ensure the release of the shares that were being held by banks and other entities. 

When the matter was finally resolved, I had the privilege of handing over the share certificates to the workers myself.

 It remains one of the moments I am most proud of. Today, nearly 25 years later, I visited the Central Depository System (CDS) to make payment and apply for additional shares under the new investor’s offer. 

There, I met a retired Colombo Dockyard employee—one of those very workers—struggling to understand how to register with a stockbroker. 

 Without hesitation, I offered to help. I called a stockbroker I knew and arranged assistance for him. 

 As I watched him leave, I remembered the day I handed him his original share certificate all those years ago.

 It felt like a full circle. 

 And I returned home quietly happy—knowing that even in small ways, doing the right thing endures longer than titles, transactions, or ownership changes.

Regards

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Courtesy Daily Mirror

Probe launched against Minister Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, Minister Bimal Rathnayake, Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe, Minister Kumara Jayakody, Minister Sunil Handunnetti, Deputy Minister Sunil Watagala

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption has initiated a probe under the Money Laundering Act 

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption has initiated an investigation into the alleged assets of six ministers of the current NPP government under the Money Laundering Act, according to a letter from it. 

According to a copy of the letter which the Daily Mirror has seen, an investigation was launched following a formal complaint submitted to the Commission by Jamuni Kamantha Thushara, Chairman of the Organisation Citizens’ Power against Corruption and Waste. 

It was reported that Thushara submitted a complaint to the Bribery Commission on September 16, 2025, urging the Commission to launch an investigation into the alleged assets of five Cabinet ministers and one Deputy Minister under the Money Laundering Act.  

Accordingly, the Commission informed the Chairman of Citizens’ Power Against Corruption and Waste that the Illegal Assets Division of the Commission has decided to initiate investigations against Minister of Health and Mass Media and Chief Government Whip Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports, and Civil Aviation and Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake, Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe, Minister of Energy Kumara Jayakody, Minister of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development Sunil Handunnetti, and Deputy Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Attorney Sunil Watagala. 

In a reply letter dated December 17, the Chairman was informed to appear before the Bribery Commission to record a statement to further clarify the facts regarding the complaint. 

Accordingly, under Section 49(1) of the Anti-Corruption Act, No. 9 of 2023, the Commission has requested him to appear before the Commission at 9.00 a.m. today, along with relevant documents, to provide the statement. 

Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody is already under investigation by the Bribery Commission in connection with alleged corruption involving the misappropriation of funds while serving at the Fertiliser Corporation in 2015. 

This investigation is in addition to the ongoing probe in which the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption has decided to institute legal action against Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody over corruption complaints related to the same matter. 

That investigation was initiated following a complaint lodged by Sanka Chandima Abeywardena, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Haritha Sangvidhanaya (Green Organisation). 

In September this year, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) has also lodged a complaint with the Bribery Commission regarding the assets of Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe. 

Meanwhile, attempts by the Daily Mirror to contact the ministers concerned were unsuccessful.   

By Rathindra Kuruwita, Courtesy The Diplomat

The year revealed immense political energy, especially among younger generations, but also the persistence of patronage, intolerance, and strategic mistrust.

Every year is eventful in South Asia. But 2025 wasn’t just turbulent; it destabilized the region structurally. This was due to the convergence of multiple shocks. Many countries in the region experienced domestic political upheaval, interstate military escalation, and climate disasters. Long-held assumptions on the role of exports, especially to developed countries, collapsed due to the tariffs imposed by the United States. These developments took place at a time when millions of South Asians were quickly losing patience with the political establishments that had long ruled these countries.

South Asia seemed to be on the verge of a polycrisis, but South Asian elites haven’t been able to present a new path forward. The only thing that remained unchanged during the year was the acrimonious relationship between India and Pakistan.

Return of Mass Politics, and the Crisis of Representation

As in 2024, mass politics in the form of protests toppled a South Asian government in 2025. In Nepal, youth-led protests in September forced the resignation of Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli. The immediate triggers for the protests ranged from bad governance to arrogant elites who can’t read the room, but the deeper drivers – economic precarity, rising unemployment and living costs, and a political system that does not offer meaningful participation – were unmistakable.

Nepal’s upheaval was not an anomaly, but a continuation of earlier mass movements in Sri Lanka (2022) and Bangladesh (2024) led by digitally connected youth and supported by political parties. The success of these anti-elite mobilizations should have alerted the Oli government, but it was slow in learning from the mistakes of others, like many fossilized South Asian political establishments.

However, despite the success of these movements in removing incumbents from power, except for Sri Lanka, they have struggled to translate disruption into institutional renewal. In fact, the events of 2025 showed that the gap between political mobilization and political transformation was widening. Nearly a year and a half  after the departure of Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina, reform remains partial and contested. None of the main Bangladeshi political parties has moved away from traditions of centralized leadership, opaque financing, and patronage.

In the case of Sri Lanka, the National People’s Power (NPP), which was not part of the political establishment and has extensive cadre-based organizational structures, was a natural choice for many disgruntled voters. There is no such party waiting in the wings either in Bangladesh or Nepal. Religious and identity-based parties such as the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami seem to have gained ground because they have better organizational discipline and grassroots networks, but whether the emergence of Islamists as a strong political force is a positive development for Bangladesh remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, new political groups, including student-led parties, seem to be popular among certain sections in urban areas and have garnered social media attention. Yet, these groups have little organizational reach beyond metropolitan centers. Law and order has not been restored and violence has become normalized in Bangladesh. Instead of restoring democratic credibility, these dynamics have deepened public cynicism ahead of crucial elections scheduled for early 2026 in Bangladesh and Nepal.

India-Pakistan: Escalation Under the Nuclear Shadow

If domestic upheaval constituted one axis of instability, interstate conflict constituted another. The military conflict between India and Pakistan in May was the most serious military confrontation between the two nuclear-armed rivals in decades. As target sets expanded, and the two strongest nations in the region carried out deeper strikes, sustained missile and air operations, and overt nuclear saber-rattling, other nations in South Asia could only watch helplessly.

A ceasefire was eventually secured, following the involvement of the United States. However, the confrontation has likely fundamentally altered regional risk perceptions. The Indian government has said it now considers major terrorist attacks as acts of war and that its responses, using conventional weapons, would not be constrained by nuclear risk. This is a departure from earlier restraint-focused doctrines.

The conflict also brought forth another fault line: water security. During the crisis, the Indus Waters Treaty briefly became part of the strategic calculation. Indian media hinted that, as the upper riparian country, India could wield strategic pressure. The World Bank-brokered treaty allocates about 80 percent of the river’s waters to Pakistan, whose agriculture relies heavily on the Indus waters. In a region already under climate stress, even limited disruption in the timing of water releases, rather than an outright cutoff, could trigger food shortages, inflation, and social unrest, raising the risk of escalation between two nuclear-armed neighbors.

Ultimately, the crisis revived long-standing concerns about South Asia’s crisis-management architecture, the importance of SAARC, and the power the U.S. wields over both India and Pakistan.

Trump’s Tariffs and the Collapse of Export Assumptions

Protectionism expanded and accelerated in 2025, driven by the new administration in the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump moved quickly to impose tariffs on all countries that traded with the U.S, tightened rules of origin, and linked market access explicitly to labor, migration, and strategic concessions.

The United States is the largest single export partner for many South Asian nations. Around 18 percent of Indian and Pakistani exports are sent to the U.S. The figure is about 25 percent for Sri Lanka, and 20 percent for Bangladesh. Thus, the consequences were immediate and severe.

The impact was most acute in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, both heavily dependent on garment exports to the U.S. In Bangladesh, garments account for more than four-fifths of export earnings. Sri Lanka is in a similar situation. Apparel exports account for over 40 percent of export revenue. The sector employs over 350,000 people directly. While both countries now face a tariff of about 20 percent for their exports, down from the over 40 percent that was initially proposed, the new tariffs squeeze margins in the industry that employs millions, particularly women.

India faces a different but equally consequential challenge. Although its export basket is more diversified than Sri Lanka or Bangladesh, Trump’s tariffs, restrictions on H-1B visas, remittances, and curbs on energy imports undermined New Delhi’s assumption that strategic alignment with Washington would shield it from economic coercion. India’s plight in 2025 revealed the costs of hedging in a world where market access itself has become a geopolitical weapon.

While Pakistan’s export exposure to the U.S is significant, the economic pressure it was subjected to in 2025 was softened by the fact that Islamabad seems to have become strategically important to Washington, particularly after the India–Pakistan crisis. Trump’s repeated claiming of credit for the ceasefire between the two countries and declaration that India lost seven aircraft in its war with Pakistan embarrassed India.

Across South Asia, U.S. tariffs shattered a core post-1990s assumption: that export-oriented growth would remain insulated from geopolitics. Globalization is running out of steam, and South Asian economies, already constrained by debt, inequality, and climate risk, now need to find a new economic paradigm, fast.

U.S. Volatility Replaces Strategic Predictability

Trump not only disrupted trade but also exacerbated volatility in South Asia’s strategic environment. India’s early optimism about Trump 2.0 quickly faded over tariffs, immigration restrictions, and energy sanctions. Many believed that New Delhi was an indispensable ally for the U.S. in its attempts to contain China and that India could shape Washington’s behavior because of this importance. Both assumptions have been significantly undermined.

Pakistan, by contrast, received unexpected diplomatic goodwill from the United States. Counterterrorism cooperation, renewed Gulf engagement, and U.S. interest in regional stability elevated Islamabad’s strategic relevance.

Smaller South Asian countries were pushed toward hedging strategies, diversifying partners, deepening ties with China, and prioritizing economic autonomy. The result was a region less anchored to any single external power, but also more exposed to great-power bargaining.

China’s Steady Hand and India’s Neighborhood Dilemma

In 2025, China emerged as the steadier, more reliable partner for many South Asian nations. Beijing continued infrastructure investment and diplomatic engagement across South Asia, particularly in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. China has also avoided entanglement in domestic political disputes. This restraint enhanced China’s image as a predictable, if transactional, partner during a period of uncertainty.

On the other hand, India’s relationship with its neighbors suffered several setbacks. Relations with Bangladesh deteriorated following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina. In Nepal, anti-elite protests included strands of skepticism toward India itself.

These developments highlighted a central challenge for India in 2026. As it pursues its ambitions to be a global power, its stock in South Asia has fallen. On the other hand, there is no guarantee that the U.S will come to India’s aid during a faceoff with China, which is rapidly becoming not only the largest economy in the world but also a leader in key technologies of the future.

Climate Change, Cyclone Ditwah, and the Limits of State Capacity

Climate change was a direct driver of political, economic, and governance stress. Cyclone Ditwah struck Sri Lanka in late November and overwhelmed a country with weakened state institutions due to IMF-induced austerity.

Sri Lanka received nearly 13 billion cubic meters of water in just 24 hours on November 28. This is equal to about 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s average annual rainfall. Floods and landslides affected all 25 districts, displaced over 2 million people, damaged or destroyed more than 100,000 homes, and inflicted a $4.1-billion loss on agriculture, transport infrastructure, energy systems, and enterprises. Ditwah was a systemic stress test for Sri Lanka’s NPP government, as well as the country’s fiscal resilience and social contract.

Sri Lanka is not the only country vulnerable to climatic shocks. In Bangladesh, rising sea levels and cyclones threaten export zones and urban labor markets. In Pakistan, floods and heatwaves destroy crops and lead to the displacement of hundreds of thousands. In India, water scarcity increasingly shapes electoral politics and inter-state tensions. Climate shocks are no longer sporadic; they are structural disruptors that influence debt, inequality, migration, and political legitimacy.

Maldives: Managing Strategic Anxiety in a Climate-exposed State

The Maldives offered a subtler lesson in 2025 on how a small state can recalibrate strategically without triggering regional escalation.

At the start of the year, many expected the Maldives to become a geopolitical flashpoint. President Mohamed Muizzu had come to power criticizing Indian military presence in the Indian Ocean archipelago. Many considered him to be closely aligned with China. Early disputes over Indian-operated surveillance aircraft, Chinese research vessel visits, and Pakistani naval port calls seemed to confirm these beliefs.

Yet by year’s end, the Maldives had stabilized relations with India, culminating in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to mark the 60th anniversary of Maldivian independence. Activities that might have provoked alarm in New Delhi were deliberately downplayed rather than amplified into crises.

Climate vulnerability remains central to the Maldives’ diplomacy. As one of the world’s most climate-exposed nations, sea-level rise and extreme weather shape its foreign policy priorities. In 2025, climate finance and adaptation featured as prominently as security, allowing Malé to frame partnerships around shared survival imperatives rather than alignment.

Afghanistan and the Collapse of Old Assumptions

One of the strategically significant but often under-scrutinized developments of 2025 was the deepening rift between Pakistan and the Taliban authorities. Rising militant attacks inside Pakistan, cross-border strikes, and diplomatic breakdowns underscored the collapse of Islamabad’s long-held assumption that a Taliban government would guarantee security.

India seems to have a better relationship with Afghanistan as they work with Kabul to protect humanitarian interests and avoid strategic isolation. This is another example of the unravelling of long-standing regional assumptions in 2025, leaving South Asian states navigating unfamiliar strategic terrain.

A Region at a Crossroads

As 2025 drew to a close, South Asia stood at a crossroads. Elections scheduled for 2026 in Bangladesh and Nepal will test whether political systems can absorb popular demands without reverting to repression or elite bargains. India and Pakistan face a more dangerous deterrence environment than at any time in two decades. Export-dependent economies confront a harsher global trade regime with limited room for maneuver.

The defining question is no longer whether South Asia is changing, but whether institutions can adapt fast enough to manage that change. The year revealed immense political energy, especially among younger generations, but also the persistence of patronage, intolerance, and strategic mistrust.

2025 was a warning for South Asian political elites. Without deeper democratic reform, credible economic inclusion, climate resilience, and regional crisis management, the shocks of this year risk becoming the new normal for South Asia.

Courtesy Daily Mirror

• Government delays the appointment of the Auditor General to secure a party-aligned nominee
• Govt should decide what is needed to be done with foreign assistance
• Funding post-disaster rebuilding through high-interest borrowing is risky
• Govt should reconsider proposed expressways
• Kandy, Ratnapura are fragile cities, fresh urban planning needed

United Republican Front (URF) leader Patali Champika Ranawaka, in an interview with Daily Mirror, responds to questions about the government’s alleged failure to take measures for the mitigation of Ditwah impact, the delay in the appointment of the Auditor General and the post –disaster development strategy needed for the country.

QYou remarked to the press that the government disregarded warnings regarding the cyclonic development and failed to take steps for mitigation of the damage. How do you support your argument?

The government was always arguing that the Department of Meteorology had not properly advised them about cyclone Ditwah and its possible implications. That is not true. If you go to the department’s website, you would be able to see a lot of warnings.

 After November 25, they had warned that a cyclone is developing with possible impacts for Sri Lanka and over 200 mm rainfalls might be happening. The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) should be having a detailed report. The DMC and its Director General must know about them all.

Apart from this, there are two other agencies which knew about such developments. One is the Ceylon Electricity Board which maintains daily hydrological curves so that they can maintain the hydro- base electricity generation. They calculate each day the rainfall in the catchment areas of the reservoirs- Mahaweli reservoirs and the Kelani- based reservoirs , inflows and gaps between the spill levels and the existing level so that they can manage the whole hydropower generation .

The Mahaweli authorities have dam safety manuals. The Kotmale dam was built by Sweden, Victoria by the British, and Randenigala by Germany. All these countries are highly equipped, knowledgeable in engineering.

There are detailed dam safety manuals to be maintained by the Mahaweli Development Authority. They clearly stipulate how to handle that kind of situation. It was in written form then. Now it is the computerized era.

In Polgolla, there is a real-time data centre. It has proper rainfall data about the buffer stock. There are details about the capacity of the reservoir concerned, the rates at which water flows in and is discharged.

The government always argues that they don’t have proper data. But it is very clear right now. The Mahaweli Development Authority and the CEB data clearly showed what happened on November 26 and 27. In the span of 48 hours, a sharp increase of water level had occurred. 

After November 26, you were able to see heavy rainfalls in Randenigala, Victoria, Upper Kotmale, Kotmale, in Nawalapitiya. By around 9 o’clock, someone there should know that all these reservoirs were going to overflow during the day. So they have to manage the water levels accordingly.

For instance, if the Kotmale Reservoir is managed from around 9 a.m. with a controlled release of about 800 cubic metres per second, the resulting rise in the Mahaveli River downstream is limited to roughly one foot—posing no flood risk at all. Even if such a release is sustained until the following day, it would still not trigger flooding. A huge flood happened in Gampola, Gelioya, Gatambe or Peradeniya and Randenigala, though. The Mahiyangane town was inundated and a lot of destruction happened as a result.

 A proper analysis of rainfall data from Hunnasgiriya and surrounding areas would have enabled timely warnings to affected communities. Instead, people were forced to flee only when massive landslides were already crashing into their homes.

Well before the disaster occurred, Assistant Divisional Secretaries and local police stations had the capacity to warn residents to evacuate vulnerable areas. In some locations, alerts were issued only after the 27th or 28th—by which time the damage had already occurred. Crucially, there was no significant rainfall after the 28th. Following Cyclone Ditwah’s landfall, the system moved northwards, while rainfall across Badulla, Kandy, Matale and surrounding districts remained minimal, posing no real threat. In effect, the risk was limited to just two days and could have been managed with timely intervention.

Q So you mean to argue that there was no proper coordination among these institutions?

That’s the thing. The most responsible person is the President because he is the head of the Disaster Management Committee.

He has not been able to convene that committee before. He did it on November 27. Then, the disaster has already happened. Suddenly, all the gates were open and a huge volume of water was released to the Mahaweli River.

QYou hold the President directly responsible for this?

I don’t know whether he was informed or not. But there should be an impartial, professional inquiry into this matter.

QHow can the President be taken to task over this because he is the Executive President?

The system remains. The disaster management act, disaster management policies, disaster management action plans are there. The Disaster Management Centre is there. The Disaster Management Director General is there. He must brief the President.

 They should evaluate the whole picture and alert the President. I don’t know if it has happened or not, but there should be an impartial inquiry. 

QThe World Bank has estimated the damages to be US $ 4 .1 billion. According to your knowledge and experience, how long will it take for Sri Lanka to recover from this disaster?

I think within one year, we can recover. But you have to have a proper pragmatic plan. First of all, they have to identify where to dump debris. Now, everyone knows that they are dumping things everywhere. But they have to identify some places to dump debris. That is one thing.

The second thing, you can’t keep people there in safety centres. You must involve these people to rebuild their houses. In order to do that, you have to identify proper plots of land and prepare them to stand resilient against landslides and other environmental disasters in the future.

QAre you referring to smart engineering techniques like in Japan?

Not in Japan, everywhere, they have been practiced.

QWe see a lot of assistance coming in from different countries. India has come out in a big way. How do you see this phenomenon?

That is India’s soft power politics. Earlier, they had hard power politics in the 1980s. Now they have this kind of soft power politics.

We have to choose what to do- what to do with Indian aid or the other countries ‘aid. We have to have a proper plan to do that. For example, I think the government should redraft the budget proposals.

The government is now trying to have both budget proposals and the reconstruction phase as well. For example, the government capital expenditure budget during 2025 is around Rs.500 billion. The President himself admitted that it’s around 45 percent successful.

He is now going to handle Rs.2000 billion this year. The government should redirect and reformulate the budget proposals. For example, they are planning to have expressway linkage from Rambukkana to Kandy. Kandy is now an environmentally fragile city.

The population there should not be increased. There is a proper scientific urban plan developed by Japan. So instead of this expressway, they have to develop this urban plan for Kandy.

There is an alternative plan for Kandy’s road network. That is to connect Kurunegala to Galagedara via Mawathagama by a four-lane road. It’s one-tenth of the cost of the expressway. Ratnapura is also a fragile city right now. They are trying to have a Ratnapura expressway. All these projects are there.

That seems to me that the government is trying to have both things. But, they don’t have the proper capacity. Some proposals such as these expressways are unscientific. They are against the national physical plan of Sri Lanka. 

QWe have to redo this central expressway plan. Don’t we?

Yes, definitely. The Colombo – Kurunegala expressway is okay. But beyond that, you have to have a separate plan to connect Kegalle and Kandy with this expressway. It has to be a separate plan. 

There is a plan by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to connect Homagama in Colombo with Pelmadulla via Ratnapura. It is a four-lane road. What we should do is to dedicate the inner two lanes as an expressway. Other two lanes as a public way so that way you can reduce the cost by one-tenth. All these plans are there in the Road Development Authority (RDA). That is to reduce environmental cost, urbanisation problem and also the debt problem.

The bigger question is how such projects are to be financed. With commercial borrowing costs hovering around 8 percent—and even IMF lending close to 7 percent—the space for debt-financed expressway construction is extremely limited. The proposed US$200 million from the IMF risks repeating past mistakes. Sri Lanka has been down this road before: under Mahinda Rajapaksa, high-interest loans were channelled into expressway construction that generated little or no revenue, contributing directly to the eventual bankruptcy.

There is a real danger that the current administration will follow a similar path. India has so far extended around US$350 million in soft loans, but Sri Lanka must be acutely mindful of interest rates and, more importantly, the economic viability of the projects tied to such financing. Beyond this, the government has indicated that it intends to pursue an international donor conference.

QHow do you look at the participation of these foreign powers in the rebuilding process here?

First of all, the government should have a proper plan as per the national fiscal plan to rebuild all these broad networks and urban areas and also the livelihood of the people. Without that, you can’t go to donor conferences with empty hands. My opinion is that the government has enough money in the treasury.

As per the Committee on Public Finance meeting, Rs. 1 trillion remains with the treasury. They hold this buffer stock. They are spending around Rs. 20 billion as per the treasury. So what is the World Bank estimate? The World Bank estimate is around 1,300 billion. 

It’s borrowed money. They overdrew money at the additional cost of 20 billion per annum. They should use this money. There is no need for this country to be indebted further.

QDo you think there should be a level playing field for all major countries to participate in the process?

 The countries can come. The government should only decide what kind of grants and loans are needed and what is best for Sri Lanka. It should look at the interest rates they are going to ask for us. But the government has Rs. 1 trillion in the treasury.

QFinally, there are a lot of allegations against the government and the President regarding the delay in the appointment of the Auditor General. What is your view?

The government is effectively waiting for the establishment of a new Constitutional Council so it can secure a nominee of its own—essentially a party loyalist. This directly contradicts the promises made when it came to power last year, when it assured the public that key oversight institutions, particularly the Auditor General’s Department and the Audit Council, would function as genuinely independent bodies.

That independence is now being systematically dismantled. A politically aligned Auditor General is set to take charge at a time when the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) is being empowered with some judicial authority. COPA’s work is fundamentally driven by reports issued by the Auditor General. If both the Auditor General and the COPA chair are party loyalists, the risk of selective enforcement and political punishment—under the guise of parliamentary oversight—becomes very real.

What is unfolding mirrors troubling developments seen at the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC). The appointment of its Director General itself has been challenged as unlawful, yet the commission has launched a wave of cases claiming to expose bureaucratic misconduct and financial misappropriation. However, accountability remains one-sided. Responsibility at the political level is conspicuously absent.

 Kamanthi Wickramasinghe   Courtesy Daily Mirror

Sri Lanka was not ready for Cyclone Ditwah, both in terms of the intensity of rainfall and winds,  and also in terms of infrastructure. Even though Sri Lanka discussed about incorporating disaster-resilient infrastructure post-Tsunami, many of these discussions remained in black and white. In this backdrop, hydrology experts underscore the fact that Sri Lanka should prioritise on proactive planning, resilient infrastructure and community readiness, at least now.  In a candid interview with the Daily Mirror, Lakshman Galagedara, Professor in hydrology and agrogeophysics at Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada,  explained the importance of proper land-use planning, advance weather forecasting and nature-based approaches in mitigating natural disasters. Prof. Galagedara is a leading researcher in sustainable land and water resources management, with a strong focus on agriculture, water security, and food security.

Excerpts : 

Lakshman Galagedara, Professor in hydrology and agrogeophysics at Grenfell Campus

Q : Sri Lanka wasn’t ready for the kind of disaster it faced following Cyclone Ditwah. As a coastal nation how should we have been prepared?

For any natural disaster, including Ditwah, proactive planning, resilient infrastructure, and community readiness are critical to avoid any catastrophes. I think that the country never thought of such a strong cyclone that would cover the entire country within a very short time period. We did not have advance forecasting instruments like Doppler Radar or sophisticated computing power to forecast it accurately. Correct land-use planning for zoning and strict enforcement of that zoning is essential.  In addition, we should have clear evacuation plans, public education and even drills, well-equipped emergency response systems particularly led by respective communities, and coordinated communication across all levels of government. Long-term climate adaptation planning should be a priority now, which should be guided through proper land-use decisions and infrastructure investments to reduce exposure and vulnerability before disasters occur.

Q : Over 100,000 houses have been partially damaged and over 6000 of these are fully damaged. Going forward, what sort of infrastructure is necessary for Sri Lanka to minimise damage caused by disasters?

We are basically living everywhere without a correct plan or identification of zones for different activities. We have very limited land and most of it has been allocated for agriculture, plantation crops etc (other than the around 20% for forests and wildlife). So that, housing, business and services areas should be properly planned rather than building everywhere. The best is to go for 4-6 storey buildings on identified locations/clusters (sub-divisions),  and the ground floor can be allocated for business and services. Each building can have 4 to 6 units horizontally and 4-6 vertically. This will bring to around 16 (4 * 4) to 36 (6 * 6) units in one building. 

Q : Much attention is now being given to Central Highlands which is described as a fragile area. It is a watershed area that has a huge population. What are your observations on this matter?

Yes, the biggest issue in the Central Highlands is unplanned living and livelihood. It is a very sensitive area where most of our river basins originate and drain radially to every direction of the country. The other point is that other than a Hydrological/Physical Unit, watersheds are also considered  Social-economic and Political Units. That means people live there and take decisions that will affect directly or indirectly on the ecosystem. In the past, we have had politically supported/motivated land encroachments. This has created a lot of pressure in some of the most sensitive areas leading to all these issues including  increasing the frequency and magnitude of landslides. We need to immediately stop (if land encroachment is still being done) and start zoning. When managing sensitive areas in watersheds, degraded/risky areas must be corrected promptly. In addition to the high-tech and expensive engineering approaches, we should also look into simple and cost effective Nature Based Solutions” when restoring degraded watersheds.

Q :  Do we have the capacity to decentralise the population living in such vulnerable areas with prevailing land issues for instance?

Yes, I think we should begin with proper zoning and the development of planned subdivisions, such as 4–6 storey housing complexes. For residents interested in home gardening, suitable nearby land can be designated for community gardens. This zoning process should be led by a trans-disciplinary team that includes researchers from universities as well as representatives from relevant government departments and institutions. Ideally, this work would be overseen by a high-level body operating directly under the President.

Q :  Sri Lanka has lacked scientific approaches in terms of reconstruction post-tsunami, resettling people. What are some scientific approaches that need to be incorporated in post-disaster management? 

We can’t say we do not have scientific approaches, but the issue is the those approaches are either not fully developed or implemented correctly. 

We should focus on: Ecosystem based approaches (nature-based solutions) including identification of sensitive areas, restoration of wetlands in some areas as needed; Watershed and hydrological modelling, specifically under the threats of changing climates to identify/predict potentials risks; Land-use planning and identification & demarcation of risky areas (these are being done  to some extent by the NBRI); Socio-economic and livelihood assessment, focusing on what has to be done and where,  and what should not  be done; Data driven decision making through transdisciplinary approaches; and Community awareness and strengthening.

Q : We don’t have the technology to determine accurate rainfall and early warnings. What should be our immediate priorities in terms of getting down the necessary technology at this juncture?

As far as I am aware, we are not fully equipped with all the necessary instrumentation (for example, lack of Doppler Radar systems to track Cyclones/Severe weather). I think, the government is going to install one or two very soon. The other point is lack of a data sharing culture, which hinders some of the forecasting by independent scientists. I think data belongs to the people as most of these are generated through tax payer’s money. So that, data should be freely available for researchers to use (This – Open Data Policy is the world trend now). 

At the same time, we should place greater emphasis on scientific approaches such as AI-based tools and high-performance computing to simulate weather and hydrological events, as well as hazards including landslides, floods, and droughts. Downscaled future climate projections under different emission scenarios can help forecast long-term impacts and identify potential risks more accurately.

Q : What are the challenges and opportunities we have in terms of transforming Sri Lanka into a disaster-resilient nation?

Challenges are as follows; 

High exposure to multiple hazards in particular due to changing climates (climate change has increased frequency and magnitude natural hazards like severe weather worldwide) and unplanned development. Island nations like Sri Lanka are highly vulnerable to these changes and effects would be severe similar to what we experience with Ditwah. Poor land use and high population densities increases the chances for catastrophes and low-income communities are highly vulnerable to these disasters (especially due to aging and vulnerable infrastructures). 

Limited use of science in decision-making: Gaps in data integration, modelling capacity, and evidence-based planning hinder effective risk reduction.

Institutional fragmentation: Weak coordination among agencies leads to overlaps, delays, and inefficient disaster response and recovery.

In terms of opportunities, the priority should be given to take the advantages from advances in science and technology (as mentioned earlier: AI, remote sensing, GIS, and high-performance computing enable better hazard forecasting, early warning, and risk mapping).

Focus on Ecosystem/Nature-based solutions (mangroves, wetlands, forests, biodiversity etc) and use of Trans-disciplinary approaches in understanding problems and then finding solutions.  

Policy and planning reforms: land-use planning, zoning (where to live and livelihood and what to do in sensitive/risky areas. These will significantly lower future losses.

Balanced Development and Environmental Sustainability: Again, supported by proper Zoning and land-use planning and will avoid encroachments to sensitive areas.

Community engagement, and local knowledge: Empowering communities through education, preparedness, and participatory planning strengthens resilience. Should also focus on Equity-Diversity-Inclusion in all aspects of planning and implementation. This also goes with Early Warning & Communication Systems: Expand real-time monitoring networks for rainfall, river levels, and severe weather indicators; Standardise multilingual alert systems (SMS, radio, sirens, apps) to ensure all communities receive timely warnings; Integrate community-based communication networks so trusted local leaders can amplify official alerts.

Q :  What are some key lessons we need to learn from the recent disaster? 

Very simply, we need to change the way we think—both as individuals and as communities, and as a country—and be prepared for real change. Challenges will continue, and the frequency and intensity of hazards and disasters are increasing. Poor land-use planning and high population density can turn natural hazards into major catastrophes. Preparing for the future requires genuine change. This is not only the responsibility of the government; citizens also share equal responsibility. We must listen to guidance from government officials and agencies and be ready to adapt our ways of living and our livelihoods to build a safer and more resilient society.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Sri Lanka’s Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRCSL) has blocked access to a website that was referenced in a Grade 6 English language module, following mounting public concern over its inclusion in printed school learning material.

The regulator confirmed that access to the website has been restricted through all Sri Lankan internet service providers, citing the need to prevent further exposure while authorities examine how the reference appeared in an official educational publication.

Courtesy Hiru News

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) suspended the party membership of Colombo Municipal CouncillorSohra Buhari with immediate effect after she voted in favour of the Colombo Municipal Council budget.

Party General Secretary Nizam Kariapper issued a letter stating that party leader Rauff Hakeem personally instructed opposition members to vote against the budget proposal.

The SLMC identifies the decision to ignore these directives as a serious breach of party discipline.

Courtesy Hiru News

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Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) National Organiser, Namal Rajapaksa, has accused the government of deliberately delaying the appointment of a permanent Auditor General to facilitate high-level corruption.

Speaking to the media, the Member of Parliament pointed out that the crucial oversight position has remained vacant for eight months, following a standoff between the President and the Constitutional Council.

According to Rajapaksa, the President’s attempts to install a “close associate” in the role were rightfully blocked by the Constitutional Council, a move that has reportedly led to some ministers criticising the Council’s independence.

He alleged that the government is desperate to avoid a truly independent Auditor General who would scrutinise controversial transactions, such as the illegal importation of double-cab vehicles, the irregular release of 323 containers from the port, and the procurement of substandard medicines.

The MP issued a stark warning that this “administrative game” could jeopardise the country’s lifeline of foreign assistance.

He noted that international financial agencies like the World Bank, IMF, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) require transparent, audited accounts before releasing loans or aid.

Borella Handiya

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

අධ්‍යාපනික සංශෝධන ඔස්සේ පාසල් දරුවන් අතර සමලිංගිකත්වය ප්‍රචලිත කිරීමේ ප්‍රයත්නයක් පවතින බවට වර්තමානයේ විවේචන එල්ල වෙමින් පවතී. 

හයවන ශ්‍රේණියේ ඉංග්‍රීසි විෂය ඉගෙනුම් කට්ටලයක අඩංගු වූ යොමුවක් (Link) හරහා සම ලිංගික සහකරුවන් සොයා දෙන අන්තර්ජාල අඩවියක් වෙත යොමු කර ඇති බවට කොළඹදී පැවැත්වූ මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදී අනාවරණය විය.

අදාළ වෙබ් අඩවිය නිරීක්ෂණය කිරීමේදී එය සමලිංගික සබඳතා සඳහා පුද්ගලයින් සම්බන්ධ කර දෙන වේදිකාවක් බව තහවුරු වී තිබේ. 

මෙම සිදුවීමත් සමඟ අදාළ ඉගෙනුම් ද්‍රව්‍ය පාසල් වෙත ලබා දීම නතර කිරීමට රජය වහාම පියවර ගෙන ඇති අතර, මෙම බරපතළ වරද සිදු වූ ආකාරය පිළිබඳව පුළුල් පරීක්ෂණයක් ද මේ වන විට ආරම්භ කර ඇත.

මේ අතර අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් නාලක කලුවැව මහතා පවසන්නේ ජාතික අධ්‍යාපන ආයතනය විසින් පිළියෙළ කළ, මේ වන විට මුද්‍රණය අවසන් කර ඇති, 6 ශ්‍රේණිය ඉංග්‍රිසි භාෂාවට අදාළ මොඩියුලයක යම් නුසුදුසු වෙබ් අඩවියක නාමය ලෙස දැක්වෙන හැඳින්වීමක් කර ඇති බවට ලද පැමිණිල්ලක් මත ඒ පිළිබඳ ව සොයා බැලූ අතර එම පැමිණිල්ල නිවැරදි බවට තහවුරු වී ඇති බවය. 

එබැවින් වහාම එම මොඩියුලය බෙදාහැරීම අත්හිටවනු ලැබු අතර මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් වහාම ක්‍රියාත්මක වන පරිදි පරීක්ෂණයක් ද ආරම්භ කර ඇති බවත් අපරාධ පරික්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව වෙත ද පැමිණිලි කිරීමට අපේක්ෂිත බවත් හෙතෙම පවසයි.

Borella Handiya

උපුටාගැණීම මුහුනුපොත

වර්තමාන ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සමාජ ජාලා මාධ්‍ය තුළත්, පොදු සමාජ සංවාදය තුළත් “අචින්ති තම්පි භවති චින්තිතම්පි විනස්සති” යන ගාථා පාඨය අතිශය ජනප්‍රිය මාතෘකාවක් බවට පත්ව තිබේ. විශේෂයෙන් “කත්නෝරුවේ හාමුදුරුවෝ” වැනි අය විසින් මෙම ගාථාවට ලබා දෙනු ලබන “හිතන දේ වෙන්නේ නෑ – වෙන දේ හිතාගන්න බෑ” යන සරල සහ අලංකාර යැයි හැඟෙන අර්ථකථනය නිසා බොහෝ දෙනා මෙය මහා දාර්ශනික සත්‍යයක් ලෙස වැළඳගෙන ඇත. නමුත් කණගාටුවට කරුණ නම්, මෙම ප්‍රචලිත අදහස හුදෙක් බුද්ධ භාෂිතයට පටහැනි, අර්ථ විකෘතියක් සහිත ප්‍රකාශයක් වීමයි. “සරභමිග ජාතකය”, “මහා ජනක ජාතකය” සහ “ඒතදග්ග පාලිය” වැනි මූලාශ්‍රයන්හි සඳහන් වන මෙම ගාථාව හරහා බුදුදහම අපේක්ෂා කරන ගැඹුරු අර්ථය, වර්තමානයේ ප්‍රචලිත වී ඇති අදහසට වඩා හාත්පසින්ම වෙනස්ය. මෙය හුදෙක් ත්‍රීරෝද රථයක හෝ පච්චයක (tattoo) කොටා ගැනීමට තරම් ආකර්ෂණීය වැකියක් ලෙස පෙනුනද, ඉන් සමාජගත කරනුයේ බුදුදහමේ මූලික ඉගැන්වීම් වන වීර්යය සහ හේතු ඵල දහම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරන මිත්‍යා මතවාදයකි.

මෙම “හිතන දේ වෙන්නේ නෑ” යන මතය බුද්ධ වචනයක් ලෙස පිළිගතහොත්, එය බුද්ධත්වයේ මූලික පදනමටම පහරක් එල්ල කරයි. මන්දයත්, ගෞතම බුදුරජාණන් වහන්සේ සාරාසංඛ්‍ය කල්ප ලක්ෂයකට පෙර දීපංකර බුදුරදුන් පාමුලදී තමන් වහන්සේ අනාගතයේ බුදු වන බවට “සිතූ” උතුම් ප්‍රාර්ථනාව මෙම තර්කයට අනුව ඉටු නොවිය යුතුව තිබුණි. බෝසතාණන් වහන්සේ එදා ස්ත්‍රියක්ව ඉපදී සිටියදී “මම කවදා හෝ මගේ අයියා මෙන් බුදුවෙනවා” යැයි සිතූ සිතුවිල්ල, වත්මන් විකෘති අර්ථකථනයට අනුව නම් කිසිදා යථාර්ථයක් නොවනු ඇත. එසේ වී නම් අද අපට දේශනා කිරීමට ගෞතම බුදු කෙනෙකු පහළ නොවනු ඇත. එබැවින් යමක් සිතූ පමණින් එය සිදු නොවන බව කීම එක් දෙයක් වුවත්, සිතන දේ කිසිදා සිදු නොවන බවත්, සිදු වන දේ කිසිදා සිතාගත නොහැකි බවත් පැවසීම බෝසත් ප්‍රතිපදාවටත්, සසර පුරා පාරමිතා පිරීමේ සංකල්පයටත් කරන බලවත් නිග්‍රහයකි.

තවද, “වෙන දේ හිතාගන්න බෑ” යනුවෙන් පවසමින් ලෝකයේ සියලු සිදුවීම් අහඹු හෝ අද්භූත දේවල් ලෙස හුවා දැක්වීම බුදුදහමේ ඉගැන්වෙන නියාම ධර්ම පහට (උතු, බීජ, චිත්ත, කම්ම, ධම්ම) මුළුමනින්ම පටහැනිය. උදාහරණයක් ලෙස බීජ නියාමයට අනුව අඹ ඇටයක් පැල කළ විට ලැබෙන්නේ අඹ පැලයකි; එයින් පොල් පැලයක් ලැබෙන්නේ නැත. යම් සම්භාවිතාවක් තුළ සිදු විය හැකි දේ වෙනස් විය හැකි වුවත්, ඍජුවම “වෙන දේ හිතාගන්න බෑ” යැයි පැවසීමෙන් ගම්‍ය වන්නේ කිසිදු හේතු ඵල සම්බන්ධයක් නොමැති අරාජික ස්වභාවයකි. අවාසනාවකට අපේ සමාජය මෙවැනි ගැඹුරක් නැති, ආටෝප සාටෝප වදන්වලට රැවටී ඇත. ජ්‍යෝතිෂය ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කිරීමට “කිං කරිස්සති තාරකා” වැනි පාඨයක් අන්තනෝමතිකව යොදාගන්නා සේම, මෙම ගාථාව ද පුද්ගලික අත්දැකීම් පොදු ධර්මතාවක් ලෙස වරදවා වටහා ගනිමින් භාවිතා කරනු පෙනේ. සත්‍ය වශයෙන්ම මෙය එක් අවස්ථාවකදී සිදු වූ විශේෂ සිදුවීමක් මිස, සමස්ත විශ්වයටම බලපාන නියත ධර්මතාවක් නොවේ.

මෙම ගාථාව ඇතුළත් සරභමිග සහ මහා ජනක ජාතක අටුවාවන් විමසීමේදී එහි සැබෑ අර්ථය මනාව පැහැදිලි වේ. සරභ මිග ජාතකයේදී මෙය දේශනා කරනුයේ රජු මුවා පසුපස එලවාගෙන ගොස් අනපේක්ෂිත ලෙස වළකට වැටුණු සිද්ධිය අරබයාය. එහිදී “අචින්තිතම්පි” යන්නෙන් අදහස් කළේ රජු තමා වළක වැටෙතැයි නොසිතූ බවත්, මුවා අල්ලා ගැනීමට සිතූ අදහස ඉටු නොවූ බවත්ය. එය එම පුද්ගලයාට අදාළ විශේෂ සිදුවීමක් විග්‍රහ කිරීමකි. නමුත් වඩාත් වැදගත් වන්නේ මහා ජනක ජාතකයේ එන විග්‍රහයයි. එහි පැහැදිලිව දක්වන්නේ හුදෙක් සම්පත් හෝ ජයග්‍රහණ “සිතූ පමණින්” (න හි චින්තාමයා භොගා) නොලැබෙන බවයි. යමක් ලබා ගැනීමට නම් අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම “වීර්යය” තිබිය යුතුය. මහා ජනක කුමරු සිතුවේ යුද්ධ කොට රාජ්‍යය ගැනීමට වුවත්, ඔහුගේ අප්‍රතිහත වීර්යය නිසා යුද්ධයකින් තොරවම රාජ්‍යය ලැබුණි. එනම් වීර්යවන්තයාට තමන් සිතුවාටත් වඩා යහපත් ප්‍රතිඵල අත්කර ගත හැකි බව මිස, සිතන කිසිවක් සිදු නොවන බව ඉන් නොකියැවේ.

අවසාන වශයෙන්, මෙම ගාථා පාඨයේ සැබෑ බෞද්ධ ඉගැන්වීම වන්නේ ප්‍රාර්ථනාව හෝ සිතුවිල්ල පමණක් ප්‍රමාණවත් නොවන බවත්, එය යථාර්ථයක් කර ගැනීමට වීර්යය අත්‍යවශ්‍ය බවත්ය. “භාවනානුයුක්ත සූත්‍රයේ” සඳහන් පරිදි කිකිළියක් බිත්තර දමා ඒවා රකිමින් වීර්යය නොකර, පැටවුන් එනු ඇතැයි හුදෙක් සිතා සිටීමෙන් ඵලක් නැත. නමුත් යමෙක් නිවැරදිව වීර්යය කරන්නේ නම්, ඔහුට සිතන දේ සාක්ෂාත් කර ගැනීමටත්, ඇතැම් විට ඊටත් වඩා ඉහළ ප්‍රතිඵල ලබා ගැනීමටත් හැකියාව ලැබේ. එබැවින් වර්තමානයේ ප්‍රචලිත “කත්නෝරු බණ” වැනි විකෘති අර්ථකථන පසුපස නොයා, ධර්මයේ සඳහන් සැබෑ අර්ථය වන “වීර්යයේ වැදගත්කම” වටහා ගැනීම බෞද්ධයාගේ වගකීමකි. බුදු වදන් විලාසිතාවක් හෝ ට්‍රෙන්ඩ් එකක් කර නොගෙන, එහි ප්‍රායෝගික අරුත දිවි පෙවෙතට ගලපා ගැනීම තුළින් පමණක් සිතන පතන සම්පත් උදා කර ගත හැකි වනු ඇත.

Courtesy Daily Mirror

The unsavoury experience the writer had in this restaurant is not simply about the cost of a meal. It highlights a worrying trend in some tourist areas where foreign currency practices appear to be quietly normalised, even for everyday domestic transactions 

• A late lunch near a seaside restaurant in Midigama turns out to be a disaster 
• It was only after we had finished our meal that we were informed that payment could not be made in Sri Lankan Rupees
• Businesses aren’t permitted to compel customers to pay in foreign currency for domestic services, when prices are displayed in rupees

When Sri Lankans are required to pay in foreign currency at local establishments, they are effectively treated as outsiders in their own economy

By Giselle Gunewardene 

I went to Paradise Cove in Midigama for a late lunch with three friends on December 26, 2025, expecting nothing more than a relaxed meal by the sea. Instead, the experience left me unsettled and questioning how such practices can take place in Sri Lanka without scrutiny

At the entrance and near the counter, notices were clearly displayed stating that cash payments were not accepted and that only card payments were allowed. While inconvenient, this alone did not seem unusual. What was not disclosed anywhere, either on the notices or verbally, was that card payments would be processed only in a foreign currency.

The menu presented to us listed all prices in Sri Lankan Rupees. There was no mention that payment in local currency would not be accepted, nor any indication that a foreign currency would be used at the point of billing. Based on the information provided, there was no reason to assume that a meal ordered and priced in rupees would ultimately have to be paid for in anything else.

It was only after we had finished our meal that we were informed that payment could not be made in Sri Lankan Rupees and that the card machine would charge us in Euros. With no cash option and no local currency option available, we were left with no practical choice but to proceed with the transaction as instructed.

The final bill for our table of four came to €150.70.

This is where the issue becomes more serious. Under Sri Lankan law, the Sri Lankan Rupee is the sole legal tender for domestic commercial transactions. Restaurants and cafés operating within the country are required to charge and settle bills in local currency. Charging customers in foreign currency is permitted only in very limited and specifically authorised circumstances.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka regulates all foreign exchange transactions in the country. Businesses are not legally permitted to compel customers to pay in foreign currency for domestic services, particularly when prices are displayed in rupees. Refusing local currency while insisting on settlement in Euros directly undermines the legal status of the national currency.

Beyond the legal aspect, the experience also raises fundamental consumer protection concerns. Key information about payment terms was disclosed only after the service had been consumed. At that point, refusal was no longer a realistic option. There was no transparency about the exchange rate applied, and no opportunity for informed consent before ordering.

This experience is not simply about the cost of a meal. It highlights a worrying trend in some tourist areas where foreign currency practices appear to be quietly normalised, even for everyday domestic transactions. When Sri Lankans are required to pay in foreign currency at local establishments, they are effectively treated as outsiders in their own economy.

Tourism is vital to towns like Midigama, but it cannot come at the cost of disregarding national law and basic consumer rights. Transparency, lawful billing practices and respect for the Sri Lankan Rupee are not optional. They are obligations.

What happened at Paradise Cove Medigama on 26 December 2025 deserves attention, not just as a single incident, but as part of a larger issue that calls for clearer enforcement and greater accountability.

Several attempts made by the Daily Mirror to contact Paradise Cove via calls, WhatsApp and email proved futile. 

Courtesy Daily Mirror

Colombo, Dec. 29 (Daily Mirror) – Foreign Affairs Minister Vijitha Herath has proposed that China support the installation of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations across Sri Lanka as a donation, in line with the country’s plans to import electric vehicles in large numbers, including from China.

The Minister said the initiative would be crucial as the government is also planning to introduce more electric buses in the future. He made these remarks during a meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong, held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this morning (29).

Ambassador Qi Zhenhong responded positively to the proposal and agreed to convey it to the Chinese government for consideration.

During the meeting, Minister Herath also requested urgent Chinese assistance for the reconstruction of railway lines and bridges damaged by the ongoing flood situation in the country. The Ambassador agreed to immediately draw the attention of the Chinese government to the request.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Qi Zhenhong said he hopes to assess the damage caused by Cyclone Ditva and discuss possible avenues of assistance with the Chinese government, covering all necessary sectors.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ඇල්ල ඇතුළු දිවයිනේ විවිධ සංචාරක කලාපවල සේවය කරන ස්වාධීන රියදුරන්ට එල්ල වන බිය ගැන්වීම් සහ නීතිවිරෝධී බාධා කිරීම් සම්බන්ධයෙන් PickMe සමාගම පොලිස්පතිවරයා වෙත ලිඛිතව සිය කනස්සල්ල පළ කර තිබේ.

ඩිජිටල් මොබිලිටි සොලියුෂන්ස් ලංකා පීඑල්සී (Digital Mobility Solutions Lanka PLC) ආයතනය පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ, ජංගම යෙදුම් හරහා ප්‍රවාහන සේවා සපයන රියදුරන් පිරිසක් මෑත කාලීනව පහරදීම්, දේපළ හානි සහ මාර්ග අවහිර කිරීම් වැනි සිදුවීම්වලට මුහුණ දී ඇති බවයි. මෙවැනි ඇතැම් ප්‍රචණ්ඩකාරී සිදුවීම් සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ජාලා ඔස්සේ ද ප්‍රසිද්ධියට පත්ව තිබුණි.

පොදු මාර්ගවල කිසිදු පුද්ගලයෙකුට හෝ කණ්ඩායමකට “සීමිත ප්‍රවේශ කලාප” (Exclusive Zones) ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කිරීමට නීත්‍යානුකූල බලයක් නොමැති බව පික්මී සමාගම මෙහිදී අවධාරණය කරයි. මෙවැනි අත්තනෝමතික ක්‍රියා මගින් මහජන සාමය සහ මගී සුරක්ෂිතතාව බිඳවැටෙනවා පමණක් නොව, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සංචාරක ප්‍රතිරූපයට ද බරපතළ හානියක් සිදුවන බව එම සමාගම පෙන්වා දෙයි.

මෙම තත්ත්වය පාලනය කිරීම සඳහා පොලිස් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව මගින් පැහැදිලි උපදෙස් මාලාවක් නිකුත් කරන ලෙසත්, සංවිධානාත්මක බිය ගැන්වීම් සම්බන්ධයෙන් කිසිදු දිවයින පුරා ස්ථාවර ලෙස නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන ලෙසත් එම සමාගම පොලිස්පතිවරයාගෙන් වැඩිදුරටත් ඉල්ලා සිටී.

Courtesy Hiru News

A fundamental rights petition will be filed in the Supreme Court by January 15 regarding the failure to issue timely public warnings for Cyclone “Ditwah”.

The Independent Lawyers Association, representing the Joint Opposition, alleges that responsible state agencies acted without accountability by withholding vital safety signals.

Convener Dinesh Vidanapathirana notes that the state remains responsible for the extensive loss of life and property damage caused by this lack of preparation.

The legal team plans to utilise previous judicial precedents, such as the 2019 Easter Sunday bombing verdict and the ruling on the national economic crisis, to prove state negligence.

Respondents in the case include the Secretary to the President, the Directors General of the Meteorology and Irrigation departments, and relevant Ministry Secretaries.

The association intends to call a relative of a deceased victim, a religious leader, and a businessman as witnesses.

Courtesy Hiru News

Displaced villagers from the Kotmale East region gathered at the Kotmale Divisional Secretariat today (29) to protest the non-payment of promised relief funds and the Rs. 25,000 allowance for house cleaning.

A tense situation arose between the residents and government officials during the visit. Ven. Kalugala Kashyapa Thera, the Chief Incumbent of Karagasthalawa Sugatharama Temple, joined the villagers in stating that the government allowance intended for cleaning flood-affected homes remains unpaid.

The residents further alleged that Grama Niladhari officers in the landslide-prone Kotmale East area failed to visit their divisions for over a month.

The protestors pointed out that despite presidential circulars mandating swift relief, the conduct of officers attached to the Kotmale Divisional Secretariat remains extremely slow.

As the Divisional Secretary was absent, the group met with Assistant Divisional Secretary Thivanka Dasanayake.

He assured the residents that any unintentional errors or delays by the staff would be investigated and rectified immediately. Meanwhile, Ven. Kashyapa Thera noted that the temple continues to function as a camp for the displaced persons who cannot yet return to their homes.

e-Con e-News

blog: https://eesrilanka.wordpress.com

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’

e-Con e-News 21-26 December 2025

The higher the bishop, the more surprising the confession. But just as bishops’ earthly bodies come layered in vestments, in surplices & cassocks, in sparkling imported rags, so do their words. Their pronouncements, their ‘orations’, come garbed and garbled in metaphor, in analogy, in metonymy, in allegory & euphemism. Hence the earthly art of the exegesis, the line-by-line parsing (deconstruction?) of what was said, may have been said, may not have been said, what cannot be said & yet was meant to be said: By the gods, by the laity & their earthly interpreters, and printers (thanks to the Chinese for paper & print), all demand close survey. Here then is the Bishop of Colombo:

‘Nations in economic crises are nevertheless compelled

to turn to global organisations like the IMF for direction

& reconstruction. Since most who have been there,

seldom stand on their own feet, wise national carers

may not approach the negotiating table, uncritically.

The suspicion, that such organisations eventually ‘grow’

ailing nations into feeder forces for empire economics,

is not unfounded. The recent cyclone gave us a nasty taste

of these realities. Repeatedly declared a natural disaster,

this is not the whole truth. Empire economics which

indiscriminately vandalise our earth, had already set

the stage for the ravage of our land & the loss of

loved ones & possessions. As always, those affected

first & most, were the least among us.’ – Bishop

Duleep de Chickera (ee Economists, Anglican

Bishop Criticizes IMF & Plantations)

*

The bishop’s word carry not just the weight of the local church. The bishop of Colombo (apparently, a designation for life) belongs to the Church of Ceylon. The Church of Ceylon covers all of Sri Lanka’s provinces except Jaffna, which curiously belongs to the church of the ‘South India diocese for northern Sri Lanka’. Yet all these Anglicans come under the ‘extraprovincial jurisdiction’ of England’s Archbishop of Canterbury. Though the real head of the Anglican Church is the King of England. The English king is not just the head of this broad church, it is also the commander of the military forces of the English. Their churches there are now empty shells, and their highfaluting ideals carry no heft, but the English military still gets up to all sorts of mischief.

     The bishop’s words were published in this week’s Financial Times (FT) to greet Christmas day (a season of happy tree-slaughtering, about which dollar-ed tree huggers like the Wildlife & Nature Protection Society – WNPS – keep as silent as night). The FT is part of the Wijeya Group, belonging to the Wijewardene clan. This includes perpetual presidential aspirant Ranil Wickremesinghe. And all of them are ardent disciples of the ‘English empire’, including its latest avatara, the white settler state of the USA. The Wijeya Group has ‘ink in their veins’, publishing the most popular private rags in the country. So what does the Bishop exactly mean, & what on earth is ‘empire’? Is the Bishop too coy to call it imperialist?And why so late in the day or month? Surely, the English armed forces & their military industrial backers would not place their boots where the bishop’s mouth is?

‘Empire economics which indiscriminately vandalise our earth,

had already set the stage for the ravage of our land

& the loss of loved ones & possessions’

Does ‘Empire economics’ mean capitalism, England’s premier product, sold most expensively to all the world? And by capitalism, does the bishop mean modern machine-making industrialization? No, that import never arrived. Was dead on arrival. What arrived was its stunted caricature, of a merchant-&-money-lender-dominated import-export mechanism, called the plantation system. Dominated at first by ‘agency houses’, which had been allowed to take over the ‘private trade’ of the English East India Company (EIC), they heralded (overtaking the English chattel slavery of the 17-19^thC in Africa & the Americas of the English West India Co.) the greatest commerce of the 19^thC: opium (grown in India & imposed on China). The English trade in plantation products would soon come to be dominated by their premier multinational corporations (MNCs), the Standard Chartered Bank, Hongkong & Shanghai Bank, Peninsular & Orient (P&O) Steam Navigation Company, Unilever, Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI aka CIC here), and British American Tobacco (BAT aka CTC here), quarterbacked by the Bank of England.

     After the great English genocides here (in 1818, 1848), one of the greatest scandals – a tale untold of the 19^th century in Ceylon – was the robbery of the Buddhist Temple lands, then the largest landowners in the country. So how did the Anglican Church come to be the greatest landowners (per Anglican) in the country, with the Catholic Church running a close second? (The early imposition of the plantation system, and the role of the Anglican church in it, is recalled in the chronological notes at the end of this introduction).

*

• The plantation traders, driven by the MNCs (Unilever in particular), know exactly what the byzantine verbal somersaults of the bishop means. Perhaps the bishop, too, was moved by the visiting Indian External Affairs Minister’s concern for his countrymen in the hills (see ee Sovereignty). At first, Unilever’s mouthpiece, the Planters Association was in blasé denial: ‘Sri Lanka’s tea industry not impacted by Ditwah.’ So declared, on 08 December, the Colombo Tea Traders’ Association, which includes The Planters’ Association of Ceylon, Sri Lanka Tea Factory Owners’ Association, Colombo Brokers Association, Tea Exporters’ Association, Sri Lanka Federation of Tea Smallholdings Development Societies, and Tea Small Holding Development Authority.

     Others, however, reported differently; ee Quotes (20 Dec) noted: ‘Planters High & Dry, Workers Wet & Swept’, adding:

‘Recent floods & landslides in Sri Lanka’s hill country

didn’t strike at random. Estate infrastructure largely

remains intact. Homes of low-income workers, factory

labourers & informal settlers were swept away. You might

say it’s bad luck. But it’s not… Historically, plantation estates

were planned to protect capital. Factories & key buildings

were placed on well-drained ground. Worker housing was pushed

downslope into valleys & marginal land where water accumulates.

This wasn’t a secret plan. It was a system where labour safety

mattered less than asset protection.’ (Shanika Somatilake, FB)

So this week we suddenly hear differently. The Planters’ Association went from claiming there were no problems in the ‘tea’ country, to belatedly admitting that workers were affected, perhaps after, the Sri Lanka’s President met a Colombo Tamil politician who claims to represent Upcountry workers, and the Indian government’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met ‘Malaiyaham leaders’:

‘Regional Plantation Companies (RPC) moved swiftly

to safeguard estate workers & surrounding communities

following Cyclone Ditwah, activating emergency protocols,

relocating families from high-risk areas, and restoring basic

services in coordination with State authorities.’ (see ee Workers,

Planters’ Association of Ceylon says plantations stabilised)

*

‘Reforest & rehabilitate riverbanks along 24km

bordering the Kelani River at Dickoya Estate &

Mahaweli River’s Hatton Oya tributary spanning

Abbotsleigh, Strathdon, Shannon, & Carolina estates’

(see ee Agriculture, Hatton Plantations & WNPS

PLANT Launch 2 km Riparian Forest Corridor)

And behold there was belated & abstract recognition, reported in the passive voice, as if nature (or the perennial bugaboo, climate change, global warming, etc.) is to blame:

‘Erratic rainfall in highland estates has led to soil erosion,

damage to estate roads & factory infrastructure, and reduced

soil moisture, while southern low-country estates have

experienced heat stress among workers, flash floods

& heightened risks of vector-borne diseases.’ (see ee Agriculture,

UN Global Compact Network appoints Talawakelle Tea Estates

as Climate Emergency Task Force Patron)

Others sought to blame the much-abused Mahaweli river, happily ignoring the English destruction of the waterways to further their colonial project of invading the country, massacring the Sinhala people of the lands high & low, and imposing a destructive plantation system, causing daily erosion:

‘Concerns over the Faculty’s location within the flood plains

of the Mahaweli River are not new’ (ee Agriculture, Worst

flooding since setting up Veterinary Medicine & Animal Science

Faculty at Peradeniya raises concerns over food security:

SL Veterinary Association/SLVA).

Now what are we to do with ‘Sir’ Ivor Jennings, who is hallowed so for setting up the university and intruding on such salubrious surrounds? And that statue? Is it still erect and dry? Then there is the infamous ‘telescoped’ Mahaveli scheme, promoted by the World Bank: 

‘To deal with the restoration of the damaged infrastructure

in multiple watershed areas, the government may want to

revisit the Accelerated Mahaweli Scheme… The genesis

and implementation of that scheme involved as many flaws

as it produced benefits, but what might be relevant here is

to approach the different countries who were involved in

funding & building the different Mahaweli headworks

& downstream projects. Australia, England, Canada, Italy,

Japan, Sweden, Germany’ (see ee Agriculture,

Flaws of the Accelerated Mahaweli Scheme).

One reason for the partial admission of the destruction is to prevent any state-led plans to protect the hills from even more private intrusion. Some even blamed the government:

‘Most large & destructive landslides in Sri Lanka do not originate

within private homesteads, but in government-owned forest reserves

located on steep upper-catchment slopes’ (see ee Agriculture,

Mitigating landslides in the upper catchments).

*

‘A blanket removal policy would directly impact tea industry,

hospitality sector, and other hill country-based economic activities,

triggering serious disruptions to employment & revenue generation’

(see ee Agriculture, 5,000ft Demolition Plan

Could Cripple Hill-Country Economy)

Then there was also the usual promise to upgrade the skills of the plantation workers, without mentioning the need for mechanization (practiced in Russia & Japan, where the old cars of tea workers are exported to Sri Lanka, for our ‘executives’ to drive):

‘Achieving a 4% GDP contribution from plantations

requires making modern HRM [Human Resources

Management] practices mandatory across the sector,

replacing outdated labour systems’ (ee Agriculture, Rethinking

climate prediction, disasters, & plantation economics in SL).

Indeed, the ways in which plantation workers (& not just tea, but rubber too) are treated, should be rated as yet another colonially induced national scandal. Tea workers (mostly but not only Tamil) have been treated as a political football, by English-dominated tea traders, by the Indian ruling class, who seek to treat them as a 5th column for their impending invasion of the country, by the local oligarchs who play on these fears, and those wounded Eelamists, who seek to play Indian workers against Sinhala peasants, and light a fire beyond their frontlines.

     Meanwhile, not an electronic byte flies by, without the private banks & companies claiming that they are frontliners in protecting the environment:

‘From corporate greenwashing to philanthropic initiatives

that ignore structural injustices, these frameworks rarely

account for the true costs of economic growth – particularly

for children & communities facing systemic disadvantage’

(see ee Finance, Equitywashing & Hidden Costs of Sustainability).

*

• Uprooting Tea Bushes & Throwing them into the Sea – So the elephant in the room, the silent tornado in the teacup is the destructive economic (let alone ecological) role played by the English import-export plantation system: the subject & object of SBD de Silva’s classic dissertation, The Political Economy of Underdevelopment (the raison d’etre of this blog). There was a time when the JVP promised to uproot the tea bushes and throw them into the ocean. This may be another canard, however. But, did the sentiments behind such a proposition have to do with the plantation economy’s premiere role in preventing the genesis of a modern industrial economy, and diminishing the status of all workers?

     A deluge of advice has followed the mountains of mud unleashed. We see no use in adding to the sludge, except to say, that the same criminals who have hijacked the economy will continue their dance as they have done for the last many centuries, until and unless… And this brings us back to the rest of the bishop’s convoluted message:

Nations in economic crises are nevertheless compelled

to turn to global organisations like the IMF…

The suspicion, that such organisations eventually ‘grow’

ailing nations into feeder forces for empire economics,

is not unfounded…

*

Now, again, the Bishop – schooled at Royal College, Colombo, & Oxford, England (2 institutions that have done great damage to this country), has to resort to the dastardly passive voice – ‘Nations… are compelled.’ By whom & by what?, the precious prelate cannot utter. Though he is right about their loan-sharking propensities…

*

‘There is in capitalism an immanent tendency to stifle,

suffocate & push back the full realization of the

developmental potential of rival capitalisms’

SBD de Silva (see ee Focus)

*

This week saw the IMF promise ‘emergency’ funding to the country, which the USA’s own dollared thinktanks and scholars (see ee Quotes, Sharking) warned would plunge the country into deeper debt. The week also saw 121 foreign ‘economists & academics’ (see ee Focus) call for ’significant debt cancellation – with no punitive conditions – to free up fiscal space for disaster recovery, social protection, reconstruction & development’.

     Now the reason we call them ‘foreign’ is not just about their domicile but also their epistemological & ontological positioning (EOPS!). It is their failure to understand 2 fundamental tenets. The IMF is based & is run by & for the US government. The USA as the premier capitalist state & principle conductor of that murderous orchestra, we tag ‘The Concert of Whiteness’ (including ‘honorary whites’ like Japan et al), like the other imperialists before them, would never allow the country to develop its own economy. All attempts at moral suasion (as daily ‘casters as the Sachses & Meersheimers, promoted by so-called social media, purport to do), will fail. Those who whinge about the ravages of microfinance, fail to point out that these financial institutions (& related envoy) are backed by foreign exporters’ associations, which themselves are front for their industries who wish to push their products on our countries.

*

• So why has capitalism been able to prevent industrialization in Sri Lanka, as a non-settler colony? And how were settler colonial countries[ like South Africa, the US, and Canada able to industrialize? Capital seeks to oust rival businessmen, recorded SBD de Silva, which he called:

‘The very basis of the central contradiction in capitalism arising

from the appropriation of surplus value by fewer & fewer

capitalists while the production process is increasingly socialized’.

ee Focus continues SBD de Silva’s Chapter 5 from his classic The Political Economy of Underdevelopment. Here he recorded how, as in the USA (1776), South Africa (1899) and Rhodesia (1968):

‘The most difficult struggles of the imperialist countries

since the 18^th century had… been with… their own settlers.‘

He pointed out that there were, as in Sri Lanka:

‘Conflicts between the mother country & expatriate investors

in the nonsettler colonies [but they] were not serious – these investors

had their permanent interests in the metropolis & were

a segment of the metropolitan bourgeoisie.’

*

The USA, England & the EU are again promoting fascism and rearming their proxy-tutes. They are attacking rival ships in a shadow & not-so-shadow war, including off Sri Lanka. Fascism was first tried & tested in the ‘normal’ course of colonial expansion in Asia, Africa & the Americas. Joseph Kennedy, the Irish kassipu-dealer who made his mints during the so-called prohibition era, as US Ambassador to England, 1938-40, ran to President Franklin Roosevelt, breathlessly declaring: ‘Fascism is the cure of Communism’. So would the USA listen to these 121 ‘economists’? If they really feel injured by what they say, the US may deport these ‘aliens’, many of whom are living on their soil, uttering fatuities.

     Would a Lenin be moved to describe these 120 economists as ‘sniveling liberals’ who want all the good things in life (& not just for themselves, for us too) yet offer panadols & palliatives, and yet do not mention the need & a plan for modern industrialization (which alone can assure food & health security). Nor do they point out how the IMF program is mainly fixed on preventing investment in modern industrialization? Nor do they offer a program & plan or describe the diversion, isolation, vituperation, sabotage, incarceration, torture, and assassination of progressive forces, especially those strains that call for modern industrialization.

     This last week’s paeans to 90 years of Samasamajism, failed (with the exception of the Communist Party of SL) to recall the attempts (albeit inadequate) to industrialize the country. Do they call for a proletarian party that could counter the ‘White Russians’ (counter-revolutionary forces) and build a bridge to a transitional program (NEP), i.e., a narrow yet sturdy steel stairway to heaven? Would a Stalin direct them to a sobering Siberia to build the Arctic railroad to urgently link Northeast & Northwest Asia? Would a Mao direct them to the villages to build rural industries, and show them how to wash their brains of such bourgeois dreams?

*

‘The cheque that made the difference – One donor sent

a cheque for Rs1,000 to the UN Resident Coordinator

Marc-Andre Franche. Touched by the gesture, he shared

a photo of the cheque on his X handle with the words,

‘Received this contribution from a private citizen for relief

to victims of #CycloneDitwah. I remain in awe of the

extraordinary solidarity between Sri Lankans. Sri Lanka

shines in times of crisis, & @UNSriLanka & the international

community is here to accompany & stand together.’

(see ee Industry, Starlink to DMC’s rescue)

*

‘The question is why the UN is setting up

a parallel funding channel at all’ (see ee Focus)

*

• ee Focus also reproduces an interesting take on the game the white underlings of the United Nations (especially the ‘Concert of Whiteness’) are playing to undermine the role of a state (whose present government is bending backwards to appease them) in disbursing aid for reconstruction. Such a hijacking also took place after the 2004 tsunami, we learn.

‘One explanation lies in the UN’s own financial distress.

Its global budget is under unprecedented strain, weakened

by chronic nonpayment from major contributors.’

The author of the criticism takes on the voice of a whining schoolboy who, after passing every examination and dutifully followed the rules, is ignored for school ‘colors’. As evident in the UN agent Franche’s patronizing drooling above, the anonymous author does not seem to understand: their aim is to dismantle the state and only have it serve imperialist needs.

*

• Born-again USAID – Contrary to the claims of certain eager though mercantile nationalists, that the USA is dismantling USAID and its more craven machinations, it turns out that they are simply ‘streamlining’ the process to align more sharply with their more urgent imperialist objectives. It is therefore instructive to learn that the USA is once again signaling the replacement of their current always-leaving never going-envoy Julie Chung. Chung was sent to put a wrinkled yellow mask on their attempt to overthrow (& possibly assassinate) a popularly elected nationalist (tho still seeped in mercantilism) President. She has so far failed to accomplish the latter. However, it is her predecessors, Robert O Blake (2006-9), Patricia Butenis (2009-12), Michelle Sison (2012-14), Andrew Mann (2014-15), Atul Keshap (Aug 2015-18 July), and Alaina Teplitz (2018-21), who oversaw the undermining of a terrorism-defeating ruler (even as the world’s leading terrorists remain at large), the bribing of the 2015 elections, foreign currency deregulation and the ISB binge, all of whom accelerated the process of destabilization already in motion…

*

‘The Pentagon’s collaboration with Hollywood – documented

in more than 2,500 productions – ensures that people in the

US learn history through films like Saving Private Ryan (1998)

rather than through scholarship (Pentagon operates Hollywood’s

largest film subsidy program – providing free equipment, locations

& personnel in exchange for script approval rights & an ‘accuracy’

review. More than 2,500 productions have been shaped by this process.

US people learn history through Pentagon edits.’ (see ee Focus)

This ee Focus continues Roy Singham’s breathtaking and meticulous recounting of Victory in the World Anti-Fascist War (WAFW). Here we learn how Hollywood has steadfastly ignored the USSR’s & China’s huge sacrifices, while promoting ‘D-Day’ myths. They also ignore how the same corporations that had once done business with Hitler & Hirohito came to profit from containing socialism. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) pumped tens of millions of dollars to secretly fund intellectual warfare against Communists: publishing over 20 magazines & organizing conferences globally. He shows how the FBI systematically spied on professors, and military contracts dominated university operating budgets…

*

‘New York is the most expensive city to live in the world.

For working class New Yorkers, whose inexhaustible

productivity throws off that tremendous energy that defines

 the aura of the city, New York is often a nightmare.’

(see ee Workers, Mamdani for Masses or Masses for Mamdani?)

We finally come to end of Gustavus Myers’ History of Tammany Hall, the secretive political machinery that ruled New York (and still does in other guises). In this, his last chapter (1914-17), Myers takes an abrupt U-turn after 35 chapters of vehement & detailed opposition to a corrupt coterie, and begins to praise New York’s ruling class. What happened turns out to be what exactly has been taking place today with so-called intellectuals (including the darker ones) in the white world, who have become ardent critics of socialist countries (China, Cuba, etc) as well as opponent of those countries that do not toe the imperialist line (Russia, Iran). They have been bribed as well as (their tenures & visas) threatened. As Canadian Communist Stanley Ryerson notes in his introduction to Myer’s History of Canadian Wealth Canadian Wealth (a seminal introduction to Canada’s settler ruling classes): 1914 was ‘to mark the limit of Myers’ political & intellectual advance. His radicalism faded in the face of the imperial onslaught of the world war years.

     After 1914 he appears to have shrunk not only from any further deepening of his theoretical conceptions, but even from the position he had reached. WW1 thus led to a basic reversal of direction, including a break with the Socialist party. Most of the muckrakers: ‘fell short of completing their work. They retreated in the face of organized business’s attacks, and they broke down completely in their first experience of international affairs’ (Lewis Filler). It was ‘the debacle.’ In 1914, the world war stopped Myers’s theoretical development towards Marxism in its tracks. The liberalism that had been his initial starting point, that he never wholly abandoned, now reasserted itself. He was not the only Socialist for whom, in those years, advance became retreat…

     Myers, who served on government information & shipping boards in the war years, was to produce, in his 1925 History of American Idealism, what amounts to an unabashed apologia for US imperialism: the Spanish-American war, Panama, the Philippines are dealt with in a chapter entitled ‘Liberty for Other Lands’! Further on one reads: ‘In the proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine and in the Spanish-American War the world saw 2 great examples of America’s transcending localities and boundaries and unselfishly acting for the well-being & interest of other peoples. In the World War this concern for humanity was extended to cover every continent.’ Myers’s later works, on hereditary fortunes and on bigotry, are those of a cautious liberal reformer. He died in New York City on December 7, 1942…’

*

Notes on 1823-40 SL Plantation History:

• 1823 – Jan 31: George IV-in-Council issued an Order on for the ‘trade of Ceylon’. English wool, cotton, iron & steel goods to be imported to Ceylon by English or foreign ships. The import duty increased by 50% unless the foreign country allowed Ceylonese goods in English ships at the same tariff as its own shipping. Competing foreign goods would be confiscated. Ceylonese exports loaded to foreign ships would be charged ‘8% ad valorem’ more than the duty charged to English ships, unless reciprocity was permitted. Feb 9: After an earthquake occurred near Mahara, northeast of Colombo, the English received reports of unrest in Nuvarakalaviya & Hevaheta, led by Bhikku Ratmale Unanse. March 5: Governor Brownrigg wrote Earl Grey, Colonial Secretary, and promised to ‘suppress rebellion with promptitude & economy’. Brownrigg blamed 6 or 7 lower-class chiefs, who ‘had not submitted’ in 1818. The English sent Malay troops from Kurunegala & Trincomalee to Nuvarakalaviya. Heroic Bhikku Ratmale Unanse was arrested. The English stationed African soldiers at Anuradhapura. May: Another report on attempts at insurrection by chief (Kosvatte Raterala) & 3 Bhikkus led by Kahavatte Unanse in Matale, trying to install a new king, Kritsna Retty. 5 Aug: Kahavatte Unanse & Kosvatte Raterala executed. 13 other chiefs exiled to Mauritius. All lands & goods were confiscated. They removed the yellow robes of the priest before they hanged him, to ostensibly prevent ‘disgrace to the religion’. Oct: The English still sensed ‘evil designs’ in Nuvarakalaviya. Dec 9: The Kandy Road Tunnel was completed.

     • Colonel Henry C Byrde made Commandant of Kandy. His brother George Bird set up in Sinnapittia, Gampola. 1834 – Col Byrde’s son Lt Colonel HC Byrde of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment set up one of the first agency houses in Kandy. Land Robbery: Col Byrde grabbed 200 acres in Gampola; Edward Barnes (Colonial Governor, 1824), 100 acres in Kandy; Governor Mackenzie took 2,144 acres. 1823-32: ~13,000acres given away to ‘prospective planters’. The English commander of the armed forces, Anglican archbishop, government agent (GA George Turnour, who with a local tavern rentier translated a highly excised 5^thC chronicle, The Mahavamsa) all joined the ‘coffee set’ (1827: 1.8mn pounds of coffee exported).

• 1840 –English slaver Robert Boyd Tytler arrived in Lanka bringing his ‘expertise’ in the ‘West India System’ of coffee planting in Jamaica. He brought a copy of PJ Laborie’s Coffee Planter of Santo Domingo (1798) which became the authority on ‘plantation development’, excerpting extracts from it in the Ceylon Miscellany Vol2 (1842) without changing the word ‘negro’. Laborie wrote: ‘Punishments must be certain, immediately inflicted, proportionable to the fault, and never excessive. Racks, tortures, mayhems, mutilations, and death are reserved for crimes of an atrocious nature, and fall only within the province of the public magistrate: through perhaps more speedy executions, and particularly on the spot, would have more striking effect.’

     • Thomas Skinner wrote to governor about demand for land, ‘the fevered cry is ‘where shall I go for land’.’ He recommended 200,000-300,000 acres of ‘the finest forest-land in Ceylon within the wilderness of the peak’. ‘How are we to get at it?’ – Maskeliya, Dimbulla, & Dikoya…(excerpts from Krisantha Sri Bhaggiyadatta’s Very Personal Ingrisi History of the World) 

*

________

Contents:

Anglican Bishop Nails the Tea Plantations for the Floods

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

https://www.gossiplankanews.com/2025/12/rethinking-the-colombo-north-port-project-after-the-kelani-floods.html?m=1

https://www.facebook.com/share/1BfqcMbNgW/?mibextid=

Dear Sir / Madam,

During my tenure at SLLRDC, and subsequently while serving in senior professional and advisory capacities related to port and shipyard development, I repeatedly expressed serious concerns regarding the adequacy of the Kelani River outfall and associated drainage infrastructure in Northern Colombo.

Specifically, I wish to place on record the following:

1. Kelani River Outfall Capacity

The present Kelani River outfall is hydraulically inadequate to safely discharge peak flood flows. This limitation has long been evident, particularly during high tide conditions, resulting in backwater effects and prolonged flooding upstream.

2. Northern Colombo Outfall via Bloemendahl Tunnel

There exists an additional major outfall from Colombo North passing through the Bloemendahl tunnel beneath the Ceylon Fisheries Corporation premises. This outfall further constrains discharge during flood events and requires urgent reassessment within an integrated flood-management framework.

3. Modera Shipyard and Institutional Decisions

When the Port of Colombo engaged AECOM and visited my shipyard, there were attempts to threaten acquisition of the Modera Shipyard. At that time, I formally objected, warning that the land in question plays a critical role in flood conveyance and coastal hydraulics.

Subsequently, the Ceylon Fisheries Harbour Corporation proceeded with eviction, despite these technical warnings.

4. Warnings as Port Chairman (Short Stint)

Even during my brief tenure as Chairman of the Port, I reiterated that ignoring river hydraulics and flood paths in favour of isolated port expansion would result in severe consequences for Northern Colombo.

5. Recent Flooding – Validation of These Concerns

The recent flooding at Nagalagam Street, where water levels remained stagnant for prolonged periods, has now conclusively proven these warnings. The issue is not rainfall alone, but restricted outfall capacity and poor flood evacuation.

Key Recommendation

Rather than prioritising construction of a North Port at this stage, I strongly advise the Government to:

• Acquire and reserve the core island and adjacent lands on the northern side of the Kelani River outfall
• Substantially widen and re-engineer the Kelani outfall, including tidal control and sediment management
• Develop an integrated Kelani–Colombo North flood discharge master plan, coordinated across Ports, Irrigation, Urban Development, and Fisheries authorities

This intervention will provide long-term flood protection to Colombo North, safeguard national infrastructure, and prevent recurrent economic losses far exceeding the cost of land acquisition and hydraulic improvement.

I respectfully urge the Government to treat this as a matter of national importance and to act decisively, learning from recent events rather than reacting to future disasters.

Regards

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

To 
Honorable minister 
Urban Canal Passenger Transport Pilot Project – Colombo & Suburbs
(Public–Private Partnership / BOT Model)

Proponent:
Dr. Sarath Obeysekera
Marine Engineer & Shipbuilding Specialist
Sri Lanka

1. Background & Rationale

The Colombo Metropolitan Region continues to face severe road congestion, rising fuel import costs, and increasing carbon emissions, despite major investments in road and rail infrastructure. At the same time, Colombo and its suburbs possess an underutilised network of canals, lakes, and waterways originally developed for flood control and drainage.

Urban water-based passenger transport presents a low-cost, low-emission, and rapidly deployable mobility solution that complements existing road and rail systems without requiring land acquisition.

Previous attempts to introduce canal transport did not progress beyond concept stage due to institutional fragmentation and procedural delays, rather than technical or economic infeasibility.

This proposal introduces a clearly defined, pilot-scale, PPP-based implementation model designed to overcome those limitations.

2. Project Objective

To implement a Phase 1 Urban Canal Passenger Transport Pilot Project in the Colombo Metropolitan Area within 12–18 months, using a Public–Private Partnership (PPP/BOT) model with no upfront Treasury funding, demonstrating technical, financial, and operational viability for future scaling.

3. Project Concept (Phase 1 – Pilot)

• Route length: Approx. 5–8 km (Beira Lake / Diyawanna / selected canal corridor)
• Service type: Scheduled passenger water transport
• Fleet:
  • 10–15 low-draft passenger vessels
  • Capacity: 20–30 passengers per vessel
  • Electric or hybrid propulsion
  • Locally designed and constructed in Sri Lanka
• Speed: 10–12 knots (low wash, environmentally safe)
• Stations: Simple modular pontoons integrated with existing urban nodes

The pilot is deliberately sized to ensure fast approval, fast delivery, and visible results.

4 Implementation & Governance Model

A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will be established under a BOT / BOOT framework.

Roles:

• Private Partner (SPV):
  • Vessel design & construction
  • Operations & maintenance
  • Fare collection and service management
• Government / Public Agencies:
  • Canal access and regulatory approvals
  • Integration with urban transport planning
  • Oversight and performance monitoring

This model avoids day-to-day bureaucratic control while ensuring public accountability.

5. Financial Overview (Indicative)

• Capital expenditure: Funded by private sector / consortium
• Operating costs: Covered through fare revenue and ancillary income
• Government funding:
  • No upfront capital contribution
  • Possible viability support only if required after pilot evaluation
• Future funding eligibility:
  • Climate finance facilities
  • Multilateral urban mobility grants
  • Carbon credit mechanisms

6. Key National Benefits

• Immediate reduction in road congestion
• Lower fuel consumption and foreign exchange outflow
• Climate-resilient transport option
• Revitalisation of urban waterways
• Local shipbuilding and marine industry development
• Scalable model applicable to other cities (Negombo, Galle, Kandy lake zone)

7. Approvals Requested

1. In-principle approval for Phase 1 Pilot Project
2. Approval to proceed under PPP / BOT framework
3. Nomination of a single coordinating authority for fast-track clearances
4. Permission to establish the SPV

8. Conclusion

This proposal offers a practical, implementable, and financially disciplined solution to Colombo’s urban mobility challenges. It is designed as a pilot-first project, focused on delivery rather than prolonged study, and aligns with national priorities on economic efficiency, climate resilience, and private sector participation.

Regards

Dr Sarath Obeysekera