BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

When the country was in a difficult time after ending the civil war, the Rajapaksa regime was given strong support by China and Russia, if a situation to let down Sri Lanka arose, both countries promised to exercise their power, most probably veto power against the international attempts to condemn Sri Lanka. India was also concerned about the international developments against Sri Lanka which might later direct to India too.   However, the election campaign in 2015 was manipulated to a hidden motivation of international forces against China, but the frustrated domestic politicians got caught to international forces with knowing or without knowing of undisclosed hidden objectives of foreign forces.  The politics of the domestic front to defeat the Rajapaksa regime was formed by an unholy collision with contradictory hidden objectives, and they used to criticize China against the Rajapaksa regime in the political platform.  That was the mistake that the yahapalana regime was done during the election period in 2015.

Current Sri Lanka’s economy has gone to backwardness in many areas such as foreign assets, international trade, employment generation, inflation, interest rate, poverty, and many other areas. The live television shows indicate that people were demanding the government to reduce inflation and reliefs for day to day difficulties.  The president and the prime minister of the current regime need to tell the truth to people. The Public might disappoint on the condition created by the COVID pandemic and they should understand that the president or the prime minister cannot order economic growth or to reduce the prices of goods and services or to away the corona pandemic they are an effect on the market process. 

The solution to this backwardness is increasing the pace of economic growth and current Sri Lanka needs injecting the US $ 100 billion or more to the economy during the next ten years, however, the economy of the country has no such a capacity and the COVID pandemic has flattened the incoming flow of foreign exchange to the country. Many political reforms, which were taken after 1980 increased spending, which was covered by corruption in previous regimes and no gains received from such spending. 

China provides about the US $ 400 billion foreign assistance to 140 countries it is obvious from current international aid statistics that Sri Lanka cannot get a large sum of cash aid from China during the next 10 years, but Sri Lanka can share this requirement with China using non-cash supports opening the country to Chinese investments in private business and the government sector. 

Many cash assistance needs to pay back and it would impact the repayment capacity of the country.  The attraction of cash and another form of loan for investments have a positive impact on debt services. The policymakers of Sri Lanka need to understand how a country could get supports from China without going into a debt trap. There are many techniques, which could be used to avoid the debt burden to the country, however, Sri Lanka needs to get assistance from China without gaining debt burdens.

Sri Lanka urgently needs Chinese helps for several vital areas.  Tourism development based on cultural and religious-based would enhance foreign exchange earning quickly, however, there are several barriers in the area.  When there is a feeling about the risk of movement, the motivation for travel may be a downward trend. To deal with this trend the government needs to obtain support from the Chinese government to encourage tourists from China to Sri Lanka.

Tourism has identified as an effective to foreign exchange earnings and employment generation, nevertheless, the tourism sector suffered from constraints of planning and investments because the policymakers are lacking knowledge and skills in planning sectoral policies to competitively improve the industry.  The tourist arrivals from China should be annually increased to 5 million.  The current economic trend in the region shows that this is an achievable target with many improvements in the sector with supports of China, the industry needs direct injections of ideas to attract people and investment should be cooperative with China sharing the benefits to both sides. To attract tourists from China and the inflow of investment need changes in the style of business management.

The government may be looking for cash injections like how did Gorbachev seek cash when the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, it would not happen.  Sri Lanka needs broad support from China to make a positive impact on society.  

Sri Lanka requires tourism sector employees with the ability to speak in the Chinese language. Chinese tourists are not concerned about the English language and want to converse with their language.  Although Sri Lankans treat English as superior Chinese tourists don’t care about it.    Educating the Chinese language to the Sri Lankan tourism sector employees is an essential condition to attract tourists from China while expanding tourism infrastructure, which needs large scale hotels as well as many medium-sized and small hotels. The revenue of tourists is the major factor in selecting residence and usually people tours once in three years or four years.  Chinese tourists like the place where they visit, if places have an environment with a Chinese style speaking in Mandarin language, opportunities with light gambling services, leisure activities, good security, excellently clean services in a residential environment. Many residential services in the tourism industry in Sri Lanka have no clean environment.  

Sri Lanka has thousands of religious places related to all religions and they need to organize and develop as shrines and worshiping places to domestic and foreign tourists. Many religious administrators have no clear understanding of the management of places the management of the environment, religious programs and finance, and many matters. The most significant characteristic of Shinto Buddhism in Japan is to maintain a very clean attractive place to visitors of the shrines bring them the second time.  It needs training in religious administrators.  The best example for this is Japan how they use shrines as an attractive place for tourists.  Although these activities are costly, they will generate a massive volume of employment for the country.

The other essential requirement is the abolition or reduction of the charges for a tourist visa to US$10 for 30 days period because Sri Lanka needs to maintain the sustainability of the industry rather than exploiting tourists. As a result of radical changes in the tourism industry, the country can increase tourist arrivals from China to five million annually during the next ten years.

Without cash injecting into the economy of Sri Lanka, China can encourage its business community to invest in Joint ventures in Sri Lanka.  The concept of joint ventures directly helps Sri Lankans to learn business management and the application of technology.  The process should not be limited to a specific area of the country. 

There are potentials to develop joint ventures for agriculture, industry, construction, and services, and the investment ratio in a joint venture should be limited to or specified to a ratio identified by the government. Chinese investors can offer shares of the business to Sri Lankan and convert the business project to joint ventures.  This type of investment would not affect the debt level of the country and the government’s role is to protect such ventures and liberalize to control the repatriation of earned profits.

The current government of Sri Lanka has no intention to make serious damage to the port and industrial park developments initiated during the Rajapaksa regime before 2015. It is quite clear that Sri Lanka would not gain any advantage through impediments enforcing against Chinese investments. The country needs investments from China and India. Both countries could offer supports to Sri Lanka.  Whichever the political party in Sri Lanka needs understanding that short-term political rhetoric should not mix with long-term economic development policies.

China has effectively and massively engaged in economic development in the Asian region without involving political or ideological differences.  Chinese investments in Korea, Taiwan Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines positively impacted economic development and similar way Sri Lanka must allow Chinese investors to engage in economic activities.  In this way, Sri Lanka should allow Chinese banks to open branches in Sri Lanka because the baking system in the country has no sufficient capital to finance for foreign investors.  A massive volume of lending capacity of trading banks in Sri Lanka stuck with non-performing credits to government and private sectors, the saving capacity of Sri Lanka is not sufficient to maintain required capital adequacy to make massive quantum of investment finance.  The basic incentive to attract Chinese private investments is allowing Chinese banks to open branches in Sri Lanka and allow such branches to attract deposits from Chines people from all over the world. This strategy would massively increase foreign exchange reserves supporting to increase and stabilize the international value of Sri Lanka Rupee.  

When the market economic system began in 1978, Sri Lanka’s government allowed foreign banks to open branches, despite the opposition directed by domestic banks for paying interest on current account balances, liberalized credit conditions of foreign banks, many American and European bank branches were opened but they left the country after July riots in 1983.  Now Sri Lanka’s war is over, and there is a good environment for investments despite the opposition to Chinese investments.

Do Chinese investments limit to industrial activities?  This is a critical question because of political opinion concerns that investments in agriculture and plantation industry should be in the hands of Sri Lankans, however, agriculture especially the production of rice and agriculture-based industries such as sugar production and many others desperately need modernization with new technology, product invention and cost minimization with improved product qualities. Agriculture and plantation industry alone could be double the production and product quality if the right innovations and qualities applied, therefore, Sri Lanka could massively improve agriculture and plantation sectors with Chinese investments and need opening these two sectors for Chinese investment as joint ventures.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

හිටපු නාවික හමුදාපති රවීන්ද්‍ර විජේගුණවර්ධන මහතා තමන් ඝාතනය කිරීමට සූදානම් වූ බව ඇවන්ගාඩ සමාගමේ සභාපති නිස්සංක සේනාධිපති මහතා චෝදනා කරයි.

තමන් ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් නුගේගොඩ පොලිසියට ද පැමිණිලි කර ඇති බව ද ඔහු පැවසීය.

ඇවන්ගාඩ් සමාගමෙන් කප්පම් මුදල් තමන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලූ බවත් ඔහු පැවසුවේ ජනාධිපති කොමිසමේ සාක්ෂි දීමෙන් පසු මාධ්‍ය වෙත අදහස් පළ කරමිනි.

තමන් ඝාතනය ගෙදර කිරීමට නිවසට එවු ඝාතකයන්ගේ වීඩියෝ පට සහ හඬ පට තමන් සතුව ඇති බවත් ඒවා කොමිසම හමුවට භාරදුන් බවත් ඔහු සඳහන් කළේය.

හිටපු අමාත්‍ය චම්පික රණවක විසින් ඝාතනයක් සිදුකළ ආකාරය තමන් සතුව සාක්ෂි ඇති බව ද නුදුරේදීම ඒවා සාක්ෂි සහිතව හෙළිදරව් කරමුද ඔහු කියා සිටියේය.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

හිටපු නාවික හමුදාපතිවරයෙකු වන රවීන්ද්‍ර විජේගුණවර්ධන හා හිටපු අමාත්‍ය රාජිත සේනාරත්න යන මහත්වරුන් තමා ඝාතනය කිරීමේ කුමන්ත්‍රණය දියත් කළ බව ඇවන්ට්ගාඩ් සමාගමේ සභාපති නිශ්ශංක සේනාධිපති මහතා පවසනවා.

ඔහු ඒ බව සඳහන් කළේ දේශපාලන පලිගැනීම් සම්බන්ධයෙන් සොයාබැලීම ස්ථාපනය කළ ජනාධිපති කොමිසම හමුවේ සාක්ෂි ලබාදෙමින්.

/>2015.01.15 සිට 2019.11.16 දක්වා සිදුවූ බව කියන දේශපාලන පලිගැනිම් සම්බන්ධයෙන් සෙවීමට පත් කළ ජනාධිපති කොමිෂන් සභාව හමුවේ ඇවන්ට්ගාඩ් සමාගමේ සභාපති නිශ්ශංක සේනාධිපති මහතා සාක්ෂි දුන්නේ දෙවන දිනටයි.

එහිදී නිශ්ශංක සේනාධිපති මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කළේ, හිටපු ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සිරගත කිරීමට උපකාර කරන්නේ නම් තමාට නඩු නොපවරන බවට හිටපු අමාත්‍ය රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා ඔහුගේ ලේකම්වරයෙකු මාර්ගයෙන් තමාට යෝජනා කළ බවයි.

එය ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කිරීම හේතුවෙන් ඔහු තමාගෙන් පලි ගැනීමට ක්‍රියා කළ බවද සේනාධිපති මහතා ජනාධිපති කොමිසම හමුවේ පැවසුවා.

රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා විසින් එවකට ඇවන්ට්ගාඩ් නෞකාව තිබූ ගාල්ල ප්‍රදේශය භාර නියෝජ්‍ය පොලිස්පතිවරයෙකු ලවා තමාට බලපෑම් කළ බවද ඔහු ජනාධිපති කොමිසම හමුවේ පෙන්වා දුන්නා.

නිශ්ශංක සේනාධිපති මහතා සඳහන් කළේ, ගාල්ල මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයා සහ ආරක්ෂක අමාත්‍යාංශය විසින් ඇවන්ට්ගාඩ් සමාගම නීත්‍යානුකූල බවට ප්‍රකාශ කර තිබියදී එම නියෝග නොතකා එම්.වී. මහනුවර නෞකාව නාවික හමුදාව යටතට ගත් බවයි.

එවකට නාවික හමුදාපති වූ රවින්ද්‍ර විජේගුණවර්ධන මහතා මීළඟ තනතුර අපේක්ෂාවෙන් හිටපු අමාත්‍ය රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා සමග එක්ව තමා ඝාතනය  කිරීමට සිදුකළ උත්සහයක් පිළිබඳවද ඔහු අනාවරණ කළා.

2015 වසරේ දෙසැම්බර් 31 වැනිදා හිටපු නාවික හමුදාපතිවරයාගේ ප්‍රධාන ආරක්ෂකයින් දෙදෙනෙකු 9mm වර්ගයේ ගිනි අවි සමඟ තමාව ඝාතනය කිරීමට පැමිණි බවත්, තම ආරක්ෂකයින් හේතුවෙන් එම උත්සාහය වැළකී ගිය බවත් ඔහු ප්‍රකාශ කළා.

නිශ්ශංක සේනාධිපති මහතා කොමිසම හමුවේ පැවසුවේ, ඊට අදාළ CCTV දර්ශනද සමග තමා මිරිහාන පොලීසියට පැමිණිලි කළද මෙතෙක් විමර්ශන සිදු නොවූ බවයි.

ඉන් අනතුරුව ඇවන්ට්ගාඩ් සමාගමට අදාළව තමා අල්ලස් හෝ දූෂණ චෝදනා විමර්ශන කොමිෂන් සභාවට කඳවූ බවත්, එහිදී විමර්ශන සිදුකළ නිලධාරීන් දෙදෙනා විසින් මෙම සිද්ධියේ කිසිදු ගැටලුවක් නොමැති බව තමාට පැවසූ බවත් ඔහු ප්‍රකාශ කළා.

ඇවන්ට්ගාඩ් සභාපතිවරයා පෙන්වා දුන්නේ, ඉන් අනතුරුව රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා ඊට එරෙහිව ප්‍රකාශ නිකුත් කිරීම හේතුවෙන් තමා නැවතත් අල්ලස් කොමිසම හමුවට කැඳවූ බවයි.

ඉන් අනතුරුව දිල්රුක්ෂි වික්‍රමසිංහ මහත්මිය අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් ධුරය හෙබවූ සමයේ විමර්ශන සිදුකළ නිලධාරීන් දෙදෙනා තමාට තර්ජනය කළ බවත්, හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ හෝ හිටපු ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ යන මහත්වරුන්ට මුදල් දී තිබේදැයි පරීක්ෂා කළ බවත් නිශ්ශංක සේනාධිපති මහතා පැවසුවා.

එහිදී නිශ්ශංක සේනාධිපති මහතා වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටි ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ කුවේර ද සොයිසා මහතා විමසා සිටියේ ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට මුදල් දුන් බවට ඔවුන් ප්‍රශ්න කළේද යන්න පිළිබඳවයි.

අදළ නිලධාරීන් එසේ සිදුකළ බව පැවසූ ඇවන්ට්ගාඩ් සභාපතිවරයා, ගෝනියක දාලා රුපියල් මිලියන 200 ක් දුන්නා කියා දිවුරුම් ප්‍රකාශයක් ලබාදුනහොත් තමා නඩුවලින් මුදාහරින බවට යෝජනා කළ බවද ජනාධිපති කොමිසම හමුවේ සඳහන් කළා.

මෙහිදී ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ කුවේර ද සොයිසා මහතා සාක්ෂිකරුගෙන් විමසා සිටියේ එවක ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතා හමුවීමට අවස්ථාවක් ලැබුණේද යන්නයි.

වසර 2 ක සිට ලිපි 8 ක් පමණ යොමු කිරීමෙන් අනතුරුව හිටපු ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතා ඔහුගේ නිල නිවසේදී හමුවූ බවත්, ඊට එවකට ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් හේමසිරි ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතා ද සහභාගී වූ බවත් නිශ්ශංක සේනාධිපති මහතා පැවසුවා.

ඇවන්ට්ගාඩ් සමාගම නාවික හමුදාවට පවරා ගැනීමෙන් පසු රුපියල් බිලියන 10 ක පමණ ආදායමක් රටට අහිමි වී ගැන තමා ජනාධිපතිවරයාට පෙන්වා දුන් අවස්ථාවේදී ඇවන්ට්ගාඩ් සමාගම යළි ආරම්භ කරන ලෙසට ඔහු උපදෙස් දුන් බවද සාක්ෂිකරු ප්‍රකාශ කළා.<

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka has reported the 11th death from the COVID-19 infection, the Ministry of Health confirmed a short while ago.

The deceased is said to be a 45-year-old male who had arrived in the country from Kuwait.

He had been treated for the virus at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Homagama Hospital where he succumbed to the disease.

Meanwhile, the total count of coronavirus cases reported in the country is at 1,633.

Currently, 822 active cases are under medical care at selected hospitals across the country, as per the Epidemiology Unit.

A total of 801 COVID-19 patients have been discharged from the hospital upon complete recovery from the illness.

Courtesy Adaderana

Another four individuals have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Ministry of Health confirmed a short while ago.

The latest cases have been found among those who had returned from Bangladesh, according to the Department of Government Information.

Ten cases have been identified from the country so far today (01). Among them are 06 foreign returnees, 02 Navy personnel, and 02 close associates of Army personnel.

Accordingly, the total count of coronavirus cases in Sri Lanka is now at 1,643 cases with 821 of them still under medical care.

811 patients have been discharged from the relevant hospital after recovering. 

The death toll increased to 11 this morning.

Courtesy Adaderana

A foreign returnee who has tested positive for the novel coronavirus had moved the COVID-19 case count in Sri Lanka to 1,634.

According to the Epidemiology Unit if the Health Ministry, 812 active cases of the coronavirus infection are currently under medical care at selected hospitals across the country.

Meanwhile, with 10 patients marking their recoveries today (01), the total tally of recoveries reported in the country has come to stand at 811 cases.

Sri Lanka witnessed its 11th death from the coronavirus this morning (01) as a 45-year-old male who had returned from Kuwait succumbed to the disease at the Homagama Hospital.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Attorney General has instructed the Director of the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) to obtain a warrant and arrest the former OIC of the Welikada Police Station.

The Attorney General has instructed the CCD to obtain a warrant from a court to arrest the former Welikada OIC on charges of fabricating false evidence in the case filed over the accident involving former minister Patali Champika Ranawaka in Rajagiriya.

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

The major dream of Sri Lankans since the political independence from Western colonial rules has been to become a developed nation, which could deliver the prosperity to citizens of the country.  The evidence in the past indicates that the economic policy of monarchical reigns of the country was able to accomplish the expectations of people to a reasonable extent, as in history, the wants of people were limited to an arm’s length.   Sri Lankan society was aligned to a seclusion status, in which the expectations of people were bounded to basic needs.  The idea may be challenged by historians as the western theorems explained that past information would be irrelevant for making decisions for the future. It is an agreeable view, and the motivation of people is to revisiting the prosperity that had enjoyed in the past and might be an equal society without class differences. Peoples’ motivation is to go along with modernization despite the artificial misleading in modern society. 

Many archaeologists say that International trade and relations had been intact before the beginning of the Sinhala state.  The ethnic groups in the country also restricted to a few in the past, who did not demonstrate the desire of dividing the country with the support of foreign forces.  In such a background, Sinhala kings satisfied the anticipation of people, despite the minor opposition that remained against the style of ruling in history.

Historical evidence further confirms that Buddhism as the major religion of the country had been played a central and critical role to unite people and guided the political authority to formulate the right economic policies, justice in administration, cultural development, and advancement of civilization with a network of concrete social values.  The Buddhist philosophy focuses to control the desires of people, encouraged sharing the wealth, and looking after the poor people.  People in historical society were listening to religious guidance and attempted to develop religious principles in the day to day life of people.  The Buddhist philosophy effectively contributed to managing the country as a peaceful state and guided Sinhala kings to follow the ruling quality, which was called Dasa Raja Dharmaya”, which was a concept that equals to high-quality governance.

However, the peaceful political, economic, and cultural environment of Sri Lanka was challenged by Indian invaders, who attempted to destroy the economic, political, social, and cultural stability of the country.  The different kinds of invaders arrived from South Indian provinces and attempted to destroy Sri Lanka with a secret agenda, and they had vicious elements against Sinhala people and attempted to destabilize the country by economic, cultural, social, and religious destructions.  There was no historical evidence that the ruling governments at that time in India supported those invaders, but later especially after the independence in 1948, provides clear evidence that the Indian government directly involved in disturbing Sri Lanka’s administration creating the LTTE terrorist movement with the financial support from India.

As a result of Indian influences, the dream of people of Sri Lanka visibly blotted many occasions. The current challenge of the country is defeating the divisive attitudes of people intending to achieve the major dream of people.  To convert the dreams into a reality, Sri Lanka desperately needs broader support from the outside.  Sri Lanka where has a very small market inside and the quality of products and services of the country are needed to be tremendously improved to the international level with the support of the outside world. 

The current market conditions also indicate that Sri Lanka cannot be a strong industrial nation without exportable high-quality productions, but the country has a strong potential to be a nation with high-quality services such as real estate, financial, fuel supply, leisure, tourism, and many others. While this idea had in mind, the COVID pandemic emerged in 2019 that has forced to change the direction of economic activities, especially to promote a production base (Agriculture) with a higher volume and quality and maintain the above-mentioned services absorbing the external and internal socks with alternative strategies. At present, economic planners have the challenge to adjust the contributing ratio from different sectors of the economy while increasing production. 

After the 2015 Presidential and general elections, it seemed that India and Western nations failed to honestly help Sri Lanka as the way promised before the elections.  The West with India ignored the supports for realizing the dream of people and appeared that they were distancing from the promises. It should acknowledge that India extended short-term supports to deal with maintaining foreign exchange reserves (by a currency swap agreement). It needs to acknowledge that India also extends supports to Sri Lanka under the presidency of Mr.Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who requested a currency swap of $ 1.1 billion. It was widely published that India secretly influenced to defeat the Rajapaksa regime, which especially concerned about achieving development targets that associated with China to achieve the dream of people.

The presidential election in 2019 gave a clear message to the West that the secret strategy in 2015 would not last with and new president, Mr.Gotabaya Rajapaksa who is working with a clear understanding that how to deal with other countries and international forces. This point has been recently confirmed by the prime minister of India.

Current official economic statistics demonstrate that Sri Lanka’s economic achievements have transposed to a lower level with a strong influence of the corona pandemic. In 2015 the foreign forces targeted to defeat the Rajapaksa regime to break the association with China and during the yahapalana regime, the western countries have abandoned the country without supporting major economic projects such as Colombo Port City and Hambantota Port and other investment projects. It may have been the influence made by Singapore as the plan to construct Kra Cannel would negatively impact on the revenue flow of Singapore.  

The governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka during the yahapalana regime stated: when he observed that the west abandoned the country, Sri Lanka desperately need the support of China and the country is in a difficult situation to find large-scale investors, who can support getting out from current problems”. In fact, during the election period in 2015, the yahapalana advocates ruthlessly criticized China without knowing the truth about the economic strength of China and now they are gradually realizing the fact that China can honestly help Sri Lanka’s people to achieve the dream.

During the COVID crisis, it observed that many international issues against China manipulated by West, Sri Lanka as a small nation shall not be engaged in such pointless arguments and the role of the country is to concern with own issues some stupid guys in Sri Lanka, who doesn’t knowledge of protocol write rubbish in websites and people of the country are not responsible for minority stupidity and China knows the root cause for such foolishness.  

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Ven. Rambukwelle Siddhartha has played a significant role in the preservation of indigenous culture in Sri Lanka. But his contribution has not been recognized and not much is known about him. I searched the literature for references to Ven. Siddhartha, and also asked a friend in Kandy, to find out something about Ven. Siddhartha.

My friend, who has a distant kinship connection to this family, had gone to Rambukwelle temple, situated in the old Teldeniya area. She was shown the grave of Ven. Siddhartha containing his ashes and giving his years of birth and death.  She has also met descendants of Ven., Siddhartha in Rambukwelle village. She was told that that a nephew of Ven. Siddhartha, the son of Siddhartha’s brother, (name with held) had manuscript material on the Ven. Siddhartha. She conveyed this information to me.

Ven. Rambukwelle Siddhartha was born on 12th December 1889 and died on 8th November 1941. Nothing is known publicly of his childhood, youth or his ordination. The family may be having this information.

What we do know is that he had gone to Calcutta with Anagarika Dharmapala where he came under the influence of Tagore.He obtained a degree in Calcutta, returned home and joined the University College in Colombo   where he taught Sinhala. He  lived in Horton Place when teaching at University.

K.N.O.Dharmadasa, writing on the origins of the Department of Sinhala of the University of Ceylon, observed, that there was a high standard of written Sinhala in Sri Lanka in the first half of the 20^th century. That is because bhikkhus such as Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala and Ratmalane Dhammarama and lay scholars such as W.F .Gunawardhana had set high standards for Sinhala. There was also an active Pirivena education system at the time, led by Vidyodaya (1873) and Vidyalankara (1875) which   insisted on good Sinhala.

This tradition of Sinhala scholarship, nurtured in the Pirivena was transferred to the Sinhala Department of the University, said Dharmadasa. The first two lecturers in Sinhala in University College in the 1940s were Ven. Suriyagoda Sumangala and Ven. Rambukwelle Siddhartha, both from the Pirivena tradition.

The first lecturer to be appointed to the Department of Sanskrit, Pali, and Sinhala was Rev. Suriyagoda Sumangala who held an MA from the University of Calcutta, continued Dharmadasa. His career which started with much promise ended suddenly with his resignation during the mid-1920s. The next noteworthy lecturer who joined the department was Rev. Rambukwelle Siddhartha who also held an MA from Calcutta. Unfortunately, his career too ended with his sudden demise before the University came into being, concluded Dharmadasa.

There are scattered references which indicate that Ven. Siddhartha was influential in the University. An appreciation of Ven. Narada of Vajiraramaya, Colombo,   said that Narada studied ethics and philosophy at the University College, Colombo, as an external student, where he was able to associate closely with Ven. Rambukwelle Siddhartha , an oriental scholar monk of repute”.  Olcott Gunasekera confirms this. He stated that Narada had studied ethics and philosophy at University College, Colombo and met Rambukwelle Siddhartha, an oriental scholar monk.

An appreciation of Prof. O.H.de A Wijesekera included a reference to Ven. Siddhartha. Venerable Rambukwelle Siddhartha, Senior Lecturer in the Department  Sanskrit, Pali and Sinhalese  was inculcating in his pupils a love for indigenous literature and the culture of the land, said the writer of this appreciation. Similarly, an appreciation of Ediriweera Sarachchandra  also included a reference to Ven. Siddhartha. ‘Some academics serving at the university led by Ven. Rambukwelle Siddhartha and Prof. G. P. Malalasekara succeeded in inspiring a feeling for the indigenous culture among university students’ it said.

 But Ven. Siddhartha did not escape criticism. The Sinhala standard at the University College was heavily criticized by Sinhala scholars outside the University , said Dharmadasa. Hela Havula group carried on a relentless campaign against the teachers and teaching of Sinhala in University  College. Hela Havula attacked them, specially  Rev Rambukwelle Siddhartha who was lecturing there.  When Ven. Siddhartha passed away, they criticized the grammar in the obituary poem published on Ven.  Siddhartha, as well.   

Here is a formal photograph of the  teaching  staff of the University College. The date is not given but it can be easily obtained from University  records. It is probably  early 1930s. Ven. Siddhartha is in the second row.

A Sinhala literary society was started in University College in 1923. It appears to have been a shaky organisation. In 1932, there weren’t even five students to make up the quorum and the meetings were cancelled, recalled Tissa Kariyawasam. However, in the 1930s, the University College Sinhala Society was interested in Kandyan dancing due to the teaching of Rambukwelle Siddhartha there, continued Kariyawasam. Malalasekera watching the activities of this society wanted to initiate practical classes in Kandyan dancing but this never materialised, concluded Kariyawasam. The biographer of Pani Bharatha, Anura Priyalal Sirisena added that Ven. Siddhartha had tried to link Udarata dance and Indian dance. 

 The Oriental Faculty of University College had held an annual Mela which showcased indigenous culture. This was intended as a corrective to the Eurocentric approach favoured by the University .My recall is that Ven. Siddhartha’s name was mentioned in connection with the Mela too.

Ven. Siddhartha’s family in Teldeniya had told my friend that Ven. Siddhartha had known nine languages. This is possible. He would have known Sanskrit, Pali, Sinhala, probably Bengali. He definitely knew English.  There is evidence of this. Ven. Rambukwella has edited and translated the Letters of J. D’Oyly. This was published by the Historical Manuscripts Commission in 1937.

Ven. Siddhartha, unlike most Bhikkhus of the time, was well travelled. He has spent several years in each of the two international centers, to which the intelligentsia of the time flocked , Calcutta  in India and London in the UK. In addition to Calcutta, Ven. Rambukwelle has also lived in London. He was the incumbent bhikkhu at London Buddhist Vihara from 1933-1937. G.Uswatte arachchi says Ven. Siddhartha was at the   School of African and Asian studies (SOAS).

This writer, Kamalika Pieris, writing on indigenous dance stated ‘Ven. Rambukwelle Siddhartha knew to dance, sing vannam and play the udekki. He composed a new Gajaga vannama.’ This was based   on a statement by Tissa Kariyawasam.

Rambukwelle Siddhartha, with the assistance of Urapola Kiribanda used to sing vannamas playing the udekki, recalled Tissa Kariyawasam. Siddhartha thera was a clever singer and dancer too. He was the composer of the new Gajaga vannama, added Kariyawasam.  Uswatte arachchi supported this view. Rambukwelle Siddhartha was reputed to be able to sing Vannam beautifully, said Uswatte arachchi.  This is all I have been able to find out about Ven. Rambukwelle Siddhartha.

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

As Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse said holding of the elections is the duty of the Elections Commission.   Has it discharged its constitutional obligations?

For the past four and half years, it failed to conduct several elections at lower level  of democratic governance structure.  It had various reasons, some of the reasons were due to so called delimitation  issues.  But previous government and the TNA successfully  combined together to somehow influence the EC to succumb to postponing elections.

The President dissolved the Parliament on 2^nd March, 2020.   The 2^nd of June, 2020 is not far away.  The  Supreme Court is still going through the petitions.

These are interesting issues for Law Students as well as Legal Practitioners.

If the EC had conducted the Elections as it was scheduled to be held on May 27,  by now we have a new parliament. 

On Covid19,  Sri Lanka had 10 deaths, less than 1%, compares very favourably with world standards.  Our health system is likely to attract international attention for an excellent workmanship.

On the other hand our Elections Commission is likely to attract international attention for an not so excellent workmanship.

Interesting days are ahead.

Sri Lanka’s 1983 July riots” cannot omit to mention the killing of 13 Sri Lankan soldiers that presumably precipitated and justified the attack that came to be termed a ‘racial’ ‘ethnic riot’. No one thought to question how killing of 13 soldiers on 23 July by LTTE terrorists and an attack organized by the ruling government could end up getting classified as a racial/ethnic riot. Fast forward to 2020 – riots are taking place across US precipitated as a result of 4 US policemen killing 1 black American. These riots cannot be termed racial/ethnic either. There are many similarities to be taken from these two incidents while also providing some food for thought particularly the need to exonerate the Sinhalese who have been unfairly accused of attacking the minority Tamils, just as all white Americans should not be attacked for what happened to George Floyd. As can be seen from the riots across the US, many white Americans angered by killing of George Floyd joined the protests, just as many a Sinhalese braved the attackers to safeguard their Tamil neighbors and friends in July 1983. Ironically, July 1983 riots is also known as ‘Black July’.

George Floyd was killed by 4 policemen who were using excessive pressure with one policemen’s knee suffocating him to death. All this was screened live. Back in Sri Lanka in 1983 there were no smartphones to record what took and there was no social media to demand justice. George was black and the cops were white. In Sri Lanka, the oft spread narrative was that Sinhalese were attacking Tamils. This was far from the truth but it was politically advantageous for many and Sinhalese became the convenient punching bag for all and sadly continues still.

The US demonstrations that turned into riots that turned into looting, vandalism and anarchy had nothing to do with avenging the death of a black man. The rioters and attackers were not all black. The protestors were also white. How can looting shops, smashing shop windows and car windows or writing graffiti on churches avenge or bring back George Floyd or punish the killers? 

Similarly, 13 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed by LTTE. It was true, the soldiers were Sinhalese. 35 Sri Lankan soldiers had been ambushed and killed between 1981 and 1983. It was also true that the government in power decided to use the issue to create an ethnic issue and in so doing incriminated the Sinhalese unfairly. The thugs and governmental backers that attacked Tamil homes did so being brought in buses just like what is taking place in some states in US. President Trump also refers to them as ‘thugs’. The ‘thugs’ in July 1983 Sri Lanka had electoral lists of Tamils. That it was a government-arranged attack is clearly proven by the fact that the rich residential areas where Tamil friends of the government resided were given police/military protection. If this was some spontaneous anti-Tamil attack by Sinhalese, why would only the Government’s Tamil friends be safeguarded and how did they have copies of voter register? 

It was the same UNP government that started race attacks in 1978 after coming to power, burnt the Jaffna library in 1981 (attacks on Tamils after LTTE robbed bank & killed 2 policemen) and did not hold democratic elections in 1982. 

Just as many a white American felt angered and saddened to watch US police kill a man handcuffed and lying on the floor and joined the demonstrations to protest police aggression, the Sinhalese too boldly came out to safeguard their Tamil friends and neighbors from harm. It may not be savoury to the narrative to bring out these stories of friendship and unity but it is an injustice against the Sinhalese not to do so. For 37 years Sinhalese have been falsely accused of something they never did. Sinhalese did not attack Tamils. Organized thug gangs did.

Would the white Americans like to continuously be held responsible for George Floyd’s murder when none of them took part in it? How fair is the world to judge the white Americans for a crime committed by 4 policemen? Similarly, for what UNP thugs and their leaders in the UNP did, the blame cannot be credited to the Sinhalese just because the story is juicy and more sensational than laying blame upon the then UNP government. 

As we see footage of the rioters looting shops, breaking car windows, shop windows, putting graffiti all over churches, setting ablaze police stations, city halls etc — none of these acts are connected to George Floyd’s death neither are they an excuse or justification to loot and cause mayhem. During the 1983 riots many a Tamil home was looted by government patronized thugs who were not only Sinhalese but Muslims and Tamils too. Riots and anarchy provide early Christmas for any looter who doesn’t care what race or religion they belong to so long as they can grab anything valuable to be sold or pawned.

Let’s not forget that with an election looming in the US, the political opposition is all out to destroy the image of the current leader. Much as we may like or dislike him, we cannot overlook the political opportunism that must be taking place. Just like busloads of thugs were transported to attack Tamils by the UNP government, bus-loads of rioters are alleged to be transported in US too. There are some amazing similarities in these two disjointed incidents. 

In such a scenario it is impossible to call it an ethnic riot or a riot by Sinhalese against Tamils. Just like the riots taking place across the US cannot be classified as a racial riot. Today, one incident is enough for the mischief vultures to play havoc. This is why most often the false flags and fake stories are being actually funded to cause mayhem by those that have ulterior motives and agendas. It is without a doubt that the July 1983 riots was a well-organized attack but the May2020 unfortunate incident that happened to George Floyd may not have been planned but as a result of government inaction, the mischief makers manipulated and made use of the situation to their advantage. It takes just one stone and a thrower and the rest will be re-written by history. 

History must record the George Floyd incident as simply a murder by 4 US cops on their own. Linking the incident to the disproportionate arrests and harassment of blacks by US administration is left to the US Govt. But certainly the 4 cops deserve their due punishment. 

History has recorded Sri Lanka’s 1983 July riots unfairly. This injustice to the Sinhalese cannot continue and we hope that the Tamil families who were helped by their Sinhalese friends come forward to undo the injustice to the Sinhalese. We have waited 37 years for justice to prevail and still waiting.    

The International Commission of Jurists in their report claims that though the official death toll was 387 – out of this 50 dead were Sinhalese. Their deaths have never got media attention neither has the fact that the ICJ report also includes that some Tamils had destroyed their homes/businesses to collect insurance to facilitate applying for refugee status and lied their way abroad. 

Sinhalese do not have to apologize for July1983 just as white Americans don’t have to apologize for George Floyd’s murder but the UNP Govt has to as do the Minneapolis police dept & their superiors.

One incident in 1983 is used as a battering ram against Sinhalese but the over 300 attacks by LTTE terrorists against unarmed civilians never get media attention. https://www.sinhalanet.net/history-needs-to-be-corrected-july-1983-unp-attacked-tamils-not-the-sinhalese

Shenali D Waduge

On 26 May 2020 social media watched a black man (George Floyd) handcuffed and pinned to the pavement pleading to the 4 white American police officers – ‘I can’t breathe’. Onlookers watching George, whose neck was being pressed by a cop’s knee, pleaded for his release. Smartphones enabled the entire world to watch a human life cut short live. George was not the only black man to have been unfairly delivered ‘justice’ and he is unlikely to be the last. What unfolded thereafter across US was a cocktail of maladies coming home to roost in a country that has reigned by its supremacist manipulation of wars, elections, governments, foreign political leaders and even terrorists. What we now foresee is the unfolding of numerous agendas revolved around forthcoming elections abusing protests on behalf of George. America has become a victim of its own manipulations rolled out on other countries now being unleashed at home. The death has also brought to the focus and exposed the double standards of the UNHRC/international human rights organizations and other righteous mouthpieces who remain mum. George Floyd’s death is bringing to the surface a corrupt and unfair international systems & players that needs to now be replaced while signaling the fall of the American empire.

https://www.facebook.com/dimuth.gunawardena/videos/10158674256017658/

US population is 328m of which Blacks make up 42m – less than 13% of population but accounts for 30% of US shooting fatalities. The US justice system is such that 6.7million are in some form of correctional centre with 2.2million in prison. African Americans are more likely than white Americans to be arrested; once arrested, they are more likely to be convicted; and once convicted, and they are more likely to experience lengthy prison sentences”

UN/UNHRC/Human Rights Groups SILENT

5 days since the murder of George Floyd and not a single statement or condemnation by international entities that does not blink to issue statements if such occurred in other countries. We can recall how UNHRC and entities went to town over Rathupaswela. In US, over 25 states are protesting with riots and curfew imposed and deafening silence from any of these entities. Minneapolis police station itself has been set ablaze. Vandalism, anarchy, windows of cars & shops broken, looting (while America’s rich got $434b richer from corona handouts), are just some of the horrifying footage being relayed across the world. In Chicago there is footage of cops being dragged through the streets. St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City has graffiti all over it and police cars have been set on fire in Philadelphia. Nashvilles historic court house & city hall has been set on fire. Protestors have even approached White House. The white nations called the Third World as uncivilized! 

You can be sure that these entities would be writing a different narrative if what was happening in US was happening in a third world country. Such crass bias and hypocrisy is now exposed.

Yet the silence of the UN/HR groups have sealed their bias and their partiality. Media that has been hounding Sri Lanka twisting and turning every incident to denigrate the majority have little to say except to sensationalize and turn the event into political propaganda for their paymasters. It was social media and alternative media that showed the world the injustice to George proving that mainstream media (both print and electronic) are fast losing their sheen. The day of force-feeding news and brainwashing people by editors and columnists-for-life is waning and their shelf life is now virtually over. 

While the oft unspoken racism and segregation that existed institutionally and was said to have been resolved, continues still in the US. America’s lack of compassion for humanity except to lavish so in words was seen in its corona record sheet. Always wanting to be the first in all, US ironically has grabbed gold medal for corona deaths now exceeding 100,000 while equally competitive rich EU nations hold the top 10 slots for most corona deaths. Has the curse fallen upon them or is it mere incompetence coming to light and showing that these rich countries who consider everything as a commodity with a price tag cannot look after their own or will not think twice to even grade who they care for, first. Half of all corona fatalities in Europe have been the old and aged in nursing homes in a Western world where to be old is now regarded as a liability for the political and economic system and they are not needed anymore. Human rights have gone to the dogs today.

https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/the-massacre-of-italy-s-elderly-nursing-home-residents-35575?fbclid=IwAR1Z9ssf4Xp4vvYvRpmEF8MXDG2nqIOwob1NKKDuW6O3N22BpyAxoG57OWA

Those holding mantle as human rights commissioners by their silence have shown they are simply mouthpieces of euro-centric white supremacist ideology. Who wants a world system that hands justice in different formats depending on the victims colour, race, religion – is what ICC is doing against Africa & how UNHRC has violated its own mandate against Sri Lanka creating legally questionable precedents! 

We need a new UN located outside the West where the Third World is still waiting accountability and reparations for colonial crimes. Third World must have a larger say as they continue to suffer via neocolonial crimes by the same colonial violators! 

Many are manipulating the situation unfolding in US. It is America’s turn to experience the regime change and manipulations America has been masters of. The masters at regime change and false flags are even experiencing busloads of protestors being transported to create mayhem. All that the US funds in other countries is now being enacted back home!  

The country that has been delivering democracy, human rights, rule of law, law & order, justice for minorities, anti-racism, ant-discrimination blah blah blah to the world is now aflame because US is guilty of the very acts US accuses other countries of committing! 

“When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Is this US democracy! 

Who will deliver democracy to US now?

Shenali D Waduge

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

අභාවප‍්‍රාප්ත හිටපු අමාත්‍ය ආරුමුගම් තොණ්ඩමන් මහතාගේ අවමඟුල් කටුයුතුවලට සහභාගි වූ කිසිවෙකුට හෝ කොවිඞ් 19 ආසාදනය වී නව රෝගීන් පොකුරක් මතුවුවහොත් නිරෝධායන පනතේ රෙගුලාසිවලට පටහැනිව යමින් කටයුතු කිරීම පිළිබදව ජාතික හා ජාත්‍යන්තර වශයෙන් නඩු පවරන බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහජන සෞඛ්‍ය පරික්ෂකවරුන්ගේ සංගමයේ සභාපති උපුල් රෝහණ මහතා අනතුරු අඟවයි.

එම අවමඟුලේ කටයුතු සංවිධානය කරමින් සිටි එක් පුද්ගලයෙක් නිරෝදායන පනතේ නිසි බලධාරියා වන සෞඛ්‍ය සේවා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල්වරයාට පවා දුරකතනයෙන් තර්ජනය කළේ යැයි තම සංගමය වෙත වාර්තා වී ඇතැයි ද හෙතෙම කියයි.

මියගිය අයෙකුගේ මෘත ශරීරය විකුණාගෙන කමින් දේශපාලන බලය ලබාගැනීම සදහා ඡන්ද සිඟමනේ යෙකෙනවාට අමතරව නීති ගරුක රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරින්ගේ රාජකාරිය බාධා කිරීමට තරම් සමහර පුද්ගලයින්ට බලය ලබාදී ඇත්තේ කවුරුන් දැයි සොයා බලා නිසි පියවර ගන්නැයි ජනාධිපතිවරයා ගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින බව ද හෙතෙම කියයි.

මෙම පිරිස සියලූ නිරෝධායන නීති හා සෞඛ්‍ය උපදෙස් අමු අමුවේ උල්ලංඝණය කළ බව රටම දන්නා බවත් තවමත් රට අනතුරක පවතින අවස්ථාවක මෙවැනි විසූක දස්සන වලට එරෙහිව සමස්ත රට පුරා පක්ෂ විපක්ෂ සියලූ කණ්ඩායම් වෘත්තිකයන් සහ සියලූ ජන කොටස් පෙළ ගැසිය යුතු යැයි ද ඔහු සදහන් කරයි.

ආරම්භයේ සිටම කොවිඞ් 19 ව්‍යාප්තියට එරෙහිව දිවා රෑ නොබලා කටයුතු කළ සෞඛ්‍ය වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරින් මහජන සෞඛ්‍ය පරික්ෂකවරුන්, ඇතුළු ⁣ක්‍ෂත‍්‍ර නිලධාරින් සෞඛ්‍ය කාර්ය මණ්ඩල, රෝහල් කාර්ය මණ්ඩල තවත් හෙම්බත් කරවන මෙවැනි අනවශ්‍ය කටයුතු රටට වැරදි පූර්වාදර්ශ සපයා ඇතැයි ද ඔහු ගේ අස්සනින් යුතුව නිකුත් කරන ලද නිවේදනයක සදහන් වේ.

සෞඛ්‍ය කාර්ය මණ්ඩල, අනෙක් රාජ්‍ය අංශ මෙන්ම මහජනතාවද පසුගිය කාලය පුරා සිදුකල කැපකිරීම් තුට්ටුවකට මායිම් නොකරන මෙම අසික්තිත දේශපාලන ව්‍යාපෘතිය මියගිය තොණ්ඩමන් මහතාට කරන විශාල අගෞරවයක් බවත් මේ වැරදි ආදර්ශ නිසා සමස්ත ජනතාවගේ කැප කිරීම අඩුවී ඇතැයි පර්යේෂකයින් පෙන්වා දෙන බවත් ඔහු තම නිවේදනයේ සදහන් කරයි.

– lankadeepa

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

හිටපු අමාත්‍ය ආරුමුගම් තොන්ඩමන් මහතාගේ අභාවය වෙනුවෙන් හැඬීම සදහා කාන්තාවන් පිරිසක් පුහුණු කරන අයුරු දැක්වෙන වීඩියෝවක් සමාජජාලාවල හුවමාරු වෙයි.

අවමගුල අවස්ථාවේ හැඬීමට පෙර මහ පාරේ ඒ සදහා පුරුදු කරන අයුරු එකී වීඩියෝවේ දැක්වෙයි.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Proceeds from the drive-in concert at Ratmalana airport went to the President’s COVID relief fund

Colombo, May 31 (newsin.asia): People of Colombo had their first open air entertainment after the two-month lockdown on May 30.

Young people thronged the Ratmalana domestic airport in over 600 cars to listen to the popular singing duo, Bathiya and Santhush.

At dusk, the stage was lit up and youngsters waved torches and danced to the strains of popular Sri Lankan numbers.

The police ensured that people remained near their vehicles and social distance was maintained.

Charges depended on the size of the vehicle, with the lowest ticket being Rs.5000, for a car that can accommodate four people; and a vehicle which can accommodate 6 to 8 people, Rs.7000.

The proceeds of the concert, organized as part of the Restart Sri Lanka” campaign, will go to the President’s COVID relief fund Itukama”.

Another concert is planned for June1.

(Photos: A.Hapuarachchi/Xinhua)

Courtesy the national.ae

Tourists will be required to carry a ‘Covid-19-free certificate,’ says tourism ministry secretary .

Sri Lanka plans to reopen its tourism sector in mid-June by allowing only small groups of visitors to begin with, a local newspaper quoted a senior tourism ministry official as saying.

A limited number of small groups from around the world would be allowed to visit and stay in approved five-star hotels that have put strict safety measures in place, Tourism Ministry Secretary S Hettiaarachchi said, according to a report in the Sunday Times.

The tourists will be required to carry a Covid-19-free certificate issued either by their governments or a reputed agency,” he said, adding that tourists would also need to wait on arrival at the airport for coronavirus testing.

Individual travellers will still not be allowed to enter the country for now. The official did not mention how many people in a group could visit.

Sri Lanka reported another 20 cases of the virus on Saturday, taking the total number of cases so far to 1,613, including 10 deaths.

The country attracted around 2 million tourists last year and the sector contributes around 11 per cent to the nation’s gross domestic product.

The Sunday Times said President Rajapaksa had discussed the proposals at a meeting on May 19 with representatives of the tourism industry.

The main tourist season typically begins in around November.

If the government approves the plan, Bandaranaike International Airport and Mattala International Airport, which have been closed under coronavirus restrictions, would partially reopen. Testing facilities would be set up at the airports and private hospitals are expected to provide assistance to tourists as part of the plans, according to the newspaper report.

The tourists will not be allowed to get off buses midway (between journeys) and will be able only to visit selected destinations where they could avoid crowds,” Hettiaarachchi said.

Popular sites such as the Yala national park, Udawalawe, Arugam Bay, Trincomalee and selected beach areas would be among those open for the tourists, whose temperatures would be monitored daily, the report said.

Courtesy Adaderana

Two fresh cases of coronavirus have been confirmed as of 11.00 pm today (31), as the total count of infections in the country moved up to 1,633.

These new patients have been identified as a naval personnel, the Ministry of Health said.

Earlier today (31), 11 other individuals – 2 from Sri Lanka Navy and 9 returnees from overseas –were confirmed to have contracted the virus.

Accordingly, a total of 13 new COVID-19 cases have been detected so far within the day.

Meanwhile, twenty patients who had been receiving treatment for the virus were discharged from their respective hospitals today (31) as the tally of recoveries in the country reached 801.

A total of 822 active cases are under medical care at selected hospitals across the island, according to the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry.

Sri Lanka reported its 10th COVID-19 death on May 25 as a 51-year-old woman who had arrived in the country from Kuwait succumbed to the disease.

Courtesy The Island

Irresponsible behaviour by organisers of Thandaman’s funeral

Attempts to intimidate Dr. Anil Jasinghe

The Public Health Inspectors Union of Sri Lanka, yesterday, warned that legal action would be taken against those who organised the funeral proceedings of former Minister Arumugam Thondaman, if any person who had taken part in the festivities became infected with coronavirus.

“We received information that someone, connected to the Thondaman family, has called the Director General of Health Services, Dr. Anil Jasinghe, and attempted to intimidate him,” President of the PHIs’ Union, Upul Rohana said. This follows the decision to impose curfew, in Nuwara-Eliya, and restrict mass gatherings, connected to the funeral, he said. “Not only are these people using a corpse as part of their election campaign, they are also attempting to intimidate a senior government servant, who is doing his job. They think they are above the law.

The entire nation was aware that some people, affiliated to the late minister’s party, violated health guidelines and acted irresponsibly. At a time when the threat, posed by COVID-19, was not over, all Sri Lankans must condemn such irresponsible behaviour, Rohana said.

“Those who organised the funeral violated the health guidelines. they held vehicle parades and violated physical distancing rule. This has created a bad precedent. This can very well undo all the hard work by health and security forces personnel, government servants and the general public. (RK

Courtesy haaretz.com

In a heartfelt monologue following the killing of George Floyd, the South African comedian says the social contract between black Americans and society has been broken time and time again

South African comedian Trevor Noah said “police in American are looting black bodies” as unrest throughout the U.S. continues in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.

In an 18-minute video released by The Daily Show,” Noah reiterated that there is no “right way” to protest, alluding to the criticisms many have voiced regarding the violence that has taken place amid some of the demonstrations.

“When people burn things…they say it’s not the right way…it’s never the right way to protest because that is what protest is. It cannot be right because you are protesting against the thing that is stopping you,” Noah says. 

Try to imagine how it must feel for black Americans when they watch themselves being looted every single day,” Noah said. Because that’s fundamentally what’s happening in America. Police in America are looting black bodies. And I know someone might think that’s an extreme phrase, but it’s not.”- Advertisment –

Nationwide protests over police violence against African Americans broke out after a video circulated showing Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin using his knee to hold Floyd down for nearly nine minutes. From Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Houston to New York, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, demonstrations have ranged from people peacefully blocking roads to violent clashes with officers.

How many George Floyds are there that don’t die? How many men are having knees put on their necks? How many Sandra Blands are out there being tossed around?” asked Noah. It doesn’t make the news because it’s not grim enough. It doesn’t even get us anymore. It’s only the deaths, the gruesome deaths, that stick out,” Noah added.

But imagine to yourself if you grew up in a community where every day someone had their knee on your neck?” he added. If every day someone was out there oppressing you, every single day, you tell me what that does to you as a society, as a community, as a group of people and when you know it’s happening because of the color of your skin.”

RT

As looting and mayhem gripped the streets of Dallas, Texas, a mob descended on a man allegedly defending his neighborhood with a long blade. Punched, kicked and pelted with rocks, the man was left mangled and bloody.

Lawlessness continued to reign supreme in Dallas on Saturday night, five days after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked nationwide protests and riots. Following an afternoon of mostly peaceful protests, nightfall saw a spree of vandalism and looting in downtown Dallas.

In one shocking and graphic video captured by Blaze TV’s Elijah Schaffer, a man was set upon by a mob, after allegedly rushing rioters with a large machete or sword. He was quickly surrounded and beaten with rocks, fists, boots, and a skateboard.

Little is known about what set off the incident, but Schaffer claimed that the man attempted to defend a shop” from the mob, who responded by attacking him. Another angle shows the mob pelting him with rocks before he made an ill-fated attempt to rush the crowd.

Courtesy the Blaze

Two Chicago police officers were surrounded by protesters on Saturday — and then briefly dragged through the street.Ditch the fake news ==> Click here to get news you can trust sent right to your inbox. It’s free!

Video footage of the incident shows two Chicago police officers attempting to arrest a protester. However, the officers were greatly outnumbered and surrounding demonstrators quickly attacked them.

The footage shows protesters hit and drag the officers, one of whom, a female officer, was dragged about 10 feet through the street.

A third officer then rushed into the chaotic scene to protect his fellow officers. But the protesters also attacked him, throwing various projectiles and fluids at the officers.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/shocking-video-shows-violent-chicago-protesters-drag-three-police-officers-through-street

https://twitter.com/i/status/1266941939502456833

In a video captured by CBS46, a young Black couple can be seen being pulled over by Atlanta law enforcement officers because they were reportedly out after curfew, only to be shot with Tasers, then pulled from the car and put in restraints after being yanked out of their car.

Atlanta joined a host of cities to institute a curfew as protests over the killing of George Floyd have swept across the country, leading to clashes with police.

In the video, the young woman is Tasered and pulled from the car while the man is Tasered after police shattered his driver-side window with a baton.Defend democracy. Click to invest in courageous progressive journalism today.

Courtesy 9news.com.au

Nations around the world have watched in horror at the five days of civil unrest in the United States following the death of a black man being detained by police. But they have not been surprised.Racism-tinged events no longer startle even America’s closest allies, though many have watched coverage of the often-violent protests with growing unease.

Burning cars and riot police in the US featured on newspaper front pages around the globe today – bumping news of the COVID-19 pandemic to second-tier status in some places.George Floyd died on May 25 in Minneapolis after a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck. It was the latest in a series of deaths of black men and women at the hands of police in America.Thousands gathered in central London on Sunday (local time) to offer support for American demonstrators. Chanting “No justice! No peace!” and waving placards with the words “How many more?” at Trafalgar Square, the protesters ignored UK government rules banning crowds because of the pandemic. Police didn’t stop them.Demonstrators then marched to the US Embassy, where a long line of officers surrounded the building. Several hundred sat in the street and waved placardsThe US Embassy in Berlin was the scene of protests on Saturday evening under the motto: “Justice for George Floyd”. Police said the gathering, organised through social media, was larger than expected but reported no arrests.

RELATED

• Gallery: US erupts into violence after George Floyd’s custody death
• Fox news reporter attacked at White House protest
• George Floyd protests: US cities call in National Guard as they brace for increasing unrest

How other nations and media are responding

Germany’s top-selling Bild newspaper on Sunday carried the sensational headline “This killer-cop set America ablaze” with an arrow pointing to a photo of now-fired police officer Derek Chauvin, who has been charged with third-degree murder in Floyd’s death, with his knee on Floyd’s neck. The newspaper’s story reported “scenes like out of a civil war”.In Italy, the Corriere della Sera newspaper’s senior US correspondent Massimo Gaggi wrote that the reaction to Floyd’s killing was “different” than previous cases of black Americans killed by police and the ensuring violence.”There are exasperated black movements that no longer preach nonviolent resistance,” Gaggi wrote, noting the Minnesota governor’s warning that “anarchist and white supremacy groups are trying to fuel the chaos”.In countries with authoritarian governments, state-controlled media have been highlighting the chaos and violence of the US demonstrations, in part to undermine American officials’ criticism of their own nations.In China, the protests are being viewed through the prism of US government criticism of China’s crackdown on anti-government protests in Hong Kong.

Hu Xijin, the editor of the state-owned Global Times newspaper, tweeted that US officials can now see protests out their own windows: “I want to ask Speaker Pelosi and Secretary Pompeo: Should Beijing support protests in the US, like you glorified rioters in Hong Kong?”Hua Chunying, a Chinese Foreign ministry spokeswoman, pointed out America’s racial unrest by tweeting “I can’t breathe”, which Floyd said before his death.In Iran, which has violently put down nationwide demonstrations by killing hundreds, arresting thousands and disrupting internet access to the outside world, state television has repeatedly aired images of the US unrest.One TV anchor discussed “a horrible scene from New York, where police attacked protesters”.Another state TV message accused US police agencies in Washington of “setting fire to cars and attacking protesters”, without offering any evidence.

Russia also expressed a lack of shock.”This incident is far from the first in a series of lawless conduct and unjustified violence from US law enforcement,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.”American police commit such high-profile crimes all too often.”There also have been expressions of solidarity with the demonstrators.Over the weekend, Lebanese anti-government protesters flooded social media with tweets sympathetic to US protesters, using the hashtag #Americarevolts.That’s a play on the slogan for Lebanon’s protest movement – Lebanon revolts – which erupted on October 17 last year. Within 24 hours, the hashtag #Americanrevolts became the No. 1 trending tag in Lebanon.In another expression of solidarity with American protesters, about 150 people marched through central Jerusalem on Saturday to protest the shooting death by Israeli police of an unarmed, autistic Palestinian man earlier in the day.Israeli police mistakenly suspected that the man, Iyad Halak, was carrying a weapon. When he failed to obey orders to stop, officers opened fire.Reported with Associated Press.

In a very bold move, the Acting District Judge and Magistrate of Vavuniya has written an open letter virtually demanding a Member of Parliament to resign from his political party but what is more alarming is that she is making her position as ‘We, the Tamils of Tamil Eelam’.Since when has she been employed by this utopian Tamil Eelam”? Isn’t she paid to uphold the Constitution of Sri Lanka by the Government of Sri Lanka? She is, thus, bound by the oath she has taken to function in her role. The President of Sri Lanka, the country’s Chief Justice, Judicial Services Commission, BASL, must immediately respond and demand this Acting District Judge & Magistrate of Vavuniya who has been an attorney since 1981 show cause and offer explanation. Inaction, by those tasked to discipline public officials and ensure they are accountable for their public roles, would end up in every public servant also boldly castigating each other publicly. This is unacceptable & unethical behavior for a public servant. A biased judge/magistrate sets a bad image to Sri Lanka’s judiciary. No Judge while in office can play politics. She cannot express personal views on controversial matters while sitting in office.

They say Justice is Blind because the deliverer of justice is not supposed to take sides.

The Judiciary is one of the 3 main pillars of democracy tasked to be the judge and to deliver justice. But when an appointed judge or anyone functioning in similar role like a magistrate shows partiality, bias and espouses to promote an entity that remains banned in Sri Lanka and an entity that had to be militarily defeated by sacrificing 30,000 soldiers, the Government and the apparatus tasked to look into the ethical performance of those under its pillar, cannot ignore and turn a blind eye without taking action.

She is bound by the oath she has taken. Rules and regulations cannot be confined to just paper. Action must be taken for those that flout the rules. By her actions she has self-exposed herself to be not neutral. How can a judge/magistrate perform in their roles if they show bias? She has completely smeared the image of the judiciary. 

It is astonishing that a sitting magistrate & judge is bold enough to write an article titled TNA spokesperson Sumanthiran should resign from the TNA immediately”which was published by a social media website on 26 May 2020. The author is Manomany Sathasivam sitting Acting District Judge & Magistrate in Vavuniya.

We, the Tamils of Tamil Eelam”she writes – now where is this? As far as we know she is a citizen of Sri Lanka and a public servant & employee of Sri Lanka.

These very lines suffice to call for an explanation.

When and who appointed her as the flag bearer of Tamil Eelam’.

We …. have been constantly betrayed by the traitors in our own community’. 

‘We have no tolerance and cannot suffer from these disloyal actions any longer’ – 

As a public servant and a sitting judge/magistrate can she be speaking for one community? This seriously questions her cases since becoming an attorney in 1981! 

She goes on to ask former MP M A Sumanthiran to resign not only from his post as spokesperson but to leave TNA ‘forthwith’.

Who is she to demand a MP to resign from a political party?

Who is she to demand TNA to sack him?

Who is she to tell the TNA that it must ‘honor the wishes of the people and remove him (Sumanthiran)’?

Her tirade also sets to rest controversies regarding how TNA was formed and who formed it.  She clearly links LTTE with TNA.

Can a magistrate & acting district judge make public outbursts of the nature being done in castigating an elected Member of Parliament and apparently praising an outfit taking up arms to separate Sri Lanka and create a Tamil Eelam of which she describes ‘We,

What is the issue an Acting District Judge & Vavuniya Magistratehas with M. A. Sumanthiran? These are her allegations against Sumanthiran

• Joined TNA only after Prabakaran’s death as a National List MP in 2010
• No evidence he is a ‘real human rights lawyer’ or studied human rights law/international law or representing political prisoners
• Not involved in public interest cases (but lines later she says he appeared for a TELO case in 2006 and withdrew case without informing petitioners)
• ‘money-minded commercial lawyer based in Colombo’
• ‘never cared about the lives of the Tamils in the North & East’ (how did he get 58,043 votes in August 2015?)
• She alleges he had in November 2015 on the expulsion of Muslims from North declared the en-masse expulsion of Muslims by the LTTE amounts to ethnic cleansing’. She says this contradicts with Hakeel-Balasingham tete-a-tete in 2002 to forgive and forget as LTTE had said Tamil homeland and the Tamil territory in the North-East belonged to the Muslim people also.”
• She accuses him of ‘third-grade strategy’ to open ‘old wounds and trigger hatred between Tamil & Muslim communities for his own selfish reasons’. What authority does this acting judge & magistrate have to write ‘that the LTTE neither had a plan” nor a purposeful policy” to remove Muslims and create a homogenous Tamil Eelam and claims it was on a ‘strategic’ move to prevent riots after weapons were found in Muslim houses, shops and mosques in Jaffna! She says that Tamils were not allow to occupy or take over the Muslim properties and they were returned to Muslim owners after the ceasefire of 2002 (is this true – Muslims can answer) Why has she conveniently omitted the eviction of Sinhalese too along with the Muslims?
• She quotes Dr. S I Keethapocalan who writing to Colombo Telegraph in Dec 2015 accused Sumanthiran of going to UNHRC & saying what happened during the last phase of the war was not genocide! Is she claiming ‘genocide’?
• She asks if Sumanthiran thinks he is superior to Francis Boyle, Prof. Ramu Manivannan, Prof. Sornaraja, Bruce Fein, Lee Rhiannon, Deirdre McConnell, Lelio Basso?
• She accuses him of being ‘ignorant of international law’ with ‘poor knowledge of history’ and not knowing the difference between ‘ethnic cleansing and genocide’.
• She cites the UN Commission of Experts investigating violations of international humanitarian law in former Yugoslavia in their S/25274 interim report, defined ethnic cleansing as rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove persons of given groups from the area” but its final report, ethnic cleansing was defined as ‘a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas”. https://undocs.org/S/25274UN definition of ethnic cleansing (interim report) https://undocs.org/S/1994/674UN definition of ethnic cleansing (final report)
• She says that he keeps telling Tamil diaspora ‘time is not right to pursue the genocide claim because the ‘ingredients’ of it cannot be proved’.
• She accuses him of going against the Northern Provincial Council genocide resolution
• She demands to know why Sumanthiran doesn’t quote from OISL report
• She accuses him of stating that ‘his party has no allegiance to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’ and is ‘not committed to their ideology’ and that TNA is not in favor of ‘terrorism’ – inadvertently implying LTTE was!
• She says that by distancing himself from Tamil diaspora groups he has ‘seriously offended the Tamil diaspora’.
• She asks if he is not aware of the statements by his own TNA colleagues who link LTTE to TNA & cites TELO leader Selvam Adaikalanathan in 2019 who stated that TNA ‘was formed for the purpose of liberation of our people’…. ‘no one can break the Tamil National Alliance which was formed as our people’s power with the LTTE’s participation”
• She says that Sambanthan’s remark on Sumanthiran’s interview is only his personal view and not that of the TNA or the Tamil People and to lend weight to this she quotes ITAK leader Mavai Senathirajah ‘comments cannot be accepted. Mr. Sumanthiran stated he cannot accept the armed struggle of the LTTE and the TNA is as culpable for these comments as him”.
• She claims Sumanthiran refers to Tamil Diaspora as ‘Tiger Diaspora’
• She says the February 2017 alleged attempt to kill Sumanthiran was staged by him as ‘reliable sources’ say it was only to gain himself STF protection and accuses him of putting 5 ex-LTTE in prison accused of trying to kill him.

Her tirade against Sumanthiran concludes by saying he is not a leader of his community because he has not bothered to voice the ‘views of his own people’. Not voicing the views of his own people she attributes to his 8 May 2020 interview where according to this acting judge and magistrate he ‘bluntly lied about the formation of the TNA’ and ‘vulgarized the armed liberation struggle of the Tamils’ while saying he accepted the lion flag and national anthem.

She provides a list of other Tamils who are also attacking Sumanthiran and their statements are being shown to showcase that we are living among people who wish to continue LTTE separatism, who are drumming separatism, who are venerating mass murderers and terrorists and who are unafraid to publicly say so simply because the law is not being used against them. They are all making a mockery out of the law against terrorism and separatism in Sri Lanka and as ordinary people we are really shocked that they can boldly make such statements and get away.

https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/sumanthiran-bows-head-prabhakaran-criticism-mounts

She makes a major faux pas by referring to former Chief Minister of the Northern Province C V Wigneswaran as CHIEF JUSTICE – being in the legal profession this is totally unacceptable. C V Wigneswaran was NEVER a Chief Justice – he was however a Supreme Court judge.

This article written by a sitting judge/magistrate is replete in questions as it is virtually mocking the Executive/Judicial pillars taunting them to respond. They should because no public servant in particular those tasked to judge the law can flout the law and demean the oath they have taken to uphold the constitution. The superiors to whom she is accountable must seek response and explanation.

This is a very bad and ugly precedent if no action is taken for it questions the judgements and the CJ, Judicial Services Commission, BASL and even the President must make a statement on this. No public servant can flout the constitution. 

Shenali D Waduge

Kanthar Balanathan

Engr. Kanthar Balanathan, Australia DipEE (UK), Grad Cert (Rel-Eng-Monash), Dip Bus& Adm(Finance-Massey), CEng. MIEE(UK) Former Specialist Engineer Power & Control NRG-GPS, Australia

The author of this article is a Tamil who was displeased and peeved to live in the North of SriLanka, left the island in 1977 to have a peaceful life overseas. Even before that while studying in the UK I came across some lawyers and youths being members of EROS (Elam Research Organisation). Their objective I understood was to research and conclude whether Elam is economically viable as a separate country. This was in 1967/68. It was a loss to understand as to why SL did not take any legal action. No information was available after that as it was a secretive organisation. Perhaps this EROS converted itself into EROS later headed by Balakumar.

Tamil race is a race which does not satisfy itself economically, politically, socially and in prestige. Every fellow thinks that he is prodigious although he/she may be an illiterate and a coolie. One of the key weakness of the Tamil race is the Dowry that they need to give their daughters to give in marriage. This policy by default introduces weakness in their vision and mission and goal at work and profession. The need for them to work is for money and do not have job satisfaction or need to develop abreast of technological advancement. The Sinhalas cut corners to accumulate funds to elevate their status and enter politics. However, most of the Tamil people who can talk cut corners and take the shortest route to accumulate funds for politics and dowry. No politician in SL can vouch that he has not strayed from honesty and kept away from bribery and corruption. Maybe that’s human nature. However, there are honest professionals and politicians.

For example, former Supreme Court Judge Mr CV Vigneswaran is a man who can confidently and audaciously vouch for honesty as beyond doubt it is presumed that he is a man for honesty and integrity. We respect his audacity. One honest man with high integrity in the Tamil race.

Tamil Diaspora Organisations

1. TGTE
   Firstly, let us address the TGTE history. TGTE is an organisation formed on the 17th May 2010 to model a strategy to propagate and continue indirect and direct terrorism in Sri Lanka. Visvanathan Rudrakumaran the son of a former Mayor Rajah Viswanathan. Coming from an elite family maybe with Irish link hails leadership among the black thoughtless irrational Tamils. Most Tamils in the North are assimilated with Portuguese, Dutch, and British over the period when they ruled SL. It is bizarre and weird that V. Rudrakumaran has been the PM of TGTE since the birth of TGTE. There has been a revolt against his (VR) position however some key people had their partisan politics influenced and kept VR as the PM. What is the RCA of this entertainment? Quote: ref;
   (i) https://www.sinhalanet.net/rudrakumaran-what-is-the-us-stand-on-a-us-citizen-subject-to-federal-laws-being-involved-with-the-ltte-andits-leader-prabakaran
   (ii) http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=20629
   
   It is a pity that it is now roughly ten years and the TGTE is still operating with millions of dollars siphoned from the coffer of the public and maybe some governments donations to keep the Sri Lankan separatism active and fool Tamils.
   
   Firstly, Do Tamils need an organisation known as TGTE in the USA and around the world? Do Tamils ponder that spending millions of dollars going waste for the last ten years is an asset to the Tamil race? What is the situation of the land in the North now? Could these millions of dollars waste so far could have been useful to have developed the North/Vanni? How about the fraudulent practice within the TGTE? A woman who was a minister in the past under the pretext of establishing a cattle farm in Vanni siphoned a significant amount of wealth into her coffer. Can VR vouch that there was no fraudulent practice within TGTE?
   
   Whatever it is can one million people in the North & Vanni claim a separate country.
   
   I am aware of a highly educated intellectual Professor of Economics and Econometrics who has published more than seven books in Australia left the TGTE as Deputy PM as he thinks that it is a waste of being with TGTE. It is an inference that some countries are using TGTE and its members as implements to subdue Sri Lanka to achieve their objective. Can the USA allow a similar organisation named TGI (Trans National Government of Incas or Aztecs to fight for their land?
   With the base, Diego Garcia spilling out of their plate USA is fervent & zealous to move their base close to China to have direct access of airstrikes. Tamils who are unpatriotic ponder that their Elam will be liberated and handed over to them in a golden tray for them to eat and dance. It will be like Libya, Iraq, Yugoslavian republics and Sudan which have been driven down economically and racially with internal fights/war and killing.
   The SriLankan attitude towards people is precarious in that the caste and religious differential are quite severe among the Tamils. Ponnambalam Ramanathan during his incantation ordered that the low caste Tamils need not have voting rights and educational freedom. It is during the British gave that freedom of education, job and voting rights to all the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Even SJV Chelvanayagam and Amirthalingam’s period, they do not receive any complaints or talk to low caste people, but have intermediaries and always the low caste people are not allowed in. People like SJVC are half-caste yobs. This type of attitude is still running in the blood of Catholics, Christians and Hindus In SriLanka. Within this race, some people try to find hair split race.
   https://www.toronto.com/news-story/9352012-what-is-the-transnational-government-of-tamil-eelam-doing-in-toronto-/
   
   http://tgte-us.org/mullivaaikkaal-may-18-tgte-announces-preparations-commemorating-tamil-eelam-national-day-mourning/
   
   Where do they get their finance?
   (i) collection from the public, (ii) government grants, (iii) CIA grants Or British grants???
   
   Organisations in Canada
   
   It is a pity that several organisations have been floated in the name of Tamil Eelam not knowing the future of their mission. Finally, the attempts on a spectrum it will be a catastrophic failure. One gentleman from Toronto told the writer that on LTTE being wiped out the assets; movable, current assets and immovable assets were shared among the people who worked for TCC and LTTE, with some owning supermarkets and shopping complex etc. What a two-facades falseness of Tamils pretending they are for Tamil Eelam? The poor refugees and the illiterates donate money monthly and today with the COVID-19 situation they’re suffering. That’s the value and culture of Tamils. How about radio transmission? Tamils have radio transmission on a competitive basis for nothing.
   
   Australia
   There are several organisations in Australia. TCC which was the main overseas arm of the LTTE owned houses in Sydney and Melbourne for their office work. Once LTTE was wiped out and the key man died, what happened to these assets. It is believed that someone sold and swindled the money. A few of the previous TCC have businesses purchased out of TCC funds and converted to their assets.
   There are radio stations in Australia. It believes that maybe one station is adequate to maintain and transmit Tamil media news and cultural news. However, cos of the egotism and arrogance people come forward to open up radio stations. Similar to this e.g.; one temple is built, then there crawls the egotism, the man behind goes and builds another temple. The state governments are weak in Australia. The state governments in Australia is generous to donate millions in the name of protecting multi-culturalism. Tamils take up this weakness of the states to plunder the state governments. I do not know whether this is correct or not. There are several Australians unemployed and suffer for finance and can the state governments afford to donate money to these orgs. The issue here is the grants given to Tamil organisations.
   
   Why do we need several Tamil organisations? Should the government allow Tamils to observe the 18th May as Remembrance Day or Genocide” day? Tamils observe on the 18th May and the 27th November each year spending thousands of dollars. What does Australia get in return? The racial tension widens between the two segments in Australia. Sinhalese community do not celebrate any of the war events here in Australia. That’s decency. We have come to Australia to live, not drive wedges between the two communities. It appears that the Tamils are like that of Islamic Jihad”.
   
   Corruption prevails among the Tamil associations and organisations. Once the President of an association in Australia is supposed to have swindled $20,000. A collection of $20,000 was made to open a chicken farm in the North (Vanni). Ultimately the dollars went to someone’s pocket and the guys in Vanni got one bicycle only.
   There are so many corruptions practised by Tamil societies and associations in Australia. No one has made any complaints to the Australian government yet. One day someone may bring this up to the PM or the AG.
   There are Tamils in Australia who lend money without collateral at 36% interest. However, they do not return the capital to the owner. This is money laundering. ATO should know about this as some members do not pay tax on their private jobs or money laundering. There are a few who have become a millionaire by money laundering and private jobs. These guys have come into Australia illegally and have no background education. It is like in Valvettiturai, SriLanka people do smuggling from India through which people have become rich.
   
2. UK
   There are several organisations in the UK. Members are mostly on the road carrying out protest march like the Isla mists. The organisation known as BTF had fraud in recent time. Please view the following video. The discussion is in Tamil. The corruption is exposed by a member of the Forum.
   வெளிெந்தது அதிர்ச்சிதரும் ஆதாரங்கள்! பிரித்தானிய தமிழ் அமைப்பின் மிகப்வெரிய ஊழல்! Agni Paarvai.mp4

Readers who do not understand Tamil are kindly requested to get a translation. This is the worse form of corruption in the history of the UK operation.
IBC is an honest media with high reputation and integrity among the Tamil media. IBC is also an educative, corrective and unravelling corrupt practice among the media.
Tamils in the name of Tami Eelam and self-determination have formed some compost organisations and Forums with an intent to swindle funds and become rich. Ordinary illiterates and coolies do not understand this motive of the bandits. Hence it’s a pathway for the culprits to further their finances.
Tamils should understand that finally, the end product is nothing but loss of life and wealth of poor mass.

• 1.Tamil Eelam is a fictitious product. Never, ever accomplish Tamil Eelam as their country, but remain in Srilanka.
• 2. Individuals will become rich through swindling from Organisations.
• 3. Tamils from the North will somehow vanish and migrate legally or illegally.
• 4. Tamils in the North will engage in drug trafficking activity.
• 5. Already the caste issue is blowing up as the low caste students are studying which the elite students are unable to digest.
• 6. If the diaspora collects $ 50 k, what flows into SL poor masses maybe $ 5 k or lower. The rest is noted as a liability for administration cost.
• 7. If professionals and doctors are engaged in such organisational activity, how can they practice professional medical?
• 8. In their office, they seem to engage in these appropriation activities. Australian government and Organisations, such as ATO should check on their staff’s activity.
• 9. SriLanka has been quite tolerant with the Tamils. However, it is expected that Tamils shall not test Sri Lanka’s patience.
• 10. Tamils are engaged in child behaviour in that they always talk and protest on missing persons like fools. Even Sambanthar behaves like a fool.
• 11. If they do not like the SL government then why sit in parliament. Resign and stay at home unrepresented.
• 12. Elam as a separate country is NOT viable, economically, socially, and culturally.
  
  Imprudence Stupidity: Rudrakumaran’ s TGTE, BTF, CTC, GTF, ATC, Norway Council, several radio stations.
  
  It is requested that all Tamils shall rise against bribery and corruption and relief themselves from contributing funds to these stupid organisations. They shall educate their children and look for the future, not as Tami idiots but as professionals and scientists. Do not practice the culture of giving dowry as it makes the men lazy.
  
  Quotes:
  Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man—this race and that race and the other race being inferior… Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal.” ― Abraham Lincoln
  
  A third of the population tend to corrupt. The rest have no money.” ― Ljupka Cvetanova, The New Land

98% of politicians are either corrupt or corruptible.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana
In the biological sense, race does not exist.” ― Abhijit Naskar, We Are All Black: A Treatise on Racism
A riot is the language of the unheard.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world: Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

Sena Welikala – Carrom Downs, Australia.

Victoria Tamil Association (Formerly Ceylon Tamil Association & Eelam Tamil Association) in Melbourne has received following funding arrangements according to its sources to build Victorian Tamil Community Center at a cost of $4,53 million including $500,000 from the Victorian Labor Government and $350,000 from a Shorten Labor Federal Government.

TONY BURKE MP SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER SHADOW MINISTER FOR CITIZENSHIP AND MULTICULTURAL AUSTRALIA SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ARTS MEMBER FOR WATSON  said some time ago that Labor will build Victorian Tamil Community Centre.  While the Victorian Tamil Association formerly Tamil Association & Eelam Association is a registered charity  “the Victorian Tamils Community Unit Trust fund was set up to finance the venture and to offer a role and provide the members of the Tamil Community an avenue to be active participants in the vision and venture.

The Victorian Tamil Community Centre (VTCC) is owned by the Victorian Tamils Community Centre Unit Trust. The trustee of the Unit Trust fund is a Proprietary Limited Company. The members of the Tamil Community were invited to become investors in this trust and many have done so. The investors in this trust fund are the owners of the property in proportion to the value of their monetary investment in the Trust fund”.

The interested parties query whether the Association still carries the name Eelam, a separate country for which the Tamil Tigers fought for 30 years and also whether it is in order for an approved registered charity to plan to pay dividends to the would-be investors.

Senaka Weeraratna

Sri Lanka has now become the killing fields of rare and exotic animals

There is no end in sight for poor animals.

Last year ( 2019) alone 384 elephants died mostly at the hands of humans.

The British killed 10, 000 wild elephants during the heyday of the British Raj.

With a dwindling number – only 3000 elephants living in the country today, it is only a matter of time say within 10 to 20 years before the last elephant becomes extinct in Sri Lanka. 

Then elephants will exist only in cyberspace to remind posterity of the rich wildlife heritage we had.  

No one except a handful is worried about the plight of elephants and other animals.

They like the Black Leopard which died yesterday (May 29) die cursing the inhumanity of human beings.

Has a curse fallen on Sri Lanka?

We need strong moral leadership in the country similar to the one offered by Mahatma Gandhi of India, that will give voice to the voiceless and articulate the pain and suffering of innocent animals, and restore to them their dignity.

Senaka Weeraratna

Engr. Kanthar Balanathan, Australia DipEE (UK), GradCert(Rel-Eng-Monash), DipBus&Adm(Finance-Massey), CEng. MIEE(UK) Former Specialist Engineer Power & Control NRG-GPS, Australia

The author had ambitious to write about history during his working career as an Electrical Engineer/Works Engineer (Elect) from 1969 to Feb 1977 at Kankesan Cement Works (KCW). It is the right time now that I come forward to present them in a concise article format. The reason being that by hiding activities the world will not change and in particular the North is like a jungle dominated by a certain group of people only and others are treated quite indifferently & indecently. Discrimination & Oppression prevails in the North only. It is good to unravel certain hidden dirty qualities among our Tamils in the North. That’s the nature among the Tamils in the North. In India workers and officers are treated indifferently; no courteousness, gallantry & regard for working class. Those Tamils who read this article shall understand their quality and correct themselves to have a positive progressive Tamil race or else the Tamil race will dissolve into any other race(s). No wonder why some Sinhalese do not like Tamils.

I commenced my wring career on the 5^{th of} December 1965 with the Department of Govt. Govt. Electrical Undertakings (DGEU). My career ended with the DGEU in September 1967 while working as a shift Officer at the Inginiyagala Power Station. During the period 5-12-1965 to 09/1967, I enjoyed my work as the environment was friendly and the Sinhala people were quite helpful and friendly. It was a totally friendly technical environment. However, my professional life at KCW was shifted to be a detrimental oppressive and discriminatory life while at KCW. Although I asked for Puttalam, CCC Posted me to KCW.

In my working career at KCW, the Works Manager (WM) position was held by Tamils up to 1974. The organisation was in shambles. One WM arrives direct from Udupiddy at 8 am and then leaves sharp on the dot at 4 pm. He never stepped foot inside the factory at any instant. He was a Civil Engineer who was seconded for service from the Department of Highways or so. The only WM we had who was quite competent and capable was A. Francis, who was a Mechanical Engineer, however, he left the organisation in 1971, however, he was quite rude with his staff.

Late in 1974, a dynamic and energetic leader (Pat Vithanage) came as the Works Manager, appointed by Mr A. Elkaduwa, who was the Chairman of Ceylon Cement Corporation. After Pat Vithanage (WM) came to the works people behaved differently and were near decent, however, behind the back not at all courteous and honest. The staff had a quite ethnic hatred towards Pat. Pat was decent and professional and had a top managerial capability and people acted with courtesy towards him and the engineers.

This article will unstitch & loosen the dirty politics of the workers and engineers at KCW, although KCW does not exist now, the people in the North shall learn from this as to how they shall treat others and work.

On the day I started work, I was walking to the electrical workshop and a man was urinating on the road (inside works). This road is been used by women and men to access their workplace and canteen. I observed that there were dozens of toiles built which were only about 20 feet away from the man who was urinating. I advised the man to urinate in the toilet and not on the road. He quietly went off and complained to his union President which was sent to the WM. Mr Francis knowns the character of the workshop people. He called me and said not to talk with any of the clowns in the mechanical workshop. I realised that the caste system came into the flow. I also comprehended that there was this caste system practised by even the COOLIES. Maybe the man (COOLIE) was related to (Filipino) SJV Chelvanayagam?

This article limits only to certain key incidents which distressed my anxiety and health. One of the WM (late Shunmuganathan), says always that he is thinking. He was sent to Germany for three-year training and came back just a few months before me. I comprehended that he did not do any modifications or solve any technical issues. He was my boss and I was certain that he was not a fit and proper person to be my boss. That’s nature and the Jaffna man’s influence based on caste and culture. He looked like a Chinese guy in appearance.

1.

Right from 1969, the precipitator does not work effectively and efficiently. My so-called boss always slides any outside complains to me and I had to face the public. With too much work I started to investigate the precipitator function. There were two issues faced with the Precipitator. (i) Voltage dips (VD) which were the CEB problem. Virtually I send 10-15 telegrams to the GM of the CEB about the VD. The damn CEB engineers had little clue of the issue. The issue here is that Chief Burner is a sixth or eighth standard qualified person, however, his brothers were in the Police as DIG ad SPs. So, he was influential and people do not bother him. Water must be sprayed in the fourth cyclone, however, because of the VD Burners do not spray water. The water spray equipment bends and had to cut it off to pull it out. (ii) The EHV electrode was made of barbed wires and suspended with guided weight. The dust accumulation bends the barbed wire and flashes to the cathode plate. The particular chamber has to be isolated immediately for the other chambers to function. So, the second issue here is that the electrode was not fit for the particular duty. (iii) The particles were of smaller size because of the type of grinding and sieve used. Very small particles can be carried away because of the Precipitator design not fit for purpose. Shift Chemist does not understand high-tech explanations. Wondered whether they do a sample analysis to know the Standard Deviation at various levels in the silos. Quite doubtful cos they get annoyed when asked. The Chemist workplace is like a secular lab. Most of the staff have low education.

None of the WM did anything on my advice. After Pat Vithanage assumed office, he discussed with me and asked me to prepare a comprehensive report on the issues and solution and send it to the Chairman through him, of course. I had two solutions. (i) Procure stainless steel discharge tips for at least one precipitator and install, (ii) Install SLC on the 33kV live running from Chunnakam to Kaithady at Chunnakam. This equipment will limit the fault current. The discharge tips were ordered and I left the organisation to assume duties in Feb 1977 in Nigeria. Pat and I attended a meeting with the engineers and explained the function of the SLC. The other alternative is to reroute the Chavakacheri line which is up to the CEB. None of the engineers or the Burners gave me support except Pat Vithanage and AB Elkaduwa.

The 3.3kV ID Fan motor failed once and, the culture at KCW is that any failure is shifted to the Works Engineer (WE-El). I saw one Tamil electrician throwing raw meal dust into the fan motor out of hatred against myself and Pat. The issue here was that the banding wire used was high tensile stainless steel and it can give way at high temperature. It was recommend to use high tensile epoxy tape for the banding.

Most of the staff in the Kiln section were unqualified. A few with A” level were okay, however, the other Burners including Chief Burner (late G. Joseph & Thuraisingham) were unqualified with 6^th & 8^th standard only. The problem here is that they cannot understand Parallax” issues. Always complain that the motor current and voltage is over limit. The meters were installed about 6.5 feet above the floor. Quite often have to explain about the parallax problem.

The gantry crane had a span of more than 60 feet, maybe. The drive shaft had several segments and they were connected by bolting the flanges. The shaft is supported by a couple of bearings which had white metal bearings. The white metal, when worn off, introduce misalignment and heavy torque friction and a heavy torque is required to turn the shaft. What is required is to machine the bearing after filling with white metal. However, the damn mechanical engineers who were incompetent did not want to do the job, however, blame the electrical section that the fuse is blowing and the overload relay is tripping. The damn mechanical engineers or what I call them as Sledge Hammers wanted a higher setting the O/L and with a higher fuse rating. So, we did it knowing what will happen. The main drive shaft breaks.  It was an agony to explain the half qualified and the sledgehammers. Some Sledgehammers claim that they are from Peradeniya University and that they are superstar idiots and know everything not knowing that they lack in experience.

Similar things happen with the cement transport system. The FK Pumps. The FK pump is a screw conveyor which has a few segments coupled with flanges and supported by bearings. The Workshop guys do not do good welding to standard and the flanges fail and the motor trips. Immediately the complain comes to the WM that there is an electrical fault. Okay, as donkeys we check the motor and the circuits and come up with a clean system. We direct the plant maintenance & Workshop and advice that the welding if not up to standard, for the reason for the failure. The Superstar Peradeniya engineers argue with me. Myself being an electrical and mechanical engineer which is not known to these idiots leads them to override and bully the electrical section.

The irregularities in the supplies and Stores section: Most of the time, the welding rods are recycled through the shops to the stores again with a cut going into a team pocket. Items are bearings, domestic fuses, some cables, and consumables. Staff steel items from the stores to which some store-keepers help them. The Asst Accountant who was in charge of the stores was an incompetent person always attacking people. He resembles a Japanese or a Korean.

A couple of engineers like three were quite honest but we were afraid to talk as the Union and the staff rise against us. There were so many irregularities and frauds that happened at KCW; however, I cannot bring everything in one publication.

One example: An elec. an engineer from State Fertiliser Manufacturing Corporation (SFMC) was sent to my section for specialised training. What he did was to apply for his IEE Charter stating that he is the cement engineer and that he is the boss of the place without my understanding. I also applied and when called upon for an interview by the CTE and Mr John Pillai asked me whether I was the Cement engineer. After discussion for over 2 hours, I advised them to check with the GM of Cement. On the day in Colombo, the GM called me and said that IEE checked with him and that truth was conveyed to the IEE. GM was a Sinhalese person. I received my Charter in 1975 and believe that the SFMC engineer’s application was deferred by ten years. These are fraudulent activities by Tamils in the North.

The Head Office chairman and GMs in Colombo shall note this and be cautious as still, the North has CEB Offices and maybe branches of other Departments in the North.

My judgement and comprehension are that Pat Vithanage was the best WM in the North.

Tamils wanted a Tamil as the Governor for the NPC. GOSL should now understand as to why the people in the North need a Tamil. I comprehend that a Sinhalese SriLankan shall be appointed as the head of the NPC and in any Department in the North. I can bring out a significant volume of irregular and fraudulent practices in the North, which I cannot in this instant.

Hope the Tamils will correct themselves rather criticize others. A typical example is Arjuna Mahendran and his Son-in-Law for plundering Rs 20 Billion.

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග 

1936 දී තරුණ ඇට්ලන්ටා පුවත්පත් කතුවරියක්  ඇගේ පළමු නවකතාව ප්‍රකාශයට පත්  කලාය. එම පොත ක්‍ෂණික සාර්ථකත්වයක් ලැබීය. මෙම පොත තවමත් ඇමරිකාවේ වැඩියෙන්ම අලෙවි වන නවකතාව ලෙස පවතී. එය ස්කාර්ලට් ඔහාරාගේ කතාව රැගත් ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් නවකතාවයි. එය දශකයක් නිර්වචනය කළ නවකතාව විය. මෙම නවකතාව දකුණේ සහ පොදුවේ එක්සත් ජනපදය ගැන – සංස්කෘතික තොරතුරු රාශියක් ගෙන එයි. ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ්” යනු ඉතිහාස පෙළපොතක් පමණක් නොවේ – එහි හදවතේ, එය මිනිසුන් සහ ඔවුන්ගේ අභිප්‍රේරණයන් පිළිබඳ කතාවකි.  එය ආදරය, යුද්ධය, පරිහානිය සහ ඛේදවාචකය පිළිබඳ කතාවකි. නවකතාව ලියා ඇත්තේ වසර අටක පමණ කාලයක් පුරා දිවෙන සරල රේඛීය කථා වස්තුවක් පාදක කරගෙනය. මෙම  නවකතාව ප්‍රබන්ධ සඳහා  1936 දී  පුලිට්සර් ත්‍යාගය දිනා ගැනීමට සමත්  විය.  

මෙම නවකතාව ලියූ මාග්‍රට් මිචෙල් කාන්තා ලේඛිකාවකි. ඇයට ශක්තිමත් ස්ත්‍රීවාදයක් ඇත. අපට එය නවකතාවෙන්, විශේෂයෙන් ස්කාර්ලට් වෙතින් ලබා ගත හැකිය. මෙම නවකතාව 1930 ගණන්වල ඇමරිකානු සංස්කෘතිය අධ්‍යයනය කිරීමට ප්‍රයෝජනවත් මෙවලමකි. සුළඟ සමඟ මනුෂ්‍යත්වය සොයා ගැනීම සම්භාව්‍ය නවකතාවෙන් පෙන්නුම් කරන්නේ තරඟකාරී දේශපාලන විශ්වාසයන් සඳහා පුද්ගල ජීවිත අඩු කළ නොහැකි බවයි.

මාග්‍රට් මිචෙල් උපත ලැබුවේ 1900 නොවැම්බර් 8 වන දින ජෝර්ජියාවේ ඇට්ලන්ටා හිදී ය. කුඩා කාලයේ දී, සිවිල් යුද්ධයේ දී හිටපු කොන්ෆෙඩරේෂන් සොල්දාදුවන්ට  ඇහුම්කන් දීම ඔවුන්ගේ නිර්භීතකම හා දුෂ්කරතා පිළිබඳ කථාන්තර ඇය ශ්‍රවණය කලාය. හිටපු කොන්ෆෙඩරෙට්වරුන්ගේ කතන්දර  ඔස්සේ ඇය තම නවකතාව ගොඩ නැගුවාය. ඇන්ටිටෙම් සටනේදී ඇගේ පියාගේ සීයා වන රසල් මිචෙල් සිවිල් යුද්ධයේදී සටන් කළ සොල්දාදුවෙකි.

1936 දී මැක්මිලන් එය මුද්‍රණයට ගෙන එන විට එක්සත් ජනපදය තවමත් මහා අවපාතයේ ගැඹුරු විය. ගෝලීය ආර්ථික අර්බුදයේ මෙම කාල පරිච්ඡේදය තුළ එක්සත් ජනපදයේ පුළුල් ලෙස විරැකියාව, නිවාස නැතිකම සහ අපේක්‍ෂා භංගත්වය ඇති විය. ගොන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් එළියට එන විට, දුක් වේදනා හා අලාභයන් තුළින් එහි නොපසුබට උත්සාහය පිළිබඳ පණිවුඩය විශාල ප්‍රේක්‍ෂක පිරිසක්, විශේෂයෙන් කාන්තාවන් අතර අනුනාද විය. බලාපොරොත්තු සුන්වූවන්ට ස්කාර්ලට්ගේ ධාවකය සහ ශක්තිය ආශ්වාදයක් විය. චිත්‍රපටය නිකුත් වන විට, 1939 දී ගොන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් උමතුව උච්ච විය. 

ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ්  පොත ගෙන යන සමාජ පරිණාමයේ බලය අති විශාල හා තීව්‍ර වූ අතර එය පිටපත් මිලියන දහයක බෙස්ට් සෙලර් එකක් බවට පත් විය. හොලිවුඩ් නිර්මිත ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් යනු මාග්‍රට් මිචෙල්ගේ 1936 නවකතාවට අනුවර්තනය කරන ලද  ඇමරිකානු එපික්  චිත්‍රපටයකි.  

1930 ගණන් යනු සියලු ඇමරිකානුවන්ට විශාල වෙනසක් කළ කාලයකි. මෙම කාලය තුළ ඇමරිකානුවන්ට රැඩිකල් ආර්ථික, දේශපාලන හා සමාජ වෙනස්කම් වලට අමතරව සංස්කෘතික පරමාදර්ශ, සාරධර්ම හා රුචි අරුචිකම් වලට අනුවර්තනය වීමට බල කෙරුනි. මුළු දශකයම මහා අවපාතය, එක්සත් ජනපද ඉතිහාසයේ දරුණුතම හා වඩාත්ම ප්‍රසිද්ධ ආර්ථික පසුබෑම සලකුණු කළේය.  ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් මේ දශකය තුල උද්දීපනය වූ අතර එය ඇමරිකාවේ ප්‍රියතම චිත්‍රපටය විය.

ඇමරිකානු සිවිල් යුද්ධය හා ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ යුගය මෙම චිත්‍රපටයෙන් නිරූපනය වෙයි. ධාවන කාලය පැය තුනක්, විනාඩි 37වූ ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ්   අතිශයින් ජනප්‍රිය වූ අතර එය එතෙක් නිපදවූ වැඩිම ආදායම උපයාගත් චිත්‍රපටයක් බවටද   වාර්තාවක් තබා ඇත. ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් විශිෂ්ට විචාර ලබා ගත් චිත්‍රපටයක් විය.  මෙම චිත්‍රපටයේ  ස්කාර්ලට් ලෙස රඟපෑම වෙනුවෙන්  ඉංග්‍රීසි නිළියක් වන විවියන් ලී විචාරකයන් ගේ අවධානයට පාත්‍ර විය. එසේම ක්ලාක් ගේබල්ගේ රඟපෑමද මෙහිදී කැපී පෙනුනි.  12 වන ඇකඩමි සම්මාන උළෙලේදී ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් ඇකඩමි සම්මාන ජයග්‍රහණ රැසක් දිනා ගත්තේය. ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් හොඳම චිත්‍රපටය , හොඳම නිළිය, හොඳම සහය නිළිය, හොඳම අධ්‍යක්‍ෂක, හොඳම තිර රචනය, හොඳම සිනමා නිර්මාණය, හොඳම කලා අධ්‍යක්‍ෂණය සහ හොඳම සංස්කරණය සඳහා සම්මානයට පාත්‍ර විය. 

මාග්‍රට් මිචෙල්  සුදු දක්‍ෂිණ දෘෂ්ටි කෝණයකින් දකුණු සමාජයේ කතාවක් කියන්නීය. ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් ” නවකතාවට සහ චිත්‍රපටයට පාදක වන්නේ ඇමරිකානු පූර්ව සහ පශ්චාත් සිවිල් යුද්දයයි. එංගලන්තයෙන් නිදහස ලබා වසර සියයකටත් අඩු කාලයකදී ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදය සිවිල් යුද්ධයේ අද්දරට පැමිණියේය. මෙම භූමි ජනපද යටත් විජිත ලෙස හැඳින්වීමට පෙර සිටම උතුරේ සහ දකුණේ ආර්ථිකයන් විවිධ දිශාවන් ඔස්සේ ඉදිරියට ගොස් තිබුණි. නිෂ්පාදන හා කර්මාන්ත නාගරික වර්ධනය හා සංස්කෘතික ප්‍රගතිශීලිත්වය ඉදිරියට ගෙන යද්දී නූතනත්වය උතුර පාලනය කළේය. කෙසේ වෙතත්, දකුණේ, මුදල් භෝග හා වහල් ශ්‍රමය මත පදනම් වූ කෘෂිකාර්මික ආර්ථිකයක් ධූරාවලි වහල් සමාජයක් නිර්මාණය කළ අතර, එම ධූරාවලියේ පතුලේ වහලුන් සහ ඉහළින් මෙගා වතු හිමියන් සිටිති. එක්සත් ජනපදයේ වහල්භාවය පිළිබඳ නැගී එන ආතතීන්ට ප්‍රධාන සිදුවීම් තුනක් දායක වූ අතර එය සිවිල් යුද්ධය පුපුරා යාමේ උච්චතම අවස්ථාව විය. ඉදිරි දෙවසර තුළ වැඩි වියදම් සහිත මිලිටරි ජයග්‍රහණ කිහිපයක් හැරුණු විට, දකුණ සෑම පෙරමුණකම වේගයෙන් පහත වැටෙමින් තිබුණි. සුදු දක්‍ෂිණාවරුන්ට තිබුනේ කපුයායන් සහ ඔවුන් ගේ අධිමානය පමණක් බවත් එහෙත් උතුර සමුර්ධිමත්ව යුද්ධයකට මුහුණ දීමේ ශක්තියකින් යුක්ත බව පූර්ව යුද සමයේදී රීට් බට්ලර් පවසයි. එහෙත් අහංකාර දක්‍ෂිණාවරු එම ප්‍රකාශයට කිපෙති. මාග්‍රට් මිචෙල් දකුණේ ජනතාව නිරූපණය කරන්නේ එහි විශ්වාසයන් හා පරමාදර්ශයන් වෙනුවෙන් සටන් කොට අහිමි වූ ශිෂ්ටාචාරයක උරුමක්කාරයන් ලෙසට ය.

තරුණ යුවතියක වූ ස්කාර්ලට් ඕ හාරාට  ආදර සැලසුම් තිබේ.  නමුත් ඇයගේ ආදර සැලසුම් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට පෙර සිවිල් යුද්ධය පැමිණියේ  ඇගේ දොරට තට්ටු කරමිනි. යූනියන් ජෙනරාල් ෂර්මන් ජෝර්ජියාව ආක්‍රමණය කිරීම නිසා මාස කිහිපයකින් ඇයට ඇගේ නිවස සහ රට කඩා වැටෙන විට අසරණව බලා  සිටීමට බල කෙරෙයි.  

මනෝ චිකිත්සකයෙකු වන වෛද්‍ය චාල්ස් ඊ. මයොස් ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ්  නවකතාවේ මිනිස් හැඟීම් පිළිබඳ විවරණයක් කලේය. නවකතාවේ සාමාන්‍ය ස්වරය බොහෝ දුරට ස්කාර්ලට්ගේ සංජානනය මත පදනම් වේ. එහි ප්‍රේමය සඳහා ස්කාර්ලට් සහ රීට් අතර දරුණු තරඟය මෙන්ම  ස්කාර්ලට් තුල පවත්නා තමා වෙත අවධානය යොමු කරවා ගැනීමට තිබෙන අධිකතර යොමුව පෙන්වයි. රෙට් බට්ලර් සහ ස්කාර්ලට් ඕ හාරා අතර සබඳතාවය රෝලකෝස්ටරයක් මෙනි. ස්කාර්ලට් ඕ හාරා – ඇය ආත්ම කේන්ද්‍රීය චරිතයකි. ස්කාර්ලට් විශාල ජෝර්ජියානු වතුයායක ජීවත් වන අතර බොහෝ දෙනාගේ පැසසුමට හා ආදරයට ලක්වේ. ඇය අහංකාරය, ආත්මාර්ථකාමී, එසේම අනුකම්පා විරහිත කාන්තාවකි. ඇය ඉතිහාසය පුරාම කාන්තාවන්ට ආරෝපණය කර ඇති සියලු නිෂේධාත්මක ඒකාකෘති මූර්තිමත් කරන චරිතයකි. එක් අතකින්, ඇය කැරලිකාර හා චපල, කෑදර හා උදාසීනය; අනෙක් අතට, ඇය ශක්තිමත්, අධිෂ්ඨාන සහිත සහ නොනැසී පවත්නා ආදරයක් පවත්වාගෙන යන දයාබර චරිතයකි. ඇය යුද්ධයක් තුළ ජීවත්වීමෙන් හානියට පත් චරිතයකි  එහෙත් පැරණි ලෝකයේ නටබුන් මත ඇගේ නව ජීවිතය ගොඩනඟා ගැනීමට දක්ෂ වීරවරියකි.  

කතාවේ චිත්තවේගීය හරය වන්නේ ස්කාර්ලට්, රීට් සහ ඈෂ්ලි  අතර ප්‍රේම ත්‍රිකෝණයයි. ස්කාර්ලට් ඈෂ්ලි  සමඟ අමනාප වී සිටින්නේ ඇයට ඔහුව හිමි කර ගැනීමට නොහැකි නිසාය. ඈෂ්ලි  දක්‍ෂිණ මහත්වරුන්ගේ නැතිවූ පරමාදර්ශය නියෝජනය කරයි. ඔහු පරිණාමය වෙමින් පවතින ලෝකයක් විසින් ඉතිරි කරන ලද ව්‍යාකූල නයිට්වරයෙකි.  ස්කාර්ලට් ඈෂ්ලි ගෙන් පලි ගැනීම සඳහා චාල්ස් හැමිල්ටන් සමග විවහා වෙයි. එහෙත් ස්කාර්ලට් තුල චාල්ස් හැමිල්ටන් පිලිබඳ ගැඹුරු හැඟීමක් නොමැත. ඔහුගේ මරණයේදී පවා ඇය සසල නොවන්නීය. 

ස්කාර්ලට් අවට සිටින අයට වඩා වෙනස් වන්නේ ඇය  මවගෙන් ඉගෙන ගත් සංස්කෘතික හා මානව සාරධර්ම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කිරීමෙනි. දක්ෂිණ ස්ත්‍රීත්වයේ සම්ප්‍රදායන්ගෙන් බැහැර වීමට ස්කාර්ලට් හට අවසර ඇත. ඇය පැවැත්ම සඳහා ආත්මාර්ථකාමිත්වයේ භෞතික සාරධර්මවලට බැස, පැරණි සංස්කෘතියට අත්‍යවශ්‍ය වූ අනුකූලතාව සහ ගෞරවය යන සමාජ වටිනාකම් ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරන්නීය. රැඩිකල් ලෙස වෙනස් වූ පශ්චාත් සිවිල් යුද්ධ ලෝකයේ පැවැත්මේ අභියෝගය භාර ගැනීමේ අධිෂ්ඨානය , ධෛර්‍යය සහ ප්‍රායෝගිකත්වය, සමහර විට මුරණ්ඩුකම පවා ඇත්තේ ස්කාර්ලට්ට පමණි.  ව්‍යාපාර හා නායකත්වය සඳහා විශිෂ්ට දක්ෂතා ස්කාර්ලට් සතුව ඇත. යුද්ධයෙන්   පසු ඇය තම පියාගේ විනාශ වූ වතුයාය  යථා තත්වයට පත් කරන අතර ඇට්ලන්ටාහි ඇගේ ලී මෝල මගින්  ආර්ථික සාර්ථකත්වයක් අත්කර ගන්නීය. 

මාග්‍රට් මිචෙල් පැවසූ පරිදි, ස්කාර්ලට් ඔහාරා ලස්සන නැත,  පිරිමින්ගේ අවධානයට ලක් වූයේ ඇගේ චමත්කාරය සහ විශ්වාසයයි.ස්කාර්ලට් ලෝක සාහිත්‍යයේ චරිතවල අතිශය පැහැදිලි අර්ථයකි. ඇය ඇමරිකානු ආත්මයේ සහ එහි සංස්කෘතියේ සැබෑ පිළිබිඹුවකි.  ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් වනාහී ස්කාර්ලට්ගේ ස්ත්‍රීවාදී චින්තනයේ ප්‍රකාශනයයි. 

ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ්   නවකතාවේ   මෙලනියා යනු සුළඟයි; ඇය සාම්ප්‍රදායික, කරුණාවන්ත සහ ඉවසිලිවන්ත ය. පැරණි දකුණ සුළඟ සමඟ ගොස් ඇත.  ස්කාර්ලට් එසේ නොවීය, ඇය නව ය, ඇය තීරණාත්මක හා ස්ථිර ය. ඇය පැරණි දකුණේ තරමක් විරුද්ධවාදියෙකි. මෙලනියා මාතෘත්වයේ සංස්කෘතියේ” පරමාදර්ශයන් මූර්තිමත් කරයි.  

යුද්ධයට පෙර දක්ෂිණ සංස්කෘතිය අවධාරණය කරන්නේ ශක්තිමත් පිරිමි සණ්ඨාන වැදගත්කමයි. පරමාදර්ශී පීතෘමූලික දකුණු ලෝකය මිනිසුන්ගේ සිහින සෑදීමකි; සෑම දෙයක්ම ඔවුන්ගේ රුචිකත්වයට සරිලන සේ අදහස් කෙරේ. පුරුෂාධිපත්‍යයට සංස්කෘතිය ඉහළ වටිනාකමක් ලබා දෙයි. එහෙත් යුද්ධය සෑම දෙයක්ම වෙනස් කරයි.  ‘ මීට වසර ගණනාවකට පෙර දකුණේ අපි අපේ කාන්තාවන් කාන්තාවන් බවට පත් කළෙමු.   යුද්ධය පැමිණ කාන්තාවන් අවතාර බවට පත් කළේය. ඉතින් මහත්වරුනි, නමුත් ඔවුන් අවතාර ලෙස සවන් දෙන්න. ’” (ෆෝක්නර් ). 

ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් නවකතාව සහ චිත්‍රපටය   සිවිල් යුද්ධය පිළිබඳ හැඟීම්බර දෘෂ්ටියක් ඉදිරිපත් කරන අතර, එහි පරණ දකුණ” කැමල්ට්ගේ ස්ථානයට පත්වන අතර යුද්ධය කළේ දකුණ පරාජය කිරීමට හා වහලුන් නිදහස් කර ගැනීමට බව අවධාරණය කරයි. තවද   මෙම චිත්‍රපටය යුධ විරෝධී චිත්‍රපටයක් ලෙසට නම්  කිරීම සාවද්‍ය නොවේ. ස්කාලට් ඔහාරා විසින් අත් දුටු යුද්ධය විනාශයෙන් හා දරිද්‍රතාවයෙන් පිරී ගියේය. එය සුදු දක්‍ෂිණාවරුන්ගේ මෙන්ම  උතුරේ යැන්කින් ගේ  කෘර ක්‍රියා වලින් පිරී ගිය කතාවකි. ලින්කන් ගේ ජෙනරාල්වරයෙකු වූ ෂර්මන් යුද්ධයේදී මානව නීති රීතී පිලිබඳව තැකීමක් කලේ නැත. ඔහු ඇට්ලන්ටාව ගිනිබත් කලේය. තරුණයින් යුධ තර්ජනයට ප්‍රතිචාර දක්වන්නේ නිර්භීතව මිය යාමෙනි. කාන්තාවන් නිර්භීතව ඛේදවාචකය පිළිගෙන ඔවුන්ගේ පූර්ණ සහයෝගය ඉරණම කෙරෙහි ලබා දේ. යුද්ධය විනාශකාරී ලෙසින් පරණ දේ ඉවත දමා නව ආකාරයන් කරා ගමන් කරයි.සිවිල් යුද්ධය නිසා  දකුණට අනන්‍යතාවය, සමාජ ව්‍යුහය, ජීවනෝපාය සහ අධිෂ්ඨාන  ශක්තිය අහිමි වී තිබුණි.  

ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් නවකතාවේ යුද කම්පන ප්‍රතික්‍රියා පෙන්වයි. ස්කාර්ලට් සිවිල් යුද්ධයේ කුරිරු සහ භයානක මුහුණුවර සියැසින් දැක්කා පමණක් නොව ඒ නිසා කම්පණයටද පත් වූවාය. පශ්චාත්-යුද කම්පනය පිළිබඳ ආඛ්‍යානය බොහෝ විට සාමාන්‍ය සුදු පුරුෂයාගේ අත්දැකීම් කෙරෙහි අවධානය යොමු කර ඇති අතර කාන්තාවන් බොහෝ විට නිශ්ශබ්ද වන අතර ඔවුන්ගේම යුද කම්පනය ගැන කතා කිරීමට බලය අහිමි වේ. පශ්චාත් කම්පන සහගත මානසික ආතතියෙන් පෙළෙන කාන්තාවන්ට නිරෝගී සබඳතා ඇති කර ගැනීමට ඇති නොහැකියාව පෙන්නුම් කළ හැකි බවත් පශ්චාත් කම්පන සහගත වර්ධනයේ එකම මාධ්‍යය වන්නේ අතීතය විසඳා ගැනීමට සහ ඉඩ හැරීමෙන් පසු අර්ථවත් සම්බන්ධතා සහ සම්බන්ධතා ඇති කර ගැනීම බව මනෝ චිකිත්සකයෝ විශ්වාස කරති. යුද්දය නිසා ක්‍ෂිතිමය අත්දැකීම් වලට ලක් වන ස්කාර්ලට් තුල මානසික වශයෙන් විපරිණාමයක් සිදුවෙයි. 

මුල් කාලයේදී අධිරාජ්‍යවාදී ආධිපත්‍යය තුළ රැඳී සිටි ඇමරිකානුවන් තමන් ගේ නිදහස සටන් කිරීමෙන් ලබා ගත්තෝය. බොහෝ ඇමරිකානුවන්ට තම අයර්ලන්ත සම්භවයන් අමතක කරනු නොහැකි විය. අයර්ලන්ත මාතෘවාදය  මෙම නවකතාවෙන් දැකිය හැක.  අයර්ලන්ත රුධිර බිංදුවක් ඇති ඕනෑම කෙනෙකුට ඔවුන් ජීවත් වන භූමිය ඔවුන්ගේ මව හා සමාන බව කතුවරිය කියයි. ස්කාර්ලට්ගේ අයර්ලන්ත භාවය කතුවරිය ඇතැම් අවස්ථා වලදී ඉස්මතු කරන්නීය. 

එංගලන්තයෙන් නිදහස ලබා වසර සියයකටත් අඩු කාලයකදී ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදය සිවිල් යුද්ධයේ අද්දරට පැමිණියේය. මෙම භූමි ජනපද යටත් විජිත ලෙස හැඳින්වීමට පෙර සිටම උතුරේ සහ දකුණේ ආර්ථිකයන් විවිධ දිශාවන් ඔස්සේ ඉදිරියට ගොස් තිබුණි. නිෂ්පාදන හා කර්මාන්ත නාගරික වර්ධනය හා සංස්කෘතික ප්‍රගතිශීලිත්වය ඉදිරියට ගෙන යද්දී නූතනත්වය උතුර පාලනය කළේය. සියවසකට පෙර එක්සත් ජනපදයේ ජීවන මාර්ග දෙකක් තිබුණි ඇමරිකා  උතුරු මාර්ගය වූයේ වර්ධනය වන නගර සහ කාර්මීකරණය වූ අතර  දකුනු ක්‍රමය, වහලුන් ගෙන් යුක්තවූ  කපු වගාවන් සහ දක්‍ෂිණ ඊගෝවෙන් සැදුනු වංශාධිපති පීතෘමූලිකත්වයේ අංගයන් ගෙන් සමන්විත විය. ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් පවතින්නේ තනිකරම දක්‍ෂිණ පෞද්ගලික අවකාශයකය. එහි ඇතැම් විට දකුණේ  ප්‍රබල කොන්ෆෙඩරෙට් ස්මාරක නිරූපණය කරයි.  මාග්‍රට් මිචෙල්ගේ නවකතාවේ බොහෝ චරිත දකුණ” දකින්නේ බටහිරින් පහළ මිසිසිපි ගඟ සහ නැගෙනහිර අත්ලාන්තික් සාගරය, උතුරේ ටෙනසි සිට මෙක්සිකෝ බොක්ක සහ දකුණින් ෆ්ලොරිඩාව යන රාජ්‍යයන්ය. එහෙත් නවකතාව තුලින් උතුර හා දකුණ වෙන්වීම මෝඩ ක්‍රියාවක් යැයි මිචෙල් සිතූ බව රීට් බට්ලර්ගේ පූර්ව පූර්ව ප්‍රකාශයන් මගින් සාධාරණ ලෙස පැහැදිලි කර ඇත.  ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් හි වඩාත්ම මතභේදාත්මක අංගය වන්නේ චිත්‍රපටයේ  රේස් රිලේෂන්ස් හෙවත් ජාති සබඳතා නිරූපණය කිරීමයි. නවකතාවේ කු ක්ලැක්ස් ක්ලෑන්වරුන්  පිලිබඳ  සත්‍ය  නිරූපණය අවම වූවද වහල්භාවය නිරූපණය කිරීම ඍජුව පවතී.  ඩී. ග්‍රිෆිත්ගේ 1915 චිත‍්‍රපටය සිවිල් යුද්ධය සහ ප‍්‍රතිනිර්මාණය පිළිබඳ ජාතියක උපත වීර කාව්‍යයේ ග්‍රිෆිත්, කුක් ක්ලැක්ස් ක්ලැන් නිරූපණය කළේ පශ්චාත් යුධ සමයේ දකුණේ නිර්භීත ගැළවුම්කරුවන් ලෙසටය. තෝමස් ක්‍රිප්ස් පැවසුවේ මිචෙල් බොහෝ දක්‍ෂිණ වැසියන් මෙන් ඔවුන්ගේ අප්‍රිකානු ඇමරිකානු සේවකයන්ට ආදරය කළ නමුත් ඒ සමඟම කු ක්ලූක්ස් ක්ලැන් ව්‍යාපාරයේ අවශ්‍යතාවය විශ්වාස කල බවයි. 

සමහරක් පවසන පරිදි ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් වහල් සේවයේ අවලක්‍ෂණ භාවය පෙන්වන නිර්මාණයකි. ගොන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් හි නිරූපණය කර ඇති වහලුන් මූලික වශයෙන් මාමි,  ප්‍රිස්සි    බිග් සෑම් ,පීටර් සහ පෝක්  වැනි පක්‍ෂපාත ගෘහ සේවක සේවිකාවන් ය.  මැල්කම් එක්ස් පෙන්වා දෙන පරිදි ගෘහ වහලුන් කපු යායවල් වල සේවය කල වහලුන්ට වඩා උසස් කුලයකි. ගොන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් හි ගෘහ වහලුන් ප්‍රීතිමත් සහ හාම්පුතාට පක්‍ෂපාතී ආදර භක්තිය පෙන්වන්නාවූ කොටසකි. චිත්‍රපටය සියලු අප්‍රිකානු ඇමරිකානුවන් මෝඩ හා ළමා ස්වරූපයෙන් නිරූපණය කරයි. අප පිලිගත යුතු සත්‍ය නම් නවකතාවේ කතුවරිය වූ මාග්‍රට් මිචෙල් ජීවත් වූයේ ඇගේ ආදරණීය ජෝර්ජියාව පාසැල්, දුම්රිය  සහ බොහෝ පොදු ස්ථානවල කළු ජාතිකයින් සහ සුදු ජාතිකයින් වෙන් කිරීම අනිවාර්‍ය කරන වෙනස් ලෙස සැලකෙන ජිම් ක්‍රෝ නීති ක්‍රියාත්මක කළ කාලයක ය. පරාජිත දකුණට වහල් වතුකරයේ දින කරා ආපසු යා නොහැකි වූ මුත්  වෙන් කිරීම තුළින් එහි හිටපු වහලුන්ට ඔවුන්ගේ කලින් අයිතිකරුවන්ට ප්‍රභේධකරණය මගින් බෙදුනු සමාජයක් බිහි කරන ලදි. 

මැල්කම් එක්ස් සිය චරිතාපදානයේ ගොන් විත් ද වින්ඩ්  ඔහු  කුඩා කාලයේ දී නැරඹූ බවත්  එය නැරඹීමෙන් පසුව ඔහුට ගැඹුරු ලැජ්ජාවක්  දැනුනු බවත් සඳහන් කොට තිබේ. ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් ද ජාතිවාදයේ ලේබලය සමඟ වඩ වඩාත් කැළැල් වී ඇති අතර, සෑම වසරක් පාසාම නවකතාව වඩාත් මතභේදාත්මක වීමට හේතු වේ. නමුත් අප පිලිගත යුතු සත්‍යක් තිබේ . එනම් ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් කතුවරිය  දැන සිටියේ  දක්‍ෂිණ සුදු වතුකරයේ හිමිකරුගේ කතාව. ඇය හැදී වැඩුණේ සිවිල් යුද්ධයේ වෙතරානුවන් සහ හිටපු වහල් හිමියන් අතර ය – මාග්‍රට් මිචෙල් නිරූපණය කිරීමට පටන් ගත්තේ ඔවුන්ගේ කතාව සහ ඔවුන් වටහා ගත් ඉතිහාසයයි.වහලුන්ගේ ජීවිත නිරූපණය කිරීමේදී මාග්‍රට් මිචෙල් පිටස්තරයින්ගේ දෘෂ්ටිකෝණය, වහල් හිමිකරුගේ දෘෂ්ටිකෝණය ලබා දුන්නේය. මෙම දෘෂ්ටිකෝණයට විශාල වටිනාකමක් සහ වලංගු භාවයක් ඇත.

කෙසේ නමුත් ගෝන් විත් ද වින්ඩ් ඇමරිකානු සාහිත්‍යයේ විශිෂ්ටතම කෘතියකි. මෙම නවකතාව ඔස්සේ කතුවරිය සිවිල් යුද්ධය දකුණේ ජනතාවට විනාශකාරී අලාභ හා ජීවිත වෙනස්කම් ගෙන ආ අයුරු පෙන්වූවාය. අතීතයේ සෑම දෙයක්ම ඉරා දැමීමේ ප්‍රවණතාව ජෝර්ජියාවේ ඇට්ලන්ටා නගරයේ අද දක්වාම පවතින උරුමයකි. එහෙත්, ඇට්ලන්ටා වෙත සංක්‍රමණය වූ උතුරේ ජනතාව තමන්ගේම මාර්ග ගෙන ආ අතර, ඔවුන්ට පැරණි දකුණු සමාජය පිළිබඳ ආදර හැඟීමක් ඇති වූ අතර, එහි කොටසක් වීමට අවශ්‍ය විය. දකුනු ජාතිකයන් අතර, නව ආර්ථිකයට ගැළපෙන මාර්ගයක් සොයා ගත් අයට දිවි ගලවා ගැනීමට අවස්ථාවක් ඇති අතර, අතීතය දෙස බොහෝ වේලාවක් ආපසු හැරී බැලීමට කිසිවක් කළ නොහැකි අය මිය ගියහ. මෙම නවකතාවට තේමාවක් තිබේ නම් එය ප්‍රවර්තනය (survival) ” බව  මාග්‍රට් මිචෙල් පැවසුවාය. 

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග 

 Works Cited  

1) Cripps, Thomas. Winds of Change: Gone with the Wind and Racism as a National Issue.” Recasting: Gone with the Wind in American Culture. Ed. Darden A. Pyron. Miami: UP of Florida, 1984.

 2) McGraw, Eliza Russi Lowen. A ‘Southern Belle with Her Irish Up’: Scarlett O’Hara and Ethnic Identity.” South Atlantic Review 65.1 (2000): 123-31.

3) McPherson, Tara. Reconstructing Dixie: Race, Gender, and Nostalgia in the Imagined South. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 2003.

4) Mitchell, Margaret. Gone with the Wind. New York: Macmillan, 1936.

 Randall, Alice. The Wind Done Gone. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001.

Courtesy The Straits Times

COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lankan authorities fear a fresh outbreak of coronavirus infections after thousands of mourners paid their respects to the body of a respected union leader on Saturday (May 31), defying a curfew and social distancing rules.

Large crowds were seen jostling to bid farewell to Arumugam Thondaman, the leader of a tea plantation union and a government minister.

The 55-year-old died of a heart attack on Tuesday and is due to be cremated on Sunday at Nuwara Eliya, in the country’s tea-growing highlands.

Authorities had imposed a 24-hour curfew in an unsuccessful attempt to stop crowds from visiting Thondaman’s body.

“Crowd control has been difficult. Distraught supporters have tried to push down police barriers to get into a building and pay their respects,” a police officer in the area said.

Large crowds had also gathered at the office of his Ceylon Worker’s Congress party in Colombo to view his body before the funeral procession went east for final rites.

A statement by a group of government doctors warned the funeral “could undermine public confidence in measures taken so far to contain the spread of the virus and lead to a second wave.”