Venerable Walpola Rahula Thero’s 118th death anniversary fell on the 9th of May. On the 24th of May, a commemorative event is being organised by the Walpola Rahula Foundation Trust chaired by his only Monk pupil Venerable Galkande Dhammananda at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute. It is timely and of significant relevance to today’s societal practices in the name of Buddha and Buddhism, to examine the life and times of Venerable Rahula and his philosophy and approach to Buddhism.
In Venerable Rahula’s seminal work, What the Buddha Taught, he says The question has often been asked; Is Buddhism a religion or a philosophy? It does not matter what you call it. Buddhism remains what it is whatever label you may put on it. The label is immaterial. Even the label ‘Buddhism’ which we give to the teachings of the Buddha is of little importance. The name one gives is inessential. In the same way Truth needs no label: it is neither Buddhist, Christian, Hindu nor Moslem. It is not the monopoly of anybody. Sectarian labels are a hindrance to the independent understanding of Truth, and they produce harmful prejudices in men’s minds”
The above citation describes the philosophy that Venerable Walpola Rahula Thero embodied throughout his life. It was very much in line with the dictum Bahujana sukhaya bahujana hitaya or “for the happiness of the many, for the welfare of the many” and it was his guiding principle. His philosophy won him many friends and followers in Sri Lanka and internationally, and also some who disagreed with him. No doubt, if Buddha was alive today and graced the commemorative occasion, he would have readily agreed with Venerable Rahula.
In his book The Heritage of the Bhikkhu” Ven Rahula gives a vivid account of a Buddhist monk’s role as a servant to people’s needs as a follower and teacher of the basic Buddhist principles. In this informative volume, Ven Rahula emphasizes Buddhism as a practical doctrine for daily living and spiritual perfection, not simply a monastic discipline
Over time, this truism that has been shaped into different forms by many actors within the Buddhist community, lay people as well as by Buddhist Monks. Buddhist culture has been distorted from being representative of the basic philosophy of what Buddha taught, to an institutionalised culture that has transformed the veneration and practice of the Dhamma to the veneration of institutional practices. The following statement by Venerable Rahula noted in the website of Tsemrinpoche.com perhaps underpins this transformation and why institutional Buddhism thrives (https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/ven-dr-walpola-rahula-thero-the-theravadan-academic.html)
He says two ideas are psychologically deep rooted in man: self-protection and self-preservation, and for self-protection man has created God, on whom he depends for his own protection, safety and security, just as a child depends on its parents, and for self-preservation, conceived the idea of an immortal Soul or Atman, which will live eternally. In his ignorance, weakness, fear and desire, man needs these two things to console himself. Hence, he clings to them deeply and fanatically.
While there is no God or Atman in Buddhism, these two ideas psychologically deep rooted in man as mentioned by Ven Rahula, and fears arising from ignorance, weakness and desire, have very likely led to the solace for these promoted by institutional Buddhism as being adherence to cultural practices in the name of the Dhamma rather than the Dhamma itself and has perhaps functioned as the core foundation for the growth of the institutions.
Venerable Rahula’s philosophy was to practice and teach Dhamma rather than foster institutions that promoted cultural practices in the name of Buddhism, and he was a strong advocate of free thinking as the opening citation of this article clearly indicates. In this regard, the book ‘Sathyodaya’ written by Venerable Rahula epitomises his free thinking. Venerable Galkande Dhammananda in his introduction to ‘Sathyodaya’ says that free thinking is not an ability gained easily through habit. Proper direction and guidance is required to develop this skill.
Though the physical body can be easily trained to perform a task, he says that the same cannot be said about training the mind. He goes on to say that progressively cultivating human understanding and judgement through reasoning is a challenging task and that Venerable Rahula articulated how this may be done in many books he wrote, and his book ‘Sathyodaya’ or ‘Truth Awakening’ epitomised his approach to how Buddhists should practice Buddhism as Buddha taught (see ‘Sathyodaya’: Will the truth awaken in the New Year? https://www.ft.lk/columns/Sathyodaya-Will-the-truth-awaken-in-the-New-Year/4-676480). The fundamental wisdom that Ven Rahula promoted as Sathyodaya or Truth Awakening” was the capacity of each person to be fully awakened, to become a Buddha in their own right, enlightened and wise. A key tool that can help people on the path is the notion of critical thinking, reasoning. Ven Rahula went onto say that a person will not become a Buddhist by merely taking refuge in the triple gem through a verbal utterance. Nor will the person be a Buddhist by simply wearing a robe. A Buddhist is not defined by name or practice, but by conduct. In other words, if you are a good person, treat others with compassion and respect, and are wise and insightful inyour actions, that is what makes you a Buddhist”.
The following is a concise biography noted in the Walpola Rahula Institute website about Venerable Rahula (https://www.walpolarahula.institute/). This biography is a very good illustration of the philosophy of Venerable Walpola Rahula which he believed in and practiced throughout his life.
Venerable Professor Walpola Rahula was born on the 9th of May, 1907, in the village of Walpola, in southern Sri Lanka. In 1920, at the age of 13, he was ordained as a Buddhist monk. He received his initial monastic training under the Venerable Paragoda Sumanasara, a highly revered, erudite monk who strictly adhered to the monastic code of conduct. From this teacher Ven. Rahula received the complete training required for a monk, which included language skills and how to live a frugal life. He engaged in monastic practices such as meditation and pindapatha (‘begging for alms’). Other than the education by Ven. Sumanasara, until his admission to the University of London, Ven. Rahula did not seek nor receive any formal education. In 1927, the 20-year-old Ven. Rahula was involved with the Colombo Dharmaduta Sabhava, a Buddhist missionary society. During this time, he worked with people oppressed by the caste system. He paid particular attention to teaching them the Dhamma, the Buddhist teaching while working towards their socio-economic upliftment. He and other program participants would regularly abstain from their meals and use the funds for the welfare of the underprivileged. During his sermons, Ven. Rahula regularly emphasised the importance of practising the Dhamma as originally taught by the Buddha and the importance of critical thinking and inquisitiveness. (These sermons were distributed as leaflets at the time. In 1992 they were published as a book under the title ‘Sathyodaya’). Ven Rahula’s critical approach gained him the respect and admiration of many lay and ordained Buddhists. However, it also attracted critics and opponents. Certain parties vehemently opposed his strong criticism of caste discrimination within the Buddhist clergy.
The next notable phase in Ven Rahula’s life was when he studied at the affiliated college of the University of London, in Colombo. In 1941 he graduated with an Honours Degree in Eastern Languages, becoming the first Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka to receive a university education. Even as a university student, he continued to help people in need of help. His service during the 1936 Malaria epidemic was recognised in the book Buddhist Studies in Honor of Walpola Rahula” by E.F.C Ludvaik, a professor at the university at the time. Continuing research activities after his undergraduate degree, he earned a Doctorate from the University of Ceylon for his thesis Some Aspects of the History of Buddhism in Ceylon”.
In the 1940s, when Sri Lanka was on the verge of gaining independence, Ven Rahula, along with other Buddhist monks like Ven. Yakkaduwe Sri Pannarama of the Vidyalankara Pirivena (An educational institute for Buddhist monks), Ven. Naththandiye Pannakara, Ven. Kotahene Pannakitti, Ven. Kalalelle Ananda Sagara took the position that the Buddhist monks had an active role in shaping the soon-to-be independent nation for the welfare of the masses. Ven. Rahula penned his seminal work ‘Bhikshuwage Urumaya‘ (The Heritage of the Buddhist Monk) to argue for the role of monks in ensuring the betterment of the masses.
For over three years, the discussion of the Free Education Act was stalled. Progressives such as Ven. Rahula and other Buddhist monks of the Vidyalankara Pirivena campaigned for its discussion and enactment in the State Council of Ceylon.
Through articles published in the ‘Kalaya’ (Time) newspaper and public awareness campaigns organised around the county by the ‘Eksath Bhikkhu Sangamaya’ (United Buddhist Monks’ Association), sufficient political pressure was generated for this Act to be discussed in the State Council and subsequently passed in 1947. Ven. Rahula and other monks of Vidyalankara Pirivena played a pivotal role in enabling free education in Sri Lanka, which has benefitted multiple generations and lifted the socio-economic situation of many.
In 1950, Ven. Rahula joined the Sorbonne University, Paris, as a Post Graduate Research Fellow under renowned Professor Paul Demiéville (1894-1979), where he carried out an annotated translation of 4th century Mahayana Bhikkhu Asanga’s ‘Abhidharma-Samuccaya’ to French. This was Ven. Rahula’s scholastic Magnus opus. It was also during this time Ven. Rahula wrote the book ‘What the Buddha Taught’, which would become the most widely read book on Buddhism in the Western world. During his time in France, Ven. Rahula acted as an ambassador of Buddhism, laying the foundation for Buddhist education in Europe.
Due to his fame and reputation as a scholar of Buddhism, in 1965, Ven. Rahula was invited to be the Professor of Religious History and Literature by the Northwestern University in the USA. While teaching at the Northwestern University, he also worked on streamlining the Buddhist study programs at other American Universities.
In 1966, the Sri Lankan Government invited Ven. Rahula to take up the position of Vice Chancellor of the Vidyodaya University (now University of Sri Jayawardanapura). As Vice-Chancellor, he worked purposefully to uplift the standards and prestige of the institution both nationally and internationally. University lecturers were sent to receive training overseas, and distinguished professors from foreign universities were invited to join the university. In 1969 he resigned from his post prematurely in protest of the political interferences to the university’s autonomy and returned to the USA. Back in the USA, he held professorships in several universities and was an advisor to postgraduate students at Oxford University, UK.
In the early 1980s, Ven. Rahula returned to Sri Lanka and was instrumental in establishing the Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka” to enhance the education of Buddhist monks. In addition, Ven. Rahula founded the Buddhist Study and Research Institute”, later renamed the Walpola Rahula Institute” at Kotte. In 1980 a group of celebrated intellectuals honoured Ven. Rahula by compiling a book named Buddhist Studies in Honour of Walpola Rahula”. The book was printed in London by the Gordon Fraser company. While Ven. Rahula was honoured by many prestigious universities around the world, he continued to be the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya until his demise in 1997. Ven. Rahula passed away on the 18th of September 1997, having lived for 90 years. According to his will, his remains were cremated within 24 hours at the Borella crematorium following traditional Buddhist funeral rites, without pomp, pageantry, or speeches.
Walpola Rahula Thero wrote extensively about Theravada Buddhism. Apart from his world-renowned book What the Buddha Taught, he published an enormous number of papers on Buddhism. Notable books written by him include History of Buddhism in Ceylon, Heritage of the Bhikkhu, Zen and the Taming of the Bull and Le Compendium de la Super Doctrine (French). A complete list of his writings, in Sinhala, English and French are noted in the Walpola Rahula Institute’s website.
World Buddhist Sangha Council
In conclusion, Venerable Walpola Rahula’s contribution to the World Buddhist Sangha Council is noted here as one of his major achievements. The founder Secretary-General of the World Buddhist Sangha Council, Venerable Pandita Pimbure Sorata Thera had requested Venerable Rahula to present a concise statement to the first Congress of the Council in 1967 that would unify all of the different Buddhist traditions. It was through his knowledge of the Mahayana acquired while he was studying at the Sorbonne that Venerable Rahula was able to produce the important Buddhist Ecumenical statement called The Basic Points Unifying the Theravada and the Mahayana, (https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/buddhas-dharma/ven-dr-walpola-rahula-thero-the-theravadan-academic.html) which was unanimously approved by the Council. The ten points were
Whatever our sects, denominations or systems, as Buddhists we all accept the Buddha as our Master who gave us the Teaching.
We all take refuge in the Triple Jewel: the Buddha, our Teacher; the Dhamma, his teaching; and the Sangha, the Community of holy ones. In other words, we take refuge in the Teacher, the Teaching and the Taught.
Whether Theravada or Mahayana, we do not believe that this world is created and ruled by a god at his will.
Following the example of the Buddha, our Teacher, who is the embodiment of Great Compassion (mahakaruna) and Great Wisdom (mahaprajna), we consider that the purpose of life is to develop compassion for all living beings without discrimination and to work for their good, happiness and peace; and to develop wisdom leading to the realisation of Ultimate Truth.
We accept the Four Noble Truths taught by the Buddha, namely, Dukkha, the fact that our existence in this world is in predicament, is impermanent, imperfect, unsatisfactory, full of conflict; Samudaya, the fact that this state of affairs is due to our egoistic selfishness based on the false idea of self; Nirodha, the fact that there is definitely the possibility of deliverance, liberation, freedom from this predicament by the total eradication of the egoistic selfishness; and Magga, the fact that this liberation can be achieved through the Middle Path which is eight-fold, leading to the perfection of ethical conduct (sila), mental discipline (samadhi) and wisdom (panna).
We accept the universal law of cause and effect taught in the Paticcasamuppada (Skt. pratityasamutpada; Conditioned Genesis or Dependent Origination), and accordingly we accept that everything is relative, interdependent and interrelated and nothing is absolute, permanent and everlasting in this universe.
We understand, according to the teaching of the Buddha, that all conditioned things (samkhara) are impermanent (anicca) and imperfect and unsatisfactory (dukkha), and all conditioned and unconditioned things (dhamma) are without self (anatta).
We accept the Thirty-Seven Qualities conducive to Enlightenment (bodhipakkhiyadhamma) as different aspects of the Path taught by the Buddha leading to Enlightenment, namely:
Four Forms of Presence of Mindfulness (Pali: satipatthana; Skt. smrtyupasthana);
Four Right Efforts (Pali. sammappadhana; Skt. samyakpradhana);
Four Bases of Supernatural Powers (Pali. iddhipada; Skt. rddhipada);
Five Faculties (indriya: Pali. saddha, viriya, sati, samadhi, panna; Skt. sraddha, virya, smrti, samadhi, prajna);
Five Powers (bala, same five qualities as above);
Seven Factors of Enlightenment (Pali. bojjhanga; Skt. bodhyanga);
There are three ways of attaining Bodhi or Enlightenment according to the ability and capacity of each individual: namely, as a Sravaka (disciple), as a Pratyekabuddha (Individual Buddha) and as a Samyaksambuddha (Perfectly and Fully Enlightened Buddha). We accept it as the highest, noblest and most heroic to follow the career of a Bodhisattva and to become a Samyksambuddha in order to save others. But these three states are on the same Path, not on different paths. In fact, the Sandhinirmocana-sutra, a well-known important Mahayana sutra, clearly and emphatically says that those who follow the line of Sravakayana (Vehicle of Disciples) or the line of Pratyekabuddhayana (Vehicle of Individual Buddhas) or the line of Tathagatas (Mahayana) attain the supreme Nirvana by the same Path, and that for all of them there is only one Path of Purification (visuddhi-marga) and only one Purification (visuddhi) and no second one, and that they are not different paths and different purifications, and that Sravakayana and Mahayana constitute One Vehicle One Yana (ekayana) and not distinct and different vehicles or yanas.
We admit that in different countries there are differences with regard to the ways of life of Buddhist monks, popular Buddhist beliefs and practices, rites and rituals, ceremonies, customs and habits. These external forms and expressions should not be confused with the essential teachings of the Buddha.
In many aspects, Venerable Walpola Rahula was one of a kind. His simplicity, being a practitioner and not just a preacher, his scholarly knowledge of the Dhamma, his ability to have disseminated this knowledge to vast audiences locally and overseas, his adherence to Buddha’s message of service to others for the happiness of the many, and for the welfare of the many, and his steadfast belief and active promotion of mans right to free thinking. In summing up who Venerable Walpola Rahula was, perhaps the words of Venerable Galkande Dhammananda would describe his lifelong dedication to the one key quality that functioned as one of his core value, freedom to think. Proper direction and guidance is required to develop this skill. Though the physical body can be easily trained to perform a task, the same cannot be said about training the mind. Progressively cultivating human understanding and judgement through reasoning is a challenging task and Venerable Rahula articulated how this may be done in his teachings and in the many books he wrote”.
Investing.com — The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has announced an unexpected 25 basis point rate cut, capitalizing on the current period of low inflation. The bank appears less convinced about inflation reliably reaching 5% in the second half of 2025.
The bank anticipates inflation to turn positive in the third quarter of 2025 and “gradually align with the target thereafter”. This appears more vague compared to their commentary in March 2025, where they stated that inflation “would reach the targeted levels by year-end”.
Citi has updated its expectations based on this new development. The bank now forecasts another 25 basis point rate cut in July, which would bring the forward-looking real rate to around 2.5%. This prediction stems from the belief that inflation is unlikely to consistently hit 5% in the second half of 2025, real GDP growth is projected to be less than 4% in 2025, and the currency remains stable despite global uncertainties.
However, Citi acknowledges that this is a close call, as there are several risks that could compel the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to maintain current rates.
These include the potential second-order impact of an electricity price increase or an irregular monsoon season driving inflation higher in the second half of 2025, and potential adverse outcomes or delays surrounding a US trade deal, which could reignite external sector risks.
Colombo:Sri Lanka’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate on Thursday, the first reduction in six months, with signs that the crisis-hit nation was emerging from its worst economic downturn.
The single policy rate was reduced by 25 basis points to 7.75 percent, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka said in a statement, following a review by its Monetary Board.
“This measured easing of the monetary policy stance will support steering inflation towards the target of 5.0 percent, amidst global uncertainties and current subdued inflationary pressures,” the statement said.
“Recent leading economic indicators reflect sustained progress in domestic economic activity,” it said.
The South Asian country, which declared a sovereign default on its $46 billion external debt in April 2022, has restructured its bilateral loans and international bonds, giving it more time to repay.
Inflation, which peaked at nearly 70 percent in September 2023, has dropped sharply and the country has been experiencing deflation since September last year.
The International Monetary Fund, which granted a $2.9 billion bailout loan in early 2023, says Sri Lanka is slowly emerging from its crisis and that the economy has turned around, although risks remain.
British fashion retailer Next has abruptly shut one of its three factories in Sri Lanka, sacking around 1,400 workers and sparking protests on Wednesday.
The Next factory at the island’s Katunayake Free Trade Zone, just outside the capital Colombo, announced its immediate closure on Tuesday and promised severance deals to 1,416 workers made redundant overnight.
David Reay, director of manufacturing at Next, said the plant had been unprofitable for several years and that he had no alternative but to close it.
At the heart of this decision is the increasingly high operating cost of the Katunayake manufacturing plant,” Reay said in a statement, adding the company will continue to operate two other factories on the island.
A powerful trade union said over 800 of its members were out of work as a result of the sudden closure, and it would seek legal redress to secure their jobs.
The decision to close without any consultation with us is a violation of a collective agreement,” said Anton Marcus, the general secretary of the Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union.
The union rejected the claim that the factory was unviable.
Last month, Sri Lanka’s apparel industry warned that threatened US tariffs would disrupt the island’s largest export sector and place thousands of jobs at risk.
A tariff rate of 44 percent on Sri Lankan exports to the United States has been on hold for months by the US authorities, but a new 10 percent baseline tariff is being applied in the meantime.
Sri Lanka exported $4.76 billion worth of garments last year, up from $4.53 billion the previous year. The industry employs about 350,000 workers and is a key foreign exchange earner.
Colombo, May 22 (Daily Mirror) – President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s request to allow incumbent Auditor General Dharmapala Gammanpila to remain in the post for six more months has been approved by the Constitutional Council (CC) today.
The request was approved by all members of the CC according to sources.
When a Buddhist devotee offers alms to the sangha and/or participate in any other religious activity, the expectation is to earn enough punna merit to gain a berth in Heaven (sagga), obviously by way of having a qualitatively better life than on Earth. Fair enough! But where is heaven? Based in a study of the Tipitaka Tricompendium, this writer has come to identify Heaven as being nothing but the Sky! And hence the term Sky-Heaven as used in this article.
So here then is the basis. As in the Ratana Discourse, a territory hit by a severe drought and hunger, the Buddha implores to the deities to have compassion on the human population (mettam karotha maanusiyaa pajaaya). He addresses Whoever beings (yaaneedha bhootaani) assembled (samaagataani) [to hear his Dhamma], on Earth (bhummaani) or ‘going through air’ (antalikkhe), meaning Space. So what could air, or Space be, as contrasted with Earth, other than the Sky?
This comes to be clear in another line. The pleading is done in the name of the Triple Gem – Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha. Declares the Buddha, Whatever treasure there is, here or there [idha vaa huran vaa], or Heaven .. [saggesu vaa], there is none equal to the Buddha”. Taking the reference to ‘here or there’ being to Earth, would Heaven then not mean as contrasting with Earth? If this is based on language analysis, heard of rukkha devatas ‘tree devas’ or ‘ground-based’ bhummattha devas? So there we go! Convincing enough?
And so it is based in Canonical evidence that I have ended up writing the paper, Sky as Heaven, but Temporary Abode: as in Buddhianscience” (<https://hdl.handle.net/1807/127073>). A point to remember is that just as is life on Earth is temporary, so is life in Sky-Heaven, lasting a few months or years, or even eons!
Sky-Heaven as in the Buddhadhamma is made up of four realms – sense-based, form-based, non-form-based and beyond-world (kaamaavacara, roopaavacara, aroopaavacara, lokuttara). In my paper, I parallel them to the four-plus levels of the Space above Earth as in Westernscience – (0 km to 500 km).
Sky Spheres in Buddhianscience Paralleling Sky Spheres in Westernscience
Is it not of interest that the prefix ‘exos’, in Line 1 Column 4 of the Chart, well parallels ‘beyond-world’ as is the literal translation of ‘lokuttara’ in the Buddhianscientific characterization? That then should speak to the reality of the realms as in the Tricompendium being in the Sky, beginning from right under our very feet, at 0 km.
A Spontaneous, Parentless Rebecoming in Sky-Heaven
A human being (if also an animal) is a ‘Mindbody’ naamaroopa, as is the Buddhian term. While Westernscience recognizes only the five physical senses – eye, ear, nose, tongue and body, Buddhianscience recognizes a sixth, and indeed the primary, namely the mind sense, behind the other five senses as well. So clearly a human is made up of a visible body, which is guided by a mind behind it.
The death of a person then means the mind being separated from the body. In the final stream of consciousness, without continuing on to the end, halfway through, the mind, Citta, this being the Abhidhammic term, bids goodbye to the body, exiting it, and so it is called the exit-mind (cuti citta).
But then, alas, the mind, not having a body, is orphaned, having lost its lifelong buddy the bosom body!!! So how can it survive? With no physical counterpart with which it can link, there would be no mindbody. And so it is Westernscience that I turn to, specifically Physics and Biology, the Figure below introducing the specifics:
Triple conditions for a Rebecoming in Sky-Heaven
captured in the form of a cell
As in the Figure, the three components that then come together towards conditioning a Rebecoming in Sky-Heaven are CittaDNA, Higgs Field and Psychomorphic Resonance.
To explain CittaDNA, while what left the body at the point of death as above is ExitCitta, what links up with Higgs Field is what I have come to call CittaDNA! DNA is the genetic code inherited from parents. Likewise is Citta the bearer of the history of a given individual. Hence the name change.
But now, CittaDNA is orphaned. And there would be no continuing on without a mass. This is where Higgs Field, named after British Physicist Peter Higgs, one of the three founders, comes to the rescue. It is
a field of energy that is thought to exist in every region of the universe. [It] is accompanied by a fundamental particle known as the Higgs boson, which is used by the field to continuously interact with other particles, such as the electron. Particles that interact with the field are given” mass and, in a similar fashion to an object passing through ….. Higgs bosons contain the relative mass in the form of energy.
Let us note how particles that interact with the field are given” mass and, and also an object passing through. And so it is that the CittaDNA comes to be given mass, and no longer orphaned, but in interaction with mass.
However, while the mind is now linked with a mass, it has no specific shape. This is where Morphic Resonance pitches in. Advanced by British Biologist Rupert Sheldrake, it is a process whereby self-organizing systems inherit a memory from previous similar systems”. But given that mind is the forerunner, as in Buddhianscience, it is to capture this dimension that I have called it Psychomorphic Resonance.
So the memory of Devas in Sky-Heaven , literally ‘shining ones’, now joining the CittaDNA-Higgs Field joint duo, there comes to be a Rebecoming in Sky-Heaven! And, would you believe, it is spontaneous, meaning instantaneous!!
The Buddhian formula of ‘conditioned co-origination’ (paticca samuppaada) well explains the process of three strangers ending up as an amicable single unit. It is a co-origination, since the outcomes emerges conditioned in a mutual relationship of A <>B <> C. If A serves as the mind dimension, B is the Higgs Field physical dimension. But it is C, Morphic Resonance, that gives shape to the Rebecoming.
To draw a rather mundane analogy, a mother hugs baby who hugs mom. Happiness emerges for both, co-conditioned by each other. Likewise in relation to the threesome. To give a rather material parable, let’s say an artist thinks of doing a painting of the scene of Prince Siddhartha leaving the palace, and getting a horse back ride with Channa at the ropes. There then is the mind dimension. So he gets the material for it – brush, paint and paper. And now he begins to draw the horse. So what guides him? Would it not be the memory of the Prince on horseback, and other details? So based in memory, the picture of Prince Siddhartha on horseback with Channa in front holding on to the reins, and the horse in galloping stride emerges on paper! So, the thought to build is the mind dimension (CittaDNA), the material the physical (Higgs Field), and Psychomorphic Resonance the memory.
The end product of the union of the threesome is called a Rebecoming, and not a birth, since it is parentless. Rebecoming is, as above, spontaneous, the Buddhian term ‘Opapaatika’ literally meaning ‘falling near’; that is, instantaneous, since there is no birth process.
Interestingly, we get the explanation and justification of the Buddhian concept of spontaneity in Westernscience:
… when … a system is far from equilibrium, or where it is at a much higher temperature than its environment, new types of structures may originate spontaneously. The result is that new dynamic states of matter, namely, organic life, are created.
This then is the complex process of how, an earthly, terrestrial being, as in the chart, upon passing away, would end up in Sky-Heaven. Anyone voting to go through the process? Yes, you all will all, if enough merit gathered and are looking for a happier life!
Life in Sky-Heaven
So is there any record of Sky life in the Tricompendium? You bet! One night, a young man appears before the Buddha, and speaks in verses, beginning with
This indeed is that Jeta’s Grove, The Resort of the Order of Seers,
Dwelt in by the Dhamma King,
A place that gives me joy.
He immediately disappears. Buddha relating the experience to monks the next day, Ananda wonders if that was not Anathapindika, the Buddha’s greatest benefactor, who had died the day before. The Buddha confirms.
Then there is the deitess Devata in the Mahaamangala Blessings Discourse, who lightens up the entire Jeta grove” in the night, and appears before the Buddha, and beseeches him:
Many a deva and human have wondered about the Blessings. For their benefit, may the Blessings be please spelled out.
So the Buddha does. And you have heard them at paritta ceremonies, even though you may not have known the meaning of the words.
So does the fact that both Deity Anathapindika and the nameless Deitess appear in human form, and also communicate in language, indeed poetic diction, not speak to the presence of the six senses in them?
But if the examples above are taken from the Tricompendium, would you believe if evidence comes from the 20th c. Westernscience? To give an example, one day, at about 6 am, a grandson gets a call from his brother living in a different city, Picking up the phone, he immediately asks,
Did grandpa die”?
Yes. How did you know?”
He says that awakened from sleep up at 1.10 am, he saw grandpa smiling, the dark room well-lit up. The brother confirms that that is when he died.
So first it is clear that Rebecoming in Sky-Heaven has been in the form of a sentient-being – i.e., one with senses, in a sentient form as are humans, with six senses. This then renders the Sky-being Deitesses and Deities (devatas and devas) a phenotype, just as animals are, too. And this would be under the genotypesatto, meaning ‘Sky-being’ (plural sattaa).
To give mundane parallel, let us take the term ‘vehicle’. Taking it as a genotype; several are those that fall under it: 2-wheel bikes, baby tricycles, 4-wheel cars and buses and multi-wheel trains, all as phenotypes on Earth. But not to be forgotten airplanes as phenotypes in the Sky!
And the Buddha makes the distinction between the two types absolutely clear. You may remember the term naamaroopa ‘mindbody’ as above. And ‘roopa’ reference here is to ‘body’ in general. But in relation to a specific body, the term used is kaaya. In mindfulness meditation, e.g., one begins with ‘kaayaanupassnaa’ i.e., reflecting on one’s own specific body.
Above then is the evidence for the reality of Sky-beings, Devatas and Devas, paralleling Earth-beings, female and male! Hope you have well grasped it.
Incidentally, if by chance you are intrigued by my term Buddhianscience as replacement for the misnomer ‘Buddhism’, please go to my article, Buddhianscience: Truth Yesterday, Truth Today, Truth Tomorrow” https://hdl.handle.net/1807/128886.
Closure
So my intent in presenting this media piece is, first, to give a realistic picture of that goal of Sky-Heaven that temple goers and alms-givers eternally aspire to. A second is to bring to the general reader, regardless of religion, some Westernscientific theories that is only in the hands of scholars. A third is to give a hint, with a specific example, of the scientific nature of the Buddhadhamma, a reality rarely dealt with if ever, even in scholarly literature,.
And so I invite anyone interested to go deeper, and the sources quoted in this piece, particularly those with a background in Westernscience, to look up the article itself (as above), but also my book length treatment, Phenotype Devas in Sky-Heaven Paralleling Humans under the Genotype ‘sentient beings’ <https://hdl.handle.net/1807/141697>. Hope my short piece establishes the reality of Sky-Heaven, and demolish the sceptical doubts about Sky-Heaven, taking it to be mythological. But finally, it is to show how Sky-Heaven in Buddhianscience has no associations with divinity – i.e., a creator God, Angels, etc., .
However, for all the advanced knowledge gained, let us in this Wesak Season, listen to the words of the Buddha in the Agganna Discourse (see Wikipedia for a quick access), where he outlines the Devolution and Evolution process of the Universe (see my paper, under my pre-ordination name, <https://hdl.handle.net/1807/65093 >. But the advice at the end of it all is straightforward – that is that living the Dhamma far outweighs gaining the highest knowledge!
So recognizing that Sky-Heaven is only a temporary abode, and that returning to Earth would mean continuing suffering, would you be not be interested in modifying your goal of getting a berth in Sky-Heaven, to experiencing Nibbana? And, if interested, the first step towards this is letting go of the ‘body is me’ view (sakkaayaditthi). And this is by coming to see that there is no ‘I’ or ‘me’, but that the body, as is the mind, a mere process of constant change (anicca), and on auto-pilot, i.e., with no doer behind, as e.g., a ‘soul’. And that the body will end up as nothing more than a worthless log of wood fallen dead, as in the Buddhian parable. The book, Thoughts without a Thinker, by Mark Epstein well speaks to it. But you may also read up my short piece, Fetters in Tatters Towards Sotàpanna”<https://hdl.handle.net/1807/139402>.
Looking to end up in Sky-Heaven would mean a coming back to Earth again and again, continuing in the samsaric life-cycle of, would you believe, suffering and suffering and suffering! And the outcome of letting go of the ‘body is me view’ would be coming to be a Stream-entrant, i.e., a sotāpanna. Just as a stream goes only one way, as guaranteed by the Buddha, once a sotāpanna, there will only be a maximum of 7 lifetimes, and only 4 on Earth before attaining Nibbàna. We can see it in an arithmetic chart:
LIFETIME
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Celestian (Sky-Heavenly)
——
In Sky-Heaven as Born Stream-entrant
——–
In Sky-Heaven as Born Stream-entrant
——-
In Sky-Heaven as Born Once-returner
In Sky-Heaven born Non-returner > Nibbàna
Terrestrian (Earthly)
Becoming a Stream-entrant (sotāpanna)
——
Born-Stream-entrant
——
Born Stream-entrant > Once-returner (sakadaagaamin)
Born Once-returner > Non-returner (anaagaamin)
An Arithmetic Chart: Stream-entry to Nibbana
However, the earthly lifetimes could be even less, becoming a Once-returner in Earthly life 2, and coming to be a Non-returner in 4, and attaining Nibbàna in life-time 5, while in Sky-Heaven. And indeed, if one were to walk the Path even more diligently, a Stream-entrant, Once-returner or Non-returner could come by the experience of Nibbàna in that very lifetime. This, however, would not be as a householder, unless living in an Empty House, with all relationships with the world cut off. Any interest?
The beginning for all this, however, is living by the Five Self-Training Principles (Pancaseela) diligently, undertaking them willingly in a self-discipline:
to abstain from taking life (killing);
to abstain from taking what is not given (i.e., stealing);
to abstain from sexual misconduct (infidelity);
to abstain from language abuse (lying, back-biting, gossip, foul language);
to abstain from going overboard on liquor & drugs.
Taking to meditation would be helpful as well. Even for 20 minutes daily might be a good beginning, to help keep one’s calm. But there would be no need to be at a temple or forest retreat. Home would be just as good.
If this is in a self-care, as in the Buddhian advice, not to be forgotten is other-care. And this is through the four Noble Abidings – Metta, Karuna, Mudita, Upekkha (friendliness, compassionate action, joy in the joy of others and equanimity). If living guided by them is certainly an other-care, would you be happy to hear that the beneficiary would be yourself as well, with good, healthy cells coming to be formed in your own mindbody!?
So while aspiring to end up in Sky-Heaven would certainly be a good goal, when compared to being born an animal or into a woeful state, would not ending suffering for ever not be the far better? And so it is hoped that you would take to walk the Path diligently towards Nibbàna Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu!
Thank you, Metta!
Ven. Bhikkhu Mihita is a US Fulbright scholar, Interdisciplinarian Buddhist scholar and Lifetime Buddhist practitioner. Formerly at University of Toronto, and Founder of Nalanda College of Buddhist Studies, Toronto, and Visiting Professor, University of Havana, he was to get ordained at the prime age of 83, introducing Theravada to Cuba as well. Pioneer in Canadian Buddhism, he was to bring World Buddhism under one umbrella, holding the first North American Pan-Buddhist Wesak in Toronto in 1981.
A day of honor was turned into a day of betrayal.Victory Day in Sri Lanka is not just a date on a calendar — it is a solemn tribute to the tens of thousands of brave Ranaviruwo who laid down their lives to defend the nation from one of the most brutal terrorist organizations in the world: the LTTE. It is a day meant to remember sacrifice, celebrate unity, and reaffirm our commitment to a sovereign, unitary & undivided Sri Lanka. Yet this year, the President’s Victory Day address did not honor the fallen — it diminished their sacrifice. By deliberately avoiding the term Ranaviruwo,” failing to name the LTTE as terrorists, and drawing false moral parallels between those who defended the nation and those who tried to destroy it, the President not only rewrote the past — he betrayed the very spirit of the day. This response is not about politics. It is about truth, duty, and respect. It is a call to remember who our true heroes are, and to ensure their legacy is never blurred, distorted, or forgotten in the future — especially not by those who swore to protect it.
1. Sacred Day Undermined by Political Calculations
Victory Day is not just another commemoration. It is a solemn tribute to over 28,000 war heroes who laid down their lives & an equal number who are injured for life, to protect Sri Lanka’s sovereignty from LTTE terrorism. In his speech, the President failed to even call them Ranaviruwo”—a symbolic yet crucial term. His refusal to identify the LTTE as terrorists, while omitting to mention President Mahinda Rajapakse without whose orders as Commander in Chief to militarily defeat LTTE & rescue Tamil civilians held hostage by LTTE as well as name key military leaders who led the war to victory, is viewed not as omission but calculated erasure.
2. Revising History: A Dangerous Narrative
The President’s ambiguous moral equivalence—suggesting no one takes up arms without reason”—distorts the root cause of the conflict. Tamil separatism, not economic grievance, led to war. The Vaddukoddai Resolution (1976)openly called for armed youth rebellion. Prior to that the ITAK was formed seeking a separate Tamil Nation in 1949. The LTTE only hijacked the quest of Tamil politicians after being secretly trained by India alongside other Tamil militants & initiated the war, not the State. Our forces defended civilians and national unity—not against fighters,” but against internationally designated terrorists who were even getting help & material assistance from external forces.
3. Distortion of Sacrifice
Every life lost in defense of the country holds meaning. The sacrifice of:
Total 28,589 war heroes paid the supreme sacrifice in defense of the nation
Armed Forces – 23,962 (6261 died between 2006-May 2009 last phase)
Airforce – 443
Navy – 1160
Civil Defense Force – 456
Police – 2568 (includes the 600 policemen killed brutally by LTTE in the East)
29,551 Armed Forces personnel remain wounded.
cannot be equated with those who died attacking the country (LTTE & Other militants)
To compare the grief of a mother of a soldier with that of an LTTE terrorist’s family may be politically convenient—but morally and nationally dangerous. Soldiers defend a nation. Terrorists seek to attack & destroy it.
4. A Gravest Insult: False Moral Equivalence
Sympathizing with LTTE families without any mention of their atrocities—child soldiers, suicide bombers, ethnic cleansing—offends not only war heroes but the very truth of our national struggle.
The LTTE themselves kept families of other militants below their own elite circle. Now, the State, in the name of reconciliation, allows glorification of LTTE dead while marginalizing the real protectors of peace. This is an insult. The terrorists must be laughing at us.
Our military didn’t wage war to seek abstract peace. They fought to end terrorism, restore rule of law, and free civilians held hostage by the LTTE—nearly 300,000 in 2009 alone. Peace was a result, not the mission. The mission was national survival.
However, the wrong message conveyed by the President has been carried forward by his ministers as seen by their statements in Parliament
Protection of all citizens regardless of ethnicity
What they did not die for:
Political expediency
Rewriting of history
Reconciliation” that rewards separatism
Not Everyone Can Become a Soldier
Not everyone can become a soldier — because not everyone has the strength to look death in the face and still choose to stand their ground. A soldier is more than a uniform; he is discipline in action, courage under fire, and sacrifice without applause. He is the shield between chaos and the people he has sworn to protect.
Behind every brave soldier is a mother who taught him compassion and resilience, a father who instilled honor and duty, and a family that nurtured the values that made him choose service over safety. These are not ordinary families — they are the unseen pillars of the nation’s strength.
Becoming a soldier is not a profession — it is a calling, one that only a few are willing and able to answer. It demands heart, willpower, and the ultimate readiness to pay the highest price. That is why Victory Day must remain sacred — to honor the extraordinary few who gave their all, so the rest of us could live in freedom. Their legacy is not to be distorted, compared, or diluted — because not all can be soldiers, and not all sacrifices are the same.
10. Final Verdict: A Dangerous Betrayal
This is notreconciliation. It is revisionism. It weakens the nation and emboldens those who still seek to divide it.
The real half-victory is not due to moral failure by the Armed Forces—but due to:
Political failures to tackleongoing separatism
Foreign-funded historical distortion
The President speaks of spread of racism? Who are the guilty? The Vaddamana Viharaya in the North was destroyed by Tamil racists, this is the situation outside Tissa Viaharaya in the North https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14GJVY8trkH/ all of the remaining Buddhist sacred sites are under risk by Tamil racists. Have a single Buddhist stopped Tamil praying in Hindu kovils across the South or anywhere else? The President must identify the real racists.
The State’s silence on continued desecration of Buddhist sites and illegal land grabs in the North & East. No Govt can speak for only minorities completely ignoring the rights, grievances & the wrongs being done to the majority.
A President is duty-bound to protect sovereignty, honor the military, and uphold truth—not to equate grief, promote dangerous moral ambiguities, or forfeit national memory for political gain.
Let this serve as a warning: a nation that forgets its heroes will one day struggle to find new ones. The people will remember what was not said, and they will not forget who chose silence over truth.
If there is a war against terrorism and extremism, there can be no room for double standards. Yet, some foreign governments continue to permit the display and glorification of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and its associated symbols, despite the group’s designation as a banned terrorist organization in many countries. This dangerous hypocrisy not only undermines national security but also jeopardizes the safety of their citizens and the integrity of immigration and welfare systems. It is imperative that foreign governments recognize the threat posed by LTTE-linked activities and take decisive action to eliminate this danger, ensuring their policies align with their commitment to global peace and security. Any group holding flags, insignia, or chanting slogans of banned terrorist organizations on foreign soil — no matter the theme or cause of their demonstration — is promoting a terrorist movement. Full stop.
Governments that do not allow Al-Qaeda flags under the guise of protest cannot allow LTTE terror insignia either. If Governments wouldn’t permit ISIS supporters to build monuments to its leaders – why allow banned LTTE?. Why is the LTTE — a group responsible for suicide bombings, assassinations, child soldiers, and decades of ethnic cleansing — being given space to organize rallies, raise flags, and lobby foreign parliaments as well as erect monuments & influence school curriculums? Terrorism cannot be disguised. If a group is banned as a terrorist entity, then its glorification in any form must be banned too.
1. LTTE as a Global Security Threat
The LTTE, responsible for numerous acts of terrorism, including suicide bombings and assassinations, child soldier recruitment, continues to pose a significant threat beyond Sri Lanka’s borders. Why should foreign governments encourage banned entities to claim a separate state? This is an affront to diplomatic relations. Despite being banned in countries like Canada, US, UK, India, and the European Union, remnants of the LTTE persist, engaging in fundraising, propaganda, and recruitment activities within diaspora communities. These groups exploit legal loopholes and cultural narratives to perpetuate their agenda, undermining national security in host countries. The normalization of LTTE symbols and activities sends a dangerous message to other terrorist organizations, implying that such behavior is tolerated. Governments must recognize that allowing these groups to operate freely is a betrayal of their citizens and a moral failure on the global stage.
By continuing to allow LTTE-affiliated groups to operate freely, foreign governments are ignoring a critical threat: the radicalization of new generations, both within the Tamil diaspora and beyond. Many hardcore LTTE operatives have fled Sri Lanka under new identities and are now embedded in diaspora networks — and they haven’t abandoned their ideology.
The global rise of far-right and Islamist extremism has already shown how quickly violence can spread when radical ideas are left unchecked. The LTTE, though quieter in form, operates no differently. These former terrorists can easily be absorbed into or aligned with other extremist networks — making them a silent but potent threat to national security.
Let’s not forget: the LTTE assassinated former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on Indian soil, in collaboration with Indian conspirators. They are only peaceful” as long as they are given freedom to chant their lies. The moment foreign governments begin to rethink policy or restrict their influence, the potential for violent resurgence should not be underestimated.
2. Exploitation of Asylum and Welfare Systems
LTTE-affiliated individuals and organizations often exploit asylum laws, social benefits, and public services to fund terrorism, organize criminal activities, and radicalize youth. This abuse of immigration and welfare systems not only drains public resources but also undermines the principles of asylum and refugee protection. By permitting these groups to operate under the guise of cultural preservation or human rights advocacy, foreign governments are complicit in the misuse of their legal frameworks. It is crucial that governments hold these organizations accountable and prevent the exploitation of their systems.
Are these governments aware that people are being trained how to win the immigration officers sympathy. Tamils pay to be bruised & burnt with cigarette butts to falsely claim being tortured by the Sri Lankan Army. Shouldn’t these centres be investigated.
3. National Security Consequences and Law Enforcement
The stance a country takes on global terrorism—whether through tacit acceptance of groups like the LTTE or outright support for counterterrorism efforts—sends a signal to the international community. As terrorist groups like ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and others continue to be global pariahs, any government that tolerates the glorification of the LTTE risks undermining its own credibility on the world stage.
Governments that continue to allow these activities are failing in their duty to protect their citizens. The rise of knife gangs in the UK, the criminal networks in France, and the manipulation of welfare systems are just the tip of the iceberg. If LTTE-linked groups are allowed to continue this activity unchecked, it could embolden other radical groups to do the same. This is not just an issue of domestic policy; it has global ramifications.
The presence of LTTE-linked groups and their ability to organize freely in foreign countries emboldens other extremist organizations and undermines national security. These groups engage in activities such as fundraising, recruitment, and propaganda, often under the radar of law enforcement agencies. The rise of radicalization within diaspora communities and the manipulation of legal systems to further terrorist agendas pose significant challenges to law enforcement. Governments must strengthen their intelligence-sharing and cross-border cooperation to dismantle LTTE networks operating abroad.
4. The Moral Imperative: True Protection for Victims, Not Terrorists
The true victims of LTTE terrorism include not only Tamil civilians but also Sinhalese and Muslim communities who suffered from the group’s brutal tactics over 30 years. By allowing the glorification of LTTE symbols and activities, foreign governments implicitly endorse the group’s ideology and violent methods, sidelining the genuine concerns of all communities affected by their actions. This is a human rights issue. Foreign governments must recognize that supporting or tolerating groups that have terrorized and oppressed their own people is not just a policy mistake—it’s a betrayal of the very people they claim to protect.
5. A Call for Accountability and Global Solidarity
The time for soft responses is over. If foreign governments wish to be seen as legitimate leaders in the global fight against terrorism and extremism, they must apply the same standards to the LTTE as they do to any other terrorist group. There can be no room for double standards when it comes to terrorism. Governments must act decisively to:
Enforce bans on LTTE symbols and activities within their borders.
Invest in intelligence-sharing and cross-border cooperation to track and dismantle LTTE networks operating abroad.
Hold accountable those political leaders and individuals who facilitate or fund these terrorist groups through lobbying, financial support, or otherwise.
Investigate politicians on the payroll of these terrorists, especially those who are key spokespeople for LTTE lobbies.
Ensure the integrity of immigration systems, preventing the exploitation of asylum processes by those linked to terrorism.
Have Foreign Govts asked themselves – Why Iis the LTTE Diaspora still protesting when Tamils in Sri Lanka are not?
If Tamils in Sri Lanka are rebuilding their lives in peace, and the diaspora left for better opportunities, why are LTTE-linked groups still pushing a narrative of genocide and oppression?
The answer lies in self-interest:
Political Gain: Many diaspora activists use the Sri Lankan Tamil issue to gain political leverage and remain relevant in their adopted countries.
Asylum Justification: Claims of genocide are often tied to their refugee or asylum status — admitting the truth could undermine those claims.
False Representation: The LTTE diaspora does not represent all Tamils. In fact, they hijack Tamil identity to push extremist views most Tamils reject.
Tamils living in Sri Lanka today are not waving LTTE flags or demanding separation (only those hired by the LTTE diaspora are) — they want peace and development. It’s time the world & foreign governments stopped listening to those who profit from prolonging division, and instead, heard the voices of Tamils who actually live in Sri Lanka.
This is not just about one country’s policies. This is a matter of global security and human rights and the safety of its own citizens on their soil. Governments must stop equivocating and take a stand—terrorism is terrorism, no matter where it comes from or who promotes it. The world is watching, and it is time to act decisively.
Dr Sarath Obeysekera, CEO Walkers Colombo Shipyard, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Cricket players who may have been above board should not get involved in politics
Celebrated captain who lifted the World Cup should have stayed as a senior cricketer like Sanga or Mahela and serve the nation .Trying to emulate Imran Khan has not shown much results .Previous government have him a lucrative job as the minister for ports and shipping and also made him the minister of Petroleum .But the country did not see much of his contribution to both industries
When the Galle Harbour marina project and Yacht repair project was mooted investors requested to provide support to the minister
He did not understand the potential to develop Galle .As the investor needed to get the state support matter was discussed at the Committee chaired by then prime minster RW and minister was advised to help .
After the meeting the minister of ports came out and did not show much enthusiasm to support the investor
Galle projects was just forgotten again and the Galle harbour is still waiting for development
Marina will never come with cement unloading taking place creating toxic cloud of dust and an abandoned gas carrier Brought in by Mundo Gas by another supporter who is none other than Master Divers which is sinking for last 15 years or more in Galle
As a minister he could have done something with the help of his
Cricketers brother – chairman who followed him from one ministry to another project to support to develop Galle project and it was never done
Colombo Port also did not see much of a growth and Trincomalee also
It would have been better that Arjuna stayed as a veteran cricketer and give full support to develop the game rather than now lamenting about the game
His other younger brother who was in the other side of politics has not done much either
General opinion is that he cannot make comments about cricket which he abandoned for a lucrative political carrier where he has miserably failed
Dr Sarath Obeysekera CEO Walkers Colombo Shipyard Colombo Sri Lanka
A day of honor was turned into a day of betrayal.Victory Day in Sri Lanka is not just a date on a calendar — it is a solemn tribute to the tens of thousands of brave Ranaviruwo who laid down their lives to defend the nation from one of the most brutal terrorist organizations in the world: the LTTE. It is a day meant to remember sacrifice, celebrate unity, and reaffirm our commitment to a sovereign, unitary & undivided Sri Lanka. Yet this year, the President’s Victory Day address did not honor the fallen — it diminished their sacrifice. By deliberately avoiding the term Ranaviruwo,” failing to name the LTTE as terrorists, and drawing false moral parallels between those who defended the nation and those who tried to destroy it, the President not only rewrote the past — he betrayed the very spirit of the day. This response is not about politics. It is about truth, duty, and respect. It is a call to remember who our true heroes are, and to ensure their legacy is never blurred, distorted, or forgotten in the future — especially not by those who swore to protect it.
1. Sacred Day Undermined by Political Calculations
Victory Day is not just another commemoration. It is a solemn tribute to over 28,000 war heroes who laid down their lives & an equal number who are injured for life, to protect Sri Lanka’s sovereignty from LTTE terrorism. In his speech, the President failed to even call them Ranaviruwo”—a symbolic yet crucial term. His refusal to identify the LTTE as terrorists, while omitting to mention President Mahinda Rajapakse without whose orders as Commander in Chief to militarily defeat LTTE & rescue Tamil civilians held hostage by LTTE as well as name key military leaders who led the war to victory, is viewed not as omission but calculated erasure.
2. Revising History: A Dangerous Narrative
The President’s ambiguous moral equivalence—suggesting no one takes up arms without reason”—distorts the root cause of the conflict. Tamil separatism, not economic grievance, led to war. The Vaddukoddai Resolution (1976)openly called for armed youth rebellion. Prior to that the ITAK was formed seeking a separate Tamil Nation in 1949. The LTTE only hijacked the quest of Tamil politicians after being secretly trained by India alongside other Tamil militants & initiated the war, not the State. Our forces defended civilians and national unity—not against fighters,” but against internationally designated terrorists who were even getting help & material assistance from external forces.
3. Distortion of Sacrifice
Every life lost in defense of the country holds meaning. The sacrifice of:
Total 28,589 war heroes paid the supreme sacrifice in defense of the nation
Armed Forces – 23,962 (6261 died between 2006-May 2009 last phase)
Airforce – 443
Navy – 1160
Civil Defense Force – 456
Police – 2568 (includes the 600 policemen killed brutally by LTTE in the East)
29,551 Armed Forces personnel remain wounded.
cannot be equated with those who died attacking the country (LTTE & Other militants)
To compare the grief of a mother of a soldier with that of an LTTE terrorist’s family may be politically convenient—but morally and nationally dangerous. Soldiers defend a nation. Terrorists seek to attack & destroy it.
4. A Gravest Insult: False Moral Equivalence
Sympathizing with LTTE families without any mention of their atrocities—child soldiers, suicide bombers, ethnic cleansing—offends not only war heroes but the very truth of our national struggle.
The LTTE themselves kept families of other militants below their own elite circle. Now, the State, in the name of reconciliation, allows glorification of LTTE dead while marginalizing the real protectors of peace. This is an insult. The terrorists must be laughing at us.
Our military didn’t wage war to seek abstract peace. They fought to end terrorism, restore rule of law, and free civilians held hostage by the LTTE—nearly 300,000 in 2009 alone. Peace was a result, not the mission. The mission was national survival.
However, the wrong message conveyed by the President has been carried forward by his ministers as seen by their statements in Parliament
Protection of all citizens regardless of ethnicity
What they did not die for:
Political expediency
Rewriting of history
Reconciliation” that rewards separatism
Not Everyone Can Become a Soldier
Not everyone can become a soldier — because not everyone has the strength to look death in the face and still choose to stand their ground. A soldier is more than a uniform; he is discipline in action, courage under fire, and sacrifice without applause. He is the shield between chaos and the people he has sworn to protect.
Behind every brave soldier is a mother who taught him compassion and resilience, a father who instilled honor and duty, and a family that nurtured the values that made him choose service over safety. These are not ordinary families — they are the unseen pillars of the nation’s strength.
Becoming a soldier is not a profession — it is a calling, one that only a few are willing and able to answer. It demands heart, willpower, and the ultimate readiness to pay the highest price. That is why Victory Day must remain sacred — to honor the extraordinary few who gave their all, so the rest of us could live in freedom. Their legacy is not to be distorted, compared, or diluted — because not all can be soldiers, and not all sacrifices are the same.
10. Final Verdict: A Dangerous Betrayal
This is notreconciliation. It is revisionism. It weakens the nation and emboldens those who still seek to divide it.
The real half-victory is not due to moral failure by the Armed Forces—but due to:
Political failures to tackleongoing separatism
Foreign-funded historical distortion
The President speaks of spread of racism? Who are the guilty? The Vaddamana Viharaya in the North was destroyed by Tamil racists, this is the situation outside Tissa Viaharaya in the North https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14GJVY8trkH/ all of the remaining Buddhist sacred sites are under risk by Tamil racists. Have a single Buddhist stopped Tamil praying in Hindu kovils across the South or anywhere else? The President must identify the real racists.
The State’s silence on continued desecration of Buddhist sites and illegal land grabs in the North & East. No Govt can speak for only minorities completely ignoring the rights, grievances & the wrongs being done to the majority.
A President is duty-bound to protect sovereignty, honor the military, and uphold truth—not to equate grief, promote dangerous moral ambiguities, or forfeit national memory for political gain.
Let this serve as a warning: a nation that forgets its heroes will one day struggle to find new ones. The people will remember what was not said, and they will not forget who chose silence over truth.
Sudhakaran was appearing for Sri Lankan national and former LTTE member Subaskaran alias Jeevan, who pleaded that he would face political persecution if deported to his country.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a petition from a former LTTE member challenging his deportation to Sri Lanka, saying India was not a “dharamshala” for refugees and was battling its own problems with a 140-crore population.
Do you think India is a dharamshala to host refugees from all over the world? As it is, we are struggling with a population of 140 crore. India is not a dharamshala to entertain foreign nationals from all over the world,” Justice Dipankar Datta, heading a bench, told advocate R. Sudhakaran.
Sudhakaran was appearing for Sri Lankan national and former LTTE member Subaskaran alias Jeevan, who pleaded that he would face political persecution if deported to his country.
Subaskaran was arrested in 2015 and booked under Section 10 (penalty for being a member of an unlawful association) of the UAPA. He was convicted in 2018 and sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment by a trial court in Tamil Nadu.
Madras High Court reduced his punishment to seven years in 2022 but directed that Subaskaran be kept in a refugee camp after completing his sentence and then deported to Sri Lanka.
Subaskaran’s counsel pleaded that the petitioner was facing threats of arrest and torture in his country and that his wife and children were already settled in India.
The bench, which also had Justice K. Vinod Chandran, rejected the plea. What is your right to settle here? Go to some other country.”
We salute the Bravery of Sri Lanka’s War Heroes and the truth they defended with their live. Each May, while large numbers pay tribute to the War Heroes who defeated terrorism in May 2009, a minor group gather to glorify the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization under the guise of mourning”. In doing so they are slapping the victims of the terrorists who comprised Sinhalese, Muslims, Foreigners & even Tamils. No liberation movement uses their own as human shields, hostages or child soldiers. It was Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces who carried out South Asia’s largest humanitarian rescue operation simultaneously as they took on the LTTE terrorists & brought to safety close to 300,000 Tamils. This truth echoes louder than any candles lit for terrorists.
The Western diplomats, the UN, INGOs know very well that the military onslaught was against terrorists & not the people. Their only angry is that their 30-year investment in terror came to an abrupt close and they wished to take revenge as it meant having to re-charter a new strategy.
They didn’t care that Sri Lanka bled from a conflict that was created in India in late 1970s to pass on India’s Tamil Nadu self-determination headache to Sri Lanka as that fitted well into India’s strategic objective of using the Tamil” card to exert influence in the strategically important North & East of Sri Lanka, which the West was also eyeing. Eventually, LTTE passed pillow from India to West with heavy influence by the Church & Western NGOs.
None of those who supported LTTE be they foreign or locals cared that civilians were taxed, abducted & executed, that Tamil moderates were silenced with bullets, that suicide bombings became a routine, that schools became recruitment centres & hope became hostage. Those that commemorate LTTE with full fanfare cared not how over 30 years generations of Tamil children were kidnapped & turned into child soldiers. Why should they bother, their children were safe overseas, in foreign schools & getting foreign employment! Every annual commemoration was only a means of riding on Tamils & even LTTE to secure themselves a place among their society & politically. If these fronts dared not come forward to even claim the body of Prabakaran & conduct his funeral rites, what is the point of lavish commemorations after his death!
After 30 years of terror, President Mahinda as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces decided to finally bring peace to all & declared a military offensive though LTTE was given 3 occasions to surrender which they refused. It was following this declaration that the military was ordered to carry out a humanitarian rescue operation which rescued close to 300,000 Tamil civilians sacrificing over 6000 soldier lives though LTTE had shot some fleeing Tamils dead. No one wants to keep a scorecard on how many Tamils LTTE killed. No one is even bothered to count how many injured LTTE combatants LTTE put into buses & killed either.
The Largest Hostage Rescue in the Region
This achievement cannot be diluted or humiliated as the rescue was done while Sri Lankan soldiers were under fire, under pressure & under immense international scrutiny. Their duty was not only to end the terrorists but to save lives of Tamils kept as hostages & human shields by LTTE.
The Consultative Committee Meetings held every two weeks in the presence of Govt Secretaries & Military heads inviting diplomats & heads of INGOs to be present since the start of the offensive. If they had issues, they could have easily raised them at these bi-weekly meetings. However, none of the diplomats or INGOs raised a single issue about inadequacies in delivery of food, medicines etc… months later they were all parroting 40,000 dead” without an iota of proof highlighting their hypocrisy.
Let the World remember who the Real Victims are
Yes, people have the right to mourn. But when they gather under LTTE flags, glorify suicide bombers, and call mass murderers freedom fighters,” they aren’t mourning. They are rewriting a fake history glorifying terrorists!
Everyone who attends these LTTE commemorations kneeling down at altars meant for LTTE dead are dishonoring the thousands of Tamil civilians & Sinhalese/Muslim & even Foreign civilians who were:
Killed by LTTE landmines
Forced into battle against their will
Used as bargaining chips in the final days of war
Assassinated & targeted for no reason
And they dishonor every nation that has suffered from terrorism by celebrating one of its most ruthless practitioners.
We Remember Differently
We don’t light candles for terrorists.
We light candles for victims.
We salute the bravery of the Sri Lankan Army — not because they were perfect, but because when faced with evil, they fought — and they saved lives.
Let the world glorify who they will.
We will continue to speak for the mothers who lost children.
For the children who lost limbs.
For the soldiers who walked into death zones with water bottles instead of grenades
For the soldiers who even gave their meal to the Tamil civilians that were starved by LTTE.
For a nation that chose peace — not by surrender, but by sacrifice.
Sri Lanka’s Final Stand wasn’t just a Military Victory — It Was a Humanitarian Triumph
To every foreign politician, activist, or misguided sympathizer who still kneels before the LTTE’s flag, ask yourself:
Would you lay flowers at a grave marked with Al-Qaeda’s emblem?
Would you excuse ISIS because they claimed to fight for someone’s rights?
Then why would you do it for the LTTE?
We can’t stop those who want to glorify terrorists.
But we will never let them own the truth.
We stand for the real victims.
We remember the real heroes.
And we will never forget the price paid for Sri Lanka’s peace & who paid that price with their lives.
Investigate monetary links of foreign individuals & politicians who glorify terrorism under the guise of human rights.
Realize that Sri Lanka’s conflict lasted 30 years because of West/India’s political & financial investment. This cost innocent lives. Sri Lanka fought not only to end LTTE terrorism but against international geopolitics too.
There can be no healing until people & the Govt especially distinguishes who the terrorists are. Allowing terrorists to hold commemorations while LTTE remains banned shows that the Govt needs to face reality & facts first.
From the moment President Mahinda Rajapakse declared decision to militarily end LTTE & rescue Tamils kept as hostages by LTTE, nationalists & patriotic citizens too joined the war effort by providing the people’s support & the moral backing for the armed force. This went along way as it provided a defense nexus against the entities & enemies though small but were powerfully positioned & were trying their utmost to prevent the defeat of LTTE.
The ploy these entities used was the slogan human rights” – agents of the West/India who wanted to continue LTTE terrorism set up the mechanism for the human rights rhetoric as a weapon to undermine Sri Lanka’s war victory. The Resolutions & the smear campaigns continue to be part of that campaign alongside the UNHRC demands that aim to take revenge against those that ended LTTE & to weaken the Sri Lankan state diluting its own administrative legal structures. All those blindly agreeing to draft new legislation, pass MOUs, allow interference, give up State land & resources are all agents of these foreign lobbies.
To mourn the death of a terrorist leader who held the Tamil people hostage under brutal conditions is a mockery. These terrorists were no martyrs; they were tyrants who imprisoned their own people. They used their own as human shields and killed those who dared to escape & destroyed the childhood of thousands of Tamil children turned into child soldiers.
The younger generation, particularly those in Sri Lanka, must be taught the truth about the LTTE, their crimes, and the heroes who fought to defend them not the bogus genocide week” being taught in Canada. This is not about creating division but about cultivating a future where violence and terror are recognized as unacceptable solutions to any political problem.
Victory Day should remain a unifying moment for all Sri Lankans.
Let May 18 be a day of Honor, not Revenge or Amnesia
As Sri Lanka reflects on the significance of May 18, the Government must ensure that all future Victory Day commemorations are marked with dignity, truth, and national gratitude — not silence, distortion, or political bias.
This appeal is to set a consistent national standard going forward — to properly honor those who sacrificed and to preserve the historical truth for future generations.
Key Demands
1. President’s Presence Is Essential
The Commander-in-Chief must attend the main ceremony in person.
Victory Day is a national duty — not optional.
2. A Statesman-like, Non-Political Speech addressed to the Nation
· Refer to all war heroes as Ranaviruwo”, not just soldiers”.
· Name and thank: the 2009 President, Defense Secretary, Tri-Service & Field Commanders.
· Tell the Truth: LTTE terrorism was defeated militarily after decades of failed peace.
· Highlight the rescue of 300,000 civilians as a humanitarian triumph.
3. Protect Victory Day from Dilution
· Do not rename, water down, or politicize May 18 with new politicized definitions
· Reiterate that it was a victory over terrorism, not Tamils.
Highlight that Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces saved & prevented Tamil children from being turned into LTTE Child Soldiers.
· This truth must be reaffirmed & repeated yearly.
4. Nationwide Participation & Media Coverage
· Schools, public institutions, and state media must formally mark the day with tributes, documentaries & stories of sacrifice
5. Respect & Recognize War Veterans (not LTTE Terrorists)
· Legally recognize Victory Day.
· Invite veterans and families of the fallen — treat them with dignity.
· Give them a voice, not a token seat.
· Ban display of ALL LTTE INSIGNIA – Mourning does not require terrorist symbols, flags or emblems
This Is Not a Celebration of War — It’s a Day of Liberation / Defeating Terrorism
Sri Lanka did not defeat a people. Sri Lanka defeated Terrorists & Terrorism. Sri Lanka saved its people, including Tamils, from tyranny.
Let no activist, foreign lobby, or politician erase that truth. Let Victory Day be remembered — with respect, truth, and unity.
To be submitted to:
The President / Ministry of Defense / Tri-Forces Leadership / National Media /
NDB Bank, in collaboration with News First, is proud to announce the commencement of applications for the Corporate Sector Competition of Sri Lanka Vanithabhimana 2025, the nation’s most distinguished platform dedicated to honouring and empowering exceptional women. Following the success of the Provincial Sector initiative, the spotlight now turns to the accomplished and trailblazing women of Sri Lanka’s corporate and professional spheres.
This year’s Corporate Sector Competition breaks new ground by welcoming applications from all elite women professionals, entrepreneurs, and leaders, without restriction. Whether you are at the helm of a business, shaping policy in the public sector, leading innovation in finance, marketing, education, healthcare, or any professional domain, Sri Lanka Vanithabhimana 2025 invites you to step into the elite circle of distinguished women who are building Sri Lanka’s future.
The application process officially opened on 30th April 2025, and NDB Bank and News First encourage all esteemed corporate heroines to submit their applications before the 2nd of June 2025. This is a unique opportunity for Sri Lanka’s most impactful women to gain national recognition for their contributions to the economy, society, and nation at large.
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At the outset let me state that I am not a historian but a Civil and Structural Engineer with some knowledge about computer programming and IT. I have used the latter to gain advantage over others in my profession. However, the AI tools that are being sharpened almost daily in the form of Large Language Models (or Llamas) and made available via mobile phones have made it very easy for us to probe in to past. At the touch of a button these tools would scan data available to them and give info asked for as accurately as possible within a couple of seconds. In this context the Seleucid Empire has been explained on my mobile as follows:
The Seleucid Empire was a major Hellenistic state, founded by Seleucus I Nicator after the death of Alexander the Great in 312 BC. It encompassed a vast territory stretching from Aegean Sea to the Indus Valley, encompassing regions like Syria, Mesopotamia and parts of modern-day Iran and Afghanistan. The empire was characterised by its military strength, Hellenistic culture and its interactions with other Hellenistic states, particularly the Ptolemaic Empire.”
Doesn’t this explain why Ptolemy gave so much details about our country which he named as Taprobana. It must have been ‘Thambara Paany’, whatever thambara means. My thinking is that there had been a good source of clean drinking water, flowing down from the hills, supplied to mariners. This is also why we wanted to build Hambantota Port in 21st century, though it is now becoming more of a military asset for another country, due to unpatriotic and selfish behaviour of rulers we had since it was built.
The Syrian region mentioned in the description comprised of northern Arabia (all those states like Soudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar etc.). This empire had lasted about 400 years. So, a significant amount of the populations may have had same culture before the advent of Islam. Seleucid Empire was conquered by Romans at the end, but at different times had deals with Arabs for protection against barbarians like north European tribes, called Norsemen. The Ionians who came to Sri Lanka since 900 BC were in control of trade in Crotone, Italy which was part of Anatolia.
Who was Seleucus Nicator?. His father and Alexander the Great’s father had been brothers and was a trusted general of the great man. He fought alongside Alexander up to India and when they got bogged down in a marshy area in north western Bharatha (present day Peshawar of Pakistan) without being able to defeat the regional king Porus (or Singha), Alexander headed back home leaving the region they acquired in the hands of Seleucus. In honour of the bravery of Porus, Seleucus’ second daughter Hellena was given in marriage to him. Hellena’s mother was a princess from Syria or Bactria as it was known then and in turn was also part of Persia. Ancient Sinhalese kings had lots of dealings with Persia even to the extent of having matrimonial connections at that time. I have mentioned in my previous write up that it was Hellena’s children who came to our country with their followers some of whom were from Mangalore region (according to a Sri Lankan researcher) and established colonies. How was it possible in Alexander the Great’s time for so many people to enter and establish settlements in another country without giving a fight. These people must have had earlier known connections and some leftovers had been here. This is what we find in the city of Anuradhapura. There had been an Ionian settlement around 900 BC in it. The rock inscriptions like the stargate in that place seems to suggest that a highly developed civilisation had existed there. The technology to make finest steel had been in this country more than 1500 years before Mohenjo Daro which ended in bronze age. The sword of Damascus and others with trade mark of swastika and similar ones in many parts of Europe is the clue to this claim. What I am trying to point out is not our connections to Europeans, but the possibility that some of them may have actually originated from this land. The findings in a lake in Horton plains covering an area of out 40 Sq.Km seem to suggest this possibility. The Buddhist stories indicate that there was a lake known as ‘Anothaptha wila’. There is a sketch of this area with surrounding hills depicted on the walls in the cave temple at Dambulla, Sri Lanka.
Lies that are capable of breaking rock (or ‘Gal Pelena Boru’ in Sinhalese):
In Sinhalese folklore there is saying as ‘gal pelena boru’, similar to the saying ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’. This seems to suggests that when people say lies loudly even the stones can break. Nobody has seen stones breaking due to sound, but I have seen fish as big as a cat, about 12 inch long, that had fallen to the land we lived when I was about five years old. In a place called Dimbulagala on top a hill which is very difficult to reach there is a rock inscription etched on a rock, that was discovered about two years ago. The belief is that the ancient people who lived circa 3rd century BC split a rock by some means and recorded a certain important event that took place at that time. The name of a son of king Porus (or a grandson) by the name Mutasiva is mentioned in the inscription which is about 50ft long and 10ft high. Incidentally the tittle of the book the Sri Lankan researcher donated to me contained ‘Mutasiva’. The researcher/author of the book was the principal of a prominent secondary school in the heart of Colombo where my wife was a teacher in late 80s. I do not know whether he is living or dead, but I know I have doing justice to him because theme in his book was this ‘Mutasiva’ and Ionian connection.
Why did those ancient people select that rock in that particular place which was difficult to reach. It seems there are no any other ruins nearby except to say that the water supply to that area (perhaps to the nearby town) was done by so and so mentioned in the inscription. Perhaps before doing the actual job of writing the text, they would have calculated what length and width is required and looked for a suitable rock. And they found the one at that difficult place. It is now known that sound waves can be amplified until it is big enough to break something. This is similar to cutting metal sheets very accurately using light, as in the case of laser cutters. What happens in laser cutter is a laser beam is sent back and forth within a small cylindrical Ruby between its faces until it gains enough strength due to resonance and burst out to cut the metal. For this to happen it is important to get the size of the ruby and the frequency of light right. So, in the same way the frequency of sound wave, its strength (amplitude) that can be gained by resonance (which is determined by the size of the rock) has to be calculated. What a ‘hightech’ solution that has been forgotten?.
It has been discovered that sound waves (in addition to chemicals) in the form of music have the ability to help us in our capacity to self-clean the brain cells that gets clogged over time, thereby enhancing memory (that is to alleviate problems like Alzheimer’s disease etc.). Maybe even ‘Pirith’ chanting by pious monks must be helping us in the process to detoxify and clear the clogged cells in our brains. Similar things must be happening in other religions too, in their localities.
Our ancients knew the effect of drumming on making clouds to deliver rain. I think the locals still practice this method, though it is debatable how effective it is today. I think some Europeans know that we have some idea about clouds and rain. When I was supervising a road project as the Resident Engineer in West Africa, one morning I was discussing with the Italian project manager whether we should go ahead with concrete work of a certain structure. We saw the sky was overcast but the shape of the clouds told me that it will not rain. Then he said, yes, you people from the east have more knowledge than us and decided to go ahead. I had similar experience with an English guy who was the project manager of another one. They were not referring to my personal experience in particular but to the knowledge of Easterners.
As usual I wind up my writing with some songs our viewers would enjoy:
It looks like that it’s not only our people who are habitual liars. Did this former nurse gave up the job because of lies and become a successful singer?:
Andrea Burg singing ‘Du hast mich tausendmal belogen…’ (you have told me thousand lies, to whom can I tell my feelings)
The next one from Fantasy duo Martin and Fredi on ‘ein weisses boot’ (a white boat)
The white colour (or waishaya warna) can hide all blemishes in a boat (like many other ugly warts in body) to give a nice appearance and blue water in the sea is inspirational. Sea water is slightly alkaline and is like a large battery storing and giving back energy in various forms. This is the reason we must not discharge acids from various industries like chip making and make it acidic:
Finally, I give a song from an all-time favourite Engelbert Humperdinck, the Chennai born singer who got poplar only after becoming an ‘Angel bird’. Please listen to his rendition of ‘Le Bicyclette de Belsize’, an absolute beauty, to my mind.
By the way, listening to songs from singers like Englebert, Elton John, Tom Johs, etc who do not have heavy accents help us to speak English with lyrics in current usage with the same rhythm. This helps us to communicate more easily with foreigners. I have seen some of our senior academics mispronouncing simple words in public meetings. I believe our Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation doing a great service by keeping us up to date. I was listening to their service from Central Nigeria, when I worked there.
Geneva, 19 May 2025: Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), the global media safety and rights body, expressed shock over the murder of another Indian journalist and demanded justice for the bereaved family of Dharmendra Singh Chauhan. The Haryana-based media person, who was associated with online media outlet named Fast News India, was shot at by the miscreants on 18 May and later succumbed to injuries in a Gurugram hospital in the night hours. Chauhan, who lived in Luhari village under Jhajjar district, was targeted as he went for a walk after his dinner.
We condemn the murder of Dharmendra Singh Chauhan, who becomes the 64th journalist-victim across the world to be assassinated this year till date, and demands a fair probe to nab the culprits. PEC also urges Haryana province government chief Nayab Singh Saini to take personal interest in resolving the case and extend adequate compensation to the bereaved family,” said Blaise Lempen, president of PEC (https://www.pressemblem.ch/pec-news). Meanwhile, PEC’s south and southeast Asia representative Nava Thakuria informed that India earlier lost three journalists (Mukesh Chandrakar, Raghavendra Vajpayee and Sahadev Dey) to assailants since 1 January this year.
Governments in the past – from Dudley Senanayake (1965 – 1970) to Gotabhaya Rajapaksha (2019 – 2022) introduced National Programs of gigantic nature. All of them ended in failure.
Why?
They failed to carry people with them.
One program that was successful to an extent was Mrs Sirima Bandaranaike’s ‘Grow More Food Campaign’ (1972 – 1976). That government somewhat forcibly enforced the Program on people. School children played a prominent role in it – actively growing manioc, chillies, sorghum and many crops in school yards (the playgrounds were untouched).
The upshot was that the country became self-sufficient in almost every essential food item. By the end of that government, say by 1976, the country had stopped importing all foods that can be grown locally. JR came (in 1977) and opened up the flood gates – every item from – sugar, rice to the hairpin was imported. The trend continues to this date, in very big scale. JR’s Open Market economy killed the local agriculture and industries.
JR’s Gamudawa and Mahaveli can also be considered somewhat successful National Programs but they did not require people’s active input/participation to make them successful.
On 1 January 2025 this government commenced the ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ program with a big bash. Some luminaries attended the grand function. It was an invitee only event. The Common man – ordinary mothers and fathers who are supposed to do the cleaning were absent. The opposition blamed that the government spent Rs 70 – 80 lakhs for the event.
Where are those luminaries today? In actual ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ events they are not to be seen. An article published in Lankaweb on 4 January 2025 by this writer emphasised that the President and his Ministers must actively participate in ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ events. Has this really happened? The public have witnessed many NPP Ministers and MPs leaving their traditional attire and switching to Western tie/coat, trousers. They are in no real mood to do cleaning.
Today less than 6 months after the introduction, not only the masses but the government itself seems to have lost interest in the program.
Is ‘Clean Sri Lanka‘ slowly dying down?
From the beginning the government messed up the scheme. It stated that ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ means not just cleaning of the environment but it is about almost everything that the government does.
Only a strange person would adopt such a policy. According to the government ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ encompasses government’s almost every activity – cleaning of the environment, society, economy, ethics etc. Clearly the government has mixed apples with oranges.
How can the government expect the public to actively participate in such a bizarre scheme?
Even after the recent Ramboda bus tragedy, the government stated that ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ will fix future such incidents. No, they should be fixed by the government’s road and transport policies.
Overall, Sri Lanka is an extremely unclean country. Most of our sea, beaches, internal waterways, roads/street gutters, public toilets, train/bus stations are extremely unclean.
Most public and private sector buildings need a facelift. There is too much use of plastic and polythene; also there are too many hoardings/billboards. Tuition masters are big time culprits; they pollute the environment with big cut outs/advertisements.
People dump garbage everywhere. Public spitting of betel chew must be halted immediately. Colombo’s streets and pavements are full of betel chew spit. Those who walk on them barefoot could get sick. At schools good habits/hygiene, patriotism are not taught enough.
Most private restaurants, eateries, schools, public hospitals need a good clean up and once cleanliness is established that must be maintained.
In such context, it is a fantastic idea for the government to start a National Program to mobilise people to clean up the country.
It must be a massive people’s movement. Every citizen possible must have been absorbed in to it. Also, it must be an ongoing Movement.
But, that momentum was not created from the beginning.
AKD had enormous public support and affection in January in 2025. Is it there now? Doubtful.
if AKD then called, people would have come in droves. When Gotabhaya won, thousands of young people turned up voluntarily to draw beautiful artwork on public walls. The public cheered at them. That was a spontaneous action by the populous.
True, cleaning has been done by ‘Clean Sri Lanka’. But by whom? Government servants through various Shramadanas, tri-forces personnel, Police and Civil Defence Force. For what they do, they receive wages and perks from the government (paid for by the taxpayer). ‘Clean Sri Lanka’ should be much more than this – where is people’s involvement/participation?
True, some in the private sector and NGOs/individuals have done cleaning, this is good. But, what is required is a massive scale people’s involvement/participation.
The government’s fault – the need to clean up the country and its urgency was not embedded into people’s psyche. Even now, people are unaware that they must be a part and parcel of the program. Everybody wants somebody else to do the hard yards. Sirimavo marketed her campaign well using the then available media. Thus, it succeeded.
The fact that there has not been mass scale people’s involvement in the project is the ‘Clean Sri Lanka’s biggest drawback.
Let us hope that the government realises this shortcoming and do things to rectify it. Ordinary mothers, fathers, young children must participate en mass. This must happen island wide.
In his 4 January 2025 article the writer suggested the following:
For the program to succeed, the President must declare that every first Saturday of the month is the ‘Clean Sri Lanka Community Clean Up Day’, from 8 am to 11 am. All vehicular traffic must be stopped for those 3 hours.
All Sri Lankans aged 18 to 65 must participate. Those who are medically unfit must be excused.
As people are clever at dodging, the participation of each adult must be made compulsory. Those who abscond must be subject to a severe fine.
But, if the government wants to do it purely on voluntary basis, then the mass involvement of people through ‘Shramadana’ is the best way. The late Dr A.T. Ariyarathne’s Shramadana movement of the 60s and 70s come to mind. It was so successful. This 2nd method is not good and effective as the 1st.”
It seems the government failed to heed to the writer’s suggestion.
The government went on the traditional pathway that all previous governments had done and failed – entrusting the work to the public servants, without people’s participation.
Paul Kagame has turned Rwanda into one of the cleanest countries not just in Africa but in the whole world. There, they have a monthly ‘Clean Up Rwanda Day’ where the country’s total population participates. Paul Kagame himself, his Ministers, high officials turn up on the last Saturday morning of every month to participate in the clean-up program.
But, all is not too late. As stated before, the government can still rectify and bounce back. The need to clean Sri Lanka is imminent; that cannot be compromised.
The Writer, an International Lawyer, was the Principal Barrister & Solicitor of a leading Australian law practice for a very long period of time.
NDB Bank is honoured to extend its support towards a deeply humanitarian initiative led by the Sri Lanka Amarapura & Ramanya Samagi Union to aid victims affected by the recent devastating earthquake in the Kingdom of Myanmar and parts of Thailand. This natural disaster has claimed numerous lives and left thousands displaced, including members of the monastic community and the general public, while severely damaging homes, temples, and essential infrastructure.
Recognising the urgent need for assistance, NDB Bank contributed support for this relief mission, aligning with the Bank’s strong commitment to social responsibility and compassion during times of crisis. The initiative, organized under the guidance of the Most Venerable Mahanayaka Theros, seeks to provide vital support to communities in Myanmar through the distribution of essential supplies.
Commenting on the Bank’s involvement, Kelum Edirisinghe, CEO of NDB Bank stated, As a responsible corporate citizen, we believe in standing with communities in moments of great need. Our support for the Myanmar Disaster Relief effort reflects our unwavering commitment to humanitarian causes that transcend borders. We are grateful to partner with the Sri Lanka Amarapura & Ramanya Samagi Union and applaud their compassion and diligence in leading this noble initiative.”
The relief programme includes the provision of essential items such as first aid kits, milk powder, canned food, solar lighting, generators, and temporary tents, as well as other necessary resources for rebuilding daily life. These contributions aim to alleviate the hardships faced by the affected communities and help them recover with dignity and strength.
NDB Bank remains steadfast in its mission to empower lives—not only through financial services, but also through meaningful acts of kindness and solidarity. As the Bank continues to support impactful initiatives across the region, it reaffirms its commitment to creating lasting, positive change for communities in need.
Released to Colombo Stock Exchange on: 14 May 2025
NDB pre-tax profits surge by 118% to Rs. 4.0 Bn. Marks strong start for the year.
Post-tax profitability of Rs. 1.9 Bn up by 168%
ROE of 10.03%
Total assets growth of 7% to Rs. 852.4 Bn
Healthy growth in loan book of 5% to Rs. 535.2 Bn stemming from all business sectors
CASA ratio improvement by 91 bps to 25.82%
National Development Bank PLC (NDB/the Bank) recently released its financial results for the three months ended 31 March 2025 (1Q 2025) to the Colombo Stock Exchange, reflecting solid growth in line with the revival of economic activity and rising private sector credit demand.
Commenting on the 1Q 2025 performance, Director/Chief Executive Officer Mr. Kelum Edirisinghe stated, We made a strong start to the year, following the highest-ever profit recorded in the Bank’s history in 2024. Guided by our priorities, we have devised bold, actionable plans to unlock greater potential and accelerate our strategic growth agenda for 2025 and beyond. Our aim is to make an impactful contribution to the country’s economic growth, provide superior service to our clients, deliver sustainable returns, and enhance shareholder value.
We are seeing renewed demand for credit as our customers regain financial momentum in an improving economic environment. NDB is well-positioned to serve our clientele with simpler, smarter, and more agile banking solutions, blending expert product advisory, digital convenience, and exceptional customer care to deliver a truly rewarding banking experience”, he further noted.
Income and Profitability Analysis
Total operating income of the Bank, for the three months ended 31 March 2025 (period under review) grew by 5% over the same period in 2024 (year-on-year/ YoY) to Rs. 10.6 Bn. Net interest income (NII), the majority contributor to total operating income was Rs. 8.0 Bn, which declined marginally by 1% YoY. The decline was predominantly attributable to the lower interest rates that prevailed during the period under review versus one year ago, which approximated 270 bps less on a monthly AWPR basis. Timely repricing of the deposit book, strategic focus on optimizing the asset mix to improve yields and enhancing funding efficiency enabled NII preservation, thereby reducing pressure on Net interest margin (NIM). The resultant NIM for 1Q 2025 was 3.92%. Net fee and commission income for the period was Rs. 1.8 Bn, again a marginal decline of 2% YoY. Whilst fee income from credit and debit cards slowed, income from alternative channels including electronic transactions and operational services showed positive YoY growth. All other income categories netted Rs. 842.4 Mn, a considerable growth over the comparative quarter which bolstered total operating income.
In terms of impairment, the Bank recorded a total impairment charge of Rs. 2.6 Bn, a significant reduction of 40% over the corresponding period of the last year. Additionally, the Bank recorded a reversal of Rs. 457.5 Mn related to the unwinding of the Day One Loss of debt restructuring in 1Q 2025. The impairment charge on loans and advances for 1Q 2025 saw a 22% reduction YoY. It is also encouraging to note that the staging of credit facilities has improved compared to the comparative quarter of the prior year, demonstrating the results of focused asset quality enhancement initiatives deployed by the Bank. Impaired loans (Stage 3) to Total loans ratio closed in at 5.53% (2024: 5.18%) whilst Impairment (Stage 3) to Stage 3 loans ratio was 53.26% (2024: 54.48%).
The Bank incurred total operating expenses netting Rs. 4.4 Bn for 1Q 2025 reflecting a 13% YoY increase. This increase was primarily attributed to increase in premises and establishment expenses and other operating expenses. Strong cost discipline and effective cost management have kept costs within expected levels.
The resultant Profit before tax was Rs. 4.0 Bn, an increase of 118% YoY. Taxes on financial services and income tax netted Rs. 2.1 Bn, resulting in a Profit after tax of Rs. 1.9 Bn, a YoY growth of 168%.
Balance Sheet Performance, Capital Adequacy and Liquidity
Balance sheet posted robust growth during 1Q 2025, growing by 7% from the end 2024 position (year-to-date/YTD) to Rs. 852.4 Bn. This is the highest balance sheet growth the Bank posted since consecutive quarters of growth curtailed at 2% or below, signaling robust growth for the period ahead. Gross loans grew by 5% or Rs. 25.4 Bn YTD, to Rs. 535.2 Bn reflecting broad-based momentum across all business segments. The local currency loan book grew by Rs. 16.9 Bn within this growth.
Total deposits grew by 2% or Rs. 10.6 Bn YTD to Rs. 642.3 Bn, mainly driven by volume growth of the local currency deposit book by Rs. 9.1 Bn during the three months under review. The Bank’s CASA ratio also improved by 91 bps to 25.82% at the end of first quarter of 2025 from 24.91% at the end 2024. The CASA base increased by Rs. 8.5 Bn, a 5% growth during 1Q 2025. The improving trend in the CASA ratio is a result of dedicated strategic initiatives deployed in this regard. The total equity base of the Bank was Rs. 76.8 Bn.
Denoting sound capital adequacy, Tier I and Total capital adequacy of the Bank stood at 12.16% and 16.95%, 366 bps and 445 bps above the minimum requirement respectively. Regulatory Liquidity coverage ratio (Rupee), Liquidity coverage ratio (All Currency) and Net stable funding ratio stood well above the regulatory minimum requirement of 100% at 392.64%, 341.38% and 133.22% respectively.
Investor KPIs
Return on average equity was 10.03% (2024:12.22%) whilst Earnings per share was Rs. 18.18 (2024: Rs. 21.73). Respective ratios at the Group level were 10.19% (2024: 12.46%) and Rs. 19.70 (2024: Rs.23.57). Bank pre-tax return on average assets was 1.92% (2024: 3.09%). Net asset value per share was Rs. 180.29 (2024: Rs. 186.91) and compared with a closing share price of Rs. 107.00. Group net asset value per share was Rs. 192.53 (2024: Rs. 199.13).
Outlook
As the Sri Lankan economy charts a path toward recovery, NDB remains deeply aligned with the nation’s growth ambitions, committed to unlocking prosperity for all Sri Lankans. With a legacy in development financing and a track record of standing by our citizens through every economic cycle, we are well-positioned to drive a future of smart growth. Through our robust product portfolio and strong integration of ESG principles, we aim to create sustainable value, fostering a thriving, resilient economy while delivering lasting benefits to our customers, shareholders, and communities.
US, UK sanctions effectively prevented me from travelling to other countries as well”
Former GOC of the 58 Division General Shavendra Silva yesterday (18) found fault with successive governments since 2009 for failing to counter unsubstantiated war crimes accusations. The failure on the part of them led to punitive international measures against senior officers who spearheaded the offensive against the LTTE, the Gajaba veteran said.
Appearing on Derana 24/7 with Chathura Alwis, the former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) declared his angst at the country’s failure at political level to address the issues at hand. The most decorated soldier was commenting on the 16th anniversary of the eradication of the LTTE’s conventional military capacity.
Sri Lanka brought the war to a successful conclusion on May 18, 2009, by bringing the entire northern province under government control. LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed in the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon on the following morning.
Referring to the US travel ban imposed on him, his wife and two daughters in February 2020 and the British sanctions declared in March this year, Gen. Silva said the US and British action had effectively restricted his overseas travel to south Asia.
The UK sanctioned Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda, former Army Commander Jagath Jayasuriya as well as former LTTE battlefield commander Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna.
Gen. Silva highlighted the protests carried out by pro-LTTE activists in London in February this year targeting Yohani de Silva whose father served as the GOC of 55 Division engaged in the Vanni offensive.
The protest was organised by the Tamil Youth Organisation of the UK.
Responding to another query, Gen. Silva, in his first interview since retirement as CDS on Dec 31, 2024, said that GoCs Gen Jagath Dias (57 Division), Gen. Kamal Gunaratne (53 Division), Maj. Gen. Nandana Udawatte (59 Division), Maj. Gen. Prasanna de Silva (55 Division) and Chagie Gallage as well as those who commanded Task Forces faced punitive international action.
Gen. Silva’s retirement coincided with the abolition of the Office of CDS by the NPP government.
At the onset of the interview, Gen. Silva strongly emphasised the need to celebrate the eradication of terrorism and liberation of the people. The outspoken ex-soldier said that the armed forces and police paid a very heavy price to bring the war to an end, a war that many believed couldn’t be brought to a successful conclusion. Gen. Silva pointed out the absurdity in doing away with military celebration as Sri Lanka still marks the end of WW I and WW 11.
On behalf of all Division and Task Force commanders on the northern front, I take this opportunity to thank officers and men and families of those who paid the supreme sacrifice and the wounded.
Gen. Silva asserted that the armed forces as a whole suffered as a result of their failure to conduct post-war examination of operations undertaken by fighting formations deprived of the opportunity to correctly establish their roles. The former Army Commander said that the other countries always undertook such examinations immediately after the end of operations.
Gen. Silva said that since the end of war the country never made an honest attempt to record the events thereby setting the record straight.
The Yahapalana government co-sponsored the US accountability resolution against the war-winning armed forces in Oct 2015.
Gen. Silva explained that failure on the part of political and military leaderships to reach consensus on a common narrative contributed to the growing international pressure on the country.
Appreciating the NPP government summoning Canadian High Commissioner Eric Walsh over the recent unveiling of so-called Tamil genocide memorial in Ontario, Gen. Silva said that before his retirement he briefed President Anura Kumara Dissanayake regarding the challenges faced on the Geneva front.President Dissanayake promised to look into this matter and take appropriate measures, Gen. Silva said. I believe the President as promised will address the issues at hand.”
‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’
e-Con e-News 11-17 May 2025
India is allegedly attempting to prevent the economic advance of Hambantota Port as a node for Sri Lanka’s industrial renaissance (see ee Random Notes). This blockading makes this ee recall SBD de Silva’s signalling of the vast difference between the ports in the settler states (USA, Canada, Australia, etc., but not only them) and in the non-settler colonies like ours. Sri Lanka’s ports are stunted, as:
‘Depots for the storage & transfer of goods
and administrative, commercial & financial
centres; they were not nodes of production’
*
In the settler states, however, such as in French-settled Algeria:
‘The differentiation in port facilities & services led to
the use of specialized equipment for the handling &
storage of minerals (petroleum, coal, etc.), of grain
elevators, wine banks connected by pipelines to the
ships, and food-packaging & food-freezing plants.’
– SBD de Silva, ThePolitical Economy of Underdevelopment
*
An allegedly besieged Denmark has hurried to Colombo, their ambassadorto Sri Lanka Rasmus Abildgaard Kristensen, who is housed in India. Apparently unperturbed about his country’s largest colony Greenland being grabbed by the USA – he flew in to sing (we’re told, see ee Business) the praises of their capitalist bootprints in Sri Lanka (eg, that horrible chemical cocktail called Sunquick – whose labels sport fake fruit to mislead drinkers) and shipping monopoly AP Moller-Maersk.
We were not told what his corporate backers or his hosts think, about last week’s opening of a modernized Vizhinjam Port in nearby Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Chatter about the port, only mentions the role of India’s Adani Group, but not the role played by such traditional ‘shipping’ conglomerates as P&O: England’s colonial Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company, has long controlled shipping in this country (now through their so-called ‘local’ conglomerates, Keells, etc.), and the role of sludge funders like US BlackRock (which has replaced Goldman Sachs in the anarchist pandemonium). P&O allegedly funded the relentless media attack on the port of Hambantota.
The latest attack on Hambantota is directed at Sinopec’s oil refinery project. This again recalls SBD de Silva’s thesis on the differences in the choices settler & non-settler colonies make. The strategic commodities a country chooses to prioritize & produce, can not only just enable the production of the most advanced technological methods (though certain modern products may be made in less-advanced ways). What is most important to de Silva, is how this strategic choice leads to an escalating manufacture of other commodities: ‘One Thing Leads to Another’. But first, in anticipation about what imperialism sends by post:
*
‘The US will send letters within the next 2 to 3 weeks to
trading partners setting out a tariff decision as it was not possible
to meet all the countries, President Donald Trump said.’
(see ee Economy, Letters)
*
‘Even though industrial policy may have been the more
dominant consideration for the imposition of para-tariffs
in the early years of their use, fiscal (revenue) implications
have become a key factor in the continued existence of such tariffs.’
– Anushka Wijesinha, Senith Abeynayake (see ee Economists,
Priority trade & competitiveness reforms for SL)
*
The hijacked Institute for Policy Studies (IPS)’s Wijesinha & Abeynayake are being coy. ‘Industrial policy’ has rarely been the ‘moredominant consideration’. Really? It has been sabotaged, misled, if not misunderstood. Take US President Trump’s advertized wishes to impose tariffs on our much-deified exports. One overly celebrated export is the garment fraud. There is never-ending praise for the ‘Garment’ which even became a synonym for ‘factory’ in Sinhala. We don’t know of Japan’s Mr Juki (which rhymes with quicky), but his sewing machines that filled those larger halls around the country evoked yet other epithets for the young women recruited to toil there. There was no advancement of the skills they had earlier deployed in their more-modest homes. The pins & needles, the thread & textiles, the resins & the dyes, the largely low-tech machinery, the assembly lines, the cars that transport the egos of their ‘executive’ mimic men, and the lorries that convey their goods, the ships & the planes – are not made here, and are all imported.
How much of the IPR – Intellectual Property Rights (patent, copyright, royalty) – payments in the garment fraud go to London & New York, the historical bases of the ‘rag trade’? This, we are not told. Are all these inputs and royalties calculated into Mr Trump’s AI computations of tariffs? Apparently. But sometimes. Only if these inputs come from their current friends and not their enemies.
Indeed, as SBD oft quipped, if Sri Lanka was turned into one large garment factory, one grand ‘oriental’ hotel, one big ‘ye olde’ tea plantation (named with an evocative Scottish brogue), we would not need to have schools & universities. Close them down. No need.
Yet someone has to teach the English, English. About their history, and teach Idaho, etc, too. Someone has to teach by word or by example, teach the US and European working classes that it is we (not all of us) who through 500 years of invasion and genocide have been dismembered, murdered, and most importantly ‘ripped-off’. And no amount of media erasure & bloviating by artful real-estate dealers can efface that memory. And yet they try.
*
Continuing to excerpt SBD de Silva’s exposure of the changes made in settler states, this ee Focus looks at differences in the Mahgrebin nations of Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and the roles of the white settlers & expatriates there. He highlights the ‘phenomenal’ input of labor per hectare in settler agriculture, vs the dire impoverishment of ‘native’ agriculture. Settlers created and focused on building their national ‘home’ markets, closely integrating industry with agriculture.
Settlers & Tariffs – Settler states also used the revenue from tariffs, not to pay salaries or play the stock market, but to invest in modern industry to upgrade the lives of white settlers. Whereas they relegated the darker ‘natives’ in their ‘dominions’ to a backward form of agriculture: plantations that were non-mechanized, and an agriculture that was non-monetized and non-commercialized.
SBD also examined the purported exceptions to his thesis on differences in development: This ee focuses on the fabulous & besieged Congo, where the entry of settlers was regulated, and there were relatively fewer white people. He then goes on to show how copper processing, unlike even iron & steel, led to phenomenal other fields:
*
‘The specific character of themining operations in the Congo
gave the economy a dynamism of its own. First, these operations,
especially the reduction of copper ore before smelting, are far
more complex than those for many other metals, including iron
& steel, and they released a long line of products which were
the basis of separate industries – eg, explosives, sulphuric acid,
ferrous & ferric sulphates, soda & pyrestrol, industrial glycerine,
Belgium, subject to a lot of propaganda about the horrors of English Victoria’s cousin Leopold, actually ended up creating an advanced African working class, who then it, along with the US, had to conspire to destroy. All this is recorded in SBD de Silva’s excerpt.
As long recalled, if any autobiography would be written about SBD (not of his personal life, but of his dedication to a finest scholarship & method, anywhere), such a book should be called, One Thing Leads to Another – his favorite phrase to describe what real industrialization means. Its coinage is attributed to the US’ Albert Hirschman, who himself attributed the idea to Canada’s Harold Innis, the first to describe the role of Canada’s fur trade & the role played by what he called ‘Staple Base Dynamism’ (SBD!) in that country’s industrial modernization: how wheat was made into flour & bread & cakes, etc, and grains into sources of energy. Yes, Staple Base Dynamism, yes, SBD! SBD de Silva, who provides a great example of ‘One Thing Leading to Another’…
*
• On 27 May 1970, led by Sirimavo Bandaranaike, a United Front government, comprising the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the Communist Party of (then) Ceylon (now, CPSL), won a landslide victory. Short of just one year, on 5 April 1971, the JVP launched an ‘insurrection’. This led to not just repression, but the need for land and housing reform. That eventually led to a split in the government. This ‘split’ was certainly fueled by larger international forces such as a dramatic rise in the price of oil (blamed on OPEC – Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) and a food crisis that led to shortages – not to mention US-funded destabilization. The attempt to industrialize the country was undermined by a misunderstanding of the challenges involved. This included sabotage by merchants, who engaged in massive smuggling to both undermine industrial policies and accumulate vast profits.
These very same merchants who benefited from these changes (they were too shy to thank the positive policies of that government) then went on to usher in the so-called ‘Open Economy’ led by JR Jayawardena’s United National Party, that opened the country up to consumer imports and the destruction of much of any local industries. The UNP then released the remaining leadership of the JVP, and when it could not fulfil the needs of another generation for fitting employment, then graduated to annihilating the JVP, both of whom went on to dismembering and massacring, not just each other. The large corporations carried on, suffering little of the consequences they are ultimately responsible for. For they have in the meantime suborned the entire wealth of the nation, which they instead blame on sundry ‘native’ politicians wearing ‘national’. Such experiences led SBD de Silva to conclude that industrialization required not just economic and political but also military strategies. The so-called drug dealers & smugglers, after all, can inevitably be traced to the large corporations that control the entry into and egress out of the ports of the country.
Will the JVP have to relive its own past, its karumaya? Europe’s ‘Establishment’ we learn, has developed expertise in ‘domesticating’ the ‘populism’ of Lefts & Rights. Just a few weeks after the announcement of a company to produce salt – Elephant Pass Salt! What a winning name! – the Minister of Industries now declares they will import salt to deal with scarcities. The importers must have gone into high gear against the threat of a good example. Yet, did the JVP not gauge the scale of production needed? Are these merely PR pronouncements about good intentions – virtue signaling? Did they not gauge the nature of our import merchant mafioso and take active measures to prevent scarcity? These are the bittersweet lessons to be learned, not just from the ‘70-76 government, which everybody seems to have had a role in undermining.
Then there is the more recent obvious and blatant example of the Gotabhaya Rajapakse government 2019-22, of a crew and its captain apparently taken by surprise, again unaware or unable to challenge our pirate merchant overrulers and their MNC backers, who would go to any length to easily create scarcities and havoc to topple any government, frightened by the idea of a state that claims to cater to a majority. Some blame GR’s propensity to join up with largely anti-worker intellectuals – so-called professionals & experts. Yet who could have been prescient enough to foresee and challenge the effects of the nature and level of the biological warfare (2020 Corona) waged on China, simultaneous with the US war on Russia via Ukraine? Can we just keep blaming leaders for failing to see the urgency or the need for creating a strong state that would first ensure a minimum of food, fuel, pharma, finance production security, like what England enacted to maintain its power here during their World War 2?
After over 50 years of ‘struggle’ and annihilations and other lessons learned, why did the JVP not gather the dedicated workers in these salterns, pre- & post-privatization, retired and existing, and combine them with our salt scholars and security officials to ‘map’ out a strategy to outmanoeuvre and quell these merchants… Industrialization, indeed, requires a political, economic and military strategy, as SBD concluded.
*
• What exactly is corruption? Is it such a horrible crime as the media says it is? Or is corruption inevitable in a merchant society where primacy is determined by the grabbing or gaining of a state-licensed monopoly to hide the price of some national asset by buying it at one shadowy location and selling it at another for a higher price? Is commerce, ‘generally cheating’, as that US luminary, media and slave owner Benjamin Franklin concluded (and who Marx quoted in Capital. Why has not any newspaper (we can understand the Sunday Times not wishing to) seen fit to investigate the Times own ‘investigative’ journalist being given an award by a Trump government that just ‘issued an Executive Order that suspended the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for 180 days, giving an all clear to US corporations to bribe officials in foreign countries to get business deals approved’? Comedy?
Then there is the revelation about the ‘publisher’ of the USA’s Organized Crime & Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), fearless ‘exposer’ of the names in the Panama Papers, suggesting that ‘journalism organizations’ disguise their funding by ‘sensitive donors’. Drew Sullivan told the International Journalism Festival ’25 in mafia-friendly Perugia, Italy, that ‘journalistic organizations’ should ‘launder money legally’ to protect donors’ identities!
This comes one month after OCCRP successfully sued the US government to restore its frozen USAID funding… Ahem! There’s many a social-media outrage-ifier who may not wish to get outraged by their use of OCCRP’s supposed exposures of stolen moneys. But the problem is all this deliberately avoids the larger corruption, the original sin itself – the legalized private capture of the country’s natural and living resources, which refuses to invest in employing and treating our people with dignity. This week saw the usual cover-up of the mass murder on the roads, with the murderers themselves, which includes the media, shedding copious alligator tears.
*
‘Reasons are plenty; disregard for road rules & traffic
regulations, excessive speed, driver possibly being under the
influence of alcohol/drugs, overcrowding, poor vehicle maintenance,
insanitary conditions, sexual harassment and not being on
– Daily Mirror (see ee Workers, Bus journeys that whisper death!)
Ms Bloomberger forgets to ask who sets the rhythm for such frenetic folly. English law until recently declared train & road accidents in Sri Lanka as ‘acts of god’. Hooray for Ashok Leyland! Is it their god that sets the pace, the rush to gain Rs30 from a passenger at the next bus stop before another bus gets there? Blame has been heaped on transport workers, ignoring the role of such luminaries as the World Bank & IMF ever pushing for privatization, Japan, the import lobby & the banks that invest in them, plus the officials & politicians who have enabled the horror. SBD de Silva often asked, how it is that the capitalist who may wish to have their workers full of energy when they enter the factory gates, sees more profit in tiring them out before getting them in there?
This ee also continues the jaded peek into the origins of the world’s biggest capitalist political machine, the secretive Tammany Society and its public stage, Tammany Hall. This story tracks the private capture of public power & resources in New York City (& its state government & the USA itself). The details are adapted from Gustave Myer’s History of Tammany Hall. The book reads like a detective crime novel, packed with a huge cast (a minority, really) of criminals, mainly politicians, with their power in banks, commerce or the ‘common’ people. But, are they the real criminals?
This excerpt looks at the role played by the US judiciary – judges, police, jailers – in fixing elections. A highly organized art & science it is.
Myers wrote in the tradition of the ‘muckrakers – as US President Theodore Roosevelt insulted those supposedly ‘independent’ journalists & novelists, Ida Tarbell (Rockefeller’s Standard Oil), Upton Sinclair (Chicago’s meat-packing industry), all influenced by Marx & Engels’ work and the growth of the scientific socialist movement) – who yet managed to find publishers to spread their diggings up of ‘the dirt’ on the undersides of capitalism, US-style, by focusing on one particular family or business.
Myers was an early investigator of capitalist life, in such classics as: History of Public Franchises in New York City (1900); History of the Great American Fortunes. 3 vols. (1909-36); History of the Supreme Court of the US (1912); History of Canadian Wealth (1914), ‘A Study of the Causes of Industrial Accidents,’ Journal of theAmerican Statistical Association 14 (1915), etc. He had difficulty finding publishers, eventually settling on the cooperative that first published Marx’s Capital in English in the USA.
In his 1972 introduction to the 1917 edition of A History of Canadian Wealth (1917), the Canadian Communist Stanley Brehaut Ryerson noted the shortcomings of the muckrakers’ and Myers’ analyses, in particular, what propelled Myers to becoming an open imperialist in later life. While Ryerson notes Myers’ exemplary role in investigating capitalism’s workings. Myers’ major problem was his empiricist focus on corruption (naming names & the crimes behind their fortunes) as the root of all evil, to the exclusion of deeper analyses, of the collective capitalist. Analysing production, or the gaining of fortune, by excluding production:
‘With the coming of the 19th century, ‘The dominant class…
were the mercantile & shipping merchants…’ – precursors
of the ‘trading & sundry other men of capital’ who set about
obtaining (from governments largely made up of themselves)
railway charters that conferred vast & elastic
‘privileges & powers, immunities & rights.’
*
Yet, Ryerson adds: ‘corruption and the suborning of the state for the private enrichment of elites has been the constant corollary of ‘free enterprise’ since its inception’. Ryerson quotes Friedrich Engels’ remarks, that in the bourgeois-democratic state (whether republic or constitutional monarchy):
‘Wealth exercises its power indirectly,but all the more
surely. On the one hand, in the form of the direct
corruption of officials, of which the USA provides
the classical example; on the other hand, in the form
of an alliance between government & Stock Exchange,
which becomes the easier to achieve the more the public
debt increases & the more joint-stock companies concentrate
in their hands not only transport but also production itself.’
(Engels, The Origins of Family, Private Property & the State, 1884)
*
So, it is not only the who & where but how the nation’s wealth is produced socially by millions and hijacked for private enrichment through public misery. Yes, there is a ‘corruption’ of public officials, but as we have learned so well, yet it is we who supposedly owe them an ever-increasing debt, as capitalists concentrate their monopolies not only in ‘transport but also production itself enables an alliance between government and the stock-exchange,’ which forms the ‘basis for the state monopoly capitalism that was to emerge’ in the 20th century:
Myers’s handling of the workings of this process
is marked by both the enthralling ‘detective-story’
quality of the exposures – & a theoretical weakness.
Capitalism is not corruption alone…
*
Myers’ focus on the ‘designing men and corporations that by the adroit use of corrupt politics vested in themselves huge corporate privileges and powers and enormous wealth’, overshadows ‘the role of production, of productive labour as the well-spring of wealth’. All bribery and corruption, finally depend ‘on the extraction of surplus values from living labour’. It is the productive labour of workers and peasants, that has enabled the initial accumulation of capital and its subsequent self-expansion through re-invested profits. It is not just low wages but the extraction of capitalist profit, which does not profit the producer!
Instead, aspiring politicians find it more opportune to spew out names & numbers without naming or numbering of the hourly economic processes and political diversions by which the true national wealth is squandered. Ryerson concludes, it is common to both a primitive understanding of Marxism and an ‘economism’ that excises ‘entire areas of reality’ (see ee Random Notes).
*
– ComBank first private sector bank on cusp of Rs3trillion assets milestone
– Bank of Ceylon’s (BoC) records Rs30bn pre-tax profit in 1Q
– Hatton Bank (HNB) reports growth of 49% in Group Profit
– Sampath Bank reports net up 149% in March quarter
– Nations Trust Bank reports profits up 8%
These are headlines about banks (in Colombo, we won’t call them Sri Lankan banks), who are issuing their 1st quarter statements – 1Q25, aka ‘how we did in the first 3 months of this gregorian year’. All is wonderful – ‘robust’, ‘non-performing loans (NPLs) aka ‘bad loans’ cut down. Only the now privatized and former state bank DFCC is not so good – ‘bearish’:
DFCC net down 21-pct amid higher operating expenses – EconomyNext
And yet:
DFCC Bank delivers resilient, purpose-driven performance in Q1 – Financial Times
*
We have to read EconomyNext’s DFCC story to find out more about their depression: ‘Lower gross income’. This is a rather cryptic claim for yet another state institution freed into the exciting arms of ‘free enterprise’. But don’t worry, the balance sheets of the other banks read like the latest teledrama scripts – hot, ready to be dished out to ravenous audiences everywhere, ready if unwilling, to jump on the table and gorge in the orgy. But what performances, good & bad, have they performed for Sri Lanka? Why is DFCC income low at the box office? What did they lend, and for what?
*
SL investor confidence surges amidst global trade developments
or guaranteed returns, they lure investors into ventures
that frequently result in financial loss, regulatory
complications, or complete project failure’
– Sunday Times (see ee Finance)
*
So what’s a sucker to do? Then again, volatility is the name of the game. Disturbance. Again, what is the name of the game? A million or more words are printed as ‘news’ by the media in Sri Lanka every week. Most are clearly ‘photocopied’ or ‘duplicated’ press releases, ‘cut&pastes’ of the drivel churned out by the public-relations (PR) divisions of corporations or government departments, diversionary or hagiographic.
So, who shall judge the judges? Who shall police the police? The media loves to call itself a watchdog aka nursemaid of democracy. But there is no bow-wow, no bedside take-this&call-me-in-the-morning deeper analysis of these banks’ claims. Do the banks pay taxes for paying the media to print out this uncritical gloss? Do the media declare this as income, and pay taxes on it? Or is it all, summa iri sanksthava aka under-the-table? Why is there no comment or analysis of these pronouncements?
The media in Sri Lanka (we won’t call them Sri Lankan media) won’t tell, refuses to tell, and instead reproduces fairy banking tales, verbatim, and in bold. Their tales aka narratives aka stories are concocted by their cousins to whom they are joined at the hip in the PR shenanigans (we won’t call them an industry).
This week saw the Prime Minister seemingly begging for yet more attention for her signal virtue, by awarding the media monopoly Wijeya Newspapers’ Chief Operating Officer Janaka Rathnakumara with the Asian Productivity Office (APO) National Award for Productivity Advocates.
What is productivity? The news item refuses to share. The PM was joined by National Productivity Secretariat Director JD Niranja S Jayakodi, Industry & Entrepreneurship Development Minister Sunil Handunneththi, APO Secretary-General Indra Pradana Singawinata, and Industry & Entrepreneurship Development Ministry Secretary JM Thilaka Jayasundara. That’s quite an unproductive number at yet another unproductive awards ceremony (more on awards ceremonies later). This is the first time we have heard of this Secretariat. We are also unclear how the Wijeya folk promote productivity. And again, but what do they mean by it? Who is investing in productivity, and where & how?
How has the Commercial Bank of Ceylon (no, not that BoC, but its merchant cousin) made its trillions in profits? It is partly owned by the USA’s World Bank. Does Mr Trump know? Since they call themselves capitalists, what percentage of their investments was in capital formation, in production, and productive production? We know a lot of companies spend their time giving themselves awards and producing wonderful words, like our Prime Minister, who is in no danger of being assassinated or coup d’etated by those intrepid ‘De Sarams’, their relatives & the shadowy company & companies they keep, as long as she sticks to flowery words. She must well be aware about what happened to the world’s first woman PM, who took to the larger seas beyond Mount Lavinia Hotel, and had dared to call for an ocean of peace…
