King Sasanka – Sri Lankan Writer & Retired Aviation Professional.

I was trying to analysis as to why many of us (Sri Lankans) are not willing to embrace changes or look positively for completely overhauling of the present system of governance. On every occasion when the issue of changes was brought up in open forums and in Media as well as in friendly discussions, instead of having a dialogue of substances, many started hurling insults and misquoting many religious texts that neither they properly fathom nor practice or cultural baloney to scuttle the process. Those who behave in such a fashion can be categorized into four main groups, namely, 1. Frogs in the well. 2. Inadequacios’. 3. Feudalists. 4. Fast Track Dreamers. Frogs in the Well. My sympathies are with them because they are unaware that there is a different world exists beyond their hamlets. They are not necessarily peasants. Some of them are neither poor nor illiterate. Someone I know who is dirty rich but has never gone beyond the shores of Sri Lanka was confused and...

Like any other election in Sri Lanka, the presidential election is also getting uglier by the day. However, I am getting confused trying to keep track of the trends and swings, not because it’s getting uglier but because of some of the outlandish claims made by the ruling party. The first one is that if the main opponent comes to power, he will allow the defeated LTTE to rise up again, when everyone in Sri Lanka knows that the President barely made it to the winning line last time, only thanks to the LTTE’s refusal to allow Tamils to cast their votes freely. Rumours flew that the LTTE had acted in that manner to ensure his victory, and to add to that suspicion, a photograph appeared in the media not long ago, showing the grooming scion meeting with a well-known LTTE Diaspora member in one of the western countries that he and his cronies publicly despise. Another rumour now permeating is the way very large sums of money recovered from one of the notorious LTTE leaders now in captivity...

The much awaited presidential election in Sri Lanka is just a few days away but unfortunately we the migrant workers who are one of the highest foreign currency earners for the country’s coffer are left without a voice. All successive previous regimes have plundered most of the remittances, we earned by working in 50 plus Celsius degrees by spending them on many white elephant projects but never even considered giving us a voice, in return for our magnanimous contribution. We do not ask for permits to import luxury cars duty free to the country. Even if we ask it, I do not see there is anything wrong with it because many of the unproductive public sector employees, celebrities, sportsmen and many more (the list is too long to mention here) have already been granted this facility. The universal suffrage is something we Sri Lankans have been enjoying from early 1930s. All what we have been asking is to give the migrant work force also the voice but hitherto it has fallen in to deaf e...

Never in the history of any developing country has there been an opportunity to hand over the helm of the running of the country to a victorious and decorated soldier. In many instances, men in uniforms have taken over running countries, but the process of taking over was not democratic, nor were they victorious and decorated for what they have achieved on the military front. However, such instances can be found in the developed world (France & USA, to name a few). General Sarath Fonseka  has proven his mettle as a soldier serving the Sri Lankan Army for more than 40 years and led the country to victory on the military front over the terrorist group, The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a few months ago. Now he has relinquished his uniforms and the privileges accompanied by the title and has entered the presidential fray to take over the helm of running the country in a democratic way, putting his life in danger once more for the economic salvation of the land. Everybody ag...

Desecration or destroying a place of worship of any religion is sacrilegious. It is even more sacrilegious when a Cemetery is desecrated. What happened in the Auschwitz concentration camp yesterday is despicable. Whether it is a simple case of theft or politically motivated act, the authorities will have to find out soon. Many restored to such acts when they have miserably failed to prove their own hypothesises with hard facts than fictional ones. History cannot be obliterated or changed to propagate ones’ own political agendas by destroying or desecrating historical sites. Some historical facts are very stubborn and hard to swallow to many but unless you have learn to live with those facts and take guidance from the lessons learnt, then only they would be able to move forward in pursuit of whatever. But by opting to take the low road of vandalism, only exposes what you are really made of and the history would also not be very kind to such perpetrators too. Sasanka De Si...

Knowing the truth very well, neither Bush nor Karzai flinched. Maradona had the audacity to call it “Hand of God”. History is littered with such incidents in every spheres of life. So why call Thierry Henry as “Le Cheat”. The moral of the incident is “You cheat You will” and if you do not, then you are a looser. Stop calling people names. It is our own individual choice to decide to which camp you wanted to be belonged to.

The life sentence handed down yesterday in Canada on Desire Munyaneza for the war crimes he committed in Rwanda would, I am sure send a clear messages to many. After his killing spree, he went to Canada and sought political asylum and it was granted without any back ground checks. This is not a new phenomenon in Canada or in the west. Anyone who manages to reach their boarders and claims that he or she is being prosecuted in his or her country, because of their ethnicity or any other reason, those countries are happy to oblige. There are thousands and more who have either actively participated or have helped in various other ways in mass killings, genocides and other war crimes are still hiding behind in Canada and the West, milking their systems on the guise of seeking asylum. The mass rallies held, hungers strikes and havocs caused in those countries during the latter part of the three decade old war in Sri Lanka, where a democratically elected government was fighting a bu...