Day: 17 August 2014

By Nadini Perera Ceylon FT: The country must establish rule of law and create an environment for attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in a ‘do or die’ scenario over the next three years, an economist said. “When it comes to FDIs particularly for a developing economy, we need inflow of money. This could come through many mechanisms, such as loans, or investments made by multinational enterprises. The importance of this is; we have currency stability on one side, and long term gains such as employment growth, opportunities, promotion of industries and…

Mannar Bishop, Rayappu Joseph, recently submitting a letter to the Presidential Commission for Missing Persons, said that he was growing weary of the domestic mechanism in resolving the injustices faced by the Tamils. According to him, the domestic processes have not made any progress towards true reconciliation. The Bishop told The Sunday Leader that it is important to accept diversity and create unity by accommodating all the voices of people. – Excerpts of the interview: By Waruni Karunarathne Q: By saying that you don’t accept the local investigation, are you offering to give evidence pertaining…

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan India has ‘fortified’ its military presence at its High Commission in Colombo by appointing an Army official, Col. Gurinder S. Klaire, to its intelligence wing, ‘on seeing’ the strong ties Sri Lanka has built up with China. The appointment also comes as a response to the Chinese Embassy appointing, for the first time, a Defence Attaché to its Colombo office recently. Col. Klaire will reportedly serve as the Deputy Defence Adviser and will assist Defence Adviser Captain Prakash Gopalan.It is said the Indian High Commission traditionally appoints…

By Kumar David – The common refrain of supporters of an all powerful unchallengeableExecutive Presidency (EP) has been: “What does the common man care about abolishing EP; all he/she is concerned about is the cost of living, children’s schooling; decent housing”. Sycophants chant: “SI-CC talk against EP is a game played by the Colombo elite. The farmer, the fisherman and the city worker take no notice”. The truth however is that the EP-perfidy costs Punchi Banda in the village and Sarath Bass in the city a load of money. Secondly, the abuses perpetrated…

The United National Party (UNP) says it is a sad state of affairs that millions of tax rupees are spent by the Rajapaksa administration on extravagant events while over a million people are fighting a battle to obtain their daily drinking water. “In the 21st Century, it is not apt perhaps to blame the current political rulers for the failure of the rains in 14 districts of the island.” “But this much is a fact. Over a million Sri Lankans are suffering, rains are failing and the rulers are so…

Just like in Burma, the recent years have seen the unrest between the Buddhist majority and the Muslim minority on the upswing in Sri Lanka. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara, general secr­etary of the Sri Lankan ultra-nationalist Buddhist organisation Bodu Bala Sena (BBS)—Sinhalese for Buddhist Power Force—actually claims to perceive an international Islamic conspiracy that aims at marginalising the Buddhists in Sri Lanka. He believes his organisation can unite all the Buddhists of the island and turn them into a nationalist force, thus countering this ‘foreseen’ Islamic threat. He has been widely accused…