Asylum Seeker Boats: Australia Aids SL Navy’s ‘Arrests’-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Ben Packham in The Australian, Monday 8 August 2022, where the title reads “Secret Sri Lankan Fuel Deal keeps Patrol Boats on Water” .. . with highlighting emphasia being the work of The Editor, Thuppahi Sri Lankan patrol boats are back on the water deterring would-be people smuggling voyages following a secret deal with Australia to supply the country’s navy with tens of millions of dollars worth of fuel. The Republic of Sri Lanka Navy Ship “Oshadi” The South Asian island nation’s ability to conduct maritime patrols had been constrained for months, amid dire fuel shortages caused by the country’s crippling economic crisis. ...
Michael Roberts
Quaint By-Ways and Nature’s Ways in Colombo in the 1940s-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Hugh Karunanayake, courtesy of THE CEYLANKAN, vol XXI/1, January 2018 where the title is “A Naturalist’s Paradise–Colombo in the 1940s” Padda boats along the Negombo Canal Growing up in mid twentieth century Colombo was a fascinating experience to any young person. That was the era when urban growth was taking place at a pace that afforded local fauna to thrive at will without any restrictions. Colombo South with its tree lined avenues and homes with spacious gardens provided sanctuary to a wide range of fauna ranging from avi fauna to reptiles. As a five year old just admitted to Royal Preparatory School I was mesmerised by the “golden beetles” that lived in the Andara trees that stood on the perimeter of the school grounds on Racecourse Avenue. Many of us five year olds fascinated by the shiny green gold sheen of the ...
Aug 6, 2022
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Articles, Michael Roberts
Tagged Dr Ernest Soysa, Hugh Karunanayake
Channa Wickremesekera’s Books on Sri Lanka’s Past …. & Beyond-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Channa Wickremesekera’s Publications Channa Wickremesekera is the son of the late Percy Wickremesekera, an acquaintance of mine from Peradeniya Campus days and a ‘Trot’ activist who migrated to Australia. Channa lives in Melbourne. I got to know him when I was working on my book on Sinhala Consciousness in the Kandyan Period¸1590’s-1815 (which came out in 2003 …………………… https://www.amazon.com/Sinhala-Consciousness-Kandyan-Period-1590s/dp/9558095311). Books: On Sri Lankan Conflicts & Politics A Tough Apprenticeship: Sri Lanka’s Military Against the Tamil Militants 1979-1987, Self-published, 2017 The Tamil Separatist War¸ New York: Routledge, 2016 ...
Aug 5, 2022
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Articles, Michael Roberts
Tagged Channa Wickremesekera, Percy Wickremesekera, Sri Lanka’s Military Against
Channa Wickremesekera’s Books on Sri Lanka’s Past …. & Beyond-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Channa Wickremesekera’s Publications Channa Wickremesekera is the son of the late Percy Wickremesekera, an acquaintance of mine from Peradeniya Campus days and a ‘Trot’ activist who migrated to Australia. Channa lives in Melbourne. I got to know him when I was working on my book on Sinhala Consciousness in the Kandyan Period¸1590’s-1815 (which came out in 2003 …………………… https://www.amazon.com/Sinhala-Consciousness-Kandyan-Period-1590s/dp/9558095311). Books: On Sri Lankan Conflicts & Politics A Tough Apprenticeship: Sri Lanka’s Military Against the Tamil Militants 1979-1987, Self-published, 2017 The Tamil Separatist War¸ New York: Routledge, 2016 Kandy at War: Indigenous Military Resistance to European Expansion in Sri Lanka 1594–1818, New Delhi: Manohar, 2004 Best Black Troops in the World: British Perceptions and the Making of the Sepoy 1746–1805, New Delhi: Manohar, 2002 Fiction Tracks, Self-published, 2015 Asylum, Self-published, 2014; Palaver Books, 2015. In the Same Boat, Self-published 2010. Distant Warriors, Perera-Hussein, Colombo, 2005. ...
HMS “Ceylon”: In Service from 1942-1985-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Group Captain Kumar Kirinde, Retd. SLAF whose preferred title is indicated at the end together with detials from one inspiration, that from Richard Boyle. Introduction: HMS Ceylon was a Fiji-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was of the Ceylon sub class, named after the island and British colony of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The cruiser saw service in the Atlantic and Pacific theatres during the Second World War. In the postwar era, she participated in actions in Egypt and the Korean War. In 1960 she transferred to the navy of Peru and was renamed Coronel Bolognesi. The cruiser was scrapped in 1985. SERVICE HISTORY Wartime career Built by Stephens at Govan and launched on 30 July 1942, she was completed on 13 July 1943. After two months in the Home Fleet, she was transferred to the 4th Cruiser Squadron, with the Eastern Fleet ...
The US Ambassador’s Enthusiasm for the Aragalaya-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Malinda Seneviratne … whose title runs thus “Ambassador Chung and Xeroxable Change” …. with highlighting emphasis being impositions by The Editor Thuppahi Aragalaya. Translatable as revolt, uprising, protest, agitation, struggle or even insurrection. Aragalaya is singular, but considering statements and actions it was certainly not marked by concert, ideological agreement, unity of purpose etc. Julie CHUNG, US Ambassador in Colombo Eclecticism was the signature of the rumbling. There was mumbling, nothing more, about system-change, but a revolution it certainly was not. So, aragalaya: singular; aragala: plural. The latter is the better descriptive. And perhaps it is exactly this eclectic and disjointed character that forced the agitators to dilute whatever revolutionary fervour there may have been to a project that targeted an individual and once that ouster was obtained shift focus to another individual. ...
The British planted the Seeds of Lanka’s Bankruptcy in 1942-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis I keep watching Karan Thapar’s interview with Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy: viz. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLLMdx74-aw. It’s fascinating. Karan Thapar is a skilled, hard-nosed interviewer and Indrajit Coomaraswamy is a knowledgeable and articulate interviewee. So what you get is two clear thinkers who cut to the nub of the issue. It’s a trenchant analysis of how Sri Lanka got into this hole and how it can get out of it. That said, I have a quibble with something Dr. Coomaraswamy asserted about Sri Lanka’s budget-busting culture of unaffordable entitlements. He believes that Sri Lankans got habituated to receiving government handouts from the time of Independence in 1948. ...
Jul 30, 2022
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Articles, Michael Roberts
Tagged Ceylon Garrison Artillery, DR. INDRAJIT COOMARASWAMY
The Mahaweli Project: The Mother of All Development Schemes in Sri Lanka-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Ajit Kanagasundaram 40 years have now elapsed since the launch of the accelerated Mahaweli project, so it is an opportune time to review what was done and the benefits and shortfalls of the project to the nation. This project was the culmination of a 50 yearlong process that started with the rehabilitate ancient irrigation works and settlement of the dry zone lands that was initiated by our first Prime Minister, DS Senanayake, when he was the Agriculture Minister in the State Council during the British Raj. After independence, this moved on to more ambitious projects building large multi-purpose schemes like Gal Oya and Uda Walawe culminating in the accelerated Mahaweli project. I have written this article on the Mahaweli project from the published material available, the fragmented and haphazardly maintained records at the Mahaweli Authority ...
Jul 30, 2022
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Articles, Michael Roberts
Tagged DS Senanayake, JR Jayewardena
Covid’s Gift to Sri Lankan Cricket: Prabath Jayasuriya-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis We all agree that COIVD has caused havoc all over the world. The country has lost some of its finest statesmen, musicians and entrepreneurs to the virus. Some of us have lost our loved ones while some of us have lost our livelihood. It’s been a tough couple of years. But COVID also has done a good thing or two, like gifting Prabath Jayasuriya to Test cricket. World cricket would have never heard of the left-arm spinner if the Sri Lankan camp had not been struck by the virus on the eve of the second Test against Australia. Despite taking heaps of wickets in domestic cricket, Jayasuriya, who was educated at the rural Christchurch College, Matale never got a look in. He didn’t have any godfathers in cricket. Last year, he was on the verge of representing Sri Lanka but was dropped ...
Jul 29, 2022
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Articles, Michael Roberts
Tagged Christchurch College, Prabath Jayasuriya
Thilan Samaraweera in Australian Coaching Set-Up-by Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Thilan Samaraweera may not have possessed the natural talents of an Aravinda, Kumar or Mahela, but he was (and is) an intelligent and industrious man who worked at his trade. He also faced that traumatic episode when the Sri Lankan coach was attacked by Pakistani jihadists as they headed for the Gaddafi stadium in Lahore on the 3rd March 2009. He was one of those injured by shrapnel (like Tharanga Paranavithana) and despatched to hospital. Sri Lankan player Thilan Samaraweera is taken aboard an ambulance on March 4, 2009 shortly after flying home from Pakistan where the Sri Lankan team was ambushed by gunmen just before entering a cricket stadium in Lahore. Seven players were wounded in the attack that also killed eight Pakistani nationals and drew wide spread international condemnation. AFP PHOTO/ISHARA S. KODIKARA ...
Jul 25, 2022
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Michael Roberts
Tagged Sri Lankan cricket, Thilan Samaraweera
