Category: Opinion
Opinion: Reviving Sri Lanka’s commitments to disarmament
Navigating a Nuclearised Asia for Smaller States: Reviving Sri Lanka’s Commitments to Disarmament By Malinda Meegoda Throughout its diplomatic history, Sri Lanka has maintained a strong anti-nuclear stance. Given the perceived need to avoid antagonising nuclear powers in the region, Sri Lanka has communicated this stance as a general normative and ethical position, rather than […]
Opinion: Geopolitical tug of war between India & China for Indian Ocean
“Geopolitical tug of war between India and China for the Indian Ocean, in case of China’s One Belt, One Road initiative is implemented” By Ruwani Weerasinghe Since 15th Century, Indian Ocean has been a source of disseminating cultural, political, economic & social transformation across the regions. Also it remained as a significant ‘trade agent’ due […]
Opinion: March to freedom or return to fear
By Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera The National Unity Government ushered in through a historic and revolutionary election in January 2015 has recently marked three years in office. As the Government attains this milestone, our achievements are many, but the road ahead of us remains as long and challenging as ever, and Sri Lanka stands again […]
Singapore FTA: What it means for Trade and Investment Flows
By Janaka Wijayasiri and Kithmina Hewage The freshly-signed Sri Lankan-Singapore FTA (SLSFTA) marks a new milestone in the relations between the two island economies. The agreement, signed on 23 January 2018, after almost 18 months of negotiations, is a modern, comprehensive, and high quality agreement. It covers a wide range of areas including goods and […]
Opinion : A stakeholder strategy for non-traditional organisations
By ThilanSenaratne Who is a stakeholder? A stakeholder is defined as ‘any group or individual who is affected by or can affect the achievement of an organization’s objectives’(Freeman, 1984). In other words, a stakeholder is someone who has a ‘stake’ in an organisation. There are dozens of stakeholder classifications. One of the most widely accepted […]
FTA with Malaysia: Will it Lead to an Expansion in Flow of Trade and Investment with Sri Lanka?
By Janaka Wijayasiri Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, who was on an official visit to Sri Lanka in December 2017 to mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, has agreed with his counterparts, to expand cooperation in fields such as trade and investment. He said a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) […]
Opinion: Need for new terminology to describe persons with disability
By Nirmi Vitarana A friend recently shared an article published in an online edition of an English medium national newspaper. The article was well-intentioned, and spoke about the weakness of non-compliance to universal accessibility regulations in Sri Lanka’s infrastructure and public spaces, and which results in marginalizing a significant minority in our society – who […]
Opinion: Despite Trump-Modi bonhomie, Indo-US economic relations in doldrums
By P.K.Balachandran Despite words signifying undying friendship and bear hugs, which marked President Donald Trump’s interaction with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington on Monday, economic relations between the United States and India seem destined to remain in the doldrums indefinitely. While there was a strong understanding on cooperation to tackle terrorism and on […]
Opinion: Indian Presidential poll no longer a one horse race
By P.K.Balachandran Till Thursday evening, the Indian Presidential election, slated for July 17, seemed to be a one-horse race. A united ruling alliance headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had put up Ram Nath Kovind, a strong candidate, while the fractured Opposition was groping in the dark in search of a credible consensus candidate. […]
Opinion: A Conspiracy Theory – Tread with extreme caution, Sri Lanka
By Chrishmal Warnasuriya Introduction – Politics as the science of attaining “power”: The first lessons taught to any student of the science of politics almost invariably includes a reference to the 16th century Florentine philosopher Machiavelli and his celebrated thesis, “the Prince“; where his principle line of argument revolves on the attainment of “power” as […]
Opinion: Why an anti-Muslim Sri Lankan Buddhist monk is being let off the hook every time
By P.K.Balachandran The anti-Muslim Sri Lankan Buddhist monk, Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera, General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), has several serious cases against him relating to hate speech, blasphemy against the Quran, instigation of violence, and contempt of court. And yet, he has been evading arrest for long periods, and when arrested, […]
Opinion: India ruling party’s choice as Presidential candidate is a masterstroke
By P.K. Balachandran The choice of Ram Nath Kovind as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate for the Indian Presidential election, to be held on July 17, is a political masterstroke by its political managers. Kovind is a “Dalit”. The Dalits are the lowest caste in the Hindu social hierarchy who were once dubbed and […]