The Worst

It looks like professional athlete Waruna Ranga Kumara Wimalawansa has been involved in more than just running around the track. Today, he pleaded guilty to charges of human smuggling and has received a 2 year jail term with a Rs.200,000 fine. Considering that professional athletes get paid like billyoh and treated like kings in Sri Lanka, I am baffled as to why this dude had to go about smuggling humans around. Did he think that just because he can run real fast on the track that outrunning the law was going to be a piece of cake? When they caught him, he must have been like "How'd you catch me? I was running my fastest"

The Best

More money! Yay! Indian external affairs minister, S.M Krishna told the Indian Parliament today that India would give more than the Rs.5 billion for the aid of the displaced people from the North. I didn't know we were getting Rs.5 billion in the first place. That's an awful lot of money; and today they pledge more? That's what is called "fully awesome". Truly it is the time for celebration in 'Ol Lanka'. If this sort of news does not stop soon, the next generation of Lankans will have permanent smiles on their faces, purely due to genetic factors!

A Good Day

The Worst

Well...governmentwise, things seem to be pretty quiet today. Although 2 people went and got themselves shot in the head in Rattanapitiya, Delkanda. I can assume that they were up to no good in the first place and received the penalty for dealing in nefarious activities. Drugs, illicit alchohol and other vices are still prevalent in some areas. I guess the Police need to enforce the laws more strictly in order to curb these menaces. Hopefully, with no more war to occupy their time, they will start to take the general daily crimes more seriously. Seriously, who can blame them for not caring, they've had to deal with CIA type undercover terrorist type work for the past 26 years. It's like the biggest anti-climax of the century. If I was the Police, I would be disillusioned too!

The Best

Ironically, there is plenty of good news in Sri Lanka today. The stock market did very well, with many investors at the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) making profits in the market. I won't go into details; but the gist of it is that all those stock thingies are looking good today.

Ram Gopal Varma, a pretty top notch Indian director is going to shoot his new movie 'Agyaat' in Sri Lanka because he feels that Sri Lanka is an awesome place to work. I feel you brother! Respect!

In another pioneering move, Sri Lanka is re-inventing tourism by launching a thing called 'Religious Tourism'. This will include tours to the Esala Perahara in Kandy, the Kataragama Festival and the Nallur–Kandaswami Festival in Jaffna. This is the first of it's kind in the world, and promises to boost the already booming tourism industry in Sri Lanka.

So lots of good news today, while nothing major in the 'The Worst' category. Today has been a good day; and because good days have been so very rare I say we celebrate it by declaring 30th July as 'National Good Day Holiday' and celebrate it every year!

Human Rights Watch and the Sigiriya

The Worst

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for the release of the 280,000 civilians still in the detention camps in the north. The government has yet to release the "displaced people" due to the war from these camps. I agree with the fact that these people have been in these camps too long. They should be allowed to restart their lives by sending them back to their homes in the north. Although the government has legitimate reason to detain them in the search for LTTE remnants amongst these people, they have to expedite measures to flush them out and release the innocent to their homes as soon as possible. It is possible though that certain nationalist elements within the government are preventing the weeding out process; but proof of that has yet to emerge. In the meantime, the government must do it's best to win the trust of the tamil people and allow them to go to their homes.

The Best

The Sigiriya museum has been voted the most attractive in south asia by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). I've always though that the Sigiriya rock was awesome; and today I know it! The JICA know what they are talking about. Sigiriya is a lion face shaped palace made completely out of stone and it's engineering and design are true marvels of history. For more information on sigiriya, see the links below.

Sigiriya - Wikipedia
Sigiriya - Pictures

The TRC and Tamashas

The Worst

I decided to start with the worst because I like giving bad news first.

What's with the Telecom Regulatory Commission TRC and civil liberties? It seems that they can never suppress enough. Today they announced that mobile phones in private schools will be banned and they hope to erect phone booths within the schools as an alternative. Firstly, they have no right to enforce such rules on private schools. (or maybe they do...I don't know...but still...). There are pros and cons to having a mobile phone at school, and some may argue that the cons overcome the pros significantly enough to advocate such a rule. However, I feel that private schools should be given the right to decide on these rules. To have the government declare it as law is a blatant encroachment of the liberties of the school and people.

The Best

We got free money! The International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave us $2.6 billion dollars! YAY! We are going to have the biggest Tamasha in the history of the world. Did somebody say "How about paying it back?". I say, who cares! If the Americans can borrow and spend, so can we. So let's go celebrate!

27/07/09

The Best

YES! Finally, a sign of progress and development in Sri Lanka. Ice Age 3 has been released in Liberty Cinema on the same week as the world premier. The last time any film was released on the same week as the world premier at any theatre in Sri Lanka was....never! Liberty Cinema in Kollupitiya has finally broken the curse by screening Ice Age 3 in line with world release dates. Is this a sign of progression into a developed nation? I think so...even though a small victory it may be. So everyone repeat after the great David Hasselhoff "Hooga Chakka, Hooga Chakka, Hooga Hooga Hooga Chakka"

David Hasselhoff is Awesome

The Worst

The Telecom Regulatory Commission (TRC) in Sri Lanka has instructed Internet Service Providers (ISP's) to filter and/or block pornographic and other obscene websites. I don't know if this is the worst for today, but I feel that censorship has no place on the internet even if the intention is good. I suspect that the primary concern by the government is the influence of such websites on our children. Sri Lanka has always been a social minded state. The emphasis on good education, health and welfare has always been of the highest priority since colonial times. However, I say that the onus of protecting our children belong to the parents or guardians. Protection is required, but one must be careful not to encroach on the liberties of the people in the name of protection. Parents have countless methods for protecting their kids from damaging websites. Getting ISP's to block all websites (which they perceive to be damaging) from all people is gross censorship; and I hope the TRC will reconsider it's decision and allow the people to have their liberties.

Ferries and Immigrants

The Best

There used to be a ferry service for travel between India and Sri Lanka in the years before the war. The service stopped (legally anyway) when the war started in the North. Now that the war is over, the government has decided to start the ferry service once more. The service will run from Colombo to Cochin as announced by the Transport Minister Dallus Alahaperuma yesterday. It looks like things are returning back to the glory days of Sri Lanka; where the beaches were good, the tea awesome and the girls knockout gorgeous!

The Worst

It has only been a few months since the end of the war, and the consequences of the war will take years to heal. The economy which took the worst battering second to the human cost showed it's ugly head in the actions of a few Sri Lankans in Indonesia today. Police arrested 19 Sri Lankans in Bengkulu Sumatra after they ran away from a UNHCR facility. Trying to find a better life, they sought to find refuge in Indonesia to live and settle down. Such actions only emphasize the need for the economy to improve as fast as possible so that locals will never want to live in a land that is not Sri Lanka. The war is ended and the greatest obstacle to development is vanquished. Godspeed Sri Lankan government! The development of the pearl of the Indian ocean can now begin!