The Worst

Our Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake apparently had an embarrassing incident at Japan's Narita Airport. On arrival, instead of being treated as a VIP, he was fingerprinted before being cleard by Japanese authorities. Needless to say that this is a humiliation any country would not suffer. On any other occasion, I would vehemently protest such actions by the Japanese. However, it appears that Mr. Prime Minister was on a private visit to Japan and may not have informed the Japanese of his arrival...or the local authorities for that matter. In any case, foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama has recalled the Sri Lankan ambassador to Japan Mr.Jayantha Palipane back to Sri Lanka. It is difficult to decide whether this was a snub by Japan or an honest mistake due to the fact that they had no clue who Ratnasiri Wickramanayake was as he hadn't informed the relevant Japanese authorities clearly. Recalling the Japanese ambassador seems a little extreme considering that Japan has been Sri Lanka's friend in the recent past. We'll be keeping an eye on how this story develops...

The Best

It looks like the LTTE were involved in some serious brainwashing of schoolchildren during their rule of the Eastern Province. Sources have found out that many schools had been renamed to that of LTTE cadres who lost their lives in the war. Statues and other remembrances were also found within the schools. If the names of schools were changed, who knows what was taught at the schools under the pretext of education or history. Schools should be a place of education, and should remain so even during conflicts. The authorities have now ordered the names to be changed back to their original names and all statues and remembrances to be removed. Slowly but surely, normalcy is returning to North and East. These areas are finally being opened up to all, and people are finally living normal lives.

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!