Issuing identity cards to artistes; latest joke of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka government has taken steps to issue identity cards to the artistes.After this identity card is issued all who do not possess it will not be artistes. 

A report said that the Ministry of Culture and Art Affairs had taken steps to issue identity cards to the recognized artistes. Recognized by whom? The government. Does one need government recognition to be an artiste?

The inaugural issue of identity cards will take place at the Tower Hall Theater under the patronage of the Minister of Culture and Art Affairs T.B. Thennakoon on July 29 at 2.30.

Initially, the Cultural Department will issue the identity card to 500 artistes. Sources say that more artistes have applied for this type of identity cards and the Cultural Department will issue them in the future.

Artistes should actually reject this identity card.

This began from the issue of identity cards to the professional journalists. They used it to outshine in a context citizen journalism had not conceptualized.

The artistes' identity card is more comical than it, I think. Every man is an artiste. The government has issued identity cards to all.

Rajapakse regime of Sri Lanka has no alternate to lousy casino business to bring FDI

Rajapakse regime, deviated from respectable foreign direct investment to give it a lifeline, seems bloody serious of making Colombo a casino hub.

For a start, a very attractive tax relief has been granted to James Packer. It is a Packer only measure and the other players lured in Packer centered casino hub will have to pay more taxes. Otherwise, we will pay it definitely with what we will earn by means of prostitution and other evil stuff.

Gone are the Buddhist extremists. They who see crocodile in each vessel if it is related to a minority nationality or religion seem seeing no evil in this lousy business. More and more racism and religious hatred will be needed for them to circumvent the blame from the government.

In my perspective, a dubious government with no international respect from less dubious world democracies, has no alternative except this type of filthy business.

Do Sri Lanka Cricket male officials attempt to extort from the beggar's bowl of women cricketers?

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has appointed Channa Weerakkodi as the manager of the women's cricket team.

Former women's team manager, selector and the Chairman of Umpire's Committee A.R.M. Aroos has been suspended by SLC from the posts.

Sri Lanka women's team captain Shashikala Siriwardene last week complained against Aroos over attempting to extort a part of money she earned through a TV commercial.

SLC pays far less to women cricketers than the male cricketers. While cricketers in the men's team are paid an ODI fee of 3500 US dollars, that is Rs.440,000.s, women cricketers are paid 100 US dollars which converts to Rs.12500 rupees.

Sri Lanka women's team manager ARM Aroos has resigned from all his posts connected to the women's game in the country, following the board's sanctioning of a formal inquiry against him because of a complaint made by captain Shashikala Siriwardene last week, accusing Aroos of extortion.

SLC appointed retired senior superintendent of police, Hemachandra Dias to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the matter, and he recommended to the SLC's executive committee that the board conduct a formal inquiry into the allegations.

SLC executive committee subsequently appointed a panel to carry out the inquiry, and following that Aroos submitted his resignation.

Sri Lanka Railway strike ends; bus strike looming ahead

Sri Lanka's railway strike ended today as new threats on a private bus strike came out.

An official of Sri Lanka Railway Graded Employees' Union said that the strike was ended following agreements at a discussion between trade unions and the officials of the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Finance and the Salaries and Cadre Commission.

The strike was originally planned to be held for 48 hours and accordingly it was to end midnight today.

Train services paralyzed due to strike are still to be normalized. 

Meanwhile All Island Private Bus Owners Association Chairman Gemunu Wijerathna said that the private bus operators will launch a strike since midnight tomorrow in protest of not granting the 10% bus fare hike they demanded.

Are Buddhist extremists planning to create a bigger movement of violence manipulating state military or will they venture into terrorism of Al Qaeda type?

Indian police is after two Muslims who are suspected of planting bombs in World Heritage Buddhagaya (Bodhgaya), Buddhists' sacred shrine where Lord Buddha attained enlightenment.

Sri Lankans have a Buddhist temple in Mahabodhi temple complex where more than a dozen such temples are located. It is a place belonged to India but common for Buddhists from all over the island.

Originally Buddhism is a religion based on non-violence. In recent times, certain Buddhist monks in Burma and Sri Lanka inculcated extremist doctrine specially against Muslims and other minority religions in their countries.

These monks are in politics and I think they chose Muslims to extricate their wrath not because they are any actual threat to Buddhism but they are already in war with powerful Western super powers. The political Buddhist monks in these countries have always being with power. They are unarmed. They do not need arms because they attempt manipulating entire state armed structures for their purposes.

To prove my logic, I can say that conversions were extremely few in the country from Buddhism to Islam. Conversions from Buddhism to evangelical Christianity is much higher than that and there was a fight against them launched by radical Buddhist monks. But the enemy was too big for them and they gave it up for a weaker but formidable Islam enemy that is already under siege.

The Buddhist extremists have now achieved their basic object which is gaining international fame. Time magazine covered the subject and the Buddhist terrorism has been now introduced to world as a formidable power. They lured Muslim extremists to their trap and OK now its on the go full throttle.

I have one question to ask from the Buddhist extremists. Are you planning to create a bigger movement of violence manipulating state military or will you venture into terrorism of Al Qaeda type?

I pity you, I am a secular man.

Doggy life, rabies and animal lovers

Dogs unofficially slaughtered in Buttala before the state Vesak festival this year

Sri Lanka health authorities say that the country's canine population may have increased and their estimate is 2.5 million. It seems there is a dog per each four persons.

I ride my mobike mostly for travel and I have noticed that I meet more dogs than people on my way. Stray dogs are a nightmare to the riders. So many have broken limbs and some die thanks to the stray dogs. I have run over stray dogs two times and in one incident had all kinds of bruises all over my body. Once a herd of stray cattle also ran before me and one hit the headlight of my bicycle before I managed not to fall.

Stray dogs are dollars for some animal friend NGOs. I have never seen they conduct their so called sterilization clinics in our area. To the Sinhala Buddhist leaders also of this country, stray dogs are not like stray Tamils and they like to spare them. 

But stray dogs have doggy lives without food, shelter and care. This is their breeding time and scores of them are on the road as one or two bitches tied to dogs and being dragged as people chase them. Sex is human right as well as dog right too, isn't it?

The cost for the rabies vaccine has gone up and as a result the death rate has gone down. Sometimes back Udaya Gammanpila's nephew died due to rabies. He has been a young boy who naturally loves animals. I too have a kid like that and I am always in fear of her animal love.

Like humans, dogs also must have not mere lives, but decent lives. A thing the capitalism is failed to grant.

Tapping the phone of Sri Lanka Defense Secretary

A Sri Lankan Sinhala language newspaper reported that the Secretary of the Ministry of Defense Gotabhaya Rajapaksa thoroughly suspected that his phone is tapped. The Defense Secretary had told to The Sunday Divaina newspaper, as reported, that whenever he took a phone call, the signals weakened and the quality of the service dropped.

He had told to the newspaper that the foreign embassies and the high commissions had facilities to eavesdrop to the mobile phone dialogues.

The news was reported by two 'prominent' defense reporters of the newspaper Keerthi Warnakulasuriya and Norman Palihawadana.

Secretary of the Ministry of Defense Gotabhaya Rajapaksa raised the issue previously as well.

The strict Defense Secretary backs the Buddhist extremist movements like Bodu Bala Sena and he can be considered the dominant power that pushes the government towards hard and fast Sinhala line. Despite being a senior public officials who should be politically impartial, he expresses ideas openly against the 13th amendment of the constitution which paved way to power devolution.

Rajapaksa is a US-Sri Lanka dual citizen but he has stayed in Sri Lanka most of the times while Tamil Diaspora attempts to bring him and his brothers into book for the alleged war crime charges.