Saturday, 12th March 2016 By Ben Lerwill ( China Daily ) The Galle Clock Tower. [Photo by Ben Lerwill/China Daily] Spoiler alert: I didn‘t see any leopards. There. I‘ve said it. I‘d come on safari to Yala, the SriLankan national park renowned for having the world‘s highest concentration of leopards, butdespite spending upward of 10 hours rumbling through the park‘s forests and grasslands in ajeep, I didn‘t see a single spotted big cat. Not a tail. Not a whisker. You‘d think at least one ofthe creatures might have sensed a nice photo opportunity and padded into a clearing for afew seconds. No. Leopards are many things, I learned, but they‘re not marketing-savvy. Here‘s another spoiler though: I was far less bothered than I thought I would be. Yala islocated on Sri Lanka‘s south coast, and it says much about the region that when you‘re here,details like a lack of obliging leopards seem fairly trivial. The coastline is lined with surfbeaches, palm trees and sun-splashed villages. Its main settlement, Galle, is a bona fideUNESCO-listed wonder. And Yala itself is nothing if not a busy place－the park teems with allsorts of other exotic inhabitants, from elephants, sloth bears and peacocks to jackals,crocodiles and sea eagles. If you find yourself grumbling in Sri Lanka, in other words, you need to ask yourself somefairly serious questions. My southern explorations began in Galle, the colorful coastal citysettled by the Portuguese in 1589 and subsequently ruled by both the Dutch and the Britishbefore Sri Lanka regained its independence in 1948. The city gives rich insight into severalcenturies worth of history: Its best-known feature is its sturdily handsome colonial fort, whichthese days encloses an entire town‘s worth of streets, hotels, shophouses and restaurants. “You should try to take a walk around the ramparts right about now,” advised Yatawara, myjovial driver for the week, when we arrived in Galle just before sunset. “It‘s the best time ofday for it.” I took his advice, flinging my bag into my hotel room and heading out into the warmevening air. Yatawara knew what he was talking about. The high walls of the fort form a loop of aroundthree kilometers, and almost the entire length was astir with people－locals, tourists, couples,snake-charmers and selfie-snappers. Three sides of the fort look out onto the Indian Ocean(the fourth, incidentally, gives a fantastic view of Galle‘s famous cricket stadium) and thesunset panoramas, glowing crimson and orange in the dying light, were spectacular. Yala. [Photo by Ben Lerwill/China Daily] Lively scene Galle Fort may be firmly rooted in the past, but the place was very much alive. Tuk-tuksputtered along the street, local children smacked footballs at each other, expats sipped oncocktails outside old-world hotels. I found a rooftop restaurant serving up classic vegetariancurries and wallowed in the luxury of having nothing to do but relax and eat. The food in SriLanka is often sensational, benefiting from the various culinary influences imported byeveryone from the Arabs and Malays to the Indians and Portuguese. Coconut milk, garlic,chilies and fish all figure prominently. Just as Sri Lankan cuisine is diverse, so too is Sri Lankan religion. Theravada Buddhism isthe most prominent faith, with Hinduism, Christianity and Islam all figuring significantly too.And days later, as Yatawara and I moved gradually east towards Yala, the country‘s variedsights, smells and sounds made themselves felt－orange-robed monks stood outsideroadside temples, fishermen perched on wooden stilts offshore in search of a few rupees,families wandered through beach settlements of surf shacks and laid-back restaurants. Things haven‘t always been so relaxed, of course. Sri Lanka has borne witness to some torridevents in recent decades. Not only was it sucked into a long and brutal civil war, a conflictwhich finally halted in 2009, it was also one of the countries worst hit by the devastatingBoxing Day tsunami of 2004. The south coast was particularly tragically affected, although theanimal inhabitants of Yala－which sits adjacent to the ocean shoreline－managed a near-miraculous collective escape. “It seems as though they sensed the tsunami before it arrived,” explained Sarath, a safariguide at the national park. “The waters came inland for more than a kilometer, but when theyreceded we found just a tiny number of animal carcasses. They had all headed away from thecoast before it hit.” Tourists taking pictures in a jeep in Yala. [Photo by Ben Lerwill/China Daily] Close to nature Yala is a special place. Covering an area of almost one thousand square kilometers, the parkis the most visited nature reserve in the country. Its landscapes include dense jungle, lowwetland and open vistas of rocky outcrops. I was staying at Chena Huts, a new upmarketretreat situated in the buffer zone on the park outskirts. I had an inkling my stay would bememorable when I opened my curtains on the first morning and saw a peacock strollingaround my plunge pool. Half an hour later, a wild boar wandered past while I was havingbreakfast. It was that kind of place. The main appeal of being here, of course, was the chance to take two daily game drives.Each time we entered the park, different wildlife mini-dramas unfolded. There‘s a tendency inYala for jeeps to cluster in the areas where leopards are most likely to appear, althoughfrankly it rather takes the gloss off a safari when you‘re bumper to bumper with 15 othervehicles. At Sarath‘s recommendation our jeep instead made an effort to steer clear of thecrowds. It was a fine decision. One afternoon we found a secluded waterhole and looked on as storksstepped past crocodiles and buffalo lazed under ironwood trees. On another we came acrossan entire family of elephants, the youngest of them vigorously tearing branches and foliagefrom the bush. The next morning we watched a crested hawk-eagle devouring a fat monitorlizard, then rounded the corner to see two competing peacocks strutting around a lonepeahen, tail-feathers raised with boastful importance. Each drive produced something new. Peacock in Yala, the Sri Lankan national park. [Photo by Ben Lerwill/China Daily] Game viewing Leopards will always be Yala‘s poster-boys but, as previously established, in my case theyremained elusive. For me, the creatures that will stick in the mind are instead the park‘selephants. I spotted at least two on every game drive, and they always made for an imposingsight. Smaller than their African cousins, they nevertheless loomed like gray giants in theforest, impossibly solid and impossibly powerful－and impossibly hungry, for that matter. The animal itself occupies a special place in Sri Lankan culture. When an especiallyrenowned elephant passed away in 1998－a male known as Maligawa Tusker Raja－thegovernment declared an official day of national mourning. The country clearly recognizes thevalue of its wildlife in tourism terms too, although it would be heartening to see some sort ofregulation in place to prevent Yala‘s main game-viewing area becoming too swamped withjeeps in years to come. Sri Lanka is a hugely rewarding travel destination. The pace of life, on the whole, is heavilyconducive to relaxation, and the island‘s multi-layered blend of different creeds and cultureshelps to create a visitor-friendly environment. If you‘re looking for a fine introduction to theplace, you could do far worse than combining Galle and Yala. And if you see a leopard ortwo? Consider it a bonus. Galle‘s old town wall. [Photo by Ben Lerwill/China Daily] Six other places not to miss in Sri Lanka 1 Kandy: Sri Lanka‘s second city sits “upcountry“, surrounded by hills in the center of theisland and providing a vivid counterpoint to the sand-fringed resorts of the coast. It‘s home toa number of absorbing sights, not least the Temple of the Tooth, the most significant Buddhistshrine on the entire island. The city‘s main landmark is Kiri Muhuda, the lake at its center, andit‘s possible to take short pleasure cruises onto the water. But perhaps Kandy‘s greatest gift isits role as a gateway to the dramatic scenery and tea plantations of the so-called “hillcountry“, the most archetypal of all Sri Lankan landscapes. 2 Wilpattu National Park: Set in the northwest of the island, this is the largest of Sri Lanka‘snational parks. Before the civil war made the region dangerous, it was also its most visited.Today its charm lies in the fact that it draws relatively few visitors, while also offering excellentopportunities to spot leopards and sloth bears. The birdlife, as elsewhere in Sri Lanka, isworld-class too. The park takes its name from the picturesque willus－natural depressionsfilled with rainwater－found across its land. It‘s also a good spot for seeing elephants, andthere‘s even accommodation within the park. 3 Colombo: The national capital is a busy city, with around 3 million people calling it home. It‘snot an immediately lovable place, but as Sri Lanka‘s only functioning international airport sitson its outskirts, the city gets incorporated into many itineraries. Its most obvious attractions forvisitors are the buzzing bazaar quarter referred to as The Pettah－most of the goods on saleare practical items rather than souvenirs, but it still makes for a highly atmospheric area－andthe historical district known as Fort, where you‘ll find a good selection of museums andcolonial buildings. Fishermen standing on stilts in Galle‘s outskirts. [Photo by Ben Lerwill/China Daily] 4 Kataragama: If you‘re looking to get an insight into just how deep religion runs in Sri Lanka,this is the place to come. The small southern town is considered a profoundly importantspiritual site not just by Buddhists but by Hindus and Muslims too, and is best experienced inthe evening, when the main puja (show of reverence) takes place. Most of the action centerson the area known as The Sacred Precinct, where musicians, dancers and pilgrims combineto create a heady scene of devotion. It‘s worth staying the night if you want to enjoy the pujawithout having to rush off. 5 Jaffna and the far north: The vagaries of the civil war were felt fiercely in the far north, whichis still home to the majority of Sri Lanka‘s Tamil population. These days the area can bevisited fairly easily, and holds rich rewards for those in search of a cultural contrast to the restof the island. The largest town is Jaffna, which sits on a peninsula at the uppermost tip of thecountry and has a thick Indian influence. Thanks to improvements in the rail network, it‘s nowpossible to travel here by train direct from Colombo. 6 Unawatuna: Hugely popular with independent travellers, Unawatuna sits on the south coastclose to Galle and has made its name as somewhere to surf and unwind－you‘ll findeverything from snorkelling and yoga to diving and nightclubbing on offer. Its postcard-friendlygood looks are helped by a scattering of green rocky outcrops offshore, and there‘s a vastselection of different places to eat and drink, ranging from rice-and-curry houses and seafoodrestaurants to Italian bistros. The resort sits just 5 kilometers from Galle itself. Sloth bear. [Photo by Ben Lerwill/China Daily] Buffalo. [Photo by Ben Lerwill/China Daily] Elephant. [Photo by Ben Lerwill/China Daily] From : http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/weekend/2016-03/12/content_23836086.htm
Tuesday, 13th October 2015
By Channa Bandara Wijekoon
The stage is set for the second edition of the International Film Festival of Colombo (IFFC) to be held. The very first media briefing of the six-day gala event was held at Hilton amid the media, cinema fraternity and respective officials.
The promise of enlightenment
Arts & Entertainment, At the Movies, Features, Profiles, Vol 34 No 42 | 10/10-10/16
By Andrew Hamlin
Northwest Asian Weekly
Scene from “With You, Without You”
The 10th Annual Seattle South Asian Film Festival (SSAFF), opening on October 15th, showcases Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), an island country near southeast India.
30th July 2015
Unawatuna
Unawatuna is the default beach destination for people on shorter vacations. Unawatuna can be walked from end to end in under 15 minutes, and the small bay keeps waves relatively small. While not the place for surfing, calm swimming and soft sand make Unawatuna a great family choice in Sri Lanka.The real appeal of Unawatuna is the accessibility; a small access road parallels the beach and keeps people off of the busy main highway. The narrow road is lined with small shops, guesthouses, and eateries. With calm water and the isolated ‘Jungle Beach’ just a short walk away for snorkeling, Unawatuna is an excellent choice for snorkeling and turtle-spotting trips. Unawatuna is approximately 90 miles south of Colombo.
Mirissa
Far quieter than Unawatuna, Mirissa is the next major beach destination south of Unawatuna. Popular with surfers and budget travellers, Mirissa is a tiny village along a long strip of sand dotted with guesthouses and beach restaurants; the place to experience bigger waves but still enjoy the protection of shallow water and an on-duty lifeguard.
You will generally find better deals on seafood in Mirissa. However, prices for accommodation on the beach are comparable to Unawatuna. Mirissa is a popular place to go whale watching when they are in season and visitors are treated to a free and educational turtle hatchery directly on the beach.Mirissa can be reached by jumping on one of the public buses bound for Matara along the main road.
Weligama
Quiet, serene, and a favorite for surfing beginners, Weligama is a small alternative to the busier beaches located more north. Most visitors simply drive through, come to take surfing lessons, or stop to photograph some of Sri Lanka’s famous stick fishermen or the famous Taprobane House perched on a tiny island.
You will find several boutique hotels dotted throughout Weligama and many more surf camps along the main road. Fishing boats outnumber visitors during the low season; catch-of-the-day seafood is cheap and readily available.Get to Weligama in the south by grabbing any bus passing between Colombo and Galle to Matara.
Tangalla
Tangalla is the gateway to the wide open spaces and beaches of southeast Sri Lanka. Tangalla was originally a small fishing village and has some old world charm. From Tangalla city, the white sands stretch for kilometres and kilometres, both northwest and southwest, with a series of smaller bays and beaches. The sunsets are breathtaking.
This small bay is one of the best places to go swimming, with a sheltering reef that catches most of the big waves. The kilometres of soft sand makes it the ideal place to go running or just go for a afternoon walk. Get to Tangalla by grabbing a bus or car from Colombo or train to Galle and then bus or car to Tangalla.
Courtesy: The Himalayan Times. http://thehimalayantimes.com/travel/travel-abroad/sri_lanka/sri-lankas-best-beaches/. A version of this article appears in print on July 30, 2015 of The Himalayan Times.
Wednesday, 15th July 2015
By Zhou Yubin and Tong Wangyue
A tea plantation in Nuwara Eliya — Yang Xisheng
BEFORE our trip to Sri Lanka, a friend told us that the country enjoys a reputation as a “combination of India, Kenya and the Maldives.” It has India’s Buddhist culture, Kenya’s wild animal safaris and Maldives beaches.
We haven’t been to any of those three countries, but we did spend five days in Sri Lanka and found no end of diversity to please any visitor.
You can drive from tranquil beaches into lush mountains, visit a Hindu temple just five minutes’ walk from a magnificent Catholic church, and enjoy a safari and a game of golf on the same day.
The island nation isn’t called the “pearl of the Indian Ocean” for nothing.
What is perhaps even more inviting than all the sights and activities is the genuine warmth of the Sri Lankans. Wherever we went, we were greeted by smiling faces.
The most important tip to bear in mind while traveling in Sri Lanka is to avoid trying to cram too much into one day. Don’t rush from one place to another. Taking things slowly gives one the time to enjoying the country’s natural beauty and meet the locals.
Colombo
Colombo is the biggest city and capital of Sri Lanka. For most tourists flying in, it is the first stop. Located on the west coast of the island, Colombo is a vibrant and modern city with shopping malls, five-star hotels and beautiful colonial structures. Just 15 minutes’ drive from downtown are some stunning beaches. Watch where you stand. A railway line runs along the beachfront.
The National Museum of Colombo, also known as the Sri Lanka National Museum, is the biggest museum in the country and the best place to learn about its history. Its white building reminds visitors of a typical British mansion. It was established in 1877 by Sir William Henry Gregory, then British governor of Ceylon. National relics dating back to pre-historic times, Buddhism murals and gifts from Chinese emperors acknowledging Sri Lanka position on the Maritime Silk Road are among the most worthy exhibits.
With tired feet from all the museum walking, it’s relaxing to enjoy a picnic in nearby Viharamahadevi Park, formerly known as Victoria Park. It is also the perfect place for people-watching. On weekends, the park hosts an open-air art gallery, with local artists showing off their work to potential buyers.
Another cultural scenic spot is the Gangaramaya Temple, which is the most important temple in Colombo. It’s usually packed with worshippers during the day. To observe local courtesy, buy some lotus flowers in front of the temple and place them on the alter to show your respect to Buddha.
The temple’s architecture has influences of Sri Lankan, Thai, Indian and even Chinese styles. It contains many surprising items donated by people over the years, including Chinese porcelain, a cabinet full of antique watches, century-old printing machines, an antique car and a large collection of ivory figures and statues of Chinese Taoist gods.
As we were leaving the temple, a few local people drove up in brand new cars and asked the monks to bless them in the name of Buddha.
Elephant orphanage
Located northwest of the town of Kegella, the Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is a nursery and breeding place for wild elephants. The orphanage has the largest herd of captive elephants in the world. It was originally founded in 1975 by the Sri Lanka Department of Wildlife Conservation to offer protection and care to orphaned wild elephants.
From 10am to 2pm, the elephants are led to a river opposite the orphanage. After taking a shower and drinking some water, they return to their park-like home. Visitors are urged to refrain from teasing or provoking the animals.
Local Sri Lankan food such as curry is available at some riverside restaurants. The food is always spicy but definitely tasty.
Sigiriya
Sigiriya is built on a gigantic orange rock that rises 200 meters from the ground. It is a UNESCO listed World Heritage Site.
According to ancient Sri Lankan chronicles, King Kasyapa (AD 477-495) ordered his palace to be built on top of the rock to provide defense. The rock was later decorated with colorful frescoes.
At the foot of the rock, gardens flank the main pathway. They are among the world’s oldest landscaped gardens and are divided into three forms: water, cave and stones.
A climb up the spiral stairs brings you face-to-face with ancient frescoes that are among the most magnificent in South Asia. The western face of the rock is covered by paintings of beautiful female figures whose true identities still remain a mystery.
Going downstairs, you can walk alongside the famous Mirror Wall, which is highly polished and now bears verses written by former visitors.
Halfway up to the top of the rock is a lion gateway that was carved to demonstrate the king’s unparalleled power. Nowadays, only the paws remain. Beware the upper reaches of the rock. It’s a favorite home for wasps.
This rock is so popular that it’s not uncommon to find queues of visitors waiting to climb it. But the wait is well worth it. The views from the top are simply magnificent.
Temple of the Tooth Relic
Kandy is the second-largest city, located in the middle of the island amid the cool highlands of the Kandy plateau. It is a welcome respite from the lowlands in hot weather.
Kandy’s signature scenic site is the Temple of the Tooth Relic, the most sacred Buddhism temple in the country. The city of Kandy is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, thanks to this temple. It enshrines the venerated Gautama Buddha’s tooth relic, smuggled to the island by Princess Hemamali and her husband Prince Dantha.
Every year in July and August, the festival of Kandy Esala Perahera is held to pay homage to the tooth relic. The procession attracts almost everyone in the city and numerous visitors from all over the world. During the grand festival, traditional local dances are performed. A sacred elephant, adorned in lavish garments, carries the casket of the tooth relic through the streets of Kandy, which are lined with worshippers. It used to be a ritual for the King to pray for good weather, but today it’s a religious as well as a tourism festival.
Not far from the temple are the former Royal Palace and Kandy Lake, which are also worth visiting.
Nuwara Eliya
After spending several days on the hot beach strip of Sri Lanka, a trip to Nuwara Eliya is a welcome respite. We were greeted there by fresh, cool mountain air, picturesque landscapes and Sri Lanka’s most famous export: black tea. Located at an altitude of 1,868 meters and overshadowed by Pidurutalagala, the tallest mountain in the country, this city is the heartland of Sri Lankan tea production.
A visit to any of the many tea plantations will give visitors the opportunity to learn how tea is grown and how leaves are picked, processed and packaged for the Queen’s afternoon tea table. You can also sample various teas before deciding which you might want to buy and take home.
The city of Nuwara Eliya is called “Little England.” It was founded by the British in the 19th century. Most of the hotels in town hark to the nostalgia of the colonial era.
This is a great place to play a round of golf or just hike through quiet landscape. It is also the base for visiting Horton Plains National Park, which features the “World’s End,” a sheer precipice that drops 1,500 meters. It is also famous for its wild safari tours.
Galle
Galle, a harbor city 119 kilometers from Colombo, is also a landmark of Sri Lanka’s colonial past.
It was originally built in 1588 by the Portuguese, and then renovated and fortified by the Dutch in the 17th century. The fort, today a World Heritage Site, is located on the southwest corner of Sri Lanka on a small, rocky peninsula that juts into the sea.
Walking on top of the fort’s seawall gives visitors a spectacular view of the Indian Ocean. Inside the fort are modern foreign boutique shops and restaurants that seem to clash with the exterior environment that make the area look modern and international.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ajith P. Perera, met Director-General, Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü and senior officials of the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on the sidelines of the Global Conference on Cyberspace 2015 held from 16-17th April 2015 in the Netherlands.
The Deputy Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka, Mr Ajith P. Perera, visited the OPCW on 15 April 2015 and met with the Director-General, Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü.
Ambassador Üzümcü acknowledged Sri Lanka’s role in implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), including its contributions to OPCW training and assistance activities aimed at enhancing international cooperation and capacity-building efforts. The Director-General updated the Deputy Foreign Minister on progress made by the OPCW on chemical disarmament and non-proliferation, and discussed ways of further enhancing cooperation between the Organisation and Sri Lanka. He further expressed OPCW’s support and assistance towards the full and effective implementation of the CWC in the country.
Deputy Foreign Minister Perera highlighted Sri Lanka’s long standing cooperation with the OPCW as one among the State Parties that signed the CWC upon its opening for signature. He acknowledged the OPCW’s efforts towards disarmament and non-proliferation, and assured the Director-General of Sri Lanka’s serious commitment and meaningful contributions to achieve the goals of the CWC. He thanked the OPCW for the continuous training assistance provided to Sri Lanka and expressed interest in exploring the possibility of broader cooperation with the OPCW.
Both parties underscored the necessity of meaningful engagement with each other to ensure the peaceful use of chemistry and to address future challenges in chemical terrorism related matters.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
The Hague
16 April 2015
Courtesy: The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Thursday, 16th April 2015. From: http://www.opcw.org/news/article/deputy-foreign-minister-of-sri-lanka-visits-the-opcw/
8 April 2015
OPINION
Commentary / World
Winning a war or revolution, only to lose the subsequent peace, is one of the grim political truths of our time. In Iraq, a quick military victory over Saddam Hussein’s regime soon gave way to insurgency, civil war and the rise of the murderous Islamic State. In Libya, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere, the hopes unleashed by the Arab Spring have similarly turned into an often-violent despair.
Today, a half-decade after the end of its 36-year civil war, Sri Lanka is at a crucial moment in its own efforts to consolidate peace and secure its long-term benefits. Newly elected President Maithripala Sirisena and I, as prime minister, are determined to win that peace, and to help our country become what it always should have been: a prosperous Asian island of democracy, civility and open society.
The risks of a failed peace are appearing only now, because, since 2009, when the war with the Tamil Tigers ended in an enormous spasm of violence, the government led by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa made only the most half-hearted of efforts to bring about reconciliation with our Tamil citizens. Reconstruction of war-ravaged Tamil districts, as well as other parts of our society damaged by years of fighting and terrorism, has barely begun.
That neglect was part of a deliberate strategy by Rajapaksa, who saw keeping Sri Lanka on a semi-war footing, and our Tamil citizens aggrieved and alienated, as the most effective way to maintain his iron-fisted rule. But, though his divide and rule strategy worked for a while, allowing him to concentrate an unprecedented amount of power in his own hands, it could not hide the truth of our social divisions and continuing impoverishment. So, in the presidential election of this past January, Sirisena stunned the world by creating a winning coalition of Sri Lankans of all faiths and ethnicities who want to rebuild their democracy, not continue down the path of authoritarian rule.
In the months since Sirisena’s triumph, Sri Lankan democracy has been revived, and the hard work of building a durable domestic peace has begun. We plan to quickly call a parliamentary election, which will take place one year ahead of schedule, in order to replace Rajapaksa’s echo chamber with a fully functioning assembly, one that holds the government to account.
Moreover, presidential power is now exercised within the limits established by law, not according to the whims of one man. Our judges no longer feel intimidated. Our business leaders no longer fear shakedowns and takeovers by the president’s greedy family members and cronies.
As we liberate all of our citizens from fear, we will rebuild Sri Lanka as a free society. The authoritarian model of capitalism that Rajapaksa introduced to our country, and that much of the world seems to be embracing nowadays, is not for us.
Of course, some of our neighbors are advising us to take a different path, to reform our economy and not worry too much about re-establishing political freedom. Our experience with authoritarian rule, however, is that it undermines the goal of post-conflict reconciliation and reconstruction by its need to maintain our society’s divisions artificially. The best way to avoid a relapse into conflict and arbitrary rule is to ensure that Sri Lanka’s leaders are held accountable through representative institutions.
But we cannot fully turn the page on authoritarian rule, restore the full range of democratic freedoms and rebuild our economy in an inclusive way on our own. Too much of our country’s wealth has been damaged by war, taken flight abroad or been siphoned off through corruption. We simply lack the resources to undertake the great task of reconstruction without assistance.
So we need the world’s democracies to stand with us and support us, lest our people become discouraged and be tempted by the autocratic forces waiting in the wings to return to power in the coming parliamentary election. We need to demonstrate to our people that reconciliation, democracy, tolerance and the rule of law constitute the only route to long-term peace and shared prosperity. Sadly, the help that we have received so far is too little to enable my government to be as effective as it can and should be in rebuilding our country and resetting our strategic position in the world.
Still, there is reason for hope. Though our political institutions need a thorough overhaul, I am proud to say that, despite Rajapaksa’s best efforts to corrupt and hollow them out, our victory was made possible because the election commission and court workers adhered to the law. Equally important, when the votes were counted, Sri Lanka’s military leaders honored their oaths and bravely rebuffed Rajapaksa’s unconstitutional order to annul the election and maintain him in power.
These acts of civic heroism form a strong basis on which to refound Sri Lanka’s state and society. With the world’s help, we will do just that.
Courtesy: The Japan Times. April 8, 2015. Available at: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2015/04/08/commentary/world-commentary/winning-sri-lankas-peace/#.VS5DDF2UeWM
By P K Balachandran
COLOMBO:In a startling revelation, the Sri Lankan Commissioner General of Rehabilitation Maj Gen Jagath Wijetilleke said that six to seven per cent of the 12,346 male and female cadre of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who had surrendered to the Sri Lankan armed forces at the end Eelam War IV in May 2009, were members of the dreaded suicide squad called the “Black Tigers”.
“But thanks to the Sri Lankan army’s comprehensive rehabilitation programme, none of the 12,077 rehabilitated cadre, including the Black Tigers, has indulged in any crime since release,” General Wijetilleke told Express.
Tough Task
Changing the mindset of the hardened “Black Tigers” had not been easy. “They were brainwashed to hate the Sinhalese and made to believe that sacrificing one’s life for the LTTE’s cause is a glorious act. The LTTE chose young boys and girls who had nothing to live for. They were uneducated, and were from deprived and vulnerable families. The LTTE would starve them and keep them in isolation for long periods to toughen them. They were also under strict surveillance by their handlers,” the General said.
But when the suicide cadre got an opportunity to choose between life and death, they chose to live! And today, the ex-combatants’ reject violence in toto.
Gender Inequality
With government aid, men cadre have found employment or are doing small businesses. But many of the 2,269 women cadre are subjected to social hostility, he points out.
The latest report of Gen Wijetilleke’s department says that female ex-combatants have lost the respect of the Tamil community and are vulnerable. Widows and disabled women, who are 25 per cent of the re-integrated cadre, are vulnerable. Hatred by the community towards them has created a stigma. And government officials add to the women’s problem by their indifference. “The only way out is to absorb them in government schemes,” Wijetilleke says.
By ROBERT DRAPER MARCH 27, 2015
The man in the khaki vest slurped noisily from his cup, descended briefly into scowling meditation, spat the contents into a sink and then unleashed a torrent of approving descriptors, lavishly rolling his r’s along the way: “No foreign taste, very refreshing, robust, strong tannins, a tingly sensation at the end of the tongue — good show!”
I sipped as well and nodded gravely, thinking: right, but it’s still tea. Granted, it was excellent tea, cultivated just outside the Norwood Estate processing factory where we stood, surrounded by whirring machines and immense bags stuffed with tea leaves.
Here, near the town of Hatton, in the alluring hill country of Sri Lanka, some of the finest tea in the world is grown at an elevation exceeding 4,000 feet. And as Andrew Taylor, the vest-clad Norwood resident planter and native Sri Lankan, had made emphatically clear, everything about this beverage required martial exactitude, from the small-handed women who carefully picked the leaves to the 170 minutes the leaves spent being machine-oxidized, to the 21 minutes of drying on long trays, and at last to the six minutes Mr. Taylor cheerily advised me was optimal to consume my drink after it was brewed — “so bring your stopwatch, ha ha!” Nonetheless, I confessed that I had other liquid preferences.
“Coffee has almost no medicinal effects,” the planter scoffed. A regimen of four cups of tea a day, on the other hand, would indemnify me against indigestion, heart disease and general dysfunction. I asked Mr. Taylor how many cups he consumed daily.
He beamed and replied, “Five to six.”
Sri Lanka is a sunny heartbreak of a nation, a welcoming South Asian island country beset by three decades of ethnic war that came to an end in May of 2009, when the Sinhalese government routed the Tamil Tigers in a brutal show of overwhelming force. As many as 100,000 Sri Lankans died along the way. Another 38,000 were killed when the tsunami of 2004 pulverized its eastern coast.
It’s entirely possible to visit the country formerly known as Ceylon in a state of blissful ignorance, to ogle its elephants and leopards roaming about in the national parks, or to languish on the many beach resorts in coastal Galle and Batticaloa, and in that way sidestep altogether the scabs of history.
By contrast, the hill country stretching across the island’s midsection presents an authentic side of Sri Lanka that can be visited without experiencing pangs of guilt. Though largely unblemished by the long war, the roots of conflict — proud Buddhist nationalism (as evinced by the region’s great temples), the residue of British colonialism (apparent in its tea estates) and Tamil militancy (expressed in a single but notable act of violence, a deadly bombing in a Buddhist temple) — are all here to be discovered and pondered.
At the same time, the region feels like its own country, as it essentially was when the Buddhist Kingdom of Kandy held sway over the hills five centuries ago. It is noticeably cooler, higher and greener than elsewhere on the island, with the omnipresent terraces of neatly pruned waist-high tea plants as its aesthetic and economic organizing principles. Today Sri Lanka is the world’s fourth-biggest producer of tea; most of it, along with the island nation’s excellent cinnamon, comes from the hill country.
The names of the plantations — Strathdon, Shannon, Kenilworth — are distinctly Anglo and many of the field workers today are descendants of the “plantation Tamils” who were transported by boat from southern India to pick the first tea leaves cultivated in the 1860s. (Shortly after the British awarded Ceylon its independence in 1948, the new Sinhalese government stripped the Indian Tamils of their voting rights, setting into motion ethnic grievances that would eventually lead to war.)
Navigating the hills by rail can be a beguiling experience but also a time-consuming one, as the trains move slowly through the undulating rough country and run infrequently throughout the day. I opted instead for a van with a cheerful Sinhalese driver named W. S. Yapa, who has been ferrying tourists and journalists throughout Sri Lanka for over three decades. (Sri Lanka’s roads are invariably two lane but well-paved and safe. And the country’s better hotels typically offer lodging for tourist drivers at nominal or no charge.)
On the three-hour drive from the capital city, Colombo, to Kandy, Mr. Yapa pulled over twice so that I could visit roadside stands selling delicious locally grown cashews and boiled corn on the cob.
Kandy sits in a valley beside a placid lake that was ordered by the region’s last Sinhalese emperor. Like most Sri Lankan cities, Kandy, which has a population of 109,000, has the unzoned, mangy atmosphere of a once-small village that proceeded over generations to become sloppily urbanized.
I killed a couple of hours gathering up dried peppers and cinnamon at the local market and wandering through the tearooms — but really, one comes to Kandy for three principal reasons. One is to visit the Royal Botanical Gardens, across from the university about three miles from the city — though I’ll confess that I did not do so, because it was drizzly and the grounds are famous above all for their orchids, and even on a dry day I am strangely underwhelmed by orchids.
Besides, Kandy’s other two attractions were easily worth the trip. The first is the famed Buddhist sacred Temple of the Tooth, in the very center of town. While paying 1,000 rupees (about $8 at 125 rupees to the dollar) for admission, I noticed the security guard informing a female tourist that her dress did not cover her knees. Unruffled, the woman walked over to a nearby clothing vendor and, for about 25 cents, rented a sarong, wrapped it around her waist and strolled through the security gates. I slipped off my shoes, entered through the security booth and found myself in a crease of the city where all is suddenly hushed and orderly.
The sumptuous marble temple contains two large shrines, along with a series of paintings that memorialize the odyssey of the Buddha’s tooth from one place to the next until the end of the 16th century, when it at last arrived in Kandy and is presently entombed in a small gold casket. Upstairs from the shrines is a small museum with incense, jewelry and other relics of the imperial era. One floor up was a memorial of a different kind: an exhibition of photographs depicting the temple’s wall in a state of semi-demolition, the result of the 1998 bomb blast attributed to the Tamil Tigers that killed 11. Sixteen years later, security guards were still frisking visitors before they entered the temple complex.
From the temple I wandered a few hundred yards into the Kandyan Art Association and Cultural Center just as an hourlong performance by traditional dancers and fire-eaters was getting underway, led by a Sumo-sized but fervid and surprisingly nimble young male dancer. Watching them hop across a bed of fiery coals reminded me that I needed to retrieve my shoes. I did so, called Mr. Yapa on my cellphone and together we drove from the temple into the hills above the city, where I was due for an evening at Helga’s Folly.
The visual pandemonium of this rambling 35-room chalet — Dali meets Addams Family — overwhelmed me at first, like tumbling through a kaleidoscope of oil paintings, vintage furniture and spicy fragrances. As the photographs on the walls attested, the Folly’s 60-year-old guest dossier includes Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Sir Laurence Olivier, Gregory Peck and Vivien Leigh. The suite I stayed in felt like a large, dramatically lit family scrapbook. A sign admonished me to keep the windows closed so that monkeys wouldn’t raid the kitchen. Peering out, I could see a few of them scampering from the treetops.
While eating my excellent curried lamb in the candlelit dining room connected to my suite, a red-haired, pale-skinned woman in a crushed velvet dress and oversized sunglasses materialized from an unseen staircase. This was the proprietress, Helga Perera. She asked if she could join me and then told my waiter to bring me a different dessert, her personal favorite — though, to be honest, I was no longer paying attention to the food.
When I inquired as to what planet she was from, Ms. Perera said that she was born and raised in Kandy, the daughter of a prominent Sri Lankan politician and a mother who was active in Berlin’s Bauhaus art scene. For the last few decades she had lived in the private quarters upstairs with her third husband, a former local tea planter and presently a “total recluse” surrounded by weathered books.
Ms. Perera said her mother had designed this structure as their family home, as “a sort of Bauhaus” artist collective, and that to this day artist friends stayed at her hotel to pursue their inspirations. I found myself wondering if Jack Torrance, the murderously blocked writer in “The Shining,” might have found a more agreeable balance of work and play at Helga’s Folly.
I left the hotel the next morning in a lingering state of stupefaction. The 40-mile drive upcountry to the town of Hatton took us two and a half hours. The hills were tropical, and fruit stands girdled the two-lane A-7 highway, which had little traffic beyond the ubiquitous feral dogs and three-wheeled Asian taxis known as tuk-tuks.
As we continued to climb, past 4,000 feet, the vistas opened up to reveal majestic waterfalls and terrace after terrace of tea plants. We pushed through the compressed beehive of Hatton, past Castlereagh Lake and into the heart of tea plantation country, a world of verdant staircases occupied by laborers with heavy bags across their shoulders. When I stepped out of the van into the crisp mountain air enveloping the spectacular gardens leading to the bungalow where I would stay that night, I suddenly lost all memory of that unforgettable place in Kandy.
I had arrived at Tientsin, the oldest (built in 1888) of four bungalows operated in the Hatton area by Ceylon Tea Trails, Sri Lanka’s first Relais & Châteaux resort. Shortly after I was shown to my colonial high-ceilinged room (one of six in the bungalow), the chef knocked on my door and proceeded to describe the three-course lunch and four-course dinner he had in mind for me to make sure that I had no dietary concerns.
I sat on the patio overlooking the terraces and enjoyed a near-perfect meal of carrot and coriander soup, fresh bread, grilled tuna with tarragon sauce and apple crisp. I was about to order tea when the manager informed me that wouldn’t be necessary: I had an appointment in 15 minutes at the nearby Norwood tea factory with their planter in residence, Mr. Taylor.
Two hours after my tea-slurping seminar, I went for a long stroll through the tea plantation abutting Tientsin. Along the narrow roads, the only other pedestrians were women carrying freshly plucked leaves in large sacks or bundles of tea plant branches to use as firewood back home. The British planters had long since left the hills: Their estates had been expropriated by the new government in the 1950s, then returned to them a few years later, though the ensuing years of war and government-initiated land reform efforts had compelled their interests elsewhere.
Even under local ownership, however, a colonial air pervades the region. The women laborers greeted me warmly and chatted among themselves as they, with their armloads, walked off into the setting sun, but I suffered no illusion that their $4-a-day livelihood was a particularly happy one.
Presently I was alone, moving through the sea of leaves, past residences pumping out local music and Bollywood dialogue. Behind me tucked into the hills was a single aglow building, the Tientsin bungalow, and I would get there when I got there.
Mr. Yapa picked me up the next morning at 7:30. The three-and-a-half-hour drive along the A-5 to Ella was even more absurdly beautiful — velvety mountains, the mighty Devon Falls, the twinkling Gregory Lake, the wildly baroque roadside Rama Sita temple — than the previous day’s journey. And an even sweeter surprise was Ella itself, the one town I would unhesitatingly recommend as a destination. (Caveat: I didn’t have time to visit the much-touristed city of Nuwara Eliya with its profusion of vegetable gardens and fine colonial buildings.)
Ella possesses an agreeable scruffiness, the tea plantations and noble birch trees sharing the landscape with a host of ramshackle restaurants and guesthouses. A couple of miles past town, we pulled in to the Secret Ella, a sleek resort that had opened only two months earlier. The concierge showed me to my shiny wood-and-concrete room and presented me with a mobile phone with which I could summon him at a moment’s notice.
Though it was getting chilly, I could not resist the rolling views from the dining patio, where I was presented with enough food — fruit salad, wild mushroom soup, curried fish — to fortify five of me. I did what I could before wandering down the road to the Secret Ella’s big sister, the lovely 98 Acres Resort, with its swimming pool seemingly hoisted up by the tea terraces.
I took a drink at the bar and continued my stroll downhill toward Ella. Then the rain began to fall hard. Drenched, I staggered into a place called the Curd & Honey Shop, at the town’s main junction. Those gathered on the covered patio were similarly soaked: a German family of four, a Chinese female traveler and an American techie named Neil who had cashed out a few years ago and was now backpacking across Asia, with tomorrow’s destination being Kandy where a five-day course in meditation awaited him. I counseled Neil to visit Helga’s Folly. Then I ordered a pot of tea, which cost about a dollar.
I sat there for an hour or so, watching the rain thin out while the ancient properties of the local beverage worked their magic on me. Newly imbued and somewhat dry, I marched back uphill.
Robert Draper is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and National Geographic and a correspondent for GQ.
If You Go
Local cuisine in the hill country is similar to Indian food, though often spicier (particularly in restaurants with Tamil chefs). Sri Lankan as well as Asian and European meals are generally of particularly high quality in the region’s more notable hotels, such as the following.
Helga’s Folly (32 Frederick E. de Silva Mawatha, Kandy, 94-81-223-4571, helgasfolly.com): A delightful alternative universe to Sri Lanka, fashioned by an eccentric native. Luxurious in its own way, with delicious dinners. Rooms for two from $200.
Ceylon Tea Trails (four locations between Castlereigh and Hatton, 94-11-774-5700, resplendentceylon.com): Handsome and spacious Relais & Châteaux bungalows strewn across the hushed, high-altitude interior of tea country. With outstanding service and cuisine, the Tientsin bungalow with its magnificent British garden constitutes a destination all its own. All-inclusive rate for a single room starts at $437.
The Secret Ella (Passara Road, Ella, 94-57-222-6333, thesecrethotels.com): A sleek new addition to Ella’s many (and mostly scruffy) hotels, situated about a mile from town and catering to couples and families. Excellent local food served on a picturesque terrace. Room-only rate for two starts at $180.
From : New York Times