“Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself-and be lenient to everybody else.” ― Henry Ward Beecher Click here to receive your free copy of the eLanka Newsletter twice a week delivered directly to your inbox! ...
Clean Sri Lanka – By Oscar E V Fernando Where every prospect pleases, man alone is vile-this was said by Bishop Heber of Calcutta when he visited Sri Lanka or Ceylon in 1825. It was in a hymn he wrote around that time and he goes on to say-the heathen in his blindness bows down to wood and stone. There is a ring of imperialism and a tone of racism implied in these lines, but the impact of it on society then and now, when our country has been bashed forwards and back with incidents of racism-this must be viewed minus colored glasses as it shows how much more has to be cleaned up other than only dirt-dust-fallen leaves and polyethene bags. This exercise will reveal loads of crap and dirt hidden under the carpet for a long period-long enough to drag the country down to bankruptcy as even the ...
Jan 12, 2025
Posted
Articles, Oscar Fernando
Tagged Clean Sri Lanka, Cleaning up society in Sri Lanka, eLanka newsletter articles, Environmental pollution in Sri Lanka, Ethnic issues in Sri Lanka, Global warming impact on Sri Lanka, Moral cleanup in society, Oscar E V Fernando articles, Racism and societal challenges in Sri Lanka, Social and moral challenges in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka's natural beauty
New Year Wish From Oscar Fernando “A new year is a chance to start fresh, a chance to let go of the past and embrace the future.” “Wishing you peace, love, and laughter in the New Year.” “This year, may you be stronger, wiser, and surrounded by the people you love. Happy New Year!” Click here to receive your free copy of the eLanka Newsletter twice a week delivered directly to your inbox! ...
Call for Unity – By Oscar Fernando President’s Call for unity is a wise move in the face of the ongoing IMF deliberations that would bring enormous benefits to Sri Lanka-especially in the aftermath of a severe bankruptcy! One could ask why single out IMF among other donor countries? IMF does a fine-tooth comb analysis of the economy before aid is granted-how severe the analysis can be concluded by our failure sixteen times to be considered worthy of the aid-and if on this seventeenth time we fully succeed, it speaks well of the diplomacy of the present regime as deserving of an accolade to the previous regime that started the ball rolling-under a severe bankruptcy! This acceptance of Sri Lanka as worthy of IMF relief measures is a harbinger for the flow of FDIs as well as expatriates to come in to invest and churn the economy in the right ...
Provincial Councils-District Councils-District Secretariate-Municipal/Urban Councils – By Oscar Fernando And all this to run this dot of a country whilst playing-political musical chairs and dragging the country down to the labyrinth of bankruptcy. It is time, we opened our eyes to see the folly we were in, and put a stop to the Merry Go Rounds and merry-merry go rounds of musical chairs-what with introducing Provincial Councils-so devised to settle a bludgeoning power devolution problem but has ended in disaster with the failed rounds of talks that have festered the existing wound even further-and contributing in no small way to the bankruptcy of the economy! Can we even now, take the bold step of halting this folly of a costly Provincial Council Election imminently round the corner and consider scrapping all political councils and run this dot of a country with the District Secretary DS under the Minister of Local ...
Dec 16, 2024
Posted
Articles, Oscar Fernando
Tagged 13th Amendment Sri Lanka, District Councils Sri Lanka, District Secretariate functions, Governance challenges in Sri Lanka, Municipal and Urban Councils Sri Lanka, Political structure of Sri Lanka, Provincial Council elections, Provincial Councils in Sri Lanka, Role of District Secretaries
Divisive Politics in Sri Lanka – By Oscar E V Fernando A divisive issue if stated or persisted upon-causes disagreement or conflict between two or more persons in say, a show of bar room bravado that may lead to fisticuffs or battle and may even end up in war. Politics is defined as the science or business of government and divisive politics may be said to be the major cause of problems in the world as it often starts within society. Governing themselves within a group when found to be too burdensome, people decide to hand over governance to a leader or leaders-and this is done through politics. What is divisive politics? When two or more Wie to be thus elected, they form into different factions to woo the voters-and this is often done pitching one faction over the other on the basis of-race religion-sex or any other oppressive reason-society ...
Dec 10, 2024
Posted
Articles, Oscar Fernando
Tagged democratic vs totalitarian regimes, divisive politics, global political issues, governance challenges, Oscar E V Fernando article, Panch Maha Balawegaya, political conflict, political division, political governance., Political Science, politics and society, politics and war, race and religion conflict, societal turbulence, Sri Lanka divisive politics, Sri Lankan independence
See beyond the Well and Contribute to System Change! – By Oscar E V Fernando Majority-A and Minority B-Are they equal before Law-some say this and others that This Void not met? -more blood will be shed! This that or the other we say-Shadow of Majority falls on a Minority Solution? Both sides to approach in grace and Charity[H1] . Not possible says some-look at Buddha Gandhi Christ Mandela and the likes Let go Hatred-Love-Forgive-Turn other cheek-are Traits to abide Possible it is-difficult if history alone you abide History at times opinionated and opinion a view held as probable-beside. See the score behind-in Thirties -State Council a Happy Majority/Minority Mix Closer to Independence they all struggled to fix Independence, won-but then the Struggle to win-Left or Right of Boss began Started then and still goes on now-in a battle of disgrace and shame In struggle for Power-Land-Politics Finance ...
Dec 7, 2024
Posted
Articles, Oscar Fernando
Tagged Buddha, Christ, Gandhi, Mandela, Oscar E V Fernando, System Change
Co-existence – By Oscar E V Fernando Co-existence is the state or fact of life together, at the same time or place, by groups holding differing views, without harming each other mentally or physically; such a display of existence is amply shown among various groups such as Islamic, Jewish, and Christians meeting at various international fora, though they have had a history of antipathy and violence. Experts on Conflict Resolution say that complete absence of conflict is not expected in Co-existence-there may be simmering tensions and conflicts that erupt and these can be put up for arbitration. Co-e has between advocated by different religions- Buddhists- -to take the Middle Path to avoid conflicts with others -told that they cannot survive without others and that they should at all times have positive relations with them – Seek harmony between self and others-avoiding confrontation by developing peaceful relations between different communities. Christianity admonishes to-Love thy ...
Che Guevara-the Revolutionary turned Peacemaker – by Oscar E V Fernando Che Guevara, a Marxist from Argentina was a person endeared to the rural poor but later was executed for expressing views on the down trodden; he is a paradox as some hated him for his violent ways and he was depicted with a Gun and some adored him for his empathy with the poor and they depicted him with the Rose Flower and Peace Dove; he was later called Gandhi of Cuba. Opinions can change a person and also, change the world-but an opinion is defined as a view held as probable; need a probability end up in fisticuff leading to war? A clear example is a clash of opinions between Capitalism and Communism-neither party arguing on this subject can provide a perfect solution to the vexed problem of improving the economy of the country-it may only end ...
Nov 30, 2024
Posted
Articles, Oscar Fernando
Tagged Che, Che Guevara, Oscar E V Fernando, Rose Flower and Peace Dove
Democracy – By Oscar E V Fernando Since independence we have been governed by democratic regimes, implying that we in Sri Lanka are living in a Democratic country-democracy being a form of government in which people govern themselves or elect representatives to govern-as opposed to a totalitarian state. A small group may govern themselves by mutual agreement, but when this community expands, they find it necessary to elect a leader to govern. The elected leaders meet in Parliament to discuss and pass laws to govern the people who elected them including themselves-and in a democratic country no one is above the law-and such a government Abraham Lincoln says is-Of the people-By the people-For the people. Electing leaders to Parliament has now become a tricky matter of politics-and politics is defined as the science or business of government-science being the academic side and business being the practice of it in the ...
Nov 28, 2024
Posted
Articles, Oscar Fernando
Tagged Democracy, elected leaders, Oscar E V Fernando, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Parliament
