Aksharaya and Freedom of Expression

I am not a fan of Asoka Handagama.I have seen two of his stage dramas ,"Hena" and "Magatha".Both were propaganda pieces for JVP in late 80's ,if my memory serves me right .Then I have seen "Dunhinda Addara " tele-drama which basically was unwatchable but had to tolerate some episodes since there was only one TV at home.

After dramas and tele-dramas(!) Handagama decided to conquer cinema !I watched "Chanda Kinneri" at Regal cinema in a box suite ,making out with a bird the wholetime ,so I don't know what the hell went on.Partially, it was a personal protest against his mediocrity .On the other hand it was a necessity since I couldn't afford a hotel room at the time (The situation didn't go further than third base ).The film was hyped by most of the Sinhala film critics as the next best thing to sliced bread and pol sambol.

Then there was the case of "Me Mage Sandai".I happened to be in a particular US city when the international film festival of that city had two screenings of the film.I went to one screening with several friends .There were 8-9 people in the audiance ,out of which 6 were Sri Lankan.By this time Handagama has found the next issue after promoting JVP ,namely the ethnic conflict.I have no special sympathasies for Army or rogue Buddists monks but the film was simply unwatchable.All the super-partriots who shouted against it can sleep well since not many non - Sri Lankans saw the film.Also the people who saw it at the screening I was at , sarcastically laughed it off and left early.

Being true to himself by finding the most exploitable issue of the time,it was only matter of time that he came across "The Sri Lankan Homosexual".I haven't seen "Thani Thatuwen Piyabanna " but heard it was local "Boys Don't Cry" version.More power to him!

I brought up all the above to get to this point.I am not a fan of Asoka Handagama!period.He has released a new film called "Aksharaya".I 'm not sure whether I will watch it or not.I checked the website and trailers .It sounds OK.For chrissake let the bugger show his film to the Sri Lankan audiance!If there are any "questionable" material give it a rating .Let the people make up their own mind,eat kadala ,drink fanta ,makeout and write letters to the editor.

Did CPA plagiarize the Trinco Report ?

Blogger sittingnut's analysis of the Trincomalee riots report raises some valid questions .As a member of Sri Lankan civil society , I would like Center for Policy Alternatives to clear things up.I would also like to know more about the procedures for press releases and method of including signatories names in press releases in light of the comment made by Dr.Laksiri Fernando in the community blog Moju.

Additionaly, it would be great if you could update us on the response time of the Sri Lankan security forces and rest of the world situations in similar conditions.(example :US ,Los Angeles and Cincinnati riots from recent history .Then riots in France as well as other countries including India)

e-mail sent to :cpa[at]cpalanka[dot]org


Update :
A detailed analysis from Sittingnut .

BLEG

This blog has been inactive for some time and I thought of blegging for something in this post.If you have a little bit of free time and have some reasonable awareness of Sri Lankan politics,culture and arts please consider updating Wikipedia .

When Ivap asked me about Jaathika Chinthanaya ,I guessed there might be a short history I can point to on the web.Bad guess!I checked Wikipedia and realized that it might be better to update it due to the collaborative nature of the project.The plan was to create biographical sketches of Nalin De Silva and Gunadasa Amerasekara first and then move to minor players like Sooriya Gunasekera,S.L. Gunesekara ,Champika Ranawaka etc.. ,later .Looks like it is not so easy!When it comes to Sri Lankan info ,obviously Wikipedia has lot's of gaps and I started on what I thought was a good place ,"Sri Lankan literature ". Lohan did some additions ,too.I was also suprised to find that Romesh Gunasekara doesn't have an entry !

For instance ,categories like Sri Lankan Politicians ,Sri Lankan musicians, acters and Sri Lankan writers needs lot's of work but Sri Lankan cricketers and broadcasters seems to have reasonable content(go figure !).I'm still learning the basics .I created a Wikpedia Collaboration and would love to have some help .Larger the number of people joining in ,better the content will be.

All the bored geeks in Colombo ,unleash your fury!
Yes, all 4 of you guys! ;-))

Highways!

Ivap has a post on Trincomalee student murders.Just have to add that it's damn time that criminals among security forces be brought to justice.So many incidents (88-90,Bindunewewa ,Krishanthi Kumaraswamy and numerous atrocities in North and South) and nobody has been punished for any of the crimes.Anybody remember (or heard about )Premawathie Manamperi incident during 1971 insurgency ,and how the murderers were brought to justice?

Coming back to the post I was going to write ,it's highways as usual .Check this in Asian tribune.Practically these guys are begging for decent roads.
According to Gretian Gunawardana , Chairman of Hands group said that they need a better transportation network to carry out their normal operations without wasting time.“If our international buyers need to check our products they have to waste more than four to five hours to visit the factories in the rural areas.
If you summerise what they are saying,it will be "We don't need tax breaks and we don't need textile quota.Please give us a good road system.We can compete in international market".
I checked the progress of all the highways projects in the ministry web site.It's seems that they are planning on speeding up southern highway but the documents and excel sheets doesn't say much.It might be 2015 when we have at least the basic system of higways connecting Colombo Matara,kandy and airport.This is the road system we should have built in 70's or 80's!


Here is a simple plan.Put all the resources into one highway and finishing it ASAP to show the country how it can turn the things around.People will be demanding that their regions be connected within 6 months of completion of one highway.
Take for example the southern expressway.
1.Galle and Matara will be practically suburbs of Colombo.
2.Number of of industries will be starting up close to the exits of the highway which are currently underdeveloped and have very limited job oppertunites.
3.Tourism in deeper parts of South will boom.
4.Better prices and market access to the agricultural products from South and Uva .

Finish the damn thing as soon as possible.
Within six months people will be protesting about the slow pace of other projects(Kandy ,Anuradhapura etc..)