Features
The Trump Convention – A Reality Show Without The Reality

by Vijaya Chandrasoma
The Republican National Convention kicked off on Monday, August 24 in the backdrop of racial violence, when yet another unarmed black man was shot in the back by policemen, in front of his three children in Kenosha, Wisconsin, provoking a further series of violent protests; a grim Coronavirus death toll of 177,000 and climbing; firefighters battling raging wildfires in California; and a Category 4 hurricane, threatening havoc and evacuations for portions of the Texas and Louisiana coasts.
The Convention had as its theme the concept of an Alternative Reality, with America enjoying a period of economic prosperity; a pandemic firmly under control; a continuing era of social and racial justice; and the effects of natural disasters minimized, thanks to the competent leadership of the Trump administration.
This parade of blatant lies and the pageant of criminal hypocrisy were the features of the Convention, absent any sense of responsibility or shame.
The four days of the Convention had their own themes:
Land of Promise –
Day 1 of the Convention included speeches from Donald Jr. and his girlfriend, Kimberley Guilfoyle, Ambassador Nikki Haley and Senator Tim Scott.
Two family members who were not invited to speak at the Convention were niece, Dr. Mary Trump, who recently published a tell-all book, the title of which was: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man; and older sister, retired Federal Judge, Maryanne Trump Barry. An audio was released last week in which Ms. Barry was heard bitterly excoriating Trump, saying “Donald’s out for Donald, period…. He has no principles. None.….It is the phoniness of it all and this cruelty. Donald is cruel.”
It is not known whether President Putin will attend the Convention to deliver his instructions for the next four years after he helps rig Trump’s re-election.
Donald Trump appeared on numerous occasions, introducing various “ordinary folks”, frontline workers battling the Coronavirus. They all confirmed that Trump was doing a wonderful job in controlling the virus. Their adulation was matched only by their hypocrisy and dishonesty.
Donald Trump Jr.’s speech proved, yet again, that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. He had a lie in every sentence, warning of the dire future America faces under a Biden administration, saying, “this election is about church, work and school versus rioting, looting and vandalism.”
Rioting, looting and vandalism all initiated during the watch of the Trump administration.
Ambassador Nikki Haley and African-American Senator Tim Scott gave the only speeches approaching sanity. They talked of their backgrounds, Haley about her traditional Sikh immigrant parents, and “the promise of America”; and Scott who said that his family had gone “from cotton to Congress in one lifetime”.
Quote of the day goes to Tim Scott: Biden and Harris will turn our country into a socialist Utopia.
Either Scott doesn’t know the meaning of the word “Utopia” or he’s a Democrat in Fox’s clothing.
Land of Opportunity
– Day 2 of the Convention continued in the face of deadly crises of protests against police brutality, ravages of the pandemic and natural disasters caused by climate change and a collapsing economy,
The ubiquitous Trump was joined at the podium by First Lady Melania, Trump’s children, Eric and Tiffany, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Senior Economic Adviser, Larry Kudlow, Senator Rand Paul and former Florida Attorney General, Pam Bondi.
Pompeo raised an ethical and legal conundrum by his decision to send a taped statement to the Convention in support of the Trump agenda. Cabinet officials are barred from indulging in political activity when they are on state business, as Pompeo currently is, in Jerusalem. Sadly, ethical and legal rules are observed more in the breach by this administration.
White House Chief Economic Adviser, Larry Kudlow lied in his speech, “There is an economic boom, a housing boom”, created entirely by the magnificent leadership of our Fuhrer, Donald J. Trump. A boom in the context of an economic recession and unemployment rates near the depths of the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Besides, Trump did not “create the pre-pandemic economy”. He inherited a booming economy from the Obama administration and merely helped himself from an already well-stocked buffet.
Pam Bondi lied of the corruption of the Biden family, in Ukraine and China. The same Pam Bondi who, as Attorney General of Florida, accepted a $25,000 bribe from the Trump campaign in 2016, for dropping a lawsuit against the fraudulent Trump University. Accusing Biden of nepotism and corruption, as Bondi did, is like the pot calling the kettle orange.
Lt. Governor of Florida, Jeanette Nunez spoke of the three Fs, Faith, Family and Freedom, being the credo of the Trump administration. Not the usual F words that come to mind when thinking of Donald J. Trump.
First Lady Melania broke from tradition by using her own words for the last speech of the day. A departure from 2016, when she plagiarized one of Michelle Obama’s previous Convention speeches.
In a moving and balanced address, a pleasant contrast to previous high decibel tirades lionizing Trump, she spoke of her own pursuit of the American Dream. She acknowledged the “invisible enemy”, Covid19, which has “swept across our beautiful country and impacted all of us”, and touched on racial reconciliation, 100 years of women’s suffrage and the opioid crisis.
Unfortunately, she reverted to the Convention theme of an Alternative Universe. She made the most preposterous statement in a Convention hardly lacking in absurdity, when she said, “We need Donald’s leadership for four more years, ….to bring us back to the greatest economy and strongest country ever seen. Donald doesn’t waste time playing politics!”
Quote of the day: Registered Nurse, Amy Johnson Ford: Donald Trump’s quick action and leadership saved thousands of lives during Covid19.
Land of Heroes –
Day 3 of the Convention saw Vice President Mike Pence take center stage as the keynote speaker. Second Lady Karen Pence, presidential daughter-in-law Lara Trump, Trump Senior adviser to the president, Kellyanne Conway, South Dakota Governor, Kristi Noem and Senator Marsha Blackburn were also among the speakers.
Karen Pence, Trump Press Secretary, Kayleigh McEnany and Kellyanne Conway all attempted to woo female voters by emphasizing Trump’s mythical treatment, respect and empathy towards women. A hard sell indeed, in the backdrop of Trump’s long history of misogyny and sexual assaults.
Pence accepted the nomination of the Vice Presidency of the Republican Party at Fort McHenry, a storied national monument, a coastal bastion which provided a defence against the British in the War of 1812.
In a hard-hitting speech, Pence described Biden as a Trojan Horse to the Far Left. He stated that Biden will not be able to provide the leadership needed to contain the continuing violence in the inner cities; that Trump will be best qualified to keep America safe against violence, again forgetting that all this violence has occurred during Trump’s watch. He provided a complete makeover of Donald Trump, replete with lies, misrepresentation and hyperbole. He described Trump as a Law and Order president, with exceptional leadership qualities, which saved thousands of lives by his prompt (?) action during the pandemic, and built the strongest economy the world has ever seen. He lauded Trump for his compassionate empathy for the welfare of all Americans, including minorities.
Trump and First Lady, Melania made a “surprising” appearance at the podium with VP Pence and Mother Pence, creating a photo opportunity while the Star Spangled Banner was sung by American Country singer, Trace Adkins.
Pence made a passing mention of the administration’s support of the police, but remained silent about the shooting of yet another unarmed black man by Kenosha cops and the subsequent murder of two peaceful protesters by a Trump supporter imported from Illinois. Or the escalating violence raging in Kenosha before he started his speech.
Quote of the day goes to Pence: You won’t be safe in Biden’s America.
We sure don’t feel safe in Trump’s America, the America Biden will inherit.
Land of Greatness –
The final day of the Convention belonged to the superstars of Greatness, Donald J. Trump and his Senior Adviser and daughter, Ivanka. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani also lied. An audience of 2,000 attended the proceedings in the South Lawn of the White House, ignoring medical guidelines of masks and social distancing. Also ignoring laws that prohibits the use of the White House for political purposes.
I am unable to continue reporting on the speeches of the Republican convention any longer except to say that Trump accepted the nomination for the Presidency with the supreme lie he has “followed the science” in his management of the pandemic and saved thousands of lives.
I am sick to my stomach, listening to three days of threats, stoking fears and shameless lies during this Convention. Lies that the nation is doing wonderfully well under the leadership of Trump, his cronies and his crime family.
The reality is that the pandemic is raging unchecked by a president who cares more for his personal gain than for the safety and health of the American people. A president who will do anything, break any law, risk any life to win re-election, because defeat will mean exposure of the plethora of crimes he has committed.
Covid19 has now claimed over 180,000 lives. Trump has never had a national plan to control the virus, in fact makes matters worse with “happy talk” and ridiculous and dangerous medical advice. He keeps lying about the fatalities in the USA when every other developed nation has the virus contained to manageable levels, thanks to competent leadership.
America’s economy has been reduced to Depression levels, with over 30 million unemployed, and millions facing hunger and homelessness.
Category 4 Hurricane Laura is wreaking havoc in Texas and Louisiana and wildfires continue to rage in California. Both disasters caused by Climate Change, dismissed by Trump as a hoax.
In Kenosha, Wisconsin, protests against the shooting in the back of unarmed black man, Jacob Blake by cops, escalated when two protesters were shot and killed by a 17-year-old vigilante, Kyle Rittenhouse, a Trump supporter imported from Antioch, Illinois. Rittenhouse has been identified sitting in the front row of a Trump rally in January. Many other white men, calling themselves an “armed militia” have descended on Kenosha from neighbouring states, ostensibly to “safeguard the businesses in Kenosha”; their real intent is the escalation of the violence against peaceful protesters. The Kenosha police has implicitly encouraged this extra-military action, justifying the murders of protesters by stating that “they should not have been breaking the curfew” while ignoring the imported militia also guilty of the same “crime”.
Trump’s efforts to suppress voters, cast doubts on mail-in voting, while encouraging Trump appointee Postmaster General to impede the system, and again seeking help from Russia to help him rig the election, are perhaps the greatest threats to the oldest democracy in the world.
It is obvious where Republican policies are leading the people of Trump’s America. I have lived in Colombo long enough to recognize the makings of a police state. I have read enough about the Third Reich in Germany to see Fascism and White Supremacy raising their ugly heads.
What amazes and frightens me most is that educated and prosperous people of the most powerful nation in the world are willing to believe in a pack of lies, to sacrifice their long-fought for democracy …. For what? To appease the voracious ego of a madman and the insatiable greed of a band of racist crooks?
The old maxim that you get the leaders you deserve has never been more amply demonstrated.
Features
Easter truth can be the beginning

There has long been speculation that the Easter bombing of April 2019 had a relationship to Sri Lankan politics. The near simultaneous bombings of three Christian churches and three luxury hotels, with a death toll of 270 and over 500 injured, by Muslim suicide bombers made no sense in Sri Lanka where there has been no history of conflict between the two religions. But a political motivation was suspected on the basis of who would be the beneficiary of an otherwise senseless crime. The bombing immediately discredited the government in power at that time, saw the nomination of the opposition presidential candidate soon after, and paved the way for the crushing defeat of the government at the national elections that followed in a few months.
In Parliament last week, Leader of the House Bimal Ratnayake revealed a political strategy to create the conditions for the change of government that took place. His remarks corresponded to suspicions that the attack was not just a failure of intelligence, but the result of deliberate manipulation by those in the political sphere. What is new is that these suspicions are now being stated clearly and officially at the highest level of government. Minister Ratnayake said, “They started this in 2013 by creating and maintaining Sinhala and Muslim extremist groups through intelligence agencies. The culmination of this was similar to the Cambridge Analytica incident.”
The Cambridge Analytica scandal involved the unauthorised harvesting of personal data from millions of Facebook users to build psychological profiles and micro-target voters for political purposes. The data harvested by Cambridge Analytica was used primarily to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election in favour of Donald Trump and the 2016 Brexit referendum in the UK. The company also allegedly worked on elections in Kenya, Nigeria, India, Trinidad and Tobago, and several other countries, using psychographic profiling and targeted digital ads to manipulate voter behaviour.
Cardinal’s Consistency
If the allegations about the Easter attacks prove true, they would constitute one of the most unprincipled examples of violence being used for political purposes in Sri Lanka’s post-war period. To use fear, death, and destruction to pave the way for a political return is totally unacceptable and without conscience. What makes the current moment different from earlier efforts to deal with such unacceptable actions is that there now appears to be political will. There is a sense that the present government is committed to follow through with investigations, even if the implications reach to the highest levels of power.
It is significant that the government has taken the controversial step of reappointing retired officers Shani Abeysekera and Ravi Seneviratne, both of whom were known to be top class police investigators who were removed from the investigation process by previous governments, to once again lead the investigations. They are both controversial in that they briefly joined the government side’s political stage during the last presidential election campaign. Minister Ratnayake justified their reappointment on the grounds that Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith made the request. It is in this context that the current government’s willingness to act gains it credibility with the Catholic community, which bore the brunt of the attacks.
The role of the Catholic Church and Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith in consistently pushing for accountability in the Easter Sunday case is commendable. From the outset, the Cardinal was a vocal advocate for justice for the victims of the bombing. His calls for transparency, a credible investigation, and the identification of those truly responsible have been persistent and unwavering. Over the years, previous government leaders made promises to find the culprits and masterminds in response to this pressure which the Cardinal publicly welcomed. But those assurances, like many others before them, did not materialise in the form of tangible outcomes.
Ending Impunity
Progress in the investigation of the Easter bombings comes at a time when the government has already made forward movement in pursuing economic accountability. High-profile arrests and legal actions against formerly powerful politicians for corruption are being carried out in a way never witnessed before. For many decades, impunity has been the practice in government at the highest levels. Economic crimes and political violence in which the protagonists were suspected to be of government-origin were pursued only half-heartedly in the past. Charges were often framed, suspects were taken into custody, but invariably the process broke down mid-way and the suspects were released. This time around those who have been charged have had their cases taken to court where they have been given exemplary sentences.
In the case of the Easter bombing, the testimony of survivors and the documentation of intelligence failures are now being brought back into the spotlight. Investigations into key actors, including the alleged role of former paramilitaries turned politicians like Pillayan show that this is no longer a nominal exercise. The challenge for the government is to ensure that this momentum does not wane. The legal and institutional frameworks need to be allowed to function without interference. No matter how politically sensitive, the Sri Lankan people need answers, and more importantly, justice.
Sri Lanka has suffered for decades from a culture of impunity that has bred cynicism and mistrust. The present government has taken early steps to reverse that trend. It is too early to say whether this will lead to full justice. There are indications that the government is sequencing its priorities: first, economic crimes and now political crimes like the Easter attacks; later, possibly, war crimes. The wounds of the war years are deep and divisive. Pursuing accountability for wartime abuses may demand more political capital than the government currently possesses or wishes to expend, and it is likely that such steps will be undertaken more cautiously—and later.
In the case of the Chemmani mass graves the government seems to be allowing the judicial investigations to proceed independently, unlike in the case of the Mannar and Matale mass graves by previous governments. Permitting the Chemmani probe to proceed signals that the era of blanket impunity might finally be drawing to a close and the integrity of Sri Lanka’s democratic institutions is being secured. If a crime like the Easter bombing, which has defied a satisfactory conclusion for over six years is successfully investigated and prosecuted, it may open the space for deeper scrutiny of the past, including the war years. It is up to the independent institutions, judiciary and civil society to push this process forward.
by Jehan Perera
Features
Reflections on Cuba, BRICS and geopolitics

I returned to the US, from Cuba, just a few hours before Donald Trump signed a memorandum on 30 June, 2025, tightening the long-standing US economic blockade against Cuba. The memorandum includes a statutory ban on US tourism to the neighbouring island.
Despite a long fascination for the island nation, I did not volunteer for the Venceremos Brigade to Cuba during my college years. Finally, my wish to see the legendary island of anti-imperialist revolution—the so-called ‘last bastion of socialism in the western hemisphere’—came true.
I enjoyed Cuba’s resplendent land and waters, the vibrancy of its music and dance, and the warm hospitality of its racially integrated people. I visited the impressive places and monuments of its colonial and modern history, receiving a wealth of interesting and intriguing information from my wonderful Cuban guides and other sources.
The history of Cuba is one of struggle and transformation. The original Taino people were extinct due to the Spanish conquest. The Revolution of 1898 brought liberation under scholar-poet Jose Marti, only to be followed by US neocolonial rule from 1902 to 1959. During the latter part of this period, the Batista dictatorship and his American business and Mafia connections dominated the island.
The armed struggle, culminating in the 1959 Revolution, led by Fidel Castro, Camilo Cienfuegos, Che Guevara and others, transformed the nation. The Cuban Communist Party, under Fidel Castro’s rule (1959-2008), implemented widespread confiscation and wealth redistribution. Throughout this period and up to date, the US has maintained occupation of Guantanamo Bay (the first US overseas military base) under a 1903 perpetual lease agreement, following the Spanish-American War.
Cuba’s Present Crisis
Unfortunately, what I encountered in my homestays and travel around the island was far from the thriving socialist society I had hoped to see. The once magnificent buildings in Havana and other cities are dilapidated and the streets strewn with litter. Lacking reliable public transportation, people stand on streets around the island patiently waiting to catch rides from any vehicle that will stop—among them, the still widely used pre-Revolution American cars and horse-drawn carriages.
The island is currently facing its worst economic crisis, since the 1959 revolution. Long and daily power cuts, scarce internet connection, food and medicine shortages, and high prices, are the realities of present-day Cuba. Some staple items like beans are nowhere to be found; rice production has declined and much is now imported. Sugar, too, has become an import in Cuba, which, until recently, was the leading sugar exporter in the world.
People cannot make ends meet with their meager incomes—a doctor’s monthly salary is approximately US$50. Even by conservative World Bank estimates, 72% of all Cubans live below the poverty line. Beggars seem to be everywhere, with the African community descendant from slavery being the most economically victimised.
Young professionals, products of the island’s renowned free education and healthcare systems, are emigrating to the US, Europe, and elsewhere, leaving mostly the elderly behind. Cuba reportedly lost some 13% of its 11 million population between 2020 and 2024, due largely to emigration. Financial remittances from emigrants are essential for their families’ survival at home.
In private, people complain bitterly about government mismanagement and corruption, expressing concern about the island’s future and people’s survival. Given state authoritarianism and repression, there is no independent media, visible organised resistance, or public demonstrations.
The Cuban government blames US sanctions and blockade, operative since the early 1960s, for the island’s economic strangulation. In contrast, the US and its Cuban-American supporters blame socialism for Cuba’s failures.
Notwithstanding claims to be a leader of the international Non-Aligned Movement, Cuba withstood the 1961 CIA-backed Cuban-American Bay of Pigs invasion and the 1962 Cuban missile crisis by aligning itself with the Soviet Union, eventually becoming its client state. The dismantling of the Soviet Union in 1992 and the recent Covid crisis have dealt severe blows to the Cuban economy and society. The decline in tourism, one of the most important sectors of the Cuban economy, will be further impacted by Donald Trump’s recent statutory ban on US tourism.
Is the opening of Cuba to neo-liberal capitalism—including global finance capital, the IMF, international intervention by the US (and its Cuban-American supporters awaiting return of land and business confiscated by the Cuban Revolution)—the solution to Cuba’s current economic crisis?
The Path Forward
Government mismanagement, corruption, repression and authoritarianism, economic collapse, agricultural decline, lack of employment, shortages of fuel and food, rising prices, powerlessness, despair and labour emigration characterise much of the world following neoliberal policies today. These countries also face the threats of international intervention, regime change, sanctions and blockades if they attempt to strike out on independent paths of economic and political development outside western-dominated neoliberalism.
Is BRICS the alternative to both authoritarian socialism and neoliberal capitalism, the path to resolving the crisis in Cuba and much of the world?
The Global South-led BRICS constitutes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as 10 partner countries, including Cuba, Belarus, Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. Today, the BRICS countries together are estimated to account for 56% of world population, 44% of global GDP.
The BRICS alliance provides a much-needed platform to explore alternative mechanisms, like the New Development Bank and bilateral trade agreements, to reduce reliance on Western financial institutions, such as the IMF and currencies, specifically the US dollar. While BRICS rejects certain aspects of Western dominated geopolitics and hierarchical North-South relations, it upholds neoliberal economic principles: competition, free trade, open markets, export-led growth and globalisation, unfettered technological expansion.
BRICS aims to advance its members within the existing global capitalist order, rather than create a fundamental alternative to the capitalist paradigm which prioritizes profit-led growth before environmental sustainability and human well-being. As such, corporate hegemony, concentration of wealth by a global elite spanning the North and the South, as well technological and military domination, are not challenged. Neither does BRICS challenge political authoritarianism within its member countries or the possibility of the emergence of forms of authoritarian capitalism. Composed of countries unequal in size, economic and military power, BRICS may also easily reproduce unequal exchange and new forms of colonialism in south-south relations.
False Alternative
Although barely noticeable to a visitor, China is quietly replacing the former Soviet Union as Cuba’s benefactor, expanding its economic activities on the island. Since 2018, Cuba has joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the massive infrastructural project connecting some 150 countries around the world. While the US is tightening its trade blockade, China has become Cuba’s largest trading partner and the primary provider of technology for infrastructure, telecommunications, renewable energy sources, the tourism industry, and other important areas of Cuba’s development.
Some critics of US imperialism tend to see China as a benevolent alternative to US and western domination. There are claims that certain media outlets, promoting such perspectives, may be linked to a funding source, associated with China. Even if it is true, the political and military intentions of Chinese economic expansion can only be known in the future.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, China has increased its nuclear arsenal by 20% from an estimated 500 to over 600 warheads in 2025. According to US government sources, China has also established satellite intelligence infrastructure or ‘spy bases’ in Cuba that can target the United States commercial and military operations. Cuba, located only some 90 miles from the Florida coastline, could well be drawn into the geopolitical confrontation between the United States and China as it was during the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union, the Cuban Missile Crisis being a case in point.
Even though the world is moving towards an inexorable market and technologically controlled reality, the rationality of this trajectory must be questioned. The need for balanced ecological and social frameworks upholding bioregionalism, local control of resources, food self-sufficiency need to be considered. Freedom of expression, right to dissent, and collective organising undermined by both neoliberal capitalism and socialist authoritarianism must be upheld. This requires the awakening of consciousness to create a human society founded on wisdom and generosity over competition and exploitation.
The words of the great nineteenth century Cuban patriot, Jose Marti (1853-1895) are still applicable to the transformation needed in both Cuba and the world:
“Happiness exists on earth, and it is won through prudent exercise of reason, knowledge of the harmony of the universe, and constant practice of generosity.”(Courtesy IDN in-depth News)
(Dr. Bandarage has served on the faculties of Brandeis, Mount Holyoke and Georgetown and is the author of books, including Colonialism in Sri Lanka; The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka, Sustainability and Well-Being: The Middle Path to Environment, Society and the Economy, Crisis in Sri Lanka and the World and numerous other publications on global political economy and related subjects. www.bandarage.com)
Features
Multi-faceted Sri Lankan celebrity … checking out land of birth

I was sent a video of Noeline Honter doing the song ‘Beauty and the Beast’, with Maxi Rosairo, live on stage.
The clip, I was told, was from The Island Music Awards, held in the late ‘90s … probably 1994.
Believe me, their performance was simply awesome … the vocals, the voices, the passion, the expression, the enthusiasm. Yes, that is what singing is all about. And no lyric-stands, planted in front, for guidance.
Well, the good news I have for you is that Noeline Honter will be in our midst next month (August) and she will be seen in action at three events, in Colombo.
Noeline will be featured at Gatz, Cinnamon Life, on Sunday, 24th August, and again on 20th of September.
Her first date at Gatz will be with the group Terry & The Big Spenders, while her 20th September performance will be with Mirage.
Noeline will also be performing at the BMICH, on the 30th of August, at a concert, ‘Vibes of Yesterday.’
The show, which is in aid of the Apeksha Hospital, Maharagama, will also feature several other artistes. The band in attendance will be the ‘Expressions.’
Noeline indicated to us that she is very much looking forward to her date with Mirage.

Noeline’s first band … her very own Galaxy
“It will be really exciting as I’ve performed with this wonderful outfit several times, as a guest artiste, touring the Middle East and other parts of the world, and also joining them on stage at their regular gigs in Dubai.”
In Sri Lanka, Noeline was not only known for her singing, she was also immensely popular as a TV presenter … winning several awards in both categories – singing and TV presenter.
In addition, she had her own Academy of Training, and she continues with her English training, Down Under, conducting several training programmes online to students, in many countries.
Noeline’s contribution to the field of television news, in Australia, commenced in 2008, in the role of Executive Producer and Presenter of ‘Sri Lanka News weekly,’ a news programme telecast on Channel 31, in Melbourne.
This multi-faceted Sri Lankan celebrity now presents interview programmes on Channel 31, where she features a gamut of mainly Sri Lankan musicians, resident in Sri Lanka and around the world. This is a chat show with musical clips by the featured artistes.
Noeline had her own band in the scene here … Galaxy, comprising Mohan Sabaratnam (drums), Kamal Perera (guitar), Joe Thambimuttu (bass/keyboards/vocals), Kumar Pieris (keyboards), and Ricky Senn (sax/trumpet /brass).

Noeline Honter: Three events in Colombo
Her trip to Sri Lanka, in August, she says, is mainly to be with her family, and to visit some of her favourite places, like Yala, Trincomalee, etc
“When I come over in August, it will be nearly three and a half years since I left the beloved land of my birth.”
Noeline is now based in Australia and says she is absolutely delighted to have the opportunity of sharing time with her son, Ryan, in Adelaide, and her daughter, Jaimee, in Melbourne.
Yes, a name that will never ever be forgotten, especially in the local Western music scene – Noeline Honter.
Go check her out at Gatz, Cinnamon Life, on 24th August and 20th September, 2025.
-
News3 days ago
Dates for A/L and O/L exams announced
-
Latest News5 days ago
Search for survivors after Houthis sink second Red Sea cargo ship in a week
-
Business2 days ago
SLIC Life among Asia’s Best: Finalist in 3 key categories at 10th Trusted Life Awards
-
News5 days ago
Sri Lanka back to its high poverty levels
-
Features2 days ago
Afghanistan:Broken promises, burning nation
-
News3 days ago
Utilize capital allocated by the government effectively to reach targeted economic development goals – President
-
Business6 days ago
Maldives HC expresses deep concern over growing disconnect with Sri Lanka
-
Editorial2 days ago
Navigating tariff shocks