By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D.

 Ranil Wickremasinghe the Leader of the Opposition has said that India should help us to restore development in the North. He begs for India’s support. He has also said that India should help us in our agriculture. He states, referring to the liberated North, that :” until the region returns to normalcy and commences food production and fisheries Sri Lanka will continue to have problems” He has also sought Indian help to improve our storage and marketing.

 It looks to me that Ranil Wickremasinghe has a tendency to forget the past.

 Was it not the United National Party of President Jayawardena, a Government of which Ranil Wickremasinghe himself was a cabinet minister that did decide to privatise and sell off the total infrastructure that Sri Lanka had built up over the period from independence till 1977. for the development of agriculture and marketing. It was this total sell off of the infrastructure that supported agricultural development that caused the demise of agriculture under the rule of the United National Party from 1977 onwards.

 This is history now. No one can deny the damage done to our agriculture by the United National Party of Jayawardena and Ranil Wickremasinghe.

 Let me quote my own writings to remind Ranil Wickremasinghe of how the UNP destroyed agriculture in Sri Lanka.

 In 1980 the UNP boasted of its agricultural production. My comments:

“ In 1980 when this achievement was boasted about, I asked the Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture for the Crop Cutting Surveys which we as District Administrators had attended to with great care to ensure that the statistics of production submitted by the Department of Agriculture were correct. To my utter dismay he replied that crop cutting surveys were no longer done. Instead the statistics submitted by the agricultural officers were accepted as correct. No check was done. These were the officers in charge of agricultural development whose promotions depended on the increases recorded. The importance of the Crop Cutting Surveys was that these surveys were done by gazetted officers of high rank directly appointed by the Government Agent. The idea was to have an effective super check on the reported statistics. In Bangladesh, a special team by the Ministry of Agriculture established that agricultural officers had exaggerated the acreage under high yielding varieties by as much as three to four times. Once the Crop Cutting Surveys were done away with the situation in Sri Lankan statistics can be no exception. “p.56)

 This is how the Jayawardena Government recorded increases in agriculture. The earlier system of checks and balances was done away with. Even today no crop Cutting Surveys are done. It would be good for the present Ministry of Agriculture to consider re introducing the Crop Cutting Surveys.

 Sri Lanka had developed the Guaranteed Purchasing Scheme(GPS) for Paddy and other cereals that were being imported. This was done at first by the Marketing Department, later taken over by the Agrarian Services Department and finally done by the Paddy Marketing Board. Under the GPS Scheme a premium price- at times double the world market price was offered to genuine producers. The VelVidene and later the Cultivation Committee had to submit a list of owners and cultivators and based on the average yield they could sell their produce to the Government at the premium price offered. In this method the high subsidy really reached the producer and thereby they could decide to use new methods of cultivation which will bring in a bumper harvest. The UNP of President Jayawardena scrapped this GPS Scheme. Let us look to India for their Scheme of offering subsidies. A high price is offered to anyone who brings in paddy to the Government stores. It is well known that rice millers and traders give loans at high interest or tied to be paid in paddy at a low rate and they hand over the paddy at the Stores and get paid the premium price. In this System the subsidy does not reach the real producer. Instead the subsidy reaches the trader and the rice miller and very few producers benefit. This is the System that India now has and this is also what Sri Lanka does today, after the UNP had destroyed its old GPS Scheme of buying from producers. Ranil Wickremasinghe shoul;d know his facts before venturing out to talk. Our GPS System was a supreme scheme that really helped producers and this enabled the farmers to get out of the poverty trap. The UNP action helped rice millers and traders more than the producers.

 . The UNP sold off the Rice Mills and the Paddy Stores and now they are in the scrap heap. The Marketing Department had State of the Art modern rice mills. These were neglected, and sold as scrap. Once in the Eighties I gazed at the remains of the Ambalantota Rice Mill, my home for a year, where we milled 4000 bushels of rice a day providing employment to over a hundred and providing quality rice for the Southern Province. The mill had been neglected and the land parcelled out. . The mill which in the Sixties was one of the best was in pieces. I could not believe the rack and ruin that had been done by the UNP Government .. Now the Government is picking the pieces and importing rice mills, to replace what the UNP destroyed!

 Take the Marketing Department. The real name was the Department for the Development of Agricultural Marketing. That was a great scheme- a proven method of marketing agricultural produce not known to India or to any other country. The fundamental idea of this marketing system was that it supported both the producer as well as the consumer. The System was to have Government officers to purchase vegetables and fruits at all the major producer fairs at a price higher than what is prevalent at the Colombo Wholesale Market. Then all the traders who buy at the Fairs are compelled to buy at the same price because otherwise they will be out of business. All the goods purchased were sent over night by lorry and rail to Colombo and the officers in charge of the Tripoli Market had to accept around twenty wagon loads and twenty lorry loads everyday early in the morning. I was in charge of the Triploi Market in 1957. The goods were accepted, graded and despatched to a large number of small retail shops by 10 o clock the next day, to be sold. The margin of profit was only 15%. There was a fleet of small vans running round to replenish stocks that were sold. The traders in the area had to sell at the prices we sold if they were to be in business. The Marketing Department kept a margin of less than 15% to offset cost of transport and wastage. The low sale price enabled the consumers to obtain vegetables and fruits at cheap rates. Normally the margin kept by the Wholesaler at the Colombo Market and the retailer was around 100%. By reducing the 100% margin to 15% the Marketing Department helped both the prodiucer as well as the consumer.

 Ranil Wickremasinghe may please inform the Indian Foreign Secretary to go through our archives for the Marketing Department Scheme that President Jayawardena scrapped in 1980s because India does not have any such Marketing scheme. What happens today in India, Bangladesh and in Sri Lanka (after the 1980) is for the producers to bring their vegetables and fruits for sale at the Fairs. Then the traders offer very low prices and the producers are compelled to sell at those prices because otherwise they can pay for transport and take the goods home and come back on the next Fair day and meet the same traders and more over vegetables and fruits are perishable and have to be sold somehow. That is the current system. India may as well look to the Sri Lankan System if they want to develop the marketing of agricultural produce. .

 The Marketing Department achieved more by developing cold rooms and establishing a Cannery. This enabled the Department to offer floor prices for produce like oranges, pineapple and red pumpkin which were made into jam and juice and this enabled Sri lanka to be self sufficient. The UNP of President Jayawardena privatised the Cannery and thereafter imports have flooded in. It would augur well for the Government of Sri lanka to consider re establishing the lost vegetable and fruit purchasing scheme equipped with cold rooms and a cannery to enable local produce to be made into jam, jelley and juice and thus obviate imports, saving foreign exchange as well as finding employment for our people. Here too Ranil Wickremasinghe has to request Nirupama Rao, the Indian Foreign Secretary to copy our old Marketing Department which was abolished by the UNP.

 Ranil Wickremasinghe has also wanted India to help our irrigation. It is Sri Lanka that can boast of a unique irrigation system and it is known that our irrigation engineers were called to help the King of Kashmir in ancient days.

 India cannot help us. It has its own problem of poverty which is endemic and beyond any solution. A visit to New Delhi will show the swarms of poor children begging for food, and shanties all over. Poverty bursting at its seams, the type of which is not prevalent anywhere in Sri Lanka. Mani Shanker, Member of the Indian Parliament has said that 77% of \Indians live on Rs 20 a day(Hindustan Times 15/8/2010)

 Let us look to see whether India can help us at all. In India the Integrated Rural Development Programme(IRDP) is a gigantic development programme that offers subsidies to people. No action is taken by way of development planning to ensure that the people that get the subsidy can develop their enterprise. As stated by Professor Nilakanta Rath, “the IRDP experience of giving cattle and other assets has come to little. What really happened to the subsidy was alarming. In my own words:

“ The lack of planning led to a situation where the same asset changed hands. One household that had purchased the cattle under the subsidy sold it to another household that also claimed the subsidy and the loan from the IRDP. As Kuriyan says, ‘ in this way the same cattle moved from household to household satisfying aggregate demand in the absence of matching supply’… The loans and the subsidy did not create any increase in production What the IRDP did and does even today is creating trading and the sale of the asset from one person to another at a higher price. It is on record that a cow worth Rs 1,000.00 was provided at Rs. 1,500.00 to the next person to enable him to claim the subsidy and the loan… This caused inflation It activated the Quantity of Money Theory of Prices. It is a theory that the level of prices in a country is determined by the quantity of money in circulation. In short it means that any excess supply of money in any economy is a key cause for inflation”(p.418)

Sri Lanka should be happy that we do not have such subsidies that create inflation. The IDRP authorities are so thick that they cannot understand how their subsidy creates inflation and not an increase in production.

 India can offer us some help in small industries and dairy development but these are not the areas suggested by Ranil Wickremasinghe. This also illustrated that Ranil Wickremasinghe has no knowledge of development.

 Ranil Wickremassinghe’s Budget of 2002 , when he was the Prime Minister tells it all. This budget reduced the 100% tax levied on foreigners when they purchased land in Sri Lanka. It was a total sell off to foreigners. And prime land was sold to foreigners till the next Government stopped it. A US consultant was even a member of the Sri Lankan team for an international conference. Having worked as a consultant for two foreign countries I must state that foreign consultants are never taken for any country team to any international conference. This was also the time when the Cooperative Wholesale Establishment with its shops and stores was sold and privatized. This enabled traders who imported goods to sell at fanciful prices. The CWE offered imported essential supplies at cheap rates to consumers and by abolishing the CWE the UNP paved the path for increases in prices. The rich traders became rich in the process. This budget was a total sell off to foreigners. Taxes on foreigners and the rich were reduced.

 This reign of Ranil Wickremasinghe as Prime Minister was also marked by the sale of the sovereignty of Sri Lanka to the terrorist LTTE by his Ceasefire Agreement which was entered into with the LTTE. It is now being revealed that this Ceasefire Agreement was actually drafted by Balasingham, one of the LTTE leaders and poised on SriLanka by the Norwegians. In fact Ranil Wickremasinghe was a dictator for having agreed to this Ceasefire Agreement without a vote in Parliament. He announced the Agreement after it was signed. Parliament is the supreme legislative body in Sri Lanka and if Ranil Wickremasinghe had a semblance of democracy in him he should have submitted the Ceasefire Agreement to a vote in Parliament, which he never did. The Ceasefire Agreement was also never discussed in his Cabinet of Ministers. By the Ceasefire Agreement the Sri Lankan Army was confined to the barracks and the LTTE was allowed to attend to publicity and activity all over the island. This dictatorial manner in which Ranil Wickremasinghe imposed the Ceasefire Agreement can be contrasted with what is happening today in the Houses of Parliament where the 18 th Amendment is being hotly debated.. Earlier the 18 th Amendment was submitted to the UNP and the Opposition Political Parties and also released to the Press. It was even submitted to the Supreme Court of the country. The 18 th Amendment upholds democracy in that the President has to bow before the people at an election if he is to be in power. Ranil Wickremasinghe who once abused his authority and became a real dictator to sign the Ceasefire Agreement even without the knowledge of the then President today has staged a boycott of Parliament. when the 18 th Amendment is being debated.

 It was also during the time that Ranil Wickremasinghe was the Prime Minister that he allowed undue publicity for special army manoeuvres that had been done by the earlier Government against the terrorist LTTE which resulted in some 43 members of the Army intelligence service being gunned down. Ranil Wickremasinghe’s Government did not stop this mayhem which saw to it that key officers were one by one murdered by the LTTE. Today the LTTE has been totally routed out of the island. The action of Ranil Wickremasinghe to support the LTTE can be contrasted to the achievement of President Rajapaksa to destroy the LTTE from our shores lock stock and barrel. What is wrong if the saviour of Sri Lanka, the personage who saved Sri lanka from the ruthless LTTE is given a further lease of the Presidency at an election where the people can decide. I am certain that if not for the timely action taken by President Rajapaksa Sri Lanka would be a divided country today., with the LTTE ruling a third or more of our sovereign motherland.

 Is it not sad that the United National Party the Party that once won independence for our country has now become the mouthpiece for the terrorist LTTE and the cat’s paw for the Superpowers who are now arraigned against the sovereignty of out sacred motherland.

( All quotations are from, Garvin Karunaratne: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka and Alternate Programmes of Development, Godages, Colombo)

Garvin Karunaratne

Former SLAS (Government Agent, Matara)

7 th September 2010.

Geethanjana Kudaligamage

Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony (Part 14-)

 As I was writing this article, the 18th amendment was pending to be submitted before the parliament for approval. Other than some NGOs and some opposition political parties, there is no significant public participation in opposing this move. The silence of the public can be taken as their tacit approval for the amendment to the constitution that removes the two term limit of a person serving in the office of presidency. After witnessing the successful end of the war largely due to the power invested in executive presidency, many Sri Lankans view executive presidency as a necessary tool that can be helpful to maneuver the nation in the postwar troubled waters including development.

 As far as the presidential candidate has to seek people’s mandate each and every time he/she pursue office, I do not see a greater danger in the amendment. But for the benefit of a just society, any constitutional affair must be given proper space and time for discussion and debate. And also it is necessary to safeguard a free and fair election process and a legal system to prevent misuse of the system by corrupt politicians in future. Decolonization of the system of judiciary and law and order is utmost important for a healthy function of the society currently corrupted by colonial traditions of the past. However at a proper time, we all desired to see something entirely different to our current constitution; what the nation must consider is to get rid of this entire JRJ constitution and establish a new form of government empowering native masses at a right time. Now the question is why people think that current president Rajapaksa must be given a chance to contest more than two times? The reason can be identified as the failure of our system that is based on colonial democracy which again designed and devised to create political systems on absolute dependency of allspheres ofideology, economics, political and social to the west.

 A compromise

From the Sri Lankan public point of view, deciding to keep executive presidency is a historic political compromise. On the one hand, they were fighting against the constitutional totalitarianism of JRJ’s constitution and its executive presidency ever since it was introduced by then UNP administration in 1978. And on the other hand, currently they desired to see their country’s development programs to be continued by a steady and powerful administration without any disruption in this post war era. In other words, fifteen years from now, they want to see that ‘ship of hope’ the ‘Pride of Sri Lanka’ to be sailed from Hambantota shipyard with the manufacturer tag reading ‘This ship is proudly made in Sri Lanka’. That is the hope of the nation. Sri Lanka is about to take a decision, which is not the best or the politically correct one, but may be a pragmatic decision of the necessity of the political circumstances aroused out of the current political jumble in Sri Lanka.

 What is this political jumble, or ‘the aberration’? This political jumble is nothing but the instability that is hanging in the air that can disrupt the system at any given time by our colonially inherited second hand democracy controlled by a culturally hybrid minority of Colombian bourgeoisies. In this jumble, everybody becomes politically correct only when they are in the opposition. Some will view government actions in negative perspective and do everything what so ever to undermine our national interests, if needed, with the help of external forces. They make mockery of parliamentary democracy keeping this never ending cycle of poverty of masses forever. They import incompatible political slogans time to time from their western masters, give interviews to western corporate media for the purpose of denigrating the nation while being recipients of salaries out of poor taxpayers’ money. In short, they never allow any administration to do anything that their masters in the west do not wish to see happening in Sri Lanka. That tradition of colonial democracy is the political aberration we have. That is the absolute obstacle or the design that colonial master has put in place in their former colonies to prevent us getting out of the poverty they have left behind.

 There are good reasons for the people of Sri Lanka to take risks to try different possibilities. Through their experience, they knew that they cannot realize their dream of progress, or in other words, sailing their ‘ship of hope’ due to the continual presence of, what I call, ‘the external fourth dimension’ active in our national political culture that messing with the natural and spontaneous function of our democracy constantly undermining our political stability. They also knew that this fourth dimension might have toppled the government in the midst of Nantikadal battle if there wasn’t all that powerful executive presidency in place to keep the ship floating. They also came to know that none other former presidents utilized the power of executive presidency effectively for the benefit of national security, but only president Rajapaksa had the courage to do it. And also with utter surprise, they saw that external ‘fourth dimension’ tried every possible trick very hard to transfer that sensational bullet hole, not in Prabhakaran’s forehead but on Rajapaksa’s head, however miserably failed due to powerful presidency of the constitution. Actually if there was no executive presidency during the climax of the war, we could have witnessed some of our leaders might have ended their political carriers in the same way like RanjanWijayaratne ended his carrier. So after thirty years of opposing, battering and kicking the executive presidency for its negative aspect, at last Sri Lanka has seen a positive silver streak in this ever-perilous presidency for the first time, during the most crucial hour of need in our history. Finally they have determined to have a steady administration under the current president Rajapaksa, and to allow him to remove the two-term restriction from the constitution. Is this a wiser idea? Well, they might say that they do not have any other option, because our parliamentary system is utterly corrupt.

 Colonial democracy, the rule of them, by them and for them   

Frantz Fanon once said, “The slave who never struggles for freedom, who is simply granted the permission of the master, will forever remain a slave”. Isn’t that absolutely true in regard to Colombian mentality? Sri Lanka is suffering from this decease of mental slavery. The hybrid Colombian class shows all symptoms of this decease. Although it is said that former colonies are free of direct rule of the west, ongoing events reveal that freedom is something still to be earned. Our social consciousness still carries the burden of colonialism and it still desires remaining as mental slaves to our bygone master largely due to the absence of the above said freedom struggle. Freedom struggles not only brings physical freedom but also it brings the ideological discourse that emancipates people from mental subservience. The British colonial administration craftily offered the independence with allegorical half-baked English ‘Pie’ of colonial democracy to black skinned Colombian Tom and Dicks, posturing as if they were a generous bunch of well-wishers of SL democracy. But the truth behind this offer was to bypass the anti-colonial liberation struggle of multitude, knowing the fact that the Colombian ‘Dicks’ will never have the chance of eating English ‘Pie’freely in any such event of the independence gaining through a true liberation struggle of mass-movement. They knew that, In such a mass movement, not the Colombians but the true natives will gain power.

 The recently concluded liberation struggle against western and Indian sponsored terrorism in Sri Lanka provided the opportunity for the nation to fill this void of the freedom struggle partly. Under such symbolic relationship, they saw the image of Robert Brownrigg through David Miliband. Today Sri Lanka sees her future through the bullet hole in the forehead of Prabhakaran and through which, they clearly see that the sun is spectacularly rising from the Eastern horizons. What they see through this bullet hole is a previously racially divided foggy landscape damped by racial blood of all races is getting illuminated and revitalized by the rays of the new sun. They have witnessed the usefulness of a devil to destroy another devil. Then they have embraced the executive presidency as a necessary devil capable of taking the nation through the next battlefield of progress across the Western dominated economic devils-land to the Promised-Land. Although it is risky, they invest their faith on an individual in place of a system. They firmly believe that president Rajapaksa will positively use this necessary devil of executive presidency to overcome all odds of corrupt colonial democracy to take the nation to the pledged progress.

 After all, the colonial democracy of Sri Lanka was artificially established by colonial terror. The system was still largely based on feudal power apparatus of colonial class structure. Even after going through a bloody liberation struggle, even India still suffers from the same problem.

 However, after losing so many elections, the disgruntled Anglophone mercantile class of Sri Lanka, the Colombians, play every trick to create every obstacle preventing the government to transcend from current difficulties to the next level. They play the intermediate role between external forces and the nation. And as a matter of fact, we all know that the majority of the members of NGOs are coming from or supporters of this Colombian class with colonial inheritance.

 Under such condition, people of Sri Lanka may think to use an authoritarian regime to fix unfixable issues of the nation. And they also know, if there are any other nation in Asia developed in the recent history, they were developed by strong leadership of individuals who exercised enormous power to counter the adversaries that tried to disrupt the advancing forces of their progress.  

 System versus individual

When systems become untrustworthy, and when they are contaminated by parasites disrupting the natural function of those systems, people tend to abandon them and begin to rely on individuals. This is what exactly happening in Sri Lankan polity today. Our system has been inflicted by many different viruses and parasites, externally manipulating and disrupting the natural function of it. On the one hand we have this leader of the opposition running around the world begging for punishing Sri Lanka; on the other hand we have externally funded entire Colombian political class working day and night for their western masters to mess with internal issues. Most of the crucial events are externally financed, like the issue of the attempt of buying a member of the parliament just before the election. The NGO parades are publicized in Western media as mass movements of our society. But all these NGOs are functioning on externally imported political slogans creatinga political atmosphere making the scene unclear to picture the true mass movements due to so many fake activists working on payrolls of external parties.

 There are so many versions of public opinions, making it utterly impossible to recognize what’s true and what’s fake among them. Due to externally pumped artificial slogans coupled with resources, the public opinion just has become a matter of advertising. There are assigned group of people to shout with readymade slogans coming out of shores, then there are corporate media agents readily standing by to pick them up and distribute them throughout the world. This is the made up story what is pictured in western media as public opinion in Sri Lanka today.

 On top of that, there are NGOs, function hand in hand with western and Indian espionage agencies, Western HR organizations, decrees and diplomatic pressure of western foreign offices; all these have something to do with our internal politics limiting genuine participation of the people in the system. For above reasons, the outcome of our democracy is not natural or real, but fake. They are made to be appeared real largely due to the power of western corporate media. So how can people rely on systems if they are out of control and rotten up to very core of them?

 People have realized that the system is rotten from its very essence of it, and therefore they seem to rely on their trusted individuals. No doubt, this is a risky political gamble. But apparently they consider that trusting individual is lesser risky gamble than the strengthening the rotten hand of the parliamentary system. They do not want to trust those ‘Pagar’ driven parliamentarians, soulless opposition, and corrupt ministers; instead they want to trust an individual. Are the people of Sri Lanka responsible for this political gamble? No, not at all. The actual responsibility goes to the western and Indian manipulations in the national political realm that led the masses to distrust and discard the whole system.

 Today the people of Sri Lanka have realized that the system has gone out of their hand. Then they want to counter it through unconventional manner by investing so much power into the hand of the person they trust, and giving him as much time as he needs to fix issues as they want. Since the system has become irrational and irreparable, people have become more emotional. They are going to make a deal with an individual sidelining a system that is entirely treacherous.

 In fact, in a previous article I said that, “colonial Sri Lanka has been built on a fake structure that has been reached to its limits. In order to go into future, SL ought to demolish not only this fictitious structure itself, but also its ruins. Indeed, as political history revels, there is nothing right or wrong as such in political actions but only justified measures, justified to the given circumstance and their contexts.” Same is valid even regarding executive presidency and its restrictions. What people want to see is that president Rajapaksa demolishing this colonial structure and rebuilding the nation on a new foundation empowering historically marginalized native of the land.

 False notion of control

Like many other third world countries experiencing today, Sri Lankan democracy, have become a sham reducing the whole system into a just a comedy of elections, giving a false notion to the masses to think that they are in control of the system by casting a mere vote. But in reality this is just a part of the deceptive magic of the current version of third world democracy. We all know that the magic never created a rabbit out of the hat, but played a trick before the eyes of the audience. This false notion of control of the system by masses, as Zizek put it, is like pressing the ‘close door’ button of an elevator. By pressing the button we tend to think that we are in command of closing the door. But in reality, this button doesn’t have anything to do with the closing the door of elevators. The door closes by itself and at its own time. Actually by casting our vote, although we have the feeling of control, we control nothing in the post-election politics.

 After the elections, in the part of representational democracy, the external fourth dimensions take control over the economic, political and social function of national politics. People’s sovereign rights will be taken away through ‘backdoor maneuverings’ by other forces. Economical and development policies will be taken over by international financial institutions such as IMF, WB and ADB. Structural changes being applied however they are damaging the domestic lives. Then the internal political function will be overshadowed by externally manipulated social factions working for their pay masters. In such events, if necessary, they will topple governments by just changing proportions in parliaments until they get their lackeys into power. The colonially inherited political system of Sri Lanka has been devised by internal and external manipulative parties who can conduct the system and funnel the process in such a way to fulfill their desired objectives. In order to reestablish a natural function of this political system, we must destroy the whole colonial system and rebuild it from ground zero level opening wider participation of the true masses of the land. Can president Rajapaksa do it?

 The line of defense

On the other hand, people of SL consider current government of SL is progressive only insofar as it serves as a line of defense against powerful western nations’ dictates in every sphere of bio political life of the island. These influences have been ranged from internal and external affairs of, economic, political and ideological sectors of the nation. If we use the more popular leftist term “right to self-determination” in place of sovereignty, post independent Sri Lanka has been denied to enjoy this so-called right to ‘self-determination’ by India and the west. Current government struggles within this ambiguous field of denial of her fundamental right of determining nation’s future out of external influence. But each and every decision she makes in that direction irritates the west and at times even India. So they try very hard to drag Sri Lanka back to their sphere of influence taking decisions behalf of us. As the famous saying goes, “the right to self-determination of subaltern nations is really a right to secession from the control of dominant powers”. For most of Sri Lankans, Rajapaksa administration is engaged in that part of the struggle. For some Sri Lankans, Rajapaksa administration is subservient to India and resistant to the west.

 The ‘Firewall’ that Rajapakse administration trying to erect up against western virus intrusions of NGOs and UN interference seeking complete paralysis of the system, is a necessary action as well as a can be a double egged weapon if hold it wrongly. The anti-imperialist policies of Rajapaksa regime do not really desired to drive away foreign capital but rather want to shun away its package of subjugation in order to establish above said ‘right to self-determination’. In this case, the nation remain progressive only if the nation is capable to endure strictly as a fortified line of defense against more powerful external forces trying to derail the will of the nation through malicious mechanisms. Many Sri Lankans believe president Rajapaksa can perform that part effectively.

 However as Hardt and Negri points out, as much as these protective walls appear in their protective function against external forces, however, they may easily play an inverse role with respect to the internal population it protects. This inverse effect is something administration must be very careful of. What we must be careful of and preventing of happening is that the flip side of the firewall that would affect our society. The structure that resists the foreign power is itself can be a dominating power that can exert its power inopposite direction creating internal oppression, repressing internal difference and opposition in the name of national unity and security. Because this strategy of ‘national protection’ is a double egged sword at times seem necessary despite its destructiveness, but for the sake of long-term strategic advantage, better to abandon it sooner than later.

 The constant pressure that instigated from western countries desired to force Rajapaksa regime to take this destructive path to create a material condition for an uprising within. The only path remaining for Rajapaksa regime is to rely on masses and keeping them on its side. To keep masses on his side president Rajapaksa may have to create a people friendly socio-political atmosphere free of colonial legacies of the past.

(To be continued)

Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . Canada

- Kumar Moses  

There are those who support the 18-Amendment and those who oppose. Have you noticed that most of those who oppose it and the few who vehemently oppose it are anti-Sri Lankans? When people like P Saravanamuttu, Rohan Edirisingha, Basil Fernando, Tisaranee Gunasekera, Rohini Hensman, Suresh Premachandran oppose anything, at face value, it must be pro-Sri Lankan! They never supported anything good for Sri Lanka and never will.

There are strategic implications of the 18 Amendment not visible to the naked eyes of many. They see it as an amassment of power in the hands of the executive President. Sure it is but there is more to it. Much more. For the benefit of those who fail to see the strategic implications of the 18 Amendment, let me list them down with explanations.

A Stronger Government Means a Stronger Political Majority

Sri Lanka’s political majority is silent while the political minority is very vociferous and demanding. Political majority thinks it is bad to get good for them as it might ‘hurt’ the feelings of the minority although it actually benefits the minorities in the long run. On the other hand, the political minority does not give a continent about how their demands affect the majority. Imagine Sri Lanka facing the LTTE, the JVP, the international community, the LTTE Internationale, the future terror threat and many other vile elements without the executive president. It is simply unimaginable.

Security forces will be powerless in handling terrorists as they will have to be responsible to anyone and everyone in parliament. And who is in parliament? Among others, those who openly support a Tamil Nation. Certain highly effective security manoeuvres require top secrecy, unwavering government support and a certain amount of autonomy. Only an executive president can provide this; certainly not the parliament. Enemies of the nation falsely call it ‘impunity’. Members of parliament are not the best examples of integrity. Some of them can be literally bought over for dollars, easily. On the other hand, a president with executive powers is more difficult to be manipulated as he can have them anyway, if he so wishes. We had MPs crossing the floor regularly but did we have a single president or a MP who eventually became president crossing over? No.

When the JVP launched their first insurrection in 1971, the government was in panic mode as it required the continued support of parliament to fight the threat and support was wavering. However, when the LTTE started war in 1983 Sri Lanka under the executive president was better prepared to take it on.

Parliaments collapsed but presidents didn’t. Even when a president was assassinated and another grievously hurt, running the country went ahead smoothly. Compare this against the calamity that befell the nation following the assassination of the Prime Minister in 1959 when there was no executive president.

From 1983 to 2009, there were 6 different parliaments but only 5 presidents of which one being the continuation of another’s term which makes it actually equal to 4. It means more stability at the highest level of the government. Also note how the country became hapless when political instability struck in 1983, 1987-89, 2001 and 2005. Had it not for the executive president, LTTE would have capitalised these instances even better. LTTE along with anti-national elements would have subjugated the majority many a time had it not for the executive president. Strengthening the post of the executive president is therefore strengthening the majority will. After all, presidents are elected by the people and majority decision prevails.

Indian Threat and the 13 Amendment

The Indian threat is very real. Indians harp on the 13 Amendment, which was their brainchild and the illegitimate child of Indian interference and Sri Lankan naivety. Due to severe Indian pressure Sri Lanka have to implement the 13 Amendment. There is no way it can be avoided. The next best thing is to make it as incoherent as possible by introducing counter legislation. The 6 Amendment was very effective against those who tried to make use of the 13 Amendment to disintegrate the nation. Likewise, the 18 Amendment will be an effective deterrent against an inevitable rebirth of the Indian sponsored 13 Amendment. By introducing counter legislation, its effectiveness can be reduced.

A powerful executive president is the only way to stop the threat posed by the 13 Amendment. In 1990, President Premadasa exercised his executive powers to punish Perumal for engaging in anti-national activates making good use of the 13 Amendment.

Western Threats of Destabilising the Region

Western nations waited until Sri Lanka was politically and economically weak in 2001 to push the 17 Amendment. Where did it come from? No one knows. It was never widely debated but suddenly became law using severe economic problems and political instability just like in 1987 when the 13 Amendment was pushed down the nation’s throat. It clearly is a very strange piece of law that takes away powers of the people to directly elect their representatives. In other words it empowered the minorities at the expense of the majority.

All political parties (PA, UNP, JVP, UPFA) when ruling the country looked at it with contempt and never implemented it. Only the opposition parties demand its implementation, and Robert Blake. Their sole aim is to destabilise Sri Lanka and the region so that more of their nonsense can be pushed down the throats of poor and hapless South Asians. The executive president is the only obstruction they face in relation to Sri Lanka. Strengthening the executive president is a slap on their face.

Expect another visit by the ugliest American and a series of statements airing ‘concern’ for democracy. If their version of democracy is burning the Holy Quran on 9/11, we don’t need it. This nation needs a different version of democracy that works for its people.

The Second and Subsequent Terms Affect Incumbent Presidents in a Good Way  

There were three presidents with two terms – JR Jayawardena, Chandrika and Rajapaksha. Something strange happened to them all facing re-election. By the time they faced the election for the second term, all of them have turned more nationalist! They were better nationalists when they faced the people for their second term than before.

JR Jayawardena was not a nationalist in 1977 but by 1982, he had become the biggest nationalist in the country. He had to rely more on the majority vote in 1982 than he would have had to in 1977 had he contested a presidential election. True to his style, he went to the extreme, which is rather unfortunate, and he should have avoided it. Chandrika who won the 1994 presidential election with a huge minority support had to appeal to the majority in 1999 to return to power, which she successfully did. Needless to say Rajapaksha enhanced his majority appeal very well from 2005 to 2010. Even the only president who couldn’t make it for two terms – Premadasa – tried it. By 1993 after years of avoiding the LTTE apart from defensive operations, he planned to launch a major military offensive against the LTTE targeting the presidential election due the year after (1994).       

There is a good reason for this behaviour. Tamils make unattainable demands from leaders and when they don’t get everything they demand, they withdraw support or support the opposition just to show their dislike. This is what happened since 1947 and will happen in future as well. When DS Senanayake couldn’t give their demands in full they went behind Bandaranaike and when he couldn’t they went after Dudley. From Dudley to Sirima they went and then to Jayawardena and Sirima again. Then to Premadasa and to Chandrika. From Chandrika to Ranil and Ranil to Rajapaksha and Fonseka. No government can satisfy them. All governments that did yeoman service to them ended up losing their support. 1977 and 2004 are very good examples.

For this reasons the incumbent finds it difficult to retain Tamil support he gained at the first election he faced. He has to turn to the majority to fill this void by offering more to the majority. With the help of state resources, ruling parties leverage their way ahead in elections, which is far from acceptable, but that’s how it is. Upcountry Tamil support generally stays with the incumbent even though the president may not have had it at the first election. Muslims have integrated very well into the Sri Lankan fabric and they follow the majority.   

By introducing more than two terms, this tendency is further enhanced.

On the other hand, Tamils run to newer leaders with the same old set of demands and tend to get some. This is why they always prefer newer presidents and governments.

This is the main reason why the pro-Tamil Elam camp is up in arms against the 18 Amendment.

Using the Opposition to the Amendment to Nail the Opposition

Why is it done in stages? First the government pushes for Amendments that are within the present Constitution. These don’t require a referendum. They can be passed by two-thirds majority in parliament. Later amendments and changes to the Constitution are incompatible with the Constitution and need a referendum. However, when the first amendments are presented, the opposition goes to the people and create a momentum against the process. At first, the public is not very interested but with persistent pressure from the opposing camps which include political parties, NGOs, interfering foreign elements, Tamil Elamists, etc. the public momentum against the amendment process grows. By this time the first stages would have been completed that anyway don’t need public support. These stages relate to strengthening the executive presidency. It will be passed early so that nothing can stop it. By the time the other amendments including political solutions are presented, there is a growing public anger against it.

Indian sympathy for Tamils, Tamil Elamists, Robert Blake, CPA and all other anti-national vile elements can load the political solution but when it is defeated by the public at a referendum that is the end of their precious political solution. On the other hand a non-racist political solution will be acceptable to the public. At the moment the public is sceptical about the amendments. This healthy scepticism is essential to make an informed decision. Otherwise, any racist rubbish will slip through them. Who creates this scepticism that may block a racist Tamil aspirations based political solution? The opposing groups including Tamil Elamists. Government manages the amendments process with appropriate amendments at each stage to maximise this impact. Finally, Tamil Elamists dig their own grave!

The best patriotic forces can do is not to disrupt anti-nationals digging their own grave.

There is another aspect to it. If Tamils support a proposed political solution and others oppose it, it gives a bad impression of the nation to the international community. It shows a fractured Sri Lanka along racial boundaries. To avoid this, only a sensible level of political solutions should be given. As Tamil racist parties oppose everything sensible the way they rejected the 1982 District Councils, 1987 Provincial Councils, 2000 Political Package, the 2006 Majority-Minority Report, APRC and a host others, they will surely reject a sensible solution. They will canvass in the north and the east against this. When the solution goes to the public in a referendum, both the north and the south will reject it! For the international community it is show of national solidarity, which shows how difficult even a small step towards Tamil autonomy is.

However, before moving into this stage, the government should get a reasonable equal rights based mechanism passed. It cannot hurt national security and territorial interests and at the same time would benefit those who care to make use of it. It tells the international community that we will go even further in enhancing equal rights despite already ensuring it.

Following the Singapore Model Needs a Powerful Leader Post     

Sri Lanka follows the Singapore model of becoming a regional trade hub. Unlike USA, UK or any other powerful country, smaller countries struggle to face what comes with it. International significance means more international pressure coming both externally and internally. External forces creating internal pressure is the way of the new colonialists after the Second World War. With over a thousand NGOs, interfering and colluding foreign elements with local branches and a ready group of racist political parties, this country will face huge challenges once it becomes a regional trade hub. Singapore already faced this very successfully. It is imperative that Sri Lanka follows the Singapore model closely since no economic prosperity comes if there is chaos and indiscipline.

The Singaporean leader who paved the way for it to become what it is – Lee Kwan Yew – governed it for 30 years and his son has taken over now. It gave Singapore vital political stability, which is the main ingredient of economic prosperity.  

Singapore is not a model democracy but a model economy. Most Sri Lankans find it better to be closer to a model economy that to the western style democracy. The Tamil Elam lobby established in the West via its Transnational Government of Tamil Elam cannot come to terms with this and will become further irrelevant in Sri Lanka.

Proposed amendments are going to favour all presidents of the country not just the Rajapakshas. As history shows whatever the conduct of a person elected president previously, once elected or appointed to the top job, they put national interests against anti-national interests. They know they have to face an increasingly demanding electorate to remain in power.

If anyone doesn’t like the move towards a powerful Sri Lankan government essential to ruin separatist dreams, they better leave the country because they are going to face more of it in time to come. Sri Lanka is not for them. The era of pleasing anyone and everyone is over. The era of pleasing racist aspirations, racist grievances and racist homelands is fast coming to an end. Work to strengthen Sri Lanka or leave before what they find unpleasant is thrust down their throats with the full backing of the Nanthikandal victory.

Sri Lanka News

Dr Sudath Gunasekara (SLAS) Former Ministry Secretary 6.9.2010

 Apropos “Lankan army to return lands of Tamils of Indian origin:

Published: Thursday, Sep 2, 2010, 18:43 IST, Place: COLOMBO | Agency: PTI, attributed to Nirupama Rao former Indian Ambassador in Sri Lanka, I thought it appropriate to write few lines on this perpetual Indian intervention on our domestic matters for the benefit of those who are concerned about the future of this country.

 Nirupama Rao said in Colombo that apart from the focus on resettlement, there was a need to keep in mind “a long-term perspective that also includes issues relating to the political settlement that would meet some of the needs of the minorities”.
The above news item was quoted as a news brief by the visiting Indian Foreign Secretary.
The same sources said that the Indian government is also likely to appoint a special envoy for Sri Lanka to look into the needs of the Tamil community and oversee resettlement. Officials said the government was considering having a special envoy as a permanent diplomatic fixture in relations with the important neighbour.

Another news item TNN, Sep 2, 2010, 08.40pm IST in which officials said Foreign minister M.S Krishna is also expected soon in Sri Lanka and will emphasize before the Lankan leadership the need to move from resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to chalking out a political solution which is substantive and durable.

 The gist of these statements is that the Sri Lankan government has not taken suitable measures to address the issues relating to the political settlement that would meet the needs of the minorities from a long term perspective that should be substantive and durable. Therefore the Indian intervention on behalf of their people in Sri Lanka? I see very little difference between these threatening and arrogant statements and the infamous DHAL drop of 1987 to Jaffna that blatantly violated all civilized diplomatic ethics. Shame to Indian politicians and their mandarins.

 This ‘Tamils of Indian origin mania” on the part of the Indian government and the Sri Lankan Tamils, I think, was a post colonial manifestation. Those Tamils or Muslims who lived here prior to the advent of colonial times never thought like this.  For all intent and purposes they considered this country as their motherland. Even the left outs from south Indian invasions got absorbed in to the local population and got naturalized politically as well as culturally. As such there was no ethnic conflicts that threatened the political stability of the country at that time. On the contrary today this Indian Tamil mentality on the part of both the Indian government and the Tamils physically living here has become the root cause of all problems in this country. They range from political, economic, and cultural to international fields. As long as this cancerous mentality persists, this problem will never end. Peace will only dawn to this Island nation on the day both these parties stop thinking like that and the Tamils in Sri Lanka begin to think as fully pledged citizens of this country and divorce their allegiance completely to India as their mother land and the Indian government accept Sri Lanka Tamils as Sri Lanka citizens with whom India has nothing to do or in the alternative all Tamils in this country decide to go back to India and India take back all of them as her full citizens. Tamils in Sri Lanka has to give up this divided allegiance. Until such time and as long as the current thinking on the part of Tamil people and the Indian Government prevails this chronic and tragic situation will persist eternally. Therefore I think all those who are willing to see an end to this tragedy should either get rid of this mania as soon as possible and leave the government of Sri Lanka to decide on the destinies of  Tamils living here along with her other citizens. India I think has to renounce for good her hidden political agenda and refrain from all sinister moves against this Island nation and its peace loving people.

 It is indeed excellent that every body including the  Sri Lankan and Indian governments are interested in resettling Tamils displaced by the war in Jaffna who are currently supposed to be living in IDP camps in Vavuniya. Because it is a human problem, and not a Tamil or a Sinhala problem. Assistance on the part of India in this regard is most welcome. In fact it is a bounden duty on her part to repay for the wrongs she committed against these people because it is India that instigated and encouraged them to wage war against the Sri Lankan government. It is with the strength of that Indian support the LTTE revolted against the Sri Lankan government. I do not like to see that these Tamils being referred to as Tamils of Indian origin:  Yes it is absolutely true all Tamils are of Indian origin. There is no argument about that. But the Tamils in Sri Lanka are Sri Lankan citizens who belong to the Tamil ethnic group from an ethnographic point of view though most Tamils in Sri Lanka also think otherwise. In fact the latter mentality is the real tragedy in this whole tragedy. All these Tamils are Sri Lankan citizens and not Indian citizens any longer. As the tradition goes they should be the citizens of the Sinhale: the land of the Sinhala people. For the Sri Lankan government they are her citizens displaced by the war who need relocation as soon as possible. But for India these Tamils are only a bait to catch the votes of Tamilnadu. I don’t think other than that the Indians are seriously concerned about Tamils in Sri Lanka as human beings. It is only a cunning political strategy on their part enacted as a drama to appease the Tamilnadu government.

 Meanwhile it is sad that no one talk about the fate of those Sinhalese and Muslims who were chased out from Jaffna by the Tamil Tigers with Indian support, or the rights of those who were murdered as a result of LTTE massacre in 1983 and after who were around 30,000 and Muslims around 15,000. The moment you don’t do so the whole issue takes a dirty and parochial communal outlook. It completely ceases to be a humanitarian approach within a broader conceptual framework.

 All these Indian politicians and mandarins labour and mourn day and night and talk about the Tamils of Indian origin, living in Sri Lanka, there by ignoring that Sinhalese are also of Indian origin. If that is the fact of history why is this preferential treatment to Tamils only? Obviously the Indians do not talk about the Sinhalese as there is no Sinhala vote base unfortunately, in India as the Tamils do in Tamilnadu. Why is this political hypocrisy on the part of Indians and the naivety on our part not to tell them that we are taking necessary steps to resettle not only displaced Tamils but also the Sinhalese and Muslims treating all of them as equals since they are our citizens? Also why don’t we tell them not to perpetuate ethnic dissention and create additional problems for us only when we are struggling to raise our heads from the mess they have already hatched and manipulated by supporting Tigers for decades arming and training them to wage war against the legitimately elected government of this country  for a separate Tamil State in the North and East comprising 1/3 the total area of this small Island for a mere fraction of Lankan Tamils not numbering even 3 million at the moment, just to pacify the Tamilnadu politicians for their vote. 

 When Rao and all Indians talk about the Lankan Tamils they also talk of a “Jaffna Tamil Kingdom”. In a press statement Rao issued last week at the conclusion of her visit to Sri Lanka she has said “Lankan army to return lands of Tamils of Indian origin” This type of statements imply many things. Firstly it implies that Sri Lankan Army which is asinhala army has forcibly occupied the Land of Tamils of Indian origin who belongs to a separate nation; the Sri Lankan military has no right therefore to occupy the lands belonging to Tamils who live in these lands; as such the government has agreed to return the said land to the Tamils. In other words the Sri Lanka government has accepted its guilt. Does not this notion give legitimacy to the idea of a separate Tamil kingdom in Sri Lanka as against the Sinhalese Kingdom in the rest of the Island? This also concretizes the idea of Tamil Homeland theory.  Historically it is true that there had been a break away regional Tamil rebel rule in the peninsula of Jaffna for a short time during the medieval times just before the arrival of the Portuguese in 1505. But that was subsequently brought under the Sinhala Kingdom.  If Rao’s statement is to be accepted as a serious fact of history then one can also claim that the whole area within the boundaries of ancient Anuradhapura Kingdom that was ruled by Elara for 44 years should also be interpreted as the land belonging to these South Indian Tamils.

 I give below few more statements attributed to Rao and Indian Foreign Minister.

“a long-term perspective that also includes issues relating to the political settlement that would meet some of the needs of the minorities”. The need to move from resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to chalking out a political solution which is substantive and durable.

 What do they really mean by this jargon. What is this political settlement that would meet some of the needs of the minorities” and they have in mind and the need to move from resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to chalking out a political solution which is substantive and durable’?  In fact they are the very people who are responsible for these displacements. So why do they want to place the responsibility on our government for their sins. The other question is who are they to dictate terms to us. Isn’t it better if they try to put their own house in to order first before they try to meddle with neighbours.

 What is worse is that now India wants the Tamils in Lanka not only to re-establish this so-called Jaffna kingdom but she also wants that to be extended to cover the entire northern province and annex the entirety of the eastern province as well, that has been under the Sinhala kingdom right through out the long history of this Island nation. This is what the Indian Government postulated when she imposed the 13^th Amendment by force on us under which they wanted the Sri Lankan government to merge the Northern and the Eastern Provinces.

 Doesn’t this appear to be an attempt, by the Indian Diplomats and politicians to interfere with the internal affairs of another country by creating ground to perpetuate ethnic divisions within this country that falls outside the legitimate exercise of diplomacy by the Indian government? Why can’t these learned Indian mandarins advice their politicians to leave Sri Lanka alone and mind their own business at home as Sri Lanka is NOT ANOTHER REGIONAL STATE OR A SUZERAINTY of India as they appear to think.

 Then she also talks about the Tamils of Indian origin living on the central hill country.  India also dreams of a Tamil enclave right at the centre of this country, for Indian Tamils on the plantations probably with a pipe dream of Sri Lankan as another State of the Indian subcontinent or at least a suzerainty in future. No one disputes that they were also of Indian origin. But all these people who espouse their cause fail to realize that they were only indentured labour brought by the British to work on their plantations in the latter half of the nineteenth century who should have been taken back to either England as British citizens or repatriated to South India as the British left the shores of this Island nation without leaving this ugly legacy to become a perpetual headache to the native people of this country.

 The present day Indian politicians and their bureaucrats talk as if they want to have several Indian enclaves inside this country. My grievance is as to why no one is talking about the native Kandyan people who have lost all their rights including their claim for their ancestral mother land where these plantations sprawl. Today the Kandyans who have been resident on this land at least from the second century BC, as proved by epigraphic evidence, have got reduced to a minority and they are strangers on their own mother land as against immigrant labourers who have come from outside few decades ago to earn a living and who have been shuttling up and down between India and Ceylon until 1948. Even today these people think and act as Indian citizens. Their mortal bodies are on our soil but their minds are still in South India. They, or at least their politicians want to be the owners of some one else’s ancestral land while they want to remain as Indians both in mind and body. It is strange even the local politicians espouse the cause of these immigrants not realizing that there by they are betraying their own people. In this regard I respect the Indian politicians more than the locals for their love for the Indians even though they live outside India.

 Why can’t the present day Indian politicians abide by what Nehru said in 1958 about these Indian labourers who had been taken to foreign countries by the British and left high and dry? This is what he said in 1958.

 “We do not want Indians to have any rights or privileges in a country which, in any way, would come in the way of the inhabitants of that country. They should consider themselves as guests. If they are unwelcome, they have no business to be there”.

 Meanwhile no one speak a word about the plight of the natives who have lost everything they inherited from the past 2500 years of history and fought for more than three centuries against the most powerful colonial powers at that time and successfully retained the independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of this nation, which all Sri Lankans enjoy today, thanks to them. The beneficiaries include Tamils and Muslims as well who never fought against the invaders on the side of the Kandyans. Not even the representatives in Parliament who have gone their on the back of these hapless peasants who have now become strangers on their own land speak a word about them. There are over 80 members of Parliament in addition to a battalion of Provincial and Divisional politicians numbering over 300. But they provide only props for the Colombo government to survive and enjoy the fruits of political office while the peasants who live in the god forsaken Kandyan ravines and secluded valley bottoms continue to suffer their karma in silence like deft, blind and dumb people. What ever party rules the country, this status quo perpetuates.

 In this backdrop my grievance is not against the Tamil labourers who are there but it is against our own politicians who have miserably failed in their duty by these brave worriers who have fought for three centuries with their blood and life and saved the motherland for these present day politicians to enjoy the luxuries of power.

 In my opinion these estate laboures have only two options. That is they should either totally renounce their out dated and redundant Indian mentality, if they want to live in this country and get absorbed in to the native society as an inherent part of it as Punchibandas, Ranmenikes, Appuhamys and Sopiya nonas as they did in Burma under compulsion immediately after Independence or in the alternative get back to their cherished mother land South India to preserve their Tamil Identity or request the British government to take them there and make them Suddha gentlemen as they were British citizens at the time of the British leaving this country.

 As it is, no one can expect political vultures whether in India or here to solve this problem, because they are only interested in getting the votes of these innocent people. I think it is the people who have to decide. Firstly, if they want to remain in this land of the Sinhala people then the estate Tamils will have to decide for good to renounce their out dated Indian allegiance and opt to be the sons of this soil and integrate with the natives.  They should not be misled by the cunning politicians, most of whom, even don’t speak the native language and wait until the Tamilnadu dawn on the central hills of Sri Lanka. Secondly the locals also have to decide to absorb them to their own rank and file and think of a mass scale village- estate integration programme that will put an end to this vexed tragedy.  Let them intermarry and naturalize as members of the native society. If the Kings and Queens can do this and in fact have been doing this for generations why can’t the ordinary folk also follow suit. It has happed in the past So why can’t it happen today. After all this is a human problem. We are dealing with human beings of blood and flesh not with robots that act according to the whims and fancies of cunning politicians of both countries and suffer for themselves eternally.

 I think this is how at least the enlightened mandarins of India should look at this problem without just coming here carrying the political burdens of the Indian politicians on their strained back. They must embody the ancient wisdom of Indian state craft without just behaving like robots of Indian poly-trickysians. This is the advice I would like to give to people like and Indian Foreign minister S M Krishna who is due to visit Sri Lanka soon and as reported ‘who is expected to emphasize before the Lankan leadership the need to move from resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to chalking out a political solution which is substantive and durable and Nirupama Rao the charming Foreign Secretary who is expected to be appointed as the Special Envoy of India for Sri Lanka.  

Let them come here as diplomats of India to Sri Lanka, which is a separate Independent and Sovereign State and not as representatives or ghosts of Karunanidi or Vaiko of South India. It is high tine that they stop talking about the Tamils in Sri Lanka and their so-called grievances and aspirations and things like “a political solution to the Tamil problem” The more they tread this beaten track the more they make bilateral relation and the goodwill between the two countries difficult and problematic, confused and intractable; the more communal minded they make Lankan Tamils and distance them from the reality of Sri Lankanization and make life miserable for all of us for generations to come.

Dr.T.C.Rajaratnam

THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE ENABLED LEADERS OF NATIONS TO SERVE THREE OR MORE TERMS IN DEFENCE OF THE 18^Th AMENDMENT TO THE CONSITUTION

USA 

In 1783, the Treaty of Paris left the United States independent and at peace, but with an unsettled governmental structure. The Second Continental Congress had drawn up the Articles of Confederation in 1777, describing a permanent confederation, but granting to the Congress—the only federal institution—little power to finance itself or to ensure that its resolutions were enforced. In part, this reflected the anti-monarchy view of the Revolutionary period and the new American system was explicitly designed to prevent the rise of an American tyrant.

However, during the economic depression due to the collapse of the continental dollar following the American Revolution, the viability of the American government was threatened by political unrest in several states, efforts by debtors to use popular government to erase their debts, and the apparent inability of the Continental Congress to redeem the public obligations incurred during the war. The Congress also appeared unable to become a forum for productive cooperation among the States encouraging commerce and economic development. In response, the Philadelphia Convention was convened, ostensibly to devise amendments to the Articles of Confederation, but which instead began to draft a new system of government that would include greater executive power while retaining the checks and balances thought to be essential restraints on any imperial tendency in the office of the president.

Individuals who presided over the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary period and under the Articles of Confederation had the title “President of the United States in Congress Assembled“, often shortened to “President of the United States”. However, the office had little distinct executive power. With the 1788 ratification of the Constitution, a separate executive branch was created, headed by the “President of the United States”. This new Chief Executive role no longer bore the duties of presiding over Congress in a supervisory role, but the title “President“ was carried over nevertheless. This title was a major understatement of the actual role empowered to the office by the Constitution, and this choice of words can be seen as a deliberate effort by the Founding Fathers to prevent the Head of state position from evolving toward becoming a monarchical position, with the accompanying potential for abuse of such power.

Executive privilege gives a president the ability to withhold information from Congress and federal courts in matters of national security. George Washington first claimed privilege when Congress requested to see Chief Justice John Jay‘s notes from an unpopular treaty negotiation with Great Britain. While not enshrined in the Constitution, or any other law, Washington’s action created the precedent for the privilege. When Richard Nixon tried to use executive privilege as a reason for not turning over subpoenaed evidence to Congress during the Watergate scandal, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683 (1974), that executive privilege did not apply in cases where a president was attempting to avoid criminal prosecution. When President Bill Clinton attempted to use executive privilege regarding the Lewinsky scandal, the Supreme Court ruled in Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681 (1997), that the privilege also could not be used in civil suits. These cases established the legal precedent that executive privilege is valid although the exact extent of the privilege has yet to be clearly defined.

George Washington, the first President of the United States of America.

In accordance to the Twenty-second Amendment, no eligible person can be elected president more than twice. The Twenty-second Amendment also specifies that if any eligible person who serves as president or acting president for more than two years of a term for which some other eligible person was elected president, the former can only be elected president once. Scholars disagree whether anyone no longer eligible to be elected president could be elected vice president, pursuant to the qualifications set out under the Twelfth Amendment

Franklin Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to four terms before the adoption of the Twenty-second Amendment.

The term of office for president and vice president is four years. George Washington, the first president, set an unofficial precedent of serving only two terms, which subsequent presidents followed until 1940. Before Franklin D. Roosevelt, attempts at a third term were encouraged by supporters of Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt; neither of these attempts succeeded. In 1940, Franklin Roosevelt declined to seek a third term, but allowed his political party to “draft” him as their presidential candidate and was subsequently elected to a third term. In 1941, the U.S. became involved in World War II, which later led voters to elect Roosevelt to a fourth term in 1944.

After the war, and in response to Roosevelt’s shattering of precedent, the Twenty-second Amendment was adopted. The amendment bars anyone from being elected president more than twice, or once if that person served more than half of another president’s term. Harry S. Truman, who was president when the amendment was adopted, and so by the amendment’s provisions exempt from its limitation, also briefly sought a third (a second full) term before withdrawing from the 1952 election.

Since the amendment’s adoption, four presidents have served two full terms: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush sought a second term, but were defeated. Richard Nixon was elected to a second term, but resigned before completing it. Lyndon B. Johnson was the only president under the amendment to be eligible to serve more than two terms in total, having served for only fourteen months following John F. Kennedy’s assassination. However, Johnson withdrew from the 1968 Democratic Primary, surprising many Americans by stating, “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.” Gerald Ford sought a full term, after serving out the last two years and five months of Nixon’s second term, but was not elected.

SINGAPORE 

Lee Kuan Yew

Singapore is a classic example of economic and democratic success by political stability. Singapore has been successful due to political stability .Lee Kuan Yew served as Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990.

 SRI LANKA

The eighteenth amendment to the Constitution is a brilliant move for political stability. Even in Singapore, there were criticisms by disgruntled politicians about Lee. But time has proved that it was effective having the same Leader over a period of time.

 President Mahinda Rajapaksa is the only leader in Sri Lanka at this moment who could direct the Nation towards economic prosperity and development.

 People’s President

Through the experience he gained through many political tidal waves and his survival to become the Leader of the Nation,  President Mahinda Rajapaksa knows not fear. He has no doubts. He thinks very hard before he makes decisions, once made he will justify his cause with his skills of advocacy which has won over his opponents. Never in the political history of any country has so many opposition members joined and supported the President whom they once opposed.

  “There go my people, I must follow them, for I am their Leader” were the words of Mahatma Gandhi practiced to the very syllable by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. That is the secret of his success. Amidst the turbulent waves of politics and the intricacies of conspiracies by vested interests- President Mahinda Rajapaksa was   re-elected as the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka for a second term. The Victor is President Mahinda Rajapaksa, The Victory was inevitable due to the patriotic deeds of the President and the Victorious are the Nation as a whole.

 Saviour of the Nation

Thousands of men, women and children driven from their lands have returned home. The demands of an outraged community have been met. We have achieved a victory for a safer world, for our democratic values, and for a stronger Sri Lanka.

 Liberation

We fought and liberated the people held in hostage, what we achieved and what we have to do now to advance the peace and together with the people, forge a future of freedom, progress and harmony. This can be done only under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa

 The Terrorists were the cause for Men of all ages separated from their loved ones killed and forced to join the Terrorists, children made to watch their parents die; a whole people forced to abandon in hours communities their families had spent generations building.

 Liberation of a Nation

When our diplomatic efforts to avert this horror with the LTTE were rebuffed, and the violence mounted, the President took affirmative action. Now the people are free, the roads that were closed for years have opened, the people have been liberated. 

 Freedom in the North

The schools have been re-opened, they have freedom to  shape their destiny. No more nights of hiding in bunkers cellars, wondering if the next day will bring death or deliverance.

 Unitary State

Now, all communities must join hands in unity and assist President Mahinda Rajapaksa to continue the development work.

 Stability of Leadership

 Finally, we have averted the wider war this conflict might well have sparked.  Now, we’re entering a new phase – building that peace – and there are formidable challenges, the foremost amongst them is the stability of Leadership and the Government.

 Development

 We must build and develop our country. For that to happen, the European Union  must plan for tomorrow, not just today. Our friends the United States, China, India and the United Kingdom must assist us in our endeavour. They must provide most of the resources for this effort, but it is in Sri Lanka’s interest to do our part as well.

 We must pave a path to a prosperous shared future, a unifying magnet more powerful than the pull of hatred and destruction that has threatened to tear us apart.

 Tolerance & Freedom

President Mahinda Rajapaksa represents tolerance and freedom, not repression and terror. As such every individual or group which transgresses these ideals should be dealt with by the Laws of the land.

 President & The Nation

We have sent a message of determination and hope to all the world. Think of all the millions of innocent people who died in this bloody century because democracies reacted too late to evil and aggression. Because of our resolve, the past is gone not with helpless indignation, but with a hopeful affirmation of human dignity and human rights for the 2010. In a world too divided by fear among people of different racial, ethnic and religious groups, we have given confidence to the friends of freedom and pause to those who would exploit human difference for inhuman purposes.

 Sri Lanka still faces great challenges in this world, but we look forward to meeting them. We can successfully maintain the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka now that we have re-elected President Mahinda Rajapaksa. We must stand united as Patriots of Sri Lanka to support and defend , President Mahinda Rajapaksa and support the 18^th amendment to the constitution.

 (Dr.Telli.C.Rajaratnam is the author of Selected Essays of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. ISBN 978-955-51312-2-3 and The Dawn of Sri Lanka:The Miracle of Asia.Selected Essays of the Patriotic Legacy of President Mahinda Rajapaksa (ISBN-978-955-51312-3-0)

tellicrajaratnam@gmail.com

Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent. Gloucester . Ontario . Canada

September 7. 2010

Asela Kuruluwansa Daily News

It is alright to support the proposed Amendment to the Constitution as it is not harmful to the country, said Asgiri Maha Nayaka Most Venerable Udugama Sri Buddharakkhita Thera and Malwatu Anunayaka Ven Niyangoda Vijithasiri Thera.

The Asgiri Maha Nayaka Thera was of the opinion that if the people have kept confidence in a certain leader and if his leadership is necessary for the country he should have the opportunity to serve the people unhindered by term limits.

The Malwatu Anunayaka Thera said that what is proposed is only an amendment to the Constitution that is brought forward to do away with hindrances to the development process going on at present. It is wrong to oppose it on narrow political interests, he added.

Nadira Gunatilleke- Daily News

All top scholars in State universities extended their strong support for the 18th Amendment yesterday. They pointed out that the 18th Amendment was totally legal and within the framework of the present Constitution.

It can only accelerate the country’s development process while ensuring the people’s right to appoint a President according to their wish.

Addressing a press briefing held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, yesterday the University Grants Commission Chairman Prof. Gamini Samaranayake said that US kept the number of terms of the President open, till the country gained economic stability and became the world’s super power.

“Only then did the US go for a limitation of the number of terms of a President. As citizens who love their motherland, the scholars wish to achieve economic stability through political stability. Therefore we extend our fullest support towards the 18th Amendment.

“Sri Lanka successfully defeated the dictatorships in the North (LTTE) and South (JVP) in the past. Therefore there will be no chance for a dictatorship.”

Colombo University Vice Chancellor Prof. Kshanika Hirimburegama said that the people should have the right to appoint a leader who loves his motherland.

People should have the right to re-appoint such a leader. When there is a chance to re-elect a President he or she acts with responsibility and always think that he or she is accountable for what he or she does. But when there is a restriction, there is no need to be responsible or accountable. It is the people of Sri Lanka who vote and appoint a President. Therefore the Amendment protects and strengthens their right.

Open University Vice Chancellor Prof Upali Vidanapathirana said that while India recorded a growth rate of eight percent China recorded a growth rate of nine percent.

Sri Lanka was able to record a growth rate of six percent in a middle of terrorist war. Now the country needs an accelerated economic growth and it can be achieved only through political stability.

There is no possibility of retaining the governing power within one political party or members of one family because it is the people of Sri Lanka who vote to appoint a president and a president needs over 50 percent of the votes to become the President of Sri Lanka.

Senior Lecturer, Colombo University, Attorney-at-law Dr Prathibha Mahanama said that the 18th Amendment is nothing new. It is required because there were shortcomings in all the other previous Amendments.

It only gives the chance to a President to compete for a third term and not to extend his term. It only allows him or her to hand over nominations and it is the people who decide whether to vote for him or not. According to the Amendment it is compulsory for a President to attend Parliament once in three months. All independent commissions will be set up under the Amendment. Therefore it extends people’s sovereignty.

According to the Constitution, there is no need to go for a referendum and the only requirement is obtaining two thirds majority in Parliament to pass the 18th Amendment.

This is very clearly stated in the Constitution. Therefore demanding a referendum is illegal and undemocratic. Seeking a Supreme Court verdict over the 18th Amendment shows how democratic the President’s is, he added. SLFI Chairman Dr Ranjith Bandara said that, for the first time in Sri Lankan history an election manifesto was presented in the format of a policy document and it was the Mahinda Chinthana. It was the economic policy for the country and Mahinda Chinthana – Vision for the Future is the economic plan for the future.

Sri Lanka tried to reduce inflation, unemployment, etc to one digit during the past 40 years but failed due to lack of political stability. Around 47,000 graduates were recruited into the Public Service in 2005. The 18th Amendment is a must for the country’s economic development. That is why the entire private sector supports it.

ALI SUKHANVER

 Is it the climax of love or the peak of hatred that Selig Harrison talks of nothing but Pakistan and the ISI? He is a well known journalist, at present, working as the director of the Asia Program at the Center for International Policy and a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Once he had been the Bureau Chief of the Washington Post in Asia. His sole aim of life has always been to hold Pakistan responsible for every act of terrorism throughout the world. Here is an extract from his statement which he made in July 2002 while addressing a seminar at Woodrow Wilson Center of International Scholars. The topic of discussion was Human Rights Violations in Indian Held Kashmir. “It is good news that the American press had finally discovered the activities of the ISI. This spy agency is playing a very active role in bringing jehadis from all over the world to Afghanistan and helping them to train as terrorists but  activities which ISI is carrying out in Kashmir have  never been the focus of the American media..”

 Here is another extract from his latest article published in the New York Times. The title of the article is China’s Discreet Hold on Pakistan’s Northern Borderlands. Harrison says, “The entire Pakistan-occupied western portion of Kashmir stretching from Gilgit in the north to Azad (Free) Kashmir in the south is closed to the world, in contrast to the media access that India permits in the eastern part, where it is combating a Pakistan-backed insurgency. But reports from a variety of foreign intelligence sources, Pakistani journalists and Pakistani human rights workers reveal two important new developments in Gilgit-Baltistan: a simmering rebellion against Pakistani rule and the influx of an estimated 7,000 to 11,000 soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army.” Both these extracts show that running after Pakistan is not Harrison’s passion but profession. Though he is no doubt serving his masters who have hired him for this ‘sacred job’ with all possible sincerity and devotion but he must observe some rules and regulations which are the most precious asset of a journalist. If he were an Indian, the situation could have been altogether different; every Indian has a legal and moral right to oppose Pakistan because the two countries have never had very cordial relationship. More than twice India and Pakistan had confronted each other in the battle field. On the both sides of the border line, there are people who don’t have very pleasant feelings for the neighbouring country but what compels Harrison to keep on firing the bullets of words against Pakistan? It seems that money is making the mare go.

 In his recent article, Selig Harrison has criminally tried to disfigure the facts by saying that India has permitted media access in the eastern part of Kashmir. The reality is altogether different. According to the report of Kashmir Media Service, Indian Authorities have banned beaming of Pakistani channels in the northern part of Indian held Kashmir and directed cable operators in Baramulla and Sopore to block five Pakistani news channels including PTV, Geo TV, ARY News, Dawn News and Express 24/7. Bobby Singh who runs the cable operation in occupied Kashmir said that two months back, the Baramulla district Magistrate directed cable operators to act upon the instruction with immediate effect. Same is the case with the Pakistani newspapers which are not allowed in this occupied valley of the Indian held Kashmir. Not only the TV channels and newspapers but also the internet search engines are continuously kept under pressure. The Google is surely the unluckiest search engine which is going to face a ban everywhere in India including in the occupied part of Kashmir. Various Indian newspapers have published reports regarding the expected ban on Google and Skype related services. The government of India has presented a lame excuse for this expected ban that the government can’t access encrypted information being sent through Skype and Google related services. User exchanging information in an encrypted way through Google can’t be monitored by Government. Government officials say that by using this method criminals can easily make contact with others and carry out criminal activities, that is why the government has decided to impose a ban on them but in fact the story behind is not so simple. The government of India is taking all these steps simply to keep the people in dark; but what to do of Selig Harrison who is never ready to look at the other side of the picture.

As far as the western portion of Kashmir is concerned, Selig Harrison must correct his information. Either in Azad Kashmir or in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, there is no movement against the government of Pakistan. In both these areas people are leading a very calm and peaceful life. The government of Pakistan is using all possible sources for the betterment of these areas. New development projects have been started just to provide the local people new opportunities of prosperity.  The government of Pakistan is very keenly planning the Gilgit-Skardu road project. The establishment of regional branches of the National Bank of Pakistan, the offices of the National Database and Registration Authority and the House Building Finance Corporation in the area are some of the important steps taken by the government of Pakistan. The Gilgit-Baltistan political Government has been given complete internal freedom and the Legislative Assembly of Gilgit-Baltistan is enjoying all financial, administrative, judicial, political and developmental powers with all freedom.

 Selig Harrison has criminally concocted the story of the influx of an estimated 7,000 to 11,000 soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army in Gilgit-Baltistan. This type of fabrication is the worst example of yellow journalism. Chinese troops are no doubt there in the Gilgit-Baltistan region but they have come there at the request of the government of Pakistan to lend a helping hand in repairing the Karakoram highway, which has been severely damaged by the recent floods and landslides. Pakistan and China have a very deep-rooted cordial type of relationship since the day one. They stand by each other at every time of need. At present Pakistan is facing the worst consequences of the flood-disaster and being the closest friend of Pakistan, China can not leave Pakistan alone and companionless. Journalists like Selig Harrison must try to behave sensibly and see the world around them with their own eyes if they want to earn repute and credibility.

 The writer is a Pakistan based bilingual analyst on defence and strategic affairs.

Dilrook Kannangara

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම්. ජයතුංග

රජයක මුලිකම කාය්‍යීභාරය වනුයේ තම පුරවැසියන් ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වයෙන් ආරක‍ෂා කිරීමයි’’ – ජෝන් ෆෝස්ටර් ඩල්ස් : න‍දයබ ත‍දිඑැර ෘමකකැි-ග

ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය සාමාන්‍යයෙන් අර්ථ දැක්වෙන්නේ තමාටම හෝ වෙනත් පුද්ගලයෙකුට හෝ පුද්ගල කණ්ඩායමකට හෝ යම් ජන සමාජයකට හෝ විරුද්ධවල හිතාමතාම බලය හෝ කායික ශක්තිය භාවිත කිරීම මඟින් ශාරීරික ආබාධල මානසික ආබාධ මරණය   හෝ වියෝගය ඇති කිරීම හෝ ඇතිවිය හැකි ලෙසට ක්‍රියා කිරීම ලෙසයග ( Krug, Dahlberg, Mercy, Zwi & lozano, 2002)

දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය යනු දේශපාලන අභිමතාර්ථ සාක්ෂාත් කර ගැනීම සඳහා ප්‍රචණ්ඩකාරී ක්‍රියා යොදා ගැනීමයිග දේශපාලන අරමුණු ඉටුකර ගැනීම සඳහා ලොවපුරා මිනිසුන් සහ රජයන් බහුල ලෙස යොදා ගනAනා ක්‍රමයක් වන්නේ ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වයයිග මෙී අර්ථයෙන් ගත් කල දේශපාලන ප්‍රචන්ඩත‍වයෙන් අධික ලෙස බැටකන රටවල් අතර ශ්‍රී ලංකාවද සිටීග පසුගිය දශක කිහිපය පුරා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වයේ නිම් වලලූ පුලූල් වී තිබේග ඡන්ද සමයේදී මැර පිරිස් කලහකාරී ලෙස හැසිරීම සාමාන්‍ය සිදුවීමක් බවට පත්ව ඇත ග ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය ශ්‍රී ලාංකික සමාජය හා සංස්කෘතිය වෙලාගෙන ඇත ග දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය මෙන්ම එහිලා සබැදුණු සාධකද සංකීර්ණ හා බහුවිධ වුවත් ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය ජන සමාජය විනිවිද යන සහ වෙලාගත් සාධකයක් බවට ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය පත්වෙමින් පවතීග
දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයට මූලික හේතු පෙන්වා දෙන ඩන්කන් පීඩර්සන්ට  අනුව අධික ලෙස ණය බරින් පීඩිත දුගී රටවල ආර්ථීක හා පාරිසරික පරිහාණිිය සම්පත් හීනවීම සහ ජීවිකා වෘත්තිවල ඛාදනය යනාදී සාධක ජන සමාජයේ විවිධ කොටස්වල දරිද්‍රතාව හා ආහාර අනාරක‍ෂිතතාව තී්‍රව්‍ර කරයිග   විලෝපිත ක්‍රියාමාර්ගවල තරගකාරිත‍වයද දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය සහ අභ්‍යන්තර යුද්ධ හටගැනීම යන සාදකත් සම්පත් හීනවීම නිසා තී්‍රව්‍ර වන වාර්ගික හා ආගමික ආතතියත් එකිනෙක හා බැදී පවතී ( ඩන්කන් පීඩර්සන් -දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වයල ජනවාර්ගික අර්බුදය සහ තත්කාලීන යුද්ධ   සෞඛ්‍යය සහ සමාජ යහපැවැත්ම කෙරෙහි බලපෑම / Duncan Pedersen – political violence, ethnic conflict and contemporary wars : broad implication for health and social well – being )

සාමූහික ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය : ( Collective Violence )

සාමූහික ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය යනු තමන් යම් ( තාවකාලික හෝ යාවජීව ) කණ්ඩායමක සාමාජිකයින් ලෙස හදුන්වා ගන්නා පුද්ගලයින් විසින් තමන්ගේ දේශපාලනල ආර්ථීක හෝ සාමාජීය අරමුණු සාක්ෂාත් කර ගනු වස් තවත් කණ්ඩායමකට හෝ පුද්ගලයින් පිරිසකට විරුද්ධව ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය යොදා ගැනීමයිග

 විලියම් කොනසර් (උසකකස්ප ණදරබය්මිැර – සාමූහික ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය පිළිබද සමාජ සම්බන්ධතා න්‍යාය :ීදජස්ක Aඑඒජයපැබඑි ඔයැදරහ දෙ ක‍දකකැජඑසඩැ ඪසදකැබජැ – ඉදිරිපත් කළ අතර එය යම් පුද්ගලයෙකු ප්‍රචණ්ඩකාරි කණ්ඩායමකට බැදීමේ හැකියාව කෙරෙහි ඔහුගේ සමාජ සම්බන්ධතා වල බලපෑම පිළිබදව අවධානය යොමු කරයගි සමාජ සම්බන්ධතා නොමැති මිනිසුන් තමනුත් සමාජයට අයත්ය යන හැගීම ඇති කර ගැනිම සඳහා මෙවැනි කණ්ඩායමකට බැදීමට වැඩි ඉඩකඩක් ඇතිබව එම න්‍යාය පැහැදිලි කර දෙයිග

සාමූහික ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය බොහෝ විට කණ්ඩායමක් විසින් සමාජය හැසිරවීමකිග එය හැසිරීමට විචල්‍ය ලෙස දර්ශීයව ප්‍රතිචාර දක්වයිග ඒක පාර්ශ්වික සහ රාජ්‍ය මැදිහත් වීම් හෝ අනුග්‍රහ නොමැති වීම එය සතර මහා ආකරයකින් බාහිරට විද්‍යමාන වේග නඩු නොවිමසා දඩුවම් කිරීම කෝලාහල කිරීම අපරාධ වැලක්වීමට නීතිය අතට ගැනීම සහ ත්‍රස්තවාදය වශයෙනිග මේවා වගකීමේ ස්වභාවය  :පුද්ගල හෝ සාමූහික ) සහ සංවිධාන මට්ටම ( ඉහල හෝ දුර්වල ) අනුව පැහැදිලිව වෙන් කොට ගත හැකියග  : ඍදඉැරඒ ීැබැජය්ක ෘැ ඛ් ඍදජයැල ෘැච්රඑපැබඑ දෙ ්‍යසිඑදරහල උ්ියසබටඑදබ ) ඛැැ ඹබසඩැරිසඑහ

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේදී සාමූහික ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය ප්‍රකාශයට පත්වී තිඛෙන්නේ සිවිල් කෝලහාල  විරෝධතා වධබන්දන පැමිණවීම් කොල්ල කෑම් හා මාෆියා කල්ලි යුද්ධ ආදී වශයෙනිග ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේදී එය දේශපාලනික හා වාර්ගික මුහුණු වරක් ගෙන ඇති අතර මානසික සෞඛ්‍ය මෙන්ම අර්ථීකය කෙරෙහිද දැඩි බලපෑමක් එල්ල තරයිග

ළමා අවධියේ මානසික ආතති සහ ප්‍රචණ්ඩකාරී හැසිරීම 

යමකු ළමා කාලයේදී  අත්විඳින පීඩා බුද්ධි වර්ධනයට දැඩිව බලපාන අතර එය යමෙකුගේ සමාජ හැසිරීම කෙරෙහි සෘණාත්මකව බලපෑ හැකියග සාමූහික හෝ පුද්ගල ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වයේ ගොදුරු බවට පත්වු ළමුන් සමාජය කෙරෙහි ක්‍රෝධය හා නොරිස්සුම් ගති දැක්විය හැකි අතර එය ප්‍රචණ්ඩකාරි ස්වභාවයකින් ප්‍රකාශයට පත්විය හැකග පර්යේෂණ වලට අනුව දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වයේ යෙදුණු ජර්මානු බාඩර් – මයින්හෝෆ් කන්ඩායමේ :ඨැරප්බ ඊ්්ාැර ජ් ඵැසබයදෙ ටරදමච – හිටපු සාමාජිකයින් බහුතරයකට ආතතීන්ට ලක්වූ ළමා කාලයක් තිබී ඇතග  ළමා අවධියේ අත්විදින අයහපත් හා සෘණාත්මක අත්දැකිම් සහ සමාජ ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය අතර සම්බන්ධතාව බොහෝ පර්යේෂණ සනාථ කරයිග මිනිසුන් අත්විදින පීඩා හා ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය මීලග පරම්පරාවට උරුම විය හැකි අතර එය විෂම චක්‍රයකට මඟපාදයිග සමූල ඝාතන වලින් බේරුණු පුද්ගලයින්ගේ දරුවන්ට පශ්චාත් ව්‍යසන ක්ලමථ අක්‍රමතාවය  : ඡදිඑ ඔර්මප්එසජ ීඑරුිි ෘසිදරාැර රැ ඡඔීෘ – වැලදීමේ නැඔුරුව පිළිබදව ආර් යෙහූඩා ඇතුලූ පිරිස : ඍග ශැයමා්ල ්එ ්කක – 1998 දී කරණ ලද අධ්‍යයනය : Aපැරසජ්බ වදමරබ්ක දෙ චිහජයස්එරහ ල 155 :9- ථ 1163-1171 – මගින් තහවුරු වූයේ සමූල ඝාතන වලින් දිවි රැකගත්  ඡඔීෘ සහිත දෙමාපියන්ගේ දරුවන්ට ඡඔීෘ වැලදීමේ අධික අවධානමක් ජීවිත කාලයටම පවතින බවත් පීඩාකාරි සිදුවීම්වලට පසු අන්‍යයන්ට වඩා වැඩියෙන් ඔවුන් ආතතියට ලක්වන බවත්යග එබැවින් සමාජ දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය ජන සමාජයට දැඩි හානිකර බලපෑම් ඇති කරයිග 

ආගමික මූලධර්ම වාදය සහ ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය

ආගමික මූලධර්ම වාදය මහත් විවාදාත්මක සහ මතභේදාත්මක විෂයක් මෙන්ම නූතන ලෝකයේ සාමූහික ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වයට හේතු වන සාධකයක්ද බවට පත්ව ඇත ග 
පසුගිය දශක කිපය තුල ආගමික මූලධර්ම වාදයේ පැතිකඩක් ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේද සාමූහික ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය ක්‍රියාත්මක වී ඇති අතර එම නැඹුරුව තීව්‍ර වෙමින් පවතී තම ඇදහීම සහ විශ්වාස වල ප්‍රචණ්ඩකාරීත‍වය වැලද ගන්නා පූජකයින් මානසිකව අසමතුලිත පුද්ගලයින් වන අතර ඔවුන් අන්‍යාගමිකයින් දකින්නේ විරුද්ධ වාදින් ලෙසයග මොවුහු තම ආගමෙන් පිටස්තර පුද්ගලයින් පිළිබදව කටයුතු කිරීමේදි අන්‍යොන්‍ය අවබෝධයෙන් තොර වන අතර අන්‍යාගමිකයින්ට විරුද්ධව ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය භාවිතා කිරීම බොහෝ විට සාධාරණීකරණය කරති     මොවුහු වෛරය දේශනා කරන අතර ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වයට තම අනුගාමිකයින් උසි ගන්වති ග  සාමූහික ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය අනුමත කරන පූජකයින්ට බොහෝ විට ඇත්තේ පීඩිත ළමා අවධියක් වන අතර ඔවුන් සමහරෙකු ලිංගික අපචාර වලටද ලක්වූවන්යග  ඔවුන්ගේ ක්‍රෝධය හා වෛරය පොදුවේ පැතිර තිබීමට හෝ තම ඇදහීම් වලට හෝ වර්ගයාට පිටස්තර පුද්ගලයින් වෙත පමණක් යොමූ වී තිබීමට හෝ හැකග  ඔවුහු තමන් ගේ අනාරක‍ෂිත හැගිම් ආගමට එරෙහි තර්ජනයක් හෝ කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් හෝ ලෙස සලකන අතර ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය සාධාරණීකරණය කිරීමට එය යොදා ගනී ග   

ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයට හේතු වන දේශපාලන අන්තවාදය

ලාඩ් විල්කොක්ස් : ඛ්සරා උසකජදං – අර්ථ දක්වන පරිදි දේශපාලන අන්තවාදය යනු තම දේශපාලන මතිමතාන්තර ඉන් ඇති විය හැකි අවාසනාවන්ත ප්‍රතිවිපාකල ඒවායේ ප්‍රායෝගික නොවන ස්වභාවයන්් හා එAවාට විරුද්ධ මතවාද හා හැගිම් නොසලකාල තම මතයම මිස අන් කිසිදු මතයක් නොඉවසන ආකාරයෙන්  අනුන්ගේ ජීවිත වලට නිදහසට සහ මානව හිමිකම් වලට ගරු නොකරන දේශපාලන ස්වභාවයක් වෙත ගමන් කරමින්  තර්ක කිරීමට පමණක් නොව ප්‍රතිවාදින් විනාශ කිරිමේ අදහසද ඇතිවල අන්තගාමි ලෙස ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමයි ග

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ  දේශපාලන අන්තවාදය විවිධ මුහුණුවර වලින් ක්‍රියාත්මක වන අතර බොහෝ විට ජාතිකත්වය හා අගමික මතවාද උපයෝගී කරගනිමින් ප්‍රකාශයට පත් වේග දේශපාලන අන්තවාදියෙකු යනු විශේෂයෙන්ම දේශපාලන කටයුතු වලදී පොදු සම්මතයෙන් බැහැර ක්‍රියාමාර්ග අනුමත කරන හෝ තෝරා ගන්නා අයෙකිග මොහුගේ සමාජ විරෝධි ආකල්ප බොහෝ විට සැගවී පවතින අතර සුදුසු අවස්ථාව එළඹි කල්හි ඒවා පිටතට ප්‍රදර්ශනය වේග දේශපාලන අන්තවාදීහු බොහෝ විට ආගම හෝ ජනවර්ගය මත පදනම් වූ සර්වසම ්‍යදපදටැබැදමි  සමාජයක් නිර්මාණයෙහිලා උත්සුක වෙතිග

බහු වාර්ගික හා බහු ආගමික ස්වභාවය නොසලකා හරිමින් සර්වසම සමාජයක් නිර්මාණය කිරීම පසුපස ඇති ගැඹුරු මනෝ විද්‍යාත්මක පසුබිම කුමක්ද රෑ මෙය අන්තවාදියා තුල ඇති කෘරතර සමලිංගික ආශයන් විදහා දක්වයිග  

 මෙය ඇඩොල්ෆ් හිට්ලර්   තුල දක්නට ලැබුණිග ජර්මනියේ සර්වම සමාජයක් තැනීමට ඔහු අපමණ වෙහෙසක් දැරීයග අරියන් වර්ගය :Aරහ්බ ඍ්ජැ- අනෙකුත් වර්ග අතර ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ වන බව හිට්ලර් විශ්වාස කළ අතර ඔහු අන් ජන වර්ග නොඉවසුවේයග ඔහුගේ අන්තවාදය කාමුක ස්වභාවයක් ඉසලීය ග හාවඩ් සරසවියේ ප්‍රකට පුද්ගල ලක්ෂණ විශේෂඥයකු ඡැරිදබ්කසඑහ ීචැජස්කසිඑ වූ හෙන්රි මුරේට   අනුව හිට්ලර් තම ලිංගිකත්වය පිළිබද ව්‍යාකූල වියග

ෘීඵ 4 ට අනුව සමලිංගිකත්වය මානසික රෝගයක් නොවන නමුදු සමලිංගික ආශයන් කෘරත්වය සමග මිශ්‍රව තිබේනම් සහ අදාල පුද්ගලයා එමගින් අධික ලෙස අසහනයට පත්ව සිටී නම්  එමගින් රෝගී තත්වයක් හටගත හැකග  තම ලිංගිකත්වය පිළිබද දැඩි ලෙස ව්‍යාකූලව සිටින  තම කෘරත්වය සමග මිශ්‍රව තිබේන සමලිංගික ආශයන් පාලනය කරගත නෙහැකි දෙශපාලන අන්තවාදියා සර්වසම සමාජයක් ගොඩනැගීම වෙනුවෙන් ඕනෑම කැපකිරිමන් කරනු ඇත ග  ඔහු මෙම අන්තවාදී දර්ශනය තම ජීවිත අරමුණ බවට ජත් කර ගනීග ජර්මානුවන් වරක තම නිදහස එවන් පුද්ගලයෙකුට බාර කළහග

  දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය සහ ප්‍රජාත්‍රන්ත්‍රවාදය

දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය සමාජ සංවිධානයේ සියලූ ස්ථර වලදී ප්‍රකාශයට පත්වේග ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දීර්ඝ යුද්ධය විසින් දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය සාධාරණීකරණය කරමින් ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය මහත් විප්ලවකාරී වෙනසකට බඳුන් කර ඇතග ගිනි අවි නිදහසේ සංසරණය වීම මෙම තත්වය තීව්‍ර කළ අතර ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය එදිනෙදා ජීවිතයේ කොටසක් බවට පත්ව ඇතග බොහෝ දේශපාලකයින් එම තත්වයට උඩගෙඩි දුන් අතර  එය බලය ලබා ගැනිම සහ විරුද්ධවාදීන් බිය ගන්වමින් පාලනය කිරීමට පහසු මාර්ගයක් ලෙස සැලකීයග දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වයේ විෂම චක්‍රය ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ජන සමාජයේ සියලූ ස්ථරවලට බලපෑම් එල්ල කළේයග

ඹචචිැක් සරසවියේ සාමය හා ගැටුම් පර්යේෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ ක්‍රිස්ටීන් හොග්ලන්ඩ් :ණරසිඑසබැ ්‍යදටකමබා දෙ එයැ ෘැචඑග ධෙ ඡැ්ජැ ්බා ක‍දබකෙසජඑ රුිැ්රජය  – ඹචචිැක් ඹබසඩැරිසඑහ – ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණAඩත‍වයේ ස්වභාවය මෙසේ විස්තර කරයිග

ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී  දේශපාලන කෝණයෙන්් බලන කල ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය හා අනාරක‍ෂිත බව මැතිවරණ ප්‍රතිඵල කෙරෙහි විවිධාකාරයෙන් බලපෑ හැකියග ඡන්දදායකයින් ලියාපදිචි වීම අඩාල කිරීමට බිය වැද්දීම් හා තර්ජන භාවිත කල හැකග ජනගහනයෙන් විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක් ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වයට ඇති බිය නිසා ඡන්දය දැමීමෙන් වැලකී සිටියහොත් එය අවසාන මුලූ ප්‍රකාශිත ඡන්ද සංඛ්‍යාවට බලපෑ හැකග මැතිවරණ ව්‍යාපාරය තුල සිඳුවන පහරදීම්ල තර්ජනය කිරීම් සහ දේශපාලන ඝාතන දේශපාලන ප්‍රතිවාදින් ඡන්ද ව්‍යාපාරයෙන් බැහැරව යාමට හෝ මැතිවරණය පැවැත්වීම වැලැක්වීමට හෝ හේතුවිය හැකියග  :ෑකැජඑදර්ක ඪසදකැබජැ සබ උ්ර ජ් ඍ්ඩ්ටැා ීදජසැඑසැි ථ ඔයැ ක‍්ිැ දෙ ීරස ඛ්බන් ඉහ ණරසිඑසබැ ්‍යදටකමබා- 
ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ  ප්‍රථම පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයේ දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ප්‍රථම පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණය 1947 දී පැවැත්වුණු අතර එහිදී මහා පරිමාණ සමූහ ප්‍රචණ්ඩ ක්‍රියා : පදඉ ඩසදකැබජැ – ඇතිවියග මේ හේතුවෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා කොමියුනිස්ට් පක්ෂයේ ( සොවියට් හිතවාදී පිල ) ක්‍රියාකාරී සාමාජිකයෙකු අබාධිත තත්වයට පත්වියග ඔහුගේ සිව් වියැති පුත්‍රයා මේ සිඳු වීම නිසා අධික කම්පනයට පත්වු අතර දේශපාලනය කරන මිනිසුන් නිසා තමන්ගේ ජීවන තත්වය පරිහාණිියට පත්කරමින් තම පියා අබාධිතයෙකු වූ බව කුඩා දරුවකු ලෙස ඔහු දිටීයග  පසු කලකදි මෙම ආබාධිත පුද්ගලයාගේ පුත්‍රයා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සමූහ පීඩා : ක‍දකකැජඑසඩැ ඔර්මප් – ඇති කරමින් කැරලි දෙකක් දියත් කළේයග  මෙම අවස්ථා දෙකේදී හැත්තෑ දහසකට ආසන්න පිරිසක් තම ජීවිතවලින් වන්දි ගෙවූහග

 ප්‍රභාකරන් සාධකය

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ  දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වයේ කොටසක් ලෙස වාර්ගික කෝලහල ඇතිවියග සමහර ප්‍රාදේශීය දේශපාලකයින් ලාභ ජනප්‍රියත්වය සඳහා ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතිකයින්ට විරුද්ධව සමූහ ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය  : ඨ්බට ඩසදකැබජැ – සංවිධානය කළහග මෙසේ දෙමළ සහ සිංහල ජාතීන් අතර ආතතිය වැඩි වූ විට සමහරු වාර්ගික චිත්තවේග පවත්වා ගැනීම සඳහා භයංකර කථා නිර්මාණය කළහග

 බොහෝ දෙනෙකුට මරු කැදවමින් කැරලි කණ්ඩායම් විසින් දෙමල වැසියන්ට ම්ලේච්ඡ ලෙස ප්‍රහාර එල්ල කළ 1956 ගල්ඔය කැරලි සහ 1958 වාර්ගික කෝලහල වටා ගෙතුණු මෙවන් භයංකාර කථාවලට සවන්දීමට  ළමා ප්‍රභාකරන් පුරුදුව සිටියේයග  විමර්ශනාත්මක මාධ්‍යවේදියෙකු වූ එම්  ආර්  නාරායන් ස්වාමි විස්තර කරණ ආකාරයට පානදුර හිංදු පූජකවරයෙකුගේ කෘෘර ඝාතනය පිළිබඳ තොරතුරු ඇසීමෙන් ඔහු අධික ලෙස කම්පනයට පත්වියග 1958 වාර්ගික කෝලහල වලදී කැරලිකරුවන් විසින් එම පූජකවරයා පණපිටින් පුලූස්සන ලදී ග ප්‍රභාකරන් පලිගැනීමට අදිටන් කර ගත්තේයග සිංහලයින්ට විරුද්ධව සටන් කිරීමට තම ජීවිත අරමුණ බවට පත්කර ගත්තේයග දහසය වියේදී පොදු ප්‍රවාහන  : ක‍ඔඊ- බස් රථයකට ගිනි තබමින් ඔහු සිය ප්‍රථම සමාජ විරෝධී ක්‍රියාව සිදු කළේයග ඛඔඔෑ නායකයා  බවට පත්වූ පසු ඔහු 1985 අනුරාධපුර සමූල ඝාතනයල 1987 අරන්තලාව සමූල ඝාතනය සහ සිංහල වැසියන් ඉලක්ක කර ගනිමින් සිඳු කළ සිය ගනන් මරාගෙන මැරෙන බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාර ඇතුලූ සමූහ ඝාතන ගණනාවක් මෙහෙය වීයග දශක තුනක කාලයක් පුරා ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයින් 90 000 කට වැඩි ප්‍රමාණයකට මරු කැඳවමින් ප්‍රභාකරන් තම ත්‍රස්තවාදය මෙලෙස දියත් කළේයග

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ  විප්ලවකාරී දේශපාලන කණ්ඩායම්  විසින් දියත් කළ ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ  විවිධ විප්ලවකාරී දේශපාලන සංවිධාන තම දේශපාලන අරමුණු මුුදුන් පමුණුවා ගැනීමට ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය දියත් කරන ලදීග ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ   1971 සහ 1988 ලෙස කැරලි කෝලහල දෙකක් ක්‍රියාත්මක කළේයග 1970 ගණන්වල සිට දෙමළ සන්නද්ධ කණ්ඩායම් තම ප්‍රචණ්ඩකාරී ව්‍යාපාර දියත් කළ අතරල 2009 මැයි මස දක්වා ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ ඛඔඔෑ   ඒ අතර ප්‍රධාන සන්නද්ධ කණ්ඩායම වියග

දෙමල ඊලාම් කොටි  සංවිධානයේ : ඛඔඔෑ – සහ ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ :න‍ඪඡ- මූලාරම්භය හා ව්‍යාප්තිය 1960 ගණන් වල මුල සිට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ තිබු සමාජ ප්‍රසාරණයට සහ ආර්ථීක හා දේශපාලන ක්ෂේත්‍රවල වූ හීන වර්ධනයට සමීපව සම්බන්ධ බව මහාචාර්ය ගාමිණී සමරනායක මහතා පෙන්වා දෙයිග මූලිකවම මෙම කණ්ඩායම් දෙකම මතවාද කරපින්නාගත් ස්වභාවයක වඩා ප්‍රායෝගික ක්‍රියාකාරී ස්වභාවයක් දක්වන අතර  සමාන සමාජ ආර්ථීක පසුබිමක් ඇති තරුණ තරුණියන්ගෙන් සමන්විතයග :ඡදකසඑසජ්ක ඩසදකැබජැ සබ ීරස ඛ්බන්ථ A ාස්ටබදිඑසජ ්චචරද්ජය ඉහ ඨ්පසබස ී්ප්ර්බ්හ්නැ -

ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ හිටපු මහ ලේකම් ලයනල්  බෝපගේ මහතා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වයේ මූලාරම්භය පහත අයුරින් විස්තර කරයිග

දිවයිනේ 1948න් පසු දේශපාලන නායකත්වය සියලූ ජන කොටස් එක්සත් කරමින්  අධිරාජ්‍ය විරෝධි සංගත සටනකින් බිහි වූවක් නොවේග මෙම පශ්චාත් අධිරාජ්‍යවාදි සැකසුම විසින් එහි වැසියන්ගේ සංස්කෘතික හා භාෂා විවිධත්වයට පමණක් නොවල ඔවුන්ගේ සමාජ ආර්ථීක දේශපාලන හා සංස්කෘතික අපේක්ෂාවනටද නොගැලපෙන්නා වූල අධිරාජ්‍යවාදී මොඩලයන්ම වූ ඒක සංස්කාතික සහ ඒකීය පරිපාලන ව්‍යුහයක ප්‍රතිපත්ති සහ ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ඉදිරියට ගෙනයන ලදී ග

වරප්‍රසාද නොලත් දුගී ජන කොටස්වල ගෞරවය හා ආරක්ෂාව තහවරු කිරීම වැදගත් යයි පශ්චාත් අධිරාජ්‍යවාදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජ්‍යය කිසිවිටක නොසිතුවේයග දේශීය ගැටලූ සලකනු ලැබුවේ හා පිළියම් යොදනු ලැබුවේ අර්බුධ මානසිකත්වයක් :ක‍දබකෙසජඑ ඡ්ර්ාසටප- තුල සිටයග සමාජ සාමානාත්මතාවල අසාධාරණත්වය ආරක්ෂාව හා ගෞරවය වෙනුවෙන් වූ සාමකාමී ඉල්ලීම් නිරන්තරයෙන්ම නොසලකා හරින ලදී   හෝ කෘෘරලෙස මර්ධනය කරන ලදීග මෙම මර්ධන මගින් පුද්ගලයින්ගේ සහ ජන සමාජවල කායික හා මානසික අඛණ්ඩතාවයට ඇතිවූ අවමානය සහ අනාරක්ෂිත ස්වභාවය අවිආයුධ අතට ගැනීමට මෙලෙස ඔවුන් පොළබවන ලදී ( ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්්ඩත‍වය -      ලයනල්  බෝපගේ )  
 

වාර්ගික කෝලහල සහ දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය

මානව හිමිකම්  ක්‍රියාකාරිකයකු වන රාජන් හූල් : ඍ්ව්බ ්‍යදදකැ – පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ ගාමිණී දිසානායක  සිරිල් මැතිවි වැනි දේශපාලඥයින් දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයේ කොටසක් ලෙස වාර්ගික කෝලහල දිරි ගැන්වූ බවයිග : ීරස ඛ්බන් ථ ඔයැ Aරරදට්බජැ දෙ ඡදඇර ථ ඵහඑයි ෘැජ්ාැබජැ ) ඵමරාැර ජ් ඍ්ව්බ ්‍යදදකැ -

පහත දැක්වෙන්නේ දේශපාලකයින් විසින් ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය සැලසුම් කළ හැකි ආකාරය සහ ක්‍රියාත්මක කළ හැකි ආකාරය පිළිබඳ පූර්ණ විස්තරයක් ඉදිරි පත් කරණ එල්ග පියදාස විසින් රචිත  ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සමූල ඝාතන හා ඉනපසු” : ීරස ඛ්බන් ථ ඔයැ ්‍යදකදජ්මිඑ ්බා ්ඓැර ඉහ ඛග ඡසහ්ා්ි් ල සබ්රර්ප ඉදදනල ඛදබාදබ 1984- යන්නෙන් උපුටා ගත් කොටසකිග

කර්මාන්ත අමාත්‍ය සිරිල් මැතිව්ගේ මැර කණ්ඩායම් කැළණිය ප්‍රදේශයේ කි්‍රයාත්මක වියග රජයේ වෘත්තීය සමිති වූ ජාතික සේවක සංගමයේ මහ ලේකම්වරයා විසින් මෙහෙය වූ මැර කණ්ඩායම් මුලූ කෙළඹ පුරාම සහ විශේෂයෙන්ම   වැල්ලවත්ත ප්‍රදේශයේ විනාශය සහ මරණය වපුරවන ලදී ග දෙහිවල ගල්කිස්ස මහ නගර සභාවෙි එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ එක්තරා නාගරික මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකු ගල්කිස්ස ප්‍රදේශයේ මැර කණ්ඩායම් මෙහෙයවීයග කොළඹ පිටකොටුවේ ( කඩ සාප්පු 442 ක් විනාශකළ හා මිණීමැරුම් සිදුකළ බසාර් ප්‍රදේශයේ ) අණදෙන්නා ලෙස කටයුතු කළේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයාගේ ලඟම හිතවතතෙකු වු ඇලෝසියස් මුදලාලිගේ පුත්‍රයායග මෙවන් උදාහරණ රාශියක් ගෙනහැර දැක්විය හැකග එජාපයේ නායකයින්ට රජයේ අමාත්‍යවරුන්ට සහ පක්ෂ මුලස්ථානයට නිරන්තරයෙන් සේවය කල මැරවරයින් මෙන්ම නිළ ඇඳුමින් සැරසුණු හමුදා සාමාජිකයින් සහ පොලීසියද පහරදිම් මෙහෙයවනු දක්නට ලැබුණිග ඔවුහු ශ්‍රී ලංකා ගමනාගමන මණ්ඩලයට (විෂයභාර අමාත්‍ය එමි  එචි  මොහොමඩ් ) සහ අනෙකුත් රජයේ දෙපාර්තමේන්තු සහ සංස්ථා වලට අයත් වාහන පාවිච්චි කළහග ලංකා පෙට්ට්‍රෝලියම් සංස්ථාවේ තෙල් පිරිපහදුවට අයත් ට්‍රක් රථ වැල්ලවත්තේ මහත් විනාශයක් කළ මිනිසුන් රැගෙන සැතපුම් ගණනක් දුර සිට පැමිණියේයග 

අමාත්‍ය ගාමිණී දිසානායක මහතාගේ් සංචාරයෙන් පසුව නුවරඑළිය ප්‍රදේශයේ ජාතිවාදී කෝලහාලවලට බදුන් වූ ආකාරය  ශ්‍රී ලංකාව – විනාශ වූ පරාදීසය” : ීරස ඛ්බන් ථ ච්ර්ාසිැ සබ ඍමසබි – යන්නෙහි දැක්වේග : ීරස ක්බන්ථ ක‍ද-දරාසබ්එසදබ ක‍ැබඑැර ල ණ්ිිැකල 1983-

 ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතිකයින් ප්‍රවාහනය නොකරන ලෙස බස් කොන්දොස්තර වරුන්ට නියෝග ලැබුණිග පක්ෂ සාමාජිකයින් සමඟ රැස්විමක් පැවැත්විමට අමාත්‍ය ගාමිණී දිසාණායක මහතා කොළඹ සිට නුවරඑළියට පැමිණ සිටියේයග පාර්ලිමෙන්තු මන්ත්‍රී හේරත් රණසිංහ   ප්‍රකට මැරවරයින් පිරිසක් පූර්වෝපායක් ලෙස ඊට පෙරදින අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන තිබුණිග ගාමිණී දිසාණායක මහතාගේ පක්ෂ රැස්වීම අවසන් වු සැනින් ඔවුන් මුදා හැරිණිග මොවුහු පෙටිට්‍රල් යකඩ පොලූ සහ අනෙකුත් ආයුධ වලින් සන්නද්ධ වී නගරයේ දෙමළ පූජකවරුන් දෙදෙනෙකුට පහර දිමට සැරසුණාහ එහෙත් එම පූජකයෝ බේරී පලා ගියහග අපේක්ෂා භංගත්වයට පත් ඔවුහු ඉදිරියට ඇඳුණහග තවත් මැර පිරිසක් ඔවුන්ට එක්වූහ ඔවුහු දෙමල වෙළඳ සැලක් වටලා පෙටිට්‍රෝල් ඉස එය ගිනිබත් කළහග

මැතිවරණ ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය

මැතිවරණ ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය ශ්‍රී ලාංකික දේශපාලනයේ මුල් බැස ගිය ලක්ෂණයක් බවට පත්ව ඇත ග එය මිනිසුන්ට සහ දේශපාලනය හා බලය පිළිබඳ ඔවුන්ගේ අවබෝධයට ගැඹුරු බලපෑම් ඇති කරයිග   :ණරසිඑසබැ යදටකමබා දෙ ඹචචි්ක් මබසඩැරිසඑහ  දක්වන ආකාරයට මැතිවරණ ප්‍රචණ්ඩත‍වය විවිධ කාරණා සඳහා යොදා ගනු ලබයිග ඡන්ද දැමීමට බාධා කිරීමට අපේක්ෂකයින් ඡන්ද ව්‍යාපාරයේ යෙදීම වැලක්විමට මැතිවරණ ප්‍රතිපල පරාජය කිරීමට ආදී වශයෙනිග

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ  සහ ග්‍රාමීය ප්‍රදේශවල දේශපාලනය

ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ජන ජීවිතයේ බොහෝ පැතිකඩවලට දේශපාලනය බලපෑම් ඇති කරයිග පිටිසර ගමක් පිළිබද මානව විද්‍යත්තමක අධ්‍යනයකදී ශ්‍රී ලාංකික දේශපාලනය විස්තර කරණු ලබන්නේ ජාතික සහ ආගමික අනන්‍යතාවක්් නිර්මාණය කිරිමට සම්බන්ධවූ ජදබිමපසබට ච්ිිසදබ  ලෙසය  :ස්පෙන්සර්ල 1990 ) රාජ්‍ය මුලික දේශපාලනික අනුග්‍රහය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ මුල් බැස ගෙන ඇතග පක්ෂ නායකයින් විසින් රාජ්‍ය සම්පත් තම පෞද්ගලික සුඛ විහරණයට තම දේශපාලන හිතවතුන්ට සංග්‍රහ කිරීමට බලයේ රැදි සිටීමට සහ විපක්ෂය දුර්වල කිරිමට යොදා ගනීග :ීමරස 2007ල 46-ග

පාලක – අනුග්‍රාහක සම්බන්ධතා ( ඡ්එරදබ ජ් ජකසැබඑ රුක්එසදබියසචි – ශ්‍රී ලාංකික පක්ෂ දේශපාලනයේ හා සංවිධානයේ මධ්‍යගත ලක්ෂණයකිග පක්ෂ ක්‍රියාකාරීන් හා ආධාරකරුවන් තමන්ට සහ තම පවුලේ අයට විවිධ ආකාරයේ ලාභ ප්‍රයෝජන බලාපොරොත්තු වෙතිග එවැනි දෑ අතරින් රැකියා අවස්ථා රාජ්‍ය කොන්ත්‍රාත්තු හා ණය හෝ රජයේ සුභසාධන ප්‍රතිලාභ ආදිය උදාහරණ ලෙස දැක්විය හැකග   

1977 මැතිවරණයේදි ප්‍රචණ්ඩක්‍රියා මාලාවක් ඇතිවූ අතරල බොහෝ අය එහි ගොදුරු බවට පත්වූහග ඉන්පසු පැවැති මැතිවරණ වලදී මෙම ප්‍රචණ්ඩකාරි නැඹුරුව ප්‍රමුඛ අංගයක් බවට පත්වියග මින් මිණීමැරුම් පහරදිම් සහ ගිනි තැබීම් මැතිවරණ සමයේදී සාමාන්‍ය සිදුවීම් බවට පත් වියග 1999 නින්දිත වයඹ පලාත් සභා මැතිවරණයේදී ප්‍රාදේශීය දේශපාලඥයෙකු විසින් 52 හැවිරිදි කාන්තාවකට ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ පහරදී නිරුවත් කරණ ලදී ග

2001 මහ මැතිවරණයේදී  ශ්‍රී ලාංකික දේශපාලනයේ නව නැඹුරුවක්් ඇති කරමින් දේශපාලකයින් විසින් මහා පරිමාන මැතිවරණ ප්‍රචණ්ඩක්‍රියා  ඇතිකිරීම සඳහා හිටපු හමුදා සාමාජිකයින් හා හමුදාවෙන් පැනගිය සෙබලූන් යොදා ගන්නා ලදී ග මෙම ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයේ උච්චතම අවස්තාව මහ මැතිවරණ දින මහනුවරදී ඇතිවූ අතර මුසලිම් තරුණයින්  10 ක් උඩතලවින්න ප්‍රදේශයේදී වෙඩි තබා මරා දමන ලදිග

යුධ පීඩා අත්දැකීම් සහිත සෙබලූ රැසක් 2001 සිට 2010 දක්වා මැතිවරණ ප්‍රචණ්ඩක්‍රියා වලට සම්බන්ධ වූ අතර ඔවුන් අතරින් සමහරක් රෝග විනිශ්චය නොකළ ඡඔීෘ රෝගීන් බවට විශ්වාස කෙරේග හමුදා මනෝ විද්‍යාඥයින් දක්වන අන්දමට ක්‍රෝධය හා ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය   ඡඔීෘ සහිත සෙබලූන් තුල බහුලව දක්ණට ලැඛෙන ආබාධ වේග

ජැක්සන්හි    මිසිසිපි වෛද්‍ය මද්‍යස්ථාන සරසවියේ   : ඵ්එඑයැඅ ඔමකක දෙ එයැ ඹබසඩැරිසඑහ දෙ පසිිසිසචස ඵැාසජ්ක  ජැබඑැර සබ න‍්ජනිදබ- ඡඔීෘ සහ සමාජ ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය පිළිබඳ දීර්ඝ අධ්‍යනයක් කරණ ලදී ග ඔහුට අනුව ඡඔීෘ සහිත පුද්ගලයින්ට තියුණු සහ පුරෝකතනය කළ නොහැකි භාවාත්මක අත්දැකීම් තිබිය හැකි අතර ක්‍රෝධය හා ප්‍රචණ්ඩකාරී හැසිරීම යනු එවා යම් පාලනයකට නතු කරවන මාර්ගයන් විය හැකියග ක්‍රෝධය යනු ඡඔීෘ සමඟ බොහෝ විට සැබැදී පවතින ලජ්ජාව සහ වරදට පසුතැවිලිවීම යනාදී චිත්ත පීඩා ඇතිකරණ භාවයන් හා සම්බන්ධ ආතතිය ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමේ හෝ මුදා හැරීමේ හෝ ක්‍රම වේදයක් විය හැකියග ඉරාක හා ඇෆ්ගනිස්ථාන යුධ ප්‍රවීනයින් පිළිබඳව ඔහු සිඳු කළ පර්යේෂණ මඟන් වාර්තා කෙරුනේ පශ්චාත් ව්‍යසන ක්ලමථ අක්‍රමතාවය ඡඔීෘ තිබු  යුධ   සොල්දාදුවන් කැපී පෙනෙන ලෙස ත්‍රීව්‍ර ක්‍රෝධයක් සහ සතුරු බවක් වාර්ථා කරණ ලද බවයි

පීඩිත වූ : එර්මප්එසzැා – සොල්දාදුවන් දේශපාලන සහ සමාජ ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයට යොදා ගත හැකි බව කවුරුත් දනුනා කරුණකිග
 මෙය සෝමාලියාවේ හා රුවන්ඩාවේ දක්ණට ලැබිණිග  අන්තගාමී පිරිස් විසින් ආතතියට ලකවූ මිනිසුන්   ඔර්මප්එසzැා චැදචකැ – ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයේ වරදකැරවන් : ඡැරචැඑර්එදරි දෙ ඩසදකැබජැ – බවට පත් කරතිග ඇමරිකානු සිවිල් යුද්ධය අවසානයේදී අන්තවාදීන් ණණණ බිහි කල අතර  එය හිටපු හමුදා සොල්දාදුවන් යොදවමින් ඇමරිකාවේ වාර්ගික ප්‍රචණ්ඩක්‍රියා මාලාවක් නිර්මාණය කළේයග ස්පාඤ්ඤ සිවිල් යුද්ධයේදී සටන් කළ ලින්කන් බලකායේ : ඛසබන්බ ඊරසට්ාැ – බොහෝ සොල්දාදුවෝ මහා ආර්ථීක අවපාතයකට : ඨරු්එ ෘැචරුිිසදබ -  පසු සමාජ ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයේ නියලූනහග

දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය සහ සමාජ විරෝධි පෞරුෂ ලක්ෂණ ආභාදය : Aබඑස ජ් ීදජස්ක චැරිදබ්කසඑහ ාසිදරාැර රැ Aීඡෘ -

ජේ  ආර්  ජයවර්ධනගේ සිට වර්ථමාන නායකත්වය දක්වා සියලූම රාජ්‍ය නායකයින් සතුව දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම සඳහා සහචරයෝ සිටියහග ඔවුන් ඇමතිවරුන් හෝ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී වරුන් හෝ දේශපාලන අනුග්‍රහය ලබන දාමරිකයෝ වූහග මොවුන්ගෙන් බහුතරයකට තිබනේ අඩු අධ්‍යාපන මට්ටමක් වන අතර ප්‍රචණ්ඩතවයට නැඹුරු හැසිරීම් රටාවක්ද තිබුණිග මෙම කැරලිකාර කොටස් දාමරික සහ ප්‍රචණ්ඩකාරී ක්‍රියා රාශියක් සිඳුකළ නමුදු තම දේශපාලන ස්වාමි වරු විසින් සැම විටම ආරක්ෂා කරණු ලැබූහග මෙම ලක්ෂණය ශ්‍රී ලාංකික දේශපාලනයේ නිරුවත් යතාර්ථය බවට පත්ව ඇතග මොවුහු නිතරම නීතියට ඉහලින් සිටි අතර තම දේශපාලන නායකයින් වෙනුවෙන් ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය ඇතිකිරීමට බලපත්‍ර ලද්දෝ වූහග මනෝ විද්‍යාත්මකව විග්‍රහ කරණ පරිදි මෙම චරිත අසාමාන්‍ය හැසිරීම් : ෘැඩස්බඑ ඊැය්ඩසදරි – ප්‍රදර්ෂණය කරණ අතර සමාජ විරෝදී පෞරුෂ ලක්ෂණ ආබාදය :Aීඡෘ- සහිත කාණ්ඩය සමඟ සැසදේග
සමාජ විරෝදී පෞරුෂ ලක්ෂණ අබාධය : Aබඑස ජ් ීදජස්ක චැරිදබ්කසඑහ ාසිදරාැර රැ Aීඡෘ -යනු අනෙක් පුද්ගකයින්ගේ අයිතීන් කිසිවිටක ගරු නොකරණ සහ උල්ලංඝනය කරණ තත්වයකිග වංචාව සහ රැවටිල්ල මෙහි මධ්‍යගත ලක්ෂණ වේග  Aීඡෘ සහිත පුද්ගලයෝ සමාජ සම්මත සහ නීති ගරුක හැසිරීම් නොසලකති ග  ඔවුහු ආවේගශීලී මෙන්ම ප්‍රචණ්ඩකාරීද වන අතර ඉතා සුලූ පෙළබවීමකින් වුවද ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයට පෙළබේග තවද මොවුහු අපරීක්ෂාකාරීය තමන්ගේ හා අනුන්ගේ ආරකෂාවට ගරු නොකරතිග වගකීම් පැහැරහරිත   පසුතැවිලි නොවීම මොවුන්ගේ මූලික චරිත ලක්ෂණයකිග මොහු අත්මාර්තකාමී අනුකම්පා විරහිතවන අතර තම අභිමතාර්ථ මුදුන් පමුණුවා ගැනිම සඳහා අන්‍යයන් නිර්දය ලෙස යොදා ගනීග  මොවුන්ට ඇත්තේ නිධංගත ලෙස අස්ථායී :ක‍යරදබසජ්කකහ මබිඒඉකැ-ල  සමාජ විරෝධි සහ සමාජ විචල්‍ය ජීවන රටාවන්යග මෙවැනි මාදිලියේ මිනිසුන් දේශපාලන වශයෙන් බලවත් වූ විට ඔවුනට රටට බලවත් අනර්ථයක් සිදුකළ හැකියග

දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයේ මානසික බලපෑම

දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය මානසික සෞඛ්‍යය සහ මනෝ විඥාන හා සමාජ යහ පැවැත්ම : ඡිහජයදිදසජස්ක උැකකඉැසබට – අතර කිට්ටු සබධතාවක් පවතී දේශපාලන විශ්වාස සහ ආකල්ප හැසිරීම් සහ එහි අභිප්ප්‍රායන් චිත්තවේග සහ වෙනත් මනෝ විඥාන විචල්‍යයන් : ඡිහජයදිදසජස්ක උැකකඉැසබට – කෙරෙහි විවිධ වූ පැහැදිලි දීර්ඝ කාලීන බලපෑම් දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය විසින් ඇති කරණු ලබයිග මිනිසුන්ගේ මානසික සෞඛ්‍ය කෙරෙහි එය මහත් ලෙස බලපෑ හැකියග ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයට සහ පරිහානියට ලක්වන සමාජ තත්වයන් ට නිතර මුහුණ පාන මිනිස්සු චිත්තවේගාත්මකව අසංවේදී වන අතර සමාජ වටිනාකම් වලට ඔවුන්ගේ ඇති ගෞරවය හින වේග ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්ව සංස්කෘතිය  විසින් බලය ලබා ගැනීමේ හා පවත්වාගැනීමේ මෙන්ම ප්‍රශ්න විසදා ගැනීමේද පිළිගත් මාර්ගයක් ලෙස කලහකාරී ආකල්ප සහ ප්‍රචණ්ඩකාරී හැසිරීම් සැලකීමට මිනසුන් පොළඹවයිග   එබැවින් දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය සමගz මානසික පීඩා සහ මානසික ආබාධ මුසංහිතව පවතීග
ජොරA්ජියාවේ ඇට්ලන්ටාවේ එමොරි සරසවියේ බ්‍රැන්ඩන් එග කෝර්ට් : ඊර්බාදබ Aගනදරඑ දෙ එයැ ෑපදබහ ඹබසඩැරිසඑහල Aඑක්බඒල ඨැදරටස්- විසින් නේපාලයේ වසන භූතාන සරණාගතයින් සහ මාවෝවාදී යුද්ධයේ බලපෑම් පිළිබද සායනික පර්යේෂණයක් කරන්නට යෙදුණු අතර දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය පවතින අවස්තාවන්හිදී මානසික පීඩා සහ මානසික ආබාධ ඇතිවන බව අනාවරණය කර ගත්තේයග

දුර්වල මානසික සෞඛ්‍ය ප්‍රථීඵල සමඟ දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය පුද්ගල හා සමාජීය යන මට්ටමි දෙකේදීම බැදී පවතීග දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයට මුහුණදුන් මිනිසුන් චිත්ත පීඩා මානසික අවපාත පසුතැවිලි වීම් කලහකාරී හැගීම් යන ලක්ෂණ ප්‍රදර්ශනය කරණ අතර මෙය තවදුරටත් ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය ඇති කරණ විෂම චක්‍රයකට මඟ පාදයි ග

හෙල්සින්කි සරසවියේ     ඍ්සව් කැැබ් චමබ්ප්නසල  පලස්තීන දේශපාලන ප්‍රචන්ඩත්වය පිළිබඳ දීර්ඝ අධ්‍යනයක් කළ අතර ඔහුට අනුව දේශපාලන පීඩාවලට ගොදුරුවීම මානසික සෞඛ්‍ය ප්‍රශ්න ත්‍රීව්‍ර කළ අතර එය දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයට එරෙහි සටන් කිරීම වෙනුවෙන් මිනිසුන් ගෙවිය යුතු මුදල සිහිපත් කර දෙන්නකිග
ශ්‍රී ලංකා දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණAඩත්වයට තිත තැබීම

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව 91්‍ර ක ඉහල සාක්ෂරතාවයකට උරුමකම් කියන මනරම් දේශයකිග මෙම මිහිපිට පාරාදීසය දශක ගණනාවක් තිස්සේ දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයෙන් දරුණු ලෙස බැටකයිග ජන සමාජවල අභ්‍යන්තර ස්ථරයන්ට හානි කරමින් මෙම ප්‍රචන්ඩත්වය අවසන් කිරීම එහි සෑම පුරවැසියකූගේම වගකීමකිග දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයේ හානිකර ස්වභාවය පිළිබඳව සිවිල් සමාජය දැනුවත් වූ විට ඔවුහු එවන් ක්‍රියාවලට සහයෝගය නොදක්වතිග මිනිසුන්ට තීක්ෂණ බුද්ධිය ඇතිවිට ඔවුහු දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයට පොළඹවන සුලූ බොරු ප්‍රචාර වලට පහසුවෙන් නොරැවටෙති සිවිල් සමාජය ශක්තිමත් කළවිට සහ එය ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය සහ මානව හිමිකම් ආරක්ෂා කරණ විට දේශපාලන ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයට එතුල අවකාශයක් නොමැත ග    

Based on the article The Psychological Impact of Political Violence in Sri Lanka by Dr . Ruwan M Jayatunge. Translated by A.M Wicramasinghe

Nava Thakuria

 Months back, a leading British newspaper started a campaign against the Indian scientist Dr R K Pachauri, but it came down with an apology from the UK-based paper again. It made a statement addressing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change chairman saying, “We apologise to Dr Pachauri for any embarrassment caused.”

 The London based newspaper accused the UN climate body chief Pachauri of making a fortune from his links with carbon trading firms’. “On December 20 last year we published an article about Dr Pachauri and his business interests. It was not intended to suggest that Dr Pachauri was corrupt or abusing his position as head of the IPCC and we accept KPMG found he had not made ‘millions of dollars’ in recent years,” the newspaper in its statement added.

 Dr Pachauri, who also serves at The Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi as its director general, strongly denied the contents of the article and rubbished the allegations issuing legal notices to the newspaper. He argued that ‘the accusations were coming from the same group of people, who had tried unsuccessfully to discredit the IPCC and the irrefutable science on climate change’.

 In fact the day after the Copenhagen climate summit came to an end, the personal attack followed on Dr Pachauri by the conservative right wing newspaper of Britain. The Telegraph (December 20, 2009 issue) made some serious (but unfounded) allegations against Dr Pachauri about business interests that he has ‘with bodies which have been investing billions of dollars in organizations dependent on the IPCC’s policy recommendations.

 But immediately after the article was published TERI officials rejected the allegation clarifying that the IPCC makes no policy recommendations. In a formal press statement issued by the Media Desk of TERI on December 22 said, “Just for the record, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) makes no policy recommendations, and all its reports are in the public domain, widely distributed and disseminated across the world. There is nothing in these reports that could have any proprietary benefit.”

 Written by Christopher Booker and Richard North, the article titled ‘Questions over business deals of UN climate change guru Dr Rajendra Pachauri’, also questioned Dr Pachauri’s professional competence and credentials.

 “Although Dr Pachauri is often presented as a scientist (he was even once described by the BBC as ‘the world’s top climate scientist’), as a former railway engineer with a PhD in economics he has no qualifications in climate science at all,” the article narrated.

 The TERI statement, signed by JL Bajaj, RK Batra, C. Dasgupta, Nitin Desai, Prodipto Ghosh, Ashok Jaitly, K. Ramanathan, Prabir Sengupta and S. Sundar, said that Dr Pachauri’s success lies in leading TERI for two decades and also contribution he made in ‘substantial measure to its present eminence as an internationally recognized research institution of excellence’.

 “Further, Dr Pachauri was elected twice to his post as Chairman of the IPCC on the basis of his record after a successful term as Vice-Chairman. He has wholly dedicated most of his working life to alerting the world on the basis of sound scientific evidence about the challenges of sustainable development including those posed by climate change. In recognition of this effort and of the work of the scientists under his leadership, the IPCC was awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize in 2008,” it pointed out.

 Soon after the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change summit during December 7-19 in the Danish capital resulted only in a deal (and not a legally binding agreement), the world media started making news-views-articles with their own perceptions. Many of them even did not hesitate to make nuisance with distorted news out of the negotiating process that involved the heads of the government and states of over 130 countries around the globe. It was amazing to note (this writer was one of the media observers in the Copenhagen summit), how a section of media persons behaved during and after the conference as if they (and only them) were there to seal the agreement.

 The Telegraph writers (Christopher Booker and Richard North) said in their joint report, “No one in the world exercised more influence on the events leading up to the Copenhagen conference on global warming than Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and mastermind of its latest report in 2007,” the paper said.

 They even targeted Pachauri’s call to opt for vegetarian food saying ‘as a vegetarian Hindu, Dr Pachauri repeated his call for the world to eat less meat to cut down on methane emissions’. But his colleagues in TERI stood behind him here saying, “We stand by Dr Pachauri’s advice for human beings to cut down on their meat consumption because the livestock and factory based meat supply industry of today is responsible for large scale emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs).”

 In a letter, sent to the Telegraph, some distinguished fellows and colleagues of Dr Pachauri in TERI, rejected the claim that TERI continues to maintain close links with the Tata Group and assist the group in developing its carbon trading business worldwide. The rejoinder admitted that the ‘Tatas do enjoy the envious reputation of establishing institutions of excellence like the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the National Institute of Advanced Studies, the Tata Institute of Social Studies, etc. and giving them autonomy in defining their agenda and the freedom to pursue their areas of interest’. TERI is one such institution established by the Tatas in 1974 as the Tata Energy Research Institute (initially it was led by Darbari Seth).

 In this respect the Tata group is in no way different from those who established institutions like Carnegie-Mellon University, Duke University and Stanford University in the US. Hence, in no way is TERI responsible for the work of the Tata Group just as the Tata Group is in no way responsible for the functioning of TERI, it added.

 “As TERI’s interest went beyond energy and included natural resources, TERI decided in 2001 to retain the acronym TERI but call itself The Energy and Resources Institute. This also enabled TERI to signify its  independence from any direct Tata connection,” the letter revealed.

 Answering to the queries of this writer on the issue, Abhijit Sinha, a former advisor –communications of TERI disclosed that Dr Pachauri did not gain anything personally from any of his advisory roles -or even from his directorship of the Yale (University) Climate and Energy Institute -as all the payments and honoraria go directly to TERI, which is a not for profit research institution and where he is the Director General.

 “Similarly, royalties or other payments for products and processes developed by scientists at TERI go to the Institute, which are scrupulously audited and both TERI itself and its international branches have charitable institution status with the authorities in several countries,” he added.

 Claiming that ‘neither the writers of the article nor any representative of the newspaper had bothered to approach Dr Pachauri or crosscheck with him on any of the allegations that have been made’, the statement even demanded ‘an unqualified apology from the Telegraph for this libelous piece of journalism’, which was finally vindicated by the apology from the prestigious newspaper. In a recent interview, Dr Pachauri commented, “I do feel vindicated.”

 In a recent interview, Dr Pachauri commented, “I do feel vindicated. Justice has been done, and I am happy about it.” He also added, “To a large extent, justice has been done. I was symbolic of the larger cause of climate change science. The falsehoods that were being propagated were aimed at damaging climate change talks and attacking the IPCC. I was merely an emblem of the larger issue that these people wanted to harm and damage over the so-called errors in the IPCC’s fourth assessment report.”

 The author is a Guwahati (Northeast India) based senior journalist and associated with Asia Pacific Forum of Environment Journalists.

University of Peradeniya and University of Colombo

We, the undersigned academics attached to different universities in Sri Lanka, call upon the government to re-consider the proposed 18^th Amendment to the Constitution for the reasons set out below.

 Constitutional reforms, like elections, go to the heart of what it means to be a democracy in the

modern-day world. Any changes that are introduced to a country’s constitution should be undertaken after due deliberation and consultation while having at its centre, the will of the People. In a pluralistic society such as Sri Lanka, ascertaining the will of the People can be a time-consuming and complex exercise. While the will of the People must be given due consideration, the essential features of a democracy, such as the rule of law, accountability of the government and transparency must be preserved and promoted through any constitutional reform.

 By choosing to amend the constitution through an urgent bill the entire process of reform has been expedited, if not short-circuited, and no room has been left for any kind of public debate let alone public consultation. Under a Constitution that explicitly recognizes the “Sovereignty of the People” that process is not acceptable, especially when no convincing reasons have been given as to the need to expedite this process. Indeed, the most distressing aspect to this whole process is the lack of interest in government ranks on the need to raise awareness, let alone build consensus, among the general public on the need for such urgent reform.

 The substance of the proposed reforms is also problematic. History provides many examples of the need to limit not only power, but also access to power. The limit to the number of terms that the head of the executive can hold has emerged as a best practice, through those bitter lessons. The introduction of the Parliamentary Council instead of the Constitutional Council is not satisfactory as it contains no clauses to promote accountability on the part of the President in whose hands come to be concentrated the power to make several key appointments that promote governance, accountability and due process of law.

 This is the first attempt at constitutional reform in the post-war era of our country. We hope that it would therefore signal a break from the constitutional reform experiences of the past, where powerful executive Presidents “reformed” the constitution to serve their personal political agendas.

We therefore call upon the government to re-consider their decision to introduce constitutional reforms in such a hasty and ad-hoc manner and to open avenues for greater participation and consultation before setting in motion a process that is of utmost importance to the political culture of Sri Lanka.

C. R. Abayasekara (University of Peradeniya), Suresh De Mel (University of Peradeniya), Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri, (University of Colombo), Priyan Dias (University of Moratuwa), Asoka N. I. Ekanayaka (University of Peradeniya), Avanka Fernando (University of Colombo), Hans Gray (University of Moratuwa), Dileni Gunewardena (University of Peradeniya),Janaki Jayawardane (University of Colombo), S. I. Keethaponcalan (University of Colombo), Amarakeerthi Liyanage (University of Peradeniya), Dinesha Samararatne (University of Colombo),Vasanthi Thevanesam (University of Peradeniya), Ruvan Weerasinghe (University of Colombo), P. Wickramagamage (University of Peradeniya), Carmen Wickramagamage (University of Peradeniya)

Press releases- Gamini Sarath Godakanda Manager Media MMBL

B. Ramaswamy, President (Business Development, Southern Region) of Feedback Ventures in India and Bernard Goonetilleke, Chairman of Pathfinder Advisory Services, a member of Mercantile Merchant Bank, signed a Memorandum of understating (MOU) providing for Indian investment in infrastructure development in Sri Lanka recently.

Pathfinder Advisory Services and Feedback Ventures of India, a joint venture involving three large infrastructure development companies in India, viz. Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) and Housing Development Finance Company (HDFC)), and Larsen & Toubro Limited entered in to a strategic alliance last week. This tie up will provide momentum to the infrastructure development efforts of the government, a well-timed boost for infrastructure development in the post conflict era.

Feedback Ventures is India’s largest independent group of multidisciplinary infrastructure professionals comprising strategic advisers, financial specialists, planners, architects, designers, engineers, social and environmental scientists and project managers considered the best in the industry. They are supported by shareholders, who are the most distinguished companies in the infrastructure arena, bringing with them a sharper focus and a shared commitment.

The Memorandum of Understating signed with Feedback Ventures providing for Indian investment in infrastructure development will pave the way for Indian private sector participation in infrastructure development projects in the country.  This would include private/ public sector partnerships.  This alliance is a manifestation of the increasing interest on the part of Indian companies to pursue investment opportunities in Sri Lanka in the Post-Conflict era.

This collaboration will give priority to developing projects and offer consultancy in the infrastructure sector in Sri Lanka in strategic & financial advisory, planning & engineering design, project management and operations & maintenance services in (1) Transportation & Logistics sector inclusive of road, rail, ports, airports, logistics and irrigation & water resources, (2) Energy Sector inclusive of generation, transmission & distribution, regulatory, coal & mines and oil & gas,  (3) Realty & Townships covering  water supply & sanitation, hotels, hospitals, malls, commercial complexes, IT parks, industrial parks, SEZ, (4) PPP projects in the above sectors and, (5) Other Advisory services including all other aspects relevant to the company’s business range from time to time.

Pathfinder Advisory Services is the advisory arm of Mercantile Merchant Bank Group (MMBL), a Sri-Lanka- US joint venture, is a leading boutique investment bank and private equity firm. The MMBL investment portfolio includes investments in financial services (banking, insurance, international money transfer), business logistics, information technology, petroleum testing, property development, and leisure. The MMBL group has strategic alliances with several Fortune 500 corporations and Sri Lankan blue-chip companies, and high net-worth investors from Sri Lanka and abroad.

 Triple I, a joint venture involving Feedback Ventures and IDFC, is an innovative institution, which funds project development under PPP models and recover cost and success fee, post successful signing of concession agreements between the government and the private sector partner, selected through a transparent process, thereby relieving the government of the burden of expenditure on project development. Following discussions with officials in Sri Lanka, Triple I plans to select several projects, which are viable under their model and allocate funds to develop them, thereby facilitating interested parties from India and elsewhere to bring in much needed investment for development of projects.  The MOU provides an ideal background for Indian investment to focus on Sri Lanka in the Post-Conflict era through the Triple I.

PHOTO -

B. Ramaswamy, President (Business Development, Southern Region) of Feedback Ventures and Bernard Goonetilleke, Chairman of Pathfinder Advisory Services exchange the MOU together with Feedback’s joint venture partner India Infrastructure Initiative (Triple I), represented by Suresh Kumar and Rohit Kumar CEO and Senior Manager of Triple I, respectively.

by Charles.S.Perera

 In ancient times in Sri Lanka  when there were wrongs done to  the people they appealed to some higher, spiritual power –a God, a deity or even  to the village Yakadura and the Kapuvas to invoke the devils or other  mighty powers  to strike thunder bolts against the perpetrator. 

 But today it is different, people also have changed .  There are now the western educated intellectuals, academics, politicians, journalists, and  web masters,  who unlike the ordinary people  appeal or make a big “fuss”, expecting  India and the International Community to intervene.

 But what is all this present “fuss” over the Constitution  ?  It is about removing a restriction in the Sri Lanka’s Constitution which limits the number of times the same person  could be elected as the President of Sri Lanka. 

 According to this limitation a President of Sri Lanka cannot seek re-election after his second  term in office.  The removal of this restriction allows an incumbent President to seek nominations along with other  candidates for Presidential elections after the  two consecutive terms in office, and as long as his wants.

 However,  his election depends on the voters, and he may or may not be elected.  So it is not by appealing to any higher spiritual power that the candidate even if he was twice the President of Sri Lanka  could win the election, but it is only by successfully appealing to the ordinary voters-the people, that he could get elected.  

 Therefore, the power is still in the hands of the people, to  elect a candidate who proves to the voters-the people, that he is the best candidate  among all the rest of the candidates, including the incumbent President who is seeking election. The incumbent President  may be called a dictator only if he usurps the rights of the voters, and denies any other candidate to seek Presidential elections, thus making himself the only choice for the people at the Presidential election.

 Now where does the democracy comes in this “mêlée” ?   Democracy a system practiced by the ancient Greeks was introduced to us by the west, to keep the developing countries bound to “underdevelopment”. 

 Why should we adhere to democracy with such fervour ?  

 We could modify it to a system which  follows a  political middle path towards progress and  development.  It is our thinking fortified by our western education and knowledge acquired through reading western  authors  and writers  that has made us believe that democracy is the only political system appropriate to Sri Lanka, and that we should protect it at any cost.

 Even people of   China- an economic giant of to-day, and the people of  Russia which is also a recognised world power  did not appeal to the West against  the usurpation of their democratic rights by the respective governments. May be people were forced to face economic hardship, and disciplined by force to allow the government machinery to function to give the people a better future, an economic fulfilment.

 But that is how all countries  advanced  economically , and politically to be finally   recognized universally as developed countries .  Great Britain went through it , and so did America and all other “civilised  Christian democracies”  not to mention India which is still scrambling towards that goal.

 But nothing in the world  has begun its  existence with comfort, joy and fanfares.  Even the birth of a child is  not without danger and uncertainty. The mother goes through untold discomfort and” the birth” is at risk both to the mother and the baby.  So it is with a country -a developing country at that, breaking in to development and prosperity. It also  has to wade through the periphery of uncertainty, risk, danger and suffering.

 But when we take our problem with the Constitutional changes to the intellectual arena to discuss its rights and wrongs, and  see whether it is  breaking down all norms of democracy, we remove the problem from the ordinary people that matter. In the intellectual arena the  President Mahinda Rajapakse  who had done  marvels not only in the elimination of terrorists, but also in all fields of development, is immediately treated as a despot, a dictator. 

 When the problem is taken away from the  ordinary people  and transferred to the “ intellectual arena”,  it will take a different dimension.  Unless the   problem is  discussed  pragmatically turning towards  commonsense-  the tool used by the ordinary people in the assessment of their  leaders, the intellectuals may   fail to make the ordinary people understand their point of view as the language they use is not the language of the ordinary people. They will only confuse the ordinary people.

 Even the Great Buddha when he spoke to the people he  did not confuse them with  theories and profound Dhamma.  He did not speak to them of paramattasacca ( ultimate truth), but spoke to them in terms of  voharasacca(conventional truth).

 The Ground view website has roped in the intellectuals, the TamilNet the terrorist sympathisers, the Sri Lanka Guardian anti-Sinhala racists and so on and so forth.  But where is the “untainted “ voice of the ordinary people ?  Untainted to mean the minds uninfluenced, by the intellectuals, the academics and the politicians.

 The ordinary people accept  a leader for what he is, a man  who  they think is a “good” man, a man who they can approach, a man who listens to them, a man who is not different from them, a man who is disciplined, a family man who loves his wife and children, a man who has not forgotten those who are close to him relatives and friend, a religious man, in other words a man who they can trust. The ordinary people  do not  care for what  Lord Acton, Machiavelli, Pontius Pilate, Baron de Montesquieu or  for that matter even  Peter Bouckaert, has to say.  

 Then the critics  speak of perpetuating a dynasty.  That is a historical fact  existing even today in the sacrosanct “Western Christian Democratic model” we are trying vehemently  to imitate.  The critics of  the  present government seem to be unaware or conveniently avoid speaking on the issue as their main target of attack is the President of Sri Lanka.

 For the ordinary people of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapakse, Chamal Rajapaksa, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, Basil Rajapakse and Namal Rajapakse represent persons they like, on whom they can place their trust.  They do not think of them as  the  Rajapakse dynasty. That is what the politicians, the journalists and the so called intellectuals try to inculcate in the minds of the ordinary people reluctant to accept such nonsense.

 When the intellectuals, academics, politicians, professionals and the business men sent their children to London, Canada, Australia, or America  or to International Schools, the ordinary people sent their children to the Government Armed forces perhaps to death  in liberating the Tamil people who were not their close relatives, or fight in Mulativu, or  Kilinochchi places they have not  even seen or previously heard of .

 No one  then said it was dictatorial.  Because every one profited from that “war” in which the “other children” died to give them freedom of movement to rid themselves of fear and uncertainty of life.

 But one would say that those children of the ordinary people were not forced to join the Armed Forces, and  therefore there was no Dictatorship to talk about.  Then why the allowing of an incumbent President to contest  a Presidential election like any other individual any number of time be undemocratic and dictatorial ?

 In any relation ship there should be the element of trust.  If we accept the fact that the President Mahinda Rajapakse who  had  lot of power concentrated on him as the Executive President , had not used that power against the people or the country, we should then  have the decency to place our trust on him to continue with that power, which he may need once again to use in  the defence  of his people and his country, and not against the people..

 The 17^th Amendment to the constitution is not workable. But if it becomes  evident only after its implementation, then  an amendment to it would have been impossible if the government did not have the required two third majority.  Therefore, now that the government has the two third majority why not make it the opportunity to replace the unworkable  17 th Amendment with a more workable legislation.

 The West is against any third world country rising above its underdevelopment. We have trusted the white colonialists to such an extent,  we have become blind to their scheming projects to keep small nations under their control integrating them in to a global network., through globalization, demanding conformity to norms of human rights etc. 

 Our development  depends on not adhering to democratic norms setup by the West,  but by placing trust on our leaders recognising their sincerity, and patriotism, adhering to norms set up by them for the development and progress of the country.

 This is not the time to call  for anti government demonstrations .We have come to a decisive cross road in the history of our country, we should seize this opportunity to place our trust in the President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse to allow him to proceed further in the process of development he had initiated. 

 This is not the moment to hesitate.  If the members of all political parties in the Parliament support the President Mahinda Rajapakse, placing their  complete trust on him and adopt the 18^th Amendment to the Constitution, future generations will be thankful to the decision you have taken today the 8^th September, 2010.

දිවයින කතුවැකිය

ආණ්‌ඩු ක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්‌ථාවේ 18 වන සංශෝධනය සම්මත කර ගැනීම සඳහා අවශ්‍ය පාර්ලිමේන්තු බහුතරය තමන්ට ඇති බව ආණ්‌ඩුව කියයි. එ.ජා.ප.යේ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් සැලකිය යුතු පිරිසක්‌ ද මෙම සංශෝධනයට පක්‍ෂව සහාය දෙන බව දැනගන්නට තිබේ. අපට පෙනෙන හැටියට එ.ජා.ප.යේ අර්ල් ගුණසේකර, ලක්‍ෂ්මන් සෙනෙවිරත්න, අබ්දුල් කාදර්, මනුෂ නානායක්‌කාර යනාදීන් මෙයට කෙළින්ම පක්‍ෂය. ඊට අමතරව එම පක්‍ෂයේම තවත් පස්‌දෙනකු පමණ රහසින් පක්‍ෂ ය. මහජන එක්‌සත් පෙරමුණේ දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන ද පක්‍ෂය. මුස්‌ලිම් කොංග්‍රසයේ රවුෆ් හකීම් ද පක්‍ෂය. ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්‍ෂයේ තිස්‌ස විතාරණ මන්ත්‍රීතුමා පක්‍ෂ යá විපක්‍ෂය. වාසුදේව නානායක්‌කාර පක්‍ෂයá විපක්‍ෂය. ඒ අතර විපක්‍ෂයේ ඇතැම් කුඩා කණ්‌ඩායම් ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂට විරුද්ධව තැන තැන කුඩා “පිපිරවීම්” කරන බව දක්‌නට ලැබේ. විරුද්ධ විය යුත්තේ ව්‍යවස්‌ථා සංශෝධනයට නම් එයට පහර නොදී ඒ වෙනුවට මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂට පහර ගැසීමට යැමෙන් පෙනී යන්නේ එකී කුඩා කණ්‌ඩායම් ඉතා කාලකණ්‌නි ලෙස දුර්වලව සිටින බවය. ව්‍යවස්‌ථා සංශෝධනය මුවාවෙන් ජනාධිපති රාජපක්‍ෂ, නාමල් රාජපක්‍ෂ යනාදීන්ට පහර දෙන විට එම පවුලට එරෙහිව ඇති පුද්ගලික ඉරිසියාව මතුවෙයි. ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂගෙන් පසු බැසිල් රාජපක්‍ෂ මීළඟ ජනාධිපති වනු ඇතැයි මේ රටේ ඇතැම් විපක්‍ෂ කණ්‌ඩායම් තුළ මෙයට කලකට පෙර සැකයක්‌ ඇති විය. එවිට ඔවුහු බැසිල් රාජපක්‍ෂට පහර දෙන්නට පටන් ගත්හ. එයින් ප්‍රතිඵලයක්‌ නොදුටු තැන ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්‍ෂට පහර දෙන්නට පටන් ගත්හ. දැන් ඔවුහු ඒ දෙදෙනාව අත්හැර නාමල් රාජපක්‍ෂ දෙසට හැරී සිටිති. ඇතැමකුගේ මතය වන්නේ නාමල් රාජපක්‍ෂ ජනාධිපති පුටුවට යන ගමන සුරක්‍ෂිත කරනු සඳහා මේ ව්‍යවස්‌ථා සංශෝධනය කෙරෙන බවය. මෙබඳු මනෝමූල තර්ක නිසා විපක්‍ෂයේ අරමුණ සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම බැහැරව යයි. ඒ මගින් සිදුවන්නේ ජනාධිපති රාජපක්‍ෂ තව තවත් ශක්‌තිමත් වීම පමණක්‌ බව මේ මෝඩ ප්‍රජාවට නොවැටහේ. ව්‍යවස්‌ථා සංශෝධනයට විරුද්ධව 8 වැනිදාට ජනතාව වීදි බස්‌සවා උද්ඝෝෂණයක්‌ කරන බව දයාසිරි ජයසේකර නමැති එ.ජා.ප. මන්ත්‍රීතුමා කියයි. සාමාන්‍ය ජනතාවට ව්‍යවස්‌ථා සංශෝධනයෙන් වැඩක්‌ නැති නිසා මේ උද්ඝෝෂණයට එක්‌වනු ඇත්තේ එ.ජා.ප.යේ සහ ජ.වි.පෙ ක්‍රියාකාරිකයන් ස්‌වල්පයක්‌ පමණි. නව සිහළ උරුමයේ නායකයා පසුගිය දිනක කීවාක්‌ මෙන් මේ උද්ඝෝෂණය කළ යුත්තේ සිරිකොත ඉදිරිපිටදීය. තම මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් පරෙස්‌සම් කර ගැනීමට එ.ජා.ප.යට නොහැකි විය.

කිසියම් පාලකයකු ඒකාධිපතියකු ලෙස පරම්පරා ගණනාවක්‌ම රට පාලනය කරන්නේ නම් මේ පුවත්පත එයට තරයේම විරුද්ධය. එහෙත් කිසියම් නායකයකු මහජනතාවගේ කැමැත්ත පරිදි සර්වජන ඡන්ද බලයෙන් තේරී පත්වී රට පාලනය කරන්නේ නම් එයට විරුද්ධ වීමට කිසිවකුටත් නොහැක. අපි තිස්‌ අවුරුදු යුද්ධයක්‌ නිසා බිමට කඩා පහත් වූ රටක්‌ වෙමු. මේ රට ගොඩ දැමීමට තවත් වසර 15 ක්‌වත් වුවමනාය. ඒ වසර 15 තුළ එක්‌ අවංක නායකයකුට රට පාලනය කළ හැකි නම් සංවර්ධනය පිළිබඳ මූලික සැලසුම් සහ ප්‍රතිපත්තිවල ගැටීමක්‌ ඇතිවන්නේ නැත. අවුරුදු හතෙන් හතට හෝ දාහතරෙන් දාහතරට පාලකයා හෝ ආණ්‌ඩුව වෙනස්‌ වන්නේ නම් මේ රටේ අධ්‍යාපනයට සිදු වූ දෙයම සංවර්ධනයටත් සිදුවනවා ඇත. 1970 දී බලයට පත් සමගි පෙරමුණු රජය නව අධ්‍යාපන ක්‍රමය යනුවෙන් අලුත් විෂය මාලාවක්‌ හඳුන්වා දුන්නේය. 1977 දී බලයට පත් ඡේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මැතිතුමා මෙය වෙනස්‌ කරමින් ශිෂ්‍ය පරම්පරාව අනාථ භාවයට පත් කළේය. 1994 දී බලයට පත් චන්ද්‍රිකා රජය ඡේ. ආර්. ගේ අධ්‍යාපන ක්‍රමය සංශෝධනය කළේය. ශිෂ්‍ය පරම්පරාව යළි නන්නත්තාර විය. 1970 පටන් අධ්‍යාපනය වක්‍රාකාර දේශපාලන පළිගැනීමකට ලක්‌විය. ආණ්‌ඩු හා ජනාධිපතිවරුන් විටින් විට මාරු වී යැමෙන් සංවර්ධනය ද අච්චාරු වන්නට ඉඩ තිබේ. අලුත් ආණ්‌ඩුවක්‌ පත් වූ සැනින් පෙර ආණ්‌ඩුව කළ සියලු නරක දේට මෙන්ම හොඳ දේට ද පහර දෙනු ලැබේ. එබැවින් මේ රට යළි ගොඩදමනතුරු සෑහෙන කාලයකට එක ශක්‌තිමත් අවංක නායකයකු අවශ්‍යය. විපක්‍ෂය තමන්ට දෙවන පෙළේ නායකත්වය නැතිවීම වෙනම ප්‍රශ්නයක්‌ ලෙස සලකා උත්තර සොයාගත යුතුය. කෙසේ වුවද ව්‍යවස්‌ථා සංශෝධනයෙන් පසු වුවද ජනාධිපති තෝරා පත්කර ගැනීම ඉදිරියේදී ද ඡන්දයෙන්ම සිදු වන නිසා කිසිවකු බිය වී ඝෝෂා කළ යුතු නැත. කිසිවකු එසේ ඝෝෂා කරන්නේ නම් එය පුද්ගලික ඉරිසියාව පදනම් කරගත් කාරණයක්‌ ලෙස සැලකිය හැකිය.

Dilrook Kannangara

Kadurugoda Viharaya has been re-established to the glory it deserves although the pristine glory of the second century BC Sinhela Buddhist construction will never return to the site. Naming it correctly has angered some racist elements who find anything that rhymes like a Tamil word to be Tamil. The government must be thanked for restoring the site once again with respect, sanctity and holiness denied to it for decades. What’s the truth about Kadurugoda and what about the counter-claims?

 Absurd Claims

A popular ‘Tamil’ news website (unfortunately it’s name is also Tamil just like everything else it espouse for – Tamil Elam, Tamil grievances, Tamil aspirations, Tamil homelands, Tamil nationality, Tamil sovereignty, Tamil Alliance, Tamil Tigers, etc., etc.) tries to mislead the readership by cock and bull theories based on how words sound and rhyme.

 Rhyme is the only method Tamil Elam historians can rely on as they have absolutely no history in Sri Lanka. According to them, the Tamil name Kantharoadai means “the pond of Kanthar”. This is a totally meaningless interpretation just by going by the rhyme as there is no relevance to Kanthar to this site.

 Tamil historians quote from the Tamil Nadu fairy tale story collection Manimeakalai and say it says there were Tamil Buddhists in Sri Lanka. Although this fact is not disputed, the epic in concern is an Indian one, not of the island of Sri Lanka. Contrary to how it has been interpreted, nowhere in it says ‘Tamil’ people lived in Sri Lanka. It identifies people as people without racial definitions. Sri Lankans don’t have to rely on Tamil Nadu accounts to know what happened in Sri Lanka where there is a well written history.

 Tamil historians have absolutely no evidence to justify their claims other than rhyming words.

 The Truth

This site is referred to as the Kadivungoda Vihara in the Nampota which was written as late as the Kandyan era. The bases of twenty-two dagabas with diameters ranging from 8ft to 12ft were exposed from the excavations here and one dagaba with a diameter of about 231/2ft. From the site archaeologists have recovered dagaba finials of lime stone caskets, Bodhisatva head of lime-stone, pillar stumps, a sacred foot print stone etc. The first excavations at the site had yielded Buddha statues and other Buddhist religious artifacts such as dagaba finials. A huge limestone Buddha statue recovered from the excavations is exhibited in the Jaffna Archaeological Museum. The site belongs to around 200BC. Although its earliest name is Kadivungoda, it had several old names including, Kandagoda and Kadurugoda. Kaduru and goda are very common Sinhala village name terms. For instance Kaduruwela is a town close to Parakrama Samudra along A11 road. “Goda” is a frequently occurring place name suffix.

 According to well documented Sri Lankan history chronicles, Nagadeepa (refer to the Yapanaya or Jaffna peninsular) is the place where Lord Buddha made his second visit to Sri Lanka. He sorted out a dispute between Chulodhara and Mahodhara to established peace. The exact place where Buddha made his sermon is called Rajyathana Chithya (Stupa) located in Kadurugoda. The place became a venerated place among people after the Buddha’s visit and subsequently a Bo-tree was planted. (Rajayathana is the Pali word for Bo-tree). History puts the date of Lord Buddha’s visit to Yapapatuna around 523BC.

 None of these details can be provided by Tamil Elamist historians because they don’t have a history in Sri Lanka.

 A piece of a black-red pot with letters belonging to the pre-historic period was found in Kadurugoda area. Similar pieces of black-red pots with letters were found from Gedige area in Anuradhapura too.  Both pieces found in Kadurugoda and Gedige had old Sinhala Brahmi letters with Sinhala names. References to this temple are also found in the Nampotha written in the Kandyan Era. Brahmi is an Indo-Aryan language used in ancient India. The only Indo-Aryan language in Sri Lanka is Sinhala. Tamil is not an Indo-Aryan language. Care should be taken not to mix Indo-Aryan genetics which is a completely different subject.

 Maintaining the Sanctity of the Sacred Place

Kadurugoda Buddhist shrine along with many more Buddhist shrines in the Yapanaya (Jaffna) district survived until the 20^th century but during the 20^th century they almost disappeared due to neglect and deliberate destruction by those who claim this area to be part of ‘Tamil Elam’. Tamil Tigers destroyed many Sinhala Buddhist historical places and desecrated many others. Examples include the barbaric Tamil Elamist bomb attack and resultant massive destruction caused to the most sacred Buddhist shrine in the country – Sri Dalada Maligawa in January 1998, massacre of Sinhala Buddhists at the most sacred Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in the mid 1980s and killing of 35 Buddhist monks in Aranthalawa in 1987. What’s worse, while these incidents happened, the entire Tamil political leadership refrained from unconditionally condemning these acts. Instead, they made political mileage from them. Their silence amounted to support as Tamil Tigers showed no remorse.

 In this context, it is not difficult to understand their conduct towards the shrines in Tamil majority Yapanaya (Jaffna) peninsular. Some hardcore Tamil Elamist elements caused immense damage to Sinhala Buddhist shrines in these areas as a means of hurting the Sinhalese.

 Buddhist religious practices like Perahera (religious processions) were not allowed to be held in Tamil majority North even after the security forces gained full control in 1995.

 It is shameful that some Tamil separatist elements complain that they had to remove shoes when entering this area. Removing shoes when entering a holy area is very much a Tamil tradition too. Tamils remove shoes when entering Tamil places of worship and must show the same respect for Sinhala places of worship. This also gives away that Kadurugoda was never a Tamil religious place. If it were, no Tamil would complain removing shoes to enter the shrine calling it ‘cult-like’ as Tamils remove shoes when entering their holy places.     

 Repeated government attempts to re-establish the sanctity of Kadurugoda were scuttled by Tamil academics of the Yapanaya (Jaffna) University until recently. Only upon the complete wipe out of terrorists could the Buddhists peacefully preserve the sanctity of their places of worship in the North. Had it not happened, these sacred and historical sites would have been completely erased by Tamil Elamists.  

 Given these facts, it is extremely dangerous to vest the welfare of these Sinhala Buddhist shrines in the hands of Tamils. Sad to say they have not done a good job in preserving the sanctity of these shrines. In fact they were complicit in destroying these sites. Maintenance of archeological sites should never be delegated to provincial or local government authorities. It is imperative that this remains with the government of Sri Lanka, always.

 Ownership

There is absolutely no doubt Sri Lanka owns the Kadurugoda Buddhist Shrine and all other shrines within the territory of Sri Lanka. Since it is a Buddhist shrine, Buddhists of Sri Lanka must own it. Tamils in the North unfortunately failed to show the due respect it deserves and it is foolhardy to assume they ever will. The fact that almost all the Sri Lankan Buddhists are Sinhalese is not relevant to decide on ownership. Since Buddhists ensure the continuing sanctity of the place with loving care and since it is a Buddhist place of worship, it got to be within the ownership of Buddhists.

 The plight of this shrine until recently shows the sad plight of hundreds of Sinhala Buddhist historical sites scattered across the North and the East. All these need to be revived.

 In wide contrast to the callous conduct of Tamils in regard to Buddhist shrines, Sinhalas have been very accommodative of all other faiths. Samanala Mountain (Adam’s Peak) is a good example of how the Sinhalese have protected with great loving care the footprint claimed by devotees of all major faiths as belonging to their particular god/religious figure. There has not been any disrespect or disregard for any of the other faiths.

 It is the duty of the government to reinstate all places of worship, especially those with historical value. To ensure continued sanctity of historical Buddhist places of worship, Buddhist settlements should be created in the vicinity to care for these shrines with loving care. There is little sense in permanently deploying armed guards to protect these sites. At the same time racially prejudiced bogus claims made with the aim of extorting part of this great island nation for a mono-ethnic enclave should be condemned and treated with disgust.

 Conclusion

Those who claim a Tamil Elam in Sri Lanka have no knowledge of history. If they had a hint of historical knowledge they would know that Sri Lanka won all the wars waged against Tamil separatists leaving no room for a separate Tamil nation within the island. It is important to apprehend this fact fully so that no one will cause mischief to Sinhalan historical places of worship hoping naively that it will change history or cause a Tamil-only nation to take root in the island. Ryming wors cannot replace well documented historical accounts. In order to show that we care, Sri Lankans must visit these shrines. Sri Lankans living abroad must make it a habit to visit these historical less-known sites when visiting home. 

 Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge

Depression is a mood disorder which can affect adults as well as children. In general terms depression is an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness, sadness and lack of self-worth. It is more than a sad feeling. Depression is common among adults. Unlike adults childhood depression is difficult to distinguish.  They often express their feelings through behavior.  Depression affects child’s overall energy, mood, expressions of emotion and behavior.

 According to the British experts at least two per cent of children under 12 struggle with significant depression, and by teenage years this has risen to five per cent.   Following the geopolitical and economic conditions in Sri Lanka a significant number of children are affected by childhood depression. Most of these cases are undiagnosed and not receiving adequate treatment.

 Depressed children have prolonged anhedonia (the inability to experience pleasure), hopelessness, and failure to experience an increase in mood in response positive events and sometimes have inattentive features similar to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or aggressive behavior similar to Conduct Disorder. The affected children are mostly alienated and they often have learning difficulties due to difficulty in concentrating and impaired memory.

 Reasons for Depression in Children

 Genetic factor: the family history of depression

Adverse life events (maternal or paternal deprivation, death of a close family member)

Childhood trauma (child abuse, witnessing traumatic events)

Excessive social demands (exam stress, academic failure)

Physical illnesses ( depressive episodes in post viral fever, thyroid hormonal imbalance) 

 Symptoms and Behaviors Associated with Depression in Children

 Crying, feeling sad, helpless or hopeless

Feeling discouraged or worthless

Loss of interest or pleasure in others or most activities

Fatigue and loss of energy nearly every day

Bad temper, irritable, easily annoyed

Fearful, tense, anxious

Repeated rejection by other children

Drop in school performance

Inability to sit still, fidgeting or pacing

Repeated emotional outbursts, shouting or complaining

Doesn’t talk to other children

Repeated physical complaints without medical cause (headaches, stomach aches, aching arm or legs)

Significant increase or decrease in appetite 

Change in sleep habits

 Suicidal thoughts, feelings or self-harming behavior in Children

 As a result of childhood depression serious and critical symptoms such as suicidal ideation and deliberate self harm can be seen among the affected children. According to the International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health (2008) the summarized report findings from 13 nations indicate that there may be a link between bullying and suicidal ideation in children and adolescents. Depressed children have a risk of committing suicide.  

 Risk factors for Development of Childhood Depression

 There are number of risk factors associated with childhood depression.

Personality traits – characteristics that influence reactivity to stress play a major role in development of depression.  Children who lack social skills, problem solving skills often shattered by life stress and easily go in to depression. Lacks of family cohesion, expressiveness, organization too negatively affect the child’s overall mental health.  Parental life philosophy too plays a major role. Negative views of self, the world and one’s future, devaluation of the child’s abilities, excessive criticism can lead to depressive feelings in a child. Repeated physical, emotional or verbal abuse at home or school could be a vital risk factor.

 Treatments in Childhood Depression

 Medication and psychotherapy are foremost treatment modes in depression. Many Physicians use SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) to treat childhood depression. Frequently medication is combined with psychotherapy. A variety of psychotherapeutic techniques have been shown to be effective in childhood depression. CBT or Cognitive Behavior Therapy       helps to correct negative thought patterns and erroneous negative assumptions. CBT encourages the child to use positive coping behaviors.

 Social skills training are important in childhood depression since the affected children lack social skills. The children are thought initiating conversations, responding to others and transforming in to positive communication style. Some therapists use   Interpersonal Therapy which is focused on relationships, social adjustment and mastery of social roles.

 The resent research in USA and Europe indicate that EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is effective in treating childhood depression.  EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a much easier and less painful process than traditional therapy for resolving depression and trauma. EMDR is an information processing psychotherapy that was developed to resolve symptoms resulting from disturbing and unresolved life experiences. It uses a structured approach to address past, present, and future aspects of disturbing memories. 

Dr.Tilak Fernando

The word unity is described in many English dictionaries as state of being one or the state of being made one. If the same formula can be equated into our society what do we get? Just the opposite! We have unfortunately and unwillingly earned the reputation of a civilization where even 10 people cannot get together in unison and accomplish a single task successfully because of our inability to shed elements of jealousy, hatred, fear and selfishness which are coiled round our lives as venomous serpents. Why go any further? Just one glance at our own political circles is self-explanatory! Naturally, there is no smoke without fire!

Two decades ago, during an era when dark clouds overshadowed Sri Lanka with a ruthless terrorist movement where the meaning of the word ‘Unity’ or ‘Friendship’ was at its lowest ebb, an old Anandian living in London (G C Perera) came up with an exciting idea to collect a few old boys of Sri Lankan Alma mater to form an ‘Old Boys Association’ in the UK.

His vision was further cemented with another vibrant idea of making the game of cricket as a cynosural inducement to attract a full spectrum of the Sri Lankan community in the UK, with their families, to a single rendezvous on an open day. This made the occasion as a popular social intercourse where old friendships were renewed and new acquaintances established. The unswerving result of that mission was the Festival of Cricket (FOC) in England.

Cricket tournament

On July 3, 1989 thousands of Sri Lankan expatriates gathered at the Maori Club in the suburbs of London to witness and celebrate the first ever Festival of Cricket (FOC). FoC’s fundamental modus operandi began to gather momentum year on year with more and more OBAs joining the cricket tournament when the partaking teams and spectators increased in multiples. Seemingly, FOC objectives began to take a firm grip in becoming the most popular social event among the Sri Lankan expatriates in the UK. On July 11, 2010, 25 teams, seven a-side, of former very talented schoolboy and club cricketers played a ‘limited-over-knockout’ tournament on three pitches simultaneously emulating an atmosphere of inter-school ‘Big Match’ rivalry as in Sri Lanka.

FOC operates with the assistance and cooperation of volunteer committees of each OBA working together in perfect harmony to make the event an immense success.

Here, the game of cricket being the main focus, raising of funds to help individual alma mater as well as running a children’s charity, particularly to help the Maharagama Cancer Hospital and Cancer Research Institute in the UK has been their main agenda.

The game of cricket bolsters a number of other activities such as music, children’s fun fare, a Sri Lankan bazaar, excellent international cuisine from numerous food stalls, beer tent, trade stalls representing Sri Lankan business houses, airlines, freight companies, insurance, banks, mobile phone outlets etc., turning the event into a comprehensive ‘open day’ for Sri Lankans in the UK.

Tourist promotion

An exclusive Hospitality Marquee caters for the elite and entrepreneurs who can afford to entertain their business clientele and British friends while watching cricket in a relaxed atmosphere.

On this occasion observing the Sri Lankan culture and sampling of mouth watering Sri Lankan gastronomy become a far-reaching Sri Lankan tourist promotion for Western visitors.

All proceeds of the event are divided among the participating schools to purchase educational materials, equipment or to set up Scholarship Funds in Sri Lanka with a separate Children’s charity that always make a substantial donation to the National Cancer Institute of Sri Lanka.

FOC has not shifted from their original undertaking and commitment to discharge their humanitarian act irrespectively, despite FOC’s disappointment once, especially after the Children’s charity arm raised 10,000 Pound (Rs 2,000,000) and donated a blood scanning machine to the Maharagama Cancer Hospital where the bureaucracy at the Health Ministry at the time failed to utilize this valuable equipment to its advantage.

In the present climate of industrial revolution and widespread migration, Lon

don can be considered as an extension of Colombo for many entities from Sri Lankan newspapers to fresh vegetables and canned food adorn Sri Lankan (as well as British) supermarket shelves.

FOC offers the biggest exposure for Sri Lankan trade annually at the Cricket Festival, but so far entrepreneurs and manufactures back at home have not utilized this opportunity to maximize their marketing strategies to promote home products to the UK open market, despite SriLankan Airlines offer special fares to London during this festival.

Mutual respect

The chief guest of the event has always been the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in the UK from its very inception while sponsors have changed. This year SriLankan Airlines, SM Call-Dialog and Sri Lanka Tourist Board sponsored the event.

In the meanwhile it is learnt, through grapevine, that FOC committees are considering wooing a Sri Lankan business tycoon annually, as the Chief Guest, in the future to give more exposure to the Festival of Cricket in Sri Lanka and work towards a mutual advantage.

Festival of Cricket (FOC) in the UK has been creating opportunities for other organizations to join and share benefits over the years. In the process they have had to meet their objectives.

The strength for its survival and success over 21 years can be put down to the firm dedication and commitment of its members in upholding the very basic principles, collective responsibility and mutual respect for each other thus proving the point that unity is modesty and wholesomeness.

tilakfernando@yahoo.co.uk

By Janaka Alahapperuma

 Another twenty seven (27) new houses constructed under the Second Phase of Api Wenuwen Api housing programme were ceremonially handed over to the war heroes and their families by President Mahinda Rajapaksa (today) on 5th September at Thorayaya in Kurunegala.

To mark the occasion, President Rajapaksa handed over the first key of those houses to the widow and children of a fallen war hero of Sri Lanka Navy, Officer T.M.R.K Tennakoon who made his utmost sacrifice for defending the motherland while serving in the battle front in 2007.

Twenty five (25) houses were completed as the first phase of this Ranaviru housing project in Senerathgama in Kandy on 11 July 2010. President Rajapaksa handed over the keys of all these houses either to war heroes who were rendered disable or to widows and children of the fallen war heroes.

North Western province Governor Tissa Balalla, North Western Chief Minister Athula Wijesinghe, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Chairperson of the Defence Ministry’s Seva Vanitha Unit Mrs Ioma Rajapaksa, Chief of Defence Staff and Air Force Commander, Air Chief Marcel Roshan Gunathilake, Army Commander Lt General Jagath Jayasooriya, Navy Commander Vise Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe were also participated at the event.

The ‘Api Wenuwen Api Fund’ is a collaboration between the Ministry of Defence and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to build 50,000 houses for the serving Three Forces personnel in Sri Lanka. However Ministry of Defence launched this particular housing project to construct 700 housing units island-wide for the war heroes. Third and the fourth phases of this program have already started in Hambantota and Matara districts. Fifth phase will be commenced in the Moneragala district soon. Construction of 12 more Ranaviru houses in Kurunegala district is also in progress.

Many Sri Lankans, especially living in abroad have contributed to this Ranaviru housing project. Every cent received for the fund from the public is utilized to construct houses. The fund was only used to buy the materials for the constructions.  The labour is provided by the Three Forces. The whole project is conducted under the guidance and close supervision of the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Contributions can be made to the Api Wenuwen Api fund to the following Account Numbers.

Bank of Ceylon Ac No: 704000, Sampath Bank Ac No. 704000 & Ac No: 092960000600 and Peoples Bank Ac No: 204-1-001-7-0000323.

Pix by: Sudath Silva

S. Akurugoda

President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the 59th anniversary meeting of the SLFP last week that the proposed Constitution Council under the 18^th Amendment which replaces the CC under the 17^th Amendment would have a member each from the Tamil and Muslim communities in addition to the Premier, Speaker.

The CC under the 17^th Amendment consists of the Prime Minister, the Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition, a representative of the President, five persons nominated by the PM and the Leader of the Opposition and a person nominated by the MP’s belonging to political parties or independent groups other than the representative political parties or independent groups to which the PM and the Leader of the Opposition belongs. Out of the five members nominated by the PM and the Leader of the Opposition three shall be from minorities.

The proposed CC shall consist of the Prime Minister, the Speaker and the Leader of the Opposition, a nominated MP of the PM and a nominated MP of the Leader of the Opposition. The MPs shall be nominated in such manner as would ensure that the nominees would belong to communities which are communities other than those of the PM, the Speaker and the Leader of the Opposition.

Thus it can be seen that the proposed CC under the 18^th Amendment has retain the ‘racial quota’ given under the 17^th amendment when nominating its members.

The above statement of the President is valid only if the PM, the Speaker and the Leader of the Opposition is from the Sinhala Community. We have had several non-Sinhala Speakers and one non-Sinhala Leader of the Opposition since the Independence and there is no guarantee that these positions are always filled by the Sinhala community. Under such a circumstance, the nomination to the CC will not be feasible unless communities other than Sinhala, Muslim and Tamil are represented in the Parliament.

While addressing at the ceremonial opening of the fourth session of the sixth parliament on 19^th May last year, President Rajapaksa said that there are only two communities in this country. One is the people who love this country. The other comprises the small groups that have no love for the land of their birth. Those who do not love the country are now a lesser group.

By including ‘communal interest’ factor to the Constitution of the country and to the Council of the highest order, just to please the small groups that have no love to the country,  the segregation of the citizens according to communal lines will continue and could aggravate an already regretful situation.

S. Akurugoda

Herold Leelawardena

In a write up to transcurrents.com Dr. Rajan Hoole says the government suspicion of a LTTE resurgence is a bad omen. Had he read the report of that western journalist who had an interview with a guerrilla leader of the LTTE rump in a Mulathivu jungle a few months back and the recent seizure of counter band by Indian authorities he couldn’t possibly have said so. I say; its a good omen that security chiefs do not undermine the comments by diaspora Tamil and their desperation to revive LTTE rump.

Hoole talks about excessive military force used by Sri Lanka government during the night of 27th August 2006. How one sided he is for he doesn’t even mention that there had been many a daytime carnage of civilians by LTTE human bombs when they blasted bombs wrapped in their bellies and bosoms before and after that date. Perhaps Hoole had expected the military to chase away the world’s most ruthless terrorists, LTTE with water cannons.

In his write up, Hoole natters about human displacement in Sampoor and many other places. Citing ICRC commentaries on human rights and humanitarian laws, Hoole accuses Sri Lanka government for suspecting Tamil civilians. Hoole had conveniently forgotten that LTTE had conscripted ordinary looking Tamil civilians as human bombs to rid its foes. What more proof than the blast to kill the ex-army commander by an ordinary looking pregnant woman in its own compound. And LTTE killers of Kadiragamar used an ordinary house owned by an ordinary looking Tamil civilian. If that was the situation, wouldn’t any government be burdened with a dilemma to suspect all Tamils as a hit-men or marauders.

During the JVP insurrection, it is not Tamils or Muslims that were suspected as killers but the Sinhala youth. Hadn’t a similar situation been created by Al Qaeda in Iraq and Afghanistan for sometime. The US and its puppets governments in Iraq and Afghanistan do not suspect Jews, Christians, Hindus or Buddhists as terrorists but Muslims. When the situation became unbearable, the US started to pull out their forces like they did in Vietnam. Now they could do that for those two countries are not a part of the US. However, in the case of Sampoor and other places that Hoole mentioned are part and parcel of Sri Lanka, not since Buwanekabahu but Pandukabhaya.

In their effort to reach their goal – Eelam, diaspora Tamils like Hoole are desperate to undermine the government efforts to keep LTTE rump out of Sri Lanka. They do not appreciate that no bombs had been blasted and no Tamils were killed for the last one year and four months. They wanted to take revenge from the government for vanquishing the entire LTTE leadership. They think they can reach their goal by throwing mud at the government by making fake films, writing false stories and made up anecdotes. In their desperation, they even placed ads to ask the American and the European hussies to boycott Sri Lanka made knickers. Hooles may have thought without American and European sluts wearing our knickers, we would be doomed. However educated Hooles are they are brain dead to understand that its all a futile excise for Sri Lanka relies more and more on new friends.

Let me ask the Tamil diaspora ; other than slinging mud and spitting venom from their write ups etc, what have they done to benefit their kith and kin that live in Sri Lanka to date? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. When KP started to do something for those unfortunate and misguided Tamil IDPs, this lot to accused him of being a traitor because he started to work with the government. Perhaps diaspora wanted KP to suffer and die in a dungeon as a martyr to their cause. It is pity that Hooles do not understand that without the government backing nothing can get done in Sri Lanka.

If Hooles had formed an NGO with the blessings of the government and one million or so diaspora Tamil cared to send one dollar a month since the end of the war, every IDP family would have had a high bread cattle by the time mines were cleared and they were send back home. Had they send ten dollars each, many of them would have had a decent house by now. Instead Hooles prefer to waste their time writing about displacement of Tamils as if it would bring them land, homes and happiness.

Sri lanka is in the verge of a huge development take off. It must be said that wherever such development takes place, people had been displaced and were resettled. Four hundred odd Sinhala people were displaced and were relocated to pave way for Humbantota harbour project. There were detractors that tried their best to prevent it from comming up. And they wrote most diabolical things about it. But the government managed to commission the first stage of the Hambantota harbour nine months ahead. I am sure that the entire harbour would finish at least a year ahead of time.

Norochcholai coal power project was delayed for more than a decade not for the lack of money but Tamil Bishop named Rayappu Joseph was against it. His pretext had been that it was arable land of the people that were living there for generations. Our former leaders had no spine to stand up to him. Likewise, Kothmale hydro power project was delayed by late Thondaman for he was against it on the grounds that Tamils inhabitants would be displaced. How long they had been inhabitants in Kothmale; we all know.

Whether Sinhalese think Tamils are usurpers as Hoole says or not, the vast majority of Tamil and Muslim of Sri Lankan live in the south among Sinhala people. They have all the property rights as well as other rights that Sinhalese enjoy. The question is; whether ‘Thesawalamai law’ restricts property rights of the Sinhalese in the North.

In Muneswaran temple precinct there are at least seven major hindu temples. In the secred area of Kathragama, there very many hindu temples. In Rajagiriya there is a large Hindu temple. Even in the Small village where I live 99% are Sinhala Buddhists but there is a Hindu temple for few Tamils. All these are all located in the south. So, Hoole saying, Hindus have no right to have Hindu temples in the south is a lie.

Hooles being arch Christians, I cannot understand Rajan’s cry to save Hinduism and Hindu temples. I say Hinduism has to be saved from evangelists like Hoole for we all know that Christian aim had been to proselytize Hindus and Buddhists by any means. Take for instant when ever a Christian marry a gentile, the church expect not the spouse but all children to be Baptised and be Christians. Buddhists do not have such traditions.

I wonder whether Hooles have a grudge against Sinhala Buddhists; otherwise Rajan’s brother Ratnajeevan wouldn’t have said he would rather be an Indian than being assimilated in Sri Lanka.

Herold Leelawardena

Warna Hettiarachchi Brampton, Ontario Canada

Right Honourable Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada,
Honourable Vic Toews, the Minister of Public Safety in Canada,

 Your Excellencies,

 Then:

I am a Canadian Citizen, immigrated to Canada from Sri Lanka eight years ago through the Skilled category based on my qualifications and post-secondary education. We filed archives of paperwork, paying heavy Landed Immigrant fees (in 2002), and brought with us the required $20,000 of my family’s lifelong savings as “survival funds” until we found proper gainful employment.

 All that was well and good. We are thankful for the opportunity granted to be here in Canada. Immigration Canada ran police checks and FBI and California Police records to verify if I had any criminal records before coming to Canada (as I attended University there). We all felt safe and good, assuming this country is a safe place without criminals, indeed!!

 Now:

Four hundred and ninety two Tamil asylum seekers arrived in Canada 3 weeks ago, in a ship re-named as Sun Sea modified for lengthy sea fare through illegal human smuggler, from Thailand. The same ship was earlier known as Harin Panich 19 used for smuggling several thousand tons of illegal arms, ammunition and explosives from North Korea for Tamil Tigers fighting for a racist, mono-ethnic separatist nation.

 Tamil Tiger Terrorists were defeated by Sri Lanka’s LEGAL military forces after 30+years of terror in May 2009, and not a single bullet was fired, no suicide-bombs or IED’s killed innocent civilians in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan government has Tamil MP’s, Ministers and even former Tamil Tigers who gave up arms and joined mainstream of politics. You Excellencies are aware of that – if you recall, Tamil Tigers not only killed thousands of innocent Sinhalese, Muslim civilians, but also murdered Sri Lanka’s Head of State (President Premadasa) and many other Ministers including Lakshman Kadirgamar. a Tamil who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs that maintained there was no ethnic issue or discrimination in Sri Lanka, but only a terrorist threat. The Same Tamil Tigers also murdered India’s former Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi.

 A few months ago, 76 more of similarly arrived illegal Tamil asylum seekers were released and allowed to claim refugee status here in Canada.

 Tamil Tigers are the most ruthless and violent terrorists in the world (US Dept’s of State and Justice) and they are banned here in Canada, along with their indirect funding mechanisms WTM and a few other organizations recognized by RCMP as LTTE’s front organizations raising funds in Canada in disguise of charities, for terror activities in Sri Lanka.

 NONE of these people have valid identity papers or had any form of ID verification document of any sort.  Terror Expert Prof. Rohan Gunaratne from Nanyang University of Singapore had warned

and established proof of Interpol warrants against some of the 76 illegal immigrants as terrorists and human/drugs/arms traffickers. Moreover, their ship was found to have PETN and RDX explosive traces none other than RCMP on three different tests conducted on board. This boat was found to have been used for weapons smuggling under a different maritime ID during Tamil Tigers’ last phase of terror war.

 Despite ALL these facts and suspicions, Canadian authorities have released ALL 76 Terrorist-suspects, solely on claims by these asylum-seekers’ immigration lawyers, who are also Tamil, who are making Money from getting them released and processed into Immigration Canada’s Refugee Claim applications and who themselves are supporters of Tamil Tiger Terrorists.

 The same set of Tamil and Canadian immigration lawyers now representing the 492 of terror suspects/illegal immigrants/human-traffickers who were welcomed by Canadian Immigration in BC, claim these people are subject to “persecution”, discrimination and even death in Sri Lanka. It is quite amusing they set sail from Thailand, a place far away from Sri Lanka, to come to cruise in a well-planned vessel to Canada. So they did not come from Sri Lanka after all?

 If the 492 illegal asylum seekers are admitted to Canada, many thousands more would-be-successful-Refugees who are waiting in Thailand (in hotels and apartments) will be smuggled into Canadian waters by human traffickers. They are waiting for the signal from Canadian Immigration on acceptance of the 492’s refugee applications. (See http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/in-a-bangkok-apartment-tamils-wait-for-a-ship-to-canada/article1689499/)

No other country would ever allow that. Why didn’t they sail to the US, Australia, England, India, etc? 

 Because the already heavily burdened Canadian Taxpayers’s hard-earned money is up for grabs to fund processing of Refugee applications of these illegal asylum-seekers. These human-traffickers are 100% “DEPENDENT” on the economy built by dedicated, hard-working Canadians, who CONTRIBUTED to it during the tough times of recession not too log ago.

 Citizenship and Immigration of Canada found in March 2010 that EACH Refugee application by asylum seekers cost Canadian Tax-payers $50,000 for processing!!!!

(see http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2010/2010-03-30.asp)

Additional benefits given to them from Tax-payers’ money include low-income allowances, non-taxable benefits, FREE Healthcare (we pay a premium in Ontario, per every household income earner),

Child tax Benefit (as most of these boatloaders have someone that will sponsor them as refugees), interest-free/low-interest loans, free schooling, free-skills-development, etc.

At this rate, simple math shows that the previous 76  and the new 492 illegal asylum seekers will cost tax payers and Canadian economy $28.4 million plus!!!!! (not counting benefits!!)

 Mr. Toews, where is the “Tough” stand you promised to take action on these Human traffickers and Arms Smugglers?

 Have either of you of you visited Sri Lanka to witness how Tamils live in perfect harmony with the rest of the country’s Sinhalese, Muslim and other ethnic minorities, in every part of the country?

I have no reservation in saying that your perception of Tamil’s situation in Sri Lanka is 100% based on the lies and bogus claims made by one-sided, racist, mono-ethnic Tamils

to establish grounds for asylum in Canada, taking Canada and Canadians for an expensive ride.  Tamil Tigers and their supporters want a SEPARATE, MONO-Ethnic (TAMIL ONLY),

racist, APARTHEID-BASED nation of their own, THAN living in harmony in already-multi-cultural, multi-ethnic Sri Lanka or Canada.

 Your Excellencies, the most ludicrous and insulting part of all this madness is that 71% of these Tamil Asylum seekers and refugee claimants RETURN to Sri Lanka, which they earlier claimed to persecute,

Discriminate and kill them just a months ago in Refugee applications to fool Canadian Immigration Authorities and us, the Taxpayers. They have a good holiday with our tax money to roam around

Sri Lanka, eat, drink, party, sponsor other “would be” Canadian Tax-money-dependents to come here by the hoards and shiploads. We are witnessing all this now.

(See http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/08/24/national-post-editorial-board-redefining-refugees/)

Why aren’t these lying Refugee applicants not deported from Canada with their status revoked? Airports do keep records of their passport info and dates of departures from Canada.

 Lest we not forget, the same Tamil Tiger Terrorists TAUGHT Al Qaida how to make human suicide bombs, Roadside Bombs/ IED’s that kill hundreds of our valiant Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

(See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/22/AR2009052202033.html)

 While Canada needs more immigrants to populate its vast landmass, as its current population is aging and dwindling, should not the Federal authorities bring in educated, qualified and skilled

workers and their families who would CONTRIBUTE to Canada’s economy than drain it?

 Or is the priority to allow more illegal Tamil immigrants with NO education, qualifications and no skills other than cold-blooded murdering of human life that will add to Toronto area ridings with 250,000-300,000 vote bases?

 I believe, as Canadian, it is my moral obligation to stand and fight for its territorial integrity, protection of its good people and stand for fairness to its Tax-Payers that built this great Nation’s economy to be the best among the G-8.

 I expect Your Excellencies to take a tough stand and stop this dangerous problem immediately before it will cost our economy Billions of Dollars.

 We Canadians are being taken for fools and a jolly good ride by most Tamils, already. When would it be “Enough is Enough”?

 I respectfully request your earliest action and response to this writing and its content.

 Thank you.

Yours Truly,

 Warna Hettiarachchi Brampton, Ontario Canada

Ben Silva

The world is facing disaster due to over population. Over population will lead to lack of housing, lack of education opportunities, lack of health care, global warming, transport problems, deforestation etc. The effects of deforestation is visible in the form of regular flooding and high temperatures  felt in the cities. Nearly all the problems we will face will be linked to over population. Sir David Attenborough has given the chilling message: “Famines are increasing and wars as people become more overcrowded and that has already started. When the world gets over crowded, there would be competition for resources, including wars”. There are too many humans on earth and are competing to obtain dwindling resources. War or disease may restore the balance.  The impact of overpopulation in Sri Lanka is visible in terms of lack of green space and sheer visible number of people in towns. Drastic action is needed to control overpopulation and unless radical steps are taken to monitor and control population, it will bring misery to all Sri Lankans.

Community leaders, politicians, teachers, media people  all have a duty to halt this impending disaster. The author hopes that at least a few people will see the potential problem and take measures to mitigate the impending disaster, highlighted by  Sir David Attenborough.

 Further any development we achieve will be neutralised by over population.

Over population will have a destructive effect  on the environment. We can see that uncontrolled construction of building will cause floods, warming and will have less plants to generate the oxygen we breath. I remember long time back, the population in Sri Lanka was nearly 14 million and there were lots of Green areas. Now the population has nearly doubled and hardly any green areas left.

In my view, overpopulation is the most serious problem we face.

To quote   Sir David Attenborough  ‘The planet is only so big and only a finite amount of people can live on it’. His comments apply to Sri Lanka as well.

Overpopulation in India would have dire consequences to its neighbours, including Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans need to be fully aware of the potential danger from India.

 What should be done.

It is important to control and monitor the population of Sri Lanka and also that  of the world. There  is  a  need  to persuade people that lower birth rates are vital to protect the planet. Facilities could be provided  to increase access to contraception. There is also a need to educate the people about the negative effects of over population.  We should think about having only one child. However, there should be safety nets and systems to look after the old and infirm.

 References

1. Attenborough warns of population growth disaster

      http://www.optimumpopulation.org/blog/?p=567

1. http://www.overpopulation.org/

      3. Overpopulation

            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overpopulation

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.

30 අවුරුද්දක යුද්ධය හමාරය.  මේ දිනවල කොටි සංවිධානය විනාශ කල රජයට එරෙහිව විපක්ෂය අවි අමෝරා ගෙන සටන් වැදීමට පෙරමුණට පැමිණ ඇත. ඒ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය ඉල්ලාගෙනය. අප ඓතිහාසික වශයෙන් ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය සම්බන්ධව විවිධ කථාන්දර අසා ඇත. ඒ අනුව මේ විපක්ෂය කථා කරන්නේ කුමන ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයදැයි පැහැදිලිව නොදන්නෙමු. නමුත් අපද ඔය කියන හැම ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයක් සම්බන්ධවම යමක් දනිමු. අපි අවුරුදු 30ක යුද්ධය නිම කල මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාව දකින්නේ අවුරුදු 600කට පමණ පසු මේ රටට බිහිවූ අභීත පුද්ගලයකු ලෙසයි. මේ මොහොතේ අපේ මනසේ ඇත්තේ ඔහුට පක්ෂවූ මතවාදයකි. කොටින්ට හා බටහිර අධිරාජ්‍යවාදීන්ට මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මරා දැමීමේ දැඩි අවශ්‍යතාවයක් තිබුණි. ඒ අවශ්‍යතාවය අදද එසේම පවතී. එම ඉලක්කය කරා සෑම ක්ෂණයක්ම සිය මෙහෙයවුම කර ගත් බටහිර අධිරාජ්‍යවාදී බලවේග ඒ සඳහා දේශීය හා විදේශීය බලවේගවල පිහිට සෑම ක්ෂණයකදීම ලබාගනී.

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අවුරුදු 600ක පමණ කාලයකට පසු මෙරට බිහිවූ අභීත නායකයා නම් ඔහුව තවදුරටත් මේ රටේ රාජ්‍ය නායකත්වයේ තබාගත යුතුයයි අප දැඩිලෙස විශ්වාස කරන්නෝ වෙමු. අපගේ මනසේ ඇති එම මතයට එරෙහිව පවතින ප්‍රබලම බාධකය වන්නේ පවතින ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යාවස්ථාවයි. මෙම ව්‍යාවස්ථාව අපේ මතයට එරෙහිව නැගී සිටී. මේ රටේ ජනතාව 100%ක්ම මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාව නැවත් ජනාධිපති බවට පත්කල යුත්යයි ඉල්ලා සිටියද එයට එරෙහිව නැගී සිටින්නේ පවතින ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යාවස්ථාවයි. එය සැබෑ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය ලෙස සමස්ථ විපක්ෂයම දකී. එනම් අති බහුතරයකගේ මතයට එරෙහිව කඩදාසියක් තුල අඩංගු වගන්තියක් ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය ලෙස විපක්ෂය දකී. එම වගන්තිය වෙනස් කොට ජනතාවට අවශ්‍යනම් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාව නැවත බලයට පත්කිරීමේ වරම ජනතාවටම ලබාදීමට එරෙහිව ඕනෑම සටනක් කිරීමට විපක්ෂය ලහි ලහියේ සූදානම් වෙයි. ඒ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය ආරක්ෂා කිරීමටය,

රටේ නායකයා තේරීමේදී, එම නායකයා තෝරා ගත යුත්තේ, සියලූම ජනතාව අතරිනි. මුළු ජනතාවගෙන් එක් පුද්ගලයකු ඉවත් කර, අනික් පුද්ගලයින්ගෙන් නායකයකු තෝරා ගැනීම අපේ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය නම් නොවේ. එම නිසා මෙම ව්‍යාවස්ථාවේ එක් පුද්ගලයකු කොන්කිරීමේ වගන්තිය ඉවත්විය යුතුමය. ඒ අනුව නැවත වරක් මැතිවරණයකදී රාජ්‍ය නායකත්වය උදෙසා මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට ඉදිරිපත්වීමේ හැකියාව ලබාදිය යුතු අතර, එමගින් ජනතාවට මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාව අවශ්‍ය නොවේ නම් ඔහුව ඉවත් කිරීමේ වරමද හිමිවේ අප එයට ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය යයි කියමු. අපි එය තව විදියකින් මෙසේ කියමු. “මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාව බලයෙන් පහ කිරීමේ වරම ජනතාවට ලබා දෙන්න“. මෙයයි සැබෑ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය වන්නේ. පසුගිය මහා මැතිවරණයට පෙර, පැවති මහා මැතිවරණයේදී ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණට ආසන 41ක් ලබාදුන් ජනතාවම මෑත පැවති මැතිවරණයේදී ආසන 4ක් දක්වා පහතා හෙලූ ආකාරයටම, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා රටට හා ජනතාවට වරදක් කර ඇත්නම් පන්නා දැමීමේ අයිතිය ජනතාව අතට පත්කිරීමේ වරද කුමක්ද? මෙරට ජනතාව පැහැදිලිව අසන ප්‍රශ්නය එයයි. යමක් තීරණය කිරීමේ අයිතිය ජනතාවට පැවරීම යනු ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී ක්‍රියාවක් නොවන්නේද?. ඒ මිනිස්සුම ව්‍යාවස්ථා සංශෝධනය සම්බන්ධව ජනමත විචාරණයක් විචාරණයක් ඉල්ලා සිටීමම යුගයේ දේශපාලන විහිළුවක් බවට පත්ව ඇත.

අප පාර්ලිමේන්තුව වටා භ්‍රමණය වෙන මින්සුන් නොවෙමු. සුද්දාගේ පාලන යුගයේදී, මේ රටේ වාසය කල ජනතාවට භ්‍රමණය වන්නට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවක් නොතිබිණ. තවද එවන්නැක් වටා භ්‍රමණය වීමට තරම් මානසික අන්ධයින් එදා සිටියානම් අද අප ආඩම්බරයෙන් පවසන බෞද්ධ විද්‍යල වන ආනන්ද, නාලන්ද, පන්නිපිටියේ ධර්මපාල වැනි මෙදා දේශප්‍රේමී රණවිරුවන් රැසක් බිහිකල පාසල් පද්ධතියක් බිහිවන්නේද නැත. එදා මෙරට ජනතාව සුද්දාගේ පාලනය තුලම අභියෝග වලට මුහුණ දෙමින් ගොඩනැංවූ  ඒ පාසල් අපට කියා පාන්නේ මිනිසුනේ ජනතාව අතරට පලයල්ලා ජනතා අවශ්‍යතා හදුනා ගනිල්ලා, ඒවා ලබාදීමට කටයුතු කරපල්ලා යන පණිවුඩයයි.

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.

- වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එමි’ ජයතුංග විසිනි -

ප්‍රතිභාපූ¹ණ ලේඛකයෙකු ලෙස ජී’ බී’ සේනානායක දක්වන ලද කුසළතාව තවමත් ඇගයීමකට ලක් නොවී ඇතැයි මා සිතමි’ ඔහුගේ මෙිධා” චාරුමුඛ වැනි නවකථා ද සාහිත්‍ය විග්‍රහය” සාහිත්‍ය සේසත් වැනි ශාස්ත්‍රීය ග්‍රන්ත ද ¦ප්පතුන් නැති ලෝකය” පළිගැනීම වැනි කෙටි කථා සංග්‍රහයන් ද පෙන්වා දෙනුයේ අග්‍ර ගනයේ ලේඛකයෙකුගේ ප්‍රතිභාවන්ය’

 ජී’ බී’ සේනානායක පවසන පරිදි ඔහුගේ රචනා වලින් හෙලි කරන්නේ චිත්ත තත්වයන්ය’ ඔහුගේ කෘතීන් වල ගැඹුරු හරයක් අන්ත¹ගතය’ ඔහු පෙන්වා දෙන පරිදි ඔහුගේ විධිමත් අධ්‍යාපනය නිම වූයේ 7 වැනි ශ්‍රේණියෙනි’ ඉන් පසු ස්ව උත්සාහයෙන්ම ඔහු උපන්නේය’ විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක් කෘති කියවා තමාගේ දියුණුවෙි නිමි වළලු පුඳුල් කර ගත් ඔහු බුද්ධිමතෙකු ලෙස අවිවාදයෙන්ම පිළිගැනෙන්නෙකි’

 ජී’ බී’ සේනානායකයන්ගේ කෘතීන් වල ඔහු විසින් අත් විදි මෙලන්කෝලියාව :ඵැක්බජයදකස්- දක්නට තිඛෙි’ මෙි ස්වභාවය ඔහු තම නි¹මාණයන්ට ද මුසු කල බව පැවසිය හැක’ මෙලෙස තම නි¹මාණයන් තුලට තමන්ගේ ආවෙිදනිකයන් මුසු කල ලේඛකයන්” කවීන් විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක් සිටිති’

 සුප්‍රකට ජ¹මානු කවි ගතේ තමන් අත්විදි මෙලන්කෝලියා තත්වය සිය නි¹මාණයන්ට මුසු කලේය’ එසේම ටෝල්ස්ටෝයි” නිකොලායි ගොගොල්” ඩිකන්ස්” එඩිගා ඇලන් ෆෝ වැන්නවුන් තමන්ගේ සෘණාත්මක චිත්තාවෙිගීය ප්‍රතිකි්‍රයා නි¹මාණයන් හරහා පෙන්වා දෙන ලදී’

 මහා ගත්කරු ජී’ බී’ සේනානායකගේ කෘතීන් විම¹ශනය කරන විට ඔහු සාමාන්‍ය මෙලන්කෝලියාවෙන් හෝ ඊටත් එපිට ව¹ධනය වූ විශාදයකින් පෙඳුනේද යන්න පිළිබඳ සැක පහළ වෙයි’

 විශාදය වූ කලී මානසික රෝග අතරින් බහුලවම දැකිය හැකි රෝගී තත්වයකි’ ඇතැමි විට විශාදය මානසික රෝග අතර සෙමිප්‍රතිශාව වශයෙන්ද හැඳින්වෙන්නේ එය එතරමිම සුලභව දක්නට ලැඛෙන නිසාය’

 විශාදය හෙවත් :ෘැචරුිිසදබ-  ඇති වීම සදහා ජානමය සාධක” ජීවත් වන පරිසරයේ බලපෑම” මුහුන දෙන ක්ලෙමථකාරී තත්වයන්” ප්‍රජානන හේතූන් යනාදී කරුණු ගනනාවක් ප¹යේෂකයන් විසින් පෙන්වා දී ඇත’ එම නිසා ජී’ බී’ සේනානායකයන් තුල තිබූ ආවෙිදනික තත්වය කුමන හේතුවක් නිසා හට ගත්තේද යන්න එක එල්ලයේම පැවසීම අපහසුය’

 විශාදය නිරන්තරයෙන්ම මනෝ භාවයන් සමග බැදී පවතියි’ විශාදයේ මධ්‍යගත ලක්ෂණය වනාහී මනෝ භාවයන්ගේ සහ චිත්තාවෙිගයන්ගේ අදුරුසහගත අවපාතයයි’ බොහෝ විට මිනිසුන් අත් විදින විශාදය නිසා ඔවුන්ගේ ප්‍රජානනය හීන වීම” නි¹මානශීලීතාව අඩාල වීම දක්නට ලැඛෙතත් ඇතැමි පුද්ගලයන් තමන් පෙලෙන විශාදය නි¹මානකරණය සඳහා උත්ප්‍රේරකයක් කර ගනිති’ මෙි සාධකය ජී’ බී’ සේනානායකගේ ස්වයං චරිතාපදානය” මම එදා සහ අද මෙන්ම ඔහුගේ අනෙකුත් කෘති ආශ්‍රයෙන්ද පැවසිය හැක’

 ගත්කරු ජී’ බී’ සේනානායක අතිශයින්ම සංවෙිදී පුද්ගලයෙකු විය’ තම කෘති අරබයා කෙරුනු විචාරයන් බොහෝ විට ඔහු පෞද්ගලික පහර දීමි මටිටමෙි ලා සැලකීය’ ඔහු වරෙක මෙලෙස පවසයි’ දී ලේඛකයන් බොහෝ කල් ජීවත් නොවිය යුතුය’ ජීවත් වූවන්ගෙන් ඔවුනට වෙිදනා උපදවන අත්දැකීමි ලබන්නට සි¦ වෙි’දී

 මෙි හැර ඔහුට සතුරු වූ ලේඛක කල්ලි ජී’ බී’ සේනානායකට පහර ¦න් බව නොරහසකි’ මෙි හේතුවෙන්ද ඔහු මානසිකව ඇද වැටුනි’ මම එදා සහ අද කෘතියේ හැට වන පිටෙි ඔහු මෙලෙස සඳහන් කරයි”

 මා සාහිත්‍යයෙන් දස්කමි පෑ තැනැත්තෙකු ලෙස මාගේ සාහිත්‍ය ජීවිතයේ මුල් කාලයේම ඊ¹ෂියාකාර කල්ලිකාරයෝ මා නැති කරන්නට නොයෙකුත් උපක්‍රම යෙදූහ’ මටත් මගෙන් ජීවත් වූ අමිමාටත් ඔවුහු කරදර ඇති කල නමුත් මා නැති කරන්නට අසමත් වූහ’

 ජී’ බී’ සේනානායක තුල ඇතැමි විට තමා පිළිබද හීන වූ චිත්‍රය සහ හීන වූ ආත්ම අභිමානය :ඛදඅ ිැකෙ ැිඑැැප- ආක්ෂෝහිත බව :Aටටසඒඑසදබ- ස්වයං අනුකමිපාව :ීැකෙ චසඑහ- සහ ශ=න්‍යවාදී අදහස් :භසයසකසිඑසජ සාැ්ි- දක්නට ලබති’

 තමා මිනිසුන්ගේ සිත් නොගන්නා පෙනුමක් ඇති අයෙකු බව ඔහු තරයේ විශ්වාස කලේය’ එක් ස්ථානයකදී ඔහු තමාව හැ¬න්වනුයේ අගුටුමිටි පෙනුමකින් යුතු විරූපී පුද්ගලයෙකු ලෙසටය’

 ස්වයං අනුකමිපාව නිසා ඔහු තමාගේ කෘති විවෙිචනය ඉදිරියේ අතිශයින්ම සැලුනේය’ මා අන්ධව සහ කොරව සිටියද විචාරකයෝ මට පහර ගසති යන්න ඔහු ප්‍රකාශ කරන ලදී’ එසේම ස්වයං හුදකලාභාවයකට :Aකසැබ්එසදබ- ඔහු තමාව ලක් කොට සිටියේය’ මම එදා සහ අද කෘතියේ 152 පිටුවෙි ජී’ බී’ සේනානායක මෙසේ ලියයි’ මම ඔවුන්ගේ ආශ්‍රයෙන් ඈත්වීමි’ මා පාෙ¹ යන කල සිංහල ලේඛකයෙකු ඈත එනු ¦ටුවොත් පාෙ¹ අනෙක් පැත්තට වී ගමන් කිරීමට මම පුරු¦ වී සිටියෙමි’

 ස්වයං වරදකාරී ගැටඳු ජී’ බී’ සේනානායක එලිපිට පවසයි’ තමාගේ මව රෝගාතූර වූ අවස්ථාවෙි ඇ මිිය ගියේ නමි හොඳය යන අදහස නිසා ඔහු තුල පසුතැවිල්ලක් ඇති විය’ එම සිතුවිල්ල ඔහු සම කරන්නේ ටෝල්ස්ටෝයිගේ යුද්ධය හා සාමය නවකථාවෙි තම මහඳු පියාවූ බල්කෝන්ස්කි කුමරු මිය ගියේ නමි යෙහෙකි යන හැගීම නිසා පශ්චාත්තාපයට පත්වූ මරියා බල්කෝන්ස්කියා කුමරියගේ හැගීමි වලටය’

 ඔහු තමා හා ඇමරිකානු ලේඛක එඩිගා ඇලන් ෆෝ අතර සමානතාවයන් දකියි’ එසේම ඔහු එඩිගා ඇලන් ගේ කෙටි කථා ශෛලිය අනුගමනය කල බව මාටින් වික්‍රමසිංහ පවසා ඇත’ එඩිගා ඇලන් ෆෝ ද තමා අත්විදි විශාදය නිසා කායිකව මෙන්ම මානසිකව පීඩා විදි ලේඛකයෙකි’

 ජී’ බී’ සේනානායක කුඩා කාලයේ තමන්ට නිතරම ඇතිවූ හිසරදය සරස්වතී ආවෙිශයක් ලෙස හෝ තමන්ව ලියන්නට පොළඹවන බලවෙිගයක් ලෙසට සැලකීය’ සත්‍ය වශයෙන්ම ඔහු මෙි අත්විදින ලද්දේ මනෝ කායික :ඡිහජයද ජ් ීදප්එසජ- රෝගී තත්වයක් දැයි සැකයක් මතුවෙි’ ළමා කාලයේ අත්විදින මානසික පීඩනයන් බොහෝ විට මනෝ කායික රෝග ඇති කරන බව ළමා රෝග විශේෂඥයන් පෙන්වා දෙති’ආත්ම ඝාතනය හො ්ජීවිතාශාවෙන් තොර වීම බොහෝ විට විශාදය සමග බැදී පවතියි’ ජී’ බී’ සේනානායක තුලද මෙවැනි ආත්මහරණයේ සේයාවල් දක්නට තිබුනි’ එසේම ඔහුගේ පවුලේ සාමාජිකයන් දෙදෙනෙකු (පියා සහ වැඩිමල් සොහොයුරා) දිවි තොර කර ගත් බව ඔහු පවසයි’ එසේම ජී’ බී’ සේනානායක ද ඇතැමි විට ජීවිතය කෙරෙහි උකටලී බවක් පෙන්වන ලදී’ පහත දැක්වෙන්නේ ඔහු විසින් රචනා කරන ලද කවියකි’ එහි කවියා තුල තිබූ මරනීය ආශයේ :ෘැ්එය ෂබිඑසබජඑ- සක්‍රීයතාව පෙනී යයි’

 නයා  

 නයෙකු නැගුනොත් මගේ ඇඳට

 තුරුඳු කර ගනිමි මම ඌ

 සපන්න මිතුර මා

 කරුණාවෙන්

 යවන්න මා එහා ලෝකෙටයි කියා

  මෙි හැර ජී’ බී’ සේනානායකයන්ගේ ආත්ම ඝාතක සංකල්ප ඇතැමි විට ඔහුගේ කෘති වල එන චරිත හරහා ද නිරූපනය කරයි’

 මනෝ විශේෂඥ ආරෝන් ඛෙක් විශාදය පිළිබදව තමාගේ ප්‍රජානන න්‍යාය මගින් ස්වයං අවතක්සේරුව” සෘණාත්මක දැක්ම මෙන්ම අ¹ථකථනය සහ අනාගතය පිළිබදව අශ=භවාදී දැක්ම හේතු වන බව පවසයි’ ආරෝන් ඛෙක්ගේ පෙන්වා දීමි තුලින් සහ විශාදය පිළිබද ඛෙක්ගේ නි¹නායකයන්ට :ඊැජන’ි ීජ්කැ- අනුව මහා ගත් කරු ජී’ බී’ සේනානායක තුල විශාදයේ ලක්ෂන තිබූ බව කිව හැකිය’ එසේම කෙල¹ සහ ෂැෆීරෝ විසින් විශාදයට පත්වූ පුද්ගලයන් තුල මරනීය සාධකයන් ගොඩනැගීමෙි ක්‍රියාවලිය පැහැදිලිවම පෙන්වා දෙන ලදී’ මෙම පැහැදිලි කිරීමි අනුසාරයෙන් ජී’ බී’ සේනානායකයන්ගේ ජීවිතයේ අවසාන කාලයේ තිබූ මරනීය ආශයේ පුබලතාව පෙන්වා දිය හැක’ එහෙත් ඔහු දිවි නසා ගැනීමට යොමු නොවීය’

 අද්විතීය ගත්කරු ජී’ බී’ සේනානායක විශාදයෙන් පෙඳුනේද යන්න තුල සායනික මෙන්ම සාහිත්‍යමය වශයෙන්ද කාලීන බවක් තිඛෙි’ ඒ මන්ද යත් ඔහුගේ නි¹මාණ තුල මෙම විශාදයේ සේයාවන් ඇති නිසාවෙනි’ එහෙත් එම නිසා ඔහුගේ නි¹මාණ වටිනාකමින් අඩු නොවෙි’ ඔහුගේ නි¹මාණ මිණි කැට වැනිය’ එකී නි¹මාණ වල සාහිත්‍යමය මෙන්ම දා¹ශනික ගැඹුරක් තිඛෙි’ චිත්ත තත්වයන් අරබයා ඔහු විසින් කරන ලද විවරණයන් සලකා බැලීමෙිදී ජී’ බී’ සේනානායක යනු ලාංකික   දොස්තොයෙවිස්කිද යැයි සිතේ’

 වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එමි’ ජයතුංග විසිනි -

By Shelton A. Gunaratne ©2010
Professor of mass communications emeritus, Minnesota State University Moorhead

 After my temporary re-location in Minnesota in November 1985, I visited Jim Bowers at his Spring Park Bay home  (2905 Casco Point Road) in the Wayzata area on a wintry Saturday (21 Dec.) at 3.30 p.m., and decided to spend my entire two-week winter break on his property.  Bowers was out on a retreat. His son Perry, 14, who had wisely decided to live with both his mom and dad after their divorce, came by in the evening. When I subsequently saw Jim’s former wife Kate, I felt utterly embarrassed to invite her into her own former home for a chat. She had come to put back Rosie, the dog that the Bowerses raised before their divorce.

Bowers returned from the retreat next day and slept till late. In the afternoon, Bowers gave me a driving lesson on his Volkswagen GTI Hatchback. In the evening, he opened up on his personal life and explained why and how he and Kate parted company.

Bowers flew to Colorado Monday early morning, and promised to be a better host after his return Friday night.

The next morning, I dropped Bowers off at the Twin Cities airport. With Bowers’ explicit consent, I used his Volkswagen GTI for the next several days to visit people and places that I had missed during my 10 years in Australia and three years in Malaysia.

I re-visited familiar places in the Midway and the vicinity, including the World Press Institute at Macalester College, where I chanced on a peculiar Sri Lanka student who was very reluctant to talk. He hesitantly revealed his last name only—De Soysa from Bambalapitiya.

I also made a nostalgic tour to see the old haunts along the University Avenue from the Capitol to Dinkytown. I whiled away some time hobnobbing with the patrons of the King of Diamonds bar in Inver Drove Heights, which I had visited in 1969 with Gary Lundgren, a university student from Saint Paul. Lundgren was also responsible for introducing me to Payne Avenue Rec in Saint Paul, a popular nightclub.

On Christmas Day, I visited the Guptas (Vijay and Nirmalini) in Richfield to eat dinner. Nostalgically, we recalled the late ‘60s, when Gupta, then an Indian graduate student, was dating Nirmalini, a Sri Lankan Montessori teacher. Those were the days when Gupta invariably took me with him to join the functions and dinner parties of a number of Montessori teachers from the island. For example, my diary entry for Saturday 7 Dec. 1968 records:

“In the evening, Vijay Gupta came to pick me up to attend the birthday party of a Ceylonese Montessori teacher. Indira Gooneratne and Nirmalini Perera who live in St. Louis Park invited us. The party was for Mangalika de Mel from Mount Lavinia who lives with the Chandrasomas in Edina. We had a [very] enjoyable evening with the Ceylonese gathering [from] around the Twin Cities.  Noel Perera sang a few Sinhala songs where after everyone joined to sing baila.  The party included several American women involved with Montessori schools. One woman commended my ‘sophistication’ and openly praised me as a ‘brilliant guy’ and a ‘man of the world.’”

In those days, I was truly yearning for things Ceylonese. I was homesick. However good the American food was, I would settle for pol (coconut) sambol and heel-buth (left-over stale rice) any time. I even went to explore a place called Ceylon, Minn., simply because I couldn’t ignore the name. Thus, the Montessori gang allowed me to feel the home country ethos vicariously.

Friday night, Bowers returned home from Denver, where he had visited the Blackmuns. I was at the Twin Cities airport to pick him up. Saturday morning, Bowers and I went to Wayzata for routine shopping. Saturday evening, I visited Wayzata investor and WPI supporter Gordon Ritz, co-founder of North Stars. Many WPI fellows enjoyed the past hospitality of the Ritzes (Gordon and “Topsy”). On this occasion, Ritz introduced me to Joyce, his second wife. [Ritz died of cancer at the age of 74 in 2001.]

Sunday (29 Dec.) morning, I ate brunch with my erstwhile Dinkytown buddies at the home of Tammy Buetow (260 Hawthorne Ave. N., Minneapolis). The Stapleses (George and Geruth) were present with their kids—Kaile, Morgan and Cullum). The Persons (Jud and Laurel) were there with their daughter Anne. Also present were the Iversons, the family of a high school friend of Tammy’s visiting from Texas. 

On the last day of the year (31 Dec.), Bowers and I went to the Twin Cities airport in the afternoon to welcome back Bowers’ girlfriend and counseling clinical therapist Cris Higgin, who had gone to Florida on holiday.  [A dating agency had arranged their initial meting.]

After stopping at Higgin’s home, I drove the Volkswagen GTI to Saint Paul to attend a New Year’s Eve celebration at the home of the Stapleses (1201 Dayton Ave.). Again, all my Dinkytown buddies were there, including Tammy Buetow and the Persons. “The meal was hearty. I enjoyed it,” I jotted down.

On New Year’s Day, Bowers and Higgin challenged me to go snowmobiling in the adjoining Lake Minnetonka—a 14,528-acre (59 km²) lake of numerous islands and bays that turns in the winter into a vast expanse of thick frozen ice on which people could hike, ski, snowmobile or ice-fish. They thought it would be a capital adventure for a man from the tropics to ride a snowmobile on a frozen lake dressed in winter gear to keep warm,

Snowmobiling was a routine sport for Minnesotans. But for me, the erstwhile “Weligama Podda” from the village of Pathegama (in southern Sri Lanka), the very thought of maneuvering an unprotected snowmobile on the rough frozen icecap of a lake in sub-zero weather was enough to cause goose bumps. But the devil in me forced me to accept the challenge. Bowers probably incensed my lack of confidence but wanted to get a kick out of my trepidation.

A snowmobile is an unprotected vehicle with an engine that drives a continuous track in the rear and skis in the front to enable directional control. The only enclosure it has is a windshield.  Law requires a user to wear a helmet. Bowers failed to comprehend the vast cultural gap between him and me on handling snowmobiles. So, I suppose, he was reckless when he drove his snowmobile at a fast speed taking risky twists and turns. I tried to match his maneuvers and made it to our first stop on Wild Goose Chase Island (in Upper Lake Minnetonka), where we kicked up a conversation with several ice-fishing folks. They were presumably “enjoying” the winter cold spreading their fishing rods into the water below through holes bored on the icecap. Heaps of entrapped bluegills, bullheads, carps, crappies, sunfish, walleyes and the like lay by their side.

 I was not so lucky as Bowers entered the hilly and rough Boy Scout Island (in South Upper Lake). There, as I tried to follow Bowers driving up a hill, the breaks of my snowmobile ceased to work dashing the vehicle to stop at the mercy of a tree. Luckily, both my snowmobile and I endured the crash with little damage. 

After retrieving the snowmobile from the zone of mishap, Bowers declared it to be in fit condition for me to remount and follow him back to Spring Park Bay, where we parked our snowmobiles and went to celebrate the New Year with a steak dinner at the Minnetonka Mist restaurant. It was my first visit to a restaurant by snowmobile.

Back at Bowers’ home, Higgin and I had to help Bowers retrieve his Volkswagen GTI out of a thick pile of snow that engulfed it. [In Minnesota, road crews have to clear the snow from the streets constantly to keep them accessible to vehicles in the winter.]

On Friday (3 Jan.) morning, I went to the University of Minnesota campus to meet with a few of my former teachers and colleagues at the SJMC in Murphy Hall. My doctoral adviser Roy E. Carter Jr. and graduate studies director Donald M. Gillmor joined my classmate Han Chin Liu and me for lunch at the Coffman Memorial Union. I also visited Gerald Kline, director of research under whom I worked, who was dying of cancer. [Kline, 49, died exactly a month later.] Liu accompanied me to see our mentor Raymond Nixon, who was incapacitated following a car accident, and his wife at a retirement village in Bloomington. [Nixon died in 1997,]

The same evening, Bowers, Higgin and Jud Person joined me for dinner at the Sri Lanka Curry House restaurant, located on Hennepin Avenue, just north of Lake Street. Restaurateur Evan Balasooriya provided us with a hot godambaroti (a parchment-thin wheat-flour) meal.  Tears were dripping from Bowers’ eyes as he immersed himself in tasting a variety of typical Sri Lankan dishes.

“I enjoyed the spicy food although I cried,” Bowers confessed later.                                                                                     We repaired to Person’s home (Garfield Avenue South) for dessert.

Saturday (4 Jan.) morning, Bowers, Higgin ad I, together with dog Rosie, went for a long walk on Lake Minnetonka. Apparently, Bowers had conceived the walk to give me a sense of the peculiar feeling a tropical individual would experience by literally walking across the frozen icecap of a real lake. We crossed Spring Park Bay (see Figure 1) to Black Lake, and walked on a swamp to reach the Country Kitchen, a chain restaurant on Shoreline Drive in Spring Park. I was in a generous mood to bear the expenses of the pies and coffee we consumed. After eating, we walked back to Bowers’ home (2905 Casco Point Road). Then, I took off on the Volkswagen GTI to Minneapolis, where I spent the rest of the day. When I returned about 8 p.m., Bowers and Higgin had prepared a veal dinner on a grand scale. Perry Bowers and his friend Mark joined us for dinner. Later, we chatted over toasted chestnuts.

My two-week winter break with Bowers came to an end Sunday (5 Jan.). When Higgin unexpectedly left for her home in Minneapolis, Bowers seemed emotionally shaken up. Bowers took off to eat brunch and returned home about 2 p.m. in time to say goodbye to me. Jim Fritze, the same NDSU student who shared the ride to Minneapolis with me the Saturday before last, stopped by to share the return ride to Moorhead.

It turned out that Bowers and Higgin had decided to break up because they deemed each other incompatible. However, they met occasionally as friends.

It was on a spring Wednesday (23 April) that I saw Bowers again. I stayed the night before at the YMCA in downtown Minneapolis because Bowers failed to pick me up at the Greyhound bus station when I arrived there at 11.15 p.m. He compensated for his forgetfulness by picking me up at the same venue at 5 p.m. next day and taking me to the Sri Lanka Curry House, where Higgin also joined us for dinner. Thereafter, we whiled away some time exploring the specialty shops in the nearby Calhoun Square before we came to Bowers’ home. Before we went to bed, Bowers, his dog Rosie and I went for a moonlight walk.

[I have observed that Americans treat their pet dogs with greater dignity than human beings. They talk, walk and sleep with their dogs. In Buddhist Sri Lanka, such “loving kindness” toward dogs is a rarity!]

The next morning, Bowers took me to see his crushing operation at Laurel Avenue in Golden Valley. From there, we went to Crystal Welding in Osseo, where we ate lunch. In the afternoon, we visited the Walker Art Center to see the “Tokyo: Form and Spirit” exhibition. He also took me to see new cars at a Toyota dealer since I was planning to purchase a Toyota Camry station wagon next school year. He took me home to eat a pizza dinner, and then dropped me off at the Greyhound terminal in the city in time to board the 6.15 p.m. bus to Moorhead.

On this visit, I hired Jerome B. Ingber, an immigration lawyer in Minneapolis, to handle my case for U.S. permanent residence.

Because I was teaching in Moorhead on a temporary visa, the U.S. immigration rules required me to return to Australia, where I was a citizen, to apply for permanent residence in the United States. My plan was to leave for Australia at the end of May, get the required visas for the entire family, and return to the United States before the end of November 1986.  Yoke-Sim and Junius were with me in the United States in 1983 (my Fullerton Year), just before Carmel was born. We decided that it was best for them to stay put in Australia during my first year of teaching at Moorhead until we untangled the U.S. visa problem.

Despite our close ties, Bowers was still a stranger to my wife and two children. They had never met. That anomaly was about to change.

(To be continuedFigure 1: “THE BOWERS’ HABITAT” on Lake Minnetonka. A=Spring Park, where the Bowerses (Jim and Kate) lived in the Shoreline Apartments from 1968 to 1971; B =2905 Casco Point Road [P.O. Wayzata], where Bowers lived from 1971 to 1995—with first wife Kate (until 1984) and with second wife Kathleen (from 1991 to 1995); C=220 West Lake St., Excelsior, where the Bowerses (Jim and Kathleen) have lived since 1995.  Immediately to the southwest of B is the tiny Wild Goose Chase Island.   Further to the southwest is the hilly mushroom-spaced Boy Scout Island, where the author’s snowmobile went out of control and ran into a tree.             

Picture 1:  An aerial view of the 14,528-acre Lake Minnetonka, a historically recreational destination of numerous islands and bays, which turns into a vast expanse of frozen ice suitable for walking, skiing, snowmobiling and ice-fishing in the winter.

(PHOTO by Ed Kohler. Source: Wikimedia Commons.) 

by  Charles.S.Perera

The proposed amendments to the Constitution, have raised a political storm.  Fortunately the directions from which the storms blow do not predict  a danger to the envisaged proposals but may cause irreparable  damage to those who started the storm.

 JVP and its wind bags  like the drowning men holding on to a straw, encumbered with the weight of Sarath Fonseka on their backs are likely to drown in the flood waters of  political disapproval, even Lal Kantha the ego centric trade unionist will not be able to save it from its watery gave.

 The leftist trio DEW Gunasekara, Tissa Vitharana and Wasudeva Nanayakkara  as usual unable to take firm decisions, are  preparing the funeral rights of the good old leftist movement, and it remains for them to jump into the  funeral pyre as they will have no worth while existence with the end of the leftist movement.  Even the President will not have any use of them as he is already assured  of a two third majority in the Parliament.

 UNP is in complete disarray.  It is however heartening that at least a few young UNPers have had a sudden revelation that opposition to a government is not to blow it up, but to make it serve the people better.

 When I was reading the President Barack Obama’s book the Audacity of Hope a passage  struck me as relevant to Sri Lanka.  In that passage he says, that in conversation with an old Washington hand who had served in the Capitol for over fifty years, he asked  the difference of the atmosphere  then and now, and he had answered  that:

  “……we might’ve fought like cats and dogs  on issues. A lot of us came from different back grounds, different neighbourhoods, different political philosophies.  But with the war we all had some thing in common. That shared experience developed a certain trust and respect. It helped to work through our differences and get things done.”

 It is a pity that it did not happen that way in Sri Lanka.  The senior politicians, and supposed to be people friendly Marxists did not make the war against terrorism the rallying point to combine forces with the government for the progressive development of Sri Lanka.  They instead made it an opportunity  to make   personal benefits  to realise their political ambitions, without caring a dime for the country and its people.

 JVP is ridiculous in  hanging on to Sarath Fonseka as their Leader.  He was of course the Army Commander during the most difficult period of the recent history of Sri Lanka . He may have discussed strategies  and prepared the army officers for  their different assignments. But the war itself was conducted by  officers under him.

 We saw in video clips during the height of the military offensive against the terrorists, that the Army Officers like Shavendra Silva,  Prasanna De Silva and others who  in the midst of fighting giving instructions to their  soldiers and asking them  before they turn away to take care of themselves.  They deserve lot of credit for the elimination of terrorists from Sri Lanka.

 Sarath Fonseka as the Army Commander  should not have used  his position to help his family to set up business to  sell arms to the army.  He should have retired as an army Officer without seeking political power.  In seeking political power he did not set an example to the Armed forces of Sri Lanka.

 In this respect it is relevant to quote the statement made by Admiral  Mike Mullen  Chairman of the Joint  Chiefs of Staff of  USA   at a press conference after the former Afghanistan  Commander  Stanley A. McChrystal gave his resignation, as it was reported in the  International Herald Tribune of 25 June, 2010. 

 Speaking to the military he had said:

 “….We do not have the right, nor should we ever assume the prerogative, to cast doubt upon the ability or mock the motives  of our civilian leaders, elected or appointed.  We are and must remain a neutral instrument  of the state , accountable to and respectful  of those leaders no matter which party holds sway or which person holds a given office.”

 We may recognise Sarath Fonseka as a war hero, but he does not deserve our respect for what he did afterwards bringing discredit to our country, and the President Mahinda Rajapakse who united Sri Lanka under one flag after 30 years of  untold suffering from ruthless terrorism.

 The 18^th Amendment to the Constitution is necessary as that is the least we can do to help a man like Mahinda Rajapakse who has a great vision for the progress and development of Sri Lanka to  continue his good work  to raise Sri Lanka  above its status of a developing nation, if the people would want him and vote for him  at the Presidential elections that follows the end of the term of  his office. 

 The Tamils be they politicians, academics, intellectuals or ordinary civilians should not rake the past, call for equality and devolution of power which will only make the Sinhala community hate the Tamils, and who knows result in another spate of terrorism.  An aspect of reconciliation is also to forget and forgive the errors of the past.

 It was most  annoying that Douglas Devananda decided to show his Tamilness by giving evidence in Tamil before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation  Commission. He had made matters worse by stopped several times  to dispute English translation by the interpreter. He could have as well given his evidence in English.

 In the reconciliation and reconstruction process  there should not be  communal reference Tamil, Sinhala, Muslim etc.  They should all be treated as Sri Lankans in that progressive movement of bringing all people together.  This is where the Tamils should take a lesson from the American President Barrack Obama.  His was a peaceful revolution.

 Mr.Barrack Obama did not separate himself as an ethnic minority.  He worked in harmony with the majority whites winning them over  with his pragmatic method of  campaigning.   He made it possible  for a man from  a minority ethnic group to become the leader of the most powerful nation of the world.  Why cannot the showy Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu cannot understand this  and change his separatist attitude ?

 Every body talks  of   the proposed 18^th Amendment to the constitution as an affront to Democracy.  Democracy is something that had been introduced by the West, expecting the developing countries of the third world to respect it, while they themselves act undemocratically.  They have introduced” human rights” to out manoeuvre  democratic principles, to interfere into internal affaires of the sovereign states of developing countries.

 Democracy is good in principle to already developed countries.  But a developing country should follow a “middle path” with out making  democracy a  sacrosanct political system.  If China  did not keep the west from interfering into its affairs, and adopted authoritative methods when necessary, it would have still remained as it  was described by Pear S Buck in her book the Good Earth.

 For a developing country to rise from low income  economy , to a middle income economy and then to a fully developed economy takes time and disciplining of the population. It is necessary to use high handed methods at times in the interest of the country.  That is not to say the methods adopted should be dictatorial, but  sufficient to infuse understanding and necessity of sacrifice for the overall development.

 Therefore, an executive President is necessary for  Sri Lanka, which is now on the correct path to development.   The fear of the other political parties about the introduction of the 18^th Amendment to the Constitution is that they will not be able to have  political power to make their political philosophies workable to hasten the development process. 

 But the democratic principle of changing Political parties  at every  parliamentary and Presidential election hampers development. When one political party has introduced a political process of development the results of which could be seen in a certain number of years, another political party coming into power before the end of that time period, will change the whole process to suit their political philosophy and the country as a result will  fall from once process to another with out any development at all.

 This has to stop, as we  have seen that  democracy  has not helped us from 1948 until now to even come above the lower income economic classification.  It is only now thanks to perspicacity of the President Mahinda Rajapakse we have reached the middle income economy status.  The country is at peace, infrastructure development is proceeding well, and the foreign currency reserve shows efficient management.  The country is socially, economically healthy.  The defence and security of the country is assured by an efficient Defense Secretary.

 What remains is the reconciliation and reconstruction, which at the way things are turning out will not be difficult if the present political system continues for some more time.  Therefore the 18^th Amendment is necessary for the present situation.  The 17^th Amendment as it is, is not workable, and it is best that it is scrapped and a more workable legislation is substituted.

 An incumbent President’s right to contest for another term of office under the 18^th Amendment does not mean that after the end of the  term of office  of  the President he is automatically allowed to continue in his office.  It only allows him to contest the  Presidential elections along with other candidates.  Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse  will not have the guarantee that the people will vote for him.  That would not be against any democratic principles

 Therefore, why make a fuss about the 18^th Amendment to the Constitution ?

 The country definitely needs  changes to its Constitution, to allow the President Mahinda Rajapakse, who has the  correct perception to lead our country to a higher target of development.  There had been errors and mistakes in certain ministerial responsibilities, but they are not irreparable, and it appears that the President has an eye every where to take stock of the situation and take corrective steps.

 Now if everything goes well  and the proposed amendments to the Constitution are adopted, it is left to the other political parties to rally round the President  and his government and help them to make a success of reconciliation and reconstruction of post terrorist Sri Lanka.  That way they will not be left out of the government’s development projects, and they can have their say on matters of importance.

 It is important that the Government Servants do not embarrass the government calling for strikes for pay hikes.  Every one has to make sacrifices and rally round the government to develop the country.   It does not mean that the opposition parties, and the government servants should not be vigilant. 

 But recalcitrant Trade Unionists like Lal Kantha should not be allowed to manipulate workers, and University Students for  political ends. If they continues  their s activities  which are detrimental to the country, democratic principles should be overlooked to punish them, or even arrest them.

 The public servants should check, observe, report defects, deficiencies, corruptions, undue interferences, slack in work to the proper authorities so that every body overseers the other  to enable the machine of administration to  work efficiently for the common good of the country.

 The Constitutional changes are essential and the Executive President should continue for some more time to come .  Therefore the fuss about the proposed 18^th Amendment to the Constitution is not necessary.