Did over 30,000 soldiers sacrifice their lives for politicians to divide the nation?
Posted on January 27th, 2015
Shenali D Waduge
The people of Sri Lanka have short memories. They have forgotten decades that bore bloodshed, fear and destruction. That past cannot be forgotten. That past is replete with remnants that continue to plague the nation requiring it to remain under eternal vigilance. Do we want to sacrifice and reverse all that we have gained for petty political points and be checkmated by those that have been conspiring for years to divide our nation? Do we not remember that it was our own that ceded the nation to the British in 1815 and we were almost on the verge of doing so in 2002 and now 200 years later we are again facing that same betrayal and the nation is looking with great apprehension at what the future holds.
Genesis of the Tamil problem
The divisions that former colonies today suffer from were those created by colonial rulers under a strategy known as ‘divide and rule’. Nonetheless, what cannot be omitted from the Eelam call whether it is by terrorists or Tamil politicians is its connection to the Eelam quest by Tamil Nadu where 72m of the worlds 76million Tamils live, thus Tamil Nadu is by virtue of its name the land of the Tamils not anywhere else.
Tamil leaders since early 1920s have been voicing their desire to live separate of Brahmin-controlled India – a concept promoted by the Justice Party (South Indian Liberal Federation) in 1921. This led to the Justice Party bringing a resolution stressing Tamil people’s right to a separate sovereign state under the direct control of the Secretary of State for India in London and led to the demand for a separate Dravida Nadu state (encompassing Tamil speaking states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnatak and Tamil Nadu). The British delegation (Cripps Mission) that came in 1942 refused the request for a separate Tamil state upon Indian independence.
A month before India gained Independence, Tamil leaders celebrated “Dravida Nadu Secession Day” which Mahatma Gandhi and Jinnah opposed leading to India gaining independence on 15 August 1947 without giving Tamils their separate state. In 1949 the DMK – Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was formed continuing calls for a Dravida Nadu and that same year under Chelvanayagam the Federal Party was formed in Sri Lanka whose English name was meant to camouflage its meaning of a separate Tamil state.
In India the Dravid Nadu supporters used the slogan Brahmin discrimination while in Sri Lanka the slogan was Sinhala discrimination. In 1950s the Tamils dropped calls for Dravida Nadu (since it included other states) and from “Dravida Nadu for Dravidians” the slogan became “Tamil Nadu for Tamils”. When India weakened the separatist movement through the States Reorganization Act (along linguistic lines) in 1956, the same year Sri Lanka introduced the Sinhala Only Act which gave the perfect excuse to build the momentum. The people of Tamil Nadu realized that the “Tamil homeland” calls was nothing but a tool being used to emotionally attach Tamils together by politicians to win votes that realization has yet to dawn upon Sri Lankan Tamil voters. DMK dropped the separatist demand in 1963 but India’s Central Government craftily used the Tamil factor to start militant groups covertly in Sri Lanka so that India’s Tamil Nadu would be safe from separation and India could keep Sri Lanka’s development and political leaders under Indian noose.
India is a separate state as is Sri Lanka, therefore India has no locus standi to comment on citizens of another country even though they are Tamil.
It was India that failed or neglected to hear the voice of Tamils for their own homeland and self-determination at the time of decolonization. That homeland for Tamils based on self-determination is what India has denied Tamils and not Sri Lanka. What India did was to palm off their headache to Sri Lanka. India did this by clandestinely training unemployed Tamil youth in India including Prabakaran and then arming, financing and supporting them to create mayhem in Sri Lanka. The 1983 was a planned and orchestrated event to launch Tamil militancy with a legitimacy argued on the basis of riots against Tamils and this paved the way for economic asylum seekers to emerge forced to fund the LTTE while over the years that plan digressed and became hijacked by western sources using NGOs and the Church to advance their geopolitical agendas using the LTTE.
As things stand it looks as if Tamils are satisfied in simply shouting for Eelam and enjoying the benefits of what can accrue from the bargaining power they possess internationally and locally rather than really start of running a state of their own knowing the hurdles likely to come their way. Nonetheless, the foreign conspirators in this probably have other plans and eelam is just a tool to meet the end objective. This is where political acumen is required to ruffle the necessary feathers.
Sri Lanka’s politicians require education to be able to understand where their apples should be put. Having said that it was asking too much of western educated, converted, English speaking and Western thinking local post-independent leaders to reverse the status quo in particular the reverse discrimination that should have been meted out to the Sinhalese above all others.
The British took over the nation of Sinhale (not Ceylon or Sri Lanka)
Let us note that the 1815 Kandy Convention ceding Sri Lanka to the British was signed between the British and the Sinhale Nation and assured that the State religion Buddhism would be protected by the British. This clearly establishes that there was no Sri Lanka or Ceylon but the Sinhale Nation. Our Leaders have failed the Sinhala people in not demanding in 1948 or in 1972 that the nation should return to its original name Sinhale as it was known before ceding power. Over the years on the pretext of co-existence the Sinhalese have had to compromise their space while minorities have not cared to budge from their demands.
We have had death and misery because for decades the leadership lay in the hands of people who purported and suffered from an ‘unwinnable war syndrome’ believing that the only way to deal with terrorists was to appease and prostrate before them and we see the repetition of that happening with the same unwinnable war proponents usurping governance from an elected President.
True, people make mistakes and should be given a second chance but the back-door entered PM and his 55 Ministers appear to be reversing all that the country has gained and continuing to wish to follow the same appeasement policy likely to lead to dire consequences for the nation. Formerly we dealt with a terrorist movement that reserved the nation’s right to militarily defeat them. Now we are faced with a scenario that the unwinnable war proponents are flirting with the idea of dividing the nation just to please people that have helped them enter from the back door.
Separatism camaflaged under bogus terminology – self-determination, discrimination by Sinhalese, claims of ‘genocide’, claims of ‘colonizing’ ‘Tamil areas’, ‘ethnic cleansing’ have been part of a very systematic propaganda effort towards the goal. This goal started not with the LTTE and not even through the Vaddukoddai Resolution but far before independence and finds its roots to and is linked with Tamil Nadu’s desire to separate from the British created ‘India’.
Daya Gamage’s latest article titled Sri Lanka new regime focuses on Tamil Homeland – Two Nation Concept http://www.asiantribune.com/node/86293 speaks of Ranil Wickremasinghe looking at returning to the Thimpu Principles of 1985 giving Tamil Homeland under a one-country-two nation concept.
The Tamil militant groups, LTTE and TULF placed as their demands
(a) recognition of the Tamils of Ceylon as a nation
(b) recognition of the existence of an identified homeland for the Tamils in Ceylon
(c) recognition of the right of self determination of the Tamil nation
Surprise, surprise, these were the identical demands placed by TNA in 2001 and repeated throughout all of its election manifestos.
- a) Recognition of Tamils as a distinct nationality
- b) Recognition of a Tamil Homeland with guaranteed territorial integrity
- c) Recognition of the inalienable right of self-determination of the Tamil nation.
- d) Recognition of the right to full citizenship and fundamental democratic rights of all Tamils
What is surprising is that Sri Lankan governments have ignored to use the constitutional provisions in place to deal with TNA. 6thamendment to the
Constitution Article 157A specifically prohibits any violation of Sri Lanka’s territorial integrity, it prohibits political parties or associations/organizations from having as one of its aims and objectives the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka, there are provisions available to convict any of violating these provisions and the punishment to be given is stated clearly. Political parties can be proscribed for attempting to separate so why has no action been taken against the TNA to date? Why have political leaders chosen to ignore that MPs take the Oath of Allegiance which promises to not directly or indirectly in or outside Sri Lanka, support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or advocate the establishment of a separate State. The TULF walked out of Parliament in 1983 refusing to take this oath. http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2012/06/27/sixth-amendment-to-the-constitution/
What is at stake
Not many may be aware that Gen. Fonseka was selected as Army Commander just 10 days before his retirement to do what former commanders had not been delegated to do. The war effort was a combination of political leadership and military leadership synergized with a nation spurring its forces with blessings and encouragement.
It is only those that contributed to the war victory giving Sri Lanka peace that deserve and have a right to stake claim in the victory. All those who sat claiming the tigers were invisible and had to be molly-cuddled deserve no place for they chose the enemy over our heroes.
All those that today talk of doing the right thing by the nation were cowards to come forward to defend the nation. It was the youth from the South that came forward in numbers enlarging the military to 200,000 by 2009. It is the blood and sacrifice of these soldiers that won us the war not those now claiming to work out ‘solutions’ in Geneva obviously following the same line of appeasement that they are used to.
Over 30,000 soldiers have perished and a similar number remain injured for life. Their lives were lost and damaged not to have unwinnable war proponents emerge to carve out the country to suit their fancies. They were never elected to office to change the demography of the country. People with soiled hands cannot be judge especially when their guilt in not standing by the men that defended the nation but taking the side of the tiger stand out as reminders of their unsuitability to lead. People are judged by their actions. In officially allowing a terrorist entity to have terrorist controlled areas, in disclosing names of Sri Lanka’s intelligence and thereby facilitating their deaths, in removing checkpoints that exposed the security the catastrophe was seen after 2002 and the same mistakes are being repeated while the same advisors that were part of that former government are also placed in significant roles while the LTTE’s conspirators abroad and their mouthpieces in Sri Lanka are now salivating on when these unwinnable war proponents will sign and give away the nation.
Should those realizing the mistakes of the past not come forward to realize that the sacrifices of the men to save the nation should not be ridiculed in the manner that a handful of politicians are now planning to freely deliver what the soldiers sacrificed their lives to deny.
With no changes to the constitution yet made, it is puzzling that the President is now in silent mode while all executive powers are being exercised by a PM and with the question how can this happen unanswered they are purporting to solve the national problem without telling the people what the problem exactly is.
What we would like to know from those solving the national problem is what is it that the Sinhalese only enjoy which the Tamil minority has been legally and constitutionally denied. With this question yet to be answered and people uncomfortable to provide the answer why should the country suffer by dividing it while Tamils and even Muslims wish to claim land rights for only their own while also demanding they have access to the rest of the country’s land as well which indirectly connotes to mean Sinhalese debarred from North and in time to come the East.
Nonetheless, the bottom line is that this country has been preyed upon and flogged enough. The people have had enough of politicians falling for carrots and agreeing to give bits and pieces of the nation that does not belong to them.
We have again returned to anxious times when people who love the nation are wondering what deals those that have taken over governance are conspiring without appraising the people first.
If Sri Lanka were to agree to hold a domestic inquiry it must cover all aspects of how Tamil militancy emerged, the local and international players involved from inception, the Eelam concept and its political marriage to a terrorist movement thus links to LTTE of all players involved (individuals, Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims foreigners, International organizations, international players, the Church, kovils etc) need to all be investigate and these cannot be done in a year or two and if those that were associated with the LTTE were to provide the funds it does not require any imagination as to where the investigation will end up!
Its time people started paying more attention to the security of the nation – without that there is no nation.
January 26th, 2015 at 7:15 pm
Excellent Article, but why did you not write about the private army that Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya created to attack Sinhala and Tamil settlers when they attempted to get MR’s attention, when he visited Ampara! I picked it from his news conference report. He had a certified private security firm at every northern and eastern province election counting office. There are plenty of U-tube videos floating about? Q1. Why is RaniW not leave the country? A. He is barred from entering India. This was told to MangalaS clearly by the Indian Foreign Minister. I am sure you know very well that the operation was well funded by Raj Rajarathnam from a prison cell. Did you not read the 3 Judge Judicial Committee in INDIA banned the LTTE for another 4 years? You are looking for Rahula Hamudurunghe tomb? What about the Tombs of Lankaputhra and Lakadeepa in now called Tamil Nadu? They can be easily found by present technology: Ground penetrating RADRA.
January 26th, 2015 at 7:29 pm
Thank you Shenali
January 26th, 2015 at 7:32 pm
Shenali,
Where were you HIDING all these days, since about 2 months BEFORE the Election?
You should have used your voice to HELP PREVENT the election DEBACLE we now see!
January 26th, 2015 at 8:49 pm
Ananda-USA,
Please show some R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
SW was not hiding anywhere. She lives in SL unlike us. She has written many articles during the election. But articles cannot give people food, Mattala planes, Hambantota ships or Suriyawewa cricket matches. Can they?
Lets all work TOGETHER to build a better SL for all. Shal we? (OK I know you reject it.)
January 26th, 2015 at 9:34 pm
Yes. All have to start from scratch now.
We had great expectations – ruined by Maa-Hinda. Now let us go back to 2004 and start again. This time no Maa-Hindaa , the symbol of endless selfish greed. Must find someone with noble intentions.
January 26th, 2015 at 9:36 pm
Lankakaputra,
Why don’t you make a complain officially. There are nearly 30000 complaints at the moment.
January 26th, 2015 at 10:15 pm
“Facebook” Lorenzo,
I will not JOIN YOU, a DEVIOUS EELAMIST who hid in the GRASS LIKE A SNAKE to STING Sri Lanka in the BACK at the CRITICAL MOMENT, to DO ANYTHING!
STOP YOUR HYPOCRISY, and don’t PRESUME to offer ADVICE to ANYONE here on RESPECT or ANYTHING ELSE.
You are SIMPLY NOT QUALIFIED to speak of such things …you don’t know the meaning of the word.
HYPOCRITE!
January 26th, 2015 at 11:04 pm
Shenali good to see you back in the Forum.I sincerely love to read your articles as well as some other folks. Lankaputhra do not show anger we must show these traitors real Maitriya. We do not take revenge we gave mercy to them before and will give them in the future too. If we are divided those ungrateful Tamils and Muslims will have a hay day in my land of birth.
Mahinda treated them like human beings. Their leader Prabakaran killed them,ruined their lives,kidnapped them,rob all their properties etc. but this man Mahinda Rajapksa forgave them and gave life and a place to live in harmony and we Sinhalese had a chance to visit all the areas in the land without any restrictions or any harassment but now everything is finished because of the Eelamist threat looming in the Horizon.
Why such a hurry for Mangalaya to run like a rat to India and Europe first? There’s something fishy going on and we must be vigilant because they are playing with snakes whom we know in the past. Americans are rattle snakes we do not know which way they will go.They are famous for destroying not building countries or societies. I hope these yahapalana traitors will not sell our country same as in 2004 to these enemies of ours. Shenali’s writing will open eyes for some because there are people who are not here and do not know the reality on the ground. They get all the info from Gossip webs and blindly support without actually knowing the truth.
Ananda our people should learn a lesson let it go like this for few days and they will say ” OH My God why we brought this Monster back” when they realized the yahapalana motives behind our backs.
January 26th, 2015 at 11:41 pm
ranjit said
“Ananda our people should learn a lesson let it go like this for few days and they will say ” OH My God why we brought this Monster back” when they realized the yahapalana motives behind our backs.”
Yes ranjit, after the 100 days, it will be very difficult to reverse the process; that is what the enemies of Sri Lanka want to do. The TIME TO YELL is RIGHT NOW! We are seeing Sri Lanka’s DEFENSES being DISMANTLED BEFORE OUR EYES!
The PROGNOSIS for PEACE & PROGRESS in Sri Lanka …. is NOT GOOD! I FEAR the WORST if people don’t WAKE UP and FIGHT BACK!
January 27th, 2015 at 12:03 am
Shenali D Waduge
At last We have United Mother Lanka Now – Let’s celebrate together
live & let’s live until Eelam war V , Velu where are you ??
January 27th, 2015 at 1:45 am
I am here you stupid Sinhalese.I told you once that Sinhalese will forget very soon.So I am waiting to come back from Hell.See you soon Regards velapulli prabakaran. Thanks for helping me Ranil and the clan.
January 27th, 2015 at 2:49 am
Shenali:
these are al dishonest articles.
Just talk and nothing serious.
January 27th, 2015 at 3:23 am
Ranjit,
A good one.
But according to Buddhism, those who come out from the hell, cannot straightaway become a human.
HE will be born as a MOOSQUITO first, for billions of births. So he will be buzzing around our ears for a long time. So, wait for the big mosquito.
January 27th, 2015 at 5:06 am
Namaste. It is Indian colonialism and imperialism. Jai Hind.
January 27th, 2015 at 6:40 am
Christie Says:
January 27th, 2015 at 5:06 am
Namaste. It is Indian colonialism and imperialism. Jai Hind.
Christie,
You have been pointing to the not-so-invisible hand behind the political manoeuvres in Sri Lanka, the stark obvious one being the creation training and supporting Terrorists to destabilise Sri Lanka culminating in the 1987 agreement and everything that followed from it .
India absorbed Sikkim which was an independent country, way back in the seventies, Bhutan and Nepal are virtually dependent on India right now. These countries, being land locked countries bordering India, have very little space to manoeuvre.
Sri Lanka’s fate need not be the same because of being a separate island even though neighbouring India, provided the correct leadership is there not to become a satellite of India.
As you have pointed out a large part of the economy is in the hands of the Indians, now that the new regime is going to displace China in preference to India, the process will get more acute.
They were and still are using the Tamils in Sri Lanka, as a convenient lever to stop Sri Lanka become truly independent for its own strategic goals, just as the US and the EU are doing.
They can always find a group of local ‘useful idiots’, be it Sri Lanka or any other country.
China is helping countries without any strings attached to achieve their strategic objectives, but they have been all weather friends throughout.
Now that the US and EU have got their man in place, the withholding of GSP+, the sanction on fisheries imports from Sri Lanka to EU and the UNHRC resolution will be miraculously eased, provided ‘the man in place’ implements their directives. The US is already making noises on that line.
People will soon find the bitter contents of the sugar coated pill that they are being offered.
In the meantime the various ‘team members’ are providing ‘entertainment’; finding ‘floating armouries’, an account ‘held by the former Defence Secretary’, ‘an armoury at the BMICH, bogus news about resignation of the CJ etc keep the tittle-tattle going.
Just like the UNHRC was interested about the period at the end of the armed conflict against the terrorists, the current regime is looking into the corruption during the last 10 years, that too would probably not apply to those who joined them.
January 27th, 2015 at 7:49 am
another pertinent question is, Did 30k soldiers (who were mostly rural poor, who also contribute to the economy and on whose productivity the city folks and the educated (who have contributed nothing to the economy despite our having higher education for more than 80 years)) sacrificed their live so that people in power (politicians, high ranking officers and (some) business people) can do all sort of corruption and law breaking some beyond belief considering the extent to which they under mine regulations.
January 27th, 2015 at 8:42 am
Newly appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Mr. Arjuna Mahendran assumed duties in his new post on Monday, the 26th of January 2015 -another Hela-demilaya !!!!
Ananda-USA
Looks like Not Aiyooooo Sirisena…., Abey Sirisena !!!!
What happing in Mother Lanka , please do not spoil my 33 years TE day dream , Velu where are you ???
January 27th, 2015 at 10:53 am
This writer is living in another planet where she didn’t notice the divisions in the country where the top division scooped all the wealth and money, another division had to work hard to pay taxes and to break even, if they had a business and the other division had nothing and the conniving politicians threw scraps at them to seek their vote and the silly voter of the lower division never realized the lack of long term benefit for them, just like the free measures of rice given by the past UNP regime to bribe the voter and the voter never gave a thought beyond the measure of rice.
It’s the hard working tax payer who is concerned about any bad governance and lawlessness in the country that undermines ones livelihoods and they were branded as Colombians. It’s these Colombians that pay with their hard earned money for the indulgences of any regime at the top division.
This is why I fully support the life styles of the former Colonials as they have the answer to the near good and comfortable living where some of these writers write nonsense from.
Divide and rule is the name of the game in our culture that the Colonials abolished in 1815.
In these Western countries one can’t getaway with one do in Sl as politicians.
January 27th, 2015 at 12:18 pm
“Yahapalanaya” in FULL SWING:
……………………….
Rajapaksa Sees Sinister Motive Behind Media Blitz Against Him
Jan 27 (NIE) COLOMBO- Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has slammed the on-going media blitz against him and has charged that the vilification campaign is meant to mislead the public.
In a letter to the Buddhist Maha Sangha and Lankans at large, Rajapaksa said that the accusation that he sought the Attorney General’s advice on how to remain in power illegally, is by its very nature, an “absurdity”.
“I was saddened by the comments made about this alleged incident and other matters by the incumbent President (Maithripala Sirisena) at a rally in Polonnaruwa,” he added.
About the TV images of the interior of his official residence “Temple Trees” which “insinuated” that he and his family had led an extravagant lifestyle at state expense, he said that these facilities had been created to cater to foreign delegates during the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in accordance with international specifications.
About the accusation that his wife Shiranthi was trying to sell 100 kilos of gold belonging to the government Treasury, he pointed out that the police had already responded to that “ridiculous” allegation.
On the search for hidden Lamborghinis, Rajapaksa said: “Vehicles that even remotely resemble sports cars are being taken by the police from the houses of their owners in their search for Lamborghinis belonging to my sons. But no Lamborghinis have been found.”
“Two containers of personal belongings of my family have been examined by the police on suspicion of being items ‘stolen’ from Temple Trees. These items were stored in containers because I had no place to go to in Colombo after vacating my official residence,” he said.
On alleged shady deals with foreign project contractors, Rajapaksa said that all agreements had been vetted by the Attorney General and approved by the cabinet. Many parties were involved in these projects and with so many eyes watching them, it would be impossible to inflate costs, Rajapaksa argued.
Pointing out that Chinese aided projected are being specially targeted, Rajapaksa said that China has helped Sri Lanka for six decades, and suggested that such mud-slinging be stopped.
“Outrageous and totally unsubstantiated accusations against me were disseminated through various websites and social media networks such as facebook both before and after the election. I self-critically admit that my government did not take these baseless allegations seriously and counter them in time.However, I am confident that the truth will prevail one day,” the former President said.
January 27th, 2015 at 12:30 pm
Six new provincial governors sworn in Sri Lanka
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Jan 27, Colombo: New Governors appointed to six provinces in Sri Lanka took oaths before Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena at the Presidential Secretariat today.
New Governors were appointed to Northern, Eastern, Sabaragamuwa, Central, North-Central and Uva Provinces following the change in the government after January 8 presidential elections.
Seen here is new Governor of the Central Province Surangani Ellawala receiving her appointment from the President.
The new appointments are as follows:
H.M.G.S. Palihakkara – Governor of the Northern Province
Austin Fernando – Governor of the Eastern Province
B.M.A.R. Perera – Governor of the Sabaragamuwa Province
Surangani Ellawala – Governor of the Central Province
P.B. Dissanayake – Governor of the North-Central Province
M.G. Jayasinghe – Governor of the Uva Province
New governors for the other three provinces were sworn in on Friday (23).
K.C. Yogeswaran was sworn in as the new Governor for Western Province, Mrs. Amara Piyaseeli Ratnayake was sworn in as the new Governor for North Western Province and Mr. Hemakumara Nanayakkara was sworn in as the new Governor for Southern Province.
January 27th, 2015 at 1:08 pm
“The people of Sri Lanka have short memories. They have forgotten decades that bore bloodshed, fear and destruction. That past cannot be forgotten”
There is a reason for that. Sinhalese like most around the world DO NOT ENSHRINE OUR MISERY.
JEWS DO: From the Exodus led by Moses from ancient Egypt under Ramses the 2nd to the Pogroms under European and Russian societies to the Holocaust JEWS GO OUT OF THEIR WAY TO REMIND THE WORLD OF THEIR SUFFERING.
The price they pay is that they internalize this suffering. Psychologists have a term for this “Persecution complex”.
People and nations who enshrine a torment in life or a collective misery see PERSECUTION EVERYWHERE. In my own words. “the eyes of victims see persecution everywhere”
AMERICAN BLACKS DO: no matter how wealthy, how successful or powerful American blacks get, they feel as if Slavery is a “Personal experience” even though they have never experienced being a slave. By that they have managed to dictate US domestic policy in their behalf. BUT THE PRICE THEY PAY IS THE SENSE OF BEING PERSECUTED FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES.
SRI LANKAN TAMILS DO: No matter how successful Tamils become they focus on the collective misery they may have had or they have concocted. BY THAT THEY HAVE CONVINCED INDIA TO THE WORLD THAT SINHALESE ARE BY NATURE BRUTES WHO WILL CONTINUE TO ABUSE TAMILS.
THE PRICE THEY PAY IS A SENSE OF ALIENATION IN SRI LANKA AND IN INDIA.
The trick is for Sinhalese to enshrine this war in the manner Iran did of her revolution (In Tehran there is a fountain with red water to indicate the blood spilled during the war with Iraq and the Revolution).
Sinhalese need to walk the thin line of having reminders of that war without falling into the trap of being a PERSECUTED PEOPLE.
January 27th, 2015 at 3:33 pm
BW,
Absolutely, I agree with you completely. Well said!
January 27th, 2015 at 3:48 pm
JUST MY POINTS OF VIEW:-
Rathana Thero says;- Executive presidency will not be abolished, period. Hamuduruwaney ! ay boru kivvay mulu lankavatama ?? Sinhala minissu lanuva kava ney ? Gon yakku. Visaala Paapayak. Karmic Law will prevail, I believe.
Ethakota, Election Manthraya, “” Abolishing Executive Presidency as we come in, Nepotism and corruption will be annihilated. NO MORE, NO MORE, NO MORE. Kiyala wedak nehe. Aiyya Telecom lokka, Mahaththuruy, egolange Nona luy, Honda Honda rakiyaval wela. Mekanam Nepotism novay, MEKATA KIYANNEY **** DESPOTISM, DESPOTISM, DESPOTISM.
If President Mahinda stole so much of money, why could he not have a house in COLOMBO ? Why ? He is begging for a house from the President, and Prime Minister. It is a sin, he has no place to live in Colombo, while Walay suddha has many houses in Horton Place, Queens road etc. I hope PM Ranils, and Presidents Hearts will come back to, where it should be, on the left side of the chest, and not anywhere in the alimentary canal exit.
The Party entrusted to seek corruption from every rat hole, has killed about 60,000 SINHALESE in two insurrections. Murderers entrusted with ”search and kill in the hall of jurisdiction ” privileges. This insane authority completely negates the LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY, and their MORALE WILL BE IN SMITHEREENS. So far “” all fart and no shit “” This brings me to nostalgic memories of Sir John’s wisdom, “” mama bandapu ballo, umba lihala ariya. “”
SRILANKA JUST SHOULD NOT HAVE LET LOOSE THE HOUNDS TO SNIFF AND BITE AT WILL.
LET THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SINNED, CAST THE FIRST STONE.
January 27th, 2015 at 3:55 pm
BW,
You are correct BUT for that to happen with Sinhalese they should be either JEWS, MUSLIMS or HINDUS.
Buddhism prevents HATE BUILD UP and REGENERATING HATE.
Buddhism is based on ANICCA, ANAATHMA, DUKKA, PATICCA SAMUPPADA. Sinhala people have DIGESTED these noble truth to SOME EXTENT and they KNOW cause of the MISERY is NOT Tamils but SAMSARA.
IN Judaism, Hinduism and Islam there is NO such thing. They believe they DESERVE HAPPINESS and if it is DENIED to them it must be someone else’s fault.
I personally know how Tamils REGENERATE HATE with creative BS against Muslims and Sinhalese. HATE is fed to kids when they turn 4. REVENGE is taught with religion.
Arabs (including other Muslims) also use HATE against NON BELIEVERS to find a reason for their misery.
JEWS are NOT that bad but the miserable memory of the Holocaust, etc. is kept alive by MISERABLE reminders (which is happening RIGHT NOW!).
So the DEFEATED SL leaders did not understand Sinhala Buddhist thinking!!
January 27th, 2015 at 3:58 pm
SW,
We NEVER said we will ABOLISH it. I told you this many times before the election.
Executive presidency will be KEPT with REDUCED POWERS and a REDUCED TERM of 5 years.
January 27th, 2015 at 4:08 pm
“Facebook” Lorenzo LIES AGAIN! “We NEVER said we will ABOLISH it”!
This REDUCED term of 5 years is BRAND NEW, with Aiyoo Sirisenaa revealing that little GEM during his recent visit to Polonnaruwa!
“Facebook” Lorenzo’s POLITICAL POSITIONS, like his LOYALTY & PATRIOTISM, is INFINITELY FLEXIBLE, and CHANGES at will! A CONGENITAL HYPOCRITE!
What do you expect from a HIDDEN EELAMIST? Bah!
January 27th, 2015 at 4:13 pm
Susantha,
Now you, the Buddhist, is EXPECTED to LEARN your “Buddhism” from the HIDDEN EELAMIST Tamil Anglican Christian “Facebook” Lorenzo spouting Buddhist scripture!
Oh My GOD, is there NO LIMIT to his HYPOCRISY, his CHUTZPAH?
January 27th, 2015 at 4:14 pm
Ananda-USA,
We NEVER said we will ABOLISH it. I told you this many times before the election.
Executive presidency will be KEPT with REDUCED POWERS and a REDUCED TERM of 5 years.
BTW did you take the US oath? Did your surname change when you married USA? Please answer.
January 27th, 2015 at 4:17 pm
Ananda-USA,
You show NO SIGN of Buddhism. I being a Tamil Anglican Christian practice better Buddhism than you.
You sow HATE with every comment while I sow MAITHRI with every comment.
May the noble tripple gem guide you out of misery and hate. May you attain nibbana.
January 27th, 2015 at 4:28 pm
“Facebook” Lorenzo,
I have NO “Maithree” for EELAMISTS, NONE WHATEVER, only the SWORD!
Don’t BS us, you showed your “Maithree” in the past advocating military coup-de-etats against our democratically elected government, white vanning of political opponents, and even STARVING the Tamils in the North during the war, and NOW UNDERMINING our Motherland, the REFUGE of ALL OF OUR People, recently rescued by the SWORD from the vice-like grip of your Machiavellian fellow EELAMISTS!
DESTROYING the LIVELIHOODS, the PEACE and the SECURITY of our people does not crown you with ANY “Maithree”.
As I said, a HYPOCRITE to the very END!
As I said, reserve the BULLSHIT for your EELAMISTS!
January 27th, 2015 at 5:43 pm
LORENZO !!
The first talk was with frothing fury, that EXECUTIVE PRESIDENCY will be abolished. Then Ranil realized that, ” kata waradda gaththa ” Then it was watered down to clipping the wings. NOW, RATHANA THERO POSITIVELY SAYS, WITH HIS PHOTO TO BOOT, THAT THE EXECUTIVE PRESIDENCY WILL STAY. There is no talk of it being watered down. Ranil said he would say adios to China, and there again he said he will keep China, but review the contracts. Lot of things they said in a hurry was retracted. Well Ranil is my distant relation. If I tell you that Iam closely related to Three ‘Late” Army Commanders, and an IGP, you might try to guess how. Chandrika is a very close relation of mine. Very close. We did throw some stones at them together, during our journey in electioneering. Now you say “We NEVER said ” I respect your changes in vision. Lorenzo, just to boast a little. A Presidents Secretary, lived in our ancestral home for two years, before he became JRs Secretary. That is W.M.P.B. Menkdiwela. He knew me as a college student. I was a regular visitor to his home in Blake Road. I knew his whole family and his wife’s family. I have moved with many Ministers. I had Ministers coming to one of my daughters wedding, at Holiday Inn. I have two immediate relations holding very high judicial positions. There names have been in the news. So I am not a green horn to political talk.
I took this oath as a Citizen, and I take this oath every month at the Lions Meeting:- I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF AMERICA, AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.
Lorenzo ! You touched on EP, but not any of my other points of view. You evaded them Eh ? We have benn talking to each other for a long time.
Just one mistake you have made and needs to withdraw it. YOU DONT SAY, “”MAY YOU ATTAIN NIBBANA “” UNLESS A PERSON DIES, OR IS DEAD. I am sure you will understand me.
January 27th, 2015 at 6:48 pm
Susuntha,
Interesting to know your relatives. I too have some connection but at a different level.
May I ask you, are you related to late Gilbert Paranagama who was residing in Havelock Town ?
January 27th, 2015 at 6:53 pm
NANDA !! NO. I knew some Paranagamas in Kandy, when I was Manager, Walker & Greig Ltd, Kandy.
January 27th, 2015 at 6:53 pm
Susantha,
Sorry spelt your name wrongly.
You must only read the election manifesto of Mr. Sirisena. Don’t care about you 2nd Cousin Chndrka or relative Runil.
January 27th, 2015 at 6:56 pm
No. This person is a Director of Whitthals Estates Agencies, related to Sirimavo by marriage.
January 27th, 2015 at 8:01 pm
ALL of these proposed Constitutional Amendments REQUIRE 2/3 MAJORITY in Parliament.
Let us see whether the Rank & File of the SLFP WILL FOLLOW its new “Party Leader” (who stabbed the previous Party Leader in the BACK), and BETRAY the Nation to EMPOWER DROHIYAS, SEPARATISTS, Western Neocolonialists and Indian Parasites at the expense of OUR Motherland!
If they do, they will EARN THE WRATH of their PATRIOTIC COUNTRYMEN and be LABELLED as DROHIYAS for CENTURIES to come!
…………………………
Presidential term limited to five years – President
By Chaminda Perera in Polonnaruwa
DailyNews.lk
January 28, 2015
President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday said that the term of office of the President of Sri Lanka will be reduced to five years from the original six .
“I had insisted that the terms of the Presidency be reduced to four years though the Committee of Constitutional Experts and political leaders did not agree with my demand,” the President added.
“They said that holding a Presidential Election every four years was not good for the country,” he said.
The President added that they later came to the consensus that the term of the Presidency should be confined to five years due to his strong insistence.
The committee comprising constitutional experts are in the process of discussing on how unlimited powers of the Executive Presidency should be vested in the Legislature.
The President was addressing public officials of the Polonnaruwa district at the Thopawewa school grounds.
“Anti apartheid hero and former South African President Nelson Mandela succeeded in bringing many reforms to that country during his four year rule after languishing in jail for over 27 years,” he noted.
President Sirisena said that Sri Lankan leaders can learn many lessons from President Nelson Mandela who introduced many reforms in the economic, political and social fields within his 4 year rule.
“My policy is to consider those who opposed me at the election as friends as Mandela did and get them involved in the process of building the country,”he said.
President Sirisena insisted that he will never offer posts to anyone in consideration of their political affiliations.
“The posts are given to individuals after considering their suitability, efficiency, honesty and qualifications only,” he stressed .
President Sirisena said new regulations would be enacted to ensure that no government or a candidate can utilize State power to waste public funds and deploy government servants for his victory in violation of election laws.
He stressed that the government is dedicated to creating an atmosphere in which the field officials including Samurdhi animators and Grama Niladharis can discharge their duties to the public free from political intimidation.
“Most of the public servants like to perform their duty sans political interference and protect the dignity of their service,’ he said
“The fields officers including Samurdhi animators and Grama Niladharies know better than me how the previous regime was involved in the distribution of many items including the sil reddhas among the voters.
“The previous regime violated all basic norms practised during an election. They breached the long held principles of free and fairness of the election at the last presidential poll,” he said.
“If the political leadership at the top is corrupt the government servants below them also become corrupt. If the politicians are corrupt, the entire public service faces deterioration,” he said.
The President added that the existing tender system is the most corrupt procedure in the country. He said that the Health Ministry calls for 21,0000 tenders a year.
“I insisted during the previous regime that a new system should be introduced in place of the tender procedure as the tender procedure was corrupt,” he added.
President Sirisena added that he sent Health Ministry officials to study the systems in various countries which had similar a tender system as Sri Lanka to purchase goods, equipment and other items required for government institutions.
“The previous government did not give the green light to implement that system in Sri Lanka,” he said.
President Sirisena also said the public service faced deterioration in an unprecedented manner during the last few years. He said that the country witnessed how a political party utilized government servants for its election campaign to ensure its candidate’s victory at the last presidential election. This is an unprecedented situation. No party in power has used public servants for political work to such an extent.
“The Presidential election which I contested witnessed a record in terms of election law violations. The State media was used to target me. Various campaigns were launched using the State media to insult me,” he said
The President added that no party in power has used State resources and power during an election as the previous regime did.
“Temple Trees is a sanctified place in politics but it was used as an office of a political party for the past few years,” he said
The President added that the previous regime compelled Ministry Secretaries and other senior government officials to participate in discussions over the State media to ensure the candidate’s victory. “Forged ballot papers were in circulation around the country just three days ahead of the Presidential election aimed at misleading the voters,” the President said.
“Our people were intelligent enough to identify these manoeuvres effectively as almost all people in the country are literate,” he said.
January 27th, 2015 at 8:50 pm
SW,
No. It was clear from start we would NOT get rid of it. We would KEEP it will less powers and a reduced term.
The promise will be kept.
January 27th, 2015 at 11:23 pm
Look at the DUPLICITY of this EELAMIST, “Facebook” Lorenzo,
“You didn’t remove the 13th Amendment” he cries INCONSOLABLY, so he campaigns to ELECT & SUPPORT Aiyooo Sirisenaaa, who PROMISED to implement the 13th Amendment in FULL, devolving Land and Police Powers to SEPARATISTS!
Now you CLEARLY see the DEVIOUSNESS & HYPOCRISY in this EELAMIST REPROBATE don’t you? HE SAYS ONE THING and DOES THE EXACT OPPOSITE!
He wails “I am a PATRIOT, I want the 13A REPEALED!” to CONFUSE & MISLEAD PATRIOTS, and then he SLIPS HISS KNIFE BETWEEN THE RIBS OF PATRIOTS!
This is the KIND of MISINFORMATION, MISDIRECTION and OUTRIGHT LIES that Confused the Public to Engineer the REGIME CHANGE! It is TIME the “Kavum Kana Moda Sinhalaya” WISED UP!
January 27th, 2015 at 11:49 pm
Therefore, if “Tamil Nationalism” does not accept FULL IMPLEMENTATION of the 13th Amendment as a Lasting Solution, what would satisfy “Tamil Nationalism”?
The ANSWER TODAY is the SAME AS THE ANSWER I GAVE 30 years ago in my article “Devolution .. A Recipe for National Suicide”: What the EElamists want is FULL SOVEREIGNTY as a separate country followed by UNION with Tamil Nadu of India!
In other words, the REALIZATION of the Greater Tamil Nadu Dream of Karunanidhi as shown in the MAPS he has already published!
Therefore, whisper to me softly Effendi Aiyoooo Sirisenaaa if my lips do not UTTER THE TRUTH when I SAY you are ENABLING Karunanidhi’s Greater Tamil Nadu Dream with your promise to FULLY IMPLEMENT 13A INSTEAD of FULLY REPEALING IT?
Aiyoooo Sirisenaaaa …. What are you DOING to our Motherland???
………………
Tamil Nationalism has Never Accepted that a Lasting Solution Could be Arrived at Through Full Devolution Within a Unitary State.
BY DR DAYAN JAYATILLEKA
DBSJeyaray.com
January 27, 2015
PRE-INDEPENDENCE DAY THOUGHTS 2015: THE FUTURE STATE OF THE NATION
In the run-up to Independence Day 2015, we must thank God for Mr. Sumanthiran. He is indubitably a moderate and an intellectual. Let us give thanks also for the Sunday Observer, which is a state-run newspaper not given to running stories or distorting them in a manner inimical or embarrassing to the government of the day. Therefore, when Mr. Sumanthiran says something to the Sunday Observer, I take it seriously because I know I am on safe ground. Mr. Sumanthiran tells the newspaper that the TNA doesn’t expect much movement on addressing the Tamil political question during the Hundred Day program. That is realistic –and anyway, who’d want to affect the UNP’s chances at the General election by pressing home Tamil political demands? He also says that the full implementation of the 13th amendment would be a good first step. Then comes the bottom-line: “The PM said that devolution will now be given under the 13th Amendment which the previous government was blocking. But we have clearly said that the full implementation of the 13th Amendment is no lasting solution.” (‘Current political trend signals harmony among communities’ – M.A.Sumanthiran MP, by P.Krishnaswamy, Sunday Observer, January 25th 2015)
MA Sumanthiran MP
MA Sumanthiran MP
There’s always that ‘but’ isn’t there? There’s always that ‘but’ even for a moderate Tamil nationalist intellectual. The truth as disclosed or rather, reiterated by the cosmopolitan, Colombo based Mr. Sumanthiran is that the proposed removal of the roadblocks to the full implementation of the 13th amendment just isn’t enough. This is because “full implementation of the 13th amendment is no lasting solution”.
Some readers may think I am making something of a mountain out of a molehill, but interestingly and appropriately the caption of the interview when reproduced on the website of veteran (expatriate) journalist DBS Jeyaraj reflected what was most newsworthy about the story: “Full Implementation of the 13th Amendment is No Lasting Solution- MA Sumanthiran, MP”.
Now this also goes some way in explaining why the 13th amendment was never fully implemented. That’s because successive Southern leaders understood that if it was fully implemented, matters would not stop there. That would not put a cap on it. The full implementation of the 13th amendment would be but a stepping stone for more. Why? Because “we have clearly said that the full implementation of the 13th amendment is no lasting solution” and therefore “we” would strive to push beyond it. Worse still, that “we” would not try our very best to make the 13th amendment work because if it did, “we” would not be able to prove “our” dogmatic, politically fundamentalist point that “the full implementation of the 13th amendment is no lasting solution”.
This shows that even on the morning after a democratic renovation, the most moderate of Tamil nationalists isn’t willing to settle for what the most moderate Sinhalese political leader is willing to implement. The deficit or gap still exists as far as the desirable goal; the final status agreement goes. Why so? What is at the root of this?
To answer this we have to ask ourselves what Sri Lanka would be if the 13th amendment were fully implemented under the existing system. To my mind it would be a unitary system with full devolution or, to put it slightly differently, it would amount to the maximum devolution possible within a unitary system at full stretch. Why then does the moderate Mr. Sumanthiran reiterate the consistent stand of democratic Tamil nationalism, namely that even “the full implementation of the 13th amendment is no lasting solution?”
This is simply because Tamil nationalism has never accepted that a lasting solution could be arrived at through full devolution within a unitary state. It has always held that a lasting solution is not possible within a state that remains basically unitary. Even moderate Tamil nationalism holds the view that a lasting solution lies somewhere beyond the unitary state; even one endowed with the most generous devolution.
Mr. Sumanthiran’s answer may be that Mahinda Rajapaksa agreed to consider going beyond the 13th amendment. He did, but the distance he was willing to go even in theory was a quantitative, not a qualitative one; it was for a Second Chamber and another look at the concurrent list for the purpose of redistribution of powers between center and periphery. It would not have entailed a referendum. In any event, going quantitatively and incrementally beyond the 13th amendment within a strong Presidential system and explicitly unitary framework is drastically different from going qualitatively beyond the 13th amendment within a system divested of a strong executive Presidency.
Quite apart from the debate on desirability, there is one of feasibility. Any such “lasting solution”, indeed anything beyond the 13th amendment, would require an island-wide referendum. How does the TNA propose to win a referendum for a qualitative shift beyond the 13th amendment? Not even the help of its current political partners in the South would be able to secure such an outcome.
So far, so bad– but it is about to get worse. There is a brand new element in the mix. While the old element remains, namely that the TNA envisages the full implementation of the 13th amendment only as a first step which it intends to push beyond in its striving for a lasting settlement, the new element that arises is the proposed downsizing and downshifting of the executive Presidency. So, while the Tamil nationalists hope to stretch the relationship between center and periphery by means of a settlement beyond the full implementation of 13A, the center itself is about to diminish.
The TNA is not unaware of this. Indeed the TNA presented this as the main reason for its support for the common candidate of the Opposition. Now we have the hitherto un-contradicted Tamilnet report that the abolition of the executive Presidency and its replacement by a parliamentary system of government was agreed upon in 2013 at a meeting in Singapore, organized by a South African peace NGO and attended by, among others, Messrs. Mangala Samaraweera and MA Sumanthiran. The abolition of the executive Presidency was, according to the report, point 4 of the agreement. (‘Singapore Principles of 2013’, TamilNet, January 22, 2015).
The story is prefaced in DBS Jeyaraj.com in the following manner:
‘The “Tamilnet” website long regarded as the mouthpiece of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organization has in a news report revealed details of an alleged “understanding” involving among others the current Foreign Affairs minister Mangala Samaraweera and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) national list parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran that was arrived at in Singapore in the year 2013. The “Tamilnet” website claims that the understanding reached in 2013 formulated a conceptual framework on abolishing the executive presidency based on ten basic principles described as the “Singapore principles”.
The news report further states that current Presidential adviser Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne, Colombo University Law professor VT Thamilmaran and unnamed representatives of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) along with a lawyer from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress also participated in the conclave. The conference was organized by South Africa and funded by two European countries alleges the “Tamilnet”. Quoting an unnamed participant in the meeting the “TamilNet” says “Mangala Samaraweera came as a ‘beggar’ urging Tamil support for regime change and abolition of the executive presidency. It was 2013.
The Tamilnet report also outlines the ten ‘Singapore principles’ described as “hitherto unrevealed Singapore Principles of 2013” ’. (“Tamilnet Reveals Ten Point Accord for Regime Change and Executive Presidency abolition reached in 2013 at Meeting in Singapore Involving Mangala Samaraweera”, http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/37635)
Mr. Sumanthiran is fully conscious of the relationship between the Executive Presidency and the issue of devolution. In his Sunday Observer interview he states as follows:
“…the Governor is a chief executive officer possessing executive powers. This means that there is no power devolution. The governor is appointed by the President and holds powers during his tenure. The President in the centre nominates him and gives powers and says I have devolved powers. That is no devolution. Practically it is the President who is exercising power through the governor. We want that radically changed so that power is actually given to a body or people who have been elected by the people. So that is the arrangement that we will seek to go beyond the 13 th Amendment and make it meaningful.” (Ibid.)
This brings us to the question–what is the TNA’s real problem with the 13th amendment? Is it the less than full implementation? No, because if that were the case, it would not take the view that full implementation is not a lasting solution. Is it perhaps that the concurrent list is too thick and that the provincial unit should have some of the powers listed therein? Not really because that is not mentioned. The real problem the TNA has is elsewhere—with the role and powers of the Governor, and inter alia, those of the executive president.
What does the existing arrangement as critically described by TNA moderate Sumanthiran mean? It means that the executive Presidency, as that office which rests on the elected consent of a majority of voters on the island taken as a single unit, is the repository of the sovereign power of the citizenry and is the fount from which from which power is devolved to the periphery.
Thus the TNA’s objection is to the fundamental principle that power is devolved to the periphery from a strong center resting upon the broadest possible basis; a presidency that represents the nation as a whole. The TNA’s problem is with the mediatory role of the Governor, who acts as the elevator between the devolved peripheral unit and the presidential apex of the system. The TNA objects to a strong presidency representing the totality of the nation, which is raised above the peripheral unit. The Tamil moderate, Mr. Sumanthiran’s underlying objection is to the very principle that the institution that represents the totality, the whole, should be raised above the part; that the center should be above the periphery and that power should be devolved, i.e. flow downward.
In the TNA’s vision, power should flow from a center outward to the periphery, but not from an apex, downward to the unit. No wonder then that the TNA wants the Executive Presidency abolished. This means that the system is transformed—I would say debauched—from a pyramid to a flat circle, with the parliament at its center. This means the minority parties are able to influence government formation at the center, through coalitions in parliament, as well as push beyond the unitary framework which would have been weakened by the decapitation of the executive presidency and the severance of the “neck” that links the executive head with the devolved peripheral unit, i.e. the Governor.
Who will appoint the Governor under the arrangement the TNA seeks: the Parliament, the Cabinet, the PM, or the enfeebled essentially non-executive President? Or will there be no Governor at all? Or will there only be a ceremonial Governor, representing a largely nominal presidency?
With the TNA intent on moving beyond the full implementation of the 13th amendment, and pushing together with its Southern allies (now in power) for the abolition or radical weakening of the Executive Presidency, what will be the future power relations within Sri Lanka be like, especially between the weaker center and a stronger periphery historically and currently subject to the ideological and politico-strategic pulls and emotional-psychological osmosis from their 70 million co-ethnics across a narrow strip of water, in neighboring Tamil Nadu?
The TNA is strategically very lucid about what it is about. It is pushing for something beyond even the full implementation of the 13th amendment while it has simultaneously advocated and agreed upon the abolition of the Executive Presidency and thereby the radical diminution of the strong center.
The division of labor is clear: the governing Sinhala elite (fronted by a non-elite political leader) weakens the center by dismantling or eroding the centripetal executive Presidency, thereby loosening the systemic ties between center and periphery, while the Tamil elite for its part, presses on far beyond the parameters of the unitary state.
January 28th, 2015 at 12:08 am
BREAKING NEWS! ANOTHER CAMPAIGN PROMISE VIOLATED; Executive Presidency to CONTINUE together with an EXECUTIVE Prime Minister!!!
When he CONFLICT arises between these two EXECUTIVES, who will have PRIORITY??
If the President will have OVERRIDING AUTHORITY, how is this SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFERENT from the previous system??
In ANY CASE, Eliminating the Executive Presidency has gone the way of SMALL CABINET LIMITED to 25 Ministers. Also, don;t forget the much balleyhooed “Maithripalanaya” DITCHED in favor of the “VairaPalanaya”!!!
However, we have to be somewhat reassured that the EXECUTIVE PRESIDENCY will CONTINUE, as Aiyoooo Sirisenaaa moves ahead to EMPOWER the SEPARATISTS with Land and Police Powers under the 13A.
Aiyoooo Sirisenaaaa …. DO YOU KNOW you are ENDANGERING OUR Motherland??
…………………
Sri Lanka’s government coalition reaches agreement on constitutional proposals
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Jan 28, Colombo: The National Executive Council of Sri Lanka has reached an agreement on proposed constitutional amendments to be introduced during the 100 day programme.
The proposed amendment will look at introducing a dual executive system of governance and re-establishment of the independent commissions.
The proposals have been prepared by a special committee appointed by the National Executive Committee comprising President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and representatives of other parties including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).
The proposals are expected to be presented in Parliament early next month.
According to reports, the proposed reforms state that President Sirisena will remain as the Head of State with reduced powers while retaining the defence portfolio and the power to appointment provincial governors and on several other subjects including that of appointing the heads of Sri Lanka’s diplomatic missions abroad.
The Prime Minister according to the latest proposals will be the Head of the Cabinet. Therefore the proposed system will be a dual executive system of governance.
January 28th, 2015 at 12:24 am
“VairaPalanaya” in FULL SWING: DOES PERMANENT TENURE on the Supreme Court STILL have any MEANING??
Sounds like Henry the VIII’s CLAIM about his marriage to his barren first wife Catharine of Aragon; The appointment was NEVER legal in the eyes of God!
Who is to say what God’s eyes see except his personification on earth: the sitting President?
…………………….
Chief Justice of Sri Lanka informed that his position is illegal
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Jan 28, Colombo: The Chief Justice of Sri Lanka Mohan Peiris has been informed that his appointment as Chief Justice is illegal.
The Office of President Maithripala Sirisena has informed Chief Justice Peiris that his appointment by the previous President is illegal.
Sources say that the President’s Office had dispatched a letter to the Chief Justice’s residence last evening informing him of the illegality of his appointment.
This morning Peiris had made a complaint to the police that several individuals including Central Provincial Councilor, Azath Salley, threatened him in his residence last evening demanding that he resign.
Salley has denied the charges saying that he was invited over to the Chief Justice’s residence by the Chief Justice as they were old friends. He went on to explain that the Chief Justice and he discussed the conditions which would allow him to hand in his resignation.
Meanwhile, the National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ) yesterday urged the Peiris to step down from the post of Chief Justice “willingly and in a dignified manner.”
Convener of the NMSJ, Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera said the current Chief Justice was appointed following an unfair impeachment of the 43rd Chief Justice, Shirani Bandaranayake.
“CJ Mohan Peiris’ appointment was a political appointment made by the previous regime. Therefore it is his responsibility to step down from his post willingly in a dignified manner,” the Thera said.
January 28th, 2015 at 12:54 am
Therefore, if “Tamil Nationalism” does not accept FULL IMPLEMENTATION of the 13th Amendment as a Lasting Solution, what would satisfy “Tamil Nationalism”?
The ANSWER TODAY is the SAME AS THE ANSWER I GAVE 30 years ago in my article “Devolution .. A Recipe for National Suicide”: What the EElamists want is FULL SOVEREIGNTY as a separate country followed by UNION with Tamil Nadu of India!
In other words, the REALIZATION of the Greater Tamil Nadu Dream of Karunanidhi as shown in the MAPS he has already published!
Therefore, whisper to me softly Effendi Aiyoooo Sirisenaaa if my lips do not UTTER THE TRUTH when I SAY you are ENABLING Karunanidhi’s
Greater Tamil Nadu Dream with your promise to FULLY IMPLEMENT 13A INSTEAD of FULLY REPEALING IT?
Aiyoooo Sirisenaaaa …. What are you DOING to our Motherland???
………………
Tamil Nationalism has Never Accepted that a Lasting Solution Could be Arrived at Through Full Devolution Within a Unitary State.
BY DR DAYAN JAYATILLEKA
DBSJeyaray.com
January 27, 2015
PRE-INDEPENDENCE DAY THOUGHTS 2015: THE FUTURE STATE OF THE NATION
In the run-up to Independence Day 2015, we must thank God for Mr. Sumanthiran. He is indubitably a moderate and an intellectual. Let us give thanks also for the Sunday Observer, which is a state-run newspaper not given to running stories or distorting them in a manner inimical or embarrassing to the government of the day. Therefore, when Mr. Sumanthiran says something to the Sunday Observer, I take it seriously because I know I am on safe ground. Mr. Sumanthiran tells the newspaper that the TNA doesn’t expect much movement on addressing the Tamil political question during the Hundred Day program. That is realistic –and anyway, who’d want to affect the UNP’s chances at the General election by pressing home Tamil political demands? He also says that the full implementation of the 13th amendment would be a good first step. Then comes the bottom-line: “The PM said that devolution will now be given under the 13th Amendment which the previous government was blocking. But we have clearly said that the full implementation of the 13th Amendment is no lasting solution.” (‘Current political trend signals harmony among communities’ – M.A.Sumanthiran MP, by P.Krishnaswamy, Sunday Observer, January 25th 2015)
MA Sumanthiran MP
MA Sumanthiran MP
There’s always that ‘but’ isn’t there? There’s always that ‘but’ even for a moderate Tamil nationalist intellectual. The truth as disclosed or rather, reiterated by the cosmopolitan, Colombo based Mr. Sumanthiran is that the proposed removal of the roadblocks to the full implementation of the 13th amendment just isn’t enough. This is because “full implementation of the 13th amendment is no lasting solution”.
Some readers may think I am making something of a mountain out of a molehill, but interestingly and appropriately the caption of the interview when reproduced on the website of veteran (expatriate) journalist DBS Jeyaraj reflected what was most newsworthy about the story: “Full Implementation of the 13th Amendment is No Lasting Solution- MA Sumanthiran, MP”.
Now this also goes some way in explaining why the 13th amendment was never fully implemented. That’s because successive Southern leaders understood that if it was fully implemented, matters would not stop there. That would not put a cap on it. The full implementation of the 13th amendment would be but a stepping stone for more. Why? Because “we have clearly said that the full implementation of the 13th amendment is no lasting solution” and therefore “we” would strive to push beyond it. Worse still, that “we” would not try our very best to make the 13th amendment work because if it did, “we” would not be able to prove “our” dogmatic, politically fundamentalist point that “the full implementation of the 13th amendment is no lasting solution”.
This shows that even on the morning after a democratic renovation, the most moderate of Tamil nationalists isn’t willing to settle for what the most moderate Sinhalese political leader is willing to implement. The deficit or gap still exists as far as the desirable goal; the final status agreement goes. Why so? What is at the root of this?
To answer this we have to ask ourselves what Sri Lanka would be if the 13th amendment were fully implemented under the existing system. To my mind it would be a unitary system with full devolution or, to put it slightly differently, it would amount to the maximum devolution possible within a unitary system at full stretch. Why then does the moderate Mr. Sumanthiran reiterate the consistent stand of democratic Tamil nationalism, namely that even “the full implementation of the 13th amendment is no lasting solution?”
This is simply because Tamil nationalism has never accepted that a lasting solution could be arrived at through full devolution within a unitary state. It has always held that a lasting solution is not possible within a state that remains basically unitary. Even moderate Tamil nationalism holds the view that a lasting solution lies somewhere beyond the unitary state; even one endowed with the most generous devolution.
Mr. Sumanthiran’s answer may be that Mahinda Rajapaksa agreed to consider going beyond the 13th amendment. He did, but the distance he was willing to go even in theory was a quantitative, not a qualitative one; it was for a Second Chamber and another look at the concurrent list for the purpose of redistribution of powers between center and periphery. It would not have entailed a referendum. In any event, going quantitatively and incrementally beyond the 13th amendment within a strong Presidential system and explicitly unitary framework is drastically different from going qualitatively beyond the 13th amendment within a system divested of a strong executive Presidency.
Quite apart from the debate on desirability, there is one of feasibility. Any such “lasting solution”, indeed anything beyond the 13th amendment, would require an island-wide referendum. How does the TNA propose to win a referendum for a qualitative shift beyond the 13th amendment? Not even the help of its current political partners in the South would be able to secure such an outcome.
So far, so bad– but it is about to get worse. There is a brand new element in the mix. While the old element remains, namely that the TNA envisages the full implementation of the 13th amendment only as a first step which it intends to push beyond in its striving for a lasting settlement, the new element that arises is the proposed downsizing and downshifting of the executive Presidency. So, while the Tamil nationalists hope to stretch the relationship between center and periphery by means of a settlement beyond the full implementation of 13A, the center itself is about to diminish.
The TNA is not unaware of this. Indeed the TNA presented this as the main reason for its support for the common candidate of the Opposition. Now we have the hitherto un-contradicted Tamilnet report that the abolition of the executive Presidency and its replacement by a parliamentary system of government was agreed upon in 2013 at a meeting in Singapore, organized by a South African peace NGO and attended by, among others, Messrs. Mangala Samaraweera and MA Sumanthiran. The abolition of the executive Presidency was, according to the report, point 4 of the agreement. (‘Singapore Principles of 2013’, TamilNet, January 22, 2015).
The story is prefaced in DBS Jeyaraj.com in the following manner:
‘The “Tamilnet” website long regarded as the mouthpiece of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organization has in a news report revealed details of an alleged “understanding” involving among others the current Foreign Affairs minister Mangala Samaraweera and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) national list parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran that was arrived at in Singapore in the year 2013. The “Tamilnet” website claims that the understanding reached in 2013 formulated a conceptual framework on abolishing the executive presidency based on ten basic principles described as the “Singapore principles”.
The news report further states that current Presidential adviser Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne, Colombo University Law professor VT Thamilmaran and unnamed representatives of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) along with a lawyer from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress also participated in the conclave. The conference was organized by South Africa and funded by two European countries alleges the “Tamilnet”. Quoting an unnamed participant in the meeting the “TamilNet” says “Mangala Samaraweera came as a ‘beggar’ urging Tamil support for regime change and abolition of the executive presidency. It was 2013.
The Tamilnet report also outlines the ten ‘Singapore principles’ described as “hitherto unrevealed Singapore Principles of 2013” ’. (“Tamilnet Reveals Ten Point Accord for Regime Change and Executive Presidency abolition reached in 2013 at Meeting in Singapore Involving Mangala Samaraweera”)
Mr. Sumanthiran is fully conscious of the relationship between the Executive Presidency and the issue of devolution. In his Sunday Observer interview he states as follows:
“…the Governor is a chief executive officer possessing executive powers. This means that there is no power devolution. The governor is appointed by the President and holds powers during his tenure. The President in the centre nominates him and gives powers and says I have devolved powers.
That is no devolution. Practically it is the President who is exercising power through the governor. We want that radically changed so that power is actually given to a body or people who have been elected by the people. So that is the arrangement that we will seek to go beyond the 13th Amendment and make it meaningful.” (Ibid.)
This brings us to the question–what is the TNA’s real problem with the 13th amendment? Is it the less than full implementation? No, because if that were the case, it would not take the view that full implementation is not a lasting solution. Is it perhaps that the concurrent list is too thick and that the provincial unit should have some of the powers listed therein? Not really because that is not mentioned. The real problem the TNA has is elsewhere—with the role and powers of the Governor, and inter alia, those of the executive president.
What does the existing arrangement as critically described by TNA moderate Sumanthiran mean? It means that the executive Presidency, as that office which rests on the elected consent of a majority of voters on the island taken as a single unit, is the repository of the sovereign power of the citizenry and is the fount from which from which power is devolved to the periphery.
Thus the TNA’s objection is to the fundamental principle that power is devolved to the periphery from a strong center resting upon the broadest possible basis; a presidency that represents the nation as a whole. The TNA’s problem is with the mediatory role of the Governor, who acts as the elevator between the devolved peripheral unit and the presidential apex of the system. The TNA objects to a strong presidency representing the totality of the nation, which is raised above the peripheral unit. The Tamil moderate, Mr. Sumanthiran’s underlying objection is to the very principle that the institution that represents the totality, the whole, should be raised above the part; that the center should be above the periphery and that power should be devolved, i.e. flow downward.
In the TNA’s vision, power should flow from a center outward to the periphery, but not from an apex, downward to the unit. No wonder then that the TNA wants the Executive Presidency abolished. This means that the system is transformed—I would say debauched—from a pyramid to a flat circle, with the parliament at its center. This means the minority parties are able to influence government formation at the center, through coalitions in parliament, as well as push beyond the unitary framework which would have been weakened by the decapitation of the executive presidency and the severance of the “neck” that links the executive head with the devolved peripheral unit, i.e. the Governor.
Who will appoint the Governor under the arrangement the TNA seeks: the Parliament, the Cabinet, the PM, or the enfeebled essentially non-executive President? Or will there be no Governor at all? Or will there only be a ceremonial Governor, representing a largely nominal presidency?
With the TNA intent on moving beyond the full implementation of the 13th amendment, and pushing together with its Southern allies (now in power) for the abolition or radical weakening of the Executive Presidency, what will be the future power relations within Sri Lanka be like, especially between the weaker center and a stronger periphery historically and currently subject to the ideological and politico-strategic pulls and emotional-psychological osmosis from their 70 million co-ethnics across a narrow strip of water, in neighboring Tamil Nadu?
The TNA is strategically very lucid about what it is about. It is pushing for something beyond even the full implementation of the 13th amendment while it has simultaneously advocated and agreed upon the abolition of the Executive Presidency and thereby the radical diminution of the strong center.
The division of labor is clear: the governing Sinhala elite (fronted by a non-elite political leader) weakens the center by dismantling or eroding the centripetal executive Presidency, thereby loosening the systemic ties between center and periphery, while the Tamil elite for its part, presses on far beyond the parameters of the unitary state.
January 28th, 2015 at 2:48 am
Lorenzo Says:
January 27th, 2015 at 3:58 pm
SW,
We NEVER said we will ABOLISH it. I told you this many times before the election.
Lorenzo,
The second sentence is very true. But the first one is incorrect.
I saw the common candidate’s inaugural speech where it was clearly and loudly announced.
When I pointed this out once before you said what you kept on repeating later.
But, a statement cannot be made into ‘a case of never stated’ by repeating just the opposite thereafter.
SW has already made a longer response starting with the following but I felt that I must add what I know to be a fact because you keep on repeating an untruth.
It is alright by me when politicians change their mind and follow something other than what they held up to that time, if they later believe what they believed earlier is wrong.
January 28th, 2015 at 2:52 am
I forgot to attach the response of SW that I referred to in my comment above.
Susantha Wijesinghe Says:
January 27th, 2015 at 5:43 pm
LORENZO !!
The first talk was with frothing fury, that EXECUTIVE PRESIDENCY will be abolished. Then Ranil realized that, ” kata waradda gaththa ” Then it was watered down to clipping the wings.
January 28th, 2015 at 3:14 am
SENAD,
That is before he signed agreement with JHU ( I mean inaugural speech ).
Anyway, it is Election manifesto that is important, which is an agreement between UNP+JVP+JHU+My3.
Now, what is wrong in keeping EP minus the doctorial powers to be minster for 6 ministries, ability to appoint DUminda Silva as CJ etc, etc ?
January 28th, 2015 at 3:17 am
This constitutional change will be the key to Yahapalanaya in the future, after defeating the UNP+Chndrika. People must rally to do it together with escalated noise to scrap 13A at the same time.
We should agree on this before next mosquito attack
January 28th, 2015 at 5:20 am
Nanda Says:
January 28th, 2015 at 3:14 am
Now, what is wrong in keeping EP minus the doctorial powers
Nanda,
There is nothing wrong with this at all.
In fact, keeping the EP is essential.
I have said previously that the leader of the country having a mandate by way of getting more than 50% of the voters endorsing his programme is far superior to the Westminster system of government and that the system with an EP must not be replaced by another system.
In the Westminster system the PM’s party may have received less than 50% of the votes cast in the whole country (e.g India and UK, there may be many others) and he/she himself may have been elected with less than 50% of votes in his/her own seat if the vote in that seat were divided among many contestants in a first past the post system.
Scope of the powers of the EP is an entirely separate matter altogether.
Many other changes are also essential.
For example, the current ludicrous electoral system that does not offer the elector a specific MP for the electorate where he/she lives must be changed.
That will get rid of the popularity contest that goes on among the potential MP’s of the same party at the GE.
Another one is when an MP changes party allegiance he/she must be compelled to face his/her electors, because they are the ones who elected him/her.
As I said before, it is alright by me when politicians change their mind and follow something other than what they held up to that time, if they later believe what they believed earlier is wrong.
What is important is to get the alterations that are being made are well thought through to avoid undesirable consequences.
For example, the 17th amendment that was passed with all party support was done in a great hurry and it was not workable, I hope it will not be re-instated in its original form rather than fix the shortcomings before re-introducing.
The 13th amendment must be expunged from the constitution at the earliest opportune time, for as long as it is there Sri Lanka is not an independent state.
People have completely forgotten the way the 13th amendment was passed not presenting it to the people at a referendum, though it has fundamental effects on the constitution.
The parties that vehemently objected to it including the one that did so violently are now quiet about it; it may be because it is not quite the opportune time.
There will be one soon if it would be grasped.
January 28th, 2015 at 5:40 am
I DON’T KNOW WHY THOSE BUGGERS GET IN THERE FORGOT ABOUT 13A.
People must rally now in large numbers and demand abolition of Endia enforced illegal 13 A. Now it is the time. MR , scared of Endia promised 13 + on the 22nd of May 2009, these buggers with the help of Endia now cannot demolish 13A unless people power demand it.
January 28th, 2015 at 7:12 am
LORENZO !!
ANY LIE***UNTRUTH when it is repeatedly said, becomes the TRUTH. So Tamils believe. THIS IS TYPICAL TAMIL DECEPTION. If you keep on insisting what you say, I believe it is OK with you, but not with me. In my old age my memory is pristine clear. So, I will not respond to your insistence on this subject again. Keep repeating it to satisfy your vanity. Please try not to water down your credibility on Lanka WEB. I believe you were at one time subject to moderation. Not me, never. Also, remember, I bestowed on you the ” star of Lanka Web “” long years back. Hope your memory will flash it now.
NANDA !!
I believe Mr. Gilbert Paranagama came into Whittal Bousteads, after Mr Charles Dymoke Green, Managing Director retired and left Sri Lanka. Mr. Green and my Father attended the Wembley Scout Jamboree together, in 1924. Just to boast a little again:- My father was to win the highest award for a Scouter… THE GILWELL WOOD BADGE, at the Wembley Stadium, and Presented to him by the late King George, Queen Elizabeths father. A photo is somewhere in one of my sisters houses. Sri Lanka GiLWELLIANS ASSOCIATION at Boy Scout Headquarters will have it on record, under ‘Albert Wijesinghe ‘.
January 28th, 2015 at 10:33 am
January 28, 2015 at 9:41 am | lanka C news
නඩු පැවරීමක් නොකර බන්ධනාගාරවල සහ රැඳවුම් මධ්යස්ථානවල රඳවා සිටින දෙමළ දේශපාලන සිරකරුවන් වසරක් ඇතුළත නිදහස් කිරීමට මෛත්රිපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිවරයා එකඟත්වය පළ කළ බව මන්නාරම රදගුරු රායප්පු ජෝෂප් පියතුමන් පවසති.
පසුගිය විසිපස් වනදා කොළඹ පැවති හමුවකදී ජනාධිපතිවරයා එම පොරොන්දුව දුන් බව, රදගුරු හිමියන් පවසයි.
බොහෝ දෙනෙකු ඉල්ලා සිටින පරිදි දෙමළ දේශපාලන සිරකරුවන් පිරිස මාස තුනකින් නිදහස් කිරීම අසීරු බැවින් වසරක් ඇතුළත ඔවුන් නිදහස් කිරීමට ජනාධිපතිවරයා එකඟ වූ බව රදගුරු තුමන් සඳහන් කළහ.
ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ දේශපාලන සිරකරුවන්ට අවස්ථා දෙකකදී පොදු සමාවක් ලබා දුන් ආකාරයට දෙමළ දේශපාලන සිරකරුවන්ටද පොදු සමාවක් ලබා දෙන මෙන් තමා ජනාධිපතිවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටි බවත් මන්නාරම රදගුරු තුමන් පැවසූහ.
පන්සීයකට ආසන්න දෙමළ දේශපාලන සිරකරුවන් පිරිසක් දිවයින පුරා පිහිටි බන්ධනාගාර සහ රැඳවුම් මධ්යස්ථානවල රඳවා සිටින බව මන්නාරම රදගුරු රායප්පු ජෝෂප් වැඩිදුරටත් කියා සිටියහ.
– BBC
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January 28th, 2015 at 11:32 am
Like “Facebook” Lorenzo, his LAPDOG IDIOT Nanda now WAILS LOUDLY
“I DON’T KNOW WHY THOSE BUGGERS GET IN THERE FORGOT ABOUT 13A.”
Oh, POOR GULLIBLE Nanda … apparently we are to believe that he MISLED HIMSELF! That is why I call Nanda an IDIOT; a CONGENITAL IDIOT at that!
He too PILLORIED Mahinda Rajapaksa for NOT REPEALING the 13A, and then VOCIFEROUSLY SUPPORTED Aiyooo Sirisena who PROMISED to ENFORCE the 13A in FULL, as his preferred candidate!!
He IGNORED the OBVIOUS INCONSISTENCY and the CONTRADICTION in his EAGERNESS to OUST MR!
But, HERE HE IS AGAIN, popping up like a BAD PENNEY, VIGOROUSLY & SHAMELESSLY DEMANDING Aiyooo Sirisena to REVERSE COURSE on his PROMISE!
If REPEALING the 13A was SO IMPORTANT to Nanda, why did he SUPPORT Aiyooo Sirisena who PROMISED to FULLY IMPLEMENT IT?
It is because HE IS AN EELAMIST doing his BEST to SOW CONFUSION & UNREST and to UNDERMINE ANY & ALL National Governments of Sri Lanka, just as his MAXIMUM FUHRER “Facebook” Lorenzo does, to BENEFIT the EELAMISTS!
IT IS TIME that the “Kavum Kana Moda Sinhalsayas” WISED UP to this KIND of MISINFORMATION, MISDIRECTION and OUTRIGHT LIES of the PUPPET REGIME CHANGE PROPAGANDISTS!
January 28th, 2015 at 12:00 pm
HERE WE GO AGAIN as the NGO Jackals are UNLEASHED to dance the “NGO Kolama” AGAIN in Sri Lanka!
“Bandagaththu Yahapalanaya Berey Dan Gahapan Srisenaaaa”
I have NO DOUBT that as the drums of the “NGO Kolama” increases in VOLUME, and his GOSL is STEADILY UNDERMINED by them, Aiyoooo Sirisenaaa will come to RUE HIS STUPID “Yahapalanaya” promises inmical to the Stability and Safety of Sri Lanka!
The NGOs will not leave him ANY PEACE OF MIND to Govern!
………………………………..
Sri Lanka’s NGOs test limits of new freedoms
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Jan 28 2015 (IRIN) MANNAR- Less than three weeks since Sri Lanka voted in a new president, rights activists and other NGOs say there are already encouraging signs that they may have more freedom to work under the new administration, including in the former conflict zone in the north.
Six days after the 8 January election, around 300 families of those still missing as a result of Sri Lanka’s two and half decade long civil war attended a prayer service led by Pope Francis at the Madhu Shrine in the northwestern district of Mannar. Some held pictures of missing relatives; others held small signs calling for justice. But in a marked departure from the pattern of recent years, security forces prevented no one from protesting or entering the shrine compound.
Uthayachandra Manuel, a community activist in Mannar who heads the Association of Families Searching for their Disappeared Relatives, recalls quite a different reaction from the authorities during visits by former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay and British Prime Minister David Cameron in August and November 2013.
“There was a lot of harassment then. People were stopped from coming out; police would interview them and ask them to come to the station; one or two have been detained as well,” Manuel told IRIN. Her own activism began in 2008 when her eldest son was arrested. He has not been heard of since.
“The Criminal Investigation Department kept close tabs on me to find out what I was doing. They will visit families after each protest. That has been usual in the last five years,” she said.
When Pope Francis visited Sri Lanka earlier this month, Manuel and others in her group were able to hand him a letter containing the details of more than 3,300 missing persons and asking for his assistance in investigating their disappearance.
“This time no one came to look for me; no one blocked us from getting into the church compound, or holding up pictures of the missing family members,” she said.
Change in the air?
NGOs faced extreme scrutiny under the previous long-term President Mahinda Rajapaksa, particularly those working on human rights or issues related to the legacy of the conflict in the north. But optimists within the humanitarian community in Sri Lanka believe the early signs auger well for improvements under the new government of Maithripala Sirisena, who promised during the election campaign to arrest the nation’s drift towards dictatorship.
“There has been a marked change since the elections. Activists are more free to express themselves and talk in public,” Keerthi Teenakoon, the executive director of the national advocacy body Centre for Human Rights and Research (CHR), said.
CHR felt sufficiently confident in the apparent easing of restrictions to launch a public campaign to reopen an investigation into a 2012 prison riot in the capital Colombo that left 27 people dead. In the past, lawyers who spoke out in public about the incident received death threats.
But others remain cautious. Ruki Fernando, a prominent human rights activist who works in the north, believes it is too early to judge the intentions of the new political leadership.
“There are signs that the changes visible in the capital are yet to manifest themselves in the north,” he told IRIN. Fernando said he knew of two activists in the north who were still in hiding for fear of state sponsored reprisals. Another young man, released in November after seven years in detention, was questioned by police soon after the recent election for no discernable reason.
But Fernando acknowledged that, in time, restrictions on advocacy work in the north could be eased if activists engage the new administration early. “I think we should push the boundaries of what we have been doing and seek answers to issues like the missing.”
Thorny issues remain
The issue of those still missing after the end of the war in 2009 has been vexed. A presidential commission set up under the previous government has so far received details of more than 20,000 cases, including at least 5,000 members of the Sri Lankan defence forces.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has more than 16,000 cases reported by relatives of people missing since 1990. Meanwhile a report by the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Panel on Sri Lanka said the figure could be as high as 40,000.
January 28th, 2015 at 12:12 pm
Will the NEW Chief Justice #45 RUBBER STAMP ANY & ALL Constitutional Amendments to PERMANENTLY EMPOWER the SEPARATISTS?
I,I>YOU be the JUDGE!
The FOX has been gHANDED the KEYS to the HENHOUSE!
Aiyoooo Sirisenaaaa ….. What are you DOING to our Motherland??
……………………….
Sri Lanka’s impeached Chief Justice returns to Supreme Court to resume duties
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Jan 28, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s former Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake returned to the Supreme Court complex today two years after she was unjustly impeached by the previous government.
The 43rd Chief Justice arrived at the court complex in Hultsdorf this morning amid a grand welcome from the President of Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) Upul Jayasuriya.
Dr. Bandaranayke who was unceremoniously removed from the Supreme Court in 2013 says she was still the “legal” Chief Justice of the country.
The President and the Cabinet have reportedly acknowledged that her removal was “illegal” and “flawed.”
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and the Prime Minister meanwhile have informed the 44th Chief Justice Mohan Peiris as the top judge to the apex court by the previous government was illegal and asked him to resign gracefully to pave the way for an independent judiciary, Convener of the Lawyers’ Collective attorney-at-law J.C. Weliamuna said.
The Bar Association of Sri Lanka maintains that Dr. Bandaranayake does not need to take oaths before President Maithripala Sirisena as she was removed from office through a flawed impeachment process.
It has been reported that Peiris has agreed to step down. However, he has still not handed over his resignation from the post of Chief Justice as yet.
Highly placed legal sources said that Dr. Bandaranayke will sit in courts tomorrow and resign paving the way for the appointment of a new Chief Justice. Senior Supreme Court Justice K. Sripavan is expected to be appointed as the next Chief Justice.
January 30th, 2015 at 7:57 am
YOU DONT SAY, “”MAY YOU ATTAIN NIBBANA “” UNLESS A PERSON DIES, OR IS DEAD.
Susantha Wijesinghe , I do not understand why Ananda-USA & Lorenzo fighting each other ???
one like MR & other like MS & I like VP so what big deal here ?
with your permission “may VP attain nibbana” – I know you are laughing Gggrrr !!!
January 30th, 2015 at 10:28 am
SAK.
YOU JOKER !!! GRrrr.
When people die, they do not attain Nibbana at once, according to Buddhism. The Karmic Law do a fine comb toothing on his/her despotic activities, in the last birth, if prevalent. Some reach Nibbana without much adore.
But I have to tell to this. **VP** will have to live the lives of those whom he killed, got klled, of those who were hacked to death, of those whom he maimed, of the little priests whom he hacked, of the pregnant women whose stomachs were opened with machettes, and many more, which space do not permit me to reflect.
Your thoughts are very good that VP attain Nibbana, but it may take a clean five thousand years, for him to be absolved of all the sin he committed. At that time, we would be still writing to the Lanka Web, under different guises, under different names. We to would have to go through that “”fine tooth comb ”procedure, which is KARMA. Iam still with a chukle on my dial.
January 30th, 2015 at 1:21 pm
Lingam,
Angulimala killed 999 people and attained Nibbana before his death. Buddha prevented him from killing his mother. Had he killed his mother , he would also be like your lover VP, suffering in “Aveechi Maha Niraya” or Roruwa Hell for billions of years.
After VP comes out of Roruwa, he will be born as a Mosquito for billions of lives, sucking people’s blood, buzzing around ears of people. May be billion more lives like a dog , pig, etc.
FInally, he may have a chance to be born in a human realm but he will be born as a disable person for many births. If he manages to do some good deeds, he will get a normal human life one day. Thereafter it all depends what he does, if he rips off money from people like MR, he will be born as a dog or mosquito again.
But if he lives like My3 , he will be born like even better human or a god and finally , with the understanding of FOUR Noble Truth , he might attain Nibbaana.
Samsaric cycles are like that. It is a huge mass of suffering we have already undergone and more to come.
January 30th, 2015 at 2:08 pm
SA Kumar said “I do not understand why Ananda-USA & Lorenzo fighting each other ”
Either you are an IDIOT, which I don’t think is the case despite the SEEMING stupidity of many of your comments, or YOU ARE PRETENDING NOT TO UNDERSTAND, which I think is what you are doing, quite consistently, I might add.
Therefore, I don’t think explaining it to you would be UNNECESSARILY REDUNDANT!
January 30th, 2015 at 2:09 pm
Oops!
Therefore, I think explaining it to you would be UNNECESSARILY REDUNDANT!
January 30th, 2015 at 2:38 pm
WOW … this is for the RICH only! A Rs 500,000 payment for a former Sri Lankan to get Dual Citizenship is VERY HIGH indeed!
On the other hand, people not of Sri Lankan origin should not get citizenship for ANY PRICE, unless they are foreign SPOUSES of former Sri Lankans who get Dual Citizenship.
For the latter, the payment should be the same as for the spouse!
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Dual citizenship potentially available to all Lankans
DailyMirror.lk
January 29, 2015
Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake presenting the interim budget 2015 today said that the option of dual citizenship would be available to all persons of Sri Lankan origin and granted after due evaluation. A payment of Rs. 500,000 will have to precede each individual request.
Furthermore, provision will be made for foreigners seeking resident status in Sri Lanka who are in a position to invest US$ 10 million in the country. All such applications would be subject to the approval of Defence Ministry, and would need to be renewed every 5 years. The visa fee for such persons will be Rs. 2.5 million.
January 30th, 2015 at 2:44 pm
This is the PRICE Sri Lanka will pay, for TOPPLING the UPFA GOSL of President Mahinda Rajapaksa!
Aiyoooo Sirisenaaaa …. What are you DOING to our Motherland??
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Sri Lankan government promises “devolution pact” to woo Tamil elite
By Pani Wijesiriwardena
DBSJeyaraj.com
January 29, 2015
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe declared last week that his government would implement the 13th amendment to the country’s constitution. After nearly three decades, the amendment, which provided for the limited devolution of powers to the Tamil elite on a provincial level in the island’s north and east, has never been carried out fully.
Wickremesinghe made the statement on January 19 while explaining the government’s agenda to the first parliamentary sitting following Maithripala Sirisena’s election as president on January 8. Sirisena appointed Wickremesinghe, leader of pro-US United National Party (UNP), as prime minister based on a new ruling coalition, the National Democratic Front, which includes a number of right-wing parties.
Wickremesinghe’s promise to implement the 13th amendment is in the first instance a pitch for the support of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the main Tamil bourgeois party. More fundamentally, however, it underscores the shift in foreign policy toward the US and India that was ushered in by Sirisena’s election. India, supported by the US, has repeatedly demanded the amendment’s implementation as part of a “political solution” to the protracted Sri Lankan civil war that ended with the defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009.
The presidential election had the character of a regime-change operation backed by both the US and India against former President Mahinda Rajapakse. Sirisena, a key cabinet minister and general secretary of Rajapakse’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), defected to the opposition as soon as the election was announced in a move orchestrated by Wickremesinghe and ex-President Chandrika Kumaratunga. Washington was hostile to Rajapakse’s ties with Beijing in conditions where it is seeking to strategically encircle China as part of the US “pivot to Asia.”
The 13th amendment was introduced in November 1987 under the Indo-Lanka Accord, which provided for Indian “peacekeeping” troops to occupy the island’s north and disarm the LTTE. The amendment, which provided for the devolution of powers to a combined north-eastern provincial council, was aimed at securing the backing of the Tamil elites for the Accord. Eight provincial councils were established across Sri Lanka in 1988 but the north-eastern council was dissolved in 1990 when a UNP government plunged the island back to war.
Sinhala chauvinist parties and organisations have always bitterly opposed the 13th amendment. The Supreme Court ordered the de-merger of the northern and eastern provinces in 2006 on the application of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). Under pressure from the US and India, the first election for the northern province was held last year, and was won by the TNA. However, Rajapakse’s government continued to effectively rule the province through a military governor, marginalising the TNA-dominated council.
While Wickremesinghe’s promise to implement the amendment will be welcomed by the TNA, as well as India and the US, it will generate sharp tensions within the ruling coalition, which includes the Sinhala supremacist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and General Sarath Fonseka’s Democratic Party. Fonseka was army chief during the final brutal offensive against the LTTE. The JVP is not part of the ruling coalition but is also supporting the government.
In an effort to placate his Sinhala chauvinist allies, Wickremesinghe declared that the “reform will be introduced preserving the unitary character of the country.” He also indicated that one of the more controversial powers—control of the police—would not be granted to the provinces. He told India’s NDTV television channel there was a “big fear in the country” that provincial “chief ministers may turn the police into their own private army.”
Wickremesinghe’s statement came as his external affairs minister, Mangala Samaraweera, was making his first overseas trip—to India, which welcomed Sirisena’s election. New Delhi is hoping that the new government will enable India to strengthen its position in Colombo at the expense of Beijing, which India has long regarded as a regional rival.
The Modi government is also hoping that the implementation of the amendment will deflect opposition among working people in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu to the treatment of Sri Lankan Tamils. The protracted civil war in Sri Lanka and continuing repression and discrimination against Tamils has generated political instability in India.
Wickremesinghe and Samaraweera have both painted devolution as enabling “reconciliation” and democratic rights for Tamils. In fact, the 13th amendment is the means for establishing a power-sharing arrangement with the Tamil elites to facilitate the joint exploitation of the working class. Speaking to a group of journalists in New Delhi, Samaraweera called on the TNA to join the government.
The TNA, along with the JVP, is already part of the National Executive Council established by the government to oversee the implementation of its 100-day program in preparation for parliamentary elections at the end of April.
In his statement to parliament, Wickremesinghe announced that the government will introduce a 19th constitutional amendment to replace the 18th amendment, which gave wide powers to the president to appoint top judges, the election commissioner and other senior officials. The government also plans the “transfer of executive powers to the legislature and the cabinet” currently held by the president.
The government is preparing to release an “interim financial statement” on January 29 to deliver a limited salary increase for public sector employees and tax reductions on some essential items. All this, along with a propaganda blitz over the previous Rajapakse administration’s corruption, is part of the government’s efforts to conceal its real agenda as it prepares for parliamentary elections.
Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake has already started discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and promised to meet the IMF’s fiscal targets. The previous government agreed to reduce the budget deficit to 3.8 percent of the gross domestic product in 2016, down from 5.8 percent in 2013.
The new government is seeking to establish the widest possible coalition in anticipation of popular opposition to its agenda of austerity at home and the integration of Sri Lanka into US war plans. While Wickremesinghe is promising to implement the 13th amendment to secure the TNA’s support, his UNP is just as mired in Sinhala chauvinism as Rajapakse’s coalition. As social tensions sharpen, it will inevitably turn to the whipping up of communal tensions as the means to divide the working class.
During the presidential election, the Socialist Equality Party was the only party to fight for the unity of workers—Tamil, Sinhala and Muslim—in a common struggle to oppose the US war drive and secure basic democratic and social rights by abolishing capitalism. The SEP fights for a Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and Eelam as an integral part of the struggle for a Union of Socialist Republics of South Asia and internationally.