FORTHCOMING ELECTION
Posted on August 7th, 2015
Janaki Chandraratna Perth, Western Australia
In a few days time Sri Lankans will decide on the future of the country. Most Sri Lankans, 90% or more, would want peace and harmony regardless of their ethnic origins. They aspire to educate their children in a stable environment where there is respect for each other so that there would be a continuity of the nation for many more generations to come.
This desire is not a ‘Pie in the Sky’, as comradeship has been intrinsic to Sri Lankan Society throughout our history for many thousands of years. Although the 30-year terrorist war has somewhat dented the peaceful co-existence in the country, there is a strong desire for reconciliation among all communities. For many this reconciliation needs to be within the unitary state as a creation of a state within a state is a luxury we cannot afford in a small country as ours. We therefore have no option but to live together and seek a solution of unity within diversity. This indeed is not a difficult undertaking as we have lived together recognizing ethnic differences, in our major cities like Colombo and Kandy, for many centuries. In fact multicultural living is in vogue in many countries with recent cross border migrations. An example is Australia with approximately 296 ethnic communities living together as one nation with freedom to follow one’s own religious beliefs and cultural values, provided the adherences are in compliance with the rule of law practiced by the majority Anglo-Saxon community. In fact the repertoire, is the same in other successful multicultural countries with unitary states, like Canada, US, Malaysia, Singapore etc. There is no dialogue on separatism although the geographical extent of some of these countries can entertain the idea if required. The indigenous communities of these countries are happy with the set up as their aspirations, like ours is to maximize the opportunities for the younger generation. Any dialogue they have with the Govt. is to better their opportunities within the existing framework rather than create ghettos of separatism.
Sri Lanka, however, is one step better than that of the above countries as we have three official languages instead of one. The issue in Sri Lanka is the politicization of the ethnic question. In fact the fundamental issue in the forthcoming election is the ethnic question. We often hear of discrimination against Tamil people but these are not elaborated for any discussion or reparatory action except in motherhood statements that Tamil people are devalued. Obviously, trust becomes an in issue when there is terrorism and in the pre terrorist era, it cannot be denied that Tamil people dominated the professions and were heavily represented in the cream of society. After the war, the Govt. gave preference to North and East infrastructure development, at the expense of the south, as a measure of good will to restore lost opportunities for the northerners. Therefore the claims by Tamil people and the spurious war fought for the detriment of all Sri Lankans lack substantiation.
Sri Lankans now have the choice of finding a solution to the ethnic question within a unitary system as in other developed democracies of the world or have a divided country on ethnic lines like in Palestine. The manifestos of some main parties present the answer in elaborate terms. The UPFA is upfront in the declaration that a solution will be found within a unitary state. The TNA manifesto is a repetition of LTTE ideology and demands. TNA needs to be commended for being upfront on their plans for the North and East. On the other hand the UNP which has negotiated links with TNA as a partner of the new Govt., in case UNP wins the election, is somewhat silent on the stance on the ethnic question except for a high level statement to say that a solution would be found with the Tamil parties.
Asian Tribune notes on 4 August 2015, that the UN with the concurrence of the Security Council has decided to intervene in the affairs of Sri Lankan North-East region through UNHCR and the UN Department of Political Affairs. UNHCR’s interference is with the permission of the respective govt. This indicates that UNP manifesto is lacking in the negotiated arrangements with the UN. This amounts to misleading the electorate on the UNP stance on the ethnic question. Sri Lankans have the right to have up to date information before they make their choice at the polls. I hope the major parties would seek clarity on this issue from the UNP and or UN sources, on behalf of the electorate so that the voters can take an informed decision at the polls.
August 7th, 2015 at 6:14 am
UPFA should highlight the plight of soldiers when the UNHRC releases its war crimes report in September. We cannot allow 41 of our BEST GUARDIAN GODS to be humiliated or charged.
This is why 19 amendment made the next govt. a FORCED NATIONAL GOVT. to SHUT people OUT and HURT war heroes.
This election is the LAST chance people get to sort matters out democratically. USE it to defeat UNP-TNA terror front.
August 7th, 2015 at 7:40 am
If MR gets in to the Parliament, then he should immediately state that he want the scrap the 19th amendment that put a non elected prime minister as the leader of the county and he is above the law of the nation.
August 7th, 2015 at 8:40 pm
Ado Facebook LORENZO the PARASITE, you say “This election is the LAST chance people get to sort matters out democratically. USE it to defeat UNP-TNA terror front.”
We KNOW that VERY WELL without your echoing the calls of REAL PATRIOTS, but PARDON ME, were you not ONE OF THOSE RESPONSIBLE for bringing us to this TERRIBLE STATE???
GET A LIFE …. Bloody Hypocrite!
August 7th, 2015 at 9:15 pm
And here comes the Tamil Nadu LEFT HAND of the Yamapalanaya EELAMIST Plot to DIVIDE our Motherland into a PATCHWORK of Ethno-Religious Bantustans!
EMBALA SINHALAYENI … AWADIWANNA!
Obey mathrubhumiyata tharjanaya ella karana siyalu sathuran antha parajayakata path karanna!
Eklath Janata Nidhahas Sandhanayata obey chandaya denna!
……………………..
Indian PM urged to ensure decentralization of power in Sri Lanka for Tamils to realize their aspirations
Aug 08, Chennai: The Indian government is urged to take all possible steps to ensure that the process of democratic decentralization is expedited in Sri Lanka so that the Tamils can realize their aspiration of Tamil Eelam.
In a memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister of India Narendra, Modi on Friday, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J. Jayalalithaa said India has a commitment to protect the “life and liberties” of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
“I strongly urge the Government of India to take all possible steps to ensure that the process of democratic decentralization, which is integral to the survival of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, is expedited,” Jayalalithaa noted in her memorandum .
She said the Tamils’ distinct identity and cultural presence in Sri Lanka, particularly in the Northern and Eastern regions, was the guiding principle behind the Indo Sri Lankan accord that led to 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution.
“The process of securing the right to self-determination, through the devolvement of democratic decentralization by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka, should be the spring board for Sri Lankan Tamils to eventually realize the aspiration of Tamil Eelam,” the Chief Minister said.
According to the Chief Minister the decentralization of power should eventually lead to the Sri Lankan Tamils realizing their legitimate aspirations.
“I hope that the Government of India, as a leader in the region and as a champion of human rights and democracy, will decisively take a bold stand in support of the much discriminated against and long suffering Tamil minorities in Sri Lanka,” Jayalalithaa said.
The Chief Minister also urged the Indian government to take necessary measures to bring to book those in Sri Lanka who had perpetrated the genocide on innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka.
“Government of India should take the initiative in this regard in appropriate international fora like the United Nations Human Rights Council,” she suggested.
August 7th, 2015 at 9:26 pm
“EMBALA SINHALAYENI … AWADIWANNA!”
YAAAAWN!!
August 8th, 2015 at 4:01 pm
‘බැඳුම්කර මගඩිය’ ග්රන්ථය එළිදකී
රට තුළ ඉමහත් ආන්දොaලනයට තුඩු දී තිබෙන මහ බැංකුවේ භාණ්ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කර නිකුතුව පිළිබඳව ‘බැඳුම්කර මගඩිය’ නමින් ලියෑවුණු නවතම ග්රන්ථය එළිදැක්වීම ඉකුත් 03 වැනි සඳුදා සවස 3.30 ට කොළඹ 07, නිදහස් මාවතේ, ජාතික පුස්තකාල හා ප්රලේඛන සේවා මණ්ඩල ශ්රවණාගාරයේදී සම්භාවනීය ආරාධිතයන් රැසකගේ සහභාගීත්වයෙන් සිදු කෙරිණි.
මාධ්යවේදී ශ්යාම් නුවන් ගනේවත්ත විසින් රචිත මේ ග්රන්ථය ඔහු විසින් රචනා කරනු ලබන ආර්ථික ග්රන්ථ මාලාවේ හත්වැනි ග්රන්ථයයි. මෙම ග්රන්ථය එළිදැක්වීමේ උත්සවයේ ප්රධාන ආරාධිත දෙසුම පවත්වනු ලැබුවේ හිටපු අගවිනිසුරු සරත් එන්. ද සිල්වා මහතා ය. හිටපු කෝප් සභාපති ඩිව් ගුණසේකර, හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී සහ කෝප් කමිටු සාමාජික මහාචාර්ය රජීව විඡේසිංහ සහ හිටපු මහ බැංකු අධිපති අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්රාල් යන මහත්වරු ද මෙහිදී අදහස් දක්වනු ලැබූහ. ඡායාරූපයෙන් දැක්වෙන් ශ්යාම් විසින් එම ග්රන්ථයේ පිටපතක් හිටපු අගවිනිසුරු සරත් එන්. ද සිල්වා මහතාට පිළිගැන්වූ අයුරුයි. හිටපු කෝප් සභාපති ඩිව් ගුණසේකර හිටපු කෝප් සාමාජික මහාචාර්ය රජීව විඡේසිංහ සහ හිටපු මහ බැංකු අධිපති අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්රාල් යන මහත්වරුන්ද පසෙකින් සිටිති. සියලු විමසීම් 0714834627 දුරකථන අංකයෙනි.
August 8th, 2015 at 4:01 pm
බැඳුම්කර මගඩියෙන් දැන් පාඩුව රු. කෝටි 7211 යි
ශ්යාම් නුවන් ගනේවත්ත
රට තුළ ඉමහත් ආන්දොaලනයට තුඩුදුන් ශ්රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුවේ තිස් අවුරුදු භාණ්ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කර නිකුතුව නිසා මේ වන විට සිදුව ඇති පාඩුව රු. කෝටි 7211 ක් පමණ දක්වා ඉහළ ගොස් ඇතැයි ඇස්තමේන්තු කර තිබේ.
පසුගිය පෙබරවාරි 27 වැනි දින මහ බැංකුව විසින් සිදු කළ මෙම බැඳුම්කර නිකුතුවේදී රු. බිලියන 10 ක් (රු. කෝටි 1000 ක්) දක්වා අගය ඉක්මවා ලංසු පිළිගැනීමෙන් සිදු වූ පොලී අනුපාත ඉහළ යැම නිසා රජයට මේ පාඩුව (පොලී වියදමේ ඉහළ යැම) සිදුව ඇතැයි මූල්ය වෙළෙඳපොළ නියෝජිතයෝ පවසති.
පෙබරවාරි 27 වැනි දින සිදු කළ භාණ්ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කර නිකුතුවෙන් පසු සිදු වූ පොලී අනුපාත ඉහළ යැම නිසා ඉන් පසු පැවැත් වූ සෑම භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් හා භාණ්ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කර නිකුතුවකදීම පොලී අනුපාත ඉහළ යැමට ඇති වූ පීඩනය හමුවේ පොලී වියදමේ වැඩිවීමක් සිදුවූ බව ද ඔවුහු පෙන්වා දෙති.
මේ බැඳුම්කර නිකුතුව තුළින් සිදුව ඇති පාඩුව නිසා මෙය ලංකා ඉතිහාසයේ පමණක් නොව දකුණු ආසියාවේම සිදුවූ විශාලතම මූල්ය වංචාව බවට ද විපක්ෂයේ හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රීවරු චෝදනා කරති.