Do not give Land and Police powers to the Northern Provincial Council
Posted on November 16th, 2017

Chanaka Bandarage

The current Northern Provincial Council (NPC) is a racist government. The NPC discriminates against the Sinhalese in the North.

At the moment the NPC does not have the Land and Police powers (under the 13th  Amendment, the Land and Police powers were granted to the provincial governments; but JR Jayawardane, realising the danger, effected measures to stop the final grant). At the moment the central government holds these two powers.

Even without having these two powers, the NPC discriminates against the Sinhalese hugely in the  North. It is not difficult to imagine what would happen when those powers are formally granted to the NPC  – that would be the creation of the Tamil Eelam.

LAND

  • NPC opposes Sinhalese people from living in the North. It even blocks the 2nd and 3rd generation Tamil speaking Sinhalese from returning to the North. Sri Lankan parliamentarians maintain a mum on this blatant discrimination.
  • NPC Chief Minister openly campaigns against the settlement of Sinhalese in the His actions amount to contravening local and international laws including human rights laws. The Chief Minister has single handedly stopped the establishment of Sinhalese settlements in the North . He has done this with impunity; since establishment of the NPC in 2013. A fear psychosis has been created among the Sinhalese that they should not contemplate settling down in the North. The sad irony is that the NPC, since its establishment, has received the implied consent to do so from the central governments.
  • There is hardly any land available in plenty for the growing populations of Sri Lanka to live except in the North and the East. The NPC and the central government instrumentalities (like the Tamil speaking Grama Sevakas) have imposed ‘red tape’ upon the Sinhalese from settling in the North. As it was impossible to comply with the stringent (unlawful) rules, the Sinhalese who wanted to settle in the North returned to the South (note, the North and the South have been traditional homelands of the Sinhalese).
  • NPC has a huge budget and spends lavishly on the upliftment of the Tamil citizens in the North (funds largely provided to them  by the central government), it has basically done nothing to uplift the lives of the very few Sinhalese living in the North. Lots of the Northern Sinhalese still live in half built houses or tin sheds.  The roads in the areas where they live have been neglected.  The NPC has shown no desire to attend to repairing these roads.
  • The Madu Road Sinhalese who were the first settlers of that area have been overlooked when allocating recently built shops. The Sinhalese in Silawathura have not been provided with proper drinking water (until the NGO that the writer is involved with went ahead to build wells and provide them with clean water). Kokilai Sinhalese (including the Buddhist monk) are constantly facing legal action in relation to land matters; the sinister objective is to evict them from those areas. Tamil speaking Navatkuli Sinhalese have been asked to return to the South alleging that they are illegal squatters. No attempts have been made by any government to rebuild the ‘Sinhala Maha Vidyalaya’ in Jaffna, flattened by Prabhakaran’s bombing in the early 1980s (it had over 2000 students and was considered to have one of the best school laboratories in the North). This prime land, adjoining the Jaffna Hospital, has been encroached by squatters, to a certain extent.
  • The former TNA MP Suresh Premachandran (presently the Leader of EPRLF) threatened Navatkuli Sinhalese that they must return to the South (youtube.com/watch?v=fKfrUStwIs). This is a good forewarning as to what we can expect from a future TNA or other Tamil government when they have full Land (and Police) powers in the North.
  • After the war, the Madu Road Sinhalese were given 20 perches of land by the then central government to resettle, new Tamils who were brought into the area, probably under the instigation of the NPC, to live next to them were given 40 perches of land. The Sinhalese understand that they were discriminated against on the ground of race. In Madu Road, a prime block of land belonging to the central government was acquired by a Tamil businessman to establish a new business.
  • NPC opposes and sometimes prevents the few Sinhalese Buddhists in the North from practising Buddhism. Even to build a ‘chaithya’ within their temple premises, the Sinhalese in the North had to seek orders from the Court of law. We are aware of incidents where Buddha statutes placed in public places in the North had been damaged by subversive elements.
  • Sinhalese living in the North have been denied the right to practice their livelihoods – due to this some Sinhalese left the North and returned to the South. We are aware of incidents where self-employed Sinhalese have been harassed by the NPC officials imposing unfair conditions and restrictions on their businesses (Tamils doing the same businesses have not been imposed with such unfair restrictions and conditions). A Sinhala shop owner in the North was frequently harassed by errant officials alleging he had encroached into the pavement,  other adjoining non-Sinhalese shop owners, did not even receive a warning for committing the same offence.
  • TNA runs the NPC. TNA was the LTTE proxy in the Sri Lankan parliament.
  • TNA politicians have worked to chase out Sinhalese from lands and give those land to Tamils (eg. after the war, about 100 Sinhalese were chased out from the land (up to 1000 acres) in Dehiwatte in Trincomalee district (Eastern Province) and those lands were given to new Tamil settlers. A high level public servant of the Trincomalee District Registry related that the ‘order’ to evict the Sinhalese from the lands had come from a prominent TNA parliamentarian (who is ‘venerated’ in the South).

සංහිඳියාව (Reconciliation)

NPC has shown least regard to සංහිඳියාව (reconciliation), though the Central Governments preach this non-stop to the people in the South. In the North, government work is conducted in Tamil exclusively. The Sinhalese in the North who are unable to speak Tamil find it extremely difficult to obtain services from government offices. The Jaffna Railway station had not regularly announced the arrival of the train from Colombo in Sinhala language. Huge bill board advertisements in the North (eg on A9) are being confined to Tamil and English languages only (some advertisements are displayed by banks and leading businesses housed in the South).  To a traveler to the North, it is obvious that Sinhalese signage is largely lacking. This is not the situation in the South. A Northern Sinhalese Buddhist monk related to the writer that when buses are crowded, he had to travel standing on them as no one would offer him a seat.

Future

  • Once they have the Land power, the NPC not only would be able to legally block the Southern Sinhalese from settling in the North, but also from visiting the North. The NPC may be able to impose a law that without its permission no person can enter the Northern lands, say, beyond Vavuniya. This means the Sinhalese can be asked not to enter the North.
  • The very few Sinhalese who are already in the North could be repatriated to the South.
  • Once the Land power is given, it will be easy for enemies of Sri Lanka in Thamilnadu, like Vaiiko, Nedumarann and Seman et al to set up anti-Sri Lankan establishments/institutions in the North.
  • Tamilnadu people may have easy access to enter the province. Their fishermen may freely poach on our waters.
  • As the land will be theirs, without Sri Lanka’s consent, the NPC would be able to negotiate with India and build a bridge to connect the two lands.
  • With the Land power legally granted to them, the NPC can impose more pressure on the Army to vacate its camps (note even the Leader of the Opposition in the recent past trespassed into  the Kilinochchi Army camp and demanded that the Army should vacate that land). The NPC can agitate people to conduct hartals etc demanding the military to entirely vacate from the North. Such actions can endanger the lives of the military and the Sinhalese police (if any) stationed in the North. With Land powers fully in their control,  basically the NPC will be able to do anything in relation to land – sell, transfer, lease, mortgage, donate, acquire in any way it likes – without even paying just compensation to the land owners (note, there will  be some land still vested with the central government).

POLICE

  • Historically the majority of the Policemen and Police women in the North have been Sinhalese. This is the situation even now. Once the Police powers are given, the new Northern Police Force may be comprised exclusively of Tamil speaking officers. If the NPC wants, it may be able to impose a condition that all police officers must speak Tamil fluently.  This would eliminate most Sinhalese police personnel from serving in the North.
  • The NPC police will be like a para military force, it will bear arms. As the central government will have no control over recruitment to the NP police force, ex-Tigers may be able join. After the two powers are given, if the Sri Lankan military continues to remain in the North, it is possible that confrontation may occur between the two ‘armed’ forces.
  • A Police officer from the South may not be able to enter the North without the permission from the Northern Chief Minister. If a federal Police Officer is allowed permission to enter the North, he/she could be asked to remove his/her federal uniform and wear civilian clothes.
  • As the Northern Provincial Police Commission will come under the control of the NP Chief Ministry, it will be the Chief Minister who will appoint the head of its police force, not the President.
  • It will be very difficult for the central government Police force (federal) to investigate offences committed by criminals; it will be largely the duty of the provincial government police forces (imagine, having nine separate Police forces, wearing nine different uniforms + a federal police force in this tiny Sri Lanka! – we are less than 1/3 of the population of Tamilnadu).
  • The central government Police force (federal) will become a minute Police force who will be confined to duties in federal institutions like the Airports (2), Ports (about 4 or 5), Defence installations, Federal Parliament, Foreign Ministry, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court, Post Offices, SLBC/Rupavahini and the Customs etc. As the provinces are likely to get the powers currently in the concurrent list (still unsure); majority of the country’s public establishments/ buildings will be manned by the provincial police forces.
  • A person who would commit a crime in the South, like planting a bomb (eg, a future Pottu Amman), can flee to the North and stay hiding there. It will be up to the Northern Police whether or not to arrest him. The Federal Police will have to seek an ‘extradition order’ from the NP Chief Minister to receive and prosecute the person in the South. Whether or not to issue such an order will be the prerogative of the NP Chief Minister.
  • In 1991 Vartharaja Perumal (co-founder of EPRLF) used his paramilitary force like an ‘Army’ and unilaterally declared the ‘Tamil Eelam’ in Northern Sri Lanka. This led the then President Ranasinghe Premadasa to dissolve the provincial council and impose a direct rule on it. Such a scenario can recur; next time the situation would be more serious, given that NPC will have a police force in its command and under the proposed changes the Governor’s powers are likely to be severely curtailed.

TNA  has not given up on the separate state, it is foolish to think otherwise

  • When overseas, TNA politicians speak in a different language and tone – they espouse separation. There are instances where the TNA has openly stated that they do not believe in a unitary Sri Lanka. In Geneva in the past, they have lobbied for the Tamil right for self- determination (ie, separate state).
  • When overseas, TNA politicians make fabricated claims that Tamils are being discriminated in Sri Lanka, including the accusation that Tamil women are currently being raped by the military (this writer has confronted them in foreign western forums, the TNA leaders have then retracted).
  • Tamil separatists follow their leader, Chelvanayakam’ s teaching – ‘little now, more later’ (please refer to my earlier article ‘Tamil demand for unfair and unreasonable power – due to Sinhala stupidity, complacency, ignorance and infighting).’
  • NPC has openly indicated that they are not afraid to breach the country’s Constitution. That is why they have shown a desire to seek foreign aid and direct foreign participation (by passing the central government) to build the NP. According to the Constitution the NPC does not have the Foreign Affairs powers, it is vested with the central government.
  • TNA, though leads the opposition in the current parliament shows little regard to issues relating to the whole of Sri Lanka. They are predominantly focused on Tamil rights. This should not be the behaviour of a responsible opposition.
  • It is likely that the parliament will give 2/3 majority to further amend the Constitution (among other things to grant the Land and Police powers to all the nine provinces). Afterwards like JR Jayawardane did in 1987, sanction may be obtained from the Supreme Court  to the proposals (subject to the Supreme Court’s approval). If the matter is referred to the People at a Referendum, it is likely that the proposals would fail. Whatever the outcome of the Referendum,  TNA will use the results to show that in the North and the East they received a majority vote which shows that those people support the proposals. Based on the Referendum results, the NP Chief Minister may call for an UDI (unilateral declaration of independence). Given that the West (US and the European Union) and India are now in good terms with Sri Lanka, it is interesting to note whether or not they would accept the call or stick its loyalty with Sri Lanka. Whatever the situation, it is quite probable that a Tamil Eelam would be dawned one day as a new nation within Sri Lanka (Kosovo was accepted in that manner). The only way to defeat this is to have Sinhalese and Muslim people settled in the North (this is also the solution to the country’s land scarcity in order for people to live comfortably), and try to preserve as many as possible Army camps there.

Our weak fight thus far against the proposed amendments to the Constitution  (six subcommittee reports and the interim report)

Our fight has largely been confined to the below mentioned misguided areas (in bullet points). When the masses realise that these fears that we try to portray  are actually not there, they may consent to the new proposals (at the moment there is lukewarm interest in the South about the Constitutional debate):

  • That the prominence currently being given in the Constitution to Buddhism may be removed. It is quite evident that the proponents of the proposals are not stupid to remove this prominence already given in Chapter II, Article 9 of the Constitution. Even the Cardinal of the Catholic Church has stated that that should not be done.
  • We fight tooth and nail whether it will be ‘orumiththa nadu’ or ‘Otriyatchi’. In this debate does it really matter?  Surely, this should not be the key issue of the debate.
  • We continue to argue that the proponents of the proposals are trying to convert the country into a federal state (even the proponents have sometimes stated that federalism would be the outcome!). It was the Banda-Chelva pact in 1957 that first tried to create a federal state in Sri Lanka.  In the mid 1990s the country attempted to do this again. But, in 1987 we in fact became a federal state (created by the 13th Amendment in 1987). Therefore, rather than making the shallow argument that the country will become a federal state as a result of the current proposals ; we must  demonstrate that they may lead to a much more sinister end – secession.  We have failed to understand that many ordinary Sri Lankans now believe that it is alright to grant federal status to the provinces, believing that the country will still remain a single nation.  There is justification to this belief. They know that countries that have federal governments such as Canada, Australia, India, France, Mexico, Brazil, Germany have remained a one nation. What we must also stress is that unlike those countries, in Sri Lanka, we deal with Tamil politicians most of who have the hidden agenda to create a separate state – Tamil Eelam.
  • What we must do is to highlight the real damage these proposals might do to the country. Giving the Land and the Police powers to the NPC, the federal (central) government giving up its concurrent list powers are the most dangerous and scary proposals. They are changes that can lead us to lose our sovereignty and territorial integrity. Unfortunately, in our fight thus far, we have given less deference to them.
  • Finally, the populace must be educated about the grave danger  that we will face if these powers are given to the NPC. To overcome the problem, we must all work together. Like our other problems, if we continue to  look at them as a UNP/SLFP/JA issue,  we would never win. What we ought to understand is that this is a National problem; we must disregard our party affinities and all of us must work as united Sri Lankans to defeat the threat we now face to our sovereignty and territorial integrity.
  • This time, once we lose sovereignty and territorial integrity, it will be permanent. It will be impossible to regain them. Again, that is why  we must fight with full force and vigour to defeat the adverse proposals.

29 Responses to “Do not give Land and Police powers to the Northern Provincial Council”

  1. Dilrook Says:

    According to 13A, police and land powers belong to the provincial council. These have been withheld by the government illegally and unconstitutionally. Of course PCs must not have police and land powers and the 13A must be removed.

    Strangely, NPC and other PCs have not pushed for their land and police powers. They are after other things that makes it more credible to threaten separation unless more economic benefits are given to Tamils.

  2. Chanaka B Says:

    “These have been withheld by the government illegally and unconstitutionally”
    JRJ withheld them correctly.

    “unless more economic benefits are given to Tamils”
    Enough economic benefits have been given to Tamils. Billions were spent in the North and the East through ‘Uthuru Wasanthaya’ and ‘Nagenahira Navodaya’. NGOs pump billions there. Today, what are the particular problems that the Tamils face that the Sinhalese do not face? True there’s poverty in the North. But, Sri Lanka is a 3rd world country. The ‘pie’ is small any way; it is unfair for one group to expect a larger share.

    Statements like the above (in inverted commas “ “) assist separatists.

  3. Chanaka B Says:

    This was in today’s ‘The Island ‘-

    Mullaitivu land issue:
    Problem already addressed, Minister tells TNA chief
    November 16, 2017, 11:49 pm

    Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs Minister D. M. Swaminathan has, in a letter to TNA and Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan, said Mullaitivu land issues raised by the former have already been addressed.

    A spokesperson for the ministry yesterday told The Island that Minister Swaminathan was in touch with relevant administrative, military and civilian representatives. The ministry made available a copy of Minister Swaminathan’s letter to Opposition Leader Sampanthan. It read: “With reference to your letter which is addressed to H E President dated 9th November 2017 regarding the land at Keppapilavu in Mullaitivu District belonging to the displaced Tamil civilians, I wish to state the following:

    “It should be noted that on 03rd of May 2017 on payment of a sum of Rs.5 Mn. 189 acres of land was released on the 19th of July 2017 in Keppapilavu at the Mullative District.

    “In respect of the release of 111 acres of land I wish to state that when the people were agitating in Keppapilavu I personally visited and met the people who were deemed to be on hunger strike. The Hon.Member of Parliament Mrs.Shanthini Sriskandaraja was also present during the alleged hunger strike.

    Although they tried to prevent me from entering, I went right into the Army Commander’s Office in Mullaitivu and discussed this issue with the Army Commander.

    “On my return I summoned a meeting at the Ministry office on the 26th of July 2017 where the following Officers were present:

    • Hon.R.Sampanthan M.P. – Leader of the Opposition

    • Hon.Member of Parliament Douglas Devananda

    • 07 representatives of Keppapilavu land owners

    • Representative of the, Defence Secretary

    • Representative of Army Commander

    • Representative of the Mullaitivu Security Force

    • Representative of the Chief Minister Northern Province

    • Representative of the Treasury Secretary

    • Representative of the Government Agent Mullaitivu

    “At this meeting I explained the output of the discussion I had with the representative of the Army Commander in Mullaitivu. Subsequently a Cabinet Paper was submitted in this regard and the approval of the Cabinet was granted on the 01st of August 2017 to release Rs.148 Mn. and the Treasury had already released this amount on the 24th of August 2017 for the initial shifting cost by the Ministry. However, the representative of the Army Commander agreed to release 111 acres of land from the Keppapilavu Army Camp before the end of 2017.

    “The balance 73 acres was also discussed at the above meeting but the Army had not given any conclusive decision regarding the release of the balance 73 acres.

    “The Army gave us an assurance that the buildings situated in the area released at Keppapilavu will not be demolished which can be utilized by the people. I had been speaking to Major A.R.Obeysekera of the Mullaitivu Camp and he confirmed that the permanent buildings situated at Keppapilavu land will not be demolished and these can be utilized by the Keppapilavu civilians for whatever purposes they want.

    “From January 2015 up to July 2017 4830.41 acres of land had been released in the Northern Province.”

  4. Chanaka B Says:

    “From January 2015 up to July 2017 4830.41 acres of land had been released in the Northern Province.”

    How much up to November 2017?

  5. Dilrook Says:

    Two wrongs don’t make it right.

    Police and land powers must be removed from the provincial list. Keeping them in the provincial list and denying them is wrong on two counts.

  6. Chanaka B Says:

    Again, JRJ validly denied them (land and police powers) because he knew of the danger.

    He denied them to all the provinces, so it was not discriminatory.

    To remove them from the provincial list we must repeal the 13. When we had good chances to do so, we did not do it. At the moment there is no one brave enough to take the leadership to repeal it.

    I stated ‘Do not give land and police powers to the NPC’ because they do not qualify to have those powers; and I have shown the reasons. If there exists a non racist Tamil NPC that truly accepts a unitary Sri Lanka, surely we can give those powers. Unfortunately, I cannot see any such NPC emerging in the foreseeable future.

    At the moment it is simply too dangerous to give those powers – like placing the blood bank in charge of Dracula.

    Happy to discuss this with you in Sydney.

  7. SA Kumar Says:

    Dilrook
    Do not give Land and Police powers to the Northern Provincial Council- Law of the Mother Lanka .

    removed from the provincial list
    13A is untouchable Indian baby thats why OUR one & only Thesiya Thalaivar VP is deadly against it !

  8. SA Kumar Says:

    Chanaka B
    If there exists a non racist Tamil NPC that truly accepts a unitary Sri Lanka, surely we can give those powers. – great reasonable suggestion . Please wait for couple of NEPC election , Doucles Devananda will be CM of NPC (Saiva TE) than We can implement 13A & 6A fully, Why in hurry , no one going any where ne ????

  9. Ancient Sinhalaya Says:

    Traitor alugosuwa (to Sinhalese only) jr@ put this straight jacket 13, 13A to break up Sri Lanka under crafty indians
    pressure whose only interest is to please tamils in tn to get into/being in power. Only thing jr@ had to was go to Russians at the time. Since j@ was dancing to us, uk tune traitor alogusuwa chose to destroy our country. Since traitor alugosuwa didn’t have any Sinhalese blood in him, it wasn’t a tough decision to take.

    Why 350-mile long island (not 3,500 miles) need provincial councils etc? Then you can imagine traitor alugosu r@’s
    and traitor tamils treachery. After unsuccessful attempt by the low life barrel man hitler mala paharan now traitors
    want to dismember Mother Lanka through the thieves den while keeping Colombo to themselves. These ductch-import, british-import and
    kallathonis not happy until they have their drealam. Their hearts and minds still being in tn alone shows they are newcomers
    since they feel homesick. Mother Lanka is very unfortunate to have these traitors as her sons and daughters.

    Traitor catholic run UNPatriotic party have always divide/divided the Sinhalese and make/made minorities king makers. Traitor foreigners know this and at present the biggest traitor ever traitor chief die hard catholic token
    Buddhist Mega Thief Bay Gal Karaya Mega Thakkadiya Batalande Wadakaya pol pot r@nil wickrama Sinhala
    killer is ruling Sri Lanka and the traitors know this is the best time to dismember Mother Lanka.

    Being followers of religions of conveniences which don’t regard killing, stealing, lying as sins, while all honest people
    in the world do, these traitors carrying on living a lie chanting discrimination, ancient kingdoms (mythical of course). As a result
    they accrue a lot of sins, and won’t be two legged creatures in their next lives. This is what happens whey you
    believe in mythical creator gods. Go to any museum in the world, and see if you can find god or two legged creature’s closest relative! Not just traitors, out and out liars as well. Shame on you!

  10. SA Kumar Says:

    Ancient Sinhalaya
    Buddhist Mega Thief Bay Gal Karaya Mega Thakkadiya Batalande Wadakaya pol pot r@nil wickrama – Big name for small man Hon RW (iRanil W(V)igramasingam).

  11. Chanaka B Says:

    Here we go again, more closure of Army camps. This is in today’s ‘දිවයින’:

    හමුදාව යළි භාරදුන් ඉරණතිව් අක්‌. 712 ක්‌ 25 දා අයිතිකරුවන්ට පවරයි

    දිනසේන රතුගමගේ

    උතුරේ ආරක්‌ෂක අංශ විසින් මෙතෙක්‌ භාවිත කළ කිළිනොච්චිය දිස්‌ත්‍රික්‌කයේ ඉරණතිව් ප්‍රදේශයේ සාමන්‍ය වැසියන්ට අයත් ඉඩම් අක්‌කර 712 ක්‌ ආපසු රජය වෙත භාරදීමෙන් පසුව මේ මස 25 වැනිදාට පෙර එම ඉඩම් සියල්ල අයිතිකරුවන්ට භාරදෙන බව පුනරින් ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් එස්‌. ක්‍රිෂ්ණදාස්‌ මහතා පැවසීය.

    මෙම ඉඩම්වලින් ආරක්‌ෂක අංශ ඉවත්වීමට පෙර එම ඉඩම්වල වළලා තිබුණු බිම්බෝම්බ සියල්ලක්‌ම ඉවත් කොට ඒ පිළිබඳව සහතිකයක්‌ ද ලබාදී ඇතිබව කී ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම්වරයා එම බිම්බෝම්බ ඉවත් කිරීමේ කටයුතු සඳහා කාලයක්‌ ගතවීම හේතුවෙන් ඉඩම් නිදහස්‌ කිරීම ප්‍රමාද වූ බව ද කියා සිටියේය.

    මෙම ඉඩම්වල අයිතිකරුවන්ගේ බලපත්‍රවල පිටපත් ඉඩම් නිලධාරියා හා ග්‍රාමනිලධාරියා විසින් කල් ඇතිව ලබාගෙන තිබීම නිසා ඉඩම් අයිතිකරුවන්ට ලබාදීම පහසු වුවත් ඉරණතිව් ඇතුළු එම ගම්මානවල වැසියෝ ඔවුන්ට අයත් ඉඩම් හඳුනාගැනීමේදී විශාල ප්‍රශ්නයකට මුහුණදෙන බව පැවසූහ.

    යුද සමයේදී ඔවුන් තමන්ට අයත් ඉඩම් අතහැර යනවිට ප්‍රදේශයේ තිබූ තත්ත්වයත් වර්තමානයේදී මෙම පළාත්වල තත්ත්වයත් බොහෝ සෙයින් වෙනස්‌ වී ඇති නිසා ගම්වැසියන් මෙම දුෂ්කරතාවට මුහුණ දෙන බව පැවසූ ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම්වරයා මෙම ප්‍රශ්නයට විසඳුමක්‌ වශයෙන් මිනින්දෝරු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ නිලධාරීන් පිරිසක්‌ ද ඉඩම් බෙදීමේ කටයුතුවලට සම්බන්ධ කරගෙන ඇතැයි සඳහන් කළේය.

  12. SenaD Says:

    Chanaka B,

    Dilrook pointed out the country’s basic law as it stands at present and that he does not agree with it either.

    I too believe that those two powers must never be with the Provincial Councils as long as the Provincial Councils exist.

    Therefore, I do not agree with your statement: “If there exists a non racist Tamil NPC that truly accepts a unitary Sri Lanka, surely we can give those powers.”.

    Dilrook has already said what the correct way to do it is, i.e. “Police and land powers must be removed from the provincial list. Keeping them in the provincial list and denying them is wrong on two counts.”.

    Until they are formally removed they must be withheld as being done now under the President’s powers.

  13. Chanaka B Says:

    I have outlined the large scale discrimination that is happening in the North against the Sinhalese. To my knowledge there is hardly any Tamil politician who acknowledge them and wanting to rectify them; including consenting to the settling down of Sinhalese in the North. This is why I state that Land and Police powers must not be given to NPC.

  14. Chanaka B Says:

    ‘ඊලාම්’ කොඩිය එනතුරු අධ්‍යපන ඇමති ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා ජාතික කොඩිය එසවිම ප්‍රතිකේෂ්ප කරයි.. සංහිදියාව බිදෙන නිසා නෝ ඇක්ෂන්..’
    http://lankacnews.com/%e0%b6%8a%e0%b6%bd%e0%b7%8f%e0%b6%b8%e0%b7%8a-%e0%b6%9a%e0%b7%9c%e0%b6%a9%e0%b7%92%e0%b6%ba-%e0%b6%91%e0%b6%b1%e0%b6%ad%e0%b7%94%e0%b6%bb%e0%b7%94-%e0%b6%85%e0%b6%b0%e0%b7%8a/

  15. Chanaka B Says:

    This was in Lankacnews:

    ‘ඊලාම්’ කොඩිය එනතුරු අධ්‍යපන ඇමති ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා ජාතික කොඩිය එසවිම ප්‍රතිකේෂ්ප කරයි.. සංහිදියාව බිදෙන නිසා නෝ ඇක්ෂන්..’

  16. Fran Diaz Says:

    INDIA imposed the 13-A under DURESS on Lanka.

    Now Tamil Leaders are creating Eemal >> “Dravidastan” – which includes South INDIA (earlier Tamil Nadu Dream stopped by Nehru’s Anti-Secessionist Law of 1963), via the 13-A ?

    Question : Why is the 6-A NEVER implemented ?

    ———

    Read book “Breaking India” by Dr Rajiv Malhotra.

    Wake up INDIA !

  17. Fran Diaz Says:

    Recall earlier food shortages in Europe during WWII.
    Bihar area (INDIA) food supply was shipped off to Europe, leaving starving millions in that area. We are told that the death toll exceeded one million.

    Pivot Asia program is to ensure the Food Supply to Europe etc via Land & Ports of Asia ?

    First it was “Contain China” program with Lanka.
    Now it is “Contain former govt + MR & Patriots” program.
    While all this is going on, Democracy is forsaken and a strange Capitalism is taking over Lanka, with favors galore for foreign enterprise, especially re LAND OWNERSHIP & SHIPPING !

    All that is happening now in Lanka appears to fit that theory.

  18. Fran Diaz Says:

    Note that Fascism/Sadism Yahap rule !

  19. Chanaka B Says:

    There’s a saying Capitalism is the best economic system of the world, free people and free markets are the best answer for economic worries.

    In Sri Lanka, governments have continuously tried Capitalist policies since 1977, but we are still a 3rd world country.

    Why?

    Rampant corruption, maladministration, lack of rationality and lack of discipline, lack of knowledge are some of the reasons.

    Giving away valuable land to foreigners is a real worry. When granting land to foreigners, governments must adhere to a strict policy of keeping the country’s best interests as the paramount consideration. I still think giving away the Army Headquarters land (about 25 acres) in Galle Face was a mistake. Then, in the guise of growing bananas thousands of acres of virgin forest was vandalized in Somawathiya by a foreign funded joint venture. Recently, we heard that a certain dubious business tried to grab the Chalmers Granaries land in Colombo, I believe they were not successful.

    Giving away land on 40 or 99 year lease is different. It is still a lease, not a transfer of freehold title.

    I believe our foreign debt now exceeds US$100 billion. In such a situation the country has to take drastic steps to reduce the debt burden. Leasing out land to foreign enterprises – as stated before, this must always be done with the country’s best interests at heart. When entering into overseas financial transactions, the governments must act like a good, shrewd businessman. This is seldom the case in our country, unfortunately.

  20. Fran Diaz Says:

    Capitalism with a high and healthy mix of Socialism is probably the best Economic system.

    Even the Father of Capitalism, Adam Smith, stated in his book “Wealth of Nations” that Essential Services of a country ought to be under government control.
    No person in their right senses will assume that Essential Services will be done in an almost non-profit manner by private enterprises.

    What RW & Co. are doing is just the opposite – they sell off any and everything they can possibly sell off to foreign enterprises.

    As Chanaka states, leasing is far safer, the less years of leasing the better.

  21. Cerberus Says:

    There is a myth that has been propagated that PURE Capitalism works. It DOES NOT. In the USA which is the epitome of the PURE capitalist economy, look at the factual situation. How many major Financial Depressions has that country gone through with the massive loss of jobs each time for very large numbers of people. It worked for a short while from 1944 onwards when Pres Franklin Roosevelt brought in the New Deal for the people. One of the main points of this period was the very high tax rate for the very higher incomes reaching up to 91%. During this time the workers were unionized and got very good wages. This was a Golden Era for the USA since it was a socialist economy. It was truly great. The University Education was covered by Pell Grants which made it virtually free. People had a lot of money in hand and were spending it thereby creating a vibrant economy. In 1980 Ronal Reagan the actor was elected as President and he brought in a number of changes which destroyed this financial greatness of America. He disconnected the US dollar from the Gold Standard and cut taxes for the rich from the 90% to 35%. He also began to dismantle most of the welfare programs for the people. This has been a Republican mantra since then and each Republican President kept cutting taxes and also cutting the welfare projects. The present govt appears to be planning to outdo all the others in removing the Social Safety net. Unfortunately the Corporate media especially Fox News keep plugging this lie that cutting taxes stimulates the economy. When George Bush cut taxes while fighting two wars in the Middle east he drove the economy into a Recession. Pres Obama had to work very hard to bail out the economy and it was the taxpayers who had to pay the losses of the too-big-to-fail big banks. When Pres Obama resurrected the Chrysler and GM factories which were crashing, the Republicans were telling him to let them fail. It would have thrown millions out of work. Now the USA prints any amount of Dollars they need and to keep the value up they have made sure the Middle East sell all the oil in US Dollars. It was the same reason Gaddafi was killed because he was going to sell oil for Gold Dinars (backed by Gold). Even MR brought in the Chinese Yuan as a reserve currency which was his undoing. If this situation changes as many economists have pointed out then the US Dollar will crash.

    In terms of PQLI, the USA is way below countries in Europe which follow Socialist Economies. Almost all the people carry guns and there are many people who have no insurance for health. When they fall ill they go to emergency who treat them. The Pharmaceutical Companies are gouging the people which is allowed by the Congress who benefit in terms of contributions from them. The environment has been degraded and the present Government has removed all the restraints the Obama administration had placed on Corporations to dump waste. About 0.1% of the people have most of the wealth of the country. A large number of people have no savings in their old age and are in very sorry states. Is this what we want for Sri Lanka or should we like Bhutan measure the success of the economy by Gross Domestic Happiness?

    President Mahinda Rajapaksa was trying to go on the path of Self-Sufficiency as you suggest. He had to spend money on the infrastructure since it had been destroyed and neglected for 30 years by the old hag CBK and Ponil. As soon as MR came into power he started projects to develop the infrastructure. In 2009 when he eliminated LTTE and their leader the West was livid. They send the French Foreign Minister Boucher and David Miliband Leader of the opposition in U.K. Parliament to beg for Prabhakaran’s life from MR. President Mahinda Rajapaksa stood firm and as a result, they started their plans to eliminate him. Funds were given to the opposition to mount a campaign to besmirch MR’s character and drag him to the ground. In spite of it MR would have won if there was no large-scale cheating by the opposition.

    During the last two years from Jan 2015, the මූසල ආණ්ඩුව has taken more loans than MR did in his time from 2005 to 2009. But what do they have to show for it? They go around opening buildings and hospitals etc that MR had built and they put their own nameplate on the buildings after removing MR’s name. The only thing they have done with the money is to import luxury BMWs, Mercedes Bezes and Range Rovers for the corrupt parliamentarians. The bond scam engineered by Ponil and Arjun Mahendran is one of the biggest insider trading jobs in the world.

    Self Sufficiency would have given our people Dignity, Peace, and Prosperity. The farmers would have been self-employed and would have supplied the rice we needed. We could have had small-scale private operations to produce various other goods as you suggest. The Yahapalanaya killed the fertilizer subsidy to destroy the farmers. Now that Wikunanasinghe wants to convert us into an export economy as per the instructions from the IMF. They feel the time is right for the takeover of Sri Lanka by Multinational Corporations and the wealthy Tamil Diaspora. They will come and buy everything from the Trincomalee harbor, Hambantota harbors our best lands and convert the people to serfs who will have to work under these Corporations. Instead of being a dignified race of people who are self-sufficient, we will end up as serfs working for a pittance for these corporations. Wikunanasinghe and his cohorts will be very well looked after. Sri Lanka labor costs are much higher than that in India, Bangladesh etc. So these corporations will import labor who will never go back and what happened in 1815 will be repeated. The ethnic balance will be changed furthermore forever. Both CBK and Ponil will have their ultimate revenge. Ponil is a twit who mind is still in the 1950’s mindset. He thinks Capitalism works. It does not as has been shown by one of the world’s foremost Economists Dr. Richard Wolf and many others.

    RW follows the script from failed pure capitalist ideas from the International powers. Most of Europe including U.K follow Socialist Systems of Governance. RW after losing elections 29 times keeps coming like the Terminator in the film. Both Ranil and CBK are like the walking dead in the film Zombies since their hearts are dead. The body and head keep going on a set program from the International powers.

    We need to measure the success of the economy by PQLI (Physical Quality of Life Index which is a composite number to measure Life expectancy, literacy, infant mortality etc). Not by GDP. The only solution is for all the good well-meaning people in the country, the intellectuals, the workers, the priests and the forces to rise up against this life defeating systems and bring lasting change and prosperity for the ordinary people not the few at the top.

    Sri Lanka is the Socialist Republic. Not a Capitalist Paradise for vermin from abroad to creep in and spoil our land and culture. The purely Capitalist countries have destroyed their countries and parts of the world and are now looking for new fresh lands to conquer and plunder and rape.

    There are many top economists who have written on the topic. One of the most outspoken has been Dr. Richard Wolf. His famous talk Capitalism hits the fan is given below. His solution for capitalism is to have democracy in the workplace. The Mondragon Corporation in Spain is actually a large number of Co-operatives under the umbrella of Mondragon. This was set up with the blessings of the Catholic Church. In the USA there are many companies which are run as co-operatives where the employees participate in the decision making of the company affairs by being on the board. In Germany which has been very successful any company with over 2000 employees have to have at least 50% of employees on the board. This is why unlike USA Germany is very successful. In 2008 when the recession hit many companies in the USA laid off people in millions. In Germany, the Govt informed the companies not to lay off anyone. They suggested that they can reduce the number of hours of employees but keep all employed. In return, the German Govt paid the wages of the companies who had reduced the number of hours of employees so that no one lost any money. The net result was that the people had money in the pocket and were spending it thereby keeping the economy rolling. They hardly felt the recession, unlike the stupid USA.

    Please watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZU3wfjtIJY ( Capitalism Hits the Fan – Richard Wolff)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WhZXhRS3F4 ( Austerity and Neoliberalism in Greece with Richard Wolff and Barry Herman | The New School)

  22. Chanaka B Says:

    What I meant was Benevolent Capitalism , where everyone benefits. Due to ‘tickle down theory’ the poor get benefitted.

    40 year lease is the lowest that is given. But, foreign investors who lobby hard usually gets the maximum 99 years. That is why I said the governments must act like good, shrewd businessmen. When we gave away Air Lanka, the contract was drafted so bad; when compensation was awarded for the lost planes in the Karunanayake bomb blast, all that money went to the managing overseas company (several million dollars). I think we completely lost about 5 or 6 planes but someone else received the benefit! They must have bought new planes from that money for their airline.

    Yes, self-sufficiency in food is the most important. Full credit must be given to Mrs B. When she handed the county in 1977, we were self-sufficient in most food items especially rice, chilies, potatoes, almost all vegetables, and I believe the country’s foreign debt was zero. Today not only rice, even the coconut is imported. Potatoes are imported from Pakistan, dry fish (හාල් මැස්සෝ) from Indonesia and mung gram (මුන් ඇට)/yellow gram (කඩල) from India, and the foreign debt is US 100 billion!

  23. Chanaka B Says:

    Benevolent Capitalism with trickle down effect = Capitalism with a high and healthy mix of Socialism

  24. Fran Diaz Says:

    As far as we know, there is no such thing as “Benevolent Capitalism” – Captalism remains as Capitalism, unless the govt of any country brings in LAWS to contain rampant and unbridled Capitalism.
    All the good toward the masses of anyy country from PURE Capitalism comes from the LAWS. In America, such LAWS were first brought about after WWII by President F.D. Roosevelt. It is the LAWS of the land that work, not any Benevolence from Capitalists. There may be rare occurences of such events from those noble entrepreneurs like Warren Buffet in America. But they are very few in number.

    Let us hark back to the Mrs B’s Marxist Coaltition era :
    In Sri Lanka, the wealthy tea estate owners were fairly benevolent toward the needy. They were mostly practising Buddhists, similar to Warren Buffet of America – benevolent toward the Needy. Mrs B. virtually took over the tea industry through the Land Reform Act. This was done in a crass manner, too fast, and perhaps without adequate compensation. It affected the wealthy Sinhala Buddhist land owner sector badly. Some land owners committed suicide. We lived through those periods and knew the facts fairly well. Some people thought it was a Mrs B’s Raddala views vs Low Country wealthy – it was that badly handled.
    Land Reform may be had to happen, but should have been done more graciously, and spaced out.
    To this day, land owners, especially the Sinhala people (Mrs B’s own Sinhala folk !), are wary of the SLFP due to her blundering ways on Land Reform. The UNP scored on her blunders. That was how the JRJ govt was like a breath of fresh air, after Mrs B’s Marxist Coalition govt. Both the wealthy and the poor welcomed the change in Lanka. However, we all know why JRJ was not allowed to continue his Buddhist style Capitalism – the Cold War politics & INDIAN interference came in.

    The SUDDEN ban on staple needs such as sugar, onions, potatoes, was another blunder by the Mrs B’s Marxist Coalition.
    The Public of Lanka were suddenly without staple products needed on a daily basis in their homes. We experienced that. Again, it was badly handled. We were without sugar in our home, whilst my Muslim neighbor who had govt connections, boasted to me that she had a sackful of white sugar ! Such were the times of Mrs B’s policies.
    Daily queues were the order of the day to get staples, and rationed at that !
    The Jaffna farmers gained through this as their products of potatoe & onions from Jaffna fetched very high prices.
    Why she did not space out the various economic changes till all the local folk grew enough products, I do not know.

    How the Cold War times affected the rural Sinhala Youth, resulting in two insurrections :
    The other horrendous blunder made during Mrs B’s time was to send the Sinhala rural Youth on schols to the then Sov Union. The Marxist leaders in Mrs B’s govt must have surely known that there would be political classes to attend there for these students. Rohana Wijeweera, helped by Marxist Dr S.A. Wickremasinghe of the Southern area of Matara, and sponsored by him, went on such a scholarship – the rest is history.
    The JVP formed taking to communist ideals, asked Mrs B’s govt for Jobs. No talks were held, and insurrection resulted. Mrs B’s Marxist Coalition govt started the slaughter of Sinhala rural youth. Pres Premadasa continued the same slaughter when the JVP wanted the illegal 13-A removed ! Over 50,000 rural youth were killed during the second insurrection. All the good work Pres Premadasa did earlier diminished. It is ironical that today in Lanka every Patriot/Nationalist wants the 13-A removed !

    Let us never make the blunders similar to those of the past, now enhanced by RW’s style of ‘Crash & Sell’ plans, plus the new Constitution added on to divide up the Country and the People.

  25. Chanaka B Says:

    What I meant from ‘Benevolent Capitalism’ is when the country is rich thanks to Capitalism, it can spend part of the surplus wealth on the poor. This happens in many modern western democracies where poor people receive unemployment benefits, government housing/rent assistance, rebates on medical expenses, concessions on public transport, reduced electricity/water bills etc.

    In our country, there is hardly any safety net available for the poor. Samurdhi is a farce.

    Even now, we have the resources to give more benefits to the needy, but, most of our budget is spent on directly or indirectly maintaining the politicians. The Office of the Executive President itself is a huge White Elephant. It swallows billions of rupees of public money each year (this position must be abolished). There are many other giant White Elephants that we maintain such as the Executive arm of the government (Office of the Prime Minister, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, State Ministers; numbering about 100), the Provincial Councilors, new Port, new Airport, new Cricket Stadiums, the Port City, Lotus Tower and the Expressways. The list goes on.

    Though we have a high GDP, our infrastructure is very basic. People still travel in jammed packed rickety old buses and trains. There is no proper sewage and waste disposal policy and system. Although the main roads have been repaired, the cities and towns are very dirty and unclean. Most of the roadside cafes and restaurants are extremely dirty, one would not feel like entering them (we have PHIs to inspect, but we hear stories that they are given bribes, so do not do their job properly). There are very few good places (I am not talking about posh hotels) where people can sit and enjoy a cup of tea/coffee.

    When we ask for better infrastructure, better public transport, better schools and hospitals we are told that the government has no money. But, they have all those billions to spend on themselves. Now a days there are politicians who take their spouses with them on foreign trips, paid for by the taxpayer. Lots of ministers employ their family members as official staff. Some employ their siblings as chairpersons of state enterprises. These are most unethical practices, and should not be tolerated. Unfortunately, the public at large and the media maintain a dead silence.

    This has been the case in the last 40 years, the situation has become worse.

    The sad irony is that no one really wants to speak about these, because the masses are divided into two camps – green and blue. Most try to become friendly with the corrupt politicians anticipating that they might receive some kind of favouration. This is because the politicians are so powerful. Very few has the courage and bravery to constructively criticise what’s happening to our country. Our poor are getting poorer; I am aware of incidents where people have died of starvation.

    I agree with you that Mrs B’s perod was harsh and many people had nothing to eat. She practised family bandism to the maximum. Her nationalization policy was a total disaster. However, at the end of the term, the country had become self-sufficient in most food items. Also we had zero foreign debt. Credit must be given to her for these achievements. I think her best achievements are signing the Sirima – Shastri pact and securing the Katchatheevu Island to us. It is being stated that JRJ under duress from the then CWC leader disregarded the Sirima Shastri pact. Today it has come to a natural end.

    In regards to killing of Sinhala youth, this was started by Sirima B in 1971 where thousands were subjected to extra judicial killings. The killings re-started in 1988 or so under JRj’s watch and it escalated during Premadasa’ s time. I am not sure about the numbers – you are right – thousands of Sinhalese youth were killed. They were summary executions, mostly carried out by forcing a rubber tire, filled with petrol, around the victims chest and arms, and setting them on fire (necklacing). We certainly cannot condone these actions.

  26. Fran Diaz Says:

    Dear Chanaka,

    Thanks for response.
    Thank you also for the great efforts you put to analyse the Lanka situation.

    All that you say is true in this thread.

    ———-

    All our Presidents have had a hard time due mostly to Colonisation, Cold Wars, and Tamil CASTE wars.
    Sri Lanka has been a sort of ‘Kurukshethra’ war ground due to Lanka’s location in the Indian Ocean, close to INDIA & earlier breakaway Tamil Nadu, and in the midst of Sea Routes for Trade purposes.

    Grave errors from Lanka leaders include that Rohana Wijeweera and others were sent to the then Sov Union on scholarships – they had to attend mandatory political classes there. When the JVP call to give Jobs went unheeded by the then Mrs B + Marxist Govt., they resorted to violent protests and thus many thousands of rural Sinhala Youth were killed.
    The second insurrection by the JVP protesting THE 13-A (now protested by Millions in Lanka !), were met with even a worse fate …. over 50 thousand were killed by the then govt of Pres Premadasa. This is how Pres Premadasa lost his position as a top leader ?

    ——————

    My Questions to the Readers of L’web :

    * The 6-A which was formulated during the JRJ times has not been put into action.
    Why ??

    * Is it because colonised countries seem to remain colonised, one way or another ?
    Who is using this fact, and to what purpose ?

    * Who really wants the 13-A to continue ? Therein lies a lot of answers to the Lanka problems.
    Who does not want the 6-A implemented ? :do:

    FACT SHEET :

    – The ILLEGAL 13-A must go.
    Sri Lanka cannot afford to be the place to solve Tamil CASTE problems.
    Sri Lanka cannot afford to be the place to crank up foreign control of INDIA, perhaps creep up on INDIA via earlier breakaway Tamil Nadu.
    Sri Lanka cannot afford to be the parking place for foreign forces (sea & air ports). By LAW, all Lanka ports (air & sea) ought to be for Peaceful Purposes only.

    Sri Lanka cannot afford to have foreign Agents in power at the top of the govt. (e.g. RW’s “Crash & Sell” program plus divisive new Constitution). Sri Lankans will never be happy under any type of Fascist/Sadist governments such as under RW/CBK at present.
    Sri Lanka can only afford to have PATRIOTS/NATIONALISTS as Leaders & citizens.

    Suggestions :

    * Follow Schumacher’s Buddhist Economics – his book “Small is Beautiful” applies well to small Buddhist countries like Sri Lanka.
    * Co-ops may work well for rural areas in Lanka.
    * There are over 15% of Co-ops in America – these are successful enterprises.
    * Free Trade Zones work well for Lanka. Lanka can have FTSz all over the island.
    * FREE & safe birth control material for any adult.

  27. Fran Diaz Says:

    It is pertinent to say that, after WW II, Europe went Socialist, with Capitalism to sustain Socialism. Even the Volvo car factory in Sweden is Co-op run. Britain has a Welfare State. For the low income people there, even winter fuel bills are subsidised.

    Sri Lanka is called the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

    Let us make it so !

  28. Chanaka B Says:

    I’m not for a moment saying that killing of the JVP youth was right. But when they (the then JVP) had killed hundreds of innocents civilians (may be thousands) for no reason or the other, they lost the public sympathy that they previously may have had. Some of the useless deaths that come to my mind are Professor Stanley Wijesundera, Premakeerthi De Alwis, Nandalal Fernando, Harsha Abeywardane, Dr Gladys Jayawardene and Vijaya Kumaranathunga. They killed scores of Buddhist monks too. These were very good people who did no harm to anyone; they were simply doing their jobs/work. Premadasa handed the anti JVP para-military operations to the then defence minister. According to Wikipedia the number of JVP deaths (1987-89 insurrection) was over 20,000. Yes, Premadasa (President from 1990 – 93) must bear the responsibility for the extra judicial killings happened under his Presidency. The youth should have been rounded up and prosecuted. That is the manner which a democracy operates. Because he came from the ‘low caste’ and ‘low class’, Premadasa bashing is a fashionable thing. I have not heard anyone bashing Sirima B and JRJ for the extra judicial killings that happened under their watch. They say at least 10,000 youth were killed during the 1971 insurgency. It is alleged that the ‘tire necklacing’ started in 1987 when JRJ was the President.

  29. Fran Diaz Says:

    In defense of the rural Sinhala people :

    They have put up with nearly 500 yrs of Colonisation – hard times, continuously make people rough and hard.

    Almost all the Buddhist countries in the world have suffered through Colonisation. Confusion and slave type countries result from Colonisation.

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