Hopes for a better Sri Lanka
Posted on July 6th, 2018
Lionel Rajapakse
No question, Sri Lanka is in a muddy puddle because of the politicians we selected during the last couple of decades and their actions. Lots of Gurus are talking about how can Sri Lanka get out of this muddy puddle. There is no second alternative, Gotabhaya is the only hope for Sri Lanka in the horizon.
So, to help him to get Sri Lanka out of this muddy puddle, can we suggest the basic things he has to address when he becomes the next President of Sri Lanka. Followings are the few things he should give priority as I think.
- Give priority for the development of rural economy rather than giving priority to urban developments.
- Work out an independent system to recruit for public service and other affiliated institutions such as state banks and corporations on merit system, without any interference from the politicians.
- No political interference for any appointment either in public service or private sector.
- Make it compulsory for Sinhalese public servants to learn Tamil and Tamil public servants to learn Sinhala.
- Make it compulsory for the Sinhalese students to learn Tamil from the grade 3 and vice versa.
- Make a full review of the judicial system. Consult Naganada Kodituwakku and get his views / assistance
- Get rid of the provincial councils as it is a waste of money. This may be a hard task and some one can come with an alternative.
- Review foreign service and open it for only qualified people. No political appointments.
- Let JVP to suggest what they expect from Gota. Implement whatever suitable.
I invite all of you to add what you think it is necessary for Gota to do to get Sri Lanka out of the current muddy puddle. There are lots of Pundits who talk about big changes to happen in Sri Lanka. Let us get real and suggest the simple things the common man expect from the next leader in Sri Lanka.
July 6th, 2018 at 3:56 pm
Gotabaya should give first priority to introduce a solid legal framework to fight the corruption that has run rampant both in politics and in the state structures.
Having worked in the United States Gotabaya should be familiar with the US criminal conflict of interest statute, 18 U.S.C. § 208.
As Gotabaya is aware, even in the United States President Obama has recently called the fight against corruption “one of the great struggles of our time.” The costs of corruption in the US are immeasurable – injustice, misallocation of resources, economic decay. Corruption affects a staggering number of livelihoods and lives and erodes the faith of citizens in their governments and in the rule of law. The United States views corruption as a growing threat to the national security of their country and allies around the world.
For years, the United States has led the fight against international bribery. In 1977, it passed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, domestic legislation which prohibits Americans and other persons and businesses that fall under the jurisdiction of the law from bribing foreign officials in order to obtain or retain business. To level the playing field, the United States sought to create a “race to the top” by encouraging other OECD countries to criminalize such bribery. The Anti-Bribery Convention was signed in 1997 and took effect in 1999, becoming what Transparency International calls “the gold standard” in the fight against corruption.
Nepotism and cronyism can bring about conflict of interests. (Conflict of interest is a situation in which a public official or a politician has a private or other interest which is such as to influence, or appear to influence, the impartial and objective performance of his or her official duties.)
Some legislation similar to US criminal conflict of interest statute, 18 U.S.C. § 208 is needed as fewer safeguards means an increased corruption risk in the government. Once the legislation in place, there will be no need of political institutions like FCID etc, but the country’s legal system should be capable of handling and prosecuting those who are involved in corruption. For that criminal conflict of interest shall be explicitly defined in the statutory book and penal code.
July 6th, 2018 at 7:59 pm
Will an independent Sinhalese will become the President of the Country?
Very unlikely looking at the present voter base.
Divided Sinhala votes and the Indian Parasite block vote will install an India selected or preferred person.
Fist we have to lay the foundation to unite the Sinhala vote base.
Otherwise we will have another Bandas, JRJ, Sirisena etc.
July 6th, 2018 at 8:25 pm
Teaching Sinhala students Tamil Nadu language is an utter waste of money, time and effort. In no country the majority is forced to learn the language of the minority. It is better to teach them more English or Korean or Japanese; at least Arabic instead.
Absolutely no compulsion to learn a language other than the mother tongue.
JVP must not be consulted in anyway for proposals. JVP is good at finding faults but never good at doing things at the government level. Nagananda is a well qualified and comparatively genuine man but he must not be consulted for governance or law reforms! That is because he has a stake in the political aspect as well.
Agree with Neela. That alone can save Sri Lanka. Other things can wait.
July 6th, 2018 at 10:55 pm
1. Gothabhaya should give FIRST PRIORITY to REPEALING the 13th Amendment and SECURING the UNITARY STATUS of the Nation and DISSOLVING the Provincial Councils.
The PC system should be replaced with a DISTRICT based Administrative System with Officials APPOINTED by the National Government and NOT ELECTED by the people. This DISTRICT System should not be POLITICAL but ADMINISTRATIVE in character, and sworn to uphold the National Law and Implement the Directives of the National Government.
Furthermore, the 19th Amendment should be REPEALED and the Executive Presidency should be STRENGTHENED FURTHER. There should be NO TERM LIMITS; a RE-ELECTION requirement is sufficient. The President should be subject to REMOVAL by IMPEACHMENT as well.
A Senate with one or two ELECTED SENATORS from each District should be created as the Second Chamber of Parliament to enable more equal REGIONAL REPRESENTATION independently of the number of voters. Every bill originated in the House of Commons must be APPROVED by the SENATE to become Law. The position of a VICE-PRESIDENT should be introduced, and he should preside over the Senate.
The number of Cabinet positions should be REDUCED drastically to 25, by CONSOLIDATING related areas of government activities. The Cabinet should report to the Executive President. Cabinet Members NEED NOT BE ELECTED by the people, but should be RESPECTED citizens with the EDUCATION and EXPERIENCE to manage the activities within his portfolio.
The position of PRIME MINISTER is REDUNDANT in such a Government Structure and should be ELIMINATED. The Speaker of the House from the Party with the Parliamentary Majority should moderate and lead the business of the Legislature.
2. OVERLAPPING Government Bureaucracies that BURDEN the people, HINDER their activities and create center of disaffection and opposition to the National Government should be ELIMINATED. The number of ELECTED Government Representatives should be severely PRUNED.
JUST CONSIDER that the Last Local Govt Election DOUBLED the number of Government employees when we could barely afford to the pay the existing employees. We have to create VIRTUAL WORK for unnecessary and for their future retinues of support officials without even a chair to sit on. To what PRODUCTIVE purpose??
3. As much as possible, Gota should enable ONLINE INTERACTION between citizens and government departments, be it to obtain licences, register vehicles, pay tax, pay bills, file complaints, obtain services, report crimes, obtain building permits, etc etc. The idea is to STREAMLINE and make efficient citizen interactions with the goverment and thereby make the society EFFICIENT in the UTILIZATION of HUMAN RESOURCES!
4. There should be only ONE SYSTEM OF LAW for ALL citizens. ALL COMMUNAL Laws (eg. Kandyan Law, Thesavalamai Law, Sharia Law) etc MUST BE ELIMINATED, and DISCRIMINATORY practices that currentlt exist under these laws whether they apply on racial, religious or sexual bases, should be OUTLAWED!
5. TREASON Laws should be STRENGTHENED and STRICTLY & PROMPTLY without DELAY irrespective of who it affects.
6. Majority ownership of Land and other Real Estate in Sri Lanka should be STRICTLY LIMITED to Sri Lankan citizens. A reasonable period of time must be given to current foreigners who own real estate in Sri Lanka to divest themselves of thier properties and transfer ownership to Sri Lankan citizens.
7. Sri Lankan citizenship MUST BE JEALOUSLY GUARDED and RESERVED to only people of Sri Lankan descent without a record of enemy activity against Sri Lanka. Immigration policies should be enforced to ENSURE that Sri Lanka REMAINS FORVER the land of the DESCENDENTS of its CURRENT CITIZENS and NO OTHERS!
This means, we must TRAIN and RETAIN our people in our country by giving them the OPPORTUNITY to live a HAPPY & PRODUCTIVE LIFE in their Motherland, rather than IMPORT FOREIGNERS to do our work. Thus, no Maldivians, no Pakistanis, no Indians, no Chinese etc etc should be allowed to immigrate and live permanently in Sri Lanka under WHATEVER PRETEXT just to enable UNPATRIOTIC PEOPLE to make money. Sri Lanka MUST BE FOR Sri Lankas …. FOREVER!
8. Sri Lankan ENTREPRENEURS should ALWAYS be given FIRST PRIORITY in the award of Government Contracts, all other contract provisions being equal.
9. No foreign nation should be allowed to ACQUIRE a CONTROLLING STAKE in Sri Lanka’s Economy.
10. CORRUPTION should be ROOTED OUT by making the PENALTIES UNBEARABLE, even including DEATH for high government officials as in the Peoples Republic of China!
July 7th, 2018 at 4:09 pm
Christie,
You said,
“Will an independent Sinhalese will become the President of the Country?
Very unlikely looking at the present voter base.”
Then you said ” Fist we have to lay the foundation to unite the Sinhala vote base. Otherwise we will have another Bandas, JRJ, Sirisena etc.”.
These are contradictory statements.
Indians will get hold of the opposition every time.
When Premadasa was ruling , they killed him and got Chandirka ( after interim).
When Chandirka was ruling, they planted Ranil.
When Ranil was ruling they made sure Rajapaksa win.
When Rajapakse was ruling they got Sirirsena.
You know very well what would arrive next. It will be the opposition under Indian preference, yet again.
July 8th, 2018 at 4:24 am
Dear Randeniyage;
if you look at our history of democracy you will se e how India and Indian Colonial Parasites did to us Sinhalese.
The first UNP people were self funded by themselves.
India financed the Socialists. and Banda.
Banda and his family and the Socialists destroyed the emerging Sinhala businesses while supporting Indian Colonial Parasites to make more and more money.
Bandas, J RJ Sirisena etc are financed by India and ICPs.
India and Indian know how to destroy our Sinhala business people.
India always back their choice.
They backed Mahinda over Ranil saying It will be hard to negotiate with Ranil.
But Mahinda did not follow India’s directions.
July 8th, 2018 at 10:07 am
I too have dreams to see that this land will get into the right track within my remaining life time, but I know as Christie said, looking at the way things are happening there is no chance. All the countries around us are surging forward while we are going backward and losing everything: our sovereignty, freedom, the culture and even most of the country.
I was watching Roopavahini a little while ago where they were talking about a scheme to give loans to SMEs on massive scale spending some Rs. 60 billions. A narrative by the channel with some pictures of our glorious past when we were a trading nation before they spoke was given. Perhaps it is from there he had got the cinnamon story. Going by what they have been doing in the past this will most probably end up as another scam for electioneering.
It is now established that a fair percentage of our voters are corrupt and they can be easily bought over one way or the other. If they want to help SL’s companies or care about the country they should have given that $300 million Kerawalapitiya power plant to Lakdhanavi which I believe is a government owed business undertaking. According to an advertisement by that company in Daily News today they have already constructed several power plants in Bangladesh totalling 950 Megawatts. What was the reason to overlook them when their bid was less than the one which was forwarded by the foreign company?. These two leaders simply do not have any love for the country, to my mind. They simply go on telling lies and do not do what they say.
July 8th, 2018 at 2:02 pm
Interesting discussion between Randeniyage and Christie about the dual role India plays to destroy Sri Lanka (and all its other neighbors). India almost always supports the Opposition. Although India helped Sirisena and Ranil, they sure regret it now after Hambantota, Kandy highway and Port City. Mattala, etc. to India is not sufficient for Indians as they want it all. However, JR was not under Indian influence. He went against India. JR seems to have known the India-Opposition plan. Had he allied with a rival of India early, he could have avoided 1987.
Socialism is what economically destroyed Sinhala people (who had a soft corner for socialism) and made South Indians into the richest in the country (who totally rejected it). Nationalisation destroyed Sinhala businesses. Open economy handed them to South Indians.
The rise of the “ultra right” (as Dayan puts it) is a very welcomed developed which I predicted in 2016 (with Trump, Modi, Abe, Xi, Duterte, Putin, etc.). It is a global wave and Sri Lanka cannot hide from it. This capitalist-nationalist group can only mean good for the nation. Although Dayan was initially part of it, he doesn’t fit in on both counts. He is against capitalism and nationalism. If anyone can save Sinhalese from socialism and turn them into capitalists, it is an enormous national service. Otherwise minorities will be masters and Buddhists will be their expendable servants.
July 8th, 2018 at 4:16 pm
I purposely started counting from Premadasa. By far he was the worst against India, as he armed LTTE. They , therefore killed him.
JR was honestly anti-Indian ( not pretending like current politicians).
I cannot determine logically how heads of state before Sirima listened to India or conspired with India.
I can’t agree with the generalized statement “Nationalisation destroyed Sinhala businesses “. A good example of a very successful “nationalized” enterprise was CTB. It was one of the best transport services in the world until late 7Os, until politicians started it as a employment agency for supporters ending up at 40 workers per bus.
I agree socialism ruined Sri Lanka, also the non-aligned theory.
But against the Christie’s argument what I say is, Sinhala people unify always with the pro-Indian side. calling for unification Sinhalese alone is not sufficient.
July 9th, 2018 at 1:52 am
I have a feeling that yahapalanaya guys have started insulting our great kings and history. In which document is it mentioned that Polonnaruwa period kings had cinnamon plantations to fund irrigation systems?. Also I have never read anywhere that our ancient kings had trade ties with Egypt. It therefore appears to me either the Rupavahini or some government media spent lot of money to concoct lies and insult Sinhalese. Perhaps some historians should take up this matter and verify all the facts mentioned in the much publicised programme.
July 10th, 2018 at 5:34 am
Looking at all the comments, it is easy to understand how we are divided in our opinions. But that is normal. What we expect is a future leader in Sri Lanka who can understand and address all these views.
Still I can’t understand why we are trying to treat a part of our countrymen as a minority. In this global world, can there be a minority? As far as I know, in Singapore, Tamils play a major role in governance. Looking at the roles play by Tamils in Kuala Lumpur, I think, they are a major part in the economic in Malaysia. Owner of the Air Asia airline is a good example. Correct me if I am wrong.
What I am trying to say is, let us forget about majority and minority concept in Sri Lanka and work for the betterment of Sri Lanka as a one nation!
July 10th, 2018 at 3:59 pm
Lionel,
Why are we expecting “a leader” ? We should expect “policies” such as put down by NeelaMY above ( although he had a name attached).
Secondly, please research about LTTE in Malaysia. They are extremely rich. Remember all races from sub-continent are treated and categorized as “Indians” in SE Asian countries. British favored Indians and Chinese than Malays, same as in Sri Lanka, Also why forget rich minority in Sri Lanka ?
July 11th, 2018 at 1:48 am
“Hopes for a better Sri Lanka”.
My concern is our people the Sinhalese who have been here for more than hundred thousand years.
There are other people in this world whose plight is same as ours.
Take Mauritius and see the plight of the Creoles. Take Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the plight of original people there.
If we Sinhalese do not unite and stand up to India and Indian Colonial Parasites we will be like those original inhabitants Andamans.
We have more Tamils like Rohigiyaas in Burma because we are close to Tamil Nadu. Most of the former British Indian Colonies have a mix of Indians.
British(East India Co) started uniting and making India starting with Tamils (Madrasis). It is Tamils who administered our coastal areas under the British.
The biggest problem we have is though we are the majority our economy is in the hands of Indian Colonial Parasites.
They finance our Sinhala politicians starting from twenties. N M and Phillip are good example. Then they financed Banda and that was the start of the end of Sinhalese.
Banda nationalized buses like Sirisena got rid of Avonguard. Can you see the connections?
CTB busses were almost all Indian built and our CTB helped a lot in the development of heavy vehicles industry in India.
Please look at our recent history.
DS, Kannangara, John, Banda before being recruited by India and Indian Colonial Parasites, M D Banda, were Sinhala leaders who laid the foundation for a great Ceylon. They settled landless Sinhalese in newly developed lands, built most modern schools of the day, English was the medium of instruction, build new Hospitals, developed new industries and set up world class research institutions like CSIRO. As soon as Banda was installed by India and Indian Colonial Parasites all that came to a halt.
So what we need is Sinhalese Buddhists, Muslims and Christians to unite and stand up to India and Indian Colonial Parasites.