Good governance
Posted on February 11th, 2015
Courtesy Island
Ven. Omalpe Sobitha, Leader of Sihala Urumaya,HAS recently proclaimed that if no action is taken to arrest and try the politicians and others responsible for stealing from the public purse within the 100 days, then, the Sihala Urumaya would have no alternative but to leave the government and campaign for such actions outside to bring these culprits to book. Nimal Siripala de Silva, Leader of the Oppositionsaid that the SLFP will not hesitate,to prevent nominations being given to those who are found guilty of any wrongdoings. He is not only an astute politician but also a very clever lawyer. When the SLFP was comprehensively defeated by JRJ and Mrs. Bandaranaike lost her civic rights, it was he who stood firmly behind Mrs. Bandaranaike and won her confidence and took upon himself the responsibility of fighting many cases that were filed by JRJ against the SLFP hierarchy. When Nimal Siripala de Silva made this statementsome people including the proposal of “Yahapalanaya”, or “Good Governance”, would have applauded Nimal Siripala for the stand he has taken.
But, Nimal Siripala de Silva, being the crafty politician that he is, knew that not in this country or anywhere else would a court, be able to convict or acquit a person within 100 days. This is common to all democracies. Even in China, where the Government executed more than 100 people for corruption, the trial took more than 100 days.
Ven. Omalpe Sobitha would certainly be disappointed if he expected to arrest and punish the corrupt within 100 days.
Every day, in the social media, there are many allegations of corruption. Special investigative units will have to be set up these allegations and those who have information about corruption ought to come forward in the national interest. To prove these charges in a court of Law, you have to have witnesses and documents which may have been destroyed and to find copies thereof will be an up-hill task. Once the evidence is collected and statements recorded it is prudent to take the advice of the Attorney General. As I know, the AG’s Department is one that is overburdened with work.
This government came to power with a solid assurance to the voter that it would usher in good governance. The last government found that people were yearning for swift justice. Therefore, whenever there was a heinous crime reported in the media. We were shown on television such heinous crimes and people demanded that the perpectrators be summarily done away with. The majority of people believed that the criminals had no right to justice, and theyshould be executed swiftly. What happened to “grease yakkas” is a case in point. Special teams were sent to Ratnapura to catch and destroy. The
Media gave blood curdling accounts of gruesome crimes and hailed the police action. The Kahawatta manance was brought to end with the alleged perpetrators destroyed. The Mahinda Rajapaksa government decided to summarily do away with the Criminal Justice System and the police invented stories handcuffed murderer jumping into a river and committing suicide. Suspects were also taken to hidden weapon cashes suddenly and they would throw a hand grenade at the police and the police only to be shot dead. When these incidents were related by the Police Media Spokesman, no one ever protested and the middle class television viewers were extremely happy with the outcome. In fact, just before the elections the same Media Spokesman proudly proclaimed,”We have got rid of the underworld,” which was true. The members of the underworld were either protected by the politicians of the government or others were summarily executed.
Everyone was happy including the police as they did not have to bother about giving evidence in Court. Even if the trial ends successfully and the criminal is given death sentence, they will be given a reprieve and come out of jail after 15 years. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka took strong exception to the manner in which police disposed of suspects but no one protested against this extra judicial executions. I did not hear even religious dignitaries utter a whimper against such brutal methods deployed by the previous regime. The suspicious manner in which Dodampe Mudalali died while he was being questioned by the CID on the 4th Floor, under a UNP government prompted the then the Opposition make a hue and cry about his death and that it was one of the reasons for the fall of the Dudley Senanayake Government. But today, no one except this writer and the Bar Association has taken up the number of killings carried out by the police, who acts as the Investigator, the Judge and the executions. It was a shame that most Magistrates would return a verdict of justifiable homicide,suicide or accident death, and condone murder This was something unthinkable about 25 years ago. The manner in which crimes were investigated and criminals were disposed of, became part of our Sinhala-Buddhist Culture.
Today, Maithreepala Sirisena came to power to stop corruption and central and to usher in a new epoch of good governance,which consists in the authoritarian powers vested in the executive presidency upholding the rule of law. So every single crime committed by the previous regime must be carefully investigated and if the police and the AG’s Department are of the view that there is prima facie case, the suspect should he be produced in Court. Only a competent judge can find the accused guilty I have read that suggested that Special presidential commissions be established to try these offenders. I am appalled that those who came to power, promising governance, could even think that a Special Presidential Commission would bring the culprits to book. This monster was created by J. R.Jayewardena to disfranchise Sirimavo Bandaranaike, and Chandrika Bandaranaike used her powers to have several Presidential Commissions, including investigations into the Batalanda torture chamber, the killing of Vijaya Kumaranathunga, the killing of Lalith Athulathmudali and Denzil Kobbekaduwa. As a lawyer who appeared before almost all the Commissions,I knew it was a politically motivated judicial circus its nadir, and the Supreme Court decided the evidence collected for a number of years by one of these Commissions was not sufficient even to hang a rat. I believe that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe will advise the President against the establishment of Special Presidential Commission, which would be tatamount to burying the Rule of Law and ushering in an era of ‘Yakapalanaya’, instead of ‘Yahapalanaya’.
February 11th, 2015 at 3:46 pm
I am supportive of whatever commission , even without lawyers ( who come out from LOW college), if these corruption investigations are held in public, questioned in public with live telecast and webcast. Better still, without lawyers, let the prosecutors forward the case to a Grand Jury (selected by computer from a pool of highly paid qualified intelligent people) and the accused defend it.
February 11th, 2015 at 4:45 pm
Ado Yakko Dependent,
Who the hell cares about what you support, when only yesterday you were jumping up and down in a KOLAM dance to UNDERMINE and OUST the GOSL that Liberated, Reunifed and DEveloped our Motherland faster than ANY government had done before?
BEGONE …. BUGGER OFF … do your SLY EELAMIST KOLAM dances ELSEWHERE with your Maximum Leader “Facebook” Lorenzo!
February 11th, 2015 at 4:45 pm
India is just “wary”, but Sri Lanka is being SCREWED! BULLSHIT … I say!
Indians are NOT WARY; they are ECSTATIC; this is their DREAM COME TRUE … in their MYOPIC short term view!
This UNDERSCORES the URGENT NEED to REPEAL the 13th Amendment, DISSOLVE all Provincial Councils. INSTITUTE a District System administered by GOSL APPOINTED Government Agents.
1. Large Provinces governed by Sri Lanka’s enemies have the POWER to UNDERMINE the Central Government and ENABLE separation into independent Ethno-Religious fiefdoms.
2. The Northern and Eastern Provinces have large coastlines. With Land & Police powers they will be able to engineer a large INFLUX of foreigners to settle in Sri Lanka …. in particular Tamils from Tamil Nadu, and Muslims from the Middle East, Maldives and elsewhere.
3. The Provincial Council bureaucracies are an UNNECESSARY FINANCIAL BURDEN, and CREATE MORE RED TAPE BARRIERS to HARASS the citizenry of Sri Lanka, that is ALREADY OVERRUN with corrupt officials milking them. Local town, city and district administrations with an ELECTED central government to secure and develop the nation as a whole, IS ENOUGH GOVERNANCE, MORE THAN ENOUGH FRANCHISE!
END THIS COMMUNAL Provincial Council FOOLISHNESS threatening to DIVIDE Sri Lanka into ETHNO-RELIGIOUS Bantustans NOW!
Aiyoooo …. Srisenaaaaa …… What are you DOING to our Motherland!!
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Sri Lanka’s Northern Province resolution: Indian officials wary
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Feb 11 (Hindu) The Indian government took note of the resolution by the Sri Lankan Northern Provincial Council internally, but officials said it was too early to gauge its importance to the reconciliation process already initiated by President Maithripala Sirisena’s new government.
Officials are studying if the genocide resolution would affect the Geneva conference of the UNHRC, where the U.N. special rapporteur is due to submit a report on a U.S.-sponsored “war crimes investigations” that could also lead to a resolution against Sri Lanka being tabled. India would be keen to see any such resolution put off, it is understood, so as to allow the new Sri Lankan government time to implement its promises to the Northern provinces.
India not for war crimes probe against Sri Lanka
Any attempt to challenge the new government in Colombo with an international genocide investigation at this point could “complicate matters,” sources in New Delhi have said.
The U.N. special rapporteur is expected to submit a report on a U.S.-sponsored “war crimes investigations” and a resolution on Sri Lanka’s ‘genocide against Tamils’ could also be tabled then. India has traditionally opposed any international investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka, a position that led to India abstaining from the U.S.-backed resolution at the UNHRC in March 2014.
Sources told The Hindu that the issue of reconciliation and rehabilitation for the Tamil-dominated areas will be a key issue when President Sirisena meets with Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week. “The government will be keen to discuss the new government’s plans as well as the just-started talks on repatriation of 1 lakh Sri Lankan refugees living in India.”
In Delhi last month, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, who met with Mr. Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, said that the Sirisena government would implement a “credible domestic mechanism” for reconciliation, but wouldn’t allow any international inquiry into allegations of human rights violations during the war against the LTTE.
President Sirisena will visit India from February 15 to 18, his first international engagement since he was sworn in.
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Sri Lanka’s Northern Province resolution: Indian officials wary
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Feb 11 (Hindu) The Indian government took note of the resolution by the Sri Lankan Northern Provincial Council internally, but officials said it was too early to gauge its importance to the reconciliation process already initiated by President Maithripala Sirisena’s new government.
Officials are studying if the genocide resolution would affect the Geneva conference of the UNHRC, where the U.N. special rapporteur is due to submit a report on a U.S.-sponsored “war crimes investigations” that could also lead to a resolution against Sri Lanka being tabled. India would be keen to see any such resolution put off, it is understood, so as to allow the new Sri Lankan government time to implement its promises to the Northern provinces.
India not for war crimes probe against Sri Lanka
Any attempt to challenge the new government in Colombo with an international genocide investigation at this point could “complicate matters,” sources in New Delhi have said.
The U.N. special rapporteur is expected to submit a report on a U.S.-sponsored “war crimes investigations” and a resolution on Sri Lanka’s ‘genocide against Tamils’ could also be tabled then. India has traditionally opposed any international investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka, a position that led to India abstaining from the U.S.-backed resolution at the UNHRC in March 2014.
Sources told The Hindu that the issue of reconciliation and rehabilitation for the Tamil-dominated areas will be a key issue when President Sirisena meets with Prime Minister Narendra Modi next week. “The government will be keen to discuss the new government’s plans as well as the just-started talks on repatriation of 1 lakh Sri Lankan refugees living in India.”
In Delhi last month, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, who met with Mr. Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, said that the Sirisena government would implement a “credible domestic mechanism” for reconciliation, but wouldn’t allow any international inquiry into allegations of human rights violations during the war against the LTTE.
President Sirisena will visit India from February 15 to 18, his first international engagement since he was sworn in.
February 11th, 2015 at 5:39 pm
OMG . Thanks Mrs. USA ! Thanks for giving medicine ! phew …!
February 11th, 2015 at 6:32 pm
Aiyoooo Sirisenaaaa …. Is this a PART of your balleyhooed “Yahapalanaya”??
If you don’t ACT NOW as the Minister of Defence and President to SUSPEND the Northern Provincial Council and INDICT its members for TREASON, then you are UNWILLING & INCAPABLE of DEFENDING OUR Motherland!
Defending the Nation is YOUR FIRST & HIGHEST DUTY; ACT NOW or RESIGN!
Aiyoooo Sirisenaaaa ….. What are YOU DOING to our Motherland??
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Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council adopts resolution calling for an international investigation on ‘genocide’
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Feb 10, Colombo: The Northern Provincial Council in Sri Lanka Tuesday adopted a resolution calling for an international investigation into alleged acts of genocide committed against the Tamils during the war.
Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran presented an amended version of the resolution calling for an international inquiry on genocide against Tamils committed by the successive governments since the country’s independence from the British in 1948.
The resolution notes that the obligation to prevent and punish genocide under the Genocide Convention is not a matter of political choice or calculation, but one of binding customary international law.
In the resolution, the NPC has urged the team appointed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate the war in Sri Lanka, to comprehensively investigate and report on the charge of genocide in its submission to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2015.
“During the war, government military forces engaged in deliberate aerial, artillery, and naval bombardment of civilian areas and also used prohibited weapons and ammunitions, such as cluster bombs. According to UN estimates, 60 – 100,000 Tamil civilians were killed over the course of the 27-year-long war. The large scale and severe nature of the genocide also forced many Tamils to flee the North East Provinces and seek refuge in Tamil Nadu and Western countries,” the resolution has stated.
The resolution described that the case of genocide in Sri Lanka is unique among genocides in history because it occurred over several decades and under different governments before intensifying into a “no-holds-barred war” for nearly three decades and culminating in the mass atrocities of 2009.
“It is accordingly vital that Sri Lanka’s historic violations against Tamils, in addition to the 2009 attacks, are addressed through an international mechanism in order to combat Sri Lanka’s institutionalized impunity,” it said.
The resolution has further noted that the UN Security Council should refer the situation in Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court for prosecutions based on war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide adding that alternatively or concurrently, domestic courts in countries that may exercise universal jurisdiction over the alleged events and perpetrators, including but not limited to the United States, should prosecute these crimes.
February 11th, 2015 at 7:00 pm
MORE “Yahapalanaya” in ACTION!
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Former head of Sri Lanka’s state television remanded
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Feb 10, Colombo: A former head of a state owned electronic media institution in Sri Lanka was remanded today on a court directive.
Colombo Additional Magistrate Priyantha Liyanage has ordered former News Director of the Independent Television Network (ITN), Sudarman Radaliyagoda to be remanded till February 24.
Radaliyagoda had surrendered to the police today after courts issued a warrant for his arrest recently.
The warrant was issued on a case filed against him for allegedly telecasting a defamatory report on the then common opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena during the Presidential election campaign. There were two previous warrants issued on Radaliyagoda for his alleged involvement in forging documents.
February 11th, 2015 at 7:04 pm
MEANWHILE …. VISA Violators are spared under the new “Yahapalanaya”!
“Yahapalanaya” is beginning to smell VERY BAD!
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Sri Lanka Supreme Court directs authorities not to arrest Socialist Party leader
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Feb 10, Colombo: The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has today issued a directive to the Controller of Immigration and Emigration not to take steps to arrest or deport Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) Central Committee member Premakumar Gunaratnam.
The court has made this order following a fundamental rights petition filed by Gunaratnam, an Australian citizen, challenging the Controller of Immigration and Emigration against the alleged move to arrest him.
It was reported yesterday that the Department of Immigration and Emigration had sought the assistance of state intelligence services to locate Gunaratnam. The Department had alleged that Gunaratnam’s visa had expired 10 days ago.
Members of the FSP alleged that senior members of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), who are currently affiliated to current government leaders, were pushing for Gunaratnam’s arrest and deportation.
February 11th, 2015 at 10:16 pm
Yahapalanaya smells like dog shit nowadays. I cannot see any yahapalanak with these UNP thugs. They continue cheating the public. Now they have started to raid Buddhist temples. Why not these Christian mafia go to Rome and see how the Pope is living? What about the cardinals? Are they living in shanties? One shot should be arrested for entering a Temple with some rowdies and meddling with Buddhist affairs. The world over specially in Buddhist countries you find places like the one which was raided by one shot thug. Every religion has the right to have their own way of having their religious places built and preach. No layman has the right to go and meddle with such affairs like Gestapo. This Christian bugger must be out of his mind after getting a Ministerial post which he cannot get in his life time.
Public must take out these thugs head on and treat them a lesson not to meddle with religions specially Buddhism.
February 12th, 2015 at 4:54 am
Business as usual in our darmadeepaya.Lal Kantha of JVP accuses this regime of bribing the MPs who haven’t got portfolios with two extra vehicles. Honestly we need the colonial types back to straighten our country.
February 12th, 2015 at 6:18 am
Mr.Warnakulasuriya leaves out an important part of the story where the underworld is concerened.
Eliminating underworld criminals before producing them in a court denies the leading lot of lawyers a gold mine which could have been exploited for years. doesn’t the magistrates know it? yes, they know it.
Then he knows very well that once these criminals are imprisoned they corrupt the whole system with their ill gotten money and live a better more comfortable secure life inside prison all the while directing their illegal activity from the inside.
In south American countries killing drug dealers or peddlers is as normal as culling chickens.
February 12th, 2015 at 12:51 pm
RELEASING the CONFISCATED BOATS of the Tamil Nadu POACHERS back to them …. is this MORE “Yahapalanaya”???
CONFISCATION of BOATS was the ONLY EFFECTIVE METHOD of DETERRING the businessmen and political agitators behind this SCHEME to ROB Sri Lanka of its FISH, and NOW that is being REVERSED!!
How does Aiyoo Sirisenaa hope to DETER CRIME without ADEQUATE & EFFECTIVE PUNISHMENT?? Everything else has been TRIED BEFORE! GIVING UP and PLAYING DEAD with ALL LEGS up in the AIR to PLACATE India wont protect our Motherland!!
Aiyooooo Sirisenaaaaa …. What are YOU DOING to our Motherland?? NO GUTS to ENFORCE the LAW!! More “Yahapalanaya”? YIKES!!
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Boat Release: TN Fishermen Ecstatic But Seek Compensation for Damage
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Feb 12 (NIE) COLOMBO- Indian fishermen�s leaders and owners of the 87 fishing vessels detained by Sri Lanka, were ecstatic when they learnt that the boats were going to be released this week on the orders of Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena.
But they are concerned about the state of the boats, which might have suffered decay and damage due to months of neglect, and are seeking compensation from the Indian and Lankan governments.
“I am extremely happy to hear about the release. From the bottom of my heart, I thank the Sri Lankan President for it. But I fear that 47 of the 87 boats may have suffered severe damage as they have been in water for months, some for eight months. Their owners need to be compensated by the authorities,” said U.Arulanandam, a veteran fishermen’s leader of Rameswaram.
The Director General of Fisheries, Nimal Hettiarachchi, said on Thursday, that on the instructions of President Sirisena, the Attorney General had sent word to the courts dealing with the boats’ case, that he had no objection to their release. The courts at Kayts, Mannar, Point Pedro and Trincomalee were expected to order their release on Thursday.
According to another fishermen’s leader, Devadas, 30 to 32 boats are unusable.
“Returning these damaged boats will not bring much relief to the owners, who are already in a bad way economically. Many boat owners have been working as coolies or doing odd jobs in the fishing industry for the last several months,” Devadas told Express over the phone.
He said that he had met Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj in connection with this problem and she told him that compensation is possible. The Tamil Nadu government had also promised to pitch in, he added.
Boat owner Ramesh said that since the loss of his boat, he had sunk deeper into debt with a cumulative debt of Indian Rupees 15 lakhs.
” I had pawned my wife’s gold jewelry and am unable to retrieve it,” he said.
Ramesh has no idea about the condition of his boat. “If it is not in a usable condition, I will not take it,” he said.
Boat owner Sekaram said that he was “very happy” to learn of the release but wondered in what condition his boat is in.
” We have asked for compensation from our government. Hope we will get it,” he said.
Start Talks
Jesuraja, a mechanized boat owner, said that the Indian and Sri Lankan governments should now take the next step and re-start talks between the fishermen of the two countries. Talks might be held in Chennai on March 5.
“The fishermen of the two countries should be able to fish in the same area without harming each other’s livelihood,” Jesuraja said.
He also suggested that the Indian and Sri Lankan governments should join together to compensate the fishermen who had lost their boats and were reduced to penury.
“Each of the lost boats would have cost Indian Rs. 15 to 25 lakhs,” he pointed out.
Timed for Sirisena’s Visit
Colombo’s decision to release the vessels was dictated by President Sirisena’s desire to have friendly relations with India, and to retrieve bilateral ties from the abyss it had fallen into during the Presidency of his predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Furthermore, Sirisena is to begin a three day trip to India on February 15, his first official visit to any country since he took over in January. The release of the 87 Indian boats should pave the way for smooth talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at New Delhi.