Ranil Wickramasinghe is in a panic mode with the coming Presidential elections for which he is being proposed as a candidate by the UNP. Having lost at elections 30 times facing the 31st election is for him a very trying situation. He was already lucky to have had become the Prime Minister without having to face any elections , but the Presidential election is another kettle of fish.
Therefore he hangs onto any straw to keep afloat in the flood of votes that sounds rushing in another direction. In order to stop the tide of the people’s anger taking him away it becomes necessary for Ranil W to pull up his trousers, turn round looking at his group of parliamentarians ,and laughing at his own joke, does his gipsy dance in the well of the Parliament . The PM Ranil tries to show his knowledge of Buddhism and comes out showing only his ignorance of Buddha Dharma. He claps and sings to Buddhan Saranang Gachchaami in the cause of his speeches in the well of parliament and irritates the Buddhists.
Recently when a Buddhist Monk innocently referred to Hitler in referring to the necessity of a strong leader who can work in order to put to right all the wrongs done by the Yahapalanaya Government of Prime Minister Ranil . Ranil holds on to the word Hitler” out of context to say the Buddha did not want any one to be a Hitler. The Buddha was in a past era and Hitler in another and how can Ranil make that ridiculous statement, for which his UNP followers clapped ?
Ranil Wickramasinghe is indeed a nervous man today , as his probable opponents at the Presidential election are already popular amoung the people, and instead of winning over the people he thinks his success depends on to the extent he could disable his opponents, by putting them in prison and spreading calamitous and damaging false news concocted against them. The international trio-USA,UK and India, who helped in the change of Rajapakse regime in 2015 are already at work to support RanilW’s Presidential election campaign.
A New York Times reporter like some of those foreign reporters, human rights activists, the Human Rights Watch the Amnesty International, those American women who were living with the terrorists during the period of military operations against terrorism in Sri Lanka have started their campaign against those Presidential Candidates who are likely to be more popular than Ranil Wickramasinghe.
Ranil Wickramasinghe being the candidate who has the support of the west, the CIA,RAW and the MI5. In addition to that Ranil has his own circus clowns like Ranjan Ramanayake to exaggerate falsehood and make a big fuss over it making some people feel there is some truth in the falsehood.
For Americans and their henchmen like the UN High Commissioners of the UN Human Rights Council, lies do not matter, it is the way they make the accusations that is essential. The Committee members who wrote the infamous Darusman Report did not step into Sri Lanka, but prepared a report that was accepted by the US State Department and the UN High Commissioner Zeid al-Hussin to pass a resolution accusing the Sri Lanka Armed forces for war crimes. And the UNP to which Ranil Wickramasinghe gives leadership thrives on these ill founded accusations to the extent of even sponsoring the US Resolution against Sri Lanka Armed Forces.
Maria Abi-Habib a reporter of the New York times reported that the China Harbour Engineering Company had given the former President Mahinda Rajapakse a large sum of money for his political campaign. The Reporter of course uses one stone to kill two birds Mahinda Rajapakse their bête noire, and China- America’s Rival world leader.
Abi-Habib has called her article How China Got Sri Lanka to cough up a Port. But it is more appropriately how Maria Abi-Habab got the New York Times to cough up a handy sum of money for a false report she could have written even sitting before her Computer in her own home. For the New York Times what is necessary is abig story” and does not matter how much of truth it contains.
Once the report is out the news paper washes its hands and poison gets worse and worse as it spreads. Maria Abi-Habib may even get an award for Global Investigative Journalism.
The Local Nan reporting in the Island says she knew it all before Maria Abi-Habib got it. What is the guarantee that Nan was not the one who wrote the article for Maria Abi-Habib and that Maria did not cough up” some thing in return for the tip ? Rajan Philip has already come out with his bit of the contribution to Maria Abi-Habib’s tale Kumar David has still not stepped in but he will soon do.
This is all what Yahapalanaya wanted when it said that Sri Lanka which had been isolated from the International Community, and they are doing their best to make friends with West and remove Mahinda Rajapakse’s fear of an electric Chair. We have seen that these new found friend did not cough up” any aid to Sri Lanka to help in its development projects , but they are doing things to benefit themselves. The New York Times article to damage the Chinese reputation is itself a gain for them.
In the mean time the FCID the Ranils Police Force is preparing the ground for a possible arrest of Gotabhaya Rajapakse. If he could do it the path would be clean for Ranil to walk up to the Presidential Chair.
Best thing that the Rajapakse camp could do is just to leave the issue alone as more noise they make to deny it, more will be the spreading of fake news. Spreading of fake news is a crime and there are many who could be arrested if the law functions well in Sri Lanka with Ranjan Ramanayake arrestd first of all then follow up with local journalists and columnists.
There will be more dreams, lies and fiction turned into articles accusing the Sri Lanka Presidential Candidates opposing Ranil Wickramasinghe’s Candidature will be seen in the Sri Lanka print media including those follow ups from Nan, Rajan and Kumar David at al. before the end of the year.
In the mean time the Puravasi Balaya NGO Organisation led by Dambara Amila thero is also, getting their Organisations to cough up” enough funds for their taking up the New York Time’s report to spread it amoung the people.
That is the whole of it and the Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe sits back awaiting his rival Presidential Candidates to get nailed, so that he will come out clean as the winning Presidential Candidate at the elections.
There is no end of fabrication of lies by the Yahapalanaya against its opponents since they came into power on the 8th January,2015. That will continue as long as they are in power, and that is all that the people will get from the Sirisena-Ranil Yahapalanaya they elected to see a change.
After reading Dr Daya Hewapathirana’s excellent article titled The Bodu Bala Sena Movement: Socially Engaged Buddhism” (June 30, 2018), I thought I should share with the Lankaweb readers the following article of mine carried in The Island newspaper on May 6, 2014. It was still the time of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidency. The BBS, widely misunderstood because of its founder’s fiery temper, was a target of severe criticism both among friends and foes. Had the Mahanayake theras played a more active role regarding issues raised by the BBS, the plight of our monks today would not be so bad.
Bodu Bala Sena: Other side of the coin
By Rohana R. Wasala
Like the sensible majority of fellow Sri Lankans I disapprove of Bodu Bala Sena monks’ aggressive, militant methods of agitation. A new group of monks (known as Jathika Bala Senawa) opposed to them in respect of the problem of a group of internally displaced Muslims being settled on land belonging to the Wilpattu reserve are behaving in a similarly disgraceful manner. Many Buddhists, disgusted at their behaviour, while perhaps being sympathetic to their respective concerns, are helplessly watching their antics on TV news. It’s high time that these errant monks were restrained by those who have authority over them.
Having said this, however, I need to express my personal opinion that the Bodu Bala Sena monks are carrying on their campaign in the conviction that they have reasonable grounds to make a ‘show’ of militancy as an unorthodox strategy in their agitation, though unwillingly. I have privately felt for a long time now that the powers that be should mediate in a meaningful manner, engage the two groups (i.e. the monks and the Muslims involved), and enlist their support for securing a mutually acceptable permanent resolution of the issue(s). The spotlight to date has been only on the protesting monks, but what’s provoked them to act so scandalously is still out of sight. That too should be looked into.
The arbiters in this case of course have to be the government and religious and political leaders representing those who are at loggerheads. With the president’s declared intention to invite the two parties for separate initial consultations, and his order to set up a special police unit to deal with disputed religious activities, signs have recently emerged that suggest that some form of bona fide intervention is going to be made. The police unit which came into operation on 28 Monday (as reported in The Island) is, no doubt, intended to be a proactive measure for preventing future conflicts of this nature. To our great relief, the president has pledged that he won’t allow anyone to take the law into their own hands. It is hoped that interests of justice and national harmony will take precedence over demands for the appeasement of politico-religious extremists, of whichever side they may be, for political expediency.
The ITN reported on a visit of some leading BBS monks at the Malwatta Vihara in Kandy a few days ago. They explained their mission to the Prelate of the Malwatta Chapter. The monks said that they were aware of the fact that their mode of protest was damaging to the image of a monk, but that they had been compelled to resort to such acts in a situation where complaints about injustices done to Buddhists went unheard, where they had no effective alternative strategy to face the threat. Their implicit appeal was to the authorities, especially the Mahanayakes, for leadership and guidance in campaigning for the protection of Buddhism and the country from what they allege to be Islamic fundamentalism. They said they would stop their campaign the very next day if the Mahanayake wanted them to. The prelate was heard giving the monks the green light to continue their activities if the MPs and ministers failed to do the needful in the circumstances (about the soundness of which advice, however, many Buddhists are sure to be rightly skeptical, like me).
No one can deny that these monks have a right to air such grievances, have them investigated, and necessary remedial action taken in order to redress those grievances if found genuine. The monks will not deny the same right to similarly aggrieved Muslims.
Anti-Sri Lankan elements with axes to grind want to wreck the peaceful coexistence that has traditionally prevailed between the Muslims and Sinhalese despite a few isolated instances of friction. Such occasional loss of amity among people who share the same land and the same resources is neither unusual nor unmanageable. After all, this evolutionary struggle to ensure the survival of your own bloodline into the future is common to all animals including humans. Neither Sinhalese Buddhists nor Sri Lankan Muslims are exempt from that eternal evolutionary trial of strength. But as civilized human beings we are obliged to render it as least destructive as possible. When there is a conflict of interests between two groups of people as sometimes the case is between Buddhists and Muslims in Sri Lanka, it is not fair to attribute it exclusively to alleged mindless racism or religious extremism on the part of the one or the other side, before a balanced investigation of the causative factors behind the crisis is conducted.
Though probably not endorsed by foreign analysts (what is their endorsement worth after all?), it is a fact that the dominant culture of this country is such that extremist organizations have only a short survival span. So, a natural death has been predicted for Bodu Bala Sena on the assumption that it is an uncharacteristically extremist political movement of some Buddhist monks. If it mends its ways, it can avoid that fate.
I remember that defence secretary Mr Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, during his recent tour in Malaysia, referred to the threat posed to the region by certain fundamentalist Islamic movements. He would not make such a claim if he had no evidence to support it. But that does not prove that he would unleash Bodu Bala Sena (of all things!) to control such elements, if any, in Sri Lanka. He will make a truly robust response to fundamentalist miscreants if and when the necessity arises.
The problem is not unique to Sri Lanka. Many countries in the world suffer from it: Myanmar, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, France, UK, and many others. Fundamentalists are a threat to ordinary Muslims too. In Sri Lanka, incidents happen that would suggest the involvement of certain fundamentalist elements; but we have been assured by the authorities that there are no Islamic fundamentalists here. However, some ordinary Buddhists have witnessed incidents suggestive of intolerance against them, but they usually avoid talking about them publicly for fear of raising communal passions. When the common citizens conduct themselves thus peaceably and responsibly, it is the duty of people in authority, not exclusively those in the government, to nip such movements in the bud. In this regard, readers could watch the following ‘Neth FM’ video on the YouTube: Balumgala: 2013.12.27 Muhudu Maha Viharaya. It is the type of mischief recorded in that video that Bodu Bala Sena targets when those authorized to intervene leave matters to fester for their own reasons.
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said he will be taking legal action against the New York Times, over a defamatory news report in the American newspaper, that he had solicited funds from a Chinese company for election purposes.
There isn’t an iota of truth in this massive defamatory report and I have filed litigation papers with my lawyers and will claim damages,” the former President told Ceylon Today. He said that the report has been filed for political reasons to tarnish his name and that it had been planted by interested parties in Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in Colombo, in a news release issued yesterday, said that China would oppose any country’s interference in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka and will continue to firmly support the latter’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Responding for the first time, to the recently published article in the New York Times, which alleged that Sri Lanka was placed in a debt trap by China due to the loans obtained for various development projects, Luo Chong, Chief of the Political Section and also the spokesperson of the Embassy, in a statement, insisted that the report was full of political prejudice and completely inconsistent with the fact.”
The New York Times (NYT), in a recently published article, claimed that Sri Lanka was entrapped by China due to various loans obtained by it during the leadership of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. It also alleged that China had funded Rajapaksa’s 2015 presidential election campaign.
The Embassy has noticed the New York Times’ article published on 25 June, as well as the clarifications and responses by various parties from Sri Lanka, criticizing it. It is encouraging that all sectors of the Sri Lankan society, highly appreciate China’s tremendous support and selfless assistance for ending the civil war and for post-war reconstruction in the Island nation,” Chong has noted.
It was also emphasized that, despite any interference from a third party, China would like to work together with Sri Lanka to actively implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and concentrate unwaveringly on our fixed goals, continuously promote the pragmatic co-operations under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiatives following the ‘golden rule’ of ‘extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits’, to better benefit the two countries and the peoples,” it was further stated.
The Mahapola Scholarship Trust Fund, which invested RS. 440 million in Treasury Bonds, had also lost Rs. 18 million due to bond scams, Executive Director of the Centre for Human Rights (CHR) Keerthi Tennakoon told the media yesterday.
“A large number of institutions in the higher education sector have become victims of the bond scams as they have invested heavily in excessively priced bonds,” he said.
According to current CHR calculations, the loss, incurred by the Mahapola Scholarship Trust Fund, was Rs. 18 million, Tennakoon said. The Trust Fund had purchased the bonds via a state bank and it was another instance of Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) bribing state officials to invest more state funds in the treasury bonds so that it could maximize profits fraudulently, Tennakoon said.
“The government could have funded 270 students for one year at the rate of Rs. 5,500 per month per student, with the money lost due to the bond scams. We wrote to the Mahapola Scholarship Trust Fund and they told us that they had already taken legal action to recover the losses,” the CHR Executive Director said.
Mahapola Scholarship Trust Fund has Rs. 10 billion and over 15,000 students are given Rs. 5,500 each monthly. Last week Tennakoon revealed that the Sri Lankan University system would suffer losses for decades to come due to the University Grants Commission (UGC) investing around Rs. 1 billion in the controversial treasury bond deal.
O Canada
My heart beats for thee
The land of beauty and tolerance
The nature’s elegant creation
Canada is White
Canada is Black
Canada is Yellow
Canada is Brown
Canada has the colors of the rainbow
COLOMBO: With Chinese companies involved in as much as 40 per cent of the construction projects in Sri Lanka, a trade body here has moved a Cabinet paper demanding foreign companies engaged in such works should have local partners.
The Ceylon Institute of Builders (CIoB), an illustrious group of engineers and builders of Sri Lanka, said the China International Contractors Association (CHINCA) has a stake in 40 per cent of construction projects in the country, Colombo Gazette reported.
“In the next three years CHINCA wants to increase their stake in the Sri Lankan construction industry to 70 per cent of total projects. This can be detrimental to our local firms,” CIoB President Rohan Karunarathna said at the opening of the seventh construction industry exhibition titled ‘Construction Expo 2018’ here on Friday.
“As a result, the Construction Chamber of Sri Lanka has signed an MoU with CHINCA to share all their projects here with Lankan construction firms so that the risk is mitigated,” he said.
“We have also moved a cabinet paper that all such projects by foreign firms from any country should have a Sri Lankan partner from now on,” Karunarathna added.
The report said over 240 local and international vendors, including 20 Indian companies and 30 Chinese firms, displayed a wide spectrum of construction products, services and information for the local construction sector during the exhibition.
A Business Forum of Sri Lanka and China’s Liaoning province was also held on the sidelines of the expo opening.
Sri Lanka is an important partner in China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) and an important trade partner, the report quoted Liaoning Province Commerce Department Section chief Qyu Wanliang as saying.
“Liaoning-Sri Lanka total trade in the first five months of this year was USD 51 million. Liaoning Province believes it has opportunities to partner with Sri Lanka’s economy which is growing steadily,” he said.
There is no question that we are in an economic crisis. It is certainly not a new development. Almost, throughout our contemporary history successive finance ministers’ special task was to go around the world with the begging bowl. As we turned into the new millennium, the then Government even contemplated selling the Sinharaja Rainforest to foreign investors to raise money. When the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were arming themselves with superior weaponry, we were struggling to put boots on our soldiers’ feet. However, it was the previous government that came under the harshest criticism, of its political opponents, and accused of plunging the country into heavy debt.
Yet, despite that our country’s finances are now under those very critics’ control, our economy has deteriorated into an absolute catastrophe as never seen before. At a recent lecture given at the Public Library by Dr Nalaka Godahewa, former chairman of the Sri Lanka’s Securities Exchange Commission, disputes that the previous administration mismanaged the economy. In fact, he asserts that since eradicating terrorism from our shores, the economy received that Government’s full attention.
Economic achievements
Previously, he had explained to this writer that the limelight on the Rajapaksa administration’s achievements was on uniting this country.
However, no one paid heed to the economic revolution that administration engineered. Despite the impressive strides we made economically, many did not realize this ground reality. Hence, they were easily misled by the political opponents’ claims that though the Rajapaksa administration won the war, they were incapable of managing the economy as it’s an administration steeped in corruption. Dr Godahewa observed that many Sri Lankans have a weak grasp on numbers and do not understand the difference between a million and a billion.
At a Public Library event he noted that, By 2014, we were on a clear track forward and every economic indices in Asia ranked us as either first, second or at the very least in the third place. Our growth rate was only second to China. Foreign investments were flowing into the country and the entrepreneurs’ trust in the economy was solidifying. This was reflected by the rapid progress, then, at the Colombo Stock Exchange. It was during this economic development that war-winning President Mahinda Rajapaksa was defeated by the present political coalition.”
Those who voted for this government had immense confidence of its ability to manage the economy,” he noted. The public, especially in the business community, had a misconception that a United National Party-run Government can develop this country economically. This misconception took root during the period 1994-2005 period and when the economy in 2001 nosedived to negative growth. People thought if the economy was in the UNP’s hands, this situation would change.”
Today the country is being administered by that very same political coalition, critical of the Rajapaksa administration, with the UNP behind the driver’s seat, steering the economy. Yet, President Maithripala Sirisena himself is on record that the UNP had destroyed the economy. Indeed, the situation has deteriorated to selling off our national assets, and still failing to arrest national debt from increasing from USD 7,400 billion in 2014 (accumulated since Independence) to USD 10,400 billion by end 2017 or from safeguarding the value of our Rupee from crashing.
There are two reasons for this,” explains Dr Godahewa. This coalition government is made of partners holding opposing economic ideologies. This is a unique situation. This has resulted in the partners being unable to agree on any economic policy. When one takes a decision, the other opposes, which the initiator refuses to be overturned, hence creating chaos.
This government came into power pledging to save the country from the economic ruin they accused the Rajapaksa Government of causing. Yet, they have no economic policy. Every Government since independence had a definite economic policy, noted Dr Godahewa, whether it was an open economy or closed, left-orientated or right. This government on the other hand changed its economic policy four times just between the 2015 Presidential Elections and the General Elections that were held that same year. In these three years, they had introduced nine different economic policies. A Government that does not have a definite economic policy is one without an economic policy.
Bad decisions
The second reason for their economic mismanagement is the successive terrible decisions they took. In their very first Interim Budget presented in March 2015, they committed their first blunder with an unprecedented attack on the business community – the very community that had immense faith in the UNP’s economic management. For instance, they claimed that any company that earned an income of over Rupees two billion, was an unwarranted income and imposed a massive tax on it. This eroded not only the local business community’s confidence, but also lost the foreign investors’ trust. The mistake they continue to commit, noted Dr Godahewa, was to repeat the same falsehood of corruption and economic instability that they did before the elections. Naturally, when the Government itself is on record of such status, the investor confidence will not improve. As a result, the foreign investment of USD 1,400 billion that flowed into the country in 2014 dropped to USD 600 billion in 2015, which further fell to USD 300 billion in 2016 and by 2017, it has trickled down to USD 17 billion. The thriving stock market is crashing as investors began to pull their money out of the country.
Then, within 50 days of assuming power, they engineered the biggest scam in Sri Lankan history with the Central Bank bonds. Despite the concentrated effort to conceal the crime, the whole country is aware that this government’s highest powers are responsible. These scams ripple effect has directly affected the interest rates. As the interest rates increase, entrepreneurs find it difficult to finance their businesses and especially the export industry had been adversely affected.
Another blunder they made was to cancel the country’s biggest development project – the Colombo Port City Project. After one year, they were forced to grovel before the Chinese Government who then demanded USD 26 billion as compensation for lost time. Likewise, they canceled a Sri Lankan Airlines’ order for Airbuses and had to pay USD 17 billion as compensation. These are only a few examples in which this government’s haphazard decisions had cost the country dearly.
In 2014, our agriculture was in a strong position that this government was able to store the additional paddy stocks at the Mattala Airport, reminded Dr. Godahewa. However, from day one, they underestimated the importance of food security and took away the subsidies and other support given to the agricultural industry. By 2017, the paddy production was only sufficient for eight months. Likewise, other industrial and service sectors have been severely affected by this government’s gross economic mismanagement.
Whilst thus mismanaging, the Government increased its spending especially on privileges to politicians. When the economy fails, the income falls, explains Dr Godahewa. This directly affected the Rupee value, which has since begun to slide rapidly. Since 2014, the Rupee has fallen by 20 per cent in comparison to the USD value. This in turn has increased our debt burden by an additional USD 820 billion. Putting this value in perspective Dr Godahewa points out that the total cost of the main projects undertaken by the previous administration – the Colombo-Katunayaka Highway, Hambanthota Port, Mattala Airport, Norochcholai Coal Power Plant – together cost only USD 460 billion.
When the income does not meet the expenses, the Government must find other avenues to meet the shortfall. The three methods this government has adapted to do so, listed Dr Godahewa are, selling our national assets, taking loans and increasing taxes. This is only the beginning of the destruction by this government, concludes Dr Godahewa.
MEDIA RELEASE Mahinda Rajapaksa Former President of Sri Lanka
The New York Times published an article titled How China Got Sri Lanka to Cough Up a Port” on Monday June 25, 2018 and our political opponents have made quite a carnival of it, marching to the FCID to make complaints, holding press conferences and calling for presidential commissions of inquiry. However the main allegation in this article – that 7.6 million USD had been given to me as campaign contributions by China Harbor Co during the 2015 presidential elections, is based on a Reuters report that appeared three years ago in July 2015. At that time the new yahapalana government had suspended all Chinese funded projects and all Chinese firms including China Harbour Co which was building the Colombo Port City, were being investigated. More than a year later, this government cleared China Harbour Co of any wrongdoing and the Port City project was handed back to them.
No contribution was made by China Harbour Co to my 2015 presidential election campaign. While claiming that my ‘affiliates’ and ‘campaign aides’ had got the money and that ‘volunteers’ had delivered the cheques to Temple Trees, the writer of the New York Times article has been intentionally vague about who had given this money and who had received it. This seems to be a way of carrying out a smear campaign without incurring any liability. The Prime Minister himself has gone on record describing the Colombo Port City as the premier project on which his government has placed its hopes. If any election campaign contributions had been made to me by China Harbour Co, the Port City contract would not have been restored to them and neither would they have been allowed to bid for the lease of the Hambantota harbour. The NYT writer has stated that they had obtained some of the details in that article from a Sri Lankan ‘government investigation’. Every Sri Lankan knows that the main preoccupation of this government since it came into power has been to sling mud at the opposition.
The NYT writer alleged that China financed the Hambantota Port project with the ulterior motive of ensnaring Sri Lanka in a debt trap even though the feasibility studies said the port wouldn’t work. That is not true. One of the world’s foremost engineering consultancy firms Ramboll of Denmark was identified by the Chandrika Kumaratunga government to do the first feasibility study but that government was defeated before the study could get off the ground. Then the Ranil Wickremasinghe government commissioned another top engineering consultancy firm SNC Lavalin of Canada which completed its feasibility study in June 2003. In 2004, under the second Chandrika Kumaratunga government, Minister Mangala Samaraweera commissioned Ramboll of Denmark again to do a feasibility study and this was completed in 2007. Thus, two feasibility studies under two different governments recommended the building of the Hambantota port.
The loans taken to build phases I & II and the bunkering facility of the Hambantota harbor amounted to around 1,322 million USD. The NYT writer alleged that the initial loan of $307 million had been renegotiated to a 6.3% fixed rate after having been taken initially at a concessionary rate. The intention was to make the point that China was lending at exorbitant rates of interest. This initial loan was taken at the LIBOR benchmark rate plus 0.75%. During that period, the LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) increased, pushing up the actual interest rate of the initial loan to 6.5%. It was then that a fixed rate of 6.3% was negotiated. However the remaining USD one billion was taken from China at the concessionary interest rate of 2%. The writer states that loans could have been taken from other countries at an even lower rate of interest. However in taking project loans, the interest rate is not the only criteria to be considered. When such bilateral agreements are entered into, the lending nation recommends the contractor and the price quoted by this contractor also has to be taken into account. In that respect China provided the best deal. The Hambantota port was actually built at a lower cost than the estimates in the Ramboll and SNC Lavalin feasibility reports.
The Hambantota Port is deemed to have failed because it drew only 32 ships in 2012 compared with 3,667 ships at the Colombo port. However the NYT writer fails to mention that this increased to 335 in 2014. The port made an operating profit of Rs. 900 million in 2014 and Rs. 1,200 million in 2015. These are investments that last centuries and a new harbour that opened in 2011 cannot be expected to produce profits by 2012. The writer further claims that the present government was compelled to lease the port to China because they were unable to repay the loan taken to build it. The total cost of financing the Hambantota port (capital plus interest) will be USD 1,761 million by the time the loan expires in 2036. By the end of 2016, nearly USD 500 million of this total amount had already been repaid. There was never any problem about meeting the payments for the Hambantota port because it was paid out of the profits of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA). The Auditor General’s report for 2014 states that the profit of the SLPA in 2014 after paying all loans and taxes was Rs. 8.8 billion.
Even though the NTY writer appears to be unaware of it, every Sri Lankan knows that the government did not use the 1,120 million USD received from the port lease to repay the loan taken to build it. Instead it went to the treasury to meet the day to day expenditure of the government and the loan still remains on our books. Though the writer claims that China has got the Hambantota harbor (with its industrial zone of 5000 acres) and an additional 15,000 acres from Sri Lanka due to the debt trap that China inveigled Sri Lanka into, there was never any Chinese debt trap as alleged. The SLPA had made careful plans to raise the money to meet the loan repayments until the Hambantota port broke even. This included the development of the Colombo East container terminal which was expected to bring in an additional income of 100 million USD a year to the SLPA.
When my government was voted out, we had already signed a Supply Operate and Transfer contract with China Harbour Co and China Merchant Co to operate the Hambantota container terminal for 40 years. The other terminals and the 5000 acre industrial zone in the harbor was to be controlled by the SLPA. We never had any plans to lease the entire free port for 99 years to any foreign company. That took place under the present government which was installed in power by the very Western nations that are now complaining about the Chinese presence in Hambantota. When I was President, China never asked for the port on lease or for any land outside the port. It is the present government of Sri Lanka that proposed to China that they take the entire free port on lease.
The NYT writer states that the lease of the Hambantota port gave China control of territory close to the shores of India, and that India was now apprehensive about the uses that this port may be put to. Such a situation would never have arisen if my government had continued in power. Former Indian External Affairs Secretary and National Security Advisor Shivshankar Mennon has said in his 2016 book Choices: Inside the making of India’s foreign policy” that my defense secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa had a clear view of Sri Lanka’s interests which was completely compatible with India’s interests and that India had been given assurances about the nature of Sri Lanka’s relationship with China. Mennon further stated that Gotabaya was sensitive to India’s concerns and that the assurances given to India by my government were respected throughout the duration of the Congress Party government which was voted out in May 2014. The New York Times has described me as China’s preferred partner in Sri Lanka. Given what has taken place after 2015, I have no doubt that I am now the preferred partner of India as well.
Political parties are an integral part of the democratic system and a symbol of democratic political administration. Sri Lanka invented party politics during the British rule with the adult franchise and no decree was enacted by colonial rulers that donations to a legally registered political party were a punishable offense or a corrupt activity. According to the knowledge of the general public, making donations to a political party is not illegal activity from the point of view of the donor as well as the receiver. After the independence, no elected government either in UNP or SLFP attempted to criminalize a donation to a registered political party, even the yahapalana government elected in 2015 has so far not interested to criminalize donations to a registered political party, in spite of Mr. Rajitha Senaratne wants to decriminalise Cannabises. As we fully aware, companies and individuals donate funds to registered political parties in America, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Norway, India, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Philippines and there are different rules using such donations for tax deduction purposes in various countries. In Australia, there was a controversy that a party leader also donated Millions of dollars to his own political party and when Mr. Bill Clinton and George Bush were in politics, they received donations not only from the USA but also from other countries. In the USA, nomination criteria to US Senate or Presidentship in political party base on fundraising for the party.
As in the democratic world, political parties treat as a symbol of democratic administration and legally valid device of politics and political parties have rights to accept donations from individuals or corporate institutions or non-government organizations. No political party can cover the operational cost from membership fees. The existence of political parties would be depended on the availability of funds for spending during the election period. The opposition political parties have similar rights to accept donations but accepting donations by unregistered political parties such as LTTE is illegal, therefore America and many European countries proscribed collecting funds to LTTE as it was an illegal act. Many religions and associated humanitarian projects are legal in the democratic world and accepts donations to continue the service to the society. The similar way political parties in the world accept donations to provide their services and, in some countries, political parties irrespectively whether they are in government or in opposition, are provided funds by the government, which is not illegal.
The administration and constitutional laws of Sri Lanka have not stated that donation to a registered political party is contrary to the law of the country. If it is illegal, more than a half of Sri Lanka’s population and other democratic countries must be imprisoned as many people donate money to political parties. Donations to legal institutions are not subject to litigation or investigation by commissions under the current law. People donate to Buddhist and Hindu Temples, Muslim Mosques, Christian Churches and many charity organizations but they are not illegal, if so how can be determined, donations to registered political parties are fallacious acts. I have seen a media report in Sri Lanka that New York Times published an article that a Chinese company owned by the Chinese government has donated money to former President, Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa as he was the leader of SLFP, which was a registered political party in Sri Lanka for election spending in 2015. At that time, Mr. Rajapaksa was the leader of SLFP and it is quite correct that money was donated to Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which was a registered political party in the country. We have no idea whether this article in NYT contained true information or mere fabrication against Mr. Rajapaksa. There were many open views about the style of behavior of America media and I read an article in news media of Sri Lanka that many incorrect views have published in New York Times against Russian President and the information published about Mr. Rajapaksa too similar to fabrications against Mr. Putin. Before we go to analyze the New York Times article, it needs to understand that New York Times is not a heavenly God, which is the truth, the way, and the life.
If making donations to a registered political party in Sri Lanka, receiving a donation as a leader of SLFP which a legitimate position of a registered political party was and spending such money for an election was not an illegal act. The similar way all other political parties received donations for election spending and they were not illegal acts to go to the court. Why NGOs and some government members are barking toward the accepting political donations, which is legally allowed matters. If the government and NGOs are committed to law and order, and to safeguard the democracy and the good governance, they must not be barking for legal matters but the government members also accepted money from perpetual treasuries, which was not legally accumulated funds as they were stolen money through a bond scam.
Chinese embassy in Sri Lanka clearly stated that the transaction was related to private business to private business of a company and also expressed that NYT report was inaccurate and bias against Chinese company. According to diplomatic conventions, nobody can go to court against the statement of Chinese Embassy. It is illegal and diplomatic right. That is why Mr. Ranil Wickramasignhe is silent on this matter as he knows the law relating to this matter. Sometimes, he also may have accepted donations from Chinese companies. However, it is published that Mr. Ranjan Ramanayake went to FCID on this matter without knowing legal implications as he is not an educated person (nobody knows his qualifications), with legal knowledge and that is why he created legal problems to himself criticising judges of courts outside the parliament, which was purely illegal activity. Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa needs to understand that he should not allow stupids like Mr Ranjan Ramanayake to come to the parliament in the next election.
The report of NYT would have focus to kill two birds from one shot but the reporter has done a work without focusing on different aspect the issue merely looking at the possibility of disturbing voters in Sri Lanka, however, it led to creating opinion against the credibility of NYT and the journalist herself. Sometimes, this particular journalist would subject to disciplinary action because he/she has relegated own employer to disgrace in a developing country.
Many Western journalists attempt to insult China through their writings. Journalists can write any rubbish otherwise they will lose their earnings and people do not interest in litigating them unless they made legally provable defamation. Recently I read a book, McMahon, D (2018) CHINA’S GREAT WALL OF DEBT. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. I was surprised about information is given in the book. It is the nature of this world. Whatever, information published China would not worry as it is an economic giant in the planet earth.
The significant point that needs to be elevated in regard to this matter is why FCID did not present its investigation to the court on the corruptions of Rajapaksa regime as this this government expressed in the political platform. Most probably, those who made complaints to FCID may have no legally provable practical evidence in support of the complaints. The only case trialed in the court, the judge stated that there was no evidence found that the president secretary used SIL REDI for his personal use and many educated lawyers stated that although it was a criminal case the significant criminal law principle of MENS REA was not proven by the accuser and the judge the court did not take into consideration this criminal law principle making decision.
June 30, 2018, 7:11 pm
There has been much hue and cry about the alleged request by the Anunayake of the Asgiri Chapter Ven. Wedaruwe Dharmakeerthi Sri Ratnapala Thera to Gota to be a Hitler.
Consequently because of the ‘fear psychosis’ which many of our politicians suffer of Gota leading this country in the very near future, a spate of criticism has spewed out. Fortunately the Venerable Anunayake has clarified his statement. There is no desire or intent for Gota to be another Hitler. What he wanted Gota to do was to develop this country and introduce firm policies. This is absolutely what this country needs.
From 2015 onward, this country has been on a steep downslide. Corruption is rampant – let us never forget the Bond Scam. Rape and murder are on the increase. Underworld gangs are having a field day. The IGP is more concerned about meditation than reinforcing law and order. The economy is in shambles. Trade unions are holding the country to ransom. University students are spending more time on the streets in protest marches than spending their time in the lecture halls. Amidst all this chaos our politicians are plotting ways and means of clinging on to power, accumulating undeserved wealth and seeking more luxurious life styles – consider the Mayoress spending millions on toilets!!! The cost of living is spiraling upwards leaving the majority of our people on the borderline of starvation. What this government is doing is best described as NATO – No Action Talk Only.
The President spends his time practicing yoga and preaching ‘bana.’ That is when he and his family are not travelling overseas. The Prime Minister opens a fictitious ‘Volkswagon’ factory promising jobs for thousands of people.He talks of tourist zones, industrial zones, IT zones, higher education zones and many other zones. Yet since 2015 it is a case of no zone, no zone! Ah yes I forgot – he did establish a Perpetual Treasuries safe zone.
Yes, we want Gota. He is a man of action. Whatever enterprise or project he undertook he ensured that it was completed to perfection. He led from the front. From winning the war against the LTTE to beautifying Colombo city.
People often refer to Lee Kuwan Yew and the transformation of Singapore. Let us not forget that he was a pragmatist AND he was authoritarian. But he made Singapore the wonder of Asia.
Our people are enjoying freedom – but it is the freedom of the wild ass.
LET US ELECT GOTA. THIS COUNTRY NEEDS AUTHORITARIANISM. THIS COUNTRY NEEDS A MAN OF ACTION. THIS COUNTRY NEEDS GOTA.
The Chinese Embassy in Colombo today issued a statement in response to the allegations levelled in an article published by The New York Times with regard to the deal made with the Sri Lanka Government to take over the Hambantota Port.
The Embassy has noticed the New York Times’ article published on June 25, as well as the clarifications and responses by various parties from Sri Lanka, criticizing it full of political prejudice and completely inconsistent with the fact,” it said.
The Embassy stressed that China has always been pursuing a friendly policy toward Sri Lanka, firmly supporting the latter’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and opposing any country’s interference in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka.
The Embassy said that it is encouraging that all sectors of the Sri Lankan society highly appreciate China’s tremendous support and selfless assistance for ending the civil war and post-war reconstruction in the Island nation.
Despite any interference from a third party, China would like to work together with Sri Lanka to actively implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, and concentrate unwaveringly on our fixed goals, continuously promote the pragmatic cooperations under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiatives following the golden rule” of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits”, to better benefit the two countries and the two peoples.”
Colombo, June 30 (newsin.asia): The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka said in a statement on Saturday, that the New YorkTimes article of June 25 saying that the Chinese company which built the Hambantota port had given US$ 7.6 million to the 2015 election fund of the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa was full of falsehood.
It was full of political prejudice and completely inconsistent with the fact,” the statement asserted.
The Embassy stresses that China has always been pursuing a friendly policy towards Sri Lanka, firmly supporting the latter’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and opposing any country’s interference in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka.”
It is encouraging that all sectors of the Sri Lankan society highly appreciate China’s tremendous support and selfless assistance for ending the civil war and post-war reconstruction in the Island nation.”
Mahinda Rajapaksa
Despite any interference from a third party, China would like to work together with Sri Lanka to actively implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, and concentrate unwaveringly on our fixed goals, continuously promote the pragmatic cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiatives following the golden rule of ‘extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits’, to better benefit the two countries and the two peoples,” the Chinese official statement said.
The NYT report had said that at least US$7.6 million was dispensed from China Harbour’s account at Standard Chartered Bank to affiliates of Mr. Rajapaksa’s campaign, according to a document, seen by The Times, from an active internal government investigation.”
The report further said that with 10 days to go before polls opened, around US$3.7 million was distributed in checks: US$678,000 to print campaign T-shirts and other promotional material and US$297,000 to buy supporters gifts, including women’s saris. Another US$38,000 was paid to a popular Buddhist monk who was supporting Mr. Rajapaksa’s electoral bid, while two checks totalling US$1.7 million were delivered by volunteers to Temple Trees, his official residence.”
Ajith Nivard Cabraal former,Governor of the Sri Lankan Central Bank
A ruling United National Party (UNP) MP and junior Social Empowerment Minister Ranjan Ramanayake filed a complaint with the Financial Crime Investigation Division (FCID) about the allegations made in the NYT article.
But a former Governor of the Central Bank and a Rajapaksa acolyte, Ajith Nivard Cabraal, issued a statement saying that the NYT report is an example of fake news”.
This is probably the type of propaganda under the veil of journalism that President Donald Trump has been regularly referring to as ‘Fake’ news or reports,” Cabraal charged.
Cabraal said that he was interviewed by the NYT correspondent in question, Maria Abi- Habib, on 10th May 2018, and that he countered almost every one of her string of allegations and pre-conceived notions” in an hour long interview, with irrefutable facts and figures.”
But not surprisingly”, Maria Abi-Habib had chosen to ignore all his responses relating to the Chinese loans and projects, as well as Sri Lanka’s debt position under former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, which he said would have materially changed her flawed findings” and highly suspect conclusions”.
Namal Rajapaksa MP and Mahinda Rajapaksa’s heir apparent
Cabraal further said: Her stance therefore undoubtedly confirms she was on a mission to provide a pre-determined and completely one-sided view point which is detrimental to both China and Sri Lanka in general, and Presidents Xi Jingping and Mahinda Rajapaksa, in particular.”
Rajapaksa son and heir apparent and MP, Namal Rajapaksa, said that the NYT allegations were meant to divert public attention from the UNP-led government’s LKR 11.5 billion Central Bank bonds scam.
Though the entire Sri Lankan media had reproduced the NYT article, the top most leaders of the government and the opposition, including Mahinda Rajapaksa, President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, have not reacted to it.
Colombo, July 1 (ECONOMYNEXT): Sri Lanka will move its southern naval headquarters to the Hambantota port which is leased to a state-run Chinese firm under a billion-dollar deal, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office said.
Wickremesinghe has made it clear in his talks with Chinese leaders that Hambantota port will not be allowed to be used for any military purposes, his office said in a statement dispelling reports that Beijing could get a military foothold there.
The Sri Lanka navy is moving its Southern Command to Hambantota,” the statement said. There is no need to be frightened as security of the port will be under the control of the Sri Lanka Navy.”
The state-run China Merchant Port Holdings (CMPH) last week paid the final payment of $585 million out of the $1.12 billion price for a 70 percent stake of the port. It is given out on a 99-year lease.
Sri Lanka has also informed the Chinese that Hambantota cannot be used for military purposes,” the statement said. It did not say when the navy will carry out the relocation of its southern command to Hambantota from its present location inside the Galle harbour.
Commercial activities at the Hambantota port was expected to trigger much needed economic development in neighbouring districts, the Prime Minister’s office said.
The port built by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa with Chinese loans and commissioned in 2010 has been running at massive losses although it straddles the world’s busiest east-west shipping route.
India and the United States are known to be concerned that China getting a foothold at the deep-sea port could give it a military naval advantage in the Indian Ocean.
Sri Lanka has signed up to President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy initiative, which aims to strengthen China’s land and sea trade routes.
Two Chinese submarines called at Colombo in 2014 during the final year of Rajapakse’s tenure, angering New Delhi.
The new government of President Maithripala Sirisena turned down a Chinese request in May last year for another submarine call at Colombo shortly after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the island.
Sirisena came to power in January 2015 promising to loosen ties with China after a decade of hefty funding by Beijing under his predecessor.
By D.B.S. Jeyaraj/Daily Mirror Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
The 21 km-long Puthukkudiyiruppu-Oddusuddan road progressing through the hinterland of North-Eastern Mullaitivu District, links Puthukkudiyiruppu on the A-35 Paranthan-Mullaitivu highway and Oddusuddan on the A-34 Mankulam-Mullaitivu highway. It was along this road that a trusted deputy of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed by the deep penetration squad of the Sri Lankan armed forces on September 26, 2001. Vaithilingam Sornalingam alias Col” Shankar, the founder-chief of the tiger air wing was killed by a claymore mine hung on a tree as he was driving his two-seater four-wheeler pick-up vehicle alone. The killing transmitted shockwaves amongst LTTE circles as it demonstrated the fact that the armed forces were capable of infiltrating the heartland of tiger-controlled territory and inflicting lethal damage.
The time was around 4.45 a.m. on June 22, 2018 when a trishaw proceeded along Puthukkudiyiruppu-Oddusuddan road to Oddusuddan. It was signalled to stop at the Paeraaru junction by four policemen attached to the Oddusuddan police station. It was simply a random check to ascertain whether the driver had proper identification and authorisation documents. Initially, the vehicle drove up speedily as if he intended defying the police signal. However, it suddenly screeched to a stop.
When two policemen approached the trishaw, one of the passengers who appeared to have lost part of his arm from the elbow downwards jumped out of the vehicle and ran off in one direction. The second passenger got off from the other side and ran off in a different direction. Two cops then gave chase to the second man and managed to apprehend him while a third constable ran after the other man who evaded arrest. The fourth policeman prevented the trishaw from evasion though the driver did not display any signs of attempting to do so.
A quick search of the vehicle showed that two bags and two parcels were being transported. The cops were shocked when the cursory inspection of the contents revealed explosives, arms and ammunition in addition to material connected to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The two arrested men along with the vehicle and baggage were taken to the Oddusuddan police station. A thorough search resulted in the discovery of one claymore mine, two pressure mines, two hand grenades, 98 rounds of T-56 ammunition, four remote control devices, six electronic detonators, two LTTE military fatigues, three t-shirts embossed with the tiger logo, two red and yellow LTTE flags and two large rolls of wire.
TERRORISM INVESTIGATION DIVISION (TID)
The revelations shocked the Oddusuddan Police who immediately alerted the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) of the police stationed at the Mullaitivu town. TID officers from Mullaitivu arrived at Oddusuddan and took away the two arrested individuals, trishaw and items seized to Mullaitivu. The TID hierarchy immediately dispatched two special teams from Colombo and Vavuniya to Mullaitivu. A perusal of the claymore mine revealed that it was an LTTE-manufactured explosive named Bhavaan.” The claymore weighing 15 kilos had been named after an LTTE cadre Capt” Bhavaan also known as Aiyaah” who was killed in combat in 2005.
A swift search was conducted in the semi-jungle areas surrounding the Paeraaru junction for the man with an impaired limb who had escaped. He was known as Aehaambaram.” The other arrested person was called Dinesh.” It is not clear at this juncture whether Aehaambaram and Dinesh are their real names or convenient nom de plumes. Under interrogation, the trishaw driver said he had nothing to do with the arsenal and other LTTE material in the trishaw and that they were being transported by Dinesh and Aehaambaram. The vehicle was reportedly proceeding towards a house frequented by Dinesh in the outskirts of Oddusuddan. The TID conducted a search on the residence and arrested the occupant of that house too. An intensive search was conducted in Oddusuddan. Several people were taken in for questioning and released. The three arrested persons and LTTE materials seized along with the trishaw were taken to the TID Northern Headquarters in Vavuniya for further interrogation and closer scrutiny.
It was disclosed that escapee Aehaambaram as well as the arrested Dinesh were former members of the LTTE. Both had been detained after the LTTE was militarily defeated in May 2009 and were subsequently released after rehabilitation. The man known as Aehaambaram was a resident of Saanthapuram in Kilinochchi. The trishaw driver was from Thiruvaiyaru in Kilinochchi and was apparently hired by Aehaambaram on a long-term basis. It was also discovered that the driver had at one time been arrested on suspicion of transporting smuggled Kerala Ganja. A special TID-led police squad was sent to Kilinochchi for further investigations.
An intensive cordon and search operation were undertaken in Saanthapuram and Thiruvaiyaru by the TID with the aid of the Kilinochchi Police. Many were questioned. Among them was the elder sister of the hand-impaired man, Aehaambaram. The sister told the police that her brother had gone missing” in January 2016 and that she had not sighted him since then.
She said she lodged a complaint with the police over her brother’s alleged disappearance in 2016. She also said her brother had close contacts with military intelligence personnel in the North. Aehaambaram’s elder sister also said her brother had lost a hand while making an improvised explosive device for the LTTE. She said two of her brothers and a sister were also LTTE members and had been killed in war with the armed forces.
An unidentified man of the Tamil Diaspora demonstrating in support of the LTTE draped in a Tiger flag
SEARCH IN THIRUVAIYARU-KILINOCHCHI
The search in Thiruvaiyaru-Kilinochchi in the vicinity of the trishaw driver’s residence resulted in the discovery of four motorcycles hidden in a house. Its occupants said the vehicles belonged to 24-year-old Ketheeswaran, also known as ‘Kethees,’ who was currently warded at the Kilinochchi Hospital due to a stomach ailment. Kethees, a child soldier of the LTTE, had been released after rehabilitation. However, he had been re-arrested two years ago on suspicion of being involved in an attempt to revive the LTTE in the North. He had been released after a period of detention and interrogation.
As news of the detection of the LTTE arsenal and tiger-related material and consequent arrests began spreading in the northern mainland known as the Wanni, many ordinary, peace-loving residents got perturbed. They had suffered much during the war and wanted no return to LTTE violence in any form. The police found themselves receiving much information from Tamil civilians. Many of the tips were useless and turned out to be false alarms. However, one constructive tip-off received by the Mankulam Police resulted in the elusive Aehaambaram being taken into custody while travelling along the Mallavi-Mankulam road at Vannivilaankulam on June 23. This was followed by the arrest of Kethees on June 24. TID officials arrested him no sooner he was discharged from the Kilinochchi Hospital.
All five key suspects comprising the man known as Aehaambaram, the trishaw driver, his neighbour Kethees, the other vehicle passenger Dinesh and the Oddusuddan house occupant are now being detained at Vavuniya and interrogated by the TID. Police sleuths are tracing the telephone numbers recorded on the mobile phones recovered from the arrested persons. Many have been questioned and statements recorded. Some whose statements did not seem satisfactory were taken to their respective area police stations and intensively interrogated. They were released after their statements were recorded in full. It is learnt that about 15 to 20 persons have had their statements recorded in this manner. They have been told to make themselves available to the police for further investigations whenever necessary.
The TID probe is still in a preliminary stage and a composite picture of the situation is yet to materialise. However, initial investigations have raised the spectre of an attempt to foment violence in the North in the name of the LTTE again. It is premature to say whether the LTTE is being revived or the tigers are regrouping, but it certainly appears that a fresh attempt is underway to foment violence in the name of the tigers to create a demonstration effect that the LTTE is capable of raising its head again and inflict deadly damage.
DISTINCTIVE MARK OF THE TIGER
It is well-known and widely-accepted that the day of the LTTE as a conventional militia occupying territory is over. It also cannot be a powerful guerilla force capable of confronting the armed forces directly now. What LTTE or pro-LTTE elements can hope for is an isolated attack of the hit-and-run variety. It is possible to plan an assassination or set off an explosive attack in the present politico-military environment prevalent in the North. Against this backdrop, it is suspected that the claymore and pressure mines could have been used to trigger a landmine explosion targeting an important politician or key administrative or defence services official. The LTTE flags and fatigues could have stamped the exercise with the distinctive mark of the tiger.
It is strongly suspected that the attempt to foment violence in the name of the LTTE is being backed financially by tiger-ish elements in the global Tamil diaspora. Preliminary investigations have revealed that the chief suspect known for the present as Aehaambaram has a number of identity cards under false names. He also has several bank accounts under different names where sums of money amounting to 30,000 and 40,000 rupees per instalment have been deposited regularly. It has also been found that the man travelled to Jaffna recently for an extended stay in the peninsula during which he reportedly interacted closely with a prominent LTTE diaspora activist vacationing in the North. It is indeed a sad fact of life that the freedom from fear” ushered in by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government is being exploited by known diaspora tiger operatives to travel to Sri Lanka freely and possibly encourage the return of political violence.
However, a troubling factor in this state of affairs is the alleged links of the man known as Aehaambaram to the military intelligence division of the army. It is an open secret” that the intelligence” agencies are keeping hundreds of ex-tigers on their payroll as informants. They are paid a monthly stipend and provided immunity from arrest. There is always the possibility of these ex-tiger informants being utilised by intelligence agencies for covert operations. It is also likely that some ex-tigers may turn rogue” and work according to a diaspora tiger agenda while retaining links with the military for their own protection. If proven concretely that the key suspect operating under the name Aehaambaram is indeed a double agent serving both the State and the LTTE it could drastically alter the course of investigations pursued by police sleuths so far. It is very likely that more details would emerge when three of the key suspects are taken to Colombo by the TID.
Meanwhile, the detection of LTTE material, explosives, arms and ammunition at Oddusuddan was officially acknowledged by Law and Order Deputy Minister Nalin Bandara who, according to a news report in Daily Mirror, said the government would not allow terrorism to raise its head again. Addressing a news briefing, Nalin Bandara said TID officers were conducting a special investigation into the incident. Investigations are underway to find out whether there is secret movement or organization that assists the scattered LTTEers to reorganize again,” the minister said.
LTTE Chief V.Prabhakaran
14 INDIVIDUALS WITH LTTE LINKS DESIGNATED
Interestingly enough, just two days prior to the tiger arsenal detection at Oddusuddan, the government issued an extraordinary gazette notification placing 14 individuals living abroad with suspected links with the LTTE on the list of designated persons, thereby banning them from entry to Sri Lanka. The amendment to the list of designated persons under the United Nations Regulations Number 1 of 2012 has made through a gazette issued by Defence Ministry Secretary and President’s Counsel Kapila Waidyarathne. The 14 individuals included in the said list, who have been barred from entry to the country over alleged connections to the Tamil Tigers, are namely;
Individuals barred from entry:
1. Nadaraja Sathyaseelan alias Seel Maran (intelligence)
2. Kamalasingham Arunakulasingham alias Kamal
3. Antonyrasa Antony Calistor alias Parathan (intelligence)
4. Sivasubramaniyam Jeyaganesh alias Ganesh (international finance) and a.k.a. Samraj
5. Ponnaswami Paskaran alias Jeyakaran
6. Velaudan Pradeepkumar alias Kaleeban
7. Sivarasa Surendran alias Waddann
8. Sivagurunathan Murugadas alias Kadirawan
9. Thirunilakandal Naguleshwaran alias Pushpanadan
10. Maheshwaran Ravichandran alias Mendis and a.k.a. Thirukkumaran
11. Suresh Kumar Pradeepan
12. Kandasamy Krishnamoorthi alias Moorthi
13. Jeevarathnam Jeevakumar alias Siranjeew Master (intelligence)
14. Tony Jehan Murugesapillai
The decision of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government to designate 14 individuals within the global Tamil diaspora as being linked to the proscribed LTTE and ban their entry into
Sri Lanka raised many eyebrows.
The government of Mahinda Rajapaksa had in March 2014 proscribed by gazette 16 diaspora organizations and 424 individuals under the United Nations Act No. 45 of 1968.
However, after the regime change in January 2015, the new government reversed this designation drastically in November 2015. The present government de-listed 8 organizations and 269 individuals from the previous list. This resulted in only 8 organizations and 155 individuals remaining on the proscribed list. Although this de-listing was severely criticised from a national security perspective, the then Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera justified it on the basis that it was necessary at that juncture to help expedite the reconciliation process.” Incidentally, the de-listing was done on the eve of a visit to Sri Lanka by then US envoy to the UN in New York, Samantha Power.
Now, the same Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government seems to have had second thoughts on the listing issue. The reasons which led the government into designating 14 LTTE linked individuals remains so far in the realm of the unknown and will very likely become the focus of a forthcoming article in these columns. However, there are a few puzzling points deserving mention at this point of time.
At least two of the designated individuals Kamalasingham Arunakulasingham alias Kamal and Jeevarathnam Jeevakumar alias Siranjeevi Master have for long been suspected of maintaining links to Sri Lankan intelligence agencies. The Sri Lankan intelligence network succeeded in infiltrating many LTTE diaspora organizations in the aftermath of the war against the LTTE and Kamal and Siranjeevi Master were allegedly key instruments in this exercise. In fact, a few Sri Lankan journalists were even politely requested not to write about these two by informed sources. While Kamal based in Norway operates mainly in Europe, Siranjeevi Master handled Asia shuttling among Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. However, Siranjeevi has reportedly shifted to Japan recently.
SIVASUBRAMANIYAM JEYAGANESH ALIAS SAMRAJ
Another person of interest in this list is Sivasubramaniyam Jeyaganesh alias Ganesh. Jeyaganesh based in France is widely-known among Tamil diaspora circles as Samraj. Heis currently in charge of overseas LTTE finances in Europe. He is said to be running a number of commercial establishments in different parts of Europe registered in the names of trusted confidantes.
Jeyaganesh alias Samraj hit the headlines when his 41-year-old wife Paheerathy Murugesu and 8-year-old daughter Pahalavi Jeyaganesh were stopped by TID officials at the Bandaranaike International Airport in March 2015. They had arrived in Sri Lanka in February 2015 and were to board a flight back to Franceafter a month-long vacation. The TID let the daughter, a French citizen, go but continued to detain the mother, a permanent resident of France, saying she had been a former member of the LTTE sea tigers. It later transpired that the ulterior objective behind the detention was to pressure her husband Jeyaganesh to come to Sri Lanka and then detain him. The plan did not work as Jeyaganesh and Paheerathy, who married in 2005, had formally divorced in 2012. After much legal wrangling, Paheerathy was released. She returned to France while Jeyaganesh in his Samraj avatar continued to oversee LTTE finances in Europe.
The gazetting of 14 LTTE members including Samraj, Siranjeevi Master and Kamal evoked a derisive reaction from former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. According to a news report in Ceylon Today,” Mahinda Rajapaksa commenting on the gazette notification banning 14 persons had said the move came in the wake of the 14 arriving in the island, travelling to Kilinochchi, getting what they wanted done and leaving with money. The former President noted that in the light of this, the issuing of the gazette was laughable as it was akin to closing the stable door after the horse had bolted. At a time when a majority of the countries in the world are acting against terrorism, why is Sri Lanka following a lax policy and according to whose agenda?,” he queried.
The former President’s statement about shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted provides much food for thought. Does Mahinda Rajapaksa have reliable information that the 14 persons had travelled to Kilinochchi, accomplished what they wanted to do, got what they wanted and returned safely to their countries? If so, have the Sri Lankan authorities been caught unawares and are reacting only after the damage was done? Worse still have the overseas tigers with links to Sri Lankan intelligence taken their handlers for a ride? Or is the Medamulana Machiavelli simply trying to score debating points against his political rivals?
LTTE girl child soldiers en route to the front
FREEDOM FROM FEAR” EXPLOITED
One is unable to furnish definite answers at this point of time but the existing reality in the North tallies with the essence of what Mahinda has been saying. Ever since the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government came to power and removed the fear element prevalent under the Rajapaksa regime and ushered in Freedom from fear,” there has been an influx of overseas Tamils into Sri Lanka.
Many Tamils who feared arrest in Sri Lankafor having attended an LTTE event abroad now felt secure in travelling to Lanka. Unfortunately, this freedom has been exploited by LTTE and pro-LTTE elements who too have been sojourning in Sri Lanka without fear. The tiger-ish elements have been promoting an extremist agenda in Lanka in the recent past. It is felt that a lot of tiger money is being pumped into Lanka to foment violence. What the tigers need at this point of time is not sustainable violence with a long term perspective but an immediate exhibition of violence for short-term demonstration effect.
In that context, it must also be noted that attempts by diaspora tigers to foment violence in Sri Lanka did not commence after the present coalition government came into power only. Although Mahinda Rajapaksa is trying to project an impression that tiger activity did not exist under his rule from 2010 to 2015, the reality is different. There have been many attempts by the diaspora Tigers to foment violence in Sri Lanka after the war ended in May 2009. Mercifully, none of them was successful. A brief re-run of post-war history shows there have been several such attempts in the years after 2009. Some of these happened during the time Mahinda Rajapaksa was President and his sibling Gotabaya, the all powerful Defence Secretary. Some have occurred after the current government came to power. Most of the diaspora LTTE-backed abortive attempts to cause violence have been written about in detail in these columns in the past.
One does not know how the investigations into the Oddusuddan detection would proceed or whether details of a diaspora LTTE backed plot to foment tiger violence” would be uncovered, but there are two salient points that need to be emphasised here. The first is that the LTTE has indeed been militarily wiped out in Sri Lanka, but the fact remains that the overseas tiger branches described wrongly as the rump” are not destroyed yet. Secondly, the overseas Tigers are capable of fomenting violence in a bid to revive the LTTE in Sri Lanka or project an impression that it is being done so. It is important to distinguish clearly between a real revival, genuine revival attempt and an exercise aimed at creating an impression that the LTTE is being revived.
TAMIL PEOPLE WON’T EXTEND SUPPORT
A full-scale revival of the LTTE and a return to the past where the Tigers were a formidable force is virtually impossible in the present situation. There could however be no guarantee that attempts would not be made to revive the LTTE despite those efforts proving unsuccessful. Since Tiger elements in the diaspora would continually finance such attempts the dangers exist. There is a need therefore for constant vigilance as there is little room for complacency in matters like these. At the same time, it must be realized that the Tamil people who have suffered much during the war are in no mood for a return to LTTE-sponsored conflict again. Whatever the attempts by Tiger-ish elements in the diaspora to promote violence in Sri Lanka, it is doomed to fail in the final analysis because the Tamil people themselves are unwilling to extend support.
Not true. As I did with #LKA media representing the govt & JO, I have declined all interviews & told the minister I wouldn’t be involved in his political grandstanding. Article is based on multiple sources & I never reveal identities of sources unless to my editors. Nice try tho
Senani Samaranayake@SenaniSL
The @nytimes Journalist @Abihabib has confirmed to Govt Min @RamanayakeR that her article How China Got Sri Lanka to Cough Up a Port” fully based on B report given by the #Srilanka’s politicized CID. #lka
With the emergence of the Bodu Bala Sena” initiative, our motherland is witnessing a strengthening of the Sinhala Buddhist revivalist movement which was spearheaded by the late, Most Venerable Gangodawila Soma Thera. The Bodu Bala Sena is a movement under the leadership of a highly distinguished, accomplished and deeply patriotic group of Bhikkhus, dedicated to the task of revitalizing and reinforcing cultural nationalism in Sri Lanka – our only motherland. It has a rapidly growing steadfast support base among concerned lay Buddhists across the country and overseas.
Its aim is to save our nation from spiritual decay and disintegration, to halt the erosion of Buddhist social values, to peacefully counter the varied local and foreign forces that are hell-bent on undermining Buddhist culture and related heritage of this Dharmadeepaya. It aims at directing society towards a cultural rejuvenation based on traditional Buddhist norms, principles and values which have been the foundation of this nation for over 2200 years.
Our Bhikkhus, should necessarily be in the forefront in movements aimed at protecting and promoting the Buddha Sasana especially when it is under threat. Bhikkhus of the Bodu Bala Sena have voluntarily made their choice to take an open public stand on issues surrounding Buddhism and Buddhist culture which is the greatest treasure that our country could offer to the world, to humanity. Why should anyone feel uncomfortable when the traditional spiritual leaders of our country, the Bhikkhus, take the initiative and provide necessary leadership to protect the greatest wealth of this nation – our Buddhist cultural heritage.
Like anyone else, under a democratic system, Bhikkhus are eligible to exercise their rights, including political rights. They are traditional leaders of this nation. Those who object to the initiative taken by our Bhikkhus of the Bodu Bala Sena, appear to be those with ulterior motives, those having their own self-interests to promote, those attempting to promote blind beliefs and establish unwholesome lifestyles based on such beliefs, those opposed to further strengthening and consolidation of Buddhist culture in this country, and those resorting to unwholesome activities that are contrary to Buddhist norms and principles and all those who are inclined to undermining the Buddha Sasana and Buddhist values which have been preserved and promoted for thousands of years in this country, by the large majority of its inhabitants. These undesirable elements may feel uncomfortable about the Bodu Bala Sena activities which are, on all counts, legitimate, wholesome, and timely. Non-violence and compassion form the basis upon which the programme of activities of the Bodu Bala Sena is structured. Our Bhikkhus have become a thorn in the flesh of religious extremists, the recent breed of inter-faith dialogue facilitators, those in the ethnic and human rights businesses and above all those who are funded or backed by extremist anti-Buddhist elements.
Genuine and practicing Buddhists of our country, or those who strictly follow, at least the Five Precepts, should be closely and actively involved in politics. There is no sound reason for such Buddhists to stay away from politics. Most of the ills of our country’s political life could be attributed to the absence of genuine Buddhists in the political arena. In fact, genuine Buddhists have a duty by the nation, which is founded on Buddhist principles, to be fully involved and participating in their nation’s political life. This is particularly relevant today owing to the fact that our nation is severely threatened at present by diverse negative forces, especially by Muslim fanatics. They are trying hard to undermine the wholesome Buddhist cultural heritage and values of our nation.
It is the Buddhist perspective to public life and decision-making, that is most needed today in the country’s political domain. We need compassionate politicians with unselfish and mindful interest in the welfare of the country. This alone can bring about needed positive changes in public life which at present is infected with dishonesty, crime and corruption. The impact and influence of such people can make a big difference. They can help to generate a wholesome political culture, that is characterized by Buddhist approaches and attitudes and a truly Buddhist atmosphere, conducive to the development of a healthy political climate in our nation, so that all nationals will benefit irrespective of their diverse origins and cultural-religious inclinations.
Politics in actual fact is simply about deciding how to live together peaceably while bringing together the wide variety of perspectives available in the human realm. It is something necessary and something creative. Politics is part of our life. If we regard all life as sacred and politics is a part of life, then politics must be sacred. Politics is not an inherently unclean and base activity. It becomes dirty in the way that everything else becomes dirty. That is, through lack of attention, through lack of mindfulness, through ego, all of which resulting in greed, hatred and delusion. The best kind of politics can take the profound viewpoints and virtues of spiritual practice and apply them in the public realm. Buddhism can be of fundamental help in this regard.
If we do not bring spiritual virtues to the public arena, we are destined to both a selfish kind of spirituality and a selfish kind of government, devoid of vision and meaning. It is time that more and more of our genuine and practicing Buddhists entered the political arena in various influential capacities. We are grateful to and value the initiative and leadership provided, in this regard by the highly esteemed movements such as the Bodu Bala Sena, Sinhala Ravaya, Ravana Balaya, and Mahason Balakaya among others. Despite untold threats and challenges and various unfounded and indecent criticisms leveled against them, especially by extremist Muslims and other fanatics who benefit politically and otherwise from association with extremist Muslims, these bold, inherently national organizations, appear to be going ahead with their program of activities, demonstrating foresight, forthrightness, courage, fearlessness, and determination.
Buddhism has always been engaged in various socio-political contexts. The idea of interdependence is widely associated with Buddhism. Buddhism is the religion of Human Ecology. Engaging in the lives of others through compassion, sacrifice and service is the worthy spiritual path that we need to observe in the contemporary world. We need to expand our approach or shift somewhat away from those traditional customs that excessively promote monasticism and individual salvation, and become more socially engaged and be more concerned about service to the community, the human habitat and the environment in general. We need to broaden our spiritual practices to include both family and community and the social and environmental concerns of the broader world. We need to approach meditation not as a way of escaping from society or getting out of society, but to prepare us for a re-entry into society so that we will be better able to identify and understand social hardships, misery and perils, and be able to do something tangible to relieve them. It is time that we as Buddhists involve ourselves in an organized manner, become socially engaged and apply Buddhism to matters of everyday life, individual work, family, politics, and the community. It needs to be a direct application of Buddhist principles and concepts to social and political issues and areas.
SOCIALLY ENGAGED BUDDHISM
The term “Socially Engaged Buddhism” refers to active involvement by Buddhists in society and its problems. Both inner practice and social service are important elements of the spiritual path. Buddhist practice and the whole ancient Buddhist tradition is built upon the spirit of service. A major task for Buddhists in contemporary Sri Lanka is to organize themselves to forestall or prevent the real and potential adversities and catastrophes facing them, owing to threats and devious actions of non-Buddhists, aimed at undermining Buddhism and the Buddhist cultural heritage of Sri Lanka founded on Buddhist norms and principles.
The Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF) is a nonsectarian international network of engaged Buddhists participating in various forms of nonviolent social activism and environmentalism. It is headquartered in California USA. The BPF works toward global disarmament and peace, helping individuals suffering in places such as Myanmar, Bangladesh, Tibet and Vietnam. The Buddhist Peace Fellowship was founded in 1978 to bring a Buddhist perspective to the peace movement and the peace movement to the Buddhist community. Drawing on the teachings of nonviolence and compassion, and recognising the essential unity and interdependence of all beings, BPF members and chapters seek to awaken peace where there is conflict, bring insight into the institutionalized ignorance of political systems, and offer help in the Buddhist spirit of harmony and loving kindness where it is needed. Aware of the interconnectedness of all things, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship cultivates conditions for peace, social justice, and environmental sustainability within our selves, our communities, and the world.
2015 රට වෙන අතකට හැරවූ ජනපතිවරණ ඡන්ද ව්යාපාරයේදී එවකට එජාපය ප්රධාන විපක්ෂය නැගූ ප්රධානතම චෝදනාව රාජපක්ෂ රජය සහ රාජපක්ෂ පවුල කළ මහා මූල්යමය වංචාව බව රහසක් නොවේ. කෝටි ප්රකෝටි මුදල් මෙරට සහ පිටරට බැංකු ගිණුම්වල සහ පිටත ඇති බව චෝදනා කෙරිණි. අදටත් රාජපක්ෂ පවුලට හෝ එම පවුල සමඟ සම්බන්ධ පුද්ගලයකු හෝ ව්යාපාරයන් යම් අයථා ආකාරයකට ඉපයූ මුදල් පිළිබඳව අධිකරණයක් ඉදිරියේ වැරැදිකරු කර නොමැත. එජාපය කළ චෝදනා පිළිබඳව විමසීමක් කළ යුතුව ඇත. මෙහිදී මතක තබාගත යුතු ඉතාම වැදගත් කරුණක් වන්නේ මෑතකදී නිව්යෝර්ක් ටයිම්ස් කළ ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 7.6 පිළිබඳව හෙළිදරව්ව මීට පෙර කළ ඩොලර් බිලියන 18 අයථා ඉපයීම්වලට අමතරව කළ චෝදනාවක් බව තවම පැහැදිලි නොමැති බවයි.
