The present government came to power assuring the citizens of Sri Lanka an uncorrupt, transparent, no-wastage government. That promise was thrown to the bin after coming to power. The people were sold that the Cabinet would be just 25 MP (100 day program) however 19a created a bogus national government with the right to unlimited number of MPs. The abuse of power is unprecedented, not that previous governments were not uncorrupt. The difference is that this particular Alliance came to power fooling the masses that they would not be corrupt like the previous government & they are turning out to be more corrupt than all previous governments put together

Number of Ministries           43

Ministry Offices                     45

Cabinet Ministers                42 (18 new appointments on 1^st May 2018)

State Ministers                     24 (2 new appointments on 12 June 2018)

Deputy Ministers                  22 (5 new appointments on 12 June 2018)

Total                                       86 Ministers

Note:

At the August 2015 General Elections, the UNF won only 93 seats (excluding the 13 national list seats)

At the August 2015 General Elections, the UPFA won 83 seats (excluding the 12 national list seats)

The Office of the Cabinet of Ministers of Sri Lanka website gives the following Cabinet portfolios as of June 2018

State Ministers

Deputy Ministers

Some confusions

Ministry of National Integration & Reconciliation & Official Languages / National Unity & Co-existence

One of the Presidents 3 portfolios is as Minister of National Integration and Reconciliation http://nirmin.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55&Itemid=175&lang=en however Mano Ganeshan is also given the same title plus another title Minister of National Integration, Reconciliation & Official Languages http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.lk/cab/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23&Itemid=66&lang=en&InNo=744

As per 1 May 2018 Mano Ganeshan has been made Minister National Co-existence & Reconciliation & Official Languages.

http://mncdol.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=33&Itemid=154&lang=en

So we have the President as Minister of National Integration & Reconciliation & Mano Ganesh as the Minister of National Co-existence & Reconciliation! What are they both doing?

H. M. Fowzie is the State Minister of National Integration under President Sirisena

A H M Fouzie is also featured as State Minister of National Unity and Co-existence (Is he drawing two salaries?)

Ali Zahir Moulana Seyed is the Deputy Minister of National Integration, Reconciliation and Official Languages

There are 2 Secretaries too

Mr. M.Y.S. Deshapriya is the Secretary, Ministry of National Integration, Reconciliation and Official Languages

Mr. S. Nanayakkara is the Secretary, State Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation

The Ministry of National Integration & Reconciliation was established by Extraordinary Gazette on 21 September 2015 & Amended by Extraordinary Gazette on 18 December 2015.

National Policies and Economic Affairs

The PM is the Minister of National Policies & Economic Affairs. He has 2 State Ministers with the same title – Dr Harsha de Silva & Niroshan Perera. WHY?

Sustainable Development, Wildlife & Regional Development

As of May 1^st the Minister is Sarath Fonseka & the Deputy Minister is Palitha Thevapperuma. However the previous Deputy Minister was Sumedha Jayasena.

Labor & Trade Union Relations / Labor & Trade Union Relations & Sabaragamuwa Development

On the website of the Office of Cabinet Ministers ONLY the Minsitry of Labor & Trade Union Relations is mentioned with Minister Ravindra Samaraweera appointed on 1 May 2018 http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.lk/cab/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=23&Itemid=66&lang=en&InNo=708

However there is a website for Labor & Trade Union Relations & Samaragamuwa Development with the same Minister http://www.labourmin.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=177&Itemid=177&lang=en

Ministry of Development Strategies & International Trade

In the official website Malik Samarawickrema is the Minister of Development Strategies & International Trade & in the same website the State Minister is Sujeewa Senasinghe but his title is State Minister of International Trade (the Development Strategies is dropped out)

http://modsit.gov.lk/minister-of-development-strategies-and-international-trade.html

Monthly Salaries & Allowances to MPs (Cabinet, State, Deputy) by the Parliament

MP salaries & wages were increased in 2006 by the same government by double what they were previously given.

Basic Salary             Rs.54,285 (a High Court Judge is paid the same)

Fuel Allowance        Rs.15,000 – Rs.65,000

Personal staff wages          Rs.80,000 – Rs.100,000

Telephone                Rs.50,000

Transportation          Rs.10,000

Attendance               Rs.500 per every sitting

Rent                           Rs.50,000 p.m

Entertainment                       Rs.1000

Insurance                  Rs.200,000 (proposal to increase insurance to Rs.500,000)

Vehicle                                  Rs.10m or US$62,500 exempt from tariffs (tax relief is Rs.33m)

free body massages

Presidents Salary    Rs. 97,500

PM’s Salary              Rs. 71,500

Speaker                     Rs. 68,500

Deputy Speaker       Rs. 54,285

MPs outside Colombo are entitled to a 900sq.ft house

Ministers are provided with 2-storey houses in Cinnamon Gardens plus $50,000 worth duty-free vehicles.

MPs also enjoy bank loan facilities on very easy & simple terms & concessions for the education of their children.

State pension                      After 5 years ‘service’

Parliament pays Rs.12.2 million a month in MPs’ salaries excluding the salary of the President. Annually the tax payer ends up footing Rs.164.4m minimum for 225 MPs.

Food in Parliament (2017)

Breakfast                   Rs.100 (previously it was Rs.60)

Lunch                         Rs.200 (previously it was Rs.150)

If an MP hosts lunch for more than 12 persons cost per person is Rs..600 (Rs.7200)

Present rate is Rs.250 per guest

Salaries paid by the Relevant Ministry

Cabinet Minister      Rs.65,000 (Ministry spends for 3 vehicles, security jeep)

According to Acting Minister of Transport Ashoka Abeysinghe (5 June 2018) the PM had proposed to appoint Government Members of Parliament as Monitoring MPs to Ministries.

The benefit package to each MP would be over Rs.300,000 each in addition to the salary & benefits they receive.

During the Third Reading debate on Budget proposals for 2017 the PM said the monthly salaries for MPs was not enough to fulfil their duties & that the salaries of MPs needed to be increased to ‘strengthen the parliamentary system’. The PM proposed Rs.100,000 p.m. allowance to each MP to carry out duties in his electorate as well as air travel facilities for MPs in the North & East.

It has also been proposed to give luxury vehicles for 30 MPs to carry out ‘development

work & since it was difficult to carry out their duties due to the poor conditions of the roads they needed luxury vehicles (Rajitha Senaratna MP)

Vehicles for MPs

In March 2017 Supplementary Estimate sought by Chief Whip of the Government MP Gayantha K for Rs.537,962,790 to purchase vehicles for

7 Ministers,

3 State Ministers

2 Deputy Ministers

Rs.42.6m vehicle for the Special Assignments Minister

Rs.42m vehicle for the Telecommunication & Digital Infrastructure Minister

Rs.86m vehicle for State Minister of Irrigation & Water Resources Management

Rs.41m vehicle for Science, Technology & Research Minister

Rs.43m vehicle for Tourism & Christian Affairs Minister

Rs.43m for the Higher Education & Highways Minister

Rs.43m for the Sustainable Development & Wild Life Minister

Rs.62.2m vehicles for the Auditor General’s Department

The Government had spent Rs.108m on foreign trips for Ministers & MPs (2017)

In May 2017 a supplementary estimate was sought approval to spend over Rs.360m to purchase vehicles for some ministers & renovate official residences.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Rs-mn-sought-to-purchase-ministers-vehicles–129694.html

Rs.154m to purchase new vehicles for Ministry of Defence under President

Rs.120m to purchase new vehicles for Ministry of Finance

Rs.43m to purchase a vehicle for Deputy Minister of Rural Economy

Rs.16m to purchase a vehicle for Minister of Development Strategies & International Trade

Rs.3.4m to repair official residence of Social Empowerment & Social Welfare Minister

Rs.1.2m to repair official residence of Digital Infrastructure Development Minister

Rs.5.9m to renovate Central Province Governor’s official residence.

Foreign Trips by President (excludes private visits)

2015 – 10 trips to 10 countries

2016 – 12 trips to 9 countries

2017 – 7 trips to 7 countries

2018 – 1 trip so far (Iran)

Foreign Trips by Prime Minister (excludes private visits)

2015 – 2 (India & Japan)

2016 – 6 trips to 6 countries

2017 – 8 trips to 8 countries

2018 –  2 trips so far

If this burden is not enough on the tax payer, the government has by doubled the local government members.

Previously 4486 Local Government Members were elected to 340 Local Authorities (Municipal Councils, Urban Councils, Pradeshiya Sabhas).

Now instead of 4486 8356 Local Government Members have been elected through the new system introduced by this government increasing the tax burden of Rs.21billion to Rs.34billion.

What have these Ministers done? Do they even care about the suffering of the people, the severities each family undergoes to eat, educate their children, provide the basic of comforts?

It is just despicable that these MPs are so inconsiderate of the people. Do they not see the people languishing in hospitals waiting for treatment, patients who have to pawn whatever they have to buy medicines, people who are living off loans & victims of interest sharks….

Do these MPs not have a heart & even after living off the sweat & toil of the workers, these MPs devise ways and means to keep us divided, to manufacture conflicts, pay people to spread lies & rumours all to keep us distracted & diverted from questioning them.

Its time people wake up from their slumber.

Shenali D Waduge

If you have in yourself even an iota of Sinhala blood or have the slightest patriotism for your motherland Sri Lanka, please listen to this brave soldier lamenting about what the traitors amongst us are doing to our motherland – the only land of the Sinhala people!

And once you listen to it, please share it with other Sinhala people so that they will all realize what the traitors and enemies of Sri Lanka are doing to disintegrate and destroy the Sinhala nation and pave way to totally eradicate the Sinhala race in the not too far future!

https://youtu.be/NVnZzTZqg-0

උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

වර්ෂ 2020දී පැවැත්වීමට නියමිත ජනාධිපතිවරණය සඳහා ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා ඉදිරිපත් වුවහොත් ඔහුට ඇමෙරිකාවේ හෝ බටහිර රටවල සහාය හිමි නොවන බව ඇමෙරිකානු තානාපති අතුල් කේශාප් සහ හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහත්වරුන් අතර ඉකුත් දා පැවැති හමුවේදී තානාපතිවරයා විසින් පැවැසූ බව පළ වන වාර්තා සනාථ කිරීමට හෝ ප්‍රතික්‍ෂේප කිරීමට කොළඹ ඇමෙරිකානු තානාපති කාර්යාලය මෙතෙක් සිදුකර නැත.

යාපනයේ පළවන දමිළ පුවත්පතක් වන “කාලයික්කතීර්” විසින් මෙම පුවත පළමුව සිදුකර තිබූ අතර ජනප්‍රිය බ්ලොග් අඩවියකද එය දක්වා තිබිණි.

ඒවායෙහි දැක්වෙන ආකාරයට, නුදුරේදී සිය ධුරයෙන් සමුගෙන යෑමට නියමිතව සිටින අතුල් කේශාප් සහ හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරයා අතර පැවැති මෙම සමුගැනීමේ හමුව අතරතුර මීළඟ ජනපති අපේක්‍ෂකයා පිළිබඳිව ගැඹුරින් සාකච්ඡා වී තිබේ. එහිදී ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා ඒ සඳහා තෝරාගත හොත් බටහිර රටවලින් අප්‍රසාදය පළවනු ඇතැයි තානාපතිවරයා සෘජුවම පැවැසූ බවද මෙම වාර්තාවල සඳහන් වේ.

මෙලෙස පළවන වාර්තා සම්බන්ධයෙන් අපගේ සහෝදර පුවත්පත වන “සිලෝන් ටුඩේ” විසින් ඇමෙරිකානු තානාපති කාර්යාලයෙන් විද්‍යුත් තැපෑල ඔස්සේ කරන ලද විමසුමට පිළිතුරු ලෙසින් තානාපතිවරයා දේශපාලන නායකයන්, සිවිල් සමාජ සහ සංවිධාන ප්‍රධානීන් හමුවීම සාමාන්‍යයෙන් සිදුවන්නක් බවත් පෞද්ගලික හමුවක අන්තර්ගත වූ කතාබහ සම්බන්ධයෙන් තානාපති කාර්යාලය ප්‍රකාශයක් ප්‍රසිද්ධ නොකරන බවත් සඳහන් කරමින් විද්‍යුත් ලිපියක් එවා ඇත.

By Malinda Seneviratne Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Anyone who has read Noam Chomsky’s ‘What Uncle Sam really wants’ would not get too excited when a US President, Secretary of State or Ambassador talks about democracy. Neither would they lose any sleep over such worthies speaking in somber tones about individuals, parties or governments they dislike.

Chomsky’s book, published in 1993, traces four decades of US intervention in all parts of the world. It is all about the use of subversion and force for economic and political hegemony. To achieve various ends the USA often supported violent regimes and dictatorships, Chomsky shows. For all the bleeding-heart talk about democracy, good governance and peace, the USA has had no qualms over propping up or placing in power, tyrants, autocrats, military juntas and brutal monarchies.

Right here in Sri Lanka, we’ve heard one US Ambassador after another reading that tired script, except that they’ve been condescending, unapologetic and downright uncouth at times. Essentially they played Viceroy rather than Ambassador.

At times it is about the USA’s economic interests. Teresita Currie Schaffer said at a seminar held at the Agrarian Research and Training Institute in 1993, ‘your food security lies in the wheat fields of North America’. That was a time when USAID was pushing the then government to cripple rice cultivation. In more recent years Robert O Blake (2006-2009) did his utmost to sabotage the military offensive against the LTTE, clearly intent on finding ways to ensure that this terrorist organization lives to fight another day.

His successor Patricia Butenis had a sordid track record in Iraq, Colombia, El Salvador and Bangladesh. At a farewell speech at the Gulshan Club, Dhaka, she had said that though some Bangladeshis believed she was sometimes too outspoken, this was because Ambassadors must be clear about their country’s interests and viewpoints to avoid misunderstanding. I was told that Dr. Abdullah Dewan, Professor of Economics at Eastern Michigan University and a Bangladeshi American had observed: There was no ‘misunderstanding’ on our part; she was not just outspoken”, but openly meddled, apparently beyond her mandated duty, in the internal affairs of a sovereign country and made it look like a client state of America”.

Even if Keshap has not said anything of the sort, it is high time that the people of this country pay careful heed to everything that the US Embassy in Colombo says and does, for none of it is about ‘friendship’ but all of it is about serving US interests which, as history has demonstrated amply, do not coincide with the interests of the particular countries and citizens

That says it all. And that’s why no one should be surprised at outgoing US Ambassador Atul Keshap’s tendentious comments on the Sri Lankan political situation and potential presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The comments that appeared at length In a Jaffna-based Tamil daily were translated and posted by well-known political commentator D.B.S. Jeyaraj on his blog.

Apparently Keshap had told former president Mahinda Rajapaksa that, ‘the US and Other western nations do not welcome the prospects of his brother Gotabaya becoming president and are opposed to such a move.’

That’s speaking his mind, fair enough. He has also threatened, the report says, that the US would not permit Gotabaya Rajapaksa to renounce US citizenship at this juncture, which would make it illegal for him to contest under the restrictions enshrined in the 19th Amendment. Apparently, Gotabaya ‘needs to clear himself of allegations against him over war crimes, crimes against humanity and human rights violations before the US would allow him to renounce US citizenship formally.’
That’s rich. Here we have a representative of a country which was built on and sustained by war crimes, crimes against humanity and human rights violations wearing a halo and waving a saint’s wand.

Now it’s true that we have only the word of the person Jeyaraj has quoted, Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, editor of the Jaffna-based ‘Kaalaikkathir’ (Morning Sun). Keshap has not, as of yet, denied the story.

Two things need to be said however, given what the USA was and is. Firstly, if the USA supports any individual, party or government in any country, it should be treated as a red light. Secondly, if the USA vilifies anyone, any party or government, there’s a strong likelihood that such entities are likely to have some credence in the eyes of the particular polity, at least to the level that they deserve consideration.

Gotabaya has not been charged by any US court of law as of now. Not that we trust the US justice system any more than we do ours of course. The issue of citizenship can come into the frame if and only if he is taken to court. If the intention is less about concern over rights violations (and we know the USA is big on talk and lethargic or at best selective on action) than about outcome preferences that are in the interest of the USA, then we need to be concerned.

Whether Gotabaya is in fact interested in becoming President, we don’t know. If he is, and if the USA intervenes along the lines that Vithyatharan reports Keshap has outlined, that’s Gotabaya’s problem first and foremost. The citizens of this country need to have a different take on all this.

First, knowing the pernicious ways of the USA, we would need to revisit the relevant caveats in the 19th Amendment and amend them forthwith purely on the basis of retaining sovereignty and not allowing foreign governments to dictate this country’s political process.

Secondly, we need to revisit the entire narrative about the money that the USA has spent on certain candidates and political coalitions. Thirdly we need to treat with utmost suspicion and contempt all those who benefited from the largesse of the US State Department. Today, it is clearer than it was three years ago, that this regime gives not a hoot about things such as democracy, good governance, transparency and accountability (never mind that it is made up of the most incompetent and confused bunch of leaders to rule this country since Independence). That money, even if it was ‘invested’ for democracy, has delivered crumbs in return. Even if it had yielded much more, it’s still interference that is clearly an infringement of established diplomatic protocol.

Finally, even if Keshap has not said anything of the sort, it is high time that the people of this country pay careful heed to everything that the US Embassy in Colombo says and does, for none of it is about ‘friendship’ but all of it is about serving US interests which, as history has demonstrated amply, do not coincide with the interests of the particular countries and citizens.

Keshap has had an easy time than did his predecessors because this is a US-friendly regime. The truth is it is a regime that happily genuflects before Uncle Sam. Even if Vithyatharan was mistaken we need not be mistaken about the thinking of the USA. Given the doldrums that this regime is languishing in right now, there is a palpable possibility of regime-change and in a direction that might not be to the liking of the USA. Keshap’s successors may have to take on a tougher assignment.
Perhaps Keshap will give an official farewell speech somewhere. Perhaps he will tell us the truth about this conversation he’s said to have had with Mahinda Rajapaksa. I hope he does. I will be listening and I hope all citizens of this country listen too. Such statements tell us a lot.

Malinda Seneviratne is a freelance writer.
malindasenevi@gmail.com
Twitter: malindasene.
www.malindawords.blogspot.com

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

It is widely rumored that the Joint Opposition and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) led by MR will field Gotabaya as their candidate because MR himself cannot contest for a third time under the 19 th.Amendment of the constitution enacted in 2015.

But The Island also quoted MR’s spokesman to say that the US Ambassador had not raised the issue of Gotabhaya’s candidature. In a categorical denial”, MR’s spokesman said that the question of Gotabhaya’s candidature had not figured in the discussions.

However, a source close to Gotabaya told this correspondent  that Ambassador Keshap had asked MR if Gotabaya is going to be put up as the candidate of the group.

MR’s reply was that no decision has been taken on candidature and that it is too early to take a decision given the fact that there are 15 more months to go for the next election.

MR further said that there are a number of possible candidates and a decision on who to field will be taken at the appropriate time.

The source also said that Keshap enquired about Gotabaya’s recent visit to China.  MR said that Gotabaya had been a research fellow in a Chinese University to work on the successful war against terrorism in Sri Lanka. Gotabaya had been invited to do the same by a Singapore university too, as Sri Lanka’s experience in ending the terrorist and separatist menace is invaluable to many countries faced with the same problem.

Sources said that Ambassador Keshap’s apprehension is understandable because Gotabaya is set to win the election if put up as the candidate.

The envoy’s query shows the existence of Gota Bhaya or a Gota Phobia,” one of the sources said in a lighter vein.

The West sees Gotabaya as a fiercely nationalistic and anti-West person who fully endorsed his brother MR’s anti-West posture during Eelam War IV (2006-2009) and also the latter’s pro-China policies after the war.

His national security ‘think tank’ is said to be packed with anti-US and anti-West elements who had vigorously opposed any accommodation with the US and  the West during and after the war when the West was taking up human rights issues in the UN.

MR was President and Gotabaya was Defense Secretary during Eelam War IV which broke the military might of the separatist Tamil Tigers.

Gotabaya is undoubtedly popular among the majority Sinhalese community for his handling of the defense ministry during the war; his strong opposition to minority communal extremism’; his post-war developmental work; and his pro-private sector stance.

But the minority Tamils and Muslims have deep apprehensions about his sense of fairness. His  belief in the efficacy of strong arm methods is also feared.

It is certain that Gotabaya would never accede to the Tamils’ demand for greater devolution of power to the Tamil-speaking North and East and allow Muslims to go their own way in matters of cultural autonomy which is seen as separatist” culturally if not territorially.

Though Gotabaya is now vigorously cultivating the Muslims using Ramzan Iftar parties to the maximum to touch base with Muslims,  the Muslims by and large take his new stance with a pinch of salt.

His denial of responsibility for the anti-Muslim riots in Aluthgama in 2014, which turned the Muslims away from his brother MR in the January 2015 Presidential election, has not cut ice with most Muslims.

The Tamils by and large are against Gotabaya s he will be a bigger stumbling block in the way of their progress as a distinct community with distinct political and territorial rights than his elder brother MR.

At any rate, Gotabaya has made no effort  to cultivate the Tamils thus far.

Gotabaya has another handicap – his US citizenship. He is a dual citizen. The 19 th.Amendment of the Sri Lankan constitution enacted in 2015 bars people with dual citizenship from standing for public offices.

But  Gotabaya could renounce his US citizenship. And it is said in political circles that he has applied for renunciation but is yet to get a response. It is said that the US could delay permission to quit US citizenship and thus prevent him from contesting the Presidential poll.

As of now, the Joint Opposition is keen on keen on putting up Gotabaya as its candidate given his war hero” status and his excellent performance as a development administrator after the war. MR has even told the media that there is a popular” demand for Gotabaya’s candidature.

But the Joint Opposition is preparing itself for various eventualities.  It has an unofficial panel of possible candidates. They are as follows and in the following order: Gotabaya Rajapaksa,  younger brother of MR; Chamal Rajapaksa, elder brother of MR and former Speaker of parliament; Basil Rajapaksa, MR’s brother and  former Economic Affairs Minister and chief election organizer; and lastly, Dinesh Gunawardene, leader of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) who hails from a very distinguished  family with a political history going back to pre-independence days.

(The featured image at the top shows US Ambassador Atul Keshap) 

by Senaka Weeraratna

The emotional and extraordinary farewell accorded to Col. Rathnapriya Bandu by the Tamils of Vishwamadu a village that once produced hard core LTTE cadres, has dramatically opened a new vista to win the hearts and minds of Tamil brethren living in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka.

The Message is clear: Deliver Education and Training within a caring environment.

This is exactly what Christian Missionary Schools have been doing in the North and East during the last 200 years (since 1816) and in turn harvesting souls, loyalties and forging unbreakable ties between Tamils and Christian Missionaries.

A list of the oldest schools ( Wikipedia) in Sri Lanka that commenced during British colonial rule, clearly reveals that Christian missionaries (from both USA and Europe) supported heavily by the British Raj had a head long start over all other religions to spread Christianity, through the medium of school education.

Beginning with Richmond College in Galle (originally known as the Galle School founded in July 1814 by the Wesleyan Methodist Mission ) nearly 50 schools were established all over the Island but mostly in the North (beginning with Union College, Tellippalai founded by the American Ceylon Mission in 1816), before the first Buddhist School (originally known as Kotte Bauddha (Buddhist) Mixed School but later to be renowned as the Ananda Sastralaya, Kotte) was founded in 1880. It was followed by a number of other Buddhist schools such as Ananda College, Dharmaraja, Maliyadeva, Museus and Mahinda (1892). Almost all of these Buddhist schools were managed by the Buddhist Theosophical Society (BTS) in the early days until the Schools Take over by the Govt. of Mrs. Srima Bandaranaike in the 1960s.

Buddhist Education in the last quarter of the 19^th century pioneered by Colonel Henry Olcott, Ven. Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala, Anagarika Dharmapala and the Buddhist Theosophical Society (BTS) was mainly confined to the Sinhala majority areas in the South to check spread of Christianity into Buddhist households via education. If not for this far seeing effort in the form of a fight back by the Buddhist Theosophical Society and the Buddhist Revivalist movement, primary and secondary school education in Sri Lanka would have rested totally in the hands of the Christian Churches and their Missionaries.

While engaged in protecting the South, if only the Buddhist leaders and the Buddhist Theosophical Society had also developed a greater vision to spread Education to the North and East of the country by establishing BTS run Schools in these regions thereby preventing one religion from monopolizing school education, the future ramifications would have been extraordinary. No similar to what we are witnessing today in terms of the highly moving farewell accorded to Col. Rathnapriya Bandu by a grateful Tamil populace.

Lessons from the past

Tamils and Muslims who have attended Buddhist Schools like Ananda, Nalanda, Mahinda, Maliyadeva Vidyalaya etc. in the southern regions of Sri Lanka have established strong bonds with fellow Sinhala students and acquired deep seated and respectful understanding of the culture and ethos of the Buddhist Civilization. The Sinhala Buddhist culture is the dominant culture of the country and the centre of gravity of the nation. It is this Buddhist civilization more than any other religious or ethnic grouping that has contributed over a long span of time i.e. over two millennia, laying the foundation for the moral, spiritual and economic development of this country. The welcome given to others entering the country and allowing them to peacefully reside and integrate with the Sinhala majority stems from the compassion and tolerance emphasized in Buddhism. There has never been the likes of an Inquisition launched by the Buddhists of this country requiring everyone to embrace only one religion and practice it uniformly with the rest. This is the historic ground reality that must be accepted by everyone if we are to proceed together to live in nation building and peaceful co – existence.

Non – Buddhist students have been grateful for the education and the kick start in life that they have received from Buddhist schools. It is very unfortunate that the initiative of Col. Olcott and the BTS to give an education within a caring  and ethical Buddhist environment was not extended to Tamil students by establishing schools in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, thereby resulting in various Christian denominations getting the opportunity to monopolise the delivery of education to Tamil students in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. It is mostly old boys of these Christian schools (and some Hindu Schools) that formed the bulk of the cadres of the terrorist movement, and the political leadership of the Tamil separatist movement beginning with the Federal Party in the late 1940s.

Any strategy to prevent a recurrence of what the country went through in the last 35 years must include a well thought out plan that will orientate the young child particularly in the North and East to be patriotic, accept and respect the culture and history of the nation, and most importantly to integrate socially with the Sinhalese and the Buddhists, and other sections of the society in nation building.

It is the failure of existing schools in the North and East to instill patriotism and sense of belonging to the rest of the country that has contributed to a feeling of alienation among Tamils and other minorities. We must correct this situation by addressing grievances that will eliminate or reduce the prevailing distrust, rather than exacerbating it. Reconciliation, if it is to succeed, must be based on patriotism and respect for the national ethos.

We must also take note of the fact that Christian schools in the past had a different agenda which was not in line with the national agenda. While Christian schools do provide an education of value to kick start a career of a young student, it was by no means in their scheme of education to bring students close to the dominant Buddhist culture or the national ethos of the country. In fact the Christian Church is by definition missionary. Its primordial goal is evangelization.

I remember reading in one of Professor G.P. Malalasekera’s articles of an incident relating to Reverend Reginald Stephen Copleston, Bishop of Colombo. Rev.  Copleston had visited Calcutta, India at the beginning of the last century (1902), and delivered a lecture at the local Y.M.C.A. on the type of education delivered at St. Thomas College, Mutwal (and later at Mt. Lavinia). During question time members of the audience had asked Father Copleston whether he was enrolling Buddhist students and if so, why he was spending valuable resources on the education of non – Christians. Father Copleston had then replied by saying that their primary aim was to convert a Buddhist student to Christianity. However those who fail to be converted to Christianity would remain weak Buddhists, he had added.

Dr. N.M. Perera in his autobiography (incomplete)  published in the ‘Sunday Observer’ some years ago referred to attempts made by a teacher at St. Thomas College to convert him to Christianity while he was a student there which were unsuccessful, and he further said that when he changed schools from St. Thomas to Ananda College in the early 1920’s he had experienced a marked difference in the respective school cultures. The focus of attention in the former was usually on matters outside Sri Lanka, while at Ananda College the class room discussions were centered around day to day events in the country and imbued with a patriotic flavor and sense of achieving independence from British colonial rule.

The establishment of modern Schools based on a Buddhist value system in the North and East on a long term basis with the full backing of the Government and the Buddhist Community within and outside Sri Lanka can be expected to create goodwill, gratitude, friendship between the three major communities and arrest fissiparous tendencies among some sections of the Tamil community.

See also

List of the oldest schools in Sri Lanka

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A list of the oldest schools in Sri Lanka that are still functioning.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_oldest_schools_in_Sri_Lanka

Senaka Weeraratna

Courtesy Eurasia Review

Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena held a special discussion at the Presidential Secretariat on the Shasya Shakthi Project implemented in parallel to the Gramashakthi people’s movement, the national program of poverty alleviation.

Under the first stage of the Shasya Shakthi Project, solar powered agricultural water supply systems will be introduced in 3,000 acres for 3,000 farmer families selected under the Mahaweli Development Scheme, Sri Lanka’s largest multi-purpose development program.

The motive behind the project is to provide new technology and knowledge to B Onion and Chilies cultivation and contribute towards the economic development of Sri Lanka. In order to face the fluctuating climatic conditions and to the drought that is caused, as well as reducing the usage of electricity and fuel consumption are key aspects of this project.

Gramashakthi Entrepreneurship Promotion Program, Mahaweli Development and Environment Ministry and People’s Bank will jointly implement the project.

Courtesy The Daily Mail (UK)

Sri Lanka on Wednesday announced the first steps in a long-delayed process to compensate victims of the civil war, nearly a decade after the end of the conflict which claimed 100,000 lives.

The government said it had approved draft legislation to set up an office of reparations, a key demand from international observers urging reconciliation in the ethnically divided nation.

The office would decide on potentially tens of thousands of compensation claims from those afflicted by fighting that ended in 2009 with the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels.

“It is proposed to give members of the office of reparations the right to decide on compensation where it is necessary,” said government spokesman and cabinet minister Rajitha Senaratne.

President Maithripala Sirisena has faced international criticism for the lack of progress towards reconciliation since his election three years ago.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has led a chorus pressing Sirisena and his administration to take urgent steps towards addressing war-era abuses, including punishing soldiers and rebels accused of atrocities.

After years of delay the government bowed to international pressure in March and established an office to trace the tens of thousands still missing since the end of the war.

Sirisena’s pledge upon election in January 2015 to investigate the war and compensate its victims saw Sri Lanka narrowly avoid being slapped with international sanctions.

The previous regime of strongman president Mahinda Rajapakse, who ruled with an iron fist and crushed Tamil separatist fighters in 2009, refused even to acknowledge war-era abuses.

Sri Lankan forces were accused of killing up to 40,000 Tamil civilians during the final months of the war when the Tigers’ quest for independence came to a bloody end.

International rights groups have called for the prosecution of both the military and the Tigers, who were notorious for suicide bombings and enlisting child soldiers.

Sirisena has expressed willingness to investigate specific allegations of wrongdoing, but maintains he will allow only a domestic inquiry and oppose any foreign investigation.

Financial Tribune ( Iran)

Iran has called for a meeting of its joint economic commission with Sri Lanka to be held in Tehran in August.

As per our own assessment, the May 2018 state visit by the Lankan delegation to Iran was very good and productive,” said Iran’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka Mohammad Zaeri Amirani in a meeting with Sri Lankan Industry and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen.

Outcomes of the state visit led by President Maithripala Sirisena were good. Among the major outcomes were the many memoranda of understanding signed between the two countries in Tehran. These pack great benefits for Sri Lanka … During this visit, President Hassan Rouhani also stressed the need to continue with the bilateral Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation meeting series, as well as to start on the new MoUs,” Amirani was quoted by Sri Lankan newspaper Daily News as saying on Wednesday.

According to the Department of Commerce, bilateral trade between the two countries last year was at $188 million—an increase of 4.5% over 2016’s total of $180 million.

The balance of trade was in favor of Sri Lanka, as 94% of total trade ($177 million) were exports from Sri Lanka to Iran. Among the leading exports from Sri Lanka to Iran in 2017 were Ceylon tea (90%), desiccated coconut (3%), other vegetable mixtures (2%) and defatted coconuts (1%).

Total imports into Sri Lanka from Iran were only $ 11 million—the leading four imports being fish, wires and cables, grapes and plastic products.

Until 2013, Sri Lankan fuel imports from Iran were at a much higher rate ($1.4 billion in 2011, $660 million in 2012).

The series of JCEC has been helpful in advancing our relations in many ways. Since the bulk of our exports is a single product (90% of exports in 2017 constituted tea), it is time to diversify our exports basket to Iran.”

Bathiudeen said the August meeting can help Sri Lanka in this regard.

It has been 10 years since the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the end of the protracted ethnic war in Sri Lanka. In any conflict transformation process, it is critical to find a lasting political settlement to resolve the r…

Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/main-article/whither-reconciliation-674829.html

By Kelum Bandara Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The JO consists of several parties. These parties have their distinct identities. They work together under the leadership of former President

 They want the government to deliver what it promised

JO will agitate for early parliamentary dissolution 

16-member group is not homogeneous at all

The situation in the country is totally chaotic. The government is dysfunctional even at the basic level

Chairman of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Prof. G.L. Peiris speaks about the current political situation and what his party plans for the future. The excerpts of the interview:   

 Q There are reports about a split in the camp of the Joint Opposition. In certain instances, there are some sort of open confrontations. Why is it?

There are no splits in the Joint Opposition (JO). That is a complete misunderstanding. The JO consists of several parties. They are Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), Vasudeva Nanayakkara’s party, Pivithuru Hela Urumaya, the National Freedom Front, Lanka Samasamaja Party, Sri Lanka Mahajana Party etc.

The youngest party is Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) that came into existence a year and a half ago. These parties have their distinct identities. They work together under the leadership of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa towards common objectives. That is how it evolved since January, 2015 when the change occurred. The Nugegoda rally was the beginning. A strong characteristic of it is the close collaboration among these different parties. They will contest elections under the SLPP’s lotus bud symbol. There is no difference of opinion on those fundamental matters.

We should work with these 16 people in order to evolve a strategy in Parliament against the government. It is obvious that the days of the government are numbered

 Q Yet, there are reports about differences of opinion on the accommodation of 16 Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) MPs who defected from the government. What is your response?

With regard to them, what is happening is very natural. There is no reason for anyone to be astonished. It is to be expected. These are people who strongly backed President Maithripala Sirisena and accepted office under him. They were part and parcel of the government which carried out policies bringing down the country to the brink of ruin. They came only after the public opinion became very clear from the results of the elections on February 10, 2018. What the younger people in the Joint Opposition feel is this. There are strong feelings in this regard. They attacked the SLPP. They belonged to the government that pursued the Rajapaksa family and the SLPP leadership. Therefore, these feelings are to be expected.

However, there is the consideration that we should work with these 16 people in order to evolve a strategy in Parliament against the government. It is obvious that the days of the government are numbered. But, the various forces that installed this government are determined to get their agenda implemented during the short period available today. The chief item on that agenda is constitutional reforms. They want the government to deliver what it promised. The only way to thwart that exercise is to deprive the government of two-thirds in Parliament. Then, all these other initiatives become a nonstarter. For that, we have to receive people of the government into the rank of the opposition. From that point of view, the arrival of these 16 MPs is a salutatory move. It makes sense to work together with them in Parliament towards that objective.

The 16-member group is not a homogeneous group. Some members like Susil Premajayantha and John Seneviratne only said they would back the candidate to be nominated by Mahinda Rajapaksa. Others in the group said they were staying with the SLFP. They continue to accept the leadership of President Sirisena. There is a great deal of confusion.

The driving force will be Mahinda himself. Mahinda will spearhead and lead the campaign. There is no doubt about the results

Q Some of JO MPs did not vote for MP Sudarshani Fernandopulle to be appointed as the Deputy Speaker. She is a member of the 16-member group. Why is it?

It is not a division with regard to the course of action to be followed at elections. One from the 16 member group came over. All the members who are with Mahinda Rajapaksa were requested to support. They had certain reservations about doing it. It is human feeling. In politics, one has to conquer these feelings, though.

 Q You said earlier that the JO would launch a campaign targeting the dissolution of Parliament for snap general elections. How are you going to do it?

The situation in the country is totally chaotic. The government is dysfunctional even at the basic level. It is simply not possible to go that way. The President is publicly attacking the Prime Minister. The two parties are pointing fingers at each other for the failure of Yahapalana administration. In the midst of all these public bickering, it is the people of the country who have to pay a heavy price. It is quite evident that nothing useful to the people can be accomplished by the government that is so much at loggerheads. The need of the hour is a fresh beginning. That is possible only after a parliamentary election. The rupee value has depreciated to 160 against the dollar. The most acute hardships are with regard to the cost of living. There is the crippling burden of taxation. There is the ever burgeoning expenditure for luxuries for the Ministers and government MPs. There is absolutely no restraint for that. Let the people have the opportunity of deciding for themselves!

It is legally possible in terms of the 19th Amendment. That is by the adoption of a resolution by Parliament with two –thirds. All the parties in the opposition are of that view. People are waiting to cast their vote and throw the government out of office. The clamour for a general election is going to be very popular. There is very strong opposition to the alienation of public assets. All these factors are there.

 Q Some opposition parties such as the JVP and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) co-operate with the government overtly or covertly. How practical is it for you to muster two-thirds for dissolution of Parliament when the government has enough numbers to block it in that sense? 

All these parties have significant fissures within them. The UNP is also not monolith at all. Some of the younger party members have made public statements. They are profoundly dissatisfied with the party and its leadership. They want fundamental changes. When the No-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was brought, the feeling was that they could not allow their rivals to throw their Prime Minister out. That is contrary to the culture and discipline of the party. They said they would rally around the Prime Minister to defend him. Yet, there was one condition. They said there should be radical changes in the party soon after that. The Prime Minister makes such promises when he is in difficulty. He forgets all of them when he is strong. This has resulted in huge disillusionment within the rank and file of the UNP.

The President is publicly attacking the Prime Minister. The two parties are pointing fingers at each other for the failure of Yahapalana administration

The situation in the TNA is even more acute. The TNA has dropped 34 percent of their votes from the parliamentary elections in August, 2015 to the local polls on February 10, 2018. Now, of course, the drop could be even greater. How are they going to face their people in the North? After September, this year, the chief instrument of devolution ceases to exist. The east does not have a provincial council for eight months.

The TNA is losing ground there. The other elements are coming up there. We have sharp differences of views between the TNA and Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran. The Chief Minister is backed by other forces. It is in everyone’s interest to see the dissolution of Parliament. We will work towards that with the single-minded sense of focus.

Q The Presidential Elections is scheduled to be conducted at the end of next year. Why do you agitate for a parliamentary election in between?

That is still 16 months ahead of now. The harm that can be inflicted on the country during that period is enormous. People simply cannot make ends meet. There is a limit to human patience. The people cannot put up with this state of anarchy for a year and half. It is a long period in which they have to suffer.

Q There are different names being mentioned about prospective candidates. What do you think about it as the chairman of SLPP?

All this talk about the identity of the presidential candidate is a red herring across the trail. That is to divert public attention from other burning issues. The focus should be on current issues. Former President Rajapaksa said that, at the right time, he would decide who should be the candidate. He would announce it at the right time.

The driving force will be Mahinda himself. Mahinda will spearhead and lead the campaign. There is no doubt about the results.

 Q If you were in office, what would you do regarding the bond scam?

First and foremost, we will ensure that Arjun Mahendran is brought back to the country. The government is not interested in doing it at all. On the contrary, the government wants him to live in Singapore or elsewhere as long as he wants. The Prime Minister said, as in the media reports, he had no knowledge of where Mahendran was.

His presence is necessary to recover money lost to the country. Arjun Aloysius and Kasun Palisena did not do it on their own.

When the No-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was brought, the feeling was that they could not allow their rivals to throw their Prime Minister out

 Q As for the 20th Amendment brought by the JVP, there is objection to it today. Yet, the political parties, starting from 1994, have vowed to abolish the executive presidency. Now, are you opposed to it? Why is it?

Not that we are opposed to it. There is a parliamentary process at the moment considering all aspects of constitution making. It is a holistic process. It is not considering one component in isolation. The current 20th Amendment deals with one element. That is executive presidency. That is not realistic. If you take it away without doing anything to the totally flawed electoral reforms in operation at present, the result will involve a huge distortion. Executive presidency is one stabilizing factor. It has downsides though. In order to strengthen Parliament and effective governance taking place, you must deal with the issue of electoral reforms.

Sheain Fernandopulle Courtesy The Daily Mirror

While saying that it was useless to make comments on MP Dayasiri Jayasekara’s statement that the list of 118 was first mentioned by the CaFFE, Keerthi Tennakoon, Executive Director of Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE) said they would not bother what Dayasiri says.

He told Daily Mirror that people like Dayasiri always attempted to evade the issues and swept them under the carpet.

We at first raised concerns on bond scam on March 9, 2015 and disclosed the event of bond fraud at the Central Bank. Since then, we have been very vocal on the bond scam. We continued to fearlessly reveal some unexposed events on the bond scam. We are the ones who first said that there are 118 individuals including politicians, civil activists, journalists and religious leaders who have obtained funds from Arjuna Aloysius,” Tennakoon said.

The amount obtained from Arjuna Aloysius exceeds day by day. Some have admitted whereas some have been accused. Anyhow, we would carry on our study on bond scam and reveal what should be revealed,” Tennakoon added.

He further said he had written to the Speaker and the President’s Secretary urging them to release the un-revealed parts of the Presidential Commission report on the bond scam.

By Tatiana Nenova/www.infosrilanka@worldbank.org Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Sri Lanka and foreign investments read a bit like a hit and miss story. But it was not always the case. Before 1983, companies like Motorola and Harris Corporation had plans to establish plants in Sri Lanka’s export processing zones. Others including Marubeni, Sony, Sanyo, Bank of Tokyo and Chase Manhattan Bank, had investments in Sri Lanka in the pipeline in the early 1980s.

But all this changed when the war convulsed the country and derailed its growth. Companies left, and took their foreign direct investments (FDI) with them.

However, nearly a decade after the civil conflict ended in 2009, Sri Lanka is now in a very different place. In 2017, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Sri Lanka grew to over $1,710 billion including foreign loans received by companies registered with the BOI, more than doubling from the $801 million[1] achieved the previous year.

But Sri Lanka still has ways to go to attract more FDI. As a percentage of GDP, FDI currently stands at a mere 2 percent and lags behind Malaysia at 3 – 4 percent and Vietnam at 5 – 6 percent.

More importantly, FDI into Sri Lanka has been skewed away from high value-added global production networks. And currently the larger share of FDI inflows have been focused on infrastructure.

While they may boost jobs and growth temporarily during the construction period, these investments have little long-term impact. Compare this to a factory or a new IT service firm which would employ people as long as it makes profit, and export, pay taxes, and contribute to Sri Lanka’s growth for decades.

Moreover, high infrastructure FDI relies on a few and large infrastructure deals that are unlikely to be replicated and sustained over time. On the other hand, manufacturing and services hold a better promise for the long run, but even there, a large share of FDI is related to traditional sectors and local market-oriented activities with low value-added, where productivity gains are small.

Way Forward Is To Fill Gaps

To keep and increase FDI flows, Sri Lanka will need to make concerted and ambitious efforts to address gaps and play to its strengths. Sri Lanka can improve FDI by creating a more hospitable environment for investments. Taking steps in this direction is essential for domestic investment as well, not only FDI. And while the government has already begun targeting problem areas, much more is needed.

To that end, here are six ways Sri Lanka can improve FDI:

Reworking Trade Policy

Reforms in Sri Lanka’s trade policy saw eliminations or reductions of some 1200 para-tariff lines in late 2017, and further liberalization is expected with the budget in 2018 and beyond to boost trade. More trade will help diversify the economy and exports, and lift a burden off of the public sector to drive growth. It can also actively promote technology absorption, skill upgrading, and increased competitiveness; workers, consumers, producers and the state will benefit in the long-run as a result.

Improving Logistics And Trade Facilitation

Sri Lanka can leverage its unique location and trade agreements to overcome the dis-economies of its small scale. The Colombo port, which already sees 80 percent of its volume come from trans-shipment cargo, is poised to grow. However, Sri Lanka cannot take its position for granted with high growth in other ports in Pakistan and India.

Another way to compete is on speed and cost of trade processing. While domestic logistics are inefficient, internationally Sri Lanka is performing better. Currently, it ranks 57.7 out of 100 on the BMI Logistics Risk Index, and places 15th on the UNCTAD Liner Shipping Connectivity Index, which ranks countries according to their level of connectedness to international maritime networks.

The per-container cost for exporting and importing to and from Sri Lanka are much lower than the South Asia average but not at world class level (respectively, US$560 and US$690 – South Asian average is US$1,923 and US$2,118, 2015 data).

To go the extra mile to a regional logistics hub, the government has started reforms including establishing a Trade Information Portal and the National Single Window which will streamline trade processing across the 20 plus agencies involved.

Promoting Onvestments and Enabling Regulations. Avoiding Policy Uncertainty

The island was ranked 111th out of 190 economies in the Ease of Doing Business index 2018 which shows opportunity for improvement. The Government has carried out some focused reforms since 2016 to improve investment climate, and with the expected lag, reforms are cropping up.

In 2017, trade across borders was made more efficient, and this year improvements are expected relating to starting a business, property registration and construction permits.

Reforms are needed to address critical challenges in areas like land ownership. Currently, land is primarily state-owned in Sri Lanka, and land administration is weak and cumbersome. Anecdotal evidence points to discouraged FDI projects due to land issues.

A large share of exports and most export innovation has occurred in a few Export Processing Zones, primarily in the Western Province, that are now generally at capacity, new SEZs are being planned.

Further, the BOI (Sri Lanka’s main FDI facilitation body) is transitioning towards modern investment promotion. Internal Revenue Act streamlined and improved the efficiency and transparency of incentives applicable to foreign investments in Sri Lanka. The government is also liberalizing the foreign exchange controls.

Policy uncertainty in Sri Lanka has proven to be daunting for investors, with a lack of information on regulations, high fragmentation in policy making, frequent policy changes and slow policy implementation. Long-term policy strategies can serve as path-setters and expressed commitment to policy continuity in support of the Government vision.

Boosting Innovation By Way Of Competitive Product And Financial Markets

Sri Lanka has seen little transformation in what it exports over the last 20 years. There’s been limited innovation and diversification even into nearby product” space (new products closely related to existing ones) which is an easier step that happens organically with investment.

This difficulty moving into new space has also left the country out of step with regional and global production networks. Where innovation exists, it is limited to a handful of industries. A national innovation strategy seeks to address gaps and support start-ups and SMEs.

Financial products have also remained behind the firm needs – e.g. SMEs need factoring and leasing, supplier finance mechanisms and export-related financial instruments. Now the Secured Transactions Act is being amended to allow one of those innovative products – the use of movable collateral.

Assessing Labor Related Issues And Getting Women To Work

Efforts are also needed to expand the pool of labor, relax constraints in labor laws such as long and costly termination procedure, and equip Sri Lankans with skills in demand in the marketplace.

In particular, Sri Lanka can benefit tremendously from boosting its female labor force participation rate by addressing issues such as a lack of quality childcare, skills mismatch, unsafe transport and poor working conditions that keep women away from the labor force.

Sri Lanka could also ease the access of local companies to foreign expertise through introducing simpler visa procedures, which are currently complex and burdensome for foreign employees in Sri Lanka, limiting FDI especially for smaller ventures such as in tourism.

Providing Enabling Logistics And The Right Infrastructure Environment

Nationally, Sri Lanka needs to address transportation shortfalls, which have seen inequitable development with some regions disconnected from growth, increasing issues of congestion, and poor safety for women.

Different areas face different transportation gaps in roads, air travel and marine transportation infrastructure while rail infrastructure is outdated and limited, especially for the transport of goods.

(The featured image at the top shows Tatiana Nenova, World Bank Program Leader for growth and competitiveness for Sri Lanka and the Maldives)

By Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka/DailyFT Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

I was delighted to read Lalith Weeratunga’s revelatory article ‘The Troika’. (http://www.ft.lk/opinion/The-Troika–How-crucial-relations-with-India-were-managed-in-the-last-phase-of-the-separatist-war/14-656815).

I regard Lalith as a friend and I respect him as one of the finest public servants we have had. President Rajapaksa could not have had a better Secretary to the President, at a crucially testing time in our contemporary history. I have long encouraged Lalith to write his memoirs, and I hope what I see in the newspaper is but a ‘teaser’, which will eventuate in a full volume.

Lalith Weeratunga’s account of the Troika is the truth. However, while it is the truth, it is not the whole truth and nothing but the truth. There are important pieces that require inclusion to establish a clearer account of the times and issues. These are of crucial importance, because unless we insert them back in and complete the diplomatic history of that time, we shall be unable to understand what happened in President Rajapaksa’s second term, how we got mired in the war crimes quagmire in Geneva, and the problems we shall have in extricating from them, even if the Troika returns, even with some in significantly elevated roles.

Lalith’s account is of a golden moment in Sri Lanka’s foreign relations, where we avoided the fate that the Jayewardene administration suffered when it rightly attempted to defeat the LTTE in 1987. That attempt triggered intervention. Under President Rajapaksa, the Troika helped avoid it and secure the space necessary to win the war.

However, Lalith’s account omits the two crucial and inextricably interrelated factors that enabled this success.

Let me back up a bit. The Indians had been negotiating a political settlement with President Jayewardene since 1984. In late 1985, Dr. HW Jayewardene signed off on an agreement on Provincial level devolution. Further talks took place in December 1986 and early 1987. LTTE provocations, and National Security Minister Lalith Athulathmudali’s faith in his Israeli military connection, delayed the agreement. The Vadamarachchi offensive therefore took place without the cover of a political agreement with Delhi, which could only be devolution-centred. When the electorally-powerful MGR lobbied Rajiv Gandhi, he caved in to pressure for intervention, because he had nothing with which to neutralise Tamil Nadu. Later, after the Indo-Lanka Accord was signed, the Indian stance pivoted so drastically that the IPKF was in combat with the Tigers by October that very year, 1987.

What this goes to show is that if we had this political solution in place (which had been in the pipeline for years) before launching the Vadamarachchi operation, the Indians would not have intervened to stop us, because Delhi would have had something to balance off Tamil Nadu.

Which brings me to my main point. What Lalith Weeratunga’s account omits is the heart of the matter, the meat in the sandwich: the policy and politics of it.

The Troika was brilliantly managing the relationship with Delhi, but they were representing and operating on the pragmatic policy decided on by President Rajapaksa, namely the promise to his Indian counterpart, to proceed with the implementation of the 13th amendment. The Troika’s managerial excellence was building on the policy equation and axis with Delhi, decided upon by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Any account of its success, without specific mention of that understanding, is like Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark.

It is this promise that kept India on side and gave us the space to finish the war, even in the face of US-UK pressure. President Rajapaksa was able to play the Delhi card to ward off the Hillary-Miliband-Norway driven ‘evacuation attempt’ by the US, the goalposts of which kept shifting.

That this policy was at the very heart of the Indo-Lanka equation during the war years, was amply and irrefutably proven by the content of the Joint Statement between the Government of Sri Lanka and the visiting Indian Troika (the Delhi counterparts of the Sri Lankan Troika that Lalith, a member, writes of).

The text of the Press Statement issued on May 21, 2009, after the top-level meeting with the Indian team, and posted on the GoSL website, read:

Mr M.K. Narayanan, National Security Advisor and Mr S. Menon, Foreign Secretary of India visited Sri Lanka on May 20 and 21. They called on His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka and met with senior officials, including Hon. Basil Rajapaksa, MP, Mr Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the President and Defence Secretary, Mr Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

They also interacted with a number of political parties in Sri Lanka … Both sides also emphasised the urgent necessity of arriving at a lasting political settlement in Sri Lanka. To this, the Government of Sri Lanka indicated that it will proceed with implementation of the 13th Amendment. Further, the Government of Sri Lanka also intends to begin a broader dialogue with all parties, including the Tamil parties, in the new circumstances, for further enhancement of political arrangements to bring about lasting peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.” (May 21, 2009)

Note that Colombo’s commitment to proceed with implementation of the 13th Amendment was not contingent upon the statement that GoSL ‘… also intends to begin a broader dialogue with all parties, including Tamil parties …’ and was therefore not contingent on the obstreperous behaviour of the TNA in 2011 (when the GoSL-TNA dialogue began) but was seen as preceding that ‘broader dialogue’.

I wrote earlier that Lalith’s testimony about the Troika omits two, not just one, crucial and interrelated points. The second point is what went wrong, post-war, despite this wonderful arrangement.

Three years after the war ended, in 2012, India voted against us in Geneva. It did not return to our side in 2013 and 2014, though it did abstain. Now, what is of greatest salience is the fact of continuity in leading personalities and managerial personnel! The Troika was still in place in Colombo. The President was the same as during the years of successful management of Indo-Lanka relations. The Government in New Delhi was that of the Congress, with the same Prime Minister in place. If so, what had gone so wrong? What could have?

If one sticks simply to Lalith’s account, one would not find the answer to the question. One would not even know there is a question. Let me reiterate: same Troika, same leaders in both capitals, no change in government in either capital, but a complete turnaround in Indian behaviour. Why so? Because our policy had changed or was not being implemented. We were perceived to have reneged on our promises – public, official promises which Lalith’s article makes no mention of! The Troika worked, not only because they were good chums with their Indian counterparts, but because they represented a policy pledge which was not being honoured, perhaps being blocked, and therefore made the Indians increasingly vulnerable to pressure from Jayalalithaa, Hillary Clinton and civil society opinion.  We did nothing to help them help us, though even our best friends the Chinese kept signalling us to do so.

By the time we held the Provincial Council election in the North (with Japan’s nudging) it was 2013. India had already voted against us in Geneva. The warning signals from Delhi were coming in by 2011, but were ignored by Colombo. However, the Indians were still not on board with the West, and were still running interference for us in 2011, which is why the US pulled back and did not back the Canadian attempt against us, which folded. But months later, when the West knew we no longer had India with us, it moved against us in 2012. When the Non-Aligned knew that India was no longer with us, our traditional support from the BRICS and the global South began to flake off. Rising Islamophobic discourse and unprosecuted violent activism in Sri Lanka even neutralised Malaysia’s vote.

We could have kept India with us, but we didn’t. What happened to the Troika? The Troika had nothing to sell. It was either internally divided or had shifted collectively from its wartime stand.

None of this is merely history. It is serial defeats in Geneva in 2012, 2013 and 2014 (with the Troika still intact in Colombo) that paved the way for the surrender in Geneva under the new Government in 2015. I have been and remain a harsh critic of the 2015 and 2017 resolutions and fervently hope to see us roll them back. But that cannot and will not happen by returning to the failed post-war policy of the second Rajapaksa term, which resulted in the serial defeats of 2012, 2013 and 2014. That failure was due to a deviation from, or at the least the non-implementation of, or the imprudently delayed implementation of, President Rajapaksa’s correct wartime policy agreement with India.

I have no doubt that there could be a 1977 or rather a reverse 1977” (the UNP at the receiving end) result at the next election. That is not my main concern. We all lived through the aftermath of that spectacular electoral victory, and the rapid growth (a phenomenal 8% at one moment) of the economy. All that came to naught with the mishandling of the Tamil question and the concomitant mishandling of the equation with India, notwithstanding excellent relations with the US Republican administration (under President Reagan) and strong security cooperation with Israel.

So, winning an election handsomely, experiencing a rapid spike in economic growth and an embrace of or by Washington and Tel Aviv, is only half of the story. Not plunging over the precipice is the more important half of that story. I do not think Sri Lanka can withstand a repeat performance after the experience of the 1980s. And that experience cannot be avoided by having a supposedly tougher, more patriotic leader than President Jayewardene. In fact, a leader without President Jayewardene’s pragmatic flexibility could result in a permanently divided island. After all, Serbia’s Slobodan Milosevic was regarded as a more nationalist Serbian leader (who also spoke of ‘socialism’) than the enlightened multi-ethnic President Tito! Milosevic abolished the autonomous status of Kosovo. The result was the end of Yugoslavia.

There can be no sustainable Sri Lankan foreign policy which does not deal with the intermestic” issue (to use Kissinger’s category) of the State and the Tamil people as a community. Good relations with India cannot be restored, except by acknowledging the Indo-Lanka accord and its concomitant political commitment, the 13th amendment. Without the Indian umbrella or shield supplementing the Chinese, we shall be vulnerable to Western pressure. The Indo-Lanka Accord cannot be ignored or bypassed without consequence.

We shall be unable to rebuild the broad coalition, beginning with India, which would enable Sri Lanka to neutralise the Geneva 2015 Resolution, and exit what outgoing US Ambassador Atul Keshap calls the Geneva framework.”

Any delusion about an Israeli option of exit from the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva will only trigger a shift back to New York where the Darusman Report originated, and the activation of prosecutions under universal jurisdiction by a variety of countries, ending in unilateral sanctions by some.

Today in Sri Lanka, there is a growing social sentiment that all it takes is a return to competent management – as represented in this case by the Troika. While it is crucial, it is not enough.

What is necessary is the correct political policy, and it is only then that a managerial and technocratic stratum can implement it because it will have something to implement.

The basic distinction posited by right-wing neoconservative American scholar Thomas Sowell, with its implicit appreciation of the ‘doers’ over the ‘talkers’, if taken to a logical conclusion, would place Hitler over Heraclitus, Attila the Hun over the Buddha, Genghis Khan over Socrates, Pol Pot over Pope Francis, and Donald Trump over Dr. Martin Luther King.

This ‘doers/talkers’ hierarchy of practices and values is dangerous, because you can ‘do’ right and you can ‘do’ wrong. ‘Doing’ and ‘doing the right thing’ aren’t the same. Destruction, which is doing, is not the same as creation/construction. Thanos, in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, is the ultimate ‘doer’.

Wrong discourse cannot yield right deeds, only wrongdoing. That is why the Buddha preached (‘talked’) right thinking, right mindfulness. That is why the Bible says ‘In the beginning was the Word’– rendered as Logos, a complex Greek term, principally meaning ‘reason’.

(The featured image at the top is that of political commentator former Sri Lankan Ambassador in Geneva and France)

By Dr.Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Ice manufacturing in colonial Sri Lanka in the second half of the 19 th.century was a landmark in South Asian history.  The Sri Lankan ice making industry was the first and the earliest in the region. The name of the pioneering company has changed several times over the years. Today it is known as Elephant House.

Of course, Elephant House is no longer limited to the manufacturing of ice. It is known for its ice creams and aerated drinks.

Till about the 1830s- the concept of ice was a far-fetched one. All over the world, food was mostly preserved through salting, spicing, pickling or smoking. Those days marine and aquatic items, meat and meat-products would last only a day. Dairy products, fresh fruits and vegetables were all sold in markets with spacious platforms for air-passages to provide for cross-ventilation. Examples of these are still to be seen in colonial-era baazars or markets  in many Indian cities like, Pune and Mumbai and Kolkata.

However, the problem of storage found an answer when ice began to be imported mainly from New England in Northern America. Being in the tropical and sub-tropical areas of the globe, the British colonies were introduced to ice as a preserver by colonial officers and the colonial business elite.

From the beginning of 19^th century, natural ice was exported from various parts of Northern Europe and America in padded sand-boxes. Ice was made by ice-harvesting. But the process of ice harvesting was a labour intensive one and needed 20 to 100 men for one to four weeks.

Therefore, experiments were conducted to find an easier method to making ice. The success of the experiments was  evident in the increase in the number of ice plants. The Louisiana Ice Manufacturing Company (1868) in America was one of the first to make artificial ice. Its prices were lower than those of natural ice.

Nevertheless, the shipping of harvested natural ice remained an important part of business especially in Northern America. In the 1830s and 1840s, ice was regularly exported to far-off eastern regions including England, India, South America, China and Australia.

However, export of natural ice declined in the second half of 19^th century due to various political events in the world, especially in the colonies. Among the catastrophic political events was the revolt of 1857 in India – referred to as the Sepoy Mutiny by the British and as the First War of Indian Independence by Indian nationalists. Exports from New England to India had peaked in 1856, just before the mutiny, when 146,000 tons (132 million kg) were shipped. After that, the Indian natural ice market dipped.

The ice market suffered a blow also because of the American Civil War. Import of ice slowly declined through the 1860s. As the monopoly of the American ice companies kept faltering, the introduction of artificial ice plants around the world by the British Royal Navy helped establish many new companies like the International Ice Company in Madras (now Chennai in India) in 1874 and the Bengal Ice Company in 1878 in Calcutta. Operating together as the Calcutta Ice Association, the artificial ice companies rapidly drove natural ice out of the market.

The Heritage sub-section of the Elephant House official website says that ice manufacturing in Sri Lanka began in 1866. The company was then known as the Colombo Ice Company. Ice was imported from New England and auctioned at the Colombo harbor.

The white glittering chunks of ice created tremendous interest amongst the social elite of the day and was available only at functions and houses of the socially priviledged,” a local report said.

Released in 1969 on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Ceylon Cold Stores, the publication Ceylon in Our Times 1894-1969 reports on the first production of ice in Sri Lanka, thus: The production of ice on a commercial scale began with the formation of the Colombo Ice Company in 1866 (it became New Colombo Ice Company in 1894 and then Ceylon Cold stores in 1941). Its premises in Glenie Street became known as the ‘Ice Kompaniya’.The name lingered, now the entire area has officially become ‘Kompaniveediya’.

The ice trade was controlled by the English East India Company. Therefore there is a possibility that the term ‘Kompannavidiya’ or ‘Company Road’ came from the name East India Company. The railway station in the area is also known as Kompannavidiya Railway Station.

One Von Possner of the Colombo Ice Company formed his own aerated drinks company in 1883 and introduced the ‘Elephant’ trademark to Sri Lanka. This trademark still used by Elephant House. Later, one Tom Walker, owner of a competing syndicate, bought The Colombo Ice Company and gave it a new name: New Colombo Ice Company Ltd in 1894. Many years later, a change once again took place. In 1934, the New Colombo Ice Company Ltd bought the Ceylon Ice and Cold Storage Company, pioneering the art of keeping frozen foods for selling. The New Colombo Ice Company Ltd changed its name to Ceylon Cold Stores in 1941.

(The featured image at the top shows an ice and aerate water factory in Colombo run by J.W.Fernando)

(Dr.Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai is a cultural and visual anthropologist)

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

Civil society activists who campaigned for Maithripala Sirisena at the January 2015 presidential election are sharply divided over the JVP proposed 20th Amendment intended to further dilute executive powers and do away with the next presidential election.

The 20 Amendment proposes that the parliament elects the next president.

Chrishmal

Presidential poll is scheduled to be held in Nov-Dec 2019 according to Additional Commissioner, Elections (parliamentary) M.A.P.C. Perera. Parliamentary poll is scheduled for the following year.

An influential section of the civil society led by Purawesi Balaya and National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ) recently threw their weight behind the JVP project. They believe the 20th Amendment would be necessary at the moment due to delay in finalizing the new constitution.

Civil society activist and attorney-at-law Chrishmal Warnasuriya, in an interview with Indeewari Amuwatte on Derana 24X7, strongly criticized the JVP move.

Warnasuriya, who had been on the JVP National List at 2015 parliamentary poll emphasized that the move to empower the parliament to elect president wouldn’t be acceptable under any circumstances. Alleging that transferring of ‘executive powers’ to the legislature was against the principle of separation of powers, Warnasuriya questioned the suitability of the parliament to elect the president against the backdrop of allegations pertaining to some lawmakers involvement with tainted primary dealer, Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL).

Warnasuriya asserted that the 20 Amendment couldn’t be a priority for the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration as there were many contentious issues. The vast majority of people were struggling to make ends meet and the rapidly rising dollar debt was having a destabilizing effect on the national economy.

The convenor of civil society group Rata Surakimu discussed their role in strengthening democracy and shaping the political landscape in the wake of post-2015 January presidential election.

Asked whether he was happy with the current situation, Warnasuriya said that he was not totally disillusioned but certainly not happy. Warnasuriya acknowledged that they hadn’t been able to achieve what they really wanted to. Referring to the impeachment and removal of then Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake in January 2013, Warnasuriya said that though the restoration of judicial independence to a certain extent had succeeded, yet the situation was certainly not satisfactory. “I think, we have changed from one era centered around a clan in the South to another powerful Royal clan in Colombo.”

The lawyer said as only a cabal of few people were running the administration, they couldn’t be happy with the situation.

Commenting on public expectations, Warnasuriya pointed out that the debilitating setback suffered by the UNP and the SLFP at Feb. 10, 2018 Local Government poll reflected the public anger at the government’s failure to fulfill its promises, obligations.

Commenting on fresh JVP bid to further dilute executive powers, Warnasuriya explained his role and that of the civil society in introducing the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. The executive presidency had been weakened to such an extent, the public recently realized President Maithripala Sirisena was powerless to remove Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Warnasuriya was referring to failed bid to replace the PM over treasury bond scams exposure.

Warnasuriya strongly criticized the failure on the part of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government to bring the constitutional making process to a successful conclusion. The lawyer pointed out how the government wasted over three years on much touted process finally leading to the JVP moving the 20th Amendment.

Referring to UNP-SLFP confrontation over the treasury bond scams, Warnasuriya asserted that in spite of the enactment of 19th Amendment in April 2015, there were provisions in the Constitution to remove the PM. Warnasuriya said that President Sirisena for some reason didn’t want to utilize those constitutional provisions.

Recollecting the circumstances under which the Supreme Court blocked the 19th Amendment in its original form, Warnasuriya said that executive powers enjoyed by a person (in this case Maithripala Sirisena) elected through direct vote couldn’t be bestowed on another (PM Wickremesinghe) with a different mandate.

The constitutional affairs expert denied claims that the enactment of the 19th Amendment had weakened security of the state.

The 20th Amendment was meant to pave the way for a person who couldn’t secure presidency at a national level contest to achieve the same through the legislature, Warnasuriya said.

Responding to another query, Warnasuriya said that it wouldn’t be feasible to adopt a foreign constitutional model though the US and French systems could be examined if the country was to remain in the presidential system.

Warnasuriya said that he still believed in the presidential form of government.

By Rathindra Kuruwita Courtesy The Island

The Chairmen, CEOs and boards of directors appointed to SriLankan Airlines since the exit of Emirates management had not contributed to the development of the company, Captain Ruwan Vithanage, President of the Airline Pilots’ Guild of Sri Lanka (AAPGSL) told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) on irregularities at SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering and Mihin Lanka, yesterday.

Vithanage said that Harry Jayawardena, who took over the airline after the exit of Emirates had tried to introduce accountability and transparency. “Most of the Chairmen, CEOs and Directors, appointed after the exit Emirates were selected on the basis of family and political connections. We know this because they spoke of their connections openly.

If someone eligible was appointed, others would undermine him, he said, adding that SriLankan Airlines CEO Manoj Gunawardena, appointed in 2009, had a clear vision, but he had been undermined.

Although pilots had been initially hopeful when appointments were made under the current administration, the situation had taken a turn for the worse, Vithanage said, adding that the former Chief Executive Officer of SriLankan Airlines Captain Suren Ratwatte had not been suitable for the post.

“He made some decisions that led to the pilot fatigue, which increased risk of accidents. For some people this is a place where they get on the job training, and we have seen the results of their actions.”

Lahiru Pothmulla Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The joint opposition (JO) today accepted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s challenge to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to explain how he would reduce taxes by 20 per cent if he comes to power.

JO MP Bandula Gunawardana said they would accept the challenge on behalf of Mr. Rajapaksa.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe continues to mislead the people by saying that Rajapaksa era loans had resulted in economic hardships. To cover up their inefficiency, the UNP-led government is resorting to their famous Goebbel’s Theory and blaming others,” he told a news briefing.

Rejecting reports that loans incurred during the Rajapaksa era had crippled the country’s economy, the MP said the Rajapaksa government was able to gradually increase the surplus income, even after loan repayments.

Meanwhile, the MP said the amount of state loans was Rs.2 trillion when the Rajapaksa government came to power and it increased to Rs.7 trillion within ten years. However, this government had obtained loans worth Rs.4 trillion within four years,” he said.

Opinion Letters to Editor – SWARNA HANSA FOUNDATION

262, Denzil Kobbakaduwa Mawatha, Battaramulla 

2018-06-12

When Ravi Karunanayaka was found jabbering and telling blatant lies at the Bond Scam investigation commission, his parliamentary colleagues were trying to safe guard him by requesting him to resign. Opposing the move the Swarna Hansa Foundation by a leaflet distributed throughout Colombo, requested the people, resignation? no way, he has to be punished and recover the plundered public money.

When parliamentarians tried to safe guard Prime Minister the Prime Conspirator and the main culprit of the whole issue, by having a no confidence motion, it was the Swarna Hansa Foundation that said, no way, the entire parliament which has turned out to be a sheer shameless and unbridled plundering house of national wealth, has to be put on hold, and take all parliamentarians into custody, for plundering as well as aiding and abetting plunder national wealth, and to have a Presidential rule.

Letters began to appear in the public opinion columns, in the press lamenting about the sorry situation in the government and the country. Highly concerned patriots were asking those on authority, who is fooling who? fooling the people for how long? Reminding the quotation from Abraham Lincoln one time the President of United States, that you may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.” Another concerned patriot, being unable to tolerate corruption of parliamentarians any more was seen sending a public warning that days of the corrupt are numbered.

Mr. Dew Gunasekara highly concerned with the grave situation is asking the Parliament, the very corrupt institution to cleanse it. It is another desperate attempt mislead the people and save his parliamentary colleagues, and the Parliament from where he is getting his pension. As one editorial said DEW is whistling in the dark. The peoples’ understanding is it cannot be cleansed, it is a cesspit. All those so-called members of it are worms. Living on it, dining dancing playing and finally dying in it. There cannot be a question of cleansing it or restoring it at all.

As each passing day, some sort of plundering, robbing or syphoning of public money by parliamentarians is revealed. Adding insult to the injury to the victimized people, these parliamentarian worms are jabbering and trying to keep on fooling the people, as if general public are all fools, and utter fools. The most annoying aspect of it is these fellows who have robbed the peoples’ money are coming out to public surrounded by security guards maintained by public money, to fool the very people whose money have been robbed. It is in this situation, when the limit of patience, and discipline of the public is fast disappearing, that somebody writing to the media has said days of the gang are numbered.

It is in order to avert the worst, that Swarna Hansa Foundation is again requesting the President to immediately put on hold the Parliament, establish a Presidential rule, recover all national wealth plundered by sitting parliamentarians at least, for the start and punish them. Money recovered thus will be quite sufficient to run the administration with no additional taxes. No doubt the whole country will be with the President.

Gallege Punyawardana.

Keerthi Hewagoda Environmental Activist

Introduction

The Knuckles range or traditionally called the Dumbara Adaviya is a massif located in central hills in Sri Lanka.  The term range” encompasses not only the knuckles forest reserve but whole the ecological unit that geographically belongs to the Knuckles massif. The area above 1500 meters (approx. 4900 feet) in the Knuckles range was declared as a climatic reserve in 1873 and in 1988 the Knuckles Conservation Area was declared over all lands above 1,067 metres (Approx  3500 feet Amsl). The Knuckles conservation area was subjected to a floral and faunal survey under the National Conservation Review (1992-1996) (5). Considering the high biodiversity and significant cultural value, the Central Highlands, including Knuckles Conservation Forest was declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Property in 2010

Under the Soil Conservation Ordinance of 1993, human activity had been restricted in certain areas in the Knuckles. As for management plan, the Knuckles Range was surveyed, demarcated and declared as a Conservation Forest in 2000 under the Forest Ordinance Act 1907 (Gazette No. 1130). And, in July 2007, with the objective of regulating unauthorized activities on the private lands in the vicinity of the knuckles conservation forest, all private land within the boundary of KCF were declared as an environmental protected area  (EPA) under National  Environmental Act No. 47 of 1980. (5) Further this Act facilitates acquire of non-state lands and include them to the forest reserve.

The knuckles forest is a refugium for number of point endemics;  Leaf nose lizard (Ceretophora Tennennti) Crestless Lizard (Calotes liocephalus) ,an  endemic fish Laubuka insularis, and Kirthisinghe Rock frog (Nannophrys marmorata) are found only in  knuckles range , and has been home to indigenous community since historic times, and represent their culture, traditions and spiritual beliefs, thus conserving an anthropological heritage.

Complaint

With cabinet directive 2017/81 dated 2017.11.23, the Sri Lankan government is going to lease the large tracts of land in Knuckles range to the private ownerships for long periods for,

1-      Factory farms (Livestock)
2-      Mineral excavation
3-      Tourism
4-      Bottled water industry
5-      Mini / small hydropower plants

The state owned Estates those will be leased are the Opalgala , Nikal Oya, Midlands, Kele bokka,  Alakola, Gomare,  Galpihilla, Kota gala, Rangala , Hare park and some others comprising a total of approx.: 21000 acres. And the Government ministers Kabir Hasheem and Lakshman Kiriella and the government institutions; SLSPC are involved in this land issue.  The critical observations could be summarized as follow;

Adverse Biological impacts

1-      Animal farms could make a devastating impact to the surrounding environment. (2,3).
(A)   Transmission of contagious animal disease to wild animals.(2)(7)

(B) Pollution of nature water ways by large amount of excreted nitrogenous substances. (8)

(C)  Direct affect into food webs by consumption, predation and parasitism etc.   This scenario will change the vectors in a sensitive eco system.(2)

(D) Random or voluntarily introduction of invasive plants (grass)

(C)   Herds may wander into the reserve

(D)   Pharmaceutical contaminants and residues from intensive animal breeding.

2-       Contamination by Fertilizers and pesticides.

3-      The hydropower plants have impact on the fish populations as their migration is effectively barred by dams and dry river beds (6)

4-      Bio-piracy and smuggling. (9)

Adverse Geological and Ecological impact

1-      Mineral excavation ( mining of quarts, blasting rocks with explosives gives rise to noise pollution, air pollution, damage to biodiversity and habitat destruction etc.)

2-      Landslides and flood risk.  (Removal of soil, Mining sites, roads and aggressive land usages).

3-      Change of hydrological patterns. (Run off and level ground water etc.). The Impediment of   natural flow of water causes the spillage or change in the direction of water current. As a result some areas will always be flooded during the rainy season.

4-      Hydropower dams modify natural cycles of high and low flows, and restricts sediment movement

Adverse Economic  and social impact

1– Diminish of water quality (waste from animal production, quarrying, fertilizer)

2- The shortage of drinking water and obstruction of natural water ways caused by the    bottled       water plants.

3- Deformed hydrological pattern will affect the local agriculture and compromise the Mahaweli    head waters fed by the Hulu Ganga. The Knuckles is the main catchment area of Sri Lanka’s longest river Mahaweli.

4- Cultural impact on indigenous inhabitants through the uncontrolled tourism, industrialisation and commercialisation. (Hotels, Alcoholic beverages, eco mafias, unethical customs etc.)

5- Waste management and garbage disposal in area will create serious problems (Pollution of natural water ways, soil and public health. Even now, the random garbage disposals right into the Hulu Ganga valley can be seen)

6-Exploitation and manipulation of cultural heritage (treasure hunting, vandalism of archaeological sites, constructions aimed for religious or cult practices)

7-Above mentioned projects will irreparably damage the aesthetic beauty of knuckles range

Further there are underlying political implications those should be addressed with time. It must be noted that the Knuckles range is already threatened by the spreading of invasive plants, ground fires, boundary encroachments, tourism related activities and by illegal agricultural practices etc.; and the leasing out of these lands will dramatically increase the damage. We strongly urge the Sri Lankan Government to stop handing these eco sensitive lands to environmentally destructive activities.

(Please check the files and sources attached herewith.)

Signed:-                                                                                                                       dated 10.06.2018

Environmental Activist

Keerthi Hewagoda

Tel  : +94 0765561912

Email-  hewagoda.k@gmail.com

The copies attached herewith

1-      Map of the Knuckles reserve and the proposed estates for lease. (4)

2-      Photo evidences of government papers related to this unethical land deal.

3-      Photos of  some of the locations/ implications mentioned in this paper taken by author after ground exploration in Knuckles range

Endnotes and Sources –

1-      Any singular group or complex network of people committing ‘Organized crimes’ that cause damage to the environment; or engaged in any lucrative activity related with the environment, represents what is currently known as Eco-Mafia.

2-      http://www.fao.org/3/a-i4891e.pdf

3-      Infectious animal diseases: the wildlife/ livestock interface. By R.G.Bengis, R.A.Kock & J.Fischer . 2002

4-      Knuckles environmental protection area by CEA.

5-      Management framework for the world heritage serial property central highlands of Sri Lanka.- IUCN, UK aid, Government of Sri Lanka- published in December 2011

6-      Notes of Chandra Bhushan (CSE Delhi) regarding the impact of small hydropower plants

7-      Careless dumping of livestock waste on farm lands and direct discharge to waterways and percolation to groundwater usually bypass via cracks and fissures is a great risk to human and animal health because livestock waste contains myriads of pathogens (Davies, 1997; Dizer et al 1984), some of which may be zoonotic and can cause systematic or local infections. (Dizer et al 1984 , Mackenzie et al 1998, Davies 1997,Cameron et al 1998, Fischer et al 2000, Stanley et al 1998). Highly contagious and pathogenic disease, such as foot and mouth disease and swine fever may spread with animal exertions through waterways  (Cameron et al 2000)

8-      Livestock waste produces ammonia that can be a potential pollutant causing serious eutrophication of rivers and lakes characterized by a high concentration of nutrients that creates an ecological imbalance in the water system that supports abnormally high levels of algae and aquatic plant growths.( Burton and Turner 2003: IAEA/ FAO 2008).This reduces oxygen levels in the waters and has serious implications on the survival of aquatic organisms and consequently  on food supply and biodiversity (IAEA/ FAO 2008)

9-      Companies that bio prospect do not, however, always respect the interests and values of the indigenous peoples from whom they gather ethnobotanical information and resources.”- Bioprospecting and Biopiracy in Latin America: The Case of Maca in Perú .Amanda J. Landon. 2007

10-  The cultural features of KCF relevant to its inclusion as a constituent of the property being nominated as a Mixed Heritage relates mainly to the evidence of cave dwelling humans dating back to the Mesolithic period- Nomination of the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka: Its Cultural and Natural Heritage. Submitted to Unesco 1 January 2008 by SL Government.
This compliant has been sent to :- Hon. President of Sri Lanka, Hon.Prime minister, politicians of the opposition, Buddha Sasana Amathyanshaya, Archaeological department, Mahaweli authority, Forest department, Wild life department, Central Environment authority, Sri Lanka state plantation corporation, Land Reform Commision, Ministry of Health, Sri lanka Mining bureau, NARA, Department of Geology, University of Peradeniya, National commission for Unesco,  UN, UNESCO, FAO, WWF, CAO, IUCN,UKAID, WHO, Environmental Law Centre and national and international mass media , Environmentalists, researchers and to academics and openly shared with common public . The author bears the responsibility of paper with belief of rationalism, knowledge and truthfulness.

දුම්රිය වෘත්තීය සමිති සන්ධානය. Railway Trade Unions Alliance. 

2018. 06. 12

ගරු ප‍්‍රවාහන හා සිවිල් ගුවන් සේවා අමාත්‍ය,

නිමල් සිරිපාල ද සිල්වා මැතිතුමා,

ප‍්‍රවාහන හා සිවිල් ගුවන් සේවා අමාත්‍යාංශය,

සෙත්සිරිපාය, බත්තරමුල්ල.

Hon. Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation,

Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva,

Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation,

Sethsiripaya, Battaramulla.

ඛනිජ තෙල් සංස්ථාවෙන් දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට අයවිය යුතු රුපියල් කෝටි 36 කට අධික මුදල වහා අයකර ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය පියවර ගන්න

තෙල් ගබඩා සංකීර්ණ පවත්වාගෙන යාමට ලංකා ඛනිජ තෙල් නීතිගත සංසංථාවට ලබාදී ඇති දුම්රිය ඉඩම් සහා දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට එම සංස්ථාව ගෙවිය යුතු රුපියල් 328000000 (තිස් දෙකෝටි  අසූ ලක්‍ෂයක) මුදලක් ගෙවා නොමැත.

ඛනිජ තෙල් සංස්ථාව සහ දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව අත්සන් කර ඇති බදු ගිවිසුම් අනුව මෙම මුදල් නියමිත පරිද දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට ගෙවිය යුතු වුවත් 2017. 12. 31 දින දක්වා ම ඛනිජ තෙල් නීතිගත සංස්ථාව ගිවිසගත් පරිදි මුදල් ගෙවා නැත.  එය තව දුරටත් නොගෙවා හරින්නේ නම්, 2018. 12. 31 වන විට මෙම මුදල රුපියල් තිස් හය කෝටි හැට හතර ලක්‍ෂයක් (366400000) ඉක්මවන බව ද පෙන්වා දෙමු. 

කොළඹ බැස්ටියන් මාවත, මාලිගාවත්ත, පෑලියගොඩ, ගම්පහ, ගාල්ල, මාතර, අනුරාධපුර, කුරුණෑගල, ති‍්‍රකුණාමලය, මඩකලපුව, බදුල්ල, පොළොන්නරුව, මහනුවර, මාතලේ, රත්නපුර  දිස්ත‍්‍රික්කවලට අයත්, ප‍්‍රදේශ ගණනාවක පිහිටි දුම්රිය ඉඩම්වල තෙල්ගබඩා සංකීර්ණ හා පිරවුම්හල් පවත්වාගෙන යාම වෙනුවෙන් ගිවිසුම් අත්සන් කර ඇති අතර, ඒ අනුව ගෙවිය යුතු බදු මුදල් ගෙවීම ඛනිජ තෙල් නීතිගත සංස්ථාව පැහැර හැර ඇත.

පෙට්ට‍්‍රල් ලීටරයක් රුපියල් 63/= ක් ද ඞීසල් ලීටරයක් රුපියල් 24/= කට අධික මුදලක් හා තවත් විවිධ ක‍්‍රම මගින් විශාල වශයෙන් ලාභ ලබන තෙල් සංස්ථාව, මහජන සේවාවක් පවත්වාගෙන යන දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට ගෙවිය යුතු මුදල් නොගෙවා සිටීමේ කිසිදු  සාධාරණයක් නොවන බව ද පෙන්වා දෙමු.

මෙම මුදල නිසි පරිදි අයකර ගැනීමට කටයුතු කළ හොත් දුම්රිය සේවය පවත්වාගෙන යාමේ පාඩුව කෝටි ගණනකින් අඩුකර ගැනීමට හැකිවන අතර, ප‍්‍රමාදයකින් තොරව දුම්රිය සේවකයින්ගේ ආපදා ණය මුදල් ගෙවීමටද හැකි වන බවද පෙන්වා දෙමු.

මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඔබතුමාගේ අවධානය යොමුකර ඛනිජ තෙල් නීතිගත සංස්ථාවෙන් දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේනතුවට අය විය යුතු මුදල් විධිමත් පරිදි අය කර ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය පියවර ගන්නා මෙන් කාරුණිකව ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

ස්තූතියි.,

මෙයට, 

දුම්රිය සේවයේ උන්නතිය වෙනුවෙන්,

එස්.පී.විතානගේ,

සම කැවුම්කරු                       

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය කැෆේ සංවිධානය 

බැදුම්කර වාර්තාවට අදාල ඇමුණුම් තමා වෙත ලබා දෙන්නේද නැද්ද යන්න පිළිබඳව ස්ථිර වශයෙන් ලිඛිතව පිළිතුරක් ලබාදෙන ලෙස  ඉල්ලා කැෆේ සංවිධානයේ හා ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍රයේ විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් විසින්  ගරු කථානායක වරයා හා ජනාධිපති ලේකම් වරයා වෙත ලිපියක් යොමු කළේය. අදාල ලිපිය පහතින් දැක්වේ.

2018 ජූනි 12 

ගරු කථානායකතුමා,

කරු ජයසූරිය මැතිතුමා,

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව.

ඔස්ටින් ප්‍ර‍නාන්දු මහතා,

ජනාධිපති ලේකම්,

ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලය.

ගරු කථානායකතුමනි, ප්‍රිය ලේකම්තුමනි,

බැදුම්කර වාර්තාවේ ඇමුණුම් ලබා ගැනීම සම්බන්ධයෙනි

1.      2018 ජනවාරි 18 දින සිට මේ දක්වා මා විසින් ඉල්ලා සිටි, උක්ත ඇමුණුම් කිසිවක් ජූනි 12 (අද) දක්වාම මා වෙත ලැබී නොමැත.  කෙසේ නමුත්, මෙම ලේඛන ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලය වෙතින් ගරු කථානායකතුමා වෙත යොමු කර ඇති බවට පුවත්පත් වාර්තා දුටිමි.  නමුත්, මාගේ අවබෝධය නම් මා විසින් ඉල්ලා සිටි ඇමුණුම් කිසිවක් ම වෙත ලබා දෙනු තබා තවමත් ගරු කථානායතුමා වෙත හෝ ලැබී නොමැති බව ය.
2.      සී 350 ලේඛනය ප්‍ර‍සිද්ධි කිරීම සදහා නීතිපතිවරයා අනුමැතිය ලබා දී ඇති බව ද ජනමාධ්‍ය මගින් දුටිමි. එම ලේඛනය ද තවමත් මා වෙත නම් ලබා දී නොමැත.  එම ලේඛනය මා වෙත ලබා දෙන්නේ නම් ඒ කවදා ද යන්න නිශ්චිතව ප්‍ර‍කාශ කරන්නේ නම් මැනවි.
3.      අනෙක් අතට, අද ජාතික ලේඛනාරක්ෂක දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව වෙතින් දැනගැනීමට ලැබුණේ ජාතික ලේඛනාරක්ෂක පනතේ 3 වන වගන්තිය යටතේ සී 350 ලේඛනය මහජනතාව සදහා විවර කිරීම සදහා වන අනුමැතිය ජනාධිපති ලේකම්වරයා විසින් මේ දක්වාම ලබා දී නොමැති බැවින් තවත් වසර 30 කට මේ ලේඛන පරිශීලනය සදහා අවස්ථාව ලබා දිය නොහැකි බවය.
4.      මා නැවත වරක් අවධාරණය කරන්නේ මා ඉල්ලා සිටින්නේ බැදුම්කර වාර්තාවේ සියළු ඇමුණුම් ප්‍ර‍සිද්ධ කරන ලෙසය.

ගරු කථානායකතුමනි, ජනාධිපති ලේකම්තුමනි,

මාස 4ක් සහ දින 26 ක් ඔබතුමන්ලා වෙත මාගේ ඉල්ලීම නැවත නැවත සිදු කර ඇත. මාගේ ඉල්ලීම මා සදහා නොව පොදුජන සුභසෙත උදෙසා බව ඔබතුමන්ලා විසින් වටහා ගෙන නොමැති බව මාගේ අදහසයි.  මන්ද, ඒ බව වටහා ගන්නේ නම්, එම ලේඛන පිළිබද ප්‍ර‍කාශ නිකුත් කරමින්, එක් එක් කොන්දේසි පණවමින්, එක් එක් ආයතනයන් වෙත මා යොමු කරමින්, මා රස්තියාදු කිරීමට ඔබ කටයුතු නොකරන නිසාය.

1.      බැදුම්කර වාර්තාවේ ඇමුණුම් මා වෙත නිකුත් කරන්නේ ද?, නැති ද? යන්න මා වෙත ස්ථිර හා නිරවුල් ආකාරයක් ලිඛිතව ප්‍ර‍කාශ කරන ලෙස ද,
2.      එසේ ලබා දෙන්නේ නම්, ඒ කවදා, කවුරුන් මගින් ද? යන්න ලිඛිතව ප්‍ර‍කාශ කරන ලෙස ද, ඉතාමත් කාරුණිකව ඉල්ලා සිටිමි.

මෙයට 

විශ්වාසී, 

කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්

විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ/කැෆේ සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍ර‍ය

පිටපත්

1.      ගරු විපක්ෂ නායකතුමා – ගරු ආර්. සම්බන්ධන් මහතා
2.      ගරු සභානායකතුමා – ගරු ලක්ෂ්මන් කිරිඇල්ල මහතා
3.      ගරු අනුර කුමාර දිසානායක මහතා
4.      ගරු දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා
5.      පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නියෝජනය කරන සියළුම ලියාපදිංචි දේශපාලන පක්ෂ ලේකම්වරු වෙත

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග

විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය කාමලිකා අබේරත්න HIV ආසාදිත වන්නේ රුධිර පාරවිළනයකදී සිදුවූ අතපසුවීමක් නිසාය. HIV ආසදිත වීමෙන් පසු ඇයගේ වෘත්තීය සගයෝ ඇයව වසංගතයක් සේ බැහැර කරති. වෛද්‍යවරියක වූ කාමලිකා අබේරත්න මිය තම සහෝදර වෛද්‍යවරු වෛද්‍යවරියන් අතින් වෙනස්කම් කිරීමට ලක් වීම ඒඩ්ස් සම්බන්ධව සෞඛ්‍යය වෘත්තිකයන් තුල තිබෙන මුග්ධතාව මෙන්ම ප්‍රාග්විනිශ්චයන් පෙන්වන්නකි. මේ සාවද්‍ය ආකල්ප මෙන්ම කලංකයන් අප විසින් බිඳ දැමිය යුතුය.

මා විසින් ලියන ලද Stress Management පොත මා පුද කරන්නේ විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය කාමලිකා අබේරත්න මහත්මියටය. නමුත් ඒ කාලය වන විට ඇය ජීවතුන් අතර නොවූවාය. ඒ නිසා එම පොත මා පිලිගැන්වූයේ ඇයගේ සැමියා වූ විශේෂඥ ශල්‍ය වෛද්‍ය මයිකල් අබේරත්න මහතාටය.

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

June 13, 2018, 12:05 pm

Outgoing US Ambassador Atul Keshap has told former President Mahinda Rajapaksa that his brother, Gotabhaya was very unpopular.

Indian American Keshap has based his assessment on information received by him, a spokesperson for the former President’s Office told The Island yesterday.Career diplomat Keshap succeeded Michele J. Sison in March 2015. He took over the mission in late August 2015.

Keshap paid a courtesy call on former President Rajapaksa at the latter’s Wijerama Mawatha residence on Sunday evening.

Keshap has also inquired about Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s recent visit to China ahead of Viyathmaga 2018 annual convention on May 13 at the Shangri-la, Colombo.

The spokesperson said that Keshap had also referred to the then Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Indian American Nisha Biswal meeting with the then Defence Secretary Rajapaksa in early Feb. 2014. Keshap alleged that Rajapaksa hadn’t treated Biswal courteously.

Ambassador Keshap spearheaded high profile US project to adopt Geneva Resolution backed by Colombo to pave the way for foreigners including Commonwealth judges on a judicial mechanism to address accountability issues.

Following the meeting with Biswal before she left for Jaffna, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told The Island that the official hadn’t been properly briefed by the US Embassy in Colombo.

Fielding a query by The Island, the spokesperson for the ex-President categorically denied that the outgoing US Ambassador had warned the former President Rajapaksa against fielding Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (Joint Opposition) presidential candidate. He said the question of Gotabhaya’s candidature had not figured in talks.

Chairman of SLPP and former External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris on Monday told The Island that former President Rajapaksa would announce their presidential candidate at the most opportune moment.

Meanwhile, UPFA MP Udaya Gammanpila told the media on Monday (June 11) that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa could renounce his US citizenship anytime.

Addressing the media at his Pita Kotte office, Gammanpila explained the simple procedure in giving up the US nationality as and when one wanted to do so.

US embassy on Keshap’s meeting with MR

A spokesperson for the US embassy said: The Ambassador meets routinely with political leaders, civil society and community leaders. The official said so when The Island sought clarification as regards Tamil media claims that outgoing US Ambassador Atul Keshap had warned former President Rajapaksa against fielding Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as presidential candidate. The Island asked the embassy whether this particular issue was taken up with the former President?

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

If anybody still needed proof that the representatives who claimed to be holding the  legislative, executive and judicial powers of the people have turned their backs on them and have pursued a path of individual well-being, the developments during the past two weeks would have furnished enough evidence. All three wings of governance are packed with people who are corrupt, incapable and self-centred. The legislature has been sold to multi billion scammers while the executive remains so engrossed in a battle for survival and future preservation. The Judiciary, well, they need a lot of mettle to win the confidence that has been lost with regard to public perspective.

Imagine the scenario when the former President says that the PM calls Prez a rogue and vice versa; that 118 have been called rogues while the fact that he himself was called a rogue once, which led to his ignominious removal, is forgotten. The rub is that he doesn’t say that he isn’t a rogue. Simply that it has now been forgotten that he was branded a rogue by the present governing lot. After all, how can the pot call the kettle black?

The parliamentarians who have been in the payroll of Bond scammers think it a trivial matter that they received cheques from these dubious businessmen

On whose side are they ?

Joining the parliamentary debate on the ETI Fixed Deposit crisis, the JVP Leader asked one crucial question i.e. when it comes to the rights of the deposit holders of ETI and their group of companies as opposed to the interests of the Directors and owners of those companies, on whose side the public representatives were? This is a question that might sound redundant in a country where the representatives do champion the rights of the public. Yet things are so different in this nick of the woods, isn’t it?

The top three national leaders of this country have lost their credibility beyond reparation, but do not seem to have the decency to admit it. All three are like the proverbial king who walked naked in public yet feigned to be ceremoniously dressed with the most precious of garments. All three are very old, worn out and out of sync with regard to what this nation needs to pull itself out of the socio political and economic quagmire it has fallen into. A fresh face with a non political mindset aimed at developing this country while not sacrificing the hard won liberties for a democratic way of life is a burning need of the hour. They have not set up a credible second string leadership, either, a thing they seem to consider a threat and anathema to their interest of coming or remaining in power.

The way politics are done, or more aptly put, played, has not taken the vast segments of our society anywhere; a superficial increase in per capita income is a misnomer created by highly concentrated wealth in a select few. Then again that filthy lucre finds itself in the corridors of power, as revelations in the case against Arjun Aloysius et al fallen into indicates clearly.

What the law abiding citizen submits, the wealthy manipulates by a sleight of hand

The list becomes longer

While The Speaker has agreed to reveal the names of those representatives of the people who have had telephone conversations with those dubious individuals, while being members of the COPE committee and thus being privy to some of the highly sensitive details with regard to investigations, he, nevertheless refuses that there is a list of individuals at high places, which the media says includes Ministers, Parliamentarians, from both sides of the divide, Public servants, Police officers etc. who are in the payroll of big time gamers.

Investigations are revealing the true nature of politics in particular and governance in general; it’s clear that what turns the wheels of these public representatives is the ill gotten and filthy lucre

Investigations are revealing the true nature of politics in particular and governance in general; it’s clear that what turns the wheels of these public representatives is the ill gotten and filthy lucre and not the public aspirations by any stretch of the imagination.

As I pointed out in the last column, the threat posed by armed militancy both in the North and the South to the sovereignty of this nation is now replaced by a more sinister and illusive assailant. Those who are armed with hoards of ill-gotten cash and wealth have found in roads into the very heart of governance. The betrayal of the people’s aspiration by the parliamentarians and ministers is surely, but the tip of the iceberg.

 Might of filthy lucre

Might seems to be the norm that twists the hands of those who are perched comfortably and ceremoniously in the legislative, executive and judicial wings of the state. Unlike the DJV or the Black Tigers who attacked security installations of the state with military hardware, these illusive assailants are already inside the sacred temple of governance, either by themselves or through their cronies. They hold the strings, they stage-manage the political game and call all the cards!

People going to vote for their representatives at parliament and lower bodies, their extravagant and almost subservient respect to courts, their submission to law enforcing agencies are, but one great farce which is played by the public to fool themselves. Where the small man trembles, the mighty scorn with disdain; what the law abiding citizen submits, the wealthy manipulates by a sleight of hand. The ceremonious formalities of the rule of law are nothing but a box office level comedy!

The top three national leaders of this country have lost their credibility beyond reparation, but do not seem to have the decency to admit it.

Cleansing the Parliament?

There is very little doubt that politicians of all size shape and colour, whether blue, green or red have eaten the filthy morsels that fall from the tables of the shady billionaires. If one trembled at the figure of 118, as the number of MP s who have been happy recipients of the ‘perpetual’ lucre, I am quite sure, there is more to come. When Dear Old DEW, the former COPE Chairman, makes a fervent appeal to ‘cleanse’ the Parliament of these scumbags who are corrupt to the core, I hope , the noble gentleman, knows the magnitude of the task at hand. In my mind it would take nothing short of the ‘purges’ conducted during the Stalinist Era ( with wrong motives and sinister repercussions, of course) to cleanse our nation of this dirt, that man our august institutions of governance.

But the Stalin who lurks in the dark, scares the hell out of a lot of us, doesn’t he? By ‘us’ I do not simply mean the ordinary citizen. Did I ?

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

When the officials of the Attorney General’s Department first revealed that a member of Parliament had received one million rupees from a subsidiary company of Perpetual Treasuries Ltd. (PTL) headed by Arjun Aloysius- who has been remanded after being implicated in the Central Bank bond scandal- they also revealed that a VIP had also received the same amount of money from the same source.

According to the B- Report submitted to Courts the Parliamentarian who obtained money from Aloysius was none other than former Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara.

Then, a few days later it was revealed that State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe had also received money from one of Aloysius’s companies. He had received three million rupees, according to the Attorney General’s Department. On the same day it was also revealed that Arjuna Mahendran. who was the Central Bank Governor when the scandal took place, also received Rs. 3.2 million from the PTL boss.

Aloysius giving money to Mahendran under normal circumstances cannot be faulted as the former is the latter’s son-in-law. But here, it is important because Mahendran had been accused of passing information on the controversial bond transaction that had been carried out on February 27, 2015 to Aloysius, one of the primary dealers of that transaction. Therefore it might amount to be a kick-back for insider dealing. Yet, that deal is also gradually being obscured by the revelation about Senasinghe.

Senasinghe’s defence seems to be very weak in this regard. He had said that he wasn’t aware that Aloysius had offered funds to his election campaign and argues that the funds received from the company linked to Aloysius months after the 2015 General Elections were meant for the same election. The transaction seems to be further suspicious as he had written a book justifying the controversial bond transaction.

Jayasekara had stated that he wasn’t the only Parliamentarian to receive money from PTL. His claim that 118 people had been recipients of Aloysius’ money took wings and some politicians and the media started to talk about a list of 118 MPs contained in the Bond Commission report. Then the Convener of the Voice Against Corruption and JVP provincial councillor Wasantha Samarasinghe said it was not 118, but 166 recipients who were on Aloysius’ pay list. Finally The Speaker of the Parliament Karu Jayasuriya put an end to all these speculations, saying that there was no such list in the Bond Commission report.

The whole episode has confused the people of the country while politicians were politicising the issue. This isn’t a matter that should be taken lightly or taken as a political football as it might be the largest financial fraud to have taken place in Sri Lankan history and the funds plundered by the scammers belonged to people of all
political parties.

This time it was exposed because the President and the Prime Minister represent two political parties. Had this been a Government with a President and a Prime Minister from the same party, this matter also would have been easily swept under the carpet. Hence all those involved even in a remote way should be exposed and brought to book, while taking measures to recover the public funds plundered.

Therefore, if the contents of the Bond Commission report do not hinder the court proceedings on the matter, it must be presented in Parliament and made a public document, putting an end to all speculations, irrespective of who is going to be affected by it. And also President Maithripala Sirisena should bring in forthwith the three Bills he promised to provide for the recovery of the monies plundered through such high profile rackets.

Sheain Fernandopulle Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa could relinquish the US citizenship without facing any barriers if he wishes to contest the upcoming Presidential Election, Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader and MP Udaya Gammanpila said yesterday.

Addressing a news conference, he said Mr. Rajapaksa had requested him to explain the true legal position and the procedure in respect of renunciation of the US citizenship.

Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 is the governing law in respect of renunciation of citizenship. According to Section 349(a) (5) of the Act, any citizen who wishes to relinquish the citizenship can do so without any restriction. However, two restrictions have been introduced by case law. Firstly, if the citizen lodges the application, being in the USA, it will definitely be rejected. Secondly, if the applicant does not have any other citizenship, his application may be rejected,” Gammanpila said.

The first step towards renouncing US citizenship is obtaining citizenship in another country. The second step is collecting requirements mentioned in form DS4079 to DS4083. Thirdly, the applicant should make the renunciation appointment with the US embassy,” Gammanpila said

As the fourth step, you should attend the appointment with two persons to witness your signature. After briefing you about the consequences of renunciation of the citizenship, the documents will be executed. Thereafter, you will be issued with DS4083, Certificate of Loss of Nationality. It is like an insurance cover note or temporary driving license. It will be later replaced with a certificate issued by the Department of State. It is so simple and so quick,” Gammanpila added.

Therefore, he said the US Citizenship would not be an obstacle for Gotabaya Rajapaksa to contest the forthcoming presidential election.