Anonymous author.

(This article has been circulated by an Anonymous author….clearly fearing repercussions against his/her person. It is very interesting and factually accurate in terms of sociological and legislative aspects and the lack of resistance to the 1956 Sinhala Only Act, but intense resistance again the Social Disabilities Act of 1957—————-PLEASE READ:)

The Tamil caste factor is well hidden by Tamils but it holds the key to many of the problems and issues that exist.

The best thing about the two acts was that the 1956 Sinhala Only Act had little opposition by the Tamils, but the 1957 Social Disabilities Act saw a very agitated lot of high caste Tamils who feared that the dismantling of the caste system would affect their political careers.

The elite high caste/class Tamils soon labored their educated minds and came up with the solution – lets campaign against the government. The ‘racial discrimination’ card became the opted slogan. Of course, they needed to show examples for their false flag so Ministers were mobbed, instructions were given to tar Sinhala letters to incite racial discord and various other stunts commenced.

The racial slogan quickly hid from the low caste Tamils the reality that the 1957 Act was to protect their interests which the high caste Tamils were vehemently opposing.

Now you should wonder why the Tamil leaders did not organize mass protests, demonstrations for the 1956 Sinhala Only Act but did so within 24 hours following the 1957 Social Disabilities Act against caste discrimination implementation. You must probe into this and demand answers.

Where was the racial discrimination in bringing an Act granting the following rights to all especially to low caste Tamils who were being denied these rights by their own people? Chief Minister Wigneswaran please take note.

The Act considered the following as an offense

•       Anyone imposing caste restrictions if found guilty would be imprisoned for a maximum of 3 years or a fine of Rs.3000.
•       No business under a license can impose caste restrictions – if so they would face cancellation of license and may even face denial to recommence operations for 3 years.
•       No person can be prevented because of his/her caste from being admitted to school or employed as a teacher in a school or educational institution.
•       No person can be prevented or denied because of his/her caste from buying any item in a shop, market or fair
•       No person because of his/her caste can be prevented or denied entering or being served in any public hotel, resthouse, eating the house, restaurant or any other place where articles of food and drink are sold to the public.
•       No person because of his/her caste can be prevented or denied obtaining any room for residence in a public hotel, resthouse or lodging-house.
•       No person because of his/her caste can be prevented or denied from using water from any public well, spring, water-pipe or any other source of supply of water to the public (this immediately calls to mind the racial segregation in the US
•       No person because of his/her caste can be prevented or denied entering or obtaining services at a hairdressing salon or laundry
•       No person because of his/her caste can be prevented or denied entering any public cemetery, attending or taking part in any burial or cremation.
•       No person because of his/her caste can be prevented or denied wearing any kind of clothes, head-covering or foot-covering at any place to which the public has access
•       No person because of his/her caste can be prevented or denied being carried as a passenger in any public vehicle or vessel
•       No person because of his/her caste can be prevented or denied entering a temple, devale, kovil, church, mosque or any other place of religious worship
•       No person because of his/her caste can be prevented or denied to be engaged in any lawful employment or activity
•       No person because of his/her caste can be prevented or denied worshipping at any place of worship
•       No person because of his/her caste as a public officer can deny to perform his duty which he is legally bound to perform to another because of his/her caste.
•       No person because of his/her caste can discriminate workers or employees because of their caste
•       No person because of his/her caste can corrupt or foul water of any public well, spring, tank or reservoir so as to make it less fit or unfit for those of another caste.
•       No person because of his/her caste can be denied from using water as a teacher, student or employee in an educational establishment or any institution.
•       If above violations do occur assistance of the police can be sought who will provide what the person is being denied. The police officer can even arrest the person without warrant and bring him to the police station and released after being produced to a Magistrate’s court.

IT IS SHOCKING TO EVEN IMAGINE THAT THE HIGH CASTE TAMILS DENIED THESE BASIC RIGHTS TO THEIR OWN TAMIL PEOPLE AND ARE PREACHING TO THE WORLD ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS.

In 2008 G. D. C. Weerasinghe wrote that the very famous Nallur Kovil did NOT permit non-vellalar to enter and when a low caste using the 1957 social disabilities act right did enter, riots resulted in Jaffna. Mr. C. Sunderalingam an ex-Minister went to the extent of sleeping between gateposts to prevent non-vellalar from entering the Kovil.

In reading each of the clauses of the act, one should immediately be asking ‘Are Tamils denying these rights for their own people?” People should wonder how many such low caste Tamils have not been allowed to drink water inside their place of work, how many children were denied education because of their caste, how many wells used by low castes would have been poisoned, how many kovils still do not permit low caste Tamils to enter, how many restaurants refuse to serve to low castes, how many dead Tamil lowcastes are denied last rites in times of sorrow. People should seriously go through these clauses and realize the extent of which discrimination took place by Tamils on Tamils and this whole Sinhala discrimination thing has been an absolute lie not corrected but allowed to be flogged for people’s own personal agendas.

http://www.commonlii.org/lk/legis/consol_act/posd33370.pdf

That the common citizens have been taken for a ride by politicians of all shades and names can be seen in the 1957 Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam pact, signed without the concurrence of either the Parliament or Cabinet (raising the legal binding of it).

Why is it that no one objected to how a fuss supposed to be over the Sinhala language ended up with a secretly devised pact promising to devolve power? Notice the timing, the demand to devolve powers to regions came immediately as a result of the 1957 Act aiming to give all Tamils equal rights. This equality was objected by the Tamil high class/caste who rallied together claiming they were being discriminated but in reality to hide their caste superiority and the ‘we want to rule our own’ is another term for we, the high caste/class will reign over all low caste/class Tamils.

It was this that promoted low caste/class Prabakaran to be enticed by India and trained with a dual objective of destabalizing Sri Lanka while keeping the Tamil leaders in tow. Inferiority complexes got the better of Prabakaran who ended up drawing his men/women and child soldiers from the low caste while keeping the high caste dead scared of even speaking against him. The high caste Tamils all hated Prabakaran but were using him to win by terror the territoriy they failed to achieve politically.

Examples taken from Dr. S. Rasalingam

•       1847 – Arumuga Navalar a hero amongst Jaffna Tamils, left teaching at Jaffna Central College because a low caste Tamil student from Nalavar caste was admitted to the school.
•       1871 – caste riots between Vellala and dhoby & barber castes in Maviththapuram as a result of dhoby caste refusing to wash clothes of barber caste people. Vellala’s were blamed for instigating the riots (1st caste riot between Tamils).
•       1877 – Arumuga Navalar provided food and medicine to only Jaffna high caste Vellala’s during a famine.
•       1923 – Sutumalai, Jaffna – Vellala’s attack Paramba caste people for hiring drummers for a funeral alleging that they had no right to employ drummers for funerals as they were low caste (now you know why this clause was included in 1957)
•       1929 – Caste riots following government directive on ‘equal seating’ enabling low caste students to sit on benches instead of the floor in the classroom. This resulted in many houses of low caste Tamils getting burnt and low caste children were too scared to return to school. The Vellala high castes begged the British government to cancel the directive. Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan led 2 delegations to London to plead with the Colonial Office to encode Caste into all legislative enactments of Ceylon. (refer Communal politics under Donoughmore Constitution 1931-1947 by Jane Russell, Tisara publishers)
•       (How do you like that – begging the British not to allow their own Tamil children to sit on a bench to study – now you know why this clause was included again in 1957 – Tamils did not allow low caste

BY MALINDA SENEVIRATNE

BY MALINDA SENEVIRATNE

Malinda Seneviratne

First they offer help and then they enslave

‘First they had the book and we had the land. Then they said close your eyes, let us pray”. When we opened our eyes, we had the book and they had the land.’ — Bishop Desmond Tutu on the relationship between invader and missionary in the conquest of Africa.

It all began innocently enough, not too dissimilar to the Europeans who upon ‘discovering’ new lands obtained first the goodwill of native peoples with bead in return for temporary shelter and later spilled their blood and robbed their lands. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was at the beginning full of promises and generosity. It began when Upul Jayasuriya was the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL). Money was offered and accepted to refurbish the old auditorium.

As of now, the agency notorious for its covert operations to destabilize countries it purports to help, is involved in numerous other projects including the development of the District Court Library, improving the BASL Library, BASL system networking project, public forums, trafficking program, ethics issues, BASL research unit and the ICT project.

Most of these projects are in the ‘in progress’ category with some having little or no progress to show. Some of them are partly funded by BASL but are conveniently referred to as ‘USAID projects’.

Interestingly apart from the BASL President, Geoffrey Alagaratnam the rest of the Bar seems to be clueless about projects, duration, budget lines and such. Such information is known almost exclusively to Prakalathan Thuraisingham (also known as ‘Prabha’), who is the on-the-spot point-man for USAID in BASL offices and activities. Thuraisingham works closely with Nayomi Wickramaratne who was the previous Administrative Secretary (Acting) of BASL.

Interestingly, she held that post even as she worked for USAID, obtaining two salaries, a fact that the then Treasurer Upul Deshapriya vehemently objected to. Whether or not Upul Jayasuriya knew this is unclear. What is clear is that through her, USAID had access to the personal files, the accounts, system information and details of the management structure, all of which could easily be used to manipulate the BASL for whatever ends. Whether this happened, we don’t know, but the opportunity was there and indeed was created either knowingly or due to gross neglect and incompetence on the part of whoever was responsible for creating these conditions.

USAID does pay a rent for the space occupied, but nothing is paid for the use of other BASL resources including employees. What might have begun in cordial terms had within the space of 18 months transformed into a situation where USAID officials operate as though they own the BASL. USAID officials are reported to be poking their fingers into administrative operations of the BASL. Thuraisingham is reported to strutting around as though he is a member of the BASL, even being present that election of Bar Council Members. The truth is he is neither member nor an employee. Whether or not he had the blessings of the BASL President and the rest of the BASL membership is not known.

Most disturbing (for lawyers) is the fact that through the ‘networking project’ funded by USAID the details of all BASL members, court cases against lawyers, projects etc., can be accessed by an outside agency. Considering the sway of the BASL in the political life of the country (it played a key role in the eviction of Mohan Peiris and the reinstating of Shiranee Bandaranayake as Chief Justice, for example), the benefits for a rogue outfit operating for a country that does not subscribe to the ethics one expects in matters that are described as ‘friendly’, are pretty obvious.

Information is key. Documentation, historically, is often a necessary first step that is followed by either purchase or outright capture. Perhaps the affairs of the BASL are not that dramatic, but a body that purports to be independent of political control (a fact seriously compromised by the election of Upul Jayasuriya, a known UNPer and an immediate beneficiary of the January 8 result) should not only steer clear of political parties but all other bodies, especially agencies that have a history of meddling and indeed subversion.

It doesn’t look as the membership of the BASL has a clue about what’s happening. The current President and the Executive Committee, for example, are contemplating a change in the BASL structure which could very well make the ‘USAID takeover’ official for all intents and purposes.
The envisaged restructuring will see the appointment of an Executive Director who will function as the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Registered Lobbyist. This would severely diminish the discretionary powers of the Secretary, Treasurer and Administrative Secretary.

The project is the brainchild of USAID which is to provide relevant funds.

The person appointed to the position will have wide powers which include implementing programs regardless of management changes, developing income generating plans and linking the bar with other professionals and organizations.  In addition he/she will be involved in education, communication, data base and community through policy, reporting and programming.

He/she will also develop strategic plans and implement the action/operational plan and micro donation strategies, advice on all BASL activities, act as official spokesperson of the bar, represent BASL and supervise day to day operations of the BASL.

Thuraisingham’s name (Surprise! Surprise!) is being tossed around as the possible first ‘Executive Director’. BASL members would know the nature of the organization’s relationship with the Chief Justice and the Attorney General. The potential for involvement in unwarranted and dangerous ways in the affairs of justice needs no elaboration.

The proposal does not mention eligibility criteria, opening the post to people who are not members of BASL and therefore technically to people who have no understanding of the judicial system of the country, its history and traditions, or the role of the BASL. The problem then is not about Thuraisingham. If not him, then someone else, that’s the logic that can be drawn from the absence of specification. And if USAID is funding it, there’s no reason to believe that USAID will not have a say in who gets the job.
The membership needs to ask questions. Alagaratnam needs to answer questions. Will he inform the membership of all that has happened, including the role of the USAID, the operations of Thuraisingham, the status of BASL vis-à-vis USAID and what the possible appointment of an USAID-handpick would mean for the BASL?

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of ‘The Nation’ and his articles can be found at www.malindawords.blogspot.com

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

May 7, 2018, 12:29 pm

Former Kegalle District JVP MP Anuruddha Polgampola, who was compelled to resign, in Sept, 2008 for allegedly helping a person enter Japan, posing as his assistant, was appointed Chairman of the State Timber Corporation (STC) by President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday (May 4).

The appointment was made within 24 hours after STC Chairman Piyasena Dissanayake was arrested along with Dr. T. H.K. Mahanama, Chief of Staff of President Maithripala Sirisena for allegedly accepting a Rs 20 mn bribe from an Indian national.

The JVP Central Committee called for Polgampola’s resignation soon after the revelation that Japanese Immigration and Emigration authorities had questioned the MP at the Narita International Airport.

Ex-JVP MP Anuruddha Polgampola receiving letter of appointment as Chairman, State Timber Corporation (STC) from President Sirisena on Friday, May 4.

The JVP identified the person who received Polgampola’s help to enter Japan illegally as Kodituwakku Arachchige Rohan.

Japan deported the youth in late August, 2008.

JVP MP Vijitha Herath yesterday told The Island that the appointment received by Polgampola reflected the crisis in the current government administration. Herath said that the JVP had decided to expel Polgampola even before the flight taking him and the other person masquerading as his personal assistant touched down at Narita International airport. “We got to know Polgampola’s illegal operation immediately after he had left for Japan,” Herath said, adding that the MP didn’t have party approval to leave the country.

Herath alleged that Polgampola had been in remand twice in 2016 for deceiving two persons who had invested in a Vavuniya-based enterprise launched by him, with the blessings of the previous government. Having served under the former SLFP National Organiser Basil Rajapaksa after his expulsion from the JVP, Polgampola entered presidential fray in 2015 as an independent candidate and then contested the parliamentary polls in August 2015 on the UPFA ticket.

Mohammed Muzammil, spokesman for breakaway JVP faction, National Freedom Front (NFF) told The Island that Polgampola had been involved in the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) until the finalization of nominations for Local Government polls in February this year. Muzammil said that Polgampola functioned as the Organizing Secretary of the SLPP at the time he switched allegiance to President Sirisena.

Muzammil, who had been parliamentary colleague of Polgampola at the time the latter quit, emphasized the that key appointments should be cleared by the Parliamentary High Posts Committee. Both Herath and Muzammil said that there was nothing personal in their response to the latest appointment made by President Sirisena.

The Rajapaksa administration had never conducted a proper inquiry into an MP’s alleged involvement in human smuggling though the Japanese brought the Aug 2008 detection to the attention of the then government.

A senior police officer told The Island that police clearance was required and sought by state agencies. However, key appointments were made without taking into consideration alleged involvement of those receiving fresh postings in various clandestine activities, the official said.

RAJEEWA JAYAWEERA Courtesy The Island

May 6, 2018, 10:48 pm

In the wake of President’s Chief of Staff and Chairman State Timber Corporation being nabbed by Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) in a five-star hotel car park, accepting Rs. 20 million as part of a bribe from an Indian businessman, local media had published a statement by Secretary to the President.

The top bureaucrat has stated; “The government will not tolerate Bribery and Corruption. This government will continue to punish those engaged in bribery and corruption.”

The worthy gentleman has craftily left out nepotism and cronyism from the narrative.

The Oxford Dictionary defines Bribery, Corruption, Nepotism and Cronyism as: Dishonestly persuade (someone) to act in one’s favor by a gift of money or other inducement; dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery; The practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs, respectively; and the appointment of friends and associates to positions of authority, without proper regard to their qualifications.

Bribery, corruption, nepotism, and cronyism have had a corrosive effect on Sri Lankan society since independence. They are interrelated.

One of the earliest known cases of nepotism was the nomination by Ceylon’s first Prime Minister DS Senanayake of his son Dudley Senanayake as his successor, over the more senior and deserving SWRD Bandaranaike, which led to SWRD leaving the UNP.

Friends and family of politicians and their minions often facilitate corrupt deals. Furthermore, their imperious conduct with no accountability causes administrative havoc in government institutions.

The son-in-law of the President’s Secretary was appointed to the Sri Lanka High Commission in London in October 2015 and holds the rank of Counsellor (Consular). He is a British national and had been working in his family law firm before his appointment. His sole qualification to be appointed was having the good fortune of being the offspring of a former Government Agent, whose one-time Grama Niladhari is now the President of the country.

Career Foreign Service officers must be graduates and pass an open competitive examination to enter the Foreign Service. After completing three years of probation, they start as Third Secretaries and progress in their careers, many reaching ambassadorial rank after 15-20 years. During this time, they gain invaluable experience so necessary in the conduct of diplomacy.

On the other hand, relatives and friends of politicians and their minions or political appointees parachute into Sri Lankan missions abroad for a few years. They often lack in both formal education and necessary skills required in that line of work. They also deprive junior Foreign Service officers of valuable training opportunities impacting their performance as they progress in the Foreign Service.

The Rajapaksa regime turned nepotism and cronyism into a fine art. Yahapalanists who faithfully promised to eradicate bribery, corruption, nepotism, and cronyism during the campaign trail lost no time after January 08, 2015 electoral victory in emulating the Rajapaksas.

The chief Yahapalanist appointed his brother as the head of a cash-rich state institution, in the first week of his presidency. The deputy chief Yahapalanist, not to be outdone, appointed a member of his ‘Royal’ clan to the Central Bank. Because of the findings of his wrongdoings by a Presidential Commission, this clansman is now a fugitive.

Abraham Lincoln once said; “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”

Yohan Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe today said the Samurdhi Bank would be soon brought under the control of the Central Bank.

All banks except the Samurdhi Bank are monitored by the Central Bank,” he said at the UNP May Day rally held today at the Sugathadasa Stadium.

Even the EPF is monitored and controlled by the Ministry of Finance.

However, the Samurdhi Bank is not being monitored or administered by any institution and therefore, we will bring it under the control of Central Bank,” he said. ()

Thilanka Kanakarathna Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Former social empowerment minister S.B Dissanayake today said he would never allow Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to vest the Samurdhi Bank under the Central Bank’s control.

He was responding to a statement made by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the UNP May Day rally that the Samurdhi Development Bank would be soon brought under the control of the Central Bank (CB) .

The MP told Daily Mirror the Samurdhi Bank which had a capital more than Rs.200 Billion functions under the Samurdhi Act, which had been passed by the Parliament.

He said it was specifically mentioned in the Act that the Samurdhi Bank could not be vested under the control or controlled by the Central Bank.

The MP said Prime Minister would need a two-thirds majority in Parliament if the Act was to be amended and vowed he would make sure that the PM did not receive such a majority.

The Central bank was robbed in broad daylight. We will not let Prime Minister to lay a hand on the poor people’s money,” he said and added that in other countries such banks formed to benefit the poor were not controlled by their central banks.

It is a well known practice that such banks operate transparently when they were function in small groups and societies. People do not trust the Central Bank anymore,” the MP said.

He said the SDB had 1,754 branches countrywide and was a means of empowering the poor people. ()

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

The Supreme Council of Maha Sanga of Sri Lanka has demanded that  Executive Presidency of Sri Lanka should not be abolished  and the proposed 20 Amendment must be withdrawn.  In previous occasions,  on key issues Malwatte Maha NayakeThero disagreed with the rest.  But on this issue of proposed 20^th Amendment, the Ven. Malwatte Maha NayakeThibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thero  has  given his seal of  approval for the retention of the Executive Presidency and to scrap the proposed 20 Amendment.

The crux of the issue is that Maha Sanga of Sri Lanka has no confidence on the Prime Minister Mr Ranil Wickremasinghe.  If Executive Presidency is abolished,  crooks such as Ranil Wickremasinghe will ruin the country, religion and its cultural heritage.    The actions of the Maha Sanga is therefore a clear vote of no confidence on the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

The Maha Sanga is fully aware that Mr Ranil Wickremasinghe has repeatedly used back-door tactics with Mr Jayampathi Wickremaratne to bring amendments at the sub-committee stages, thus nullifying the main concepts of the Legislation.  This man is not only a clever person to become the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka by back-door tactics, but he is equally clever and smart to twist and turn rules and regulations to achieve his ulterior motives.

We believe that Maha Sanga must summon Mr Ranil Wickremasinghe and his puppy puppet dog Anura Kumara to Dalada Maligawa and reprimand both of them in public.  They must be given a public dressing down in the presence of the Supreme Council of Maha Sanga.

In addition, the Maha Sanga must propose to the President to remove Mano Ganeshan from the portfolio of  Minister of National Co-Existence, Reconciliation and Official Languages. ( Appointing Mr Vasudeva Nanayakkara as Minister of National Languages and Social Integration to the Cabinet of President Mahinda Rajapakse need to be noted with deep regret).

ECONOMYNEXT –

May 5, 2018, 7:45 pm

The arrest of the President’s Chief of Staff while allegedly accepting a 20 million bribe may have seriously damaged Maithripala Sirisena ’s image and weakened his position within the tenuous coalition.

Sirisena was reportedly visibly shaken when a senior aide told him on Thursday that his Chief of Staff H. M. Mahanama had been caught a few minutes earlier while counting 20 million rupees at the Taj Samudra car park given by an Indian investor in the Kantale Sugar factory which has been put up for privatisation.

“May ape Mahanama?! (Our Mahanama?)” the president reportedly asked twice, not believing that his trusted aide had been arrested following a sting operation four weeks in the making.

Mahanama retired recently from the Ministry of Lands where he was secretary and he is regarded as the key figure who had allegedly obstructed the Indo-Singaporean joint venture that wants to invest $100 million in the defunct Kantale Sugar factory.

Following his retirement last month, Mahanama was chosen to be Sirisena’s Chief of Staff because of the long association between the two men, official sources said.

The second man arrested along with Mahanama on Thursday was Piyadasa Dissanayake, the Chairman of the State Timber Corporation. That appointment was also made by Sirisena as Minister of Environment.

The two men had initially demanded 540 million rupees to sweeten the sugar deal for the Indian and Singapore investors, but later reduced their “fee” to 100 million, according to the bribery detectives. The two men were receiving the first tranche of 20 million rupees when they were caught.

“The President was informed about the involvement of some officials in his secretariat, but he did not know who the target was until the arrest,” an official involved in the sting said.

The President’s office issued a statement on Thursday night in a bid to deflect responsibility. In his rush, he may have also inadvertently convicted the two men even before they were formally charged.

The president “advised the authorities to strictly enforce the law against the two offenders,” the president’s statement said, virtually pronouncing them guilty.

However, political sources say the incident is a major setback for Sirisena who is embroiled in a cold-war power struggle with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Sirisena had used the Central Bank bond scam to discredit Wickremesinghe’s United National Party, arguing that the fugitive former central bank governor Arjuna Mahendran was a nominee of the Prime Minister.

The tables have now turned. By Sirisena’s own logic, he should accept responsibility for Mahanama taking a bribe from a foreign investor. Sirisena was dislodged from his moral high ground last month following reports that his daughter had obtained a liquor licence although he himself had restored a ban on women buying or serving liquor at restaurants. The sugar deal that went sour is only making things worse for Sirisena.

Private anti-corruption activist Keerthi Tennakoon questioned why Mahanama was made President’s Chief of Staff despite long-standing allegations of corruption against him from his days at the Lands Ministry.

Sirisena attempted to discredit the UNP over the bond scam, but the sugar scandal could be a blot on Sirisena’s record and strengthen allegations of other wrong doings including in the purchase of a naval craft from Russia. The Presidential Secretariat has denied any wrong doing in buying a vessel from Russia at a cost of over $100 million, but Sirisena’s high officials being implicated in corruption could raise fresh questions about other transactions too.

By Kumudini Hettiarachchi

he journeyed to the nooks and crannies of the country preaching bana or delivering dharma deshana, a grim reality hit him hard.

With age making them feeble and frail, monks who had followed in the footsteps of Lord Buddha, renouncing all that was worldly including their relatives, faced absolute neglect.

These were monks in remote aranyas who had become antha asarana wela, yanna thenak nethuwa”, recalls Ven. Galigamuwe Gnanadeepa Thera, explaining that they were in dire straits, with no place to go to.

They had lived solitary, lonely and frugal lives, forfeiting money, material and relatives, going on pinda patha for their basic necessities.

Suddenly old age had come upon them and Ven. Galigamuwe Gnanadeepa Thera had found some who were very ill and bedridden, with no one to clean them up, others who had not been bathed in months and one who had even begged of him to give him something to end his misery.

This is what propelled him towards setting up the Seela Suwa Arana Gilan Bhikkhu Centre six years ago, beginning with just four kuti,which has now blossomed into a three-storey building with accommodation for 35. Currently, there are 31 ranging in age from 18 to 96 years with different ailments – some are paralyzed, some are severe diabetics, some have cancer and one is to undergo a kidney removal soon.

We visit this Healthcare Monastery set amidst lush greenery in Akkara 4, Welipatha, Kandana, about four kilometres from Horana town, passing through wel-yayas as far as the eye can see and also dense and gloomy rubber plantations on Tuesday, with the holiest day for Buddhists, Vesak, just five days away.

The Healthcare Monastery is set amidst 260 perches of land, 100 donated to Ven. Galigamuwe Gnanadeepa Thera and the balance taken on long lease from the state, an ideal location for holistic care.

There have been times when he was compelled to sell the Ata Pirikara offered to him, while his travels abroad have also brought in donations after his deshana. He has a staff of about 35 including a doctor and nurses and says one cannot expect volunteers to do all that is expected of the staff as they are trained to attend to the monks, oft cleaning them up tenderly when they soil themselves and thereafter paying obeisance to them, with a smile.

It is individualized care that is extended at the Healthcare Monastery with a dietitian looking into the nutritional requirements. For those who cannot swallow, the food is blended and fed and those who are diabetics will get a special diet.

Currently, some are being taken for ayurveda treatment and Ven.

Galigamuwe Gnanadeepa Thera says that a section for in-house treatment along with beheth oru et al is on the drawing boards, as also concrete pathways so that the monks who are wheelchair-bound can be wheeled around outside taking in the fresh air. Then both forms of treatment – western and ayurveda will be close at hand for the ailing monks.

At least once a month, all those who can be taken are gently put into a vehicle and transported to such places as the Kalutara Bodhiya where they can engage in religious activity and also have a small outing.

Whenever they become seriously-ill they are taken to the Horana Hospital by ambulance which the Healthcare Monastery owns and there will always be someone by their side when they pass away.

We see the words as deeds when we walk around the building, guided by Chief Male Nurse Ananda Kandawala. Four years ago, 18-year-old Pallewala Sumanasena Himi from Mirigama had fallen from a tree, injuring his spine. He is now in a wheelchair.

In another room, Matara Wimala Keerthi Himi, 88, calls out blessings on all those who are looking after him, smilingly and serenely saying that he has only thava sulu kalayai” (only a little time left).

Debahera Dhammawansa Himi is having a problem with his nerves after slipping and falling, while returning to his remote aranya, having preached bana about two years ago. He is also hit by diabetes and is awaiting the removal of a diseased kidney.

The tales of illness are similar and different at the same time – Kirindagalle Gnanathilake Himi, 75, is a diabetic with the disease making him blind, having only a little vision in the right eye. From the remote Athdalagala Aranya in Meegalewa, interior from Galgamuwa, he was the first who got succour at this monastery.

A one-bed Emergency Treatment Unit (ETU) and a pharmacy are all part of the care, while a Bakkula Maha Seya is taking shape on the premises.

It is comfort and care in a holistic manner for ageing monks who have served their devotees with dedication in keeping with Lord Buddha’s way.

A meritorious deed indeed

Thinking of doing a meritorious deed – you can make a donation to the Seela Suwa Arana this Vesak.

Contributions may be channelled to Account No. 0067-6000-0068 of the Sampath Bank (Athurugiriya branch) or Account No. 80074124 of the Bank of Ceylon (Metropolitan branch), with both in the Account Name of ‘Seela Suwa Arana’.

People could also make a donation towards the running of the monastery because overheads are heavy.

When celebrating a birthday or an anniversary, a family a group can donate some amount towards the cost per day for such overheads, points out Ven. Galigamuwe Gnanadeepa Thera.

For more details, please contact Phone:

034-5725795, 034-2262782 or 034-2263646.

E-mail: seelasuwaarana@gmail.com

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka will sign agreements with French oil and gas major Total and a subsidiary of U.S. firm Schlumberger for a seismic study off its east coast to evaluate any prospective oil resources, a top official said on Friday.

Vajira Dassanayake, the director general at Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat (PRDS), said a first deal signed with Total in 2016 to conduct a study off the eastern coast did not take place due to some issues”.

We are hoping to sign a new agreement with Total later this month,” Dassanayake told Reuters.

Total had earlier signed a two-year agreement with PRDS to survey around 50,000 sq km off the east coast from the air, at a cost of $25 million to acquire data on unexplored areas.

Dassanayake said Total will invest $3 million to $10 million for the seismic study, while Eastern Echo Holding Ltd, a subsidiary of Schlumberger, will carry it out.

It’s a marine survey. There will be more resources allocated this time compared to the previous agreement. They will have the marketing exclusivity for a certain period until they recover their cost,” Dassanayake said.

Actual ownership of the data will be with the government of Sri Lanka. They (Total) have one year to negotiate with us and to give us a favorable contract for production and sharing.”

Officials from Total and Schlumberger did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Sri Lanka produces no oil and is dependent on imports for all of its fuel requirements, despite trying to reinvigorate oil and gas exploration after the end nine years ago of its 25-year civil war with Tamil separatists.

Importing oil cost the island $3.2 billion in 2017.

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s state-run investment body has approved a $500 million liquefied natural gas plant by China Machinery Engineering Corp near a Chinese-controlled port and industrial zone, the development strategies minister said on Friday.

The state-run Board of Investment has approved investment projects worth $1 billion in the first quarter, Malik Samarawickrama said, the largest of which was the LNG project in Hambantota, where China Merchants Port Holdings controls a Chinese-built port on a 99-year lease.

The port, which is leased for $1.12 billion, is near the main shipping route from Asia to Europe and likely to play a major role in China’s belt and road” initiative

Sudath Gunasekara

5.5.2018

Why don’t you say your development projects have already born fruits to the whole nation in a right royal manner long time ago with the Central Bank robbery led by your able leadership. People know it is sweet for you but utterly sour for them, though, you don’t realize it as a Royal royalists until the next election is held.

Development projects will bear fruit in a few years: PM

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

People will reap the benefits of development in a few years time, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday.

He said this at the opening of the newly built auditorium at the Milleniya Divisional Secretariat.

Many are asking what this government had done during the past three years. One will begin to feel and reap the benefits of the development work carried out by this government only in few years time,” the Prime Minister said. One will be able to see imagined opportunities with the industrial and tourism zones being set up now. You will be able to put up hostels, shops and even one could lend his or her garden space to keep large containers and earn money. If you allow two containers in your garden that will help you to earn a considerable amount of money,” the Premier said.

He said the work on the Milleniya Industrial Zone will begin in June this year. He said the final agreement with the Thai company which is going to manage the zone would be signed shortly. The Hambantota Industrial zone is also ready to take off and so is the tourism zone in Deduwa and Iranawila,” the Premier said.

He said divisional secretariat offices have a major role to play when it came to development of villages. If the divisional secretariat becomes inefficient all development work will come to a standstill,” the Premier said and recalled that the industrial zone project in Biyagama became a success story because of the divisional secretariat carried out its work effectively and efficiently. (Yohan Perera)

By Udaya P Gammanpila Courtesy Ceylon Today

It was pointed out in the previous column that allegations against the Executive Presidency are baseless. We posed five questions to the anti-executive Presidency camp. Before discussing any further, let us revisit those five questions.

If the Executive Presidency is dictatorial, why has it become the most popular governing method in the world? If the Executive Presidency is oppressive, the USA must be the most suffered nation because it has been under Executive Presidency for 229 years.  Why is there no campaign to abolish the Executive Presidency in the USA?  If this is a bad system, why is there a trend in the world to embrace the Executive Presidency leaving the Westminster System? The Westminster System was evolved to accommodate the British King in a democratic model. In absence of a King, why should we spend billons of Rupees to maintain a nominal President?

Finally, why is there not a campaign in any country, except Sri Lanka, for the abolition of the Executive Presidency? The answer to this question is misjudgment of weaknesses in the 1978 Constitution as the weaknesses of the Executive Presidency.  Hence, let us identify the weaknesses of 1978 Constitution.

There is a misconception that ours is the most powerful President in the world.  In fact, the US President is more powerful than ours.  Let me quote two examples. The Sri Lankan President can appoint only Parliamentarians as Ministers.  In other words, the President has been restricted in the selection of ministers to a pool of 225 persons chosen by the people.  However, the US President has a wide discretion in this regard since he can appoint any citizen as a minister.

The Sri Lankan President has no role in the legislative process. Any Act passed by Parliament becomes a law after the Speaker places his signature.  In contrast, an American Act does not become a law until the President places signature.  If he vetoes an Act, it should be approved with a two third majority by both Congress and Senate to become a law.

There is no campaign against the Executive Presidency in the USA, although it has the most powerful President in the world. That is because of the provisions contained in the Constitution to discipline the President. The Sri Lankan President is not accountable to anybody. He does not have to justify his decision before anybody. Hence, nobody can question his decisions. This situation has compelled the President to make stubborn decisions. In contrast, the US President is accountable to the Senate. The Senate has powers to summon and question the President.  Historical presidents such as Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and Gerald Ford have been grilled by the Senate, challenging the rationality of their decisions.

The Sri Lankan President is not subject to judicial writ. He enjoys the immunity enjoyed by the British Queen. Although President Sirisena promised to strip this immunity, he did not do that. There is a misconception that the presidential immunity was removed by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. The Supreme Court has ruled that the President can be made a respondent in Fundamental Rights petitions.  The only amendment made by 19A, in respect of the immunity, is constitutionalizing of the above judgment.

No civil or criminal legal action can be filed against the President. Hence, the President cannot be prosecuted even if he commits a massacre. If the first lady is in need of divorcing the President, she has to wait until he relinquishes his office. No action can be filed against any ex-president for his actions or inactions when he was in office.  Hilariously, it is applicable to the divorce cases as well.  In contrast, the US President is subject to the judiciary writ. That is why Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones were able to file action against President Bill Clinton for sexual molestation.

Although there is an upper limit for the Cabinet of Ministers, there is no such a lower limit.  Hence, the President can be a one-man Cabinet by taking all ministries under him.  Fortunately, no President so far attempted this mockery.

If the majority of the Cabinet, including the vice President, is of the opinion that the President is unable to discharge the presidential powers and duties, he can function as the acting president. If the President contests this opinion, the Congress should decide the status of the President. There is no similar provision in our Constitution. Although there are provisions for impeachment, it was proven impractical when the Parliament attempted to impeach President Premadasa in 1991.

Powers of the President, introduced by 1978 Constitution, have substantially reduced by the subsequent amendments. The 13th Amendment transferred executive powers of the President to Provincial Cabinets in respect of 36 subjects.  The President has limited powers to intervene directly or through Governors only on special occasions.  The 19th Amendment further reduced the powers of the President by introducing a Constitutional Council which makes recommendations to the President for high posts such as superior Judges, the Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police.

It is crystal clear with the above analysis that Sri Lanka’s problem is absence of provisions in the Constitution to discipline the President.  Hence, the need of the hour is not the abolition of the Executive Presidency, but introduction of necessary provisions to control and review presidential actions by studying the Constitutions of the USA, France and Russia.

by Rajeewa Jayaweera Courtesy The Island

President Sirisena met with British Peer Lord Naseby during his recent visit to attend CHOGM in the UK.

In October 2017, Naseby, after appealing to the British Information Commissioner, obtain 39 pages of highly redacted confidential dispatches from the British High Commission in Colombo during the last stages of the Vanni campaign. During a debate in the House of Lords, he urged the UK government to revisit the UNHRC Resolution 30/1. Despite redactions, dispatches estimated 7,000 to 8,000 civilian deaths during the closing phase of the conflict with around a quarter of them being LTTE cadre in civilian clothing. One such document contained, “certainly there was no policy to kill civilians by Sri Lankan army.”

Lord Naseby and Prsident Sirisena

On the other hand, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Resolution 30/1 is based on the UN Secretary General’s Panel of Experts (PoE) report, also known as Darusman Report.It states; “Two years after the end of the war, there is still no reliable figure for civilian deaths, but multiple sources of the information indicating that a range of up to 40,000 civilian deaths cannot be ruled out at this stage. Only a proper investigation can lead to the identification of all the victims and the formulation of an accurate figure for the total number of civilian deaths.” (PoE Report p 41, sub-para 137). It accused government forces of “(i) killing of civilians through widespread shelling (ii) Shelling of hospitals and humanitarian objects” (Executive Summary p iii para 5) deliberately targeting civilians.

Even six months after Naseby’s revelations, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration has not requested a review of the Geneva Resolution.

During their recent meeting, Naseby had made some very sensible and relevant suggestions to Sirisena on how to deal with the contentious resolution.

He had suggested; (i) With the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) now activated, it could proceed with the task of resolving the issue of thousands of persons reported missing or dead during the conflict. (ii) Replace the wartime Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) with an Act more appropriate for peacetime. (iii) The need for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as recommended by UNHRC. (iv) The government should release monthly, or quarterly bulletins with details of occupied land returned to owners in the Northern and Eastern provinces.

The first suggestion is of enormous importance to Sri Lanka and requires assiduous handling. The OMP office must necessarily embark on the task of preparing a comprehensive list of missing persons. With such a list, assistance need be sought from US, UK, other EU countries, Canada, Australia, and India to reconcile with names of all those granted asylum by said countries.

The PoE, between October 27, and December 31, 2010, received 4,000 submissions from more than 2,300 senders (PoE Report page 5, sub-para 17). The report does not contain the information if those submitting information were only from members of Tamil community or included those from the Sinhalese community, mostly JVP members who fled the country. A list of missing persons mutually agreed by Sri Lanka and asylum granting nations to Tamils and Sinhalese is vital due to the possibility of those listed as missing or killed in Sri Lankan living under assumed names in foreign countries. The workload of OMP would reduce substantially in the event missing/dead persons are found to be alive.

Three examples of such cases which surfaced during the last decade are;

The film titled ‘Dheepan’ awarded the Palme d’Or, Festival in Cannes in 2015 is a true story. Dheepan was about an LTTE terrorist (referred to as freedom fighter, refugee and immigrant in publicity material and reviews). It begins with Dheepan, in LTTE uniform, at the funeral pier of a fellow terrorist at the tail end of the conflict. After the funeral, he destroys his uniform, obtains civilian clothing and decides to flee, taking with him two total strangers – a young woman Yalini in her early twenties and a little girl Illayaal, nine years old using false documents. The ‘family’ travels from Northern Sri Lanka to South India and finally to Paris. The group eventually obtains asylum as a ‘family’ based on false documentation and declarations. The film ends with Dheepan and Yalini entering wedlock and having a child, with Illlayaal as a family member, all moving to the UK. The French and British governments need be requested to provide the real names of Dheepan, Yalini and Illayaal and details of where they lived before fleeing Sri Lanka,to ascertain if they are reported dead or missing.

According to a report filed by veteran journalist DSB Jeyaraj, a Tamil engineer named Kathiravelu Thayapararajah had functioned as Director of the LTTE operated Vanni Tech. He was a known LTTE activist but not a combatant and disappeared in September 2009. A commonly believed theory was, members of armed forces had abducted, tortured and murdered Kathiravelu. The University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna), the Australian Government Refugee Review Tribunal, Tamilnet and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights among others blamed Sri Lankan authorities for Kathiravelu’s disappearance. A Human Rights organization took up the issue with Robert Blake, the then US Asst. Secretary for South East Affairs and one-timeUS Ambassador to Sri Lanka from September 2006 till May 2009 who had agreed to investigate the matter through the US Embassy in Colombo. On May 06, 2014, Kathiravelu was arrested by the Tamil Nadu Police in Dhanushkodi together with nine others including five children attempting to enter India without valid travel documents.

One-time hardcore JVP activist Premakumar Gunaratnam, having fled Sri Lanka after breaking out from Bogambara Prison in 1988 had been granted asylum in Australia. He returned to Sri Lanka in September 2011 and was involved in local politics as a member of Frontline Socialist Party, a breakaway faction of the JVP. Having ‘disappeared’ sometime in early April 2012, he ‘surrendered’ to Police a few days later claiming to have been ‘dumped’ by his ‘abductors.’ The then Australian High Commissioner in Colombo Robyn Mudie turned up with Australian passport N1016123, claimed Gunaratnam was an Australian citizen named Noel Mudalige and demanded his release. He was deported on April 10.

These are, but three examples of a dead or missing LTTE combatant and two LTTE and JVP activists found to be living in overseas countries.

Nearly nine years have passed since LTTE was defeated and there have been no signs of a resurgence of terrorism. PTA was a requirement during the civil war, and there is merit in the suggestion to replace the Act with one more suitable for peacetime. Its replacement must not be viewed as a requirement to satisfy the international community but a necessity for the citizens of this country.

Different types of Truth & Reconciliation Commissions have been set up in several countries, tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by governments and non-state actors in the hope of resolving conflicts left over from the past. Some have contributed to healing wounds from the past. The Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was unfortunately not adequately funded and many of its recommendations not implemented. Therefore, a fresh initiative would be essential to move forward with the reconciliation process.

Sufficient time has passed for the state to make up its mind on land required in the North and East for national security purposes. Indefinite occupation of private property does not in any way contribute to reconciliation. In fact, it is a key irritant and adds to the notion that the government is not sincere in its efforts in addressing the national question. Some land has been returned since January 2015 but not given adequate publicity. Therefore, it is time for a decision on what can be released, and compensation paid for what cannot be returned.Meanwhile, the publication of periodic figures, perhaps quarterly, of land returned to rightful owners should be seriously considered.

“Only a proper investigation can lead to the identification of all the victims and the formulation of an accurate figure for the total number of civilian deaths” stated in the one-sided PoE Report makes little or no sense.

In preparing the report, they have not considered some very relevant information/documents; (i) confidential cables from US embassy in Colombo to State Department in Washington released by Wikileaks. (ii) contents of a classified cable from the then US Ambassador to Geneva, Clint Williamson after his confidential conversation with then ICRC Head of Operations Jacque de Mio on July 09, 2009, clearing SL Army of crimes against humanity, released through Wikileaks. (iii) views expressed by British Lawyer and one-time UN Chief War Crimes Prosecutor in Sierra Leon Sir Desmond de Silva and British military expert Major General Holmes. (iv) reports from the then UN country team in Sri Lanka and former UN media spokesman Gordon Weiss (v) dispatches by former British Defense Attaché in Colombo, Lieutenant Colonel Anton Gash. (vi) Causality estimates of other credible organizations, i.e., 6,710 (US State Department), nearly 7,000 (International Crisis Group), 7,721 (UN Country Team) and 10,000 (Amnesty International).

In ignoring such crucial information, PoE members have displayed extreme bias and prejudice.

The Geneva Resolution ignored the Paranagama Commission Report which called for a domestic judicial investigation, backed by international technical assistance and foreign observers.

US and UK were key promoters of the Geneva Resolution. By not insisting PoE members take all available material including confidential dispatches from their respective representatives on location in Sri Lanka in their deliberations indicates ulterior motives other than professed humanitarian considerations. It also projects a lack of faith in their representatives.

The OMP has it work cut out. The Paranagama Commission received 21,000 complaints (Executive Summary p xviii para 16) related to so-called disappearances and extrajudicial killings.This readymade list of missing and dead persons could be handed over to US, UK, other EU countries, Canada, Australia, and India for reconciliation with details of those granted asylum. States declining to cooperate could be reported to UNHRC for hindering the implementation of item 4 in UNHRC Resolution 30/1.

The OMP is an independent commission not subject to government direction. That said, there is no law against the commission requesting the assistance of government agencies in carrying out their mandate.

Most importantly, what is required is the political will on the part of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration and for its leaders to provide the political leadership necessary to address the issue at hand.

Furthermore, Sri Lanka must do what it takes to establish the truth about the mythical 40,000 deaths during the Vanni campaign, so critical in meeting the challenges of the Geneva Resolution.

Will President Sirisena heed Naseby’s advise?

Courtesy The Island

May 5, 2018, 7:46 pm
The head of the Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID) reaches the mandatory retirement age of 60 next week with attempts to extend his services despite legal obstacles, official sources said.

Senior Deputy Inspector-General Ravi Waidyalankara submitted his papers to retire on his 60th birthday on May 14, but there were moves to grant an extension, officials said.

Inspector-General Pujith Jayasundara last month wrote to the Police Commission recommending that Waidyalankara’s retirement be accepted as there was no provision to grant him an extension.

Two senior officers had bene given extensions beyond the mandatory retirement age, but both had unblemished service records.

They are Deputy Inspector-General S. W. Wickremasinghe of Prime Minister’s security unit and Senior Superintendent R. P. Jayatillaka of the President’s security.

Both were re-employed on contract basis for one year.

However, IGP Jayasundara told the Police Commission that in Waidyalankara’s case there were two pending investigations against him — one by the SIU or the Special Investigation Unit and the other by the Bribery Commission (CIABOC).

The Commission has also been told that four senior officers had bene denied service extensions recently because they were still facing disciplinary inquiries at the time of reaching the mandatory retirement age.

Senior DIG Waidyalankara was the head of the FCID from its inception and is regarded as a capable officer. However, making an exception and extending his services could set a precedent for others in similar circumstances.

The FCID has been investigating a large number of high profile corruption cases.

Rajan Philips Courtesy The Island

May 5, 2018, 12:00 pm

For starters today, I was planning this secular prayer: Let us first say thanks for small mercies – for keeping Ravi Karunanayake out of the cabinet in last Tuesday’s reshuffle. Two days later the thunderbolt struck –the President’s Chief of Staff and the Timber Corporation Chairman caught counting bribe cash in the carpark at Taj Samudra. How brazen has corruption become? We knew it had already climbed high. But thanks again for small mercies – to the Bribery Commission officials who arrested the two government thieves. The Bribery Commission is having better luck with real time culprits than it has been having with rogues of the past. I will spare the details of the arrests and the arrestees which are already virally known, and turn to their inauspicious effects on the new session of parliament that is scheduled to open on Tuesday, May 8.

Already, the presidential secretariat has exhibited its ineptitude in taking three trial and error gazette notifications to properly announce the May 8 opening. Now, President Sirisena will have to acknowledge and address the embarrassment of the mid-afternoon bribery scandal involving his Chief of Staff I.M.H. Mahanama and the Chairman of the Timber Corporation P. Dissanayake. The President has already exonerated himself by interdicting the culprits and claiming that the arrests of the two men prove that his administration is being effective in the fight against corruption. What it really proves is that things will work if the law enforcement officials are given the freedom to do their job without political interference.

President Sirisena or Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, or for that matter former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, cannot so easily exonerate themselves from their general record of protecting bribe takers and corruption beneficiaries, and allegations of their own implications in some of them. What will the President say, if anything, on the matter of bringing state criminals to book? Apart from state corruption, will there be answers to state murders of intrepid journalists and a young sports star? Will anything happen before the President’s elected term is over?

The people who thought there would be changes after 2015 are now fed up and are resigned to the old curse to let ‘there be a plague’ on not just two but, now, all three houses. The SLPP cannot absolve itself because it has a new abbreviation. Name change is not rebirth. Its contents are all old stock. The people are more concerned about their livelihood woes. There is no economic commentary going around that is positive or rosy, even without the unsolicited opinions of the former Central Bank Governor. With his past locked in a glass house, Nivad Cabraal, should stop throwing stones at the current regime. As for the economists with professional credibility, what they are figuring out in their heads the people are doubly feeling in their guts.

The economic woes

Sri Lanka’s economy like most national economies can keep growing at what Nimal Sanderatne calls its ‘autonomous growth’ rate, regardless of what governments might do to spur or stall growth. But when things go wrong, it is the government that gets the blame, and rightly so as is the case almost always in Sri Lanka. The current mainstays of Sri Lanka’s economy – are tourism, exports led garment and tea and sprinkling of manufacturing and agricultural products, agriculture with a high proportion of rice production, and remittances from Sri Lankan workers overseas (90% from the Middle East). Its chronic problem is the external balance of payments – trying to keep as much foreign reserves as possible to pay for essential imports, and often measured by the number of months of import capacity. Encompassing everything is the national debt which, as Mr. Cabraal has been crowing last week, has grown to historical highs. This is a pointless argument. Hardly any government has been able to reverse the debt trend, so every year the country invariably makes history with its national debt.

The debt and deficits are also functions of our structural inability to raise revenue levels or reduce non-discretionary expenditures (e.g. public sector salaries). After about 60 years when income tax was first introduced, only 7% of the labour force and companies reportedly pay income tax. And the yahapalanya government with the gusto of a drunken sailor increased public sector salaries in its first budget in 2015. Few public servants remember that now, because those are less than crumbs compared to what politicians and officials routinely make in bond auctions or car park cash transactions.

At the household level, the pinch comes from the shortage, or the rising cost, or both, of the imported essentials. Aggregate it nationally, shortages and cost of living have been perennial political predicaments. For the first 35 years after independence the contentious commodity was imported rice closely bundled with wheat flour and sugar. Over the second 35 years, rice has been replaced by fuel. Such was the significance of rice in 1970, that a figurative opposition promise, “we will bring rice even from the moon” became an election winning slogan. Rice eventually came and in substantial quantities, not from the moon but from the island’s paddy fields in the wet zone and in the dry zone.

No one is bold, or mad, enough now to promise to bring fuel from the moon, and there is no hope for producing petroleum locally. The government is in a bind to buy fuel globally at rising prices and enable its supply locally at cost that is affordable to ordinary people. It will be political suicide if the government were to simply let the market prices determine the cost of local fuel supply. Equally, it will be economic distortion to subsidize the supply cost of fuel, as it used to be done with rice. The financial impacts will be significant and the government will be flouting one of the key conditions of the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility to Sri Lanka. Commentators like Nimal Sanderatne have suggested a politically sensitive and economically responsible way out – that is to locally cushion the impact of rising global oil prices but cut funding elsewhere to make up the deficit, in the more discretionary areas of government spending, such as perks and pensions to parliamentarians and other government extravaganzas. It will be a remarkable shift if the government were to make such a course change from past practices.

While the present government is drawing much flak, but not unjustifiably, for its handling of the economy, things were not very different when the Rajapaksas were in power. In fact, it was often said that more than astrology it was former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s fear that the economy would change for the worse that prompted him to call an early presidential election in January 2015. As blunders go, there are enough similarities between the two governments before and after January 2015. As far as the mainstays of the economy go, neither government did anything spectacular to boost tourism, exports or agriculture, apart from the 2016 restoration of EU concessions for Sri Lankan exports. According the annual World Bank overview, Sri Lanka continues to attract subpar volumes of the coveted FDI compared to peer economies. More importantly, the same report, suggests that the recent FDI inflow is “due mainly to the long-leasing of a port asset and a large land reclamation project”, which are the leasing of the port operations and port lands in Hambantota, and the Port City development in Colombo. This is only another version of what the Rajapaksas did with Chinese loans for infrastructure development.

The (UNP) government has little to show for its economic strategies over the last three years, which were centred on the promise of a million jobs based on a knowledge-based social market economy, Western Region Megapolis, free trade with anyone who wanted to talk trade with Sri Lanka, and opening industrial clusters throughout the country. What the government has been shown in return is the wrath of the people in the neglected agricultural sector, and mostly rice producers, who were left literally high and through two full paddy seasons of extreme drought. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe acknowledged that the neglect of the country’s agricultural population was a major factor in the UNP’s crushing defeat in the February local government elections. It will be interesting to see if the President’s Policy Statement to parliament on Tuesday will signal anything new that we haven’t seen so far. Or, will it be the same old, same old? The debate that will follow could be expected to offer clues about the positions the main political parties will be taking on the economy, the upcoming elections and constitutional changes.

The countdown

The new sessions will also be the start of the countdown for the final phases of the political careers of not only President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, but also former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. They are the three crucial political figures and rivals of today. They are also at the tail end of their political careers. All three of them have choices to make. Two of them, Sirisena and Wickremesinghe, may want to contest the next presidential election, which in theory one of them could win, but in reality both of them may lose. All three of them, on the other hand, have another common choice before them – and that is to put an end to all future presidential elections by supporting the JVP’s proposed 20th Amendment to abolish the executive presidential system in its current form. They will still have one more kick at the can – to contest the next parliamentary election as the prime ministerial candidates for their respective parties.

No matter how and where it will end, the JVP’s 20th Amendment proposal has become a cat among the pigeons in the main political parties. To date, the UNP and the SLFP including President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe have not said anything about the JVP’s proposal. The newly minted UNP Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam has let it be known that Ranil Wickremesinghe will contest the next presidential election as the UNP candidate and will win. The SLFP’s group of 16 were once the chief promoters of a second Sirisena candidacy for President, but it is not clear where they stand now given their self-selected no man’s land between the Sirisena and Rajapaksa loyalists. However, the SLFP Secretary Duminda Dissanayake has, like his UNP counterpart, announced that President Sirisena will be contesting for a second term as the SLFP candidate.

But both the UNP and the SLFP leaders will have a time explaining to their 2015 allies and the general public why they are going back on their earlier promises to abolish the executive presidency, and presenting themselves as two opposing presidential candidates. Already about 40 civil society organizations have expressed support to the JVP’s proposal. The greater onus to explain will be on Maithripala Sirisena who vowed to be only a one-term President. They may have quietly ignored their promises and filed nominations as candidates, but the JVP’s proposal has set a political trap in their tracks. They will have a great deal of explaining to do if they choose not to support the JVP’s 20th Amendment.

The TNA also has indicated support for the 20th Amendment provided its concerns on the ethnic problem are addressed in the amendment package. That will leave Ranil Wickremesinghe in a particularly awkward spot insofar as the Tamil votes are concerned. If the TNA supports the JVP amendment and the UNP opposes it and defeats the amendment, Mr. Wickremesinghewill have a hard time canvassing the Tamil vote. He may even suffer a second Tamil boycott, but a totally voluntary one unlike in 2005.

The Rajapaksas and the SLPP have their own set of calculations in coming to terms with the JVP’s proposal. The No Confidence Motion against the Prime Minister has already exposed the lines of division in the Rajapaksa camp. Those who were gung ho about the NCM are the promoters of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa for presidency. Basil Rajapaksa didn’t think much of the NCM idea; he was more for forcing the dissolution of parliament to be followed by a general election. Mahinda Rajapaksa would lead the SLPP to victory and become Prime Minister. There could even be an outside chance of a different 20th Amendment to rescind 19A and restore 18A. Then Mahinda Rajapaksa could be President again. Even Mohan Peiris and Nivard Cabraal could return and together with Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, again helping his brother as the quintessential doer functionary, they could restore the old Tuesday-Tea triumvirate meeting to mull over state business.

But Basil Rajapakasa is too sharp a person to miss out on reality through day dreaming:it is best for the SLPP to focus on early dissolution and a parliamentary election. The defeat of the NCM also took the air out of the Gotabhaya balloon. Then came, the JVP’s proposal and the SLPP leadership decided to test the political winds by letting MP and former Minister) Bandula Gunawardaneannounce that the SLPP would support JVP’s amendment if it included the provision for immediate dissolution of parliament. That would solve two problems for the family and the SLPP. ‘Abolishing’ the executive presidency would mean that the family doesn’t have to split over choosing a presidential candidate. And with dissolution and new parliamentary election, Mahinda Rajapaksa could return to power as Prime Minister and Head of Government.

There are layers and layers of political pushes and pulls, including admonitions from the Sangha, not to mention personal agendas and priorities, which Sirisena, Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe will have to deal with while deciding what to do about the JVP’s 20th Amendment. One certainty that we can assure the three rivals is that if they decide to support the 20th amendment and facilitate its successful passage, in parliament and in a national referendum, they will leave behind a very positive political legacy that they, their allies and progenies can for ever be proud of. Conversely, they should convince themselves that they are indeed proud of opposing the 20th Amendment before opting to oppose it.

H. L. D. Mahindapala

With a heavy overload of historical memories, some tragic, some triumphant, some futile, and some memorable and everlasting, we have arrived, on the backs of the long-suffering people, in the 70^th year of independence – the Biblical watershed to sit back and consider how far we have advanced or regressed in the intervening years. If you take a panoramic view of the political landscape and pause to assess the agonies and the ecstasies of our journey through the first seven decades, we are entitled to marvel at the fact that we have arrived at where we are now in one piece, thanks to our courageous and self-sacrificing Security Forces. To some extent we may be excused for believing that we have come out in commendable shape considering the destructive fascist forces that came up from the north and the south against the democratic centre, riddled though with all its infirmities.

Accordingly, we should be glorying now in untrammeled optimism. But, instead, there is an uneasy feeling of uncertainty and overarching hopelessness stretching all the way to the foreseeable horizon. The despondency is so thick that it hangs in the air like a mist of blinding confusion preventing any insight into the future. It was there everywhere I went during my recent sojourn. It was so palpable that I was weighed down by a pervasive depression that haunted me.

The best and the brightest – the latest being Lester Peiris – are departing. One headline screamed : Cricket has hit a new low!” So is the rupee. Only two things kept rising : 1.the cost of living and 2. the number of politicians living off the taxes collected from the poor. After the latest reshuffle we now have 114 ministers, including 42 in the Cabinet and 45 in the provincial councils for a population of only 21 million.” (The Island). Then another 441 Provincial Councillors were swept into the governing hierarchy after the recent local government elections. Add this figure to the 225 in Parliament and what do we have: the perfectly constructed irrational state which is over-governed by half-literate nincompoops who believe that the many layers of government which they occupy were made for them to make money.

To rectify the anomalies and the defects in governance dramatic changes are announced. The irony is that the more they change the more they remain the same. The following e-mail which hit my screen explains the latest changes in the ruling party, the UNP:

World Record for a School

Party Leader – Royal College
Deputy leader – Royal
Assistant leader – Royal
Chairman – Royal
National Organizer – Royal
Treasurer – Royal

No wonder the country is in a “Right Royal Mess ” !!!” Another wag wrote that Sri Lanka is now governed by FRCSs – Former Royal College Suckers. Yet another chided the Prime Minister for not abiding by the motto of Royal College ” Disce Aut Discede (Latin “Learn or Depart”)

OVER 40 YEARS IN POLITICS, NOT LEARNED ANYTHING BUT REFUSING TO DEPART.  UNFORTUNATELY THE PM IS USURPING   THE THOMIAN MOTTO “ ESTO PERPETUA“, GO ON FOR EVER,” said the e-mailer.

Does all this sound like a big joke played on the nation? Or are these stunts wending their way into a chaotic tragedy of uncontrollable proportions?

Occasionally, I was buoyed by some positive glimpses of hope. For instance, seeing the new concretized face (ugh!) of the city, where the neon lights advertise the rising power of commerce. I felt that the country was bursting at the seams, ready to grow out of the old mould into a dynamic economy. New architecture leaping vertically into the skies from lands that were vacant only a couple of decades ago project signs of a growing economy. New buildings mean new investments of new entrepreneurs entering the new market place. Also the hustle and the bustle of the noveau riche crowding the market place and the new hotels and restaurants seem to indicate that the poverty line is coming down, with a brassy showiness.

On the other hand, I felt that the political and bureaucratic panjandrums – the perennial evils — were sitting on top of new capital like a huge stone preventing any growth to take off. In particular, the absence of a technocratic leadership to meet the challenges of the 21^st century is visible in the key decision-making process. On top of this we were told that 45% of the MPs in Parliament – the supreme law-making body – consist of mediocrities who have not even passed their O Level! This makes it perfectly clear why Socrates and Plato rejected the democratic form of government in ancient Greece, the home of democracy. Plato opted for philosopher-kings hoping it would generate enlightened governance. Philosopher Bertrand Russell blamed Plato for opening the doors to all-knowing Hitlers and Stalins. Hmm! So much for political theory!

The most frenzied issue that dominates the political discourse of our local philosopher-kings is the proposed constitutional reforms. The legal, constitutional and political tinkering that goes on at the highest level is, partly, about fixing the shaky political bases for the ruling elite to perpetuate their grip on power in perpetuity, if they can, and partly, to dismantle the centre and devolve power to the Tamils of the North who aim to grab the East as well. In the South they also labour indefatigably to manufacture a constitution that would serve them as their hansi putuwa  (arm chair) for them to recline in perpetuity without being thrown out by their opponents. They live under the illusion that the worst thing that can happen to the nation is for those occupying chairs of power to lose their seats in parliament or presidency.

In the North they insist on modern constitutional changes to regain and reinforce their feudal (casteist) and colonial privileges, power and perks which they lost to Prabhakaran. The permanent Vellala ruling elite (no low-caste man was ever admitted to the higher echelons of power in Jaffna unless he carried a gun like Prabhakaran, a karaiyar) has bonded with the elitist Royalist gang led by Ranil hoping to impose the biggest constitutional scam. Ranil has already lost all his worth in the Bond Scam” – the biggest financial scandal in the history of banking in Sri Lanka. Bonding with Arjuna Mahendran took him down to the lowest depth. His chances of rising by bonding with R. Sampanthan to foist a constitutional scam are as great as Prabhakaran rising out of Nandikadal.

This is the tragic malaise of our time. At no level in the societal hierarchy can one find any signs of a leader with a potential to be a redeemer. In sheer desperation, one can only surmise that there is a savior who is hiding in some dark corner in history waiting to come up, sooner or later. But that is like waiting for Godot / Diyasena.  The situation seems so grim that one is reduced to living in hopeless hope.

It is the rapidity of the moral and political decline in the last couple of years that has shocked the nation into a state of paralysis. It is frightening. The overwhelming disillusionment with the promises of Yahapalana-yakos seems to have dragged the victims into the numbed state of a patient etherized upon a table”. (T. S. Eliot). The anesthetized nation is now seen hurtling down a precipitous mountain slope like an uncoupled carriage of a train running loose without an engine. The uncontrolled momentum of going down the slippery slope is felt in every nook and corner except in the higher echelons of power which ought to be the first to wake up and act decisively to arrest the slide. But every act taken so far – even after the tremors that shook the establishment in the latest local government elections – has been to consolidate the crumbling status quo.

Like all decadent regimes the ruling elite from Royal College, oblivious of the hole into which they have fallen, are digging deeper into a black hole from which they cannot escape. Their answer to the crisis is to play musical chairs believing that replacing Tweedle-dee with Tweedle-dum-bo will solve their problems as well as that of the nation. The danger is that, in this process, they are dragging the nation along with them into the same disastrous black hole. Their dithering and diddling are threatening to dismantle all that has been achieved in the last 70 years.

The only visible bright spots seem to be the stars in the night sky — and they too are beyond any one’s reach. The bleakness seem to be deepened by the more convulsive issues rolling in like dark clouds of the thunderstorms that were pouring down  in  the evenings when I was there.  Every exploding issue seems to be heading to a crisis point, cutting deep into the stability and the future of the nation. There is the eerie feeling that the nation is on the verge of something ominous about to happen. The noises / voices   assailing the ears are alarming. The signs of everything around you collapsing disorient the mind trying to make sense of what is happening. The whole nation seems to be poised like Meetotamulla ready to collapse in one messy heap.

And the worst is the smugness with which the powers-that-be refuse to recognize the imminence of the impending collapse. That something has to give is clear. How soon it will happen is the question. And, if and when it happens, there seems to be no one around with a compass to give new directions. As usual, everyone will blame the other and there will be no end to the finger-pointing blame game.

Right now there isn’t a leadership with dedicated commitment, vision, capacity and know-how to stop the decline. By and large, most of those whom I met have fallen into a lethargic state of déjà vu. Their blank faces wear that what-to-do-I-say- look” not knowing what had hit them. The hopes that rose with the coming of Yahapalanaya have evaporated, leaving the Sri Lankans adrift in a vacuum.

On the eve of Yahapalanaya in 2014/5 they were hoping to advance swiftly and merrily into the nearest point next to paradise. In fact, they were supposed to have been there in first 100 days of 2015. But three years later, they are still walking like headless zombies wandering towards a dead-end with no exit. It is the sense of not having an alternative to the stagnant, frustrating status quo that is most depressing. Everyone is meandering in search of an outlet.  Which way the gathering subterranean forces will turn is anyone’s guess. How long the nation will continue to go along with the corrupt, incompetent and the moral bankruptcy of the UNP regime is also anyone’s guess.

Under the pressures of sharp questioning by Faraz Shauketaly, the MTV anchor man of NEWS 1, the JVP MP, Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, admitted the other day that the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, is a rogue”. It’s a damning description, in any language. So what are the chances of a rogue prime minister” saving the nation that is clearly heading towards a bottomless pit?  Did our founding fathers labour to produce a Rogue Prime Minister” at the end of 70 years?

The forbearance of the people in the face of ever increasing adversity is remarkable. But how long will it take to reach the limits of tolerance? The decibel level of anger is increasing. The number of new voices screaming for a new order is gathering momentum. The impatience for justice and reform is rising. The secular ideological isms” have failed. Even the façade of Buddhism (remember Ven. Sobitha!) used by the fake Yahapalana-yakos have failed.

The centre can hardly hold things together. Sri Lanka is an orphaned nation running in search of a savior. Or at least a just moral force that could wipe out the rotten state and replace it with a new order that can contain the rising wrath and  guide them to the next level. But it is not there. The whole nation seems to be trapped inside a boiling cauldron of despondency. One is left wondering when it would spill over to the streets. Is social unrest the next answer? Will it throw up a new leadership?

The fall from hope to despair has been so sudden and unexpected that the nation has been reduced to a gulag of helpless and bemused victims of false prophets. On January 8, 2015 the nation had reached a peak point of promise and hope glowing with moral purity. Now the JVP which was a part of the bandwagon that ushered in the Yahapalanya is worried that they have labored only to produce a Rogue Prime Minister”.

All hopes were pinned on the Yahapalana-yakos because they were perceived as the best idea at the time. In essence they represented moral purity. Even the charismatic figure of Mahinda Rajapakse failed to win because he could not pass the moral test of the day.  What politicians fail to recognize is that political legitimacy is derived essentially from morality. All regimes fall when they lose the underpinning force of morality.

Political myths propagandized craftily can temporarily win the day but it can’t sustain power. Lasting political power survives primarily on its moral validity. USSR, for instance, imploded because the system had passed its use by day and lacked any moral validity. The Shah of Persia had one of the most powerful armies in the region, backed by a ruthless Secret Police Service. But he crumbled under the moral force of celluloid tapes sent from Paris by Khoumeni. The moral values of Ayotollah had a force far superior to all the military might of Shah.

Especially in a voter-based democracy the moral values carry a greater force than any organized apparatus of the state. In the contest between Mahinda Rajapakse and Ven. Sobitha the monk represented the higher values of the day. Ranil Wickremesinghe crept in under the cover of the yellow robes.  On his own he could never have beaten Rajapakse.

What we are facing is a moral crisis of the highest magnitude. The Yahapalanaya rode into power because it presented itself as a new moral force led by Ven. Sobitha. He was joined by 60-odd NGOs, Western and Indian embassies, minorities, disillusioned SLFPers – all of whom ganged up against Mahinda Rajapakse on moral grounds. It is the very moral force that lifted them up that has brought them down. It is their moral bankruptcy that has thrown the nation into a spin.

At the center of the drama that haunts the Yahapalanaya regime is the miserable failure of the political moralists to live up to their promises. The swindling of people’s money, the lying, the parliamentary manipulations, the racketeering, the eye-wash of shuffling Raigamaya to a Gampolaya’s seat and vice versa, the crooked deals to cover-up and bring back the discredited wheeler-dealers to ministerial seats, the obscene scenes of a Kafkesque judiciary, as revealed with telling effect by Ms. Sughandika Fernando, all of which are well known to the Bar Council, UNP goons attacking MTV on the night Ranil won the no-confidence motion in the House etc., etc., have eroded the people’s faith in politics as a means of finding deliverance. They have, at last, come to come to the conclusion, rightly or wrongly, that there can be no salvation in politics.

So what are the people left with? At the end of 70 years they are left only with leaders who are dressed in fanciful Emperor’s clothes. At the end of 70 years one of the culture-vultures who thronged the funeral house of Lester walked away with his precious ‘Ranamayura’ Golden Peacock Award which was given to him in 1965 at the India International Film Festival held in New Delhi for the film Gamperaliya.

Is there nothing sacred in Sri Lanka? Have we become a nation of rogues from top to bottom?

Dei-yo Saak-ki !

The University of Colombo Law students think they have done a job extraordinaire in the manner they have replaced the traditional Sinhala New Year festive game of placing the eye on the elephant to place the eye on the former President Mahinda Rajapakse. We do not know whose bright idea this was, but for university students in particular law students to stoop so low is utterly despicable and a disgraceful act that every citizen must deplore with condemnation. Are these the students, having benefitted from free education who are to be regarded as the future generation? In stark contrast we can compare to another state university where students and lecturers hold candle lit vigils for terrorist leader Prabakaran & LTTE terrorist cadres. These are the other lot of future coming out. Where will this country end up is our biggest question in viewing these extremes?

These pictures of the manner Law Students of the Colombo University celebrated the Sinhala New Year will no doubt shock every one. Of course there are many messages to be drawn from these, the most important of which is that a paper qualification does not necessary make a person ‘educated’ one’s behavior & actions do.

Many of these are coming from rural homes, where parents have toiled & fallen into debt to educate their children. While many of these parents continue to toil away their children are either on the streets in demonstrations or doing everything but studies. Many of these students are victims of the JVP mafia system continuing inside all universities. These JVPers jealous of any person rising in life follow a sadistic path of brainwashing new entrants, ragging them to mentally ruin their lives, ensnaring them into illicit relationships that leave them distraught and angered with society – it is a complete dehumanizing of innocent individuals to which the academia in their silence and inability to take the bullies and throw them out of university, too stand guilty.

We have had enough of occasions where ragging has gone out of hand why has it been difficult to catch the culprits suspend them and banish them from university before they are able to create a mafia within the university system? Is it that the lecturers themselves prefer when the universities are closed?

The statistics clearly reveal that the standards of Sri Lanka’s universities are declining not only in educational standards but in the quality of the students that are passing out & by the manner the students of the Colombo University Law department have celebrated the Sinhala New Year we are not in the least surprised.

These students are all in the twenties and they are old enough to know what kind of life people led before 2009. Many of them would have gone to school in fright, many of their relations would have died when LTTE blew up buses or trains, being rural youth many of their relations would have joined the armed forces some may have returned in a box. We cannot forget that 30 year old past just because some hate the man who gave orders to end the terrorism that prevailed.

Whether people like it or not, only one President had the guts to stand against foreign pressures to give order as head of the armed forces to finish off the LTTE. None of the previous Presidents had the guts to do so – JR didn’t, Premadasa gave arms to the LTTE and kept them in Hilton hotel, CBK’s 2 terms saw the most number of dead soldiers while the present PM was happy to sign territory to LTTE.

Therefore, no one can belittle what President Rajapakse did as President. If he hadn’t given the orders to proceed even the best of military cannot on its own finish off the LTTE. This is what everyone needs to be made clear of. No military, no army commander could have defeated the LTTE unless orders to do so came from the President and the President undertook to answer the international community while obtaining the arms & ammunition necessary for the military to do their job, for that we have to thank China & Pakistan for the role they played in helping Sri Lanka end terror.

Therefore, when a bunch of students giggling away and thinking they are doing something big by placing the eye on the very President that ended 30 years of terrorism, they must feel ashamed to see their faces now circulating all over the social media and no doubt their parents must be feeling embarrassed as well.

Even if these events are organized by mischief makers foreign or JVP, as law students if they do not have the pluck to refuse to be party to it, then as adults and as future lawyers we can only fear what type of law & order they will usher.

This is not the future generation we want to see passing out. Definitely not the students coming out of Jaffna university lighting candles for LTTE or the present lot of students mocking the very President that finished the LTTE.

All citizens must deplore this act and the university authorities must take some stern action and these students must in the least issue an apology to the former President.

People may not like him but no one has the right to ridicule him for we are all living without LTTE suicide, LTTE assassinations, LTTE bombs because of President Mahinda Rajapakse and the team he chose to end terrorism.

Shenali D Waduge

by Ven. Aggamaha Pandita Dr. Walpola Piyananda Chief Sangha Nayake of America (Courtesy The Island)

April 27, 2018, 9:01 pm

Some scholars who have read very little of Buddhist literature have stated that Buddhism is a religion meant only for persons who have renounced household life. Others have tried to show it as a kind of pessimistic religion or, due to their prejudice or lack of knowledge of Buddhism, have tried to prove that Buddhism is a kind of religion hostile to world progress.

But unprejudiced and broadminded scholars have honestly and openly praised it declaring its greatness and practicality for every time. One of the great Pali scholars, the late Mrs. Rhys Davids, said in the introduction to the English translation of Sigalovadasuttanta in Digha-nikaya:

“This Suttanta is called the Vinaya of the Houseman. Hence, in one who practices what he has been taught in it, growth is to be looked for, and not decay.’ And truly we may say even now of this Vinaya, or the code of discipline, so fundamental are the human interests involved, so sane and wide is the wisdom that envisages them, that the utterances are as fresh and practically as binding today and here as they were then at Rajagaha.” (p. 169 Dial. iii)

This world is like a school in which there are beings of varied mental levels. A teacher uses toys and pictures and the like when he teaches the children in kindergarten. The pupils of the middle forms are taught lessons suitable to their level. The students of the highest forms are taught lessons dealing with higher subjects like higher mathematics etc. The Lord Buddha saw the world as a school of many forms and gave instruction suitable to the mental level of his listeners.

One day a poor Brahmin came to the Lord Buddha and said, “Master Gautama, I am a poor person and am going to a distant city to seek a job with a view to earning some wealth. Will you kindly give me some instruction in order to be successful in my job?” The Lord agreed and instructed him on the way to be successful. Some time passed and the Brahmin returned a rich man.

On one occasion the Lord arrived at a village called Veludvaragama. The villagers said to him, “Lord, we are householders working to maintain our families, and have many responsibilities. We do not have any time to devote to higher religious practices. We would like you to instruct us on these two things, to live our present life peacefully and to be born into a happy state after our death.” The Lord knowing their mentality gave instructions to meet their needs.

Concerning the accumulation of wealth Anathapindika, one of His lay devotees, was told that there were five benefits to earning wealth. First, a person can use his wealth to supply all his needs in order to live a healthy, happy and long life. Secondly, a person’s wealth can be used to look after his parents when they are sick, old or in need of his support. Thirdly, a person can support his wife and children, supplying all their needs. A person can help his relatives, friends, servants and others; this is the fourth merit of wealth.

The recluses and priests who have given up household life devote their time for higher religious practices. They depend on the support of the laity which a wealthy person could easily do for them and share in their virtues to be born into a happy state after death. This is the fifth merit of the wealth.

The Buddha taught that it was easier for a rich man to enter heaven, if he properly spent his wealth and fulfilled his duties. It is not wealth but miserliness and other wrong actions that obstruct the way to heaven. He said, “Certainly the miserly cannot go to heaven (whether they are rich or poor).” (Samyutta, Devata)

He praised the generosity of the wealthy saying, “The rich man who gives or helps others and also enjoys himself will be praised here and will go to heaven after death.” (Samyutta, Devata)

Now to answer the question of how can one earn wealth, the Lord taught many discourses like Ujjaya-Sutta, Vyagghapajja-Sutta, Sigalovada-sutta with instructions for successfully earning wealth. His instructions were that a person should be endowed with four things. The first one is to be skilled, earnest and energetic. One should not let slight cold, slight heat, slight rain and the like prevent one from working. Although some times obstacles may cause failure, one should not give up. One should persevere and eventually become successful. At every step, the Lord said, one should be mindful, far-seeing and cautious.

The second thing a businessperson should have is ‘arakkha-sampada,’ which means ‘the ability to protect their wealth.’ This implies being careful in keeping what one earns from being dissipated. The Lord said there were many ways this may happen and therefore one should be careful and vigilant. Sometimes a natural disaster like fire or flood might consume one’s wealth. Sometimes ill-disposed heirs would try to take away one’s wealth. Falling into bad habits like gambling, debauchery and drunkenness drags one down into poverty. One should be on good terms with the government; otherwise one’s wealth could possibly be confiscated. As there are so many ways that could lead to a person’s degradation, one must be vigilant and very careful in keeping one’s wealth from being wasted.

The third thing an earner should be possessed of is ‘Kalyanamittata’ which means ‘having good companions who instruct, help and encourage in carrying out one’s business. A person’s kind parents, relatives, teachers, monks, recluses or priests, whosoever are wise and compassionate hoping for one’s success are good friends or companions. Not finding good companions, one should avoid association with persons who follow evil ways. It is better to keep oneself to oneself carrying out working alone.

The fourth point is ‘sama-jivikata’ which means a balanced or simple way of living. A person in business should spend their money very carefully. Expenditures should not exceed income. If a person with a small income imitates the ways of the rich, before long they fall into insolvency and will become a failure. Therefore the Lord advised every earner to live his life as simply as possible. This does not mean that he should live meanly. If one’s income is great but they live meanly as a stingy person, their effort in earning wealth is useless.

In Sigalovada-sutta, the Lord advised the youth Sigalaka to divide his income into four parts: one portion to be spent for daily expenses; two portions to be used for the advancement of his business; the last part to be deposited carefully for use in the future in case of emergencies.

The Lord said, “Poverty is an ordeal for the person living a household life.” Therefore the Lord Buddha’s advice to householders was to try to earn wealth and to spend it properly to be able to live a useful life.

The Lord speaking about the merchant who would be successful in his business said: “A salesman should know the quality of the goods he buys; know their price; the amount of the profit he will gain; be skilled in the art of buying and selling; be honest and trustworthy so that wealthy would deposit their money under his care.” (Ang. I p. 116)

On another occasion the Lord said that a trader should be active during the day: morning, noon and afternoon. If not, he would not be successful. (pp.114, 115 Ang. i)

Some people live simply, contented with a small amount of income. But if a person expects to do a great service by helping people who are in need, he should try to earn much wealth. If such a person expects to earn much wealth, he must be virtuous, vigilant and energetic. One will never be poor vigilantly following the Lord’s instructions.

At this point one might ask: Isn’t poverty a result of an unwholesome karma from a past life? Poverty may be a result either of a past karma or of a present karma or of both. But most of such karmas can be suppressed and overcome by wise and far seeing steps taken in this life.

Most often it is according to the actions taken in the present life that a past karma, good or bad, rises up and finds the opportunity to give its result. Therefore the effort that is made at present is the preeminent cause of a person’s progress or failure in the case of the majority of people. “Utthahatha, ma pamadattha,” “Get up, loiter not.” Is the Buddha’s frequent advice to the world.

Let us see further what the Buddha has said about wealth and other necessities of life, “these ten things are desirable, pleasing and charming, but hard to achieve in the world. They are Wealth, Beauty, Health, Virtue, Life of holy celibacy, Real friends, Erudition, Wisdom, Genuine teaching, and To be born in heavens. These are all desirable, pleasing and charming, but hard to achieve. (p. 134 Ang. v)

Then there are ten things that are obstacles: Laziness and lack of activity are obstacles to wealth; Lack of finery and lack of adornment are obstacles to beauty; Following unhygienic ways, an obstacle to health. Keeping company with people of foul character is an obstacle to virtue. Unrestraint of senses is an obstacle to life of holy celibacy. Deceit is an obstacle to friends. Lack of recitation and re-reading are obstacles to erudition. Not to listen and not to ask questions are obstacles to wisdom. Lack of practice and lack of contemplation are obstacles to Dhamma. Habitually following evil ways is the obstacle to birth in the heavens. (p. 135 Ang. v)

A person who expects to achieve success both in worldly or religious life should avoid these obstacles and follow the way of growth to success. The Buddha expounded the way to growth and progress as follows: “by increasing in the ten growths, the noble disciple (i.e. a lay follower of a Buddha) grows by taking hold of the essential; taking hold of the best for his progress. One grows in landed property; in wealth and granary; in children and wife; in servants and workers; in four-footed beasts (i.e. cattle and sheep); in faith and virtue; in erudition, and in generosity and wisdom.” (p. 136 Ang. v)

From these words of the Buddha, it is very clear that he valued the growth in wealth and family life as a noble endeavor.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, May 4 (newsin.asia):  The relics of Lord Buddha brought from Pakistan are now being exhibited at Purana Vajirakoth Viharaya, in Kalutara District.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, May 4 (newsin.asia) – Standard Chartered Bank, on Friday said it is setting up a ‘China Desk’ at its branch in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo to encourage more Chinese companies to invest in the island under the One Belt One Road initiative.

By Veeragathy Thanabalasingham/Courtesy Daily Express

The much-maligned Indo-Lanka Peace Accord of 1987 is back in public focus, courtesy T. Ramakrishnan’s book Or Inapprachinaiyum Or Oppandhamum” (An Ethnic Conflict and An Accord), introduced at an event at the Colombo Tamil Sangam recently.

Ramakrishnan, a senior Indian journalist and an Associate Editor of the The Hindu, had engagements in Kandy and Jaffna promoting his book before the Colombo event.

In the run-up to the event, some journalists asked this writer whether there was any interest among Sri Lankans about the Accord at all. The answer was pretty much in evidence at the Tamil Sangam event.

The Accord was signed on July 29, 1987 by President of Sri Lanka J.R. Jayewardene and Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi, in the backdrop of an island-wide curfew. Beginning with the Black July of 1983, the four years leading up to that moment were an important phase in the history of the national question, specifically because of India’s deep involvement in Sri Lanka’s affairs.

The signing of the Accord marked the high point of the eventful phase, which lasted for nearly three years till the withdrawal of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in March 1990.

Consequent to the Accord, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was introduced, paving the way for the creation of Provincial Councils. But the tragedy is, with the system of the Provincial Councils turning 30 at the end of the year, we are still debating on a meaningful political settlement to the ethnic imbroglio.

Ramakrishnan is not oblivious to the situation. And the first  chapter of his book, titled ‘Why now?’ indicates his level of knowledge. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, for Ramakrishnan, the son of Tamil literary giant Ashokamitran, not only comes from a politically-conscious background, he also served as the Colombo-based Correspondent of The Hindu for Sri Lanka and the Maldives from April 2015 to August 2016.

While noting how the Accord continues to be seen worldwide as a very important attempt to resolve the ethnic problem, Ramakrishnan plays the devil’s advocate and wonders whether it was a failure in the real sense; whether it is still alive and whether the kind of destruction Sri Lanka had seen towards the end of the civil war in May 2009 could have been avoided if the Accord had been implemented fully and properly.

In Ramakrishnan’s words, Or Inapprachinaiyum Or Oppandhamum” seeks to find answers to these questions.

He is very particular that the focus of his work should not be construed as being about the military dimension of the Accord, but about the political facet, which he strongly believes has enormous relevance even after three decades.

This view has found a believer in R. Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and of the opposition in Parliament, who, while addressing the Colombo event, emphasized that India should ensure that the Accord is implemented in letter and spirit.

He said: Our journey continues. We need the Accord. We need to ensure that the spirit of the Accord is implemented and India must do its duty to ensure the same. It is India’s duty and Indian cannot get away from that duty.”

Annamalai Varadaraja Perumal, former Chief Minister of merged North- Eastern Province, who addressed the audience before Sampanthan, spoke of the  ‘many contradictions’ among the diplomatic, bureaucratic and intelligence arms of the Indian establishment at the time the accord was signed, which he said, led to the ‘failure’ of IPKF intervention in Sri Lanka.

He regretted that India had virtually abandoned the Tamil cause because it is now interested in economic expansion and not political hegemony.

Ramakrishnan’s book also touches upon the current thinking of the Indian government on the bilateral agreement, and quotes the discussion that took place in February 2017 between a delegation of TNA leaders led by Sampanthan and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the then Foreign Secretary of India.

Responding to a request by Suresh Premachandran that India should exert pressure upon the Sri Lankan government to remerge the Northern and Eastern Provinces as stipulated in the 1987 July Accord,  Jaishankar is quoted as saying that considering the major changes that have taken place in the last 30 years, especially in the area of geopolitics, New Delhi is neither going to exert much pressure on Colombo in regard to the implementation of the 13th Amendment nor does it feel the necessity to do so.

Under such circumstances, Colombo is not going to be concerned about a matter, over which New Delhi has apparently little interest. At the same time, it should also be pointed out that neither India nor Sri Lanka have publicly disowned the Accord.

The author has attempted to answer the question as to whether the Accord was a success, or not. In tones philosophical, he writes that in life, not everything can be expressed in black and white and the same holds good for the Accord as well.

One can superficially say that the agreement had failed but the 13th Amendment, which came into being as a sequel to the Accord, is still part of the law of the land.

Acknowledging that better proposals were drawn up and discussed extensively on the Tamil question after the Peace Accord in the last 30 years, he notes that they have all remained ‘mere proposals’. None of them has been included in the statute book.

Another special feature of the Accord was the recognition of Sri Lanka as a ‘multi – ethnic and a multi-lingual plural society’, a reference that continues to have great significance.  The author calls ‘the biggest bonus’ the temporary merger of the North and East Provinces and acknowledges the lament of the leadership of the Tamil parties, that the advantage gained by the Accord was fritted away.

He counters the widely-held belief that the Accord was ‘imposed’ by New Delhi on Colombo and contends that the idea behind the pact originally came from President Jayewardene and not India.  But what emerges as indisputable is that the agreement would not have been possible but for New Delhi’s pressure.

It should also be kept in mind that despite the Provincial Councils not having powers as originally designed, the credit even for at least the present situation should go to India.

Starting from the Banda-Chelva Pact of 1957, the history of attempts to find solutions to the ethnic problem is long and bitter. Given this background, it is futile to expect the Sinhalese political leadership, on its own, to come out with a solution.

However, it is Ramakrishnan’s belief that Sri Lanka still has the capacity and competence to solve the problem. The reason for his optimism is that barring India, this is the only country in the region to witness successive regime changes in the last 70 years through democratic means. The author has every right to have faith in, what he calls, wisdom and maturity of the Sri Lankan polity.

But at the same time, it would be appropriate to remind at this point what a leading political scientist in Sri Lanka, Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda, wrote in The Hindu in July 2017 to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Accord.

He wrote: The accord’s story has become part of history in India as well as Sri Lanka. However, has Sri Lanka’s politics changed since the advent of the Accord? The answer is both ‘YES’ and ‘NO.’

By Lakshman I.Keerthisinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today

By Lucien Rajakarunanayake Courtesy The Island

May 4, 2018, 10:19 pm

There were many advance statements about the latest Cabinet re-shuffle being done in scientifically. That was a boast of the President, and not questioned by the Prime Minister. For once they seemed to be in agreement, apart from knowing how to be defeated in local government elections, which was the science of defeat.

But what could be the principle of science, if any, applied to this re-shuffle of ministers? It was certainly the longest re-shuffle of ministers – Cabinet, State and Deputies. Was it the science of killing time that was used to spread this shuffle over three days?

Was there any science applied in the allocation of portfolios, other than following the non-science of the previous forming of Cabinets, which is part of the anti-democratic governance being fast promoted by the leadership of all political parties here today? Is it the height of Political or Cabinet Science to give Wildlife to one minister and Forestry to another? Is it a major aspect of Cabinet Science for a member from the Badulla hills, so distant from the ocean, to be given the portfolio of Fisheries? Or was it the science of embracing crooked politicos, to ensure there are no “Appachchi Mala” statements in the future?

What is the science in having more than forty ministers, in a country of a little over 21 million people and a parliament of 225 members? What is the science of a ‘national government’ where the constitutional limit of 30 Cabinet Ministers, could be exceeded by the majority party joining with one other party in the House, even having one member? And, how can such joining be ‘national’ when the majority of those from the other party – the SLFP – are now very much in the Opposition?

What is the science that brings to the Cabinet, a member who had to resign because his own party – the UNP wanted him to be removed from Justice and Buddhasasana, because of glaring delays in bringing legal action against the corrupt of the former regime, and now give him Higher Education and Cultural Affairs? Was it the science of gratitude or ’Thank You’ for voting against the No-Confidence Motion against the Prime Minister? We are certainly in a wonderful world of science, amidst the politics of the corrupt, today.

We have had members with doctorates in Political Science adorning our legislature in the past, but what is the Science of Politics that we see around today?

Is it the special science of knowing how to forget or abandon the promises given to the people when seeking their votes for election as President? Is it the science of great hope in seeing a 19th Amendment to the Constitution passed that limits one’s term as president to five years, and then asking the Supreme Court whether it should not be six years? Is this the new Presidential Science we must get used to?

What of the Science of Abandonment – considering how the pledge given to the people at election, and at the funeral of the Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera, not to seek election as president again, is shamelessly abandoned, and crooked paths devised to seek the office again?

The Cabinet that has been sworn in has much to do with many sciences, especially the Science of Crooked Politics, the core values of which are continuance in power with least regard for service to the country and people. It flows from the beginnings of rogue politics to the continuance of political rejects; continues with the politics of the corrupt and that of the Diyawanna Swamp, where perks and privileges from duty free luxury cars, sale of duty free vehicle permits, people paying the undisclosed expenses of electorate offices, and maneuvering decline of sports, and every possible deviation from the honesty of governance is accepted as the Rule of the Day.

There is much said about the decline in standards of education in the country today. True. But what more can be expected when the country is led by those who wallow in the unscientific, while claiming to use science in swearing the corrupt in politics to the highest offices in governance.

It is the Nonsense of Non-science in the politics of the corrupt.

Editorial Courtesy The Island

May 4, 2018, 10:17 pm
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC), which is often accused of steering clear of sharks, has harpooned two whales! It arrested President Maithripala Sirisena’s Chief of Staff H. K. Mahanama and Chairman of the State Timber Corporation P. Dissanayake for allegedly accepting a huge bribe to the tune of Rs. 100 mn, on Thursday in Colombo. Even the ranks of Tuscany could scarce forebear to cheer!

The CIABOC deserves public plaudits for the successful operation, which must have sent a chill down the spines of other corrupt officials in the public service.

Thursday’s arrests serve to prove how entrenched corruption is and that not even the panjandrums attached to the President’s Office have been vetted properly. The top presidential aide, currently being held on remand, held key positions in the public service previously, as we reported yesterday.

President Sirisena lost no time in ensuring that Mahanama was interdicted. This is in sharp contrast to the manner in which Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran was treated when the first bond scam came to light in Feb. 2015. The UNP went hell for leather to shield him and vilify those who had blown the lid off the racket. Bogus committees were appointed as part of a campaign to protect the beleaguered Central Bank Governor.

The UNP saw to it that the allegations against Mahendran would not be probed. The Financial Crimes Investigation Division, which otherwise works with missionary zeal, looked the other way. Attempts to move the CIABOC against him were in vain. It became manifestly clear that the UNP was protecting Mahendran, for its own sake. We argued, in this space, that it was suicidal for the UNP to defend the bond racketeers and people were the best judges. People gave their verdict on Feb. 10; the UNP suffered an ignominious electoral defeat.

Some Opposition heavyweights have sought to use Thursday’s arrests to demonise the yahapalana dispensation. True, the self-proclaimed crusaders against bribery and corruption have failed to put their own house in order. But the fact remains that the CIABOC was not prevented from arresting the President’s Chief of Staff and the STC Chairman. The anti-graft commission sleuths would not have dared swoop on such a high ranking officer, under the previous government, which openly defended the corrupt within its ranks.

It may be recalled that the police could not raid even night clubs which were awash with drugs, from 2005 to 2015 when the ruling party politicians or their kith and kin were present in those dens of vice. The Police Narcotics Bureau officers were pistol-whipped by a minister’s son and other goons, during a hotel raid. A military intelligence officer also came under a goon attack in another hotel. He was relieved of his service revolver and gold chain. Persons, wanted in connection with serious offences, were seen in the exalted company of the grandees of the previous regime.

Now that the President has allowed the CIABOC to operate freely and interdicted his Chief of Staff, it is up to the UNP to ensure that its man, Mahendran, will come here to stand trial over the bond scams. It brought him in, made him the Central Bank Governor and helped him leave the country. Therefore, it is duty bound to bring him back.

Meanwhile, the CIABOC ought to implement the recommendations, made by the presidential commission which probed the mega bond scams. It should get cracking. It has to launch investigations if it is to refute the claim, being made in some quarters, that UNP ministers and others with links to them have been allowed to remain above the law.

By Neville Ladduwahetty

One of the pressing questions before the nation is whether Sri Lanka should be governed under an Executive Presidential system or a Parliamentary system of government. Sri Lanka was governed under a Parliamentary system from independence up to 1977. From 1978 until 2015 Sri Lanka was governed under an Executive Presidential system. In 2015 the 19th Amendment reduced the powers of the President that had existed under the Executive Presidential system of 1978 and granted more power to the Prime Minister and Parliament. Thus the three options facing the nation are: (1) To restore the Executive Presidential system of 1978 (2) Continue with the existing system where the executive powers of the President are curtailed and (3) Revert back to a Parliamentary system.

The campaign to revert back to a Parliamentary system was initiated by late Rev. Sobitha and a dedicated band of civil society individuals. The primary compulsion for change was of their belief that the Executive Presidential system by its very nature where all executive power vested in one individual is prone to corruption and abuse of power. Advocates of this proposition never explored institutional mechanisms adopted by other countries to minimize corruption and contain abuse of power or its impact on devolved powers, within the framework of a unitary state. Instead their approach was to get rid of the entire system because of their belief that it was beyond redemption. Therefore, there is an urgent need to explore the pros and cons of each of these two systems of government.

The parameters within which such an exploration should be undertaken are: (1) The reality that future governments would either be coalitions or ones that would enjoy marginal majorities; (2) Given the reality of (1) above, how separation of Executive and Legislative branches, meaning an Executive President and Parliament, function under each of the two systems; and (3) The impact of each system on devolution within a unitary framework.

How these parameters would impact on political stability of the government, upon which depends human development and the territorial integrity of the State, both of which are primary concerns, are addressed below.

POLITICAL STABILITY

The Executive Presidential system incorporated in the 1978 Constitution is founded on the principle of separation of powers, albeit not as strictly as in the USA. Consequently, the President as the head of the Executive is elected nationally and functions separately from the Parliament which is responsible for the exercise of Legislative functions. This feature of a separation of powers enables the Executive branch under the President and his Cabinet of Ministers to administer the executive functions of the State without interruption even if the Parliament has to be dissolved for one reason or another. The weakness in this system however is that if the President and the majority in Parliament represent two politically divergent ideologies implementing a common program presents problems, as occurred in the US under the Obama administration, wherein the President was from the Democratic Party and the majority in Congress was Republican. If, on the other hand, the President and the majority in Parliament represent the same political party the situation is similar to what exists under a Parliamentary system because the Prime Minister and his Cabinet of Ministers and the majority in Parliament would be from the same political party or political formation.

Under a Parliamentary system on the other hand, since the Prime Minister and his Cabinet of Ministers and Parliament are all from the same political party with a majority in Parliament, Executive and Legislative functions would be carried out by the government in power. If such a majority party is a coalition and for one reason or another such a government ceases to enjoy a majority in Parliament, both the Executive and the Legislative branches would cease to exist, and fresh elections are unavoidable. This weakness that is inherent in Parliamentary systems is the primary cause for political instability due to the absence of two vital branches of any government. Opportunities for such weaknesses to manifest themselves are particularly strong during coalition governments.

What is evident from the material presented above is that if the current political formation in Parliament functioned under a Parliamentary system and it failed to forge a stable coalition government it would have no option but to call for fresh elections. The experience in UK under the coalition government of Conservatives and Liberals was so unworkable that fresh elections were inevitable. Similarly, Germany did not have a government for nearly six months due to their inability to forge a coalition government. On the other hand, under a Presidential system however unstable the government is, at least the executive branch under the President would continue to function and the administrative functions of the State would continue to operate. This is the advantage Executive Presidential systems have over Parliamentary systems.

DEVOLUTION UNDER the TWO SYSTEMS

The 13th Amendment under the Presidential system mirrors the separation of executive and legislative functions at the center in regard to the devolved subjects. The legislative powers relating to devolved subjects are exercised by the elected Chief Minister and the Provincial Council, while the Executive functions are exercised by the Governor appointed by the President, thus extending the executive powers of the President to the provinces. This makes the Governor the agent of the Executive President in the province. This arrangement makes it possible for the Governor to exercise executive functions in the province even when Provincial Councils cease to function for whatever reason such as what occurred in the Northern and Eastern Provinces during the armed conflict.

Under a Parliamentary system where executive and legislative powers are exercised by the political party in power in Parliament, the arrangements in the provinces would mirror the arrangements at the center, ONLY if executive and legislative powers relating to devolved subjects are exercised collectively by the Provincial Councils. Such an arrangement would make Sri Lanka a federal State because the provinces would be independent of the center within its sphere of influence in respect of devolved subjects (K.C. Whear, Modern Constitutions). Having a person bearing the title of Governor, but without executive powers, would also amount to creating a federal State.

If Sri Lanka is not to be a federal State it is imperative that executive and legislative powers are exercised separately. Since there cannot be two separate systems, one at the center and a completely different system in the province, it must follow that the system at the center and in the provinces should be based on separation of powers if Sri Lanka is not to become a federal State.

PREFERRED SYSTEM

The current arrangement under the 19th Amendment wherein executive power is shared between the nationally elected President and an elected Prime Minister and a Cabinet of Ministers is proving to be totally unsatisfactory. The unworkability of the current arrangement is evident almost on a daily basis, judging from the lack of consensus on fundamentals between the President and the Prime Minister; a fact that could be compounded by either the weakness in the structural arrangement of sharing executive power or by the ideological differences between the two. Whatever the reason, the current arrangement wherein authority and responsibility relating to executive power are shared is a model that is seldom used as an administrative arrangement for the simple reason that it does not work, because it is similar to arrangements that attempt to share sovereignty.

The preferred model is one where executive authority is exercised solely by the President with the assistance of a Prime Minister and a Cabinet of Ministers and responsible to Parliament as it was under the 1978 Constitution with appropriate amendments to contain tendencies for abuse of power. However, it is imperative that executive actions are monitored and scrutinized independently by Parliament under arrangements such as Oversight Committees of Parliament with power and chaired by the members of the Opposition in Parliament in order to ensure diligent scrutiny.

CONCLUSION

The call for the abolition of the Presidential system was a knee jerk reaction to the abuse of power inherent in the system. Accepting the reality that all systems have positive and negative features scraping one system for another is not prudent. Instead a more prudent approach is to address the weakness of a system while retaining its positive features. Therefore, the preferred system should be one where the separation of executive and legislative powers is clear and distinct together with institutional safeguards to contain the exercise of disproportionate power.

An arrangement that best satisfies such a condition is the Presidential system, because separation of powers are distinct unlike in a Parliamentary system where separation of powers is blurred because both functions, executive and legislative, are exercised by the government in power. Furthermore, because of this distinct separation of powers under Presidential systems at least one branch of government could function at any given time, thus ensuring greater stability than under a Parliamentary system where stability is dependent on the survival of the government.

Separation of powers under Presidential systems enables executive powers relating to devolved subjects to be exercised under the authority of the Executive President, thus ensuring the unitary character of the State. If the unitary character is to be retained, it is imperative that executive powers are exercised separately in the provinces. On the other hand, under Parliamentary systems, since executive and legislative powers are exercised jointly at the center by the government in power, separating them in the provinces would mean that the systems in the center would be different to that in the provinces. Such contradictions are unworkable. If such contradictions are to be avoided under Parliamentary systems, it would be necessary for executive and legislative powers in the provinces to be exercised by the Provincial Council, thereby mirroring the arrangement at the center. This would make Sri Lanka a federal state because the provinces would be independent of the center within their spheres of devolved executive and legislative powers. Therefore, it is imperative that the Presidential system is retained because it has the necessary inherent attributes to prevent Sri Lanka from becoming a federal State.

The level of corruption and the degree of discord under the current arrangement of sharing executive power between the President and Prime Minister should convince the nation of the need to scrap it. If abuse of power is the compelling reason for abolishing the Presidential system, advocates of the Parliamentary system seem oblivious of the fact that abuse of power exists now and could exist under Parliamentary systems as well, since both executive and legislative powers are exercised by the government in power. The better safeguard is to separate the powers so that one branch could monitor the other under strict institutionalized arrangements, as in other countries.

At the end of it all, the choice as to the system of government would be decided by the personal interests of the political leaders and not by which system would serve the interests of the people. This had been Sri Lanka’s history; a history that is bound to repeat once again much to the disappointment of the nation. The nation should unite to introduce a system that ensures political stability and territorial integrity in which human development could prosper.