President should remove SLFP from national govt – Sarath Wijesekara ජනාධිපති රටට ආදරේ නම් ශ්‍රීල.නි.ප මන්ත්‍රීවරු ජාතික ආණ්ඩුවෙන් ඉවත් කර ගත යුතුයි

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

February 27, 2018, 8:57 pm

JVP leader and Chief Opposition Whip, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, on Feb. 19, 2018 declared that those who had joined forces to oust the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa, at the Jan.8, 2015 presidential election would never get together again.

An irate Dissanayake warned SLFP leader President Sirisena not to entertain the hopes of securing a second five-year term. The JVPer also warned UNP leader, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, that he would never be the President. Wickremesinghe unsuccessfully contested the Nov. 1999 presidential election.

A dejected JVPer said so at the first parliamentary session, following the humiliating defeat suffered by the UNP, the SLFP and the JVP at the Feb. 10 local government polls. Dissanayake acknowledged that the Marxist party couldn’t secure anticipated polls result, though some progress was made. Dissanayake asserted that some gains had been made in the predominately Tamil northern region.

It would be pertinent to examine Dissanayake’s assertion that those who had been involved in the high profile 2015 political project wouldn’t join forces again.

Having assumed JVP leadership on Feb. 2, 2014, Dissanayake paved the way for the party to join the UNP-led alliance. Dissanayake replaced Somawansa Amarasinghe, who assumed the party leadership about six years after the extra-judicial execution of party founder Rohana Wijeweera in government custody. The UNP executed Wijeweera on Nov. 13, 1989, in Colombo. Amarasinghe passed away, in June 2016, following a brief illness.

Under Dissanayake’s leadership, the JVP threw its weight behind the UNP-TNA (Tamil National Alliance) combine to help Maithripala Sirisena thwart twice-president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s bid to secure a third term. Dissanayake took over a much weakened JVP due to heavyweight Weerawansa switching allegiance to Rajapaksa during his first presidential term. Subsequently, Dissanayake suffered another setback due to Kumar Gunaratnam forming his own outfit, the Front-line Socialist Party (FSP).

In the wake of the recent drubbing, at the countrywide polls, three years after the Jan. 8, 2015 presidential election, the JVP has declared its intention not to continue with the UNP-led political alliance against Rajapaksa. The JVP announced its decision after having blamed Sirisena and Wickremesinghe for the debilitating defeat suffered in the hands of Rajapaksa, whose re-emergence as the most influential political leader obviously stunned the Marxist party.

The JVP also joined forces with the Joint Opposition to question the validity of the UNP-SLFP arrangement, alleging that their pact lapsed in Sept. last year, therefore the continuation of the National Unity Government cannot be accepted. The JVP didn’t find fault with the yahapalana partners failure to extend the agreement until they were routed at the Feb. 10 polls. The JVP cannot be unaware that the UNP-SLFP agreement had lapsed four months ago. The SLFP purposely refrained from extending the agreement as it felt it could be severely disadvantageous due to the UNP being implicated in the Treasury Bond scams that had been perpetrated in 2015 and 2016.

However, Dissanayake made no reference to the origins of the UNP-led political alliance that ousted Rajapaksa, three years ago.

An unprecedented alliance

The alliance that successfully challenged the Rajapaksas came into being in late 2009 in the run-up to the Jan. 26, 2010 presidential polls. The alliance backed war-winning Army Chief General Sarath Fonseka. After having alleged Fonseka as well as the Rajapaksa brothers, Mahinda, Gotabhaya and Basil, had committed war crimes, the US Embassy, in Colombo, played a critical role in the formation of the alliance. The US succeeded in its efforts though, at the onset, minority parties, particularly the then four-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA), was skeptical about the project. The US also brought the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) into the project meant to defeat Rajapaksa. The US compelled the TNA to back Fonseka, while the JVP, too, played a significant role in the campaign.

Somawansa Amarasinghe had been in command of the party, with Dissanayake being a member of the parliamentary group, at the time the JVP joined the original US-led project to elect Fonseka president. The project went awry. The JVP ended up alleging that the Rajapaksas of perpetrating what was then called computer jillmart (manipulating computers to fix the polls result).

The US role in a despicable bid to change the government in Sri Lanka (as it has done in many countries world wide) wouldn’t have come to light if not for the secret revealing WikiLeaks. Thanks to WikiLeaks, the electorate is aware how the US Embassy ran a political project to defeat the war-winning president. Disclosure of classified diplomatic cables, pertaining to the then SLMC Chairman and Opposition Leader of the Eastern Provincial Council, Basheer Segudawood, as well as TNA leader R. Sampanthan, sent shock waves through political parties. However, the electorate hadn’t been largely unaware of the political parties here being used by the US Embassy to implement its strategies.

After the 2010 project to instal Fonseka as the president went awry, the UNP quit the alliance to contest parliamentary polls on its own. A disappointed Fonseka had no option but to team up with the JVP to contest on the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) ticket. The grouping managed to secure just seven seats, including two National List slots. Among the five elected were Fonseka and World Cup winning cricket captain, Arjuna Ranatunga, from Colombo and Kalutara districts, respectively. The Rajapaksas angered especially by Fonseka’s foul mouthing used the existing system to punish him by depriving him of his parliamentary seat. Later Fonseka registered his own, Democratic Party and contested the parliamentary polls in Aug. 2015 at which he suffered a terrible defeat with many of his close supporters having abandoned him along the way. Fonseka couldn’t even retain his seat. The UNP accommodated him on its National List in spite of him not being a member of the party and hadn’t been on its lists at the last parliamentary polls.

The JVP has now distanced itself from both Fonseka and Sirisena and obviously in a quandary.

The JVP had been deeply involved in the both the 2010 and 2015 projects. Interestingly, on both occasions, so called common candidates, Sarath Fonseka and Maithripala Sirisena, though being backed by the UNP, contested on the New Democratic Front (NDF) ticket, an offshoot of the Democratic United National Front (DUNF). Chairman of the outfit, N.M. Shalila Moonesinghe, was arrested in Oct. 2017 for having transferred more than a million USD illegally from the Far Eastern International Bank of Taiwan, to his personal bank account at the Bank of Ceylon. At the time of his arrest, Moonesinghe, a British national of Sri Lankan origin, functioned as Chairman of LITRO Gas, a state-owned enterprise.

None of those political parties, including the JVP, had ever commented on the case involving the NDF chairman. The National Election Commission (NEC) is yet to initiate action in respect of Moonesinghe registering a political party through some devious means, way back in 2009. Now that Dissanayake has declared that the 2015 group would never get back together to back a presidential candidate at the next presidential poll, in 20 months time, the JVP’s position would certainly have a bearing on the overall political situation and is likely to be advantageous to the Rajapaksas.

The NDF, with its swan symbol, is unlikely to receive an opportunity again to participate in a high profile campaign again though incumbent president Sirisena remains its man.

JVP’s dilemma

The JVP managed to secure six seats at the last parliamentary polls, in Aug. 2015 The JVP parliamentary group comprised two National List members. In spite of promising to introduce a new political culture, the JVP, too, accommodated two defeated candidates, Sunil Handunetti and Bimal Ratnayake on its National List slots.

In the run-up to the Feb. 10 local government polls, the JVP really believed that it could comfortably gain sizable electoral gains at the expense of the UNP and the SLFP. The JVP asserted that the situation couldn’t have been better for the party to register its best performance, at national level, especially in the wake of the UNP being humiliated over Treasury Bond scams, involving Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL), and Sirisena accused of shielding some of those facing corruption and alleged murder charges. A confident JVP went to the extent of declaring intentions to achieve kingmaker status at the next presidential and parliamentary polls. Instead, the electorate has delivered a humiliating snub to the JVP, perhaps for its perceived role in backing the government at crucial junctures, especially in helping to get certain anti-democratic legislations passed with 2/3 majoprity, at the commencement of a crucial period with provincial councils polls for nine regions, followed by presidential and parliamentary polls.

In fact, the JVP has been compelled to acknowledge, in parliament, that those who had believed in the SLFP policies voted for the rebel SLFP group thereby strengthening the hands of the former president. Obviously, the JVP ended up with egg on its face due to its failure to achieve noticeable progress in urban areas or provinces.

The JVP like all other political parties and civil society organizations that campaigned for Sirisena at the 2015 presidential poll, repeatedly stressed that Rajapaksa couldn’t secure 50 per cent of the vote. They pointed out that for those who had called the Feb. 10 polls a sort of national referendum on the performance of the three-year yahapalana government suffered a debilitating setback. The overtly pro-government civil society outfit ‘Purawesi Balaya’ that briefed media twice and Government National List MP Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne underscored that Rajapaksa couldn’t secure the required 50 per cent of the votes cast to claim victory. In fact a pathetic attempt was made to portray Rajapaksa’s failure to achieve 50 per cent as defeat for the Joint Opposition/Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna at the next parliamentary and presidential polls.

Crisis faced by anti-Mahinda elements

The SLPP polled 44.69 per cent of the votes cast at the LG election. The UNP obtained 32.61 per cent. The UPFA polled 8.90 per cent. The SLFP polled 4.48 per cent. The two governing parties secured together 45.99 per cent, almost 46 per cent. Rajapaksa led SLPP polled 44.69 per cent, nearly 2 per cent less than the other three parties put together.

But those wanting to use these figures to depict a defeat for the SLPP at a referendum, had conveniently forgotten that the vote received by the SLFP and the UPFA couldn’t be under any circumstances counted as anti-Mahinda vote. The majority of those who had exercised their franchise in support of Sirisena are likely to switch their allegiance to the SLPP at the forthcoming PC polls, followed by presidential polls and parliamentary polls.

The JVP secured 6.26 per cent and the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi polled 3.06 per cent. Let me reproduce the relevant section from a statement issued by TNA leader R. Sampanthan following local government polls drubbing: “If one was to add the percentage of votes polled by those two parties together with the percentage of votes polled by the UNP, the UPFA and the SLFP, the total would be 55.31 per cent. So, in other words, parties opposed to the SLPP have polled 55.31 per cent and the SLPP has polled only 44.69 per cent. This is indisputable.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, at the Presidential Election, held in 2015, polled 47.58 per cent. The votes he polled at the Presidential Election, in January, 2015, were more than the votes he polled at the LG election. There have been three elections in recent times; the Presidential Election in 2015, the Parliamentary Election in 2015 and the Local Government Election held this month. In none of these elections has former President Mahinda Rajapaksa been able to obtain more than 50 per cent.

His vote has always been below 50 per cent at the Presidential Election, at the Parliamentary Election and at the Local Authority Election. So, there is nothing to get excited about: elections are held; parties win; parties lose. The Local Authority Elections have been held and you have won. One does not dispute that fact, but the fact of the matter is that you have polled only 44.69 per cent as opposed to 55.31 per cent cast against you. So, what is there to get excited about? Nothing at all. Parliament is not constituted on the basis of votes cast at the Local Authority Elections. Parliament is constituted, – the President is elected, on the basis of votes cast at the Presidential Election – at a Parliamentary Election held for that purpose in keeping with the Constitution and the laws of this country.”

Why worry?

Those who had claimed that Rajapaksa lacked electoral support to achieve 50 per cent of vote cast at 2015 national elections and the 2018 countrywide local government polls, in spite of rhetoric, seemed to be seriously concerned about the rapid reemergence of Rajapaksa.

Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera in the run-up to the Feb. 10 polls warned that the yahapalana project could be in jeopardy in case Rajapaksa led the SLPP to victory. Samaraweera’s fears have now been realized and an unexampled threat emerged at a time the government is struggling to come to terms with the TNA demand for a new Constitution. The TNA itself is under heavy pressure in the north with the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) making progress in the north at the recently concluded polls.

Sampanthan cannot ignore Rajapaksa himself declaring that he wanted the post of the Opposition Leader. Rajapaksa has challenged Sampanthan’s right to remain the Opposition Leader in the wake of the JO/SLPP consolidating its position in areas outside the Northern and Eastern provinces. Sampanthan must be really worried over the situation developing in the Northern Province, particularly in the Jaffna peninsula where the stage is set for a virulent political battle at the forthcoming second Northern Province Provincial Council polls. The TNA-held council will be automatically dissolved in Oct. this year. The TNA faces the challenging task of dropping incumbent Northern Chief Minister, retired Supreme Court judge C.V. Wigneswaran, from its list of candidates. Wigneswaran’s next move can cause turmoil in the Northern Province and undermine the TNA hold, especially in the wake of the TNPF taking a harder stand on the accountability issue. Having made electoral gains in the Jaffna peninsula at the recently concluded polls, the TNPF, ahead of the next Geneva sessions, is now campaigning for the Sri Lanka issue to be moved from Geneva to the UN Security Council. The TNA alleges that the Security Council should now move in as Colombo hasn’t adhered with Geneva Resolution 30/1. The TNPF leadership recently asserted that in case the matter cannot be taken up in New York, the UN should consider the setting up of an international war crimes tribunal.

Wigneswaran is likely to come under pressure to throw his weight behind the TNPF at the coming PC polls campaign. The possibility of the outspoken politician, who is now at loggerheads with the top TNA leadership, joining the fray, too, cannot be ruled out.

(To be continued on March 7)

By Dr. Kamal Wickremasinghe Courtesy The Island

February 27, 2018, 8:47 pm

As has been observed by many, the electorate recorded a wholesale abandonment of the false promise of yahapalanaya at the February 10 local government elections. The collective in power however, has refused to concede the irrefutable repudiation of the 2015 fraud by the public as an indictment of their dishonesty. Continuing attempts by motormouths like Rajitha Senaratne to attribute their rejection by the electorate to the failure to jail the Rajapaksa family shows an unwillingness to accept the reality that the so-called ‘national government’ has been roundly condemned by the vast majority of people in the country.

The public’s rejection of countless promises of future prosperity made by the prime minister during campaigning resonates the scornfully sarcastic perspective on American politicians provided by the American journalist Henry Louis Mencken in the Baltimore Evening Sun newspaper during the 1920s and 1930s: in one of the most cited articles of Mencken, published 98 years previously on 9 February 1920, titled A Carnival of Buncombe, Mencken posed the rhetorical questions: ‘Has the art of politics no apparent utility? Does it appear to be unqualifiedly ratty, raffish, sordid, obscene, and low down, and its salient virtuosi a gang of unmitigated scoundrels?’ (‘Buncombe’ incidentally is a form of the more widely known American English word ‘bunkum’ which denotes insincere promises made by politicians prior to elections).

It appears that through the February 10 vote, the Sri Lankan public branded those representing American style bogus democracy — transplanted in Sri Lanka in 2015 by American neocons together with their new regional sheriff India —a gang of ‘unmitigated scoundrels’ of the type described by Mencken. The post-2015 track record of unprecedented levels of corruption, mismanagement and lies of the group certainly justifies the label.

The poll result clearly shows that the SLFP membership at the grassroots has largely ‘written off’ the Sirisena wing, together with the party secretary handpicked by him. As far as they are concerned, Sirisena’s connivance with the UNP in the 2014 events was a treacherous and opportunistic act that weakened the SLFP. As to the UNP, they seem to be still failing to ‘take home’ the electoral message that has been conveyed repeatedly through 30 elections over two decades that a party led by their leader is not marketable material in today’s Sri Lanka.

Ironically, the president’s flaccid response to the electoral decapitation is displaying the levels of incompetence that has characterised the past three years of lame-administration by a group of people without the necessary commitment to solve problems or the requisite management skills. The president’s attempt to answer the public rejection through the non-solution of redistributing the spoils of 2015 power grab — ministerial posts with extensive perks — has elicited the resistance and rebellion that had to be expected: yahapalana ministers never appeared to be in politics for national service, but for what they could ‘milk’ from the public purse and steal in other ways.

The hopeless and desperate national calamity the country is in calls for an analysis of the 2015 disaster — its main actors and events — in the context of historical records of similar circumstances. Similarities between Julius Caesar and Mahinda Rajapaksa as popular political players and between those behind the 2015 yahapalana plot and Caesar’s assassination, based on William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, have been drawn previously in these columns (The Sri Lankan regime change – a Caesarian analogy, The Island, November 24, 2015). The historical narrative of the political context of ancient Rome, which goes beyond what is portrayed in Shakespeare’s play, points to even more striking parallels with the events in Sri Lanka.

The need to peep into Roman history beyond what could be gleaned from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar arises from the fact that Shakespeare, despite being the consummate explorer of the depths of human emotions and behaviour in a manner that transcends time, was not a historian.

Though Shakespeare wrote Julius Caesar against the background of a long-running power struggle between the monarchy, aristocracy and the house of commons in Elizabethan England in the 16th century, his treatment of issues in shaping the dramatic narrative in Julius Caesar has centred around exploring the connections between rhetoric — a much-valued skill in Renaissance England — and power and conspiracy.In that context, Shakespeare’s portrayal of Caesar has been limited to a great Roman general recently returned to Rome in triumph after a successful military campaign in Gaul, rejoicing over the populace’s increasing idolisation of his image to the extent of being carried away with notions of his own invincibility. Unfortunately, this particular portrayal of Caesar distracts from the important role he played in the overall political context of the last century of the Roman Republic, earning the wrath of the Senate and being assassinated by them.

The real Caesar in Roman politics

An analysis of the history of the Roman Republic in its last stages demonstrates that Caesar was a leader who represented the downtrodden in a long-running power struggle between the Senate, the body that represented the rich aristocracy — referred to as patricians — and the Tribunes that represented the peasantry — referred to as the plebeians. This class conflict was heightened by the acute economic disparities generated by the military and economic successes of the republic in the first 300 years, making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

The last 200 years of the Roman Republic was marked by increasing efforts of the poor to correct the power imbalance, and ebbs and flows of fortunes of the adversaries: the plebeians scored an important temporary victory instituted by the two Gracchus brothers (Gracchi Reforms) of 133 and 121 BC, later reversed by the counterrevolution of Dictator Sulla in 83 BC, again restored by Gaeus Pompey Magnus in 71BC. Caesar can be considered the last leader of the Roman Republic who attempted to correct the power imbalance and address the social issues that affected the poor. His assassination was the culmination of a sinister plot by his politically corrupt opponents. This history has strong parallels with the role Mahinda Rajapaksa played in Sri Lanka between 2004 and 2015 and the composition of forces and the manner of operation of the forces that were hell bent on politically assassinating him.

The beginnings of the class struggle in the Roman Republic go back to the overthrow of Etruscan invaders and its establishment in 509 BC. The overthrow of the colonial rule was quickly followed by a power grab by the patricians represented by the Roman Senate that had functioned historically as a 300-member advisory body for the Roman kings. Though the plebeians were supposed to have won sovereignty, it was in theory only. In practice, the Senate had usurped the revolution to gain enormous power through the control of appointments for key government positions. They had reserved the powers of the senate to elect two consuls for one-year terms. Each consul was empowered to veto the actions of the other. When unity of command was necessary at times of military activity, a dictator was appointed in place of the consuls, for periods not longer than six months. Aristocrats also retained the exclusive rights to annually elect positions of magistrates, concerned with all aspects of government, not merely the law. In reality, the Republic became a hereditary oligarchy in the hands of the wealthy patrician families who ran the all-powerful Senate with no genuine voice for the plebeians, women, or slaves. Inevitably, the situation ignited a power struggle between the patricians and the plebeians.

The enormous disparities in the distribution of wealth that resulted from Rome’s imperial growth in the first 200 years served to heighten the class conflict. In a predominantly tribal Europe where tribes in Germany, Britain, and France were preoccupied with fighting among themselves, Rome under the pretensions of being a ‘free republic’ went on to become the centre of the most powerful empire in the world by the third century BC. An unprecedented scale of wealth flew into Rome following the conquest of Carthage and Spain and annexation of Greece, making the Roman senatorial elite extremely rich.

At the same time, Roman citizens were being dispatched on foreign military service on long stints throwing their farms into disrepair. Soldiers returning from the battlefield often had to sell their farms to pay their debts, and the aristocracy bought the farms at discounted prices, making the original owners tenant farmers. The conquests had also brought a great surplus of inexpensive slave labour to Rome, enabling the land owning aristocrats to reduce costs of production. Deprived of land, employment opportunities and markets for their produce, the masses of unemployed plebeians began to flood into Rome, followed by clamour for redressing the social ills affecting the poor.

The masses managed to establish a college of ten ‘Tribunes’ of elected plebs to act as a check on the authority of the senate and the annual magistrates, holding the power to intervene on behalf of the plebeians, and veto unfavourable legislation. The patricians, refusing to cede any power were resorting to foul and violent means to undermine plebeian efforts to redress. When Tiberius Gracchus, the first great reformer elected Plebeian Tribune in 133 BC attempted to enact a law to distribute some of the public land amongst landless veterans, the aristocrats paid a corrupt Tribune named Marcus Octavius to veto the legislation at the Plebeian Council. Tiberius’ attempts to impeach Octavius on charges of corruption were thwarted by murdering him when he stood for re-election to the Tribunate.

Tiberius’ brother Gaius was elected Plebeian Tribune a decade later in 123 BC. Gaius Gracchus, determined to weaken the senate and to strengthen the democratic forces, enacted a law to replace senators on the jury courts with apolitical businessmen of the upper classes and introduced a grain law which greatly disadvantaged the provincial governors, most of whom were senators. Gaius outlawed the judicial commissions, and declared the ‘Final decree of the Senate’ to be unconstitutional. He, too, was defeated and then murdered after he stood for re-election to a third term in 121 BC. The Gracchi reforms obtained at the cost of lives of the two brothers altered the power equation in favour of a degree of political parity for plebeians with the aristocratic patrician class.

A counter revolution aimed at reversing the weakening effects of Gracchi reforms on the senate was launched by Lucius Cornelius Sulla, a member of the aristocratic (optimates) party elected Consul in 88 BC. He introduced a law that required senate approval before any bill could be submitted to the Plebeian Council. After a brief period of power of the plebeians led by Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna (Julius Caesar’s father-in-law), Sulla recaptured the city of Rome in 83 BC, installed himself dictator, and started reversing the Gracchi reforms of the Tribunes in earnest: he removed the power of the Tribunate to initiate legislation and to veto acts of the senate. Tribunes were prohibited from standing for re-election or ever holding any other office. Sulla then weakened the magisterial offices by increasing the number of elected magistrates and required they be given automatic membership in the senate. These two reforms were enacted primarily to allow Sulla to increase the size of the senate from 300 to 600 members. He transferred the control of the courts from the knights, who had held control since the Gracchi reforms, to the senators, further increasing the importance of the senate as the principal organ of government.

These non-constitutional and immoral changes made the Tribunes and thus the People of Rome powerless until 71 BC when Gaeus Pompey Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus, elect to the Consulship with the agreement of the popular party dismantled most of Sulla’s constitution.

Caesar deals the final blow to the Senate

Having been born in 100 BC, Caesar had grown up in a chaotic and dysfunctional Roman Republic. The central government had become powerless and the provinces had come under the absolute control of their governors. Political corruption maintained by a corrupt aristocracy had spiralled out of control, making them quite rich and rest of the republic poor.

Between his crossing of the Rubicon River in 49 BC, and his assassination in 44 BC, Julius Caesar introduced laws to improve the condition of the poor, redistributing land and reducing unemployment. Essentially, he completed the reforms the Gracchi brothers had begun. Caesar established a new constitution intended to suppress all armed resistance in the provinces and to create a strong central government in Rome by increasing his own authority and by decreasing the authority of other political institutions. Caesar put a more diverse group of people in government and the Senate. Probably, the most remarkable service Caesar rendered was ending the repugnant Roman constitutional theory that stood against a representative of the people ceasing to be one when he acts against the wishes of the people. By reversing this law, Caesar removed constitutional restraints on the popular will, putting the state under the absolute control of a popular majority. Caesar made the Roman Senate a mere ceremonial body of corrupt, wealthy men with no power to rule. So, they murdered him!

In aftermath of the death of Caesar, as recorded by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (Suetonius), Marc Anthony (Consul) outmanoeuvred the assassins, forcing Brutus and Cassius to leave Rome, triggering a battle between Marc and Augustus for power within the Second Triumvirate made up of Augustus Caesar, Marc Anthony and Lepidus, assuaged by Marc leaving for Egypt with Cleopatra and Augustus to the East. Finally, Brutus’ assassin faction was defeated by the united armies of Octavian and Marc Anthony at the Battle of Phillipe in 42 BC, leading to Brutus and Cassius committing suicide. Internal strife continued with Augustus Octavian and Marc Antony vying for hegemony until Antony was defeated at the battle of Actium in 31 BC establishing himself on the throne as Augustus Caesar and emperor of Rome. He eliminated the remaining powers of the senate. As to the fate of other assassins, Augustus is supposed to have killed around 40 who were involved in the conspiracy, including Cicero. The other senators who were part of the conspiracy are supposed to have committed suicide.

Relevance to Sri Lanka

It is presumed that an attentive reading of the foregoing would make the similarities between ancient Rome and 2015 Sri Lanka from a class struggle perspective is obvious to the reader. An essential feature of similarity goes to the aristocrats’ use of corrupt operatives from the opposite camp to achieve their objectives. They achieved such influence corruptly by financing election campaigns for key positions with ‘dark money’. The aforementioned Octavius, who sabotaged the progressive legislation of Tiberius Gracchus in the Tribunate, is a case in point. The aristocrats’ cynical use of power involved providing legal protection to such class-traitors, until Julius Caesar removed the particular provisions from the constitution.

Also oddly pertinent in a contemporary context is the tendency of politicians to assume that the public shares their desires, as the conspirators wrongly assume they will be hailed as heroes for having brought down a leader on false premises such as ambitions of dictatorship on the part of charismatic leaders. The conspirators including his good friend Brutus and Cassius feigned their concern that Caesar may aspire to dictatorship over the Roman republic, Caesar, on the other hand, had already (according to Roman history) been made dictator but refused a king’s crown. Brutus corruptly rationalises the conspiracy by describing keeping Rome free as ‘the virtue of our enterprise’. The February 10 results send that the Sri Lanka population has realised that they were led up the garden with such charges against Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Perhaps, the most unsettling theme in Julius Caesar, seen through the prism of today’s politics in Sri Lanka, is the danger that threatens when the public perceives a void of power at the seat of government. The government’s attempt to fill the grave administration deficit by electing close to 9,000 new councillors has given rise to the farcical situation of many Pradeshiya Sabha areas of the Matara District for example, with more the council members than council workers. The Colombo Municipal Council with 119 members is tipped to have its meetings at a BMICH hall.

From the perspective of the public who are at the receiving end of such foolery and incompetence could only find some solace probably in another Shakespeare play, Othello where the Duke is saying to the invented character Brabantio, the father of Desdemona: ‘The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief’.

Whether they would at least be able to feign a smile is a grave concern.

Dilrook Kannangara

https://video-syd2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t42.1790-2/28563633_191839628244626_6433100963405365248_n.mp4?efg=eyJ2ZW5jb2RlX3RhZyI6InN2ZV9zZCJ9&oh=f71d5d5b53de2342bdf9f77fe19a1a95&oe=5A9553D1

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B03EEDB1F3FF932A25757C0A96E9C8B63

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/latest-terror-threat-in-us-aimed-to-poison-food-20-12-2010/

People must be advised not to patronize eateries similar in nature to the alleged eatery in ownership, name, cooks and cashiers.

Government must act now before things get out of hand. The alleged act is a war crime, a crime against humanity and a definite act of terrorism. The Hague Convention (1907) classifies the use of poisons as weapons a war crime and a crime against humanity.

https://www.facebook.com/buddhika.senavirathne.7/videos/1525448834240253/?hc_ref=ART3M_MtvDwZT7QvbjMX5GE_KfllgP6AhY2o-76_2mLouY_VMmyV5egXRpqzHPQatyU

By Charles.S.Perera

He is a Prince by his hereditary right, but his thinking and understanding  it seems are far from that of a  Prince. A real Prince becomes so by his action and ability to see through things to sift facts from fiction to understand the truth to help the mankind, and not by been born a Prince.

He  is the man who replaced the South African Tamil woman Navi Pillai as the UN High Commissioner for human rights. Navi Pillai was the person who was intent in accusing the Sri Lanka armed forces for supposed to have violated human rights of the Tamils at the final phase of the military operations against the terrorists. Being a Tamil herself from the apartheid South Africa she was not only a sympathiser of the Tamil terrorists Prabhakaran in Sri Lanka, but also one who having suffered under apartheid in her home country romanticised the terrorist Prabhakaran as a  hero of the Tamils against a ruling class.

Yasmin Sooka who was one of the members of the UN SG’s Panel of experts  appointed appointed by Ban Ki Moon the UNSG, to prepare  the so called Darusman report  on the Sri Lanka Government’s accountability on the elimination of terrorism  in Sri Lanka, another victim of South African Apartheid, is a Human Rights lawyer.

Yasmin Sooka,  being with Navipillai on the opposite side of the fence against the Government of Sri Lanka,  still carries out  her compatriot Navi Pillai’s agenda against Sri Lanka Armed Forces. Education has given them no philosophical sensibility,hence they have no  sense of unbiased  justice and righteousness . They are carried away by their personal prejudices. Sooka blinded by her prejudiced mind carries out what Navi Pillai began by piling accusations against the Sri Lanka Armed Forces.

Her recent effort to bring a lawsuit against General Jagath Jayasuriya while he was Ambassador in Brazil through a lawyer Carlos Castrana Fernadez is in pursuit of her Navi Pillai’s agenda. The lawyer Fernandez had said, in this respect This is one genocide that has been forgotten, but this will force democratic countries to do some thing”. One wonders what are the democratic countries he refers to, and  genocide is a vogue word used by pro-terrorist Tamil diaspora who had not set their feet on the soil of Sri Lanka during terrorism to have experienced what it was like, and racist Tamils in Sri Lanka.

But this Prince – Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein  seems merely carrying out the duties of the UN High Commissioner from where Navi Pillai left it for him, without taking time to think over it himself to come to a different understanding of a developing country faced with terrorism by the youth from the Tamil Community of Sri Lanka itself, taken over by a neighbouring state to train them as terrorists.

That is what he should have first done if he had a Princely mind  without acting as a mere bureaucrat without  thoroughly  investigating to understand the rights and wrongs of the accusations,  before he  himself likea  puppet on a string points his own fingers of accusation at Sri Lanka.

Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein the UNHCHR should have  examined the USA led resolution against Sri Lanka to find out on what basis the resolution  against its  Armed Forces had been made. No country launches a military action against its own people if the matter could have been settled by other means. If Zeid Al-Hussain had tried to understand the circumstances that led to a military operation , he would have perceived  that Sri Lanka Government was led to take that alternative as a last resort against a group of ruthless terrorists who refused to sit down around a table and come to a political settlement of their grievances.

Therefore, the  passing of the resolution against the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka  for  War crimes by USA and the West was an absolute harassment against Sri Lanka- a developing country-a Sovereign State , which an unbiased educated Prince should have understood.

On the other hand, unlike Sri Lanka Government and Armed Forces which knew where the terrorists were located, it is the USA and its Allies with the NATO forces that carry out unceasing bombardments against terrorists in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq without even identifying the areas where the terrorists are located, thus killing large numbers of innocent civilians which the USA and its Allies  put as collateral damage”.

The Prince- Zeid Al-Hussein should look into this  contradiction in the Resolution presented by the USA against Sri Lanka. Is it correct in equity that one country -USA goes with blood of the innocent victims of their  haphazard bombardments on their hands to accuse Sri Lanka carrying out military operations in identified areas against its own terrorists  in its own country ?

Yasmin Sooka  like a sorceress flinging out her skirts in a macabre dance” accuses the Sri Lanka Government and its Armed Forces without having a shred of real evidence, and  not even knowing what happened in Sri Lanka from 1980s to May,2009 or  even hearing an eye witness account of the events.

The Darusman report she hoists in support of her claim of war crimes by the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka  was written by a three member Panel in which she was a member. The Prince  Zeid Al-Hussein should have investigated how it was prepared before  accepting  that report which in  reality  is no more than a fiction writing. In fact this Darusman Report has no official validity as  Ban Ki Moon the then UNSG himself said that it was a report prepared for his personal information.

Darusman Report was prepared by the Panelists sitting in separate rooms in the UN Head Quarters, without having  visited Sri Lanka to see for themselves  where the military operations against the terrorists took place.

The Darusman report is a fictitious crime story prepared  sitting comfortably in an  office rooms in the UN Head Quarters with Secretaries and Computers using only e-mails, internet and perhaps telephone calls.  It was later supported by a  documentary prepared with falsified images by a private TV Channel in UK paid for by the Tamil Diaspora.

What does the Prince know of the background to the Darusman report ? Does he investigate to find out whether it is really reliable document ?

The Darusman Panel  collected information  using the Internet taking evidence through e-mails from various pro terrorist Organisations and their members of the Tamil Diaspora, who had also not visited Sri Lanka during the terrorism, some of them having fled the country when terrorism commenced in Sri Lanka, and others of the second generation Tamil diaspora, only  hearing  fancy stories  related by their parents from what they thought they remembered.

No one accused in the report as having committed war crimes, can challenge and cross examine the witnesses to check on the evidence they had given, as their names are not given in the report  and the Panel has ruled that the names of the persons who gave evidence should not be divulged before twenty years.

The fact is that there were no witnesses who came before the Panel to give evidence ,  …..Can you cross examine  e-mails” ?

The UNSG Ban Ki Moon was wrong to have released that document to the UN Commissioner of Human rights as it is not a legal document. The Darusman Report could be challenged in any court of law as a document which could be legally accepted, as the report has been written  on  evidence supposed to have been given by  unknown persons and the evidence cannot be verified  to be correct.

Even the wise Prince Zeid Al-Husseing had been duped ?

Sometime it is not education in best of schools and experience working in clover that makes one intelligent, one should also have common sense of an ordinary man,  who thinks like an ordinary human being to understand the cultures , way of thinking, of the people of other countries, who have different religious beliefs and think and act differently from a Prince who was born to princely pleasure and a life of luxury.

The Prince Zeid  a graduate of the  John Hopkins University  and received a Ph.D from the University of Cambridge should have known better not to perform his duties as a simple  bureaucrat but to be more vigilant and intellectual to read and understand material put before him to see whether the actions against terrorism taken by the Sri Lanka Government and its Armed Forces have been fairly and justifiable examined before allowing  a damning resolution against a country that had suffered under terrorism for 30 long years,  be presented at the UN Council for Human Rights in Geneva ?

The Darusman report  asserts that 40 000 civilian  Tamils had been killed during the last phase of the military operations against the Terrorists.

This number is vastly exaggerated. The USA and Western Government Officials who prepared the  USA resolution PP3/HRC/30/1 were not bothered to verify  the credibility of that figure, as  te number of civilians killed by an Armed Forces which had rescued over 300 thousand civilians held as human shields by the terrorists

USA State Department  used this number of 40,000 Civilans killed by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces  in preparing the resolution to shock  the UN Human Rights Council by  portraying to  the Council the Sri Lanka Armed Force as  irresponsible, inhuman, indisciplined, committing mass rape, and practicing  genocide against the Tamils.

The Sri Lanka Armed Force was on the contrary a a model of an Armed Force, of well  disciplined soldiers, human, kindly, not committing rape, or genocide against the Tamils. That the USA with its history of  torture Camps –the Camp X-Ray of Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib cannot understand.

Perhaps it would  educate the Prince  what USA torture is , if he would  go to :  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11284139/Torture-report-10-examples-of-the-horror-in-the-CIAs-prisons.html

The Officers and Soldiers of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces were aware of their responsibility and aware that the military operations were not against the innocent Tamils civilians,  but against the ruthless terrorists who terrorised not only the other communities but also the Tamils themselves . The Tamil Politicians refuse to give credit to the Sri Lanka Armed Forces for that undivided attention they gave to the Tamil Civilians as much as to the civilian Sinhala and Muslim people of the country.

The UN High Commission of Human Rights had a right to question those proposing the resolution as to how they can justify that number of deaths. There are many who questioned the 40,000 deaths claimed by the Panellists  who wrote the fictitious Darusman report. Lord Naseby of UK is one such person who is adamant that the deaths would not have been even 8000.

Why does not the excellent Prince Zeid Al-Hussein take a look at what Lord Neseby had to say on the numbers the false Darusman Fiction had reported ?

If the Prince Zeid Al-Hussein as representing UN had any good sense he should have taken it on himself to have advised the foolish  half witted Mangala Samaraweera , the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka not to sponsor the  US Resolution Against Sri Lanka ,which that foolish man did not understand was  a resolution  against his own Country.

By Gandara John

“Fascism is the merger of State and Corporate power” – Benito Mussolini

The Neoliberals in the US manipulated World War 2 to dismantle prominent European White-Settler Empires, some of which had stood a near three centuries.

Simplistically put, World War 2 had become a bloody drama where European Whites warred against each other for a larger slice of the ‘Colonial Cake’ of Nation States in the Third World.

The Neoliberal Whites in the US however had other plans; they wanted to eat the ‘Entire European Cake’ (and more) by themselves and to achieve this it was imperative that they first deprived the Europeans of their ‘pieces of cake’,

The plan was, having deprived the Europeans of their ‘pieces of cake’ the Yankee Neoliberals would then proceed to cut up a ‘reconstituted’ whole cake into sizes and shapes that would facilitate easy governance and control for the yanks.

The Yanks had their own terminology for this process. Depriving the Europeans of their pieces of cake was, the granting of independence to the Colonised Nation States; reconstructing the cake as a whole was, restoring the Sovereignty of  Nation States’ of the Third World; breaking down Nation States, redefining their boundaries, and making obsolete, not only Sovereign Governments of the Third World but the concept of  Westphalian Nation-States is, globalisation; cutting anew the cake into sizes and shapes that the yanks are comfortable with is reshaping the world for a ‘One-World-Government’ of the Yanks or more appropriately ‘Yankee-Colonisation’.

It is a matter of interest that the US – itself a country yet struggling to free itself from the scourge of the White-settler Colonialists from Europe (often referred to as Yanks) –   though not actively involved in WW2 initially, financially profited from the war throughout its entire duration.

Financially controlling the antagonist and the protagonists in WW2, the Yankees determined the outcome of the war and consequently the immediate history of the world, post WW2.

Despite being bound by the US ‘Neutralities’ Act, the Yanks supplied munitions and funds to the NAZIS in Germany which had been pauperised by the Versailles Treaty that had been guilefully crafted by the US Corporates.

The yanks similarly supplied and funded an impoverished Britain through the ‘Cash and Carry’, ‘Destroyer for Bases’ and ‘Lend-Lease’ financial Mechanisms.

It is ironic that the anti-Communist Yanks supplied likewise the Communists in the Soviet Union, when the Yanks considered it opportune to open a war front on Germany’s Eastern flank.

The Neoliberal Yanks had played their cards well; all the major players in WW2 were in their pockets.

In 1941 British morale was at its lowest; their Army had been routed at Dunkirk, their soldiers had disgracefully abandoned much of their military ware in France and funds, to re- arm and re-equip this rag tag army, were dear.

The Germans on the other hand, fresh after the drubbing they had inflicted on the Brits at Dunkirk, smelt blood; their forces were primed, massing up along the coastline of France rearing to tear into Britain.

It was then that on 14th August of that year the yanks, who had been impatiently biding their time in the wings, shifted gear to move into Centre stage when a supplicant Britain, capitulated to the exactions laid down by the yanks in the ‘Atlantic Charter’.

Responding to a pitiful British SOS – that US enters the fray against Nazi Germany – the   Neoliberal yanks seized the opportunity to exploit Britain’s vulnerability; they insisted that if they were to acquiesce to British pleas, Britain and their allied European Powers perforce must give the US an assurance that at the end of WW2, independence would be granted to all their respective Colonies.

When Britain timidly threw in the towel in the face of patent Yankee blackmail and agreed to the conditions laid down in the Atlantic Charter, there emerged in the vortex of International politics a sudden and conspicuous vacuum of Power.

It is pertinent that at the time Churchill surrendered the British Empire in keeping with the ‘Atlantic Charter’, Roosevelt’s chief aide at the ‘Charter’ meeting was that arch- Neoliberal Averell Harriman, son of US rail road baron E H Harriman.

At the ‘Atlantic Charter’, Averell Harriman was to Roosevelt what the Neo-liberals of a previous generation like Mandel House and Bernard Baruch had been to Woodrow Wilson when drawing up the Versailles Treaty.

These respective corporate personalities were the architects of the Versailles Treaty of 1919 and the Atlantic Charter of 1941.

It is perhaps not coincidental that Harriman, following the ‘Atlantic Charter’ Agreement, proceeded to Moscow as US ambassador in that country, overseeing Yankee funding of the Communist State, the re-arming of the Soviet Union’s ill-equipped military and the establishment of an extensive rail system in that country.

Harriman’s company, his partners like ‘Grandfather’ Prescott Bush, and Yankee multi-billionaires  of the likes of the Koch brothers, thrived on communism or rather  made a fortune doing business with Communist Russia.

With the Atlantic Charter the Yanks secured a Non-colonised world, bar Germany’s Empire.

With Britain and the Soviet Union re-armed, the Yanks initiated a two prong attack on Germany; from the West a joint Anglo-American attack began while from the East the Soviets attacked on a very broad front.

There was no way that Germany could survive  from this twin offensive, coming from diametrically opposite sides.

The World was now ready for Yankee plundering, save the Soviet Union. In 1991, the Yankee-Neoliberals ensured the collapse of the Soviet Union.

And was it coincidental that immediately after WW2 Harriman moved into London as US Ambassador to UK; he reportedly coordinated the dismantling of the British Empire and the smooth transfer of global power from Britain to the US.

Thanks to WW2, the Yanks became a Global Power, dismantling and destroying the White-Settler Empires of the Europeans, establishing over thousand Military Bases around the world purportedly to thwart a threat from Communism and establishing a Transatlantic Army of Whites who today ceaselessly roam the seas, threatening the rest of the world.

In Sri Lanka recently viewers saw scenes resulting from the brash and insolent conduct of the Yank Ambassador, openly interfering in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs! (Was it the Neoliberals who were sniffing about alleged Russian interference in the US Elections?)

The Yankee Empire is in the making. While it took a handful of European countries to plunder much of the world with their Empires, the nascent Yank Empire has covered much ground in its plan to bring the Entire World under its control.

The US is a classic example of a nation where Corporate power has fused with State Power.

Next: What lies in store for a world colonised by the US

Gandara John is a freelance writer.

E mail:gandarajohn@outlook.com

MEDIA RELEASE Mahinda Rajapaksa Former President of Sri Lanka

The government has introduced in parliament the Active Liability Management Bill seeking authorization to borrow over Rs. one trillion from local and foreign sources, over and above the yearly borrowing limit set by parliament. The yahapalana government has been irresponsible and reckless in borrowing money from its inception. Under my government, Sri Lanka Development Bonds (SLDBs) were issued only twice a year to borrow an average of around USD 350 million per year. This too, was at the height of the biggest infrastructure building programme since independence. However in the year 2015, without any such projects, the yahapalana government issued SLDBs on no less than nine occasions, followed by six in 2016 and four in 2017 and have up to now borrowed USD 7.7 billion from this source alone.

In the past three years, a further USD 9 billion has been borrowed through sovereign bonds, currency swaps, syndicated loans and the IMF Extended Fund Facility – a total of USD 16.7 billion in foreign currency borrowings alone. During this same period they have made Rupee borrowings of around Rs.6 trillion as well. Even though a part of this massive volume of debt, like the Indian currency swaps and the shorter duration SLDBs and rupee bills and bonds have been paid off, from their first year in power this government has been borrowing and repaying, and borrowing to repay in a vicious cycle that has been rapidly gaining momentum. The Debt to GDP ratio which my government managed to reduce from 91% in 2005 to 71% by the end of 2014, had shot up to nearly 81% by the end of 2015 according to IMF report No: 16/371 and a Peradeniya University don estimates it to be bordering on 90% by the end of 2017.

The yahapalana government’s borrowing spree was occasioned by the huge increase in expenditure in 2015 due to the special allowance given and the reduction in the prices of

fuel and gas and certain commodities made to win the last parliamentary election. Even though the government claims they have been forced to borrow in order to pay back the loans taken by my government for infrastructure projects, the biggest such projects including the Norochcholai power plant, the Southern Expressway, the Hambantota harbour, the Colombo-Katunayake expressway and the Mattala airport all put together cost less than USD 3.9 billion and repaying these long term loans taken at concessionary rates of interest was never a strain on the economy.

On 26 January, President Maithripala Sirisena stated at a meeting with media heads, that my government had taken Rs. 10 trillion in local and foreign loans but only 1.1 trillion of that is accounted for as assets and that there is no record of what happened to the remaining Rs. 9 trillion. Later, on 7 February, just as campaigning for the local government elections ended, the Auditor General suddenly called a media conference and stated that nobody knows what our real national debt is because debt had been concealed over the past ten years, by being shifted to state owned enterprises and other government entities without being included in the public debt. He also stated that Sri Lanka’s total debt amounts to Rs. 10 trillion but the balance sheet indicates only Rs.1.1 trillion in assets. Everyone knew that the government would come up with some kind of a gimmick at the last minute with a view to influencing the election result. This time, the gimmick meant to mislead the voter came in the form of this talk about debts and assets.

According to Article 154 of our Constitution, the Auditor General’s Constitutionally mandated task is to audit all agencies of the central government, all provincial councils and local authorities and every enterprise in which the state owns more than 50% of the shares and he is the last person in the country who can claim that he does not know how much is owed by each of these institutions. His claim that we have borrowings of more than Rs.10 trillion and assets amounting only to Rs. 1.1 trillion was even more insidious and misleading. Sri Lanka’s state accounts are prepared on the ‘modified cash basis’ which is consistent with international standards and is accepted by multilateral bodies like the IMF. This system records receipts and payments and places no emphasis on the balance sheet or on the valuing of a state’s assets. The ‘accruals accounting system’ which places emphasis on the valuation of assets is not used in our country in the preparation of state accounts.

Appointments to high posts are now made by the yahapalana President on the recommendations of the ten yahapalanites sitting in the Constitutional Council – which explains the conduct of the Auditor General on the eve of an election. Through his irresponsible comments, the Auditor General basically condemned in public the audits of his predecessors of the past ten years. The Central Bank had to step in to reassure the financial markets by issuing a statement contradicting the Auditor General’s claims and pointing out that Sri Lanka’s debts are accurately recorded and that we have an unblemished record in servicing that debt. It is in the middle of all this insanity that the government has introduced the Active Liability Management Bill in order to give wings to their borrowing spree.

Parliamentarian Bandula Gunawardene has already petitioned the Supreme Court pointing out among other things that this Bill undermines the authority of parliament over financial matters, undermines the Central Bank’s management of public debt and vests the executive arm with unrestricted power in utilising the money borrowed. Under this proposed law, the executive will be able to raise over Rs. One trillion in debt and make regulations about how that money will be used. Even if Parliament subsequently refuses to endorse the manner in which the money has been utilized, what was done on the authority of the Minister in the intervening period, would still be legally valid. Furthermore, so long as it can be established that they acted in good faith, no civil or criminal liability whatsoever will attach to those involved with regard to the manner in which this money is used.

Given the scandals that have already taken place in the issuance of public debt under this government, the danger inherent in this proposed law is obvious. Therefore, the Active Liability Management Bill should be resolutely opposed by every citizen of Sri Lanka.

Mahinda Rajapaksa

Former President of Sri Lanka

මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනය මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ හිටපු ජනාධිපති

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවෙන් වසරක් පාසා පනවන ණය ගැනීමේ සීමාව ඉක්මවා, විධායකයට  වෙනම රුපියල් ට්‍රිලියනයක (එනම් බිලියන දහසක) ණය දේශීය හෝ විදේශීය මූලාශ්‍ර වලින් ලබා ගැනීමට හැකිවන පරිදි නව නීතියක් සම්පාදනය කිරීම සඳහා ආණ්ඩුව සක්‍රීය බැරකම් කළමනාකරණය කිරීම” යන මැයෙන් පනත් කෙටුම්පතක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට හඳුන්වා දී ඇත. යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව මුලසිටම ණය ගැනීම් සම්බන්ධයෙන් අනුගමනය කර ඇත්තේ අතිශයින්ම වගකීම් විරහිත ක්‍රියා කලාපයකි. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් මගේ ආණ්ඩුව යටතේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා සංවර්ධන බැඳුම්කර නිකුත් කරනු ලැබුවේ අවුරුද්දකට දෙවතාවකි. ලංකාව නිදහස ලැබූ දායින් පසු මෙරටේ ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ විශාලම සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘති මධ්‍යයේ වුවත්, එමඟින් මගේ ආණ්ඩුව වසරකට ගනු ලැබූ සාමාන්‍ය ණය ප්‍රමාණය ඇ.ඩො. මිලියන 350 ඉක්මවූයේ නැත. නමුත් 2015 වසරේදී එවැනි කිසිඳු සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘතියක් නොමැතිව, යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව ශ්‍රී ලංකා සංවර්ධන බැඳුම්කර නව වතාවකදී නිකුත් කරන ලදී. 2016 දී හය වතාවකද, 2017 දී සිව් වතාවකද මේ බැඳුම්කර යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව විසින් නිකුත් කර ඇති අතර පසුගිය වසර තුන ඇතුලත මේ මූලාශ්‍රයෙන් පමණක් ඇ.ඩො. බිලියන 7.7 ක් ණයට ගෙන ඇත.

එයට අමතරව පසුගිය වසර තුන ඇතුළත මේ ආණ්ඩුව සවරින් බොන්ඩ්, කරන්සි ස්වොප්, සින්ඩ්කේටඩ් ලෝන් හා ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදලේ ණය වශයෙන් තවත් ඇ.ඩො. බිලියන 9ක් ණයට ගෙන ඇත. එවිට යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව බලයට පැමැණි පසු ගත් විදේශ විනිමය ණය පමණක් ඇ.ඩො. බිලියන 16.7 ක් වේ. මේ කාල පරිච්ඡේදය තුළ ඔවුන් රුපියල් ණයද ට්‍රිල්යන 6ක් වැනි ප්‍රමාණයක් ලබාගෙන ඇත. මේ ණය කන්දරාව තුළ වූ ඉන්දියානු කරන්සි ස්වොප් ණය, කෙටි කාලීන ශ්‍රී  ලංකා සංවර්ධන බැඳුම්කර, හා රුපියල් බැඳුම්කර හා බිල්පත් වලින් කොටසක් දැනටම ගෙවා නිමකර තිබුණද මේ ආණ්ඩුව බලයට පැමිණි මුල් වසරේ සිටම ණය ගැනීම, ණය ගෙවීම, හා ණය ගෙවීමට ණය ගැනීම යන එන්න එන්ම වේගවත් වන විෂම චක්‍රයකට හසු වී සිටී. මගේ ආණ්ඩුව අවසානයේදී, එනම් 2014 දෙසැම්බරයේදී  71% ක් වූ දල ජාතික නිශ්පාදිතයට සාපේක්‍ෂ ණය ප්‍රතිශතය, 2015 අවසන් වන විට මාස 12 ක් වැනි කෙටි කාලයක් ඇතුළත 81% දක්වා වැඩි වී තිබුණු බව ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදලේ අංක 16/371 දරණ වාර්තාවේ සඳහන්ය. 2017 අවසන්  වන විට මේ ප්‍රතිශතය 90% ට ආසන්න වෙන තරමට වැඩි වී ඇති බවට පේරාදෙණිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ මහාචාර්යවරයෙකු ඇස්තමේන්තු කර ඇත.

යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුවේ මේ මහා පරිමාන ණය ගැනීම ආරම්භ වූයේ 2015 ජනාධිපතිවරණය ඔවුන් කුමන්ත්‍රණකාරී ලෙස ජයගත් පසු, එම වසරේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු  මැතිවරණය ජයගැනීම සඳහා ලබාදුන් විශේෂ දීමනා හා ඉන්ධන, ගෑස් හා වෙනත් පාරිබෝගික භාණ්ඩවල මිල අඩු කිරීම නිසා ආණ්ඩුවේ වියදම් පාලනය කරගත නොහැකි ලෙස වැඩි වීම හේතුවෙනි. මගේ ආණ්ඩුවෙන් නොයෙක් සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘති ඉදිකිරීම සඳහා ලබාගත් ණය ගෙවීමට මේ ණය ගැනීමට සිදු වී තිබෙන බවට යහපාලන  ආණ්ඩුව කීවත් එය සම්පූර්ණ මුසාවකි. මගේ ආණ්ඩුවෙන් ඉදි කරන ලද නොරොච්චෝලේ බලාගාරය, දක්‍ෂිණ අධිවේගී මාර්ගය, හම්බන්තොට වරාය, කොළඹ – කටුණායක අධිවේගී මාර්ගය හා මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපල යන සියල්ල සඳහා වැය වූ මුලු වියදම ඇ.ඩො. බිලියන 3.9 ක් වත් වන්නේ නැත. එපමණක්ද නොව මේ සියලුම ණය ඉතා සහනදායි පොලියකට ගෙන තිබෙන දිගු කාලීන ණය නිසා ඒවා ගෙවීම කිසිසේත්ම ආර්ථිකයට බරක් නොවීය.

පසුගිය ජනවාරි 26 වන දා ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රධානීන්ගේ හමුවක් අමතමින් මගේ ආණ්ඩුව කාලයේ රුපියල් ට්‍රිලියන 10 ක ණය ගෙන තිබුණත් එයට අදාල වත්කම් ඇත්තේ රුපියල් ට්‍රිලියන 1.1 ක් පමණක් බවත්, ඉතිරි ට්‍රිලියන 9යට සිදු වූ දෙයක් නැති බව පවසා සිටියේය. ඉන්පසුව, පලාත් පාලන මැතිවරණයේ ඡන්ද ව්‍යාපාරය අවසන් වීමට නියමිතව තිබුණු පෙබරවාරි 7 වනදා විගණකාධිපතිවරයා එක්වරම මාධ්‍ය හමුවක් කැඳවමින් පවසා සිටියේ පසුගිය වසර 10 ඇතුළත ගෙන තිබෙන ණය රජයට අයත් වානිජ ව්‍යාපාර හා වෙනත් රජයේ ආයතන වලට බැර කිරීම වැනි උපක්‍රම තුළින් තැන් තැන් වල ‘සඟවා’ තිබීම හේතුවෙන් මේ වන විට ලංකාවේ සැබෑ ණය බර කුමක්දැයි කිසිවෙකුටත් කිව නොහැකි බවයි. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වත්මන් ණය ප්‍රමාණය රුපියල් ට්‍රිලියන 10 ක් වුවත්, ලේඛන වල සඳහන් වන්නේ රුපියල් ට්‍රිලියන 1.1 ක වත්කම් ප්‍රමාණයක් පමණක් බවත් ඔහුද කියා සිටියේය. ආණ්ඩුව පලාත් පාලන මැතිවරණ ව්‍යාපාරයේ අවසන් මොහොතේදී ඡන්ද ප්‍රතිපලය වෙනස් කිරීම අරමුණු කරගෙන කුමක් හෝ උප්පරවැට්ටියක් යොදන බව සියලු දෙනාම දැනගෙන සිටයේය.  මෙවර ඡන්ද දායකයා නොමඟ හැරීම  ඉලක්ක කරගත් ඒ ‘ගුන්ඩුව’ ආවේ මේ ණය හා වත්කම් පිළිබඳ කතාව හරහාය.

අපේ ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 154 වන වගන්තියෙන්  විගණකාධිපතිවරයාට පවරා ඇති රාජකාරිය වන්නේ මධ්‍යම ආණ්ඩුවේ සියලුම ආයතනත්, සියලුම පලාත් සභාත්, සියලුම් පලාත් පාලන ආයතනත්, රජයට 50%කට වඩා කොටස් හිමිකාරිත්වයක් ඇති වානිජ ව්‍යාපාර සියල්ලමත් විගණනය කිරීමයි. එම නිසා මධ්‍යම ආණ්ඩුවට හා මේ එක් එක් ආයතන වලට ඇති ණය ප්‍රමාණය කුමක්දැයි තමන් නොදන්නා බව විගණකාධිපතිවරයාට කිසිසේත්ම කිව නොහැකිය. අපේ රටේ ණය ප්‍රමාණය රුපියල් ට්‍රිලියන 10ක් වන අතර වත්කම් ඇත්තේ රුපියල් ට්‍රිලියන 1.1 ක් යැයි කීම ඊටත් වඩා නොමඟ යවන සුලු ප්‍රකාශයකි. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ රාජ්‍ය ගිණුම් සකසනු ලබන්නේ ‘මොඩිෆයිඩ් කෑෂ් බේසිස්’ යන ගිණුම්කරන ක්‍රමයට අනුවය. මෙය ජාත්‍යන්තර ප්‍රමිතීන්ට අනුකූල වන අතර ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදල වැනි ආයතන විසින්ද පිලිගනු ලබයි. මේ ගිණුම්කරන ක්‍රමය යටතේ ලැබීම් සහ ගෙවීම් ලේඛණගත කරන අතර ශේෂ පත්‍රය හෝ රාජ්‍යයක වත්කම් ගණනය කිරීම

අවධාරණය කරන්නේ නැත. වත්කම් ගණනය කිරීම අවධාරණය කරන ‘අකෘවල්ස් අකවුන්ටින් සිස්ටම්’ යන ගිණුම්කරන ක්‍රමය රාජ්‍ය ගිණුම් සැකසීමේදී අපේ රටේ භාවිතා වන්නේ නැත.

අද මේ රටේ ඉහළ තනතුරු වලට පත්වීම් කරනු ලබන්නේ ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක සභාවේ සිටින යහපාලනවාදීන් 10 දෙනාගේ නිර්දේශය මත යහපාලන ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසිනි. ඡන්දයක් අභිමුව විගණකාධිපතිවරයා ඒ ආකාරයට හැසිරුණේ මන්දැයි එයින් පැහැදිලි වෙනු ඇත. විගණකාධිපතිවරයා තමාගේ වගකීම් විරහිත ප්‍රකාශයෙන් එම තනතුරේ පසුගිය අවුරුදු 10 මුලුල්ලේම සිටි විගණකාධිපතිවරුන්ගේ විගණන ජනතාව ඉදිරියේ හෙලා දැක ඇත. ඔහුගේ මෙම ප්‍රකාශයෙන් පසු ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුවට වහාම ක්‍රියාත්මක වී, විගණකාධිපතිවරයාගේ ප්‍රකාශය සාවද්‍ය බවත්, ලංකාවේ ණය ඉතා නිවැරදිව ලේඛනගත වී ඇති බවත්, මේ ණය කලට වෙලාවට ගෙවීම සම්බන්දයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට සුපිරිසිදු වාර්ථාවක් තිබෙන බවත් පෙන්වා දෙමින් මූල්‍ය වෙළඳපල අස්ථාවරවීම වැලැක්වීමට කටයුතු කිරීමට සිදුවිය.

යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව ඔවුන්ගේ ණය ගැනීමේ වියරුව තවත් ඉහල අඩියකට ගෙනයාම සඳහා මෙකී ‘සක්‍රීය බැරකම් කළමණාකරනය කිරීමේ’ පනත් කෙටුම්පත ඉදිරිපත් කොට තිබෙන්නේ මේ සියලුම විකාර ස්වරූපී සිදුවීම් මධ්‍යයේය. මේ යෝජිත නීතියෙන්, පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මුදල් පිළිබද බලතල වලටත්, රාජ්‍ය ණය කළමණාකරනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් මහ බැංකුවට ඇති බලතල වලටත්, බරපතල අභියෝග එල්ල වෙන බවත්, මේ නීතිය යටතේ ණයට ගන්නා මුදල් භාවිතා කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් විධායකයට කිසිදු නීතිමය සීමාවකින් තොරව බලය ලැබෙන බවටත් කරුණු දක්වමින් බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන මන්ත්‍රීතුමා ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට පෙත්සමක් ඉදිරිපත් කොට ඇත.

මේ නීතිය යටතේ ණයට ගන්නා මුදල් භාවිතා කරන ආකාරය ගැන විෂය භාර ඇමතිවරයා ගන්නා තීරණ, මාස තුනක් ඇතුලත නීති ප්‍රකාරව පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසින් අනුමත කිරීම ප්‍රතික්‍ෂේප කළත්, අදාල තීන්දුව ගැනීමත්, පාර්ලිමේන්තුව  විසින් එය ප්‍රතික්‍ෂේප කිරීමත් යන කාලය අතර සිදුකෙරෙන සියලු ක්‍රියාවන් නීත්‍යානුකූල වෙන බවට මේ යෝජිත පනතේ වගන්තියක් ඇත. එපමණක්ද නොව, යෝජිත නිතිය යටතේ ගන්නා ණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් කටයුතු කරන නිලධාරීන්, (සද්භාවය ඔප්පු කිරීමේ කොන්දේසියට යටත්ව ) සිවිල් හා අපරාධ වගකීම් වලින් සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම මුක්ත කර තිබේ.  ර්ලිමේන්තුව විස

මහබැංකු බැඳුම්කර නිකුත් කිරීමේදී දැනටමත් සිදු වී ඇති අක්‍රමකතා නිසා, ඉහත දැක් වූ ආකාරයේ විධිවිධාන වලින් ඇතිවිය හැකි භයානක ආනිසංස ගැන අමුතුවෙන් කිව යුතු නැත. එමනිසා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සියලුම පුරවැසියන් මේ යෝජිත ‘සක්‍රීය බැරකම් කළමණාකරනය කිරීමේ’  නීතියට එකහෙළාම එරෙහි විය යුතුය.

මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ හිටපු ජනාධිපති

Sarath Wijesinghe – former Ambassador to UAE and Israel

National Economic council and the Mandate

NEC headed by President Sirisena” has taken a drastic and decisive move by appointing high powered committee including Prime Minister Wickramasinghe” to manage Economy” will meet bi-annually to implement urgent fast tract policies in/for the next two years towards victory in the areas of economy, governance and winning provincial, general and presidential elections due before 2020. The other carefully chosen members in the powerful committee, includes the Secretary of the President and Prime Minister, Governor Central Bank, Minister Mangala Samaraweera” and his secretary, Secretary Ministry of National Policy, and Economic Affairs, with Professor Samaratunga,- all of whom will be in the Apex body of policy formulation and implementing of all aspects of economy and governance with carefully considered strategies and a vision based on President Sirisena’s programme due to the strong warning by way of the electoral defeat recently. They are not fulltime members- yet it will be the supreme body on Economic reforms and strategies even above the sub cabinet subcommittee headed by Prime Minister as he is active in SEC. It is not clear which policy will supersede between free liberal market economy of the UNP or the middle path on closed pro Sri Lankan Economy by SLFP, with the assistance of JVP and TNA supported by (some) civil society, movements and NGO’s. It could be a new programme deviating from the 100 day and two year programme considered to be unsuccessful and rejected by the masses with a clear message of discontent. Now that the President has taken charge of the formulation and implementation of the economy with the Prime Minister and the powerful Ministers with new vigour and plan of action, the government machinery of the good governance administration will be in operation continuously on fast track to achieve results before the incoming three elections due.

National Development Plan

Immediate steps have been taken for an accelerated national development plan with the participation of the powerful line ministers in the cabinet managed by the Secretary General of NEC, Dr Lalith Samarakoon – carefully chosen as the CEO of the nationwide operation of coordinating the Ministers in their respective areas. Dr Sarath Amunigama is entrusted in planning out the Textile, Garments and the industrial sectors while Minister Nimal Siripala

commences modernizing Bandaraneika Airport to avoid congestion or to construct a new wing, Megapolice Minister to modernize the infrastructure developments to cater the FDI investors due in due course with IT developments by the Minister of IT and Telecommunications. Processing economic issues will be personally handled by the President with special emphasis on bringing down the cost of living with the Consumer Affairs Authority headed by the controversial Trade Minister, and reintroduce once rejected fertilizer scheme to the farmers with special emphasis on organic fertilizer managed by the ministry of agriculture. Mini reshuffle anticipating a full scale reshuffle is a part of the strategy to expedite the process of changing UNP portfolios hoping to change the SLFP portfolios on Presidents return.

State of Economy

Economy of the country is not in a good shape due to debts, and unresolved manmade and natural disasters such as drought, bomb blast, after effects of floods, lack of unity, vision or strategy play a significant role in the development process and the governance of country. No major development project/s have launched during the last three years instead of the continuation of the initiations by the previous regime and it is time to initiate new projects and development schemas to showcase the future voter awaiting for the future elections. Vigorous Champaign on corruption and good governance by President Sirisena” was overshadowed by the impact of the unimpressive election results of the council elections with worst defeats ever, and rise of cost of living index, with shortages of food and consumer items , threat of the prices of gas and oil are unpleasant news for the common man sandwiched between the trader manufacturer and the industrialist making the task of NEC still difficult and challenging to achieve in two years and 48 meeting. Ranil Wickramasinge” accused of masterminding the Bond Scam has now become a champion against Bribery and Corruption! Overshadowing the vigorous campaign of President Sirisena declined after the provincial council disaster!

Time and space for NEC

Will the NEC has time and space to deliver goods with the other adverse internal and external factors determining the ailing and debt ridden economy managed by Minister Samaraweera – a novice to the job willing to take challenging unpopular decisions on economy, social welfare, international relations, land policy and drastic policy decisions. Short and long term impacts of his decisions can be asserted only during/after implementation. Mangala Samaraweera” as the Foreign Minister took bold arbitrary decisions on foreign policy on his own accord with no proper consultation/s with the leadership with grave implications under international law and relations with drastic effects today. What would be the connection between the CCEM Cabinet sub Committee headed by the Prime Minister and the NEC is not resolved/clear yet presuming it will either disappear or function under NEC as the President has taken charge of steering the economy by personal involvements on the Cabinet Papers with NEC. What would be the reaction of

the revolting members of the SLFP ginger group demanding changes on the Premiership or attempting to form a SLFP led government are issues brewing in President Sirisena’s camp in addition to the discontent President on UNP on the vigorous anti-corruption campaign targeting the leadership are on-going issues unresolved. Will Prime Minister Wickramasinghe take a backseat in management of economy giving up plans and strategies of his own planning from during 2002 on Pebedamu Lanka” programme policies which are completely contrary to the policies of President Sirisena who is now de – facto leader of the Cabinet taking decision overruling many other cabinet proposals are differences in the unity government of difference and diverse views and policies. There is news in Colombo Telegraph that the Attorney General with the Secretary of the President, USA Ambassador and Indian High Commissioner have intervened to bring about a temporary truce to settle and match making the conflict between President and Prime Minister which is a worrying issue as the AG has no mandate to be political and Ambassadors are prevented from intervening in internal issues under the Vienna Convention” , in dealing with political matchmaking or settlements of two political parties in power.

Good News for the President

Good news for Present Sirisena is that the TNA, JVP, Western Embassies and many western countries, India, fraction of the civil society, are backing him at any cost as against Rajapaksa- the common enemy to all of them yet enormously popular among fair cross section of the country as shown during the elections where bicycle symbol from Maharagama was won purely by Mahinda factor”. Minority attracted towards MS is gradually drifting away and the confrontation with the UNP and the leadership has developed lack of confidence and sense of disability among the community and the foreign factor awaiting investments based on political stability, and other positive factors on investment. Are they satisfied with the National security, political stability, good governance, and economic excellence are matters connected to the border spectrum of the management of economy including investment regime and international confidence on money and stability. With the Bond Scam and large scale bribery which has resulted in world wild publicity on bribery, money laundering, law and order with large scale frequent crimes including drug trade political instability / infighting in the government, are factors discouraging the prospective investors to this gifted and beautiful Island. Will President find time and space with other responsibilities as Head of Cabinet, Head of the Government, President SLFP, Ministers of Environment and Mahavali, and numerous responsibilities as the head with future unexpected eruption of issues to complete the arduous challenging task of reactivating the ailing economy riddled with corruption inefficiency and infighting with lack of vision and strategy.

Will History Repeat after 30 years

Apparently President will be formulating a rapid development strategy with the NEC with two year target with the new dedicated group of political and management experts to bring

about the developments in the country aiming at reducing cost of living and expedite rapid development strategy to win the 2020 elections and Presidential thereafter with Provincial Council Elections in between as plan A and Plan B” to be in power probably by expediting the cases against the previous regime accused of corruption and bribery by appointing more judges, establishing new courts, changing legislation to hear cases faster and giving facilities perks and salary increments to the judges and the officers to put the members of the previous regime behind bars as claimed openly by Ministers Rajitha Senaratna” and others by giving responsibility to the ruthless hard former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka” who is agitating to be active anytime. Accusations on the Prime Minister and the group on involvements in Bond scam which is the biggest robbery ever involving trillions siphoned from EPF, Banks and Public Funds running over 30 years in which a main accused Arjun Mahandran” on the run is shadowing after the Prime Minister and the group which has a great impact on economy and political and economic future of the country. Attorney General probably the next in line to be the next Chief Justice, is given one of the most expensive cars and judge’s salaries have already been disproportionately increased. There is a move to appoint a more proactive Minister of Law and Order to expedite court proceedings on political opponents, probably repeating the dark history on how Madam Bandaraneika’s civic rights were removed by a commission to enable JRJ to win the Presidential Election without the main popular opponent Madam B”. Situation and circumstances have now changed and it is doubtful whether history will be repeated under new circumstances/atmosphere 30 years later.

The writer who will take responsibility on the contents of the article could be contacted on sarath7@hotmail.co.uk

By Palitha Ariyarathna

Buddha and Buddhist life began to criticize by many news in the world and it’s deeply hurting the Buddhist world.  Peoples who are deal always with the judgments and criticisms about Buddhism insulting the Buddha by making bikinis with Buddha or bodi satwa state, using Buddhist emblems in their toilet accessories, or posting a Buddha in a naked magazine, or even many missionaries are ask for peoples to stamping on Buddha when they unethically convert to the any other goodish doctoring. Lastly extremist like to put a bomb at Buddha state and kill Buddhists in the name of their gods. Still lot of Buddhists are sleep and because of that in the world Buddha bar, Buddha soups or whatever began with the Buddha’s name become popular in many countries throughout the extremists.

Theravada version Buddha Bar

(this and act against Buddhist world)

Mahayanist or smile version of Buddha Bar logo

(this and act against Buddhist world)

Sales of a new Victoria’s Secret swimsuit featuring Buddhist images (link) have been halted internationally by international and local Buddhist protesting happens around 2004, something very sacred should not be used inappropriately in the world as community responsibility.lot of  Buddhist concern on these questions.

Why lot peoples do insult on Buddhism and Buddha?

Why spared slander and gossip about Buddhist people?

Why Buddha become a popular in the several menus at five star hotels with meaning of intend to-do insulting Buddha covertly?.

Buddha preaches to the world:

1. Do not kill.

2. Do not steal.

3. Do not engage in sexual misconduct.

4. Do not lie.

5. Do not use intoxicants

If its the Buddha advice to the world why there is bar call Buddha bar?

Why several meat packs include the Buddha image?

Why Buddha picture on a slender Bikini?

Why selling in a five star hotel at Dubai dishes call The ‘Buddha Jump Over the wall’ and it’s containing Shark’s pin?.(link)

We like to thanks the Animal rights activity at Dubai for fire up the issues. But we wonder as a Buddhist was the right activity did not see the name of the Buddha should not be print on such a menu…

Sadly, we Buddhist we want to say to the world those sorts of comments are made every day by people who surround us. By the people we work with and take the train with everyday. Slander and insults are all around us. It’s should be stop now and Buddhists has to wake up.

Sometimes one Word can be weapons. Also in other way just as a kind word can keep you smile for hours, also we have to aware harsh word can ruin your day. “An injury is forgotten sooner than an insult”

By SANJA DE SILVA JAYATILLEKA Courtesy The Island

The UNHRC’s High Level Segment is in session now, and is due to discuss Sri Lanka’s progress on the implementation of the Resolutions that this governmenteagerly co-sponsored in 2015 and 2017. Thereport of its progress is due to be presented later in the session, but one of the first reports to be presented at the Council is the Annual Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Annual Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Sri Lanka does not feature heavily in it, this being a general report of activities of the Office of the High Commissioner (OHCHR) during the year. However there were 3 brief entries: that the OHCHR gave training on minority rights in Sri Lanka, another that ‘OHCHR advocated for legislative enactments and reforms necessary to ensure that States comply with international human rights standards in the administration of justice’ in Sri Lanka, and another entry under the heading “Early warning and protection of human rights in situations of conflict, violence and insecurity” which refers to a briefing the OHCHR gave to the UN Peacebuilding Commission, on “the situation in Burundi and Sri Lanka”.

‘Situation’? Intrigued that there was a “situation” in Sri Lanka that warranted a briefing, I looked for the UN Peacebuilding Commission’s engagement with Sri Lanka when I came across a report of another briefing held 2 months ago,in November 2107. The report of that briefing says:

“On 20 November 2017, the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) convened an Ambassadorial-level meeting to discuss the peacebuilding experiences of Sri Lanka, upon the request of the Sri Lankan Government. H.E. Mr. IndrajithCoomaraswamy, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, H.E. Mr. Prasad Kariyawasam, Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Mano Tittawella, Secretary General of the Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms (SCRM) attended the meeting and explained to the Commission the peacebuilding priorities of the Government of Sri Lanka. Mr. JehanPerera of the Sri Lanka National Peace Council also delivered remarks.”

The “Chairperson’s Summary of the Discussion” outlines some alarming conclusions:

“Mr. Prasad Kariyawasam, Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, explained that the engagement of the UN with Sri Lanka would be critical for securing sustainable peace and development in the country. After explaining the history of the conflict, he underscored that the elections in 2015 sent a strong message by the people of Sri Lanka against ethnic and religious divisions, extremism and impunity.”

After this, there seems to be a consensus on the implementation of Resolution 30/1, which is unsurprising since this government co-sponsored it.

“Mr. Mano Tittawella, Secretary General of the Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms (SCRM), talked about the ambitious transitional justice and reconciliation agenda that Sri Lanka has embarked with UN support to operationalize its commitments to Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution 30/1…He stressed the importance of international support for the efforts to pursue transitional justice and reconciliation, and highlighted the PBF’s catalytic effect on the PPP that resulted in additional funding contributions from donors, such as the EU, UK, and Norway.”

It gets even more interesting when UN official Andrew Gilmour has his say, because the summary of his contribution breaks new ground in “stealth diplomacy”, or displays a lack of serious study on the matter of Sri Lanka’s war. Considering that Sri Lanka comprehensively won its war against a terrorist army, the UN’s list of appropriate action needs to be aligned to that reality. Instead he seems to be elevating the controversial Resolution 30/1 to the level of a national framework for post-war Sri Lanka “in the absence of a peace agreement”!

“Mr. Andrew Gilmour, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, stressed that transitional justice is an essential element of the UN’s peacebuilding work in Sri Lanka, andin the absence of a peace agreement, HRC resolution 30/1 established the frameworkby which the government, victims and civil society can address the root causes of the past conflict.”

“Peace agreements” are signed when two sides to an armed conflict are at an impasse. There are several features that are present in such a situation where the final solution is ‘negotiated’, which are not present when one side wins! Especially so, when one side is a terrorist army holding large numbers hostage!

“In the absence of” any evidence that anyone present there actually intervened to enlighten the UN representative, it appears that this government too imagines that Resolution 30/1 forms a framework for postwar peace-building in Sri Lanka.One fervently hopes that not all members of the Sri Lankan delegation agreed with this view.

At this meeting it seems to be the general consensus that Resolutions 30/1 is all Sri Lanka needs to have itself a bright future. Mr. Fernandez-Taranco, ASG for Peacebuilding Support, “highlighted Sri Lanka’s unique experiences on reconciliation, peacebuilding and economic development, and noted the centrality of implementing the HRC resolution 30/1 to its efforts to guarantee non-recurrence of past human rights violations and to put the country on the path to sustainable peace and development.”

According to the Chairman’s summary some others insisted that Constitutional Reform should go hand in hand with Resolution 30/1!

“Human Rights Council resolution 30/1 had to be fully implemented with the support of Sri Lanka’s international partners. Moving forward on constitutional reforms would help guarantee the non-recurrence of violations and abuses…”

It is only right that a government that promised these things should try to implement them. That the government doesn’t seem to have the support that it requires to run its regular affairs let alone implement controversial reforms and has gone into crisis mode following its dire performance the local government polls, surely comes as a relief to the large number of citizens who voted against them recently.

Human Rights Impact of Economic Reform Policies

There are also many other human rights issues that are useful and relevant to countries like Sri Lanka discussed at these UNHRC sessions, and new groundbreaking developments in setting human rights norms. Many of those initiatives of will prove to be valuable interventions that change the way States view their obligations to their citizens and to the rest of the world.

One of the welcome new initiatives of the UN Human Rights Council is the Special Procedure Mandate held by Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, the “Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights”,who will present his report at the on-going session of the Council. His report is titled “Development of guiding principles for assessing the human rights impact of economic reform policies”.

The attention of the international community on this aspect of Human Rights comes not a moment too soon for Sri Lankan citizens who are probably looking at a time of severe economic hardship as the government struggles to come out of the economic and financial quagmire it have got itself into. When the Governor of the Central Bank vehemently opposes a Bill to grant powers to the Prime Minister to take loans that will not come under its or anyone else’s scrutiny, and the Joint Opposition declaims it loudly while one of them hurriedly initiated court action to prevent it, the citizens are absolutely right to get nervous about the economic health of the nation and the perils that seem to await it. It is a relief that a UN body has actually decided to make governments accountable for the economic decisions they make that impact their populations adversely.

The new report’s first recommendation is: “Recognize that managing economic and fiscal affairs is a core government function, while underlining the obligations of States and international financial institutions to ensure that their economic reform policies and conditionalities on financial support respect human rights.”

In a welcome development in recent sessions, the Special Procedures have included in their study the large international financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank at the request of the Council, and proposed guidelines not only for states but for these institutions as well. This report reiterates this: “While States have the primary responsibility to comply with international human rights treaties and standards, international financial institutions and other international organizations are also bound to respect human rights.” In a previous report, Alfred Zayas, another Special Rapporteur said that some “believe that these institutions have a greater impact on the world order than the UN General Assembly and the ECOSOC combined”. Since our government works closely with these institutions which have never been held accountable, it is useful that they have come under scrutiny of the Council as well, and reminded of their human rights obligations.

In what might be immediately relevant to Sri Lanka, the Bohoslavskyreport warns that “Fiscal consolidation measures are often accompanied by structural reforms, such as deregulation, labour market flexibilization, reduction in labour rights and various administrative and legal reforms. While these measures are ostensibly aimed at facilitating future economic growth, reducing unemployment and increasing tax revenues, they have often directly affected the enjoyment of human rights, including access to justice.”

It warns States for red lines that should not be crossed: “States have the discretion to select and adopt policy measures according to their specific economic, social and political circumstances. Yet, this discretion is not without bounds; fiscal adjustment must be designed in line with specific substantive and procedural human rights obligations, which draw certain redlines that should not be crossed.”

In a worrying reminder, the report outlines some of the fiscal consolidations measures that States usually adopt, without adequate thought to their human rights impact: “(a) public expenditure cuts affecting human rights-sensitive fields such as public health care, social security and education; (b) regressive tax changes; (c) wage bill cuts and caps and reduction of positions in the public sector; (d) pension reforms; (e) rationalization and further targeting of safety nets; (f) privatization of public utilities and service providers and introduction of user fees; and (g) reduction in food, energy and other subsidies affecting the prices of essential goods and services such as food, heating and housing.”

It warns that ‘due diligence’ should be exercised before rushing into these reforms: “The onus is on governments to demonstrate that their proposed response measures will meet their human rights obligations. States, and if applicable, international financial institutions, must therefore exercise human rights due diligence before implementing far reaching economic reforms that have the potential to undermine the enjoyment of human rights.”

Sri Lankans who are still unable to fully apprehend the enormity of the Bond-scam know that human rights ‘due diligence’ was the last thing on the minds of those in government responsible for the changes to the system that enabled that robbery. This new report should give them pause.

Lasantha’s bones are in Fonseka’s closet – Ajith Prasanna (English)

Dr Hector Perera             London

Energy means money that one has to spend to get them. Gas and electric are the main sources of energy in most countries unlike in the past. In the past back in Sri Lanka they used firewood stoves to cook and still some countries they use these resources for energy for cooking. I am cannot advice how to save energy in firewood stove cooking. I have cooked for a short time on firewood stoves, what can I say? The smoke, dust, ash and the heat given out while cooking is far too much to describe here.

Majority of the Sri Lankans eat rice and curries at least once a day. There are plenty of varieties of rice including brown and white rice and they all need different times to cook. One needs to experiment and see how long it will take to cook then need to adjust the time as required to cook a particular brand of rice. Some rice grains have no surface protective coating so they might take a shorter time to cook. Brown rice usually takes a little bit of more time than rice with no surface coating.

What Is Brown Rice?

Brown rice is an unrefined and unpolished whole grain which is produced by removing the surrounding hull of the rice kernel. Its grain retains its nutrient-dense bran and germ layer. It is chewier as compared to white rice and has a nutty flavour.

Germinated Brown Rice

Germinated brown rice, also known as ‘sprouted brown rice’, is another popular form of brown rice attributing to its high nutritional value. The high nourishing content of the germinated brown rice is due to the presence of gama-aminobutyric acid (GABA). The germinated form can be obtained by soaking and sprouting of the brown rice in water for a specified number of hours. This method has been considered best for obtaining the maximum amount of GABA and elevating the levels of proteins and good enzymes in the germinated brown rice. The process of germination also leads to significant increase in essential components such as frolic acid, lysine, magnesium, potassium, vitamin E, niacin, vitamin B 6, thiamine, and dietary fibre in the brown rice. These nutrients aid in better absorption during digestion and prevent intestinal irritations, inflammations, and allergies. It can be stored in dried form to increase its shelf life without affecting its advanced nutritional worth.

Why we tempt to eat Brown Rice?

Most of us are aware of the fact that brown rice is better than white rice. The reason that makes it stand out is the quality and quantity of nutrients it offers. The process of milling that converts brown rice into white rice strips away most of its nutritional value then they use the stripped out brown layer to feed the animals such as cattle and chickens. Brown rice thus retains its immense treasure of healthful constituents. There are many varieties of brown rice available in even in supermarkets in Colombo. Brown rice with their unique flavour, aromatic components, and varied concentration of fatty acids.

Varieties of brown rice such as Jasmine or Basmati still contain their germ and bran layers, meaning they provide fitness buffs with a range of important nutrients including B vitamins, bone-building phosphorus, and magnesium. Although data shows that about half of all Americans don’t consume their daily quota of magnesium, this mineral is needed for proper muscle functioning. Low levels of magnesium may also contribute to or at least predict heart disease.

 The basics on how to cook brown rice; there’s not much to it!
The amount of water recommended for cooking long- and medium-grain brown rice varies depending on the source, from as little as 1½ parts water to as much as 3 parts water per 1 part rice. I’ve always preferred 2 1/2 parts water to 1 part rice. For example, 2 1/2 cups water to 1 cup rice. Remember to rinse the rice well before cooking. Combine in a medium saucepan with the water. Bring to a slow boil, then lower the heat, Cover (leave lid ajar) and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the water is absorbed. If the rice isn’t tender to your liking at this point, add 1/2 cup additional water and continue to simmer until it’s absorbed.

Brown rice gets its colour, flavour and texture from the bran layers that remain on the rice when it goes through the hulling process. It’s milled for less time than white rice, which is why it retains the bran layers and is known for being a healthy source of fibre and for its chewy texture and nut-like flavour. There are four different types of brown rice — short grain, medium grain, long grain and light brown — and each takes a different amount of times to cook.

Health Benefits of Brown Rice

Introduction of brown rice in the diet brings tremendous health benefits.

Controls Diabetes

Brown rice is beneficial for diabetics and hyperglycaemic individuals. It has a low glycaemic index which is helpful in reducing insulin surges and assists in the stabilization of blood sugar levels in the body. A comparative study conducted in this regard revealed that it is rich in phytic acid, fibre, and essential polyphenols. It is a complex carbohydrate which helps in the slower release of sugar as compared to white rice. The American diabetes association also recommends choosing nutrient-dense brown rice over white rice for diabetics in order to accomplish the requirement of essential vitamins, fibre, and minerals in their diet.

Antioxidant Activity

Brown rice is rich in powerful antioxidants which protect against damage caused by oxygen free radicals. It contains an important antioxidant enzyme called superoxide dismutase which protects the cells from oxidation damage during energy production. A comparative study involving white and brown rice suggested that brown rice exhibits superior radical scavenging activity and aids in the prevention of various oxidation-mediated diseases such as coronary heart diseases.

Prevents Obesity

Brown rice is instrumental in weight control for people combating obesity. It contains manganese which helps synthesize body fats. A study conducted in this regard revealed that the consumption of whole grains such as brown rice has positive effects on the body with respect to reduction in body mass index and fat. It also enhances the activity of glutathione peroxidase, an antioxidant enzyme, which helps to elevate the levels of HDL cholesterol in the obese individuals. Another comparative research also advocated the anti-obesity effects of germinated brown rice.

Prevents Alzheimer’s

Germinated brown rice helps in the prevention of neurodegenerative complications such as Alzheimer’s disease attributing to the abundance of gama-aminobutyric acid. Sprouted brown rice contains helpful components which help in the inhibition of a harmful enzyme called prolyl endopeptidase, which is associated with Alzheimer’s disease. It is also beneficial for other cerebral disorders such as dementia and amnesia.

Lowers Stress in Lactating Women

Sprouted brown rice is beneficial for the mental health of lactating mothers. An investigative study has shown positive results in the nursing women with respect to reduction in mood disturbances, stages of depression and fatigue. It has also suggested that consumption of brown rice during lactation enhances body’s ability to resist stress and improves the overall immune defence.

Improves Digestive Health

Brown rice is a helpful staple which can be added to the daily diet for keeping a healthy digestive system. Fibre present in it helps regulate the bowel function and keeps you feeling full.

A comparative study investigating the effects of white rice and brown rice during gastric digestion made it qualitatively evident that the bran layer on brown rice prevents the absorption of acid and humidity, resulting in better texture retention. Fibre content also brings relief from other conditions such as constipation and colitis.

Boosts Heart Health

Brown rice is rich in selenium which is beneficial for a healthy heart. Consumption of whole grains such as brown rice helps to reduce the blockage of arteries due to plaque build-up. This protective action reduces the risk of cardiac disorders such as high hypertension and vascular diseases. Studies conducted in this regard suggested that the tissue surrounding the grain of brown rice contains a component which acts against the endocrine protein angiotensin II, which plays a major role in the development of high blood pressure and atherosclerosis.

Controls Cholesterol Levels

Brown rice is a great option for maintaining healthy levels of cholesterol due to the presence of naturally occurring oils. An investigative study revealed that it possesses hypo cholesterolemic qualities, thus regulating cholesterol catabolism. It contains beneficial nutrients that help in lipid and glucose metabolism. Another study conducted revealed that consumption of brown rice has shown significant improvement in the serum and HDL cholesterol concentrations in the subjects with chronic ethanol abuse. It also suggested that germinated brown rice extract helps in preventing the rise of liver triglycerides due to excessive alcohol intake due to the presence of gamma-aminobutyric acid.

Prevents Cancer

Brown rice is helpful in the prevention of colon cancer, breast cancer, and leukaemia. This beneficial effect can be attributed to the presence of potent antioxidants and high fibre content in it. The fibre content present in brown rice has the ability to bind itself to harmful cancer-causing toxins in the body. This prevents the toxins from attaching to the walls of the colon and helps eliminate them from the body. An investigative study evaluating the chemo preventive properties of brown rice validated that its bran contains essential phenols such as tricin, ferulic acid, and caffeic acid which is present at much lower levels in white rice. These phenolic components are valuable in inhibiting the proliferation of colon and breast cancer cells. Another study revealed the stimulatory effect of germinated brown rice on the induction of apoptosis and its inhibitory effects on the production of leukaemia cancer cells. Furthermore, research has also validated the antitumor effects of dietary brown rice brans. By looking at the various health benefits of eating brown rice, I am sure anyone would tempt to eat brown rice than white rice. Your comments are welcomed perera6@hotmail.co.uk

UNP MPs ready to bring no-confidence motion against PM – Range Bandara (English)

Courtesy The Island

February 26, 2018, 9:21 pm

Apropos the Sunday Island lead story former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has issued the following statement: “My attention is drawn to the lead story of The Sunday Island of 25th February 2018, under the caption “Police cover up in Lasantha murder emerge after key arrest”. They story contains many malicious and defamatory allegations and accusations against me. Accordingly, at the outset, I categorically dismiss those as being baseless and without foundation, since I am in no way connected to the murder of Sunday Leader Editor, Lasantha Wickrematunge.

“In the story under reference, it is stated, inter alia, that “The court has already been told that the military intelligence was involved in the killing and that the then head of military intelligence Kapila Hendavitharana was heading a killer squad and he reported directly to then defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa”.

“I wish to clarify that, at that time, retired General Kapila Hendavitharana was the Chief of National Intelligence, attached to the Ministry of Defence, in a civilian capacity, and was functioning in a co-ordinating and advisory role on national intelligence. He did not have any command responsibility whatsoever. He also did not have combat troops under his command, let alone a “killer squad”, as mischievously and maliciously reported.

“Hence, if, as the newspaper story reports, military intelligence was involved in the killing, the CID can easily investigate the actions of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) which reported to then Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, who would be directly responsible for the Military Intelligence Directorate outcomes.

“The Directorate of Military Intelligence of the Army is a branch within the Army command structure, and is set out clearly in the Army’s approved organisational structure. It operates under the Director General, General Staff at Army Headquarters, and reports directly to the Army Commander. Its roles and tasks are also clearly defined. During the period of the murder of Wickrematunge, the post of DMI was held by General Amal Karunasekera, and not Retd Gen Kapila Hendavitharana, while the Army Commander was today’s Cabinet Minister of Regional Development in the present Government, Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka.

“In this context, it may be recalled that, almost immediately after the murder of Wickrematunge, the then Leader of the Opposition and current Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and a former Speaker and UNP MP, Joseph Michael Perera, both made clear accusations against then Army Commander as being the person responsible for the killing of Wickrematunge. These high-level accusations are in the public domain and could be accessed by any interested parties. Hence, it is now obvious that the persons now in government, who, when in the opposition, alleged that Wickrematunge’s murder was carried out on the instructions of then Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, are today attempting to proceed along a completely different path and place the responsibility for the Wickrematunge murder on me, in order to fulfil their Party’s oft-stated political objective of arresting and incarcerating its key political opponents, including myself.

“The Sunday Island story goes on to say: “A former minister in the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, Mervyn Silva, had publicly accused Gotabhaya Rajapaksa of killing Wickrematunge, a charge he has denied”. In this connection, it is a well-known fact that immediately after the Presidential Election of 8th January 2015, former minister Mervyn Silva had been making a series of absurd and unsubstantiated charges against several members of the Rajapaksa family, including myself. However, it was obvious to everyone that those allegations were driven by malice, revenge and hatred, rather than by fact or evidence. Hence,quite naturally, even after three years, such allegations could not be sustained, and the Law Enforcement authorities have not been able to establish any wrong doing on my part.

“The Sunday Island news story also stated as follows: “Wickrematunge had told colleagues as well as many others that he planned to take “Gota to the cleaners” over an allegedly corrupt deal in purchasing four MIG jet fighters for the air force.The so-called MIG deal is currently being investigated by the FCID and Lasantha was killed a few days before he was due to disclose details of the transaction at the Mount Lavinia courts”. It is preposterous that your report has attempted to establish a non-existing link between the so-called MIG deal and the murder of Wickrematunge, with a statement purported to have been made by a deceased person to his unnamed “colleagues”.

“For the record, let me state that, when this so called “MIG deal” was given publicity in the Sunday Leader, I initiated a legal action by claiming damages from the newspaper for defamation; my claim was subsequently upheld in Court. The Sunday Leader newspaper was also ordered to publish an apology to me, which it did. My response confirms that my reaction to the damaging and untruthful Sunday Leader newspaper report had been a lawful response, and not a violent reaction as maliciously insinuated in your newspaper story. My reaction was also not that of a person who resorts to extra-judicial measures to obtain redress. It follows therefore that the damaging story line in your newspaper seems to have been drafted with the intention of slinging mud at me and tarnishing my image among the many millions of Sri Lankans who have deeply appreciated my role in defeating terrorism in our country, as well as improving the infrastructure in our cities. The fact that your story seems to have deliberately avoided reference to the legal steps that I have taken to deal with The Sunday Leader’s baseless accusations, further confirms the bias of your story, and possibly, the deliberate intention to cause damage to my reputation.

“It would also be pertinent to point out that the then Army Commander Sarath Fonseka was also harshly criticized in a news story by Lasantha Wickrematunge in the Sunday Leader, a few weeks before Wickrematunge’s murder. Accordingly, based on your newspaper story’s logic that the Wickramatunge murder could have been due to a newspaper exposé, it would be appropriate for the CID team investigating Wickrematunge’s murder, to meticulously follow up that possibility as well, particularly because the then Army Commander Sarath Fonseka did not resort to a legal remedy to vindicate himself, as done by me. In fact, when I was questioned by the CID several months ago on a different matter, I suggested to the CID that they closely investigate the activities of a team of combat personnel functioning under an officer named Brig Keppetiwalana, who was the 112 Brigade commander, who was responsible for Colombo operations. However, due to the highly politicized and biased nature of the current investigation, I doubt as to whether the CID investigation team will pursue this lead with any diligence, seriousness or interest.

“Finally, let me state that it is with great regret that I have observed in recent times, the panic reaction of the current government to tarnish my name in any way possible. To do so, they are also attempting to obtain false confessions and statements from police and military officers under duress and threat, so as to implicate me on some charge or another. In fact, several police and military personnel have already informed me that they have been heavily coerced and pressured by various persons at high levels of responsibility to falsely implicate me. These types of politically motivated actions by an increasingly unpopular government tests the law and order process of our country to its limits, and places a huge strain on our judiciary as well. In that context, I would urge the government and those law enforcement officers who are aiding and abetting these unscrupulous and illegal adventures of the government, to desist from these unlawful actions and conduct, which places the credibility and the impartiality of Sri Lanka’ slaw and order process, at grave risk.”

P.A.Samaraweera

The media reported that due to pressure from the UK, military attache Brigadier Fernando had been recalled to Sri Lanka. During the last few weeks a lot had been written about the gesture made by Brig Fernando. As an Officer who fought the LTTE  he should have avoided confronting the demonstrators. But, of course he had that patriotic feeling.

Then, what about the pro-LTTE demonstrators who insulted the Sri Lankan flag right in front of the High Commissioner’s office? Brandishing LTTE flags, they had put the Sri Lankan flag on the road and stepped on it. This is an insult to the country. They had been carrying cut-outs of the terrorist leader Prabhakaran and chanting anti-govt slogans and so on. Did our High Commissioner in the UK made representations about this rally, promoting a terrorist organisation banned in the UK, and insulting the Sri Lanka flag, to the Minister for South Asia, South Asia Dept, Commonwealth Office, UK?  There had been no such representation made either by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or the High Commissioner in the UK regarding this. It appears that they were more concerned in suspending the Brigadier and keeping the Global Tamil Forum happy. The GTF had made protests against the Brigadier to the Minister for South Asia.

This is not the least surprising. During the 30 year war, heavy propaganda carried out by the LTTE were never counter acted by High Commissioners. It was the Office bearers of Sri Lankan societies in western countries who confronted them and replied to their propaganda. I can vouch for this because I was the President of a Sri Lankan society for a few years. Whenever, we presented anti-govt propaganda by the LTTE to the High Commissioners, the reply was they were too busy or that they were not important. Too busy doing ‘business’, attending functions/dinners, or busy with their children’s education.Therefore for them, no time to attend to LTTE propaganda.

So it is not surprising, that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the High Commissioner had done nothing about the Sri Lankan flag being trampled right in front of the High Commissioner’s office. For them, an insult to the Sri Lankan flag by the pro-LTTE demonstrators had been considered not ‘very serious’.

ALI SUKHANVER

It has ever been a misconception that the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Modi has enmity only with the Muslims and Pakistan but recently it came to the surface that he hates not only the Muslims and Pakistan but also the Congress. If he had an authority and opportunity, he would have hanged all the members of the Congress and to put a ban on the Congress forever. Recently on 7th Feb 2018 while addressing the annual budget session in the Parliament, he severely criticized Congress for its ‘wrong policies’ in the past. A very popular e-paper of India LiveMint said commenting on Modi’s address, Modi gave two speeches in response to the motion of thanks on the President’s address in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. In both speeches, Modi sought to corner the Congress on issues of corruption, policymaking and dynastic politics.” In his speech in the Lok Sabha, Modi had said addressing directly to the Congress, It is in your character that the division of India happened. The country was broken into pieces and you sowed the poison. After 70 years of independence, not a day passes when the 125 crore Indians do not get punished for your sins. You broke India into pieces and you did it keeping elections in mind, in haste and closing doors of Parliament.” He further said, You wasted all your time singing ‘paeans’ to one family. You forgot India’s history and you put all your energy to ensure that the country remembered only one family… if you had worked with some responsibility, the people of this country were capable enough of taking India to new heights,” Modi said, adding that if the right direction had been kept and right policies followed, the country would have gone way ahead of where it is now. Though the Congress president Rahul Gandhi could not use Modi like harsh words in response to his speech but he said, The prime minister spoke nothing about employment for youth; he had promised 2 crore jobs. The talk of farmers, giving them right prices and loan waivers —the PM instead spoke about bees and bamboo.” However the response of Shiv Sena was no doubt a very intelligent one. Shiv Sena tried to kill two birds with one stone. Shiv Sena’s spokesperson Manisha Kayande said, It is time that Modi Ji realizes it has been 4 years now. People were fed up because of Congress and that is why they chose you. People want to hear about your schemes and not the criticism of Congress.”

Modi’s speech in the budget session of the parliament was on the whole a hate-speech for the congress but some parts of it were more degrading rather humiliating. He had said, I have proof of how the Congress looted and plundered India. You will pay for your sins. Time has come for you to be held accountable and answerable to the people of India.”  But it seems that time has come for Mr. Modi to be held accountable and answerable to the people of India as they are not ready to forgive him for his usual bitter and sarcastic remarks against all his political opponents and against the minorities in India. Recently a video clip became viral on social media in which Gujarat OBC leader Alpesh Thakor is seen taunting at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the basis of his skin colour. Thakor can be heard saying, Modi Ji eats mushrooms from Taiwan. One mushroom costs Rs 80 thousand and he eats five mushrooms a day. He was dark like me but he became fair because of imported mushrooms.”  Thakor goes on to allege that PM Modi has been consuming these Taiwanese mushrooms ever since he was Gujarat chief minister. Thakor further said, The PM eats mushrooms worth Rs 1 crore 20 lakh in a month, he doesn’t like roti chawal. It is just an act. One wonders how many crores his workers eat”. The rift between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress had reached its climax during the bitter political campaign for the Gujarat elections. Experts on India’s political affairs say that the air of confrontation between the two parties would seek more heights till the elections in several states this year.

Political scenario for Mr. Modi and for the BJP does not seem very cordial and supportive with reference to the next elections. Mr. Modi is rapidly losing his popularity because of his extremist approach towards the Muslims and other minorities including the Sikhs and the Christians. Moreover the low-caste Hindus, particularly the Dalits are also continuously in trouble at the hands of the BJP extremists. ‘Constitutional and Legal Challenges Faced by Religious Minorities in India’ was the title of a report prepared in co-ordination with the US Commission on International Religious Freedom USCIRF and published last year. The report said that religious tolerance has deteriorated and religious freedom violations have increased in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s regime. The religious minority communities and Dalits face discrimination and persecution in India where hate crimes, social boycotts and forced conversion have escalated dramatically since 2014. The report further said, Since the BJP assumed power, religious minority communities have been subject to derogatory comments by BJP politicians and numerous violent attacks and forced conversions by affiliated Hindu nationalist groups such as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Sangh Parivar, and Vishva Hindu Parishad.” It would really be a miracle if in the upcoming elections the minorities forget the insult and humiliation they have been facing throughout Modi’s regime.

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando.

With the Municipal and Local Council elections held on 10 February 2018, introducing a new electoral system, the Lotus Bud (Pohottuwa) of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna [SLPP] supported by Mahinda Rajapaksa, blossomed with a sweeping landslide victory, thus serving a sledge hammer blow on the two leaders of the Unity Government, President Maithripala Sirisena, who campaigned vigorously punching forceful political rhetoric and promising to chastise all corrupt politicians (by sending them to ‘Hell’-his own words); regrettably everything backfired miserably. The Prime Minister, on the other hand, who went ahead separately with his own party, the UNP, lost its majority too. Many view this outcome as the result of not paying any heed to the public outcry, and particularly by getting Prime Minister’s name tarnished by the Central Bank mega fraud however much he attempted to wriggle out of it.

The SLPP victories covered the entire map of Sri Lanka, except in a few areas, which made them demand the unprecedented call for the dissolution of Parliament and a General Election immediately, which political pundits claim is not Constitutionally possible until 2020; unless with a 2/3rd majority in Parliament. The coalition partners maintain that the LG elections result has no relevance, whatsoever, for a general election until the Unity Government completes its full term. This has given rise to many speculations, while the two main players locking horns with each other to form a Government, and to replace Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister. In the meantime, various legal luminaries interpret the Sri Lanka Constitution in many legal forms. The present chaotic situation (for the last 11 days) only goes to show the mentality of our politicians who are only interested and concentrating on a new government, who is going to be the Prime Minister and who gets new ministerial posts in a reshuffle of the Cabinet, but is least bothered in community welfare, for which they have been appointed to.

Common Presidential candidate

Voters chose Maithripala Sirisena on 8 January 2015, as the President of Sri Lanka focussing on the Rajapaksa regime as being corrupt. They promised in uncertain terms, that once in power, President Sirisena’s prime aim would be to ‘horu allanna’ (eradicate bribery and corruption). The strategy worked miraculously during the elections time, and helped Maithripala Sirisena to end up getting 6,217,172 million votes against Mahinda Rajapaksa, who managed only 5,768,090.

The political scenario in Sri Lanka is quite different and alien to other international systems. In other democracies around the world, when politicians become failures in the eyes of the populace, for whatever reasons, people have seen the accused resigning their posts honourably. Contrary to such civilized behaviour, in Sri Lanka, of course, the corrupt, alleged and the guilty get glued to their ranks and positions disgracefully, like chewing gum!

Ranil Wickremesinghe is quoted as a typical example of a senior politician in Sri Lanka, with over 40 years of experience, and 24 years as the Party Leader of the UNP, and serving as the Prime Minister several times too. However, he fails to win the hearts of the majority of the voters. He has been using all kinds of technicalities in the Constitution to remain in power; in the meanwhile legal luminaries have come out with a variation of assessments on the Constitution, which at last gone to the Supreme Court, to decide finally.

The new format of the Local Government elections held, on a single day, was purely to elect candidates who are familiar with the village and town levels, with a percentage of female candidates. Instead it categorically proved that the whole election was focussed on testing the popularity of the present Government and not what it was meant to be! Another spectacular behaviour could be sighted as Mahinda Rajapaksa’s clarion call to vote for the SLPP, not being even a member of the SLPP, which some see as a pied piper scenario, as far as the SLPP and SLFP members are concerned, as the deadlock still prevails in removing the Prime Minister and forming their own government.

Popularity and loss of faith

Whatever said and done, Mahinda Rajapaksa appears to be the pet politician of the people still; for salvaging the country from a perilous terrorist grip, and creating an atmosphere and a free society where one could walk freely with dignity. The Unity Government boasts about freedom of speech and the eradication of the white van scenario. Critics call the Pohottuwa’s land slide victory is inversely proportional to the degree to which voters were horror-struck with the ‘Yahapalanaya‘ for not living up to its true meaning, which left the frustrated voter with no choice (either way),thus creating an escape route, which strikingly, worked out to the advantage of the SLPP.

Meanwhile, voters have clearly sent a message to President Maithripala Sirisena that he appears to have lost his marbles over the last three years, and the assertions of ‘punishing the corrupt politicians was all eyewash. Many say it is too late, now, for him to get back onto the correct track within the remaining breathing space before 2020, and even if the Unity Government changes its direction, no development could be seen during their term. The present day Sri Lankan voter is intelligent, and politicians cannot hoodwink the public with pathological lies or bogus promises any more, and the voter will not be affected by political grandiloquence alone!

Patience running out

People waited patiently for three long years to see how Maithripala Sirisena, as President, performs, since 8 January 2015. People did not expect anything else, but mainly to eradicate corruption and bring those dishonest politicians to book, as he repeatedly vouched to do so. People did not go into detail about his pedigree, did not watch how he walked or cared for his cast or creed, or whether he could speak English; neither did they compare him with Mahinda Rajapaksa’s charisma and leadership qualities, or whether he was clean shaven or had a brush-type moustache to show his manhood, but they expected action, only. He promised, to catch ‘horas’ and punish them.

It is rather unfortunate when 62 per cent of the voters who had implicit faith in him in January 2015, and expected a lot out of his ‘Yahapalanaya‘, which he introduced proudly, but hopelessly failed. Alas! After occupying the hot Executive Presidential seat, and being the Head of the SLFP simultaneously, he has managed only to prove himself as the weakest President Sri Lanka ever had, by changing his decisions by stating one thing in the morning and changing it to another in the afternoon, and further in the morning after. The people became disgruntled and disappointed because the President failed even to feel the pulse of the Financial Crimes Investigation Division, which was directly accountable for carrying out investigations into serious financial fraud, misuse of State assets and funds, pertaining to Government revenue. The resignation of the Director General of the Sri Lankan Commission on Bribery and Corruption, Dilrukshi Dias Wickremesinghe, derided him further, following his public outburst against “politicization of the Commission’s working”.

Looking at the latest developments, Maithripala Sirisena appears to have completely lost the people’s confidence; the very people who propped him up to the level of Presidency in January 2015. Some might label him as an ungrateful politician, who deceived those who supported him. Yet, Maithripala Sirisena has only two more years up to 2020 to be in office. In the present scenario no one will dare to despise him, because he is still the President of the country, but many conclude that, when he retires and relaxes in his easy chair in Pollonaruwa in 2020, Maithripala Sirisena will have to feel the pain as a politician, after so many years in politics, as to what extent the people have rejected him.

tilakfernando@gmail.com

By Shivanthi Ranasinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today

If after 70 years of democracy, installed by the British, we are at the brink of having our country broken into pieces, we should realize the way we handle issues is wrong. Even before the British departed, certain Tamil politicians had already taken cudgels against what they termed as the “Sinhala government”.

It was their deliberate mismanagement of affairs that led to the creation of terrorism in the North and the East, which was exploited by India for their own political survival and geopolitical reasons. However, we too have played our part in letting ourselves be manipulated.

LG results shock

The drama that unfolded after the Local Government election shock amply demonstrates this fact. The cracks within the Unity Government widened and deepened rapidly from the minute the Local Government elections were called. It was bigwigs of the two main parties in the Unity Government, United National Party and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, that fired cannonballs of slander at each other. As war winning former President Mahinda Rajapaksa quipped, he really did not have anything to do, to pave the way for his massive victory for the UNP and SLFP and worked overtime to discredit themselves.

The two parties’ second ranks were also acutely aware of the Pohottuwa gains at their expense and tried their best to downplay the fights. UNP stalwarts Lakshman Kiriella likened Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe to old lovers, who will patch up after the elections.

Even the Joint Opposition and national movements like Eliya, repeatedly maintained that these “fights” are not serious. Venerable Madagoda Abayatissa Thera on the Eliya platform explained, that the two politicians, Sirisena and Wickremesinghe, to avoid facing key issues that are fast crippling the country, are behaving like a husband and wife duo brawling loudly, when the landlord comes to collect the rent.

However, many never anticipated this landslide victory for the Pohottuwa. Many JO supporters were disheartened with Basil Rajapaksa for not forming a link with the Sirisena-SLFP faction. His failure to do so would divide the votes and none would emerge with a clear victory was predicted by all political pundits. In fact, there were even whisperings that BR was betraying his own brother, MR, to pave the way for a UNP victory.

Efficient unpopular Basil

Basil Rajapakasa is not a popular politician because he is an efficient politician. The biggest grouse against him is his poker face. During the previous administration, he gained many enemies within the SLFP itself for not ‘sharing’ the projects and allowing others to earn their commissions. It was within this disgruntled SLFP ranks that the nickname, “Mr Ten Percent” emerged and capitalized by their political rivals to topple the then Government.

During the previous administration, he was the driving force behind the country’s massive and rapid infrastructure development. Though he is accused of hogging all the projects, the young SLFP MPs are extremely grateful to him. They claim that when the other seniors do not even share a logical point with them for fear that they will gain political mileage; Basil had helped them to win their electorates by giving all the support to develop their areas. It is in this context that it is a pity that Basil is still so quickly misjudged and his loyalty questioned.

It is perhaps for this reason that the war winning, former defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa emphasized their family unity in a recent interview. It remains to be seen whether that will assure BR’s bona fides, especially in the coming months with crucial elections to nine Provincial Councils, followed by the Presidential Elections and finally the General Elections – all coming up within these two years.

When the results came, it was akin to old lovers who had aged clumsily. The lost last love did not rekindle easily. Instead of the victory been dividing between the three parties with no clear winner, the UNP got a terrible drubbing and the SLFP a worse drubbing.

Interestingly, Sirisena who fared the worst interpreted the results as a rejection of Wickremesinghe by the people. For almost a week and a half we were entertained with Sirisena’s efforts to oust Wickremesinghe from the Premiership and Wickremesinghe coolly refusing to go. Even more interestingly, the UNP camp never asked Sirisena to vacate his position for clearly people have rejected him more than they had rejected Wickremesinghe. Instead that camp broke in two with one group pledging their support to Wickremesinghe and the other who clearly wanted him gone.

Surprisingly, in the camp that wanted Wickremesinghe out were UNP blue-eyed boys like Dr. Harsha de Silva. He is one who worked overtime to discredit the previous government’s economic policies and went as far as to call China, who was funding most of our infrastructural development projects, as an economic hit man. Though a politician, his warnings were seriously heeded as he is an economist by profession. Shortly after assuming power, he changed his professional opinion by 180 degrees, though he never explained why he got it wrong when he was in the Opposition.

Throughout the tenure of this Government, he enacted its policies with blind faith. He even went to Geneva on 15 November 2017 and at the Third Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review of Sri Lanka re-pledged the Government’s commitment to enact the conditions of the U.S.-led Resolution that this Government treacherously co-sponsored in 2015. This despite the revelations made by Lord Naseby a month before in the British Parliament that according to the dispatches sent by Lt Col Anton Gash, who was their defence attaché during the last phase of the war against terrorism, we never committed war crimes.

All this camp that wanted Wickremesinghe out was another to take the leadership. The two candidates approached were Karu Jayasuriya and Sajith Premadasa. Jayasuriya, now known as the most partisan speaker in Sri Lankan Parliamentary history, was a bold and patriotic man during the height of the war. He did yeoman service by crossing over to the then Government that was in the hands of his arch political rival. By doing so, he gave the necessary numbers for the then administration to continue with its war efforts. He only returned to his Party after terrorism was eradicated from our country. Though he challenged Wickremesinghe, then, for the latter’s refusal to support the eradication of terrorism, today he rather not.

Premadasa too had challenged Wickremesinghe in the past; today, he too rather not. Premadasa who created a promising political career for himself by keeping his nose to the grindstone and working for his electorate has truly lost his way. Instead of letting his work pave the ambitious path to presidency, he has taken to insulting MR for political mileage.

His father, who tried so hard to work with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, was killed by them. MR was the President that finally annihilated his father’s killers. the killers of his father annihilated.

Yet, Premadasa whilst vilifying MR without restraint stands with Mawai Senathirajah and Vijeyakala Maheswaran. Veteran Tamil politician Anandasangaree had repeatedly exposed Senathirajah as a politician installed by the LTTE. Maheswaran, whilst openly admiring Prabhakaran is on record that life was better under the LTTE.

Unseen by the public, but exposed by mainstream media, U.S. Ambassador Atul Keshap and Indian High Commissioner worked overtime to bring Sirisena and Wickremesinghe together. In a country where students commit suicide, unable to suffer the humiliation of failing the Ordinary Level exams, Wickremesinghe remains positive and never for a moment entertained the possibility of retiring despite 25 years of continuous failure. He knows it is not the voters’ voice that counts, but that of his international backers.

We watched Sirisena’s convincing act of trying to rid Wickremesinghe, never factoring that the West would never allow it. It is in their geopolitical interest that our country is broken to pieces, bankrupted and destabilized. Just as the UNP and the SLFP lost in the south, the Tamil National Alliance in the north lost heavily for not concentrating on the people’s real needs such as creating employment opportunities and tackling the increase in the narcotic menace, instead, focusing wholly on a constitutional change; that really does not interest the people.

The West may have saved the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe political marriage, but we must stand together and save our country.
ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com

RANJITH SOYSA

Mr Sampanathan presenting his views on the recent LG elections did cast his bonnet over the windmills with his remarks on the Eelam bud. No sensible, person will even believe that the references made by the LPPP to the proposed destructive constitution would have planted the seed of the Eelam in the minds of the some Tamil people as the history of Eelam goes back to the divide and rule of the British. The privileged Tamils of Vellala clan kept on complaining about the perceived discrimination suffered by the Tamils and were enjoying disproportionate advantages.

Followed by the demand for 50-50 the communal minded Tamil leaders even unsuccessfully attempted postpone the independence of Lanka having submitted  a petition to  the Soulbury  commission  Then, no sooner, Sri Lanka was granted the independence the Tamil Arasu Kacchi which meant Tamil State Party was formed in 1949 by S.J.V Chelvanayagam.

The Eelam plant was given a double dose of fertilizer in May 1976 with the adoption of Vaddukodai resolution by then Tamil political leaders demanding a Tamil Eelam and passing on the struggle to the youths for an armed insurrection, The final phase was when Prabahakaran failed in his attempt to strengthen the plant resorting to brutal terrorism. This is the story of the Eelam plant which occupies a special place in the minds of some Tamils

But, the remarks made by the LPPR leaders on the constitution are  very relevant to the majority of Sri Lankans who believe in a stable and strong Sri Lanka. The proposals for the new constitution will only weaken the centre allowing separatist forces to assume de facto control over land, resources and governance. The citizens have heard the call to stand united against the proposed constitution among other factors loud and clear and they have marked their opposition.

Mr S, a man of one book is merely recreating an old tale. As they say converts will eat garbage provided you sprinkle it liberally with ketchup,

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

The much awaited Cabinet shuffle of the National Unity Government took place yesterday, with President Maithripala Sirisena changing six ministerial portfolios and appointing three state ministers and one deputy minister. The President, while congratulating the newly appointed Cabinet, State and Deputy Ministers, said in keeping with the message received from the electorate, changes and corrective measures would be taken in order to implement the future programme of work successfully on behalf of the people. These changes as well as those soon to be made on the UPFA side of the government, will strengthen us to better serve our people,” the President added.

In the Cabinet re-shuffle, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as the Minister of Law and Order.

Does this mean that previous Minister has failed? Is I because of his inability to arrest the culprits involved in various criminal activities including corruption??

Argument by the President that people are not happy with the way government was handling punishment of the corrupted people .Justice minister who is responsible for a flawless judicial functions should have been changed ,But the President took away Foreign Employment Portion of the lady minister ?She should have been changed too

The Prime Minister will also function as the Minister of National Policy and Economic Affairs. However, sources at the Prime Minister’s office said that Premier Wickremesinghe has accepted the Law and Order portfolio only for a short period of time.

I wonder whether the Prime Minister will start behaving like a Bull in China Shop and arresting people .But it looks like he changed the Minister of Prison Reforms! I am sure that he is going to establish open prison camps and bring more bullet proof  black marias” !! , to transport them scammers safely ??

Minister Sagala Ratnayaka who was the Law and Order Minister before, was appointed the Minister of Youth Affairs and Southern Development.

South has hardly been developed. Galle harbour development is still standstill, Hambanatota has been given away on a platter ? but this minister is retained  ?

Minister Harin Fernando was given the ministerial portfolio of Foreign Employment, in addition to his Digital Infrastructure Ministry.

There is no relevance in combining both .May be the minister will make money by establishing efficient telecom and digital service for our expat workers to give calls to loved ones more often??The Foreign Employment portfolio was earlier held by Minister Thalatha Atukorale who is the Justice Minister.

Lakshman Kiriella, who was the Higher Education and Highways Cabinet Minister, was appointed as the State Enterprise and Kandy Development Cabinet Minister. UNP General Secretary Kabir Hashim, who held the Public Enterprise Development portfolio, was appointed as the new Higher Education and Highways Cabinet Minister.

A minister who has failed in Sri Lankan Airlines has taken away an important ministry. I Can he resurrect  highways and higher education which are in  a royal mess ? Air transport has been messed up and almost grounded, Now ground transport may have the same fate ?

Ravindra Samaraweera, who was the Labour and Trade Union Relations State Minister, was appointed as the Sustainable Development and Wildlife Cabinet Minister, a portfolio held by Minister Gamini Jayawickrema Perera. Perera will remain as the Minister of Buddhasasana.

Many wild elephants have been slaughtered. Some prominent Buddhist monks were keeping elephants illegally. Ven Sobhita Thera was killed by a ( not so wild ) elephant .But the two legged elephants who runs amok have failed ,hence people voted them out in local elections .Is this the reason for shifting the portfolio ??

Piyasena Gamage who was the Law and Order State Minister was sworn-in as the Youth Affairs and Southern Development State Minister.

This is a reward for helping to kick out the vociferous silver screen actress from the parliament. Not very convincing? 

Ajith P. Perera who held the portfolio of Power and Renewable Energy Deputy Minister was sworn-in as the Prison Reforms, Drug Prevention and Community Correction State Minister.

As mentioned earlier he will surely build more prisons to lock up the scammers and looters and help the Prime Minister in maintaining law and order

Dr. Harsha de Silva, who was the National Policies and Economic Affairs Deputy Minister, has been appointed as the National Policies and Economic Affairs State Minister.

Lot of theory but no tangible results in development hence  no sense ?

Kurunegala District UNP Parliamentarian J.C. Alawathuwala was appointed as the Home Affairs Deputy Minister.

No sense at all

State Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs Dr. Harsha De Silva speaking about the changes said it will help the government to forge ahead with new vigour.

Meanwhile, newly appointed Minister of Sustainable Development and Wildlife Ravindra Samaraweera told the Daily News that he will strive to find sustainable solutions for the Human-Elephant Conflict on a priority basis. Minister Smaraweera also said that he will implement a special conservation programme for the protection of the already dwindling tuskers in the country

Is he going to train more mahouts who can control wild elephants? Is this the message given by the people ? Build more prisons and save elephants ?

.Minister of Digital Infrastructure and Foreign Employment Harin Fernando commenting on the Cabinet reshuffle said it is important that the government listens to voice and demands of the general public when moving ahead. He also said a team of professionals have been appointed to expedite the ministerial work and provide an excellent service to the public within a very limited time frame.

I fully agree

Conclusion

Army commander justified recalling of the Brigadier from London who behaved like a school boy in a big match ,that it was a tactical redeployment

Analogue is,government has also carried out similar action and redeployed tactically and shifted various Generals !

It makes no sense.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

By Neville Ladduwahetty Courtesy The Island

February 25, 2018, 9:48 pm
The fallout from the local government elections has led to many questions that need to be addressed by the nation and Parliament. They relate to the fate of the so-called “unity government”, a phrase that was coined to best describe the questionable formation of the present government. This has given rise to headlines in the print media, such as “Unity Government to Forge Ahead”, “Unity Government Cannot Continue” – Non-renewal of MOU”, and yet another that states “Speaker to Rule on National Government”. However, although both terms, national government and unity government are often used interchangeably to describe the formation of the current government, only the term “national government” has constitutional legitimacy.

The term national government is used in Articles 46 (4) and 46 (5) of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. The underlying advantage of using the provisions in both Articles was because of the outcome of the August 2015 election, wherein no political party secured an outright majority to form a government. Consequently, there was a compelling reason for one or more political parties to come to an understanding and form a government.

The obvious choice was to secure the support of the SLFP or the UPFA since both were headed by President Sirisena. The fact that it was only the UPFA that contested the election and the SLFP was only a constituent of the UPFA, did not appear to matter. Notwithstanding these impediments, the need to reward those of the SLFP who were prepared to support a UNP-led government was achieved by means of the provisions of Articles 46 (4) and 46 (5) whereby the number of Cabinet Ministers, non-Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers could be determined by Parliament without being constrained by the limits set by Article 46 (1) (a) and (b)..

Article 46 (4) states:

“Notwithstanding anything contained in paragraph (1) of this Article, where the recognized political party or the independent group which obtains the highest number of seats in Parliament forms a National Government, the number of Ministers in the Cabinet of Ministers, the number Ministers who are not Cabinet Ministers and the number of Deputy Ministers shall be determined by Parliament”.

And Article 46 (5) states:

“For the purpose of paragraph (4), National Government means, a Government formed by the recognized political party or the independent group which obtains the highest number of seats in Parliament together with the other recognized political parties or the independent groups”.

This was the background for the Resolution presented to Parliament by the Prime Minister on September 3, 2015. The Resolution stated:

“Whereas the United National Party which obtained the highest number of seats in parliament has formed a National Government, Parliament determines in terms of Article 46 (4) of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka that the number of Ministers in the Cabinet of Ministers shall not exceed 48 and the number of Ministers who are not Cabinet Ministers and the number of Deputy Ministers shall not exceed 45”.

Two factors arise as a consequence of provisions in Articles 46 (4) and 46 (5) when taken together with the Resolution presented in Parliament.

1. The claim made in the Resolution that the United National Party “has formed a National Government” has to be established beyond doubt in terms of the constitution.

2. Whether the formation of the current government satisfies the provision in Article 46 (5), which is that a National Government is formed when the political party with the highest number of seats in Parliament “together with other recognized political parties” commits to form a government. This must mean that such a formation should be with the entirety of any recognized political party and not with a faction of it.

Factor One: It is evident from the ongoing debates in Parliament that no credible evidence has been tabled to establish the claim that a national government has been formed by the UNP which obtained the highest number of seats in Parliament. Instead, what are being presented at this point in time are only verbal assurances that written agreements between the parties concerned exist.

Whether these agreements are between the UNP and the SLFP, or between the UNP and the UPFA or both, is not known since no official documents have thus far been presented. Furthermore, in the absence of such credible evidence no one is aware of the period over which such agreements are valid. This lack of transparency reflects the degree of contempt the government has for its obligations to Parliament and to the people they were elected to represent.

Even if such agreements are tabled in Parliament there is no assurance that they would convince an objective observer that a national government is in conformity of the provisions of Article 46 (5). Therefore, it is imperative that these agreements be tabled in Parliament. Furthermore, if these agreements are to operate within a specified timeframe, it is critical that Parliament is made aware of such time constraints. Therefore, for these several reasons there is a compelling obligation for the government to table the agreements in Parliament in order to ascertain whether it has fulfilled its constitutional obligations.

Factor Two: According to Article 46 (5), a national government is formed only when the political party which obtains the highest number of seats, forms a government “together with other recognized political parties”. Regardless of whether this is to be interpreted as involving ALL the other recognized political parties or not, it is very clear that it does not mean forming a government with only a faction of a “recognized political party” which in this instance it clearly is; i.e., only a minority faction of the SLFP/UPFA is with the government. To categorize the current arrangement as a National Government is to violate the Constitution as well as the franchise of the people. The current arrangement therefore should be treated as nothing but a private pact signed for no reason other than to form a government outside the sphere of the constitution.

When exercising his franchise, a voter first selects the political party of his choice. This reflects the pride of place given to a status of a political party. If, after an election a faction of the political party he/she voted for decides to go one way with the remainder going another, the sanctity of the voter’s franchise and the immutable principle of representative government is violated, because the voter is at a loss to know which faction would be responsible for fulfilling the mandate given to the party by the voters. More importantly, since franchise is an integral part of the sovereignty of the people as per Article 3 of the Constitution, the present government made up of the UNP and only a faction of the SLFP/UPFA is an assault on the sovereignty of the people.

Furthermore, the acceptance of this arrangement would set in place a precedent wherein it would be possible for any political party with the highest number of seats in Parliament to come to an “understanding”, written or verbal, with a faction of a constituent party (in this case, the SLFP) of a recognized political party (the UPFA), and declare that it has formed a national government and thereby increase the number of Ministers in the Cabinet and non-Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers without restraint.

This constitutionally illegal arrangement has existed for nearly three years, and what is being planned is to continue with the current arrangement with a redistribution of Cabinet portfolios in the absence of any attempts to challenge the status quo within Parliament or in the Courts of Law.

Most of the debate following the tabling of the Resolution focused on interpreting what was meant by “together with other recognized political parties”. Did it mean ALL the other political parties represented in Parliament or could it have meant mean only those political parties that were inclined to be associated with a UNP-led government, with others deciding to stay out? It is this division that is the moot point in the legitimacy of the claim that the current government, qualifies to be recognised as a national government as intended by the framers of the 19th Amendment, thus enabling the collective number of Cabinet Ministers, non-Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers to be increased beyond the limit of 70 set for a government, which does not meet the threshold of a National Government.

Notwithstanding this lapse, civil society did file a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the legitimacy of the basis for the claim that the UNP as the party with the largest number of seats in Parliament “has formed a National Government”. The Court sadly denied the right to proceed on the grounds that the matter had been debated in Parliament and, therefore, was outside the jurisdiction of the Court, based on an outdated opinion in Erskine May relating to Parliamentary Privilege. It is now reported that the Speaker has consulted legal opinion and has declared that the current formation is, in fact, a national government.

It is apparent from these developments that the matter of interpreting the Constitution has been usurped by the Parliament and the Speaker. Article 125 of the Constitution states, “The Supreme Court shall have sole and exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any question relating to the interpretation of the Constitution….” The Supreme Court cannot abdicate its responsibility to interpret the Constitution when a petition was filed. The report that the Speaker’s ruling is what would prevail despite the fact that he is not constitutionally empowered, amounts to disturning. Collectively, this represents a total failure of the concept of separation of powers. Under the circumstances, Parliament should reject any attempt by the Speaker to rule on the constitutionality or otherwise of the current formation of the government, and demand that the matter be referred to the Supreme Court for interpretation as required by the constitution.

The claim that the current administration is a national government has gone unchallenged since September 2015. Allowing the claim to continue would be to set in place a precedent that is unconstitutional. Therefore, it is incumbent upon Parliament or some committed members of civil society to challenge its legitimacy.

KONARA WANIGASEKARA Kotte Courtesy The Island

Why has Sri Lankan military attaché, Brig. P. Fernando, been recalled? Has the government gone bonkers? When did it start taking instructions from the British?

Something that Dr ANS Kulasinghe told the Plant & Equipment (P&E) Engineer at Polgolla comes to mind. When did you start taking instructions from the ‘Baas Unnahe’? He said this when the P&E engineer replied to a question Dr K asked from him, what was it the ‘Baas Unnahe’ said about what was wrong in the cement bowser?

I don’t know who has the authority to talk on behalf of the British. If they talk out of turn, we simply ask them to fly a kite. A proscribed organisation mustn’t be allowed to protest near any embassy.

If the government is going to continue this kind of stupid policies, there is no doubt that very soon the public will pull down the statues of all (or most) of the politicians in the country, and erect those of military-personnel who saved this country.

KONARA WANIGASEKARA

Kotte

CHANDRE DHARMAWARDANA Canada Courtesy The Island

According to an Island newspaper report, “responding to the Global Tamil Forum’s (GTF) plea, the South Asia Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on Feb. 22 assured Surendiran that the UK took the incident ‘very seriously’ and Minister for South Asia personally got in touch with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana”. This is in response to the indignant, but highly undiplomatic action, of a Military Attache of the Sri Lankan High Commission in London. He had made a threatening gesture against Tamil-Tiger groups who had demonstrated in front of the High Commission using banned banners and symbols; an act similar to the use of ISIS or Al Qaeda flags and pictures of Al-Sawahri or Bin Laden in a demonstration in front of the US embassy.

So, apparently the Sri Lankan Government buckled under pressure and recalled the young Military Attache. Clearly, President Sirisena’s Horatio-like stand just before the Local Government polls was simply an election tactic, to make the voters believe that he stands bravely against the onslaught of the Tiger-Terrorist fronts that are operating under British patronage. He had also promised that the Military commanders who are allegedly guilty of “war crimes” will be given a fair trial leading to punishment or acquittal. He has assured us that they will not be tried by judges (foreign or local) selected by the GTF or the anti-national International NGOs funded by interested foreign parties. However, such promises now ring completely hollow. May be the public has to wait for the up-coming provincial elections for further brave language, which will be immediately forgotten after the election?

A correct policy against extremist Tiger groups acting from outside is immensely important for the future of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, and for meaningful reconciliation between the two communities. While Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry should indeed hold dialogue, even with extremist groups, it should not kneel to them.

This is surely not the first time that LTTE groups harboured by Britain have demonstrated in public with the banned LTTE flag, and with pictures of the slain LTTE supremo. They do the same with complete impunity in Canada. The British and Canadian court records have a clear list of indictments of LTTE agents for all sorts of crimes, from extortion to raising funds for terrorism even after 2009. Right now the Swiss prosecutor is leading a case against a number of “Tamil refugees” resident in Switzerland who had allegedly committed grave acts of extortion and violence on Swiss soil, as agents of the LTTE. An even larger list of Britain’s convenient neglect of enforcement of its anti-terrorism laws can be drawn up by anyone with just the aid of the Internet. No knowledge of the history of British policy in regard to terrorist movements outside its shores is needed. It is easily confirmed that the main tactic of successive British regimes, have been to use such terrorist movements to UK’s own advantage, and to get the immigrant block votes commandeered by groups like the Tamil-Tigers.

The same hypocrisy has been practiced by successive Canadian Prime Minsters who have “got along and played footsie” with Sikh terrorists. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police knew about the Sikhs engaging in tests of explosives and much more, but took no action; the Sikh terrorists blew up an Air India plane and engaged in assassinations. Mr. Justin Trudeau ended up inviting a well-known Sikh terrorist to top-notch diplomatic events in visiting India. How did some of his MPs turn out to be good friends of the terrorists? The other political parties are no better. Mr. Harper, when he visited India made the same faux pas, in having individuals tainted with terrorism in his entourage, strongly upsetting the Indians.

The Canadian leaders have ignored the illegal activities of LTTE terrorists, to the extent of even participating in their fundraisers, and ignoring the legitimate rights of the majority of the people in Sri Lanka; in order to ensure that the marginal electorates controlled by the Tamil immigrants can be won. Mr. Trudeau should check how many of his MPs have friends who were connected with various banned Tamil-Tiger organizations. These are known to the RCMP, and indeed a Human-Rights organization reported that:

“Ninety percent of people (i.e., Tamil immigrants), even if they don’t support the LTTE, they are scared. The killing doesn’t just happen back home in Sri Lanka. It happens in Paris, in Canada. They burned the library, they broke the legs of DBS Jeyaraj (dissident Tamil journalist based in Toronto). They tried to stop the CTBC radio from organizing. A journalist was killed in Paris. The threat is not only in Sri Lanka. It’s everywhere, all over the world”.

In spite of this knowledge available to heads of governments through their intelligence services, we know that many VIPs have behaved in ways far more questionable than this young Military Attache recalled home. The last Commonwealth meeting hosted by Sri Lanka showed us David Cameron behaving like the village bully “ready to lynch”, even though he himself was hiding the Chilcott report in his own under belly. Harper was the Prime Minster most suspected of trying to side-step various democratic provisions in the Canadian constitution. Conservatives defeated the utterly naive (?) Paul Martin who dined in LTTE fund raisers. Harper absented himself from the Commonwealth meeting in Colombo trying to please Tamil voters. However, he sent his emissary to Alimankada (Elephant pass) in the North of Sri Lanka, and laid a wreath for only the “dead Tamils”, but pointedly ignored those who gave their lives to rid the country of terrorism!

The Canadian Government’s treatment of terrorism emanating from the “Middle-East” is equally appalling. It seems to be based on ignoring the well established liberal Muslim organizations in Canada, and instead cynically trying to appease the extreme groups who control the new votes!

The UK with its long history of oppression and exploitation of other nations, including its kinsmen in Ireland in the pursuit of its own enrichment, is known to be long on rhetoric and short on justice and fair play. The latter only applies within just the landowning British gentry and does not extend to the “lower classes” or to “Semites, Frogs, Wogs, China men” etc., unless they happen to be rich and powerful. So the actions of the British government should surprise no one.

Unfortunately, as far as we know, the Sri Lankan government does not seem to have asked for reciprocal action against the Tamil-Tiger proxies nurtured and protected by the GTF, in `exchange’ for the recall of the Military Attache. The present Sri Lankan leaders know only how to kneel. The government, if it has any dignity, should follow up by demanding the extradition of Adele Balasingham and other LTTE criminals living in the UK, to initiate the trials demanded by Geneva. It can also send home the current British High commissioner in Colombo, who seems to interfere in Sri Lanka’s politics. He of course downplayed Lord Naseby’s revelations exposing the hypocrisy of the British. The High Commissioner dismissed Lord Naseby’s data as “just a statistic”. The British High commissioner has not explained why the actions of his government turn out to be completely at variance with the facts possessed by Her Majesty’s own officials.

The British government has forced President Sirisena’s hand to give in to Mr. Suren Sudendiran’s will. This was the hand that the Queen shook even without a glove! So, the President can at least request that the hooligans who provoked the young Military Attache be taken to task. If nothing happens, the President should express his displeasure to the British government.

CHANDRE DHARMAWARDANA Canada

Editorial Courtesy The Island

We witnessed the first part of the much-awaited Cabinet reshuffle yesterday. State Minister of Foreign Affairs Wasantha Senanayake lost no time in describing it as a comedy. It was a curtain raiser. We will be treated to the farce proper shortly. President Maithripala Sirisena has, with the help of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, shuffled the pack and dealt out jokers to the public. People’s needs are different. They are struggling to keep the wolf from the door. Jokers can’t help dull anyone’s hunger pangs, can they?

It is not the shuffling of the pack of jokers the people have asked for. The yahapalana leaders seem to think the masses are asses. Else, they wouldn’t have adopted such a harebrained measure in the aftermath of an electoral disaster in a bid to win back public sympathy. Voters’ message, on Feb. 10, was loud and clear. But, the yahapalana worthies pretend that they can’t figure it out. They are only fooling themselves. Unless they make a radical course correction urgently while granting people much-needed economic relief, they are bound to suffer another electoral body blow.

The Cabinet ‘reshuffle’ may have solved the problems of some disgruntled, ambitious government politicians thirsting for power but certainly not those of the irate public. While the yahapalana leaders kept on putting off local government polls we argued in this space that they were making the same mistake as a dysentery patient who postponed a trip to the washroom. What they have chosen to do, in their wisdom, after the polls debacle is akin to ‘using a loincloth to control dysentery’ as a local saying goes.

Before trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public with Cabinet changes etc the yahapalana grandees ought to prove that the agreement between the UPFA and the UNP to form a national government is still valid if they are to justify maintaining the present jumbo Cabinet. That pact cannot be considered valid simply because the UPFA and the UNP or even Speaker Karu Jayasuriya et al say so. The method the government has employed to prove the validity of the national government agreement is a classic example of circular reasoning.

The Speaker cannot arrogate to himself the power to determine the constitutionality or otherwise of bills or other matters placed before Parliament. If he is allowed to do so then the Supreme Court becomes redundant. Good governance consists in, inter alia, maintaining the separation of powers.

The Speaker is not infallible—far from it. He represents a political party. This is a country where even some judicial officers have failed to remain above partisan politics. It may be recalled that last year the incumbent Speaker insisted that Parliament could go ahead with the ratification of PC polls (amendment) bill because the Attorney General had given his nod for it. The government, true to form, steamrollered it through Parliament and it has become one of the worst laws. It can be bracketed with the 18th Amendment, which the Rajapaksa government earned notoriety for. It contains despicable provisions which didn’t pass muster with the apex court but were smuggled thereinto at the committee stage. The Speaker also endorsed the report of first Delimitation Committee, headed by Jayalath Dissanayake. But, subsequently, the government suspended its implementation, claiming that it was seriously flawed and had it reviewed. There exists a pressing need for the government to make public the UPFA-UNP agreement at issue and seek a judicial opinion thereon through the President to allay serious doubts in the minds of people.

It is not advisable to let the yahapalana worthies, whose very political survival is dependent on the continuation of the present administration, to decide whether the UPFA-UNP agreement is valid or not. Asking those politicians whether the national government is legal or not, is, according to folk wisdom, like ‘seeking the help of a clairvoyant to nab a thief who happens to be her own son’.

The government is like a buffalo blissfully dozing off on a railroad without caring two hoots about the deafening blare of the horn of an oncoming express train in the distance. Chugga, chugga, clackety-clack, chugga, chugga ….