Courtesy MailOnline 

Courtesy The Economic Times

The Supreme Court today granted six weeks to the Centre to clarify its stand on the mythical Ram Sethu, a chain of limestone shoals between Indian and Sri Lankan coasts.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud asked the Centre to file its reply in six weeks on a plea filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.

Also known as the Adam’s bridge, the Ram Sethu is a chain of limestone shoals between Pamban or Rameswaram Island off the south-e ..

Meera Srinivasan Courtesy The Hindu

SL VLOG

https://youtu.be/EauEuUYrmf8

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Budget 2017 has given a meagre amount of rupees to build boats of 55 feet or more length ,for which government intends to cover 50 % of the cost and to install ice making plants in multiday fishing boats

 I raised this matter at the forum organized by Ernest and Young ,on how does the government intend to implement such scheme.

Deputy Secretary to treasury promised to have weekly follow up meetings and ensure implementation of budget proposals.

Government or Ministry of Fisheries has no clue how to implement such a plan.

After a thorough investigation on how Maldives developed their fishing Industry which was far behind ours .I decided to educate our politicians and technocrats on how to proceed with such plan

As a boat /ship builder in Sri Lanka .we investigated how such a small country like Maldives has gone very far in developing fishing industry

This was 1977 when we opened our free market economy ……..

1977 Maldives drew a development loan from Kuwait Fund, just before president Nasir step down.

The Development project had 280 fishing boats of 45 feet with a 45 Hp, Yanmar Diesel, with all the navigational and lifesaving equipment..

Under the project a Boat Yard was developed and prior to that a young man was sent to Australia educated him in Naval Architecture.

A second generation fishing boat from the old Maldivian fishing dhoani ( traditional long wooden fishing boats in Maldives)  was developed and produced the boats. Up to then the fishing boats were of Maldives were owned by  Mudalalis” All the small time fishermen were working  for  Mudalalis”  and just earn daily bread living in huts. Government indiscriminately selected fishermen capable of handling and operating fishing boats. Boats were awarded to fishermen on hire purchase basis for a small price of about 8000/= dollars per boat. And gave an incentive of 10,000.00  $ for them to buy fishing gear and fuel and lube oil etc to begin the work.

In the meantime 3 mother vessels of 900 Gross Tonnage  were built in Korea, and 10 fish collecting boats with Cooling Faciities  were built locally to collect fish from the fishing boats and to deliver to the mother vessels for freezing and storing. Three  Salt water flake ice plants were built in different location.

1978 president Gayyoom’s took over and his government further developed by buying more second hand 1000 GT  mother vessels from Japan and a further 9 used collector vessels from Japan. Built further 50 numbers  3rd generation fishing vessels of 55 feet and gave to the fishermen who took interest to purchase the boats on hire purchase. After that Felivaru ( Fist Male Fish canning)   factory that was built during President Nasir time was upgraded and developed, 4 more collectors vessels built in Colombo Dockyard .

Today you see the difference Maldives fishing industry. Those fishermen who got the 45 and 55 feet boats has 80,90,100, up to 120 feet fishing vessel with fully air conditioned accommodation, with western style toilets fitted in them.

Those Maldivian fishermen sent their children to overseas universities for higher education.

Now Maldives has large cold storages and deep freezing facilities built onshore. With deep drafted wharfs in fish collecting and processing centers.

Maldivian  fishermen earns average 1500 dollars a month. Fishing boat master over 2000 dollars per month

Why can’t our Sri Lankan fishermen cannot earn same.

Sri Lanka is bigger and has better opportunities to develop this industry .

Ministers in the government talks about blue economy, but there no proper advisers to the government

We need a new budget to develop blue economy and dedicated government is a must

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Shenali D Waduge

When Ranil Wickremasinghe Government took power in 2001 they allowed foreigners to purchase land and even coastal graveyards were bought. Returning to power again the Wickremasinghe Government has decided to continue to again facilitate sale of land to foreigners. What are the repercussions and consequences that the citizens will have to face in the future by governments with shortsighted gains? Greedy businessmen took Hawaii from Hawaiians – it can happen to Sri Lanka too.

Hawaii is made of 132 islands of which only 8 islands are livable. The eight major islands are Niihau, Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui, Kahoolawe, Lanai, and Hawaii. Honolulu, the capital, is located on Oahu. Total population is 1.4million with a total 10,931 sq.miles. The state owns only 39% of land. In 1778, English explorer Captain James Cook arrived in Hawaii and its population declined by 80%. In 1794 George Vancouver, a British navigator, drafted an agreement with island chiefs to transfer ownership of the islands to Great Britain.

By 1878, the native population had dropped to an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 people. There are fewer than 8,000 pure Hawaiians living today. Most Native Hawaiians today have less than 50% pure Hawaiian blood. Fewer than 2,500 people speak Hawaiian as their mother tongue.

Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Hawaii has been invaded thrice – in 1941 by the Japanese, in 1920s by tourists and in 1893 by American businessmen who overthrew Queen Liliuokalani illegally annexing Hawaii to the US. Christian missionaries arrived in 1820. With time tourists didn’t care about Hawaii culture except to enjoy in a luxury hotel.

In 1877, some 400 American businessmen forming the ‘Hawaiian League’ planned to overthrow the monarchy forcing King Kalakaua to sign the revised Hawaiian constitution which meant cutting his powers (Bayonet Constitution) which never went for a vote because people opposed it. No different to the present sentiments by the public against Sri Lanka’s constitution. Queen Liliuokalani, his sister took over in 1891 after the King’s death and planned to rescind the Bayonet Constitution and replace with one restoring power to herself & the natives. What is interesting is that Queen Liliuokalani was a follower of Buddhism & Buddhist philosophy and followed the teachings of Buddha in her rule. She imposed restrictions on foreign immigrants and decreased reliance on imports and foreign trade. She rejected American businessmen’s requests for immigration reform and reestablishment of trade-routes. American missionaries helped plot her overthrow and annexation to US in January 1893 with the help of 163 strategically placed American troops. The Queens ‘non-violence’ attitude proved her downfall. The Queen was arrested in 1895 charged with treason forced to abdicate and give up her throne. The US was quick to change things to their advantage – even Chinese immigrants were denied entry. Act 24 vested power in corporations. Even the Hawaiian language was banned. English replaced Hawaiian as the official language of government, business and education. Children were punished in school for speaking Hawaiian.

We must wonder how many such are already stationed in Sri Lanka and look at the subtle manner Buddhism and the Buddhist ethos of Sri Lanka is currently being targeted to elimination – education, social, cultural, political, religious, constitution etc.

Native Hawaiians launched a massive petition drive to stop the formal annexation of Hawai’i to the U.S. Of the known population of 39,000 Native Hawaiians, 21,269 signed the petition. This was an incredible majority. But, Hawai’i was illegally annexed as a U.S. territory in 1898, along with 1.2 million acres of Hawaiian crown lands that had belonged to the monarchy and to the nation of Hawai’i. No compensation was paid to anyone.

Hawaii was administered as a U.S. territory until 1959, when it became the 50th state in August, 1959, following a referendum in Hawaii in which more than 93% of the voters approved the proposition that the territory should be admitted as a state. What was sold to the people was that America was working in the best interest of the Hawaiians & their economy. No different to the story sold in Sri Lanka. Hawaii’s natural resources became her downfall. Sri Lanka’s geopolitical position must its unknown & unappreciated resources will become Sri Lanka’s downfall too.

In 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed Proclamation 5030 granting US full control over all living and non-living resources within 200miles of US coastlines.

In 1993, Congress (President Clinton) issued an apology to the people of Hawaii for the U.S. government’s role in the overthrow and acknowledged that the native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their inherent sovereignty.”

Apologies however does not return land to its rightful owners.

Hawaiʻi has one of the largest United States military populations in the world – 11 bases. More than 100,000 US service members and dependents live in Hawaii. A 2011 study by the RAND Corporation showed that military spending in Hawaiʻi was linked to 18 percent of the state’s economy, and direct military and civilian jobs made up 16 percent of the state’s workers (about 101,000 jobs).

An interesting article by Nate Gaddis in 2014 titled How much of Hawaii is concrete” a question most of us are now raising in Colombo viewing the massive structures coming up. Before tourism and U.S. military on the islands, agriculture was the biggest industry in Hawaii. Sugar, coconut, and pineapple formed the core of the plantation system. When the large plantations were established in the 1820s and 1830s, native Hawaiian men were employed as farm workers while Hawaiian women worked in the houses of white immigrants as maids and washerwomen. This is going to be the eventual outcome for Sri Lankans too.

With native Hawaiian population decreasing, importing of Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese took place and around 400,000 came between 1850 and 1880. This is no different to the importing of Tamils from South India by the European colonials to Sri Lanka.

Over the past century, 70 % of beaches on the islands of Kaua’i, O’ahu, and Maui have experienced long-term erosion. Everything and anything is now private owned and people are taxed. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jan/23/mark-zuckerberg-hawaii-land-lawsuits-kauai-estate

By privatizing water and sewer systems, local government officials abdicate control.

Privatizing local water and sewer systems usually does far more harm than good for our communities. In Hawaii, a privately owned water utility service costs 59% more than the public water service. After privatization, water rates increased at about three times the rate of inflation, with an average increase of 18 percent every other year. The situation is no different in other areas where privatization has taken place too.

What can be more humiliating than the thought of indigenous Hawaiians having to take a blood test to prove their land right! Will this not be the future of the Sinhalese too!

Shenali D Waduge

Dharshan Weerasekera, Attorney-at-Law

‘Statutes are designed to meet the fugitive exigencies of the hour.  A Constitution states or ought to state not rules for the passing hour, but principles for an expanding future.’ – Benjamin Cardozo, The Nature of the Judicial Process

Author’s note:  The present paper is part of a proposed 2-Volume work titled, ‘The Principles that Must Guide a Future Constitution of Sri Lanka.’ Volume-1 deals with Western constitutional principles – i.e. Westminster Parliamentary principles, American separation of powers doctrine, and so on – which form an integral part of the constitutional history of this country.  It is impossible to entirely disengage oneself from that tradition if and when a new Constitution is drafted.

However, there is now widespread recognition among many Sri Lankans that, whatever may be the value of western constitutional principles, as far as Sri Lanka is concerned, they have not produced the expected results, such as ensuring the rule of law, good governance and so on.  Therefore, it is necessary to turn to the older constitutional traditions of this country in order to see whether they can supply what the western principles have thus far failed to deliver.

The purpose of Volume – 2 is to explore some of those ancient constitutional principles.  I focus on the Anuradhapura Kingdom – for purposes of this work defined as the period spanning roughly 65 AD – 460 AD (Vasabha to Datusena).  It is a period that is generally considered the most prosperous and peaceful in the long history of this country, and so the best period from which to extract principles that might be useful for today.  In the present paper, I endeavor to recreate the Constitution of the Anuradhapura Kingdom as it might have looked had it been written out in a single document.

In a future paper, I propose to comment on the different aspects of the Anuradhapura Constitution recreated here – for instance, the nature of the State, relations between the Centre and the Provinces, and so on – with respect to whether the principles that underpinned those particular aspects Constitution are still valid today, and if so, how we can incorporate those ancient principles into a modern Sri Lanka Constitution designed to meet the political, economic and social needs of the present.

I urge readers not to nitpick too much over the historical details set out here.  I am no historian.  I am mainly interested in getting at the principles behind the various institutions of State to the extent such principles can be extracted from the relevant historical facts.  However, if I have got either the facts or the principles wrong, I request readers, especially those with technical knowledge in fields such as ancient Sri Lankan history, archeology, epigraphy and philology, to tell me where I’m wrong, and point me towards the relevant source material.

The Constitution of the Anuradhapura Kingdom

Contents:

1. The State
2. Territory of the State
3. Central and Provincial Governments
4. The Law
5. Social relations
6. Buddhism

Article 1:  The State[1]

• The King

All executive, legislative and judicial power reposes with the King

• The Conduct of the King

The conduct of the King is controlled by:

1. Personal moral/ethical code – Dasarajadhamma[2]
2. Advice and guidance of the Mahasangha[3]

• Duties of the King

The primary duties of the King are to:

1. Maintain law and order[4]
2. Provide for the national defence[5]
3. Maintain and improve the irrigation system and other vital infrastructure of the State[6]
4. Ensure the health of the people[7]
5. Preside over important religious/cultural festivals and rituals – in order to prevent natural disasters, ensure good harvest, etc.[8]

• Administrative Structure of the State

In performing his duties, the King shall function through the following 3 institutions:

1. ‘Ekthan-Samyan’[9]

• This is a Council of Ministers including a Prime Minister, and chaired by the King in person.[10]
• This institution helps formulate the overall policies of the State, and proposes the necessary legislation to further such policies.[11]

1. ‘Sabhava’ (Assembly)[12]

• This institution is headed by an official called the ‘Pirinthi Rath’ and has jurisdiction over land matters including the power to pass laws and regulations with respect to maintaining the irrigation system[13]
• This institution also hears appeals on both criminal and civil matters[14]

1. ‘Lekam Geya’[15]

• This institution functions under the Assembly, and is headed by an officer called the ‘Samdaruwan.’[16]
• The institution is responsible for executing the decrees of the Assembly
• The institution has a secondary set of officials called ‘Kundasalas’ who convey the order of the institution to the outstations.[17]
• In addition to the above three institutions, the King is assisted in his duties by the following officials:

1. The following three officials attend the King in person at all times, and are also ex officio members of the Ekthan-Samyan’:
2. ‘Senapathi’[18] (Army Commander)
3. ‘Bandagarika’[19] (Treasurer)
4. ‘Purohita’[20] (Spiritual and legal Counsel)
5. A number of officials of ‘Samdaruwan’ rank who are commissioned directly by the King with respect to particular subjects.[21] For example:
6. Doctors
7. Irrigation engineers
8. Judges

These officials go on circuit throughout the country and report directly to the King.

Article 2:  Territory of the State[22]

2.1     Extent of the State

The State encompasses the entire island of Sri Lanka, bounded on all sides by the Indian Ocean.

2.2      Main Territorial divisions of the State

The State consists of 6 main units of Government with corresponding territorial divisions, as follows;

1. Anuradhapura and the North Central Region[23]
2. Uttara[24]
3. Pashchina[25]
4. Prachina[26]
5. Malaya[27]
6. Ruhuna[28]

2.3     Secondary Divisions

In addition to the above, there are smaller semi-autonomous areas, as follows:

1. ‘Rata’[29] (A Rata is a combination of a number of ‘Gamas’ or villages)
2. ‘Mandalama’[30] (A Mandalama is a combination of Ratas)

Article 3:  Central and Provincial Governments[31]

3.1     The distribution of powers between the Center and the Peripheral Units

The distribution of powers between the Center and Peripheral Units is as follows:

1. Anuradhapura and the North Central region come under the direct control of the King or Maharaja resident in Anuradhapura.[32]
2. The five main Provinces (Uttara, Pashchina, Prashchina, Malaya and Ruhuna) are ruled by kings (Uvarajas), Regents, Viceroys, as the case may be, appointed directly by the Maharaja in Anuradhapura, or are members of the hereditary nobility of those particular Provinces, but functioning under the overall sovereignty of the Anuradhapura monarch.[33]
3. The Ratas or Mandalayas as the case may be are semi-autonomous units. Their relationship with the Maharaja in Anuradhapura is based on a Charter or contract with the Maharaja, with respect to specific subjects or areas over which the Maharaja has exclusive jurisdiction within those areas (for example, tariffs over certain specified types of goods), while other matters are left to the discretion of the locals.[34]
4. A Rata is headed by a ‘Rataladda,’ below whom is a ‘Pasladda,’ followed by other officials such as tax collectors, judicial officers, etc.
5. The aforesaid officials (i.e tax collectors, judicial officers, etc) are appointed by the King, and the residents of the Rata have a right of appeal against those officers in the event they find those officers to be abusing their powers including acting ulta vires of their powers.

Article 4:  The Law[35] 

4.1     The law of the land       

The primary law of the land is the accumulated body of customs of each institution of society.[36]  (The main such institutions are:  king, village, clan, caste and family and shall be further explained in Article 5 hereinafter.)

4.2     Secondary bodies of law

The aforesaid body of law is supplemented from time to time by the edicts, decrees and pronouncements of the king, promulgated in order to advance particular policies and objectives of the King.[37]

4.3     The power of the King vis a vis the law of the land

The King does not have the power to act contrary to the customary law or to change or repeal any part of it.[38]

4.4     Who decides what is or is not the customary law of a particular institution of society

In finding out what is the customary law applicable to a particular institution of society, the King must consult the authorities and/or experts recognized by the customary law of those institutions as being persons competent to pronounce on or interpret the law at issue.[39]

4.5     The jurisdiction of the king over particular categories of offences

The King has jurisdiction over the following matters:

1. All violations, infringements, and/or usurpations of the decrees, edicts and pronouncements of the Central Government, i.e. the King and related institutes of state
2. All capital crimes

Article 5:  Social Relations[40]

5.1     The institutions of society

There are five main institutions of society:

1. King
2. Village
3. Clan
4. Caste
5. Family

5.2     The King

This institution is a legal/religious construction.  The authority of the King derives from a contractual relation between the King on the one hand and the subjects on the other, and is sanctified by religion.

5.3     The Village

This institution is a political unit.  It is the smallest political unit of the State, and consists of a collection of extended families of a particular caste.

5.4     The Clan

The Clan is an ethno-racial construction.  It is an identity shared by a group of people and can include different castes.

5.5     Caste

Caste is determined by a person’s occupation or livelihood, and is accompanied by a host of social and cultural rules as to how such person should behave or act in his or her interactions with members of the other castes.

5.6     Family

Family is a unit based on blood-relations and can include an extended family, consisting of a number of smaller nuclear families.

Article 6:  Buddhism[41] 

6.1     Position of Buddhism in the State

Buddhism is the State religion, which is to say, the religion of the King and the majority of the People of the country.[42]

6.2     The role of Buddhism

The role of Buddhism as the State Religion (as opposed to personal religion) is to provide cultural cohesion, intellectual depth and moral guidance to the State.[43]

6.3     The relationship between Buddhism and the State

The relationship between the State and Buddhism is one of mutual dependence or symbiosis – with the State committed to protecting and fostering the institutions of Buddhism (i.e. the Sangha and related institutions) and those institutions in turn committed to providing the three services set out in Article 6.2 above.

6.4     The duties of the State in protecting and fostering Buddhism

The duties of the State in protecting and fostering Buddhism are:

1. Building and maintaining temples, stupas, Buddha statues, and so on.
2. Providing food and other material needs for the upkeep of the Sangha
3. Giving patronage to important religious festivals
4. Building, maintaining and advancing Buddhist Centers of Learning.

6.5     The reciprocal obligations of the institutions of Buddhism with respect to the State

The reciprocal obligations of the institutions of Buddhism with respect to the State are to:

1. To make themselves available to preside over all important State festivals and functions.
2. Maintain Centers of Learning capable of producing scholars the highest caliber capable of expounding on Buddhist doctrine, but also on other subjects, including law, essential for the functioning of the State.[44]
3. Make themselves available for public discussions, lectures and debates on Buddhist doctrine.
4. Diligently work towards providing from among themselves (i.e. the member of the Sangha) persons who have attained one or more of the levels of spiritual/mental refinement recognized in Buddhist doctrine, to wit – ‘Sovan,’ ‘Sakrudhagami,’ ‘Anagami’ or ‘Arahat’ – so that they can be living examples of the strength of the doctrine, and be a light not just to the country but to the entire world.[45]

To the best of my knowledge, the aforesaid system of government helped the Sinhalas reach the very pinnacle of peace and prosperity during the Anuradhapura Kingdom, and sustained their civilization in subsequent years until 1815, when the last Sinhala Kingdom, the Kandyan Kingdom, fell or rather was ceded by the Kandyan Chiefs to the British.

The aforesaid system also helped the Sinhalas protect their identity and independence during their darkest days, especially during periods of foreign invasion.  This latter included nearly three centuries between of sustained assault, from 1500 to 1800, by three of the most powerful European powers of the related period, the Portuguese, Dutch and the British respectively.

What remains is to consider which elements of this system are still valid today, and how we can incorporate such elements into a modern Sri Lanka Constitution capable of meeting the political, economic and social needs of the present.

The reader will see even at a cursory glance that, there are certain elements in the Anuradhapura Constitution recreated here, that are not viable today.  For instance, recreating the monarchy is no longer an option.  Similarly, recognizing social divisions such as caste at the level of the Constitution is no longer feasible or moral.  However, there are other elements that hold great promise and relevance for today.

For instance, it is clear that the Anuradhapura Constitution permitted and in fact was predicated on a diffusion of power between the center and the provinces.  It appears there was in ancient Sri Lanka what in modern parlance could be called a ‘federal’ system – at any rate an arrangement that followed the principles of federalism as set out in authoritative modern dictionaries.[46]

This should be instructive to those Sinhalas who are obsessed with the word ‘Unitary’ when it comes to discussions as to the system of government they prefer.  To digress a moment, generally speaking, persons who have been in a position to contribute in material ways to determining if their country will follow a ‘Unitary’ system or a ‘Federal’ system have understood ‘Unitary’ to mean a system where the members of subsidiary legislative bodies, if such exist in the country, are appointed by the central government.

For instance, the above is the way that Nehru understood the word ‘Unitary.’  Extracts from the draft minutes of a crucial meeting of the Union Constitution Committee which he headed, contains inter alia the following:

‘Pandit Nehru stated that the point [i.e. whether India should be a unitary State with provinces functioning as agents or delegates of the central authority, or a federation of autonomous units leaving certain specified powers to the centre] was discussed… and its conclusions were as follows:  1)  that the Constitution should be a Federal structure with a strong centre…etc., etc.’[47]

The point is this.  If one understands by the word ‘Unitary’ a system where the legislatures of the peripheral units are agents or delegates of the central legislature, Sri Lanka does not have such a system now, and perhaps never did at any time in its long history.

It appears that, the system of government that this country had during the Anuradhapura period, whether one chooses to label such system ‘Unitary’ or ‘Federal,’ involved a federation of Provinces, with a very strong central authority capable of exerting its will without question on the peripheral units, but where those peripheral units also enjoyed a limited degree of autonomy.

This notion, in my view, ought to be very useful to contemporary discussions over the form of government – i.e. ‘Unitary, Federal or even Confederal – that Sri Lanka should ultimately adopt.  In the commentary that follows, I propose to pursue these and other related matters in some detail.

[1] The primary reference materials I have relied on for this section are:  the chapter on ‘Government’ in Anuradhapura Ugaya, Amaradasa Liyanagamge and Ranaweera Gunawardena, Vidyalankara University Press, Colombo, 1961; Univesity of Peradeniya, History of Ceylon, Volume One, Part One, ed. Sir Nicholas Attygala, Colombo, 1959; and, Early History of Ceylon, G. C. Mendis

[2] Anuradhapura Ugaya, p. 222

[3] Ibid, p. 222

[4] Ibid, p. 223

[5] Ibid, p. 223

[6] Ibid, p. 223

[7] Ibid, p. 223

[8] Ibid, p. 223

[9] Ibid, p. 234

[10] Ibid, p. 234

[11] Ibid, p. 234

[12] Ibid, p. 234

[13] Ibid, p. 234

[14] Ibid, p. 234

[15] Ibid, p. 234

[16] Ibid, p. 234

[17] Ibid, p. 234

[18] Ibid, p. 224

[19] Ibid, p. 224

[20] Ibid, p. 224

[21] Ibid, p. 235

[22] The primary reference materials I have relied on for this section are:  The chapter on ‘Government’ in Anuradhapura Yugaya, Amaradeva Liyangamge and Ranaweera Gunawardena, Vidyalankara University Press, Colombo, 1961, and; ‘The Territorial Divisions of Ceylon from Early Times to the 12^th Century,’ C. W. Nicholas, UCR IX

[23] Anuradhapura Ugaya, p. 236

[24] Ibid, p. 236

[25] Ibid, p. 236

[26] Ibid, p. 236

[27] Ibid, p. 236

[28] Ibid, p. 236

[29] Ibid, p. 236

[30][30] Ibid, p. 236

[31] The primary reference materials I have relied on for this section are:  The chapter on ‘Government’ in Anuradhapura Ugaya, Amaradasa Liyangamge and Ranaweera Gunawardwena; ‘The Territorial Divisions of Ceylon from the Earliest Times to the 12^th Century,’ C. W. Nicholas; ‘Proprietary and Tenurial Rights in Ancient Ceylon,’ Lakshman S. Perera, CJSHS, Vol. 2, No. 1.

[32] Anuradhapura Ugaya, p. 236

[33] Ibid, p. 236

[34] Ibid, ps. 236 and 237.  Also see Vevalketiya Inscription  which explains how the administration of justice is to be carried out in the related Rata, and also, Badulla Inscription  which sets out regulations with respect to the sale of certain goods, measures, tarrifs etc. in the related Rata (p. 237 Anuradhapura Ugaya)

[35] The primary research materials I have relied on for this section are:  A. R. B. Amarasinghe, The Legal Heritage of Sri Lanka, Royal Asiatic Society, Colombo, 1999; Walter Pereira, Institutes of the Laws of Ceylon; Niti-Niganduva, C. J. R. Le Mesurier and T. B. Panabokke, 1880; F. A. Hayley, A Treatise on the laws and Customs of the Sinhalese including the portions still surviving under the name Kandyan Law, H. W. Cure and Co, Colombo, 1923

[36] Legal Heritage of Sri Lanka, p. 7 – 8, also page 2019 citing Hayley:  At the time of the Kandyan Convention, Sinhala law was the Common Law in the strictest sense.  It was contained in the books; it was almost untouched by legislation; it acknowledged no judicial decisions; it was essentially the customs of the realm, known to the people, administered by the judges, free from all interference by the courts of the King, and marred by no sophistries of interpretation.”  See also page 222 of Legal Heritage.

[37] Legal Heritage of Sri Lanka, p. 143

[38] Ibid, pages 138 – 139 citing Davy:  Should a King act directly contrary to the rules [prescribed for Kings], contrary to the example of good princes, and in opposition to the customs of the country, he would be reckoned a tyrant, and the people would consider themselves justified in opposing him, and in rising in mass and dethroning him; nor are there wanting instances in extreme cases of oppression, of their acting on this principle and successfully redressing their wrongs.”  Also see page 222.

[39] Ibid, p. 224

[40] The primary research materials relied on for this section are:  H. Ellawela, History of Early Ceylon; S. B. Hettiarachi, Social and Cultural History of Early Ceylon; Bryce Ryan, Caste in Modern Ceylon

[41] The primary research materials relied on for this section are:  Walpola Rahula, History of Buddhism in Sri Lanka; University of Peradeniya, History of Ceylon, Volume One, Part One, ed. Sir Nicholas Attygala, Colombo, 1959

[42] See pages 62 – 63, History of Buddhism in Ceylon; also page 75:  The offering of the kingdom to the Sasana, which was not uncommon in ancient Ceylon, was also symbolic of the principle that the State is run for the good of Buddhism.  Devanampiyatissa offered his kingship to the Mahabodhi; Duttagamani –Abbaya is reported to have bestowed the kingdom of Ceylon on the Sasana five times – each time for seven days.  It would be very interesting of we could get some information about the way the government was administered during these short periods.’

[43] See page 75 of History of Buddhism in Ceylon:  ‘The monasteries formed the centers of national culture, and bhikkus were the teachers of the whole nation – from prince to peasant.’

[44] See page 163 of History of Buddhism in Ceylon:  ‘The accomplishments of monks in the sphere of learning including a knowledge of the law seems to have been so complete that a thera named Abhidammika Godatha of the Mahavihara was raised by King Bhatiya (38 – 66 AC) to a position virtually equivalent to the office of the Chief Justice of Ceylon.’

[45] See for instance page 208 of History of Buddhism in Ceylon:  ‘Monks, therefore, made strenuous efforts to gain some definite attainments during the rainy season, for during that period they had a quiet and comparatively comfortable life.  The story of some 50 monks who undertook a vas retreat at Galambatittha-vihara shows how strenuous this effort sometimes was:  These monks made an agreement among themselves on the first day of the rainy season that they would not talk to one another till they had attained arahanthood.  When they went to the village on pindapatha they had some water in their mouths so that they could not talk.  If anyone inquired about the date or some other matter, then they swallowed the water and just answered the question to the point….In the same manner another thera, called Mahanaga of Kalavallimandapa, spent 23 years in meditation without talking to any one, except to answer an unavoidable question.  He is said to have spent the first seven years only walking and standing.  He never sat or lay himself down those seven years. (The fame of this thera as a holy man had spread as far as India)’

[46] The Supreme Court in the landmark case, H. K. D. Chandrasoma v. Mervai Senathiraja (SC/SPL/03/2014) has now defined the word ‘federal’ for the purposes of Sri Lankan Constitutional jurisprudence.  The court has relied on the definition of ‘federalism’ given in Black’s Law Dictionary, 6^th Edition.  The essence of that definition, which is the same as the definition found in other reputable dictionaries, is that federalism is a union of semi-autonomous provinces or units with the distinctive characteristic that the power of the central government reaches to the individual residents of each province, as opposed to just the Governments of those provinces.  Federalism is always juxtaposed to confederalism or confederation, the distinctive characteristic of which is that in such unions the power of the central government reaches only to the Governments of the individual provinces.

[47] Collected papers of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vol.3 (Second Series) page 53

Insight by Sunil Kumar

Nov12th 2017

There has been damning evidence coinciding with the Lord Naseby report from the UK published recently to suggest that:

The critical analysis of POE which  according to the  UN report shows that the civilians killed as a result of co-lateral damage is approximately 6,356 and not 40,000 as UN report fabricated. It further lends credence to the reality that  when an Army is fighting a war operating within civilian population and where civilians are killed it is a result incidental to the conduct of military operations.

As an example- The New York Times in its 19 June publication says that the US led coalition air strikes have killed nearly 4,000 civilians in Syria. An average of 1,371 civilians killed per month in cross fire during the period of last 4 ½ months in a final stage of war against an enemy considered to be a credible national threat which is not a war crime.

Despite all claims mostly by enemies of the State as well as sources who pledge allegiance to the eliminated Tamil Tigers- where one can without exception cite the TNA and affiliated groups who continue to conduct covert operations with the objective of reviving the objectives of Tamil Ealam, it can be safely concluded that they are innaccurate.

There have been recent warnings from many prominent analysts who have raised their voices against the amending of the National Constitution that it could also provide a means and a link towards the very plausible objective of reviving  Tamil Secessionist objectives.

Sri Lanka today has changed from a war zone to one headed towards prosperity and rapid development and can ill afford to take chances in entertaining secessionist idealogies some of which appear to be part of the fabric of the proposed new constitution which entities like the TNA seem to be agitating for.

Immediately following the May 2009 defeat of the LTTE, Germany led resolution at the UNHCR against Sri Lanka ultimately ended up with a counter resolution favourable to Sri Lanka commending the Nation for eliminating terrorism. This resolution confirms that LTTE kept civilians as hostages against their will and that the Government liberated almost 300,000 citizens kept by the LTTE.

Now it is up to the GOSL to build on Lord Naseby’s findings and to present with a force the matters in correct perspective to the  International Community and save the dignity of Sri Lankan Armed Forces as well as an impending peril to the Nation through a misguided constitution that could eventually complicate Sri Lanka’s progress.

නැවත රැවටෙන්න සූදානම් නෑ.. ශ‍්‍රීලනිපය සමග කිසිදු සන්ධානයක් නෑ..- කටකතා සුණු විසුනු කරමින් ප‍්‍රීතිඝෝෂා මැද මහින්ද කියයි..

එක් වරක් රැවටුනු පසු තවත් වරක් රැවටෙන්නට සූදානම් නැති බව හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා පවසයි.

ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ ප‍්‍රධාන ඒකාබද්ද විපක්‍ෂය විසින් අනුරාධපුර සල්ගාදු පිටියේදි සංවිධානය කර තිබූ රටරට මහා ජන රැුළිය අමතමින් ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියේය.

අනිල් වික‍්‍රමසිංහ සමග මෙන්ම අනෙක් කෙනා සමගද තමනට ඩීල් නැති බවත් එකම ඩීල් එක දමන්නේ ජනතාව සමග පමණක් බවද් ඔහු එහිදී පැවසීය.

වීඩියෝව මෙතනින්

Dr Sudath Gunasekara.

12.11. 2017.

Mr President the doom is almost at your door step. Either act now as wisely as possible, as the Executive President and go down in history as a true SLFPer and savior of this nation or go down in to oblivion as a man disgraced and discarded by the very people who incited you to be the President, by remaining inactive and passive.                 

 If Sirisena care about his own safety (political and personal) he must immediately remove Ranil. Otherwise the fate of Gamini Dissanayake (and Lalith and Premadasa) awaits him.

Sirisena is in a very bad position, isolated. Ravi, Wijeyadasa and their supporters in the UNP are against him. All MPs of the JO are gunning for Sirisena’s blood since 2015. Some SLFPers removed from their posts are also against him. Now Ranil and the UNP mainstream are turning against Sirisena.

 He must appoint a loyal MP as PM (at least privately under his signature and with a private oath ceremony). No one should be allowed to derail democracy, particularly Ranil and company that could never win a presidential election”.

                                                                                  Dilrook Says: Lankaweb November 11th, 2017 at 5:43 pm: 

In the light of the above proposition made by Dilrook in response to Lankaweb article by Gagani Weerakoon  under the caption ‘Will President Maithri ask Ranil to quit as PM? posted on November 11th, 2017 (Courtesy Ceylon Today), I would like to repeat what I wrote on 30.4.2017 on the same subject but covering a broader spectrum for all readers to remind  of what I said seven months before.

President Sirisena should immediately take meaningful and effective steps on the following 16 key disastrous and burning issues facing the country right now.

Part 11

Posted on April 30th, 2017

Dr Sudath Gunasekara President Mahanuwara Sinhala Bauddha Jestha Puravesiyange Sanvidhanaya and retired Perm Sec to Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranayaka. 30. 4.2017.

These 16 issues are in addition to the four (4) issues already discussed in details that appeared on 29th Lankaweb

The four issues are

1 Agitation by Tamils and Muslims to withdraw military and other Armed forces from North and East and returning land armed forces are occupying in the North and the East and Mannar area.)

2 Agitation by Tamils and Muslims against the Government declaring certain forest areas as reservations and sanctuaries in the north and east and in Mannar District particularly by the Gazette Notification of 24 March 2017 declaring four forest areas north of the Wilpattu sanctuary as reserves

3 Vandalizing ancient Buddhist Monuments, Encroaching on Temple land donated to Buddhist temples by the ancient Kings in the yore for their sustenance and protesting against restoring and rehabilitation of ancient religious monuments in the Northern and Eastern Provinces  jointly by Tamil and Muslim politicians and even media men and women and activists of the two ethnic groups like Sulochana Ramiah Mohan and Muslims vandalism against Buddhist places even in the interior of the country, (for example in Kuragala and Katarantenna in Mawanella area).

4 The Crisis of Disintegration of SLFP

(Please see Lankaweb 29th for details)

Part 11

1 Assume full authority as the Executive President of this country and sack the illegally appointed Prime Minister, Ranil Wickramasinha, by you on 9th Jan 2015, for having failed to deliver the goods in his role as the PM as expected by you and now who is only going round the world selling the country and its resources on a public selling spree on the advice of India and his Western allies, having laid down the trap to push you in to the political dustbin at all elections in future, while Sri Lanka is on Fire

In the event you fail to take this crucial step in the first place, you are passing on the destiny of the country on a silver tray to Ranil the dictator, the leader of the Un-Patriotic Party, even before you find your alignments.  Secondly if something unexpected happens to you ( which I never dream of) due to natural causes or other reasons like an impeachment, conspiracy or possible assassination, by your own people on the advice of Raw or the West or the Church, thereafter it is Ranil who will be the Executive President until 2020 Jan. Ranil knows very well that he can never win a Presidential election. That is why he is waiting for a chance to become the President by some other way. The whole world knows, though you may not know, both India and the Western world now do not like you. Their honey moon with you is now over. They will remove you as well, either physically or otherwise the same way they removed MR with your help, for which you are mainly responsible, In that process you should not expect civility or morality. You may not have fully understood who Ranil is. Who knows what conspiracy he may have hatched in India with Modi promising him not only Trinco harbor, all the oil tanks at Trinco with 850 acres and part of Colombo harbor and Mattala Airport. It can happen at any time before you or anybody else could even realize what happened, as he did in 2002by entering in to a cease fire Agreement with LTTE and handing over 10 oil tanks from Trinco to India for 29 years without informing Chandrika. You are now very badly trapped in Ranils net. He like an octopus has netted you all round. You have no escape. Your own trusted friends like Rajita, Champaka and many others could change their colours at any time. What is the guarantee that they will not betray you the same way they did to MR? They are so untrustworthy and ambitious. People have no permanent friends: they have only permanent interests.

Being a frustrated and vengeful man with no Sinhala Buddhist values and who has never got a popular mandate to rule this country, but armed only with the legacy of his uncle JR, who wanted to hand over this country on a platter to India as early as 1943 and who actually did it in 1987 through the JR-Rajiv Accord and the infamous 13th Amendment, Ranil will play hell with the full support of UK, USA, Norway, India and all other anti-Sinhala and anti-Buddhist countries of the so-called International Community, to destroy this country and the Sinhala nation along with Buddhism, though his friend Malwatta Prelate cannot understand it.

2 Forget the past and reconcile with Mahinda Rajapaksa in the name of the Country, Nation, the Sambuddha Sasana and the SLFP and ask him to form a new interim Government under you with your blessings until 2020 and appoint a person who can command the majority in the Opposition as the legitimate Leader of the Opposition in Parliament for the democratic process to function legitimately within the Parliament. I can assure you that you will be much safer with MR as PM than with Ranil.  He will not harm you as he loves the SLFP than you do.

As I have no authority as a citizen, either  Constitutional, Conventional, religious or social to warn you over this imminent danger, therefore I opt to advice you all in good faith  as a man who loves his country, nation and the Sasanaya  than his own life to give up your vengeance against MR and reconcile as he is the only person who could be called the Man of the Hour’ as he has already demonstrated and  been accepted by the people of this country as the Man who won the LTTE war and brought about an unprecedented infra-structure development Programme in this country covering the entire Island and who has already gone down in the annals of history of this country as a great statesman of the 21st century Sri Lanka, whether you like it or not, who liberated the country from LTTE band once again brought it under one parasol, like the ancient warrior Sinahla Kings did. So no one can erase him from the pages of Mahavamsa. It is now history.  You have to accept it.

If you continue with this UNP contract and stick to it, your so-called opportunist SLFP faction will not get even 5 seats from the whole Island at a general election. You will get humiliated even before if you have the local Government elections. You also must remember that you won the Presidency last time not as the General Secretary of the SLFP but purely as a UNP nominee of the UNP, though you were labeled as the Common Candidate. All you polled were the UNP, Tamil, Muslim and JVP votes.  You mark it you will see your real strength only after future poll.

It is in this backdrop I am making this fervent appeal to you Mr President in the name of our holy Trinity ‘The Rata, Deya and Samaya because I personally prefer you to Ranil as the President as a former SLFPer in this country, the heritage of the Sinhala Buddhist nation.

3 Reduce the Cabinet at least to 30 immediately as stipulated by the 19th Amendment and re-classify portfolios on a meaningful and functional basis, grouping allied subjects together For Eg Ministry Agriculture, irrigation and Lands and not like Higher Education and High Ways or Samaja Subhasadana saha Samaja Balagenviime Amatyansaya as if all other Ministries are doing nothing for social welfare. I personally prefer a still thinner Cabinet of 15 under the present economic situation in the country.

4 Take immediate steps to bring down the sky rocketing cost of living, to relieve people and enable the suffering masses to keep their heads above water.

5 Immediately stop the criminal sellout of Trico Oil Tanks and Harbour to India and Hambantota to China by Ranil Wikramasinha on terms the Government has agreed. Also reverse the 2002 Ranil’s deal with the IOC and return the Tanks and distribution of petroleum and allied fuel to the CPC

6 Take immediate steps to abolish the JR/Rajiv Accord of 1987 and the 13th Amendment together with the Huniyama called Provincial Councils that have completely disorganized and destabilized the District administration in this country, burdened the nation with a gang of parasitic third grade politicians and   impoverished the country in trillions during the past 30 years.

7 Stop entering in to any International, whether bilateral, tripartite or otherwise including ETCA with India without first getting the approval of the Parliament

8  Immediately stop the duty free permit system to all politicians, selected Officials or any other and also all extravagant payments to politicians (it will save billions for you to meet Government bills)

9 Ban all ethnic and religious Parties like TNA, Muslim Congress and encourage  them to join the National Parties

10  Immediately take all steps to arrest invasion and colonization of this Sinhala Buddhist Land especially in the North and East by illicit immigrant Tamils from South India and Muslim Jihadist illicit immigrants from some Arab countries and repatriate them to countries from where they have come within three months from now (you need to have a full survey of land in these districts illegally occupied by these illicit immigrants.)

11 Rescind the Pension system to all politicians and their personal staff

12 Immediately stop all actions on the proposed new Constitution aimed at dividing the country on the so-called devolution of power and reconciliation

13 If anyone is sincerely interested in reconciliation with the native Sinhalese who constitute 75 % of the total population, whether they are Tamil, Muslim or any other ask them to learn the language of the land that is Sinhala and embrace Buddhism, take Sinhala names and get integrated with the sons of the soils as it was done right throughout history. This is the only way you can achieve sustainable reconciliation in this country. This was how it was done from Vijatya to the end of the Kandyan period. The best example is the present day Salagama and Karave people in the SW coastal belt who had come from Kerala and other parts of South India in Medieval times. Today they are better Sinhalese Buddhists than even some of the Mahanayakas of this country. If they could have volunteered or compelled to do so under Royal direction why can’t the present day South Indians who were brought here by Colonial powers as slaves to work on their farms and plantations and Muslims some of whom  had already taken even Sinhala ge -names like Vidanelage and Mudiyanselage do the same thing if they want to live in somebody else’s country. The so-called fake Tamil diaspora can live where they are at present as they are already citizens of those countries

This was and it is the custom and practice all over the world. For example President Putting and Australian PM have clearly said that all those who want to live there has to learn the language of the natives (that is Russian and English) and live as Russians and Australians only. Those who cannot were asked to go back to their own countries and they cannot live in either Russia or Australia. Even President Trump has said the same thing. That is reality. Either you agree or disagree. Those who disagree will certainly have to leave to their loved countries without asking for EELAM and Jehadian lands on this soil of ours.

Why can’t our leaders also say this openly and clearly to these minority trouble makers just as Putting, Trump and the Australian PM have done. This is how our ancient Kings too did.  All of them loved and love their Motherlands. But none of our leaders do. They only love votes, power and wealth for themselves. This is the tragedy on our land.

If it cannot be done, then resign and go home so that a true Sinhala Buddhist leader who will emerge like the proverbial phoenix from ashes from among the masses will definitely do that.

I am no soothsayer like the one who cried  Beware of ides of March”  but I would like you to take my sincere advice seriously and request you to discard all advices of Chandrika, the well-known destroyer of Bandaranayaka policies, for your own good. She is only an assorted lump of meat, neither fish, chicken beef, Polk or nor lamb.

14 Hold the local Government election delayed by you by two years immediately and allow democracy to come back and let people solve their simple problems like water, garbage, roads etc

15 Immediately create a Ministry of Buddhasasana directly under you and assume the role of its custodian as the Kings of the yore did it.

And finally (For the time being)

16 Create a supreme Advisory Council of 15 advisors as given below.

1The Mahanayaka Theras of the Three Nikayas

Asgiriya, Malwatta  Ramanna and Amaarapura                                   4

2 Nayaka Theras of Kalyani and Rohana Sects Dambulla and               3

3 Two erudite monks nominated by the 7 Mahanayaka Theras             2

4 Three representative from Hindu, Catholic and Islam                          3

5The chief Justice                                                                                   1

6 President of the Uttara Mantarana Sabha                                            1

7Head of the Public Service (Sec to Treasury and M/Finance)                   1

 Powers and Functions of this Council will be

1Advising the Government on all matters pertaining to State and National policy, Foreign Policy, Agreements and treaties with foreign countries and appointments to key posts both at Home and abroad

2The Government must obtain the consent and approval of this Council for all matters pertaining to above matters

This will serve as a strong check and balance mechanism against arbitrary action by the government and always provide a guarantee to national interest

If you do this you will go down in the history of this nation as the modern as the Diyasena Kumaraya whom Totagamuve Rahula Predicted as the one who will save this country, the Sinhala Nation and the Sambuddha Sasana. On the other hand if you strict to your present clumsy agenda you will be either assassinated or deposed by the very people who made you President on Jan 8^th 2015.

The choice is entirely your’s.?

Chandre Dharmawardana, Ottawa, Canada

What caught my eye regarding the  Mangala” budget were the headiness claiming that it is an eco-green  budget. On reading more about it, one can only say in Colombo English, Aiyoo!  See”, i.e.,  Alas ! Look (at this scam)”. But the Aiyoo-see” can also be written as IOC, the Indian Oil Company! The IOC and its impact on Sri Lanka is a good iconic symbol for what the budget really stands for, while it masquerades as a green budget” !

The budget is green in its homage to the US dollar,  also called Green” after the greenbacks of the American civil  war. The budget actually promises to bring in all the horrors of unregulated third-world industrialism, pollution and poverty as seen in weak  countries colonized and cannibalized by multinationals while a few individuals become extremely rich. Pathetically, the budget even gets the technology behind the little bit of ecology” it attempts to impose completely wrong,  in promising to tax cell-phone towers and limiting the internet. This is probably driven by the unsubstantiated claims of modern-day Luddites that cell-phone radiation and Wi-Fi  can cause brain cancer!

An even better bit of green advice from the minster’s mouth is to drink beer instead of pop soda. The minster has said nothing about the need to import (and eat) three times the usual amount of Genetically modified US flour (abhorred by the Greens”) than in previous years.  The flour is needed to meet the total failure of harvests due to a drought whose effect has been made much worse after the short-sighted policies on fertilizers and herbicides.  The most popular, most effective and least toxic herbicide, known as glyphosate, has been banned by the Ayatollahs and their acolytes, who have rallied from Athuraliya to take over agriculture and even  the health department, with false claims that glyphosate causes kidney disease.

Of course, the environmental issues of Sri Lanka needs to be fixed very soon, before it passes beyond no return and turn into a canker of a  Calcutta. Sri Lanka  is a country where mounds of garbage rot and periodically  explode due to the build up of methane. The density of particulate matter in the streets and homes is some 2000 times the maximum advocated by the WHO. Coal-fired power stations are still being planned with manipulation of  contracts to get the biggest commissions, while diesel is burnt to produce power.  Leaded gasoline is still allowed in the country and widely used in small two-stroke farm equipment.  Lead comes  also from road markings and gray-paint  anticorrosives. Mercury is emitted from the combustion of premium gasoline, and diesel vehicles exhaust arsenic among other things.  Nickel,  Cadmium and Zn are  emitted from the constant abrasion of tire rubber. The incessant  wear of asphalt roads  release toxic nickel, vanadium and other stuff!  These sources of toxins far over-weigh the minute amounts of toxins (parts per million) found in modern fertilizers. Scientists have documented these in great detail. The minister, a past master of modern political ecology, having turned from blue to green,  has perhaps decided to solve” road pollution by periodically importing duty-free electric cars that the MPs can sell to the public in the black market. Surely, President Trump will applaud the Green finance Minister’s ecological acumen and issue him a very Green Card. The constitution can be changed to allow dual citizens to become MPs and rob the people, while Singaporens can rob even central banks.

Or is this electric-car stuff  just a ploy to let all the MPs, tired of their BMWs and Benz cars,  get the new highly touted high-end Tesla electric car worth over a million dollars  each?

But let us come back to the IOC which is the icon of the Ayioo-See”  budget. The IOC  petrol” that is sold even in the top-tier Colombo filling stations are adulterated with kerosene to different extents. The composition of petrol” in remote areas may stump even a seasoned analytical chemist. The IOC may ship substandard but passable petroleum due to deals within deals at the source, in India. But more significantly, the IOC represents the hegemony of a foreign power over the sovereignty of Sri Lanka, and the crass consequences of an Indian corporation controlling not only the shipment of Gasoline, but also its local distribution. The Budget opens the door to the ready entry of not just IOC, but every manner of robber baron and syndicated mafia that can sell their wares under the radar or launder their ill-gotten money. The more they are, the more avenues for commissions for the local partner”. What a boondoggle of a budget! Many will soon live in free”  penthouses.

The Hon. Minster says Mr. Speaker …The country needs to shift away from being more protectionist and inward-oriented. Sri Lanka’s border measures need to see a complete revamp through well-targeted and time-bound trade reforms promoting growth. Our over dependence on non-tradable drivers challenges growth in the coming decade”. This should warm the hearts of the CEOs of Wallmarts, Arab or Chinese conglomerates, sweatshops and multinationals. It fits into Ranil W’s vision of a bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka within the proposed Economic and Technical Cooperation agreement (ECTA)”.  Then Sri Lanka’s 22 million will be subsumed into a one-billion demographic with a ready supply of cheap labour and millions of unemployed “clerks”. Clive’s East-India company is being resurrected in modern Sri Lanka.

Going even beyond JRJ’s Reaganite  economics, Managla attempts to do the same complete abdication that he did with Foreign Policy where Pablo de Greiffs ,  Zeid al-Husseins, and Atul Keshaps can legitimately come to Sri Lanka to set the framework for judging, devolving, dissolving  and auctioning the country. When is Jared Kushner due in Sri Lanka? Or can he just order Sri Lanka  online via the Mangala portal of  Amazon.com?

Meanwhile, opening up all boarders via the budget goes parallel with  the closing  of borders between the so-called traditional homeland” of the Tamils and the rest of the country. This exercise of devolution”  is demanded only by pro-Eelam ultra-conservative castiest  Tamil” leaders who traditionally live in Karuvakkaadu (Kurunduwatte or Colombo 7),  and dared not even enter their homelands” during the decades when a de facto Eelam existed, while also being their political proxy!

The Northern Chief Minister” has even called for racial purity in marriage, surely to be imposed  under the radar  once power is devolved into their hands. After all, according to a report  by Ahilan Kadirgamar,  even the unwritten Caste distinctions continue to thrive in the post-LTTE homeland”.  But the devolution of power is just from Diyawanna to Karuvakaddu! Since the TNA leaders vote with the government,  helped to elect the president, and run a pretend opposition while supporting the government, it is clear that they get what they want, the big-money Maharajas get what they want,  the multinationals get what they want, while the general public is given  green ecological medicine replete with  beer (if they can afford it) instead of cream soda”, and  electric cars instead of three-wheelers!

However, as the Prime Minster explained, most MPs do not know treasury Bonds from James Bond. But they know that the Aya Vaeya Lekhanaya” can always be superseded by a supplementary rush” estimate for  new comfort  allowances or for new vehicles for the MPs who will vote YES” in unison.

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි

උබලගේ ආණ්ඩුව, ආපු දවසේ ඉදන් කතා කරන්නේ ජාතික සංහිදියාව ගැන. හරියට මේ රටේ ඉන්න 70%ක්වූ සිංහල මිනිස්සු අනිත් එවුන්ට එලව එළවා පහර දෙනවා වගේ, බලපල්ලා උබලගේ ආණ්ඩුව මේ රටේ සිංහල,හා දෙමල මිනිස්සුන්ට එළව එළවා පහර දෙන නිර්ලජ්ජිත ආකාරය. උබලාගේ මහා ලොකු අයවැය, මේ රටේ ජාතිවාදය හා ජනතාව හිතා මතාම බෙදා බින්න කරන ආකාරය බලපල්ලා!

188. මුස්ලිම් අවතැන්වුවන්, නැවත පදිංචි කිරීම, නිවාස හා යටිතල පහසුකම් සැපයීම, වෙනුවෙන් රුපියල් මිලියන 2500ක් කර්මාන්ත හා වාණිජ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශයට ලබාදීම තුලින් උබ්ලාඅ බලාපොරොත්තුවන්නේ කුමන ආකාරයේ සන්හිදියාවකද?

ලැජ්ජයි මහත්තයෝ ලැජ්ජයි. හිරිකිතයි මිනිහෝ හිරිකිතයි. උබලාමේ එක ජාතියකට වෙනම සලකන බව අයවැයෙන් පෙන්නන්නේ වැරදිලා නොවෙයි. දැන දැනමයි. උබලගේ ඉලක්කය ජාතික සංහිදියාව නොවෙයි. මේ රටතුල තව මහා ලේ ගංගාවක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමයි.මුස්ලිම් ජනතාවට එරෙහිව, මහා ජාතියේ හා දෙමල ජනතාවගේ වෛරය ගොඩනංවා මහා ජාතික ව්‍යසනයකට අර අදින මේ අයවැය පිළිකුලෙන් යුතුව අපි හෙලා දකිමු.

70%ක්වූ සිංහල ජනතාවගේද 15% වූ දෙමල ජනතාවගේද මුදල් වලින් බදු අයකොට මුස්ලිම් ජනතාවට නම්කොට වෙනකොට විශේෂිතව පළාත් වෙනකොට යටිතල පහසුකම් සපයාදීමට උබලාට අවසරදුන්නේ කවුද?

දැන් උබල කියන ඒ මුස්ලිම් මිනිස්සු පදිංචිකළ ප්‍රදේශවල පදිංච්යට සිංහල හා දෙමල මිනිසුන්ට පදිංචි විය නොහැකිද?

ඇයි මේ විදියේ තුට්ටු දෙකේ ජාතිවාදී මර උගුල් අටවන්නේ?

මේ උබල කරන්නේ, විල්පත්තුව තව තව විනාශ කිරීමට දෙන අවසරයක් නොවෙයිද?

පුළුවන්නම උමලා ජාතියට හඩනගා කියපල්ලා, ඔය කොයි මුස්ලිම් වරුන්ටද අවතැන්වුවායයි කියමින් වෙනම පළාත් නිර්මාණය කරන්නේ කියලා?

අපි චෝදනා කරනවා මේ උබලා නිර්මාණය කරන්නේ, මෙරට අවත්න්වූ මුස්ලිම්වරුන්ට ලබාදෙන පසුකමක් නොව විදේශීය රටවල අවතැන්ව්ය් මුස්ලිම්වරුන්ට නිර්මාණය කරන ගම්මාන බවට. මෙරට අවතැන්වූ මුස්ලිම්වරුන්ට මේ රටේ ඕනෑම තැනක ජීවත්වෙන්න අවසර තියෙනවා. ඔවුන් සිංහල මිනිසුන් තුලින් ගොඩනැංවී ඇති නිසා. ඔවුන්ට වෙනම මුස්ලිම් පළාත් අවශ්‍ය නැහැ.

සිංහල හො දෙමල භාෂාවන් කතාකිරීමට බැරි විදේශීය රටවල ත්‍රස්තවාදී කටයුතුවල නිරතව සිටි අන්තවාදීන්ට අද යනෙන මන් නැතිව සිටින තත්වයක් තුල උබල විදේශීය ඒජන්තයින් සමග එකතුව මේ රට උන්ගේ කෙළිබිමක් බවට පත් කරන්න අපේ සල්ලිවලින්ම විදේශීය ත්‍රස්තමුස්ලිමුන් සදහා වෙනම පළාත් නිර්මාණය කරන බව අපේ චෝදනාවයි.

මෙරට මුස්ලිම් වරුන්ට නිවස හා යටිතල පහුකම් සපයන්න කර්මාන්ත හා වාණිජ අමාත්‍යාංශයට මුදල් වෙන්කළේ ඇයි?

මුස්ලිම්වරුන් පදිංචිකරවීම කර්මන්තයක්ද? එක වාණිජ කටයුතක්ද?
තක්කඩි පලකයිනේ ඔය ජඩ වැඩේ නවතාපල්ලා නවතපල්ලා!

මේ රටේ සියලුම ජනතාව අවතැන්ව ඇත. ඔවුන් සිංහලද දෙමළද මුස්ලිම්ද යනුවෙන් වර්ග නොකරප්ල්ලා! සැමට එකසේ සලකපල්ල! එකිනෙකා තුල වෛරයේ බිජ නොකරපල්ලා! එසේ කිරම වාණිජ හා කර්මාන්ත කටයුත්තක් සේ සලකා කටයුතු නොකරපල්ලා! මිනිසුන්ට නිදහසේ සහාජිවනයෙන් ජීවත්වීමට ඉඩදියල්ලා!

රටේ අනිකුත් ජනතාවනි, ඉවසපල්ලා! ඉවසපල්ලා! මෙවැනි පාහර කටයුතු නිර්ලජ්ජිතව පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ට්ඨුලින්ම සිදුවෙන ආකාරය දැක දැක ඉවසපල්ලා! සිංහල, දෙමල, මුස්ලිම් මිනිසුනේ මේ යටි උගුල්වකට නුබලා අසුනොවෙල්ලා! සමගිවෙල්ලා මුන්ව පලවා හැරීමට සැරසෙයල්ලා! වහ වහාම සැරසෙයල්ලා! ජාතික සමගියට ජයම ඉල්ලා සටන්කරල්ලා!

වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති

හඳ ගැනයි ගම ගැනයි කිව්වා ම අපිට මතක්වෙන්නේ හඳගම. එතුමා අපේ චිත්‍රපට අධ්‍යක්‍ෂවරයෙක්නේ. ඒත් හඳේ බර ගැන කියද්දි මේ ලේඛකයාට මතක්වෙන්නේ වෙනත් චිත්‍රපට අධ්‍යක්‍ෂවරයෙකුත් එතුමා නිර්මාණය කරපු චිත්‍රපටයකුත්. ඒ චිත්‍රපට අධ්‍යක්‍ෂතුමා තමයි සත්‍යජිත් රායි. හ‍ඳේ බරට අදාළ ව එතුමා නිර්මාණය කරපු ඒ චිත්‍රපටය තමයි ජන අරණ්‍යය. ඉංග්‍රීසියෙන් ඒ චිත්‍රපටිය නම්කරලා තියෙන්නේ අතරමැදියා කියන තේරුම ලැබෙන විදිහට.

සෝම්නාත් කියන තරුණ හාදයා ගේ චරිතය වටා තමයි මේ චිත්‍රපටිය හදලා තියෙන්නේ. විභාග පාස්කරලා සමාජයට ආපු සෝම්නාත් රස්සාවක් හොයන්න පටන්ගන්නවා. එක එක තැන්වල සම්මුඛ පරීක්‍ෂණවලටත් යනවා. අන්තිමේ දී ඔහු සහභාගී වෙන සම්මුඛ පරීක්‍ෂණයේ දී ඔහුට උත්තර දෙන්න වෙන්නේ “හඳේ බර කීය ද?” කියන ප්‍රශ්නයට. ඊට පස්සේ සෝම්නාත් රස්සා හොයාගෙන යන වැඩේ අත අරිනවා. බිෂුදා කියලා මැදිවියේ මනුස්සයෙක් ඔහුට මුණගැහෙනවා. ඉතින් සෝම්නාත් මේ තලත්තෑනි මනුස්සයා ගේ උපදෙස් පිළිපැදලා අතරමැදියෙක් බවට පත්වෙනවා. දවසෙන් දවස ඒ වැඩේ ඉගෙනගන්න ඔහු අන්තිමේ දී මහා වංචාකාර දූෂිත පුද්ගලයෙක් බවට පත්වෙනවා.

සෝම්නාත්ට බැරිවුනාට අපේ ඉස්කෝලවලට ගිය අයට නම් පුළුවන් මෙ ලොව ඉඳන් එ ලොව අතගාන මේ වගේ ප්‍රශ්නවලට උත්තරදෙන්න. බුර්කිනා ෆාසෝ කියන රටේ තියෙන තෙනකෝරෝ කන්දේ උස, කැෂ්පියන් මුහුදේ ජල ධාරිතාව, අසර්බයිජානයේ ව්‍යවහාර මුදල්වලට කියන නම, ඉරාන – ඉරාක යුද්ධයේ දී මියගිය සාමාන්‍ය වැසියන් ගණන, සෙනසුරු ග්‍රහයා ගේ වායුගෝලයේ තියෙන හීලියම් ප්‍රතිශතය වගේ දෙයක් ගැන වුනත් අහලා බලන්න. අපේ විභාගවල දී බෙදන සාමාන්‍ය දැනීම ප්‍රශ්නපත්‍රවලත් මේ වගේ දේවල් අහනවා. ඉතින් දැන් අපේ ළමයි සාමාන්‍ය දැනීම පවා පාඩම්කරන්න පෙළැඹිලා. ඒ වෙනුවෙන් ටියුෂන්වලට යන අයගෙත් අඩුවක් නෑ.

ඉස්කෝලවල විෂය නිර්දේශයට වුනත් මේ විදිහේ ඈත ඈත රටවල්වල, ලෝකවල තියෙන දේවල් ඇතුළත් කරලා තියෙනවා. මේ විදිහට බාහිර දේවල් ඉගෙනගන්න එකේ වැරැද්දක් නෑ. අපි ළිං මැඩියෝ වගේ එක තැනකට කොටුවෙලා ඉන්න ඕන නෑ. හැබැයි ඒ එක්ක ම අපිට අපේ අහළ පහළ ගැනත් යමක් ඉගෙනගන්න පුළුවන් නම් කොච්චර හොඳ ද?

ඒත් අපේ ගම් ගැන කියලා දෙන එක ම එක පාඩමක්වත් අපිට උගන්නන පොත්වල නෑ. ඇමේසන් වනාන්තරේ ඉන්න ගෝත්‍රික පිරිසක ගේ සමාජ සම්ප්‍රදායයන් ගැන කියලා දෙන අතර ම තමන් ගේ ගමේ සිද්දවෙන්නේ මොනවා ද කියලා හොයලා බලන්න ළමයින් ව පොළඹවන්න බැරි ඇයි? ඒත් අද අපේ ළමයි ගමේ මායිමවත් දන්නේ නෑ. ගමේ ඉතිහාසය මොකක්ද කියලා දන්නේ නෑ. ගමේ ඉන්න මිනිස්සු ගැන දන්නේ නෑ. ගමේ තියෙන සම්පත් ගැන දන්නේ නෑ. ගමේ තියෙන ප්‍රශ්න ගැන හෙවිල්ලක්, ඉගැන්නිල්ලක් නෑ. ඒ ප්‍රශ්න විසඳගන්න පුළුවන් කොහොමද කියලා කෙරෙන සාකච්ඡාවක් නෑ.

රටේ ලෝකයේ සිද්දවෙන දේවල් ගැන කියලා දෙන අතර ම ඇයි අපිට බැරි අපේ ළමයින්ට ගම ගැනත් කියලා දෙන්න? දැන් පරිගණක ශිල්පය ගම් මට්ටම දක්වා ම පැතිරිලා තියෙන හින්දා මේ දේවල් ගැන කියන පොත් පත් ගම් මට්ටමින් වුනත් පළ කරගන්න පුළුවන්. වෙබ් අඩවි වුනත් හදාගන්න පුළුවන්. එක එක වයස් මට්ටමට ගැලපෙන විදිහට පවා පොත් ලියන්න පුළුවන්. මේ දේවල් කියලා දෙන්න, හොයලා බලන්න උදව්කරන්න වෙනත් සන්නිවේදන ක්‍රම පවා යොදාගන්න පුළුවන්. ගමේ වාර්ෂික ව සංවිධානය කරන අවුරුදු උත්සව වගේ අවස්ථාවලටත් මේ දේවල් ගැන දැනුම සම්බන්ධ කරන්න පුළුවන්.

අකුරු තියෙන පොත් වගේ ම අකුරු නැති පොතුත් තියෙනවා. අපි සමාජය ගැන බොහෝ දේවල් ඉගෙනගන්නේ අකුරු නැති පොත්වලින්. අපේ රටේ අතදරුවෝ ඇරෙන්න හැම මනුස්සයෙක් ම අඩුවක් නැතුව කුණුහරුප දන්නවා. අපි ඒවා ඉගෙනගෙන තියෙන්නේ පොත් කියවලා නෙවෙයි. අධ්‍යාපනය විධිමත් විදිහටත් අවිධිමත් විදිහටත් ලබාදෙන්න පුළුවන්. හැබැයි අවිධිමත් විදිහට උගන්නනවා කියන්නේ මිනිස්සුන්ට ඉබාගාතේ යන්න සලස්වනවා කියන එකට නෙවෙයි. පොත්වල නැති දේ, පොත්වලින් කියන්න බැරි දේ වෙනත් විදිවලින් සන්නිවේදනය කරන කටයුත්ත හොඳින් හිතලා මතලා පිළිවෙළකට සංවිධානය කරන්න ඕන. ළමයාට ඒ දැනුම සන්නිවේදනය වෙන්නේ විධිමත් ආකාරවලින් පංති කාමරවල දී නොවෙන්න පුළුවන්. ඒත් ඒ විදිහට සන්නිවේදනය කරන්න ඕන දැනුම මොකක්ද කියලා අඳුරගෙන ඒවා සන්නිවේදනය කරන ක්‍රම හදන එක වැඩිහිටියන් ගේ වැඩක්.

ගමට අදාළ දැනුම ඇතුළත්කරලා පොත් ලියන වැඩේ ජාතික අධ්‍යාපන ආයතනය වගේ තැන්වල වැඩකරන අයට කරන්න බෑ. ඒක ගමේ මිනිස්සු ම කරගන්න ඕන වැඩක්. ඒ වැඩේ අවශ්‍යතාව පෙන්නලා දීලා ඒකට ඕනකරන දැනුම ලබාදෙන එකයි ඉගෙනගෙන උඩට ගිය අය කරන්න ඕන. ඒ විදිහට ලියැවෙන පොත්පත් සුදුසු විදිහට සංස්කරණය කරලා, පිටු සැලසුම්කරලා දෙනවා වගේ වැඩවලට බාහිර අයට වුනත් දායකවෙන්න පුළුවන්. හැබැයි අපි කරන්න ඕන මේ විදිහට පොත පත් ලියන වැඩේ විතරක් නෙවෙයි කියන එක නම් අමතකකරන්න හොඳ නෑ. ගම්වල සංවිධානය කරන සංස්කෘතික උත්සව, ඉදිකරන ස්මාරක, ගම්වල මාර්ගවලට බස් නැවතුම් වගේ තැන්වලට යොදන නම් හරහාත් මේ වැඩේ කරන්න පුළුවන්.

චීනයේ හැම බස් නැවතුම්පොලකට ම නමක් තියෙනවා. මේ නම් දැමිල්ල ඒ ඒ තැන්වලට අදාළ විවිධ කරුණු කාරණා පදනම් කරගෙන කෙරිච්ච එකක්. මේ වැඩේ කරලා තියෙන්නේ ඒ ඒ ප්‍රදේශ පාලනයකරන ප්‍රාදේශීය ආණ්ඩුවලින්. ඉතින් සිතියම් සකස්කරගන්න වැඩේ, පාරක් තොටක් හොයාගන්න වැඩේ, ප්‍රවාහන සේවා විධිමත් විදිහට පවත්වාගෙන යන වැඩේ වගේ කටයුතු සෑහෙන ප්‍රමාණයක් හරි පහසුවෙන් කරගන්න මේ හින්දා පුළුවන් වෙලා තියෙනවා. මේ වැඩවලට අදාළ පරිගණක මෘදුකාංග, ජංගම දුරකථන නියැලුම් හදාගන්න එකත් ඒ හින්දා ම ලේසිවෙලා. ඒත් අපි තාමත් බස් එකේ යද්දි කියන්නේ කන්ද උඩ හෝල්ට් එකේ බහිනවා,” කන්ද පල්ලමේ බහිනවා” වගේ කතා. ඊට වඩා කොච්චර හොඳ ද ඒ ඒ තැන්වලට, ගම්වලට අදාළ දැනුමක් සංනිවේදනය වෙන විදිහට නම් හදලා ඒ නම්වලින් බස් නැවතුම් හඳුන්වන්න පුළුවන් නම්. ඉතින් ගම්වලට අදාළ සමහර දැනුම බෙදන මාර්ගයක් විදිහට එ් වැඩෙත් කරන්න පුළුවන්.

මෙයට පෙර ලිපියෙන් කියපු විදිහට ගමට අදාළ සංඛ්‍යාලේඛන වාර්තා සකස් කරගැනීම ගමේ ම සභාවකින් කෙරෙද්දි ඒකත් ගමට ම අදාළ දැනුමක් බවට පත්වෙනවා. එහෙම වුනා ම ඒ දැනුම ප්‍රයෝජනවත් වෙන්නේ කොළඹ ඉඳලා ගමට, රටට සැලසුම් හදන මහත්තුරුන්ට නෝනලාට විතරක් නෙවෙයි. ඒ දැනුම ගමේ ම අයටත් ප්‍රයෝජනයට ගන්න පුළුවන් වෙනවා. බාලදක්‍ෂ ව්‍යාපාරයට සම්බන්ධ වැඩට යොමුකරනවා වගේ ම යම් යම් ප්‍රාථමික මට්ටමේ සමීක්‍ෂණ, සංගණන කටයුතු කරන්නත් ළමයින් ව යොදවන්න පුළුවන්. ඒ වගේ වැඩවලිනුත් ළමයින්ට පුළුවන් ගම ගැන ඉගෙනගන්න.

අනිත් වැදගත් ම කාරණය තමයි ගම්වල තියෙන ප්‍රශ්න ගැන ළමයින්ට උගන්නන එක. දැන් කුරුණෑගල පැත්තේ, අනුරාධපුරය පැත්තේ හුඟක් ගම් වතුර නැතුව වේලෙන්න පටන් ඇරන්. බොන්න වතුර ටිකක් හොයාගන්න එක පවා ඒ ගම්වල මිනිස්සුන්ට අමාරු වැඩක්. වැස්සත් පොළොවට වැටෙන වතුර ටික නිකම් ම මුහුදට ගලාගෙන යනවා. වැව් බැඳි රාජ්‍යය කියලා මහ උජාරුවෙන් කියපු පළාතකට මෙහෙම වුනේ කොහොම ද? අපේ මුතුත්මිත්තෝ හදලා තිබුණු වැව් නැත්තට ම නැතිවුනේ කොහොම ද? මිනිස්සුන්ට බොන්න, ආහාර පිසින්න, නාන්න, රෙදි හොදගන්න, වගාවක් කරගන්න, සතෙක්ට සීපාවෙක්ට ජීවත්වෙන්න, ගහකට වැළකට පණගහලා නැගී හිටින්න ඕන වතුර ටික දැන් සපයාගන්නේ කොහොම ද? මෙන්න මේ වගේ ගැටලු ගැනත් හිතන්න, ඒවාට විසඳුම් හොයන වැඩේට මනස යොමුකරවන්න ළමයින් ව පුරුදුකරන්න පුළුවන්.

ඒත් අද අපේ අධ්‍යාපන ක්‍රමයට පුළුවන්කමක් නෑ මේ උවමනා එපාකම්වලට උත්තර හොයලා දෙන්න. නයිල් ග‍ඟේ දිග ගැන කියලා දෙන්න ගුරුවරු හිටියාට ගමේ තියෙන ඇල කදුරු ගැන කියලා දෙන්න කවුරුවත් නෑ. අස්වාන් වේල්ලේ දිග පළල කියලා දෙන්න ගුරුවරු හිටියාට ගමේ වැව් බැම්ම ගැන කියලා දෙන්න කවුරුවත් නෑ. ඇමේසන් වනාන්තරේ දිග පළල කියලා දෙන්න ගුරුවරු හිටියාට ගමේ – එහෙම නැතිනම් ගම මායිමේ; තියෙන කැලෑ ගැන කියලා දෙන්න කවුරුවත් නෑ. ඩොල්පින් ගැන, හිම වලස්සු ගැන කියලා දුන්නාට ගමේ හැදෙන සත්තු ගැන, කුරුල්ලෝ ගැන කියාදීමක් නෑ. බංග්ලාදේශයේ ජන ඝනත්වය ගැන ඉගැන්නුවාට තමන් ගේ ගමේ මිනිස්සු කී දෙනෙක් ඉන්නවා ද කියලා අපේ ළමයි දන්නේ නෑ!

අපේ ළමයින්ට ඉර, හඳ, ග්‍රහ තාරකා ගැන කියලාදෙන්න ඕන බව ඇත්ත. ඉලෙක්ට්‍රෝන, ප්‍රෝටෝන, න්‍යුට්‍රෝන ගැන කියලාදෙන්න ඕන බවත් ඇත්ත. ඒත් උන්ගෙන් යම් ප්‍රමාණයකට හරි ගම ගැන කියලා දෙන්න ඕන කියන එකත් අපි අමතකකරන්න හොඳ නෑ. අපේ මිනිස්සු වැඩි හරියක් අදටත් ජීවත්වෙන්නේ ගම්වල. ඒ මිනිස්සු ඔක්කොම නගරවලට දක්කාගෙන ඇවිල්ලා රට දියුණුකරන්න පුළුවන් කියලා හිතන අය අපි අතර නෑ. ඒත් කෝකටත් හරියන තෛලයක් වගේ හැමෝට ම එක විදිහට එක ම අධ්‍යාපනයක් ලබාදෙන්න කරන උත්සාහයේ වැරැද්ද ගැන හිතන්න අපි පෙළැඹෙන්නේ නෑ. මේ වැරැද්ද ගැන අපි දැන්වත් හිතන්න ඕන. එහෙම වුනොත් අපේ ළමයින්ට හඳ ගැන වගේ ම ගම ගැනත් කියලා දෙන අධ්‍යාපන ක්‍රමයක් හදාගන්න අපිට පුළුවන් වේවි.

වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති ෴

I am with the people – Mahinda

In 1069, King Vijayabahu I of Ceylon (then called Sinhale) asked King Anawrahta of Burma for aid against the Chola invaders from Tamil country. Anawrahta sent ships of supplies in aid of Buddhist Ceylon.

In 1071, King Vijayabahu who had defeated the Cholas asked King Anawrahta for scriptures and monks. The Chola invasions had left the original home of Theravada Buddhism with so few monks that it was hard to convene a chapter and make valid ordinations. King Anawrahta sent the monks and scriptures, and a white elephant as present for King Vijayabahu. The Burmese monks ordained or re-ordained the entire clergy of the island. In return, the Sinhalese King gave a replica of the Buddha Tooth of which Sri Lanka (then called Sinhale) was the proud possessor. The replica was then enshrined in the Lawkananda Pagoda in Pagan.

See

Htin Aung, Maung (1967). A History of Burma. New York and London: Cambridge University Press, Page 35

Kyaw Thet (1962). History of Burma (in Burmese). Yangon: Yangon University Press, pages 46–47

Harvey, G. E. (1925). History of Burma: From the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824. London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd, page 32

Source

Anawrahta
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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

Statue of Anawrahta

Statue of Anawrahta in front of the Defense Service Academy of Myanmar

The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Geneva

Secretary General of the United National Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Dr. Mikhisa Kituyi has assured the Minister of Science, Technology and Research Susil Premajayantha that the UNCTAD stands ready to assist with Sri Lanka’s Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Review (STIP) and to explore modalities of technical assistance and a strategy for mobilizing the funding required.

This assurance was given by the UNCTAD SG, following consultations Minister Premajayantha had in Geneva last week with Senior Officials of the UNCTAD.

During his meetings, the Minister noted that consistent with the SDGs set by the UN, Sri Lanka was working with the relevant Ministries, Institutions, private sector and civil societies in order to achieve targets set by 2030. He emphasized the need to explore avenues to strengthen relations between UNCTAD and the Government of Sri Lanka to promote Science, Technology and Innovation for SDG achievement in Sri Lanka and to assess a policy review on Science, Technology and Innovation in Sri Lanka.

Presenting Innovating Sri Lanka”, the three year action plan on Science, Technology and Innovation in Sri Lanka, the Minister introduced the emerging technologies that Sri Lanka is currently working on and has succeeded such as Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Genomics, Immunotherapy, Enzyme Manufacturing, Biopharma, Robotics, Mechatronics, Artificial Intelligence and Space Technology. He also shared Sri Lanka’s best practices, in particular the success story of the Nanotechnology Laboratory (SLINTEC), which was initially capitalized by the Government funds, but where the private sector is successfully running its operations. The Minister said Sri Lanka is planning to follow similar approaches for other technologies as well. The Minister said the private sector in Sri Lanka is closely working with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Research. The Minister invited the UNCTAD Secretary General and officials to participate in the ‘Science and Technology for Society Forum’ scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in September 2018.

Noting the considerable potential for cooperation within the Geneva based UN and other organizations to support capacity building particularly in developing countries, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha detailed the Programmes of Action with a bearing on the 2030 Development, Sri Lanka had entered into with the WIPO, CERN, UNITAR, IOM and were being negotiated with the ITU and WMO. It was proposed that Sri Lanka embark on a similar initiative with the UNCTAD in the Science, Technology and Innovation, that could compliment the current POAs.

Director of Technology and Logistics Division of UNCTAD, Mrs. Shamika Sirimanne said her organization was encouraged by the science and technological advancements taking place in Sri Lanka and saw many of them as suitable to adopt as best practices in other developing countries. Given that at present UNCTAD’s main focus is on SDGs, it was agreed to make an assessment on how these could be linked with the SDGs. She further informed that the UNCTAD will prioritize the areas that they could support and also share relevant experiences from elsewhere with Sri Lanka. Mrs. Sirimanne said she was encouraged by Sri Lanka’s experience in leveraging the support of Geneva based UN and other organization, and looked forward to collaborating in continuing the discussion relating to the SDGs and Science, Technology and Innovation.

Ms. Dong Wu, Chief of Policy Review Section, Science, Technology and ICT Branch of UNCTAD, Mr. Angel Gonzalez, and the Ambassador and officials from the Permanent Mission in Geneva were associated with the Minister.

The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Geneva

11 November 2017

Mahinda Gunasekera Toronto, Canada

The LTTE Rump remaining overseas and their fellow separatist travellers in the proxy political party, i.e. the TNA, functioning as the official opposition in Sri Lanka’s parliament are ever so busy with their ‘Circus of Lies’ to demonize Sri Lanka citing various bogus unsubstantiated reports prepared by biased media personnel and those linked to the UN with agendas against Sri Lanka based on motives of personal enrichment and links to the Tamil ethnic cause of a sovereign separate state which they lack despite the Tamils of Tamilnadu, in South India and others around the globe numbering nearly 100 million.   One such is Yasmin Sooka who receives financial benefits from the George Soros Foundation ( a close associate of Navi Pillai, a South African Tamil who was a former head of the UNHRC, whose community raised funds for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam- LTTE, and even ran military training camps for South African Tamil recruits to fight alongside the LTTE in Sri Lanka), Frances Harrison – former BBC correspondent who is a misguided supporter of the Tamils, Britain’s Channel 4, which produced fabricated videos, whose director, Stuart Cosgrove and his Tamil wife Shirani Sabaratnam working for the same TV Channel admitted to their entering the Tamil Tiger held territory in the Vanni to make propaganda videos supportive of the terrorist group and later deported from Sri Lanka. The huge sums of money held by the pro-LTTE organizations in the west and the rest of the global network by way of contributions made by Tamil supporters of their separatist cause, while the major portion has been raised through extortion of Tamil businessmen and others, plus monies raised through illicit drug and human smuggling, passport forgery, credit card,mortgage and insurance fraud, becomes a significant factor in their propaganda campaign to influence the media and INGO groups engaged in the HR industry. Video screened at the House of Commons in Ottawa could be accessed at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBNm2MBIsv4&feature=share .

The latest cry has been raised by 52 former Tamil Tiger fighters who had gained entry to the UK and Europe with forged documents after the armed conflict in Sri Lanka was brought to an end on May 19, 2009 following the military defeat of the LTTE which refused to surrender but fought to the finish, claiming that they had been tortured in Sri Lanka with hot irons and burning cigarette stubs, and added to which stated that they had been subjected to degrading sexual abuse by military and police personnel. It is a well known fact that those entering foreign countries illegally for economic reasons tend to cook up tales to win the sympathy of the immigration authorities. It is therefore not surprising to have those involved with an internationally designated terror group such as the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) subjecting themselves to being tortured possibly even paying for the scarring of their bodies to make a case for asylum. One among them, a woman Tamil Tiger fighter named Nandani, who had herself burnt in several locations of her body with burning cigarette stubs to join her Tamil Tiger boy friend who had earlier moved to the UK, cooked up a similar story of torture in Sri Lanka but was exposed by her mother and sister living in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, stating that Nandani had run off to South India without their knowledge where she married her man and had herself smuggled into the UK where she succeeded in gaining asylum.

There were nearly 12,000 former Tamil Tiger fighters who probably knew only the art of using of weapons and having had the experience in killing others,  who surrendered to the Sri Lanka Army at the conclusion of hostilities, at which point they underwent a rehabilitation program of about an year’s duration during which time they were trained in different life skills such as carpentry, electrical work, plumbing, computers, etc., which skills would enable them to fend for themselves on their release, never complained of torture or sexual abuse. Those who now claim in the UK of having been tortured and subjected to sexual abuse, and having had to pay large sums of money to have them released from custody, did not in a single instance file a case in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka under the Fundamental Rights Chapter and other existing protective laws or even report same to the Human Rights Council for investigation, as they could easily have had the services of a competent lawyer from the Tamil community itself or any other community to take up their case with the authorities. It is something the British authorities should investigate thoroughly as it will be a small price to pay for a member of a terrorist group to pay to gain admission to the country, thereby endangering the British public.

Mahinda Gunasekera

Toronto, Canada

WATCH THIS VIDEO.

WHO IS BEHIND IT ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBNm2MBIsv4&feature=share

Nava Wilson LLP Press Conference – Parliament Press Gallery – Ottawa, ON – Nov 8 2017

Courtesy The Island

November 11, 2017, 8:05 pm
The banning of the Lanka e News website indicates a new development in the internal politics of the yahapalana coalition government. Lanka e News is foremost among the website that worked to bring Maithripala Sirisena into power. What distinguished Lanka e News from the other websites that also were on the offensive against the Rajapaksa government was that after the yahapalana government came into power it functioned almost like the party paper of the UNP whereas the other websites while being pro-yahapalana, may not have espoused the specific UNP cause in the same manner. Given the role that LeN played to get Maithripala Sirisena the chosen candidate of the UNP elected President, for Sirisena to order the banning of LeN is equivalent to Ranil Wickremesinghe banning the Sunday Leader after becoming Prime Minister in December 2001. LeN was not by any stretch of imagination a website that practiced ethical journalism. They never hesitated to personally vilify anyone who failed to toe their line.

This was a website that was plugging a political line. If a judge failed to deliver a judgement that was not to the liking of LeN, they would respond by talking about the sexual preferences of that judge. Mixing fact and fiction was also not a problem for LeN. On a positive note what could be said about LeN was that it displayed great energy. This was one website that was always updated daily sometimes several times a day with lengthy pieces that take a lot of work. While ethics were wanting or totally absent, the energy was certainly there and what LeN offered was a sustained attack on its enemies day after day, week after week and year after year. This was the factor which made LeN a valuable ally for the UNP. Given the fact that LeN has vilified everybody, there will be many people on both sides of the political divide exulting at this website being banned.

However it should be noted that LeN was the only yahapalana stakeholder that consistently stood to get the executive presidency abolished just as Sirisena pledged at the 2015 presidential elections. All other yahapalana stakeholders including the UNP itself retreated in the face of Sirisena’s refusal to relinquish his position. The NGOs that supported the yahapalana project changed their tune after the presidential elections and brought the prosecution of the Rajapaksas to the fore as the main project instead of the abolition of the executive presidency. Their attitude was that while the previous dictator was bad, the dictator they had made President was OK. Just last week, at a meeting held to commemorate Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha thera, the abolition of the executive presidency was only mentioned in passing while the failure to prosecute the Rajapaksas for alleged corruption was the main topic of discussion as if that was the main pledge given at the last presidential elections.

LeN was refreshingly free of that kind of dishonesty and while of course making the usual demands that the Rajapaksas should be put in jail, LeN also consistently stood for the abolition of the executive presidency and was the yahapalana outfit that most often reminded Sirisena what he had pledged to do. What now seems to have happened to LeN is what happened earlier to parliamentarian Kumara Welgama. Some time ago, Welgama had attended an SLFP central committee meeting where speaker after speaker had spoken against the abolition of the executive presidency. Some fawning parliamentarians had said that the president himself wanted to abolish the executive president but that they were against any such move. Welgama alone had said that he agrees with the president and that it should be abolished. Thereafter he had not been invited to any meetings of the SLFP central committee! That seems to be what has happened to LeN as well. They seem to have reminded Sirisena of his main election pledge once too often.

Another reason for the banning of LeN is said to be the revelations it had been publishing about the purchase of a Russian warship by the government and the commissions that someone was going to collect. It was LeN that revealed that Navy commander Travis Sinniah was going to be sent on retirement because he had opposed the purchase of an old warship from Russia. The question raised by LeN was why did Sri Lanka need an old warship when there was no war? One would think that what Sri Lanka needed were smaller craft for coast guard duties. LeN obviously had touched a raw nerve with these revelations. It was also surprising that Sinniah who had been recently appointed Navy Commander had been given his marching orders so soon by a government that was anxiously promoting reconciliation between the ethnic groups. Sinniah was the first Tamil officer in a long while to head a branch of the armed forces and to send him on retirement so soon after his appointment leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Sinniah is a Naval officer who had distinguished himself in the war against terrorism. He was one of the senior-most officers in the long range operation launched by the navy to destroy LTTE supply ships in international waters off Australia in 2007. His loyalty to the country while he was in service was unquestioned. After the war however he decided to retire voluntarily from the Navy and take up a job with the American Embassy in Colombo. A vacancy for a position that had to be filled by a local recruit with an armed forces background had opened up at the American Embassy and the then American Ambassdor Patricia Butenis had handpicked Sinniah for the job and she had even asked the then Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to release Sinniah for the job. Had he remained in the navy, Sinniah would have been in line to be made Navy Commander in the natural course of things. But his voluntary retirement, and subsequent employment in the American Embassy disqualified him from being appointed navy commander. After having worked at the American Embassy in Colombo Sinniah migrated to Australia. When the government changed he was reinstated in the navy on the grounds that the previous government had hounded him out of the navy – which certainly was not the case.

If he wanted to come back to serve out his remaining period, perhaps there would have been nothing wrong in being taken back into the navy if he had not been an employee of the American Embassy. However since he had in fact worked at the American Embassy, he should never have been reinstated in the navy. An officer of Sinniah’s seniority would have to hold important positions in the navy. In fact after being reinstated, Sinniah’s first posting was as the Eastern Commander – one of the most important postings in the navy. He was in due course made navy commander and has the distinction of having occupied that position for the shortest time in the history of the Sri Lanka Navy. The question is, if he was only going to be commander of the navy for just a matter of weeks, why was he given that appointment at all? While it is true that he became navy commander with just weeks to go for retirement, once he was appointed to that post, one would think that he should have been allowed to hold that position for a few months at least, before being sent on retirement.

The manner in which this whole disreputable episode played out seems to indicate that LeN was right about the purchase of the ancient Russian warship. In any event, the banning of LeN has brought the feud between the UNP and Sirisena out into the open in a way that no one thought possible. LeN had done so much to bring Sirisena into power that no one thought it would be possible for Sirisena to turn on LeN despite any criticism they may aim at him. According to Colombo Telegraph, LeN had been getting a revenue of around Rs. 600,000 a month in advertising fees from the Lotteries Board and Sri Lanka Telecom which has also been stopped by Sirisena. We said last week that the UNP was far better off under the Rajapaksas than they are under Sirisena and we can now say that LeN was also far better off under the Rajapaksas than they are under Sirisena. The latter is a creation of LeN (and others as well) whereas the Rajapaksas were at least the enemy. It hurts more when your own creature turns against you than when the enemy turns on you.

The bond commission took backstage to the petrol crisis last week. But now with things limping back to normal and the final gazette notification necessary to kick off the local government elections having been issued, the undeclared war within the ruling coalition is due to recommence with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe scheduled to appear before the bond commission. Given the contents of Sirisena’s speech at the Ven. Sobitha commemoration meeting last week, it appears that the SLFP group is seeking to do the utmost damage to the UNP before the local government elections probably in the hope that a section of the yahapalana vote especially the floating vote will gravitate towards them.

මේක අසාර්ථක අයවැය ගමනක්

Views of politicos on the budget (English)

C.A.Chandraprema Courtesy The Island

November 11, 2017, 8:04 pm

The third yahapalana budget was presented in parliament and there does not seem to be anything positive that can be said about it. It was the AFP Correspondent in this country who pointed out at the press briefing held afterwards by the Minister of Finance that the reduction in the tax for electric vehicles cannot be implemented on the ground because it applies only to new electric cars which are apparently not exported to Sri Lanka by their manufacturers because this country lacks the infrastructure to maintain them.  From the looks of it, the Minister and all the officials at that press conference seemed unaware of this matter and they promised to look into it. Whether this was genuine ignorance or another sleight of hand which this government is well known for, is a moot question. The present writer tends rather to the latter because increasing the revenue from the vehicle import tax was one of the cornerstones of this budget.

What the general public expected was a budget that provides people with some relief in view of the skyrocketing cost of living. Admittedly there were some pre-budget reductions in the price of some essentials although that would not amount to much in the big picture. What the people have got is a budget that will increase the financial burden on them even further. The most important part of the budget is its summary which appeared as Annexure IV in the budget speech. This table gives us a fair idea of how things will stand for the general public in the coming year. According to this document, the government intends increasing total government revenue from an estimated Rs. 1,997 billion in 2017 to Rs. 2,326 billion in 2018 – an year on year increase of Rs. 329 billion. Tax revenue is expected to increase from Rs. 1,749 billion in 2017 to Rs. 2,034 in 2018 an increase of Rs. 285 billion. During the previous government an increase of tax revenue by anything more than 100 billion would have been considered abnormal, excessive and punitive. When tax revenue estimates are increased, that means that somebody is going to have to fork out the money.

Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera

In that respect, this is a budget designed to milk the people dry.  The way the government is hoping to increase tax revenue is by increasing revenue from income tax from Rs. 308 billion in 2017 to Rs. 375 billion in 2018 an increase of Rs. 67 billion. Under the previous government that would be an amount by which the government would hope to increase total tax revenue year on year. However, the present government is seeking to increase revenue from income tax alone by that amount. It can be assumed thereby that the provisions of the new Inland Revenue Act are to be brought into full play next year in order to meet this target.

Apart from that huge increase in revenue from income tax, the government also hopes to increase revenue from indirect taxes on goods and services from an estimated Rs. 1,054 billion in 2017 to Rs.1,239 billion in 2018 – an increase of Rs. 185 billion. As in previous years, the perennial favourites are to provide the increased revenue from goods and services taxes. The first are of course the import duties payable on cars and motor vehicles which is expected to provide additional revenue of Rs. 25 billion, the widening of the VAT net is to rake in another 25 billion, the tax on mobile phone relay towers and on SMS advertising is to bring another Rs. 15 billion. The duty revision on liquor is expected to bring in Rs. 10 billion. The only new item among these trusted perennials is the proposed tax of 20 cents for every Rs. 1000 called the ‘debt repayment levy’ or the Medamulana tax which is expected to bring in Rs. 20 billion.

The taxes on sweetened beverages and raw material used for ethanol production, the excise duty on plastic resin, the carbon tax on motor vehicles, and the revision of government fees & charges are expected to bring in a further Rs 20 billion. Even if all these targets are met, the total increase projected will amount to only Rs. 110 billion with the remaining Rs. 75 billion having to come from the natural increase in revenue as the economy grows. However the economy has not been growing in such a manner as to enable an increase in revenue from the goods and services tax revenue equivalent to Rs. 75 billion. One gets the impression that these over-ambitious revenue targets have been given just to keep the IMF happy. The projected increase of tax revenue in 2018 in fact is equivalent to the increase (Rs. 285 billion) in tax revenue that took place in 2017 after the VAT hike of 2016. Total tax revenue increased from Rs. 1,464 billion in 2016 to an estimated Rs.  1,749 in 2017 following the wrenching increase in VAT and expansion of the VAT net that took place in 2016.

It can be seen that what is expected is a replication of that performance. This time however it won’t be so much the VAT revision as the new Inland Revenue Act that is supposed to provide the government with the revenue.  2018 is going to be another year of expropriation in revenue terms. The first such year was 2015, when the newly elected yahapalana government increased tax revenue from Rs. 1,050 billion in 2014 to Rs. 1,355 billion in 2015 an increase of over Rs. 300 billion.  This was however achieved with a slew of punitive exactions bordering of extortion like the super gains tax which was supposed to provide Rs. 50 billion, and the targeted levies on various companies in the telecommunications and alcohol production spheres. The increase of Rs. 285 billion in 2017 was achieved mainly by the increase in the VAT rate and expansion of its applicability. In both instances, the major leaps in revenue collection were achieved by also increasing perennial favourites like liquor taxes and telecommunications levies.

Next year, what we are most likely to see is the government working the new Inland Revenue Act for all they are worth, while exploiting the perennial favourites as usual. The signs therefore are that 2018 is going to cause as much if not more ‘tax stress’ as in 2016. VAT at least was an indirect tax. But in 2018, we are going to see the government actually dipping directly into people’s pockets to keep themselves going. Direct taxes always cause much more angst than indirect taxes.

Lt. Colonel (Retd) Athula Lankadeva RWP, RSP, USP, psc, MSc. Courtesy The Island

November 11, 2017, 6:35 pm

The Sunday Times of 29 Oct carried an article referring to Lord Naseby on demanding to remove the war crime tag from Sri Lanka. Lord Naseby researched classified documents to find that UN has fudged the casualty figure of 40,000 civilians killed during the last phase of warin Sri Lanka whereas it was a guess by the UN Panel of Experts (POE) better known as Darusman Commission. According to the classified documents filed by then British Defence Attaché in Colombo Lt. Col Anton Gash, the civilian killed from Feb 1 – 26 April 2009 is 6432. The figure could be higher with the civilian deaths occurred within next 3 weeks. However, the total civilian deaths are included civilians killed due to collateral damage during combat operations by the Armed Forces against LTTE, civilians killed intentionally by the LTTE by design and deaths of LTTE combatants dressed in civilian clothes.

Therefore, it is important to critically analyse UN POE report to find out the truth for the government to build on Lord Naseby’s revealing to counter UNHRC report.

UN POE Accepted That Civilians Were Killed By LTTE During Last Stage  of the War

The Executive Summary of the Darusman Report says that Around 330,000 persons were trapped in to an ever decreasing area, fleeing the shelling but kept hostage by the LTTE and Para 137 of the report says there could have been as many as 40,000 civilian deaths due to wide spread shelling by the government armed forces. I am not sure the source of 330,000 numbers and assume it should be the number of heads in Wanni Region for food requirement. If so the number includes LTTE cadreas well since Sri Lanka was the only country which fed terrorist while fighting them.

POE, Para 99 says that “from beginning in Feb, LTTE commenced a policy of shooting civilians who attempted to escape and to this end cadre took up positions where they could spot civilians who might try to breakout”. POE, Para 112 says that “Some LTTE cadre would let fleeing civilians through, but others opened fire on them with AK-47s, killing men, women and children alike. The IDPs who attempted escape desperately tried to run away and to reach Sri Lanka Army lines, carrying their children or luggage or dropping them in their panic. Some were killed on the spot. Some children and others were drowned in the lagoon. While it is not known precisely how many people died this way, the number was significant and rose as the armed conflict progressed” POE, Para 119 says “Some civilians tried to stage a mass breakout but were shot and shelled by the LTTE. Those who managed to escape were helped across by individual Army soldiers”.

Therefore, UN acknowledged that significant number of civilians were killed by LTTE.We can reasonably assumed that approximately 500 civilians were killed by LTTE. LTTE were holding civilians as a human shield and civilians wanted to escape to Army lines who helped them across the lagoon.

Authoritative Figures on Civilian Deaths

The following are civilian deaths figures given by authorised reports.

POE, Para 134 says that UN Country Team in a document which was never released publically estimated a total figure of 7,721 civilian killed from August 2008 up to 13 May 2009. The UN “Crisis Operation Group” which was formed to collect reliable information regarding civilian casualties took figures from Regional Directors of Health Services (RDHS) majority who were Tamil persons as the base line, Sri Lankan staff of UN who were deployed in Wanni again majority who were Tamil persons and NGOs deployed inside Vanni, the ICRC, religious authorities and other sources to cross check and verify the baseline. Therefore, the UN report should be 98% accurate.

The census department is run by professionals whose work can be evaluated and assessed by other professionals. Anyone disagree with the department numbers can conduct a technical evaluation by an expert on numbers and methods. Therefore, we can safely conclude that total deaths which includecivilians killed by LTTE, civilians killed due to Army artilleryand LTTE cadre killed dressed in civil clothing would count to 7,721(UN figure) or 7,934. (Dept of Census & Statistics) which helps to arrive at an average figure of 7,828.”Fatalities in terrorist violence in Sri Lanka 2002- 2015″ reports that 3,139 LTTE cadre were killed in 2009″(South-Asia-Terrorism-Portal, 2009). However, only 1,346 individual graves were identified by satellite imagery. Therefore, 1,793 (3,139 – 1,346) LTTE cadre who got killed may have posed as civilians.

Therefore, we can reached a reasonable conclusion that:

According to POE 290,000 have emerged from the conflict zone. My calculation varies by +0.3% only.

How Did POE Arrived at 40,000

POE, Para 133 explain the figure of 40,000; “Some have developed estimates based on the statistics of the injured and dead collected by the doctors. One estimate is that there were approximately 40,000 surgical procedures and 5,000amputations performed during the final phase. Depending on the ratio of injuries to deaths estimated at various times to be 1:2 or 1:3”

The ratio for Injuries to deaths is usually taken as 3:1 (and NOT 1:3 as assumed by POE). “The US casualties in Vietnam War was 153,303 injured and 58,209 killed”(Nese DeBruyne, 2015) in which the ratio is 3:1.

According to POE 290,000 have emerged from the conflict zone. The UN has arrived at the figure of 40,000 as civilians killed by subtracting the number emerged from estimated population in Wanni. (330,000 – 290,000 = 40,000).

Conclusion

The critical analysis of POE report shows that the civilians killed as a result of co-lateral damage is approximately 6,356 and not 40,000 as UN report fabricated. When an Army is fighting a war operating within civilian population and where civilians are killed it is a result incidental to the conduct of military operations. The New York Times in its 19 June publication says that the US led coalition air strikes have killed nearly 4,000 civilians in Syria. An average of 1,371 civilians killed per month in cross fire during the period of last 4 ½ months in a final stage of war is not a war crime.

Immediately following the May 2009 defeat of the LTTE, Germany led resolution at the UNHCR against Sri Lanka ultimately ended up with a counter resolution favourable to Sri Lanka commending the nation for eliminating terrorism. This resolution confirms that LTTE kept civilians as hostages against their will and that the Government liberated almost 300,000 citizens kept by the LTTE. Now it is up to the GOSL to build on Lord Naseby’s findings and to present with a force the matters in correct perspective to international community and save the dignity of Sri Lankan Armed Forces.

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

The Government Medical Officers Forum (GMOF) has accused Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera of deceiving the public in a bid to promote beer sales.

GMOF President Dr. Rukshan Bellana yesterday told The Island that they would soon request President Maithripala Sirisena not to allow anyone with vile aims to exploit the public. Dr. Bellana emphasized that there there was absolutely no basis for Minister Samaraweera’s claim that drinking beer was better than drinking sweetened soft drinks.

The GMOF has decided to take it up with President Sirisena following a meeting of its members on Saturday.

The GMOF spokesperson said that the yahapalana administration should be ashamed of an obvious project to promote beer by telling lies.

In response to a query raised by JVP MP Sunil Handunetti during the Minister Samaraweera’s speech in the second reading stage debate on Budget 2018 on Friday, the UNPer said: “In many countries, 80% of people who drink consume beer. Hard liquor consumers account for only a small percentage of drinkers. But, in our country it is the other way around. Around 84 percent of Sri Lankans who consume alcohol drank hard liquor. I do not see anything wrong with a person drinking beer. We have not imposed any tax on sugar. The tax is on the sugar content of the sweetened drinks”.

Dr. Bellana said they were certainly not worried about the government reducing the price of beer to encourage consumption. Responding to a query by The Island, Dr. Bellana said that if the yahapalana government policy was to promote beer it could do so without misleading the public. Dr. Bellana emphasized that contrary to Minister Samaraweera’s claim, sugar content in beer was high and the beer promotion could have disastrous impact on the population.

With approximately 20 per cent of the population suffering from diabetes and the health authorities struggling to contain the situation, beer promotion project could cause a serious health issue, Dr. Bellana said, warning of diabetes being doubled in 20 years.

The GMOF chief said that the country would become a laughing stock if an attempt was made to promote beer as a healthy drink.

The GMOF spokesperson said that drinking of hard liquor, beer as well as smoking shouldn’t be promoted by the government under any circumstances. According to him, alcohol consumption could never be reduced by promoting beer as the strategy could result in higher sales. It would be the responsibility of President Sirisena to take tangible measures to stop promoting beer sales on the basis it was healthier than sweetened soft drinks.

Dr. Bellana said that with vast majority of families struggling to make ends meet, it would be a crime to promote drinking and smoking. Referring to President Sirisena participating in a walk at the Galle Face on Sunday (Nov 12) to create awareness among the population, Dr. Bellana asserted that such exercises would be meaningless if his own government promoted beer sales in the guise of curbing sweetened soft drinks.

Dr. Bellana said that as the budget was the government’s policy statement, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration owed the public an explanation as regards controversial bid to promote beer.

K.K.S. Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Six weeks before S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike’s SLFP gained power, US President Eisenhower, in a speech stated…,
If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.” –Dwight D. Eisenhower,
March 6, 1956

Denying people local government elections for two and a half years was caused due to political expedience. The weakening of the UNP and SLFP unity and the rift between factions should end forthwith; it requires that the national unity be extended to cover the full length of term ending 2020. The SLFP and UNP are both preparing to slip back to their habitual positions as electoral opponents in the hunt for the other at any cost and dominate the power pushing the country back to its perilous state once again. Alienated and conflicting governance yields little or nothing for the nation. They need to work jointly and collectively as one unit, confer with and settle on together. Fighting elections as rivals and then coming together on governance is meaningless if not ridiculous.   
The long delay in holding the local government elections which are two and a half years overdue, can be attributed to the divisions within the SLFP. This will disadvantage the SLFP as against main rival the UNP. The cracks in the UNP-SLFP coalition are also leading to a lack of consistency in strategy and planning. It appears that the government is unable to step forward on the economic programme it has embarked on. President Sirisena appears not to have significant control over vital political pronouncements that the government was making including economy, foreign relations, sale/lease of national assets, and emerges to be in a state of being politically baffled. He laments that certain forces within the government are engaged in vilifying him for acting courageously on certain critical issues. It is obvious he is pointing a finger at powerful sections in the UNP. Instead of making public announcements, it would be more appropriate for him to summon the leader of the party and place all evidence of such defamatory tactics before him, rather than face counter accusations and comments like, ‘why is he not divulging the names of those who criticized him for appointing the commission to probe the CB bond issue?’, ‘is it an attempt to look more saintly than everybody else, or ‘don’t cry foul, you are supposed to put things in order.’

Fourth Place?

Why the fourth place and not the third? There is no fight for the third; it is a foregone conclusion that one of them would grab it effortlessly. Both the Maithri-led SLFP and the JVP are capable of winning the third in their strongholds without much effort; the real clash will be at places in the Southern and Western Provinces where the JVP usually score more than 6 to 8% votes at any election. In the JVP’s power pockets, the SLFP would secure the fourth and vice-versa.
At the January 8 Presidential election, Common Opposition candidate scored largely helped by the solid 37% UNP and 5% JVP plus 8-10% floating votes that went overwhelmingly to Swan. While Maithri scored heavily in the North-East and other minority concentrated constituents, which again are the traditional UNP or minority party votes and certainly not of SLFP. If all those votes were left out Maithri’s SLFP could muster a pathetic 1 to 2 percent of the total as the statistics reveal on the outcome of the two elections held in 2015 January and August: even that meagre percentage was the 10-12% SLFP vote that he was able to muster in the Polonnaruwa District 20,000 approximately along with a little support from [about 3000 votes] he collected from Gampaha electorate in which his birth place Yagoda is situated. The situation may have changed marginally over the past three years in favour of The President. Surely, after three years of presidency and consolidation of party leadership by him, but talking to grassroots level SLFPer, there is only an insignificant shift. The large majority of the SLFP supporters are ‘eagerly waiting for an opportunity to teach a lesson to some who sold the party to the opponents’. All the SLFP stalwarts that supported Sirisena for personal reasons lost at the August election; should they be brought back into parliament though officially permitted but in an unconvinced way? Such action and his virtual failure to perform determinedly have badly diluted his authority as a leader. Clearly, he has exposed himself as a person provoked by political convenience.
A comparison of the voting patterns during the two polls held in 2015 is ample proof of the theory we have put forward in the above paragraph under –‘Fourth Place’
Rajitha Senaratne Formula the best for SLFP

The proud and prompt statements made by the two self-conceited General Secretaries of UPFA and SLFP in response to the trial-balloon message by Minister Senaratne is an unwise decision. Rajitha, is a veteran politician who possesses a proven ability, and had assessed the strengths and weaknesses of his party against JO’s stands in the area. He appears to be somewhat anxious over the chances and his thinking cannot be discarded as thrash. Minister Senaratne is a master strategist, shrewd political craftsman and tactician who can proudly claim to be fairly accurate in reading the pulse of the people.
His exemplary past record at forming alliances, new parties, changing parties, instigating cross over at the right moment, to remain with the winning side irrespective of who wins or who loses, is no secret. At a media briefing held recently, he, for the first time revealed that he did not follow Maithripala Sirisena but it was he who followed him when he prompted that historic cross-over exactly three years ago in November 2014. On the other hand, there is a strong hunger among the grass roots in the SLFP for a reconciliation between the two factions led by the President and ex-President. They think a united SLFP could easily defeat the UNP. If an accord is reached, they will be forced to drop corruption charges against the Rajapaksas and their cohorts.

“At the January 8 Presidential election, Common Opposition candidate scored largely helped by the solid 37% UNP and 5% JVP plus 8-10% floating votes that went overwhelmingly to Swan”

Gain power, retain power and not to lose it

The problems this nation faces today boils down to the persistent pursuit by the leaders and factions to gain power, retain power and not to lose it at any cost. The political culture has changed drastically; today, the success story is the ‘survival of the fittest’, ability to change and fit in to the circumstances, rather than attempting to change the circumstances.
The UNP, at the last general election was competent to come off as the superior of the two in a nation where a feasible third force is not in sight. Whether battle against fraud and corruption would be a certainty or just a set of slogans used in an election and ignored immediately, remains to be seen.
Warming up to fight it out?

If the two factions of the SLFP unite, the President will face a severe problem in taking policy decisions on controversial issues like action against corrupt men in the SLFP faction led by MR.
The President and the Prime Minister who have been together since Jan 8, 2015, are now warming up to fight it out between their two parties and the proposed third-party of the Rajapaksas.
If the UNP were to secure the majority of local government bodies, and the SLFP comes 3rd or 4th; can they sit together in the Cabinet and continue as a unity government for another two years? Worse what are they going to do at the Provincial Council elections that are due in the same year?
There was a common urge of the nation for a change at the end of 2014, not just a change of government but a regime change, a transformation in the ways and style of governance – the ways of governance, both at the national, local and provincial levels. The two leaders have a herculean task to perform as a united force more than to engage in election rivalry.
Let me quote from the farewell address of first President of the USA to conclude the article:-
Political parties may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.” …GEORGE WASHINGTON — September 19, 1796.

Mahinda begins campaign in Anuradhapura (English)

Dilrook Kannangara

Racism has a new abode in Sri Lanka – the budget. Mangala’s 2018 budget is all about taxing Sinhalese to pay Tamils. Budget proposes to ease the burden on war affected people” but it only proposes benefits for Tamils! Sinhalese and Muslims were also affected by the war but they get nothing. Tamils in Jaffna continue to occupy land of evicted Sinhalese since 1977 and evicted Muslims since 1990. This is new apartheid. Sinhala villagers in the North and the East are living under trying conditions.  They have been totally neglected. In addition tens of thousands of disabled Sinhala soldiers and their families continue to suffer the effects of war. They get no houses unlike Tamil war affected people including Tamil terrorists.

Considering the fact that almost all beer manufacturers in the island are Tamil owned businesses, the budget proposes to reduce the price of beer while increasing the price of soft drinks!

Further the government hopes to change the Paddy Lands Act and the Rent Act to drive out Sinhala people from towns and strengthen Tamil colonization of townships and cities outside the north and east. Tamils have already turned the north Tamil-only. No one else is allowed to live or do business in the entire northern province. Parts of Colombo is at risk of following this apartheid structure.

Car import tax changes are also done with a view to benefit Tamils at the expense of Sinhalese. Sri Lanka as a developing nation can ill-afford electric and hybrid vehicles. Eventual beneficiaries are Indian motor manufacturers and their local dealers.

This is the opposite of reconciliation. This is racism with dire consequences in time to come.

People outside the north and east must stop paying tax as it is a fraud on them. Instead they should keep that money with them to face the impending 2018 recession.

by Gagani Weerakoon Courtesy Ceylon Today

Clad in a carefully chosen blue and green tie, Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera entered the Chamber at 3.05p.m. on Thursday (9) to present Budget 2018, which was themed, ‘Blue-Green Budget; the Launch of Enterprise Sri Lanka’. “It is ‘Blue’ because we plan to integrate the full economic potential of ocean related activities in formulating the overall growth strategy. It is ‘Green’ because we build our economy on an environmentally sustainable development strategy. The ‘Enterprise Sri Lanka’ will reawaken the entrepreneurial spirit, coming from our ancient forefathers, enabling Sri Lanka to be a vibrant trading hub and encouraging all Sri Lankans to become co-owners of a country enriched,” he said.

Even though many expected the Government to come up with an ‘election budget’, the maiden Budget of Minister Samaraweera had focused mainly on policy implementations.

While many view the Budget 2018 as set of proposals that promises nothing major to anyone, yet implementing taxes for almost everything, there are some carefully drafted policy measures, which any other government would have otherwise not paid much attention to. For instance, it had paid attention to the trap of micro credit entities, where rural people, especially those in the North and the East, fall prey to.

Indebtedness in the rural sector targeted by exploitative microfinance schemes has become a serious issue. The small industries in the Northern Province have also not been able to revive due to both the lack of working capital and equity.

The Government will support, by way of the provision of grants and the introduction of a low interest loan scheme, to facilitate those indebted and to move out the debt trap through co-operative rural banks and the thrift and credit co-operative societies. This will be implemented on a pilot basis in the Northern and the North Central Provinces and Rs 1,000 million has been allocated in this regard.
The Budget 2018 was presented as it completed almost a week to the worst ever petrol crisis the country faced. A group of 19 Joint Opposition (JO) Parliamentarians, led by Kurunegala District MP and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa cycled to Parliament in protest against the crisis created by the petrol shortage.

The JO members, who started the bullock cart and cycle parade from the Polduwa Junction ahead of the Budget 2018, were however blocked by the Welikada Police and Parliament Police personnel at the main entrance at Jayanthipura.
Later, those who were on the bicycles were allowed to enter while the bullock-carts were not permitted.

Minutes before the Minister of Finance walked into the Chamber to present the Budget-2018 proposals, JO Leader MP Dinesh Gunawardena, raising a point of order, requested Speaker Karu Jayasuriya’s intervention in ensuring the privileges of the members.
“We are entitled to free access to the Parliament. But today personnel of the Welikada and Parliament Police obstructed us. We want you to investigate this,” he added.

Speaker Jayasuriya said that he was already informed about this by Rajapaksa earlier and would call for a full report on the incident.
Taking a dig at the whole incident, Finance Minister Samaraweera, during his budget speech, where he spoke about encouraging the use of green vehicles said “I think the JO clique has already opted to greener transportation. Unfortunately, their security personnel had to cycle back to where the luxury vehicles are parked.”

Decisive period ahead
While Budget 2018 plans on launching Enterprise Sri Lanka, which the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna has already dubbed as ‘making Sri Lanka a private enterprise’ a real political shocker came from President Maithripala Sirisena on 8 November at the Ape Gama premises where the second death anniversary of Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera was held.

While noting there are many things that he cannot come out and say in public, President Sirisena did disclose that some Government members are using the media to attack him because he appointed a Commission to inquire into the Central Bank Bond issue.
Interestingly, Ape Gama at Battaramulla is also the place where President Sirisena- who was functioning at the time as the Health Minister of the President Mahinda Rajapaksa Government, gave the first signal that he will quit the Government.
On 21 November 2014, after handing over appointments to officials in the Health Ministry he said; ‘this may be my last state function’, amid widespread speculation that he might break ranks with the incumbent regime.

“Time solves a lot of things. This may be my last State function. People give power not to abuse it and make money. It’s given to serve the people. This power should never be abused. No one should be drunk with power,” he said.

Three years later, President Sirisena chose the same venue to spell out some of his major grievances. This was following Prof. Sarath Wijesooriya, who also played a major role in electing President Sirisena to power with other civil society activists in a hard hitting speech mentioned how after three years they are forced to get disillusioned with the high expectations of a dawning good governance.
“Some in the government blame me for appointing a Commission to inquire into the Central Bank misdeeds. These individuals are making a wrong analysis of me based on that. I am attacked by spending money on certain media institutions and by reserving pages in weekend newspapers. Some in the government are giving money to media entities operating from abroad to attack me. Why is this?… because, I appointed a Commission to look into the Central Bank matter. If Venerable Sobitha Thera was alive he would have approved of what I did. I did not appoint this Commission targeting anyone in the Government or targeting any MP or Minister,” he said.

President Sirisena also said that the people of this country know the situation regarding the Central Bank incident.
“At that time there was strong public opinion against the incident. There was a huge outcry irrespective of politics that there was a grave fraud that had taken place and asking for action to be taken on it and asking me to appoint a Presidential Commission. I did it.”
The Central Bank incident happened just three months after forming the government. Those responsible for this should be held responsible, he noted.

“The idea of a Common Candidate was among all of us since the first Presidential Election held in 1982. But no one was able to field a Common Candidate ever until 2015.

“It was because of the leadership and dedication of Ven. Sobitha Thera that the Common Candidate was able to win the Presidential Poll in 2015, bringing victory not only to him but to the concept as well. If and when we work for a Unity Government we all must be determined to dedicate ourselves to social justice, rule of the law and good governance. We also must not hesitate to punish any who are engaged in wrongdoings. No one can protest when action is taken against wrongdoers. Unfortunately, that is my main problem. My problem is action is not taken to punish wrongdoers. All members of the Cabinet are aware of what I have spoken in the Cabinet on these issues,” he added.

However, President Sirisena’s unexpected grouse seems to have provoked many in the UNP. While adding that he (Sirisena) never mentioned anything of the sort when they met him about two weeks ago, a group of UNP backbenchers are planning to seek an immediate appointment with the President to ‘get things sorted out’.

We need to know who these members of the government are who are responsible for throwing a spanner in the works, he hinted.
Informed sources said that President Sirisena has also indicated that he is contemplating requesting Prime Minister Wickremesinghe to step down from his post before facing the Presidential Commission of Inquiry.
According to them, the President would make the request in a bid to save the long prevailing ‘Mr Clean’ image of the Prime Minister and to set a precedent.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, who has already forwarded an affidavit providing answers to a questionnaire sent by the Commission, is expected to appear before the Commission on 20 November or a closer date.

The recent ‘cold relations’ developing between the President and the Prime Minister has however alerted many moderate politicians in Government and some reportedly have actually sought the intervention of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who is currently abroad.

According to sources, if President Sirisena is serious about his decision and yet would continue with the Unity Government, Finance Minister Samaraweera is having a good chance of being appointed as the Prime Minister. This however, will not be entertained by many SLFP seniors.

Meanwhile, a one-on-one meeting between President Sirisena and former President Rajapaksa has been scheduled to be held soon. The meeting has been scheduled as a result of continued dialogue between senior politicians from both camps reaching certain common ground on some issues. The two leaders will presumably not talk about working together for future
elections.

lanka C news

2018 අයවැය පාරිභෝගිකයා ගොනාට ඇන්දවූ අයවැයක් බව පාරිභෝගික අයිතීන් සුරැකීමේ ජාතික ව්‍යාපාරය පවසයි.

මේ බව සදහන් කරමින් එම සංවිධානය විසින් නිකුත් කර ඇති නිවේදනය මෙසේය.

2018 අයවැය පාරිභෝගිකයා ගොනාට ඇන්දවූ අයවැයක්.

2018 නොවැම්බර් 09 දින මුදල් අමාත්‍යවරයා විසින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද අයවැය තනිකරම පාරිභෝගිකයා ගොනාට ඇන්ද වූ අයවැයක් ලෙස නම් කල හැක. ඊට හේතුව නම් කිසිදු ප්‍රායෝගික දැනුමක් නොමැති මහපොලවේ පය නොගහපු පිරිසක් විසින් එම අවවැය ලේඛණය රචනා කර තිබීමයි. බැලූ බැල්මට ඉතා රසවත් රචනාවක් ලෙස එය පෙනී ගියත් එහි රචකයන් ද අවසානයේ පඔ ගාලක පැටලී ඇති බව අපගේ අදහසයි.

අප විසින් එසේ පැවසීමට හේතු දැක්වීමක් කරන අතර අප මෙහිදී 2018 අයවැය පිළිබදව කතා කරන්නේ පාරිභෝගිකයාගේ පාර්ශවයෙන් බවද සිහිගන්වමි.

2018 නොවැම්බර් මස 08 වන තමන් ඉදිරිපත් කරන අයවැය පිළිබදව ඉගියක් පළකරන මුදල් ඇමතිවරයා  ප්‍රකාශ කරන්නේ බඩගින්නේ ඉන්නා පිරිසට බිලී පිත්තක් දීම තම අදහස බවයි. එහෙත් අය වැය ඉදිරිපත් කල පසු අපට පෙනී යන්නේ මුදල් ඇමතිවරයා චීනයේ හා ඉන්දියාවේ ඇම ගිල ඇති බවයි. 2018 අයවැය පිළිබදව දහසක් බලාපොරොත්තු තබාගත් පාරිභෝගිකයින් වන සැම එම සුන්වූ බලාපොරොත්තු සමග තවදුරටත් ජීවත්වීමට සිදුව ඇත.

අයවැය යෝජනා

16 හරිත ප්‍රතිපත්තිය මාකටින් කිරීම පරස්පරය වන අතර එයින් රජයේ දවල් මිගෙල් රෑ දනියෙල් ප්‍රතිපත්තිය මනාව පිළිබූමු වේ

මෙම විදුලි කාර් වල බැටරිය නැවත ආරෝපණය කරන්නේ ඩීසල් හා ගල් අගුරැ බලාගාර වලින් ලබා දෙන විදුලි බලයෙනි. පරිසර හිතකාමී බලාගාර සෑදීම සදහා කිසිදු වැඩ පිළිවෙළක් නොමැති රටක විදුලි කාර්   ප්‍රවර්ධනය කල පමණින් පරිසර හිතකාමී  හා පරිසරයට ආදරේ කරන රජයක් යැයි පැවසීය විහිලුවකි.

කෙරවලපිටියේ තාප බලාගාරය වසර තුනකින් ස්භාවික ගෑස් බලාගාරයක්  සදහා පරිවර්තනය කලවුවද  අදාල සමාගම එසේ නොකර තිබියදී නැවතත් කෙළවර පිටියේ යෝජිත ස්භාවික ගෑස් බලාගාරයක් ඉදි කිරීමට එම සමාගමට ලබා දුන්නේ ඇයි ද? හා ස්භාවික ගෑස් බලාගාර ඉදිකිරීමට මෙම රජය කියා නොකරන්නේ ඇයිද? යන්න අප අසන අතර Energy World International  සමාගම සදහා ස්භාවික ගෑස් බලාගිරයක් ඉදිකිරීම සදහා අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලය අනුමැතිය දී තිබියදී එම බලාගාරය ඉදිකිරීම සදහා රජය අවශ්‍ය කටයුතු නොකරන්නේ ඇයිද? යන්න හා එහිදී රජයේ හරිත ප්‍රතිපත්තිය ඇත්තේ කොහෙද? යන්නද? අපි ප්‍රශ්ණ කරමු.

විදුලි කාර් සූරිය බලයෙන් ආරෝපණය කිරීම සදහා   ආරෝපණ මධ්‍යස්ථාන පිහිටුවීමට වෙන්කරන ලද මුදල  මුදල රැපියල් මිලියන 5300 කි එම ගින් විදුලි ආරෝපණ මධ්‍යස්ථාන කීයක් පිහිටුවිය හැකිද?

17  විදුලි කාර් සදහා බදු අඩු කිරීම අමූලික බොරැවක් වන අතර එහි කිසිදු පදනමක් නොමැත.

ලියාපදිංචි නොකළ වාහන යන්න සදහන් කිරීම වැරදිවන අතර එය ඉංගීසි සටහනෙහි දක්වා ඇත්තේ බෑන්ඩ් නිව් ලෙසය. මෙරටට ආනයනය කරන ලද සෑම වාහනයක්ම ලියා පදිංචි නොකල ඒවාය. ඇත්තේ බෑන්ඩ් නිව් එනම් භාවිතා නොකල වාහන හා රීකන්ඩිෂන් එනම්  රටවල භාවිතා කල වාහනය.

මෙහි හාස්‍යජනක බව නම් බෑන්ඩ් නිව් වාහනයක හා රීකන්ඩිෂන් වාහනයක බදු ප්‍රතිශතයේ වෙනස 100% කි. විශේෂයෙන්ම ලංකාවට වැඩිපුරම ආනයනය කරන්නේ 50 KW <x< 100 Kw විදුලි කාර් රථ  වන අතර ඒවා රීකන්ඩිෂන් වාහන වේ. බෑන්ඩ් නිව් වාහන ආනයනය කරන්නේ නැති තරම්ය.

විශේෂයෙන්ම චීනය හා ඉන්දියාවෙන් ආනයනය කරනු ලබන විදුලි වාහන රීකන්ඩිෂන් වන අතර ජපානයෙන් ආනයනය කරන වාහන බෑන්ඩ් නිව් වාහනය.

2018 වසරේදී ඉන්දියාවෙන් බෑන්ඩ් නිව් විදුලි කාර් ආනයනය කිරීමට මෙරට සමාගමක් කටයුතු කිරීම නිසා මෙසේ රීකන්ඩිෂන් වාහන බදු අඩු කර ඇතැයි යන සැකය අප තුළ පැනනගී.

අනෙක් අතට බෑන්ඩ් නිව් විදුලි කාර් රථයක් මිලදී ගැනීමේදී විශාල මුදලක් වෙනත් රටකට ගෙවීමට සිදුවන අතර රීකන්ඩිෂන් වාහනයක් ආනයනය කිරීමේදී ගෙවිය යුතු මුදල අඩුව තිබියදී මුදල් ඇමතිවරයා රීකන්ඩිෂන් වාහන ආනයනය ප්‍රවර්ධනය කරන්නේ මන්ද?

සිංහල පිටපතෙහි මෙම බදු මුදල නිෂ්පාදන බදු ලෙස හදුන්වා තිබෙන අතර ඉංගීසි පිටපතෙහි ඇත්තේ එය Excise බදු ලෙසය.

129 – යහපාලන රජයේ මතට තිත ප්‍රතිපත්තියට පයින් ගසමින් දේශපාලකයින්ගේ හෙංචයියලාට සුරාබදු බලපත් ලබා දීම සදහා කල යෝජනාවක් වන අතර සමස්ත මහජනතාව මෙම යෝජනාවට විරැද්ධවිය යුතුය.

283- බී ලූණු අර්තාපල් පරිප්පු කරවල හාල් මැස්සන් සහ එළවලුතෙල් ආනයන බදු අඩු කිරීම.

2018 අයවැය මගින් අත්‍යවශ්‍ය භාණ්ඩ පිළිබදව ඇති එකම යෝජනාව මෙය වන අතර එම භාණ්ඩ සදහා ආනයන බදු අඩු කල පමණින් විකිණිය යුතු මිල තීරණය කරන්නේ කවුද? ආනයන කරැවන්ට පමණක් ඉන් ලාභ ලැබිය හැකි නමුත් පාරිභෝගිකයාට ඉන් ලැබෙන වාසිය කුමක් ද යන්න අප ප්‍රශ්ණ කරමු. නැතහොත් එම භාණ්ඩ විකිණිය යුතු උපරිම මිල කීයද?  එම මිලට භාණ්ඩ අලෙවි නොකරන වෙළදුන්ට දඩුවම් දෙන්නේ කුමන් නීතිය යටතේදැයි අප මුදල් ඇමතිවරයාගෙන් අසමු.

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today

The precipitous petrol crisis in the country emerged, on 3 November, from rumours by word of mouth, while the line Minister and the Petroleum Development Resources Secretariat kept mum until the delinquency hit a crisis level, and the exasperated motorists started to go on a rampage. The Minister’s request to the public, ‘not to panic’ later, was akin to ‘shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted’.

Inferior petrol

The first official announcement indicated about a tanker full of inferior quality of petrol for IOC, having to be rejected. The petrol queues gradually extended, and people started to queue up for hours on end, when the Government announced to the public ‘not to panic’, stating 80 per cent of stocks of petrol was available, while the Indian Oil Company only controlled 20 per cent.

Fuel shortages take place, from time to time the world over, and if a single shipment of inferior quality of petrol was able to generate such a pandemonium in the country, it simply boils down to the fact that the Government does not have a cohesive policy!
There are ample examples of foreign governments coping up with such critical situations effectively. For instance, the UK Government managed to print out and issue books of coupons, through post offices, to the public, within 24 hours of a crisis involving a tanker driver strike, constraining the issuance of petrol to ‘x’ number of gallons per motorist.

Contrary to such measures, in Sri Lanka, the Government was exposed as being hopelessly inefficient, while the panicked, yet selfish motorists started to fill their tanks up to the brim level and took extra supplies too in cans, until a ban was imposed on issuing petrol into cans.

This, in turn, made the desperate motorist, who got stuck on the road, ‘out of the frying pan into the fire’ situation, having only two options left, that is, either to abandon the vehicle on the road and walk home or push the vehicle all the way to the nearest petrol station and join the miles long queue, without any assurance that he would be able to get petrol once he approached the forecourt! People have been queuing up in this manner, day after day, and to be advised when they reached the forecourt that all supplies had exhausted.

Hide and Seek

The game of hide and seek by the Government took place from 3 November to 8 November. The Government apologized to the public on 7 November, indicating, the crisis will continue until the end of the week”. However, the latest indications are that, this calamity is expected to end on 9 November, with the arrival of a tanker from Dubai carrying 40,000 metric tons. The million-dollar question that arises here is whether the citizens in this country have to depend all the time on the President to intervene personally, to iron out every miniscule dispute or problem?

There is no point in appointing Cabinet sub-committees to investigate once the damage is done. It is inevitable, therefore, for the citizenry to question, the purpose of having countless number of ministers, as puppets, and the public to spend millions on their upkeep out of direct and indirect taxes. By the same token, it is high time to suggest to the Yahapalanaya to at least forget the Yaha (moral) prefix from the Yahapalanaya and to at least concentrate on some Palanaya (governance) by eliminating the bickering and backbiting, by UNP and SLFP Ministers, with a view to get the country on track by eradicating nepotism and corruption, which are allowed to thrive shamelessly.

VIP Interference

During an interview on 7 November, with Malinda Seneviratne, writer and a political analyst, on News Line TV1, revelation of a VIP’s arrogant behaviour, at a Wariyapola petrol station came to light. A VIP’s vehicle had driven into the petrol station, with back up vehicles, assisted by the police. The ‘political thugs’ who were with the entourage, had thrown their weight about, ignoring the exasperated people in the queue for hours, and ordered pump attendants to fill the VIP’s limousine, while the Police looked on. A true citizen, happened to be Malinda’s friend, had observed this unjust incident, while he was stuck in the traffic jam. Immediately, he had stopped his car, walked straight up to the ‘political thugs’, while the VIP was hiding behind tinted glass shutters, and vociferously announced:

” What you are doing here is completely wrong. You can kill me on the spot here, but remember that the gun you are using is mine too, I pay for it, I pay for your salary, so your master’s pay and all his allowances. I pay for your boss’s vehicle and this petrol as well. I pay for your children’s education, I do not know who is inside the vehicle, but for the last 70 years, if others, like your boss inside the car, had done what they were supposed to have done, then we would not have queues for petrol like this today“!

Having said so, this brave citizen had got into his car and driven off, while the shocked audience, and the stunned and stupefied VIP and his goons, looked aghast. This is what the President should try and put a stop to! Who needs an entourage of vehicles, when there is no terrorist war anymore!

The type of citizenship, required in achieving people’s justifications, needs to be effective, particularly in Sri Lanka’s pathetic record. Therefore, masses need to develop courage, have commitment, and possess an individual sense of responsibility towards themselves, their families and broadly towards fellow citizens.

tilakfernando@gmail.com

 By K K S Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror