ජන්ද විමසීම හකුල ගන්නේ ජන්දෙ තියන්න ආණ්ඩුවට බැරි නිසා 

Dr Sudath Gunasekara 6.8.2017.

Now that the days of RK as F/Minister are numbered the President has to choose a new man acceptable to the people and to the world at large at this critical hour who can face the challenges ahead of this position in time to come.

After Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranayaka and Luxman Kadiragamar I cannot think of any other who had fit in well to the shoes of that much coveted position. Had Lalith Atulathmudali lived I would have definitely suggested his name for this place without any hesitation. Everybody knows how appalling the record of the field of Foreign Affairs had been in the recent two years under the last F/Minister. About the incumbent I want comment as he got in to serious trouble owing to his misdeeds in the M/Finance even before he could pix his alignments in the new place.

The position of foreign Minister in any country in contemporary world politics calls for the highest attainments. Almost all countries often appoint men of the highest attainments and caliber as their foreign Ministers. The only country I think that does not follow this rule is Sri Lanka. Very often F/Ministers succeed as Prime Ministers in their countries. I still remember Krishna Menon of India, though he did not succeed Nehru, in our student days. How versatile. Silver tongued and flamboyant he was both at home and abroad is still a living legend.

A Foreign Minister is the one who represents his country and its image and interests in other countries. To do so effectively he /she should be a person well versed in the history, culture and the problems and needs of his country. He should also be a person who will defend and protect the interests of his own country and stand for it to the end. For this he needs to be a patriot of the first order.

To achieve these ends he has to be a man of high stature and character in addition to very high academic attainments and charisma. The ability to address any forum at least in one world language and convince any intellectual crowd, and a distinguished record either in arts, science, law or any other, are some of the other qualifications that could be mentioned as pre requisites for this assignment.

In spite of not so visible colourful performance to his credit in the field of politics, I think the best person to hold this position at the present juncture among all others in the Cabinet is Minister Sarath Amunugama who is wasting his times as Minister Special Assignments at present with no assignment at all.

As a person who has worked very closely with him as a relatively junior colleague both at district and National level for three decades starting in late 1960s, I know about his special abilities and attainments as well as achievements as a brilliant and colourful young Civil Servant more that any. The best period we were together was when he was AGA and ADDL GA Kandy and I was DRO Udadumbara, Sarath at that time was a model of a people friendly Civil Servant

The fact that he also comes from a Sri Lankan traditional village background and happens to be a product of the Trinity College Kandy, which produced the best Foreign Minister Sri Lanka had ever produced, that is Luxman Kadiragama, in my view, makes him the best person, out of all Ministers in the present Cabinet, to fill this gap.

Therefore as a responsible citizen of this country, who yearn for the good of the motherland, I wish the President will make the correct choice at this crucial juncture so that, Sarath the brilliant ex-Civil Servant, with the able new Secretary Prasad, will clean up the Augean mess that is the Foreign Ministry at the moment, and he will also have an able, reliable and dependable   F/M who will never betray the country and will definitely deliver the goods.

Cerberus Says: 
August 6th, 2017 at 12:26 pm

On Jan 15, 2015, a plan that had been in the making for a long time was implemented with a cheated election and the election of Maithripala Sirisena as the President. As far as I can see these are the rudiments of the plan which was hatched by think tanks abroad since RW does not have the brains of a louse to govern or plan anything.

1. Former Colonizers wanted to get back their colonies, especially India which was the crown jewel during their heyday.

2. In order to get India, it was necessary to get Sri Lanka first. It had an added merit that we have one of the world’s deepest and best harbors in a strategic location on the shipping lanes from China to the West. Idea was to get Sri Lanka to replace Diego Garcia whose lease was expiring in 2020. Britain does not have a big enough Navy but they could lease it to the USA and get benefits from them.

3.Britain has no resources at all to survive as a nation. The only resource they have is their deep knowledge of their ex-colonies and how to benefit from this knowledge.

4. The plan called for an installation of a puppet government who will hand over the East and the North to the Tamils who have always been cooperative with the former Colonizers. This was achieved in the same manner as the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Libya etc., by use of Social Media to spew out lies about President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family. Once Sri Lanka is divided then U.K. will establish their links with the Tamils and displace the Sinhalese gradually. The rebellion in India in 1857 was brutally put down by the British and the British crown took over the governing from 1857. Tamils formed part of the British army, which fought against India.

5. India too has played a double game with Sri Lanka. We need to realize that they are our enemy. They have used the untouchables and other low caste people especially the Tamils as a group to infiltrate all the smaller neighbors and then take them over. They have done it in Sikkim and are now trying to do the same in Bhutan, Nepal and now Sri Lanka. The way I see it the Sinhalese have been subjected to genocide for 3000 years by Tamils and it is still going on. The last war was not against the Tamils but the Terrorist group funded and trained by India. These LTTE terrorists wiped out entire Sinhala villages in the East and all the Sinhalese and Muslims in the North were chased out or killed by LTTE. Is it not genocide also by Tamils of the Sinhalese? How about justice for them. There are 77 million Tamil Dalits only 12 miles away across the Palk straits and the Sinhalese are under constant threat from them. The Tamil Nadu politicians are constantly uttering anti-Sinhala rhetoric in India and trying to get India to invade Sri Lanka.

6. In order to install the puppet government, they had to first get rid of the Rajapaksa’s. What better way to do it than through the UNHRC by creating bogus war crimes charges against the Sri Lanka Army which fought so valiantly and with so much discipline. The Tamil diaspora provided the ammunition the West wanted to create war crimes charges with the most absurd numbers of Tamils killed. Even at the recent UNHRC hearing, there were two Tamil NGO’s who tossed out varying numbers with one person actually suggesting that 300,000 Tamils were killed by the Sri Lanka army.

7. Many Sinhalese have asked the TNA and other Tamil representatives to provide the names of those who were killed. No one has given any names at all. The UN, French and UK representatives were present at the final stages of the war and they all knew how the LTTE took 300,000 innocent civilians as a human shield who were rescued by Sri Lanka army personnel at a great cost their own selves. Why are these people so dishonest? The Sri Lanka Government representative Mangala Samaraweera co-sponsored the resolution brought by the USA without any question about the LTTE war crimes or the genocide of the Sinhalese by the Tamils.

8. The spineless puppets we have as a government is only interested in remaining in power with the backing of the West and India. They have no interest in the welfare of the country. They will gladly sell the country if it means that they can stay in power forever. Puppet governments have worked for the West in the past in many countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Argentina, etc. It is sad to see Sri Lanka being slowly destroyed by these parasites. These countries who are so concerned about war crimes in Sri Lanka are guilty of war crimes a thousand fold far worse. Yet no one questions them since the UN is funded by the West.

Sudath Gunasekara  5. 8.2017.

Who brought Arjuna  Mahendran, a non- citizen of this country and a citizen of Singapore

Who got him appointed as the Governor of the Central Bank in spite of objections raised by the President with an undertaking that he will take the full responsibility for all actions by Arjuna Mahendran, his buddy?

Why did the President gave in to pressure (may be obviously for the reason that he has got elected as the President, mainly thanks to the UNP votes)  knowing that Arjuna had LTTE grape wine with blood connections and he was also not a Sri Lankan citizen and thereby violated his responsibility by the country and its people and has betrayed his responsibility by not properly exercising his  statutory powers

Now that it is common sense that the Governor CB has robbed the CB with impunity, has Ranil Wickramasinga taken the responsibility for this mega robbery of the nation’s CB as per undertaking given to the President and resigned

Won’t it would be interesting to find out as to where this robbed money has gone and to whom this robbed money has been siphoned?

With the appalling revelations at the ongoing CB Inquiry why doesn’t the President sack the Finance Minister and the main culprit of this gang robbery of the nation’s premier Bank, Ranil  Wickramasingha and take administrative and legal action against the whole gang including Aloysius and those in the Treasury and the CB who are responsible for this and have benefitted from this scam and confiscate all their properties as a warning to lesson to all future politicians Such timely action will at least would partially exonerate him from all sins he has committed to the nation since Nov 2014 and save him from been hung by a future people’s government

In my opinion the whole Government should take the responsibility for this meticulously planned robbery and should resign immediately, including the President for failing in his duty by the country as its Constitutional Head.

The million $ question people of this country are posing is as to what have they done since 8 Jan 2015 other than pushing the country to a hell of unprecedented political, economic and social abyss and uncertainty by violating the constitution and messing up in all spheres of governance in a manner unprecedented ever since Independence, just to please their Indian and Western allies and Tamil Diaspora who have helped them to ousted a people friendly Government?

It is time for all those concerned about the future of this Island nation to rise, against this this Government of rogues and  treacherous criminals.

වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති

දැන් හැම වෙලාවේ ම වගේ අපි තීරණගන්නේ හැඟීම්වලට මුල්තැන දීලා. යම් යම් වැඩ කරන්න ගියා ම සිද්දවෙන අලාභ ගැනවත් අපි හිතන්නේ නෑ. පාරේ වාහනයක් එළවද්දී පවා අනිත් වාහනකාරයන්ට පාඩම් උගන්වනවා වගේ භාරදූර කටයුතුත් අපි අපේ කරට ගන්නවා. කවුරු හරි එකෙක් වැරැදි විදිහට වාහනේ ඉස්සර කරනවා දැක්කොත් ඌට හොඳ පාඩමක් උගන්නන්නම් කියලා හිතාගෙන තව එකෙක් පාර හරස්කරනවා. මේ පාඩම් ඉගැන්නිල්ල වෙනුවෙන් තමන් ගේ පැට්‍රල් පුච්චගන්නවා. තමන් ගේ කාලය නාස්ති කරගන්නවා. තමන් ගේ ලේ කෝප කරගන්නවා. ඒත් මදි කියලා හිතන වෙලාවට ගහ බැණගන්න මට්ටමටත් මේ ව්‍යාපෘතිය වර්ධනය කරගන්නවා.

අපේ කට්ටිය පාර දිගේ කරන මේ විදිහේ වික්‍රමාන්විත ක්‍රියා අද අපි පත්වෙලා ඉන්න තත්ත්වය තේරුම්ගන්න පුළුවන් එක උදාහරණයක් විතරයි. උණුවෙන් කිරිබතක් දුන්නත් දැන් කාලේ අපේ සිංහලයෝ ඒක කන්නේ අතයි කටයි දෙක ම පුච්චගෙන. කිසිම දෙයක් සැලසුම් කරලා කරන පුරුද්දක් අපිට නෑ. අඩු වැඩි වශයෙන් අපි හැම කෙනෙක් ම වගේ මෙහෙම තමයි. උගත් බුද්ධිමත් කියන අය අතර ඇතිවෙන වාද විවාදවල දී පවා මුල් තැන ලැබෙන්නේ හැඟීම්බර විවේචනවලට. ඉතින් ඒවා ඇතුළෙත් වැඩිපුර දකින්න පුළුවන් කා කොටාගන්න, ගහ බැණගන්න ගාලගෝට්ටි. බොහෝ වෙලාවට වාද දිනන්න හදන්නේ පුද්ගලික කරුණු ඉස්මතුකරලා.

වයස අවුරුදු දොළහක් දහතුනක් වෙච්ච අපේ ගොඩක් ළමයි පවා කරන්නේ අම්මාට තාත්තාට තමන් ගේ තරහ පෙන්නලා ප්‍රශ්නවලින් පැනලා යන්න හදන එක. මේ විදිහට තරහ පෙන්නුවොත් තමන්ට ආදරේ එවුන් ගේ, තමන්ට හිතවත් එවුන් ගේ කටවල් වහන්න පුළුවන් කියලා ඒ ළමයි දන්නවා. ඉතින් හොඳට ලොකු මහත්වෙච්ච වැඩිහිටියෝ වුනාට පස්සෙත් අපි ඒ උපක්‍රමවලින් ම ගොඩයන්න හදනවා. ඒත් ඒ වෙද්දි අපිට සෙල්ලම්කරන්න වෙන්නේ සමාජයත් එක්ක. ඉතින් මේ වැඩ හින්දා අපේ කාලයෙන් සෑහෙන ප්‍රමාණයක් වැයවෙන්නේ ගහ බැණගන්න. ඒ කාලය ප්‍රයෝජනවත් දේකට යෙදුවා නම් කරන්න පුළුවන් දේ, අත්පත් කරගන්න පුළුවන් දේ කොච්චරක් ද කියලා අපි හිතන්නේ නෑ.

අපිට වැළැඳිලා තියෙන මේ රෝගය ගැන අපේ හතුරෝ දන්නවා. ඉතින් අපි ව කෝපගන්වන එකත් තමන් ගේ උපක්‍රමයක් බවට පත්කරගන්න ඒ අයට පුළුවන්. කවුරු හරි තමන්ට අභියෝගයක් කියලා දැක්කා ම කරන්න තියෙන්නේ ඒ විදිහට අභියෝගයක් වෙන කෙනා ව තරහගස්සවන එක විතරයි. එහෙම වුනා ම තමන්ට අභියෝගයක් වෙච්ච කෙනා මහ ගෝරියකට පැටලෙනවා කියලා අපේ හතුරෝ දන්නවා. ඉතින් කරන්න ඕන කලින් කලට ඒ වගේ අය ව අවුස්සලා ඒකට පොහොර වතුර දාලා ඒ මනුස්සයා ගේ කාලය, හැකියාව නාස්තිකරලා දාන එක විතරයි. තරහ ගැස්වීමෙන් මිනිස්සුන් ව ලෙඩකරන්නත් පුළුවන්. ඉස්සර කාලේ චීනයේ යුද්ධවල දී කරපු දෙයක් තමයි හතුරාට විෂ පෙවූ ඊයකින් විදලා ඒ මනුස්සයා ව තරහගස්සවන එක. ඉතින් ඇඟ පුරා ම විෂ දුවලා ඉතා ම සුළු කාලයක් ඇතුළත ඒ මනුස්සයා මරණයට පත්වෙනවා.

ඉතින් අපි මේ අඩුපාඩු තේරුම්ගන්න ඕන. ඒ වගේ ම අපිට තියෙන අභියෝගවලට මුහුණදෙන්නේ කොහොම ද කියලා හොඳින් හිතලා බලන්නත් ඕන. අපේ සමාජය ඇතුළේ ඔඩු දුවලා තියෙන ප්‍රශ්න දවසකින් දෙකකින් විසඳන්න බෑ. ඒවා විසඳන්න පුළුවන් ඉතාමත් විධිමත් ව සකස්කරගන්න දීර්ඝකාලීන වැඩපිළිවෙලකින්. මේ ගැන පාඩම් අපි ඉතිහාසයෙන් ඉගෙනගෙන තියෙනවා. අපි හැමෝ ම දන්නවා කාවන්තිස්ස රජතුමා රට වෙනුවෙන් ඉටුකරපු ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ කාර්යය. තමන්ට ගෑණු ඇඳුම් එව්වා කියලා එතුමා සැලුණේ නෑ. පියවරෙන් පියවරට විධිමත් ව සැලසුම් කරලා ඉතාමත් ශක්තිමත් හමුදාවක් ගොඩනගන්න එතුමාට පුළුවන් වුනා. ඒ හමුදාවට උවමනා යෝධයෝ බඳවාගන්නත් එතුමා කටයුතු කළා. ඉතින් දුටුගැමුණු කුමාරයාට කරන්න තිබුණේ ඒ හමුදාවට නායකත්වය දීලා සටන මෙහෙයවන එක විතරයි.

ඒත් දැන් අපේ රටේ දුටුගැමුණුලා බිහිකරන්න හදන්නේ කාවන්තිස්සලා නැතුව. යෝධයෝ හදන ඕනකමක්, ඒ වෙනුවෙන් දියත්කරපු වැඩපිළිවෙලක් කාටවත් නෑ. මෙයට පෙර ලිපියෙන් කියපු විදිහට තමන් ගේ සෙල්ෆිය උස්ස උස්සා පෙන්නන්න විතරයි අපේ අය දැන් දඟලන්නේ. ඉතින් මේ විදිහේ සෙල්ෆී සෙල්ලමකට බාධාවක් වෙන එකෙක් දැක්කොත් ඒකා ව කැතිගාලා දාන එක තමන් ගේ එක ම අරමුණ බවට පත් කරගන්න අයත් අපි අතර දැන් ඉන්නවා. මේක මහා භයානක දෙයක්. මේ වගේ පොඩි පොඩි ආරවුල් හින්දා ඇති කරගන්න අමනාප සංසාරය පුරාවට ම ඇරගෙන යන මහා වෛරයක් බවට පත්වෙන්නත් පුළුවන්. බෞද්ධයෝ වුනා ම අපි මේවා ගැන හොඳින් හිතන්න ඕන. තරහ ගිය වෙලාවට හක්කේ තියාගන්න ගල්කැට ඉක්මනින් අහකට දාන හැකියාව අපි වගාකරගන්න ඕන. පෘථග්ජන අපි අතර තරහ අමනාපකම් ඇතිවෙන එක අමුතු දෙයක් නෙවෙයි. ඒත් ඒවා අමතක කරන්න පුළුවන් නම් විතරයි අපිට ඉස්සරහට යන්න පුළුවන් වෙන්නේ.

යෝධයෝ කියලා කියන්නේ කඩු මුගුරු ඇරගෙන සටනට යන අයට විතරක් නම් නෙවෙයි. හැම ක්‍ෂේත්‍රයක ම යෝධයෝ ඉන්න ඕන. අද අපිට ආර්ථික යෝධයෝ නෑ. අපේ අතේ තියෙන පිච්චියටත් තට්ටුවෙන විදිහේ දේවල් යෝජනාකරන්න තමයි අපි දැන් කැමැති. යෝජනා කරලා නිකම් ඉන්නවාත් නෙවෙයි. ඒවා ක්‍රියාත්මක කරවගන්න කියලා අපි පාරටත් බහිනවා. දැන් රඟදැක්වෙන සයිටම් නාඩගම තමයි මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් පෙන්නන්න පුළුවන් හොඳ ම උදාහරණය. ඈත අතීතයේ ඉඳලා ම අපේ රට ප්‍රසිද්ධ වෙලා තිබුණේ අධ්‍යාපන මධ්‍යස්ථානයක් විදිහට. ඒත් අද අපේ ළමයි සල්ලි වියදම් කරගෙන නේපාලය, බංග්ලාදේශය වගේ රටවල්වලටත් යනවා ඉගෙනගන්න. අපේ ආර්ථිකය ශක්තිමත් කරන වැඩකට මේ සල්ලි යොදාගන්න පුළුවන් කියන එක ගැන කතාකරන්නවත් අපේ අය කැමැති නෑ. ඉතින් කොහොම ද අපේ රටේ ආර්ථික යෝධයෝ ඇතිවෙන්නේ?

පොල්වත්තේ බුද්ධදත්ත හාමුදුරුවෝ වගේ දැනුමින් පිරුණු ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේලා හොයාගන්න එක අද කාලේ පහසු කටයුත්තක් නෙවෙයි. අනේ අපිට පණ්ඩිත ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේ නමක් දෙන්න” කියලා අපිට ආණ්ඩුවෙන් ඉල්ලන්න බෑ. ඒ වගේ අය බිහිවෙන්න ඕන මේ සමාජය තුළින් ම යි. ඒ වෙනුවෙන් ආධාර උපකාර කරන එක සෙසු අයට කරන්න පුළුවන්. ශාසනික යෝධයන් බිහිකරන කටයුත්තත් අපේ පිං පොතට ඇතුළත් කරගන්න ඕන. ඒ වගේ ම, ගිහි පැවිදි දෙපාර්ශ්වයට ම අයත් ශාසනික යෝධයෝ හදන්න පුළුවන් කියන එකත් අපි අමතක කරන්න හොඳ නෑ.

සරෝදය වාදනය කරපු උස්තාද් අලි අක්බාර් ඛාන්වත් සිතාරය වාදනය කරපු පණ්ඩිත් රවි ශංකර්වත් බිහි කළේ සංගීත උපකරණ දෙසීයක් විතර වාදනය කරන්න පුළුවන්කමක් තිබුණු උස්තාද් අලා උද්-දීන් ඛාන්. පණ්ඩිත් අමරදේව පවා එතුමා ගේ ගෝලයෙක්. ඉතින් තමන් උරුම කරගත්ත සංගීත උරුමය ලෝකය පුරා පතුරවන්න පුළුවන් යෝධයෝ සෑහෙන ප්‍රමාණයක් බිහිකරන්න අලා උද්-දීන් ඛාන් කියන සංගීතඥයාට පුළුවන් වුනා. එතුමා ගේ ගෝලයෝත් තමන් ගේ ගුරුතුමා ව ඒ විදිහට ම අනුකරණය කරන මූසිලයෝ බවට පත් නො වී තම තමන්ට පුළුවන් මාර්ගවලින් ඉස්සරහට ගියා. ඉතින් මේ අය විවිධාකාර සංගීත ශිල්පවල කෙළ පැමිණියා. ඒත් ඒ හැම ජයග්‍රහණයක ම ගෞරවය හිමිවුනේ ඒ අය ගේ ගුරුතුමාට – ඒ කියන්නේ අලා උද්-දීන් ඛාන් සංගීතඥයාට.

අද අපේ සමාජයට උවමනා කරන්නේ මේ විදිහට යෝධයෝ බිහිකරන්න පුළුවන් ගුරුවරු. ඒත් පහුගිය අවුරුදු සීයක විතර කාලය දිහා ආපහු හැරිලා බැලුවොත් අපිට ඇතිවෙන්නේ මහා දුකක්. යම් ප්‍රමාණයකින් හරි මෙහෙම දෙයක් කරන්න උත්සාහ කරලා තිබුණේ කුමාරතුංග මුනිදාස වගේ අය විතරයි. ඒත් එතුමා ගේ සමහර ගෝලයෝ කුමරතුඟුන් ගේ අගේ” වන වනා හිටියා මිසක් එතැනින් ඔබ්බට ගෝලයෝ හැදිල්ලක් ගැන හිතුවේ නෑ.

අපි අපේ ගුරුවරුන්ට ගරු කළයුතු බව, වන්දනා කළ යුතු බව අමුතුවෙන් කියන්න ඕන කාරණයක් නෙවෙයි. මේක අපිට අපේ සංස්කෘතියෙන් ම උගන්නලා තියෙන දෙයක්. ඒත් ගුරුවරයාට ගරුකරනවා කියන්නේ ඒ ගුරුවරයා ගැන උදේ හවස ප්‍රශස්ති ගායනා කරමින් ඉන්නවා කියන එක නම් නෙවෙයි. ගෝලයන්ට පුළුවන් වෙන්න ඕන ගුරුතුමා ගේ නම දිදුළුවන විදිහේ යෝධයෝ බවට පත්වෙන්න. එහෙම නැතුව ගුරුතුමා වාදනය කරපු වීණාව ඒ විදිහට ම වාදනය කරන්න ලෑස්තිවෙනවා නම් බිහිවෙන්නේ යෝධයෝ නෙවෙයි. මූසිලයෝ! ඒ විදිහට ඉහළ නැගලා තමන් ගේ ගුරුවරයාට අභියෝග කරන මූසිලයන් ව පරද්දන්න සක්කරයාගෙන් විතරක් නෙවෙයි සක්කරයා ගේ පුතා වයිමාගෙන් උදව් ගත්තත් කමක් නෑ.

ඉතින් අපේ සමාජයේ ඉන්න හැම පාර්ශ්වයකට ම අයත් අය මේ යෝධයන් හැදිල්ල ගැන හිතන්න ඕන. හැම කෙනෙක්ට ම දුටුගැමුණු කෙනෙක් වෙන්න බෑ. ඒ වගේ ම, හැම කෙනෙක්ට ම යෝධයෙක් වෙන්නත් බෑ. ඒත් යෝධයෙක් බිහිකරන වැඩකට දායකවෙන්න අපි කාට කාටත් පුළුවන්. ඒ වෙනුවෙන් මුලින් ම කරන්න ඕන ඒ විදිහට යෝධයෙක් බවට පත්වෙයි කියලා හිතන්න පුළුවන් අය ව සමාජයෙන් හඳුනාගන්න එක. ඒ ඒ කෙනා ලබාගෙන තියෙන සහතික ප්‍රමාණය නෙවෙයි මේ වැඩේට අදාළ නිර්ණායකය වෙන්නේ. කාලයක් තිස්සේ කරන නිරීක්‍ෂණයක් හරහා තමයි මේ වැඩේ කරන්න පුළුවන් වෙන්නේ. අපි හැමෝ ම වගේ අහලා තියෙනවා වන්නකුවත්ත වඩුගේ දොන් ඇල්බට් පෙරේරා කියන දරුවා අමරදේව බවට පත්කරන්න අපේ සමාජය මුල්වෙච්ච විදිහ. ඉතින් අපිට උවමනාකරන යෝධයෝ හදන එක අපේ සමාජයට ආගන්තුක කටයුත්තක් නෙවෙයි. ඉතින් අපිට ගෑණු ඇඳුම් එව්වත්, මොන අකටයුතුකම්වලට මුහුණදෙන්න සිද්දවුනත් මේ සමාජ කටයුත්ත තව තවත් කල්දැමිය යුතු නෑ.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

We had Water Gate .Monica Gate ,Russia Gate in USA and now we have Monarch Gate in Sri Lanka . Sunday Papers and the TV keep talking or write about the answers given by the Minister during questioning time  at the Commission. Opposition take micky out of the minister for his loss of memory . I am lost to understand how this Minister can go to Public ever again and talk about corruption activities taken place during last regime .One might ask how do you remember?

Many supporters of Yahapalanaya is arguing that only under Yahapalana government this is possible .One can also argue that resignation of the minister should have taken place immediately after the issue is made public.

One advise to politicians and youngsters in this country is, refrain from buying  I phones .I phone backs up all your call and SMS history and Big Brother would know what you do, where you go ,with whom you talk and to whom you send SMS .If you forget you Apple password you are finished .

Always write you Apple password somewhere ,because you may forget what it is .

By Meredith Bennett-Smith

There’s really no way to sugarcoat it: The rest of world believes that the United States is the country that poses the greatest threat to world peace, beating out all challengers by a wide margin.

This is the conclusion of a massive world opinion poll conducted by Win/Gallup International and released at the close of 2013. The poll, which was first conducted in 1977, asked over 66,000 thousand people across 65 countries this year a variety of questions about the world, including which country they would most like to call home, whether or not the world is becoming a generally better place and which country poses the greatest threat to world peace.

The U.S. was voted the biggest threat by far, garnering 24 percent of the vote. Pakistan was a very distant second with 8 percent, followed by China (6 percent) and Afghanistan (5 percent).

Despite an unstable economic situation, our happiness index is extremely high all over the world except in Europe,” Jean-Marc Leger, President of WIN/Gallup International Association, said in a statement. Moreover people think that 2014 will be better than 2013. Optimism is back in the world.”

Press statement  Rajith Keerthi Tennakoo Executive Director/CaFFE

Prime Minister’s ‘constitutional amendment‘  is a ploy to delay elections

Must go for a referendum as well as a 2/3 majority in Parliament to postpone an election

Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) is shocked at the revelation that the 20th amendment to the Constitution, which the Government wants to introduce, seeks give Parliament the powers of a Provincial Council when they dissolved.

Addressing the media today at CaFFE Head Office at Rajagiriya, CaFFE Exective Director Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon said that with this move the government plans to postpone the provincial council elections by two years.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is attempting to delay elections through coming up with bogus ‘constitutional amendments’, Keerthi Tennakoon said adding that the gazette on the draft bills on the 20th Constitutional amendment, issued on July 28, is an attempt to delay the holding of Provincial Council elections until October 2019, when the tenure of the Uva Provincial Council ends.

“Wickremesinghe has exposed his desire not to face any election till the end of President Maithripala Sirisena’s tenure in December 2019,”he said. Tennakoon added that the Prime Minister wishes to accomplish three objectives through these ‘constitutional amendments.

1. Holding all Provincial Councils on one day and giving parliament the power to decide when to dissolve the councils
2. To extend the tenure of some provincial councils to hold the elections in one day.
3. Vesting the powers of the councils with Parliament when they are dissolved.

It is undemocratic to authorize parliament to run a provincial council when it has been dissolved. To postpone elections one needs to go for a referendum as well as two thirds majority in Parliament. This is clear stated in the verdict on Karunathilaka And Another V. Dayananda Dissanayake, Commissioner of elections in 1999,” Tennakoon said.

Former president JR Jayewardene postponed elections by going for a ‘referendum’. Presidents Chandrka Bandaranaike, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena have all postponed elections. The current prime minister along with several political parties that are hesitant to go for elections is now attempting to postpone elections by gazetting the draft bills on the 20th Constitutional amendment and Provincial Councils Elections Act.

The UNP is now in a deep crisis die to the Bond Scam. It is possible that Malik Samarawickrema. Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade and Kabir Hashim. Minister of Public Enterprises Development, two UNP stalwarts, might be called before the commission. CaFFE reiterates that the desire of the government to protect crooks must not lead to the delaying of elections.

One of the main election promises of the government was electoral amendments. It is disheartening to see the same administration using constitutional amendments’ to delay elections.

(Keerthi Tennakoon, with Rasanga Harischandra, Chief of National Polls Observation Center at the Press Briefing)

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය කැෆේ සංවිධානය 

අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍ර‍මසිංහ මහතා විසින්  යෝජිත ‘ඡන්ද සිතියම ඇකිලීමේ ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන‘ ජනතාවගේ පරම ඡන්ද අයිතිය පැහැර ගැනීමක් බව නිදහස් හා සාධාරණ මැතිවරණයක් සදහා වූ ජනතා ව්‍යාපාරය හෙවත් කැෆේ සංවිධානය  පවසයි. එහි විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් මහතා අද(06) කොළඹ රාජගිරියේ පැවති මැතිවරණ නිරීක්ෂකයින්ගේ ඒකාබද්ධ මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදී අවධාරණය කළේ , ගරු අගමැතිවරයා විසින් 2017 ජූලි 28 දිනැති ගැසට් පත්‍රයේ පළ කර ඇති ‘විසිවන සංශෝධනය කෙටුම්පත‘ මගින් ලංකාවේ මැතිවරණ සිතියම ඌව පළාත් සභාවේ ධූර කාලය අවසන්වන 2019 ඔක්තෝබර් පළමු සතිය දක්වා අකුළා දැමීමට පරිසරය සකස් කරන බවයි.

 ‘ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතා ගේ ධූර කාලය අවසන් වන 2019 දෙසැම්බර් 8 දිනය හෝ එයට ආසන්නතම දිනයක් දක්වා ‘මැතිවරණයක මුහුණ නොදී සිටීමට‘ අගමැතිවරයාට ඇති කැමැත්ත ඔහු විසින්ම නව සංශෝධනය මගින් හෙළිදරව් කර ඇති බව මෙහිදී පෙන්වා දුන් තෙන්නකෝන් මහතා වැඩිදුරටත් කියා සිටියේ වත්මන් රජය විසින් පරාජයට පත් කළ 18 වන ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය වඩා මෙම 20 වන සංශෝධනය ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයට හානිකර බවයි.

‘ඡන්ද සිතියම ඇකිලීමේ ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය‘ ලෙස මෙම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය හැදින්විය හැකි  බව කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් මහතා මෙහිදී සඳහන් කළ අතර එම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය මඟින්  අපේක්ෂිත අරමුණු 3 ක් පිළිබඳව ද පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

1. පළාත් සභා සියල්ලේම ඡන්ද විමසීම එකම දිනක පැවැත්වීම. පළාත් සභා විසුරුවන දිනය (නිශ්චිත දිනය) නියම කිරීමේ බලය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට පවරා ගැනීම
2. එකම දිනක මැතිවරණ පැවැත්වීම සදහා සමහර පළාත් සභාවල කාලය දීර්ඝ කිරීමක් සිදු කිරීම
3. යම් හේතුවකින් පළාත් සභාවක් විසිරුවා හැරීමක් සිදු වූ විට එකී පළාත් සභාව පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසින් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම

යන කරුණු එම අරමුණු බව පෙන්වා දුන් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් මහතා වැඩිදුරටත් අවධාරණය කළේ මෙම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නියෝජනය කරන සියලු දේශපාලන පක්ෂ සිය ස්ථාවරය රටට හෙළි කළ යුතු බවයි. යෝජිත ‘ඡන්ද සිතියම අකිලීමේ ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය‘ ප්‍ර‍ජාතන්ත්‍ර‍ විරෝධී  බවත්  එය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ 2/3කින් පමණක් නොව ‘ජනමත විචාරණයකින්‘ ද සම්මත විය යුතු බව තෙන්නකෝන් මහතා මෙහිදී සඳහන් කළේය.. පළාත් සභා ඡන්ද විමසීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ‘දයානන්ද දිසානායකට එරෙහි කරුණාතිලක සහ තවත් අය‘අංක 509/98 දරණ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ නඩු තීන්දුව මගින් ‘ජනමත විචාරණයකින් තොරව ඡන්ද කල් දැමිය නොහැකි බව‘ පැහැදිලිවම දක්වා ඇති බව සිහිපත් කළ තෙන්නකෝන් මහතා වැඩිදුරටත් අවධාරණය කළේ හිටපු ජනපති ජේ.ආර්.ජයවර්ධන මහතා මැතිවරණය කල් දැමීම සදහා ‘ජනමත විචාරණයක්‘ පැවැත්වූ බවයි. 

 වත්මන් අගමැතිවරයා, මැතිවරණයකට මුහුණදීමට නොහැකිව සිටින පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ පක්ෂ කිහිපයක ද සහාය ඇතිව, පාර්ලිමේන්තු කුමන්ත්‍ර‍ණයකින් ‘පස්සා දොරෙන්‘ ‘මැතිවරණ සිතියම ඇකිලීමේ ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය සම්මත කර ගැනීමට දරන උත්සහයක් ලෙස මෙම  සංශෝධනය හැඳින්විය හැකි බව කැෆේ විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ වරයා සඳහන් කළේය.

බැදුම්කර මගඩිය හේතුවෙන් එජාප නායකයා සහ එජාපය මේ වන විට දැවැන්ත අර්බුදයකට ලක්වී ඇති බවත්  පක්ෂයේ උප නායකවරයා පමණක් නොව හිටපු සභාපති මලික් සමරවික්‍ර‍ම හා වත්මන් මහ ලේකම් කබීර් හෂිම් යන අමාත්‍යවරු ද ‘කොමිසම හමුවට කැදවීමට‘ ඇති හැකියාව රහසක් නොවන බවද හෙතෙම මෙහිදී කීය. දුෂිතයින් රැකීමේ ‘යහපාලන රජයේ අවශ්‍යතාව‘ ලංකාවේ මැතිවරණ සිතියම අකුළා දැමීමට හේතුවක් නොවිය යුතු බව කැෆේ සංවිධානයේ ස්ථාවරය බව තෙන්නකෝන් මහතා අවධාරණය කළේය.

මෙයට පෙර 20 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍ර‍ම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය ලෙස පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත්වීමට නියමිතව තිබුනේ ‘මිශ්‍ර‍ මැතිවරණ ක්‍ර‍මයක් පිළිබද‘ ජනතාව ඉල්ලා සිටි මැතිවරණ සංශෝධනයකි. එය යහපාලන රජයේ ප්‍ර‍මුඛ මැතිවරණ පොරොන්දුව බව කියා සිටි කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් මහතා  සඳහන් කළේ  මැතිවරණ සංශෝධන වෙනුවට රජය ‘මැතිවරණ සිතියම ඇකුළා දැමීමට‘ දරණ උත්සාහය ලැජ්ජා සහගත බවයි.

මෙම මාධ්‍ය හමුවේදී  ජාතික මැතිවරණ නිරීක්ෂණ ජාලයේ ජාතික සම්බන්ධීකාරක රසාංග හරිස්චන්ද්‍ර මහතා ද අදහස් දැක්වීය.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය

කැෆේ සංවිධානය 

Aruna Unawatuna

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ – අභියාචනාධිකරණයේ සහ සිවිල් අභියාචනා මහාධිකරණයේ නඩු පැවරීම සම්බන්ධ අධ්‍යයන වැඩ මුළුව 2017.08.05 දින ජාතික පුස්තකාල හා ප්‍රලේඛන සේවා මණ්ඩල ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේ දී පවත්වන ලදී.

මෙම අධ්‍යයන වැඩමුළුවේ දී  රු.1500.00කට මිල නියම කර ඇති ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ – අභියාචනාධිකරණයේ සහ සිවිල් අභියාචනා මහාධිකරණයේ නඩු පැවරීමට අදාල ව්‍යවස්ථා නීති සංග්‍රහයේ පිටපත් 150ක් මුදල් අයකිරීමකින් තොරව බෙදා දෙන ලදී.

උපුටා ගැන්ම දිවයින

තමන් ඇතුළු යහපාලන රජයේ කිසිවකු දූෂණයට පක්‌ෂව අත ඔසවන්නේ නැතැයි නිවාස සහ ඉදිකිරීම් ඇමැති සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා මොනරාගලදී පෙරේදා (05දා) ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

සියඹලාණ්‌ඩුව මානාභරණගම උදාගම්මානය ජනතා අයිතියට පවරා දෙමින් ඇමැති සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් කළේ ජනතාව අලුත් ආණ්‌ඩුවක්‌ පත්කර ගත්තේ හොරු අල්ලා ගන්නට මිස හොරකම් නොකරන්නට බවය.

ජනතා විශ්වාසය භංග නොවන පරිදි ගමන් කිරීමට මහජන නියෝජිතයන් වග බලා ගත යුතු බවද පැවසූ සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා ජනතා විශ්වාසය භංග වුවහොත් යළි විපක්‌ෂයේ නිවහනට යා හැකි බවද කීවේය. හොරකමට පක්‌ෂව අත ඔසවන්නැයි කවුරුන් හෝ තමන්ට කීවොත් සියලු තනතුරු අතහැර ජනතාව සමඟ පාරට බසින්නට තමන් සූදානම් බවද සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා කීවේය.

By Kelum Bandara Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Leading Buddhist monk Ven. Elle Gunawansa Thera, who works with the nationalist groups, speaks about the present status of politics in the country and what he envisages. Here are the excerpts of the interview:

• There is no need for a new Constitution
• There are no issues specific to Tamils
• All communities have common issues
• Constitution being worked out to please foreign forces
• No one talks about resettlement of Sinhalese who were living in Jaffna
• Politicians are like tradesmen flaunting their marketing skills
• Lions and cattle cannot live in one cage
• For Buddhists, King Dutugemunu should be next to the Buddha
• Govt is fulfilling its obligations to international forces
• Buddhists, Hindus should stand for country’s unity

In the wake of the call by the Mahanayake Theras against a new Constitution, how do you see the current process?
I also hold the view that there is no need for a new Constitution. It is not something demanded by the people. It is something being imposed on them by a set of politicians. Instead of living up to the people’s aspirations, the politicians’ agenda is at work. This is a Constitution being worked out to please alien forces that helped in the installation of this government. It will not serve any purpose other than creating unnecessary rifts among our Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim brethren. That rift is visible now.

Yet, the minority politicians trot out the argument that they need the new Constitution to ensure equal rights to their people. What is your response?

What are the special rights we enjoy that are denied to Tamils? There are none. Though we do not talk about it, there is injustice done to the Sinhalese. In my case, I wanted to open a centre in Kilinochchci to foster ties among the communities after the end of the war. I asked for a land. It was decided to allot a plot of land at Elephant Pass during the former rule. I secured the support of my Tamil friends. I planned for it. I named it North-South Friendship Shelter. I wanted to give accommodation facilities for anyone from any community at this centre. I wanted to promote cultural and aesthetic activities for the Tamil children. Yet, I was not given the land. The Northern Provincial Council and the Divisional Secretary are blocking it. My right has been denied. In Jaffna, there were as many as 21,000 Sinhalese living at that time. All were chased out. Why aren’t they resettled? A large number of Buddhist Viharas were destroyed. As many as 276 Buddhist archaeological sites were there. They are being vandalized. If there is an ancient Kovil in the South, I do not approve of it being vandalised by anyone. Artefacts are part of heritage. If there is any issue confronting Tamils, it has to be negotiated with us. We have to start the dialogue with people, not with politicians. But only the politicians are talking to each other. We, the people, have virtually become the political football of this game.

Now the western nations have started meddling with our matters. So, the issue is taking a turn for the worse. I do not find issues specific only to Tamils in this country. We all have common problems in different sectors, be it education, health, land etc.

As a Buddhist monk, you have close links with the Joint Opposition. Now, the National Freedom Front (NFF) has left the constitution-making process. What’s your position?

Politicians of all hues are like tradesmen flaunting their marketing skills as the situation demands. I never get carried away by it. I am a person who loves my country above anything. I remained patriotic for forty years. That is since the day I began to make sense of what is happening. I adore not only my country but also its fauna and flora, wild beasts etc. I was even close to the past leaders of the United National Party (UNP). I had close contact with late leaders Gamini Dissanayake and R. Premadasa who did some service at my behest. Specially, Gamini Dissanayake built the Mahaweli Mahaseya at my request. It was my concept. I invented the name ‘Mahaweli Mahaseya’. I laid the foundation stone. I did not like it to be laid by the then President JR Jayewardene. Instead of I, along with Gamini laid one official stone in advance without the knowledge of anyone. He was an excellent political character. I wanted to make him someone productive to this country rather than to the UNP. When I met him first, he was obsessed with cricket. He used to visit my temple regularly. He was well-read and intelligent.

However, I do not overestimate politicians. I have a political vision. V.I. Lenin said what is at stake is the fate of fatherland. Fidel Castro said ‘Motherland or Death’. Our King Dutgemunu said,” My exercise is not meant for indulgence in royal luxuries. In the world history, I have not found anyone more socialist or progressive than King Dutugemunu. As are Buddhists, we should hold the character of Detugemunu next to the Buddha only. He never partook of his meal without offering alms to Mahasanga.

One should not be faulted for loving his or her community. It is yet unacceptable to consider one community superior or the suppression of others. All have to be accepted on an equal footing. For that, a nation should have a history. A nation cannot pride itself unless it has a history. Ours has a history of 2500 years.

It is not the politicians who protected this country and the Buddha Sasana. Only Mahasanga and lay people did it. Today, politicians have been assigned the task. I am opposed to it. As for Muslims, they could live in this country because of our compassion and largesse only.

Today, the western forces attack the Buddhist and Hindu identities. Buddhists and Hindus have strong cultural links. Hindus also venerate the Buddha viewing him as the incarnation of Vishnu. Therefore, we have to get together to keep this country united. Only the western forces try to divide us. They use economic tools for this, not military weapons like in the past.

We faced terrorism for three decades, a phenomenon created by the neighbourhood. I thought of India as the eldest brother of the family of South Asia. Today, I have my doubts about the role of India. We are at the crossroad of economic, cultural and political invasions. Today, the rulers listen to the foreign powers. That is the reason for most of the issues. People would begin to realize this. Then, they would rise up in arms.

As a Buddhist clergyman, you have contact with President Maithripala Sirisena, what is your advice to him?

I met the President at times. He is a farmer’s son. So am I. I asked him to do something productive for the country. I proposed to him to repair irrigation tanks. I asked him to assign me. I do not want money. I requested him to give me the necessary resources. The foreign governments are ready to assist us. Yet, they do not do it for the rebuilding of our tanks. Whoever I associated with, I stand for the country, nothing else.

It is learnt that you once asked him to patch up differences with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa…
I did so once or twice. I said it would be better for the country if they remained united. After the end of the war, we could not remain united even for seven years. We are again in a conflict situation. If they love the country, they should iron out differences. That is my opinion. Unless they get together, we have to work out some mechanism for it.

Do you believe they should be united?

Lions and cattle cannot live in one cage. Only like-minded people can act in unison. In the govt, there are two groups. I doubt whether they stand for nationalism. They have the least consideration for the Motherland, its resources and history. I have never heard them speaking about them. For me, they are acting like auctioneers. Normally, an auction is done after some announcement. Here, they do it discreetly.

I do not go to the doorstep of anyone. It is a policy. Neither go after the rulers. I do not go to any Ministry. If anyone antagonizes me, I will retaliate. Once PM Ranil Wickremesinghe turned against me in the past. At that moment, I engineered the defection of a set of MPs, including Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Wijeyapala Mendis and others from the UNP. This group met at my place. I played a key role in aligning the JVP with former President Chandrika Kumaratunga. I did so to save the country from being partitioned through talks with the LTTE at that time. I fell out with some leaders that way. I helped Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2005. That is to resurrect the country from terrorism.

You are a Buddhist monk who maintains a close rapport with the security forces. How do you see the President signing the Office of Missing Persons Act into effect?

This is not a govt. that was installed at the behest of the people of this country. All the plans were hatched elsewhere in the world. The govt. is fulfilling its obligations to the foreign elements. If we sign these agreements in this manner, it would entail dangerous consequences to the country. I wonder why the politicians do not discuss these issues with the intellectuals of this country. They only consult their ‘yes men’. The politicians do not have any vision. We, as people with roots in this country, should take the leadership. We need a clear departure from ‘Colombo 7 centric thinking’. We need new thinking going beyond politics. We should do away with blind following of anything. We need fresh thinking. There is a fresh wave of thinking rising not only here but also elsewhere in the world as visible in what happened in countries such as France recently. Nobody can talk about nationalism without me. I am in touch with professionals in the nationalist groups.

You mentioned that you brought about political revolutions by engineering a defection. Are you planning something similar now?

I do not normally discuss what I do. I do what is necessary at the right time. We can light bucket lamps only when Vesak dawns.

There is allegation that there are attempts to compromise the foremost status accorded to Buddhism in the Constitution. What is your position?

The President came to me and gave an assurance.

In the meantime, even the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said this position would not be compromised. Do you believe it?

They are trying to please us by saying so. Buddhism is the truth. We will protect this unhindered truth together with our culture. We want the country at large. The current constitutional provision is not elaborative enough. It has to be elaborated outlining how Buddha Sasana should be fostered.

By K.H.J.Wijedasa Courtesy The Daily Mirror

An objective analysis of Buddhism and science

Buddhism has been described by Buddhist Scholar S.N. Goenka as a pure science of mind and matter”. He substantiates this on the basis that Buddhism uses precise, analytical, philosophical and psychological terminology and reasoning . The Buddha explained the reality of things in terms of cause and effect. Buddhism is firmly founded on the principle that effects arise from causation. The existence of misery and suffering in any given individual is due to the presence of causes.

Buddhism is undoubtedly the most profound and wholesome educational path available to mankind. It explains the true nature of life and the universe. In the Buddhist doctrine life” refers to ourselves and the universe” refers to the environment in which we live. Buddhism begins with mindfulness. One has to be mindful of the moment that is now, connected with what one is doing outside and what one is thinking and feeling inside. Thus, Buddhism is not only about withdrawal or detachment from this world but is also about living each moment meaningfully.

Buddhism is essentially a teaching for the intelligentsia. It is based on a systematic and rational analysis of the problems of life and the way to their solution. The Buddha emphatically admonished everyone to come and see”; not to come and believe”. Buddhism does not rely on blind faith. On the contrary one is encouraged to probe and verify personally what the Buddha preached.

Buddhism is undoubtedly the most profound and wholesome educational path available to mankind. It explains the true nature of life and the universe. In the Buddhist doctrine life” refers to ourselves and the universe” refers to the environment in which we live.

Buddhism has totally rejected belief by faith while encouraging personal conviction by investigation. Buddhism stands out singularly alone as the only system of thought that can be accepted by strict rationalization and comparison with already known phenomena. Every other religious system can be scientifically and rationally doubted. Buddhism is unique as in that not a single facet of its teaching can be disproved or even rationally doubted. On an intellectual basis, Buddhism has only one real contender to convince and that is the materialist. One does not need Buddhism to obviate the sparse rationalism of most religious systems. In fact most religions other than Buddhism are engaged in a desperate and pathetic struggle to keep up with the concepts of modern Science; so much so that with every new scientific discovery they have to adjust their sequence of thought and at times even the dogma.

Buddhism today is a hot topic in the science and religion dialogue. There is a basic understanding between Buddhist scholars and eminent scientists regarding the compatibility of Buddhism and science. The case is made that the philosophical and psychological teachings contained in Buddhism share commonalities with modern scientific and philosophical thought. For example Buddhism encourages the impartial investigation of nature or Dhamma Vicaya; the principal object of such study being oneself. In fact some popular conceptions of Buddhism connect it to discourses regarding evolution, quantum theory and cosmology. Moreover, Buddhism has been described as rational and non – dogmatic. There is ample evidence to prove that it has been so from the earliest period of history. Among the common philosophical principles shared between Buddhism and science are causality, empiricism and suspicion of absolutes.

Great scientist Albert Einstein has spelt out the common thread that binds Buddhism and science as follows. The religion of the future will be cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal god and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and spiritual it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual and a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers to this description. If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism”.Likewise, many scientists have observed similarities between science and Buddhism. The American physicist Robert Oppenheimer saw in Buddhism a scientific parallel to the puzzling riddles of modern physics.

Science; The product of observations and experiments

Science is as old as man. It is also universal in the sense that the subjects of study, the methods employed and results obtained have been similar throughout history and across all civilizations. Science from its humble beginnings has come a long way. It has been successful in solving many human problems and making life ever more comfortable. Advances in medical science and new scientific inventions have contributed to relieving pain, eradicating disease, lengthening the life span and also made life healthier and more comfortable. But science up to date except in a few areas of human activity apparently has been oblivious to the damaging effect of fuelling the fires of human greed for more and more comforts and better quality of life.

Science is an understanding of matter whereas spiritualism is related to the consciousness of the individual. Usually we analyse them as separate entities. However in reality they are interdependent and inalienable parts of each other.In the west spiritualism is defined as a philosophical doctrine which perceives all reality as spiritual and not material. On the other hand science is knowledge gained by the study of the physical and natural world. The scientific method we use today in modern science is based on building up a hypothesis using data obtained through observations and arriving at a conclusion through experiments.

Science is defined as systematic observation of natural events and conditions in order to discover facts about them and to formulate laws and principles based on these facts. Modern science relies on inductive reasoning from multiple observations of nature; thus working up from basic observation or experiment to generalization. However, the entire body of knowledge generated by scientists is not true. Thus, most scientists test theories knowing that future evidence may cause refinement, revision or even rejection of today’s theories that are held as true.

Experimentation in science is indispensable for it helps establish causal relationships. It is said that the ultimate purpose of science is to make sense of human beings and our nature. Science has discovered that all matter including human beings consist of particles. Further, it has been found that matter could be converted to energy and vice versa. Thus we are nothing but aggregates of energy. More than 2600 years ago the Buddha said that the atom” is not the ultimate particle of matter; but that ultimate of matter exists in the form of energies. Modern science discovered the same about a three quarter of century ago.Likewise, there are many aspects of the teachings of the Buddha which we are unable to comprehend.

Science has not found an answer to the question why are we here? What is the meaning of life? May be before long science will find out the origin of life and the universe. However, science may not be able to solve the problem of human suffering. Also, science has not found a solution to the malaise of insatiable greed and acquisitive craving. The whole world and it’s economy and all policies of governments are driven by human greed. The Buddha has shown us that the cause of suffering is greed. Apart from that ignorance of the true nature of the world keeps human beings in bondage. The Buddha has said that bondage could be severed by getting rid of ignorance.

The development of modern science paved the way for a deep spiritual crisis in the West which resulted in an irrevocable split between the established the monotheistic religious faith and scientific reason. Buddhism being an atheistic philosophy has the ability to bridge the worlds of matter and spirit estranged due to certain findings of modern science. Buddhists do understand that objects and individuals are comprised of an ever changing composite of elements of reality called dharmas”. Even though Darwinism met with great resistance in the West; Buddhists ingrained in the transient nature of things found no difficulty in accepting that humans evolved from lesser forms of life. Thus, Buddhism has the potential to satisfy post Darwinian needs of religious beliefs grounded in new scientific findings.

Similarities between science and Buddhism

There are many similarities between Science and Buddhism. Both agree that there is no creator. Buddhism rejects accepting things merely on a teacher’s authority. Buddhism emphasizes personal verification.One of the cardinal doctrines of Buddhismis that of dependent or conditioned co-production (patitya samutpada) according to which no being or event arises without a conditioning factor. One of the principles on which science operates is universal causation, which means that all material things are caused. According to Buddhism the cosmos consists of thousands of spherical worlds (chakkavatas). In each world system there are thousands of suns, moons, earths etc. This bears a close resemblance to the modern scientific understanding of the universe with its galaxies. Science states that matter and energy can neither be created nor destroyed but only transformed. Buddhism says the same thing and extends this principle to the mind.

In Buddhism mind means awareness of phenomena either conscious or unconscious and awareness of phenomena can neither be created nor destroyed but only be transformed. Thus, reincarnation is simply a transformation in the ongoing continuity of an individual’s awareness of phenomena, but now with the physical basis of another body. There are two types of wisdom in Buddhism namely conventional wisdom and ultimate wisdom. Conventional wisdom relates to the understanding of the conventional world and how it functions including science. Ultimate wisdom refers to a direct realization which is non dualistic and contradicts the way in which we ordinarily perceive the world. There are two methods available to the human being to acquire knowledge. They are left brain centred intuition method and the left brain centred scientific method. The Buddha had used the intuition method while modern science uses the scientific method.

Buddhism is more consistent with the scientific method than traditional faith based religion. Accordingly the Kalama Sutta insists on a proper assessment of evidence, rather than a reliance on faith, hearsay or speculation. The general tenor of the Sutta is take no one’s word for it. The following is a gist of the Kalama Sutta. If you have a doubt do not be led by reports, or tradition or hearsay. Do not be led by authority of religious texts, not by mere logic or inference, nor by considering appearances nor by delight in speculative opinions, nor by seeming possibilities, nor by the idea this is our teacher. But when you know that certain things are unwholesome (Akusala) and wrong and bad then give them up. When you know that certain things are wholesome (Kusala) and good then accept them and follow them”.   Up to about the 1960’s even though the super normal non materialistic knowledge flourished with one’s spiritual development described in Buddhism as Panca Abihinna”; those attainments did not receive scientific acceptance. However today with the advancement of Metaphysics and Parapsychology the five Abhinna’s are now being accepted under the same classification given in Buddhism but with new names namely (1) Iddhivida nana or magical powers now called psycho kinesis (11) Dibba Sota Nana or divine ear now called clairaudience (111) Ceto Pariya Nana or penetration of mind now called telepathy (1V) Dibba Chakkhu Nana or divine eye now called clairvoyance and (V) Pubba Nivasanussati nana or remembering of former existences now called post cognition.

During the 1970’s several experimental studies suggested that Buddhist meditation could produce insights into a wide range of psychological states. Interest in the use of meditation as a means of providing insight into mind states has recently been revived, following the availability of brain scanning technologies etc. It is worthy of note that in recent times Buddhist concepts have made most inroads into the psychological sciences. Some modern scientific theories such as Rogerian psychology show strong parallels with Buddhist thought. Some of the most interesting work on the relationship between Buddhism and science is being done in the area of comparison between Yogacara theories regarding the store consciousness and modern evolutionary biology especially DNA. It has been scientifically established that there is a co-relationship between Buddhist meditation and improved quality of life. It has been substantially proved that meditation thickens the brain tissues thus increasing attention and sensory processing . Also, it has been found that Pirith chanting not only has a sobering influence on the listener but also a beneficial impact on the heart function.

Buddhism and science can coexist harmoniously
Science works on the basis that nature fixes laws. But on the other hand Buddhism strives to solve the problem of human suffering which arises from both internal or mental and external or physical conditions, with an emphasis on human behaviour. At the same time Buddhism sees this as a natural process. Thus Buddhism has faith in nature as well as human beings. Science ignores human values; hence it has an incomplete or faulty view of nature. Science’s search for knowledge is both inadequate and incomplete because it ignores the internal nature of man. Science pays little attention to the development of the human being, whereas Buddhism pins great faith in the human potential and its full exploitation. Buddhist teachings rely on the ability of human potential to develop wisdom and realize the truth of the laws of nature.

In Buddhism, real insight or right view has the capacity to liberate and bring about peace and happiness. The findings of science are also typical insight; for they can be applied in technology as well as in our daily behaviour to improve the quality of life and happiness. Thus, Buddhists and scientists can share with each other the ways of studying and practice and can profit from each one’s insights and experiences. The practice of mindfulness and concentration always brings insight. It can help both Buddhists and Scientists. Thus Buddhism and science can go hand in hand to promote more insight and bring greater liberation leading to a reduction of discrimination, separation, fear, anger and despair in the world.

The trend to link Buddhism and science has continued unabated so much so that today Buddhism and science are considered to be rivers leading to the same sea. Hence, the dire need for greater dialogue between Buddhist scholars and scientists to realize the importance of Buddhist wisdom to advance scientific wisdom.

Editorial Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Two years after assuming office, the National Unity government is facing one of its biggest crises in the aftermath of the bombshell revelations made last Wednesday at the sittings of the Commission probing the alleged multi-million dollar bond scam in the Central Bank.

At the Centre of the crisis is the former Finance Minister and now Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake along with the Perpetual Treasuries boss Arjun Aloysius who is one of the main figures in the alleged bond scams.

Media reports say both President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have urged Mr. Karunanayake to resign from his post at least until the Commission concludes its sittings at the end of October. At Wednesday’s dramatic sittings, which hit the headlines in the mainstream and social media, Anika Wijesuriya, the daughter of millionaire businessman Nahil Wijesuriya—testified that she had met Arjun Aloysius and he had offered to pay a lease of Rs. 1.45 million a month for the Karunanayake family to move into the luxury Monarch apartment, next to the Cinnamon Grand Hotel. Mr. Karunanayake, during sometimes heated cross-examination by Additional Solicitor General Dappula de Livera, denied any knowledge of Mr. Aloysius’ involvement and said it was his family that had worked out the deal with the controversial Perpetual Treasury’s boss. The Minister said he often worked at the Finance Ministry from 7am to 11 pm and therefore personal matters were worked out by his family. He also admitted that after the lease agreement ended, his family company had purchased a luxury apartment for Rs.165 million.

Responding to questions by the Additional Solicitor General and denying charges that he may be lying under oath, Mr. Karunanayake said he could not remember whether he had gone in the same flight with Mr. Aloysius to Singapore and how many times he had met him there. The other major allegation was that the Karunanayake family company chairman had paid for the apartment complex and its penthouse in cash that he brought in two bags, one containing Rs. 75 million and the other Rs. 70 million. This money was kept in the company safe, raising questions as to whether there was any link with money laundering which is alleged to have taken place in multimillion dollar proportion during the past decade.

Media reports also say several cabinet ministers representing both the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) had proposed that Mr. Karunanayake should step down from the portfolio because of the national and international embarrassment the revelations had caused to the national government.

In 2015, the President and the National Government had been elected to office with one of their main promises being that stern action would be taken against the former regime’s VIPs who were allegedly involved in the plunder of billions of dollars in public funds. President Sirisena also calls for a simple and humble lifestyle by party leaders and other politicians. He said he would set the example in ‘Alpechchathawaya’ and servant leadership. But two and half years after being elected to office, the President has publicly expressed concern over delays in probing allegations of large scale corruptions by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, his family members, top officials and associates.

The President also expressed concern that some UNP front-liners were delaying the investigations, though the reasons for it were not clearly spelt out. Some element of the mystery unfolded when former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in a speech on Saturday said he had not signed the Joint Opposition motion of no-confidence against Mr. Karunanayake and would not vote for it.

President Sirisena also said he had quit the former regime because it was largely corrupt and would not remain in any corrupt government. Therefore the decision by the President and the Prime Minister to call for Mr. Karunanayake’s resignation could also have some positive impact in showing that the current government would prosecute not only former VIPs but also present ones if there was substantial evidence of involvement in corruption or frauds.

Yohan Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe speaking at a public function in Hatton today said this government would not protect thieves, and would remove them, but stressed that there should be room for a transparent investigation.

Today there are so many investigations that ministers are brought before the Attorney General and are questioned. Was there a situation as such before? Those days, the Attorney General was an acolyte of the president. The Attorney General who questioned was removed from the department or else taken in a white van. Now there is room to question anyone. This government will not protect thieves. If anyone found committing frauds, we will act according to probe reports. The UNP is not a party of thieves. If there are thieves in the party we will remove them. Allow us to carry out a transparent and public investigation. The media in Sri Lanka don’t have an ethical right to say that such and such things have happened. Why is that? They covered up corruption of the previous government. They all went shopping kade”. Lankadeepa, Divaina, Ada, Lankadeepa, Dinamina, Silumina all went ‘kade’. Tell me who did not do it.

*Allow a transparent investigation

*Says media does not have an ethical right to talk about what happens now

*Says Daily Mirror wanted to him to resign from UNP leader post as he spoke about the loss of SriLankan Airlines, Hambantota Port

Lasantha Wickramatunga was trying to reveal corruption but he was killed. What happened to Eknaligoda? He also revealed about corruption and was abducted and killed. What are they (media institutions) saying now? Not to investigate on the killings of journalists now? When we try to conduct investigations on these and frauds they say it is a threat to security. They are attacking us when we conduct investigation on corruption. We got voted in because people wanted good governance. What the professionals, government servants and the average citizens of the country want is just and free society without corruption. If we do not do it we will not get votes next time. Also we do not want the votes of thieves. We will do everything which we can do to give what people want. Do not have a doubt about that. We will not shout about what we do. I have named some media institutions today. I can also name those who are in them but will not do it now. We have now established an open society today. If someone robs he will get caught. Now see investigations are carried out even against the family of President Donald Trump. If someone does wrong he will get punished.

I discussed with Minister Kabir Hashim about the losses incurred by Srilankan Airlines. The Airline was running at a loss. The Rajapaksa regime had bought eight A332 planes. Those luxury planes can fly at a stretch to Chicago in the US. However Srilankan only fly up to London. These planes could fly double the distance. What are we to do about these planes which have been purchased in such an irregular manner? The country has suffered a loss of RS 135 billion as a result. The country had also lost Rs 46billion on the Hambantota Port project. The total loss of these two is Rs 181 billion. What did Lankadeepa do when these losses happened? What did Daily Mirror do? Daily Mirror newspaper asked me to resign from the party leadership when I revealed losses happened during the last regime.

The Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the government had created an open society, and therefore anyone, indulging in fraud activities would get exposed.

He said, I am happy to launch bus service between Batticaloa and Hatton. It is an important step facilitating the movement of students who are from this area and study at the Eastern University in Batticaloa. I am grateful for conducting religious ceremonies at Buddhist temples, Mosques, Kovils to shower blessing on me marking my 40th year in politics. It is a pleasure for me to see all of you assembled here. Today, there is freedom of movement for you. We all got together and ensured the victory of President Maithripala Sirisena to achieve this. We have not had such a political era before. Freedom was confined only to a few. There is no need to talk about it. Today, people can live and move without any fear. There is no racism or religious fanaticism. We have to resolve our problems and forge ahead. We have set up Independent Commissions. Parliament is being empowered further. Parliamentary committees have been given more and more authority to summon any official for testifying. If any Minister does not attend to your problems, it can be complained to these committees. Did we ever have such a free society before?

He said,” Let alone, we are proceeding with investigations into corruption. Nobody can be allowed to do corruption. The police have filed cases regarding some cases. We are seeking legal advice on some cases. If there are cases, we have to probe. There was an allegation regarding the bond transaction. First, I appointed an interim committee comprising lawyers. Then, it was referred to the COPE. Though we won the election, we gave the COPE chairmanship to an opposition MP. It was open to all. Afterwards, the President appointed a Presidential Commission.

Today, the Attorney General summons Ministers and questions them. At that time, the Attorney General was a yes-man of the President. I will tell one thing. We will not cover up fraudsters in the government. This is not a party of fraudsters. If there is any, we will expel him. Yet, let us have a transparent probe!

It is like in America. There are so many investigations against President Trump by the media, Congress and so on. Upon receipt of reports, wrongdoers step down. It is same in England.

UPAL COORAY Courtesy The Island

August 6, 2017, 8:24 pm

A key figure in the 2015 overthrow of the Rajapaksa government, and the mentor of President Sirisena as well as back seat driver of the Yahapalana government, is unheard of these days. She is the head of the office of national unity and reconciliation. She was in the forefront of preaching a federal solution to the national question. Surely, the work in this sphere is not the only endeavor she has to carry through. She is obliged to save her beleaguered prodigy, Maithripala Sirisena and her childhood friend Ranil, later adversary now turned chum, coming under an avalanche of allegations unheard in Sri Lanka since it became a Democracy.

Her personal fuming animosity against the Rajasksas is well known. She will go to any extent to ensure Mahinda does not grab power again.

It is high time she expresses her views about the bond scam and Ravi Karunanayake’s Penthouse. As one of the stalwarts who created this government, she has a moral responsibility to speak out. Late Ven. Sobitha would have castigated the yahapalanaya he himself was responsible for formulation. This bhikku was a forthright person. Chandrika speaking out on this is far-fetched.

While speaking on the subject long years ago S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike told the State Council everything is done to protect those with influence while others are thrown in to ravenous wolves.

Nothing seems to have changed. It was only his daughter, former President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who was found guilty of corruption and abuse of power and fined by the Supreme Court in the Water’s Edge case, and that too not in a case prosecuted by the State but by public spirited citizens.

Therefore her silence is pretty well explained by the dictum. “Ova denu parahata, thama sammathehi pihita sita”(Physician heal thyself “)

What can CBK do in this mess? Common sense makes it expedient for her to stay put.

UPAL COORAY

By Laksiri Fernando Courtesy The Island

August 6, 2017, 8:29 pm

There is no point in waiting for the Presidential Commission to conclude the No Confidence Motion to take place. There can be a Parliamentary debate on the Penthouse Issue or Public Corruption in general for the members to express their views and show their determination, if anything remaining, against corrupt practices. The President must remove Ravi Karunanayake, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, from the Cabinet forthwith.

The Members of Parliament can ask Ravi Karunanayake to completely resign from Parliament. If not, or even otherwise, it is left for the UNP to remove him from the party membership and inform the Elections Commission accordingly, for the world to see where he would stand thereafter.

Enough Evidence

There is enough evidence to politically determine that there had been a shady deal between Ravi Karunanayake and the businessman Arjuna Aloysius, who is being primarily investigated by the Presidential Commission on the controversial Treasury Bond issue. Removing a Minister from the Cabinet is a political act and not a legal procedure. The legal procedure to take course, of course, one must wait for the conclusion of the Presidential Commission.

The removal from a Cabinet must be done to clear the good name of any government when a Minister is involved in unethical, corrupt or dubious financial deals. ‘Justice should not only be done; it must also be seen to be done.’ This principle also applies in the case of transparency, accountability and responsibility.

The usual practice in a democracy is for the Minister to resign even in the slightest doubt against his/her financial integrity. In these columns, I have written about ‘A Bottle of Wine Throws a Premier Out!’ in June 2014. As I was writing, “The Premier of the New South Wales (State) of Australia, Barry O’Farrell, announced his resignation yesterday morning (16 April 2014) over the issue of receiving a bottle wine as a gift that he failed to declare in 2011 in the ‘Pecuniary Interest Register.” He didn’t claim the bottle of wine was received by his wife or daughter. It became revealed only after three years only by accident. But in the case Ravi Karunanayake it is already revealed.

As I stated then, “This is a case of ‘accountability and responsibility’ that all Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers, Ministers and all Members of Parliament or members of any such representative institution in a functioning democracy should abide by.”

But in the case of Sri Lanka, it is difficult to imagine that many of our ministers or politicians would abide by these principles of ‘accountability and responsibility’ voluntarily. Our past practices were so corrupt, they would think that these practices are their privileges. Therefore, it is necessary for the President to act without delay. As far as I am aware, contrary to what a Minister has told the Colombo Telegraph, there is no prohibition whatsoever for the President to act against a Minister when there is a No Confidence Motion scheduled in Parliament. It can even be in the form of a Cabinet reshuffle.

If Delayed?

If the President delays action against Ravi Karunanayake, serious doubts will be cast against him as well. If Ravi Karunanayake’s removal as the Finance Minister was warranted for some reason, in the last Cabinet reshuffle, there is now more reason to remove him as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. His remaining days as the Foreign Minister would be a total disgrace for the country as a whole within the UN, among the Commonwealth countries and in the whole world, East and West.

According to all reports available, Mr Karunanayake has not denied that he was living in the said Penthouse and its rent was paid by Arjuna Aloysius for nine months. What he has childishly denied is his knowledge about the deal. According to him, it was done by his wife and daughter!Even the daughter, in her face-book posting, has not denied the accusations but asked “Why only one man’s name comes up all the time in such a huge government?” There is all indication, in that questioning that directly or indirectly, there are other people in the government who are involved in the bond scam, if not the Penthouse issue.

This was the suspicion of many who observed and criticised the unprecedented auctions of bonds, beginning February 2015. I had occasion to analyse the bond issue of February 2015 which was announced for 1 billion first and then issued for 10 billion through direct intervention of Arjuna Mahendran, the then Governor of the Central Bank (‘Awoth Atha Thamai: Cabral is No Excuse for Mahendran,’ Colombo Telegraph, 23 May 2015). The person benefitted was Arjuna Aloysius, his son in law.

Ranil Wickremasinghe?

The immediate reason for my article was Ranil Wickremesinghe’s disgraceful defence of Arjuna Mahendran in Parliament on 21 May (also thereafter) despite the findings of the Committee appointed by him to ‘cover up’ what appeared to be controversial bond sales, at that time. It was quite puzzling why Mr Wickremesinghe opted to defend Mahendran so vehemently.

Of course, Mahendran was Wickremesinghe’s appointee and college friend, from Royal. There also could have been some ideological reasons like both believing strongly in ‘neo-liberalism’ where profit making is freely allowed for entrepreneur classes at the expense of the ordinary masses.

I also suspected another reason although somewhat hesitant to articulate directly without much evidence before. That was about the UNP’s party coffers. It was almost by accident that Ranil Wickremesinghe became the Prime Minister in January 2015. By that time the UNP was in a bad shape both organizationally and financially. It is quite possible that the UNP allowed Arjuna Aloysius to make money on the understanding that he funds the it, particularly at the general elections.

This is of course not an established fact but a reasonable doubt or accusation. This is how the capitalist political parties work. The SLFP also cannot be innocent on these grounds, but the issue at present particularly before the Presidential Commission is who benefitted from the bond scams at the expense of the people of this country. This is also the issue before the country and the people.

Even otherwise, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s responsibility for the bond controversies ­cannot be ruled out. He, Ravi Karunanayake and Malik Samarawickreme are a very close group within the party and in the government. They are almost like a ‘kitchen cabinet.’ The Central Bank, where all these shady deals happened, was under the Prime Minister. Without his knowledge, it is unlikely that Arjuna Mahendran could act unilaterally in favour of or Perpetual Treasuries. Even on the Penthouse issue, it is quite unlikely that the other two in the ‘kitchen cabinet’ were not aware of what was going on.

Therefore, there is every reason to investigate Ranil Wickremesinghe after removing Ravi Karunanayake from the Cabinet and as the Minister of Foreign Affairs immediately. If Mr Wickremesinghe is clean, he himself should come before the Commission and give evidence.

Party Reforms for Good Governance

In January 2015, there was a major change in our political system, the people of this country stalling the attempt of Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family to grab presidential powers for a third term. There were many and major allegations of corruption. These are still not properly investigated. Almost the whole SLFP and many parties in the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) were complicit in this corrupt-power scheme. Although half-hearted, there have been some changes within the SLFP as of now. These must move forward to make it a more democratic, accountable and a responsible party.

However, the UNP is the same old political outfit, inheriting the corrupt-power practices of JR Jayewardene and Premadasa times. It has been the practice of the leaders, the funders and the organizers of these parties to enrich themselves and the parties through shady business and other deals after coming to political power. As the UNP has come to power after a very long spell, the urge for these corrupt practices could be even higher. Some of the SLFP leaders who enriched themselves during Rajapaksa or Kumaratunaga times may even appear or pretend to be magnanimous or honest now! There should be a change within the UNP as well to make the party more democratic, accountable and responsible. The funding of these political parties also should be transparent.

Two civil society organizations, the National Movement for a Just Society (NMJS) and the ‘Puravesi Balaya’ (People’s Power) are asking the supporters who voted for the January 2015 change to come to Colombo on the 15th August to demand the government to implement their promises. One of their slogans and demands undoubtedly would be a New Constitution. I would suggest that the ‘Removal of Ravi Karunanayake’ should take more prominence at this rally or the meeting as it would constitute the acid test of this government’s avowed promise for good governance and anti-corruption.

BY MALINDA SENEVIRATNE

Yeah, why single out Ravi!

 lanka C news

පවතින සියලු තත්වයන් ගැන සැලකිලිමත් වෙමින් කල යුතු දේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් තීරණයක් ගන්නා බව ඇමති රවි කරුණානායක මහතා පවසයි.

ඇමතිවරයා මේ බව කියාසිටියේ බැඳුම්කර කොමිසම හමුවේ හෙලිව ඇති තොතුරු ගැන කල විමසීමකදීය.

කෙසේ වෙතත් ධුරයෙන් ඉවත් වන්නැයි ජනාධිපතිවරයා හෝ අගමැතිවරයා තමන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලා නොසිටි බවද ඔහු අවධාරණය කරයි.

මේ අතර යම් හෙයකින්ඇ මති රවි කරුණානායක මහතා අධිකරණයකින් වරදකරුවෙකු නොවී තිබියදී ඇමති ධුරයෙන් ඉවත් කලහොත් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂය ආණ්ඩුවෙන් ඉල්ලා අස්වී විපක්‍ෂයට යා යුතු යයි එම පක්‍ෂ ප‍්‍රබල ඇමතිවරුන් පිරිසක් යෝජනා කරයි.

මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අද හෝ හෙට දිනයේ පක්‍ෂ නායක අගමැති රනිල් වික‍්‍රමසිංහ මහතා මුණ ගැසී සාකච්චා කිරීමට නියමිත බවද වාර්තා වෙයි.

යම් හෙයකින් බැදුම්කර චෝදනාවට ඇමති රවි කරුණානායක ඉල්ලා අස්සුවහොත් එය දේශපාලන වශයෙන් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂයට බලවත් අවාසිදායක තත්වයක් බවත් එය එම චෝදනා පිලි ගැනීමක් බවට සමාජයේ මතයක් හැදෙනු ඇති බවත් ඔවුනගේ අදහසයි. ඇතැම්විට මෙම කොමිසම විසින් ඉදිරි දිනයකදී අගමැතිවරයාද කැදවා ප‍්‍රශ්න කර අපකීර්තියට පත් කිරීමේ ඉඩක් ඇති බවද ඔවුන්ගේ අදහසයි.

මේ තත්වය මත හොදම ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ගය වන්නේ ජනාධිපතිවරයා සමග තීරණාත්මක අවසන් සාකච්චාවක් පවත්වා අවසන් ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ගය ලෙස එක්සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂය ආණ්ඩුවෙන් ඉවත් වී විපක්‍ෂයේ අසුන් ගැනීම බවද මෙම ඇමති පිරිස සදහන් කරති.

BY RAVI LADDUWAHETTY Courtesy Ceylon Today

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa,in a special interview with Ceylon Today Sunday Edition, alleged that the Unity Government has accepted the bid from China Merchant Port Holdings Ltd, been accepted in a backdrop where the other company China Harbour Co. Ltd which had submitted the bid in a much more favourable one to lease the free port on a 65-35 equity sharing basis for 50 years with an upfront payment of USD 750 million plus the payment of all the charges they had earlier agreed to with regard to the container terminal management contract.

The former President, who also retained the Cabinet portfolio of Ports and Shipping himself during his tenure which was earlier allocated to his brother Chamal, prior to the latter’s appointment as Speaker of Parliament and where over 70 per cent of the National Budget was allocated to himself and the family, alleged that the government has chosen the least favourable bid despite (according to information available to him and the JO) the Sri Lanka Ports Authority having recommended the other bidder.

“Details of how the two proposals were evaluated have not been disclosed,” he said.

Sovereign rights

He also alleged that a 99-year lease impinges on Sri Lanka’s sovereign rights because a foreign company would enjoy the rights of the landlord over the 2,000 hectare free port while operating the entire harbour as well.

“This is not an issue between Sri Lanka with China or with foreign investors. It is about getting the best deal for Sri Lanka. The agreement that my government negotiated with both China Harbour Co and China Merchant Co to manage the Hambantota Container Terminal for 40 years is the best deal yet,” he told Ceylon Today.

The bid made by China Harbour Co Ltd for a 50-year lease is obviously more favourable than the bid made by the other company. As a matter of principle, I am against the leasing of the entire harbour for 99 years and giving the rights of the landlord over the industrial zone to a foreign private company, the former Head of State and Head of Government told Ceylon Today.

The industrial zone and the harbour should be controlled by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) while harbour operations may be given on management contracts to the private sector. For example, the Colombo Port is run by the SLPA and two private operators – South Asia Gateway Terminals Ltd (the Queen Elizabeth Quay) and Colombo International Container Terminals Ltd (the Colombo South Port).

Privately run terminals

The SLPA has full control over the Colombo Harbour as well as equity in the two privately run terminals. I believe this should be the approach to the Hambantota Port as well, he said.

A framework agreement has been signed by the government with China Merchant Port Holdings Ltd to lease out the entire free port for 99 years for a payment of 1.08 billion USD on a 80 per cent–20 per cent equity sharing basis. No other income will accrue to the SLPA for 15 years, after which they will receive dividends for their 20 per cent stake only if dividends were declared.

The lease will be extendable for another 99 years and a 44 hectare artificial island outside the port has been included in the deal. There is provision for the construction of another 20+ berths and the rights over these too have been given to the lessee, he alleged.

The amount of the lease seems to have been based only on the construction cost of the port without an accredited international valuation reflecting the strategic location value of the port, the value of the 99 year period, its 2,000 hectare land, the oil tank farm and the value of its present commercial operations.

This is not an issue that can be resolved by baton-charging or tear gassing protestors or having them assaulted by thugs and remanded, he said.

Financial benefits

There are real issues relating to the financial benefits that will accrue to the country from this deal and issues of control and sovereignty over the free port and possible environmental issues that need to be addressed, he said.

Apart from the entire Hambantota free port, he alleged that the government had decided to lease a further 15,000 acres outside the free port to a foreign company for 99 years. In a situation where even the 2,000 hectares within the free port have not been utilized yet, on what grounds can we justify the leasing of another 15,000 acres to a foreign company, he asked.

The total land area of all the Board of Investment (BOI) economic zones in the country at present put together do not amount to 2,000 hectares. A 15,000-acre zone in Hambantota will be disproportionate to our country’s economy, he said.

Furthermore, the disruption caused to the people of the area will be immense if 15,000 acres of land were to be acquired for this purpose.

Supervision

The government should fill the free port with investments first before opening more zones. Furthermore, the government should have supervision over the kind of factories that will be opened in the industrial zones, the fuel they use and the waste they produce.

My government agreed only to the use of LNG gas, even though some potential investors wanted to use coal, he explained.

Sri Lanka’s former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who built his namesake port in Hambantota with a Chinese loan of US$ 1.4 billion, said he wished to explain his position to the public on the current government’s deal with a Chinese company to transfer 80 per cent stake of the port.

The former President said the government made some unwise decisions disregarding the management contract for the Hambantota container terminal entered into by his government with China Harbour Co and China Merchant Port Holdings Ltd.

Rajapaksa said the government’s decision to set up a 15,000 acre zone in Hambantota will be disproportionate to the country’s economy and the disruption caused to the people of the area will be immense if 15,000 acres of land were to be acquired for this purpose.

Investments

He said the government should fill the free port with investments first before opening more zones.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said only 1,235 acres of land will be given from Hambantota and the rest of the 15,000 acres from other districts in the South and South East such as Moneragala and Matara.

Explaining his stance on the proposed Hambantota Port deal,he said:”Since the future of the Hambantota Port is now under discussion, I wish to explain to the public, my position on this matter. The loans taken for the construction of this harbour was USD 450 million for the first phase, USD 70 million for the bunkering facility and USD 802 million for the second phase bringing the total to around USD 1,322 million. When complete, the harbour would have four terminals and 12 berths. This was meant to be a free port covering an area of 2,000 hectares where goods could be manufactured or value added and shipped overseas. All the necessary feasibility studies were done before these loans were taken and the annual interest plus capital repayments would amount to about USD 111 million. My government had planned to raise that money through the Ports Authority itself.

The first phase of the Hambantota Harbour became partially operational in 2011. The transshipment of vehicles began in 2012 with 70 per cent of the vehicles coming into Hambantota being transshipped to other countries. In 2014, 335 vessels called at the Hambantota Harbour with 295 in 2015. The port made an operating profit of Rs 900 million in 2014 and Rs 1.2 billion in 2015. These are investments that last centuries and a new harbour cannot be expected to produce large profits in the first few years. Our plan was to break even within ten years.

“My government had signed a Supply Operate and Transfer (SOT) management contract with a joint venture between China Harbour Co and China Merchant Co to supply equipment such as cranes and operate the Hambantota container terminal for 40 years.

Container terminal

The SLPA was to receive a rental of USD 35,000 per hectare per year for the 56 hectares in the container terminal (a total of USD 1.96 million per year), a royalty of USD 2.5 on every container loaded or unloaded, a charge of USD 30 per container for cargo coming into Sri Lanka and all other usual harbour charges for navigation, piloting, and tonnage.

Other than the container terminal, all other terminals in the harbour and the 2,000 hectare industrial zone were to be controlled by the SLPA and they would have derived the income from the cargo of the free port passing through their terminals.

He said, “The government made some unwise decisions. Firstly, they disregarded the management contract for the Hambantota Container Terminal entered into by my government with China Harbour Co and China Merchant Co. Secondly, the SLPA had developed the Colombo East Container Terminal and upon its completion by 2016, this terminal would have produced a revenue of more than USD 100 million a year which the Ports Authority had earmarked to pay off the Hambantota loan until the latter generated sufficient income. The Yahapalana government halted the Colombo East terminal development. Thirdly, by the end of 2014, my government had signed agreements with several foreign and local companies to lease out about 80 hectares in the Hambantota Port Industrial Zone at the minimum rate of USD 50,000 per year per hectare with minimum guaranteed volumes of cargo and minimum guaranteed royalties. All those agreements were disregarded by the new government.

Then the current government said the Hambantota Port was a white elephant and that it had to be privatized to raise the money to pay off the loans taken to build it.

They called for bids, not just for harbour operations but for the rights of the landlord over the entire 2,000 hectare free port so that whoever takes the long lease will operate the entire harbour and have complete control over the industrial zone as well. The two companies China Harbour Co and China Merchant Co which made a joint proposal to lease out the Hambantota Container Terminal for 40 years during my government are the same companies that have made rival bids to lease the entire free port under the present government, he said.

BY GAGANI WEERAKOON Courtesy Ceylon Today

In his 1953 play ‘The Crucible’ American playwright Arthur Miller says ‘there are wheels within wheels and fires within fires in this village’. This seems to be the case with the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government where none seems to take the responsibility of what is happening around them or even in their very own families. From everything that took place last week, from the alleged statement issued by the government condemning North Korea testing missile to best Finance Minister in the Asia-Pacific region not knowing who paid his rent for a penthouse he was living in, it is quite evident there are wheels within wheels.

“The Government of Sri Lanka condemns the firing of a ballistic missile of intercontinental range by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on 28 July 2017, and the series of recent similar hostile acts by DPRK in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions.
DPRK’s continued pursuit of nuclear and ballistic missile programmes and proliferation related activity pose a significant threat to international peace and security.

In the interest of peace and security of all concerned, we urge the DPRK to refrain from such hostile acts and programmes, in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions, which impact adversely on the stability of the region and beyond.
The international community must unite in words and deeds to seek solutions to this grave situation which is an ever increasing threat to international peace and security” was the statement that was issued and is still available on the website of the Foreign Ministry website and soon the social media platforms went viral with memes linking President Sirisena and North Korean President Kim Jong-un.

Knew nothing

The matter was taken up for the discussion at the Cabinet meeting held on 1 August 2017, in which President Sirisena has clearly stressed the need for the matter to be inquired into as he nor the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has had any knowledge of it.
Upon further inquiry, it came to light that Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karunanayake too was unaware of the matter. He informed the Cabinet that he in fact had directed the Ministry Secretary to issue such statements with the consultation of the President and Prime Minister.

On Wednesday (2) Co-Cabinet Spokesman and Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekara said neither the President nor the Prime Minister knew about the statement.

“Even Foreign Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake didn’t know about this. As such, the President called for an inquiry at the Cabinet meeting,” he said.

Interestingly, as Jayasekara was making this statement about the Foreign Minister being unaware, Karunanayake himself was pleading ignorance for something his wife and daughter had allegedly committed.

Foreign Affairs Minister Karunanayake, who appeared before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Bond Issuance, said he did not know that the penthouse he and his family were residing in for nine months was paid for by Arjun Aloysius, who is the main suspect in controversial Treasury Bond Scam.

At the cross examination of the Judges at the Commission, the Minister said he only came to know of the payments when the issue was raised in Parliament.

He said that Aloysius had paid cash through his company as the owner of the residence did not want to lease out the penthouse to a politician.

The Minister said he didn’t play any role in the transaction and that his wife and the daughter were the ones who found the house.”I knew nothing,” he said.

ScapeGoat?

Foreign Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake’s daughter Onella has made an impassioned plea on her Facebook page asking why it was only her father was to be blamed “in such a huge Government?”

“Just ask yourself? Why only one man’s name comes up all the time in such a huge government?” she asked, making a reference to her father’s testimony.

Minister Karunanayake while testifying at the Bond Commission also asked the same question from the Attorney General when questioned about the undated and un-referenced letter sent under his signature.

“Why am I the only one to be blamed? There was collective responsibility,” he said.

Below is Onella’s full Facebook post:

“Am not at all a person who uses social media to express views or thoughts in lengthy status messages but I fell that sadly today it has come to a point where I feel I at least have to voice out my thoughts on the same platforms that my family is getting character assassinated on.
I have seen many articles circulated all around social media about my father for a very long time but for the first time I feel I need to intervene and speak out ’cause this particular time it is a malicious constant attack on his character that is orchestrated by others who aim to achieve other things trying to make my father a fall man.

I see everyone very easily re-sharing content on many pages on social media but all have only one name. My father’s name. Does everyone really believe for the last couple of years everything in the government is just one man and that we have been getting hit because we deserve it or that maybe there is a pattern to this madness now?

I know that when situations arise we all want to get to the bottom of things and find someone responsible for it but are u sure that all the sites carry facts or have you ever thought that these could be well planned and paid attempts from others in politics who would need to cover up their sins by directing all negative attention to one man?

Everyone is entitled to freedom of speech but with freedom of speech also comes the responsibility to know all the true facts and figures and not only the damaging views that are paid to catch on to all.

I cannot change everyone’s opinions about how you see my family but i respectfully just ask you to think before you fall prey to these well paid character assassins targeting just one man constantly.

I have learnt bitterly over the years that politics is a dirty game and some in it will stop at nothing to achieve the individual goals no matter who they hurt along the way.

So if you have actually taken time to read through this fully all I want to ask you at the end is please think. Thinking can one man do everything all the time? Can one man always be doing these things just to get negative publicity or is he actually being framed and made to be the fall man again and again?

Please all I ask you is to think before u form a one sided opinion ’cause again like I have learnt the hard ways politics is not how it appears to be. Think if u have all the facts because I know that you will be surprised if u really sit to think what’s going on.

Just ask yourself? Why only one man’s name comes up all the time in such a huge government?

Again everyone is free to think how they see it from the facts they have but i have now given you a small view from my family’s side. So please just open your eyes and think a little because in this instance it’s not any commission but the media and the public that has been the judge, jury and executioner.

Like my father said after visiting the commission that day and coming out:

“I can accept the spearing of an enemy’s arrow but the pin pricking of friends is much more hurtful,” she said.

One might also argue that both Karunanayake and his daughter have a point as it is clear that it cannot be only Karunanayake that was involved. On the other hand, because he was already accused in Raj Rajaratnam case (later cleared by the court) Maithri-Ranil government took steps to not put Central Bank under Karunanayake.

Pressure to resign

By end of the week a no confidence motion against Karunanayake signed by over 30 Joint Opposition members was handed over to the office of the Parliament Secretary General.

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna has already expressed its support to the no faith motion against Karunanayake. Also, Karunanayake’s Cabinet colleagues like Dayasiri Jayasekara, S.B. Dissanayake and Dilan Perera have already expressed their willingness to support such motion. Minister Rajitha Senaratne, though in UNF and known as a Sirisena loyalist, has indirectly indicated that it is up to Karunanayake to save the face of the Yahapalana Government.

Meanwhile, President Sirisena has reportedly told Prime Minister Wickremesinghe to take a decision on Karunanayake, in what seems like an attempt to save himself from both ends.

They said the President had told the minister that if he continued to function as a Cabinet minister, it would create serious issues not only to the government but also to the minister himself and as such the President had pointed out that the best solution available to the minister is to resign from his ministerial portfolio.

President Sirisena is reported to have conveyed this to the minister during a dinner on Thursday night at Temple Trees to celebrate Prime Minister Wickremesinghe’s completion of 40 years as a Member of Parliament.

While several UNP stalwarts have indicated that PM Wickremesighe should ask Karunanayake to step-down, the latter remains steadfast.

Karunanayake denying reports which said President Sirisena had asked him to resign from his post said; “the reports and the rumours that I have been asked to resign from my post are utter nonsense.”

Given the hope and expectation raised in 2015 regarding the restoration of good governance and the rule of law, the failure of Minister Karunanayake to resign, and the failure of the government to ensure his resignation, will risk unfavourable comparison with its predecessors. More critically, it will erode the credibility of our public institutions and processes in the eyes of citizens, and fatally undermine broader reforms Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu of Centre for Policy Alternative noted issuing a statement on Friday.

“We call upon Minister Karunanayake to take the principled step of resigning from the ministerial office forthwith, and to cooperate fully with on-going and any future investigations. We believe this is an essential prerequisite for restoring public confidence in the government’s commitment to its mandate, and we reiterate that the failure to do so will seriously impede the realization of every other aspect of the government’s reform agenda.”

Now the time has come for Wickremesinghe-led UNP to take a decision. Karunanayake, ever since he crossed over to the UNP in 1999 remained loyal to the party and its leadership.

UNP leadership will also has to think well before taking any decision as it is quite evident that whatever the money Karunanayake received seems to have gone into the party fund as well as to election campaign of the UNP.

Those who are backing Karunanayake also find fault with the Attorney General’s Department as well.

“The Attorney General (AG)’s Department which investigated the report on the phone calls of Arjun Aloysius contained in 8,600 pages in just two days to ‘crucify’ Minister Karunanayake in such haste, when they are struggling to verify just a signature of Gotabaya Rajapaksa for the last two years in an alleged fraud involving the latter?” they argued in Karunanayake’s defence.
When taking a decision, the UNP Leadership, especially Prime Minister Wickremesinghe will not be able to take lightly the fact that Karunanayake stood by his leadership through thick and thin when everyone else demanded his resignation in the name of the Party’s victory. It is also not a secret that Karunanayake had plenty of opportunities to cross over on the invitation and for money to Rajapaksa’s government.

To prevent another blow on Wickremesinghe’s leadership and to save him from another embarrassment Karunanayake took the forefront in 2015 Presidential Election to field a common candidate against powerful Mahinda Rajapaksa.

It was him and Karu Jayasuriya who were involved in negotiations with late Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera in this endeavour, and Wickremesinghe owes Karunanayake one there too.

Nevertheless, Karunanayake’s fate will be decided on what agenda both Sirisena and Wickremesinghe have in their mind for the 2020 Presidential Election.

BY Kavindya Chris Thomas Courtesy Ceylon Today

UNP strongman, former Finance Minister and incumbent Foreign Minister in the Good Governance Government, Ravi Karunanayake, provided his testimony before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Treasury Bond issues last Wednesday (2). While it might have been an obvious strategic move, most definitely recommended by his high-calibre attorneys, Minister Ravi Karunanayake’s testimony of complete ignorance caught many off guard, as the proverbial rug of ‘Good Governance’ was pulled out from under them.

The former Finance Minister had been publicly accused – according to him due to the influence of the mass media and opposing parties that are hostile to him, which he of course, attempted to lament about during his testimony before the Commission – of being involved in the controversial 2015 Treasury Bond auction of the Central Bank alongside one particular primary dealer known as the Perpetual Treasuries of one Arjun Aloysius- also the son-in-law of the then Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran. However, it was only since last January that did many startling new revelations surfaced regarding the matter during the hearing of the Presidential Commission.

And this week, the tension that was building up from January onwards reached the boiling point when the former Finance Minister (now Foreign Affairs) marked his presence before the Commission to testify.

His testimony was based on two things; one, is the controversial undated letter he had sent to the former Central Bank Governor regarding a certain meeting at the Central Bank and secondly regarding the luxury penthouse that was allegedly purchased for the Karunanayake family, by none other than PTL’s Arjun Aloysius. Karunanayake’s attorneys explicitly mentioned that even though the matter of the letter might be under the Commission’s current mandate, Karunanayake will nonetheless be complying to provide his statement on the matter of the penthouse which has no direct relevance with the Commission’s jurisdiction.

Tumultuous Start

Minister Karunanayake’s testimony before the Commission did not go as smoothly as one would have expected. The first of many warnings came from the Commissioners during Karunanayake’s attempted monologues for a question put forward by the Additional Solicitor General Dappula de Livera.

Karunanayake launched into a sermon about the judiciary being independent under the Good Governance system which he was a prime component of to ask questions from a “very powerful Cabinet Minister” to which the Commissioners Supreme Court Judges Kankanithanthri T. Chitrasiri and Prasanna Sujeewa Jayawardena responded by warning the minister to refrain from “making additional comments when he could easily answer the questions.” The Minister had to be reminded that he was testifying before a Presidential Commission and was not at a “Political Forum”.

“I knew nothing,” claimed Foreign Affairs Minister Ravi Karunanayake, pleading complete ignorance regarding the lease and subsequent purchase of the luxury apartment at Monarch Residencies with funds from a company owned by Arjun Aloysius. His justification was that the leasing of the apartment under reference and its subsequent purchase through their family company – Global Transportation and Logistics Pvt. Ltd – “was of no relevance to me” adding that it was transacted by his family members.

This statement, obviously, prompted a salvo of questions from the Judges of the Commission and the Attorney General’s Department. “There is a limit to lying at this Commission, Minister,” ASG de Livera exclaimed upon listening to Karunanayake’s statement. In agitated response, the minister snarled, “I take offence at that comment! I’m under oath; not you!” He added that his family members had contacted the Wijesuriya family with regard to renting out the said apartment and claimed that he has had no communication with the witness Anika V. Wijesuriya, who provided the evidence regarding the apartment to the Commission. He pleaded ignorance about the lease agreement, the deed of transfer and of any other documents pertaining to the final transaction of Rs. 165 million, adding that it was the first time he was seeing them, when he was presented with the evidence at the hearing. “Why should I? I had no need of it,” he noted.

He testified that there was no reason to study these documents and claimed that he does not know whether his wife visited the apartment alone or with Aloysius, as it was testified before the Commission earlier. He also vehemently denied evidence presented to the Commission earlier that claimed it was Aloysius who had purchased the apartment for his family and claimed that the purchase was made with the funds of his family enterprise, Global Transportation and Logistics Pvt. Ltd. (GTL), which has assets amounting to almost Rs 4.5 billion.

However, he reiterated his denials when the Commission brought to his attention that evidence has been collected which establishes that the payments for the apartment were made by Perpetual Treasuries and that GTL has no records of such payments, saying that he had nothing to do with GTL business. He added that he was not aware of such matters since it was the family that had carried out the purchase after his complete removal from his companies after he obtained his ministerial portfolio back in January 2015.

When the Commission asked him whether, as a hypothetical question, he would have agreed to the purchasing of an apartment for him by an owner of a primary dealer company in the Treasury Bond market, attached to the Central Bank, the minister said he would not because it would not be appropriate for a Cabinet Minister to do so due to a conflict of interest. The minister also denied the evidence put forward by the Commission that claimed that the luxury apartment was an amalgamation of two apartments surmounting to 4,000 square feet.

However, according to the minister the apartment he had being residing in for the last nine months is a ‘simple three bed roomed apartment’ with only 1,900 square feet. His numerous invitations to come visit the apartment to the Commission’s observations were met with SC Justice Jayawardena’s cutting comment: “If you don’t know the difference between 2,000 square feet and 4,000, I’m very glad you’re not the country’s Finance Minister now.” However, the Commission took polite note of the contradiction the minister so emphatically pointed out.

The former Finance Minister was also questioned with regard to the apparent overseas visits he has gone on from June 2015 to April 2017, which had coincided with Aloysius’ trips abroad. ASG de Livera brought information to the Commission’s attention pertaining to 13 occasions where the travel plans of the minister and Arjun Aloysius to Singapore, have coincided. Some of which, it was stated, suggested that the minister and Aloysius have travelled in the same aircraft. That was also denied by the minister who claimed that he only met Aloysius on a few occasions. According to Karunanayake, he had only met Aloysius on several occasions during the 2016 Finance Asia events.

Bizarre Text Messages

Wednesday’s Commission hearing also revealed the first time mention of references made to the ‘PM’ and ‘RK’ through the text message data recovered from Aloysius’ mobile phone. The Commission heard that 8,600 pages of documents compiled of details that had been extracted from Aloysius’ personal mobile phone. Among them were several that the Attorney General’s Department said mentioned two people referred to variously as Hon. PM and RK’ or ‘PM or Hon. Ravi K’.

These references were in text messages received by Aloysius and discussed the obtaining of minutes of the Monetary Board. The Minister responded by denying knowledge of these text messages claiming that he did not know that RK was a reference made to him.

Among the mobile phone information presented to the Commission, which was only made available to the attorneys representing the Minister and Aloysius, were two text messages which referred to these individuals.

One such text message sent to Aloysius by his Executive Secretary Steve Samuel reminds Aloysius to obtain a copy of a certain Monetary Board meeting from ‘PM or RK’. Meanwhile, another deleted message to Aloysius’ phone claimed that approval is needed to start a certain gossip column to give ‘massive support to PM and Hon. Ravi K’. The Minister denied awareness of these text messages.

One text message reveal of an ex- employee of the television channel Swarnavahini who has been recruited by a different radio station which has financial connections to Aloysius. The message warns that the individual has no qualifications apart from his GCE Ordinary Level examination was fired from the television channel due to his political connections. It goes on to say that it is not good for “you [Arjun Aloysius] PTL and Ravi K” as this individual might seek to expose information to the public.

Among the other text messages were some which suggested that Aloysius had funded the ‘Sunday Leader’ newspaper which had been copied to Minister Karunanayake and requests made to the Minister through Aloysius, to delay certain bank actions of the Bank of Ceylon as well. The Minister denied knowledge of all of these messages or their contents.

Case of the Undated Letter

Minister Karunanayake said that the undated letter, sent to the then Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran was “completely an oversight.” He said that he had not indicated the date and the reference due to an oversight. When Additional Solicitor General wanted to know the reason as to the origin of such a letter the Minister explained the situation he had as the Finance Minister in the beginning of the 2015.

He said that there was an unaccounted debt in balance and an outstanding repayment amounting Rs 100 billion, when they assumed duties as the new Government in 2015. Karunanayake said there was a meeting on 26 February 2015 with Malik Samarawickrama and Kabir Hashim over the fund requirement of Rs. 75 billion for road development projects. The meeting was held prior to the controversial bond auction that took place on 27 February 2015. When questioned he confirmed that there was no sudden need to raise money in February but the funds were required for the payments in Road Development Authority projects.

He added that Mahendran requested him to send a letter relating to what happened at the 26 February 2015 meeting between the three ministers and thereby he had sent the letter in May or June of 2016. This letter contained the idea that it was decided at the meeting on the fund requirement of the Government for Rs 75 billion.

The ASG cross examined the minister as to why there was no date or reference in the letter to which he responded saying it was an oversight. Then the ASG asked whether there was a copy or corresponding Ministry’s file relating to the letter. The witness said he forwarded the letter in response to a request made by Mahendran. The ASG repeatedly questioned him as to why he had not mentioned the person who requested the letter.

The ASG was of the view that this letter was created very recently because when it was produced before the Commission, claiming the letter was apparently created anew and ‘crisp.’ However, the minister denied the ASG’s stance and maintained what he said.

When the ASG was attempting to question further as to how the letter originated, the Commission said it was a waste of time because the witness has already made his stance before the Commission. However, there was a heated argument thereafter between the Commission and the ASG over the relevancy of further questioning on the matter.

Throughout his testimony, Minister Karunanayake maintained that his ignorance and lack of awareness on the past events. Apart from incomprehension of the matters surrounding the luxury penthouse, he also pleaded ignorance regarding the Treasury Bond auctions of the Central Bank that took place during his tenure. “I know nothing” has been his go-to safe word during previous occasions of scandals and it has certainly painted his picture now as well. However, the potential consequences of these mere words are yet to bare fruit.

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando

After the demise of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl recently, news about his survival out of the killer tsunami in 2004 December surfaced once again. Kohl was 74 at the time. His escape from the tsunami in Sri Lanka had been described in diverse forms, both in the German media and the Associated Press at the time, with a slight variance.

Kohl had travelled to Sri Lanka with some friends during Christmas vacations and decided to stay in a down South tourist hotel, especially for Ayurveda therapy. As he watched from the third floor hotel balcony, he had witnessed the sea changing its behaviour with a petrifying sound, and immediately a titanic wave rising up with immense force that made the seawater to swoop below him.

When the water level rose up to the second floor level, Kohl had to struggle across to leave the building. There were varying descriptions at the time about his rescue operation and survival. But according to eyewitnesses, the writer found out last month, it was the local folk who rescued him out of the water and sheltered him for a couple of days until he was airlifted. Apparently, the German Government had wanted him to move out of the disaster zone immediately, but he vehemently had refused and stayed back to see the extent of damage, and vowed to help Sri Lanka to organize relief for the affected people and children in the area.

Catastrophe

Immediately after the catastrophe, Helmut Kohl had wandered around Galle area for a few days, and it was then he had seen the extent of devastation that had taken place to the Mahamodera Maternity Teaching Hospital. According to local folk and some of the staff at the hospital, an Ayurveda doctor, who lost two of his sons during the tsunami, convinced him to help the damaged hospital, when in fact he decided to build a brand new maternity hospital without any fanfare.

Mahamodera Maternity Teaching Hospital in Galle is a large complex with about 400 beds, which plays the role of frame of reference for the whole area of Southern Sri Lanka for maternal and child health speciality, providing maternal care, neonatal care and training for medical students, nurses, midwives and postgraduate doctors, who study in the areas of obstetrics, gynecology, neonatology and sub fertility.

AuSLMAT involvement

A team of doctors, guided by Dr. Quintus de Zylva, arrived in Sri Lanka from Australia on 27 December 2004, with the compliments of Quantas Airlines on an emergency flight via Maldives to Colombo. When they landed in Colombo they had to make an inland detour to reach Galle as the main bridge on the road to Galle had been washed off.” Subsequently, Dr. Quintus de Zylva published an article that evoked great sympathy in Australia towards tsunami suffers in Sri Lanka.

AuSLMAT (Australia Sri Lanka Medical Aid Team) was formed soon after the tsunami to help in capacity building and provide equipment to Sri Lanka. Members of the AuSLMAT have been visiting Sri Lanka once or twice a year ever since. Up to now, the AuSLMAT has made more than thirty trips to Sri Lanka since the tsunami disaster and visited areas such as Batticaloa, Valaichennnai, Yala, Matara, Akuressa, Weligama and Galle. AuSLMAT has also contributed towards setting up of the Cath laboratory (catheterization) and the emergency Centre at the Karapitiya Hospital.

On 3 July 2017, Dr. Quintus de Zylva arrived in Sri Lanka again with a team of specialists and presented a discourse on interventional cardiology (branch of cardiology that deals specifically with the catheter based treatment of structural heart diseases) on the medical staff at the Karapitiya Hospital from 3 July to 5 July. Dr. Jennifer Johns gave a lecture on ‘Heart Failure’ at the Matara Hospital. Later the team preceded to the Akuressa Hospital that is another infirmary AuSLMAT has already supported. Finally the team visited the Batticaloa and Valaichennnai Hospitals.

Angela – the tsunami baby

Immediately prior to the tsunami chaos a local woman named Rohini, in a state of advanced pregnancy, had rushed to the Balapitiya Hospital in a three-wheeler. The hospital staff in turn had transferred her to Galle due to her blood pressure being too high. Dr. Samarasinghe, a postgraduate trained in obstetrics and gynecology in New Zealand had been serving in a peripheral hospital in Sri Lanka near Matara for some time. On this ominous morning, he was performing an emergency caesarean operation on Rohini when the water flooded the hospital and cutting off the power supply completely. Despite theatre lights going off, Dr. Samarasinghe had managed to complete the operation and deliver a baby girl with the help of torchlight. As the water level increased, the newborn baby and Rohini were placed on a trolley in a hurry and wheeled up to the main Karapitiya Hospital. The healthy, bright-eyed baby girl was named Anjala.

AuSLMAT has kept in constant touch with Rohini ever since, and every time the team visited Sri Lanka both the mother and daughter had been visiting the AuSLMAT team as a mark of gratitude. Angela will be 13 on 26 December 2017 and it was her ambition to have a bicycle as her birthday present. When Dr. Quintus de Zylva heard about her request, he arranged with the help of his Sri Lankan philanthropic friends, Valarie and Peter Weerakoon, to gift a brand new bicycle for Angela’s birthday to coincide with the donating couple’s wedding anniversary. Consequently, Rohini and Angela visited the AuSLMAT team at Calamander Unwatuna Beach Resort on 7 July 2017 for the presentation of Angela’s advanced birthday gift ceremoniously. The AuSLMAT has also taken the responsibility of sponsoring Angela for her education where she attends a local school at present.

Kohl‘s vision

When Helmut Kohl pledged to build a brand new maternity hospital for the benefit of Matara folk, the Helmut Kohl Foundation allocated the requisite funds and the work began in 2006 on a four-acre block of land acquired from the Department of Irrigation at Karapitiya. However, nine months after the work commenced, the scheme came to an abrupt halt amidst allegations of malpractices, corruption, inefficiency and indifference on the part of health authorities as well as the local construction company that coordinated the funds from the Helmut Kohl Foundation, for having a ‘free run’ in the absence of adequate transparency.

When the writer visited the Karapitiya Helmut Kohl’s proposed hospital site last month, all he could see was the new building had reached only up to roof level, and the project apparently was in a limbo state, after 13 years! The cost of the estimated project for the new hospital with 600 beds had been around Rs 900 million.

The security guard at the Karapitiya Hospital entrance did not allow anyone to meet any of the officials inside the hospital building stating there was a German delegation at that very moment. He also sounded that the German Embassy in Colombo was presently involved in the continuation of the project in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Government. He did not permit anyone to take photographs of the half completed new hospital building. However, the writer managed to capture from outside the hospital perimeter where on the boundary wall a banner with Helmut Kohl’s picture read “Helmut Kohl, Founder of Maternity Hospital, May he rest in peace”.

The usual pattern in Sri Lanka has been to blame one another continuously, be it the previous regime or the lackadaisical approach of the Yahapalanaya, while it is the public that has to face the full brunt of all the party-political sins. It is a great pity that the new Karapitiya Maternity Teaching Hospital could not be completed prior to Helmut Kohl’s demise – needless to say, this generous German would have been the happiest person on earth to have observed how the people in Galle, who rescued him from the tsunami, benefiting out of his philanthropy.

tilakfernando@gmail.com

Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge 

by C.A.Chandraprema Courtesy The Island

August 5, 2017, 7:45 pm

The appearance of Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake before the Bond Commission was the talk of the week. No one can fail to notice that there is a major difference in the way Ravi Karunanayake has been treated when compared to how Hirunika Premachandra was treated when it came to her abduction case and Galagodaatte Gnanasara thera was treated recently with regard to the multiple cases against him. Despite the fact that the men who abducted a youth from a shop had no motive to do that except for the instructions given to them by their boss, Hirunika did not have to spend even an hour in police custody. She was granted bail almost immediately. It all depends on the police and the AG’s Dept. if there are no objections to bail, the Magistrate is more often than not obliged to grant that person bail. We saw the same thing happening with regard to Gnanasara thera – he set an all time record by being granted bail three times in three different cases within minutes of one another.

Incidentally, the nexus that has built up between the yahapalana government and the Bodu Bala Sena was revealed last week once again. When Ven.Watareka Vijitha staged a one man protest in front of the presidential secretariat saying that the newly appointed SLFP organizer for Mahiyangana is also the organizer for the BBS for that area and that he has no protection, the BBS had turned up at the spot within minutes and in fact just before they turned up, the police had tried to frighten Ven Vijitha away by saying that the BBS will be there soon.

And sure enough Ven Gnanasara and Ven Magalkande Sudatta theras did turn up at the spot. How is it that the BBS can turn up within minutes of someone beginning a protest at the presidential secretariat unless there was someone in the Presidentail Secretariat to inform them? While it is true that both Hirunika and Galagodatte thera did their part in different ways to usher in this present government, Ravi K also made a major contribution to that cause.

Ravi K was one of the key persons in the UNP who paved the way for Maithripala Sirisena to contest as the common candidate by dissuading party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe from contesting the presidency in 2015 as he had planned to do. It was also through the political party owned by Ravi K – the swan party – (nobody remembers its name) that the common opposition candidates in 2010 and 2015 contested the presidential elections. Ravi K had also dipped into his own pocket to bail out the UNP when it was in opposition. Yet it is clear that he has been chosen to be the fall guy for the rest of the government to be able to save their own skins. First he was shunted out of the finance ministry and made foreign minister so that the yahapalana government could claim that they were removing unsuitable or corrupt persons from office.

Now after Ravi K gave evidence before the Bond Commission, yahapalana NGO activist Gamini Viyangoda has written an opinion piece, saying that Ravi K has treated the people of this country as poonac eating fools by saying that he was unaware that the rent for the flat he was living in was paid by Arjun Aloysius.  Viyangoda has more or less said that Ravi K should bow out of the scene. To be sure, most of what  Ravi K said in his defence does not sound convincing even to the most sympathetic listener, but then it’s not as if this was a sensitive and thin-skinned government that is outraged by Ravi K’s lack of convincing answers. This is a government that has postponed the local government elections for more than two years and is openly making preparations to postpone the provincial council elections that are coming due in the Sabaragamuwa, North Central and Eastern provinces with scant regard for public opinion.

So how is it that they seem to be concerned about public opinion only when it comes to the bond scam and Ravi K’s statement? Ravi K has now been brought to a position where his entire political career hangs in the balance by the very government he did so much to bring into power. Ravi K was much better off under the Rajapaksa regime. The question here is whether what happened to him can happen unless it was sanctioned at the highest levels of the government – the same levels that decided that he should be removed from the position of finance minister? It was not only Ravi K who was implicated in the bond scam through the examination of Arjun Aloysius’s phone records, but someone called the ‘Hon. PM’. It’s not difficult to imagine the identity of this Hon. PM. It should be borne in mind that however sensational the revelations that have been coming out of the bond commission, it’s not a court of law and once the commission concludes its sittings and submits its report to the President, the latter will have a useful tool to keep the entire UNP in check.

The next presidential election has to take place between 9 November and 9 December 2019. Time is running out fast. If the UNP becomes too independent, President Sirisena will cease to be a political factor by 2019. The UNP did show signs of becoming independent as for instance in the draft interim report of the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly which was released last May which (for the first time in the formal Constitution making process) said that the executive presidential system would be abolished. If this independence was to continue President Sirisena would be teetering on the brink of irrelevance. His position would have become more precarious by the day as the last quarter of 2019 approaches. The Bond Commission is in that respect, an ideal tool to enslave the UNP and to keep it under his thumb up to and beyond 2019 as well.

When this Bond Commission was formed, Sirisena knew what he was doing. Arjuna Mahendran was in on many of the things that took place in the yahapalana conspiracy at the end of 2014. The whole country saw a procession of politicians going to Singapore and then coming back to declare their support for the common candidate. Mahendran is one of those who knew of all these goings on. At least some of these meetings would have taken place in his presence. Yet he was the first to lose his job under the yahapalana government with the SLFP segment of the government literally leading the campaign against him. Even the joint opposition had no role to play given the ferocity of the SLFP government group’s attack on Mahendran. Now this has been extended to Ravi K with even the ‘Hon. PM’ getting drawn in.

According to the rumours floating around, many other UNP ministers and deputy ministers are also implicated directly or indirectly in the bond scam which makes it the ideal tool to keep the UNP on a leash. Once the Bond Commission submits its report, Sirisena will have the entire UNP by its ding dongs. Sirisena needs to keep the UNP tied to the present governing arrangement. Unless the UNP nominates Sirisena as their presidential candidate in 2019 as well, he will be nowhere.  The problem however is that even if the UNP nominates him, the UNP rank and file will not vote for an outsider again, and there will be a significant drop in the voter turnout. That however appears to be the least of Sirisena’s worries. His immediate problem is ensuring that the UNP does not go its separate way at any election between now and the time he decides to leave politics.

For its part, the public scandal created by the bond scam has made it difficult for the UNP to field a candidate of its own at the next Presidential election, which makes Sirisena secure in his present position as the leader of the yahapalana coalition. The fact that the bond commission appears to have been given a free hand is due to several factors, the first being of course the inherent independence of the commissioners who are known to be independent individuals who will not put up with political interference. The second is that the AG’s Dept. appears to have been given a free hand in this case unlike in other cases. The third is the President’s own personal interest in allowing things to take its own course without interference so that he will have a yoke to restrain the UNP with.

Unconstitutionality of the Inland Revenue Bill

One of the main reasons why the government got another tranche of the IMF extended fund facility recently, was because the government had presented the proposed Inland Revenue Bill to parliament with the objective of streamlining revenue collection. When parliament met last Friday, among the announcements that the Speaker made was that the Supreme Court had informed him that certain Clauses of the Inland Revenue Bill were inconsistent with the constitution and that some Clauses would require a two thirds majority in parliament and one would require a referendum as well if it was to be passed. The Joint Opposition and particularly parliamentarian Bandula Gunawardene had been opposing this Bill with some vigour. This proposed Inland Revenue legislation had generated much interest among officers of the Inland Revenue Department as well, and there was at least one strike and several demonstrations against this Bill. Among the Clauses that were deemed to be inconsistent with the constitution were the following:

Clauses 97 and 98 of the Bill deal with the appointment of the Commissioner General of Inland Revenue and his ability to delegate his powers. Clause 97 says that there shall be appointed a Commissioner-General, and that any tax official exercising power conferred on the Commissioner-General shall be deemed to be authorized to exercise that power until the contrary is proved. Clause 98 says that the Commissioner-General may delegate to an officer of the Department any power conferred on him by this Act, other than the power of delegation and that in doing so, he can delegate a power either to a specific individual or to the incumbent of a specific post within the Department. And further, the Commissioner-General may specify that any information, declaration, or document required to be furnished to the Commissioner-General is to be supplied to such other person as he may nominate.

President’s Counsel Mahohara de Silva appearing on behalf of one of the petitioners before the SC had stated in his submissions that while in the existing  Inland Revenue Act No.10 of 2006, the words ‘Commissioner General’ was interpreted to include a Senior Deputy Commissioner-General, a Deputy Commissioner-General, Senior Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner who is specially authorized by him to act on his behalf, in the proposed Bill, no such powers are directly conferred on any officer of the Inland Revenue Service, other than the Commissioner General. In terms of the provisions of the proposed Bill all powers are reposed in the Commissioner General.

Therefore the power reposed in the Commissioner General can only be exercised by any officer of the IRD only if the Commissioner General delegates such authority to that individual. There is no compulsion for the Commissioner General to delegate such power to any particular officer, and therefore if the Commissioner General so wishes, he could refrain from delegating such power to any one or more of the Petitioners who in the opinion of the Commissioner General is independent and not subservient to him. Therefore, the absence of provisions directly granting authority on officers other than the Commissioner General and the wide, unguided power of the Commissioner General to delegate power to officers of his choice drastically affects the independence of the Department of Inland Revenue, and violates Article 12 (1) of the Constitution. (What Article 12(1) of the Constitution says is that ‘all persons are equal before the law and are entitled to the equal protection of the law.’

De Silva had also argued that Clause 97(2) which states that a tax official exercising power conferred on the Commissioner- General shall be deemed for all purposes to be authorized by the Commissioner-General to exercise that power, until the contrary is proved” would also imply that where there is no lawful delegation in terms of Clause 98, any act done on the purported delegation by a tax official would be deemed to be done by the Commissioner General, until the contrary is proved and that this leaves unfettered room for abuse of power and abuse of discretion by any tax official, in a manner violating Article 12 (1) of the Constitution.

Another matter that was deemed to be a violation of Article 12(1) of the constitution, was Clause 100 of the IR Bill which was about secrecy in relation to the information in the possession of the Inland Revenue Department. Counsel for the petitioners Manohara de Silva had argued that under the existing Inland Revenue Act, there are exhaustive and severe restrictions on the sharing of information pertaining to files maintained by the Department of Inland Revenue. Furthermore, it is specifically stated in the existing law that the Minister or the Ministry Secretary will not have access to any records or documents relating to the affairs of any person, in the possession, custody or control of the Commissioner-General. De Silva pointed out that no such safeguards are contained in Clause 100 of the proposed Bill and that what has taken place instead is that there has been an expansion of the types of persons entitled to receive information.

While it is said in the proposed legislation that ‘employees of the Department’ can receive information, there is no interpretation given for the word ‘employee’ and therefore any person employed by the Commissioner General, not being an officer of the Inland Revenue Service  would be entitled to receive sensitive information.

Among the persons entitled to receive information was the Atttorney General. De Silva pointed out in his submission that while under the existing law, the Attorney General was entitled to receive such information only for the purpose of various crime related matters or prosecutions, the proposed Bill seeks to expand this access to civil proceedings as well. He pointed out that the Attorney General in Sri Lanka can be retained by numerous public corporations and in the circumstances the Attorney General having access to information from the Department of Inland Revenue for the purpose of civil proceedings, violates Article 12 (1) of the Constitution.

Another matter that was deemed to violate the Constitution was Clause 167 of the Inland Revenue Bill. What Clause 167 says according to sub-section(1) is that Where the Commissioner-General or an authorized officer has reasonable grounds to believe that a person may leave Sri Lanka without paying a tax that is, or will become payable by that person, the Commissioner-General or authorized officer may issue a departure prohibition order to the Controller of Immigration preventing the person named in the order from departing Sri Lanka. A departure prohibition order shall remain in force until revoked by the Commissioner-General or authorized officer. This was deemed to violate Articles 12, 13, and 14(1) of the constitution which go as follows.

12 (1) All persons are equal before the law and are entitled to the equal protection of the law. 13(2) Every person held in custody, detained or otherwise deprived of personal liberty shall be brought before the judge of the nearest competent court according to procedure established by law and shall not be further held in custody, detained or deprived of personal liberty except upon and in terms of the order of such judge made in accordance with procedure established by law. Any person charged with an offence shall be entitled to be heard, in person or by an attorney-at-law, at a fair trial by a competent court. Every person shall be presumed innocent until he is proved guilty, 14(1)(h) Every citizen is entitled to the freedom of movement and of choosing his residence within Sri Lanka.

The Clause in the Inland Revenue Act which was deemed to require a referendum by the SC was Clause 200 which contained provisions aimed at the Interpretation of the proposed Inland Revenue law. Clause 200(2)&(3) states that in interpreting a provision of this Act, if any material that does not form part of the law is capable of assisting in ascertaining the meaning of the provision, consideration may be given to that material; material that may be considered in interpreting a provision of this Act shall include: (a) all matters not forming part of the Act that are set out in the document containing the text of the Act, as printed by the Department of Government Printing; (b) any treaty or other international agreement or international assistance agreement that is referred to in the Act; (c) any explanatory memorandum relating to the Bill containing the provision, or any other relevant document, that was laid before, or furnished to the members of Parliament, by a Minister, before the time when the provision was enacted; (d) the speech made to Parliament by a Minister on the occasion of a motion related to the Bill containing the provision; and (e) any relevant material in any official record of proceedings of debates in Parliament or debates of any Parliamentary committee that considered the related Bill.

The above was deemed to be inconsistent with Articles 3 and 4 of constitution. Article 3 of the constitution states that sovereignty is in the People and is inalienable and that Sovereignty includes the powers of government, fundamental rights and the franchise. Article 4 lays down the manner in which the Sovereignty is to be exercised with the legislative power of the people being exercised by Parliament, and by the People at a Referendum; and the executive power of the People, by the President. Even a cursory glance at the wide leeway left for the interpretation of this Bill in Clause 200 makes it clear that it may impinge on the exclusive lawmaking powers of Parliament.

Editorial Courtesy The Island

August 5, 2017, 6:22 pm
It is obvious that the next few days are going to be a torrid time in Sri Lanka politics. Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake’s appearance before the Presidential Commission appointed to probe the Central Bank bond scam triggered a deluge of sensational reporting for which the media cannot be faulted for the simple reason that the disclosures were sensational. Of course none of the allegations that were made or material elicited has yet been proven. That must await the final report of the commission. Its term has already been extended at least twice and there is a lot more work to be done before the proceedings can be concluded. It is clear that the commissioners are determined to complete their work as quickly as possible even at the cost of personal sacrifice. One of the commissioners has decided that he would not attend a scheduled assignment abroad as he considers the work of the commission more important. The two Supreme Court judges who are in the three-member commission must also get back to their regular judicial duties.

The calls for Karunanayake’s resignation now being heard are inevitable. There were reports yesterday that the president had talked to him about this at a ‘Temple Trees’ dinner marking Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s 40th anniversary in politics. How correct these reports are we do not know but it is quite obvious that differences between the UNP and the SLFP have sharpened as a result of what is going on. Whether the minister will resign and retire gracefully to the backbench or whether he will stay put in his present ministry remains to be seen. Karunanayake hinted very broadly that his exit from the finance ministry was a result of the efforts of an unelected colleague in his own party. There are wheels within wheels in what is going on now and it will be dangerous for firm conclusions to be reached on the basis of sensational disclosures that are dime a dozen. Although the fact is that ordinary people are reaching such conclusions, a commission of inquiry that includes two serving judges of the Supreme Court and a former deputy auditor general will not do the same. They will undoubtedly act within the framework of their mandate and the law.

The basic fact is that Karunanayake was summoned before the commission to testify on the undated letter he had written regarding the money the government required to pay some road building contractors. He has testified that the letter lacking a date and a reference was an oversight. While different people can have a different take on whether this is correct or not, the fact is that it has not been proved that it is otherwise. So also his testimony that he was not aware that a Perpetual company paid the lease rent for the apartment he and his family occupied while their own home was being renovated. The minister’s position is that when he assumed public office in 2015, he severed connections with his various businesses and these were handled by his wife and daughter. He says he did not know that Perpetual had paid the rent which had since been refunded. A company connected with the Karunanayakes had later bought the apartment. Belief and proof are entirely different matters. Whether this matter will evolve under a strict legal frame or whether external commotion will influence the outcome are open questions.

President Sirisena has the power to remove a minister if he judges that this is necessary. The 19th Amendment did not make any change on this power previously vested with the president. But whether he will do that without the concurrence of the prime minister is also uncertain. He well knows that but for the votes that the UNP brought him, he could not have defeated his predecessor two and a half years ago. He has always been at pains to consult his prime minister on matters relating to the government instead bulldozing his way through at will. When Karunanayake was removed from the finance ministry, he was compensated with the equally prestigious foreign ministry. This arrangement was obviously a compromise between the president and the prime minister who wanted his party colleague’s feathers ruffled as little as possible. But recent developments have made such compromise less possible. We will see how the papadam crumbles in coming days.

Observers also note that the noisy Joint Opposition that seizes every opportunity to wade into the government was slow in presenting a vote of no-confidence against the foreign minister until the smelly stuff hit the fan last week. When the debate on this motion will be fixed and whether it will be relevant when the due date comes around if the minister resigns earlier, are also factors in the equation. We must also not forget the fact that there are many serious allegations against a number of active politicians being investigated by various agencies including the Bribery Commission, FCID and others. Although some of them have gone into remand and been bailed out and some arraigned before the courts, they have not been subject to the same trauma as Karunanayake and are well into the game of pot calling the kettle black. They did not suffer the misfortune of being hauled before a Presidential Commission of Inquiry and were not subject to intensive interrogation under the full glare of publicity as Karunanayake was.

It is unlikely that the commission would go into matters that are not subject to its mandate. If there are complaints against Karunanayake, these must be made to the properly constituted authorities tasked with investigating such matters. If evidence that can sustain a prosecution is unearthed, then the suspects must be brought to court under due process. That is how those alleged of wrongdoing under the previous dispensation are being treated. If there are wrongdoers under the present regime, and the public perception is that there are many, they too must be dealt with in the same manner. Karunanayake cannot be made an exception to that rule merely because a loud hullabaloo has been made at the proceedings of the ongoing inquiry.