Janaki Chandraratna

It is that time of the year that many people make resolutions to overcome the adversities of the previous year. I would like to limit this summation to two basic areas that have taken the country down a slippery path from been one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, with a growth of 8% of GDP, to the current growth of 2-3% GDP, a near bankruptcy, within a span of two years.

Whilst there are many reasons for the above scenario I would like to focus firstly, on the President’s courageous decision to force a union between the SLFP (defectors from the SLFP party election manifesto) and the UNP to form a ‘National Government’. In fact the President was recommending the formation of a national government to other countries in the region.

National governments are generally formed to counter a single or a few national emergencies. British National Government led by Sir Winston Churchill to win the 2^nd World War is an example. The union was defeated at the end of war as the need to continue the national government was no more. In fact, history is full of instances where coalitions of disparate political parties had coalesced to form national governments and frizzled out with the completion of the tasks in hand for the coalition. The President’s yearning for a national government can be due to the non-understanding of the demands of a national union. The continuous union of disparate parities like the SLFP and the UNP, with policies at the extreme ends of the political ideology, cannot be envisaged to be a success. When these parties could not join to front up to the terrorist war, it would have to be a miracle to have a successful union in times of peace. The only plausible factor is the President’s ascension was due to UNP support.

We have already seen the ill effects of this National Union in the economic degradation and political instability of the past year. The president was confronted with conflicts of interest when resolving matters of national interest by hanging on to the leadership of the SLFP and simultaneously beleaguered to implement UNP policies that are seen detrimental to the country according to SLFP policies. Even the President would have come to the conclusion by now that one cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hound! The first resolution in the new-year therefore needs to be a solution to this issue of forced national government, in order to move forward.

The second misfortune that was highlighted in many forums is the educational qualifications of politicians in the current parliament. It is said that many parliamentarians did not have GCE Advanced Level qualification and several are without year 10 qualifications. The reason for this predicament in part can be due to the reluctance of educated middle class taking to politics during the 30-year terrorist war period. It is no wonder that the Prime Minister had to mention that he was not referring to James Bond’, when explaining the issues relating to Treasury bond securities. The lack of an educated parliament is a challenge to any country, more so to a country like Sri Lanka that boasts of a high literacy rate.

The lack of a basic education has a cumulative effect on any individual in government executive positions as it leads to a non-understanding of important issues such as the economic forces at play for financial and commercial development of the country, the principles of democracy, governance, and compliance requirements for law and order. This indeed can be a reason for government parliamentarians are blindly supportive of measures that are inimical to the country.

We have seen many instances where astute parliamentarians have taken advantage of the naivety of others in getting through bills without much debate or discussion. The bill for the Office of Missing Persons is an example.  Many parliamentarians and for that matter parts of the media too are not fully aware of its contents to this day. The Central Bank fraud is another example where alleged perpetrators are still in the government business despite report after report confirming the need for a judicial intervention.

It is time this fundamental issue is resolved in 2017 by setting up a minimum practical education standard for politicians for future elections. Measures need to be taken to assist those politicians who are currently in parliament to comprehend the gamut of good governance. Attendance at a crash course in basic economics, principles of good governance, democracy, law and order needs to be made compulsory to all politicians who lack tertiary educational qualifications. A course on AR and FR would be a good start in the New Year. Steps should also be taken to ensure that politicians are penalized for non-compliance with the law, as it is critical to stop the rot at the top.

Since most of our politicians are blessed with oratory skills to promote their political agendas, in particular, to Csay things that are untrue, an improvement on the knowledge base certainly would improve their conscience to promote the welfare of the country, the job they were voted for, and implement the true meaning of good governance.

Janaki Chandraratna

ප්‍රවෘත්ති නිවේදනයයි.

 සීමා නිර්ණ වාර්තාව අසම්පූර්ණයි. අඩුපාඩුයි  සීමා නිර්ණය අවුල් ජාලාවක්”

ඉහත මැයට අදාළව 2017.01.05 දිනැතිව දිනපතා පුවත්පත් කිහිපයක පලවූ ප්‍රධාන ප්‍රවෘත්තිය සම්බන්ධයෙනි.

2. එහි සඳහන් කිසිඳු කරුණක්, පළාත් පාලන අමාත්‍යවරයා වෙත 2017 ජනවාරි 02 වන දින අප විසින් භාර දුන් සීමා නිර්ණ අභියාචනා විමර්ශනය සඳහා පත් කරනු ලැබූ කමිටුවේ (2012 අංක 22 දරන පනතේ 3 ඇ වගන්තිය යටතේ පත් කරනු ලැබූ කමිටුවේ) වාර්තාවට අදාළ නොවේ.

3. 2012 වර්ෂයේදී පත් කරනු ලැබූ පළාත් පාලන අභියාචනා කොට්ඨාශ සීමා නිර්ණය සඳහා වූ ජයලත් රවී දිසානායක කොමිෂන් සභා වාර්තාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් ලද පැමිණිලි හා අභියාචනා පිළිබඳව විමර්ශනය කිරීම සඳහා පළාත් පාලන ඇමතිවරයා විසින් සාමාජිකයන් පස් දෙනෙකුගෙන් සමන්විත අප කමිටුව 2015 වර්ෂ අවසානයේදී පත්කරන ලදී.

සභාපති            1. ටී අශෝක පීරිස් මහතා (ඉඩම් අමාත්‍යාංශයේ  හිටපු ලේකම්)

දේශපාලන පක්ෂ නියෝජිතයන්

1. නීතීඥ සාලිය මැතිව් මහතා (එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානය)

2. ඒ.එස්.එම්. මිස්බා මහතා ( එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ)

3. මහාචාර්ය බාලසූන්දරම් පිල්ලේ මහතා (ඉලංකෙයි තමිල් අරසු කච්චි)

4. නීතීඥ උපුල් කුමාරප්පෙරුම මහතා (ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ)

පෙර සඳහන් සීමා නිර්ණය කොමිෂන් සභාව විසින් සකස් කර 2015 අගෝස්තු මස ගැසට් පත්‍රය මගින් ප්‍රකාශ කරන ලද පළාත් පාලන ආයතන කොට්ඨාශවල සීමා පිළිබඳව හා ඒවායේ නම් හා අංක පිළිබඳව පැමිණිලි හා අභියාචනා විමර්ශනය කර එයට අදාළ සංශෝධන සකසා වාර්තාවක් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම  අප කමිටුවේ විෂය පථය විය.

4. අප කමිටුව වෙත ලද පැමිණිලි පිළිබඳ විමර්ශනය කිරීම සඳහා සියලුම දිස්ත්‍රික්කවලට ගොස් දේශපාලන නියෝජිතයන් හා පුරවැසි සංවිධාන හා දිස්ත්‍රික් මට්ටම් නිලධාරීන් සමඟද සාකච්ඡා කර පළාත් පාලන ආයතන මායිම් සංශෝධනය කිරීමේ වාර්තාව සකසා එය 2017 ජනවාරි 02 දින පළාත් පාලන අමාත්‍යවරයාට භාර දෙන ලදී.

5. එසේ භාර දෙන ලද වාර්තාවේ අඩංගු නොවූ කරුණු අප වාර්තාවේ ඇතුළත් කරුණු ලෙස අද දින පුවත්පත් කිහිපයක පලකර තිබේ.

6. අපගේ විෂයය පථය වූයේ කොට්ඨාශවල නම්, අංක හා මායිම් වෙනස් කිරීම පමණකි. ඒ ඒ ආයතන සභික සංඛ්‍යාව වෙනස් කිරීම, නව පළාත් පාලන ආයතන පිහිටු වීම, පළාත් පාලන ආයතනවල සීමා වෙනස් කිරීම අපගේ විෂය පථයට අයත් නැත.

7. එසේ වුවද අපට පූර්වයෙන් සීමා නිර්ණය කරනු ලැබූ කොමිෂන් සභාව විසින් හෝ පළාත් පාලන අමාත්‍යාංශය විසින් හෝ පළාත් පාලන ආයතනවල සභික සංඛ්‍යා තීරණය කිරීමේදී සිදු කර ඇති දෝෂ, ජන අනුපාතයට සභික සංඛ්‍යාව තීරණය කිරීමේදී දැකිය හැකි වූ අසාමාන්‍ය විචලතා යනාදිය පිළිබඳව මෙන්ම අනුපාත ක්‍රමය යටතේ සභිකයකු තේරීපත් වීම සඳහා 5% අවම ඡන්ද සංඛ්‍යාවක් ලබාගත යුතු බවට පනතේ ඇති නියමය, බහු මන්ත්‍රී කොට්ඨාස සඳහා එක් පක්ෂයකින් එක් අපේක්ෂකයකු පමණක් ඉදිරිපත් කල හැකි බවට වූ නියමය, සිංහල හෝ දෙමළ හෝ මුස්ලිම් හෝ යම් ජන කොට්ඨාශයක් සංඛ්‍යාත්මක සුලුතරය වූ පළාත් පාලන ආයතනවල ඔවුන් විසිරී ජීවත්වන්නේ නම් නියෝජනයක් ලබා ගැනීමට නොහැකි වීම යනාදී අපගේ විෂය පථයට අයත් නොවන එහෙත් රජයේ බලධාරීන් විසින් සලකාබැලිය යුතු බව අප විසින් නිරීක්ෂණය කරන ලද කරුණු පිළිබඳ වාර්තාවක් ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා විසින් අපගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින ලදුව එකී කරුණු ඇතුළත් ලේඛනයක් අප විසින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් වෙත භාර දී තිබේ. එකී දෝෂ හෝ විචලතා නිවරදි කළ යුත්තේ අප නොවේ. ඒ සඳහා අපට බලයක් නැත.

8. මෙම කරුණුවලින් බොහොමයක් 2015.12.11 දින ගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා හා ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා ඇතුලු දේශපාලන නායකයන්ගේ සහභාගීත්වය ඇතිව පළාත් පාලන අමාත්‍යාංශයේ මෙහෙයවීමෙන් බත්තරමුල්ල ග්‍රෑන්ඩ් මොනෑෂ් ශාලාවේදී පළාත් පාලන සීමා නිර්ණය පැමිණිලි පිළිබඳව පැවැත් වූ සාකච්ඡාවේදී අප කමිටුව විසින්ද දේශපාලන පක්ෂ නියෝජිතයන් විසින්ද මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාවේ සභාපතිවරයා විසින්ද පෙන්වා දෙන ලදී.

9. එම වෙනස්කම් හෝ සංශෝධන පාර්ලිමේන්තුවෙන් නීති පනවා සිදු කළ යුතු වේ. ඒ දෝෂ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අපගේ කමිටු වාර්තාවට දොස් නැගීම පිළිබඳව බෙහෙවින් කණගාටු වෙමු.

10. ඡන්ද විමසීම ප්‍රමාද කිරීමට හේතු අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ නම් අපට දොස් කීමෙන් වැලකී ඒ අවශ්‍යතාව සෘජුව ප්‍රකාශ කර ඒ සඳහා සුදුසු ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගැනීම සුදුසු බව අපට දේෂාරෝපණය කරන සැම දෙනා වෙත කාරුණිකව පෙන්වා දීමට කැමැත්තෙමු.   

ටී. අශෝක පීරිස්, සභාපති,
උපුල් කුමාරප්පෙරුම,සාමාජික.
සීමා නිර්ණය අභියාචනා විමර්ශන කමිටුව.

 (2012 අංක 22 දරන පනතේ 3 ඇ වගන්තිය යටතේ පත් කරනු ලැබූ කමිටුව)

Editorial Courtesy The Island

January 6, 2017, 7:27 pm People’s resentment towards governments in power finds expression in creative cynicism for want of a better alternative. The irate public coined a pithy slogan to vent their frustration under the Rajapaksa regime—unta Lamborghini apita badagini (‘Lamborghinis for the ruling clan and pangs of hunger for us’). They once described the situation under a previous government thus: manthrilata kaar, golayanta baar, janathavata soor—‘cars for MPs, liquor bars for their henchmen and intoxication for the masses’. An automobile plant, for which the government laid the foundation stone in Kurunegala the other day with much fanfare, after promising a mega Volkswagen manufacturing facility, has come to be dubbed the ‘Hoaxwagen’ project!

The government is in this predicament, hoping for a providential wind of foreign investment to propel the national economy, which has been in the doldrums for months, due to the absence of a proper strategy. The yahapalana leaders apparently did not expect victory in Jan. 2015. They benefited from the post-truth politics in that year, but, now, their very political survival hinges on their ability to make good on their promises. The Rajapaksa-led oppositional forces, troubled by political cold turkey, are running around like a headless chicken because they did not anticipate a crushing defeat and had no plans for the worst case scenario.

The incumbent administration has failed to attract FDIs not because it lacks a powerful ministry to satisfy the needs of prospective investors. The previous government had a super ministry run by a member of the ruling family, but it, too, failed to realise its investment targets. The real problem is that the country is not geared to boost the inflow of foreign investment owing to the over-politicisation of the national economy and inefficiency and malpractices on the part of the investment promotion institutions helmed by cronies of the ruling party. No project gets approved unless several palms are greased as is public knowledge. No wonder Sri Lanka finds itself near the bottom of the ease of doing business index; its regulatory environment is not conducive to the commencement and operation of a business at all. However, if an ease of doing ‘underhand’ business index were to be prepared this country would be ranked among the first ten nations.

The change of government in 2015 has not brought about a radical change in the sphere of investment promotion as well. Instead of trying to create a super ministry, the government ought to remove the square pegs in round holes in the investment promotion sector and create an investor friendly environment. Cronyism, nepotism or party affiliations must not be allowed to take precedence over professionalism. There are many brilliant technocrats with proven integrity and they must be hired to promote investment and manage the economy.

Meanwhile, Cabinet Spokesman Rajitha Senaratne has said Sri Lankans have the bad habit of opposing any development project just for the sake of doing so. One cannot but agree with him on this score. The SLFP and its allies opposed the accelerated Mahaweli development programme and the free trade zone projects under the JRJ government. They ridiculed the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s garment factory programme, claiming that Sri Lankan girls were being made to stitch jangi (underwear) for suddhis (white women). The same goes for the expressway projects under the previous government. Among the bitterest critics of them were many UNP big guns. Ironically, today, they cannot do without those hassle-free roads.

It needs to be added that criticism of development projects is not all that bad in that it makes governments act with some restraint. If there had been a strong Opposition capable of giving the Rajapaksas a scare perhaps an airport would not have been built at Mattala and the cost of the Hambantota Port construction would have cost the public purse less. However, the divestiture of state assets must not pass for development!

Intra-coalition disputes have also impeded the government’s development programme considerably. Members of the two main parties in the ruling coalition are at daggers drawn while exchanging political sweet nothings for the consumption of the public. The attendant political uncertainty has taken its toll on investor confidence. No foreigner in his proper senses will want to invest his hard earned money in a country where the ruling party bigwigs are tightening their grip on one another’s jugular.

The government has a long way to go before it is able to attract FDI. It has to get its act together on the economic front. Rhetoric and media bashing won’t do.

By Lucien Rajakarunanayake Courtesy The Island

January 6, 2017, 12:00 pm

Did I hear you mention about the Volkswagen Era?

No, no, it is not Volkswagen – it is Pollswagen.

I’ve never heard of that. Where is Pollswagen made?

Here in Sri Lanka, beginning at Wayamba – you may even call it the Wayambawagen.

Now tell me, is this a wholly new vehicle you are talking about?

There is nothing new about it, it is part of the political wagon we are used to, but it has the special qualities of what is known as Good Governance of Yahapalanaya.

What are these special qualities?

It’s difficult to get it going, that is the main feature. When it does get going it is in the wrong direction.

But why call it the Pollswagen?

Because it is all about polls – just now it is mainly about local government polls.

What has this Pollswagen got to do with local government polls?

It begins with delimitation, and the related delays. Just now the Pollswagen is only moving in reverse gear. It will certainly take much time to get it moving forward. There will have to be many more changes in the Delimitation Gear Box, and the Political Clutch Plates will also need attention.

But with Yahapalana having completed two years, why is it taking so long to make the Pollswagen to move forward? Is it not possible to give it a push to get going?

You don’t really understand the problem. There are two drivers in Yahapalana, who are trying to move in different directions. Those in the Pollswagen Garage are divided. To make things worse, one group is looking towards the Pavulwagen or Family wagon days of the Rajapalana. Those were the days of the Korruptwagen.

Why are they thinking of the Pavulwagen today, after that wagon was defeated twice in the polls?

That is a stuff of many in the Pollswagen Garage – attracted by the Pavulwagen leader who has dreams of defeating Yahapalana this year.

You mean we are fast moving towards a Dreamwagen?

You may not be wrong. The Dreamwagen driver can’t wait till the next polls, which are due only in 2020. There are many things that can happen to the Pollswagen of Good Governance before that

The Pollswagen name can change depending on where and what the politics is. Just now it is all about delaying Local Government Polls.

What next?

There is the need for a Constitutional Poll – what’s called a referendum. There are many in Yahapalanaya who are scared of even the idea of a Referendwagen.

So the people who voted for a new constitution and removal of the Executive Presidency will be stuck in the same old wagon they voted against?

Looks like it: Except for a few changes in the hope of fooling the people, who are being fooled about it from all sides just now.

Does the Pollswagen have anything to do with what we hear about Hambantota?

I think the name will have to be changed to Portswagen. Because what’s happening there involves two ports – a harbor and an international airport?

Who are the Volks involved in this Portswagon?

The Hambantota Volk, are making a huge noise just now, and those involved with the Dreamwagen are giving them all support.

The Hamban Volk say they are worried about the arrival of ChinoVolk – who are said to manage the harbour, and have trading facility in the airport – on a very long lease. Some say the lease is as long as the Dream River of the ChinoVolk leader.

Doesn’t this look like the joining of two great dreams?

What do you mean?

Have you forgotten that the Dreamwagen Leader was one who had very close links with the ChinaVolk, before he was e defeated? Will it not be possible that the Pollswagen or Portswagen leaders of Yahapalanaya may have to make way for the link of these two dreams at Hambantota?

Well, that is certainly something for me to dream about, and most like to bring nightmares to the Pollswagen drivers flying the Green and Blue flags.

Somapala Gunadheera Courtesy The Island

January 5, 2017, 9:36 pm

There is no doubt that ‘Yahapalanaya’ is beset with grave problems. One can understand the causes for its major problems and the ways in which it is trying to solve them. The attempts of its adversaries to topple the dispensation are also understandable. What beats comprehension however, is the gimmicks of its friends under the delusion that they were helping their generous Santa Claus. May be that their overtures may bring some relief but the damage that their fancies cause to a dispensation in crisis is beyond redemption. Such relief is marginal, ill-timed and suicidal. This predilection reminds one of the foolhardy courtier who whacked the mosquito on his king’s back with an axe.

The Quixotic ventures began with the attempt to increase road fines in the rush of passing the budget. Apart from the marginal relevance of the move to the job in hand, any income that it could have brought in would have been minimal, compared to the goodwill that it crushed in one stroke. The proposal is still hanging fire but the damage it caused to the vote base of “Yahapalanaya” is beyond measure.

Then, came the attempt to regulate three-wheelers. Although that move also did not bring any tangible results, it succeeded in antagonizing a powerful block that helped to usher in “Yahapalanaya”. Slipshod management of paddy stocks enraged the small mill owners with an extensive influence in the rural sector, not to mention the hardships caused to the consumer by escalating rice prices as a result. The latest misadventure is bound to alienate sweep-ticket vendors. There again the stakes are not worth the bets. If not for the fact that the perpetrators of these follies are trusted friends of the regime, one might wonder whether they were hatching a conspiracy to topple the Government. In the circumstances, the superstitious may believe that the miscounted coconuts of the JO were not broken in vain.

What is noteworthy is that those irritated in vain by these petty operations form a prominent part of the “Yahapalanaya” support base. They are people with a wide circle of contacts and have the power to influence a large segment of the population that comes in contact with them day in and day out. Evidently, these alienations would have a decisive impact on the result of the oncoming local authorities’ elections. That impact may be stronger than all the other failures of governance combined. Silent resistance to them may be more effective than all the vociferous campaigns of the JO and TUs put together.

The wonder is that those in charge are impervious to the damage being inflicted by their own favourites. Not only do they fail to control the priorities of operations, but also they hesitate to rein in their misguided friends. They are otherwise busy appointing commissions, authorities, sub-committees and other deleterious devises to go into unending investigations and speechifying most of the time, leaving team management to providence. Postponing elections is no remedy to this situation. In fact, postponement makes the problems worse confounded. Holding back the elections will only aggravate the debacle unless “Yahapalanaya” puts its foot down, at least at this late stage and manage its team professionally.

Somapala Gunadheera

 If can study, do so. If not be a preacher!- An Indian saying 

For man to believe that universes are the Creation of one person, who spies on the billions of humans worldwide , each and every second of the day, with a reward in one hand and damnation on the other; against the people he himself created with no man’s consent, defies any Common sense or basic Intelligence in this 21 st century.

IN THE UK AND MOST OF EUROPE, MOST PEOPLE DO NOT FALL FOR THIS TYPE OF CREATION THEORY OR GOD.
SO THEY TARGET THE POOR NATIONS.
WHERE ARE THE BRAINS?

IN SRI LANKA PEOPLE INVITED INTO MANY HOUSES WHERE THERE IS VERY LOUD MUSIC, PRAISING THIS GOD. THEN IN THE HEIGHT OF ALL THE COMMOTION, THE PREACHER TOUCHES YOU. AT THE HEIGHT OF THIS EMOTIONAL EVENT, YOU QUITE NATURALLY AND PHYSIOLOGICALLY EXPERIENCE A ” CURRENT LIKE ” SENSATION ON THE SKIN, WHICH IS PHYSIOLOGICAL. ( some faint, as seen ON TV in the USA, when the preacher touches you.)

All you got to do is to watch the religious TV Channels and  preachers in the USA,doing the same. People faint and feel elated when touched, while the loud music or prayers roll on, irrespective of faith.

Then they collect millions from TV viewers worldwide, while living in million dollar mansions and owning several Jet planes.

Research the you tube, the interviews of preachers with Larry King to see for your selves.  THEY ARE FILTHY DISHONEST ROGUES !!

THEN THEY SAY ,” THE LORD ENTERED YOUR BODY!!
“” YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED, PRAISE THE LORD ”
” YOU FELT HIS PRESENCE INSIDE YOUR BODY ”
ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT,
BUT MOST CONVINCING TO IDIOTS AND MOST COMMON MEN.
NOW YOU ARE WELL AND TRULY CAUGHT!

NEXT YOU SHARE A GORGEOUS

MEAL, FOLLOWED BY GETTING A GIFT OF 5000/ or 10,000/

Rupees AS A BRIBE, TO BRING ANOTHER

10 STUPID PEOPLE FOR THE NEXT PRAYER

INDOCTRINATION.

This is happening daily.

THIS GOES ON ALL OVER SRI LANKA AND THERE IS NO LAW AGAINST IT. IT IS LIKE TURNING A BLIND EYE ON TEN TO TWELVE YEAR GIRLS BEING ALLOWED TO MARRY !!

THE POLITICIANS AND MONKS,

SIT ON THEIR BACK SIDES AND

PRETEND NOT TO KNOW AND TURN A

BLIND EYE TO GET FAVOURS !

EDUCATE OUR PEOPLE AT LEAST NOW.

SPREAD THIS INFORMATION AND

SHOW FACT FROM FICTION.

DO NOT TURN A BLIND EYE.

THANKS TO ANAGARIKA DHARMAPALA

WHO SPREAD FACT FROM FICTION,

THAT UDDHA GAYA WAS SAVED FOR

ALL MANKIND!!

SPREAD THE WORD USING THE INTERNET

TO FIGHT THESE ROGUES AND THE

INDOCTRINATION !!

IT IS OUR DUTY.

Well analysed.

Judging from the atrocities commuted by god against humans as stated in the bible, whose sins needed to be atoned god’s or humans?

Exodus 12:29 Now it came about at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle.

Kill the Entire Town if One Person Worships Another God

Suppose you hear in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you that some worthless rabble among you have led their fellow citizens astray by encouraging them to worship foreign gods.  In such cases, you must examine the facts carefully.  If you find it is true and can prove that such a detestable act has occurred among you, you must attack that town and completely destroy all its inhabitants, as well as all the livestock.  Then you must pile all the plunder in the middle of the street and burn it.  Put the entire town to the torch as a burnt offering to the LORD your God.  That town must remain a ruin forever; it may never be rebuilt.  Keep none of the plunder that has been set apart for destruction.  Then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and be merciful to you.  He will have compassion on you and make you a great nation, just as he solemnly promised your ancestors.  The LORD your God will be merciful only if you obey him and keep all the commands I am giving you today, doing what is pleasing to him.” (Deuteronomy 13:13-19 NLT)

Courtesy adaderana

Participating in an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme is similar to one falling ill and being admitted to hospital, that though the Sri Lankan economy has not become a seriously ill patient who should be admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), but has clearly become a patient who had to be admitted to hospital, said Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy recently while reviewing ‘The Road Map: Monetary and Financial Sector Policies for 2017 and Beyond’.

While speaking further, the Central Bank Governor said, While we are aware of the treatment to be provided for this, it is a pleasure that it has already been started. Even the IMF has by now appreciated the progress by Sri Lanka. Since the improved efficiency of the state monetary sector is the important unit in this progress, the work done by the finance Minister and his staff should be appreciated. However, the challenges before us are the proper implementation of this with a clear understanding, goal and commitment of the road map before us. This has to be done through a national effort.”

However, while responding to the Central Bank Governor’s statement during a media conference on 05 January, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said that when Mahinda Rajapaksa had handed over the government the economy was already in the ICU and that when the economy was being pushed into the ICU during the Mahinda Rajapaksa era, the incumbent Central bank Governor had been an attendant in that hospital. While pointing out that he (Indrajit Coomaraswamy) was also with the Rajapaksas at that time, the Finance Minister added that however, what had been in the ICU would soon be brought not to the hospital but to the OPD.

Courtesy Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/sri-lanka-stocks-idUSL4N1EV3CA

Jan 5 Sri Lankan shares fell for a fifth straight session and ended at a nine-month low on Thursday as foreign investors continued to sell shares, offloading close to one billion rupees worth of stocks in the first four sessions of the new year.

Foreign investors sold a net 181.7 million rupees ($1.22 million) worth of equities on Thursday, extending the net outflow in the first four trading sessions of the year to 996.6 million rupees.

Worries over a weakening rupee, rising interest rates and continued foreign selling in index heavyweight John Keells Holdings Plc also weighed on the sentiment.

The Colombo stock index ended 0.09 percent down at 6,147.52, its lowest close since April 4. The bourse fell 9.7 percent in 2016, its second straight annual decline.

The index has been trading in the oversold territory since Tuesday with 14-day relative strength index breaking below 30, Thomson Reuters data showed. A level between 30 and 70 indicates the market is neutral.

Conglomerate John Keells, which saw net foreign selling of 2.34 million shares that accounted for 62 percent of the day’s turnover of 802.4 million rupees, ended 0.14 percent lower.

Talks of a high net worth foreign investor exiting from Keells has triggered panic selling, dealers said.

“Foreign selling in Keells is still continuing and that has brought the market down,” said Dimantha Mathew, head of research, First Capital Equities (Pvt) Ltd.

Analysts said interest rate volatility and policy uncertainties are also hurting investor sentiment.

Yields on treasury bill auctions rose 5-6 basis points at a weekly auction on Wednesday, a day after the central bank governor signalled less intervention to defend the currency as market has braced for a depreciation.

Shares in Hemas Holdings Plc dropped 2.20 percent while biggest listed lender Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc lost 0.77 percent. ($1 = 149.4000 Sri Lankan rupees) (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Vyas Mohan)

රියර් අද්මිරාල්  සරත් වීරසේකර

නව ව්‍යවස්‌ථාවක්‌ ගෙන ඒමට පිඹුරුපත් සැකසෙමින් තිබෙන තීරණාත්මක අවස්‌ථාවක රණවිරුවන් වශයෙන් ඉතා වැදගත් යෑයි සිතෙන කරුණු කිහිපයක්‌ ඔබතුමාගේ අවධානයට යොමු කිරීමට සිතුවෙමු. රණවිරුවා යන ගෞරවනීය නාමය ලැබුණේ ත්‍රස්‌තවාදයට එරෙහි යුද්ධය විජයග්‍රහණය කොට සමස්‌ත ශ්‍රී ලංකා වාසී ජනතාවට බියෙන් සැකෙන් තොරව ජීවත් වීමේ නිදහස ලබාදුන් බැවිනි.

රියර් අද්මිරාල්
සරත් වීරසේකර

Editorial Courtesy The Island

January 5, 2017, 9:30 pm

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government has, in its wisdom, decided to set up a special tribunal to handle bribery and corruption cases as we reported yesterday. Cabinet Spokesman Rajitha Senaratne has said once it is established, hey presto, the current investigation process which he considers slow will get a turbo boost.

The tardiness of the judicial process is not the only reason why the government has not been able to bring those it once accused of corruption and other serious infractions to justice. There are several others. First, the suspects covered their tracks while they were in power. Second, some of the allegations the yahapalana leaders used to galvanise the public into voting against the last regime were grossly exaggerated. They spoke of stolen gold weighing several tons, a ‘golden horse’ brought here all the way from Buckingham Palace and USD 18.5 billion stashed away in offshore accounts of the former ruling clan and its cronies. The naïve expected the new government to seize the stolen assets and throw the culprits behind bars posthaste. Third, some of the incumbent rulers are beholden to their predecessors as they received favours from the latter. Fourth, they fear that they will have to pay for their corruption and abuse of power when they lose power and the boot is on the other foot. Hence, they are wary of going the whole hog to fulfil their election pledge to punish the corrupt.

Current leaders, faced with serious politico-economic difficulties, seem to have taken leave of their senses. There are compelling reasons why a special tribunal must not be set up. True, justice delayed is said to be justice denied. Similarly, justice hurried is justice buried. The government must not yield to pressure from its backers to stage judicial circuses to entertain the public and cover up its many failures.

The setting up of a special tribunal will enable the suspects to show themselves to be victims of a political witch hunt. The ill-conceived move is sure to open an escape route on the political front for those who must be made to pay for their corruption and abuse of power.

The government ought to learn from its predecessor’s mistakes such as the wrongful impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. The Rajapaksa government, intoxicated with power, manipulated the parliamentary process and resorted to a kangaroo trial disguised as a PSC (Parliamentary Select Committee) probe to get rid of her. But, subsequently, her impeachment was revoked by the present administration, which also did not follow the proper procedure in effecting the rescission. President Maithripala Sirisena acted arbitrarily. (Interestingly, Sirisena and many others who are championing good governance today unashamedly voted for her impeachment!)

One is reminded of how the late Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike was stripped of her civil rights and her parliamentary seat in the most despicable manner for seven years through a special presidential commission in 1980. The JRJ government, with several of the current UNP leaders within its ranks, imposed civil disabilities on her without caring two hoots about the judicial process. The then Opposition Leader A. Amirthalingam, speaking in Parliament minced no words when he declared: “This is a political murder; this is a political killing. You are seeking to kill the position of the Member for Attanagalla, which is the greatest punishment that could be meted out. Retrospectively and retro-actively you are creating offences and are meting out punishment, which is not in keeping with the fundamental rights you have guaranteed and it is a violation of the Universal Charter of Human Rights.” Some of those who unflinchingly voted for depriving Mrs. B of her civil rights are championing good governance today!

The Civil Rights Movement, in a hard-hitting statement issued on Dec. 10, 1980, said the course of action the JRJ government had resorted to had “inflicted a kind of second class justice for political offenders”. Is the current UNP-led government planning a repeat performance?

Meanwhile, the government decision to appoint a special tribunal is tantamount to an expression of no confidence in the judiciary and will help bolster the argument being peddled in some quarters for an international war crimes court here.

The yahapalana regime will be mistaken if it thinks the proposed ‘show trials’ will help distract the attention of the public from its pathetic failure on the economic front, protracted postponement of elections for political reasons, rampant corruption, skyrocketing cost of living, abuse of power, the continuation of the culture of impunity etc.

Those who have robbed public funds, benefited from kickbacks at the expense of the country and committed other forms of infractions must be brought to justice. But, in tackling issues arising out of investigations into bribery and corruption, let the self-appointed champions of good governance heed the classical adage, festina lente or ‘make haste slowly’. If they get their act together on the economic front and fulfil their pre-election promises, they won’t have to resort to measures such as the appointment of special tribunals to impress the public.

Kanthar Balanathan

Please read the contents of this essay, which gives a sequential list of how SL wasted public funds in the name of peace talks. All of them failed. Government of SL should have taken appropriate steps to either get through an appropriate constitution or shut up and tell the Tamils to put up with the existing constitution. The pejorative part of the political separatist party, Federal Party is to instigate some a Valvettiturai goons; Thangathurai and Kuttimani to take up arms and shoot the army cadre and rob banks. This was done through a Federal Party supporter named Gnanamoorthy. The two goons are smugglers and the question is; how much do they know about a country, microeconomics / macroeconomics, constitution, industrial growth etc. The two are either sixth standard / eighth standard fighters who did smuggling. To be a smuggler, someone has to be a fighter and a runner, because they go to India and are exposed to threats of fight and murder. Then came Prabakaran who is the son of Vellupillai who is the brother of Gnanamoorthy. Prabakaran is only an eighth standard educated guy. The question is what knowledge does Prabakaran has in politics and economy etc. The only act he knew in the 70s is to kill people. Somehow he managed to widen his empire by bluffing the Diaspora that he is a fighter and can deliver Tamil Eelam. What Prabakaran did not know is that the Tamil Diaspora is using him as a scapegoat for their purpose, which really is the west was using the Diaspora to use Prabakaran. This is where the writer considers Prabakaran as a fool. If you study the number of hours, travel and time wasted on peace talks; it’s horrific. The public funds wasted is the people’s money. I.e. SriLankan people’s money. While people were starving of hunger the government was having peace talks with terrorists overseas. Just let us think of the places visited for the talks.

Did Prabakaran agree to any of these programme OR plan? NO!

Why? Because Prabakaran depended on Diaspora for funds. The Diaspora was dictating to Prabakaran, to agree or disagree on what they want.

The important question here is who are the people who agreed to dance with FP, LTTE and the Lot? SWRD, SB, DS, RP, CB, RW and the whole lot of politicians in SL. Why was that? Because they were told by the west to do so.

During talks somehow LTTE and the rest of the terrorist groups organised to train their cadre in Palestine, Ireland, Cuba, India, etc. Did not SL know about this?

Fundamentally V Prabakaran was a fool who did not know the fundamentals of politics and economics, however, he was manipulated by the FP and the Diaspora.

In September 1986, the Nonaligned Movement (NAM) was convened in Zimbabwe, and the Chairman of NAM was Hon Late Rajiv Ghandi, who was handing over the leadership to Robert Mugabe. This is the time something happened. Rajiv Ghandi (RG) decided to drive all terrorist groups out of India, which will then make them agree to a peaceful settlement. RG came over the Zimbabwe TV, and made a statement. RG on return did clear the terrorists out of India. The Choolaimedau shoot out was a driver which created chaos among the Tamil Nadu people and may be, that was used to chase all groups out of India. After that RG moved with a solution. However, Prabakaran did not agree. Prabakaran was told by the Diaspora not to accept. Prabakaran depended on the Diaspora for funds. May be RG knew that number of talks previously held was a wastage of time and money. India and RG would have driven LTTE to ground, however, it is the SriLankan government which did not want LTTE to be wiped out. Premadasa gave arms to LTTE to fight the Indian forces. The whole thing makes us to believe that the SriLankan government was weak in her politics and depended on the wests dictation only.

Rajiv Ghandi was not in favour of Tamil Eelam, but a simple solution within unitary SL, however, the west wanted TE. Did the west not want Rajiv implementing his own agenda?

Why was RG assassinated? Is it because RG implemented his own agenda and not the West’s agenda? Million dollar question????

Finally we have to blame the SriLankan government for being so weak in her policies and acts.

patriot

The Suddas & Never-to-Trust Indians are laughing at our Yahapalana Kalu Suddas!

• Where in the world have you heard of inviting war criminal Blair as State VVIP Guest?Only in Sri Lanka.
• Where in the world have you heard of leaders asking global crooks to create the economic blueprint for Sri Lanka?Only in Sri Lanka.
• Which country goes sucking behind the very nation that dropped the atomic bomb killing millions in Japan, the nation that has no shame to militarily intervene by ordering its Christian NGOs to enter countries and pay money to promote lies and then create regime change and plant puppet local leaders who will say ‘yes’ to everything? Right again, only Sri Lanka.
• Which country is mad enough to allow a meddling and interfering nation that created the LTTE to build a rail and road link to Sri Lankawhen it takes no rocket science to realize that a 1.3billion population can soon land and take over a 20million island? Yep, only Sri Lanka.
• Which country is stupid enough to allow UN and envoys of foreign nation to inspect its national security establishments?Right again, Sri Lanka
• Which country is proud to allow all foreign and economic policy to be whetted for approval by another nation?Spot on, its Sri Lanka.
• Which country has leaders who are proud to say they have made friends with foreign nations when these friends are notorious for bringing down entire countries and their economies and making the people of these countries slaves to the World Bank/IMF debt systems? You are right again, it is our buffoon politicians.
• Which country has leaders who to appease the forces that sponsored them imprisons the nations war heroes and intelligence officerscharging they are terrorists while releasing the terrorists in prison? Funny state of affairs, isn’t it….!
• Which country allows foreign funded NGOs and their local lackeys who worship the white masters to draft the country’s new constitutionwhen the people did not even ask for such? Right again, its Sri Lanka
• Which country has a proud Democratic Government called Good Governance Government that happily enjoys taking anyone and everyone who opposes them to the bribery commission, PRECIFAC, FCID or simply locks them up in prison while they can FIND reasons for locking them up? Funny isn’t it, well it is happening in Sri Lanka and the world is just watching.
• Which country has a leader who does not know whether he is coming or going and every time something goes wrong his immediate response is I didn’t know” – its only in Sri Lanka.
• Which country has the misfortune to put up with a PM who was happy to divide the country to the LTTE in 2002, allowed the LTTE to openly humiliate the armed forces,who kept on saying the war was unwinnable, who has somehow managed with the help of his white financiers to repeat all that he could not do throughout 2002-2004 now in 2015! Yes its Sri Lanka.
• Which country has leaders daft enough to co-sponsor a UN Resolution that claims the war criminals are the armed forces and not the LTTE!Yes it happens only in Sri Lanka.
• Which country has citizens who are so selfish and only think of themselves and failed to connect the dots to realize that in January 2015 they fell prey to bogus propaganda (though the faults of the previous regime helped add fuel to the fire) without realizing that though the previous government did have faults it was still the LESSER EVIL….? Sri Lanka
• Which country watches while the yahapalana government makes ministers out of losing candidatesthat the people have rejected and brings in a corrupt former President and makes her head of Reconciliation bogey? Spot on…only in Sri Lanka.
• Which country has leaders who wish to eliminate the historical Buddhist identity of this country because the country’s that are funding them are those with an agenda to Christianize Sri Lanka to make into another South Korea? Yep, Sri Lanka.
• Which country has leaders are proud to give the West and India land to make profit while the citizens will steadily be thrown into poverty and debt? Right again, its Sri Lanka.
• Which country has a media that was wailing and screaming about freedom and rights under previous regime but under yahapalana that freedom has meant to write ONLY against the previous regime only? Its Sri Lanka’s media….none of them have written a word in protest of the threats to the national security, the wrongful arrests of the intelligence officers, the intrusions by West and India.

Anyone wondering what yahapalana leaders have achieved this past year, does not need to go very far – the proof is in the pudding.

We are going behind nations that have ruined innocent lives across South America, Middle East, Africa, Asia and are continuing to do so because all that these Western nations are interested in is PROFIT, PLUNDERING, PROMOTING THEIR RELIGION, DEGRADING CULTURES and totally ruining the history, historical identity, culture and indigenous systems of nations. To do this they invest in creating Christian missionaries, Christian NGOs, Funding local lackeys to be their mouthpieces, promoting stupid slogans like multiculturalism, multifaith so they can demean the indigenous systems and craftily bring their religions and cultures in par with the indigenous and then slowly uproot the indigenous by making the innocent people believe that their religion is more powerful and superior.

Inspite of these realities the People of Sri Lanka are ignorant enough to feel that they are blessed to have these very western conspiring nations to partner with yahapalana leaders without realizing that they are slowly planning the division and disintegration of Sri Lanka.

They are changing the constitution, the administrative systems, they are putting puppets into key roles as officials so that their wishes will be realized before the people start turning against yahapalana for ruining the country….by which time yahapalana leaders and their families would have all got green cards to live overseas!

In the meanwhile the Suddas and the Never-to-trust Indians are laughing at the yahapalana leaders and officials who are bending backwards to please the white/Indian masters while they are enjoying making every change possible to make Sri Lankan a Western/Indian colony to fulfil the aspirations of breaking up China’s & Russia and the nations linked to them.

Kanthar Balanathan

A.

1. Megha from Kalinga came to Jaffna with people from Madurai and other places in 1258. Megha did not name the North as Tamil Eelam. Megha is an Indian.
2. In 1255 Chandrabanu captured the North. Chandrabanu was born in Thailand. Chandrabanu was an invader like Kalinga Megha.
3. Aryachakravarti dynasty (1262–1450). They did not name the North as Tamil Eelam. Arya are not Tamils. Most of them are Indians.
4. House of Siri Sanga Bo (1450–1467). They did not name the north as Tamil Eelam.
5. Aryachakravarti dynasty(restored) (1467–1619). They did not name the North as Tamil Eelam. (Invaders).
6. Portuguese Empire (1619-1624). They did not name the North as Tamil Eelam. (Invaders)

Did any of the administration develop the North? Was there any structural transformation? The low caste people were left alone. They were not fed by the dam crown or the elites. They were not allowed to enter the city, then how can they be looked after?

B

During the Portuguese period Tamil elites looked after themselves. They converted their religion to Catholism. Got jobs and had enough to feed. The low caste people and conscious people did not change their religion, but continued to be Hindus.

C

During the Dutch period, similar environment. Tamil elites were able to go to Netherland. They sucked the Dutch and transferred their assets to Nederland. Even now, a clown (Remigius Kanagarajah) from Netherland claims that Jaffna belongs to him, as if he bought it from someone. He looks a Thailand man. Well, there are people who resemble Thai in the North anyway.

During the periods of Portuguese and Dutch: Was the region subjected to structural transformation? Was there any development? NO!

D

Then the British came. It was a dam good era for the elites. Most of them were able to go to London and study Law. They concentrated to do Law with ulterior motive.

During the British period:

Elites looked after their kith and kin.

Naganathan family went to India. Naganathan (යකඩයා) grew up in India and qualified as a doctor from Madras University. Just before they knew independence was to be given all of the Ramanathan family came back to SriLanka to capture power. Same with Chelvanayagam. He came back from Malaysia as a boy. This is how they all recouped to capture power. The elites have been diverting te focus of the poor mass and the low caste Tamils by the name of Tamil Eelam. They do not know that they will be the victims if Tamil elites are given power. This is how the elites have been feeding the illiterate Tamils who were instigated for Tamil Eelam after 1948.

All Tamil politicians were focussed on demanding power and wealth from SL, however, they failed in developing the North. All what they were shouting for is – Tamil Eelam, Tamil Eelam. The idiosyncrasy of the 21^st century.

The main focus here should be to investigate under who regime separatism, terrorism commenced. Undoubtedly it directs that, since independence, the separatism, terrorism were instigated under the UNP administration. We all know that UNP is the stooge of the west. Then again, UK, wherever they left giving independence, they left a problem so that the country will run back to them for solution. Can the UNP guys deny this fact?

To be continued….

By Ananda Ariyarathne Courtesy Ceylon Today

Sri Lanka may be the unique example for a ‘majority’ being turned into a ‘voiceless entity’ within the nation’s own borders. Although they, the Sinhalese, make up 75 per cent of the total population, they have been branded as the most chauvinistic people, and due to their misfortune they have now ended up powerless and wait helplessly watching and feeling the destructive developments. The call for self rule was quite adequate enough to understand the level of deterioration of conditions perpetuated by the extremists chasing a goal of their own. A nation that could have been based on a firm foundation, beautifully and harmoniously integrated and bonded by two of the friendliest cultures is waiting helplessly.

Political complacence

Aimless and clueless politics has prevented noticing even the obviously visible realities. The first rulers of this country after Independence took the Sri Lankan Tamils for granted though it was never expressed openly. The fact that Tamil people in Sri Lanka were identified as Ceylon Tamils and Indian Tamils proves the situation that existed then. Tamil Community identified as Ceylon Tamils, had been a community smaller in numbers than the Indian Tamil Community in 1946. Having such a large number of Indian Tamils had already become an inseparable factor in Indo-Ceylon (Sri Lankan) relations. The concern the Indian Central Government had over the Tamil people based in Sri Lanka became an unavoidable balancing factor, in handling Tamil Nadu which had started screaming for a Separate Tamil State- the Dravidastan. By that time, Sri Lanka had a contented Tamil community. It was only some of the leaders who were agitating.

Indian Tamil question was a pending issue, but not grown to a crisis while the Ceylon Tamils had no grievances. The educated Ceylon Tamils had no problems in getting employed within Sri Lanka; and around the time of Independence, approximately 60 per cent of Government Servants were Tamil citizens. Everything was fine until the Language Issue came in. That was the beginning of the end of good times.

Language issue was a cheap way out seen by the opportunists. It is obvious now; it was that indifference that gave reasons for the Sri Lankan Tamil Community to feel frustrated. What came was closer to the expression- ‘we are a community taken for granted’. When the socialist politicians objected to such a measure, they were laughed at. They prophesied ‘One Language Two Countries’ as a possible eventuality.

With the introduction and implementation of the Language Policy, the deterioration started and it affected all aspects of life, starting with the simple forms used for the Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths. Education was affected with examinations, higher studies, and the availability of opportunities. Solutions were pursued only when problems surfaced. Opportunities became limited for Tamil citizens as they had a language barrier, and it was natural that frustration followed. The friction resulted in changes, but, by that time the damage had been done. The complacence of all the governments that came, postponed problems, and that in turn caused a very positive environment for ‘outsiders’ to intervene.

Inseparable Indian Politics

It was mainly the Tamil Nadu politics and ‘Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’, which was founded in 1949, as an ‘offshoot’ of ‘Dravida Kazhagam’, caused even the ‘Indian Constitution’ to be amended to treat any call for separation described as ‘a demand for secession a criminal act’, in 1963. Area Covered by Greater Tamil Nadu. Compare the area shown in the Map of Sri Lanka and the Famous Map of Prabhakaran and now the area shown as Traditional Homelands of Sri Lankan Tamil people. Also, see the emblem of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam in the picture shown to the right.( Source-Internet.)

On the recommendations of the Committee on the ‘National Integration and Regionalism’ of the ‘National Integration Council’ the Indian Parliament unanimously passed the 16th Amendment to the Constitution with a specific narration like: “….prevent the fissiparous, secessionist tendency in the country engendered by regional and linguistic loyalties and to preserve the unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity” of India.

That became the beginning of the end for the call for a separate State for Tamils’ in India, but it would not have killed the sentiments and aspirations. Till then, the agitations by the Tamil extremists in Tamil Nadu openly expressed their aspirations. Although those areas shown have some specific area, it should not be misunderstood as a region completely occupied by Sri Lankan Tamil people. But that was the picture given to the outside world.

Proscription in India was a kind of a climax for Extremist Tamil politics there, but it coincided conveniently with the Sri Lanka situation. Growing frustration among Tamil citizens in Sri Lanka provided an ideal fertile base to have ‘Tamil nationalism’ to be exported to Sri Lanka, where the people really had some valid reasons to be frustrated. It had become a time, any Tamil politicians having close links with the Sinhalese dominated government in the South were treated as ‘traitors’. The Tamil youth had by that time seen how the Sinhalese youth took up arms and challenged the government. But they preferred to depend on Tamil Nadu as the sanctuary. It reached more serious levels with Tamil Nadu openly harbouring training camps for Tamil youth.

International Relations

The blame for the Indian Government’s clandestine involvement in Training Sri Lankan Tamil Youth should be taken by the Government of Sri Lanka, which thought USA would come to the rescue proves ignorance in global politics.
On the contrary, such intimacy with the Indian Government showed the underlying assurance given for the future separate State for Tamils in Sri Lanka. There, again, the whole blame should go to the then government in Sri Lanka for its failed international relations.

Inactivity of the diplomatic missions in the Western countries paved the way for the prejudices created about the Sinhalese as a community in Sri Lanka which is harassing innocent Tamil people. The truth about Sri Lankan Tamil people living everywhere in Sri Lanka, doing business and purchasing property was kept hidden.

Such a tendency in Sri Lanka provided the positive background for Western countries to encourage the separatist movement, openly. The numbers and types of sophisticated weapons reaching the LTTE, wished it to happen that way.
Those nations promoting intervention in Sri Lankan affairs started that way. The promotion of concepts like ‘Right to Protect’ and the ‘Centre Periphery Application’ became the foundation for the Constitutional changes. The set of words ‘genocide, killings, rape and atrocities’ constituted the alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka. The ignored fact is that, if such support was not given, the only option could have been a ‘negotiated settlement’ under which such alleged sufferings could never have happened.

Tamil militancy and suffering

The killing of Alfred Duraiappah signalled the beginning of the era of defiance developing into a carnage that went out of control. Tit- for -Tat kind of incidents grew into a dimension where it became full scale conscription for Tamil militants, dragging each and every household into the suffering. Imagine a life style with a ‘cyanide capsule’ reminding more death than the aspiration to live. Invisible hands in Tamil Nadu provided a haven for Tamil militants from Sri Lanka, and the affluent Tamil nationalists living comfortably in Western countries provided the funding needed, initially to stabilize the movement and it became an almost a ‘self relying’ organization with resource centres created both by legal and illegal dealings. The resources created were freely available for the acquisition of the most sophisticated weaponry for a conventional war with a government as well as for the dedicated, well planned and executed propaganda to construct networks and support bases for the cause. The Indian Tamil promoters saw their opportunity emerging in Sri Lanka and made everything possible within their reach to make every minute and moment to serve their purpose.

Prabhakaran, who may have definitely started as a great emancipator, got spoilt by the pampering received from the Western Governments. They saw the opportunity of getting a unique and a geo-politically strategic location like Trincomalee, coming towards them so easily, on a platter, and did their part in supporting the LTTE. It is funny to note a government knowingly making arrangements to save the life of the most ruthless terrorist in spite of having the LTTE listed as a notorious Terrorist Organization in their own countries.

The picture given was becoming scary for any Sinhalese, as it showed Sinhalese as a Minority in ‘Dravidastan’.

West and UN

The present ‘Constitution’ pushed in a hurry had never been to bring any solution to the Sri Lankan Tamil people who suffered. A conflict that could have been resolved without a bloody armed conflict; if the LTTE was not supported with the most sophisticated weaponry, in the first place. The hope given to them made them pursue their military programmes and at the end, the ‘Human Shield’ became a tactic. Now, the Sri Lankan Government which had no choice but to defeat a terrorist organization, is accused of genocide and a variety of allegations used elsewhere in the world too.

The matter was taken up by the UN and then Geneva arranged to accuse the Sri Lankan Government. Now, hiding behind all such work, the Tamil extremists are trying their best to get the Eelam somehow or other.
And we have an ‘Unwanted Constitution’ forced on the majority which is actually a ‘minority’ in the ultimate picture they are chasing to achieve.

Is it the end of the road?

No..! Definitely not! It is very encouraging to note that our President has indicated his plan to take the Geneva issue up with the newly elected President- Donald Trump in March this year.

If the President seeks a just solution, the best is to request US President Trump to appoint an impartial committee to re-examine the evidence on the allegations made against the Sri Lankan Government before taking action to please some ambitious extremists who have other goals. Before everything else, let the truth come out. This is not against the innocent Tamil brethren. We are one people.

– මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනය රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්/විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ  කැෆේ සංවිධානය

ගැටළු ඇත්තේ සීමා නිර්ණය අභියාචන විමර්ශනය කිරීමේ කමිටුවේ  (අශෝක පීරිස් කමිටුවේ) නොව නීති වෙනස් නොකල පළාත් පාලන අමාත්‍යාංශයේ සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ හා මුලික සිමා නිර්ණය සිදුකළ කුප්‍රකට ජයලත් – රවී දිසානායක සීමා නිර්ණය කොමිසමේ ය.

අශෝක පීරිස් කමිටුවට  ව්‍යාජ චෝදනා එල්ල කොට ඡන්දය කල් දැමීමේ ආණ්ඩුවේ  උත්සාහය පරාජය කළ යුතුව තිබේ

සීමා නිර්ණය අභියාචනා විමර්ශන කමිටු වාර්තාවේ දෝෂ ඇති බව දක්වමින් වැරදි සහ නොමග යවන සුළු පුවත් සංවිධානාත්මක ලෙස පළ කිරීමට ආණ්ඩුව හා සම්බන්ධ කණ්ඩායමක් උත්සහ දරමින් සිටී.  ඔවුන් විසින් මේ වන විට අශෝක පීරිස් කමිටු වාර්තාවේ දෝෂ ඇතැයි දක්වමින් ජනමාධ්‍ය වෙත නිවැරදි නොවන තොරතුරු සංවිධානාත්මකව ලබාදීමක් සිදු කරනු ලබයි. 

සීමා නිර්ණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් සංවිධානාත්මකව පළ කරනු ලබන තොරතුරු සම්බන්ධයෙන් කැෆේ සංවිධානය පහත නිරීක්ෂණ ඉදිරිපත් කරයි.

1. සීමා නිර්ණය අභියාචනා විමර්ශන කමිටුවේ විෂය පථයට අයත් නොවන නමුත් දිගු කාලීනව මෙරට පලාත් පාලන විෂය සම්බන්ධයෙන් උනන්දුවක් දක්වන මැතිවරණ කේෂ්ත්‍රයේ විශේෂඥයින් විසින් හදුණාගෙන ඇති කරුණු කිහිපයක් පවතී. ඒ කිසිවක් පළාත් පාලන ඡන්ද විමසීම සදහා බාධාවක් නොවේ.   ඒවා මැතිවරණ කල් දමා ගැනීමේ උත්සාහයට හේතු වශයෙන් යොදා ගැනීම ලැජ්ජා සහගතය.  අද දින ‘දිනමිණ‘ හා ‘දිවයින‘ පුවත්පත් හි පළ වු තොරතුරු සියල්ලම පාහේ ‘අශෝක පීරිස් මහතා ප්‍රමුඛ සීමා නිර්ණය අභියාචනා විමර්ශන කමිටුව‘ විසින්ම ස්වකීය විෂය පථයට අයත් නොවන එහෙත් එකි කමිටුවට බලය නොමැති එහෙත් ආණ්ඩුව හා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසින් විසදිය යුතු ගැටළු සම්බන්ධයෙන් අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා ගේ ඉල්ලීම පරිදි අශෝක පීරිස් කමිටුව විසින් අගමැතිවරයා වෙත ලබා දුන් ලේඛණයකින් උපුටා ගෙන ඇත.  එම කරුණු පෙන්වා දී ඇත්තේ අශෝක පීරිස් කමිටුවට විසදිය නොහැකි ජයලත් – රවී දිසානායක කොමිෂන් සභාව විසින් විසදිය යුතුව තිබු ගැටළු සම්බන්ධයෙන් හා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ක්‍රියා කළ යුතු 5% අවම ඡන්ද ප්‍රතිශතය වැනි නීති සම්බන්ධයෙනි. 
2. එවකට පැවති මැතිවරණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව, මැතිවරණ නිරීක්ෂකයින් සහ මෙරට මැතිවරණ කේෂ්ත්‍රයේ දැනුම ඇති පුද්ගලයින් විසින් 2012 සිට සිදු කළ අධ්‍යයනයන් අනුව මෙම පලාත් පාළන ආයතනවල සංයුතිය වෙනස් කිරීම, සභික සංඛ්‍යාව තීරණය කිරීම, සහ ශ්‍රේණිගත කිරීම ජයලත් -රවී දිසානායක කොමිෂන් සභාවේ හා පළාත් පාලන අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ සහ ආණ්ඩුවේ රාජකාරියකි. එම කරුණ සීමා නිර්ණය අභියාචනා විමර්ශන කමිටුව සතු බලතල නොවේ.  මෙම වෙනස්කම් සියල්ල දැන් පලාත් පාලන අමාත්‍යාංශය විසින් හෝ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නීති මගින් සිදු කළ යුතු වේ.
3. සීමා නිර්ණය අභියාචනා විමර්ශන කමිටුව වෙත අමාත්‍යවරයා විසින් බලය පවරා තිබුණේ ‘කොට්ඨාශවල නම වෙනස් කිරීම, අංක වෙනස් කිරීම, කොට්ඨාශවල මායිම් වෙනස් කිරීම‘ යනා දී වගකීම් කිහිපයක් පමණී.
4. සීමා නිර්ණය අභියාචන විමර්ශන කමිටුව එජාපය, ශ්‍රීලනිප, ජවිපෙ සහ ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ නියෝජිතයින් එක් අයෙකු බැගින් සහ සභාපති වශයෙන් විශ්‍රාමික අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම්වරයෙකු වූ අශෝක පීරිස් මහතා ඇතුලත් කර සකස් කරන ලද කමිටුවකි.  මේ වන විට එම වාර්තාවට අත්සන් තබා නැත්තේ එජාපය නියෝජිත අබ්දුල් සත්තාර් එම්. මිස්බා මහතා පමණී.  එජාප නායකත්වය පළාත් පාලන ඡන්ද විමසීම කල් දමා ගැනීම සදහා සිය කමිටු සාමාජිකයා හරහා උත්සහ දරන බව කැෆේ සංවිධානය අවස්ථා ගණනාවක දී පෙන්වා දී ඇත.  
5. මැතිවරණ පැවැත්වීම ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී සමාජයකට අනිවාර්ය හා අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සාධකයකි. 85 වසරක ලංකා මැතිවරණ ඉතිහාසයේ සෑම අවස්ථාවක දීම නිදහස් මැතිවරණ පවත්වා ඇත. මහජන නියෝජිතයින් නොමැති යාන්ත්‍රණයක් තුල ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය පැවතිය නොහැකිය.

විවිධ උපක්‍රම භාවිත කරමින්  පක්ෂ කිහිපයක දේශපාලන අවශ්‍යතා මත පළාත් පාලන ඡන්ද විමසීම කල් දමා ගැනීමේ උත්සාහයට මේ වන විට ආණ්ඩුව සෘජුව නායකත්ව ලබා දෙමින් තිබේ.  සීමා නිර්ණය කමිටුව පෙන්වමින් මැතිවරණ කල් දමා ගැනීමට පලාත් පාලන හා පළාත් සභා අමාත්‍යවරයා ද, දැන් එජාප ය දක්වන උත්සාහය කැෆේ සංවිධානය දැඩිව හෙලා දකින අතර සීමා නිර්ණය කමිටු වාර්තාව අත්සන් තැබීම සදහා එජාප නියෝජිතයාට බලපෑම් කරන ලෙස සියලු සිවිල් සංවිධාන හා දේශපාලන පක්ෂ වෙතින් ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

එමෙන්ම, අශෝක පීරිස් කමිටු වාර්තාවට ඇතුලත් නොවූ එහෙත් සලකා බැලිය යුතු කරුණු පිළිබදව ලබා දුන් විශේෂ වාර්තාව සදහා කරුණු උපයෝගි කර ගනිමින් කමිටු වාර්තාවේ වැරදි ඇති බවට කරනු ලබන අසත්‍ය ප්‍රචාරය වැලැක්වීමට පියවර ගන්නා ලෙස සියලුම ජනමාධ්‍ය වෙතින් සහ සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ජාලා වෙතින් කැෆේ සංවිධානය කරුණාවෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටී.

රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්/විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ

කැෆේ සංවිධානය

2017 ජනවාරි මස 05 වැනිදා බ්‍රහස්පතින්දා

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකාදීප

හම්බන්තොට වරාය සහ කර්මාන්තපුරයක් ඇති කිරීම සම්බන්ධව මෙතෙක් කිසිදු ගිවිසුමක් සකස් කර නැතැයි ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතා අද (5) ශ්‍රී ලංකා ගුවන්විදුලි සංස්ථාවේ 50 වැනි සංවත්සරයට එක්වෙමින් පැවසීය.

කර්මාන්තපුරය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ලැබිය යුතු තාක්ෂණ ඇගයීම් වාර්තාව සහ අමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම්වරුන්ගේ ඇගයීම් වාර්තාව මෙතෙක් එළිදක්වා නැතැයි ද කී ජනපති මාතෘ භූමියට එරෙහි කිසිදු ක්‍රියාවක් නොකරන බවත් කීවේය.

‘මේ රටේ ප්‍රධාන සේවකයා ලෙස මා පත්කරගත් ජනතාව මා පිළිබඳ තැබූ විශ්වාසය රකිනවා. හොර ගිවිසුම් කිසිවක් නෑ. සියලු ගිවිසුම් ආරම්භ කිරීමට පෙර පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කරනවා‘ යැයි ද ජනපති එහිදී කීය.

https://youtu.be/WaYBJI21n8M

සටහන-සුරෝෂන ඉරංග උපුටාගැණීම අදදෙරණ

January 5, 2017  04:16 pm

By Gomin Dayasri Courtesy The Daily Mirror

– See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/WINDS-OF-POLITICAL-POPULISM-IS-SWEEPING-ACROSS-SRI-LANKA-121688.html#sthash.ftC8ccym.dpuf

This is a BOI website that boasts about Volkswagen investments in Sri Lanka. BOI even held a sham conference and signed a sham agreement! Now VW has clearly stated they have no investment in Sri Lanka and have not yet planned any.

http://www.investsrilanka.com/news/story/4094/BOI-SIGNS-AGREEMENT-FOR-VOLKSWAGEN-ASSEMBLY-PLANT-SRI-LANKA-ENTERS-THE-ERA-OF-MODERN-AUTOMOBILE-INDUSTRY%E2%80%9D

BOI SIGNS AGREEMENT FOR VOLKSWAGEN ASSEMBLY PLANT – SRI LANKA ENTERS THE ERA OF MODERN AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

– See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Volkswagen-has-not-invested-in-Kuliyapitiya-plant-PM-121758.html#sthash.1ITigTVO.dpuf

ලංකා සී නිවුස්

ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව තුල කිසිදු ආයෝජනයක් තම සමාගම සිදු කර නැති බවත් ඉදිරියට සිදු කිරීමටද මෙතෙක් අදහසක් නැති බවත් ජර්මානු වොක්ස්වැගන් සමාගම පවසයි.

සමාගමේ සමුහික සංනිවේදන අංශයේ ප්‍රකාශිකා කර්ටින් හොමාන් මහත්මිය මේ බව නිල වශයෙන් සිරස රූපවාහිනිය කල විමසීමකදී මේ බව සදහන් කර ඇත.

එමෙන්ම වොක්ස්වැගන් සමාගමේ නිල වෙබ් අඩවියේ දැක්වෙන පරිදි 2025 දක්වා වූ සමාගමේ ඉදිරි සැලසුමේ ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් කිසිදු සදහනක් නැත.

මෙරට ආයෝජන කිරීමට වොක්ස්වැගන් සමාගම එන බවත් කුලියාපිටියේ කර්මාන්තශාලාවක් ඉදිකර තරුණ තරුණියන්ට ඉතා හොඳ ආදායම් සහිත රැකියා ලබාදීමට කටයුතු කරන බවත් අගමැතිවරයා දිගින් දිගටම ප්‍රකාශ කරන ලදී.

පසුගිය 03 වෙනිදා මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිවරයා සහ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ අගමැතිවරයා විසින් වොක්ස්වැගන් කර්මාන්ත ශාලාවක් ආරම්භ කිරිමට කුලියාපිටිය පිහිටි මහා නුගලන්ද වතුයායේ මුල්ගල තබන ලදී. එම වත්ත මහා භාරකාර දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට අයත් ව තිබි ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආයෝජන මණ්ඩලයට පවරගෙන ජර්මනියේ වොක්ස්වගන් මෝටර් රථ නිෂ්පාදන සමාගමේ කර්මාන්ත ශාලාවක් ස්ථාපිත කිරිම බව කියමින් ලබාදෙන ලදි.

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

January 5, 2017, 9:54 pm

The Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms (CTFRM), headed by attorney-at-law Manouri Muttetuwegama, has called for full participation of foreign judges and other personnel including defence lawyers, prosecutors and investigators in transitional justice mechanism to address accountability issues.

The eleven-member committee stressed that foreign participation was required as those who had suffered during the conflict had no faith in local judiciary, which lacked expertise to undertake such a task.

The UNP-SLFP administration appointed the group early last year in keeping with the understanding reached with the international community.

Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein declared in Colombo in February 2016 that the judiciary here was incapable of undertaking the process. He questioned the integrity of the local judiciary.

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike receiving the report prepared by the Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms from leader attorney-at-law Manouri Muttetuwegama at the Presidential Secretariat on Jan. 3. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Hindu Affairs Minister Swaminathan and Reconciliation State Minister Fowzie look on.

Addressing the media at the Government Information Department, Secretary to the group of activists Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu said that particular recommendation had been made in accordance with the Geneva Resolution adopted in Oct, 2015. The Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) underscored the full participation of foreign personnel while emphasizing the pivotal importance of a proper selection process for both local and foreign judges and other personnel.

In addition to Muttetuwegama and Dr. Saravanamuttu, Gamini Viyangoda, Prof. Sitralega Maunaguru, Dr. Farzana Haniffa and Mirak Raheem expressed views. Prof. Gameela Samarasinghe of the Colombo University was also present though she didn’t address the media.

Muttetuwegama said a constitutional amendment would be required to pave the way for the participation of foreign judges. However, the government should take tangible measures swiftly to bring relief to those who had lost their loved ones fighting against the state. Muttetuwegama called for the restoration of LTTE cemeteries bulldozed by the military and memorials. The buildings put up in those places should be demolished, she said.

Dr. Saravanamuttu said foreign participation could be temporary. According to him, foreign presence could be gradually phased out once the process had won the confidence of the victims and other stakeholders.

Raheem denied the assertion that only Tamil speaking people from the war-ravaged Northern and Eastern Provinces demanded foreign participation and expertise. Raheem, also of the CPA said how transitional justice mechanism could immensely benefit from foreign participation in the process.

The Geneva Resolution called for foreign judges including those from the Commonwealth.

Acknowledging that President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and several other top government spokespersons had repeatedly ruled out foreign judges,the civil society members said the recommendations hadn’t been made in consultation with the government. They were responding to a query regarding the extreme difficulty in having foreign judges on a judicial mechanism here.

Muttetuwegama called media conference after having handed over the final report and executive summary on the countrywide public consultations undertaken on behalf of the government to former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga at the Presidential Secretariat on January 3.

Dr. Saravanamuttu said the government hadn’t sought to influence them in anyway and the report hadn’t been prepared in consultation with the administration. He said that as their recommendations pertaining to a range of contentious issues were now in public domain, it would be the responsibility of the government to respond to them. “The ball is now in the government’s court.”

Members of the task force said that there hadn’t been any difference of opinion among the 11 members in respect of the report including its findings.

Asked by The Island whether Muttetuwegama’s inquiry also focused on Indian intervention here leading to deployment of the Indian Army here and atrocities committed by the foreign army as well as the raid on the Maldives undertaken by members of another Tamil group in Nov. 1988, Raheem said that all those who had committed atrocities should be held accountable. Raheem said that India, too, was certainly accountable for crimes committed here.

India deployed its Army (July 1987-March 1990) in accordance with Indo-Lanka agreement here.

Raheem said that some politicians, too, had been implicated along with the armed forces, police as well as intelligence services.

Dr. Saravanamuttu acknowledged that they hadn’t received a guarantee from the government that the recommendations would be implemented.

Muttetuwegama said that if a government elected by the people failed to address the long standing grievances of those who suffered during the conflict they would never be compensated in the future.

Viyangoda mentioned the events leading to the passage of Geneva Resolution in Oct 2015 and the government reaching an understanding with Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to initiate investigations into accountability issues. He asserted that the government would come under pressure to address issues in line with the Geneva Resolution.

We can show how every loan obtained was spent – Rajapaksa

JO calls for discussion on issuing of Rs.5000 by CB
5000 නෝට්ටු සිදුවීම ගැන මහබැංකු අධිපති අදහස් දක්වයි

Courtesy Adaderana

January 4, 2017  09:44 am
Eight Members of the Sri Lankan parliament belonging to the Pro-Mahinda Rajapaksa Joint Opposition have written to President Maithripala Sirisena appealing to him to scuttle the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Framework Agreement signed between the government and the China Merchant Ports Holding Company on the management of the Hambantota port, the NIE reported.

– See more at: http://www.adaderana.lk/news/38487/jo-asks-president-to-scuttle-hambantota-port-deal-with-chinese-company#sthash.M1o1Cmy7.dpuf

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

A government appointed Consultation Task Force on reconciliation Mechanism (CTFRM) has recommended the participation of foreign judges in war crimes courts to be established in accordance with 30/1 Geneva Resolution adopted in Oct 2015.

The UNP-SLFP coalition co-sponsored US-led resolution in 47-member United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Task Force sources confirmed the recommendation that each court to be set up consist of local judges and one foreign judge.

Responding to a query, sources said that their recommendation was in line with the Geneva Resolution that proposed foreign judges including those from Commonwealth in the war crimes court.

Geneva Resolution was based on UN Panel of Experts (PoE) report that accused the Sri Lankan military of massacring over 40,000 Tamil civilians during the last phase of operations on the Vanni east front.

The CTFRM headed by Manouri Muttetuwegama comprised Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Gamini Viyangoda, Visaka Dharmadasa, Shantha Abhimanasingham, PC, Prof Sitralega Maunaguru, K.W. Janaranjana, Prof. Daya Somasundaram, Dr Farzana Haniffa, Prof. Gameela Samarasinghe and Mirak Raheem.

The government appointed CTFRM in January last year following the Geneva Resolution. Former President and head of Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) Chandrika Bandaranaike received the final report on Tuesday.

The Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms (SCRM) has invited the media to a briefing at the Information Department today at 2.00 pm.

The Muttetuwegama Task Force held consultations in the Northern and Eastern Provinces and also in areas outside the war zone over in 2016.

President Maithripala Sirisena and top government ministers have repeatedly declared that foreign judges wouldn’t be acceptable under any circumstances.

By Rohana R. Wasala

(It is with pleasure that this article is being shared with Lankaweb readers, particularly for those among them who enjoy reading poetry as well as reading about it. It is expected to provide a few minutes of recreational diversion and desirable respite from monotony. Published here courtesy The Island.-RRW)

What is a poet? An unhappy person who conceals profound anguish in his heart but whose lips are so formed that as sighs and cries pass over them they sound like beautiful music.

• Soren Kierkegaard, 19^th century Danish philosopher

Poetry is the most refined use of the verbal resources of any language for creating aesthetic beauty. Here is one very short, sweet and simple English poem for us to enjoy. Although the author called it a fragment, it is a complete poem.

The Eagle: A Fragment

He clasps the crag with crooked hands:
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

As we can see, ‘The Eagle’ consists of two verses of three rhyming lines each. It purports to tell us about an eagle seen watching from the top of a cliff near the sea; suddenly we catch a glimpse of the bird darting down like a flash of lightning. That is all that is there by way of a story. It sounds like a snatch of running commentary that we usually hear at a sports event, however short it is: the eagle ‘stands’ holding the crag tightly; the sea  beneath him ‘crawls’; the bird ‘watches from his mountain walls’ and he ‘falls’. The predatory bird is swooping down on a prey, probably. At least, that’s what we’d naturally assume is happening here: the eagle stands poised to strike, watches and dives. But Tennyson says nothing about whether the bird is hunting or going to join his mate or doing something else. He is apparently not concerned with such information clearly because it is not essential for what he wants to ‘communicate’ to the reader. What the poet pictures here is the bird plummeting down at great speed  from that dizzying height.

Reading this skillfully crafted short poem will mean enjoying its lyrical quality (i.e., its singability coupled with the beautifully creative way that it conveys the poet’s emotion or state of mind). The reader is required to imaginatively interact with the poem, attending to its literal and literary aspects, the sights, sounds and other sensory impressions it invokes through its imagery, and its overall expressive power; these things collectively contribute to what we call an ‘aesthetic experience’. (Let’s remember that the philosophically  complex notion of aesthetics, at an informal practical level, can be said to be about realizing the joy of discovering and contemplating the beauty of a work of art.) Reading poetry is no less creative than writing it.

Although the title announces an eagle as the subject, the text doesn’t include the sort of words we’d normally expect the poet to use to describe an eagle: such as talons/claws, perch, fly, or swoop. The words Tennyson actually uses in the poem better suit a tough military looking mature man, not a hunting bird. Attributing human characteristics or qualities to a nonhuman creature in literature is known as personification as we know. In common usage, the pronoun that replaces the noun bird is ‘it’, not ‘he’, unless we wish to attribute a human personality to that bird or to express love and a degree of recognition or respect towards it. So, when Tennyson writes ‘He clasps the crag with crooked hands’, he represents the eagle in human terms. An eagle does not have ‘hands’; its forelimbs, like in any other bird, are modified as wings; it has two hind limbs (legs) ending with taloned feet. Whereas an ordinary bird ‘perches’ on some rest, this one ‘stands’ like a human. The sea is similarly personified: it ‘crawls’ like a decrepit old man, and again like one, it is ‘wrinkled’. Obviously, a choppy sea is what is meant in the poem, but the description reminds us of an old man’s wrinkled skin. The eagle has ‘crooked hands’ like an old man’s, we can say.  Of course, ‘crooked hands’ need not necessarily indicate age. Hands twisted out of shape could also be a sign of a mature man who maintains a tough body through constant physical exercise. In fact, the eagle who  ‘stands’ and ‘watches from his mountain walls’ is like a victorious general  surveying  his conquered territory from the top of his battlements, and his posture exudes machismo! While the macho eagle ‘stands’, the  frail sea beneath him ‘crawls’! It is the power of the eagle that is emphasized by this implicit contrast.

Taken literally, it is as if the lines report an actual event that Tennyson witnessed in that particular setting. But it could hardly be newsworthy, unless the reader happened to be an ornithologist (a scientist studying birds), perhaps.  What’s so exciting or remarkable about an eagle suddenly diving from a cliff top in that deserted landscape? But we at once realize that this is not meant to be reportage, and that we are required to look for an explanation for the poet’s use in these short six lines of what we normally identify as figurative language including such things as personification, hyperbole, and other literary devices like rhyme, alliteration, assonance, comparison, contrast, and parallelism, etc.   The poet’s actual focus of attention goes beyond the wild eagle that seemingly fired his lyrical imagination. The bird of the poem is actually an imagined eagle, rather than a real one that he actually closely observed. His assignment of male gender to the bird (using ‘he’, ‘him’,’ his’ to refer to it) is arbitrary, for how could he determine it wasn’t  a ‘she’?

The poet sees the eagle that ‘clasps the crag with crooked hands’ as being ‘Close to the sun in lonely lands’ (‘Close to the sun’ is an example of hyperbole or exaggeration, and ‘lonely lands’ of alliteration, which is the effect produced when adjacent words or closely connected words begin with the same sound). Assonance (occurrence of the same vowel sound in nearby words) is exemplified in the line ‘Close….lonely lands’. The poet cannot get  near enough to the bird to see its ‘crooked hands’. He is a long distance below where the eagle ‘stands’. So the poet is only imagining these details. But what he sees in his mind’s eye is ‘concretely’ conveyed to the reader through the alliterative /k/ sound (clasps, crag, crooked) in the first line. It takes some effort to pronounce the initial, voiceless plosive consonant /k/ in ‘clasps’, ‘crag’, and ‘crooked’ because it is a rather hard sound that makes our enunciation of the words less easy, virtually giving us a physical feel of the toughness and strength of this powerful creature. The /k/ alliteration continues into the next line, appropriately linking the bird thus conceived to an equally impressive background that is inaccessible to any mortal except the eagle: ‘Close to the sun in lonely lands’, where the alliteration in ‘lonely lands’ highlights the impression of solitude that it expresses (No doubt, a deeply evocative line, particularly for readers of Tennyson’s age – 19^th century – who were familiar with English and classical Western literatures).  Ring’d” in the last line of the first triplet is alliteratively echoed by  wrinkled” in the first line of the second triplet. The rhyming words at the end of the  lines are also functional in that they flag the key concepts dealt with in the poem, in addition to contributing to its musicality. It is this kind of fusion of sound with meaning that Tennyson is specially known for. The device of parallelism (i.e., the recurrence in a literary text of similar words, grammatical patterns, parts or full sentences) is also found in this little poem:  ‘…he stands.’ …..’He watches’….. ‘he falls.’ The literary effect of parallelism  contributes to the rhythmic movement of the lines, and makes them memorable.

The majesty and grandeur attributed to the eagle are not directly stated, but are strongly suggested by the imagery used.

Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.

………………….

He watches from his mountain walls,

And like a thunderbolt he falls.

As he stands, the eagle is circled/surrounded (ring’d) by the ‘azure world’ (the bright blue sky). Usually, the sea is also described as being of the same bright blue colour. So, the sea must be considered a part of this ‘azure world’ where the eagle reigns. The blue sky and the deep blue sea are stupendous and awe-inspiring, but the eagle is associated more with celestial than with terrestrial grandeur. Azure is akin, as well, to the blue associated with heraldry. Heraldic blue distinguishes coats of arms and other armorial bearings. ‘Mountain walls’ are suggestive of fortified battlements. Such imagery enhances the military bearing of our eagle.  ‘And like a thunderbolt he falls’. This is an interesting simile. Apart from  suggesting extremely high speed, the lightning simile (‘..like a thunderbolt’) embodies a symbol of devastating destructive power: the bolt or shaft/arrow that the ancients imagined a stroke of  lightning carried. The Greek  god of the sky  Zeus (Jupiter or Jove among Romans) carried the thunderbolt as his specific weapon in the same way that Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea  (Roman equivalent, Neptune) held a trident. Like the thunderbolt, the eagle was a symbol  of Zeus or Jupiter. The kinglike or even godlike  power that the eagle is shown to possess is enhanced by these classical mythological associations.

Among those with a passion for language, the pleasurable activity of exploring the artistry of a good poem like ‘The Eagle’ is virtually endless. They will go beyond the mere prosody (sound, rhythm, etc.) and other structural features and talk about the central theme or themes, symbols, and traditions that it relates to. For, once written and published, it becomes public property among the readers. Such a poem is like a shape-shifting animal that changes the appearance of its body to attract prey as well as to escape predators. A good poem survives through generations of readers by its potential for inviting and sustaining different but informed and intelligent responses. However, poems come to life in the minds of readers, unlike shape-shifting animals in natural physical environments, like the Indonesian mimic octopus.

‘The Eagle’ is equipped with what it takes to support a variety of interpretations that could be developed around different themes that the poem may be argued to embody. One such theme is interaction between Nature and humanity, the former always having the upper hand.  Masculine pride may be another. Power and its vulnerability, and the fall of the mighty can be suggested as a theme, too. Yet another theme may be the likely collapse of the present scientific civilization due to humanity’s  vainglorious self-absorption. The poem may also be used as a medium for conveying religious themes, such as the Christian doctrine of man’s catastrophic fall from divine grace due to his disobedience, the Buddhist idea of ignorant worldlings’ helpless enslavement by ‘thirst’ (tanha or craving) despite their inherent potential for attaining enlightenment,   etc. It is not possible to dwell on any of these here. They may be safely left for the readers’ individual, private contemplation. But I feel it worthwhile to touch on something biographical about Tennyson that might provide a clue to the likely inspiration behind the composition of these lines.

Arthur Hentry Hallam and Alfred Lord Tennyson met as students at Cambridge and became the dearest of friends. Their parents and families knew about their friendship. They were both budding poets, and were, no doubt, inspired by the revolutionary political idealism of P.B. Shelley, an earlier poet of the Romantic tradition which they too followed. In 1831, Hallam and Tennyson (then aged 20 and 22 respectively),travelled to the mountainous Pyrenees area that forms a natural border between France and Spain.  They carried money and messages written in invisible ink to be delivered  to a rebel general who was planning a revolution against the then king of Spain, who was being criticized as a tyrant. While on the tour, Tennyson loved in particular a valley called Cauteretz. It was there that he saw eagles and other similar birds of prey circling high above in the sky.  (‘The Eagle’, however, was not set against that mountainous background, but instead  an ocean cliff was imagined as the setting.)

Hallam saw Tennyson’s younger sister Emily during a visit, and he fell in love with her. Then he was eighteen, the girl being only seven months younger. With everyone’s consent they got engaged to marry, but Hallam’s father required him to wait until he came of age to get married. Sometime later, father and son made a continental tour together.  While staying in a hotel in Vienna, Hallam suffered from an attack of ague (probably, malaria), but seemed to have recovered after treatment. Unexpectedly, though, a day or two later, he died of a stroke while convalescing in the same hotel.

Hallam’s death shocked both families and his friends with grief. Tennyson’s sorrow was beyond measure. His dear friend’s death had a most profound effect on his poetry. He frequently celebrated his memory in elegiac poems. Among his many poems which were connected to  Hallam’s untimely death were the often anthologized ‘The Lady of Shallot’, ‘Mariana’, and ‘Break, break, break’ . ‘In Memoriam A.H.H.’ which was written in 1849 is a much longer poem. It was about the death of his beloved friend that Tennyson wrote the memorable lines of solace: ‘Tis better to have loved and lost – Than never to have loved at all’ (which are often quoted with no relevance to the original context/given a different interpretation as referring to a failed love affair between a man and a woman); the lines are from ‘In Memoriam A.H.H.’.

‘The Eagle’ was published in 1851. Anguished memories about his most tragically lost friend must have been at the back of his mind. Tennyson had said about his friend: ….he was as near perfection as mortal man could be….”. Perhaps, he saw an image of this perfection in the eagle, but at the same time, an example or a demonstration of the inevitable condition of mortality that all humans must ultimately succumb to. Thus, ‘The Eagle’ could reflect, among other things,  yet another  instance of Tennyson trying to come to terms with the loss of his friend whom he so dearly loved and whose memory he cherished so much.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera 

I am a ship builder trying to do what Volkwagen is planning to do ,But the difference is our ship/boat building are of indigenous design providing much more employment than a Car factory .

I proposed to develop a shipyard in Galle and  the  State is not bothered to help .Volkwagen factory is on a  ground breaking and our shipyard cannot break   the ground

Government does not understand that we have water rightaround the island and many canals and rivers ,but no water transportation. Recently cabinet approved the concept of canal transportation, but the corporation in charge is unable to appoint a TEC ( technical committee ) to approve an issue  EOI ( expression of Interest ) followed by RFP ( Request for Proposal)

New government has created such a bureaucracy by getting Treasury to appoint the TEC’s ,which was never done before .To impress everyone that there is a transparency ,government wants treasury to approve the TEC members .Just like getting opinion  from Attorney general for a state contract ,getting a valuation from Government valuer .obtaining Government Surveyor’s plan for PPP project ,treasury will take ages to appoint a TEC .

Because of this ridiculous practice, canal and rive transport project is not getting off the ground

Government shall try not to manufacture cars which we have in the island in excess ,but to develop water transport with much vigour .None of the advisors and policy makers understand this fact .

Shipyards can provide employment to few thousand if government think seriously about how to provide more employment to the youth

  මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

          නව ව්‍යවස්ථා සම්පාදනය තුළින් ලංකාව කෑලි නවයකට කැඩීමට තිබෙන ඉඩකඩ විශාලය.වාර්ගික වශයෙන් මෙලෙස බලය බෙදීම යනු රට අස්ථාවරත්වයට පත් වීමයි. මෙම ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ දේශපාලනඥයන්ගේ මනෝ විකාරයන් බවට තිබෙන නිදසුන් බොහෝය. විග්නේශවරන් සම්බන්ධන් වේවා. රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මෛත්‍රී පාල සිරිසේන වේවා ඔවුනට තිබෙන වුවමනාව සාමාන්‍ය ජනතාවට නොමැති බව ඔප්පු වී ඇත. ලාල් විජේනායක වැන්නවුන් ද මේ ගණයට වැටේ.මේ එකිනෙකා ගැන අධ්‍යනයක් කළහොත් ඔවුන් දරණ මතාවාද සහ ගැට ගැසී තබෙන කඳවුරු අනුව  මේ මනෝවිකාරයන් පෙළ ගැසී එන අකාරය පෙන්වා දිය හැකිය.

           2017 වර්ෂය තුළ මෙම නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව සම්මත කර ගැනීමට එ.ජා.ප ආණ්ඩුව සූදානම්ය.වත්මන් ජනාධිපතිවරයා අස්ගිරි මල්වතු මහා නාහිමි දෙපළ හමු වී කුමක් කිවූවද බලය බෙදීම නම් මනෝ විකාරයෙන් අගමැතිවරයා පෙලෙන බැවින් නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව තුළ බෙදුම්වාදී ලක්ෂණ අන්තර්ගතවීම වැලැක්විය නොහැකිය.ඇතැම් විට  සිංහල ජනතාව සහ දෙමළ ජනතාව අතර හෝ මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව අතර ගැටුම් අවුළුවා ව්‍යවස්ථාවට අවශ්‍ය පසුබිම සාදා ගන්නට උතසාහ දරුන ඇත.නැවතත් විල්පත්තු වන විනාශය කරළියට ගෙන ඇත්තේ ඒ නිසාය. මෑතකදී හිස්බුල්ලා මන්ත්‍රීවරයා කළ ප්‍රකාශය අනුවද පෙන්වා දිය හැක්කේ මෙවැනි ගැටුමකට ජනතාව තල්ලු කිරීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවයක් තිබෙන බවයි.එසේම ජාතික ව්‍යාපාය අතරම යම් අසමගිකමක් ඇති කර ආණ්ඩු විරෝධය වෙනතක හැරවීමට ද ඉඩ ඇත. කුමක් සිදු වුවද අරමුණ නම් නව බෙදුම්වාදී ව්‍යවස්ථාව සම්මත ර ගැනීමයි. පාර්ලිමේනුතවේ සිටින මන්ත්‍රී වරුන් මේ ව්‍යවස්ථාවට අත උස්සන්නේ තමන්ගේ පුද්ගලික න්‍යාය පත්‍ර වඩා වැදගත් වන බැවිනි. මුදුලට හෝ බෙදුම්වාදී මිත්‍ර කම් හෝ නිසා ව්‍යවස්ථාව කෙරෙහි විරෝධයක් නොදක්වාම මග හැර යෑමටද ඉඩක් ඇත.

        ඉන්දියාවේ ශිව සංකර් මෙනන් මෑතකදී කල හෙළිදරව්ව මේ තත්ත්වය පැහැදිලි කර ගැනීමට ඉතා වැදගත්ය. ප්‍රභාකරන් බේරා ගැනීමට ඇමරිකාව සහ නෝර්වේ රාජ්‍යය මැදිහත් වූ ආකාරය සහ ඉන්දියාව ඊට විරුද්ද වීම මගින් තේරුම් කර ගත හැක්කේ කුමක්ද . කොටි ත්‍රස්තවාදය පෝෂණය කිරීමට ඉන්දීය භූමිය යොදා ගැනීම යනු ලංකාවට බලාපෑම් කිරීමේ එක් ක්‍රමයකි. ලංකා රජයට විරුද්ධව කොටි උසි ගන්වා රටේ දේශපාලන අස්ථාවරත්වය ඇති කිරීම ගැන ඉන්දීය රජය වග කිව යුතුය. පසුව ප්‍රභාකරන් ගේ සගයන් අතින් රජීව් ගාන්ධි මහතා ඝාතනය වූ කල්හි ඔවුන්ගේ දේශපාලන න්‍යායාචාර්ය වරුන්ට තරු පෙනිණ.අවසාන වශයෙන් ප්‍රභා බේරා ගැනීමට ඉන්දියාව විරුද්ධ වූයේ මේනිසාය. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මෙය නිසැකවම දැන සිටින්නට ඇත. ඔහු සිය හමුදාව ට අවශ්‍ය ශක්තිය දී යුද්ධය අවසන් කිරීමට මෙය අවස්ථාවක් කර ගත්තේය. නමුත් යුද්ධයෙන් පසුව ඇතිවූ සාම කාලයේදී ඔහු ඉන්දීය උගුලේ හිර වූයේ යුද්ධයෙන් පසුව ඔහුට ජාතික ඉලක්කයක් නොතිබුණු බැවිනි. රට තුල ඇතිවූ භෞතික දියුණුව යනු බටහිරයන්ට අවශ්‍ය වූ යටිතල පහසුකම් මිසක සැබෑ සංවර්ධන ප්‍ර වේශයක් නොවීය. රට තුල කර්මාන්ත ඇති කිරීම නිෂ්පාදනය ඉහළ නැන්වීම සඳහා සර්ව ජනතා සාභාගිත්වයක් අපේක්ෂා කරනු වෙනුවට රටේ සාරය උරාබොන බහුජාතික සමාගම් සමග හුදකලා ආර්ථික සංග්‍රාමයක් ඇරඹීම ඛෙදවාචකයක් වට පත් විය. නිදසුනක් වශයෙන් දැක්විය හැක්කේ දිවිනැගුම සඳහා භාවිතා කළ බහුජාතික සමාගම් ප්‍රවේශයයි.එදා සැබෑ නිෂ්පාදන තත්ත්වයක් රට තුල නිර්මාණය වූවානම් අද පවතින ආරථික අපහසුකම් මතු වන්නේ නැත.

        නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව ඉදිරියට එන්නේ රටේ දුර්වලතාවයන් මතය.රටේ වත්මන් නායකයන් ගේ විදෙස් ගැති ස්වාභාවය මීට මූලික හේතුවයි. ඉන්දියාව යළිත් සිය දේශපාලන ආධිපත්‍ය පතුරුවමින් ඉක්ටා වැනි ගිවිසුම් මගින් ඉන්දීය ආර්ථික ග්‍රහණයට ලංකාව නතු කරගනිමින් සිටී. මේ සඳහා ඉන්දියාවෙන් කප්පම් ලබන්නේ දේශපාලනඤයන් පමණක් නොවේ. ඉහල ආර්ථික සැලැසුම් කරුවන් ද රට පාවා දීමට කැප වී සිටිති.මෙම ජනාවාරි මාසයේ  නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව නාමයෙන් කමිටු වාර්තා හය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සාකච්ඡා කරනු ඇත.කමිටු වාර්තා පදනම් කොට ගත් ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පත ඉදරිපත් නොකොට මෙලෙස නිර්දේශ පමණක් පාර්ලිමේන්තු විවාදයටගන්නේ ඇයි.එයට හේතු කීපයක් තිබෙනු ඇත. එකක් නම් ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂය ව්‍යවස්ථා උගුලට අසු කර ගැනීමයි. දෙවැන්න නම් රටේ දැනට පවතින විරෝධය දිය කර හැරීමට කාලය ගැනීමයි.පාක්‍යසෝති සරවනමුත්තු මහාතාගේ මූලිකත්වයෙන් සංහිඳියා කාර්යාලය විසින් සකස් කරන ලද වාර්තාවද මේ මුල් මාසයේ එළියට පැමිණීමට නියමිතව ඇත. බහුතර සිංහල ජනතාවගේ සාභාගීත්වයක් නොමැතිව සකස් කරන ලද එම වාර්තාව තුළ සැබවින්ම බෙදුම්වාදී වුවමනාවන් වර්තා ගත වනු නිසැකය. එමෙන්ම  යුද්ධ සමයේ සිදුවූ ඊනියා මානව හිමිකම් කඩවීම් පිළිබඳව ව්‍යාජ වාර්තාවක් බවටද එය පත්විය හැකිය.කෙසේ වෙතත් වත්මන් රජයට නව ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පත ඉදිරිපත් කරලීමට අවශ්‍ය ශක්තිය ලැබෙන්නේ එයින් විය හැකිය. එයට හිමිවන ජගත් ප්‍රසාදය මත ලංකාවට බටහිර අතපෙවීම් සිදු විය හැකිය.

     අගමැති වරයා ගේ බලය බෙදීමේ මනෝවිකාරය සාර්ථක කරගැනීමට වත්මන් ජනාධිපතිවරයාගෙන්ද සහාය ලැබේ.මනෝහර ද සිල්වා මහතා සරත් වීරසේකර මහතා වැනි අය ජනාධිපතිවරයා හමුවූ අවස්ථාවේදී එය ප්‍රකට විය. රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා ගේ ජන්ම පත්‍රය අනුව එළඹෙන මාර්තු මාසයත් සමගින් ඔහුගේ දේශපාලන ගමන ප්‍රබල වනු ඇත. ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පත සඟවාගෙන ඔහු කල්මරන අනික් කාරණය එයයි.මේ ගැන ඉවක් හෝ ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයට ඇතැයි මම නොසිතමි.ඔවුන් ගේ අරමුණ ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයෙන් පසු අගමැති කම් ලබා ගැනීමයි.පළාත් වශයෙන් බෙදා ජණාධිපතිවරයාගේ විධායක බලය හීන කල රටක අගමැති කම් දැරීමට මේ විපක්ෂයටද හිත හදා ගැනීමට සිදු වනු ඇත. එයට හේතුව ඔවුන් තුළද මේ බෙදුම්වාදයට තිබෙන සැබෑ ලෙන්ගතු කමයි. සිංහලයන් මේ රටේ ප්‍රමුඛ පිරිස බව ඔවුන්ද පිළි නොගන්නා බව ඇතැම් විට කළ ප්‍රකාශයන් ගෙන් පැහැදිලිය.එම තත්ත්වය තුළ අගමැතිවරයාගේ මනෝවිකාරය සාර්ථක කොට ගෙන ඔහු බලයෙන් පහකොට ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයට රටේ බලය ලබා දීමට බටහිරයන් උත්සාහ කරන්නේ නම් එයට තිබෙන ඉඩකඩද බොහෝය.ඒ බැව් අප කල්පනා නොකරන්නේ පක්ෂ දේශපාලනයෙන් මත් වූ සිතැත්තන් බැවිනි.

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග

වර්ගවාදීන් නොවූ ඇතැම් සිංහල නවතකාකරුවන්ගේ ප්‍රසිද්ධ නවකතාවලින් දුවිඩ මිනිසුන් කෙරෙහි සිංහල මිනිසුන් තුළ තිබූ නුරුස්සනාභාවය ප්‍රකට වී ඇත. නමුත් ඒවා වැඩි සැලකිල්ලට යොමු වී නැත. ඩබ්ලියු. ඒ සිල්වාගේ කැලෑහඳ” හා ගුණදාස ලියනගේ ලියූ දෝන කමලාවතී” නවකතාවලින් මෙසේ සිංහල මිනිසුන්ගේ සාමූහික අවිඥානය නිරූපණය වී ඇති ආකාරය විචාරකයින්ගේ අවධානයට යොමු නොවූයේ එය එදවස ඒ හැටි අපූරුවක් නොවූ නිසාද?

ජනවාර්ගික ගැටුම තුළ සිංහල හා ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතීන් තුල පවත්නා සාමූහික අවිඥානයේ බලපෑම අධ්‍යනය කොට ඇත්තේ අඩුවෙන් බව පෙනේ. මෙම ජාතීන් දෙක අතර අවිඥානිකව පවත්නා සතුරු බව හා ගුටුම්කාරී බව ඇතැම් විට වර්තෙමාන ජනවාර්ගික අර්බුධයට තලුලුවක් වන්නට ඇත. එම නිසා ගැටුම් නිරාකරණයේදී සහ ජාතීන් දෙක අතර සාමය හා සහජිවනය ගොඩනැගීමේදී මෙවැනි අවිඥානික සාධක කෙරෙහි සැලකිලිමත් වීමද එවැනි සාධකයන් නිශේධනය කිරීමට ඉවහල් වෙයි.

මේ ශත වර්ෂයේ මුල් භාගයේ හෝ ඊට පෙර සිට සිංහල අවිඥානය තුළ දුවිඩයන් කෙරෙහි තිබුණේ සතුරු බවක් මෙන්ම පිළිකුලකි. එය දුටුගැමුණු එළාර යුද්ධය පිළිබඳව සියවස් ගණනාවක් පුරා ඇසූ සොලීන් පිළිබඳ විරෝධය අපගේ සාමූහික අවිඥානය තුළ තැන්පත් වී තිබේ. ඔවුන් තුලද සිංහලයන් පිළිබඳ ඇත්තේ එවැනිම චිත්‍රයකි. ඔවුන් සිංහලයන් අභිබවා ගොස් අපව යටත් කරගනු ඇතැයි අහේතුක බියක් අප තුළ තිබේ. මහජාතිය වන සිංහලයන් සුළුතරය වූ තමන් ගිලගනු ඇතැයි ඔවුන් තුළද එවැනි අහේතුක බියක් තිබේ.

නිදහසින් පසු මෙම ජාතීන් දෙක අතර ජාතිවාදී කෝලාහල ඇති විය. ජාතීන් දෙකටම අයත් පුද්ගලයන් කුරිරුකම්වල යෙදුනහ. එම නිසා වඩාත් කුරිරු වූයේ කුමන ජාතියද යන්න එතරම් වැගත් නොවේ.

මෙම හැසිරීම හැඳින්විය යුත්තේ සාමූහික අවිඥානයෙන් මෙහෙයවන්නක් හැටියටය. මේ සාමූහික අවිඥානය collective unconscious පිළිබඳ අප මෙහි අධ්‍යනය කර ඇත්තේ නැති තරම්ය. මේ පිළිබඳ ලෝකයා මුලින්ම දැනුවත් කළේ කාල් ගුස්ටාව් යුංය. හේ පුද්ගල අවිඥානය හා සාමූහික අවිඥානය වශයෙන් ස්ථර දෙකකට අවිඥානය බෙදුවේය. සාමූහික අවිඥානයේ අනාදිමත් කාලයක් පුරා ජනවාර්ගික වශයෙන් හා සංස්කෘතිකමය වශයෙන් මෙන්ම පොදුවේ මානව වර්ගයා ලුළ පැවැති ස්මරණයන්ද එක් රැස්ව පවතින බව ඔහු පෙන්වා දුන්නේය. අපි දැන් ඩබ්ලියු. ඒ සිල්වාගේ කැලෑහඳ” නවකතාවේ මුල්පිටු කිපය පෙරළා මේ ගැන හොයමු.

මාලිනී ද සීයාගේ නියමයට අනුව නිතරම තම කනකර ගැන සෝදිසියෙන් සිටියාය. ඇ‍යට තම ගමේ උත්සවයන් හා රුස්වීම්වලදී මහ සෙනග අතර හැසිරුණු පළපුරුදුකම් ඇතිවත්, ඒ පළපුරුදුකමක වග මෙහිදී නොදැ‍නේ. මේ දකුණු කොළඹ මෙන්ම හින්දු දේවස්ථානයද වෙයි. බොහෝ සේ හැසිරෙන දෙමළ ජනයාද ඇයට අපූර්ව දර්ශෙනයකි. ඈ සිංහල පිරිසකට නම් කැමතිය. සිංහල පිරිසක් අතර තෙරපෙන්නෙකුට ලැබෙන්නේ තෙරපීමේ පීඩාව පමණකි. දෙමළ සෙනඟක් අතර තෙරපෙන්නෙකුට තෙරපීමේ පීඩාව සමඟ වැස්මක් නැති ඇඟෙන් නික්මෙන දෙමළ දහදිය ගඳද ඉවසන්නට සිදුවේ.”

ඩබ්ලියු. ඒ. සිල්වා මහතාගේ විස්තර වර්ණනාව අනුව දෙමළ ගඳ පතුරුවන මිනිසුන් එක්තරා ආකාරයක මනුෂ්‍ය කොටසකි. ඔවුන් අප මෙන් පිරිසිඳු නැත. අපිරිසිදු ජන කොටසකි. ඩබ්ලියු. ඒ. සිල්වා මහතා පිළිබඳව නොදත් පුද්ගලයෙකු ඔහු ඉතා වර්ගවාදියකු ලෙස හෙළාදකිනු නිසැකය. එහෙත් ඔහු කුරිරු ගතිවලින් තොර යහපත් මිනිසෙක් විය. ඔහුගේ පෑන් තුඩින් ලියැවෙන්නේ සිංහල මධ්‍යම පන්තියක ආකල්ප විය හැක. ඔවුන් දමිළයන් කෙරෙහි වෛරයක් නැති වුවද යම් ආකාරයෙක පිළිකුලක් හෝ ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කිරීමක් පෙන්වූහ. මෙම මානසික ශේෂයන් අද දක්වාම සිංහල සාමූහික විඥානයේ රැඳී තිබෙයි. එම නවකතාවේ තවත් තැනෙක දැක්වෙන විස්තරයක් මෙසේය.

ඔන්න….. ඔන්න….. වේල් එනෝ….. වේල් එනෝ….. සිංහලෙන් මාලිනියට ශ්‍රවණය වූ එකම ජනරාවය මෙපමණයි. එයින් මේ වේල් පෙරහැර එන කලබලය බව ඈ තේරුම් ගත්තාය. ඇය කෙරේ ද වේ ල් පෙරහැර දකින ආශාව බලවත් විය. එහෙත් ඇයට එය තවමත් නොපෙනේ. ඇයට වරින්වර පෙනෙන්නේ සෙනඟ සැඩපහර මැදින් පෙම් කෙළින මත්ස්‍යයන් මෙන් උඩ නැගෙන වේවැල් පහරවල් හා බැටන් පොලු පමණකි. කෙළිලොලින් මත්ව විගඩ වෙසින් නටන දෙමළ ජනයා සංසිඳුවන ‍පොලිස් භටයන්ගේ හා පෙරහර නායකයන්ගේ මේ බැටන් පොලු හා වේවැල් සරඹය අන් කාහට කෙසේ වුවත් මාලනියට නම් සිත් පිනවන දර්ශනයක් නොවීය.”

මෙම විස්තරයෙන් ගම්‍ය වන්නේ වේල් පෙරහර නිාස කලබලයට පත් වූ ද්‍රවිඩ සෙනගට පොලිස් භටයන් විසින් පහරදීමය. එකල එවැනි පහරදීම් නිබඳවම සිදු වූ බව පැරණි පොලිස් නිලධාරීන් අවංකවම පිළිගනියි. එය ඩබ්ලියු. ඒ. සිල්වා මහතගේ විස්තර වර්ණනාවටද එක්විය. මෙම විසත්රය බෙහෙවින්ම කිට්ටුවන්නේ බර්මිංහැම් හි 60 දශකයේ මාටිං ලුතර් කිංගේ සාමකාමී පෙළපාළියට පොලිස් භටයින් විසින් පහරදීමය.

දශක ගණනාවක් පුරා කැලෑ හඳ කියවන පාඨකයන් මේ වන තෙක් එවැනි පහරදීමක් හෙළාදැක නැත. කිසිඳු ප්‍රශ්න කිරීමකින් තොරව අපි දශක ගණනාවක් කියවූයෙමු. එසේම චිත්‍රපටයට ද නැගුණි. කිසිවකු මෙම ඡේදය පිළිබඳ කිසිදු ප්‍රශ්න කිරීමක් නොකළහ. එ මන්දයත් අපගේ ලෝකයේ මෙය සුළු සිද්ධියකි. කිසිසේත්ම ගණන් ගත යුතු නොවන්නකි.

අපගේ සංස්කෘතිය කේන්ද්‍ර කොට සිතීමේදී අප එය පිටස්තර අහඹු සිද්ධියක් ලෙස සලකමු. එහෙත් 1915 බෞද්ධ පෙරහරකට යෝනකයන් ගල් ගැසූ විට අපි සසල වූයෙමු. ආගමික පෙරහරකට අවහිරතා ඇති කළ හැක්කේ කෙසේද? යන්න අපි ප්‍රශ්න කෙ‍ළෙමු. එහෙත් කැලෑ හඳ නවකතාවේ පොලිස් භටයන් ද්‍රවිඩ බැතිමතුන්ට බැටන් පහරදීම අපගේ චින්තනය අනුව සුළු සිදුවීමකි.

එවැනි පහර දීමක් ඔවුන්ගේ කෝණයෙන් බලමු. ‘දුප්පත් ද්‍රවිඩ බැතිමතුන් පිරිසක් වන අප වේල් පෙරහැර නැරඹීම සඳහා පැමිණියෙමු. අපගේ උනන්දුව තීව්‍රර වීමෙන් පාර මදක් අවහිර විය. එහි රාජකාරියේ නිරතව සිටින සිංහල පොලිස් භටයන් අපට නිර්දෙය ලෙස පහර දුන්හ. අප දුප්පත් නිසාත්, අසරණ නිසාත්, කළ හැක්කක් නොවීය. බැටන් පොලු පහර වැදීම නිසා තඩිස්සි වී ගිය අත් පාවල අපි තෙල් ආලේප කළෙමු.’

මෙවැනි සිද්ධියක් දැන් දුටු පුද්ගලයෙකුට ඇතිවන හැඟීම කුමක්ද? එසේම තමාගේ පියා එලෙස නිර්දය ප්‍රහාරයකට ලක්වනු දැකීම තුළින් දෙමළ ළමයා තුළ ඇතිවන හැඟීම කෙබඳු වේද? අපි අපගේ සදාචාරයෙන් ප්‍රශ්න කිරීමේ කාලයට එළැඹී සිටිමු. මෙයට ප්‍රතිඋත්තර ලෙස දෙමළුන් ගෝමරන්කඩවලදී හෝ ගෝනාගලදී සිංහල දරුවන් පෙති ගැසූ බව කිවහැක. එක වරදක් තවත් වරදක් මකා නොදමයි. කුඩා වතුර බින්දු බිඳු එක්වීමෙන් මහා ජලාශයක් සෑදෙන අයුරු අපි පාසලේදී උගත්තෙමු. සිංහල, දෙමළ, වාර්ගික අර්බුධය එලෙස කුඩා ජලබිඳු එක්වීමෙන් සැදුනු මහා ජලාශයකි. අපි යලිත් කැලහඳ කෘතියට පිවිසෙමු.

මාලිනියට කැලෑ හඳේ දෙමළ ගඳ ඉවසිය නොහැකි විට හටගන්නා තත්වයයි මේ ‘සෙනඟ මැදද නොයෙක් ගැටුම් ගැටෙන බව ඇයට දැනේ. එහෙත් ඒ කිසිවක් ඇයට නොපෙනේ. ඇය ඉදිරියේ තාර ගා කළු කළ තාප්පයක් වැනි උරයෙන් උර පැහැර සිට එකම දෙමළ සරණියක් හැකිතාක් උස් වෙමින් ඒ දෙමළ පෙළට ‍උඩින් කරනගා ඈ මේ නැටුම් බලන්නට වෑයම් නළාය. ඇයගේ වෑයම සඵල නොවීය. ඇය වැනි බොළඳ වියේ සිටි මිටි තරුණියකට තබා උස පිරිමියකුටවත් මේ සෙනග සරණිය ඉක්මවා කිසිවක් දෙස බැලිය නොහැකියි. ඈ සුසුම් හෙලුවාය. සුසුම් හෙලීමට විනා ගැනීමටවත් ඇයට අවකාශයක් නැති දෙමළ ඇඟවලින් නික්මෙන දුගඳ එතරම්ම පිළිකුල් විය.’

ඩබ්ලියු. ඒ. සිල්වා මහතා දමිළයන් ගැන වර්ගවාදී පිළිකුල් කෝපයකින් බැලූ පුද්ගලයකු නොවීය. ඔහු සඳහන් කරන්නේ එකල සිංහලයකු දෙමළ ජනකායක් ග්‍රහණය කරගන්නා ආකාරයයි. හැබැවින්ම ජාතීන් දෙක අතර තදබල හිඩැස් තිබූ බව මේ අනුව පෙනීයයි. කැලෑ හඳ නවකාතාවේ සිංහල සාධූ නාදය සහ හින්දු හරෝ හරා නාදය සන්සන්දනය කරයි.

අපි ආගම්වලිනුත් දුරස්ව සිටියෙමු. අපගේ ආගම ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨ බවත්, අන්‍යන්ගේ ආගම මිත්‍යා දෘෂ්ටික බවත් උපකල්පන කරන්නේ තත්ත්වය උග්‍ර වූ විටදීය.

රත්තරන් සොයා දකුණු ඇමරිකාවට ගිය ස්පාඤ්ඤ ජාතික පිසාරෝ ස්වදේශික ජනයා මරා දැමුවේ ඉතා කෲරත්වයක් පෙන්වමිනි. එහෙත් එම ඝාතන පිළිබඳව ඔහුට කිසිඳු වරදකාරී බවක් නොවීය. ඒ මන්දයත් ස්වදේශිකයන් ක්‍රිස්තු භක්තික නොවූ මිත්‍යා දෘෂ්ටිකයන් වූ නිසාය.

දොන් ජෙරනිමෝද අසවේදු ඇතුළු පෘතුගීසී සෙන්පතියන් සිංහල ගම් විනාශ කළේත්, මිනිසුන් කිඹුලන්ට ආහාර පිණිස දැමූවේත්, බිළිඳුන් උඩ දමා කඩු තුඩින් අල්ලා කඩුගෑවේත්, ඔවුන් මිත්‍යා දෘෂ්ටිකයන් වූ නිසාය. ඔවුන්ගේ කෝණයෙන් බලනවිට ඔවුන් ඝාතකයන් නොවේය යන නිගමනයට පහසුවෙන් එළැඹිය හැකිව තිබුණි.

කැළෑ හඳ කෘතියට බොහෝ කලකට පසුව 1971 වසරේ පළකරන ලද ගුණදාස ලියනගේ මහතාගේ දෝන කමලාවතී නවකතාවේ දෙමළ වතු කම්කරුවන් ගැන මෙසේ කියයි.

කඩයට ආගිය අයගෙන් මා වඩාත් පිළිකුල් කළේ හල්වතුර වත්තේ දෙමළ මිනිසුන් සහ ගැහැනුන්ය. දෙමළ මිනිසකු හෝ ගැහැනියක කඩයට එන විට මා ඇස් පියාගෙන සිටියත් ඔවුන් ගඳින් ඇඳින ගැනීමට මට ශක්තියක් තිබුණි. ඔවුන් ළඟ තිබුණේ පුදුම හඬු ගඳක්, හඬු ගඳගසන වේට්ටිවල, සාරිවල ගැටගසා ඇති සල්ලි දිග හැර මා අතට දුන් විට මා ඒවා ගත්තේ අදං ආතාගේ සල්ලි ගන්නවාටත් වඩා පිළිකුලෙනි.”

ගුණදාස ලියන්ගේ මහතා බොහෝ ඇසූ පිරූ තැන් ඇති වියත් ලේඛකයකු විය. ඔහු ජාතිවාදියකු නොවීය. මෙම නවකතාවෙන් ප්‍රකාශ වන්නේ ද්‍රවිඩ වතු කම්කරුවන් පිළිබඳව ගැමියන් තුළ තිබූ චිත්‍රයයි. ඔවුන් අසරණ නමුත් පිළිකුල් සහගත කොටසක් බව ගැමියෝ විශ්වාස කළහ.

ඩබ්ලියු. ඒ. සිල්වා මහතාත්, ගුණදාස ලියනගේ මහතාත් පෙන්වාදෙනුයේ දමිළයන් පිළිබඳ සාමාන්‍ය ජනතාව තුළ තිබූ හැඟීම්ය. ඔවුන් පිටස්තරයන් බව සිංහල අවිඥානයේ තිබුණි. එම නිසා ජනවාර්ගික ගැටුම්වලදී සහකම්පණීය අවබෝධකයින් තොරව ඔවුනට පහරදීමට ගැමියන්ට හැකි වූහ.

වාර්ගික වශයෙන් එකිනෙකා ප්‍රතික්ෂේල කරන හෝ සතුරු බව පෙන්වන අවිඥානික ශේෂයන් සිංහල හා ද්‍රවිඩ මනැස්වල රැඳී පවතියි. එම නිසා එවැනි අවිඥානික ශේෂයන් පිළිබඳ දැනුවත් විම හා විශ්ලේශනය මඟින් මෙම ජාතීන් දෙක අතර පවත්නා දුරස්ථ බව අවම කළ හැක. එබැවින් ගැටුම් නිරාකෙරණයේදී මෙකී අවිඥානික ස්කීමාවන් (Schema) කෙරෙහි අවධානය යොමු විය යුතුය.

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග