Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D. 

The Jātaka stories 

The Jātaka stories or Jātaka tales are a voluminous body of folklore concerned with previous births of the Buddha which is based as a collection of five hundred and fifty stories. Originally it comprise of 547 poems, arranged roughly by increasing number of verses. According to archaeological and literary evidence the Jātaka stories were compiled in the period, the 3rd Century B.C. to the 5th Century A.D. As Professor Rhys Davids indicated Jātaka stories are one of the oldest fables.

Human Sexuality and Jātaka stories 

The first evidence of attitudes towards sex comes from the ancient texts of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism (Chakraborty &  Thakurata , 2013). Many centuries before Sigmund Freud, Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing, Albert Moll or D.H. Laurence the Tantric Buddhist monks discussed the wider aspects of human sexuality.

Tantric is often viewed as the third major school of Buddhism, Tantric philosophy has a complex, and multifaceted system of Buddhist thought and practice which evolved over several centuries and encompasses much inconsistency and a variety of opinions (Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, 2004).

Based on the general definition human sexuality is how people experience the erotic and express themselves as sexual beings; the awareness of themselves as males or females; the capacity they have for erotic experiences and responses. Sexuality varies greatly by culture, region, and historical period, but in most societies and individuals has a large influence on human behavior.

Human sexuality has been described as the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexual behavior is different from the sexual behavior of other animals, in that, it seems to be governed by a variety and interplay of different factors (Molina, 1990).  A person’s sexual orientation may influence their sexual interest and attraction for another person (APA). Sexuality may be experienced and expressed in a variety of ways, including through thoughts, fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviors, practices, roles and relationships (WHO).

According to Adler (2011) doctors and sexologists increasingly medicalized and pathologized sexual and gender deviance. Foucault’s History of Sexuality is based on his view that the discursive practices in the medical community created deviant identities, and produced and regulated sex practices starting in the late nineteenth century (Adler, 2011).

The Jātaka stories view sexuality as an essential component in the human existence. It accepts sexuality as a normal human condition. But the Jātaka stories highlight impermanence, suffering and non-self. In addition some of the stories converse about the true nature of the human body which is impermanent and subject to change in the process of aging and in sickness.

Udancani Jataka was about sexual seduction. The Bodhisatta and his son lived in a hermitage practicing spiritual activities. His son was very obedient and pious. One evening when the Bodhisatta returned to the hermitage after collecting fruits he found his son was having an unusual behavior. He was no longer practicing meditation. When the son was questioned he answered that during his father’s absence he met with a young woman and she tempted him. He has had a physical relationship with the woman and it changed his life exclusively.  He further said that he needs to go with this woman and live with her.  After the sexual seduction and sexual encounter the son did not want to be with the father in his hermitage. He had different life plans.

Rādha-Jātakaya indicates the character of an adulterous woman. She was a wife of a Brahmin in the Kāsi country and when her husband travels to another county she gets an enormous freedom and invites different men to her house and sleeps with them.

Takka Jātakaya is a storyline about a treacherous woman who had an increased libido. According to the story once the Bodhisatta was an ascetic on the banks of the Ganges and he rescues a young woman named Dutthakumari. She was a daughter of a merchant from Benares and she had been thrown into the flood waters by her infuriated servants.

After the rescue the pretty Dutthakumari falls in love with her rescuer and they live together. After some time the Bodhisatta decides to go to the nearest village to sell curd. They travel together. On the way they were attacked by a gang of thieves and they kidnap Dutthakumari. She was taken before the robber chief. By seeing his physique she agrees to have a sexual relationship with him. Hence she willfully lives with him. But she has a fear that her former husband would come to claim her; she therefore scheming to murder him.

Dutthakumari requests the robber chief to capture the Bodhisatta then torture and kill him. The robbers capture the Bodhisatta and he was subjected to torture. While suffering in the hands of his tormentors the Bodhisatta tells the robber chief how he saved her life. The robber chief realizes the ungratefulness of Dutthakumari and releases the Bodhisatta. Then he kills Dutthakumari who betrayed her husband.

Anabhirati Jataka relates to an adulterous woman. She goes after men when her husband is away.  Her behavior becomes uncontrollable. Following her promiscuous behavior her husband was unable to concentrate on his work and studies.

Mudulakkhana Jatakaya narrates sexual seduction. In this story line the   Bodhisatta was once an ascetic named Mudulakkhana, of great spiritual attainments, living in the Himalaya. On one occasion he came to Benares where the king pleased with his demeanour, invited him to the palace and persuaded him to live in the royal park. Thus he lives sixteen years in the royal park continuing his spiritual work. One day when the king was away Mudulakkhana hermit happened to come to the palace. There he sees his queen and he get an urge to have a physical relationship with the queen. Then he appeals to the queen to satisfy his sexual desire.

Asatamanta Jātakaya recounts the sexual arousal of an old senile woman. In this story a wise and a famous teacher in Takkasila cares for his aged 120 years old mother as a son should, but he has no illusions regarding her moral character. He knows that obviously she is driven by basic instincts and lust and decides to demonstrate this to his student as a salutary lesson.

He instructs his student to massage her hands and feet and tell her that she is beautiful. She is described as a blind, decrepit hag, but she still seethes with a woman’s sexual appetite. She deludes herself that the young student desires her and propositions him, but following his teacher’s instructions the   student informs her that he would be punished if they were caught. In response she proposes that she would murder her devoted son who has selflessly cared for her. The teacher knowing the plot made a wooden figure and placed it on his bed. The old woman with murderous intentions struck it with an axe

The Kachappa Jātakaya (storyline) narrates a homosexual relationship between two Ministers of the King Pasenadi Kosol’s Court. However the Buddhist philosophy does not consider gays as sinners or condemn LGBT people.

In 1952, in the first edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the manual issued by the American Psychiatric Association for the classification of mental disorders, homosexuality was included under the category sociopathic personality disturbances” – not as a true pathology or disease. The second edition of the DSM issued in 1968 re-classed homosexuality as a non-psychotic mental disorder”, effectively making it a disease (Young, 2011).

Powell and Stein (2014) indicate that the United States has recently made significant and positive civil rights gains for LGB people, including expanded recognition of marriages between people of the same sex. Among the central tropes that have emerged in the struggle for the rights of LGB people are that they are “born that way,” that sexual orientations cannot change, and that one’s sexual orientation is not affected by choice.

Although the attitudes towards homosexuality have become more liberal, particularly in industrialized Western countries, there is still a great deal of variance in terms of the worldwide levels of homonegativity (Jäckle & Wenzelburger , 2014). Disapproval of homosexuality is the cause of tremendous suffering among sexual minorities (Nguyen& Blum, 2014). Kuyper &Fokkema (2011) point out that minority stress is often cited as an explanation for greater mental health problems among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals than heterosexual individuals. Prejudice and social stress impact the psychosocial wellbeing of the lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations. It’s significant to know that over 2500 years ago the Buddha had a democratic view and profound understanding about the LGBT community.

In the Jātaka story book -Nalini Jātakaya describes broad aspects of human sexuality. It is a story of a young hermit who lived in a jungle since his birth and never had seen or heard of women. He had not heard of sexual relationships between men and women and when the young Princess Nalini comes to his hermitage, he could not recognize her as a member from the opposite sex. With an erroneous assumption he thought that the Princess Nalini was a hermit like him. The princess deceived the hermit and made him to commit a sexual act. So the young hermit eventually experienced a physical relationship with a woman for the first time in his life. In this story the narrator deeply explore the primal sexual reaction of a human male who was deprived of prior sexual education and sex initiation by a female.

Female sexual arousal has been discussed by various researchers. Traditional models of sexual response reflect a linear approach to desire and arousal (Wood, Koch, & Mansfield, 2006). These models assume that sexual response proceeds from one stage to another in a pre-defined sequential order. According to Basson (2005) linear models do not reflect the reality of many women’s sexual response and female desire can often be rooted in a need for intimacy rather than from physical arousal. Several Jātaka stories including Nalini Jātakaya illustrate female sexual arousal.

Male Sexual arousal is stunningly described in the Haritha Jātakaya. By seeing a naked female body the hermit who practiced sexual abstinence for his life time could not resist the sudden erotic feeling and he eventually commits adultery. His suppressed sexual desires come in to action like a serpent coming out of a den. In this story the hermit’s sexual arousal is extensively described.

Sexual arousal, or sexual excitement, is the arousal of sexual desire during or in anticipation of sexual activity. Oh (2012) and colleagues indicate distinct brain activation patterns associated with visual sexual arousal. For the hermit (in Haritha Jātakaya) it was an unexpected visual sexual arousal.  Many years he had practiced voluntary celibacy. His erotic desires were suppressed but when he saw the naked woman’s body his sexual response became overpowering.

The Oedipal Conflict and Jātaka Stories  

Sigmund Freud introduced the term ‘Oedipus complex’ in his ‘Interpretation of Dreams that was published in 1899 (Ahmed, 2012).  In formulating his psychology of the unconscious, Freud makes constant reference to Sophocles’ version of the Oedipus myth (Bollack, 1993). In the Oedipus myth we find a dramatic representation of the child’s passionate ties to its parents (Zachrisson, 2013).

According to Freud the concept is a desire for sexual involvement with the parent of the opposite sex, which produces a sense of competition with the parent of the same sex and a crucial stage in the normal developmental process (Ahmed, 2012).  As Freud described in the Oedipus complex, largely unconscious ideas and feelings, which concentrate, on the desire to possess the parent of the opposite sex and eliminate the parent of the same sex. Freud analyzed the story of Oedipus Rex, and describes the unconscious motives of patricide He postulated that patricide was the great crime at the base of all social evolution.

In Freud’s theory the Oedipus complex is the core of human sexual development (Žerjav, 2010). Freud believed that by birth man is sexy; a child must possess sexual desire even when he is in his Mother’s womb and this inborn sexual predisposition lays the foundation for all other propensity (Ahmed, 2012).

The universality of the Oedipus complex indicates that the oedipal situation is at the heart of the mental life of man (Lebovici, 1982). Borove~ki-Jakovljev and colleagues (2005) state that  nevertheless, the conflicts of phallic phases of the psychosexual development are universal to all human being, no matter how we call them – Oedipus, Electra or Persephone Complex.

The Oedipus complex wanes as a crucial pathogenic focus to the extent to which its resolution—never achieved once and for all—is more than a repression,” something other than a retreat from and exclusion by what Freud called the coherent ego. Seen from the perspective of parricide, guilt, and responsibility, repression of the complex is an unconscious evasion of the emancipatory murder of the parents, and a way of preserving infantile libidinal-dependent ties with them (Loewald, 2000).

According Freud’s Oedipus complex theory in the unconscious level every male subject has a desire to murder his father and commit an incestuous act towards his mother. Various cultures have folktales that are similar to Oedipus story. The Thayo Darma Jātakaya is a metaphorical story which draws attention to many psychologists and it can be interpreted as an Oedipus complex narrated in the Jātaka storybook.

Thayo Darma Jātakaya is a story about the conflict between a father and a son. The father (King of the monkeys) destroys the genitals of male baby monkeys in order to liquidate any impending future threat by a male monkey. In addition the father monkey keeps all the female monkeys for himself making other male monkeys impotent. One of the male baby monkeys was able to escape physically unharmed and grows up in a hidden area of the jungle. The male baby monkey’s mother secretly feeds him. Hence the male monkey becomes emotionally attached to its mother and hating the father. Once the monkey becomes a fully grown adult he comes out and challenges his father. In this conflict, the son kills the father and becomes the new King.

In Totem and Taboo (1913) Freud writes that the myth of the murder of the primal father.   The primal father is a father who has in his possession and who enjoys all women and this is why the sons decide one day to murder the father. The active words destruction, demolition, which Freud has used in referring to the dissolution of the Oedipus complex, may be heard as reverberations of that dominant feature of the oedipal conflict, parricide, the destruction of the parent by the child (Loewald, 2000).

The murder of the primal father or parricide discussed in the Thayo Darma Jātakaya has a symbolic meaning and it is outstanding. This story was written thousands of years ago. Nonetheless the Jātaka storyteller had an insight about repressed childhood conflicts.

Gender Identity Disorder and Spontaneous Sexual Transformation 

The phenomenon of spontaneous sexual transformation in human beings is clearly recognized in a wide variety of Hindu and Buddhist texts. The Pali Vinaya records the cases of a monk who turned into a woman and of a nun who turned into a man. Although the Vinaya itself gives no indication of the reasons for such changes, its commentary observes that they occur on the basis of powerful good and bad moral deeds – an opinion shared by several other Pali commentaries. More specifically, transformation from male to female occurs as a result of a powerful evil action (such as unfaithfulness to one’s wife), whereas transformation from female to male occurs as a result of the weakening of the inferior karma that brought about rebirth as a woman, accompanied by a powerful good action and/or a strong aspiration to become male (Ohnuma , 2001)

Several medical conditions can result in a natural sex change in humans, where the appearance at birth is somewhat, mostly, or completely of one sex, but changes over the course of a lifetime to being somewhat, mostly or completely of the other sex. The overwhelming majority of natural sex changes are from a female appearance at birth to a male appearance after puberty, due to either 5-alpha-reductase deficiency (5alpha-RD-2) or 17-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase deficiency (17beta-HSD-3)(Cohen-Kettenis, 2005). A relative handful of male to female changes have been reported, and the etiologies of these are not well understood (Khan , 2008).

Gender identity disorder is classified as a medical disorder by the DSM-5 as gender dysphoria. Gender identity disorder (GID) or gender dysphoria is the formal diagnosis used by psychologists and physicians to describe people who experience significant dysphoria (discontent) with the sex they were assigned at birth and/or the gender roles associated with that sex. Evidence suggests that people who identify with a gender different from the one they were assigned at birth may do so not just due to psychological or behavioral causes, but also biological ones related to their genetics, the makeup of their brains, or prenatal exposure to hormones (Heylens, 2012)

Transsexualism first appeared as a diagnosis in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) (American Psychiatric Association, 1980). Transsexualism is when an individual identifies with a gender inconsistent or not culturally associated with their assigned sex, i.e. in which a person’s assigned sex at birth conflicts with their psychological gender. A medical diagnosis can be made if a person experiences discomfort as a result of a desire to be a member of the opposite gender or if a person experiences impaired functioning or distress as a result of that gender identification (APA).

The Jātaka tales describe Gender Identity Disorder and spontaneous sexual transformation in a count named Soreiya.

One day Count Soreyya went to the river to have a bath. There he saw Bikku Kachayana who was very attractive and handsome. By seeing this attractive monk the Count Soreyya had a sexual fantasy which later became an obsessive recurrent erotic thought. Soreyya thought: I wish that monk would become my wife! Or may the color of my wife’s body be like the color of his body.  Simultaneously he had immense guilty feelings knowing that Bikku Kachayana is a perfected person who has attainedArhathood or Enlightenment. Following self guilt and severe mental conflicts with elevated anxiety the count experienced a sex change.

Sexual Jealousy 

Jealousy is a universal feeling. The feeling is normal until it is acted upon and the behaviour or actions become irrational. Many psychologists believe that in human males, sexual jealousy is often marked by violence and consistent attempts to restrict the sexual behavior of women.

Staske (1999) views Jealousy as an inherently relational emotion. The common conceptualization of jealousy is viewed as a perceived or actual threat to the exclusive nature of a romantic relationship (White & Mullen, 1989; Bevan &   Hale, 2006). Jealousy is an aversive and psychologically stressful condition. Evolutionary psychologists hypothesized that jealousy is an evolved adaptation, activated by threats to a valuable relationship, functioning to protect it from partial or total loss (Buss & Haselton, 2005).

Sexual jealousy functions to defend paternity confidence (Daly et al., 1982). According to Buss (2013) Sexual jealousy is a basic emotion.  Jealousy invokes low self-esteem, immaturity or character defects (Bhugra, 1993). Buunk and colleagues (1987) illustrate that sexual jealousy in humans is an emotion of jealousy which may be triggered in a person when a sexual partner displays sexual interest in another person.

The specific innate modular theory of jealousy hypothesizes that natural selection shaped sexual jealousy as a mechanism to prevent cuckoldry, and emotional jealousy as a mechanism to prevent resource loss. Therefore, men should be primarily jealous over a mate’s sexual infidelity and women over a mate’s emotional infidelity (Harris, 2003).

There are several Jātakaya stories exemplify sexual jealousy in males. For instance in Parvakuthha Jathakaya a King becomes extremely jealous when he realized one of his queens committed a sexual infidelity with a minister. The King is experiencing extreme emotional pain, feelings of betrayal, outrage and fear. His violent outbursts and obsessive thoughts are evident.  The King believes that his personal, sexual and romantic relationship with the queen is now being threatened and he seeks revenge. Similarly the Memadha Jathakaya too contains a story about Sexual jealousy.

In Chulla Darmapala Jātakaaya the King Maha Prathapa kills his infant son following sexual jealousy. King Maha Prathapa was infuriated when he noticed his beautiful Queen cared for the infant Prince without paying attention to him. The King perceives mother-infant interaction with extreme hostility. Following anger and sexual jealousy he orders to kill the infant Prince.

The Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD)

In the last 50 years new research into the sociology, psychology and physiology of sexuality has provided an understanding of decreased libido and inadequate sexual response in the form of hypoactive sexual desire disorder. (Studd, 2007). HSDD is defined as a deficiency or absence of sexual fantasies and desire for sexual activity. The disturbance must cause marked distress or interpersonal difficulty (APA).

The Jātaka storyteller describes complex behavioural components of a young man named Pinguthara who exhibits firm features of Hypoactive sexual desire disorder. The Hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) is considered as a Sexual Dysfunction and is listed under the Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders of the DSM-IV DSM-IV. It is characterized as a lack or absence of sexual fantasies and desire for sexual activity for some period of time. According to in the Siri Kalakanni Jātakaya Pinguthara is a young man who seems to have suffered from Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder. He had no interest in his newly wedded beautiful wife Udumbara Devi. He finds no erotic satisfaction in her and the wife becomes a burden to him. He abandoned her and fled due to lack of interest in women.

Borg and de Jong (2012) view Sex and disgust are basic evolutionary relevant functions that are often construed as paradoxical and in  general the stimuli involved in sexual encounters are at least out of context strongly perceived to hold high disgust qualities. The young man -Pingutthara in Siri Kalakanni Jātakaya and the hermit in Haritha Jātakaya have two opposite reactions when they encounter females.

Incest and Jātaka Stories

Incest refers to any sexual activity between close relatives often within the immediate family irrespective of the ages of the participants and irrespective of their consent that is illegally or socially taboo. Incest is considered as the oldest crime. During the Middle Ages the meaning of incest was paradoxical: when used literally, the word signified the abominable sin of consanguineous sex; when represented allegorically, it signified a mystical union with God (Donavin, 1993).

A significant number of researchers conclude that there is no demographic profile of incestuous fathers. Rather they are a complex, heterogeneous group of individuals who look like everyone else (Groth, 1982; Meiselman, 1978; Smith & Saunders, 1995).  Cohen (1983) believes that incestuous fathers may also have acquired the incestuous behaviour through social learning.

Psychoanalysts contend that incest occurs when the daughter suffers from oral deprivation in the pre-oedipal stage. An incestuous relationship with her father is then established as revenge against her mother, who frustrated her oral needs and simultaneously as a way of satisfying her oral needs. The daughter substitutes the father’s penis for the mother’s breast, which had been denied to her (Dixen & Jenkens, 1981).

Incest may be seen as the other side of parricide, the side where love appears dominant. In parricide, however, underneath or mingled with destructive aggression, there also is a more or less violent, passionate appropriation of what is experienced as lovable and admirable in parents. Similarly, incest does not merely spell love or the urge of Eros to bind together and unite. Incest also contains the exclusion and destruction of the third in the triangle, and often a hateful vengeance perpetrated on the incestuous object that wanted, or allowed and responded to, the rival (Loewald, 2000).

The Seggu Jātakaya of the Jātaka story book reveals the socially forbidden subject of incest. According to this Jātaka story a father takes his young daughter to the jungle and tries to molest her in order to verify her purity. He wants to know whether his daughter had a premarital sexual activity with someone.  During the attempt the daughter becomes frighten and cries in fear and shame. She persistently tells the father that she is inexperienced in sexual relations. Finally the father realizes that his daughter is a virgin and then tells her about his real intentions.

Although in Seggu Jātakaya the father’s motives were not to molest his own daughter it raises a numerous questions. What would have been the father’s action if he found that the daughter was not a virgin? Then she would have been subjected to a sexual assault or to honor based killing.

According to the feminists view incest is a forceful act performed by men who control and subordinate their spouses and their children (Barret, Trepper &  Fish, 1990).  The feminists argue that father-child incest is a product of a patriarchal family structure (Vander Mey & Neff, 1986). The Jātaka Storyteller was well aware of the social forces existed in his ancient patriarchal society. Nevertheless he did not view women as sexual objects. He shows deep compassion for the woman who is frightened and helpless.  On the other hand he intensely describes the complex mental state of the father. The Jātaka Storyteller implies that the father had an underlying motive to molest his daughter if she was not a virgin.

Paraphilias

Humans show a wide array of sexual preferences and behaviors. Although most humans prefer and have sex with consenting adults of the opposite sex, some individuals have unconventional preferences with regard to the sex or age of sexual partners, or with regard to the nature of sexual activities (Earls & Lalumière, 2002).

A paraphilia is a condition in which a person’s sexual arousal and gratification depend on fantasizing about and engaging in sexual behaviour that is atypical and extreme.  Stuart (2012) suggests that paraphilia definitions are based on perceived deviations from inappropriate perfectionist ideals of sexual norms. Paraphilias are often comorbid with other sexual, mood, and personality disorders (Seto, et al., 2014).

Silverstein (1984) states that moral reasoning has to be the primary determinant in the diagnosis of sexual disorders.

The German Psychiatrist Richard Von Krafft-Ebing identified paraphilias   in 1886. His famous book Psychopathia Sexualis (Sexual Psychopathy) describes numerous paraphilias. Conversely Prior to Richard Von Krafft-Ebing the Jātakaya Storyteller illustrated a number of paraphilias that were found in the ancient Indian society. For instance Baka Jātakaya describes a King who had suggestive features of Salirophilia. The King was attracted to a hideous woman called Panchapapa.

Fetishism

Moreover the Jātaka stories describe Fetishism in a young man named Kema.  Fetishism is a paraphilic sexual disorder characterized by recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges or behaviors involving the use of nonliving objects (Firoz et al., 2014) Oğuz and Uygur (2005) indicate that underlying personality disorders extending through childhood are thought to be the source of the etiology in Fetishism. Kema obtains sexual arousal by stealing sandals that belonged to a young and attractive Princess. Kema is attracted to the Princess. But his fears and inner mental conflicts prevent him meeting the Princess. But he gratifies his erotic desires keeping her pair of sandals.

Psychoanalyst Wilhelm Stekel (1930) contrasted what he called “normal fetishes” from extreme interests: “They become pathological only when they have pushed the whole love object into the background and themselves appropriate the function of a love object, e.g., when a lover satisfies himself with the possession of a woman’s shoe and considers the woman herself as secondary or even disturbing and superfluous. In Kema’s story his love object becomes the stolen pair of sandals.

Sexual Addiction

Sexual addiction is a form of compulsive sexual behavior in which the individual is unable to control their sexual urges, behaviors, or thoughts (Coleman, 2003). In 1987 the APA’s Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (DSM-III-R) added for the first time the concept of sexual addiction as a specific descriptor that might be applied under the more general diagnosis of Sexual Disorders NOS (Not Otherwise Specified) (Weiss,2012).

According to Wölfle (2010) the phenomenon of sexual addiction as a clinical syndrome is discussed controversially. The frequency distribution of specific Hypersexual Disorder in females has been inadequately studied (Kafka, 2010).

In the past, medical attitudes to female sexuality were grotesque, reflecting the anxiety and hypocrisy of the times. In the medieval world, the population feared hunger, the devil, and women, being particularly outraged and threatened by normal female sexuality (Studd & Schwenkhagen, 2009). The 19th century medical attitude to normal female sexuality was cruel, with gynecologists and psychiatrists leading the way in designing operations for the cure of the serious contemporary disorders of masturbation and nymphomania (Studd, 2007).

The word ‘nymphomania’, the concept of ‘madness from the womb’ and the belief in the existence of a behaviour consisting in an abnormally high female sexual drive converged during the second half of the seventeenth century to give rise to a new clinical category which, with minor changes, has survived until the present -e.g., in ICD-10 ( Berrios & Rivière  , 2006).

The Jātaka stories describe individuals with extreme desire of carnal pleasure. For example Maha Kunala Jātakaya portrays of a Princess named Krishna who had suggestive features of Nymphomania or Sexual addiction. Princes Sthula or Sthula Kumarika (in Chulla Narada Jātaka) has an insatiable desire for sex. She needs multiple partners to satisfy her erotic craving. The Vennukuna Jātakaya indicates a princess who had an intense sexual desire for a man with an extreme physical defect (attraction to disability). She abandons her husband and lives with a man with hunchback. In Kunala Jātakaya (a sub story) describes a beautiful queen named Kinnara Devi who was fond of having a sexual relationship with a foul-smelling vagabond who had extreme physical defects. She was sexually aroused by seeing the vagabond and his physical defects. She derives satisfaction from being his slave and takes pleasure in physical beatings by him. In addition Bandhanamokkha Jātakaya tells the story of a queen, who had committed adultery with sixty-four men while the king was away. When she approached the sixty fifth male   to satisfy her lust he refuses her offer. Then the queen gets extremely angry and seeks revenge. When the king returns she pretends that she became unwell after an attempted rape by the sixty fifth male. The king orders to execute the man. But he reveals the truth and discloses the queen’s true nature. After realizing what had truly occurred the king banishes the queen and rewards the man.

Bonnie and Clyde Syndrome (Hybristophilia)

Bonnie and Clyde Syndrome or Hybristophilia is a paraphilia of the predatory type in which sexual arousal, facilitation, and attainment of orgasm are responsive to and contingent upon being with a partner known to have committed an outrage, cheating, lying, known infidelities or crime, such as rape, or murder.

The Buddhist literature reveals about a rich girl named Kundala Keshi who was sternly attracted to a criminal when she accidently saw him through her window. The King’s men were taking him to the burial ground to decapitate. His well built physique with rough vagabond look vigorously attracted to her. She immediately fell in love with the criminal. She urged her wealthy father to rescue the outlaw from the King’s men. The affluent father bribed the King’s men and released the criminal. He was secretly brought to Kundala Keshi;s house and they become husband and wife.

After sometime the husband with criminal intensions plots to kill his wife and rob her precious jewellery. He takes Kundala Keshi to a mountain to worship a god. When they go to the top of the mountain the bandit husband gets ready to kill her. Kundala Keshi begs him to set her free. But the husband is determined to kill her and take hold of her jewellery. Frightened Kundala Keshi sees no getaway. Somehow she tricks her husband and pushes him over the cliff. The bandit husband was doomed to a violent death.  After these shocking events she has no wish to go home. She becomes a Bhikkhuni or female Buddhist monastic.

Voyeurism

The term ‘Voyeurism’ refers to the desire to spy on unsuspecting and non-consenting people during their private activities. Voyeurism is considered as a precondition for Voyeuristic Disorder. Voyeuristic Disorder belongs to a group of mental conditions under paraphilic disorders in the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM 5.

According to the Bahiya Jātaka story a king with voyeuristic tendencies achieves sexual gratification by observing a woman in the act of urinating and defecating. After seeing the woman the King becomes sexually exited and fantasizes about her. Then he orders his men to bring the woman to the palace.

Zoophilia

Zoophilia is a paraphilia whereby the perpetrator gets sexual pleasure in having sex with animals (Aggrawal , 2011). Zoophilia has lost its character as a severe mental disorder. (Dittert et al., 2005). Earls and Lalumière (2007) describe a case of zoophilia that challenges the widely held assumptions that men who have sex with animals are generally of below average intelligence and come from rural areas. Also they state that zoophilia is not as rare as once thought and shares many features with other atypical sexual interests. Dittert and colleagues (2005) stress that zoophilia shows a variety of manifestations. The subject’s desire to be transformed into the animal he or she has contact with can be understood as a narcissistic compound and is not related to lycanthropia.

The famous Kinsey reports on the sexual behavior of the American male and female also include data on sexual contacts with animals. Kinsey and his colleagues interviewed about 5300 adult, white men and 5800 adult, white women about their sexual experiences. Although the objectivity of the methods employed is sometimes criticized, the studies provide important information. Kinsey and his colleagues found that in rural areas about 40 to 50% of the males had had at least one sexual encounter with an animal, and 17% had even experienced an orgasm as a result of sexual contact with animals during adolescence. Amongst all the American men in the study, however, the prevalence was much lower, about 8% (Kinsey, Pomeroy & Martin, 1948; Beetz, 2005).

The Jātaka Storyteller vividly describes the Zoophilia (Bestiality) tendency of the Queen Mallika who had a sexual encounter with an animal. As the King observes from the upper floor his queen is having a physical relationship with a dog. He becomes puzzled and thinks that it was an optical illusion. Later the Queen Mallika tricks the King and convinces him that it was a misapprehension. However the in her death bed the Queen Mallika recollects this event and her final thoughts become impure.

Vinaya proscribes all intentional sexual activity for monks. During Buddha’s time a monk thought it would be no offence to have sexual intercourse with an animal. He had lured a female monkey into a sexual relationship (Lopez, 2009). When this incident became a known to others and some monks informed the Buddha about this unusual relationship. The Buddha advised the monk who broke his celibate vows. The Buddha later imposed pārājika rules for such acts. A monk or nun who commits a pārājika offence is permanently and irrevocably expelled.

Sexual Sadism and Masochism

Krafft-Ebing coined the term ‘masochism. Prior to that Albert von Schrenck Notzing used the term ‘algolagnia’ to refer to sexual pleasure derived from pain. Algolagnia included sexual humiliation, subjection, and the desire to be under the power of another (Walters, 2012).

Sexual sadism and masochism were described in Vatsyayana’s Kama Sutra (Aphorisms of love) written somewhere between the 1st and 6th centuries.  Sadistic and masochistic behavior became known in 1498 when the Italian philosopher Pico della Mirandola described a man who needed to be flogged before sex (Farin 1990).

The word sadism came from the life and the writings of the French author Marquis De Sade, such as The 120 Days of Sodom. The word masochism was taken from the works of one of his contemporaries, the Austrian author, Leopold von Sacher Masoch (Grenci, 2006).

In Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905) Freud described the tendency to inflict and receive pain during sexual intercourse as the most common and important of all perversions”, and that both psychosexual tendencies usually occur in the same person. That masochism is a form of sadism against the Self, and that sadism and masochism are manifested variously as primary masochism” and secondary masochism”, and as the subordinate forms of feminine masochism” and moral masochism”.

Some of the Jātaka stories discuss sexual sadism and masochism. For instance in Andha  Butha Jātakaya a young wife derives sadistic satisfaction by hitting her blindfolded husband and also humiliating him while having a sexual intercourse with her young lover.

Neurosyphilis

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection. The first case of syphilis occurred in Europe around the year 1493. Martin Alonzo Pinzon, commander of one of the three ships of Christopher Columbus, is considered as first documented victim of syphilis (Friedrich & Aigner, 2011). However the symptoms of syphilis in its tertiary form were described by Hippocrates in Classical Greece.

The Jātaka stories indicate that in ancient India prostitution was a socially accepted profession and sex workers were called Nagara Sobhini (lady of the land). They were rich, famous and a socially influential group. The ancient literatures describe sex orgies that prevailed in that era. These parties were called Girraga Sammja (Lay Culture). Unprotected sexual practices existed in all layers of the society. Therefore it is reasonable to believe that sexually transmitted diseases impacted some of the sex workers as well as some of the patrons.

Several Jātaka stories underscore individuals that had clinical features of Neurosyphilis. Neurosyphilis is a form of tertiary syphilis infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum. Patients suffering from this illness can present with neurological manifestations such as headaches, seizures, hearing loss, and ataxia (Tso et al., 2008). The typical presentation of neurosyphilis marked by neurological and cognitive symptoms (Kinson & Chan, 2013).

Onset of psychiatric symptoms including personality changes are illustrated in several Jātaka stories. According to these stories the sufferers presented with abnormal gait, sudden blindness, disorientation, depression, seizures, memory loss and abnormal reflexes. These symptoms are largely seen in Neurosyphilis.

Brothers Karamazov, Asthramanthra Jātaka Story and Sexuality

The renowned Sri Lankan Literary genius Martin Wicramasinghe D.Lit.  believed that Fyodor Dostoyevsky may have had some influence by  Asthramanthra Jātaka story   to write his psycho- philosophical novel -Brothers Karamazov.

There are many similarities between Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov and Asthramanthra Jātaka story.  Both stories describe the sexual craving and indulgence in the old age violating social and moral norms. Both stories profoundly analyze the inner mental conflicts reveling the darkest side of the human mind.

The Brothers Karamazov is tale of bitter family rivalries that was written on two levels: on the surface it is the story of a parricide in which all of a murdered man’s sons share varying degrees of complicity but, on a deeper level, it is a spiritual drama of the moral struggles between faith, doubt, reason, and free will.  In   Asthramanthra Jātaka story too there are two levels: on the surface accumulation of sexual urges following seduction and in the second level the murders impulsions of an old mother who wants to kill her son to have a sexual relationship with a young apprentice. Asthramanthra Jātaka story is a spiritual drama of the moral struggles between maternal love, sexual urge, faith, doubt, reason, and social norms.

In Asthramanthra Jātaka story a senile old woman was seduced by a young apprentice in order to assess the sexual urge in old age. The seduction was done with the consent of the old woman’s son and after a few months the old woman gradually develops an erotic desire beyond her control. Following the seduction the senile old woman’s dormant sexual urges come to the surface like an erupting volcano. She is expecting to have a sexual relationship with the young apprentice. Nonetheless she sees her own son as an obstacle to fulfill her sexual desire. In due course she is determined to kill her own son to be with the young apprentice. One night she comes to her son’s bed room with a sward to kill him.

In this Jathaka story the old woman’s sensual feelings, erotic fantasies, inner mental conflicts and murderous impulses were intricately described by the Jathaka story teller.  The old land owner in Brothers Karamazov and the old woman in Asthramanthra Jātaka have similar characteristics with regard to sensual pleasures. The Jātaka story teller describes the old woman’s sexually inclined mind as the way Fyodor Dostoyevsky described the old landowner’s lustful mind.

Dostoyevsky points out the dual complexities in the human mind.  The Jataka story teller too vibrantly wrote about the complex and dual nature of the human psyche.  Asthramanthra Jātaka story is one of the examples of his exceptional talents. In this Jathaka story he deeply analyzed the murderous impulses of an old woman who was geared by onset awakening of sexual urges.

The old woman in Asthramanthra Jātaka story and immoral old land owner in Brothers Karamazov represent the dark side of the human nature and in later years Carl Jung came up with the concept of shadow that portrays the repressed weaknesses, shortcomings and instincts. In his 1938 work Psychology and Religion” Carl Jung explains the function of the shadow thus.

 Unfortunately there can be no doubt that man is, on the whole, less good than he imagines himself or wants to be. Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. If an inferiority is conscious, one always has a chance to correct it. Furthermore, it is constantly in contact with other interests, so that it is continually subjected to modifications. But if it is repressed and isolated from consciousness, it never gets corrected.”

According to Jung, the shadow is irrational often projects   personal inferiority into a perceived moral deficiency. Jung wrote a man who is possessed by his shadow is always standing in his own light and falling into his own traps … living below his own level” Describing man’s dark covert desires Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote; There are things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind.

After seduced by the young apprentice the old woman falls in to her own trap and possessed by her dark shadow like Fyodor Pavlovich the debauched land owner who was sexually fascinated by his own son’s girlfriend -Grushenka. Both the characters forget ethics and morality as well as social norms while making efforts to fulfill their desires.

The Jathaka story teller does not judge the old woman like the way Dostoyevsky judged the old man in his book Brothers Karamazove. The Jathaka storyteller modestly shows the extent of craving and its disastrous nature.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

It was a nightmare to reach home yesterday for little affluent car owners like us and less privileged bus commuters last evening .It was a war  zone in Rajagiriya with no guns    (except water cannons ) fired  and young and old police personnel testing their endurance and patience

There was no effect as per my driver,s comments .People will forget .

What ever you call whether inter University or otherwise ,young people who are getting an absolutely free education in this poor country were  testing grounds .

It was Yahaplanaya they were testing ,which they succeeded as only Water Cannons were  used to give them a weekly wash  and teach then how to cry due to tear gas !

We law abiding citizens were watching  the whole episode ,Rathupaswala was of the same nature with only difference where People wanted water and despite their protests they got bullets where as in Rajagiriya ,young people got water  which they never asked.

They got tear gases which made them cry .Now days young people hardly cry ,and yesterday they got the taste of tears with water .

They were all baptised and we did not even know why they making noise

Loss to the country in colossal amount of water  ( I am sure that it is Kelani River or Diyawanna Oya” which is not purified . and the water price will be raised by Hon Minster very soon

When the whole lot get diarrhoea or skin deceases ,state has to spend more and more for health care .

Water prices will go up.and our expenditure goes up for payment of water bills and to top up fuel tanks .

Finally what we got was a unbearable traffic jam and the beneficiaries would have been the liquor ( ethanol importers ) as the young people will be swarming the liquor shops to kill their grief  .

It was a brief encounter

We had a matinee show

State and private televisions had something to say

Yahapalana advocates will benefit by saying that we did not  fire bullets

I wish that Rajagiriya fly over was completed so that we could watch the whole episode from

Balcony

God save the rulers for baptising our children

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy: Island

Memoirs of retired Commodore Ajith Boyagoda cannot be compared with those of his colleagues.

A Long Watch: War, Captivity and Return in Sri Lanka, authored by Boyagoda and Sunila Galappatti, dealt with the former’s eight-years, in captivity, of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (1994-2002) and his subsequent humiliating experience in the Navy.

Mrs Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga had been Prime Minister at the time of Boyagoda’s capture. The LTTE released Boyagoda during Ranil Wickremesinghe tenure as the Premier.

Having recently reviewed retired Maj. Gen. Kamal Gunaratne’s Rana Maga Osse Nanthikadal and war-time Navy Chief Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda’s “Adishtanaya”, Boyagoda’s memoirs seem strikingly different.

Those who had bought a copy, expecting Boyagoda to denounce the LTTE, would have been surely disappointed. Had anyone believed Boyagoda would censure the LTTE, as the organization no longer existed, A Long Watch: War, Captivity and Return in Sri Lanka proved them all wrong. The writer, obviously, never had a Sinhala readership in his mind and went on to recollect his experience in LTTE captivity. Obviously, a Sinhala version of Boyagoda’s memoirs will certainly not appeal to the vast majority of the Sinhalese. However, Boyagoda should be commended for having the courage to express his views, regardless of the consequences.

Having joined the Navy, in the wake of the first abortive JVP insurgency, in 1971, the young cadet wouldn’t have contemplated facing an enemy as ruthless as the LTTE. Boyogoda had been 20 years old when he joined the Navy, in 1974. Those joining the armed forces, in the 70s, from middle class families, expected a glamorous life. The ordinary youth hadn’t been welcomed as cadets. That was the undeniable truth. Boyagoda, from Kandy, had been in the 4th intake, with all 12 cadets being Sinhala Buddhists. “Most of the other cadets were from schools in Colombo. Then there was myself from Kandy and two others, from Kegalle and Kalutara. We were 12 in total. At the time we thought it a superb coincidence that we were all Sinhala Buddhists. We had that majority feeling.” Is Boyagoda being sarcastic?

Karannagoda had been in the second intake.

At the onset of his account, The author briefly discussed life as a cadet, the 1977 and 1983 riots, and Tamils fleeing Sri Lanka, in the wake of the 1983 violence, directed at them, and overseas deployment. Boyagoda essentially condoned Tamils seeking refuge overseas.

Unfortunately, there hadn’t been, at least a reference to Indian intervention, by way of giving the required expertise to the LTTE to wipe out of an army patrol, in July 1983, in Jaffna. The slaughter of 13 soldiers sparked the riots. The then foolish JRJ government turned a blind eye to what was happening and even facilitated the massacre of innocents. In hindsight, JRJ played into the hands of Indian policymakers. One-time Indian Foreign Secretary, J.N. Dixit, in his memoirs ‘Makers of India’s Foreign Policy: Raja Ram Mohun Roy to Yashwant Sinha’, launched in 2004, explained the Indian intervention here. Had Admiral Karannagoda, Maj. Gen. Gunaratne and Commodore perused Dixit memoirs, they would have had a clear perspective of the events here.

Obviously, Boyagoda had a soft spot for his captors who spared his life though they could have executed him. An irate Boyagoda, while alleging that the Navy hadn’t been interested in knowing what he thought of the enemy, described his period in captivity as living with the LTTE. “People talk about the LTTE all the time; I lived with them for eight years and no one – not even my own naval command – ever wanted to hear my account of what they were like.” Boyagoda added: “In knowing mine is not the only story. I have heard screams coming from underground cells.”

Post 1983 period

Boyagoda dealt with his first posting in Nainativu island, off Jaffna, soon after the July 1983 riots, his marriage to Chandani, whom he met at an annual Navy Day Dance, life on Nainativu island, difficulties experienced by Tamils in the hands of the armed forces due to their community waging war, and gradual change in the ground situation in the Northern Province leading to armed forces being confined to their barracks. The retired officer discussed constitutional changes in the 70s, onset of violence on the Northern Province, India forcing the so-called Indo-Lanka Accord on the then President JRJ, deployment of the Indian Army, Sri Lankan military re-deployed in the South, to quell the second JVP insurgency, operations undertaken by the then DIG Premadasa Udugampola in the South and Kandy, providing security to the then Opposition Leader Appapillai Amirthalingam, destruction of Jaffna library, India quitting Sri Lanka, in March 1990, assassination of the then Congress I leader, Rajiv Gandhi, in May, 1991, assassination of President Ranasinghe Premadasa, on May Day, 1993.

Water denied to MR home

Boyagoda recollected an incident involving his posting to Tangalle Navy base in the 80s during Ranasinghe Premadasa’s presidency. It reflected the political situation then and now. Those who had been in power had been basically harassed by their political opponents. In the wake of the UNP stopping water supply to the then SLFP MP Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Beliatta residence, Mrs Shiranthi Rajapaksa had met Boyagoda to secure a bowser of water from the Navy. As Mrs Rajapaksa had been running a nursery at her home, she required water. The water cut had been imposed immediately after MP Rajapaksa launched the Pada Yatra-protest walk, from the South to Colombo, to highlight dictatorial UNP rule. Boyagoda, regardless of consequences, had provided water, without seeking approval from Colombo.

Siege on Karainagar in 1991

The author discussed his transfer from the East to Karainagar in late 1991 at the height of the LTTE offensive, during eelam war II. The LTTE resumed hostilities, in June, 1990, in the wake of India withdrawing her Army, in March, 1990. Having quickly overrun isolated army detachments, along the Kandy-Jaffna road, north of Vavuniya, the LTTE stepped up pressure on Karainagar. Boyagoda dealt with the Army clearing the Karainagar area and indiscriminate destruction of Tamil speaking people’s property, widespread looting of houses and an attempt to separate women from men and general harassment of the population. Boyagoda strongly condemned the Army, alleging that those troops sent in to save the Navy, under siege at Karainagar, simply destroyed everything on sight belonging to Tamil civilians. Condemning the actions of what he described as a Sinhala Army marching through Tamil villages, Boyagoda asserted those youth, affected by atrocities, wouldn’t have hesitated to join the LTTE. Boyagoda briefly examined the failure of those who had been in charge of ground forces to stop destruction of property and large scale looting. The Navy had been unable to intervene on behalf of the civilian population, with the Army leadership on the ground (Karainagar) justifying soldiers’ right to loot. Looting had been justified on the basis troops needed cash in case they received serious injury in combat. The officers had asserted such conduct was normal in war and conflict. Kamal Gunaratne, in his memoirs, acknowledged severe shortcomings on their part in those days. Gunaratne admitted that their conduct had been inimical to ordinary civilians and regretted their failure to rein in troops. Boyagoda had been in a collision course with the Army in the wake of clearing operations in Karainagar.

The military shouldn’t be ashamed to publicly apologise for the misconduct of troops, during the war. In fact, the previous government should have made a public apology, explaining the circumstances under which atrocities took place. Such a course of action would have certainly put pressure on Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Velupillai Prabhakaran’s wartime ally. The TNA – LTTE partnership remained strong until the very end when the Army brought the LTTE down to its knees, in May, 2009, nearly seven years after Boyagoda secured his release.

The Army paid a huge price to eradicate the LTTE though Boyagoda didn’t pay much attention to it. Over 5,000 officers and men died in eelam war IV (Aug 2006-March 2009) with thousands maimed.

Living with Tigers

Had he been allowed to retire, in 1994, after having served the Navy for 20 years, Boyagoda wouldn’t have been in command of Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) Sagarawardene when Sea Tigers blew it up off Mannar, in late Sept, 1994.

Boyagoda had been on his final voyage on Sagarawardene, one of the two 40 meter long Colombo Dockyard built OPVs in service at that time. Monitoring LTTE communications, on land, had been one of the primary tasks for the vessel, capable of operating on its own, for longer periods out at sea.

The author detailed the ill-fated final mission with focus on the battle between Sagarawardene and a flotilla of Sea Tigers craft, an unsuccessful SLAF attempt to interdict Sea Tiger craft withdrawing towards land following the attack and him being rescued by the enemy along with Leading Supply Assistant Vijitha. The only Commanding Officer of a ship ever to be captured by Sea Tigers discussed severe difficulties experienced by the Navy for want of suitable craft to achieve primary naval objectives.

Once taken ashore, Boyagoda had been visited by Sea Tiger commander Thillaiyampalam Sivanesan alias Soosai. Boyagoda recollected meeting Soosai with awe. Let me reproduce verbatim Boyagoda’s comment on Soosai. “He (Soosai) came and shook hands with me. I said, in English, ‘I have heard you so many times over the net, I’m glad to meet you.’ I don’t remember his reaction-at most he nodded his head.”

The author never explained why he was glad to meet the man who had ordered destruction of his vessel. Soosai, and those around him, would have been certainly surprised by Boyagoda’s remark. How could a senior officer be happy to meet the man who had ordered his vessel sunk causing the death of the majority of his crew? Sagarawardene had been the largest vessel available to the Navy at that time.

The author, quite rightly found fault with a section of the media for alluding that he had clandestine link with the LTTE. Boyagoda also castigated the then Navy leadership for blaming him for negligence thereby paving the way for the destruction of a precious asset.

Boyagoda had been warned by his superiors to be cautious as the then newly elected Premier Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was having talks with the LTTE. Having defeated the UNP at the August 1994 parliamentary polls, Mrs Kumaratunga was busy negotiating with the LTTE, in the run-up to the Nov 1994 presidential polls. The then Deputy Area Commander had personally warned Boyagoda to be wary as talks were talking place.

In the following month, the LTTE assassinated UNP presidential candidate, Gamini Dissanayake, along with over 50 persons. The dead included several UNP politicians, including the then General Secretary of the party Dr. Gamini Wijesekera.

Rapport with captors

Boyagoda discussed living in various LTTE camps in the Northern Province, facing, whom he described, as inexperienced interrogators, meeting Army and Police personnel in captivity, access to International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), receiving gifts from family and much publicized hunger strike leading to high level tripartite deliberations to end their fast and secure their release. Their fast obviously had the tacit support of the LTTE. The LTTE exploited and managed the event to secure maximum possible coverage. Such events had been part of the LTTE’s well planned strategy meant to intensify pressure on the government and to secure positive media coverage. Boyagoda dealt with the highly publicized visits undertaken by families of those who had been held captive during the conflict. There had been some disagreements with the LTTE and its captives. Boyagoda’s memoirs would certainly help readers to understand the mindset of the LTTE to a certain extent.

Boyagoda narrated an LTTE attempt to recruit him to its feared intelligence service. The offer had been made three years after Boyagoda’s capture by a person, the author identified as Sangeethan. The LTTE had offered to release Boyagoda along with several other prisoners if he agreed to provide shelter to LTTE intelligence wing cadres sent on secret missions to the South. Boyagoda had politely spurned the offer though he feared the LTTE reaction. Interestingly, the late ‘Lt. Col.’ Thamilini, in her memoirs, discussed the difficulties experienced by those who had been positioned in the South to undertake various missions, on behalf of the LTTE. Boyagoda dealt with several LTTE personnel, including Sangeethan, who had been in charge of the captives. Sangeethan had tormented captives by imposing a range of restrictions in the wake of a soldier detonating a hand grenade killing himself and wounding several LTTE cadres. The LTTE stepped up security and toughened restrictions in spite of protests by captives. Boyagoda also recalled the death of soldier Hemapala, due to natural causes, while in captivity and his body being handed over to ICRC at Kilinochchi following an LTTE gun salute. Hemapala had been the only soldier who had been with Boyagoda to die in LTTE captivity.

Boyagoda had been in LTTE captivity when an attempt was made on the life of the then President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, in late Dec 1999, just ahead of the presidential polls. Boyogada lamented the failure of several attempts, over the years, to arrange their release with the ICRC’s involvement. There had been a detailed account of their daily struggle to cope with the situation. There had been repeated setbacks though families of those who were held by the LTTE continued their efforts to secure the release of their loved ones. In fact, there hadn’t been any detailed accounts of police or army captives, either in Sinhala or English, though there were many prisoners. But there hadn’t been a ranking officer in their custody.

Exchange of Boyagoda for Kennedy

Having lived with the LTTE for eight years, Boyagoda had been so sorry to leave his guards, particularly Newton, who had been in charge of them for some time. Boyagoda; “It was a heart-breaking departure, if you can believe that. We had been living with all of these cadres for so long that there was a kind of brotherly understanding between us. We were taking leave of a family we would probably never see again.”

Boyagoda had been glad to meet the man in person (Soosai) who ordered the destruction of the then largest ship belonging to the Navy and eight years later he felt sorry to leave his captors. But perhaps, Boyagoda most shocking statement had been he envisaged a united federal state at the time an agreement was reached for his release. There had been altogether seven captives, including Boyagoda, whose release was subject to freedom to Kennedy, a hardcore LTTE cadre. The government released 13 LTTE cadres, including two women. The prisoner exchange took place on Sept 28, 2002.

The writer had been among those journalists, taken by the Army to Omanthai, to cover the exchange of prisoners of the conflict. The LTTE turned the event to a major propaganda project. The then Army Chief Lt. Gen. Lionel Balagalle, had to sit between two terrorist leaders in uniforms wearing siderams. Among the terrorists was ‘Colonel’ Theepan.’ Those who spoken on behalf of the government expressed confidence of lasting settlement whereas the LTTE blamed the previous CBK administration for long delay in their release (LTTE releases last batch of captives, with strapline Blames PA govt for long captive period-The Island, Sept 29, 2002 edition).

The released LTTE cadres, included Kennedy (Jesumy Fernando), who led a successful commando raid, on Palaly airbase, in early August 1994. The LTTE squad destroyed a Bell 212 chopper before SLAF personnel killed several raiders and captured Kennedy. Prabhakaran made several attempts to secure Kennedy’s release, over the years, and finally succeeded in Sept 2002 (Held to ransom, The Island, Oct 2, 2002).

Back in the Navy

Boyagoda bitterly complained about the way the Navy treated him on his return to the service. His fresh appointment as ‘additional to headquarters’, an obvious move to deprive Boyagoda of holding a responsible position, infuriated him. The Navy top brass, including the then Commander Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri and Boyagoda’s colleagues, for some reason, had refrained from inquiring about the time he was held in captivity. Perhaps, they wrongly believed Boyagoda had switched his allegiance to the LTTE. Boyagoda had been dismayed by the Naval Intelligence, Directorate of Military Intelligence as well as the National Intelligence deciding against questioning him. Instead, Navy headquarters had directed him to a psychiatrist who disapproved of the Navy directing him (Boyagoda) to him.

Boyagoda recollected how various people, including some of his colleagues, propagated lies, much to the discomfort of him and his family. Boyagoda had been bitter about him being accused of leading the LTTE attack, on Mullaitivu base, in the mid 1996, as well as various other unsubstantiated accusations. In his memoirs, Boyagoda recounted him being held at Periyamadu, west of Vavuniya at the time the devastating LTTE assault on Mullaitivu. Over 1,200 army personnel perished in fighting.

Boyagoda dealt with his brief stay with the Navy on his return and re-visiting the North where he had an opportunity to meet Newton. A Long Watch: War, Captivity and Return in Sri Lanka is a must read for those interested in knowing the decades long conflict. A Sinhala version is required to take Boyagoda’s message to those who may not agree with the successful conclusion of the conflict, through military means.

(To be continued on Dec 7)

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග 

කුඩා කාලයේ සිට පීතෘ වියෝග කාංසාවට මුහුණ දෙන ඇන්ටනි  චිත්තාවේගීය වශයෙන් අසමබර වේ. ළදරු වයසේ තීරණාත්මක කාලයේ සිටම පීතෘ ප්‍රතිබිම්බය ග්‍රහනය කිරීම ඇන්ටනි තුල ප්‍රමාද වෙයි. එම නිසා කුඩා කාලයේ සිට වැඩිහිටියෙකු දක්වා ඇන්ටනි මානසිකව වර්ධනය වන්නේ අභ්‍යන්තර මානසික ගැටුම් සමගය. මෙම අභ්‍යන්තර මානසික ගැටුම් අන් අය සමග ප්‍රශස්ථ සබැඳියාවන්  ගොඩනගා ගැනීමට යාමේදී ඇන්ටනි තුල ඝට්ටනයක් ඇති කරයි . මේ නිසා ඔහු මානසික හුදකලාභාවයකට ලක් වේ. පීතෘ වියෝගය ඔහුගේ විශ්වාස පද්ධතිය තුවාල කොට තිබේ. මේ නිසා ඔහු ගැඹුරු මානව සම්බන්ධතා ගොඩ නගා ගැනීමට බියක් දක්වයි. 

තමන් ගේ මානසික හුදකලාභාවය නිසා වෙනසක් අපේක්ශා කරන ඔහු පියා සොයාගෙන බත්තලංගුණ්ඩුව දිවයිනට යයි. මෙහි සංකේතාත්මක අර්ථය වන්නේ තමන් ගේ මූලයන් සොයා යළිත් මවගේ ගර්භාශයට යාමට ඔහු දක්වන අවිඥානික යොමුවයි. කල්පිටිය මුහුද නැමැති ගර්භාශික තරළය (amniotic fluid)  හරහා ඔහු බත්තලංගුණ්ඩුව නම් ගර්භයට සැපත් වෙයි. 

බත්තලංගුණ්ඩුවේදී ඔහුට පියා හමුවේ. නමුත් දෙදෙනාගේම හැඟීම් නිර්වින්දනය වී තිබේ. පුරා දීර්ඝ කාලයක් මානසික බැඳීම් වලින් තොරව දුරස්ථකරණයට ලක්ව සිටි පියා සහ පුතා එකිනෙකාට ආගන්තුකයෝ වෙති. කුඩා නෝවා දකින ඇන්ටනි තුල සිබි ප්‍රතිවිරෝධයක්ද (sibling rivalry) ඒ හා සමගම සහෝදර ඇල්මක්ද හට ගනියි. මෙම පරස්පර ප්‍රතිරෝධය  ඇන්ටනි තුල පවත්නා අවිඥානික  මානසික ගැටුම් නිසා හට ගන්නකි. 

 ඇන්ටනිගේ අවිඥානික මාතෘ සංකේතය වන්නේ ආන මරියාය.  මොවුන් දෙදෙනාගේ සහ සබඳතාව එක්තරා දුරකට මර්සෝ සහ මරීගේ සබඳතාවට සමානය.ඇන්ටනිද පිටස්තරයෙකි. බයිබලයේ දැක්වෙන මුහුද දෙබෑ කරගෙන එන අං දහයක් සහ හිස් සතක් ඇති මෘගයා ඔහුය. 

අපවර්තිත ඊඩිපස් සංකීර්ණයේ ශේෂයන් නිසා ඇන්ටනි තුල නෛසර්ගික සමරිසි නැමියාවක් තිබේ. මෙම නෛසර්ගික සමරිසි ආනතිය ප්‍රකාශ වන්නේ පියා කෙරෙහි දක්වන ලිංගික ඉර්ශියාව මගිනි.  එම ලිංගික ඉර්ශියාව විසින් තත්‍ය ලෙසින් හෝ මනස්ඍෂ්ටියක් මගින් හෝ ග්‍රේටාව අතික්‍රමණය කරනු ලබයි. 

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග 

By C. A. Chandraprema

Police powers were among the most contentious topics in the whole devolution debate and the provisions of the 13th Amendment in this connection were never implemented by any government over the past three decades, because it would have rendered the country ungovernable. Now however, the Police Law and Order Subcommittee proposes to actually carry out what no previous government even contemplated. This Subcommittee of the Constitutional Assembly has proposed that the Police Ordinance be replaced with a completely new Police Act and that changes be made to the emergency laws – which would take the provincial police and law and order powers even beyond what was envisaged in the 13th Amendment.

The proposed new Police Act will divide the Sri Lanka police force into the Sri Lanka National Police and the Sri Lanka Provincial Police and the latter again into nine separate units. All officers of the Sri Lanka Police shall wear the same uniform and insignia and officers of the Provincial Police will wear a distinctive shoulder flash to indicate the provincial police force to which they are attached. Even though the 13th Amendment had stipulated that the national police would in normal circumstances be in plain clothes while the provincial police will be in uniform, no such provision has been made in this subcommittee report. However due to the limited functions envisaged for the national police, it is unclear where the national police will be on duty in uniforms.

Following the lead of the 13th Amendment, the present Subcommittee has also proposed limiting the role of the national police to exercising jurisdiction over offences against the state, the armed forces, ministers, MPs, judicial officers and public officers, offences relating to elections, offences against diplomatic representatives, offences relating to currency and government stamps, offences against state property and international crimes. Everything else will be the preserve of the provincial police forces. If the national police will not be manning police stations or patrolling the streets and carrying out investigations into day to day complaints made by the public, where would they be serving as uniformed policemen? This is why the 13th Amendment was forthright enough to state that the national police would be in plain clothes in normal circumstances, while only the provincial police would be in uniform.

Sidelining of the national police

It can be observed that the jurisdiction of the national police would be limited to offences that seldom occur which means that even the cadre requirement would be vastly reduced and the national police will become like one of the specialised units such as the special branch that operates within the police dept. today. Even at present, investigations into the type of offences reserved for the national police in the 13th Amendment and the Subcommittee’s proposals would be handled by specialised units within the police department. One point of departure from the 13th Amendment in the proposals of the Subcommittee is the creation of a Colombo metropolitan police division which will be outside the jurisdiction of the Western province police force and will be the exclusive preserve of the national police force. Thus the metropolitan Colombo area will be the only part of the country where one will see the uniformed national police performing normal police functions on a day to day basis.

If police powers had been devolved, as per the 13th Amendment, the leaders of the government and even the IGP himself would have been living under the jurisdiction of the Western province police with everything that entails. That problem seems to have been solved to some extent by the Subcommittee’s proposal to have a Colombo Metropolitan police force which will exercise the powers of both the national police and the Western province police in the Colombo metropolitan area. The Western province police force will not have any jurisdiction in the Colombo Metropolitan area.

There is a difference in the way provision has been made for the referring of investigations to the CID between the devolution proposals in the 13th Amendment and the proposals of the Subcommittee on Police and Law and Order. According to the 13th Amendment, any offence which may ordinarily be investigated by a provincial division may be investigated by the CID or any other unit of the national division if the chief minister makes a request to that effect. If the IGP is of the opinion that an offence should be investigated by the CID in the public interest, he can direct the CID to take over a case ‘in consultation’ with the chief minister, and the approval of the Attorney General. Under the provisions of the 13th Amendment, it was the chief minister who had the final say as to whether a matter would be investigated by the CID or not.

The proposals of the Subcommittee on Police and Law and Order in this regard are that the Criminal Investigation Department can conduct investigations into a matter a) on a direction issued by the Inspector General of Police, b) on the advice of the National Police Commission, c) on the advice of the Attorney General, d) on a request by a Provincial Police Commissioner. This makes it look as if national level officials and institutions such as the IGP, the AG and the national police commission have the discretion to refer matters to the CID. However there is some confusion regarding this proposal as the Subcommittee has included in their report yet another proposal about the manner in which a matter coming under the jurisdiction of the provincial police can be referred to the national police force.

Sub-national police forces

If the Inspector General of Police in consultation with the respective Provincial Police Commissioner forms the view that a high degree of expertise may be necessary for the conduct of the investigation, it could be directed to the national police. Furthermore, if the Provincial Police is unable or unwilling or does not carry out the investigation, it can be handled by the national police but only if the provincial police commissioner agrees to such a shift of responsibility. Another way in which the national police will get to investigate something falling under the jurisdiction of the provincial police would be for the provincial police commissioner to make a request to that effect. We see that this second proposal is closer to the original arrangement in the 13th Amendment as we saw above. The CID comes under the national police. If the national police can be brought into an investigation that comes within the jurisdiction of the provincial police only with the provincial police commissioner’s consent, how can the CID be brought into an investigation at the discretion of the IGP, the Attorney General or the National Police Commission as stated above? The Subcommittee has put forward two irreconcilable proposals and this confusion needs to be sorted out.

According to the Subcommittee’s proposals, the Provincial Police Commissioner will be all powerful within his jurisdiction. Even the IGP’s oversight over the provincial police commissioner is limited. The Inspector General of Police may issue directions to the Provincial Police Commissioners on matters relating to the overall management and administration, and the execution of duties and functions of the provincial police. However, the IGP cannot give directions to the provincial police commissioners regarding matters that come under the jurisdiction of the provincial police. According to the Subcommittee report, the provincial police commissioners are to be appointed by the National Police Commission, on a recommendation made by the respective Provincial Police Commissions. The provincial Police Commission in turn will be nominated jointly by the chief minister and leader of the opposition of the provincial councils and given their appointments by the Constitutional Council.

The provincial police units proposed by the Subcommittee have even greater powers than the provincial police units under the 13th Amendment. For example, under the 13A, the training of all police officers both in the national police force as well as the provincial police forces were the exclusive preserve of the national police authorities. But under the Subcommittee’s proposals the provincial police units will have their own training institutes. This is a dangerous provision as some provincial councils will be able to give their police officers the kind of training not available to policemen in other jurisdictions. The danger in such a state of affairs is magnified when viewed in the light of the fact that the new proposals of the Subcommittee seeks to ethnicise and tribalise the police force. When recruiting persons to serve as police officers attached to a provincial police force, the respective Provincial Police Commissions arem a) to have due regard to the ethnic and linguistic ratios of the relevant province b) to give preference to applicants resident in that province c) to ensure that applicants can speak the predominant language of the people of the respective Province.

These provisions will ensure that the police officers in the north and east will be almost exclusively Tamil speakers and those in the south almost exclusively Sinhala speakers. Furthermore when the police force is compartmentalised and organised on provincial lines with no transfer of police officers between provinces, the drawing of battle lines will be complete. This is what makes provincial police training institutes all the more dangerous.

According to the provisions of the 13th Amendment, the nature, type and quantity of fire-arms and ammunition and other equipment for all provincial divisions were to be determined by the National Police Commission after ‘consultation’ with the provincial police commissions. The proposals of the present Subcommittee are that the Provincial Police shall be entitled to carry and use arms and ammunition that may be prescribed from time to time along with the respective quantity, by the IGP. When deciding on such a matter, the IGP is bound to consult the relevant Provincial Police Commissioners. Given what Sri Lanka has experienced, allowing provincial police authorities the final say in what kind of arms their police forces use is nothing short of insanity. This is a matter that should be decided at the national level and handed down to the provincial level.

On the face of it, it appears as if the Subcommittee has included in their proposals certain safeguards in relation to the provincial police force that were not seen in the 13th Amendment. For example, when a state of emergency has been declared in a province, the Inspector General of Police may bring one or more provincial police establishments under his direct command in order to effectively respond to the situation. If the IGP after having consulted the national police commission, the relevant provincial police commission and also having ‘afforded an opportunity’ to the respective Provincial Police Commissioner, has formed the view that there exists systematic and widespread insubordination, wilful violation or neglect of duties, mutiny or riotous conduct, or an attack on the unity, territorial integrity or sovereignty of Sri Lanka, he can with the sanction of the President, suspend the functioning of the relevant Provincial Police, and take steps to disarm officers of the relevant police. He shall thereafter, assign duties and functions of the relevant provincial police to be carried out by the national police force. He can withdraw the suspension when things return to normal.

The state of emergency

If the IGP following consultations with the relevant Governor, Chief Minister and Provincial Police Commissioner forms the view that it would not be appropriate to lift the suspension, he can with the sanction of the President, dissolve the relevant provincial police force and assign the national police force to cover their duties in the province. Following such a dissolution the IGP shall assist the relevant Provincial Police Commission, to reconstitute and activate the relevant Provincial Police. This looks like strong stuff, but means nothing in practical terms. The IGP has to ‘consult’ the provincial police commission and commissioner before deciding that there is a mutinous situation in a provincial police force. He can’t act on his own even if a break down in law and order seems obvious to him. Furthermore before he dissolves a provincial police unit, he has to consult the Governor (who under this new scheme of things will be an appointee of the chief minister) as well as the chief minister himself and the provincial police commissioner.

The mutiny of an entire police force is a serious situation. If any such situation takes place in Sri Lanka, the chief minister and his Governor as well as the provincial police brass will almost certainly be involved in the disturbances. Furthermore given the pusillanimous manner in which this government has reacted to incidents such as the attack on Sinhala students in the Jaffna university, it is only too plain that these ‘strong’ provisions will be just a dead letter. If an existing police force is to be disbanded and reconstituted, it will have to be reconstituted from within that same province, from within the same population. By what stretch of the imagination are we to assume that disbanding an existing police force and reconstituting from within that same provincial population will in any way improve matters?

Furthermore, all this talk of being able to even dissolve a provincial police force becomes nonsensical when looked at in juxtaposition with the recommendations the Subcommittee has made with regard to the declaration of an emergency. If a state of emergency is to be in force continuously for a period in excess of 3 months or for a period of more than 90 days within a period of 180 days, the extension of the state of emergency will require a ‘special majority’ in parliament. The Subcommittee has not specified what this ‘special majority’ is but they are convinced that a simple majority will not suffice to extend the emergency beyond a certain number of days. Furthermore, whenever a state of emergency is declared, any person may petition the supreme court challenging the declaration of emergency and even the emergency regulations. The supreme court can declare the declaration of emergency invalid and that the emergency regulations to be ultra vires.

The judicial review of declarations of emergency is not a practical proposition in any country. Declaring an emergency and taking steps to meet a difficult situation is the exclusive preserve of the executive arm of the state. The judiciary is not equipped to determine whether a situation warrants a declaration of emergency or not, just as they are not competent to alter emergency regulations because the judiciary does not handle day to day work relating to the maintenance of law and order. This is why there is a separation between the judicial, legislative and executive arms of the state. If the proposals put forward by the Subcommittee on Police and Law and Order ever see the light of day, this will facilitate the divisive agenda laid down by the Subcommittee on Centre-Periphery Relations.

By C. A. Chandraprema Courtesy: Island

The report of the Subcommittee on the judiciary observes that there is no express provision in the Constitution stressing the importance of the principle of judicial independence and aims to remedy that perceived lacuna by recommending the adoption of a provision in the constitution of South Africa which says that the courts are ‘independent’ and subject only to the ‘Constitution and the law’, and that that ‘no person or organ of state may interfere with the functioning of the courts’. There is no harm in stressing that no one should interfere with the courts because that has been the assumption that we have had with from time immemorial. But, whether one needs to go so far as to say to say that the courts are ‘subject only to the constitution and the law’ is questionable.

The constitution and the law all exist for the people (not the other way about) and the courts should be subject to the people whose interests they are supposed to serve. Article 3 of our present constitution says that sovereignty is vested in the people and is inalienable, and article 4 states among other things that the judicial power of the people shall be exercised by parliament through the courts. The report of the subcommittee on the Judiciary does not explain why the present formulation is not good enough. If parliament makes all the laws that the courts have to interpret and implement, why is it wrong to say that the judicial power of the people will be exercised by parliament through the courts?

No institution above people

The legislature which is elected by the people has a handle over the executive because only members of the legislature can be appointed to the cabinet of ministers and the legislature has all powers over finance. Likewise the legislature should have a hold over the judiciary with parliament exercising the judicial powers of the people through the courts. You can’t have any arm of the state that is so exalted that it is not answerable to the people. Judges are not elected by the people unlike the president and the parliament, and have to be accountable to the people through some mechanism. There can be no constitution or law or judiciary that is above the people.

Bar Association’s power Changes to the present procedure for appointing judges of the superior courts have also been recommended according to which the President will appoint judges to the supreme court and court of appeal on the recommendations of the constitutional council and the latter in turn will receive nominations from a panel of former supreme court judges which will include a former chief justice. This panel will be appointed by the incumbent chief justice after consulting the Attorney General and the President of the Bar Association. There is nothing wrong in the constitutional council receiving nominations for high judicial office from a panel of former supreme court judges. But for the incumbent chief justice to be constitutionally required to ‘consult’ the President of the Bar Association in appointing this panel of retired supreme court judges is not acceptable.

The Bar Association is a body that is susceptible to politicisation. At one point a sitting UNP parliamentarian was the President of the Bar Association. Thereafter a President of the Bar Association participated openly in a campaign to bring a new government into power and even before ceasing to be the President of the Bar Association, he accepted a political appointment as the Chairman of the Board of Investment. Furthermore, the Bar Association accepts foreign funding and overseas trips from foreign embassies that have been openly and directly interfering in the politics of Sri Lanka. For a body like the Bar Association to accept funding from foreign powers may not be illegal in Sri Lanka because of a loophole in our law. But in India this is a violation of the law carrying a jail sentence.

That a body like the Bar Association can pretend to be oblivious to the ethical implications of accepting foreign funding and foreign trips from powers that seek to influence politics in Sri Lanka should be a cause for concern for all citizens. The Bar Association’s political leanings are also painfully obvious. After all, the Prime Minister said in Parliament that the Supreme Court decision in Nallaratnam Singarasa v. The Attorney General should be overturned, the Bar Association made preparations to file a motion in the Supreme Court seeking a review of that judgment. If a body like this has to be consulted by the sitting chief justice in appointing the panel to nominate judges for the superior courts, where will things end up?

BASL brought in

The UNP led government tried to give the Bar Association a role in the appointment of judges even in drafting the 19th Amendment last year by trying to stipulate that when the Constitutional Council appoints judges of the superior courts, they should obtain the views of chief justice as well as the Bar Association. Due to the storm or protest that arose over this, the requirement to consult the Bar Association was dropped. Now it has been brought in again through the backdoor by the Subcommittee on the Judiciary. If the Bar Association is given a say in the appointment of judges to the superior courts, that will corrupt the whole justice system because all judges will be compelled to keep influential members of the Bar Association happy.

A related recommendation is that when Judges of the superior courts go on leave without pay to take up temporary assignments in foreign jurisdictions (as judges often do), that ‘short-term ad-hoc appointments’ to the superior courts could be made from ‘leading practitioners’ to tide over these temporary vacancies. When this is seen in relation to the previous recommendation, it is easy to see which way things are heading. The Subcommittee on the Judiciary has also recommended a fast track removal process for judges of the superior courts instead of the present impeachment proceedings. They have suggested the setting up of a ‘Superior Courts Judges Disciplinary Commission’, the members of which will be recommended by the Constitutional Council and appointed by the President.

Removing judges

This disciplinary commission will inquire into any allegations of misconduct or incapacity in relation to judges of the superior courts and submit a report to the Constitutional Council which will examine the contents of the report and make a recommendation for the removal of the judge which will have to be approved by parliament with a simple majority. The President will then remove such judge. This recommendation of the Subcommittee will need further discussion. One cause for unease regarding this procedure is that there are three appointed members in the Constitutional Council who are not people’s representatives or members of the legislature. Only members of the supreme legislature should be in a position to recommend the removal of a judge of the Supreme Court or the court of appeal.

The present procedure is that if a judge of the superior courts is to be impeached, not less than one third of the total members of parliament will have to give notice to the Speaker of such a resolution and a parliamentary select committee will examine the charges. A report will be submitted to parliament after which parliament will pass a resolution to remove the judge with more than half the total number of members of parliament (including those not present) voting for it. The existing system has better safeguards than the fast track system suggested by the Subcommittee. At present only elected representatives of the people are involved in the process and they have to indicate their resolve twice – at the beginning of the proceedings by signing the notice to the speaker and at the end by voting for the removal of the judge.

SC without original jurisdiction

The Subcommittee on the Judiciary has also recommended that that the Supreme Court be made an exclusively appellate body without any original jurisdiction. Accordingly, fundamental rights jurisdiction is to be given to the Court of Appeal. The merits and demerits of this will have to be discussed further, but one recommendation of the Subcommittee on the Judiciary that is bound to encounter vehement opposition is the suggestion that a seven member constitutional court be set up outside the regular courts structure to have exclusive jurisdiction in interpreting the constitution, in reviewing Bills and even powers of post enactment of review of legislation and to adjudicate in disputes between the Centre and the provinces.

The new constitutional court is supposed to be made up of judges with a specialised knowledge of constitutional law and ‘specialists in the field’. If a constitutional matter comes up in any court anywhere in the country, that case will have to be referred to this constitutional court. All this while the interpretation of the constitution and pre-enactment review of Bills was the exclusive preserve of the Supreme Court. To give this power to a body that is outside the structure of the courts which will be made up by ‘specialists in the field’ – who as Sri Lankan experience has shown will invariably be NGO activists plugging various agendas – would not be a palatable proposition for many.

Subcommittee on Fundamental Rights The subcommittee on fundamental rights has recommended that all written and unwritten laws in force at the time of coming into force of the new Constitution including the Chapter on Fundamental Rights shall be read subject to the provisions of the new Constitution and in the event of a court declaring that any such law is inconsistent with a provision of the new constitution, such law ‘shall be deemed to be void’. This is a standard provision that would be a feature of any new constitution. However, the Subcommittee on Fundamental Rights has recommended that this standard provision should not apply to ‘personal laws’ in force at the time of coming into force of this Constitution – which means that certain personal laws will be above the constitution of Sri Lanka and even its chapter on fundamental rights.

The government will be playing with fire if the constitution allows any communal law or ‘personal law’ to stand above the fundamental law of the land. What Article 168 of our present constitution says in this regard is that ‘unless Parliament otherwise provides’, all written and unwritten laws, in force immediately before the commencement of the Constitution, shall, mutatis mutandis, and ‘except as otherwise expressly provided in the Constitution’, continue in force. There is nothing in our present constitution that says that any personal law will continue to be valid even if it is in conflict with the constitution and the chapter on fundamental rights. The basic principle should be that any pre-existing law that comes into conflict with the constitution is ipso facto void.

According to Sri Lanka’s legal system, foreign treaties that are entered into by the government are not automatically incorporated in domestic law. Parliament has to specifically pass a law incorporating the provisions of the new treaty into the domestic law or it remains unimplemented. The Subcommittee on Fundamental Rights has now recommended that the provisions of a human rights treaty should automatically become a part of the domestic law two years after ratification. If Parliament passes a law incorporating a part but not the entirety of the treaty, the unincorporated provisions would also become domestic law at the end of the period of two years. Furthermore, in relation to human rights treaties to which Sri Lanka is already a party, the two year period will begin to run from the time the new constitution is promulgated.

The automatic incorporation of foreign treaties without amending the extant domestic laws to ensure that there are no discrepancies, will create confusion in the legal system. It is quite obvious that this particular recommendation has been made in order to work around the Supreme Court judgment in Nallaratnam Singarasa v Attorney General. Even though the CBK government signed Optional Protocol I of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which allows appeals from Sri Lanka to be addressed to the Human Rights Committee in Geneva, this has remained unimplemented because parliament has not passed a law incorporating that treaty into domestic law. In the above mentioned case, the Supreme Court decided that international treaties that are not expressly incorporated in our law by parliament are not part of the domestic law.

UNHRC

The government which is wary about trying to introduce legislation in parliament which will subordinate our supreme court to the Human Rights Committee in Geneva, now appears to be trying to incorporate international treaties into domestic law without going through the hassle of a bruising battle within parliament which may spill over into the legal fraternity as well. The recommendation of the Sub Committee on Fundamental Rights which may be the most controversial recommendation of all is that both Sinhala and Tamil be recognised as the official languages of Sri Lanka. According to our present constitution, Sinhala is the official language while Sinhala and Tamil are national languages. Even in India, there is only one official language – Hindi.

The compromise arrived at as far back as the 1950s was for Sinhala to be the official language with reasonable provision for the use of Tamil as the language of administration and the courts in the North and East and in education throughout the country. S.J.V.Chelvanayagam himself endorsed this system by agreeing that in the Tamil speaking Northern and Eastern regional councils that he proposed setting up, reasonable provision would be made for the use of Sinhala for the Sinhala minority living in those areas. Now the Subcommittee on the Judiciary has unnecessarily disturbed things by putting forward a recommendation that is guaranteed to inflame communal tensions.

by Prof. Susirith Mendis Courtesy: Island

November 29, 2016, 6:59 pm
I wrote an article titled, “The Governor’s case and the conflict of interest concept” which was published in The Sunday Times on 10th May 2015. This was a little over a couple of months after the ‘first’ Bond Scam and soon after the three-member report of three UNP lawyers.

Now, with the COPE Report (including the footnote clan) substantially finding former Governor CB, Mahendran responsible for the Bond Scam and Perpetual Treasuries raking in (or is it better to call it “shovelling in”?) over 10 billion in profits, the allegation of ‘conflict of interest’ and ‘insider trading’ are more likely to be proven in a Court of Law (provided that the Law is upheld and allowed to take its course without interference).

What makes me resurrect the old article again is because the media reported two further cases of blatant ‘conflict of interest’ within the last few days.

(i) Finance Minister’s proposal in the Budget to accept a SLR 500 million ‘donation’ from the Ceylon Tobacco Co for an Anti-Smoking Campaign of the Presidential Task Force (PTF). Can there be anything so blatantly and patently absurd than this? Cannot the FM and the President see that this is as unacceptable a case of conflict of interest as there can ever be? RajithaSenaratne, Minister of Health, quite rightly has objected to such a ‘donation’. Health Minister is quoted as saying that it is “unethical and unacceptable for the PTF to accept money from the Tobacco Company”.

(ii) MP Chatura Senaratne (CS) being appointed to the Parliamentary Sectoral Oversight Committee on Education and Human Resource Development. Are we, the ordinary citizens of this country, expected to believe that none in parliament knew that MP CS’s wife is a student at SAITM? Why did CS not inform the Committee of his ‘conflict of interest’ – which is obvious to anyone with average intelligence? Why did Prof. Ashu Marasinghe (AM), as Chairman of the Committee not object to the appointment of CS to the Committee? Why did AM chair such a committee and issue a report with CS as a possible signatory?

It seems that what the father knows and the son does not.

What triggered my original article was the news item: “CB scam: Probe panel blames tender board; Governor exonerated”.

Hence, I believe that it is appropriate to renew the debate on ‘conflict of interest’ in public affairs with the faint hope that it will prod the conscience of the powers that be, to refrain from and prevent therein, similar issues of ‘conflict of interest’ in the future.

Here are excerpts from the original article:

In my 38 years of professional life and 36 years in medical academia – and some of those years at the highest levels of university administration – dealing with many agencies of government and the corporate sector, I have come to realise that ‘Conflict of Interest’ (COI) is a concept that is either not clearly understood (by not only the average Sri Lankan, but also by academic and corporate communities and politicians in general) or is being deliberately misunderstood or beguilingly misinterpreted for their personal survival or gain.

As a result, I have been studying this phenomenon in Sri Lankan society at two levels: First, in general, as observed from news reports and investigative journalistic exposés of public officials and politicians; and second, from an academic theoretical standpoint. My interest in the subject grew in intensity when I observed this phenomenon occurring repeatedly in my own profession — medicine — to the great detriment of patients. The COI between the doctor and the pharmaceutical industry is phenomenal. Hence, I have spoken and made presentations in as many medical forums as I have been invited to speak. I have made two academic orations on the subject. The SR Kottegoda Memorial Oration in 2001 on “Ethics in Science and Medicine”; and the KN Seneviratne Memorial Oration in 2009 on “Conflict of Interest: Relationship between Industry and Research”.

Andrew Stark, in his book “Conflict of Interest in American Public Life” published by the Harvard University Press in 2000 says there are three stages in the process of acting in COI.

They are:

(i) The Antecedent Acts (Stage 1) – These are factors that condition the state of mind of an individual towards partiality, thereby compromising the potential to act towards the public interest rather than private (or personal) ones. Please note that the issue at hand is public vs private interest. The ‘partiality’ mentioned refers to sources of undue influence that create the condition of bias; in the case of the CB scandal, the antecedent act is that the CB Governor is the father-in-law of the owner of Perpetual Treasuries;

(ii) The States of Mind (Stage 2) – These represent the affected sentiments or affinities conditioned by the antecedent acts. That is, creating a particular orientation to act in a determined direction; in the CB case, it’s the mindset to ‘insider deal’ on behalf of a dealer and

(iii) Outcome Behaviour (Stage 3) – These are actions or decisions taken that arise from an affected state of mind as influenced by the antecedent conditions. That is the ultimate awarding of Rs. 5 billion worth of Treasury Bonds to Perpetual Treasuries.

The universally prescribed remedy to correct this expected outcome behaviour is ‘disclosure’. That is, you disclose or expose or cite your COI to the stakeholders and either remove yourself out of the decision-making process or expect the stakeholders or other contending parties to consider your expressed opinion in the light of that disclosure. Often, in societies where institutional hierarchies are feudal in attitude and high officials can easily influence decision-making even after ‘disclosure’ and removing one’s self from the decision-making process like in Sri Lanka and many developing countries, this remedy is hardly a preventive.

How one makes the disclosure, as well as when, is also important. There has to be ‘space’ for the person/s who can be affected by a perceived sense of partiality, to withdraw from the situation if he so desires. Disclosure for the sake of disclosure is not what is expected in the principle of disclosure as the remedy.

We have many anecdotal examples found in the press of public officials and powerful politicians who blithely declare a ‘right’ to COI. For example, a minister in the CBK government once, had the temerity to say that the company owned by his wife and son had the right to bid for tenders under his ministry. After all, they are doing a legitimate business like any other citizen in the country. Even so, the question of ‘perception of COI’ (see below) is evident. What he didn’t disclose was that the company was hastily formed to make a bid for the highly lucrative tender. Then there are others in power and authority who magnanimously declare their COI and leave Tender Boards of institutions they head, knowing very well that no member of the board will dare reject or object to his personals interests in the tender. Therefore, self-righteous statements that suspicious tenders were approved through due process by tender boards are no guarantee of moral or ethical propriety.

To understand the pervasiveness of COI in any society, it is necessary to understand the concept of the ‘Inevitability of Bias’. If we do not understand this concept, we are in danger of having to face a situation of unmanaged COI. That is the situation that exists in Sri Lanka today, both in the state and corporate sectors.

It is important to recognise the distinction between bias and conflict. It is reasonable to state that unintentional bias is pervasive. It should be distinguished from intentional or undue bias. An honest public official who is sensitive to the concept of COI will ensure that even unintentional bias is eliminated in his dealings with external agencies. COI can and should be avoided at all times because it has the potential to weaken the integrity and ethical legitimacy of any given process itself.

Tolerance and/or mishandling of COI could jeopardise the public trust in public officials and compromise the moral fabric of our society. Thus, failure to disclose COI is not acceptable and mechanisms should exist to ensure and/or enforce transparency with regard to COI among those in positions of authority and financial decision-making.

One of the important problems of managing COI is the issue of ‘moral blindness’ that effects COI situations. Many institutions worldwide have developed strategies and policies for handling COI issues. But I know of none in Sri Lanka where their policies are publicised. These policies rely on disclosure as a mechanism to manage COI. Although such practice is now widespread and widely accepted, it has been argued that individuals in conflict, more often than not, have difficulty recognising their own conflicts. Even in individuals of high moral character, a perceptual blind spot may exist that prevents critical self-evaluation when conflict exists. If this is true, it raises a red flag for many policies of disclosure, since they are based on the assumption that a person in conflict will recognise and disclose the conflict.

Furthermore, there is the concept of ‘appearance of a COI’. That is, that one has to be sensitive not only to an actual COI, but also as to whether an act can be construed to be a COI; that it “appears” to be a COI. A person in a decision-making role can be reprimanded for allowing an ‘appearance of COI’ to arise. The sequence of events of the bond issue by the CB is replete with such ‘appearance of COI’. The ‘Appearance Standard’ has been definitely violated in the CB case.

It is an ironic coincidence that, according to Andrew Stark, the US Controller of the Currency, Robert Clerk (Head of an independent bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury) was reprimanded in 1991 for allowing ‘an appearance of COI’ to arise because he was “taking out loans from state-chartered banks”. Imagine what kinds of legal action would have been taken against Robert Clerk if the US Office of the Controller of Currency (OCC) had issued Treasury Bonds to a company owned by his son-in-law?

To ensure that there is minimal influence and effect of COI in public life, public officials and corporate executives have to become fully aware of these concepts of COI in the first instance. Thereafter, institutions and other professional bodies should take both systematic and systemic measures to incorporate them into their administrative and regulatory structure so that they consciously prevent COI.

Then there is the concept of “behavior of partiality”. In terms of public COI law (which is non-existent in Sri Lanka), a person could be found guilty of a COI only if it could be proved that his behaviour resulted from gifts or favours taken or unacceptable relationships maintained. Legally, one cannot infer that decisions that were self-serving were, in fact, the consequences of such questionable alliances. Furthermore, a person’s state of mind, or more precisely, the process of thinking, cannot be decided or proven in a Court of Law. Even if we ‘know’ that a decision-maker behaved partially resulting in outcomes favourable to an allied alliance, we do not know — and we would find it impossible to demonstrate — that the favourable decisions made, are a direct outcome of the conflicting alliance. Therefore, the current focus in regulatory law is on eliminating the first stage – namely, the antecedent acts and not the outcome behaviour, the third stage.

Now that the CB Governor has been made directly culpable for a criminal financial offence by the COPE, the question does not directly arise. But on the other hand, if one day, in a court of law, Mahendran and Aloysius are found not guilty of any financial and/or criminal offence, can the public, based on the afore-mentioned concepts of COI, absolve them from all blame? Can it ever be said that the over 10 billion profit made by Perpetual Treasuries was made on a level playing field with the rules of engagement equal to all players?

When will we have strict laws and rules in this country that will ensure that violators of the concept of ‘conflict of interest’ can be prosecuted? Will we ever??

(Comments can be directed to: susmend2610@gmail.com)

Courtesy: Divaina

පසුගිය ජනාධිපතිවරණයට පෙර දින මාතර නිල්වලා යෝජනා ක්‍රමය වෙනුවෙන් මහා භාණ්‌ඩාගාරය රුපියල් මිලියන 3012 ක චෙක්‌පතක්‌ නිකුත් කර ඇත්නම් වහාම ඒ පිළිබඳව පරීක්‍ෂණයක්‌ පවත්වන ලෙස හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා චීනයේ බීජිං නුවර සිට ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

ඉකුත් ජනාධිපතිවරණයේ තීරණාත්මක අවධියේ තමන් අමාත්‍යාංශවල කටයුතු පිළිබඳව අවධානය යොමු නොකළ බව මෙහිදී සඳහන් කළ හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරයා කවරකු හෝ වගකීම් විරහිත අන්දමින් එවැන්නක්‌ සිදුකර තිබේ නම් කඩිනම් පරීක්‍ෂණයක්‌ මගින් ඒ සියලු තොරතුරු හෙළි කරගෙන ඊට වගකිවයුත්තන් සම්බන්ධයෙන් පියවර ගත යුතු බව ද පැවසීය.

හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරයා සිය චීන සංචාරය තුළදී මෙම ප්‍රකාශය කළේ ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතා විසින් පසුගිය සෙනසුරාදා (26 දා) ගාල්ලේ පැවැති ශ්‍රීලනිප සාමාජික ප්‍රවර්ධන වැඩසටහනකට එක්‌වෙමින් 2015 ජනපතිවරණයට පෙර දිනයේ මහා භාණ්‌ඩාගාරය මිලියන 3012 ක චෙක්‌පතක්‌ නිල්වලා ව්‍යාපෘතියට නිකුත් කර ඇතැයි සිදු කළ අනාවරණය පිළිබඳව අදහස්‌ දක්‌වමිනි.

කවරකු හෝ මෙවැන්නක්‌ කර තිබේ නම් එය කාගේ නියෝගයෙන් සිදු කළේදැයි යන්න අනාවරණය කරගෙන ඒ පිළිබඳව ඉදිරි පියවර ගැනීම රජයේ වගකීමක්‌ බව ද හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා මෙහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් අවධාරණය කළේය.

නිමල් සිරිපාල සිල්වා වාරිමාර්ග හා ජල කලමාණාකරන අමාත්‍යවරයා ලෙස සිටි කාල වකවානුවේදී නිලවල ගග ව්‍යාපතිය සඳහා අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් ඇතුළු නිලධාරින් කරන ලද ඉල්ලීම මත අවශ්‍ය මුදල් මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරය විසින් අදාළ අමාත්‍යාංශය වෙත ලබා දී ඇත. එය රුපියල් මිලියන 4012 කි.

එහෙත් පසුගියදා ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් නිල්වලා ගග ව්‍යාප්තිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් කල ප්‍රකාශ කල පරිද එම ව්‍යාපතිය සඳහා ලබාදි ඇති එම මුදලට කිසිම දෙයක් සිදුවී නැති බවයි.

නව රජය බලයට පත්වීමත් සමඟ නව අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයක් පත් කල අතර නව රජයේ එනම් දින 100 යේ ආණ්ඩුවේ වාරිමාර්ග හා ජල කලමාණාකරන හා කෘෂිකර්ම අමාත්‍යවරයා ලෙස පත් වූයේ ද දුමින්ද දිසානායක අමාත්‍යවරයාය.

ඔහු මෛත්‍රීපාල ජනාධිපතිවරයා සමඟ ශ්‍රිලනිප ඉවත්ව එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය සමඟ එක්ව ජනාධිපතිවරනයට තරග කල අවස්ථාවේදි ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සමඟ සිටි අමාත්‍යවරයෙකි.

2015 අගෝස්තු මහ මැතිවරණය සමඟ අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලය වෙනස් වූ අතර වර්තමානයේදි එනම් මේ වනවිට වාරිමාර්ග හා ජල කලමාණාකරන අමාත්‍යවරයා ලෙස කටයුතු කරන්නේ ජාතික ලැයිස්තුවෙන් පත්කල ශ්‍රිලනිප මන්ත්‍රී විජිතමුණි සොයිසා අමාත්‍යවරයාය.

එබැවින් සැබෑ ලෙස මෙතරම් විශාල මුදලක් අදාළ අමාත්‍යාංශයට ලැබීමෙන් පසු එම මුදල් අවශ්‍ය කාර්යය සඳහා යොදවා නැත්නම් එම කාලයේ අමාත්‍යාංශය භාර සිටි ඇමැතිවරයා ඊට වග කිවයුතු බව පසුගියදා FCID විසින් කරනු ලැබු පරීක්ෂණවලින් පැහැදිලි වන අතර ඉදිරියේදී ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් ඔහුගේ අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයේ වර්තමානයේ සිටින ඉහත නම් සඳහන් අමාත්‍යවරුන් සම්බන්ධව ගන්නා තීරණය ජනතාව බලා සිටුනු ඇත.

2012 මැයි මස 26දින මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් එවකට වාරිමාර්ග හා ජල කලමාණාකරන අමාත්‍යවරයා ඇතුළු අමාත්‍යාංශයේ නිලධාරින් කැදවා වසර 28 පමාවි ඇති නිල්වලා ගග ව්‍යාප්තිය වහාම ආරම්භ කරන ලෙස උපදෙස් දෙන ලදි.

මාතර ප්‍රදේශයේ ගංවතුර පාලනය කිරීම කුඹුරුවලට මුහුදු වතුර ඒම වැලැක්වීම සහ හම්බන්තොට, මාතර යන දිස්ත්‍රික්වලට පානිය ජලය ලබාදීම මෙහි ප්‍රධාන අරමුණ විය.

මෙම සඳහා මාතර දිස්ත්‍රික් ගොවි සංවිධාන මෙන්ම සිවිල් සමාජ ක්‍රියාකාරින්ද සහභාගි වී ඇත.

ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ උපදෙස වූයේ සිංගප්පූරු ‘මරිනා බරාජ්’ පිරිසිදු පානිය ජල ව්‍යාප්තිය සමාන යෝජනා ක්‍රමයට මෙම ව්‍යාප්තිය ස්ථාපිත කොට ගංවතුර හා ඉඩම්වලට මුහුදු ජලය ඒම වලක්වා මාතර සහ හම්බන්තොට දිස්ත්‍රික් ජනතාවට පිරිසිදු පානිය ජලය ලබාදීමට අවශ්‍ය පරිදි මෙම නිල්වලා ගග යෝජන ක්‍රමය හැකි ඉක්මනින් නිමකරන ලෙසයි.

මුදල් අමාත්‍යවරයා ලෙස මේ සඳහා අවශ්‍ය මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශයට ලබාදීමට කටයුතු කරන බවත් මෙම යෝජනා ක්‍රමය නිසා මොනම විදියකින් හෝ මාතර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ ස්වභාවික පරිසරයට හානි නොවීමට අමාත්‍යාංශ නිලධාරින් වග බලාගත යුතු බවත් එහිදි ජනාධිපතිවරයා දැඩිව කියා සිටියේය.

2015 ජනවාරි 7වෙනිදා රුපියල් මිලියන 3012ක් අත්තිකාරම් ලෙස මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශයේන් වාරිමාර්ග හා ජල කලමාණාකරන අමාත්‍යාංශයට නිදහස් කරන අවස්ථාවේදිද අමාත්‍යාංශය භාරව සිටි අමාත්‍යවරයා නිමල් සිරිපාල ද සිල්වා විය.

චාර්ල්ස්  ඇස් පෙරේරා විසින්

ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්ෂය එක්සත් ජාතිකපක්ෂයට හේත්තුවී ආණ්ඩුවක් පිහිටවීම  1951 ඒ පක්ෂය පිහීටුවීමේ හෙතුවලට පටහැනි නිසා  දැන් මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ  සභාපතිතත්වයෙන් පවත්වාගෙන යන ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්ෂය යයි කියාගන්න පක්ෂය මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතාගේ අලුත් පක්ෂයක් මිස සොලොමන් ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිතුමා පිහිටෙව් සමජවාදයට බර  දේශපාලන පක්ෂය නොවේ.

බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිතුමා   එක්සත් ජාතිකපක්ෂයෙන් වෙන්වුනා පමණක් නොවේ ඔහු පිහිටුවාගත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්ෂයට ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂයත් ලංකා කොමුනිස්ට් පක්ෂයත් එක්කරගෙන එක්සත් ජාතිකපක්ෂයෙ සියලුම සම්බන්ධකම් අත්හැර සමාජවාදී වාමාංශික පිළිවෙතක් අනුගමනය කළා.

ඒ වෙනස මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිතුමාටවත්  ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පාක්ෂකයින් කියාගන්න තනතුරුවලට ආසාවෙන් ඔහු සමග එක්වී සිටිනවුන්ටවත්  තේරුම් ගන්න පුළුවන්තරම් මොලයක් නැතිවීම කනගාටුදායකයි.

දැන් මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපති  තුමා හා ඔහු හා එක්වසිටින ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පාක්ෂකයින් සිටින්නේ එදා බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිතුමා   පිහිටිවෙව් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්ෂයේ නොවෙ ඊට හාත්පසින්ම වෙනස් හිස් නාම මාත්‍රයකින් හඳුන්වන පක්ෂයකයි. දැන් ඒ ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය එක්සත් ජාතිකපක්ෂයට සම්බන්ධ ධනවාදී වෙනම පක්ෂයක් මිස මහින්ද රාජපක්ස මැතිතුමා හිමිකරගත් බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිතුමා ආරම්භකළ ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය නොවේ.

එම නිසා එදා 1951 බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිතුමා  එක්සත් ජාතිකපක්ෂයෙන් වෙන්වී පිහිටෙව් පක්ෂය නැතිවිගොස් ඇති බැවින්, අද ඊට අවුරුදු 65කට පසුව සඟ, වෙද, ගුරු,ගොවි, කම්කරු, ලාංකික ජනතාවට  නැතිවීගිය ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්ෂය වෙනුවට වෙනම දේශපාලන පක්ෂයක් ආරම්භ කිරීමට කාලය පැමිණ තිබේ.

නැවතත් සඳහන්කරන්නේ, දැන් මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපති තුමාට එක්ව සිටින ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පාක්ෂිකයන්යයි කියාගන්න උදවිය බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිතුමා  පිහිටෙව් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්ෂයට හෝ එහි ඇති උදාර ප්‍රතිපත්තිවලට ගෞරව කරන උදවියනොවේ හුදෙක් ඇමතිකම්වලට හා ඒත් සමග ලැබෙන සමාජයේ මහන්තත්කමට තන්හාව ඇති උදවියයි.  ඇරත්  සරත් අමුණුගම, ඇස්බී දිසනායක, මහින්ද සමරසින්හ, දයාසිරි ජයසේකර, රජිත සේනාරත්න වැන්නන් එක්සත් ජාතිකපක්ෂයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්ෂයට ඇමැතිකම්වලට ගිජුව පැන්න උදවියයි.

එවැන්නන් අපේ රට ජාතිය ආගම කියලා හැඟිමක් ඇති උදවිය නොවෙයි.  ඒ අය අමතකකලේ, පිටිපැවේ  එක්සත් ජාතිකපක්ෂයට ගැති හතුරන් මොනවා කීවත්, අපේ මව්බිම ත්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගෙන් බේරාගෙන විවිධ සතුරන් අභිබවා  අපේරට නොදුටුවිරු විශාල දියුණුවක් කරා ගෙනගිය අභිමානවත් ජාතියේ වාසනාවට ලැබුණු පින්වත් සිංහල බෞද්ධ නායකයෙක්.

අනිත් එක සොලමන් ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිතුමා නැණවත් කාටවත් වෛරයක්, ක්‍රෝධයක්, ඊර්ශ්‍යායාවක් නැති පුද්ගලයෙක්.  මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිතුමා ඊට හාත්පසින්ම වෙනස් පුද්ගලයෙක්. ඔහු තරහින්, ක්‍රෝධයෙන්,  ඊර්ෂියාවෙන්, අනුන්ට හානිකරන චේතනාවෙන් පිරුණුකෙනෙක්.

 ඒ නිසාම ඔහු බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිතුමා වැනි ගුණසම්පන්න පුද්ගලයෙකුට සමානකරන්න  බැහැ. ඒ නිසා මෙවැනි පුද්ගලයෙක්  බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිතුමා වැනි ප්‍රතාපවත් පුද්ගලයෙක් හිතා  මතා සැකසුම්කල ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්ෂයේ නායකත්වයට කිසිසේත් සුදුසු කෙනෙක් නොවෙයි.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්ෂයේ ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුව පක්ෂයෙන් ජනාධිපතිකෙනෙක් තේරුනාම පක්ෂයේ සභාපති ධුරය  ජනාධිපතිතුමාට පැවරියයුතුයයි යන කොන්දේසිය මත  සභාපති ධුරය  මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපති  තුමාට පැවරීම ඒ කොන්දේසියට  වැරදි අර්ථකතනයක් දීමෙන් කල වරදක්. 

 ඒ කොන්දේසියෙන්  කියවෙන්නේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්ෂයෙන් ජනාධිපතිවරණයකට ඉදිරිපත්වී ජයග්‍රහණය කල අපේක්ෂකයෙක් මිස පැදුරටත් නොකියා පක්ෂයෙන්   හීමින්සීරුවේ පලාගොස් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ නායකත්වයෙන්  ඇතිකරනලද සමුහ විපක්ෂයකින් ඉදිරිපත්වී ජනාධිපතිවරණයෙන් දිනු අපේක්ෂකයෙක් ගැන නොවෙයි.  

 එදා හිටපු මහින්ද රාජපක්ස ජනාධිපතිතුමා අලුතෙන්පත්වූ මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපති  තුමාට පක්ෂයේ සභාපතිකම පැවරූයෙ පක්ෂයේ ව්‍යවස්ථානුකුලව නොවේ නමුත් ඒවනවිටත් නිලලොභී ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්ෂ කණ්ඩායමක්  මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිතුමාට පක්ෂපාතිත්වය පලකරන ලද හෙයින්  පක්ෂය නොකඩකිරීමේ අදහසින්  පක්ෂයට පක්ෂපාතීව සිටි මහින්ද රාජපක්ස උතුමානන් පක්ෂයේ සභාපතිකම මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිතුමාට පැවරිය.

නියම ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය දැන් පවතින්නේ හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ස අතර රැඳිව සිටින කිහිප දෙනා අතරමිස මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපති සමග සිටින තනතුරූ ලාභින් අතර නොවේ.

එබැවින් සොලොමන් ඩයස් බන්ඩාරනයක  මැතිතුමාගේ දේශපාලන ප්‍රතිපත්තිවලට ගරු කිරීමක් වශයෙන්  අලුත්පක්ෂයක් හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ස මැතිතුමාගේ නායකත්වයෙන් ඇරඹීම කාලෝචිතය.

අද යහපාලනය කියා  නාඩගමක් අටවාගෙන 1951 පිහිටෙව් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයට කරන විගඩම තෙරුම්  ගන්න   බලමු ඇයි සොලමන් ඩයස් බන්ඩාරනායක මැතිතුමා  1951 එක්සත් ජාතිකපක්ෂයෙන් ඉවත්වෙලා ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්ෂය පිහිටෙව්වේ කියලා. මෙතුමා ලංකාවේ එවක සිටි ධනවත් සිංහල ක්‍රිස්තියානි පව්ලක උපත ලබා  එංගලන්තයේ ඔක්ස්ෆෝර්ඩ් විද්‍යායතනයේ ඉගෙනීම  ලැබුවා. එහිදී දක්ෂ ලෙස ඉගෙනිමේ  කටයුතු නිමාකර අධිනීතිඤ වරයෙකුදවී ලංකාවට පැමිනියේ දේශපාලනයේ නිරත වීමේ බලාපොරෝත්තුවෙන්.  ලංකාවට පැමිණ බෞද්ධාගම වැළඳගත් ඔහු ලංකා ජාතික කොන්ග්‍රසයේ  සාමාජිකත්වය ලබාගත්තේය.

ඒ කාලයේ ඔහුගේ හිතේ ඇතිවූයෙ, ධනවත් පව්ලක  ඉපිද දේසපාලනය කරමින් අනිත් සිංහල ධනවතුන් හා ඉංග්‍රීසි පාලකයන්සමග  හිතවත්කම් ඇතිකරගෙන ජීවත්වීමෙන් තමාගේ රටට වැඩදායක සේවයක් නොකළහැකි බවයි.  එබැවින් ඔහු 1936 සිංහල  මහාසභාව  පිහිටුවාගත්තේය. ලංකාවේ දේශපාලනයෙ පෙරලියක් ඇතිකිරීමට පලල් දේශපාලන බලවේගයක් ඇතිකිරීමේ අවශ්‍ය තාවය දුටු ඔහු 1946  එක්සත් ජාතිකපක්ෂයට සම්බන්ධවීය.

1948 ලබාගත් නිදහසින්  බටහිරට ලැදි  ධනවාදී  දේශපාලන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රමයකින් රටට ජාතියට ඵලදායක වැඩපිළිවෙලක් සකස් කිරීමට නොහැකි බැවින්   ලංකාවේ සංස්කෘතික අනන්‍යතාවය  පිළිබිඹුවන සමාජවාදයට නැඹුරු ආණ්ඩුක්‍රමයක අවශ්‍යතාවය දුටු බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිතුමා ඔහුත් ඔහුගේ සිංහල මහාසභාවෙ සමාජිකයිනුත් සමග 1951 එක්සත්ජාතික පක්ෂයෙන් වෙන්වී සඟ වේද ගුරූ ගොවි කම්කරු ජනතාව එක්රැස්කල ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය බිහිකළේය.

පන්ති, කුල, ජාති, ආගම්  භේදයකින් තොර ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය ලංකා සමසමාජ හා කොමුනිස්ට් පක්ෂත් සමග එක්වීමෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයෙ සමාජවාදී ප්‍රතිපත්ති ශක්තිමත්  කළේ,  ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයෙත් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේත් දේශපාලන ප්‍රතිපත්ති නැවත්තත් එක්වියනොහැකි මට්ටමටම වෙනස් බව තහවුරු කිරීමයි.

බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිතුමා ඔහුගේ සමහරක් විරෝධකාරයින් සිතන විදිහේ ජාතිවාදියෙක් නොවෙ. ඔහුට අනිත් දියුනුරටවල් හා ඒ රටවල්වල ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ගැන හොඳ අවබෝධයක් තිබුණා. ඔහු නිදහස් ලංකාවක් ගොඩනැගිම  පිළිබඳව හිතුවේ ලෝකයේ අනිත් දියුණු ජාතීන් මෙන් ලංකාවත් එකම භාෂාවක් කතාකරන එක ධජයක් හා එක ජාතිකගීයක් හා ලංකාවට ආවේනික බෞද්ධසන්ස්කෘතිය පදනම් කර ගත් එකමජතියක් වශයෙන් ලංකාවේ සිටින සෑම ජනකොටසක්ම එක්සත්කරවීමයි.

එයට මුලසිටම විරුද්ධවුයේ ලංකික ද්‍රවිඩයන්. මැලෙසියාවෙන් පැමිණි චෙල්වනායගම් ද්‍රවිඩ පක්ෂයක් හදාගෙන  බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිතුමාගේ ඒ උදාරතර දේශපාලන ප්‍රතිපත්තිවලට විරුද්ධවුනා.

ඒ වගේම එදා පරාජිතව තිබු රට හතුරන්ගෙන් බෙරගෙන රටට සාමය උදාකර රට එක්සේසත්කල මහින්ද රාජපක්ස  මැතිතුමටද දරුණු විරුද්ධතාවයන් ඇතිඋනේ ටිඑන් ඒ දෙමළුන්ගෙන්. ඔවුන්ගේ මහා පුළුවන්කාරකම් අභිභවා  මහත් විරුද්ධතා මද්‍යයේ උනත් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමාත්  බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිතුමන්ගේ ප්‍රතිපත්ති ඉදිරියට ගෙනයන්න උත්සහකලා.

නමුත් අද වංචනික යහපාලනය මිනිස්සු මුලාකරගෙන ගෙනයන්නේ රට දෙකඩ කරන ප්‍රතිපත්‍යයක්. උන් හදන ව්‍යවස්ථාව රටට හානිකරන බටහිරට හා දෙමළ ඩයස්පොරාවට හිසනමාගෙන  සන්හිදියාවෙ  නාමයෙන් ගෙනයන වැඩ පිලිවෙලක්. සිංහල බෞද්ධයන් මේ ව්‍යවස්ථාවට විරුද්ධව පාරට බැහැල  ව්‍යවස්ථාව හකුලාගන්නතෙක් සටන්කලයුතුයි.

 මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිතුමා එක්කෝ අහිංසකයි නැත්නම් හිතාමතාගෙනම රනිල්ටයි චන්ද්රිකාටයි ඔවුන්ගේ විනාශකාරී දේශපාලන ඔනැකම් කරගැනීමට  ජනපතිකමට කෑදරයෙන් හිසනමන කෙනෙක්. මේ විධියටබලනකොට පෙනීයන්නේ  මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපති තුමා නියම  ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පක්සිකයෙක්නොවෙයි යන සත්‍යයයි.

මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපති තුමා කරන්නේ ඔහු සමග සිටින ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පාක්ෂිකයින්ගේ බලහීනකර ඔහුට අවනතකරගෙන රනිල් වික්‍රමසින්හ  චන්ද්‍රිකාගේ අනුමැතිය ඇතිව බටහිර හා ඉන්දීයාවට පක්ෂපාතව ගන්න වැඩපිළිවලවලට  ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පාක්ෂකයින්ගේ චන්දය එක්සත්පක්ෂය පාරලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිර්පත්කරන  යෝජනාවලට  ලබාදීමයි. මේ මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ වංචනික ක්‍රියාමාර්ගය නිසයි එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට  ඉදිර්පත්කරන යෝජනා තුනයයි දෙකේ චන්දයකින් නීතිගතකරගන්නේ. අයවැය යෝජනා, 18  ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය ආදිය ඉන්සමහරක්.

මෙවිධියටගියොත් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය හදාගෙන යන ෆෙඩරල් වාදී ව්‍යවස්ථාවත්, ඉන්දියාව සමග ඇතිකරන්නට වෑයම් කරන  එක්ටා ගිවිසුමයි තුනයි දෙකේ වැඩිචන්දයකින් ස්තිරකරගන්නාවට අනුමානයක් නෑ. මැති ඇමතිකම් තියාගැනීමේ ආසාව නිසා මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිතුමා අවට  රැස්වී සිටින ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස්පාක්ශිකයන් එතුමා කියන ඔනෑම දෙයක් කරන්න සුදානම්.

මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ අවස්ථාවාදී  කුහක පිළිවෙත පෙනෙනවා ඔහු සැරෙන් සැරේට  හිටපු ජනාධිපතිතුමා ජනතාවගේ අප්‍රසාදයට  ලක් කිරීම සඳහා ඉදිරිපත් කරන කතාවල්. දැන් ඔහු අහනවා  මාතර නිල්වලා යෝජනාව සඳහා 2015 ජනවාරි 7වනදා නිකුත්කළ රුපියල් මිලියන 3012ක මුදලට මොනවාද උනේ කියලා.  එදා මුදල්පාස් කරන්න කාලයක් හිටපු ජනාධිපතිටනම් තියෙන්ට නෑ. චන්දකටයුතු නිසා. එවැනි චෝදනාවලින්ම තේරෙනවා මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ගෙනයන වංචනික වැඩපිළිවෙල.

නැණවත් සොලොමන් ඩයස්  බන්ඩාරනායක මැතිතුමා කාලෝචිතව 1951දී  බටහිරට ගැති එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයෙන් වෙන්වී  පිහිටුවාගත්  ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිතුමා එහි සභාපති වශයෙන් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයට එක්වීමෙන්  නියම ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය නැතිවී ගොස් ඇති හෙයින්, අලුත්  පක්ෂයක් මහින්ද  රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමාගේ නායකත්වයෙන් පිහිටවීම සොලොමන් ඩයස්  බන්ඩාරනායක මැතිතුමා පිහිටෙව් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය  වෙන නමකින් නැවත බිහිකිරීමක් වන්නේය.

Dr. Tilak S. Fernando

Many moons ago, in the 1920’s, during the depressing gloomy era, cries of an abandoned baby echoed through a cold blizzard during the 1928 Christmas Eve, within the empty Sheridan Square Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.  However, story of this orphan developed into a fairy tale, which has led to become one of the world’s paramount children’s charities and developed and expanded globally captivating the imagination of even beyond any other fairy tale through the inspiration and motivation of fellow human beings.

As far back as early 1927, eleven compassionate and generous men in the entertainment field formed a social club and named it as The Variety Club, in recognition of the wide-ranging facets and characteristics of stage performances they represented. Primarily the social club acted as a cynosure for them to meet up and enjoy with concurring colleagues and helpers; the membership of the Variety Club generously assisted the entertainment business colleagues and friends to develop the club towards many other civic organisations.

On the ominous Christmas eve in 1928, an assembly of show business men were relaxing and playing cards at backstage, after a matinee performance at the Sheridan Square Theatre. Out of the blue, they heard shrieks of a baby emanating from the auditorium. Upon investigation, they were shocked to discover a one-month-old baby girl abandoned by the mother with a desperate note pinned on the baby’s apron, which read thus:

Please take care of my baby. Her name is Catherine. I can no longer take care of her. I have eight others. My husband is out of work. She was born on the Thanksgiving Day. I have always heard of the goodness of show-business people and pray to God that you will look after her”. – Signed – a heartbroken mother.

Desperate efforts to trace the baby’s mother failed; the members of the variety club re-christened the child as Catherine Variety Sheridan, as a tribute to the club and the theatre where she was found. Finally some philanthropists undertook to look after the child’s welfare and support her financially for her education etc.

Catherine’s amazing and pathetic story captured the hearts of the community when the guardians of the child began to receive more clothes, food, money and toys more than any one child would ever need, which led to a surplus in no time. This made the Variety club to propose and donate all surpluses to other disadvantaged children, thus laying the foundation for a journey, which has helped the Variety Club to improve the lives of many children along the years.

Since those early days, showbiz traditions have developed extensively in Variety.  In 1928 they held their first annual Dinner Ball at a banquet hall in Pittsburgh, wherein a Big Top (circus tent) was erected displaying the iconic Variety logo depicting a top hat siting jauntily atop a big red heart indicating the first eleven thespians in the entertainment business and millions of others who have since volunteered and supported Variety with their generous, kind and big hearts. Subsequently, all branches of ‘Variety’ continued to be called ‘Tents’

Transformation

Variety, finally transformed in to a non-for-profit making, but simply a charitable organisation, and stretched out its tentacles to help locally, seemingly to become a part of an international partnership of chapters, each delivering vital life-saving, life changing and life enriching equipment and services globally, enabling sick, disadvantaged or children who were living with special needs to achieve their full potential and a better future.

Objective

The philosophy behind the Variety Charity is an expansion of their initial belief that ‘children deserve a limitless future’, whereby increasing the ability and social inclusion for very special and particular children by affording grants and crucial equipment, plus services that deliver health, independence, self-esteem, achievement and dignity. The Variety Charity plays a key role in building a child’s capacity and aptitude by changing his/her circumstances and thus reducing the financial burden too on families with a child who is suffering from a serious illness or disability.

Variety is not about research, prevention of crisis or drama, but it aims to help by giving practical help by delivering vital equipment, services and parting with their experiences to children who are sick, disadvantaged or those having to live with special needs.

Sri Lankan Role

A group of philanthropic professionals, with extensive local connections across a broad cross section of the community, cultural and demographic diversity, have formed an enthusiastic Board of Directors and a Membership willing and eager to establish Variety in Sri Lanka and are ready to step in and help children – individually, in groups, in schools and other organisations.

Variety Sri Lanka has been working hard for the past year and has achieved its goal and their launch took place on Sunday 20^th November 2016, to coincides with the United Nation’s Universal Children’s Day and the Variety World Children’s Day. For the launching party 100 disadvantaged children and those who need special needs were invited. Variety Sri Lanka would like to sincerely thank its supporters who have been so very quick with positive and generous sponsorship that made this a fantastic day for these very special children.

Variety Sri Lanka aims to deliver on its promise to provide a future without limits for every child, regardless of their background or ability, and to continue to be the most trusted and effective children’s charity in the world. They will be committed to empowering Sri Lankan children, who are sick, disadvantaged or live with special needs and endeavouring them to Live, Laugh & Learn.

Variety Sri Lanka has identified specific areas to focus on immediately, and in the future – for example by donating equipment to improve or enable a child’s communication, offering experiences that build wonderful memories where, perhaps earlier, there has been pain, providing mobility aids, health, educational or sports grants or to help a child fulfil his/her potential by encouraging and supporting a special talent, tackling malnutrition and alleviating its complications, and working with professionals to check children’s vision to identify and treat eye problems. As Variety grows in Sri Lanka so will benefit more and more destitute children

Global Network

The network of ‘Tents’ spread into 14 countries (and still keep on growing), and 46,000,000 individual children, to date, around the world, akin to Catherine, live a better life because of the generosity of Variety’s donors, sponsors and supporters.

Unlike most charitable organizations that focus on a specific disease or an area of need, Variety focuses on multiple, unmet needs of the less fortunate children at a local, national and international level. Their aim is to maximize the real, long-term positive social impact for all children without distinction. Variety welcomes the support of any person who shares their ideals and objectives. Funds raised in Sri Lanka will exclusively be utilised for children in Sri Lanka.

All children are special to Variety Charity! They mainly focus on severely disadvantaged children as a priority, which need extra special care and assistance. They believe that ‘childhood is the most beautiful of all life’s seasons and should never hurt’. To this end Variety endeavours to fulfil the potential of the penurious children while putting broad smiles on their faces and joy in their hearts.

Children of today are the future citizens of a country, as such, disadvantaged or those with severe disabilities need extra help to achieve their full potential, regardless of ability or background. This extra help is possible only with the dedication of volunteers and the support of sponsors, which guarantee the joy and satisfaction out of helping children in need.

Their very first Celebrity Ambassadors, The De Lanerolle Brothers – the fabulous singing duo, who are very committed to Variety Sri Lanka – are helping tremendously in raising the Variety profile and their fund-raising attempts, especially by performing at their main fundraising events.

Variety has its roots in the entertainment industry but its core is the community. People from all walks of life, throughout the country, can contribute and experience the joy of helping children in need by becoming Members, Volunteers, Sponsors and Donors.

Variety has the privilege of being partnered with some amazing establishments in other countries. Iconic brands, and many others, have been working with Variety for decades with the common goal of providing help and hope to children in need. They appeal to any interesting institution in Sri Lanka for the support of Sri Lankan children.

Variety relies on the funds collected from individuals and businesses alike to continue to provide help and hope to less fortunate children all across Sri Lanka. With many major fundraising events planned annually there will be greater opportunities for businesses to get involved as an event sponsor. Whether a company participates as the main sponsor or partial benefactor, there are many ways to contribute and partner with an event that fits every one’s brand.

Orphaned Catherine’s fate.

When Catherine reached the age of 5, she was fostered out to a carefully selected loving family. Over 300 Pittsburgh families applied to adopt Catherine, whose name was changed to Joan to protect her identity and ensure as normal a life as possible.

Joan had a happy life and served the United States, in Korea and Vietnam as a registered nurse spending much of her life helping disadvantaged children. She remained anonymous until 1980 when, at the request of Variety International, she attended the Variety Convention in Los Angeles with her husband and three children. She died in 1994, but her story will always be a constant memento of the wonderful things that can be achieved when people do care!

tilakfernando@gmail.com

Kumar Moses (The writer is an expert on VEOs – Violent Extremist Organizations)

It is rather hilarious reading the hogwash of a Muslim commentator blaming Buddhists for extremism and violence. It is a sure but lame tactic to deflect attention from what happens around the world on a daily basis. Syria, Yemen, France, Kashmir and other places that dominate world news are all about Islamic violence. Sri Lanka is no exception. Over 32 well educated and rich Sri Lankan Muslims have joined ISIS. Trying to shoot the messenger dead will not save Muslims. They must do some soul searching and fix their religion and community before the whole world comes down on them like a ton of bricks and corner them into isolation – if it hasn’t happened yet.

Global Terrorism Index Ranks Muslim Countries in 8 Out of the 10 Worst

Muslim countries (Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Egypt and Libya) dominate the 10 worst terrorism affected countries in Global Terrorism Index of 2015 (latest published in 2016). Islamic groups are responsible for the other 2 of the worst 10 (Nigeria and India). This means world’s 10 worst terrorism infected countries are infested by Islamic terrorism.

It is obvious the common denominator of terrorism is Islam.

Hindu majority India is in an unenviable 8^th place solely due to Islamic terrorism.

Christian majority Nigeria ranks 4^th thanks solely due to Islamic Boko Haram group. Buddhist countries (Singapore and Vietnam) are some of the most peaceful.

Perusing the other parts of the Global Terrorism Index clearly proves that Islam cannot divorce itself from terrorism.

This culprit has been same in all Global terrorism Indices since 2014.

19 Out of 20 Worst Terrorist Acts By Islam Driven Terrorists

Global Terrorism Index provides those responsible for the 20 worst acts of terrorism around the world. Except one (Dontesk People’s  Republic), all other 19 groups are driven by Islam.

These include Islamic State (Caliphate), Boko Haram, Taliban, Ansar Al-Din, Al-Shabaab, Fulani, Houthi and Aqaba Tharaa). All these are Quranic concepts!

Further evidence can be found in The Religion of Peace website that is updated daily. Unfortunately, not a day passes by without killings attributed to Islam driven terrorists.

Given these facts it is hilarious Buddhists are blamed by some Sri Lankan Muslims. Is it a concerted plan to deflect attention from brewing terrorism around the world and cancerous spread of elite Muslims in Sri Lanka joining ISIS? Sri Lanka’s preoccupation with Tamil terrorists created a vacuum for Islamic terrorism to rise under the radar.

Salman Rushdie (himself a Muslim) was prophetic when he predicted this decades ago.

The Sri Lankan Muslim community and the global Muslim community have a lot to answer for. It is time they stopped blaming others are admit to terrorism and take concrete action to stop this madness. Otherwise the civilized world will gang up on them to save humanity.

Michiyo Tanabe and Lee Jay Walker Modern Tokyo Times

The mass media in both the West and Islamic world needs to find space in order to simplify hatred. It matters not if turning a blind eye to Sunni Takfiri massacres in Syria and the nations that are endorsing this, nor that in Myanmar’s recent history more Christians than any other non-Buddhist faith group have been killed based on ethnic and religious tensions. Instead, the simple version – while negating the Christian angle – is that Muslims are killed and targeted by radical Buddhists.

Ironically, the latest chain of events began after Muslims killed nine police officers in Rakhine state. International Crisis Group reports, The attacks were carried out by Muslims, according to both government statements and local sources. An unverified video of the attackers, filmed in the wake of the attacks, has been circulating on social networks and seems legitimate. In it, one of the group calls on all Rohingya around the world to prepare for jihad and join them”. This, the need for local knowledge to carry out the assaults, and the difficulty of moving large numbers of people around this area are all suggestive of local Muslim involvement – possibly organized with some outside support. However, many details of who exactly organized this and how remain unclear.”

Myanmar is blighted by many internal rebellions and is struggling on the path to democracy. Indeed, while the mass media is focused on the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state, you have other continuing convulsions that are well outside Buddhist-Muslim issues. For example, Myanmar News reports, About 3,000 Myanmar citizens fled across the border after the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and Arakan Army (AA) staged a coordinated attack on military outposts, police stations, and a trade center in Muse and Kutkai townships. Ten people were killed and 33 others were injured during fighting on Nov. 20-22.”

Free Burma Rangers equally highlights the recent conflict between central authorities and different ethnic groups – many who are mainly Christian. In this incidence, the Free Burma Rangers reports, In the last month sporadic fighting in two separate incidents was reported in Central Shan State between the Burma Army and the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S). The clashes were deliberate actions by the Burma military and corresponded with the deployment and rotation of two separate Burma Army infantry battalions in the region. The attacks came within the first anniversary of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), which was signed October 15th, 2015… The attacks caused thousands of people in the region to flee, with rangers reporting over 2,000 people displaced and living in nearby IDP camps.”

UCA News reported last month, At least 30,000 people from different faiths and ethnic groups were estimated to have taken part in a demonstration in Myanmar’s northern Kachin State on Oct. 22 where they demanded an end to military operations in the region… Protestors, including Catholic priests and nuns, held placards that read, stop civil war” and may there be peace in Myanmar” on the streets in Myitkyina, the capital city of Kachin State.”

UCA News continues, The fighting between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Myanmar military in Kachin and Shan states is considered the most severe of the country’s four ongoing conflicts.”

In other words, countless issues are underreported because it doesn’t suit the simplistic anti-Buddhist agenda in relation to the Rohingya Muslim crisis. Myanmar is clearly faced with countless ethnic and religious issues – alongside the road to democracy, countering poverty, narcotics, and the legacy of history. Despite this, the media is fixated on a one-dimensional approach – just like the mass media response to the crisis in Syria based on utterly biased reporting.

In a regional context it is abundantly clear that certain Buddhist clerics are disillusioned and aghast at the cleansing of Buddhists in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, countless terrorist attacks by Islamists against Buddhists in Southern Thailand, the destruction of holy Buddhist places in Afghanistan by Sunni Takfiris, endless Han migration to Tibet in order to dilute the influence of Tibetan Buddhism, and other issues, for example Buddhism is illegal in nations like Saudi Arabia (the same Sunni Islamist nation is intent on spreading Salafi Islam into the heart of Buddhism). Therefore, from the point of view of Buddhist clerics in Myanmar who support the protection of Buddhism internationally, then regional and historical realities are being neglected by a simplified Western and Islamic media bias.

Internationally, Sunni Takfiri Islamists are killing various non-Muslim faith groups and minority Muslim sects, including the endless butchering of Shia Muslims in many nations. Similarly, while Hinduism is in free fall in Bangladesh and Pakistan, the opposite can’t be stated for Islam in India. In other words, the endless one-way civilization war equally applies to the Indian subcontinent. Not surprisingly, and with Buddhists being cleansed in neighboring nations, then militancy within Buddhist circles in Myanmar is deemed to be self-defensive. After all, historically, Buddhists understand full well that Islamic invading armies destroyed countless numbers of holy Buddhist monasteries and places of learning over many centuries. Indeed, while Christian and Muslim slavery of black Africans is a historical reality, with Muslim slavery starting first on a major scale in Africa and ending last (still issues of slavery in Mauritania and in the recent history of Sudan), then the Buddhist view in certain circles in Myanmar is based on self-preservation, the need for an alternative voice to be heard, and to tackle mass distortions.

Media outlets that condemn Buddhists in Myanmar are neglecting the reality of what Sharia Islamic law means to faith groups including Buddhists and Hindus. Are these religious minorities equal in Islamic Sharia states? Can Buddhist males freely marry Muslim females in nations like Saudi Arabia? The answers are obvious because non-Abrahamic faiths have been treated brutally under Islamic Sharia law throughout history. Likewise, in modern day Saudi Arabia if a Buddhist male fell in love with a Muslim Saudi female then he would face prison – or death in accordance with the tenets of Islamic Sharia. Yet, you don’t see major Western and Islamic media outlets stressing Islamic fascism” and so forth but similar labels are aimed at Buddhist clerics in Myanmar.

Similarly, in Myanmar – and nobody is negating that massacres have taken place against Muslims in this nation – the simple reality is that more Christians belonging to various ethnic groups, for example, the Chin, Karen, and Kachin, have been killed than any other non-Buddhist faith group. Despite this, over the many decades you never had the same outpouring of good” against evil,” or headlines stressing Christian genocide” to anything like the degree of the Muslim focus in modern day Myanmar. In other words, an agenda by the Western and Islamic media is at hand whereby Sunni Takfiris will manipulate a biased media – just like the endless rhetoric against Syria – in order to propagate more Sunni Islamist militancy in nations like Bangladesh.

Massacres and intimidation have happened on both sides in Myanmar but like Kosovo, Libya, Syria, and Yemen, you have a favorable Western and Sunni Muslim media joint angle opposed to the brutal one-sided other. Similarly, the Christian angle of alienation and persecution in Myanmar is being reduced to a completely different way of reporting. Once more the mass media is stoking fires based on the usual one-sided agenda. Therefore, Sunni Islamists in Bangladesh who are killing secularists, writers, and persecuting religious minorities, will gain from one-sided distortions. The same equally applies to the Sunni Islamist Takfiri agenda including ISIS (Islamic State – IS), al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, and a plethora of other sectarian and terrorist groups – and to certain nations including Saudi Arabia that bans all non-Muslim holy places throughout the entire nation.

Myanmar needs honest brokers to help this nation overcome decades of complex issues. Sabre rattling by the media and United Nations will only lead to further bloodshed because sooner or later international jihadists will enter the fray.

http://www.myanmarnews.net/index.php/sid/249646815

https://crisisgroup.org/asia/south-east-asia/myanmar/myanmar-border-attacks-fuel-tensions-rohingya-muslim-minority

http://www.freeburmarangers.org/2016/11/08/shan-state-update-the-national-ceasefire-accord-violated-as-clashes-between-burma-army-and-rcss-troops-echo-in-central-shan-state/

http://www.ucanews.com/news/protestors-plead-for-end-to-civil-war-in-myanmars-north/77446

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Adaderana November 27, 2016  02:25 pm

By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka Courtesy: Island

Fidel was the last of the epic heroes. Whatever our travails, our generation and the ones before us were fortunate to live in the decades in which there were great leaders, visionaries who combined their ideal with action and changed the world they inherited. Our generation and one, perhaps two before that, lived consciously in the twentieth century which was inhabited by such heroes. My own generation lived at the time of Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Tito, Fidel and Che Guevara. We were lucky to have read of and watched these Homeric heroes as they fought colossal enemies against incredible odds; led and changed reality and became legend.

Shenali D Waduge

An interesting article was written by Nenad M Stevanovic in 2004 titled All the American lies about Serbs – Little use from belated truth’. The author highlighted the ‘sea of misinformation’ by Western media during the Yugoslav disintegration operation wherein Serbs in particular were accused of atrocities that never happened or had been committed by others. Sri Lanka can align with these sentiments. Sri Lanka suffered the same demonizing. It has taken decades for the truth to emerge as to the real version of what happened to Yugoslavia and Serbia which means Sri Lanka will have to similarly wait decades. By that time the damage has been done. When you analyse conflicts and the players, the media and associated ‘rights activists’ have done greater damage than the terrorists for the objectives of these terrorists have succeeded as a result of the lies and fabrications concocted. Without the support of the media lies the terrorists could not have achieved what they did and the leaders of nations who had been defending their nations against the terrorists would not have been unnecessarily demonized.

The author brings out several examples

Jack Kelley – a correspondent of USA Today resigned after being investigated for a report filed from Belgrade on 14 July 1999 UN: Reports connect Serbs to War Crimes”. No different to reporters reporting on Sri Lanka – Kelly had spoken to ‘human rights activists’, who claim they had received ‘confessions from soldiers’ who had been ‘ordered’ to commit ethnic cleansing. The drill sounds so familiar. Investigations have no revealed that Kelly did not interview any activists, there was no translations of any conversation supposed to have taken place, and moreover he had even lied by producing a friend who passed off as his ‘witness’. USA Today editors claim that Kelly had deceived them and fabricated information. This fits too well into Sri Lanka’s picture and we can just imagine how many Jack Kelly’s fabricated similar stories!

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/2004-01-13-reporter_x.htm

Kelley issues apology as more fabrications emerge

  Next the author brings out the capture of British mercenary Robert Allan Lofthouse in February 1993 at Mt. Majevica. He had confessed to Serbian intelligence agents to having satellite communications with a US reporter – Roy Gutman, former Reuters correspondent in Belgrade. Gutman had told Lofthouse that he was a CIA agent. Gutman’s report in 1991 covered the Serbian destruction of Old Town Dubrovnik as if it had happened in front of his eyes. His other reports on Serb ‘massacres’ and ‘mass rapes’ in Bosnia were similar.

Also arrested by Serbian intelligence was another American reporter – David Rohde who was deported in 1995.

Rohde was working for the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor. He was always sent to countries where America defended its national interests – Cuba, Syria, USSR, Estonia and Bosnia. He arrived in Serbia with falsified documents and no reporter ID. His predecessor Jonathan Landay was expelled after he was caught sending information to the CIA. Rohde’s reports are interesting – he covered ‘blood on walls and scattered documents of the missing’ but no mass graves!

He was presented to the world as a victim of the Serbs after returning to the US and for that won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on mass graves in Srebrenica – which mind you were never found. Shouldn’t this remind you of the many reports on Sri Lanka’s ‘genocide’, ‘ethnic cleansing’ – has anyone got any international awards for these lies???

Even the more famous reporters have been exposed – US Army analyst Lt. Col John E Sray’s war time diary mentions famous reporters like Christiane Amanpour and Peter Jennings using Muslim propaganda as truth. You will recall similar famous reporters sourcing their news from terrorist propaganda in Sri Lanka too including the Ban Ki Moon expert panel!

Lt. Col Sray writes that both reporters claimed ‘Serbs are devastating the town, house by house’ deliberately omitting that Muslim troops had mined the houses and then left, abandoning civilians. Col Sray says that CNN correspondents assassinated the character of Gen. Michael Rose accusing him of being a ‘Serb-lover’ and the media campaign against him resulted in having to leave Sarajevo in disgrace. This was how good soldiers were thrown out of the combat zone so that the truth would be kept hidden!

The author asks the Western public why they are ignoring how reporters from Western news agencies have won prizes and advanced their careers slandering Serbia. Is it no different to their coverage of Sri Lanka wherein everything they wrote became ‘credible evidence’ and not ‘allegations’! When they wrote and showed footage of ‘starving Bosniaks in Serb concentration camps’ do you recall the ‘internment camps’ stories relayed on Sri Lanka when the IDPs were put into refugee camps? The Western media confessed that the footage was nothing but deception only in 1997. We have to wait several more years to be told Sri Lanka’s footage were lies too!

If these reports led to sanctions against Serbia from 1992 onwards there is no need for second guesses as to what contributed to the resolutions against Sri Lanka!

It took a decade for the UNPROFOR commander British General Michael Rose to write in his memoirs that the Serbs were falsely accused and that the shelling came from the Muslim positions. We are counting the decades to be told that it was the LTTE that lied and not the Sri Lankan Army!

The author says that then US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright lied and deceived the world about the 1993 supposed massacre at Sarajevo Markale marketplace and declared evidence as ‘classified’. It has turned out that Bosnian Muslims butchered their own people to win world sympathy. This immediately brings to mind how the UNHRC and its head along with so many other ‘human rights’ groups went to town about ‘massacre of civilians’ by the Sri Lankan Army totally ignoring that LTTE were firing at fleeing Tamils. The similarities are shocking.

The author says CNN’s star report Christiane Amanpour was reporting from Pale but claiming to be reporting ‘live from Sarajevo’. ’50,000 Bosniak women’ were said to be ‘raped’. In Sri Lanka the story was ’40,000 to 125,000 killed by Sri Lankan soldiers’. It has turned out that one of the Bosniak women who was raped and given asylum in Switzerland delivered an African baby! Need we say more!!! Yet both Serbs and Sri Lankan soldiers were demonized.

It was not only then US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright who lied but US Secretary of Defense William Cohen who said that Serbs had killed 100,000 Albanians” in Kosovo – and hold your breath, less than 3000dead and one-third of which are Serbs after sending so many teams to find the mass graves! The 1999 supposed ‘massacre’ in Racak accused Serbs of executing 45 Kosovo Albanians. US Ambassador William Walker of the OSCE mission thrice prevented Serbian forensic pathologist Dr Marinkovic from investigating the scene. Ambassador Walker had told media that the massacre was ‘the most horrific thing he has ever seen’. The world forgot how NATO & US bombe Yugoslavia for 78 days costing the US taxpayer billions!

This brings memories of another William – William Blake the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka. He too told the US Congressional Hearing that 40,000 died in Sri Lanka – no proof of course.

In case people have forgotten let us recall the accusations against Sri Lanka

• Ban Ki Moon’s personally appointed 3 member panel sourced their information from LTTE propaganda sites and calls LTTE ‘disciplined group’. One panellist became a regular invitee to LTTE fronts who referred to her as ‘comrade’. She has been since writing reports in favour of the terrorists!
• US Ambassador Robert Blake quoted 40,000 dead
• UK Labor MP Siobhain McDonagh said 100,000 dead and 40,000 civilians – how did she count the dead from England?
• Amnesty International 2011 report said 10,000 civilian deaths
• Gordon Weiss former UN official originally quoted 7000 dead then inflated the figure to 40,000 and made it 10,000 for his book launch.
• Charles Petrie of UN quoted 70,000 dead ignoring the UN local team estimate of 7721
• LTTE propaganda Tamilnet claimed 7398 deaths
• Survey by Government in North claimed 7400 deaths including LTTE killed in combat with 2600 missing of which 1600 had been with LTTE.
• Satellite analyst report by American Association for the Advancement of Science identified 3 graveyards of which one had 1346, and one was a LTTE graveyard with 960 bodies.
• Tamil teachers of the North did a population survey in 2011 covering period 2005-2009 of migration, deaths and untraceable persons – their report reveals 7896 dead including LTTE while deaths from natural illness and sickness was 1102
• UNICEF sponsored Family Tracing & Verification Unit in 2011 listed 2564 untraceable persons out of which 676 were children (64% had been kidnapped by LTTE)
• Reports by UN, Government Agents, WFP, doctors and civilians indicate figure of 300,000 corresponds with figure SL military saved and anomaly matches numbers quoted by UN country team as being dead – 7721
• University Teachers for Human Rights – Jaffna in Special Report 32 of 10 June 2009 and Special Report No 32 of 13 December 2009 placed dead between 20,000 and 40,000
• Dr. V Shanmugarajah – says death toll closer to 1000
• Times of London newspaper – 20,000 dead
• Bishop of Mannar, Rayappu Joseph who opened LTTE office in UK says 147,000 missing though he has not given the names of the missing to the Presidential Commission on Missing Persons.
• Alan Keenan Project Director of International Crisis Group, Sri Lanka says civilian deaths are between 40,000-147,000
• The Institute of Conflict Management, Delhi – 11,111
• Independent Diaspora Analysis Group, Sri Lanka – 15,000-18,000 deaths
• Rajasingham Narendran – my estimate is that the deaths – cadres, forced labor and civilians were very likely around 10,000 and did not exceed 15,000 at most’.
• Muttukrishna Sarvananthan of the Point Pedro Institute says 12,000 without counting armed Tiger personnel’
• Dr. Noel Nadesan roughly 16,000 including LTTE natural and civilians’.
• Data compiled by South Asia Terrorism Portal – primarily based on figures released by pro-LTTE website Tamilnet’ puts casualty figure for civilians inside Mullaitivu at 2972 until 5 April 2009.
• UNHRC head Navi Pillay on 13 March 2009 press release as many as 2800 civilians’ ‘may have been killed’.
• Guardian UK editorial (Sri Lanka: Evidence that wont be buried – 15 June, 2011) says 40,000 dead
• Editorials of The Times and Sunday Times UK in late May 2009 more than 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final war.
• Publication titled Genocidio: (Primera entrega) – La masacre de los Tamils en Sri Lanka,” [Genocide: (First Delivery) The Slaughter of Tamils in Sri Lanka], the Argentinean periodical La Tarde (diario)in a Spanish language article – 146,679 Tamils disappeared or killed between 2008 and 2009, of which 40,000 deaths occurred in the 48 hours of the final assault
• Arundhati Roy, Indian commentator –”Government of Sri Lanka is on the verge of committing what could end up being genocide” and described the Sri Lankan IDP camps where Tamil civilians are being held as concentration camps. April 2009
• Prof. Michael Roberts based his estimates between 10,000 and 18,000
• ICRC press statementof 21 April 2009 declared that their estimates of Tamil civilians inside the no fire zone was 50,000 (In other words upto 21^st April 2009, the ICRC did not know that LTTE had 300,000 people with them.  www.dailynews.lk
• The UN High Commissioner for Refugeesin November 2008 claimed there were 230,000 IDPs in the Vanni (Sri Lankan forces saved close to 300,000 – this continues to raise the question of how can we differentiate civilians and LTTE)
• The International Crisis Groupquoting ICRC says 150,000 were in the NFZ in early March 2009.
• UN estimated on 13 May 2009 that about 50,000 civilians were trapped by the conflict, in a 300sq.km strip of land www.dailynews.lk
• Indian embedded journalist Murali Reddy reported that from 13 May 2009 there were no civilians in the 1.5sq.kmstrip LTTE was restricted to.

Please remember these figures and who said what when decades later the truth will emerge – but too late. What good is belated truth. We have seen how Yugoslavia has been disintegrated. How Kosovo was created. How independent Kosovo is today suffering and the people who fell for the lies and were part of the lies now feeling sorry for what they helped create but without any ability to reverse the status quo. However, lessons are never learnt. The liars and lies continue to prevail.

Its tragic how false propaganda can ruin entire nations and demonize people unjustly and the culprits have the audacity to say the news was false but not even offer any apology.

Shenali D Waduge

Reference:

http://global-politics.eu/2016/11/26/american-lies-serbs-worst-war-crimes-committed-reporters/

http://verysmartbrothas.com/jack-kelly-of-the-pittsburgh-post-gazette-is-a-fucking-disgrace-and-probably-needs-to-get-fired/ (looks like Kelly hasn’t learnt lessons)

By Dr. Susantha Goonatilake

In a article a few days ago, Dr. Nirmala Chandrahasan, a Consultant for the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR), had written on early Buddhist links between Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu. She, I believe, is the wife of Chandrahasan, a son of Chelvanayakam, founder of the Federal Party and like Chelvanayagam lives in Colombo. Colombo today is a very multicultural city, although the predominant language of discourse on the street is Sinhala in which Dr. Nirmala must be able to converse to some extent. I do not know whether she has religious beliefs but the fact that Chelvanayakam was a Christian and that she writes on Buddhist links points perhaps to a genuine interest in reconciliation”.

Although I may have briefly met him at his father’s house at Alfred House Gardens, I am not familiar with Chandrahasan. His brother Vaseeharan was my very close friend at Royal, in University and later after his divorce. I used to spend hours chatting with Vaseeharan at Chelvanayakam’s house where I occasionally stayed overnight and savoured Mrs. Chelvanayakam’s stringhoppers for breakfast. The Vaseeharan I knew did not share his father’s views and was dismissive of the white-clad politicians that would come to the house’s front office. And Vaseeharan (Vassa to his classmates) also had definite views on Chelvanayakam’s son-in-law and biographer A.J. Wilson at whose Peradeniya house Vassa and I once stayed. Vassa dismissed Wilson as an intellectual lightweight, perhaps youthful bravado. This was, however, not the political dismissal of Wilson I heard from a former colleague of his at Canada’s McGill University who said Wilson had worked on a secret CIA plan to Balkanise India (at the time nominally non-aligned, India had cosied up to the then Soviet Union). Who knows?

What Dr. Nirmala writes is broadly true and I must add, well-known. In fact, I had referred to these links in my publications, including in a book on the Portuguese occupation of the country. Going further, a couple of decades ago, I wrote a popular article indicating that Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka over the centuries had changed their identities. There were migrants from South India who became Sinhalese and Portuguese commentators noted that although the King in Jaffna then was Tamil, the majority in the Peninsula were Sinhalese, albeit with a sizeable Tamil population. These Sinhalese in Jaffna eventually became Tamilised. To add to the confusion, in Dravidian Kerala, the Ezhavas the second numerous caste, believe they are Sinhalese migrants. These are ethnic origin stories but such stereotypes are better viewed, noting that Sri Lanka is in the middle of Indian Ocean traffic. There is evidence that our populations are genetically very mixed. This was the subject of a Royal Asiatic Society RASSL lecture which I hosted on current genetic research, but that study probably requires further confirmation. Dr. Nirmala refers to Buddhist sites in the North and East, implying that they were Tamil, many of these sites are well-known and referred to in  Sinhala literature. The 1917 RASSL expedition led by Paul Pieris to the Jaffna Peninsula found many Buddhist ruins including statues, identical in style to those in the Anuradhapura era including pillars with Sinhala words.

These finds became the core of the Jaffna Museum but during the LTTE occupation were given fictional labels. One gem was in describing a Buddha footprint exhibit Some state these are footprints of Vishnu [sic]. The Buddha along with Jesus Christ is sometimes considered an incarnation of Vishnu.” The sites where they are found are described in the Kandyan period Sinhala text ‘Nam Pothaa’, a guide to popular Buddhist sites at the time. Another LTTE gem was labelling through a huge hoarding the Buddhist site at the hot wells in Trincomalee as constructed by that mythical creature Ravana. However, the biggest item missing from Dr. Nirmala’s article is that Sri Lanka is the country with the longest Buddhist majority tradition, from the time of Asoka and so in the vein of Charles L. Allen, having a strong welfare template.

Dr. Nirmala misses some other key facts from the past as well as the present. The great city Anuradhapura that the Tamil Buddhist scholars came to translate in the Sinhalese Buddhist commentaries, she records, were later destroyed and ransacked by the Cholas. The devastation was so total that Anuradhapura had to be abandoned and the monks and nuns had to hide or disrobe. Eventually Buddhism was restored only after the Cholas were defeated and Buddhist order reintroduced from then Myanmar.

The Chola emblem of the snarling tiger was later adopted by Tamil separatists in Sri Lanka as their flag, a window to their aggressive mindset. Tamil separatists would later attack the Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura and the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy, key symbols of the Sri Lankan Buddhist heritage. This could be because the separatist leadership was given by Christians, including Catholic priests who were photographed blessing the fictional map of a future Tamil Eelam. This fictional map was based on two sentences by an ignorant British visitor Cleghorn, who in 1879 stated that two nations, Tamil and Sinhala, had lived in Sri Lanka with the present boundaries since ancient times. His ignorance of history was so great that in the third sentence, he said the Sinhalese had arrived in the country from Siam!
Dr. Nirmala also faults Anagarika Dharmapala for creating a Buddhism exclusive to the Sinhalese. She gives no firm reason but had probably lifted the idea from a book she quotes by one L.K. Devanda on Tamil Buddhism in Ancient South India and Sri Lanka. I googled around and checked international libraries but could not trace the book, although it appears in several popular articles written by locals. Dharmapala was a driven man who was most critical of the Sinhalese. He castigated our Bhikkhus as indolent hounds, utterly indifferent to the people” who know only how to fill their stomachs and to repeat Pali gathas” and whose brains are atrophied” and are drones”. He took the epithet Aryan then fashionable in European circles and introduced to him by the mystical Theosophists, a meaning different from the Buddhist term Arya. He included as Aryan also those from Madras as he denounced the education in Sri Lanka and asked young Sinhalese to go to Madras for better learning. Disgusted with Sri Lanka, he spent his last years in Bodh Gaya.  Starting with the late 19th century, Dharmapala was also instrumental in creating social awareness among Tamil Dalits of South India as recorded by recent writings of Indian Dalit Sociologists like Aloysius (Religion as Emancipatory Identity: a Buddhist Movement among Tamils under Colonialism). Dharmapala had Tamil Dalits organise themselves, brought them to Sri Lanka and asked them to reject the caste oppression
in Hinduism.

In the early 20th century, these Dalit Indian Tamil Buddhists under Dharmapala’s influence identified themselves as being originally Buddhists who had been put down by Brahmins. Indian Dalit Tamils set out to construct Buddhist temples, to conduct Buddhist events and publish books on Buddhism; one of these with an introduction by Dharmapala. When the Buddhist delegation from Sri Lanka attended the Indian National Congress, the Indian Tamil Dalit Appaduraiyar joined the Sri Lankan delegation to press for a resolution to transfer Bodh Gaya to the Buddhists. Ramasami Naickar (Periyar”) spoke at the South Indian Buddhists’ Association and held Buddhism in high esteem. Yet, the rise of Periyar and his later sponsorship of the Dravidian movement in the 1930’s began to see the downgrading of Tamil Buddhism and its gradual replacement by a strident Tamil nationalism. The Indian Tamil masses initially mobilised by the Buddhists later became the foot soldiers of the new Tamil chauvinism. Just as the Dalits reinvented themselves as the original Buddhists, the new Dravidians began inventing new mythical narratives such as portraying Ravana as a hero and Lemuria” as the lost land of Tamils. The various Dravidian political parties such as the DMK and its offshoots are the results of this movement. Their influence of Tamil exclusivity spilled over into Jaffna and led later to the ideological underpinnings of separatism. In Jaffna in the 1960’s, among the depressed castes, there was a Buddhist movement of protest which later was suppressed by the LTTE. As for Hindus during our civil war, many were converted to Christian fundamentalism as a shocked US Hindu leader who came to aid Hindus during the tsunami, told me.

Reconciliation among those who have been alienated from each other through politics is necessary. But the road to that goal should not be based on changing geographical boundaries, changing genetic make-ups, changing ethnic identities or belief systems imposed by force or by bribes. There are many examples of success after a war. Considering that the LTTE looked to Hitler for their ideology (and LTTE ideology still persists in pockets), the closest example for us would be the de-nazification programme after World War II. Consequently, Germany today is very different to the time of Hitler. Relative peaceful coexistence exists, for example in cities like New York, or today’s London and for that matter in today’s Colombo. Today’s multicultural Colombo without artificial boundaries should be an obvious model for reconciliation.

Editorial Island

November 26, 2016, 7:29 pm
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe admitted he was making an unpopular proposal and knew that he would be criticized when he said a few days ago that salaries of MPs are grossly inadequate for the work they are required to carry out in their constituencies. He said he was proposing substantially higher wages to reduce corruption and attract better talent to parliament. Nobody shouted him down when he said what he did because if there is anything on which all legislators agree without demur, it is on pay and perks for themselves. But we must say in fairness that is not a trait exclusive to parliamentarians. It is true for all human beings. Whatever the prime minister may think about MPs needing better compensation, public opinion will run strong against any proposal to increase the emoluments of legislators. As it is, the large majority of the people resent MPs pay and perks which are unrelated to average incomes of ordinary people. Some time ago there was an attempt to link parliamentarians pay to those of judges so that when judges got an increase, MPs too would get one.

When Wickremesinghe said his wife earned more than he did, most people who read his remarks would have smiled. It is quite possible that the premier’s wife, a university professor, gets a larger pay cheque than her husband. But what the taxpayer of this country spends to maintain their prime minister bears no comparison to what the universities spend to maintain an academic. Comparison on this score is no doubt akin to comparing apples and oranges. But it is the prime minister who in passing made that comparison. Wickremesinghe is rather fond of comparing his pay with those of others. Speaking at the 30th anniversary of the Ravaya newspapers a few days earlier, he said that editors of most newspapers (“I don’t know about Ravaya” he qualified)and news directors in the electronic media earned more than he did. While there are many people in the country paid more than their president, prime minister, ministers and other elected representatives, there are many more that are paid far less.

The prime minister is right that we do need to attract better people to parliament, people who will not loot the public purse as many have done in the past and continue to do at present, and make useful contributions to both the legislature and good governance. In the early post-Independence years, the parliamentary allowance of an MP was a meager Rs. 750. They came in their own vehicles to sittings of the House – some like Dr. W. Dahanayaka came by bus or train because they did not own a vehicle – and nobody got duty free permits to buy vehicles. They paid for their own petrol which in those days cost about Rs. 2.50 a gallon. Undoubtedly many of those elected to the then House of Representatives were people who had private means – landowners and the like – as well as professionals who did nicely as lawyers and doctors. But others were by no means rich or comfortably off and did not ask for more. LSSP leader Dr. N.M. Perera, despite his very high qualifications, did not practice a profession and was among the earliest to urge that MPs be paid pensions. NM did however engage in some private business and older readers would remember his being pilloried over the Giridara Mill in the sixties and references in newspapers to plantations he had owned – Oakfied and Moragolla. While he could be attacked for being a capitalist in a capitalist system while professing socialism, none would dare accuse him of ever making a dirty rupee.

There would be a substantial body of opinion in the country that paying MPs better will not reduce corruption or in any great measure attract better people to the legislature – a few maybe, but not all that many. As it is, the existing pay and perks and the opportunities that abound for politicians to make crooked bucks have attracted many undesirables to the legislature. Exigencies of politics have made those who were rejected by the electors to be appointed on the National List. President Sirisena says that the Mahinda Rajapaksa faction of the SLFP strived might and main to have party candidates they labeled as “Sirisena supporters” defeated and he made these appointments to have people he trusted in the House. However that may be, the principle of such appointments does not bear examination and it is to be hoped that the National List is abolished in the new constitution. It is hard to think of anybody but the late Lakshman Kadirgamar who deserved to come unelected to parliament in accordance with criteria set out for National List nominations. There have been some worthies who have enjoyed ministerial appointments by coming into parliament on the national lists of both major parties!

We are now a middle income country according to the official classification of international multilateral lending agencies. But like in most developing countries, most wealth here is concentrated in the upper strata of the population. There was a report in yesterday’s The Island that the richest one percent of Indians own over half that country’s wealth. This is very true of very many countries in the world although the figures may be less dramatic. Given conditions that prevail here, the majority of our people would feel that our MPs do not do badly in terms of pay and perks in comparison to most of their countrymen (and women). Granting legislators increased emoluments in the context of prevailing country conditions will be both unpopular and unfair. Maybe some honest legislators who might do better outside politics (we do have a few of them) have persuaded the prime minister that a wage revision is appropriate. Given that he is more fortunately placed than most of his parliamentary colleagues, Wickremesinghe may well view such requests sympathetically. But acting on such sentiment, however well intentioned, will not only be unpopular but wrong.

ලංකා සී නිවුස්

මතුවී එන ගැටලු හමුවේ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ නායක අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මෙන්ම ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ නායක ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේනත් වෙන වෙනම තම තනතුරැ රැක ගැනීමේ සීතල යුද්ධයකට අවතීර්න වි ඇති බව ඉතා විශ්වාස කටයුතු මාර්ගයක් සදහන් කරයි.

ශ්‍රීලනිප මෛත්‍රී කණ්ඩායමේ ඉල්ලීම වී ඇත්තේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ තනතුරින් පහ කොට ශ්‍රිලනිප හෝ එජාපයෙන් අගමැති කෙනෙක් පත්කල යුතුය යන්නයි. එවිට මහ බැංකුවේ බැදුම්කර මගඩිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහට එරෙහිව ඇතිව තිබෙන අප‍්‍රසාදය මැඩලීමට ජනාධිපතිවරයාට පියවර ගතහැකි බවත් ඒ හරහා රජයේ අවංකභාවය රැකෙන බවත් ශ‍්‍රිලනිප මෛත‍්‍රී පාර්ශවයේ අදහසයි. එසේ වුවහොත් දැනට මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ සමඟ සිටින පොදු විපක්ෂයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්ගෙන් විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක් ඒ තීරණය සමඟ ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සමග එකතුකර ගැනීමට ලෙහෙසියෙන් හැකි බව කන්ද උඩරට නියෝජනය කරන ඒකාබද්ද විපපක්‍ෂ මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයෙකු හා මෛත්‍රී පාර්ශවය නියෝජනය කරන රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරයකු ඇති පිරිසකගෙන් සමන්විත කණ්ඩායමේ මතය වී ඇත. එමෙන්ම එජාපයේ සිටින මෛත්‍රී හිතවාදීන්ගේද සහයෝගය ඒ සඳහා ලබාගත හැකි බවටත් මෛත්‍රී පාර්ශවය විශ්වාස කරයි.

එහෙත් මෛත්‍රී පාර්ශ්වයේ තවත් කණ්ඩායමක කිහිපදෙනකුගේම අදහස එය හිතන තරම් පහසු කාර්යක් නොවන අතර මොනව හේතුවක් නිසාවත් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ අතහැර පොදු විපක්ෂයේ මන්ත්‍රීන් සියලුදෙනා පැමිණීම විශ්වාස කිරීමට අපහසු බවය.

මේ අතර මෙකී රහස් සාකච්චා ගැන ආරංචි වූ අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මේ රජය බලයට ගෙන ඒමට විශාල වැඩකොටසක් කල දේශපාලන බලවතකු මෙන්ම අමාත්‍යවරයෙකු හා මෛත්‍රී හිතවතකු මුණගැසීමට ඔහුගේ නිල නිවසට පසුගිය රාත්‍රියක ගොස් ඔහුට ආරාධනා කොට ඇත්තේ වහාම තම පක්ෂයට බැදී නායකයාට අමතරව තිබෙන ඕනම තනතුරක් ලබාගෙන එජාපයත් සහ එහි නායකත්වයත් විනාශ වීමට ගන්නා මෙම තීරණය පරාජය ඛිරීමට සහාය දෙන ලෙසයි.

එහෙත් එකී අමාත්‍යවරයාගේ මතය වී ඇත්තේ මේ අවස්ථාවේ සමහර බලවේග ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රී නොයෙකුත් තීරණයන් සඳහා පොලොබවන බැවින් තමා අගමැතිගේ ඉල්ලීම ඉටු කිරීමට වඩා මේ අවස්ථාවේ රජය ආරක්ෂා කිරීමට නම් ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ ලග සිටිය යුතු බවය.

එමෙන්ම ඒකාබද්ද විපක්‍ෂ පිරිසක් සමග සාකච්චා පවත්වන මෛත්‍රී පාර්ශව කණ්ඩායමේ මතය වී ඇත්තේ දිනෙන් දින කල් ගතවීමෙන් ශ‍්‍රීලනි පක්‍ෂය එකතු කර මෛත්‍රී ජනාධිපතිගේ නායකත්වය යටතේ තබාගැනීමට ගන්නා උත්සහය ඉදිරියේදී ඉතා දුෂ්කර වන බවත් වැඩිකල් මේ ආකාරයෙන් යෑමට බැරි බවත් දැනට තනතුරු ගත් සමහර ඇමතිවරුන් පවා මොනයම් අවස්ථාවක හෝ එය අතහැර මහින්ද පාර්ශවය සමඟ එකතුවීමට ඇති ඉඩ කඩ වැඩි බවත්ය.

මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් තවත් පාර්ශ්වයක් මෛත්‍රී ජනාධිපතිවරයාට පවසා ඇත්තේ අපේ අය ඇමතිකම් අරන් කොළඹට වී ජොලියේ ඉන්නා බවත් මේ වනවිටත් මහින්ද පාර්ශවය වෙනුවෙන් අවශ්‍ය දේශපාලන වැඩපිළිවෙළ බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ විසින් ඉතා උපායශීලීව හා සාර්ථකව ගම් මට්ටමේ කරගෙන යන බවත්, මේ විදියට ගියොත් අනාගතයේදි අපේ කණ්ඩායමට මහින්දගේ ලකුණෙන් ඡන්දය ඉල්ලන්න වෙන බවත්ය. එහිදි මෛත්‍රී ජනාධිපතිවරයාට තරමක් කේන්ති ගිය අතර අවසානයේ ඔහුද ‘අපේ කට්ටිය ගමට බැහලා කිසි දෙයක් කරන්නේ නැ’ කියමින් අප්‍රසාදය ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් පෙන්වා ඇත.

Shenali D Waduge

 Why should 32 nations including US, Canada, UK, India and EU ban the LTTE as a terrorist organization if Sri Lanka’s problem was ethnic? Did Sri Lanka’s Army carry out a military offensive against Tamil ethnic group or LTTE terrorists? Didn’t Sri Lanka’s Army prolong the offensive sacrificing their own soldier lives in order to bring to safety close to 300,000 Tamils during that offensive? How preposterous is it for the current Opposition Leader who hails from a party that was created by the LTTE and not investigated for its links to claim that the new constitution will be the solution to the ‘ethnic problem’. Giving benefit of the doubt can those who claim Sri Lanka suffers an ethnic problem please explain where Tamils lack equality before the law that which only Sinhalese are given?

• By 1928 there were 3 Tamil parties – Ceylon Tamil League (Sir P Arunachalam 1921), Tamil Mahajana Sabha and All Ceylon Tamil Conference. Showcasing no desire to assimilate and function as a nation. The desire for a separate Tamil state prevailed even during the time of British rule – there was no Sinhala discrimination then!

• What was the need to create a Tamil ethnic political party in 1944 under colonial British rule? All Ceylon Tamil Congress was created by GG Ponnambalam. It was the first ethnic-based political party separating people politically along ethnic lines. The only people to suffer discrimination under colonial British were the Sinhala Buddhists – the minorities were showered with English educated missionary school, jobs and better lifestyles creating sects of often Christian converted elite English speaking Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims in whose hands the British planned to leave governance.
• Why was Tamil Illankai Arasu Katchchi formed in 1949 by Anglican SJV Chelvanayagam. What was the need to create a Tamil party that had its aims and objectives to create a Tamil state?
• What kind of ethnic problem goes and plans the murder of a foreign leader –  LTTE assassinated the former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on Indian soil?
• How can there be an ethnic problem when Tamils are killed by Tamils. We can put names and numbers to these deaths not like the unverified and unprovable numbers being promoted by LTTE diaspora and their lackeys in the NGO circle.
• These Tamils were killed by Tamils. We are only giving the names of people who had made a name for themselves in the public domain. The many other Tamils that were killed because they didn’t tow the line is unknown because their deaths have been credited to the Army through propaganda.  Where have you heard of an ethnic problem where Tamils are killing Tamils virtually every year as the below figures showcase!!!

• 2005 – Lakshman Kadiragamar – Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister shot dead in his own home. He was on his way to becoming the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. Killed during the infamous ceasefire
• 2002 – Poopalapillai Alaguthurai, Porathivu Pradheshya Sabha member, member of EPRLF.
• 2003 – Marimuthtu Rajalingam Chairman of the Aalaiyadivembu Pradheshiya Sabha member of EPDP
• 2003 – Kandiah Subathiran member of EPRLF
• 2004 – S. Sunderampillai Member of UNP
• 2004 – Ponniah Yogendran member of EPDP
• 2004 – Rajan Sathiyamoorthy TNA candidate 
• 2004 – Velayutham Raveendran EPDP
• 2004 – Kandiah Yogarasa PLOTE
• 2005 – Joseph Pararajasingham, Member of Parliament
• 2006 – Kethesh Logananathan, Deputy Secretary-General of the Government’s SCOPP
• 2008 – Jeyaraj Fernandopulle Minister
• 2008 – T. Maheshwaran UNP Minister (husband of Wijayakala Maheswaran)
• 1999 – Nagalingam Manikkadasan military wing leader PLOTE
• 1999 – Neelan Tiruchelvan MP and TULF leader
• 1998 – Ponnuyhurai Sivapalan Jaffna Mayor
• 1998 – Ms. Sarojini Yogeswaran Jaffna Mayor
• 1990 – T. Ganeshalingam, Minister NE Provincial Council
• 1990 – K. Padmanabha – General Secretary EPRLF
• 1990 – Sam Tambimuttu and his wife – MP Batticoloa
• 1998 – Uma Maheswaran PLOTE leader
• 1989 – A. Amrithalingam General Secretary of TULF, killed inside his own home in Colombo. Ironically, he called the LTTE ‘our boys’.
• 1989 – V. Yogeswaran MP Jaffna
• 1986 – Sri Sabarathnam, TELO leader
• 1985 – K. Alalasunderam MP Kopay
• 1985 – V. Dharmalingam MP Manipay
• 1981 – A. Thiagarajah MP Vaddukoddai
• 1975 – Alfred Duraiyapah, Mayor Jaffna – first high profile victim of Tamils
• The first targets of LTTE were Tamil policemen on duty in the North. They were killed to scare them from joining the police service and afterwards Tamil politicians complain the state is not taking Tamils into the police force!

Tamils extorting Tamils

• Can those who claim Sri Lanka suffers an ethnic problem explain why Tamils were victims of extortion even those living overseas?

Quoting Human Rights Watch report “The Final War”: LTTE Fundraising and Extortion within the Tamil Diaspora in late 2005 and early 2006″

“Although many Tamils willingly contribute money to the LTTE, many others do so because they feel they have little choice. The same fear that silences critics of the LTTE prompts many members of the diaspora to provide financial support for the LTTE, regardless of whether they support the LTTE’s cause”

“In Canada, the U.K., and other parts of Europe, LTTE representatives went house to house and visited Tamil-owned businesses, requesting substantial sums of money, often using intimidation, coercion, and outright threats to secure pledges.”

“In Toronto, individual families typically were asked to pay between Cdn$2,500 and Cdn$5,000, although some families were reportedly asked for as much as Cdn$10,000. Business owners were asked for amounts ranging from Cdn$25,000 to Cdn$100,000.”

“In London, many individual families were asked for £2,000 and businesses approached for amounts ranging from £10,000 to £100,000” How ethnic is this?

https://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/ltte0306/5.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cstpE1-lhzk LTTE terrorising UK Tamils (Part 1 of 3)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z62Y0X2huEQ Extortion by LTTE in UK

More Tamils have been killed by LTTE – who can explain how killing of Tamils by LTTE can become an ‘ethnic’ problem????

The list of Tamils that the LTTE has targeted include – where does ‘ethnic problem’ fit into Tamils getting killed by Tamil LTTE?

• Tamil clergy
• Tamil policemen
• Tamil Mayors
• Tamil academics
• Tamil politicians
• Tamil Judges
• Tamil Justice of Peace
• Tamil Principals – most often because they did not release Tamil children to be forcibly taken from schools and turned into child soldiers
• Tamil teachers
• Tamil civil society members – people who were not on foreign payroll but were serving the People
• Tamil grama sevaka in public service – if false ID cards were not issued bullets became the answer
• Tamil public officials – over 30 such Tamils were slain
• Tamil Government Agents, Union Leaders, Engineers, Education officers, Agriculture officers, Managers,
• Tamil Secretaries who were working in top posts
• Tamil university lecturers – only those who agreed to tow the homeland line were spared
• Tamil media
• Tamil armed militant group leaders and their members

Those who have been drumming that Sri Lanka has an ‘ethnic problem’ may like to explain where they have heard of an ethnic problem where Tamils have been killing and torturing their own people.

LTTE the representative of the Tamil people according to the TNA violated Geneva Conventions in

• forcibly recruiting Tamils as ‘volunteers’.- in particular low caste and poor Tamils
• Abducting Tamil children as young as 10 and turning them into child combatants
• What was the fate of Tamil men, women and children who attempted to escape LTTE training camps? We do not know! Their deaths must also be passed off on the Sri Lanka Army
• Denial of rights to girls –UNSG Ban Ki Moon is on record for accusing LTTE of forcibly cutting hair of girls who attempted to flee LTTE during the last stages of the conflict http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/ltte1208webwcover_1.pdf
• Ordering Tamil men, women and children to commit suicide when caught by biting into the cyanide capsule given to each.
• If suicide terrorism is a crime, it has no legitimacy under international or local laws  – LTTE and Adele Balasingham stand guilty for mass murder – coercion, destruction of life and intentional killing of Tamils. Suicide attacks fall into the category of murder with mens rea – willingness to kill and willingness to die. Can anyone put a number to the Tamils who bit that cyanide capsule and died? How many of these victims are still mourning their dead? Where was the ethnic problem in ordering Tamils to kill themselves by suicide? http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aqbj8PHTtHY#!
• Tamils denied freedom of movement, Tamils issued passes, Tamils allowed out of LTTE held areas only for valid reasons and then too they had to leave their land deeds or other items as guarantee of returning. Delays in returning meant ugly consequences to the guarantor.
• Where was the ‘ethnic’ element when LTTE kept Tamils as human shields/hostages? TNA’s sole representative of the Tamils did not allow Tamil civilians to escape to safety, they kept their arms, ammunition and equipment among the Tamil civilians and fired which is a violation of international conventions. How does ‘ethnic’ element fit into LTTE shooting at fleeing Tamils and UNSG, foreign envoys and international organizations all appealing to the LTTE to release the Tamils.
• How ‘ethnic’ is it when LTTE forcibly used Tamil civilians as unpaid labor to dig trenches, construct LTTE bunkers? Forced labor is a violation of Geneva Conventions (Article 4 & 5 of UN Declaration of Human Rights)
• Where was the ‘ethnic problem’ when LTTE confiscated Tamil assets/property?
• How ‘ethnic’ was the problem when LTTE confiscated essential commodities sent by the Government to the Tamil people – these food, medicines etc were forcibly taken and distributed among LTTE and their families. They inflated civilian figures so that more commodities would be sent.
• There was no ethnic problem when LTTE denied Tamils the right to life, right to liberty, right to security, right to freedom of thought & expression, right to movement, right to education, right to live as children.
• Where was the ethnic problem when LTTE put injured LTTE cadres inside buses and blew them up because they were a burden to the fleeing LTTE leaders?
• Where was the ethnic problem when LTTE cadres indoctrinated Tamils, made them into killers, drugged them and forced them to strap themselves with suicide vests and cyanide capsules and commit suicide when caught.
• In the UK there are Tamil gangs operating and killing each other http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/9058654.Tamil_gangs_battle_for_control_of_West_Croydon/
• http://www.sinhalanet.net/crimes-by-jaffna-tamil-boys-in-uk

The best part comes when the present Opposition Leader’s Party the Tamil National Alliance in its 2001, 2004, 2010 & 2013 election manifestos officially endorse LTTE as the ‘sole representative of the Tamil people’. TNA is endorsing LTTE as the mouthpiece of the Tamils when LTTE has killed so many Tamils!!! Very interesting, indeed and they say Sri Lanka suffers an ‘ethnic problem’.

TNA 2001 election manifesto https://www.tamilnet.com/img/publish/2010/03/TNA_Election_Manifesto_2001.pdf

TNA 2004 election manifesto

https://www.tamilnet.com/img/publish/2010/03/TNA_Election_Manifesto_2004pdf.pdf

TNA 2010 election manifesto

http://transcurrents.com/tc/2010/03/full_text_general_election_201.html

TNA 2013 election manifesto

https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/full-text-tnas-northern-provincial-council-election-manifesto-2013/

What kind of political party openly aligns with an armed militant group banned by 32 countries and is bold enough to put forward LTTE demands on their election manifestos? These examples clearly negates the ‘ethnic’ element in Sri Lanka’s problem.

We now come to the mentality suffered by elite high caste Tamils which is where the real problem lies. The British having indoctrinated their minds into believing themselves to be superior than their own and all others as a result of which 20million people are suffering. It is their desire to rule their own in a serfdom where the lowcastes will all be slaves to them which is the crux of the problem at hand. How else can anyone explain the disposition of the Tamil elite who had been making calls for a Tamil state (pan-Tamil state including Tamil Nadu) that started during colonial British rule when Tamils were ruled by British and there was no grounds to claim discrimination by Sinhalese.

It should be very clear that Sri Lanka‘s problem is not ethnic. Sri Lanka‘s problem was terrorist since LTTE armed militants waged terror on all communities including the Tamils and the State of Sri Lanka carried out a military onslaught to end this terror. Therefore, we do not see any grounds to use the end of hostilities for any programs associated with reconciliation with Tamils because the enemy was not Tamils but the LTTE terrorists. There is no reason to reconcile with Tamils because the Sinhalese have no problems with Tamils, the Sinhalese have problems only with a handful of high caste elite Tamil politicians who are trying to divide all the communities for their own selfish ends. There is no reason to reconcile with LTTE terrorists though programs have been created to rehabilitate them and reintroduce them to society. However, there is no grounds to have any political solution based on demands made by terrorists and those linked to terrorists.

Everyone seems to have got the whole issue muddled and have messed up matters without identifying the root cause of the problem.

No constitutional proposals that are aligned to demands made by LTTE or its political front the TNA should be entertained and a good look at their manifestos will reveal that those proposing changes to the new constitutions are virtually copying the demands made by the TNA in their election manifestos of 2001, 2004, 2010 and 2013 compiled with the Singapore principles to which the present government had secretly agreed upon.

The international community will do grave injustice to the country and its people in peddling the demands of terror groups and those linked to terror groups and should desist from offering any more support.

Shenali D Waduge

§  Reference: http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/shrilanka/database/leaders_assassinated_byLTTE2.htm

§  http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/shrilanka/database/leaders_assassinated_byLTTE.htm

§  http://www.onlanka.com/news/tamil-politicians-priests-public-officials-and-academics-killed-by-the-ltte.html

§  http://www.onlanka.com/news/tamil-civilians-killed-by-ltte.html

§http://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/dbsjeyaraj-column/49301-birth-and-growth-of-nexus-between-the-tna-and-the-ltte.html#sthash.dUBw24J1.dpuf

§  https://tamiltigeractivities.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/the-un-investigative-panel-must-probe-tna-ltte-links/

§  http://www.onlanka.com/news/tamil-national-alliance-ltte-separatist-manifestos-2001-2004-2010-and-now-2013.html

§  http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/39348 Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam spoke of “Tamil Eelam” as a Mono Ethnic Pan Tamil Project in 1922.

Gagani Weerakoon Courtesy Ceylon Today

President Maithripala Sirisena participating at the 47th Anniversary of the Public Services United Nurses’ Union (PSUNU) held at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium in Colombo on Wednesday (16) said the use of given freedom and democracy, to achieve narrow political gains or to spread racism and religious differences, is an obstacle to the future development of the country.
He added that the government is moving forward step by step, towards good governance, meeting the aspirations of the people. He also said that the government is committed to fulfil the aspiration of the people to the maximum level through comprehensive plans, even though it could not provide instant solutions as some sections of the society expected.

President Sirisena also said that the government is committed to protect the professional privileges of the persons who are serving in the health sector while strengthening the free health service of the country.

The President presented awards to ten retired persons who rendered a great service to the Public Services United Nurses’ Union.
Ven. Muruththettuwe Ananda Thera, President of the PSUNU presented a special memento to the President.
Ministers Rajitha Senaratne, W.D. J. Seneviratne, State Minister A.H.M. Fowzie, doctors, intellectuals in the field of health and many others participated in this event.

ISIS matter irks man

It was just two days after President’s remarks that Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe in Parliament alleged that 32 Sri Lankan Muslims had joined the ISIS and emphasized foreigners were propagating extremism among Muslim children in the country. Minister Rajapakshe said that extremist foreigners had entered Sri Lanka under the guise of teachers.

Minister Rajapakshe warned that the government would take appropriate measures in accordance with the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) though a section of the international community was opposed to the implementation of the existing law.
Participating in the second reading stage debate on Budget 2017, he revealed that foreign intelligence services had reported that 32 Sri Lankans belonging to four families joining the ISIS.

Describing those who had joined the ISIS as members of well-to-do families of the Muslim community, the minister said that foreign extremists teaching at Muslim international schools in Beruwala, Kalmunai, Kaleliya and Kurunegala propagated hate.
The minister alleged that there had been a spate of serious incidents including killings due to continuing violence among followers of four main chapters known as Thowfique Jamath, Jamaath-e-Islam, Thabilique Jamath and Sunnathival Jamath. The minister vowed that the government wouldn’t allow their fight to jeopardize national security under any circumstances.

Claiming that scores of websites had been propagating violence and communal hatred, Minister Rajapakshe reiterated the UNP-led government’s readiness to address security issues.

“The international community can say anything it likes. Whatever they say we’ll not allow a bloodbath again. We are ready to implement some provisions of the PTA hitherto remained unused. These laws are severe. We will implement those laws.”
Commenting on social media, he alleged that there had been 78 derogatory posts on a particular website against the members of the Sri Lankan legal fraternity. He said those who had been defamed weren’t in a position to respond to various unsubstantiated allegations.

Alleging that one Sandaruwan had been responsible for the despicable web operation, Minister Rajapakshe said that the government could issue an international warrant to bring him here to face charges.
However, Minister Rajapakshe’s statement was not welcomed by many ‘moderates’ in the society, claiming his ‘replay’ of old records was nothing but a mere attempt to fuel racism.

The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka (MCSL) in a statement signed by its President N.M. Ameen noted that they are seriously concerned about the statement made in Parliament by the Minister of Justice about the Muslim community.
“The facts given by the Honourable Minister were reported in the media more than one year ago when a Sri Lankan combatant died fighting with ISIS. There have been no new reports of any others involved since this was reported last year. It is believed that one family had gone to Syria to provide humanitarian support to the war wounded and refugees. Some of the men are alleged to have joined or forced to join the fighting forces of ISIS. The Muslim community, including the Muslim Council, Jamiathul Ulema and other organizations cooperated with the government in identifying the families to provide the necessary support for the intelligence agencies to investigate. Those who have gone to Syria as quoted by Rajapakshe include women and children.”

“Minister Rajapakshe’s statement comes at a very opportune time to certain extremist elements bent on tarnishing the image of the Muslim community for reasons only best known to them. The Thableeq Jamath, Sunnathival Jamath, Thowheed Jamath and Jamaithe Islam and several other organizations are all Muslim religious and social service organizations. They do not promote any form of violence as implied by the Minister. Certain parts of his statement are verbatim of the hate speech spewed by the extremist priest Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera,” Ameen said in his statement.

While noting that no Muslim international school invites extremists to indoctrinate its children with fundamentalism as alleged by the Minister, MCSL stated; “Such has been the language of certain countries that created terrorists out of Madrasas in Pakistan to achieve their own ends. We urge Hon. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe to provide the evidence and take immediate action against anyone who may have violated the laws of the land irrespective of ethnicity or religion.”

Indian Concerns

While it is agreed that Minister Rajapakshe was repeating what Secretary of Defence Ministry Karunasena Hettiarachchi said earlier this year and the facts and figures stay almost the same, it is also noteworthy that our neighbour India too had expressed its concerns about Sri Lanka being a ground of training to militants of IS and similar extremist terror groups.
This column on 16 October, 2016 revealed that India is pushing for stronger intelligence cooperation with the island nation after the hostile situation in Kashmir escalated.

According to reliable sources, Indian intelligence services are seeking stronger cooperation from Sri Lankan security forces and intelligence services through the Sri Lankan Government in tracking down terrorist outfits operating in the country.
They have, according to sources, confirmed that terrorist outfits and extremist groups like Al-Qaida, LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba), ISIS and IKK (Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq) are using Sri Lanka, especially the Eastern Province as a strategic posting point and operation centre. In addition, the comprehensive intelligence report also states that they have screened about 55 Maldives nationals and several other Sri Lankans of being members of these terrorist outfits.

According to the report, ISIS and Al-Qaida use Sri Lanka and the Maldives as they could not access Chennai that easily.
Even though, India had warned Sri Lanka on similar issues from time to time, it came to a turning point after arresting Maulana Umar Madan in 2009 in Chennai.

Investigations proved that he was a frequent traveller to the Eastern Province and happened to be one of the close confidants of JuD (Jamaat-ud-Dawa) leader Hafiz Saeed and second in command Abdul Rehman Makki.
With Mohammed Rafeeq a confirmed plant by ISIS being arrested for attempting to target the Israeli Consulate in Bangaluru they insisted SL authorities to be on the alert.

According to this intelligence report, these groups operate as fake Indian currency manufacturing teams. China arrested a suspect with Rs 2. 5 million Indian currency in Guangzhou city on 19 August 2016.
The suspect had arrived in China from Colombo and Indian intelligence was able to apprehend him with the assistance of Sri Lankan and its Chinese counterparts. Therefore, India has highlighted the importance of intelligence sharing and cooperation.

MR to get sponsored

Former President turned Kurunegala District MP Mahinda Rajapaksa is all set to undertake a one-week tour in China on the invitation of the Sino Government. He will leave the country on 23 November and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last week instructed the Foreign Ministry to fully facilitate Rajapaksa’s visit.

While, many were surprised at this gesture as the government was earlier concerned about China’s dealings with the Rajapaksa family even after they were defeated, it was revealed that Premier’s instructions were issued as the tour is based on the Chinese Government’s invitation.

However, Rajapaksa who was known for his love for China and under whose tenure major investment plans were initiated under Chinese funds was seen criticizing the government’s move to handover lands and some national properties to China.
“We agree with the Finance Minister that he presented a different budget, which is aimed at taxing, penalties, levies and selling State assets. It is nothing more than a traditional UNP Budget and an extension of the regaining Sri Lanka of 2002. Hopefully, you will remember how they started selling State properties and increased taxes. They sold almost 80 State properties, but were unable to bring down debt. In 1977, the national debt was 68.6% of the GDP, by the time the UNP left in 1994, the national debt stood at 95% of the GDP. By the end of 2002, national debt went over 100% under Chandrika’s regime, even after the sale of insurance, telecom, and gas.”

According to Rajapaksa, his Government discontinued privatization and reduced foreign debt. “We have put a stop to privatization during the period 2005–14. When I gave the country back in January 2015, debt was reduced to 70.4% of the GDP. By the end of 2015, the national debt had gone up to 76%. It could go up to 78% by the end of this year. Instead of strengthening the Central Bank the Government proposes to hand over the entire payment system to a private operator. More plans are being made to privatize many State assets. Chances are high that expressways, railway lines, and the Moragahakanda Project too, could be privatized. It is unfortunate that a part of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party has joined this group,” he said.

Rejecting government charges of evading book entries and hiding foreign borrowings during his Presidency, Rajapaksa said: “At one time, the government was charging us for unwritten borrowings. If there are unrecorded debts, please reveal the names of the lenders. But if you say these are undocumented loans, then why worry? You don’t have to pay for loans that are not in the books. Even after heavy borrowings, the government was unable to launch a national project of importance or take forward the programmes we have planned before.”

“We have built almost all infrastructure facilities using international borrowings. So, it is unfair to sell national properties at much higher prices compared to the investments made. By selling the Hambantota Port, a monopoly will be created,” he said.
Rajapaksa was seen stumbling upon several times when presenting his written speech and Deputy Minister Ajith P. Perera who obstructed Rajapaksa several times called on Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to install a teleprompter as an encouragement for Rajapaksa to speak freely.

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

President Mahinda Rajapakse has established his name as a visionary leader. Whilst fighting war against Tamil Terrorists, he laid the ground work for the economic development. In 2009 The Sri Lanka Institute of Textile and Apparel was formed, empowering the Institute to train work force needed by the sector. The Act also allowed the award of Diplomas and Degrees at Graduate and Post Graduate Levels.   By 2014 we have reaped the benefits of this long term strategy.   Sri Lanka’s innovative Apparel Designs became an instant Export Revenue lottery. We are now one of the world best Apparel Design makers. By 2014 our Export Revenue reached US$8 billion, of which 40% represented export revenue from Apparel and Textile sector. It must be acknowledged Messrs Basil Rajapakse and Rishad Badurdeen made significant contributions in their respective ministerial portfolios by carrying out the policies of Prez Rajapakse. The textile handicraft designing project commenced operations in the Liya Abhiman Designs Centre at Moragoda, Gampaha in March 2013.

TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP(TPP) AGREEMENT 2016:
After 6 years of stiff negotiations, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam signed the TPP to bring certain economic benefits to member countries. This cartel agreement signed in Auckland last year was designed to control 26% of world trade. China and India strategically preferred not to join TPP.   Sri Lanka was not even considered. The intended main benefits of the TPP were:

1. Tariff liberalization within member nations
2. Job creation, reduce labour costs and reduced production costs amongst member nations;

iii. Distinct capital benefits resulting from competitive tariffs and protection of intellectual property rights.

The critics pointed out numerous disadvantages of TPP:

1. Even within member countries there are currency manipulators. United States’ perceived benefit of cheaper export products were nullified by currency manipulations by others.   Giants such as China and India who did not sign the TPP, (also well known as currency manipulators), to their advantage to devalue their currencies and accelerate export revenue. Currency manipulation was not prohibited under the TPP agreement;
2. Ability to bypass US law under the TPP, allowing multi national companies to challenge US laws and safeguards. In fact they can seek compensation from US for attempting to safeguard US job and working families;
3. Small businesses were not properly protected under the TPP;
4. Weak rules of TPP benefitted China, India and other non member countries.   The expected growth in US Auto market therefore became a day dream;

5. TPP threatens previously available access to affordable medicine as a consequence of creation of new monopoly, which allows the pharmaceutical companies to interfere with US government cost saving policies;

President Obama was a LAZY PRESIDENT. He did not understand the nature of business. During the recently concluded Presidential Election, Donald Trump identified these major areas and pledged to pull US out of TPP membership. As a disciplined leader and a man well above politics, on 22 November he declared ” On trade, on the first day in Office, I am going to issue a notification of intent to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a potential disaster for our country. Instead we will negotiate fair, bilateral trade deals, that will bring jobs and industry back onto American shores.”

ALERTNESS OF SINGAPORE ON US PULL OUT OF TPP:

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsian Long said reopening negotiations wouldn’t be easy. “If you sign a fresh agreement, you have to go through it again. We haven’t crossed that bridge yet. We’ll cross it if and when we come to that.”

The Hon. Prime Minister of Singapore Mr Lee Hsian Long, is proving to be a great visionary leader in Asia today.   He, like his father, First Prime Minister of Singapore Great Mr Lee Kuna Yew, always looked for alternatives for his country, when economic and social threats beyond his control, were likely to undermine his goals for Singapore. If and when TPP is dead, Singapore Prime Minister and his team will seize the opportunity and will come out as winners, without damaging US-SINGAPORE   relationship.

SRI LANKA:

The Yahapalana Regime was fortunate to own a fully established, export revenue making Apparel Industry, rigorously promoted by Prez Mahinda Rajapakse. But, there are serious doubts whether the current Regime has any vision or able leaders to carry forward the hard work of former Prez.  

When TPP was signed in 2016, Dr Harsha De Silva was very disappointed.   “ Vietnam also has joined TPP and with that Sri Lanka may lose competitiveness in the global economy,” De Silva said. He went on to say: We have already seen that foreign investors who were ready to invest and investors who are investing in Sri Lanka currently are moving towards Vietnam due to the benefits as a TPP country. We will review out situation as soon as possible.”

Now TPP is almost dead and buried, is it possible for Dr Harsha De Silva to develop plans and strategies to protect the industry.

DONALD TRUMP AND SURVIVAL OF WORLD LEADERS:

Aggressive action plans of Prez Elect Donald Trump need similarly aggressive and visionary leaders in the world.   Today we can only find the Prime Minister of Singapore Mr Lee Hsien Loong as a perfect match for Trump. We need to bring back Prez Mahinda Rajapakse to move Sri Lanka forward as well.

Editorial  The Island

November 24, 2016, 9:18 pm
President Maithripala Sirisena is reported to have lamented that it is depressing to read newspapers these days; they should adopt a positive outlook, help instill patriotism in people and develop the country, he has said.

We thought we would be left without anything negative to write about after last year’s regime change. But, alas, no sooner had the Rajapaksa government been dislodged than one half of the rogues responsible for its downfall pole-vaulted to the new administration while the other half chose to remain in the Opposition. Those who had been in the political wilderness for about 11 years without any opportunity to line their pockets at the expense of the public sprang into action like a colony of hibernating leeches after a drizzle. They joined forces with the thieves of the previous regime for political expediency.

The ‘yahapalana’ rule kicked off with a bang; the Central Bank was robbed of Treasury bonds to the tune of billions of rupees in broad daylight; fleets of super luxury vehicles were fraudulently released through the Customs at the behest of the new rulers and the molestation of Justitia did not stop. The wheels of justice were programmed to grind to a halt whenever the ruling politicians and their kith and kin happened to be on the wrong side of the law. When we report on such things it is only natural that newspapers look negative. The messenger should not be blamed for the unpalatable message.

One cannot but agree with President Sirisena that newspapers are full of depressing news. A case in point is yesterday’s front page picture of former STF Commandant, ex-DIG K. L. M. Sarachchandra, being taken to a paddy wagon. Having spent the best part of his life, serving the country in the face of risks to his life and limb, at this age the former DIG should be able to enjoy his retirement. The battle-hardened combatant led the elite police commandos during the war and ensured that they would make a tremendous contribution to defeating terrorism.

Former DIG Sarachchandra has been arrested and remanded for allegedly causing a loss of about Rs. 140,000 to the public purse by misusing a state-owned vehicle while those involved in bond scams which have cost the public billions of rupees have not only gone scot free but also are given VIP treatment. Many MPs have sold their duty free vehicle permits thus committing a financial fraud with impunity. Minister of Agriculture Duminda Dissanayake, a trusted lieutenant of President Sirisena, stands accused of wasting public funds to the tune of Rs. 23.5 mn a month as rent on an unused building.

Military and police personnel disabled in terrorist attacks during war unfortunately suffer injuries at the hands of the riot police when they protest, demanding their dues in peacetime. We thought the harassment of the ex-military commanders would end with the cashiering and incarceration of former war winning Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka under the Rajapaksa government. But, the practice continues.

We don’t enjoy being bearers of negative tidings. Let the President and other government grandees be kindly requested to rid the country of corruption, political witch hunts, near lawlessness and the blatant abuse of power besides ensuring that the people are given adequate relief and one million job opportunities created in keeping with the present administration’s election pledges. Once they get their act together, we will be left with no alternative but to write sunshine stories much to the liking of the President.

Meanwhile, all is not lost for the government worthies troubled by media induced blues as it were. They can always turn to the kept media for escapist entertainment such as journalistic cabarets, cancan and pole dancing if they want to cheer themselves up. That way they will also be able to lull themselves into thinking that everything is copacetic and there is no need to worry.

By Harischandra Gunaratna Courtesy: Island

November 24, 2016, 10:35 pm

The government had sought Cabinet approval to remove Department of Registration of Persons Commissioner General R. M.S. Sarath Kuamara for refusing to award a tender illegally to a company nominated by a minister to take photographs for the proposed electronic identity cards, Keerthi Tennakoon, Executive Director of CaFFE said at a news conference organised by the Anti-Corruption Front at Welikadawatte, Rajagiriya,

The CaFFE head said the tender board had offered the contract to the company which bid Rs 40 per photograph, but the Minister had ordered the tender board to award the tender to the company which quoted Rs. 80 per photograph.

Sarath Kuamara

“There are at least 16.8 million persons waiting to obtain the new electronic identity cards and the company backed by the Cabinet Minister will earn a whopping Rs.672 million if it secures the contract.” Tennakoon pointed out.

As the Commissioner General opposed the alleged racket, the Minister concerned was making a determined bid to replace him with one of lackeys, the CaFFE head said.

වීදි නාට්‍ය යනු මුදල් ගෙවන නිශ්චිත පේ‍්‍රක්‍ෂක පිරිසක් නොමැතිව එළිමහන් පොදු ස්ථානවල රඟ දක්වනු ලබන වේදිකා රංගනයන් බව ගාමිණී කේ.හත්තොටුවේගම මහතා කියයි. වීදි නාට්‍ය මගින් ඉතා ප්‍රබල පණිවිඩයක් සමාජයට දිය හැකිය. 

පුත්තලම් දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ මානසික සෞඛ්‍යය අංශයේ සේවය කල කාලයේදී මම  වීදි නාට්‍යක් සංවිධානය කලෙමි. මෙම වීදි නාට්‍ය මගින් මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය නිවාරණය පිලිබඳ පණිවිඩයක් ප්‍රජාවට දීමට අපි අදහස් කලෙමු. මෙම වීදි නාට්‍යය සඳහා වෘත්තිමය නළු නිලියන් කිහිප දෙනෙකුට මා කතා කල අතර ඔවුන් රුපියල් පනස් දහසකට ආසන්න මුදලක් ඉල්ලා සිටියෝය. මේ නිසා මගේ වෑයම උපන් ගෙයිම මිය ගියේය. 

කෙසේ නමුත් වීදි නාට්‍යයක් කල යුතු බවට මගේ සිත කීවෙන් හලාවත රෝහලේ කම්කරුවන් , ඇටෙන්ඩන්වරු හමුවී ඔවුන් අතරින් වෙසක් නාට්‍ය, නත්තල් නාට්‍ය වල රඟපා අත්දැකීම් තිබෙන පුද්ගලයන් ගැන සොයා බැලුවෙමි. හලාවත රෝහලේ සුමනදාස නම් ඇටෙන්ඩන්වරයා මේ සඳහා ඉදිරිපත් වූ අතර තවත් රඟපෑමේ දක්‍ෂතා තිබෙන කිහිප දෙනෙකු මෙම කටයුත්ත සඳහා කැමත්ත දුන්හ. 

ආධුනික නළු නිලි සුළු පිරිසකගෙන් අපි නාට්‍ය පුහුණුව ඇරඹුවෙමු. එහි කතාව මෙසේය. මත් භාවිතයට හුරු වූ පියෙකු ගෙන් පවුලට   හානි  සිදුවන අතර ඔහු සමාජයේ සමච්චලයටද ලක්වේ. අවසානයේදී දරුවාගේ මැදිහත්වීමෙන් ඔහු පුනරුත්ථාපයට පත්වේ.  මෙම වීදි නාට්‍යට සංගීතය දුන්නේ බටනලා වාදකයෙකු වූ නවගත්තේගම රෝහලේ සේවකයෙකි. 

නාට්‍ය හොඳින් පුහුණු වීමෙන් පසු ප්‍රථම දර්ශනය පුත්තලම් දිස්ත්‍රික් පළාත් සෞඛ්‍ය සේවා අධ්‍යක්‍ෂක වෛද්‍ය ආර් එම් එස් කේ රත්නායක මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් මාදම්පේ පළාත් සෞඛ්‍ය සේවා අධ්‍යක්‍ෂක කාර්‍යාල භූමියේදී පවත්වන ලදි. මෙම මෙම වීදි නාට්‍යට ප්‍රථම දිනයේදීම ඉතා හොඳ ප්‍රතිචාර ලැබුණි. ඉන්පසු පුත්තලම ,හලාවත ,මහ වැව, මාරවිල , වෙන්නප්පුව  යන ප්‍රදේශ වල ජනතාව ගැවසෙන ස්ථාන වලදී මෙම වීදි නාට්‍යය රඟ දක්වන ලදි. එසේම රෝහල් බලධාරීන් ද තම තමන් ගේ රෝහල් වල වීදි නාට්‍යය රඟ දැක්වීමට ආරාධනා කළහ. 

2009 වසරේදී මෙම වීදි නාට්‍යය සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය නිමල් සිරිපාල ද සිල්වා මහතා සහ මහාචාර්‍ය කාලෝ ෆොන්සේකා යන මහතුන් සහභාගි වූ උත්සව සභාවකදී පෙන්වන ලදි. එහිදී මහාචාර්‍ය කාලෝ ෆොන්සේකා මෙම වීදි නාට්‍යයේ රඟපෑ පුද්ගලයන් වෘත්තීය නළුවන් ද කියා මගෙන් ඇසීය. එවිට මා කීවේ මේ පුද්ගලයන් හලාවත රෝහලේ කම්කරුවන් සහ ඇටෙන්ඩන්වරු බවය. එසේම රුපියල් පනස් දහසක් මිල කරන ලද වීදි නාට්‍යය රුපියල් නවසීයක (නාට්‍යය සඳහා මිලට ගත් අඩුම කුඩුම) වියදමින් මම සපුරා ගත් බවය. 

මා විදේශ ගත වීමෙන් පසු වීදි නාට්‍ය කණ්ඩායමට කුමක් සිදු වූයේද කියා මම නොදනිමි. මගේ අපේක්‍ෂාව වූයේ මෙම වීදි නාට්‍ය කණ්ඩායම  දිගින් දිගටම සෞඛ්‍ය ප්‍රවර්ධන වැඩසටහන් වලට යොදා ගනු ඇතැයි යන්නය. එහෙත් මම විදේශ ගත වීමට ප්‍රථම මෙම වීදි නාට්‍යයට දායක වූ නළු නිලියන් ගේ පුද්ගලික ලිපි ගොනුවට මත් ද්‍රව්‍ය නිවාරණයට ඔවුන් ගෙන් සිදුවූ දායකත්වය අගයමින් ප්‍රසාද ලිපියක් පුත්තලම් දිස්ත්‍රික් පළාත් සෞඛ්‍ය සේවා අධ්‍යක්‍ෂකතුමා මගින් දැමුවෙමි.