Self-centred US gets the Trump it deserves

November 25th, 2016

Ameen Izzadeen Daily Mirror

Americans came out in their thousands to protest against the election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States.  Today is the 17th day since they first took to the streets on November 9 crying ‘He is not my President’. The liberal use of the F-word showed the intensity of their anger.  Protests were largely peaceful, but in some areas they turned violent.  But where are they now? They came, they protested and they disappeared.

The protesters were a motley crowd and mainly in liberal states like New York, Oregon and California. Some protested shouting ‘Dump Trump’ because they were angry their beloved candidate Hillary Clinton was not elected though she won the popular vote by a massive majority of more than 2 million.

The migrants protested crying ‘Build bridges, not walls’, because they feared Trump would deport them.

The Muslims protested stressing that Muslim rights are human rights” because they feared they would be subjected to racial profiling and would be the target of hate crime. The Jews protested because Trump appeared anti-Semite.

No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA!” was the cry of those who feared that Trump would be an authoritarian president and would undermine the United States’ democratic traditions.  The feminists shouted My body, my choice!”

Some feared Trump would reverse the progress made in combating climate change while others thought he would be illiberal, irrational and could not be trusted with the nuclear code. But where are these protesters now?

The anti-Trump movement is today largely confined to some universities and online.  Online petitions attract millions of signatures in support of a demand that the Republican Party Electoral College delegates switch their support to Hillary Clinton on the basis that she won the popular vote. Moves are now underway to persuade the Republican Electoral College delegates to vote for Clinton or a compromise candidate from the Republican Party when they vote on December 19.  Trump has 290 delegates and Clinton 232. Though the success of such a move appears farfetched, it is constitutionally possible.  In California and Oregon, some even went to the extent of initiating the legal process for their states to declare independence from the US. Even this impulsive move taken in anger is also unlikely to succeed. Some are even talking about impeaching Trump.

The failure to sustain the protests is a weakness of US civil society. The failure is not only because of the lack of energy or will power on the part of the protesters to sustain their civic action, but also because of their inconsistency in standing up against injustice. Sadly, US civil society reflects selective morality which is, in other words, hypocrisy. Mostly their hypocrisy is unintentional or due to their vulnerability to fall prey to media spins.

The US people power movements such as the civil rights movement of the 1960s had been an inspiration to many people around the world to bring about positive change.  But, of late, US civic action groups have lost their momentum. They last tasted success when the Americans wanted troops back home from Vietnam. The anti-war movement was started by peace activists and leftist intellectuals in the latter part of the 1960s at a time when a majority of the Americans were supporting the US military involvement in Vietnam. But, over the years, the anti-war movement lost its moral high ground and assumed a self-centred character with a large number of Americans, worried about the rising US death toll and the staggering 25-billion dollar war bill, joining the protests to demand the troops be brought back.

Then in 2011, we saw protests in Wall Street against the so-called one percent.  Occupy Wall Street was a good protest for a good cause aimed at highlighting the social inequality in the US. It called for a more equitable distribution of the country’s wealth, 95 percent of which was controlled by just five percent of the population.

The protesters realised that the bourgeois democratic elite from the two main parties were taking them up the garden path.  But they failed to sustain the protests until their objective was achieved. In the end, the protests that lasted two months only provided the middle class youth and the working class a space to vent their anger at social inequalities.  If they had succeeded in forcing the government to adopt sweeping reforms, we would not have had Trump as president-elect.

The white working class by voting for Trump who was not a full blooded Republican showed their frustration at the two main parties.  But by making Trump win, they have given new life to racists.  The Nazi salute is back. Hate crime has sharply increased. Muslim women are afraid to wear hijab. Where is the world’s oldest democracy heading?

Moral depravity is the crisis the United States’ democracy is facing today. It is evident not only in the system but also in civil society. The system was so bankrupt that its main candidates for the 2016 elections were not the best the American democracy would like to have. One was widely seen as a war monger responsible for the destruction of Libya and the carnage in Syria, while the other was a maverick billionaire businessman who has little or no respect for the minorities and women and refuses to believe that climate change is real.

US civil society’s moral depravity was evident during the US war on Iraq – call it the plunder of Iraq. It was a war for oil, but a majority of the Americans justified it. Even the liberals, now crying foul over Trump’s victory, backed the war — just as some European Communists justified colonialism. Of course, there were marches, but none lasted long enough to stop the war.

US civil society’s moral depravity was also evident when the Americans – largely due to their lack of interest in the rest of the world — remained silent when their government engineered a protest in Ukraine against a democratically elected president and overthrew him in 2014.

They said little or nothing when their country funded a military backed revolution that overthrew Mohamed Mursi’s democratically elected government in Egypt. They did not protest when the US went to war and destroyed Libya, nor when their country backed its Gulf allies to start a civil war in Syria. They object not when their country openly endorses Israel’s oppression and illegal activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. They protest not when nearly 4 billion dollars in American taxpayers’ money is doled out annually to Israel, a highly developed country, while scores of poor countries beg for US aid and get little. If they oppose Trump, then they should also oppose their country’s direct and indirect wars across the world, its neo-colonialist programmes and its double standards on human rights issues. But let’s forgive them, for a majority of them know not what they are doing because their worldview is shaped by the largely corrupt Corporate Media, which is part of the so-called establishment.

– See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Self-centred-US-gets-the-Trump-it-deserves-119714.html#sthash.hbaKFGlD.dpuf

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JO files complaint against Minister Malik Samarawickrama

November 25th, 2016

Adaderana

The Joint Opposition today lodged a complaint with the Bribery Commission against Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama, UPFA MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage said.

He said that the corruption complaint accuses the minister of causing loses to the government amounting to around Rs 1 billion.

Speaking at a press briefing in Colombo, the MP said that the complaint was lodged today with the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption and that it will also be handed over to the Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID).

Aluthgamage said that this is the third revelation by the Joint Opposition since launching a campaign to reveal the corrupt politicians in the incumbent government and file complaints against them.

He said that such revelations will not be made all at once and that they will reveal these to the public gradually.

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Breaking News Anarchy Spreads Across the US As Defeated Neoliberals Egg on their Goons to Keep up the Violence!

November 24th, 2016

By Gandara John

The Neoliberal forces, suffering a major defeat at the US Presidential Election on 08 Nov 16 are pulling out all stops to recoup their ‘earth quaking’ political loss.

Unleashing armed goons onto the streets of America, the Neoliberal forces are spreading terror across the length and breadth of the US.

A washed out Hillary Clinton exhorted the rioters: Keep up the fight”.

The defeated Neoliberals are not transferring power easily; they are fighting back and they are fighting back on diverse Fronts to reverse the democratic effects of the vote of the US people.

On the International front taking the offensive is Obama, an anxious standard bearer of Neo Liberalism that is reeling from a sledgehammer body – blow; he carried with him a message to Germany’s autarch Merkel, who in 2017 is standing for her 4th term of office.

On the Media front, Neoliberal television channels with global reach are bombarding viewers with ‘news’ artillery, trumping up ‘Trump Tales’ ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous.

The myriad of Neoliberal NGOs in Sri Lanka have been charged to initiate damage control measures; they have hastily summoned their respective local membership to ‘seminars’, to defuse the impact of the defeat of their paymasters, to reassure nervous acolytes and quislings and to spell out to these unworthy their future tactical role. The need to reorganize themselves in their hour of gloom is of dire importance to the Neoliberals.

The local Embassy personnel bred, fed and nurtured on the Neoliberal diet of 1941 are shell shocked and reduced to mumbling the business as usual line; There will be no change in foreign policy” they say!

The Neoliberal acolytes, given handouts of awards, prizes and recognition and addicted to a lifestyle they can ill afford with their local earnings, have been read the riot act: earn your supper or begone with you”.

In fear or in justification of their mercenary role the acolytes and quislings are writing articles demonizing the US President Elect, Trump.

Within the US, the violence suggests that the defeated Neoliberals, yet to hand over the reins of power, are keeping alive the many options available to them; these range from Declaration of Martial Law, to a la 1963 JFK situation, to an intervention in Ukraine, to an outright Impeachment .

Some of the Trump Tales telecasted on News Channels suggest that the Neoliberals are also keeping open the option of taking Trump to Courts; the apex Courts in the US are stacked with Neoliberals.

And if it is ‘Impeachment’ the Neoliberals are chasing after, they breathe easy with Mike Pence, the Vice President elect who is a traditional Republican.

It is clear that the Neoliberals in the US consider Germany as their strategic partner in Europe. Germany, France and the Czech Republic go to the polls in 2017.

If the Neoliberals go to war in Ukraine during the interregnum period it puts Trump in a bind especially considering his good diplomatic relations with Russia.

To sustain offensive operations in the Ukraine, Germany’s active cooperation is needed; forward airfields, bases, seas, pyrotechnic dumps, support facilities for refueling and the like are essential for the success of the operation

The ‘Trump Quake’ is rumbling in Europe and the three countries coming up for elections fear a US like People’s Revolution.

‘Dictator’ Merkel is aware that her chance of a fourth time re-election would be bleak if there were to be a refugee influx before the Election; she would be wiped off the political slate. There would be a domino effect in France, the Czech Republic and the rest of Europe.

The key to Merkel’s victory lies in Obama’s hands.

Prior to taking the message personally to Merkel, Obama clinched a deal with cash strapped Greece. Greece has been a major staging post for refugees entering Germany.

The deal was simple. Greece for their part will not allow the refugees to pass through Greece but would instead keep the refugees inside their country. The US, for their part, would pump in money for the upkeep of the refugees and help Greece to tackle its debt crisis.

With the Greek deal in Obama’s pocket ‘Dictator – for – Life’ Merkel, for obviously selfish reasons, would support the Neoliberal adventure in Ukraine.

Obama’s magic key would lose its potency after the German Election in August 2017. And after 20 Jan 17 the Neoliberals, as things are, would lose their power to commit US troops to Ukraine.

The probability therefore of an imminent US military intervention in Ukraine is high.

If Obama thought that visiting Asia and stirring the South China Sea could take China out of the Ukrainian equation and additionally ferment the Kuril island issue, Trump had other plans; in Obama’s absence Shinzo Abe was warmly welcomed by Trump.

The US since the 1941 Atlantic Charter Agreement has been building and expanding its  Empire on a Neoliberal dogma, pithily described as globalisation which translated reads as ‘The Creation of the US Empire’.

The pillars of that Empire were clearly enunciated at the Breton Woods Conference which followed the ‘Atlantic Charter’; those pillars were the creation of, the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO (then referred to as GATT), the UN, the US Dollar as a global currency, NGOs and an International intervening military Force like the R2P.

Contrary to popular notion, the US is not a Democracy but a Plutocracy (the rule of the wealthy).

The design of the Plutocrats is to establish the Plutocratic ‘One World Empire’.

The Plutocrats took a long step forward to take control of the US when in 1913 the ‘Federal Reserve Act’ was passed. That Law gave exclusive power to a private company (of the Plutocrats) called Federal Reserve to create and print US money, the US Dollar. (When the US goes to war it is this private company that lends money to the US Government– by printing money – to enable the Neoliberals to arm their war machine).

This Private Company – the Federal Reserve – is the Central Bank of the US and controls all the Central Banks around the world including Sri Lanka.

To create the American Empire the Neoliberals had to initiate, on behalf of the Plutocrats, many wars and conflicts in states around the world to break down existing boundaries and gerrymander the world to dimensions.that fitted their ntions. Sri Lanka’s conflict was not an exception

Today these wars have contributed largely to the monies owed by the American people to this Private Company, ‘The Federal Reserve’; it is a staggering 20 Trillion Dollars!

And the Neoliberals have pledged that this 20 Trillion Dollar debt to this Private Company of Plutocrats will be paid by the American People come what may and come when ‘the time’.

The Neoliberals have successfully committed the People of the US to perpetual bondage of the Plutocrats in the Federal Reserve.

The Plutocrats consolidated their power when the Neo liberals in the US removed the cap on spending at US Election campaigns, cut the nexus connecting the Dollar to gold, abolished the ‘Fairness Doctrine’ guaranteed by the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution and enabled cross ownership and monopoly of media with Clinton’s Telecommunication Act.

Trump has strongly insinuated that he is against the very notion of a US Empire and that he is committed to ‘closing’ down that Empire by reducing US expenditure on NATO, by securing soundly the immediate boundaries of the US, by using the billions saved when cutting down military expenditure to improve the lives of the US people, by bringing back manufacture to the US and by reviewing all International Treaties and Trade Agreements to which the Neoliberals have placed their signature.

The people of the US and the people of the world have got a rare opportunity of dumping the Neoliberals acting brazenly for the Plutocrats who unashamedly are pursuing Plutocracy and writing off Democracy.

It is to the advantage of the Greeks to allow the refugees to go through to Germany and help the German People to dump its Dictator, Merkel; without the Neoliberal wars there would be no refugees from Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan etc to plague Greece and Europe. This would give the opportunity for the people of Europe and the world to restore Democracy.

In Sri Lanka the Neoliberals interfering in the Sri Lankan Elections and the political process in 2015 engineered a Coup d’état and brought into power the country’s First Unconstitutional Prime Minister now being charged with accusations of massive financial crime.

Sri Lanka’s Neoliberal darling, who despite the fanfare on the ‘Rule of Law’ has yet to be charged for the murders in Batalanda, is now only a heart beat away from the Presidential Throne.

The Mont Pelerinist acolyte is pushing for a New Constitution which the Neo liberals want and the People never wanted; he is pushing to give the global Neoliberals ownership of Sri Lankan Land which the UNP leadership of old was against and which the Democratic parties in this country have consistently opposed.

With anarchy prevailing in the US and the Neoliberals reeling under Trump, it is within the realms of possibility that the defeated Neoliberals may attempt to consolidate their 2015 victory in Sri Lanka.

Now is the time to politically dump the unconstitutional political lump before the defeated neoliberals in the US cause that crucial heartbeat to stop.

The Ruling Classes are reeling; they cannot believe that the walls of the US Empire are crumbling; it is not from an enemy attack from the outside but from a popular Revolution of the working classes from within. Let us grasp this moment of time in history and let us free ourselves from the chains that shackle us.

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Unreasonable Success of Mathematics and the Role of IT in Driving National Economies

November 24th, 2016

By Rohan Attele, Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics and Chairman

Department of Mathematics and Computer Science

Chicago State University

Chicago, USA.

20 November 2016, The Kularatne Hall

I beg the indulgence of the Maha Sangha. Mr. Principal, esteemed teachers!

Distinguished guests!  Friends and dear students!

I am honored by this invitation to deliver the Henry Steel Olcott Memorial Lecture of 2016.  Colonel Olcott’s  Buddhist schools paved the way for upward mobility for millions of Sri Lankan children.  I am one of them–I received my entire education from Grade 1 to Grade 12 at Ananda.

Why has Ananda College been so successful in nurturing future educators, mathematicians, physicians, engineers, military leaders, …those who have lead, innovated, and created? Why was it so effective in inculcating a value system of love for the motherland an appreciation of our Buddhist heritage and culture?  Ladies and gentlemen!  For that we are indebted to our teachers.   Newton said (in 1676) “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”. Let us paraphrase “Giants lifted us up to put on a rung for us to climb”.  Ananda mathematics was synonymous with the late Mr. Charles Mendis Weeraratne. He was a great mentor who sowed in us the seeds of love for mathematics.  On this occasion, I would like to pay a special tribute him.  He was an Old Anandian himself.  For  forty years he taught advanced mathematics, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, and applied mathematics. He introduced us to calculus in Grade 9. How many schools in the United States boast that feat? He could not be more happier to see so many of his pupils here.

The nature of the relationship between mathematics and the physical world has been a source of debate since the era of the Pythagoreans. A school of thought, reflecting the ideas of Plato, is that mathematics has its own existence. Flowing from this position is the notion that mathematical forms underpin the physical universe and are out there waiting to be discovered. The opposing viewpoint is that mathematical forms are objects of our human imagination and we make them up as we go along, tailoring them to describe reality. In 1921, this view led Einstein to wonder, “How can it be that mathematics, being after all a product of human thought which is independent of experience, is so admirably appropriate to the objects of reality?” In 1959, Eugene Wigner coined the phrase “the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics” to describe this “miracle,” conceding that it was something he could not fathom.

The success of mathematics lies in its abstract formulations. The same laws govern apparently many different phenomenon.  If we say 2+2=4, it is an abstract statement. If we say if I have 2 cows in one field and 2 in another then I have total of 4 cows, that is not an abstract statement but it is  context-driven and tangible. European call option is an option to buy (100 shares) of an underlying security such as a stock at a prescribed price (the strike price) at the end of a prescribed time period. This helps to protect investors from the random price fluctuations of the security. The holder of an European call option maturing in six months with a strike price of $100.00 would only exercise his right to buy only if the price would be over a $100.00. If the price is $102.00 s/he would receive $2.00. If the price was, say $98.00, the holder would not exercise the option to buy. Thus the call option has benefits to the holder, hence it has an intrinsic value. How to price an call option? The fundamental problem is the random nature of the price of the security. Black and Scholes discovered a formula (published in 1973) for pricing call options. They created an instantaneously risk-free portfolio that included the Option,  other securities, and bonds. Then portfolio was valued by using US treasury bonds.  They had to solve a partial differential equation (PDE) subject to certain boundary conditions  which lead to the price of the call option. After a transformation, the PDE became the heat equation, which was then solved. The point is what has heat got to do with the stock market? This is aa example of a technique discovered to solve one problem was also used solve another albite in a a very different context. We see the power of abstraction.

Why is exposure to mathematics so important part of the general education? It fosters critical thinking, problem solving skills, transfer of knowledge, reflection, inquiry, etc.  Plato in the Republic asks Socrates “have you noticed how those who are naturally good at calculation are nearly always quick at learning anything else”?  About 10 years ago, I was an experimenter in the Keystone project of Yoram Sagher and Vali Siadat. We worked with a community college of  where students had to undergo remediation in college algebra. Both the control group and the experimented group of students were given pre and post tests on standardized nationally recognized English comprehension tests.  The experimented group of students were tasked (twice a week for 30-40 min) with completing standard algebraic operations under a time sensitive environment. Of course no “English” was taught. We consistently demonstrated over a sustained period of five years, the students who did the repeated calculations within a given time period  scored significantly higher in the post English comprehension tests.  Repetitive calculations had improve their concentration skills.       The Chronicle of Higher Education data shows the percentage by which the mean score of test takers from specific undergraduate majors differs from the mean score of all test takers. For mathematics majors the numbers are 12.8% in LSAT and 13.3% in GMAT.

In 1966, 4.5% of American college majors were in mathematics.

In the early 1970’s, the attractiveness of the mathematics major started a dramatic decline. The percentage of freshman interested in a mathematics major dropped from 4.5% in 1966 to 3.2% in 1970 to 1.1% in 1975 (and never rose above 1.5% again) (data here come from the National Science Foundation). From 27,000 math degrees awarded in 1970, the number declined to 18,000 a year in 1975 (it was projected to be 50,000 a year in 1975) and 11,000 a year in 1980. The 1975 CBMS enrollment survey revealed a shift of student interest away from pure mathematics courses, a number of which saw 70% enrollment declines from 1970 to 1975, while applied mathematics courses registered modest declines. Internally, the more theoretical curriculum may have overwhelmed some students at the same time that the new computer science major offered an attractive, career-oriented alternative. The decline in interest in the mathematics major stabilized and slowly the number of majors rebounded a little in the 1980’s.

There were three themes in the mathematics curricular. One was one that emphasized the connection to physics suited for preparation for industrial careers; a second emphasized pure mathematics of abstract algebra, real analysis., etc which was suited for preparation for graduate school and college teaching; a third theme in the formative stages involving mathematics of “organized complexity” to use a term coined by Warren Weever. While calculus and physical laws give you a simple global description of most physical phenomena but subjects such as statistics, operations research, and computer science involve complex structure of information that cannot be simply described. In this curriculum saw the introduction of discrete mathematics course covering set theory and applications to probability and statistics.

The second theme emphasizing pure mathematics as a major became dominant in 1960s. The emphasis on graduate School preparation in the mathematics majors seem to have be inappropriate for the average student,  but most students were happy with the program; they came prepared to navigate the program and jobs were available after graduation.

In 1970 student attitudes changed and they became anti-science and anti-business. Science program enrollments drastically declined, but the mathematics major held. However, in the late 1970s saw significant decline in enrollment contrary to the expectations of the mathematics departments.  Under preparation and less disciplined study habits caused high attrition; industry started demanding problem solvers not theoreticians.   Fiscal constraints restricted the hiring of new teachers and teaching jobs were drying up.  Moreover, many students with high mathematical skills started migrating to computer science. However, mathematics departments neglected teaching statistics and computer science. In 1975 the majority of statistics courses were taught in biological and social studies departments and separate computer science departments were being set up.

The current guidelines by the Mathematical Association of America, MAA,  to modernize the mathematical curricular for baccalaureate degrees recognize the befits of learning mathematics. Lets take a quick look at the recommendations (taken ad verbatim from the MAA).

Cognitive Recommendation 1: Students should develop effective thinking and communication skills.

Major programs should include activities designed to promote students’ progress in learning to

  • state problems carefully, articulate assumptions, understand the importance of precise definition and reason logically to conclusions;
  • identify and model essential features of a complex situation, modify models as necessary for tractability, and draw useful conclusions;
  • deduce particular instances from general principles;
  • use and compare analytical, visual, and numerical perspectives in exploring mathematics;
  • assess the correctness of solutions, create and explore examples, carry out mathematical experiments, and devise and test conjectures;
  • recognize and make mathematically rigorous arguments;
  • read mathematics with understanding;
  • communicate mathematical ideas clearly and coherently both verbally and in writing to audiences of varying mathematical sophistication;
  • approach mathematical problems with curiosity and creativity and persist in the face of difficulties;
  • work creatively and self-sufficiently with mathematics.

Cognitive Recommendation 2: Students should learn to link applications and theory.

  1. Mathematics students should encounter a range of contemporary applications that motivate and illustrate the ideas they are studying, become aware of connections to other areas (both in and out of the mathematical sciences), and learn to apply mathematical ideas to problems in those areas.
  2. Students should come to see mathematical theory as useful and enlightening in both pure and applied contexts.

Cognitive Recommendation 3: Students should learn to use technological tools.

Mathematical sciences major programs should teach students to use technology effectively, both as a tool for solving problems and as an aid to exploring mathematical ideas.  Use of technology should occur with increasing sophistication throughout a major curriculum.

Cognitive Recommendation 4: Students should develop mathematical independence and experience open-ended inquiry.

A mathematical sciences major should be structured to move students beyond the carefully choreographed mathematical experiences of the classroom.    A major curriculum should gradually prepare students to pursue open-ended questions and to speak and write about mathematics with increasing depth and sophistication.

Content Goals

Content Recommendation 1: Concepts and methods from calculus and linear algebra.

Content Recommendation 2: Students majoring in the mathematical sciences should learn to read, understand, analyze, and produce proofs at increasing depth as they progress through a major.

Content Recommendation 3: Mathematical sciences major programs should include concepts and methods from data analysis, computing, and mathematical modeling.

Working mathematicians often face quantitative problems to which analytic methods do not apply.  Solutions often require data analytics, complex mathematical models, simulation, and tools from computational science.  To meet these workplace expectations every mathematical sciences major should have, at a minimum:

  • command of data analysis and statistical inference at a level equivalent to that attained in an applied data analysis course;
  • experience working with professional-level technological tools such as computer algebra systems, visualization software, and statistical packages;
  • modest experience writing computer programs;
  • experience tackling ill-posed real-world problems by building and analyzing appropriate deterministic and stochastic mathematical models.

Content Recommendation 4: Mathematical sciences major programs should present key ideas and concepts from a variety of perspectives to demonstrate the breadth of mathematics.
Programs should present key ideas from a variety of perspectives, employ a broad range of examples and applications to motivate and illustrate the material, promote awareness of connections to subjects both within and beyond the mathematical sciences, and strengthen each student’s ability to apply the course material to these subjects.   Programs should introduce historical and contemporary topics and applications, highlighting the vitality and importance of modern mathematics, and the contributions of diverse cultures.

Content Recommendation 6: Mathematical sciences major programs should present key ideas from complementary points of view: continuous and discrete; algebraic and geometric; deterministic and stochastic; exact and approximate.

Students acquire mathematical depth and perspective by encountering and employing a variety of mathematical viewpoints:

  • Continuous and discrete: Continuous mathematics—calculus, analysis, and differential equations—has long been central to mathematics major curricula. In recent decades, however, advances in computer science, operations research, mathematical modeling, and data analysis have dramatically increased the importance of discrete mathematics.  Techniques from discrete mathematics—difference equations, recursive methods, combinatorial arguments, graph-theoretic models—prepare students to encounter the rich interplay between continuous and discrete approaches in future study and careers.  Discrete mathematics should therefore take its place alongside continuous mathematics as a crucial element of undergraduate study.
  • Algebraic and geometric: Algebra and algebraic structures—vector spaces, groups, rings, fields—are fundamental to mathematics and should be included in every undergraduate mathematics curriculum.  Geometry and visualization are different ways of thinking and provide an equally important perspective.  A geometry course is a useful part of any student’s major program and is essential for future high school teachers.  But geometric viewpoints should appear beyond geometry courses.  Geometric reasoning and visualization complement algebraic thinking in linear algebra and multivariable calculus, and remain important in more advanced courses such as real analysis and differential equations.
  • Deterministic and stochastic: New applications of mathematics to the biological and social sciences make understanding and modeling randomness and random phenomena increasingly important in undergraduate mathematics. Students should see the need for and master basic methods associated with elementary discrete and continuous-time stochastic models.  Deterministic models can fruitfully represent large-scale behavior, but random variation is often better seen through the stochastic lens.  Stochastic applications appear naturally in statistics courses, but can also be introduced in courses such as elementary probability, matrix algebra, or graph theory.  They can be explored further in courses such as differential equations or mathematical models
  • Exact and approximate: Students should be able to use, and evaluate approximations, understanding that exact answers, although desirable, are often unavailable or impractical. Students should be introduced to numerical methods, discrete approximations of continuous phenomena (and vice versa), and the general role of approximation in solving problems.

Balancing a variety of mathematical perspectives need not mean devoting separate courses to each.  A more feasible strategy is to structure the curriculum and requirements intentionally to include these themes over the course of a student’s major.  For instance, modern computing tools—which themselves combine graphical, numerical, and algebraic resources—can facilitate presenting these viewpoints in many undergraduate courses.

Content Recommendation 7

At least one mathematical area in depth,  Probability and Mathematical Statistics, Real Analysis I/II, and Abstract Algebra I/II.

Content Recommendation 8: Students majoring in the mathematical sciences should work, independently or in a small group, on a substantial mathematical project that involves techniques and concepts beyond the typical content of a single course.

Every major student should have a high impact” experience that requires substantial work in mathematics outside the carefully scripted environment of ordinary course work. Students should present their results in written and oral forms.  Institutions can provide this opportunity in various ways: undergraduate research experiences, courses driven by inquiry or open-ended problem solving, capstone courses, internships or jobs with a substantial mathematical component, etc.

Let us now spend a little bit of time how to teach the content.

  1. The meaning of `knowing’ has shifted from being able to remember and repeat information to being able to find and use it.” (National research Council, 2007).
  2. Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand.

Among the many student centered pedagogies, we have adopted (variants of) Inquiry Based Learning, IBL.

  1. It is a student-centered approach that engages students in investigating real world questions.
  2. Students are more involved in the construction of knowledge.
  3. Students acquire and analyze information, provide solutions, and demonstrate their thinking and make their learning visible.
  4. Inquiry based learning place students at the center of the learning process and teachers in the role of learning facilitator.
  5. Inquiry-based Learning asks questions that come from the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
  6. Inquiry-Based Learning involves questions that are interesting and motivating to students.
  7. Inquiry-based Learning utilizes a wide variety of resources so students can gather information and form opinions

The Benefits of Inquiry based learning

  1. Teaches problem-solving, critical thinking skills, and disciplinary content.
  2. Promotes the transfer of concepts to new problem questions.
  3. Teaches students how to learn and builds self-directed learning skills.
  4. Develops student ownership of their inquiry and enhances student interest in the subject matter.

Cyril Ponnamperuma, at the inauguration of the IFS recalled, Cecil Powers advocating for starting basic research in post-war Europe …In the long run, it is most painful and very expensive, to have only a derivative culture and not one’s own, with all that is implied in independence, in thought, self-confidence, and technical mastery…”

Powell’s words alluding to the early 1950’s where the United States was far ahead of Europe but it is very relevant to us. Let us all work together to build a school of Sri Lankan mathematicians.  It will give an unrivaled identity, common purpose in national building at a relatively low investment.

Thank you for listening to me. May the blessings of the Triple Gem be with you.

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රජරට වකුගඩු රෝගය

November 23rd, 2016

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග

වකුගඩු රෝගය සම්බන්ධයෙන් මා විසින් ලිපි කිහිපයක් ලියා තිබේ. වරක් මගේ ලිපියක නගන ලද ප්‍රශ්නයක් වෛද්‍ය චන්න ජයසුමන වෙත යොමු කල විට ඔහු කුණුහර්ප ප්‍රතිචාරයක් එවූ බව එක් මාධ්‍යවේදිනියක් මට දැණුම් දුන්නාය. කාන්තාවකට අසභ්‍ය වචන කීම අනුමත කල නොහැකි වූවද මෙම මාධ්‍යවේදිනියගේ මාධ්‍ය භාවිතාව ගැන මට යම් යම් ගැටළු තිබූ නිසා මේ පිලිබඳව මම වැඩිදුර ප්‍රශ්න නොකලෙමි. කෙසේ නමුත් වකුගඩු රෝගය පිලිබඳව  රජරට විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ වෛද්‍ය පීඨයේ කථිකාචාර්‍ය වෛද්‍ය චන්න ජයසුමන මහතා දක්වන උනන්දුව මම අගය කරමි.

රජරට වකුගඩු රෝගය  හෙවත්   CKDU (Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Aetiology)  ලංකාවේ  මහජන සෞඛ්‍ය ගැටලූවක්  බවට පත්වී තිබේ.   ගිරාදුරු කෝට්ටේ, කුරුණෑගල, ඇඹිලිපිටිය, හම්බන්තොට යන ප්‍රදේශ වල ගොවි ජනතාවගෙන් සැලකිය යුතු ප්‍රමාණයක් වකුගඩු රෝගයෙන් පෙලෙති.  කෘමි නාශක භාවිතයේදී නිවැරදි ක්‍රමවේදයන් භාවිතා නොකිරීම, කෘමිනාශක වැඩිපුර වැව්වලට එකතුවීම .එම වැව් ජලය ජනතාව පානය කිරිම,  මෙම රෝගය පැතිරීමට එක් හේතුවක් ලෙස සැලකේ.

ගොවි ජනපද වල රෝහල් වල සේවය කල කාලය තුලදී ලාංකික ගොවීන් කෘමි නාශක , වල් නාශක ඉතා අපරික්‍ෂාකාරීව භාවිතා කරන අයුරු මම සියැසින් දුටුවෙමි. මෙම රසායණිකයන් භාවිතා කිරීමේදී ඔවුන් බොහෝ විට අත්වැසුම් , මුඛවාඩම් නොමැතිව ඒවා ඉසින අතර අවසානයේදී කෘමි නාශක , වල් නාශක ටැංකි ජලාශ වල සෝදති. මේවා ගබඩා කරන්නේද වගකීම් විරහිතවය. සංඛ්‍යා ලේඛන අනුව දැනට රෝගීන්  20,000-22,000 අතර ප්‍රමාණයක් වකුගඩු රෝගය නිසා මිය ගොස් තිබේ.

වකුගඩු රෝගයට හේතුව සොයා මහාචාර්‍ය නලින් ද සිල්වා සහ වෛද්‍ය චන්න ජයසුමන  පරීක්‍ෂණ සිදු කල අතර ප්‍රියන්තා සේනානායක නම් කාන්තාවක් මගින් දෙවියන් සමග සම්බන්ධ වී වකුගඩු රෝගයට හේතුව ඔවුන් පෙන්වා දුන්හ.   මේ අනුව රෝගීන්ගේ වකුගඩු රෝගයට හේතුව   ආසනික් බව  ඔවුන් පවසති.

මහාචාර්‍ය නලීන් ද සිල්වා මහතා වරක් කී පරිදි  විපස්සක දෙවියන් විසින් ඔහුගේ දේව පනිවිඩ මධ්‍යකාරිනිය ප්‍රියන්තා සේනානායක  මගින් දැනටමත් රජරට වකුගඩු රෝගයට බෙහෙතක් ඔවුන්ට  ලැබී තිබේ. එහෙත් මෙම බෙහෙත යොදාගෙන වකුගඩු රෝගය සුව කරගත් කිසිවෙකු ගැන නම් අසන්නට නැත. තවද මෙම කාන්තාවගේ උපදෙස් පරිදි දේව කැඳක් සකස් කොට රාජකීය විද්‍යාලයේ සිසුන්ට දීමට එම විද්‍යාලයේ හිටපු විදුහල්පති උපාලි ගුණසේකර මහතා  කටයුතු කලේය.

දෙවියන් සමග සම්බන්ධවී කරන පරියේෂණ වල විද්‍යාත්මක භාවය මම නොදනිමි. මෙම පරියේෂණය පිලිබඳව  වරක් මම යෝක් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ පරියේෂකයෙකු වූ මහාචාර්‍ය ඇල්ස්ටෙයාර් මැප්ට පැවසූ අතර ඔහු දෙනෙත් මහත් කොට මා දෙස බැළුවා විනා කිසිවක් නොකීවේය. දෙවියන් සමග කතා කොට රෝග කාරකය ගැන මහාචාර්‍ය නලින් ද සිල්වාටත් , වෛද්‍ය  ජයසුමනටත් කරුණු කියන  ප්‍රියන්තා සේනානායක නම් කාන්තාව නිරවුල් මානසිකත්වයෙන් සිටිත් ද නැතහොත් ඇය ඩිලියුෂනල් ඩිස්ඕඩර් නම් මානසික රෝගී තත්වයෙන් පෙලෙන්නේද කියාද මම නොදනිමි. එහෙත් තමන්ට දෙවිවරු සමග සබඳතා තිබෙන බව කියූ ඩිලියුෂනල් ඩිස්ඕඩර් (Delusional Disorder) නම් මානසික රෝගී තත්වයෙන් සහ භින්නෝන්මාදයෙන් (Schizophrenia) පෙලුණු රෝගීන් නම් මට හමුවී තිබේ. ඔවුනද පවසන ලද්දේ තමන් දෙවියන් සමග කතාබස් කරන බවය.

දේශපාලන වාසි සඳහාත්  , ජනයා නොමග යැවීම සඳහාත් රජරට වකුගඩු රෝගය ලංකාවට පමණක් සීමාවූ රෝගයක් ලෙස පෙන්වා දීමට ඇතැමෙකු උත්සහ කලද මේ රෝගය ලෝකයේ රටවල් කිහිපයකම දැඩි ලෙස ව්‍යාප්තව තිබෙන බව  විශේෂඥයන් පෙන්වා දෙති. ඉන්දියාවේ ආන්ද්‍රා ප්‍රදේශ් ප්‍රාන්තයේත්, මෙක්සිකෝව, ග්වාතමාලාව, එල්සැල්වදෝරය, නිකරගුවා, හොන්ඩුරාස් හා කොස්ටාරිකා යන ලතින් අමෙරිකානු රටවලත්, ඊජිප්තුවේත් මෙයට සමාන රෝග තත්ත්ව හමුවී ඇත.

රජරට වකුගඩු රෝගයට ප්‍රධාන හේතුව කවරක්ද යන්න මෙතෙක් සනාථ වී නැතැයි චීන, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ඒකාබද්ධ පර්‍යේෂණ පර්‍යේෂණ කණ්ඩායමේ ව්‍යාපෘති අධ්‍යක්‍ෂවරයා වන ආචාර්‍ය එස්කේ වේරගොඩ පවසා තිබේ. ඔවුන් පවසන පරිදි රෝගය පැතිර පවත්නා කලාපය තුළ හමුවන කැඩ්මියම් සහ ආසනික් සංයුතිය සැලකීමේ දී ඒවා වකුගඩු රෝගයට හේතුවන්නේ යැයි කිසිදු ආකාරයකින් මෙතෙක් සනාථ වී නැත. ඒ ආකාරයටම ග්ලයිෆොසේට් වල බලපෑමක් තිබෙන බව සනාථ කිරීමට ප්‍රමාණවත් පර්‍යේෂණ සිදුවී නැති බවද ඔහු පවසා ඇත.  තවද මෙම රෝගය පිලිබඳව කිසිම විශේෂඥ දැණුමක් නොමැති පුද්ගලයන් ද ලාබ ජනප්‍රියතාවන් ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා තම මත සහ න්‍යායන් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට ඉදිරිපත් වීම නිසා නිර්ව්‍යාජ විශේෂඥයන් ගේ හඞ යටපත් වී තිබේ.

මාධ්‍යවේදී නාලක ගුණවර්ධන මහතා පෙන්වා දෙන අන්දමට මේ මහා මානුෂික ප‍්‍රශ්නය තමන්ගේ පටු න්‍යාය පත‍්‍රවලට අමතර තර්කයක් බවට හරවා ගත් සමහර අන්තවාදී පරිසරවේදීන් හා දේශපාලන ක‍්‍රියාකාරිකයන්   සහ  ඔවුන්ගේ ප‍්‍රකාශ හා උද්ඝෝෂණ නිසා මේ අභියෝගය හරිහැටි තේරුම් ගෙන එයට ප‍්‍රතිචාර දැක්වීම ව්‍යාකූල වී  ඇත.

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග

 

 

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A Letter to DONALD TRUMP, THE PRESDENT ELECT,

November 23rd, 2016

Ranjith Soysa Media Spokesman Global Sri Lankan Forum

15th November, 2016

DONALD TRUMP, THE PRESDENT ELECT,

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Dear Mr. Trump,

You won against colossal odds. You defeated the combined efforts of the ESTABLISHMENT”.

You defeated the very powerful and influential,  yet one of the most corrupt Political combines, the Media and Wall Street. The head of the UNHCR Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein issued a statement saying that you were dangerous from an international point of view” All of them projected the view that your task was impossible.  Some even vowed to leave the planet earth and go to Mars! Those were the odds given for a Trump victory but the people believed in you and in spectacular repudiation of the Establishment made you their Commander-in-Chief.

We the peace-loving people of Sri Lanka, congratulate you Mr. Donald Trump the 45th President of the USA.

As you stated in your victory oration, we hope you will work towards uniting the world. Make all the countries in the world your allies and bring peace to the world.  This would comprise STOPPING the multiple wars created in the guise of fighting terrorism”, installing democracy”, restoring human rights” and bringing American troops fighting in foreign lands back to their families. As Secretary Clinton’s secret emails regarding terrorism in the middle-east revealed, she was not in the business of fighting the terrorists but creating more of them.

We in Sri Lanka clearly remember how Hilary Clinton justified the actions of one of the world’s deadliest terrorist groups, the Tamil Tigers who were responsible for conducting a protracted civil conflict for more than 30.  In one of her e-mails regarding the Sri Lankan conflict, Secretary Clinton intervened in early May, 2009 to bring obstacles to the Government of Sri Lanka when it was clear to her that the Tamil Tigers were being defeated on the battle field. She said in one of her interviews with the media, that there are GOOD TERRORISTS and bad terrorists and the Tamil Tigers are good terrorists” This is what Governor Chris Christie said regarding Hilary and the Tamil Tigers It’s a group

for whom she’s advocated a ‘raisons d’être’ approach” meaning, if the Tamil Tigers had committed the San Bernardino or the Orlando massacres, Hillary Clinton would be OK with it”. It was also a well-known fact that Hillary received funds from the Tamil Tiger fronts in the USA for her election campaign.

Further, the Indian Express newspaper on 6th Nov. reported that Sri Lankan Tamils will break 1,008 coconuts to bless Hillary Clinton, imploring their gods to make her victorious. Such is the Tamil Tiger fronts’ affection for Hillary Clinton.

When Sri Lanka finally eliminated terrorism against the will of Hillary and the Obama administration, those people set about showing the world how they were going to punish what is termed the threat of a good example”

Starting with Hilary Clinton, the USA representatives at the UNHRC and the entire machinery of the establishment” the Obama government initiated a resolution alleging HR violations and war crimes intending to plunge Sri Lanka into a period of uncertainty.  They first engineered Regime change” (with the aid of the Indian Secret Service – RAW) and then instructed the new rulers to begin punishing the people responsible for destroying the terrorists. This UNHCR and USA agenda is still in the process of being implemented, but we hope, would be stopped due your election as President.

When asked about the abortive military coup in Turkey during your presidential campaign your reply was What right do we in the United States have to criticize the condition of human rights elsewhere” We agree with you 100%  Mr. Trump and request that you kindly instruct your State department  to abide by those sentiments. Much of the misery caused worldwide by former US administrations could have been avoided if they too reasoned likewise.

In conclusion, we hope you will keep the promise made in your victory oration and … will deal fairly with everyone, with everyone — all people and all other nations. We will seek common ground, not hostility; partnership, not conflict”   We assume that ….all people and all other nations”  includes the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

We convey our best wishes to you in making the USA stronger and bringing peace to the world.

Yours sincerely,
Ranjith Soysa
Media Spokesman
Global Sri Lankan Forum

Copies to             Hon. Members of the US Congress                          Hon. Members of the US Senate

 

Rep. John Conyers                                                       Senator Ron Wyden

Rep. Donna Edwards                                                         Senator Barbara Boxer

Rep. Raúl Grijalva                                                               Senator Mark Begich

Rep. Michael Honda                                                          Senator Richard Blumenthal

Rep. Jared Huffman                                                           Senator Alan Franken

Rep. Barbara Lee                                                 Senator Patrick Leahy

Rep. James McGovern                                                      Senator Jeff Merkley
Rep. Earl Blumenauer                                                       Senator Bernard Sanders

 

 

 

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තමිල් සෙල්වන් අණ්නා…..

November 23rd, 2016

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග 

 
 
2013 වසරේදී වරක් මම ටොරොන්ටෝහි දමිළ කඩයකට ගියේ කරවළ , තුන පහ කුඩු වැනි ලංකාවට ආවේනික පාරිභෝගික ද්‍රව්‍ය මිලට ගැනීම සඳහාය. මෙය කඩයක් කීවද සුපර් මාකට් එකකි. එහි නම එස් පී සුපර්මාකට් ය. එස් පී සුපර්මාකට් එකේ භාණ්ඩ මිලදී ගමින් සිටිය දී තමිල් සෙල්වන් අණ්නා….. .. කියා ද්‍රවිඩ ගීතයක් වාදනය විය. මෙය එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ.විරු ගීතයක් බව මම අනුමානය කලෙමි. පසුව ටොරොන්ටෝහි ද්‍රවිඩ ප්‍රජාව ගැන තොරතුරු දන්නා මා මිත්‍ර විරාජ් ප්‍රනාන්දු ගෙන් මෙම එස් පී සුපර්මාකට් එක ගැන ඇසුවෙමි. විරාජ් කී තොරතුරු අනුව මෙම සුපිරි වෙළඳ සැල එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ.යේ දේශපාලන නායක ලෙස 12 වසරක් කටයුතු කළ තමිල් සෙල්වන්ට අයත් වූ එකකි. දැන් එහි අයිතිය ඇත්තේ ඔහුගේ ඤාතීන්ටය. 
 
තමිල් සෙල්වන් උපත ලැබුවේ 1967 වසරේ මද්දුවිල් ග‍්‍රාමයේ දුගී පවුලකය. උතුරේ කරණවෑමි කුළයකට අයත් වීම නිසා ඔවුන් ද්‍රවිඩ උසස් වෙල්ලාල කුලවතුන් ගේ බොහෝ සමාජ පීඩනයන්ට ලක්වූ අතර පසුකාලයක ඔහු එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ. සංවිධානයට බැඳුනේය. ඊට පෙර තමිල් සෙල්වන් කොටහේනේ බාබර් සාප්පුවක කරණවෑමියෙකු ලෙසටද වැඩ කොට තිබුනි.
 
තමිල් සෙල්වන් විවහා වන්නේ ප්‍රභාකරන් විසින් නියම කරන ලද මනාලියක සමගය. ප්‍රභාකරන් යාපනයේ කුලවත් පවුලක දියණියක වූ සසිරේඛා නැමැත්තිය තමිල් සෙල්වන්ට විවහා කර දුන්නේ වෙල්ලාලයන්ට එරෙහි පහරක් ලෙසටය. තමිල් සෙල්වන් හා සසිරේඛා අතර විවාහයේදී ප‍්‍රභාකරන් හා මදිවදනි මනාලයාගේ දෙමව්පියන් ලෙස ද ඇන්ටන් බාලසිංහම් හා ඇඩෙල් මනාලියගේ මාපියන් ලෙසද පෙනී සිටි අතර බ‍්‍රාහ්මණ චාරිත‍්‍රවලින් තොරව විවාහය කිරීමට ප්‍රභාකරන් විසින් නියෝග කරන ලදි. විවාහය පිළිබඳ තමා දැනගත්තේ විවාහයට දින හතරකට ඉහතදී බැව් තමිල් සෙල්වන්  විසින් පසු කාලයක  ප්‍රකාශ කොට තිබේ.  
 
සුප්පයියා පරමු තමිල් සෙල්වන් හෙවත් තමිල් සෙල්වන් එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ.යේ දේශපාලන නායකයා ලෙස කටයුතු කල අතර ඔස්ලෝ සාම සාකච්ඡුා පැවැති 2001-2005 අතර කාලයේ තමිල් සෙල්වන් ප්‍රකට චරිතයක් බවට පත් විය. මෙම සාම කාලයේදී වරක් රූපාවාහිනී වැඩසටහනකට පැමිනි කුසල් පෙරේරා ” මම ආවෙ අද උදේ කිලිනොච්චියේදී  තමිල් සෙල්වන් හමුවෙලා ” යැයි කීවේ  සාඩම්බර විලාසයකිනි. තමිල් සෙල්වන් එකල celebrity චරිතයක් විය. 
 
රණමග ඔස්සේ නන්දිකඩාල්  පොත ලියූ මේජර් ජෙනරාල් කමල් ගුණරත්න තමිල් සෙල්වන්ව හඳුන්වන්නේ සටකපට සිනහවකින් යුත් තැනැත්තා වශයෙනි . ඒ කාලයේ දිවයින පුවත් පතේ ලියුම්කරුවෙකු තමිල් සෙල්වන්ව හැඳින්වූ අන්වර්ථ නාමය වූයේ සිනහසෙන ඝාතකයා වශයෙනි. 
 
2005 වසරේදී මා සමග සංවාදයේ යෙදුනු ශ්‍රී ලංකා යුද හමුදාවේ ද්‍රවිඩ හමුදා නිලධාරියෙකු වූ ජෙනරාල් වයි. බාලරත්නරාජා තමිල් සෙල්වන්   කොටහේනේ බාබර් සාප්පුවක කරණවෑමියෙකු ලෙසට වැඩ කල කාලයේ තම නිවසේ සේවකයන් ගේ කොණ්ඩා කපා තිබෙන බව කීවේය. 
 
කුලීන ද්‍රවිඩයන් අම්බට්ටන් හෙවත්  කරණවෑමි කුලයේ පුද්ගලයන්ව අවඥාවෙන්  සලකන් බව නොරහසකි. එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ සංවිධානයට බැඳී සිංහලයන්ට විරුද්ධව සටන් කොට ද්‍රවිඩ ප්‍රජාව අතර තමන්ට ගරුත්වයක් පිලිගැනීමක් ලබා ගැනීමට තමිල් සෙල්වන්ට ඇතිවූ අභිප්‍රේරණය වෙනම අධ්‍යනය කල යුතු දෙයකි.  
 
2007 වසරේදී මා විසින් වෛද්‍යවරුන් සඳහා සංවිධානය කරන ලද තරුණයන් ගේ ගැටළු වැඩමුළුව ඇමතීමට පැමිණි වික්ටර් අයිවන් මහතා තමන් වරක් තමිල් සෙල්වන් හමුවූ අවස්ථාවේදී කුඩා දරුවෙකු මෙන් තමිල් සෙල්වන් ඔහුට අළුතින් ලැබුනු පැජරෝව අතගාමින් එහි උපාංග අගය කල කරමින් කල හැසිරීම දුටු අයුරු විස්තර කලේය. තමිල් සෙල්වන් ගේ එම ලාමක හැසිරීම දුටු විට ඔවුන් ගේ අරගලයේ මහා හිස් බවක් තමන්ට දැනුනු බව වික්ටර් අයිවන් ප්‍රකාශ කලේය. 
 
2007  වසරේ නොවැම්බර් 2 දින ශ්‍රී ලංකා ගුවන් හමුදාවේ ප්‍රහාරයකට ලක් වී තමිල් සෙල්වන් මිය යන ලදි. මරණින් පසු තමිල් සෙල්වන් ව බ්‍රිගේඩියර් තනතුරකට පත් කිරීමට ප්‍රභාකරන් විසින් ක්‍රියා කලේය. එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ. සංවිධානය තුළ ‘‘බි‍්‍රගේඩියර්’’ තනතුරට පත් ප‍්‍රථම සාමාජිකයා  ලෙස සනිටුහන් වන්නේ තමිල් සෙල්වන්‍ ය. තමිල් සෙල්වන්‍ව එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ. සංවිධානය තුළ උසස්ම නිලයකට පත් කිරීම තුලින් ප්‍රභාකරන්ට තම ප්‍රජාවට තවත් පණිවිඩයක් ලබා දුන්නේය. 
 
ප්‍රභාකරන් ජීවත්ව සිටි කාලයේ පවා එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ. සංවිධානයේ ප්‍රධාන නායකයන් සංවිධානයේ නම යොදාගෙන විදෙස්ගත ද්‍රවිඩ ප්‍රජාවගෙන් එකතු කරගත් මුදල් වලින් යම් ප්‍රතිශතයක් තමන් ගේ පුද්ගලික සුඛ විහරණය සඳහා යොදා ගත් බව පෙනෙන්නේ එකතු කරගත් මුදල් වලින් සමහර නායකයන් මිලට ගත් ව්‍යාපාර දෙස බැලීමෙනි. එස් පී සුපර්මාකට් එක මෙන්ම ටොරොන්ටෝහි පෙට්‍රල් ශෙඩ් ගනනාවක් තමිල් සෙල්වන් සතුව තිබුණු අතර ඒ පිලිබඳව   හමුදා බුද්ධි අංශ පවා දැන සිටියේද යන්න සැකය. 
 
කෙසේ නමුත් දුගී සහ කුලහීන ජන්මයක් ලැබුවද අරගලයක් හරහා තමිල් සෙල්වන් බොහෝ දේවල් අත්පත් කර ගත්තේය. බලය, මුදල් , කීර්තිය, වෙල්ලාලයන් ගේ ගරුත්වය යනාදී මේ සියල්ල ඔහු ලබා ගන්නේ තුවක්කුව හරහාය. එසේම ද්‍රවිඩ ප්‍රජාවට ඔහු තවමත් තමිල් සෙල්වන් අණ්නා ය. 
 
 
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග 

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Ancient Anuradhapura: a happiness oasis?Lecture to be held on Monday 28th at 5.00 p.m. at the Mahaveli Centre.

November 23rd, 2016

Lecture to be held on Monday 28th at 5.00 p.m. at the Mahaveli Centre. All are welcome.

Ancient Anuradhapura: a happiness oasis?

Dr. Susantha Goonatilake

Over the years there has been a departure away from economistic definitions of development like the Gross Domestic Product to the Physical Quality of Life of the 1970’s, to the Human Development Index HDI of the 1990’s, to currently a Happiness Index. As these measures of development were changing, there was a parallel movement in psychology examining Asian explorations of the mind. Thousands of scientific papers have appeared on the efficacy of mindfulness meditation for happiness. The lecture by Dr Susantha Goonatilake notes how recent research on Anuradhapura has removed the essence of Anuradhapura. Examples would be the work of Conningham and his Sri Lanka followers who bracket the city with the human sacrificing Mayas. The lecture describes using descriptions in the Buddhist commentaries how in many ways Anuradhapura life could fit into current explorations of happiness, especially those found in psychology.

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Psychoanalytic Novels of Simon Navagattegama

November 23rd, 2016

Dr. Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D. 

“Where there is much light, the shadow is deep.”

– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The Sri Lankan novelist Simon Navagattegama used a series of mystic symbols in his famous novels -Sansaranyaye Dadayakkaraya (The Hunter of the Saṃsāra Monastery) and in Dadayakarayage Kathawa (The Hunter’s story). These novels can be regarded as the best psychoanalytic novels of the Sinhala literature. In these volumes Simon gives broader interpretation of a carried meaning and presented different conceptual systems. He used metalanguage to describe the story. The reader has to grasp the story ontologically and essential do deconstructive reading in order to get the wider aspect of the narrative.

simon-navagattegama-sri-lankan-writer-roa

According to Simon the hunter is a great symbol or a metaphor. This metaphor consists of   Androgyny or the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics. He is more than a human. The hunter is a myth, crystallized undifferentiated psychic energy. The hunter symbolizes the human soul that travels through Saṃsāra which is the repeating cycle of birth, life and death. Although the Buddhist philosophy rejects the concept of an immaterial and immortal soul, Simon implies that hunter could be the karmic force that transcends to different psychic levels.

Cosmic Law of Cause and Effect or Karma is the law of moral causation. Karma is symbolized as an endless knot.The hunter’s moral and immoral volition fuels his journey through Saṃsāra.  The hunter’s cycle of rebirth is determined by his karma.

Simon uses his knowledge in Buddhism, Anthropology, Sociology and Psychology to craft this great metaphor. The hunter is surrounded by a mighty forest and he faces numerous obstacles in his great journey.  However he goes in to a psychic transformation which is an experience of awakening and illumination. He is subjected tospiritual maturity and psychological healing through his voyage. It is a great recount of relations between social anthropology and psychology.

Simon narrates the psychic transformation of the hunter’s emotional experiences, his phantasies, dreams and dream-thoughts. The hunter’s phantasies are lucid. These phantasies are imaginative fulfillment of frustrated wishes mostly unconscious. Some of the phantasies are symbolic figures.

Sansaranyaye Dadayakkaraya (The Hunter of the Samsara Monastery) and Dadayakarayage Kathawa (The Hunter’s story) represent numerous psychoanalytic symbols which stem from the unconscious mind. According to the Psychoanalytic notion symbols are not the creations of mind, but rather are distinct capacities within the mind to hold a distinct piece of information. Some of the symbols are created by collective unconscious. These areuniversal themes, archetypes and primordial images. These are the structures of the unconscious mind which are shared among beings of the same species. The hunter shares common archetypes such as the ferocious leopard, the musk deer, the monk, the goddess etc. These symbols carry important socio cultural meanings.

Simon’s symbols are mostly from folklore, mythology and rituals and some have religious background. Simon used symbols in his novels hiding the conventional meanings.

The hunter is influenced by his unconscious processes. Also his conscious perception is based on unconscious inferences.  His ongoing experience, thoughts, and actions signify great meanings. His socially unacceptable ideas, motives, desires, and memories associated with conflict, anxiety, and emotional pain are being repressed. However some psycho biological instincts emerge despite the cultural and religious barriers.

Simon Navagathegama used different metaphors to describe the cultural, social and anthropological icons. These metaphors represent numerous abstract and complex concepts. The great Saṃsāra is generally depicted as the wheel or Bhavachakra. Bhavachakra is a form of a mandala. According Carl Jung mandala is the psychological expression of the totality of the self. But for Simon the psychological expression of the totality of the self is the hunter and the mighty forest represents Saṃsāra.

Simon’s some metaphors have their origin from the Mahayana Buddhism. Mahayana Buddhism is known as the Great Vehicle. Simon has used Mahayana philosophical and devotional texts to illustrate the hunter’s perceptions.

The Mahayana concept accepts the Bodhisattva ideal as the highest. Bodhisattva is anyone who, motivated by great compassion and has a noble wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. Bodhisattva is one of the four sublime states a human can achieve in life. As explained by the Ven. Dr. Walpola Rahula the Mahayana mainly deals with the Bodhisattva-yana or the Vehicle of the Bodhisattva. Simon used the Lotus Sutra of Mahayana to discuss emptiness and a sense of timelessness in his novel. Although the   hunter’s journey is long it is purposeful as well as meaningful.

Simon discusses universal truth revealing the hunter’s journey through the wilderness. According to Bertrand Russell meaning and truth examines the relation between our language and the world. Meaning and truth are the nurture of the mind (de Cortiñas, 2013). In these novels meaning and truth were conceded by the author. The reader has to make an extra effort to dig in to the hunter’s mind to extract meaning and truth.

The hunter’s mind is filled with unconscious phantasies. It is argued that unconscious phantasies are inherently metaphorical and have no ‘concrete’ existence in the unconscious (Colman, 2005). He has sexual phantasies too. These phantasies include dominance, submission, sexual pleasure, and sexual desire. The hunter’s sexual daydreaming, masturbatory and coital fantasies are vividly narrated by the author.

The hunter meets with a goddess in the forest and they become attracted to each other. Hence they make love and create a union. They are woven together. Their sexual union shared with physical and the spiritual bliss. The transformation of desire occurs and the hunter and the goddess achieve ecstasy of love.  It facilitates heightened states of awareness in the hunter. He achieves self-evolution and self-involution. The hunter was connected to the universal energy.

Simon uses Tantric symbolism throughout these novels. Tantra has been called the “cult of ecstasy and it combines sexuality and spirituality in one great union. Tantric archetypes can be detected in many places in the hunter’s legend. According to Jung archetypes are patterns of instinctual behavior. He believed that when the archetypal level of the collective unconscious is touched in a situation, there is emotional intensity as well as a tendency for symbolic expression.

Simon discusses meaning of life in these novels. The meaning of life is a philosophical as well as a spiritual question According to the life mission theory; the essence of man is his purpose of life, which comes into existence at conception. Nietzsche stated that purpose of life is will to power, wants to be master of itself and around itself and feel itself master. The hunter is thriving for power by overcoming obstacles in the forest.

The hunter is not a moral being. Simon discloses the dark side of the hunter’s psyche. There is an evil side of man, called the “anti-self” (the shadow), because it mirrors the self and its purpose of life. The core of the anti-self is an evil and destructive intention opposite to the intention behind the life mission. The evil side of man arises when, as the life mission theory proclaims, man is denying his good, basic intention to avoid existential pain. (Ventegodt et al., 2003). Carl Gustav Jung called the evil side of man as the   anti-self, or shadow.

In Jungian psychology, the shadow or “shadow aspect” may refer to an unconscious aspect of the personality which the conscious ego does not identify in itself. The shadow comes from both the personal and the collective unconscious and contains the primitive, uncivilized elements within us that are unacceptable to society and are generally repressed (Smith & Vetter, 1991, p. 103). Generally, the shadow represents traits and attitudes that are the negative or evil side of the personality that people either fail to recognize or deny exists (Hall, 1989, p. 33).

Simon discusses evil side of the villagers as well as of the hunter. The village largely represents sin and hypocrisy. The concept of sin is ambiguous. However Simon posed two questions -what is sin?  and what is merit?   The Christian model of sin began to emerge in the medieval period and the early Renaissance period. In Abrahamic contexts, sin is the act of violating God’s will. Warner (2010) states that in Buddhism there is no concept of sin at all. In Buddhism there is no original sin and sin is largely understood to be ignorance. Mainly the sin is understood as moral error.

Simon depicts Patichcha Samuppadaya or the cycle of existence in the novels. The forest is the Saṃsāra and the dwellers are affected by Kama-Tanha – Craving for sensual pleasures   Bhava- Tanha –   Craving for existence and Vibhava- Tanha – Craving for non-existence.  Ignorance or avijjā is the inevitable result of being born and wandering in endless journey through Saṃsāra. The hunter is drifting in the mighty forest also known as Saṃsāra.

Simon’s stories touch the taboo subject of incest. Silk (2008) stated that incest plays a central role in the narrations of the origin stories of many traditions, generally in highly mythologized ways, recounted in stories. According to the basic Buddhist story, the sons of a certain king Okkaka were banished and went into exile with their sisters. The version in the Ambattha-sutta of the Theravada Digha-Nikaya (Long Discourses) says: Out of fear of the mixing of castes they cohabited together with their own sisters (Silk 2008).

In ‘Totem and Taboo’ (published in 1912-13) Freud did analytic exploration. He developed his theory of object relations and his ideas about the inter-subjectivity of unconscious mental life (Grossman, 1998). Freud discussed incest and its psychodynamics. Freud’s thinking about incest, placing it within the context of childhood sexuality (Alvin, 1987). When people contemplate incest and its consequences, they simultaneously consider two quite different issues: the issue of intentionality and blame, and the much more troubling and dumbfounding issue of what society would be like if incest were to be permitted (Astuti & Bloch, 2015).

Incest and illicit sexual relationships take place in the village. The hunter witnesses sinful realties in front of his eyes. He is ambivalent about the life style of his fellow villagers.  Incest barrier is broken and moral degradation takes place. Yet the villagers consider the hunter as the sinful person who violates the first Buddhist Precept -abstaining from harming living beings.

Although by nature the man is evil   man has a free will, acknowledged by philosophers of all times, and by using this will man can either do good or become engaged in evil intentions and by doing so, assumes often grotesque and inhuman forms ( Ventegodt et al., 2003). Simon concurs with man’s free will.

The hunter reflects the human ancestral past. There is a human tendency to hate the shameful past. The truth is 20,000 years ago we all were hunters. There is a hunter in each one of us. Our collective unconscious carries some elements from our predatory days. These impulses are threatening and shameful. Therefore the villagers (morally) banish the hunter. This banishment is a form of excommunication. The hunter is being excommunicated from the village spiritual circle. However the author indicates that the hunter bears strong spiritual elements.

Human suffering has become the innermost theme in Simon’s novels on the hunter. Suffering is a human condition. As Edna Lake states all forms of existence whatsoever are unsatisfactory and subject to dukkha.  Mental suffering associated with birth, growing old, illness and dying. Karl Jaspers believed that death, suffering, struggling, guilt, and failing affect human beings grimly. The modulation of mental pain in a container-contained relationship is a central problem for the development of the human mind (de Cortiñas, 2013).

Diehl 2009) indicated that the emotional, cognitive and spiritual suffering of human beings cannot be completely separated from all other kinds of suffering, such as from harmful natural, ecological, political, economic and social conditions. In Agamemnon, Aeschylus said that humanity is fated to learn by suffering (Oreopoulos, 2005). Similarly Simon points out that dukkha or suffering is a part of the hunter’s great journey and it helps transforming him. However he further explicates that dukkha is not simply despair or hopelessness, it has a deep philosophical meaning.  With dukkha the hunter finds some meaning in life. The hunter realizes dukkha and the cessation of dukkha.

The hunter meets a monk who lives in the jungle. He is a spiritual teacher who practices meditation. He isabsolutely free from lust, greed, anger and egoism. The monk’s goal is to become enlightened and reach nirvana. He is eliminating all greed, hatred, and ignorance and attains nirvana where there is no suffering.  The monk is no longer part of the cycle of reincarnation and death.

The hunter is passionately attached to a deer which Simon calls Kathuri Muwa (musk deer). He is eagerly seeking the deer in the jungle. Kathuri Muwa is a wider form of representation which refers to the father figure or totem animal. Kathuri Muwa becomes hunter’s fantasy which is an imaginal representation of bodily instincts and urges.  His attachment to Kathuri Muwa (musk deer) prolongs his journey in the forest. At this point narration of the hunter’s inner mind takes the reader in to a more spiritual world disregarding the hunter’s past sinful acts. When the hunter finds the musk deer he sees the reality and the true nature of the craving. Now the hunter has no greed for the musk deer. The hunter has become a super human (Übermensch or Overman) uplifting his spirit much higher than the fellow villagers. The hunter has seen the truth and liberated himself from craving

References 

Alvin,R.(1987).Freud, Psychodynamics, and Incest.Child Welfare, v66 n6 p485-96.

Astuti, R., Bloch, M. (2015).The causal cognition of wrong doing: incest, intentionality, and morality.Front Psychol.   18; 6:136.

Colman, W. (2005).Sexual metaphor and the language of unconscious phantasy.J Anal Psychol. 50(5):641-60.

de Cortiñas, L.P.(2013).Transformations of emotional experience.Int J Psychoanal.  ; 94(3):531-44.

Diehl, U. (2009).Human Suffering as a Challenge for the Meaning of Retrieved from Life. http://www.bu.edu/paideia/existenz/volumes/Vol.4-2Diehl.pdf

Grossman, W.I. (1998).Freud’s presentation of ‘the psychoanalytic mode of thought’ in Totem and taboo and his technical papers.Int J Psychoanal. ; 79 ( Pt 3):469-86.

Hall, J. A. (1989). Jung: Interpreting your dreams—A guidebook to Jungian dream philosophy and psychology. New York.

Oreopoulos, D.G. (2005).Is There Meaning in Suffering?  Humane Medicine, Volume 5.

Silk, J.A. (2008). Incestuous Ancestries: The Family Origins of Gautama Siddhārtha, Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 20: 12, and The Status of Scripture in Buddhism. Retrieved fromhttp://www.buddhismandsocialjustice.com/SILK/Silk_Incestuous_Ancestries.pdf

Smith, B. D., Vetter, H. J (1991). Theories of personality (2nd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Ventegodt, S., Andersen, N.J., Merrick, J.(2003).The life mission theory V. Theory of the anti-self (the shadow) or the evil side of man. ScientificWorldJournal. 11;3:1302-13.

Warner, B. (2010). Sex, Sin, and Zen: A Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between. New World Library. p. 72.

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NUCLEAR THREAT TO THE WORLD

November 23rd, 2016

ALI SUKHANVER

Nuclear technology could be a serious threat to the world peace if misused. To keep the world safe from the possible hazards of nuclear technology, almost all countries and all nations are very much conscious. In this context, a meeting of the NSG countries was arranged in Vienna on 11th of this November. In this meeting China once again maintained its tough stand on the issue of new membership of the NSG and called for a two-step, non-discriminatory solution to admit non-NPT members into the 48-member elite grouping. Analysts on this issue are of the opinion that China’s stern stand on the issue is simply an effort to keep India out of the NSG as India has yet not signed the NPT. The role of China for maintaining a balance of power particularly in the South-Asian region has ever been very positive. China is doing all its best to crush the hegemonic designs of the stubborn countries like India. In other words China is playing the role of a moderator in the region. Some international forces might be afraid of China’s positive and balanced role in world politics but for those who desire to see the world a house of peace and prosperity; China is a ray of hope, trust and confidence. China’s effort of stopping India from becoming the member of NSG is the best example in this regard.

Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is a group of nuclear supplier countries that seek to prevent nuclear proliferation by controlling the export of materials, equipment and technology that can be used to manufacture nuclear weapons. At present there are 48 member countries of the NSG. Pakistan and India are not among the list. With a very strong backing of the US, India has been striving hard to become the member of this group since long. It was first time in November 2010 when U.S. President Obama announced U.S. support for India’s participation in the Nuclear Suppliers Group during his state visit to India. Since then India and US are struggling hard to materialize the dream of making India the member of NSG but because of very strong opposition from the member countries, dreams are still the dreams. In the last week of June 2016 in Seoul, a meeting was held in which representatives of the 48-member NSG once again opposed India’s bid to become the 49th member. They cited the fact that New Delhi has yet to commit to the non-proliferation regime. The Indian Express reported that among those who opposed Indian bid the main six countries were China, Brazil, Austria, New Zealand, Ireland and Turkey. As far as China is concerned, it has always maintained its stand that India’s bid will only be considered if rules for entry of non-NPT countries are finalized by the elite group. Mr.Lu Kang, spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said talking to media, Our position is subject to no change as of date.” According to various media reports, China’s harsh reaction came just a few days after India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, failed to reach a consensus on the issue. China has also made a case for Pakistan’s inclusion in the group if the NSG decides to grant an exception to India for its non-NPT status. As far as Pakistan is concerned, it fulfills all criteria for the NSG membership except for the NPT requirement, which India, too, does not meet. Pakistan wants simultaneous entry into the group with other non-NPT states that aspire to participate in the group. Pakistan is of the opinion that there must be no specific exemption or relaxation of rules for any country; all applications submitted by the non-NPT states for the membership of NSG must be measured up with the same yard-stick. A non-discriminatory approach towards the NSG expansion would not only ensure strategic stability in South Asia, but would also serve the cause of international non-proliferation efforts. One thing more is very important that the rules and regulations for joining the NSG are devised for keeping this world safe from every type of nuclear terrorism. Special favours to India in this particular context would simply damage the international efforts against terrorism as India has ever been involved in all type of terrorist activities in the region. From the Indian Held Kashmir to Pakistan and from Sri Lanka to China, the stories of Indian involvement in terrorist activities are not hidden from anyone. By blessing India with the membership of NSG would be an injustice to all those who have been facing the brunt of Indian terrorism since long. Unfortunately

In the second week of November, Japan signed a controversial deal with India to sell civil nuclear power equipment and technology to India. It is the first time that Japan agreed to such a deal with a country that is not a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. According to Aljazeera anti-nuclear groups in Japan have denounced the agreement, citing threats to safety and regional peace and increased risk of proliferation.  A senior nuclear specialist at Greenpeace Japan said in a statement, “There is no effective separation between India’s nuclear energy programme and its weapons programme, and the Japanese government’s agreement conditions are meaningless. Approving nuclear trade with India is a geo-strategic decision to support further nuclear weapons proliferation in Asia.” Critics are of the opinion that by providing civil nuclear technology to India, Japan will promote an imbalance of power in the region. Japan’s kindness would have been a true blessing for the region if Pakistan were also among the beneficiaries of this civil nuclear technology. Even in Japan, critics are raising concerns about a risk of their country’s technology being diverted to India’s nuclear weapons programme. The people of Japan had been the ever worst victim to the nuclear violence and they are not in favour of diverting this technology to an irresponsible country like India.

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Donald Trump : the nationalist messiah from the Wild West

November 22nd, 2016

H.L. D. Mahindapala

If there is one slogan that swung the political pendulum and placed Donald Trump in the presidential seat it is the one that screamed : MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. It summed up in a simple and digestible pill the pre-election plight, frustrations, and failures of America’s policies – both domestic and foreign. It expressed succinctly Donald Trump’s version  of American nationalism + racism. It was also his panacea for all the  ills of America. In his brash style he marketed his slogan which resonated well with the disillusioned voters looking for a change. Donald Trump was the right man who came from nowhere to capture the right mood of a disenchanted nation that was made to believe  it was under siege by the alien enemies.

Inherent in the catchy slogan is the admission that America had failed abroad and at home. Only a failed project / adventure / history needs to be made great again. Greatness is in being at the peak. Greatness need not be restored if it had maintained its greatness of being at the peak. For  instance, there  is no need to add greatness to the Himalayas. Its irrefutable  stature is there for all to acknowledge. It is  only if it looses  its pre-eminent  height that greatness has to be restored, if possible. The promise of making American great again meant, in essence, that America has failed and, therefore, the need of the  hour was to make it great again.

Underlying this cry was American patriotism. Trump convinced his compatriots that America, the indispensable  nation” of the world, was not great because  it  is infested with the Muslims, Latinos, homosexuals,  the corrupt  establishment, the  biased media, anti-Trump women, the rigged” electoral system and whoever  else came within his sights. In  short, he  raised the banner for reformation and revivalism. It is a cry that went down well in the American electorate. Using this slogan he presented himself as the saviour  of America to make it great again. And the Americans bought it, from coast to coast.

His message went deep into the insecure  psyche of the frustrated Americans. The exploding  cities, schools, suburbia and neighbourhoods were threatening to turn the American  dream into a nightmare.  Terrorists both at home  and abroad were targeting the certainties and values of American society driven almost to the edge. Besides, unfolding global events confirmed that America has entered the new age of decline. Apart from the irreversible rise of China, challenging American hegemony in the global arena, it is the failures of the Obama-Clinton administration that energised and pumped oxygen into  Trump’s slogan, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. With this slogan, Trump tapped into the roots of American nationalism, combined with a heavy dose of racism. His campaign rhetoric ruthlessly targeted the minorities making  it clear that America belonged to the consolidated front of WARMs – the White American Right-wing Males. And he won!

Trump’s victory is proof of the power of grass root politics. His campaign  is remarkable for stripping all the cant with  which America’s image  of a liberal society was clothed. He turned himself into a one-man  juggernaut that ran  over all those who stood  in his way.  Human rights, minority rights, the rigid establishment, theoretical academics, mega millions of the well-oiled Clinton machinery, and even sections of the Republican Party were swept away in Trump’s tsunami of down-to-earth politics. Not even the Tamil coconuts of Jaffna, dashed to invoke the blessings of Tamil gods, could stop the epic Odyssey of Trump that triumphed all the way to the White House. As an aside, it should be noted that  the gods have once again rejected the Tamil fantasies by defeating Clinton. .

The Obama-Clinton administration must take full responsibility for their failure. They had dug their grave abroad more than at home. Obama had rescued the economy from one of its greatest falls and was climbing  back, slowly but surely. But like all imperialist masters, they believed that America’s interests abroad can be served best by replacing the anti-American status quo with pro-American stooges. The failure of planting stooges is a lesson they never learnt from the time CIA engineered the murder of Dinh Diem, the Catholic stooge they installed in Buddhist Vietnam. When things don’t go the American way they do not hesitate to eliminate their political mates swiftly. Or change the regime. Or buy deals like in Iran which are, at best, dicey gambles that can give some breathing  space for some time.

Trump painted Hillary Clinton as the mother of all American disasters. Each time Trump went for  her the crowd responded by yelling : Lock her  up!” Like her foreign  policy she misread the election campaign.  She was either caught napping  on the job (Where  the hell was she when the Libyans were killing American diplomats?), or backing the wrong  horse. Example: At the critical moment when the Sri Lankan forces were on the verge of crushing the Tamil Tiger terrorists she went  all out to save them by putting pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL). Her private e-mails reveal that  she  was  turning the screws on the  IMF to stop funding  GOSL. As usual she  backed the wrong  horse. Nor  did the  coloured revolutions  that began in Tunisia turn out  to be roses. Hilary had to pay dearly for her Libyan disaster. What has America and UK got  in return for regime change in Libya?

Regime change became  the standard strategy of Obama-Clinton administration. The Middle Eastern instability that is spinning out of American control today is the result of Obama-Clinton’s regime changes gone awry. Of course, it began with Bush’s messy invasion of Iraq. Obama-Clinton administration refined it, reinforced it, and pursued it to the bitter end, leaving a legacy that had dragged down America to its flat bottom. After Obama-Clinton failures there was nowhere to go except up. Trump’s slogan MAKE AMERICA GREAT captured the despair and the frustrations of the American public who saw no way out of  the Americans sliding down the greasy pole.

This slogan was not confined to politics. It extended to economic nationalism too. On the one  hand, it  meant keeping  the Mexicans, the Muslims and other selected aliens out of America. And, on the other, it meant keeping  the  jobs, American capital, and American investors at home. The Mexican Wall, like the Chinese Wall, became the highest symbol that was going to keep the alien hordes out of America and save the economy, ensure security and protect purity of American values threatened by aliens. The Mexican Wall became the shining symbol of Trump’s politics. It signified his willingness to do the repugnant and the unthinkable to save America. Primarily, he played on the security of Americans which, he said, was threatened on all fronts. He went all out to play his unconventional cards to beat all conventional politics of Washington. He provided his  own media coverage by shooting  from the  hip, a la John Wayne. He took the road that was less travelled – and that made all the difference.

The commentariat see him repeating successfully the new wave of anti-globalisation movement that took Britain out of EU. The  new nationalism  is essentially economic, rebelling against globalisation. As in Brexit, the people are recoiling from threats to  their sovereignty, identity and  security. Donald Trump led a movement of economic nationalism which was anathema to even the Republican establishment. At a time when globalisation meant free flow  of capital and labour across  borders he led a movement to build walls. He is the  new messiah of nationalist  capitalism. He aims to renegotiate the borderless order of globalisation. A billionaire who built  his fortune on Chinese steel, cheap Mexican labour, and cutting deals with foreigners  is  now planning to do a U-turn. He has already declared that his first job on the first day in offiice will be to cancel the TransPacific Partnership deal (TPP).

Can he achieve his ambitious  goal? Well, the fears of UK crumbling after Brexit have vanished. Economic nationalism  has cleared its first hurdle. Trump’s economic nationalism  may prove to be the turning point to make America great again. Let’s face it, Trump has been a gambler and he has been on a non-stop winning streak. Whether we like it or not, Trump’s journey from nowhere – without  even his Party’s support at one  stage – to the peak of political  power is an astounding  phenomenon. Normally it  is the party that carries the  candidates to victory. But this time  round, it  was Trump that carried the Party to victory. He swept  the board. It was a  one-man show.

The style and the  substance belonged to Trump – and to him alone. It was crude. It was rough. It was blunt but the masses  lapped it up as if  it was manna from heaven. His message, his confident  tone and his messianic attitude resonated well with the voters that took him to power. Looking back  it is seems that Trump was the messiah that America  was waiting  for. He articulated all their frustrations and  aspirations. He is the street fighter who took on the  elitist  establishment  dressed  in Emperor’s clothes and beat them hollow.

In  short, the Americans have embraced him as the messiah who would take them to the promised land. His followers have implicit faith in him. By and large, they are the WARMists who are bent on taking American back to its basic roots. Trapped in his  own creation, Trump has little room to deviate from the promises he made – all of which were defined by him. His success is due not only to his remarkable ability to define America his way but also to plot his  political path to victory on his terms. How far deep he can go from where  he is now depends on the unforeseen forces that will confront Trump on  his way forward and trip him. Can he, for instance, make America great again without building porous walls? Sooner or  later, someone in his camp will, no doubt, remind him  of the memorable lines of Robert Frost: Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, / That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, / And spills the upper boulders in the sun.”

He is bound find out  that his  idiosyncratic but populist answers he handed out  to the cheering crowds in the campaign may not be valid when  he sits down  to face the nitty-gritty in his Oval Office. Translating  promises into reality has been bane of all politicians. Can he, for  instance, make America great again by dismantling the time-tested global alliance put together in the post-WWII decades? Can he withdraw into Fortress America” abandoning the traditional allies to fend  for themselves? Is he going  to abandon the far-flung American empire, with nearly 1,000 bases girdling  the globe? Isn’t America’s greatness in the global theatre dependent on the greatness of its allies?

The ideological Trump who went over the top in the campaign will have to tone down the aggressive rhetoric and, no  doubt, come down to viable pragmatism.

If he shot like an arrow from the back of nowhere straight to the White House the next phase is not  going to be that smooth. The hard liners he has appointed so far to his Cabinet indicate  that  he is gearing  up for  the gruelling battles awaiting him round the corner. Some see him as a loose  cannon.  Apart from his unpredictability, he seems to be obsessed with his mission of making America great again”. Therein lies the rub. In an ominous – or is it imperial? – statement he has sworn to make Mexico pay for the wall that is going to protect America. Is there a message in this for the rest of the world? He is declaring that even the long  time  allies will now  have to  pay their share if they want to be America’s friends and partners. In Trump’s world there is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone, of course, will have to pay to make America great again. Being the hard-nosed businessman Trump’s declared policy is to demand for his pound  of flesh.

Is the post-Obama  world ready to pay all the way to make Trump’s America great again? Why should the world be made to pay for the self-inflicted  wounds of America?

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US election exposed media lies and liars – we now question their credibility of Sri Lanka’s war against LTTE terrorists

November 22nd, 2016

 Shenali D Waduge

The US Presidential election has been an eyeopener for the entire world. Many people the world thought were beacons of justice and bearers of truth have been exposed – the UNSG and UNHRC heads were caught subtly canvassing for the defeated US Presidential candidate, mainstream media lies were derobed that some are now even apologizing (New York Times), bogus NGOs/Charities funded by West like White Helmets will hopefully halt kind people from donating to liars. The people must realize that they had been fed lies and false news brainwashing their minds all these decades. Entities that lie and are paid to lie never tell the truth nor are they paid to tell the truth. These same entities were working overtime during the Sri Lanka’s conflict and in particular the last stages and their venom was felt when the then Sri Lankan Government refused to halt their military offensive thus ending their terror toy. Their angst has been delivered through the very parties that are out to destroy Syria, the UN and UNHRC are doing the same damage to both countries. It is time that the rest of the world stood up and put a halt to these lies and treacheries taking place.  

Noam Chomsky in his book Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media,” detailed how U.S. media frequently serve as an errand boy for U.S. corporate, military and imperial interests.

The media serve, and propagandize on behalf of, the powerful societal interests that control and finance them. The representatives of these interests have important agendas and principles that they want to advance, and they are well positioned to shape and constrain media policy.” –Chomsky
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RPKH6BVcoM (please listen to his propaganda model)

 

Brandon Turbeville piece CNN in a Panic Over Assad Success, Collapse of ‘White Helmets’ (also known as Syrian Civil Defense) Narrative, Fumbling Over ‘Humanitarian Organizations’” has brought out some important questions relevant to Sri Lanka. He refers to CNN as a ‘discredited news agency’. During the US election the ordinary Americans referred to CNN as ‘Clinton News Network’ highlighting how hideously it had discredited itself.

https://friendsofsyria.wordpress.com/2016/11/21/cnn-in-a-panic-over-assad-success-collapse-of-white-helmets-narrative-fumbling-over-humanitarian-organizations/

White Helmets openly acknowledged that they were funded by Western governments. We do not hide it, we admit [that] there is funding from the USA, from the UK, from Germany, from Netherlands,” Abdulrahman Al Mawwas, the chief liaison officer of the White Helmetshttps://www.rt.com/news/363363-white-helmets-funded-west/. This ‘humanitarian’ venture has been given $60million by USAID, UK Foreign Office and various EU nations like the Netherlands. While the Aleppo media centre was funded by French foreign office – EU and the US.

This little boy became their propaganda coup

shenali22111602

http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/09/20/exclusive-aleppo-media-centre-funded-by-french-foreign-office-eu-and-us/

This was no different to the manner LTTE terrorist dead were being glorified and shown as being innocent lambs killed by Sri Lankan soldiers completely ignoring the scores of innocent unarmed civilians LTTE killed throughout 30 years with the icing coming from UN’s crocodile tears over failing to stop the killing.

However, when the ISIS rounded up civilian hostages/human shields there was no UN coming out with their rules and regulations to stop a humanitarian catastrophe BEFORE it occurred highlighting what pathetic lows the UN officials stoop to. They can offer no solutions before the problem but they have enough of solutions after the problem and after the damage has been done!

All these examples remind us of the scores of NGOs/INGOs that were located amongst LTTE offices and helped LTTE thrive.

It was these same western funded ‘NGO’ that claimed schools and hospitals were being bombed. https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201611181047591222-white-helmets-syria-schools-hospitals/

Is it any different to the barrage of media coverage and reports that went to town over schools and hospitals being bombed by the Sri Lanka Army, even when a LTTE child soldier training centre ‘Sencholai’ in the middle of the thick jungle was projected as an ‘orphanage’.  

Can we not remember the lies of people like Benjamin Dix https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2015/09/12/the-truth-or-lies-of-benjamin-dix-resurfacing-in-the-new-c4-video-against-sri-lanka/

Rick Sterling writes ‘White Helmets’ are not the impartial relief organisation Right Livelihood and alternative media sites like CodePink take them to be. Rather they are instruments in the information war which is being waged against the Syrian government.” Sri Lanka knows too well the many local and foreign writers who were lined up to issue tirades against Sri Lanka – we had Francis Harrison who was ‘still counting the dead’ from third party sources living outside the country! Some parties including the Ban Ki Moon expert panel quotes from LTTE propaganda sources! We had a UN official in a ‘Cage’ of his own making lying about casualty figures and unable to substantiate with evidence. We had plenty of journalists and media turn credible allegations into ‘credible evidence.’

https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2016/05/11/sri-lankas-military-victory-over-ltte-terrorists-media-and-hr-groups-purposely-distorted-ban-ki-moons-panel-of-expert-report/comment-page-1/  

http://theduran.com/information-war-syria-white-helmets-hoax/ Sterling highlights the media manipulation against Syria.

The June 2014 Syrian election is noteworthy for Sri Lanka’s regime change in January 2015 election. We know that 585million has been spent by the US on delivering ‘democracy’. 73% voter turnout in Syria gave 88% votes to President Assad. The West may hate him but the Syrians loved Assad. John Kerry condemned Syrian election as a ‘farce’ but was overjoyed at Sri Lanka’s election result. Regime change succeeded in Sri Lanka where it failed in Syria.

A group called The Syria Campaign was inducted to demonize Assad, we know the numerous local groups inducted to demonize the Rajapakse regime which did have its own faults that made the job easier and believable. Just as ‘activists’ like puravesi balaya and numerous other civil society groups were promoted the White Helmets too were marketed as ‘civilian volunteers’ They were even awarded for their lies – for their outstanding bravery, compassion and humanitarian engagement in rescuing civilians from the destruction of the Syrian civil war.” We know how C4 and Callum McRae’s fictions were also nominated for awards as well.

This seriously questions the validity of these so-called paid documentaries and the manner they have been used to make allegations of war crimes against a national army even calling for war crimes tribunals. We have all the reasons to question given that Bell Pottinger the famous PR company was paid USD540million to prepare false videos and footage to justify the war on Iraq. Therefore, Sri Lankan citizens have every right to demand a relook at all of C4 videos and refuse to have these used as the basis for allegations of war crimes against Sri Lanka.  

Turbeville’s article claims CNN has taken the side of the terrorists no different to how these same media took the side of LTTE terrorists. CNN barrage was against President Assad of Syria again no different to how the then Sri Lankan Government was attacked. CNN and coterie kept on claiming Assad was attacking ‘unarmed civilians’ – these agencies did the very same to Sri Lanka. According to the media ISIS were projected as democracy-loving freedom fighters” exactly how LTTE was projected. Reference to ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ by these media was bang on during the last stages of Sri Lanka’s battle as well and the UN was happy to join in. Turbeville says United States and its treacherous allies funded a proxy army of extremists to destroy the country” – you should next wonder who has been supporting the LTTE against Sri Lanka too.

Turbeville also describes the ‘humanitarian’ NGO ‘White Helmets’ as a typical terrorist support group who are used as ‘activist’ when a quote is needed, he says. This should automatically bring to mind the scores of NGOs that had been LTTE’s best friend throughout the 30 years of LTTE terror. We know how many of these LTTE supporting ‘activists’ had been issuing regular reports, holding panel discussions, briefing the UN and even foreign envoys against Sri Lanka. The similarities and comparisons are too shocking. You will recall how doctors in the Vanni were used to lie about civilian casualties during Sri Lanka final stages and their eventual affidavits which were discarded because it nullified the lies that were being drummed.

If White Helmets had been supporting terrorists in Syria how different is that to NGOs like TRO, or Norwegian People’s Aid, which said its heavy earth moving vehicles, trucks & tractors have been stolen” by the LTTE (NPA has been accused of secretly smuggling arms to Sudanese rebels), when Sri Lankan army overtook a LTTE base they discovered electricity generators, water pumps, tents, water dowsers belonging to INGOs! We will also recall how a senior member of Zoa Refugee Care decided to join LTTE without evacuating with the rest of his staff! Commissioner General of Essential Services, S. P. Divaratne estimated the number of INGO vehicles in the LTTE’s hands at 38.

UN and UNHRC as well as foreign governments are quoting from a panellist of the Ban Ki Moon personally commissioned report on Sri Lanka who is a regular visitor to LTTE front events and referred to as ‘comrade’ by them.

https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2015/08/11/credibility-of-yasmin-sooka-report-on-sri-lanka-she-is-an-eu-employee-report-is-funded-by-george-soros/

https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2014/10/27/is-yasmin-sooka-biased-and-prejudiced-against-sri-lanka/

The bias of the UN in Syria is no different to UN/UNHRC crass bias against Sri Lanka. U.N. special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has gone to the extent of offering a ‘peace agreement’ that virtually offers Aleppo to the terrorists! Syria’s response quite rightly has been that such an offer is a violation of Syria’s national sovereignty. Is this no different to the inundated attempts to use fabricated, exaggerated reports drawing a picture that militarization, ‘rape’ by soldiers, funded people protests against the Sri Lanka army all with a bigger intent to offer the north to the LTTE front TNA? We know that the current new constitution, calls for devolution, decentralization complimented with calls by Tamils and Muslims for greater autonomy and self-rule is basically the same as what the UN envoy is offering to Syria…

Ron Paul recently released a list of fake news journalists. It is a good time to compile a similar list of journalists in Sri Lanka paid to tell lies, promote anti-national theories and on payroll of foreign countries. https://www.rt.com/usa/367557-ron-paul-fake-news/ We can identify the elements paid and on the payroll drafting and laying out the same plans by the same handful of people.

shenali22111603a

In such a scenario where from UN to media to human rights groups are all part of a global charade of lies deceiving the masses should we accept their notions for solutions to Sri Lanka, should we not reject the war crimes tribunal requests and reject the new constitutional proposals out to divide the nation along ethno-religious lines all with the long term intent for foreign corporate-governance to rule over innocent masses who will be divided and kept divided?

 People must see the larger picture, connect the dots and realize that they are being turned into pawns unless they wake up.

 Shenali D Waduge

Further reading

·         http://slwaronterror.blogspot.com/2012/11/earth-bunds-on-vanni-front-and-ingo.html

·         http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=147715

·         http://africanagenda.net/white-helmets-lies-betrayal-and-more-lies-for-syria/

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Donald Trump should change aggressive US foreign policy for a peaceful coexistence with all nations.

November 22nd, 2016

By Charles.S.Perera

In the past the USA Presidential elections,  to  elect either a Republican or a Democratic President did not make a great difference . The State Department rolled out its self same foreign policy which was primarily  protectionist safe guarding America’s own interest. It made no  difference towards developing countries.

The developing countries were considered a security threat to America, if they were to adopt a socialist program of development  supported by China and Russia. Hence the American State Department  interfered into  the internal affaires of developing countries to  dictate how they should run their countries and what type of governments  they should have, threatening them with  conditions they would impose if they were to  qualify for World Bank or IMF loans

Those developing countries that dare challenge the dictates of USA, would be victims of USA State Department’s foreign policy of regime change. This was done either by using CIA Agents or more slyly winning over local politicians willing to sell their country for a fistful” of Dollars. It is  worst than the NATO  bombardments  which turned countries to rubble, because regime change put the people in complete confusion and disarray.

USA cannot propose to developing countries,  any other system of government other than their own. USA took over the great land mass of America from its indigenous people decimating, disabling or driving them away from fertile land to infertile distant borderlands, and built their American homeland asserting their white American rule over the land they occupied. They also saw to it that no neighbouring country could have a system of government different from theirs.  An extension of the Monroe Doctrine…..

The word socialism which is anathema to American politics, was not pronounced during  any of their Presidential elections. The Americans  know of no other political system of government other than their own American Capitalist system. And USA imposes it on all developing countries (after a US sponsored regime change) without allowing them to follow any other system under threat of trade embargoes, as they did to Cuba, Iran and Russia for allowing the Russian people of Crimea to be a part  of their motherland-Russia.

But today USA has a new President elect Donald Trump. He was painted an immoral demon going against all accepted American Norms and  its decadent political System. Donald Trump went on his election campaign openly stating what he stands for and not hiding any thing to steal votes. He even stated  his willingness to work with Vladimir Putin the President of Russia, I think I’d be able to work with him”said Donald Trump.  He  was elected with a large  majority of votes according to the American electoral system.

A certain number of  American people  appears to be up in arms against him, because he is an unknown entity, quite different from what they had been used to before. But to a country and a people that had known only one system of government  and one type of administration, there is the fear of what would the change  mean to their proud place as citizens of a great country that gives leadership to the world. Hence some of them have gone out manifesting against President elect Donald Trump.

Strangely though these  demonstrators against the 45th USA President Donald Trump did not manifest against atrocities committed by USA armed forces  against Iraq of Sadam Hussain , Libya of Colonel Gaddafi , bombardment of  border villages in Pakistan killing innumerable numbers of civilians in search of Al Qaeda terrorists, and  arming anti government forces, in Syria  to  murder or chase away Bachar el Assad from Syria.

USA built its leadership , becoming a Policeman of the world” by indiscriminate use of  its Armed Forces against other countries with political leaders who do not blindly  follow American dictates.   USA asserted its world leadership, through its aggressive foreign policy planned and executed by its State Department, and its determination to make the world pliable to its command through fear of its known sinister murders of progressive world leaders by the agents of its CIA, its mighty military power complemented with the NATO forces of its Allies, and imposing sanctions.

The European Governments supported the aggressive policies of USA. We know EU stopped GSP plus to Sri Lanka following USA Resolutions against Sri Lanka for violation of human rights in the course of elimination of terrorism,  and refused to by fish from Sri Lanka imposing conditions  before the sanctions are removed. This is how even the EU following US State Department acted against developing countries

There is no country in the World that has abused Human rights as USA. USA not only violates human rights in the world but uses human rights as a tool to change governments in developing countries, divide countries and communities,  and to stop any progressive development programmes undertaken by those countries,  by proposing  their own solutions without any financial or technical support to carry out the solution they propose.

The USA State Department  under John Kerry  had spent 585 Million Dollars to change  regimes in developing countries and to promote US State Departments version of  democracy. An example is Sri Lanka after  January,2015.

John Kerry says  that the US State Department  promotes democratic values  because stable democracies are less likely to pose a threat to their neighbours or to the US.”

But all these seems likely to change under the 45th President Donald Trump  of USA.  He seems agreeable to end the cold war  that continues to exist with Russia and even China.

President elect Donald Trump has to  reconsider  the American Foreign Policy, which   had never been one of generosity, transparency, and country friendly. Even the UNO which was expected to be an independent International Organisation under its Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and its Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein became an extension of the US State Department. They punish Sri Lanka for the simple reason that its Armed Forces eliminated the most ruthless terrorism, begun by  a group of young men from the minority Tamil Community.

IMF and the World Bank were controlled by the USA  to assure its  political control over developing nations. Hillary Clinton as the State Secretary is known to have  asked the IMF to suspend  loans to Sri Lanka, as Sri Lanka governments did not given into Hillary Clinton’s State Department,  and the UK and French Foreign Ministers  demand  for a suspension of military operations against terrorism.

The US President elect Donald Trump appears to be a practical man, not bound by old American political traditions and usage to maintain the leadership of America by trying to  be a global bully ” controlling  developing countries by intimidating ,  threatening them with sanctions, and  raising false accusations of violation of human rights.

President elect  Donald Trump has already contacted President Vladimir Putin of Russia, and the Chinese President Xi Jinping. That it self is a first step in bringing nations together without treating each other as competitors for world leadership. The European leaders who were aligned with the American Presidents of the past were all war mongers . They were trying to settle political problems using force, NATO bombardments, threat and imposing sanctions.

With the election of Donald Trump as the 45th US President The European leaders  those in France, Spain, Portugal  and Germany act as they have been orphaned, left on their own to settle terrorist problems affecting them.

These political tactics may have to be changed now, if the US Presdent elect decides once sworn in as thethe US President  to settle differences in dialogue and discussion like civilised human beings.  One cannot go by Donald Trump’s election campaign rhetoric, which will surely change approaching the problems as the President  of America.  He is not disposed towards war but for enemies of America he will take strong action. He had said that war in Syria needs  to be seen differently and he said   If Russia and the United States got along well  and went after ISIS, that would be good.”

Donald Trump’s alignment with Russia may expand the trend to European Countries. Mr. Francois Fillion the likely right wing Presidential candidate at the 2017 French Presidential elections says that he may agree to work with the Russia’s  President Vladimir Putin.

US State Department under Hillary Clinton and John Kerry listened to the  demands of the Tamil Diaspora to form its policy towards Sri Lanka. The Tamil Diaspora which financed and encouraged  and militarised  the LTTE terrorists wanted a separate Tamil State in Sri Lanka.

The  US State Department in the  demand made by the Tamil Diaspora saw the benefit that  the USA could derive from helping the division of Sri Lanka, to check the advance of China and Russia to control the southern sea route. Therefore both Hillary Clinton and John Kerry as US Secretaries of State went all out to pacify the Tamils in Sri Lanka and create for them  the means to  develop as a separate entity and divide Sri Lanka to enable USA to set up an American Navel Force in the North.

When the terrorists in Sri Lanka were relentlessly taking toll of innocent lives and government of Sri Lanka decided to find a military solution to end the raging terrorism the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert O Blake opposed the military solution. Hillary Clinton as the Secretary of the US State Department refused to accept the existence of terrorism in Sri Lanka, calling LTTE terrorists a liberating force. She accused Sri Lanka armed forces using rape as an arm against terrorism.  After Sri Lanka Armed Forces  eliminated terrorism,  USA State Department accused  Sri Lanka Armed Forces for war crimes.

After that the US State Department along with the UN and the UN High Commissioner for Human rights continued its attack the  Armed Forces of Sri Lanka accusing it for  violation of human rights  and war crimes. Thereafter it set about a regime change to remove  Sri Lanka’s most popular President Mahinda Rajapakse.

In  this move to change regime, there are reasons to believe that the US State Department used its Ambassador in Sri Lanka  Atul Keshup, and its Assistant Secretary of State  Nisha Biswal , and the US Ambassador to UN Samantha Powers to encourage and strengthen the Tamil minority to stand against the Government and  vote for the Presidential Candidate contesting against the sitting  popular President Mahinda Rajapakse,  promising the aid of USA and its allies for them to win their rights to set up a separate Province exclusively for Tamils.

This is to say that the US State Department had hitherto been carrying out action against developing nations to change popular governments to set up US friendly governments and divide the people.

It is now up to the US President elect Donald Trump as the 45th President of USA to stop the US State Department  from interfering into internal affaires of Developing countries, and allow developing countries find their own way of development.

The world is exasperated  by the hitherto followed US foreign policy. It is right that it follows  protective  policies for the development of USA, but its foreign policy should not be to harass the developing nations, change elected governments, interfere into internal affaires, divide communities, and impose development  programmes on countries burdening people with taxes, provide conditional  aid for development, help and arm rebels in developing countries to fight against elected governments.

While congratulating the President elect Donald Trump on his election as the 45th President of USA, we urge him to in the first instance demand the  US State Department  to accept all terrorists whether they  carry out terrorism  in USA, any country of the West, or  terrorists in   developing countries, as terrorists, and not take side with terrorists in developing countries  calling them rebels, and  arm and encourage them to fight  against elected governments.

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රට දැය සුරැකීමේ අධිෂ්ඨාන පූජාව

November 22nd, 2016

පුවත්පත් නිවේදනය

ඉල් මස 20 වැනි දා සවස පැපිලියාන ප‍්‍රදේශවාසීන් දෙසීය දෙනෙක් පමණ ශී‍්‍ර සුනේත‍්‍රා දේවී පිරිවෙනට එක් රැස් වී පූජ්‍ය මහාචාර්ය මැදගොඩ අභයතිස්ස නායක ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේගේ අනුශාසකත්වයෙන් ද අනගාරික ධර්මසේකර තුමාගේ මග පෙන්වීමෙන් ද දෑ දම් රක්නෝ සංවිධානයේ සහායෙන් ද අධිෂ්ඨාන පූජාවක් පැවැත් වූහ.  ඔවුන්ගේ ඒකායන අදිටන වූයේ අප රණ විරුවන් ඇස් ඉස් මස් ලේ දන් දෙමින් රැුක ගත් මේ රටේ ඒකීයභාවය, ව්‍යවස්ථාමය කුමන්ත‍්‍රණක් හරහා ජාතිබේදවාදී බෙදුම්වාදීන්ට පාවා නොදී සියලූ වාද භේද පක්ෂ පාට පසෙකලා රට ජාතිය හා ශී‍්‍ර සම්බුද්ධ ශාසනය දිවි හිමියෙන් රැුකගැනීම ය. පහත දැක්වෙන්නේ ඊට අදාල ඡුායාරූප කිහිපයකි.  මෙහි වීඩියෝ දර්ශන හා තවත් ඡුායාරූප අප මුහුණ පොත පිටුවේ (https://www.facebook.com/DeDhamRakno/)ඇත.

මෙත් සිතින්,
දයා විජේසිංහ
ප‍්‍රධාන ලේකම්

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Adhishtana Pooja (Offering of Resolve) for the the protection of the country and the Nation

November 22nd, 2016

PRESS RELEASE

Around 200 residents around Pepiliyana, gathered at the Sri Sunethra Devi Pirivena and held an Adhishtana Pooja under the patronage of Venerable Prof. Medagoda Abayathissa Nayaka Thero with guidance from Anagarika Dharmasekara and assistance from De Dham Rakno, on the evening of 20th November.  Their sole resolve was to ensure, that this unitary state that our heroic soldiers protected with life and limb, would not be treacherously handed over to racist separatists through constitutional conspiracies, and that they, leaving aside all political affiliations would protect the country, the Nation and the Buddha Sasana with their lives.  Here below are a few photos of the event.  Videos and more photos are available in our facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/DeDhamRakno/).

With Mettha

Daya Wijesinghe

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Human Rights, Constitutional Reform and Devolution in Sri Lanka

November 22nd, 2016

By Dr. Asoka Bandarage, Nov. 20, 2016

Significant efforts have been taken towards reconciliation and integration of the Tamil minority in the Sri Lankan political system since the defeat of the LTTE (terrorists) in May 2009. However, the Tamil separatist movement has not been halted. It is pursuing a separate state through political means, demanding an Autonomous Tamil Region merging the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka.

Using ample funds and cultivating access to the British, U.S. and other western governments, pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora groups have influenced the United Nations in adopting the 2015 United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution (co-sponsored by the current U.S. backed Sri Lankan government) in Geneva and issuing the 2015 Report of the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner. Both documents call for accountability and international investigation of human rights violations in the final stage of the Sri Lankan armed conflict and international monitoring of transitional justice and reconciliation. Clause 16 of the U.N. Human Rights Council Resolution calls on the Sri Lankan government to devolve power on the basis of the 13 Amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution and uphold its commitment to political settlement, reconciliation and human rights:

“Welcomes the commitment of the Government of Sri Lanka to a political settlement by taking the necessary constitutional measures, encourages the Government’s efforts to fulfil its commitments on the devolution of political authority, which is integral to reconciliation and the full enjoyment of human rights by all members of its population; and also encourages the Government to ensure that all Provincial Councils are able to operate effectively, in accordance with the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka”.

However, the legitimacy of the United Nations to continue to intervene and monitor Sri Lanka is questionable given its ‘systematic failure’ to carry out its own duties and uphold humanitarian interests during the final phase of the Sri Lankan armed conflict. This failure has been admitted by the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon himself. The Report on Secretary General’s Internal Review Panel on UN Actions in Sri Lanka, concludes:

“…events in Sri Lanka mark a grave failure of the UN to adequately respond to early warnings and to the evolving situation during the final stages of the conflict and its aftermath, to the detriment of hundreds of thousands of civilians and in contradiction with the principles and responsibilities of the UN. The elements of what was a systemic failure can be distilled into … a UN system that lacked an adequate and shared sense of responsibility for human rights violations; …an incoherent internal UN crisis-management structure which failed to conceive and execute a coherent strategy in response to early warnings and subsequent international human rights and humanitarian law violations against civilians. …”

U.N. documents refer to human rights violations by ‘both parties’. However, as the LTTE no longer exists as such, calls for accountability are now directed solely at the Sri Lankan government in power during the last stage of the armed conflict. Accountability is not called for from external groups who provided funds for the terrorist LTTE to acquire weapons to kill thousands of civilians, forcibly conscript Tamil children as rebels and suicide bombers, destroy property and Buddhist sacred sites, so on and so forth. An international investigation which focuses merely on one party – the Sri Lankan government- and on just the final phase of the war, absolves all the other parties to the thirty year war -the LTTE, various Tamil militant groups, previous Sri Lankan governments, the JVP, the IPKF, et.al. – of human rights violations.

Constitutional Reforms

Is the ultimate objective of international pressure, humanitarian justice or coercion of the Sri Lankan government to concede Tamil regional autonomy through the 13th Amendment? Would that bring peace with justice to the beleaguered island given the threats it poses to the rights of the Sinhala majority, the Muslim and other minorities? There is no historical validity to the ‘Tamil Homelands’ concept upheld in the 13th Amendment imposed on Sri Lanka through the Indian intervention in 1987. Contemporary demographic realities and the traditions of multiculturalism and mutual co-existence in Sri Lanka also contradict the need for Tamil separatism. The majority of Tamils in Sri Lanka live in the southern regions of the island outside the disputed ‘Tamil Homeland’. The claimed regions, especially the Eastern Province is characterized by ethno-religious pluralism rather than Tamil exclusivity. Muslims and Sinhalese population were driven out by the LTTE during the course of the war. Current developments indicate that ethnic cleansing would worsen under Tamil regional autonomy

“Despite these ground realities, the Sri Lankan government is now forging ahead with proposals for comprehensive constitutional reform in response to the Geneva Resolution and the tight timeline set by the United Nations Human Rights Council. In March 2016, the Sri Lankan Parliament adopted a resolution to establish a Constitutional Assembly (comprising all the Members of Parliament sitting as a separate body) to develop a new constitution and go to referendum in 2017. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has commended the constitutional reform process saying it has “achieved significant momentum” and would provide “an opportunity to rectify structural deficiencies that contributed to past human rights violations, and reinforce guarantees of non-recurrence …”.

Devolution

The Constitutional Reform Sub-Committee on Centre-Periphery Relations is made up of 11 Members of Parliament drawn from different political parties. It is chaired by a member of the ITAK (Illankai Tamil Arasa Katchu), the Tamil State Party begun by S.J.V. Chelvanayakam, who envisioned federalism as a stepping stone to eventual secession. In the Preface to the recently released draft Report, the Sub- Committee Chairman states: ‘We have rushed through this report due to time constraints’, thereby raising concerns over the wisdom of the sub-Committee’s recommendations on the fundamental issue facing the country.

The draft Report refers to the present unitary character of the constitution as an ‘impediment’ to devolution. Its recommends going beyond the 13th Amendment to transform the governance structures by dismantling the powers of the central government and equipping and empowering each Province to pursue full independence from the Center and from each other. Among the recommendations of the draft Report are exclusive power over land to the Provinces with the Center having to request lands for national projects from the Provinces; fiscal powers to the Provinces including the power to receive foreign direct investment; police powers exercised under independent Provincial police commissions; abolition of the present Concurrent List (on subjects shared between the Center and the Provinces); reduction of the Governor, the representative of the Center to a nominal status..

There is no provision in the draft proposals for retaining the Center’s power to override Provincial statutes with a two third majority vote in Parliament. Without such a provision, each Province would be constitutionally independent and have the freedom to secede from the federal union. This would pose a threat to the sovereignty, unitary character and the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. It would undermine the Central government’s ability to respond to common threats to the environment and the security of the island as a whole, resulting in conflicts between Provinces over boundaries, waterways, coastline, cultural heritage sites, etc.

Although it is only the Northern region that has been clamoring for separation, the proposed decentralized structure is likely to encourage political elites in other regions also to secede to augment their own powers. It is bound to revive the call for a separate Muslim political entity in the Eastern Province which emerged during the 2002 Norwegian facilitated peace process to establish LTTE control over the north and the east. Similar to developments elsewhere in the world, efforts to enforce regional autonomy along ethnic lines in Sri Lanka could lead to ethnic cleansing and new forms of conflict and violence.

Political fragmentation and destabilization could facilitate greater foreign intervention in Sri Lanka which is strategically located in the heart of the Indian Ocean in a major international trade route. The sea bridge and tunnel planned by India to physically connect northern Sri Lanka with Tamil Nadu, the homeland of 60 million Tamils in India, could provide the basis for realizing the long held Tamil separatist dream of ‘Greater Eelam’. However, it could simultaneously threaten the stability and unity of India itself.

The blood of thousands of ordinary Sinhala and Tamil youth has been spilled over the 13th Amendment, devolution and separatism in recent Sri Lankan history. The Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim elites in Sri Lanka and the Indian and western elites must not let that happen once again. The difficult political situation in Sri Lanka, as in the world, requires honest and balanced perspectives that transcend narrow ethnic and separatist interests. Just policies that protect all communities and the natural environment are urgently needed.

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Prison officials visited CIA “dungeon,” but kept no record of the trip

November 22nd, 2016

By Graham Kates CBS News November 21, 2016

The Bureau of Prisons has acknowledged for the first time that two of its officials traveled 14 years ago to a secret CIA detention site in Afghanistan, where they provided training to staff at a facility once described by an intelligence official as the closest thing he has seen to a dungeon.”
The admission came Thursday in response to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU, which sued in April after the Bureau of Prisons denied having any record of involvement with the detention site.
The Bureau of Prisons’ November 2002 visit to the site — known interchangeably as The Salt Pit” and COBALT — was documented in a Senate Intelligence Committee report on torture, interrogation and detention, which was released in 2014.
The report notes that prison officials determined the site was not inhumane” despite seeing detainees who were forced to stand for days naked and shackled to walls in total darkness, in a facility that was described to be 45 degrees Fahrenheit.” Loud music played nearly constantly and the detainees were given only buckets for their waste.
The CIA asked for the Bureau of Prisons inspection, because agents worried conditions were too harsh for them to elicit reliable intelligence, according to the Senate report.
Some detainees ’literally looked like (dogs) that had been kenneled,” one interrogator said, according to the Senate report.  When the doors to their cells were opened, ‘they cowered.’”
During the prison officials’ visit, one detainee, Gul Rahman, died from apparent hypothermia, naked except for a sweatshirt,” the report said. Rahman was well-known in Afghanistan after an earlier incident in which he rescued the country’s president, Hamid Karzai, while wading through rocket and small-arms fire.
Prison officials said they were wow’ed” and had never been in a facility where individuals are so sensory deprived,” according to the Senate report.
The Bureau of Prisons is a domestic law enforcement agency that does not have the authority to classify intelligence information. The agency explained in the legal filing on Thursday that the two officials who visited the detention site were told by the CIA that they were not permitted to discuss their participation in this training, or to create or retain any records of the training or their involvement.”
Despite the extraordinary, and rare, assignment to travel to a war zone, one of the two officials told a Bureau of Prisons lawyer this year that he never saw a written request …. rather, his supervisor orally tasked him to participate.”
That same prisons official conducted training for the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, and was allowed to produce limited documentation of that assignment.
Carl Takei, the ACLU attorney who first asked the Bureau of Prisons for information about the COBALT visit in a Freedom of Information Act request, said Thursday’s acknowledgement raises new questions about the agency’s role at the detention site.
These two particular individuals, according to the Senate report, saw a place that was simply horrifying and they had a chance to raise alarms about these conditions of confinement. Instead of doing that, they allowed it to proceed unopposed,” Takei said.
He added that it’s an issue that has suddenly become pressing in the days since members of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team have indicated an interest in reinstating approval for certain controversial interrogation techniques.
As we transition from the Obama administration to the Trump administration, this entire question of official torture is being raised anew,” Takei said. This is an illustration of how when there’s an administration that officially endorses torture, that endorsement effects every level of government.”
The ACLU said Monday it is dropping its lawsuit against the Bureau of Prisons, as a result of Thursday’s disclosure.
The Bureau of Prisons filing includes a series of emails sent in 2011 and 2014 about the Afghanistan trip.
The 2014 email includes a link to a CBS News article about the agency’s visit to the detention site, and the email’s subject line is the title of the article.
In the body of the email, the sender wrote just one sentence: They just won’t let it go.”
The Bureau of Prisons has not yet responded to a request for comment on this case.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bureau-of-prisons-officials-visited-cia-salt-pit-dungeon/

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Lessons in Right livelihood from Dairy Industry & New Zealand earthquake & tsunami

November 22nd, 2016

Shenali D Waduge 

On 13th November 2016 New Zealand was struck by an earthquake immediately followed by a tsunami. The news came after a series of exposures on the New Zealand dairy industry and the cruelty inflicted upon cows. In Nepal immediately after the Gadhima festival that killed close to 300,000 animals a devastating earthquake struck. In Pakistan too hundreds of dogs were killed and their dead bodies were thrown on the roads, no sooner a suicide bomb left an entire generation of lawyers killed in one city. Japan is one of 10 countries which is cruel to animals and constantly faces earthquakes and tsunamis. The manner that nature punishes for destroying elements of nature comes unannounced and is catastrophic. The 2004 tsunami affected countries across Asia and even Africa. Nature’s message beckons us to rethink morality and ethics applying not only to humans but to animals as well and questions right livelihood and the need to develop greater harmony with nature and compassion for all.

These two photos capture how nature protects its own following the New Zealand earthquake wherein no harm has come to the cows.

shenali22111601According to eastern dharmic religions, humans and all elements of nature remain sacred. Buddhism in particular promotes all sentient beings including animals to be treated humanely. The Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christiantiy and Islam are more human-centred religions. Over the years new religious customs have ended in immeasurable cruelty towards animals making believers believe that God rewards those that sacrifice animals in His name and offers blood of an animal in the name of God. Would any God supposed to have created the world demand that they kill that which He has created?  

Nevertheless Blood Fiestas are the norm throughout the world to celebrate saint days by torturing animals – donkeys are beaten, paraded and crushed in Spain, goats are paraded and thrown from the church tower, chickens are hung and have their heads pulled off. The Old Testament is full of such blood rituals. References to animal sacrifice appear in the New Testament, such as the parents of Jesus sacrificing two doves (Luke 2:24) and the Apostle Paul performing a Nazirite vow even after the death of Christ (Acts 21:23-26). Muslims during Hajj pilgrimage sacrifice lamb/goat, camel, cow during Eid al-Adha and millions of animals are sacrificed for this. Hindus hold goat sacrifices for Shakti. Goats are also sacrificed for Durga pooja. The cruelty that these animals go through knows no words to describe. These are religious related cruelty. However, cruelty takes shape at another angle for profit. The dairy industry is one such.

Dairy farming is basically high producing dairy cows. From ancient practice of hand milking cows, twice a day inside a barn has now ‘advanced’ to the use of all types of machines, cows injected with hormones, with no qualms about separating calves from their lactating mothers and the immoral methods adopted that should make people rethink taking dairy milk. Every glass of milk you drink is a glass of cruelty filled with inhumanity.  

The cruelty in the dairy industry is shocking and questions the value of profit from the pain given to another life. It questions how people can consciously forcibly and artificially impregnate cows through artificial insemination each year to produce milk? How ethical is it to rip a baby from its mother knowing the calf is wailing with grief. Is it no different to a baby ripped apart from its human mother? These mother cows cry for their babies for days. These calves are thrown into trucks driven thousands of miles away and slaughtered. We have UN agencies working on baby rackets but why are they silent on the sufferings of these calves? Over 2million calves just 4 days old are sent to slaughter (that’s the total Tamil population living in Sri Lanka!).  

http://www.farmwatch.org.nz/born-to-die.html

Farmwatch has exposed the tortures of New Zealand’s 2million bobby calves whose life lasts just 4 days. How would a mother feel if her baby was taken away days after delivery, killed and dumped? Would a mother like to have her helpless baby being violently kicked, hit and thrown like these helpless calves before having their throats slit? Can nations that allow such atrocities qualify to be preaching human rights?  

http://milkiscruel.com/ (a disgusting cruel video footage questioning how human we are) 

http://safe.org.nz/nz-dairy-industry-exposed When you watch the video the first thought that comes to mind is why can’t these men who work on these farms find better and more humane employment without treating animals just 4 days old in such an inhumane way. It was Buddha who promoted right livelihood. With the manner nature is striking with venom it is a perfect time to rethink of earning a living, making profit while not harming or hurting other sentient beings including animals.  

http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?commodity=cattle&graph=calf-slaughter ) 

The fate of some calves is worse – they are said to be kept isolated for 3 months and killed for veal. How many sitting to enjoy a ‘good veal’ on their plate know that they are eating a calf kept isolated from its mother and then killed?

The suffering of their mothers get worse. The artificial impregnation and the forced production of milk make them suffer arthritis, mastitis of their teats and other painful ailments. When they can live 25-30 years their life is cut short and ends in 4-5years. Their fate ends up inside your hamburger.  

Environment too is impacted – waterways are polluted, methane produced by animal farming affects global warming.

If anyone watching these videos does not feel nauseated by the cruelty they witness by the violence inflicted upon innocent cows they are not worthy to be called humans.

How can any company be happy making a living and enjoying profits by causing such inhuman and vicious harm to beings that cannot speak but still have the same senses all humans possess? They feel, they cry with pain, they hurt, they are emotional, they love their family, their children just like us humans. Why are we then being so cruel to them?  

New Zealand

·         Produces 21.3billion litres of milk annually.

·         Has over 5million cows

·         1.8million hectares land used by dairy industry.

·         4.379 litres of milk is produced per cow per year. 

The immediate response is that milk is needed. If so, does it have to be milk stolen from a cow who wants to give it to her calf? There are enough of alternative milks – almond milk, soya milk etc. The moral question is … is it worth drinking dairy milk knowing it is coming to you through a cycle of pain that of both mother and child?  

The next question is – is dairy milk really healthy? The countries with the highest rates of osteoporosis are the ones where people drink the most milk and have the most calcium in their diets.” So says Amy Lanou Ph.D., nutrition director for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, D.C. 

Moreover, today’s milk is really another processed food. Milking cows are given antibiotics and most are also injected with a genetically engineered form of bovine growth hormone (rBGH). A man-made or synthetic hormone used to artificially increase milk production, rBGH also increases blood levels of the insulin-growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in those who drink it. And higher levels of IGF-1 are linked to several cancers. This next raises the question of whether we want to force cows to undergo untold cruelty including separating it from its calf to eventually end up drinking processed milk that is not even nutritious but could even be harmful to us? These are thoughts that should enter everyone’s mind and help re-evaluate their position on being part of the demand-supply chain that invariably leads countries and companies to make money from a wrong livelihood and inadvertently contribute to their bad karma.  

Can we not find better ways of making a living other than make profits from cruelty? 

Nature has a way of sending messages and it is upto us to decipher these, learn lessons and re-adjust our attitude and thinking.  

 

 

Shenali D Waduge 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3340565/Shocking-video-shows-New-Zealand-dairy-farmers-bashing-kicking-throwing-four-day-old-calves-regarded-trash-bloodied-concrete-floors.html

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDA3gzvdk-w Cruelty in New Zealand dairy industry

 

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/290865/shocking-video-of-dairy-industry-emerges

 

http://nzdairy.webs.com/

12 Comments »

CHINA AND THE MINERAL SANDS OF SRI LANKA.

November 22nd, 2016

KAMALIKA  PIERIS

The East coast of Sri Lanka is known to be rich in mineral sands. Pulmoddai has a very high concentration of heavy minerals and is considered one of the best beach mineral sand deposits in the world. Pulmoddai is located about 60 kilometers north of Trincomalee, midway between Mullaitivu and Trincomalee. The beach sand deposit in Pulmoddai is   about 10 kms in length with an average width of 100 meters.  If not collected the deposit gets washed off into the sea with the monsoon but gets replenished every year.

An off shore survey along Pulmoddai, from the mean high water mark, covering the entire length of the deposit, was completed in 1980.  This showed a reserve of 903,000 metric tons of ilmenite, 9500 metric tons of rutile and 39,000 metric tons of zircon.  In 1986, it was estimated to contain over 6 million tons of ‘heavy sands’ composed of 70-72 % ilmenite, 8-10% zircon, 8% rutile, 0.3% monazite and 1% sillimanite.  National Atlas of Sri Lanka  ( 2 ed. 2007) said it has a proven reserve of around 8000,000 to 10,000,000 tonnes of ilmenite, 9,000,000 tons of rutile and 7,000,000 tons of zircon. Experts say that around 12.5 million tons of unexplored mineral sands are still available in this area (2014).

In 1980 three other very promising deposits were found along the coastal stretch from Mullaitivu to Nilaveli at Nayaru, Poduwakattumalai and Thevikallu.  These showed a reserve of 2-4 million tons of Ilmenite, 475.000- 700,000 tons of rutile, 350,000-500,000 tons of zircon.  A minor deposit of allanite was found in Owella Estate, Matale containing 15% to 20% rare earth elements. There is also sufficient concentration of mineral sands at Kaikawala near Induruwa for economic exploitation.  (Daily News CCI Bulletin. 28.7.16 p 34)

The Pulmoddai mineral sands are greatly sought after   because of their very high purity. There is 53% of titanium dioxide in the Ilmenite sands and 95% titanium dioxide in the rutile sands. Pulmoddai  is one of the world’s best known sources for titanium. Titanium is regarded as the metal of the future.  Monazite was originally discovered in Sri Lanka  in 1914 . Sri Lanka, it appears,   is among the nine countries with monazite deposits and its deposit is  considered  second only to that of China .  Monazite is a byproduct recovered during the purification process of ilmenite, rutile and zircon.  It is mined for its rare earth and thorium content. About 300 tons of monazite could be recovered from the 140,000 tons of raw beach sands mined to recover ilmenite. (Daily News CCI Bulletin. 28.7.16 p 34) These mineral sands have wide industrial applications.

Ceylon Mineral Sands Corporation ( est. 1957) has two plants one in Pulmoddai for the recovery of ilmenite and the other in China Bay in Trincomalee to recover rutile and zircon. They are exported in raw form. Critics observe that while the global industry using rare earth minerals considers Sri Lanka to be a possible supplier of rare earths,  the LMSL website does not even speak of the presence of rare earths in the country at all. It seems to be unaware of the world’s demand for their products. (Daily News CCI Bulletin. 28.7.16 p 34).

The LTTE were aware of the importance of these minerals sands, and they took care not to damage the plant but they cut off the water supply required to process the mineral sand and  they disrupted the bulk shipments. Both China and the US are interested in our mineral sands. It is rumored that the USA had instructed Sarath Fonseka to give access to the   Pulmoddai sands to USA exclusively if he was successful in the      2010 Presidential election.  (Daily News 28.1.10 p  7) .

China has been the number one global buyer of Lankan mineral sands in the last few years . It  ranks first among the 8 countries that purchase our minerals. China purchased mineral sands worth USD 6.3 million during 2010-2014 . The President of Beijing’s SSG International Holding Group, the biggest mineral exploring firm in China ,  visited Sri Lanka  in May 2016  and said ‘We are looking for outright purchase of any mineral sand and graphite producing firms of Government of Sri Lanka  and looking to fully own them if possible.  We think  that Sri Lanka has rare earth elements deposits but can do better. We think Sri Lanka is not getting the best price for them in international markets and we can help the sector earn more in their export.’  CCI Bulletin says ‘The Chinese interest in our rare earths shows that  the potential and value of our mineral sands is far higher than we have assumed. The increasing usage of rare earths in multiple high tech industrial usages would increase the demand and value especially with the limited availability of raw materials.’

5 Comments »

SAD STATE OF SIGIIYA

November 22nd, 2016

Dr Sarath Obeysekera  

We Just returned from one of the World Heritage Sites in Sri Lanka today. Despite the fact that I should not be climbing up the lion rock due to my age  ,I had a lion,s heart to overcome my own reluctance and fear  and I concurred.

Rock was full of foreigners of European ,Chinese and many other nationalities who are charged 4350 Rs where I was charged only  80 Rs   ,Of course for 80 Rs I was not supposed to bring my car to the gate hence we had to hire three wheeler paying 300 Rs to get to the Local” gate after  a de tour .I did not get the wash room facility like in foreign sectors ( which reminded me of apartheid in South Africa ) where an attendant was standing at the door ( interestingly there was a notice board that it is free to use) ,who expected the foreigner (who discharged his refuse” on our land  ) is rewarded with a toilet paper half-roll when you enter and he keeps smiling .

I knew all these as I came down running to have pee and found that with all the precautions , toilet was smelling .I did not mind because local toilet is worse and stinks .

If your remember I wrote about toilets in the museum in Pollonnaruwa .there were notice boards indicating for locals” and for foreigners”

I noted that so called guides  carrying an umbrella pestering locals as well as foreigners to use them and charging exorbitant prices. I also observed that  quite elderly men and women  were trying hard . to climb up with the help of guides who lose consciousness after hearing about  their fee after they descend

We should ask UNESCO to provide a First Aid with some ambulance type device to bring down and person who can get ill due to steep climbing .Even at half way point there are no officers or para medics to attend to any emergency .Some stairs were badly rusting and wobbly and yet Department of Archaeology turns blind eye to defective structures. At the entry point they could have given some printed    material about the rock as the guides who speak foreign languages were uttering nonsense

Department guards look at local people who may be fair in colour with suspicion and my wife who was wearing a foreign attire was almost stopped until she blabbered in our language

On the way down scrupulous traders were milking money out of ignorant foreigners by charging 10 times for their artefacts and destroy the Sri Lankan Name .

Department should privatise the whole Sigiriya Rock to a  party who may  run the establishment in a better  way so that they spend more money for the welfare of locals as well as foreigners .

THEY SHOULD IS AN EOI (EXPRESSION OF INTEREST ) ,SHORT LIST FEW  COMPANIES AND ISSUE RFP (REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL ) AND THEN EVALUATE A POTENTIAL BID .

THEN THEY CAN GIVE THE JOB OF RUNNING SIGIRIYA TO A SOMEONE IN THEIR  OWN DYNASTY !

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

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පළාත්සභාවලට ස්වාධීන බලතල.. විසුරුවාහැරීමේ බලයත් ජනපතිගෙන් ගිලිහෙයි

November 22nd, 2016

මනෝඡ් අබයදීර දිවයින

 ඉඩම්, පොලිස්‌ සහ මුදල් පිළිබඳ පූර්ණ බලතල පළාත් සභා සඳහා ලබාදීමටත් පළාත් සභා විසුරුවා හැරීමේ ජනාධිපතිවරයාට දැනට ඇති බලතල සීමා කිරීමටත් නව ආණ්‌ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්‌ථාවට යෝජනා ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත.

මෙම යෝජනා ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත්තේ නව ආණ්‌ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්‌ථාව පිළිබඳ යෝජනා ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම සඳහා පත්කළ උපකමිටු හයෙන් එකක්‌ වන මධ්‍ය පරිධිය සබඳතා පිළිබඳ උප කමිටුව විසිනි.

ව්‍යවස්‌ථා කටයුතු සම්පාදන කමිටුවේ සාමාජික පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ජයම්පති වික්‍රමරත්න මහතාගේ උපදෙස්‌ මත මෙම කමිටුව ක්‍රියා කරයි.

මධ්‍යම රජය, පළාත් සභා සහ ප්‍රාදේශීය ආණ්‌ඩු අතර බල අධිකාරිය බෙදීයැම පිළිබඳ නිර්දේශ ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම මෙම කමිටුව සතු වගකීමකි.

එම කමිටුව මගින් නිර්දේශ කර ඇති යෝජනා කිහිපයක්‌ මෙසේය.

  1. දහතුන් වැනි සංශෝධනය මගින් පළාත් සභා සඳහා ලබා තිබෙන ඉඩම් බලතල තවදුරටත් ශක්‌තිමත් කොට ඉඩම් කළමනාකරණය කිරීමේ බලතල සම්පූර්¨ණයෙන්ම පළාත් සභා සඳහා පැවරීම.
  2. පළාත් පොලිස්‌ කොමිසම මධ්‍යම රජයෙන් වෙන් කිරීම සහ එහි සාමාජිකයන් පත් කිරීමේ බලය මහ ඇමැතිවරයාට ලබා දීම.
  3. දහතුන්වෙනි සංශෝධනයේ ඇති සමගාමී ලැයිස්‌තුව ඉවත් කර මධ්‍යම රාජ්‍ය සහ පළාත් රාජ්‍ය අතර නිශ්චිත ලෙස බලතල බෙදා වෙන් කිරීම.
  4. මධ්‍යම රජය සතුව දැනට පවතින, ජාතික ප්‍රතිපත්ති සැකසීමේ බලය ඉවත් කිරීම.
  5. ව්‍යවස්‌ථා අධිකරණයක්‌ පිහිටුවීම. මධ්‍යම සහ පළාත් ආණ්‌ඩු අතර ඇතිවෙන බලය බෙදාහැරීමේ ඇමිණුමේ සඳහන් බලතල සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඇතිවෙන ගැටුම් විසඳීම සදහා තීන්දු ලබාදීම ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට ඇති බලය මෙයින් අහෝසි වනු ඇත. ව්‍යවස්‌ථා අධිකරණය සඳහා සාමාජිකයන් පත් කරනුයේ ජාතිකත්ව නියෝජන පදනම යටතේය.
  6. පළාත් ආණ්‌ඩු සඳහා ස්‌වාධීන මුදල් බලතල සහ බදු එකතු කිරීමේ බලය ලබාදීම
  7. පළාත් රාජ්‍ය සේවය පාලනය පළාත් රාජ්‍ය සේවා කොමිසම යටතට පත් කරන අතර, දිස්‌ත්‍රික්‌ ලේකම්වරු සහ ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම්වරු පළාත් බලය යටතට පත් කෙරේ. මහ ඇමතිවරයා යටතට පළාත් රාජ්‍ය සේවා කොමිසම පැවරේ.
  8. ආණ්‌ඩුකාරවරයා පත් කිරීමේදී මහ ඇමතිවරයාගේ අනුමැතිය ලබා ගැනීම.
  9. පළාත් සභා අයුතු බලය යෙදවීමක යෙදෙන අවස්‌ථාවේ පළාත් සභා විසුරුවා හැරීමට ජනාධිපතිවරයාට දැනට ඇති බලතල සිමා කිරීම සිදුකෙරේ. ඒ සඳහා ව්‍යවස්‌ථා අධිකරණයේ අනුමැතිය ලබා ගැනීම.
  10. මහජන දේශපාලන අධිකාරිය හෙවත් ජනතා පරමාධිපත්‍යයේ බලය මධ්‍යම, පළාත් සහ ප්‍රාදේශීය වශයෙන් බල ව්‍යqහ තුනක්‌ අතර බෙදී යන පිළිගැනීම.
  11. පළාත් විෂයයන්ට අදාළව නීති පැනවීමේ බලය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට අහිමිවන අතර පොදු ප්‍රතිපත්ති නිර්දේශ කිරීමේ බලය ද පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට අහිමිවේ.

මනෝඡ් අබයදීර
දිවයින

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HAMBANTOTA PORT AND THE ‘KRA CANAL’ OF THAILAND.

November 21st, 2016

KAMALIKA PIERIS

When you look at the map of the world  you immediately see that   ships travelling from  Indonesia to Africa or vice versa, would have found it  helpful to  visit Sri Lanka‘s fat bottom  if they needed  a port or harbor.  It was   impossible for ships to make the long east-west journey without stopping somewhere in between, during the ‘ancient period’. Today also, Sri Lanka continues to be   located at the midpoint of east and west shipping routes  and is   well placed to offer harbor facilities.

By the end of the twentieth century, it had become clear that a second harbor was badly needed in Sri Lanka. Colombo port was declining, mainly because it lacked the necessary depth and had to be continuously dredged. Bigger ships were not coming to Colombo and the ships of the future were going to be even bigger, experts observed in 2000. ‘A modern harbor down south is a better alternative’, they said, ‘there is plenty of undeveloped land there. Cost also will be lower.  The obvious location is the 6 kilometer stretch between Devinuwara (Dondra) and Hambantota.’ Interestingly, the ancient ports of Ambalantota and Godawaya are also within this segment, close to Hambantota.

kracanal

It turned out that Hambantota itself was ideal for a new harbor. It was close to the sea lanes and   ships came within six to ten nautical miles (19 km) south of Hambantota every time they went from east to west.  Around 200 ships did so every day.  Hambantota had the three main attributes needed for a modern port, natural depth in the sea, a good mainland position close to shipping lanes and   thousands of acres of bare land.

A modern harbor has to have a depth of 20 meters to cater to deep draught ships and the ultra large container vessels. Hambantota had water depth of 16 to 18 meters at the entrance to the bay. This depth was available for 700 meters beyond so there would be no dredging after the port was built. Hambantota also had over 200 hectares of bay and over       5000 hectares of land that could be converted to a major industrial or port city. Hambantota, unlike Colombo, had no monsoon effects or environment problems either. Hambantota had ‘all the attractions of a major hub port’.

Hambantota port was ideally located for ship repairs, ship building, bunkering and off shore services, said the experts. Off shore services could be started straightaway using the private sector.  Several companies, operating from Galle port were already serving    the ships that went past, with spares, bunkers, ship stores and crew changes. These   companies said that Hambantota was more suitable than Galle, for expanding their services. They were even prepared to consider the construction of a quay for this purpose.

Hambantota could function as a transshipment harbor as well. 70% of the volume handled by the Colombo port at present was transshipment of goods imported by India,   Indian ports did not have adequate depth.  But Colombo port got only 10% of India’s goods, the rest went to Singapore. Hambantota could transship the lot.  A network of feeder services could also be developed connecting Hambantota not only with the Indian sub continent but also Australia, New Zealand, Philippines and Indonesia. Mega vessels are reluctant to call at the ports of these countries due to low cargo volumes, high port costs and the diversions involved.

A modern cost efficient harbor would attract these ships. This was the view of P &O Ports experts, as well, when they looked at Galle in the late 1980s. Hambantota port could also stimulate a major industrial complex in the area. Hambantota district would then emerge as another growth centre, creating employment and improving the social standards in the south.

Despite the perfect positioning and natural depth of Hambantota, the politicians looked elsewhere. Studies were made for Galle, which was absurd due to the rock patches in the sea bed in Galle, said experts. The two harbors that could be turned into international ports were Trincomalee and Hambantota. Trincomalee was not on the main sea lane and therefore a commercial harbor could be built only at Hambantota. We have ignored Hambantota because we were imitating the Dutch and the British, who for historical reasons were forced to use Colombo and Galle.  Observers noted that money spent on Colombo port was better spent on Hambantota.

On his journeys to Kirinda fisheries harbor in the 1970s Ariyaseela Wickremanayake had noticed the natural harbor at Hambantota lying vacant and unattended. Wickremanayake went to the ‘politicians’, complete with plans and maps. The ‘politicians’ he spoke to were interested in the idea of a harbor at Hambantota. By 2000 Hambantota’s potential was accepted, it only needed the finance.  ‘Who is going to give the money’?

It was President Mahinda Rajapakse who took the initiative on this matter. He obtained the support of    China, and started to build the Hambantota port in 2008, funded by China’s Exim Bank and executed by two Chinese construction firms. The first phase of the port was completed by 2010 and the harbor was formally declared open.

The port earned Rupees 750 million through fuel bunkering in 2014. Japanese, South Korean and Indian car makers used the port for transshipment of vehicles.  In the first nine months of 2014, the number of vehicles handled at Hambantota crossed the 100,000 mark. Tata and Maruti sent its vehicles. The biggest user of the port was the Hyundai plant near Chennai. All Hyundai vehicles made in South Korea, China and India would in future be transshipped through Hambantota.

The Yahapalana government criticized Rajapaksa’s Hambantota port loudly, but ended up signing a further contract with China in 2016, to complete the port. Hambantota port will eventually cover 4,000 acres of land and accommodate 33 vessels at any given time, making it the largest port in South Asia  It will be able to accommodate the new generation of mega ships, and is to include four terminals (12 berths,) bunkering and refueling facilities, liquid natural gas refineries, aviation fuel storage facilities, bonded export processing zone and dry docks.

Hambantota will serve as a key transit point for oil and gas tanks accessing the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Malacca straits, Gwadar in Pakistan and Sitwe in Myanmar. Hambantota will also serve as a key maritime transit point to China’s expanding investments among Indian Ocean island nations.  ‘Hambantota port is your property and a good one. It is important to Sri Lanka’ said China. ‘It is now necessary to create economic activity near the port.   Sri Lanka can attract at least five billion USD from Chinese investors in the next three years to five years’.

Hambantota is starting a career as a tourist embarkation port as well. MS Rotterdam, a luxurious Netherland owned cruise ship, belonging to the American Line shipping company with 1,400 passengers and 600 crew arrived at Hambantota in February 2016 from Cochin and passengers embarked to tour Sri Lanka.

Hambantota is ideally placed to benefit from Thailand’s Kra canal when it is constructed. The king of Thailand entertained a proposal from France In 1677,   to construct a canal across the Isthmus of Kra where the Isthmus narrows to just 75 miles. This could save 1500 nautical miles for ships on the Asia -Europe sea route and trillions of dollars on fuel. But nothing happened. In 1882, Ferdinand de Lesseps, who did the Suez Canal, visited but he was not allowed to study Kra.

In 1897 Britain persuaded Thai king not to build the Kra canal so that Singapore could continue to be an important shipping hub. Singapore was the main port in the Malacca straits and   was of great importance to Britain. The Thai king needed the British to help neutralize the French power in Indochina and maintain the independence of Thailand. He could not antagonize Britain. In 1909 Britain obtained for Thailand the rights over the north Malaya states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah and Perlis.  In 1946, there was a highly secretive peace treaty with Thailand in Singapore. Article 7 of this treaty says Siam undertakes to construct no canal linking the Indian Ocean and Kra canal without British consent.  One purpose was to protect Singapore.

Currently 50% of all oil imports and 80% of China’s exports pass through the Malacca straits. Shipping in this strait is extremely crowded and it is a haven for pirates and terrorists. The Kra canal would help ships avoid this ‘choke point’. It would also shorten transit time for shipments of oil to Japan and China by 1200 km, saving much time and fuel. China has therefore revived the Kra canal project as a part of the China’s Maritime Silk Belt.  China released details of the project at the 2015 Boao Forum. It was assumed that China was going to build the Kra canal straightaway, but China and Thailand denied this.

Wall Street Journal,   January 2016, predicted that sooner or later, the Thai government will agree to this project. The economic opportunity to become a regional maritime center, surpassing Singapore and Malaysia, is going to be too good to pass up. And China is patient enough to wait for Thailand’s approval, it said.   In September 2016, the media reported that China had obtained the contract to build a shipping canal across the Kra isthmus of Thailand. The canal will be 135 km long 400 meters wide and 30 meters deep and is expected to be completed within ten years. The width of the Kra Isthmus at its minimum is only 44 km but the height of the interior mountain chain is 75 m (246 ft).

The Kra canal will benefit Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia. Singapore will be the main loser. USA’s Pentagon 2008 ‘Joint Operation Environment Report’ said Hambantota and Kra canal were part of China’s shipping lane strategy. Hambantota will benefit only when Kra canal starts.   Cargo from India and Bangladesh to the Far East, for instance, which presently goes through Singapore,   will be diverted to Hambantota. Kra Canal will place Hambantota direct on the Asia- Europe sea route. That will be even better than the existing route.

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නැගෙනහිර පළාතෙන් පළවා හැරීමේ තර්ජනයට භාජනය වී සිටින සිංහල පදිංචිකරුවන්

November 21st, 2016

මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශක ස ෝලීය සිංහල සිංසදය

ප‍්‍රභාකරන්ගේ අවුරුදු තිහක වර්ග සංහාරය සමයේ දී උතුරු පළාතේ මෙන්ම විශේෂයෙන්ම නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ ජීවත් වූ සිංහල පදිංචිකරුවන්ට ඔවුන්ගේ ජීවිත ආරක්ෂාව පිණිස තැනින් තැනට මෙන්ම ගමින් ගමට පලා යමින් අති දුෂ්කර මෙන්ම භයානක ජීවිතයකට මුහුණ දීමට සිදු විය. මෙම කුරිරු ත‍්‍රස්තවාදී මෙන්ම ජාතිවාදී යුධ සමයේ දී කුරිරු දෙමළ ඊලාම් සාමාජිකයින් විසින්, කුඩා ළමයින් ද ඇතුළත්ව සිය දහස් ගණනක් වූ අහිංසක සිංහල වැසියන් ඉතාමත්ම අමානුශික ලෙස කපා කොටා මරා දැමූ අතර මෙවැනි දෑ තව දුරටත් දරාගත නොහැකි වූ දස දහස් ගණන් අහිංසක සිංහල ජනතාවට තම ගේ දොර මෙන්ම වගා බිම් ද අතහැර දමා පලා යාමට සිදු විය.
මෙම අමානුශික ඝාතනයන් සිදු වූ අම්පාර සහ මඩකලපුව යන දිස්ත‍්‍රික්ක වල ගම්මනයන්ගේ නම් හා එම ගම්මාන වල මරණ සංඛ්‍යා සහිතව ඉදිරිපත් කරන්නේ නම්,
අරන්තලාව (මරණ සංඛ්‍යාව 34*,
පොතුවිල් (25*,
තිරුක්කෝවිල් (678*,
පෙරවෙල්තලාව (9*,
බෝගමුව (25*,
ලාහුගල (16*,
බොරපොල (9*,
අම්පාර නගරය (25*,
209 සැතපුම් කණුව (14*,
මංගලගම (16*,
පානම (12*,
උහන (5*,
උවරගල්තැන්න (2*,
ඉගිනියාගල (11*,
ගෝනගල (57*,
මඩකලපුව (14*,
එරාවූර් (25*,
මංදෙණිය (3*
වන අතර, වාර්තා ගත නොවී ඝාතනය වී ඇති සංඛ්‍යාවද අති විශාලය. කොටියා බලාපොරොත්තු වූ ආකාරයටම මෙම ඉතා කෲර හා අමානුශික ඝාතන හේතුකොට ගෙන පන බේරා ගත් අහිංසක සිංහල ජනතාවට ඇති වූ මානසික අස්ථාවරයන් හා භීෂණයන් නිසා බොහෝ අය නැගෙනහිර පළාතෙන් සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම ඉවත් වී සාමය හා ස්ථාවරත්වය සොයා වෙනත් සාමකාමී පළාත් වලට යාමට තීරණය කළ අතර, තවත් බොහෝ අහිංසක සිංහල ජනයාට හමුදා ආරක්ෂා සහිතව තම ගම් බිම් වලට කිට්ටුව නැගෙනහිර පළාත තුළම අනාථ කදවුරු ආකාරයෙන් සකස් වූ තැන් වල ජීවිත ගැට ගසා ගැනීම හැර වෙන අන් කිසි මඟක් නොවීය.
ඇමරිකාව, එංගලන්තය වැනි බලගතු බටහිර රටවල් විසින් ප‍්‍රකාශ කර තිබූ ආකාරයට යුද්ධයෙන් පරාජයට පත් කළ නොහැකි එල් ටී ටී ඊ නායක ප‍්‍රභාකරන්ව එවක සිටි මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපති හා විරෝදාර හමුදාව විසින් ස්ථිර වශයෙන්ම ඉතා ජයග‍්‍රාහී ලෙස පරාජයට පත් කළ පසුව, මෙම නැගෙනහිර පළාත් වල යුද්ධයට පෙර ජීවිකාව කරගෙන ගිය සිංහල ජනතාවගෙන් සමහරක් නැවතත් තම ගම් බිම් වලට පැමිණ තමන්ගේ ශක්තියට අනුව පැල්කොට සාදාගෙන නැවත වරක් සාමකාමී ලෙස තම තමන්ගේ ගොවිතැන් බත් කරගෙන සිතේ භයකින් තොරව සැහැල්ලූවෙන් ජීවත් වීමට පටන් ගත්හ. මෙම අහිංසක සිංහල ජනතාවගේ ඒකායන පරමාර්ථය වූයේ තම තමන්ගේ ගොවිතැන් බත් කරගනිමින් සාමකාමීව ජීවත් වීමට වුවත්, එදා තමන් ඉදිරියේ පෙනෙන්නට තිබූ සියලූ සිංහල ගම්මාන හා වැසියන් විනාශ කරමින් ඉදිරියට ඇදුනු ම්ලේච්ඡු කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගෙන් බේරීමට හදිසියේම පලා යාමට සිදු වූ මෙම අහිංසක පිරිස් වලට, ඔවුන්ගේ ගොවිපළවල් ආදියට ඇති අයිතිය ඔප්පු කිරීම පිණිස ඔවුන් අත තිබූ කිසිම නීත්‍යනුකූල ලියවිල්ලක් රැුගෙන යාමට අමතක වීම දැන් දැන් ප‍්‍රශ්නයක් බවට පත් කිරීමට යම් යම් වර්ගවාදී දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් දේශපාලකයන් සහ වර්ගවාදී දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් නිලධාරීන් උත්සාහ දරමින් සිටිති.
දැන් උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් මංගලගම, කෙවිල්යාමඩුව සහ කොහොඹගස්තලාව ආදී ගම් වල බිහි වී ඇති මෙම නව සිංහල ගම්මාන හා නිවාස වලට තදින්ම විරුද්ධ වන වර්ගවාදී දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් දේශපාලකයන් සහ වර්ගවාදී දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් නිලධාරීන් ව්‍යාජ අප‍්‍රසාදයන් පෙන්නුම් කරමින් මෙම අහිංසක සිංහල ජනතාවගෙන්, ගේ දොර හා ඉඩම් වලට හිමිකම් ඔප්පු වහාම ඉදිරිපත් කළ යුතු බව කියමින් හිරිහැර කිරීම අරඹා ඇත. දැනට උද්ගත වී ඇති තත්වයන්ට අනුව මෙම අහිංසක සිංහල ගොවි ජනතාවට මුහුණ පෑමට ඇති මහා ඛේදවාචකය වනුයේ, තම තමන්ගේ ගොවිපළවල් වලින් පවතින නීතියට අනුව බලහත්කාරයෙන් එළියට ඇඳ දැමීමේ තර්ජනයට කොයි මොහොතේ හෝ මුහුණ දීමට සිදු වීමයි.
සෑම දෙයක්ම විනාශ කරමින් මිනිස් ජීවිත තුට්ටුවකටවත් නොසලකා ඉදිරියට එන කුරිරු කොටියා දැක භීතියට පත්ව මර බියෙන් දිවෙන අහිංසක සිංහලයා තම තමන්ගේ හිමිකම් ඔප්පු ගෙන යා යුතුව තිබුනේ යැයි, යන වර්ගවාදී දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් දේශපාලකයන් සහ වර්ගවාදී දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් නිලධාරීන්ගේ තර්කය හාස්‍යජනකය. එම නිසා අප රටේ නව ජනාධිපති මෛත‍්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතා හා මධ්‍යම රජය විසින් වහාම මැදිහත් වී, සෑම පැත්තෙන්ම බැට කා ඇති අපේ මෙම අහිංසක ජනතාවට සාමයෙන් ජීවත් වීම පිණිස යම් කිසි ස්ථිරසාර විසදුමක් වහාම සලස්වා දිය යුතුව ඇත.
රන්ජිත් සසොයිසා
මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශක
ස ෝලීය සිංහල සිංසදය

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Tongue-in cheek Budget

November 21st, 2016

By  I.P.C. Mendis Courtesy: Island

November 20, 2016, 8:30 pm

“The mountain laboured and brought forth a mouse ” goes the famous saying. Finance Minister Ravi Karunayakes’s pre-budget inspiratory  assurance of a budget that would jolt the people with “Holman” (Ghosts), proved to be a damp squib and much before the people realised it, some Members of Parliament were seen non-plussed, yawning, otherwise pre-occupied or simply dozing ! Such an incoherent budget, the country had not seen. Much of it would have been relevant for a Throne Speech and not a Budget Speech which is normally expected to detail the state of the economy and how best it is proposed to tackle problems, how to bridge the deficit between revenue and expenditure and what the future holds. Gone are the days when Budget Speeches were excellent material for students. The rot set in when President Premadasa found no use of such time-consuming thesis and wanted the speech restricted to 45 minutes. The debate itself was fixed for the following day leaving practically no time for front-liners in the Opposition to study. Minister Karunanayake seems to have realised the importance of the budget speech as of old but failed miserably in its art and substance. The Finance Minister needs to realise that in a situation where some 31 of his proposals in Budget Speech 2016 have not seen the light of day, he must necessarily be circumspect in his euphoria for 2017. He appears very thick-skinned to risk another set, most of which have the potential of suffering the same fate. A Finance Minister who had assured senior citizens last year that an additional Rs.500,000 would be available for investment at 15% interest (in addition to the one million already authorised)  must be very bold  to repeat it without so much as an apology. A Minister who had already taxed Ceylon Tobacco at 90% and crowed about it  must be shameless to make a “request” of the company to fork out Rs. 500 mn.  to the President’s Fund in the bid to fight cancer. Quite apart from the ethics of it and the cynicism to get the company to virtually fasttrack its own demise what prospective investors both local and foreign will make of it is another matter.

Nor does it appear that sufficient attention has been paid to making it prohibitive for illicit hooch manufacture and the possibility of it being controlled through heavy taxes on some raw material used in its manufacture. Make no mistake – the “request” to CTC is not an innocent one. The CTC is faced with a “Hobson’s Choice”. It looks more in retaliation for what is said to have happened in the past which  has now been made common knowledge through TV coverage. This comes from a government which pledged to eradicate inter alia, thuggery, intimidation and corruption. The Finance Minister (by implication the government)  has in desperation done a Marie Antoinette by proposing to replace three-wheelers with electric cars gradually! As a first step the import duty has been increased. An encouragement for organized transport of another hue to benefit people with capital, edging out the poor man.

The Icing on the Cake

The icing on the cake comes from the Finance Minister himself in blaming the media

for allegedly mis-interpreting the proposal to impose a minimum fine of Rs.2500/- for traffic offences. The day before he issued a statement refusing to retract. Never did he mention then about a mis-interpretation. Gemunu Wijeratne the private bus boss when asked by the media what the correct interpretation was, sarcastically replied that the question needs to be answered by the Minister. The Minister’s recourse to the Cabinet on this issue, per se, is sufficient evidence that there was no such mis-interpretation.

Some comments on selected

proposals are as follows –

Para 144 – Paying wards in state hospitals to be run together with private sector. Also, private medical testing laboratories to be permitted in state hospitals. – Indeed, a step to legitimize the already prevalent practice of getting patients to patronize private laboratories. While specialist doctors are entitled to private practice only outside working hours, they will henceforth be quite happy utilizing duty time also using state facilities – the non-paying category being the poorer by their studied absence in wards. The malady is bound to spread among all doctors and will lead to unrest among other categories working in non-paying wards. It seems a first step to privatise para medical services.

Para 177 – Five-year multiple visas to be issued to foreign investors and their skilled expatriate labour. This comes ill from a government which heavily criticised the employment of skilled expatriate labour, particularly related to Chinese and Korean contracts. It forebodes an opening into the provisions of the ETCA Agreement proposed despite protestations to the contrary. It is also significant that the budget speech is strangely silent on the prospects of the ETCA Agreement which it is hell-bent on signing.

Paras 204 to 207 – Proposal to set up a Maritime Authority. Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. Faced with great odds from international big business, including the all- powerful Conference Lines, the 1970 government of Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike succeeded in establishing two vital legal entities, namely, the Ceylon Shipping Corporation and the Ceylon Freight Bureau. The government did not fund the purchase of vessels and the CSC resorted to commercial loans guaranteed by government. The Freight Bureau ensured the equitable allocation of cargo and it was such a success that certain other countries interested themselves in the institutional framework – Came the 1977 government, and they were both deliberately run down. With all its good intentions the present government needs to get its priorities correct. National interests cannot be ensured with untrammeled “laissez faire” . The dockyard was part of the then Colombo Port Commission and the 1970 government carved it out from an Advance Account facility to a government/private sector (S.P. Tao of Singapore) company and this bold decision has made Colombo Dockyard to stand on its own and be proud of its achievements.

Para 245 – The Minister places emphasis on the importance of expressways and takes pride on reducing costs by 22%. He does not comment on the alleged reduction of lanes from six to four which will contribute to congestion in the future as already experienced during some seasons, even in the Southern and Katunayake expressways. He also does not compare the comparative costs between the already constructed ones and new tenders entered into by the present government.

Para 485 – Fee on filing a court case. This is most unjust and unfair. It erodes the freedom of the individual to seek justice. The citizen is not to blame for the inefficiency and mishandling by the State. The laws delays were consciously and deliberately enhanced by the actions of the UNP government of 1977 by, inter alia, restoring testamentary proceedings held by the Public Trustee back to District Courts and upsetting other arrangements introduced by the UF government of 1970 which benefited litigants and reduced delays. Delays are also due to most lawyers living on dates. It is up to government to strengthen the judicial set-up by revising some of the archaic legislation and procedures without squeezing the public dry.

The stoic silence on the effects on the economy on the stoppage of work on the Port City and some other important projects and the causes for exchange rate fluctuations is deafening !

(The author was a former Addl. Director (Budget) in the General Treasury and a former Deputy Director, Merchant Shipping in the Ministry of Ship[ping & Tourism)

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Dinesh warns of a coup if erosion of democracy continues

November 21st, 2016

by Saman Indrajith Courtesy: Island

November 20, 2016, 9:46 pm

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Joint Opposition and MEP Leader Dinesh Gunawardena, in Parliament, on Saturday, warned that there might be a military coup if the government didn’t take immediate action to arrest the rapid deterioration of democracy in the country.

Participating in the third reading of budget debate on the expenditure of heads of the President’s and Prime Minister’s offices, the JO leader said that democratic values were eroding under the present regime. When the JO leader made the warning, President Maithripala Sirisena, too, was in Parliament.

“Although the government members boast of pruning of powers of the executive presidency, the post has gained some more powers. None in this country will approve of the way the government attacked disabled ex-servicemen,” MP Gunawardena said, requesting the government not to allow repetition of such unfortunate incidents.

“The government has not given the Joint Opposition the status it deserves in Parliament. Our privileges have been breached. We have been deprived of our rights as representatives of the people. We are not given due time in debates and thereby our voice has been suppressed.

“When you deprive the Opposition of its democratic rights democracy suffers.  You do not hold elections. How can one say this country is democratic when you keep postponing elections in this manner?

“Does the Financial Crimes Investigation Division act according to the principles of democracy? The FCID follows the orders issued to them by a committee functioning under the Prime Minister. If this situation continues destroying democracy, soon there could be a military coup.”

Deputy Minister of Social Empowerment and Welfare Ranjan Ramanayake: “You are talking of the failed coup attempt of Jan 08, 2015. We have information that several others including Mohan Peiris, Daya Ratnayake, Karunaratne Hangawatte and Udaya Gammanpila plotted on that night to launch a military coup so stay in power. Fortunately, our war heroes did not fall in line. We do not think our security forces can be used for a such a disgraceful act.”

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මා කී දේ සිදුවෙනවා නියතයි.. රනිල් ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් ජනපති වෙනවා.. ජනාධිපතිවණයෙන් ගෝටාභය ජනපති වීම ස්ථිරමයි..

November 21st, 2016
 lanka C news | ලංකා සී නිවුස්මා කී දේ සිදුවෙනවා නියතයි.. රනිල් ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් ජනපති වෙනවා.. ජනාධිපතිවණයෙන් ගෝටාභය ජනපති වීම ස්ථිරමයි..තමන් කලින් පල කරන ලද අනාවැකිය ස්ථිර වශයෙන්ම සත්‍ය වන බව ප‍්‍රවීණ ජ්‍යෙතිර්වේදී විජ්ත් රෝහණ විජේමුණි මහතා පවසයි.

ඉන් අනතුරව ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුව අගමැති රනිල් වික‍්‍රමසිංහ මහතා මෙරට ජනාධිපති ධුරයට පත්වන බවද ඔහු සිය නිල ෆේස්බුක් ගිණුම ඔස්සේ වීඩියෝවක් නිකුත් කරමින් සදහන් කරයි.

කෙසේ වෙතත් ඉන් පසු පැවැත්වෙන ජනාධිපතිවරනයෙන් වැඩි ඡන්ද ලක්‍ෂ පහකට වඩා ලබා ගනිමින් හිටපු ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම් ගෝටාභය රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා ස්ථිර වශයෙන්ම මෙරට ජනාධිපති ධුරයට පත්වන බවද එම වීඩියෝවෙන් ඔහු සදහන් කරයි.

මේ සිදුවීම් සිදු නොවන්නේ නම් තමන් ඉදිරියේදී ජ්‍යෙතිෂ අනාවැකි කීම සම්පුර්ණයෙන්ම අතහැර දමන බවද ඔහු වැඩි දුරටත් කියා සිටී.

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China, Sri Lanka at loggerheads over interest rates

November 21st, 2016

By Munza Mushtaq Courtesy:  atimes.com

COLOMBO – While the world focused on Donald Trump’s shocking victory at the US Presidential Election, another global superpower was at loggerheads with tiny Sri Lanka after a senior minister in the Sri Lankan government accused China of lending money to the island nation at much higher interest rates than the accepted lending rates.

Sparks have been flying since the beginning of November between Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake and Chinese Ambassador Yi Xianliang, after the Ambassador had claimed that many in the Sri Lankan government including Karunanayake had made statements to the effect that the interest rates on the Chinese loans were expensive. Some ministers say our interest rates are expensive, this is unfair,” Xianliang said. He had also questioned as to why the Sri Lankan government was then seeking more loans if the interest rates were already so ‘high.’

The Ambassador said China considers Sri Lanka a ‘friend country’ and therefore offers loans at a much better rate than other nations do to Sri Lanka. We give loans to developing countries like Sri Lanka at 2% interest and not 5% like most other countries,” he said.

Sri Lankan people and the government must have gratitude,” Xianliang said. He also claimed that the Sri Lankan government took loans from Europe last year, with a high interest rate of 5.8% against China’s 2%.

However, in response to the Ambassador’s statement, Karunanayake said that in the past, China had granted loans to Sri Lanka at an interest rate in excess of 5%. The Finance Minister emphasized that development loans are usually given out at 2%, while commercial loans are granted at an interest rate between 6% to 8%. But, Chinese loans had been given to Sri Lanka at an interest rate in excess of 5%,” he said, while adding that even international lending agencies grant loans at an interest rate of less than 2%.

When Xianliang said that his country gives loans at a 2% interest rate to developing countries like Sri Lanka, Karunanayake was quick to retort that, if that was the case, then the present government was happy to pay the loans at a 2% interest rate.

If they (China) gave us loans at an interest rate of 2%, then we are ready to pay the same 2%. But, I reject the Ambassador’s statement, and we are taking every effort to reduce the interest rate from China,” Karunanayake added, while also denying the Ambassador’s claim that his government had taken any loans from any European country.

As the verbal battle ensued between both Karunanayake and Xianliang, Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry had to intervene to settle matters by telephoning the Ambassador. Even though the foreign ministry initially decided to summon Xianliang to the ministry, on advice from the higher authorities, it was decided against the move, as it could antagonize the Chinese government, and put a strain to the recently renewed relations between the coalition government and China.

Following the statement by the Ambassador, Sri Lanka’s foreign secretary Esala Weerakoon telephoned Xianliang to officially express the Sri Lankan government’s concern over the matter. During the conversation, Weerakoon told Xianliang that he should not communicate his concerns about any issue through the media, and instead they should be directly discussed with the government. The Sri
Lankan government also communicated to the Chinese government that they are prepared to discuss any concerns that may have arisen following the row.

However, the Chinese government was quick to defend it’s envoy’s statement claiming that the Ambassador had only ‘clarified’ misunderstanding and misleading statements in relations to Sri Lanka and China’s cooperation. The Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka exchanged views with friends from the media on China-Sri Lanka relations and the status quo of bilateral cooperation and clarified some misunderstandings and misleading remarks regarding China-Sri Lanka cooperation at a seminar,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang was quoted as saying to PTI.

Since President Maithripala Sirisena came to power in January last year, Sri Lanka’s relationship with China has been somewhat strained, after Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe suspended the US$1.4 billion offshore development project known as the ‘Colombo Port City’ citing corruption and procedural irregularities, just months after taking office.

The Chinese funded project was the brainchild of ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa who is well known for his pro-china stance. During, Rajapaksa’s term, the relationship between the two countries was at an all-time high, specially after China offered military support to Sri Lanka to fight the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), bringing a quarter century long war to an end, with the leader of the group, V. Prabhakaran being killed by the Sri Lanka military in 2009, and subsequently China investing in almost every infrastructure project during Rajapaksa’s rule, post war.

However, pressure from China and the failure of Sirisena and Wickremesinghe to secure significant foreign funding from other countries to kick-start various other development projects led to the lifting of the suspension of the project. It was given the green light mid this year, after several changes were made to the original agreement and the project was rebranded as the ‘Colombo International Financial City’.

Since coming to power, the current government continues to claim that it is saddled with a massive debt left by the Rajapaksa administration. Premier Wickremesinghe told Parliament this year that his government had to pay a debt of almost Rs. 10 trillion (Sri Lankan Rupees) which was left by the Rajapaksa administration, borrowed heavily for various extravagant projects including an unused international airport in ex-President’s hometown, Hambantota.

During a visit to China in April this year, Wickremesinghe has been attempting to renegotiate the terms of an US$8 billion debt Sri Lanka owes China, taken during Rajapaksa’s tenure. We’ve been talking with some companies and also the government of China about the possibility of some infrastructure projects becoming public-private partnerships, in which, part of the debt will become equity held by the Chinese companies,” he told reports in China during his visit.

By the end of 2015, China has completed infrastructure construction projects worth US$15.5 billion in Sri Lanka, which includes airports, ports, highways and other development projects, majority of which was carried out during Rajapaksa’s administration.

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ජනමාධ්‍ය ලේකම්තුමාගේ රතු කට්ට පනී

November 21st, 2016

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි

ජනමාධ්‍ය ලේකම්තුමා තෙවන වරටත් දෙරණ නාලිකාවට තර්ජනාංගුලිය ඔසවා ඇත. පළමුව, ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ කතාවක් කාගේදෝ අභිමතයට අනුකුලව විකාශනය කර් නැති යන පැමිණිල්ල ඉදිරිපත් කරමින් ආරම්භ කරන් ලද මේ යහපාලන මාධ්‍ය  රංගනයත්  සමග බෝපගේ නමින් යුත් ජනමාධ්‍ය ලේකම් වරයකුද සිටින බව් මෙරට ජනතාවට දැනගැනීමට ලැබිණි.

බෝපගේ මහතට පැමිණිල්ලක් ලැබී ඇත. ඒ පැමිණිල්ල අදෘශ්‍යමාන චරිතයක් විය නොහැක. ඒ පැමිණිල්ල සිදුකල පුද්ගලයා කව්දැයි ජනමාධ්‍ය ලේකම්තුමා පළමුව හෙලිකල යුතුය. අදෘශ්‍යමාන පමිනිලිකරුවෙකුගේ  පැමිණිල්ලකට පිළිතුර වියයුත්තේ ‘කරුණාකර සම්පුර්ණ පැමිණිල්ල හා පැමිණිලිකරු කව්දැයි සදහන් කරන්න. එවිට අප පිළිතුරු දෙන්නම් යන්නයි’ නමුත් දෙරණ නාලිකාව ඒ වෙනුවට මේ  සම්බන්ධව සිය ප්‍රේක්ෂක ජනතාවට කිසිවක් නොකියාම ජනමාධ්‍ය ලේකම්තුමාට පිළිතුරු ලිපියක් යවා ඇත. යවන ලද පිළිතුරු ලිපියෙහි අඩංගු කරුණු නොසලකා හැර දෙවන ලිපියකින් යලිත් එම තර්ජනංගුලියම දෙරණ නාලිකාව වෙත එවීමට ජනමාධ්‍ය ලේකම්තුමා කටයුතු කිරීමත් සමගම මේ ලෝකධාතුව තුල ජනමාධ්‍ය ආයතනයක් ලෙස කටයුතු කරන දෙරණ ආයතනයට මේ එන්නේ ජනමාධ්‍ය ලේකම්තුමා නොව යක්ෂයා වබ වටහා ගැනීමට තරම් ශක්තියක් තිබී ඇත.

ජනමාධ්‍ය ලේකම්තුමා හා යක්ෂයා අතර වෙනස මනාව දන්නා එම නාලිකාව මේ රටේ සැබෑ අයිතිකරුවන් හා විනිසුරුවන් වන ජනතාවට මේ අවනඩුව ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට තීරණයකර ඇති බව ඉතා පැහැදිලිය.ඒ අනුව, දෙරණ නාලිකාව ආරම්භයේ සිට සිදුව ඇතිදේ ජනතාවට ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලදී.ඉදිරිපත්ව ඇති කරුණු අනුව මේය ජනමාධ්‍යා  ලේකම්තුමාට පැවරී ඇති ඉතා වැදගත් සුවිශේෂ කටයුත්තක් බව වැටහේ. ඔහුට පවරන ලද එතරම් වැදගත්වූ කටයුත්තක් උදෙසා, ඔහු විසින් සකස්කර අත්සන් කරන ලද ලිපිය දින ගනනාවක් පමාකර දෙරණ නාලිකාවට ලැබීමට සැලසීම තුලින් ඔහු පෙන්නා දෙන්නේ, මේ ලිපිය ඔහුට එතරම් වැදගත් ලිපියක් නොවන බවයි. නමුත් ඔහු මෙතෙක් ඉදිරිපත් නොකරන අදෘශ්‍යමාන පැමිණිලිකරුට එය ඉතා වැදගත් බැවින්, ඔහු විදේශගතව සිටින අවස්තාවේදී ලද බලවත් පීඩාකාරී තත්වය හමුවේ, ජනමාධ්‍ය ලේකම්තුමාට අනපේක්ෂිත ආකාරයට තවත් තර්ජනාත්මක ලිපියක් දෙරණ නාලිකාව වෙත එවීමට සිදුව ඇත. එම තෙවන ලිපියේ හරය විසින් ජනමාධ්‍ය ලේකම්තුමාව ඉතා පහල තත්වයකට ඇද දමා ඇත. එය කෙසේද යත් ජන වහරේ ඇති අලි ඇතුන්ගේ සංසර්ගයකට උපකාර කිරීමට ගිය වදුරාට සිදුවුදෙයට සමාන සිදුවීමකට ජනමාධ්‍ය ලේකම්තුම මුහුණ දෙමින් සිටී. මේ වනවිට දෙරණ රුපවාහිනී නාලිකාව ඉතා ප්‍රබුද්ධ ආකාරයට සිය කටයුත්ත හසුරවමින් සිටින බැවින් සිදුව ඇති සියලුම දේ සම්බන්ධව ඉතා පැහැදිලි වැටහීමක් ඇති ජනතාව අන් සියලු දේ දෙසම බල සිටින ආකාරයටම මේ සිදුවීම දෙසත් බල සිටි.

මේ සම්බන්ධව ජනතාවට පැවසීමට ඇති දේ මෙතෙකැයි කිව නොහැක. නිසි කලට නිසි වෙලාවට ඔවුන්ගේ පිළිතුර මේ යයි ඔවුන් පවසනු ඇත.  පැමිනිලිකරුවෙකුගේ

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2017 අයවැය නංගි පෙන්නලා අක්කා දීග දෙන්න හදපු අයවැයක් නිසා ශ‍්‍රී ලංගම සේවකයින්ට ඉදිරියේ දී දැඩි වෘත්තීය ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ගයන් වලට පිවිසීමට අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම සිදුවේ. – 2016. 11. 21

November 21st, 2016

සමස්ත ලංකා ප‍්‍රවාහන සේවක සංගමය.

2017 අයවැය නංගි පෙන්නලා අක්කා දීග දෙන්න හදපු අයවැයක් නිසා ශ‍්‍රී ලංගම සේවකයින්ට ඉදිරියේ දී දැඩි වෘත්තීය ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ගයන් වලට පිවිසීමට අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම සිදුවේ.

අප රට පරාධීනත්වයට යටත් කරන, ජනතාවට දිගින් දිගටම පීඩාවන් ලබා දෙන රජයේ ආයතන පෞද්ගලිකකරණය කරනු ලබන 2017 අයවැය ජනතා ද්‍රෝහී අයවැයක් ලෙස අප සංගමය දැඩි වගකීමකින් යුතුව ප‍්‍රකාශ කරනු ලබන්නෙමු.
 
ඇතැම් වෘත්තීය සමිති සහ සංවිධාන වාහන වලට රුපියල් 2500ක දඩ මුදලක් අය කර ගැනීමේ යෝජනාව පමණක් ඉදිරියට ගෙන එම දඩ මුදල අය කර ගැනීමේ යෝජනාව හකුළා ගන්නා ලෙස වෘත්තීය ක‍්‍රියාාර්ගයන් ගන්නා බවට මාධ්‍යයට ප‍්‍රකාශ කර ඇත. මේ තුළින් පිළිිබිඹු වන්නේ 2017 අයවැය ලේඛනය තුල අනෙකුත් සියළුම යෝජනා ජනතා හිතවාදී බවය. අප සංගමය රු. 2500ක මුදලක් දඩ වශයෙන් අය කර ගැනීමට යෝජනා කිරීම දැඩි සේ හෙලා දකින අතර, 2017 සමස්ත අයවැයම ජනතා ද්‍රෝහී අයවැයක් ලෙස හෙළිදරව් කරන්නෙමු.

2015 ජනවාරි 8 වන දින ජනතාව බලාපොරොත්තු වූ සියළුම බලාපොරොත්තු 2017 අයවැය තුලින් පැහැදිලිව බිඳ දමා ඇත. ප‍්‍රවාහන අමාත්‍යාංශයට වෙන් කර ඇත්තේ රුපියල් කෝටි 6500කට ආසන්න මුදලකි. ප‍්‍රවාහන අමාත්‍යාංශයට අයත් සියළුම ආයතන සඳහා මෙම මුදල කිසිසේත්ම ප‍්‍රමාණවත් නොවේ. ශ‍්‍රී ලංගමයට පමණක් පුනරාවර්තන වියදම් හා ප‍්‍රාග්ධන වියදම් සඳහා රුපියල් කෝටි 1900කට වැඩි මුදලක් අනිවාර්යයෙන් අවශ්‍ය වේ. ප‍්‍රවාහන අමාත්‍යාංශයට වෙන් කර ඇති සොච්චම් මුදල හේතු පාදක කරගෙන ශ‍්‍රී ලංගමයට අත්‍යාවශ්‍ය රුපියල් කෝටි 1900ක මුදල කිසිසේත්ම ලබා නොදේ. එම නිසා ශ‍්‍රී ලංගම සේවයකයින්ට 2017 අයවැය තුලින් සිදුකරන ප‍්‍රතිපාදන කප්පාදුවට එරෙහිව ඉදිරියේදී දැවැන්ත වෘත්තීය ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ගයක් ගැනීමට අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම සිදුවේ.

රජයේ රෝහල් වල පුද්ගලික වාට්ටු ඇතිකිරීමේ ක‍්‍රියාවලියට එරෙහිවත් ජනතාවට අධික ලෙස බදු මුදල් ගැසීමට එරෙහිවත් ශ‍්‍රී ලංගමයට ලබා දිය යුතු ප‍්‍රතිපාදන කප්පාදු කිරීමට එරෙහිවත් රුපියල් 2500 අසාධාරණ දඩ මුදල් අය කිරීමේ ක‍්‍රියාවලියට එරෙහිවත් සමස්ත අයවැය ලේඛනයෙන් ජනතාව පීඩාවට පත් කිරීමේ ක‍්‍රියාවලියට එරෙහිවත් දැවැන්ත වෘත්තීය ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ගයක් ගැනීමට ඉදිරියේ දී සූදානම් වන ලෙස රුපියල් 2500 දඩ මුදලට පමණක් එරෙහිව වෘත්තීය ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ග තෝරන සියළුම වෘත්තීය සමිති වලට සහ සියළුම සංවිධාන වලට අප වෘත්තීය සමිතිය විවෘතව ඇරයුම් කරන්නෙමු.

ස්තූතියි,
මෙයට විශ්වාසී,
සේපාල ලියනගේ                 සම්බන්ධීකරණය  – 071-5152319
ප‍්‍රධාන ලේකම්,
සමස්ත ලංකා ප‍්‍රවාහන සේවක සංගමය.

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නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව සඳහා යෝජනා ප‍්‍රතික්ෂේප කරනු

November 21st, 2016

මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයයි රංජිත් සොයිසා මාධ්‍ය ප‍්‍රකාශක ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා ගෝලීය සංසදය වෙනුවෙන්

20 න ොවැම්බර් 2016
ශ‍්‍රී ලාංකීය ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදී සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ මධ්‍යම පර්යන්ත සබඳතා විනාශ කිරීමට ඉලක්ක කරගෙන ඇති යෝජිත නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව ප‍්‍රතික්ෂේප කිරීම.
පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී අදහස් දැක් වූ පරිදි 2016 මැයි මස දී මුණ ගැසුණු සාමාජිකයින් 11 දෙනාගේ කමිටුව අවසන් වශයෙන් අගෝස්තු මස 27 වන දින මුණ ගැසී දැනට ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති යෝජනා හරහා ජාතික ප‍්‍රර්ථනාවන් ප‍්‍රතික්ෂේප කරනු ලබන්නේ මධ්‍යම රජය දුර්වල වන පරිදි පළාත් සභා වලට මෙම යෝජනා වලින් මුල් තැන ලැබෙන නිසාය. මෙම කමිටුව ගෙන ඇති තීරණය සාධාරධෑකරණය කිරීමේ වස් ඔවුන් පුන පුනා ඉදිරිපත් කරන එකම එක හේතුව වන්නේ, ඇති වන ප‍්‍රශ්න වලදී පර්යන්ත සභා වලට වඩා මධ්‍යම රජයට ලැබෙන නොහබිනා වාසි ගැන සඳහන් කිරීමෙනි. බෙදුම්වාදී ත‍්‍රස්තවාදී කල්ලි වලට සාර්ථකව මුහුණ දුන් රජයකට තව දුරටත් එවැනිම බෙදුම්වාදී අයිතිවාසිකම් කියාගෙන එන යුගයක රටක් සාර්ථක ලෙස පාලනය කිරීම සඳහා ඔවුන් නැවත නැවතත් කියන්නේ ඵලදායී සම්බන්ධතා වලට ඇති වන බාධක” රජයකට නිසි පාලනය සඳහා විශ්වාසයකින් යුක්තව ලබා දී ඇති විශේෂ වූ බලතල හඳුනා ගත යුතු බවය.
මෙම ව්‍යවස්ථා වෙනස්කම් වල අරමුණු වන්නේ පවතින මධ්‍යම රජයක ඇති බලතල ක‍්‍රමානුකූලව ශුන්‍ය කිරීමත්, බෙදුම්වාදී අරමුණු ඇති පළාත් සභා වලට පුර්ණ ස්වාධීනත්වයක් ලබා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය නීතිමය සන්නද්ධ කිරීම් ලබා දීමත්ය. මෙම වාර්තාවෙන් පැහැදිලිව ප‍්‍රකාශ වන්නේ ඒකීය රාජ්‍ය ක‍්‍රමය පැහැදිලිවම සම්මුතියට බාධකයක් වන හෙයින් මෙහි ඇති සැඟවුණු න්‍යාය පත‍්‍රය යා යුතු මඟ පෙන්නුම් කරයි. කෙටියෙන්ම කියන්නේ නම් මෙම කමිටුව නිර්ලැජ්ජා ලෙස ප‍්‍රශිද්ධියේ පවසන්නේ ෆෙඩරල් රාජ්‍යයක් ඇති වීම ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවට ඉතා සුදුසු බවය. මෙහි යථාර්තය වන්නේ මෙම මාර්ගයේ ගමන් කළ හොත් ඒකීය ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදී සමාජවාදී ජනරජයක්ව පවතින අපේ ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාව කැබලි වලට කැඞී බිදී යෑමයි!
මෙම කමිටුව විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද සමහර යෝජනා මෙසේය.
1ග දැනට පවතින පරිදි පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයා මධ්‍යම රජයේ නියෝජිතයෙක් ලෙසට පිළිගැනෙන බලතල වෙනස් කොට ඔහු පළාත් සභා ක‍්‍රමයේ නාමික වශයෙන් ප‍්‍රධානියා ලෙස පත් කිරීම.
2ග පළාත් වල රාජ්‍ය සේවය ඍජුවම පළාත් සභා කොමිසම යටතට ගැනීම.
3ග දැනට පවතින ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ ඇති සමකාලීන ලැයිස්තු අවලංගු කොට බලය බෙදා දීමේ හරය සවිමත් කිරීම.
4ග පළාත් සභා යටතේ පාලනය වන පොලිස් සේවාවන් සියල්ල නවතම පළාත් සභා කොමිසමේ බලතල හා පාලනය යටතට ගැනීම.
5ග පළාත් සභාවට අදාළ සියලූම රජයේ ඉඩම් පරිපාලනය කළ යුතු වන්නේ අදාල පළාත් සභාව විසිනි.
මීට අමතරව නිර්දේශ කරන ලද අනිකුත් දේවල් වනුයේ මුල්‍යමය කටයුතු වලට අදාළ වන දේ හා අදායම් බදු එකතු කිරීම, පාර්ලිමේන්තු නීති හා අතිරේක ලැයිස්තු ආදියයි. දැන් පවතින ක‍්‍රමය අයත් වන්නේ පිරමීඩාකාර ධූරාවලියේ ව්‍යුහයකට වුවද මෙයින් පර්යන්ත පළාත් වලට බලපෑමක් ඇති වන පරිදි කටයුතු සිදු නොවේ. වඩා වඩාත් බලය බෙදා දීමේ කටයුතු ගැන ක‍්‍රියාකාරී වන එහෙ මෙහෙ පැතිර සිට මෙවැනි දේ යෝජනා කරන අය පර්යන්ත බලගතු කිරීමට හදන දේ ගැන තේරුම් ගැනීම එතරම් අපහසු නැත. මින් මතු වන්නේ ”මධ්‍යම රජයෙන් ස්වාධීනව කටයුතු කිරීමට බලාපොරොත්තු වන පළාත් බලය බෙදා ගැනීමෙන් සංකේතවත් වන යම් යම් අධිකාරී බලයකින් යුත් බිම් කොටස් වෙන් කළ යුතුයි යන වැරදි අදහසයි”. රජය හා පළාත් එකට එකතු වී සුහදව කටයුතු කිරීමත් බලය බෙදා ගැනීමක් බව පිළිගැනීමට මේ අයට නොහැකි වී ඇත. ජාතික අභිවෘද්ධිය ගැන සිතන විට පළාත් සභා අනිවාර්යෙන්ම මධ්‍යම රජය යටතේ පැවතිය යුතු බව අවිවාදයෙන්ම පිළිගත යුතුය. (ප‍්‍රශස්ත ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක නීති විශාරද වන එච්. එල්. ද සිල්වා මහතා*ගඅප වෙත භයානක ලෙස පැමිධෑමට නියමිත බෙදුම්වාදය පරාජය කිරීම සඳහා එක්සත්ව එක්සිත්ව සියලූ පක්ෂ භේදයන් හා ජාති භේදයන් පසෙක දමා සියලූම ජාති හිතෛෂී මහජන නියෝජිතයින්ට මීට එරෙහිව නැගී සිට ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවේ ස්වෛරීත්වය හා ඒකීය භාවය ආරක්ෂා කර ගැනීමේ වැදගත්කම සිතට ගන්න යැයි අපි ආරාධනා කරමු.
මෙම කමිටුවේ සිටින ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ සාමාජිකයින්ගේ මෙම නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව ගැන දක්වන මන්දගාමී නිහඩතාවය ගැන ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා ගෝලීය සංසදයේ සාමාජිකයින් වන අපට තේරුම් ගැනීම අපහසු වන අතර ඔවුන් මෙම බෙදුම්වාදී පියවරයන්ට තදින්ම අදහස් ප‍්‍රකාශ කර ඇතත් මෙවැනි අසික්කිත බෙදුම්වාදී යෝජනා වලට ප‍්‍රශිද්ධියේම දැඩි විරෝධය නොපාන්නේ ඇයිද යන්නත් ප‍්‍රශ්නයකි. මෙම කමිටුවේ සිටින ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ සාමාජිකයින් මෙම අසික්කිත බෙදුම්වාදී යෝජනා ගැන යම් කිසි විරෝදතාවයක් පා ඇත් නම් ඒවා ඉතා පුදුමාකාර මෙන්ම පුදුමාකාර ලෙස අදාළ වාර්තා වලට ඇතුළත් වී නැත. දැන් ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ සාමාජිකයින්ට හා බෙදුම්වාදී විරෝධ අදහස් දක්වන අනිකුත් මහජන නියෝජිතයින්ට මෙම වැදගත් කමිටු වාර්තාවේ කිසිම විරෝදතාවයක් පෙන්නුම් කර නැත්තේ ඇයි දැයි යන භයානක කරුණ ගැන මහජනතාවට පැහැදිලි කිරීම ඔවුන්ටම භාර කටයුත්තකි.
බටහිර රාජ්‍යයන්ගේ දුෂ්ට අරමුණු සාක්සාත් කිරීම සඳහා බලය බෙදා දුන හොත් ඉංග‍්‍රීසි සිඟිති ගීයක සඳහන් පරිදි රජුගේ සියලූම අශ්වයන් හා සියලූම සොල්දාදුවන් එකතු වුවත් ෆෙඩරල් ක‍්‍රමයට අපේ මවුබිම කැබලි වලට කැඩුනහොත් එය කවදාවත් නැවත ප්‍රෞඩ ඒකීය රාජ්‍යයක් කර ගැනීමට නොහැකි වනු ඇත. අවුරුදු 30 ක සන්නද්ධ අරගලයකින් ද අප ජාතියේ ලේ දහඩිය හා කඳුළු වගුරවමින් ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් පරදවා දිනාගත් අපේ මේ ආදරධෑය මව්බිම විශේෂ කමිටුවක සිටින දේශ ද්‍රෝහී සාමාජිකයින් 11 දෙනෙකුගේ උවමනාවට නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව හරහා අපේ මේ සුන්දර රට රත්තරන් තැටියක තබා මෙම කෲර බෙදුම්වාදීන්ට පූජා කිරීමට නියමිතය.
ඔබේ විශ්වාසී වූ
රංජිත් සොයිසා මාධ්‍ය ප‍්‍රකාශක ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා ගෝලීය සංසදය වෙනුවෙන්

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