The average weather pattern in a place over the years is called climate. The change in that familiar weather pattern is called climate change. However, in the current world, climate change has become a global problem. As a result of climate change, the world is getting warmer, the weather is becoming more extreme, and the sea level is rising. Almost every country in the world is suffering from change-related problems in one way or another. According to the latest data from the international research organization German Watch, Bangladesh is ranked seventh among the countries most at risk from climate change-related disasters. Basically, one of the main reasons for climate change is the greenhouse effect. Due to the burning of fossil fuels for energy production, various types of harmful gases including carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and methane are increasing in the atmosphere, and these gases are continuously heating the atmosphere. Similarly, the impact of climate change in Bangladesh over the past two decades has been obvious. Natural disasters such as severe heat waves, marine cyclones, floods, droughts, increased salinity in coastal areas, river erosion, and lightning have increased at an alarming rate.
Therefore, reducing dependence on fossil fuels and increasing the use of renewable energy, considering the problems of climate change can be an effective solution to address these challenges. One of the advantages of renewable energy technology is the ability to generate electricity without emitting harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Unlike power plants based on fossil fuels (coal, oil, or natural gas), it is possible to generate clean energy using technologies such as solar power plants, hydropower plants, and wind turbines where air pollutants and greenhouse gases such as particulate matter sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and carbon dioxide will not be emitted.
But in the current context, 91.3% of the total electricity generation is from fossil fuels, 1.3% is generated from renewable energy and the remaining 7.3% of electricity is imported from abroad, of which the amount of electricity generated from renewable energy is 1.9%. As a result, the majority of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions are emitted as a result of electricity generation using fossil fuels.
But to solve the long-term problem of climate change, we must focus on renewable energy, not fossil fuels. For example, in sustainable agricultural management, we should further encourage the process of cultivating using solar irrigation pumps instead of diesel. By cultivating using solar irrigation pumps instead of diesel, it will not only reduce carbon emissions, but also help maintain environmental balance by conserving groundwater resources. In addition, one of the advantages of using clean energy is that by reducing carbon emissions, it will play a role in implementing our Sustainable Development Goals 2030 Agenda. Despite all these advantages, we do not have a large investment in renewable energy. However, although several good initiatives have been seen in the past, their activities have not been fruitful due to the lack of proper monitoring. For example, in 2010, it was made mandatory to install rooftop solar power generation systems in households, industrial and commercial establishments as a condition for getting grid connection. This step was taken to increase the renewable share in the country’s total electricity generation. But the program has been hampered by low-quality equipment in solar panels, lack of regular monitoring, and lack of public awareness. If rooftop solar systems are properly utilized, it is possible to get electricity from renewable sources at a satisfactory level in the country. It is important for the interim government to emphasize these aspects.
In addition, the issues that are gaining importance at the ongoing COP-29 climate conference in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, are reducing carbon emissions, stopping the use of fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal, inventing technologies that can reduce the impact of industry on the climate, investing in renewable energy, etc. Bangladesh will talk about climate finance this time. In other words, if developed countries provide financing, developing countries will be able to invest in the use of green energy as well as adapt. It will also discuss fair transitions and fossil fuel subsidies. In real terms, if we are to save the world today, we need to reduce carbon emissions to zero. Only then will we be able to prevent climate catastrophe and reach the Sustainable Development Goals.
Sri Lanka has achieved another Staff-Level Agreement for the Third Review of the IMF program. The IMF delegation during its recent visit to Colombo praised the state of the economy and the success of their programme in Sri Lanka. The reality is far from its applause, where real output and incomes for people is much lower than where it was prior to the onslaught of the crisis. Worse, the IMF prescriptions of inflation targeting have drastically gone wrong, and the economy is caught in a deflationary downward spiral further undermining economic growth, livelihoods and job creation.
The so-called rise in inflation in 2022 was a consequence not so much of loose monetary policy, but of the overnight depreciation of the rupee from Rs 200 per dollar to Rs 364 to the dollar, based on the recommendation of the IMF. The price rise caused by this depreciation of the rupee was passed onto the people including for essential goods; as yet another prescription of the IMF was to market price even essential goods and services without the government addressing price stability. This one time rise in prices labelled as inflation leading to the tremendous increase in cost of living was then unnecessarily hammered by major interest rate hikes with the Central Bank’s policy rate rising to 16.5%. The unaffordability of working capital threw many SMEs out of business. These shock policies rely on the market and oppose any role for the state in the economy.
The market has its own volatile and extractive dynamics and is often the generator of crises when it is not managed by the state. The Sri Lankan rupee having depreciated as low as Rs. 364 to the dollar in 2022, has been appreciating in 2023 and 2024. Indeed, as a result of the interest rate hikes and austerity measures, the rupee has now appreciated to Rs.290 to the dollar. These market fluctuations combined with the flawed policies of the Central Bank dictated by the IMF, including the insistence that the government take no action, have now led to the dangerous state of deflation.
We should learn from the history of devastation caused by deflation during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Indeed, the West, when there are signs of deflation or economic contraction, immediately take to policies of quantitative easing, but for countries like ours in the global south the double standards kick in. Even if people are thrown out of the economy to the streets and end up starving, it matters little to the IMF, where only a crude sense of stability with capacity to repay debt and returns for global finance capital matter; both of which are enhanced through low levels of inflation and appreciation of the currency.
Rule of Experts
The dangerous deflationary trend now haunting Sri Lanka will have far reaching impact with the economic life of our people undermined for years to come. However, there are two reasons for this failure of economic policy making during this crucial historic moment in the depths of economic crisis.
First, the IMF and to a larger extent Central Banks around the world in our times, are beholden to the interests of finance capital. Their policies inevitably err on the side of investors and the wealthy who prefer lower inflation to safeguard the value of their capital even if it undermines economic growth. The dogmatic policies that insist on inflation targeting and flexible exchange rates are backed by a political project of extracting wealth from our part of the world. Contrary to the belief that Western capital contributes to developing countries with investment in the global south, the reality is that capital, both through high interest debt and through other flows including through the national elite seeking investments abroad, has been flowing in larger quantities from the South to the North.
Second, surrendering economic policy making to experts without Democratic oversight leads to divergence from the needs of the country. In Sri Lanka, the undemocratic rule of the previous government saw through the passing of laws such as the Central Bank Act by an illegitimate parliament to expedite the rule by elite to the detriment of the people’s interest. Indeed, Amartya Sen articulated so clearly that famines are caused not due to scarcity but due to the lack of Democracy. I would say this is the case during escalating economic crises as well. It is to be seen if the demands for relief and economic revival at the heart of the great mandate given to the newly elected government will finally ensure Democratic oversight of the economy.
Overlooking Dangers
The IMF and the Central Bank have publicly claimed that their targets for inflation in Sri Lanka are 5% with a plus or minus 1% variation limit. I would argue for our country and particularly during a crisis, the 5% inflation target is extremely low, and that the kind of stimulus needed for the economy should tolerate higher levels of inflation to get production going and increase employment. Indeed, small businesses and for that matter farmers will avoid investing in production if they expect their output prices to be low in the future, and would just hold onto cash during deflationary cycles.
The reality is that headline inflation in Sri Lanka in November was -2.1%, and such a negative inflation rate or deflation has been the case over the last three months. In fact, over the last sixteen months inflation has been well below the targeted inflation band of 4% to 6%, except the two months in January and February this year when it reached 6.4% and 5.9% respectively.
Who should be fired if the Central Bank under the guidance of the IMF experts have gotten inflation so wrong, particularly given the fanfare of the stringent reviews of the IMF program? Should we not urgently change course and bring the economy under Democratic control to ensure recovery, and avoid the dangers of a prolonged economic depression?
Colombo, November 29: November 13 is a date of great significance as far as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna(JVP) – known as the Makkal Viduthalai Munnani in Tamil and People’s Liberation Front in English-is concerned. It was on 13 November 1989 that the JVP’s charismatic founder-leader Rohana Wijeweera. Since 1994 the JVP has been annually conducting an event to commemorate Wijeweera and the lives of thousands of JVP cadres killede in the two insurgencies of 1971 and 1987-89. The commemoration of heroes event called Il Maha Viru Samaruwa” is a blend of speeches and songs and is usually held on the 13th of November..
This year was the 35th anniversary of Patabendi Don Jinadasa Nandasiri Wijeweera known as Rohana Wijeweera. The JVP commemorative event was held on November 15 this year. Both the JVP leader President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva were among the particpants. Even though it was a solemn occasion there was festive joy in the air because the party had for the first time captured power through the Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
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Tilvin Silva spoke for long at the commemoration. He briefly traced the evolution and growth of the JVP interspersed with many glowing references to the martyred”leader Rohana Wijeweera. Talking about the party rising phoenix-like from the ashes of the suppressed second JVP insurrection and its successful political renaissance thereafter , Tilvin said we are a political party which has adapted with the times…those who are stubborn, who do not change, will not survive.”
In recent times the death of Rohana Wijeweera and other JVP cadres has been commemorated by another party also. The Frontline Socialist Party(FSP) known in Sinhala as the Peratugami Samajavadi Pakshaya and in Tamil as the Munnilai Socialisak Katchi is a brealaway group of JVP dissidents. The FSP launched in April 2012 is led by it’s secretary-general Premakumar Gunaratnam alias Noel Mudalige and Kumar/Kumara. The Frontline Socialist party also commemorates its fallen leader and comrades annually through a parallel event Il Maha Viru Samaruwa”.
FSP’s Kumar Gunaratnam
The FSP held its commemoration on Nov 11th. FSP gen-secy Kumar Gunaratnam issued a clarion call in his speech at the event. Gunaratnam called upon his erstwhile comrade President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to deliver justice to JVP members who lost their lives in the 1987–1989 insurrection, including their former leader Rohana Wijeweera. Here are some relevant excerpts from a news story published in the Daily FT”of 12 November-
Speaking at the FSP’s annual November Heroes Commemoration (Il Maha Viru Samaruma) held yesterday in Colombo, Gunaratnam emphasised that the Government, led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake who is also the current leader of the JVP which leads the ruling National People’s Power (NPP) party, bears a significant responsibility to investigate the deaths of JVP members killed during the 1987–1989 insurrection.
Today marks the 35th Il Maha Viru Commemoration. During the 1988–1989 period, an entire generation that raised its voice for justice was killed. Over 60,000 comrades, including Comrades Rohana Wijeweera and Upatissa Gamanayake, lost their lives. Each of them stood for the ideals of the JVP, the main political party of the NPP, which now holds power,” he noted. He said, therefore, the 35th Commemoration will be historic.
Gunaratnam likened the Government’s crackdown on the 1987–1989 insurrection to a crime against humanity, calling it one of the most brutal genocides in world history.
People still yearn for justice for all those who gave their lives in relentless sacrifice. The families, friends, and loved ones of JVP members, who dedicated themselves to bring JVP to power, were brutally killed. This gives the NPP Government a greater moral responsibility and authority than previous administrations to conduct a thorough investigation into the 1988-89 period and to hold all those responsible for these crimes against humanity accountable. As the FSP, we hope that President Dissanayake will take up this responsibility,” he said.
Gunaratnam also noted that the FSP is ready to offer any necessary support in this endeavour.
Gunaratnam’s party, a breakaway group of the JVP, also expressed similar sentiments in a communique to President Dissanayake earlier this week. The communique called on the President to initiate an immediate investigation into the alleged State-sanctioned crimes of 1988-89 and to do justice to the lives of the dead JVP heroes, including Rohana Wijeweera.
The FSP paid tribute to Rohana Wijeweera and others who lost their lives in the struggle for socialist transformation, highlighting the kidnappings, enforced disappearances, and unlawful killings carried out through State terrorism” during that period. Accordingly, the FSP underscored the importance of uncovering the truth behind these atrocities.
With the leader of the JVP now in office as President, the FSP urged for a comprehensive inquiry to take priority, focusing on uncovering the truth behind the deaths and disappearances of Rohana Wijeweera and others.”
Responsive Chord in JVP
FSP leader Kumar Gunaratna’s calling for a comprehensive probe into the deaths and disappearances of JVP cadres in general and top leaders including Rohana Wijeweera in particular is very likely to strike a responsive chord in the hearts and minds of former and current members of the JVP. It will definitely resonate with the likes of seniors like Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Vijitha Herath and Tilvin Silva who are all survivors of the crushing of the second JVP insurgency. Furthermore those of us who witnessed those terrible crimes against humanity by agents of the state would also like the truth to be uncovered even though the JVP too was responsible for many atrocities in those times.
Kumar Gunaratnam’s point that the JVP is in power now and therefore could set up a valid mechanism to probe past happenings is logical.Moreover there is a personal angle too because among the many youths reported missing”in those dark days is Premakumar’s elder brother Ranjithan Gunaratnam.
Tilvin Silva
There is also another important reason from the JVP’s perspective for the truth being uncovered. In an interview with JVP Gen – Secy Tilvin Silva that was published in The Hindu”of 16 November 2024, the paper’s Colombo correspondent Meera Srinivasan wrote as follows –
However, Mr. Silva contended that the party’s history needed to be retold with context. There is a wrong perception because our history was written by those who defeated us, the victors. Our path was not willingly chosen, it was forced upon us.” Alluding to the allegations of brutal violence facing the JVP, he added: It was not [our] action, but a reaction from our end. If the [state’s] repression was armed, so was [our] response.”
In his (Tilvin) view, the current political moment in Sri Lanka has opened up space to rewrite the story of not just the party, but also of the country, without characterising some as terrorists who took up arms for no reason”. But we want to tell this story not with words, but with our action. The present context gives a chance to do that.”
Truth Will Set Us Free
If Tilvin Silva is really serious about history being presented from the JVP’s viewpoint and if the party general-secretary is genuinely keen on the true story of the JVP being told, an intensive probe into the killing of Wijeweera and other JVP cadres is very necessary. The probe should be free and fair in revealing the truth without trying to white – wash the JVP or blacken the state’s image. Instead it should only aim for the truth because ultimately it is only the truth which will set us all free”.
It is against this backdrop that this column focuses on the killing of JVP founder-leader Wijeweera 35 years after his death with the aid of information gleaned from earlier writings.
Rohana Wijeweera was killed thirty-five years ago on November 13,1989. The revolutionary leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna was 46 years old at the time of his death. The mastermind behind two bloody insurrections – in 1971 and from 1987 to 89 — was taken into custody on November 12 in the Kandy District and brought to Colombo. With Wijeweera’s capture and death the second JVP insurgency gradually petered out and ended.
The second JVP insurgency lasting for about three years resulted in thousands of people being brutally killed by the JVP and the counter insurgency forces comprising the police, para-military and security personnel.
While all this mayhem and carnage was being unleashed, the supreme revolutionary leader of the JVP posing off as a planter named Nimal Kirthisiri Attanayake was living comfortably with his family and two servants at Ulapane in Kandy.
Officially Sanctioned Unofficial Execution”
Given the enormity of the violence caused by the JVP and the boiling anger among the police and security personnel towards the JVP leader, it was widely believed that Rohana Wijeweera was killed in what was euphemistically termed as an officially sanctioned unofficial execution.”
The official version was that Wijeweera and another senior JVP leader H.B. Herath had been taken to a house in a Colombo suburb being used as a clandestine JVP office in search of some documents. However Herath had shot at Wijeweera while pretending to take out some papers.The security forces had then shot them both and killed them.They were later cremated.
The Sri Lankan nation suffering terribly in the climate of JVP violence and counter violence was greatly relieved at the news of Wijeweera’s death. Under the circumstances prevailing then the country was quite willing to go along with the official version trotted out. In private very few believed it. As is customary in such situations the rumour mills worked overtime and several tales of the last hours of Rohana Wijeweera began circulating.
The version accepted widely was that Wijeweera had been shot dead on the Colombo golf course premises in cold blood after being ordered to run. A senior Police official whose family members had been brutally massacred by the JVP had allegedly done the firing with senior army officers watching. Later, the two bodies had been incinerated at night in Kanatte. A macabre twist to this version was the tale of Wijeweera not being fully dead at the time of this cruel cremation.
Sarath Munasinghe’s Account
Officially there have been no eye-witness accounts of the final phase of Rohana Wijeweera.There has been one authentic account relating to a few hours in Rohana Wijeweera’s life prior to his death in the public realm.This was narrated by Major-General Sarath Munasinghe in his autobiographical book A Soldier’s Story”. Relevant excerpts are reproduced below:
The time was 11.30 p.m. We (Lionel Balagalle and Sarath Munasinghe) reached the premises of ‘Operation Combine HQ’. We were conducted to the conference table where Rohana Wijeweera was seated. I was given a chair just opposite Wijeweera across the table. I commenced having a conversation with him. I spoke to Rohana Wijeweera at length”.
Whenever I questioned him in English, he answered in Sinhalese. In fact, he asked me whether I knew the Russian language. I replied in the negative. Rohana Wijeweera told me that his second language was Russian. He told me all about his personal life, initially at Bandarawela and later at Ulapane in Kandy. He was reluctant to talk about the activities of the JVP”.
Just past midnight, the Deputy Defence Minister General Ranjan Wijeratne walked in and sat at the head of the conference table. Gen Wijeratne asked a few questions, but Rohana Wijeweera did not respond”.
We continued with our conversation. We had many cups of plain tea (dark tea), while talking. I made a request to Rohana Wijeweera to advise his membership to refrain from violence. He agreed after persuasion. So we managed to record his words and also his picture in still camera”.
The time was around 3.45 a.m. on 13 November 1989. I was informed to conclude the questioning and to take Rohana Wijeweera downstairs. Together we walked downstairs and were close to each other. Wijeweera held my hand and said, ‘I am very happy I met you even at the last moment. I may not live any longer. Please convey my message to my wife’. Rohana Wijeweera’s message contained five important points. They were all very personal matters concerning his family”.
Moments later, Wijeweera was blindfolded and helped into the rear seat of a green Pajero. Two people sat on either side of Wijeweera. There were others at the rear of the vehicle. The Pajero took off. I joined Col. Lionel Balagalle standing near the main entrance of the Operation Combine HQ building. We went home thinking of a good sleep”.
Late in the morning I was busy getting Wijeweera’s photograph printed. No one would recognize Wijeweera without his beard. So I had to seek help and add the beard to Wijeweera’s photograph. It was done very well. Late in the afternoon there was a press conference at the Joint Operation Command. Minister Ranjan Wijeratne briefed the press”.
Wijeweera and HB Herath [another JVP leader] had been taken to a house just outside Colombo, where the JVP had hidden part of their treasure. While the search was in progress, Herath pulled out a pistol and shot Wijeweera dead’. The minister went on to give more details. Subsequent to the killing of Wijeweera, violence by the JVP ceased gradually and there was peace in the country, except in the North and East”
The account by Gen. Munasinghe describes the penultimate stages of Wijeweera’s life to some extent but is dependent on Minister Wijeratne’s press conference in revealing details about he died. There is also little information about how Wijeweera was apprehended presumably because Munasinghe was not directly involved in that exercise.
Rohana’s Capture at Ulapane
A short yet precise description of the circumstances leading to Rohana Wijeweera’s capture is provided by journalist and writer C.A.Chandraprema in his book Sri Lanka:The Years of Terror-The JVP Insurrection 1987 -1989”. Here are the relevant excerpts:
Piyadasa Ranasinghe and H B Herat were arrested in Galaha. These were the two JVP leaders who met with Rohana Wijeweera frequently. Herath had told the whereabouts of Wijeweera after a brief interrogation. A few hours later Wijeweera was arrested at Ulapane, Kandy, at his well appointed estate bungalow where he lived, masquerading as a planter under the name of Attanayake”.
When the party had arrived at around 2 o’clock in the afternoon , Wijeweera had been taking a shave. The army team climbed over a gate and surrounded the house. Wijeweera had come out saying, I am Attanayaka and you have no right to come here. I am a peace-loving man.”
Col. Janaka Perera had got flustered by the confident air put on by Wijeweera and thought they had come to the wrong place. Still he had cocked his pistol, put it to Attanayake’s” head and asked, Oya Wijeweerada?”. Attanayake”, fearing that the colonel would pull the trigger, had admitted that he was Wijeweera and said I will come with you, but don’t harm my family.There were two women servants in the house other than Wijeweera’s wife, all the women had started wailing as Wijeweera was led out”..
This then was how Rohana Wijeweera was captured and brought to Colombo. It remains to be seen as to whether the JVP led – NPP Govt of President AK Dissanayake would order a probe into the death of Wijeweera and bring to light reliable details of how he was killed.
I conclude with excerpts of what well-known Journalist Ajith Samaranayake — described as the Prince of Obituarists” by Regi Siriwardena — wrote about Rohana Wijeweera as part of his Sunday essay on the occasion of the JVP leader’s 15th death anniversary in 2004:
Ajith Samaranayake ‘s Essay
No political leader in Sri Lanka has engendered such sharp and conflicting views about his role in the country’s life as Rohana Wijeweera when he was killed at the age of 46. Justly so since from his own perspective Wijeweera sought to upset the apple cart, the consensus which the post-Independence elite of Sri Lanka whether they were capitalist, liberal or Marxist had arrived at in order to maintain the status quo.”
To both the right as well as the orthodox left he was the devil incarnate but to his followers he was a demi-god. Wijeweera himself quite revelled in this role. With his beard, his beret and his fiery speeches he was very much part of the political landscape of the time playing all the available roles on Sri Lanka’s impoverished political stage ranging from Devil’s Advocate to Presidential Candidate”.
From the point of view of his detractors Wijeweera was an opportunist who split N. Sanmugathasan’s Ceylon Communist Party and drew away its cadres to form his own private army with which he made a bid for state power in April 1971. From the view point of his admirers he was an idealist who mobilised the poor peasantry and particularly its marginalised younger sections who had been excluded from the established social system since Independence”.
Which version approximates more to reality?
Perhaps there is an element of opportunism in every political action and politics is an admixture of opportunism and idealism. But what can be safely said is that Wijeweera was the most audacious politician of his time in the sense that twice within a period of three decades he mounted two assaults on the Sri Lankan State safeguarded by the ramparts of the post-Independence consensus between the Left and the Right to pursue the Holy Grail only through the path of parliamentary elections”. D.B.S.Jeyaraj c
Dec 3 (AdaDerana) – Sri Lanka’s tourism sector is taking a bold step into the limelight as a leading destination for Indian film productions, with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) taking centre stage at the 10th edition of the India International Film Tourism Conclave (IIFTC) in Mumbai, held from October 23 to 25, 2024.
The event, renowned as the largest film tourism platform in India, provided an exceptional opportunity for Sri Lanka to showcase its diverse landscapes and cultural richness to the Indian film industry, positioning the island as the perfect location for cinematic ventures. Sri Lanka’s focus on film tourism aligns with global trends where countries are seeing significant economic benefits from attracting international film productions.
A high-profile delegation from Sri Lanka, led by renowned international film producer Chandran Rutnam and supported by the International Film Producers Association of Sri Lanka (IFPA), joined forces with SLTPB to captivate key stakeholders from India’s film industry. Mr. Chaminda Munasinghe, Assistant Director of SLTPB responsible for film tourism promotions, presented Sri Lanka’s potential as a top-tier filming destination at the main event of IIFTC.
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The SLTPB’s presentation at IIFTC 2024 was a masterclass in promoting Sri Lanka’s unparalleled natural beauty, cultural diversity, and ease of access. The showcase specifically targeted the Bollywood, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, and Marathi film industries, emphasizing Sri Lanka’s scenic landscapes ranging from pristine beaches to lush jungles and vibrant cultural sites. Sri Lanka’s capability to cater to large-scale productions with minimal logistical challenges was a key highlight of the presentation.
Discussions were held by Mr. Munasinghe and Mr. Chandran Rutnam with some of the most influential Indian film industry representatives—ranging from producers to location managers—resulting in promising dialogues and a roadmap for future collaborations. Targeted digital campaign undertaken at the event aimed over 800+ attendees amplified Sri Lanka’s appeal as a cinematic hotspot.
A pivotal part of Sri Lanka’s strategy was its partnership with the Sri Lanka Consulate General Office in Mumbai, which collectively worked to enhance the country’s visibility within the Indian film tourism sector. Specially, Mrs. Shirani Ariyarathne Actg. Consul General has been eagerly supported Sri Lanka Tourism’s delegation to connect with Indian Film Producers as well as key Indian government officials from The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India. A series of high-level meetings at the Sri Lanka Consulate General Office in Mumbai provided further opportunities for strengthening ties and securing support from Indian production houses.
In addition, discussions with the Indian Film Development Corporation (NFDC) which is the main governing body for all Indian Cinema was a significant milestone. NFDC extended a formal invitation to the SLTPB team to explore future promotional opportunities at the prestigious International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2025, which is set to feature countries like Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea. This partnership is expected to pave the way for even greater visibility for Sri Lanka in the global film tourism market.
Colombo, Decembr 1: Buddhism and democracy are two sides of the same coin, if they are seen in the correct way, says the father of India’s democratic constitution and the modern-day apostle of Buddhism in India, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. He saw Buddhism as a democratic religion and he converted to it with lakhs of his socially oppressed followers called Dalits, in 1956.
In a radio broadcast on October3, 1954, Dr. Ambedkar said that his social and political philosophy was enshrined in three concepts: Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. These were the foundational principles not just of the 18 th.Century French revolution but also Buddhism, founded by Gautama Buddha centuries earlier, Dr.Ambedkar said.
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Let no one say that I have borrowed my philosophy from the French Revolution. I have not. My philosophy has roots in religion and not in political science. I have derived them from the teachings of my Master, the Buddha. In his philosophy, liberty, equality and fraternity had a place. Fraternity is the only real safeguard against the denial of liberty or equality,” he said and added that brotherhood based on fraternity, was only another name for religion.
Sangha
Ambedkar recalled the democratic practices in the Buddhist brotherhood called the Sangha. The Bhikkhu Sangha had the most democratic constitution. The Buddha was only one of the Bhikkus. At the most, he was like a prime minister among members of the Cabinet. He was never a dictator. Twice before his death he was asked to appoint someone as the head of the Sangha to control it. But each time he refused, saying that the Dhamma is the Supreme Commander of the Sangha. He refused to be a dictator and refused to appoint a dictator”, the Indian legal luminary noted.
14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, Tenzin Gyatso also believes that Buddhism and democracy are compatible as both are rooted in the belief that all, whether social or economically high or low, have the same potential to grow and excel.
The Sakya kingdom to which the Buddha belonged, was ruled by a Council, or Gaṇasangha, rather than a monarch. It was made up of an elite class of warriors and ministers. The leader of the Council was elected by its members and was called the Raja. The Raja had considerable authority but he could not rule autocratically. Questions of importance were debated in the Ganasangha and decisions were taken by consensus.
In his essay, Buddhism in a Democratic World, in The Golden Lotus, August, 1960, the German-American scholar, Kurt F. Leidecker, says that though the Buddha was the founder of Buddhism, he put his own person in the background and put the insight he had got in the shape of the Dhamma in the foreground.
Dr .B.R.Ambedkar
He was a teacher, but such a one that will not make the acceptance of the thing he taught dependent on the fact that it was he who taught it. He never asked anyone to follow him, personally. He asked people to think with him and, having thought, prove their findings reasonable to themselves. He left the personality of the pupil intact,” Leidecker says.
The Buddha did not believe in indoctrination. He gave his followers the freedom to think on their own. Teaching and expounding of the Dhamma was carried on in an ideal way, with no trace of indoctrination, without coercion. The pupil gave his free assent, if he so decided, with his own mind, left to think on its own.
According to Prof Leidecker, this is the ideal form of education. Just as the garden needs a gardener, so the pupil needs a teacher. The gardener can do no more than to hoe, weed and water. That there shall be flowers and fruits is dependent on the inherent qualities of the plants themselves,” he explained.
For the Buddha, Dhamma was like a road-sign which may be heeded or ignored. No wayfarer is compelled to read it and benefit from it. Likewise, the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths or the Eight fold Path are there to accept or reject by men.
So thoroughly did the Buddha eschew the personality cult, that the first centuries of Buddhist history allude to him only in symbols—in the wheel, the column, the tree, the empty throne. These symbols came to stand for the Buddha as well as the idea he preached,” Prof.Leidecker points out. It was only during Greek-influenced Gandhara period in North Western India that the image of the Buddha as we know today came into existence. Until then, the Buddha was largely a concept, a philosophy, a way of life.
Even the great Emperor Asoka, whose son and daughter brought Buddhism to Sri Lanka in 247 BC, shunned the personality cult. Asoka preferred to be known not by his given name or kingly titles, but as Devanampiya Priyadarshi” (the beloved of the Gods who regards others with kindness”.
A number of Sri Lankan kings from Uttiya to Yasalalakatissa from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century CE, also adopted that name. Uttiya ruled Anuradhapura from 267 BC to 257 BC. And Yassalalaka Tissa was King of Anuradhapura from 52 to 60 CE.
Placing knowledge above power and pelf, the Buddha shed all the trappings of power and pelf as a Sakya Prince and left his palace and kingdom to seek knowledge through acetic practices, dialogues and meditation. It is in emulation of the Buddha that in Thailand and Myanmar boys spend at least three months out of their lives in Buddhist institutions renouncing pleasures, wealth and all attachments, wearing the yellow robe. The belief is that it is in humbleness that wisdom grows and that insight comes with detachment.
Prof. Leidecker point out that the Buddha did not scorn or shun Kingship and worldly pomp but stressed inner worth, the nobility of thought and character. He even recognised caste in the sense that it represented a classification of society according to occupation. He recognised recognized the Brahmin. But for him, the real worth of a Brahmin or a Prince was in his character his nobility. A person is noble or not is not determined by birth but by his character. The Buddha did not recommend a false equalisation of society.
According to Prof.Leidecker, the Buddha was not a reformer or a revolutionary. He did not seek to upset the existing order but only wanted it to be value-based as per his Dhamma. That Buddha set out to reform society is a gross misstatement of the facts. His aim was enlightenment and the elimination of sorrow and suffering, both among the high and the low.”
Buddha’s approach to social ills was not based on class struggle either. His method was peaceful, did not require conversion by force of those who thought differently. All he sought was setting one’s own thinking in order. Salvation, or Vimukti, was not to be attained by outward means but through an inner reformation of the spirit,” Dr.Leridecker points out.
aaBuddha in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu
As in a good Buddhist society, in truly democratic societies too, individuality is guaranteed. In the Milindapanha it is stated that as trees differ depending on the nature of the seed, so the character and destiny of man varies with the different deeds whose consequences are earned. This is the doctrine of Kamma, action.A man becomes good by good action, and bad by bad action. The Western democracies call it the doctrine of individual responsibility which also goes with the concept of individual freedom, the freedom to choose one’s path to either sublimity or degradation.
Fixing individual responsibility based on individual freedom is essential to make laws work, Leidecker says. Society would disintegrate, just as nature would, if the laws of causality (Kamma) are not universal, he argues.
Freedom, in fact, is the very life-blood of Buddhism. A society which believes in strict determinism will eventually ensnare man in a world of thought and action in which he can no longer move about freely. Vimukti then becomes impossible through individual effort, the writer says.
It was Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American philosopher who said, civilization depends on morality” and that the purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honourable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference.”
With this, every Buddhist would agree, for Sīla is basic to human life, Leidecker points out. Perfect speech (Samma Vaca), perfect comportment (Samma Kammanta), and a perfect occupation or livelihood, and (Samma Ajiva) are three important points in Buddha’s Eightfold Path.
If truth and sincerity are not in the word, which is the very cement of human relationships, for without language man cannot be man, society breaks down and with it civilization goes by the board. The same holds true if we behave anti-socially by harming our fellowmen bodily or taking from them what does not belong to us, or engage in activity which does not make them happy and content,” Leidecker explained.
The scholar points out that in any truly democratic society, there is room for the virtues mentioned by the Buddha. As in Western democracies in Buddhism, both Bhikkhu and laymen are encouraged to move and have their being guided by Metta (goodwill), Karuṇa (compassion), Mudita (sympathy).
Today, December 4th, upon the request of the Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, the Government of Japan has decided to provide emergency relief goods (tents, plastic sheets, sleeping pads) through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to Sri Lanka in response to the damages caused by the flood and landslide.
In light of the humanitarian perspective and the friendly relations between Japan and Sri Lanka, Japan has decided to provide emergency assistance to Sri Lanka to support the people affected by the flood and landslide.
Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera at the UNHRC in 2015.(Picture courtesy Sunanda Deshapriya)
Ever since the victory of the Sri Lankan armed forces against the LTTE in May 2009, the international community has been calling on successive governments in this country to ensure ‘transitional justice.’ These governments, in turn, have spent tens of millions of rupees on such efforts. Unfortunately, there has been little or no critical analysis in local newspapers or academic journals over whether the concept of ‘transitional justice’ is applicable to Sri Lanka. It is in the public interest to begin such a discussion.
I argue that, the concept is inapplicable to Sri Lanka. ‘Transitional justice,’ as originally conceived by international law experts, is intended for countries where the rule of law has completely collapsed, i. e., where all democratic processes along with the institutions for the administration of justice have collapsed. There is no evidence that such a situation prevailed in Sri Lanka at the close of the LTTE war. For instance, even at the height of the conflict, the normal courts continued to operate throughout much of the island. Therefore, if the aforesaid concept is to be applied here, it has to be modified. For reasons that will be explained later, there is no evidence that this has happened either.
In this article, I will discuss: i) the history of the concept,’ ii) its application in Sri Lanka, and iii) provide an assessment of such application.
The History of the Concept
According to Oleksii Plotnikov, a visiting fellow at Cordozo School of Law in the US, the concept of transitional justice emerged in the context of the fall of the Soviet Union as a means of addressing the collapse of the institutions of governance in the former Soviet states. He traces the origin of the term to a conference in Salzburg in 1992, attended by policymakers and scholars from the West along with the post-Soviet countries. He says:
Rudi Teitel, who participated in the Salzburg Conference, claims personal authorship: ‘transitional justice is an expression I coined in 1991 at the time of the Soviet collapse and on the heels of the 1980s Latin American transitions to democracy. In proposing this terminology my aim was to account for the self-conscious construction of a distinctive conception of justice associated with political change following past oppressive rule.’” (‘Defining Transitional Justice: Scholarly Debate and UN Precision,’ p. 54.)
To fast forward to the early 2000s, the UN took up the concept and expanded it beyond regime-change situations to include post-conflict situations as well. The UN Security Council, in a well-known report in 2004, defined ‘transitional justice’ as: The full range of processes and mechanisms associated with a society’s coming to terms with a legacy of large scale past abuses in order to secure accountability, serve justice and achieve reconciliation.” (UN Doc. S/2004/616, 23rd August 2004.)
Such, then, is the history of the concept. To repeat, it was originally intended to address regime-change situations and post-conflict situations where a country’s institutions of governance had completely collapsed.
The application of the concept to Sri Lanka
The ‘Yahapalana government’ (2015-2019) is the first Sri Lankan government to fully embrace the concept of transitional justice. At the 30th session of the Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in September 2015, the then Foreign Minister, the late Mangala Samaraweera, announced that the government had a comprehensive plan to address accountability and reconciliation issues. He said:
The government of Sri Lanka recognizes fully that the process of reconciliation involves addressing the four broad areas of truth-seeking, justice, reparations and non-recurrence, and for non-recurrence to become truly meaningful the necessity of reaching a political settlement that addresses the grievances of the Tamil people.” (Foreign Minister’s Statement at the General Debate, 14th September 2015, www.mfa.gov.lk)
He proceeded to lay out the government’s plans in regard to each of the said components, to wit: truth-seeking (a ‘Truth Commission’ along with an Office on Missing Persons), justice (a hybrid court including foreign judges), reparations (an Office on Reparations), non-recurrence (constitutional reforms involving the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.) These ingredients were later incorporated into resolution 30/1 adapted by the Council in October 2015. The government of Sri Lanka co-sponsored that resolution.
Assessment
There are two problems with the application of the concept ‘transitional justice’ to Sri Lanka. First, as mentioned earlier, the concept was originally intended to address situations where the institutions of governance, especially those dealing with the administration of justice, have completely collapsed. There is no evidence that this had happened at the close of the LTTE war in May 2009. On the contrary, the evidence suggests that the end of the war made it possible for the government to reassert the authority of the old institutions, especially that of the courts, in the areas that had fallen into the hands of the LTTE. This is confirmed, albeit indirectly, by no less than the Human Rights Council (UNHRC). In the resolution on Sri Lanka adapted by following a special session on 27th May 2009, the Council states:
Welcoming the conclusion of hostilities and the liberation by the Government of Sri Lanka of tens of thousands of its citizens that were kept by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam against their will as hostages, as well as the efforts by the Government to ensure the safety and security of all Sri Lankans and to bring permanent peace to the country.” (UN Doc. A/HRC/S-11/1)
If the Council had considered that law and order had completely collapsed in this country, it could not have made such a statement. Second, I concede that the four components of truth-seeking, justice, reparations and non-recurrence are internationally recognized processes for pursuing transitional justice. The question, however, is whether they are to be pursued in sequence – ie starting with truth-seeking and then followed by the others based on the findings of the aforesaid effort -or each independently of the others. Common sense and reason suggest that the former should be the case, because of the following reasons.
Without first knowing the facts as to what may have happened during a conflict, it is difficult to see how one could decide on methods of holding people accountable for alleged crimes, assign reparations, or formulate constitutional reforms to address the causes of such conflict. It appears that the government, in resolution 30/1, has agreed to pursue each of the transitional justice processes in question independently of the others. This is unreasonable. For instance, if ‘truth-seeking’ and ‘constitutional reforms’ are to run parallel to each other, what happens if the findings of the truth- seeking process are at variance with the proposed constitutional reforms?
One must also consider the following matter in regard to the above. Between 2010-2015, ie during the Mahinda Rajapaksa Administration, the government launched two domestic mechanisms: The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission and the Paranagama Commission. Rightly or wrongly, these constitute official attempts at truth-seeking by a Government of Sri Lanka. In these circumstances, successor governments cannot simply ignore the findings of such Commissions unless they first establish that the said findings are wrong.
The ‘Yahapalana government’ never produced a report that critically assessed the conclusions and recommendations of either the LLRC or the Paranagama Commission reports and deemed them to be wrong. Hence, for all practical purposes, one must presume that these conclusions and recommendations were valid at the time of the UNHRC’s 30th session. It is important to note that, neither the LLRC nor the Paranagama Commission recommend hybrid courts or constitutional reforms involving the full implementation of the 13th Amendment. They do recommend a ‘truth commission’ and reparations. They advise, however, that these things be done in way that avoids internationalizing the reconciliation process.
Conclusion
‘Transitional justice,’ as the name implies, is intended for a temporary purpose. In times of peace, the normal democratic processes, along with the institutions for the administration of justice, are supposed to protect the rights of the people. Arguably, normalcy has now returned to the former conflict-zone in Sri Lanka. The question is whether, the existence of transitional justice processes could potentially stifle the growth of the regular institutions for the administration of justice, especially the courts, or worse, become a means of continually re-opening old wounds.
The present government has inherited a complicated legacy in regard to transitional justice. On the one hand, it is obliged to ensure justice to the people. On the other, it has to satisfy the international community that it is not reneging on commitments made in resolution 30/1. If processes that go beyond the normal courts are necessary to ensure justice to the people, they will have to be explored. The government, however, has vowed to do everything in its power to prevent the wasting of public funds. In these circumstances, it is hoped that the relevant officials will re-evaluate whether continuing with transitional justice initiatives stemming from resolution 30/1 is in the country’s interest, and if not, bring such initiatives to a formal close.
(Dharshan Weerasekera is the author of, ‘A UNHRC Resolution of Questionable Legality on Sri Lanka and its Importance as a Catalyst for Future UN Reform’ (2024) 10 Groningen Journal of InternationalLaw 120)
The NPP government should probe the killings of its founder leader Rohana Wijeweera and actor turned politician Vijaya Kumaratunga in keeping with the pledges made by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake during his policy statement, opposition MP Chamara Sampath Dassanayake told Parliament yesterday
The President in his address to Parliament said cases which are buried will be taken out again. Therefore, we request that a probe be conducted on JVP founder leader Rohana Wijeweera and actor turned politician Vijaya Kumaratunga,” MP Dassanayake said.
Find out who blindfolded Wijeweera at Kirulapone police station and how he was killed and how he was taken to Borella Kanatha. Also probe as to who shot Vijaya and from which garage in Polhengoda the killer got the T56 rifle to shoot him. Mete out justice to Wijeweera’s children and children of Vijaya,” he added.
There was one incident in Uva where all children of one family were killed just because one child joined the JVP in 1989. These incidents also should be probed,” he said.
Sarath Wijesinghe (President’s Counsel, Senior Solicitor, former Ambassador to UAE and Israel, President Ambassador’s Forum UK / Sri Lanka)
Attention and priority to foreign policy
Nations give attention and priority to foreign policy due to the importance of the subject for the successful existence in the family of nations they live in. USA gives top priority to the formulation and application of foreign policy based on main four criteria towards and beneficial towards USA friendly foreign policy that entangles with the economy, international relations, aiming at prosperity and development of USA followed by major powers as well as small nations as they too are bound to maintain international relations with the rest of the world for their on benefit and survival. Foreign Policy of a nation is carefully formulated and followed for the benefit of the country promoting the image and policies of the country that benefits the respective nations that benefits all the members of the world family for their economic and all other kinds of activities promoting their countries an all areas. Small countries too must give special emphasises on foreign policy as they depend on the world for their existence as living in isolation is impossible in the modern world that are closely interconnected and interwoven in all respects, that applies Sri Lanka being a comparatively small Island in the complicated and modern world at the door steps of digital Artificial Intelligence age. Rich and powerful countries maintain foreign policy to maintain their power and control of the world on econimic, political and other factors for leadership connected to teh economy of the country, sometimes to be the world policeman. USA foreign policy is based on protection of USA, Advancement of Arms trade, maintain the democracy of the world, Global and international balance, maintain American values amongst many other as the main world power in the absence of the former world power USSR, when there is threat from emerging econimic power China to be a world econimic giant. USA has a direct and indirect control over the United Nations organization which moulds directs and influences the foreign of all nations as members of the UN. UN promotes mutual respect, co existence, respect to each other and neutrality as guidelines the nations expect to follow.
Sri Lanka friendly foreign policy
Sri Lanka foreign policy is very broad friendly and compatible with the modern current and universal world trends to maintain and enhance friendly ties and foreign relations, that benefits Sri Lanka as a Sri Lanka friendly foreign policy that benefits the people of Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans. In nutshell it is based on the principles friendly towards all enormity towards none practised over thousands of years in Sri Lanka especially from 1950 with the declaration principles and application of non alignment subsequently better practised as the leader of the non alignment movement cementing the principle of NAM active to date. At this unstable and volatile situations in the world with signs and threats on another worldwar it is the duty of all members of the United Nations to be extremely cautious and act with restrain to avoid a calamity that will have drastic results with the modern and sophisticated weaponry and modern technology. Sri Lanka though a small nation is a senior member of the UN and has actively participated in world affairs involved and participated in peace building promoting peace and reconciliation, may play a positive role in peace and a new era on foreign relations that will benefit the world to prosper economically and and all other ways.
Collection of strategies on foreign policy and relations
Foreign Policy is a collection of strategies country uses to guide it’s relations with the rest of the world that world watches carefully before talking any steps with the respective member and it is obvious the state will have to take great care in formulating and pronouncing the policy that are bound to change with the movement of the rest of the world whose interest would be themselves and economic and political benefits at an cost in the interest of their respective nations. Diplomatically the newly elected government is bound to take over liabilities of the previous governance and bound to carry on the foreign policies with extreme caution and great care on formulation of new policies without antagonizing those who engaged with the nation based on may be on different policies and strategies.
Conduct of foreign policy
It is the head of the State or the foreign minister ( with the advice of the head of the state) who will conduct and apply foreign policy to suit the nation which is an extremely arduous task, Sri Lanka managed most of the time historically. With the economic downturn and volatile political situation in the world and bitter and unwise steps taken by the predecessors the task appear to have been difficult to the current Minister and the regime appear to be managing the situation quite successfully in the current and difficult context. When Indian ocean is important for all world powers and powerful neighbours independent Sri Lanka placed strategically on the main silk route is sandwiched with requests and demands by many, it is time for Sri Lanka to strengthened foreign policy and relations and be firm on Sri Lanka friendly policy which is strategically and arduous task. World and regional powers including India, China, USA, USSR , and even Pakistan including Indian ocean rim countries have direct and indirect interest on Indian Ocean and obviously trying to influence small nations such an Sri Lanka and Maldives islands and to prevent the pressure the best weapon would be a stable firm and a correct foreign policy and a stable governance.
Challenges to the current regime and the foreign minister
Challenges are immense considering the high expectations of the people who has taken a bold collective decision and the family of states awaiting the conduct of the new government with not much experience and reputation. The current governance is bound by previous decisions with the other members of the world family and international originations which includes IMF taking independent and firm decisions become still difficult, yet it appears the new Minister has managed general and specific reasonably well and obviously he needs bit more time and experience to deliver. But as economy politics and international relations are interconnected and interwoven the task of the governance and the minister is still difficult.
What are the challanges before the newly elected and the Foreign Minister?
Challanges are immense as to date no policy declaration has not been made on teh foreign policy assuming that it is carrying on unchanged as middle path based on the policy of friendly with angry with none, and to be independent from all political and other blocks. Agreements by previous governments, and the importance of Sri Lanka locating in a strategic situation when the two super and regional powers India and China have an econimic war and events taking place in the powerful indian ocean has placed Sri Lanka in difficult stations to maintain and balance especially when she is undergoing econimic hardships needing favours from regional powers will still makes maters world in the operation and conduct of foreign relations.
Unique Feign Policy for Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka needs a unique foreign policy considering the complex nature of the happing around and unstable political and economic turmoil hovering around the world and the neighbourhood, and the policy have to be adjusted and adopted according to the conflicts and differences of the world and regional leaders, based on Sri Lanka friendly policy document. Ambassador’s forum has edited a separate volume on Sri Lanka friendly foreign policy document with 40 chapters from reputed anthers in the field of foreign policy and relations.Ambassador’s forum and 13 volumes on foreign policy with topics including Sri Lanka foreign policy is available on Google Drive to be viewed free to the public with 600 chapters on varied topics and subjects and you are invited to browse the internet and be in touch the Ambassador’s Forum for further details which is offered free to any world citizen. Sarath28dw@gmail.com
Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel Sri Lanka, Solicitor in England and Wales, President Ambassador’s Forum UK/SL, and former Ambassador to UAE and Israel
Tourism is a Competitive trade
Tourism is competitive as it is the fastest and easiest to thrive with available resources the country is bestowed with naturally not everybody is lucky to possess. World is different and complex with different climatic, geographical, and difficult condition with some counties prune to natural disasters often and difficult weather conditions. Yet in the modern world all the countries and the world over is contributing a substantial amounts to teh GDP of the nation led by USA, China, Mexico, France and many including Asian counterparts.
Small tourist nations
Napal is a landlocked poor country at the mercy of giant India for access and extreme cold weather close to Everest Mountains Nepal makes use of for tourism making use of expeditions by those who climb the mountain as pleasure and challenges in life. Nepal is a hotspot on tourism also being the birth place of ‘’Gouthama Buddha’’ venerated by Buddhists worldover that also helps tourism in Nepal. Sandy UAE is not attractive or beautiful for tourists or tourism. They use sandy mountains for the enjoyment of tourists mainly during teh night, and after they are blessed with oil in 1960, diverted it to the tourist hotspot with most modern belongs, houses, shopping malls and making available for tourists and investors to invest with tax incentives, based on a vision by visionary leaders, showing vision is the main requirement to implement the mission with necessary adoptions to the system of governance and the culture and religious practices. Islam is a highly disciplined religion – yet in Dubai it is relaxed for tourist to flourish. Singapore once have been a barren land until a visionary leader imposed disciplined less corruption country to be the business, and a naval hub with advanced legal system as a centre for Arbitrations, by the vision of teh visionary took the nation with him to be a leading business hub with rich country with rich inhibitions once a poor island helplessly awaiting for help from the rest of the world. Maldives have no resources or income with no income expect dried fish to consume and export.Visionary leaders exploited sandy beaches, shallow sea water and the cluster of small islands to attract high end tourists to be a rich nation with full of tourists famous for tourism. These are not miracles, it is teh vision and sheer hard work with determined continuous efforts.India and China are industrial, and agricultural countries yet they concentre on tourism which co exists with tourism earning billions for the GDP and citizens with necessary environment protections and precaution on the protection of culture. Malesia is sensitive on ethnicity with three nations living shoulder to shoulder yet on the tourism sector they are a tourist country, making use of the climatic conditions, beauty,and natural resources balancing all areas and sectors. Thailand is a Buddhist country adopted themselves for tourism despite strong religious customs and ties tourists are attracted to Thailand for food, climatic condition, culture, friendly nature, sea and greenery and is a hotspot and a competitor for Sri Lanka due to many similarities. China attracts 50.6 million visitors and Sri Lanka is depending on Indian, Chinese, USA, UK, Germans, as positive customers patronising Sri Lanka in addition to Israel’s visiting for shallow sea surfing and trave, many others to visit historical and religisious places of significance including great history and water and irrigation systems of King of Sri Lankas giving priority to irrigation and construction of Dagobas and ‘Wevas’ that are massive removers of water connected to agricultures and agrarian services the western engineers to have praised for the knowledge of he engineers then.
Where is Sri Lanka positioned today?
Sri Lanka is positioned in the map of tourism as a tourist country with lot of beauty and the compact island, with excellent climatic conditions, network of roads connected to high ways, beauty greenery and scenery, reasonable good hotels, lacking in night life, Malls are being constructed, food prices not as low and reusable as before, political stability unlike sometime back with less crime rate and controlled bribery and corruption, and most importantly a reasonably disciplined community at least on election where free and fair elections help in a most peaceful and exemplary manner of European standard with no violence of any incidents hat had been the practice before.
Security and protection
Tourists are sensitive to security and protection from violence and incidents of this nature are rare on tourists and warnings by foreign embassies are not frequent. There is no tourist place but generally police and security forces have respect and attention for tourists.They move free with bit harassment from beggars, yet tolerated having got used to the way of life. Society is English spoken and consumer items and services are available to the tourists a the retail price with some unpleasant incidents of overcharging by errant traders. We remind the tourist authorities to re introduce tourist police to be active and to be seen to the tourist world watching us with teh microscopic eye. And take steps to protect whale population which is a rate treasure to us without driving them away by lot of stress and disturbances.
Sri Lanka is in need of a vision and a visionary? Can we expect a vision and a visionary for tourism ?
Vision of a leader is is granted to the nation by the visionary with great leadership, with dedication, hard work, understanding and research. Dubai leader we understand has studied and researched the achievements of Singapore, Israel and many other success stories before implementing his vision using the geographical situation, the nee found oil money, and the human factors by spending heavily to employ CEOs to most vent’s from the west including USA to manage app important hotspots. We need a leader with a vision and committed for the cause who is educated and researched the challenge, and it is to be considered whether we have one or some body or a group will put forward a vision by a visionary who has commitment and power to implement. Our citizen is intelligent and are in a position to judge and decide to themselves on the future and future challenges, programs and visionaries. The write is extropy pleased if the readers comment and come out with propositions ideas and share with the majority of the community of all races and languages and they are main barriers today, yet fortunately citizen is computer literate and digitally armed with a Mobil phone with almost every citizen. Sarath Wijesinghe could be contacted on sararhdw28@gmail.com and you are requested to retrieve/read my articles by browsing the internet – digitalisation and tourism today on 27th nov and Lanka web number of other articles on the web against name of the author. Day Sri Lanka becoming the best destination is not too far if we work hard with a vision led by visionary leaders. Let us live on hopes but work hard non stop until we reach teh destination to be the best tourism hotspot in the world.
Sri Lanka will not be able to afford a large public sector in the near future and will soon need to start reducing the number of state employees, a senior advisor to the president said yesterday.
Projecting that the Treasury would be unable to sustain the current expenditure levels in the coming years, Senior Presidential Advisor Duminda Hulangamuwa said that the country would have to downsize its public sector workforce from its current 1.3 million employee base to 750,000 employees.
I can tell you that as we move forward, the funds available in the Treasury will not be enough in the coming years. We can’t afford to have a large public sector. So, we need to rationalise public services, cut down the numbers and move towards digitalisation,” Hulangamuwa said at the BETA Annual Report and Accounts (BARA) Awards of the Association of Public Finance Accountants of Sri Lanka (APFASL), held at the BMICH yesterday.
We will need to reduce the 1.3 million employees to at least 750,000 and pay the remaining staff competitive salaries for efficiency. We will also need to begin digitising these services and make sure the taxpayers’ funds are used effectively,” he added.
Hulangamuwa went on to opine that the public opinion about the inefficiency in public service institutions has both a fair and unfair side, as inadequate salaries also contribute to poor performance in public sector service delivery.
He stressed that the state sector employees, particularly those involved in finance, should explore how public assets can be monetised to improve the overall institutional performances.
Government servants have the liberty to identify inefficient services and remove layers of red tape to see how they can be avoided and rationalised. We are not saying we should privatise. We are saying to generate more profits and serve the public with better efficient services,” he stated.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in October announced that the government plans to raise the public sector salaries in the 2025 budget. (NR)
Central Bankers come and go, but the zombie ghost of the Central Bank of Ceylon’s first US governor John Exter still haunts and rules the land, still laying down the dictat of the US Treasury. IMF Chief Missionary Peter Breuer cannot divulge what the US has threatened the JVP with, that will ‘hit’ them if they do not stay with the ‘guards’. Breuer has been illegally scampering in & out of Sri Lanka, before, during & after elections. They will now be allowed to police the budget (tho this is not new). ‘The IMF is keen that [the budget] is in line with the program objectives. He cited the primary surplus, the revenue & the quality of fiscal measures as the important guardrails… Responding to a query about the announcement by the previous government to lift the ban on vehicle imports, he said it was discussed and would be a very important source of revenue for the government in the year ahead. So, after all that talk of ‘Chinese debt trap’, it turns out the US & so-called ‘local banks’ who are actually importers of crap machinery, and in fact are controlled by the World Bank etc, ‘own’ over 50% of Sri Lanka’s debt. Is it any surprise that the US Treasury Secretary is part of the US National Security Council? (seeee Random Notes).
Who Holds the Wheel? – A ‘Steering Committee’ of a so-called ‘Ad-Hoc Group of Bondholders’ own about 40% of $12.55billion of defaulted bonds, while a ‘Local Consortium of Sri Lanka (LCSL)’, with 11 members including banks, have around 12%. The Steering Committee is made of funds managed or advised by Amundi Asset Management, Barings, BlackRock & its subsidiaries…(to see the rest of the suspects, see Random Notes)…
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‘The current funding arrangement for digitisation of television in Sri Lanka
is a ‘soft loan‘ from the Japanese government, & it is tied up in ‘one bundle’
with loans for other projects… based on the premise that
the deployment of the Japanese digital television standard,
Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting-Terrestrial is mandatory.’
– ee Industry, Japanese Digital Television Project announced after meeting AKD…
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‘Conduct a detailed debt audit on foreign loans obtained
by the governments to ensure transparency & accountability
in public financial management and to take legal action
against those who have misappropriated such loans.’
– NPP policy document: A Thriving Nation, A Beautiful Life.
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Indeed, we do not wish to add to the NPP’s heavy load, but their audit of debt could list which corporations & banks import which industrial goods, naming the makers & financiers of such imports. They could also demand, like Indonesia has just done, that certain goods sold domestically need to contain at least 40% of parts manufactured locally in Indonesia (see ee Industry).
And a note to a supine merchant media: When news items declare, ‘ADB approves $200mn Sri Lanka loan for battery storage, grid upgrade’, instead of being pom-pom wielding cheerleaders, they could also list which US & Japanese corporations, for whom the Asian Development Bank is a front for, would supply such industrial goods for ‘battery storage’ & ‘grid upgrades’.
We should also note that the merchant media’s economists & foreign thinktanks are firmly opposed to state-owned enterprises (SoEs), whether they make money or not, and staunchly against any ‘local content’ laws & ‘import-substitution’. Their main interest is high interest rates for their financial finagling, & imports of their industrial products, & export of our natural resources, including workers – the sum total of their slave economics.
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• Not so Peaceable Coercion – Dhananath Fernando, a smart ‘poor’ Koralawella boy (these are his backers’ own patronizing words), has been groomed by Catholic Action and the US government, to front as the grand-sounding ‘CEO’ of the US thinktank Advocata Institute (tho behind him reigns the real power – Borah importer & Advocata Chair Murtaza Jafferjee – CEO, Chair… such bureaucratic corporate hierarchies, but never mind). Fernando had this to say in a recent Financial Times column:
‘As James Madison, one of the great thinkers behind modern democracy, once said:
‘If men were angels, no government would be necessary.
If angels governed men, no checks would be needed.
But because governments are made up of people,
we must create systems that control the government itself’.’
(see, ee Economists, New era of hope & responsibility)
So, so, so, who is ‘we’ who will create these systems to control people? Robots? The ‘business as usual’ merchants & moneylenders & their foreign overlords?
Good Liberals, Mass Rape & the Ideal Commodity – Now let us see who the real James Madison is – what the US embassy will never teach Fernando. According to The American Slave Coast: a History of the Slave-Breeding Industry by Ned & Constance Sublette, Madison was fully part of ‘the brutal story of how the Anglo-US slavery industry made the reproductive labor of the people it referred to as ‘breeding women’ essential to the young settler-state’s expansion. The ‘Captive African Americans in the slave nation were not only laborers, but merchandise & collateral all at once. In a land without silver, gold, or trustworthy paper money, their children & their children’s children into perpetuity were used as human savings accounts that functioned as the basis of money & credit in a market premised on the continual expansion of slavery. Slaveowners collected interest in the form of newborns, who had a cash value at birth and whose mothers had no legal right to say no to forced mating.’
The Sublettes’ story describes power struggle between the rulers of Virginia, the slave-raising ‘mother of slavery’, and South Carolina, the massive importer of Africans – a conflict that was central to US politics from the making of the Constitution through the debacle of the Confederacy. Virginia slaveowners won a major victory when Thomas Jefferson’s 1808 prohibition of the African slave trade protected the domestic slave markets for slave-breeding. (continued in ee Random Notes)
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• In the aftermath of the 19th century US war between their industrial north & the agricultural south, Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels & eminent US jurists declared that slave masters should never be allowed political rights again! Well, the failure to comprehend the true nature of a triumphant white-settler state, despite its social-media-driven virtue signalling, has led to widespread indignation among US-embassy-liberals in Sri Lanka that such a leader as Don ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ Trump could emerge in their promised land. Yet brain-dead Joe Biden was just as bad, 2 sides of a printed US dollar, which baldly declares, ‘In God we Trust’. So what will Trump bring to our table?:
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‘Trump will have a 2-year window before the midterm congressional elections,
during which he will have a certain freedom to push his policies through
the Senate & the House of Representatives. After that, his decisions could
face resistance both domestically & from US allies.’
– Andrey Sushentsov, Russia Foreign Ministry’s MGIMO International Relations Dept dean
(see ee Sovereignty, A defining moment in the Ukraine war)
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‘Industrial policy for me, free trade for thee…’
– see, ee Focus
• Thisee focuses on ‘the challenges of a Trump presidency’, with a yet more expensive US dollar placing inflationary pressures on import-dependent countries like Sri Lanka, which will further impact the foreign debt burden. Shiran Illanperuma notes how the theories & policies propounded by neoliberal thinktanks like the Atlas Foundation-affiliated Advocata Institute & the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, have little to no influence in their own countries of origin. He concludes that Trump offers a ‘Window of Opportunity’ and insists that ‘for an underdeveloped country like Sri Lanka, no industrial policy tool should be off the table. Well, tell that to the traders!
eeFocusalso reproduces Dhanusha Pathirana’s insistence that it is ‘evident’ that the Sri Lankan government’s deal with the USA ‘has been influenced by corrupt interests’. He concludes ‘Sri Lanka’s debt crisis is a stark example of the destructive power of predatory lending’, and calls for holding ‘these lenders accountable for their role in exacerbating the debt crisis in the third world’
Finally, ee reproduces Part 2 of Bram & Howard Nicholas’ ‘Poverty of CBSL’s Monetary Policies’. They too point out, ‘High domestic interest rates on Government debt, combined with the absence of Central Bank intervention to purchase newly issued debt, will escalate the domestic debt servicing burden.’ Such interest rates will have detrimental effects on investment & economic growth. They call for ‘the establishment of development banks (where have we heard this before?) to provide concessional finance for specific sectors. Though they conclude, ‘However, these too are unlikely to sufficiently offset the negative effects of elevated & volatile medium- & long-term real interest rates’. (see ee Focus)
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• A purported ‘mafia’ (aka cartel) of rice millers & rice importers have been dominating the mafia cartel of newsmakers, while winds & rains heralding the northeast monsoons, buffet & inundate the homes & fields of the land. We should recall the Great Uva Rebellion, the first war of independence against English colonialism, took place in such intramonsoonal conditions from October to November in 1818. Also, the failure to complete that independence with the weakening of the ‘independent’ state, especially over its control of agriculture, hijacked by such English multinationals as Unilever (Liptons), ICC-CIC, Ceylon Tobacco Co, has led to various fissiparous tendencies. This is most symbolic in LTTE leader Prabhakaran who was born through such elements in November 1954, and who was propelled to power especially after JR Jayawardena’s fake ‘Open Economy’, which told Jaffna cultivators to sell their onions wherever they pleased – Colombo likewise was going to import them onions too. A portentous month is November, indeed! Then again, all months are… in a Sri Lanka still under siege after 500 & more years of invasions.
The media portrays a battle between rice millers & rice importers, with all manner of ranting & raving, gnashing & grinding of editorial false teeth. But the central issue remains the uneven application of rural labor, and the failure to organize the whole society & rural industry in particular on the basis of the rhythms of rice cultivation – the primary agricultural pursuit. The English destroyed canals & irrigation systems and village industries, particularly iron & steel making. This was done to destroy the solidarity of the ancient village councils, whose unity was based on the management of the irrigation systems. As noted by a reader in the last ee, failure to keep up one’s share of the canal system, could result in being whipped, with the guilty having to also pay for the cost of being whipped. SBD de Silva in his last years focused his research on the urgent need for rural & agricultural industrialization: He noted the control of the village economy by Colombo merchants of imported goods, & related moneylenders, and their control over the media (led by Unilever) prevent such issues from even being broached: eg, he noted the failure to monetize & commercialize the rural economy, with fundamental economic relationships dominated by the pre-capitalist barter of harvests for industrial goods, which could just as easily be made in villages (ask the Japanese ambassador!). De Silva always recalled how the oncoming Japanese kamikazes post-1939 forced the English to give peasants a fixed price, and workers a fixed wage. Indeed, Silva also noted that such price controls required rationing.
Rice rationing was introduced during England’s WW2, and people had to be taught how to use the rice ration book. This period of shortages of essential goods resulted from the non-arrival of merchant vessels due to war. The rationed commodities were then distributed through co-operative societies established throughout the country.
After the end of the white war on Korea led to the end of ‘the export boom’, the terms of trade grew even more unfavourable – due to the refusal of imperialist powers, particularly the USA, to pay a fair price for tea & rubber. The World Bank (IBRD) agreed to ‘rescue’ the economy, according to certain criteria. The US Governor of Ceylon’s Central Bank advised the Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake, who had just won an election, to seek an election before imposing the World Bank’s stringent conditions. Sound familiar?
‘Shortages’ then led to pressure on the government for an increase in the price of rice. At the behest of the World Bank‘s first mission to Sri Lanka, Finance Minister JR Jayewardene increased rice prices from 25 cents a measure to 72 cents. ‘Workers’ parties’ campaigned against the increases, by collecting and submitting hundreds of signatures to parliament, joining national protest against the cutting also of the rice-ration by a 1/4 measure, and the increase in flour price by 15 cents.
Calls for the conclusion of a Rubber-Rice Pact with the People’s Republic of China to solve the rice shortages were strenuously opposed by a US lobby within Sri Lanka, led by (another ‘former Marxist’!) JR Jayewardene, resulting in his nickname, Yankee Dicky, with the proponent of the pact within the government, RG Senanayake, being dubbed China Dicky.
Rice rationing was again introduced in 1974, on the ground that rice was not purchasable for any love of money on the world market… The UNP gained from this total failure of the United Front Government, and especially of the discrediting of the LSSP & CP…. Sound familiar…?
A Statement by Advisor Duminda Hulangamuva tells that our President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has decided to delay the implementation of the IMF’s decision that Imputed Taxes should be taxed. (EN: 2/12/24)
Our President has to be congratulated for this decision.
This is a minor decision but it is important to note that it is a decision by the IMF that has been varied in the interests of our Motherland.
I must mention that it is the decision of the IMF to impose the Structural Adjustment Programme provisions on our country in 1977 when President Jayawardena requested the IMF for help that has proved detrimental to the development of our country.
It is hoped that our President will also consider implementing a programme to create employment opportunities for our people in the process of producing what the country requires. Such a programme will alleviate the poverty in people as well as produce items that are now being imported.
This can be implemented with no additional staff costs as the staff- members of the Administrative Service and the Clerical Service are already available. They do have the ability and the experience as they did once implement similar programmes like the Divisional Development Councils Programme in the days of Prime Minister Sirimavo.
Such a move will also bring great credit and prestige to the present Government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
The National People’s Power (NPP) has called on the highest echelons of the Government to abolish the placed Party sources revealed. Executive Presidency as promised and the discussions in this regard have already been initiated, highly- The NPP has always criticized the current Executive Presidency, introduced by the 1978 Constitution, which consolidates significant power in the hands of the President, often bypassing legislative checks and undermining democratic governance.
Under this system, the President holds control over critical areas, including Executive decisions, Military Commands, and sometimes Judicial and Parliamentary functions.
Critics argue that the overconcentration of power has led to political instability, corruption, and weak institutional oversight.
The NPP, therefore, views the abolition of the Executive Presidency as part of a broader effort to decentralize power, foster democratic reforms, and restore parliamentary sovereignty, Government sources said.
However, they said the implementation of this change will require significant constitutional amendments, as the Executive Presidency is entrenched in the current Constitution.
The NPP policy statement, under 4.1 ‘A new Constitution – A united Sri Lankan nation’ also mentioned these points: ‘Introducing a new parliamentary electoral system, limiting official presidential residences to one and abolishing the pensions and special privileges given to retired presidents and their families’.
However, they said the implementation of this change will require significant constitutional amendments, as the Executive Presidency is entrenched in the current Constitution”
How Safe & Secure are the Security Operational Functions & Details of Global Political & Commercial Leaders?
When a bullet transmitted by a highly visible weapon, reached the Ear of an ex-President of USA”, despite a highly professional Team of Secret Service Security personnel, the Safety Operational Control of Security is a Question Mark!
Events proved from the time of Jesus Christ, the closest Disciple, Confidant like Judas Iscariot,gave the Kiss of Death for a few Pieces of Silver!
Julius Caesar was stabbed on his back by Brutus!
Several Presidents of USA were brought down by a bullet.
Even the Pope of the Catholic Church suffered an attack in the Vatican despite the protection of his colourful Swiss Guards.
The Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot by her own trusted” Sikh security guard.
The Prime Minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) S.W.R.D Bandaranaike was shot by a Buddhist Monk!
When the trusted Attorney Michael Cohen, who stated that he would take a bullet for President Trump, gave Confidential” details to the public, during a bust-up by-passing his ProfessionalEthics & Code of Conduct .
Michael Schumacher’s Former Bodyguard Blackmails the Family demanding for over Euro 12 million, for holding Sensitive Material.
So many other leaders have suffered the Fate of the Trusted security detail breach, either embarking on a corrupt scheme, to take advantage, or totally turn a blind eye on their asset!
Now To The Food Chain!
Canaries are used in Mines to check Oxygen, Why Not Mice & Rats as Food Tasters to Check Poisons!
Whilst the obvious and highly visual Personal Security today is a Question Mark on its Viability, even a greater concern is highlighted on the invisibility of the security of the Food Chain.
The Food Chain is at worst is several thousand kilometres long, hundreds of operational humans and complex with tons of variables both in Time & in Distance.
Several English kings, a Catholic Pope and many important persons died of food poisoning.
Air travel even in your Private Personal Official Jet, either the food is brought with you or secured on arrival at a foreign airport, the security logistics is a nightmare.
How to protect a Country Leader crossing boundaries having to eat what is being offered?
Should the Official Food taster stand behind the dignitary with a fork and taste a bite off the plate?
Should the bottle of water, checked if the top seal is unbroken, and the food taster checks the safety!
Or should the VVIP carry his own starved Food Tasting Mice in a special cage?
Can every bottle of wine is checked if a few drops of Eye Drops were inserted in between the serving?
No Animal Deserves Cruelty!
However there is an opening for starved Mice & Rats being used as a disposable Food Tasters!
Should an animal be used as a Guinea Pig to Save a Human Life?
Express Your Opinion – Read What Others Say! The Independent Interactive Voice of Sri Lanka on the Internet.
Sri Lanka has achieved another Staff-Level Agreement for the Third Review of the IMF program. The IMF delegation during its recent visit to Colombo praised the state of the economy and the success of their programme in Sri Lanka. The reality is far from its applause, where real output and incomes for people is much lower than where it was prior to the onslaught of the crisis. Worse, the IMF prescriptions of inflation targeting have drastically gone wrong, and the economy is caught in a deflationary downward spiral further undermining economic growth, livelihoods and job creation.
The so-called rise in inflation in 2022 was a consequence not so much of loose monetary policy, but of the overnight depreciation of the rupee from Rs 200 per dollar to Rs 364 to the dollar, based on the recommendation of the IMF. The price rise caused by this depreciation of the rupee was passed onto the people including for essential goods; as yet another prescription of the IMF was to market price even essential goods and services without the government addressing price stability. This one time rise in prices labelled as inflation leading to the tremendous increase in cost of living was then unnecessarily hammered by major interest rate hikes with the Central Bank’s policy rate rising to 16.5%. The unaffordability of working capital threw many SMEs out of business. These shock policies rely on the market and oppose any role for the state in the economy.
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