Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Manila, Philiphines (19 November 2024) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) today approved a USD 200 million policy-based loan to further help the Government of Sri Lanka strengthen its financial sector, the Asian Development Bank (ADB)said. 

This second subprogram of ADB’s Financial Sector Stability and Reforms Program builds on the stabilization and crisis management measures put in place under the first subprogram approved in 2023.

Sri Lanka has made good progress in stabilizing macroeconomic conditions and improving the fiscal situation. ADB is helping the country establish long-term growth by introducing and institutionalizing structural reforms in its financial sector,” said ADB Country Director for Sri Lanka Takafumi Kadono. This subprogram reinforces ADB’s support in strengthening the governance of the banking sector and expanding financial inclusion in Sri Lanka to achieve sustainable recovery from economic crisis, resilience, and poverty alleviation.”

Policy reforms under subprogram 2 will improve the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s (CBSL) regulatory supervision of banks to ensure financial stability. This includes an improved early warning system that will identify weakening processes of banks and introduce corrective actions. The CBSL will implement a new stress testing model to monitor solvency issues and liquidity stresses.

Subprogram 2 will continue to strengthen the banking sector’s asset quality. The CBSL will provide guidance on credit concentration risk limits and give incentives to banks to accept guarantees and limit collateral requirements to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). In addition, the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development, Policy Formulation, Planning and Tourism (MOF) will provide MSMEs, especially women-led businesses, incentive packages such as special loans to expand their business.

Financial inclusion of women and vulnerable groups will be further expanded through the digitization of personal information to enhance electronic transactions. The MOF will formulate a policy framework for women-led MSMEs to improve their access to finance, with the CBSL helping financial institutions identify eligible women entrepreneurs.

ADB is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty,” the ADB said in a statement.

 DARSHANA SANJEEWA BALASURIYA  Courtesy The Daily Mirror

olombo, Nov 19 (Daily Mirror) – While assuring the public that tackling bribery and corruption will remain a priority, the new Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Ananda Wijayapala said today that he is committed to restoring the independence of the Sri Lanka Police, which he noted had been politicised under previous governments.

Ananda Wijayapala officially assumed duties as the Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs today at the Ministry of Public Security in Battaramulla.

In his address, Minister Wijayapala acknowledged the steps already taken by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to free the Sri Lanka Police from political influence and reiterated his firm stance on ensuring the Sri Lanka Police remain impartial, fair and accountable to the public.

“We believe that for law and order to truly serve the people, the Sri Lanka Police must perform their duties without bias or political interference. We are committed to protecting the independence of the police and will provide an environment where they can serve the public impartially,” he said.

Addressing concerns raised during the election campaign, Minister Wijayapala assured the public that tackling bribery and corruption will remain a priority. 

“During our campaign, we promised to take action against bribery and corruption, and we will deliver on that promise,” he affirmed.

Courtesy Adaderana

The appointment of the new Secretary to the Prime Minister, the Cabinet Secretary and Secretaries for 16 Ministries was held at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo today (19). 

The ceremony was officiated by the Secretary to the President, Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said.

The list of appointees is as follows:

01. Mr. G.P Saputhanthri – Secretary to the Prime Minister
02. Mr. W.D.M. J Fernando – Secretary to the Cabinet
03. Senior Prof. Kapila C.K. Perera – Ministry of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation
04. Mr. K.M.M. Siriwardana – Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development 
05. Mrs. J.M. Thilaka Jayasundara – Ministry of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development
06. Mr. A.M.P.M. B. Atapattu – Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs
07. Mr. B.K. Prabath Chandrakeerthi – Ministry of Plantation and Community Infrastructure
08. Mr. H.S.S. Thuyacontha – Ministry of Defence
09. Mr. D.W.R.B. Seneviratne – Ministry of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs
10. Mr. U. G. Ranjith Ariyaratne – Minister of Urban Development, Construction and Housing
11. Prof. K.T.M. Udayanga Hemapala – Ministry of Energy
12. Mr. S. Aloka Bandara – Ministry of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government
13. Mr. S.M. Piyatissa – Ministry of Labour
14. Mr. K.A. Wimalenthirarajah – Ministry of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Co-operative Development
15.  Mr. D. P. Wickremasinghe – Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation
16.  Mr. K.M.G.S.N. Kaluwewa – Ministry of Education, Higher education and Vocational education
17. Mr. A.H.M.U. Aruna Bandara – Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
18. Mrs. Aruni Ranaraja – Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism

Courtesy Adaderana

The Secretary General of Parliament, Mrs. Kushani Rohanadheera, clarified that a Member of Parliament (MP) is not paid a salary but is entitled to an allowance.

Joining the Ada Derana’s current affairs programme ‘BIG FOCUS’, she explained that currently an MP is entitled to an allowance of almost Rs. 54,000.

Apart from this, they are also entitled to an attendance allowance of Rs 2,500 for the days when parliamentary sessions are held and an allowance of Rs 2,500 for attending committee meetings held on days when the parliamentary sessions are not held.

She mentioned that the fuel allowance is based on the distance, which is calculated according to a formula.

Mrs. Rohanadheera also noted that MPs who do not have a house within 40 kilometers from the Parliament are eligible to apply for accommodations in the parliamentary housing complex in Madiwela. 

The housing complex includes only a total of 108 houses, which are allocated based on the order of requests submitted by the ruling party and the opposition.

Secretary General of the Parliament added that the MPs residing in these houses pay a monthly rent of Rs. 2,000, with electricity and water bills borne by the MPs themselves.

Furthermore, she highlighted that the Parliament and the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs have facilitated the reduction of the amount from allowances by providing them the medical facilities from the Sri Jayawardenepura Hospital, and mentioned that the relevant ministry will also bear the necessary allowances for the personal staff of the MPs.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

REVISED 18.11.24

The second Yahapalana government which started with Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in 2019, followed by Ranil Wickremesinghe In 2022 came to an end in September 2024, with the election of a new President, JVP’s Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

 For the first time in our political history, a rural lad was voted into the highest position in the land.  We had ‘Tanamalvila kollek ‘on television. Now we have a ‘Tambuttegama kollek’ as our President. Anura Kumara Dissanayake is holding    a position which snobs think should be filled only by a kalu sudda”. Therefore, those who are not snobs are very happy about it, whether they voted for him or not.  Sri Lanka is still   very   keen on upward mobility”.

 NPP had the public believe that the country had gained absolutely nothing during successive governments since Independence  If so, how come an office aide’s son from Tambuttegama received free education and graduated from a state university with a science degree, and went on to become the President of Sri Lanka asked Island.

Island editorial noted, what made the NPP’s impressive electoral victories possible was the unstinting support of the ‘voters of passage’, who shift their political loyalties, based on changing circumstances, their own interests and the prevailing political climate.

There is reason to believe that most of those who helped raise the NPP’s votes from a meagre 3% to a whopping 61% and its parliamentary seats from a mere three to a stunning 159 within just four years are the ones who voted overwhelmingly for Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the 2019 presidential race and for the SLPP in the 2020 general election, concluded Island.[1]

Dissanayake won only because there was a sharp swing away from   known politicians to the totally unknown.  Voters   were fed up with the old lot and were prepared to gamble with an untested new lot. They   want ‘the good life’ back and were readily prepared to   vote in anyone who offered to provide it.

The country now hopes the new President will deliver. That remains to be seen.  With the landslide victory at the General Election, 2024 comes responsibility.  To be all things to all people, to deliver the sun and the moon as promised, with the electorate watching.

It is argued that the victory is a historic victory, because never before has a single political party won   such a landslide. Analysts speak of very high percentages, such as 70%. That is not correct. The   Jatika Jana Balavegaya, earlier known as Janata Vimukthi Peramuna, obtained 6,863,186 votes in an election where the registered voters, were 17,140,354. This means that the NPP has secured just 40% of the vote and not 70%.

It is also important to note that the NPP is not a Leftist party though the international media says it is.  The NPP was never a Marxist party and those who know Marxism are aware of this. A Marxist party approaches governance differently and uses a different political jargon.

 At the election, there was a sharp drop in voter turnout, which was between 55% and 65% in contrast to the 79% who voted as the Presidential election. [2] The voter turnout at Colombo was 65%, Nuwara-Eliya 68%, Matara 64%, Batticaloa 61%, Puttalam 56%, Anuradhapura 65% and Kurunegala 64%.

There is a clear pattern in the voting response. Those supporting Sajith Premadasa (Samagi Jana Balavegaya) and Ranil Wickremesinghe (New Democratic Front) have stayed away, ignoring the need for a strong opposition. Those supporting Jatika Jana Balavegaya and those supporting Sarvajana Balaya have loyally trotted to the polls. Both parties increased their votes and Sarvajana Balaya with its handfuls of votes (one of which was mine) has obtained a bonus seat.

 The first version of this essay was written before the new Parliament was announced. The members of the new   Parliament have since been announced and the Cabinet sworn in. 

 Critics have observed that the new government is full of novices, and most Ministers will have no experience whatsoever with governance. The experienced and knowledgeable politicians are now outside Parliament. The forces the JVP/NPP boasts of having vanquished are likely to make a comeback, critics warned.

There are several positive features in this new Parliament. Firstly, there is a notable improvement in the intellectual level of the MPs. Many are professionals, lawyers, doctors, university academics and school teachers. The landslide brought them in.  It can be safely assumed that the intelligence level and critical approach will also be high.

This means, hopefully, that these MPs will look at the matters that come up in Parliament in a responsible manner. They will, we hope, look critically at the Bills brought before them and also do some research of their own before they agree to anything.  One looks forward to high quality debates once the new MPs find their feet.

Secondly, there is the welcome arrival of a disabled MP, Sugath Wasantha de Silva, a graduate of the University of Colombo and a social welfare officer, who is visually impaired. This is to be applauded.

 Thirdly, the defeated parties have pledged to support the winning party. This shows maturity. In the old days, say in the 1950s, winners and losers celebrated the results by assaulting each other.

Critics have observed that many MPs are new to Parliament .That is not an issue. All politicians start that way. There was a first time for DS, SWRD and the rest too. What is important in this case is that these people are also new to politics not just Parliament. Some have local government experience, that is good, but many have come straight from home. They are utterly green and probably very idealistic.

Some of this landslide lot will stay and continue in politics. They will leave the NPP eventually, but will stay on in politics. NPP may in this respect have acted as a catchment area for those coming freshly into politics sans family connections. That is good.

Some will enjoy their stay. I spoke to a school mate who had been an MP and asked what it was like.  ‘Can go abroad a lot’ she said.  But some will get a rude shock when they find out what Parliament politics is like and my guess is that many will not return to Parliament once their term is over.

 The   Parliament opposition is abnormally small. They will not be able to defeat a single government Resolution. But there are dozens of experienced former Parliamentarians who are watching events from outside.

They have far more political experience and are far more politically astute than those   inside Parliament. They also have the ability to whip up opposition and squash events. They know where to look and how to find out. For instance they will know if the three agreements with America, ACSA, SOFA and MCC are to be signed secretly.

The Tamil dominated Northern and Eastern provinces have also given substantial votes to the NPP.  NPP won two seats in Trincomalee, getting 42.48% of the votes, won two seats in the Vanni district with 20.37% votes and bagged three seats in Jaffna with 24.85%. [3]Two JVPers Bimal Ratnayake and Ramalingam Chandrasekaran had taken up residence in Jaffna and carried out the NPP campaign. [4]

NPP also won 5 seats in Nuwara Eliya. Whether the NPP will be able to retain its popularity in the North and the East will depend on how it handles contentious issues such as devolution and the UNHRC resolutions against Sri Lanka, said Island. [5]

The voting system followed in Sri Lanka today needs evaluation.  There are three positive aspects in today’s system. The first is Proportional Voting. Instead of the ‘first past the post’ which existed earlier, we now have Proportional Voting .In the old ‘first past the post’ method, there was just one winner, the rest were forgotten.

 In Proportional voting, MPs are elected on the proportion of votes obtained by each political party. Proportional voting gives weight to all votes, whether they are winning votes or not. Losing parties are also assigned seats in Parliament based on the proportion of votes they got.

The second good feature is that Proportional Voting also allows the voter to vote for the candidate of this choice.  The voter chooses the party then selects the persons or persons that he wishes to send to Parliament from that party. The nominated candidates are indicated by number on the ballot paper and the vote is completed in a single visit to the polling station.

The third good feature is the Bonus Vote”.  This enables a fledgling party like Sarvajana Balaya to obtain a seat in Parliament on its total number of votes though it came sixth on the list.

There is however a serious defect in the present election system, which manages to cancel the positive aspects of the present voting system. That is the creation of huge, massive electorates instead of small manageable constituencies.

In the traditional system, which was supposed to imitate the democratic system of the Greek market place, there were electoral Constituencies,”   where the citizen directly voted for the candidate he wanted to see in Parliament. Each constituency had a seat in Parliament and the winning candidate went straight in.

 In this system,   the voters knew who their Member of Parliament was, and who to go to when necessary. The MP also, in his turn, nursed his constituency and looked after his voters, especially if he intended to return to Parliament at the next election. Even otherwise he had an obligation to look after his constituency.

From 1989 this system was abandoned. The 160 single-member, double-member and triple-member districts were replaced with 22 multi-member electoral districts which generally matched the administrative districts. The earlier constituencies continued as   polling divisions within the Electoral districts.

These new Electoral Districts are huge. They contain administrative divisions that have little to do with each other. The Colombo electorate   consists of the following electoral   districts. Colombo North, Colombo West, Colombo East, Colombo Central, Borella,   Dehiwela, Ratmalana, Maharagama, Homagama, Kaduwela, Kolonnawa, Avissawella, Kesbewa, Kotte and Moratuwa. Many of these districts have no connection to Colombo and are far away from each other. Avissawella is at one end, Moratuwa at the other.

 In the 1970 general election in Colombo, most of these electoral divisions were separate constituencies which sent in their own MPs. The following were separate constituencies in 1970. Colombo North, Colombo Central, Colombo South, Borella, Kotte, Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia, Moratuwa, Kesbewa, Homagama, Avissawella. [6]

 The Kandy electorate consists today of   Galagedara, Harispattuwa, Pata Dumbara, Uda Dumbara , Teldeniya, Kundasale, Hewaheta,  Senkadagala, Mahanuwara, Yatinuwara,  Udunuwara, Gampola, and Nawalapitiya.

In 1970, these   were separate constituencies with MPs of their own.  Senkadagala, Udu Nuwara, Yati Nuwara, Galagedara, Hanguranketa, Hewaheta, Kundasale, Nawalapitiya, Teldeniya and Walapane were separate constituencies in 1970.

The style of electioneering changed to match this development .Before 1989, when it was constituency based election; there were many small rallies within the constituency. Audiences gathered at convenient outdoor locations, to listen to the candidates.  Some perched on trees, the rest stood, a few were given seats.

After 1989, this was not possible. The electorate was too large. Election campaigns consisted therefore of huge rallies in selected locations, organized as outreach events. The voters were brought in by vehicles and all were given seats.  The audience saw this as a chance to   benefit themselves in addition to a free outing. They demanded money, hard liquor and meals, if they were to attend. [7]The   same groups went from rally to rally, political party to political party. Middlemen took them there, also for money.

This new system of huge electorates violates democracy.   It violates the main   purpose of an    election in a democratic society, the direct election of       representatives. Today, instead of one MP per constituency, there is a gaggle of MPs for the whole electoral division.

Due to the huge size of each electorate, the   MPs do not know the voters and the voters do not know the MPs. There is no link between the two. Therefore elected MPs do not feel any obligation towards the voters, forgetting the fact that they entered Parliament thorugh the ballots of these voters. Critics observed that enlarging the electorate was the source of   the corruption which arose thereafter. [8]

This distortion of the democratic election was done by JR Jayewardene when he was President. He wanted to make the political party the sole focus of power in the state.    JR wanted to reduce the   voting power of the citizen.  He wanted to sever the link between the voter and MP. He wanted the voter eliminated altogether at the Presidential election. He wanted the Presidential election to be decided by an Electoral College. Chandrananda de Silva, Commissioner of Elections said No.

There was another distortion of the democratic process, by the introduction of a National List at the General election. The National List comprises 29 members who enter Parliament without contesting. The number of National List seats each party receives is based on their proportion of the national vote.

Although the National List was originally intended to bring experts and professionals into Parliament, the National List was used instead to bring in political loyalists, including defeated candidates.

Critics have pointed out that these National List nominees are not elected representatives. They violated the principle that ALL members of a House of Representatives (or a single governing assembly), must be voted in by the people. These National list   entrants are not voted in, they are not elected. They have no accountability to the people.   They never had to promise anything to the voters and never received a vote explicitly directed at them, complained critics.[9]  (concluded)

---

[1] 18.11.24  https://island.lk/super-mandate-and-sobering-reality/

[2] It was around 55 to 65 percent at several districts, according to their returning officers.

[3] 18.11.24 https://island.lk/new-sri-lanka-and-challenges-and-possibilities-of-super-majority/

[4] https://www.sundaytimes.lk/241117/columns/npps-unexpected-two-thirds-victory-leaves-battered-opposition-struggling-to-regroup-578153.html

[5] 18.11.24  https://island.lk/super-mandate-and-sobering-reality/

[6] https://elections.gov.lk/web/wp-content/uploads/election-results/parliamentary-elections/general-election-1970.pdf

[7] https://www.pressreader.com/sri-lanka/sunday-times-sri-lanka/20241103/281706915188254?srsltid=AfmBOopYbAradDjzNJ1FoS2XB8htVhzD5W9ug1XsGHG5RcepvFJpBPev

[8] Island fin rev. 26.8.14 p 4.K Godage

[9] https://island.lk/oddity-of-the-national-list-twins-in-a-single-body-a-commentary/

The Coalition for a Pro-Animal Protection Act – Sri Lanka

1) Draft Animal Welfare Bill

2) National Dog Spay and Rabies Eradication Programme

1) Draft Animal Welfare Bill

By 2023 when the Draft Animal Welfare Bill was taken up for its first reading in Parliament, it has been made into a legal mess, denying legal protection to animals from cruelties. 

In June 2023 our Coalition intervened and by March 2024 we got Parliamentary Sectoral Oversight Committee (SOC) to approve amendments that would make this bill exemplary, offering legal protection to all animals from cruelties, coupled with fines increased from Rs. 100,000  to 250,000- 500,000 to Rs. 5 million for animal abuse, with the fines doubling for abuse of pregnant animals. 

But even after that Constitutional intervention and clear instructions to the relevant Ministry by the SOC to include the approved amendments, the Bill was prepared by that Ministry for the Second Reading in Parliament, dropping many crucial PARLIAMENTARY SOC-APPROVED AMENDMENTS. 

Fortunately for the Animals of Sri Lanka, the Draft Bill was not taken up for the Second Reading.

The Parliament stands dissolved.  

Attention President, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Justice: This draft Bill must be presented in Parliament again ONLY after including the SOC-APPROVED AMENDMENTS. 

Anyone trying to scuttle the process to pass a Bill that comprehensively provides legal protection to animals citing ANY reason, cannot have animal welfare in their hearts and minds. 

2) The National Dog Spay and Rabies Eradication Programme

All one has to do is to travel round Sri Lanka to witness  the enormous numbers of ownerless dogs, some in shocking conditions, to judge how “efficient and sustainable  result-oriented” the National Dog Spay and Rabies Eradication Programme has been, after functioning under the Health Ministry with contract veterinarians for 15 years since 2008 till now, at a budgetary allocation ranging from Rs.100 million to Rs. 280 million annually.

Right now Rs. 200 million has been allocated to this fruitless, unmonitored, unevaluated activity, to SUSTAIN A BUSSINESS and not an accountable programme. 

The move to have this programme executed by the ONLY State Entity that is responsible for handling and eradicating zoonotic diseases, the  Department of Animal Production and Health (DAPH), having recruited 500 additional veterinarians, was scuttled in 2019, and the Programme was taken back to the Ministry of Health, a State entity responsible for diseases that afflict humans and not animals and hence has no Veterinarians, for BUSINESS AS USUAL.

Attention President, Minister of Health, and Minister of  Livestock: This programme must be immediately vested in the DAPH so it can be made into a scientifically executed,  accountable, sustainable-results-generating programme that can be monitored and evaluated regularly.

Such a scientific, professional, and systematic DAPH-executed accountable programme, coupled with Owned Dog Registration will see significant results in two years towards zero dog population growth and dog rabies control towards eradication.

CPAPA – SL (The Coalition for a Pro-Animal Protection Act – Sri Lanka)

Dilrook Kannangara

Though the 2024 election outcome in the north, east and other areas of high minority population density seems promising of a united Sri Lanka, it has happened before. Yes; we have been through it before and the end was a disaster. When basic needs of minorities are challenged, they turn towards Sinhala political parties. Once they are satisfied, they turn back towards Tamil and Muslim tribal politics. NPP became darlings of minorities only because of the continuing economic hardships minorities and the entire nation go through. If or when minorities no longer have these economic hardships, Tamil and Muslim nationalist and sectarian parties become appealing again. These parties though suffered a small setback are still holding ground ready to pounce. It is a matter of time.

This can be explained through Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs. 

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

It is a human motivation theory. It explains what drives a human from one need to another. There are 5 types of needs. They are ranked from the bottom to the top. At the very bottom are physiological needs like food, shelter, clothing and other survival needs. Once these needs are satisfied, humans tend to look for the next level needs which are safety and security needs including health, education, employment, stability of life and property/investments. If they too are satisfied, humans seek next level needs which are love and belonging needs including friends, family and society. If they too are satisfied, they move up to self-esteem needs which include social standing, respect from the society and asserting one’s uniqueness against others. These needs are also seen in communities. At this stage a community that is aware of their own identity may want to assert themselves into nationhood, if denied by then. Once these needs are also satisfied, the person moves to self-actualization needs which include searching for the meaning of life and other philosophical needs. It only occurs in individuals. This rarely happens as very few people are able to satisfy all other needs.

Sri Lanka’s entire population including minorities are struggling to meet their physiological and safety and social security needs in the current dire economic situation. Self-esteem needs are not appealing now. Survival and stability in the economic front are more important. That is why minorities, particularly Tamils, broke ranks from their past voting behavior and voted for the NPP. If or when things improve self esteem needs become more dominant and Tamil tribal political parties will become more appealing once again.

There were short spells of Tamils co-operating with Sinhala political parties when their basic needs were under threat. These times include 1915-21, 1931-32, 1941-45, 1947-49, 1965-72, 1994-95, 2001-03 and 2015-16. All these were short lived. The moment their basic needs were satisfied they dumped co-operation and took up sectarian demands.

The same can be seen in Tamil Nadu, India where 90% of world Tamils live. Only about 5% of world Tamils live in Sri Lanka. Tamil Nadu sets all trends for the rest of the community to following in politics, music, styles and everything else. Tamil nationalism was highest when Tamil Nadu made steady economic and cultural progress. As economic growth rate cools and as security threats rise, they have become less demanding and more compliant.

Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it. These events will repeat; the NPP honeymoon will also end as all previous honeymoons ended. It is wise for the ruling party to be aware of this, manage expectations and prepare for the eventual fallout. If they put most development, education, social empowerment, land distribution and other eggs in the minority basket, they will lose everything and head towards an inglorious exit. It pays for the NPP to remember the community that stood by them for 57 years through trying times, made tremendous sacrifices and believed in the movement. The demise of the UNP, SLFP and SLPP can be traced to moving away from their core voting community trying to win hearts and minds of newcomers. It lost them both camps and condemned them to the political rubbish bin. The majority community is unforgiving and vicious if they don’t get the attention they deserve. Only they can and have written the epitaph of political movements of this island, not others. (ITAK, ACTC, CWC, SLMC, ACMC and the like still go strong.) Unlike minority voters, the majority will not hesitate a second to write the epitaph of their political parties including the NPP if it follows the hearts and minds campaigns of wooing minorities carried forward by the UNP, SLFP and SLPP. It must be remembered that these parties had their heyday when they were strongly aligned with the majority. That’s when they thought they were unshakable.

C. Wijeyawickrema, LL.B., Ph.D.

December 2nd, 2023

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.”
         Serenity Prayer – Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971).

[(A) දෙවියනි, වෙනස් (චේන්ජ්) කල නොහැකි දේවල් එලෙස භාර ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය උපශාන්ත භාවයත්,(B) වෙනස්කල හැකිදේ වෙනස් කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය ධෛර්යයත්, ඒ දෙක අතර වෙනස (ඩිෆරන්ස්) දැනගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය ප්‍රඥාවත් මට ලබාදෙනු මැනව]

මිනිසා හා  පරිසරය පිළිඹද ජීවන ක්‍රමයක් වන බුදුදහම හා අනිකුත් දේවවාදී (දෙවියන් මිනිසාගේ ප්‍රයෝජනය සඳහා ලෝකය මැව්වේය යන ඇදහීම, විශ්වාසය) අතර වෙනස  ඉහතින් ඇති උදෘතපාඨයේ A කොටසින් පිළිඹිඹුවේ. ලංකාවේ හාමුදුරුවරු රටේ ජාතියේ මුරදේවතාවුන් වූයේ මෙම මූලික වෙනස නිසා හා මධ්‍යම ප්‍රතිපදාවද නිසාය.

ඉතිහාසය කන්නද? (බුද්ධාගම අනුභව කිරීම)

ඉතිහාසය කන්නට පුළුවන්ද කියා ඇසුවේ JRJද, R. ප්‍රේමදාසද, කාදිනල්තුමාද කියා මට මතක නැත. යමෙක් රටක, ජාතියක ඉතිහාසයට භය වීම සමාන කල හැක්කේ සමහරු තමන්ගේ ජීවිත කතාවේ (biography) නැත්නම් රක්ෂාවක් සඳහා ඉදිරිපත්කරණ resume එකේ යම් තොරතුරු සැඟවීම වැන්නකටය. අමිහිරි හෝ ලැජ්ජා වියයුතු කාරණා නිසා වියහැකිය.  එහෙත් සිංහල බෞද්ධ පවුලක උපන් මාලිමාවට බරටම චන්ද වැඩකරණ තරුණයෙක් “බුද්ධාගම කන්නද” කියා ඇසුවොත් ඇතිවන්නේ බලවත් කම්පනයකි.  ලංකාවේ මෙවැනි ආකල්පයක් ඇති සමාජයක් බිහිවිමට මඟ පෑදෙන්නේ කෙසේද යන්න ඇමෙරිකාවේ ජීවත්වන මට ප්‍රශ්ණයක් වන්නේ බුදුදහම නමැති ජීවන මාර්ගය ඇමෙරිකන් සමාජය විසින් පිලිගන්නා ආකාරය  දකිමින් සිටින නිසාය.

ජනාධිපති වීමට කලින් අනුර කුමාරට හා මාලිමාවට දැනට අවුරුද්දකට පෙර මා යැවූ ලිපි දෙකෙන් දෙවන ලිපිය මෙහි පහතින් කොපි කර ඇත. මා විසින් ලියූ <කළු සුද්දන්ගේ පාලන සමය 1948-2019/24> යන පොත් දෙක pdf කර jvp පක්ෂයේ ඊමේල් ලිපිනයට යවා ඇත. එම පොත් මාලිමාවේ මන්ත්‍රීන්ට කියවීමට සැලැස්වුවහොත් ඔවුන්ට රටේ ප්‍රශ්ණ ගැන  ශාස්ත්‍රීය දැනුමක් ලබාගත හැකිවන්නේය. මීට අමතරව ලංකාවෙබ් වෙබ් අඩවියේද දිනපතාම වාගේ වැදගත් තොරතුරු පලවේ. එය කලම්බු ටෙලිග්‍රාෆ් හෝ අනිකුත් වෙබ් අඩවි හෝ යූටියුබ්කාරයින්ගේ කතා මෙන් නොව අපක්ෂපාතීව හැමටම සිය අදහස් ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමට අවස්ථාවක් ලබා දෙන ආයතනයකි.

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ජාතික විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ හා සිංහල බුද්ධාගම (JVP & Buddhism) – part 2

December 2, 2023

මාක්ස්වාදය හා ලංකාවේ පන්සල

ලංකාවේ මාක්ස්වාදීන් විසින් සිංහල බෞද්ධ සමාජය සමඟ ඇතිකරගත් තකතිරු ඝට්ටනය අවසාන (අවම?) කර ගැනීමට අනගි අවස්ථාවක් දැන් 2023 අගවනවිට JVP නායකයින්ට උදාවී තිබේ. නෝත් ආණ්ඩුකාරයාගේ සිටම පන්සල (සිවුර) සමඟ සුද්දන්ට තිබූ හිසරදයට සමානම මානසික ලෙඩක් ලන්ඩන් සිට ආපසු පැමිණි තරුණ මාක්ස්වාදීන්ට 1930ස් ගණන්වල සිටම ගමේ පන්සල සමඟ තිබුණේය. දලයිලාමා කෙරෙහි කොමියුනිස්ට් චීනයේ තිබු වෛරය, ඉඩම් හිමි රදළ නෂ්ටාවශේෂයක් ලෙස මල්වතු-අස්ගිරි ප්‍රමුඛ පන්සල් ඉඩම් යනාදිය පිළිඹඳවද ආරෝපණය කිරීම, නාගරික මාක්ස්වාදීන්ගේ විනෝදය (hobby) විය. ලංකාව ක්‍රිස්තියානි රටක් නොවී බේරුණේ පන්සල (මුරදේවතා සංකල්පය) නිසා නොවේද යන කරුණ පොදුවේ වාමාංශික වරිගයට අදටත් අදාල නැති බව සමසමාජ, කොමියුනිස්ට්, පෙරටුගාමි, හා ඇතැම් අරටු  JVP පිරිස් වල හැසිරීමෙන් හා කතාවලින් පෙනීයන්නේය. ඔවුන්ට හා වෘත්තිය සංගම් පස්සේ පෙලපාලි යන කොණ්ඩේ වවාගත් සිවුරු දමාගත් ලෝභ-ද්වේෂ-මෝහයෙන් පිරි පංචකන්ධ වලටද මේ ගැන කිසිම හෝඩුවාවක් නැත. 

එහෙත් තම පක්ෂය, UNP/SLFP පක්ෂ දෙකට අඩතබමින් සියේට තුනක් ලෙස චන්දදායකයින්ට දොස් කියමින් සිටියා වෙනුවට, අනිකුත් දේශපාලක පංචස්කන්ධ මෙන් කුමණ හෝ උප්පරවැට්ට්වි මඟින් බලය අල්ලා ගැනීමට ක්‍රියාකරණ පිරිසක් නොවන බව JVP විසින් රටේ සිංහල බෞද්ධ චන්දදායකයින්ට ක්‍රියාවෙන් ඔප්පු කලයුතුය. ලංකාව සිංහල බෞද්ධයින්ට ලෝකයේ ඇති එකම ඉඩම් කැබැල්ල බව පිළිනොගන්නා කිසිවෙකුට සිංහල බෞද්ධ (ගෝඨාභයට දුන්නා මෙන්) චන්දයෙන් ලංකාවේ අගමැති/ජනාධිපති වීමට ඉඩක් දැනට නැත.

ලංකාවේ ගමක/ටවුමක පන්සලකට නොයන්නේ හා දරුවන් ඉරිඳා දහම් පාසැලකට නොයවන්නේ සමසමාජ-කොමියුනිස්ට් කාරයින්ගේ පවුල් යයි 1978 ට පෙර තිබූ මතය තවමත් එසේම පවතින්නේ කොණ්ඩේ වවාගෙන සිවුරු දමාගත් ජල ප්‍රවාහ හා කදුළු ගෑස් කමින් අන්තරේ පෙලපාලිකාරයින් මුළු සංඝ සංහතියටම ලබාදෙන නිග්‍රහය නිසාය. පෙරටුගාමි පක්ෂය කෙසේවෙතත් මේ අශෝභන ක්‍රියාව නවත්වන්නටවත් JVP පක්ෂයට නොසිතෙන්නේ ඇයි? මීටම ඈඳුන තවත් කරුමයක් නම් JVP/පෙරටුගාමී පිරිස් උතුරේ/නැඟනහිර හැර අනිත් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවල ශිෂ්‍ය නිදහස මරා දමා ඒකාධිපති පාලනයක් ගෙනයනවා යන්නය. 1950, 1960 ගණන්වල තිබුණේ සමසමාජ පක්ෂයේ අධිකාරිය වුවත් අනිකුත් පක්ෂද පැවතියේය. ශිෂ්‍යාවන්ගේ ඇඳුම්, ගවුමේ පාට, රබර් සෙරෙප්පු සපත්තු යනාදිය ගැන රතු පොලිසි ඒ කාලවල නොවීය.

බත්කඩ

රටේ විශ්ව විද්‍යාල බත්කඩ වගේ බවත් (මෙම බත්කඩ-rice boutique-කතාව මුලින්ම කිව්වේ පෙරාදෙණියේ උපකුලපති සර් නිකුලස් ආටිගල විසින්ය) පර්යේෂණ නොකරණ ගුරුවරු පඩියට පරණ නෝට්ස් කියවන අය බවත් රටේ පවතින මතයය. මෙයට හොඳ උදාහරණයක් වූයේ සර් අයිවෝර් ජෙනින්ස්ගේ නම නේවාසිකාගාරයකට දමන්නට ගියවිට රතු බලකාය ඒ වෙනුවට ඉදිරිපත්කල නම්ය. ජෙනින්ස් කල සේවය ලංකාවේ සිංහල බෞද්ධයින්ට අනාගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමා කල මෙහෙවර හා කිසිසේත්ම සමාන කල නොහැකි නමුත්, ජෙනින්ස් මහතාට රටේ කෘතඥතාවය පෙන්විය යුත්තේ, සිංහල බෞද්ධයින් මොන අඩුපාඩු තිබුණත්, කර්නල් ඕල්කොට්තුමාට ගරුකරණවා පරිදිමය (පානදුරා වාදයේ ජයග්‍රහණය මිෂනාරීන්ට පාවාදුන් ඕල්කොට් මෙහෙයුම, කොලට් සේනානායක, නාරද කරුණාතිලක, විනෝදනී සේනාරත්න, 2017).

නවක වදය

මේ කාරණා දෙක හා අමානුෂික නවක වදය නතර කිරීම JVP ට ඉතාම පහසුවෙන් කල හැකි වෙනස්කම් වන අතර එය හුදෙක් බලයට ඒම සඳහා කරණ ඇස්බැන්ඳුමක් නොවන බව ඊට සමගාමීව ගත හැකි ප්‍රතිපත්ති සංශෝධන මඟින් රටට ඔප්පු කල හැකිය. මෙය කල හැක්කේ දැන් අපි දිනලා යන මානසික සිරගෙට අසුනොවීමෙන් පමණය. සරත් ෆොන්සේකා හදන්නේ JVP ට හවුල්වී ආරක්ෂක ඇමතිකම ගන්නට නිසා (වෛරය/ පලිගැනීම?) ඔහුගේ ප්‍රකාශද  මේ අවස්ථාවේ JVP ට අවාසියක් විය හැකිය.

විජේවීර හා බර්ලින් බෞද්ධ විහාරය

පසුගිය දිනක මගේ මිත්‍රයෙක් කිව් කතාවක් මෙහි ඉහතින් සඳහන් කල ඉල්ලීම් තුනට පදනම විය. මගේ මිතුරා ජර්මනියේ සිටියදී විජේවීර නැවතීමට ආවේ ඔහුගේ නවාතැනටය. දිනක් ඔහු විජේවීරට බර්ලින් පන්සලට යමුයයි යෝජනා කල විට විජේවීර එය තරයේම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කලේය. ඉතාමත් දිග වාදයකින්/සංවාදයකින් පසු දෙන්නම එකට පන්සලට ගියේය. විජේවීර, ෂන්මුගදාසන්, බාලාතම්පෝ, ඩොරික් ද සූසා, පීටර් කේනමන්ලාට වඩා වෙනස් චරිතයක්වූයේ මාක්ස්වාදයට ඔහුගේ බෞද්ධ නැඹුරුව, ආභාෂය මකා දැමීමට නොහැකිවූ නිසාය. 1935 සිට අවුරුදු 30 කට පසු 1964 දී, NM-Colvin-Leslie ලා මල්වට්ටි අරගෙන දළදා මාළිගාවට ගියේ බොරුවටය. විජේවීර, වික්ටර් අයිවන්ලා මෙන් පල්ලියේ සැඟවුනු අනුග්‍රහය  ලැබුවාද යන්න සැකසහිතය. තම දරුවන් බෞතීස්ම නොකරණ ලෙස අවසාන මොහොතේදී ඔහු සිය ක්‍රිස්තියානි බිරිඳගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියේය. උවිඳු විජේවීරගේ වත්මන් බෞද්ධ මධ්‍යම ප්‍රතිපදා සමාජ දේශපාලන දර්ශණය එහි ඝෘජු ප්‍රතිඵලයකි. එය ලංවන්නේ විමල් වීරවංශ හා සෝමවංශ අමරසිංගේ මානසික පරිවර්තන වලටය.

(lanka C news | උවිදු විජේවීර ගැන බලගතු කතාබහක්.. ඒඩ්ස් රෝගයට පෙන්වා දුන් විසදුමට පලමු තැන..  (2019/10/03))

මෙම ලිපියේ පලවෙනි කොටසෙන් පෙන්වාදුන් JVP පක්ෂයේ ප්‍රධාන අඩුපාඩු දෙකක් වන (1) ලංකාව බහු ජාතික සමාජයක් (හෙවත් එක රටක් එක නීතියක් නැති) හා (2) පලාත් සභා දෙමළ ජනයාගේ  අයිතියක් යන මත දෙකේ ඇති බරපතල ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය වරද, අනුර කුමාර මහතා විසින් අවභෝධ කර ගත් බවක්, ඔහු 2024 අයවැය ගැන කරණ කතාවලින් පිළිඹිඹු නොවේ. මෙම කාරණා දෙක අනුව අනුර කුමාර හා රනිල්, චන්ද්‍රිකා, සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස හා දැන් අළුතින් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ, චම්පික රණවක, සරත් ෆොන්සේකා යනාදීන් අතර වෙනසක් නැත.

ඉතිහාසය හා ජාති වාදය

තිස්ස ජනනායකගේ විස්තර අනුව සිතනවිට අනුර කුමාර කැළණි විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේදී ඉගෙන ගන්නවා වෙනුවට දේශපාලනය කළ ශිෂ්‍යයෙකි. ඔහු විද්‍යා විෂයයන් මිස ඉතිහාසය-භූගෝල විද්‍යාව හදාරා නැත. එහෙත් ඔහුටද පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක වගේම ප්‍රායෝගිකව එකතුකරගත් යම් දැණුමක් ඇත. ප්‍රශ්ණය වන්නේ එය අසම්පූර්ණ මාක්ස්වාදය නිසා බොඳවුන අසම්පූර්ණ ගමනක් වීමය (not a holistic approach).

මෙම පසුබිමට, ලංකාවේ භාවිතාවන දේශපාලන ෂේප් න්‍යායද එකතුවූ විට, ලංකාවේ ඉතිහාසය ගැන යථාර්ථය නොවන නිගමන වලට ඒමත්, එම නිගමන සත්‍යය වශයෙන් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමත් හැර වෙන විකල්පයක් නැත. ලංකාවේ මාක්ස්වාදීන් කෙස් පැහෙන කල්ම මේ කරගන්නේ මේ ස්වයං හානියය. අනුර කුමාර හා උවිඳු විජේවීර යන දෙදෙනා යන දෙදෙනාගේ දේශපාලන අදහස් (විඥාණය?) සසඳන විට මෙම අඩුව/හානිය පැහැදිලිවේ. ඇමෙරිකාවට යාමට උල්පන්දම් දීමෙන් ජුලී චං JVP ට කලේ උපකාරයක්ද යන සැකය මතුවන්නේ එහිදී අනුර කුමාර කල කතා වලින් ඔහුගේ සිත තුල කිඳා බැස තිබෙන  මතවාද/තර්ක ඔහු නොදැන ඔහුටත් හොරා වරින් වර එලියට පැනීම නිසාය.

ජාති වාදය හා ජාතික වාදය යන අදහස් දෙකේ වෙනස අනුර කුමාරට දැන් 2023 අගදී වත් නොතේරෙන්නේ, 1930 1940 දශක වලදී එවකට කම්කරු පක්ෂයේ නායක A. E. ගුණසිංහ මහතා සින්ධි-බෝරා වෙළද ඒකාධිකාරයට විරුද්ධව කතා කිරීම ජාතිවාදය ලෙස එකල මාක්ස්වාදීන් විසින් හංවඩු ගැසුවා පරිදිමය (ගාන්ධි ලංකාවට පැමිණි අවස්ථාවේදී මේ ගැන ඔහු ඉන්දියන් වෙළඳුන්ට අවවාද කලේය).

ලංකාවේ දේශපාලකයින්ගේ මෙම හෘදය ශක්ෂිය පිළිඹඳ පරීක්ෂණයක් (test) මෙම ලිපි මාලාවේ මීලඟ ලිපියෙන් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට අදහස් කරමි.

කෙසේ වෙතත් මෙහිදී ඇති සතුටට කරුණක් නම් JVP විසින් නිවැරදී මාවතක් කරා යාමට දරණ උත්සාහයය (විලිරුදාව?). උදාහරණ වශයෙන්:

(1) ඔවුන් විසින් ගෙනා ජාතික ජන බලවේගය යන පියවර මාක්ස්වාදී අරටු වෙන් ඉවත්ව, පෙරටුගාමීකාරයින් අභිභවා, සමාන්‍ය ජනයා අතරට යෑමේ පියවරකි. එහෙත්, එයට එක්වී ඇති විශ්‍රාමික ආමිකාරයින් ගැන පුරසාරම් කීමෙන් චන්දදායකයා තුල භීතියක් ඇතිවන බව JVP නායකයින්ට  නොවැටහේ.  පොලිසිය හා යුද හමුදාව ඔවුන් හා එක්වන ලෙස පාරේ උද්ඝෝෂකයින් කරණ කෑගැසීමට සමානම ඉල්ලීමක් හා තර්ජනයක් JVP නායකයින් වේදිකාවලදී කිරීම මධ්‍යස්ථ චන්ද දායකයාගේ සිත චංචල කරවයි. බලය යනු බලයය, බලය බලය වර්ධනය කරයි, ආරක්ෂා කරයි” යනුවෙන් අනුර කුමාර ඇමෙරිකාවේදී දුන් පිළිතුරු JVP අතීතය සමඟ සළකණ විට ඔවුන්ට හානිකරය.

(2) තවද එසේ එකතුවීමට කැමති පිටස්තර අයට, විශේෂයෙන් පරාදයට හැකිලී සිටින අනිත් පක්ෂවල දේශපාලකයින්ට, JVP විසින් කරන්නේ සරදමක් සහිත ටොකු ඇණීමකි: අපිට චන්දය දෙනවාට අපි කැමතියි, ඒ වුනාට ඔබලාගේ යෝජනා භාරගන්නට අපි බඳී නෑ වැනි කතාය. මෙය වැරදි පිළිගත් අයෙකුට කරණ සම්ච්චලයක් නොවේද? මේ වනාහි අපි දැනටමත් දිණුම්ය යන අහංකාර මනසකි.

(3) ලංකාව දැනට වැටී ඇති නරා වලෙන් ගොඩට ගැනීම ඉතාමත් වේදනාකාරී ක්‍රියාවකි. ඒ සඳහා මුළු රටම, හැම පවුලක්ම, හැම පුද්ගලයෙක්ම සමස්ත පරිවර්තනයකට ලක්කල යුතුය. එහෙත් මෙය කල යුත්තේ හැකි අවම මානසික (mental) අගතියක් බලපෑමක් මේ සියළුම ලෝභ-ද්වේෂ-මෝහයෙන් පිරි පංචකන්ධවලට සිදුවන ලෙසටය. එහෙත් රටේ සෑම පුරවැසියෙකුටම බරපතල ලෙස භෞතික (physical-material) වශයෙන් කැපකිරීම් කරන්නට සිදුවීම වැලැක්විය නොහැකි බව  පිළිගැනීමට සිදුවේ. (උදාහරණයක් මහජනයා සූරා කන නීතීඥ, දොස්තර වෘත්ති, ටියුෂන්කාරයින්, ග්‍රාම සේවකගේ සිට ජනාධිපති ලේකම්ලා දක්වා දූෂිත නිලධාරී පරම්පරා ගැන සිතා බලන්න). මුළු රටම, දේශපාළුවා-නිලධාරියා-බිස්නස්/NGOකාරයා යන කුඩා හා මහා පරිමාණ දුෂ්ඨ ත්‍රිකෝණ වලින් මුදවා ගැනීමට නම් කඩුව හා කරුණාව යන දෙකම අවශ්‍යය.

JVP රැස්වීම් වලින් දැනට ලැබෙන සිග්නල් එක නම් එය JVP පක්ෂයේ සාමාජිකයින් විසින් ගම් මට්ටමින් සිදුකරන්නට යන බවය. අතීත 1970 දශකයේ ජනතා කමිටු, සේවක කමිටු (people’s committee/ workers councils) වල අත්දැකීම නම් එම සංකල්ප දේශපාලකයින් විසින් දූෂණය කල අයුරුය. ගැමි දිරිය නමින් දේශපාලකයාගේ බලපෑමෙන් ස්වාධීනව 2000 දී පමණ ක්‍රියාත්මකවූ  වැඩසටහන කඩකප්පල් කර දැමීමට බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ/ ඩිලාන් පෙරේරා වැනි පිරිස ක්‍රියා කලේ සමෘධි නිලධාරී හා ගම නැඟුම නම් හුචක්කුවක් අටවාය. ගම් මටටමින් සාර්ථකවූ කිරිවන්දෙණිය මහතාගේ සණස ව්‍යාපාරය මේ අතින් සර්වෝදයට වඩා ඉදිරියෙන් සිටින්නේ සර්වෝදයට යම් දේශපාලන න්‍යායපත්‍රයක් හා විදේශ ඩොලර් ආධාරයක් තිබෙනවාද යන සැකය නිසාය.

(4) පක්ෂ දේශපාලනය රට විනාශ කලේය. අදටත් පක්ෂ දේශපාළුවන් ගෙනයන ගේම් එක දියවන්නා හෝටලයේ සිදුවන නාඩගමෙන් දිනපතාම එලියට ඒ. JVP ද කාලයක් පුරා සිටම මෙම ගේම් එකේ සිටින්නේය. මේ නිසා ගම් මට්ටමින් පක්ෂ දේශපාලකයාගෙන් තොරව ජන සභා සංකල්පය ක්‍රියාත්මක කලයුතුය. මේ සඳහා යොජනා මා විසින් 2005 සිටම බලයේ සිටි දේශපාලකයින්ට ඉදිරිපත් කලත් ඔවුන්ගේ ආත්මාර්ථකාමය නිසාම එය නොසළකා හැරියේය. මේ නිසා තමන්ගේ අදහස්/මත වෙනස් කර ගැනීම JVP ට රටේ මහජන අනුමැතිය ලබා ගැනීමට හේතු උපකාර වන්නේය.

(5) මගේ යෝජනා වල එක් මූලික අංගයක්වූයේ පක්ෂ දේශපාලනයෙන් තොරව (1) චන්දයෙන් පත්කර ගන්නා ජන සභාවට, (2) පන්සල/පල්ලිය/කෝවිල හා (3) පොලිසිය හා (4) යුද හමුදාවද සහභාගී කර ගැනීමය මෙම කොටස් මඟින් ජන සභාවක කාර්ය පටිපාටිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් යම් සංවරණ හා තුලන ක්‍රමයක් නිරායාසයෙන්ම ඇතිවන්නේය. කුමණ අන්දමේ සාකච්චා කලත් අන්තිමේදී සංවර්ධන කටයුතු (1) චන්දයෙන් තෝරාපත්වු අය විසින් ඒකමතිකව සම්මත නොකලොත්, 2,3,4, කොටස් විසින් සිය නිශේධ බලය යොදා ක්‍රියාවට නගන්නේය. මේ නිසා JVP විසින් මගේ මෙම අදහස දැන හෝ නොදැන අනුගමණය කිරීමට ගත් තීරණය පිළිඹඳව රට වෙනුවෙන් මට ඇත්තේ සතුටකි.

(6)  පහතින් සඳහන් කර ඇති මූලාශ්‍ර තුනේ මගේ යෝජනා දීර්ග වශයෙන් පැහැදිලි කරදී තිබේ.

1. රට කැබලි නොකර සිස්ටම් චේන්ජ් කිරීම (බුදු දහම හා ජන සභා සංකල්ප) – 2022

2. සුද්දගෙ නීතිය අපිට එපා– 2022

3. ලංකාව: කළු සුද්දන්ගේ පාලන සමය, 1948-2019 (නොහොත් මන්ත්‍රී ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍ර (නාස් ලණූ වාදය) – ප්‍රථම භාගය (2023)

මෙහිදී කෙටියෙන් සඳහන් කල යුතු වැදගත් කරුණක් නම් යෝජිත ජන සභා බල ප්‍රදේශ දැනට පවතින ග්‍රාම නිලධාරී (GSN) වසම් 14,022 පරිසර නිර්ණායක (ජල ද්‍රෝණි) වශයෙන් යළි බෙදා, එම අළුත් GSN  එකතුකර ගනිමින් ජන සභා බල ප්‍රදේශ මායිම් කිරීමය.

(7) මෙවැනි ජන සභා ක්‍රමයක් යටතේ දැනට ඇති පලාත් සභා බොරු ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය හා දූෂිත පලාත් පාලන ආයතනන (ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා) වෙනුවට, ජන සභා- ජන සභා ජාතික සභාව- පාර්ලිමේන්තුව- යන ආයතන තුනක් බිහිවේ. දියවන්නා හෝටලය ක්‍රමයෙන් පක්ෂ දේශපාලනයෙන් නිදහස් වෙනු ඇත්තේ අනිත් ආයතන දෙක පක්ෂ දේශපාලනයෙන් තොර නිසාය.

(8) පරිසරයට අනුකූල ග්‍රාම සේවා නිලධාරී වසම් පදනම් කරගෙන රටේ සියළුම පරිපාලන ඒකක (අධ්‍යාපන, කෘෂිකර්ම, සෞඛ්‍ය, පොලිස්, උසාවි, ගොවිජන සේවා, ආපදා කළමනාකරණය, වනාන්තර යනාදී) අළුතින් මායිම් කරගත හැකිය.

(9) මෙම GSN අනුව මුළු රටේම සම්පත් හා සම්පත් පරිභෝජන දත්ත (data) හා සිතියම් (maps) වශයෙන් මධ්‍යගත කල හැකිය. GSN ඒකකයක් ලංකා සිතියමක තිතක් වශයෙන් පිලිඹිඹුවෙන අතර ජන සභා මට්ටමින් සවිස්තර ලොකු පරිමාණ සිතියම් සදාගත හැකිය.

By Dr. Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D PhD

YouTube Presentation
Organized by Dr. Vipula Wanigasekara and Team

Link ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJipXqSE8gc

Prof. Hudson McLean

Ukraine is History!

Ukraine, like an Orphan, with Democrats down the drain and Elon Musk leading Trump!
The Biggest Winner is President Vladimir Putin!

The World is Now Under Elon Musk!

Express Your Opinion – Read What Others Say!
The Independent Interactive Voice of Sri Lanka on the Internet.

Please visit -: http://www.lankaweb.com/

Prof. Hudson McLean

Who Leads Trump today?

If Twitter Lost a few billion in one year, Musk makes USD 64 billion in one day!
Billionaires see record wealth surge following Trump victory
Elon Musk leads the charge as world’s wealthiest earn USD 64 billion in a single day!
Billionaires see record wealth surge following Trump victory

Express Your Opinion – Read What Others Say!
The Independent Interactive Voice of Sri Lanka on the Internet.

Please visit -: http://www.lankaweb.com/

Courtesy The Island

The new Cabinet of Ministers was sworn in before President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the Presidential Secretariat this morning (18).

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake will retain the ministerial portfolios of Defence, Finance, Economic Development and Digital Economy

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya – Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education

Vijitha Herath – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism

Prof. Chandana Abeyrathna – Minister of State Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government

Harshana Nanayakkara – Minister of Justice and National Integration

Saroja Savithri Paulraj – Minister of Women and Child Affairs

K.D. Lalkantha – Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation

Anura Karunathilake – Minister of Urban Development, Construction and Housing

Ramalingam Chandrasekar – Minister of Fisheries

Upali Pannilage – Minister of Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment

Sunil Hadunnetti – Minister of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development

Ananda Wijepala – Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs

Bimal Rathnayake – Minister of Transport, Highways, Ports and Civil Aviation

Hiniduma Sunil Senevi – Minister of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs

Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa – Minister of Health and Mass Media

Samantha Vidyarathna – Minister of Plantation and Community Infrastructure

Sunil Kumara Gamage – Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs

Wasantha Samarasinghe – Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development

Prof. Chrishantha Abeysena – Minister of Science and Technology

Prof. Anil Jayantha Fernando – Minister of Labour

Kumara Jayakody – Minister of Energy

Dr. Dammika Patabendi – Minister of Environment

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ජනතාව බලාපොරොත්තු වූ සියලු දේහල් ඉටු කිරීමට සූදානම් බව වෙළද වාණිජ සමුපකාර හා ආහාර සුරක්ෂිතතා අමාත්‍ය වසන්ත සමරසිංහ මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

රටේ ජනතාවගේ බොටුව මිරිකමින් සිටින මාෆියාකාරයන් ඉදිරියට එම කටයුතු කිරීමට සිදු නොවනු ඇති බවද හෙතෙම පැවසීය.

ඉදිරියේදී ජනතාවට අඩු මිලට බඩු ගැනීමටත් හිගයකින් තොරව බඩු ගැනීමට හැකි වන වෙළඳපොලක් නිර්මාණය වනු ඇති බවත් ඇතිම කියා සිටියි.

රටේ ජනතාවගෙන් සොරකම් කරන ලද සියලු ධනය ගෙන ඒමටද ආණ්ඩුව කටයුතු කරන බවත් හෙෙතම තවදුරටත් පැවසුවේය.

නව අමාත්‍ය ධූරයේ දිවුරුම් දීමෙන් පසු මාධ්‍යය වෙත අදහස් පළ කරමින් ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියේය.

CHATURANGA PRADEEP SAMARAWICKRAMA Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, November 18 (Daily Mirror) – National Freedom Front (NFF) leader and former Parliamentarian Wimal Weerawansa today claimed that organizations like the Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) have come forward to demand racist, religious and separatist demands.

While addressing the media, he said that he believes that the extraordinary votes received in the North is not only a vote against racism but also a vote against separatism.

“By electing the National People’s Power (NPP), which includes the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), instead of the pro-separatist Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the Tamil people in those areas have demonstrated their rejection of both racism and separatism,” he said.

“Therefore, rather than catering to organisations like the Canadian Tamil Organizations, the mandate of this government is to fulfill the aspirations of all Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims equally within a unified state,” Weerawansa said.

The current administration in Sri Lanka has rejected elite politics, leading to the transfer of power to a non-elite political camp, he added.  

“We are prepared to view this development positively and are observing closely. If the government steers the country in the right direction—without pandering to external influences such as India, America or diaspora interests—and embarks on a journey to fairly address the aspirations of all communities, including the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims, then we will support it with optimism,” he said.

If not, we will not hesitate to rally the people against it,” Weerawansa said.

Courtesy Adaderana

The delegation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) led by Senior Mission Chief Peter Breuer, who are currently on a visit to Sri Lanka, have reportedly met with former President Ranil Wickremesinghe today (18) at his office in Flower Road, Colombo. 

In a post on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), former State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe, who also participated in the meeting, stated that they commended the remarkable efforts of the former government in recovering Sri Lanka’s economy from its worst crisis and setting it on a path toward sustainable growth.

During the discussions, we emphasized the importance of maintaining continuity in policies and programs, safeguarding the hard-earned reforms, and ensuring that these achievements are not reversed to secure stability and long-term economic development,” he added.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Election Commission of Sri Lanka has issued a Gazette notification declaring that former minister Ravi Karunanayake has been elected as a Member of Parliament through the National List of the New Democratic Front (NDF), which contested the General Election under the ‘Gas Cylinder’ symbol.

Earlier today, it was reported that the New Democratic Front (NDF) has nominated Karunanayake for one of the two National List seats won by the party in Parliament.

However, it was later reported that the leader of the New Democratic Front (NDF), former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, has informed the party representatives that the decision to nominate Ravi Karunanayake for one of the two NDF National List MP seats has been taken in an arbitrary manner without the consent of Wickremesinghe and the other parties in the alliance.

According to the results of the 2024 General Election, the New Democratic Front (NDF), which contested under the symbol of the ‘Gas Cylinder’, won three parliamentary seats and two National List seats.

The New Democratic Front was formed by the United National Party (UNP), the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the ‘Podujana Eksath Nidahas Peramuna’ to contest the election. 

Accordingly, it had been proposed to name one member each from the ‘Podujana Eksath Nidahas Peramuna’ and the United National Party (UNP) for the two National List seats while the final decision on the matter was expected to be taken tomorrow (18) collectively by all parties in the alliance. 

It is said that former President Ranil Wickremesinghe had also informed the General Secretary of the New Democratic Front, Mrs. Sharmila Perera, of this relevant position.

A proposal had also been put forward to nominate former Minister Kanchana Wijesekera, who contested the election from Matara District but was not elected, for the position of National List MP from the ‘Podujana Eksath Nidahas Peramuna’ faction.

However, despite this, the name of Ravi Karunanayake had been sent to the Election Commission today in writing by the General Secretary of the NDF, Mrs. Sharmila Perera, to fill one of the National List MP seats of the New Democratic Front.

But former President Wickremesinghe has reportedly informed the representatives of the New Democratic Front that Karunanayake’s name had been nominated for the position of National List MP in an arbitrary manner without his consent and the approval of the other parties in the alliance.

The former president has further said that this arbitrary decision taken by the party secretary cannot be approved when all the parties of the alliance are scheduled to meet in Colombo tomorrow morning to make a decision regarding the two National List MP seats obtained by the New Democratic Front.

However, the stakeholders of the New Democratic Front (NDF), including former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, are scheduled to meet tomorrow to discuss the issue related to the two National List MP seats including the nomination of Ravi Karunanayake.

The NDF managed to secure a total of 5 seats in the Parliament including 2 National List seats in the 2024 Parliamentary Election, as they obtained a total of 500,835 votes from across the island.

In the meantime, Anuradha Jayarathne, who obtained 20,749 preferential votes in the Kandy District, former MP Rohitha Abeygunawardhana who secured 10,204 preferential votes in the Kalutara District and Chamara Sampath Dassanayake who received 19,359 preferential votes in the Badulla District are the only NDF parliamentary candidates who have secured seats in the 10th Parliament.

Courtesy Adaderana

The government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has reaffirmed its readiness to collaborate with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to advance Sri Lanka’s economic recovery within the context of the mandate. 

Senior Mission Chief Peter Breuer and the IMF delegation met with President Dissanayake and key ministers of the newly-formed government at the Presidential Secretariat today (18), to discuss the next steps in the IMF program, the President’s Media Division (PMD) reported. 

The IMF team congratulated the President and his government on their decisive electoral victory, expressing optimism about the collaboration.

President Dissanayake, in turn, underscored his administration’s responsibility to uphold the people’s mandate, emphasizing that the success of the IMF program hinges on rebuilding public trust in governance.

Highlighting his government’s commitment to addressing the pressing needs of the people, President Dissanayake urged the IMF to maintain a balanced approach that considers the hardships faced by citizens.

He assured that under his leadership, social spending allocations would be utilized effectively, with priority given to combating child poverty and malnutrition and providing better support for differently abled individuals, the PMD said.

The IMF delegation noted that allocations for social spending had not been fully utilized previously, prompting President Dissanayake to pledge proactive measures to ensure efficient allocation and utilization of resources.

Governance and anti-corruption were also central to the discussions. The President reiterated his administration’s commitment to the fight against corruption, a key component of the mandate granted by the people, the statement said.

He assured the IMF team that his government would implement stringent laws to enhance the legislative and institutional structures to uphold transparency and accountability.

The meeting marked a positive step forward in the collaboration between the government and the IMF, laying the groundwork for a coordinated effort toward economic recovery and long-term stability, according to the PMD.

The President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Minister of Labour Prof. Anil Jayantha Fernando and MP Harshana Sooriyapperuma together with representatives of the Ministry of Finance participated in this meeting.

–PMD

Dr. Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

International Monetary Fund head, Kristalina Georgieva, claimed Sri Lanka as a debt restructuring ‘success’ story at the Annual Meetings in Washington last month.[i]  Left unsaid was the fact that the geostrategic county’s debt had ballooned from $ 26 billion to a purported whopping $100 billion during two years of debt restructuring under the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF), reforms![ii]

Nor did Georgieva dwell on the BRICS summit held earlier that week in Kazan, Russia, where there were renewed calls for reform of the Bretton Wood Twins (IMF and World Bank), amid talks on de-dollarization. The US dollar had been weaponized in multiple forms, not just sanctions, against many emerging Global South economies, particularly those caught in post-Covid-19 debt traps that are subject to the lender of last resort’s bailout business.

The IMF Managing Director did however call for more information on the BRICS new payment system, which was discussed as an alternative to the current US controlled SWIFT international trade settlements and payment system in Kazan. SWIFT leaves countries vulnerable to brow beating and US exchange rate manipulation in the context of hybrid economic proxy wars on China’s Belt and Road (BRI), partner countries as well as, sanctions hit Russia, Iran, Venezuela etc.

At this time the United States has sanctioned an Indian firm which is in a consortium with a Russian firm to manage Sri Lanka’s Mattala Airport, official data showed.[iii] This was to develop and run the Chinese build Mattala International Airport in Hambantota. The project in the geostrategic Indian Ocean island would bring much needed investment and showcase enhanced collaboration among the BRICS big three Asian powers- China, India and Russia- but is now on ice. Sri Lanka remains in the cross-hairs of big power rivalry.

BRICS Challenge to the IMF’s Savior Image

Sri Lanka formally submitted an application to join BRICS and the New Development Bank at the meeting in Kazan, where President Putin hosted China’s President Xi and Indian Premier Modi along with other Global South leaders.

The new Government in Colombo led by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake would be hoping to leverage regional growth and support from the Global South in the Asian 21^st Century”. However, no senior Minister from Sri Lanka attended the meeting in Kazan, perhaps in deference to Washington.

Nevertheless, the rise of the BRICS has clearly challenged the claim that ‘there is no alternative’ to the IMF.

Indeed, around the world and in Sri Lanka skepticism about the IMF’s claims to be a ‘Savior’ are growing since under IMF Debt Restructuring Agreements (DSA), and principles the debt seems to deepen, rather than reduce. The IMF’s principle of ‘compatibility of treatment’ of private International Sovereign bond (ISB) creditors regardless of whether they charge predatory interest rates seems particularly odious.

Pumped and Dumped into a MIC Trap?

Sri Lanka has been pumped and dumped before by the Washington Consensus and related rating agencies. Although the country was declared bankrupt” due to an apparent shortage of exorbitantly privileged dollars, the country remains South Asia’s wealthiest in Real Terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). It is second to Maldives in GDP per capita, and has the best regional human and social development, and Physical Quality of Life (PQLI) indicators in the region. 

In 2019 the island was pumped and dumped into a Middle Income Country (MIC) trap by the World Bank. MIC status forces countries to borrow from private markets at high interest rates, rather than access concessionary multilateral or bi-lateral loans even in times of crisis.

In the wake of a series of dramatic exogenous economic shocks, such as, the mysterious 2019 ISIS claimed Easter terror attacks on the tourism dependent economy, followed by two years of Covid-19 lockdowns, and a series of hybrid war maritime disasters like the MV Pearl episode, the county was forced to a staged its first ever sovereign default in 2022—into the waiting arms of the Washington Consensus.

Default was staged amid international Lawfare by the shadowy off-shore Hamilton Reserve Bank of St Kitts and Nevis, which filed a court case in New York, while distracting Araglaya protests and a US-backed soft regime change operation was ongoing in Sri Lanka. The latter brought to power the Ranil Rajapakse government and its local and diaspora economic hitmen to negotiate with the IMF and ISBs.

Economic hit men” wrote John Perkins in his best-selling book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man’, are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars” in the name of Development assistance.

At this time, Government of Sri Lanka negotiations with the Official Creditor Committee (OCC), made up of the colonial Club de Paris and London Club that represent ISBs, under the IMF aegis have resulted in a massive increase in the island’s US dollar denominated debt numbers –if the governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), Nandalal Weerasinghe is to be believed.

As well, there have been draft agreements with the OCC and other bondholders that many national economists have pointed out are detrimental to the Sri Lanka people’s and national interests, as these would soon result in another default.

Meanwhile, proposals by the representatives of ISBs for Macro-economy linked bonds have turned debt restructuring into ‘rocket science’ replete with jargon filled numbers games in the absence of debt data security, while enabling the predatory private creditors sweetheart deals.[iv] MLBs would ensure that Sri Lanka continues to borrow at predatory rates from the same ISBs that are principally responsible for the debt trap in order to pay them off—for decades to come!

It is hence too that de-dollarization has become a necessity for countries caught in US dollar ISB Debt traps, and subject to IMF economic reforms and debt restructuring principles such as the ‘compatibility of treatment’ of creditors, regardless of whether they charge predatory interest rates. Moreover, IMF reforms include crippling austerity measures that shrink national economies and penalize working people whose retirement funds are looted to pay anonymous ISB bond holders, the largest being BlackRock, along with the sale of valuable National Assets, resources and infrastructure.

A Mandate for Debt Justice: ISB-IMF Mission Creep and Economic Sovereignty

At the General Elections last week, the new left-leaning government of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s National Peoples Power (NPP) party swept to power on a mandate to fight corruption– from by citizens tired of the permanent ‘polycrisis’ in the geostrategic island.

This week an IMF team from Washington, led by Peter Breuer is due in Colombo for the 3^th review of the EFF. Various booby trap draft agreements with bondholders and their Official Creditor Committee (OCC), made by the previous unelected Ranil Wickramasinghe regime, implicated in bondscams at the CBSL would also be discussed.

Particularly egregious was the appropriation of the pension funds of working people, the Employment Provident Fund (EPF) to benefit unnamed ISB holders. This was accomplished through IMF and ISB mission and mandate creep into domestic debt restructuring, now euphemistically called denominate debt optimization (DOO).

DDO effectively violated the country’s economic sovereignty and policy autonomy. The IMF’s mandate is to deal with External US-dollar denominated debt and not the local currency debt of sovereign states.

ISB macro-economic linked bond and IMF mission and mandate creep into Sri Lanka’s domestic debt restructuring enabling appropriation of EPF funds was legitimated on the basis that the county is an Upper Middle Income Country (MIC) and must pay off the Odious debt.

This is in lieu of the debt cancellation and significant haircuts sought by Sri Lankan and international experts in an open letter to the IMF[v], the representatives of the ISBs have claimed that either national banks must pay the  creditors, or the EPF must be plundered for the same.

This is fundamentally a false choice: A narrative riven with bad faith and moral hazard that violates core principles of Debt Justice. It has also served to distract from and enable the unethical ISB appropriation of retirement funds of working people, the Employment Provident fund (EPF) to benefit unnamed ISB holders, the largest of which is BlackRock.

President AKD and his new government would be hence called upon at this time as part of their fight against corruption to roll back the IMF and ISB’s mission and mandate creep into DDO, that has caused the ballooning of debt from USD 26 billion to a whopping $ 100 in the past 2 years, which sets the country up for another Default. DDO has eroded Sri Lanka’s Economic Sovereignty, policy space and autonomy and must be rolled back.

Likewise, restoring exchange controls against the parking of foreign currency which is due to the county, particularly review of the tourism sector in the context of a massive land grab would be another high priority for the new government.

Compounding Odious Debt and Economic Hit Men: International networks of Financial Corruption

National experts and economists who have long demanded outright Odious Debt cancellation instead of backroom sweetheart deals masked as ‘haircuts’ linked to Macro Economy linked Environment, social and governance (Green and Blue Bonds), Club have been sidelined. The debt and development industry’s neocolonial power/ knowledge hierarchies are clearly visible in the fact that the Government of Sri Lanka was compelled to hire expensive foreign consulting companies rather than draw on national experts and advisors in its negotiations with the IMF and ISBs. That is aside from selected NGO think tanks like Verite Research.

Sri Lanka’s massive debt increase amid endless negotiation with bondholders has been accomplished by a veritable gravy train of international accounting and legal firms, advisors and Economic Hitmen. Prominent among these are; Lazard, and Clifford and Chance that are supposed to represent the debt trapped citizens of Sri Lanka. The organized and coordinated nature of the process which protects the bondholders and keeps their names secret are suggestive of corruption racket.

While national political and business corruption in bond trading and derivaties may be seen as the ‘demand side’ of corruption and Odious Debt, the supply-side of compounding Odious debt is clearly ISBs holders– whose names are kept secret.  The latter stand to benefit from sweetheart debt restructuring deals under the IMF-DSA between government officials in debt trapped countries. This also accounts for the dramatic increase of Sri Lanka’s US dollar debt in the past 2 years of IMF EFF which has enabled neocolonialism and extended Washington’s tentacles and grip on the geostrategic island nation that is perpetually in the cross-hairs of big power rivalry in the Indian Ocean.

The explosion of debt numbers games in the past two years was done in cahoots with the previous unelected President Ranil Wickramasinghe regime which was implicated in a series of bondscams at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) in 2015. The subsequent chilling murder of the principle witness in the Court case against Wickramasinghe, Mr. Dinesh Shaftter in December 2022, effectively shut down the case against Wickramasinghe just as IMF-ISB debt restructuring commenced, and remains a mystery.

It is increasingly evident that while the demand side of Odious debt may be corrupt politicians and their business crony networks, the supply-side of Odious debt is primarily predatory private Eurobond creditors and un-named International Sovereign bond (ISB) holders, whose interests the IMF appears to represent and their networks and gravy train of consulting firms.

However, the IMF never talks about ISB corruption. However, it may need to do a corruption diagnostic of ISBs, particularly, BlackRock if its claims to fight corruption and promote good governance are to be taken seriously.

Meanwhile, for the new anti-corrupt government in Colombo, updating and reinstating the Exchange Control Act No. 24 which was repealed in November 2017, leading to the US Dollar shortage and staged Default in 2022, would be high priority for the new government. This is necessary also in the context of increased Digital Colonialism in key Sectors such as Tourism, where funds due to the country remain parked overseas.

Finally, de-linking Debt Justice and Climate Justice, along with reversing and containing and ISB-IMF mission and mandate creep in the form of DDO that has eroded Sri Lanka’s Economic Sovereignty while magnifying external debt would no doubt be a priority for the new Government led by President AKD at this time–to ensure Debt Justice for Sri Lanka.

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[i] https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2024/10/25/sp102524-annual-meetings-plenary

[ii] https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2024/10/25/sri-lanka-met-with-bondholders-aims-to-exit-default-as-soon-as-possible-central-bank-governor-says/

[iii] https://economynext.com/us-sanctions-indian-firm-involved-in-deal-with-sri-lankas-mattala-airport-186347/

[iv] https://indepthnews.net/wealth-of-nations-and-the-poverty-of-theory-debt-restructuring-as-rocket-science/

[v] [v] https://ipe-sl.org/sri-lanka-debt-justice-collective-writes-open-letter-to-imf-on-ddo/

Shenali D Waduge

In an unprecedented & unexpected vote, Northern Tamils not only have voted for a predominantly Sinhala party but have rejected the Tamil politicians who have claimed to represent them over the years. This is not only a slap to Tamil political separatist quest but ushers a new beginning & opportunity for goodwill that could not be forged as a result of opportunistic political maneuverings. If the Southern voters decided to reject most of the old faces & bring in fresh faces, the Northern voters have decided to do the same. This certainly has unified the entire Island nation to the point where all destabilizing agents must now be wondering how to manipulate the current impasse. It also means that in wanting a fresh start, the new government cannot flirt with the old players & the strings they were pulling to divide the people & separate the Nation. The new government cannot make the same mistakes that the previous governments made in not taking the side of the majority who wanted to live in peaceful coexistence but sided with the minority who promoted division & separatism.

How Tamils lived under LTTE & how they live now will show that life has changed dramatically. Unfortunately, it is those whose lives changed dramatically for the better going overseas under LTTE who wish to continue to have their own suffer back home. Even after provincial councils were created in 2013, what difference did the Tamil politicians voted to the PCs do for ordinary Tamil people? Nothing much except writing genocide letters to all corners of the world or going on foreign trips complaining against the Sri Lankan military. How many of the lands they managed to get released on bogus claims & political bribery actually went to Tamils who were without lands or did they fall into hands of LTTE family members living overseas!

How has increase in links with South India helped Tamils? The number of drug addicts have increased. Women indulging in smoking, drugs, drinking have also increased. Domestic violence has increased – the entire social fabric of the North that were proud of their cultural past & upheld traditional values is dithering. The fact that the LGBTQIA launched its first Pride Parade in the North & first transgender operation are signs how society has deteriorated over the years. These have now added to the caste differences that haunt Tamils on a daily basis.

These are the issues that impact & affect Tamils – not 13^th amendment, not Mullaivaikkal commemorations which are only for dead LTTE, not provincial council system for it has not uplifted ordinary Tamils in any way, not separation of Sri Lanka or federalism as advocated by ITAK, TNA & LTTE fronts over the years. The Tamils have been fed the notion that the more racist demands they make, they can gain better opportunities for themselves. However, statistically we cannot see this trickled down to the vast majority of Tamils who are essentially low caste & poor. Racism has only leveraged the upper class & caste Tamils. This is the sad reality.

The result of the Parliamentary elections takes us back in time where the Tamils had better ties with Mrs. Bandaranaike & Mr. Hector Kobbekaduwa while it was SWRD Bandaranaike who in 1957 via the Social Disabilities Act enabled low caste Tamils to gain education. It was the upper caste Tamils who sailed to UK & complained to the British to repeal the Act. This is an excellent example of how divided the Tamils are due to caste while to the world their politicians project the Sinhalese as the enemy. These are ugly ground realities that cannot be brushed aside.

In May 2016 Tamil youth declared We want homes, not merging of North-East”

99% Tamils want to live in peace with Sinhalese, 1% Tamils want a piece of Sri Lanka

However, in giving the NPP government a thumbs up, the Tamils have signaled they want to see a fresh start. This necessarily entails the need for the new Government not to peddle the same divisive policies and rhetoric followed by previous governments & politicians.

Therefore, whatever letters the LTTE fronts dispatch from foreign shores, whatever promises made to them prior to elections, whatever funds they gave to assure that divisive politics would continue, whatever henchmen they use to protest or start skirmishes, the new government must realize that the voters voted against these demands. They voted against divisive politics & the division or separation of Sri Lanka. This is how the new Government & President must interpret the vote. This means they should not make the same mistake of ignoring the message in the vote by continuing to flirt with the extremists and separatist elements who are pulling the strings from their very comfortable abodes on foreign shores. Why would those in foreign shores need to be promoting separatism, federalism or any other notion in Sri Lanka, when they should be more worried about political affairs in the nations they live in.

Unfortunately, the foreign media, even foreign political analysts are only comfortable chirping the same song that they hear & do not delve into finding out what the real problems of the Tamil are, primarily because they know it is not the one’s they love to articulate. Their commentary revolves around geopolitics & geopolitical agendas which have nothing to do with wanting to give Tamils in the North anything other than use them as bait.

The recent protest outside the Buddhist Tissa Vihara by a countable number of people headed by G Ponnambalam who received just 15,135 votes out of 593,187 registered voters. That is nothing Ponnambalam can be proud of! It also means that Sumanthiran would not have even got 10,000 votes from the Tamil people. These are very clear messages from the Tamil people that their separatist rhetoric has been rejected.

If that is the case, the new government must desist from honoring letters from LTTE fronts living overseas which would mean that the new government is ignoring the mandate given to them in favor of satisfying letters sent by LTTE fronts.

This would be a huge mistake made by the new government & will only serve to fasten the distrust that would build up against the new government not only amongst Tamils but other communities as well.

A golden opportunity has been given to this new government. New faces & new opportunities should not be compromised by continuing old failed policies and political bargainings.

Shenali D Waduge

Courtesy The National Post

Food banks in Toronto reported a record-breaking 3.48 million visitors between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024.

As it has annually since the pandemic, the number of people visiting Toronto food banks for the first time soared again over the last year, and newcomers to Canada are among the largest cohort of new users.

This is an astonishing 222 per cent increase in new food bank clients compared to just two years ago,” the report reads, noting that the figures are an underestimate as they don’t include data from anonymous visits.

Overall, the facilities had a record-breaking 3.48 million visitors over the year, one million more than the previous and almost four times as many recorded before COVID-19.

• Monthly food bank use soars to record 2 million, driven by cost of groceries, housing
• ‘How to get free food in Canada’: YouTubers criticized for encouraging international students to use food banks

The report notes it took 38 years to surpass the one-million visit mark, two years to pass the two-million and just a year to hit three million.

Based on our projections and the worsening level of poverty in our communities, we expect to exceed four million visits by this time next year.”

Shenali D Waduge

Parliamentary elections in recent years had never seen what resulted in nothing short of a tsunami on 14 November 2024. The silver lining was that virtually all of the old brigade who had entered parliament from different parties were voted out. A single party for the first time gained a majority in Parliament sans any alliance king-makers. Even JR Jayawardena would have been amused at the outcome. His nephew can be credited with paving the way for this landslide victory though we cannot ignore the 6million who did not vote echoing a growing dissent & distrust for people’s representatives. Ironically, this 6m contributed to the landslide victory. The manner that a virtually unknown group merged with a party who had over the years propped other parties to power & thereafter pulled their legs making governance impossible, had suddenly got the thumbs up to rule Sri Lanka, and entered history books alongside their preferential votes that have also broken records.

To understand this tsunami, the mainstream political parties must hold themselves accountable. People placed their trust in them but they had failed to deliver. Part blame must go to the general public as well who had after 1977 settled into a capitalist culture that involved importing everything & anything ignoring the inflating cost required to import while people & politicians never bothered to question the widening balance sheet as each government was happy to take more loans, pass the burden of repayment on the general public & the general public never questioning that it was their artificial lifestyle that was attributing to the increasing loans plus interest that they were paying. This reality was always hidden behind the hora hora” campaigns.

The state of the State coffers together with wastage & Public Sector corruption was always ignored & will continue to be until & unless the root cause of the issue is identified first. The public sector apparatus is where the problem prevails. However, where the people and the present government would clash is the moment any comforts are reduced. This is what took place in 2022. Therefore, the government while unable to continue the same formula followed by previous governments will be walking a tight rope in the changes they have to make for their own survival. They cannot give excuses as previous governments have. The people cannot expect changes unless they too are willing to change.

The AKD NPP have to deliver & take drastic actions that other governments dared not. Voters demand change & want to see change. How AKD NPP will make the drastic changes while keeping its popularity is left to be seen.

In such a scenario, previous governments who were hard pressed to take decisions that were unsavory to the people always ended up introducing new carrots to divert attention. Thus, it is more than likely that this government too would come up with a new constitution”. The economic embargo Nepal suffered as a result of not including clauses India wanted into Nepalese new constitution suffices AKD & NPP not to tread on similar paths given Sri Lanka has buried itself too much into the Indian sphere of influence.  It is equally important to see the dangers of who is asking for new constitutions” – the first to congratulate & clearly articulate a new constitution has been a Canadian LTTE front! AKD NPP must remember that Canadian LTTE did not vote them to power! The People of Sri Lanka did. They voted for a UNITARY Sri Lanka not a DIVIDED ONE.

Geopolitics & NPP

AKD & NPP must be mindful of not compromising the sovereignty of Sri Lanka for international popularity as these are all camouflaged to eventually bring them down. Becoming popular with the so-called international community cannot come at the sacrifice of the local communities. If gaining popularity requires AKD-NPP to weaken the armed forces, police & intel, integrate Sri Lanka to foreign systems, these only will quicken another political tsunami. Therefore, the assurance given to protect State assets & resources cannot result in handing these over to the enemy. AKD-NPP should not create grounds for another regime change therefore a well-planned diplomatic balancing act is necessary.

With American nationalism coming to the fore resulting in President Trump taking over, his emphasis will turn to making America great again & will desist from creating new wars or continuing unnecessary conflicts. This is welcome news for Sri Lanka & most nations of the world. A major part of his campaign was concentrated on traditional values & the manner the woke agenda/LGBTQIA had broken up families, children, youth & adults & he has promised to end this agenda & allow children to lead normal lives without being surgically operated to turn girls into boys & boys into girls. This agenda, that Dolawatte initiated in Sri Lanka & being promoted by the NPP PM also needs to be shoved aside & not allowed to be implemented in Sri Lanka. President AKD like Trump must protect the child & youth from this global woke agenda.

Tamils & NPP

The reason why Tamils voted for NPP & not the traditional Tamil political parties need to be audited as it would necessarily negate & reject what Tamil political leaders have been seeking via their representations in Parliament. Previous two occasions that Tamils voted for anyone other than Tamils was in 2010 (in favor of Fonseka at the Presidential Elections & 2015 (in favor of Sirisena at the Presidential elections) when India influenced the vote. Whether North & Central Province was equally influenced by India in 2024 is left to be seen. However, an expert on South Asian geopolitics claims US diplomatic influence is what brought AKD NPP to power.

Exclusive: America Drove AKD’s Rise to Power — S.D. Muni

Presuming that Tamils have rejected demands of Tamil politicians, this negates the Tamil political demand for release of bogus political prisoners” which invariably are hard core LTTE in prison. State land cannot be categorized as occupied land” & to be released. In fact, the NPP must remove the Thesavalamai laws that deny other Tamils from owning land in Jaffna except the Vellala Tamils. This poses a bigger restriction to majority of Tamils. No one who has no deed to lands cannot use protests to demand state land be given to them.

The NPP government should not be foolish to accept Mullaivaikkal genocide” as this is nothing but mourning dead LTTE when none of these ceremonies mourn any of the other Tamil militant dead & their families are not even allowed to mourn their dead by the LTTE supporters. NPP should not continue the mistakes of previous parties by being held to ransom with these bogus chants which are not the voice of the majority of Tamils in the North. All of these demands are coming from pro-LTTE living in mostly western nations.

Similarly, NPP should not repeal the PTA. Only those who wish to commit terror want this Act to be repealed. Before making any decision to abolish the Executive Presidency, it is important to answer who are those who wish to abolish it & why do they want to abolish it. The answer will give the reason why it should not be abolished!  When demands are coming from overseas LTTE fronts, the people are curiously watching what President AKDs & NPPs response are.

The President cannot forget the thousands of JVP youth who died sacrificing their lives against India, the 13^thamendment & the PC System. The President would realize what a burden the system is on the state & find a new way to ensure efficiency of the system instead of it becoming a stepping stone to federalism & thereafter separatism. How separatism follows federalism is something for the new MPs of the Parliament to quickly study & appraise themselves of before taking any rash decisions.

The caste factor is such that voting a Sinhalese is considered better than voting lower caste Tamils contesting! Then again like the voters from the rest of the country, the Tamils would have also wanted to get rid of the aging MPs who have been coming in & out of Parliament & doing little for the Tamil people & decided to give fresh faces a chance.

The President & NPP must be quick to identify what the majority Tamil people actually want & dismiss what the self-serving ITAK demanded. This is where NPP can build a better rapport with the people of the North & South.

Muslims in NPP

Despite the links to Ibrahim & the suicide bombers of Easter Sunday, appointing a Muslim as Governor Western province was a clear signal that the Muslims had decided to throw their eggs into the NPP basket. This was seen by the many social media propaganda steered by supporters with Muslim names. Moreover, the visit by the President on election day to Panchikawatte was another signal whom to vote. Would this support, prevent action against those guilty of money laundering, smuggling, drug peddling & defaulting state taxes!

Catholics & NPP

The Cardinal did not mince his words after casting his vote & very openly declared who the Catholics should vote for in what has to be considered a violation of election laws. As a controversial figure, the Cardinal continues to live on extensions using the Easter Sunday justice” as ruse which AKD & NPP are now well aware of.

The forgotten Sinhala Buddhists

Sadly, majority of politicians & political parties including the JVP & NPP enjoy only advocating the so-called grievances of the minorities. Never have they spoken a word about the difficulties the majority Sinhala Buddhists undergo especially those who live as a minority in areas where the minorities are the majority.  It is unfortunate that historically, too it is members of the minority who have come forward to speak on behalf of the Sinhalese. It was Lakshman Kadiragamar who was the architect of UN celebrating Vesak! Likewise, it was SWRD Bandaranaike & the 1957 Social Disabilities Act that allowed low caste Tamils to go to school which the high castes had denied them.

Who are the NPP? 

When regime change took place in 2015 orchestrated by US & India bringing yahapalana to power, AKD & JVP played a pivotal role. Part of the regime change was the breakup of the main political parties – thus SLFP was broken to form SLPP, UNP was broken to form SJB & JVP was broken to form NPP. These were to become the new faces of politics.

As expected, SLPP swept local government elections in 2018 & brought GR to power in 2019 with a 2/3 majority given in 2020. GR proved himself a weak leader & a well-choreographed peoples revolt took place in 2022, entrusting power to the person whose loans taken between 2015-2019 were the reason for the economic crisis! Nevertheless, he ended up doing SLPP a favor by transferring all the tarnished MPs of SLPP into his cylinder camp thus cleansing the SLPP & given it a chance to resurrect itself with proper people’s vision. How they will do so is left to be seen & would spell the fate of the party & its leaders.

The fate of the SJB looks more or less clear but politics is a game of possibilities & one may never know the NPP PM may be tasked to merge the UNP & SJB & become its leader as a future challenge to NPP. Politics is a game of chess & political pawns are moved by unforeseen forces!

Post-2022 revolt, the NPP embraced all of the aggrieved people in SLPP, UNP, SJB & many other parties. More than a political party, NPP comprised people who were angry and had some sort of settle to score. This pent-up emotions suffices to build political momentum and the expats overseas who also wanted to settle scores were only too happy to join.

Thus, the so-called pseudo-Leftist Marxist JVP merged with a neo-colonial liberal thinking set of people whose ideology was to bring CHANGE”. Ignoring or not taking lessons from history will ink their future & deliver hard lessons that they will only learn from experience!

The Parliament is cleansed of the old brigade of all shades. This is welcome news.

The new faces cannot commit or repeat the same mistakes.

The wish-list of those who voted & those who did not vote is long & demanding.

This places the President & the new Government on a very tricky footing. The President & NPP leaders will be haunted by the promises they made.

The NPP has a clear majority. There are no king-makers to bribe & prevent their decisions. The people are expecting magic. The NPP & President have to deliver. What they chose to deliver will decide their fate. Now that the people have realized that they don’t need to wait 5 years to overthrow governments, the people (those who voted & those who didn’t) will be ruthless in their expectations while geopolitically, pressure will be exerted to weaken Sri Lanka’s ability to rise & making Sri Lanka further vulnerable. Across the Palk Strait, the rise of a new face will see emergence of new Tamil nationalism which will prove counter to India’s Arkhand Bharath agenda. Both are dangerous scenarios for Sri Lanka & require AKD NPP to take stock before making internal decisions.

Are NPP politicians atuned to the geopolitical historical scenarios, as they cannot be frogs in the well especially in a Parliament full of freshers who are vulnerable to fall for all sorts of traps including those coated in honey!

Shenali D Waduge

e-Con e-News

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’

e-Con e-News 10-16 November 2024

• US and Indian warships – the Indian submarine INS Vela and the USS destroyer Michael Murphy – sail into Colombo, one after the Presidential election, and one after the Parliamentary election, a week apart. Our innumerable political and economic crystal-ball gazers (drunk on dollar stipends) fail to tell us what this belligerence truly portends… Leaders and media have to deploy ‘strategic ambiguity’, in their pronouncements, which are then amplified during elections. Some hedge their analysis with the hack placebo of geopolitical rivalry, etc. We apparently have to balance 500 years of European piracy to affirm that whites still have the right to ‘rule the waves’ far beyond Washington & London. Perhaps they seek to remind us what they ultimately mean by ‘democracy’. These symbolic shows of force, meant to project power, betray weakness as well. Do these benefactors feel the ROR (rate of return) on their investments is insufficient, and they need some symbolic muscle-flexing too?

     And what does all this have to do with that kerfuffle about supposed threats to resting & pro-creating dollar-pampered murderous Zionazis in Arugam Bay?

     Capitalist elections & wars are never far apart. Take former Australian PM Scott Morrison, a frequent visitor to Colombo’s innermost security sanctums. It turns out Morrison lost an election and had to retire despite arranging for a ‘refugee ship’ from Sri Lanka to be sighted over the great divide at the very moment he voted. Morrison & Trump’s former CIA Director, Mike Pompeo (who even Trump now considers unreliable) are ‘strategic advisers’ to US asset management firm DYNE Maritime, which funds technologies related to AUKUS, the white-only club (honorary whites like the Japanese & slightly tanned Indians have to settle for the more ‘inclusive’ Quad, see ee Sovereignty).

     The Indian & US splashing about, also relate to the recent B-2 bomber attack on Yemen, on what the US called 5 Houthi ‘hardened underground weapons storage locations’, launched from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri via Diego Garcia. These bombers, which have bombed both Afghanistan and Iraq, have ‘far more than half again the range to enable it to hit any target in Iran’, if they take off from Diego Garcia, which Indian and Mauritius have apparently allowed the US to operate from for another 99 years. Most stories about Diego Garcia ignore the eviction of the original residents there and instead talk of the ‘Sri Lankan Tamils’ who were somehow allowed to claim refugee status on a US base!

*

‘The 99-year term of the agreement, and of the treaty that will enshrine it, should

be especially worrying to Tehran…the new agreement enables B-2 bombers &

their successor aircraft to strike at Iran for more than twice as long…”

     (see ee Random Notes)

*

Yet the message conveyed is: they can bomb Afghanistan & Yemen and Iran, and they can surely attack Sri Lanka & India too. We are being told to be patient, that the latest dispensation is still being weaned (off which breasts we can imagine) though no such matter of an Indian Ocean Zone of Peace, a cumbersome fantasy, can as yet be broached. And yet encroach farther they do. And it is within this scenario of the ongoing massacres in occupied Palestine, that the poor beleaguered Zionazis were apparently disturbed of their rest, on vacation from their chosen land of stolen milk & honey.

*

Like baby birds twittering out the same songs from loud mouths wide open begging to be fed, the merchant media in Sri Lanka, which so likes to whine about corruption, is the swindle personified. ee goes to a lot of needless trouble – as we are often reminded by critical friend & foe alike – to reproduce much of the fake & fatuous headlines of the English media. Despite their claims to ‘diversity’, it is a work of wonder how this poodle media repeat the same bilge over & over again. If readers examine our news compendium, they will note how boring press releases from the white embassies & corporations & their so-called NGOs are repeated over again. Meanwhile Iran’s clear objections to being implicated by the US & Israel are given little saturated play in an obsequious media.

*

• Was the new government forced to promise they would lift the Import Ban on Automobiles? This ee Focus reproduces Dhanusha Pathirana’s Sleepwalking into Disaster: ‘Having saddled the nation with a disastrous International Sovereign Bond (ISB) restructuring that ballooned debt repayments by billions [see last ee], the Central Bank Governor (CBSL) now pushes for lifting the import ban on personal vehicles – a blatant kowtow to the IMF’s imperialist agenda.’ Pathirana asserts ‘the Governor, with zero role in generating foreign exchange, is dictating its fate’. The Governor claims, the country can be flooded with gas-guzzling automobiles, instead of building industries that foster employment that requires scientific learning, as opposed to repetitive manual labor with life-consuming work hours of our manufactured exports. Pathirana says, it’s the IMF that ‘demands this ‘liberalisation’ – a euphemism for enriching foreign corporations at the expense of Sri Lanka’s future stability & development. Conveniently forgotten is the IMF’s own 2022 assessment under Article IV consultation, partially blaming our economic collapse on the very consumerism they now endorse!’

*

This ee Focus also reproduces ‘Former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva’ Tamara Kunanayakam’s questions on the new JVP/NPP Government’s decision in October to ‘strongly reject’ the US-England draft resolution at the recent UN Human Rights Council, extending the mandate of an ‘external evidence-gathering mechanism’. Yet, on the following day, the resolution that the Government had ‘strongly’ rejected was adopted without a vote, ie, by consensus. ‘Consensus resolutions necessarily involve the explicit or implicit consent of the country concerned’. Then again, colonized countries depend on such badgering to provide an excuse for their inability to advance the country.

    Kunanayakam explains, ‘Country-specific resolutions are a weapon used by Washington to impose its hegemonic agenda on non-Western countries. ‘Consensus is only advantageous to the one who wields the weapon’. The resolution on Sri Lanka is ‘precedent-setting’, giving ‘legitimacy to the controversial ‘Responsibility to Protect’ doctrine that permits Washington to exercise its domination over other states on the pretext they are ‘unwilling & unable’ to protect their own citizens, thus undermining the UN Charter-based multilateral order & its sovereignty principle. She adds:

‘In the case of Sri Lanka, the initiator has always been the US.

The drafting is done in Washington & the text imposed in Colombo,

with the US Ambassador playing a crucial role. The regular

one-to-one meetings between US Ambassador Julie Chung

& Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, and between

the Ambassador & the President, is now an open secret.’

(see ee Focus)

*

    Kunanayakam also claims the JVP/NPP government treated the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, ‘with disdain… BRICS is viewed by Washington as a threat to its global hegemony’. She also queries, ‘why did the JVP/NPP government publicly lie that BRICS had rejected its application to become a member?’ However, the JVP/NPP and Russia have responded to the general allegations, saying, ‘Sri Lanka’s BRICS membership was not rejected’.

The growing of the BRICs alliance is truly welcome for countries like Sri Lanka. We have to shamefully endure sermons about ‘rights’ from global outlaws, suffer their sanctions to enable their extractions, while depending on the dubious benevolence of the USA’s triplets, World Bank, IMF & WTO. Much needs to be done, minus the capitalist media’s exaggeration of BRICS’ powers when their hacks tire of casting doubt on its aims. ee Focus also reproduces the Indian economist Prabhat Patnaik’s sober examination of the recent BRICS Summit in Kazan. The recent summit created a new category called ‘partner nations’ as a step toward full membership, and accepted 13 such new ‘partner’ countries, among whom were Cuba & Bolivia. He points out how BRICS has come out ‘against unilateral economic sanctions that the US-led imperialist powers have been imposing on countries that dare to assert their independence from imperialist hegemony’. BRICS also suggests ‘a program of reform for the International Monetary & Financial System’. He points out that the ‘free trade argument upon which the WTO is founded, is itself flawed’, of the injustice of ‘the WTO rule that a country cannot give price support to farmers’. He also offers suggestions beyond just de-dollarization, to eliminate the hegemony of finance. He also understands its limits: ‘BRICS remains a heterogeneous bloc that cannot be expected to adopt a radical agenda’. He then details the need for a truly radical agenda.

*

________

Contents:

US & Indian Warships in Colombo to Sink Democracy

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The second Yahapalana government which started with Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in 2019, followed by Ranil Wickremesinghe In 2022 came to an end in September 2024, with the election of a new President, JVP’s Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

 For the first time in our political history, a rural lad was voted into the highest position in the land.  We had ‘Tanamalvila kollek ‘on television. Now we have a ‘Tambuttegama kollek’ as our President. Anura Kumara Dissanayake is holding    a position which snobs think should be filled only by a kalu sudda”. Therefore, those who are not snobs are very happy about it, whether they voted for him or not.  Sri Lanka is still   very   keen on upward mobility”.

Dissanayake won only because there was a sharp swing away from   known politicians to the totally unknown.  Voters   were fed up with the old lot and were prepared to gamble with an untested new lot. They   want ‘the good life’ back and were readily prepared to   vote in anyone who offered to provide it.

The country now hopes the new President will deliver. That remains to be seen.  With the landslide victory at the General Eelection, 2024 comes responsibility.  To be all things to all people, to deliver the sun and the moon as promised, with the electorate watching.

It is argued that this is a historic victory, because never before has a single political party won   such a landslide. Analysts speak of very high percentages, such as 70%. That is not correct. The   Jatika Jana Balavegaya, earlier known as Janata Vimukthi Peramuna, obtained 6,863,186 votes in an election where the registered voters, were 17,140,354. This means that the NPP has secured just 40% of the vote and not 70%.

 There was a sharp drop in voter turnout, which was between 55% and 65% in contrast to the 79% who voted as the Presidential election. [1] The voter turnout at Colombo was 65%, Nuwara-Eliya 68%, Matara 64%, Batticaloa 61%, Puttalam 56%, Anuradhapura 65% and Kurunegala 64%.

There is a clear pattern in the voting response. Those supporting Sajith Premadasa (Samagi Jana Balavegaya) and Ranil Wickremesinghe (New Democratic Front) have stayed away, ignoring the need for a strong opposition. Those supporting Jatika Jana Balavegaya and those supporting Sarvajana Balaya have loyally trotted to the polls. Both parties increased their votes and Sarvajana Balaya with its handfuls of votes (one of which was mine) has obtained a bonus seat.

The voting system followed in Sri Lanka today needs evaluation.  There are three positive aspects in today’s system. The first is Proportional Voting. Instead of the ‘first past the post’ which existed earlier, we now have Proportional Voting .In the old ‘first past the post’ method, there was just one winner, the rest were forgotten.

 In Proportional voting, MPs are elected on the proportion of votes obtained by each political party. Proportional voting gives weight to all votes, whether they are winning votes or not. Losing parties are also assigned seats in Parliament based on the proportion of votes they got.

The second good feature is that Proportional Voting also allows the voter to vote for the candidate of this choice.  The voter chooses the party then selects the persons or persons that he wishes to send to Parliament from that party. The nominated candidates are indicated by number on the ballot paper and the vote is completed in a single visit to the polling station.

The third good feature is the Bonus Vote”.  This enables a fledgling party like Sarvajana Balaya to obtain a seat in Parliament on its total number of votes though it came sixth on the list.

There is however a serious defect in the present election system, which manages to cancel the positive aspects of the present voting system. That is the creation of huge, massive electorates instead of small manageable constituencies.

In the traditional system, which was supposed to imitate the democratic system of the Greek market place, there were electoral Constituencies,”   where the citizen directly voted for the candidate he wanted to see in Parliament. Each constituency had a seat in Parliament and the winning candidate went straight in.

 In this system,   the voters knew who their Member of Parliament was, and who to go to when necessary. The MP also, in his turn, nursed his constituency and looked after his voters, especially if he intended to return to Parliament at the next election. Even otherwise he had an obligation to look after his constituency.

From 1989 this system was abandoned. The 160 single-member, double-member and triple-member districts were replaced with 22 multi-member electoral districts which generally matched the administrative districts. The earlier constituencies continued as   polling divisions within the Electoral districts.

These new Electoral Districts are huge. They contain administrative divisions that have little to do with each other. The Colombo electorate   consists of the following electoral   districts. Colombo North, Colombo West, Colombo East, Colombo Central, Borella,   Dehiwela, Ratmalana, Maharagama, Homagama, Kaduwela, Kolonnawa, Avissawella, Kesbewa, Kotte and Moratuwa. Many of these districts have no connection to Colombo and are far away from each other. Avissawella is at one end, Moratuwa at the other.

 In the 1970 general election in Colombo, most of these electoral divisions were separate constituencies which sent in their own MPs. The following were separate constituencies in 1970. Colombo North, Colombo Central, Colombo South, Borella, Kotte, Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia, Moratuwa, Kesbewa, Homagama, Avissawella. [2]

 The Kandy electorate consists today of   Galagedara, Harispattuwa, Pata Dumbara, Uda Dumbara , Teldeniya, Kundasale, Hewaheta,  Senkadagala, Mahanuwara, Yatinuwara,  Udunuwara, Gampola, and Nawalapitiya.

In 1970, these   were separate constituencies with MPs of their own.  Senkadagala, Udu Nuwara, Yati Nuwara, Galagedara, Hanguranketa, Hewaheta, Kundasale, Nawalapitiya, Teldeniya and Walapane were separate constituencies in 1970.

The style of electioneering changed to match this development .Before 1989, when it was constituency based election; there were many small rallies within the constituency. Audiences gathered at convenient outdoor locations, to listen to the candidates.  Some perched on trees, the rest stood, a few were given seats.

After 1989, this was not possible. The electorate was too large. Election campaigns consisted therefore of huge rallies in selected locations, organized as outreach events. The voters were brought in by vehicles and all were given seats.  The audience saw this as a chance to   benefit themselves in addition to a free outing. They demanded money, hard liquor and meals, if they were to attend. [3]The   same groups went from rally to rally, party to party. Middlemen took them there, also for money.

This new system of huge electorates violates democracy.   It violates the main   purpose of an    election in a democratic society, the direct election of       representatives. Today, instead of one MP per constituency, there is a gaggle of MPs for the whole electoral division.

Due to the huge size of each electorate, the   MPs do not know the voters and the voters do not know the MPs. There is no link between the two. Therefore elected MPs do not feel any obligation towards the voters, forgetting the fact that they entered Parliament thorugh the ballots of these voters.

This distortion of the democratic election was done by JR Jayewardene when he was President.  JR wanted to reduce the   voting power of the citizen. He wanted the Presidential election to be decided by an Electoral College.  He wanted to make the political party the sole focus of power in the state. This had unanticipated consequences.  Critics observed that enlarging the electorate was the source of   the corruption which arose thereafter.

There was another distortion of the democratic process, by the introduction of a National List at the general election. The National List comprises 29 members who enter Parliament without contesting. The number of National List seats each party receives is based on their proportion of the national vote.

Although the National List was originally intended to bring experts and professionals into Parliament, the National List was used instead to bring in political loyalists, including defeated candidates.

Critics have pointed out that these National List nominees are not elected representatives. They violated the principle that ALL members of a House of Representatives (or a single governing assembly), must be voted in by the people. These National list   entrants are not voted in, they are not elected. They have no accountability to the people.   They never had to promise anything to the voters and never received a vote explicitly directed at them, complained critics.[4]

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[1] It was around 55 to 65 percent at several districts, according to some  returning officers.

[2] https://elections.gov.lk/web/wp-content/uploads/election-results/parliamentary-elections/general-election-1970.pdf

[3] https://www.pressreader.com/sri-lanka/sunday-times-sri-lanka/20241103/281706915188254?srsltid=AfmBOopYbAradDjzNJ1FoS2XB8htVhzD5W9ug1XsGHG5RcepvFJpBPev

[4] https://island.lk/oddity-of-the-national-list-twins-in-a-single-body-a-commentary/

Chanaka Bandarage

The essence of democracy is that representatives are elected by the people.

If those who are rejected by the public in the election are later allowed to sit as MPs in the parliament through the National List, that will be directly in conflict with the concept of democracy. Effectively, it is  making a mockery of our democracy.

People did not vote for them because they did not like them. Sometimes, people wanted to punish them.

Once people have stated ‘No’, that should be the end of it.

Then, why should the defeated candidates be allowed to enter the parliament?

This provision creates an unhealthy environment. It is a fertile ground for mischief. By vying for the available MP spot/s, lots of corruption/bribery, violence, and other vices can take place.

Notorious thugs, corruptors, cheats, and drug peddlers can enter the parliament this way.

Allowing those who are rejected by the people to come to the parliament through the backdoor is a slap in the face of the voters.

Voters can get extremely dejected thinking that their vote has no value.

Surely Sri Lanka must be the only country in the world where defeated candidates can come to the parliament through a (dubious) National List.

Through this election the whole world is impressed with us. We have shown to the world that we are an advanced society – an achievement even the developed world could not achieve. So, why we now add a smidgeon of dung to our pot of fresh milk?

The honourable thing for the Defeated candidates to do is to withdraw their candidature for the National List MP positions. 

The Election Commission is bound by laws. Surely, it has made the ruling upon reviewing the prevailing laws and perhaps case law.

Thus, one cannot criticise them/Courts.

This is an area where the law needs amendment.

Over to the new Government!

Re. the National List – this is fundamentally contrary to the principles of democracy. No matter how educated or clever a person is, if they want to enter the parliament, they must come by the pubic ballot. This is the universal principle of democracy (Westminster style). In the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, Singapore and Malaysia; they do not have a National List.

Since the National List was introduced in 1988, there have been hundreds of such MPs. How many have made substantial contributions to the country? Only a handful.

There are 29 National List MPs – over 8% of the total MPs. This is far too many.

In the next (22^nd) Amendment to the Constitution, steps must be taken to abolish the extremely undemocratic National List.

අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන B.Sc(Col), PGDC(Col), නීතීඥ. සමායෝජක, වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යාපන වැඩසටහන.

ආසන 159ක් ලැබූ පමණින් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 83වන ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ පවතින දෝෂය / අතපසුවීම නිවැරදි නොකර අලුත් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන ගෙන ඒමට මාළිමා ආණ්ඩුවට හැකිද?

ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 83වන ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ ඇති දෝෂය / අතපසුවීම නිවැරදි කිරීමට ගෙනා 22වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය සම්මත නොකර, ආසන 159ක් ලැබූ මාළිමා ආණ්ඩුවට අලුත් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන ගෙනා හැකිද යන්න මෙම කෙටි ලිපියෙන් විමසා බැලීමට අදහස් කරයි.

මාළිමාවට පාර්ලිමේන්තු ආසන 159ක් 2024 පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයෙන්  ලැබී ඇත.එනම් 2/3 ටත් වැඩියෙන් ලැබී ඇත. මෙය 1977 ජේ ආර්. ජයවර්ධන ආණ්ඩුවට තිබූ 2/3 ට වැඩි ආසන සංඛ්‍යාව මෙන් ය. පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ඉන්නා විපක්ෂයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරු 66 දෙනාට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ කතා කරමින්, වරප්‍රසාද භුක්ති විදිමින්, තේරීම් කාරක සභාවල අසුන් ගන්නත්  හැකිය.  මොකද පනත් කෙටුම්පතකට 2/3 ලැබෙන එක වළක්වන්න විපක්ෂයේ ආසන 66කට නොහැකිය. විපක්ෂයට ආසන 76ක් තිබ්බානම් පනත් කෙටුම්පතකට 2/3 ලැබීම වළක්වන්න හැකියාව තිබුණි.

ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 83වන ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ දැක්වෙන ජනමතවිචාරණයක් අවශ්‍ය ව්‍යවස්ථා හැර අනෙක් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන ඕනෑම එකක් කිරීමටත්, පවතින නීති අහෝසි කිරීමටත්, අලුත් නීති පැනවීමටත් මාළිමා ආණ්ඩුවට ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක බලය ලැබී ඇත. එය වැළක්වීමේ හැකියාවක් විපක්ෂයට නැත.

විපක්ෂයට සහ මළිමා ආණ්ඩුව පවතින ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවට අනුවම ක්‍රියා කළ යුතුය. ජනමතවිචාරණයකට යා යුතු ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයක් ගෙනා අවස්ථාවකදී විපක්ෂය කළ යුත්තේ එය හිතකරනම් ජනතාව සමඟ එකතු වී එය ජයග්‍රහණය කරන්න ක්‍රියා කරන එකය.

1977 පාර්ලිමේන්තු ඡන්දයෙන් පසු එක් පක්ෂයකට පාර්ලිමේන්තු ආසන 2/3 වැඩියෙන් ලැබූ පළවන අවස්ථාව මෙයයි. ඒ අනුව මාළිමා ආණ්ඩුව අනිවාර්යයෙන් අලුත් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් ගෙන එනු ඇතැයි අනුමාන කළ හැකිය. ඒ ජනමතවිචාරණයෙන්ද ජයගැනීමේ අපේක්ෂාවෙනි. ඒත් එයට අවුරුදු 2කට වැඩිය කල් ගතහොත් ජනමතවිචාරණයෙන් පරදින්න වැඩි ඉඩක් ඇත්තේ ජනතාවගේ ප්‍රශ්න විසඳීමට මාළිමා ආණ්ඩුවට නොහැකි වුවහොත් ය. ඒ නිසා හැකි ඉක්මණින් වසරක් හෝ වසර 2ක් ඇතුළත අලුත් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් ගෙන ඒම මාළිමා ආණ්ඩුව සිදුකිරීමට වැඩි ඉඩක් ඇත.

විපක්ෂය සහ ජනතාව කළ යුත්තේ  මාළිමා ආණ්ඩුව ගෙන එන අලුත් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව කෙසේද යන්න අවධානයෙන් විමසා බැලීමයි. එමෙන්ම ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථවේ 83වන ව්‍යවස්ථාව ගැන හොඳ අවබෝධයක් ගැනීමය.

එසේම පවතින ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 83වන ව්‍යවස්ථාව දෝෂ සහිත බව නීතිපතිවරයාද මේ වන විට පිළිගෙන ඇත. ඒ 2015 දී ගෙනා 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය අවස්ථාවේ සිදුවී ඇති දෝෂයක් / අතපසුවීමක් හේතුවෙනි.

එකී දෝෂය / අතපසුවීම නිවැරදි කිරීමට ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයකටද නීතිපතිවරයා 2024 දී අනුමැතිය ලබා දී ඇත.ඒ අනුව 22වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය 2024.07.18 දින අතිවිශෙෂ ගැසට් පත්‍රයේ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 78වන ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුව පළකර ඇත.

ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 83වන ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ පවතින එකී දෝෂය / අතපසුවීම නිවැරදි නොකර පාර්ලිමේන්තු ආසන 159ක් ලැබූ පමණින් අලුත් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයක් ගෙන ඒමට මාළිමා ආණ්ඩුවට හැකිද යන්න විසඳිය යුතුය.

http://neethiyalk.blogspot.com/2024/11/159-83.html?m=1

අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන B.Sc(Col), PGDC(Col), නීතීඥ. සමායෝජක, වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යාපන වැඩසටහන. දුරකථන 0712063394. (2024.11.15)

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Dubai and Singapore are remarkable examples of how strategic vision, innovation, and determination can transform regions with limited natural resources into global hubs of trade, finance, and tourism. Here’s why we should learn from their success stories

1. Visionary Leadership

• Dubai:

 In the 1960s and 70s, Dubai’s rulers, such as Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, foresaw the limitations of oil reserves and planned for economic diversification. Investments were directed toward infrastructure, tourism, and trade.

• Singapore:

 Under Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore transformed from a poor, resource-scarce island into a modern, high-income nation. Policies focused on attracting foreign investment, maintaining stability, and fostering education.

2. Economic Diversification

• Dubai: Instead of relying solely on oil, Dubai invested in tourism, aviation (e.g., Emirates Airlines), and real estate (e.g., Burj Khalifa and Palm Islands). It also became a hub for logistics and trade through Jebel Ali Port.

• Singapore: Singapore’s focus on finance, technology, and manufacturing created a diversified and resilient economy. Its port is one of the busiest in the world, and it’s a global financial center.

3. Infrastructure Development

• Dubai:

 Massive investments in world-class infrastructure, such as skyscrapers, airports, and public transit, turned the desert city into a global destination.

• Singapore:

 Thoughtfully designed urban planning, an efficient transport system, and green spaces ensure a high quality of life for its citizens.

4. Global Connectivity

• Both cities became global hubs by leveraging their strategic locations.

• Dubai serves as a gateway between East and West, connecting Asia, Europe, and Africa.

• Singapore plays a similar role in Southeast Asia, facilitating trade and commerce in the Pacific region.

5. Innovation and Adaptability

• Dubai: Focused on futuristic projects like smart cities, renewable energy, and space exploration. The government actively supports startups and innovation.

• Singapore: Known for its emphasis on research, technology, and education. It consistently ranks as one of the most innovative nations.

6. Social and Cultural Integration

• Both cities attract talent from all over the world. Their ability to integrate diverse cultures into their workforce and society has fostered creativity and global perspectives.

7. Lessons for Others

• Invest in human capital: Prioritize education, skills development, and innovation.

• Strategic planning: Diversify economies and prepare for future challenges.

• Sustainability: Focus on long-term solutions, such as renewable energy and environmental conservation.

• Global mindset: Leverage geography, culture, and connectivity to integrate into the global economy.

While Dubai rose from a desert inhabited by Bedouins and Singapore overcame colonial challenges and resource scarcity, their journeys are testaments to how determination and vision can overcome adversity. These lessons are applicable to any nation or city aiming for transformation.

Lessons for Sri Lanka 

Sri Lanka indeed has immense potential, given its strategic location, a rich cultural heritage dating back millennia, and a generally mild climate. Additionally, its people are known for their talent and adaptability. However, realizing this potential has been a persistent challenge. Here are some factors that may have contributed to its slower progress compared to cities like Dubai and Singapore:

1. Leadership and Visionary Governance

• Lack of long-term planning: Unlike Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew or Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Sri Lanka has often lacked leaders with the foresight to implement comprehensive, future-oriented policies.

• Political instability: Frequent changes in government, coupled with policies driven by short-term gains rather than sustainable development, have hampered progress.

2. Ethnic and Political Strife

• The 30-year civil war (1983–2009) severely disrupted economic growth and social cohesion.

• Post-war reconciliation and regional development efforts have faced challenges, slowing national integration and equity in progress.

3. Economic Mismanagement

• Dependence on imports and insufficient investment in value-added exports have created chronic trade deficits.

• Over-reliance on foreign debt for infrastructure projects without adequate return on investment has strained finances.

4. Missed Opportunities in Strategic Location

• Sri Lanka’s location is ideal for trade, but unlike Dubai, which positioned itself as a global business hub, Sri Lanka has not fully capitalized on its maritime advantages.

• Ports like Colombo are significant but could play a much larger role with better management and international collaboration.

5. Underutilization of Skilled Workforce

• Brain drain has been a recurring issue, with skilled professionals seeking opportunities abroad due to limited prospects and political instability at home.

• Education and vocational training systems need modernization to better align with global market demands.

6. Weather and Tourism Potential

• While the mild weather and scenic beauty are significant advantages, the tourism industry has faced setbacks due to instability, poor infrastructure, and inconsistent policies.

7. Cultural and Historical Strengths

• The rich culture and history of Sri Lanka are unmatched but have not been adequately leveraged to enhance global soft power or as a cohesive element of nation-building.

Lessons from Dubai and Singapore

Both Dubai and Singapore faced their own challenges but succeeded due to:

• Stable, visionary leadership.

• Strategic investments in infrastructure and human capital.

• Creation of business-friendly environments to attract global investment.

The Path Forward

Sri Lanka can still turn its fortunes around with:

• Clear, consistent policies.

• Strong investments in education and innovation.

• Promotion of national unity and inclusive growth.

• Leveraging its strategic location to become a regional trade hub.

The key lies in embracing a long-term vision and fostering unity to harness its full potential.

Regards

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

VFM RADIO 107

එලවනවා, ෂර්ට් එකෙන් අල්ලනවා, පොලේ ගහනවා අගමැති ආරක්ෂකයින්ගේ චණ්ඩි පාට් කැබිනට් මාධ්‍ය හමුව රත් කරයි ඇවිල්ලා මාසයක් නෑ – මොනකක්ද මේ මර්දනය ආ..

Courtesy Adaderana

A team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), led by its Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka Peter Breuer, has arrived in Sri Lanka this evening (17).

The team will remain in in the country until November 23 and during their stay will conduct the third review of Sri Lanka’s economic reform program supported by the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

The team, led by IMF Senior Mission Chief Peter Breuer, will assess Sri Lanka’s economic policies, progress on ongoing reforms, and the implementation of previous agreements with the IMF.
 
Upon successful completion of the review, the IMF is expected to release the next tranche of the bailout to Sri Lanka. The IMF had approved a 2.9-billion-dollar Extended Fund Facility for Sri Lanka over a 48-month period in tranches to help its economy recover from the economic crisis.
 
Accordingly, the first tranche of USD 333 million was released on March 21, 2023, followed by a second of USD 337 million on December 13, 2023. The third tranche, totaling USD 337 million, was released on June 13, 2024. 

As of now, the IMF has provided more than USD 1 billion to Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the country’s worst economic crisis.

Senaka Weeraratna Justice for Animals and Nature

Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

We remember with appreciativeness your active participation at a meeting held at the Open University premises in January 2020, convened & presided by Dr. Dileepa Witharana – an academic with compassion for the voiceless living beings, with the intention of mapping out a strategy to enact the long-awaited Animal Welfare Bill.

Now that you are on the saddle being the no.2 most powerful person in the Government, we trust that you will do the needful.

A New Animal Welfare Act is long awaited.

Same time we hope you will take immediate steps to stop the decimation of innocent wild animals in their habitats and their homelands by humans who are rapidly encroaching on their territory with guns supplied by the Government to clear the wilderness for growing crops.

Wild animals also have a right to life. A right to co–habit in their territory.

Cattle and other animals which have served the human species must be treated with compassion in their old age even though they are useless from an economic point of view.

Gratitude defines your humanity.

This is the difference between an enlightened civilized society and a primitive society.

Sri Lanka must endeavour to be on the right side of history.

We stand for peaceful co–existence between humans and non-humans.

Pl make that a cardinal policy of your government.

If you do that the world will stand up and give you a standing ovation for your moral leadership.

A quality sadly lacking among leaders in Sri Lanka until now.

The Indian Constitution recognizes the sanctity of animal life and lays down the protection and treatment of animals with dignity as a fundamental duty of its citizens.

Article 51A(g) of the Indian Constitution states that Indian citizens have a duty to “have compassion for living creatures”:

• Article 51A(g): “It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment including forests, lakes, rivers, and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures”.

These provisions should also be in the Constitution of Sri Lanka.

As you embark upon your new responsibilities, we look forward to you and the Government to work for the cause of welfare of the voiceless animals and promotion of animal protection education in schools.

Below picture was taken at a meeting held at the Open University in January 2020.

Left to right –

Senaka Weeraratna (Justice for Animals and Nature), Dr. Harini Amarasuriya (Senior Lecturer, Open University), unknown, Convenor of the meeting – Dr. Dileepa Witharana (Senior lecturer, Dept. of Mathematics and Philosophy of Engineering, Open University), unknown, Dominic Jaliya Perera (Justice for Animals and Nature).

Many other animal welfare activists were

present at this meeting.

Justice for Animals and Nature

Courtesy The Daily News

United National Party (UNP) Chairman Vajira Abeywardena stated yesterday that, for the first time, the people in the North have shown unprecedented trust in a party from the South, which he views as a positive development.

This is a very special occasion in the election history of the country.

The people in the north have placed trust in a political party in the South even though different political parties with various forces are operating in the North and East, he said.

He said that the representatives of the people in the North will join in the governance actively by becoming Cabinet Ministers which is a good sign.We, as Sri Lankans see this as a

victory achieved by Sri Lanka.We express our happiness regarding this,” he said.

Abeywardena said that although various Tamil leaders represented the Cabinet after independence, they were elected from their own parties.

He said that Minister Douglas Devananda was in the Cabinet but he did not represent a party from the South.

He said that they held discussion about contesting the upcoming Local Government election under elephant symbol as the United National Party without any coalition with others.

We must remember two things when contesting. One is that the people of the country have largely refrained from voting. A vast majority are mainly members of the defeated political parties. They may have expectations regarding certain factors. Also, the government led by the current President has achieved a historic victory. We commend them for that. And this is a special opportunity for Sri Lanka,”he said.

He added that the government led by the current President has a lot of changes to make. Now they cannot say that it cannot be done.From this moment on, the current President and the government have the challenge of how to use that powerful weapon for the good of the 22 million people.

According to the political philosophy we believe in, the current government should win the challenges they have undertaken economically as well as domestically both here and abroad. We

as Sri Lankan people should not hinder them in that. We as Sri Lankans have to wait and see how they will give the Sri Lankan public the amount of hope they gave the Sri Lankan people.