A telecom customer  Courtesy Lanka-e-News

(Lanka-e-News -27.Dec.2015, 11.30PM)  The internet chain had rapidly grown in Sri Lanka (SL)  Consequently , unlike the other media , the Lanka e news media website that stands out  from others breaking new ground  , is possessed of opportunities to function beyond the bounds of operations of the other ordinary media .But because of Sri Lanka Telecom’s ( SLT) inordinate greed for money , this corporation  that provides ISP (internet access),   is seeking to restrict the customers using  internet facilities without citing any reason.

In this connection , the   SLT which is the only Corporation that is providing the wire line internet links has to be specially focused upon.

Ordinarily ,after  the domestic user up 40 Gigabytes under the Web Home package , the speed drops almost to unusable level .If the SLT which itself says the SL information technology is making headway in SL  , is of the view that 40 GB is enough for a home , even in the year 2015 , nothing can be more ridiculous and ludicrous.

Countries in Asia like Singapore , Thailand and India have taken measures to provide internet facilities to suit the current time and trends.

Internet is not a  resource like gas or petroleum which are diminishing ,hence  the decision to charge  more commensurate with additional usage is clearly a money grabbing exercise. Therefore the  SLT that earned a revenue of Rs. 38.95 billion in 2014 , having no capacity to provide an internet package to suit the present time is not acceptable by any stretch of imagination.

Several years ago ,it was possible to obtain an unlimited internet package from the SLT, but by now that has  been eliminated. The SLT that was able  to provide an unlimited internet package several years ago , but  having no capacity  to provide that by 2015 is more a fiction and less a fact  , and anyone can understand that.

It is because an individual who felled trees on the sly leapt like a frog in the well into the seat  of the chairman of the SLT , the Institution which should be  progressing is hurtling down a precipice.

After the president’s younger brother took over that chairman post , during the whole of last year , there was neither any  relief nor any new services offered to the people by that Institution. Simply bragging WiFi zones would be made available Island wide is purposeless .On the contrary , the   internet service ought to  be  proivided at much more lower rates and at higher speed. If he cannot carry on his duties efficiently , it is best for  him to hand over that chairman post to another, and get back to felling trees carrying the axe , the area where his skills can be demonstrated best  ,without  ‘killing’ the SLT through slow strangulation.

The Telecom, it is learnt  is moving to impose temporary bans on internet usage of those who criticize the SLT via the face book. We are therefore  intently following and watching this. Lanka e news is aware that because LeN is castigating the SLT ( justifiably of course), the news website has been banned within the SLT. This type of low bred conduct and base  actions are natural when an individual who chopped trees illicitly has  hopped audaciously into the chairman seat of a lofty Institution .

A telecom customer
Translated by Jeff.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Today   I got stuck in traffic due to the demonstration by our farmers who were wearing only  loin  clothes and carrying  mammoties etc

There is a Sinhala saying says, that if a farmer washes his mud on his body he is suitable to become even a KING”

When I saw them at the back of Temple Trees I wondered whether one of them, like the one above wants to be the KING ,as they wanted to enter the temple trees where the King used to live

The face is familiar and reminds me of Rohan Wijeweera who led the bloody revolution to become the King !!

When I travel to villages see the farmers in loin clothes but hardly see the beard of a revolutionary?

Best way to check whether they are farmers or members of a revolutionary party is to check their palms for roughness due to the daily use of mammoties

If police can check the palms and let them thru it will be fair

Or if the wives of the farmers join the husbands in G strings I am sure whole country will enjoy the seen

God save the King and the Farmer !

Bandula Jayasekara Courtesy Island

Maithripala Sirisena, our dear leader, was walking up and down very angrily. Usually calm and ‘compassionate’, Sirisena was never in such a mood and his cohorts gave a mood by mood commentary. Sirisena then wore his crown, sat on the throne chair he reluctantly accepted and summoned his minister of textiles Gemunu Wijeratne or someone like that (sorry, we have lost count of the ministers and can’t remember all their names). He asked “Adey, Gemunu, is our textile production so good? Is there a surplus of under garments?” Gemunu said, ” Yes, there is. It’s no secret that brands like Triumph and Victoria Secret are made in Sri Lanka. Today, we are known worldwide as the undies country. People of this world do not refer to Australia as Down Under any longer but Sri Lanka”

Sirisena smiled like the Santa Claus in December ” Ho, Ho … “No wonder our girls are throwing their bras at Spanish singers! But, is there a shortage of bras in Spain for this Spanish singer to have taken those bras with him? Did we impose any duty when he took those bras?” Minister Gemunu Wijeratne replied, ” Sir, Do you remember our present MP Geetha Kumarasinghe when she was an actress. I remember her throwing her bra in the movie ‘Pembara Madhu’ and running with late Vijaya Aiya. Think we had lots of bras even then.” “Shut up you idiot. Shut up. Very soon she will head a development council in the south. How dare you speak of her like that,” thundered Sirisena.

Minister of Textiles was booted out of the Palace of the President and Hon Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake was summoned to meet with the President. Maithripala addressed Ravi like Ranil do these days. “I say, Ravi, you are trying to collect taxes these days and how come you didn’t tax that Spanish singer Enrique who took all the bras from Sri Lanka in his private jet” “Aiyo, Aiyo Sir, How could we tax that and earn millions of dollars because Enrique only took the used bras or as we say in Sri Lanka second hand bras. It is against our customs regulations to tax used bras and tooth brushes,” Ravi K responded.

Maithripala looked at Ravi in a very suspicious manner. He even thought for a while. “Are you sure Ravi, that you didn’t have a hand in this used bra exports to Spain. What do we call this, men? Human smuggling or smuggling of items with human touch?” Ravi told Maithri he had no say on the matter and was listening to Christmas Carols at the Arcade when Enrique was singing at the CRFC. Sajith Premadasa, Ravi’s good buddy, later whispered to Maithri that Arcade is right next to the CRFC and Sirisena should have guessed where Ravi really was that night.

Suddenly, the President of Sri Lanka summoned his foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera. “Aney, Mangala. What did this Spanish man do? What is happening to our society? This is a national disgrace!” Maithri was really in tears. Mangala adjusted his tie, composed himself and said ” Maithri, you don’t understand the importance of this exercise. This was a jolly good foreign relations event. I am sure you are aware for years we have received used items during disasters and even during the deadly tsunami. Things had to change. under the Yahapalanaya government I arranged for our people to donate used bras and everything used down under to Spain which is having a severe shortage of such items these days. Siri, it didn’t cost us anything. Spanish fellow used his own plane. Our people paid from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 35,000 to go to meet the fellow and delivered personally bras and other underwater items. This is an excellent diplomatic victory and Spain will ever be so grateful to us. Just chill man. Learn to chill”

Once angry El Presidente of sexy Sri Lanka was baffled! He didn’t even know that certain foreign missions were openly organising gay and lesbian events in Sri Lanka against his wishes though it is banned in Sri Lanka according to Maithri’s laws. Maithri was in a mood getting whipping ideas. He ordered his minister of all sorts of cultural activities Hon Ranjan Ramanayake to hire a helicopter from Sajin Vass Gunewardane and cover the bare breasted Sigiri frescos with immediate effect. Ranjan who always fights for women’s rights refused. ” No, Sir. I cannot do this. I am a main actor and I act opposite all sorts of beautiful stars. What will people think of me if I do this. I will never do such paraya things ever”

Maithri called all 225 cabinet ministers and no one was willing to take a flight to cover the Sigiri damsels. Some ministers gave excuses saying they cannot get the exact bra size to cover Kashyapa’s girls. Another said he was scared of getting killed by God King Kashyapa in his sleep. Maithripala Sirisena almighty President himself was having nightmares. But, he as a courageous man who defeated Mahinda Rajapaksa, immediately hired a helicopter and flew to Ampara in Sri Lanka.

At a well attended rally in Ampara God King Sirisena announced, “I will whip all those western singers who would dare to come to Sri Lanka. I will ban all the English songs. I will whip anyone who tries to organise any musical shows in Sri Lanka. I will establish a branch of Taliban in Sri Lanka. No more shorts. No more short skirts. No more long shorts. No bare bodies. No Enrique. No google. No internet. No cricket. No beer. Only the hijab will be allowed in Sri Lanka in the future. Netball players and female athletes shall wear saris in the future even during practices”

Someone attending the rally in Ampara threw a bra at Maithri and he couldn’t continue with the rest of his speech since his security took him to a hidden tunnel and later to a Eyes, Nose, Teeth/Tooth (ENT) specialist.

 DHARSHAN WEERASEKERA

A number of Tamils headed by C. V. Wigneswaran the Northern Province Chief Minister have launched a front called the Tamil People’s Council (TPC) whose purported purpose is to submit proposals from the Tamil Community to be considered when drafting the new Constitution.  (Daily Mirror, 29 December 2015.)

In my view, the purpose of the said front is quite different.  It is a critical ingredient in the long-term plan of Tamil separatists to demand a separate state by invoking the international law concept of self-determination (and have the international community endorse such demand).  It is therefore essential that members of the public pay close attention to this latest maneuver by the separatists, and do what is necessary to thwart it.

THE PLAN

In my view, to understand the plan of Mr. Wigneswaran and his cohorts (and this obviously includes Sampanthan and the rest of the lot in the TNA, although for the moment the two sides are pretending to be at odds with each other) it is necessary to understand the judgment of the International Court of Justice in the case, Accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence in respect of Kosovo, 22 July 2010.

I have discussed this case in a previous article published in lankaweb, titled, ‘The ICJ’s ruling on Kosovo Independence and its significance to the Eelamists’ game-plan in Sri Lanka’ (3 August 2015) and refer the reader to that article for more details.  But, in gist, the facts and judgment in that case are as follows.

After the NATO-led intervention in 1999, Kosovo was administered under a UN mandate by something called the Assembly of Kosovo”.  The terms of the mandate called for a gradual relinquishing of control over Kosovo to Kosovans, but with input from Serbia, before any final status agreement is reached.

In 2008, a group of Kosovans, including members of the Assembly, calling themselves the Democratically elected leaders of our People” issued a unilateral declaration of independence.  The United States and a number of other countries them promptly accepted the declaration as valid, and the new nation of Kosovo officially came into being.

Serbia, understandably enraged by the above developments, went before the International Court of Justice and asked for an Advisory Opinion on the legal validity of the said declaration of independence.  The court ruled that, since the declaration was issued by a group that was outside the constitutional framework in operation of the time, there was nothing in international law to prevent such a group from declaring independence, so, in effect, it was in accordance with international law.

To put it another way, what the court said was that if the ‘Kosovo Assembly’ had declared independence, it would have been illegal (because the constitution did not permit such a thing) but since it was done by a different group, with no constitutional recognition, it was okay.

Obviously, from Serbia’s point of view, the technical or semantic distinction was no consolation:  the practical reality was that a new nation had been created (in territory that Serbia considered to be its national territory) without Serbia being consulted, or having an opportunity to provide input, an opportunity it had been promised earlier.

Let’s now turn to our own set of separatists.  The TNA will negotiate for ‘maximum devolution’ which means that, under the new Constitution, the Northern and Eastern Provinces will be more or less autonomous states, linked to the center by some very weak constitutional link.

I suspect ‘maximum devolution’ will involve setting up a confederation (though it will be called a ‘federal system’ for political convenience) which will either explicitly or impliedly recognize a right of secession either by action of the state or provincial government, or a referendum of the residents of those provinces.  Nevertheless, the point is that, under that arrangement, the TNA will pledge they will never separate.

Once the above system is put in place, however, Wigneswaran and his outfit will start rattling the cage, claiming that the Tamils still have ‘grievances’ that have not been addressed.  From there, it’s a small step for them, claiming that they, rather that the TNA (which they will accuse of colluding with the government) speak for the residents of their respective provinces, to issue a unilateral declaration of independence.

They will say that, with respect to the said declaration, international law is on their side, and unfortunately they will be correct.  If the United States, India, and a few other countries recognize the declaration, a new nation called Tamil Eelam will come into being.  If, on the other hand,  the United States and those other countries, for their own reasons, choose not to recognize the new nation, that’ll be okay with the separatists also.

The separatists will threaten to continue issuing declarations until one is accepted, and using that as leverage, squeeze whatever remaining concessions they want out of the central government, so that they can run a de facto state in the two provinces in question.  Either way, the Sri Lankan State, especially the Sinhala people, will be left holding the proverbial bag, as usual.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Given the constraints of time, I shall limit myself to just one recommendation.  The primary trick that the separatists are playing to allay the fears of ‘moderate’ Sinhalese, or to give rhetorical ammunition to the enemies of the Sinhalese to bludgeon said ‘moderates’ into submission, is that they (the separatists) have now reformed themselves and given up separatism.

In my view, the best way to pull the rug from under the feet of the separatists is to ask them two different questions, and they stem from the statement of objectives they have put down in one of their foundational documents.  As a result of a case now being heard in the Supreme Court (Case No. SC/SPL/03/2014) there is now an English translation by the government translator, of the Constitution and Amendment to same of the Illangai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK).

The ITAK is the main constituent of the TNA, and Wigneswaran, Sampanthan, and the rest of that lot all hold office as a result of being elected under the ITAK banner.  So, the Constitution of ITAK can be taken as their official credo.

The statement of the objectives of the ITAK is clearly set out in the Constitution and related Amendment as follows:

‘The objective of the party is to achieve political, economic and cultural liberation of the Tamil speaking people in Sri Lanka by establishing an autonomous Tamil state and autonomous Muslim state in accordance with the policy of the right to self determination as part of the Federation of United Sri Lanka.

Absolute guarantee shall be provided to the right to freedom of religion and the right to language of the minority nationalities who live in the autonomous state to be established within the Tamil motherland.’

I draw the reader’s attention to two points in the above passages.  First, the proposed Tamil and Muslim autonomous states are to be established according to the right to self determination.

Second, the minority nationalities—by which I suppose is meant the Sinhalese—living in the Tamil motherland are to be guaranteed their rights to religion, language and so on:  in other words, ITAK sees the Sinhalese as a different nationality, i.e. inhabitants of a different nation, as opposed to say, a different ethnic or linguistic group inhabiting the same nation.

So, the two questions that the separatists should be asked, whenever they say they have given up separatism and are willing to sign affidavits or go to any other lengths to prove their sincerity is, one, will they sign an affidavit renouncing the right to self determination?  And two, do they consider that Sri Lanka is composed of two nations, one Tamil and the other Sinhala, or one nation comprising different ethnic and linguistic groups, each with equal rights to the entire territory of the country?

In my view, the separatists will sign a thousand affidavits, or any other device, pledging that that they will never separate, because they know that once the separation in fact occurs, no court in ‘Sri Lanka’ will have jurisdiction over them.  So they can never be held accountable.

On the other hand, if they sign an affidavit renouncing the right to self-determination, or admitting that they consider themselves one among a number of ethnic and linguistic groups with rights in this country, they can’t invoke self-determination before the international community, and get the latter to accept it, which is really what they are after.

So, as soon as the motion to convert Parliament to a Constitution Assembly or some such thing is put on the 9^th, what the Opposition should do is, among other things, immediately ask the Tamils to answer the above two questions, and say that unless clear answers are give to both questions, absolutely no discussions on purported solutions to the ‘national issue’ will be pursued.

Dharshan Weerasekera is an Attorney-at-Law.  He is the author of two books:  The UN’s Relentless Pursuit of Sri Lanka (2013), and, The UN’s Subversion of International Law:  The Sri Lanka Story (2015)

R Chandrasoma

Let us begin with a few words about Hysteria. This a conditon of trance or transient behavioural aberration induced by powerful external stimuli such as a deep rhythmic drumbeat with plaintive or emotional singing to a large and frenzied audience. Under these circumstance some young wome lose all sense f propriety and behave in emotionally uncontrolled ways. Dancing, writhing the body and throwing off personal clothing is characteristinc of this hysterical state. Indeed, ‘’bali’ and ‘thovil ‘ ceremonies in Sri Lanka use this technique of deep rhythmic drumming and vigorous dance to induce hysterical state referred by the natives as ‘Avesa kereema’ In mediveal Europe a Dance called the ‘Tarantelle’ was used to shake off hysterical states in young women. These are preliminaries  – Let us get to the main point.  At  concert recently held in Colombo the deep rhythms and plaintive and movingly emotional singing induced a hysterical state in some unfortunate young women that led to the public discarding of clothing and bizzare behaviour that outraged the moralists who were not part of the audience and missed the causative context.

The affair w9ould have passed unnoticed but for the fact that the Presient of Sri Lanka – no less – saw this saga of the disorderly young women as  sybmbolic of the moral decay that has our Buddhist country in its thrall. While this proposition may or may not be true, it is sad to fing the President rushing to conclusions on the moral state of our nation based on a false reading of the supposedly incriminating data. The womwn concerned was possessed and acted in a manner that caused offence to arm-chair moralists but few others.. No moral rule was broken as she had lost possession of her senses and acted as a hyperexcited automaton. That this piffling incident was made the occasion for the moral condemnation of a nation by its anointed leader must astonish all good citizens of trhis country. A President must – first and foremost  -understand and heal. To act according to the drum-beat of an imagined moral order is mere pandering to popular sentiment.

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy Island

December 30, 2015, 8:05 am

Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative (PR) to the UN, Dr. Rohan Perera, PC, in conversation with Hungarian PR, Katalin Bogyay (Left) and UNSG Ban Ki-moon’s Special Advisor on Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar (Right), formerly of the Indian Foreign Service.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

A commemorative, event held at Sri Lanka’s Permanent Mission, in New York, on Dec 14, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the then Ceylon’s entry into the United Nations, was reminded of sometimes strained relations between Sri Lanka and the global body with special emphasis on the situation, during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidency.

Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative, in New York, Dr. Amrith Rohan Perera, PC told the gathering: “As in other relationships, the relationship between Sri Lanka and the United Nations has, at times, undergone stresses and strains. This was particularly so during the conflict and in its immediate aftermath.”

Sri Lanka was among over a dozen countries admitted to the UN, on Dec 14, 1955.

Dr. Perera, who had served the Foreign Ministry for over 30 years, initially as assistant Legal Advisor and, thereafter, as a legal advisor, expressed the belief Sri Lanka could restore its relationship with the UN in the wake of the change of government in Sri Lanka. Let me reproduce verbatim what Dr. Perera said before discussing the UN role, during the conflict. Dr. Perera said: “With the assumption of office of the new administration, however, Sri Lanka is committed, once again, to building bridges and engaging positively with all Member States and the United Nation. We are committed to the ideal of decency and mutual respect in dealing among nations, to the protection and promotion of human rights and preserving the dignity of all people, irrespective of race, gender, colour or creed.”

Later in the day, Ambassador Perera joined a luncheon, jointly hosted by the Permanent Representatives of 16 countries, including the then Ceylon, in honour of UNSG Ban Ki-moon. Among those present, on the occasion, was UNSG’s Special Advisor on Myanmar Vijay Nambiar. Formerly of the Indian foreign service, Vijay had served in Pakistan and China as New Delhi’s top diplomat and was involved in Sri Lanka during his UN career. Vijay’s brother, retired Lt. Gen. Satish Nambiar, too, had been involved in Sri Lanka during the Norwegian-arranged negotiations meant to end terrorism in Sri Lanka.

Report of the UNSG’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka made two major recommendations to the UN. Having accused both the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE of atrocities, during eelam war IV, the report, released on March 31, 2011, recommended that the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) review a resolution on Sri Lanka, adopted at a Special Session, in May 2009. Obviously, the UN panel felt the May 2009 resolution is an impediment as it favoured Sri Lanka. The panelists, namely Marzuki Darusman, Steven R. Ratner and Yasmin Sooka also recommended a comprehensive review of UN operations during the war and post-war Sri Lanka. The panel asserted that such a study could help the UN system in the implementation of humanitarian and protection mandates.

Even over six years, after the conclusion of the war and with the eradication of the terrorist leadership, the UN nor Sri Lanka, hadn’t examined the role of the UN, or various UN agencies, active here, during the war.

War-Winning President Mahinda Rajapaksa never felt the requirement to undertake a thorough investigation. The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) lacked the required mandate to conduct a proper investigation though the previous government depicted it as the panacea for post-war issues. Dr. Amrith Rohan Perera, too, had been a member of the LLRC, along with respected career diplomat, H.M.G.S. Palihakkara, the present Governor of the Northern Province. For want of a better mechanism, to comprehensively investigate the 30-year war, the previous government ended up being portrayed as the one to cause deterioration of relations with Western powers, as well as the UN.

The External Affairs Ministry failed badly to address contentious issues. Had it being not for China and Pakistan, the situation, at successive Geneva sessions, would have been far worse. Instead of taking remedial measures on its own, the idiotic previous government hired expensive foreign PR firms, at the taxpayers’, expense to win over the US. Although a section of the media, including the writer, raised the issue during the Rajapaksa regime, the administration continued with the operation, until the very end.

Ambassador Perera, during his Dec 14 address, also referred to Sri Lanka’s close engagement with Peace Building Support Office of the UN. Although, the Foreign Ministry, as well as Sri Lanka’s Permanent Mission, in New York, released Ambassador Perera’s statement, it didn’t receive the coverage it deserved in the Sri Lankan press. The Ambassador asserted that Sri Lanka could receive financial assistance from the UN Peace Building Fund. “We are looking forward for closer engagement in this area, and for wider support, including from Peace Building Commission Member States.”

The undeniable truth is that Sri Lanka, or the UN, couldn’t have even contemplated a role for the Peace Building Support Office, if the LTTE leadership survived the war. The LTTE, as well as all those who had blindly backed its strategy, including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), never seriously believed in a negotiated settlement. Those who had faith in the LTTE prowess believed eelam could be achieved through conventional military means. In fact, they believed, as late as Dec. 2008, the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) could be encircled and annihilated on the Vanni east front. Their assessment was that such a devastating debacle could result in the collapse of the fighting divisions. They envisaged a situation similar to that of the Vanni debacle, in the run-up to the Dec. 1999 presidential polls. In the wake of impressive battlefield gains in the Vanni, the LTTE almost succeeded in assassinating the then President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga at her final propaganda rally, in Colombo. Having crushed the SLA in Vanni, the LTTE inflicted the gravest single defeat on the SLA, in April, 2002. Nothing could have humiliated the SLA as bad as the decision to abandon the strategic Elephant Pass base, headquarters to the 54 Division.

The UN did nothing to help Sri Lanka, during the 1999-2000 crisis. The Kumaratunga government faced defeat in Jaffna. Did UN, any Western country, or India, offer military assistance to Sri Lanka? Did they at least put pressure on LTTE offices, particularly the London-based LTTE Secretariat, to call off the offensive. In fact, the LTTE announced the seizure of Elephant Pass from what it called its London-based International Secretariat. Knowing the SLA was on the brink of being defeated, in the Jaffna peninsula, once and for all, the international media gathered in Colombo. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Sri Lankans had conveniently forgotten the crisis the country faced during those years. The UN system pathetically failed in Sri Lanka. It wouldn’t be unfair to assert that the UN abandoned Sri Lanka in the early 80s, thereby leaving India to terrorize the small neighbour to her heart’s content. The UN ignored Sri Lanka’s plight as the then government struggled to counter Indian trained terrorist groups. The UN turned a blind eye to India providing weapons training to Sri Lankan terrorists, on her soil, as well as millions of rupees worth arms, ammunition and equipment. The global body took no notice of some Indian trained terrorist groups securing the support of armed Palestinian faction.

No less a person than former Indian Foreign Secretary, J.N. Dixit, in his memoirs ‘Makers of India’s Foreign Policy: Raja Ram Mohun Roy to Yashwant Sinha’, launched, in 2004, admitted the destabilization project undertaken under Indira Gandhi’s leadership.

Having caused terrorism in Sri Lanka, India thwarted Sri Lanka’s attempt to eradicate the LTTE, in 1987. Had India allowed Sri Lanka to bring ‘Operation Liberation’ to a successful conclusion during 1987, thousands of lives, including those of Indian servicemen, could have been saved. Instead, India had her way here while the UN looked the other way. The UN inaction caused massive destruction in Sri Lanka. India, too, paid a heavy price for its despicable terrorism project. Even after the high profile LTTE assassination of one-time Indian PM and Congress leader, Rajiv Gandhi, in May 1991, the UN didn’t resort to tough measures to curb the LTTE. In fact, the UN didn’t even take notice of the growing danger posed by the LTTE and the possibility of others following the strategies of Sri Lankan terrorists.

A thorough appraisal of the UN system, and the conduct of those who had been in charge of the UN mission, since the early 80s, is necessary to identify a string of failures on their part over the past three decades.

It would be interesting to examine the UN response to Indian-trained Sri Lankan terrorists making an attempt to assassinate Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom during the first week of Nov. 1988. Sea borne terrorists, belonging to the People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) stormed Male, at the behest of Colombo-based Maldivian businessman, Abdullah Luthufi. The international community ignored the fact that those who had been involved in the raid were members of the PLOTE, fully sponsored by India. Instead of being criticized, New Delhi received glowing international approval for intervening in Male to thwart the PLOTE operation. The then US President, Ronald Reagan, strongly endorsed Indian action, calling it “a valuable contribution to regional stability”. The then British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, according to the Wikipedia, reportedly commented, ‘”Thank God for India: President Gayoom’s government has been saved”.

Today, the PLOTE is a constituent member of the Tamil National Alliance which recognized the LTTE as the sole representative of the Tamil-speaking people.

There had never been an attempt to examine the failures on the part of the UN to stop India from exporting terrorism in the case of Sri Lanka and spreading of terrorism. Obviously, the UN never felt the need to take tangible measures to eradicate terrorism in Sri Lanka. Instead, the UN thrived on Sri Lanka’s misery. The UN, or its agencies, active here, never wanted to take punitive action against the LTTE even after its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran violated an agreement meant to stop the use of children in combat operations. Had the UN taken meaningful measures to ensure the implementation of the agreement, the war wouldn’t have lasted so long. The agreement involved the LTTE and the UN. There had never been a similar agreement during the conflict here. Interestingly, none of those demanding accountability, on the part of the government of Sri Lanka, never even bothered to push for the implementation of the unprecedented agreement, finalized by the then UNSG Kofi Atta Annan’s Special Representative, Olara Otunnu, in early May, 1998 (UN, LTTE to discuss modalities with strap line Pledge to stop using children in combat-The Island, May 11, 1998). Otunnu visited the Vanni, with the blessings of the then Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, to discuss the arrangement with British citizen, of Sri Lankan origin, Anton Balasingham, and Thamilselvam. At the conclusion of Otunnu’s week long visit, the UN mission, in Colombo, proudly declared that political advisor Balasingham, and Political Wing leader, Thamilselvam, had, on behalf of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, assured an immediate stop to using children in combat operations. A jubilant Otunnu declared, in Vavuniya, that the LTTE had agreed for the setting up of a mechanism to monitor commitments made to the UN. (Tigers agree to end use of children below 18 in combat-The Island, May 9, 1998) Having succeeded Boutros Boutros Ghali, in 1997, Annan intervened in Sri Lanka though his predecessor did absolutely nothing to end bloodshed in Sri Lanka. However, at the time of the disastrous Indian intervention here, Pérez de Cuéllar had been at the helm at the UN. Unfortunately, Annan failed to implement the agreement. Foreign Minister Kadirgamar quite rightly urged the LTTE to adhere to the agreement. A skeptical Kadirgamar told the writer that it was the UN’s responsibility to ensure the implementation of the agreement. Kadirgamar asserted that it was nothing but propaganda as the LTTE couldn’t sustain its war effort without fresh cadres joining depleted fighting formations (Transform commitments into action, Government urges LTTE-The Island, May 9, 1998). Otunnu had been the first foreign official to hold talks with the LTTE, with Sri Lanka’s blessings, since the Gandhi assassination, in May, 1991. Perhaps, the LTTE used the UN to boost its image in the wake of the US designating the group, in the previous year, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

Salient points of the UN-LTTE agreement

=The LTTE promised to immediately stop deployment of children, under 18 years of age. The group also promised to end the recruitment of children, below the age of 17 years.

=The LTTE assured not to interfere with those war displaced families wanting to return to areas under government control. In addition, the LTTE promised to allow Muslims, driven out by them, in late 1990, to return to their villages. (The LTTE at gunpoint ordered the entire Muslim population to vacate the Northern Province in late Oct/Nov 1990).

=The UN also received an assurance from the LTTE that it wouldn’t interfere with the distribution of relief supplies among the war affected population, particularly those living in areas under its control.

=The LTTE pledged to adhere with the Convention of the Rights of the Child. The group promised to take measures to educate its fighting cadres, as well as other units as regards the Convention.

=The LTTE assured that it would review its military strategies as regards operations directed at civilians and other non-military targets.

The UN never acknowledged its failure to ensure the implementation of any of the commitments made by the LTTE. In fact, the LTTE continued to violate promises made to the UN until the military eradicated the conventional fighting capability of the group, in May, 2009. The LTTE lasted for 11 more years after having taken the UN for a ride. Wouldn’t it be appropriate to launch a thorough study on the war.

With the government expected to finalize a judicial mechanism, to investigate atrocities committed by both parties to the conflict, before March 2015, it would be pertinent to examine the events leading to Indian intervention here, in the early 80s, deployment of the Indian Army, in July, 1987, India-LTTE war (Oct 1987-Nov 1989), assassination of Gandhi (May 1991), UN-LTTE agreement (May 1998), Norwegian Ceasefire Agreement (Feb 2002), three-year military campaign against the LTTE (Aug 2006 to May 2009) and post-war handling of the disarmed LTTE fighting cadre.

The relationship between the LTTE and Tamil political parties, particularly the murderous pact between the LTTE-TNA, should be investigated. Similarly, the alleged LTTE-UPFA agreement leading to the LTTE engineering Ranil Wickremesinghe’s defeat at the Nov. 2005 presidential poll, too, should be probed.

In spite of bringing the war to a successful conclusion, the previous government lacked foresight to conduct a proper evaluation of the events. The previous government could have used Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKIIRSS) for the country’s benefit. It could have launched a proper study on the conflict. LKIIRSS neglected its duty. The then External Affairs Ministry, and the war winning Army, never made an attempt, at least to simply gather/record events in a systematic way. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa couldn’t absolve himself of responsibility for failing to conduct a comprehensive post-war study. The former President deceived himself by propagating the LLRC as panacea for all Sri Lanka’s problems. The war-winning President paid a huge price for not taking tangible measures to counter the massive propaganda campaign, directed at Sri Lanka, soon after he brought the war to an end.

To be continued on January 6

ධර්මන් වික‍්‍රමරත්න

අද එනම් 2016 ජනවාරි 1වැනිදා උදාවූ නව වසර යනු නව ලිත් වර්ෂයක් ඇරඹීම සනිටුහන් කරන දිනයකි. නව වසර රෝමානු දිනදසුන අනුගමනය කරමින් ලොව පුරා සමරනු ලැබේ. ලුටාච් සහ මක්‍රොබියස්ට අනුව ක්‍රිපූ 700දී පමණ පොම්පිලියස් රජුගේ කාලයේ සිට රෝමානු දින දසුනේ මාස පිළිවෙල ජනවාරි සිට දෙසැම්බර් දක්වා විය. මෙවර ජනවාරි 1 වැනිදා සූර්ය උදාව සිදුවූයේ 6.22ටය.

සිංහල සහ හින්දු අලුත් අවුරුද්ද සමරන්නේ දින 365කින් පසු මීන රාශියේ ගමන කෙලවර කරන සූර්යයා මේෂ රාශියට හෙවත් තම නිජබිමට සැපැත්වන සුභ මොහොත සමරමිනි. මහ කන්නය අවසානයේ බක් හෙවත් අප්‍රේල් මස සිංහලේ අලුත් අවුරුද්ද උදාවන විට අතු අග මල් පිපී ඵලබර වී අටුකොටු පිරී තිබේ. කොහාගේ කන්නළු ගී නාදයද කුරුළු කොබෙයියන්ගේ කිචිබිචියද සමඟින් එරබදු මල් පිපේ. එහිදී අවුරුදු චාරිත්‍ර පැවැත්වීමෙන් සංකේතවත් වන්නේ නව නිෂ්පාදන වර්ෂයක සෞභග්‍ය කැන්දවීමේ ආරම්භයයි. කන්නෙට, කයියට, අත්තමට වැඩකල සාමූහිකව ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ කෘෂිකාර්මික සමාජයකට අවශ්‍ය ජනමූල සහජීවනය මෙන්ම කලට වේලාවට නියමිත නැකතට වැඩ ආරම්භකර හිරුගෙන් මෙන්ම සදුගෙන් වැඩගත් සිංහලේ ජීවන රටාවේ හර පද්ධතිය මෙමගින් ශක්තිමත් විය.

ගෙවීගිය 2015 වසරේ ජනප්‍රියතම වචන සෙට් එකවූ ‘යහපාලනය’, ‘වෙනස’, ‘හොරු ඇල්ලීම’ සහ ‘ඇවන්ගාඩ්’  පරදවමින් ‘බ්‍රා’ අවසානයේ කිරුළ දැරීය. එයට හේතුව වූයේ ලතින් පොප් සංගීතයේ රජු ලෙස කිරුළු පැළඳ සිටින ස්පාඤ්ඤ ජාතික 40 හැවිරිදි එන්රිකේගේ මිගුවෙල් ඉග්ලේෂියස් ප්‍රෙයිස්ලර් 2015 දෙසැම්බර් 20 කොළඹ සී.ආර් සහ එෆ්.සී ක්‍රීඩා පරිශ්‍රයේදී පවත්වන ලද ‘සෙක්ස් ඇන්ඩ් ලව්’ සංගීත ප්‍රසංගය අල්ල පනල්ලේ කාන්තාවක් සිය තනපටය නොහොත් ‘බ්‍රා’ එක ගලවා එන්රිකේ වෙතට වීසිකිරීමෙන් නොව එයට එරෙහිව ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මඩු වලිගයෙන් තැලීමේ ‘ඓතිහාසික’ ප්‍රහාරය එල්ල කිරීමත් සමඟය. මේ වනවිට ඇතැම් ටොයියෝ සහ බයියෝ දකින ලොකුම ප්‍රශ්නයද ‘බ්‍රා’ය. මේ ‘බ්‍රා’ එක ගායකයාට ‘පුද’ කළේ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ආණ්ඩුව කාලයේනම් එයට නාමල් හෝ යෝෂිත රාජපක්ෂ සම්බන්ධ බවට අරුම පුදුම කතා කියන ආණ්ඩුවේ මුරකාරයා බවට වර්තමානයේ පත්වී සිටින ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ කියනු නිසැකය.

මෙම ලිපියට අදාළ ඡායාරූපය දැක්වෙන්නේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජාතික පුවත්පතක 2001 මාර්තු 25වැනිදා පලවූ දැන්වීමකි. ආයෝජන මණ්ඩලයේ පන්නල පිහිටි එම කම්හලේ නිෂ්පාදනය කරන තනපට සඳහා මෝස්තරකරුවන් අවශ්‍ය බවට එහි සඳහන් කර තිබිණි. යුරෝපා වෙළෙඳ පොල සඳහා එම කම්හල නිෂ්පාදනය කරන ‘බ්‍රා’ වැනි යට ඇදුම් අළෙවි කරනුයේ ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් 100කට අධික මිල ගණනකිනි. එදා කෝබ්‍රා සහ සීබ්‍රා ගැන ලියූවද මෙදා ලියන්නට සිදුවී ඇත්තේ ‘බ්‍රා’ ගැනය.

‘බ්‍රා’ යනු පරෙවි සන්දේශයේ කියවෙන පරිදි පිරිපුන් පියවුරු එකට බැඳ තිබූ රන් පටියටය. කොළඹ යුගයේ කවීන් හැඳින්වූ තිසර පට වලටය. ගමේ කතුන් කියන බ්‍රැසියර් එකය. ව්‍යවහාරයේ කියන්නේ තනපටය. නූතන පරපුර එය බෞතිස්ම කර ඇත්තේ ‘බ්‍රා’ එක නමිනි. මේවා කප් සහිත, කප් රහිත, හාෆ් කප්, පැඩඩ් දමා ඇති, පැඩඩ් දමා නැති, යටි පටි ඇති, උඩ පටි ඇති හෝ පටි නැතිව ඉරිදා පොළේ සිට තරු පන්තියේ සාප්පු සංකීර්ණ දක්වා විකිණීමට ඇත.  දෙවුර මතින් දිවයන සිහින් පටියෙන් දිස්වන පරිදි සුදු, කළු, රතු, රෝස ආදී ෂඩ් වර්ණයෙන් නෙත් පිනවන්න මෙවලමකි. මාර්ටින් වික්‍රමසිංහ සූරින් කළුනික ග්‍රන්ථයේ කියන පරිදි මුව පියුම බලන රන් හසුන් මෙන් උඩබලා සිටින පියයුරු සඳහා අවැසි ස්ත්‍රී පක්ෂය උඩු කයට අදින යටි ඇදුමකි.

නිරුවත කිසිවෙකුට ඇලජික් විය යුතු නැත. සිංහල සිනමාවේ ප්‍රථමයෙන්ම අඩ නිරුවත් දසුනක් තිබුණේ හංස ගීතයේය. එහෙත් නිරුවත තේරුමක් ඇතිව කථා කළේ වසන්ත ඔබේසේකරගේ පළගැටියෝ චිත්‍රපටිය තුළිනි. එහි ධර්මසිරි බණ්ඩාරනායක, දම්මි ෆොන්සේකා, රන්ජන් මෙන්ඩිස්ද රඟපෑවෝය. ඉන් පසුව බැද්දේගම, බඹරු ඇවිත්, මලට නොඑන බඹරු, සිරිබෝ අයියා වැනි චිත්‍රපටිවල ලිංගික දර්ශන ඇතුළත් විය. බඹරු ඇවිත් චිත්‍රපටිය අවසානයේදී විජය කුමාරතුංග, අමරසිරි කලන්සූරිය, කොස්තා උපන් ඇදුමින් වැල්ලේ දුවන දර්ශනයක්ද ඇත. වසන්ත ඔබේසේකරගේ දඩයම චිත්‍රපටියේ රන්මලී(ස්වර්ණා මල්ලවආරච්චි) ගැබ් ගන්නේ පාසැල් යන කාලයේදීය. රන්මලී පාසැල් නිල ඇදුම ඇද තමන්ගේ ඉනපටිය අදිද්දී එය තදවී ඇති ආකාරයෙන් ඇය ගැබ් ගෙන ඇති බව ප්‍රේක්ෂකයින්ට ගම්‍ය විය. අශෝක හඳගම සිය තනි තටුවෙන් පියාඹන්න චිත්‍රපටියේදී ප්‍රධාන නිළියවූ අනෝමා ජනාදරී උපන් ඇදුමින්ම කැමරාව ඉදිරියේ තැබුවේය. නිරුවත තිබුනද මේවා ‘වල්’ චිත්‍රපටි නොවේ. කලාත්මක සිනමා නිර්මාණයන්ය.

දේශපාලන කටයුතු වලටද අමුඩය යොදා ගැනීම ඇරඹුවේ කලකට පෙරය. ඉදිරිපස සෙට් එක සහ අධෝ මුඛය වසාගෙන එම විරෝධය පාර්ලිමේන්තුව දොරකඩටද ගෙන ආවේ ගාල්ල මන්ත්‍රී ආචාර්ය විජයානන්ද දහනායක 60 දශකයේදීය. ඒ රෙදිපිළි මිල ඉහළ දැමීමට එරෙහිව බක්කි කරත්තයකින් පැමිණීමෙනි. එයටද පෙර බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය යටත් විජිත සමයේ කවට කථිකයා පුවත්පතේ කර්තෘ පෑලිස් අප්පුහාමිට දඬුවම් විදීමට සිදුවූයේ රජ පවුල අමුඩයට වැටී ඇතැයි උද්වේගකර ලිපියක් ලිවීමෙනි. කැරළි දෙකක් ගසා විමුක්ති අරගලයකින් බලය ලබාගැනීමට තැත්කල ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ මගින් ගොවීන්ට අමුඩ ගසා අමුඩ විප්ලවය රජගෙදර අසළට ගෙන ගියේ ඊයේ පෙරේදාය. ද්වි වාර්ෂිකව රඟදක්වන මෙම අමුඩ විප්ලවය ප්‍රථම වරට ජවිපෙ මගින් කරලියට නැගුවේ 2013 දෙසැම්බර් 1දාය.

එජාප ආණ්ඩුවට ලාංකීය සංස්කෘතිය පිළිබදව ඇම්මක් හෝ ගැම්මක් නැත. විවෘත ආර්ථිකය හදුන්වාදුන් 1977න් පසු දේශීයත්වය උඩු යටිකුරු කළේය. එජාප ආණ්ඩුවේ ජනාධිපති ජේ.ආර්. ජයවර්ධන 1980 මාතර පැවති ප්‍රසිද්ධ උත්සවයකදී අසා සිටියේ ‘සාහිත්‍යය කන්නද?’ කියාය. සිංහල සංස්කෘතියේ පිරිහීමට හේතුව විවෘත ආර්ථිකය බවට මහාචාර්ය එදිරිවීර සරචන්ද්‍ර 1982 ජුලි 21වැනිදා බෞද්ධාලෝක මාවතේ සමස්ථ ලංකා බෞද්ධ සම්මේලන ශාලාවේ පැවති සම්මන්ත්‍රණයේදී සහභාගිවූ 2000ක් ඉදිරිපිට දේශනයක් පවත්වමින් සිටියදී එජාප මැරයෝ “අඩෝ සරච්චන්ද්‍රයා බිමට බැහැපිය කියා” වේදිකාවට පැන සරච්චන්ද්‍රට පහරදී බිමදමා ඔහුගේ මුහුණට සහ පපුවට පයින් ගසමින් දෙපයින් අල්ලා එලියට ඇදගෙන ගොස් කානුවට ඇද දැමූ අතර එය බේරීමට ආ මාදුළුවාවේ සෝභිත හිමියන්ටද පහර දුන්නේය. ඒ දේශීය සංස්කෘතියට ඇති එජාපයේ ආලයේ තරමය.

ඒ එදාය. පසුව 2002 බලයට පත්වූ එජාප ආණ්ඩුව වසර 2ක් ‘යළි පිබිදෙමු’ අධිරාජ්‍ය ගැති වැඩපිලිවෙල යටතේ රට පාලනය කළේ ඕයේ ඔජායේ සංස්කෘතිය යටතේය. රූපවාහිනියේ ප්‍රවෘත්ති නිවේදිකාවන්ට සාරිය වෙනුවට කකුල පෙනෙන සේ කොට සායවල් ඇන්දුවේය. බුලත් වෙනුවට චුයිංගම් ආදේශ කිරීමට තැත් කළේය. සතොස සල්ලි කෝටි ගණන් වැය කරමින් 2002 දෙසැම්බර් 14වැනිදා ප්‍රේමදාස ක්‍රීඩා සංකීර්ණයේ ‘යූබී 40’ විදේශ සංගීත කණ්ඩායම ගෙන්වා ජෝගියක් දැම්මේය.  එමෙන්ම පාර්ලිමේන්තු ක්‍රීඩා පිටියේ ස්ථීර යකඩ වැටක් ඉදිකර එහි වියදම සතොසට දමා විදේශ ගායක කණ්ඩායමක් ගෙන්වා උඩු පිනුම් යටි පිනුම් ගැසුවෝය. පසුව එම වැට ගලවා දැම්මේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ඉදිකල කීර්තිමත් ගෘහ නිර්මාණ ශිල්පී ජෙෆ්රි බවාගේ නිර්දේශයක් අනුව 2002දීය. ඉන්දියාවේ ෂාරුක් ඛාන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ගෙන්වාගෙන 2004 මුලදී ‘ටෙම්ප්ටේෂන් 2004’ මැයින් බොලිවුඩ් සංගීත ප්‍රසංගයක් කොළඹදී පැවැත්වීමට පිඹුරුපත් සැකසුවේය. එහෙත් එජාප රජය 2004 අප්‍රේල් 2වැනිදා මහ මැතිවරණයේදී පරාජයට පත්විය. ෂාරුක් ඛාන්ගේ ප්‍රසංගය ඒ අනුව පැවතුනේ ගංගොඩවිල සෝම හිමිගේ අපවත්විම සිදුවී වාර්ෂික පිංකම් පැවති වකවානුවවූ 2004 දෙසැම්බර් 13වැනිදා කොළඹ රේස්කෝස් පිටියේදිය. හෙළ උරුමයේ අතුරලියේ රතන මන්ත්‍රී හාමුදුරුවෝද කැත්තට පොල්ල මෙන් සිටි එම ප්‍රසංගයට එරෙහි විරෝධතාවලදී දෙදෙනෙක් මරමුවට පත්වී 19කට තුවාල සිදුවිය. 

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජේෂ්ඨතම මාධ්‍යවේදියෙකු වන එස් පියසේනයන් 2001දී ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කල අන්ධානුකරණයෙන් විනාශයට ග්‍රන්ථයේ සඳහන් වන්නේ වසර 2500ක අභිමානවත් ඉතිහාසයකට ලාංකීය ජාතිය හිමිකරුවන් වුවද ලිඛිත ඉතිහාසය  රැදී ඇත්තේ එයට සියවස් ගණනකට පසු ධාතුසේන යුගයේ සිටය. හිරු දැකීමට දෑස් තිබිය යුතු සේම යථාර්තය දැකීමට නුවණ තිබිය යුතුය. ‍ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේනගේ කථාවට සැමට කික් එකක්වූවාට සැක නැත. එහෙත් සංස්කෘතිය කබාසිනියා කල එජාප ආණ්ඩුවකට එරෙහිව ජනාධිපති සිරිසේනට කල හැක්කේ කුමක්දැයි කථාවට පමණක් සීමානොවී ක්‍රියාවෙන් ඔප්පුකල යුතුය.

පොප් ගායක එරිකේගේ ප්‍රසංගය සංවිධානය කල සමාගමේ අයිතිකරුවන් වන්නේ හිටපු ටෙස්ට් ක්‍රිකට් නායකයින් වන මහේල ජයවර්ධන සහ කුමාර සංගක්කාරය. අවසානයේදී මඩු වලිගයෙන් තලන්නට සිදුවන්නේ ඔවුන්ටය. ‘යහපාලන’ රජය බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය තානාපති කමට කලකට ඉහත යෝජනා කළේද මේ වාහේලාය.  මෙම ප්‍රසංගයේදී රුපියල් 50,000, 30,000ට වැනි ටිකට්වලට විස්කි, අරක්කු, බියර් වැනි බීම වර්ගද ලබාදී ඇති බවද ජනාධිපති වැඩිදුරටත් හෙළි කළේය. ජාතික විෂ මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය නිවාරණ මණ්ඩලයේ සන්නාම තානාපති ලෙස 2015 අගෝස්තු 19වැනිදා ජනාධිපති මන්දිරයේදී රජය කිරුළු පැලදුවේද කුමාර සංගක්කාර වෙතය. අනේ කාලේ වනේ වාසේ කියන්නේ මේවාටය. එම ප්‍රසංගයෙන් කොළඹ නගර සභාවට තබන ලද නොගෙවන ලද බදු පොල්ල රුපියල් කෝටි 3කි.

තනපටිය ගලවා දුන් තරුණිය සංකේතාත්මකව පෙන්වා දී ඇත්තේ ‘යහපාලනය’ යටතේ ජයග්‍රහණය කළේ එදා 2002දී හදුන්වාදුන් යළි පුබුදමු ව්‍යාපෘතියේම පිටපතක් බවය. 2015 ජනවාරි 8 ‘විප්ලවයට’ සහායවූ උපුල් සන්නස්ගලලා ප්‍රභාකරන්ගේ ශුක්‍රාණු සොයමින් නන්දිකඩාල් කලපුවේ පිනුවේය. ශ්‍රී මහා බෝධිය අසළ බෝගස යට සිට ‘රත්වීමට’ ඩබ්ලිව් ජයසිරිලා සිහින මැව්වෝය. කැබරේ ඩාන්ස් වලට හුරේදමා සින්දු කියන සුනිල් පෙරේරලාද එයට හූමිටි තැබුවෝය. වෙනස මාරය. පුරවැසි බලය දැන් බුරනවැසි බලය බවට පත්වෙමින් ඇත. අළුත් පරපුර සමනලයා ගෙන් දළඹුවා බවට රිවස් ගියරයේය. වාර්ෂික අයවැයෙන් අධ්‍යාපනයට සියයට 6ක් ඉල්ලා නිර්මාල් රංජිත්ලා කල අරගලය දැන් රුපියල් දෙකේ කාසියට වැටී ඇත. ආචාර්ය බාහුට නම් කඩේ ගියාට පාඩු නැත. ඔහුට විශ්‍රාම සුවයෙන් ගතකිරීමට දැන් විශ්‍රාම වැටුපක්  ලබාදීම නම් පින් අතේ වැඩකි. වෙබ් අඩවිවල පිනුම් ගැසූ සිරා, රසිකයා, කුරුටු, බස්සිලාගේ කමෙන්ට්ස්ද හිරු දුටු පිනි සේ වියැකී ගොස්ය.

කැරට් කිලෝව රුපියල් 400කි. ලීක්ස් සහ ගෝවා කිලෝව රුපියල් 380කි. අමුමිරිස් ග්‍රෑම් සීයය රුපියල් 140කි. පලා මිටිය රුපියල් 50කි. දෙල් ගෙඩියක් රුපියල් 150කි. ජීවන වියදම නහුතෙටම නැගලාය. රණවිරුවන් දඩුකඳ අභියසය. වී අළෙවි මණ්ඩලයට වී අළෙවි කිරීමට ගමේ බණ්ඩයියා අන්තර්ජාලයෙන් ඉංග්‍රීසි මාධ්‍යය ඔස්සේ ලියාපදිංචිවීමට ගම වටේ බඩගායි. වෙනස මාරය. ගොවිතැන හමාරය. රාජ්‍ය සේවයට 2016 ජනවාරි 1න් පසුව එක්වන අයට විශ්‍රාම වැටුප හබක්ය. සිංහලට දෙබස් කැවූ විදේශීය ටෙලි නාට්‍ය විකාශනයට ඇති බද්ද ඉවත් කිරීමෙන් ලාංකීය නළු නිලියන්ට බඩේ පහර වැදී ඇත. රැකියා විරහිත උපාධිධාරියෝ රැවටීමට එරෙහිව රටවටා අරගලයකය. විල්පත්තුවේ වන විනාශයකි. මහ බැංකුව හින්දවලාය. රාජ්‍ය සේවය පිණිසයි යන්න නව අර්ථකථනයට අනුව එය දැන් ගණිකා සේවයක් මෙනි.

මහ දවල් කළු ඩිෆෙන්ඩරයකින් පුද්ගලයෙකු දෙනෝදහක් ඉදිරිපිට බලහත්කාරයෙන් පැහැරගෙන ගොස් කැලෑ නිතියෙන් නඩු විසඳූ තැනැත්තිය තවමත් නිදැල්ලේ නිසා යහපාලනය නැමති සළුවෙන් පෙරවා තිබූ නීතිය නැමැති බිජුව දැන් බිඳවැටී ඇත. කොලොන්නාව කුණු කන්දට එරෙහිව සාමකාමී විරෝධතාවක නිරතවූ අයට නිහීන ප්‍රහාරයකි. ජාත්‍යන්තර මුහුදේ ධීවර මෙහෙයුම් කිරීමට 2016 ජනවාරි සිට ශ්‍රී ලංකික ධීවරයින්ට බලපත්‍රයක් අවශ්‍යය. එසේ ධීවර මෙහෙයුම් කරන ධීවර බහුදින යාත්‍රා 4.423න් බලපත්‍රය සදහා අවශ්‍ය ජී.පී.එස් තාක්ෂණය ඇත්තේ 1,500කට පමණය. ඉතිරි බහුදින යාත්‍රා ධීවරයෝ කබලෙන් ලිපටය. ඉන්දියානු ධීවරයින්ට කල්ල මරේය. මෙතරම් කෙටි කලකින් අප්‍රසාදයට පත්වූ රජයක් ලොවෙත් නැත. ලොවි ගසෙත් නැත.

අපට අපේ රට තරම් සොදුරු රටක් තවත් නැත. අපට පායන ඉර හඳ තරම් දීප්තිමත් ඉර හඳක් තවත් නැත. අපේ අහස තරම් නිල්වන් අහසක් තවත් නැත. අපේ පොළව තරම් සරුසාර පොළවත් තවත් නැත. අපේ නදී ඇළ දොළ ගංගා තරම් සිසිල දෙන ජල සම්පතක් තවත් නැත. මේ අපේ රත්තරන් රටය. රන් දිවයිනය. එහෙත් එහි සැබෑ ජනතා ප්‍රශ්න එමට ඇත. ජීවන වියදම්, රැකියා, අධ්‍යාපනය, සංවර්ධන ප්‍රශ්න පසෙක තබා ‘බ්‍රා’ එක ගැන පමණක් කථා කලාට අපේකම රැකෙන්නේ හෝ ප්‍රශ්න විසදෙන්නේ නැත. ජනතාවට දුක මේ සියළු ප්‍රශ්න ‘බ්‍රා’ එකෙන් වසාගැනීමට තැත්කරන ටිකිරි මොළ ගැනය. එළද ‘බ්‍රා’ කියන්නේ මේවාටය.

ධර්මන් වික්‍රමරත්න

ejournalists@gmail.com

– See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/101123/end-of-the-road-for-high-speed-internet-in-sri-lanka#sthash.SBtCMBdp.dpuf

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy Island

The Joint Opposition yesterday urged the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government to adhere to the specific constitutional provisions in amending the Constitution.

Former External Affairs Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris told The Island that though the Constitution had to be amended from time to time as circumstances required, it should be done in accordance with the law.

Prof. Peiris was answering our questions on behalf of the Joint Opposition. He pointed out that the Constitution prescribed in detail the procedure to be followed in that regard. “The procedure is very clearly spelt out in Chapter 12 of the Constitution.

The most important provision in this Chapter is Article 83,” Prof. Peiris said.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on behalf of the ruling coalition will move a resolution in parliament on Jan. 9 to pave the way for a new Constitution.

Prof. Peiris said that Article 83 identified 11 provisions which were required, in addition to a two-thirds majority and a referendum. Asked whether the Joint Opposition would throw its weight behind the high profile coalition government project, former Colombo District MP said that the grouping was taking a very clear stand on the issue. He stressed that there wouldn’t be any issue as long as the new administration followed the Constitutional directives pertaining to the amending of the Constitution.

Prof. Peiris said that the ambitious project could go awry in case the 11 provisions spelt out in Article 83 weren’t followed. The former Minister said: “These provisions are specifically entrenched in this manner because of the importance in terms of the nature as well as essential characteristics of the Sri Lankan State. They cannot be amended or repealed without a referendum. This is a mandatory requirement contained in the highest law of the land.”

Asked whether the Joint Opposition believed the government was planning to act contrary to Article 83, Prof. Peiris said that the resolution to be proposed by the PM, the text of which had been carried in a section of the media, very clearly contravened the mandatory requirement. Prof. Peiris said the government proposed through the resolution to place the entire text of the new Constitution before the people at a referendum. Obviously, the proposal didn’t meet current constitutional requirement at all, the Constitutional Affairs minister said.

Prof. Peiris alleged that an attempt was being made to confuse the electorate. The legal scholar said it wasn’t permissible under any circumstances to mix up the 11 entrenched provisions with 170 other provisions and to present a whole booklet to the people at a referendum. He emphasized that those provisions had been given special status to enable the people to consider them separately and decide whether they should be retained or abolished.

The Joint Opposition demanded that the government comply with what he called compulsory constitutional requirements in amending the Constitution. Prof. Peiris emphasized the pivotal importance of ensuring the legal validity to the constitution making process.

නලින් ද සිල්වා

Dr. Mareena Thaha Reffai,

Recently I moved into a house with a huge lawn. However I was  dismayed to find half of the lawn overgrown with weeds and it looked like I will have to re plant the buffalo grass. I asked  one veteran gardener to help me re-lay the lawn. When he  visited my lawn he gave me an amazing advice – just to remove the weed grass and to leave the few buffalo grass saplings that weres found underneath. Lo and behold! When I did just that, they grew fast and strong and I got a lovely full grown lawn without spending a cent! The weeds did not have strong roots so it was very easy to pluck them out unlike the good ones.

This set  me thinking. Isn’t it the same with life too? We had all the bad guys at the helm of our government and it looked like an impossible task to rectify the situation. But when the bad guys were removed the few good guys took over the yahaplanaya was born. The bad guys never had strong roots – they were easy to be removed.

However the story does not end there. When I neglect the lawn and let the weeds grow again – they do with a vengeance unless you remove them with roots – they overgrow the good lawn. The same with the bad politicos – until and unless they are rooted out lot, stock and barrel, they are sure to come again and mar the beauty of the new government.  This is exactly what is happening.

It is sad that we have got into the quagmire of JR’s bahubootha politics and seem to be  struggling with it having to look for numbers, parties and what not. Man made rules are meant to be remade. Constantly. There must be a way with the new President at the helm, this tight rope around the neck of the government and good governance to be removed.  If there is a will there will be a way. The good guys must figure out a way to keep the weeds at bay – for good.

Sent by:

Dr. Mareena Thaha Reffai,

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando

More than two million Sri Lankans live abroad, some are working in West Asian countries, others having obtained their permanent residence status.

Out of those permanently settled groups few have retained their Sri Lankan citizenship while the rest have renounced it for various reasons. In 1988, the Sri Lankan Government introduced the dual nationality option to those who had renounced their Sri Lankan citizenship. The dual nationality issue has metamorphosed since 1988 with the original fee of Rs 5,000 skyrocketing to Rs 100,000, Rs 250,000 and from 1 January 2016 to Rs 300,000 for new applicants.

Despite the excessive fee, the procedure is somewhat complex described in Form ‘S’ under Citizenship Act, No. 18 of 1948 [Chapter 349]. There are several categories under which one can apply: e.g. With documentary proof of assets worth Rs 2.5 million minimum, FD of US$ 25,000 (minimum for three years) or Treasury bonds valued at US$ 25,000 etc., plus a professional qualification (minimum one year diploma/degree from a recognized seat of learning). Email:

accit@immigration.gov.lk).

New Policy

 The new government policy is to invite Sri Lankan diaspora abroad to come back and contribute to the country’s forward march. Despite such encouragements, there is still a grey area concerning certain groups of offspring of Sri Lankans who were born abroad while the father held a foreign nationality at the time of the child’s birth.

Although provision was there to register the newly born at the appropriate Sri Lankan Missions abroad within one year of a new birth, to qualify the child as a Sri Lankan, the impediment affected those parents (especially fathers) who had relinquished their Sri Lankan nationality at the time of a child’s birth! All registered children were considered as Sri Lankans up to the age of 22 at the end of which they had the option of remaining as Sri Lankan, foreign or a dual national with the advent of dual nationality in Sri Lanka.

Being Born British

 The strong feelings of a young lady born to Sri Lankan parents (while her father was on a British passport) are rather poignant. This young female’s predicament was recently highlighted in the world wide web too as her desire to obtain dual nationality has created somewhat a disconnection to her parents’ motherland (Sri Lanka) and misplacement to her current land (England).

Referring to her early memories of her visits to Sri Lanka with parents she explains ‘although childhood memories are now hazy like a passing cloud’, yet when she grew up to the age of 16 her eyes began to really open when she started travelling and came to the conclusion that Sri Lanka could have been her home too, especially when she compared London to be a concrete jungle after seeing the beautiful green haven in Sri Lanka.

Paper definition

Defined by a piece of paper that says she is British, but feeling a connection to Sri Lanka she certainly is in a paradox. She becomes rather sentimental and does not seem to escape from the thoughts that if Sri Lanka is her parents’ roots, then should it not also be hers too? This she does by acknowledging the kind of freedom she enjoys in the UK simultaneously.

Describing her travels round the globe from the age of 21, with a broad sense of appreciation especially for nature, people, cultures and history and exploring the possibilities in a spirit as a tourist for what the English call it summer vacations, she says ‘there is still no other land that can quite captivate me more like beautiful Sri Lanka’.

On every occasion she visited Sri Lanka and the time spent had passed so fast leading her to psychologically ponder ‘what life would have been like’ or could be like’ if she were to have been born in Lanka or even simply allowed non-restricted visits?

 Despite so much of development in Sri Lanka from what she had seen, her situation seems to remain the same – frustrated and restricted always of having to travel as a tourist on a tourist’s visa! “What is thirty days to cover an endless fountain of beauty & reach all corners of the Island to visit various family members”? She poses the question and says, ‘of course the option is there to extend the visa but at a cost’!

“As I have grown and experienced Sri Lanka, more and more, I find myself connecting wider and broader each time as if I am unravelling a little piece of myself in the process. I simply cannot escape the thought that this could have been my place of paradise too, if not for a mere birth location and piece of official government paper that separates me from my parent’s home; technically she believes it should be hers too.

Her ambition is somehow to find a way to overcome the present obstacle and obtain her dual nationality to settle down in Sri Lanka in the near future. With spirited and patriotic feelings towards Sri Lanka she firmly believes it is Sri Lanka where she is destined to be!

She explains her prime obstacle in her own words viz:

“my father had taken British citizenship at the time of my birth in London. He was compelled by work to do so, and live within the Sri Lankan immigration regulations at the time which stipulated that all children born to Sri Lankan parents abroad must be registered at the Sri Lanka High Commission in London that resulted my father not being able to register my birth at the time“.

“However, now things have changed rapidly as Dual Nationality is open to anyone indiscriminately. With the latest Government regulations on dual nationality issue, I believe my situation too can shift towards a better tomorrow as my father has become native to Sri Lanka and enjoys the dual nationality for the last decade”!

“I am wondering as to how I should go about in tackling this issue that has plagued and restricted me from applying for Dual Nationality just because my name was not registered at the Sri Lanka High Commission at the time of my birth!

Is there any way I could be registered as a Sri Lankan now as both my parents were Sri Lankan by birth and now they are on dual nationality?

tilakfernando@gmail.com

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

In November  last year, Mr Sirisena betrayed his President while remaining as an obedient, loyal servant for several years. He almost removed all his clothes  and ran naked to opposition ranks to seek political refuge under UNP. Did he behave like a Theravada Buddhist? Did he behave like a respectable Grama Sevaka of Polonnaruwa, or as a Buffalo ( Ambaruwa or Meeharaka). He was talking about preserving the culture of Sri Lanka on an unexpected indecent incident in an Entertainment Program. If that lady should be flogged for the incident, then what punishment ought to be given to Maithreepala Sirisena for literally removing all his clothes?

Here is a list of Medieval Torture and Punishments.

• Medeival Inquisition
• Torture
• Execution Methods
• Ducking Stool
• Hung, Drawn and Quartered
• Balls Torture

(For full list and details of punishments, please refer to:http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info)

INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION:

We publish a series of news report headlines appearing in International media during last 48 hours.

FRANCE24.COM:

Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena Sunday said that organisers of a recent concert by pop star Enrique Iglesias in Colombo should be “whipped with toxic stingray tails” because it was “uncivilised.”

TIME.COM .US EDITION:

Sri Lanka’s President Says the Organizers of an Enrique Iglesias Show Need Whipping

BBC:

Sri Lanka’s president says the organisers of an Enrique Iglesias gig should bewhipped as punishment over the behaviour of some female fans.

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, AUSTRALIA:

Enrique Iglesias concert promoters should be whipped, says Sri Lankan president.

BANGKOK POST:

Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena Sunday said that organisers of a recent concert by pop star Enrique Iglesias in Colombo should be “whipped with toxic stingray tails” because it was “uncivilised.

PUNJAB TIMES.INDIA:

Organisers of Enrique concert should be whipped with stingray tails: Sri Lanka President

PAKISTAN.DAWN.COM:

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday said that organisers of a recent concert by pop star Enrique Iglesias in Colombo should be whipped with toxic stingray tails” because it was uncivilised”.

The Dec 20 concert in capital Colombo saw ecstatic local women running on stage to hug and kiss the Hero” singer while others threw their clothes at him, Sirisena told a public meeting in the eastern district of Ampara.

This is most uncivilised behaviour that goes against our culture,” the president said.

STRAIT TIMES OF SINGAPORE:

COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena said on Sunday that organisers of a recent concert by pop star Enrique Iglesias in Colombo should be “whipped with toxic stingray tails” because it was “uncivilised.

MALASIAN DIGEST.COM:

Sri Lanka’s president says the organisers of an Enrique Iglesias gig should be whipped as punishment over the behaviour of some female fans.

Maithripala Sirisena said scenes of local women running on stage to kiss the singer and throwing their underwear at him, was “most uncivilised”.

He said the organisers should be “whipped with toxic stingray tails” – referring to an ancient punishment.

SKYNEWS:

Sri Lanka’s president has said organisers of a recent Enrique Iglesias concert should be “whipped with toxic stingray tails” because it was “uncivilised”.

CONCLUSION:

There is no doubt that the act committed during the above programme was against our culture, just as much as what Mr Sirisena did back in November last year.  How could Mr Sirisena demand high standards of cultural behaviour from his own citizens, when he himself has failed to comply with the policies  and cultural standards which were very close to his heart he learned from his great parents and village schools,  from his childhood?

The President has done an irreparable damage to the image of our country.  It has been reported the President’s closest family members too were present at the programme, their photos have since been removed from the Facebook.

What  duties are being performed by  our President now?

1. Is he involved in winning a war against Tamil Terrorists?
2. Is he busy in planning and plan implementation to build new infrastructure of Sri Lanka?
3. Is he establishing new Schools, Universities, Hospitals, new industries?
4. Is he bringing international investors to Sri Lanka?
5. Is he conducting major international events, forums in Sri Lanka?
6. Or he, Ranil and CBK are enjoying the benefits of the hard work done by President Mahinda Rajapakse?

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Though he was highly criticised in the social media for making statements on country’s values, President Maithripala Sirisena today said that he wouldn’t allow people, who had influenced by foreign cultures, to walk naked on the road.

He expressed these views at the Silpa 2014 Handicraft Award Ceremony held at the Battaramulla Ape Gama Premises.

I am being attacked in the social media circles for making statements to preserve our culture. But I’m not being affected by those attempts. I come from a village and act based on good behaviour and ethics. I can’t allow anyone to walk naked on the road. I would not allow anyone who embrace and regard the foreign cultures with esteem to degrade the greatness of the nation and proud culture of the country,” he said.

He said the objective of his assuming of Presidency on January 8 was to usher a developed country, while preserving the country’s culture of thousands of years and values of the civilization.
– See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/101041/e-walk-naked-on-road#sthash.iOIoEDmb.dpuf

– See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/101107/slfp-on-brink-of-destruction-can-it-be-saved#sthash.5oYW2WYk.hR7jNEWd.dpuf

Sarath Wijesinghe – former Ambassador to Israel and UAE Solicitor in England and Attorney at law in Sri Lanka

Knowledge in Universal-and Knowledge is Power

Knowledge is universal, historical and shared by educated and intellectuals in the world. Access to education is recognized by the Constitution, United Nations and worldwide, as adopted in the academic Charter ” Acedamia Constituio” at university of Bologora” in 1158 or 1155 granting the right of travelling of unhindered passage of Knowledge and Education. It is said that Knowledge is power which is based in storage in University Education which is the cradle of knowledge of any Nation, where academic freedom is jealously guarded by the academics and protected by the law makers. Knowledge is a common language of educated worldwide shared through the higher educational institutions by sharing and exchanging hard earned knowledge and experiences. Knowledge is universal shared and utilized by the world over through Universities with committed educated intertextual fraternity. Sri Lanka and India has world class Universities such an Nalanda” and Sri Lanka has been a center for education in the past with the Indian/Asian influence.

Sri Lankan Universities

Though not world class, Sri Lankan Universities are far above Asian and South Asian counterparts in many ways. Sri Lanka and the Asians are far below the world ranking mainly due to lack of resources. With all Sri Lankan and Asian students excel in many international educational forums as brilliant academics and intellectuals. Out of many Peradeniya, Colombo, Medical, Moratuwa, and Open Universities worth mentioning struggling to cope with the competition on the world league of Universities for a reasonable position. But do our universities live up to the expectations of the counterparts is a moot issue and to be decided by the citizen shouldering the burden of the enormous cost and at the receiving end from all over. Universities are geared and targeted for the development of a Nation and the future generations based on the education policy of the respective countries. Did we have an Education policy or do we have one at all is a dilemma and a moot issue before the citizen. Highest echelons of the education are based on center of education structured on the needs of a country. It is based on agriculture, Industry, culture, and similar areas and depend on the resource and environment – human resources being at the top of priority. Sri Lanka is basically an agricultural nation with no agricultural universities available and no proper coordination with the State, Private sector and the agriculture industry connected to the universities as in other countries. This is only an example of an area of studies.  Israel emerged as a leader on High Tec and Agriculture 70 years ago with no water in a barren land surrounded by enemies. They desalinate sea water and produce water for consumption, industry, agriculture and to sell with the help of the universities and SME innovators. Today it is a world leader in agriculture/IT and adviser to major powers where the Universities have taken a pivot role in making 95% on agriculture based on technology. Students in Israel, UK or in the West do not agitate for Jobs or any other facilities. Jobs for University graduates are not guaranteed by the state anywhere in the world”. In Israel University students become SME’s with their innovations to be a part/part of the national development on agriculture, technology and other areas. In UK companies visit Universities to offer jobs as the students are productive to them for research and productivity. Only small portion joins the government sector and rest on private sector and their own innovative and productive projects. Drug companies headhunt students in universities for research looking for human resources from the universities. It is time Sri Lankan Universities and the Polite to change accordingly learning form the experiences of counterparts which is readily available through the university links worldwide network of education. Apparently the demand for students is in the education system geared to jobs, productivity and the development of a country including the private sector. We have too many Education Ministers and the Ministers of Higher Education are part time with many other commitments for them. Minister of higher education has another important and powerful ministry to manage and the deputy has the network of a successful private educational institution to manage and oversee. Country needs full time committed leaders in the Executive and the Legislature. These are food for thought during the formation of the new constitution which is in the making today. Number provincial Education Ministers have their own territory in isolation to manage the future of the country in education.

Article on Education

An article on education in a Sri Lankan paper prompted us to make these remarks as an eye opener of our polite and the academics for an open discussion and an action plan to change the outlook and the fabric of the education system and culture which unfortunately is politicized by narrow minded politicians using students as pawns for their political needs creating unrest and blocking the bright future of our able students at the highest achiness of education responsible for the future of the country. Tony Blair got schools to give healthy food in place of junk and declared that the priority was given for Education, Education and Education”. Our University students are pawns of power hungry politicians frequently on strike when their counterparts in the other parts of the world are busy with studies and development of the country and themselves. They demand closer of much needed private medical college which is a national necessity for the future of the country and the students who are compelled to study in substandard universities in Eastern Europe underdeveloped Asian countries with dire substandard conditions with meager and basic education facilities, when we have the potential for the best education system and the academics no second to any in the world.

IT Language skills, General Knowledge and Private Education

These are areas to be improved for better results and to produce productive graduates with no burden to the country and themselves. It has become a fashion for students to carry a mobile phone, but link IT to subjects Is not heard of. Knowledge of English and other foreign languages are week or nil among many students. Private and practice education should be freely available to the students who could afford to raise standards and avoid billions of funds pouring out of the country. We must encourage and provide for private Medical Colleges, Technical, Agricultural and all other areas to attract foreign students. Education and universities should be linked to the agriculture and manufacture, industrial sector with IT and innovative enterprises with SME’s in public private partnerships with universities as in other parts of the world.

Way Forward

Country needs full transformation of the education system geared to employment and development. Mealy promising to increase the funding will not solve but aggravate the issues. Funds will be misused and wasted with no proper plan of action and strategy. It is still not too late for launching a policy for education and transform the universities in line with counterparts in countries with a vision and a vibrant policy changes. Unpalatable decisions such as reducing the number of Ministers/Ministries and give responsibility to the correct person for the job will be a good start. Discipline should be given top priority and a campaign to educate students, parents and the citizen on the values, value of education, while paving the way to keep the pace of the modern developments in Education and skills for human and other disciplines aiming at employment and development. Education should be linked to agriculture, IT, development, industry and the network of academic and practical excellence on education. Our aim should be to transform Sri Lanka to a Hub on Education in the Asian region attracting foreign students and improve the university to be close to the University League in the World to be a world class Education Hub. This is an achievable target as we are blessed and armed with world class students and educated intellectuals in Sri Lanka and worldwide prepared to serve and to be served.

Sarath7@hotmail.co.uk

India attempts to fool us, says Media Spokesperson of GMOA Dr. Navin de Zoysa.
රජයේ වෙදුන් යළිත් වැඩවර්ජනයකට සැරසෙයි!
ඉල්ලීම් කිහිපයක් මුල්කර ගනිමින් ජනවාරි මුල් සතියේ දීප ව්‍යාප්ත
වැඩවර්ජනයක් දියත් කිරීමට සැලසුම් කර ඇති බව රජයේ ‍වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමය පවසයි.

—

“මම රටට ආදරේ කළේ මගේ අම්මට වගේ. මම ඒ යුතුකම ඉටු කළා. මම අද ආව මගේ අම්මා බලන්න. හෙටින් පස්සේ මම හමුදාවෙන් විශ්‍රාම යනවා. මම නිසා රටට දෙයක් ලැබුණනානම් මට තියෙන සතුට එච්චරයි. හැබැයි ගැමුණු කුමාරයා කිව්වා වගේ වකුටු වෙලා මට නිදා ගන්න බැහැ“.- මේජර් ජෙනරාල් ජගත් ඩයස්

(පුදුකුඩුඉරිප්පු අවසන් බිම් කඩ මුදාගන්නා විටත්, කොටි නායක ප්‍රභාකරන්ගේ මරා දමන විටත් අවසන් සටනේ ඒකාබද්ධ හමුදා අණ දෙන නිලධාරියකු ලෙස මේජර් ජෙනරාල් ජගත් ඩයස් කටයුතු කළේය.

යුද්ධය අවසන් වුවත් ජගත් ඩයස් සමග ඇති කොටි ඩයස්පොරාවේ වෛරය කෙළවර නොවීමට එය හේතුවක් විය. කලක් ජර්මනියේ ශ්‍රි ලංකා නියෝජ්‍ය තානාපති ලෙස කටයුතු කළ ජගත් ඩයස් බටහිර රටක සිට වුවද ක්‍රියාත්මක කළේ කොටි විරෝධී වැඩපිළිවෙලකි. ඒ ඔහුට රට ගැන තිබූ කැක්කුම අසීමාන්විත වූ නිසාය).

BY MAJORIE CHIEW Courtesy The Malaysian Star daily,

News of free wheelchairs spread like wildfire and drew a crowd.

Some disabled people crawled for miles to the distribution site. It was heartbreaking to see them crawling away empty-handed,” related Sri Lankan Buddhist monk Bhante Yatirawana Wimala. He was in several remote regions in Kenya to give away 50 wheelchairs in 2002.

Some mothers had to carry their disabled children home without the wheelchairs. But they did not even complain. They just hoped for better luck the next time round,” noted Wimala, 57, who described his humanitarian work in East Africa as most gratifying”.

Wimala hopes to make a difference in the lives of others through his humanitarian work. Photo: The Star/Faihan Ghani

Wimala organised eye screenings for the poor rural communities in East Africa. Hundreds often turned up for the free eye check-ups. Some trekked for miles across arid land. Wimala found sponsors for those who needed cataract operations. However, it was impossible to meet every need, and many had to be turned away.

Among the many lives that Wimala touched was that of a weaving mill worker from Kandy in Sri Lanka. The woman and her adopted handicapped daughter were left in dire straits when a relative cheated the former of her money. They were so poor they did not even have electricity in the house. Wimala visited the family, and made arrangements for electricity to be supplied to her house. He even paid for their electricity bills.

On his next visit, Wimala was overwhelmed by the gratitude shown by the two women.

They could sleep through the night without any fears or worries. On rainy days, they could heat water and cook without having to gather firewood,” shared Wimala.

The political unrest in Sri Lanka did not deter Wimala from reaching out to the needy in the country.

Armed soldiers accompanied me when I went for relief work in the hostile jungles,” he said.

Wimala was in Nepal to help victims of the April earthquake when a second earthquake hit on May 12.

The mountain shook. I feared it would crumble under my feet. People were screaming and running. Mothers hugged their children. The mud houses tumbled, raising clouds of dust.”

While touring typhoon-ravaged Tacloban in central Philippines in 2013, Wimala’s feet were infected from walking on the dirty and muddy ground. He blamed it on poor sanitation in the area. He also came across a ship that was washed ashore.

In December 2013, Wimala visited the Visayas, a group of islands in the Philippines that was devastated by Typhoon Yolanda. Over 6,000 people were killed and 28,000 injured.

Tacloban was the hardest hit city. Millions were displaced in the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda. We distributed mosquito nets because there were lots of mosquitoes and flies. There were no basic amenities such as toilets.”

A few months ago, Wimala was back in Tacloban to hand over a health centre and two daycare centres he helped to rebuild after the typhoon.

I listen to people’s plight. I try to fulfil their needs and ease their suffering,” said Wimala.

Born in Kandy, Sri Lanka, Wimala has been the head monk of the Theravada Buddhist Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, since 1999. At the centre, he coordinates humanitarian work in East Africa.

He is the founder and spiritual director of the Triple Gem Society in Princeton, New Jersey, the United States. This is his home base where he organises and gets funding for his humanitarian projects.

He also supervises the Prison Sangha Ministeries which serve inmates in several institutions in the United States. In Europe, he founded the Lotus Buddhist Centre in Prague, Czech Republic.

Wimala has received numerous awards in recognition of his charity work. In 2007, he was awarded the Global Peace Award by the Centre for Peace and the Metropolitan Christian Council of Philadelphia. That same year, the Members of Parliament in Kenya honoured him for his humanitarian work and medical aid in Kenya.

In 2009, the Universal Peace Federation presented Wimala with the award of Ambassador for Peace. In 2014, the City Council of Tacloban in Philipines honoured him for his humanitarian efforts in assisting the victims of Typhoon Yolanda.

Wimala helped rebuild six Hindu temples in Sri Lanka in 2009. Devotees honoured Wimala in the highest manner during ceremonies to hand over the completion of their temples which were ravaged by war. They draped a gold shawl over him and bowed to pay their respects to him. Humbled by their show of gratitude, Wimala felt accepted as part of their community.

Wimala has a road named after him in Sri Lanka, evidence of his impact on whole communities.

Many donors have been supporting me for a long time. They’re familiar with the way I work and trust me,” he said, adding that he directly handles most projects. He also has a small team of people in the United States who are helping him.

We’ve a humanitarian fund that is used for the benefit of people in need. During disasters, I will send out e-mails and make calls to people,” he said.

For his relief work on the typhoon-hit areas in the Philippines, Wimala rang up Rev Sri Saranankara of the Sri Lanka Buddhist Temple in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur, and received sponsorship for the daycare centres.

The Buddist Maha Vihara in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, chipped in by donating oxygen concentrators, wheelchairs and crutches, and sponsored eye cataract operations for Wimala’s projects in Africa.

After the 2004 tsunami, the temple sent Wimala relief and medical aid for distribution in Sri Lanka and also helped to fund the rebuilding of two Hindu temples destroyed by the tsunami.

Over the years, Wimala has travelled to many parts of the world and helped people in all sorts of situations to pick up the pieces of their lives and start over.

Wimala does not discriminate when he gives assistance. His compassion goes beyond borders, race and creed when it comes to easing the suffering of others.

I want to help people overcome their suffering and heal their hearts and minds,” Wimala added.

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

Jerome Jayaratne was appointed as new Interim Coach of Sri Lankan Cricket, to replace Marvan Atapattu.  Jerome Jayaratne’s credentials cannot be  compared favourably with Marvan Atapattu.  To his credit, it is a well known fact that Marvan did not command the full support and respect of some of the seniors, who have since retired.   These seniors, made Marvan’s job more difficult.

If the Sri Lanka Cricket needed time to recruit a suitable  candidate, they should have continued with Marvan instead of placing Jerome in a difficult and a cumbersome role.  Jerome is no match to Marvan or to any of the previous Coaches of Sri Lanka Cricket.

When a Sri Lankan product of Chandika Hathurasinha was available, Sri Lanka Cricket did not not avail an opportunity for him.  Similarly, when Dave Whatmore was available,  he too was not considered by the Sri Lanka Cricket.

Cricket is not played anymore in Sri Lanka and India in the spirit of the game, instead it is a money spinner.   Now, Sumathimapala, Arjuna, Dharmadasa and several famous and not so famous personalities are clamouring for the capture of Sri Lanka Cricket management.

None of these personalities truely love the game.   They are businessmen and fortune hunters.   When Arjuna was in the opposition, he was fighting to remove his own brother Nishanatha from the Sri Lanka Cricket Secretary’s role.   Now, Arjuna is in a great partnership with Nishantha.

T20 World Cup is not very far.   We will be looking at the bottom of the ladder unless steps are taken immediately to rectify.   Bangladesh Tiger’s are now in a commanding position and could pose serious threat to some of the high ranking teams, including Australia and India. Australian team was secretly happy that the recent tournament with Bangladesh was cancelled due to ” alleged security reasons”.  Drubbing by Bangladesh Tigers on  Sri Lankan Lions is also a distinct possibility, judging by the current trends.

We have to pursuade either Dave Whatmore or Chandika Hathurasinghe to team up with Sri Lanka on a long term basis.

Missaka A

From Ranil, to Sirisena, from CBK to Samantha Power, from Pakiasothy to Cameron and the invasive Indians we are being told to solve the national problem. Ask Sambanthan he will give some wishy washy reasons, ask Wigneswaran he will give another set of confusing answers, ask LTTE agent Father Emmanuel living on foreign shores and he too will come up with a new list, same too with all other tiger agents all holding foreign passports. Blake, the Soros funded NGO racketeers will have templates of reasons prepared from so many other regime change success stories. Similarly, greedy politicians will have their own lists little realizing the damage they are doing…. thus we have been performing a circus all these years without simply asking what the National Problem is and thereafter look for the solutions. What is happening now is people are putting forward solutions without even putting on the table what the National Problem is.

• Did we have an Ethnic Problem or a Terrorist Problem.

• If anyone says we had an ethnic problem can they explain why more Tamils died by LTTE gun than from road accidents!

• If anyone says we have an ethnic problem can they also explain why there are more Tamils living among Sinhalese than ever before….and can the census produce statistics of Tamil migration from North to South throughout LTTE defacto rule.
• If anyone says we have an ethnic problem can they also explain how Tamils can survive and thrive businesswise because unless Sinhalese buy from Tamil shops Tamils or Muslims will not be able to sell their products or services.
• If the federal camouflaged division of Sri Lanka is being attempted by traitors Ranil, CBK and now Sirisena what is going to be their solution to asking all Tamils living in the South to return to the North where ONLY Tamils are supposed to rule. We cannot expect a Tamil Only nation while majority of Tamils are living in the South… this is nonsense and the most stupidest thing the Sinhala dumb politicos can agree to.
• Why should Tamils have a Tamil Only nation – they cannot prove their indigenous status. As Tamils they are descendants from Tamil Nadu who came via invasions and to escape from harsh weather and economic conditions to Sri Lanka and settled with the Sinhela people who are indigenous to Sri Lanka… the only indigenous race/ethnicity are the Hela people as there are no Sinhela people elsewhere in the world. Their language the Sinhalese, customs and culture are all indigenous to Sri Lanka alone whereas everything that the Tamils follow find their roots back to Tamil Nadu…so there is no concrete evidence that Tamils (however much they scream and shout) can produce to showcase their argument.

For the Sinhalese it is time they wake up to realize that it is their race that is being endangered.

Sinhalese are just 14m against 76m Tamils and over 3billion Muslims.

Shouldn’t this scare the Sinhalese???

Missaka A

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි

මේ රටේ ජනතාව පවතින යථාර්තයෙන්, ඉවත්කොට තබා ගැනීම සදහා ජනාධිපති මෙෙත්රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතාගේ යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව විසින් විවිධ මාතෘකා ජනතාව අතරට අතහැරීම පුරුද්දක්වශයෙන් සිදුකරගෙන යන කාර්යයකි. ජනාධිපතිතුමා මෙවර ජනතාව අතරට අතහරින ලද මාතෘකාව වූයේ, ගායකයා වෙත විසිකරන ලද තරුණ යුවතියකගේ තණපටයි. ජනාධිපති වරයාගේ කථාවට අනුව, මේ යුවතියගේ‌ තණපට ගලවා ගායකයා වෙත විසිකිරීමට  තරම් බලයක් ඒ තරුණිය තුල උත්පාදනය කර ඇත්තේ, මධුවිත, සංගීතය, ගායනය හා රංගනයයි.

තනපට ගලවා විසිකිරීම රංගනයේම අංගයක් බැවින්ද, රංගනය සිදුකරන්නට සිදුවන්නේ, වාදනයට අනුවය.  මේ අනුව වාදනයේ හා සංගීතයේ ප්රභලත්වය කවරේදැයි සියල්ලන්ටම වටහා ගත හැක.මේ වාදකයා එම තරුණියගේ තනපටය ගලවා විසිකෙරුවා පමණක් නොව, ඊට එරෙහිව කථා කරවීමට මෙරට පලමුවන පුරවැසියාවන ජනාධිපතිවරයාවද උද්දීපනය කරවන ලදී. අද තනපටේ කථාව, රටෙහි කථා කරන ප්රධාන මාතෘකාවක් බවට පරිවර්තනයව ඇත. අතිගරු ජනාධිපති මෙෙත්රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතා , පසුගිය සතියේ කෝට්ටේ පැවති රැස්වීමකදී, ඉතා රසවත් කරමින් ගායනාවක් කරන ලදී. ඒ ගායනාවහි රවකයා තොටගමුවේ රාහුල ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ වන අතර, ජනාධිපතිතුමා ගායනා කරන ලද පදවැල වූයේ;

සිසි වන වුවන ඉග සුග ගත හැකි          මිටින

නිසි පුළු’ලුකුළ රිය සක යුරු           තිසර තන

දිසි රන ලියෙ’ව් රූ සිරි යුත්           මෙ පුරගන

ඇසි පිය හෙළන පමණින් නොවෙති දෙව’ගන

අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා මේ ගායනය කරන විට,  ඒ සභාවේ සිටින සියලු මිනිසුන් මනසින් තනපට නැති කාන්තාවන් දකින අතර, ඒ තුලින් මහා වින්දනයක් ලබයි. ඒ රැස්ව සිටි සභාවට මේ වින්දනය ලබා දෙන්නේ කවුද? මෙරට අතිගරු ජනාධිපති මෙෙත්රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතාය. ඒ වින්දනය ලබාදීම සදහා එකිනෙකාගේ මනස තුල සිටින සෑම ගැහැණියකගේම තනපට ගලවා දමන්නා බවට පත්වන්නේද අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමාය. එතුමා මේ රැස්වීමේදී සිදුකලේ, කෝට්ටේ යුගයේ, තොටගමුවේ රාහුල ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ, රචනය කර ගැයූවකි. තොටගමුවේ ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේ, කාන්තාවන්ගේ පියයුරු වර්ණනා කිරීම හා එය නිරාවරය කර රසවිදින්නාට අපූරුවට ගෙනහැර දැක්වූ හිමි නමක් වන අතර, සැළලිහිි සංදේසයේම මීට අදාල පදවැල් තිබේ. මේ කාර්යය කරන්නේ මේ රටේ සිංහල සංෂ්කෘතියේ මුදුන් මල් කඩක් බදු තවමත් අපතුල ජීවත්වෙන ගෞරවණීය ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ නමකි.

මේ ගායනය කරමින් තමනුත් මහා වින්දනයක් ලබමින් පැමිණ සිටි සෑම ජනතාවගේ මනස තුල සිටි කාන්තාවගේ තනපටය ගලවා විවර කොට පෙන්වා, එය තමන්ගේ  දේශපාලන ලාංජනය වූ හංසයන්ට සමාන බව ගෙනහැර දක්වපු ජනාධිපතිතුමාම, ඊට සතියකට පසු පවත්වන ලද සංගීත සංදර්ශණයකදී කාන්තාවක් තම තනපටය ගලවා දැමීම සම්බන්ධව, දඩුවම් දිය යුතු පුද්ගලයන් කවරේදැයි සොයයි.

මේ තරුණියම යම් හෙයකින් පෙර සතියේදී ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ ගායන අවස්ථාවේදී ඒ රැස්වීමේ සිටියා නම් සිදුවිය හැකිව තිබූ දේ සම්බන්ධව අප කිසිත් නොදනිමු. නමුත් වැදගත්ම සිද්ධාන්තය වන්නේ භෞතික තලයේදී, මේ තරුණිය තන පට ගලවා විසිකල අවස්ථාවේදී, රැස්ව සිටි කිසිවෙක් ඇයගේ තිසර තන නොදුටු අතර, ජනාධිපතිතුමා පෙර සතියේදී වර්ණනාත්මකව ගයන අවස්ථාවේදී රැස්ව සිටි සියල්ලන්ගේම මනෝ තලයේ සිටි කාන්නාවන්ගේ තිසර තන මනාව එලි දැක්වීමයි.

අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා එදා ඒ කල කාර්යයේ කිසිදු වරදක් නැතිවා සේම, පසුගියදා රංනයේදී  ඒ සංස්කෘතික වටපිටාවට උචිතව තනපටක් විසි කිරීම මේ රාජ්ත්රාන්තික පදනමකින් කථා කලයුතු කාර්යයක් නොවේ. ගුත්තිල කාව්යේ එව්නි සිදුවීම්ගනනාවක්ම පෙන්නුම් කරයි මේ එක් සිදුවීමකි. ඒ මෙසේ විස්තර කර ඇත.

නිති නිරිදුගෙ රැකවලෙහි නියුත්තෝ

රුති ලෙස රුපුනොද බිද ජය ගත්තෝ

පැතිරෙන වෙන නද බැදුන සිතැත්තෝ

අති නවි ගිලිහෙන බව නොම දත්තෝ

සැබෑ සංගීතයට ඕනෑ‌ම අයෙක් නැටවිය හැකි බැවින්, එසේ නටන මිනිසුන් විසින් වෙනත් මිනිසුන්ට දඩුවම් කිරීමට ඉදිරිපත්වීම නොකල යුතුය.

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි

Courtesy lankaenews.com

(Lanka-e-News -28.Dec.2015, 3.40PM) It was none other than the daughter of the Sri Lanka Air force commander who darted from the rear stage at the concert in Colombo to kiss and hug Latin Amercian pop singer Enrique Iglatius most passionately and publicly while  he was performing . Believe it or not ,this youngster, Ayendra Bulathsinghala  is not only the daughter of Gagan Bulathsinghala the present Air Force commander whom president Maithripala appointed even  ignoring the monumental opposition mounted by the whole country against that appointment, but is also the prospective daughter in law of a wheeler dealer Wegapitiya the money launderer for the family of Sirisena .

Lanka e news always first with the news and best with the views had the misfortune to expose this disgraceful ugly episode for the first time on the 22nd – the itch at the wrong place  of Sri Lanka’s latest breed of shameless young women  of the so called high society , as well as their uncontrollable sexual lust and inordinate desire to expose  their busts .

The president taking over a week  to make this announcement is perturbing and perplexing, and several issues have sprung up in this regard among the people.. The president is bound to  make an announcement in connection with the following issues..

1. The young woman who kissed , hugged and clung on to Enrique shamelessly and most passionately , and who disgraced the Sinhala culture is not from Amparai . She is the daughter of no less a person than the Air Force Commander . Hence it is the Air Force Commander who should be summoned and warned to teach his  daughter to behave better. Instead going to remote Amaparai and making this announcement before  the innocent people of Amparai serves no purpose.

2. It is the prospective daughter in law of Wegapitiya the money launderer for the president Maithripala’s family , that is, the girl who is betrothed to the son of Wegapitiya , who kissed , hugged and clung on to Enrique in a fit of delirious sex starvation . Hence , why go to Amparai and make sermons  as though the innocent people of Amparai are responsible, instead of summoning  Wegapitiya and advising him to teach his daughter in law  good moral values?

3. If the president says , tickets are priced from Rs.5000.00 to Rs. 50,000.00 , doesn’t the president know his own son Daham Sirisena also went to  this concert with six defender jeeps full of presidential  security personnel ? Doesn’t he know his son in law too went to see the show along with the presidential security personnel? (photographs depict) . What are the prices of tickets purchased  by them ? Or did they see the show free exploiting presidential powers ? Is the president going to lash  Daham Sirisena and Thilina Suranjith with the Ray’s tail  tonight for their actions ?

4. The statement made by Executive President Maithripala that those who organized the show should be whipped can be reckoned as an absolute threat and fear inspiring. Doesn’t he know that this show was organized by Light events private Co. belonging to Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena ? That means the president is today going to tan the hide of Kumara Sangakkara to whom the post of SL High commissioner to UK was offered almost by force by the president after dashing to the playground like a school boy ? and Mahela Jayawardena ? Is he trying to lash Sangakkara and Mahela because he cannot lash Daham and Thilina?

5. Since when was the requirement  introduced in ths country that the Executive president’s recommendation is necessary for holding musical shows ?

6. Shouldn’t the snake charmer understand he can only make the snakes he has taken  under his attire dance to his tune and not the snakes  that are in the country ?

7. Instead of making characteristic foolish bombastic utterances like lashing others with the Ray’s tail , won’t it be enough to give a sane and sensible warning to the youngsters that when enjoying their freedom and  engaging in pleasurable activities they should exercise restraint ?

Full Report

http://www.lankaenews.com/news/1020/en

Courtesy ColomboTelegraph

Knowing very well that his family members have also participated in Enrique’s ‘Sex And Love’ show, President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday condemned the organisers of the concert which was held in Colombo on the 20th of December.

Photo vis Thilina Suranjith’s Facebook

The President knew that his family members were there” a source close to the Presidential Security Division told Colombo Telegraph.

Acting like the head of Sri Lanka’s Cultural Police”, addressing a public event in Ampara last morning the President said; the show is indecent” and uncivilised”

The musical show lasted only for an hour. Prices of its tickets ranged from Rs. 5000 to 50,000. they were served Beer, Arrack, Brandy and Gin. This is the power of liquor. This is how they are trying to protect our culture, Some people may criticise me talking about these issues. But I am a Sinhala-Buddhist. It’s my duty to talk about these matters,” he said.

For Full Report

https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/sex-and-love-show-cultural-police-sirisenas-family-was-there-but-he-attacks-organisers/

lankanewsweb. today

ජේෂ්ඨ කතිකාචාර්‍ය මහින්ද පතිරණ යුතුකම සංවාද කවය

ජනපතිවරයා හා ඔහුගේ අනුගාමිකයින් සැම විට ම කතාවෙන් හා ක්‍රියාවෙන් රටට පෙන්වා දුන්නේ තමන් මෙරට වටිනාකම් පද්ධතිය තඹ දොයිතුවකට මායිම් නොකරන බව ය. ජනපති මෛත්‍රීපාල විසින් කිවූ මහින්ද විසින් එන්ගලන්තයෙන් ගෙනා රත්තරන් අශ්වයින් හා හෙලිකොප්ටර් වැනි නීලකාස කෙබර මෙරට ජනයාගේ බොරුකීම පිළිබඳ යම් විළිබියක් තිබුණේ නම් එය ද නැතිකර දැම්මේ ය. මේ අතර, දේශපාලන එදිරිවාදිකම වෙනුවෙන් සිය මිතුරා හා නායකයාට එරෙහිව කුමන්ත්‍රණය කිරීම හා පසුව පාවාදීම තුළින් ඒවාට සුජාතබවක් දීම මෙන් ම කළගුණ සැලකීම වැනි මහාර්ඝ ගුණාංග පිළිබඳ ජනතා විස්වාසය අවුල් කිරීම ද මෛත්‍රීපාල කඳවුර විසින් ගත් ස්වයංවිනාශකාරි.පියවරයන් ය.ඉදින්, එවැනි දෘෂ්ටිවාදයක් දේශපාලනික ඔළුගෙඩි ප්‍රමාණයෙන් ජයග්‍රහණය කොට තිබෙන අවස්ථාවක දුබල කෙල්ලක උම්මත්ක ව සිය යට ඇඳුම් ඉණිම කැලණි පාලමෙන් ගලා ගිය පොල් ලෙල්ලක් වැනි ය.

ඇත්ත වශයෙන් ම මේ තරුණිය විසින් සිය බ්‍රෙසියර ගලවා විසි කළේ එන්රික් වෙත නොව ජනපති මෛත්‍රීපාල වෙත ය. ඒ හරහා මෙම තරුණිය විසින් සංකේතාත්මක ව පෙන්වා දුන්නේ යහපාලය යටතේ අප ජයග්‍රහණය කළේ මේ කාමවාදය බව ය. එනම් රනිල්-මෛත්‍රී දේශපාලන භාවිතයේ තාර්කික අවසානය මෙය බව තරුණිය මොනවට පෙන්වා දුන්නේ ය. එය ස්වභාවික ය. අපට තේරුම්ගත නොහැක්කේ මේ පිළිබඳ ජනපතිවරයාගේ උදහස් වීම ය.

– ජේෂ්ඨ කතිකාචාර්‍ය මහින්ද පතිරණ   >>

යුතුකම සංවාද කවය
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නලින් ද සිල්වා

2016 වසර සඳහා වූ අයවැය තුනෙන් දෙකක ඡන්දයෙන් සම්මත වූ බව අපට පෙනෙන්නට ඇති කරුණ ය. එහෙත් එසේ සම්මත වූයේ මුදල් ඇමති රවි කරුණානායක ඉදිරිපත් කළ අයවැය නො වේ. ඒ අයවැය යෝජනා දියවන්නාවට විසි කෙරිණි. සම්මත වූයේ ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂයේ විරුද්ධත්වය හේතුවෙන් රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ විසින් සංශෝධනය කෙරී ඉදිරිපත් කෙරුණු අයවැයකි. මුල් අයවැය මුළුමනින් ම මෙන් සංශෝධනය කිරීමට සිදුවීම රනිල් මෛත්‍රිපාල අවුල් ආණ්ඩුව ලත් පරාජයකි. අවුල් ආණ්ඩුවට මුල් අයවැය අකුළා ගැනීමට සිදුවිය. ආණ්ඩුව අයවැය පරාජය වූ බව පිළිගෙන ඉල්ලා අස්විය යුතුව තිබිණි. ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂය ද ආණ්ඩුවට ඉල්ලා අස්වන ලෙස බලකර යුතුව තිබිණි. එහෙත් තවමත් මුූදල් ඇමති සංශෝධිත අයවැය නිසි පරිදි පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කර නැත. ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂය ඒ ඉදිරිපත් කරවීමට උද්ඝෝෂණය කළ යුතු ය.

මහා සංඝරත්නය සමග 29 උදේ 9.00 ට කොටිටාව නගරයේ බෝධීන් වහන්සේ ඉදිරිපිට ආශීර්වාද පිරිත් දේශනයක් හා සත්‍යග්‍රහයක්

30 දා නඩුව හෝමාගම මහෙස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණයේ දී කැඳවන අතර එහිදී රණවිරුවන් ට

ඇප ලබාදෙන ලෙසට ආණ්ඩුව ට බලකිරීම හා බුද්ධි අංශ රණවිරුවන් ට ආශීර්වාද කිරීම

මෙහි අරමුණ යි.

කොටි තරස්ථවාදීන් නිදහස් කොට රණවිරුවන් සිරගත කළ යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව ට එරෙහි

වෙමු. මහා සoඝරැවණ සමග 29 දා උදේ 9.00 ට කොටිටාව බෝධීන් වහන්සේ ඉදිරිපිට

දහස් ගණනින් එක් රොක් වෙමු .

නීතීඤ මෙජර් අජිත් පුසන්න ,

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By Gagani Weerakoon Courtesy Ceylon Today

A Cabinet Paper forwarded by Minister of Finance, Ravi Karunanayake, seeking Cabinet approval to compensate an individual, paying Rs 300 million from government coffers was put on hold by President Maithripala Sirisena during the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday (23).

This Cabinet Paper which sought paying Rs 300 million to Professional Consultant Nihal Sri Ameresekere seeking an amicable settlement over the long-drawn Hotel Developers Lanka Ltd. case, popularly referred to as the Colombo Hilton case, not only raised many eyebrows of Karunanayake’s Cabinet colleagues but utterly provoked Minister Kabir Hashim.

Karunanayake seemed to have attempted another mischief by presenting this Cabinet Paper keeping Hashim in complete darkness as the latter, under whom the subject falls, had no idea until President Sirisena put the matter on the table.
The Cabinet of Ministers also raised concerns on the matter as the Cabinet Paper was presented at a time when complaints were lodged against Ameresekere at the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) and with the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption for obtaining an overdraft of Rs 100 million from the Bank of Ceylon (BoC) just one month before the 8 January 2015 Presidential Election.

Ameresekere in fact, had convinced the BoC management that he was in position to recover Rs 100 million within a month, with monies the Treasury owed him, but has not been settled thus far even after one year.
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Western Provincial Councillor, Asoka Ranwala, turned the spotlight on this questionable request for a Rs 100 million overdraft facility from the Bank of Ceylon.

Ameresekere had said that the overdraft facility “will be regularized before a period of one month with the release of certain monies being paid to me by the Treasury, which is now in the final processing stage.”
The JVP Provincial Councillor had questioned the timing of the payment and facility by BOC, the backing by the Treasury for a loan by an individual, the modus operandi, lack of transparency on the part of the Treasury, HDL as well as Ameresekera.
He had also asked the authorities to probe whether there were any political reasons for the payment.

Cabinet Memorandum
Claims regarding Hotel Developers Lanka Ltd. (HDL)
1. Introduction
Mr. Nihal Sri Ameresekere, a Professional Consultant, had been a main Promoter, Director and Subscriber of Hotel Developers (Lanka) PLC (HDL), which had promoted and developed the Hilton Hotel, immediately after the ethnic riots of July 1983.
1(a) Upon having discovered a fraud in the construction of the Hilton Hotel, Mr. Ameresekere, as a shareholder of HDLL, had filed in 1990 a derivative action in law, in the right and on behalf of HDLL, D.C. Colombo Case No. 3155/Spl, preventing any payments being made to the Japanese Consortium, Mitsui and Taisei, who constructed and developed the Hilton Hotel, as and by way of Loans to HDLL, which had been guaranteed by the Government.

2. Subsequently, in the context of Japan at that time having been the major aid provider to Sri Lanka, the Secretary to the Treasury and the Hon. Attorney General had intervened with Mr. Ameresekere urging that his Cases be amicably settled.
3. Accordingly, draft Settlement Agreements had been formulated by the Hon. Attorney General, in concurrence with the Treasury, and which had been forwarded to Mr. Ameresekere in June 1993. These Settlement Agreements, on the insistence of Mr. Ameresekere had provided for defaulted interest for 9 years on these Japanese Loans and 30% of Loan Capital to the written-off, with the balance unwritten -off Loans to be re-scheduled over period of 13 years at 6% p.a.

4. For such benefit gained by the Government, as the Guarantor of the Loans, the Government had agreed to adequately compensate Mr. Ameresekere for his professional time and efforts, and to afford him representation on the Board of Directors of HDL, as per the Clauses in the draft Settlement Agreements.

5. The Settlement which had been initiated during the tenure of President R. Premadasa had been endeavoured to be concluded in 1994 by President D.B. Wijetunga, together with Hon. Attorney General and Mr. Ameresekere. However, with the Japanese Consortium having insisted upon Promissory Notes from the Government, in addition to the Government Guarantees, Mr. Ameresekere had declined to conclude the Settlement.

6. Thereafter, in June 1995, the Settlement Agreements on the lines of the above drafts, had been executed, with the Hon. Attorney General having approved the same, after having adduced and obtained approval therefore from the Special Presidential Commission inquiring into this fraud, and with Cabinet approval.

7. On the insistence of Mr. Ameresekere, the Japanese Consortium had agreed to write-off 10 years’ defaulted interest and 30% of Loan Capital, and to reschedule the balance unwritten-off loans over a period of 16 years, at a reduced rate of interest, and had agreed to receive Promissory Notes from HDL, and not from the Government, which conditions were further improvements on those in June 1993.

Thus by the settlement entered into in June 1995, the Japanese Consortium wrote-off Jap. Yen 17,586 million, i.e. then US$ 207 million,/SL Rs 10,200 million, on the Government Guarantees, and re-scheduled the unwritten-off balance over a further period of 16 years up to 2010 (originally fully payable by 1999) at a reduced rate of interest of 5.25% p.a. (originally of 6.00% p.a.), with a grace period of one year, to further financially re-structure HDL.

8. In view of the immense benefit gained by the Government, as had been contained in the Draft Settlement Agreements of June 1993, the Government had agreed to compensate Mr. Ameresekere for his professional time and efforts, and to afford him representation on the Board of Directors of HDL, as per the Clauses in the signed settlement agreements of June 1995.
9. The compensation to be paid by the Government for Mr. Ameresekere’s professional time and efforts for the write-offs, reductions and re-scheduling of the Government Guaranteed Loans had been agreed to determine by an independent financial/merchant banking institution, in terms of a schedule to the signed settlement agreements. Apart from the financial claims Mr. Ameresekere has requested three board members to be nominated by him to the HDL Board. To settle that matter amicably he has agreed to one seat to be nominated by him in the HDL Board.

10. As noted in several communications sent by Mr. Nihal Sri Ameresekere, he has contributed towards resolution of HDL related issues. Attention is drawn to the report dated 19.07.2006 titled – Report on the amount payable to Mr. Nihal Sri Ameresekere for the service rendered by him re – Hotel Developers (Lanka) Ltd.” (HDL) – Examination of the MBSL Report and updating therefore for discussions with the Government by Jayaweera & Co., Chartered Accountants.

11. After several endeavours towards reaching a settlement, Mr. Ameresekere by his letter dated 12.12.2014, addressed to
Mr. Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and copied to Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, Secretary to the Treasury and General Manager – Bank of Ceylon has confirmed that he is agreeable to a full and final settlement of Rupees Three Hundred Million (Rs 300 million) against his claims with Rs 100 million thereof being immediately advanced as an overdraft facility through the Bank of Ceylon.

12. In this background, the Treasury by a letter dated 15.12.2014, has communicated to the General Manager Bank of Ceylon with a copy to Secretary to the President and the Competent Authority that the Treasury has no objection to granting an advance of
Rs 100 million to Mr. Ameresekere in view of the proposed final settlement in lieu of all the claims with respect to HDL, which may be finalized in consultation with the Competent Authority appointed under the Revival of Underperforming Enterprises or Underutilized Assets Act No. 43 of 2011 and that the final claim amount will be remitted to him upon the finalization of the claims. This, without hesitation, would certainly have had the concurrent approval of the then President, Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

13. As this is a matter that is pending with regard to HDL which is an enterprise that has vested with the Government in terms of Revival of Underperforming Enterprises or Underutilized Assets Act No. 43 of 2011. In this backdrop and considering the fact that Mr. Ameresekere’s claims are on account of services rendered with regard to Hilton Hotel, this matter was deliberated by me and the Secretary to the Treasury with officials.
14. Until a final decision was made to honour the undertaking given to Mr. Ameresekere, Rs 100 million overdraft facility was augmented by further Rs 125 million in June 2015.

15. Having deliberated on the merits of Mr. Ameresekere’s total claim it appears that reaching a finalization on this long-drawn matter, on the basis of a Full and Final Settlement would be beneficial, since HDL could then proceed with its activities as a business enterprise, free from this long- drawn compensation payment committed by Mr. Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The value of the write-off and rescheduling of the balance by Mr. Ameresekere amounts to
Rs 86,750 million.

16. Approval
As such, approval of the Cabinet of Ministers is sought;
i. To proceed with a settlement noted above as confirmed by Mr. Ameresekere, having paid a total of Rs 300 million plus the interest up to date of the Cabinet decision of the overdraft facility granted (Rs 225 million) to Mr. Ameresekere, on the basis that it will be the full and final settlement while also undertaking that Mr. Ameresekere would not seek any further redress in any Court or forum in this regard.

ii. To direct the Director General National Budget Department to provide necessary allocations for the above (i) payments.
Ravi Karunanayake, MP, Minister of Finance In question
Karunanayake insisted Ameresekere, a Professional Consultant, had been a main Promoter, Director and Subscriber of Hotel Developers (Lanka) PLC (HDL), which had promoted and developed the Hilton Hotel, is in rightful position for claims.
On the other hand, business tycoon Cornel Perera, who is known as the owner of the Hilton Colombo as the major shareholder (56%) had in fact run two-page paid advertisements in Sinhala, English and Tamil newspapers even after the 11 September, in 2012, 2013 and 2014 consecutively for the Colombo Hilton anniversary, even after the government acquired it under Expropriation Act 2011. No party has thus far disputed the content of these paid advertisements.

When Ceylon Today contacted Perera, he re-confirming what was published in newspapers said: “I am the owner of the Colombo Hilton, the main shareholder and promoter. I was the only one who put money to it and no one else paid a cent in addition to the loans from the Japanese Government.”
Perera, despite facing two terrorist wars, the LTTE and the JVP insurrection, had delivered the hotel to President J.R. Jayewardene in 1987 as promised.
“For Japan, President JR waslike God. For them Sri Lanka was JR. In 1987 two Japanese Ministers came down to invite President Jayewardene for the inaugural ceremony of Colombo Hilton. They had chosen the day as 17 September to coincide with JR’s birthday.”

Yet President JR’s response had caught them off-guard.
“He said, ‘thank you for considering my birthday and inviting me for this. But I want the date to be 11 September.’ And, that was my birthday. He said, if not for Cornel and his family taking the risk, my dream of having a Hilton in Colombo will be nothing but a dream. Therefore, I want the opening ceremony to be on his birthday and not mine,” Perera recalled.
Many attempts by two Japanese Ministers to convince the late President had gone in vain as he was adamant, thus the Colombo Hilton was finally opened on the birthday of Cornel Perera.

Meanwhile, on 4 December 2013
Dr. Harsha de Silva who was in the Opposition then went on record saying that the main shareholder of Hilton Colombo, Cornel Perera, wanted a compensation of
Rs 3.5 billion in March 2012. But his letter was not responded to until July 2013.
Why the rush
The first Cabinet Paper in this regard had been forwarded by Karunanayake weeks after the formation of 100-day yahapalana government, but the President had declined it asking Karunanayke to put forward a fresh memorandum as the previous one lacked details.

President Sirisena had in fact told Karunanayake to be specific on dates and time periods as it would imply the matter had entirely taken place during previous regime.
The Cabinet of Ministers have, meanwhile, questioned the rush Karunanayake is showing in settling this
Rs 300 million to Ameresekere, when the case in fact has not been settled yet.

We, in an earlier column on 13 December 2015 revealed that some are speculating that it was based on Ameresekere’s advice that Karunanayake was adamant on keeping those whom he appointed to key institutions, that earlier came under the Finance Ministry, to remain in their positions.
This decision meanwhile, created a rift between Minister Karunanayake and Minister Kabir Hashim under whom the institutions in question are now falling.

In an email response that had also been copied to Ministers Karunanayake and Hashim, Ameresekera had said: “I refer to the penultimate paragraph of column two and the highlighted statement that – ‘unconfirmed sources suggested that it is Nihal Sri Ameresekere who is behind this legal advice’. I was overseas at the relevant time. Also, I am not a Lawyer, and hence not competent to give legal advice. Nor did the Hon. Minister of Finance seek any advice on the matter. I am sure he has Lawyers to seek legal advice.”

Karunanayke’s colleagues have in fact brought it to the notice of the President that the Treasury had taken steps to augment the overdraft facility by another RS 125 million in June 2015 despite the previous Rs 100 million not being settled.
They also questioned as to what motivated Deputy Secretary to the Treasury S.R. Attygalle to send a letter dated 15 December 2014. The Finance Ministry and the Treasury have had no objections to BOC granting, the Rs 100 million facility to Ameresekere.
According to Deputy Secretary to the Treasury Attygalle, this was in view of the proposed final settlement in lieu of all claims with respect to Hotel Developers Ltd. (HDL), which was acquired by the Treasury under the Expropriation Act of 2011. He had informed BoC that the final claim amount will be remitted to the Bank upon finalization of the claims.

Karunanayake also has mentioned: “….. In this background, the Treasury by a letter dated 15.12.2014, has communicated to the General Manager, Bank of Ceylon with a copy to Secretary to the President and the Competent Authority that the Treasury has no objection in granting an advance of Rs 100 million to Mr. Ameresekere in view of the proposed final settlement in lieu of all claims with respect to HDL, which may be finalized in consultation with the Competent Authority appointed under the Revival of Underperforming Enterprises or Underutilized Assets Act No. 43 of 2011 and that the final claim amount will be remitted to him upon the finalization of the claims. This without hesitation would certainly have had the concurrent approval of then President, Finance Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa.”
However, the Competent Authority of HDL, Senaka Walgampaya PC had raised concerns about Treasury’s ‘no objection’ letter to BoC.

Walgampaya, in fact, wrote to the Treasury after receiving the letter addressed to the BoC General Manager and copied to him stating that there was absolutely ‘nothing’ due to Ameresekere.
He had made these observations based on the report by Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka on HDL commissioned in March 2006 and having consultations with then Director General of Public Enterprises, V. Kanagasabapathy.

Several ministers had voiced their concerns and had reportedly asked whether Karunanayke’s rush in compensating Ameresekere arises as tribute to the latter for backing him in legal cases on Shirani Bandaranayake and Raj Rajaratnam.
President Sirisena on the other hand put the matter on hold and said he will take a decision on the memorandum after having consultation with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe once he returned to the country. Both Wickremesinghe and Karunanayake were out of the country.

Kabir should intervene
Meanwhile, interested parties have opined that the government should not rush in paying any individual until the pending cases are settled at once.
Minister Kabir Hashim under whom the matter falls should form a committee where representations are made by lawyers representing Cornel Perera, Nihal Sri Ameresekere and all foreign shareholders who have initiated legal cases.
Compensating any party should be sought only after settling these cases at once and by selling shares in the open market, they said.

However, any payments should not be made without reporting to the Cabinet and if there are other commitments to any other parties those too shall be settled only after a final settlement and with the consent of all shareholders, including foreigners.

Maithri warns ministers
Following last week’s Cabinet meeting President Sirisena once again asked ministers to remain in the premises for a while, as he wanted to discuss an extremely important matter with them.
He had said that he had received some alarming intelligence reports that there will be an attempt to topple the government with the dawn of New Year.

The reports indicated that while there is a political leadership in this attempt it will come as a trade union move.
“I have been informed about who the political leader who is behind this move and the trade union action will be spearheaded by the doctors attached to the GMOA. They will first start it as a work-to-rule campaign but the matter could go out of control if ministers do not pay attention,” he had informed the ministers.

The President also said as he was aware about the political involvement he will take necessary steps at the right time to bring those under control.

“But everything else lie in your hands. Work closely with officials in your respective ministries and departments. Do not ignore issues that could lead to trade union action. If you work closely and listen to your subordinates we can face this successfully,” he advised Ministers.