The Chinese Embassy in Colombo says that China is closely following the recent arrests of Chinese nationals in Sri Lanka for suspected online fraud and is supporting Sri Lankan law enforcement agencies in cracking down on them, while ensuring their rights and interests are protected in accordance with the law.
Issuing a statement in this regard, the Chinese Embassy highlighted that these cases not only pose a threat to the property of the two peoples, but also seriously damage China’s image and affect the traditional friendship between the two countries.
Furthermore, the statement mentioned that the Chinese Embassy provides full support to Sri Lankan law enforcement agencies in resolutely cracking down on suspects while protecting their legitimate rights and interests in accordance with the law.”
The Chinese Embassy in Colombo further said in the statement: The Telecom and online fraud began to appear in China in the 1990s and has thereafter spread wildly and affected a large number of citizens. The Chinese government adheres to a people-centered approach, continuously explores the path of cracking down on crimes of telecom and online fraud and advances various tasks in depth with unprecedented efforts, which has led to unprecedented historical achievements.”
The number of cases solved in China in 2021 was five times that of five years ago. The incidence of such cases in China has declined year on year for 17 consecutive months since June 2021, showing effective curbing of the trend of frequent occurrences.”
In the world today, crimes of telecom and online fraud are rapidly developing and spreading in various countries and have become a worldwide common danger and a global problem to solve. China has carried out fruitful cooperation with many countries, including Myanmar, Cambodia, and the United Arab Emirates, to combat such fraud in recent years. A great deal criminal gangs were smashed and significant results were achieved, but some criminal groups moved to peripheral countries in Southeast Asia as a result,” it added.
Additionally, the Chinese Embassy further emphasized that due to Sri Lanka’s advantages in telecommunications infrastructure, geographical location, and friendly relations with China, as well as the public lack of awareness to online fraud, some electronic fraud criminal gangs have moved to Sri Lanka and continue to engage in fraud activities targeting Chinese citizens at home and abroad.
The Chinese mission in Sri Lanka also said that this is also an important reason for the recent trend of multiple telecom fraud cases in Sri Lanka.
The Chinese government attaches great importance to this trend, and actively promotes China-Sri Lanka anti-online fraud law enforcement cooperation. In order to effectively crack down on telecom fraud and create a strong deterrent, the Ministry of Public Security of China sent a working group in September, to jointly carry out a special operation with the Sri Lankan police. A large number of criminal suspects were arrested. The repatriation and other work are being steadily advanced. This cooperation has just begun and is far from over”, the statement said.
In the era of globalization, no country can remain insulated. China and Sri Lanka enjoy a traditional friendship. Cooperation in various fields is very close. Our two countries have always supported each other to bring benefits to our two peoples”, the Chinese Embassy said in the statement.
Furthermore, the statement highlighted that China stands ready to further strengthening law enforcement cooperation with Sri Lanka and taking swift and effective actions to jointly address this problem.
The Chinese Embassy further stated that China also hopes to gain understanding and support from the Sri Lankan government and people, especially the police and media in this regard.
India ordered the expulsion of six Canadian diplomats on Monday and withdrew its own envoy from Canada, in response to what it said was Ottawa’s decision to name him and others as persons of interest” in an investigation.
India did not go into detail on the investigation, but relations have been fraught since 2023, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had evidence linking Indian agents to the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader on his territory.
India has long denied Trudeau’s accusation. On Monday it dismissed Canada’s move on the inquiry and accused Trudeau of pursuing a political agenda”.
We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security.
Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials,” India’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
It later said it had asked the six Canadian diplomats to leave by Saturday.
It also said it had summoned Canadian Charge d’Affaires Stewart Wheeler to protest.
Canada’s government has not publicly confirmed that it has named any Indian official as a person of interest.
Wheeler on Monday reiterated Trudeau’s accusation, saying in a statement: Canada has provided credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the Government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.
Now, it is time for India to live up to what it said it would do and look into those allegations.”
India has repeatedly said Canada has not shared any evidence to back its claim.
This latest step follows interactions that have again witnessed assertions without any facts. This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains,” India’s foreign ministry said earlier on Monday.
Canada withdrew more than 40 diplomats from India in October 2023 after New Delhi asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence.
In June, a committee of Canadian parliamentarians named India and China as the main foreign threats to its democratic institutions, based on input from intelligence agencies.
The U.S. has also alleged that Indian agents were involved in an attempted assassination plot of another Sikh separatist leader in New York in 2023, and said it had indicted an Indian national working at the behest of an unnamed Indian government official.
India expressed concern after the U.S. raised the issue, dissociating itself from the plot, and has launched an investigation.
The accusations of assassination plots against Sikh separatist leaders in Canada and the U.S. have tested their relationship with India as they look to forge deeper ties with the country to counter China’s rising global influence.
‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’
e-Con e-News 06-12 October 2024
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Opposition forces are involved in an imperialist conspiracy
to make President Anura Dissanayake the 2nd Gotabaya”
– former Minister Wimal Weerawansa
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‘Si vis pacem para bellum –
If you want peace, prepare for war’
Some like their sutra in punchy praetorian Latin. The Washington-based IMF (Import Mafia Front) is making us an offer we apparently can’t refuse. The US even ordered their Pacific Fleet commander Steve Koehler to go after Sri Lanka’s new President this week. In ‘Greek’ fashion, they also ‘gifted’ us some mothballed antiquarian hardware to enable surveillance. But not too much, and not too farther afield.
Slit loose skirt soon followed crisp starched uniform. After the US Navy Commander (steeled fist), USAID Chief (silk glove) Aunty Sam Power called on President AK Kumara virtually. US delegations seem to divide into these 2 sartorial subspecies: uniform & skirt. Though the corporate suits are never far behind…
‘Although IMF actions are said to be devoid of politics,
they may also be linked to the country’s strategic importance’
– Nimal Sanderatne, Sunday Times (see ee Economists)
Sanderatne, a weekly columnist in an oligarchic newspaper group (he’s also a shareholder in, famed for its anglomania), seems to have suddenly awoken from the hopium of ‘free trade’ – a policy pushed after England gained a monopoly over modern machine industry and the seas!
The New York-based Fitch Ratings Agency said this week they will only erase the stigma of Sri Lanka’s ‘Default Rating (DR)’, after Sri Lanka has normalised the relationship with the international financial community”. Normalization? This means: ‘The sovereign’s completion of a commercial debt restructuring.’
‘International financial community’ is an even more inbred subset of that ‘international community’: a humorous euphemism for the IMF’s master – the USA – and its armed poodles scampering along. The IMF is promising stability if we agree to their colonial number crunching which essentially casts us into forever debt-bondage to fund their forever wars.
French news poodle AFP referring to Sri Lanka’s President as ‘Leftist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake’ and an ‘avowed Marxist’, insists the IMF’s ‘painful austerity measures for Sri Lanka were ‘bearing fruit’ and ‘must be sustained’. All the thinktanks and import mafias feel they can tie any elected government in knots: ‘Dissanayake has little room to reshape the terms of the IMF deal.’ ‘There are certain red lines that the IMF will not agree to negotiate,’ declared India regional Borah merchant prince Murtaza Jafferjee, head of the US-funded thinktank Advocata.
Perhaps it is this onslaught that has finally inspired the National Freedom Front’s Weerawansa & Democratic Left Front’s Vasudeva Nanayakkara to call for supporting the presently ruling NPP. They have not gone further and called for a ‘national salvation’ government. The nation however is being subject to another costly and bruising parliamentary election. Local elections will follow, aimed at dividing the country, if the NPP does not go along with NATO’s prescriptions.
What may we do? India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar also dropped in on Sri Lanka this week to deliver their perfunctory amendments to any excessive enthusiasm. This week’s ee Focus reproduces Kalinga Seneviratne’s Sri Lanka: Home-grown ‘Color Revolution’ Needs Support Both from India & China. He believes it is time China & India form an alternative to the Paris Club dominated by the European & Japanese creditors to assist Sri Lanka’s transformation. India, however, remains a colonial outpost: Jaishankar believes ‘ifIndia & China can cooperate, they can bail out more countries, not only Sri Lanka’. So then, what’s the problem? There are those pesky colonial borderline hangovers in the Himachal, etc, Jaishankar reminds. Not to mention, Trincomalee….
But then The Island on 8 October offered this happy headline on an essay borrowed from The Conversation:
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‘UK’s deal with Mauritius will be a win for all’
For all? This ‘deal’ allows the USA to launch bombardments of Iran. Supposedly, Diego Garcia is the only land base from which they can bomb Iran (5,000km away – without retaliation from Iran?). The USA can also bomb Sri Lanka (2,000km from Diego Garcia) and India. India too, however, has agreed to this ‘deal’ that permits the US to maintain for another 99 years at least, an illegal base in the Indian Ocean (which somehow permitted ‘Sri Lanka Tamils’ to land there and demand refugee status from England, providing for yet another media diversion from the colonial question!)
ee reported in August, on the US & Australia practicing bombing exercises there. African analysts see this deal with Mauritius (a member of the African Union/AU & the Southern African Development Community/SADC) as further evidence of the US escalations of war on Asia & Africa (see ee Random Notes). This is also evident in Colorado State University Prof Peter Harris in The Conversation’s puffery, stating England coulda simply played da tuff guy:
‘London could probably have defied international opinion if it had wanted to. Nobody would have forced England to halt its illegal occupation of the Chagos Archipelago. But such a course would have badly undermined England’s global reputation and its ability to criticise others for breaches of international law’:
This agreement will give England exactly what it wanted: a continued presence on Diego Garcia that conforms with international law… The US is another clear winner from the deal. In fact, hardly anything will change for the USA. Washington will continue working closely with London, and not need to negotiate an agreement with Mauritius on its rights to the base or the status of forces. Indeed, Pentagon officials should be thrilled that their base on Diego Garcia has been put on firm legal footing. This is something that England alone was unable to offer. The bilateral agreement with Mauritius will ensure the security of the base for 99 years – no small feat’ (ee Sovereignty, England claims deal with Mauritius and India to grab Diego Garcia to be ‘a win for all’)
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‘With the support of the non-aligned movement, Sri Lanka introduced a proposal to the United Nations General Assembly in October 1971, on making the Indian Ocean a Zone of Peace. Although no country openly opposed or voted against it – that would have signaled support for Cold War tensions & superpower rivalry – …the major powers – France, England, the Soviet Union, and the USA – abstained. In 1972, Sirimavo made a highly publicized and successful state visit to China, where she met with Mao. She described the relationship between the 2 nations as a model of inter-state relations”. By the end of 1976, China had become one of Sri Lanka’s leading trade partners.’ – Rathindra Kuruwita, Which Candidate Is China Likely to Back in Sri Lanka’s 2024 Presidential Election? (see ee Sovereignty)
• Sri Lanka had already become China’s largest trade partner outside the East European Economic Common Market, after entering into the 1952 Rubber-Rice Pact, which has remained Sri Lanka’s most successful trade agreement. The Ceylon-China Rubber-Rice Pact was fully opposed by a US-dominated Central Bank. The name Bandaranaike, at least of the elders, still resounds in the most populous country in the world.
Comparing present PM Harini Amarasuriya to former PM Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the world’s first female head of government, would be unscientific, let alone unfair. It’s still laughable to hear the tweets in oohs & aahs of the so-called ‘international (read: paleface) community’ about Sri Lanka’s civil-ized gender choice, as if apes had finally learnt to use imported toilet paper. The more apt comparison is between Sirimavo and AKD!
As for Sirimavo, let’s see how they treated that first woman president! They had assassinated her husband after his government attempted to institutionalize investment (a development bank) for industry, and, worse, for establishing relations with the USSR & New China. They attempted to militarily coup her, after she nationalized petroleum distribution. After she kicked out the English military bases and the US Peace Corps, they bribed ministers to split her government to maintain the colonial media monopoly. They lubricated an ‘insurgency’ of more expeditious utopians to, again, split her government. They removed her civil rights, lubricated another internecine insurgency in the south to prevent her return. And it is unclear how they finally pushed her aside. Who is ‘they’, you may ask? Ask yourself…
It is (or was) a litmus test to measure the political colors of Colombots by daring to utter the name Sirimavo – even the blackest face turns red, the whitest pales. New names have been added to the pandemonium & pantheon. Rajapakses, for instance. Will AKD minus his AK be next? His family is his cadre party. Does 1962 plus 1971 add up to 2024? Or 1965, that year Hollywood claims was dangerous for living?
It is strange that Sirimavo (if readers will forgive the familiarity) appears to have left no diaries – diaries we are told is a quintessential feminine art – and there is little scholarship about her statecraft, unlike about her husband, or her leading nemesis, JR Jayawardena. Instead, we are treated to the diversionary diaries of some of Sirimavo‘s secretaries, some of whom offer other readings of her ‘anti-imperialism’ – undermined as usual by political, military and economic warfare, overt and sotto sotto.
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So here we are, still in the midst of colonial warmongering and media fog. The whites keep blocking access to energy sources, and seek to maintain control over trade, hindering relations with the East. This ee Focus therefore reproduces Garvin Karunaratne’s scan of the history of Sri Lanka’s Divisional Development Councils Program (1970-77): ‘The DDCP addressed rural unemployment by encouraging cooperatives for agricultural, industrial and infrastructural projects.’ He believes, the DDCP is a blueprint that can be immediately implemented almost entirely with existing staff and can get into production mode within months. The DDCP was ‘a socialist concept’, engineered & promoted by ‘the Marxist group of ministers in the Cabinet’, until they were forced to leave the government in 1975.
This 6-year-old ee blog is dedicated to SBD de Silva. De Silva was a secretary to the Minister of Industries during a part of the early 1970s. He believed the then-government underestimated the enormity of the effort involved in the setting up a modern industrial state, and the power of the import mafia. He concluded the country needs a coordinated political, economic and military program to overcome underdevelopment. Karunaratne himself notes that the DDCP had to weed out ‘people who pretended to have industries in an attempt to secure allocations of foreign exchange, import and sell the goods in the market instead of engaging in production’. But it appears to have been even worse.
SBD de Silva recalled how a rentier capitalist class arose during the ‘exchange controls regime’ from 1972-77. This stands as a warning to the present NPP. These rentiers solidified their economic rule by:
‘Evading exchange controls through bribery, deception, corruption& illegal smuggling in of foreign goods. Acute shortages of goods in the domestic market stemming from world oil price increase, world food shortage and dearth of domestic foreign reserves created stupendous margins for smugglers and traders of foreign goods whose rate of profit surpassed the industries operating within the legal framework and thereby increased their financial dominance over weakly constituted merchant-manufacturing interests’ (see Dhanusha Pathirana & Chandana Aluthge’s A History of Underdevelopment & Political Economy of Inflation in Sri Lanka).
The weak exchange controls ended up reinforcing the dominance of rentier capitalist class that arose after 1977.
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• There seems to be an overproduction of economic commentators offering Sri Lanka advice on how to deal with its economic challenges. All talk about numbers alone. From Harvard to Oxford to Gothenburg, none dare even come close to talking about the need for industrialization, let alone the types of modern industrialization we need to unshackle ourselves.
Sri Lanka needs to prioritize our own industrialization, notes Radhika Desai & the Nicholases, no other country can do that for us (see Random Notes). This requires an enormous amount of state intervention – large-scale planning is required to break from underdevelopment. ‘It’s not going to happen via the free market.’ A new international division of labor based on export-oriented industrialization has been incubated at innumerable imperialist thinktanks. The IMF has also set a minefield for this government. A rather unique Central Bank Act now prohibits them from buying any government debt, inhibiting any type of activist intervention. They’ve tied the hands of this government – ‘virtually all the foreign exchange that’s going to be earned is going to be used to repay debt in the future and our debt burden is massive’. (see Random Notes)
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake: This is Your Turn!
Politicians are famous to promise the Moon and soon after winning the vote, the promises vanish into thin air!
The Sri Lankan election victory in 2024 is Unique.
Whilst the Parliamentary Elections in other major Democratic countries, such as USA, UK, India, Singapore retained the old guard and the legendary historical old two party system, Sri Lankan voter brought totally new blood into the equation.
The electorate was totally fed up of the old junkies from UNP, SLFP were sidelined in the quest for a totally new leadership.
Under the Old Guard”, which is the incorrect word to be described as Old Guard, since these Old Guards ransacked the Island with rampant corruption.
From the Top Down these leaders lined their own pockets, and creamed their palaces and cars, travelled in luxury, and got fatter whilst the poor scrambled for their livelihood.
Corruption and Corrupt Businessmen & Politicians Must be Brought to Book by the Legal Solution.
Singapore ex-minister gets prison in rare case
3 October 2024
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0e1z00vvjlo
Several times I met the Sri Lankan delegations visiting official missions and most of them had a shopping list to be given to the foreign hosts.
This is Corruption with no shame!
It is well know that most of the government officials, police officers need greezing”!
The President may consider appointing an Anti Corruption Czar to encourage squeeling” to bring the corrupt officials, name & shame them with a legal punishment.
Historically, Sri Lanka is a beautiful country paradise, with the average Sri Lankan with sincere smile.
The President should now bring that Smile Back!
—-ENDS—–
Express Your Opinion – Read What Others Say! The Independent Interactive Voice of Sri Lanka on the Internet.
Rather than becoming ready to face/control situations, most of the time we respond/react to them after the event. Owing to this shortcoming, we suffer tremendously.
This is why the perception – Sri Lankans are reactive, not proactive.
Let us look at some examples:
In 1976, Prabhakaran killed Alfred Duraippah. From 1981 – 1983, he did many heinous crimes. During this period he was arrested few times. But, our rulers always set him free. Until 2009, Prabhakaran went on major rampage. The damage/carnage he did to this this country; needless to elaborate.
Between the 1994 – 1999 Presidency, Sri Lanka encountered major losses against the LTTE. It was during this period that we lost Jaffna (1995), Elephant Pass (1999), Kilinochchi (Operation Jayasikuru – 1997) and Mulativu (1996). In the Mulativu battle, we lost about 1,500 soldiers in one go. On 19 April 1995, our Navy lost the gunboats – SLNS Sooraya and SLNS Ranasuru – scores of our seamen were killed/injured. Our President lost an eye in 1999. But, in 1999, we decided to reelect the same President with over 60% votes.
In 2004, we knew about the tsunami robbery – a major theft. But we elected the person who was allegedly responsible for same. Between 2005 – 2015, we saw bribery and corruption of unprecedented scale.
Thanks to Lasantha, we knew about the MIG fraud, white van abductions and many vigilante activities. But, the person who allegedly committed the offences – we decided to elect as the President.
Sirima ruined the economy in the 60s and 70s, we allowed her to become the Prime Minister again in the 2000s (Government’s head in the Parliament). In her latter years, she was so frail and was in a wheelchair; but we kept her as the Prime Minister.
The man who set fire to his own father’s paddy field when young; we elected him as the President. Under his watch, the whole country was set on fire on 21 April 2109.
Those who were accused of the central bank fraud were allowed to return to power. The main culprit, we allowed him to flee the country.
The list of our foolishness (not being proactive, but reactive acts) is endless:
Knowing that they are white elephants (Provincial Councils (1987), the Hambanthota Port and Mattala Airport projects (2010 – 2015), we allowed them to go ahead unheeded. Only after we realised that they are failures, we started to criticize. Did not we have the brains to realise that they will be failures? Knowing their background well, we allowed rogues to import bad medicine. We allow Indian trawlers/boats to enter our shores knowing well that they steal our precious fisher stock. Owing to human – elephant conflict, we let over 200 humans and 300 wild elephants die each year; we have failed to find a solution to this problem yet. In 2021, the foreign vessel, Express Pearl, caused massive environmental damage; we were not bothered in recovering due damages promptly.
Look at some of the developed countries’ proactive acts (the writer is not sanctioning some of them):
Before they are attacked/harmed, Israel goes after its enemies and totally annihilate them.
The USA and Australia maintain excellent border protection measures, they catch almost every unlawful immigrant that land on their shores.
The Britain knowing that they were going to lose Falklands, launched a massive, surprised operation against Argentina.
Like birds of a feather flocking together, on major security matters, the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea operate to guard each other.
The West attacked Sadam Hussain and Gadhafi mainly because they disliked them. One false reason given by them – weapons of mass destruction.
To prevent terrorism, the western countries have enacted the strongest anti-terror laws. But, they criticize our PTA, and we hail them for this. We demand the abolition of our PTA. But, if a major terrorism calamity occurs (let’s hope not), we will cry foul for not having a PTA.
By not being proactive but reactive, we have suffered immensely.
Have we learnt lessons from them? Probably not.
Why?
This is because of apathy, lethargy, complacency, ignorance, arrogance, stupidity and lack of love/devotion for the mother country (Sri Lanka).
From very small age, the country’s children are taught to utter lies. We only want to eat, drink and dance merry. At a major T20 played locally (say, at RPS), rather than watching it, we standup and dance nonstop. We do not care that those who are behind us cannot see/hear anything. We no longer respect elders. We destroy the environment. We pay a blind eye to dangerous drugs/alcohol. We utter utmost filth in public. Many want to steal from whatever way they could.
It is vitally important that our country’s leaders respect our traditions, cultures and values. When advising youth – the Z generation, they must refrain from ridiculing our ancient practices like arranged marriages, wearing talismans, wearing sacred thread on the wrist etc. We have a rich civilization dating back to 2,500 years.
The correct advise we must give the Z generation is that they must respect the X generations’ lifestyle and they must embrace western modernism carefully. The youth must bear in mind that everything that comes from the West is not good. The moment we start attacking our own sacred practices, we will be doomed.
Back to the main topic – we are famous in shutting the stable door upon the horse’s bolt. The fact that we are unable to locate the bolted horse: we are unconcerned.
(Excerpted fromRendering Unto Caesar, memoirs of Bradman Weerakoon)
My acquaintance with S W R D Bandaranaike was only through the press reports of his election campaign. That was before he came to the prime minister’s office in the Fort (now housing the foreign ministry at Republic Square), on an April morning, after the swearing in of his Cabinet at Queen’s House. His eloquence as a speaker, especially his Independence Day speech in 1948, was deeply imprinted in my mind.
Throughout a gruelling campaign he had shown extraordinary skills of perseverance in the face of severe odds, and the ability to persuade large masses of ordinary people to believe in his cause. I wondered how he would be to work with after I had experienced the rather easy going style of Sir John. There was also the serious business to be faced of how soon he would be able to make his election slogan of `Sinhala Only’ as the official language in 24 hours come true?
His accession to power through the general elections of 1956 was as revolutionary and dramatic as it was unexpected by his political opponents and the general public. Most felt that the UNP would return even with a reduced majority. All but the most perceptive, and my friend Howard Wriggins was among them, were convinced that Mr Bandaranaike’s bid for office would end in failure. Indeed as against the forces of capital, both local and foreign, and the mainstream Press which supported the UNP, the pancha maha balavegaya — the five great forces of the Sangha (Buddhist clergy), the vernacular school teachers, the ayurvedic physicians, the farmers and the workers — which he conceptualized and mobilized seemed ephemeral and insubstantial.
Yet he achieved the impossible and in an election over three days, which intended to favour the incumbent government, the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna — MEP (Peoples United Front) managed to win 51 out of the 60 seats they contested. For the record, I should mention that all the ministers of the previous government and Sir John were up for election on the first day while Bandaranaike’s constituency was to poll only on the final day. As it turned out Bandaranaike himself was returned to the Attanagalla seat (where ‘Horagolla Walauwa’ the family home is located) with the highest ever majority in an election. He polled 45,016 votes and had a majority of almost 12,000 over his nearest rival. Both his rivals lost their deposits.
A major factor in the 1956 election was Bandaranaike’s ability to consolidate the opposition to the UNP. He formed a grand coalition with four distinct political groups agreeing to fight the election as a single front on a common program and with the promise of making Sinhala the official language. The MEP was not a political party but a ‘peramuna‘ – a loose, less disciplined entity with a specific purpose, the defeat of the UNP.
Mr Bandaranaike’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party had the largest number of candidates in the MEP — 41 in all. The VLSSP of Mr Philip Gunawardene had five candidates; Bhasha Peramuna (Language Front) of Mr Dahanayake, MP Galle; and a group of eight independents led by Mr I M R A Iriyagolle. There were 60 candidates in all facing a solid UNP phalanx of 76 candidates, many of them sitting members.
At its start the coalition appeared an impractical and unlikely combination. Mr Bandaranaike was known to have an aristocratic background but with vaguely socialist tendencies and a marked sensitivity to Buddhist and Sinhalese religious and language aspirations. Dahanayake had the reputation of being close to the common man” and had recently moved away from Marxism. Philip Gunawardene was a Marxist who was now convinced about language reform. The question was how they would combine on a common program of social and economic development.
Bandaranaike clinched the issue of a united front against the UNP by entering into a no–contest agreement with the Communist Party and the NLSSP. By this it was ensured that the three parties – MEP, Communist Party and NLSSP would not compete against each other in areas where the UNP was contesting. It raised some difficulties because the latter two parties would have liked to fight the VLSSP – the breakaway group from the LSSP – and it took all of Bandaranaike’s skills of persuasion to sort this out.
Yet, by the look of things at the beginning of the campaign, Bandaranaike’s chances appeared slim. This was especially noticeable when Bernard Aluvihare, former MP from Matale and a joint secretary of the SLFP, deserted Mr Bandaranaike and went over to the UNP on the eve of the election. Yet, the MEP achieved a landslide victory. Once the wind changed, the momentum was unstoppable. The results left us all speechless. In a House of 101, as many as 95 were elected on a first past the post basis, and six to be nominated later to represent interests, mainly ethnic and not represented adequately through election, the MEP won 51 seats and the UNP was reduced to eight.
The NLSSP and C P benefited by the no-contest pact and won 14 and three seats respectively with the redoubtable Dr N M Perera becoming the leader of the opposition. The other parties which returned members were the Federal Party with a significant 10 seats, gaining eight seats over the two they had in the 1952 elections as a result of the major political parties opting for Sinhala as the official language, and the Tamil Congress getting one seat, that of G G Ponnambalam. Eight members came in as independents.
The election was clearly a manifestation of the will of the people for a complete change. Impartial observers asserted that unlike in the previous elections which had resulted in many electoral challenges, in 1956 there had been few instances of bribery, violence or impersonation. Sir John who won at Dodangaslanda – his country borough (the family had been prominent in the graphite industry and the mines were located there) – was one of the very few UNP members who returned in the 1956 change around.
But since he was not even the leader of the opposition – that position having gone to the LSSP chief, N M Perera whose alliance had won 17 seats – he hardly returned to parliament thereafter and soon left the country, virtually retiring to Kent in England where he bought himself an estate called Brogues Wood and on which he lived happily for many years. Two little incidents which I personally experienced come to mind to illustrate the political culture of the times and the quality of the men who led the country. The first is that of Mr Bandaranaike, on the first day that the new parliament met, going across the floor of the house and patting Sir John on the shoulder to show his appreciation of an election contest well fought. There was absolutely no malice in Mr Bandaranaike’s character. In fact it was Mr Bandaranaike who helped in getting Exchange Control release for the large sum of money Sir John needed for the purchase of Brogues Wood.
The other was my final visit to Kandawala to hand over some personal papers – letters and accounts – which I had found soon after the change of government. I drove in alone in my Morris Minor car and parked in the driveway. Kandawala that morning presented a very different picture from the usual bustle and noise that pervaded the place. There was no one in the verandah and the grand house which had seen such rollicking parties and egg-hopper; breakfasts seemed deserted. On announcing my arrival to an old retainer, I waited for Sir John who came down and sat with me in the verandah.
After thanking me for coming he said that I should not stay long as someone might misunderstand my visit. He then abruptly remarked, Weerakoon, (he never called me Bradman or Brad) I am like the elephant. I never forget.”
The year 1956 saw the first real change of regime the young state had ever faced. The popular mood was such that everything was to change; the way institutions were run and certainly the persons manning them in particular. The Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) manifesto promised revolutionary change from the way the UNP had governed the country in the first nine years of freedom. It was not only the language policy, which had priority and an insistent lobby behind it, but everything else that underpinned it.
This was especially so on the cultural side where indigenous forms and practices were set to soon replace the western modes of thought and habit which had gained acceptance in Colombo’s elite circles of society. The banning of horse racing and the consumption of liquor at public functions were two of the most visible of the early measures taken by the new administration to project the new trend. The writing was clear for all to see: the era of the brown sahib as Tarzie Vittachi had told of was coming to an end.
That the government was indeed a peoples’ government was unexpectedly and forcefully expressed when at the opening of Parliament the people in the overflowing public galleries actually invaded the sanctum – the floor of the House itself – and some of them disported themselves in the speaker’s chair. The change was also to encompass the arena of foreign policy. Bandaranaike and the socialist texture of the Cabinet made it inevitable that the old reliance on the Western alliance and even the Commonwealth had to change.
Very soon, after he took over, the Suez Crisis erupted and Mr Bandaranaike’s address to the General Assembly at the UN made his non-aligned attitude very clear. He made a brilliant exposition of what non-alignment meant, that it was not simply neutrality, not merely sitting on the fence but being committed to the hilt in the defence of peace and freedom. The old order was changing and as Bandaranaike was to remind us, over and over again, it was a time of transition.
Moving the officials of his administration out or around was one of Mr Bandaranaike’s early tasks as prime minister. But he was very conscious of the fact that, barring a very few who were really politically committed, the average bureaucrat mostly carried out faithfully, if he or she was careful and efficient, the biddings of his or her political boss.
Bandaranaike correctly surmised that this would be the same for the new master and therefore was somewhat slower than his followers expected in shifting out those who they felt were `henchmen’ of the former regime. I once heard him explain his alleged dilatoriness over such transfers very clearly and precisely. I have,” he said, only just taken control of the wheel. I can’t, my dear fellow,” (he was quite fond of that phrase especially when addressing those he considered slightly below him in intellect) change all the parts at the same time or I won’t be able to move at all. I will replace the brake first, the rear wheel next and the carburetor after that, and so on, and soon have a reconditioned model.
But you must give me time”. His timing and logic were perfect and the questioner silenced. But even more important, I thought, was that it showed his essential humanism and liberality. And what would he do with me whom he hardly knew and only as the other civil servant in the office? After an almost two year cadetship (that was what the probation period was called in the CCS) in Anuradhapura and Jaffna, the furthest of the outlying districts, which I had thoroughly enjoyed as a bachelor, outstation life did not now seem particularly enticing. I had got engaged to Damayanthi and the wedding had been fixed for August – only four months away and it would be nice to stay on in Colombo. But I dared not ask.
Finally it was all sorted out to everyone’s satisfaction. Park Nadesan, who had been very close to Sir John, retired on special ‘abolition of office’ terms – which meant he would be entitled to his pension rights though he was leaving before due time. There was to be no post of secretary to the prime minister at least for some time; I stayed on virtually as secretary, but officially as assistant secretary. The formal arrangement was that I would ‘pass the papers’ through the permanent secretary to the ministry of defence and external affairs, the amiable and extremely hard-working Gunasena de Soyza, whom Bandaranaike knew well and had great confidence in.
But as it happened, the prime minister soon began to deal with me directly and, except in the most difficult cases, when I would walk across to the permanent secretary’s room to consult him, the paper flow (or more often chase) was between me and the prime minister at 65, Rosmead Place, his private residence.
I had weathered my first transition. I presumably knew some of the ropes and the new prime minister had thought I could be useful. Since there was not going to be a new secretary appointed officially, I moved into the large and elegantly furnished room which Nadesan had used, overlooking the flamboyant tree-lined Gordon Gardens on Senate Square (now Republic Square). I was to remain there for the next 15 years. I had survived a major political change and not for the first time. I had not taken sides and perhaps Mr Bandaranaike who always did his homework had heard of this. On the other hand it could have been that this first time round I was just too small to be noticed.
From all that the media, the cartoonists and the political writers were saying S W R D Bandaranaike would not only be difficult to get on with but was altogether a very complex personality. D B Dhanapala, the expressive editor of the Lankadipa thought he was ‘an enigma wrapped in a riddle’. Dhanapala’s exasperation in trying to read Mr Bandaranaike’s mind and ways was shared by many others like Tarzie Vittachi6 and Aubrey Collette, the incisive cartoonist.
Guwahati: All Assam Engineers’ Association (AAEA), a forum of graduate engineers in northeast India, appreciates Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat for making an fervent appeal for caring the nature and protect Mother Earth. The RSS chief, while delivering his annual address on the occasion of Vijayadashami, urged everyone to conserve water, avoid single-use plastic, plant tree-saplings and finally save the planet for all living beings. Sarsanghchalak Bhagwat, who leads the 99 years old largest socio-cultural organisation in the world, observed in his address from Nagpur on 12 October 2024 that the ongoing material developmental journey, inspired by an incomplete ideological basis of consumerism, has emerged as a journey of destruction for the entire creation on Earth. He pointed out that due to the rapid deforestation, the greenery gets destroyed and rivers dried up, chemicals poisoned food, water and air in the last few decades. For a sustainable, holistic and integrated development with the basis of Bharatiya traditions, a unanimous ideological consensus across the country will be needed, but till then Bhagwat urged everyone to practice three small but important initiatives. First, let’s use water as minimally as possible and harvest the rain water. Secondly avoid using single-use plastic and thirdly increase the greenery with massive plantation programs where the conventional species of trees should be encouraged. Assam government should launch a colossal initiative to promote the practice of harvesting nature’s priceless gift, as we are a rain-fed State. By doing so, we can promote an example for the water-scarce human population across the world, which may face a severe fresh water crisis by 2050,” said AAEA president Er Kailash Sarma, working president Er NJ Thakuria and secretary Er Inamul Hye. The forum appealed to concerned authorities to formulate policies for making the rain water harvesting enterprise mandatory in every household, precisely the urban apartments with a large number of tenants. It argued that the rain gives relatively clean water with no cost that can be preserved and used in need following very simple & affordable technologies. The rain water may be used as a primary source or a supportive step for the wells or ponds. The growing dependence on underground water even for large irrigation purposes may pose a serious threat to already depleted groundwater levels. It should be time (also the responsibility to everyone) for helping the ground water research so that it can feed the increasing population in the days to come,” said the AAEA, adding that the rain water must be recognised as a resource (and not the garbage to throw away) for essential human utility.
The year 2024 is shaping up to be the most important year in Sri Lanka’s history. It already had unprecedented political changes and more are on the way. Over 100 once powerful politicians have been reduced to zero; most of them have given up politics and elections. This is indeed the May-2009 moment for them. They know what side of that moment they are in.
One may argue that the UNP was defeated pretty badly in 1956 but it bounced back. Similarly, the SLFP was defeated in 1977 and after languishing in the opposition for 17 years came back to power. Those events cannot be compared to what happens in 2024. Although the UNP lost the election in a crushing defeat in 1956 it still managed to win over 30% of the vote. Same goes for the SLFP in 1977. This is not the case in 2024. Parties of old political parties have fallen to 0%, 1%, 3% and the highest is just 17%. Two new parties, NPP and SJB, have already occupied the top two slots. If the NPP is to be replaced, that will be the SJB. If the SJB is to be replaced in future, that will be the NPP. Old UNP, SLFP, SLPP and the like have come to the end of the road.
Why did it happen is a worthless discussion. The country is in a debt crisis with a massive debt of $102 billion, it is bankrupt, has seen very large-scale violence since 1958 at regular intervals, millions of islanders have left the island for good and every institution has collapsed due to corruption, mismanagement and politicization. These are sufficient reasons for the electoral demise of all past political parties responsible for those calamities.
However, people will have to cut their expectations to realistic proportions. The island’s structural defects cannot be changed by replacing its rulers. Until those structural defects are fixed the island will remain a less developed nation shuttling between war and bankruptcy. Yet, within the new framework there is some hope of survival. Under the old system the nation did not survive.
Guwahati: On the occasion of Vijayadashami festival, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat made a fervent appeal to everyone to care for nature and protect the planet for the human race. In his annual address from the headquarter of RSS at Nagpur in Maharashtra on 12 October 2024, Sarasanghachalak Bhagwat observed that the ongoing material developmental journey, inspired by an incomplete ideological basis of consumerism, has emerged as a journey of destruction for the entire creation on Earth
The summer season scorches, the rain takes away everything and the winter freezes life like a dead body. Due to deforestation, greenery got destroyed, rivers dried up, chemicals poisoned food, water, air and even the mountains started collapsing in the last few years. There is no alternative than to build a path on our own ideological basis which will compensate for all these losses and will give us sustainable, holistic and integrated development, commented Bhagwat, adding that it’s possible only when there is a unanimous ideological consensus across the nation.
We should have made our developmental path on the basis of the complete, holistic and integrated vision based on our Bharatiya tradition, but we did not do so. At present, such thoughts are being heard a little bit, some things have been accepted superficially and a few have been changed. Much more needs to be done. We are also suffering the consequences of blindly following the incomplete developmental path that leads to destruction in the name of development,” asserted the RSS chief
In presence of chief guest Padma Bhushan awardee Kopillil Radhakrishnan, the former chairman of ISRO, many RSS Adhikaris, Swayamsevaks and citizens, Bhagwat urged everyone to practice three small but important initiatives. The first thing is to use water as minimally as possible and conserve rain water. Second thing is to avoid using single use plastic. Third initiative will be increasing the greenery and planting trees which (the particular species) acclimatise easily and will not harm the land & environment. It may take time to resolve related policy issues, but we can start this simple action with immediate effect from our homes, stated Bhagwat.
Speaking about the increasing confidence among Indian youth, women, entrepreneurs, farmers, workers, soldiers, etc on the backdrop of improving Bharat’s image, power, fame and position on the world stage in the last few years, the Sarasanghachalak affirmed that the world community is now accepting our sense of universal brotherhood as well our views towards the environment. The sense of self-pride is increasing in the society, especially among the young people, stated Bhagwat, but he cautioned that some sinister conspiracies also appear before us, which need to be understood adequately.
It is on expected lines that certain powers whose vested interests are affected by our country’s rise in the world that they would let Bharat grow only within certain limits. This commitment of the countries that claim to be liberal, democratic and committed to world peace vanishes as soon as the question of their security and self-interest arises. Then they do not hesitate to attack other countries or overthrow their democratically elected governments through illegal and/or violent means. All these things can be understood by observing the sequence of events happening, both inside Bharat and around the world,” he pointed out.
Expressing his concern over the relentless atrocities on the Hindu community residing in neighbouring Bangladesh, Bhagwat however revealed that this time the minority communities got organised and hit the streets and hence some defences were ensured. But as long as the tyrannical fundamentalist nature exists there, the sword of danger will hang over the heads of all minority people including the Hindus in the Muslim majority nation. That is why the illegal infiltration from Bangladesh into Bharat and the population imbalance caused by their presence becomes a matter of serious concern for the common people also, avowed Bhagwat.
The Hindu community which is reduced to a minority in Bangladesh will need the help of all those who are in favour of generosity, humanity and harmony, especially the Union government in New Delhi, and Hindus living across the globe. The Hindus should learn the lesson that being unorganised and weak is like inviting atrocities by the wicked,” mentioned Bhagwat, adding that even God hardly cares about the weak. The Hindu society has a greater responsibility and once the society wakes up to write its destiny with its own efforts, the organizations, institutions, administrations etc come for extending help.
Earlier, the RSS Sarasanghchalak performed Shastra Poojan on the auspicious occasion to mark the its 99th foundation day in gracious presence of Union minister Nitin Gadkari, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, former ISRO chief K. Sivan and other dignitaries. Mentionable is that the RSS was founded by first Sarsanghchalak Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in 1925 on the sacred occasion of Vijayadashami and the nationalist movement emphasizes on creating an unparalleled and a character based Hindu society.
The Bali Process meeting focused on return and reintegration services for stranded migrants was conducted on October 10 and 11 at the Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo. This collaborative effort involves the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force (NAHTTF), coordinated under the Bali Process Return and Reintegration Services (BP AVRR) and supported by the Australian Department of Home Affairs.
The Chief of National Intelligence and the Head of the Officials Committee of the NAHTTF, representing the Ministry of Defence as the Chair of the NAHTTF, delivered opening remarks, emphasizing the importance of collaborative efforts in tackling human trafficking and supporting affected individuals.
The meeting addressed recent trafficking trends in the region, particularly the alarming rise in trafficking for forced criminality, including scams and other illegal activities. This surge has highlighted the urgent need for effective responses to the growing number of stranded migrants and identified trafficking victims.
The key objectives of the meeting included enhancing coordination mechanisms for victim rescue, screening, and immediate assistance, as well as providing essential services for survivors. Participants also discussed referral pathways and return and reintegration support, with a particular focus on combating trafficking for forced criminality throughout Southeast Asia.
Government representatives from Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand, members of the NAHTTF, which included various member institutions such as the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils, Local Government and Labour, the Attorney General’s Department, the Criminal Investigation Department and the Department of Immigration and Emigration participated in the event.
Leader of the ‘Sarvajana Balaya’ alliance, entrepreneur Dilith Jayaweera says that if a noble opposition is created, it can do more work than a government.
He further points out that a courageous opposition will not have to remain in the opposition forever.
He made these comments during a special meeting held today (12) in Waskaduwa with the candidates contesting this year’s parliamentary elections from the ‘Sarvajana Balaya’ under the symbol of the ‘medal’.
Speaking during the event, Mr. Dilith Jayaweera said:
We are talking about nationalism, not racism. Many people are afraid to say that Sri Lanka’s nationalism is based on Sinhala Buddhist civilization. They think that people will get angry if they say this.”
He stated that the issue is that politicians choose the racist part of nationalism and engage in politics. It’s done in the south… even in the north. We are against that.”
Jayaweera stated that this country can be guided towards economic development if everyone in the country is brought to an entrepreneurial mindset.
There needs to be a strategic plan. That is how countries have developed,” he said.
Now we have to go to the opposition. We came to change politics. If we form a noble opposition, we can do more work than a government. If we have a good opposition, we don’t have to stay in the opposition all the time. We are a courageous opposition.”
If there are cases… if there are things hidden under the bed… If there are secret accounts, it will become a cowardly opposition,” he added.
The Ministry of Public Security has instructed the Acting IGP to expedite the police investigations into seven high-profile cases including the Easter Sunday bombings and the controversial Treasury Bond auction in 2015.
Instructions have also been given to expedite investigations into the death of businessman Dinesh Schaffter death and the death of a police officer during the shooting incident near the W15” Hotel in Weligama in 2023, according to the Police Spokesman.
Police Spokesman DIG Nihal Thalduwa said the Ministry of Public Security has instructed the Acting IGP to direct special attention and to expedite several special investigations being carried out by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and other agencies as the progress of these investigations have been observed to be somewhat insufficient.
He stated that specially the investigations being handled by the CID were recently subjected to a review and that instructions were given with regard to several cases identified including the bond scandal and the Easter attacks, to assign more officers and expedite investigations.
DIG Thanduwa said instructions were also given to further investigate the suspicious death of businessman Dinesh Schaffter in 2022 and the disappearance of the former Eastern University Vice Chancellor Prof. S. Raveendranath in 2006.
With regard to the latter, he said that it was observed that investigations have not been sufficient and that the ministry instructed to expedite investigations and report on the progress.
He said instruction were given to expedite investigations into the incident where a Police Constable was killed in a shooting carried out by officers of the Weligama Police Station near the W15” Hotel in Weligama on December 31, 2023.
The police spokesman added that instructions were issued to launch investigations into the abduction and murder of Tamil journalist Taraki Shivaram, also known as Dharmaratnam Shivaram, on April 28, 2005 as well as to expedite probing the disappearance of activists Lalith Kumar Weeraraj and Kugan Muruganathan in Jaffna on December 9, 2011.
In most cases, from what I have seen of Sri Lankan Officials and Businessmen, Lack Both.
The failure of getting IMF support is a Case-in-Point!
Keeping Sinhala as the Official Language is important, BUT English should be taught like it was done in the 1950s, 1960s.
Learn a lesson from Singapore.
Whilst most Chinese speak Mandarin, the majority of Singaporeans speak excellent English!
In business negotiations, the First Impression is Critical.
Whether one dons a business suit or the National Costume, the body language plays a great role in creating the First Impression.
Next the Presentation Skills.
Good visual presentation should be Short, Brief with Bullet Points.
The best in Powerpoint Presentations are the Americans & the British.
The Presentation to IMF or to EU officials demand Professional Presentation made by a proficient agency.
The IMF Officials have a great international experience in seeing some of the best skills.
How much is the IMF debt in Sri Lanka?
Sri Lanka’s debt-to-GDP (gross domestic product) ratio is expected to fall from 128 percent of GDP in 2022 to just above 100 percent by 2028, according to IMF forecasts. Debt servicing costs – the percentage of tax revenues needed to pay creditors – will also remain elevated.20 Sept 2024
National debt of Sri Lanka 2022
In 2022, the national debt in Sri Lanka increased by 32.5 billion U.S. dollars (+54.25 percent) since 2021. With 92.43 billion U.S. dollars, the national debt thereby reached its highest value in the observed period. Notably, the national debt continuously increased over the last few years. 4 Jul 2024
Who owns the debt of Sri Lanka?
These creditor groups are the Official Creditor Committee of official bilateral lenders (co-chaired by France, India, and Japan), who hold $5.8 billion of Lankan debt; the China Exim Bank ($4.2 billion); other Official Creditors (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan – $0.3 billion); ISB holders ($14.2 billion); China …9 Jul 2024
Sri Lanka has a New Broom!
Will it Sweep Better than the Old Brooms?
Time will Tell!
It Cannot Get Any Worse! Can it?
Credit: Google
Express Your Opinion – Read What Others Say! The Independent Interactive Voice of Sri Lanka on the Internet.
You won’t have to go far to find an English speaking country in Europe as there are over 370 million English speakers out of about 450 million EU residents!
How Many Speak English Globally?
Out of the world’s approximately 7.8 billion inhabitants, 1.35 billion speak English.
What are the 5 European languages?
Five languages have more than 50 million native speakers in Europe: Russian, German, French, Italian, and English.
Russian is the most-spoken native language in Europe, and English has the largest number of speakers in total, including some 200 million speakers of English as a second or foreign language.
What languages are in the EU Parliament?
The accession of Croatia on 1 July 2013 brought the total number of official languages to 24: Bulgarian, Czech, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Irish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish.
Express Your Opinion – Read What Others Say! The Independent Interactive Voice of Sri Lanka on the Internet.
This story was published as part of Outlook’s 21 October 2024 magazine issue titled ‘Raavan Leela’. To read more stories from the issue,click here
The question arises: how did Indian mythology merge to turn an actual Sinhala hero-king into a villain? You don’t have to go far to find the answer. It was the Tamil Nadu settlers who projected Raavan as a treacherous villain, but have suddenly changed their tune to now claim that he was Tamil in order to use that as a ploy to substantiate a separate Eelam homeland quest.
If the Ramayana is a myth, an epic created in India revolving around Sita, Ram and Raavan the king of Lanka”, promoting the Ramayana Trail in Sri Lanka purely for political and commercial purposes is a bogus tourist pilgrimage. How many Indian tourists are aware of this? Justin W. Henry who wrote Ravana’s Kingdom: The Ramayana and Sri Lankan History from Below to ascertain a Sinhalese version of the Ramayana existed, declared that there was no such mythological version in Sri Lanka.
There are four aspects to consider in approaching this topic together with the need to set facts and fiction in their proper perspective: to what extent is Valmiki’s Ramayana factual or a myth; the actual existence of King Raavan from which the Sinhalese race descends; two foreign-funded projects using Raavan as a cult” to encourage worship of Raavan instead of the Buddha (the goal being to cunningly use Raavan to destroy people’s reverence for the Buddha and stop them from visiting Buddhist temples); and lastly, another bogus attempt to link the Ramayana Trail to replace Buddhism with Hinduism across Sri Lanka as a long-term goal. The last two projects aim to break the Sinhala Buddhist nationalism in Sri Lanka, which remains the strongest point of defence and the pillar of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty. What the Ramayana Trail and the Raavan cult project aim to do is to take Sri Lanka to a pre-Sinhala pre-Buddhist era, deviously erasing the place of Sinhala Buddhists.
There are some important facts we must consider while trying to comprehend various aspects of history—fact or fiction. According to Deborah de Koning’s The Many Faces of Ravana, Sri Lanka was the centrepiece of the world and the cradle of civilisation and his kingdom was larger than the island of Sri Lanka. It was an extremely prosperous place as per the Lankavatara Sutra discovered in Japan. The Sutraconfirms Raavan was a Buddhist who lived during Dipankara Buddha’s time and invited the Buddha to visit Sri Lanka.
It was Raavan who owned and used the first aircraft over 5,000 years ago in which he brought Dipankara Buddha in the pushpak (floral chariot) to Sri Lanka. Thus, Raavan’s world was far more than a Ramayanamyth. This is probably why the United States tasked Justin Henry, a Cornell University student, to conduct research on it. His findings would erase the falsely-hyped notion that the Sinhala race descended from Vijaya to a version that the race descended from the Yaksha tribe of Raavan that was far older. The villagers of Meemure (Lakegala) are believed to be descendants of Raavan’s Yaksha tribe. Interestingly, Talaimannar and Koneswaram can be viewed from atop Lakegala, which was used for Raavan’s Dandumonara (chariot). Ranamure villagers continue to observe an annual ritual called the Raavan yakkama. H.C.P Bell in 1896 noted that the period before Vijaya’s arrival was known as the Raavan period as per the Ravana Rajavaliya.
The existence of Raavan and the Yaksha tribe, of which Kuveni was a member, became part of the Sivu Hela (four tribes comprising Raksha, Yaksha, Naga and Deva). Sivu Hela became Sinhale. This existence would automatically negate the Eelam claim as well and expose their bogus historical narrative, which includes the false claim that Raavan was a Tamil king just as they falsely claim that they were Buddhists to negate the fact that the Sinhalese lived in the North before their arrival from Tamil Nadu initially via numerous invasions (18 in all), and thereafter as colonial indentured labour. In addition, the many Buddhist archaeological sites and Buddhist stupas are proof of Sinhala Buddhists living in North Sri Lanka. Interestingly, in August 2023, MP Buddhika Pathirana presented a private member’s bill in Sri Lanka’sParliament requesting research be done on King Raavan.
The Hela nation that Raavan ruled was technologically advanced, and he was the progenitor of the Sinhalese. Indian political analyst P.K. Balachandran confirms in his ‘Ravana cult energises Sri Lankan nationalism’, how King Raavan who excelled in medicine, martial arts, music and aircrafts wrote several books in Sinhala, which were translated into Sanskrit. Deborah de Koning’s book also states that the Buddha prophesied that Raavan would return in 5,000 years as the future Maitreya Buddha.
In the backdrop of this, the mythological Ramayana continues to encourage Hindu India to hold Raavan in contempt. Annually, scores of people gather around a large effigy of Raavan, shout contemptuously at it, and then burn it. It is amazing how a myth can evoke such hatred and animosity against the King of Lanka. Interestingly, the Dussehra festival (Raavan Dahan) is not celebrated in the same format in Tamil Nadu as it is in North India.
Given that the Ramayana is mythology, it is to be naturally deduced that the Ramayana Trail is part of that fiction. This reaffirms the Trail is a politically motivated agenda that is being promoted even by the Tourism Authority of Sri Lanka simply as a marketing tool to lure tourists. It raises questions about the long-term side-effects of such initiatives. While Sri Lanka’s archaeology department has statutes to protect archaeological sites, there are no laws to prevent creation of bogus sites, bogus artefacts and the promotion of myths and fiction as factual.
The sites of this Ramayana Trail have no historical basis. Even the Seetha Amman Kovil was built by Tamil estate workers who were brought to the country by colonial Britain in the 19th century. While many Indian academics, courts and authorities deny any factual basis for the Ramayana, it is baffling how a myth is being promoted as reality by some people in Sri Lanka. Ironically, while India promotes Buddhist tourism in India—the cradle of Theravada Buddhism and the land where many Buddha statues and artefacts exist—instead of marketing Theravada Buddhist heritage, Sri Lankan authorities are marketing a myth! When India annually burns effigies of Raavan after spewing venom, it is baffling how Sri Lankan authorities can officially agree to be part of a myth solely for political and commercial purposes and do immense damage by presenting disinformation to the younger generation of both nations. Recorded history is getting distorted as a result. Sigiriya has been falsely described as Chitrakoota, the palace of Raavan’s half-brother Kuber. Isurumuniya is now claimed to be the temple of Raavan’s parent. These need to be immediately corrected.
At the Royal Asiatic Society symposium, Danesh Wisumperuma claimed there was no historical evidence that Rumassala, Ritigala and Dalukanda are remnants of rocks brought by Hanuman since geologically they were formed some 542-4,500 million years ago while the flora are Sri Lankan and not from the Himalayas. The supposed Sita flower” is actually a commonly grown Ashoka flower. There were also attempts to project the bovitiya as a Sita flower”. It is clear that organised groups and well-funded experts” are writing distorted histories for a larger politicised agenda aligned to the Akhand Bharatobjective. Sri Lankan authorities thinking of only commercial gain by falsifying history to draw Indian tourists are paving the path for greater historical damage with future political ramifications. Once bogus sites and histories are established and revered, presenting these as distortions and falsified history becomes a tedious task especially when there are likely to be more objections against rectifying false history.
Therefore, the Sri Lankan authorities must be legally challenged and reverse the damage they have already committed. It is unfair to Indian tourists who set off to Sri Lanka believing in a falsified historical trail, unless they are informed beforehand that they are paying to tour a fictitious trail.
(Views expressed are personal)
Shenali D. Waduge is a writer and political analyst
(This appeared in the print as ‘Beyond the Border, History Stakes Its Claim Over Myth’)
The recent appointment of a former Sri Lanka Air Force chief as the Chairman of Airport and Aviation Services (Sri Lanka) (Private) Limited, the state-run airport management company, has been the subject of much debate.
While it may seem like a newsworthy event, in reality, it follows a long-established pattern of selecting top military personnel for civilian roles.
This practice, however, raises several questions.
First, the company is registered as a “Private” entity, yet government influence over decision-making appears as strong as ever.
How private can it truly be when the government retains control over its leadership appointments?
More troubling is the broader implication of bringing in an outsider, someone who, while distinguished in his chosen field, is unfamiliar with the intricacies of managing a specialized organization like Airport and Aviation Services.
Why isn’t there a system in place to groom leaders from within the company?
Many successful private sector companies invest in the training and professional development of their employees, ensuring that when a top position becomes vacant, there are capable candidates ready to step in.
This not only maintains continuity but boosts morale and productivity by demonstrating a clear path to career progression.
When employees know that their hard work and commitment can lead to leadership roles, it creates a sense of motivation and loyalty.
On the other hand, if the top positions are seen as reserved for outsiders, often with political connections, any sense of fairness and meritocracy within the organization is lost, and morale inevitably suffers.
So, why hasn’t such a career development program been implemented in these state-linked enterprises?
One possibility is that these leadership roles are intentionally kept available for political appointees, ensuring a means of rewarding loyalists and back-scratchers.”
Another possibility is that even within the organization, political influence has played a role in staffing, leading to a workforce that may not have the skills or merit to rise through the ranks.
Regardless of the reason, the end result is the same: inefficiency and frustration among capable individuals within the organization.
If the goal is to truly manage this company like a private enterprise, it’s time to abandon the old patterns of political patronage and establish a genuine system of career development and progression.
This would not only empower employees but also help the organization thrive in a competitive, global aviation industry.
If there is a constitutional provision claiming no dual citizens / foreign citizens can sit in Parliament, how is this provision to be honored or checked? The best & only way is for the Election Commission/Commissioner to ensure that they do not accept any nominations of those who are dual citizens. Such nominations must be rejected by the Election Commission & the Election Commission is dutybound to the People to ensure they have not accepted nominations of dual citizens/foreign citizens. This was a major lapse in the 2020 elections. The Election Commission or Commissioner cannot slide from upholding this provision in the Constitution this election.
We cannot expect candidates to be honest enough to write in their nomination papers that they are dual citizens knowing they will get rejected. That mistake was made by MP Geetha Kumarasinghe who had to forfeit her seat in Parliament as a result of declaring she was a dual citizen. However, it was believed that many inside Parliament who were dual citizens kept quiet & ended up getting a state pension at the end of 5 years.
How does the Election Commission check whether nominees are dual citizens/foreign citizens? There are several ways they can do so. The immigration & emigration is the best place to start. Candidates can be asked to give affidavits that they are not dual citizens which would hold them accountable if they are. Either way, if there is a constitutional provision, the Election Commission has to find a way to ascertain that the Legislature does not have dual citizens. The Election Commission cannot escape this duty. The Legislature is the key place that laws are made, if a law has been passed that no dual citizens or foreign citizens can hold Public Office, then the gate that such people can enter needs to be stopped, this is gate of handing nominations to contest elections to enter Parliament.
Thus, the Election Commission that failed to do its duty in the 2019/2020/2024 elections must do so at least now.
Have they even inserted this requirement in the recent nomination forms? If no, the Election Commission is not fulfilling a key duty.
It is baffling that those who are eternally chanting anti-corruption” do not take issue regarding dual citizens entering parliament because the Election Commission is not taking provisions to stop such candidates handing nominations. In fact, the general public & all good governance promoters must demand that the Election Commission reject all dual citizen nominations. Otherwise, this constitutional provision becomes a ridiculous inclusion which is not taken seriously even by the so-called independent Election Commission.
With today being the last day to hand over nominations, the Election Commission must issue a statement regarding the status of Dual Citizens & Foreign Citizens & ensure they do not accept nominations of dual citizens/foreign citizens. The legal fraternity must come forward to ensure the Election Commission does not relegate on their duty to uphold the Constitution of Sri Lanka.
In every functioning democracy, Parliament plays a central role in shaping the nation’s future. It is the institution that represents the will of the people, legislates on their behalf, and holds the government accountable for its actions. In countries like Sri Lanka, Parliament is the heartbeat of the democratic process, where laws are debated, decisions are made, and national priorities are set. However, as much as the institution itself is critical, the quality of its members is equally significant in ensuring that Parliament fulfills its role effectively.
The Role of Parliament in a Nutshell
Parliament’s primary responsibility is lawmaking. Every significant policy, regulation, or public initiative in the country must pass through its rigorous debate and approval processes. By legislating, Parliament ensures that laws reflect the evolving needs of the people while safeguarding national values and constitutional principles. Another essential function of Parliament is oversight. Members of Parliament (MPs) hold the government accountable by scrutinizing its actions, budget allocations, and policy implementation. Parliamentary debates, questions, and committee reports all serve as mechanisms to prevent abuse of power and ensure that the government operates transparently and in the public interest. Additionally, Parliament serves as the voice of the people. MPs, as elected representatives, bring the concerns of their constituents into the national discourse. By voicing these issues, they help align national policies with the day-to-day realities of citizens, ensuring that the needs of the diverse population are met.
The Quality Expected of Members of Parliament
While the structural role of Parliament is well-defined, the effectiveness of the institution is contingent upon the caliber of the individuals who serve within it. The quality of MPs is fundamental to the credibility, efficiency, and integrity of the entire legislative process. First and foremost, MPs must possess a strong ethical foundation. They should be individuals of integrity who prioritize the welfare of their constituents and the nation over personal gain. Corruption, conflicts of interest, and unethical behavior can severely undermine the trust the public places in Parliament, eroding democratic institutions over time. Knowledge and Competence is the next in line. The complex issues discussed in Parliament—from national security to economic policy—demand that MPs have a deep understanding of both the subject matter and legislative processes. While no one MP is expected to be an expert in every field, a basic level of competence, combined with a willingness to learn and engage in informed debate, is crucial. On the other hand, MPs are not merely figureheads; they are public servants entrusted with significant responsibility. This requires dedication and a genuine commitment to serving the interests of their constituents. Parliamentarians must prioritize the public good, even when it conflicts with personal interests or the pressures of political life. In a diverse society, MPs must be able to bridge divides, representing not only their immediate constituency but also the broader interests of the nation. This requires empathy, open-mindedness, and the ability to engage with individuals from various backgrounds and viewpoints. Further, the Parliamentarians must be effective communicators. They need to articulate the concerns of their constituents clearly, argue for policy changes persuasively, and engage in debates constructively. This includes being transparent about their decisions and positions on key issues, allowing the public to hold them accountable. Ultimately, the quality of MPs is not only determined by their personal virtues but also by the systems in place to hold them accountable. Political parties, the media, and civil society all have roles to play in ensuring that those who serve in Parliament meet the highest standards of public service. Electoral systems must promote the selection of competent, ethical candidates, and voters must be vigilant in assessing the qualities of those they elect. Continuous public scrutiny, through an active and free press, helps ensure that MPs are held accountable for their actions, reinforcing the importance of integrity and competence. As citizens, we must recognize the significance of this institution and demand that those we elect embody the highest standards of public life. Only then can Parliament fulfill its true role in society and ensure a prosperous and just future for all.
People’s Role in Selecting Members in a Parliamentary Election
In a democracy, the most powerful tool in the hands of the people is the right to vote. In Sri Lanka, parliamentary elections represent the culmination of the people’s role in determining who will legislate, lead, and hold the government accountable on their behalf. Every voter, regardless of social status or background, is entrusted with the power to shape the country’s future by selecting members of Parliament who will represent their interests. However, with great power comes great responsibility. It is critical for the electorate to understand and fulfill this role conscientiously. The buzz word here is the Power of the Vote. Parliamentary elections are the cornerstone of representative democracy. In Sri Lanka, where Parliament is the supreme legislative body, the members elected through the vote directly influence the country’s policies, governance, and development. The process allows citizens to choose candidates who reflect their values, concerns, and vision for the future. Each vote contributes to determining who will be responsible for making laws, managing public finances, and ensuring the overall wellbeing of the nation. Therefore, it is not just a right but a civic duty to vote with careful consideration. A single vote may seem insignificant, but collectively, the votes of millions decide who will hold the reins of power.
Voters need to be discerning about the qualities they expect from their representatives. Elections are not merely about party loyalty or charismatic personalities but about choosing individuals who can deliver on promises and address the nation’s pressing issues. The first quality voters should demand in their elected officials is integrity. Politicians should be transparent, ethical, and committed to serving the people rather than personal or party interests. Voters must be wary of candidates who have a track record of corruption, dishonesty, or criminal behavior. Holding MPs accountable for their actions is crucial, and voters have the power to reject those who fail to uphold public trust. Parliamentary representatives must be capable of steering the country toward progress. They should have a clear vision for development, economic growth, and social harmony. Voters should scrutinize their proposed policies and ask critical questions about how these ideas will be implemented. Visionary leaders go beyond slogans and rhetoric; they present concrete plans that benefit all citizens, not just a select few. In a complex and fast-changing world, MPs need to possess the competence and knowledge required to address key issues like economic stability, healthcare, education, and foreign policy. Voters must elect individuals who understand both local and global dynamics and are capable of making informed decisions in Parliament. Inclusivity and Representation are also not forgettable. Sri Lanka is a diverse nation with people of different ethnicities, religions, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The members of Parliament must be able to represent this diversity and work for the common good. Voters should prioritize candidates who demonstrate empathy, inclusiveness, and a commitment to equality. A representative who can unite rather than divide the nation is essential for long-term peace and prosperity.
The Importance of Informed Voting
One of the key responsibilities of voters is to make informed decisions. This requires paying attention to the manifestos, track records, and debates surrounding the candidates and their parties. The media plays an important role in disseminating information, but voters must critically evaluate the reliability of the sources they consult. In an era of misinformation and disinformation, relying on verified facts rather than propaganda is essential to making sound electoral choices. Voters should also attend or watch political debates, follow campaign promises, and examine the personal histories of candidates. The democratic process thrives when voters are well-informed and vote based on substance rather than superficial impressions. However, in every election cycle, there are candidates who attempt to buy votes through favors, promises of government jobs, or outright financial incentives. While such offers might seem tempting, especially in economically challenging times, accepting these short-term gains can have long-term negative consequences. Electing individuals based on temporary personal benefits rather than their capacity to govern effectively undermines democracy and contributes to poor governance, corruption, and inefficiency. The people of Sri Lanka must resist such offers and remember that their vote is a contribution to the country’s future. The choices made today will impact future generations, shaping the opportunities available to children and grandchildren.
Sri Lanka has a relatively high voter turnout compared to many other democracies. However, ensuring that every eligible citizen exercises their right to vote is still vital. Voter apathy, especially among young people, can lead to an imbalanced representation where only certain segments of society dictate the nation’s course. Every voice matters and it is the collective responsibility of citizens to encourage participation in the electoral process. Additionally, voters must hold elected officials accountable after elections. Engaging in community discussions, staying informed about the performance of MPs, and participating in civil society efforts are important ways to ensure that elected representatives continue to work for the people. In the end, the quality of governance depends largely on the wisdom of the electorate. A well-informed, vigilant, and engaged populace is the foundation of a thriving democracy—one that holds its leaders accountable and works for the betterment of all citizens.
Sunday Times of October 06, 2024 reports that the Govt. will carry on with Ranil’s Urumaya project. The report adds that the Land Commissioner has said President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, has instructed that land distribution should continue. I only hope that this report is not correct.
In November last year, I wrote on Lanka Web that the Urumaya program was the Return of the Millennium Corporation Compact (MMC) which was outright rejected by the then Govt. despite a promise of a financial package associated with it. This political scheme of Ranil appears on the surface to be farmer-friendly as it gives the farmer the legal right to the land and allow him to use it as a disposable asset with the right to dispossess the property which was restricted by the Land Development Ordinance of 1933.
in the present context, there is the grave danger of Rice Mill Owners, and money lenders, who would convert a mortgage to an outright sale. It is well known that most LDO Permit holders are in eternal debt. Today there will be more desperate landowners who are drug and alcohol addicts or plagued with health problems who would readily sell their lands for a pittance. With the LKR at 300 to a dollar, it would be a bonanza for foreign buyers to buy cheap land in Sri Lanka. What happened in Palestine when the Jews backed by financial institutions dispossessed the land of Palestinians and the aftermath that followed is not a flight of imagination. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sursock_Purchases
In addition, the outright sale of landholdings resulting in the fragmenting of farmland among dependents would be a serious disadvantage to mechanization and modernization of the already stamp-size farmlands. Fragmentation even among relatives is bound to increased litigation. In the rural areas, disharmony among neighbors and crime has its root mainly in land disputes.
It is misinformation that a Permit holder under the Land Development Ordinance could not raise essential funds on the security of the land. The Ordinance allowed landowners to mortgage the land to the Peoples Bank.
It is regretted that professionals in Agriculture and Sociology have not commented on this vexed issue.
References
*Land Use Policy 22 (2005) 358–372
Impacts and causes of land fragmentation and lessons learned from land consolidation in South Asia
Gajendra S. Niroula, Gopal B. Thapa
School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand
*Land fragmentation in rural Sri Lanka: A Sociological analysis of a Southern Sri Lankan village
*Sustainability of Agriculture Haniza Khalid1 and Muhammad Dayyan2
The inevitable implications of fragmenting farmland ownership are (i) uneconomic land sizes and farm operations, (ii) greater tendency to convert the farmland to other uses (and hence, the subsequent decline of food production capabilities of the country.
Colombo, Oct 11 (Daily Mirror) -Former Director CID, SSP Shani Abeysekera has been appointed Director of Crimes of Sri Lanka Police.
On the recommendation of the Acting IGP, the National Police Commission and the Election Commission have approved SSP Abeysekera’s appointment.
According to police sources, with the change of government, it is the responsibility of the new Director Crimes to look into all previous criminal matters in the country and to bring the culprits to book sooner than later.
SSP Abeysekara when contacted confirmed his new appointment with Daily Mirror but did not specify as to when he is going to take up the post.
The Commissioner General of Elections, Saman Sri Ratnayake, announced that a total of 764 nomination papers were submitted by political parties and independent groups for the 2024 General Election, from the 22 electoral districts across the island.
However, he stated that only 690 nomination papers were accepted from political parties and independent groups for the election and that 74 nomination papers were rejected.
Speaking to reporters this evening (11) after the nomination period ended, he stated that the highest number of nominations were received for the Digamadulla electoral district with 72.
He said that 64 of these were accepted as 08 nomination papers were rejected.
The Commissioner General added that the lowest number of nominations were received jointly from the Polonnaruwa and Monaragala districts with 15 each.
He revealed that preference numbers will be announced in the near future.
The accepting of nominations for the General Election commenced on October 4 and ended at 12.00 noon today (October 11). Time was allocated until 1.30 p.m. to file any objections related to the nominations.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has instructed officials of the Ministry of Finance to take necessary action to provide a monthly interim allowance of Rs. 3000 to all pensioners, from next week.
After reviewing the delay in adding the Rs. 3000 allowance to the October pension, the President directed that this amount be credited to the pensioners’ accounts within the next week.
These instructions were given during a meeting held yesterday (10) afternoon at the Presidential Secretariat with senior officials of the Ministry of Finance, chaired by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
Despite the circular No. 02/2024 dated 2024/08/24 issued by the Public Administration Department to grant a monthly interim allowance of Rs. 3000 to all pensioners, funds were not allocated for this purpose.
Upon reviewing the matter, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake informed the officials of the Ministry of Finance to ensure that the required funds are provided.
Considering the hardships faced by pensioners due to the non-payment of the Rs. 3000 allowance with the October pension, and their subsequent requests, the President decided to proceed with the payment from this month, despite the prevailing financial difficulties of the government.
Since the October pension has already been credited to the pensioners’ accounts, the President instructed officials to ensure that the Rs. 3000 allowance is credited to their accounts within the next week, and from next month, this allowance will be added to the monthly pension.
Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance Mahinda Siriwardena and several senior officials from the Ministry of Finance were present at this meeting
Colombo, Oct 11 (Daily Mirror) -Former Director CID, SSP Shani Abeysekera has been appointed Director of Crimes of Sri Lanka Police.