Sri Lanka is targeting to get US $ 2 billion investments this year, an increase from only US $ 1 billion reported last year, said Chairman of the Board of Investment Dinesh Weerakkody.
We are looking at targeted initiatives to get from $ 1 billion in 2022 to $ 2 billion in 2023. Specifically, we are looking at: Attracting 100 technology services companies with a new product, a targeted programme to get 50 existing BOI companies to reinvest, setting up industry advisory councils for the four thrust sectors for leads, policy tweaking and promotion, digitalisation of key investor services, aggressive promotion of the destination, key account management and modernisation of existing zones to meet with international green standards. Also there is a large number of new sectors which are emerging, associated with digitalisation and with the new economy. Also the traditional sectors have new elements coming out as sub-sectors. However the sectors of the future will be the new sectors which are now emerging,” he said.
US military pollution is a significant contributor to climate change. If it were a nation state, it would be the 47th largest emitter in the world. Their negligence, nuclear testing and disregard for human life has come at a huge environmental cost, and reform needs to be taken into consideration to protect our planet.
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The US military recently released a report analysing the Department of Defense’s climate risk. The Pentagon thoughtfully acknowledged that rising temperatures are reshaping” the world with more frequent, intense, and unpredictable extreme weather conditions caused by climate change”, but they failed to analyse the Defense Department’s own contributions to climate change.
This came as a surprise, as ample evidence has been published before the report detailing how dangerous the US military’s climate change contributions are. In 2019, a report released by Durham and Lancaster University found the US military to be one of the largest climate polluters in history, consuming more liquid fuels and emitting more CO2e (carbon-dioxide equivalent) than most countries”. It established that if the US military were a nation state, it would be the 47th largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the world. These figures were from taking into account the emissions from fuel usage alone.
This report did not come as a shock. The US military is a vast infrastructure and relies upon an extensive global network of trucks, cargo planes and container ships to supply its operations. These operations can range from anything – to humanitarian aid, to bombs and hydrocarbon fuels.
Gathering data about the US Armed Forces can be difficult. With their decision to withdraw from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the US is exempt from reporting their military emissions. However, gathering statistics from their negligent actions can be obtained through local news organisations, NGOs, lobbyists and Freedom of Information requests.
US Military Air Pollution
The US military is consistently contributing to enlarging the carbon footprint suffered by our planet.
In Minden, LA, the military were found to be burning explosives and munition waste several times a day with no environmental emission control measures being taken. Residents complained so the military moved the burning of these toxic substances to Colfax, LA.
In 2017, the US Air Force bought USD$4.9billion worth of fuels, the Navy bought USD$2.8billion, the Army USD$947million and the Marines USD$36million. The US military was also found to have purchased 269,230 barrels of oil a day and emitted more than 25,000 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide.
The report released by Durham and Lancaster University was an independent public assessment of the US military’s greenhouse gas emissions and calculated US military pollution through critical analysis of its logistical supply chains around the world. This study establishes the US military as one of the world’s largest institutional consumers of hydrocarbons.
Report co-author Dr Patrick Bigger, of Lancaster University Environment Centre, said: The US military has long understood it is not immune from the potential consequences of climate change – recognising it as a threat multiplier that can exacerbate other threats – nor has it ignored its own contribution to the problem.”
Yet its climate policy is fundamentally contradictory – confronting the effects of climate change while remaining the largest single institutional consumer of hydrocarbons in the world, a situation it is locked into for years to come because of its dependence on existing aircraft and warships for open-ended operations around the globe, Bigger added.
Co-author Dr Benjamin Neimark, Associate Director of the Pentland Centre for Sustainability in Business at Lancaster, said: This research provides ample evidence to support recent calls by activist networks to include the US military in Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal and other international climate treaties.”
Our research demonstrates that to account for the US military as a major climate actor, you must understand the logistical supply chain that makes its acquisition and consumption of hydrocarbon-based fuels possible” added co-author Dr Oliver Belcher, of Durham University’s Department of Geography.
Belcher continued: How do we account for the most far-reaching, sophisticated supply chains, and the largest climate polluter in history? While incremental changes can amount to radical effects in the long-run, there is no shortage of evidence that the climate is at a tipping point and more is needed.”
US Military Land Pollution
Two of the most harrowing cases of US military pollution activity were the nuclear weapons tests they performed in the Marshall Islands and the Navajo Indian reservation.
From 1946 to 1958, the United States tested 67 nuclear weapons in what is now known as the Republic of the Marshall Islands. These weapons tests have been equated to being 1,000 times greater than the Hiroshima bomb, and the fallout from the tests had the largest impact on four northern atolls: Enewetak, Bikini, Rongelap, and Utrok, each of which were evacuated due to radiation emitted from these tests. Radiation poisoning, birth defects, leukaemia, thyroid and other cancers are just a few of the detrimental life-threatening consequences experienced by the residents of those islands more than 75 years later.
Between 1944 and 1977, Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state released radioactive toxic gases and fluids, affecting the fish that provide food and economic subsistence to the residences. In addition to this, Uranium mining and aboveground nuclear-weapons tests had been occurring for approximately 50 years on and around these reservations. These actions have caused dramatic increases in cancer rates among indigenous people that reside in this region.
US military land pollution does not only take the form of nuclear testing, but it can also take the form of military real estate. Reports have indicated both domestic and foreign US military bases to rank as among some of the most polluted in the world. This is due to the astonishing amount of toxic chemicals, such as perchlorate and other components to jet fuel, that are found to contaminate drinking water, aquifers and the soil surrounding the bases.
Additionally, a lot of the land is wasted by the US military. Abandoned military sites are very common, with reports finding that almost 900 of the 1,200 Superfund sites in the US alone are abandoned military sites. These military sites are also said to be contaminated, with special clean up grants distributed to them from the government.
Almost every military site in this country is seriously contaminated,” John D. Dingell, a retired Michigan congressman and war veteran, told Newsweek in 2014. Lejeune is one of many.”
The US military have claimed they are implementing positive changes into their policies, but these efforts have been so slight that it begs the question of whether they take these issues seriously. They have made efforts to increase renewable electric generators on the military bases in a bid to reduce their carbon footprint, although these efforts have been minimal. Additionally, the US Navy Task Force Climate Change initiative that was attempting to prepare military bases for global shifts in sea levels and warming ocean temperatures was quietly shut down.
US Military Water Pollution
The damage the US military has inflicted is shocking, and they have shown complete negligence and disregard of human life.
In 2017, the US Naval Air Station Oceana in Norfolk, VA was found to have spilled 84,000 gallons of jet fuel into a waterway. Similarly, in 2019, statistics arose claiming that the Air Force contractor had been dumping industrial solvent Trichloroethylene (TCE) into the ground surrounding the Tucson International Airport for 29 years. It was found that over 1,350 residents suffered from cancer and other illnesses, due to these negligent actions. Filed claims were brought against the Air Force by many South Tucsonans, who claim to continue to suffer from the damage caused by drinking the polluted water to this day.
This negligence and disregard of life is not new behaviour from the US military. From 1953-1986, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina was found to have been contaminating the groundwater with harmful chemicals that far exceeded safety standards. As a result of this negligence, a large number of servicemen contracted cancer and other illnesses.
American Intervention
Aside from their destructive contribution to climate change, US military wars have had a devastating effect on the economies and population of the countries they intervene in. Perhaps one of the most recent cases to their detrimental environmental record is the intervention of Iraq. The Iraqi economy is suffering tremendously as they are now forced to import more than 80% of their food, due to the desertification of 90% of Iraqi territory. Furthermore, US policies are negligent and disregard the safety of their servicemen as well as the Iraqi population. Open-air burn pits used to dispose of waste in the 2003 invasion has caused those exposed to suffer from cancer, and the depleted uranium left over from the Gulf War still causes a big environmental burden.
The irony is that a great deal of US interventions occur as American corporations wish to protect their access to oil and other fossil fuels. We see this dependence on oil as one of the driving factors of why there is such a heavy US military presence in many parts of the Middle East.
These interventions not only come with a high cost to life, but to the environment too. The Cost of Wars Project found the total emissions from war-related activity in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria to be estimated at more than 400 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide alone.
A refugee crisis following a war is inevitable, and this is another dangerous result from American interventions. Surges of migrants from the Middle East, North Africa, and Central America have been attempting to flee to Europe and the US, and unfortunately, the response from both Europe and the US has been to tighten their borders and to increase their military activity. Furthermore, refugees and internally displaced people are on the frontlines” of the climate emergency, and are the most vulnerable people who are likely to be disproportionately affected, as reported by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHRC).
What Can Be Done?
As former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon stated in 2014, The environment has long been a silent casualty of war and armed conflict. From the contamination of land and the destruction of forest to the plunder of natural resources and the collapse of management systems, the environmental consequences of war are often widespread and devastating.”
Three possible reforms could be:
Reducing the budget. The simplest thing to do would be to reduce the Pentagon’s budget, however this is difficult as Washington lawmakers have announced they will increase the military spending budget in the coming year. Therefore, the international community needs to put pressure on Washington to reduce their military budget.
Holding the military accountable. The US military has committed numerous human rights violations, through their negligence, nuclear testing and wars. They need to be held accountable by other powerful countries in the international community for these violations.
Redirect funding. Rather than spending their budget on distributing and procuring fuel and wars, they could redirect their budget into other peaceful measures, such as funding a Green New Deal to alleviate climate change.
A presidential & parliamentary election are due. People are also eagerly awaiting to vote. Most citizens just want an election. They are clueless as to who should come to power & what team can truly solve the problem. They are euthanized into thinking that the next parliament will solve all problems. The problem is that the problem is defined differently by segments of the people. There is no identified common national problem for the nation to focus on & solve. This is the problem Sri Lanka faces. Confounding matters further is the inability of the leaders to identify friends from foes & turning foes into friends and friends into foes, thus self-isolating ourselves for no reason. The biggest problem is the inability to understand how geopolitics influences Sri Lanka’s affairs and devising ways and means to deal with that first.
Sri Lanka is in a catch 22 situation. We cannot trust most parliamentarians. Majority have disappointed us and the few good men in Parliament are kept silent or sidelined.
We saw an elected President suddenly resign and his replacement, probably enters the Guinness Book for the manner he ended up finally on the throne that had been elusive for almost 30 years. This is where he finds himself in a predicament. With Presidential & Parliamentary elections due in 2024/2025, everyone is wondering not only when the elections will be, while a handful of political savvy analysts are wondering if there will be an election.
The former Presidents’ silence on any matter is impacting people’s trust in the SLPP while stalwarts within are busy wondering which party they should cross over to, to stand better chances to return to power. This appears to be the newest form of musical chairs going on in Parliament at present. The lone elephant is now being wooed from all quarters. The mathematics looks simple. With breakaway SLPP/SLFP and SJB converging, the pre-nuptial agreement has been cast to justify minority parties to join to make one grand alliance. 13a chorus is that justification. How far that will impact minority votes is looking sketchy. It all looks honky dory numbers-wise, but does it mean the people will vote for them? If the aragala slogan no to all 225” holds true, then these deals are worth nothing. Then there is the JVP & NPP & FSP, divided within by ideology but united to remain in the Opposition and enjoy the perks of functioning as trouble maker as well as taking on contracts to politically attack anyone. Unfortunately, this entity is propped by former comrades now happily living on western shores pumping money to their party to ruin the lives of the youth in Sri Lanka. Foreign intel handouts cannot be ruled out either.
While the President maybe calculating his odds, he is unlikely to want to face any embarrassing defeat now that luck & regime change has brought him to the highest position in Sri Lanka. His uncle facing a similar situation, decided not to hold elections and held a referendum & extended Parliamentary term of office. However, he came to power with a 5/6 mandate.
There is possibility that with the economic situation likely to decline from the honeymoon it is artificially enjoying, the odds of holding an election will go against the sitting President. In such a scenario, most leaders have a habit of creating artificial protests and anarchy and then use that to justify delaying of elections. This option is likely to be on the cards as well.
The experiment during the yahapalana government, turning the entire Parliament to a merry home is another option with majority MPs happy to continue power knowing voters are unlikely to want to vote them back to Parliament. So their preferred option is to enjoy the perks while they can whichever party they are able to cross to. These are the low-lifes that are in Parliament today. How many have a semblance of integrity or wish to honor the mandate given to them & protect the Nation & its heritage?
None of the parties have an economic plan for the nation & are only too happy to be taking any amount of loans & dumping the repayment & interest on the public. The ignorant public even the literate do not see the dangers of not having a national policy plan & keeping to that plan. This is primarily due to a handful always wanting to enjoy perks & privileges, whatever party comes to power because they help fund parties to power whichever color the party comes in. The corporates, the academia, the media magnets that prop unsavory individuals to power, have much to answer for.
The Parliamentary debates and decisions are nothing to be happy about – siphoning assets and resources even to tiger funders and leasing out land for 100 years leaves little hope for the people of this generation to take back what belongs to the State. How far these investments have really benefitted the Nation’s treasury is another exercise to investigate as well.
What we should understand is that this family of 225 MPs, 99% are only interested in themselves, not even bothered about maintaining the vision or mission of their party. All of the parties have sacrificed their party ideology. This is one more reason to reject the Parliamentary system and open public debate to introduce a new system of governance altogether.
The Parliamentary system currently in practice is an utter failure, just as the Provincial Council system as a result of the Indo-Lanka Accord. None of the amendments have served the People or the Nation.
Therefore, any new constitution MUST change the existing corrupt Parliamentary system, the system of governance needs to change completely. It must be simplified and be pro-development oriented maximizing on what is suited for our terrain and what our people are good at. We do not need 225 MPs and the current corrupt 1.4m Public Service should undergo reforms and placed in areas where the new national economic plan should make optimum use of them. The 13th amendment must be removed in its entirety. The defense services should remain unchanged as no nation should compromise on national security while a bloated foreign service is unnecessary if the minister only travels and returns bringing bagful of assurances or promises” which is not worth the expense of the travel.
The people are to blame as well. They have cast vote for the same corrupt candidates who bounce from one party to the next. This is so because all candidates have a habit of making promises they do not mean to keep. If candidates come with goodybags – take them (these are probably siphoned wealth from the State), but don’t vote for them. Apart from a handful of MPs – all others should be rejected at a future election.
One film, posted on YouTube last month, emphasized the importance of Buddha’s teachings over images and pagodas.
The Myanmar junta released this image of Swiss filmmaker Didier Nusbaumer [center, top] and members of the cast of the film Don’t Expect Anything.”
Credit: Myanmar Information Ministry
Myanmar junta officials arrested a Swiss filmmaker and 13 cast members, accusing them of defaming Buddhism in informational videos posted on YouTube, according to a statement published by junta-controlled state media.
The Swiss Embassy in Yangon told Radio Free Asia on Monday that it has asked Myanmar authorities to clarify the current status of filmmaker Didier Nusbaumer.
Junta Capt. Than Naing Kyaw and other military security members arrested Nusbaumer and 13 others – including a 12-year-old girl – on Aug. 7, two weeks after a video they produced appeared on YouTube. It was first reported in state media last week.
Nusbaumer, 52, is associated with the Phaung Daw Oo Integrated Monastic Education School in Mandalay, authorities said. He wrote the screenplay while the 12-year-old girl played the main character in the story. The other cast members also came from the school.
They are accused of insulting Buddhist cultural traditions and the morals of Buddhist monks, according to state media. Authorities haven’t specified under which law they would be prosecuted.
Sensitive subject
The film, titled Don’t Expect Anything,” portrays the message that it is meaningless to worship Buddha images or pagodas, and instead it’s important to follow Buddha’s teachings.
The 12-year-old main character uses harsh words in the film to describe how the monks enjoy the food donated by lay people every day. The film portrays her as a reincarnation of a hermit who practiced Buddhist teaching in a previous life.
On Aug. 15, after the 14 people were arrested, the school and charity group wrote to junta officials and the Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee – established by the government in 1980 to oversee the Buddhist clergy – asking for their release.
The school wrote that Nusbaumer is a former Buddhist monk at the Phaung Daw Oo monastery, a true believer in Buddhism and did not intend to offend the religion. About 90 percent of people in Myanmar follow Buddhism.
Junta-controlled newspapers first reported the arrests on Aug. 18.
When contacted by telephone by RFA, a monk at the monastery answered that all the monks have been saddened by the arrests and cannot respond at the moment.
Because of how sensitive religion can be, it’s best to avoid any kind of filming that might mislead people, said Ashin Thabarwa Nadi, the secretary of the Arakan Monks’ Association.
In this country, such a thing could easily cause religious or ethnic riots as a political trick,” he said.
The junta as Buddhism protector
A Mandalay resident who has watched the film said on the condition of anonymity that arresting multiple people for criticizing Buddhism should not happen.
In the film, he gave the message that we should live according to the teachings of Buddha,” the resident said. The little girl sending alms to the monastery in the film said some words to the monks, but that is nothing more than just a scene in the movie.
But the authorities just pinpointed that scene and arrested and detained all of them under the pretext that they have defamed Buddhism,” the resident said. I think that should not have happened.”
When RFA contacted Aung San Win, director of the junta’s Ministry of Religion and Culture, he said he was unaware of the case.
RFA attempted to contact the junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun and the junta’s spokesman for the Mandalay region, Thein Htay, but they could not be reached.
It’s possible that the junta made the arrests to make itself appear to be the protector of the people and religion, said Min Thae, a political author.
The military leaders have always tried to appear to be protecting Buddhism, trying to imply that it should be in the political arena in Myanmar,” he said. The junta wants to create a public opinion that it is protecting the national religion, especially among its pro-military people.”
Sri Lanka’s consumer price inflation slowed to 4.6% year-on-year in July from 10.8% in June, helped by easing food prices, the statistics department said on Monday.
The National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) captures broader retail price inflation and is released with a lag of 21 days every month.
Food prices contracted to negative 2.5% in July from 2.5% in June, the Department of Census and Statistics said in a statement.
Prices for non-food items also eased to 10.9% in July from 18.3% year-on-year in June.
Since June, Sri Lanka’s inflation has come down sharply from the runaway levels seen earlier, partly due to the statistical base effect, but also helped by a stronger rupee currency, which has lowered the costs of fuel, power and imported food.
A $2.9-billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) secured in March has topped up foreign reserves, which had dwindled to record lows in early 2022, plunging the island into its worst financial crisis in more than seven decades.
NCPI_20230821E by Adaderana Online on Scribdhttps://www.scribd.com/embeds/666306725/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-3jwxqTzBNTjbgYkGo1sb
‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’
e-Con e-News August 2023 Part 4
India is ‘inexorably’ enabling the war machinery of the US, Australia & Japan around Sri Lanka, the Indian Ocean and the Asia-Pacific region. India’s Kautilyan capers are ‘causing a serious change in the balance of forces and generating a spike in regional & global tensions’, astute Indian analysts warn (see ee Sovereignty, Malabar Exercises). Inexorable?
On August 18, the navies of the US, India, Japan & Australia kicked off their 2nd annual Malabar war games, southeast of Sri Lanka. The war games downplayed as ‘exercises’ are ‘surrounded by much hype that a QUAD collective maritime defence alliance is emerging in the Indo-Pacific’. China & Russia patrolling their own Pacific coasts yet drove English media apoplectic. Anglo-American NATO media (in their saturating style) simply refuse to entertain their citizens to an actual map of the world (see ee Sovereignty, The New Atlas).
Also on Friday, US President Joe Biden hosted ‘a trilateral summit at Camp David with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, to sign ‘a defence, security and technology cooperation agreement.’ Both neutered Japan & an amputated Korea are already occupied by 10,000s of US troops.
India was England’s largest satrapy with sepoy army to match. Malabar, an English colonial name for India’s southwestern coast, includes the state of Kerala – ancient land of the Chera. Kerala’s elected Communist government was overthrown by a (barely 10 year old) independent Indian military, ordered there by PM J Nehru in 1957. Two years later, PM SWRD Bandaranaike was killed (not by who we are told) in the ancient land of the Sinhala, and his government destabilized. All ‘Malabar War Games’ perhaps!
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• August is also a month for NATO’s minions to relax, retool and revitalize their engines, physical and mental, before the start of their industrial year in autumnal September. Bookfairs and school openings paper it all over. This is followed by further missile-waving in icing October. Scary Halloween. After which they give thanks for re-inflated war budgets (midst their starvation of the original ‘Indians’).
This eeFocus relates a LakshmanKadirgamar Institute confab conclusion that it’s ‘ridiculous… to still talk of non-aligned policy’, after ‘having signed the ACSA (Access & Cross Servicing Agreement) with the US, in August 2017’. And what’s with August 2017? In late July 2017 another fragrant agreement was made to legalize multinational corporations (MNCs) haemorrhaging dollars overseas, which led to last year’s engineered default?
At this Kadirgamar Institute confab, speakers pacific and otherwise praised the human rights record of US-led powers! – their still-bleeding wars on Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, notwithstanding. They also forgot at this LK commemoration that ‘the much-respected’ Kadirgamar was ‘killed by an organization established by India’. (see ee Focus, Quagmire)
Also in this ee, a former US Foreign Official traces the US plan to impose a ‘federal’ solution on Sri Lanka. To unify an industrializing country, the USA fought their own bloody war to prevent federalism and secession. They’ve forgotten, we’re told, that United States of Amnesia. Of course, as their dearly ‘free media’ constantly remind us, their power (white-settler impunity, truth be told) is the ability to financially and militarily impose their own reality. On the past… and the present. Until… the future catches up (see ee Focus, Federal).
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• Friday’s imperialist war games in the ocean came right after the US got Colombo to host ‘The Indo-Pacific Environmental Security Forum (IPESF) 2023’ from 14-17 August. US Envoy & 2022 Coup funder Julie Chung was joined by the President’s nephew Ruwan Wijewardene – former State Minister of Defence and now ‘Senior Adviser to the President on Climate Change’ (ahh! now the fog clears), US-sanctioned Chief of Defense Staff General Shavendra Silva, and Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera. They discussed ‘Climate Change & Security’, Maritime, Ocean & Water Security, Impacts of Urbanization & Land Security, and Building National & Regional Resilience’.
The US Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), hauling the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), and Sri Lanka Coast Guard (SLCG) in tow, says it invited 140 senior military officers & ‘top-level environmentalists’ from 28 countries in the Indo-Pacific.
Sigh! These ‘environmentalists’ were in deep hibernation when an organic fertilizer policy was being viciously vilified. Some therefore wonder ‘who of the Climate Crisis Gurus & NGO Gravy Train’ starred at this show? ‘Saving’ the environment has long been big business for the UN environment experts. They’re now doing opaque carbon credit calculations in order to privatize forests and enable ocean grabbing in the name of conservation, while marketing Debt for Nature Swaps, green & blue bonds & scams!’ (see ee Sovereignty, From ‘Donor Darling’ to Pariah & Back) USAID & Cargills also made a deal to plug electric vehicles in at all their supermarkets!
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• Kautilya Cows for Machiavelli’s Big Mac – ‘Contrary to the Modi government’s theatrical public diplomacy upholding India’s strategic autonomy’, India’s foreign policy establishment is generating ‘an entirely different perception… at the political and diplomatic level’ helping to plant ‘the function of confrontation… in the AUKUS and in QUAD’ enabling ‘an acceleration of strategic realignments among the big powers’ amidst growing signs of a new cold war globally.
India’s moves come just after the 19th round of India- China Corps Commander-level Meeting held at Chushul-Moldo border meeting point on the Indian side on 13-14 August. A veteran Indian diplomat notes: ‘India is at risk of being caught in the eye of the storm, as it were, although its issues with China are neither one of geopolitical rivalry nor of being a gatekeeper for Western hegemony.’
Indeed critics wonder how the media manipulates Manipur and Kashmir (which we once knew only as expensive imported saris) to produce Bollywood-style India’s magical claim to dividing Sri Lanka to enable the blooming of rights the whites call ‘human’. India, the US & England are also funding terrorism on Manipur’s border with Myanmar.
India’s funding and training bloody terrorism in the country and then proceeding to supposedly ‘ban’ the Tigers, and yet uphold their parliamentary stripes, recalls this week’s ‘US Sanctions on Syrian ‘Moderate Rebels’ It Had Previously Armed’: ‘An auto sales company owned by the leader of one of the armed groups is also being designated’. (see ee Sovereignty, US Sanctions)
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• US Ambassador for Cyberspace & Digital Policy Nathaniel C Fick will visit Sri Lanka from August 20-23, after visiting India, August 17-20. He will lobby the Sri Lankan government, private sector and thinktanks on buying US-vended equipment for cybersecurity, information & communications technologies, and digital freedom. Former marine Fick was CEO of cutely named cybersecurity company Endgame Inc, then worked for Dutch Elastic NV, before being made an ‘Operating Partner’ at San Francisco’s Bessemer Venture Partners, which operates in India, Israel and England (see ee Random Notes, SLTelecom’s Bowel Movements).
Blowing in the Wind – With all these US officials wasting their carbon footprints on junkets to Sri Lanka, we lose track and yet wonder what happened to ‘US State Department Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption’ Richard Nephew and Dylan Aikens, the Anti-Corruption Analyst for the US Department of State who visited Sri Lanka August 8-9? Not a peep. Wonder what silence they have bought? Gone with the Wind!
‘Sri Lanka’s authorities must consult vehicle importers when making decisions
on relaxing an ongoing import ban, President of the Vehicle Importers’ Association
Indika Sampath Merinchige said… Merinchige claimed the government is relaxing
vehicle imports in accordance with the wishesof the IMF
which bailed Sri Lanka out of its worst financial crisis in decades.
‘The government is doing this for the IMF. As traders, we also like this.
But we don’t wish to lose it,’ said Merinchige.
– ee Industry, SL vehicle import ban: Traders want to be consulted in decision-making
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Who must a government, elected by the voters and vote counters of the country, listen to? A Peradeniya Professor of Agriculture, points to the sky (climate, a great variable like sexuality & EU markets, able to attract loanable dollars). The Professor says farmers should listen to… Agriculture Professors:
While the government has the responsibility of ensuring the availability
of key resources for farming such as fertilizer, water, seeds, fuel etc,
the farmers, in turn, should have the willingness to adapt and
change their age-old cultivation practices & perceptions
to follow recommendations that are issued
after careful research & field validation.
A paradigm shift is needed on the part of the farmers as well.
– Prof WAJM de Costa, Sr Professor & Crop Science Chair,
Faculty of Agriculture, Peradeniya University
(see ee Economists, Are Farmers Willing to Listen to Agriculture Professors?)
• Chena Burn Index (CBI) – Indeed cultivators and poachers are also being blamed for an increase in forests being set on fire. This may be an indication of the tremendous pressure being placed on cultivators, for whom chena (swidden aka slash&burn) has been an ‘age-old’ and lucrative window to direct cash, as opposed to rice cultivation (as it stands), which gets them into further debt to merchants & moneylenders.
So! Which farmers should the government listen to? Which professors? The last Peradeniya Agriculture Professor, much quoted by the media in opposition to organic fertilizer policy, turned out to be a local director of English MNC and chemical importer CIC (ICI Ltd).
Note that the good Professor Costa allows the government a ‘Responsibility to Ensure’ (R2E). Who then will provide ‘fertilizer, water, seeds, fuel’? We do not have to imagine ‘The Who’ in the ‘Age of the 17th IMF Review (17 Vaeni JaMuLa Yugaya)’. Which seed, fuel & fertilizer importers should the government listen to? And water?
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Civil Servant Raju Coomaraswamy (father of NGO Queen Radhika Coomaraswamy
and de facto CBSL Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy) was once sent abroad
and told to write on the balance of payments. He apparently consulted
an Indian statistician, who asked him, ‘What results do you wish to show?’
• More particularly, which leaders should we listen to? Here again, foreign state & corporate funding seeks to tell us. Take the recent ‘poll’ (an exegesis of how ‘polls’ – usually corporate-funded surveys – came to replace ‘polls’ at physical adults-only voting booths, would be fun on another day).
EconomyNext and other US embassy’s media spigots tell us:
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Significant drop in favourability of Sri Lanka’s Anura Kumara Dissanayake:
‘An opinion survey for July has shown that leftist leader AKD
has seen a dip in his net favourability rating, with opposition leader Sajith Premadasa
making a marginal gain while President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s rating stayed static.
A Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey (SLOTS) polling
by the Institute for Health Policy (IHP).’
We vaguely recall this survey and institute being funded by an Australian state institution. IHP’s website tells us ‘IHP is very glad to be associated with Health Policy Research Associates (HPRA)’. Access to ‘Sri Lanka based’ HPRA’s website is limited and requires identification.
Unauthorized – This server could not verify that you are authorized
to access the document requested. Either you supplied the wrong credentials
(eg, bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand
how to supply the credentials required – hpra.lk
So much for transparency! Instead, IHP tells us HPRA is ‘an independent consultancy firm, which carries out consulting assignments in the fields of health policy, health economics and planning, social protection and development’. HPRA’s client portfolio includes the World Bank, WHO, ILO, UNHCR, the Government of Kyrgyz Republic, Government of Sri Lanka, and England’s DFID.
Compare the state of surveys in Sri Lanka with China, where it is the government that depends on and yet controls research so that it benefits their own country (see ee Quotes). We also see this HRPA’s link to the UN (WHO, ILO, UNHCR, etc) which increasingly outvoices Sri Lanka’s government ministries and departments on such vital national issues as malnutrition and education, as well as determines policy direction.
And speaking of England’s ‘aid’ dispenser DFID, ee has alluded before to the stunting and submission of our economies, much like our working class, to the whims and demands of imperialist economies, especially to allow them to maintain the innovations in their machine industries. This ee tracks the ‘evolution’ of the DFID, how ‘Colonial Office’ came to be renamed ‘Development Office’ (ee Random Notes, English Aid for English Machines).
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• Sri Lanka remittances reach US$541mn in July 2023, we were told this week (see ee Workers). There’s little information on exactly which categories of workers are responsible for sending our largest sources of foreign exchange. Let alone how it was possible for the flow of such remittances to be turned off, let alone how our import-export mafia are able to park tens of billions of the country’s dollars outside the country. No such surveys here. And even better, detail exactly what are we paying back debt for. How many obsolete and over-expensive technologies, industrial goods & services have we had to pay for?
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• In Sri Lanka’s August Business Sections (that palimpsest of erasable good news) a survey by eeFinance shows a flurry of ‘profits’ posting by private banks (even the public banks still serve private purposes) albeit in what they call ‘challenging’ times:
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NDB ups 1H pre-tax profit by 55% to Rs4.2billion
amidst continuing external challenges
And here’s why: ‘The finalisation of the DDO and the options extended to banks has removed ambiguity and has helped lessen the risk premia added to interest rates.’
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HNB Group records Rs9.8bn PAT in 1H 2023
HNB also adds: ‘We commend the government’s DDO plan – which insulated the banking sector from any reprofiling of Treasury Bills or Bonds. This in turn enables banks, inundated with mounting credit impairment and higher taxes, to use much needed capacity in supporting the revival of key sectors and the broader economy.’
Are these bank profits invested in modern industry? No. Instead workers’ organizations report that current debt restructuring places the burden of debt repayment on working class. ‘Government has decided to use the funds of the Employee Provident Fund to repay Sri Lanka’s debt.’
Hotel workers report that with the IMF’s demands for labor flexibility, ‘hotel managers are no longer required to pay workers for an 8-hour shift’. Additionally, workers will not be entitled to any overtime pay.
At least private banks are also thrilled by the CentralBank insistence that Aswesuma beneficiaries ‘must use banks that had the ability to process cheques’, which happen to be commercial banks. Using a private bank that robs money and refuses to invest in workers and the country is a human right!
It is no coincidence that ‘private companies are willing to set up factories inside prisons’. And midst all this, Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary this week addressed a USAID Human Trafficking Workshop!
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• AI-Generated News – US-funded Advocata is keeping its head down midst this their 17th IMF Yugaya. Yet their imported media memes prevail. As comedy. Take this clearly ‘accidental’ news item, from the US embassy in Colombo’s funded media spigot, EconomyNext:
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Sri Lanka to expand bloated state for Cinnamon despite tax woes
‘Sri Lanka’s cabinet of ministers had approved the setting up a separate department
for the development & promotion of Minister Bandula Gunawardana [sic!]…’
(see, ee Agriculture, Minister of Plantation Industries…)
Sri Lanka thinks that it is saddled with nine Provincial Councils because of India. That is not so. India was not interested in setting up nine Provincial Councils in Sri Lanka. India was after something else. India was engineering the partition of Sri Lanka, the creation of a separate sovereign state consisting of the north and east of Sri Lanka
This issue of how to achieve a separate state in Sri Lanka had been under discussion for at least one year before the Accord was signed. The text of the Indo- Lanka accord refers to proposals negotiated from 4.5.1986 to 19.12.1986”.
The Tamil Separatist Movement had discussed the issue with India, prior to the Accord. M Sivasithamparam, A. Amirthalingam, and R. Sampanthan of the TULF wrote to Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minster of India, in 1987, drawing attention to the discussion between government of Sri Lanka and the TULF, in 1986, where it was agreed that the Provincial Councils would have near absolute” legislative power and the Governor would be a ceremonial head. They had expected a single administrative unit of north and east with legislative and executive powers similar to the powers given to a state in India especially in executive and legislative matters
Northern Province Chief Minister, C.V.Wigneswaran, stated in 2016, that the Accord, when conceived in 1987 was intended to provide for a merged northern and eastern province. The government of India was expected to obtain this, on behalf of the Tamils of the north and east, in its negotiations with the Government of Sri Lanka, he said.
Nirmala Chandrahasan said in 2020 that there were extensive discussions in Sri Lanka regarding the matter between the J. R .Jayewardene government and the TULF led by Mr. Amithalingam in the period July- August 1986. Secretary to the discussion was Felix Dias Abeysinghe, retired Commissioner of Elections.
It is now known that there was a third party involved in the discussion, the United States of America. The real power behind the Accord was USA, said analysts.
The full text of the Indo Lanka Accord was known only after it was signed. But no one was interested in reading it, because the 13th Amendment was announced soon after and public attention was focused on that Amendment, as well as the Provincial Councils Bill. The text of the Indo-Lanka Accord can be accessed at https://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/IN%20LK_870729_Indo-Lanka%20Accord.pdf
This is what the text of the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 says:
That Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi- religious plural society consisting, of Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims (Moors) and Burgers.
That each ethnic group has a distinct cultural and linguistic identity, which has to be carefully nurtured.
That the northern and the eastern provinces have been areas of historical habitation of Sri Lankan Tamil speaking peoples.
The northern and eastern provinces as now constituted, would be merged to form one administrative unit.
Having one elected Provincial Council, one Governor, one Chief Minister and one Board of Ministers.
The creation of a separate administration for the north and east in 1987 was to be the first step in partitioning the island. The next step would be a unilateral declaration of independence. The new state will be immediately recognized by the foreign countries supportive of Eelam. Thereafter, the new state will apply to join the UN. This will be supported by ‘friendly’ countries. UN membership will mean international recognition as a separate sovereign state. The partition of Sri Lanka will then become complete and irrevocable. That was the dream plan.
The first step towards this dream was the linking of the north and east. The Indo-Lanka Accord demanded that Northern and Eastern provinces be merged and a single Provincial Council be created. Accordingly, in September 1988 President Jayewardene, using emergency regulations, declared the Northern and Eastern provinces to be one administrative unit administered by one elected Council.
This merger was to be temporary until a referendum was held in the Eastern Province on the matter. This was to be held by 31 December 1988, but the Sri Lankan president could postpone the referendum at his discretion. The referendum was never held. The President of Sri Lanka annually issued a proclamation extending the life of the Council.
In 1990, Varatharajah Perumal, chief minister for the North-East Provincial Council declared a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) and fled to India. President Premadasa dissolved the Council. The North-east Province was ruled directly from Colombo thereafter.
The merger of North and East was bitterly opposed by those against Tamil separatism. The combined North Eastern Province occupied one fourth of Sri Lanka, including most of its coastline.
In 2006, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna filed petitions against the merger, requesting a separate Provincial Council for the Eastern province. They said that the merger was illegal. The relevant clause in the Provincial Councils Act had not been amended and the referendum never held. Supreme Court ruled that the merger was unconstitutional.
HL de Silva argues and won the case against the north east demerger in Supreme Court. He said this so called ‘temporary merger’ was never confirmed by referendum in the Eastern province. He argued that the Presidents proclamation declaring the northern and eastern provinces a single administrate unit was not in accord with either section 37(1) (b) of the Provincial councils act no 42 of 1987, such as the surrender of weapons and an cessation of hostilities. The North-East Province was formally de-merged into Northern and Eastern Provinces on 1 January 2007.
This dream of Eelam was not something new. The Tamil Separatist Movement was planning a separate unit from the time Sri Lanka became independent. The Tamil politicians were after this from the beginning. There is evidence to support this.
The Tamil elite established a new political party in 1949. It was named Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK). ”Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi means Lanka Tamil State Party”’. This shows that the declared goal of the Tamil Separatist Movement from 1949 onwards was a separate state.
ITAK called itself ‘Federal Party’ to hide the separatist intention and fool the Sri Lanka public. While fooling the public, the Tamil Separatist Movement led by the Tamil elite took every opportunity to strengthen its position.
The BANDARANAIKE-CHELVANAYAGAM PACT of 1957 contained the following:
It was decided, in the BC Pact, that the Northern Province is to form one regional area whilst the Eastern Province is to be divided into one or more regional areas.( clause 2)
Provision is to be made in the Bill to enable two or more regions to amalgamate even beyond provincial limit. (Clause 3)
It was agreed that regional councils would have powers over specified subjects including agriculture, cooperatives, lands and land developments, colonization, education, health, industries, fisheries, housing, social services, electricity, water schemes and roads. ( Clause 5)
It was agreed that in the matter of colonization schemes the powers of the Regional Councils shall include the powers to select allottees to whom land within their area of authority shall be alienated and also power to select personnel to be employed for work on such schemes. The position regarding the area at present administered by the Gal Oya Board in this matter requires consideration(Clause 6)
.The Regional Councils shall have powers of taxation and borrowing.(Clause 8)
After the BC Pact came the DUDLEY –CHELVA PACT of 1965. In this Pact it was decided that
Action will be taken to establish District Councils in Ceylon vested with powers over subjects to be mutually agreed upon. The government should have power under the law to give directions to such councils under the national interest.
granting of land under colonization schemes the following priorities be observed in the Northern and Eastern provinces
Land in the Northern and Eastern provinces should in the first instance be granted to landless persons in the district. Secondly, to Tamil-speaking persons resident in the Northern and Eastern provinces. Thirdly, to other citizens in Ceylon, preference being given to Tamil residents in the rest of the island.
The partitioning of islands is nothing new though the idea is fiercely resisted in Sri Lanka. These partitions take place only in significant locations. Here are three partitioned islands in Asia and one land locked state in Africa.
Papua New Guinea became a separate state in 1975. Papua is the eastern half of the island of New Guinea. The partition was helped by the fact that Papua and New Guinea had separate administrations for a long time. Papua has a predominantly Christian population while Guinea is Muslim. Papua has unexploited resources of gold, copper, oil and natural gas
The kingdom of Brunei was created in 1984 by the partition of Borneo. The other half is divided between Malaysia and Indonesia. Brunei is the third-largest oil producer in Southeast Asia
Timor Leste became independent in 2002 after years of resistance to Indonesian rule. Timor was a Portuguese colony until 1975. Its residents were of Portuguese descent and were Christian. Timor Leste has unexplored reserves of petroleum. South Sudangained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a lot of fighting and a referendum. It was originally part of Sudan. South Sudan’s population is Christian and African, while Sudan is Muslim and Arab. The rich oil reserves of Sudan are now held by South Sudan. (Continued)
Foreign Ministry clueless about top US spook’s clandestine visit
Posted on August 16th, 2023
By Saman Indrajith Courtesy The Island
Foreign Minister Ali Sabry told Parliament yesterday that his ministry had received no information about CIA Chief William J. Burns’ alleged visit to Sri Lanka on Feb 14.
Making a ministerial statement in response to a series of questions raised by SLPP dissident MP Ven. Aturaliye Ratana Thera on June 22, the minister said that his ministry only provided necessary diplomatic clearances for the aircraft to fly to Sri Lanka.
Minister Sabry said that he had been aware that two aircraft of the United States Air Force had arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport on Feb. 14 and according to the information provided by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Aviation and Airport and Aviation Services Lanka Ltd, a number of US officials had officially entered the country.
The Minister’s response to Ven Ratana’s queries: This is my answer after consulting all the relevant agencies. While the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the link between the foreign countries, entities, institutions and ministries departments and institutions in Sri Lanka, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not the focal point for the subject area that comes under the purview of the MCC. It is noted as an expert committee was appointed by the Cabinet in December, 2019 to review the MCC agreement and the final report was handed over to the former President in June, 2020. The proposed SOFA is an agreement between the US and Sri Lanka, according to the line ministry in this regard also the Ministry of Defence and information required in this regard could be obtained from the Ministry of Defence. ACSA is also an agreement that comes under the Defence Ministry. Relevant line ministry in this regard is the Defence Ministry and further information may be obtained from the Ministry of Defence.
Therefore, it is appropriate to ask the relevant line ministry – the ministry of Defence regarding the reimplementation of these agreements and its current status and the purposes. I am aware that two aircraft belonging to the American Air Force arrived at the Katunayake BIA in the afternoon of Feb 14, 2023. According to the information provided by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Aviation and Airport and Aviation Services Lanka Limited, they have officially entered into the country.
The two planes that had arrived at the Katunayake International Airport under No RCH 23/992142A and RCH 231/00215A. I further mention that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had done only the necessary diplomatic clearances for the aircraft to fly to Sri Lanka. The chairman of the Airport and Aviation Services Lanka Limited has informed that the names, passport numbers and Visa number of the persons who came in the two aircrafts could be obtained from the Department of Immigration and Emigration.
Further the Airport and Aviation Services Pvt Ltd has informed this ministry that they are not aware of the fact to which organisation in the United States the said group belongs to and responsible for and have met with the parties or organizations in Sri Lanka bearing what responsibilities and what matters to the agreement were discussed in this meeting. And therefore, some of these questions seem to be referred to the wrong ministry. So, based on the evidence that we gathered, and the information which we acquired from different agencies, this is the information which I can provide to the question raised by Ven Aturaliye Ratana Thera on June 22, 2023.”
A concerned citizens opinion.
Dr Sudath Ggunasekara Mahanuwara 8.9.2023
First of all, it is absurd and not ethical for the Foreign Minister or the Ministry in charge of Foreign Affairs of this country to give a foolish reply like this saying that it is clueless about top US spook’s clandestine visit. Then why do we have a Foreign Ministry maintained by tax payers’ money to maintain such a ministry with a cabinet minister and one or more so-called Sate Ministers with a big staff with many Secretaries, Director Generals and many others maintaining a large number of embassies in foreign countries etc. Is it only for providing employment here and abroad for politicians and their kith and kin and friends at the expense of the public coffer. If the officer interviewed doesn’t know, then it is his duty to make inquiries from someone who knows it and provide it to the party who made the request. Because he /she as a member of the public has a right to know it as it is a matter of public interest.
In the light of the above quite strange but certainly serious revelation of external/US interference in the internal governance of this country, the country’s President Ranil Wickramasinha owes a full explanation to the nation as the people of this country with whom sovereignty is supposed to be vested with, have a legitimate right to know as to know who came and why they came and what secret business they had with the Head of State of this country elected under strange and dubious circumstances by the Parliament. At least the main opposition or the other MPP who are in the opposition should demand the President to make a full statement to Parliament immediately as the people of this country are entitled to know what their present President elected by Parliament in terms of the section 40 of the constitutions to fill the vacancy of the post of President to carry out he mandate given to President Gotabhaya in 2019 only and the mandate given to the SLPP in 2020 by the people in May 2020.
I opine whether the President is acting on the notion that the Constitution has not specifically imposed any restrictions for his independence to take any decisions he deems fit, as the relevant section of the Constitution says only that any person so succeeding to the office of President shall hold office only for the unexpired period of the term of office of the president vacating office” while it has not said anything as to what he can and what he cannot do. But I do not think that is correct. Because he is not a president elected by the people of the whole country as the Constitution has laid down. I would argue that he has no power or authority to bypass the mandate of his predecessor. What is more is he was also elected by a Parliament elected on completely a different mandate to what he sought in 2020 general election and got routed. losing even his own seat not winning a single seat in the whole country.
Furthermore, I opine it is the bounden duty of the SLPP more than anybody else to advice their own President not to by-pass the red line. If he still insists that he as the elected” President of the country can take any decision then of cause the ball is in their court. Under these circumstances why can’t the SLPP withdraw their support to the President, if they want to save their skin at the next election at least. Whatever it is both parties, the President and the SLPP must not play Dr JEKYLL AND HYDE as both parties will then dig their own graves or a single grave, so that they can sleep together even there, as they do now, even by accident, due to strange political exigencies unique to Sri Lanka.
A few days back the President stated that the education system has to be radically changed to meet the skills essential for the future development needs of the country. It is most encouraging that the President has become enlightened in such a critical need at least now after more than for long decades.
Mr. Wickremasinghe was our Minister of Education in 1980.
This was the time when the East Asian Tiger economies were making radical changes in their systems of education to meet the emerging needs of industrialization and economic development. They used education to spur growth, create jobs and raise productivity. In these countries Education was a primary driver of their long-term development strategy and was a high priority for policy makers. There was strong alignment in their growth strategy, labor market needs, and education policies.”
But at that time in the 80s Minister Wickremasinghe was not cocerned in the developments taking place in those fast growing economies. Neither did the Ministry bureaucracy interested in learning from the experience of these countries. Our diplomatic representatives in those countries followed the philosophy of the three wise monkeys of ‘no seeing, no hearing, no speaking’, while enjoying their perks.
South Korea transformed itself in a few decades from an underdeveloped nation to an industrialized country exporting high-technology products (Domjahn 2013, p. 16). Much of this development is attributed to improvements in the country’s education system. South Korea placed education at the center of its long-term development strategy, Various South Korean and international scholars (Ellinger and Beckham 1997; Han 1994; Kim 2000) have credited the nation’s economic success to an efficient education system that provides the quality workforce necessary for economic expansion. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284831895
Taiwan ROC” is an Island smaller than Sri Lanka with a similar population. Before 1980s it was a predominantly an agricultural economy. Today it is a high tech powerhouse leading the world in a number of high tech industries. It has a per capita income of 36, 000 dollars. At the beginning of the 1980s, Taiwan changed its education policy radically, gave priority to technical education and increased the ratio for senior vocational schools and general high school to 7:3. By 2012 there were 155 senior vocational schools, 14 junior colleges, and 77 universities/colleges of science & technology, totaling 246. It is the education system that has sustained the significant development of this small nation. According to the Minister of Education in Taiwan Technical and vocational education has played a decisive role by nurturing the range of human resources required for our basic national infrastructure and for promoting economic development, and contributed enormously to bringing about what has been acclaimed as Taiwan’s economic miracle”. Se-Hwa Wu, PhD Minister, MOE
An attempt to introduce an element of practical education in the form of the NCGE for School leavers introduced during the government of Mrs. Bandaranayake was scrapped by the next government falling back on the SSC. While SL deliberately ignored technical education, with independence India established in 1950 five Institutes of Technology (IITs) in the main States of the country. These IITs were modeled on the best example of higher technical education from Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They have been the cutting edge of technology development in India and are highly recognized internationally.
Even if the government of 1980 were not impressed with the Asian examples, they could have learned from the dual system of education in Germany which has a major role in the German education system, attracting almost 60% of a typical age cohort at upper secondary level. The dual system in which 75% of VET students enrol is a highly effective way of imparting a wide range of occupational skills and integrating young people into the labour market, attracting global admiration. A central principle of the dual system is that of complementarity between school and work-based learning with more theoretical types of learning in school balancing more practical learning in the workplace. The two elements are mutually reinforcing: theory facilitates a well-grounded approach to practical problems; while practice in turn supports theory by providing a continuous flow of real world examples and applications.”
The world is now in the fourth industrial revolution. The lack of vision of our politicians and policy makers have left us at least half a century behind in technology and industrialization. We may still have a leapfrog advantage to graduate from elementary technology into emerging high technology. For this the present education system has to be completely overhauled. Patch work measures will be unproductive.
MEDIA RELEASE RANJITH SOYSA Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka (SPUR),
The Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka (SPUR), Victoria Australia, along with like-minded organizations in Australia, England and the Middle East, write to register our protest with regards to the decision of President Ranil Wickramasinghe of Sri Lanka, to offer pardon to the former LTTE cadres who participated in killing 91 innocent civilians and injuring over 1400 people in the 1996 Central Bank bombing. This dastardly act also resulted in over 100 victims losing their eye sight, when a 440 pound bomb was detonated by LTTE terrorists. After a lengthy court hearing, the offenders were sentenced to 200 years of imprisonment for the heinous crimes they committed.
In addition, the blow to the country’s economy was substantial with the crippling of functions at the Central Bank. The tourism industry too which sustained colossal damage took many years to recover.
Eleven LTTE members were charged with the bombing of the Central Bank, ten of them were indicted on a total of 712 counts, including intention to cause death and committing murder and the destruction of state property. In 2002, Judge Sarath Ambepitiya issued an open warrant to arrest LTTE’s illusive leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran in connection with the 1996 Central Bank Bombing. The judge found the terrorist leader guilty on 51 counts and sentenced him in absentia to 200 years in prison.
We are aware that the Presidential pardoning arrangements in Sri Lanka have been misused on many occasions and we unreservedly condemned all those decisions. To use the executive powers and offer pardon to criminals who were found guilty of causing the death of 91 persons cannot be justified by any rational Sri Lankan.
We call upon all patriotic Sri Lankan legislators and organizations, both local and global to register their protests and request the President with respect to revoke this irrational and tainted political decision, soon after returning from his visit to India.
It is believed that this poor decision has been made primarily to appease India and the SrI Lankan Tamil political leaders, totally disregarding the impact it has on the kith and kin of those that lost their lives or the hurt it would cause to those maimed in perpetuity.
We urge the President not to proceed with the decision to release LTTE murderers who are serving prison sentences for their crimes..
“Dr. Ruwan M Jayatunge’s Clinical Meditation is a most ambitious project, providing a broad overview of meditative techniques without sacrificing in-depth analysis”
Brian Rees MD MPH Colonel (retired) US Army
Executive Director, TM for Veterans Director, Operation Warrior Wellness
“Dr. Ruwan M Jayatunge describes the various forms of meditation and an overview of research using these techniques”
Dr. Rashmi Prakash MD DNB Psychiatry
Consultant Psychiatrist
Ayushman Hospital and Health Services
New Delhi
” In this book, Dr. Jayatunge highlights the importance of mindfulness techniques to treat various psychiatric/ psychological ailments ”
Dr. Daya Somasundaram. MD, FRCPsych, FRANZCP, FSLCP
Professor of Psychiatry, University of Adelaide & University of Jaffna
My dabbling in agriculture in Sri Lanka, for eighteen long years as an administrative officer in agriculture tells me that August is always a dry month- a month for harvesting. February and August are dry months and the pattern of paddy cultivation had to be geared to that reality, which Mother Nature has decided, a situation over which we humans have no control. The more we disagree and try to fight it out, we will be the losers. Mother Nature has been kind to us to make downpours of rain on a regular basis to enable our crops boundless. We even did have a crop of cotton before 1958. In August the Weerawila Air was full of cotton pollen- a sign that it was a great harvest. Then somehow we gave up cultivating cotton and I took over all the cotton stores at Weerawila- they were very large ones, to store paddy. That was in 1958 when I covered the Southern Province.
It so happened that I have been at the helm of supplying water to paddy farmers in Anuradhapura in 1963 and 1964.. That happened because the Agrarian Services Department took over minor irrigation from the Government Agent in 1962. I worked as the Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Anuradhapura District. We had elected 296 cultivation committees and they handled paddy cultivation including the distribution of water. I thus speak with a great deal of experience in the actual process of distributing water to farmers in small tanks as well as in the larger track of the KalaWeva- Eppawela-Talawa area. I have also handled minor irrigation in the Kegalla, Kandy, and Nuwara Eliya Districts. In fact, it was I that presided over the Kanna Meetings of the Kalaweva-Eppawela-Talawa Tract involving paddy cultivation in over one hundred tanks in 1962 and 1963.
Today, in August 2023, a vast extent of 65,000 acres in Udawalave, is said to need water. The Ministry of Agriculture requires the supply, but it is said that if this amount of water is released, there will not be enough water for the supply of electricity. At the Cabinet level, it has been finally decided to provide water and it is being done at the moment.
There are also reports from the Anuradhapura District that some paddy lands are short of water. This August.. The tanks do not have water for the paddy crop that yet needs water.
All this tells me to point blank that this was due to late cultivation. Professor Buddhi Marambe, a learned luminary has said that farmers should start with the rains and not wait to start with the issue of water from irrigation schemes. This is very true.
Once a few years ago I spent a night in a room of the Large Devon in Kandy and from my window I saw paddy crops at the heenbandi stage, while alongside another farmer had a two weeks’ crop. That told me that paddy cultivation is in total chaos.
Our forefathers who planned the vast irrigation systems involving major and minor tanks knew this requirement of working with Mother Nature and we have been bequeathed a system of irrigation administration that has to be adhered to. This system was at first implemented by the GamSabha system which was abolished by the British in 1833. Subsequently, the distribution of water for paddy cultivation has been in charge of the Government Agents of the District. The system implemented includes a Kanna Meeting of all cultivators/owners to be held at the beginning of each season when depending on the availability of water in the tank in the Dry Zone the extent to be cultivated will be decided. The Government Agent appointed a Vel Vidane from the area to be in charge and this Vel Vidane held the Kanna Meetings and arrived at the decisions with the people when to clear the water canals, when to cultivate- in detail including dates to plough, to sow and harvest. Everyone had to abide and there was provision for anyone who failed to follow to be punished.
It so happened that when Minor irrigation functions were taken over by the Agrarian Services Department where I worked as an Assistant Commissioner the elected cultivation committees held the Kanna Meetings. This was done regularly. In my experience farmers did adhere to the decisions arrived at the Kanna Meetings.
In the areas where there were no irrigation tanks too the Kanna Meetings were held before the rains when decisions when to cultivate etc were decided.
The problem is that since the abolition of the Paddy Lands Act around 1978, the system of cultivation practices is not being followed. I quote from my book, NuwaraKalaviya (2021)
In the system under the Vel Vidanes in the days when the Government Agents handled and later when the cultivation committees elected under the Paddy Lands Act handled paddy cultivation there was a definite system where the farmers met at Kanna Meetings at the beginning of each season and decided when to cultivate, the extent to cultivate, what seed to use, when to harvest etc. Even fines were decided which were strictly enforced by the Courts. After the cultivation committees were disbanded the Yaya Representatives were ineffective. Now Kanna Meetings are not held systematically with the result that late cultivation is common and the harvest gets damaged by the oncoming rains.”
The Lankadeepa of 9/8/2023 details that in the case of Udawalawe, the Kanna Meeting held on 31/3/2023 decided that the farmers should cultivate only 6047 hectares, out of a total of 12,094 hectares, but farmers cultivated as much as 9777 hectares. This shows that the decisions at the Kanna Meeting are totally ignored. The decision to cultivate only 6047 acres would have been decided taking into consideration the available water. Increasing the extent by as much as fifty percent is actually courting trouble. This also shows that paddy cultivation today is in total chaos.
There are many reasons why there is late cultivation.
Gone are the days when all the farmers get together and start tilling the entire Yaya from one end to the other. In the Fifties they tilled thrice- it was called ketum, deketum and teketum. Thereafter they sowed seed. Now the men are no more to be found- Now everywhere it is tractors and tractors are difficult to find. In my days it was manual crop cutting. New harvesters have come in and it is a difficult task to find harvesters. This is a major cause for the delay. The Government has to step in with Tractor Stations that have tractors and harvestors, but right now paddy cultivation is in utter unimaginable chaos- far from the orderly cultivation which once in the Sixties enabled Sri Lanka to be self-sufficient. As the Senior Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services in 1965-67, covering entire Sri Lanka, and as the Additional Government Agent at Kegalla in 67-69, I was neck-deep involved in the craze to be self-sufficient. . We had a Prime Minister Mr Dudley Senanayake who never missed a Saturday and Sunday- every weekend he was in the field. My task was to greet him at Warakapola Rest House at nine in the morning and accompany him to meetings and paddy fields, speaking to farmers, assessing and making decisions for me to carry out and report back to him personally.
Those days we had many seed farms where a late cultivator can find a variety that will be quicker- a three-month crop rather than a four-month crop. Now many seed farms have been privatized and the Government has totally lost control via privatization.
Non-compliance with the system of holding Kanna Meetings and not adhering to the dates fixed result in delayed cultivation.
Further, in my days in Anuradhapura, I encouraged the cultivation committees to get down to use the tank beds in August to make tiles and actually a few of them did it. This increased the capacity of the tanks. In ancient times elephants were led into the tanks and the silt was led out through the lower sluice. This is a long-forgotten practice now. The tanks are now silted up. In 1958 I used to have a swim the Tissa tank regularly and beside the bund it was around twelve feet deep. Now the depth is a few feet. The tanks are the lifeblood of the Dry Zone and deserve close attention.
. In my words from NuwaraKalavia:
The rot set in when the Paddy Lands Act was abolished in the Seventies and the elected cultivation committees ceased to exist. There was a vacuum in irrigation administration and the farmers had to fend for themselves. Though latterly YayaPalakas were elected .. Kanna Meetings were not held properly. The tanks were not maintained; influential people even encroached onto the tanks, tank bed cultivation was common and as a result, the tanks got silted.”
In fact it is correct to state that NuwaraKalaviya is on death row, with no administration on the irrigation tanks. An easy remedy is to go back to the Vel Vidane System under the Government Agents and to ensure that there is orderly maintenance of the irrigation systems and cultivation. The Yayapalaka system is in total chaos.
The late cultivation of 65,000 acres in Udawalave leads us to the above analysis of facts which may perhaps reach the ears of authority before NuwaraKalaviya ceases to be our granary. In 2022 Sri Lanka imported 800,000 metric tons of rice. If Kanna Meetings are not properly held and decisions adhered to it will be impossible to avoid imports. Mind you, Sri Lanka in 1970 was self-sufficient in rice production. The answer lies in bringing back the effective cultivation administration system we once had with Vel Vidanes under the Government Agents before we perhaps face starvation.
A republic model is suitable to adapt in large countries is the opinion of constitutional experts, and Sri Lanka which is a small country with few ethnic groups that is less than number of figures in a hand, would not be adapted and why some people promote a republic model for Sri Lanka is a question. This truth should be understood by all ethnic groups in the country to maintain the ethnic harmony in the country. Are there specific benefits to the country through a republic model, has been not been explained by any supporters of republic model. Some ethnic groups intend to have a constitution with republic style of power distribution among regional states and why such small states need at provincial level with unlimited power? When there is an opportunity to use state power distribution and control by a central government, such provincial power authorities with unlimited power would be created difficulties to work and why some people are crying for a republic model is difficult to understand. Many people have a concern that the cry behind for demanding a republic model is to procreate problems in the country.
If Sri Lanka is a country with extensive land area with many ethnic groups, a republic model is appropriate because, in a large country, the cost of management could be profitably used for developing the country. Sri Lanka is a country with less than 70000 Sq Kilo meters and three ethnic groups in which people are distributed in the entire country would not serve the purpose of a republic model, and it might lead to more conflicts. The cost of management could profitably use in a unitary framework. The administration of the current regional councils shows that a wasting of public funds. Corruptions have been increased by the provincial councils than the unitary system. When there is an obvious picture why some people want to pursue a republic model, the reason is obvious, because they want committing corruption and make profits out of provincial states.
Day by day, each ethnic group wants manipulating problems that create difficulties to the management of the country. The origin of ethnic groups in the country could prove that they were together, and they worked together when there was a centralised strict administration. This environment, the management of Sri Lanka requires like a single province, and the best administration model should be a unitary system, and the power for regional administration or municipalities should be increased by the constitution.
The current regional councils waste public money and promote corruption applying misusing public funds for various projects, it happens among all ethnic groups. If Sri Lanka managed as a centralised government with efficient municipalities, it supports to a rapid development process. After 1980s, the country would have a more advanced development than the current situation.
Addition to wasting funds, developing corruption, has become the third vicious problem in segregation of power under the 13th amendment to the constitution after 1983 and it has been neglecting poor people in ethnic groups and providing opportunities to rich people, and powerful people to engage in corrupt bases. Large countries like India, China, and the USA could profitably use a republic model and many times Sri Lanka is smaller than a regional state of such a large country, and a republic model is not appropriate and the current requirement is making a centralised country integrating all regional councils.
Provincial council system has been promoting politics in rural villages and poor people pushed to difficulties. If there was a central system, public servants who are distance from politics would work giving equal benefits to all and the provincial council system was selective, offering services and benefits based on political interest. If there will be a republic model, this situation will be worsened and the entire country will be gone to six.
Ruwan M Jayatunge ( Medical Doctor, Author, and an Associate Professor)
The work of Jacques Derrida has received relatively little attention on nihilism. Derrida is known best for deconstructing philosophy and Derrida’s philosophical elucidations are halting, opaque, punning, and elliptical leading to the rhetoric of ambiguity. His deconstruction makes language unintelligible to make a point. His ” Logocentrism” stipulates assumed truths and the exclusion of alternative perspectives. Derrida’s work has been associated with nihilism which holds that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.
Nihilism is the logic of nothing as something. Nihilism rejects the fundamental aspects of human existence associated with meaning. In nihilism, there is no inherent value, meaning, or order to life. Nihilistic experiences perceive the world from a vantage point. Derrida’ once stated: “In a certain way, thought means nothing”. The central claim of Derrida’s philosophy, namely that there is nothing outside the text. Furthermore, Derrida claimed that he rightly passes for an atheist. His theory deconstruction can be viewed as nihilistic and it leads to a corrosive nihilism. The obscurity of his writing designates nihilism.
Professor John Milbank denounces Derrida as a ‘nihilist’. Catherine Pickstock characterizes Derrida’s ‘nihilism’ as a form of ‘necrophilia’.Derrida was accused of nihilism by many scholars. According to Derrida, there is no ultimate ground for language. Derrida denied the existence of transcendental signifiers, he implied that there was no foundation for language. Language creates a linguistic illusion. Moreover, the language does not provide meaning. A world without meaningful language is therefore a world without meaning.
On the contrary, Derrida did not intend for deconstruction to lead to nihilism, but rather to open up new possibilities of thinking and writing. He said that “deconstruction is not a destruction, a dismantling, a negation… it is a displacement, a decentering. Deconstruction is not an enclosure in nothingness, but an openness to the other’.”
Ruwan M Jayatunge ( Medical Doctor, Author, and an Associate Professor)
Iranian filmmaker Taghi Amirani joins Chris Hedges to discuss his documentary ‘Coup 53,’ which uses newly discovered archival material to expose how the CIA and British intelligence worked clandestinely to overthrow Mohammad Mosaddegh 70 years ago.
On Aug. 19, 1953, 70 years ago this week, the democratically elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh—who had seized Iran’s vast oil fields from the British and put them under Iranian control—was removed from power in a coup organized and financed by the British and US governments. He was replaced by the dictatorial Shah, who immediately signed over 40% of Iran’s oil fields to US companies. The coup ushered in a long nightmare of repression, buttressed by Iran’s brutal secret police, SAVAK, trained and equipped by the CIA. The Shah not only crushed the democratic aspirations of Iranians, but enriched US oil companies and purchased billions of dollars of weapons from US weapons manufacturers. The dictatorship of the Shah fueled the virulent anti-American backlash that led to the 1979 Revolution and the establishment of a militant Islamic government. The Iran coup also became the template used by the CIA to overthrow other governments around the globe that challenged US hegemony and the exploitation by global corporations. While the CIA has acknowledged its role in the 1953 coup, to this day, the British government has not confessed to its imperialist crimes in Iran.
Joining The Chris Hedges Report to discuss his documentary Coup 53 is Iranian filmmaker Taghi Amirani. Amirani’s film uses newly discovered archival material to expose how the CIA and British intelligence worked clandestinely to overthrow Mosaddegh.
Taghi Amirani is an Iranian-born English physicist and documentary filmmaker who lives in the United Kingdom. He has directed and produced numerous, internationally acclaimed documentaries, including We Are Many, Red Lines and Deadlines, and Coup 53.
In conclusion, we wish to record that our attention was drawn to several textual discrepancies between the Sinhala, Tamil and English texts of the Bill. This causes a lot of concern to the Court in its deliberations. We note that it also affects the legislators who are deprived of a correct understanding of the Bill unless such discrepancies are corrected The State undertook to correct all these discrepancies at the appropriate stage of the legislative process.
President appoints retired Major General-led team to shape contemporary security policies
Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremeshinghe
President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday highlighted the need for a comprehensive review of Sri Lanka’s national security strategy to chart a course devoid of entanglement in the emerging international rivalries and maintain neutrality in the Indian Ocean region.
The review will include a broad range of factors, emerging economic trends and the impacts of climate change, Wickremesinghe said, addressing a Naval gathering in the southern district of Galle.
The President has already appointed a team led by a retired Major General to report to the National Security Council for formulating contemporary security policies.
He said the dynamics of today’s landscape witness the encroachment of global power struggles into the Indian Ocean’s realm.
On one front, a contest for supremacy unfolds between the United States and China across the expanses of the Pacific Ocean. Simultaneously, a power struggle emerges between the Western nations and Russia in the context of Ukraine. This competition for influence extends even to remote reaches such as Niger in Africa,” he said.
Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka should maintain neutrality in the Indian Ocean region.
Undoubtedly, the Indian Ocean hosts the world’s pivotal trade routes, making Sri Lanka an integral player at this stage. As we navigate these waters, it is imperative that we chart a course devoid of entanglement in these international rivalries, maintaining an impartial stance. Our foremost concern must be the safeguarding of our security within this sphere,” the president said.
He said the utilisation of submarines in the Indian Ocean has increased. In light of this, the island nation’s maritime security strategy should be directed towards the development of a robust programme tailored to submarine surveillance and control.
Upon the compilation of the review report, a blueprint for modernised security policies of the National Security Council will be adopted.
Sri Lanka which is going through its worst economic crisis since independence has faced criticism over larger budgetary allocations for defence spending while the healthcare and education budgets remain lower.
Demands are to prune its security forces and reduce the level of presence in the former north and eastern conflict zones to promote reconciliation with the Tamil minority.
The island wants to join the world’s largest free trade and economic cooperation agreement. The announcement by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who also wants to ‘demilitarise’ the Indian Ocean. For analysts and experts, it is an important step to revive the country’s economy and open up new avenues for growth and development.
Colombo (AsiaNews) – Colombo aims to become the first South Asian country to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the largest free trade and economic cooperation agreement in the world, following the conclusion of the initiatives to optimize the credit, announced by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, during a speech marking the 56th anniversary of ASEAN – an association that brings together 10 nations of South-East Asia – which was held on 8 August in the capital of Sri Lanka .
“We must join the RCEP” and “there is no reason” not to do so underlined the head of state, adding that trade agreements with India and Bangladesh are necessary for the development of the nation. And at the same time he hopes for the “demilitarization” of the Indian Ocean, aligning itself with the objectives already set by ASEAN.
Signed after eight years of negotiations on November 20, 2020, the RCEP involves the 10 ASEAN nations – Brunei, Cambodia, Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam – China, South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zeeland.
The an area represents at least 2.3 billion people (equal to 30% of the global population) and boasting a GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of .3 trillion in 2022, approximately 29% of global GDP.
Sri Lanka wants to enter the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) and start free trade negotiations with ASEAN, not before having concluded the agreement with external creditors relating to the over 40 billion dollars needed to meet the requests of the Monetary Fund international (IMF).
The island’s leaders believe these are necessary steps to rebuild a nation hit by the worst economic and social crisis since independence and increase its foreign currency reserves.
Interviewed by AsiaNews, the economist Harin Wijesinghe underlines that “among the advantages of the RCEP are the reduction of trade barriers, including tariff concessions by trading partners”.
Moreover, the “improvement of market access, economic and technical cooperation, small and medium-sized enterprises and the streamlining of customs procedures”. Membership “will facilitate market access for exports of agricultural products, as partner countries have agreed to reduce customs tariffs”.
The deal involves ASEAN nations and free trade partners (FTA) and aims to cover trade in goods and services, including intellectual property. Furthermore, it would open “to foreign investors – concludes the expert – at least 65% of the service sectors such as telecommunications, finance, distribution and logistics”.
Colombo has already entered into a trade agreement with Singapore and is also actively negotiating with Thailand. The nation has immense potential as a trading hub in the Indian Ocean and is rapidly rising as a gateway to South Asia.
Economists Chandima Tennakoon and Anuruddha Senanayaka are of the opinion that the RCEP will create new commercial opportunities between Asian countries and accelerate the economic recovery of the region.
The agreement will also eliminate tariffs on more than 90% of goods over the next 10-15 years and introduce investment and intellectual property rules to promote free trade.
Academic and analyst Ruwan Kariyawasam believes that “President Wickremesinghe’s statement on membership” underscores “Sri Lanka’s determination to strengthen its economic connectivity within the wider Asian region”. This also includes its alignment with ASEAN’s future vision for the Indo-Pacific region.
“These partnership proposals – he concludes – highlight the commitment to promote economic cooperation and trade links, which will open new paths for growth and development”.
It is no secret that President Ranil Wickremesinghe always rooted for a federal solution. Nevertheless, regardless of his own personal beliefs, he, as an astute politician, is also aware that majority of the country (which is not to be read as ‘majority community’) bitterly oppose such a power-sharing structure that will effectively castrate the Central Government.
13A opposed more by the minority communities than the majority
This has not stopped him from trying to dabble with it and the last time he did, it almost cost him his political career. Even at that time, he knew he was taking a dangerous gamble. Therefore, he never took ownership of the proposed constitution that TNA Spokesman M.A. Sumanthiran penned. In that document, a question mark was designed to be cast on the word ‘unitary’. Even in the English translation, the word ‘unitary’, that had established legal context, was replaced with the Sinhala word for unitary with a slash and a Tamil word that translates as a collective. As such, the Yahapalana Government tried to play a mean trick on both sides of the divide on the question of unitary status of the country.
Of course, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s then political debacle was not simply due to the promotion of federalism or the attempted chicanery. The Central Bank bond scams, treacherously co-sponsoring the UNHRC 30/1 Resolution, persecuting war heroes, retarding the robust economic growth of seven per cent to a mere two per cent and the Easter Sunday Attack were the primary factors that almost booted out of politics.
However, it is notable that the minority parties, who he had been unashamedly and unreservedly serenading and courting, did not come to his rescue at his hour of need. This is because federalism is opposed more by the minority communities than the majority.
RW’s rise to power from the ashes
In 2019, voters sent him to the ‘naughty boy’s corner’ with only one national list seat for UNP – the oldest political party. Not a single UNP member won at the 2020 General Election that was held on 5 August. Everyone in that party, including Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, failed to win enough votes even to warrant a count.
By that time, the UNP had been reduced to a ‘ghost town’ as the then Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa left to form his own party, the SJB. He took with him majority of the UNP MPs, who were only too happy to escape the sinking ship.
It was with this one national list seat that Ranil Wickremesinghe, as the lone UNPer, entered the 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka. Undeterred, he used his wit, honed by over 50 years in politics, to turn every opportunity to his advantage. Two years later, on 21.07.2022, Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the eighth Executive President of Sri Lanka.
A country like Japan would have included into their textbooks the fall and rise of Ranil Wickremesinghe to teach their children the value of perseverance. Unfortunately, in Sri Lanka we do not teach these kinds of life lessons to anyone.
The man of the hour
It was a jarring moment when Ranil Wickremesinghe became the President. The man we got rid of two and half years ago was back. However, there were more pressing issues. Our country was in near anarchy and he might be the only person who could save us.
When President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was voted into Office in 2019 with one of the strongest mandates, he was expected to lead our country into prosperity and instill discipline. While not everyone blames him for the near economic collapse, almost none exonerates him for mismanaging anti-government protests.
When he resigned on 14.07.2022, every essence of democracy was under siege and was about to be overrun by anarchists. The situation needed to be rolled back quickly and the only man who could do it at that moment was Ranil Wickremesinghe.
He was a prominent member of the Ranasinghe Premadasa Government, who played a pivotal role to break the 1988-89 JVP insurgency. His methods were not popular then and still have the power to send shivers down anyone’s back. Everyone knew he would not tolerate any nonsense. Therefore, even those who worked hard to depose him in 2019 were not totally opposed to Ranil Wickremesinghe assuming the presidency.
As expected, as President, he restored order and put everyone – including foreign diplomats, who were running interference with internal affairs, in their place. This time there was no bloodshed and within days the country was back in business. This earned him a second glance from those who despised him.
The hour has passed. what now?
President Wickremasinghe was indeed the man of the hour. However, even at that crucial moment, the question remained as to what he would do when the hour passes. He always felt that rather than the Sinhala Buddhist majority community, his meal ticket came from the minority parties. As such, he was always an ardent supporter of federalism and hence the 13th Amendment to the Constitution (13A).
Last July-August, it was desperately hoped that the era of the Yahapalana Government would have served him as a valuable lesson and he would never traverse that path again. In many ways, he did seem to have reformed. During his one year in Office, anyone who mocked or ridiculed Buddhism has found themselves in deep trouble with the law. This must be compared to the productions as ‘Budunge Rasthiyaduwa’ by KK Srinath, which key characters of Yahapalana Government endorsed.
Exactly a year has passed since the last protester had been packed off home. According to Verité Research (Pvt) Ltd survey, 60 per cent believe that the ‘Aragalaya’ was a flop. Thus, any threat of anarchy has been nullified for the moment. Unfortunately, the other threat, the threat of federalism, which was feared by many when Ranil Wickremesinghe became President, has manifested.
Late 2022, President Wickremesinghe broached the possibility of implementing the 13A in full. There were some discussions with all the parties on this subject. Other than a promise for a definite solution by February 2023, nothing really came out of it. Last week, President again pledged to implement the 13A.
Strengthen the economy to bin 13A
This has again agitated the nationalists. Whether they will be able to quell it as they did last time remains to be seen.
It is noteworthy that the 13A is India’s pet project. This is the reason for the TNA to demand it even though their one time master, the LTTE rejected it and accused India of betraying the Tamil aspirations.
India has been our superhero during our economic crisis. Since then, we have entered into a number of agreements with India. As such, even if President Wickremesinghe might no longer believe in the 13A, he might not be in a position to reject it.
Therefore, there is an important task for all those who oppose the 13A. That is, we must get our act together and strengthen our economy. This must be a national and not a mere government effort. While depending on another economy, it is just not feasible for our government to act independently.
ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com
(The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Ceylon Today)
The Myanmar junta released this image of Swiss filmmaker Didier Nusbaumer [center, top] and members of the cast of the film Don’t Expect Anything.”
