Courtesy The Morning

Sri Lanka is in consultation with all stakeholders for the introduction of a Debt-for-Nature Swap (DNS), an innovative financial solution introduced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to Deputy Secretary to the Treasury R.M.P. Ratnayake.

The Deputy Secretary to the Treasury told The Sunday Morning that the Government had been working on the debt-for-nature swap concept for a long time as Sri Lanka needed to finalise all institutional and legal frameworks to go ahead with this innovative idea.

These are new financing options that countries like ours are now looking at. But before finalising any transaction, we need to do lots of preliminary work,” Ratnayake explained.

He further said that the Government was currently engaged in the preliminary work and consultation process with all stakeholders.

In the future, the debt-for-nature swap concept will come as a new instrument, but we are still in the consultation process with all these stakeholders. We have not finalised anything,” Ratnayake said. 

Recently, Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe told Reuters in Washington DC that the country was open to considering the option of a debt-for-nature swap if a request was made.

When asked if the country would consider debt-for-nature swaps for all its overseas creditors, Weerasinghe said that those are useful and relevant financial instruments,” although the country’s main goal was to complete the debt rework process as soon as possible”.

If creditors say that they would like to have those instruments, that it can be done within the timeline and do it fast, we are open,” the Governor stated.

In November last year, The Sunday Morning reported that the Sri Lankan Government had indicated that it was planning to explore alternative funding means such as the announced $ 1 billion DNS programme in late 2023, following the approval of the anticipated $ 2.9 billion Extended Fund Facility from the IMF.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning earlier this year, former Director of Development Economics of the World Bank (WB) and Georgetown University Practice of International Development Prof. Shanta Devarajan said a DNS was a transaction whereby a debtor country had part of its debt burden reduced in exchange for the country investing in protecting its environment.

In the case of commercial debt, the transaction involves a third party, usually an NGO such as the Nature Conservancy, which buys the country’s bonds at a reduced price and then ensures that the country undertakes the environmental investment. In the case of official debt, the government of the creditor country typically undertakes the transaction directly. These have been used by several countries, most recently Belize,” Prof. Devarajan told The Sunday Morning.

DNS programmes began in the 1980s, with Ecuador being the first country to try out the concept. A number of countries – such as the Philippines, Bolivia, and Uganda – have also used DNS in the past to manage debt and improve their environmental protection and resilience in the process.

According to the IMF Blog, debt-for-climate swaps and debt-for-nature swaps seek to free up fiscal resources so that governments can improve resilience without triggering a fiscal crisis or sacrificing spending on other development priorities. 

Creditors provide debt relief in return for a government commitment to decarbonise the economy, invest in climate-resilient infrastructure, or protect biodiverse forests or reefs.

In cases where action would not have been taken without the swap, the arrangement aids climate action or protects nature.

Borrowers get fiscal relief through budget savings to the extent that debt reduction exceeds the new spending commitments. 

There can be other benefits, too, such as an upgrade to a country’s sovereign credit rating, as was the case in Belize, which makes government borrowing cheaper, it is stated.

Swaps could even create additional revenue for countries with valuable biodiversity by allowing them to charge others for protecting it and providing a global public good.

This is also true of carbon sinks, or natural environments which absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and are an important part of the transition to a lower carbon economy. 

ANI news

China’s largest oil and petrochemical products supplier and the second largest oil and gas producer is interested in the export-oriented oil refinery in Sri Lanka, but the question remains why?

According to the Sri Lankan publication, Mawrata News, the friendly relationship between the two countries has been used for China’s journey to become a world power at the risk of the lives of the people of this country.

The Sri Lankan government implemented huge projects like Hambantota Port, Mattala International Airport, Norochchole Coal Plant, and Colombo Nelum Tower by taking excessive loans. But only the Norochchole power plant was a useful project.

Why China’s SINOPEC is interested in export-oriented oil refinery in Sri Lanka?
Read more At:
https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/why-chinas-sinopec-is-interested-in-export-oriented-oil-refinery-in-sri-lanka20230415221612/

By Prof. Rasheen Bappu Courtesy Ceylon Today

Approximately, 2,074 registered trade unions are in Sri Lanka, of which 54.5 per cent are in the public sector, 27.5 per cent in public corporations and 18 per cent in the private sector. The number of members covered by the trade unions amounts to 9.5 per cent of the total workforce of Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan Constitution grants a fundamental right for every person to join a trade union, while the Trade Union Ordinance permits any seven people to form such an organisation.

As per International Labour Organization (ILO)on trade unions; Article 1[1] For the purpose of the application of this Law, the following terms and expressions shall have the meanings assigned against each: Trade Unions: An organisation that is established as per the articles of this law by a number of workers in a specific organisation, specific sector or specific activity.

Illegal trade union actions

Trade union actions highly affect the economy of any country. Therefore, some unfair trade union actions are prohibited by Law. Labour Laws of Sri Lanka have cited some situations where trade union actions are illegal. Some of those are mentioned below; According to Section 32 of the Industrial Disputes Act, it is illegal to commence, continue, or participate in, or do any act in furtherance of, any strike in connection with any industrial disputes in any essential industry which is declared by the Minister of Labour without giving prior notice of at least 21 days before the commencement of the strike. According to section 40 of the Industrial Disputes Act, it is a punishable offence to commence, continue and participate in or to any act in furtherance of a lock-out or strike in any industry after an industrial dispute has been referred for the settlement to an Industrial Court or settlement by Arbitration.

It is a punishable offence to challenge any award given by such Court or Arbitrator or to change or cancel or alter the terms in a collective agreement or any strike in breach of a collective agreement. Also, according to Section 40 of the Industrial disputes act, it is a punishable offence to commence, continue, participate in, or do any act in furtherance of a strike while pending a settlement by an Industrial Court or by an Arbitrator in breach of a collective agreement. Amerasinghe (2009) emphasised that the Courts upheld the right to strike in the private sector of Sri Lanka only subject to the restrictions in the Industrial Disputes Act.

Trade Unions as political actors

Modern trade unions act in two arenas: the State and politics on the one hand, and the labour market and collective bargaining on the other. The relative importance of their economic and political activities differs between countries and world regions, as well as historically and between types of unions. So do the way and the extent to which union action in the two arenas is coordinated. Most unions no longer claimed a right or reserved the option to overthrow the Government of the State through a political strike. In this, they paid tribute to the superior legitimacy of free elections, as compared to the ‘direct action’ of the organised working class. Today, more or less explicit constitutional law makes it illegal for unions in most liberal democracies to call a strike in order to put pressure on the elected Parliament, and most trade unions have accepted this as legitimate. In return, liberal democratic States allow unions within the limits of usually complex legal rules to strike in the context of disputes with employers and in pursuit of collective agreements on wages and working conditions.

As political actors within the constitutional framework of liberal democracy trade unions can use various channels of influence. The most important of these are still unions’ traditional relations with political parties. In all democratic countries unions are in some form of alliance with a major political party.

Unions in the political process

Trade unions may achieve political influence by converting ‘industrial’ into political power. Political exchange of this sort occurs where centralised unions command strong bargaining power; where the outcomes of collective bargaining are decisive for macroeconomic performance, in particular with respect to monetary stability and employment; and where the political survival of the government depends on such performance. Also, unions may insert themselves in the political process through privileged links with an allied political party, which may enable them to achieve their industrial objectives more effectively and efficiently through political instead of industrial means.

With the dawn of the millennium, most State-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private sector organisations inherited modern employee welfare activities and modern human resource development concepts. The whole process of recruitment, training, remuneration, promotion and transfers are all done to a written code of ethics. If any queries or ‘bubble out’occurred, they were solved in the best possible ways without affecting the employees, therefore employees begin to think thata union is not needed.

The last nail in the coffin was the politicisation of the trade unions. All the political parties started unions. This resulted in a split among the employees. The noble concepts of the unions are blown away and they have been cited as the places to sell political propaganda.

However, the truth is that even though is lost, still the need for the union does exist, as the employees need backup against any false charge and for disciplinary actions. Still, the unions are for the employees to protect them from injustice, for high payee taxes, salary hikes to match the cost of living and for rights like pensions and provident funds.

Disruption and Sabotage of essential services

But, It is imperative to see trade unions in Sri Lanka over a period of time have taken citizens as a shield and for ransom to fulfil their political agenda. They have put the citizens in discomfort in the form of disruption and sabotage of essential services like health, water, electricity, food, etc. Further, trade unions have created disruptions against restructuring SOEs without considering the macro benefits Sri Lanka could have for the future generation.

Disruptions in the essential supply of fuel, electricity and water will no doubt have a direct impact on the day-to-day functions of industries and the livelihood of citizens. Further, this will give a negative signal to foreign investors and tourists who are already in the country and who intend to visit Sri Lanka as an unsafe place to spend their stay and money. These are aspects which we cannot compromise when we are in an economic crisis.

It is by and large a major threat toNational Security, whichhas a Militarydimension and a Non-Militarydimension. Therefore, considering the seriousness of essentials needed for citizens, the Non-military dimensional componentis considered as health, food, energy, communication security etc., The government is solely responsible for its citizens to ensure an uninterrupted supply by any means. Therefore,the government will have to use its full potential in exercising the law andorder to ensure a smooth supply of essentials in order to keep the country alive.

Conclusion

Countering threats on Citizens, National security, whether it is military or non-military should be the sole responsibility of the government to take prompt action. This applies to successive governments, too. Further, Human rights activists should support what is right always, keeping in mind the larger picture for the benefit of Citizens in Sri Lanka.

Prof.Rasheen Bappu, Anthropologist with security studies insights and Intelligence data scientist expressed his views in a forum

By Prof. Rasheen Bappu

Lanka Lead News

මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමේ සාමාජික කොමසාරිස්වරු තිදෙනෙකු, භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේ නමක්ද ඇතුළුව, ජනාධිපතිවරයාට ලිඛිතව දැනුම්දීමක් කරමින් තවදුරටත් සභාපතිනිය සමග වැඩකළ නොහැකි බවට සඳහන් කිරීම පිළිබඳව ‘ලංකා ලීඩ්‘ එක් කොමසාරිස් වරයකු ඇමතීය.

මේ වෛද්‍ය නිමල් කරුණාසිරි මහතාගේ අදහස් ඔහුගේ වචනයෙන්,

සභාපතිනිය කොමසාරිස්වරු සමග සාකච්ඡාකර සාමූහික තීන්දු ගන්නේ නැහැ. හිතුවක්කාර විදිහට තමාගේ පෞද්ගලික මතයට අනුව වැඩ කරනවා. ඒක පනතට පටහැනියි. අප ඒ බව පෙන්වා දුන්නාට ඇහුම්කන් දුන්නේ නැහැ.

පසුගිය අරාජික සමයේදී පොලිසියට මානසික බාදක පනවලා නීති විරෝධී ක්‍රියා බොහෝමයක් කරන්න ඇය කටයුතු කළ බව ඉතා පැහැදිලියි. සමහර ප්‍රභල නීතිඥවරු සහ නීතිඥ සංගමයත් ඒ ආකාරයට කටයුතු කළා.

ඒ නිසා පැහැදිලි වෙනවා ඇය එසේ ක්‍රියාකරන්නේ පෞද්ගලික හිතුවක්කාර කමකට වඩා පොදු වුවමනාවක් අනුව බව. අපට එහෙම සැක හිතෙන්නේ පසුගිය කාලයේදී අනාවරණය වුනා අමෙරිකාවේ USAIO සහ NED කියන සංවිධාන ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නීති ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ විවිධ කටයුතු වලට අරමුදල් ලබාදුන් බව”

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

AG favours Singapore court, compensation claim USD 6.2 bn

The inordinate delay in initiating legal action against X-Press Feeders, the owners of container carrier X-Press Pearl, which sank off Colombo in early June, 2021 causing a maritime disaster, has taken a new turn with Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, PC, asking IGP C. D. Wickramaratne to probe an allegation that a certain party involved in the ongoing deliberations received USD 250 mn and the money was sent to an account at a British bank.

The ill-fated vessel carrying 1,486 containers caught fire on May 20, 2021 off Colombo. Its cargo included 25 metric tonnes of nitric acid and as much as 50 bn plastic pellets.

The Justice Minister said so yesterday (12) when The Island asked the latest developments in the wake of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Sustainable Development taking up the issue on 04 April. SJB MP Ajith Mannapperuma chaired the meeting, which was also attended by the Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa.

Minister Rajapakse disclosed that he had received a certain foreign bank account number amidst accusations and counter accusations over the support extended to those who represented the interests of X-Press Feeders. He however declined to vouch for the veracity of the claim.

Asked where the government intended to file action in this regard, the Minister said that the Attorney General’s Department was of the view that it should be Singapore. The Minister said that he wouldn’t take a contrary view.

Sanjay Rajaratnam, PC, received appointment as the AG on May 26, 2021 as local and foreign firefighters were struggling to stabilize the vessel.

At the time of the worst maritime disaster in Sri Lankan waters, Ali Sabry, PC, served as the Justice Minister.

The Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) during Attorney-at-Law Dharshanee Lahandapura’s tenure as its Chairperson asserted that the case should be filed here as the incident took place within the country’s territorial waters.

Lahandapura’s term ended in early February this year and another lawyer Asela B. Rakewa succeeded her.

Minister Rajapakse said that during his predecessor’s tenure two teams had been tasked with probing the accident. Minister Sabry appointed one comprising three lawyers whereas the then MEPA Chairperson appointed a bigger expert group for the same purpose.

Dr. Rajapakse said that in spite of an assurance from the committee appointed by the MEPA that its report would be submitted by Sept. 23, 2022, it was delivered in January this year.

Those who felt that legal action should be filed here should realise that enforcement of whatever ruling would also be a challenge, the Justice Minister said.

Asked whether there had been an issue with regard to the presence of a group of persons believed to be lawyers representing the interests of X-Press Feeders at the Sectoral Oversight Committee meeting, Dr. Rajapakse said that he had asked the Chair to move them out as he couldn’t under circumstances discuss government plans with the opposing side.

The Oversight Committee shouldn’t have invited them for that particular meeting, the Justice Minister said, adding that the high-profile case remained a heavy burden. During the proceedings, it transpired that nearly two years after the incident, the expert committee tasked with assessing damages to the environment and other damages hadn’t been able to visit the location of the ship disaster. MP Mannapperuma has directed MEEPA and NARA (National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency) to take tangible measures to facilitate the expert panel to visit the site with the assistance of the Navy and Airforce. The MP has pointed out that the failure to do so could be detrimental to Sri Lanka’s case.

The Sectoral Oversight Committee Chairman said so after members of the expert committee appointed by MEPA disclosed that they had been deprived of Navy and Air Force assistance to achieve the set objectives.

Environmentalists have pointed out that it is not advisable to move Singaporean court though the Cabinet-of-Ministers approved the Attorney General’s recommendation in this regard. They want the case to be heard in Colombo.

They pointed out that the second report of the expert committee had recommended that Sri Lanka ask for compensation to the tune of USD 6.2 bn. During Lahandapura’s tenure Sri Lanka received USD 10 mn for clean-up operations and fisheries sector compensation.

A statement issued by Parliament Director Legislative Services / Director Communication (Acting) Janakantha Silva quoted MEPA Chairman Rakewa as having said that the expert committee report had been handed over to the Attorney General. Rakewa said that the AG should go ahead with filing the case.

The AG’s Department representatives assured that action was being taken in this regard. According to the statement dated April 06 issued by parliament on the meeting held on 04 April legal action had to be initiated within 45 days.

Courtesy Adaderana

World Bank’s Regional Vice President for South Asia has commended the progress on fiscal, financial and economic governance reforms achieved by Sri Lanka thus far.

On the sidelines of the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group in Washington DC, the Sri Lankan delegation led by Finance State Minister Shehan Semasinghe, Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardana and Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe held talks with senior officials of international financial institutions and foreign countries.

During the meeting with World Bank’s Vice President for South Asia Martin Raiser, the reforms initiated by Sri Lanka, the cooperation on transforming to a digital economy and the progress of the targeted social safety net were taken up for discussion.

Raiser, taking to Twitter, said increased transparency is crucial for reforms to succeed, including the critical social protection reform that aims to protect vulnerable people.

Further, the two sides have discussed the development of renewable energy and digital economy, and supporting export-oriented small- and medium-scale businesses.

The World Bank official said he is delighted to see Sri Lanka’s progress on fiscal, financial and economic governance reforms.

Noting the efforts need to be continued in order to fully recover the island nation’s economy, Raiser reiterated the support of the World Bank Group with ideas and financing.

The Sri Lankan delegation also met with the Assistant Secretaries of the US State Department, namely Donald Lu and Ramin Toloui, to discuss the matters of mutual interest, the commitment of the US for the island’s economic recovery and the reform process.

Further, State Minister Semasinghe has had a productive meeting with IMF Deputy Managing Director Kenji Okumura, who appreciated the commitment of the Sri Lankan government.

They have discussed the way forward to meet the first review targets while remaining committed to completing the debt treatment negotiations as fast as possible.

Courtesy Adaderana

China has reiterated the calls on commercial and multilateral creditors to jointly participate in Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring under the principle of fair burden-sharing.

According to Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, the Asian economic giant has been in close communication with Sri Lanka and supported Chinese financial institutions in actively discussing debt treatment arrangements with Sri Lanka.

Wang mentioned this during a regular press briefing on Friday (April 14), in response to a question pertaining to the formal launch of discussions by Sri Lanka’s major bilateral creditors to restructure the island nation’s debt without China.

On Thursday (April 13), Japan, India and France held a press briefing to announce a common platform for talks among bilateral creditors to coordinate the restructuring of Sri Lanka’s debt.

The three creditor countries have been working closely for a coordinated debt restructuring process for the island nation.

Sri Lanka owes USD 7.1 billion to its bilateral creditors with USD 3 billion owed to China – its biggest bilateral lender, USD 2.4 billion to the Paris Club and USD 1.6 billion to India.

Courtesy Adaderana

A committee of Sri Lanka’s international private creditors sent its first debt rework proposal to the country’s authorities regarding over $12 billion in bonds outstanding, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

It is the first bondholder proposal after the island nation of 22 million people defaulted on its debt a year ago. It is a first formal step to engage with the country’s authorities, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because discussions are private.

Details of the proposal were not immediately available.

Representatives for the government did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson representing the creditor committee declined to comment.

The group of about 30 creditors includes global investment companies Amundi Asset Management, BlackRock, HBK Capital Management and T. Rowe Price Associates.

Bondholders and government officials met in Washington this week, with legal and financial advisers for both sides present, said two sources.

Separately, the Paris Club of creditor governments said on Friday it aims to start negotiations to restructure Sri Lanka’s bilateral debt after a committee was set up by French, Japanese and Indian finance ministers, and representatives of Sri Lanka.

China, Sri Lanka’s biggest bilateral creditor, did not join the announcement.

After the COVID pandemic that ruined the tourist sector, a spike in prices of imports following the start of the Ukraine war, and economic mismanagement, Sri Lanka fell into its worst financial crisis in more than seven decades.

Sri Lanka secured last month a $2.9 billion program from the International Monetary Fund to tackle its huge debt burden.

Source: Reuters
-Agencies

Dr. Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

Because the Indian Ocean is sort of the world’s energy interstate and China will have a maritime presence, perhaps even a naval presence in some distant morrow. So the opening of this port in south Sri Lanka is of real geopolitical significance.” ~ Robert D. Kaplan author of Monsoon[1]

Crime is essentially about meaning and semioticsis the ‘science of interpretation’ ~ Marcel Danesi

Six weeks after 2019 Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka, it was open secret among Colombo’s diplomatic community and intelligentsia that Saudi Arabia knowingly or inadvertently had funded and certainly had prior notice of the attacks, while the United States of America had prime motive to stage the Hollywood-style shock and awe” suicide attacks, mysteriously claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS), two days later. An Israeli new Agency called Whitestream meanwhile claimed the suicide bombers were funded by BITCOIN, but dropped the narrative after Bitcon threatened to sue.

Sri Lanka is a 70 percent Buddhist county with around ten percent each of Hindus, Muslims and Christians, and hence the Euro-American, Christian-Islam Clash of Civilizations” narrative has little traction in the island where the Christian and Muslim communities have historically excellent relations–a detail that seems to have confounded the Masterminds of the attacks on selected churches and luxury hotels in a carefully planned logistics operation.

The US had planned to sign the controversial Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact, after the attacks that effectively paralyzed and destabilized the country for weeks when acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan would visit the island after the Shangri la Dialogue in Singapore.

SOFA would enable American troops to enter the strategically located Indian Ocean Island in an emergency” such on Easter Sunday to fight ‘IS terror’ and yoke Sri Lanka to its War on Terror. The strategic Indian Ocean island which would be effectively rendered a servicing and intelligence logistics hub (code for military base), centered on the coveted Trincomallee deep sea natural harbor in the Eastern Province, which some ‘terrorism experts’ claim IS wants for its Caliphate. There is no evidence to suggest that IS has blue water ambition.

IS in Sri Lanka and a Steep Geopolitical Learning Curve

While many countries have lifted travel warnings seemingly confident that no more attacks are forthcoming six weeks later, in the streets of Colombo heightened anti-American sentiment is apparent:  There is a sense that larger global forces are circling, playing and preying on the country. Thus, the English language Island newspaper on quoted award winning Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine: the rise of Disaster capitalism” that describes how CIA tested economic and environmental shocks” are administered to bend societies to the will of the American Empire and related business and security interests. [2]

As the shock of the Easter carnage ebbs in Sri Lanka questions regarding the motives embedded in the empirical detail and design of the crime have come to the fore. There is a growing divide between international expert narratives that claim IS was responsible and local perception that the US had a hand in the Easter attacks. Some commentators have suggested, following Tony Cartalucchi, a former US Marine intelligence officer that: the US deliberately created ISIS to serve as a pretext for illegally occupying Syria after the invasion of Iraq..  and will continue to use ISIS’ convenient expansion worldwide to justify a continued, global US military presence worldwide as well.”[3]

The insular and nationalistic general public of strategically located Ceylon/Sri Lanka, ‘islanded’ for generations by several centuries of European colonialism and post-independence Euro-American occupation of the Indian Ocean, suddenly seems to be going through a steep learning curve regarding the country’s geostrategic and geopolitical futures as questions are being raised as to who funds, owns and operates the shadowy IS network?

Shocks and terrorists, economic and environmental Disasters, also provide opportunities for learning and growth– if only local and global political leaders who seem impervious to learning lessons would stand aside.

Trump’s Pivot to Asia and a Pattern of mysterious attacks

On the last day of 2018 President Donald Trump signed legislation designed to strengthen America’s role in the recently invented Indo-Pacific”. The airily titled Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA) is the most comprehensive statement in a generation of America’s regional interests. It authorizes expenditures of $1.5 billion annually through 2023 to enhance U.S. military, diplomatic and economic engagement with East and Southeast Asian allies such as Japan, India, South Korea and Taiwan.

Retrospectively, the IS claimed attacks in Sri Lanka appear as part of a larger pattern of mysteriously triggered attacks and political unrest the South and Southeast Asian region at this time: 1) On February 15 there was an outbreak of near-war in Pulwama on the India-Pakistan Kashmir border during the run up to elections in India; 2) on April 21 Easter Sunday turned into a mysterious bloodbath in Sri Lanka and; 3) in May 22  post-election violence was unleashed in Jakarta, Indonesiaalthough the popular President Joko Widodo was re-elected with a wide margin. 4) unrest is on-going in Hong Kong at this time. As elections loom later this year in Sri Lanka there would certainly be more externally orchestrated attempts to promote Muslim-Buddhist dissention to de-stabilize the country and maintain the US backed (neo)liberal Prime Minister and his network in power.

Indonesia’s economy is South East Asia’s largest.  By 2050 it is expected to be the fourth largest economy in the world, after China, India and the United States, according to PwC. According to BBC’s Karishma Waswani, Police suspected that behind the post-election violence in Jakarta was an attempt to incite anti-Chinese violence as Chinese investment had become a contentious issue in this election as President Joko Widodo had been courting Beijing to invest in much needed infrastructure in the country. Additionally, there has long been resentment against ethnic minority Chinese Indonesians perceive to be wealthier than ethnic Malay Indonesians.

These mysterious terrorist attacks with undertones of religiously inflected social unrest, along with rapid de-escalation in some of Asia’s most populous, multi-religious and culturally diverse South and Southeast Asian countries like India and Indonesia before and after elections framed Muslims as the terrorists” and or miscreants. In many instances Chinese interests and partners emerge as targets in these mysterious attacks.

In the case of the Pulwama attacks in the absence of communication channels between India and Pakistan, U.S, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates played a role in ensuring the quick release of the IAF pilot, Wg. Cdr. Abhinandan Varthaman, thereby defusing the near war situation.  Causing disasters and then providing humanitarian and peace building advice and assistance while selling advanced defense systems is a billion dollar US led global military-business-intelligence industrial complex.

All these attacks occurred in the lead up and following the long-anticipated landmark International Court of Justice (ICJ), ruling that the UK and USA must de-colonize the Indian Ocean’s Chagos Island, located south of the Maldives, where the secretive US military base Diego Garcia operates purportedly to ensure regional security and fight global IS terrorism. Now a CIA Black cite for illegal renditions.

Arguably, unlike the Obama administration’ ballyhoo pivot” to Asia, Mr. Trump’s turn to the East seems darker — bellicose: Strategically located, Sri Lanka sits halfway between Iran and China in the Indian Ocean on one of the world’s busiest energy, trade, and global internet Undersea Cable Routes (UDC). Robert Kaplan termed it the world’s energy interstate”. From post-Easter developments in the recently invented Indo-Pacific” ocean, it appears that a United States led Cold War on China is slowly unfolding in the Indian Ocean at this time, as US war ships position themselves near Iran, and in the South China sea, and Donald Trump’s sanctions on Iran’s oil trade bite. There were attacks on ships in the area, the IS did not claim them. These attacks are attributed to Iran by ‘knowledgeable experts’.

The Rule of Experts and Weaponization of Religion

In the wake of the April disaster in Sri Lanka a fog of contradictory claims  and narratives were crafted by international terrorism experts as to why IS had chosen Sri Lanka for its latest adventure – a deep dive in the Indian Ocean far from familiar mountain and dessert terrain.

It was suggest that Sri Lanka was 1) an easy or soft target” due to co-habitation issues between PM and President although the county had comprehensively defeated the LTTE known as one of the deadliest terrorist group 10 years earlier; 2) the IS needed a publicity boost for its followers to feel good” psychologically after defeats in Syria and Iraq at this time. 3) Sri Lanka President and police have been distracted by a sudden drug epidemic that mysteriously hit the country;  4)  Islamic state was expanding and moving its caliphate to South and Southeast Asia and was pivoting to the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka.

However, as a Bangladesh security expert asked: why Sri Lanka and why not Nepal or any other country with dysfunctional and corrup leaders?Meanwhile, German and British intelligence experts suggested that the images and narratives attributing the attacks to IS were staged” and the video of Al Bagdhadi talking about the attacks have been questioned by Arabic and French intel experts as audio tape had been imposed on the video, again raising questions regarding who is behind the IS narrative, and owns, operates and uses the IS, and who benefits?

  Singapore-based expert Rohan Gunaratne, with known links to the US military business intelligence industrial complex claimed that IS has territorial ambitions to set up a province of its Caliphate in Sri Lanka’s Eastern province where the Trincomalee deep Sea port coveted by USA for a military hub is conveniently located. Meanwhile a Rand Corporation expert and anthropologist, Jonah Blank, suggest that IS operates on a franchise’ model – like a US corporation (Mac Donald’s or KFC?), to cause one off opportunistic adventures![4]Rand’s Blank, who is the author of Mullahs on the main frame”, when interviewed about the terror attacks in Sri Lanka while in Indonesia as unrest was on-going there, provided insight on the US corporate model that the IS is based on. Blank also attempted to connect the Easter crime in Sri Lanka with attacks in New Zealand. However, the NZ Prime Minister Jacinta dismissed out right any connection between attacks on mosques in New Zealand the carnage in churches in Sri Lanka.

The Arch Bishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcom Ranjith meanwhile seemed to hit the nail on the head when he talked about a hidden hand” behind the IS narrative to spread Islamophobia and invite attacks on Sri Lankan Muslims to disrupt the peace, while questioning the general and vague claims that IS was responsible for the attacks in Sri Lanka. The IS narrative is a global grand narrative that has spread Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment (like the Clash of Civilizations” narrative), that was played in Sri Lanka although there is no history or motive for Sri Lankan Muslims to attack Christians since both these religious communities are minorities in Buddhist majority Sri Lanka. We must hence look beyond local ethno-religious identity politics to external and geopolitical forces and actors to explain the enigma of IS attacking Christians in Sri Lanka.

A Game of Thrones?

In the Final analysis ‘playing the blame game’ and identifying local politicians and intelligence agencies that are controlled by external actors is a waste of time. They are bit players in a Geopolitical game of Divide, Distract, loot and colonize.

It is well established that all political parties in Sri Lanka are controlled to great or lesser extern by foreign funding to key leaders or player. M.L.M Hizbullah of Kathankudi certainly directed Saudi funding to the suicide bombers while another Ajaz Hizbullah was jailed as distraction to keep the Human Rights NGOs’ busy after the Easter Sunday attacks.

 Pointing fingures at the UNP or SLFP/PP or Gota, Basil or Ranil Rajapakse as beneficiaries of the Easter Carnage is a distraction because they are all controlled to greater or lesser extent by powerful external actors who wage Full Spectrum Dominance (FSD) warfare in strategic Sri Lanka with access to Artificial Intelligence, Voice cloning software that was also used in the Killing of Dinesh Shafter, primary witness in the Court Case on the 2015 Central Bank (CBSL), Bondscam that stands to be dismissed as the main culprit President Ranil Rajapakse now has immunity.

Gotabaya Rajapakse who later became President after the Easter attacks, with his brother Basil as Finance Minister were both US citizens at the time of the Easter Carnage. They benefited from the de-stabilization and attack on the economy to return to power, but so too did Ranil Wickramasinghe the long-term US favourite, then Prime Minister who lost out, only to be resurrected as President after the Araglaya inspired Regime Change operation last year. Meanwhile, Sirisena was thrown under the bus and blamed for the Easter Carnage. But who really benefited by destabilizing the country and a new round of elections after the Easter Sunday attacks?

(TO BE CONTINUED)

(Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel (LLM International Law (UCL))

(Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel (LLM International Law (UCL)), former Ambassador to UAE and Israel, President Ambassador’s Forum, Former Chairman of the Consumer Affairs Authority, Solicitor England and Wales and former Secretary General Bar Association of Sri Lanka (LLM (UCL), assisted by Suchithra Withanage (LLM (UK) (LLM (UK|Reading) LLB (Hons) (UK))

Price Wars

Price wars are rampant when there is competition and during a sound business environment. The business environment in Sri Lanka is not sound and satisfactory – yet price wars are prevalent in consumer items that are essential to daily life and the food basket. Price wars can be seen in sales conducted to get rid of unsold stock all over the world in competitive businesses. The business environment is satisfactory when there is money circulation, proper income and an expenditure to suit your income. Citizens in Sri Lanka are going through the most difficult era in all respects, yet the massive crowds on the road during the festive season have shown that Sri Lankans are resilient to any adverse situation and are capable of fighting back with confidence. No society is ideal and utopian, and we feel sorry for the downtrodden with little to no income. Obviously, some traders are selfish and work for maximum profit when consumers are inactive and disorganized. New Year rituals appear to be followed to the rule supported by media presenters with utmost talent. No price wars are seen in monopolized consumer items such as gas, fuel, and consumer items in short supply. In the rush, the underworld and crime are rearing their ugly heads and emerging fast with sporadic and organized crimes, mostly connected to the drug menace. Price wars on eggs are seen when they are essential and required for daily life as the cheapest food item for protein for the body, demanding sufficient food especially for young people and elders. Politicians appear to be sidelined and hidden, in fear of unseen and unexpected treatments from frustrated citizens in the forefront, leaving politicians in the backyard. Even on Oxford Street in the United Kingdom, price wars are said to be still active as in any other festive season.

The Egg Basket has Fallen

The egg basket has fallen and is empty today due to the mismanagement of governance and fierce competition on eggs. Eggs were one of the cheapest sources of protein for citizens in the 1980s when business was flourishing with 25,000 farms collecting 3.2 billion eggs, filling 19% of the nation’s GDP as one of the most successful agriculture projects. The aim was to expand overseas with the backing of governance and the private sector, but this has been drastically destroyed due to mismanagement and lack of vision for the industry based on inefficiency and corruption. 200 million was spent on developments until the country was self-sufficient in eggs and chicken. The annual requirement of eggs for the country is 2.9 billion, which is around 6% of GDP. 6.3 million eggs were required for a population of 21 million, but many are not productive go-getters and await governance to import provisions from overseas, which is convenient and easy living they are trained for. Due to the import of eggs, production dropped from 80,000 to 35,000 and many gave up the business due to shortages of maize water and assistance they previously received. The Governance decided to import one to three million eggs from India from a credit line to meet demand during the Christmas season, thereby destabilizing the sound and smooth flow of egg production in the country with savings for much-needed dollars. There are lessons to be learned from this episode on eggs that has established and disturbed the smooth flow of the poultry industry on the proper track for so long with substantial national income and foreign exchange due to lack of vision and management by governance ignorant of reality and morality.

Legal Basis of Pricing and Price Wars

The system of traditional price control was done away with after the introduction of the Consumer Affairs Authority Act number 9 of 2003, which replaced the Control of Prices Act no. 1 of 1987. Consumer items are no longer required to be price marked as before. Today, the price of consumer items is required to be exhibited (article 26) while maintaining quality (Section 7 (a, b, c, and d)). Yet in certain circumstances, a maximum price can be imposed when the Minister is of the view, based on research by the CAA, that a named consumer item needs to be given a maximum price in the interest of the consumer. It is on this basis that the maximum price of eggs was determined and a court order was made to change it, which is in the news. There is a series of case law in Sri Lanka pertaining to this subject. Consumers do not appear to understand this properly, and consumer and activist organizations are inactive in helping consumers – a pity. It is a sorry affair that traders are exploiting consumers and making exorbitant profits. In the rush, the CAA is imposing heavy fines, discouraging and damaging trade practices against the CAA Act which is bound to protect both consumers and traders as stated in the Act: and whereas the government of Sri Lanka is also desirous of promoting competitive pricing wherever possible and ensuring healthy competition among traders and manufacturers of goods and services.” They need not be considered an enemy of the citizen – rather, ‘a friend indeed’ who is required for economic prosperity. In that context, the imposition of a heavy fine is grossly disproportionate as what is required and expected by the Act is to educate the consumer and relevant parties such as traders, manufacturers and regulators elucidated in Section 8 of the Act under the functions of the CAA.

Cost of Living, Price of Consumer Items and Price Control

The cost of living is not static anywhere in the world. Despite the Bread Ordinance and other legislation, the price of bread is ever-increasing worldwide. Bread that was Rs. 3.30 has risen to Rs. 77.37 today approximately. Such prices increases are common in the United Kingdom as well, where bread in 1970 that was around 60p has risen to one pound today (also approximate figures). In the United Kingdom, the income is with buying power unlike in Sri Lanka where inflation has risen to high figures with inflation on food items around 41% and the rupee value has drastically fallen down to the bottom. There may be citizens dying of starvation, and yet the news on the media is less focused on the subject than on other trivialities. One should know and practice when, where and how to purchase consumer items of their need. For example, an apple you purchase for £1.50 at Selfridges could be purchased from a roadside for 15 pence if you are vigilant and careful enough to be an alert consumer with education on consumerism backed by consumer organizations, the guardian of the consumer. When consumer items are in abundance, you should know how to collect and preserve them. Extravagance should be avoided and a simple life should be practiced. Today in a Sri Lankan family, income is spent on mobile phones, tuition and extravagance that should be curtailed. Sri Lankans are going through a hard time and it is our duty to help others and each other in beating the cost of living by acting in the interest of humanity towards others who need help and assistance. The best way to beat the cost of living is by practicing a simple life and simplicity in all respects. A classic example is the living style of a villager, within their means with no debts or mortgages. It may appear prima facie difficult but if practiced, it can be pleasant, helpful and entertaining as well.

Writer can be reached on 0094777880166|0094766280166 |sarath7@hotmailco.uk | sarathdw28@gmail.com

Sasanka De Silva Pannipitiya

Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic species in controlled habitats such as ponds, tanks, and oceanic cages, including fish, shellfish, and aquatic plants. It entails growing aquatic creatures for commercial, recreational, and subsistence uses.

It has become a vital source of food for humans, and it provides a sustainable alternative to overfished wild-catch fisheries. Aquaculture can also be utilized to produce ornamental fish, pharmaceuticals, and other aquatic organism-derived goods.

The process has several benefits, including:

1.    Increased food production: Aquaculture provides a means of increasing the production of seafood, which is an important source of protein for many people around the world.

2.    Reduced pressure on wild fish stocks: By providing an alternative source of seafood, aquaculture can help reduce the pressure on wild fish stocks, which are often overfished.

3.    Job creation: Aquaculture can provide employment opportunities in rural and coastal communities, where job options may be limited.

4.    Environmental benefits: Some forms of aquaculture, such as shellfish farming, can have positive environmental impacts by improving water quality and providing habitat for other marine organisms.

5.    Quality control: It allows for greater control over the quality and safety of seafood products, as they can be monitored throughout the entire production process.

6.    Innovation and technology transfer: The process has spurred innovation in areas such as feed development, breeding and genetics, and disease management, which can have applications beyond aquaculture.

The method also has some potential disadvantages, including:

1.    Disease and parasite management: The high density of fish in aquaculture systems can lead to disease outbreaks and parasitic infestations, which can be difficult and expensive to control.

2.    Environmental impacts: Some forms of aquaculture, particularly those that use open-water systems or produce high levels of waste, can have negative environmental impacts, such as water pollution, habitat destruction, and the introduction of non-native species.

3.    Escapes and genetic pollution: Farmed fish can escape from their pens and potentially compete with or interbreed with wild fish, which can have negative genetic and ecological impacts.

4.    Feed sustainability: Aquaculture relies on large amounts of feed, much of which is made from wild-caught fish, which can contribute to overfishing and other sustainability issues.

5.    Social impacts: The growth of large-scale aquaculture operations can lead to the displacement of small-scale fishers and other local communities, particularly in developing countries.

6.    Economic viability: Aquaculture can be expensive to set up and maintain, and the profitability of the industry can be affected by fluctuations in market demand and input costs.

Aquaculture can be considered a double-edged sword because it has both benefits and drawbacks.

On one hand, it can provide a sustainable source of seafood, create jobs, and promote innovation in related industries.

And on the other hand, it can also have negative impacts on the environment, wild fish populations, and local communities, and it may not always be economically viable.

Therefore, it is important to carefully consider the potential benefits and drawbacks of aquaculture and to strive to develop sustainable and responsible aquaculture practices that minimize negative impacts while maximizing benefits.

Sasanka De Silva

Pannipitiya.

Senaka Weeraratna

Kishore Mahbubani PPA is a Singaporean diplomat and geopolitical consultant who served as Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations between 1984 and 1989, again between 1998 and 2004, and as President of the United Nations Security Council between 2001 and 2002. Wikipedia

Born: October 24, 1948 (age 74 years), Colony of Singapore

Education: Harvard University, National University of Singapore, MORE

Previous offices: President of the United Nations Security Council (2001–2002), MORE

Nationality: Singaporean
Ignorance and Distortion of History are major challenges for people of former European colonies. 

The Vatican has publicly apologized for helping European colonizers in the past. 

https://youtu.be/2puEHhvMVkw

But who is going to stop the new Missionaries coming from Western Academia from writing tomes on Colonialism as something benign and a blessing to the enslaved and explaining religious intolerance and forced religious conversions as manifest destiny?
The deafening silence on the part of the mass media on the Vatican’s apology with no calls to make amends even by payment of reparations shows the extent to which the international mass media is bonded to the goals of the West and the hypocrisy underlying its call for accountability in a totally one-sided manner.

Senaka Weeraratna

it’s now 25 years since #hongkong was returned to #china following 156 years under British rule. As you can imagine, the West is having a hard time coping with China’s celebrations, despite the fact that Hong Kong was initially taken by brute military force after Britain’s illegal shipments of heroin to China were confiscated and destroyed by the Qing Dynasty. Here’s a quick history. By the 1800s, #britain had grown extremely fond of Chinese goods, mainly tea and china. British merchants were making a lot of money bringing Chinese goods back to Britain, but they encountered an issue: Britain didn’t have anything China wanted to buy back, so there was a huge trade imbalance. Britain decided to play dirty, growing opium, the key ingredient of heroin, in British India for shipment to China in the hope of making enough back in the illicit trade to fund their new addiction to tea. Don’t forget, heroin was illegal in China, but Britain was desperate to even out trade so who cares, right? Before too long, China had millions of heroin addicts which, rightfully so, worried the government who decided they had to act. In May of 1839, Britain’s Chief Superintendent of trade, a man named Charles Elliot, was forced to hand over more than 1,400 tons of the drug that was being stored in a warehouse in Canton for illegal distribution in China. It was then destroyed, which angered the British side and eventually led to the First Opium War, where the British smashed China militarily, culminating in the take over of Nanjing, which literally means Southern Capital, in late 1842. China was then forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, the first of the so-called “unequal treaties”, which ordered the Emperor to not only pay the British for the destroyed opium, but also to cover the cost of the war, open more ports to accept British heroin, and give up Hong Kong which would be used as a trading port to boost the drug trade. The British achieved a 99-year lease of Hong Kong in 1898. The Treaty of Nanjing is seen as the beginning of China’s “Century of Humiliation,” a very important aspect influencing China’s foreign policy to this day. Fast forward to 1997, and Hong Kong was to be handed back to its rightful owner after what ended up being 156 years of British rule. What’s infuriating is that the British lie to this day about how Hong Kongers were treated during that time. Many people don’t realize that in more than 150 years of British rule, the island was lorded over undemocratically by white Governors installed by London, giving Hong Kong residents no say in how they were governed. It’s quite hilarious that Western media like CNN argue that China has waged an “idealogical war against the influence of Western values” in Hong Kong, including “democracy” and “press freedom”. Perhaps the staff should read more history. Britain always had a suspicion of Hong Kongers and often violently suppressed their calls for democracy on the island. In 1856, Britain’s Colonial Office rejected calls for more local representation, saying Chinese were had no respect for “the main principles upon which social order rests.” Racist much! Popular grassroots movements on the island were squashed, and the press was censored by Britain in order to stop such movements gaining momentum. So much for “press freedom”. It was only until Britain was getting ready to hand the island back to China in the 1990s that they started to rush in democratic reform, almost certainly as a way to spite China and cause issues they didn’t want to deal with themselves in their 156 years of rule. In what seems like a pure irony, Hong Kong rioters waved British flags as they demanded full democracy there, and many young locals seem blatantly unaware of how Britain treated the population while they were in control. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said recently that he won’t give up on Hong Kong, and argued that China had “disturbed” the foundations on which modern Hong Kong had been built. WHAT FOUNDATIONS?! YOU DIDN’T GIVE HONG KONG PEOPLE A SAY IN GOVERNANCE FOR 156 YEARS!!! Hong Kong people now have more say in their government that they have in nearly 200 years, and that is thanks to China.

Manusha Media

ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ශ්‍රමිකයින්ට ජපානයේ රැකියා අවස්ථා ලබාගැනීම, මානව සම්පත් සංවර්ධනය, ජපන් ආයෝජන ලංකාවට ගෙන්වා ගැනීම සහ සංචාරක ප්‍රවර්ධනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් වන අවභෝධතා ගිවිසුමකට ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය සහ ජපානයේ ප්‍රමුඛ පෙලේ ව්‍යාපාරික සමූහයක් වන පැසෝනා සමූහය එළඹ තිබේ.

කම්කරු සහ විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්‍ය මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතාගේ ජපන් නිල සංචාරය අතරවාරයේදී Awaji Island හි “Wave Riding Festival” රඟහලේදී මෙම අවභෝධතා ගිවිසුමට අත්සන් තබා ඇත. කම්කරු සහ විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්‍යාංශය සහ පැසෝනා සමූහය අතර මෙම අවභෝධතා ගිවිසුමට අත්සන් කර තිබේ.

මෙම අවභෝධතා ගිවිසුමට අනුව රැකියා අවස්ථා සදහා ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ශ්‍රමිකයින් බදවාගැනීමට අපේක්ෂිත ජපන් ආයතනවලට අවශ්‍ය ස්ථානීය බදවා ගැනීම් සදහා පැසෝනා සමූහය සිය සහාය ලබාදෙයි. ඊට අමතරව ජපානයේ රැකියා අපේක්ෂා කරන ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයින්ට රැකියා අවස්ථා ලබාගැනීම සදහා අවශ්‍ය සහාය ලබාදීමට පැසෝනා සමූහය කටයුතු කරනු ලබයි.  මෙම අවභෝධතා ගිවිසුම අනුව ජපන් ආයෝජකයින් ආකර්ශනය කරගැනීම සදහා පැසෝනා සමූහය විසින් ආයෝජන සම්මන්ත්‍රණ සහ ආයෝජන උපදේශන පැවැත්වීමට නියමිතය.

ඒ අතරම සංචාරක කර්මාන්තයේ ප්‍රවර්ධනය සදහා සංචාරක ක්ෂේත්‍රෙය් රැකියාවල නියුතු වෘත්තිකයින්ගේ කුසලතා සහ පුහුණුව වැඩි දියුණු කිරීම සදහා වන වැඩසටහන් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමටත්, ජපන් සංචාරකයින් ලංකාවට ගෙන්වා ගැනීම සදහා වන වැඩපිළිවෙලක් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමටත් නියමිතය.

නිදහසෙන් පසුව ශ්‍රී ලංකාව දරුණුතම ආර්ථික අර්බුදයකට මුහුණදී සිටින බවත්, ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාගේ නායකත්වය යටතේ ස්ථාවර රටක් ගොඩ නැගීම සදහා මේ වන විට කටයුතු කරමින් සිටින බවත් අවභෝධතා ගිවිසුම අත්සන් කරන අවස්ථාවේදී අදහස් දැක්වූ අමාත්‍ය මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා පැවසුවේය. මෙම අර්බුදය රටේ ඉතිහාසයේ තීරණාත්මක හැරවුම් ලක්ෂයක් බවත්, මෙවැනි අර්බුද යළිත් ඇති නොවීම සදහා අවශ්‍ය ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ මේ වන විට සිදු කරමින් තිබෙන බවත් අමාත්‍යවරයා සදහන් කළේය. එහිදී කාර්යක්ෂම ශ්‍රම බලකායක් වර්ධනය කිරීම සදහා ජපානය ඇතුළු ලොව පුරා ප්‍රශස්ත භාවිතාවන් අධ්‍යයන කරමින් ශ්‍රමිකයින්ට නම්‍යශීලීව, අර්ධකාලීන සහ බහුවිධ රැකියා කිරීමට අවස්ථාව ලබාදෙන බවත් අමාත්‍යවරයා කීවේය.

ජපානයේ මානව සම්පත් පිළිබද ප්‍රමුඛයෙක් වන පැසෝනා සමූහය සමග එක්වීම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවවට ඓතිහාසික දිනයක් බවත්, මෙම හවුල්කාරීත්වය රටවල් දෙකටම විවිධ ක්ෂේත්‍රවල අනොන්‍ය ප්‍රතිලාභ අත්කර දෙන බවත් අමාත්‍යවරයා සදහන් කළේය.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සදහා කම්කරු හා විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්‍යාංශයේ උපදේශක ශාන් යහම්පත්, ශ්‍රී ලංකා විදේශ සේවා නියුක්ති කාර්යාංශයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ නීතීඥ සමින්ද ජයසේකර, ජපන් – ශ්‍රී ලංකා රැකියා සම්බන්ධයෙන් වන  විශේෂ නියෝජිත ආචාර්ය රුවන් පෙරේරා යන මහත්වරු එක්ව සිටියහ.

Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel (LLM International Law (UCL))

-National Security, Foreign Relations and the Financial Crisis as Factors on Promoting Tourism

‘Sigiriya’, the glamorous Rock Fortress as displayed in the photograph above, is situated in the Central Province of Sri Lanka amid a thick forest, with a known history dating back to 477 AD – 495 AD. As a UNESCO listed ancient monument out of 250 known archaeological sites visited by over a million visitors to date, Sigiriya has become a Sri Lankan hallmark in promoting tourism. This is attributed, amongst other things, to the historical and archaeological significance of the ancient fortress city recorded in the chronical ‘Chulawamsa’ which narrates the history of Sri Lanka, beginning from the fourth century to 1815. The Rock Fortress is also renowned for the cultural and historical importance of the story behind the intrigue between the royal princes of Lanka, ‘Moggallana’ and ‘Kashyapa’ for the throne. It is said that when ‘Kashyapa’ killed his father King ‘Dhathusena’ in order to usurp the throne with the aid of ‘Migara’, who was the king’s nephew and army commander, his sibling ‘Moggallana’, who was the rightful heir of the deceased king, fled to India to gather an army and later marched against King ‘Kashyapa’. Kashyapa painstakingly built the natural rock fortress out of concern for his security, and the beauty of the location and the panoramic surroundings made it a stunning as well as scientific achievement, with its now world famous ‘Sigiri’ frescoes embroidering its walls, still standing proud despite the passing of centuries since their creation, available to be viewed by millions. Of particular architectural significance is the ‘Lion Rock’ gateway, known colloquially as ‘Sinhagiri’ from whence the name ‘Sigiriya’ was derived, which is a favourite tourist attraction alongside many other natural and archaeological sites available in abundance within the island nation which are unfortunately, not adequately utilised for the promotion of tourism as is done in other tourist nations to great effect. Tourism in Sri Lanka hit rock bottom after the ‘Covid-19’ fiasco, followed by a terrorism fuelled bomb disaster as well as the ‘Aragalaya’ conducted by troubled citizens and external sponsorship, which were all severe and tragic blows difficult, if not impossible, for the tourist industry to withstand, eventually bringing down tourist arrivals to nigh zero. Fortunately, the Sri Lankan nation is in the midst of recovery, with tourist arrivals steadily increasing due to the inherent natural beauty of the tropical island as well as the friendly nature of its people to a reasonably degree, as observed in current trends. However, the unprecedented plummet to the rock-bottom of the tourist industry indicates how important and interconnected the national security and international relations are to the tourist industry as a whole.

Sri Lanka has been chosen in recent times as the best travel destination on the globe for tourism chosen by ‘’Lonely Planet’ ’and while it may take some time to regain the lost glory, the answer to the main topic is indeed a possibility, if and when work begins aiming at a target with determination, dedication and opportunities granted to the able, willing and qualified of whom there is no lack in Sri Lanka.  Sri Lanka has intrinsic natural conditions, resources, climate and an amicable environment to well be considered one of the best tourist destinations if the available resources are managed appropriately and novel professional, innovative and scientific methods pertaining to the promotion of tourism are applied. The tourist arrivals in 2017 have amounted to 508,300,000,000 in number which declined to 720,000 in 2020, a steep downward curve of 70.8%.  This amounted to a terrible blow to Sri Lanka as a whole, which deeply depended upon foreign exchange for development and purchase of essential items from other countries. Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), is the apex body of managing and regulating tourism in Sri Lanka under the Cabinet Minister of Tourism, a powerful Ministry set up with the highest expectations in promoting, developing, monitoring and regulating the tourism industry. As the main source of the state income of a country dependent on tourism for progress, the success of the tourism industry now hinges upon the far sighted strategies with a professional basis, of a Minister in charge who must be dedicated, educated and a professional on the job/subject with a team of learned expert advisers on the field. The current figures are rather encouraging at 125,495 arrivals in the month of March 2023, for the grand target of reaching 5 million, considering the dismal statistics which have persisted since 2020. The responsibility of the SLTDA is enormous and wide-ranging, to regulate, supervise, strategise, innovate, and guide the public/private sector as well as the Minister in the proper manner on tourism promotion. In addition, aspirations, commitment, dedication, research and intelligent decision-making are other integral requirements necessary to achieve the set goals. Considering the inherent resources and the available human capacity, what is lacking is proper leadership with a strong commitment and comprehensive understanding. Tourism is a main lifeline of the Sri Lankan economy and must be appreciated as such, by means of dedicated promotion and provision of opportunities to learned and dedicated experts on the subject.

Tourist Arrivals

Tourists have arrived in Sri Lanka, known to the world by a variety of different names over the course of its vibrant history, such as Serendib, Taprobana, Helabima, Ceylon etc. due to its beauty, treasures, culture, religion, and historical significance amongst many other virtues from time immoral. ‘Fa-Hien’, a Chinese Buddhist monk in 410 AD visited with a group and lived for short periods as a tourist and a researcher and scholar of Buddhism. His memoirs are impactful as well as historical, utilised and hailed by historians the world over. ‘Marco Polo’, the Italian traveller in 12 AD has left significant memoirs pertaining to the country as well in addition to a number of other frequent visitors. As Sri Lanka is an island located on a famous and salient sea route in addition to its beauty and resources, the visitors have been frequent and plentiful. In the recent past and to date, the main tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka have mainly been from the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, China, France, Australia, USA, Ukraine and the European Union, while many others consider it a curious new destination due to both good as well as adverse publicity engendered by the country’s contemporary history, including the wars, destruction, military victories, the tragically infamous tsunami of 2004, and even the bombings of 2019 which spawned bad publicity, yet publicity nonetheless, to the beautiful island. 2018 was a peak period in the recent past for tourism with 2.5 million tourist arrivals and an income of 5.61 billion, a significant figure never regained to date. The decline continued continuously, albeit with some solace accorded due to inbound tourism gradually increasing, giving hope to the country struggling with economic downturn and a persisting financial crisis amid rapidly rising inflation. There was a fuel and energy crisis that crippled the tourism industry merely a year ago, and the day to day life of citizens continuously deteriorated. Despite the large number of employees engaged in tourist trade in many different fields, the 700,000 tourist arrival in 2022 did not make a marked difference to the economic system of the country, which had spiralled out of control at the time. Domestic tourism is well-known as well, and Sri Lanka today has an excellent network of roads throughout the country with a dedicated private hiring network for tours. Inbound and outbound tourism is also a factor to be careful about with the need for available airports to be kept in good conditions. Travel can be of different kinds, especially regarding leisure, education and exploration to all members of and visitors to the country. These are a few ingredients a tourist needs the host country to possess, which we must be careful about. Domestic tourism is growing with steady increase of tourists from neighbouring countries as well, such as India, China and the SAARC region.

Recent Tourist Arrivals

Tourist arrivals are steadily improving from the recent downfall caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the fuel crisis, political instability, the ’Aragalaya’, strikes, student actions, high inflation, the Easter attacks, the war in Ukraine. These are well known drawbacks which brought the tourism industry to its knees, which is now recovering steadily, with a total of 719,978 visitors in the year 2022, and 91,961 in December 2022 alone, which is encouraging even compared to 238,924 in 2013, as the numbers amounted to a mere 195,000 in 2021. As a result, the hope for the political stability and regaining the trust of the international community is no longer a pipedream. There is an uphill burden on the country and the citizens to assist in maintaining law and order, which is affected by an increase in crime rates, drug addiction and social corruption, which affects the tourism industry by giving tourists and promoters a sense of insecurity compared to the competitors of Sri Lanka, such as Thailand, the Philippines, India, Nepal, Malaysia, Singapore and other island states which maintain high standards and security systems in place.

Road Network and Travel, Tourist Police and Trained, Able Tourist Guides

Travel is a part and parcel of tourism in the country for the visiting tourists who must move about in search of places of interest. This is one of the main needs of a tourist. In a tourist destination, an efficient public transport system as well as private travelling methods must be nurtured and improved for tourists to move about freely per their needs and financial strength as the case may be. In addition to the hotel taxi service, they must be given facilities for well-known local and international modes of conveyance such as ‘Uber’, ‘Pick Me’ and similar means of travel that the tourists are familiar with. Relatively, the road network and private transport system for tourists and tourism has been developed. Places of interests and worship are improving as well, such as upgrading the standard of the Temple of the Tooth to beyond the ‘Taj-Mahal’ of India per UNESCO standards. There is a gross lack of night life on the city suburbs that the authorities must look into. Competent, qualified and honest guide services and tourist police in and around tourist attraction areas is a matter to be looked into as well, in order for Sri Lanka to reach the target of the best travel destination in the world.

Tourist Attractions in Sri Lanka

Tourist attractions in Sri Lanka are in abundance to suit all kinds of tourists/visitors and their interests of which the products are not properly and professionally presented. The best example is ’Sigiriya’ (depictive above) which is heavily used by Sri Lanka to promote the country and tourism. Constructed in 4.95AD, it is of great archaeological significance today, protected by UNESCO and attracting millions of visitors from all over the world as a leading historical monument in Sri Lanka. A comparison can be drawn to similar sites such as historically significant fortresses in the UK that are well-managed and presented to tourists professionally with easy access, sanitary facilities, proper guidance, protection and precautions to the site and visitors. These are exemplary albeit expensive, and it is time that Sri Lankan heritage sites follow suit. Sri Lanka is a ‘’compact paradise of tourism’’ with things and places to see all over the country and around it, including the beautiful shallow sea surrounding the island with major and minor harbours, with resplendent sights of fishing, spots for whale watching, boat trips, and over 250,000 archaeological sites, which is a rare situation and quite unique as well, much like in Israel, full of similar sites on religious and archaeological significance. In Sri Lanka, the end products and presentation of the sites require novel, modest and innovative models without disturbing the sanctity of historical values, which is a complex and difficult task that must be carried out nonetheless.

‘Jaffna’ contains many of the attractions at the northern tip of Sri Lanka close to India, which is predominantly occupied by Jaffna Tamils who are a productive, hardworking and religious traditional group of citizens leading a hard life. Much like in Israel, many of them educate their children in the culture of fishing in the shallow seas at the tip of the peninsula. ’Batticaloa’ is another spot close to Jaffna, bordering the sea and predominantly occupied by Batticaloa Tamil folk in a more fertile area with ample land for agriculture. Both Jaffna and Batticaloa are full of agricultural sites including the Jaffna Fort and ancient Hindu temples and famous Churches in Batticaloa. 250,000 agricultural sites in one small Island approved by UNESCO can be considered rare on any yardstick, and it is a thing of beauty that they are spread island-wide based on history, religious and other monuments despite a constant influx of foreign invasions and treasure hunters throughout history, as well as theft by various colonial powers. Many Sri Lankan treasures are exhibits in major museums in the UK, USA, Netherlands, Portugal and many other countries as well as the troves of private collectors around the world. Unfortunately, the impact of the archaeological sites and monuments on tourism is currently inadequate due to the absence of tourist-based promotions. Even the sight of the sunset over the ocean horizons around the entire island is a sight to behold, and is a testament to the natural appeal our nation holds to international tourists.

Only a Fraction of the Whole Could Be Discussed Today

We have only discussed a mere fraction of the potential for tourism in Sri Lanka due to lack of space to cover more areas, yet it is timely to discuss a few other countries in the region flourishing on tourism with less facilities than are available to us. For instance, Singapore and Hong Kong are small patches on the map, vigorous in trade, business and tourism by using modern advertising techniques to compensate for what they lack. Singapore and Hong Kong are both tiny nations with barren land which they attempt to convert to greenery, of which there is a natural lack, such as by constructing intricate artificial gardens wherever possible, in order to make their countries appear green and ecological to the visitor. India is a massive area full of tourist attractions and a multitude of types of historical sites, which makes many attempts to attract visitors who may be satisfied via a myriad of interests available to be explored. China is another tourist destination attracting millions as a leading tourism giant. Indian and Chinese tourists tend to flock to Sri Lanka in large numbers when Sri Lanka makes all possible endeavours to accommodate their needs and interests as sustainable tourists, both of whom are close to home and affordable tourists. Thailand is a Buddhist country famous for religious tourism and its modern outlook, a leader on tourism in the region, as is Vietnam, battered by war and yet it emerged as a very popular tourist destination. These are some countries with many similarities to the Sri Lankan circumstances and yet are doing better than us due to better modern approaches adopted to keep pace with the ever-changing world unlike Sri Lanka, which is still lagging behind.

IS IT A REALITY TO BECOME THE BEST TOURIST DESTINATION ON THE GLOBE?

Sri Lanka has the potential, resources, and tourist attractions in abundance in this compact beautiful island resting on a famous and integral sea trade-route as well as aerial route. It is well-paced in the Indian Ocean, with a well-spoken educated population, world famous for hospitality in entertaining visitors, always full of smiles. Many countries have become tourist havens with lesser resources and natural beauty than Sri Lanka. Dubai, a sandy land with no water, resources, or any conventional types of beauty, emerged as a top tourist destination by making use of their sand, geography and newfound oil money. Israel is partly a desert, at eternal war with its neighbours, and yet another famous tourist destination, achieved by utilising the Dead Sea, archaeological monuments, and their innovations in technology and agriculture as tourist attractions. Nepal uses the iconic ‘Himalayas’ as a front runner in promoting their land, and even Maldives – the shallow sea that envelops them has been modernised with innovative creations, such as the building of expensive hotels within the sea itself to cater to high level lucrative tourism. Sri Lanka has everything under the sun to attract tourists in this small, amazing island with all the resources it has naturally been blessed with, such as water and sunlight in abundance throughout the year. These small examples of success demonstrate that what is needed for Sri Lanka to reach the target to become the best destination in the world are hard work, dedication, commitment, and to be modern and innovative in facing the challenges it is beset with, which we are currently lacking. If they are to be acquired, there will be nothing standing between Sri Lanka and a prosperous and vibrant future that future generations of Sri Lankans can be proud to be a part of.

(Sarath Wijesinghe could be reached on (sarath7@hptmail.co.uk/ sarathdw28@gmail.com and 0094777880166)

(Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel (LLM International Law (UCL)), former Ambassador to UAE and Israel, President Ambassador’s Forum, Former Chairman of the Consumer Affairs Authority, Solicitor England and Wales and former Secretary General Bar Association of Sri Lanka (LLM (UCL), assisted by Suchithra Withanage (LLM (UK) (LLM (UK|Reading) LLB (Hons) (UK))

Sasanka De Silva සසංක ද සිල්වා 

There is no mistake about it: your vote is private. But what about social awareness and responsibility?

A few days ago, a video of a guy confronting a young woman after she threw her household rubbish on the side of the road and strolled away as if nothing had happened went viral on various social media platforms.

The most heartbreaking part of the narrative was not that people still seek to do such things, but that none of the people around him supported or helped him.

This is one of the most serious problems confronting the country.

The majority still expect someone else to perform the dirty work and do not want to be involved in the process. If anything, positive emerges from that action, they will jump on board and accept the credit as well. If things do not go as planned, most people will label such people as dumb and stupid for taking risk.

Another tendency I’ve noticed is that many people have closed and inaccessible social media accounts, but still continue to send friend requests to people all over the world for reasons I don’t understand.

Maintaining a social media account is like having “curd with a razor blade,” as one person put it, and I completely agree, but that doesn’t mean one shouldn’t participate in and voice one’s opinion on socially significant matters.

Expressing your own point of view does not imply “confronting” someone in an aggressive manner, but rather giving others cause to believe that there can be more than one point of view on the same issue, even if that point of view is not shared by the majority.

Are they being created to follow and spy on others?

Similarly, in many group settings, just a few people contribute, while others are there for reasons I don’t understand.

My belief is that having an open and healthy discussion about topics that affect society as a whole is a preferable way of living to a coward’s existence on social media.

Sasanka De Silva

Pannipitiya. 

ඔබේ ඡන්දය පුද්ගලිකයි. නමුත් සමාජ දැනුවත්භාවය සහ වගකීම ගැන කුමක් කිව හැකිද?

දින කිහිපයකට පෙර තරුණ කාන්තාවක් තම නිවසේ කුණු පාර අයිනට දමා කිසිවක් සිදු නොවූවාක් මෙන් ඇවිද ගිය පසු තරුණියකට මුහුණ දෙන වීඩියෝවක් විවිධ සමාජ මාධ්‍ය වේදිකාවල පැතිර ගියේය.

ආඛ්‍යානයේ වඩාත්ම හද කම්පා කරවන කොටස වූයේ මිනිසුන් තවමත් එවැනි දේ කිරීමට උත්සාහ කිරීම නොව, එය පැහැදිලි කිරීමට උත්සහ කල මිනිසාට  ඔහු වටා සිටින කිසිවෙකු ඔහුට සහාය හෝ උදව් නොකිරීමයි.

මෙය රට මුහුණ දෙන බරපතළම ප්‍රශ්නවලින් එකකි.

බහුතරයක් තවමත් බොහෝ අසම්මත  කාර්යය වෙනත් අයෙකු විසින් ඉටු කරනු ඇතැයි අපේක්ෂා කරන අතර එවැනි ක්‍රියා වලියන්ට තමන්  සම්බන්ධ වීමට අවශ්‍ය නැත  ආකල්පයක් දරයි . ඒ ක්‍රියාවෙන් යම් දෙයක් ධනාත්මකව මතුවුණොත් ඒ අය උඩ පැනලා ඒ ගෞරවය තමන්ගේ ගැනීමට උත්සුක වෙයි , නමුත් සැලසුම් කළ පරිදි දේවල් සිදු නොවන්නේ නම්, බොහෝ මිනිසුන් එවැනි පුද්ගලයින් අවදානම් ගැනීම කමක් ලෙස ලේබල් කරනු ඇත.

මා දුටු තවත් ප්‍රවනතාවක් නම්, බොහෝ අය අඟුලු දමා  වසා දමා ඇති සහ ප්‍රවේශ විය නොහැකි සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ගිණුම්  පවත්වා ගෙන යන අතර , නමුත් තවමත් මට නොතේරෙන හේතුව ඔහුන් ලොව පුරා සිටින පුද්ගලයින්ට මිතුරු ඉල්ලීම් යැවීම දිගටම කරගෙන යාමයි.

සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ගිණුමක් පවත්වාගෙන යාම යනු එක් අයෙක් පවසන පරිදි “දැලි පිහියෙන් කිරි කෑමට”  හා  සමාන වන අතර මම ද  ඒ නිගමනයට සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම එකඟ වෙමි, නමුත් එයින් අදහස් කරන්නේ යමෙකු සමාජීය වශයෙන් වැදගත් කරුණු වලට සහභාගී නොවී තම මතය ප්‍රකාශ නොකළ යුතු බව නොවෙයි .

ඔබේම දෘෂ්ටිකෝණය ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමෙන් අදහස් කරන්නේ යමෙකුට ආක්‍රමණශීලී ලෙස කටයුතු කිරිම, නමුත් එම දෘෂ්ටිකෝණය බෙදා නොගත්තද, එකම කාරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් එක් මතයකට වඩා තිබිය හැකි බව අන් අයට ඒත්තු ගැන්වීමේ උත්සහයක් පමණි.

ඒ හා සමානව, බොහෝ කණ්ඩායම් සැකසුම් වලදී, ස්වල්ප දෙනෙක් පමණක් දායක වන අතර අනෙක් අය මට නොතේරෙන හේතු නිසා එහි නිකරුනේ  සිටිති.

සමාජ මාධ්‍ය තුළ බියගුල්ලෙකුගේ පැවැත්මට වඩා සමස්ත සමාජයට බලපාන මාතෘකා පිළිබඳව විවෘත හා සෞඛ්‍ය සම්පන්න සාකච්ඡාවක් පැවැත්වීම වඩාත් සුදුසු බව මගේ විශ්වාසයයි.

සසංක ද සිල්වා 

පන්නිපිටිය.

lanka C news

සමගි ජන බලවේගය නායක සහ විපක්ෂ නායක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතාට අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ධූරය ලබා දීමට සූදානම් බව ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා පැවසූ බව රවුෆ් හකීම් සහ මනෝ ගනේෂන් යන මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් විසින් සඳහන් කර තිබේ.

සුළු ජාතික පක්ෂ සහ ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා අතර පැවති සාකච්ඡාවකදී මේ බව සඳහන් කර ඇත.

එහිදී සුළු ජාතික පක්‍ෂ නියෝජිතයන් සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේ වත්මන් ආණ්ඩුවට සහාය දීමට ඕනෑම අවස්ථාවක සුළු ජාතික පක්ෂ ලෙස සූදානම් බවයි.

නමුත් ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා ඔවුන්ට පෙරළා ප්‍රතිචාර දක්වා ඇත්තේ තනි තනි පුද්ගලයන් හෝ තනි තනි පක්ෂ ලෙස නොව කණ්ඩායමක් ලෙස ම සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා ද සමග ආණ්ඩුවට සහයෝගය දීම වඩාත් සුදුසු බවයි.

සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතාට අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ධුරයද ලබාදීමට සූදානම් බවද රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා ඔවුනට සඳහන් කර තිබේ.

රවුෆ් හකීම් සහ මනෝ ගනේෂන් මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් විසින් විපක්ෂ නායක සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා වෙත මේ බව දැනුම් දී ඇති බවද නෙත් ගුවන් විදුලිය වාර්තා කළේය.

By Aldgra Fredly Courtesy Epoch Times

It remains uncertain whether China, Sri Lanka’s biggest bilateral creditor, will join the initiative launched by Japan.

Japan, India, and France on April 13 unveiled a plan to initiate a negotiation process with Sri Lanka’s creditors to coordinate the restructuring of Sri Lanka’s debt as the country seeks to resolve its economic crisis.

The plan was announced following a high-level meeting between officials from the three countries on the sidelines of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings in Washington. Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe also participated virtually.

The ministers announced the launch of the debt restructuring negotiation process on Sri Lanka under the three Co-Chairs: India, Japan, and France, to lead coordinated debt restructuring of Sri Lanka,” India’s finance ministry said in a statement.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reaffirmed India’s commitment to supporting Sri Lanka in dealing with its economic crisis while emphasizing cooperation among creditors to ensure transparency and equality” in the negotiations.

Speaking to reporters, Emmanuel Moulin, the French director general of the Treasury, said they seek to hold the initial round of discussions with creditors at the earliest date possible.

Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said the platform is open to all creditors and expressed hope that China, Sri Lanka’s biggest bilateral creditor, will also join the effort.

Courtesy Financial Express

She emphasised that a collaboration among creditors is important to ensure transparency and equality in treatment of all creditors in the debt restructuring discussions.

The high-level meeting took place on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)- World Bank (WB) Spring Meetings here on Thursday. (Photo source: Twitter/@FinMinIndia)

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman attended a high-level meeting on Sri Lankan debt issues and expressed India’s commitment to support Colombo in dealing with its current economic crisis. She emphasised that a collaboration among creditors is important to ensure transparency and equality in treatment of all creditors in the debt restructuring discussions.

The high-level meeting took place on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)- World Bank (WB) Spring Meetings here on Thursday. Japan Finance Minister Suzuki Shunichi, Sri Lanka State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe and Emmanuel Moulin, Director General of the Treasury, France were present in the meeting. Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe participated virtually, an official statement said.

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The purpose of the event was to demonstrate the multilateral cooperation regarding the debt restructuring process among the creditors, together with Sri Lanka, it said. In the event, the ministers announced the launch of the debt restructuring negotiation process on Sri Lanka under the three Co-Chairs: India, Japan, and France, to lead coordinated debt restructuring of Sri Lanka, it said.

Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves, sparking political turmoil in the country which led to the ouster of the all-powerful Rajapaksa family.

The IMF in September last year approved Sri Lanka a UD 2.9-billion bailout package over 4 years pending Sri Lanka’s ability to restructure its debt with creditors — both bilateral and sovereign bondholders. With assurances from creditors, the USD 2.9 billion facilities could get the IMF board approval in March.

Courtesy News18

The reason these stones float is that they have small pipe-like holes in them.

These stones are kept at the Panchmukhi Hanuman temple near Rameswaram Letchumanan Theertham and at the Rajakaliamman temple.

Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu is one of the holiest places for Hindus and is included in the pilgrimage known as Char Dham. Rameswaram, which is on Pamban island, is especially associated with the epic Ramayana as it is believed that Lord Rama built a bridge from here to Sri Lanka to rescue his wife Sita from Ravana. One of the biggest attractions in the town is the two floating stones in two temples in the area.

Ramanathapuram district is home to a large number of rare species living in the waters of the Gulf of Mannar. Coral reefs are abundant in the sea. These coral reefs are scattered here and there on Rameswaram island which is surrounded by the sea, so it is said that they play an important role in preventing major damage during natural calamities. These miraculous floating stones are part of the flora and fauna here. These stones floating in the water are a type of coral known as pipe coral.

The reason these stones float is that they have small pipe-like holes in them. Currently, these stones are kept in two temples for the devotees to see. One is at the Panchmukhi Hanuman temple near Rameswaram Letchumanan Theertham and the other is at the Rajakaliamman temple opposite the storm-damaged old railway station in Dhanushkodi. Devotees who come here can visit these two temples and see the floating stones.

Since these stones do not sink in water, it is believed that Lord Rama used these very stones to build the Ram Setu, which he crossed along with the Vanar Sena to reach Lanka.

The two stones in the temples of Rameswaram are not allowed to be touched by tourists or taken out of the temple premises as there have been instances in the past where people tried to sell off these stones illegally.

Courtesy Emirates.com

Members can now bid Skywards Miles for an exclusive opportunity to visit the home of Dilmah and explore the lush tea plantations in Sri Lanka.

Dubai, UAE: 14 April 2023 – Emirates Skywards, the award-winning loyalty programme of Emirates and flydubai, has partnered with Dilmah Tea to offer members an exciting opportunity to experience the lush tea plantations in Sri Lanka. Starting from today, members can bid Miles with Skywards Exclusives for a chance to win a stay at the Tea Maker’s Private Retreat. The once in a lifetime opportunity includes a tea-making masterclass, a unique culinary experience inspired by tea, food pairing experiences with tea and a visit to explore the tea fields.

Ring in International Tea Day in the heart of a tea plantation

Starting from 200,000 Miles, Emirates Skywards members can bid and win an all-expenses paid trip to Sri Lanka, including: 

• 2 round trip Business Class tickets on Emirates from Dubai to Colombo.
• A 3-night stay for 2 guests at Hilton Colombo.
• A 3-night visit to tea plantations at Ceylon Tea Trails, A Relais & Châteaux property which consists of five restored historic tea planter residences in the Ceylon tea region.
• A master class with Dilhan C Fernando, the son of the founder and CEO of Dilmah, to enjoy an educational session on how to taste tea and brew the perfect cup.
• A special food pairing with tea-inspired gastronomy with the Dilmah family.
• A 7-course tea-inspired dinner Camellia Epicurean” where tea is used as an ingredient for all the dishes.

The package also includes transportation to and from the airport, meals at the all-day dining restaurant at Hilton Colombo, and all meals and beverages at the Ceylon Tea Trails. Travel dates will be from 18 May until 24 May 2023.  What better way to celebrate International Tea Day on 21 May than by being at the heart of a tea plantation!

More than 31 years of partnership with Dilmah Tea

Emirates and Dilmah Tea have enjoyed a successful partnership for more than three decades, brewing the finest teas on-board and in Emirates’ airport lounges worldwide. The airline continues to take the Dilmah brand name to 140 destinations across six continents through its extensive network.

Each year, the airline brews 33 million cups of Dilmah tea for its customers from a specially curated tea menu available in all classes. More than 10 different varieties of tea are available on-board, including popular choices like Dilmah Ceylon Black Tea, Moroccan Mint, and Breakfast Tea.

Premium passengers can also savour the aromatic flavours of Emirates Signature tea blend made exclusively for the airline by Dilmah and served only in First Class. Inspired by flavours of the UAE – the exquisite tea has rich aromatic notes of rose, almond and ginger.   

Live in the moment with Skywards Exclusives

Emirates Skywards continues to offer more than 30 million members worldwide unmatched rewards in the air and on-ground.

Skywards Exclusives is a distinctive airline loyalty programme initiative that provides access to exclusive experiences from Emirates’ expansive sponsorship portfolio. Members can bid and redeem Miles for some of the world’s most prestigious sporting and cultural events, including exciting events featuring Real Madrid, AC Milan, Dubai World Cup, SL Benfica, Emirates FA Cup, and other sports such as golf, tennis, and cricket.

For more information, visit exclusives.skywards.com 

Contact:  Emirates Public Relations 

pr@emirates.com 

Prime Minister’s Media Division

Sri Lanka Malay Association (SLMA) expressed its gratitude to Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena for re-naming Slave Island as Kompanna Veediya, in English. The name Kompanna Veediya used in Sinhala and Tamil while it was called Slave Island in English and the Prime Minister took steps to change it also to Kompanna Veediya.

SLMA President Rizwan Badoordeen and General Secretary Iqram Cuttilan called on Prime Minister today at the Temple Trees and briefed him on the social and cultural activities conducted by the Association.

The Prime Minister congratulated the SLMA which celebrates its 100^th anniversary. Mr Badoordeen said the Sri Lanka Malay Cricket Club which was set up before the SLMA, has commemorates its 150^th anniversary this year.

The Prime Minister mentioned with gratitude about the Malay members who served in the armed forces during the fight against terrorism and made ultimate sacrifice. He said the Malay community has set a valuable example for the minorities to emulate by totally integrating into the Sri Lankan society.

He also thanked the SLMA for carrying out social services for the benefit of low-income families in all the communities.

Prime Minister’s Media Division

Sarath Wijesinghe

(Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel (LLM International Law (UCL)), former Ambassador to
UAE and Israel, President Ambassador’s Forum, Former Chairman of The Consumer Affairs
Authority, Solicitor England and Wales and former Secretary General Bar Association of Sri
Lanka (LLM (UCL), assisted by Suchithra Withanage (LLM (UK) (LLM (UK|Reading) LLB (Hons)
(UK))
The Season of Celebration and Consumerism
As the festive season draws nigh, the citizens of Sri Lanka yet again take to the streets
and vibrant communal hubs in order to exercise their power of purchase and get
involved in merrymaking. As consumers, they would, in theory, be entitled to a wide and
meticulously drafted set of rights and statutory safeguards pertaining to their purchases.
As one of the most powerful forces in the world, the consumer is expected to be entitled
to a certain standard of commerce and life. However, the unfortunate reality of Sri
Lankan consumerism is that a stereotype of chaotic disorganisation has been
perpetuated over the years by an amalgam of negligence and unawareness of legal
rights that are available to the public as potential users of goods and services made
available in exchange for consideration by any trader or manufacturer (as per
s75 of the Consumer Affairs Authority Act 2003).
Due to the existing state of affairs where the consumer is non-conversant with their
legal rights and contemporary knowledge of consumerism, they have become an easy
demographic to prey upon by unprincipled traders and exploiters of the social system.
Adding to the mix the rise of crime, gangs and pickpockets in the public streets and
transport services, the state of consumerism in Sri Lanka is in pressing need for
modernisation as well as optimisation. As the protector of the rights of its citizens, it is
the responsibility of the State to provide an adequate and holistic system of regulatory
protection which would shield the latter from unfair and/or unscrupulous trade practices
which would be hazardous to their lives, property and their right of access to goods.
Moreover, the State must ensure that a comprehensive process of legal redress is
made readily available to its citizens who have been rendered victims of such unfair
trade practices, as was elucidated in s7 of the Act. Regulators such as the Consumer
Affairs Authority (CAA), the Ministry of Trade, and Local Authorities face various
hardships in their duties due to being pressed for time and an overload of political
turmoil anchoring down the current state of affairs, but they are by no means
unequipped to do as the required facilities and funding are provided for by the
government.
A Quest for a Kaleidoscopic Perspective
The famous maxim, ‘the consumer is king’ comes to mind when contemplating the
status quo of consumerism in general. Alas, the practicality of the notion has faded into
obscurity over the decades in Sri Lanka due to the medley of disorganisation and chaos
that follows in the all-too-familiar bedlam which ensues each year during the high points
of our traditional festivities. The consumers must be educated on their rights and
obligations so that they possess the acumen to demand and examine receipts, check
standards, read directions fluently on hire/purchase agreements etc. In light of the
World Consumer day (15th of March), the World Consumer Federation has initiated a
worldwide agitation in order for the legitimate share for consumers to be claimed. The
sentiment bears weight, particularly in retrospect of late US President John F.
Kennedy’s statement in 1962, “Consumers, by definition, include us all. They are the
largest economic group in the economy, affecting and affected by almost every public
and private economic decision.”
In more developed parts of the world, consumer rights are a nigh sacrosanct concept
where the ‘unfairness’ of trade practices are subject to strict restrictions by governments
and are augmented by the lobbying efforts of powerful organisations to maintain quality,
standards, costs and the right to return goods, as well as the maintenance of standards
by traders and manufacturers. Our own country however, contains an unfortunate
abundance of adulterated and poisonous food chains, as well as a diverse variety of
other genres of substandard goods available for consumption of citizens which are not
subject to restrictive conditions. Our citizens face an unfortunate state where performing
their traditional and familial obligations during the Sinhalese and Tamil New Year period
has become an uphill battle. Hitherto, there is no adequate control dynamic in place to
control and regulate the quality and price of items available to consumers which are
expected to be monitored by the main regulator, the Consumer Affairs Authority.
The Consumer Affairs Authority has been established in lieu of the Fair Trading
Consumer Act No. 1 of 1987, as well as the Price Control Act No. 1 of 1987 for the
promotion of effective competition and legal protection of the consumer. As a blend of
UK, Australian as other Western modelled concepts, it aims to establish a primary
regulator to standardise and supervise trade under s9 of the Act. With wide-ranging
powers to undertake research, issue directions, restrict selling above the established
market prices, determine industry standards, conduct inquiries into consumer
complaints, enter agreements, deal with offences such as refusal to sell/hoarding of
goods, investigate publications and preventing misleading or deceptive practices etc.,
the Authority is well placed to ensure an all-encompassing dynamic of consumer
protection in Sri Lanka.
Nevertheless, due to the abolition of the price control as per the Price Control Act, the
new status quo was introduced where the onus was placed upon traders to exhibit the
price mark and maintain standards of consumables (s29). Thus, it has fallen to the
consumer to judge the efficacy of the enforcement mechanism in the preservation of the
aforesaid standards, a task that ought not, necessarily, rest upon their shoulders due to
a prevalent lack of awareness and expertise in such materialistic endeavours. The
question of whether the CAA is a competent organisation capable of upholding the
sanctity of the legal regulation of consumerism which it was created to protect, or a
mere paper tiger thus falls to the consumer himself to decide based upon the efficacy
and vigour of its performance.
Mistaking Cause for Cure? The Sri Lankan Dilemma in Perspective
Tragically, the rapidly rising and increasingly unbearable cost of living is not a concept
that requires any further explanation to any Sri Lankan citizen. The cost of living is
generally a relative phrase, dependent upon the conditions, environments and
jurisdiction in question. It is a consistently rare occurrence for prices of consumer
articles to recede in value, even though the basic income of citizens has seen gradual
increments over time, albeit arguably at a snail’s-pace. The price of bread, for instance,
is not an established static but through necessity, the consumer has acclimatised to the
price fluctuations over the years. In Western countries, a significant portion of one’s
income is allocated towards accommodation, whereas items such as food are much
more affordable. On the other hand, Sri Lankan citizens toil and languish under
arguably superfluous adversities in life as the basic income of the average citizen can
be considered insufficient. Nevertheless, the discussion may arise that through astute
and careful consumer practices, it is possible to beat the cost of living provided that the
prices of items such as mobile phones, tuition and vanity based extravagances are
restricted. In a nutshell, one must familiarise oneself with the essentials of (1) when to
buy, (2) where to buy, (3) how to buy and (4) what to buy.
In England, an apple which is available for purchase at Selfridges, one of the most
expensive department store chains in the UK, can be bought at the street market for
mere fraction of the cost. Likewise, in Sri Lanka, street markers are plentiful and
consumables purchased there can be carefully stored and used. While being the most
economically viable option for consumers, such a commercial dynamic will promote
local small businesses and budding entrepreneurship which Sri Lanka is in dire need of,
particularly in light of the recent economic crisis which even as of writing, continues to
hold the country in thrall. Consumers make the persistent blunder of prioritising
unhealthy and largely commercialised food chains containing unhealthy ingredients and
unwholesome soda drinks which unwittingly invites a plethora of long term health
conditions and serious comorbidities, thereby increasing the financial strain on
themselves as well as the public healthcare systems of the country. Consumers must
therefore exercise diligence and prudence in selecting the most practical and viable
options for consumables when exercising their rights of purchase.
Due to the unawareness/inability/reluctance on part of traders and industrialists
themselves who are an essential component of society and the economy at large, the
confidence of the citizens in the economic system of the country has deteriorated as
well. The regulations established by the Consumer Affairs Act are quite comprehensive
in terms of setting out implied and express terms of merchantable quality standards, but
the fact that sellers are bound by both written and unwritten rules, regulations,
conventions and norms which are little/not known to them as well as consumers and
even regulators, paints a bleak picture for the future of consumerism in Sri Lanka. ‘SeriVanija’ is a Jataka story in which a just trader identified a gold bowl and paid the
equitable price for it, despite the poverty-stricken citizen seller not being aware of it
himself, whereas an errant trader who rejected it under malicious pretenses died of a
stroke from hearing of the transaction that he unwittingly missed out upon. the former
should be the shining example which ought to guide the flow of commerce in Sri Lanka,
but has little effect in the current social and commercial climate. The availability of
modern shopping via the internet and the availability of smart phones to access massive
online marketplaces on the go such as Ebay, Alibaba, Amazon etc., which are seeing a
correlation in growth with the recent decline of public trust in domestic traders, is of
significant importance. This is due to the resulting exacerbation of cash flows out of the
country in a nation crippled by debt and financial distress. 40% of UK shopping is
online, which according to them, is safe trading and consumerism with included checks
and balances with the involvement of the Department of Trade and Commerce whereas
the CAA, its Sri Lankan counterpart, is now relatively inert, ineffective and inefficient at
times.
Catalysing a Change in the Status-Quo
It must also be said that it is a civic duty of all citizens to contribute to the noble task of
the CAA in identifying problematic commercial practices. The CAA is expected to be
available to entertain complaints of citizens via phone, internet and a constant presence
throughout the country, a service which encompasses both goods and services. In
many other nations, this system is quite evolved and the citizens are so well versed with
the process that traders are under the control of the common consumer and therefore
perform to satisfactory standards. The media is an integral component of nurturing this
paradigm of productivity as well. The example of the UK scandal of the Cola company
drawing water from the River Thames to use in production springs to mind, where it was
the media which uncovered the matter. The Bopal case of India is another well-known
example where the media came forward to educate multinational companies on the
subject of unfair trade. The CAA of Sri Lanka is also expected to organise a consumer
federation with the intent of providing assistance to the consumer. The argument can be
made that it is the duty of the NGOs within the country to take up the mantle and
catalyse progress the area rather than be dependent on human rights conditions on Sri
Lanka to reach expected standards in parallel to them. The time is also ripe for citizens
to work hard and achieve a greater semblance of order within the chaos, in order to
combat the rising tide of living costs and nurture a careful and systematic
exemplification of organised, self-sufficient society.
Finally, the rapid escalation of illegal activities during the festive season must be
addressed. It is against the law to perform bogus sales and maliciously overprice goods
and services in order to take undue advantage of the needs of citizens during festivities.
While consumers do not have the right to demand price reductions from service
providers, they are quite entitled to the right to purchase quality goods which adhere to
established health and safety standards. The ‘1919’ service, CAA and the Board of
Standards for quality and price of consumer items must stand ready to receive
legitimate complaints by citizens and provide systematic and adequate resolutions to
their concerns.
The way forward involves a symbiotic dynamic of development between the
rights of the citizens, the constructive involvement of the media and the
responsibility of the state in order to ensure the availability of quality items at a
reasonable price for consumption. The United Nations too has given a high level
of recognition to the right to satisfaction and ensuring fundamental needs, safety,
information, the opportunity to be heard, redress, consumer education and a
healthy environment to be facilitated and provided to the citizen by the State. The
Government must separate the CAA to exist as an independent body led by a
non-political qualified person with a legal background appointed by the
constitutional council preferably with a legal background. A joint exercise must
be spearheaded as a matter of statutory duty by the CAA, which is the primary
regulator, in order to organise traders, manufacturers, industrialists and citizens
as integral cogs in a well-oiled machine in order to achieve the desired paradigm
of a competitive and friendly social environment where the costs of living can be
beaten and where quality, as well as healthy consumer items can become the
norm rather than the exception. The consumer must be vigilant and intelligent,
the trader should be fair and reasonable, and the State must uphold the
sacrosanct duty of cultivating a standard of life for its citizens/consumers that
has the potential to be the envy of the world. We pray and wish the consumer
success and prosperity during the festive season!
Writer can be reached on 0094777880166|0094766280166
|sarath7@hotmailco.uk | sarathdw28@gm

Christine Francis Courtesy Psychology Today

Shedding light on intragroup conflict.

South Asian countries—including India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka—are known for their rich and vibrant cultures. As a second-generation South Indian American, I owe many positive aspects of my identity to my culture. Yet I also at times struggle to fit in with my community, a disconnect that was most noticeable during my adolescence.

As a clinical psychology doctoral student, I’ve realized that I’m not alone in my experiences. As a budding practitioner who thinks about minoritized adolescents and their mental health, I wonder about community values that South Asian American teenagers struggle with the most—namely, family image and personal accomplishments.

In my conceptualization and clinical experiences with the community, elitism—the feeling or attitude of being superior to others—seems to be one of the driving forces of how individuals, families, and community members treat one another. Two common factors of this elitism are family status and colorism, which can be distressing and harmful to South Asian American children growing up in the U.S.

Source: PT Images/Shutterstock

I worry about how these iterations of elitism play out for adolescents who don’t fit the mold they’re expected to emulate. What’s more, how do these teens and their families get treated by others who do have the wealth or skin color that they don’t have? How does elitism impact their development?

One explanation could be that South Asian communities tend to be stringently hierarchal, which can create harsh judgments and overall disparities within them. This can be seen in India, where the caste to which a family or individual belongs dictates their profession, spouse, and many other parts of their social lives (Sahgal et al., 2021). Beyond caste, other characteristics that may elevate one’s status within society or family circles involve education, wealth, and skin color.

These considerations and historical policies likely contribute to the makeup of South Asian communities in the U.S. For example, the Hart Celler Immigration and Nationality Act in 1965 preferred highly educated professionals—such as scientists, engineers, and doctors—seeking to immigrate to America (Sharma et al., 2020). While these highly educated immigrants were still vulnerable to stressors associated with immigration experiences, their professional, socioeconomic status, and earning potential gave them an advantage.

Yet they likely already had access to education and connections. Therefore, the leg-up given to them by the U.S. government only served to mirror the dynamics back home, giving these individuals an advantage over South Asians who did not have the same opportunities both in South Asia and in the U.S.

How Elitism Plays Out

Though elitism likely occurs in other communities, I argue that elitism in South Asian communities manifests in unique and nuanced ways.

From a family systems perspective, research has found that South Asian adolescents undergo significant acculturative stress when adjusting to conflicting family structures and roles, racism, and discrimination, presenting a barrier when seeking support (Tummla-Narra et al., 2016). This, combined with the fact that South Asians tend to view certain families and individuals as having high status,” or being superior in some way, may lead low status” families to experience added disparities and feel inferior, marginalized, and devalued in their relationships within their respective communities. The resulting isolation can have damaging effects, as these groups may be the only source of connection to the families’ home countries.

Adolescents whose families face this type of subjugation may be excluded from festivities or by other South Asian American adolescents, who may follow their parents’ lead when deciding with whom to associate. Typically, this behavior is based on the child’s family standing in the community and how associating with a particular person may maintain, elevate, or harm their image.

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In their research, Masood and colleagues attest to how community hierarchies affect South Asian American mental health (2009). They discuss Dusgin’s (2001) term of duty-based” morals and how this can evoke inner conflict, thus contributing to the idea of status anxiety (2009).

Consequently, children may work hard to sustain a false image for the sake of making their families proud or maintaining their family image at the expense of their own well-being. This ultimately increases their risk of suffering from poor self-esteem about existing as people of color, while silently facing issues at home (where the child may be told to keep these issues in the family”).

Perhaps more troubling, when a teenager does not fit into the mold expected of them, guilt and shame are often used by parents with the intention of bettering” their child. What commonly occurs instead, however, is the erosion of the child’s sense of self-worth and humanity. Other effects include increased isolation, intense mistrust of peers, and a stunted ability to express their authentic selves.

It’s important to note that parents usually do not intend for their children to experience this. Instead, parents typically instill these pressures with the aim of improving the child’s future. Parents may project repressed shame and insecurity, which can look like parents trying to reinforce the child’s behavior to avoid what the parents experienced as children themselves. While it may be difficult for the child to understand the origins of their parent’s expectations, such dynamics may originate from parents being wounded by their own oppression, such as surviving poverty, gender-based violence, and other forms of discrimination.

Elitism can trickle down from parents to children. This can look like parents advising their children to stay away from a child that deviates from the norms and expectations of the culture and community. A typical example is when a child is pressured to be the model child and views their peers as less than” based on their parents’ ideas of who is considered the perfect child. The perceived model child may feel pressure to maintain perfection—an ultimately unachievable goal because the perfect” South Asian child doesn’t exist.

Colorism and Elitism

Colorism is a complex phenomenon rooted in colonialism, leading to grave consequences for members of racial and ethnic groups. According to Banks, Colorism is a race-like phenomenon based on a person’s immutable characteristic—skin tone—coupled with the belief that certain skin tones, usually light skin, are preferable to dark skin” (2015).

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My hypothesis is that this mistreatment happens because there is a perception that whiteness” elevates beauty and, ultimately, someone’s status in the community. While South Asian people may not overtly state that they have prejudices against darker-skinned people, the difference in how lighter-skinned South Asian Americans are treated compared to darker-skinned South Asian Americans is well-documented. Adults and children alike may behave more kindly towards a child with a lighter complexion—an experience that can profoundly impact a child with darker skin.

Granted, having lighter skin can lead to negative consequences, too, such as being overtly sexualized by others. However, it must be acknowledged that the social benefits of lighter skin typically outweigh the costs, and darker-skinned children may even share the same negative experiences, often without respite. Further, darker-skinned South Asian teenagers in America and their home countries are more likely to be encouraged to use harmful skin-lightening products and experience open ridicule and prejudiced attitudes from relatives, peers, and community members alike.

This phenomenon illustrates how generations of imperialism are reinforced across social systems, where Eurocentric beauty standards lead to a sense of inflated superiority for lighter-skinned South Asian teens and adults, who may not notice or acknowledge how their darker-skinned peers are treated. Darker-skinned girls, in particular, may not be sought after for friendships in ways that lighter-skinned girls are.

In families where there are grandchildren who are diverse in skin tone, lighter-skinned grandchildren may receive more affection and attention than their darker-skinned cousins or siblings. Such treatment can shatter a child’s sense of self, and the child may internalize the message that the way they get treated by people is conditional and based on superficial attributes such as skin color.

Conclusion

Elitism is just one factor that warrants further examination, consideration, and conversation in the South Asian community. Several factors not mentioned here also foster elitist attitudes in South Asian American communities. I choose here to focus on family status, family dynamics, and colorism, not just because they are multi-layered but because many adolescents may experience them quite frequently. In covering this topic, I hope to shed a light on the several complex obstacles that South Asian American teenagers navigate.

Courtesy The Hindu

Finance Ministers of the three creditor countries will hold a press briefing on the margins of the annual Spring meetings of the World Bank and the IMF in Washington.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with Gita Gopinath, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, during a meeting on the sidelines of the World Bank-IMF Spring meetings 2023, in Washington D.C, USA. Photo: Twitter/@FinMinIndia via PTI

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will join her French and Japanese counterparts on April 13 to announce Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring negotiations process, the IMF has announced.

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The Finance Ministers of the three creditor countries will hold a press briefing on the margins of the annual Spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington.

Also read: Explained | Understanding the sovereign debt crisis in Sri Lanka

Japan, India, and France on Thursday will hold a press briefing on the margins of the Spring meetings to announce the launch of the debt restructuring negotiations process on Sri Lanka,” the IMF said on April 11, quoting a Japanese Finance Ministry statement.

The three creditor countries have been working closely for a coordinated debt restructuring for Sri Lanka, the statement said.

Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki and French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire will join Ms. Sitharaman during the press briefing.

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Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and his state Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe will also join the in-person live streaming.

The Washington-based global lender had made Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring a prerequisite for granting the $2.9 billion bailout.

Also read: Cancel Sri Lanka’s debt, global scholars tell creditors

The International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board approved a 48-month extended arrangement under its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with an amount of SDR 2.286 billion (about $3 billion) to Sri Lanka following financing assurances from the creditors.

Sri Lanka, which drew its first tranche of the $3 billion bailout programme, has already met an instalment to pay back an Indian line of credit which the island nation obtained early last year just before announcing the debt default.

Mr. Wickremesinghe, also the island nation’s Finance Minister, who spearheaded the IMF negotiations, specially mentioned the contributions made by Ms. Sitharaman to assist his government with the IMF for the bailout.

The IMF bailout, the 17th in Sri Lanka’s history, was approved following prolonged discussions over Colombo’s unsustainable debt.

Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves, sparking a major political and humanitarian crisis in the island nation.

Courtesy Adaderana

Japan, India and France are scheduled to hold a press briefing on Thursday (13 April) to announce the launch of the debt restructuring negotiation process on Sri Lanka.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) communicated this quoting the Japanese Finance Ministry.

Accordingly, the finance ministers of the three creditor countries – Shunichi Suzuki, Bruno Le Maire and Nirmala Sitharaman – will join the said press briefing planned to be held on the margins of the Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group in Washington DC.

The three creditor countries have been working closely for a coordinated debt restructuring process for the island nation.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Finance State Minister Shehan Semasinghe are expected to join the live streaming of the press briefing.

In addition, the IMF, World Bank and other international organizations as well as the private sector will participate in the debt restructuring discussions.

The IMF had made Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring a prerequisite for granting the USD 2.9 billion bailout. Its Executive Board approved a 48-month extended arrangement under its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with an amount of SDR 2.286 billion (about USD 3 billion) to Sri Lanka following financing assurances from the creditors.

Sri Lanka, which drew its first tranche of the USD 3 billion bailout programme, has already met an instalment to pay back an Indian line of credit which the island nation obtained early last year just before announcing the debt default.

The IMF bailout, the 17th in Sri Lanka’s history, was approved following prolonged discussions over Colombo’s unsustainable debt.

Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves, sparking a major political and humanitarian crisis in the island nation.

Courtesy Ada Derana

The Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Indonesia, Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage paid a courtesy call on Minister of Manpower of the Republic of Indonesia Ida Fauziyah on Tuesday.

While expressing concerns about the current economic challenges faced by the Sri Lankan government, Minister Fauziyah agreed to exchange information on employment opportunities between the two countries.

She mentioned four national priorities of the Indonesian government in strengthening the manpower sector, notably, enhancing the national economic stability, improving the quality and competence of human resources, strengthening infrastructure facilities and strengthening political and legal framework to secure the manpower sector.

Highlighting the decrease of unemployment rate in Indonesia in 2022 compared to 2020 and 2021, the minister expressed willingness to share best practices in the employment sector with the Sri Lankan government.

Ambassador Colombage stated that there is a huge demand in foreign countries for expatriate workers, but the supply of experienced workers from Sri Lanka is very low compared to the demand.

He also mentioned that the Sri Lankan government has introduced a new scheme for public servants which enable them to work abroad. He also informed of the preferred job sectors of Sri Lankan employees and sought employment opportunities for Sri Lankans in Indonesia.

The minister instructed Secretary General of the Ministry Prof. Anwar Sanusi to work closely with the Sri Lanka Embassy in this regard.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka Navy has initiated expanding the Kankesanthurai harbour, with a view to accommodate more traffic and provide better infrastructure in support of the passenger ferry service between Sri Lanka and India.

The government of Sri Lanka launched the ferry service project between the port of Kankesanthurai, Sri Lanka and Pondicherry, India to provide a more affordable and convenient mode of transportation. 

Sri Lanka Navy, on the directives of the navy commander Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera, actively supported the expansion of the Kankesanthurai harbour facility by providing its manpower and expertise, in response to a request made by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Aviation.

Accordingly, the project got underway on 01 February, with skilled manpower and industrial expertise enabled by the navy. 

Thus, the Sri Lanka Navy has undertaken the construction of a passenger terminal for immigration and customs clearance of people who intend to use this passenger ferry service. Required materials for the construction work are provided by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA).

At present, a group of 60 naval personnel are engaged in the construction of a 1,000 square meter passenger terminal, under the supervision of naval civil engineering officers.

The construction work of the passenger terminal will be completed soon and thereupon the facility will be handed over to the SLPA for its operational purposes.

The passenger ferry service project is part of a larger effort to strengthen longstanding ties between India and Sri Lanka, with a focus on improving tourism.

The contribution of the navy towards the prompt implementation of the project will not only help save the public money but also allows the public to enjoy the expected benefits of this project in due course.

Last month, the Ports, Shipping & Aviation expressed hopes of commencing the operations of the ferry service on 29 April.

Ferry owners are planning to charge USD 50 per passenger for a one-way trip while allowing a passenger to carry baggage weighing 100kg. Only daytime operations will be in effect during the first stage.

A ferry is expected to carry 150 passengers at a time and will take around 4 hours to travel from Karaikal Port in Pondicherry to Kankesanthurai.

Sri Lanka Ports Authority has provided a financial facility of Rs. 144 million for the total constructions that are carried out by the Sri Lanka Navy.

Sugath Kulatunga

The details of the conditionalities of the IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) are now accessible on the IMF website Web: http://www.imf.org. A few comments from a layman’s point of view are as follows. Reference to IMF program covers government ownership as well.

The objective of the IMF intervention aims to restore macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability, mitigate the economic impact on the poor and vulnerable, safeguard financial sector stability, and strengthen governance and medium-term growth potential.

It is noted that IMF has not deviated very much from their standard prescriptions except that they have shielded themselves from the accusation that they have no sympathy for the poor by making mitigating the economic impact on them as one of the objectives. Although strengthening the medium growth potential is an objective it is not given much prominence in the implementation.

The acceptable proposals which should have been implemented long time back by any Sri Lankan government are the following.  

1. Progressive tax reforms: At 7.3 percent in 2021, Sri Lanka’s tax revenue to GDP ratio was among the lowest in the world. The program aims to raise the ratio to at least 14 percent by 2026. The proposal to increase revenue from income tax from Rs 302 billion in 2021 to over 1000 billion in 2024 onwards is over ambitions and may meet with resistance.

Proposed reforms in tax administration are welcome specially the proposal to establish a systematic third-party information sharing with the revenue authorities. It is conceded that there are many tax dodgers outside the present tax base and steps should be taken to spread the tax net. One effective measure would be to publish on a Divisional website the names of the taxpayers. This would facilitate information from the public if supported by a reward system to provide information on tax dodgers. Other measures of tax reforms are opportune. The IMF program has recognized that the ongoing economic crisis has adversely affected poor households and the the poverty rate is estimated to have doubled and inequalities have widened over the past two years. Under the IMF program it is proposed to address these challenges by raising the Social Safety Nets spending and improving the coverage and targeting of the SSN.

• IMF program has resulted in the introduction of automatic fuel and electricity pricing mechanisms on a cost recovery basis which were overdue. The mechanism has no transparency as costs have not been defined. Costs resulting from poor management, profligacy and corruption are not acceptable. For example, the Minister in charge stated in Parliament that there are 4000 MW of renewable energy projects where Energy Permits have been given but the CEB has still not granted Power Purchase approval. He also mentioned that the average cost of renewable energy is 16.90 per unit, whereas the cost of energy from thermal plants is over Rs 60. IMF should have ensured the mobilization of this ready to generate 4000 MW before implementing a pricing mechanism based on heavy use of fossil fuel at high cost.

• One of the most providential IMF proposals is the Anti-corruption legislation, harmonized with the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), The proposed legislation aims to strengthen the asset declaration system, with coverage of all officials and public access to the declarations. It also creates a new anti- corruption independent commission with strengthened investigative power.
• The present CIABOC prosecutions most times failed on technical grounds which should be avoided in the new legislation. All governments including the Yahapalana regime had an inherent aversion to follow the UNCAC. They were happy with the ineffective CIABOC. No official or employee should be exempt from Asset declaration and the information should be made available to any interested party without restrictions other than those applicable to fundamental rights.

• Printing money was an escape maneuver resorted to by all governments. It is encouraging that IMF has ensured that monetary policy will maintain price stability through tight monetary stance and discontinuing monetary financing.

• One of the problematic proposals of the IMF is that on SOE reforms. SOEs were introduced to meet a felt need and a marker failure. But later on Sri Lanka SOEs became the profitable havens of political henchmen of Ministers. They provided employment for minister’s constituents and in many cases such employment was a source of finance. Ministers intervened in commercial decisions of the SOEs.

What is important in SOEs is not the ownership but the management. Singapore has shown a better way of SOE management with Temasek. But our politicians would not have given up their hold on SOEs to a different mode of management.

The IMF proposal is using financial jargon as comprehensive strategy to restructure the balance sheets” which could include preparing for a sale, buyout, merger, change in overall goals, or transfer of ownership.”

 But neither the IMF nor the govt in its memorandum of understanding which is merely a rehash of the IMF staff proposals have mentioned the sale of profit-making entities like the SLT or the Insurance Corporation. This addition creates doubts of the intention of selling profit making entities. This could end up in unsavory deals which is against the interest of the country. The IMF proposal to restructure the balance sheets is confined to the CPC, CEB, the Road Development Authority, and SriLankan Airlines. Other proposals of prompt publication of audited financial statements for all 52 major SOEs; and prohibition of new FX borrowing by non- financial SOEs and clarifying the mandates of key SOEs through Statements of Corporate Intentons are sound proposals. IMF should have stipulated strict conditions for selecting SOE board members as poor management is the main reason for SOE failure.

What could be done is to create a new management cadre for SOE governing Boards and senior managers. Such a cadre with professional staff parallel to the special class of the SLAS would give strength and independence to SOE  management. SOEs should be removed from the grasp of Ministers and brought under one or        several holding companies on the model of Temasek of Singapore.

• The IMF proposal to strengthen Sri Lanka’s governance and anti-corruption framework is most welcome. But IMF has avoided even reference to non-repatriation of export proceeds by exporters estimated to be around 50 billion US dollars and loss of revenue by Trade Misinvoicing. The extent of this swindle is estimated at US$ 36.833 from 2009 to 2017 and around 50 billion dollars by 2020. Instead of taking action to recover the arrears of repatriation of export proceeds IMF has regularized the retention of export proceeds and given an assurance that during the program period, government will not:

(i) introduce or intensify exchange restrictions or MCPs; (ii) impose or intensify import restrictions for balance of payments purposes; or (iii) conclude any bilateral payment agreements inconsistent with Article VIII (continuous performance criteria). Are writing off 50 billion US dollars to get 2.9 billion dollars?

(Main CFM measures introduced or tightened in 2020-2022 and currently in force        include: (i) a repatriation requirement for exports of goods and services; (ii) a surrender requirement for exporters on proceeds from exports of goods; (iii) a surrender requirement for banks on purchases of export proceeds; (iv) a surrender requirement for banks on purchases of inward worker remittances; (v) suspension of outward remittances on capital transactions; (vi) restrictions on purchases of Sri Lankan ISBs by local banks; (vii) restrictions on outward transfers of funds for emigrants. )

One wonders on the reaction of the Minster of Justice who was threatening to change the Exchange Control Act to ensure full repatriation of export proceeds.

IMF governance diagnostic mission has started to assess Sri Lanka’s governance and anti-corruption framework. But it is mentioned that this will not cover corruption at institutional or individual level. This is looking at the forest but not the trees.

• When it comes to trade and investment, IFM has revealed its true colors in their intention of implementing later in the program an agenda of structural reforms designed to allow Sri Lanka to reach its full potential which involves trade liberalization, which IMF claims is critical for attracting investment and boosting productivity growth. In this regard, IMF proposes to revisit the 5-year plan for rationalizing remaining para-tariffs developed under the 2016-20 EFF arrangement, aimed at removing an important impediment for foreign investment. IMF is for the implementation of a single window for trade and will pursue further trade reforms with technical assistance from development partners.

The single window proposal has been repeated ad infinitum, but subject ministries insist on holding on to their powers which are source of power and illicit income. In the 1980s there was the Foreign Investment Approval Committee which dealt with all foreign investments outside the GCEC. (Now BOI). This Committee which functioned under the Ministry of Finance acted as a one stop shop. Delays jn approval by subject ministries were dealt with persuasion and threats of exposing the delay at the Exporters’ Forum or reporting to the cabinet. It was a non-bureaucratic collegiate decision-making process which did not tolerate delays or lame excuses. Another proposal which could expedite approvals is to assign a local consultant who is familiar with the approval process to every prospective investor to help him to go through the maze.  

• IMF also proposes to introduce by 2025 Property, Wealth, and Wealth Transfer Taxes. These taxes were there in the past and were removed for good reasons. It would be useful to examine these reasons before implementing them. Recently India has abolished them on the ground that they impose a compliance burden on the taxpayers as well as administrative burden on the department. Perhaps more revenue can be collected from arrears of tax pyments.

1. Without giving any examples the IMF makes an unsupported statement that Sri Lanka’s highly protective trade regime has hindered import competition, export diversification, as well as the entry and establishment of foreign firms. This broad statement picks on para tariffs on which IMF requires the authorities to develop a concrete medium-term plan to rationalize them. To claim that some innocuous para tariff has hindered import competition, export diversification, as well as the entry and establishment of foreign firms is specious and unprofessional.

Engr කාන්තර් බාලනාදන් විසිනි. DipEE (UK), GradCert (RelEng-Monash), DipBus&Adm (Finance-Massey), C.Eng., MIEE,සීමාසහිත Power Engineering Solutions හි හිටපු අධ්‍යක්ෂ, විදුලි ඉංජිනේරු උපදේශක ලෝකයේ ප්‍රමුඛ ඉංජිනේරු 2006, UK අධිකාරියේ සම්මානය

1. ජනරාල්

පොදුවේ ගත් කල, සෑම කෙනෙකුම උපකල්පනය කරන්නේ තම රටේ සාක්ෂරතා අනුපාතය තම රටේ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී අවංකභාවය, ආර්ථික තිරසාරභාවය සහ වර්ධනය නියම කරනු ඇති බවයි. 2020 දී ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සාක්ෂරතා අනුපාතය 92.38% ක් වූ අතර, 2019 සිට 0.13% ක වැඩිවීමකි. සාක්ෂරතා අනුපාතය යනු කුමක්ද? ඔවුන්ගේ එදිනෙදා ජීවිතය පිළිබඳ කෙටි සරල ප්‍රකාශයක් තේරුම් ගනිමින් කියවීමට සහ ලිවීමට හැකි වයස අවුරුදු 15 සහ ඊට වැඩි පුද්ගලයින් . ලෝකයේ තාක්ෂණය සහ දේශපාලනය වර්තමාන යුගයේ වෙනත් දේවල්වල වර්ධනයත් සමඟ වැඩිවෙමින් පවතී. 15 ^වැනි සියවසේ සහ 21 ^{වැනි සියවසේ} පුද්ගලයකු/කණ්ඩායමක් අතර සැලකිය යුතු වෙනසක් ඇත . තාක්‍ෂණය සහ ආර්ථික වර්ධනය සමඟ පරිසරය සහ ජීවිතයේ අවදානම් පිළිබඳව ජනතාව අවබෝධ කර ගැනීමට අපේක්ෂා කෙරේ. ලේඛකයන්ගේ උපකල්පනය වන්නේ සාක්ෂරතා අනුපාතය සංජානන හැකියාව සමඟ සම්බන්ධ වී ඇති බවයි. උපුටා ගැනීම: සංජානන හැකියාවන් යනු කුමක්ද ? යමෙක් ඔබට ප්‍රත්‍යක්ෂ යැයි කියන්නේ නම්, ඔවුන් අදහස් කරන්නේ ඔබ දේවල් තේරුම් ගැනීමට හෝ දේවල් හඳුනා ගැනීමට දක්ෂ බවයි . සංජානනශීලී පුද්ගලයන් තීක්ෂ්ණ බුද්ධිය ඇති, බුද්ධිමත්, අන් අයට නොපෙනෙන හෝ තේරුම් ගැනීමට නොහැකි දේ දැකීමට හැකියාව ඇත. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ප්‍රජාවන් සංජානන හැකියාව මත සැලකිය යුතු ලෙස පීඩාවට පත්වන අතර දේශපාලකයින් මෙම අඩුව තම වාසිය සහ ජයග්‍රහණය සඳහා ප්‍රයෝජනයට ගනිති. මිනිසුන්ට කියවීමට හා ලිවීමට හැකි වුවද, එසේ නොවුවහොත් ඔවුන් දේවල් තේරුම් ගැනීමට සහ තේරුම් ගැනීමට ගොළු ය. සිසුන්ට ඉගැන්වීම සහ ඔවුන්ගේ සංජානන හැකියාව වැඩි දියුණු කිරීම ප්‍රාථමික හා ද්විතීයික පාසල් වෙත පැවරේ. ප්‍රාථමික සහ ද්විතීයික කණ්ඩායම් බුද්ධිමත්ව කතා කළ යුතු අතර මිනිසුන් ගොළු නොකළ යුතුය. අධ්‍යාපනය සහ අවබෝධය ඇති දෙමාපියන් තම දරුවන්ගේ ස්නායු ක්‍රියාකාරිත්වය සහ හැකියාව වැඩි දියුණු කිරීමට උපකාර කළ යුතුය.

• පැරණි දේශපාලනය

සාක්ෂරතා අනුපාතිකය සහ ඥානාන්විත හැකියාව අඩු වූ බැවින්, අධ්‍යාපනය නොලබන හෝ අවබෝධයක් නොමැති පුද්ගලයන් දේශපාලනය සහ ආර්ථිකය අවබෝධ කර ගැනීමට පාලක බලධාරීන්ට අවශ්‍ය නොවීය. දේශපාලනයට එන්න ඉඩ ලැබුණේ ප්‍රභූන්ට සහ ධනවතුන්ට පමණයි. ප්‍රභූවරු ධනවත් පුද්ගලයන් ය. මෙමගින් සමාජය සංජානන හැකියාවෙන් දුර්වල විය. උදාහරණයක් ලෙස, උතුරේ පැරණි ජනයා නාගයන් විය. ඔරිස්සාවේ මාඝ රජු විසින් ගෙන එන ලද සංක්‍රමණිකයන් බහුතරයක් මලයාලි සහ පල්ලවර් වන අතර බහුතරයක් මලයාලි විය. රාජ්‍යය ස්වදේශිකයන්, නාගයන් පහත් වැඩ කිරීමට සලස්වා ඔවුන් පහත් කුලයන් බවට පත් කළේය. අද උතුරේ සහ වන්නියේ සිටින පහත් කුල ජනතාව නාග සහ වැද්දන්ය. ඉතිහාසය කේරලයේ කුල ක්‍රමය සනාථ කරනු ඇත.

එවැනි සිදුවීම් දකුණේ සිදු විය. මලයාලිවරුන් මධ්‍යම රාජධානියට ගෙන එන ලද අතර, ඔවුන් උඩරට සිංහලයන් බවට පත් වූ අතර, අනෙක් අය, යක්ෂයන් සහ වැද්දන් පහතරට සිංහලයන් බවට පත් විය. බෙදීම උපත ලබා දුන්නේය. කෙසේ වෙතත්, රාජ්‍යයේ තාඩන පීඩන නිසා සංජානන හැකියාව පොහොසත් වී දියුණු වූයේ නැත. යක්ෂයන් “හොල්මන්” ලෙස ආමන්ත්‍රණය කරන ලදී, එහි තේරුම හොල්මන් . කතුවරයා පනස් ගණන්වල ජීවත් වූයේ කඹුරුපිටියේය.

• වත්මන් දේශපාලනය

වසර ගණනාවක් ගත වන විට, පද්ධතිය පිරිසිදු කරන ලද අතර, අධ්යාපනයේ ගුණාත්මක භාවය වැඩිදියුණු විය. නමුත් ජනතාවගේ සාමාන්‍ය බුද්ධිය දියුණු වුණේ නැහැ. දේශපාලන ක්‍රමය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලවලට සහ විද්‍යාලවලට බාධා කළා. සමාජවාදය සහ කොමියුනිස්ට්වාදය වැනි දේශපාලන මතවාදයන්ගෙන් සිසුන්ගේ මොළය සෝදා ගත්තේය. ආර්ථික විද්‍යාව සහ දේශපාලන ඉදිරිදර්ශනය තුළ අධ්‍යාපනයේ ගුණාත්මක භාවය ප්‍රේරණය නොකළ අතර අවම වශයෙන් නවය හෝ දහය වසර දක්වා සිසුන්ට අනිවාර්ය කර ඇත. දිළිඳු පවුලක සෑම තරුණයකුටම සමාජවාදය හෝ කොමියුනිස්ට්වාදය අවශ්‍ය වූයේ රටට සිදුවන අයහපත් විනාශකාරී ආර්ථික බලපෑම ගැන අවබෝධයක් නොමැතිවය . ශ්‍රී ලංකාව කර්මාන්ත අතර ” තරගකාරීත්වය ” වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටියේ නැත . ජනතාව “ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය” වෙනත් දෘෂ්ටිකෝණයකින් අර්ථකථනය කළහ.

ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදය යනු ජනතාව විසින් තෝරා පත් කර ගන්නා ලද ජනතාව විසින් පාලනය කිරීමයි. ඒ නිසා තේරී පත්වන ජනතාවටත් තේරී පත්වන ජනතාවටත් රට වෙනුවෙන් වගකීමක් වගකීමක් කැපවීමක් තිබෙනවා. ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ” ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය ” භාවිතා කිරීමෙන් බොහෝ දුරස් ය . පුරවැසියන්ට තවමත් වැඩි අධ්‍යාපනයක් සහ පාලනය පිළිබඳ අවබෝධය සහ තම රට කෙරෙහි කැපවීම (බැදීම) අවශ්‍ය වේ.

• SL පාලනය, ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය සහ භාවිතය

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පාලනය නොමිලේ වෛද්‍ය, රෝහල් පහසුකම්, ඖෂධ සහ නොමිලේ සැත්කම් පිරිනමයි. සිසුන්ට සහනාධාර ප්‍රවාහනය සහ නොමිලේ අධ්‍යාපනය. බොහෝ සේවාවන් සහනදායී මිලකට හෝ මිනිසුන්ට නොමිලේ ලබා දේ. පුරවැසියන් පාලන සේවයේ මෙම කොටස තේරුම් ගත යුතු අතර රජයට ගෙවිය යුතු බදු ගෙවිය යුතුය. මෙම මිණුම් සලකුණු වල වැදගත් ගුණාංගය නම්, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය ජනතාව කෙරෙහි තම වගකීම තෘප්තිමත් කරන බව අවබෝධ කර ගැනීමයි, කෙසේ වෙතත්, ජනතාව මෙම සහය පිළිබඳ ඔවුන්ගේ හෘද සාක්ෂියෙන් පැහැදිලි විය යුතු අතර ඔවුන්ගේ කැපවීම්වලට ගරු කළ යුතුය.

ආණ්ඩුකරණයේ ඇති ප්‍රශ්නය නම් දේශපාලනඥයන් මිලදී ගන්නා සෑම ඡන්දයකටම ඇප වශයෙන් මුදල් ගෙවීමයි. දේශපාලකයෝ දේශපාලනය කරන්නේ අල්ලස් හා කොමිස් මගින් ඇප වශයෙන් ගෙවන මුදල් ඇද ගැනීමටය. වරද කාගේද ? මිනිසුන්ගේ බුද්ධිය සහ සංජානන හැකියාව මෙහි ආයාචනා කරන්නේ ඇපයක් ලෙස ලැබෙන අල්ලස් වල බලපෑම ජනතාව තේරුම් නොගැනීමයි. ” මෙතැන ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය අසාර්ථකයි “. මෙම අඩුව ක්‍රියාත්මක වන්නේ තුන්වන ලෝකයේ සහ සංවර්ධනය වෙමින් පවතින රටවල පමණි. මැතිවරණයේදී ඉන්දියාව සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඇප මත බරයි. මෙහි ඇති බාධාව නම් දේශපාලන විද්‍යාව/අධ්‍යාපනය ගැන කිසිම දැනුමක් නැති අනවශ්‍ය කොටස් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට රිංගා අකුසල් කළ හැකි වීමයි. ආගමික කටයුතුවලට නුසුදුසු ප්‍රදේශවල අනවශ්‍ය දේවල් බුද්ධ ප්‍රතිමා සිටුවන විට ආණ්ඩුව අසාර්ථක වෙනවා . බුදුන් වහන්සේ ඔවුන්ගේ වැටුප්, බෙහෙත්, බත්, ඇඹුල් තියල් ආදිය සපයන්නේ නැත. බුදුන් වහන්සේ තාක්ෂණික දියුණුව අනුමාන නොකරයි. බුදුන් වහන්සේ තම තරුණ අවධියේදී යම් දර්ශනයක් සකස් කළ අතර, එය තවමත් ඔප්පු කර නොමැති අතර, ඔවුන් එකඟ නොවන දාර්ශනිකයන් විසින් වසර ගණනාවක් තිස්සේ වර්ධනය කරන ලදී. දෙමළ අයටත් එහෙමයි. විද්‍යාවේ හා තාක්‍ෂණයේ දියුණුව නොසලකා හරිමින් දෙමළ ජනයා පන්සල් ඉදිකිරීමට, පූජාවන් ආදියට සැලකිය යුතු මුදලක් වැය කරති. බුදුන් සහ ශිව දෙවියන් ලංකාව දියුණු කරන්න යනවා කියලා මිනිස්සු හිතනවද ? සංවර්ධනය මිනිසා විසින් නිර්මාණය කරන ලද්දක් වන අතර එය සම්පූර්ණ කළ යුත්තේ මොළය ඇති මිනිසුන් විසිනි. මානවවාදය මෙහි වැදගත් කාර්යභාරයක් ඉටු කරයි. මේ සියලු අඩුපාඩු සිදු වන්නේ පුරවැසියන් තුළ ඇති බුද්ධිය සහ ප්‍රත්‍යක්ෂ හැකියාව අඩුවීම හේතුවෙනි. ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන්ගෙන් බහුතරයක් පහත සඳහන් දේවලින් පීඩා විඳිති: සංජානන හැකියාව, ස්වයං අභිප්‍රේරණය, නිර්මාණශීලිත්වය, නවෝත්පාදනය, ස්වයං විනය සහ නම්‍යශීලී බව. දේශපාලඥයින් සඳහා පහත සඳහන් දෑ ප්‍රධාන අත්‍යාවශ්‍ය ලෙස සැලකේ.

1. අභියෝගාත්මක සහ වෙනස්වන තත්ත්වයකදී වගකීම භාරගැනීම සහ ” වෙනස්වීම නියතයක් ” බව පිළිගැනීම. ගරු. මෙම පුද්ගල ගුණාංග පිළිබඳව බලශක්ති හා විදුලිබල අමාත්‍ය කාංචන විජේසේකර මහතා අගය කළ යුතුය .
2. වෙනස්වන අභියෝගාත්මක තත්ත්වයන් පිළිගනිමින් සමගිය ප්‍රවර්ධනය කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගරු අමාත්‍ය ඩග්ලස් දේවානන්ද මහතා අගය කළ යුතුයි. ගරු ඩීඩීට ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයෙන් ප්‍රමාණවත් සහයෝගයක් ලබා දිය යුතුය. ගරු ඩීඩීගේ පුද්ගලික ගුණාංග ධනාත්මක සහ සහාය වේ
3. පාර්ශ්වික චින්තනය සහ හැසිරීම් රටාව නායකත්ව ගුණාංගයට බලපාන බව විශ්වාස කරන්න.
4. විද්‍යාව අපට දැනුම ලබා දෙන බවත් කලාව යනු කුසලතා සහ දැනුම භාවිතා කරන බවත් විශ්වාස කරන්න.
5. ගවේෂණාත්මක සහ සංකල්පීය හැකියාවක් තිබිය යුතුය.
6. අවසාන වශයෙන්, පුරවැසියන් මුල් රැකබලා ගත යුතු අතර ගස් ආරක්ෂිත වනු ඇත.

සරත් වීරසේකර, විමල් වීරවංශ වැනි දේශපාලඥයන් සිටින අතර ඔවුන් හොඳ දේශපාලඥයන් වීමට බොහෝ දුරක් ඇති අතර ඔවුන් දෙදෙනාම වාර්ගික සම්ප්‍රදායෙන් පමණක් සංතෘප්ත වී ඇත. ආර්ථික විද්‍යාව, දේශපාලනය, දළ දේශීය නිෂ්පාදිතය, වර්ධනය සහ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය අවබෝධ කර ගැනීමේ දැඩි අඩුපාඩුවක් තිබේ. දෙමළ ජාතිය සහ බුදුදහම ගැන හැමවිටම හූල්ලති.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ සිට වෙනත් ප්‍රයෝජනවත් අතථ්‍ය නාමයකට ශ්‍රීලංකාවට ඇගේ නම වෙනස් කිරීමට සිදුවනු ඇත , මන්ද ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළ පවතින ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයක්, සමාජවාදයක් හෝ මානවවාදයක් නොමැති බැවිනි. අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ මිනිසුන්ට වැඩ කිරීමට සහ පිරිවැටුම නිෂ්පාදනය කිරීමට පිරිසිදු ධනවාදයක් වන අතර එය තවත් වසර 25 ක ක්ෂිතිජයක් තිබිය හැකිය.