Sri Lanka has the potential to establish the green economy, specially by way of renewable energy, said President Ranil Wickremesinghe addressing a High-Level event on Strategies and Actions to Accelerate Sri Lanka’s Transition to a Green Growth Pathway.
He said further that the Sri Lankan Government prepared a Natural Adaption Plan and National Environment Action Plan to ensure a green economy and a better world by 2050.
The event, held at the Hilton Colombo this morning (06), was organized by the Ministry of Environment and the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI).
A new Climate Change Act will be formulated while a new Environment Act will be drafted to replace the old one which will cover reforestation, forest cover and tree cover.
He also added that Sri Lanka is to be the first one in the region to recognize some of its assets as living entities. The Knuckles Range, Horton Plains, Peak Wilderness, the Sinharaja Forest, the Mahaweli River and Adams Bridge will be hence identified as living entities.
Former Secretary General of the UN and the President of the Assembly and Chair of the Council of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) Ban Ki-moon addressing the gathering said that he learnt about those changes that took place during the last six and a half years since his last visit and added that he was confident that democracy and sustainable economic development in the country could be achieved under the wise leadership of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Environment Minister Naseer Ahamed addressing the occasion explained in detail the steps that the government is planning to take in regard to a green economy and meeting the climate change targets for 2050.
Secretary to the Ministry of Environment Dr Anil Jasinghe and Asia Regional Director and Head of Programs, GGGI Dr Achala Abeysinghe also addressed the event.
The Panel Discussion included panelists Director (Climate Change) Ministry of Environment Ms. Kumudini Vidyalankara, Chief Executive Officer Dilmah Tea and chair of Biodiversity Sri Lanka Dilhan Fernando, Chief Executive Officer of the National Development Bank Dimantha Seneviratne, Senior Research Professional of the Center for Poverty Analysis Ms. Karin Fernando and Senior Professor of the University of Peradeniya Prof. Buddhi Marambe.
Ambassador of Korea to Sri Lanka Santhush W. Jeong, Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Sabry, Senior Advisor to the President on National Security and Chief of Staff to the President Sagala Rathnayake and, Senior Advisor to the President on Climate Change Ruwan Wijewardena also participated in this event.
The statement made by President Ranil Wickremesinghe is as follows,
The signing of the Host Country Agreement with the Global Green Growth Initiative tomorrow, will be the first steps that we will be taking to establish a green economy and meet climate change goals.
I welcome the eighth Secretary General of the United Nations and the President of the Assembly and Chair of the Council of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) Ban Ki-moon for the signing of the Host Country Agreement with the Global Green Growth Initiative. Hence, Ban Ki-Moon will be associated with two historic agreements signed in Sri Lanka in which the first paved the way for reconciliation.
We are seriously concerned of the situation on climate change and the actions taken. What has happened so far is insufficient and the last conference of parties did not achieve the results that we desired.
The low-income countries and the middle-income countries are striving for economic development while protecting living standards with insufficient funding. So, these countries are committed to a call for action by the developed countries to deliver their funding pledges by doubling their funding which is essential.
I realize that some developed countries are experiencing a recession this year, but nevertheless the targets had not been met earlier. So there has to be a full commitment of how we are going to meet the targets and what assistance is required. The other issue is the need for compensation for the developing countries where the emissions so far were not the responsibility of our countries.
The third issue is how to address the loss and damages. This is not the issue of asking the developed countries to spend a lot of money for further development of the developing countries. Let us work out a sort of list, combine the money that is needed and then see how we are going to raise it. There has to be a contribution by them, as well as a contribution by us. But let’s agree on what we have to do.
The fact is that the achievements of the last COP26 meeting had not been fulfilled so far, worries us. Glasgow was a good turning point. The initiative taken by former Prime Minister of the UK Boris Johnson was important, but it was not followed up.
We must ensure that those targets are met. Therefore, the Government of Sri Lanka instructed the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Environment to sound out other developing countries with whom they spoke last time on how a joint action plan could be made. Perhaps, a meeting of the heads of government, of the concerned countries could be convened in the UAE, prior to the next conference.
That is the only way that we can achieve results and we must go hard on it as there is no halfway house. We have to insist that these are goals and these are our minimal demands. It’s either the minimum demands or it is far better to call it a day if we are not going to achieve this result.
Sri Lanka is in the process to decrease carbon emissions by 14.5 percent by 2030 and more thereafter. We are creating the Climate Change Office operating under the Presidential Secretariat to coordinate all actions in regard to climate change. Then we have prepared our natural adaption plan and their national environment Action Plan.
All of this is being taken as the initiative by our government so that we ensure a green economy and a better world by 2050. We are developing the net zero 2050 plan that aims for carbon neutrality. We will not increase further energy capacity via coal power.
We will phase out the fossil fuel subsidies. We are already doing that and we have come under attack from the Opposition for phasing it out. And we will aim for 70 per cent of renewable energy for power generation by 2030.
There are many initiatives that we will be taking for this period. Firstly, a new Climate Change Act, which will incorporate the Climate Change Office, will be formulated. Then a new Environment Act will be formulated to replace the old one, which was enacted in the early 1980s, and one which will cover reforestation forest cover and tree cover.
The last one is to recognize some of our assets as living entities. The Knuckles Range, Horton plains, peak wilderness, the Sinharaja Forest, the Mahaweli river and Adams Bridge will be identified as living entities and that will be the first in the region to do so.
Final is the setting up of the International Climate Change University. We want to start it as a Postgraduate University and a university for training officials in all regions in the Indian Ocean, and in Africa to prepare the world for meeting the climate change goals and a new climate change and new green economy.
Now we are grappling with the issue of a green economy. That’s where we want to go. We find that we have the potential, especially on renewable energy, with the help of the Asian Development Bank we are assessing what our capacity for renewable energy and green hydrogen would be. Some say we will have an excess capacity of about 30 Giga-watts, but, some say 40, some say 50.
But we want to have the assessment made by the Asian Development Bank. So, we have already called for investment in this region. This is one area that we can prosper.
With regard to our economic base, we are looking at the new technologies, which certainly will not be involved with fossil fuel and to have new manufacturing and service industries based on industry for technology to modernize agriculture. Accordingly, we will be moving towards the green economy. But we are going to face difficulties. One is the lack of capacity.
And we also need great access to international financing. We will also be able to financially engineer the debt. By using the green financial instrument we could reduce the present debt load. Our domestic policy will be geared to our climate prosperity plan. So, this is the path that Sri Lanka wishes to follow, and I have no doubt that the GGGI will help us to achieve this. The agreement we will sign tomorrow will be the first in the steps that we will take.”
On January 8 supporters of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil invaded and pillaged Brazil’s Presidential Palace known as Planalto Palace regarded as a national treasure, designed by a modernist architect, along with the Congress building and Supreme Federal Courts. Protester’s shattered glass and burnt iconic furniture, ripped floors, broke windows and doors, vandalised priceless paintings and other art works, defaced portraits, decapacitated sculptures, all pieces of national heritage, scrawled graffiti across facades of buildings calling for a military intervention to remove the elected President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, popularly known as Lula.
All these monumental buildings held rich collections of art representing an important chapter in Brazil’s national history. One painting alone which was punctured in several places is worth at least $ 1.5 million. Rioters had flooded the floors and soaked carpets using fire hydrants and sprinkler systems. As Galle Face protesters urinated into the swimming pool at the Presidential House, Brasilia’s protesters did not forget to urinate over the valuable carpets. One fellow draped with the Brazilian flag from his neck to his feet sat in Senate President’s chair. Our fellows were far ahead than the Brazilian rioters as they held a Cabinet Meeting” at the Presidential Secretariat.
Although the Sri Lankan protesters were able to oust the elected President, Lula stands firm against the vandalisers and the security personnel who were in complicity with the protesters and Bolsonaro. It was reported that Brazilian riots itself were unpopular with the majority of the Brazilians and as a result enhanced Lula’s popularity.
Our lethargic investigators, police, security forces, mandarins of the defense establishment and the judiciary still grope in darkness to assess what had actually happened in Colombo. Our curators and archaeologists still have not valued the damage done to government buildings by Sri Lankan rioters even after six months. Earlier there was a talk that artworks (forgetting the famous Mulkirigala painting allegedly pilfered by a son-in-law of a President and brother-in-law of a President in waiting”), colonial furniture and gifts presented by foreign dignitaries to Sri Lankan Heads of State were not catalogued and Sri Lanka’s Department of Archeology has no authority to carry out any investigation regarding the destroyed or vandalised artifacts.
But Brazil’s National Artistic Heritage Institute within a few days, following a painstaking survey of ruins had prepared a 40-page report with a photographic catalogue of the damages. Craftsmen at Senate Museum commenced restoration of priceless damaged treasures, paintings, sculptures, vases and furniture and within two weeks managed to restore more than 60% of the damaged objects.
Bolsonaro fled to Florida; US government granted him refuge; at the same time Biden tweeted condemning what had happened in Brazil.
Bolsonaro flew to Florida two days before Lula was inaugurated without officially handing over power. His absence marked a break with traditions as he was expected to handover the Presidential sash to President-elect Lula. As he was still officially President when he arrived in US his diplomatic status guaranteed his entry to US, a right reserved for Heads of State. He was actively involved in the riots. Now Bolsonaro has applied for a 6-month visitor visa to stay in the US. There will be no denial. Recent reports confirm that Bolsonaro had addressed a group of right-wing activists at a Trump resort in Miami.
Why Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was denied this privilege as he was still the incumbent President when he left Sri Lanka? Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s fate was well known. It was reported that the US ambassador in Sri Lanka had refused him an entry permit to US, his adopted country before renouncing his US citizenship. Later Julie Chung found fault with Sri Lankan authorities for evacuating Galle Face merry men and women.
What the US authorities should understand is that the blueprint for attacks in Brasilia was provided by the Trump supporters’ coup attempt at Capitol Hill in January 6, 2001. Supporters of Trump and Bolsonaro both alleged that the election was a fraud. Trump and Bolsonaro whose backers are known as Trump of Tropics”, both did not accept their defeats and challenged the validity of most of the electronic voting machines.
Riots erupted after Bolsanaro had posted a video questioning the validity of last years’ Presidential Elections. He refused to concede his defeat to Lula, accused against electronic voting machines and argued that the military should conduct its own audit of the result.
As Lula’s inauguration approached Bolsanaro’s supporters set up camps outside Brasilia’s main military compound and urged the military to restore Bolsanaro’s Presidency. But their main expectation was seizure of power by the military deposing Lula. It was thought that to stage a coup was easy as Lula lacked support inside the army.
Sri Lankans should remember how JVPers cried computer jillmart” after the defeat of Sarath Fonseka whom they have supported at the 2020 Presidential elections. The then leader of the JVP, Somawansa Amerasinghe shamelessly embraced (wearing a three-piece suit) Ranil and Fonseka at a Presidential election meeting forgetting that Fonseka, the former Army Commander represented an instrument for the exploitation of the oppressed class” as Lenin taught. Had a Trump” invaded the Capitol Hill by that time definitely the JVPers would have run berserk, thanking the American imperialists for exporting” a novel method of insurrection”.
Brazil rioters wore Brazil’s iconic yellow and green jerseys. Sri Lankan rioters wrapped themselves with the National Flags.
Brazil rioters had camped outside a military headquarters in Brasilia since Bolsonaro lost the October 30 Presidential election. Sri Lankan rioters camped outside the Presidential Secretariat for months before storming the Presidential Secretariat, Presidential House and other government buildings.
Other rioters traveled to Brasilia in busses; in Sri Lanka train loads of rioters came from Kandy and Galle and others entered the City from the five main entry points; Security forces did not know what was happening; or were they in complicity with the rioters who thronged the city? In my previous essays I have dealt about the security lapses from the day the rioters besieged GR’s private residence at Mirihana.
Brazilian rioters, who were extreme rightists alleged that Lula taking the country into Communism while in Sri Lanka, some rioters paid lip service to socialism”. We should not be alarmed by the word socialism” as Marx and Engels had outlined different types of socialism in their Manifesto of the CommunistParty” in 1847-48. The word Socialist” was scorned by JRJ naming Sri Lanka as a Democratic Socialist Republic”.
Like at Galle Face, Bolsonaro supporters had funded alternative media outlets. Now Brazilian authorities are tracking financial movements undertaken via online banking apps including Brazil’s Central Bank Pix which allows free of charge instant money transfers. It is said that Pix is used by 133 million Individuals as well as 12 million companies across Brazil. It has outpaced debit and credit card payments. Pix was used by blogs and YouTube channels supporting Bolsonaro.
Sri Lankan protest leaders” and pro-Galle Face Youtubers received millions of rupees from dubious sources but our law enforcement officers failed to take action although the names of men and women leaders” who received such funds, the amounts they received and the banks in which funds were remitted were revealed during the height of the Galle Face Carnival. MNCs, oligarchical business conglomerates, communication giants and media moguls which funded the protesters were exposed but no action was taken against these funders.
But Brazilian authorities had identified the financiers of Brasilia riots. They had planned to take action against top management of more than 100 companies who fed the protesters and provided shelter and financial assistance to them.
Within a few days the authorities commenced a criminal probe into the insurrection” and more than 1300 were arrested, accused of crimes including terrorism and attempting a coup. Federal police had identified people who participated, funded and fostered the riots. They were investigated for violent abrogation of the rule of law, coup d’état, criminal association, damage, incitement and destruction of protected property.
Sri Lankan security establishment should learn from Brazil how they conducted investigations immediately after the rampage. It won’t happen here as there were many intentional lapses in security that allowed the protesters in Sri Lanka to run berserk.
The slogans reverberated in Brasilia spewed venom and hatred against Lula as happened at Gall Face ghetto.
Still we have no direct evidence to say that the US was behind this rampage as in Peru which ousted Castillo. But Trump allies in the US have played a role in stoking riots, helping to map out plans and financing violence. Indirectly WhatsApp and Meta are responsible for social media disinformation and fomenting violence. Face Book repeatedly approved ads promoting deaththreats and violent anti-democratic ads. The threats were against Lula and the children of his supporters. Some ads encouraged people to storm government buildings and arm themselves. Misinformation about how the election was stolen circulated freely. The same happened at Galle Face. Social media played a pivotal role in Sri Lankan riots and arson.
Biden administration had distanced from Brazil’s riots. Biden has invited Lula for a meeting on February 10. US used countries in Latin America as a testing ground of neoliberalism. Lula had rejected German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s appeal to send ammunition to German -made anti-aircraft guns used in Ukraine. We will have to wait and see what will happen next.
Before Bolsonaro lost the election to Lula, Le Monde” suggested that Brazil was going to see Bolsonarism without Bolsonaro”. It is evident that the plot was hatched beforehand.
Bolsonaro became President as a result of attacks against Lula and his successor Dilma Rousseff coordinated by the US. Three days after Dilma Rousseff was deposed arbitrarily in 2016 Vice President Joe Biden met with illegitimate President Michel Termer. Several Latin American countries refused to recognise Termer. Biden told Termer that he had the full support of Obama administration.
After Trump took office during 2018 elections Lula was arbitrarily imprisoned when he was leading over Bolsanaro. Lula was illegally prohibited of running for office from behind bars. Bolsanaro visited CIA headquarters immediately after taking office. After Biden took office National Security advisor flew to Brazil to meet Bolsanaro and his top Generals. CIA Director also paid a visit to Brazil.
It was reported that on the day Mirihana private residence of GR was besieged Julie Chung visited GR’s Mirihana residence, got down on her knees and raised her hands to the sky. Saying that she is a Roman Catholic she prayed to her God to invoke relief to the President. She had apologised for what had happened that day and had prevented GR from evacuating protesters claiming that it would stall the IMF loan negotiations. After the protesters stormed his official residence, she denied him a visa to enter US.
There are many similarities between US funded coup in Peru and Sri Lanka’s protests. US Defense attaché in Lima (Peru) Alvarodo gave greenlight to Peru’s generals to arrest President Pedro Castillo in December. The last telephone call Castillo received before he left Presidential Palace came from the US Embassy. He was warned that he will be arrested or killed and told to flee to a friendly Embassy. One day before the coup US Ambassador met with Peru’s Defense Minister and told the military to turn against Castillo. Castillo was arrested by the military when he and his family was rushing towards the Mexican Embassy.
It should be noted that Castillo was the first Peruvian President from a poor rural Andean background. He is a son of peasant farmers and a champion of poor and indigenous people. He defeated right-wing Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of Peru’s imprisoned former President at the presidential elections.
Due to pressure from the Peruvian oligarchy Castillo thought of temporarily dissolving the Congress and establishing an emergency government. Castillo had formed four different cabinets to appease the business sector conceding to right wing demands to remove left wing ministers. Same thing happened in Sri Lanka. GR had to shuffle the pack several times. He was openly challenged by his own palanquin bearers”. His plans in removing MR and BR and some other unpopular Pohottuwa Ministers and appointing RW as the Prime Minister all had failed.
Castillo was imprisoned for 18 months without trial as instigated by CIA Agent Lisa Kenna, the US Ambassador in Lima. Lisa was regularly meeting with top Peruvian government officials, Dina Boluarte and her Ministers like Julie Chang.
It will be interesting to list down the people Julie Chung met before ousting GR and afterwards, politicians including AKD, Harini Amarasuriya, Dayasiri Jayasekera, Sajith P and many more, civil society” men and women, media menand women and free lancers. Some posed with Samantha Power. The list is too long. The latest was with Abraham Sumanthiran, Hakeem, Mano Ganeshan,Badiutheen and two more TULFers with Victoria Nuland, the ace international plotter who first visited Sri Lanka before the ouster of GR in attendance.
Peru is a mineral rich country. Its large resources of copper, gold, zinc, silver, lead, iron and natural gas have induced imperialists to grab Peru’s mineral resources. Europe is importing Peruvian LNG to replace Russian supplies. Soon after the overthrow of Castillo, US Ambassador met with Peru’s Mining and Energy Minister for talks on investment”.
Peru’s economy relies on mining which is controlled by biggest MNCs. Mining represents more than half of national exports and over 10% of its GDP. It is the second biggest copper producer in the world. Peru is rich with lithium considered by investment bankers as the new oil” important in global shift toward renewable energy technologies. To obtain Bolivia’s lithium in 2019 US staged a coup against Evo Morales.
Castillo wanted Peru’s natural resources to directly benefit Peruvians. Castillo, a leftist union leader who campaigned wearing a farmer’s hat promised,no morepoor people in a rich country”; we want our natural resources to directly benefit the people”. He called to renegotiate mining contracts to ensure 70% of all proceeds from mining went to the State for social programmes. He said, let us be clear; those decades of betrayals, corruption and cynicism are the symptoms of this neoliberal system dedicated exclusively to the exploitation of our people and natural resources for the benefit of a few scoundrels”. Does this sound as utterings of an inexperienced political novice” as the Western press disparaged Castillo?
Western media belittled Castillo as a primary school teacher in the Andean highlands as a political novice, with no experience. Same tune was played against GR saying he was an inexperienced non-politician.
Castillo’s successor Dina Boluarte Peru’s 6 th President in 7 years and the first woman President of Peru was working at a regional office that issues identity cards.
Peru’s oligarchy called him a donkey”; made fun of his country accent. They smashed Pinatas made to resemble Castillo at their high-end parties; a decorated figure of an animal containing toys and sweets suspended from a height and broken by blindfolded children, like our own Kana Muttiya Bindeema.
In our earlier writings we have given a detailed account of how GR was vilified by Galle Face protesters.
Also, in our earlier essays we have elaborated the various segments who participated in Galle Face protests. Peru’s oligarchy opposed Castillo. Peru’s protests are basically against the wealthy elite in the capital Lima.
Ironically Sri Lankan elite was in the forefront in ousting GR with the rest of the commoners” at the Galle Face ghetto. In contrast to Sri Lanka, Peru’s protests are in the countryside and the Andes Mountains.
Now Castillo is facing criminal charges against him after he tried to dissolve the legislature.
Since Castillo’s election to office his opponent in the Presidential election Fujimori and her cohorts tried to block his ascension. This was repeated in Brazil by Bolsonaro supporters, what Trumpists” exported from Capitol Hill. Fujimori had close ties with the US government and its intelligence agencies. Before the Presidential Elections in 2021 US sent a CIA agent Lisa Kenna as its ambassador toLima.She met Peru’s Defense Minister and tweeted against Castillo’s decision to dissolve the Congress. This reminds us how Julie Chung was installed in Sri Lanka before the ouster of GR, her innumerable tweets meddling with internal affairs of Sri Lanka and finally ouster of GR. Kenna recognised Peru’s new government after Castillo’s removal.
Now Peru is in turmoil. Violent clashes between anti-government protesters and police had led to a death toll of around 60 people. Castillo’s successor former Vice President, Dina Boluarte declared a state of emergency. Massive protests rocked Peru, demanding resignation of Boluarte and to advance elections due to be held in 2026. She refuses to resign amid political crisis.
Sri Lanka’s problems have become more severe despite ease in fuel and cooking gas supplies. Now dormant elements from time to time call for a repetition of the incidents that took place on the ninth day of the month. (May 9; July 9).
We do not know what Julie Chung had told GR when the Presidential House was stormed. He was given wrong information by his own Generals about the numbers who had besieged the Presidential House. Few hundred” the security top brass had told him. If he had not left the Presidential House at the right time either he would have been lynched by the protesters or arrested by his own security top brass. Truth with Chamuditha” blog interviewing an ex-army officer revealed recently that Chief of Defense Staff wished to replace GR as the President, that senior officers of the army were in complicity with Galle Face protesters, that the army did not carry out Commander-in-Chief’s orders. Up to now nobody has challenged this or taken any legal action against the interviewee.
The million-dollar question is why the autocratic” President, armed Dharmapala” as alleged by his erstwhile Viyathamaga” grandees was unable to protect himself and command his own security top brass!
Lula had dismissed over 50 military officers who were guarding the Presidential Palace and the National Security advisors Office, expressing his distrust in the military for failing to act against the protesters who ransacked government buildings. He said that security forces members were complicit in letting the protesters. Investigators had found intentional lapses in the security that allowed it to occur.
Brazil police raided Brasilia’s Federal District Governor Rocha ’s house and offices, who was under investigations for failing to prevent the storming of Government buildings and other violent acts. Rocha and Torres, the Secretary of Public Security of the Federal District who are staunch supporters of Bolsanaro were the two men responsible for public safety in Brasilia. Civil and military forces are controlled by the Governor and the Public Security Secretary. It was revealed that Brasilia’s military police opened the gates for the rioters. It is interesting to state that this man was the head of Brazilian Bar Association before becoming Governor. Remember that some informal leaders” of Galle Face ghetto wanted our own President of Bar Association to succeed GR! Torres was dismissed and Rocha has been suspended.
Two weeks after the rioting Lula sacked army commander. Lula said that he suspects members of the armed forces colluded with the protesters as the protesters stormed government buildings after marching unchallenged through the city. In Sri Lanka train loads of protesters came to the city commandeering trains unchallenged with the connivance of railway employees and courtesy of UNP politicians.
Authorities in Brazil have investigated the role played by Bolsonaro in Brasilia’s riots. Have the Sri Lankan authorities investigated the role played by UNP, SJB, JVP, IUSF and other individuals such as Fonseka, Omalpe and Cardinal who were the godfathers of Sri Lankan protesters?
In Sri Lanka security lapses occurred from the day private residence of GR at Mirihana was besieged by the protesters on March 31, 2022. Security lapses continued on May 9 when hundreds of private residences of government politicians were torched by the protesters. Its culmination was July 9, when the security forces allowed the protesters to enter government buildings. Had GR and security forces took action at any one of these incidents GR would have remained as the President of Sri Lanka. During his presidency he was betrayed by his advisors. At the crucial stage he was betrayed by his own security establishment.
In Sri Lanka the government had no will to crackdown the rioters as the government tried to appease the western governments and NGOs. The government itself was responsible for the massive convergence of protesters later turned into rioters.
If someone files action against the lapses of the security forces on these days all the top brass of the security establishment will have to answer at the highest court of law in Sri Lanka. Punishments meted out to ex-President Sirisena, ex-Defense Secretary, ex-IGP and another top-level officer had set up a successful case to follow.
Lula said there are a lot of people who were complicit in this among the military police and armed forces. I am convinced that the door to the Presidential Palace was opened to allow these people in because I did not see that the door was broken”. Same thing happened in Sri Lanka. Police officers were seen mingling with those who stormed the public institutions and taking selfies.
Some police officers were not ashamed to play the piano at the Presidential House. We do not know any one of these officers were charged for complicity.
Lula said intelligence services failed ahead of riots. My intelligence did not exist that day. We have many intelligence services, Air Force intelligence, Brazil’s Intelligence Agency. None of them warned me.” I think that Lula had spoken on behalf of GR too. No politician in Sri Lanka has a spine to say this. Lula further said,” those who want to be involved in politics should take off the uniform, resign from office and then enter politics”.
Lula also criticised the army for not doing anything to stop a two-month old encampment of Bolsonaro supporters outside army headquarters where they clamoured for the military to overturn the election results. The attack was expected since the invaders had been staging demonstrations for days using social media. Galle Face protesters set up an urban ghetto at Galle Face Green and camped there for nearly three months.
GR should be blamed for this, for demarcating a protest site”, may be to appease the so-called international community and the NGO cabal, in front of his Secretariat. We knew that the Galle Face protesters were ready to storm government buildings at any moment and the protest erupting into a violent uprising as protesters cannot remain in one place for a prolonged period of time; either fatigue, exhaustion, frustration or overenthusiasm will compel them to burst out. Military top brass should know this better than the laypersons.
Brazilian Government had ordered the arrest of top officials in the security forces including the former commander of the military police, former public security chief and others for acts of omission. Later police commander was dismissed. Bolsonaro’s ex-Justice Minister was arrested who was in charge of public security on suspicion of omission and connivance. Lula purged Bolsonaro loyalists from Brazil’s security forces. Brazil’s supreme Courts had agreed to investigate whether Bolsonaro had incited the rioters.
Sri Lankan Justice Minister declared that he was a supporter of the so-called Aragalaya although he was physically not present at Galle Face. Many godfathers of Galle Face Protesters including Asu Marasinghe (now shamed), Sunil Ratnapriya, Sudharshana Gunawardena, Tennakone et al got top government positions when Ranil Wickremasinghe was elevated as the President.
In Sri Lanka those armed personnel who witnessed torching of hundreds of houses belonging to government politicians and Ranil Wickremasinghe’s private residence, those who were mere onlookers when the rioters stormed the public institutions and occupied them for several days went scot free without facing any investigation.
Government MPs seeking a probe against security top brass should be given priority. It should be treated as how the judiciary had handled the Easter Sunday attack case. The Government should table in Parliament the Report of the Committee headed by Admiral of the Fleet (retd.) Wasantha Karannagoda investigating May 9 violence.
But July 9 rampage will be buried in the sand unless the former President GR writes his Memoirs. No other person is privy to what had happened since that fair lady from Kolonnawa, daughter of a local baron”, staged a demonstration at Mirihana a few days before March 31.
The obnoxious 13th Amendment to the Constitution has surfaced again with the announcement by the President that 13A should be fully implemented, which also implies the remerger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces. His argument is that the provisions on police and land powers have been in the Constitution for the last 37 years and should be either implemented or taken off. The President should explain why this controversial issue is being raised at a time when the nation is desperately fighting an economic crisis. He did not take up this subject for over 3 decades, not even when he was Prime Minister. Is this off his own bat or a stipulation imposed by the IMF or the Western powers? India has been repeating this condition for over many years but would not be inclined to create political turmoil in Sri Lanka at this moment which could impact on the Tamil Community. It is opportune that policy makers visit not only the devolution of Police and Land powers but the vexed issue of the 13A as a whole.
History
Sri Lanka was divided into 9 Provinces on the recommendation of the Colebrook Commission of 1833 with the evil objective of dismantling the Kandyan Kingdom. But with experience in the administration of the country, and increase of population and the demand for additional services at the periphery the Provinces were subdivided in stages into Districts. The British abandoned the Provinces because the Provincial administration was unwieldy and inefficient. The Present Provincial Council System hastily enforced by India has the same and more disadvantages. The previous Provincial Administration under the British was ably supervised by the Center. But the new animal is both a wild ass and a white elephant.
Up to the time of the enforcement of the 13th Amendment , the District was the first level of decentralized administration. At present, there are 25 Districts responsible for administrative and development activities at a local level”. Most of the major departments of the government were represented at the District level and the Government Agent as head of the District public service coordinated the functions of the Departments through the District Coordinating Committee(DCC). The important task of agriculture was supervised by the District Agricultural Committee(DAC) . The decentralized District Administration functioned smoothly and effectively through many natural disasters and civil turmoil.
13th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was forced on the political leadership of the country as a consequence of the Indo- Sri Lanka Accord of 1987. The bonafides of the Indian Government in the naked intervention in the domestic politics of Sri Lanka have been widely questioned. A solution to the issue of power sharing in Sri Lanka was not the primary objective of the Indian intervention. It was an unwarranted intrusion aimed at imposing Indian hegemony in South Asia. Most of the conditions, which were to prevent US influence in Sri Lanka, have no relevance today. India is now a most favored nation of the USA and a conniving member of the QUAD. The Accord itself became a dead letter when India failed to make the LTTE accept it. Most importantly, it was also not an agreement between the Tamil community and the government of Sri Lanka.
13A was not a demand of any community in Sri Lanka. It was rejected outright by the Cabinet. It was hatched by two ministers of the Rajiv Gandhi government without discussion with a broader sample of the Sri Lankan polity. The most recent progressive Constitution that of South Africa, which is considered a model, took two years of discussion and deliberation. Even Prabhakaran saw the duplicity of the proposal when he said on August 4, 1987, This agreement did not concern only the problems of the Tamils. This is primarily concerned with Indo-Sri Lankan relations. It also contains within itself the principles; the requirements for making Sri Lanka accede to India’s strategic sphere of influence. It works out a way for preventing the disruptionist and hostile foreign forces from gaining footholds in Sri Lanka. This is why the Indian government showed such an extraordinary keenness in concluding this agreement.”
A subsequent statement of former CJ, Sarath N Silva confirmed the problems of hastily grafting certain provisions in an alien Constitution into a totally different local situation. The 13th amendment is not a document that was formulated with much thought. It is one that was put together in haste to go with the Indo-Lanka accord. This amendment compiled by taking parts of the Indian constitution doesn’t suit Sri Lanka at all. As India is a large county they have to decentralize power. However, practically, it is not possible in our country. Especially, devolving police and land powers is not practical at all.”
On the statement of the former CJ on the size of India, It must be noted that the average population and the average geographical area of a State of India are more than 18 times the population and the physical area of a Province in Sri Lanka.
Advantages of The District as the focal point
Sri Lanka has had a tradition of local government from the days of King Pandukabhaya 2000 years ago. Most of the activities devolved on the Provinces were efficiently carried out at the District level prior to the 13th Amendment. To impose an intermediate level between the District and the Center is a violation of the principle of Subsidiarity and has led to a proliferation of political and bureaucratic positions.
A distinct advantage of District level decentralization is that issues typical to individual Districts in a Province can be addressed with special emphasis. For example, in the Eastern Province, the ethnic composition, level of development, and resources in the Batticaloa and Ampara, and Trincomalee Districts are different. Even in the Western Province where Colombo has a plethora of issues in urbanization the problems of the Kalutara District are very much more of rural nature. In the Northern Province, the distinction in economic, social, and cultural milieu between the Jaffna District and other Districts are striking.
Even from a power-sharing between communities is concerned a District system provides a marked advantage to minorities to participate in governance in Ampare, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Nuwaraeliya and the 5 Districts of the Northern Province which is in nine out of 25 Districts of the country or in 36% of the Districts.
The imposition of an echelon above the District is a gross violation of the principles of subsidiarity and proximity. The shift of administration from the Province to the District was a milestone in the progressive decentralization of power from the Center closer to the citizen. The Districts were well endowed with the required technical capacity. There was no economic efficiency gained from reverting to the Province.
Sri Lanka had made several attempts to establish District Councils. In 1968 White Paper presented by Minister for Local Government, Mr.M.Thiruchelvam was withdrawn due to the violent protest by the opposition. In 1979 a commission with the participation of Tamil intellectuals like A. J. Wilson and Neelan Tiruchelvam made proposals on District Development Councils. It was the only set of proposals accepted by the Tamil political parties. Tragically, at the DDC elections in the Jaffna District in 1980 the election process was deliberately disrupted by the UNP the governig party which made the Tamil parties disillusioned with the DDC process.
Subsidiarity principle
In the devolution/decentralization of power the universally accepted principle is that of subsidiarity. This is effectively practiced in the European Union and clearly spelled out in the UNITED NATIONS CENTRE FOR HUMAN SETTLEMENTS (Habitat) in its Policy Statement titled TOWARDS A WORLD CHARTER OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT as the basis of the Charter should reside in the principles of subsidiarity and proximity, whereby decisions should be taken at the level closest to the citizens (municipality or town) and that only those tasks which the local level cannot effectively carry out alone should be referred to higher levels. In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, public responsibilities shall generally be exercised by those authorities which are closest to the citizen. In the same spirit, any allocation of responsibility to another authority must be based only on the requirements of superior technical or economic efficiency.”
Governance structures should be citizen-centered and the commonality of interest of a community should be a prime consideration in deciding on the territory of a unit of governance. The District is the more homogenous unit with a higher commonality of interest of the inhabitants. Agro-climatic factors, resource endowments, and ethnic compositions are generally less varied within a District than in a larger unit of the Province. Even in the Western Province, in the Districts of Gampaha and Kalutara, the ethnic composition, level of industrialization, agricultural patterns and the overall level of infrastructure development are different. Gampaha is in the coconut triangle and is a fast-industrializing District with a good road network and fast developing infrastructure with an Investment Promotion Zone and an international airport. The economy of the Kalutara District is based mainly on agriculture with smallholder rubber making a substantial contribution to income and employment generation.
The smaller unit also favors direct democracy, higher participation of citizens in decision making, and good governance. Economic activities and social relationships bind the inhabitants of the District. Their problems are similar. The District center is the hub of road networks and communication facilities. In many cases, Districts have had a closer relationship with adjoining districts of different Provinces. Batticaloa and Polonnaruwa and Trincomalee and Anuradhapura are good examples. It does not make sense for a citizen in Ampara to be governed from a provincial capital in Trincomalee, or a Hambantota farmer to be governed by an authority located in Galle when the task could be performed better in the same District with less cost and inconvenience to the citizen.
Although the country has achieved reasonable targets in most millennium development goals, widespread disparities exist at District levels. It is only by a District-based strategy that such disparities can be addressed effectively and without delay. There is more scope for the development of harmonious relationships and the integration of the different communities within a District than in a larger space of a Province.
At present, there are two indeterminate positions held by India and Sri Lanka on the Provincial Councils. The Indian position articulated by the Indian Minister Jaishankar and the Indian representative in the UNHRC is that the 13th Amendment to the constitution should be implemented fully. This means that in addition to the Police and Land Powers given in full to the Provincial Councils, the Northern and Eastern Province should be amalgamated. This condition of India is to create a land area and a population that could demand self-rule and also has the strategic port of Trincomalee under its control. It is ironic that India is calling for more power to the Provinces while withdrawing the application of Article 370 of the Constitution of India to Kashmir which allowed the state a certain amount of autonomy. If India does not have ulterior motives and is concerned about the Tamil people enjoying greater opportunities for them to participate effectively in the decision-making process relating to administrative and development activities at a local level” India should ensure that the proposal for District Councils are accepted. This will be going much beyond the 13th Amendment in power sharing.
Sri Lanka has a mixed population and that is its greatest strength. The character and priorities of districts varied and when clumped together in one Province the weaker districts get submerged. There is a marked difference between Galle and Hambantota or between Jaffna and Mannar. Certainly, there is no commonality between Jaffna and Amparai or Trincomalee. With district self-government, each district will get parity with the others. The units being small will also make them manageable for efficient administration. Management is one of the major deficits in our present system. Communication, mobility and decision making would be considerably faster than in the framework of cumbersome provincial bureaucracies.
The smaller units would additionally enable linguistic, cultural and economic uniformity within their jurisdiction. Development and progress too could be monitored, evaluated and implemented much faster. The commitment and self-reliance of people within the unit would tend to be greater than within a large provincial unit.
Failure of Provincial Councils
The Conversation with the Village” Gama Samaga Pilisandara’program of President Gotabaya revealed the utter failure of the Provincial Councils to address the existential problems faced by the people in underprivileged villages. All problems that were presented to the President at these meetings were problems within the ambit of the devolved powers of the Provincial Councils. If Provincial Councils were the solution to better serve the people, the President’s meetings with the people clearly demonstrated that it was a not so. Concerned citizens are surprised why such a proven failed structure is to be encumbered on the people at an enormous cost.
National Security
In any arrangement for power-sharing, which disregards the overarching concerns of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country is an invitation to disaster. Devolution of powers to the District rather than to a Province is less likely to become a threat to the territorial integrity and national security of Sri Lanka. It is relevant to mention that even India has expressed fears of the notion of Eelam as a threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India. A relevant excerpt of the Gazette Notice of the Indian Government declaring the LTTE as an unlawful association is produced as follows:
MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS NOTIFICATION New Delhi, the 14th of May 2019 S.O. 1730(E).
WHEREAS the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (hereinafter referred to as the LTTE), is an association based in Sri Lanka but having its supporters, sympathizers and agents in the territory of India.
AND WHEREAS the LTTE’s objective for a separate homeland (Tamil Eelam) for all Tamils threatens the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India and amounts to cession and secession of a part of the territory of India from the Union and thus falls within the ambit of unlawful activities.
AND WHEREAS the LTTE, even after its military defeat in May 2009 in Sri Lanka, has not abandoned the concept of ‘Eelam’ and has been clandestinely working towards the ‘Eelam’ cause by undertaking fund raising and propaganda activities and the remnant LTTE leaders or cadres have also initiated efforts to regroup the scattered activists and resurrect the outfit locally and internationally”.
It is appalling that when India which nurtured the LTTE considers the LTTE to be a secessionist threat, Sri Lanka is attempting to give the separatist a base to continue their subversive activities. In the current context of an ISIS threat, a separate Eastern Province could become a cradle of Islamic extremism.In this context Presidents proposal to give Police and Land powers to the Provincial Councils would be like letting the fox into the hen house. In countries with histories of communal tensions the center retains such key powers in the national interest.
In South Africa there is only one National Commissioner of Police. The Constitution stipulates at Article 207. (1) The President as head of the national executive must appoint a woman or a man as the National Commissioner of the police service, to control and manage the police service.
(2) The National Commissioner must exercise control over and manage the police service in accordance with the national policing policy and the directions of the Cabinet member responsible for policing.
(3) The National Commissioner, with the concurrence of the provincial executive, must appoint a woman or a man as the provincial commissioner for that province, but if the National Commissioner and the provincial executive are unable to agree on the appointment, the Cabinet member responsible for policing must mediate between the parties.
(4) The provincial commissioners are responsible for policing in their respective provinces 1) as prescribed by national legislation; and subject to the power of the National Commissioner to exercise control over and manage the police service in terms of subsection (2) above.
The transfer of Police powers to the Provinces would end up in Chief Ministers making the police force their private armies. Even today the nexus between provincial politicians and the drug, kasippu and organized crime mafia is well known. Police functions should never be politicised.
The transfer of land powers to provinces is disastrous. Even without land powers the subterfuges employed to abuse land alienation rules by interested parties in Districts like Trincomalee, including illegal encroachment and even setting fire to the land office are on record. In the Northern Province where Thesawalami law prevails the poor sections Of the community and the underprivileged castes would be discriminated against.
Malay majority in Malaysia is 69% and Malay Reserve Land can only be owned and controlled by Malays and it is impossible to be legally released to non-Malays. All Malays are Muslims.
It is high time that in the national interest the government and the opposition revisit this alien enforced 13A and establish District Councils with increase decentralized power with the restriction that districts cannot merge with other districts.
Paul Harris, International journalist and specialist contributor to Jane’s Intelligence in a speech on April 23, 2002 referred to the MOU between the Government and the LTTE and the aftermath as the The Greatest Giveaway in History.” I only hope that the President’s proposal will not turn out to be as bad.
by Senaka Weeraratna Attorney-at-Law & RASSL Council Member
Sri Lanka won freedom not in isolation but in step with the rest of the Asian countries in the aftermath of the end of the Second World War in 1945. Many factors contributed to the collapse of Western dominance in Asia. The Second World War was the pivotal factor. WW2 was a blessing in disguise for European colonies. Japan’s blitzkrieg inspired the national liberation movements in Asia and even Africa to awaken and fight for their freedom. Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948 on the back of Japan’s resounding military victories and the Indian armed struggle led by Netaji Subash Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army (INA). The threat of mutiny by the discharged British Indian Army soldiers, Navy, and Air Force in 1946, inspired by Bose, finally convinced the Labour government of Clement Atlee to quit India. If India had not gained independence on August 15, 1947, neither Burma nor Ceylon would have been granted independence on January 4, 1948, or February 4, 1948, respectively. When Britain lost the jewel in its crown, i.e., India, it decided to vacate South Asia altogether. We need to revisit the narrative of how Sri Lanka achieved independence and revise it.
Eyeing to welcome 250,000 Indian tourists this year, Sri Lanka is exploring the possibility of adopting India’s home-grown cross-border digital payment systems as part of the country’s strategy to lure in more Indian tourists by enabling a cashless travel experience.
In an interview with an Indian news agency last weekend, Sri Lanka High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda revealed that enabling payments using RuPay card and RuPay mechanism is being considered as a part of the country’s tourism strategy. They are even looking at the possibility of using the RuPay card and RuPay mechanism. So, that tourists coming to Sri Lanka would find it easier, that is also part of our tourism strategy” he said.
Speaking to Mirror Business, Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) Chairman Priantha Fernando noted that it would be up to the Central Bank to make a decision on accepting payments using RuPay cards and the payment mechanism. A growing number of countries have adopted the RuPay card and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payment system through partnerships. RuPay currently dominates India’s debit card market while competing with global payment card giants in the credit card sector.
Last year, India accounted for 17 percent of the tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka as the single largest source market. For this year, Fernando shared that SLTDA is expecting to 250,000 tourists from India, up from 123,004 arrivals recorded in 2022, as the country targets 1.55 million tourist arrivals for the year. He noted that several roadshows and promotional activities have been planned to promote the destination among Indian travellers. In addition, the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) convention with a participation of 750 delegates is also scheduled to be held this year.
Commenting on the anticipated tourist arrivals for this year, Fernando was confident of exceeding the 1.55 million tourist arrivals target in particular with the re-opening of the Chinese market towards mid-March and the pick-up in tourist arrivals from Europe. In January, tourist arrivals jumped by nearly 25 percent YoY to 102,000 almost reaching 105,000 arrival target set for the month.
Eastern Province Governor Anuradha Yahampath today expressed her displeasure over the implementation of the 13th Amendment because it could lead to separatism in the country.
Addressing an event today, she said that she was totally against separatism.
“The separatism will cause no peace in the island and leads to war. If separatism is implemented in any small island, it will create issues. Similar practice has created enough of issues everywhere in the world. There has been war wherever there is separatism, particularly in island nations. “There is no peace in those countries, but raging war,” she said.
Therefore, I’m very much against separatism, she added. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)
Sri Lankan YouTuber and political vlogger Dharshana Handungoda has been arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
He was reportedly arrested on Sunday (05) upon arriving in the country from Dubai.
In May last year, Handungoda had been summed by the Criminal Investigation Department for questioning, however, he had declined to give a statement, claiming that the police never sent him an official notification calling him in for questioning.
A journalist by profession, Handungoda operates a YouTube channel known for its biting political commentary.
The northern province has become a virtual Tamil only province by virtue of chasing out Sinhalese & Muslims who had been living prior to Independence. Implementing 13A in full would mean this Tamil Only Northern Province will get the Tamil Eelam State their politicians politically vied for & Tamil militants fought for which Sri Lanka’s soldiers prevented by sacrificing their lives to ensure the Island nation was not separated. Such a political betrayal cannot be allowed.
Those that take offence when Sinhalese say the island nation was built by Sinhale kings & make a fuss about the place of Buddhism, see no fault in creating a Tamil Only province, with Tamil as Official language, administered by Tamils, Tamil laws & police, land owned by only Tamils! The audacity is that while North is to remain only Tamil, in all other provinces Tamils must be given EQUAL RIGHTS as Sinhalese and Sinhalese & Buddhism cannot have any special place. The hypocrisy is unbelievable. Those that point out these hypocrisies are even called ‘racists’ & fundamentalists.
To claim a Tamil Homeland and a Tamil Eelam State, the Sinhalese & Muslims needed to be chased out of the North. LTTE began the ethnic cleansing of Sinhalese & Muslims from the North in the late 1980s/1990s. None of the human rights organizations or foreign governments have bothered to resettle these people to their original habitats. What about their lands & their land ownership? No one has the right to forcibly take them over.
This was how North Sri Lanka came to refer to the North as only Tamils and for only Tamils.
These Tamil politicians have the audacity to claim Sinhalese living in the North as ‘colonization’ while Tamils are coming in numbers to settle down in other parts of Sri Lanka, buying land, property, engaged in livelihoods and employment & educating their children too. Is this not colonization of Tamils in Sinhala areas?
No one is interested to resettle Sinhalese & Muslims chased out of the North. The handful that are living with difficulty are likely to be chased out subtly. The West finds it easier to manipulate Tamils as they have done historically. Caste discrimination is opportunity to increase flocks as those denied entry to kovils or marginalized by society are accepted with open arms to the Church. The scenario of appeasement is ideal for a satellite state. It will become an eventual showdown for India & West when the balkanization of India begins.
If anyone questions why the Sinhalese oppose giving 13thAmendment with land & police powers. The reasons are simple.
Tamil politicians have sought a separate Tamil state since formation of ITAK in 1949
Tamil politicians openly called for a separate sovereign socialist state of Tamil Eelam in 1976 with Vaddukoddai Resolution
Prabakaran renamed his Tamil New Tigers (set up in 1972) to LTTE in 1976 & hijacked the call for a Tamil State after being secretly trained by India in armed warfare. This internationalized the quest & sympathy for separate state.
Indian stooge Varatharaja Perumal was appointed Chief Minister of the merged North East Province in 1988. In March 1990 he declared unilateral declaration of independence after India had trained the Tamil National Army to replace LTTE. President Premadasa had to annul the Province & impose direct rule.
LTTE created TNA in 2001 as a political front when the War on Terror was declared following 9/11
ITAK & TNA leader Sambanthan endorsed Vaddukoddai separatist declaration in 2008 merging the quest into one single political objective. TNA manifestos endorse LTTE & LTTE had their own police, courts, lawyers, currency.
The separatist objective was further strengthened by replacing federal (shamashthi) with confederal (innaipachchi) in 2008. TNA leaders, Wigneswaran, LTTE fronts all use confederal terms when making demands & these are clues to their real objective. A federal state cannot separate from the Centre, a confederal state can. This is the catch.
TGTE began drafting the Constitution of Tamil Eelam in 2015.
Reference to Tamil speaking people” is a ruse to get Muslims on board while pro-separatist Muslims are happy to join to buy time to prepare their quest for a separate state in the East. This was mooted by Ashroff who was present at the Vadukoddai Resolution in 1976. The Oluvil Declaration gives a clue to the separatist bid in the East.
The bid to separate Sri Lanka was stopped twice. In 1990 after the unilateral declaration of independence by EPRLF leader & Chief Minister of merged NE Province Varatharaja Perumal who had an army” prepared to take over. The Centre had to intervene & impose direct rule.
The 2nd bid to separate Sri Lanka was stopped after suffering 30 years of terror & after Presidential orders were given to militarily defeat the LTTE. This victory came after sacrificing close to 30,000 lives and a similar number injured for life.
Successive Presidents realized the dangers of giving land & police powers to the provinces when the players vying to lead the North have not given up their bid to separate Sri Lanka.
When the North is virtually a Tamil Only province, giving land & police powers means politically giving the Tamil Eelam state.
What is the purpose of this when Constitutionally, no land area can be mono-ethnic, no community can be given rights above the others, no one’s aspirations are more important than the others, Jaffna Tamils are not superior to other Tamils or other communities. When more Tamils live outside of the North, why should only the North have a province only for Tamils? These and more questions should be on everyone’s minds. People must demand answers from their political parties.
Political parties cannot simply claim to endorse giving land & police powers to gain votes without realizing the dangers & repercussions.
As for the majority Sinhalese, our stand is that the soldiers sacrificed their lives to bring the Island under one flag, politicians voted for a term of office cannot decide to separate the Island. The world is a global village, no community can live in segregation & therefore no community should be carved out land areas to call their own while also reserving the right to live in other areas & gain equal rights in those areas while they deny rights to other communities in the area they rule. This is the highest form of hypocrisy.
There was much controversy about a tablet that was supposed to mix with petrol which would give an extra percentage of consumption over ten times, on 92 and 95 grades. An advertising Agency or Manufacturing company became quite popular with this innovative tablet. Consequently, almost every motorist was compelled to use this Eco tablet since the fuel prices went up to rocket levels. However, The Minister of Power and Energy introduced a QR- code system to obtain petrol from all filling stations, which reduced the mile-long queues where people had to wait in lines, sometimes overnight.
Finally, Petroleum Corporation investigated the eco tablet at Sapugaaskanda and Kolonnawa laboratories adopting their methods and concluded that there was no difference in the octane ratings. This was quite contrary to what the marketing or the manufacturing company maintained.
Initially, the advertising or manufacturing company became quite popular with this innovative tablet. Consequently, almost every motorist was compelled to use this Eco tablet as the fuel prices went up at rocket levels. However, the Petroleum Corporation investigated this eco-tablet at Sapugaaskanda and Kolonnawa laboratories. It concluded that there was no iota of difference in the octane values in petrol, contrary to what the marketing company or advertising agency claimed. The corporation said it was a completely misleading statement and advised the petrol consumers not to be gullible and believe in false propaganda.
History
The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation’s history goes back over sixty years, and it is a part of the Sri Lanka government. It has faced several severe incidents in the past; Therefore, the Corporation is ready to face the current problematic situation.
The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation further quoted that it had served the general public’s rights for over sixty years, and it, being a government corporation, had faced severe incidents in the past. Therefore, the Corporation urged petrol consumers not to get deceived by such false advertisements. Further, the Corporation said it would take legal action against the company or the advertising agency that introduced the eco-tablet to the public.
Ceylon Petroleum Corporation further announced that they would guarantee and take full responsibility for ensuring that petrol stocks are up to expected international standards. The Corporation denies any possibility of dispatching sub-standard petrol to consumers through filling stations. They would guarantee and take full responsibility for ensuring that petrol stocks are up to expected standards.
The Corporation has sent to all Cepteco filling stations through their regional offices stating that it would be against the country’s law to deal with the eco-tablets or be seen as influenced by the advertising or manufacturing company or the advertising agency.
The Corporation further advised that investigators of the Corporation had informed other regional offices to be active daily to determine whether any Cepteco filling station entertains in such illegal activities. The Corporation demands to protect the consumers genuinely.
In the Corporation’s circular, it was mentioned that “our Cepteco filling stations are inspected through divisional sales offices’ to ensure that dispensing of fuel is identified precisely as 92 or 95 octane values. It is the Corporation’s responsibility to discharge petrol according to international standards[tf1] specified standards, they claim.
The two laboratories are making enormous efforts at Sapugaaskanda and Kolonnawa laboratories to develop an alternative to the ECO tablet to improve the Octane values in petrol.
Media Release Sri Lankan High Commission in New Delhi
The Sinhala translation of renowned Indian author Jairam Ramesh’s book “The Light of Asia; the poem that defined the Buddha”, Budusiritha Lowata Genagiya Maha Kavyaya; Asiyawe Alokaya, published to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Sri Lanka’s Independence and the 75th anniversary of Sri Lanka- India diplomatic relations was presented to its author and the Maha Sangha at the Independence Day flag hoisting ceremony held at the High Commission of Sri Lanka in New Delhi today (4).
The Sinhala translation, published by the Pathfinder Foundation, was presented to the author of the original work, Rajya Sabha MP and former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh and the Maha Sangha led by the General Secretary of the Mahabodhi Society of India Venerable Pelawatte Seewalee Nayaka Thero, by the translator Niluka Kadurugamuwa.
“The Light of Asia; the poem that defined the Buddha” is a work of deep scholarship based on extensive research and serves as a biography of both the epic poem The Light of Asia and its author Sir Edwin Arnold. The book describes how the poem The Light of Asia, which is based on the life of the Buddha, captivated and inspired many iconic personalities both in India and Sri Lanka. The book is also a testimony to the strong relations between Sri Lanka and India, reinforced by the pillar of Buddhism.
The solemn event to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Independence of Sri Lanka commenced with the hoisting of the National Flag by Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda, followed by the rendering of the National Anthem. A special feature of the event was that the National Anthem of Sri Lanka was sung by staff members of the High Commission, including six Indian nationals.
High Commissioner Moragoda also garlanded the bronze bust of Sir Don Baron Jayatilaka, the first Representative of Sri Lanka to India, which was installed in the High Commission premises last November to mark the 80th anniversary of Sri Lanka sending her first diplomatic representative to India.
Multi religious observances, representing four major religions in Sri Lanka were conducted and Independence Day messages by the President, Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs were read in all three languages at the ceremony.
At the end of the ceremony, President of Indo-Sri Lanka International Buddhist Association in Sarnath, Varanasi Venerable Dr. K. Siri Sumedha Thero, on behalf of the Buddhist societies, temples, monasteries, and institutions situated in sacred Buddhist sites in India and the Sri Lankan Dharmadutamonks presented a memento to High Commissioner Moragoda marking the 75th anniversary of Independence.
By Engr. Kanthar BalanathanDipEE (UK), GradCert (RelEng-Monash), DipBus&Adm (Finance-Massey), C.Eng., MIEE, Former Director of Power Engineering Solutions Pty Ltd, Consulting Electrical Engineers
Since independence in 1948, the country has gone bankrupt although Sri Lanka generated foreign income through tourism, tea, rubber etc. As a President, you should be aware of the country’s economic and financial situation. During your regime in 2015, the Arjuna Mahendran Bond scam opened and has now been buried. We blame the Rajapaksas. How about the others?
The decline and problems started with the following sequence:
SWRD Bandaranaike -1956
JVP and LTTE commenced their destruction in 1971.
The Rajapaksas and the Natesan commenced their
destruction via bribery and corruption -2004
Therefore, virtually these were the politicians who were supposed to build the nation and look after the people. Well, JRJ accepted the deal with Rajiv Gandhi and implemented amendment 13. However, at that time the politicians were patriotic. No one knew the economic situation, maybe, I think. I was not in politics; however, the governor of the CB should have notified the President of the situation. We cannot assume that Rajiv Gandhi should have known the economic situation. If people knew then they should have objected to the PCs, not on racial grounds but on economic grounds. Maybe all politicians were dumb at that time. PC governance is not racial but economic, whether the country can afford to have three levels of governance. GOSL, PC, Local Govt.
Indonesia’s rupee was dumped in 1995, and Argentina went bankrupt, now SL and Pakistan. Please look at the UK now. The British Empire Pound has gone down because of the people who crawled in by boats and illegally. The British culture is polluted. Tamils crawled into India, Thamizhaham and other European countries. Even a labourer who goes to other nations shouts for Thamil Eelam and missing persons. What can the government do about Missing persons”? I am aware that some missing persons send money to their wives, and they build houses in SL. The parents shout missing persons”. It has become a money-earning tactic by the Tamils. These are examples.
If you implement amendment 13 with Police and land power, you are NOT approving for the Tamils only. The entire nation: SL will be governed by three levels of governance.
This will be the biggest blunder on this planet. The people who are going to be in the PCs are bribery special crooks and culprits.
Tamils do not want to know about the economic situation of the country. In the name of Tamil Eelam and TCC people were collecting money and they are now rich owning supermarkets and shopping complexes and super houses and conference halls. Today there are several Tamil associations worldwide. Some of them have vanished, ex: Norway, Australia etc. Why do they have them? Why are there several radio stations in Australia? It’s the EGO and Selfishness.
You are not interested in all these. January 2023 itself, the CB sold several billions of Rs of Bonds, Bills and Notes. Why do you need them? Does it mean that SL will be run by Bond sales? OR are you indirectly planning to privatise some government assets?
People thought you will run the country effectively and efficiently. Do you always have a financial expert with you? I don’t think so. All power and wealthy people in SL are culprits and corrupt.
What we need is for people to live happily. If things do not turn normal, and if you implement amendment 13, then you can be sure that you will never ever return to politics ever againand UNP will be sunk in the Ocean.
Maybe JVP is the patriotic and effective political party to run the country.
Implementation of 13 will drive India also to poverty. Already Pakistan and Adani have gone down. Next will be India. SL will be driven to poverty and start begging again. Don’t we have some self-esteem?
As I recommended, think of empowering the Municipal Councils and think of posting some Police to the MCs to operate functionally, however, administratively they should report to the DIGs. Land need not be given to the MCs. They already have that little power.
As of now, all politicians in the North and South seem to have the Rajapaksa culture which will drive Sri Lanka to poverty soon and make citizens commit suicide.
Please check the CB also occasionally.
Hope you will not make a mistake on the 8th of February 2023 by declaring the PCs.
As per the media reports, President Wickremesinghe reiterated his intention to fully implement the controversial 13th Amendment to the Constitution at the Thai Pongal celebrations, in Jaffna, on January 15 and again during the party leaders’ meeting at the Presidential Secretariat. According to above reports, the Cabinet is in favor of the full implementation of the 13th amendment. He further said that as the President of the country, he is bound to implement the laws of the land and the 13th Amendment is a part of the Constitution.
The current President’s statement is not surprising at all when we thought about his past performance and records, as the UNP leader and PM of the country on the subjects of agreements, his powers, devolutions, ethnic issues etc. We remember how he blindly signed a memorandum of understanding (the so-called CFA) with the terrorist leader arranged by the Norwegians, demarcated ‘LTTE controlled areas,’ and virtually provided every facility to please the terrorists. We also remember how he believed that the that the government would have to give up the area it seized by the LTTE to facilitate the so-called peace process and how he made wild declarations openly, in the past, accepting a federal solution without even having the decency to consult or to get the consensus of the other political parties before making such a declaration.
Those who promote its implementation, including the President Wickramasinghe argue that the Amendment already exists and what is needed is implementation. Although, President JRJ had to ‘surrender’ to India’s demands and sign the Indian document endorsed by the Separatist groups including LTTE, he avoided the full implementation of the 13th A , probably, knowing its disastrous consequences that could be expected by devolving power on ethnic lines.
Cost of Maintaining Provincial Councils (PCs)
Let us examine the amount of expenditure that the government of Sri Lanka had spent to maintain the PCs established under the 13th A and also it would be interesting to find out whether there is any benefit to the general public on spending such a large sum of funds, and how many millions of rupees have been saved from the public funds for not activating the PCs during the last four years.
Sri Lanka’s PCs expenditure was reported at 286,031.000 LKR million in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 276,147.000 LKR million for 2016. The expenditure averaged 103,769.000 LKR million from Dec 1996 to 2017. The data reached an all-time high of 286,031,000 LKR million in 2017 and a record low of 22,128,000 LKR million in 1996. (https://www.ceicdata.com/en/sri-lanka/provincial-councils-revenue-and-expenditure/provincial-councils-expenditure)
As per the media reports, Northern PC under the Chief Minister Wigneshwaran passed more than 100 resolutions (including one seeking an UN inquiry to investigate the genocide of the Tamil people) inciting racial tension, and several others which are harmful to the country as a whole. During the establishment of Eastern Provincial Council, we witnessed how elections were manipulated by the political parties formed and named on communal basis, and how the positions were claimed purely on a communal basis by the very same groups. Thus segregating people according to communal lines under the name of devolution, reconciliation etc could only strengthen the hands of separatist movements still alive in various parts of the country.
Background of the 13th Amendment
All parties appear to have forgotten the background against which the 13th Amendment to the Constitution came into being and most of them may not be aware of what really is in the 13th Amendment since the Indo-Lanka pact was signed over three decades ago.
Indo-Lanka relations deteriorated as never before after 1977, mainly due to the short-sighted policies adopted by the UNP government. The book ‘Assignment Colombo’ written by J. N. Dixit, the former Indian High commissioner to Sri Lanka (1985-1989), outlining his version of the story, tells us how and why the Indian government went all out to coerce Sri Lanka into submission.
Indian cargo planes invaded Sri Lanka’s air space challenging the sovereignty of our country, and almost forced former president JR Jayawardena (JR) to ‘invite’ Rajiv Gandhi to Sri Lanka to sign the agreement and to accept the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF). JRJ had no alternative but to ‘surrender’ to India’s demands and sign a hurriedly prepared document endorsed by the Tamil separatist groups including the LTTE.
The JR-Rajiv pact was not transparent like the CFA signed by Ranil and Prabhakaran and the main Opposition political parties were not consulted or briefed on the contents of agreement at any stage. The JR-Rajiv Pact was signed amidst curfew and the function was boycotted by the Prime Minister R. Premadasa and Cabinet ministers including Lalith Athulathmudali, who was in-charge of National Security. Political parties such as SLFP, JVP, MEP, including a section of the UNP, were against the agreement and the extent of the opposition to the treacherous agreement was notable when a sailor attacked the Indian PM while the latter was receiving the guard of honor. An estimated 65,000 lives, mainly Sinhala youth, were lost as a result of subsequent uprising.
Those UNP parliamentarians who opposed the Indo-Lanka Accord, which paved the way for the 13th Amendment had no alternative but to vote for it since JR had already taken them ‘political hostage’ by keeping undated resignation letters signed by MPs in his pocket.
The only gentleman parliamentarian who had the backbone to resign in protest and leave politics completely was the late Mr. Gamini Jayasuriya.
The SLFP under the leadership of Mrs. Sirima Bandaranaike was totally against the India-Sri Lanka Accord and the Provincial Councils and that party, in fact, boycotted the first the Provincial Council elections.
What is in it?
The goal of the 13th Amendment was to make provisions for setting up of a Provincial Council for each Province; establishment of a High Court for each Province; and making Tamil an official language and English the link language.
The 37 subjects devolved to Provincial Councils are given in the List I (and also in the List III – Concurrent List) of the Ninth Schedule. These include all the subjects other than those retained by the government (the List II or the Reserved List).
The subjects retained under the Centre include National Policy on Security, Foreign Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, Broadcasting, Television, Justice in so far as it relates to the judiciary and the courts structure, Finance in relation to national revenue, monetary policy and external resources; Customs, Foreign Trade, Inter Province Trade and Commerce, Ports and Aviation, National Transport, Minerals and Mines, Immigration and Emigration and Citizenship, Immigration and Emigration and Citizenship, Elections, Census and Statistics, National Archives, Archaeological Activities and Sites and Antiquities declared by or under any law made by Parliament to be of National Importance, Rivers and Waterways, Shipping and Navigation, Maritime zones including Historical Waters, Territorial Waters, Exclusive Economic zone and Continental Shelf and Internal Waters, State Lands and Foreshore except to the extent specified in Item 18 of List I.
It would be easier to write down the powers remaining in the Centre (as above) since the powers devolved (are to be devolved) are enormous. Powers yet to be handed over include police and Land and Judiciary.
A brief comparison with Indian Constitution
India has been called as a Union of States. In spite of having a federal structure, there is a strong bias towards making the Central government more powerful. This is called a Centralized Federation’ or a Quasi – Federal Government, that is partly federal and partly unitary.
There is clear division of powers stated under the three lists – Union list, State list and Concurrent list. Also, there is an independent and impartial judiciary to solve conflicts between the Central and State governments.
The Parliament has vast legislative powers. It can legislate on 97 subjects of the union list, 47 subjects of the concurrent list and in times of national and state emergency; it can also make laws on the 66 subjects of the state list. If there is a conflict between a union law and a state law over a subject present in the Concurrent list, the law made by the Parliament will prevail over the law made by the state legislatures!
The President of India has vast emergency powers. He can declare national, state and financial emergency. The Governor of a state acts as an agent of the President. He is appointed by the President and can be recalled by him. The Governor can advise the President to impose emergency in the state. During an emergency, the Governor carries out the administration on behalf of the President. He can also refer some bills to the President.
The state governments are dependent upon the Central government for funds and grants. These are allocated by the Planning Commission and the Finance Commission which are central bodies.
The members of the All-Indian Services are appointed by the Union Public Service Commission, which is a central body. Although the officers are posted in the states, they continue to owe their loyalty to the government.
As can be seen, there is hardly any difference between the Quasi-Federal Indian government and the form of government forced on us by the Indian constitutional draftsmen.
Failure of 13th Amendment and India’s commitments
Prior to the signing of the 13th Amendment, there had been a belief that the ‘Official language policy” of 1956 was the root cause of the conflict. The 13th Amendment made Tamil an official language overnight as a solution but the charges against discrimination and demand for self-determination continue to be made based on those lines. If official language is the root cause, the conflict would have resolved itself with the implementation of the 13th Amendment language policy.
Although the Indian government undertook to disarm the terrorists’ group in return of implementing the constitutional amendment imposed on the Sri Lanka government, India has failed miserably to fulfill its obligation as per the agreement. On the other hand, Sri Lankan people had to bear the huge cost of war against terror and the cost of implementing the constitution amendment, thus imposed under the failed agreement, in addition to the loss of lives since 1987. Since it is the Sri Lankan Security forces who ultimately disarm the terrorists, the moral rights of the Indian government to ask the government of Sri Lanka to implement 13th amendment is highly questionable.
Conclusion
There is, no doubt, that the Indian Civil servants who drafted the Indo-Lanka pact have been influenced by the Indian Quasi-Federal system.
In fact, some argue that the Indian Constitution has vested more powers with the Centre than those made under the 13th amendment in this country and when implemented in full Sri Lanka’s system will surpass the Indian’s quasi-federal system.
Thus, the unitary nature of our Constitution was shattered with the establishment of Provincial Councils. The powers once devolved, especially along ethnic lines, though the Centre has the power to dissolve any provincial council, will be irreversible and, if an attempt is made to reverse them, the consequence would be disastrous. Segregating people according to communal lines under the name of devolution could only strengthen the hands of separatist movements still alive.
Thus the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, forced on us by India, is certainly imported and not of our own. Further, the Amendment is not acceptable to all sections of the people. The Amendment as ill-conceived and hurriedly pieced together by picking bits and pieces of the Indian Constitution in keeping with the Indo-Lanka Accord and hence was not practicable.
Further UNP leader who was rejected by the people of the country during the last Parliamentary Election, re-entered Parliament through the National List, nearly a year after that and became President through the Parliament purely as a result of an economic problem facing the country today. Instead of solving the economic issues, President’s commitments to address the controversial Constitutional Amendment in a hurry are highly questionable.
Indian Foreign Minister and his government should stop meddling with Sri Lankan internal affairs and mind their own business.
An open letter to Foreign Minister Jaishankar’s latest attempt to interfere with Sri Lankan internal affairs, violating all accepted diplomatic and international etiquettes and principles.
I quote here the gist of a news report that refers to the Indian stand as stated in the press release by Foreign Minister Jaishankar of India.
1.India considers the full implementation of the 13th Amendment in Sri Lanka “critical” for achieving reconciliation with the minority Tamil community, EAM S Jaishankar said.
2.early conduct of provincial elections is critical” for both the political and economic stability of the debt-ridden island nation.
3.”Durable efforts towards reconciliation are in the interests of all sections in Sri Lanka.
4 I also spoke of the need to pay special attention to the requirements of the Indian-origin Tamil community,” he said.
The above statements (1,2. 3 & 4) clearly display the main purpose of the Indian F/Ministers visit last week. What he has stated I believe are the views of the Indian Government as well. This is nothing but a mere parroting and continuation of the peculiar Indian Foreign policy that it had been following towards Sri Lanka since 1948 and more particularly after Rajiv Gandhi’s times.
Reading through this statement he looks more an agitated representative of the crazy Tamil politicians in this country rather than a minister of a foreign country visiting this country on a diplomatic mission. I am hundred percent convinced he was just parroting the requests of the TNA politicians whom he met the previous evening in Colombo before he left for India. Isn’t it a shame and a disgrace too for such a highly rated IOS man to utter rubbish like this. It may be that he will be adored by the communal Tamils in Sri Lanka and those in Tamilnadu as a hero. But he must at least now realize that he has only tarnished his international image as well as that of India and downgraded it to very low levels by performing a cheap peacock dance.
I am more than convinced that he is also following the footsteps of Dixit who made the same blunder in 1987 behaving like an Indian viceroy in front of our President JR.
Before we proceed on the broader intervention let us look at what the Indian Ambassador Dixit said in 1987 before they singed the JR/Rajiv Accord. that Sri Lanka should give assurances to India on the following points:” (Dixit) as if they had already conquered Sri Lanka.
1. Reduction and phasing out of foreign military and intelligence personnel in Sri Lanka from the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Israel, South Africa and so on.
2. Sri Lanka should reorganize its foreign and defense policies and reduce its involvement with USA, Pakistan, China, Israel and South Africa.
3. Sri Lanka should give some assurances to India that its seaports and airports would not be utilized by foreign powers which were antagonistic towards India or which affected India’s security interest negatively.
4. Sri Lanka should fulfil the assurances which it gave in 1985 that India would be given an opportunity to maintain the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farms and that Sri Lanka would prevent foreign broadcasting stations like the Voice of America from being utilized for military purposes by countries like the United States, West Germany, etc. said’
To me it looks a commandment by a medieval colonial power to one of its colonies
Jaishankar’s press release I mentioned at the opening of this letter is brief but compared with Dixit’s dictation, it also reaffirms, confirms and displays the same expansionist Indian mentality that prevailed during Rajiv Ghandhi’s time, when the Rajiv/JR Accord of July 29th 1987 was singed. This arrogant Indian stand and the police man’s role with regard to Sri Lanka has now come to stay as a regular threat and fashion too. The most notable point I see here is, that Sri Lanka is the only country in respect of which India makes such stupid and arrogant statements. It does not issue such humiliating statements in respect of any other country or force any other government either in Asia or Africa, where the British had also settled millions of Indians during the18th and 19th centuries and left them behind high and dry, creating enormous political, economic and cultural problems to those countries as well when they left the colonies in the 20th century. It may be that we don’t have leaders with a backbone to react and put the Indian minister in his place.
As for me as a patriotic citizen of my country I strongly condemn and protest against this vituperative and reproachful statement made by him and demand that he should tender an open apology to the people of Sri Lanka on behalf of the Indian people at least before his next visit.
Talking about the Rajiv/JR Accord July 29th 1987 that killed the Independence and the territorial integrity of this country, I describe it as the biggest and the most treacherous act ever in the historical or even in the prehistoric times. Everybody knows that this accord was forced on this country by India under duress using even military force by invading the Islands Airspace as well as the maritime space violating all accepted diplomatic norms. It had been singed under emergency law declared Island wide and also Island wide curfew, even against the wishes of some prominent Cabinet Ministers like Lalith Athulathmudali and the Prime Minister Premadasa and the wishes of the whole country. The content of the Accord was privy to everybody at Home and even to Rajiv Gandhi’s own Cabinet until it was released after signing. Even the 13th Amendment consequent to the Accord was illegally, immorally an unethically passed in Parliament by JR using all his cunningness using his dictatorial powers for his own political survival after using his 3/5 the majority he had. I have no doubt that minister Jaishankar also knew this very well.
First of all, minister Jaishankar or his government who were guilty of this crime committed against Sri Lanka has no right to ask the Sri Lanka Government in the form of a threat to consider the full implementation of the 13th Amendment or even parts of it either. He also has no business to issue statements like the full implementation of the 13th Amendment in Sri Lanka is “critical” for achieving reconciliation with the minority Tamil community”, Because they are entirely domestic matters that no Indian Minister or the Indian Government or any other government has a right to comment or dictate terms to another independent and sovereign State. He also has no right to say early conduct of provincial elections is critical” Whether early or never Provincial Council election again is entirely our business, because it is again purely a domestic concern, a mad riddle planted by JR due to pressure from India to set up a provincial council for the North and the East, that ruined this country like a veritable curse from Satan. HE should also know that he was making this threat to the Sri Lankan government at a time when the whole country wants both the Rajive /JR accord and the 13th abolished immediately before they ruin this country completely.
The Indian Foreign Minister also must not forget that the 13A was implemented in November 1987 after the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord in July 1987.Therefore it was treacherous act on the part of India against this country and its people. Both were forcibly pushed down Sri Lanka’s throat by India & constitute acts of clear aggression and invasion as well. As I see it, the Rajiv/JR accord was the biggest invasion India ever did on Sri Lanka, not only in history but even in prehistoric times. It has no parallel in history or even legendary times. The Rajiv/JR accord together with what followed as the 13th Amendment are fatal cancers in the body politics of this country introduced by India to ruin this country and the Sinhala nation. Therefore, they have to be removed by a surgical operation as early as possible if mother Lanka is to be saved. We can understand an inexperienced young Rajiv making that mistake on wrong advice. But we cannot believe a man of your calibre behaving like this playing to cheap and low Indian politics. But I am surprised to see a man like Jaishankar also committing this type of crimes against a neighboring country.
For your information Rajiv had to pay with his life on 21 May 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu for what he did to this country. Had he listened to my advice sent in March the same year under the signature of Paliipana Chandananda the Most Venerable Mahaahnaayaka Thera of Asgiriya Chapter warning him that he might have to pay with his own life if he does not stop assisting the LTTE. This is a good lesson to everyone who try to harm this land of the Buddha, thrice offered to him and blessed by him as the Land where his dispensation will last for 5000 years ignoring his own motherland Jambudveepa. I believe you being an expert in foreign affairs should know better than anyone else as to how you should deal with another sovereign state.
Again, for him to say “Durable efforts towards reconciliation are in the interests of all sections in Sri Lanka is a biased statement made without knowing the wider ramifications of this problem in the Sri Lankan context and also as to who has created this problem and how it had been made intractable by whom. ’Mr. Foreign Minister, do you think that it is legitimate, ethical and moral for you to make such irresponsible statements with no knowledge of the real issue. Therefore, you should not have made such comments regarding the governance of this country which is a free and independent sovereign country, unless you think that Sri Lanka is already a colony of yours. You also have highlighted the need to pay special attention to the requirements of the Indian-origin Tamil community. That again is uncalled for, for a politician of another country to dictate. For your information I must clearly tell you that country our primary concerned our own people, that is the Sinhalese who were the people who found and developed the civilization in this country. It is high time that you Indians must understand that as a nation our primary duty is to look after the welfare of the natives before we attend to the problems of those foreign people who have migrated here as traders, illicit immigrants or coolies to work and earn their living on colonial enterprises such as plantations, tobacco farms and public work.
Dear Mr. Jaishankar, have you forgotten that you are only the Foreign Minister of India who had come to discuss few diplomatic issues of mutual interest. Therefore, you have no right to dictate terms on local politics that are irrelevant to a diplomatic visit to another independent neighboring country. You being a former veteran of the IOS, I am sure know Sri Lanka is not yet a part of India as you think. Please remember that Sri Lanka is a fully independent, sovereign and free Republic since 1972 as much as you think, India is. Mr Minister, I have to remind you that this our country and it is not yours. Governance in this country is our job. You have no right to pass remarks on that subject.
I pause the question to you, if any one of our Ministers come to India and make a foolish statement regarding governance in India like what you have done here, how would you have felt it? How would you have reacted? Will you ever tolerate it. And how the Indian press and the public would have responded. Please ponder for a while. Indian politicians and mandarins with their great civilization and heritage must behave in a more dignified manner, I think. As much as you have your self-respect and dignity, we too have ours at the same level if not higher, though we are a small country compared with yours in size. It is not the size which matters but the status and the dignity of a people as a fully independent and sovereign nation that really matters.
Mr. Minister. you must be happy that there was not a single politician with a spine here in Sri Lanka either in the government or in the opposition among whom you met and had discussion with, to say this to your face. Maybe we don’t have politicians and mandarins of your quality who love this country due to excessive brain washing done by the colonial invaders for 518 years that has completely obliterated all what is called patriotism in them. I admire your ‘Made in India” mentality very much. But please get rid of this view and mentality that Sri Lanka is only an appendage of India. True, we share a lot with India. But we are two different entities with distinctive cultures from time immemorial except for the fact that we have been one landmass in the geological past as geologists say. But please remember we are not your door step or the dustbin either. Neither you Indian politicians nor mandarins have a right to talk about the 13th Amendment to the Constitution as it was veritable political canker forcibly imposed by your government on us consequent to the Rajiv /Jr Accord which introduced the idea of a Provincial Council to the North and the east which Rajiv got declared as the historical Homeland of Tamils in Sri Lanka tantamount to naked invasion of a neighbor country. We thought you knew that the only traditional Homeland of Tamils in the world is found in southern India. The implementation of the13th A in full or in parts or non-implementation is entirely the discretion of Sri Lanka. As far as I know provincial councils for the other 7 provinces were a homemade idea conceived in the brain of JR Jayawardhana. I remember his saying once that he will give a Cabinet rank minister to each district making the total 25. And he did it through the District Ministry system long before the Rajiv/JR Accord was even conceived. With the invention of PCC the number got reduced to 9 but the cumulative damage is much greater.
As you are aware the Accord was signed on 29th July 1987 and the 13th A was passed in Nov 1987 only.
India wanted to have a Provincial council only for the North and East to satisfy Prabhakaran, with the explicit conditions included there in the Accord. Through this accord India has laid the permanent foundation for the future EELAM in Sri Lanka, comprising 2/3 the area of the county it was declared the historical and traditional home land of the Tamil people. Tamil was also made an official language in the whole country and making Tamil the language of administration in the North and East thereby introducing asymmetrical devolution a reality, confining Sinhala to 7 provinces under the 16th Amendment to the 1987 Constitution. That was the first step towards declaring it a Tamil State enabling them to unilaterally declare the EELAM in future. Who knows whether Rajiv has promised Prabhakaran that he will, not only get it declFared as the traditional homeland of Sri Lanka Tamils (a criminal travesty of history of this Island someone should have contested in courts) but also, he will set the boundaries of the future EELAM permanently on ground, the way Prabha wanted. Probably he must have said so when he gifted his bullet proof jacket to Prabha.
Between July 1987.and Nov 1987 lot of thinking has gone in to it. According to what I have gathered from informal sources, the Provincial councils for the other 7 Provinces was JR’s brainchild to control the NE. The whole country was against it. 3 people died in protests at Petta that was organized under Mrs Bandaranayaka’s leadership where many of the prominent living leaders were also there.
The provisions of the Accord were a complete travesty of the 2500-year-old history of this country. What is more is the political and administrative changes that have followed the JR/Rajiv Accord have completely destroyed the age old efficient administrative machinery that was there for centuries. The extra expenditure, wastage and pilferage involved in the Provincial Councils and the Pradeshiya Sabha has made the country bankrupt. As such if anyone intends to rivers this situation and bring back the country to normalcy, both these curses, that is the Rajiv/JR Accord and the Provincial councils have to be reversed. The whole country claim that they should be abolished immediately. I am certain one fine day when a true patriotic Sinhala leader comes, he will definitely abolish both these curses.
world of difference between the present-day Indian diplomacy and the ancient.
I would also like to note a world of difference between the present-day Indian diplomacy and the ancient. When we recall the graceful Dharmasokian diplomacy of the yore and the stupidity and the quality displayed by the present-day rulers towards Sri Lanka, I really get disgusted and shocked. King Dharmaskoka introduced two eternal legacies to this country, First, the Dharmasokian model of statecraft through his erstwhile friend King Devanam piyatissa (from 247 BC to 207 BC) and second, the introduction of Buddhism by sending his own son and the Sacred Bo tree through his daughter Sangamitta and laid the foundation to the great Sinhala Buddhist civilization what we cherish so much today on this Island. King Dharmasoka never asked for ay condition as you perhaps know, even our own historical ancestor Prince Vijaya and his party came from north Bharat in 543 BC. To that extent we are also people of Indian origin. Therefore, I am asking you as to why you people adopt two different policies, one for those who have come from the North and the other from the South of India.
So in this backdrop why don’t you, people of the preset day generation understand that although we are geographically and politically two separate countries in fact we all belong to a single family from time immemorial and as such why do you Indian politicians discriminate between the native Sinhalese and Tamils and why do you insist for special treatment to Tamils who were brought by the Western colonial invaders in the post 1505 period to work on their projects and plantations and left astray behind when the invaders left in 1948. My conviction is it is nothing but Delhi’s political dependence on the Tamilnadu votes.
A short glimpse of some historical events in the chequered Indo Sri Lanka relations from the 2nd century BC. up to the 12thCentru AD. It is on record that starting from Sena Guttika in the 2nd century BC from Northern Bharath there had been nearly 18 invasions by the South Indian Cholas, Pandiyans and finally Magas in the 12th century all of whom devastated one of the greatest civilizations in the world, that was inhala Buddhist and plundered all our national treasure in the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa civilizations.
In spite of all those unpardonable crimes I would recall, for your information how the Sinhala Buddhist nation of this country consecrated and accepted Sri Vijaya Rajasinha in 1739, the son of Veeraparakarama Narendasinha (the last King of the Sinhala lineage) whose mother was a south Indian Nayakkaara Princess, which the British called the Kandyan Kingdom in English for their convenience but remained as the Sinhale kingdom up to date. The Kandyan Convention of 2nd March was a treaty between the United Kingdom and the Sinhale Kingdom.
As such it is a foregone conclusion that it was the Sinhale Kingdom that got political freedom and independence from Briton in 1948. The transfer of political power in 1815 was the result of a big coup and a master intrigue by the British. The last king of Sinhale Sri Wickram Rajasinha again whose mother was a South Indian princes was actually liked by the subjects of the Kingdom. But the shrewd John Doily by intrigue and conspiracy got the last King demonized calling him a cruel Tamil as more fully described under sec 2 and 3 of the Kandyan Convention, where it is said the tyranny and the cruelties of the Tamil King were abolished and extinguished and all male persons being or pretending to be relations of the Royal Sri Wickrama Rajasinha, either by affinity or blood and inheritors in the ascending descending or collateral line are hereby declared enemies to the Government of the Kandyan Provo vices and are a prohibited from entering those provinces …etc
Thus, it was the British who planted the first germ of ethnic animosity between Sinhalese and Tamils and it was the British who first labeled the Indian Tamils as the enemies of the Sinhala people in pursuance of their divide and rule policy. Second came those so-called high-class Jaffna Tamils elevated tactfully by the British first providing better opportunities for education and second government jobs. Thus accordingly in fact, it was also the British who first drew a cleavage between south Indian and native Sinhala rulers and planted the seeds of divide and rule policy in this country. Third, the Tamil political elite, who having joined the Federal bandwagon of a Christian Chelvanaayagam came from Malaysia at the age of 11 years and supported by the Church up to date who fueled communal and ethnic differences. Fourth, the church took over this vicious mission supported by colonial west and NGOO supported by these elements. The last factor that fueled ethnic tension in promoting this Sinhala Tamil division was the Tamil communal political parties such as Ilankai Tamil Arusu kachhci, Tamil congress and Federal Party. All politicians of the day failed to curb this disaster right in 1948 when the Solebury Constitution included the 29th section on minorities. The Sinhala leaders who took over the country in 1948 should have told the British that when we handed over this country in 1815 to you there was only one nation and the name of the country handed over was Sinhale” (which British called Ceylon) as given in the Convention. There was only one nation at that time. That was Sinhala and further there was no mention about any minority although both communities Tamil and Muslim were there living in peace and harmony within the Sinhala nation,
Therefore, they should have said you should give Freedom to the country and the nation who had handed it over to you in 1815 and not to any other party. The fact that it was the Sinhale that was handed over by that convention gives legitimacy to that argument. Unfortunately, there was neither a Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim leader with vision to and political maturity to for see the future dangers mother Lanka will face.
Going back to no 3.”Durable efforts towards reconciliation are in the interests of all sections in Sri Lanka you have said as minister Jaishankar noted.
The only way to ethnic reconciliation is to go back to the status quo that was there in 1815.
There was perfect ethnic reconciliation at the time of handing over the country in 1815.The only way to ethnic reconciliation is to go back to the status quo that was there in 1815. Any deviation from that position is unconstitutional, illegal, immoral and unethical in the Sri Lankan context. In 1815 the county was known as Sinhale. It was then one nation and one country; and the nation was Sinhala. Both Tamil and Muslim minority groups who lived within were also citizens of Sinhale. If this status quo had been restored in 1948 at the time of transfer of power from Briton to this country this problem would not have been there today.
The Sinhala people who found this nation and who built up the civilization on this Island are not prepared to allow either external forces or internal forces created by the colonial invaders to break up their motherland by public auction to satisfy the anti-national elements created by the colonial forces. The motherland of the Sinhala people was artificially divided in to ethnic groups. It is a creation of the post 1832 by the colonial invaders in the long history of this land done, in pursuance of their divide and rule policy. As such the only way for ethnic reconciliation is to go back to the pre1815 status and accept one nation that was there in 1815 with each ethnic group practicing their own cultural practices while accepting that this land is the land of the Sinhala nation as they are the people who have found this country and who have built up the civilization on this land from the dawn of history. To that extend the western argument that this country is a multiethnic, multireligious and multilingual is nonsense. Once all people accept that this is the Land of the Sinhala Buddhist the riddle of reconciliation will be over for good.
Anyone who does not accept that concept, ipso-facto, should not be qualified to be a citizen of this land. Therefore no one who is not prepared to abide by that condition should be given the citizenship of this land.
This is the kind of advice a person of Jaishankar should give to all minorities in Sri Lanka if he is a true friend of this country. Therefore. I deeply regret to note how he is trying to fish in troubled waters. Mr. Jaishankar please do not try to light your cigar when both our beards and the head are caught up with fire.
Once we assert our independence and sovereignty within this legal framework the so-called newly invented reconciliation concept will disappear. Thereafter Minister Jayashankar also need not bother to agitate for reconciliation of Indian Tamils of Indian origin here thereafter. If you are so concerned about Tamils Sri Lanka then why don’t you take all of them back to India.
4. Finally his reference on the need to pay special attention to the requirements of the Indian-origin Tamil community, I must say is absurd and highly irreverent to his diplomatic mission and uncalled for the decorum of a foreign minister of another country. I can understand an ordinary uneducated politician uttering that kind of rubbish. But what I can’t imagine is a person of your calibre and reputation making such a nasty statement to the press utterly irrelevant to your mandate. If you are so concerned about them, why don’t you ask your Prime Minister to take them back and without adding fuel to the fire by creating more problems to us.
Mr. Minister, please leave the Tamils citizens of this country alone. They are now our full citizens and not yours any more. if you or your PM are concerned about their welfare, then please ask them, in the first place, to think and behave as the sons of this soil and ask them to get integrated with the native Sinhalese without arousing them against the government by trying to make them to think and behave as Indians while subsisting on this land. Isn’t it dam political bullshit. We are looking after them better than how you people are treating the Tamils in South India. The tragedy is you still consider them as Indian without realizing that they are the citizens of another country and have ceased to be Indians any more. If they also want to think and behave like Indians then they too have to get back to India as soon as possible.
Mr Jaishankar we are not against any humanitarian support given to them by you because they are our citizens. But you should channel them through the Government of this country and stop discrimination as you do at present by dealing directly with them through your Ambassador, stationed here. There is a government in this country.
If you don’t want them to be our citizens you are welcome to take them back to India at any time.
People like you and your government should not instigate them to think and behave like Indians any more. Tell these Tamils in Sri Lanka, whether they are in the north, east or in the hill country that they are now Sri Lankan citizens and no more Indians and as such they should address their problems to the government of this country and no to India as they do it now. On the other hand, if you don’t want to do that and still want them to be referred as people of Indian origin and want them to think as Indians, please invite them to India and you can settle them anywhere in India.
4 Lastly, in your comments you have said that not enough power had been devolved to the provincial councils to make them meaningful. What you mean by making meaningful is left unexplained. Do you mean a federal state or eelam. If you are really serious on this matter, I strongly suggest you scrap the 1963 Act, the Government of India led by Jawaharlal Nehru, that declared secessionism as an illegal and act and take your beloved Tamils of Indian origin in this country also to their original home land making them to feel that they are back in heaven. I can assure you then before long Tamandu will declare independence unilaterally as the first step in balkanizing India.
The present President of Sri Lanka or the interim government has a mandate to discuss these issues raised by you.
I must also remind you that neither the present President of Sri Lanka or the interim government has a mandate to discuss these issues raised by you as their job is only to implement the mandate given to Gotabhaya by the people in 2019 and 2020, as he had to leave the country under mysterious circumstances and resign from abroad. For them to deal with what you have raised the President and the government in particular has to get a fresh mandate from the people. Any action taken outside this mandate is unconstitutional, illegal ,unethical and immoral and therefor the could be tried in a court of law.
Mr, Jaishankar I must also tell you that the ideas expressed here embodies the prevailing general consensus of the majority in this country. They are not confined to my personal ideas.
Once again, I demand you to make an open apology from the people of Sri Lanka for the undiplomatic statement you made before you left the Island
There is a silly trend of glorifying and romanticizing the pre-Independence era. Those who do so have no idea how things were then. Although Sri Lanka is in a dire economic and political situation today, some matters are better than then. Yes; there are things that are worse today. Sri Lankans are utterly frustrated about how things are and for valid reasons. However, an imbalanced one-sided view is silly. We must move forward, not backward.
A very small percentage of people lived a comfortable life during British rule but the vast majority of people of all ethnic groups lived under trying circumstances.
People Lived No More Than 50 Years on Average (Today Over 70)
By the time Ceylon gained independence, the average life expectancy was around 50. Extremely few people had access to electricity and lived in brick houses than today. Though this was comparable to other nations, Ceylon, just like others, advanced in this regard through good healthcare (not perfect though), good education (once again not perfect), improvements in nutrition (though relatively Sri Lanka went backwards in this regard) and lagged but positive technological advancement.
The life span is an average and everyone is different. However, the average indicates what happens across the nation. If we need a nation for a few happy souls, we have it today too!
Just imagine those who glorify British era dying at 50; living in dark mud houses? Is that what they want? Some part British colonies are still at this stage in Africa and parts of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
By 1946 Most Tamils Were Displaced Indians for Slavery
A large number of Tamils were brought into the island for slavery. Due to a petty agreement amongst European colonialists, slaves were not labelled slaves! Instead, they were told in no uncertain terms to place their thumb print on a piece of paper and were shipped to slave colonies.
From 1911 (when Tamil ethnicity appeared for the first time in a Ceylon census) to 1948 (Citizenship Act), Indian Tamils” were defined as Tamils born in India. Tamils born in Ceylon were Ceylon Tamils” (despite the fact their parents many have been born in India).
By 1946 (the last census of the British rule) most Tamils in the island were Indian Tamils”. The number of Ceylon born Tamils was smaller.
They did not leave their homeland in India for a round trip! They were enslaved by the British and displaced from their native land. Not just Ceylon, Malaya, Burma and Africa also received a large influx of Tamils from India. They worked in sanitary works, hard labour at port, tobacco plantations and tea plantations and were abused in every possible ways including sexual abuse. Little England” has not just British-styled houses but also the offspring of British planters.
Scores have been written in Dutch and British historical annals about Malabar Slaves.
Going back to pre-Independence times includes recreating this situation. How many Tamils would like to be rebranded as they were in 1946? Certainly not many.
Less Than a Tenth of Muslims Schooled
Even by the end of the British era, less than a tenth of Muslims (males and females combined) attended school. Almost all Muslim girls were not sent to school (other than Malays who were a much smaller percentage) and only a small number of Muslim boys attended school. British rulers completely disregarded Muslim education in the island and unlike Buddhists, Hindus and Christians, Muslims did not have foreign educationalists interested in their education either.
Since then, the number of Muslim schools has grown massively increasing by more than a thousand-fold.
Are Muslims willing to go back to 1947? Unlikely!
Ceylon Was Dragged into Wars
Ceylon was a British colony and as a result it was dragged into wars it had no intent of joining. These included mainly WW1 and WW2. Though local casualties remained low, things could have turned much worse had the battles raged differently. If Ceylon remained part of Britain after 1948 it would have been included in other wars including the Cold War, Korean War, Vietnam War, Falklands War, etc. with nasty impacts affecting locals. Ceylon could have ended up like Diego Garcia islands.
What’s more interesting is the fact that Independent India aligned itself with the Soviet Union and in 1947 (before Independence) Ceylon entered into an anti-Soviet and anti-Indian defence pact with the US and the UK (Anglo Ceylon Defence Partnership Agreement). It didn’t achieve much due to Ceylon gaining Independence in 1948 and eventually annulled in 1955. Due to this Agreement, Ceylon’s entry into the UN was vetoed by the Soviet Union until 1955.
Had it continued, Ceylon would have been a staging platform of British and American anti-Soviet and anti-Indian attacks resulting in counter attacks and massive devastation. The combined impact of internal wars the island nation endured would be just a spec in comparison.
Further, British rulers mercilessly robbed most grain reserves in the island (and India) during World Wars to feed their people and soldiers. Locals survived on unattractive food sources to the British (jackfruit, etc.) and even on what is considered a weed plant which is locally called Bajari”. Such deprivation did not happen post-independence no matter how dire the situation was.
Are people willing to go back to those good old times?
Internal Ethno-Religious Situation Was Tense
Contrary to what some like to portray, the inter-community harmony was not great. In fact, violent. There were regular violent riots between castes in Jaffna over allowing lower caste” children to schools, laundry caste” persons washing other caste people’s clothes and other petty tribal matters. Buddhists and Christians clashed in Kotahena in 1883. Buddhist and Muslim clashed in 1915 which started in Kandy but soon affected the entire island. Tamils and Sinhalese clashed in Nawalapitiya in 1939. Political and non-political civil groups were divided by religion and ethnicity!
By 1947 (before Independence) the largest political parties were the Sinhala Maha Sabha (aligned with the UNP) and All Ceylon Tamil Congress. Ethno-political divisions existed long before that.
British rulers were particularly harsh on Muslims in 1915 as British troops suffered their bloodiest war defeat to Turkish Muslims in WW1. Bringing in a Sikh army to quell the riot and the aftermath of the violence was a well calculated move against Muslims knowing very well the animosity between the two groups.
The very few instances of unity did not last long. These temporary unions were made either to discriminate against another group or to gain more clout in bargaining with the British. None of these lasted. Ceylon National Congress collapsed along ethnic lines in 1921, long before the first limited election.
Almost all national heroes were ethno-centric. They did well for their tribe but nothing for the others. Clashes and disagreements arose when they tried to discriminate against other groups. A few who pretended to be friendly died as tribalists.
Lucrative Foreign Currency Reserves and Free Education
One aspect of British Ceylon was that it had no foreign loans and endowed with lucrative foreign reserves. Sadly, this is where post-independence Sri Lanka miserably failed. However, there is a lengthy tale beyond the numbers. British Ceylon built such a lucrative forex reserve through slavery!
A large number of Tamil and Malabar Coast slaves were brought into the island. They were working and living in absolutely appalling conditions. Malabar people were deployed to work in the port and in sanitary works. A large percentage of other Tamils in the island were put into tobacco and tea plantations and to road construction. They had very limited welfare, no holidays, no medical facilities and no dignity.
This was how the British earned super-profits. Most part of it was taken to Britain and a small part was allowed for Ceylon.
British rulers were against wide-spread free education and were unwilling to finance it. A fund was created for free education from profit reserves of tea plantation companies. This money could have been used to uplift the horrible living conditions of Tamils working in those plantations but was instead taken for free education! As a result those toiling in plantations fell from the pan to the fire. The good part of it was, free education was not a burned on the government.
However, years after 1948, minimum working conditions were introduced. Slavery based industries became unprofitable. On the other hand, those who the British treated as slaves had tremendous improvements in their quality of life. Plantation companies and the government now pays not just them but also their politicians, temples, barbers, etc. each time they earn a salary! It came at a cost – no foreign reserves as their industries now have higher cost making them unprofitable and free education became a burden on the government. There are no free lunches! Someone must pay. If everyone becomes cowboys, there won’t be Indians to shoot!
Foreign Bank Accounts
Yes; there were foreign bank accounts during British times. The whole purpose of capturing India, Ceylon, etc. was to earn enough money from colonies to repay massive debts to France. After repaying all, British rulers still held on to their colonies as it was immensely profitable. Most earnings of Ceylon were taken away to Britain.
It is therefore not correct to say foreign bank accounts is a new thing for Sri Lanka. It existed far bigger during the British time than now. This too is corruption.
In fact, the foundation of bribery and corruption in Sri Lanka today was laid during the British time. People had to bribe government officers with chicken, beef, calves, pork, vegetables, fruits and even women to get things done. Only 3.1% of islanders were sufficiently proficient in the language the government conducted affairs. The rest had to stoop low and venerate the regime even for simple tasks. It was not an excellent administrative service as some with scant knowledge boast. It was a lucrative trade for those working in it but not for others. Today both sides have collapsed.
Transportation Network
Yes; the British built an excellent railway network and a good road network. This they did without creating a debt trap. Even better. However, it was far from perfect. Trains and buses were unreachable to most as they did not serve a wide network as today. Malabar slaves and other south Indian slaves were used in their construction. The nine-arches-bridge which is a tourist attraction costed hundreds (if not thousands) of lives of slaves.
Those who glorify the excellent British transport network are also glorifying slavery and the killings of workers from exposure, torture, neglect and at times execution. If independent Ceylon indulged in these, the network would have been much better today (though there are decent modern ways to build them today which unfortunately costs more money than Sri Lanka can afford).
Singapore’s LKY Looked at Independent Ceylon in 1965, Not British Ceylon
Singapore’s LKY launched a separatist campaign against Malaya and he succeeded in 1965 in creating a Chinese-majority nation, carved out of Malay-majority Malaysia. One of his rallying calls was to make the city-state into another Colombo (capital of Ceylon). This was in 1965. Yes; after the events of 1956 and 1958. That’s what LKY modelled his nation on; not pre-1848 Ceylon. Surely Sri Lanka was doing something right by 1965 for one of the best transformative world leaders ever to emulate its structures.
Sri Lanka has many problems today and frustration is justified. However, wishing for slavery is not wise. Before romanticizing and glorifying the British era consider the fun of having all that today! Not many would like to live in such a country. This was why Ceylon gained Independence though it lost its way since.
The new wealth produced by the world since 2020 has been USD 42 trillion. Two thirds of this huge amount of wealth has gone into the pockets of 1% of the world population which comprises the billionares of the world. The whole of the rest of the world population, ie 99%, will have to do with one third of this wealth, which was largely produced by them. Apart from the gross unfairness of this world order the fact that its indefinite continuation may not be possible without huge social upheaval and irreperable environmental damage should be obvious to the discerning mind.
There are leading economists who think that one of the driving forces of the present global economy is international debt. The 2008 recession was overcome by the granting of huge amounts of debt. By 2018 the global debt volume had risen to USD 250 trillion which is three times the annual global output. The developing countries’ share of this debt had risen from 7% in 2007 to 26% in 2017. Several leading economists who have studied the impact of debt on economic growth have reported that increasing public debt has a negative effect on economic growth (Reinhart & Rogoff 2010). A 1% increase in public debt could result in a 0.012% slowing down of growth. The reasons for this could be 1) discouragement of private investment as government borrowing competes for funds in country’s capital markets, 2) higher long term interest rates caused by an excess supply of government debt, 3) higher taxes to fund rising debt repayments and 4) increase in the rate of inflation. While the recepient of debt end up with negative growth the the system ensures that the flow of wealth is from the poor to the rich. This is how two thirds of the wealth created by the poor finds its way into the pockets of the billionares.
Fault is not only with the imperialist rich but the ruling elite of the poor countries too. They take huge loans and spend it on unproductive projects aimed at boosting their own image and their bank accounts. A foreign loan should be taken only if it is possible to pay it back with the foreign exchange generated from the project that is funded by the loan. Seldom is this maxim observed when governments of developing countries take loans. Moreover the total loan repayments should never exceed the total export earnings. The increases in government debt levels have positive growth effects when debt levels are low, but these effects become negative when debt levels increase beyond a certain threshold level (Reinhart & Rogoff 2010).
Sri Lanka’s total public debt in 2018 was USD 52 billion, an increase of 5% from 2017. Was this increase justified? Hardly, because the export earnings in 2018 increased only by 2%. And what happened to the money? It was not used for any foreign exchange generating project but to stabilize the foreign reserves. Subsequently these foreign reserves were used up to pay for import of fuel etc.
Just as much as international debt enables rich countries to exploit the poor countries the large corporate establishments within countries use debt to grow richer at the expense of labour. They take loans for new investment even when they have sufficient funds and thereby evade tax which the government may badly need for its public expenditure and welfarism.
Thus its a rich man’s world, rich countries get richer at the expense of poor countries and rich people get richer at the expense of poor people both in the rich as well as the poor countries. Capital development, at the expense of labour and environment, has reached its zenith in the developed countries. The richest cannot accumulate more without causing abject poverty in their own countries, and worse, destroying the world. World Inequality Report, based on a worldwide study by 100 researchers, presented in Paris (Andrea Barolini 28 Jun 2018), reveals how the rich get richer at the expense of the poor. During 1993 to 2013, in Italy, the poorest 90% lost 15% of their wealth which was pocketed by the top 10% . In the developed countries, the richest 1% are twice as wealthy as the poorest 50%. In China, the top 10% own 41% of the wealth, in Russia 46%, in the US 47%. This increase in inequalities more or less parallels the decrease of public wealth, compared to private wealth. These facts and figures show how diligently these countries have followed neo-liberalist policies.
Isn’t it time to stop this madness? There is no need to develop the developed. They have reached the zenith of development that is possible in this planet. Other countries would never be able to reach their standard, simply because there isn’t sufficient resources in this planet. If the rich develops any further it will have to be at the expense of the poor in their own countries and the other poor countries. This has been happening at a faster pace since the IMF and the World Bank were restructured to serve neo-liberalism.
International debt plays a critical role in this unfair global economic system.
Obviously this cannot go on indefinitely without causing abject poverty as is happening in some developing countries in Africa and in Asia. Poverty rate has increased in Africa, causing lowering of household income and rampant malnutrition. Even in India, which records a high GDP, 30 million people have gone below the poverty line, mainly in the east and northeast states in the last six years. Sri Lanka is bankrupt.
What is the alternative to debt dependency for poor countries? Could they manage without foreign debt which endanger and compromise their sovereignty, independence and national assets ? If Sri Lanka could produce the essential food it needs, the import expenditure could be reduced by 50%. If import of non-essential goods is stopped another 25% could be saved. Then our export earnings could easily pay for the essential needs of fuel etc. Moreover if the goal of 70% of renewal energy could be reached, which should not be difficult in a country perenially bathed by sunlight, we could save enough of the export earnings for development work. All developing countries must strive for self-sufficiency and move away from export oriented, debt dependent economy. This would be a good thing for the poor as well as the rich and would save the world from destruction.
But do we have the freedom and the political courage and leadership to breakaway from the shackies of the present global economic system ? Sooner or later all third world countries will have to do that for existential reasons. Very soon it will be a question of survival not just for the poor but for the rich as well.
Perhaps what I wrote a year ago, if followed tells us the only way ahead.
Sri Lanka’s economy finds itself in a situation where one wonders whether the government has allowed it to drift. Perhaps, studying how countries have suffered and faced similar crises in the past may offer us some ideas. In 1997 the economies of Asian giants Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea crashed. In 1995, the World Bank said that Thailand was the world’s fastest growing economy.
Of Thailand, Phongpaichit and Baker says, in 1996, export growth slumped from over 29% to zero. The stock market lost two thirds of its value. The country was battered by speculators into a sharp depreciation – the biggest finance company collapsed. Two thirds of all finance firms were suspended. The IMF was called in to arrange the largest ever bail out”. (Thailand’s Boom and Bust. [1998] Phongpaichit and Baker).
Of all countries whose economies crashed, Malaysia stands out as the one country that emerged victorious. Other countries had to beg for assistance from the World Bank and the IMF. Indonesia was bailed out with a loan of $ 43 billion, South Korea with a bail out of $ 56 billion, and Thailand with a loan package of $ 17 billion. They were all loans that enabled the countries to survive for the moment and pay later. As a result, their foreign debt increased exponentially.
The financial upheaval in Indonesia saw the fall of its leader Suharto. Nicholas Kristof, Jakarta correspondent for The New York Times, wrote of what happened to Suharto, the President of Indonesia: What overthrew Suharto was not a guerrilla insurgency, but a conspiracy of far more subversives – capitalism, markets and globalisation; Suharto’s sleuths never figured how to handcuff them “(Herald International Tribune).
It has to be understood that Sri Lanka today has been held hostage by international capitalism working through its agent, the International Monetary Fund. There was one country that did not go begging for aid—Malaysia. Mahatir Muhammed, the legendary Prime Minister, took charge of the economy, collected all the dollars from all banks. As I have said previously, Mahatir Muhammed declared war with the IMF by doing the exact opposite of the IMF advice. He did not go on bended knees to the IMF. Instead he effectively controlled the economy of his own country. He imposed strict controls on the use of foreign exchange. He did not allow anyone to spend the money on the import of unnecessary goods. He clamped severe restrictions on the use of foreign exchange. This even went to the extreme of stopping foreign exchange for Malaysians studying abroad. There was mayhem in student circles in the UK. Some students took leave of study and went back. Others were compelled to work as waiters and kitchen hands and pay themselves” (How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka & Alternative Programmes of Success [2006]. Pg 238).
In 1958 Mahatir even stopped foreign investors from taking away money.
In Mahatir Muhammed’s own opinion, Any country at all which says it cannot control its banks and its banking system – they are not fit to be governments and they should either resign or be overthrown” (Daily News. February 1, 1999).
Malaysia was the one and only country to get out of the East Asian Foreign Currency Crisis. Even today the Sri Lankan Government does not collect the dollars that come in. The bulk of the dollars are collected by private and foreign banks and private money changers, who are allowed to fix their own buying and selling rates. The private dealers collect dollars or rupees within minutes, while it takes at least half an hour of form filling and passport checking at State banks. That is how the government went bankrupt. State banks collect only a fraction of the dollars that come into the country.
A funny thing happened on 2 January, 2001, two decades ago. Our two State banks, Bank of Ceylon and People’s Bank, did not have enough dollars to pay a large oil bill, and they went hat in hand to foreign banks in Colombo. Those that had collected dollars raised the price to Rs 106, when the rate had been Rs 85, and the two State Banks were forced to buy at the higher price. The rupee was devalued overnight.
The Central Bank, when questioned, said that it had control over only the domestic rupee (The Islandof 17 February 2001).
In other words, the private banks collect dollars that come in, and sell them as they like, even today the banks and private dealers fix their own rates. What all this indicates is that even today our government does not control the foreign exchange that comes in. Naturally, today we are facing the music of not having dollars to pay for essential imports.
Are we yet collecting all the dollars that come in? No. We allow private and foreign banks, and private dealers to collect, fix rates and sell as they like. This, they have done for decades from November 1977, and at least now we have to collect all dollars that come in like what was done before we embraced neoliberalism in 1977. Are we yet being fooled by foreign investors who trade in the local rupee, calculate profits in rupees, but take away profits in US dollars?
Are we not yet being fooled by foreign travel agencies that book hotel stay, get the hotel to collect in local rupees, but get paid by invoices in dollars going out of our reserves? Hotel bookings by foreigners have to be made in dollars.
Before President Jayewardene foolishly submitted to neoliberalism and started living on loans, we had a closed economy. Then, we had two budgets: a local rupee budget that attended to all development work. We had a separate foreign budget with the dollars we collected from imports. Then we spent the dollars we had, first on essentials, and if we had anything left, we gave small allocations to import cars and electrical items. We never dispensed funds for foreign travel unless it was necessary for our country. Nor did we allocate any foreign funds for students to study abroad and for people to go on foreign holidays. Should we not revert to that system?
How we managed our finances from Independence till President Jayewardene started licking the boots of the IMF is of importance. The fundamental fact is that at the end of 1977 Sri Lanka did not have foreign debt.
As much as we have had to restrict imports, let us have a programme to produce locally all what we import. Not long ago we had the Divisional Development Councils Programme (DDCP) of 1970-1977, when we made seafaring fishing boats (at Matara), done within three months, Crayons equal to the Crayola of today (at Matara) also done within three months- all done under my direction as the GA at Matara, The Divisional Sec at Kotmale made paper out of waste Paper (at Nuwara-Eliya – Kotmale)- we can do that again in months. We also had , agricultural farms (in every District) training our youths and also bringing in production and many more, all done with local rupees, all carried out by local staff. We can easily do it again in months. That will also provide incomes and employment to the unemployed. Why are we not yet doing such a programme to create employment and incomes for the people and also make what our country needs.
Perhaps, a rethinking of priorities and a firm resolve to go ahead is what is required today.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe said regardless of the obstacles the anarchist political forces seek to create, he will continue the new reform program with the majority of people who love this country.
“We can become a developed country by 2048 if we work and move forward in a united and planned manner envisioning peace and reconciliation. There is the potential to become a developed country which is not begging from any other nation in the world. True freedom can be achieved and it is possible,” he said addressing the nation.
“There are those who want to keep perpetuating this wound forever, though I don‟t wish. Let’s seek to heal this wound though it’s difficult and painful. If we endure the suffering and pain for a short period of time, we can get the wound healed completely. We have no way out of this crisis with short cuts as that some political parties are pointing out,” he said.
The Full Statement:
Most Venerable Maha Sangha and the clergy, my fellow citizens, all Sri Lankans abroad, dear children,
Today, I will not be delivering a traditional Independence Day statement. I am not going to dwell on the freedom we gained. While honouring those who were dedicated and worked hard for the country‟s freedom, including the late Mr. D.S. Senanayake, I will focus on regaining the freedom that we have lost today.
Around 75 years ago, the esteemed “London Times‟ newspaper carried an editorial stating that “It is our desire to see Sri Lanka become a Switzerland in the East, very soon.”
They had not expressed a similar vision for any other country in the East. However, what has happened to us today? Today, we are facing an unprecedented economic crisis, hitherto never experienced. Why have we to face such a situation? Who is responsible for such? Let’s be truthful.
All of us are more or less responsible for this situation. None of us can point fingers and blame each other. We made mistakes from the beginning. Efforts were made to rectify those mistakes, though it was not possible to correct them completely.
The policy followed by the late Mr. D.S. Senanayake in securing the country‟s freedom was to unite all Sri Lankans. He believed that everyone, be it Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim or Burgher, should forge ahead as Sri Lankans.
However, after independence we divided in terms of race, religion and region. We were divided to a point of developing suspicion and animosity against each other.
Various groups exploited this division to gain power and created further rifts among the people. Instead of rejecting such groups, we accorded power to these very same groups. In politics, lies were spread instead of the truth.
Politicians who spoke the truth were rejected by the people. Those who pointed out the real situation of the country and sought related remedies were hardly given a place. Yet, those who satisfied people with their lies gained greater acceptance.
We got trapped in a consensual political culture. Our characteristic was to be depended on borrowed resources and we borrowed even more. We adopted the notion that, The government is a spring of resources”.
Many were of the view that the duty of the rulers was to distribute the various resources obtained from that spring, among the people. Accordingly, job opportunities were provided and various goods and equipment were also distributed. Cash was also made available. In most instances, we did not vote on behalf of the country. Instead we voted for a candidate in order to receive a job, to gain admission to a school for our children and to have a tender passed etc.
We worked for political candidates expecting personal favours in return. Most of us contested not for the country, but for personal power, for greater perks and to earn a little more. We were trapped in promises and endured slogans which finally resulted in the gradual collapse of the country‟s economy.
We borrowed increasingly to fulfil election pledges and proved the slogans shouted at the protests were correct. We borrowed more for consumption rather than for investment. However, according to the Buddhist Philosophy one should take loans for investment purposes and not consumption. While we are talking of Buddhism, our action is not in keeping with the Buddha‟s teachings. Lee Kuan Yew, who visited Sri Lanka to study and formulate a strategy to rebuild Singapore, said after many years, that .
“This situation has arisen in Sri Lanka due to unnecessarily prioritising politics. If Sri Lanka was followed as a role model, even Singapore by today would have perished. In fact, we have reached the point of destruction. There are those who want to keep perpetuating this wound forever, though I don‟t wish.
Let’s seek to heal this wound though it’s difficult and painful. If we endure the suffering and pain for a short period of time, we can get the wound healed completely.
We have no way out of this crisis with short cuts as that some political parties are pointing out. We have only one way to get rid of this situation, if we want to overcome this crisis and achieve real economic and social freedom. Remember, if we miss this path due to misplaced political agendas, we would neither have a future nor a country.
On several occasions, I pointed out the seriousness and danger of the looming economic crisis we are facing today. I have already said that the first six months of this year will be extremely difficult. We have to face this difficult situation in our stride, although unwillingly, for the sake of the country.
Although a large number of people in this country got out of poverty with the free education and expanded the middle class, today the country has turned into a land where it is impossible to fulfil their aspirations. I see the youth who should be working hard in different fields in this country are creating long queues to obtain passports.
We need to change this situation too. To achieve this end we should modernize the economy and open it to the world. The corrupt political factionalism that deceives the people making them dependants and poor for ever should also be changed.
This is the “system change” that the youth of this country have been demanding for over a long period of time. My government therefore has embarked on new path of reform to fulfil the needs of the youth.
Even though those decisions that have to be taken for it are painful, it has to be done in order to overcome. We have to move away from narrow politics in order to be rid of this crisis situation. We must face this challenge together as children of one mother and make our fullest contribution to strengthen the path towards the successful development of this country.
We must all move forward as Sri Lankan nationals leaving aside all differences. Hence the basis and foundation for a strong new economy has already been formulated. We are successfully completing the difficult stage required to get support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
We expect to get their consent without delay. We cannot be satisfied just by strengthening the economy. The entire system needs to be changed.
All areas of this political system, the legislature, parliament, Executive, state machinery, etc. should be modified to suit the modern era. The nation, and we should benefit from this change. More space should be created in the new system, for representation and opinions of young people and women in particular.
For this system modification, we are proposing a number of orders to the Parliament.
Additionally, immediate action needs to be taken in relation to the unique issues that the people in the North and East face. A cabinet subcommittee for this purpose has already been established.
All political parties are informed of its decisions and their implementation dates. Thereby those tasks are carried forward. We have given priority to activities such as release of land and prisoners.
Furthermore, measures are being taken for the maximum division of power in a unitary state. However, we’ll never consent to the division of this nation. I’m not attempting to treat the superficial condition with painkillers. But to treat the root cause of the malaise. It is challenging and difficult, but it’s our only option.
I know that many of the decisions I have been compelled to take since assuming the presidency have been unpopular. However, because of those decisions, today no citizen of this country will die of dehydration in oil queues. You won’t starve without gas. Not curse without fertilizer. Therefore, regardless of the obstacles the anarchist political forces seek to create, I will continue this new reform program with the majority of people who love this country. We can become a developed country by 2048 if we work and move forward in a united and planned manner envisioning peace and reconciliation. There is the potential to become a developed country which is not begging from any other nation in the world. True freedom can be achieved and it is possible It is our collective responsibility to build a new country in which our children can compete with the rest of the world.
Therefore, I urge all parties to come together to overcome this difficult period. Let’s unite! Let’s join hands! With joined hands let‟s embark on a united journey over the next 25 years, as we have planned.
Let’s further nurture those plans in accordance with the views of all parties. Let’s get stronger. Let’s make them more systematic and streamlined. Not only should all of us who live in Sri Lanka join this effort. But the Sri Lankans living in the different countries around the world should also shoulder this journey.
Everyone should be united. Everyone should contribute to the achievement of these goals as much as possible. Let us devote ourselves, unite as children of one mother. Let us make our country one of the most developed in the world by 2048, when we will celebrate 100 years of independence
President Rani Wickremesinghe addressed the nation this evening (04 Feb.), in view of Sri Lanka’s 75th Independence Anniversary.
In his speech, the Head of State discussed Sri Lanka’s looming economic crisis, stating that the only way out of it was by making difficult and unpopular decisions.
Sugarcoated stories by politicians will not resolve this crisis”, Wickremesinghe said, adding that he will continue to move forward with reforms such as those implemented thus far, albeit being severely unpopular and criticized.
Moreover, he noted that under his Government, the ‘system change’ that was demanded by the youth of Sri Lanka over a prolonged period of time will be implemented, with changes being made in all areas of the country’s political system in a manner fitting for a modern era.
Below is the full speech delivered by the President;
Most Venerable Maha Sangha and the clergy, my fellow citizens, all Sri Lankans abroad, dear children,
Today, I will not be delivering a traditional Independence Day statement. I am not going to dwell on the freedom we gained while honouring those who were dedicated and worked hard for the country’s freedom, including the late D. S. Senanayake.
I will focus on regaining the freedom that we have lost today.
Around 75 years ago, the esteemed ‘London Times’ newspaper carried an editorial stating that ‘it is our desire to see SL become a Switzerland in the East very soon’. They had not expressed a similar vision for any other country in the East.
However, what has happened to us today?
Today we are facing an unprecedented economic crisis, hitherto never experienced.
Why have we to face such a situation? Who is responsible for this? Let’s be honest, all of us are more or less responsible for this situation. None of us can point fingers and blame each other.
We made mistakes from the beginning, though efforts were made to rectify those mistakes, it was not possible to rectify them completely.
The policy followed by the late D S. Senanayake in securing the country’s freedom was to unite all Sri Lankans. He believed that everyone, be it Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim or Burgher, should forge ahead as Sri Lankans.
However, after independence, we divided in terms of race, religion and region. We were divided to a point of developing suspicion and animosity against each other. Various groups exploited this division to gain power and created further rifts among the people.
Instead of rejecting such people, we accorded the power to these very same groups. In politics, lies were spread instead of the truth, and politicians who spoke the truth were rejected by the people. Those who pointed out the real situation of the country and sought related remedies were hardly given a place, yet those who satisfied people with their lies gained greater acceptance.
We got trapped in a political culture based on promises. We depended on resources that did not belong to us, those which were received on loan facilities, and we borrowed even more loans.
We adapted to the notion that the Government is a ‘spring of resources ‘, after which many were of the view that the duty of the rulers was to distribute the various resource obtained from that ‘spring’, amongst the people of the country. Accordingly, job opportunities were provided, various goods and equipment were distributed, cash was also distributed.
In most instances, we did not vote on behalf of the country, instead, we voted for a candidate in order to receive a job, gain admission to a school for our children, and have a tender passed, etc. We worked for political candidates expecting personal favours in return. Most of us contested not for the country, but for personal power, for greater benefits, and to earn a little more.
We were trapped in promises and endured slogans which finally resulted in the gradual collapse of the country’s economy.
We borrowed extensively to fulfill the election pledges and to prove that the slogans shouted at the protests were correct, we borrowed more for consumption than for investment.
However, according to Buddhist philosophy, one should take loans for investment purposes and not for consumption. Although we preach about Buddhism, our actions are not in line with the Buddha’s teachings.
Lee Kuan Yew, who visited Sri Lanka after many years to study and formulate a strategy to rebuild Singapore, said that This situation has arisen in your country due to unnecessarily prioritizing politics. If Sri Lanka was taken as an example, Singapore too would have perished by now”.
In fact, we have now reached a point of destruction. There are those who want to keep prolonging this wound forever, however, I do not like that. Although it may be difficult and painful to do so, let’s aim to heal this wound, because if we endure this pain and suffering for a short while, it is possible for us to heal this wound completely.
There is no shortcut to getting out of this crisis, despite claims made by certain political parties.
We have only way to get rid of this situation if we want to overcome this crisis and achieve real economic and social freedom, there is only one ladder to get out of this ditch.
Keep in mind that if we place this ladder aside to satisfy political agendas, we have no country, and we have no tomorrow.
On several previous occasions, I pointed out the seriousness and danger of the looming economic crisis we are currently facing, and I have already said that the first six months of this year will be extremely difficult. We have to face this difficult situation, even if we do not like it, for the sake of the country.
Sugarcoated stories by politicians will not resolve this crisis.
Although a large number of people in this country moved away from poverty with free education and expanded the middle class, today the country has turned into a land where it is impossible to fulfill their aspirations.
I see the youth who should be working hard in different fields in this country creating long queues to obtain passports instead, we need to change this. To achieve this, we should modernize the economy and open it to the world.
The corrupt political factionalism that deceives people, pushing them further into poverty and making them further dependent should also be changed.
This is the ‘system change’ that the youth of this country have been demanding for a long period of time.
Thus, my government has embarked on a new path of reform to fulfill the needs of the youth.
Even though those decisions that have to be taken for it are unpopular, it has to be done in order to overcome this crisis. We have to move away from narrow politics if we are to get rid of this crisis.
We must face this challenge together as children of one mother, and make our fullest contribution to strengthening the path toward the successful development of this country. We must all move forwards as Sri Lankan nationals leaving aside all differences.
Hence the first steps towards the development of a strong new economy have already been taken.
We are in the final stages of securing certain difficult elements required for the IMF bailout, and we are expecting their approval in this regard soon. We cannot be satisfied just by strengthening the economy, the entire system needs to be changed.
All areas of the political system, the legislature, Parliament, Executive, and State Institutions should be changed in a manner suitable to the modern era. Both the nation and us should benefit from this change.
More space should be created in this new system for the representation and opinions of young people and women in particular.
We are in the process of presenting several proposals to the Parliament in this regard.
Furthermore, immediate action needs to be taken in relation to the specific issues faced by those in the North and East. A cabinet sub-committee has already been appointed for this purpose.
All political parties are informed of the committee’s decisions and the dates these decisions are due to be implemented, after which these tasks are carried forwards based on their ideas.
We have also prioritized certain tasks such as the release of lands and prisoners.
Measures are also underway to create the maximum devolution of powers possible within the premise of a unitary state, however, we will never consent to the division of this nation.
I am not attempting to treat a superficial illness with painkillers, but instead to treat the root cause of this illness – it is challenging, and it is difficult, but this is our only way forward.
I know that many of the decisions I have been compelled to take since assuming the Presidency have been unpopular, however, because of these decisions, today, no citizen of this country is forced to die of dehydration or starve without gas. They do not have shout out curses due to the lack of fertilizer.
Therefore, regardless of the obstacles the anarchist political forces try to create, I will continue these new reforms with the majority of those who love this country.
We can become a developed country by 2048 if we work and move forward in a united and planned manner envisioning peace and reconciliation.
We have the potential to become a developed country that need not beg from any other nation in the world, true freedom can be achieved. It is our collective responsibility to build a new country in which our children can compete with the rest of the world.
Therefore, I urge all parties to come together to overcome this crisis. Let’s unite! Let’s join hands!
With these joined hands, let’s embark on the journey that we have planned for the next 25 years, together!
Let’s further nurture those plans in accordance with the views of all parties, let’s make them stronger, more systematic and streamlined.
Not only those of us who live in Sri Lanka should make a joint effort towards this, but those Sri Lankans living abroad, across the globe, must also shoulder this journey.
Everyone should contribute to the achievement of these goals to their fullest capacity.
Let us devote ourselves and unite as children of one mother, let us make our country one of the most developed in the world by 2048, when we will celebrate 100 years of independence!
Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has reinstated the fact that Sri Lanka is not alone in the crisis it is currently facing.
Speaking at the Inaugural Lecture for Geopolitical Cartographers yesterday 903 Feb.), Scotland said, I know that Sri Lanka continues to feel the weight of political and economic pressure. The pressure can be hard to bear. It can be destabilizing, isolating, and frightening, and I am here because I want every Sri Lankan to know that you are not alone. You are part of this special precious Commonwealth family”.
The Geopolitical Cartographer was held on the theme of The role of the Commonwealth in an Era of ‘Polycrisis’ under the patronage of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, yesterday at the Colombo City Centre.
Speaking further, the Secretary-General emphasised that as a family we have responsibility for one another. A duty to each other, a shared love and a shared journey and you are not alone like the challenges you face”, assuring that Sri Lanka wasn’t the only country amidst a crisis right now.
She noted that currently, countries across the globe are facing the social, political and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
You may feel that you are living in a country under pressure, but the reality is that we are all living in a world under pressure. All of us are tightly bound by a tangled knot of crisis-spanning global systems. A world living with the social political and economic consequences of COVID-19,” she said.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who also spoke at the session, explained that Scotland was the first to be invited to commemorate Sri Lanka’s 75th Independence Anniversary not only due to her fruitful ties with Sri Lanka and the Asian and African continents as whole, but also because Sri Lanka was first admitted to the Commonwealth upon the gaining of their independence.
You were there when we got independence and you all are here now. So it is to mark that occasion as she was invited here by the government to take part in the 75th Anniversary of our Independence”, the Head of State said.
Below is the President’s full speech at the event;
It gives me great pleasure to be present here today with Patricia Scotland, the Secretary General of the Commonwealth for the inaugural lecture of the geopolitical cartographer.
The geopolitical cartography is the outcome of a discussion or firstly, increasing the number of think tanks and research institutes in the country. Secondly, to focus on international affairs, thirdly, not merely to cover the whole range of international affairs, but to focus on the area which was of concern to us where we are located in the Indian Ocean, its geopolitical aspects. Its geo-economic aspects, its environmental aspects fall into either geopolitical or geo-economics.
And it was called the geopolitical cartographer because now the maps are drawn and boundaries are drawn not according to geography, but according to geopolitics. For a long time, we belonged to a region known as the Indian Ocean, and all of a sudden it became the Indo-Pacific. So that is geopolitical cartography. In the same way, Europe has a problem now with where to draw the boundaries between Russia and Ukraine. It keeps changing throughout the world.
Various claims are made, but we have to learn now that cartography depends completely on geopolitics and nothing else. So we called the name geopolitical cartographer but was to discuss how geopolitics and geo-economics were changing the Indian Ocean, the most vital ocean in the world till about the 18th century. This was also the richest.
In time to come, before the end of the century again, you will find first the development of South Asia of Indonesia and Southeast Asia of the Middle East. And finally, the big development explosion in Africa, that’s why the focus is completely on this new emerging region. And the first person to come here and to be invited here is none other than the Secretary General of the Commonwealth. She’s been a good friend of Sri Lanka. She’s been a good friend of Asia and Africa and she represents our thinking. But there’s also another reason for her to be here on behalf of the Commonwealth.
When we gained independence, we were admitted to the Commonwealth. Our entry to the UN was blocked because the US had blocked some of the Soviet countries and in return, the Soviet Union blocked Sri Lanka. It was only in 1955 that we became a member of the United Nations. But from the beginning, we have been with the Commonwealth.
It was only correct that the Secretary General of the Commonwealth should be here on our 75th Anniversary of Independence. You were there when we got independence and you all are here now. So it is to mark that occasion as she was invited here by the government to take part in the 75th Anniversary of our Independence.
But today you’re not here to listen to me speak. You’ll be here to see and listen to what Patricia has to say. So I would like to invite her to address all of you and the numerous crises that she is going to now explain and layout.
The Supreme Court today (Feb. 03) rejected a request made by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) to issue an interim order preventing the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) from imposing power cuts during the ongoing 2022 G.C.E. Advanced Level examination.
A petition filed by the human rights group against the CEB and several other parties was taken up for consideration before Supreme Court’s three-judge bench consisting of Gamini Amarasekara, Kumudini Wickramasinghe and Shiran Gunaratne.
During the court proceedings, President’s Counsel Upul Jayasuriya, who appeared on behalf of the HRCSL, requested that the undertaking given by the CEB before the judge bench on Thursday (Feb. 02) that power cuts would not be imposed until today be extended.
However, attorney representing the CEB, President’s Counsel Romesh de Silva raised objections to the said request.
In response to the HRCSL’s request, Justice Gamini Amarasekara noted that the undertaking given by the CEB before the Supreme Court was only effective until the conclusion of the consideration of the petition today.
Accordingly, the request made by the HRCSL for an interim order preventing power cuts during the Advanced Level examination was rejected by the judge bench.
Subsequently, the petition was fixed for further consideration on February 07.
