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Polonnaruwa District Secretary, Dimbulagala Divisional Secretary, Zonal Education Director, Principals of these schools villagers have confirmed that news report claiming children of 08 villages in Dimbulagala stopped schooling due to food shortage is completely false according to the Presidential Media Division.
a pile of crooked nonsense” with the winner determined by who knows who, who’s sleeping with who, who’s selling drugs to who, who’s married to who, whose turn is”. That is how A.L. (Alison Louise) Kennedy, a Scottish writer and Booker Prize judge in 1996 described the Booker Prize in 2001.
Preamble
I have just started reading the 2022 Booker Prize winning novel, Seven Moons of Maali Almeida”. This novel which was not in my reading list received my attention because of Booker. A detailed critique will have to wait.
In Sri Lanka many English columnists were elated quoting nothing more than winner’s acceptance speech and comments made by the chief evaluator, former curator of the British Museum, a symbol of plunder of artifacts of British colonies. So far, I have not read any piece written by a person who had read this novel. Pathetically Sinhala scribes who were overjoyed as they have found a priceless gemstone repeat as unmatched imitators the same words in vulgarised translations (using same words as an afterlife noir”, roller-coaster”, unicorn” etc.), that the award has brought fame to Sri Lanka. Slavish mindset does not allow them to analyse what the winner said in his acceptance speech.
How nice had the winner in front of Queen Consort(after hugging her) asked for reparation for the families of the victims of Uva-Wellassa (1817-1818) and Matale (1848) massacres and devastations, for the inhuman land grab of the Kandyan peasantry under Waste Lands Ordinance (1848) and the eviction of Kandyan peasants from their traditional landholdings who faced starvation, famine and death for default of obnoxious Grain Tax (1878) and land grab by the speculators. And also return of our stolen artifacts and hundreds of ola books deposited in the British Museum. Instead the winner railed against racism; said that the ideas of corruption, race baiting and cronyism have not worked and will never work.” He forgot to add that Britain’s annexation of overseas territories, murder, expropriation, plunder, racism, divide and rule had worked to create an Empire known as the British Empire.
How nice had the winner said that 1983 pogrom was instigated and carried out by UNP, not by ordinary Sinhalayas, that more than 70% of Sri Lankan ethnic minorities live among the majority Sinhalayas, that LTTE was a criminal, ruthless terrorist organisation that threatened the lives of majority Sri Lankans including Tamils, that men and women who provided financial and material support to LTTE who live safely and happily in UK are accountable for LTTE crimes, including Adele Balasingham who garlanded” LTTE child soldiers with cyanide capsules.
How nice if the winner had said something on Pelwatta/ Buttala (in Moneragala District) land grab by Booker Tate for sugar cultivation during JRJ’s regime, protests by Moneragala farmers led by farmer organisations and elimination of some of those protesters during the height of the second JVP insurrection. By a willful design photo of these real happenings were not captured by the Nikon 3ST camera of Maali Almeida, the protagonist of the novel. Was its lens smashed”? You look through the viewfinder and all see you is mud”. Yes, you see only mud!
Massacres of civilians at, Dollar and Kent Farms, Arantalawa, Gonagala, Habarana, Kattankudy, Palliyagodella, Dehiwela, Central Bank etc. etc. all done by Tamil Tiger terrorists are a grim reminder to the writer who claims that he is studying the recent history of Sri Lanka. Did his Nikon jammed?”mud in the aperture”? The lens cracked”? The writer knows very well that had the protagonist kept photographs of these massacres in a shoe box under a bed that your Amma’s cook shares with your Dad’s driver”, no Booker, no praises from the imperialists, NGO academia, Colombo glitterati and Colombo cocktail scribes.
I have read a newspaper article that this novel was shortlisted for the Gratian Award in 2015 under the title Devil Dance” and published in an earlier form as Chats with the Dead” in 2020. For us who are well-informed about the Sri Lankan literary scene this is a peculiar thing. For the Swarna Pusthaka Award presented by the Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association with the biggest cash award awarded in Sri Lanka (Rs. 750,000), even a novel serialised in a newspaper before publishing it in book form is not accepted for evaluation. If a novelist or a publishing house submits such a book that act is treated as cheating and the novel and the author become disqualified. I did not venture into study the rules and selection criteria of Booker. But I think that Sri Lanka depicted as a ‘Killing Field’ in Seven Moons” overruns the Booker selection criteria.
Who is Booker?
Booker company was founded by George and Richard Booker in 1835. Starting from the Booker Line the company diversified into different businesses and operated Caribbean slave sugar plantations. Their company controlled 80% of the sugar output in then British Guiana (Guyana after independence in 1966). Guyana is the home of some fine writers and a multitude of outstanding cricketers and cricket captains that formed a formidable part of West Indies Cricket.
Until the abolition of slave labour sugar plantations were dependent on slave labour. Booker exploited the sugar workers through the chattel (indentured) labour system after the abolition of slavery, but Booker as slave owners received compensation” for their post 1815 Guiana slave holdings. Human degradation continued as in the times of slave labour. British Guiana (BG) was referred to as Booker’s Guiana” (BG) because of its immense power in controlling the economy of Guiana becoming its largest landlord, manufacturer of sugar, rum and sugar machinery, retailer and employer. This reminds us how the then Ceylon was referred to as Lipton’s Tea Estate”.
Caribbean islands were subjected to a long, cruel and an ignominious history of slavery, domination and plunder by colonialism and imperialism and exploitation by neocolonialism. Chattel slaves struggled both individually and collectively to establish informal contract terms for their labour. When West Indian slaves were freed, sugar planters replaced them with indentured Indian and Chinse labour. Thus, slavery was replaced by new forms of servitude that brought poverty and isolation to the emerging peasantry and proto-peasantry. Due to its legacy of slavery and plantation economy, Caribbean Islands still remain as one of the most underdeveloped areas of the world. Its history is tied to economics of sugar.
Under these conditions the Caribbean Region had produced a rich literature, commonly identified as Caribbean Literature, another type of literature identified according to a geo-political region. There are writers who show displeasure and scorn towards the cane cultivation by the colonisers. Cane was the root cause of poverty, underdevelopment, starvation, illiteracy, ignorance, exploitative relations and sexual abuse.
Some novels depict social and psychic tensions of cane workers and their struggle to free themselves from the physical and psychological indentureship to cane. Cane was the controlling factor of their lives. Cane humiliated and exploited them. White overseers sexually abused young girls. Workers were not paid well. Not to work was to starve. Cane was a killer and destroyer of dreams and hopes. Sons were killed in the burning of cane before harvest and mothers went mad with grief and died. Trinidad-born writer Samuel Sevlon’s A Bright Sun” (1952) and Turn Again Tiger” (1958) magnificently portray the sufferings of cane workers.
By 1978 Booker was trading as Booker McConnel Ltd. Founded in 1988 Booker Tate Ltd. was engaged in Sugar and Agribusiness Consultancy. From 1969-2001 the prize was sponsored by Booker McConnell Ltd. and from 2002 until 2019 by investment management firm Man Group a hedge fund that traded in plantation stocks, a fund that arose out of an English Agency that traded rum made using slave labour to British Navy for 200 years. The prize was known as Man-Booker Prize until Man terminated its sponsorship. Since 2019 Booker is funded by Crankstart Foundation owned by Sir Michael Moritz, a Silicon Valley billionaire venture capitalist and his wife.
When the prize was inaugurated only novels written by writers of the Commonwealth (colonies of the old British Empire) were eligible. In 2014 it was widened to any English language novel published in UK. This has been much criticised by many as an exercise in global corporate branding”, showing the dominance of Anglo-American writers at the expense of others”.
Booker Prize and African Literature
Let us examine how the Booker Prize was awarded in its lifetime of 53 years since 1969; UK leading with 22 times; writers domiciled in UK (including Salman Rushdie, Naipaul and Ishiguro) won it 07 times making a total of 29. Australia- 05; South Africa -05; Canada-03: writers domiciled in Canada 02; India-03; US-02; Ireland-02; New Zealand, Germany, Jamaica and Sri Lanka 01 each. We have included Sri Lankan born writer Michael Ondaatje under domiciled in Canada. With apologies to Frantz Fanon we state that only about 10-12 dark (black) skin (White Masked) writers have won this Award which shows its racial bias.
In former British colonies in African Continent, labelled as Anglophone Africa, in countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda, Botswana, a rich literature written in English language firmly took roots with the emergence of hundreds of gifted Black writers. ( We omit African writers who write in French and Portuguese in former French and Portuguese colonies (so-called Francophone Africa and Lusophone Africa respectively), Except for a few writers in South Africa none of these including giants of African Literature such as Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Elechi Amadi, Ayi Kwei Armah, Cyprian Ekwensi, Buchi Emecheta, Bessie Head, just to name a few, have not won a single Booker.
NOT A SINGLE BOOKER WINNER IS FIT TO HOLD A CANDLE EITHER TO ACHEBE OR NGUGI WHEN ONE CONSIDERS THEIR THEMES AND NARRATOLOGY, POLITICS AND IDEOLOGY, INTERPRETATION OF HISTORY AND LITERARY EXCELLENCE.
Booker and Pelwatte in Sri Lanka
In 1978, with JRJ’s catchword, let the Robber Barons come”, Booker Tate was brought to Sri Lanka. The Minister for Agriculture who participated in a Wap Mangula” (Ploughing Festival) wearing Nikkei shoes said that we should kiss the whole body of the foreigners who bring money bags.
The company introduced sugarcane cultivation with a contingent of out grower farmers and established a sugar factory at Pelwatte (Pelwatte Sugar Co. Ltd.) in Moneragala District under the management of Booker Tate. Booker Tate got 85,000 acres from Buttala while Indian Meta International got 65,000 acres from Siyabalanduwa. Some of these lands were traditional holdings of peasant cultivators. Land alienated in Buttala area extended up to Yala sanctuary. JRJ’s Government signed an agreement to purchase sugar produced by Pelwatte Sugar Co. above the market rate at the time.
A very interesting person associated with Pelwatte was Ranjan Wijeratne, the then UNP Chairman and later General Secretary becoming the Chairman of Pelwatte Sugar Co. Posthumously promoted as a General by Premadasa he was the State Minister for Defence. He was the key player in the eradication of JVP-DJV insurrection in 1988-1989. Maali Almeida mentions about a Minister Cyril Wijeratne, but shy to explore his multifaceted role.
Several leaders of Pelwatte protesters and trade unionists were among the abductees who ended their lives in tyre pyres. The Catholic priest Fr. Michael Rodrigo who supported protesters was gunned down by an unidentified gunman”. I suppose that the writer of Maali Almeida” was a kid during these turbulent times and studies history selectively.
The tragedy/history play Ukdandu Ginna” (1993) (Burning Cane) and the popular song Bimbarak Senaga Gevasunu Chndra Suryaya Ipadunu” were two significant artistic creations that arose from this struggle. The latter resonances the rape of Uva for the second time after 1817-1818.
It should be noted that the JVP did not support this struggle as the Janatha Sangamaya”, a breakaway group of JVP was in the forefront of this struggle. JVP killed nearly 20 Janatha Sangamaya” front liners most of them were associated with Moneragala Protests including a few born in Monaragala.
English Writings in Sri Lanka
For the 2021 Godage Literary Award 135 novels written in Sinhala were evaluated. The number of English novels evaluated was only 06. For Literary Awards books registered at the Sri Lanka National Archives (SLNA) in the preceding year are taken for evaluation. The Award for the best novel written in English was not awarded since the evaluators had not found a commendable novel.
Writers, internationally acclaimed academics and literary critics unanimously agree that the Sinhala novels are far superior than the novels written in English in Sri Lanka not only in quantitative terms but also qualitatively. English novels written in Sri Lanka have a very limited audience. We have a surfeit of national level male and female novelists who write excellent novels in Sinhala. Many of these novelists had recreated and interpreted the colonial past and the period after independence in different perspectives. Scholars had said that within a period of less than 50 years the Sinhala novel had achieved its maturity, whereas the English novel written in UK had taken nearly 200 years to firmly take root.
Unfortunately, what goes as Sri Lankan writings are mediocre works written in English by a Colombo-based anglicised minority, alienated from the majority of the people in every aspect, class, language, culture, values etc; by the Western media these writers are considered as Sri Lanka’s foremost authors”. English Departments of Sri Lankan universities had failed to produce a single literary translator capable of translating at least a single work written in Sinhala into English.
A distinguished Professor in Sri Lanka conducting a research on English readers in Sri Lanka concluded that the percentage of our adults who reads English newspapers (Reader” defined as a person who browses any one of the national newspapers at least twice a week and could recollect at least one news item that had received prominence during the week preceding the survey interview) was less than 3%. His survey data also indicated that among the readers who identified the least read category of news was Feature Articles. We can easily extrapolate this data to readers who read fiction written in English by Sri Lankan writers.
Our literary giants of the first and second generations who were first rate bilinguals never wrote in English except Prof. Ediriweera Sarachchandra (only 03). Dr. Gunadasa Amerasekera, the living legend of Sinhala Literature who had published more than 18 novels since 1955, some time ago gave some valid and thought-provoking reasons for why he did not write in English. The late Prof. Siri Gunasinghe who lived in Canada wrote in Sinhala. Prof. Wimal Dissanayake domiciled in Hawaii brilliantly writes in Sinhala, interpreting complex modern literary theories that can be understood easily even by a lay person; no other critic can rival him in this field.
First Moon” of Maali Almeida
The Cover: A black, red, green, blue, mauve, orange coloured mask, with round eyes, flat nose, five incisors (sharp teeth) in the upper jaw and four in the lower, two protruding teeth, symbolising killing fields” of Sri Lanka(?), which gives the impression to the Britisher of a Benin figurine (colored) stolen from Nigeria.
Maali Almeida: photographer, gambler, closest gay; describes this man as a good-for-nothing bastard; two weeks of chess, a month in Cub Scouts, three minutes in rugger; religion none. Amma had left Dada. Amma, a burgher, her resolve steeled by years of marriage to a narcissist”.
The protagonist’s gravestone says that he was Mahinda Albert Kabalana? Why Kabalana? An uncommon name? Why the protoganist of Seven Moons” was not named as Silva, Perera, Fernando, Pinto or Zoysa? Kabalana is a character in Martin Wickremasinghe’s classic Kaliyugaya”, Savimon Kabalana. Savimon Kabalana’s son is Malin Kabalana, protagonist in Wickremasingh’s Yuganthaya”. In its film version Malin’s role was played by Richard Zoysa, the slain journalist. Is it the reason for naming the protagonist as Kabalana?
Buddha sat under trees to discover. It is better not to be reborn”. Is it Lord Buddha or Siddhartha Gautama? Did he sit under many trees to attain Buddhahood? He discovered not to be reborn”? A new interpretation to Benightment and The Four Noble Truths. Fine.
Your first shelling in Mullaitivu 1984 stuffed in a bunker of terrified parents and screaming children”.
Sri Lanka is a killing field: There’s a corpse every second. Sometimes two”. I take photos. I bear witness to crimes that no one else sees”.
Who killed Dr. Ranee Sridharan? (Rajani Thiranagama). Writer says by Mahatiya faction? ( Mahattaya). Why choose the name Sridharan? Sritharan of University of Jaffna? Rajani’s colleague who co-authored The Broken Palmyra” (1990), an active member of University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) (UTHR(J))? Living Through Jaffna’s Sultry Sunset” (1998) says: Few knew Tigers so closely from within as Rajini Thiranagama did, and was at the same time possessed of such acute discernment to see clearly where they were going”.
LTTE suspected Mahattaya as a RAW agent and killed him. Rajini was killed by LTTE itself mainly for her co-authorship of Broken Palmyra” and incessantly criticising the LTTE. Warnings were given to her by the LTTE to stop such activities.
Dumping of bodies” wrapped in rubbish bags” in Beira Lake at 4 a.m. When they dump corpses in the Beira Lake columns of stone Buddhas from the floating temple stare down at the buoyant dead with neither interest nor alarm”.
Since Lanka’s 1987 peace accord with India garbage men have been in high demand. The government forces, the eastern separatists, the southern anarchists and the northern peacekeepers are all prolific producers of corpses”. Why only eastern separatists? Were they Tamil or Muslim? Where were the northern LTTE terrorists? Were they offering pujas at Nallur Kandasamy Kovil?
Men who burned Tamil homes”.
The goons work for the goon-master, who is hired by the cops on the instructions of the task force, which is funded by the Ministry, that answers to the Cabinet, that lives in the house that JR built”.
If you were politically inclined, the goons picked you up and handed you to an interrogator and depending on your session with him, to an executioner. They are usually ex-army sadists and most of them wear black-hoods with holes in them”.
This shows that the writer has only a modicum of knowledge how arrests, interrogations and executions were carried out. The writer has no idea about the men dressed in huge hoods with eye-holes or billas. Billas were none other than JVPers who betrayed their own men and women.
Sena Pathirana. I was chief JVP organiser for Gampaha. My body was dumped in this filthy lake many moons ago”. The writer in the Preface says some politicians and others are mentioned by their real names.” If the writer mentions here Daya Pathirana, he should be reminded that Daya Pathirana, leader of Independent Students’ Union at University of Colombo was killed by JVP and dumped in a marsh.
The nation divides into races, the races into factions and the factions turn on each other. Whoever in the opposition will preach multiculturism and then enforce Sinhala-Buddhist dominance in exchange of power.”
or you do something radical, like have a girlfriend, live with her and sleep in the spare room with the landlord’s son”.
Killers transport human meat”. At the back of the van are boxes of meat that have begun to smell. Steaks, chops and offcuts that once belonged to you and two others. Some seem to have come out of the freezer”.
How Asians do more screwing despite having the smallest ones”.
it’s the rage in their subconscious from losing their foreskins as infants” Jews and Muslims wage war.
All warmongering nations are circumcised”. Americans? Britishers? NATO allies?
Killers say: have to saw the fingers, smash the teeth, pulp the face. Then can’t identify also. After that can dump anywhere”.
We gut, we drain, we chop, we bury. Different place every time”.
Killers discuss how to dispose the bodies: dump in the jungle and light a match, float in the Beira, feed them to cats.
For the past year, the City’s police stations have entertained wailing parents inquiring after sons and daughters who never came back”.
We do not deny this. We do not deny the existence of torture chambers, acid baths and the multitude of torture methods introduced during the crackdown. But the question is whose side you take when reporting these atrocities?
Protagonist’s Amma sits in a police station inquiring his whereabouts. She was given a form to fill. She looks at the four pages of mostly Sinhala script, a language that is not her first, despite living her entire life in country that claims it is their only”.
In a multistoried building at Slave Island, its top floor is leased to the Ministry of Justice. Floor eight houses interrogation rooms. There is a room with more refrigeration units with high grade chemicals”. Garbage” brought here, limbs and flesh. Cops visit this place.
Maali Almeida had taken photographs for an NGO. Photos of burned houses, dead children, how people dying in the war zone, mothers holding photos of their missing sons, women tied to poles. The writer does not say who was responsible.
Maali’s girlfriend lives with her aunt. Aunt’s new husband comes into her room without knocking and how it creeped her out”.
One day Malays will be killing Moors. And Burghers will be butchering Chetties. Nothing in this country will surprise me.”
What is the task of literature? To provide a profound explanation to this question we refer to the Talks at the Yanan Forum on Literature and Art” delivered by Mao in 1942. There is no harm in exposing the dark side of society. But the writer should discover bright side also. Bourgeois liberal writers love to expose only the dark side, preaching pessimism and world-weariness. The writer can expose shortcomings and portray negative characters, but this only serves as a contrast to bring about the brightness of the whole picture. The writer should solve the problem of whether to expose and at the same time extolling, what to expose and what to extol. Art and literature have never been devoted solely to exposure. The writer should decide who are his targets for exposure.
What is the motive of exposure? It should be to eradicate poisonous weeds of whatever kind and to help blossom fragrant flowers. Carefully distinguish between what is really a poisonous weed and what is really a fragrant flower.
THUS, THE FIRST MOON” IS MORE THAN ENOUGH TO GET THE BOOKER! YOU HAVE SEVEN MOONS”. WHY WASTE SEVEN MOONS? YOU HAVE ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED WHAT YOU WANTED!
Can the British evaluators understand these expressions: Amma’s redda”, silisili bag, Narada Yaka, Ponnaya , Mahatiya, Balal, Kottu, drivermalli, bulathmalli, hamu, Aiyo putha, suddha, betel chewing Aiya, godaya, malli hamu, pretas, naraka yaka, maruwa, talk baila, nangi, mahakalu, yako, etc. without any footnotes or explanatory notes?
Conclusion
I do not want to add anything more to winner’s acceptance speech as it has been nicely interpreted by several English writers and Sinhala social media users. The winner is not fitting to any forgiveness and compassion for demeaning his country of birth internationally. That was only the icing of the cake he had baked for the consumption of Sri Lanka bashers portraying his country of birth as a killing field.
(Sena Thoradeniya has won five National Literary Awards, 03 for the best original novel, 0I each for the best Research Work in Varied Subjects and for the best Translation respectively. He was also a finalist of Swarna Pusthaka Award.)
There is a new trend of increasing use of synthetic drugs known as ICE (methamphetamine crystals) among girls, National Dangerous Drugs Control Board (NDDCB) said.
NDDCB Assistant Counsellor Lakmee Nilanka said many girls and young women are lured into using drug through beauty parlors.
She revealed these while participating in an awareness program organized by Kuliyapitiya Excise Office to prevent schoolchildren from getting addicted to drugs.
Accordingly, she pointed out that many of the schoolgirls and young women who are currently being treated are addicted to ICE which they get access to buy and use from beauty salons.
She also said, the statistics show that ICE is being widely used in the Kurunegala district. (DSB)
While privatisation of SriLankan is high on the agenda of the new government in the island nation, the airline’s CEO says there is a strong future for the country’s national carrier supporting the growth of the Sri Lankan economy in general and tourism in particular.
We are open to the proposal for privatisation from the government,” Richard Nuttall, CEO, SriLankan Airlines told Gulf Times in an interview.
Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe earlier proposed to privatise SriLankan Airlines as part of reforms aimed at solving Sri Lanka’s worst ever financial crisis, which has led to political unrest in the island nation.
There are pros and cons to either form of ownership. We have been in dialogue with our ministry and the government over the different options for privatisation. We are now awaiting a final cabinet decision on the way forward,” Nuttall pointed out.
Asked whether privatisation is the way to recover from SriLankan’s losses (the airline reportedly lost about $123mn in the fiscal year 2020-2021, and aggregate losses exceeded $1bn as of March 2021), the CEO said: As with most airlines, we lost money during Covid-19. As such, the 2020/21 figures do not reflect future expectations. Over the last 12 months or so, the airline has been operationally profitable despite all the challenges in the country.
However, at a full profit and level, we are marginally negative. We have been affected by the fact that interest rates in Sri Lanka are now extremely high, and we are effectively paying interest on the losses of previous years. If we can use the privatisation to help us restructure or pay off some of these past debts, then we are in good shape to deliver a sustainable, profitable and growing airline to support the national economy.”
Asked whether there will be any capital infusion as part of SriLankan’s restructuring plan, Nuttall said: The airline has operated without any funding since early 2021 when we were still deep in the pandemic. We used this time to restructure costs and review our future network. In dollar terms, we have been operationally profitable for the first six months of the current financial year which started in April, and we are still hopeful of breaking even at a full profit and loss level for the year.
The challenges we have are around funding and growth. We still have outstanding debts from Covid times, and we have a number of engines in the shop for overhaul, and aircraft that are due to finish their leases. If we can privatise or find another source of funding, then we have an opportunity to grow.
We believe we should ideally be at least 50% bigger within three years to meet the needs of our current network and to deliver maximum efficiencies. If funding does not become available and we need to keep living of our cash flows as at present, then this future may take a little longer.”
On SriLankan’s role in foreign exchange inflow into the island nation, as well as its role in bringing medical supplies for the country’s ailing health sector, Nuttall said: SriLankan generates the majority of its revenue from overseas markets and contributes over $700mn in foreign currency earnings to the Sri Lankan economy every year. The airline has also been a constant facilitator of tourism and foreign trade for the country regardless of the external environs and its challenges.
In fact, SriLankan remains the largest carrier of tourists into the country and collaborates frequently with stakeholders in the local industry to promote destination Sri Lanka globally.”
He noted: We played a key role during the pandemic by flying in critical medicines and vaccinations to the country when other airlines cut back flights. The airline has also spared no effort in supporting the embattled healthcare sector of the country and continues to airlift consignments of donated medicines and medical supplies free of freight charges. To date, we have carried nearly 60,000kg of international medical donations to Sri Lanka.”
Nuttall also touched upon his airline’s network and said: We monitor our network on a weekly basis. Most of the growth that we talked about comes from frequency increases, but we do have three to four new destinations that we believe will work well for us and complement the network once we have been able to grow the fleet.
In terms of non-performing routes, we do have a couple that is struggling at present. However, we are managing to limit the losses by proactively managing capacity and we believe they will work as tourism returns.”
Asked whether SriLankan intended to acquire new aircraft either for fleet replacement or expansion in mind, the CEO said: We operated with a fleet of 27 aircraft pre-Covid-19 and made the decision to not replace some of the aircraft that left the fleet during the pandemic. More aircraft will exit the fleet next year as leases expire, but we plan to initiate a request for proposal to lease replacement aircraft in the future in support of our operational plans.”
– Rahula College Matara, a chemistry grad of Colombo and an Member of Parliament shows us the way.
The IMF showed us the way to live on loans, and we lived a life of extravaganze from 1978 and this paved the path for our foreign debt of $ 55billion, to service which we need $ 8 billion a year, which too we have to borrow.
We have to get back to make things ourselves and this true story tells us the way ahead.
Let our leaders open their eyes.
Let me hope that our Prime Minister Dinesh will get into the boots of his grandfather Philip Gunawardena. Once I worked under Philip and we did wonders. Let this message inspire Dinesh to get out of his sleep and get into action. Once i remember Philip visited the Tripoli Market and made a fiery speech which made Trpoli shudder.
We need Minister Philip right now.
In the DDCP of Sri Lanka(1970 to 1977, a significant contribution was made to the DDCP by Rahula College, Matara. Thouhgh Rahula College was a secondary educational institution, far from a Universiyty, the role played by rahula College in establishing a Crayon Factory is a noteworthy contribution.
As the Government Agent of the istrict, I was in charge of implementing the DDCP in the Matara District and in order to commence a new industry I decided to try to make crayons, an item which was imported. I had a Planning Officer Vetus Fernando, a chemistry hons. graduate of the University of Colombo. He was helped by two science teachers from Rahula College and the Science Inspector, the late Major Rajapaksa. With a few evening experiments at my Residency, it was found that more science equipment was essential. I met Mr Ariyawansa, the Principal of Rahula College and requested the use of the science laboratory after school hours for our use. He readily agreed. The science lab was thereafter our domain from six in the evening to midnight every working day, when the Planning Officer helped by the Science Teachers did a myriad experiments. In two months we found the art of making crayons of unsuitable texture. The Planning Officer who had passed out of the University the earlier year, then came forward with idea of his proceeding to obtain help from his professors at the University of Colombo. He specially mentioned that the science lab at the University had better equipment that would enable success. I authorized the trip and he took off. Four days later the Planning Officer turned up, a broken down man. He explained that he had met the professors who had taught him and begged of them for help repeatedly on three days, but was turned away on the ground that they were too busy with their teaching work and correcting answer scripts. This rejection of help made us more determined and we recommenced our nocturnal activity of experiments. I myself was present on a large number of days when a myriad experiments were repeatedly done. Finally in a months’ time we found the art of making crayons. I sat by the Planning Officer finalizing the art for the crayons to be equal in quality to Reeves Crayons, the best of the day. This was achieved in a sparsely equipped science lab at Rahula College, Matara.
Then the question cropped up as to how we could establish an industry. It was a simple task for me to summon one of the industrialists in Matara- Harischandra was one of them personally known to me. However we decided that it should belong to the people and a cooperative was aimed at. I summoned Member of Parliament for Deniyaya, Sumanapala Dahanayake, who happened to be the President of the Morawak Korale Multipurpose Cooperative Union and authorized him to manufacture cooperatives using cooperative funds.. I decided on him because he could be trusted and had admirable leadership qualities in working with people. I had no authority to use cooperative funds but for the cause of national development decided to bend rules and regulations The equipment was purchased and a portion of the Morawaka Cooperatives was cleared and the katcheri staff- six of them moved in, including the Planning Officer to commence training youths to make crayons. I was present on the first few days to ensure success. The officers trained the youths day and night. It was a handmade crayon where every crayon had to be carefully done. It took two weeks, working on a 24 hour basis and Coop Crayon emerged successfully established. Crayons were made to fill two large rooms in the two weeks and the sales were declared open by the Minister for Industries, Mr T.B.Subasinghe. When Mr T.B. Illangaratne, the Minister of Trade came to know of the crayons he was surprised and even allocated funds for importing dyes, from the foreign funds earmarked for the import of crayons. Coop Crayon was a highly successful industry and was developed to have islandwide sales. It employed over fifty in production and sales. This Coop Crayon was successful under the direction of Sumanapala Dahanayake and became the flagship industry of the DDCP. It became the envy of President Jayawardena who was elected as the President of Sri Lanka in 1977. The Sirimavo Government lost the 1977 election. President Jayawardena even sent a special investigation squad to find fault with Coop Crayon and punish Sumanapala. The Deputy Director of Cooperative Development AT Ariyaratne the leader of the investigation squad concluded after a lengthy investigation that Coop Crayon was a successful, viable, profitable industry. However under IMF instructions the Coop Crayon was closed down.
Today we import endless stocks of Crayola Crayons from the USA. My blood boils in me when I see Crayola Crayons on sale in Sri Lanka today.
Garvin Karunaratne, former GA Matara
29/10/22
Eric Solstheim is a Norwegian politician cum diplomat well connected to all top politicians ranging from Presidents, Prime Ministers and many others all over the world with a tremendous influence swaying over the western world and international institutions, like the IMF.WB and the UNHR that are not well disposed towards Sri Lanka. Eric Solstheim cannot be regarded as a true friend of Sri Lanka and the Sinhala people by going through his records on Sri Lankan matters. He is also well known in Sri Lanka for his close connections with the LTTE and his pro-Tamil stance in this country is well known. Please remember this appointment is said to be made by the President himself. This reminds me the famous Sinhala adage ‘sarpayek allaaaena redda assse daagaththaa wage’.
To me this appears to remind me of what happened to Rajasingha the 1st the King of Kotte by appointing Aritta Kiivendu a South Indian Hindu invader as his Purohita, after he promised to absolved King Rajasingha of his sin of killing his own father as the legend says. When Buddhist monks at that time has told the King that in can never be absolved as it falls in to the category of the five Great Sin called Panchaanancharya papa Karma. We all know what happened to the Sinhale Kingdom, the Buddhist temples and monks and the sasana after this sworn South Indian invader was admitted to the Kings Court as his Purohitha (Chief Advisor). Although, it is all past history now, it is advisable for the President not to fall in to a deep pit during the day time where one has fallen only in the night. He should remember that history has a tendency to repeat.
As for me I strongly see this appointment as a revisit of the same old event and to quote another modern example that is well known to everybody in this country and even the whole world, the appointment of Arjun Mahendran as the Governor of the Central Bank, not once but twice, in 1915 and 1916.Erick Solheim will get back to Norway when his mission on behalf of the colonial West and the Tamil Diaspora is over, in the same way the Singaporean citizen Arjuna went back to Singapore with impunity and will live happily thereafter like the proverbial tiger that was smiling at the foolish fox breathing its last breath dangling from the rope that was tied to the waist of the tiger on the tree while the other end was tightly tied to the foxes neck. In this context Solstheim the tiger and Sri Lanka the dying fox.
As such it is high time for the President at least now to re-think about this appointment, firstly in the interest of the country to avoid a major national calamity and secondly, in his own interest.
චීන පොදු නිෂ්පාදන පක්ෂය (අපිට පුරුදු විදිහට නම්, චීන කොමියුනිස්ට් පක්ෂය) කියන්නේ මහ දැවැන්ත දේශපාලන සංවිධානයක්. මේ වෙද්දි ඒ පක්ෂයේ සාමාජිකත්වය කෝටි දහයකට ආසන්නයි. ඒ කියන්නේ අපේ රටේ ජනගහනය වගේ පස් ගුණයක් විතර. මේ පක්ෂයේ සාමාජිකත්වය ලබාගැනීමත් ලේසි වැඩක් නෙවෙයි. සාමාන්යයෙන් සාමාජිකත්ව අයදුම්පත් දහයක් ලැබුණාම අනුමැතිය ලැබෙන්නේ හැම සුදුසුකමක් ම සම්පූර්ණ කරපු එක අයදුම්කරුවකුට විතරයි. ඒ වගේ ම, විවිධ මට්ටමේ සංවිධාන ලක්ෂ පනහක එකතුවක් විදිහටත් මේ පක්ෂය ගොඩනැගිලා තියෙනවා.
මේ තරම් දැවැන්ත දේශපාලන සංවිධානයක් එක පුද්ගලයෙක්ගේ හරි පුද්ගලයන් කීප දෙනෙක්ගේ හරි ඕනෑ එපාකම්වල හැටියට මෙහෙයවන්න බෑ. ඒ වගේ ම, එක සැරේ ම අහසින් කඩා වැටෙන, කිසිම දේශපාලන සහ විධායක හැකියාවක් නැති අයට මේ පක්ෂයේ ඉහළ ම නායකත්ව මණ්ඩලයට පත්වෙන්නත් බෑ. නායකයෝ විදිහට පත් කරගන්න සුදුසු අය හඳුනාගෙන ඒ අය තෝරගන්න ක්රමවේදයකුත් පක්ෂය විසින් හඳුන්වලා දීලා තියෙනවා.
පක්ෂය සහ නායකත්වය විසින් කරන්න ඕන දේවල් හඳුනාගෙන අදාළ පාර්ශ්වවලට වාර්තා කරන බුද්ධි මණ්ඩල සහ පර්යේෂණ අංශ විශාල ප්රමාණයකුත් පිහිටුවලා තියෙනවා. ඒ අයගේ අදහස් සහ යෝජනා විමසලා බලලා ඒ අනුව කටයුතුකිරීම පක්ෂයේ සහ නායකත්වයේ වගකීමක්.
1978 ආරම්භ කරපු ආර්ථික ප්රතිසංස්කරණවලින් පස්සේ චීනයේ ආර්ථිකය ඉතාමත් වේගයෙන් වර්ධනය වෙන්න පටන්ගත්තා. මේ ගැන අපි හැමෝම වගේ දන්නවා. 1999 අවුරුද්ද වෙද්දි චීනය ලෝකයේ දෙවැනි විශාලතම ආර්ථිකය බවටත් පත්වුණා. ඒ අවුරුද්දේ ඉඳලා මේ දක්වා ම චීනයේ ආර්ථිකය දෙවැනි වෙලා තියෙන්නේ ඇමෙරිකා ජනපද සංගමයේ ආර්ථිකයට විතරයි.
මේ මහා වෙනස්කම් එක්ක ඇතිවෙන ලෝක තත්ත්වයන්ට ගැලැපෙන විදිහට චීනයේ නායකත්වයත් වෙනස්වෙන්න ඕන කියලා පක්ෂයට අයිති බුද්ධි මණ්ඩල විසින් ඒ දවස්වල වාර්තාවක් ඉදිරිපත් කරලා තියෙනවා. අඩුම ගණනේ 2010 – 12 කාලය වෙද්දි මේ වෙනස අනිවාර්යයෙන් ම වෙන්න ඕන බවත් ඒ අය අවධාරණය කරලා තිබුණා. මේ උපදේශය ඒ දවස්වල බලයේ හිටිය පක්ෂයේ ඉහළ ම නායකත්ව මණ්ඩලය පිළිගත්තා. ඒ අදහස ඇත්තක් කරන්න නම් ඒකට ගැලැපෙන අය හොයාගෙන අවශ්ය විදිහට හැඩගස්වන්න ඕන. ඉතින් පක්ෂ නායකත්වය ඒ වැඩේ පටන්ගත්තා.
තමන්ට ලැබුණු උපදේශය අනුව කටයුතු කරලා මේ අය 2012 අවුරුද්ද ඉලක්ක කරගෙන අනාගත නායකයෙක් හොයන්න කටයුතු කළා. මේ සඳහා අඳුරගත්ත දෙන්නෙක් හිටියා. එක් කෙනෙක් තමයි 2012 දී පක්ෂ නායකත්වයට පත්වෙච්ච ශී චින්-පිං (习近平, Xi Jinping). අනිත් කෙනා තමයි පෝ ශි-ලැයි (薄熙来, Bo Xilai). මේ දෙන්නා ම ඒ වෙද්දි බිම් මට්ටමේ ඉඳලා ඉහළට විවිධ මට්ටම්වල විධායක තනතුරු දරලා අවුරුදු තිහකට වැඩි දේශපාලන අත්දැකීම් ලබපු අය. මෙහෙම අයට පුළුවන් පළාත් මට්ටමේ විධායක තනතුරුවලට පත්වෙන්න.
අවුරුදු දහයක් විතර පළාත් මට්ටමේ හරි අමාත්ය මට්ටමේ හරි තනතුරු දරලා වැඩ පෙන්නපු අයට තමයි රටේ ඉහළ ම නායකත්ව මණ්ඩලයට පත්වෙන්න පුළුවන්. මෙහෙම කෙනෙක් පළාතක නායකකම කරනවා නම් ඒ කාලය තුළ ඒ පළාතේ ආර්ථිකය වර්ධනය කරන්න, සමාජ ප්රශ්න විසඳන්න, ස්වභාවික උපද්රව ආදියෙන් වෙන්න පුළුවන් අනතුරුවලින් මිනිස්සු සහ සම්පත් ආරක්ෂා කරගන්න, විනය විරෝධී වැඩ සහ දූෂණ කටයුතුවල නිරත නොවී ඉන්න කැපවෙන්න ඕන. අවුරුදු දහයක් තුළ මෙහෙම විධායක වගකීම් තුනක්වත් සාර්ථකව ඉටුකිරීම තමයි පක්ෂයේ නායකත්ව මණ්ඩලයට පත්වීමේ සුදුසුකම බවට පත්වෙන්නේ.
ශී චින්-පිං 2000 අවුරුද්දේ දී චීනයේ නැගෙනහිර ෆූ-වියැන් පළාතේ ආණ්ඩුකාරයා බවට පත්වුණා. මේ වගකීම ඉටුකරන අතර ම ඔහු ඡිං-හුවා විශ්වවිද්යාලයේ ආචාර්ය උපාධිය හැදෑරුවා. ඔහු ආචාර්ය උපාධිය ලබාගත්තේ 2002 අවුරුද්දේ. මේ කාලයේ දී (2001 – 2004) පෝ ශි-ලැයි ආණ්ඩුකාරකම කළේ චීනයේ ඊසානදිග ලියාඕ-නිං පළාතේ. 2002 වෙද්දි නැගෙනහිර ච-චියං පළාතේ නායකත්වය ශී චින්-පිංට ලැබුණා. 2004 වෙද්දි පෝ ශි-ලැයිට ලැබුණේ චීනයේ වෙළෙඳ ඇමැතිකම. 2007 දී ශී චින්-පිංට පැවැරුණේ ෂං-හයි නගරයේ නායකත්වය. ඒ අවුරුද්දේ ම, ඡුං-ඡිං නගරයේ නායකත්වය පෝ ශි-ලැයිට පැවැරුණා. ඉතින් 2012 වෙද්දි මේ දේශපාලන යෝධයෝ දෙන්නා ම ජාතික නායකත්වයට පත්වීම සඳහා අවශ්ය සුදුසුකම් සපුරාගෙන හිටියා.
පක්ෂයේ 18 වැනි ජාතික නියෝජිත සම්මේලනය පැවැත්වුණේ 2012 නොවැම්බර් මාසයේ. ඉතින් පොතේ හැටියට නම් ශී චින්-පිං සහ පෝ ශි-ලැයි කියන දෙන්නා ම ඒ අවුරුද්දේ පත්කරපු දේශපාලන මණ්ඩලයේ ස්ථාවර කමිටුවට (පක්ෂයේ ඉහළ ම විධායක කමිටුවට) පත්වෙන්න ඕන.
ඒත් හදිස්සියේ ම පෝ ශි-ලැයිගේ ඉරණම අනිත් පැත්ත හැරුණා. ඒකට හේතුවුණේ නීල් හේවුඩ් (Neil Heywood) කියන බ්රිතාන්ය ජාතික ව්යාපාරිකයාගේ මරණය. මත්පැන්වලට වහ දාලා බොන්න දීමෙන් ඔහුගේ මරණය සිද්දවුණු බව තහවුරු වුණා. මේ මිනීමැරුමට මුල්වෙලා තිබුණේ පෝ ශි-ලැයිගේ බිරිඳ. අදාළ පොලිස් පරීක්ෂණ වළක්වන්න පෝ ශි-ලැයි මැදිහත්වෙලා තිබුණා. මේකට අදාළ කරුණු මහ ගොඩක් තියෙනවා. ඒවා ඔක්කොම කියන්න ඉඩක් නෑ.
2011 නොවැම්බර් මාසයේ වෙච්ච මිනීමැරුමට අදාළ නඩුව ඉක්මනින් විභාග කෙරුණා. 2012 අගෝස්තු වෙද්දි නඩුවේ තීන්දුව ලැබුණා. පෝ ශි-ලැයිගේ නෝනාට මරණ දඬුවම නියමවුණා. (පස්සේ මේක ජීවිතාන්ත සිර දඬුවමක් බවට පත් කෙරුණා). මේ විභාගය පැවැත්වෙන අතර පෝ ශි-ලැයිටත් තනතුරු අහිමිවුණා. පක්ෂ සාමාජිකත්වයත් අහිමිවුණා. ඔහුට විරුද්ධ තවත් චෝදනා මහ ගොඩක් ඉස්සරහට ආවා. 2013 සැප්තැම්බර් මාසයේ දී පෝ ශි-ලැයිට ජීවිතාන්තය දක්වා සිර දඬුවම් නියමවුණා.
ඉතින් මේ ජංජාල මැද්දේ 2012 නොවැම්බර් මාසයේ දී ශී චින්-පිං කිසිම තරගයක් නැතුව දේශපාලන මණ්ඩලයේ ස්ථාවර කමිටුවටත් පක්ෂයේ නායකත්වයටත් පත්වුණා. 2013 මාර්තු මාසයේ දී, ඔහු චීනයේ ජනාධිපතිවරයා බවට පත්වුණා. ඒත් එක්කම ඊට අවුරුදු දහතුනකට විතර කලින් පටන්ගත්ත පක්ෂයේ නායක ව්යාපෘතිය අවසාන වුණා.
ශී චින්-පිං හැඳින්වෙන්නේ පක්ෂ අරටුවේ නායකයෙක්” (领导核心, leadership core) විදිහට. මීට කලින් මේ හැඳින්වීම හිමිවෙලා තියෙන්නේ මාඕ ත්ස-තුං, තං ශියාඕ-පිං සහ චියං ත්ස-මින් (江泽民, Jiang Zemin) කියන තුන්දෙනාට විතරයි.
එතකොට හූ ජින්-ථාඕ (胡锦涛, Hu Jintao) කියන්නේ කවුද?
පක්ෂ නායකත්වයට හූ චින්-ථාඕ පත්වුණේ 2002 නොවැම්බර් මාසයේ. ඔහුට චීනයේ රාජ්ය නායකකම (ජනාධිපතිකම) ලැබුණේ 2003 මාර්තු මාසයේ.
පක්ෂ නායකත්වයට පත්වෙච්ච කෙනාට ඒ එක්කම හමුදා කොමිසමේ සභාපතිකමත් පවරනවා. රාජ්ය නායකකම ලැබුණු ගමන් ම ඔහු රටේ හමුදාවල ප්රධානියා (රාජ්ය හමුදා කොමිසමේ සභාපතිවරයා) බවටත් පත්වෙනවා. තං ශියාඕ-පිං, චියං ත්ස-මින් සහ ශී චින්-පිං කියන තුන්දෙනාට පක්ෂයේ නායකකම පවරපු අවස්ථාවේ ඉඳලා ම හමුදාවේ නායකත්වයත් පැවැරුණේ ඒ හින්දයි.
ඒත් හූ චින්-ථාඕගේ තත්ත්වය ඊට වඩා වෙනස්. 2002 නොවැම්බර් මාසයේ දී පක්ෂයේ නායකයා වෙලා, 2003 දී රාජ්ය නායකයා බවට පත්වුණු ඔහුට හමුදා කොමිසමේ නායකත්වය පැවැරුණේ නෑ. ඒ තනතුර තවදුරටත් හිටපු ජනාධිපති චියං ත්ස-මින් විසින් ම දැරුවා. හූ චින්-තාඕට මේ තනතුර ලැබුණේ 2005 මාර්තු මාසයේ දී. ඒ කියන්නේ අවුරුදු දෙකක් ජනාධිපතිකම කළාට පස්සේ. ඒ වගේ ම, හූ චින්-ථාඕ පක්ෂ අරටුවේ නායකයෙක්” විදිහට සැළැකෙන්නෙත් නෑ.
එහෙම නම්, 2002 ඉඳලා 2012 වෙන කල් පක්ෂ නායකකමත් 2003 ඉඳලා 2013 දක්වා රාජ්ය නායකකමත් හූ චින්-ථාඕට පැවැරුවේ ඇයි? ඇත්තෙන්ම ඔහුට පැවැරිලා තිබුණේ පක්ෂයේ අනාගත නායකයා ඉස්සරහට එන කල් බැටන් පොල්ල” ඇරැගෙන යෑමේ වගකීමක්. ඉස්සරහට පැනලා පහරදෙන, පක්ෂ අරටුවේ නායකයෙක්” විදිහට හඳුන්වන්න පුළුවන් කෙනෙක්ට එහෙම අතරමැද වගකීමක් පවරන්නේ නෑ.
ඇත්තෙන්ම, හූ චින්-ථාඕ සැළැකෙන්නේ තියෙන දෙයින් සතුටුවෙන, වැඩි දෙයක් බලාපොරොත්තු නොවෙන, වැඩි ක්රියාකාරීත්වයක් නැති (躺平, lying flat) කෙනෙක්” විදිහට. ඔහුගේ පාලන කාලයේ දී වැඩි බරක් ඇද්දේ අගමැති වන් චියාඕ-පාඕ (温家宝, Wen Jiabao).
මේ අතරමැද නායකයාගේ කාලයේ දී ඇතිවෙච්ච ප්රශ්න ගණනාවක් ගැනත් වාර්තාවෙලා තියෙනවා. දූෂණ ප්රශ්නයත් එහෙම එකක්. 1949 ඉඳලා මේ දක්වා කාලය තුළ පත්වෙච්ච දේශපාලන මණ්ඩලයේ ස්ථාවර කමිටු නියෝජනය කරපු අය අතරින් පාලන කාලය තුළ දී දූෂණ චෝදනාවකට වැරැදිකාරයා වෙලා හිරේ ගියේ එකම එක පුද්ගලයයි. ඒ තමයි චෝ යුං-කං (周永康, Zhou Yongkang). ඔහු දේශපාලන මණ්ඩලයේ ස්ථාවර කමිටුවට පත්වුණේ 2007 අවුරුද්දේ. ඒ කියන්නේ හූ චින්-ථාඕගේ පාලන කාලයේ. 2012 අවුරුද්දේ පවත්වපු 18 වැනි ජාතික නියෝජිත සම්මේලනයෙන් පස්සේ ඔහු විශ්රාම ගියා.
ඒ එක්කම, තමන්ගේ පාලන කාලය තුළ දී, චෝ යුං-කං කරපු අකටයුතුකම් (බලය අයථා ලෙස පාවිච්චිකිරීම් සහ දූෂණ වැඩ) ගැන තොරතුරු අනාවරණය වෙන්න පටන්ගත්තා. 2013 අවුරුද්දේ අග වෙද්දි ඔහුට එල්ලවෙලා තිබුණු චෝදනා ගැන විමර්ශන ආරම්භ කෙරුණා. ඒ චෝදනා සනාථ කරලා 2015 ජුනි මාසයේ දී ඔහුට ජීවිතාන්තය දක්වා සිර දඬුවම් නියමවුණා.
මෙහෙම වැඩ සිද්දවුණේ අදාළ කාලයේ නායකත්වය විසින් දූෂණ අකටයුතුකම්වලට විරුද්ධව දැඩි ප්රතිපත්තියක් අනුගමනය නොකරපු හින්දා. ඇත්තෙන්ම හූ චින්-ථාඕ කියන්නේ එහෙම දරදඬු චරිතයක් නෙවෙයි. දැන් ඔහු වයස අවුරුදු 80 කට කිට්ටු කෙනෙක්. ඒ වගේ ම, අසනීපයෙන් ඉන්න කෙනෙක්. ඔහු ක්රියාකාරී දේශපාලනයෙන් ඉවත්වෙලා අවුරුදු 10 ක් ගතවෙලා.
පහුගිය දවස්වල බටහිර මාධ්ය හරහා ඇතිකරපු ආන්දෝලනය ගැන අපි සළකා බලන්න ඕන මෙන්න මේ කරුණු පදනම් කරගෙන. පක්ෂ අරටුවේ නායකයෙක්” වෙලා නැති, ඒ තරම් සක්රීය නැති, වයසක කෙනෙක් ඊට හාත්පසින්ම විරුද්ධ කෙනෙක්ට විරුද්ධව කැරැල්ලක් ගහයි ද?
එහෙම නම් පහුගිය ඔක්තෝබර් 22 වැනි දා වුණේ මොකක්ද? සිංගප්පූරු ජාතික විශ්වවිද්යාලයේ මහාචාර්ය ඇල්ෆ්රඩ් මූ-ලුවන් වූ දක්වලා තියෙන අදහසින් ඒ සිද්දිය පැහැදිළි කෙරෙනවා. ඔහු ඒ ගැන කියන්නේ මෙහෙම. I think this is a health issue, Hu is more of a lying-flat type, he doesn’t want much. I don’t think he’s expressing anger at Xi. (මම හිතන්නේ ඒක සෞඛ්ය හේතු මුල් කරගෙන ඇතිවෙච්ච සිද්දියක් කියලා. හූ කියන්නේ ඉස්සරහට පැනලා විරෝධය දක්වන කෙනෙක් නෙවෙයි. එතුමා ලොකු දෙයක් අපේක්ෂා කරන්නේ නෑ. ඔහු ශි චින්-පිංට විරුද්ධ බවක් පෙන්නනවා කියලා මම හිතන්නේ නෑ).”
ආචාර්ය වරුණ චන්ද්රකීර්ති
A 2015 U-tube from 2015 has been resurrected because the Booker name is in the news when the Booker prize awarded to Karunatilleke.
But the Booker Prize has hardly anything to do with the Booker and Tate industrial giant. The Booker price is funded by the fortunes of people like Ian Fleming (James Bond author) and Agatha Christie ( Detective novels).
Here is the new U-tube which is old wine packaged in a new bottle.
Booker Prize for Sri Lankan Peasants !
Unfortunately, although already in 2015 most scientists knew that the problem of CKDu is linked to drinking water contaminated with fluoride found in the ground geologically, little or nothing has been done since then, except to exploit it to raise hate against, agrochemicals, Foreign capital, etc., claiming that Sri lanka has to protect itself against foreign capital, colonialism and multi-nationals. The political agenda hopes to instead push forward the class struggle to over throw capitalism.
While many elements of capitalism are bad and lead to gross abuses, laws can be enacted against them , and trade unions can control them. However, Sri lanka cannot develop without an influx of foreign capital and foreign technological know how. Such know-how is NOT “patta-pal boru” as claimed by the Nalin de Silva-Jayasumana cabal and fellow-travelers like Venerable Ratana and their pseudo-scientific supporters.
Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea developed by inviting and exploiting foreign capital (mainly Japanese and Western multinationals).
This sort of claim against multi-nationals as well as modern technology was used to ban agrochemicals by the Sirisena Govt., and then Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, throwing the country into chaos, and that was exploited by some people to initiate and manipulate an “Aragalaya”, and attempt to trigger regime change.
While fluoride is good in small amounts (prevents dental carries), it is bad when ingested above a threshold.
The causative effect of fluoride, its bad effects (skeletal fluorosis, CKDu) are enhanced if the water is hard (i.e., if it contains especially magnesium, and possibly other salts, see: Chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology and the effect of multiple-ion interactions – PubMed).
If you have a drinking-water well dug in the ground, but away from a tank or a river, such dug wells and tube wells get their water from the stagnant underground water table, and NOT from the water table of a tank or a flowing river that gets replenished and refreshed all the time.
So CKDu hits people who drink their own well water, instead of water from a tank, river or irrigation canal.
This has been confirmed by many many investigators. I think the importance of clean water is accepted even by those who continue to claim [e.g., Jayalal et al, Kulathunga et al, Vlahos et al NPJ-clean water (2021) 4:50] that small amounts of agrochemicals and metal toxins (Pb, Cd, As), pesticides are the primary cause the cause of CKDu. The answer to Vlahos et al also should counter the articles of Jayalal et al, and Kulathunga et al., as well as those who claim that CKDu is correlated with farming. It has zero correlation with framing, as seen from the two adjacent villages Saaravhoomi and Badulupura.
This answer to Vlahoos et al may be found in Comment on “Water sources and kidney function: investigating chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology in a prospective study”, by P. Vlahos et al
So, the solution for PREVENTING kidney disease is to provide clean water for these poor people. Give them plastic tanks to collect rain water, or provide them Reverse Osmosis water (more expensive solution).
Professor. Rajapaksa of the Peradeniya University had investigated this area (Moneragala and environs) and its CKDu a few years ago. They published a research paper (attached here, with first author Liyanage) showing that the CKDu in the Moneragala Wellawaya area is also due to consumption of bad water containing fluoride and hardness.
Instead of presenting the salient facts, the U-tube video is trying to raise hate against Booker, the company that was invited by Sri lanka to build a sugar factory. It does not even ask the rural people about their source of water.
This was strongly opposed by the JVP, and then when Booker left, a Chinese company was called in, and the Chinese company failed to do the job. Subsequently, Booker was again invited in as they have some of the best technology and experience in the field.
Once again Booker built a factory that produced sugar efficiently and cheaply. But again politics moved in and crippled its efficiency, and finally Palawatta Sugar company took it over, while I think Booker is still a share holder as they brought in Foreign Capital and technology.
Chandre Dharmawardana
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Post Script:
Booker-Tate’s involvement in Pelawatte Sugar Factory as stated by Booker-Tate.
Booker Tate first became involved with what was initially called the Pelwatte Sugar Project in 1980 when it was commissioned by the Sri Lankan government to investigate the feasibility for a sugar project in Monaragala District, an underdeveloped area in the south-east of the island. A full range of services was provided for the feasibility study including soil survey and site selection, agricultural planning, factory studies and financial and economic evaluation.
Following approval of the proposals in the study report, assistance was requested to raise the necessary finance to form a private sector company and to undertake its development. The early years were not easy and a Tamil uprising in 1982 made it hard to interest international financiers. However, with the government taking 49% of the equity and CDC and the Malaysian factory contractors, Kerry Engineering having just over 30% between them, the package was completed with large loans from off-shore lenders.
With finance arranged, the signing of a ten-year management agreement with Booker Tate in 1984 signalled the beginning of project development. Agricultural development continued in parallel with the construction of offices, housing, training centre and a factory.
The 2 800 tonnes cane per day factory was commissioned ahead of schedule in 1986 with the capacity to produce 50 000 tonnes per annum of mill white sugar for local consumption.
As seem inevitable with a rainfed project, the worst drought on record occurred the year after the factory started and in 1989/90 the estate suffered from the attentions of the JVP, a group of Sinhalese extremists in the south, who caused much greater trouble than the larger Tamil rebellion in the north. Despite these problems the factory produced a near capacity 47 000 ts in 1991/92, only two years behind schedule, making a significant profit.
The project has had a tremendous impact on the area in which it is situated with an estimated 20 000 families drawing part or all of their income from it as permanent or casual employees, cane farmers or contractors. Roads, schools and medical services have also benefitted greatly. On-going management included a programme of localisation achieved through training and development both overseas and at the company run training centre.
Due to a government policy decision the management agreement was not renewed at the end of 1993 and a management team supplied by the Chinese government took charge of the project. This change of direction was not successful and the Chinese left the project towards the end of 1997. In 1998, at the request of PSIL, Booker Tate once again become involved with the signing of a technical services agreement. This agreement was concluded in 2000.
Diabetes is a major killer of humans. It is very dangerous. It comes third or fourth after the chief killers namely, heart attacks and strokes. Anyone can develop diabetes by simply eating the wrong foods- by following the sweet path of ‘ignorance is bliss..’ But it makes your life very unpleasant and shortens it greatly. Also, the cost of treating diabetes with insulin has become sky high.
After reading this article, you may decide to take a very great interest in the new scientific reports coming from the USA by medical and food researchers and other specialists in this field.
As in Sri Lanka, in America there is an epidemic of diabetes – millions of Americans have developed it and researchers are working hard to find the true causes of this epidemic. As a result of this research they are learning about different types of food, what food to avoid and what is the best for humans.
They find that lack of general fitness and lack physical exercise over many years contributes to the onset of diabetes and conversely, physical activity can help to avert this disaster. There are strong signals that lack of robust exercise, and this excessive over-consumption of carbohydrates, are the major causes of diabetes.
Exercise makes the heart pump more blood round the body bringing nutrients and this blood reaches the brain and vitalizes it. That, and a good night’s sleep prevents dementia in older people.
It is unfortunate to see beautiful young women putting on unsightly weight as they grow older. When asked why, they respond they get served too much rice at home by their mothers which they are then obliged to eat or appear odd and rebellious.
The human body is a complex of interconnections, of biological and chemical systems, of organs all interacting, supporting, balancing and so on.. the various body systems and functions. And it all comes without a set of operating instructions.
The US Government is financing research in this area because it is a massive problem and costly for all involved. American researchers, all medically trained, are examining human cases to see what is causing it and how to reduce its adverse effects on human lives. Some doctors claim they can reverse diabetes, if caught in the early stages of the progression of the disease.
Then comes the other area of what vitamin supplements are needed to achieve and maintain good health, especially in later life.
All US researchers say that smoking is bad for your health, and so is drinking alcoholic drinks, but to a lesser extent. One researcher showed a slice of white bread and says this is equivalent to five teaspoons of carbohydrate. The body will use one teaspoonful but will react adversely to the other four and will work to neutralize them like a poison. The major point to make here is that we regularly eat enormous overloads of carbohydrates. So we get overweight and eventually, our body gets sick.
Our bodies are multi-fuel burners. We can use carbohydrates, proteins from meat, and fat. We burn these at different rates. Our bodies absorb carbohydrates very quickly. It comes as a big, sudden boost of food, and subsides just as quickly, and soon, you feel hungry again and want to eat more.
Eating meat is better, this is absorbed more slowly, giving you a gentle, more prolonged boost of energy, but the best food is to eat fat which doesn’t spike your insulin but gives a long low, prolonged source of energy..
The researchers say that if you do intermittent fasting this starving burns off excessive body fat and your systems can rest and recuperate from this activity. In addition, experts say, this will also prolong your lifespan.
Doctors warn not to take advice from the internet and accept it, but certainly get information and ideas from the internet and then discuss them with health professionals and your doctor.
CAVEAT: The information given above has been gained from the large amount of information in short film clips to be found on YouTube. Always consult your doctor for advice on health matters.
PH. Oct/2022
Director, Financial Intelligence Unit
Central Bank of Sri Lanka
No. 30, Janadhipathi Mawatha
Colombo 01
Amendments to the Registration of Documents Ord 23 of 1927 is being discussed in parliament, without reference to Act 6 of 2006 to prevent fraud and money laundering.
It is necessary to amend the Ordinance to comply with Act 6 granting powers to the Registrar to reject invalid land transactions from entering the register
In Act 6 of 2006, provision has been made for ‘The Financial Intelligence Unit of Sri Lanka’ to prevent fraud and Money Laundering using land transactions. The Act has provision to check the owners names/addresses/telephone numbers/NIC and to refuse land transactions [deeds] for registration if they do not comply with Act 6
Registration of Documents Ord 23 of 1927 is an impediment to implement Act 6 of 2006. The Registrar does not have the power to reject deeds, under Section 7 of Ordinance 23 of 1927, for non-compliance.
Land transactions with forged signatures are easily registered and money is laundered as the Registrar does not have the power to reject deeds under Section 7 of Ordinance 23 of 1927.
It would make sense if an amendment to Ord 23 has reference to Act 6 giving power to the Registrar to reject invalid deeds by checking the owners’ names/addresses/telephone numbers/NIC as done in all other countries http://fiusrilanka.gov.lk/docs/Rules/2018/2053_20/2053_20_E.pdf
Another US mafia hitman flies in. US Assistant Secretary of State for South & Central Asian Affairs Don ‘Banana2’ Lu enters to threaten escalation of their proxy war. He was here to warn against any attempt by Sri Lanka to signal – let alone entertain – any thought of independence, autonomy, non-alignment or whatever we call it – especially in the run up to the US midterm elections on 8 November. Any upturned finger could tumble their doddering geriatric boss Joe Biden, who threatens the world with nuclear armageddon, and Europeans with frying ice cubes for water, with a shy Arctic-hostage sun and abundant radiation. All to maintain Anglo-American domination.
Full Report
We are supporting the reforms and supporting the President to implement them.” Eran Wickramaratne Oct 19, 2022.
JVP-JJB leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake gave a landmark interview to the Salakuna program of Hiru TV on Monday October 17th 2022. It had several key takeaways.
· The JVP faults the Aragalaya leadership for not moving on to the Parliament as the endgame of the struggle.
· The JVP rejects any partnerships or alignments with other political parties in the opposition.
· The JVP asserts that the formation of a broad bloc is needless because it already exists in the form of the Jathika Jana Balavegaya, the JJB.
· The JVP holds that the SJB is an extension of the UNP administration of the recent past which were responsible for the economic crisis as for corruption, but broke away only because it thought Ranil could never win. The SJB shared the economic policies of President Ranil Wickremesinghe and should not be regarded as any kind of alternative to the status quo. It was second only to the government as a JVP target. Anura Kumara’s critique of the Aragalaya and its leadership was most revealing:
…lawmaker Dissanayake faulted those who spearheaded ‘Aragalaya’ for bringing the project to an early end. Having forced Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee, the protest should have been diverted towards the Parliament. Protesters’ ultimate objective should have been to force the then government to dissolve Parliament and call for a fresh election, the JVPer said…As a result of shortcomings on the part of those who directed ‘Aragalaya,’ the Rajapaksas succeeded in regaining political power.”
(Aragalaya failed for want of proper leadership, Rajapaksas regained power through Wickremesinghe – JVP – The Island)
This clearly lets the JVP’s rival, the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) as well as the Inter-University Student Federation (IUSF), off the hook. Since they are being indicted by the JVP leader for NOT targeting Parliament and forcing an election, logically they shouldn’t be indicted by the Government for doing so!
AKD then turns his guns on the Samagi Jana Balavegaya, the main Opposition party. Obviously the JVP regards itself as the main competitor of the SJB or vice versa.
MP Dissanayake alleged that Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa, who is also the Leader of the Opposition, was also part of the utterly corrupt political party system that ruined the country. The SJB leader, as well as the vast majority of those around him, couldn’t absolve themselves of waste, corruption, mismanagement and irregularities though they now pretended to be paragons of virtue… Lawmaker Dissanayake said that it would be a grave mistake, on the part of the electorate to believe the SJB genuinely represented their interests.
Declaring that they were the real Opposition, MP Dissanayake said that the SJB backed the policies of the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government…MP Dissanayake said that the formation of the SJB should be examined against the backdrop of the split in the UNP, caused by the belief the party couldn’t win under Ranil Wickremesinghe. MP Dissanayake, in an obvious reference to the rebel SLPP groups, alleged that they distanced themselves from the government after failing to achieve their objectives, and agendas.” (ibid)
The JVP leader’s rejection of a United Front with anyone is unambiguous:
…Responding to a spate of questions on the JVP’s readiness to form a government of its own, MP Dissanayake insisted that the party wouldn’t, under any circumstances, join other political parties. Referring to the JVP joining the CBK government, in 2004, and backing Sarath Fonseka and Maithripala Sirisena at the 2010 and 2015 presidential elections, MP Dissanayake said that they wouldn’t repeat that strategy.”
(ibid)
AKD’s strategic perspective has some glaring errors. It flies in the face of decades of left electoral successes in Latin America, in what are known as Pink Tide 1.0 and Pink Tide 2.0. None of these have been by a single party. All have been by broad platforms, blocs, alliances, united fronts of left and progressive forces.
AKD’s go-it-alone strategy has been abiding failure of the JVP. That’s what it did in 1971 and 1986-89, and both experiments were failures. In a famous quote attributed to Einstein, it was observed that doing the same thing and expecting a different result was the definition of lunacy”. The same thing referred to in this case is not armed struggle which the JVP has clearly renounced. It is the practice of partisan political sectarianism; political unipolarity and unilateralism, or more colloquially, going it alone.
Though the JJB is a most commendable political enterprise, the very fact that it is headed by Anura Kumara, the JVP leader, clearly makes the JJB an auxiliary of the JVP, not an independent social/civic movement or mass organization.As for Anura Kumara’s allegation against the SJB, it could be made against every new party which ruptured from its parent party, or against any new leader who has taken over from an old one. What is crucial is whether or not the new party has made a policy pivot and presents a new profile in relation to its earlier home. Obviously SWRD’s SLFP did so.
JVP leader Anura Dissanayaka’s allegation that the SJB backed the policies of the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government is unsustainable given the 20-point frontal critique and presentation of a counter-perspective that Opposition and SJB leader Sajith Premadasa made in direct response to President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Oct 6 roll-out of his economic perspective in Parliament.
This is all the more reason why one cannot help but wonder why the SJB’s Economic Policy Unit member Eran Wickramaratne has taken a position and espoused a view that plays into the anti-SJB propaganda of Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the JVP, i.e., the SJB’s main competitor on the opposition race track. This was Eran Wickramaratne’s explicit view in a newspaper this week:
…We have taken the position that we will remain in Opposition and support the Government…That is why, when the decision was made to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), we supported it. There are many, many other reforms that need to be made.
…Thus, we are telling the President to please get the support of those who made him President and push the reforms through. We are playing a positive role and we will support the reforms in Parliament. The challenge for the President is actually getting the SLPP’s support for the reforms. That’s why we don’t have to take the Executive office to do that, because people haven’t given us the mandate to do so. We are supporting the reforms and supporting the President to implement them. I should be clear on the non-economic factors. We support the economic reforms, but we don’t support the President’s moves against innocent protestors in this country…”
(‘Will support economic reforms, but not moves against protestors’ – The Morning – Sri Lanka News)
This is clearly contrary to SJB leader Sajith Premadasa’s spate of public speeches as well as his more formal 20-point critique of President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s economic policy. It was the opposite of an expression of endorsement and support.
SJB Economic Policy Unit members Kabir Hashim, a senior politician, and Dr Harsha de Silva, both of whom have a solid electoral base, have been strongly critical of President Wickremesinghe’s recent policies especially on taxation. As the citizens’ hardships grow, Eran Wickramaratne’s statement this week that We are supporting the reforms and supporting the President to implement them”, were it to be taken as SJB policy, would seriously cramp the party’s style as the main Opposition and play neatly into the hands of the rival JVP-JJB and its leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu visited Sri Lanka last Wednesday, October 19. He is reported to have arrived early morning. Having briefed US Embassy staff, he then presided over a civil society roundtable, after which he paid a visit to President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Sabry. Given that civil society does not see the president eye-to-eye, there’s little doubt that these two sessions yielded two completely different pictures of Sri Lanka’s situation. In any case, while commending civil society, Mr Lu went on record stating that President Wickremesinghe was the right person to get country out of crisis.” This was obviously not a sentiment shared by civil society.
There is such a thing as diplomatic protocol. Although State propaganda immediately made use of Mr Lu’s statement, as one commentator pointed out on Twitter, there was no way a high-ranking US diplomat would describe a country’s president as the wrong person to lead the country, especially during a courtesy call. Yet if Mr Lu’s visit reassured certain members of civil society that the world’s most powerful purveyor (or propagandist, depending on how you see it) of liberal democracy was looking out for them, his visit to the president’s office left them cold. The notion that the US will promote their values, which they feel to be in the country’s interests, no longer seems to hold as it did, say five years ago.
This is symptomatic of a wider paradigm shift among and within civil society, concerning the international community. There is a sense of disappointment at the way the Core Group operated in Geneva. While nationalists deride the UNHRC as a Western conspiracy, liberals and Colombo’s NGO-cracy point out it is not doing enough to pressurise the government. Prime among their concerns are the abolition of the Executive Presidency and the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The civil society argument is simple and tenable: given the scale of the economic crisis, there has never been a better time to unify people on issues like anti-terror legislation and minority rights. As such, it is within not merely the jurisdiction of the UNHRC but also their responsibility to hold the State to account.
The government’s argument, on the other hand, is that the economic crisis trumps all other considerations and that more time is needed, until the worst is over, to focus on civil society concerns. As expected, it has rejected the UN resolution.
There are two schools of thought about the UNHRC session. The first holds that it represents a diplomatic failure, the second that it underlines the country’s human rights failures. Both note the diminution of support for the country from the Global South at the session, though the government highlights the abstentions it won” as some sort of a victory. Yet while the first school argues that the country should do more to canvass support from other states, the second contends that the government must push hard-hitting reforms to get out of the mess it pushes itself into every March or September at Geneva.
Here, then, are the main cleavages within Sri Lanka’s civil society and intellectual circles: between what I call the human rightists and the diplomatists. The diplomatists do not view human rights as ends in themselves: they consider the resolution of such issues as vital to the country’s image abroad. The human rightists, on the other hand, consider them as ends in themselves, which have no meaning outside their frame of reference. They need to be pursued because they are in line with certain fundamental values.
Writing to Factum, Sanja de Silva Jayatilleka notes that in the absence of healthy respect for human rights … diplomacy, however skilled, can only play a limited, increasingly marginal role.” By contrast, Paikiasothy Savaranamuttu in Groundviews argues that the resolution keeps Sri Lanka on the international agenda.” For me this is the main dividing line: between the diplomatist view of human rights as a platform for creative diplomacy” (Jayatilleka) and the human rightist view of it as a reference point” (Savaranamuttu). I am not denying that the two share certain opinions. But the differences are too stark. This comes out palpably in the way civil society views the political dimensions of their concerns.
Civil society groups and activists seem to assume, and argue, that organisations like the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank look into political governance structures, outside their jurisdiction in economic reforms. The young protesters at Gotagogama who demanded early on that the IMF not bail out the government were clearly naïve enough to think that the IMF would prioritise their concerns; that Colombo’s civil society shared their perspective is somewhat, to say the least, astounding.
But it is also understandable. If these groups view human rights and democracy as universal values that have no frame of reference outside themselves, if they view them as detached from international politics, then they will see every multilateral organisation, including those having no jurisdiction over human rights, as advocates of its causes.
This argument does not and should not belittle civil society itself. Civil society has played an important role in the country’s political and social life, and it should not be marginalised or made to feel like an outsider, or worse, a terrorist. Its move against the proposed Bureau of Rehabilitation should be welcomed by all progressives, whatever their political orientation. Yet the inability of civil society to see the issues they raise as ends in themselves rather than means to ends – to understand that issues like human rights are used by various groups to promote their ends – is perhaps their blindest spot. That sections of civil society have been co-opted by this regime only proves my point: even authoritarian States can use progressive rhetoric to ensnare these groups, even while brutally suppressing dissent.
That is why I believe that civil society urgently needs to go beyond where it is now. It must use international platforms to advocate their causes. It must also come to terms with the fact, the undeniable fact, that human rights cannot be delinked from international politics, and that it is used by certain countries to advocate certain agendas. This should not make civil society apathetic to the excesses of the State: it must work against the State whenever the State works against them and those they represent. Yet to jump on one bandwagon or the other, internationally and at home, in the guise of protecting human rights, would be a pyrrhic victory: the yahapalana regime and its co-option of civil society is a case in point here. Civil society’s dependence on foreign patronage should hence not blind it to certain truths about their causes, and the wider political dimensions of those causes.
For me, civil society assumptions about human rights, democracy, accountability, and international politics can all be traced back to their failure to emphasise the distinction between a State and a regime. Many civil society activists conflate the two. Yet a State is not a regime: the latter can be replaced, the former cannot and should not.
In no country in the world, not even in the United States, does civil society square the one with the other. And yet, Colombo’s civil society has given the impression that it is working against the State, instead of specific regimes harbouring authoritarian tendencies. For all their faults, the protesters at Gotagogama – the overwhelming majority of them – did make this distinction: that is why, even after occupying one government building after another, the leftist student groups that led the protests until Gotagogama disbanded warned visitors that these establishments belonged to the State, and as such belonged to all.
The diplomatists see human rights and other concerns for what they are: a platform for creative diplomacy, and not ends in themselves. I think this approach helped us a great deal in 2009, when we won support across countries and regions. The government, however, failed to seize the moment, to use it to promote rather than belittle human rights. It is one thing, after all, to call out what Eric Hobsbawm called the imperialism of human rights”, and quite another to consider human rights as alien to the country’s culture. To paraphrase a former diplomat, human rights is not a devil to be exorcised, but something to be used for the benefit of all. At the end of the day the responsibility of a country’s State is to its people, and to their well-being. Any regime that strays from this responsibility relinquishes its right to exist. This is the argument the young Gotagogama protesters used.
In the sense that values like democracy and human rights are universal, and apply to every country, every society, every community, I am hence in agreement with civil society. In the sense that they do not exist outside themselves, that international institutions like the IMF consider them universal enough to supersede all other priorities and factors, including their functional jurisdictions, I consider civil society to be in error. That it appears to be growing tired of the UNHRC, the Core Group, and other alliances, shows that it has realised the limits of multilateral engagement and the flaws of its assumptions. A paradigm shift thus seems to be in order. Whether civil society will take the leap remains to be seen.
The writer is an international relations analyst, researcher, and columnist who can be reached at udakdev1@gmail.com
A crucial discussion with Sri Lanka’s creditors is scheduled to be held on 03 Nov.During this meeting, Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring is to be discussed at length.
Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the President on National Security, Sagala Ratnayake, met with the outgoing IMF Resident Representative for Sri Lanka, Tubagus Feridhanusetyawan, and its incoming Resident Representative, Sarwat Jahan, at the Presidential Secretariat, on Thursday evening.
The President Media Division (PMD) said yesterday that the three-member IMF team had met with Ratnayake and exchanged views on prior action and debt restructuring.
Ratnayake assured the IMF team that he would brief President Ranil Wickremesinghe on the matters that were discussed at this meeting, and convey the President’s response to the IMF. President’s Senior Adviser on Economic Affairs, R.H.S. Samaratunga, also joined the discussion.
The Friends of Sri Lanka Group in the European Parliament was re-launched at the Sri Lanka Residence in Brussels on October 25.
The Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the European Union, Grace Asirwatham, announced the appointment of Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Tomáš Zdechovský from the Czech Republic, who represents the European People’s Party (EPP), the largest party in the European Parliament, as the Chair of the Friends of Sri Lanka Group and Maximilian Krah, a German MEP from the Identity and Democracy (ID) party, as the Vice-Chair of the Group. MEP Zdechovský is a member of the Delegation for Relations with the Countries of South Asia (DSAS) in the European Parliament, while MEP Maximilian Krah is the Standing Rapporteur for South Asia in the European Parliament Committee on International Trade (INTA).
The new Friends of Sri Lanka Group is formed with twenty-two MEPs from Belgium, Germany, France, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Portugal, Hungary, and Slovenia belonging to various political parties such as the European People’s Party (EPP), Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), Renew Europe (Renew), Identity and Democracy (ID), European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), and European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE-NGL).
During the event, Ambassador Asirwatham briefed the Friends of Sri Lanka Group on the current political and economic situation in Sri Lanka and the status of EU-Sri Lanka relations.
The newly appointed Chairperson MEP Zdechovský and Vice Chairperson MEP Krah also shared their views on promoting relations between Sri Lanka and the European Parliament and assured to make the group vibrant in terms of interaction and engagement with Sri Lanka.
The Friends of Sri Lanka Group in the European Parliament was formed in 2006 with the help of the members of the ECR party from the UK in the European Parliament. It is an informal group of MEPs who support Sri Lanka in the EU Parliament on an issue basis.
The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Brussels last re-launched the Friends of Sri Lanka Group in the newly elected European Parliament in July 2019 in Strasbourg. However, following Brexit, the group became defunct as the UK MEPs who were in the majority of the group left the EU Parliament. Former UK MEP Geoffrey Van Orden served as the Chair of the group from its inception until BREXIT in January 2020. The re-launch of the group was delayed due to the COVID-19 restrictions.
It is very clear that the drama over dual citizenship came with ulterior motive to initially prevent Gotabaya Rajapakse from contesting Presidential Elections. This was why the 19a was hurriedly passed in March 2015 which eventually led to Gotabaya Rajapakse having to renounce his American citizenship to contest Presidential Election. A faux pas made, which the former so-called independent election commission members especially its Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya has to be responsible for was that inspite of the dual citizenship clause in place, he did not ensure no dual citizens were allowed to contest the August 2020 General Elections. The independent election commission failed to uphold the constitutional amendment of March 2015 & deny dual citizens from contesting elections in August 2020. These MPs make up the present Parliament & cannot be removed because they hid their dual citizenship status & the election commission failed to filter their nominations. The only honest nominee who admitted being a dual citizen was unceremoniously removed as a MP. The election commission has to feel ashamed for their fallacy.
The 19th amendment brought dual citizenship clause – March 2015
The 20th amendment removed the dual citizenship clause – October 2020
The 21st amendment returned the dual citizenship clause – October 2022
Though dual citizenship was introduced in March 2015, alongside independent commissions, the independent election commission did not uphold the 19a clause when the onus was on them to ensure no dual citizens were contesting general elections. This is a major faux pas by Mahinda Deshapriya the Election Commissioner. This failure is further established because he removed Geetha Kumarasinghe as a MP simply because she admitted she was a dual citizen on the nomination paper. The other dual citizen candidates hid their dual citizenship status. If candidates hide their dual citizenship, was it not the duty of the election commission to ensure that the 19a dual citizenship clause prevented any dual citizens from entering parliament?
The present MPs in Parliament are those who contested August 2020 General Elections.
The law cannot be applied in retrospect – which means the 21a return of dual citizenship clause cannot be applied to the MPs who got elected in August 2020 to Parliament. However, given that they contested when the dual citizenship clause of March 19a was in place, they can and should be challenged in a court of law.
The PAFFREL has made a RTI request to identify MPs who hold dual citizenship. They have made this request to the Speaker, the Dept of Immigration & Emigration. Therefore, the Speaker and the Dept of Immigration & Emigration must respond to this request. PAFFREL proposes to legally challenge the MPs who are dual citizens.
Similarly, citizens can also file FR with the Supreme Court – citing the 19a dual citizenship clause which is applicable to the MPs who contested and won the 2020 August General Elections. This will be applicable to all the 10 MPs currently accused of being Dual Citizens as they hid their dual citizenship status when the constitution clearly established no dual citizens could contest. Thus, they can be legally challenged and be unseated if their dual citizenship is established. The Speaker, the President & the relevant authorities are required not to play politics but to make public all dual clitizens. Those MPs that contested 2020 August elections and won should be unseated if they are dual citizens using the 19a that is applicable to them.
Now that 21a has brought back dual citizenship clause – all of the 10MPs who are dual citizens cannot be allowed to contest unless they renounce their dual citizenship.
It must be also added that being a dual citizen does not make a MP unpatriotic while being a 100% Sri Lankan citizen does not guarantee a MP is patriotic either. There are enough and more of MPs who are 100% Sri Lankan citizens but traitors to the nation. There may be dual citizens who are more patriotic than 100% Sri Lankan citizens. The argument that MPs should not be dual citizens is relevant because of the political pressures the other nation may exert on a dual citizen MP. We saw this pressure exerted on the former President and was a key reason why he could not lead the nation as per national agenda or interest. This is a core reason why many people are happy to bring the dual citizenship clause though it does not guarantee that a person is 100% patriotic being a Sri Lankan citizen. At the same time even 100% Sri Lankan citizens can be bought over by political pressures – all these test the integrity of the politicians and leave the voters puzzled as to who they can actually trust and which MPs have integrity to lead the nation.
The politicization of constitutional amendments is clear. 19a was brought to prevent Gotabaya Rajapakse contesting Presidential Elections while 21a was brought to prevent BR from contesting elections though he entered Parliament from national list while being a dual citizen after 20a brought back provision to allow dual citizens to enter Parliament.
What is clear is that all of the constitutional amendments are with political agendas and not in the interest of the country or its people.
Shenali D Waduge
බුද්ධ ශාසන, ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්ය විදුර වික්රමනායක මැතිතුමා,
135, අනගාරික ධර්මපාල මාවත, කොළඹ 07
ගරු මැතිතුමනි,
ඓතිහාසික කුරුන්ධි විහාර පරිශ්රයේ ආරක්ෂාව තහවරු කර ගැනීම
වසර 27කට වැඩි කාලයක් ශ්රී ලංකාවේ ප්රතිරූපය ඉහළ නැංවීමට, භෞමික අඛණ්ඩතාවය ආරක්ෂා කිරීමට සහ අපගේ ආරක්ෂක හමුදාවන්ට සහ යුද්ධයෙන් පීඩාවට පත් දුප්පතුන්ට උපකාර කිරීමට සැමවිටම පියවර ගන්නා දේශප්රේමී ශ්රී ලාoකිකයින්ගෙන් සැදුම්ලත් ‘ස්පර්’ නමින් හදුන්වන අප සoවිධානය, ඓතිහාසික කුරුන්ධි විහාර පරිශ්රය වෙත මෑතක සිට අන්තවාදී දේශපාලනික පෙලඹවීම් මත යම් ප්රචණ්ඩකාරී කණ්ඩායම් නීති විරෝධී ලෙස මැදිහත්වීමේ හේතුවෙන් විහාරස්ථානයේ සංරක්ෂණ කටයුතු අඩාල වී ඇති අයුරු ගැන සලකා බලා, පහත සඳහන්කර ඇති කරුණු පිළිබඳව ඔබගේ කාරුණික අවධාණය යොමු කිරීමට කැමැත්තෙමු.
අපගේ ජාතියේ අනන්යතාවයට සෘජුවම බලපාන සාධක ලෙස බෞධ දර්ශනය සහ සිංහල භාෂාව පිළිගැනීමේ වැදගත්කම පිළිබඳවත්, අපේ ජාතික වටිනාකම්වලට අතිරේකව, අපේ සංස්කෘතික උරුමයන් සංරක්ෂණය කළ යුතු බවට ඔබ එකඟවනු ඇතැයි අපට සැකයක් නැත.
දේශප්රේමී ශ්රී ලාංකිකයන්ගේ ගෞරවාදරයට පාත්ර වූ දේශපාලනඥයකු ලෙස, අනතුරට ලක්ව ඇති ශ්රී ලංකාවේ ජාතියට සහ අනාගත පරපුරට අහිමි වන අපගේ ඓතිහාසික ස්ථාන ආරක්ෂා කර ගැනීමට ඔබ දායක වනු ඇතැයි අපි විශ්වාස කරමු
ස්තුතියි!
ගයන් ද මෙල්
ලේකම් – ‘ස්පර්’ සංවිධානය, වික්ටෝරියා, ඕස්ට්රේලියාව.
After seeing a Facebook advertisement for one of the paint manufacturers in Sri Lanka, I called their head office to see if I, as a walk-in customer, could also claim the same discount offered to online buyers.
I was refused, but on my insistence, I was connected to their sales department, and a young lady executive picked up to reiterate that the offer is only for online purchases with free delivery, as stated in the advertisement.
My rationale was that since it is a walk-in deal, the delivery portion of online shopping goes away, so the company benefits in the end.
Knowing that these frontline sales staffs have little authority in taking decisions, I asked her, without offending her, to check with the senior sales team and give an update on the request.
Surprisingly, after a few hours, she returned the call to inform me that the offer was only valid for online purchases, and it was confirmed by her senior management.
I thanked her profusely only because giving an update by calling is not in our culture and it was a rarity.
Now I am trying to see what I missed there.
Unless they entice customers with hefty discounts and pass off their rejected and/or inferior-quality products to unsuspecting online shoppers, otherwise it does not make any sense to me.
Can someone enlighten me, please?
Sasanka De Silva Pannipitiya.
ග්රාමීය ආර්ථික පුනර්ජීවන හා ආහාර සුරක්ෂිතතා වැඩසටහන සාර්ථකත්වයට ආණ්ඩුකාරවරුන් හා පළාත් සභා නිලධාරීන්ගේත්, හිටපු මහජන නියෝජිතයින්ගේ සෘජු දායකත්වය අවශ්ය බව අග්රාමාත්යය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා පවසයි.
ග්රාමීය ආර්ථීක පුනර්ජීවනය හා ආහාර සුරක්ෂිතතා වැඩසටහන සම්බන්ධයෙන් 2022.10.27 දින අරලිය ගහ මන්දිරයේ දී පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාරවරුන් සමඟ සූම් තාක්ෂණය ඔස්සේ පැවැති සාකච්ඡාවකදී අග්රාමාත්යවරයා මේ බව අවධාරණය කළේය.
විවිධ සංවිධාන හා ආගමික නායකයන් මෙම වැඩපිළිවෙළ හා සම්බන්ධ වී සිටි. ග්රාමීය මට්ටමට ගොවිජන සේවා බලතල යොමු කිරීම පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාරවරුන්ට පැවරෙන ප්රධාන වගකීමකි. වැඩසටහන ග්රාමීය මට්ටමින් ක්රියාත්මක කෙරෙන ආකාරය සම්බන්ධයෙන් කෘෂි ,පශු ,සෞඛ්ය, අධ්යාපන අංශවල සැබෑ තොරතුරු ඇතුළත් වාර්තාවක් සතිපතා අවශ්යයි.
ආණ්ඩුකාරවරු යටතේ පවතින සමුපකාර සමිතිවල සම්පත් හා නියෝජිතයින්ගේ සහාය මෙම වැඩසටහන සඳහා එක් කරගැනීමේ හැකියාව පවතී.
ග්රාමීයව ජනතාවගේ ආදායම් මාර්ග වැඩිකර ගැනිමටත් මෙම වැඩසටහන මගින් අපේක්ෂා කෙරෙයි. ඒ ඒ පළාත්වලට ආවේණික කෘෂි අපනයන බෝග නිෂ්පාදනය කෙරෙහි වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමු කළ යුතුව ඇත.
ඒ තුළින් මෙරට අපනයන ආදායම ඉහළ නංවාලීම අපේක්ෂා කෙරේ. එවැනි භෝග නිෂ්පාදනයේදී ගොවි ජනතාවට සහන ලබාදීමට රජය දැනටමත් පියවර ගනිමින් සිටී.
පළාත් මට්ටමින් සංචාරක කර්මාන්තය දියුණු කිරීම සඳහා වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමු කළ යුතුව ඇති අතර සෑම පළාතකම සංචාරක ගමනාන්ත සංවර්ධනය කිරීමටත්, සංචාරක කවුළු විවෘත කිරීමටත් පියවර ගත යුතුය.මේ වනවිට ගුවන් සමාගම් රැසක් මෙරට ගුවන් ගමන් ආරම්භ කිරීමට සූදානම් වී ඇති හෙයින් විදේශ ආදායම් වැඩිකර ගැනීමට සම්ප්රදායෙන් ඔබ්බට ගොස් ක්රියා කිරීම අත්යවශ්ය වේ.
සෑම ක්ෂේත්රයක්ම ඒකාබද්ධ සංවර්ධන වැඩසටහනක් ඔස්සේ කටයුතු කිරීම මඟින් වැඩි ප්රතිලාභ ලබාගත හැකි වන බැවින් මේ සඳහා පෞද්ගලික අංශයේ සහය ලබා ගැනීම ද වැදගත් ය. ජාතික මට්ටමින් ආර්ථිකය නංවාලීමේ වැඩසටහන් ක්රියාත්මක කිරීම මඟින් ජාත්යන්තරයේ විශ්වාසය දිනාගත හැකි ආර්ථික ක්රියාවලියකට දැනටමත් රට අවතිරණ වී ඇතැයිද අග්රාමාත්යවරයා මෙහිදී අවධාරණය කළේය.
මෙම අවස්ථාවට පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාරවරුන් සහ පළාත් ලේකම්වරුන් මෙන්ම අග්රමාත්ය ලේකම් අනුර දිසානායක, රාජ්ය පරිපාලන අමාත්යාංශ ලේකම් එම්. එම්. පී. කේ. මායාදුන්නේ යන මහත්වරු ද එක් වූහ.
අග්රාමාත්ය මාධ්ය අංශය
We should go beyond the traditional systems to earn more foreign income.
Direct involvement of public representatives in government food security programme is essential”
– Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena
Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena states that the direct contribution of governors and provincial council officers and former public representatives is essential for the success of the rural economic revival and food security programme.
The Prime Minister emphasized this in a discussion regarding the Rural Economic Revival and Food Security Programme held with the Provincial Governors through Zoom technology at the Temple Trees on 27.10.2022.
This program is also expected to increase the income of the rural people. More attention should be paid to the production of agricultural export crops specific to each province. Through that, it is expected to increase the export income of this country. The government is already taking steps to support farmers in the production of such crops.
Prime Minister highlighted that at the provincial level, more attention should be given to the development of the tourism industry and that steps should be taken to develop tourist destinations and open tourism windows in every province. As many airlines are ready to recommence flights to Sri Lanka, they should go beyond the traditional methods to increase foreign income.
It is also important to get the support of the private sector since more benefits can be obtained by working through an integrated development program in every sector. The Prime Minister also emphasized that the country has already embarked on an economic process that can win the trust of the international community by implementing programmes to boost the economy at the national level.
Mr. Anura Dissanayake Secretary to the Prime Minister, Mr. M. P. K. Mayadunne Secretary of the Public Administration Ministry, Provincial Governors as well as Provincial Secretaries participated in the event.
Prime Minister’s Media Division
The Western goal is to weaken, divide and ultimately destroy our nation. They are openly stating that, since they managed to break up the Soviet Union in 1991, now it’s time to split Russia into many separate regions that will be at each other’s throats.” Russian President Vladimir Putin
Cheney ‘wanted to see the dismantlement not only of the Soviet Union and the Russian empire but of Russia itself, so it could never again be a threat to the rest of the world.’...The West must complete the project that began in 1991 …. Until Moscow’s empire is toppled, though, the region—and the world—will not be safe…” (Decolonize Russia”, The Atlantic)
Washington’s animus towards Russia has a long history dating back to 1918 when Woodrow Wilson deployed over 7,000 troops to Siberia as part of an Allied effort to roll back the gains of the Bolshevik Revolution. The activities of the American Expeditionary Force, which remained in the country for 18 months, have long vanished from history books in the US, but Russians still point to the incident as yet another example of America’s relentless intervention in the affairs of its neighbors. The fact is, Washington elites have always meddled in Russia’s business despite Moscow’s strong objections. In fact, a great number western elites not only think that Russia should be split-up into smaller geographical units, but that the Russian people should welcome such an outcome. Western leaders in the Anglosphere are so consumed by hubris and their own blinkered sense of entitlement, they honestly believe that ordinary Russians would like to see their country splintered into bite-sized statelets that remain open to the voracious exploitation of the western oil giants, mining corporations and, of course, the Pentagon. Here’s how Washington’s geopolitical mastermind Zbigniew Brzezinski summed it up an article in Foreign Affairs:
For Full Report
Washington’s Plan to Break Up Russia, by Mike Whitney – The Unz Review
The Court of Appeal today upheld the death sentence imposed against the accused who committed the murder of his fellow junior student Selvanayagam Varapragash who was an Engineering Faculty student at Peradeniya University in 1997.
However, the main accused Balendran Prasad Sadeeskaran was never served with summons during the trial as his whereabouts were unknown.
The Court had issued a warrant for his arrest.
The victim Selvanayagam Varapragash was a first-year engineering student at that time, to inhumane ragging which resulted in his death.
After the incident on the 6th of October 1997 and after receiving treatment for some time, he passed away on 26th of October 1997.
According to the evidence made available to the trial Court that the main accused as well as the other students who were involved in the ragging of the deceased were second year students of the Faculty of Engineering. It was revealed that the deceased was a first-year student or in other words, being a fresher to the faculty had been the reason for him being subjected to this kind of ragging of inhumane nature. It is in evidence that the deceased was taken forcibly from the faculty to a house where the accused and other students lived and was subjected to ragging. When the first witness saw the deceased, he was almost naked and doing sit-ups as ordered by the accused.
The prosecution evidence revealed that the deceased had identified the accused’s photograph and two other photographs as the persons involved in ragging him while he was receiving treatment.
The deceased’s father was Dr. Sivaguru Selvavinayagan Prakashan, a doctor by profession. The deceased was his only son and his daughter was elder to the deceased.
During the post mortem, the Judicial Medical Officer revealed that acute renal failure due to muscle injury following physical exertion was the cause of death. He has opined that the internal injuries to the deceased have occurred due to him being subjected to excessive physical exercise.
The Court of Appeal observed that there was ample evidence before Trial Judge to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused had the required knowledge of his action in terms of the 4th limb of section 294 of the Penal Code for committing the murder.
No one can believe such serious injuries can occur if the person who forced the accused to do such extreme exercise in the name of ragging unless he does that knowing very well that his actions are imminently dangerous and likely to cause death”. These are the observations made by Court of Appeal Justices Sampath Abayakoon and P. Kumararatnam while delivering their judgment regarding this appeal.
Balendran Prasad Sadeeskaran was the first accused in the case and failed to appear before the Court from the very inception of the case. There had been eight students accused of committing this crime. After the conclusion of the non-summary inquiry, the Magistrate of Kandy has committed three of the accused to stand trial before the High Court. However, on the instructions of the Attorney General, one of them had been discharged from the proceedings due to lack of evidence, and Balendran Prasad Sadeeskaran and the second accused were indicted before Kandy High Court.
The second accused had pleaded guilty to a lesser offence. After trial in 2014, the main accused was sentenced in his absence for the punishment of death. The main accused had given instructions to his lawyer to file this appeal.(Lakmal Sooriyagoda)
Minister Vidura Wickramanayaka stated that he intends to propose a mechanism to have the Nayaka Theros informed in the case of an allegation related to monks, through the police, coordinated by the Ministry, and to implement the law against them as well as to take disciplinary action.
The Minister also said that it is expected to introduce a new Act with powers to establish a separate structure to deal with this said concern in the future under the guidance of Nayaka Theros.
The Minister stated the above at the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Buddhasasana, Religious & Cultural Affairs.
The committee drew special attention to the damage caused to the order by monks who are impious and engaged in certain business activities and accordingly the need of the Ministry to intervene to prevent such.
There was also a discussion about the release of lands that do not belong to the Department of Archeology in connection with the Mulathivu Kurundi Vihara.
The Minister instructed the officials of the Department of Archeology to give the remaining part to the people for the purposes of agriculture and other activities in coordination with the relevant institutions, except for the lands that have been surveyed by the Department of Archeology.
It was also discussed that due to lack of provision of Rs. 32 lakhs required for the practical tests of the Kalayatana examination held in the year 2016, the examination has not been conducted to date. The minister who expressed his displeasure about the examination being postponed for a period of 6 years due to the lack of provisions and instructed the Secretary to the Ministry to immediately intervene and conduct the examination promptly.
The Minister also mentioned the program of providing solar power systems to Buddhist sacred places. The Minister also said that he is also expected to make a request to the Mahanayake Theras to get support from the Buddhist sacred places that are capable of contributing for this.
Attention was drawn to the deterioration of discipline in universities where monks are educated. It was discussed that 45% of the monks who usually enter Buddhist universities leave the order in the final year. Accordingly, the committee emphasized the need to take further action to control this situation. Accordingly, the Minister also indicated that he expects to discuss and take measures with the Ministry of Higher Education in the future.
There was also a lengthy discussion about ordaining children at an early age. The Minister emphasized the need to prepare a specific program in this regard, as it is a responsibility assigned by the constitution to protect Buddhism. Accordingly, the Minister said that steps will be taken to appoint a Subcommittee of the Ministerial Consultative Committee to discuss this matter in the next meeting.
Committee Members K. Sujith Sanjaya Perera, Gunathilaka Rajapaksha and a Ministers and officials of the institutions belonging to the Ministry were also present on this Committee meeting held.
Sri Lanka reiterated that the Indian Ocean should not be an area of conflict or the playground” for world military powers.
This Ocean as a vital channel of sea communication facilitates a large volume of energy, raw material and food supply between the East and the West, thus it is imperative that we keep it safe. We don’t want this to be an area of conflict and war or the playground of world military powers,” State Defence Minister Premitha Bandara Tennakoon said.
Bandara represented Sri Lanka at the recently concluded Defence Ministers’ Conclave 2022 at India’s premier biennial global defence exhibition – DefExpo2022 – at Gandhinagar, in India.
Welcoming the partnership between India and Sri Lanka in the defence sphere, the minister noted that DefExpo 2022 provided a great opportunity for a deeper understanding of the nature of transformation in modern warfare across five dimensions.
As Indian Ocean nations, ensuring maritime security plays a pivotal role in our development process as this great ocean is our lifeline with the rest of the world. We should also strive to further strengthen maritime diplomacy across the Indian Ocean to converge with that of other oceans,” the minister stressed.
He said that the countless arrests of large-scale smuggling rackets most importantly dangerous drugs, arms and people smuggling in this region is a result of shared intelligence between regional countries.
State Defence Minister’s comment followed President Ranil Wickremesinghe who vowed last that Sri Lanka would not participate in any military alliance, and does not want the problems of the pacific coming into the Indian Ocean.
Addressing the nation on September 14, President Wickremesinghe clarified that Sri Lanka would stay out of any big power rivalry and any of these rivalries would not lead to conflict in the Indian Ocean.
The geopolitics of the Indian Ocean has unfortunately made Sri Lanka the punching bag for Hambantota,” Wickremesinghe said referring to China-run port in Southern most point of the island.
Source: IANS
Japan has granted medical equipment worth JPY 800 million (USD 5.5 million) to the National Hospital Sri Lanka (NHSL) in Colombo and Colombo North Teaching Hospital in Ragama to strengthen the sustainable medical system adaptable to the current economic crisis and to strengthen the readiness against COVID-19.
The Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mizukoshi Hideaki handed over the medical equipment to the two hospitals in the presence of Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella.
Accordingly, Japan has provided modern Japanese medical equipment including MRI, CT scanner, angiography, central monitor, and bedside monitors. These appliances will also be utilized to inspect and treat people with chronic illnesses such as non-communicable diseases, which remain serious challenges as the biggest cause of death in Sri Lanka.
The CT scanner is the first of its kind to be introduced at the National Hospital and installed in its newly established Open Patient Department, which can treat around 1,500 outpatients per day on average.
I first wrote on wind power when in india I had to face power cuts. Then Sri lanka never had power cuts. We spent funds found on loans to buy coal and oil to provide electricity.
My working in the hills of Nuwara Eliya, kandy and Sabaragamuwa tell me that we can easily find wind power to provide all our needs. Spain is very special because I have seen wind turbines mounted on small angle iron towers. We can easily find the towers and can find wind energy if only our leaders decide to import a few hundred turbine mechanisms and mount them among our hills as Spain has done.I have toured Spain several times in my car and have seen mechanics mounting these with ease. This can be done overnight- within six months, working in the manner DS did in bilding colonization schemes. We did it then and can do it again.
May I quote from one of my fans, Noor Nizam. He wrote on this as far back as w2009.
It is time for our leaders to open their eyes. Let us roll up our sleeves and get down to work instead of going begging- kleen suit empty pocket.
Home Unlabelled Wind energy electricity generation is a reality in Sri Lanka
By Sri Lanka Guardian•August 27, 2009••Comments : 0
By Noor Nizam
(August 27, Toronto, Sri Lanka Guardian) The news article written by Garvin Karunaratne, formerly of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service under the heading The Wind Turbines of Spain , France and Portugal ” dated August 25, 2009 and published in an Internet Newspaper which highlights issues concerning Sri Lanka is of great value and concern. Gavin Karunaratne should be commended for his boldness to take to task the lethargic and selfish bureaucrats on this issue of renewable energy development of electricity energy in Sri Lanka . When Gavin Karunaratne is stating that Someone is trying to prove that wind power is not feasible and the oil lobby is so strong as to sabotage the feasibility of wind power”, the message should be well taken by others too, handling national planning and development strategies to assist the little island of nearly 21 million people to come out of the rut of poverty, misery, the destruction of the civil war and the dependence of foreign powers.
Our planners and bureaucrats should think anew. They should not work by the Plans drafted and approved by interested groups, be they aid, private sector or political, who have had their say in lobbying the big wigs in power in various countries where it was meant not to develop our countries but to give our countries Aid in a manner that the Aid money flowed back to the donor countries with interest. John Perkins’ Confessions of an Economic Hitman” should be a guiding light in our new thinking of planning and development strategies.
But what worries me most is the statement made in the article that – Someone is trying to prove that wind power is not feasible and the oil lobby is so strong as to sabotage the feasibilit y of wind power”.
While there is much room to believe the later, Wind Energy Electricity generation has been winning the struggle against those no-green power generation pundits of the CEB and the International lobby that has been promoting natural gas, coal power and fossil fuel power generations since 2002. In 2002, a US aided wind assessment study was launched in Sri Lanka and the final report was released in 2003. The Wind Farm Analysis and Site Selection Assistance Project report covered areas such as North and Southeast Coast – Hambantota to Buthawa, West Coast – Kalpitiya Peninsula and Puttalam, Northwest Coast – Mannar Island, North Coast – Jaffna, and Central Province – Ambewela,
M. Young and R. Vilhauer, Global Energy Concepts, LLC, Kirkland, Washington , NREL were the researchers who did the study for US Aid.
The first 3 MW grid connected pilot wind power plant was set-up in the country at Hambantota. It has been commissioned in 1999 and the monthly plant factor has been in the range of 5% to 15% in year 2006. Sri Lankan researchers have made substantial studies on this plant to strengthen the viability of wind energy electricity generation. Mention has to be made of the team that made this possible. The study under heading Wind power development and its status in Sri Lanka ” 2006. – The Research project team was from Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, comprised of Sri Lankan scientist from the University of Peradeniya , supported by National Science Foundation. The scientists were – A. Atputharajah, A.P. Tennakoon, R.P.S. Chandrasena, J.B. Ekanayake, S.G. Abeyratne. This paper discusses the wind power development in the world and summarizes the status in Sri Lanka . Possible research areas, that was needed to be motivated in Sri Lanka to check the feasibility of wind power generation, have
also been discussed.
It was subsequent to such indigenous and pioneering research studies and engagements that wind energy electricity generation has today reached its present position in Sri Lanka .
In 2006, the CEB signed Letters of Intent in mid August 2009 with four commercial developers for the purpose of building plants to produce 34 megawatts of wind power on the west coast of Sri Lanka . The proposed wind plants with installed capacity of 34 megawatts were to produce about 1 percent of total power generation in Sri Lanka . Venturing into green energy, in its continued effort to produce green energy non dependent on fossilized imported oil Sri Lanka’s Hayley s Group in around 2008, built a wind power farm on the Western coast of Sri Lanka. A 10 MW wind power plant was being built at Nirmalapura at Kalpitiya in Puttlam District to augment Hayley’s already existing green energy power generating plants like the Hydropower stations.
Another project in the area is the farm of wind power generators set-up by Sulunga Energy. The farm of wind power generators will have seven turbines when completed with each turbine producing 1.5 MW of power. Preparation for signing a Power Purchase agreement by the end of 2008 was completed. The venture was initiated by Sulunga Energy. Interlink Group the holding company of Sulanga Energy has substantial investment in real estate in Kalpitiya. Additional new projects were also approved and Indian wind turbine manufacturer Suzlon Energy has received orders to supply 10MW of wind turbine capacity to a project developed by Senok Wind Power in Sri Lanka . The project is supplied with eight units of Suzlon’s S64 1.25MW wind turbines, will come up in the Kalpitiya region of Sri Lanka . Supply of turbines to the project already commenced and in process in 2009, with project completion slated for fiscal 2010.
Non-the-less, the President Mahinda Rajapaksa government has to be commended in it’s thrust for indigenous resolutions to issues that are facing the Nation, specially at a time, the Nation is striving hard to pull it’s self from the rut of the 3 decades of civil war that had and will never have any meaning, except to the international forces that are still committed to destroy our island in the Indian ocean – Sri Lankan, the pearl of the Indian ocean as narrated by great writers and poets.
It was indeed heartening to note that The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka granted investment approval to four companies for investments worth US $ 68 million.
Chairman/Director General Dhammika Perera signed the agreements on behalf of the BOI and presented the BOI Certificate of Registration to the investors.
Two investment agreements worth US $ 37 million were signed with Vidatamunai Wind Power (Pvt.) Ltd and Seguwantivu Wind Power (Pvt.) Ltd. The companies will set up two wind power plants at Vidatamunai and Seguwantivu in Puttalam. Akbar Brothers, Hirdaramani Group and Debug Computers are the main promoters of the venture. The two wind power plants will supply 20 megawatts of power to the national grid. The ventures will utilise 13 and 12 wind turbines imported from Spain at Vidatamunai and Seguwantivu.
Director of the companies Asgi Akbarali said that wind power is a green energy and will not affect the environment. When the power plants are completed these will be the only wind power plants that are operational in Sri Lanka .
Directors of Vidatamunai Wind Power (Pvt) Ltd and Seguwantivu Wind Power (Pvt) Ltd Asgi Akbarali and Moiz Najimudeen signed the agreements. CEO Manjula Perera was also present at the occasion.
But the cream of the wind energy electricity generation is still to be announced. The project which is in the pipeline and has received the go ahead signal in principal” from the Government of Sri Lankan, is a 134 mega watt project that will be spread in the North specially and parts of the North Eastern provinces. Proudly naming the Nation that always has been a friend of Sri Lanka at good and bad times, through they had inter-governmental relationship frictions due to political misunderstanding and HR issues, claimed as bad by certain of their national politicians, when in reality the world has begun to understand the truth slowly and with patience, Canadian consultants are working on the project planning with eagerness and dedication. The team is led by a Canadian lady who is a Production Engineer and Wind Energy Consultant with many years of experience in the field with the consulting Canadian Wind Energy Engineering Company, which is engaged in some of the innovative and largest Wind Energy Electricity generating projects in Canada . The Sri Lankan partnering company, which is already in the business of renewable energy production, hopes to engage all it’s resources to make this venture a real joint success in the coming months.
The driving force of this Canadian-Sri Lankan Renewable Wind Energy Generation Project is the Sri Lankan Canadian Diaspora comprising of Sri Lankan Canadian citizens who want to contribute their best towards the infrastructure development of the North in the aftermath of the end of the armed struggle between the LTTE and the Security forces in May 2009. Like the rise of the phoenix from the ashes, the destroyed supply of electricity in the North will arise again with green energy projects like the Canadian-Sri Lankan Renewable Wind Energy Generation Project with assistance from Canada , a friend always to Sri Lanka . As Mr. Garvin Karunaratne wishes, Wind Energy Electricity Generation will be a reality in Sri Lankan for the next generation.
Photo: Opening session of the WFB Conference. Credit: A conference participant.
Buddhism Is Losing Its Voice in Asia
By Krishan Dutta
BANGKOK (IDN) — The theme of this year’s 30th General Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB) was Buddhism in the Time of Crisis”, but many disillusioned members of this premier Buddhist organization say it is the WFB that is in crisis.
The conference was poorly organized, and the theme of the conference was not addressed. There was no presentation from members about the challenges facing Buddhism in Asia at a time when these challenges are very serious, especially in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar”, one long-time Indian member of WFB, who wanted to be named Kumar, told IDN.
Many committed members blame the Thai national Phallop Thaiarry, its secretary general, for over a decade for many of WFB’s ills. One Malaysian member who left the WFB in disgust a few years ago told IDN there is too much political manipulation and clambering for self-glory”.
At this year’s general conference held on October 19 and 20 in Bangkok, Thaiarry told the participants that the Executive Committee (on October 18) had appointed him as the new President. As envisaged in the constitution, he will be appointing a new secretary general, which prompted one member to comment: He runs the WFB like how Xi Jinping runs the CCP”.
WFB was founded by the world-renowned Sri Lankan Buddhist scholar Dr Gunapala Malalasekera in 1950, and its headquarters was initially in Colombo. His vision was to promote unity and amity among Buddhists for the well-being and advancement of Buddhism, particularly in Asia, as the continent was gradually coming out of the yoke of colonialism when Buddhism was significantly undermined in the colonies over centuries. The headquarters of the WFB was permanently moved to Bangkok in 1969.
The WFB has a three-story building in a prime location in the centre of Bangkok with an auditorium and a library, both of which are hardly used. The World Buddhist University (WBU), which is affiliated with it is also based there, but it does not conduct any courses nor research into contemporary Buddhism and its practices. Its Rector, Anil Sakya says the WBU is designed to be a coordinator of Buddhist ‘think tanks’, but he complained about a lack of support by member organizations.
The website of the WFB has not been updated for over two years except to report on visits of dignitaries to its headquarters building for photo opportunities or of the secretary general’s visits overseas. Its library page has not been updated for seven years, and the last WFB newsletter available on the site goes back to April 2015.
Senaka Weeraratna, a Sri Lankan lawyer and Buddhist activist, says there is despondency among Buddhists across Asia today, and it is due to lack of an effective institutional mechanism that can lend support when a Buddhist institution, Buddhist community or even a pre-dominant Buddhist nation is in danger”.
Weeraratna pointed out to IDN that traditional Buddhist countries such as Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Laos are now under severe pressure to distance themselves from extending state patronage to Buddhism and erase their Buddhist country identity and embrace a secular identity. In contrast, no such pressure is being applied to countries in other parts of the world such as the Middle East or the Catholic belt of Europe”.
Buddhism’s main appeal today, especially in the West, is its externally passive, non-confrontational and peace-loving nature. But, perhaps because of this, it does not have a powerful central authority such as the Vatican, Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) or the World Council of Churches.
Many Buddhists, especially in South and Southeast Asia, believe that Dr Malalasekera’s vision for WFB was to build such an organization. Not confined only to fellowship.
Dr B.R. Ambedkar, the Indian Buddhist scholar and leader of the huge Dalit community in 1956, along with Dr Ambedkar, embraced Buddhism in public in Nagpur and said the same thing at the inaugural function of WFB in 1950. He said he wanted the WFB to go beyond fellowship and be more active in an interventionist sense in world affairs. In fact, due to its earlier visionary leadership, today, WFB has got accreditation to the UN and its agencies, such as UNESCO and many other international bodies.
Weeraratna believes that the current leadership of the WFB should be more activist. WFB must identify threats to Buddhism and Buddhist communities and alert the membership of the WFB to these threats. We see the lack of substantial networks of support driving threatened Buddhist nations or Buddhist communities into a sense of despair and hopelessness at times of an emergency,” he notes.
The theme of the WFB meeting was appropriate to the current situation, but there were hardly any speakers to address the issue. Two old monks from Japan and China spoke at the only plenary session giving the normal monotonous and unvarying sermon on the peaceful message of Buddhism without any reference to the current threats facing Buddhism. The only talk that was relevant to the challenges facing Buddhism today was a presentation by Anil Sakya, a Nepal-born Thai Buddhist monk.
He spoke about his work designing material for young people on sustainable development and issues of impermanence. But he said that Buddhists need to build networks to disseminate this knowledge through the WFB regional centres (there are 204 of these across the world), but he has got no support at all. He hinted that he would step down from his post when it comes for renewal soon.
Dr Kalinga Seneviratne, author of Empowering from Within: Path to Protect Buddhism in Asia”, who prepared a consultancy report for Buddhist organizations in 2020 after extensive location research across Buddhist communities in South and Southeast Asia, was present at the WFB meeting. But he told IDN that his request for a speaking slot to present his findings and recommendations was denied by Thiarry.
This organization is not interested in empowering Buddhists or discussing what is needed for that. It is an insult to the founding fathers of the organization, as WFB was set up for exactly that,” argues Seneviratne. WFB badly needs a leadership change, but Buddhist passivity and customary inaction at time of crisis is standing in the way.”
We need Buddhist think tanks in the modern era of Buddhism. Where are they?” asks Weeraratna.
WFB’s constitution has established the framework for it through the ‘standing committees’. But under the current WFB leadership, these committees have been emasculated such that they will not become a threat to the WFB leadership, according to insiders.
These standing committees are a joke,” says Seneviratne. They meet together at the general conference every two years and you never hear of them until the next one”.
This year the standing committees were not even allocated rooms to meet. They had to sit in the corner of the auditorium to come out with a statement of intent to be presented to the closing session. This is not the way to discuss policy issues or activities,” complained Kumar. Standing committees are designed to initiate and implement action plans, but these have been completely sidelined.”
IDN sent a set of questions to WFB for comment, but they did not respond.
In the past decade, many farsighted and proactive Buddhists have left WFB in disgust and formed their own regional organizations such as the Delhi-based International Buddhist Confederation and the Bangkok-based World Alliance of Buddhists.
Weeraratna says that today, there are rising challenges to Buddhism to the extent of undermining its very existence as the pre-dominant religion of many Buddhist-majority nations. This hardly merits much attention in discussions of International Buddhist Organizations or International Buddhist Conferences. The solidarity that countries in Buddhist Asia showed towards each other in the distant past has greatly evaporated or become non-existent.”
Few who may have a vision and ideas to tackle the crisis facing Buddhism in Asia were not given the floor to speak. Many were there merely for a photo opportunity, it seems; they lined up at the end of the meeting to congratulate Thaiarry and take a picture with him,” noted Seneviratne.
This is the tragedy facing Buddhism in Asia,” he argues, who says his field research has shown that Buddhism is under attack across Asia by well-planned and well-funded evangelical groups.
We need WFB to lead the mobilization of Buddhist communities to counter these movements. It’s socio-economic, as well as cultural in nature that could be countered by empowering communities in a peaceful way. Sadly, I can’t see the current leadership of WFB being capable or interested in doing it”. [IDN-InDepthNews — 26 October 2022]
Link to the writer’s previous IDN article: https://www.indepthnews.net/index.php/the-world/asia-pacific/5688-manipulations-at-world-fellowship-of-buddhists-conference
Photo: Opening session of the WFB Conference. Credit: A conference participant.
IDN is the flagship agency of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate.
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. You are free to share, remix, tweak and build upon it non-commercially. Please give due credit.KALINGA SENEVIRATNETHE WORLDASIA-PACIFIC 26 OCTOBER 2022
A VISITING HONG KONG scientist has just won the Nobel prize for experimentally proving that the real world… isn’t real.
Wait, what? The world isn’t real?
Correct. And even though the physical world is not real, it has nonetheless given scientist Alain Aspect the Nobel Prize for Physics, along with two other scientists in the same field of research.
Aspect is a Senior Fellow at the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study at City University. He’s actually a Frenchman, but he is on a team of top global scholars that visits Hong Kong regularly.
So, what did he and his colleagues actually discover? It’s interesting. To answer that question, we have to go back a century to the 1920s onwards. An argument started between Einstein and the fathers of a new field of science called quantum physics.
FLAWED THEORY
In 1935, Einstein said that the discoveries about the nature of the basic particles that made up everything in the world, including people and objects and space itself, were fundamentally flawed. Quantum physics as a theory only worked if the particles were not subject to the rules of time and space.
And that, of course, made no sense. It would mean that at a fundamental level, nothing was subject to the rules of time and space. Nothing was actually real.
Just try and defend that proposition, Einstein challenged his opponents.
The quantum fathers admitted that Einstein’s point was correct – but they stuck to their findings, even admitting that it made them sound like mystics. They even noted their theory’s similarity to ancient eastern sayings like reality is a dream in the mind of God”.
Early experiments suggested that Bohr, was correct – so Einstein said that the theory wasn’t wrong, but was certainly incomplete.
ONGOING DISPUTE
The dispute remained unresolved for decades. Einstein was seen as the leader of the side which said that reality was real, while the quantum fathers, led by Niels Bohr, said that reality was an illusion. It remained basically unsolved at the time of Einstein’s death in 1955.
But in the 1960s and 1970s, several scientists worked out solid experimental ways to check whether particles were physically real” or not. The findings were clear. They appeared to indicate that the quantum fathers were right.
REMARKABLE EXAMPLE
A big step was taken with an experiment designed in 1981. Aspect and his team split a photon (a unit of light) into two pieces and moved them 12 meters (40 feet) apart.
They then showed how the pieces behaved as if they were still parts of the same particle. This showed that as far as sub-atomic particles are concerned, there’s no such thing as time and space. And everything is made of subatomic particles, so there’s no such thing as time and space for anything. Or anyone.
In other words, physical reality – the 3D world in which we exist and move around in – is an illusion or a projection. This is now the default position in physics.
The bestselling science writer at the moment is Carlo Rovelli, who writes in his latest book: We are nothing but images of images. Reality, including ourselves, is nothing but a thin and fragile veil, beyond which … there is nothing.”
Congratulations to Professor Aspect.
නව්ය කෘෂිකාර්මික දැනුම, තොරතුරු තාක්ෂණය, පුනර්ජනනීය බලශක්තිය, ප්රවාහනය සහ සංචාරක යන ක්ෂේත්ර සඳහා නෙදර්තන්තය වැනි රටවල ආයෝජන වර්තමානයේ දී ශ්රී ලංකාවට වඩා වැදගත් වනු ඇතැයි අග්රාමාත්ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා පවසයි.
2022.10.27 දින අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේදී නව නෙදර්ලන්ත තානාපති ( Bonnie Horbach) බොනී හෝර්බච් මහත්මිය හමුවූ අවස්ථාවේදී අග්රාමාත්යවරයා මේ බව සඳහන් කළේය.
යටිතල පහසුකම් සංවර්ධනය සහ කෘෂිකර්මාන්තය ඇතුළු විවිධ ක්ෂේත්ර සඳහා නෙදර්ලන්තය ලබාදී ඇති සහය පිළිබඳව අග්රාමාත්ය වරයා මෙහිදී තානාපතිවරියට ස්තූතිය පලකළ අතර මෙරට සියලු ග්රාමසේවා වසම් වල රජය ගෙන යන ආහාර සුරක්ෂිතතා වැඩසටහන් පිළිබඳව ද පැහැදිලි කළේය.
තොරතුරු තාක්ෂණය, සංචාරක කර්මාන්තය සහ කෘෂිකර්මාන්තය ඇතුළු ක්ෂේත්ර රැසක ශ්රී ලංකාවට විශාල විභවයක් ඇති බවත් ගෝලීය ආර්ථික තත්ත්වය වත්මන් දුෂ්කර අවධියෙන් මිදීමෙන් පසු තම රට තවත් ව්යාපෘති ක්රියාත්මක කරනු ඇති බවත් නෙදර්ලන්ත තානාපතිවරිය මෙහිදී සඳහන් කළාය. තම රට නව්ය කෘෂි තාක්ෂණයෙන් ඉදිරියට ගොස් ඇති බැවින් නෙදර්ලන්ත විශේෂඥතාව ශ්රී ලංකාවට ලබාදිය හැකි බවත් නෙදර්ලන්තයේ බොහෝ ප්රදේශ මුහුදට සමීප වීමත්, භූමිය ලවණ ජලයෙන් සමන්විත වන නිසාත් නෙදර්ලන්ත විද්යාඥයන් ලවණ සහිත ඉඩම්වල වැවිය හැකි නව අර්තාපල් ප්රභේදයක් නිපදවා ඇති බවත් කී නෙදර්ලන්ත තානාපතිවරිය මුහුදට ආසන්න ප්රදේශවල, විශේෂයෙන් උතුරු සහ නැගෙනහිර එම අර්තාපල් වගාව ආරම්භ කිරීම සඳහා ශ්රී ලංකාවට අර්තාපල් බීජ ලබා දිය හැකි බවද සඳහන් කළේය.
දේශගුණික විපර්යාස, වෙළෙඳ හා වාණිජ කටයුතු, වරාය සංවර්ධනය සහ ඒකාබද්ධ ව්යාපෘති ඇතුළු සහයෝගීතාව සඳහා වෙනත් ක්ෂේත්ර පිළිබඳව ද මෙහිදී වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමු කෙරිණි.තානාපතිවරිය මෙහිදී අග්රාමාත්යවරයාට සහතික වූයේ ශ්රී ලංකාවේ ද්විපාර්ශ්වික සබඳතා සහ සංවර්ධන සහයෝගීතාව ප්රවර්ධනය කිරීම ප්රධාන කාර්යය වන බවයි.
අග්රාමාත්ය මාධ්ය අංශය
Netherlands to provide innovative agro knowhow to Grow Food Program
Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena thanks the Netherlands for the assistance provided to infrastructure development and agriculture and various other sectors and urged for technical knowhow and more investments in agriculture, information technology, renewable energy, transport and tourism.
This was stated when the Ambassador of Netherlands Bonnie Horbach called on him at the Temple Trees in Colombo today (27). She said Sri Lanka has vast potential in many areas including information technology, tourism and agriculture and she was confident that her country would undertake more projects once the global economic situation get over the current difficult phase.
The Prime Minister explained the ‘grow food’ programmes undertaken by the government at 14,000 Grama Sevaka divisions and said that in addition to the Maha season of paddy, cultivation of many other crops in hitherto uncultivated lands is likely to provide a good yield by the first quarter of next year.
Ambassador Horbach said her country has advanced in innovative agro technology and the Netherlands expertise could be provided to Sri Lanka. She said that the Netherland scientists have developed a new variety of potato that can grow in salty lands as most areas of her country is closer to sea and the land consist of saline water and that potato seeds could be provided to Sri Lanka to start potato cultivations in areas close to sea, especially in the north and east.
They also discussed other areas for collaboration, including climate change, trade and commerce, ports development and joint projects.
The new Ambassador of Netherlands assured the Prime Minister her prime task would be to promote bilateral ties and development cooperation during her tenure in Sri Lanka.
An accomplishment for a nation is always winning an election in a global setting. The goal becomes greater significance when membership is granted by secret ballot to a respected international rights body like the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Bangladesh just won a record 160 votes in the Asia-Pacific area, defeating other 7 aspirant candidates in the region, to become a member of the 47-member human rights organization for the 2023–25 term. Since 2006, Bangladesh has now successfully attained the rank five times. Bangladesh had previously triumphed in 2006, 2009, 2014, and 2018.
The triumph is more important than ever this time. The country is currently dealing with the difficulties of a smear campaign and propaganda regarding the alleged human rights breaches in Bangladesh. A politically motivated group is spreading false information about Bangladesh both domestically and internationally in an effort to undermine the nation’s successes in protecting and supporting peace, human rights, development, and democracy. Even though the rumors are unfounded, some individuals have begun to speculate that Bangladesh may soon be subject to additional sanctions or an embargo because of its violations of human rights. Additionally, the combined catastrophe of the COVID-19 epidemic and the Ukraine war have significantly altered the global human rights framework. The overwhelming victory in the election of 2022 prompts the discussion of why Bangladesh won the election once more in 2022. One can comprehend the causes of the achievement if one focuses on the historical account, track record, and recent advancements and endeavors of Bangladesh.
The first and most important factor may be Bangladesh’s unflinching dedication to peace and human rights ever since the nation was founded, which has been unwaveringly maintained during the course of the country’s succeeding years of development. People and political forces persistently demanded human liberation, self-determination, fairness, and equity in all political activities and conflicts even during the Pakistan era. In the same way, in 1972, constitutional protections were put in place to ensure a firm commitment to social justice and human rights. Notably, Bangladesh has ratified international legal documents like the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) to demonstrate its respect for peace and human rights. Later, the nation expanded its unwavering dedication to peace and human rights. Therefore, Bangladesh’s essential and long-standing dedication to concerns of international human rights has served as a catalyst for the win.
As a result of Bangabandhu’s commitment to human rights and peace: The second motivating factor was Bangabandhu’s steadfast commitment to human liberation and world peace. There is no doubting that Bangabandhu’s ideas and worldview align with the stark perception of Bangladesh in the international community. The foundation of Bangladesh’s foreign policy has been the country’s deeply ingrained and altruistic global-centric vision of peace and humanity. His protracted battle and commitment to humanitarian ideals made him eligible for membership in the UNHRC.
Bangladesh’s major involvement in peacekeeping missions: Bangladesh consistently pursues peace and respect for human rights in its fundamental internal and international policy objectives. The nation focuses on defending and advancing peace and human rights in regional and international fora. Bangladesh has consistently fought against injustice, upheld human rights, and spoken out in favor of these causes. Bangladesh has extended its support and endeavors in every UN system initiative relating to peace, development, and human rights, including passing resolutions, taking actions, and building collective force. For instance, the then-prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, was instrumental in the adoption of Resolution 53/243 on the “Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace” by the United Nations General Assembly in 1999. Later, the UN unanimously ratified Bangladesh’s resolution on a “culture of peace” in 2021. Therefore, the ongoing fight for peace and human rights may have contributed to the triumph this year.
Rohingya humanitarian issue: Bangladesh’s unwavering humanitarian support for the Rohingya population is a significant aspect to be taken into consideration in this regard. The nation has been giving people food and shelter, distributing the load, and accepting security threat risks. Bangladesh has been hailed as a global champion of human rights. The Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, has courageously defended human rights in a country with a large population. Sheikh Hasina’s attribution of the title “mother of mankind” is the best illustration of how the international community has come to trust and respect Bangladesh. This perception and conviction may have led a big number of nations to support Bangladesh and applaud its achievements. The fact that Bangladesh is a member of the international forum has been a strong suit for it.
Bangladesh’s diplomatic influence for justice and human rights in regional and international fora: Another thing to consider is Bangladesh’s expanding diplomatic influence for the cause of justice and human rights in regional and international fora. In the past ten years, the nation has made a significant impact on bilateral and multilateral concerns like climate change, maintaining international peace, and human rights. Bangladesh is currently the third world’s voice and leader when it comes to securing climate justice. The nation served as the Vulnerable 20 and Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) Chair (V-20). Rabab Fatima, the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the UN, became the first female Chair in the organization’s history as a result of her dedication and contributions. Additionally, Bangladesh assumed leadership of interregional and regional organizations including the Indian Ocean Rim Association and the D8 Organization for Economic Cooperation (IORA). These elements might be crucial in achieving such accomplishment. Notably, Bangladesh has been portrayed in the international arena with fresh vigor and responsibility thanks to PM Sheikh Hasina’s daring, visionary, and bold attitude on international crises and emergency situations. Therefore, playing a strong diplomatic role and taking a forceful stance on topics affecting global improvement on the international stage may help you win the election. As a result, the international community placed trust and confidence in Bangladesh when choosing its UNHRC representative.
Bangladesh’s development issue: Bangladesh has advanced significantly in socioeconomic and developmental fields over the past ten years. Through socioeconomic programs and strategies, the nation has improved the lives of millions of its citizens. High economic growth, food security, and encouraging human development advancements have made the nation news in international media. This could be what led to the triumph. Bangladesh has experience and success in this area; thus, the international world may believe that Bangladesh can defend and advance human rights. Further evidence of the nation’s capacity and competence to protect international human rights can be found in the advancement of women’s empowerment, progress in establishing labor rights, accomplishments in the SDGs and MDGs, as well as in the global hunger, food security, and human development indexes. Bangladesh was able to win the election thanks to its own qualifications and capabilities.
Michelle Bachelet’s Bangladesh visit: The words of the Chief of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, who visited Bangladesh from August 14–18, 2022, are another factor that could contribute to the success. Following her visit, a report was released that shows how confident the UN was in Bangladesh’s commitment to human rights. The international scene has benefited from this report. Positive findings from a UN rights agency are unquestionably a success and have significant effects. The UN member nations may use the study as a guide when deciding to place Bangladesh in charge of the world’s human rights issues for the next three years.
Last but not least, Bangladesh’s extensive expertise in addressing human rights issues may also be a contributing element. To be mentioned, Bangladesh served in the UNHRC twice consecutively between 2018 and 2021, totaling four terms from 2009 to 2021. Additionally, the nation has a solid track record when it comes to protecting human rights. Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen added, “Bangladesh’s victory vindicated again that the international leaderships have faith in Sheikh Hasina’s government and the track record of Bangladesh’s respect for human rights. The Bangladeshi government is constantly in the forefront of advancing justice, human rights, and democracy. Who else will serve as the Council member where Bangladesh has the qualifications and track record to assume responsibility for the daring task? Bangladesh may receive votes from UN members who believe it can contribute due to its background in handling human rights issues. It comes as a result of the faith the international community has in Bangladesh’s contribution to the United Nations’ instruments for human rights.
In conclusion, Bangladesh’s overwhelming victory in the UNHRC election in 2022 has demonstrated the nation’s dedication to and support of human rights. It demonstrates Bangladesh’s ongoing dedication to promoting human rights, world peace, and development. Bangladesh has the required qualifications and capacity to join the rights organization. The nation’s powerful advocacy for human rights and peace, long-standing fight for justice and equality, steadfast diplomatic presence in the international community, and unwavering dedication to advancing and defending the rights of the global commons all played a role in the success of the rights global body.
As we know, the entire country is in chaos with food insecurity and associated problems. People often seem to claim that their income is insufficient to manage their day-to-day expenses. Therefore, malnutrition, food of poor quality, and starvation have been hot topics for the past few days in the media and have not yet been finished. News is emerging one after another, and people sometimes can be seen on the streets protesting the rising cost of living. Low income has resulted in the deprivation of balanced diets for the poor. The situation is getting worse daily, and access to affordable and healthy food for low-income earners appears far out of reach. On top of that, contaminated foodstuff with hazardous compounds in the market has been a great concern.
A recent development is the detection of aflatoxin exceeding the maximum allowable limit in Thriposha according to the head of the government’s public health inspectors’ (PHI) union. Thriposha is a nutrient supplement given to pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and young children who need the most. The key ingredients of Thriposha include maze, soya and milk powder, and people can easily make delicious, nutritious, and simple meals. Even though we have not seen the laboratory test reports or satisfactory evidence to prove their allegation, it is a timely requirement to make the public aware of the health impacts of aflatoxins and how to prevent their ingestion. This is because aflatoxins have created a public health concern and are of great interest.
What is aflatoxin?
People are curious about the speculated news of aflatoxin, and the word ‘aflatoxin’ appears new to the public. It is scientific terminology for a secondary metabolite produced by a kind of fungi known as Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. The fungus is a type of microorganism that can be seen only through a microscope and is commonly known as mould (puss in Sinhala). However, they are visible to the naked eye when forming colonies. The toxic compounds generated by the fungi are called mycotoxins, and aflatoxin is a kind of those. Therefore, it is not a chemical being added during food processing or storage.
Aflatoxins are biologically active compounds, and the human palate cannot detect them while eating or chewing the foodstuff. Nevertheless, both humans and animals can unintentionally consume contaminated food with aflatoxins. There are different types of aflatoxins, but the four main ones are known to be B1, B2, G1, and G2. However, four of which, B1 has been responsible for high incidence and toxicities.
How foodstuff contaminate with aflatoxins
It is interesting to know how aflatoxins get into the food items. The responsible fungi, Aspergillus spp is reported to be soil-borne and produce aflatoxins under extreme environmental conditions like drought and high humidity. They are well suited to colonising due to their ability to thrive in high temperatures. Besides, they can grow well on many substrates. A high level of aflatoxins in the environment is often linked to insects and the wind. Importantly, Insects can act as carriers of fungal spores from an infected plant to a healthy plant and transfer the spores through minor notches or wounds caused by insects.
Maize is one of the raw materials used to produce Thriposha and is also a staple agricultural crop that is consumed worldwide. More importantly, it is an essential commodity in the world in terms of production and revenue. Notwithstanding, in most regions of the world, maize is infected with aflatoxins, especially in tropical and subtropical areas. The occurrence of aflatoxin contamination is reported to be sporadic and highly reliant on environmental conditions. Even though more news is speculated that maize is suspected to be contaminated with aflatoxins these days, we must not forget that other crops like rice, peanuts, cotton, almond, cashew, soya, spices, and coffee may be contaminated with aflatoxins.
Health risk and implications
Aflatoxin contamination has gained wider attention in food safety concerns. The International Agency for Research in Cancer (IARC) has reported that aflatoxins can cause cancer in both humans and animals and are classified into the Group 1 category of chemical hazards due to their potent nature. According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the maximum allowable limit for total aflatoxin in food items is 20 ppb (parts per billion) and the levels may vary on the type of food items. For instance, it is 5 ppb for milk. However, aflatoxins are different in their toxicity depending on their chemical composition and molecular structure.
The route of exposure to aflatoxins in humans is mainly via the consumption of infected seeds, meat, poultry, and dairy products. The liver is one of the most important defensive organs in our body as it breakdowns down or destroys harmful substances into less hazardous compounds to reduce the potential risk. Aflatoxins are powerful toxins and can cause acute liver damage by forming free radicals during metabolisation. If human continues to consume contaminated food with aflatoxin, can result in hepatic cancer. Moreover, chronic exposure to very low levels of aflatoxin is cause for concern. Epidemiological studies have also revealed that areas with elevated aflatoxins levels in the world relate to a high occurrence of hepatic cancer.
Apart from being a cancer causative agent, aflatoxins can make various implications in humans depending on their health conditions, age factors, duration of infection, and level of contamination in their bodies. Toxicity due to aflatoxins do not appear quickly but has a cumulative effect over time. Sometimes, it might take around 10 to 20 years to show the symptoms and cannot be easily removed from the body or get rid of them. Notably, there is no identified therapeutic drug to decrease the implications and therefore poses a big threat to human health. In addition, it has been responsible for affecting the human immune system, bone abnormalities and sexual efficiency. Particularly, when the human immune is suppressed, they are highly vulnerable to infect with various diseases. There are several reported cases to confirm that the carcinogenesis of these compounds is through genetic poisoning. The more alarming news is for pregnant women as studies carried out with mice have shown that aflatoxins can affect their embryos during pregnancy. This is evident that aflatoxin can transfer from the mother to the embryo across the placenta causing many problems for newborn babies. However, all these experiments have been conducted with animals and clinical trials with humans are not possible due to ethical issues and impracticality.
Concerns for livestock
Aflatoxins are carcinogenic to animals and their effects vary with species, dosage, period of exposure, and diet or nutritional status. The reported toxicity due to aflatoxin goes back to the 1950s and 1960s in England when Turkey’s mortality increased. When ingested in large doses, these toxins can be lethal or sublethal and can cause chronic toxicities. The toxicity of aflatoxins has been comprehensively identified in cattle farming in which decreased feed intake, dramatic declines in milk production, weight loss, feed refusal, infertility, impaired organ functions and liver damage were the reported clinical symptoms. Therefore, it is important to assess the quality of the feed before feeding the animals. Moreover, studies carried out using various animals like birds, chicken have reported different abnormalities in their bodies due to the consumption of contaminated feed with aflatoxins.
Economic losses
Aflatoxins are one of the major economic concerns in the agriculture and food processing industry all around the globe. They impair the nutrient quality of crops resulting in substantial financial losses for growers and manufacturers, mainly reducing the demand in the local and international markets, the risk of losing their market shares, and rejecting the consignments. If the crop or harvest was found to have contaminated with aflatoxins, the only option is to destroy them to control the further spreading. Since aflatoxins are produced in grains, fruits, and seeds, it is very stable and cannot be eradicated. An infection due to Aspergillus spp could occur pre-harvest, harvest and post-harvest stages and thrive under suitable environmental conditions.
What consumers can do
Aflatoxins are heat-resistant compounds and cannot be destroyed in normal cooking conditions. Therefore, the best practice is to select aflatoxins contamination-free edible items. Consumers can visually check the products for quality when purchasing. For instance, you may have seen black-coloured powdery particles or black patches in chillies or maize and these could be possible warning signs for aflatoxins contamination. In addition, consumers can dispose of any damaged, discoloured, shrivelled or infected grains that can be found in the purchased products before consuming them. Before purchasing, it is always advisable to look for fresh foods and check the labels for expiry dates or any damage in the sealed bags or containers. It is not recommended to buy foodstuffs which are about to expire even though they are for lower prices for quick sale. If you intend to keep the dry foodstuff or ingredients for a longer time once opened, keep them in air-tight bags or containers to avoid the growth of fungus.
Considering the carcinogenic nature, early detection of aflatoxin-producing fungi is essential for ensuring food safety. It is worthwhile to add dietary antioxidants such as vitamin E, selenium, and carotenoids to your diet as it helps destroy the generated free radicals in our body including the ones that form during the aflatoxin metabolism in the liver. Food spoilage due to bacteria can be easily noticed with a bad odour. On the contrary, fungi infestation may or may not be visible due to their characteristic nature and therefore more precautions are needed. The greater awareness could help you reduce the chances of possible aflatoxin ingestion.
The roles of farmers
Our farmers can take several measures to protect their crops from aflatoxin contamination. Good agricultural management practices include all the steps taken from plantation to harvest and post-harvest. Pre-harvest strategies aim to protect the crop from fungal infection or reduce the fungal pathogen’s ability to grow or synthesise aflatoxins. These include but are not limited to soil testing for potential pathogens, field conditioning, proper irrigation, crop rotation, the safe disposal of the infected plant, treatment with antifungal chemicals, maintenance of proper planting or growing conditions, use of resistant or adapted crop varieties, and maintenance of functional harvesting equipment. Applying good agricultural practices such as controlling disease carriers; bugs, insects, mites, beetles, and grasshoppers could help immensely control fungi infestation. Introducing genetically modified crops as a solution is suggested but with varying degrees of success. In contrast, even the best management methods cannot eradicate aflatoxin contamination.
Our farmers must carry out the harvesting when the grains are at full maturity stage and have low moisture content. Moisture is one of the characteristics related to the weight of dry matter. Hence, drying the material as dictated by the moisture content of the harvested grain followed by appropriate storage conditions can minimize post-harvest losses due to fungal infestation. It is worth noting that the moisture content requirement varies from one fungus to another, however bringing the moisture content below 13% together with lowering humidity levels in the warehouses can suppress the growth of Aspergillus spp. The fungi grow at varying temperate but the optimal for aflatoxins production is from 25 to 35°C. Therefore, creating unsuitable environmental conditions at the warehouses can minimise the thriving of the fungi and subsequently reduce the production of aflatoxins. Though it is not recommended and economically feasible, some countries use chemical treatments such as fumigation with ammonia and ozone which have proved effective.
Proper management of transport services can prevent seed damage during transportation. Because the damaged grains are highly susceptible to the growth of toxigenic fungi. Even though it is a tedious exercise and laborious process, segregating infected seeds from non-infected ones can be done before storing or packaging them. Scientists are working to develop techniques and technologies to control and manage aflatoxins in preharvest and postharvest stages. However, applying chemical or conventional agricultural methods only cannot prevent the fungi infestation and therefore integrated mechanisms are required to introduce to be able to regulate aflatoxin contamination of foodstuff and feed effectively and economically.
Evidence for aflatoxins contamination
In the scientific world, decisions are made based on conclusive evidence or information. Therefore, to prove the aflatoxin contamination, laboratory test reports must be produced. It is worth noting that these testing are highly expensive as it involves sophisticated advanced instruments to generate results. Several methods or protocols are available to use but the High-Performance Liquid Chromatography is the analytical method widely used for detecting aflatoxins in different food samples. More importantly, the operator must be versatile in the advanced technology and the science behind it to generate accurate and reliable results.
Challengers for PHIs and legal proceedings
There have been a few cases of food toxicity in the recent past and melamine contamination in milk powder, and heavy metals toxicity in rice are two of those. To our understanding, these claims have not yet been proven with satisfactory evidence to date and they appeared to have become merely news. However, irrespective of what has happened in the past, it is important to see how the PHIs are going to prove their claims on aflatoxin contamination in ‘Thriposha’. Nevertheless, they have not yet published the relevant test reports or released them to the media.
The accuracy of the results and the reliability of the laboratory in which they obtained the test reports may be in question in the legal proceedings or possible investigations. They must get test reports or certificates of analysis from an accredited laboratory and the laboratory needs to have that parameter accredited by a nationally or internationally reputed organization. Accreditation is a kind of recognition that a laboratory can have, and the Sri Lanka Accreditation Board for Conformity Assessment (SLAB) is the authorized institute in Sri Lanka. Apart from that PHIs should not depend on the results received from one laboratory but having the same samples analyzed from different laboratories, including one from overseas help them to justify their claims. PHIs must always keep reference samples with them as the defended parties may want to send those to an independent laboratory for their verification. Moreover, they must ensure that the received laboratory reports should contain the traceability of the samples as this is one of the important aspects that can be used to discharge the allegations. However, the chances of taking place legal proceedings or similar investigations are less likely to happen given the records of similar circumstances.
PHIs stand for public health and their roles must be commended and supported instead of criticised for what they have found. Consumers should be well informed of the health consequences of aflatoxin ingestion and more awareness programs must be arranged to educate ordinary people, even at village levels. PHIs must be given continuous training to upgrade their technical know-how and more collaboration between the government and the union must be established for better outcomes. Irrespective of whether the foodstuff is imported or locally produced, they all need to be scrutinized for quality before releasing to the market for the best interest of public health.
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