Courtesy Daily Mirror

• UN expert, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, explains how Big Powers manipulate Third World economies 
• Since 2014, the OLOBC has been saying that the DBR and the EDB scale have had a disastrous impact on poor countries

The World Bank announced last Thursday that it has paused” or temporarily suspended its Doing Business Report (DBR) after internal audits of the 2018 and 2020 reports revealed data manipulation. The suspension of the DBR is a welcome development from the point of view of poor and developing countries, says the US-based think tank, The Oakland Institute. 

The World Bank has been using its DBRs to drive policy and regulatory changes favorable to Western businesses and corporations, the think tank said. Ranking countries on the Ease of Doing Business (EDB) scale, the bank pressed developing countries to dismantle labor rights, social and environmental safeguards to attract private investors,” The Oakland Institute said in a statement. 

The suspension of the DBR was a result of the efforts of the Our Land Our Business Campaign” (OLOBC), coordinated by the Oakland Institute. Since 2014, the OLOBC has been saying that the DBR and the EDB scale have had a disastrous impact on poor countries, manifesting in grabbing of land and natural resources.
The OLOBC exposed how then World Bank CEO (now IMF Managing Director) Kristalina Georgieva applied pressure” to make specific changes to China’s data points in an effort to increase its ranking for the 2018 DBR”. She did it because China was expected to increase its financial contribution to the Bank’s capital. The then World Bank President, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, was also implicated in the effort to increase China’s ranking. 

Simeon Jankov, one of the founders of the DBR and a Senior Bank official was implicated in altering Saudi Arabia’s data to boost that country’s ranking in an effort to reward the country for the important role it played in the Bank community.” 

In 2018, the then World Bank’s Chief Economist, Paul Romer, exposed how the DBR scores for Chile were skewed and politically manipulated to disfavor a progressive government in that country.

The World Bank has pressed for reforms that would make developing countries more attractive to private investors. These reforms” have included lowering corporate taxes, slashing environmental safeguards, bringing down social and labor standards, cutting administrative procedures, and removing restrictions on trade and business, The Oakland Institute pointed out. The institute has extensively documented the disastrous impact of these regulatory changes at the country level in dozens of countries. 

Last week, Georgieva denied that there was any wrongdoing on her part. In an explanation to the IMF, her present employer, she said she only asked the World Bank staff to double-check or triple-check data, but never change its ultimate message.”

However, The Oakland Institute’s Executive Director Anuradha Mittal said: Evidence of manipulation of the rankings is a slap in the face of the poorest countries forced to deregulate their economies to attract investors against fallacious promises of aid and development.” 

The manipulation of data to push a Western capitalist line and capitalist interests by the World Bank is only one of the manifestations of the West-directed and dominated world order. 

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs’ Revelations  

In a speech at the UN Food Systems Pre-summit’ on July 26 this year, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs of Colombia University, who is currently Advisor to the UN Secretary General on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), highlighted the larger issue of the inequities perpetrated by Western countries on their own populations as well as the people of other countries.  

Sachs revealed that the World Food System” is based on large multinational companies’ interest in making profits.  It’s based on a very, very low measure of international transfers to help poor people, sometimes none at all.  It’s based on extreme irresponsibility of powerful countries with regard to the environment, and it’s based on a radical denial of the rights of poor people,” he said.  

Sachs recalled that the CIA assassinated Congo’s first popular leader, Patrice Lumumba, and installed a dictatorship there for the next 30 years so that the Glencore Corporation and others Western firms could suck out cobalt from Congo without paying taxes. And yet the West would cheekily ask the people of the exploited countries: Why don’t you govern properly?”  

Sachs pointed out that the private sector in the US has always had the military behind it. It is the military-industrial complex” which wields real power in the US. He recalled that the Honduras was ruled for a long time by the US company United Fruit (UF). The UF’s attorney was John Foster Dulles; and his brother, Allen Welsh Dulles, was the head of the CIA. Allen Welsh Dulles overthrew Guatemala’s Jacobo Arbenz to make sure that United Fruit could have its property.

In an damning attack on his own country, the United States, Sachs said: I come from a country that not only doesn’t care about the world’s poor; it doesn’t even care about its own poor.  One in seven Americans is hungry right now. All it cares about is cutting taxes for the rich and filibustering any solution. The private sector’s not going to solve this (food) problem.” 

Sachs pointed out that the rich countries borrowed US$ 17 trillion for COVID management but the poor nations could borrow nothing. The rich countries can borrow at 0% but the poor countries pay 5% or 10% coupon rates or have no access at all.  

The US spent US$ 7 trillion on emergency funding but didn’t give a penny to any other country,” Sachs said and suggested that the rich countries and institutions like the World Bank massively lend to the poor countries at near zero interest rates. 

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), there is a financing gap of about US$ 400 billion to US$ 500 billion a year to realize the basics of the SDGs.  The UN should be playing a big role in finding the funds, but the UN is poorer than New York City, Sachs points out.  The UN’s core budget in 2021  is US$ 3 billion but New York City’s budget is US$ 100 billion!” 

Vaccine Inequality  

A recent editorial in The Guardian quoted the World Health Organization’s Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, as saying that of the 4.8 billion COVID vaccine doses delivered around the world to date, around 75% had gone to just 10 countries. In Africa, where a third wave of the virus has been on the march since May, less than 2% of the population has received the first dose.

Governments with the means have secured preferential deals for vaccines, over-ordered doses, hoarded them and restricted exports. Britain has played a leading role in opposing calls for intellectual property rights for vaccines to be temporarily waived. Overall, donations from richer countries have not remotely approached the level required.”

Covax, the vaccine-pooling scheme, has under-delivered, losing its major supply source after India’s decision to ban AstraZeneca exports. On the ground, insufficient time, effort and finance have been devoted to ensuring that the infrastructure is in place to carry out vaccination program efficiently, when doses are available. The likely result is that most people in low-income countries will be required to wait until 2023 to be vaccinated. This slow rollout will cost the global economy US$ 2.3 trillion in lost output. The brunt of those losses will be borne by the unvaccinated poor,” The Guardian said. 

By Gurudas Nulkar Courtesy Down To Earth

‘Lankan food crisis shows perils of organic farming’.

This was the headline of a column by Indian economist Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar column published in a national daily recently. Aiyar’s article analysed the Sri Lankan food crisis, which has been triggered by the President’s recent decision to shift from chemical to organic farming.

While the media pinned the blame on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, which obviously underestimated the drop in farm yields, Aiyar attributed the crisis to organic farming. He warned Indian states against it and expressed hope for genetically modified crops.

The negative social and environmental impacts of the Green Revolution are recognised as much as the lower farm yields and higher prices associated with organic produce are. However, an increasing body of research has placed its hope on organic farming to meet the global climate targets and conserve natural ecosystems.

When the food security of a country is at stake, it is ludicrous to turn the decision into a binary choice of conventional or organic farming. The question then is: Does the Sri Lankan crisis offer sufficient justification to organic farming? Or is it a poorly researched political decision?

The decision, as mentioned on the website of the President’s office, was not a sudden one. It started off in 2019, aspiring for a ‘healthy and productive nation guaranteeing people’s right for safe food’ in the National policy framework titled ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’, followed by a Gazette resolution on May 6, 2021, banning imports of chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

Here are some questions that could reveal if the President was ill-advised in this decision.

That organic farm yields are significantly lower (19-25 per cent lower, as cited by Aiyar in the article) and its prices higher, is well-known. What is less known are the reasons why chemical farming yields are high.

As yield increases, its prices decrease. Each of the three pillars of the GR — irrigation, chemical inputs and pesticides — has left the natural environment weaker. High irrigation requirement of the High-Yielding Variety (HYV) crops has led to an alarming reduction in groundwater levels in most parts of India.

Over-use of fertilisers has polluted ground and surface water, while high nitrates are causing eutrophication and disruption of aquatic ecosystems. Chronic renal failures in Sri Lanka have been linked to cadmium contamination from fertiliser run-off in water, and pesticides are linked to the rising incidence of some forms of cancer.

Every year, hundreds of farmers die spraying them in farms.

In short, the costs of the HYVs are ‘externalised’ to the natural environment. These costs are borne by individuals who suffer health ailments, and by taxpayers when the government spends their money for pollution mitigation.

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The externalised costs, therefore, keep the prices of chemical farm produce fictitiously low. The Sri Lankan government advisory team would be utterly naïve if they did not consider the imminent price rise of organic farm produce.

What the green revolution labeled as ‘low yield’ was far less extractive of soil nutrients. This farming demanded much less cash for inputs, which meant farmers borrowed less.

When it is evident that farm output will decline, it is critically important for a small country like Sri Lanka to consider what percentage of its farms produce ‘real’ food and how much is used for plantations.

Tea, rubber, cashew, coconut, sugarcane and oil palm cannot be substituted for food. Agricultural activities are carried out on 41.63 per cent of the total land in Sri Lanka. Of this, 23.45 per cent is used to grow paddy and other field crops; 10.32 per cent land is devoted to plantations.

Considering a consistently lower yield of paddy in Sri Lanka compared to international averages, would this land be sufficient to stockpile supplies for a primarily rice-eating nation? Was this factor considered in the decision?

Food and beverage accounted for 7.2 per cent in 2019 of the total imports. This includes wheat, rice, potatoes, onions and other farm produce. Was this increased to meet the imminent yield gap?

Ironically the ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’ document mentions ‘crop export’ as an activity, and provides subsidies and guaranteed price schemes. Was this reconsidered after the organic farming decision?

As generations of farmers have adopted green revolution farming, the skills and knowledge required for organic farming are scarce today. Can Sri Lankan farmers make the right choices regarding seeds? Do they have access to seed banks? Are they aware of organic soil nutrients and bio-pesticides?

Administering NPK to soil is not the same as treating it with organic fertilisers, and saving seeds is different from buying new ones every season. Were these skills and knowledge shared with or made available to the farmers?

Apparently not, as revealed in one survey that showed that only 20 per cent of farmers had the knowledge to transition to completely organic production and 63 per cent of respondents did not receive any guidance on organic cultivation.

What logically follows is the question of whether there was enough supply of compost, organic fertilisers, biopesticides and allied inputs. The President’s office mentions ‘sufficient fertilizer has been imported’ but does not say anything about other farm inputs.

Compost, manure and other organic matter are critically important in organic farming. Was a supply chain established to connect the places of manufacture with the users?

These and many other questions make Aiyar’s arguments against organic farming appear weak. Assuming that organic farming was done in scientifically proven ways (which is also doubtful), the fault lies in research, planning and execution. The survey also pointed that 64 per cent of farmers supported the government policy, but only with a transitionary approach.

The key to success, then, lies not in a bold decision to turn organic, but in educating farmers, making citizens aware of what they stand to gain, creating appropriate infrastructure and maintaining a supply chain of farm inputs.

This must be complemented by choosing a path of transition and rethinking policies supporting plantations and exports. Without these measures, the future of organic cultivation, not of science, is in peril.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ඉඩම් ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ කොමිෂන් සභාවට අයත් ඉඩම් අක්කර රුපියල බැගින් වූ බදු මුදලකට ලබා දී ඇතැයි මල්දෙණිය වතු සමාගමේ සභාපති ධම්මික එළියපුර මහතා සදහන් කරයි.

ඇතැම් ඉඩම් ලබා දී ඇත්තේ අක්කර 75 ක් පමණ වන බදු මුදලකට බව ද ඔහු චෝදනා කරයි.

මේ සඳහා දකුණේ ඇමතිවරයකුට කප්පම් දෙමින් ඇති බවත් ඒ සඳහා සමාගම් විසින් අත දිග හැර වියදම් කරන බව ද ඔහු හෙළිදරව් කළේය.

මිලියන හත්දහසක් පමණ වටිනා කර්මාන්ත ශාලා සියල්ල ගලවා යකඩ වලට විකුණා ඇති බවත් මේ ගැන කාට කිව්වත් පලක් නැති බව ද ඔහු කියා සිටී.

අන්තර්ජාල නාලිකාවක සාකච්ඡාවට එක්වෙමින් ඒ මහතා මෙම අදහස් පළ කළේය.

Courtesy NDTV

SAARC Foreign Ministers Meet: Sources said SAARC members could not reach a consensus on Pakistan’s request or give the Taliban a guarantee it could attend.

New Delhi: 

Pakistan found itself isolated on the global stage this week after an attempt to generate support for the Taliban – which seized power in Afghanistan last month – and allow the group a seat at Saturday’s meeting of Foreign Ministers from SAARC nations was rejected.

Also rejected was Pakistan’s demand Nepal – the SAARC chair – provide written assurances Ghulam Isaczai, who represents Afghanistan’s ousted government at the United Nations, would not be allowed to attend.

Sources said SAARC members could not reach a consensus on Pakistan’s request or give the Taliban guarantees it could attend the meet scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly.

As a result, the meeting of Foreign Ministers from eight South Asian countries was cancelled. The SAARC nations are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

A senior Indian government functionary told NDTV Pakistan insisted the Taliban attend the meeting, but no other country had agreed to this demand.

The Taliban is not recognised by India as the representative of the Afghan people.

The groups is also not recognised by other countries, with senior members of its new cabinet still blacklisted by the United Nations and on ‘wanted’ lists by American agencies.

Russia and China also do not, as yet, recognise the Taliban.

The new Taliban regime has “no authority”, the Indian government functionary told NDTV and stressed the group could not, therefore, stake claim to speak on global platforms. Pakistan’s “mid-wife” role in support of the Taliban had left it exposed, the functionary declared.

The Taliban’s Doha-based spokesperson Suhail Shaheen

The Taliban has also written to the UN Secretary-General asking for permission to address the 76th General Assembly in New York this week and have nominated Doha-based spokesperson Suhail Shaheen as Afghanistan’s UN ambassador.

News agency Reuters reports the move sets up a showdown with Ghulam Isaczai, and it is doubtful permission will be given.

UN acceptance of the Taliban will be an important step in the group’s bid for international recognition, which could help unlock funds needed by the cash strapped Afghan economy.

The last time the Taliban was in power (1996-2001), the ambassador of the toppled Afghan government remained the UN representative after decisions over the Taliban’s claims were deferred.

By PTI 

Health inspectors said those below the age of 30 had shown vaccine reluctance

Sri Lanka has decided to ask for a $100 million loan from the IMF to procure 14 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and finance other vaccination programme related costs, it was announced here on Wednesday.

“Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella had proposed that Sri Lanka obtain the additional loan grant of $100 million under the programme of strategic preparation and response to COVID19,” the government said in a statement.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to grant a supplementary loan of $100 million to assist Sri Lanka’s COVID19 response, it added.

The decision made was to obtain the funds to procure 14 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine and also finance other vaccination programme related costs.

The minister for pharmaceuticals Channa Jayasumana told Parliament on Tuesday that the government had already vaccinated over 50 per cent of the island nation’s 21 million population.

Our target is to vaccinate over 75 per cent of the population within the next few months, he said. He added as of September 20, the first dose vaccination had been completed for over 62 per cent of the population.

The public health inspectors said those below the age of 30 had shown reluctance to get vaccinated. Only around 35 per cent of them had received the jabs by September 20.

“The younger people seem to believe that the Pfizer vaccine is the most effective…,” Public Health Inspectors (PHI) spokesman Upul Rohana said.

The Pfizer vaccine has been rolled out so far limited to the southern province and a part of the eastern province, health authorities said.

The bulk of the local vaccinations had come from the Chinese Sinopharm with 26 million doses being received so far.

Sri Lanka has recorded 12,284 deaths while the total number of COVID-19 infections stood at 507,330. 

Courtesy Energy Voice

New Fortress Energy has finalised a contract with the government of Sri Lanka that gives it the rights to develop a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal off the coast of Colombo that is expected to start up in 2023.

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New Fortress Energy has finalised a contract with the government of Sri Lanka that gives it the rights to develop a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal off the coast of Colombo that is expected to start up in 2023.

The pair announced yesterday that the US-listed company will invest in West Coast Power (WCP), the owner of the 310 MW Yugadanavi power plant based in Colombo, as well as recieve rights to develop an LNG terminal.

Sri Lanka’s government has long pushed plans for gas to make up at least one-third of the country’s energy mix by 2030, up from zero at present. Significantly, LNG imports are currently the only way of introducing gas to Sri Lanka. Although the government is trying to rekindle interest in undeveloped offshore gas deposits.

Still, numerous plans to import LNG have come and gone over the past decade. Sri Lanka’s reputation for bureaucratic delays and political squabbles have tended to stall progress.

As part of the latest deal, New Fortress will have gas supply rights to the Kerawalapitya power complex, where 310 MW of power is operational today and an additional 700 MW set to be built, of which 350 MW is scheduled to be operational by 2023.

New Fortress said it will acquire a 40% ownership stake in WCP and plans to build an offshore LNG receiving, storage and regasification terminal off the coast of Colombo. New Fortress will initially provide the equivalent of an estimated 1.2 million gallons of LNG (~35,000 MMBtu) per day to the government of Sri Lanka, with the expectation of significant growth as new power plants become operational, the company said.

The 310 MW Yugadanavi power plant currently has a long-term power purchase agreement to provide electricity to the national grid that extends through 2035. This power plant consists of General Electric turbines and is configured to run on natural gas in combined cycle.

The Kerawalapitya power complex is the foundation of the baseload power that serves the country’s population of 22 million people. Delivering cleaner and cheaper fuels to Sri Lanka will support the country’s growth for years to come,” said New Fortress Energy.

The terminal is expected to begin operations in 2023, added the company.

Sri Lanka’s upstream sector is in a state of infancy. The country has held two offshore licensing rounds since 2007, both of which saw limited interest. There is no domestic production and the country lacks a market for gas, Wood Mackenzie said in an upstream report last October.

By Lizzie Edmonds Courtesy Evening Stanadard

Top destinations Sri Lanka, Egypt and the Maldives are now off the red list for British travellers.

But the Foreign Office still suggests against non-essential travel for holidaymakers according to their official website.

Eight countries were taken off the red list in the early hours of Wednesday morning including Turkey, the Maldives, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, Oman, Kenya and Sri Lanka.

In most previous cases, when a country is removed the FO travel advice allows for non-essential travel.

But current FO advice does not approve holidays to Sri Lanka and the Maldives based on the current assessment of COVID-19 risks”.

Non-essential travel is also advised against across Egypt and certain regions of the country advised against.

FO advice does takes in to considersation other factors as well as Covid infections, such as a country’s political situation and terror threats.

As well as the eight destinations, the Government announced last week fully vaccinated travellers arriving in England would no longer need to take a pre-departure test from Monday and the post-arrival day-two test can be a cheaper lateral flow rather than a PCR from the end of October.

EasyJet chief commercial officer Sophie Dekkers said the airline was surprised and delighted” by the change in policy but said it was made too late.

She told the Commons’ Transport Select Committee: In terms of sales over the weekend, they did pick up but not to the extent that we’ve seen in previous announcements because we’ve missed the summer.

October half-term is probably the only big opportunity for people (to go on holiday) in the near term, so although we saw a good uplift in trading and sales over the weekend, we’ve missed the boat unfortunately with the summer holidays.”

It comes as airlines confirmed they were experiencing a surge in demand for trips to the US after the White House confirmed it will scrap its ban on fully vaccinated UK travellers.

Popular locations include New York, Orlando, Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles and Boston operators such as British Airways and Virgin Atlantic said.

Virgin Atlantic said on Tuesday afternoon that customers using its call centre are having to wait for more than three hours to get through due to the huge number” of bookings being made.

It urged people with vouchers to rebook flights online.

Courtesy The Japan Times

The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday ruled that Japanese immigration authorities’ actions toward two Sri Lankan men were unconstitutional.

The two me claim that they were deported without getting enough time to take legal action after being denied refugee status.

The two had filed a lawsuit against the government seeking a total of ¥10 million in compensation. Wednesday’s ruling reversed a lower court decision that dismissed the claims.

Presiding Judge Yutaka Hirata said that immigration authorities “violated the right to a trial, as guaranteed under Article 32 of Japan’s Constitution” and the way they handled the matter was “illegal” in terms of the state redress law.

The court ordered the country to pay a total of ¥600,000 in compensation.

According to a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, the ruling was the first of its kind.

According to the ruling, the two men visited the Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau in December 2014 to renew their status of provisional release from detention. Their application was rejected and they were sent to an immigration facility.

Their subsequent objection was also dismissed and the two were deported from Haneda airport the day after they were sent to the facility.

Although the two men planned to file a lawsuit to undo the decision, they were not given enough time to launch a suit as they were informed their objection had been dismissed just before they were sent back to Sri Lanka.

Hirata acknowledged that immigration authorities had intentionally delayed notifying them of the dismissal in order to ensure a smooth deportation process.

The immigration authorities had essentially taken away their opportunity to undergo a judicial review by deporting them without allowing them to reach out to a third party after the announcement of the decision, Hirata said, adding that the way the authorities handled the matter “violated the Constitution.”

The government had said that the objection by the two men was not within their rights and that there was little need to help them.

But Hirata said that the objection was an issue different from individuals looking to guarantee themselves an opportunity for a judicial review. The judge added that depriving the two men of such an opportunity was “unacceptable.”

According to the lawyer, the two men are currently in Sri Lanka. One of them has expressed his gratitude for the ruling, the lawyer said.

The Immigration Services Agency of Japan said that it will handle the matter appropriately after closely examining the court decision.

The plaintiffs filed an appeal after the Tokyo District Court rejected their claims in February last year. The court said that their deportation was neither unconstitutional nor outside the law.

Courtesy MailOnLine

People in March 2021 watch a three-dimensional projection of the Salsal Buddha at the site where the Buddhas of Bamiyan statues stood before being destroyed by the Taliban in March 2001

Sri Lanka called Wednesday on the world to safeguard the Buddhist heritage of Afghanistan under the Taliban, who provoked outrage by destroying giant Buddha statues when they were last in power.

“I request the United Nations and the international community to ensure the protection of the Buddhist heritage of Afghanistan,” President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told the global body’s annual summit.

Buddhism, the majority religion in Sri Lanka, once flourished in Afghanistan, symbolized by the towering Buddha statues carved on the cliffs of Bamiyan that survived for 1,500 years.

The Taliban in March 2001 spent weeks blowing up the statues with dynamite and artillery, defying international appeals out of religious fervor as they pointed to Islam’s ban on idolatry.

Returning to power as US troops departed after 20 years, the Taliban have tried to project a more moderate image. But residents said the triumphant Taliban again blew up a statue in Bamiyan which honored a leader of the Hazara, a minority persecuted by the hardline Sunni Islamists.

The Bamiyan Valley still contains a network of caves housing temples, monasteries and Buddhist paintings.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Director General of Health Services has confirmed another 92 coronavirus related deaths for September 21, pushing the country’s death toll due to the virus pandemic to 12,376.

According to the figures released by the Govt. Information Department, the deaths reported today includes 51 males and 41 females.

Two of the victims, one male and one female, are below the age of 30 years while nineteen of them are aged between 30-59. Meanwhile seventy-one of the deceased are aged 60 years and above. 

Courtesy Adaderana

US-based New Fortress Energy has finalised a contract with the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) to build an offshore liquified natural gas (LNG) receiving, storage and regasification terminal.

To be located off the coast of Colombo, the new terminal is expected to be commissioned in 2023.

The agreement will provide the US-based firm with the rights to supply gas to the Kerawalapitya Power Complex, where a 310MW power plant is operational and an additional 700MW of power plants are scheduled to be built.

It will initially supply the equivalent of an estimated 1.2 million gallons of LNG a day to the GOSL. The volume is anticipated to grow as new power plants enter their operational phases.

The firm will also invest to purchase a 40% stake in West Coast Power (WCP), which owns the 310MW Yugadanavi Power Plant in Colombo.

This plant has a long-term power purchase agreement to provide electricity to the national grid, extending until 2035. Configured to operate on natural gas in the combined cycle, this plant features General Electric turbines.

New Fortress Energy chairman and CEO Wes Edens said: This is a significant milestone for Sri Lanka’s transition to cleaner fuels and more reliable, affordable power.

We are pleased to partner with Sri Lanka by investing in modern energy infrastructure that will support sustainable economic development and environmental gains.”

New Fortress Energy earlier said that the new offshore terminal will for the first time introduce natural gas to the country.

The terminal, which represents the company’s first of its kind in Asia, is expected to contribute to the country’s efforts to transition to lower-carbon energy sources.

New Fortress Energy signed a framework agreement with the Government of Sri Lanka to build the LNG terminal earlier this year.

-Agencies

Courtesy Adaderana

The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry reports that another 464 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Sri Lanka, moving the daily total of new cases to 1,342.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus reported in the country to 508,672.

As many as 435,022 recoveries and 12,376 deaths have been confirmed in Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The Epidemiology Unit’s data showed that 61,274 active cases are currently under medical care.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lankan faith healer Eliyantha White has passed away earlier today (September 22), sources told Ada Derana.

He had been receiving treatment for COVID-19 at a private hospital in Colombo when he had passed away.

White also served as a personal physician to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Courtesy Hiru News

Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena made a special statement during the debate on the amendments to the Consumer Affairs Authority Act today (22).

Citing a statement made by Thushan Gunawardena, former Executive Director of the Consumer Affairs Authority, the Minister further stated that if any party proves that he or any of his family members or staff members are involved in fraud and corruption while performing their duties in the Ministry, He will resign not only from the ministry but also from politics.

He also denied the allegations made by the director, who was appointed by the former Trade Minister for a period of three years, and stated that he had never interfered in the duties of the Consumer Affairs Authority.

The Minister also denied the allegations made by the Consumer Affairs Authority and stated that an investigation would be carried out into the allegations and legal action would be taken.

Hiru

වැඩේ හරියට කරොත් ගොඩ. ඉස්සර වගේ රටේ හැම තැනම කිරිමන්ඩල දාන්න. එතකොට හැමෝටම දියර කිරි බෙදා හරින්න පුළුවන්. මතක අය දන්නවා ඇතිනේ ඉස්සර උදේ පාන්දරින්ම කිරි මාම එනව…

Courtesy Hiru News

Justice Minister Ali Sabry informs Parliament that the Cabinet has decided to appoint a retired High Court Judge to inquire into the recent Prison incident involving a Minister.

He stated the above while responding to an oral question. 

The Justice Minister further condemned the incident, call that ‘it should have never happened’ and that it is a ‘disgrace’.

He further extended his apologies for the victims in the incidents as well as their families members who had to undergo the difficult incident.

The Minister reiterated that a political, ethnic, or racial ‘flavor’ should not be added to the incident that took place as the incident is independent of such aspects.

By Raj Gonsalkorale

But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain – that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist- Lysander Spooner

Lysander Spooner is the well-known author of the book No Treason” thought by some to be the most subversive thing ever written in the United States. However, as a reader had commented the premise of No Treason” is that the United State is not a legally constituted government because people can only be governed by consent and no one consented to the social contract” we call the Constitution. Spooner writes, The constitution not only binds nobody now, but never did bind anybody. It never bound anybody, because it was never agreed to by anybody in such a manner as to make it, on general principles of law and reason, binding upon him.” If the United States is not legally constituted, as Spooner argues, then his treatise can hardly be described as being subversive”

Democracy works in mysterious ways and no doubt Spooner would have had something to say about the outcomes of democracy in action. For example, in Sri Lanka, in 1977, 51% of the vote gave the then government a 5/6^th majority, enough virtually to turn black into white and even a man into a woman! This majority was then used to change the constitution the following year and introduce an all-powerful Executive Presidency. A legitimate question can be asked whether this constitution binds 49% of those who did not vote for the party who won power, and the many who did not vote at all, to this new constitution. There is a fundamental philosophical, ethical gap, if not a legal gap, between the people and the constitution. In Spooner’s thinking, there is probably a fundamental legal gap as well.

Spooner’s quotation describes what most people probably think and feel about the current state of political affairs in the Sri Lanka. The question now should be whether we want more of the same with adhoc props (poroppa) to prevent leaks and continue with a system that will, at some point in the not too distant future, collapse when the current younger generation, the Millennials, comes of age and find an engine that is puffing smoke and grinding slowly and laboriously, while technology and new social dimensions have taken the world to another platform whether one likes it or not.  

Clearly, a case exists to examine the extent to which people have a say in the determination of policies and practices by successive governments, and which in turn binds them to such decisions for many generations.

The need for constitution reform has been highlighted again by politicians of different shades in the Sri Lankan political arena but, hardly anyone has given thought or expressed their thoughts on the need for individuals and the society at large to consider what perhaps needs change from within themselves rather than engaging in a laborious effort to develop an instrument which in all likelihood will further divide society rather than unifying it. There is also no discernible evidence that any thought has been given to what the future holds for Sri Lanka in decades to come within a world that could well be unrecognisable given the challenges associated with technology developments, approaches to education, health & medical innovations, social changes, environment crisis’s and many others. 

Instead, debateable historical narratives rather than historical injustices, opportunities lost and segregating and layering human beings according to their ethnicity, religion, caste, language and other segregationist traditions and practices, still form the backdrop to constitution making.

Constitution and a social contract

A constitution, which is essentially a social contract between the people and those they elect to govern the country on their behalf for a given limited period, needs to provide avenues for the people have an input into governance. Just a periodic election under a constitution that does not provide opportunities for such an input, perhaps does more harm than good in the long term.

Besides this, if a constitution does not recognise the future and the likely developments that will all have an impact on families, societies, countries and inter country relationships, it would fail as a social contract of any value. The contract would be in a time warp unless the leaders of today recognise this and address the future direction with a mindset that is in not the past.

Given that a discussion on the need for a new constitution has surfaced again, some thoughts are presented here as only the contours of a futuristic Constitution which contains some strategic, philosophical changes to how a better social contract may be developed with the people. The proposed theme in presenting the contours is how people’s sovereignty could be better exercised by involving a wide range of stakeholders from different walks of life into a governance planning process that looks to the future and not the past.

Firstly, it is suggested that readers ask themselves a few questions

1. Have the constitutions that the country has had so far, including the current one with its amendments, been beneficial to the country and its progress, economically and socially.
2. Economically, the country is nearly bankrupt with debt levels suffocating it, with income streams severely impacted due to COVID. Do the readers think this state of affairs is only account of COVID? If not what else?
3. Socially, minority issues, especially aspirational issues, equality and equity, women’s rights, language issues, accountability issues, corruption, unethical conduct, etc., etc., still beset the country. Is it the constitution that is at fault or the politicians which the constitution produces?
4. In reality, while one can boast that people, through their representatives, decide on policies that successive governments have introduced, is this so or is it a fallacy? Except at the time of casting their votes, at what point till the next election do people participate in policy determination? Even during elections, do people really discuss, debate and decide on policies contained in manifesto’s or are they purely looking for some immediate benefit from one side or another?
5. Do people have a choice in who is standing for elections from a political party?
6. Are political parties democratic and is there a people oriented process to elect their leaders?
7. Does the system in place facilitate the effective participation of experts in economics, business, agriculture, health, education, fisheries and other key areas of the economy in policy formulation, or is this process limited to a few yes” men and women who say what politicians wish to hear?
8. The cost of conducting elections is very high, with the last Presidential election costing around Rs 5 Billion and the General election around Rs 10 Billion. To this cost one has to add what candidates and their supporters spend on elections. The issue is not necessarily the overall cost, but whether there has been a justifiable return to the country on the investment made as a consequence of the elections, and whether the return has been more for the candidates and their sponsors.
9. Buddhism, as defined more and more by the Buddhist institution from cultural practices rather than by the doctrinal practices introduced by Buddha, has been given pride pf place in the constitutions while other religions have been more less accommodated” in them. Readers should ask whether societal values, ethical behaviour on the part of the people as well as the elected leaders, and indeed on the part of some members of the Buddhist institution have progressed to towards the Buddha’s doctrinal teachings. The question to be asked is whether the State should be secular, and all religions treated equally and their role limited essentially for spiritual practices as per their respective religions.
10. Finally, while there would be many more questions that are bound to posted by readers, challenges to what has been stated here, the objective behind posing these questions is for readers to contemplate whether, despite whatever achievements of the past, the coming generations will be served well in years to come with a constitution more or less in the same vein and only cosmetically changed, or whether it is time to think outside the box as it were, and consider a constitution that will produce better outcomes rather than what 70 years of independence has delivered to Sri Lankans, then and now.

Sri Lanka has no doubt produced world renowned academics, professionals, business leaders and many other experts in a variety of fields. It is questionable however whether these achievements are related to the constitution of the country and politicians or that they achieved brilliance in spite of the system, and the politicians. Perhaps with the exception of free education, and the swabasha policy, it is hard to find a compelling reason linking the constitution or politicians for these achievements.

What is perhaps clear is that many such outstanding men and women have not been able to or willing to participate in governance activities mainly due to the dominance of a political system that is clearly flawed, politicians who are corrupt, an administrative service which in turn has got corrupt, and inclusive of people who are neither competent or capable. Competent professionals are expected to play second fiddle to such sub-standard collection of individuals and it is not surprising they will stay away from them as much as possible. Many have gone abroad and contributing enormously in their adopted countries.

Three key features underpin the suggested contour proposal.

First one relates to a much needed stakeholder participation outside politics through a National Planning & Monitoring Council (NPMC) mechanism and Regional Planning & Monitoring Councils (RPMC) responsible for developing a high level 10 year (minimum) National Governance Plan. The NPMC & RPMC mechanism and its influence is bound to draw more and more people from the private sector, universities and other special interest groups into economic activity, and lessen the involvement of any government entity in activities they should not be engaged in and not competent to do anyway. The private sector should lead and be the engine of economic growth in the country if the future is to be different to the failures of the past.

The second, a devolved political administration via Regional Councils that provides greater inclusiveness and participatory governance, by the people, for the people. The central government’s role except in foreign affairs, defence, national budget & economic affairs, will be one of coordinating the implementation of the National Governance Plan developed by the NPMC and the RPMCs.

Thirdly, the coordination of implementation will be led by a ten-member central cabinet of ministers drawn from outside Parliament and appointed by the President, who will work with the relevant ministers in Regional Councils for effective implementation of the National Governance Plan.

The broad contours of a new constitution based on the above thinking are as follows

• Political governance to be exercised (a) centrally by a President elected by an electoral college comprising of elected members of Regional Councils, elected members of local government bodies (Municipal, Urban and Rural Councils), and a National Parliament comprising of Regional Council members, and (b) regionally, by Regional Councils and local government bodies. Regional Council members therefore will be carrying out a dual role, in Regional Councils and in the National Parliament.
• The President to be accountable to the National Parliament, and he/she to submit himself/herself for questioning in the National Parliament every three months, and submit an annual report to the electoral college. The President to be assisted by a ten member cabinet drawn from outside politics.
• A National Planning & Monitoring Council (NPMC) to be responsible for developing a high level 10 year (minimum) National Governance Plan, assisted by similar Councils at Regional level (RPMCs). The 10-year plan will be monitored by the NPMC and the RPMCs and updated every 2 years.
• Regional Councils will be responsible for political administration in respective regions in line with the approved National Governance Plan.
• A stronger local government system to which Regional Councils will devolve substantial authority to oversee the provision of basic services to people served by Municipal Councils, Urban Councils and Rural Councils.
• All administrative services will be managed independently by a National Administrative Service.
• All religions will be afforded protection by the State
• An independently formed Inter Religious body will advise the State on matters concerning religions

The constitutional structure of Sri Lanka, whether it should be a Union of Regions which is indivisible, or a Unitary State and/or a Secular State should be determined after discussion. It will in any event, should comprise of a union of four Regional Councils. The suggestion that Regional Council members should serve in the National Parliament signifies the efficacy of practical devolution of political power.

National Planning & Monitoring Council

Members will be appointed by the President on nominations from expert bodies in Business, Education, Higher Education, Health, Agriculture, Fisheries, Export industries, Plantation Industries, Legal Bodies, Sports, Technology and Innovation, Banking, Unions., etc.

Key Responsibilities

• Development of a high level National Governance Plan spanning at least 10 years upon seeking views of relevant stakeholders and Regional Councils
• Drafting of Parliamentary Bills in line with the National Governance Plan approved by Parliament
• Monitoring & conducting two yearly review and updating of the National Governance Plan
• Developing any other National Policy Documents in consultation with Regional Councils and relevant stakeholders.

The NPMC will work with the RPMCs in carrying out the above tasks.

As stated at the outset, it is not the intention of the article to go beyond the contours of what might be considered as a more effective and efficient structure for a social contract with the people. The key feature of the NPMC and the RPMCs, hopefully will provide opportunities for stakeholder participation in developing long term governance policies devoid of party politics. The future of political parties will be determined on the basis of the quality of their inputs into governance policy making, and importantly, their efficiency in implementing policies designed by the NPMC/RPMC mechanism.

The country has a choice. It could go the next few decades with the same flawed system and one which delivers sub-standard, corrupt individuals who have no accountability to anyone, or it can think outside the box and change the system to engage competent, capable individuals to introduce developmental strategies that are futuristic, in keeping with global developments, and a political system that is, through genuine devolution, far better geared for people participation in governance, and which recognises the multi ethnic, multi religious diversity of the country.

The contours proposed have taken into consideration some philosophical changes to governance methodology, and how a variety of stakeholders could take part in governance without reliance on political leanings and patronage. It also highlights and provides an avenue for the private sector, to play a  significant role in determining the future development trajectory of the country.

In looking to the future, it is well to remember George Bernard Shaw’s quote Some people look at things as they are, and ask why? Some others look at things as they never were, and ask why not?’

Sri Lankans should decide which category of people they wish to be in the future.

Lanka Property Web (Pvt) Ltd

A recent study on the House Price Index developed by LankaPropertyWeb which is based on the asking prices of its listings revealed that overall residential land prices (per perch) had soared by 44.19% from Q2 2020 to Q2 2021. 4 bedroom house sales prices had increased by 15.68% from Q2 of 2020 while average 3 bedroom apartment prices had risen by 2.64%.

However, in Colombo when compared to Q1 of 2021, average apartment selling prices had increased by 3.1% in Q2 with the average selling prices of apartments being Rs.49.93Mn for a 3 bedroom apartment. Apartment prices have also seen three consecutive quarters of growth in asking prices, with values heading towards their peak levels during 2018. This could be fuelled by the increase in construction costs and buyers realizing that now is the best time to invest in apartments as new developments cannot be built or sold at these prices in the future with a sharp increase in construction costs.

Further, the LankaPropertyWeb listings prices revealed that the average price of a 4 bedroom house in Colombo during the second quarter was at Rs.170.84 million. While 3 bedroom apartments were priced at an average of Rs. 51.57 million. When compared to the overall changes in property prices for houses and apartments, these fluctuations are evidence of the continuous improvements in property demand in Colombo city. With the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Act, No.11 of 2021 passed 3 months ago and estimates of it said to add USD 4.5 billion during its initial years, it is expected that property prices are to soar further in the metropolitan city as the demand for residential rental property rises with the development in Colombo Port City.

In terms of land, a study on the average prices for Q2 in 2021 revealed that the selling price for a land plot in Sri Lanka was Rs.2.48 million. However, residential land prices in Colombo were recorded at 11.92 million per perch, which is a 79% premium from the overall land prices of the country. Besides Colombo city, land prices in the Western Province had also increased by 19% when compared with Q1 of 2021 while land prices in the Uva province had reduced by 18%.

Unlike most countries in the world, the Sri Lankan real estate market has maintained its stability despite facing three COVID-19 waves. Between the second quarter of last year where the pandemic struck in Sri Lanka at its worst to the current quarter this year, fluctuations in the property prices have remained relatively less volatile.

According to the Sri Lanka customs (Policy and Strategic Planning division Sri Lanka’s export performance January – May  2021) with the merchandise exports increasing by 50.71% when compared with May 2020 and 2021 and rubber-based product exports improving by 78.12%, the opportunities for exporting have relatively increased despite the pandemic. As a result, prices of tea and rubber lands have also seen positive influences, with minor increases in price. Between Q2 of 2020 and 2021, tea land prices have increased by 14% while the prices of rubber lands grew by 2.2%.

Average land price fluctuations in the Western Province

In the Western Province between Q1 of 2020 and 2021, 7 cities experienced average price increases by over 50%. Ingiriya in the Kalutara district recorded an increase of 109% followed by Ragama, where land prices increased by 76%. Lands in Padukka increased by 74% with prices in Angoda rising by 69%, Dompe by 67%, and Peliyagoda by 62%.

Lands in Moratuwa also improved by 56% with demand for property increasing over the years in areas such as Rawathawatha in particular.

During the same period, certain cities also experienced a reduction in average land price values. These included Rajagirya, Athurugiriya, Gampaha, Gothatuwa, Kesbawa and Negombo. Land prices of high-demand cities such as Dehiwala increased by only 4%, Mount Lavinia 8%, Kelaniya 13%, Rathmalana 20%, and Thalawathugoda 17%.

Disclaimer

These values and percentages represent statistical average prices of lands listed on LankaPropertyWeb website for that whole area. Prices within the area will have their own variances, such as land close to main roads or junctions being expensive and above average. If you wish to obtain more accurate prices for your land or neighbourhood prices, then you should view land for sale listings for that area, check with an estate agent or valuer in your area.

Pathik Hasan

Afghanistan is a land-locked country.  But there are many potentials in the sectors of international trade of Afghanistan. But those weren’t utilized properly for the Afghan people. The war-torn country saw many wars such as civil wars, Soviet invasion, US invasion. But little knows that Afghanistan was a transport hub traditionally in case of ancient Silk Road connectivity. But after a long time, Afghanistan lost the position.

Previous US backed regimes could not utilize the resources and potentials of Afghanistan properly. Now time is changing. Taliban is going to form government in Afghanistan. Taliban is now focusing on the development of socio-economic aspects of the people. Taliban wants to revive the economic situation of Afghanistan. They would like to be connected with the outer parts in the world.

China run Multi billion dollars project, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has become a blessing for Afghanistan. Now China, Pakistan, Russia have become well wisher of Afghanistan for the better of Afghanistan. Already, China has declared that its embassy in Afghanistan is functional. Russia shows interest to work together with Afghanistan. Pakistan also wants to provide the assistance to Afghanistan. Pakistan hopes that Afghanistan will join the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). At the same time, Islamabad wants Kabul in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Pakistan can give Afghanistan Transport and transshipment facilities for Afghanistan. Utilization of Gwadar port and CPEC by Afghanistan is some sort of example in this regard.

An write up written by Xie Jun and Chu Daye titled ‘Extension of CPEC into Afghanistan to boost local exports, journey of peace: analysts’ in Global Times says Afghanistan has become the first among several landlocked Central Asian countries to benefit from using the Chinese-invested Gwadar Port in Pakistan in transshipment trade. In 2020, the country imported 43,000 tons of fertilizers via the port, contributing to its agricultural development”.

According to this article in Global Times, Zhou Rong, a senior researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, said that if the CPEC is extended into Afghanistan, China could help build or improve infrastructure between Afghanistan and Pakistan to facilitate their economic exchange. 

According to Tribune Express report in May 24, 2021, a spokesperson of Chinese foreign ministry says, CPEC to be extended to Afghanistan, other countries and Extension won’t only boost faster economic development in Pakistan but also regional connectivity.

Pakistan’s leading daily, Pak Observer reports on September 04, 2021 that Taliban Spokesperson Mujahid said the extension of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) by linking it with Afghanistan is very important. He clearly stated the Taliban value China’s Belt and Road Initiative as the multi-billion-dollar project will revive the ancient Silk Road.

The Taliban spokesperson in an interview with an Italian newspaper said that China will be their major partner” in efforts to rebuilt war-torn Afghanistan. He said that China is ready to make the investment in Afghanistan and help rebuild Afghanistan.

Using CPEC and Gwadar port, Afghanistan can reach to South Asian states, South East Asian States, East Asia, Middle East, Africa. War ravaged country needs a huge number of investments now. If Afghanistan is connected with Gwadar port and CPEC, many development partners will play a strong and structural -effective role to take part in the development process in Afghanistan. For example, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia may take part in Afghanistan. Many Chinese companies will be interested to invest in Afghanistan directly. Ultimately, Afghanistan will be benefitted.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is one of China’s most ambitious projects. These include highways, railways, fiber optic networks, energy, ports, economic zones and many other projects. It is expected to dramatically improve Afghanistan’s infrastructure.

A section of this economic corridor has already been launched. Goods have already been transported from China through Pakistan to the port of Gwadar. From there, Chinese goods went to Africa and West Asia. There are also potentials for Afghanistan in this regard.

China is already talking about linking Afghanistan to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). China had been in talks with the Kabul government for a couple of years about plans to build a highway between Peshawar and Kabul, although the Afghan government has not agreed, fearing the United States will be unhappy. Now Taliban wants to be connected with CPEC for their own interest. Moreover, China is building a road to the Afghan border through the Wakan Corridor in Xinjiang province.

A huge number of goods and products of Afghanistan will be exported through this port if Afghanistan is connected with this port finally. Afghanistan can import its essential commodities from various countries using this port and CPEC connectivity project. Chinese companies will more invest in the energy sector of Afghanistan to fulfil the demands of Afghan people. Many countries including China, Pakistan, Countries of ASEAN, GCC can contribute in reconstruction and development process in Afghanistan.

CPEC has brought a new dream and aspiration for Afghanistan. Now it is high time for Afghanistan to utilize it for ensuring the interest of Afghan people. Usage and utilization of CPEC by Afghanistan will develop Afghanistan in the long run.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

( Continued from B4)

TNA has had  continuous contact with the USA. Rajiva Wijesinghe recalled that, during Eelam war IV, he met Sampanthan in close conclave with the US Ambassador and the European Union representative, at the resident of the Political affairs Officer of the US embassy.

In 2011, a delegation of TNA parliamentarians held two days of talks with US state Dept officials and US congressmen. In 2014Ambassador Butenis had met Sampanthan before she left for UK to attend a conference on the future of the Tamil community. They had discussed how the Diaspora could be used to influence a national election in Sri Lanka.

In 2017   there was a meeting between the visiting US Assistant Secretary of State, Ambassador Alice Wells and TNA’s Sampanthan and Sumanthiran. The meeting was held at the residence of the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Atul Keshap. TNA issued a statement which said Mr.Sampanthan apprised the Ambassador of the current political situation in the country especially the matters pertaining to the Constitution making process.”

Sampanthan had said, “Every Tamil person in this country has been affected by violence, and we have been deprived of our rights in this country. As a result of it over 1.5 million Tamil people have fled the country. We want the remaining Tamil people in this country to live with dignity and those who have left the country to comeback.

In 2018 Sampanthan met F. James Sensenbrenner, visiting United States Member of Congress and His Chief of Staff Matt Bisenius   in his Office as Leader of the Opposition. M.A. Sumanthiran was also present at the meeting. TNA issued a statement. “Sampanthan apprised the member on recently concluded Local Government Elections and the resultant political situation. Explaining the Constitution making process, He also emphasized that the Constitution must be approved by the people at a referendum.

A bipartisan delegation of Members of Congress from the US House of Representatives also visited in 2018. It was led by Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, (Republican) and Congressman Henry Cuellar (Democrat). They came during the US Congressional recess to further strengthen ties between the two governments. They held productive meetings with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya and Opposition Leader, Sampanthan.

In May 2018, a delegation from the House Armed Services Committee of the U.S. Congress visited Sri Lanka. The House Armed Services Committee, a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives, is a powerful Committee, responsible for the supervision of armed forces and the Department of Defence. The delegation was led by its Chairman Mac Thornberry.   

The visit was to find out ways of strengthening defense cooperation between Sri Lanka and USA.  The US embassy had arranged for the delegation to meet with civil society organizations and the TNA for private discussions. Why did Ambassador Keshap arrange a meeting between the visiting House Armed Services Committee representatives and the TNA, the media asked.  

 The US embassy said nothing about these meetings but the TNA issued a detailed statement to the media. The TNA statement said, “Sampanthan reminded the delegation that the Government of Sri Lanka has given a Commitment to fully implement the UNHRC resolution adopted in 2015 before March 2019. They must   ensure that this is done.

Sampanthan also told the US delegation that the legitimate demands of the Tamil people in finding a lasting solution to the national question could only be addressed through adopting a new Constitution.

Since 1988 every successive government and President have made several attempts to change the present Constitution, therefore, this should not be a difficult task for the majority of Sinhala people to understand. “We want a solution within a united undivided and indivisible country. The power-sharing arrangements should be in accordance with the international covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Sampanthan told Thornberry:

The Tamil people are not going to be second-class citizens in this country. ” If the Government does not deliver, if things do not go well and if things are not achieved within a certain time frame, our people will be forced to rethink our position. We are unhappy about the way the country is progressing,” continued Sampanthan.

The International community cannot be a spectator anymore with regard to Sri Lanka. If the government of Sri Lanka continues to fail in their commitments the international community must take action to safeguard the victims and ensure the non-recurrence of the past, concluded Sampanthan to Thornberry.

In February 2020 Sampanthan told visiting US Congressional delegation led by Rep. Ami Bera Chairman, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and Non-Proliferation that unless the Tamil community was given a meaningful political solution, things could turn bad for the country. We want a political solution based on the power-sharing arrangement that is practiced all over the world.

In July 2021 US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina B Teplitz and a group of American delegates  met a TNA delegation at the TNA leader’s official residence in Colombo. The TNA leader was accompanied by MPs M.A. Sumanthiran, Selvam Adaikalanathan and former MP Mavai Senathirajah.

Sampanthan told the media that they had a discussion with Teplitz about the promises made by the Sri Lanka government to the international community on resolving the issues faced by the Tamil people.

The two groups had a lengthy and fruitful discussion on Sri Lankan Government’s commitment to the international community to resolve the Tamil issue and the resolutions discussed at the UN Human Rights Council, said TNA

 We told the Ambassador that all governments were not sincere in their proposals to resolve the grievances of the Tamil people in the North and the East. Therefore, this issue had been dragging on for decades. The time has come for concrete solution to the issues faced by the Tamils in the country,” TNA said.

The Provincial Council system alone was not enough to resolve the issue in the North and the East. It was important for the two provinces of the North and the East to be considered as a single political entity and to be governed by the Tamil people. The international community must directly intervene .The full intervention of the United States and the international community is needed to find a clear solution, the TNA concluded. (Continued)

KAMALIKA PIERIS

 (Continued from B3)

TNA has always had links with the UK government. In 2016, TNA met Baroness Anelay when she visited Sri Lanka, to seek her intervention to get rid of the army, have an international probe on war crimes and other such issues. Baroness Anelay was UK’s Minister for the Commonwealth and UN.

In 2017, Sampanthan metUK Minister of State for Asia and Pacific, Mark Field at Westminster House, Colombo.  Sampanthan repeated his call for the re-merger of the Eastern and Northern Provinces. Highlighting the role played by Great Britain in the past, Sampanthan urged further constructive engagement of the International community.

In 2018 Commonwealth Secretary-General Rt. Hon Patricia Scotland visited Sri Lanka. She met Opposition Leader at Parliament.  She praised Sampanthan for his moderation and for being an ambassador for peace.  Sampanthan said, inter alia, that the International community including the Commonwealth has an important role to play in Sri Lanka.

In 2019 Sampanthan and TNA Spokesperson M.A. Sumanthiran   met Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon when he visited Sri Lanka.  Lord Ahamad was   UK Minister of State for the Commonwealth, UN and South Asia and Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict. TNA told Lord Ahamed “As Tamil People, who have our culture, own heritage and a long history, we have endeavored to resolve the national question through a reasonable and acceptable power sharing arrangement. We want a solution within a united undivided and indivisible Sri Lanka. We all want this country to prosper.

Lord Malcolm Bruce, Member of Parliament, visited Sri Lanka in February 2020.  Sampanthan and Sumanthiran met him. TNA issued a statement which said that Sampanthan briefed MP Bruce on the history of Tamil people’s struggles ever since independence. Sampanthan highlighted the fact that the Tamil People did not demand separation until the state led land grabbing and illegal settlements took place after independence.

Lord Bruce told TNA that their demands were fair.  He had assured the TNA that the UK would work with the Sri Lankan government to reach what he called a reasonable solution to the longstanding issue. The position you have taken is extremely constructive and your demands are fair. Your rational, reasonable and peaceful approach in these matters is commendable, we will work with the Sri Lankan Government to arrive at a reasonable solution to this longstanding issue,” concluded Lord Bruce.

In February 2021 Sumanthiran had met the British High Commissioner in Colombo, to discuss the TNA proposals made to UNHRC. He had told the High Commissioner that Britain and other western countries should intervene and push Sri Lanka government to fulfill obligations on transnational justice.

A delegation from the European Parliament visited Jaffna in 2017. The delegation had come to meet government and civil society representatives to discuss progress on national reconciliation and the implementation of international conventions applicable to GSP+.

Then in 2018, a delegation from the European Parliament Committee on International Trade, including the Standing Rapporteur for South Asia, met Sampanthan in his office in Parliament. Briefing the delegation on power-sharing arrangements Sampanthan said, “We are wanting a solution within a united undivided and indivisible Sri Lanka on the basis of the dignity, self-respect and sovereignty of different people who have historically inhabited certain regions for centuries”.

Tamil people in this country are hurt and offended that they are always being treated as second-class citizens; we have been insulted and humiliated. Whenever we made political demands violence was unleashed against us, Tamil people left this country in large numbers because they couldn’t live anymore in this here. We cannot go on like this, Sampanthan told the delegation.

Sampanthan urged the delegation to impress upon the Sri Lanka government to deliver on promises, and to remind the government that the support of the international community towards the government is conditional and the obligations on the part of the government must be fulfilled .The international community has a responsibility to protect the Tamil people.

The TNA wanted the EU to secure power-sharing arrangements in the proposed new Constitution. “We want to have substantial power-sharing arrangements in the new Constitution, an arrangement that will enable people to exercise powers in matters that are related to them, and ensures that these powers are not taken back by the center or will not allow center to interfere. We are being absolutely reasonable in these matters. If the government does not deliver we may be compelled to take a hardline.”

The delegation thanked Sampanthan for his wise statesmanship and pragmatic leadership and assured that they will take his inputs very seriously and will take it up both with their respective governments and also with European Union.

In 2019,  Geoffrey Van Orden, Member of the European Parliament and of the Friends of Sri Lanka group in the European Parliament  came to Sri Lanka and met, among others, TNA’s Sampanthan.  Sampanthan had told Van Orden that the country was in distress. There was no Prime Minister or Government. We had to support to reinstate the Government to prevent further damage being done to the economy and for normalcy in the functioning of institutions in this Country, said Sampanthan.

Member of the European Parliament and of the Friends of Sri Lanka group in the European Parliament Hon Geoffrey Van Orden met with TNA in Colombo

  Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg met R. Sampanthan in Colombo, when she visited Sri Lanka in 2016. in 2018 Jens Frølich Holte, Norwegian State Secretary for Development Cooperation, visited Sri Lanka   and had met with a Tamil National Alliance delegation led by R. Sampanthan.

TNA told him that people in many areas in North and East are staging protests over land, persons in custody and on the issue of missing persons. “These are matters that are of concern to our people and we want the international community to play an important role in finding solutions to these issues”. He appreciated the support and partnership extended by the Norwegian government in the past in rebuilding Sri Lankan, specially the support for the National question.

Special Ambassador Yasushi Akashi met Opposition leader Sampanthan at his residence in Colombo in 2019. Sampanthan told him that though the armed conflict has come to an end, the solution to the Tamil people’s grievances which were the causes for the armed conflict is yet to be fulfilled. Further, he said, the international community played a key role in bringing the war to an end.

The government of Sri Lanka gave several commitments to the international community concerning a lasting solution to the ethnic conflict. But none of those commitments have seen a positive end. The international community cannot be a mere spectator anymore continued Sampanthan.

The international community must remind the Government of Sri Lanka of their commitments to the international community and ensure that the government delivers on those commitments. If Sri Lanka fails to keep its commitment, it will not only be harmful to the Tamil people but the whole country, concluded Sampanthan.

Netherlands Ambassador called on Sampanthan at his residence in Colombo in March 2020. Sri Lanka’s withdrawal from the UNHRC resolution will not do any good to the country Sampanthan told the ambassador. There is no Sinhala or Tamil issue when it comes to human rights. It concerns whether anyone violated international humanitarian and human rights law, and if they have done so, those responsible must be brought to justice, said Sampanthan.

The Ambassador assured that Netherlands will be evaluating the policies and the directions of the government of Sri Lanka concerning these matters and will take appropriate steps to address them. The Ambassador assured support towards the development of the North and the East. (Continued in B4)

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි

එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මහා මණ්ඩලය පිහිටවන ලද්දේ ලෝක සාමය ස්ථාපිත කිරීම උදෙසාය. ඒ වර්ෂ 1945දීය. මේ වනවිට ඇයගේ වයස අවුරුදු 76 කි. ඇය විසින් ස්ථාපිත නොකල වැදගත්ම දේ වන්නේද සාමයයි. මේ අපි දකිණ, අපිට පෙනෙන සත්‍ය තත්වයයි. ඇයට අපේක්ෂිත සාමය ලබා දීමට නොහැකි වූයේ ඇයි‍ද යන්න සොයා බැලිය යුතු වැදගත් කරුණකි.

මිනිස් සමාජය තුල යුද්ධය යනු ගංඟාවක් සේ ගලා යන ජල පහරකි. පලමුවන ලෝක යුද්ධය හා දෙවන ලෝක යුද්ධය විසින් මානව සංහතියට සිදුකල මහා විනාශය  නවතාලීමට එම ගඟ හරස් කර ඉදිකල මහා බැම්ම එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මහා සංවිධානයයි. ගඟක් හරස්කර මහා බැම්මක් ඉදි කල පමණින් ගඟ ගලා ඒම හෝ ගලා යාම නවතාලිය නොහැක. නමුත් මහා ජලාශයක් නිර්මාණය කල හැක. එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානය නම්වූ මේ මහා බැම්මේ විවර කලහැකි වාන් දොරටු ගනනාවක්ද එදා නිර්මාණය කරන ලදී  එම වාන් දොරටු ලෝකයේ විවිධ දිසාවන් ඉලක්ක කරගෙන නිර්මානය කර ඇත. දකුණු ඇමරිකාව, අප්රිකාව, දකුණු අාසියාව, නැගෙනහිර ආසියාව, බටහිර ආසියාව යන ඉලක්කයන්ද මේ අතර වේ. එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානයට  දකුණු ඇමරිකාවේ යුද්ධයක් උවමනා නම් සිදුකරනුයේ, දකුණු අැමරිකාව ඉලක්ක කරගත් වාන් දොරටුව විවර කිරීමයි. එවිට, එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මන පිනවන කලාපීය යුධ ගැටුම් ආරම්භවේ. මෙය ලෝකය මත පිහිටුවාලූ නවීනතම යුධ උපාංග හා උපක්රම සහිතව ගොඩනංවා ඇති  යුධ පාලක හා මුදා හැරීමේ යාන්ත්රණයයි.

මේ ලෝකය දෙස සර්ව සාධාරණව බලා මුලු මහත් ලෝකයටම උවමනා සියලුම සම්පත් ලබාදෙන බලවතා වන්නේ සූර්යයායි. ඔහු දකින ලෝකය හා ඔහුගේ සම්පත් බෙදීයන්නේ මේ අාකාරයටයි.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:World_map_with_equator.jpg

යමෙක් ඇත්තටම මේ පෘතුවි මාතාවට ආදරය කරනවා නම්, ඒ  ආදරය බෙදීයන්නේ ඉහත දක්වන, හිරුගේ දෘෂ්ඨියෙන් මේ පෘතුවි මාතාව දෙස බලන දැක්ම මත පිහිටාය.

එදා ඒ ලෝක සාමය උදෙසා පිහිටවූවා යයි කියන, එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මහා සංවිධානය ලෝකය දෙස බලන්නේ අපූරු කෝණයකිණි. ඒ උත්තර ධ්රැවයේ ඉහල අක්ෂීය ලක්ෂයක සිටය. එය ඔවුනගේ සංවිධාන ලාංඡණය සේ යොදාගෙන ඇත. ඒ මෙසේය.
 http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/images/u/uno-35.gif

මේ එදා පිහිටුවාගත සංවිධානයේ ලාංඡණය තුලින් අපි දකින්නේ පළමුවෙනි හා දෙවැනි ලෝක යුද්ධයන්ට මුහුණ දුන් කලාපයන්ය. ඔවුන් එදා සාමය පිහිටුවීමට අදිටන් කල කලාපයන් ඒ ලාංඡණය තුලින් පෙන්නුම් කරන බවක් අපි දකිමු. සැබෑ ලෙසම මේ සංවිධානය පිහිටුවා ගත පසු සාමකාමී යුරෝපයක් හා උතුරු ඇමරිකාවක් නිර්මාණය වූ බවක් අපි දනිමු.
උත්තර  ධ්රැවයේ ඉහල අක්ෂීය ලක්ෂයක සිට මේ ලෝකය දෙස බලන විට සැබෑ ලෙසම පෘතුවිය පෙනෙන්නේ මේ ආකාරයටය.
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ඉහත දැක්වෙන මේ සැබෑ දර්ශණයෙන්, ඔබ අප සැමට ලබා දෙන පණිවුඩය වන්නේ කුමක්ද? එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ  සංවිධානය විසින් ලෝක සාමය හා සංවර්ධනය අපේක්ෂා කරන්නේ මේ කලාපයටය යන පණිවුඩයයි. මේ ආකාරයෙන් ලෝකය දකින්නාට, පෙනෙන්නේ මොනවාද? යන්න ඉතා වැදගත් කරුණකි ඔබ අප හැම දකින දෙය අභිබවා යන යමක් ඔහු නොදකී. ඔවුන් දකින්නේද, අපට පෙනෙන දෙයමය. අපට පෙනෙන දෙය දෙස අප බලා සිටියාට, පෙනෙන්නේද නැත. අපගේ කන් නිරතුරුවම විවරව තිබුණාට, අපට හැම දෙයම ඇසෙන්නේද නැත. දෑස් විවර කර, මනස නිදිබරව ඇති විට කිසිවක් නොපෙනේ. ඒ ආකාරයටම අප උපතේ සිට මේ දක්වාම, එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානය දෙස එසේ බලා සිටියෙමු. මේ පැමිණ ඇත්තේ, ඒ නිදිබරතාවය පලවා හැර, මනස පුබුදුවා, උරකුහරය, පිරිසිදු වාතයෙන් පුරවාගෙන, එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානයේ හිස් මුදුනේ සිට පාදාන්තය දක්වා පීර පීරා, එතෙක් මෙතෙක් කාලය පුරාවට මේ ලෝකය තුල සිදුකර ඇති සියලු කරුණු කාරකා සම්බන්ධව සියුම් විමර්ශණයකට බාජනය කලයුතු කාලයයි.
උතුරු අක්ෂීය ලක්ෂයක සිට මේ ලෝකය දෙස බලන්නෙකුට පෙනෙන්නේ, ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදය, කැනඩාව, ග්රීන්ලන්තය, අයිස්ලන්තය, එක්සත් රාජධානිය, පෘතුගාලය, ප්රංශය, ස්පාඤඤය, නෝර්වේ, ස්වීඩනය, ෆින්ලන්තය, ඩෙන්මාර්කය, ජර්මනිය, ඉතාලිය, පෝලන්තය, යුක්රේනය, සයිප්රසය, තුර්කිය, රුසියාව, චීනය, ජපානය, උතුරු කොරියාව, දකුණු කොරියාව, හා මැදපෙරදිග හා උතුරු අප්රිකාව යන රටවල් දිස්වේ.
පැහැදිලිව මේ දෙස බලන ජනතාවට මනාව දිස්වෙන කරුන වන්නේ, පලමුවන හා දෙවන ලෝක යුද්ධයට සම්බන්ධවී සිටි රටවල් සියල්ලක්ම උත්තර ධ්රැවයේ සිට බලන විට මනාව දිස්වෙන බවයි. තවද මේ පලමුවන හා දෙවන ලෝක යුද්ධ වලට සම්බන්ධ වූ රටවල් ඒ යුගයේදී මෙන්ම, වර්තමානයේද අවි ආයුධ නිශ්පාදනය හා වෙළදාම, විශේෂිතම ආදායම් මාර්ගය බවට පත්කරගත් රටවල් බව පැහැදිලිව පෙනේ. ඔවුනගේ රටවල කිසිදු යුද්ධයක්, අඛණ්ඩව ගලායන මරාගෙන මැරෙණ ත්රස්තවාදී ක්රියාවන් සිදු නොවේ. එදා එකිනෙකාට එරෙහිව සටන් වැදුන ඔවුන් එක්සත් ජාතීන් (United Nations) බවට පත්වී, එක්සත්ව, ඔවුනගේ ආයුධ වෙළදාම සදහා, ඔවුනගේ දෘෂ්ඨි කෝණයෙන් බැහැර හා නොපෙනෙන රටවල් තුල, යුධ වෙළදාමට උචිත පරිසරයක් නිර්මාණය කිරීම සදහා, ත්රස්තවාදය පෝෂණය කරමින්, වෙළද පොල නිර්මාණකරනයේ යෙදී සිටී, මෙය එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානයේ, පූර්ණ ආධාර හා රැකවරණය ඇතිව සිදුවන කටයුත්තකි. තමන් විසින් බොහෝ වෙහෙස දරා නිර්මාණය කරණ ලද ත්රස්තවාදී සවිධානයක් විනාශ කිරීම විශාල මානව හිමිකම් කඩ කිරීමක් සේ ඔවුන් දකින්නේ එබැවිණි. එක්සත් ජාතීන්ට අයත් වන්නේ, උත්තර කේන්ද්රීය ආසන්න රජයන්හි වාසය කරන මානවයින්ය. මේ ලෝකය දෙස එසේ බලන්නා විසින් සිදුකරනුයේ, ඒ පෙදෙසේ රට වල සාමය හා විමුක්තිය පමණක් වන අතර, එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානය විසින් එම වගකීම නිසි ලෙස ඉටුකර තිබේ. ඔවුන් නිපදවන අවි ආයුධ විකුණා ගැනීම සඳහා ඔවුන්ගේ නොවන කලාප වල යුධ ගිනි අවුලවා වෙළඳ පොළ නිර්මාණය කිරීමද මෙම සංවිධානය විසින් සිදු කරනු ලබයි.

එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානය යනු කුමක්දැයි හඳුනාගත රාජ්‍ය නායකයින් වහා වහා එකතුව බලවත් නව සංවිධානයක් ගොඩ නැංවීම ආරම්භ කළහ. එය නොබැඳි ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානය ලෙස නම්කොට ලෝකය තුල නව ගමනක ආරම්භය සනිටුහන් කළහ. මෙයින් කුපිතවූ මහා ජාතින් ඒ සංවිධානය ගොඩනැංවීමට දායක වූ සියලුම රටවල් කබලිකරණයකට භාජනය කිරමට ඉටාගත්හ. ඒ සියලුම රටවල් විනාශ කිරීමෙන් අනතුරුව විනාශ කිරීමට ඉතිරිව තිබුනේ ඉන්දියාව පමණි. ඉන්දියාව කැබලි කිරීමට අටවාගත් යාන්ත්‍රණයේ එක කොටසක් වුයේ කොටි ත්‍රස්තවාදයයි. ලංකාවේ උතුරයි ඉන්දියාවේ දකුණයි එකතු කිරීමෙන් නිර්මාණය කරගන්නා නව රාජ්‍යක් තුලින් මෙය කිරීමට ගොස් ශ්‍රී ලාංකික හමුදාවන්ගේ ප්‍රබල ප්‍රහාරයන් තුලින් පරාජයට පත්වූ මේ සංවිධාන පරපුර අප හා සිටින්නේ දැඩි අමනාපයකින්ය. අප නැති කලේ ලංකාව දෙකඩ කිරීම පමණක් නොව ඉන්දියාව කැබලි ගණනාවකට කඩා දැමීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතියයි.

මෙරට වාසී අපට උත්තර ධ්රැවීය  අක්ෂයට ඉහලින් පිහිටි විට සිදුවන සියලූම, පාරිසරික හා දේශගුණික විපර්යාශයන් සම්බන්ධව අපට මනා දැනුමක් තිබේ. අප රටවාසීන් හරි ප්‍රායෝගික මිනිසුන්ය. පරයන් වටේ සිටියද ලෝකයක් සමග වුවද සටන් කිරීමට තරම් බලවත් ජාතියක් මේ රටතුල ජීවත්වේ. අප ඉදිරියේ එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානය යනු වැහැරුණු මහල්ලෙකි. අපට නව සංවිධානයක් අවශ්‍යතාවය තදින්ම දැනේ. එය United  Asians Organization ලෙස ආරම්භ වන්නේ නම් වඩාත් හොඳය. අපි එවැනි සංවිධානයක් සඳහා සටන් වැද යුධ මුක්ත ආසියාවක් ගොඩ නගමු. ඒ සඳහා කාලයයි මේ..

චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම,   LL.B., Ph.D.

(Source: The Sinhala Bauddhaya, September 20, 2021, Anagarika Dharmapala 157 birth commemoration issue)

ආදී සිංහලුන් පිට දීප දේශ ජයගත්තා //
පිටරට සිරිතට දිව දික් කරණා- අප සිංහල කළු සුද්දා…
ලක්ෂ්මී බායි

මිනිස් පංචස්කන්ධ හා ලෝක ඉතිහාසය

අනාගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමාට ලංකා ඉතිහාසයේ හිමිවන අද්විතීය ස්ථානය අපි දනිමු. එසේ නමුත් ලංකා කොලනියේ අභිවෘධිය සඳහා නොයෙක් හිරිහැර භාධක මැද තනියම එතුමා ඉටුකල භූමිකාව ලෝක ඉතිහාසයේ සිදුවූ සුවිශේෂ  සංසිද්ධියක්  නොවේද යන කාරණය ඇමෙරිකන් මහාචාර්යවරුන් දෙන්නෙක් විසින් 2012 දී ලියන ලද, ‘වයි නේෂන්ස් ෆේල්’ යන පොත, (Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson) කියවන විට හෙලිවේ.. මෙම පොත ලිවීමට අවුරුදු 15 ක් ගතවූවා යයි ඔවුන් පවසයි.  නොබෙල් ත්‍යාග ලාභීන් පස් දෙනෙක්ම මෙම පොත වර්ණනා කර තිබේ.

ලෝකයේ ප්‍රථම කාන්තා අගමැතිණිය වීම නිසා සිරිමා බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිණිය 1960 ජූලි මස ලෝක ඉතිහාසයට එක්විය. වයස අවුරුදු දහයේදී සිය පියා සමඟ 1873 දී සිදුවූ පානදුරා මහාවාදය බලන්නට ගිය ඩේවිඩ් හේවාවිතාරණගේ දේශපාලන  විද්‍යාත්මක කතාන්තරය, ඔහු විසින් බුද්ධගයාව බේරාගෙන බුදුදහම ලොවට යාමේ භූමිකාවට වඩා බෙහෙවින් වෙනස්ය.

ඉහත සඳහන් පොතෙන් සළකා බලන්නේ රටවල් (countries) අසමත් වීම නොව ජාතීන් (nations) අසමත් විම ගැනය.  එහෙත් බොහෝවිට එකම බිමක, එක ජාතියකට/ජනවර්ගයකට වඩා සිටින බව  අමතක කල නොහැක්කකි (උදාහරණයක් ලෙස සිංහලයින්ගේ රට සිංහලේ [සිලෝන්] හා 1972 දී බහුජනවාර්ගික කල ශ්‍රී ලංකාව). මෙම පොත ගැන, ඉතිහාසයේ අවසානය ( The End of History, Francis Fukuyama), යනුවෙන් විවාදාත්මක පොතක් ලියූ ෆැන්සිස් ෆුකුයාමා කියන්නේ, එමඟින් ජාතීන් පොහොසත් වීමට හා දුප්පත් වීමට හේතුව, භූගෝල විද්‍යාව, වසංගත හෝ සංස්කෘතිය නොව, සමාජ සංස්ථා හා දේශපාලනය  (institutions & politics) යන කරුණ එලිකර දෙන බවය. මෙම වයි නේෂන්ස් ෆේල් පොතේ ලංකාව හෝ බුද්ධාගම හෝ ධර්මපාලතුමෙක් හෝ ගැන සඳහනක් නැත. කතුවරුන් දෙන්නා ලෝකයේ රටවල් රාශියකින්ම උදාහරණ දක්වමින් ඔවුන්ගේ තියරිය ඉදිරිපත් කලත් ලංකාව, රටේ ආයතන හා දේශපාලනය අමතක කිරීම ඔවුන්ගේ තියරියට, තර්කයට අභියෝගයක් යයි සිතේ. එයට හේතුව පොතේ පේලි අතරින් ලෝකයේ ධර්මපාල දේශපාලන භූමිකාවක් අහුලාගත, හඳුනාගත හැකිවීමය. යම් රටක මිනිසුන්ට චන්ද බලයක් තිබෙනවා නම් ඒ රටට දුකෙන්  ගැලවීමට මඟක් පෑදෙන්නට ඉඩ ඇත යන ඔවුන්ගේ තියොරිය 1931 සර්වජන චන්ද බලය ලැබීමෙන් පසු ලංකාවේදී නම් සිදු නොවීය. 1948  න් පසු සිදුවූයේ බාගෙන කනවා වෙනුවට ඉහගෙන කෑමය. පක්ෂ දේශපාලකයින් විසින් භෞතික හා අභෞතික  මුළු රටම සූරාකෑමය (tragedy of the commons).

අනිත් කාරණය නම් ඔවුන් කියන අන්දමට, වෙනිසිය හා රෝමය පරිහානී මඟට වැටුනේ පිලිවෙලින්, යම් ආත්මාර්ථකාමි කුඩා පිරිස් හෝ අධිරාජයින් විසින් ඒවායේ තිබු ජනයා දේශපාලනයට සහභාගිවීමේ අවස්ථා අහිමි කිරීම නිසා නම්, ජනයා ගම් මට්ටමින්ම දේශපාලනයට සහභාගීවිම හා සම්මුති දේශපාලනය, රජකාලයේ සිටම ලංකාවේ දිගටම පැවති බවය. සංඝයාගේ මැදිහත්ව රජුන් තැනීම හෝ දමනය කිරීම මේ දිවයිනේ සිදුවූවේ 1215 එංගලන්ත මැග්නා කාටා, 1649 දී චාල්ස් රජුගේ හිස ගසා දැමීමට බොහෝ කලකට පෙර සිටය. ඔවුන් දෙදෙනා විසින් 2019 දී ලියන ලද, The narrow corridor: states, societies, and the fate of liberty යන පොතේද තියොරිය වන්නේ යම් රටක ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයේ පැවැත්ම සඳහා ශක්තිමත් රාජ්‍යයක් හා ශක්තිමත් සමාජයක් යන සංස්ථා දෙකමත්, ඒ දෙක අතර  සමතුලිතතාවයකුත් තිබිය යුතු යනුය. එංගලන්තයේ මෙය ක්‍රමයෙන් වර්ධනය වුනත්, ඇමෙරිකාවේදී ට්‍රම්ප් ජනාධිපති යටතේ එය අවදානමකට ලක්වූවා යයි ඔවුන් අනතුරු අඟවයි. 

රටවල් වර්ග කරණ මිණුම්දඬු

අද ලෝකයේ ධනවත්, බලවත්, රටවල් හා දුගී, අසමත් හා අසමත් වෙමින් පවතින (failed and failing) රටවල් වශයෙන් බෙදීමේදී  බටහිර අය යොදාගන්නා නිර්ණායක අතර මිනිසුන්ගේ සතුට, ශුභ සිද්ධිය වැනි භූතාන් රටේ ප්‍රමුඛතාවය දෙන මිනුම්දඬු  (Happiness Index) විරලය. දැන් දැන් ඔවුන් ප්‍රමුඛතාවය දෙන්නේ හියුමන් රයිට්ස්, රිලිජස් ෆ්‍රීඩම්, සමරිසි අයිතිය, වැනි ඉන්ඩෙක්ස් වලටය. එහෙත් යුරෝපීය යටත් විජිතවාදී සූරාකෑම යටතේ උවමනාවෙන්ම දුප්පත් කරවන ලද රටවල්, අරගලයකින්, අර්ධ සටනකින් හෝ ලංකාවේදී මෙන් පෙත්සම් ගසා සාමයෙන් නිදහස ලබාගත් පසුව, පාලන බලයට සේන්දු වන කළුසුද්දන්ගේ නොමනා පාලනය යටතේ ප්‍රපාතයටම තල්ලුවී යෑම ගැන ඔවුන් නිහඬය.

තවද ඇමෙරිකන්, ඉන්දියන්, රුසියන්, චීන, පකිස්තාන්, ඊශ්‍රායල්, බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය, අරාබි යනාදී වශයෙන් චරපුරුෂ සේවාවල් රටවල් තුලට තානාපති නිර්මුක්තිය ඇතුව හා අයථාලෙස රිංගා නොයෙක් ආකාරයෙන් ක්‍රියාත්මක වන අතර, දේශීය හා විදේශීය රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන විසින් නිලධාරීන්ද හවුල් කරගෙන සියුම්ලෙස රටවල් බකල් කිරීම හැමෝම දන්නා රහසකි. ජෝන් පර්කින්ස්ගේ පොත මෙම ක්‍රියාදාම දෙස එකැස් කැස්බෑවෙක් විය සිඳුරෙන් අහස බැලුවා වැනි එක් උදාහරණයකි. (Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins, 2004).

කොසොල් රජතුමා දුටු හීන දාසැය

ලංකාවේ නමවත් සඳහන් නොවන පොතක, කොසොල් රජතුමා දුටු සීන දාසැය සඳහන් විය නොහැකිය. එසේ නමුත් මෙම මහාචාරීන් දෙන්නාගේ තියොරි එක මහාසුපින ජාතකයේ ඇති විග්‍රහයමය. බයිබලයේ ඇති බොහෝ අනාගත වාක්‍ය මෙන් නොව මෙම හීන දාසැය නූතන දෙශපාලන විද්‍යා ප්‍රකාශයක් වැනිය. කෙටියෙන් සළකා බැලුවොත් ඔවුන් දෙන්නාගේ තියොරිය මෙසේය: යම් ජතියක තිබෙන්නේ යම් සුළු කොටසකට ඒ රටේ (ජාතියේ ) සම්පත් සූරාකෑම සඳහා උපකාරවන එකිනෙක හා බැඳූන දේශපාලනික හා ආර්ථික ආයතන නම් ඒ ජාතිය දියුණු වන්නේ නැත (extractive political & economic institutions). එවැනි ක්‍රමයක් තුල බලය හා ධනය ග්‍රහණය කරගෙන සිටින පිරිස රාජ්‍යය (state) පාලනය කරණ නිසා රටේ අසහනය, අරගල හා සිවිල් යුද්ධ (unrest, strife, civil war) වලට මඟ පැදේ. තවද එවැනි ආර්ථික ආයතන, මිනිසුන්ට ඉතිරි කිරීමට, ආයෝජනය කිරීමට හෝ නව නිපැයුම් නිර්මාණය කිරීමට හේතු උපකාරවන දිරිගැන්වීම් සිදුකරන්නේ නැත (does not create incentives needed for people to save, invest & innovative). නවීකරණය, දියුණුව සඳහා අත්‍යවශ්‍යම වන පවතින ක්‍රමය අත්හැරදැමීමට හෝ වෙනස්කිරීමට (creative destruction), ධනය හා බලය බදාගෙන ඉන්නා පිරිස විසින් ඉඩක් නොදෙන්නේ ඉන් ඔවුන්ට සිදුවෙන අවාසි නිසාය අළුත් අළුත් දෑ නොතකන ජාතිය ලොව නොනගී, මුනිදාස කුමාරතුංග). මෙවැනි ක්‍රමයක් යටතේ ආර්ථික වර්ධනයක් ඇතිවියහැකි වුවත් එය  තාවකාලිකය, දිගටම නොපැවතී කඩා වැටේ (not sustainable). ඒ පිරිස අතරම අභ්‍යන්තර ගැටුම් (infighting) හටගනී.

මෙම ක්‍රමයට වෙනස්ව රට ජාතිය ගැන සිතන, (ලෝභ-ද්වේශ-මෝහයෙන් අඩු?) අය සිටින රටක තිබෙන්නේ බලය සමාජයේ  හැමදෙනාටම විසිරීයන හා බලය අසීමිත ලෙස යමෙකුට හෝ යම් පිරිසකට භවිතාකල නොහැකි විවෘත දේශපාලන ආයතනය (inclusive & pluralistic). මධ්‍යගත (කේන්ද්‍රීය ) හා ශක්තිමත්/බලවත් රාජ්‍යයක් තිබීමද මෙහිදී වැදගත්ය. සමාජයේ එක කොටසක් සමාජයේ සෙසු කොටස් සූරා නොකන ක්‍රමයක් යටතේ සමෘධිය ලඟාකර දෙන එන්ජින් වන්නේ නිදහස් වෙළඳාම, තාක්ෂණය හා අධ්‍යාපනයයි. කොටසක් විසින් සම්පත් සූරාකෑමේ ක්‍රමය යටතේ (extractive) දුෂ්ඨ චක්‍රයකුත් (vicious circle),  සමාජයේ සැමට අවස්ථා ලැබෙන විවෘත ක්‍රමයක් යටතේ (inclusive) පාරිශුද්ධ/ධර්මිෂ්ට (virtuous circle) චක්‍රයකුත් ක්‍රියාත්මක වන්නේය. ඒකාධිපති පාලකයින්  වෙනුවට දශරාජ ධර්මය අනුගමනය කලයුතුය. මෙවැනි inclusive වෙනසක් නොවුණොත්, දැනට ආර්ථික වර්ධනයක් පෙන්වන, එහෙත් extractive ක්‍රමයක සිටින, චීනයටද, රුසියාවට වූ දේම සිදුවිය හැකියයි පොතේ සඳහන්වේ.

බුදු දහම හා කොරෝනා පාඩම

අතීතයේදී මෙවැනි හෝ ඊට කිට්ටු ‘අවපාලන’ වාතාවරණයක් තිබූ රටවල් වන එංගලන්තය හා ඇමෙරිකාව (USA) ඉන් ගැලවු ආකාරය  පොතේ පෙන්වා දෙයි. යටහ් විජිතවාදය යටතේ සූරාකෑමට ලක්වු ලංකා කොලනිය ගොඩගන්නට බෞද්ධ දර්ශණය අනුසාරයෙන් ධර්මපාලතුමා පෙන්වාදුන් මාර්ගය ඒ කාලයටත් (1920-1930), මෙම පොත ලියූ මේ කාලයටත් (2000-2021) හොඳටම වලංගුය. මෙම පොතට, ‘බුදුදහම හා ලංකා කොලනිය,’ යනුවෙන් පරිච්ජේදයක් ඇතුලත් කල යුතුව තිබුණේ ඒ නිසාය.

අනාගතයේ ලෝකයේ ඉතිරිවෙන්නේ බෞද්ධ දර්ශනය පමණකැයි අයින්ස්ටයින් කිව්වා කියා මා අසා ඇත. ඉන්දියා ජනාධිපතිධූර දැරූ අබ්දූල් කලාම් හා ප්‍රතිභා පටිල් මෙන්ම, ටී බුටික් එකක වැඩකර ජීවිතය අරඹා ඉන්දියාවේ අගමැතිවූ නරේන්ද්‍ර මෝඩිද කිව්වේ ලෝකයේ ප්‍රශ්ණ බෞද්ධ ප්‍රතිපත්ති මඟින් විසඳාගත හැකිය යන්නය. මේ තුන් දෙනාම උපතින් බෞද්ධ අය නොවීය. සිය තරුණ අවධිය හිපියෙකු ලෙස ගතකර, දලයිලාමාගේ ඇසුරට වැටී  බුද්ධ දර්ශනය පිළිඹද ඇමෙරිකන් මහාචාර්යවරයෙක්වූ රොබට් තර්මන්, Inner Revolution: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Real Happiness (1998) යන පොතේ ඇමෙරිකාවේ ප්‍රශ්ණ වලට බෞද්ධ  විසඳුම් පෙන්වාදී ඇත.

අනාගාරික ධර්මපාල-කළුකොඳයාවේ මොඩලය

සතිපතා නිකුත්වූ සිංහල බෞද්ධයා පුවත්පත කියවා රට ජාතිය ගොඩ නැඟීමේ ධර්මපාල මඟට අවතීර්ණවූ කළුකොඳයාවේ ප්‍රඥාශෙඛර නාහිමියන් විසින් 1930-40 දශකවලදී ඉතාමත් සාර්ථක ලෙස ධර්මපාල මොඩලය අපරාධ මර්දන හා ග්‍රාම ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ  ජාතික ව්‍යාපාරය වශයෙන් රටපුරා ව්‍යාප්තකර, රට සශ්‍රීකකර, රටට සාමය හා සෞභාග්‍යය ගෙන දුන්නේය. විල්මට් ඒ පෙරේරා මහතා විසින් හොරණ ප්‍රදේශයේ මෙය අනුගමණය කළේය. ඒ කාලයේදී  මාක්ස්වාදීන් කලේ ලොරි වලින් මැලේරියා ප්‍රදේශ වලට බඩු ගෙනයාමය.  පක්ෂ දේශපාලකයින්ගෙන් තොර ග්‍රාම සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපාරයක් වශයෙන් මෙම සංකල්පයම 2004-2010 කාලයේදී ගැමිදිරිය යන නමින් ක්‍රියාත්මකවූ බව අද බොහෝ දෙනා දන්නේ නැත. ගම ඉස්සරහට දමාගෙන නොයෙක් නම් වලින් පක්ෂ දේශපාලකයින් විසින් නැටූ හා නටන නාඩගම් මීට වෙනස් ය.

ලංකාව හා ලෝකය

යටත් විජිතවාදය රටවල් සූරාකෑ ක්‍රමයක් (extractive) බව කතුවරු දෙන්නා පවසයි. ඉන් ගැලවීමට තැත්කරණ රටක් ලෙස 1966 දී නිදහස ලැබූ බොට්ස්වානා රාජ්‍යය හඳුන්වාදෙන ඔවුන්, 1895 දී ලන්ඩන් ගොස් සෙසිල් රෝඩ්ස්ගේ ආක්‍රමණයට විරුද්ධව බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය කොලොනියල් ලේකම් ජෝසප් චැම්බර්ලේන් හමුවී සාම ගිවිසුමක් අත්සන් කල ගෝත්‍ර නායකයින් තුන් දෙනෙකු ගැන සඳහන් කරයි. තම ප්‍රදේශය මැදින් රේල් පාරක් දැමීමට ඉඩදී රෝඩ්ස්ගෙන් රට බේරාගත හැකිවූවායයි පැවසේ. මෙවැනි දෙයක් 1815 කන්ද උඩරට ගිවිසුම යටතේ සිදුවුනේ නැත. . 

1346 යුරෝපයේ කළු වසංගතය (Black Death), එංගලන්තයේ 1215 මැග්නා කාටා, 1642-51 සිවිල් යුද්ධය, 1688 අනගි (glorious) විප්ලවය වැනි සිදුවීම්, යම් ජාතියක අනාගත ඉරණමට බලපාන, දෙපැත්ත කැපෙන කඩු හා සමාන තීරණාත්මක අවස්ථා (critical junctures) වන බවත් එංගලන්තය සෙසු යුරෝපා රටවලින් වෙනස්ව වෙනස් මඟක ගියේ ඒ නිසා බවත්. සඳහන් කරණ කතුවරු දෙන්නා, මෙසේ වන්නේ යම් නොපෙනෙන බලවේගයක් නිසාද යන ප්‍රශ්ණය ගැන නිහඬය. සමහර ඇමෙරිකන් ජනාධිපතිවරු යුද්ධවලට ගියේ (ටෙඩී රුසවෙල්ට් පිලිපීනය අල්ලා ගැනීම හා ජොර්ජ් බුෂ් ඉරාකයට පහර දීම) ඒ දෙවියන් ඔවුන්ට පෙන්වාදුන් මඟ යයි පවසමිනි.

යටත් විජිතවාදය යටතේ ලෝකයේ රටවල්  සූරාකෑමට ලක්වූ බව පොතේ දක්වන්නේ කුළුබඩු හා මිනිස් සමූල ඝාතන (spice & genocide) යන මාතෘකාව යටතේය. වාෂ්ප එන්ජිම නිපදවූ ජේම්ස් වොට් 1775 දී තම පියාට යැවූ ලිපියක යටත් විජිත හඳුන්වන්නේ වතු ලෙසය (plantations). සුද්දන් විසින් ඇතිකල දියුණු/නූතන හා නොදියුණු/චිරානුගත දෙබිඩි  ආර්ථිකය (dual economy) ගැන සඳහන් කලත් ඉන් එහාට  ගොස් ඒ  රටවල්  ආර්ථික හා දේශපාලනික වශයෙන් අඝාධයට (අසමත්වීමට ) වැටීමට ප්‍රධානම හේතුවක් ලෙස ලෝකයේ දැනට ක්‍රියාත්මකවන නූතන යටත් විජිතවාදය අමතකකර හෝ නොසළකා හැරීමට මේ පොතේ තියොරිය තීරණය කර ඇති බව පෙනේ. ලංකාව හෝ සිංහල ජාතිය ගැන ඔවුන් නිහඬ මේ නිසාම විය යුතුය. එවන් පසුබිමක් යටතේ 1920-30 කාලයේවත්, දැන් වත්, සුද්දන්ට හා කළුසුද්දන්ට ධර්මපාල භූමිකාව අරහංය. ධර්මපාල භූමිකාව ලෝක නිදසුණක් වන්නේ මේ හේතුව නිසාය. සමාජ ආයතන හා දේශපාලනය රටක දුකට හෝ සැපට හේතුව නම්, බුදු දහම අනුසාරයෙන් ධර්මපාලතුමා ගොඩනැඟූ සමාජ-දේශපාලනය බකල් වූයේ කෙසේද? ලංකාවේ මෙම ඉතිහාසය ගැන පරිච්ජේදයක් වයි නේෂන්ස් ෆේල් යන පොතේ නැත්තේ මන්ද?

පන්සල හා පාලක කල්ලිය

ලංකාවේ ඉතිහාසය පෘතුගීසි, ලන්දේසි, ඉංග්‍රීසි හා නිදහස් යුගය වශයෙන් බෙදා විමසනතාක් ලෝකයේ යටත් විජිත බාස්කට් එකට ලංකාව ඔබාදැමීම සරල තීරණයකි. ලංකාවේ වෙනස ඉස්මතුවන්නේ රටේ ඉතිහාසය පන්සල හා සුදු-කළුසුදු පාලක පන්තිය අතර ඇතිවූ නිරන්තර ගැටුමක් ලෙස සළකා බලන විටය. මෙවැනි ප්‍රවේශයකදී මෙම ගැටුමේ එකිනෙක මත වැටෙන/බැඳුණ අවධි හඳුනාගත හැකිය. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් 1798 -1873 බුද්ධාගම කියන්නේ බොරුවක් යයි පැවසුණු කාලයය. 1840 සිට ඇරඹුනේ බුද්ධාගම පණ අදිමින් සිටි අවධියය. ඕල්කොට්-අනාගාරික ධර්මපාල යුගය 1880-1915 දක්වාම දිවයයි. 1931-48 ඩොනමෝර් බෞද්ධයින්ගේ කාලය, රටට කළුකොඳයාවේ ප්‍රඥාශෙඛර නාහිමියන්ගේ සේවය ලැබුණු අවස්ථාවය. සෝම හාමුදුරුවන්ගේ භූමිකාව (2000-03), කඹ වැනි පිරිත් නූල් බැඳීම ඇරඹුණ කාලය (2004-10), බොදු බල සේනාව (2012), අස්ගිරි ප්‍රකාශනය (2017 ජූනි 20) වශයෙන් මෙවැනි අවධි 12 ක් හඳුනාගත් ලිපියක් ලංකාවෙබ් වෙබ් අඩවියේ පලකර ඇත.

මෙම ඉතිහාසයේදී එක් එක් කාලවල ඊට මූලිකවූ හාමුදුරු නම්ක් හෝ කීප නමක් සිටියේය. ඔවුන් ඉෂ්ට කලේ ජාතියේ මුර දේවතාවුන් වශයෙන් බුද්ධාගම ලංකාවට ගෙනා කාලයේ සිට භාරවුණ වගකීමය. මෙය පෝප් විසින් යුරෝපයේ රජකෙනෙක් ලෙස කල හැසිරීමට වෙනස්ය. 1799 නෝත් ආණ්ඩුකාරයාගේ සිට 1948 ඩි. එස්. සේනානායක ප්‍රථම අගමැති හා ඉන් පසුවද මෙම සංකල්පය සුද්දන් හා කළුසුද්දන් පටලවා ගත්තේය. නෝත් එය අල්ලාගත්තේ ගම හා පන්සල අතර ඇති බැඳීම (ගහට පොත්ත වැනි ) නැතිකල යුතුය වශයෙනි. ඩී. එස්ලාට අවශ්‍යවූයේ පොලිටිකල් මන්ක්ස්ලා නිහඬ කරවීමය (1946 විද්‍යාලංකාර ප්‍රකාශණය, භික්ෂුවකගේ උරුමය).

හීනමානය රිංගවීම

යටත් විජිත වාදය ලංකාවේ ඇරඹෙන්නේ කඩුව හා බයිබලය රැගෙන පෘතුගීසින් ඒමත් සමඟය. ඉංග්‍රීසින් විසින් බෝතලය (අරක්කු රේන්ද) ඊට එක් කලේය. ගමේ කුලභේද මට්ටමේ සිටම වැසියා බෙදා පාලනය කිරීම (divide & rule) තව උපායක් විය. යාපනේ ක්‍රිස්තියානි පල්ලිවල කුලහීන යයි සළකන ජනයා ඉඳගත්තේ බිම මිස පුටුවල හෝ බංකුවල නොවේ. එහෙත් මේ සියල්ලටම වඩා සියුම් විෂබීජයක්, විෂඝෝර/තිත්ත කෂායක් වූයේ යටත් වැසියාගේ මනසට හීනමානය කාවැද්දීමය. ඉංග්‍රීසි පාලකයින්ගේ විදියට සිතන, අඳින, කන බොන, හැසිරෙන. හිනාවෙන කළු සුද්දන් පිරිසක් රටක් තුල බෝ කිරීම අරභයා මැකෝලි සාමි විසින් 1835 දී ඉන්දියාවට අධ්‍යාපන ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් සකසා දෙන ලදී. ලංකා කොලනියේ 1812 වනවිටත් ක්‍රිස්තියානි මිෂනාරි පාසැල් යාපනයේ හා මඩකලපුවේ ආරම්භකර තිබුණි. 1832 දී කෝල්බෲක් සාමි විසින් නිලවශයෙන් මේ ක්‍රමය අනුමත කරණලදී. තමන්ට ශීත ඍතුවේදී නොමැරී සිටීමට උදව්කල ඇමෙරිකන් රතු ඉන්දියානුවන්ට වසූරිය විෂබීජ සහිත බ්ලැන්කට් බෙදාදීම වැනිදේ සිදු නොවුනත්, සිංහල බෞද්ධයා මර්දනය කිරීම ඉංග්‍රීසි සුද්දාගේ කැමැත්ත විය. 1818, 1848 දී පමණක් නොව 1915 දී පවා එය සිදුවිය. දෙමළ හෝ මුස්ලිම් ජනයා විදේශිකයින් හා සටන් කලේ නැත. ඉන්දියාව බෙදන්නට මුල සිටම ක්‍රියාකලත්,  ලංකාවේදී සුද්දා බැලුවේ වන්නියේ ද්‍රවිඩ/මලබාර් ජනයා පදිංචිකරවීමේ උත්සාහයේ සිටම සිංහල ‘බලය,’ ශක්තිය හා ආත්ම විස්වාසය බංග කිරීමය.

සිංහල, දෙමළ, මුස්ලිම් ජනකොටස් විරසක කරවීම ආරම්භකලේ 1832 සිටය. මොවුන් අතරින් බෝකරගත් කළු සුද්දන් එකිනෙකා කුලල් කා ගත්තේය. විශේෂයෙන් මුස්ලිම් නායකයින් ශාරියා රාජ්‍යයක් කරා යෑමේ අඩිතාලම් 1915 ට පෙර සිටම ශුක්ෂම ලෙස දමමින් සිට ඇති බව මේ වනවිට එලිදරව්වී ඇත. සුද්දන් විසින් දුන් ජාතිවාදී බෙදීම නමැති ලණුව සිංහල  කළුසුද්දන් විසින් ගිල ගෙන අන්තිමේදී එය කොටිවලිගයක්ම විය.  1910 පමණ සිට කරලියට ආ බොහෝවිට ක්‍රිස්තියානීන්වූ සිංහල නායකයින් බෞද්ධ මධ්‍යම ප්‍රතිපදාවක් නොදත් අය පමණක් නොව පන්සල අමතක කල අයද විය. 1880 දී ඕල්කොට් ආගමනයෙන් පසු පුදුමාකාරයට පන්සල් පිළිකන්නට තල්ලුවී ගියේය. ඕල්කොට් බෞද්ධයින් ඉංග්‍රීසි කතාකරණ අතරමංවූ පිරිසක් විය. මිගෙට්ටුවත්තේ ගුණානන්ද හිමියන්ට හා ධර්මපාල තරුණයාට ඕල්කොට් ක්‍රමයේ වරද වටහා ගන්නට වැඩිකාලයක් ගියේ නැත.

ආර්ථික වශයෙන් සුද්දන් කලේ රටේ සම්පත් සූරා කෑමය. බොරු නීති පනවා ඉඩම් කොල්ලකා ගෙන කෝපි, තේ, රබර්, පොල්, කුරුඳු යනාදිය වවා නිර්යාත කර, ආහාරද්‍රව්‍ය හා පාරිභෝගික භාණ්ඩ සියල්ල ආනයනය කලේය. ඉංග්‍රීසීන් වෙළඳ ජාතියකි. මෙම භාණ්ඩ වරායට ගෙන ඒම සඳහා රේල් පාරවල් හා මාර්ග පද්ධතියක් දමා ගත්තේය. මිනිරන් හෑරුවත් පැන්සලක්වත් සැදුවේ නැත. දෙවන ලෝක  යුද සමයේ මට්ටක්කුලියේ හම්පදම් කිරීම වැනි යම් කර්මාන්ත කීපයක් කොළඹ අසල ආරම්භකලේ රජයේ දෙපාර්තමේන්තු ලෙසය. ගැමියන්ගේ ගොවිතැන් නොසලකා හැරියේය. මෙම ක්‍රියාවලට හවුල්වී ඉන් ධනවත්වූ කළුසුද්දන් පිරිස අතරින් බොහෝ දෙනා ඇමෙරිකාවේ වහලුන් හිමි වතුකාරයින් මෙන්, ළමාතැනී දැන හෝ නොදැන, මිනි අන්තඃපුරද තබා ගත්තේය.

සංඝ සංස්ථාව අඩපණ කිරීමට සුද්දන් විසින් කලදේ හා නොකළදේ බොහෝය. බුද්ධාගම බොරුවක් යන ව්‍යාපාරයට රහසින් අනුබල දුන්නාට අමතරව, මෙන්ම පන්සල් සංවිධානය, විනය පිරිහීමට ඔවුන්ගේ නීති හේතුවූ ආකාරය ප්‍රින්ස් ගුණසේකර මහතා විසින් 1957 දී ලියන ලද විහාර නීති විත්ති යන කෘතියේ පෙන්වාදී තිබේ. බෞද්ධ පාසැල් ක්‍රමයට හා පිරිවෙන් අධ්‍යාපනයටද එල්ලවූ භාධක එමටය.

ධර්මපාලතුමාට වටකරගෙන පහරදීම

සුද්දන් හා කළු සුද්දන් විසින් හවුලේ ගෙනගිය මෙවැනි extractive ක්‍රමයක් (බලය හිමි සුළු පිරිසක් සෙසු ජනයා සූරාකෑම හා සිංහල බෞද්ධ ජනයාට හිරිහැර කිරීම) යටතේ, ඉහත සඳහන් පොතේ දැක්වෙන කතාන්තර අනාගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමාගේ භූමිකාව හා සමානකල නොහැකිය. එතුමා විසින් ලංකා ජාතික සංගමයේ කළු සුද්දන් සමඟ ක්‍රියාකිරීමට උත්සාහ කලේය. ජපන්, ජර්මන් රටවලින් තාක්ෂණ දැණුම ලබාගැනීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවය පෙන්වා දී ඒ සඳහා ක්‍රියාකලේය. රටේ අතීත ශ්‍රීවිභූතිය නැවත ලඟාකර ගැනීම සඳහා දේශීය ගොවිතැන හා කර්මාන්ත නංවාලීමේලා අවධානය යොමු කලේය. කළුකොඳයාවේ නාහිමියන් එය ගම්මට්ටමින් ක්‍රියාවට නැංවූවේය.

මේ සියල්ලටම වඩා වැදගත් වන්නේ සුද්දන් විසින් කළු සුද්දන්ට හා සෙසු ජනතාවට රිංගවූ, පැටවූ, හීනමානයට විරුද්ධව ඔහුගත් විසඳුමය. ගාන්ධිට එවැනි ශක්තියක් නොවීය. මෙහිදී යමෙක් විෂ්මයට පත්වියහැකි කරුණක් නම් පලවෙනි ලෝක යුද්ධයට ඉන්දියන් සෙබළුන් බඳවා ගැනීමේ ඒජන්ත කෙනෙක් වශයෙන් ක්‍රියාකිරීමට බලපත්‍රයක් තමාටද දෙන ලෙස ඉල්ලා ගාන්ධි අග්‍රාණ්ඩුකාරයාට කල ඉල්ලීමය (India: the most dangerous decades, Selig Harrison, 1960). පඹයෙක් සදා, ඊට සුදුහුණුගා, ගෙයි ඉදිරියේ හෝ මිදුලේ හිටුවා, පර සුද්දා, පර සුද්දා කියමින් දිනපතා උදේ හවා ඊට පයින් ගසන්නට යයි ඔහු දුන් උපදේශය මනෝචිකිත්සක ප්‍රතිකර්මයක් මෙන්ම පාලක සුද්දන්ට හා ඔවුන්ට ගැති කළු සුද්න්ට එල්ලකල තියුණු දේශපාලන අවියක් විය. පර සුද්දා යනු සුදු පාලකයාට කල අපහාසයක් නොවන බව සුදු නඩුකාරයෙකුට පෙන්වා දීමට එතුමාට සිදුවිය. එහෙත් සුද්දෙකුට හතර ගාතෙන් වැටෙන්නට මහ ජෝන් කොතලාවල පයින් ගැසූ විට එය අසා සතුටුවූ එතුමා, ‘අපේ ජෝන්’ යනුවෙන් ඔහුට  ආදරයෙන් ඇමතුවේය. ලෝක අධිරාජ්‍යවාදී ඉතිහාසයේ මෙවැනි ආකාරයේ තවත් සිදුවීමක් වාර්තාවී නැත. අප සළකා බැලූ පොතේ කතෘවරු දෙන්නා මෙය දැන සිටියා යයි සිතිය නොහැකිය.

සමාජ ආයතන හා දේශපාලනය රටක ඉරණම විසඳනවා නම් අනාදිමත් කාලයක සිට දිවයිනේ ක්‍රියාත්මකවූ ගම-වව-දාගැබ යන සමාජ, ආර්ථික-දේශපාලන ත්‍රිත්වයට වඩා ඉහළ ආයතනයක් ලෝකයේ තිබෙනවාද? මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් සර්වෝදයේ ආරියරත්න මහතාගේ බලපිරමිඩය හා ධර්ම චක්‍රය යන පොතේ රූප සටහන් දෙක තුනක්ම ඇත. පක්ෂ දේශපාලකයින් විසින් 1931 න් පසු මෙම ත්‍රිත්වය (මොඩලය ) දිගින් දිගටම 2019 දක්වාම කෙලෙසුවේය. කොරෝනා අර්බුදය රටට උගන්වන පාඩම නම් මෙම ත්‍රිත්වය නව මුහුණුවරකින් ක්‍රියාවට නැඟිය යුතු නොවේද යන්නය. ගම-වැව-දාගැබ යන්න, පන්සල- පක්ෂ දේශපාලකයගෙන් තොර ජන මූල සභා-යුද හමුදාව යන අංග තුනක් මඟින් සිදුවන බලතුලනයක් යටතේ, ශක්තිමත් මධ්‍යම රජයක් මඟින්, 1978 න් පසු බල්ලාට ගිය විනයක් නැති රට ගම්මට්ටමෙන් ගොඩගත යුතුව තිබීම, ධර්මපාල-කළුකොඳයාවේ 1930 ආර්ථික-දේශපාලන ව්‍යාපාරය කඩාකප්පල් කල කළු සුද්දන්ට කල දෛවෝපගත සරදමක් වැනිය. හිට්ලර් කෙනෙක් වෙලා හෝ රට හදන්න යන හාමුදුරුනමකගේ කියමනේ රහසද මෙයය. වයි නේෂන් ෆේල් පොතෙන් වක්‍රව හා ඝෘජුව දෙන්නේද මේ පණිවුඩයමය. ශක්තිමත් මධ්‍යම රජයක් හා, එක පාලක කොටසකට නොව සමස්ථ සමාජයටම දේශපාලන බලය විසිරී යන ක්‍රමයක් තිබීම බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ හා ඇමෙරිකාවේ දියුණුවට හේතුවූ බව ඔවුන්ගේ තියරි යය.

මොන්ටෙස්කිගේ බලතල බෙදීමේ න්‍යායයෙන් ඇත්තවශයෙන්ම කිව්වේ විධායක, ව්‍යවස්ථාදායක හා අධිකරණ බලය දැඩි ලෙස වෙන් කිරීම නොව, ආණ්ඩු බලය හැකි උපරිම මට්ටමින් ආයතන විශාල සංඛ්‍යාවකට විසුරුවා හැරීමය යන වත්මන් විවරණය, මොන්ටෙස්කිව ඔළුවෙන් හිටුවීමක් ලෙස සැළකේ. ඇමෙරිකන් ක්‍රමය අද මුහුණපා සිටිනා අර්බුදය මෙවැන්නකි. ලංකාවේ පන්සල් වල විහාරාධිපතිවරුන් තම පන්සලේ සර්වාධිපතියා වන්නේය. ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය යනු චර්චිල් කී පරිදි දුර්වල ක්‍රමයක් මෙන්ම ක්‍රිස්තියානි පල්ලි සංවිධානයට වෙනස්ව හාමුදුරුවරුන් අතර සමඟියක් නැත්තේද මේ නිසාය. එහෙත් අර පොතේ කියන ප්ලූරලිසම් යනු මෙයය. මේ අනුව පන්සල එක් අංගයක් වන රට ගොඩනැංවීමේ  නව මොඩලයක් ඒකාකාරි නොව විවිධත්වය රැකගන්නා ආයතන වන්නේ මේ නිසාය. පන්සලට අමතරව කෝවිල, පල්ලිය හා මුස්ලිම් සුපී පල්ලියද මීට එකතු වෙන්නේය. මෙවැනි කතා පොතේ කතෲන් දෙන්නාගේ කණ්වලට මීපැනි දැමීමක් විය නොහැකිද?

1920 දශකයේ ජාතිවාදය ඇවිලවූ සුද්දෝ, 1931 දී සර්ව ජන චන්ද බලය ප්‍රධානය කලේය. ජනයාට මෙය දීම ලබාදීම වඳුරන්ට දලි පිහි දීමක් වැනියයි කළු සුද්දන් ඊට විරෝධය පලකලේය. ඩොනමොර් ක්‍රමය දෙමළ කළු සුද්දන් විසින් අවභාවිත කලේය. මෙය පොතේ කියන, රටක දියුණුවට නතිවම බැරි පවතින ක්‍රමයේ වෙනස් කිරීමට (creative destruction) කල විරෝධයක් නොවේද? පවතින ක්‍රමය වෙනස් කිරීමට 1956 අප්‍රේල් මස ලංකාවේ සාමකාමි විප්ලවයක් සිදුවිය.  1931 සිට බලය හා ධනය අල්ලගෙන රට පරිහාණියට ගෙනගිය කළු සුද්දන් කල්ලිය පරාජය විය. එහෙත් මාක්ස්වාදීන් හා ක්‍රිස්තියානි කළු සුද්දන් අණ්ඩුවේ ඇතුලෙන් හා පිටින් සිට එය කඩාකප්පල් කලේය. 1962 දී කල පොලිස්-නාවික හමුදා ක්‍රිස්තියානි කුමණ්ත්‍රණයකින් රට ගලවා දුන්නේ සිංහල බෞද්ධ තනි පොලිස් නිලධාරියෙකු විසින්ය. 1958 කුඹුරු පණත රදළ ඉඩම් හිමි රදලයින්ට හා අනිකුත් කුඹුරු අඳයට දුන් කුඹුරු හිමියන්ට දුන් මරු පහරක් විය.

පොතේ කියන ආකාරයේ තවත් තීරණාත්මක අවස්ථාවක්වූයේ 2009 මයි 18 දා තිස් අවුරුදු ත්‍රස්ත යුද්ධය නිම කිරීමය. එහෙත් විදේශ බලවේග (ඉන්දියාව, ඇමෙරිකාව, බ්‍රිතාන්‍යය, ඊ.යූ, බැන්කි මූන් ගේ යූ එන් ඕ) මැදිහත්ව එය බකල් කලේය. කළු සුද්දන් පක්ෂ දේශපාලනය කරමින් රට පාවාදීම, 2015 දී ජිනීවා වලදී සිදුවිය. ඌරාගේ මාළු උගේ පිටේම කපනවා මෙන් යුද්ධය දිනාගන්නට කැපවූ හමුදාපතිව රවටා ඩොලර් බලයෙන් ඔහුවම යුද ජයග්‍රහණය කඩා කප්පල් කිරීමට යොදවා ගන්නට ඇමෙරිකන් තානපති රොබට් බ්ලෙක්ලාට හා තොප්පිගල කියන්නේ කැලයක් යයි කී රනිල් ඇතුළු කළු සුද්දන්ට හැකිවිය.

2014 දී සිදුවූයේ යුද ජයග්‍රහණය බෞද්ධ මධ්‍යම ප්‍රතිපදාව අනුව කළමනාකරණය කිරීමට අසමත්වූ පාලක පිරිස ගැන ජනයාගේ තිබූ අප්‍රසාදය දේශීය හා විදේශීය බලවේග විසින්, රටේ නමගිය ජාති මාමක හාමුදුරුනමක් රවටා ඔහු හරහා, කොස් ඇට බාවා ගැනීමක්ය. කළු සුද්දන්ගේ පවතින දූෂිත ක්‍රමයට (extractive institutions) විරුද්ධව ක්‍රියාකල හැම හාමුදුරුනමක්ම වාගේ අකාලයේ මිය යෑම ලංකාවට විශේෂ වන සංසිද්ධියක් සේය. මිගෙට්ටුවත්තේ ගුණානන්ද හිමියන්ගෙන් ඇරඹී, සෝම හාමුදුරුවන් හා මාදුළුවාවේ සෝභිත හිමියන් දක්වා මෙම සූත්‍රය දිවයයි. බොදු බල සේනා හිමියන් බේරී සිටීන්නේ ජාතියේ වාසනාවටය කියා සිතේ.

අර පොතේ කියන අන්දමේ තීරණාත්මක අවස්ථාවක් (critical juncture) 2019 දී සිදුවිය. සමහර විට මෙය ලංකාවට ලැබුණ අවසාන සාමකාමී අවස්ථාවද වීමට හොඳටම ඉඩ ඇත.1956 සිදුවූ විප්ලවයට වඩා ඔබ්බට යමින්, කවදාවත් තම භාවනා ආරණ්‍යයෙන් නගරයට නොපැමිණි හාමුදුරුවරු පවා, කවදාවත් පක්ෂ දේශපාලනය නොකල හමුදා නිලධාරියෙකුට බලය ලබාදුන්නේ මුස්ලිම් හා දෙමළ චන්ද නැතිව ජනාධිපති කෙනෙක් වෙන්න බෑ යන මිත්‍යාවද නිෂ්ප්‍රභා කරමින්ය. තරුණ පිරිස් මුළු රටපුරාම තාප්පවල හා ගොඩනැඟිලි බිත්තිවල ජාතිමාමක යෝධ පින්තූර අඳින්නට පටන් ගත්තේය. එහෙත් කළු සුද්දන් එය සෝඩා බෝතලයක් කලේය.

අනාගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමා හා කළුකොඳයාවේ ප්‍රඥශෙඛර නාහිමියන්ට තිබූ නිර්භීතකම හා ප්‍රඥාව, දේශපාලකයෙක් නොවන ගෝඨාභය ජනාධිපතිට, ප්‍රමාදව නොව ඉක්මණින්ම ලැබුණොත් වයි නේෂන් ෆේල් යන පොතේ කතෘලාට ඔවුන්ගේ තියරිය සංශොධනය කරන්නට සිදුවනු ඇත. ලංකාව අද අතරමංවී සිටින්නේ ආයතන (inclusive) නැතිකම හෝ බහු ජන පදනමක් හෝ චන්ද බලය නැතිකම  නිසා හෝ නොව, බොරු ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍ර (නාස්ලණූ) වාදයක් හා කළු සුද්දන්ට සීමාවූ නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යයක් යන මායාවකට අසුවී, හිරවී, සිටීම නිසාය. සුද්දගෙ නීතිය හෝ කළු සුද්දගෙ නීති අසාධාරණ නම් ඉන් පිඩාවිඳින අයගෙන් නීතියට ගරුකිරීමක් බලාපොරොත්තු විය හැකිද?

එංගලන්තයට හෝ ඇමෙරිකාවට හෝ දුෂ්ට චක්‍රයකින් ගැලවෙමින් සිටිනවා කියන බොට්ස්වානා වලට ලංකාව මුහුණදෙන ආයතන හෝ දේශපාලන ප්‍රශ්ණ නොවීය. (1) ගෙදර හා ගම මට්ටමින් මිනිසුන් බෙදී මරාගන්නා පක්ෂ දේශපාලනය (2) විකෘති චන්ද ක්‍රමය (3) රට කැබලි කිරීමට උල්පන්දම් දෙන කළු සුද්දන් හා එන් ජී ඕ ඩොලර් බල ඇනි (4) ලෝක ක්‍රිස්තියානි මූලධර්මවාදය (5)  ශාරියා ඉස්ලාම් අන්තවාදය (6) ලෝක බල අරගලය නමැති ගිරයට අසුවූ පුවක් ගෙඩියක් වැනි වීම (7) පක්ෂ දේශපාලකයින් විසින් රට ණය උගුලකට හිරකර දැමීම (8) ඊළම් කාරයින් යුරෝපා රටවල් හා ජීනීවා කල්ලි සමඟ එක්වී  නටන නාඩගම (9) මිලේනියම් රේල් පාර නමැති භයානක හොල්මන (10) පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය සම්බන්ධයෙන් කාදිනල්තුමා අන්ද මන්දව හා අතරමංව සිටීම (11) ජාත්‍යන්තර මත් කුඩු ජාවාරමට ලංකාව  අසුවීම (12) බින්දුවට බැස ඇති සදාචාරය (13) ලෝක නිදහස් වෙළඳ ආර්ථික සංකල්පයක් යටතේ ලෝක කොම්පැනි හා ලංකාවේ කොම්පැනි දූෂිත මාෆියා ලෙසින් රට සූරාකෑම (14) අවුරුදු 73 ක් තුල සිදුවී ඇති අනිසි රාජ්‍ය කළමනාකරණය (mismanagement).

ධනවාදී නියෝජිත ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍ර වාදය යටතේ 1948 සිටම ලංකාවේ සිදුවී ඇත්තේ දුෂ්ට ත්‍රිකෝණයක් විසින් රට ග්‍රහණයට ගැනීමය. පක්ෂ දේශපාලකයා-නිලධාරියා-බිස්නස්කාරයා- යන ආයතන තුන රටේ ඇති දුෂ්ට චක්‍රයය (vicious circle). බිස්නස්කාරයා යන්නට එන් ජී ඕ ඩොලර් මුදලාලිලා හා අනිකුත් පුද්ගලික ඒකක/ආයතන අයත්ය. මෙම ත්‍රිත්වය අතරින් නිලධාරියා කෙතරම් දූෂිතද යන්න මිනිසුන්ට වස කැවීමේ සිට හිරේ ඉන්නා රිෂාඩ් බදියුද්දීන්ට සෙල්ෆෝන් එකක් දීම දක්වා උඩුදුවා ගොස් ඇත. ඒ කාලයේ කියවුනේ ජේ ආර් අතගැසු හැම දෙයක්ම ඩිසාස්ටර් එකකින් අවසානවූවා යන්නය. මේ වනවිට ගෝඨභය ජනාධිපතිට උරුමවී තිබෙන්නේ අන්තෝජටා බහුජටා කරුමයකි. මරණ තුනක් ඇති මිනිහෙක් පැණිකෑය වැනි අර්බුදයකි. අනාගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමා හා කළුකොඳයාවේ පාර ඔහුට ඇති විසඳුමය.

චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම,   LL.B., Ph.D.

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, September 21 (Daily Mirror): The World Bank announced last Thursday that it has paused” or temporarily suspended its Doing Business Report (DBR) after internal audits of the 2018 and 2020 reports revealed data manipulation. The suspension of the DBR is a welcome development from the point of view of poor and developing countries, says the US-based think tank, The Oakland Institute.

The World Bank has been using its DBRs to drive policy and regulatory changes favorable to Western businesses and corporations, the think tank said.  Ranking countries on the Ease of Doing Business (EDB) scale, the bank pressed developing countries to dismantle labor rights, social and environmental safeguards to attract private investors,” The Oakland Institute said in a statement.

The suspension of the DBR was a result of the efforts of the Our Land Our Business Campaign” (OLOBC), coordinated by the Oakland Institute.  Since 2014, the OLOBC has been saying that the DBR and the EDB scale have had a disastrous impact on poor countries, manifesting in grabbing of land and natural resources.

The OLOBC exposed how then World Bank CEO (now IMF Managing Director) Kristalina Georgieva applied pressure” to make specific changes to China’s data points in an effort to increase its ranking for the 2018 DBR”. She did it because China was expected to increase its financial contribution to the Bank’s capital. The then World Bank President, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, was also implicated in the effort to increase China’s ranking.

Simeon Jankov, one of the founders of the DBR and a Senior Bank official was implicated in altering Saudi Arabia’s data to boost that country’s ranking in an effort to reward the country for the important role it played in the Bank community.”

In 2018, the then World Bank’s Chief Economist, Paul Romer, exposed how the DBR scores for Chile were skewed and politically manipulated to disfavor a progressive government in that country.

The World Bank has pressed for reforms that would make developing countries more attractive to private investors. These reforms” have included lowering corporate taxes, slashing environmental safeguards, bringing down social and labor standards, cutting administrative procedures, and removing restrictions on trade and business, The Oakland Institute pointed out. The institute has extensively documented the disastrous impact of these regulatory changes at the country level in dozens of countries.

Last week, Georgieva denied that there was any wrongdoing on her part. In an explanation to the IMF, her present employer, she said she only asked the World Bank staff to double-check or triple-check data, but never change its ultimate message.”

However, The Oakland Institute’s Executive Director Anuradha Mittal aid: Evidence of manipulation of the rankings is a slap in the face of the poorest countries forced to deregulate their economies to attract investors against fallacious promises of aid and development.”

The manipulation of data to push a Western capitalist line and capitalist interests by the World Bank is only one of the manifestations of the West-directed and dominated world order.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs’ Revelations  

In a speech at the UN Food Systems Pre-summit’ on July 26 this year, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs of Colombia University, who is currently Advisor to the UN Secretary General on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), highlighted the larger issue of the inequities perpetrated by Western countries on their own populations as well as the people of other countries.  

Sachs revealed that the World Food System” is based on large multinational companies’ interest in making profits.  It’s based on a very, very low measure of international transfers to help poor people, sometimes none at all.  It’s based on extreme irresponsibility of powerful countries with regard to the environment, and it’s based on a radical denial of the rights of poor people,” he said.  

Sachs recalled that the CIA assassinated Congo’s first popular leader, Patrice Lumumba, and installed a dictatorship there for the next 30 years so that the Glencore Corporation and others Western firms could suck out cobalt from Congo without paying taxes. And yet the West would cheekily ask the people of the exploited countries: Why don’t you govern properly?”  

Sachs pointed out that the private sector in the US has always had the military behind it. It is the military-industrial complex” which wields real power in the US. He recalled that the Honduras was ruled for a long time by the US company United Fruit (UF). The UF’s attorney was John Foster Dulles; and his brother, Allen Welsh Dulles, was the head of the CIA. Allen Welsh Dulles overthrew Guatemala’s Jacobo Arbenz to make sure that United Fruit could have its property.

In an damning attack on his own country, the United States, Sachs said: I come from a country that not only doesn’t care about the world’s poor; it doesn’t even care about its own poor.  One in seven Americans is hungry right now. All it cares about is cutting taxes for the rich and filibustering any solution. The private sector’s not going to solve this (food) problem.”

Sachs pointed out that the rich countries borrowed US$ 17 trillion for COVID management but the poor nations could borrow nothing. The rich countries can borrow at 0% but the poor countries pay 5% or 10% coupon rates or have no access at all.  

The US spent US$ 7 trillion on emergency funding but didn’t give a penny to any other country,” Sachs said and suggested that the rich countries and institutions like the World Bank massively lend to the poor countries at near zero interest rates.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), there is a financing gap of about US$ 400 billion to US$ 500 billion a year to realize the basics of the SDGs.  The UN should be playing a big role in finding the funds, but the UN is poorer than New York City, Sachs points out.  The UN’s core budget in 2021  is US$ 3 billion but New York City’s budget is US$ 100 billion!”

Vaccine Inequality  

A recent editorial in The Guardian quoted the World Health Organization’s Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, as saying that of the 4.8 billion COVID vaccine doses delivered around the world to date, around 75% had gone to just 10 countries. In Africa, where a third wave of the virus has been on the march since May, less than 2% of the population has received the first dose.

Governments with the means have secured preferential deals for vaccines, over-ordered doses, hoarded them and restricted exports. Britain has played a leading role in opposing calls for intellectual property rights for vaccines to be temporarily waived. Overall, donations from richer countries have not remotely approached the level required.”

Covax, the vaccine-pooling scheme, has under-delivered, losing its major supply source after India’s decision to ban AstraZeneca exports. On the ground, insufficient time, effort and finance have been devoted to ensuring that the infrastructure is in place to carry out vaccination program efficiently, when doses are available. The likely result is that most people in low-income countries will be required to wait until 2023 to be vaccinated. This slow rollout will cost the global economy US$ 2.3 trillion in lost output. The brunt of those losses will be borne by the unvaccinated poor,” The Guardian said.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Sept 21 (NewsWire) – The State Pharmaceuticals Corporation of Sri Lanka (SPC) has secured the booster dose of the coronavirus vaccine for the Sri Lankan population.

Chairman of the SPC Dr. Prasanna Gunasena said 14 million doses of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine have been procured to be administered as the third dose.

According to News First, Dr. Gunasena said the inoculation of the third dose will commence from mid-October or early November and will cover the entire population of Sri Lanka.

The SPC has so far secured a total of 31.7 million COVID-19 vaccine doses. This is adequate to fully vaccinate the over 18 population in Sri Lanka,” he added.

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, September 21 (newsin.asia): The Foreign Ministers of Sri Lanka and Australia met on the eve of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. At the meeting the Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne sought from her Sri Lankan counterpart, Prof.G.L.Peiris, intelligence cooperation with Sri Lanka.

Though the details of this request were not given in the Sri Lankan government’s communique issued on Tuesday, cooperation is likely to be on the long-standing human trafficking problem as well as the more recent terrorist problem, sources said.

Recently, in neighboring New Zealand, one Samsudeen, a young Sri Lankan with suspected ISIS links, had slashed seven Australians with a knife at a shopping mall in Auckland. He was shot dead by police who had been trailing him. In comparison with New Zealand, Australia has a large Sri Lankan expatriate population, hence a greater need for intelligence.     

As for the human smuggling problem, many Sri Lankan Tamils had been trying to go to Australia by boat but only to get detained there for illegal entry. Australia had admitted Lankan Tamils from war-torn North and East of the island, on humanitarian grounds and legally.    

As human smuggling was had become a problem, in 2013, Australia gifted two retired Australian Bay Class patrol boats to assist Sri Lanka’s efforts in combatting people smuggling. The patrol boats were agile and with a range, speed and boarding capability that meant they would be well-suited to enhancing the Sri Lankan Navy’s efforts to disrupt people smuggling ventures. Australia was providing training with the patrol boats, which will operate alongside the Sri Lankan Navy’s existing capability to intercept people smuggling efforts originating in Sri Lankan waters.

With the result only 14 boats had travelled directly from Sri Lanka to Australia in 2013 compared to 120 boats in 2012. There were at least 12 on-water interceptions by the Sri Lankan Navy in 2013.

However, the problem persisted and it was taken up at the Sixth Meeting of Australia-Sri Lanka Joint Working Group (JWG) on Counter People Smuggling and other Transnational Crime in October 2019, held in Canberra, Sri Lankan Defense Secretary Gen. Shantha Kottegoda (Rtd.) said that Sri Lanka considers the JWG as an important platform where both parties have been able to resolve many issues of concern with regard to people smuggling and transnational crimes and continues to do so.

Kottegoda stated that Sri Lanka and Australia had come a long way and commended the Government of Australia for the assistance extended to Sri Lanka in many areas inclusive of legislative and law enforcement, intelligence gathering, vessel monitoring, sharing of information in the concerned areas. He further stressed that while continuing the discussion on strengthening the relationship with regard to countering people smuggling, it is time to consider a stronger security framework to counter terrorism and prevent violent extremism. He further suggested that intelligence cooperation and information sharing are priority areas to advance common security objectives providing transparency and building confidence in the Indian Ocean.

Lanka Seeks Understanding  on Ethnic Issue

In his meeting with Marise Payne, Lankan Minister G.L.Peiris referred to the experience of Australia in vocational education and expressed that Sri Lanka is very much interested in gaining assistance in this area. Peiris apprised Minister Payne that much headway has been made in the economic development of the Northern and Eastern provinces of the country as well as with reconciliation. He also elaborated on developments related to the Office of Missing Persons, Office for Reparations and the Office of National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) as well as the appointment of a Commission headed by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court to take stock of the current situation and to identify ways and means of taking the process forward.

Peiris stated that there is a need to allow local institutions the space and opportunity to carry out their mandates and the establishment of an ad-hoc external mechanism that overrides this work is unnecessary and detrimental. It is premature and inappropriate to have a mechanism selectively targeting Sri Lanka and goes against the very principles of the UN Charter, he pointed out.

As told to ZINARA RATHNAYAKE Courtesy Rest of World

Nangahami Premawathi is a 61-year-old single mother of three school-age children. She has been driving a tuk-tuk for PickMe, a Sri Lankan ride-hailing app, and for Uber, for four years. She also delivers food and packages. 

In 2019, the latest year for which data is available, only 17,368 Sri Lankan women worked in the transportation and storage sector, compared to 497,102 men. Driving a vehicle, especially a tuk-tuk, is considered a man’s job.” In a 2019 study, 28% of the respondents said that families don’t allow women to drive; 21% thought being a driver wasn’t a suitable job for women; and 69% believed that it was unsafe for women to drive. But since PickMe and Uber entered the market in 2015, more women like Premawathi are driving tuk-tuks.

(Note: $1 is approximately 199.50 rupees.)

Today is Sunday, so I start my day at around 9 a.m. I usually start at 6:30 a.m. and work until 9 p.m. My target is to make 4,000 rupees [about $20] a day, but on weekends, I usually fall behind and end up with just 2,000 to 3,000 rupees. Covid-19 is out of control, so people are staying home. On working days, business is better. People are reluctant to use public transport.

I was scared about the virus too, but I recently got both doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, so I don’t think about it now.

The PickMe app generates trip requests. It takes about five seconds to see the pickup location and where I have to go. In my first year, drivers could see how much a job would pay in advance, but now you only find out the fare at the end of a trip. This morning, I accepted two trips. First, I picked up a customer near my home in Seeduwa, which is north of Colombo, and took them 26 kilometers to Modara, on the edge of the city. Then, I got another trip to Kollupitiya, in the center of town. I like coming to Colombo. I don’t get many trips in Seeduwa, so once I see a trip to Colombo, I immediately accept it and drive around Colombo before I go home. 

By 11:20 a.m., I’ve made 1,500 rupees. I get another request to pick up a young couple from Carmel Road, five minutes away, and to drive them another 12 minutes to Maya Avenue. Once I’ve set them down, I get a parcel delivery order. It’s a short ride, about 1 kilometer, which I decline. Sometimes, I don’t accept short trips or deliveries because I will have to ride for 1 kilometer to pick someone up, and their trip is only half a kilometer. That’s a loss for me! PickMe drivers have a choice of which requests we accept, but there’s a cost to it. The more I decline, the lower my rating becomes. We don’t know by how much. About two weeks ago, my rating dropped to 4.72. When I called PickMe, they didn’t tell me why. 

I can cancel up to two trips per day. If I cancel more than that, my rating goes down. The lower your rating is, the longer it takes for a request to show up. My rating is now 4.79 out of five. If you are rated lower than 4.5, you don’t get many long-distance trips, which means you make less money. So I have to be careful when I decline requests or cancel a trip. 

After declining the delivery order, it takes five minutes for my next request to show up. I pick up a middle-aged man at Nugegoda, right in the middle of the city, to take him to Ratmalana, near the airport. He’s chatty. I like customers who chitchat. It keeps my spirits up, and I forget that the June sun is burning me. We drive past the Maliban biscuit factory in Ratmalana, and I get the smell of freshly baked biscuits. This is when I think of lunch. Earlier, I would bring a packet of rice and curry from home or snack on two deep-fried potato and fish rolls for lunch. After eating, I used a public washroom. But now, Covid-19 has made it risky to use public toilets, so I skip lunch. I’m used to hunger now. I try not to think about it.

As a woman driver, I feel safer with both PickMe and Uber. If a customer behaves inappropriately, I can complain.”

It’s a 20-minute ride. My customer asks me why Uber drivers don’t accept credit or debit card payments. I tell him it’s because Uber takes one week to transfer money. PickMe is better in that way because we get money at the end of the day. This customer is very understanding; he says he won’t pay by card again. I often meet nice customers. Some of them invite me home for tea. Some of them tip me generously. Many female customers note down my phone number and call me for their trips; they feel safer with a woman driver. I sometimes meet angry customers who are unhappy with my service; they enter the wrong location and blame me for being one minute late. But the good ones make up for it; they keep me going. 

I get a new request, and I have to drive back to Dehiwala. It’s a short trip with two stops, but I can’t take a risk of canceling it. It’s half past 12 now, the sun is harsh, and I’m tired. My leg pain kicks in now and then. It was worse when I was operating a sewing machine at home. I was making clothes and school bags that I sold to shops. But my legs started to swell, so I started driving the tuk-tuk. 

Before joining PickMe, I picked up random customers on the road. It’s rare to see women tuk-tuk drivers in Sri Lanka, so I used to face harassment from male drivers and male customers; they mocked me for driving a tuk-tuk or asked me for sexual services. Sometimes, random men and women hailed me for a ride and told me to join a brothel because the money, they said, was better. As a woman driver, I feel safer with both PickMe and Uber. If a customer behaves inappropriately, I can complain.

It’s 1 p.m., and I drop a young girl home in Wellawatte. She was happy to see a woman driver and saved my number for future trips. I’ve completed seven trips in the first half of the day and made 2,470 rupees. I have to give PickMe a 25% commission on fares and a 25-rupee fee on every trip. Petrol prices went up in June, but our rates for one kilometer are still the same. So after I take out fuel charges, I only have about 1,800 rupees [about $9] left over. I need a few more long-distance trips if I’m going to be able to go home early to see my children.Zinara Rathnayake is an independent journalist based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Guwahati, India.

BY: DANIEL GRAEBER Courtesy NaturalGas World

US-based New Fortress Energy said September 21 it had finalised an agreement with the government of Sri Lanka to build an offshore regasification facility for LNG imports.

For undisclosed terms, New Fortress is to acquire a 40% stake in utility West Coast Power, which owns a 310 MW power plant in Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital. The US company also secured the rights to develop an LNG receiving, storage and regasification terminal off the coast of the capital.

The terminal could be in service as early as 2023.

This is a significant milestone for Sri Lanka’s transition to cleaner fuels and more reliable, affordable power,” CEO Wes Edens said.

A memorandum of understanding was reached in July between New Energy and Sri Lanka.

Published by Sarah Smith, Editorial Assistant LNG Industry, 

New Fortress Energy Inc. and The Government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (GOSL) jointly announced that they have executed a definitive agreement for New Fortress’ investment in West Coast Power Limited (WCP), the owner of the 310 MW Yugadanavi Power Plant based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, along with the rights to develop a new LNG terminal off the coast of Colombo. As part of the transaction, New Fortress will have gas supply rights to the Kerawalapitya Power Complex, where 310 MW of power is operational today and an additional 700 MW scheduled to be built, of which 350 MW is scheduled to be operational by 2023.

New Fortress will acquire a 40% ownership stake in WCP and plans to build an offshore LNG receiving, storage, and regasification terminal located off the coast of Colombo. New Fortress will initially provide the equivalent of an estimated 1.2 million gal. of LNG (approximately 35 000 million Btu/d) to the GOSL, with the expectation of significant growth as new power plants become operational.

The 310 MW Yugadanavi Power Plant currently has a long-term power purchase agreement to provide electricity to the national grid that extends through 2035. This power plant consists of General Electric turbines and is configured to run on natural gas in combined cycle.

This is a significant milestone for Sri Lanka’s transition to cleaner fuels and more reliable, affordable power,” said Wes Edens, Chairman and CEO of New Fortress Energy. We are pleased to partner with Sri Lanka by investing in modern energy infrastructure that will support sustainable economic development and environmental gains.”

The Kerawalapitya Power Complex is the foundation of the baseload power that serves the country’s population of 22 million people. Delivering cleaner and cheaper fuels to Sri Lanka will support the country’s growth for years to come.

The terminal is expected to begin operations in 2023.

Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Further investigations were being carried out into former Terrorism Investigation Division Director Nalaka Silva upon a compliant lodged by Anti-Corruption Force Director Namal Kumara in 2018 on an alleged plot to assassinate the then President Maithripala Sirisena and former Defence Secretary and incumbent President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekara revealed today.

The Minister told Parliament that preliminary investigations are being conducted by the Police Special Investigation Unit on the orders of the IGP after taking charge of the investigation files which were in the custody of the Court.

He said this in response to a question raised by SJB MP Nalin Bandara Jayamaha on the progress of the investigations into the incident.

The MP said DIG Nalaka Silva, who was the Director of the Terrorism Investigation Division, was arrested and removed from the position following an audio clip was made public by Namal Kumara claiming that an alleged plot to assassinate then President Maithripala Sirisena and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa was being hatched.

The MP said Nalaka Silva had been conducting investigations into Zahran Hashim and that DIG Silva was planning to obtain a red warrant to arrest Zahran when he was arrested.

Due to the arrest of DIG Silva, Zahran could not be arrested. Following the arrest of DIG Silva, a series of political incidents took place in the country including the 52-day political conspiracy. And then, the Easter Sunday attack. This is a serious conspiracy,” he said.

MP Bandara asked about the progress of the investigation into the incident and if Namal Kumara had told a lie, what action had been taken against him and the state of the investigations on DIG Silva.

Minister Weerasekara said Anti-Corruption Force Director Namal Kumara had lodged a complaint on September 15, 2018 that there was a plot to assassinate the said higher officials and added that having completed the investigations, investigation files had been referred to the Attorney General for his advice on September 9, 2019.

The Minister denied that there was any political hand behind the said murder plot.

He said Nalaka Silva had been released on bail on May 21, 2019 and that he was suspended on October 17, 2018 on the directions of the National Police Commission.

The Minister also said that the request made by the DIG Silva to reinstate him, has been turned down by the Public Services Commission on December 17, 2019.