President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has issued an Extraordinary Gazette, establishing two new ministries – Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Technology.
The gazette notification, dated November 20, elaborates the scope of functions and duties of the two new governmental agencies.
Thereby, the Public Security Ministry is tasked with ensuring public safety while maintaining law and order by creating an environment suitable for all citizens to live freely.
Four institutions namely Sri Lanka Police, Civil Security Department, National Police Academy and Department of Multipurpose Development Task Force will be assigned to this ministry.
The Technology Ministry will meanwhile establish digital governance services to effectively manage the health, education, welfare, public services and business sector.
According to the gazette notification, 10 institutions including the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL), Sri Lanka Standards Institution, Sri Lanka Telecom and Department for Registration of Persons are to be brought under the purview of the Technology Ministry.
Donald Trump continues to keep America and the
world guessing as to his next move which should be to concede victory to Joe
Biden. But he has not done so formally, though he is sending signals indicating that he is
willing to concede without, of course, taking any meaningful action to vacate
the White House. This appears to be a game he is playing for a tactical
reason: he is playing for time. Though Joe Biden won on the popular vote
by nearly seven million votes nothing is certain until the Electoral College
confirms his victory. On paper he has the votes of the Electoral College too.
But there is speculation as to whether the electors from rogue” Republican
states will vote for Biden at the Electoral College.
Despite all traditions and precedents binding the
electors of the states won by Biden to vote for him there is no guarantee that
they will do so in the coming Electoral College vote on December 14.
There are instances where electors have voted against the will of the people of
the state and voted for their favourites. In 2016,” states POLITICO (November 19),
seven electors ultimately broke their pledge to vote for who they said they
would support.Five electors voted for someone other than Hillary
Clinton despite Clinton carrying their states, while two abandoned Trump.” This
means that Trump still has a chance of overturning the will of the people if a
sufficient number of electors certified to vote for Biden at the Electoral
College turn against him and vote for Trump. Remember Trump lost the popular
vote and won in the Electoral College in 2016. According to David A. Bell of
POLITICO, election experts are still worried about the talk of legislatures
going rogue between Election Day (November 3) and the selection of Electoral
College electors.” (December 14). If, as speculated, the Republican rogue”
states gang up against Biden on the pretext of vote fraud, or some other
technicality, there is still a chance available for Trump to remain in the
White House. So why concede victory too early when there is still some hope,
though it is diminishing fast. And who cares if more Americans die as a result
of the obstructionist policy of Trump to prevent the new Biden administration
working out strategies for the Corona crisis. Corona-caused deaths have gone
beyond 250,000. What does it matter to Trump who dismisses it as only another
kind of flu?
Clearly, Trump is putting America through a meat
grinder. His ego-centric politics is tearing America apart. It is difficult to
find in living memory another rough and divisive passage in
American history like the post-2016 period. At the core of the American
apple is Trump wriggling and eating into its vitals like a revolting worm which
came from within the system. He is doing to America what pariah dogs on the run
do to lamp posts. He defines himself each time he opens his mouth and fills it
with lies. Each time he spits out his egregious hyperboles unsubstantiated by
facts or figures he drops deeper and deeper into Dante’s hell. He is fixated on
creating and living in the Napoleonic cult of greatness — a small man
with big ideas. He imagines that history began with him. In his statements he
tries to give the impression that nothing great has happened in American
history before his arrival at the White House. Nor has there been anyone in
history as great as him. Once, he made a concession to Abraham Lincoln but that
too was done grudgingly. He has dragged America to the depths of despair with
two devastating crises: 1. Corona pandemic and 2. the constitution. The most
notable part of his Presidency is in creating a cult of his own fathering a
following that is ready, willing and able to go along with all his
crudities.
He performs theatrically on the political stage as
the most popular public figure hero-worshipped by the millions. Considering the
figures he had scored in the last election he is not wrong either. It reveals
that there is an on-going love-hate relationship between him and America. Half
of America loves him and the other half is divided between hate and awe. He had
brazenly done what all other politicos had feared to do: he had unmasked
America and exposed the hidden face caked with liberal cosmetics. He has
revealed the fragility of the American democracy which can flip any time under
the demagoguery of a swaggering braggart bent on breaking the rules and
dismantling the institutions that safeguard the security and the democratic
values. Above all, he has proved that he can silence with one twitter
even the most respected Republicans who hated his guts in the beginning
and then fell in line like a herd of rhinos with thick skins impervious to the
rising threats to everything of value created and preserved by the mighty
American adventure.
He displays all the symptoms of an egomaniac riding
the populist path overdetermined by Trumpism — the new political cult rising
to shape the next generation of American policy-makers. It is putting deep
roots into the soil fertilized with hate politics. His aim, as declared by him,
is to make America great by putting America first — seemingly innocuous labels
marketed to disguise the hidden racist ideology of white supremacists.
Instead of the fiery, mob-manipulating, hate politics of Hitler he does it the
modern way with a consistent flow of Gobbelsian twitters. The only thing that
seems to stand in his way of becoming a Yankee Hitler is his Jewish
son-in-law, Jared Kushner – the man behind the historic move of making
Jerusalem the capital of the Jews.
His total indifference to the hundreds of thousands
of Corona virus victims is inhuman and unpardonable. Like the way he places
himself above the law he places himself over and above the universal laws of
physics and science. His delusional belief in his own power to force men,
events and the laws of nature obey his commands is a trait that is a
serious threat to planet earth lurching from one critical crisis to
another. There can’t be a bigger threat to the welfare and the future of
the world than a voodoo Frankenstein presiding over the mightiest nation on
earth. The consequences can be far-reaching and colossal as seen in the way he
has handled the Corona virus. He condemns his best experts like Dr. Fauci as idiots”
and disasters”. With his inhuman policy of presiding over the premature
deaths of 250,000 Corona victims he deserves to go down in the annals of
American history as the most obnoxious and notorious undertaker ever.
At least on basic humanitarian necessities it
was his moral duty to cooperate with the Biden team to alleviate the suffering
of the victims of the Corona virus. Trump’s vindictive politics is aimed at
obstructing and frustrating any Biden initiatives to succeed. In his last
days he is making desperate moves to tie down the Biden administration to his
dangerous policies in global and domestic affairs. Trump out of office
can be more dangerous than in office. A part of his tactic is to play the
role of victim whose victory was stolen by a rigged election. He knows that his
future is not going to be rosy with rows of legal cases awaiting his exit
from the White House. The evidence against him is overwhelming. His main
defence is to play the innocent victim of a corrupt, rigged system.
What is the legacy he is leaving behind? Take the
case of Israel. He is leaving legacy mined with explosives. His policy of
legalising the Jewish occupation of Palestinian lands in the West Bank is a
time-bomb placed under Biden’s chair. The 600,000 Jews in 142 West Bank
settlements in Palestinian land has been declared illegal by the global
community. Biden will go along making Jerusalem the capital of Israel. It
is accepted by the Christian voters of America. But legalising the land
occupied by the Jews is an issue that is going to burn the Middle East – and
perhaps the world – in the foreseeable future.
Above all, his decision not to abide by the
democratic will of the people is going to make him the ugliest American
in history books. For the moment he will survive because he is riding high on
the passions he has injected into the apathetic veins of the sleepy Americans.
Credit must be given to him for keeping the American nation awake 24/7
with his provocative twitters. He kept the nation alive and kicking on a
regular diet of lies. Not surprisingly the latest polls indicate that a
substantial percentage of voters believe that Trump lost because the election
was rigged.
What is happening in America is surreal. Only
a brash maverick like Trump could make it happen. He has validated the
rejection democracy as a fit form governance as first declared by Socrates and
Plato. They opted for philosopher kings”. The problem with that
theory is that there are enough Donald Trumps in the world who claim to be
philosopher kings”. In fact, philosopher Bertrand Russel blamed the
Platonic concept of philosopher kings” for breeding Hitlers and Stalins.
They presumed that they had the key to unlock the mysteries of history by
playing the messianic role of political saviours. Driven by their
ideologies they made the 20th century the cruellest age in
history.
Humanity has suffered untold miseries at the hands
of these fake messiahs – from Hitler and Stalin to Rohana Wijeweera and
Prabhakaran. What is unacceptable is the willingness of a section of humanity
to follow the Wijeweeras and Prabhakarans. A good example of this
is Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda, who, for all intents and purposes, seems to be a
rational human being. After all he was an academic who held a chair in
the professoriate. He not only believed in the goodness of these brutal
messiahs but also theorised on their behalf to justify their obscene
violence. Once he returned from a fleeting meeting with Prabhakaran as if
he had seen the earthly manifestation of the heavenly Prince of Peace. Taking
Prof. Uyangoda and a Trump-follower as empirical evidence that demonstrates the
political mind-set of messianic devotees one is entitled to ask whether
there is any difference between the two?
If you look around the pundit class (synonymous, of
course, with the chattering class) you can find enough and more theorists who
pretend to be the panacea to complex and all intractable problems of the
nation. Take the case of Dayan Jayatilleka, another one of those pundits whose
theories are tailored mostly to advance his next career move. In his latest
outpouring he has blamed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his model of
governance for the second wave of Corona virus.
After circumambulating around his pet hates,
including Sinhala-Buddhism, he concludes that the fight against Covid-19 isn’t going
well because of the unscientific or pseudo-scientific metaphysical
ideology through which the Rajapaksa regime sees everything. To him the end of
the world has come. It is the Corona Chernobyl. The holocaust. And Hiroshima
and Nagasaki — all rolled into one.
It is apparent that the hidden agenda behind his
attack is to target the Rajapaksa regime which has rejected him. It is partly a
personal attack on Gotabaya Rajapaksa and partly an attack on the Rajapaksa
model of governance. All his theoretical conclusions about the second wave is
to downgrade the Rajapaksa achievements which he had praised to the skies not
so long ago when he was with the Rajapaksas. He says: For this regime,
it is more important to believe in its model of governance, its system, than to
seek truth from facts” as was Deng Xiaoping’s motto. The regime does not see
the need to look at how the really successful countries have managed this and
learn from their strategies…” because it is an article of faith that Sri Lanka
under the present leadership is the really successful country”, and it is felt
to be more important than anything else to keep the faith in this postulate,
whatever the empirical evidence to the contrary. Nobody dares to contradict the
new model, still less learn from the strategies” of the really successful
countries”. In consequence, we may be running the risk of a Corona Chernobyl.
The current Sri Lankan
model is one which is derived a priori from a
sense of superiority stemming from a mix of having won the war (again, falsely
listed as the only or the first victory over terrorism, at least in the 21st century) and the
innate superiority of the Sinhala-Buddhist culture, civilization and way of
being. To question the results on the basis of evidence, i.e. the successes of
the model, acknowledge defeats and failures, and shift course” as Dr.
Ranan-Eliya urges, is to question the sacrosanct model itself and verges on
heresy and treason.”
This attack covers a whole
range of factors that characterise the Rajapaksa government. He is making use
of the Corona crisis purely to hang his political attack on it. His real
motive is to use the second wave as an excuse to run down the Rajapaksa
regime for acting without seeking the truth from facts”. By the way, I am not
citing Deng Xiao-ping to show off my familiarity with the founding fathers of
the Chinese Revolution because it is threadbare statement commonly used in
practically every civilization long before he was born. In any case, it is not
such a profound or original statement that needs the backing of a
distinguished authority. It would have had the same impact if he quoted Haramanis
Singho instead of Deng. Throwing in big names as authorities for trite
statements is a part of his style to show off that he is not one of those the
run-of-the-mill political scientists. Writing advertisement about himself to
enhance his image as a political scientist is also a common ploy of his to
impress his readers that he must be taken seriously and not treated as a
frivolous yes-man” hired to manufacture excuses to boost the political
fortunes of his new master.
Now that he has parked
himself in Sajith Premadasa’s camp he is doing just that :
struggling to manufacture excuses to boost his master’s fortunes. Both
are trying to politicise the COVID-19 wave to gain some political mileage. But
the more sensible and constructive approach to the Covid-19 crisis was
enunciated by Ruwan Wijewardene, the Deputy Leader of the UNP, who urged
all parties to unite to overcome the crisis. (Daily Mirror – 17/11). Now that
is a sign of a mature and responsible leader who genuinely cares for the
people.
The last thing that this nation needs is
another fake theorist who is singing for his supper
UK that occupied & ruled Sri Lanka from 1803 to 1972 (169 years) and unabashedly committed scores of human rights abuses, crimes against humanity, nowhere near to what the FCO will even dare put to paper, is annually issuing reports on human rights! Politically correct UK is today the home of all things the British, care to do without. Isn’t that what led to Brexit – now isolated & hated by even Europe! They said the sun never set on the British Empire, at the rate UK is going, the sun maybe issued a discrimination card for being colour insensitive! No human rights crimes can come anywhere to what the British committed – in Sri Lanka, they military ate breakfast watching natives being hung, the British sport in then Ceylon was to run after pregnant elephants and shoot them dead, punishment for natives was to throw their children to the crocodiles. No wonder the former colonial rulers do not wish to have their dirty crimes put out and are now secretly destroying colonial records. People will soiled hands have the audacity to preach without atoning for the sins committed over 500 years! If independent former colonies could sanction the countries that committed colonial crimes – UK would be in the wilderness along with all other former colonial countries! That fete is impossible because the former colonial powerhouses quickly put in place international entities that they continue to rule over, maintaining their supremacy.
UK has put 30 countries on its human rights priority list: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burundi, Central African Republic, China, Colombia, North Korea, Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories, Libya, Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Yemen & Zimbabwe.
Ironically, many of these countries are former British colonies! Its baffling how Israel made it to the list considering the many times UK has vetoed UN resolutions against Israel! Its also baffling how Libya & South Sudan made it to the list – Libya was liberated from Gaddafi and every Libyan was promised life would be honky dory, while South Sudan was carved out of Sudan promising freedom and prosperity too!
The countries entering UK’s ‘areas of deterioration’ list not surprisingly are China & Russia. Countries are unlikely to make UK’s human rights blacklist if they allow Jehovah’s Witnesses to do as they like and turn all citizens into LGBT. With so many fact-finding missions demanding access across ‘targeted’ countries – while the access has been given through various arm-twisting, what are the ‘facts’ that have emerged and what have been the solution, is anyone’s guess with no answers!
Fancy UK should mentioning surveillance – didn’t the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights hearing arguments presented by Amnesty International, Liberty, Privacy International and other human rights organisations from four continents highlight the unlawfulness of the UK’s bulk surveillance practices.
Research by CCTV.co.uk concludes that in London there is now 1 CCTV Camera for every 13 people, meaning there are now 691,000 CCTV Cameras in London. The average Londoner is caught on CCTV 300 times a day.London’s CCTV is a mixture of government surveillance, business security, and private home cctv systems owned by individuals. Inspite, of all the cameras UK police recorded 5.8 million crimes in England and Wales in the 12-month period to year ending June 2020.
Before wagging any human rights violation cards at countries, why don’t UK’s human rights minister look at the manner Julian Assange is being treated. This is what UN special rapporteur on torture & other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment – Nils Melzer said Unless the UK urgently changes course and alleviates his inhumane situation, Mr. Assange’s continued exposure to arbitrariness and abuse may soon end up costing his life,”The prestigious LANCET group of 60 medical doctors also wrote to the UK Home Secretary to express our serious concerns about the physical and mental health of Julian Assange having documented a history of denial of access to health care and prolonged psychological torture. They did not even receive a response from the UK Home Secretary. There are enough and more campaigns for Assange’s release, all falling on deaf UK Govt ears!
Just because UK Govt issues human rights reports, anyone linked to terrorism cannot be released even if they are a high profile lawyer! UK may well like to look into the legality of the UNHRC Resolutions against Sri Lanka as well as the LTTE fronts operating in the UK – Sri Lanka can well handle the LTTE issues in Sri Lanka. We have not had a single bomb or LTTE suicide mission since the end of LTTE in May 2009. The Islamic terrorist attacks as the Presidential Commission on the Easter Sunday mass murder shows, the utter negligence & incompetence of the government that the West and India helped to bring to power in January 2015 for watching a mass murder take place, even when clues and warnings were given prior to the attack.
Before referring to military appointments to government roles, the UK may like to explain why UK judges blocked war crimes prosecution against Tony Blair for UK’s role in Iraq war.
While the UK report is whining about delaying parliamentary elections because of covid-19, UK should really explain why it kept mum on Yahapalana govt’s postponement of provincial council elections indefinitely! Where were the reports against the previous government?
Sri Lanka’s covid-response headed by the President, complimented by the health services, armed forces, police and intel agencies ensured that until October 2020 – Sri Lanka had just 13 deaths. Sri Lanka was featured as no.2 world-wide in the effort to combat and respond to covid. UK has 1.4milion covid cases and 54,286 deaths as of 21 Nov 2020.In UK not only are Muslims struggling to find burial plots, but they are even unable to bury their dead in the stipulated time frames. Lord Ahamed may like to find out why Muslims have a higher covid death rate in UK!
In Sri Lanka, Muslims have special marriage and divorce rights, while the majority Sinhalese and Tamils can marry & have one spouse, Muslims have multiple and thereby enjoying special state privileges, they also have special banking and food laws – all new cultural trends, and they have no issues about constructing their places of worship anywhere they like – how many countries afford such rights to minorities.
Sri Lanka’s majority does not have special marriage, divorce, banking or food laws!
The decision of covid cremations rests with the sovereign government elected by the people. UK appointed Trevor Phillips whom British Muslim opposed to investigate into how black & minority ethnic communities bore the brunt of covid cases. Labor MP Yasmi Qureshi tweeted: Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi tweeted: To appoint Trevor Phillips, who has boasted about being labelled as an ‘Islamophobe’ undermines the integrity and credibility of the review.” Over in Sri Lanka inspite of many objections from even the Maha Sangha the present President opted to appoint a Muslim as Sri Lanka’s Justice Minister.
Sri Lanka is no longer a colony of the UK. The British are well advised to remember this.
It would be better for Britain to first account for its colonial crimes committed. Except for 22 countries, the British Empire ruled the world. That rule was nothing rose for the natives – bloodshed, mass murder, scorched earth policies, orders to kill everything that moved including babies are nothing that Britain can walk away from and pretend to be righteous.
We hope Lord Ahmed issues a warning to France’s Macron too!
The
main focus of the budget speech of the prime minister for 2021 has reported
that the reduction of the budget deficit, and creating a production economy in
the country. The idea has been written
in my articles during the past several years as I observed that macroeconomic
issues have been less concentrated by the government since the 1990s. The world
bank had developed and stressed policy correction as a vital policy direction
for reviving economies. The world bank advice was practically result-oriented,
and many developed countries followed the advice and achieved quick results
during the last decade of the 19oo century and the first decade of 2000. Sri
Lanka was the country where adapted radical market economic policies in the
late 1970s, however, the country achieved less economic outcomes from the
market policies compared to many Asia-Pacific countries as the policies have
been implemented without disciplines and clear targets for achieving the
economic strength of the country.
In
this effort, it shouldn’t forget that a successful solution to macroeconomic
problems could not be given by ignoring microeconomic issues. For example, if
it takes a jungle, which has systems of different kinds of plants, the problems
of plants in the jungle as a whole could solve only if it provides solutions to
individual trees or plants in the system. This is the fundamental idea that the
government should understand when policy directions are made on macroeconomic
issues. If we look at the world economy after the cold war developed countries
were efficiently done was while making microeconomic reforms they concentrated
on macroeconomic problems, and it was successful. For example, many developed
countries solved problems of public enterprises by privatizing a large portion
of enterprises holding the control of firms and saved a significant volume of
budget expenditures to retire budget deficits and public debt. This should be a fundamental step to reduce
the budget deficit.
Sri
Lanka has tremendous microeconomic problems in various firms, it is not only in
public investment programs but also in privately owned firms that are concerned
about the many issues such as productivity, excess labor, and various problems. Reforming public and private enterprises would
be the best solution for strengthening the macroeconomy that is involved in
issues such as government budget deficit, public debt, unemployment, trade-related
problems, and many others. When the
problems of individual trees are solved the entire jungle would be quality,
productive, and give high value to the economy. However, the initial policy of
Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna was not supported to sell public assets overseas
and the same idea expressed by the president expressed addressing the public
recently, it is a good policy, and some local investors are willing to invest
for gaining the ownership of public enterprises. If public enterprises are reformed to higher
returns to shareholders local people ready to invest in shares of public
enterprises and prop up the stock market and job opportunities in the country.
It
is an alternative to selling assets overseas and getting the private sector for
the better management of enterprises. In
the current dynamic environment, public enterprises need to invest more funds
for innovation, technology, and managerial changes, but the owner government
has no funds to allocate such purposes and needs to give the responsibility to
the private sector to manage public enterprises. It will not harm the policy of
the government.
Although
the budget speech of the prime minister focused on the two major macroeconomic
problems, many other issues such as population, unemployment, higher interest
rate, foreign and local debt, and many other problems are associated with the
macroeconomy in the country. Many
macroeconomic issues are associated together with the ideas of the vicious
circle of poverty, and investment is the breaker of macroeconomic problems that
are circled with problems. Mr.Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the president of Sri Lanka
expressed while presenting credentials by the new Chinese Ambassador to Sri
Lanka, Mr. Qi Zenhong that Sri Lanka needs investment instead of further
borrowing in its development drive. My
personal view is China can make a massive investment in Sri Lanka at less risk
and take back profits or reinvesting profits in other fields.
Sri
Lanka wants to stop migrating its labor overseas and investing them in the
country to keep happy people. It will
help to reduce the government’s massive spending on foreign relations and
integrating the culture for development purposes.
The
motives or direction of the prime minister should be treated as excellent
purposes of the budget, opposition politics may not comprehend the motives of
the budget and reported that many irrelevant points raised. They are like
beggars with destitute wounds with an entirely single purpose to gain an
advantage out of the economic problems.
I read a news item that Ms. Diana Gamage wants to grow cannabis and
export them when there are many opportunities for export developments. The opposition politics are so stupids and
Sri Lanka is not an immoral country with desperation for engaging in black
economic activities.
Since
the Korean War in the 1950s, Sri Lanka followed the deficit budget system to
increase the aggregate demand of the country.
There is no doubt that aggregate demand may have increased with the support
of an increasing population. The
negative impact of the deficit budget was enlarging taxes and borrowing. Many developed countries used similar types
of fiscal strategies, the difference between Sri Lanka and developed countries was
that developed countries had a clear plan to reduce the budget deficit, Sri
Lanka has been blindly hanged in the budget deficit without considering
effective methods to reduce the deficit with fiscal strategies.
The
major strategy to reduce the budget deficit is creating a production economy in
the country. It is a very good strategy, however, the negative impact on the
tourism industry and foreign employment by the COVID 19 crisis directs that the
contribution from the agricultural and industrial sectors need to be massively
increased then only Sri Lanka can drive to a production economy. However, the recent statement of the EU on
the restriction of imports showed that Europe is against creating a production
economy and Sri Lanka doesn’t want to respect such self-centered policies. The
experience of Asian countries such as Japan, China, Korea, and India indicate
that they did not hesitate to reject the self-centered policies of other
countries.
The
production economy could be achieved only if the country attracts more investment
for the agriculture and industrial sectors.
There has been a trend in expanding the service sector in developed
countries after the cold war, the COVID crisis showed that the economy is
depending heavily on services would not be helpful always because a crisis in
the world may change the economy quickly affecting the service sector, and
balanced growth is the best policy direction.
Sri
Lanka cannot ignore economic fundamentals and since the 1990s it has been
persistent with popular trends ignoring fundamental problems. The message is that the budget always needs
to focus on reducing the burdens of macroeconomic issues while reforming the
microeconomic problems in individual institutions.
It was obvious not a year that made for pomp and pageantry, even if that was the desire. All issues have been either framed or impacted by Covid19. In any case, he’s not, for example, a Mahinda Rajapaksa. Covid19 of course was so sobering that the contrast was lost. No-frills is good but presidents are not elected to be less or more showy than their predecessors. It’s about manifestos, mandates and delivery. Delivery ran into the Covid19 wall, but this doesn’t mean that it should not be assessed.
Since the country, like the world, has been Covid19-driven, the response needs to be evaluated. One would think.
The Opposition says ‘fail’ and that’s laughable. The worthies in the Opposition ruled the country for 5 years. They brought in a constitutional amendment violating all established procedures and even giving the Supreme Court the proverbial finger. They created kangaroo courts to hound political opponents: hundreds of cases, not a single conviction at the end of five years. If special procedures and institutions were required to circumvent flaws in the judicial system then the architects should have addressed systemic flaws. Failed (even as the ‘kangaroo courts’ functioned) to do so. Failed.
Easter Sunday attacks. Need we say more? A clueless duo at the top of the roost who set new standards for incompetence on all counts. Need we say more? Failed. That was a period when the notion of ‘failed state’ would have been an eminently appropriate descriptive. As predictable, once their pals took over governance reins, they dropped that nomenclature, brushing off the dust for re-use only when they realized that their pals were about to be ousted. And now they have to maintain the lie.
They’ve made some short videos, probably to convince funders that they are still relevant. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu has talked of militarization, authoritarianism and majoritarianism. He’s mentioned presidential task forces and the appointment of former military chiefs to key positions (in these and in other institutions). He believes some human rights organizations are practicing self-censorship (maybe they have nothing to say/market these days). He whines that their activities are being scrutinized and are being asked about how they spend their money. Well, should they remain unaccountable? We do know that these NGO lords and ladies insisted that their organizations be left out of RTI purview. For a reason. Obviously.
Saravanamuttu also says that the 20th Amendment took us back to the situation in 1978. He has not uttered one word about all the flaws of the 19th, the tinkering associated with it and the confusion regarding executive power which in part facilitated the Easter Sunday attacks. What the 20th did they must bother these people most is removing the Constitutional Council, in which their brethren were members and therefore had a say in appointments to the so-called independent institutions. The CC facilitated the appointment of regime-loyalists to top posts, even violating basic principles of meritocracy in appointments to the Supreme Court. President Rajapaksa, in contrast, without the ‘plus’ of ‘civil society’ involvement, recommended the six senior most judges for promotion to the SC. The president hasn’t insisted that meritocracy should override all else in all spheres. He should.
Bhavani Fonseka talks about the period when parliament was dissolved and elections had been postponed. She’s upset that during this period the President called the shots. Well, it’s not as if at that time some NGO consortium could have been asked to run the country, surely? The Supreme Court was petitions, remember? The SC didn’t find anything wrong.
Ruki Fernando, just like her, has talked of human rights activists being intimidated. Vague claims. No substantiation except for mentioning a lawyer who is under detention. Neither dare mention the reason for detention: suspicion over involvement in Easter Sunday attacks. If a terrorist is a lawyer, journalist or wears some ‘ok’ garb, identity is drawn from dress and not the body it covers. That’s par for the course for these people. Hijaz Hisbullah has not been found guilty. The jury is out. However, one cannot blame a government for refusing to take chances. We saw what THAT policy did just 19 months ago. In the name of celebrating diversity (intent being to deliberately confuse ‘majority’ with ‘majoritarianism’ and ridicule, harass and put down Sinhala Buddhists) and championing freedoms, the yahapalana years saw the entire security apparatus being effectively dismantled.
They’ve developed a sudden love for vulnerable groups and this is a good thing. They are talking about fishermen, people in low income categories, garment workers etc. They are saying that Covid19 has made them more vulnerable. Yes, this is correct. It is however not a reflection of any pohottuwa-policy regime. They won’t say that though.
Then we have Jayadeva Uyangoda, who (unlike Saravanamuttu) says the 20th has given the president more powers than those vested in the office in 1978. No elaboration on this has been offered. The president has more power than those given by the 18th Amendment he says. Well, the 20th didn’t remove the term-limit imposed by the 19th. The passage of the 20th followed proper procedure. SC was petitioned. The Attorney General informed court that certain clauses would be amended at the committee stage (the 19th saw wholesale changes when even the British tradition, which yahapalanists love to refer to, allow only minor changes by the House of Lords), the SC objected to just one article and said it would require both a special majority in parliament (two-thirds) and a referendum. It was duly dropped.
Burial of Muslims who have died on account of Covid19 has been mentioned. There’s an issue here. Again, the government has erred on the side of caution. And that’s a good thing. As has been the case since February this year, decisions have been informed by health authorities and epidemiologists. State institutions and personnel have been tasked accordingly. They’ve worked 24/7. Politicians bragged about the efforts of containment, but not at any point were people told to drop their guard. They were told to follow protection protocols even after curfew was fully lifted.
The second wave was not unanticipated. We still don’t know enough about the behavior of the virus. However, there was a plan and it was executed. Quarantine centers were transformed into intermediate hospitals for asymptomatic patients (tested positive) and symptomatic parties were moved to hospitals. First contacts were asked to self-quarantine. Limited resources have been and are being used efficiently.
There have been complaints about privacy and about people being forcibly taken to quarantine centers. Privacy or death, that’s the issue. Angela Merkel said as much and Germany, as private a country as there is, went along. Those living in bubbles can complain. And it’s not as though anyone can be ‘private’ in the year 2021; certainly not most of the whiners who’ve willingly given enough ‘private data’ when they use credit cards, apple phones, use PickMe or Uber, order food, do their keyboard-‘warrioring’ on social media etc.
Were people herded into quarantine centers? They were certainly not allowed to say ‘no’. The relevant authorities moved and moved fast. Had they not, then containment would have been a problem hundreds of times worse. Again, it’s good that an NGO consortium wasn’t mandated to handle the situation.
So. Gota after a year. No frills. Has he turned Sri Lanka into a country that has reached its full potential? No. Close to it? No. On the road to it? No. There’s a lot to be done. Right now, there’s a need to control the Covid19 situation without compromising the economy. There’s a need to protect the most vulnerable sections of the population. There’s a need to move from aid-dependency to domestic production. There’s a need for development banks to be set up. There’s a need to set up a cooperative bank (which the People’s Bank was supposed to be!). There’s a need for a new constitution which resolves once and for all the big question of what kind of governance structure suits us best: presidential or parliament-driven.
There’s a lot being done without fanfare. Perhaps there’s a big communications-gap. No-frills is nice. No communication is not. Are the people happy? I don’t think so. The Covid-19 situation and all the restrictions have not made for roaring laughter. Does it mean they want the yahapalana failures back in the saddle. Highly unlikely.
It’s too early to say ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ but that day will come. Right now it is absolutely laughable to say ‘fail,’ and hilarious when rank failures make this claim.
The Central Intelligence Agency of the USA, the CIA has several front
organizations, said critics. National
Endowment for Democracy (NED) was one of them. NED is a grant-making
foundation, distributing funds to private non-governmental organizations for
promoting democracy abroad in around 90 countries, said Wikipedia. NED played a role in supporting the Arab
Spring of 2011.[1]
Citizen Participation in Monitoring Economic Development
Centre for Environmental Justice (Guarantee) Limited
$36,000
To promote good governance, adherence to regulations for
transparency and accountability, and the rule of law in Sri Lanka’s development
sector and strengthen legal protection for communities adversely affected by
severe environmental degradation as a result of irresponsible development. The
center will work to ensure that environmental protection laws and procedures
are enforced by conducting a series of meetings with government officials as
well as organizing paralegal trainings and carrying out strategic litigation.
Civic Engagement for Sustained Collective Action
Janawaboda Kendraya
$41,000
To build knowledge and create opportunities for citizens to become
more engaged in the political process at the local level. The organization will
strengthen and sustain the work of its volunteer structures in eleven districts
through programming that incorporates leadership development and community
training on democracy, human rights, and good governance, moderated
discussions, and street theater in an effort to engage citizens and government
officials in the political life of their communities.
Community Mobilization and Political Participation
Human Rights
$68,000
To build the capacity of human rights defenders to support victims
in the pursuit of justice, accountability, and truth. The project will train
human rights defenders in the concepts of democracy, civic engagement, and
international human rights mechanisms and support their efforts to mobilize
victims around prevailing concerns and violations and the ongoing reform
process.
Enhancing Civic Education for High School Students
Social Scientists’ Association
$50,000
To build knowledge and encourage dialogue around issues of
democracy, peacebuilding, and reconciliation among high school teachers and
students. The organization will develop student-friendly videos to supplement
existing materials on the topics of democracy and human rights, justice,
conflict resolution, and local government. It will also train high school
civics teachers on integrating the supplemental videos into the existing
curriculum and discuss ways to introduce difficult, more controversial topics
with students. The grantee will organize seminars for teachers to discuss
civics curricula in the current political context.
Human Rights Documentation and Advocacy
Human Rights
$60,000
To document human rights violations committed during the war and
post-war periods and advocate for justice and accountability. The project will
systematically gather information about atrocities in the north and east,
catalog and analyze it, and distribute it to interested entities. It will
provide feedback to individuals and bodies that solicit ideas on the
development of a transitional justice mechanism.
Improving Legal Literacy on Land Rights
Law and Society Trust
$50,000
To facilitate coordination between civil society and government
authorities for the implementation and reform of existing laws and ordinances
on land rights. The organization will manage a nationwide network of
organizations focused on land rights, convene government officials and citizens
on land laws and policies, document land disputes, and advocate for new,
equitable laws.
Jumpstarting Democratic Reforms Through Increased Access to
Information
Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE)
$190,013
To improve public knowledge of the government’s economic reform
efforts, and to enhance private sector demand for government transparency in
economic decision making. The center will support a range of activities,
including federal budget monitoring, economic policy analysis, engagement with
regional business organizations on access to information, and private sector
advocacy to catalyze action on the government’s good governance” agenda and
meaningfully move forward on Sri Lanka’s democratization.
Leadership Development for the Promotion and Protection of Human
Rights
Centre for Justice and Change
$30,000
To support the development of community leaders and advocate for
the promotion and protection of human rights in eastern Sri Lanka. The
organization will undertake a multi-faceted program in Trincomalee district
aimed at strengthening the capacity of village leaders, including youth, to
raise awareness about the needs of their communities and advocate on their
behalf. It will also facilitate the engagement of its network members, many of
whom are victims of human rights abuses, in the transitional justice process.
Mobilize Families of the Disappeared in Support of Reconciliation
and Justice
Families of the Disappeared
$30,000
To mobilize families of the disappeared,” in support of
reconciliation and transitional justice. The association will highlight the
systematic nature of disappearances, impunity in past cases, and efforts by
victims’ families to seek redress. It will raise awareness of human rights
violations experienced in the context of the ethnic conflict and leftist
insurrections and commemorate the lives of disappeared citizens. It will also
build support for transitional justice mechanisms and broader democratic values
and reform efforts.
Parliamentary Tracking Tool for Accountability and Good Governance
Verite Research Pvt. Ltd.
$65,000
To promote accountability and good governance through the
application of a web-based parliamentary tracking tool. The organization will
maintain and refine an online platform that documents the biographical
information and political activities of Members of Parliament and conduct
outreach to promote its usage by the media and civil society. Using its data,
the organization will contribute, through articles and other media, to the
political debate around the development and implementation of governmental
policies and legislation.
Promoting Citizen Participation and Local Government
Accountability in Estate Tamil Communities
Uva Shakthi Foundation
$20,000
To promote citizen participation and local government
accountability in Sri Lanka’s estate Tamil communities. The organization will
conduct trainings on governance and democracy to raise awareness among Indian
Origin Tamils working in the estate sector of their roles and responsibilities
as citizens and encourage their full participation in Sri Lankan society.
Promoting Political Participation and National Reconciliation
AFRIEL
$70,000
To increase youth participation in the political process and
involvement in national reconciliation. Through political and civic education
as well as skills development trainings, the organization’s youth network
members will deepen their involvement in the civic life of their communities.
The organization will also consolidate the support of civil society in southern
Sri Lanka to ensure lasting peace and a political solution to ethnic conflict.
Promoting Youth Involvement in Reconciliation
The Social Architects
$40,000
To deepen understanding of transitional justice mechanisms, right
to information, and the multiple experiences and perspectives in
conflict-affected areas. In parallel with the government’s truth and
reconciliation process, the organization will work to bridge the gap between
ethnic communities weakened by deep-rooted suspicion and competing political
narratives. It will also work with government officers to ensure transitional
justice mechanisms are enforced and work with communities to reflect on varying
war experiences and perspectives across ethnic groups.
Seeking Redress for Victims of Human Rights Violations
Centre for Human Rights and Development
$60,000
To raise awareness of and seek redress for victims of human rights
violations. The organization will provide legal aid in cases of human rights
violations, including rape, torture, and detention under the Prevention of
Terrorism Act (PTA), provisions of which are contrary to international human
rights standards. In addition, the organization will conduct advocacy and
public awareness campaigns supporting a more transparent judicial system and
repealing the PTA and other policies that infringe on civil liberties and human
rights.
Seeking Transitional Justice, Reform, and Reconciliation in
Post-War Sri Lanka
The International Working Group on Sri Lanka Ltd.
$40,000
To support post-war transitional justice, reform, and
reconciliation. The organization will coordinate a series of capacity building
training workshops, roundtable discussion to formulate advocacy strategies, and
consultation meetings with elected representatives, policy advisors, and
bureaucrats in conjunction with Sri Lankan civil society activists to mobilize
domestic and international support for meaningful transitional justice efforts.
Seeking Transitional Justice, Reform, and Reconciliation in
Post-War Sri Lanka
The International Working Group on Sri Lanka Ltd.
Supplement: $50,000
To support post-war transitional justice, reform, and
reconciliation. The organization will coordinate a series of capacity-building,
strategy, and advocacy-related activities in conjunction with Sri Lankan and
international civil society activists to mobilize domestic and international support
for meaningful transitional justice efforts. The organization will work with a
broad base of civil society actors to ensure that a multiplicity of viewpoints
is represented.
Strengthening Civil Society Networks for Active Political
Participation
Viluthu, Ltd.
$70,000
To raise awareness of political, social, and economic rights,
provide a venue for reflection and discussion, and empower participants to take
action on issues of concern. The grantee will organize a series of community
discussions and learning workshops aimed at engaging youth, including
university students, and women’s network leaders on democracy, good governance,
and transitional justice.
Strengthening Youth Leadership and Civic Participation in Eastern
Sri Lanka
Trincomalee District Youth Development – AHAM
$30,000
To strengthen the capacity of youth to participate effectively in
the civic life of their communities. The organization will train youth in
leadership development skills and basic principles of democracy and human
rights to prepare them for involvement in civic life and to assume leadership
roles in their communities in Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts.
Youth Leadership Development
Alliance Development Trust
$40,000
To promote democratic values among youth leaders. The organization
will equip youth involved in civic-oriented networks or who have assumed
leadership roles in their communities with a deeper understanding of democratic
principles and values, responsible citizenship, and rule of law. Youth will
subsequently share the knowledge gained with their networks. End of list. (continued)
Here are some activities of the US before and
after the Yahapalana puppet government came to power.
American
Bar Association
American Bar Association (ABA) made repeated attempts to register a Branch Association of the ABA in Sri Lanka. The first request was in January 2018. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka strongly objected. Nowhere in the world will a legal system permit a foreign Bar Association to set up a branch office.
It is an unprecedented request and if allowed will have serious
consequences on the independence of the legal profession and on Sri Lanka’s independence, they said. ABA
will start making comments and statements on internal matters and that will
have an impact on Sri Lanka‘s sovereignty. Also
what will Sri Lanka do if other foreign Bar Associations also ask to set up
offices.
ABA then tried to come in as an NGO. ABA made a request to the
Ministry of Justice, through a local legal firm, asking it to issue a letter to
register the ABA here as an NGO. This request was also referred to the BASL
which rejected it.
Prasad
Kariyawasam
In June 2019
it transpired that former Foreign Ministry Secretary Prasad Kariyawasam had been appointed to Parliament as an
International Affairs adviser to the Speaker. This
is the first time in Sri Lanka that a
Speaker has had the services of an international affairs advisor, MPs
commented. There is no such position as
International Affairs adviser among the list of officials in Parliament.
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said USAID is funding different projects
in Parliament through its agent, Development Alternatives Incorporated . Development
Alternatives Incorporated is a known CIA front. Its specialty is ‘democracy
promotion’ said Kamal
Wickremasinghe.
DAI had
initially selected Karunathilaka Amunugama, another former Foreign Ministry
secretary for the role of adviser, but he had passed away a day before
commencing duties. Kariyawasam was
appointed as his replacement.
DAI had given
Rs. 2,000 million for a programme called Parliamentary Diplomacy”, to foster
close relations with other Parliaments worldwide, and also facilitate exchange
programmes for MPs and Parliament staff.
Kariyawasam is assisting in this programme, the Speaker
said. He is coordinating the Parliamentary Diplomacy group involving around
50-60 countries. These programmes facilitate MPs to travel to foreign countries
to understand how Parliaments function there. Kariyawasam
also assists me in obtaining scholarships
for parliamentarians he said.
Speaker admitted
that Kariyawasam was being paid by Development Alternatives, not by Parliament.
In July 2019 Speaker announced that the salary of Prasad Kariyawasam, would be
met from Parliament funds.
Prasad
Kariyawasam had also arranged for
the ambassadors of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation
Countries (OIC) to come to Parliament to meet the Speaker. The diplomats
included those from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq,
Libya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and
Turkey. Director of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) and the Director of
Military Intelligence were also present.
MPs questioned this. The task of summoning
Colombo-based diplomats is the sole
responsibility of the Foreign Minister or his Ministry Secretary. It is also
the responsibility of the President or the Prime Minister, particularly during emergencies.
The intelligence chief of the country, who knows all the intelligence and
secret information, including investigations that are ongoing, was summoned for
the meeting, along with the IGP. Summoning the intelligence chief in front of
foreign envoys has not been done by any other Speaker.
Speaker explained I convened
a meeting of envoys of these Muslim countries in Parliament to brief them on
the latest situation. The IGP came for this meeting, along with other senior
officers. Meeting was to brief the envoys of the Muslim countries and ease
their fears. The meeting was held with good intentions to explain the current
situation and give a guarantee on security. There was no leaking of state secrets.”
Would it not
have been better to ask the Foreign Ministry to invite these envoys, countered MPs. This clearly
shows that Kariyawasam was running a parallel operation, commented the media.
US Peace
Corps
In February 2018
Yahapalana signed an agreement with the US to re-establish a US Peace
Corps programme in Sri Lanka. The negotiations had started in 2016 . The Peace
Corps was returning to Sri Lanka after some 20 years.
The first 25 American Peace Corps Volunteers will arrive in Sri
Lanka in late 2019 and undergo three months of comprehensive cultural, language
and technical training before they are given their assignments to serve for two
years.
The US Peace Corps evolved from a CIA front known as the
International Voluntary Services during
preparations for the war against Vietnam. The US Peace Corps has been expelled
from a number of countries for spying for the CIA, meddling in local politics,
and running drugs. Indonesia ordered
them out in 1965, after 16 months.
Pakistan and India refused to renew approval of Peace Corp projects in
their countries in the early 1970s.
Peace Corp
volunteers in Sri Lanka will focus on English language education. They will
complement the English teaching programs funded by the U.S. Embassy and the
U.S. Agency for International Development.
They will be
given diplomatic privileges. The
Diplomatic Privileges Act provisions have been invoked for the Peace Corp and persons performing
functions under contract with the Peace Corps and their dependents.
The
Government will provide to the Peace Corps and their families, the same exemptions with respect to taxes,
income, customs duty as provided to those in the Embassy of the United States in
accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
Why has teaching English to Sri Lankan children becomes such an
urgent priority, asked Kamal Wickremasinghe. Because US wishes to place
persons at grass roots level in Sri Lankan villages, close to the 2019
election, came the reply.The return of
the controversial US Peace Corps, in 2019 shows Washington’s fears about the
forthcoming General and Presidential
Elections, observed Tamara Kunanayagam.
Working
Group on Labor Law Reforms
National
Labor Advisory Committee (NLAC) was told in July 2017, that the Government has
decided to appoint a Working Group on Labor Law Reforms, in collaboration with
USAID. Trade unions strongly objected
to this. Neither the Ministry of
Development Strategies and International Trade nor USAID has any right to
intervene in reforming labour laws in Sri Lanka, they said. Labor reform came
under the Labour Department and the Ministry of Labor. There is a well tested tripartite mechanism
including trade unions and employer representation for this purpose. What was the actual intention behind this
urge to reform labour laws of the country, the trade unions asked.
Trimble Navigation
The Government Surveyors’ Association (GSA) said in January 2017,
that there was a move to hand over several operations of the Sri Lanka Survey
Department (SLSD), including Land Information System (LIS) and Aerial Survey
Operations to Trimble Navigation , a US-based company,
for 15 years. ‘The required plans
are already in place to complete the transfer. This may help to revive the abandoned US Tropical
Forest Act as well said observers.
Trimble
Navigation Ltd, a US company, has forwarded a proposal for ‘Title/Tenure
Regularisation and Cadastral Registry Modernisation’ in Sri Lanka. A high level
committee headed by Prime Minister’s senior advisor R. Paskeralingam had
recommended this proposal and the
Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM), within the Prime Minister
office, had approved it.
The Minister for Lands told the Surveyors
Association that the government has decided to implement the proposal and the
Association must support the project. Trimble would work with the Ministry of
Lands to identify 2.5 million state-owned lands and help to give permanent
titles to the persons currently occupying these lands. Bim Saviya programme
launched during the previous Rajapaksa regime has become a white elephant. Only 405,000 title deeds were issued from
2005.
The surveyors
observed that the main functions of the Sri Lanka Survey Department, as well as
its Land Information System (LIS) and Aerial Survey Operations would be vested
in Trimble for 15 years. Survey
Department staff and resources will also go to Trimble. 400 public surveyors
and 200 additional private surveyors with crews will serve under Trimble,
conducting pre-survey, survey and data collection. If Trimble is given the management of Sri
Lanka Survey Department, then Trimble will take control of Sri Lanka’s
electronic land register and details of lands. This will be a threat to
country’s national security, said the surveyors.
Galagodaatte
Gnanasara thera
Before 2012,
Galagodaatte Gnanasara thera was
completely unknown to the public,
said C.A.Chandraprema. He said
that even he never knew such a monk existed. When Gnanasara’s name came up for
the first time in the anti-Halal campaign of 2013, journalists
had confused him with Gangaramaya’s Ven. Galaboda Gnanissara. That was how
unknown Gnanasara was at that time, said Chandraprema.
However, the
monk was known to the USA. Galagodaatte Gnanasara thera was given a five- year
multiple entry visa to USA, in 2011, sometime
after he had begun a campaign of hatred and incitement of
violence,on religious issues.
On what basis
did Gnanasara qualify for a five year multiple entry visa to the USA as far
back as 2011 asked
Chandraprema. How is it that the US embassy issued a five-year multiple entry
visa to an unknown monk whose only claim to fame at that time was having
pleaded guilty to a change of drunk driving and having disrupted meetings of
the Anti-War Front . For a Buddhist monk to plead guilty to a charge of drunk
driving was very unusual and was probably the first time that such a thing
occurred in Sri Lanka’s history.
Then in 2014
the visa was cancelled. The US
authorities appear to have panicked that if this monk made another visit to the
USA on this visa in the middle of all this controversy, their role in all this
mayhem would be badly exposed, said Chandraprema. (Continued)
There is
speculation that Western intelligence agencies had a hand in the
well-coordinated, precision-timed Easter suicide bombings in Sri Lanka, said
Lasanda Kurukulasuriya. How otherwise
could a little-known group, ‘National Thawheed Jamaath’ have orchestrated such a feat.
The Easter
bomb attacks in Sri Lanka are a part
of a series of puzzling attacks by
little-known terror outfits , taking place in several countries, said Lasanda.
But there is one common factor. All the
countries facing such attacks have been states benefiting from China’s Belt and
Road Initiative (BRI). They include
Myanmar, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
In Myanmar in
2017 a little-known terrorist group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army
(ARSA) staged attacks on security posts in Rakhine state, sparking a crackdown
on the Rohingya community. Rakhine state is home to Sittwe port and a starting
point of BRI projects linking Myanmar with China’s Kunming city. The leader of
ARSA is said to be a Rohingya born in
Pakistan and raised in Saudi Arabia.
The
Philippines, whose President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016 threatened to ditch its
longtime military alliance with the US and turn to China, faced an attack by
ISIS terrorists in 2017 in Marawi,
helping USA to further consolidate their military presence.
Five people
were killed in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, in June 2019
in an attack on a star class hotel located near the port of Gwadar,
which is being modernized under China’s BRI. Baluch separatists claimed
responsibility. Thereafter Baluch Liberation Army carried out a dozen attacks
in 2018 against Chinese-linked projects. In November, the group attacked a
Chinese consulate in Karachi.
All these attacks had some sort of
link to ISIS. ISIS sudden appearance everywhere China is
attempting to do business, fits
Washington’s use of extremism to manipulate
situations wherever its standing armies cannot afford to intervene. Also, such attacks offer an entry-point for
Western-sponsored counter-terrorism activity or humanitarian assistance, said
Lasanda.
ISIS, like Al Qaeda before it, is a creation of the US intelligence agencies. There is ample
evidence in defence related research papers, to prove that ISIS was created,
sponsored and used by US secret agencies in pursuing the US foreign
policy. It was used to intervene in countries of strategic importance. The
interventions were for regime change, weakening the state, disintegration
of society and finally invasion/occupation by US army, said K.M.Wasantha
Bandara.
The targeting of Sri Lanka was
therefore not surprising. Two of the
sea-front hotels that came under April attacks, Shangri La and Kingsbury,
overlooked the $1.4 billion Port City project, China’s single biggest
infrastructure investment in Sri Lanka.
Analysts also observed that when US Secretary
of State Pompeo visited in October 2020, he made a special visit to St
Anthony’s church, Kochchikade, one of the churches affected by the bomb blast,
and said that the bomb blast was the work of ISIS.
Soon after
the bomb attacks, Western intelligence agencies rushed in to assist in the
investigations. A team from the Federal Investigation Bureau (FBI) of the
United States arrived in Sri Lanka on
April 23, two days
after the bomb blast, to assist in
the investigations. Britain sent in
ten or twelve Mi-5 (intelligence) personnel. There were over 40 such foreign personnel in Sri Lanka
altogether, said Wimal Weerawansa in Parliament.
The FBI team
came reportedly at the invitation of the Government of Sri Lanka. All the
foreign agencies worked along with the CID. They did so on our request,” said Police
spokesperson, SP Ruwan Gunasekera. But
President Sirisena said we did not invite them. They came on their own. My
people are complaining that they cannot go ahead with their work since each
group is asking them for briefings”.
No information has been revealed, to date, on
the work carried out by the foreign agencies (said to be ‘technical’
assistance) or on how these inputs assisted the CID in its probe, observed
Lasanda .
An unnamed US
embassy official reportedly told a group of journalists that the FBI assisted
in analyzing the suicide bombers’ phone data, continued Lasanda. There is
reason to believe however that the FBI in fact REMOVED the suicide bombers
phones and other devices at an early stage, pre-empting the retrieval of vital
evidence by local investigators.
All the
bombers are dead. Their electronic devices have been taken away by the US
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) which is helping the Lankans in the
probe,” an Indian Home Ministry official told the Indian Express. Unless the
data from these devices is made available, little will be known of the bombers
links” .
This means
that Sri Lankan investigators, and the rest of the world, will not get to know what was recorded in those
devices, that might have given a clue as to who the suicide bombers’ immediate
handlers were, commented Lasanda.
The question then arises as to whether the Americans in fact
sabotaged the investigation, under the pretext of assisting with forensic
analysis of the phones and devices, calling it ‘technical assistance.’
Asked whether the FBI had ‘taken away’ the bombers’ phones, Police
Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekera replied
that he was ‘unable to give that information.’ He also did not say whether the
Sri Lankan investigators had the opportunity
to analyze the devices before they were handed over to the FBI, and whether the
devices had been returned, said Lasanda.
It is now
very clear, and beyond any doubt that the US government is contemplating a
military intervention in Sri Lanka, when
a suitable situation arises, said analysts. The Easter Sunday bomb
explosions were planned to provide such
an opening.
The bombings,
which targeted Catholic churches and 5-star tourist hotels, came like a bolt from the blue. They
devastated the peace and relative stability that prevailed in the island,
observed Lasanda. The attacks were intended to bring the country to a
standstill. The country did come to a brief stand still. Shops and schools were
closed, all activities cancelled, people were asked to stay in their houses.
They also
affected the economy . The attacks on hotels affected the tourist trade Hoteliers
said they were heavily indebted to banks and would find it impossible to pay
their dues.
Small and
medium stakeholders in the industry, such as internal airlines, cabs , taxi and
three-wheel drivers, tour guides , tour operators and those engaged in the sale
of gem and jewellery to tourists, small
vegetable and fish suppliers to the hotels and restaurants, small shop owners,
surfing board suppliers and supporting labour, helpers and material suppliers
to the construction industry in the hotel sector, were also affected.
According to the “Shock Doctrine” theory, which we are told has been successfully
tested by CIA, a massive shock exerted on a society through extreme violence
will lead to a state of confusion and weakness which will help the US to walk
in and take over that country. The
concept of ‘Shock Doctrine’ was
applied to economic change, by its author, Naomi Klein, but it is far more
applicable to political change.
When disasters take place, citizens are too emotionally and
physically distracted by the disasters
to mount an effective resistance, and US will be able to intervene, observed analysts. If there are any more suicide bomb attacks or
if wide spread communal violence could be instigated, the US Army will get the
chance to enter the country, said critics. They could use R2P added others.
USA
thought that after the Easter attack
there will be a more violence, extreme disorder and
chaos. That did not
happen. The security forces ignored President Sirisena and Prime Minister
Ranil Wickremesinghe and acted fast. They possessed the necessary intelligence.
The second set of bombs was prevented. Those bombers died at Senthamaru.
Security forces then started to arrest those preparing for the third bomb blast.
Therefore, these attacks did not create the anticipated
‘Shock’. Instead there was remarkable
resilience . There was deep anger
and a firm wish to see to that
these attacks were not repeated. An
immediate message to this effect was sent to the Muslim community through a
silent boycott of Muslim shops.
There was a
short-lived spell of politically-instigated violence in the North Western
Province and Gampaha district. Apart from this,
communal harmony was maintained. In a highly volatile situation where a
religious minority had been targeted by extremists of another religious minority,
the Sangha and the Catholic Church led by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, head of the
Catholic Church ensured that there was no religious rioting, observed Lasanda.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said openly and repeatedly that foreign forces were behind
the attacks, it was not a local development. He publicly and repeatedly asked
for a proper inquiry into the bomb blasts.
It is only then that the truth will emerge.” The
investigations conducted by the
Yahapalana government are a
sham” he said.
Catholic MPs Johnston
Fernando, Nimal Lansa, Indika Anurudda, Sudarshini Fernandopulle, Sanath
Nishantha and Arundika Fernando wrote to
the President, asking for a proper inquiry.
In this letter, they said that His Eminence Cardinal Ranjith has mentioned on numerous occasions that
neither he nor the Christian community has any faith in the manner
investigations are carried out. Certain political leaders in the
government had provided political asylum
to persons connected to event.
The implication was that the Yahapalana government was also
complicit in the bomb attacks. Since the Yahapalana government was seen as a
puppet government of the US, this was possible.
One aspect of this event has been ignored. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s
appointment as Prime Minister in October
2018 was dismissed on the grounds that
it went against Fundamental Rights. The appointment, was however, perfectly legal. Ranil Wickremesinghe had to be freshly sworn in once Rajapaksa was dismissed.
Now, if the Mahinda Rajapaksa government had been allowed to
continue, then there would not have been an Easter Sunday bomb blast. Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabhaya Rajapakse
would have seen the significance of Mawanella, Vanatha villu and the
Kattankudy motor cycle . They would have
responded promptly to the Indian alert. The Catholic Church would have been
informed. Hotels would have been alerted.
It was observed that civil
society had been jubilant when Mahinda Rajapaksa was removed from the post of
Prime Minister .
After the April Bomb explosions, there were two other ‘clandestine US operations in
Colombo’. Soon after the April 21 bomb
explosion two US government employees were detected at the Hilton Colombo
Residencies with explosives detectors. Sniffer dogs had traced the equipment to
their apartment, reported Island..
Thereafter, security staff at the Hilton Colombo had thwarted an
attempt by five US government officials to check in along with six boxes on the
night of July 30, 2019. The American
delegation had declined to allow the security staff to scan the boxes. The US
delegation had then handed over one of the six boxes for scanning and loaded
the rest to a US embassy vehicle and moved them somewhere else.
Wimal Weerawansa released
visa photographs of the entire US team to the media, alleging the group had arrived
in a private aircraft. The five-member team had left two days later without the
controversial cargo. Weerawansa asked
whether the boxes that were sent away in a US embassy vehicle were still in the
country or spirited out when the team left for the Maldives. What did those boxes contain.
These boxes had evaded checks at Customs too. Nagananda
Kodituwakku sought information from Director General, Customs regarding the
circumstances under which her officers exempted US military cargo from
mandatory checks.
Former UPFA MP M.M. Zuhair
commented: “The alleged refusal by six US nationals to subject five of
their ‘mystery’ boxes to scanning and security clearance at the Bandaranaike
International Airport and also later at Hilton Colombo Residences on 30 July
2019, warrants a credible investigation to ascertain the contents of the boxes
and whether the US personnel were entitled to any privileges of non-disclosure.
“Nothing prevented the six US military personnel from
subjecting their baggage to scanning even if they were accredited diplomats.
Diplomatic bags containing diplomatic communications and correspondence are
protected from being opened. Personal baggage of accredited diplomats cannot be
used for smuggling prohibited or restricted goods, said Zuhair. (Continued)
Undoubtedly, increasing the retirement age has its merits, but one also wonders if, under the present trying economic circumstances, the Sri Lankan private can manage to keep employees for five extra years.
Colombo, November 21(newsin.asia) : When presenting the budget for 2021 a few days ago, the Sri Lankan government proposed to increase the retirement age in the private sector from 55 to 60 years.
Undoubtedly, increasing the retirement age has its merits, but one also wonders if, under the present trying circumstances, with the economy in the doldrums owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the private sector can bear the extra cost of keeping ageing employees for five more years.
The cost of extended employment includes payment of salaries and making contributions to the Employees Provident Fund and the Employees Trust Fund for a further five years.
At present, no private sector employer is compelled to retain the services of an employee who has reached the age of 55. However, most companies give adequate notice of termination to the retiring employees. Some are retained on humanitarian grounds for an extra 6 months or a year to give them adequate time to find alternate employment. There are also some employers, especially in the apparel sector, who extend the services of technical staff/workers at retirement age and beyond because these are highly trained and skilled. Such employees are hard to replace. They also cannot be lost to competitors.
However, the context in which this system existed has changed radically with the pandemic-induced economic crisis in Sri Lanka and the world at large. Lanka’s principal economic sectors like apparels, tourism and tea, have been badly hit, with factory closures, zero tourists, and imports and exports dwindling to a mere trickle. Ports too are crippled, so much so that the government has had to call for the return of retirees to overcome the labor shortage.
While the scaling down of operations has resulted in retrenchment and lowering of wages, the government has also been under increasing pressure to stop the decline in employment and provide employment to the unemployed. Among the steps taken by the government to remedy the situation are increasing public expenditure on infrastructure projects and providing employment to 100,000 poorest of the poor. In addition to these steps, there is a provision in the 2021 budget for increasing the retirement age in the private sector from 55 to 60.
Though not explicitly stated, the government sees increasing the retirement age as a way of mitigating unemployment. The official reason is that the increase in the retirement age is due to the change in life expectancy which has been increasing in Sri Lanka.
Be that as it may, the argument based on the increase in life expectancy is equally valid given the changes in the retirement age taking place in the rest of the world citing an increase in life expectancy.
Let’s look at some of the retirement age figures from other countries. In the United States, the retirement age is 65 years and it is expected to be increased gradually to 67 by 2023 for those born in 1960 or later. In the UK, the pensionable age steadied at 65 in 2018, but plans are afoot to increase it to 66 by 2020; to 67 by 2028; and to 68 by 2037. Australia also shows an upward trend. It is now 67 years, but it will be upwardly revised again in 2023. Looking at our immediate neighbor, India, the retirement age is the same as in our public sector, but they plan to increase it to 65 by 2028. In Pakistan, last year, the government got approval to increase the retirement age from 60 to 63.
But like Sri Lanka, these countries have also run into a severe economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unemployment is rampant. One wonders if their plans to increase the retirement age would actually be implemented under the changed circumstances.
Taking the case of Sri Lanka, the Free Trade Zone Manufacturer’s Association (FTZMA) has reportedly urged the government to examine how the private sector can change its labor policies in the event of it’s extending the retirement age from 55 to 60 years with the pandemic unlikely to go away anytime soon.
It has to be recognized that the main sectors of the Sri Lankan economy are badly hit and unable to retain the services of even younger workers, leave alone older employees. Employers have been engaging in cost-cutting exercises like encouraging workers and other staff to opt for voluntary retirement whilst retaining the services of those who are deemed important to sustain the business.
World-wide, policy-makers generally look at factors like the nature of the job, the state of health, life expectancy, and productivity when deciding the retirement age. But some authorities (like FTZMA in Sri Lanka) question whether an increase in life expectancy is a good enough reason to increase the age of retirement. They cite non-efficiency/non-productiveness of the higher age-groups to discredit the idea. It is also pointed out that increasing the retiring age will block opportunities for younger age-groups when unemployment in the latter age group is worrying. And let’s not forget, youth unemployment can trigger social and political unrest to the detriment of the country.
In Sri Lanka, the retirement age of public sector employees is 60, whereas in the private sector, it is 55 (with the possibility of extending on contract-basis until 60). Indeed, 55 years is very low, considering that the employees’ retirement life could be longer than their working life, as average life expectancy in Sri Lanka now exceeds 75 years.
It is found that in the many companies listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange, almost 60% of those serving on the boards are between 60 and 70 years of age! Clearly, the private sector is not oblivious to the value of experience and wisdom which comes with age. Therefore, the private sector should be able to continue to give senior persons the key task of providing leadership. There is no reason why the knowledge and experience of employees above 55 should not be harnessed by extending the retirement age.
Look at our policymakers in Parliament! According to a post in the parliament website, in 2018, one out of every nine MPs would be more than 70 years of age by August 2020. This reflected the age profile of the general Sri Lankan population. In 2012, senior citizens accounted for 2.5 million out of a total Lankan population of 21 million (12.5%). This was expected to increase to 16.7% by 2021.
While some of the senior MPs, including cabinet ministers, dose off during debates, others seniors have proved to be as alert and active as the younger set. If one were to look around, there are people between 55 and 70, who are still productive and can be engaged. Some of those who are compelled to retire at 55, continue working informally rather than lead a sedentary life, become unhealthy and develop a bad temper. With a reduction or elimination of income, they may end up getting depressed, aging faster, and requiring special and increasingly expensive geriatric care.
In fact, employers can benefit from retaining senior people, who are generally more mature, patient and focused than the younger set. The quality of output may also be better. Seniors would also demand less than the younger employees do and show a lessor tendency to switch jobs for small gains. Seniors would work for less to keep their body and soul together. Studies in Japan have also shown how family-like” long-standing ties between managements and workers have contributed to the success of enterprises.
Existence of yuppies in a company may give the impression that it is into a new age and rearing to go, but yuppies also run up huge overheads in terms of high salaries, bonuses and allowances for entertainment and travel. They may also show less commitment to the company, looking, as they often do, for fresher pastures.
Consolidation is inevitable, says Booking.com’s Mehrotra
Even though some demand has started coming back, the travel industry may take years to get back to pre-pandemic business level, said Ritu Mehrotra, country manager — India, Sri Lanka, Maldives at Booking.com.
Travel industry was one of the first industries to be hit and I think one of the last industries to maybe make a comeback,” she said in an interview.
There are pockets where we are seeing demand coming up. We also feel that recovery will happen. It may take time,” she added.
She added that it may not just take quarters but years for the industry to reach pre-COVID-19 levels.
Pointing out that globally over a dozen airlines have had to shut shop, she said that impact across sectors had been severe and she expected to see consolidation in the travel industry.
I think that the fittest will win the battle and it is very important for companies to have a razor-sharp focus on their operating costs and besides, consolidation is inevitable, in my mind,” she said.
Ms. Mehrotra added there was a need for greater collaboration between the industry and government.
No one company or no one player in the market can beat this kind of a pandemic. To support recovery, the government will have to consider subsidising consumer holidays. This is something that we have seen in a lot of other countries like Thailand, Japan and Italy.”
Booking.com is also in conversation with the Ministry of Tourism on how to make India as one of the topmost destinations for travel, post corona.
I also feel that the government has a very large task in hand and so far, they have been able to support…there was a relaxation in taxes just a couple of months back.” she said.
I will not speak on behalf of the hotel partners because their business model works very differently and it’s very capex heavy as well,” she said, adding that while there was some rationalisation of taxes previously, taxes in India are still on a higher side compared with countries such as Thailand and Malaysia.
Booking.com has incorporated health and safety policies on its platform, which have been adopted by 14 million partners globally and 0.7 million partners in India. According to a recent survey by the company, 77% of Indian travellers will only book a particular accommodation if it’s clear what health and hygiene policies it has in place.
On the current demand trends, Ms. Mehrotra said globally, the platform is seeing a preference for alternative accommodation such as villas, apartments, beach huts and homestays.
This business has increased from 20% to 40% for Booking.com. Additionally, domestic travel has become a focus area. Our domestic business globally was 40%, which has now moved to 70% and in India, we were anyways much higher,” she said. Ms. Mehrotra added that almost 52% of Indian travellers still plan to travel within the country in the medium term (7 months-12 months), with 41% planning to do so in the longer term. Additionally, 70% of Indian travellers want to travel more sustainably in the future.
Rahul Singh and Sunetra Choudhury courtesy Hindustan Times, New Delhi
The two pilot officers were commissioned as military pilots in Sri Lanka earlier this week, a year after they completed a crucial part of their flying training at the Dundigal-based Air Force Academy near Hyderabad in 2018-19.
Officers Pavithra Gunaratne and Rangana Weerawardhana were commissioned as military pilots in Sri Lanka this week. (SLAF)
Rangana Weerawardhana and Pavithra Gunaratne, the first women pilots in Sri Lanka’s air force, expressed gratitude to the Indian Air Force on Friday for helping them script military history in the island nation.
The two pilot officers were commissioned as military pilots in Sri Lanka earlier this week, a year after they completed a crucial part of their flying training at the Dundigal-based Air Force Academy near Hyderabad in 2018-19.
Becoming a military pilot was a childhood dream,” said Weerawardhana. We never thought we would get an opportunity to pursue flying training at AFA, Hyderabad. We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to IAF for helping us achieve our dreams,” she said.
Watching the Su-30 and other fighter aircraft was like a dream come true. It further strengthened our resolve to become military pilots,” she said, recalling a study tour to Pune where they saw the IAF’s Sukhoi-30 fighter planes for the first time.
Weerwardhana also became the first woman in SLAF’s history to command a parade at the commissioning parade on November 16 at the SLAF Academy in China Bay. The pilot officer was also awarded the Sword of Honour for outstanding all-round performance.
The two women, who were among the 53 cadets commissioned as officers this week, started training with the SLAF in July 2017 and were sent to India after they completed a basic combat course.
At AFA, they completed their basic flying training on the Pilatus PC-7 MkII aircraft, before returning to Sri Lanka last year, for their advanced training on the Chinese Y-12 light transport aircraft.
Ahead of joining the AFA in June 2018, Weerawardhana and Gunaratne said, they watched several documentaries on the AFA to get a sense of the IAF’s training activities and the challenges they would be up for in Hyderabad.
Recalling their visit to India as their first trip abroad, the two women fondly recalled their IAF instructors. The specialty of military flying is to achieve expected levels of performance in a limited time. These levels cannot be achieved individually,” Gunaratne said.
The performance of a cadet is a not just the reflection of his or her effort but also the effort of the instructor, she said. The perfect guidance given by our instructors raised our confidence. We should also not forget the contribution of the methodical training programme towards the performance of the student,” Gunaratne said.
Both agreed that despite excitement for the training in India, they were also uncertain about what would follow. We had a feeling of uncertainty when we started our basic flying training. The PC-7 is a sophisticated aircraft with modern systems. We felt proud when we got into the cockpit first time. We worked really hard to complete the basic flying course successfully. Methodical use of flying simulators helped a great deal,” said Weerawardhana.
Gunaratne fondly remembered her fellow Indian cadets at the AFA, and said, They were like our brothers and sisters who made us feel at home throughout the training period. Their smiling faces gave us extra strength during the rigourous training. The stories we shared during leisure gave us an opportunity to have a great understanding of each other’s cultures and traditions.”
We had great excitement when we stepped into the AFA. The feeling we had was totally opposite on the day we had to return to our country. With all the memories of the academy and India, it was not easy for us to leave,” Gunaratne said.
Chennai, Nov 21 (ANI): After inaugurating various development projects in Tamil Nadu, Home Minister Amit Shah said, When PM Modi visited Sri Lanka, he didn’t forget Jaffna. He visited Tamil colonies there & met with Tamil brothers & sisters. He laid foundation stone for providing them houses. Over 50,000 Tamils will get houses & damaged temples will be rejuvenated in Sri Lanka.”
For cunningly of old was the celebrated saying revealed: evil sometimes seems good to a man whose mind a god leads to destruction.
The ancient scholiast on these verses
says:
When a god plans harm against a man, he first
damages the mind of the man he is plotting against.
More precisely, and in a contemporary sense, are
we witnessing this phenomenon now in the citadel (supposedly) of democracy? Are
we witnessing it in the very country that preaches, interferes, cajoles,
bribes, creates unrest and security issues in other countries all in the name
of democracy? Are we witnessing it in the country which exports
destabilisation, mayhem and horror all in the name of democracy? The Middle
East today is one such instance. There is hardly any democracy in the countries
that were interfered with. Prior to these destructive adventures, a country
that suffered in the hands of this exporter, Vietnam, has since prospered not
on account of democracy, but what they term market Socialism in a one party
Communist State.
Donald Trump has taken the USA down an abyss of
despair and duplicity. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will have a tough time
resurrecting some trust and confidence that their own people, and others in the
rest of the world, had with the USA. The longer Trump lingers, the deeper is
the fall to this abyss and the more difficult it will be to get out of it.
Unfortunately, it is not just some sycophants
that Trump has taken with him, but some 70 Million voters and probably millions
of deaf, dumb and blind supporters in other parts of the world.
It is unfathomable why 70 million people voted
for this individual who appears to be of unsound mind. They have made a mockery
of what is just, what is right, what is moral and what is decent. Some amongst
this lot have cut their noses to spite their faces, some have voted from a
Cuckoo land, some have voted as they only know, and that is to put a cross
against a Republican candidate even if that candidate is a broom stick. This 70
million had disgraced all that has been good about the USA. They have not made
an informed decision, they have taken recklessness to a new height.
By voting for Trump, they have voted to lie,
they have voted to degrade women, they have voted to widen the racial divide in
the country and they have voted to widen the inequality in the country. It is
mind boggling that some Republicans who do not have any health cover and who
are bordering on poverty and who are down trodden even as whites, have voted to
fall deeper into poverty and to die early without proper health care.
Many traditional Republicans should have opted
to choose another candidate to be their Presidential nominee and spared the
country from this embarrassment or could have decided to boycott the election
if they found it not within them to vote otherwise. Instead, they have become
complicit to this embarrassment not just to the USA but to the rest of the
world.
In the age of information technology, the world
has become smaller and closer to each other whether one likes it or not, and
whether it is a good thing or a bad thing. Various social media platforms link
people with each other before one could blink an eye and millions are inter
connected. There is computer hacking, listening in, cyber spying and all the
evils of this information technology bringing out the worst in human beings.
Internationalisation today is inevitable and the
world has to find ways and means of capitalising on the positives and taking
collective action against the negatives. Countries cannot crawl into the
cocoons and pretend they can live happy ever after by doing so.
Trump has led the way for cocooning the USA from
the rest of the world and fooling 70 million people that they can metamorphose
into freely fluttering Butterflies. Most if not all international cooperation
agreements have soured under Trump. Rather than improving them and bringing
better benefits for them, Trump has taken the view that small is beautiful.
Judging by the tax concessions and other benefits to the rich in the USA, his
policies have been beautiful for a small coterie of supporters.
Will Trump handover the Presidency to Joe Biden
on the 20th of January 2021? He may not have a choice but to do so.
Where he has a choice is to usher an orderly transition and give a message to
his supporters to avail themselves with a future opportunity to vote whichever
way they choose and vote in a Republican President if that is there choice.
The rest of the world has no choice as to who
sits in the White House. However, even if that person sneezes or coughs, the
effect reverberates throughout the world. Stock markets can go up and down and
oil prices could fluctuate wildly. In this context, it does matter to the rest
of the world who sits in the White House. Due to the inability of the rest of
the world to decide on this, they are probably hoping and even supporting
alternate world leaders and emerging powerful economies to cushion the blows
they get when the incumbent of the White House behaves irresponsibly and
irrationally. Many in the world today who are so interconnected would want a
Vladimir Putin or a Xi Jinping or an Angela Merkel or a Narendra Mody to help
keep the world more stable even if they are not supporters of such leaders or
their modes of governance. The most powerful person in the democratic world
behaving like a gunman gone berserk in the Wild West does not assure the safety
and the stability that the world needs.
National integration
would mean that in a country which is inhabited by several ethnic communities
everyone would harbour similar feelings and thinking about matters of national
interest like independence, territorial integrity, sovereignty etc. Development
of such sentiments cannot be forced on a people. In this regard what the Indian
philosopher S. Radhakrishna said may be of relevance. He has said national integration cannot be
made by brick and mortar but should be allowed to develop through education.
Without a mutual feeling of respect for one another’s language, religion and
culture among people national integration of the type defined above is
impossible to achieve. Such feelings would come only with education. It is
perhaps this truism that made Radhakrishna utter those words of wisdom. Laws
and Constitutions cannot impose something that only education could instill by
a gradual process. There may not be any
other method, or substitute, capable of bringing about such a change.
The Constitution of
a country should not be an obstacle to the development of such feelings in
people of different faiths, languages and cultures. It must ensure that all are
equally treated by government institutions, have equal opportunity in
education, employment, and space for economic and cultural development.
However, the Constitution, whatever form it may take, cannot force national
integration on people whether they are a majority or a minority. A Constitution
can only provide for laws that would prevent obstacles being put in the way to
national integration. For instance discrimination of a particular communal
group would be an obstacle to national integration. The Constitution must provide for the enactment of laws that act
against discrimination.
It is in this
context that the 13th Amendment should be viewed. It is often said
that the implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution
which came into being as a result of the Indo-Lanka Accord entered into in July
1987, would result in national integration. The 13th A provides for
Provincial Councils which attempts power-sharing at provincial level. As
mentioned above the Constitution if it is to facilitate national integration it
must treat all the ethnic communities equally and must not try to satisfy one
group at the expense of another. If it does it would be an obstacle rather than
a facilitator for national integration. This may happen if political
power-sharing is attempted with the provinces as the unit of devolution. Most
of the Provinces in Sri Lanka have multi-ethnic populations where one ethnic
community is in the majority while there are enclaves of other communities who
would be minorities in a particular province. Creation of autonomous
territorial units out of these provinces would result in these minority groups
losing their umbilical connection with the central government to a significant degree and being brought
under a provincial power. In other words a law which attempts to solve the
problems of minority communities would create new minorities with attendant issues in each of
these Provinces. For instance in the Eastern Province Sinhalese would be a
minority with regard to political power and they may be concerned of being
discriminated. Such an eventuality may not facilitate national integration.
Further, several
authoritative world wide surveys have shown that power-sharing measures as a
solution to ethnic conflict have not been successful. There had been 78
countries in Asia, Africa, Middle East,
Eastern Europe, former USSR and the Caribbean which were in intense ethnic
conflict during 1980 to 2010. Of these only 20 managed to conclude inter-ethnic
power sharing arrangements, many failed, some experienced genocide eh. Rwanda
in 1993 and others ended with secession eg. Sudan in 2005. Only 4 to 6 achieved
stable arrangements but even these have serious political instability (Horowitz
D, 2014).
Following are few
extracts from these research works; The core reason why power-sharing cannot
resolve ethnic conflict is that it is voluntaristic; it requires conscious
decisions by elites to cooperate to avoid ethnic strife. Under conditions of
hypernationalist mobilisation and real security threats, group leaders are
unlikely to be receptive to compromise and even if they are they cannot act
without being discredited and replaced by harder-line rivals” (Kaufmann, 1997).
Proposals for devolution abound, but more often than not devolution agreements
are difficult to reach and once reached soon abort” (Horowitz, 1985).
That Sri Lanka
provides ample evidence in support of the above research findings could easily
be seen in its experience with its own Provincial Councils. Of the nine PCs the
worst failure was seen in relation to the Northern PC where it was supposed to
be essential for the solution of the ethnic conflict. Its Chief Minister after
willingly contesting for the post, made use of the opportunity to loudly engage
in secessionist rhetoric and propaganda. Some Tamil leaders who engage in such
treacherous activity are believed to be funded by pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora. How
could anybody believe that the full implementation of the 13th A
would not provide greater opportunity
for such secessionist activity with greater collusion between internal and
external separatist elements.
In consideration of
the above what would be more suitable for Sri Lanka is a power-sharing
mechanism at the centre which would suit its geography of ethnicity where in
most areas there is a mixture of ethnic groups and 50% of minorities live
outside the North and the East. If all possibility of discrimination of
majority or minority communities is avoided and people are allowed to learn to
respect each other’s different cultures there would develop common feelings and
thinking about national issues which would be the national integration that has
eluded us all these years.
After the 2015 election, the US got into several critical sectors,
the Sri Lanka‘s economy, Sri Lanka‘s Parliament and Sri Lanka‘s armed forces.
‘We want to see Sri Lanka as a truly democratic, prosperous, happy and
reconciled country in the future,’ US said. .
The House Democracy Partnership of the US House of
Representatives is a bipartisan,
twenty-member commission of the U.S. House of Representatives that works directly with partner countries
around the world to support the development of effective, independent, and
responsive legislative institutions. Partner states are eligible to participate
in training seminars for staff, peer-to-peer exchange programs with the U.S.
House of Representatives and receive capacity building assistance in critical
areas such as constituent relations, legislative oversight, committee
operations, and research and library services.
In 2017, the House
Democracy Partnership was implementing projects in Afghanistan, Myanmar,
Colombia, Georgia, Haiti, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon,
Liberia, Macedonia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru, Timo-Leste and Ukraine.
House
Democracy Partnership of the US House of Representatives launched a Collaboration Agreement with the
Parliament of Sri Lanka. The purpose
was to strengthen the partnership between the two legislatures. Speaker
Karu Jayasuriya signed for Sri Lanka. Elsewhere it was said that the
Partnership was signed on September 14, 2016 in Washington D.C.
The US / Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue, is a regular policy
consultation designed to discuss and identify opportunities for cooperation
across the full range of bilateral and regional issues, the US said. US Under Secretary for Political Affairs
ambassador Shannon was scheduled to visit Sri Lanka in November 2017 to take
part in the next round of the Partnership talks.
There was a media
conference in Washington in February 2016 to formally announce the start of the
Partnership Dialogue. The participants were US Secretary of State John Kerry and
Foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera.
Kerry told
the cameras that this was the start of a strategic dialogue with Sri Lanka.
Mangala Samaraweera said the cordial relations between USA and Sri Lanka was
now elevated to a new level. He was looking forward to the inaugural meeting of
the US-Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue. Mangala was not his usual bouncy self,
he looked nervous and strained. This clip is available on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ7SdFkhcdg
A delegation
from the U.S. House of Representatives came in February 2017 for three days of
meetings, as part of the House Democracy Partnership (HDP) . The 8 member
delegation is the largest ever US Congress Group to visit Sri Lanka. It
included 4 each from Democratic and
Republican Parties. The aim of the visit was to promote the on-going
partnership between HDP and the Sri Lanka Parliament and deepen bilateral relations. The visit serves to underscore the strong
support for Sri Lanka by both parties in
the U.S. Congress, US said.
The delegation consisted of three American Congress members,
members of the Congressional staff , one member each from House Democracy
Partnership Majority and House Democracy
Partnership Minority, and Chaplain of the US House of Representatives. The delegation
was accompanied by a US military escort.
The delegation
met President Sirisena and held discussions about the steps to be taken
to further strengthen bilateral relations. The delegation told President Sirisena that USA will stand
by Sri Lanka in its challenging journey towards economic development. The
delegation also met Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mangala Samaraweera and
discussed issues of mutual interest. The
US delegation visited Hambantota sea port and Yala national sanctuary.
Yahapalana government also joined another US project, ‘Strengthening Democratic Governance
and Accountability Project’ (SDGAP). This
is a project for the reform Sri
Lanka’s public sector. USAID
allocated USD 13 million for the project in September 2016 and the program was launched in
November 2016. SDGAP was subject to the laws and regulations
of the United States, with oversight from USAID’s Office of Inspector General.
US selected a private US
company Development Alternatives, Inc (DAI) of Maryland, to implement the
project. DAI would work closely with the Parliament, Independent Commissions
and related ministries. This decision was
heavily criticized.
DAI has been speedily denounced in Sri Lanka as a CIA front. Lasanda Kurukulasuriya
described DAI as a CIA front
organization dedicated to destabilizing governments unfavorable to US
interests.’ She noted that under the terms of the agreement, the SDGAP project
is not subject to Sri Lankan law but to the laws and regulations of the US. It
does not come under the purview of Sri Lanka’s Auditor General.
Development Alternatives Incorporated is a known CIA front. Its
specialty is ‘democracy promotion’ said Kamal
Wickremasinghe. US funds are transferred to opposition parties and
other pro-American groups in countries of strategic interest, such as Sri Lanka
, using the pretext of ‘promoting democracy’.
The pretext of promoting democracy” is a modern form of CIA subversion
tactics, added Lasanda, seeking to infiltrate and penetrate civil society
groups and provide funding to encourage regime change” in strategically
important nations.
Development Alternatives Incorporated carries out the ‘dirty work’ of CIA’s Office
of Transition Initiatives(OTI) that sits at the head of a network of front
entities which include International Republican Institute (IRI), National
Endowment for Democracy (NED), National Democratic Institute for International
Affairs (NDI), Freedom House and numerous others, said Kamal Wickremasinghe.
The OTI’s charter is to
finance the formation of, and deep infiltration of civil society groups (NGOs)
for use in their subversive activities including regime change in strategically
important nations with governments unwilling to succumb to US dictates.
Wickremasinghe observes that DAI also plans to ‘engage’ with the
Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration to introduce international
best practices into the role of public servants in policy development and
implementation. It will provide
technical assistance and grants to support government and civil society
stakeholders to address priority laws and policies identified as affecting the
rights of women and under-represented groups.
These words reveal, says Wickremasinghe, to the discerning reader, the
ulterior motives behind the impending US intervention in our country.
Analyst observed that the CIA has been here for ages, under the
ground. We all know that. The political NGOs in the island, working in
human rights, ethnic studies, social science, women, children, poverty and so
on were funded indirectly by the CIA. The JVP was considered a CIA
creation. Until now such support was
covert. Now it has become overt. USA is getting more confident in Sri Lanka.
Sri
Lanka joined the Open government Partnership of the USA in 2015.The Open
Government Partnership is a multilateral initiative by the United
States launched in 2011 to provide an international platform for domestic
reformers committed to making their governments more open, accountable, and
responsive to citizens. From its initial 8 countries – Brazil,
Indonesia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom, United
States – the OGP has now grown to 69 participating
countries. Sri Lanka is the only South Asian participating country in the
OGP.
The first step towards full OGP participation
is meeting the OGP eligibility criteria. In order to be eligible to participate
in OGP, governments must demonstrate a minimum level of commitment to open
government principles in four key areas of Fiscal Transparency, Access to
Information, Income and Asset Disclosures, and Citizen Engagement. Sri Lanka
became eligible to join early in 2015 having met the required criteria and
scoring 14 of a total of 16 points.
Membership in
the OGP is by invitation only and Sri Lanka’s Yahapalana government was invited
to join the OGP, the first South Asian nation to have qualified and to have
joined the OGP. Sri Lanka joined the OGP in October
2015. Through the endorsement of the OGP declaration, member countries
commit, essentially to foster a domestic culture which empowers a country’s
citizens and delivers better governance for them.
OGP
is overseen by a Steering Committee, which includes
representatives of governments and civil society organizations. The key
instrument for the implementation of open governance in Sri Lanka is the OGP
National Action Plan (NAP). This plan was carefully prepared with community
based dialogues in all nine provinces of the country. The National Action Plan
contains policy reform commitments in about nine different thematic areas of
governance including but not limited to education, health, environment, ICT,
right to information and women’s affairs. For education the objective is
transparent and impartial teacher recruitment policy. For Health it is CKDU and two other
objectives.
The NGOs
involved in the OGP in Sri Lanka include
Center for Policy Alternatives, (CPA)
International center for Ethnic studies (ICES), Sarvodaya, Transparency
International , Management Development Centre, (a Sri Lankan NGO providing
training for the Development of the Community by enhancing the Knowledge,
Skills and Attitudes) and Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) .
The Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) est. April 1997 is
an association of agencies working in, and supporting work in, Sri Lanka for
peace building and humanitarian work. It
has a fully-fledged secretariat with its own specific capabilities. it helps
disseminate information, bring weight in discussions related to the conflict
situation of the country and lobbying through a large membership, maintaining
links bottom-up and across tires, providing convenient access to information on
needs of specific conflict-affected communities, government policies regarding
pertinent issues, and international agencies working in the country.
CHA believes in respecting diversity and the promotion and
achievement of fundamental rights and freedom, which provides equal
opportunities for development for all Sri Lankans. Areas of operation are Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Puttalam, Matara, Mannar, Kalutara, Jaffna,
Hambantota, Galle, Badulla and Ampara.
US
then went on to meddle with Sri Lanka ‘s economy. A 3 year
economic plan for Sri Lanka, put together by a team of foreign and local
experts led by Ricardo Hausmann, Director of Harvard’s centre for International
development was presented at Sri Lanka Economic Forum, January 2016. The plan would be funded by the Open Society
Foundation of George Soros. Soros was also one of the main participants along
with Harvard’s Joseph Stieglitz.
Local
economists and social scientist criticized this plan and wanted it dismissed. Hausmann’s presentation was compared to a
power point presentation of a postgraduate student. Hausmann has offered no sound policy
alternative to Sri Lanka problems. He has used Venezuela as an example, the
participants said. Stieglitz fared no better. His analysis is defective,
participants said. He showed no understanding of the country’s needs.
Soros will set up an office here. He was looking for investment in Sri Lanka as well as assist the government economic
progamme. Soros presence will boost foreign investment, said
Yahapalana, enthusiastically. Critics pointed out that Soros is a financial
speculator who has made his money by manipulating currency markets. He is the last person we need here, they
said.
Ricardo Hausmann and Robert Z. Lawrence, Professor of International trade and
investment were in Sri Lanka for over a year, starting 2016, to restructure
exports, reported the media. They
have been looking at ways to improve
growth using Export Development Board,, Board of Investment, Sri Lanka
Tourism development Board and Ministry
of Development Strategies. Further, Harvard Business School and World Bank were advising the BOI.
the Harvard Centre for International Development (HCID) is helping
Sri Lanka in attracting foreign direct investments (FDIs) promoting emerging
exports, targeting new non-existent industries, identifying and engaging with
potential new investors, fixing the investment climate for new emerging
industries and figuring out how to create new tourist destinations. Five teams
of experts are working with Harvard, all focused on issues relating to exports
and FDIs.BOI staff has also been receiving training programmes conducted by
Harvard University’s Centre for International Development, McKinsey Consulting
and the World Bank Group.
The media also observed in 2016 that
there were two teams heading to Harvard for a Harvard study
programme, each unaware of the other,
one from Prime Minister’s Office and the
other from the Finance ministry. ( Continued)
US intervened
in the two Presidential elections of in January 2010 and January 2015. US wished
to somehow defeat Mahinda Rajapaksa and put a US puppet on the throne. It is
well known that the US meddled in the Presidential elections of 2010 and 2015,
said the media. US ambassador Michelle Sisson was openly talking politics at
embassy functions. She was adamant that the candidate to challenge Mahinda
Rajapaksa in 2015 should not be a UNP candidate but a common candidate.
The US
funding of Sirisena campaign in 2014/2015 is not a secret though identities of
recipients remained confidential, said Shamindra Ferdinando. US Secretary of State John Kerry said a
massive USD 585 million was spent in Nigeria, Myanmar and Sri Lanka to ‘restore
democracy’. Some of this has been given, in Sri Lanka to civil society, citizen
movements and faith leaders.
Sarath
Fonseka, the US candidate for 2010, failed to win. But in
2015, Maitripala Sirisena became President and Ranil Wickremesinghe was made
Prime Minister. At long last, US was in control in Sri Lanka.
USA planned
to entrench itself comfortably in Sri Lanka. ‘What we offer Sri Lanka is a true
and transparent partnership, particularly in terms of development and
infrastructure, avoiding unsustainable debts,’ said USA. ‘Your country stands
to gain substantially from these opportunities.’
Top US
officials bounced into Sri Lanka with confidence. US Secretary of State, John
Kerry, was the first to visit. The
Secretary of State is the highest ranking member of the US Cabinet. Sri Lanka
had a highly publicized, triumphant visit from Kerry, In May 2015.
Kerry did not
hide the fact that Sri Lanka was of great strategic importance to Washington.
He said, “Your country sits at the crossroads of Africa, South Asia, and
East Asia. The Indian Ocean is the world’s most important commercial highway.
And with its strategic location near deep-water ports in India and Myanmar, Sri
Lanka could serve as the fulcrum of a modern and dynamic Indo-Pacific region.
The US could play a leadership role in making this happen.” .
Other officials
followed. Nisha Biswal, Assistant secretary
of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, had visited Sri Lanka six times
by July 2016. Alice Wells, who replaced
her, was in Sri Lanka in August 2017. Samantha
Power [US ambassador to the UN], Thomas Shannon, [US Deputy Secretary Defense],
Tom Malinowski [US assistant Secretary for democracy and Human rights] and US
Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, also visited Sri Lanka. There is a photograph
of Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera holding hands with Biswal and
Malinowski.
US supporters in Sri Lanka were pleased. America is very important
to us, said Minister Harsha de Silva. 25% of our exports go to US and 70% of
that is garments. Changes in US trade policy have a large repercussion on Sri
Lanka, because of our dependency on the US economy, he added.
Mangala Samaraweera said, ‘Obama would
come up to President Sirisena to say ‘Hello’ at whichever international forum
they used to meet. This shows how far American relations have improved during
the recent times.’
Others were not pleased. They saw the Yahapalana government as a
puppet government of the USA. Yahapalana government is a ‘fully pro-Washington regime’ said Tamara
Kunanayagam. Tissa Vitarana said that Ranil Wickremesinghe was going to make
Sri Lanka a puppet of the USA like the Philippines. Loyal supporters of the USA are
ridiculed. Mangala Samaraweera is America’s poodle and the West’s darling,
said Rajeewa Jayaweera.
The current government appears to be highly dependent on the West
for its political survival, said analysts. This link will not benefit the
country. Over a thousand so-called independent
“Think Tanks” have been established both in the USA and in other
countries to influence governments towards USA projects. Institute of
Policy Studies and Advocata are playing that role in Sri Lanka, said Tissa
Vitarana.
USA is not
that admired and welcomed in Sri Lanka. Critics seem to outnumber admirers. Even the USA
embassy in Colombo is criticized. USA is
at present completing a huge embassy on Galle Road, amalgamating the old
British embassy site. The new complex appears to extend from the Kollupitiya
junction to the old Colombo Swimming Club area, covering the entire length of
the front wall of the Temple Trees, said critics. Within months of Yahapalana government
coming to power, the application form for a fixed deposit in a state bank asked
‘are you a US person.
From a triumphal, highly visible start in 2015, with prominent
visits by Secretary of State John Kerry and other high ranking officials, the
USA went into low profile. Visits from US
officials continued, but without much
publicity.
Prime
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe paid a quiet visit to New York in July 2017. The Prime Minister was in New York
primarily, we are told, for a medical checkup. He had been earlier checked up
and fully cleared in Singapore. He was
declared fit by the New York medical panel too.
Since
Wickremesinghe happened to be in New York ,he would also meet with two
officials from the White House, who would represent President Donald Trump..Wickremesinghe
was also scheduled to address the United
Nations Ocean Conference. This indicates that the visit was planned well
ahead. Usually when Sri Lanka’s Prime
Minister goes on a visit abroad, there is much publicity, including television
and photos. This time there was none.
US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo was to
travel to Sri Lanka on a short visit, in June 2019.
US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo was to
travel to Sri Lanka on a short visit, in June 2019. Pompeo was accompanying
President Trump for the G-20 summit in Osaka. The purpose of Pompeo’s visit was
to pressure Sri Lanka into signing SOFA. But he did not come. He cancelled his
visit.
The reason, said analysts was the growing
protests against the Status of Forces (SOFA) Agreement and strong objections to
an American military base in Sri Lanka. The public opposed SOFA since it would
give the US forces unrestricted access to Sri Lanka as well as diplomatic
immunity. “
USA now had to
engage in soft power all over again. However, a few items of popular American
culture were already in place. They seem to date from the year 2000. Valentine’s
Day came to Sri Lanka. This took off with a bang. Personal love was emphasized.
Then in 2002
a session of Free love or something was planned in Vihara Maha Devi Park in
May, the month of Wesak. The Maha Sangha
intervened and squashed it. The Sangha said that this project was not an
innocent one. It had an ulterior motive. It was intended to subvert, to
overturn the local culture.
Mothers Day
started around 2010, followed much later by Fathers Day. In Sri Lanka too, like
in America, these events were intended mainly to help sell merchandise. The
motive was commercial. Children of elite westernized families in Colombo are
now starting to hold Halloween parties, and Colombo has started eating dough nuts.
Some caterers specialize in only doughnuts.
The U.S. Embassy launched
an American Innovation Hub (iHub) in Matara in March 2018 in partnership with
the Matara District Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The iHub is located in
the Matara Chamber of Commerce building.
The iHub offers thematic programs, all free of charge, and a selection
of U.S. books and DVDs. It is intended to promote English language learning,
encourage study in the United States, and introduce the local community to
American culture and values.
The U.S.
embassy thereafter signed a Memorandum
of Understanding with the Matara Chamber of Industry and Commerce in September
2018 to open an American Corner in Matara. This will replace the IHub.
The American Corner will offer free programs
and training. Programs will include English classes, coding and computer
skills, leadership and public speaking training, and a range of film screenings
and cultural opportunities.” This
has attracted audiences of different ages and diverse backgrounds.”
Mo’ Mojo, an
American zydeco band, came in February 2017 on a U.S. Embassy sponsored visit
.There were public performances in Jaffna and Colombo; workshops for music
students; and master classes for Sri Lankan musicians.We bring American
musicians here to increase understanding of the United States diverse musical
heritage and to strengthen our cultural connections with Sri Lankans,” the
embassy said.
To mark seven decades of diplomatic relations betwixt Washington
and Colombo, the US had a series of performance by trombonist Wycliffe Gordon
and the International All Stars in March 2018. They performed in Colombo, Galle
and Matara.
The band played before all sorts of people, who ranged from those
that were merely curious about a band playing out there, to those who were able
to recognize the inherent value in hearing and seeing a sophisticated musical
exploration in improvised music, by a group of consummate professionals with
authenticity behind every note they played, said Arun Dias Bandaranaike.
This soft
power was urgently needed, because another election was looming. USA is clearly
going to play a role in the 2019 Presidential poll, said analysts. There were
at least three Presidential candidates who were considered pro-USA. The UNP
candidate, the JVP candidate and a private candidate, former Army Commander Mahesh
Senanayake. There is speculation to why JVP has presented a candidate this
time, said critics. JVP last contested
the presidency in 1999.
Mahesh
Senanayake left the country after 2010 election. He was in the Fonseka group.
He returned in 2015. Many do not know
where he went, said Former Army Major Ajit Prasanna.
Senanayake had gone to USA where he worked on intelligence in
Afghanistan and Libya, then held a senior position in the American embassy in
Dubai. He served USA for five years,
said Ajit
Prasanna on television news.
Following
Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s victory in 2019 US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo issued
a statement saying the US is ready to work with the new government. The west
then turned to the next election, the General election.
Western governments took a keen interest in the outcome of the
General election of August 2020, said the media. Western diplomats had been speaking to all the
key players in the election. Most of the diplomats went to Jaffna. They were
sounding out the current thinking and public mood in the Jaffna peninsula.
One western
diplomat had asked several prominent Tamil candidates about the prospects of a
future alliance of minority political parties, Tamils, Muslims and Christians, would
it have political clout. One diplomat had
held all his meetings at Jetwing North Hotel in Jaffna.
When the 2020
General election ended, U.S. Embassy in Colombo issued a statement, saying they
looked forward to partnering with the government and new Parliament. The United
States congratulates Sri Lanka on conducting the elections in a peaceful and
orderly manner, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, US said.
US sees Sri
Lanka as a valuable partner, one that will contribute to regional stability
and prosperity as a hub of the Indo-Pacific region.” We look forward to partnering with the
government and the new parliament. US reminded the new government to uphold
human rights and the rule of law. ( Continued)
When J.R. Jayewardene
(Yankee Dickie”) became President, 1977- 1978 and 1978 – 1989, there was an
open tilt towards the USA. JR paid a state visit to USA in June 1984, during
his second term in office. This was the first state visit to USA by a Sri Lanka
Head of state. It is also the only state visit
to US by the Head of state of Sri Lanka to date.
In 1985
United States Navy super carrier USS Kitty Hawke visited Sri Lanka. It was, I
think, the first US super carrier to visit Sri Lanka. JR permitted US naval
ships to enter Trincomalee. He wanted to
give the Trincomalee oil tanks to America, but India protested.
US said that it wanted to set up a VOA relay transmitter along Sri
Lanka’s western shore. JR’s government
allocated 625 hectare from a government-owned coconut plantation bordering a
predominantly Roman Catholic fishing village, at Iranawila for this purpose. The foundation stone for the VOA station was
laid in 1985.
The next government supported the venture, but reduced the
acreage.VOA started transmitting from Iranawila in 1997. The 520-acre area is
tightly guarded using diplomatic immunity. It is completely run by the US
government and is out-of-bounds for Sri Lankans, complained critics.
JR Jayewardene is remembered with contempt as the person who got
the 13th Amendment accepted in Parliament. At the time, it was
thought that this was forced on Sri Lanka by India, thanks to JR’s poor
diplomacy. It is now found that this was the work of the USA, not India. USA
was behind the India-Sri Lanka accord of 1987, said analysts. This makes sense. The 13th Amendment is
linked to Eelam. It benefits USA, not India.
Izzeth Hussain recalls that
US Ambassador James Spain had sought a meeting with the Minister of Foreign
affairs, on the day of the Indian parippu air drop over Jaffna in 1987.
Ambassador Spain had to convey an urgent message from his government. India was going to suggest something and Sri
Lanka should not over react, Spain said. That ‘something’ was the Accord. Hussain had told W.T. Jayasinghe,
Permanent Secretary, Foreign affairs, that almost certainly a third
party was involved in the Indo-Lanka accord. Jayasinghe, who was present at the
signing, ‘told me later that I was correct.’
Just after the signing of the document, Ambassador Spain handed
over an envelope to RajIv Gandhi, obviously a congratulatory and goodwill
message from Reagan. Clearly the contents of the agreement were already known
to the US government, said Hussain. In
addition, visiting US senator Charles H.
Percy had carried a letter from US President Reagan to President
Jayawardene offering to be of any assistance in conveying a message from J.R.
to Rajiv Gandhi.
US continued to maintain contact with the next heads of state. Prime Minister Ranasinghe
Premadasa met with US President Reagan when he was on a private visit to USA in
April 1983. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe paid two working visits to USA
in November 2003 and July 2002.
When Chandrika Kumaratunga became President, in November 1994, USA
was able to make a further advance. US and Sri Lanka had an agreement
in 1995, by exchange of diplomatic notes, regarding the status of US
military personnel and civilian employees of the Department of Defence who may be present in Sri Lanka for exercises
or official duties. US had commenced
work on these agreements in 1995, soon after Chandrika Kumaratunga’s election
as President. Letters were exchanged in May, 1995.
One of the letters said: The (Foreign) Ministry is pleased to inform
the above-mentioned personnel that US military personnel, civil employees of
the Department of Defence will be accorded the same status as provided to
technical and administrative staff of the Embassy of the United States. The
Ministry also wishes to inform that this reply shall be considered an agreement
effective May 16, 1995. This was the
start of the agreement known as SOFA.
In 2004, when Kumaratunga was President, the US tried to persuade
Sri Lanka to sign an agreement under the US Tropical Forestry Conservation Act
of 1998. This Act said that if a tropical country has at least one globally
important tropical forest that country can sign an agreement with the United
States to reduce its debt with the US. Under this arrangement the forests will
be managed by a committee of representatives from the US government and
International NGOs.
Some Sri Lankans supported this move, saying that the motive was only to help conserve
tropical forests. Others disagreed. US
would benefit from this in several ways, they said. This agreement would give
US control over all Sri Lankan forest assets against interest on monies
borrowed by Sri Lanka from USA, said critics.
The Sri Lankan cloud forests would belong to the President of the United
States of America.
Under the Kyoto Protocol a country has to either reduce its carbon
emission or buy carbon entitlements from other countries. US could say that it need not reduce its
Carbon dioxide levels because it is protecting so much of tropical forests in
the world. These will act as sinks to absorb the Carbon dioxide which the US
releases.
The agreement will also give US exclusive access to the medicinal
plants in these forests. The search for pharmaceuticals is a
multimillion-dollar industry, carried out mainly by US firms and US pharmaceutical companies are well
known for getting patents for plant based pharmaceuticals.
There were strong
protests from Environmental NGO’s led
by the Wildlife & Nature Protection Society and it was stopped. But there
is nothing to stop the Agreement from raising its head again, as many of the
original players are back in the ring today, critics said in 2017.
Chandrika Kumaratunga
was succeeded by Mahinda Rajapaksa (2005- 2015). US found it was unable to
influence Mahinda Rajapaksa. He refused to stop the war when US asked him to,
instead he went on to win the war.
The US Senate
Committee on Foreign relations sent 2 members to Sri Lanka in November 2009, to
assess the impact of this victory on US
Policy. The team was asked to make recommendations to increase US leverage in
Sri Lanka for securing long term US strategic interests, and expanding the
number of tools available to Washington.
The team
emphasized the strategic importance of Sri Lanka to the US, particularly its
geopolitical location. It said that an alliance must be maintained. And that it
was necessary to recast the foreign policy.
The US was advised to go carefully with Sri Lanka.
The US cannot afford to ‘lose’ Sri Lanka. . This does not mean changing the
relationship overnight, they said. It
means trying new approaches that would increase U.S. leverage. There should be a broader and more robust
U.S. approach to Sri Lanka. An approach
that appreciates the new political and economic realities in Sri Lanka and U.S.
(continued)
As a Democrat from Sri lanka who was not so strongly involved even during school days, wish to suggest, in AMERICA as well as CANADA what we predominantly willing to maintain is UNITY,among all the neighbours,.I was a broadcaster and after my retirement I migrated to CANADA .As I know PM TRUDEAU’S dada,Pierre Trudeau proposed at the House,in October 1971, MULTICULTURALISM, almost with the same target.It is equally necessary for the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
AMERICA is a vast country crazed with this color bar,despite
all of us are human beings.Civilized human beings,so that great personality like
LINCOLN paved the way for them to come over here.Let us live graciously.If
necessary we may add –ish, like BLACKISH, Brownish or whitish,(as there is no human
colour as WHITE)You are the ideal LEADER – Joe Biden – and with your SECOND IN
COMMAND –Kamala Harris will lead the country courteously! Our Prime
Minister,Trudeau is very cordial with the new American President.That made me
to touch this little comment with sincerely.Particularly ,Trans mountain
pipeline came to my mind.This gives him little bit of headache,along with two
other subjects at the moment.
Well,I was dealing with the Edicts of the Ancient philanthropist Indian king Asoka and prior to getting link up with that, I had to go back to one of the earliest matters.In earliest periods in Lanka, we have very little collection of reliable information on historical matters. History is concerned if we cannot write very accurate accounts better not to touch on false presumpsions.Now our Deepavansa is much better.Those who knew something very accurately have been inserted in the Deepavansa.Mahavansa is concerned major parts are that of a YARN created presumeably by a monk.The area that was taken for the Indian lion to interfeared was genuine as Sihore was the forestry region infested with Indian lion in that bygone era.It is the area of present Indian Prime Minister MODI ruled for three consecutive terms..Locality is known as GUJARATH where ships came on trade and went up to Jawa via Sri Lanka. Thereby area was somewhat familier to Lanka.That’s why I thought lion-Suppadevi and Sinhabahu-Sinhaseevali combinations could be gigantic pictures displayed by Rev.MAHANAMA of DEEGASNDA SENADYPATHI PIRIVENA. ANURADAPURA. If my presumption is false please excuse me as I had no other believable clue.When major clue becomes doubtful you cannot expect to have any other dependable background. Merely because one major creation becomes false,rest also invariably become inaccurate.Because it was only a YARN.i. e.the production of two human figures, SINHABAHU AND SINHASEEVALI. by an animal and human spearm. Production of a human child by a human and an animal sperm is according to science is false.It won’t take place,as such entire episode is beyond accuracy. Still it would have been better if that bit of false creation was not there.Otherwise the combination could be approved without any doubt!Now take for an example, It is a history book,but if historical matters are doubtful,you cannot treat even a singal event as authentic,ACCEPTABLE HISTORY. In ancient time –history-was not so abundance as today! Whole story of the caravan may have been a creation by Rev.Mahanama.Perhaps it may be otherwise.Let’s go into one or two points. A jungle creature or a lion of the forest jumped into a caravan of several carts,trudged from a long way.From Western India to Gujarath, and when a lion pounced upon them,all of them got frightened and ran amok,but this brave girl, Suppadevi, who was living in a palace did not get afraid,stayed all alone without any fear.Because she knew what was propersised by the soothsayer.It happened at the palace according to the yarn. (Perhaps you could believe it to a greater extent.)
Lion was wagging its tail and approached her.She stroked its head and face like a very tamed animal.And then got on to its back and went into the jungle. Lived in a DEN where there were no windows or holes for ventilations.Lived so many years.There was no provision for passing excreta, urine and washing! Stinky!Not one or two days,months and years and boy become big enough to carry mother and sister on his shoulders.Granite door was able to open by the lion only. -just think about this bit of the story! Or think about Vijaya,their son and his supporters who were plundering the village.Time to time several days.People time to time complained to the king!,Ultimately king had to get hold all of them and gave a punishment by shaving one side of their heads and ousted from the country. With 700 altogether.They were the people who were landed near Puttalam.When they landed and they were feeling thirsty.Their were no water in the ship to drink.Went one by one in search of water.Someone caught them.hid in a pond. Where you find water?as they did not return,Vijaya came in search of them.He saw the footprints in the pond. Under the water!Vijaya saw a woman seated in a distance.Went from behind.Kept the sword to the neck and asked about his men? She agreed to return them.Vijaya asked whether they are coming under a king.She answerd they have a king MAHAKALASENA and kingdom, SIRASAWASTHU. It was grand! but appointing Vijaya as the first king in the country? A culprit? ROGUE! Who was under a punishment. Why no question about the position of their KING? Which was announced by Kuveni and revealed their names,Let us go to the end. Our Author monk has made this ROGUE, THE KING OF OUR COUNTRY. Unbelievable! Our Author monk failed to ask anything about their ruling king.Who has migrated with a punishment?Unpardonable? Author Monk,did a bit of good work in his composition but everything were spoiled with this unpleasant work. Anyway that is our History! HISTORY OF THE SINHALA NATION.We have a Lion flag.Very beautiful.We got a name SINGHA-la.Exsisting from that remote era?We have not make any reference to Mahabaratha version.It has started according to Dr.Monier Monier Williams who compiled the very first English Sanskrit Dictionary firmly reveled where the origination as 1200 BC.In the 2nd book of MAHABARATHA,the Saba Parva, the term SINHALA is given clearly.Moreover it was totaly in memory.Writing materials were not available in that era.Even what Dr.Paranavithana mentioned in the footnote of his Sigiri Gee have not taken into consideration.
We as readers have no questions? We all believe What Rev.MAHANAMA
had written.He has made the Rogue,plunderer first king of the country!Our Projenitor!
Well, all of us coming under these jungle people are now
coming under President Hon.Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Hon.Mahinda
Rajapaksa.
Let’s allow our Sinhala people to think about the past
position!Now let us talk little more about King Asoka’s Edicts and further on historical matters!
Because HISTORY prime important matter in a country! That
may be the reason it was taken out of the curriculum by those who provided
Exchange! According to DASATHA,a Sinhala tabloid in CANADA , This was during Sirimao Bandaranayake’s era.
THE BIRTH (The life of Buddha p34 Dr.Edward J.Thomas.) VIEWS ON BUDDHISM pps 112,113
Maya makes no mention of her intention to go to Devadaha,
but merely wished to go and sport in the Lumbini grove.She expresses her wish
to the king inverse,and speaks there of Sal-trees,but in the following prose
she seizes not a Sal branch ,but a plaksha at the moment of birth. Both
LALITHAVISTARA and MAHAVASTHU say that the Bodhisaththa came from her right
side,and particularly add that her right side was uninjured.(There is no birth
canal in the right side-This is the MAHAYANA version- a mystry!)
ASOKA AND VIBHAJJAVADINS – A short history of Buddhism p.36
Dr.Edward Conze –views on Buddhism bk.1
p.173.
It appears that Asoka
sided with VIBHAJ-JAVADINS and that in consequence the Saravastivadins went
North and converted KASHMIR, which remainethe centre for more than a thousand
years.
Short History of Buddhism p.36 Dr.Edward Conze
ASOKA towards other religions
Views on Buddhism.pps. 172.173
One of the most
impressive documents of the Buddhist tolerant attitude is undoubtedly Rock
Edict no.12, of the Emperor Asoka (3rd cent BC) in his vast empire
lived the followers of Brahaminism,Jainism,Aj ivikism,Zoroastrianism and of the
Greek religion.The Emperor himself was a
devout follower of Buddhism.But he respected
all religions, protected the votaries of different religions, and even
liberally patronized religious establishments of different religious
groups.Moreover ,he admonished subjects to live in peace and mutual harmony,to
study different ideologies,and to praise
the religion of other people. He commended the virtue of religious concord.
Buddhist Studies p.129 Prof.L.M.Joshi
ASOKA AND THE WAR-
Asoka’s conversion.For the first 12 years of his reign,Asoka
governed very much as his father and
grand father had done.Then he set out a campaign for the conquest of KALINGA
OR ORISSA.In this cruel war ,
150,000 persons carried away
captive,100,000 were slaves,and many times that number perished from starvation
or disease.Just after this ,Asoka was converted to BUDDHISM.
The Indian people,pp 36,37 H.G.Rowlinson.
ASOKA AFTER THE WAR,
The warrior who had spread devastation and murder throughout
India began to engage in works of
peace,in making roads,in digging of wells and planting trees, in establishing
charities and providing for their business like distribution. Many were the
great monasteries and temples built by the converted Asoka. Throughout the vast
dominion which his conquest had added to his original empire of Magadha, on
pillers and onrocks he engraved the articles of Buddhist belief. These
descriptions are describes as Edicts.They are the only known contemporary
documents for the history of Asoka’s reign and for the study of religion.
Legend of Indian Buddhism.Introduction-Winifred Stephen by Eugene Burnouf Views on Buddhism,Bk one.pps 170,171.
BUDDHISM IS THE BEST. Views on Buddhism p.102
Rhys Davids says:Buddhist or no Buddhist ,I have examind
every one of the great religious systems of the world,and in none of them have
I found anything to surpass,in beauty
and comprehensiveness, the Nobal Eight Fold Path of the Buddha.I am content to
shape my life according to that path.
Quite similer to Rhys
Davids our President Hon.Gotabaya Rajapaksa has a full understanding on
Buddhism,as such he has full faith onSRI MAHA BODHI TREE under which Buddha had
his attaintment.As such he has full faith on Sri Maha Bodhi plant that was
braught by Queen Sangamitththa and planted at Bodhi Maluwa at Anuradhapura.
EIGHT PRINCESS TO PROTECT THE BODHI Views on Buddhism p.166
Asoka sent,according
to tradition, eight princes who were the brother of Asoka’s queen.In other
words they were the sons of Deva Setti of Vedisa city in Avanthi.Both the
pujavaliya and Mahabodhi Vamsa,state that they belonged to the Ksatriya
class.But if we accept the fact that Asoka’s queen belonged to the Vaisya
class,there is no doubt that her eight brothers headed by Sumittha also
belonged to the same class.In sending these eight princes with their families
to protect the Bodhi tree,we may suggest the Asoka also sent ten other families
of equal rank to assist them in their functions,these making the number of Deva
families 18.
SOCIAL HISTORY OF EARLY CEYLON P.32, Dr.Hema Ellawala FAMILIES CAME WITH THE BODHI TREE.
According to Samanthapasadhika and its commentary, these
families were sent in order to perform certain specific duties towards the
Bodhi tree.For the protection of the Bodhi tree (MAHABODHIRAKKANATHTHAYA) 18
Deva families were sent.Eight Families of Ministers were sent for the purpose
of organising different rights connected with the Bodhi tree.Eight Brahmana
families were sent for the purpose of sprinkling water to Bodhi Tree.Eight
families of cowherds were sent in order to supply the necessary to wash the
Bodhi tree.Similarly other families also were entrusted with certain other
duties towards the Bodhi Tree. A perusal of duties assigned to
to different families
and their order of preference in the list clearly indicates that the DEVAKULANI
are considered to be most important of all.
SOCIAL HISTORY OF EARLY CEYLON pp.31,32 Dr.Hema EllawalaAsoka’s missionary efforts – p.168- VIEWS ON BUDDHISM
THE MAHAVANSA DESCRIBES WITH ECSTATIC RAPTURE THE
ENTRY OF MAHINDA TO ANURADHAPURA,AND THE CONSEQUENT CONVERSION OF THE KING ,THE
MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL FAMILY,FAMILIES OF THE NOBILITY AND FINALLY,THE PEOPLE OF
CEYLON. CONVERSION ACHIEVED ITS CLIMAX WHEN ASOKA DECIDED TO SEND HIS DAUGHTER
–SANGAMITTHA- ALSO TO CEYLON.THIS MISSION WAS MOST SUCCESSFUL,AND IT WAS THE
MOST PRODUCTIVE OF THE MISSIONARY EFFORTS OF ASOKA.FOR SANGAMITTHA BROUGHT WITH
HER BRANCH OF THE BODHI TREE AT BUDDHA GAYA WHERE THE BLESSED ONE ATTAINED
WISDOM.HISTORIANS RECORD THE GREAT EVENT IN THESE TERMS;
It is
doubtful if any other single incident in the long story of the SINHALESE RACE
has seized upon the imagination of the Sinhalese with such tenacity as this of
the planting of the BODHI TREE. Like its roots,which find sustenance on the
face of the bare rock and cleave their way through the stoutest fabric,the
influence it represents has penetrated into the innermost being of the people
till the tree itself has become almost human.The loving care of some pious
observer has left on record in sonorous Pali and with minute detail the
incidents of the day when the soil of Ceylon first received it,and today the
descendants of the princely escort who accompanied it from India continue to be
its guardians,The axe of ruthless invaders who for many centuries to come were
destined to spread the ruin throughout the country was reverently withheld from
its base.And even now,on the stillest night,the heartshaped leaves on their
slender stalks ceaselessly quiver and sigh,as they have quivered and sighed for
25 centuries.”
BUDDHISM IN CEYLON UNDER THE CHRISTAIN POWERS—By.Tennakoon Vimalananda Views on Buddhism-Part one.Pp.168,169.
Vanni District TNA MP Selvam Addaikalanathan has declared that the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is opposed to the move to bury Muslim covid victims in the Mannar District, under any circumstances.
TELO leader Addaikalanathan, issuing a statement on behalf of the TNA said the Tamil community wouldn’t accept burials in predominately Tamil areas.
The Vanni lawmaker emphasized that the TNA opposed the burial of corona victims in any part of the country.
The TNA issued a statement amidst a simmering controversy over the UN intervention on behalf of those pushing the government to allow burial of Muslims.
German police are investigating a doctor who allegedly killed two critically ill Covid-19 patients, who were being treated in intensive care, with a lethal injection, a spokesperson said on Friday.
The doctor, who has worked at Essen University Hospital as a senior physician since February, was arrested on November 18 on suspicion of intentionally fatally injecting the two men, the public prosecutor’s office in Essen said on Friday.
There is a suspicion that the doctor deliberately and illegally administered drugs to seriously ill people in their last phase of life, which led to their immediate death,” investigators said in a statement.
The doctor was brought before a judge on November 19, who ordered that he be placed in pre-trial detention.
Police said the medic had explained that he had administered the lethal injection to one of the patients to stop them and their family suffering” further.
By Kamal Mahendra Weeraratne Courtesy Ceylon Today
A landmark judgment by the Court of Appeal on Thursday (19), became the hot topic of this week.
That was none other than the verdict which acquitted Lalith Weeratunga, former Secretary to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Anusha Palpita former Director-General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) from the charges in the controversial Sil Cloth case.
Weeratunga and Palpita were found guilty on three counts by the Colombo High Court earlier for using Rs 600 million of TRC funds to distribute Sil Cloth during the run-up to the 2015 Presidential Election.
On 17 September 2017, Colombo High Court Judge Gihan Kulatunga found them guilty and imposed a sentence of 3 years rigorous imprisonment, a fine of Rs 2 million each and a compensation of Rs 50 million each.
The verdict of the Court of Appeal stated that the above High Court verdict given by Judge Kulatunga was not fair and reasonable.
Drama at Temple Trees
The sole reason behind setting up the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) by the ‘Good-Governance’ Government was to imprison or give death sentence to those who were named by the Anti-corruption Unit at Temple Trees. The case against Weeratunga and Palpita was one of such cases.
Filing of the case had been handled by Deputy Solicitor General Thusith Mudalige.
Accordingly, the Attorney General’s Department served indictments at the Colombo High Court on 28 August 2015. Following that, Weeratunga and Palpita were produced before the Court after naming them as defendants.
Drama at the Court
This so called ‘Sil Cloth case’ was taken up for the first time before Colombo High Court Judge Kusala Sarojani Weerawardena. Although the FCID requested to remand the defendants after serving them indictments, President’s Counsel Kalinga Indatissa requested the Judge to release them on bail considering their good conduct as State Officials in the past and appreciations they receive for their service which the Judge accepted.
Transfer of the Judge
However, Judge Weerawardena was transferred to the Kandy High Court after a few days. High Court Judge Nishanka Karunathilake was appointed to fill the post according to the seniority. When the case was listed to call before Judge Karunathilake, Judge Gihan Kulatunga who was serving at Kuliyapitiya Court had been appointed to the Court No. 3.
But as he could not be appointed to the Court No. 3 based on seniority, Judge Kulatunga was appointed to Court No. 6. Then in a miracle move two cases: 413/17 and 414/17 against Weeratunga and Palpita were transferred to the Court No. 6.
After that, the case hearing was started before Judge Kulatunga from January 2017. Although the defendants opposed it and made a request to the Chief Justice, it was dismissed.
Judge Kulatunga who was in a firm stance regarding the objections of the defendants’ party, delivered the verdict on 7 September 2017 and announced the defendants were guilty of the offences.
It was following this, Weeratunga and Palpita decided to appeal against this judgment by petitioning the Court of Appeal.
Judgment
Allowing an appeal filed against their conviction by the Colombo High Court (CHC) over the so-called Sil Cloth (white cloth) case, the Court of Appeal on Thursday (19), acquitted former Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC), Anusha Palpita and former TRC Chairman and former Secretary to the President, Lalith Weeratunga, and set aside the conviction and sentences thus imposed in connection with the charges of criminal misappropriation, conspiracy, and aiding and abetment.
The appellants in the appeal case (CA 413 – 414/2017) were Palpita and Weeratunga, while the respondent was the Attorney General (AG).
Previously, the first accused Palpita and the second accused Weeratunga were indicted in the High Court (HC 8026/2015) by the Attorney General over alleged criminal misappropriation, conspiracy, and aiding and abetment, under the Penal Code.
The incident connected to the indictments was that between 30 October 2014 and 5 January 2015, Rs 600 million in funds belonging to the TRC had been transferred through the alleged dishonest misappropriation by Palpita to an account in the name of Weeratunga (in his official capacity) for a Sil Cloth (white cloth) distribution programme which was part of a special national project initiative undertaken by the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa and undertaken as per a directive by the latter to Weeratunga due to requests from Monks that those who observed Sil had to be furnished with cloths. Both accused pleaded not guilty to the indictments. The High Court found the accused guilty of the charges. Both accused were then sentenced to one-and-a- half years of rigourous imprisonment (RI) and a fine of Rs 1 million each (if the fine was defaulted, six months of RI), while Palpita and Weeratunga were each given another one- and-a-half years of RI and a fine of Rs 1 million (if the fine was defaulted, six months of RI). Further, both were ordered to pay Rs 50 million each as compensation to the TRC (if defaulted, two years of RI).
The Court of Appeal Bench comprised Justices K.K. Wickremasinghe and Devika Abeyratne. Palpita was represented by Attorneys-at-Law Kanchana Ratwatte, Janaka Ranatunge, Thushari Samanpali Amarasiri and Amani Pilapitiya, while Weeratunga was represented by President’s Counsels Faisz Musthapha, Shavindra Fernando and Faiszer Musthapha, and Attorneys-at-Law Faisza Marker, Shantha Jayawardhana and Keerthi Thilakaratne. Deputy Solicitor General Thusith Mudalige and State Counsel Chathuri Wijesuriya appeared for the AG.
Justice Wickremasinghe’s judgment, which Justice Abeyratne concurred with, observed that the question that arises in the case was whether the grant or appropriation facilitated from the TRC for the distribution of Sil Cloth could expose the accused, who sourced the funds to criminal prosecution and sanctions because Weeratunga wrote to Palpita requesting funds for the said project and the latter directed the transfer of the funds.
Could these two items of evidence alone constitute a manifestation of a dishonest intention to misappropriate,” Justice Wickremasinghe queried, noting that one cannot take items of evidence piecemeal and hold that the mens rea (fault element) and actus reus (physical element of the misappropriation or conversion of moveable property to one’s use) have been established she further noted that evidence has to be holistically looked at in order to ascertain the mens rea.”
Justice Wickremasinghe further observed that particular evidence adduced, Clearly shows that Weeratunga was not the initiator or originator of the Sil Cloth project” and that neither is there evidence to show that he had anything to do with the choice of the project.”
It was noted by the Court that at the time the project was initiated on 20 March 2014 (Weeratunga wrote to Palpita requesting funds for the project on 30 October 2014 by which time no Presidential Poll was declared), the Presidential Election held on 8 January 2015 had not been in sight and had in fact been initiated long before the said Poll was called.
Justice Wickremasinghe added that it would appear that the High Court Judge has not properly appreciated nor assessed the evidentiary value” of certain items of evidence (which it was noted had the effect of unequivocally showing that Weeratunga was not prosecuting an agenda to confer a wrongful benefit or gain to another) and of a culpable omission to take cognisance of certain testimony, because the High Court Judge had arrived at the erroneous finding that the decision to distribute the Sil Cloth was taken by the President after consulting Weeratunga.”
Justice Wickremasinghe opined, This appears to be a vital misdirection on the part of the High Court Judge.”
It was noted that following a discussion with the President and by a way of a minute, Weeratunga had informed the Chief Accountant of the Presidential Secretariat that steps can be taken to obtain an advance of
Rs 600 million from the TRC, but had also made it clear that this grant was subject to reimbursement as soon as the budgetary allocations for 2015 are received by the Presidential Secretariat, before subsequently formally writing to Palpita, making a request for the said sum in order for it to be used for the Sil Cloth project.
These items of evidence show the dutiful conduct of an exemplary public officer,” Justice Wickremasinghe noted. Further, it was mentioned in the judgment that by virtue of the fact that the project was meant to promote the welfare of devotees, it was a charitable project, and that by the time the Coordinating Secretary to the President on Religious Affairs brought it to the attention of Weeratunga, the special Presidential initiative fund did not have sufficient funds and that therefore Weeratunga had decided to source funds from the TRC (which also engaged in social responsibility projects such as assisting the Kotelawala Defence Academy, and made donations for public causes and social welfare) just as anyone in his shoes would do, in such circumstances.”
In no way can this conduct be condemned as blameworthy,” as there was nothing blameworthy in requesting funds from an institution known for its involvement in charitable activities and which had a separate budget for corporate social responsibility (CSR),” Justice Wickremasinghe further pointed out.
The judgment also observed that in December 2014, when vouchers were being submitted for payments to be made to the suppliers of the cloth, Weeratunga had repeated his consistent stance that the TRC must be paid back what it had granted and had reminded the Chief Accountant” by way of a post pasted on the voucher that at least a part payment of Rs 200 million had to be made in the first quarter of 2015.”
There is un-contradicted evidence that Weeratunga had at all times the intention to ensure that the TRC was recouped. He attempted to ensure that there was no wrongful loss to the TRC. His conduct was consistent with an attempt to ensure that there was no wrongful gain to anyone, leave alone the fact that not a dime ever went to him. In my view, it would be a figment of the widest imagination to ever suggest that Weeratunga entertained a dishonest intention. His conduct is anything but dishonest.”
Justice Wickremasinghe: The keenness displayed to source the funds for a social cause and the alacrity to pay back the money that are vital to a finding of the absence of a dishonest intention have gone unnoticed by the High Court Judge and the social spirit shown as a public servant is manifestly clear. How can a man who sticks to his last that the money obtained from the TRC must be a loan be characterised as dishonest? The vital ingredient of dishonesty in the charge has received a manifestly wrong interpretation and I am of the firm view that having regard to the law as well, there is a mis-appreciation of the facts on the part of the High Court Judge.
There is a mis-direction on the mens rea,” Justice Wickremasinghe noted, adding that it is crystal clear that when the intention is recoupment and restitution, it is inconsistent with a guilty mind and would definitely be consistent with an innocent state of mind.”
On the question of there, allegedly being no formal approval before the transmission of the funds from the TRC to the Presidential Secretariat, Justice Wickremasinghe noted that a TRC Board paper, dated 30 October 2014, establishes that the transmission of money was approved verbally prior to the date of transfer (the TRC Act does not place a statutory prohibition against a verbal decision of the Board).
Despite this evidence, the High Court Judge arrives at an erroneous finding that there was no approval for the transfer of money” Justice Wickremasinghe emphasised.
It is to be highlighted that despite the presence of voluntary undertakings and donations that could be engaged in or given by the TRC, Weeratunga had the objective of making this grant a loan subject to the obligation of the Office of the President to reimburse this amount. Evidence is so glaring that Weeratunga only tried to source funds subject to reimbursement long before the Presidential Election was called. He was thus motivated by laudable objectives. It defies logic and common sense that a Chairman of a corporate body who attempted to ensure the recoupment of money belonging to the Corporation should face an ordeal of a sardonic prosecution despite his responsible and prudent decision as the Chairman of the corporate body.”
The Court also observed that no dishonest intention could be attributed to Palpita either. When one holistically analyses the steps taken by Palpita in regard to the request for funds made by Weeratunga, one does not see anything clandestine. He put up a Board paper dated 30 October 2014 giving an introduction and a rationale for the grant. He suggested a donation of Rs 600 million for this purpose in light of the previous engagements of the Corporation in such activities. He also stated that the funds could be sourced from the budgetary allocation for CSR of the TRC. The steps taken by Palpita do not partake of the characteristics of dishonesty.”
It was finally noted that such appropriations as was done in this case for a charitable objective of providing Sil Cloth cannot be classified as misappropriations when donations for charitable causes and disbursements have continued to be authorised by the Board as permissible activities. No Chairman of a corporation and a Director in the position of Palpita and Weeratunga would ever characterise the apportionment of funds for providing needy devotees with clothes as criminally dishonest. I have to observe that if directors of companies or corporate entities are to be visited with prosecutions and sanctions under the Penal Code for making validly authorised donations, no one would ever wish to serve as a director of a company or for that matter as a Director of a corporate body such as the TRC. If directors or a corporation are going to be in peril of a prospective prosecution for a business, judgment or a bona fide engagement in a consistent practice of CSR for which there is a separate budgetary allocation, is to entail prosecution and humiliation, no recognised public servant or anyone distinguished in a profession such as law or accountancy would ever like to run the risk of an appointment on a Board of a Corporation such as the TRC.”
Justice Wickremasinghe also pointed out that it was a collective decision of the Board to appropriate this money for this project and that it was not the individual decision of Palpita or Weeratunga. On 15 December 2014, the decision to give formal approval to the oral approval and the transmission of money was taken by all these four Members present (out of five with the quorum being three). It must be taken that they were all aware of the facts and circumstances of the request and with this knowledge, ratified all these steps. There was nothing done in secrecy and the prosecution witnesses as well as the evidence given from the witness box and the dock statement all establish the inescapable inferences of the absence of dishonest intention. When the money allotted thus became the authorised activity of the Corporation, this Court finds that only Palpita and Weeratunga have been cherry picked and selectively prosecuted. The facts clearly show that these two accused should not have been chased after in the way they were pursued. In this backdrop, the authorised donation became a lawful activity of the TRC and Palpita and Weeratunga could not be said to have intended a wrongful gain or a wrongful loss because if at all a donation was a voluntary disbursement which cannot be classified as wrongful. In such a situation, since the appropriation of the money was authorised, it cannot become a misappropriation. Thus, there is not only an absence of the mens rea but also a lack of the actus reus necessary to constitute the offence of criminal misappropriation. There are no unlawful means that have been employed and an act done in accordance with the consensus of the Board and the provisions of the TRC Act cannot be considered to be a dishonest act, and would not justify the conclusion of the offence of criminal misappropriation.”
There was also no concert or complicity between Palpita and Weeratunga, Justice Wickremasinghe held.
Also, Palpita and Weeratunga had nothing to do with the distribution of Sil Cloth itself, the Court noted.
The Court therefore held that there was neither the mens rea of dishonest intention nor the actus reus of misappropriation.
I hold that the prosecution did not establish its case beyond a reasonable doubt and conclude that there is gross misdirection on the part of the High Court Judge both in fact and law which amounts to a non-direction, and in the circumstances, I conclude that the conviction and sentence of both the accused appellants must be set aside and that they should be acquitted.”
Justice Wickremasinghe, addressing the question of the importation of personal knowledge, noted that the High Court Judge has stated that there was a prevailing political culture during the said regime. There is no evidence to support this observation. The Judge has perhaps imported this knowledge from a Commission of which he was a Member of or even from an unknown source. The importation of this personal knowledge into his conclusions has coloured his judgment and lends credence to the submission that the accused did not have a fair trial. I take the view that on this misdirection of the importation of personal knowledge of an alleged political culture, the judgment stands liable to be quashed and set aside.”
There has also been misdirection by the High Court Judge based on inadmissible evidence Justice Wickremasinghe noted.
On the matter where the High Court Judge was engaged in questioning the witnesses, specially Weeratunga in an inappropriate manner, biased towards the prosecution case, the Court observed that the incessant questioning by the High Court Judge unconsciously dragged him into an uncontrollable stage where he has lost his control over the examination of evidence of the witnesses. It is observed that whilst Weeratunga was giving evidence, the High Court Judge intervened continuously on 66 occasions and had 287 interjections. Looking at the incessant questioning despite the inherent limitations of the powers entrusted to a trial Judge to question witnesses, I take the view that there was an indiscriminate use of the powers of questioning a witness and the complaint made that Weeratunga was denied a fair trial is well founded.”
It was further noted regarding the manner in which the case was transferred, that the procedure followed was in violation of the practices followed in the High Court and that there is no minute or journal entry assigning this case from Court Number Three to Court Number Six. The circumstances in which the presiding High Court Judge came to hear the case created a serious doubt on the impartiality and validity of the proceedings adopted in the case.”
Finally, Justice Wickremasinghe held that the prosecution has failed to establish the ingredients of the offences laid in the indictment. There is no dishonest intention with which both accused appellants have acted. They were not actuated by mens rea or actus reus. There has been a bona fide exercise of their powers and duties. Neither accused was enriched. Whilst the Board authorised a transaction which is protected by law and CSR, it is a travesty of justice that only two Members of the TRC had to endure the traumatic experience of a selective prosecution at a prolonged trial, causing a senior public servant of long years of meritorious public service, humiliation and anguish. Palpita, who only followed the request of his Chairman for assistance, also underwent the infamy of a long drawn out trial. I cannot reach any other conclusion except that of the innocence of the two accused appellants fully vindicated on oral and documentary evidence. ”
Justice Abeyratne also wrote a separate but concurring opinion reaching the same verdict.
Victory to public service
Former Secretary to the President, LalithWeeratunga, who was acquitted and ordered to be released from the controversial Sil Cloth case, by the Court of Appeal, described the verdict as historic for the country’s State sector and public service.
Speaking to the Media soon after the announcement of the verdict, he said it would be a landmark judgment for those engaged in the State sector, as they would be able to perform their duty sans any duress whether political or otherwise henceforth.
Both expressed their gratitude to this newspaper and affirmed that during the aforesaid period both Mawbima and Ceylon Today, had reported the case in its entirety sans any distortions and asserted it had also contributed in no small measure for their ultimate acquittal and release from the high profile case.
They added that the verdict would go a long way to reclaim the lost trust and confidence of the public in the country’s State service.
Both Weeratunga and Palpita urged those in the State sector to repose their trust in the present regime, as it would look to further enrich their lives during the next five-year period.
Speaking further Weeratunga said: I take this opportunity to convey my gratitude and deep appreciation to the Judiciary which decided to issue an order to acquit us from this case. This decision will also further strengthen the State service. The order given by the Colombo High Court only contributed to destabilise this sector, but now this landmark verdict has put the record straight.”
Speaking to the Media, Palpita stated This verdict is not something that has been given to us at a personal level. It will have an impact on the entire State service. During the past five years those in the State service were afraid to take decisions on their own due to being politically victimised by the previous regime. But, this historic verdict would no doubt strengthen this sector. If those in the State service were to take honest and brave decisions on behalf of the people, the Judiciary has proved they will protect them.”
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was gifted his first vehicle, a FIAT 124 Sports Coopé, by the family which bought the vehicle from Rajapaksa years ago.
S. A. Amarasiri who had purchased the vehicle from Mr. Rajapaksa had owned the vehicle until his demise. Mr. Amarasiri had also won a motor rally held in India, in which he participated with the FIAT, which is now a valuable 50 year old vintage motor car.
Mr. Amarasiri’s son and family have returned the vehicle to it’s first owner, Premier Rajapaksa today, following a request from the Prime Minister’s son Yoshitha Rajapaksa, to commemorate his 75th birthday.
An indictment filed by the Attorney General against Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon over a murder that took place in 1999 has been revoked by the Court of Appeal.
The verdict was delivered by the President of Appeals Court, Justice A.H.M.D. Nawaz and Justice Sobitha Rajakaruna today (20).
In a writ application, Minister Tennakoon had sought the Appeals Court to quash the indictment filed by the Attorney General against him.
He stated that the Government of Good Governance had filed a lawsuit against him in 2015 over his alleged involvement in a murder which took place in 1999 in Mahawela area. The case had been lodged before the Kandy High Court.
Appeals Court President, delivering the verdict, annulled the murder charges filed against the minister, ruling them to be contrary to the law.
