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Former Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States Jaliya Wickramasuriya says that the Financial Crimes Investigation Division has misled the court and obtained a warrant against him for political revenge.
He was giving evidence from the United States via Skype technology before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry probing into political victimization.
| Another 92 have tested positive for Covid-19. All are close contacts of previous patients. Army Commander Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva has stated that another 277 have tested positive for COVID-19. All of them have been identified to be close contacts of previous patients. |
15 persons have been taken into custody after drone cameras detected them violating quarantine laws in Mutwal, Colombo.
Police informed earlier during the day that drone technology will be used to track down violators of movement restrictions between provinces and stern legal action would be taken against any violators.
The All Ceylon Hindu Federation (ACHF) has stated that if Muslims have the privilege of burying the bodies of those who die of coronavirus infection without cremation, that privilege should be extended to Hindus as well.
Its chairman Nara T Arulkantha stated this at a media briefing held in Kandy today.
10 November 2020
Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage
Foreign Secretary
Sri Lanka Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Republic Building
Sir Baron Jayathilake Mawatha
Colombo 01
Sri Lanka
Dear Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage:
It was with great admiration that I read the Press Release from your Ministry which said – Foreign Ministry successfully conducts an Orientation Programme for Ambassadors/High Commissioners designates.
Having worked at the Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa from June 1989 to May 1994, as the Director of Communications at the level of the Deputy, I believe the Ministry needed such an exercise. I will give you the reasons why.
While you might note from the Ministry files that Asoka Weerasinghe is the most misunderstood expatriate for whatever reason. You may also find that I gave back to Sri Lanka every cent’s worth of work Sri Lanka paid me, even though I was not fully remunerated what was promised, And I nearly went bankrupt having lost almost $2000 a month in wages if I had stayed in my job in the Public Service in Canada for 20-years.
I was asked by President Premadasa to help him in the Communications file at the Ottawa Mission which needed lots of help.
So I did and I was happy that he gave me the opportunity to give back to Sri Lanka, my Motherland, that nurtured me for the first 19-years of my life, giving me a free-‘Education at Nalan College in Colombo et.,cetera.
I was happy to read that you had included these subject areas in your programme, Public Diplomacy and Overseas Sri Lankans, I was disappointed that you all did not spend at least half-a-day on Office Management. This was lacking and was the pits when I joined the Ottawa Mission in 1989.
I worked under High Commissioners Walter Rupesinghe and Walter Fenando, both President Premadasa appointees, both excellent diplomats. So I would consider that we were a President Premadasa Team”, and did nothing to let him down, and that office in Ottawa had to function well.
My work ethics and experience was picked up with my working in England and Canada, and I had no intention to change gears to fall in line with Sri Lankan ways of doing things like Time Management and Office Management which were basics to run a competent office.
The day when I joined them I was walked to my office by the Administrative Attache Karunarathna. The desk was bare, so I asked him whether I could have a typewriter. No..No..Sir, you don’t need one as we have a stenographer to do the typing.” Thanks for letting me know. This request is not meant to insult the stenographer, but I need a typewriter, as it is my work horse, please find me one.”
The following morning there was a brand new Brother electric typewriter on my desk and a box of 8”x10” typewriting paper.
If the Foreign Ministry wanted to find out whether they got good value for the money spent on the new typewriter, you could find out with an audit of letters that I typed just responding to Tamil persons seeking information of their disappeared loved ones from the north and east, and Amnesty International, who they accused the Sri Lanka Army as the culprits for their disappearance, Every letter they received was a personal reply and not a form letter. If I had a difficult response I sought Mr. Bradman Weerakoon’s guidance at the President’s Secretariat. I sent him a telex in the evening and there was always a Telex-reply on my desk the following morning. He was extremely accommodating and kind.
Here are the numbers – 235 letters (1989); 649 (1990); 1223 (1991); 872 (1992); 426(1993) and 257 (1994).
What was interesting is that I received 11 personal letters thanking me saying that this was the first time they had ever received a personal letter from a Foreign Government Mission in response to their enquiry.
Beyond my work in Communications, HC Rupesinghe asked me whether I could help him in the Trade portfolio, as the Trade Counsellor Kanagaratnam had stayed back as a refugee together with his wife and two children. Sure, Walter. Count on me. This Mission has to function. I won’t let You nor President Premadasa down.” was my response.
Story 1:
In my research trying to find a Department that we could use to get our products introduced to Canada, I came across a semi-Government Department which was doing just that. Spoke with the DG who said that they very likely could help Five Companies introduce their products in an International Trade-Food Fair in Vancouver in a few months.
So High Commissioner WalterR and I went for a meeting with the DG who had his Coordinating Officer Anne, with him. The deal was that they needed 10 Company profiles. They will study them and Anne will go down to Sri Lanka speak to CEOs of the Companies and finalize bringing over the five Companies, all paid for travelling , accommodation for two persons of each Company and clearing their goods/cartons, through Customs, et cetera and facilitate bringing them in complying to all Canadian Trade regulations etc.
So I contacted M.L Fernando, the Director of the Department of Trade and Commerce, and explained to him the requirements for us to showcase five of Sri Lanka’s top Food producers at the Vancouver International Trade-Food Fair.
Pat came the response from M.L. Fernando. No, Asoka. We can’t let Foreigners come over and pick our Companies to be showcased in their Country International Food Fairs. It is our job and we can do it for them.”
So, ML, what you are telling me is that you will favour the top five Companies who garnished the palms of your Ministry Officers with the top ‘Kappan’ rupees, right.?
Sorry, ML, I just cannot accept that. Since joining the Mission, I have come to understand that this is indeed the culture in Sri Lanka.
The bottom line is, either you provide the 10 Company profiles as requested by this Canadian Department or let’s forget it.”
So M.L. Fernando agreed to provide the 10 Company profiles of which five were selected by Anne after her visit to Sri Lanka, interviewing the CEOs and looking at their products for the saleability in Canada.
Out of the five Companies that were given the opportunity to showcase their products were Dilmah Teas, Renuka Tea and Spices and Muzzumil Freshwater Fish. The other two companies have slipped my mind. Canada helped Muzzumil to air-freight a large plastic container of iced fish. At the end of every second day the fresh fish were auctioned on site.
Story 2
One morning I got a call from a South Korean businessman. He says
Sir, I am a South Koean businessman from the States. I am searching for a Company that could produce cloth diapers. We will provide You with the cloth that will comply with the International standard of the quality of the cloth with a certain mesh size. All we want is a Company to cut the cloth according to the standard size, stitch them, pack them in a box/cartons and ship it over. You can pack thousands of them in one carton by adding a weighted pressure on them so that one could pack thousands of the diapers in one box.”
Sir, you are calling Canada, and there are Trade Counsellor offices in the States. It would be easier for you if you wish to contact them, and I could provide you with the telephone contact numbers”
Sir, I came to you with an excellent recommendation from another Businessman who said, ‘Contact Trade Officer Asoka Weerasinghe, and he will get the job done for you. If you are unable to accommodate me, Sir, I will find another Asian country to help me.”
Sir, thank you for that comment about me, you certainly made me blush. Of course, I will help you. Will you be able to call me at the same time tomorrow, I will provide the information.”
I sought help from HC Walter Rupesinghe, who came from the private sector in Sri Lanka. He spoke with one of his Company contacts, and the job was done. The South Korean Businessman was very content and happy with the final product.
So here is a Communications Director whose appointment was questioned in Parliament by Minister C.V. Gunaratne, helping the High Commissioner in other areas that needed help other than in Communications.
3. Time Management, I thought, was lacking among some of the officers sent from Sri Lanka, and one I considered was an arrogant ‘village fool’. I will comment to you on this person later.
Minister Ranjan Wijeratna visited Ottawa and wanted HC Rupesinghhe to see whether he could collect some funds from the Diaspora for his Department’s Defence Fund.
This is always a difficult proposition, as expatriates are very reluctant to open their wallets not knowing where the money would end up And I am one of them.. So HC Rupasinghe sent me to Toronto to speak to a gathering in a Community Hall and sought contributions for the Defence Fund. I took with me a receipt book with the Mission’s stamp on every receipt which I gave a donor who donated money to the Defence Fund. I promised that each donor will receive a receipt from the Ministry of Defence acknowledging receiving the monies. That satisfied the expatriates in Toronto and I brought back funds totalling around $4,500.
A few months later a Torontonian phoned me, and he says, Asoka, I am Uyanwatta (forget the real name starting with U”) who gave you a cheque for $100 for the Defence Fund, do you remember me?”
I am sorry, unfortunately I don’t. Is there anything that I can do for you?”
Yes, I wonder whether you could. I have an emergency to return to Sri Lanka and I have not renewed my passport for eight years. Can I get it renewed in a day, if I come over, as I hesitate to post it in case it gets lost.”
Mr Uyanwatta, I don’t deal with passports, it’s Mr. K.B. Fernando, our First Secretary. If you could hold on, I will try to find him and see whether he could do you that favour.”
So I went in search of KB. Found him in his office, relayed the request and he said. Sure, Asoka, ask him to come tomorrow at 9.”
Listen KB, I see you have a mountain of passports on your desk, why don’t I ask him to come on Friday at 9.”
That will be great Asoka.” So I conveyed the message to Mr. Uyanwatta.
Friday, I was buzzed on the telephone around 11:30 in the morning by the receptionist, and she said, Mr. Weerasinghe, there is a Mr. Uyanwatte who wants to see you.” I will be down in a minute” , and wondered whether he had received the renewed passport and wanted to thank me for the favour I had initiated.
Is everything OK?”. No Asoka, I drove from 4 o’clock in the morning to be here for my appointment at 9:00. Mr. Fernando met me only at 11. After considering my request, he told me that it will take him two weeks to have the passport ready.”
I was fit to be tied. I am sorry for your disappointment. Take a seat. Let me see whether I could reverse that decision.”
This was not good and I went in search of K.B Fernando, the Diplomat. Unfortunately for Him, I found him in the open-plan office talking to clerical staff.
I told him, I just heard from Uyanwatta that you can only get his passport renewed in two week. What you just did KB, was make me look an incompetent idiot. A liar. That is not fair, and please stop pretending that you are a damn ‘Tin God’ and please get that passport renewed as promised for Mr. Uyanwatta.”.
He turned around and flew upstairs to the High Commissioner, being upset. HC WalterR called me in. I explained to WalteR what had happened and told him, Walter this is a Public Relations disaster. To begin with KB was late by two hours for the appointment. This incident will go around the Toronto Sinhalese community like a wild-fire and the bottom line is no one in the Foreign Ministry is going to make me look a liar and a blithering incompetent idiot. I will not leave this office, nor will Mr. Uyanwatta, until I get that renewed passport as promised and get Mr. Uyanwatte off on his five hour drive home to Toronto.
HC WalterR felt the heat of my anger, stretched his hand out and told me, Give me the Passport and I will do it for you,” The passport that was going to take KB, the Foreign Departmnt Diplomat, two weeks, was done in one hour.
This incident falls into the category of Time Management” and ‘Public Relations” and dealing with the expatriate community.” which the Ministry most certainly needs, and their support and favours on and off.
4. Office Management, and here is a doozy, that gave High Commissioners Walter Rupesinghe and Walter Fernando enough headaches.
Almost every day, the High Commissioner’s get phone calls and letters from Tamil refugees” who want to know when they will receive their passports, which had been applied for months ago and paid for the service.
Not a day passed by when HC Rupesinghe comes to me, his Director of Communications and tells me handing over the ‘nasty’ letters: Asoka, please find out what this is all about and try to resolve it.”
So here was the problem. The lack of an intelligent/sensible/basic office procedure.
There was a metal cabinet by the Immigration-office clerk. When we received the pink passport application form from a Thangarajah, a Nadarajah, a Subramaniam, a Ponnaiah, a Thurairajah, a Swamy-pillai, a Chelliah, mostly from Toronto or Montreal, they are not recorded and dropped flat into the metal cabinet. So you find 200 to 300 pink application forms sitting flat in a drawer of the metal cabinet.
So one morning, Mr. Thurairajah calls the receptionist from Toronto, 450 miles away, to find out the status of his application, which he says was sent with the payment two months ago. There was a large ledger on a table in the receptionist’s office, where the passports mailed out were recorded. So she tells Thurairajah, could you please hold on and I will try to find out.”
The receptionist leafs’ through the ledger quickly and doesn’t find his name recorded. In the meantime the telephone call that Thurairajah was holding-on to, is ticking away emptying his wallet dime by dime… The receptionist moves on to the metal cabinet in the adjoining room and leafs’ through the pink application forms which were not stacked in an alphabetical order.
She is lucky if Mr. Thurairajah’s application form was, say the 21st sitting flat in the filing cabinet drawer, but if it is the 144th out of a 300, then she is in trouble and she encounters an abusing voice on the other end of the telephone wire. By then, Thurairajah was out of pocket by about $10. So the High Commissioner gets an angry letter from Thurairajah. He brings the letter to Me requesting me to find out what was going on and resolve it for him. This office procedure had been going on for donkey’s years. A voodoo procedure that gives a bad rap to the Mission’s public relations with the Tamil refugee community.
5. Creating a filing system for the Passport application pink forms:
The opportunity arose when the First Secretary was seconded to the UN Office in New York, , I believe for three months. HC Rupesinghe came to me and asked me, Asoka, do you think you could bring some order to these passport Application forms? It is a nightmare and it is giving me headaches every day with complaints.” So the Director of Communications tells him, Sure, Walter, let me give it a try.”
So I set up a very simple card and a file system. And this is how it worked. The 5”x4” cards were set-up in alphabetical order. When Rajah Ponniah sends his application form, the passport-clerk notes it in a card from the P” group. The name is noted with the date when the application was received, the address and the contact telephone number and any other information, like payments, etc. On the Top right corner of the card is ‘Given the number of the latest application that was received. Let’s say it was 272”. The vertical files in the metal cabinet are set up in numerical order. The file folder with Rajah Ponniah’s application is placed after file number 271. When Ponnaiah calls in six weeks to find out the status of his application, the receptionist goes to the card system which is in alphabetical order, go to grouping under letter P”, the card says it is the file number 272, and goes to the filing cabinet and pulls it out. By right, the passport clerk should have had the history of this application on the card . I thought it was a simple office procedure.
When the First Secretary came back from New York, he was confused with the filing system and was unhappy. So much for the diplomats running a smooth office.
This is why I asked you whether the programme that you all conducted , had a slot to train the new diplomats basics of Office Management, Records Management and Time Management, and also erasing the notion that I am a diplomat, a ‘Tin God/Tin Goddess.’ It is hard to accept but there is so much of it that I had to deal with. And that is the hard truth, coming from a former Middle-Manager in the Canadian Federal Government for 20 years. In my last assignment, I had to supervise 20 natural and human sciences scientists.
So now, the guy who was questioned in parliament for having been appointed as the Director of Communication by Minister C.V. Gunaratna is now not only taking care of Communications but also with other added responsibilities, however Temporary, the Trade Files, the Passport applicant Interviews when KB was not around.
6. The Pension Payment Files Saga:
One day, HC Rupesinghe had received two letters from lawyers, one from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the other from Toronto, for their clients, both Tamil pensioners, who hadn’t received their pension cheques for three months. The letters requested that their clients receive their pension cheques within a week. WalterR brings the letters to me, quite upset, hands them over to me and says, Asoka, can you please help me by taking over these pension files, and catch up with the payments. I will give you young Trishula Karunaratne to help you.” Sure, Walter, Don’t you worry I will take them over.” There were only 137 pension files to be dealt with. The Administrative Attache, Karunaratne who was responsible for these files was quite upset as he had lost his cash-cow since he used to come to office after dinner to do over-time to catch up with his administrative work. It was obvious he was loaded with work and needed a 10-hour working day rather than a 8-hour working day.
I contacted the lawyer in Halifax and almost begged him not to invoice this lady client who was only receiving a monthly cheque of $94. I promised him that I will have the three cheques on its way to her within two weeks. I promise, mark my word,” I said, He promised me that he will not charge this elderly lady pensioner a fee for his letter. To be absolutely honest, I was hurting inside me. That job was done. It took Thrishula and I two months to catch up with the arrears. And from then on, we managed to keep the 137 pensioners, mainly Tamil happy, and for them not to go to their lawyers to find some solace and dignity. I was determined to restore their dignity as pensioners whether it were Tamil refugees or Sinhalese refugees. We certainly had few of the latter.
7. Communications – Letters to Editors of Newspapers.
When my letters on behalf of the High Commissioners were appearing in important newspapers, I wasn’t sure whether it was a Foreign Affairs policy when First Secretary K.B. Fernando told me,
Asoka, you don’t have to respond to every news item that appears on Sri Lanka in newspapers.”
Why, is there a problem?” I don’t think we should start a dialogue with the Tamils!”he said,
That’s a load of bull KB. That is exactly what I want. A dialogue. There is no damn way that I can blunt the nasty propaganda against Sri Lanka by these Tamil separatists being a wimp!”
Why, am I showing you guys up badly at the Foreign Ministry, as there weren’t much appearing in the newspapers from the High Commission defending the honour of Sri Lanka until I came in.”
With my challenges there were 56 letters out of 64 efforts published in newspapers across Canada on behalf of the High Commissioner during my 5-year stint at the Mission. And that was Big!
What was interesting was when the Communications Counsellor of the Indian High Commissioner invited me for lunch at the Chateau Laurier one day, during lunch, he asked me , Asoka,’ everytime I open the Ottawa Citizen, there is a letter from you for the High Commission. How do you do it? I can’t even get one letter published.” So I coached him how to do it. I believe he had some success. The key was that a response to the news item went out within 36 hours of its appearing. In my case I write, approved by the HC, with edits or whatever, and boom it goes out.
But what was embarrassing was that I couldn’t reciprocate the Indian diplomat’s courtesy for inviting me for lunch as I was not given an entertainment allowance as promised. And that was not the first time. Even under that dark cloud of embarrassment, I carried on as best I could.
8. Communications – Promoting Sri Lanka via the Community TV Channel
What was never done before in the history of the Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa, it happened.
This Communication’s Director whose appointment was challenged in parliament by Minister C.V. Gunaratna, very likely sneaked by a member of the Diplomats at the Foreign Ministry, scripted and produced nine (9) half-hour shows, Songs of Sri Lanka, for Cable TV. All artifacts and video clips were from my private collection, since there was absolutely nothing available at the Sri Lanka High Commision. It was embarrassing and pathetic. Details of their content will be mentioned in the Final Report Card at the end of this brief. President Premadasa wanted me to promote Sri Lanka, and this was one effort towards accomplishing that request..
The Councillor for Communications, for the Malaysian High Commission, Mr. Mukundan, invited me for lunch at the best Indian Restaurant in town, Haveli. During lunch he wanted to know how I produced ‘Songs of Sri Lanka’ for cable TV as he too would like to do the same for Malaysia. So I walked him through the production process – storyboarding, scripting arranging artifacts and video clips, av-recording the voice narrative of the show and finally editing with the TV Station Director/Producer (Mr. Sahid Khan). After listening he tells me. O my God, Asoka, I doubt I could do it.” So he abandoned the idea.
What was embarrassing was that I couldn’t reciprocate his diplomatic courtesy by inviting him for lunch, as I did not have funds not been given an entertainment allowance as promised. So be it.
9. Communications – By introducing and promoting Sri Lanka to school students in the National Capital Region.
Through the courtesy of the Ottawa Board of Education and the Carleton Board of Education, I, Asoka Weerasinghe, Director of Communications at the Sri Lanka High Commission got invited by 13 primary and middle schools for a Show and Tell one-hour talks at each school about Sri Lanka.
All I requested from the school was a Globe and a VHS video machine to play back clips of videos I had on Sri Lanka. All children enjoyed the Show-and-Tell talks. All the artifacts, videos, were from my private collection. None from the High Commission as there were absolutely none. The hits were the Pinnawela elephant orphanage video and Sri Lankan gems that rested on their palms. And I described every gem, and introduced them to their Birth-stone.
They were in awe and so were the teachers. That suite of gems I bought from PunchiSingo’s on Chatham Street as my study collection as a Geology student in the 1960s. And lots of enthusiasm was generated to find out more about Sri Lanka. I distributed a tourist brochure and a tea-bag of Dilmah Orange-pekoe in a small zip-lock bag bought out of my personal funds to every student. I taught them how to make a good cup of tea.
At the end of the Show-and-Tell talk I wanted to hand the Principal of the school a Sri Lankan flag to hang it on Commonwealth Day. My request for 10 large flags from the Foreign Ministry was ignored. So I asked my sister Sybil, to go to Laksala and buy me 10 large Sri Lanka flags, parcel them well and take it to the Foreign Ministry to send to me in the diplomatic bag. I also gave her a letter to hand over to President Premadasa to facilitate the delivery of the parcel to me, in case the Foreign Ministry was reluctant to bring the parcel over to me. Thank God, they did, thus there was no need to request President Premadasa for that favour.
Before handing over the Sri Lanka flag to each principal, I made it a point to explain the significance of the symbology and colours in the flag, and most importantly the two colour stripes recognizing the two major minority groups, Tamils and Muslims in the island, saying, as I know of, Sri Lanka flag is the only Commonwealth country flag that recognized their minority communities.
Two school groups visited the High Commision on Range Road for the Show-and-Tell Hour. This presentation in the library was a slideshow of Sri Lanka in a Kodak carousel which was from my private collection synching with the poetry I wrote on Sri Lanka. There were 32 students and teachers sitting on the floor, and I had to ask the High Commissioner to give me a break by providing orange juice and 32 doughnuts as refreshments for the students and teachers as I was not given an entertainment allowance to pay for such an event. Both Walter Rupesinghe and Walter Fernando were kind and obliged. They knew how embarrassed I was.
10. Communications – providing research material for post graduate students for their theses and special papers on Sri Lanka.
Two instances come to my mind. The first was, when two High School students and their teacher from British Columbia met with High Commissioner Rupesinghe in his office. They had been assigned Sri Lanka as the country they should be representing in their mini-Commonwealth gathering in Ottawa.
After discussing issues with the High Commissioner he passed them on to me to hand them brochures. During the chat I asked them whether they would like me to coach them. They jumped with enthusiasm and thought that it was a kind and a wonderful idea. They went back home with the trophy for the Best Country Presentation. The teacher and the two students thanked me by taking me out for dinner at the Chateau Laurier’s Canadian Grill.
The second similar incident was when a British Master’s student in International Studies at Carleton University met with High Commissioner Rupesinghe as she wanted to see whether she could adopt Sri Lanka as her country subject. After meeting with the High Commissioner, he passed her on to me for brochures, et cetera. During our chat, I told G.D (initials of her name), that I will provide her with all the research material on Sri Lanka from my private extensive Library at home if she decides to adopt Sri Lanka as her subject country. And that is what happened. One of her seminars was taped to be played back to HC Rupesinghe. She started the seminar by introducing herself as, I am Walter Rupesinghe the High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Canada and I will be……” The High Commissioner was amazed by the excellent presentation and he thanked both of us for this excellent presentation. She got an A+ for the seminar.
So this is the Communications guy whose appointment to the High Commission in Ottawa, was sneaked as a complaint by a Foreign Ministry diplomat, and questioned in parliament by Minister C.V. Guneratna.
All I can say to this ‘faceless’ diplomat at the Foreign Ministry is to Please stand-up. I just want to see what the Do-do’s face looks like!”.
11, Production of Communication Information Kits
When nothing in the form of information kits from either the Information Department nor the Foreign Ministry landed on my desk, I requested HC Walter Rupesinghe to find me $600 to produce’100 information kits for him to distribute among Sri Lanka Watchers in the Canadian Parliament and Government too. This exercise was to Inform and Educate them about the flipside of the separatist Tamil propaganda. So he did.
I worked one weekend at home and produced 22 one page information sheets like, The Land and its peoples (p.4); Economy (p.6); Guide to Sri Lanka’s Foreign Policy (p.7); Ethnic conflict (p.8); Investment opportunities (p.22). I got them printed at Commoners, the publisher of my poetry collections. I gave a title for this Information Kit – Sri Lanka – its Mosaic at a Glance., January 1992. Went to Grand and Toy and bought 100 silver coloured pocket files. Went to Bouclaire, a fabric Store, and bought a few reels of silver-green ribbons and put the 100 kits together which looked very professional.
And do you know who claimed the authorship of my hard work? Weragama, Minister Counsellor who replaced me. So he was riding on my back to get Brownie points for his survival as a diplomat.
I produced the second Information Kit on 1 January 1994 for HC Walter Fernando which included 30, one page –Sri Lanka : The Hidden Secret Quick Facts. Mr. Bradman Weerakoon, Adviser to
International Relations to the President after reading the kit wrote a note to HC Walter Fernando which said – I am sure Asoka Weerasinghe, your innovative colleague working on Public Relations must have helped in the compilation of these papers….This is certainly a valuable addition to the information we already have, and I think should be shared with colleagues in Missions around the world.”
But do you know who took Kudos for my effort? You guessed it right. Mr. Weragama, the Minister Counsellor, the diplomat sent by the Foreign Ministry, who had the habit of riding on my back to pick-up Brownie points to shore-up reasons for his survival. He indeed was an irritant.
He is the diplomat who went around town accusing me of having stolen the Masks from the High Commission, that I used from my enormous Museum quality private collection for events and that I stole information files. And that is an ugly and an angry story.
I might have a few words about this character at the Mission before I end this brief. This diplomat was lucky that I didn’t get him by his collars and shake him until his bones rattled and dropped at his feet. As you see, after 26 years I am still very angry with this guy , who lacked class and sophistication, who never should have been sent to Ottawa as a diplomat.
This Minister Counsellor, Weragama could have phoned me and asked me, Mr. Weerasinghe, I was told that you had always exhibited Masks and puppets at every big event of the Mission. We have been trying to find them. Do you know where they would be?” Sure, Weragama, they are all at my home. They were all from my private collection as the High Commission had sweet buggerall and it was pitiful. You can borrow them from me as long as you guarantee me that you will be very careful handling them as they are hand selected valuable top-quality Museum artifacts.” I am a Museologist and had worked for Canada’s National Museums Corporation in the 1970s as Head, Thematic Research Section, Design and Display Division and as Head, Exhibits Section, for the National Museum of Natural Sciences at the Victoria Memorial Museum in Ottawa.
I reported this faux pas to High Commission Ananda Goonesekara, establishing my ownership with copies of receipts of purchase going back to 1970s, and also identifying the Antique store Daya and Sriya on Peradeniya Road in Kandy with whom I was dealing with to check the veracity of my claim.
I did not receive an acknowledgment from the High Commissioner Goonesekara. I was surprised. I wished and I wished that he together with Weragama made an effort to claim all my Masks and puppets as according to Weragama he had identified the thief, Asoka Weerasinghe, who had stolen the masks from the High Mission. I wish they came after me, the thief, who stole the masks from the High Commission. I am surprised that HC Goonasekera did not reclaim the alleged property of the Sri Lanka Government. That would have been fun. There was no apology for their stupidity and they were wrong on that assumption and tarring me as a ‘thief’. By not coming after me, the thief, I lost the opportunity to prove that there was an ‘unsophisticated village idiot’ among the High Commission staff.
12. High Commissioners Walter Rupesinghe and Walter Fernando make efforts to erase my embarrassments.
Both High Commissioners, Walter Rupesinghe, in particular felt that I had not been treated well by the Foreign Ministry, not having provided an entertainment allowance to reciprocate the courtesy invitations for working lunches and dinners paid by members of the Press Corp, nor the rent allowance promised so that I could continue paying my mortgage. They invited around 20 of my media contacts once a year for dinner at the High Commissioner’s residence on Range Road.
This was a most generous and kind gesture by both of them. This also gave them an opportunity to meet the media personnel who were active on the Sri Lanka file.
Both gave me permission to invite ten of my Media contacts for the Independence celebration evenings.\
And what was sacrilegious on the Foreign Ministry treatment of this outsider was when they refused to provide me with a business card. Under my breath I said, ‘Don’t you ever try to treat me like an outcast, a stepson of the Ministry. When I told Secretary Bernard Thillekaratne, “Let me ask President Premadasa to provide me with a ‘business card'”, it was given to me. That was asinine.
13. Acknowledging my contribution to uphold the dignity and good name of Sri Lanka, by High Commissioner’s Walter Rupesinhge and Walter Fernando who were my superiors while working for the High Commission in Ottawa.
He handed me a sheet of paper and said, This is the least that could do for you as a Thank You.”
The 8”x 10” paper had a Sri Lankan Government logo and beneath it was the inscription of the letter-head which said High Commissioner for Sri Lanka, Canada.” On it was a typed letter which said :
5th February 1993
Mr. Asoka Weerasinghe functioned as my Media and Communications Director during my term of service in the High Commission.
Asoka’s passionate love for Sri Lanka and his superb understanding of our political, economic and social problems, made him admirably suited to promote the image of the country and to counter the adverse publicity generated by elements hostile to our Democratic way of life and the unitary state. Asoka carried out these arduous and challenging duties withexemplary enthusiasm and finesse. He is indeed an asset to the Mission.
Asoka is an artist, poet and a person of several other intellectual pursuits. The amalgam of all these attributes, not found in one person, made him a Media and Communications Director par excellence.
I wish him well in all his future endeavours.
(Sgd,) Walter Rupesinghe
High Commissioner”
He surprised me. I knew that all these sentiments came from his heart, and I thanked him profusely and thanked President Premadasa for his vision to appoint us to work as a team, which worked out extremely well.
b, Walter E. Fernando, the other High Commissioner under whom I worked with, in a letter dated Monday, 25November, 1996 said:
Dear Asoka:
We wish to thank you both for coming to the Airport andseeing us off. We appreciate very much your friendship and cooperation extended to us during our stay in Ottawa, and especially, you were an able Lieutenant in the High Commission and I had no fear when I requested you to do something because I was confident of positive results. Really you are a man of action. I know you are an advocate and a canvasser for Sri Lanka and your contributions in many spheres are appreciated……”
With warm regards
Sgd. Walter
Walter & Chalini.”
What has baffled me Professor Colombage is with all these glowing sentiments, I am still the most misunderstood expatriate at the Foreign Ministry. Go figure that one out.
Perhaps, may be that I am a very visible foot soldier in the Volunteer Overseas Third Army, the face seen on TV monitors commenting on Canadian Eelamists, and scores of letters to Editors of leading newspapers with my name under them, and perhaps calling a spade a spade, battling the Eelamnists under the very capable Major Generals, Brigadier-Generals, Lieutenant-Colonels and Majors, in the honest amazing gutsy platoons of patriot-expatriates like Daya Hettiarachchi, Ira de Silva, Mahinda Gunasekera, Eric Perera (former Montrealer), Asoka Yapa, Harrison Perera (now in Sri Lanka), Malkanthi Perera, Ed Ferdinando, Prathap Perera, Sarath Lokuliyanage, and the like with whom I worked very closely with. All these senior and young expatriates could have turned their backs on Sri Lanka but they decided not to.
Some stood tall for their Motherland, Sri Lanka, for 30 long years, day in and day out, while the diplomats did their Government Musical Chair routine changes every third year.
That should be recognized, without ignoring them as Minister Counsellor Weragama did during Minister G.L.
Peries’s visit to Canada in 1997, which left a bitter taste in our mouths, including me. Since then I have kept away from the High Commission and so have they kept me away at arm length, except for three breaks during two High Commissioners and a Counsellor General in Toronto, who commanded my respect. The were amazing down to earth whose public relations with the expatriate community were exceptional and honest diplomats. They were Rodney Vandergert, Chitranganee Wagiswara and Bandula Jayasekera. Bandula was an amazing diplomat and we need a few more of them in Ottawa.
14. In the Orientation Programme for Ambassadors/High Commissioners designated you had slotted a spot on Overseas Sri Lankans.” That I am sure had its virtues.
Here is an incident that should have never happened on Overseas Sri Lankans, but it did happen. This incident could be used as a case study. This incident has the HallMark of an insolent High Commissioner Bull” Weeratunga, and the First Secretary Diplomat from the Foregn Ministry K.B. Fernando.
Here is the story:
On 1 November 1987, I sent a letter on a letterhead of ‘Project Peace for a United Sri Lanka’, addressed to The Editor, SUN & WEEKEND, Colombo 12, Sri Lanka. It was an
OPEN LETTER TO HON. GAMINI DISSANAYAKE, MINISTER FOR LANDS AND MAHAVELI DEVELOPMENT…
_______________________________________________
Mister Minister, on 17th October evening when you addressed a group of Sri Lankan-Canadians in Vancouver during a reception given to your Commonwealth delegation by members of Sri Lanka Friendship Association of B.C., you made it your business to attack me personally challenging my honour, integrity, and patriotism for Sri Lanka. Why?
In a letter of mine to The Globe and Mail (Toronto) on 16 September, which you had read to the gathering with remarks such as This is garbage”, as I had mentioned that Was it deliberate that this pact between Sri Lanka’s President Junious Jayewardene and India’s Rajiv Gandhi was hurried when Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa, a strong opponent of merging the North and East Provinces was out of the country’ He was in Japan and was never consulted.’
On the 18th October, I had 17 telephone calls from Vncouver, all angry with what you had to say of me, all angry the way you conducted yourself, especially as a senior Minister representing Sri Lanka,
Subsequently, I had the opportunity to listen to the audio tape of your speech. Having heard your reference to me by name, my immediate reaction was What damn arrogance, what a load of horse poop!”
Mr. Minister, you have placed me in an unenviable position to defend my honour and my patriotism to my Motherland that I left 31 years ago. And for the record, I will do so with humility and justifiable pride.
When Sri Lanka was burning in late July, early on 4th August of 1983 together with an articulate and a strong patriot, Asoka Yapa, we happened to be the first Sri Lankan Sinhalese-Canadians, who under the threat of death by the Eelamists spoke on camera on 4 August National TV 6 o’clock News defending your government………………..”
In December 1983, I spent my three week annual holiday cooped in my den researching, editing and typing a 22 page Fact Sheet…….. for circulation to 600 addresses in Canada and abroad, among the media, federal agencies, parliamentarians……………”;
For your information Mr. Minister, I have spent $8,000 from my own pocket to help the cause of your Government and Sri Lanka, while your Government spent $35,000 on 23rd November 1985, on full page advertisements in the Globe and Mail (Toronto) and The Citizen (Ottawa) to tell the Canadians who your President was by publishing his ‘Bio-data’. Did you honestly believe that the Canadians cared?………”;
Mister Minister, when your High Commissioner General Tissa Weeratunga was hounded day in and day out like a stricken doe in August 1986, as a Tamil torturer” by the Eelamists through the media which reduced him to a lame duck”, I went out of my way under the auspices of Project Peace” to defend him through the media under the heat of TV cameras…….Did you not know all this?
Of course not. Or else you wouldn’t have had the temerity and uncharitable gall to try to ridicule me in the presence of a large gathering in Vancouver.”………………………………………………………..”
Mr. Minister, you know by now that you have been unfair towards me, and I could catalogue many, many more items on my defence which would only prove that I am no less patriotic to Sri Lanka, than what you think you are………………………………………………..
In retrospect, if it were bad advice by your Government officials that made you get on your high horse in Vancouver to shoot darts of personal insults at me, then it is your prerogative to reprimand, demote or dismiss from the service the individual(s) as it befits the intensity of your embarrassment.”
As for me, Mr. Minister, I certainly wouldn’t let your intellectual-dishonesty and intellectual-thuggery pass by me without a challenge, when my integrity, my honesty and my patriotism has been questioned in public. I don’t intend to roll over and pretend I am dead just because a Senior Minister of Sri Lanka’s Government spoke. And that is exercising my democratic rights of freedom.
(sgd.) Asoka Weerasinghe
Past-Chairperson
‘Project Peace for a United Sri Lanka”
Ottawa, Canada”
16. To continue with the Senior Minister Gamini Dissanayake which should never have happened. The fault lies with the High Commissioner Tissa Weeratunga and First Secretary, the Foreign Ministry, K.B. Fernando who thought they were doing an excellent job reporting an expatriate who was effectively standing tall for his Motherland, Sri Lanka against the spitting, slapping, kicking and assaulting her by the Canadian-Eelamists. Bad judgement!
My letter to Minister Gamini Dissanayake of 1 December, 1987, was:
Dear Mr., Dissanayake:’
Reading Column 1680 of 12th November Hansard on Sri Lankan Parliamentary Debates, I was astounded by your breach of privilege when you mislead your Parliamentary colleagues with an untruth about your speech of 17 October at Vancouver, when questioned by Mr. Anura Bandaranaike, the Leader of the Opposition.
You said in Parliament that:
Can I just mention to the Hon. Leader of the Opposition that I did not know of this gentleman, nor did I communicate with him, but at the reception hosted by the Sri Lankans in Vancouver I only said, without referring to names that they should not judge what is happening in Sri Lanka from Canada” – (Hansard)
But what you did indeed say in Vancouver was:
Some people are shouting about….now this is a letter written by one Mr. Asoka Weerasinghe – is he here? This is a letter written by him. Postage is very cheap so you post these to the President, Mr. Anura Bandaranaike and many others. This should be really put into the wastepaper basket. This is what he writes….” (transcribed from audio-tape of your speech).
What is hilarious and annoying about this episode is to find out that your fire and brimstone” attack on me then, has turned out to be a mealy-mouth squeak. You are obviously embarrassed.
And as I had requested to you in my Open Letter of 1 November, if it was bad advice that put you into this act, then I hope you have taken adequate action to reprimand the person(s) for having placed a senior Minister in Sri Lanka’s Cabinet into this shameful lapse……………………”
What you have failed to acknowledge so far, is that the call for an Eelam is not only fought within the shores of Sri Lanka, but also in lands away from Sri Lanka by very strong lobbies of Eelam sympathisers. The defenders of Sri Lanka abroad are not only Missions abroad, and for that matter most certainly not the Mission in Canada – but by groups such as ours, Project Peace for a united Sri lanka”, and a few committed individuals like myself.
With this unfortunate incident, I hope you will correct this discrepancy, and not ‘rubbish’ the few dedicated expatriates who are fighting Sri Lanka’s cause as determinedly as you are. Foremost remember that Sri Lanka needs us and we need Sri Lanka.
And to conclude this letter, you did ask from the Vancouver audience whether Mr. Asoka Weerasinghe was here. When you damn well knew that I won’t be there as I did mention to the High Commissioner and the First Secretary that I won’t be coming.
You bet if I were there listening to your ranting and rubbishing me, I would have stripped a piece off you so that you would never try that stunt
again like- I am the BIG GUY from Sri Lanka, I can say whatever I want to say and rubbish anyone willy-nilly.
Oh No Mr. Minister, don’t you ever, ever try that stunt again mentioning my name and rubbishing me. Never again, as I will certainly strip a piece off you in public and that is going to hurt your I am the BIG GUY from Sri Lanka” persona. I want you to be a bit smarter than what you think you are.
(sgd) Asoka Weerasinghe”
P.S For your notes Professor Colombage, I did send that audio-tape by registered cover to Speaker E. L. Senanayake, hoping that he would listen and slap Minister Dissanayake’s wrist for the breach of privilege misleading the parliamentarians. It never happened.
My Museum quality Masks, puppets and Facsimiles of Heritage flags : two collections were acquired by the Canadian Museum of Civilization (Now Canadian Museum of History). All artifacts were well researched and written as Introductions and Labels for exhibition. The third collection was auctioned by Empire Auctioneers, and the Fourth collection of facsimiles of heritage flags were acquired by the University of British Columbia Anthropology Museum in Vancouver. Fifth collection is hanging on the walls of the basement of my home. All researched and explained in introductory and artifact labels. I also have a large library of literature on SriLankan Masks, and facsimiles of Heritage flags.
My political files of my writings etc of 30 years (1983-2014), 30 boxes of them, were donated to the Library of General Sir John Kotelawela Defence University at Ratmalana, on 9 April 2014.
The donation was officially accepted by Vice Chancellor Major General Milinda Peiris RWP RSP USP.
The transportation of the 30 boxes were facilitated by SPUR of Australia and SLUNA of Toronto, Canada, and a few individuals who valued my political writings and wanted them to be archived in a recognized library. I was lucky that they found a recognized home for my files or they would have been recycled through the black waste bins.
17. To conclude this brief, it is with utmost pride and humility that I present the Highlights of my COMMUNICATIONS & CULTURAL ACTIVITIES for the Sri Lanka High Commission, Ottawa, Canada, from June 1989 – May 1994. This is a partial record of my REPORT CARD:
*Published letters to the : 56 Letters Editors defending The Ottawa Citizen (Ottawa) incumbent Government’s The Globe & Mail (Toronto) policies The Toronto Star (Toronto) The Toronto Sun (Toronto) Surrey/North Delta Leader (British Columbia) The Whig-Standard (Kingston, On.)
Sri Lanka Abroad (Toronto)
Star India Journal (Toronto)
India Journal (Los Angeles, US)
The Island (Sri Lanka)
*Letters responding to : 235(1989); 649(1990);
Amnesty International and 1223 (1991); 872 (1992)
Lobbyists 426 (1993); 257 (1994)
*Television Shows : Scripted and produced Nine
(9) Songs of Sri Lanka” for
MacLean-Hunter Cable TV,
Ottawa.
Highlighted the following:
Dancing – The Tea Pluckers
Dance, Gajaga Vannama,
Harvest Dance;
Kavi Maduwa, Sinhala &
Tamil New Year, Kataragama
Tea, Gems & Jewellery,
Kolam & Sanni Masks and
Ceremonies, Puppets,
Elephants and its influence
on folk art, Bharata Natyam,
Wesak, Interviewing Air
Commodore Leonard Birch-
all, Poetry on Sri Lanka
Reading to school children
etc.
(Note: All the Sri Lankan artifacts were from my private collection. There was absolutely sweet nothing to show-case Sri Lanka at the High Commission.)
*Exhibition The Art of Healing: Ritual Masks of
participation: Sri Lanka (Canadian Museum of Civilization);
Festival of Masks: Sri Lanka Ritual Masks
(Museum of Quebec);
Sri Lankan-Canadian Writers (Edmonton);
Focus on Sri Lanka (Algonquin College,
Ottawa)
Sri Lankan Heritage flags, puppets and masks
(National Arts Centre, Ottawa)
Kolam Masks (National Gallery, Ottawa)
(Note: All the Sri Lankan artifacts were from my extensive private collection. There was absolutely nothing to showcase Sri Lanka at the Sri Lanka High Commission. It was abysmal and embarrassing.)
*Public Talks : * ‘Sri Lankan Healing Masks: The Delicious
Nightmares (Canadian Museum of Civilization);
* Claim for Separate State in Sri Lanka: The
Eastern Province whose Home Land?”
(SLUNA, Toronto);
* Buddhist Spirituality in Meditation”
(Sai Baba 20th Anniversary Celebration,
Ottawa);
Sri Lanka Masking Ceremonies” (Newfound-
land).
*Talks in Schools: 13 Talks on Sri Lanka with artifacts, slide
and video presentations to school children
in the National Capital Region, sometimes
through my published Poetry on Sri Lanka.
*University Theses: Was subject advisor to two Masters
Students – one on anthropological
significance of Sri Lanka masking cere-
monies. The other on Sri Lanka Aid &
Development in today’s political environ-
ment.
*Provided : Carleton University (Ottawa), University of
research Ottawa, McMaster University (Hamilton),
material and my Brock University (St. Catherines), Brad
published College (New York, US), University of
essays and Windsor (Windsor), McGill University
critical writings (Montreal), Concordia University,
(from my per- (Montreal), Simon Fraser University (BC),
sonal Library) University of Victoria (BC),
to Ph.D., M.A., ,University of British Columbia (Vancouver),
& B.A students University of Manitoba (Winnipeg).
for their special
Term papers,
theses, exposing the
perspective of Sri
Lanka Government’s
position in the ethnic
Crisis.
*The National :Coaching the students who represen-
Students Common- ted Sri Lanka at the Forum (1990, 91,92,
Wealth Forum 94);
*Museum Sri Lankan : Advisor on cataloguing at the Canadian
artifacts Museum of Civilization, Ottawa;
*Press Releases : 223
* Sri Lanka News : 54
Letters
* Information Kits :Sri Lanka-Human Rights (July 1991)
Sri Lanka – A Mosaic at a Glance
(January 1992)
Sri Lanka -A Hidden Secret -Quick Facts
(January 1994)
*Net Working : With Media personnel across Canada.
Law enforcing authorities, ‘Sri Lanka
United National Association’, ‘Project
Peace for a United Sri Lanka’ and other
Sri Lanka-Canada Associations
across Canada. I have established
contacts with all these Associations
since the Summer of 1983.
CONCLUSION : While identifying very poor basics of
Office Management , Time
Management and Records
Management which brought untold
headaches for the High
Commissioners, it is with honesty and
pride that I could claim that I created
several portals and bench-marks of
excellence”for the next Communi-
cations Officer that will be appointed
for the High Commission.
He or She will have no excuse not to
deliver as best as I did or better than
what I did performing tasks as the
Director of Communications of the
Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa
from June 1989 – May 1994.
Sincerely,
Asoka Weerasinghe
613-747-2272
America is the most religious and the most nationalistic country in the world, in addition to being the only global superpower. When the Democrats who fought the election on a platform of ‘Truth and Science’ defeated the Republicans who were guided or misguided by a person/a cult figure (instead of a coherent policy) whom many popular polls described as mendacious and ignorant on top of being an indecent narcissistic exemplar of religious and nationalistic extremism, racism and misogyny, it is natural for a world, persecuted by America’s hegemonic political economic and military power, to breathe a sigh of relief. Democratic Party’s Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been declared President and Vice-President elects respectively, beating Republican Party’s Donald Trump, incumbent President, and his Vice-President and running mate Mike Pence. Sri Lanka is, no doubt, currently sharing that universal sense of consolation. Though some anti-national, NGO-dominated social media are trying in vain to turn that hopeful feeling to gloomy apprehension by drumming up a certain unfounded ‘Kamala Harris’ phobia, signs are that, probably, average Sri Lankans cannot wish a better person to be in that post to channel America’s influence in their region in a universally beneficent direction. My purpose here is to take a look at hypocritical religiosity and nationalism-turned-racism (versions of fundamentalist religion and racist jingoism, respectively), both at the service of despicable value-free politics, that Truth and Science successfully challenged at the recent US presidential election.
Religion is about human ‘spirituality’. Spirituality is ‘the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things’, in other words, with the mind as distinct from the body. So it is appropriate to approach the phenomenon of religious fundamentalism from a psychological point of view. Some psychologists assume religious fundamentalism to be ‘a collection of infallible beliefs or principles that provide guidance regarding how to obtain salvation. Religious fundamentalists believe in the superiority of their religious teachings, and in a strict division between righteous people and evildoers…… This belief system regulates religious thoughts, but also all conceptions regarding the self, others, and the world’ (frontiers.org). Isn’t every religion fundamentalist by nature in this sense? But there are two kinds of religious fundamentalism in my opinion, harmless and harmful. What should concern us is the latter. The more a religion tends towards harmful religious fundamentalism, the more it resembles a cult that thrives on unhinged minds. A cult, we know, is ‘a system of religious veneration and devotion directed towards a particular figure or object’. (Both dictionary definitions given in this paragraph are from google.com)
The rise of Christian fundamentalism in America in the 19th century as a Protestant movement to counter theological liberalism and cultural modernism can be described as the advocacy of a return to the basic ‘infallible beliefs or principles…..’ of the Christian faith. That was harmless fundamentalism and was viewed as something positive. Actually, the term fundamentalism as originally applied to Christianity in America had non-violent, ‘you mind your own business, we mind ours’ connotations; the word acquired the current pejorative meaning in the media when it began to be connected with violent Islamic movements in the Middle East in the 1970s decade, a most conspicuous event among which was the 1979 Iran Revolution, that toppled the US-backed Shah of Iran, Mohamed Reza Pahlavi, during President Jimmy Carter’s last year in office. The latter, now 96, congratulated president elect Joe Biden and vice-president elect Kamala Harris as the media reported November 8.
Religious fundamentalism becomes a problem when any religion claims monopoly over
Truth (whatever that is), superiority over other faiths regardless of whether they also make similar claims about themselves, seeks to rescue the ‘misguided’ adherents of those faiths from allegedly false and evil beliefs and practices through coercion where conversion through conviction doesn’t work, or even resorts to violence to have its way with people, evoking divine authority to justify it. Religions are intrinsically political, but rarely democratically so. Religion and politics make a violently explosive mixture. (‘Politics has killed its thousands, but religion has slain its tens of thousands’. – Irish dramatist Sean O’Casey, ‘Religion kills’ ‘Religion poisons everything’ – British intellectual and socio-cultural and political critic Christopher Hitchens) The Founding Fathers of the USA including Thomas Jefferson sought to establish a ‘wall of separation between the State and the Church’ in order to keep civil government free from the interferences of the Catholic clergy. The concept was termed ‘secularism’ only in the 19th century by British reformer George Jacob Holyoake.
Religious interference in what should come within exclusive state purview, for example public education, has persisted even into the third millennium, in America. A survey conducted in 2006 by Zogby International for the Discovery Institute found that approximately 70% of Americans approved of the view that biology teachers should teach Darwin’s theory of evolution, but also ‘the scientific evidence against it’ in contrast to 21% who held the opinion that only evolution and the scientific evidence that supports it must be taught in schools. This is the result of benighted ignorance – inexcusable in those who claim to be the greatest democracy and the only superpower in the world – that is at the root of religious fundamentalism. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins says that ‘the theory of evolution is actually a fact – as incontrovertible a fact as any in science’. There isn’t any scientific evidence against it. Prof. Dawkins makes ‘a personal summary of the evidence’ available to support this factual reality in his fascinating book ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’, Bantam Press, GB, 2009. The plain but profound final sentence of the book is worth quoting: ‘We are surrounded by endless forms, most beautiful and most wonderful, and it is no accident, but the direct consequence of evolution by non-random natural selection – the only game in town, the greatest show on Earth’.
In his book ‘Against Religion’ (Scribe Publications, Brunswick, VIC, Australia, 2007), Dr Tamas Pataki of the University of Melbourne makes a philosophical critique of religion, which goes beyond the neighbourhood of what, according to him, may be called psychology of religion. Pataki adopts religious scholar and philosopher John Haldane’s brief characterization of religion: ‘religion is best characterised as a system of beliefs and practices directed towards a transcendent reality in relation to which persons seek solutions to the observed facts of moral and physical evil, limitation and vulnerability, particularly and especially death.’
Scottish philosopher and academic John Haldane was a papal advisor to the Vatican. Obviously, he is not anti-religion; he is pro-religion. He believes in the necessity of religion as a foundational political principle that fosters values like respect for others’ rights, and support for their well-being in multicultural multi-religious societies which are the global norm today for most countries; religion, according to him, is the best, and indeed, the only source of such ideas. Critics of religion argue that religions differ on what they consider to be moral and good, and instead of promoting goodwill and compassion towards people of other religions, sow feelings of mutual alienation, suspicion, and disunity, and egoistic self-absorption. Religious fundamentalism of both the benign and the malign kinds aggravate such attitudes.
According to Pataki, criticising religion is a complicated matter because there is so much diversity within religions. He writes: ‘The historical denominational differences are bad enough, but recent developments have completely erased any hope of perspicuous demarcation. Today the ineluctable longing for group identity drives even those who divest religion of its defining doctrinal content to religious affiliation. The denial of the Resurrection and the Deity is no bar to identifying as a Christian. Iris Murdoch (Irish British novelist and philosopher deeply concerned about good and evil) enjoined a Christianity without God or divine Jesus, a kind of Christian Buddhism. Unbelief has become belief.’
Pataki’s critical discussion is predicated on people that he describes as ‘religiose’, who include most of the groups currently identified as fundamentalist, among others. Another factor that forms an obstacle to criticism of religion is that it, like politics, cuts across a range of absolutely different fields: ideology/doctrine, practices, rituals, institutions, movements, attitudes, votaries, and priests. The evils of religion examined in the book are conspicuous in the three well known Abrahamic monotheisms, according to Pataki’s thinking.
Religion is not all bad, though, as already suggested. To many people religion is invaluable as the deepest expression of human worth and moral well-being. It is also an inexhaustible source of consolation for them in personally and socially distressful, emotionally draining situations such as bereavement and natural catastrophes. However, Pataki adds reservations to this: ‘There is no metric for religion at its best, but it is not hard to measure it at its worst, in the tenebrous collapse of reason and in corpses. Besides, it is obviously more important today to confront religion at its worst and most dangerous. The good takes care of itself.’ The further a religion is from blind irrationality and intrinsic violence, the greater is its potential as a socio-cultural institution for the general good of the community concerned.
Pataki describes ten characteristics of religious fundamentalism, which I will set down here – with my own elaborations given in parentheses, in some cases, as I understand them (Some of these were accidentally revealed during the US election): Religious fundamentalists are counter-modernists; they advocate religious, cultural and political isolationism; they are assertive, clamorous, and often violent, (but they play the victim card when confronted); fundamentalists believe that they are the Elect of their god, the Chosen people, the Saved, etc; they display public marks of distinction, which they think are necessary to maintain their superiority and distinctive identity (so, they may wear special body marks, adopt a special dress code, and use names that reveal their specific religious identity); religious fundamentalists believe that (as theirs is the one true religion and the one exclusively blameless way of life) these must not allow any inroads to be made into their domain from other religions (or secularist institutions, religious pluralism is unthinkable for them). A sixth characteristic belief that fundamentalists commonly share is that there is only one inerrant holy book, and one inerrant prophet or charismatic leader (both of which they have been divinely favoured with). They also believe that law and authority come from God and that God’s law surpasses human law. Yet another fundamentalist characteristic is the preoccupation with controlling female sexuality; unbreachable segregation must be established between men and women. Pataki identifies the ninth characteristic of fundamentalists as their major concern with the sexual behaviour of individuals; the fear of and opposition to homosexuality. The tenth characteristic of fundamentalists is that their religious fundamentalism is inseparable from their nationalism (nationalism of the evil kind, racism, the ‘all for ourselves and nothing for other people’ doctrine usually adopted by Americans that Noam Chomsky criticises in in his book ‘Who Rules the World’, 2016). Most of these characteristics are close to the conspicuous symptoms of persons suffering from what is known as narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Quite unexpectedly, we have a well known Buddhist monk who displays these qualities in abundance these days. The morbidity of religious fundamentalism need hardly be stressed.
For me, evidence for the last point mentioned came from the tail end of Donald Trump’s election campaign. The nationalism slogan was loudly chanted on the stages of both camps, Democratic and Republican. There is nothing wrong with that. Good nationalism should be commended. Racism that passes for nationalism is what is bad. On the Republican side, the identity between the wrong kind of nationalism (white racism) and what can be described as religious fundamentalism in terms of the characteristics given above, was particularly conspicuous. Paula White, Trump’s spiritual adviser, held a number of prayer services invoking divine blessings for his victory even as his defeat had become a certainty by the final stages of the counting process which was still in progress in the wake of the just concluded presidential election. She, apparently, engaged in battle with the ‘demonic confederacies’ that were allegedly trying to steal Trump’s victory (cf. ‘a strict division between righteous people and evildoers’ in the second paragraph from the beginning of this essay). She loudly chanted: ‘Strike Strike…. I Strike the ground……..until you have Victory…..I hear a sound of Victory…I hear an overabundance of Rain and Victory in the Quarters of Heaven…..I hear Shouting and Singing…. Angels are being released……are being despatched…’ etc. Then she broke into speaking in tongues (directly communicating with God), something with profound religious significance for the faithful: ‘Amanda, Atha, Rasa, Baka, Ambo, Rike, Eka, Anda, Anda, Manda… I hear the sound of Victory, etc’. Trump lost in spite of all this. The Democrat Joe Biden, who, on his part, presumably, made as passionate a supplication for divine intervention for his victory, won the election. But his no nonsense main campaign slogan ‘Battle for the Soul of the Nation Our Best Days Still Lie Ahead No Malarkey! Build Back Better Unite for a Better America’ had little to do with religion.
When all is said and done, it is upto the American people, as Americans, to choose their ruler/s for the next four years; they are doing that now. On the face of it, especially to us outsiders, the winning margin of four million votes according to estimates at the time of writing (Biden’s 74 to Trump’s 70 million) is a bit disappointing; the gap should have been wider, we feel, given the unpopularity of the latter, deepened by the anti-Trump stance of the media and Trump’s own apparent personal perverseness, his unconcealed white supremacist bravado and his sexist prejudice displayed against his own near and dear ones. However, only his 70 million or more supporters know what endeared him to them. Outsiders cannot decide for Americans. The best we may expect from the incoming US administration is that they appreciate this reality in respect of Sri Lanka when considering whether or not to continue or modify the established tradition of intervention and interference in its affairs in pursuit of their geopolitical ends in our region as an essential part of their grand scheme of serving their own national interest back home.
It is time for a more balanced way of living that respects the environment and upholds bioregionalism
SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, has been spreading exponentially across the world over the last 10 or so months. More than a third of the global population has been placed on lockdown. The global economy is experiencing the deepest recession since World War II and massive numbers of people are losing their livelihoods and suffering serious effects on their physical and mental health.
The pandemic has allowed states and corporations to tighten technological surveillance and authoritarianism, curtailing privacy and democratic protest. As virulent second and even third waves of the pandemic speed across countries, people are gripped with fear and despair over their own survival and what the future holds for humanity.
The origin and prevention of the virus are mired in controversy and conflict between conventional and conspiracy” theories. This unprecedented, multifaceted global crisis, however, calls for deeper exploration and broader discourse on its causes and long-term solutions. Biomedical science, social science and ecological and ethical perspectives need to be integrated to overcome this pandemic as well as other pandemics predicted in the years ahead.
Given the lack of media coverage, there is scarce public awareness of the likely laboratory origins of previous pandemics like the H1N1 outbreak of 1977-78. Scientific and media establishments attribute the origin of Covid-19 to an animal-to-human (zoonotic) transmission at a seafood market in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.
While US intelligence sources also originally asserted this, they conceded in March 2020 that the pandemic may have originated in a leak from the lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
The Wuhan Institute is linked to the US Army’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which does research and testing involving bats and coronaviruses and gene-editing bioweapons.” The Wuhan Institute also has a close, decades-old partnership with the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Maryland, the leading US military laboratory for biological defense” research. USAMRID is known for periodic shutdowns due to its problematic record on safety procedures.
Gain-of-function research (GOF) involves manipulating viruses in the lab to explore their potential for infecting humans.” This type of research is criticized by many scientists on ethical grounds because of the risks GOF viruses pose for human health from accidental release.
Because of public health concerns, in October 2014, the US government banned all federal funding for efforts to weaponize three viruses: influenza, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). In the face of this ban in the US, Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), reportedly outsourced in 2015 the GOF research on bat coronaviruses to China’s Wuhan lab and licensed the lab to continue receiving US government funding.”
In early 2018, US Embassy officials in China raised concerns about inadequate safety” at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. US science diplomats warned that, in part because of a lack of adequate safety personnel, the research that the lab was conducting in relation to bats represented a risk of a new SARS-like pandemic.” Yet action was not taken and despite the controversies, Dr Fauci was appointed as the leading doctor in the US Coronavirus Task Force and continues to function in that position.
Hollywood films like 2011’s Contagion presented eerie premonitions of the Covid-19. In 2015, billionaire and global-population-control proponent Bill Gates warned of a huge threat of a global pandemic. A pandemic simulation called Event 201 was conducted in October 2019 by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Economic Forum projected up to 65 million deaths due to a coronavirus.
However, the biomedical, political and business leaders who were well aware of the impending Covid pandemic did not take the precautionary action needed to safeguard people. The United States, Europe and other regions found themselves without adequate testing kits, respirators, hospital beds and medical personnel when the virus started to spread.
A failure of leadership lies behind the massive destruction of human life, livelihoods and social life that we are experiencing today.
While lockdowns, curfews and the isolation of entire communities and regions seem to be the norm, the effectiveness of this approach and its enormous negative consequences on the economy, society and mental health are coming into question. The success of the mainstream approach depends on a host of local socio-economic factors, such as the age of the population, health infrastructure, leadership, and mobilization of people, as well as just, uniform and compassionate enforcement of preventive measures.
Double standards in enforcing Covid health protocols can contribute to resentment and weaken overall conformity jeopardizing the health and safety of entire populations. Apparently, under strict guidelines in Australia, some individuals have been prevented from visiting dying family members while at the same time VIPs and celebrities have been exempt from strict quarantine measures.
Likewise, in Sri Lanka, high-powered delegations from China and the United States (the latter led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo) arrived in the midst of the worsening second wave in October, seemingly forgoing national Covid guidelines.
Many countries in the Global South such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Senegal and Rwanda have contained the pandemic more successfully than the United States and the rich European countries. As of November 1, Rwanda and Senegal reported 0.28 and 2.04 Covid deaths per 100,000 people respectively, whereas the corresponding number for the US was a staggering 70.4.
The vast majority of those infected recover easily and only the elderly and those with other pre-existing illnesses are the most vulnerable. As of November 6, of the total confirmed 49,195,581 cases, 32,368,883 had recovered. Given this reality, many epidemiologists are suggesting focused protection” of the most vulnerable groups, allowing the rest of the population to develop herd immunity,” the point at which the majority of a population becomes immune and limits the spread to those that are not immune.
Sweden is the leading example of a country that went against the global norm of mandatory lockdowns, social distancing and use of face masks. Sweden experienced a much higher numbers of cases and deaths than its Scandinavian neighbors during the first wave of the pandemic.
However, Sweden has had relatively fewer deaths during the current second wave while other Scandinavian and European countries that imposed strict lockdowns early in the pandemic are facing massive spikes in infections and deaths. Given the relative failures of the mainstream lockdown approach and its negative socio-economic and psychological impacts, alternative long-term approaches like that of Sweden warrant consideration.
A report in May from the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy in the US suggested that the Covid-19 outbreak will not end until 60% to 70% of the human population becomes immune to the virus, which could take anywhere from 18 to 24 months. Meanwhile, many virologists and global leaders argue that the only way to eradicate the virus would be with a vaccine delivered to every human being as quickly as possible.
අම්පාර, පොතුවිල් පිහිටි ඵෙතිහාසික මුහුදු මහා විහාරයේ නිරීක්ෂණ චාරිකාවක් සඳහා ගරු අග්රාමාත්ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමන් අද 2020.11.11 දින එක්විය.
විහාරස්ථානයට පැමිණි ගරු අග්රාමාත්යතුමා ආගමික වතාවත්වල නිරතවීමෙන් අනතුරුව ගරුතර මහා සංඝරත්නයේ ආශිර්වාද ලබා ගත්තේය.
ඵෙතිහාසික මුහුදු මහා විහාරයේ විහාරාධිපති, නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ ප්රධාන සංඝනායක, වරකාපොළ ඉන්දසිරි නාහිමි, අක්කරේපත්තුව ශ්රී විජයරාමාධිපති දේවගොඩ සෝරත හිමි, බෞද්ධයා නාලිකාවේ සභාපති බොරලන්දේ වජිරඥාන හිමි ඇතුළු මහා සංඝරත්නය මෙම අවස්ථාවට වැඩම කළ වඳාළහ.
ගරුතර මහා සංඝරත්නය සෙත් පිරිත් සඡ්ඡායනා කර අග්රමාත්යතුමාට ආශිර්වාද පැමිණවීය.
මුහුදු මහා විහාරයේ ඉදිරි සංවර්ධන කටයුතු සම්බන්ධ පැවති සාකඡ්ඡාවට එක් වූ අග්රමාත්යතුමා විහාරස්ථානයේ ඉදිරි සංවර්ධන කටයුතු පිළිබඳව අදාළ නිලධාරීන්ට උපදෙස් දුන්නේය.
විහාරස්ථානයට අයත් භූමිය අනවසර පදිංචිකරුවන්ගේ ග්රහණයට ලක්වීම පිළිබඳව පසුගිය ආණ්ඩු සමයේ විශාල ආන්දෝලනයක් පැවතිණි.
එම ගැටළු නිරාකරණය කරමින්, මුහුදු මහා විහාරස්ථානයට අයත් භූමිය ලකුණු කර එය පූජා භූමියක් ලෙස නම් කර ඊට අදාළ බලපත්රය ලබාදීමට ගරු අග්රාමාත්ය හා බුද්ධශාසන, ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා තමන්ට උපදෙස් ලබා දුන් බව මෙම අවස්ථාවට එක් වූ බුද්ධශාසන, ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්යංශ ලේකම් මහාචාර්ය කපිල ගුණවර්ධන මහතා කියා සිටියේය.
එමෙන්ම මෙම භූමිය ආරක්ෂා කිරීම සඳහා අග්රාමාත්යතුමාගේ මැදිහත්වීම යටතේ නාවික හමුදා අනු කණ්ඩයක් පිහිටුවීමට ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් කමල් ගුණරත්න මහතා කටයුතු කර තිබේ.
ඵෙතිහාසික මුහුදු මහා විහාරයට අයත් අක්කර 72 ක භූමිය ආරක්ෂා කර දෙන ලෙසත්, නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ හඳුනා නොගත් පුරා විද්යා ප්රදේශ ආරක්ෂා කර දෙන ලෙසත්, මුහුදු මහා විහාරයේ විහාරාධිපති, නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ ප්රධාන සංඝනායක, වරකාපොළ ඉන්දසිරි නාහිමියෝ අග්රාමාත්යතුමාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියහ.
අග්රාමාත්යතුමාගේ ප්රධානත්වයෙන් 2003 වර්ෂයේ මුල්ගල තැබූ ඵෙතිහාසික මුහුදු මහා විහාරයේ චෛත්ය රාජයාණන් වහන්සේගේ වැඩ කටයුතු මේ වන විට අවසන් කර ඇති බව විහාරාධිපති වරකාපොළ ඉන්දසිරි නාහිමියෝ අග්රාමාත්යතුමාට දැන්වූහ.
මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා රාජ්ය අමාත්ය විමලවීර දිසානායක, අම්පාර දිස්ත්රික් සංවර්ධන කමිටු සභාපති, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී ඩබ්.ඩී.වීරසිංහ, නැගෙනහිර පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර අනුරාධා යහම්පත්, ආරක්ෂක අමාත්යංශයේ ලේකම් මේජර් ජනරල් (විශ්රාමික) කමල් ගුණරත්න, බුද්ධ ශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු ලේකම් මහාචාර්ය කපිල ගුණවර්ධන, පුරා විද්යා අධ්යක්ෂ ජනරාල් මහාචාර්ය සෙනරත් බණ්ඩාර දිසානායක, සිවිල් ආරක්ෂක දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අධ්යක්ෂ ජනරාල් රියර් අද්මිරාල් (විශ්රාමික) ආනන්ද පීරිස්, අම්පාර දිස්ත්රික් ලේකම් එන්.එල්.ඩබ්ලිව් බණ්ඩාරනායක මහත්වරු ඇතුළු සම්භාවනීය අමුත්තන් රැසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.
මෙම නිරීක්ෂණ චාරිකාවෙන් අනතුරුව සංචාරක පුරවරයක් වන ආරුගම්බේ ප්රදේශයේ වෙරළ ඛාදනය වන ප්රදේශ නිරීක්ෂණය කිරීම සඳහා අග්රාමාත්ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා එක්විය.
Dear Sir/Madam,
Sri Lanka’s governments’ timely actions from when the COVID-19 virus first entered the country helped keep the situation under control for a long period of time.
Recently the situation has quickly escalated and several Covid-19 positive clusters were found from the community. Therefore there is a quarantine curfew currently in place in the Western province, including Colombo the capital of Sri Lanka. Additional lockdowns and quarantine curfews are being imposed in affected areas.
Sri Lanka is identified as one of the most vulnerable middle income country at risk with an economy that depends on the tourism industry and exports. As the number of positive cases increases our healthcare system will come under significant further strain.
Therefore, I am requesting that our dear friends will be able to send support by making a donation to Sri Lanka in this difficult time.
You can donate directly to the Sri Lankan president’s fund or to Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara. I will personally forward any donations sent to the temple to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa with the donor’s information.
President Fund-…..The Bank of Ceylon acct# 85737373…..
OR: To send to Dharma Vijaya Buddhist Vihara
1847 Crenshaw Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90019
OR: send through Zelle
Zelle: dharmavijaya1@yahoo.com
With Metta, Ven. Walpola Piyananda
සොළොස්මස්ථාන වලට අයත් නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ පිහිටි වැදගත්කමින් හා විශාලත්වයෙන් ප්රමුඛස්ථානය ගන්නා දීඝවාපී පුද බිමෙහි ඇති චෛත්ය රාජයාණන් වහන්සේ ප්රතිසංස්කරණය කිරීමේ සමාරම්භක අවස්ථාවට ගරු අග්රාමාත්ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමන් අද 2020.11.11 දින එක්විය.
ප්රථමයෙන් ආගමික වතාවත්වල නිරතවූ අග්රාමාත්යතුමා අනතුරුව පිරිත් සඡ්ජායනා මධ්යයේ චෛත්ය රාජයාණන් වහන්සේ ප්රතිසංස්කරණය කිරීමේ සමාරම්භය වෙනුවෙන් මුල්ගල තැබීය.
මෙම ඓතිහාසික අවස්ථාවේදී දීඝවාපී රාජමහා විහාරාධිපති, අම්පාර මඩකළපුව දෙදිසාවේ උප ප්රධාන අධිකරණ සංඝනායක සංඝ කීර්ති ශ්රී බුද්ධරක්ඛිත සාම ශ්රී සද්ධර්ම වාගීෂ්වර, සද්ධර්ම කීර්ති ශ්රී, මුළු දිවයිනටම සාම විනිසුරු, ශාස්ත්රපති පූජ්ය මහඔය සෝභිත නාහිමියෝ අනුශාසනවක් පැවත්වූහ.
යුධමය වතාවරණය හමුවේ ජන ශූණ්ය වෙමින්, සංවර්ධනය අඩාල වූ උතුරු හා නැගෙනහිර සීඝ්ර සංවර්ධනය යථාවත් කිරීමට ගරු අග්රාමාත්ය, පස්වන විධායක ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමන් කටයුතු කළ බව උන්වහන්සේ පැවසූහ.
දීඝවාපී පුදබිම ගැසට් කිරීම මඟින් එය සංරක්ෂණය කිරීමට අග්රාමාත්යතුමා කටයුතු කළ බව සිහිපත් කළ සෝභිත නාහිමියෝ යුධ ගිනි නිවා රට එක්සේසත් කළ ගරු අග්රාමාත්යතුමාගේ එළඹෙන උපන් දිනයට නිදුක් නිරෝගී චිර ජීවනය ප්රාර්ථනා කළහ.
දිගු කාලයක් මුලුල්ලේ ස්වාභාවික හා මිනිස් ක්රියාකාරකම් හේතුවෙන් පරිහානියට ලක්ව ඇති දීඝවාපී පුද බිම දශක කිහිපයක් පුරාවට කිහිපවතාවක් ශ්රී ලංකා රජය සහ වෙනත් පාර්ශවයන් මඟින් ප්රතිසංස්කරණය කිරීමට උත්සාහ කළද එම සෑම ප්රයත්නයක්ම අසාර්ථක වී තිබිණි.
ත්රිවිධ හමුදාවේ පූර්ණ දායකත්වය සහ සිවිල් ආරක්ෂක බලකායේ පූර්ණ ශ්රම දායකත්වය යටතේ පුරාවිද්යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ මඟ පෙන්වීමට අනුව වසර දෙකක කාල සීමාවක් තුළ චෛත්යයේ වැඩ කටයුතු සම්පූර්ණයෙන් අවසන් කිරීමට අපේක්ෂිතය.
මෙම ප්රතිසංස්කරණ කටයුත්තට සමගාමීව චෛත්ය වැඳපුදා ගැනීමට පැමිණෙන බැතිමතුන් හට නැවතීම සඳහා විශ්රාම ශාලා ගොඩනැගිල්ලක්ද ඉදිකිරීමට නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ පුරාවිද්යා උරුමය කළමනාකරණය සඳහා වන ජනාධිපති කාර්යය සාධක බලකායේ සභාපති, ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් කමල් ගුණරත්න මහතා ඇතුළු කාර්යසාධක බලකාය අදහස් කර ඇත.
පූජා භුමිය අලංකාරවත් කිරීම සඳහා ගස් සිටුවීමේ ව්යාපෘතියක් ද ක්රියාත්මකය. එය ආරම්භ කරමින් ගරු අග්රමාත්යතුමා නා පැළයක් රෝපණය කළේය.
දීඝවාපී චෛත්යයේ චූඩා මාණික්යය, කොත් වහන්සේ සහ විහාරගෙය නා උයන ආරන්ය සේනාසනයේ ප්රධාන සංඝ නායක පුජ්ය අගුල්ගමුවේ අරියනන්ද ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේගේ අනුශාසනා පරිදි ධන පරිත්යාගයෙන් ඉදි කරයි.
එසේම, සඳහිරු සෑයේ සලපතල මළුව සහ විහාරගෙයද නා උයන ආරන්ය සේනාසනයේ ප්රධාන සංඝ නායක පුජ්ය අගුල්ගමුවේ අරියනන්ද ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේගේ අනුශාසනා පරිදි, නා උයන මහා භාරකාර මණ්ඩලයේ ධන පරිත්යාගයෙන් ඉදි කිරීමට නියමිතය.
ඒ සඳහා රුපියල් මිලියන 76ක චෙක් පත නා උයන මහා භාරකාර මණ්ඩලයේ ලේකම්තුමා විසින් ගරු අග්රාමාත්ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමන්ට භාරදීම ද මෙහිදී සිදු විය.
මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා උතුර සහ නැගෙනහිර දෙපළාතේ සහ තමන්කඩුව දිසාවේ ප්රධාන සංඝනායක අරිසිමලේ ආරණ්ය සේනාසනාධිපති පූජ්ය පනාමුරේ තිලකවංශ නායක ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ, නා උයන ආරන්ය සේනාසනයේ ප්රධාන සංඝ නායක පුජ්ය අගුල්ගමුවේ අරියනන්ද ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ, පූජ්ය බොරලන්දේ වජිරඥාන ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ ඇතුළු මහා සංඝ රත්නය වැඩම කළ වදාළහ.
රාජ්ය අමාත්ය විමලවීර දිසානායක, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී ඩබ්.ඩී.වීරසිංහ, නැගෙනහිර පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාර අනුරාධා යහම්පත්, ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් මේජර් ජනරල් (විශ්රාමික) කමල් ගුණරත්න, බුද්ධ ශාසන ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු ලේකම් මහාචාර්ය කපිල ගුණවර්ධන, පුරා විද්යා අධ්යක්ෂ ජනරාල් මහාචාර්ය සෙනරත් බණ්ඩාර දිසානායක, සිවිල් ආරක්ෂක දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අධ්යක්ෂ ජනරාල් රියර් අද්මිරාල් (විශ්රාමික) ආනන්ද පීරිස්, ජාතික බුද්ධි ප්රධානී මේජර් ජනරල් (විශ්රාමික) ජගත් අල්විස් මහත්ම මහත්මීන් ඇතුළු සම්භාවනීය අමුත්තන් රැසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.
ලේකම්
අධ්යාපන අමාත්යංශය,
ඉසුරුපාය,
බත්තරමුල්ල.
ලේකම්තුමනි,
අධ්යාපනය පිළිබඳ ගැටඵ වලට විසදුම් සෙවීමේදී වගකීම්
විරහිතව කටයුතු කිරීම සම්බන්ධවයි.
2019 අ.පො.ස උසස් පෙළ විභාගයේ ප්රතිඵල මත විශ්වවිද්යාල ප්රවේශය සඳහා වන සීමා ලකුණු (ජමඑ දෙෙ ප්රනි* ගැටඵව පිළිබඳ මෙන්ම මීට පෙර වසංගත තත්වය පහව යාමත් සමග පාසල් විවෘත කිරීම, අ.පො.ස උසස් පෙළ විභාග පැවැත්වීම හා ඊට දින නියම කිරීම සම්බන්ධව ජනාධිපතිවරයා, අධ්යාපන අමාත්යවරයා මෙන්ම ලේකම්වරයා හා විභාග කොමසාරිස්වරයා සමග ද පැවැත් වූ තීරණාත්මක සාකච්ඡුා වලදී ඊට අදාළව වගකීම් දරන ගුරු – විදුහල්පති වෘත්තිය සමිති පසෙකලා මැතිවරණ වලදී ආණ්ඩුවට සහාය දැක්වූ ටියුෂන් ගුරුවරුන් වැනි පාර්ශව පමණක් දිගින් දිගටම සහභාගි කර ගැනීම සම්බන්ධව ලංකා ගුරු සේවා සංගමය දැඩි විරෝධය පළ කර සිටිමු.
02ග විශේෂයෙන් 2019 අ.පො.ස උසස් පෙළ සීමා ලකුණු පිළිබඳව පැන නැගී ඇති ගැට`ඵව සම්බන්ධව අංක: ල.ගු.සේ.ස/අ.ඇ/2020 හා 2020.10.29 දිනැතිව අප සංගමය විසින් ඔබතුමාට ද පිටපත් සහිතව අධ්යාපන අමාත්යවරයා වෙත කරුණු පෙන්වා දීමට කටයුතු කළ නමුත් ඒ පිළිබඳව සාකච්ඡුා කිරීමට හෝ අවස්ථාවක් ලබාදීමට කටයුතු කර තිබුණේ නැත.
03ග නමුත් එය එසේ තිබියදී ආණ්ඩුව සමග සිටි එක්තරා ටියුෂන් ගුරුවරයෙකු අධ්යාපන අමාත්යවරයා කැදවනු ලැබු සාකච්ඡුාවකදී 2020.11.09 මෙම ගැටඵව විසඳීමට තමන් මැදිහත් වී කටයුතු කරන බව පවසමින් සමාජ මාධ්යවල දැන්වීම් පළ කර සිසුන්ගෙන් තොරතුරු රැුස් කරමින් තම ව්යාපාරයට අනියම් ප්රචාරක වාසි සඳහා මෙම ගැටඵව යොදාගෙන තිබීම කනගාටුවට කරුණකි. මෙවැනි සිදුවීම් හරහා වර්තමාන ආණ්ඩුව රටේ අධ්යාපනය සම්බන්ධව දක්වන ආකල්ප හා ප්රතිපත්තිය මැනැවින් පිළිබිඹු කර ඇති බව අපගේ විශ්වාසයයි.
එහෙයින් තවදුරටත් රටේ අධ්යාපනය සම්බන්ධව පටු උවමනාවන් පෙරදැරි කර ගෙන සිදු කරනු ලබන මෙවැනි මැදිහත්වීම් වලට ඉඩ නොතබා වගකීම් සහගතව කටයුතු කරන ලෙසත් එහිදී විශේෂයෙන් රටේ අධ්යාපන ක්ෂේත්රයේ පැන නගිනු ලබන ගැටඵ සම්බන්ධව එහි සෘජු වගකීම් දරන ගුරුවරුන්, විදුහල්පතිවරුන් නියෝජනය කරනු ලබන අප වෘත්තීය සමිති සමග සාකච්ඡුා කිරීම අදාළ අධ්යාපන බලධාරින්ගේ වගකීම බවත් නැවත අවධාරණය කර සිටිමු.
මෙයට,
විධායක සභාව වෙනුවෙන්,
මහින්ද ජයසිංහ,
ප්රධාන ලේකම්,
ලංකා ගුරු සේවා සංගමය.
පිටපත් – 01. ගරු අධ්යාපන අමාත්ය – අධ්යාපන අමාත්යංශය
02. සභාපති – විශ්ව විද්යාල ප්රතිපාදන කොමිෂන් සභාව
Georgia, a cute, talented and confident 11 year old competing in the Junior MasterChef contest in Australia, was crowned the winner this week. The announcement saw millions of viewers who were captivated by the little contestants flood the internet with heartwarming messages of happiness and appreciation.
Georgia has Sri Lankan roots and is immensely proud of her heritage. In the final episode of the show, she cooked a pork curry, cashew curry, eggplant curry, plus yellow rice, pappadums and cucumber raita for her main.
Her dessert, which she named ‘Tropical Mess’ had five elements: toasted coconut ice cream, brown bread crumb, Davidson plum pearls, Davidson plum meringues and a lemongrass granita. It’s a blend between Sri Lankan and Australian – a bit like me!” Georgia explained to the judges.
While contestants on the grown up version of the show may be tempted to whip up fancy meals with French names, the little kids on Junior MasterChef have always preferred to do things their own way. For Georgia, that meant going back to her Grandma’s Sri Lankan recipes, which she has always enjoyed relied on throughout the show. And those dishes were enough to convince the judges that they had finally found their winner!
Having first started cooking when she was around three years old, Georgia was inspired to take up the craft after watching her family gather in the kitchen to cook. Curiosity took over, and she has been cooking ever since.
Georgia has previously credited her grandmother for teaching her to cook.
I’m very close to my Nanna and my Papa,” Georgia said on the show, explaining she’s also learnt to make dishes that reflect her cultural heritage.
They’re both Sri Lankan. My Nanna taught me how to make lots of different Sri Lankan food.”
On the final episode of the show, the kids also showed surprising maturity in dealing with their mishaps, teaching adults a thing or two about dealing with emotions. Out of all the contestants, Georgia actually had the toughest time. Though her curries were the standout in the main course, her dessert literally fell apart. The base split, the ice cream didn’t set properly. She started to lose it. Her mum yelled out, You can do it, my angel,” and she replied, heartbroken, No I can’t.”
I always try to get everything right but that’s not how life works,” Georgia said. After a hug from her mum, she managed to get the final elements on the plate.
Ultimately, the judges said the decision came down to pure deliciousness”. And on that, Georgia just couldn’t be beaten.
After winning, Georgia said she’s not too sure what she’ll do with the AUD 25,000 prize money, but said she will definitely use it for something fun and food-related.
I’ll have access to it when I’m 18 so I have seven years to think about it,” she said. I’m thinking travel and starting a food stall.”
Dear Editor:
It is very unfortunate that most of the comments by the author of the email below are unfounded, scientifically incorrect, and is geared to nothing else but character assassination. Just because a person disagrees, there is no reason to attack him or her and engage in assassination. This is scandalous and defamatory.
The author had been unsuccessfully tried previously using the same tactic, using different platforms. Over the years, some of you may have seen such unfounded deep and unscientific criticisms. Thus, I am not surprised.
One such example was https://basecamp.com/2488885/projects/9243833 (currently, inactive), that was funded by the SLGo and maintained by the ministry of scient and technology, by its head, Prof. de Alwis. [this website states, this Basecamp account is temporarily paused. Ajith de Alwis can resume it]. The goals of this blog site were to come up with novel solutions to help to curb chronic kidney disease in the NCP region in Sri Lanka. More than 250 people from multiple countries participated and contributed to this site for the benefit of Sri Lanka, at least over four-year period.
For more information, kindly contact the site administrator, Dr. Sachi Panawela at the ministry of science and technology (pvsachie@gmail.com ; Project Scientist – COSTI). Because of his extreme, repeated personal attacks that had no relevance to science and the mission of the site, his participation was terminated (in fact, banned) by the mentioned Basecamp site administration.
Banning of his participation of the government-run blog site was due to a similar, aggressive personal attacks and vicious character assassinations on Sri Lankan scientists that was disruptive and became a nuisance to the participants against other contributors. This example also demonstrates the trend of his disliking others with differing views. Despite multiple warnings by the SLGo site administrators, author continued with his unfounded vicious attacks led to preventing his participation after that. This author-initiated email below is yet another beginning of similar line, to demonstrates his glory but with empty information. Such should not be tolerated or encouraged.
I have neither interest or time to waste to refute falsified and bogus clams, interrogations, and personal attacks by anyone. My comments and writings are based on science as we know of today (with the advancement of science and knowledge, these can be changed tomorrow) and on global evidence that is applicable to Sri Lanka.
I have no political affiliations in Sri Lanka. I have lot more important things to do on my primary global efforts for the past four decades, on disease prevention;” not treatment as falsely claimed.
Kind regards and good luck.
Sunil Wimalawansa
Although the Sri Lankan government is yet to declare its final position on developing the strategic East Container Terminal (ECT) at the Colombo Port jointly with India and Japan — agreed in May 2019 by the previous government — Port worker unions that are resisting the project think Sri Lanka might concede”.
Colombo seems to be under great pressure from New Delhi to go ahead with this project. We think our government will concede,” said Palitha Athukorala, President of the National Union of Seafarers Sri Lanka.
In May 2019, Sri Lanka’s Maithripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe administration signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with India and Japan to jointly upgrade the terminal with the aim of enhancing Sri Lanka’s status as a maritime hub. As per the MoC, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) was to retain 100 per cent ownership, while a jointly-owned terminal operations company — 51 per cent stake with Sri Lanka, and 49 per cent with India and Japan — would run the terminal. Despite the tripartite understanding, the former government was unable to take the deal forward.
After Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa assumed office in November 2019, the resistance to the project grow louder, including from some opposition parties and port workers opposed to foreign involvement in national assets”.
In July this year, BusinessLine reported that Adani Ports was eyeing the Colombo terminal project, with the Indian government’s backing. More recent international and local media reports on the Gujarat-headquartered Adani Group being the front-runner” for the project has put the controversial ECT is under the spotlight again.
However, when contacted, SLPA Chairman RM Daya Ratnayake denied the media reports. The matter would be discussed at the government level, but the SLPA is not aware of any such development,” he said.
Concurring with him, Cabinet spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said: The government has appointed committee of experts to evaluate the different options to upgrade the Port, but there is no final decision yet.”
Meanwhile, the SLPA recently sought government approval to operationalise the ECT — even though only 40 per cent of its construction is complete — to handle the traffic, especially with staffing difficulties due to the pandemic. We decided to use cranes meant for another terminal at the ECT to deal with the congestion,” Mr. Ratnayake said.
Sri Lanka has repeatedly acknowledged the growing shipping traffic in the region and the need to expand operations at the Colombo Port with improved facilities. Over 70 per cent of the transhipment business at the Port is said to come from India.
India’s interest in the project has well-known commercial and strategic motives. The ECT adjoins the Colombo International Container Terminal (CICT), the SLPA’s joint venture with China Merchants Port Holdings Company Limited, that holds 85 per cent of the stakes. The ECT is also located near the China-backed $1.4-billion Port City coming up at reclaimed land at Colombo’s sea front. New Delhi has more reasons to pin its hope on the ECT, especially after the Rajapaksa administration ruled out any Indian involvement in developing the Mattala airport, located near the Chinese-built Hambantota Port — leased to China for 99 years — in the island’s Southern Province.
Japan, one of Sri Lanka’s biggest donors over the years, is also keen to help develop the ECT.
Dissident Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) MP Dayana Gamage yesterday said that she had renounced her British citizenship in 2015 to launch her full time political career here. She insisted that she had obtained an official Sri Lankan passport in her capacity as the Chairperson of Ranminithenna Tele-Cinema village in 2017 during the UNP-led yahapalana administration.
The SJB National List MP said so when she was repeatedly accused of having entered parliament despite being a British national. Chamuditha Samarawickrema yesterday raised, during Salakuna programme on Hiru TV, the contentious issue of a British passport holder being in Parliament.
MP Gamage was among seven NL members appointed on the SJB list. The UNPer is the only newcomer to parliamentary politics.
Repeatedly asked whether she carried two passports, the MP said that she had received a British passport as her mother was British by birth. Responding to another query, Gamage said that as a British passport holder she had obtained a resident visa during 2005-2015 period. According to Gamage, the relinquishment of her British citizenship had enabled her to engage in Sri Lankan politics full-time.
Asked whether she had ever served as private secretary to one-time LTTE Eastern commander Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan aka Karuna Amman, a smiling Gamage told the interviewer he was referring to another woman. I have nothing to do with Karuna,” Gamage said, strongly denying the accusation that she deliberately refrained from informing relevant authorities here regarding her decision to give up British citizenship.
The interviewer sought an explanation regarding her conduct on the basis of a complaint made by civil society activist Oshala Herath over the alleged use of passports issued by the UK and her gaining entry into parliament in violation of the Constitution, Gamage said that Herath had nothing better to do.
Denying all accusations, the MP recalled how Herath, a candidate at the 2020 general election had made an abortive bid to sabotage the SJB nominations by moving the Supreme Court.
Herath, who served as a member of President Maithripala Sirisena’s media team recently wrote to Director, CID regarding MP Gamage’s citizenship. Herath made available a copy of his complaints to Secretary to the President, AG and Director CID, in addition to the Chairman of the Election Commission.
Herath unsuccessfully contested the last general election on the UNP ticket from the Colombo District.
Asked why she had not obtained dual citizenship, MP Gamage said that she had felt no need to do so. She compared the high profile campaign carried out against her alleging that she was holding British citizenship, as well as her alleged involvement in the project to efforts to deprive SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa of the opportunity to contest 2019 presidential election.
Gamage said that she served as a Provincial Council member in 2014. Responding to questions as regards the documents required to prove her nationality, MP Gamage said that she was in possession of all such documents including the National Identity Card.
MP Gamage strongly defended her right to have voted for the 20th Amendment regardless of a decision taken by the SJB to oppose the new law. My husband Senaka de Silva informed Mr Premadasa of my decision. I took this decision in consultation with my husband.” The MP dismissed SJB threat to deprive her of NL seat.
MP Gamage said that her husband had made it possible for the rebel UNP group led by the Deputy UNP leader Premadasa to contest the election by handing over his Ape Jathika Peramuna (AJP). The SJB secured 54 seats, including seven on the NL. Pointing out that many political parties had been sold for big amounts over the years, Samarawickrema asked the MP how much her husband had received and whether the NL slot, too, was part of the deal. Denying having received funds for the transferring of the ownership of the party, Gamage claimed that unlike others they had not benefited from that initiative.
In fact, the NL slot was offered by Mr. Premadasa to my husband, one time Secretary to General Sarath Fonseka when the latter contested the 2010 presidential election as the common candidate.
Responding to another query, MP Gamage revealed that AJP had been registered by Mangala Samaraweera after he was sacked by the UPFA. Declaring that AJP no longer existed, MP Gamage said that both she and her husband handed over their resignation letters as Secretary and Deputy Chairman, respectively, to SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara about a week after she voted for the 20th Amendment.
In a wide ranging interview, MP Gamage revealed that UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had planned to introduce a new piece of legislation similar to the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in case General Sarath Fonseka won the 2010 presidential election. MP Gamage claimed that her husband as the Secretary to the war-winning Army Chief had advised him not to do so as whoever functioned as the President needed necessary executive powers.
All passenger bus services that enter and exit the Western Province have been temporarily suspended.
State Minister of Bus Transport Services Dilum Amunugama stated that all passenger bus services have been suspended from leaving the Western Province until midnight on November 15 (Sunday).
He also said that buses from other areas have been requested not to enter the Western Province until then.
Meanwhile people in the Western Province have been prohibited from travelling outside the province with immediate effect until midnight on Sunday (Nov. 15)
Earlier today, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had instructed officials to take necessary steps to prevent movements from the Western Province, where the majority of the COVID-19 infected were identified, to other parts of the country.
The President had also said that no one should be allowed to enter or leave the areas which have been designated as isolated areas.
He had issued this directive during the daily briefing with the members of the Task Force on COVID-19 Prevention held at the Presidential Secretariat today (11).
A total of 317 fresh COVID-19 cases were reported a short while ago increasing the total cases detected today to 626, Army Commander Shavendra Silva said.
He said all the patients have been identified as close contacts of the Peliyagoda cluster.
Sri Lanka’s Director General of Health Services has confirmed another COVID-19 death, bringing the death toll from the virus to 46 in the country.
A 63-year-old male from Imbulgoda has passed away while receiving treatment at the Maharagama Apeksha Hospital.
The PCR test carried out at post mortem has confirmed that he was infected with COVID-19 virus.
Exacerbation of leukemia and a complication of the respiratory system are mentioned as the immediate causes of death.
The Director General of Health Services has defined this as a death caused by COVID-19 infection and, accordingly this is the 46th death of a Covid-19 infected patient in the country.
This is also the fifth Covid-19 death reported within today (11).
The developers of Russia’s pioneering Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine say their formula appears to show 92 percent efficacy and no serious side effects, based on the preliminary results of a large-scale Phase III clinical trial.
The vaccine is being tested in a large-scale double-blind survey involving 40,000 volunteers. Preliminary results based on the observation of 16,000 participants indicate that the drug does a good job of protecting people from the coronavirus, the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology said on Wednesday.
According to the statement, there were 20 confirmed Covid-19 cases among the group, which consisted of volunteers who were injected either with the vaccine or a placebo. The effectiveness of Sputnik V is estimated at 92 percent, meaning it boosts the immune system enough to fend off the coronavirus in just over nine out of ten people.
The subjects of the Phase III testing were not the only ones to receive the jab. Russia registered the vaccine in August after it was proven safe in a smaller Phase II survey and made it available to volunteers from high-risk groups, like doctors in Covid-19 wards. The developers observed 10,000 of those people and now say the results showed a similar efficacy rate of over 90 percent.ALSO ON RT.COMRussia says Sputnik V vaccine equally as effective as US pharma giant Pfizer’s newly unveiled Covid-19 formula
The report said that, as of Wednesday, no unexpected adverse events were identified as part of the research.” Some of the vaccinated people reported flu-like symptoms such as fever, fatigue and headache, or pain at the injection site, but those were all short-term.
The Gamaleya Institute promised to publish a report on its findings in a world-leading medical journal after an evaluation and to provide access to a full clinical trial report once the tests are fully complete. The researchers say six months will be necessary to make sure that participants of the study do not develop dangerous side effects.
The vaccine is based on two types of human adenoviral vector, with two shots administered three weeks apart.ALSO ON RT.COMTurkey ‘interested’ in producing pioneering Russian-developed ‘Sputnik V’ coronavirus vaccine – Moscow
Russia has great hopes for the vaccine, which was funded by the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the RDIF. Some other countries, including Belarus, the UAE, Venezuela, and India, are conducting their own clinical trials of Sputnik V, with an eye towards potentially purchasing it for domestic vaccinations or licensing it for production.
Army Commander Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva stated that no one will be permitted to travel out of the Western Province with immedite effect until midnight on the 15th of this month (November) |
On the morning of their wedding Ozlem Tureci and her groom Ugur Sahin turned up to the laboratory as usual. After a brief interlude at the register office they put their white coats back on and returned to work.
It was this tranquil single-mindedness that made Dr Tureci, 53, and Dr Sahin, 55, paper billionaires and two of the most interesting figures in modern oncology.
Now it has put the German-Turkish couple on the brink of claiming the world’s first demonstrably effective coronavirus vaccine and may bolster their fortune to more than £3 billion.
Ozlem Tureci and Ugur Sahin were pioneers in the treatment of cancer
Both were four years old when their parents moved from Turkey to settle in Germany as part of the first Gastarbeiter, or guest worker generation.
Yet they came from quite different social backgrounds. Dr Sahin, who was born in Iskenderun, near the Syrian border, was the son of a Cologne car factory worker and picked up his enthusiasm for medicine from popular science books.
Dr Tureci, an Istanbul surgeon’s daughter who describes herself as a Prussian Turk, grew up with medicine in her blood and watched her father operating on patients while she was still a child.
The pair met at Saarland University Hospital in Homburg, a few miles from the French border. They soon found themselves at the cutting edge of cancer medicine, working out how to train the immune system to spot and eradicate tumours itself.
At the time the notion of treating cancer with anything other than surgery, radiation and chemotherapy seemed outlandish. It took a long time to become accepted that the immune system is a very potent tool to fight cancer,” Dr Tureci said in 2017, a year before three of the field’s pioneers were awarded the Nobel prize for medicine.
In 2001, the year before they married, they founded their first joint company. Ganymed Pharmaceuticals specialised in what was at the time a relatively new and exciting class of drugs known as monoclonal antibodies, essentially mass-produced and harmless tags that teach the body’s defences to recognise cancer. The firm was eventually sold for €1.3 billion in what was the biggest biotechnology deal in German history.
Their next venture made them celebrities, at least by the standards of experimental oncology.SPONSOREDTired of 2020 waylaying your plans? Read thisThis is what companies could have done better during lockdown
Until last year Biontech, founded in 2008 and based in Mainz, was best known for building personalised cancer vaccines” out of messenger RNA (mRNA), which carries genetic instructions for cells. Essentially, the vaccines prompt the body to mobilise against cancer the way it would against a virus.
Fortunately for mankind, this strategy would also be theoretically quite handy against the coronavirus.
In January Dr Sahin read an article in The Lancet about an outbreak of a novel infectious disease in Wuhan. He instantly spotted the danger. Experts experienced with previous outbreaks said this will come and go,” he told the Financial Times months later. I said, ‘No, this time it is different.’ ”
Within days of the pandemic’s arrival in Germany, Dr Tureci, Dr Sahin and their colleagues began adapting their technology to Covid-19. Biontech was placed on a war footing” for what was known internally as the speed of light” project because of the intense time pressure it was under.
Pfizer, an American pharmaceutical company, soon piled in with funding and the company’s share price tripled over the course of the summer. This increased the couple’s fortune to roughly €2.4 billion (£2.16 billion) by September, according to the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, which ranked the couple at 85th on its national rich list. Their young company is now worth more than €20 billion, making it more valuable than Porsche and Deutsche Bank.
Biontech’s mRNA-based approach is technically ambitious compared with the methods of other groups including the Oxford team, who have taken the more tried-and-tested path of adapting a virus that already exists in nature.
The manufacturing process, in which the mRNA is bundled into a microscopic blob of fat, is well suited to mass production and the company has said that it aims to have 100 million doses waiting to go by the end of the year. But the colossal scales involved are uncharted territory for the technique.
If the experiment pays off, it will not just be good news in the battle against coronavirus, as well as a vindication and a fabulously lucrative payday — on paper at least — for the scientists. It will also be proof of a concept for a promising new way of warding off a whole menagerie of diseases from HIV to melanoma through the body’s own fortifications.
In keeping with the customs of the German super-rich, Dr Sahin and Dr Tureci have maintained relatively modest public profiles.
Investors well acquainted with the couple say that they remain driven by the prospect of medical advances rather than money.
Dr Sahin still commutes to Biontech’s modern office block near the west bank of the Rhine by bicycle and retains his professorship and the chairmanship of experimental oncology at University Hospital Mainz.
He is said to avoid checking the company’s share price. Had he broken with his habit and looked at it yesterday he would have seen it rise by as much as a quarter in a matter of hours.
Attn the HON ALI SABRY
Dear Minister.
kindly note the following.
Thanks
SCIENCE BEHIND BURYING COVID 19 INFECTED DEAD BODIES.
,,,,WHO RECOMMENDATIONS SUIT TEMPERATE COUNTRIES ,NOT TROPICAL HIGH RAIN HIGH TEMPERATURE COUNTRIES The Sri Lankan Scientist- – by Meththika Vithanage – –
Prof. Meththika Vithanage (Ph.D. in Hydrogeology; Prof. in Natural Resources) Director, Ecosphere Resilience Research Centre,
Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri layewardenepura meththika@sjp.ac.lk
With more than two third of the world is under lock down due to Covid-19, many countries are facing problems that they have never encountered before. Those problems range from quarantine issues to last rights of the people die from this infection. In a viral pandemic like COVID-19, the concern is that the dead bodies of victims can spread the virus among the people who closely handle or work with them. At the same time there is a huge debate on whether burying the bodies of COVID-19 victims may facilitate the viral spread through the ground water table. In this article we try to look back at scientific literature and review the risk of ground water contamination through the burial of viral disease victims’ dead bodies.
It has been a well-known fact that the cemeteries are among the chief anthropogenic sources of pollution and contamination of groundwater in urban areas and beyond, in the area of hydrogeology. In the process of decomposition of a human body, 0.4-0.6 liters of leachate is produced per 1 kg of body weight, which may contain pathogenic bacteria and viruses that may contaminate the groundwater. Burial in any means causes soil contamination and then leads to groundwater pollution via the discharge of inorganic nutrients, nitrate, phosphate, ammonia, chlorides etc. and various microorganisms. High biochemical and chemical oxygen demands, ammonia, and organic carbon have been reported as high as several hundreds of mg in L from cemeteries and mass burial sites.
In the case of viruses, recent studies indicate that viral may transport in soil with rainfall infiltration and extends specifically to drinking water from an untreated groundwater source. Several scientific publications report virus occurrence rates of about 30 percent of groundwater. Virus transport in groundwater is associated with a high degree of temporal and spatial variability, which is often attributed to absorption, filtration, soil water content, temperature, pH, type of virus, and hydraulic stresses and climatic conditions. It has been observed that viruses in groundwater can be correlated with their concentrations in wastewater and with groundwater recharge events. The ex-filtration from sewers and cemeteries are the most likely source of human viruses to this groundwater system, and leakage from sewers during heavy precipitation enhanced virus transport. The transport is often associated with both the unsaturated and saturated subsurface composed of varying geological settings with corresponding hydro-geological variability. Included among the essential hydro-geological factors that can be used to evaluate viral transport are the flux of moisture in the unsaturated zone, the media through which the particles travel, porosity, the length of the flow path, and the time of travel. In Sri Lanka, we experience high rainfall, low groundwater table, highly porous subsurface soil, and fractured rocks compared to most temperate countries in the world, which may lead the transport of biological and chemical compounds from dead bodies. Although WHO recommendation guidelines suit temperate countries mainly, not tropical high-temperature high rainfall countries where we experience high decomposition rates and highly variable water table. This is where the local hydro-geological knowledge is essential to protect groundwater as well as forthcoming infection occurrence. Given the vulnerability of our groundwater aquifers, and lack of understanding about the behavior of COVID-19 virus, there can be a risk from dead bodies, septic waste or sanitary waste are having any contact with water sources. Hence, it is advisable to have careful measures in destroying the infected dead bodies, septic, and sanitary waste in proper conditions without provisioning chances for any future disease outbreak.
Britain should be heading back to normal by the spring, scientists said yesterday, after the announcement of a vaccine that is 90 per cent effective in stopping the coronavirus.
Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England, said that the huge milestone” meant this wave of infection could be the last that Britain endured.
He said he was hopeful that the first Britons could be injected with the Pfizer and Biontech vaccine before Christmas. Britain has bought 40 million doses in advance, enough to inoculate 20 million people, and the NHS is preparing to start with the most vulnerable.
Scientists also said that the apparent success of the vaccine was a positive sign for others, such as the Oxford project, which is expected to report findings within weeks.
Stock markets rose sharply in response to the announcement, which Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chief executive, described as a great day for science and humanity”.
The FTSE 100 enjoyed its best day since March, rising by 4.7 per cent, or 276.27 points, to close at 6,186.29, and the Dow Jones industrial average in New York improved by more than 1,500 points to hit a new intraday high.
In other developments:
• Half a million instant Covid-19 tests will be sent to councils within days.
• Four former prime ministers urged Boris Johnson in the summer to throw the full weight of the British state” behind coronavirus testing, it emerged.SPONSOREDA simple change that could get you through anxious times2 women share the story behind their love of teaching
• Donald Trump Jr cast suspicion over the timing of Pfizer’s announcement, suggesting that it was delayed to harm his father’s election prospects. He wrote on Twitter: Nothing nefarious about the timing of this at all right?” He concluded with an eye-rolling emoji.
• Quarantine for travellers to Britain could be scrapped under plans for one-hour Covid-19 tests on arrival, the transport secretary said.
• Ofsted warned that school and nursery closures had led to children regressing in basic learning and social skills.
• Britain recorded another 21,350 coronavirus cases, up 3.9 per cent in a fortnight, while there were 194 deaths over a 24-hour period.
The prime minister said last night that the Pfizer announcement was a sign that the scientific cavalry” was on its way, but he emphasised that it was very, very early days”.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, told Times Radio that Pfizer’s announcement was a promising step” but there would be more steps to come” before any return to normality.
Warning against any sudden relaxation of restrictions, he added: I want life to be back to as close as normal as soon as possible. We are all pleased to see some light at the end of the tunnel but it’s absolutely crucial in the meantime that we hold our resolve.”
He went on to stress that the roll-out of the vaccine would be a colossal exercise … an NHS-led project supported by the armed forces”.
Scientists have still not seen the full data from the vaccine trials. In particular they said that they wanted to understand its effectiveness in older people, whether it stopped transmission as well as illness, and how much long-term immunity it conferred.
The preliminary results, based on 94 infections in the trial group, greatly exceeded the hopes of most scientists. To be approved, the vaccine had to prevent 50 per cent of symptomatic infections. The results make it more likely that other vaccines, which use the same target on the virus, will also be successful.
Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University, was hopeful that this marked the beginning of the end of the pandemic. I’m really delighted by this result, for no other reason than it shows you can make a vaccine against this little critter,” he said.
When asked by the BBC if this could mean a return to normality by the spring, Sir John, who is involved in the Oxford vaccine, said: Yes, yes, yes. I’m the first guy to say that, but I will say it with some confidence.”
Professor Van-Tam said that the results were a great success on their own, and also a proof of principle. This is like getting to the end of the playoff final, it’s gone to penalties, the first player goes up and scores the goal,” he said. You haven’t won the cup yet, but it tells you that the goalkeeper can be beaten.”
He said that the public would not see an immediate benefit and, alongside Mr Johnson yesterday, warned that the country must not let up on social distancing. Frankly, we’re in the middle of the second wave and I don’t see the vaccine making any difference for the wave we are now in,” he said. I’m hopeful that it may prevent future waves, but this one we have to battle through to the end. We’ve seen a swallow, but this is very much not the summer.”
The vaccine, which is based on experimental mRNA” technology, will have to be approved by regulators, who will demand the full data. The trial will continue and it will be a fortnight before they have collected enough data to satisfy safety criteria. However, it is expected that the process will then be expedited, assuming that all criteria are met.
Pfizer and its German partner Biontech, founded by Ozlem Tureci and Ugur Sahin, anticipates supplying ten million doses to Britain by the end of the year. One of the challenges for the NHS will be to distribute them. Each person vaccinated requires two doses.
The Pfizer vaccine must be stored at minus 70C until the day it is used, when it can be stored in a normal fridge, and experts have warned that the cold chain” logistics will be challenging.
This temperature is far out of the reach of standard refrigerators. The requirements may make holding vaccinations in GP clinics, care homes and other locations difficult.
The doses of the vaccine will be brought to the UK from a manufacturing facility in Belgium and the military is expected to be called in to help with distribution, although that could be limited.
Pfizer has designed a suitcase-sized container to keep the doses at minus 70C for up to ten days. Each container holds between 1,000 and 5,000 doses that are packed with dry ice. However, there are rules on how the containers can be used. After Pfizer delivers them, they must be repacked with fresh dry ice within 24 hours. After that they can only be opened for a minute at a time and not more than twice a day, according to leaked Pfizer documents.
Some of the vaccine candidates under development, specifically the RNA vaccine candidates, require a very challenging cold chain,” Rongjun Chen, a reader in biomaterials engineering at Imperial College London, said. Any break of the cold chain can considerably reduce vaccine potency.”
Kate Bingham, chairwoman of the government’s vaccines taskforce, said last week that up to ten million doses of the Pfizer vaccine could be available by January but cautioned that providing it would be challenging. [mRNA vaccines] may be relatively straightforward to manufacture initially but the cost of deployment and the complexity of deployment is very high. We have to find better vaccine formats,” she said.
After being transported and held in storage the Pfizer vaccine can last for only about 24 hours at normal” refrigerated temperatures, Dr Chen said.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian clinical trial for a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine has come to a halt after the health regulator Anvisa reported a severe adverse” incident.
The health authority said it took place on October 29 but did not provide any further details.
The Sinovac vaccine is one of several in final-stage testing globally. China has already been using it as part of an emergency programme to immunise thousands of people in China.
Sinovac Biotech defended its vaccine, saying in a statement today that it was confident in its safety and that the adverse incident was unrelated to the vaccine”.
Vaccine developed by Pfizer and Biontech could be approved for use as early as next month. Getting it to clinics and into the arms of the British population will be one of the biggest challenges faced by a peacetime government.
The vaccine appears to be highly effective at preventing symptomatic Covid but is unstable at anything but ultra-low temperatures. The technology has never been used at scale and will require a supply chain unlike anything used before.
GPs have been asked to contribute to an ‘all hands to the pump” effort to administer the jab — but experts have doubts over whether primary care clinics can cope. Mass vaccination centres are planned, preparations are being made to take the vaccine to care homes and the military is standing by to assist. The scientists have done their bit, now they pass the baton to the NHS.
The factory
Britain’s doses will come from a factory in Puurs in Belgium, where the manufacturing process will have begun with a snippet of DNA.
This will have been used as a kind of template to synthesize billions of copies of a second type of genetic material known as mRNA, the messenger molecules at the heart of the Pfizer vaccine. Once injected into a person, they instruct cells to produce the coronavirus’s famous spike protein”. This trains the immune system in how to fend off the real pathogen.
An advantage of using mRNA is that a little goes a very long way. A one-litre flask might contain enough raw material for tens of millions of doses. First, however, it must be purified and then encased in microscopic fatty capsules.
This is where things get complicated. At room temperature, these capsules will clump together, rendering the vaccine useless. To prevent this, it must be kept in ultra-cold conditions.
This morning John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University, spelt out the stakes to MPs. The vaccine needs to be stored at minus 70C, according to Pfizer.
The idea that that’ll be done through local GPs sounds a bit unlikely to me,” he told a joint hearing of the health and social care and science and technology select committees. A bespoke solution” was required, he said.
He put the chances of vaccinating the most vulnerable parts of the population by Easter at 70-80 per cent, provided they don’t screw up the distribution”.
The supply chain
Pfizer has created two distribution hubs. A plant in Kalamazoo in Michigan will serve America while Britain’s supplies will come from Belgium. Each facility has hundreds of large ultra-cold freezers, ready to store millions of doses before they can be shipped around the world.
Pfizer wants to deliver as many as 100 million doses this year, with up to ten million going to the UK. It aims to produce another 1.3 billion in 2021. Each person will require two shots, separated by three weeks; protection against Covid should develop a month after the first injection.
It’s the biggest vaccination campaign in history,” Tanya Alcorn, Pfizer’s vice-president of supply chain, said.
In the US the company plans to use cargo space on an average of 20 flights every 24 hours and a similar timetable is expected in Europe. Pfizer has a goal of getting doses to the point of use in no more than 72 hours.
When they reach the UK, however, responsibility will be handed over to the NHS.
The final miles
When they arrive in Britain, the vaccines will be in special suitcase-sized containers capable of keeping them at minus 70C for up to ten days, if the outside temperature is not above 25C and the box is not opened. This means refrigerated trucks will not be needed. Each container is designed to hold between 1,000 and 5,000 doses. They will be packed with dry ice and they have a GPS system to track their location and a thermal sensor.
The rules on how they can be handled are demanding and still evolving. After Pfizer hands them over, they must be repacked with fresh dry-ice within 24 hours. After that, they can only be opened for a minute at a time. Pfizer told US officials in August that they should not be opened more than twice a day, though this may change.
Once defrosted, the doses can be held in a standard refrigerator, at between 2C and 8C. Exactly how long they can be stored like this is unclear. In a document prepared for US officials during the summer, Pfizer originally spelt out a 24-hour limit. There are signs that this could be increased, with a spokeswoman for the company saying today that the vaccine has an effective life of up to five days” when stored at temperatures of 2-8C.
She added: We seek to work with governments to support distribution to their defined priority groups, and we anticipate that points of vaccination will vary around the globe but may include: hospitals; outpatient clinics; community vaccination locations and pharmacies.”
At room temperature they will last only a couple of hours.
Where will the vaccines be given?
The government has plans to train an army of workers, including physiotherapists, paramedics and midwives, to administer Covid jabs. Matt Hancock today outlined several routes of delivery. Large vaccination centres would be set up, he said. These could include sports halls and car parks.
The vaccines will also be taken to care homes, whose residents and staff will be a top priority.
GPs were also issued instructions in a letter from NHS England. They were told to work in groups of practices called primary care networks, designating one site in each area to host a vaccine programme between 8am and 8pm, seven days a week including bank holidays”, raising the possibility of vaccinations on Christmas Day.
Each site should plan on delivering a minimum 975 doses a week and with 1,250 such networks that amounts to capacity for at least 1.2 million doses a week. At this rate it would take about five months to vaccinate everyone over 65.
The letter asks GPs to recognise that running a potential Covid-19 vaccination programme requires ‘all hands to the pump’ and pragmatism”. But GP and health leaders have warned that this could mean significant disruption to other routine services, with the NHS Confederation saying: Delivery of a vaccination programme on this scale from scratch means business as usual is not feasible so public expectations will need to be managed.”
GPs were also told to assume that they will need to leave at least seven days between flu and Covid vaccines. Specifications for vaccination sites do not mention freezer space, only the need for refrigeration, possibly suggesting that each site will be supplied daily.
Who will be vaccinated first?
Boris Johnson said yesterday that decisions on who would be prioritised were yet to be finalised. The final order will depend on how effective the inoculation is in older people, which is not yet known. The Oxford vaccine might become available early next year, which could provide more logistical flexibility.
At present, the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation has a provision plan which calls for older people in care homes and care home workers to be vaccinated first. Next come all those 80-plus and health and social care workers.
There then comes a tier system of age groups: all those 75 and older, then all those 65 and older. High-risk adults under 65 come next, followed by moderate-risk adults under 65. Then all those 60 and older; those 55 and older; those 50 and older. Finally comes the rest of the population.
Whether young fit adults and children would be vaccinated is unclear. Some experts feel that the risks of using a new vaccine on these groups may outweigh the risks of catching Covid. Without them, however, herd immunity — where enough of the population is protected to prevent the explosive growth of new outbreaks — would probably not be achieved.
Health service ready to give first doses next month, insists Hancock
A million people a week could be vaccinated against coronavirus under NHS plans to ensure a jab can be administered as quickly as it is manufactured.
All over-65s may be able to get the Pfizer jab before Easter if it is approved, with officials hopeful that the Oxford vaccine could allow a wider programme during the winter if it is also successful.
The government hopes to cover all over-50s and the most vulnerable younger adults, who account for 99 per cent of Covid-19 deaths, early next year in the first stage of a three wave” strategy, if supplies allow. It will set out its plans in more detail next week.
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Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said yesterday that the NHS would be ready at the start of next month if a jab were approved. He suggested that regulators would be able to give the go-ahead within days of final results.
Vaccination would be a mammoth logistical operation” and would involve the NHS working seven days a week to distribute supplies that must be kept at minus 70C. He promised that it would inject hope into millions of arms this winter”, telling MPs: The logistics are complex, the uncertainties are real and the scale of the job is vast, but I know that the NHS, brilliantly assisted by the armed services, will be up to the task.”
It came as:
• Plans to spend up to £43 billion on mass testing were revealed as the government began sending rapid results kits to 67 councils.
• A further 532 deaths were reported yesterday, the highest figure since May 12, and a further 20,412 cases.
• Hundreds of thousands of students could be tested in the last week of term to allow them home for Christmas.SPONSOREDThe future thinking financial healthcheck that puts you in controlHere’s why responsible investing is your best option in 2020
• Pilot schemes for using home tests every other day to avoid the need for contacts of confirmed coronavirus cases to isolate for 14 days are to begin.
Initial vaccine distribution plans are based on standard methods for winter flu and NHS chiefs have written to GPs saying that they should deliver a vaccination service seven days per week including bank holidays between 8am and 8pm if vaccine supply allows”.
Each of England’s 1,250 GP networks has been set a minimum target of administering one batch of 975 doses a week, equivalent to about 1.2 million doses nationally, enough for 600,000 people. Officials are optimistic that GPs could do more, and pharmacists, who typically deliver a fifth of flu vaccines, will also be used.
In addition, Mr Hancock said that doses would be delivered to care homes and that mass vaccination centres would be set up in car parks and sports halls. Sources said that this meant the total weekly vaccination capacity could be double” that of GPs by February, supplies permitting.
The government has a contract for 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which officials estimate would be enough for all 12 million over-65s plus three million health and social care workers in the programme’s first phase. Results from the Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccine, of which the government has bought 100 million doses, are expected soon and this would allow a wider programme from the spring once vulnerable people had been covered.
Mr Hancock said that after these two candidates it is next summer before the next vaccine candidate comes on stream and so the focus of the roll-out plan at the moment is on delivering the Pfizer and the Astrazeneca projects if they pass the safety tests”.
The second phase of the programme would be geared towards preventing hospital admissions. This could reduce the need for lockdowns by reducing the risk that the NHS would be overwhelmed. The final phase would be aimed at attaining herd immunity through vaccinating the rest of the adult population, although this is thought unlikely before the summer.
Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford, said that there was a 70-80 per cent chance” of vaccinating all vulnerable groups by Easter, provided they don’t screw up the distribution of the vaccine”.
How quickly can the NHS start using the vaccine?
Officials have promised that the limiting factor will be the rate at which Pfizer supplies doses, a pledge that calls for a herculean effort from the NHS. Britain expects to receive as many as ten million doses before the end of the year, enough for five million people. According to Age UK, there are about 400,000 older people in care homes across the UK. Ideally, they will be the first in line. There is a caveat: we do not yet know how well the vaccine works in older people. We also do not know how long immunity will last. More trial data will have to be gathered and analysed.
Could you get the Pfizer jab privately?
Probably not. During the initial pandemic stage, our contracts are with the governments,” a Pfizer spokeswoman said yesterday.
Why are two injections needed?
The Pfizer jab needs to be given twice, with a three-week gap between the initial shot and the booster. This is a common strategy with vaccines, which ensures that the immune response that is stimulated is strong enough to fend off the disease. After one dose some people may not develop enough antibodies. Trials suggested that two shots of the Pfizer vaccine were better than one: antibody levels were far higher after the booster. Health chiefs would prefer a one and done” solution.
How about storing the vaccines — isn’t it complicated?
Yes, but Pfizer provided some details yesterday that suggest that the NHS will have more flexibility than had been thought. The vaccine will have to be kept at about minus 70C during shipping and Pfizer has developed a special container packed with dry ice that can keep the doses ultra-cold” for ten days. The company had said that once they were defrosted the vaccines could be stored in an ordinary fridge for only 24 hours. Yesterday it clarified that the doses would have an effective life of up to five days” when stored at 2C to 8C. The logistics will still be demanding but this will make life easier for GPs’ surgeries and other vaccination centres.
Who will get the vaccine first?
Boris Johnson has said that the decision has not been finalised. A provisional plan calls for people in care homes and care home workers to be first. Next come those over 80 and all health and social care workers, followed by all those 75 and older, then all those 65 and older. High-risk adults under 65 come next, followed by moderate-risk adults under 65. Then all those 60 and older, those 55 and older, and those 50 and older. This should cover the groups that accounted for 99 per cent of deaths in the first wave, health chiefs have said. A second phase will aim to protect key workers, starting with the oldest.
What about everybody else?
Whether healthy under-50s are offered a jab will depend on the vaccines that become available. Herd immunity, when enough of the population is protected to avoid explosive growth of new outbreaks, might require 90 per cent of the population to be injected. However, it could be achieved only if the vaccine prevented transmission. Data released by Pfizer suggests that its jab reduces only cases of symptomatic Covid-19. We do not know whether it reduces asymptomatic infections, and therefore reduces the spread of the disease.Share
The Pathfinder Indian Ocean Security Conference as a webinar Inaugural Session held on 10th, November 2020 and it will continue next two days as the three sessions. The first, on Maritime Security and Freedom of Navigation, will be moderated by Prof. Raja C. Mohan, Director-Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore; whilst the second session on Enhancing Connectivity will be moderated by Dr. Frederic Grare, Senior Associate and Director South Asia programme, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the third session to be moderated by Amb. Robert O. Blake Jr., former Ambassador of the United States to Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia and Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs. The three sessions will include presentations by speakers from India, Russia, the US, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Australia, China and Japan.
Thirty-six littorals and IORA Dialogue Partner countries were participated to the conference, focusing on Maritime Security and Maritime Governance in the Indian Ocean with over one hundred online participants including governments, diplomatic missions, academia, think-tanks and research institutes and the business community.
The inaugural session of the event includes an address by Foreign Secretary, Admiral (Prof.) Jayanath Colombage, Ambassador of the United States. H.E. Alaina Teplitz; Ambassador of Japan, H.E. Akira Sugiyama; and Co-chairs of the conference, Amb. Shivshankar Menon, who was the former Foreign Secretary and National Security Advisor to the Government of India and Bernard Goonetilleke, Chairman-Pathfinder Foundation.
Foreign Secretary, Admiral (Prof.) Jayanath Colombage
PATHFINDER INDIAN OCEAN SECURITY CONFERENCE(PFIOSC) 2020
10th November 2020
Key note speech by Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage, Secretary, Foreign Ministry and Director General Institute of National Security Studies (Sri Lanka)
Indian Ocean
• Sea has always been instrumental in defining the destiny of the world by bringing people closer, melting down cultures and supporting the global economy.
• Seaborne trade has been an engine for inclusive and sustainable growth.
• Maritime connectivity is the key to substantive economic development for many nations.
• Covering a massive water body of app. 70 million sq. km. and a vast geographical area stretching from the eastern shores of Africa to Australia, the Indian Ocean region is home for app. 2.7 billion people resident in the littoral countries.
• Asia’s growing economic and political importance is undeniable
• With the rise of Asia, the political and economic balance is increasingly shifting towards the Indo Pacific.
• The region is becoming the key to shaping the international order in the 21st century.
• Latest initiative for this region- Policy guide lines for the Indo-Pacific- shaping the 21st century together-
Prosperity of our society depends on freedom of shipping”. Hence need to participate in functioning growth markets
• Global value chains are intertwined here.
• Indian Ocean has been a well-connected ocean for trade, culture religion to move across
• This is part of a Global Maritime Common- All should be free to be here
• Half of the world’s container ships, one third of the World’s bulk cargo traffic and 72% of global oil shipments depend on this water body for transit purposes.
• Security of shipping will remain a primary concern during times of peace as well as conflict. We very well know what happened during Somali Piracy
• After an interval of nearly three decades, there are signs of IOR once again entering into another phase of big power rivalry with potential for military confrontation.
• The Question is should the littoral countries get dragged into a superpower confrontation that is not of their making or in their interest?
• Shouldn’t we be focusing of economic and social development? And achieving the SDGs by the target year of 2030
• ADB report has estimated that infrastructure needs of Asia and the Pacific would exceed $ 22.6 trillion through 2030.
• Where can this money come from? Donors? Bilateral and multilateral lenders? FDI?
• Covid-19
o Old certainties are questioned
o A dangerous Recession? slowing down economies
o Socio-economic tensions and Human emotions rising high and creates a fear and insecurity
o Extreme forms of nationalism
o There is and there will be interruptions to Global Supply Chains
o Multilateral Health governance may be the way forward. Health diplomacy is at it’s best
o Attention to Food and Medicine security
o Countries choosing to invest more on Hospitals and Laboratories?
Geo-Political, Geo- Economical and Geo- Strategic landscape
Indian Ocean has become significant in the 21st Century
Two very significant initiatives are here
Indo Pacific Strategy- Free and Open Ocean
Belt and Road Initiative- maritime trade and infrastructure related development
Sri Lanka wishes for a free and open Indian ocean for maritime commerce, development of maritime related infrastructure and connect to the Global supply chain across the ocean
Present day Indian Ocean has become a stage for strategic competition for regional and global powers
Competition is for RMB- Resources, Markets and Bases(places)
More and more governments, organisations and institutions worldwide are making the Indo-Pacific their conceptual frame of reference and thus the basis of their policies
However, they differ, in terms of their objectives, emphasis on different policy fields
Today, the Quad (India, Japan, US, and Australia) is being institutionalised with a special focus on upholding the rules-based order for a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Quad’s resolve to dominate Indo-Pacific high seas is being questioned
Is Quad the principle driver of Indian Ocean security?
No one country can be the net-security provider in the IO as clearly evidenced by the Piracy if the Gulf of Eden and Western Indian Ocean
Is there a Maritime ‘Cold War’ or ‘Cool War’
Insecurity of one country lead to insecurity of others
IO Region is characterised by rapidly increasing arms dynamics.
Identifying and Addressing Major Issues Including ‘mistrust’ and ‘trust deficiency’
South Asia in the Indian Ocean
• South Asia is a complex security construct
• South Asia is militarily, politically and economically a dynamic region
• Region lack a common security consensus- lack of interdependence and strategic ambiguity is prevalent
• This is a nuclearized region with two nuclear powers, India and Pakistan who are enemies for the last 72 years
• Region borders another nuclear power- China
• We witness regional and national security interplay in this region
• Impact of geographic proximity on security interactions is strongest and most obvious
• For countries such as Sri Lanka, which is an adjacent state to nuclear India -this is a trilemma- 3rd party effects-
• Security of an innocent state can be impacted in someone else’s war
• India’s geographical centrality, size, population and economy are key factors
• Free and open Indian ocean for what? We need it for trade, investment, development, cooperation
Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean
Centrality in the Ocean
Close proximity to major SLOCs
Close geographical proximity to India
Amidst the spheres of influence of India, USA, China, Japan and Australia, EU, UK
Survival of the state is most important for Sri Lanka
We are a small state and do not have any hegemonic intentions
Sri Lanka wishes for an Internationally accepted Rules based maritime order and freedom of maritime commerce
To overcome asymmetry
We believe in Multilateralism and not in Unilateralism
We do not like to see securitization of maritime trade and development
We wish to see a ‘balance of power’ and not a mighty hegemonic power
Sri Lanka is not a piece of ‘Real Estate’. Please respect Sri Lanka’s National Interests
Sri Lanka’s Economy and Foreign Policy directives
There is a brewing economic crisis amidst the Covid-19 induced global economic meltdown
Presidents’ three pillar strategy
National Security
Economic Development and Empowerment
Foreign Relations
Five pillars of our foreign policy
Neutrality
Friendly relations with everyone
Not to be caught up in major power game. We do not like to ‘hedge’ or ‘choose’ between states or ‘Band Wagoning’.
We need to maintain Strategic Autonomy”
Sri Lanka will not cede control of strategic assets to foreign concerns. Investment according to SLs vision articulated in Presidents’ ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’
Understand India’s strategic security concerns specially in maritime and air domains and not to be a strategic security concern to India.
MDA and NSA level talks between India, Sri Lanka and Maldives
What we the Indian Ocean Littorals wish to see taking place
We need a critical retrospection about Indian Ocean from within
• We wish to insulate the Indian Ocean from great power rivalries as in 1971 IOPZ (49 Years ago)
o Free from Nuclear weapons
o No great power rivalries
o No bases to support such rivalries
• Peace and stability in the IO- to spread good will- to allow littoral states to develop economically
• Strengthen Economic Cooperation- SDGs UN 2030 Agenda
o Create wealth for people
Ethically
Environment friendly
• Strengthen Global supply chain
• Strengthen defence cooperation
• Strengthen Maritime security Cooperation
• Technology cooperation- Education, Health
• Mutual respect and mutual benefit
• Partnerships- Inclusivity and not Exclusivity.
• Spirit of shared ‘Global Responsibilities’
Indian Ocean to be an Open, Inclusive, Transparent, Rules based, Cooperative ocean may be under the UN
Strengthen multi-lateral cooperation, for security, diplomatic and an economic architecture for cooperative, collaborative Regional collective security mechanism
Alliances and partnership for the IOR to convert Maritime Asia in to Continental Asia
There is a critical need for an Indian Ocean Narrative, Indian ocean maritime security strategy, IORA may be the way forward
The essence of foreign policy is the relationship with the ‘other’: the ally; the foe; the friend.
International diplomacy should work at its best in the IOR
A journey of thousand miles start with the first step. PF IOSC
President Elect Joe Biden stated during his victory speech You can be opponents but you do not have to be enemies”
Key note speech by Ambassador of Japan, H.E. Akira Sugiyama;
First of all, let me begin by expressing my heartfelt appreciation to the Pathfinder Foundation (PF) for organizing this conference most efficiently despite having had to face numerous challenges due to the prevailing pandemic of COVID-19. In this regard, I would like to commend the ablest team of the PF led by Mr. Milinda Moragoda, the Founder of the Foundation and Ambassador Bernard Goonetilleke, Chairman, as well as Ms. Ameera Arooze, Director-Programmes, among other staff, for working tirelessly to bring us together on the common platform once again to discuss the pressing topics on the security of the Indian Ocean.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The meeting of the International Advisory Group (IAG), which was convened on March 18th last year, had aimed at hammering out the multifaceted issues impacting on the security of the Indian Ocean, and prepared ground for the current PF-IOSC. The meeting thus conducted under skillful chairmanship of Ambassador Shivshankar Menon has successfully distilled the differing views and ideas into three essential issues upon which the distinguished participants are going to discuss over the course of the next three days.
The IAG meeting identifed; a) Maritime Security and Freedom of Navigation, b)Enhancing Connectivity, and c)Addressing ‘Mistrust’ and ‘Trust Deficiency’ which resonate very closely with the three principles of the vision of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific, that is, a)Strengthening the Rule of Law, especially Freedom of Navigation, b) Enhancing Connectivity through Quality Infrastructure”, and c)Maintaining peace and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific Region and beyond.
A Free and Open Indo-Pacific, whose acronym is FOIP that the Government of Japan envisages and promotes, is a vision that upholds the Indo-Pacific Oceans to be Global Commons,” or international public goods,” which would benefit all the countries, littoral and non-littoral alike, and is an inclusive concept open to all countries that share its basic principles. Such universal nature of FOIP, in my view, may have led the IAG to reach the basic affinity in its approach, which also reflects the common aspirations being long pursued in the history of the Indian Ocean – in the form of mare liberum or the free sea.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Sri Lanka, located at the strategic position on the east-west sea lanes, is an important partner in realizing a Free and Open Indo-Pacific”. Our Foreign Minister MOTEGI Toshimitsu, during his visit to Sri Lanka last December, shortly after the inauguration of the new government under H.E. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, renewed Japan’s commitment to assisting Sri Lanka’s development as a hub in the Indian Ocean. The foundation of the present maritime cooperation between Sri Lanka and Japan, however, was laid back in 2014 when the then Prime Minister Abe paid an official visit to Sri Lanka. On that occasion, the then Prime Minister Abe and the then H.E. President Mahinda Rajapaksa issued a Joint Statement, which was appropriately titled A New Partnership between Maritime Countries”. In this Joint Statement, the two leaders expressed their determination to elevate Japan-Sri Lanka relations, which have matured and diversified based on the long-standing friendship, into a new partnership between maritime countries”; and to further strengthen the cooperative relations to play significant roles in the stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific Ocean regions. Under the leadership of new Prime Minister SUGA Yoshihide, Japan continues to pursue a Free and Open Indo-Pacific, and I would like to add that, as Prime Minister SUGA stated during the recent maiden Prime Ministerial visit to Vietnam and Indonesia, ASEAN’s vision for the Indo-Pacific, that is, ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) shares many fundamental commonalities with the FOIP.
Based on the agreed framework, Japan and Sri Lanka have made steady progress in the area of maritime cooperation. On the maritime safety and security, to begin with, Japan has extended assistance to Sri Lanka by, a)granting two new patrol vessels to Sri Lanka Coast Guard, b)extending technical assistance for improving oil spill management to Sri Lanka Coast Guard, in view that Sri Lanka faces heavy traffic of oil tankers off the coast everyday, and c)supporting VBSS (Visit, Board, Search and Seizure) Training Courses conducted by Global Maritime Crime Progrrame of UNODC closely supported by Sri Lanka Navy, to tackle the mounting challenge of illegal drug trafficking plaguing the regions, among others. Recently, the same patrol vessels also played an active role in contributing to the joint effort carried out by Sri Lanka and India in successfully extinguishing the fire that broke out on a distressed oil tanker steering off the coast of Sri Lanka.
In addition, Japan has been strengthening exchanges between the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) and the Sri Lanka Navy through regular port calls by JMSDF, especially on their way to and from the Gulf of Aden to engage in the counter-piracy operations.
With regard to enhancing the connectivity and maintaining the peace and prosperity in the region, Japan has been promoting Quality Infrastructure” development in accordance with international standards, with particular emphasis on a) open access, b) transparency, c) economic efficiency including life-cycle cost, and d) financial viability of recipient countries. Japan continues to engage in the development of quality infrastructure in Sri Lanka most diligently, with special focus on ports, airports, power supply, water supply, and irrigation, among others, to correspond to the needs of the Government and people of Sri Lanka.
Finally, the importance of Confidence-building cannot be over-emphasized for realizing the vision of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific. The present conference of the Pathfinder Foundation will help create a conducive atmosphere for confidence-building among different stakeholders. As I stressed last year, Pathfinder Foundation’s initiative to hold this important conference has particular significance because of Sri Lanka’s unique geographical location, as I mentioned earlier, and the prominent role Sri Lanka has been playing in promoting the peace and prosperity of the region. I strongly hope that today’s conference will provide a valuable opportunity for close and constructive exchange of views of prominent experts, which will lay a precious foundation for common understanding on the way forward.
On this note, I would like to express our great pleasure of being a partner of PF-IOSC, and once again, appreciate the Pathfinder Foundation for organizing this iconic conference.
Thank you very much for your kind attention.
Co-chairs of the conference, Amb. Shivshankar Menon,
I would like to join Ambassador Bernard Goonetilleke in welcoming you all to the Pathfinder Foundation Indian Ocean Security Conference. It is a particular pleasure to welcome (back) Admiral Colombage, who made this conference possible in his previous avatar, and whom we have the privilege of hearing today.
It is good to see so many old friends at once, though virtually. I am particularly happy to see the number and high level of participants in the conference — we have over a hundred participants from business, think tanks, government, diplomatic missions and academia. This is tribute to the reputation and expertise of the speakers and the excellent papers that they have prepared.
It is also due to the importance of the subject of this conference, Indian Ocean security, and its topicality.
The Indian Ocean has always been an ocean of peace, an ocean of trade and human contact and migration. It has avoided the fate of some closed seas of being primarily a battle space or a domain of contention. It did so largely due to its geography, though the inhabitants of the littoral can claim some credit. Its open geography and predictable winds made it so.
But today our life has been complicated by several factors: by advances in technology which make contention in large open ocean spaces like the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific possible; by the contention between great powers that characterises the geopolitics of today; and, by the very high stakes that we all have in the flow of trade and energy across the Indian Ocean sea lanes. Today, the Indian Ocean is ringed by rising and rapidly developing states, and is significant to the security and prosperity of several extra-regional powers. The size of the arms build up in the Indo-Pacific in the last two decades has no parallel anywhere in history. The central geopolitical fault line in the world today is in the Asia-Pacific, not in Europe as it was in the Cold War, and the Indian Ocean, or the larger body of water known as the Indo-Pacific, is at the heart of that. As a consequence, when the world is between orders, great powers are bringing their contention to the Indian Ocean. Security has thus become an issue in forms that are new and different from what we were used to.
I speak here of security in the broadest sense — not just of the safety of mariners, fishermen and their vessels but of everything up to ecological security, including the effects that climate change and human actions are having on the ocean that is critical to our livelihoods. This is why we have sessions not just on the traditional hard security issues later today, but also on enhancing connectivity tomorrow and on identifying and addressing major issues day after tomorrow.
But lest by speaking of complicated geopolitics and ecological threats I leave you with the wrong impression, let me hasten to say that I am an optimist about the future of Indian Ocean security, despite the complications of contemporary geopolitics and the prospect of sustained great power rivalries. That is because we have the skills and experience of working together and cooperating to deal with emerging security threats. In the past, we cooperated in new and imaginative ways to successfully deal with piracy off the Horn of Africa and earlier around the Straits of Malacca. If we put our minds to it, and realise our common interest in keeping this a free and open ocean of peace, trade and travel, I am confident that we will succeed.
And that is what I hope this conference will result in — that our discussions over these three days will identify what is missing, and what more can be done, not just by the states and navies but also by the other actors who affect Indian Ocean security, broadly defined. What we suggest will have to inclusive, to serve the common interest, and to provide the maritime security and public goods in these commons that we have so far taken for granted but that are today at risk not just from geopolitics but from environmental and other factors.
I do hope that we are able through our discussions to arrive at a common understanding and a set of recommendations that would be of use to the governments, navies and others in our countries, around the Indian Ocean and beyond, build on UNCLOS to create a free and open Indo-Pacific.
With these few words, let me welcome you again and wish you success in the conference.
This track 1.5 event is expected to create a platform for all stakeholders i.e. policy makers, relevant government officials, researchers, scholars, subject matter experts, think-tank representatives, print and electronic media etc. to engage in a constructive discussion, sharing expertise on relevant topics with a view to contribute to maintain the Indian Ocean free of power rivalry, and facilitate free and unimpeded navigation for all interested parties, without exception and exclusion. The space provided by the conference could also be used to enhance bilateral, regional and multilateral cooperation and collaboration to address common threats in this global maritime common. It will also provide opportunities for networking and fellowship among participants and policy makers.
The platform provided by the conference for an open and free discussion is expected to create a conducive environment to address existing mistrust and rivalry among the regional and extra-regional states; the impact on environmental security arising from climate change and global warming; and transnational maritime crime among others. It is the expectation of the Pathfinder Foundation that an open discussion on the above and other related issues would result in mutually beneficial win-win situation for the littorals as well as other users of the Indian Ocean.
Bernard Goonetilleke, Chairman-Pathfinder Foundation.
Sri Lanka & the Indian Ocean
The Pathfinder Foundation is pleased that it was able to conduct this meeting amidst difficult circumstances. Originally, we planned to have the meeting in April this year with personal attendance of littoral countries in the IOR, for which purpose we held a preparatory meeting in March 2019. However, it had to be postponed due to the ongoing pandemic, which made us to conduct this gathering in virtual format.
Sri Lanka’s interest in the Indian Ocean is not new. Almost half a century ago, with the support of the non-aligned countries, Sri Lanka succeeded in getting Res. 2832 adopted by the 26th Session of the UN General Assembly. That task was undertaken with the intention of declaring the IO as a Zone of Peace. However, the intensity of the Cold War prevailed around that time prevented further negotiations to bring that Declaration closer to reality.
During the past several years, the Pathfinder Foundation has done considerable work on the IO. We first focused on the Bay of Bengal, on which we held two regional meetings, one in 2017, and the other in 2018. And now, our focus is the wider Indian Ocean. Also, in 2018, our Foundation proposed a draft ‘Code of Conduct for the Indian Ocean’, to get the attention of the regional and extra-regional countries for mutually agreed rule-based arrangement for the IO.
Trade led to conquest
For millennia, IO has been a place famous for maritime trade, – and, conquest was not the norm. However, with the arrival of the European powers since the beginning of the 16th century, first for trade and later conquest, majority of L & H countries of the IO ended up becoming colonies of – one or the other European powers. Decolonization process that commenced since the end of the Second WW, saw the withdrawal of colonial powers dominated by the British from their possessions, which vacuum was quickly filled by the USA. The Great Power rivalry that was at its height around this period, led to the establishment of new military bases, and forced countries in the region to throw their lot in favour of one or the other ideological camps. The emergence of the NAM, since the Belgrade Conference, enabled the newly independent countries, to take shelter from the super-power rivalry.
Rationale for the IO Security Conference
Let us briefly consider reasoning for this Conference to be convened by the Pathfinder Foundation. Almost 3 decades after the end of the Cold War dominated by a unipolar world, we are currently witnessing signs of another change. That is, emergence of a multi-polar world, yet again. In this scenario, there are emerging global powers such as China and India, and the former, is said to be challenging the current hegemon, with consequential reaction by the US. Meanwhile, both China and India are expected to reach the heights of their new-found economic power by the middle of the century. What has not been clearly assessed is whether China is seeking to replace the US as the leading power in the Indo-Pacific, or merely looking for its rightful place in the global system.
To achieve the predicted economic growth, emerging economic powers will require unimpeded access to energy and other resources and markets for finished goods. Each rising global power would consider that – it is their right to have unhindered access to the desired natural resources, and it would be their duty to protect the conveyance of such resources to their countries. Securing international sea lanes and ensuring the vital choke points in the IO will not be blocked by hostile forces, will be a responsibility that no major industrial power could ignore.
Meanwhile, no one should be surprised by the determination of the current dominant power in the IO to hinder the progress of the challenger, notwithstanding the fact it will be a harbinger for confrontation. In the colonial era, European powers fought against each other using cannons mounted on sail ships. Any naval confrontation in the 21st century will rely on submarines, cruise missiles and wholly new generation of weapons with devastating results, disrupting the global economy and security.
We have also witnessed extra-regionals getting involved in regional armed conflicts such as the ‘Tanker War’ during the 8-year long Iran-Iraq war. As the confrontations escalated, the USA, its allies and the Russian Federation deployed their naval vessels to protect movement of oil tankers. In that process, firing of missiles against ships, deploying of mines in the Gulf resulting in hits that nearly sank ‘USS Samuel B. Roberts’, attacking Iranian oil platforms, and accidental downing of an Iranian civilian airliner by a missile occurred in quick succession. Fighting raged until July 1988, when the UN Security Council Resolution 598 was adopted resulting in a ceasefire. That confrontation was not an isolated incident, as similar confrontations occurred in in the Gulf, during 2019 and 2020, with attacks, counter attacks and seizure of oil tankers etc. drone attacks against Aramco owned oil processing facilities in Saudi Arabia etc., which threatened the security of the Gulf region and the global economy.
Looking at the larger picture, confrontations between the dominant power and the challenger, may or may not decide, who the winner is. However, consequential fallout will be detrimental to the interests of the littoral countries, whose priority would be uninterrupted economic development leading to wellbeing of their populations. According to the ADB, the development needs of the Asian countries would be in the range of massive 26 trillion dollars from 2016 – 2030! Consequently, priority of the countries in the region would be to realize their development goals, and that will not be possible by choosing to become party to military confrontations of others.
Meanwhile, we also note the steady expansion of navies by regional states, such as India, Iran, Pakistan etc. while other countries such as Bangladesh and Myanmar have acquired submarine capability demonstrating their interest in safeguarding their national security.
Countries in the region also have to face security threats emanating from non-state actors, who engage in piracy, drug and gun running, people smuggling, IUU fishing etc. Piracy around the Horn of Africa necessitated establishment of tripartite coalition consisting of the NATO, the EU and the US combined Maritime Forces, with others, such as India and China joining in anti-piracy patrolling, in response to the call made by the UN Security Council.
We have to accept the fact that the Indian Ocean is a common heritage of the global community, and as in the past, its sea lanes will continue to provide accessibility to regional as well as extra-regional states. Meanwhile, non-state actors too will make use of the ocean to carry out illegal activities, as Sri Lanka had experienced during the separatist war that ended in 2009. What is needed therefore is an arrangement to maintain ‘good order at sea’. Ensuring the ocean is ‘open and free’ for all, without exception, in keeping with the Convention on the Law of the Sea and finding ways and means of addressing any shortcomings in that Convention, through discussion and negotiation, and taking steps for domain awareness are among the solutions to the problem.
Let me conclude by asking, is it practical to expect removal of naval and other military assets of the extra-regional powers from the IO? Is it pragmatic to expect emerging naval powers not to establish such facilities, which in their opinion, are necessary to ensure supply energy and other resources? Finally, what specific arrangements are available or necessary to address the prevailing mistrust, which may result in miscalculations leading to armed confrontation? Perhaps we should concentrate more on confidence building measures and give high priority to domain awareness.
It is the expectation of the Pathfinder Foundation that the papers submitted by the eminent academics and professionals would enable the participants to address the broad issues during our 3-day discussion.
Thank you.
ඉන්දියානු ආධාර ප්රදාන යටතේ රුපියල් මිලියන හයසීයකට අධික වියදමකින් මෙරට ක්රියාත්මක කරන ප්රජා සංවර්ධන ව්යාපෘති සඳහා ශ්රී ලංකාව සහ ඉන්දියාව අද 2020.11.10 දින අවබෝධතා ගිවිසුමකට එළැඹිණි.
මුදල් අමාත්යංශ ලේකම් එස්.ආර්.ආටිගල මහතා හා මෙරට ඉන්දීය මහ කොමසාරිස් ගෝපාල් බාග්ලේ මහතා මෙම ගිවිසුමට අත්සන් තැබූහ.
මෙම ගිවිසුම 2005 වර්ෂයේදී වත්මන් ගරු අග්රාමාත්ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා ජනාධිපතිව සිටි සමයේ අත්සන් තැබුණු ගිවිසුමක් වන අතර එය සෑම වසර 5කට වරක් දීර්ඝ කරමින් මෙම ගිවිසුම අත්සන් කරනු ලබයි.
අග්රාමාත්ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමාගේ ප්රධානත්වයෙන්, මෙරට ඉන්දීය මහ කොමසාරිස් ගෝපාල් බාග්ලේ මහතාගේ සහභාගිත්වයෙන් මෙම අවබෝධතා ගිවිසුමට අත්සන් තැබීම විජේරාම පිහිටි අග්රාමාත්ය නිල නිවසේදී පැවැත්විණි.
මෙම ගිවිසුමට අදාළව විශේෂ සංවර්ධන ව්යාපෘතිවල පිරිවැය රුපියල් මිලියන 300 ඉක්මවන අතර හදිසි පූර්ව රෝහල් සත්කාර ගිලන්රථ සේවය, නිවාස ව්යාපෘති, නව යාපනය සංස්කෘතික මධ්යස්ථානයේ කටයුතු ඒ ඔස්සේ ක්රියාත්මක වේ.
කුඩා සංවර්ධන ව්යාපෘති සඳහා උපරිම වශයෙන් රුපියල් මිලියන 300 ක් වැය කරන අතර නැවත පදිංචි කිරීම, නවාතැන්, ජීවනෝපාය, රැකියා, කාන්තා සවිබල ගැන්වීම වෘත්තීය පුහුණුව, අධ්යාපනය සහ පර්යේෂණ, සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු, ක්රීඩා, කාර්මික සංවර්ධනය, වෛද්ය මධ්යස්ථාන හා රෝහල්වල යටිතල පහසුකම් සංවර්ධනය සහ වෛද්ය උපකරණ සැපයීම ඒ යටතේ ක්රියාත්මකය.
දැනට ක්රියාත්මක මෙම ව්යාපෘති නව ගිවිසුම ප්රකාරව අඛණ්ඩව පවත්වාගෙන යාම සිදුවේ.
කොවිඞ්-19 වසංගතය සඳහා යෝජිත ප්රතිචාර
සේවක පක්ෂයේ සහ සේව්ය පක්ෂයේ නියෝජිතයින්ගෙන් සැදුම්ලත් ද්විපාර්ශවික සෞඛ්ය කමිටු ආයතන මට්ටමින් පිහිටුවීම සහ එමගින් සෞඛ්ය විධිවිධාන ක්රියාත්මක කිරීම පිළිබඳව නිතිපතා විමර්ශනය කිරීම සහ ඒ පිළිබඳව ඇඟළුම් කර්මාන්තශාලා හිමියන්ගේ සංසදය විසින් පිහිටුවනු ලබන ජාතික ද්විපාර්ශවික සෞඛ්ය කමිටුවට වාර්ථා කිරීම මෙම සෞඛ්ය කමිටුව විසින් පහත දැක්වෙන විධිවිධාන විමර්ශනය කරනු ඇත.
සෞඛ්ය අමාත්යංශය විසින් නිකුත් කරන ලද සෞඛ්ය විධිවිධාන සහ උපදෙස් අකුරටම ක්රියාත්මක කිරීම කොන්ත්රාත් සේවකයින් ද ඇතුළුව සියළුම සේවකයින් පී.සී.ආර්. පරීක්ෂණවලට භාජනය කිරීම සහ ඒ සඳහා වැයවන මුදල් සේවා යෝජක විසින් දැරීම සෑම ආයතනයක් විසින්ම නිරෝධායන මධ්යස්ථාන පවත්වාගෙන යාම සහ සෑහීමකට පත්විය හැකි ප්රමිතියකින් යුතුව සියළු පහසුකම් සහිතව එම මධ්යස්ථාන පවත්වාගෙන යාම
නිෂ්පාදකයින්ගේ සංගමය විසින් නඩත්තු කරනු ලබන රෝහල් නිදහස් වෙළඳ කලාප සහ කාර්මික පුරවල පිහිටුවීම
තම ඥාතීන්ට දැන ගැනීමට හැකිවන පරිදි කොවිඞ්-19 ආසාදිතයින් සහ ආශ්රිතයින් පිළිබඳව ඔවුන්ගේ කැමැත්ත මත විද්යුත් දත්ත පවත්වාගෙන යාම
කිසියම් ආයතනයක සේවකයින් නිරෝධායන මධ්යස්ථානවලට හෝ රජයේ රෝහල්වලට ප්රවාහනය කිරීමේ කටයුතු මහජන සෞඛ්ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ අධීක්ෂණය යටතේ සෞඛ්ය සේවකයින් විසින් සිදු කිරීම
පරීක්ෂණවල වාර්ථාවන් ලැබෙන තෙක් පරීක්ෂණයට භාජනය කළ සේවකයින් අනෙකුත් සේවකයින්ගෙන් වෙන්කර තැබීම සඳහා හුදකලා මධ්යස්ථාන තිබිය යුතු අතර ඒවා සඳහා සියළු පහසුකම් සේවා යෝජක සමාගම් විසින් ලබාදිය යුතුය
තම ගම්බිම්වලට යාමෙන් වසංගතය පැතිරීමට ඇති ඉඩකඩ නිසා නේවාසිකාගාරවල නැවතීමට සිදුවී ඇති සේවකයින් සඳහා දිනකට ආහාර වෙල් 03 ක් සේවා යෝජක සමාගම් විසින් ලබාදිය යුතුය. අවසන් වරට සේවය ලබාගත් සේවා යෝජක සමාගම් මෙළෙස නේවාසිකව සිටින කොන්ත්රාත් සේවකයින්ට ද එම පහසුකම් ලබාදිය යුතුව ඇත.
ඇඳිරිනීතිය, ප්රදේශ වසාදැමීම්, තාවකාලිකව කර්මාන්තශාලා වසාදැමීම් යන හේතූන් මත සේවයට වාර්ථා කිරීමට නොහැකි වන ඔවුන්ගේ වැටුප් සහ අනෙකුත් දීමනා ගෙවිය යුතුය
සෑම නේවාසිකාගාරයක්ම ශ්රී ලංකා ආයෝජන මණ්ඩලය විසින් විශබීජහරණය කළයුතු අතර අත් සේදීමේ සහ විෂබීජනාශක දියර සහිත සෞඛ්ය කට්ටල සෑම නේවාසිකාගාරයකටම ලබාදිය යුතුය. සෑම නේවාසිකාගාරයකම සෞඛ්ය කමිටු පිහිටවිය යුතු අතර එම නේවාසිකාගාරවල තත්ත්වය පිළිබඳව ප්රධාන ද්වි පාක්ෂික සෞඛ්ය කමිටුවට වාර්ථා කිරීම සමහර සේවකයින් සේවයට වාර්ථා නොකර සිටියදී සේවයට වාර්ථා කරනු ලබන සේවකයින් හට වසංගත අවදානම් දීමනාවක් ලෙස දිනකට රු. 250/= ක දීමනාවක් ගෙවීම රෝහල්ගතවී හෝ නිරෝධායන මධ්යස්ථානවල හෝ නේවාසිකාගාරවල සිටීමට සිදුවී ඇති සේවකයින් හට ඔවුන්ට අහිමිවූ ආදායම පියවීම සඳහා දිනකට රු. 350/= ක දීමනාවක් ගෙවීම
The 32 year old six footer who thrilled the youths as well as adults in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in early sixties is no more. His full name is Thomas Sean Connery died on 31 October2020, five days after his 90th birthday.
Sean became an overnight sensation when the English movie ‘Dr. No’ was screened sometime in 1964 at the Savoy cinema in Wellawatte, Colombo. Young men and women who saw the movie were fascinated by the way James Bond (played by Sean) introduced himself to a pretty lady playing the Baccarat table seated opposite to him at the London club Le Cercle. After losing two rounds Sylvia Trench (played by Eunice Gayson) wants to continue while Bond remarks he admires her courage. Sylvia replies Í admire your luck ….Mr.’
Then came the sensational introduction, while lighting a cigarette with his Ronson Bond….. James Bond.”
An article written by my friend and classmate Firoze Sameer, published in ‘The Sunday Times Plus’ on 25 May, 2008, under the title ‘He lit a flame that thrilled audiences through the ages’ which was a tribute to the 100th birth anniversary of Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, the British Secret Service agent, explained the scenario after screening ‘Dr No.’:
Quote We were then grade ten students at Royal College Colombo. Connery in the plush casino answering a beaut across the green baize, Bond, James Bond,” while lighting one of his Morland Specials with a gunmetal Ronson against that famous theme, made an indelible impact in a bizarre way on our sensitive psyches. We switched from reading Chase to Fleming’s Bond books. Although we did not know it then, Ian Fleming had died in the same year on August 12.”
Bond’s meeting with beautiful ‘Honey Ryder’ (played by Úrsula Andress’) who rose out of sea at the Crab Island beach off the coast of Jamaica in an ivory hued bikini singing the popular number ‘Underneath the mango tree‘ was another scene from the movie which will be remembered for ever. When James Bond repeated the song astonished Ryder pulled out her diving knife that she was sporting on her hip, challenging the stranger.
Apparently that ivory-coloured two piece is to go under the hammer in Los Angeles on 12th November, where the set is estimated to sell for up to $500,000 according to the auctioneer’s estimate.
James Bond who had a licence to kill, moving from one hotel to another, flirting with beautiful dames, driving flashy cars captured the youthful imagination of many a Sri Lankan youth. They imitated the lighting of cigarettes, style of talking, walking, smoking, eating, drinking and many actions of Double-O-Seven.
Sean Connery was born in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, Scotland on 25th August 1930. His mom, Euphemia “Effie” McBain McLean, was a cleaning woman and dad Joseph Connery, was a factory worker and lorry driver. His paternal great-grandparents emigrated to Scotland from Ireland in the mid-19th century. The others in his family were of Scottish origin. He joined the Royal Navy in 1946 at the age of 16. He was trained at the naval gunnery school and in an anti-aircraft crew. He was then assigned as an Able Seaman on HMS Formidable. Sean was discharged from the navy at the age of 19 on medical grounds due to a duodenal ulcer, a condition that affected most of the males in previous generations of his family (Wikipedia).
As a youth Sean had many different jobs such as a milkman, lorry driver, a laborer, artist’s model for the Edinburgh College of Art, coffin polisher. Then he ventured in to body building for a short time and while at a competition held in London in 1953, he had the opportunity to face an audition for the production of the South Pacific musical. He was selected for a minor part as one of the Seabees chorus boys. Due to popular demand the play was staged several times in Edinburgh and by then Sean was given the important role of Lieutenant Buzz Adams at a fee of £14–10s a week. In a real life drama around this time, the Valdor gang, one of the most violent in the city targeted him and tried to grab his jacket at a billiard hall in Edinburgh. Later he launched an attack singlehandedly against the gang members, grabbing one by the throat and another by his biceps and cracked their heads together. From then on, he was treated with great respect by the gang and gained a reputation as a “hard man.“
Sean once said he had a choice between becoming a professional footballer or an actor at the age of 23. Even though he showed much promise in the sport, his choice of acting he said, was one of his more intelligent moves.
For some time he played a blend of small stage and minor television roles. Fortunately he got the chance of acting as the aging boxer Mountain McClintock in Requiem for a Heavyweight” on live television for the BBC from March 1957. A reviewer for The Times of London wrote, he had shambling and inarticulate charm.” Soon after, Sean Connery received movie offers.
He was selected for minor roles in a string of movies, including Action of the Tiger” (1957), a thriller starring Van Johnson and Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure” (1959), in which he played a villain out to destroy a village. He also played as a private in Daryll F Zanuk’s all-star D-Day saga The Longest Day” (1962) and a man enchanted into falling in love in Disney’s Darby O’Gill and the Little People” (1959).
Sean’s big breakthrough came when he was selected for the role of British secret agent James Bond in Dr No. He owed a lot to Dana Broccoli, wife of producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, who told her husband that Sean was the right man for the job. Director Terence Young took him under his wing, accompanied him to dinner, showed him how to walk, how to talk, even how to eat and polished him. The tutoring was successful and Dana Broccoli proved correct when Sean Connery received thousands of fan letters a week after Dr No opening, and became a major sex symbol in film.
When The Longest Day” was first screened in Colombo Sean’s name did not appear in billboard or newspaper advertisements, as he appeared only for few second carrying an injured soldier in a stretcher, but when the movie was screened a second time his name appeared along with John Wayne, Henry Fonda and Richard Burton. Such was the impact made by Sean’s James Bond role in Dr No.
As a result of the popularity of Dr No and From Russia With Love (the second Bond film to be screened in Colombo) a Sinhala spy movie Sorungeth Soru (සොරුන්ගෙත් සොරු) was produced starring Gamini Fonseka as secret agent Jamis Banda directed by Mike Wilson, the Englishman who produced and directed the first Sinhala colour movie Ranmuthu Duva.” Other actors included Jeveranee Kurukulasuriya, Robin Fernando, Bandu Munasinghe, Joe Abeywicrama, Piyadasa Gunasekara and Liz Wilson (Mike’s wife). The black and white movie won the best film award and best actor award (Gamini) at the 5th Sarasaviya Awards in 1968.
Next Bond movies which followed, screened in Colombo were From Russia With Love’’ at the Savoy Cinema in 1965 followed by Gold finger” in 1966, Thunderball” in 1967, You Live Only Twice” in 1968, Diamonds are Forever’’ in 1973. Connery acted in all these movies as the dynamic MI6 agent James Bond attached to the Double-0 section with number Seven. Bond movies which followed after his departure, starring with other actors including Roger Moore as the agent 007 were popular among the Sri Lankan fans, but many who saw Dr No, and especially From Russia, With Love which was the favourite of Connery and author Ian Fleming, in their youth consider Sean Connery as the greatest James Bond.
Rohan Abeygunawardena,
Nugegoda.
Hon. Joseph Biden
We wish to congratulate the newly elected President of the USA, Mr. Joseph Biden on a spectacular victory, on behalf of the Justice for Animals & Nature of Sri Lanka, and extend our warmest wishes for a successful period in office while addressing global concerns for the future of the animals, natural environment and related issues.
USA, in particular as a superpower, bears a huge moral responsibility to protect the environment as well as all forms of life including non – human living beings from being subject to abuse, cruelty and inhumane treatment.
We hope to see your new administration take animal welfare seriously and use America’s global influence to encourage other countries that lag behind in providing an up to date legislative protection to animals to do so without further delay, and ensure that animals are protected and safe under the Rule of Law.
May you be protected by the Blessings of the Lord Buddha.
Yours with Metta, Ven. Dr. Omalpe Sobhita Thero President Justice for Animals & Nature Sri Lanka
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