The Presidential Commission on Inquiry (PCoI) probing the incidents of political victimization has issued summons on former State Minister Vijayakala Maheswaran and Kumaran Sarvananda, who contested the General Election 2015 from the United National Party (UNP).
They are scheduled to appear before the Presidential Commission on the 17th of September.
The PCoI decided to summon this duo based on a complaint filed by Police Constable Gnanalingam Mayuran who was previously attached to the Chunnakam Police.
Gnanalingam, who testified before the Presidential Commission today (05), had claimed the former State Minister was directly involved in the release of Mahalingam Shashikumar alias Swiss Kumar, the main suspect in the murder and gang rape of Sivaloganathan Vidya.
He also alleged that Maheswaran can also be behind the imprisoning of five police officers including himself over the death of a suspect who had fled from the police custody. The suspect, accused of a robbery that took place in Chunnakam area, had drowned while making his escape.
One of the important lessons emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic is the importance of maintaining a centralized healthcare system President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said.
Although the administrations of most of Sri Lanka’s state-run hospitals are vested with the Provincial Councils, fortunately there were enough hospitals nationwide under the management of the Health Ministry that could be utilized without difficulty during the height of the pandemic, the President said further.
Had we been in a situation where healthcare was a subject completely devolved to the Provincial Councils, the efficacy of Sri Lanka’s response to the pandemic may have been quite different,” the President pointed out.
Our recent experience reinforces the importance of maintaining responsibility for certain functions with the central Government. Education is another vital area of public life that can be similarly described”.
President Rajapaksa made these remarks delivering the keynote address at the launch of Good Intern Programme 2020” two-day workshop at Manelwatta Nagananda International Buddhist Studies Institute in Bollagala Kelaniya today (05).
The workshop organized by Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) is attended by 680 medical graduates awaiting internship. Today’s workshop is the 8th in the series. More than 100 Professors and Medical Consultants will share their thoughts during the workshop.
Commencing his address, the President said Sri Lanka was successful in containing COVID-19 pandemic primarily to due decisive, early action taken by multiple arms of the Government, and the truly outstanding efforts of our health personnel.
The outstanding success Sri Lanka achieved in this endeavour came at a time when even some of the most developed countries in the world were unable to respond adequately to the pandemic. Due to a variety of factors, ranging from a delayed response by their Governments, to the lack of universal health insurance, the unpreparedness of their healthcare institutions, the lack of sufficient testing, to the inadequacy of their management systems, the spread of the virus could not be contained in several developed nations”.
President said he commends, pay tribute to, and express his sincere gratitude to all healthcare professionals and others who contributed to Sri Lanka’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sri Lanka’s success in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic has been justly commended by international institutions including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UNICEF, as well as many foreign nations, international commentators and individuals,” the President pointed out.
One of the core pillars of development is the maintenance of a healthy population. Achieving certain public health goals remains a core responsibility of the Government. I am determined to work towards creating a healthy nation during my tenure as President of this country.”
While there is certainly a need to further strengthen the state healthcare system, I believe it is time that we encourage greater use of the facilities we have within this system said the President adding that some innovative thinking towards absorbing state generated funds into the public healthcare system will ultimately benefit the citizens.
The mandate given to the Government by the people at the Parliamentary Elections just a month ago makes it very clear that the Sri Lankan public is hungry for development and tired of excuses,” the President added.
Secretary to the Ministry of Health Major General (Retire) Sanjeewa Munasinghe, medial officers, President of the GMOA Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya and its members and delegates of Society for Health Research and Innovation had attended the inaugural session.
Later, President called on the Chief Executive of Manelwatta Nagananda International Buddhist Studies Institute and Chief Incumbent of Kelaniya Manelwatta Vihara Ven. Dr. Bodagama Chandima Thero.
The Thero gifted the President a replica of Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi.
President posed for a group photo with Bhikkunis of Buddha Shravika Educational Center in Manelwatta Vihara and children of Dharmachakra Lama Padanama.
Before
elected to the president position, Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa broadly talked about
technical vocational education and training (TVET). After the general election
in 2020, the president has appointed two state ministers for education reforms
and TVET system development, in addition to the minister of education. TVET system has spread in many countries as
it directly related to economic development and growth, many western countries
spend billions of US dollars for TVET, and UNESCO has developed policies and
procedures for TVET, which is the most vital aspect of education reforms in
many countries. Although developed countries spend billions of dollars on TVET
system many developing countries including Sri Lanka spend an insufficient
amount on the TVET system and have not developed necessary regulation and awareness
for people.
Promoting
vocational education and training in Sri Lanka concentrated in the report of
Matching Employment Expectations and Opportunities by Prof.Dudley Seers and
When Mr.IMRA Irriyagolla was the minister of education in 1965 concentrated in
education reforms outlining to TVET, however, left politics in the country went
against vocational education in high schools without giving reasons for the
opposition. The views against Vocational
Education in High Schools had been used by JVP to attract rural students in the
1970s in universities and high schools to attract students for their vicious
actions. It was wrong and now JVP has achieved the results of vicious actions
in the past and stupid thinking at present. (To get a simple understanding of
vocational education please read Hennigan, J (2001), The Business of
Vocational Education. ERIC Digest, ED 467982, Eric Clearing House for Community
Colleges, Los Angeles, CA).
About
three decades ago vocational education was relatively new to secondary schools
and traditionally, high schools have been charged with the delivery of a broad-based
general education. General education is
defined as the creation and acquisition of knowledge irrespective of uses to
which it may be subsequently put. Vocational education is defined as the
acquisition of knowledge relevant to employment. The role of vocational
education is to stress the acquisition of demonstrable skills (competencies)
and positive attitudes towards employment and the application of values in the
work environment.
Crittenden
(1996) distinguishes between general and vocational education on the
characteristics of each. Vocational
education concerns with broadening understanding related to human vocations
along with the major theoretical perspectives on various vocations. Crittenden (1996) further explains that
theoretical perspectives are selected for their relevance to practice and are
studied in so as they contribute to more efficient performance and, if the
conception of the program not too narrowly utilitarian, to greater insight and
understanding regarding a practice.
There
are diverse views on general education and vocational education. Famous
education policy-maker in Australia Keating, M (1996) explained two terms
concentrating characteristics of each including common to both. VET has
distinctive features such as a discrete segment of learning, or modules and
assessment based on demonstration of specified competencies, but its
identifying characteristics is that is directed towards the need of the
industry and the workplace: the authority for VET lies with industry, which
sets its standards. General education overlaps
with VET, but in its more traditional academic forms, it is just as different
from traditional academic subjects based on the abstract form of knowledge and
learning”
As
Prof. Keating (1996) indicated the relationship between vocational education
and general education can be shown as follow.
TRAINING VOCATIONAL GENERAL
EDUCATION EDUCATION
Industry
Training Key Competencies Subjects
Workplace
directed Theory and Practice Academic
Modules World of Work Abstract
Why
should high school deliver vocational education may be a question because the
traditional delivery of education is to consists of general education. Parents
in Sri Lanka have specific desires to educate kids to be medical doctors or
engineers (some parents were beguiled by crooks in overseas soil engineers and
saw doctors for marriages), The current
economic issues, especially unemployment in school leavers force Sri Lanka to
adopt vocational education in high schools and other reasons such as increase
retention rate of students in high schools until complete year 12 (G.C.E
Advanced Level) in a more diverse student cohort in high schools, the collapse
of the full-time employment, and to use high school students for flexible
workforces, increase in the influence of the world of work on senior secondary
school curriculum and changing the traditional attitudes on high school
education are argued factors in many countries.
There
is a wide debate on offering vocational education in high schools, education
experts argue that vocational education is technocratic, specific, practical,
and managerial while the general education is democratic, egalitarian,
critical, and collaborative. The desire of kids in Sri Lanka shows that kids
want to engage in employment soon after secondary education and unemployed
young people have become victims of a political issue in the country and after
1970 school levers had to go behind politicians to find a job, which is a
fundamental right irrespective of politics.
When
a high school converts as a technical high school that needs to incorporate the
VET curriculum, which is written in a competency-based training format and
teachers in general education have difficulties adapting CBT curriculum that
indicates a broader aspect of curriculum features (Course, Module, Duration,
Module Code, Introduction, Rationale, Curriculum principle, Purpose of Module/
Course, Pre-Requisites, Relationship to Competency/ Industry Standard,
Conditions to Offer, Learning Outcomes, Assessment Criteria, Contents, Teaching
Strategies, Assessment Methods, Teaching/ Learning Resources) and teachers need
to train for CBT teaching and assessment.
The
other significant issues are resources in schools. To successfully offer
vocational education in secondary schools need resources that the ability to
meet the minimum human and physical resources requirements. High schools need workshops and workshop
managers to offer VET courses (Certificate 1 and Certificate 2 consistent with
UNESCO standards). If industrial firms
are closer to the high schools, schools can get assistance from industrial
firms if the school maintains successful industry relationships or there are
closer high schools with resources co-operatively use workshops in schools
transporting students. In this process, there are safety procedures that
teachers have to maintained and evaluate.
With
resources, the other issue is the ability of schools to implement flexible
timetables. According to my experience, many high schools are divided into
general education areas and vocational education areas. Students study general
education until 12.00-noon and after lunch students transfer to the vocational
area and study until 4.00 pm vocational programs. Flexible delivery is commonly
used when offering the VET curriculum.
According to flexible delivery, the training is provided the way that
best meets the needs of individuals. Self-placed learning, flexible entry, and
exit, RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) are recognized. As the private
tuition business is strong and beguiled parents offering vocational education
in high schools might be objected by private tuition business.
Students
in VET in high schools need contextual learning and assessment that means
students are assessed and learned in school and workplace and VET certificates
need to certify student’s competencies, in simple what can perform by
certificate holders. Vocational training massively supports students to perform
well in higher education and to gain multi-skills. Many developed countries offer double degrees
like MBBS and Bachelor in Nursing.
Many
countries in the world have developed a more authentic work setting and a
project approach is made to assess students.
According to my experience, the project approach is highly successful in
many countries because students like it.
Students gain practical skills on how to develop projects incorporating
team views, allocating project roles, applying knowledge and skills, project
quality, application of values (safety, do your best, inclusion, etc.). Most of these value education is lacking in
Sri Lanka.
However,
there is criticism from the American environment. While this vocational education in high
schools approach is admirable its effectiveness is limited as it lacks the
authenticity of context. In the USA Committee for Economic Development has
levied a serious indictment on many school-based VET programs stating that they
are almost worthless and a cruel hoax on young learners looking to acquire
marketable skills. The commission
advised to re-directed to re-shape programs.
I
have training experience in Sri Lanka and hope that vocational education in
high schools could be used to enhance productivity and changing the attitudes
of parents, employees, and the quality of people.
[This article was first published in the Daily News of 04 June 2013. I have requested republication in Lanka Web as the issues discussed are relevant today as they were then].
QUO VADIS, NORTH?
When the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was signed in July 1987 it was hailed as New Delhi’s biggest diplomatic coup, which had immense strategic value”. Indeed. The conditions imposed on Sri Lanka were intended to end the freedom it enjoyed in having independent defence, foreign affairs and regional administration policies.
A significant outcome of the Accord was the establishment of the provincial council for North and East. Crouched as a means for nurturing the distinct cultural and linguistic identity in the Northern and Eastern provinces, which were “areas of historical habitation of Tamil speaking people”,
it was Rajiv Gandhi’s answer to the separation demanded by the LTTE. It was in spite of experiencing persistent problems with its state system ever since independence that India forced the 13th Amendment on Sri Lanka.
Growing pressure to reorganize states on ethnic and linguistic lines had grown to such an extent that not long after independence, in 1953, India was forced to create the state of Andhra for Telegu speaking people. And now there are signs of further disintegration with the Talangana region clamouring to break off from Andhra Pradesh. There is also mounting pressure in the tribal areas of Bihar, Malayalam speaking areas of Southern and Western parts and Tamil Nadu. A movement also persists to this day within Tamil Nadu to secede from the union.
Northern Province street scene
In Sri Lanka, even before the ink was dry, the Accord was getting unravelled. With severe dissention within the government and outside, it was passed by Parliament with a curfew in force. While Rajiv Gandhi knew that JR did not have much choice in it, his greatest fear was Prabhakaran rejecting it.
It was strange that Gandhi was entertaining such concerns when he portrayed the PC as the way to meet aspirations of the Tamils people. However, to prevent any embarrassment by a display of resentment Gandhi sent an Air Force Helicopter to Jaffna to fetch Prabhakaran and his political adviser Anton Balasingham, to New Delhi, on July 28, 1987. That was the night before the accord was to be signed. They were held at the Ashok Hotel before being ushered to a meeting with Gandhi.
Prabhakaran was indeed outraged by the proposal. He rejected the idea of PCs in place of Eelam. But for Gandhi this was the furthest he could go. With the persistent threat from Tamil Nadu to break off, a separate Tamil state next door was the last thing India needed.
Current situation
Gandhi coaxed and bribed the LTTE supremo with the promise of new arms and ongoing funding. When none of it worked he appealed to Prabhakaran to remain silent at least till the agreement came into force. For India there was a lot at stake.
But Prabhakaran could not contain his anger for long at Gandhi’s audacity to undermine his long cherished dream. Before the week was out he called a public meeting in Jaffna and told the people this was not what he wanted but what has been thrust upon him.
When a big power decided this was the way things happen, there was nothing we could do”, Prabhakaran lamented. And that was the day Rajiv Gandhi became a marked man.
The fact that the Northern Provincial Council remained confined to the statue book for 26 years shows that it was not a deal wanted by any one, other than India. The forthcoming CHOGM has forced the issue once again.
There is growing pressure from many quarters for elections to the Northern Provincial Council as a key step in reconciliation. Foremost among them is India, along with some major powers and NGOs.
There are different reasons for different groups to push for elections but for all of them any measure that discredits the government and ties it up in knots was an achievement.
For India it is unfinished business, which has become even more critical after China entered the scene in recent years. Besides that, is the need to satisfy the demands of Tamil Nadu politicians especially in the lead up to a general election next year.
At the same time the Diaspora, through its funding and promise of electoral support, is manipulating several Western governments. The clearest example of this is Canada, which preferred to paint itself into a corner without attending CHOGM. It was prepared to forego the opportunity to display its muscle as a founding member of the Commonwealth in preference to wooing its Tamil electorate.
The other prominent groups include NGOs whose livelihood depends on ‘discovering’ human rights abuses and this group also includes sections of the United Nations. They have to keep the pot boiling to ensure the continued flow of backhanders from foreign regimes to destabilise vulnerable governments.
The current legal spat between an NGO and the Norwegian government when such a deal went sour, shows how the system involving big money, works. Then of course there are a number of opposition parties within the country for whom this issue is bread and butter.
These ongoing manoeuvres make one thing clear: it does not mean that once the elections are held the pressure will cease. By definition all these interlocutors have to move on to another, since that is the only way to justify their existence. Should the government simply yield to these demands and hold elections or consider the issue carefully to implement an option that serves the best long-term interest of the country?
There are enough reasons to show that Sri Lanka will be greatly disadvantaged if the Provincial Council system is perpetuated with an election to the Northern PC.
For geographically large countries such as the United States, India and Australia establishing decentralised systems of government is not only desirable but also essential. In most of these countries administering the periphery from the centre is difficult and inefficient. Reaching some distant places from the centre in an emergency will take several hours.
By comparison Sri Lanka is minute. For instance in terms of area it is only 0.002 per cent of India and in relation to population it is only 0.02 per cent. There is no place in the country that cannot be reached by air within one hour. In recent years new technology and a good roading network have made the country even smaller.
In this situation another layer of provincial government only adds inefficiencies and works as an unnecessary drain on public resources. The government currently provides Rs 130 billion of direct funding to Provincial Councils each year, while the councils themselves collect another Rs 38 billion in local taxes.
Without a comparable return such a large-scale burden on taxpayer funds only tends to divert valuable resources away from productive uses. Apart from the waste of funds the more invidious cost to the country is the red tape, corruption and the delays that such a system generates.
Apart from increased wastefulness there is another fundamental economic issue involved here. Achieving high rates of growth is a major national objective of the Rajapaksa government. That requires the optimum use of available resources, land, labour, technology and capital. While the last three are mobile and can be moved around and supplemented with imports, the first, land resource, has a finite limit and is immovable.
Hence the best way to gain optimum output from land is to take the other resources, in particular labour, to where land is available. The critical requirement here is land availability. The 2012 census shows the distribution of population by district and the population densities of each.
(Table 1)
It shows more than half the districts have population densities less than the average for the country of 309/km². Population density in Moneragala, for instance, is 79 which is 25 per cent of the average.
Mullativu with 35/km² has the lowest density of 11 per cent of the average. In other words Mullativu has almost four times the land area of the Colombo district but only 0.04 per cent of its population.
The effect of this divergence is that districts such as Colombo are so densely populated that people tend to get in each other’s way while places such as Moneragala and Mullativu are crying out for more labour, for their growth is hampered by the shortage. Of course the availability of other resources is critical but all those can be brought in from outside unlike land.
If the objective of high economic growth is to be achieved the central government should be able to move resources around the country to help maximise national gains. Provincial Councils, on the other hand will not be seeing land under their control from the same national viewpoint. By definition what they will want is to protect their patch.
Land and police powers will further reinforce that trend.
In this regard it is worth noting that in Paragraph 6.104 of its report the LLRC makes a far-reaching recommendation:
Any citizen of Sri Lanka has the inalienable right to acquire land in any part of the country, in accordance with its laws and regulations, and reside in any area of his/her choice without any restrictions or limitations imposed in any manner whatsoever.
The land policy of the government should not be an instrument to effect unnatural changes in the demographic pattern of a given Province. In the case of inter provincial irrigation or land settlement schemes, distribution of State land should continue to be as provided for in the Constitution of Sri Lanka”.
The most important advantage of a unitary administration is that its decisions, by very nature, are to promote national interest and not parochial advantage. Even without granting land and police powers devolution could hamper government management of the country.
This is clear from India’s experience. For instance the Indian central government has been forced to make compromises due to the need to maintain state government political support for the centre. In some instances the centre may be made completely impotent by a regional administration by injudicious use of authority.
As a recent example of this it has been said that during the last Indian general election the plane carrying Congress Party leader, Sonia Gandhi was not given permission to land in Uttar Pradesh, a state under the control of the opposition.
Does not address issues
There is a perception abroad that giving greater autonomy to the northern province will lead to reconciliation. This is not a realistic expectation. One reason is that only a minority of Tamils live in the northern province.
The latest census data on population for 2012 shows the total Sri Lankan Tamil population in Sri Lanka as 2.27 million or 11 per cent of the total population.
Out of this the Tamil population in the Northern Province is 0.98 million or 43 per cent. In other words less than half the Tamil population live in the five administrative districts comprising the Northern province and the rest live among the Sinhalese and Muslims and other communities in other parts of the country.
The Indo-Sri Lanka Accord indirectly recognised the dispersion of the Tamil population by declaring as the rationale for setting up the provincial administration the facilitation of the return of Tamils living in other areas to these enclaves. But what has happened is quite the opposite. The 2012 census data confirms this.
(Table 2)
In all but four districts the number of Sri Lankan Tamils living in the south increased significantly between 1981 and 2012. This was in spite of having a Tamil administration under the LTTE and despite declaring the region as Tamils only by Prabhakaran by ousting all Muslims and Sinhalese.
There are a number of implications of the movement of Tamils to other areas in increasing numbers.
a) The needs of those living in the north and those dispersed elsewhere are different. Addressing reconciliation on the basis of the situation of a minority of Tamils who live in the north will therefore be ineffective;
b) Restricting the Council territory to Tamils would invariably be the stance with the representatives of the PC after the elections. This is evident even without granting land powers, from TNA MPs currently campaigning against return of the Sinhalese and Muslims ousted by Prabhakaran.
c) When Tamil citizens of the country use their democratic right to live anywhere in the country it would be inequitable to artificially restrict non-Tamil citizens settling in the northern province.
d) Elections will be counter to the recommendations of the LLRC, which was intended to provide a sound basis for reconciliation. One of the conditions it proposed was that Devolution of power should not privilege or disadvantage any ethnic community, and should not be discriminatory or seen to be discriminatory by the people belonging to any ethnic community within the country”. As noted earlier it also reiterated that any citizen of Sri Lanka has the inalienable right to acquire land and live in any part of the country.
Recommendations of the LLRC
The LLRC recommendations are widely recognised, within the country as well as by the international community, as a suitable basis to bring about reconciliation. The Commission had far reaching proposals relating to devolution of power in the eight paragraphs 9.229 to 9.237.
They include the following:
a. Devolution should essentially promote greater harmony and unity and not disharmony and disunity among the people of the country. The promotion of this ‘oneness’ and a common identity should be the principal aim of any form of devolution while protecting and appreciating rich diversity.
b. Need to ensure that the people belonging to all communities are empowered at every level.
c. Devolution of power should not privilege or disadvantage any ethnic community, and should not be discriminatory or seen to be discriminatory by the people belonging to any ethnic community within the country.
d. Empowerment of the people should take place within the broader framework of the promotion and protection of human rights.
e. Empowering the Local Government institutions to ensure greater peoples’ participation at the grass roots level.
f. The lessons learnt from the shortcomings in the functioning of the Provincial Councils system should be taken into account.
g. Provide for safeguarding the territorial integrity and unity of Sri Lanka whilst fostering its rich diversity.
h. An additional mechanism to be considered is the possibility of establishing a Second Chamber comprising Representatives from the Provinces.
i. Any power sharing arrangement needs to have inbuilt mechanisms that would effectively address and discourage secessionist tendencies and safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of the State.
LLRC also cautioned that all parties must commit themselves to finding solutions internally through negotiation with each other. The report noted that the Tamil leaders should take account of the unnecessary internationalization of the ethnic issue and the external pressures exercised by the Diaspora and its impact on the negotiations for a political settlement.
The perceptions of external threat and intervention, the Commission noted, can create a sense of insecurity that can seriously impede the progress towards an acceptable solution. It also reiterated the need to launch a good faith effort to develop a consensus on devolution, building on what exists – both, for maximum possible devolution to the periphery especially at the grass roots level, as well as power sharing at the centre.
This consensus should be one that will enable peoples’ participation in governance decisions affecting them and avoid costly and unnecessary duplication of political, bureaucratic and other institutional structures that hamper efficient, cost-effective and transparent governance.
Four important considerations relating to Provincial Councils emerge from the recommendations of LLRC:
1. Safeguarding the territorial integrity and unity of Sri Lanka whilst fostering its rich diversity.
2. Ensure that any power sharing arrangement has inbuilt mechanisms that would effectively address and discourage secessionist tendencies and safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of the State.
3. Build on what exists – both, a) for maximum possible devolution to the periphery especially at the grass roots level and to ensure greater peoples’ participation, b) as well as power sharing at the centre.
4. To accommodate provincial viewpoint in legislative decision-making consider the possibility of establishing a Second Chamber comprising Representatives from the Provinces.
What is evident from these is the incompatibility of the 13th Amendment with LLRC recommendations. For instance 13A does not allow for maximum devolution of power to the periphery – the grass roots level. The peripheral unit it defines is the Province. Nor does it accommodate power sharing with the centre. Neville Ladduwahetty has provided more details in a recent article.
It is important that the government takes note of the LRCC recommendations for they are seen, both within and outside Sri Lanka, as the key to reconciliation. The President has echoed many of the views expressed by LLRC. In the 2013 budget speech he underlined the need for A change in the prevailing Provincial Council system to make devolution more meaningful to our people.
Devolution should not be a political reform that will lead us to separation but instead it should be one that unifies all of us. It should not involve high spending and complex governance structures that will impose further burden on people.” The President also identified the issues that people are concerned with. Everybody who met me from all corners of Sri Lanka whether they were Tamils, Muslims or Sinhalese, asked for greater access to education, health, employment opportunities, better living and equal standards across the nation. The elimination of provincial disparities using national standards is the main weapon through which national reconciliation can be promoted.
This government remains committed to ensure that these aspirations of our people will be fulfilled”. The point to note is that the delivery of these expectations of the pubic is best undertaken by the central government and not any regional administration.
The significance of the Northern PC Elections
The particular significance of the Northern Provincial Council elections is that the area covered is the same territory the LTTE was claiming as the base for Eelam, a separate state. During the three decades of confrontations the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) represented the terrorist group in parliament.
Since its defeat there has been no official group representing the LTTE although its agenda continues to be promoted by the TNA. If the group wins the forthcoming elections, as it has been predicted, it would amount to giving official recognition to continue the LTTE agenda.
It would turn out to be the rallying point for all the country’s enemies. That is why the Defence Secretary’s recent warning that having paid a heavy price in the battlefield to eradicate the LTTE, it would be foolish on our part to create conditions for a new war”, resonates with the public.
Is there a better way?
We are in a bind right now. International pressure to hold northern elections has come to a head with several forces bent on cashing in on the vulnerability of the government leading up to the CHOGM. India’s leaning on Sri Lanka resembles somewhat the pressure applied on JR Jayawardene prior to signing of the Accord in 1987. But the present government is not in a similar sticky situation since it has other options.
There are some key points that need to be recognised in any decision the government takes. The first is whatever the choice, it has far reaching implications for the country in the long term. Hence it is important to base it on maximising the nation’s benefit rather than as an expedient to respond to external pressure.
Secondly a measure that satisfies the critics will only create a temporary lull in interference, for by very nature they will move on to another issue. Thirdly, President Rajapaksa has the rare capability to make the change since he has the vision and commands the support of the parliament and the public.
The crisis offers the opportunity to make the gains made in 2009 enduring. Although there has been considerable criticism of devolving power to Provincial Councils and holding elections no one has disagreed on the principle of devolution.
In fact the LLRC has underlined the need for devolution as a means of helping in the reconciliation.
But what it recommends is that power should be devolved to the grass roots level in a way that discourages secessionist tendencies and safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of the State”.
The Northern Province will be a competing entity as it was coveted by the LTTE as their base for Eelam. Devolving power to the District will meet both conditions laid out by LLRC: giving power to the grass roots level and discouraging secessionist tendencies and safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of the state.
The LLRC also suggested considering the possibility of a second chamber to involve the people at the periphery in decision making. This is debatable for there is already such representation in parliament through the existing electoral system.
LLRC itself did not put forward the idea as a recommendation but as a matter for consideration. What is required in devolving power to grass roots level is a clear definition of the role and responsibilities of District Councils and to ensure that no amalgamation of District Councils is possible. They could be empowered to meet the expectations of the public in relation to health, education and other services as the President identified in the budget speech.
Writer is an economist, author and freelance journalist. He can be contacted at donwije@yahoo.com
Avant Garde Chairman Nissanka Senadhipathi said he was prepared to operate a floating hospital and surgery to facilitate the repatriation of Sri Lankan migrant workers.
Senadhipathi said that he is currently in discussion with Sri Lankan authorities to initiate the proposed programme.
“About a month earlier, a plan was in place to repatriate migrant workers in an emergency situation such as this one. Therefore communications and documentation were in place to prepare cruise liners as floating hospitals or corona centres,” he said.
Senadhipathi said discussions are underway to launch cruise liners with the capacity to carry 10,000 persons. If the President approves the suggested project, the cruise liners would be sent to several Middle Eastern countries where the ships would be docked at ports of the respective countries. The ships would serve as floating quarantine centres for a period of 14 days, following which, migrant workers would be offloaded in Sri Lanka after PCR tests.
“We had several discussions as to what could be done in the event the situation worsens. I have discussed these measures with the UAE Embassy as well as the Foreign Secretary. We have suggested for at least ten thousand migrant workers to be quarantined aboard four of such ships,” Senadhipathi added. (Kalani Kumarasinghe)
Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP and Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) leader Mano Ganesan yesterday said there were aspects of the 20th Amendment which he cannot agree with, but would agree with the clause under which those with dual citizenship are allowed to come into Parliament.
There are some aspects of the 20th Amendment which I don’t agree to but there is nothing wrong in the clause under which, those who hold dual citizenship are allowed to come into Parliament,” he said.
There is nothing wrong in those who hold dual citizenship coming into Parliament,” Mr. Ganesan said. This is the ideology of TPA which I lead,” he told journalists.
There is nothing wrong in former Minister Basil Rajapaksa coming into Parliament as he anyway holds the remote control of this government. Let him come and control the government openly,” Mr. Ganesan added.(Yohan Perera)
The owners of the crude oil tanker MT New Diamond”, which was engulfed by flames on Thursday morning (03) off Sri Lanka, have handed over the vessel to an international salvage company.
A team of the company is set to arrive in Sri Lanka on Monday (07), the chairperson of the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) said.
At around 8.30 am on Thursday (03), the oil tanker, carrying 270,000 metric tons of crude oil, had been sailing 38 nautical miles off Sangamankanda Point east of Sri Lankan seas, when the unfortunate turn of events unfolded.
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard are engaged in a joint effort to control the fire raging in the oil tanker, caused by an explosion of a boiler in the main engine room.
The Navy has rescued 22 of the 23 crew members aboard the oil tanker, however, the preliminary information from the ship’s crew confirmed that a Filipino seaman on board had died in a boiler explosion.
The ‘Sinhale’ organization states that an investigation should be carried out into certain verdicts given during the period of good governance and those cases should be heard again.
The organization stated this at a press conference convened in Colombo today.
Sri Lanka Navy, Sri Lanka Air Force, Sri Lanka Ports Authority, the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard are currently engaged in a joint effort to control the fire raging in the oil tanker, MT New Diamond caused by an explosion.
Nine ships have been deployed to control the fire.
Meanwhile, the Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) ‘Sarang’ has arrived for disaster relief mission, to the sea area where the ill-fated oil tanker is located. Moreover, a special tug called TTT One which is equipped with dedicated firefighting equipment, professionals and is capable of undertaking firefighting operations at sea is scheduled to reach the scene with another Indian Coast Guard Ship this evening.
Further, considering these turn of events as an urgent matter of national importance, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, Hambantota International Port Group, Colombo Dockyard Limited, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and Indian Oil Corporation has provided AFFF fire extinguishing chemicals which are being transferred by Sri Lanka Coast Guard Ship ‘Samudraraksha’, ‘Samaraksha’ and the Sri Lanka Navy Ship ‘Samudura’ from the ports of the Hambantota, Colombo and Trincomalee respectively, to augment the dousing operation.
At present, SLN ships and craft together with the MI 17 helicopter and beach craft of Sri Lanka Air Force, the two tugs ‘Rawana’ and ‘Wasamba’ of Hambantota International Port Group and ALP ‘Winger’ tug made ready by the foreign company that owns the ship in distress are also continuing their firefighting missions to get the tense situation under control.
It is in this backdrop, arrangements have also been made to tow the MT New Diamond to the deep sea at any moment, as soon as the fire onboard gets under control. The distressed vessel lies about 22 nautical miles (35 kilometers) off the coast as of now.
Rear Admiral Nandana Jayaratne, Acting Director General of the Navy said that there is a high probability that the crude oil stored in the ship will not be damaged by the fire.
Joining the media briefing, the Chairperson of the Marine Environment Protection Authority, Attorney-at-Law Dharshani Lahandapura stated that they are currently seeking the advice of the Attorney General regarding the action to be taken in the event of a fuel leak.
A complaint has been lodged with the Thirukkovil Police as a first step.<br /><br />Acting Director General of the Navy Rear Admiral Nandana Jayaratne was inquired about a patch in the ship.
In response, he said there was no risk of the ship splitting or breaking.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has instructed the relevant authorities to launch a 24-hour joint operation to take all necessary steps to prevent possible damage to the marine environment by the New Diamond.
The Prime Minister has instructed the Marine Environment Protection Authority under the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing to take all necessary steps in this regard, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
Two arrivals from India and a seaman from the Philippines were among the four persons tested positive for COVID- 19, increasing total infected in Sri Lanka to 3,115.
Presidential Commission probing incidents of political victimization issued notice on Mangala Samaraweera and Shani Abeysekera to appear before the Commission on September 16.
The Sri Lanka Navy, Sri Lanka Air Force, Sri Lanka Ports Authority, the Indian Navy and the Indian Coast Guard continues to work together to contain the spread of fire erupted on board the oil tanker, MT New Diamond on 03rd September 2020 at 8.00 a.m.
Accordingly, an MI 17 helicopter of Sri Lanka Air Force has been carrying out a number of aerial operations, to contain the raging flames by showering water from the skies. Meanwhile, the beach craft is conducting periodic air surveillance to spot the spread of fire remaining in air and render necessary assistance.
Further, Sri Lanka Navy Ships Sayura, Sindurala and Ranarisi with 02 Fast Attack Craft continues to conduct disaster relief operations with a view to manage the calamity. Meanwhile, the spread of fire from the superstructure at the rear of the ship towards the crude oil storage facilities has been contained to a greater extent. Upon controlling the spread of fire, the two tugs ‘Rawana’ and ‘Wasamba’ of Hambantota International Port Group together with ALP ‘Winger’ tug made ready by the foreign company that owns the ship in distress are making arrangements to tow the ill-fated oil tanker away from the shore towards deep sea.
Love for others: Bride Anoma Geeganage and groom Dishan Thilakshana spent their wedding day distributing food and cold beverages to the homeless in the streets of Matara.
In a Facebook post, Thilakshana shared how he came up with the idea to feed the hungry.
We thought we would fill the stomachs of the homeless before going home to the party,” he said, according to Today Online.
Thilakshana also posted photos of him and his new wife dressed in traditional red wedding outfits as they distributed boxes of Pizza Hut and bottles of cold Coca-Cola to the smile of many. They also took the time to chat with the people they fed.
One of the homeless men even revealed to the couple that he has never eaten pizza in his life.
My chest burned when an uncle asked me how to eat this,” Thilakshana wrote.
In an interview with NextShark, the couple shared that they distributed so many pizzas that day that they lost count.
Whoever met on the road who was in need of some food, I distributed what I had in my hand and made sure everyone shared a genuine smile with me with a happy and full stomach,” he said.
At the end of the post, the newlyweds thanked those who helped them in their acts of kindness. They also reminded everyone to start life in such a way so you can be happy forever.”
A life lesson: According to Thilakshana, a lesson that stuck with him as a child was from his teacher, who taught him the most valuable thing to give to someone.
Whenever possible we should fill a man’s stomach and look from a distance and remember him happily,” Thilakshana said. The joy it brings is priceless.”
He noted that hunger is something common to all humans.
Thilakshana told NextShark that helping others comes second nature to him.
At one point, he helped an old homeless man find shelter by taking him to an elderly home and taking the responsibility of looking after him for the rest of his life.
He also shared an incident where he saved thousands of turtle eggs that a mother turtle had delivered.
I sat near the mother turtle and chanted ‘angulimaala piritha’ which is a powerful chanting, commonly used and well known in Buddhism that eases the delivery pain of mothers. I looked after the eggs for 41 days until they were released back to sea safely.”
Minister of Industries Wimal Weerawansha and Hambantota International Port Group (Private) Limited (HIPG) held a meeting regarding a proposal to set up a tyre factory in Hambantota at the Ministry of Industries, Colombo 03 recently.
HIPG CEO Ray Ren said the first tyre factory was to be built with an investment of USD 300 million. He also said that 2,000 employees are required for the factory and they would be recruited from the area. Also all the materials needed for the production of tyres would be obtained from Sri Lanka.
Here, a proposal was made by the HIPG to promote industry in Sri Lanka which was subsequently presented to the minister. The factory will be constructed at the Hambantota International Harbour premises in the 280 hectares large industrial zone.
Dr. Asoka Bandarage discusses the new edition of her book “Colonialism in Sri Lanka: The Political Economy of the Kandyan Highlands from 1833-1886.”
This second expanded edition includes a significant new chapter, Neocolonialism in Sri Lanka, 2020, assessing the beleaguered state of Sri Lankan sovereignty in the midst of 2020, under the powerful forces of U.S., Chinese and Indian expansion in the region.
LAYANANDA ALLES, Eng.Montreal, Canada courtesy The Island
This is in relation to the article by Dr. Chandre Dharmawardana, Sri Lanka’s power supply, blackouts, and how to prevent them” published in the Island Newspaper.
I am an electrical engineer, who has spent the last 30 years in research and development in telecommunication systems and system reliability, which includes software reliability. Today, as a consultant, I am guiding the engineers and scientists of the Canadian Utilities in trying to understand a previously unknown condition affecting the grid networks. Canadian utility networks are highly sophisticated, complex networks, protected by many strategic and tactical networking designs, to account for not only the inevitable faults, but also the ability to withstand weather from -50C to +50 C, including rain, ice and snow storms.
Over the last five to six years, the utilities have found the prevalence of large magnitude, 7th and 9th harmonics, which has been contributing to several unforseen outages in the Canadian networks. This phenomenon has been observed in Europe and in the USA. The grid is primarily designed for large 3rd harmonic fault tolerance. Experiments and tests over the last five years seem to suggest that the switching power supplies, wind and solar power generation equipment, and the large plethora of small mobile telephone and laptop charging equipment might be the source of these large magnitude harmonics. Yet proper fault diagnosis and containment had prevented outright failures, even in the presence of fault conditions previously not encountered or understood. That is good system effectiveness.
The point however, is that rapid problem sectionalization, fault containment (from rapid fault propagation), rapid problem restoration and preventive maintenance are at the heart of designing and maintaining mission critical systems, such as the utility network in Sri Lanka. The system complexity is needed in order to ensure rapid problem sectionalization and containment. As Dr. Dharmawardana suggests, it is inconceivable that the actions of an individual of the CEB is to be blamed for the catastrophic outages the country had experienced. The competency of the individual engineers at the CEB must be just as good as the competency of the medical, public health, the military and the police personnel, who were primarily responsible for containing and controlling the transmission of the Covid virus in Sri Lanka; comparatively better way than most other countries in the world. Having worked in the UK, Canada and in Europe, it is my informed opinion that the engineers at the CEB are no less competent than any other engineer in the world.
Hence, the engineers in Sri Lanka must be competent in performing Failure Mode Criticality Analysis (FMECA) in the mission critical systems such as the electricity grid network. It is so fundamental, that any graduate engineer is taught that in mission critical systems, one must account for all faults down to at least the third degree of failures, and design the system to be fault tolerant to that level. There are no such systems as ‘fail safe’ systems; failures are a part of any complex system, which includes all human induced failures.
The system should be designed to be robust enough to withstand at least three levels of faults before catastrophic failures precipitate. Telephonic systems are designed for no more than one catastrophic failure in 60 years. However, if the operators have no discipline, and are so incompetent, that they allow the faults to propagate to the second, third and the fourth levels, without containment, the catastrophic outages are inevitable. It is really stupid’ to suggest that just one operator pulling one circuit breaker brought down the entire network. This is inconceivable in a mission critical system. As we have seen, Boeing and the FCC, not performing the FMECA diligently and independently, partly accounted for the recent fatal aircraft accidents. Testing software systems against requirements, either specified, or deduced from FMECA, is an absolute necessity in mission critical systems. In order to effect cost savings, sometimes the systems are only tested against the specified requirements, and not against the deduced requirements from failure analysis. This is not the norm, but it happens elsewhere in the world.
In the case of the CEB, the only conceivable possibility is total mismanagement. Lack of effective preventive maintenance, systemic or rampant organization issues that prevent the effective utilization of the collective knowledge base that exists within the CEB; these are refactors at the heart of these outages. As a trained engineer, it is my opinion that it is the lack of process and operational integrity that caused the outages. These elemental issues must be addressed as a matter of priority, in order to eliminate such outages in the future. No amount of artificial intelligence and smart system designs can eliminate the need for effective and smart operational practices.
BY Indrawansa de Silva, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, USACourtesy The Island
Universal suffrage is a democratic right that we must all respect and uphold. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all Sri Lankan voters who exercised their voting right in this election.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the inaugural session of 9th parliament of Sri Lanka.
Now that the euphoria over the victories and the postmortems of the defeats have faded away it may be beneficial to take a look at a ballot number that has drawn less, if not no, attention: the Rejected Votes. What has drawn my immediate attention to the results of the last election was the large number of the ballots that were rejected – 744,373 to be precise. And that translates to more than six percentage points (6.03%) of the votes cast (see Table 1). Given that the Jathika Jana Balavegaya (JJB) and Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) combined received just about the number of rejected votes (773,126) but collectively won 11 seats and secured two National List seats, the number of rejected votes should not let go unnoticed.
An election provides a snapshot of peoples’ alliance with the political parties at a particular time in history and, for better or worse, the distribution of votes illustrates the intensity of such an alliance and consequences. For example, we know that about quarter of million people aligned with the UNP even though they did not secure a single seat in the parliament. Similarly, when a political party such as JVP with its 50 plus year existence, received less than half a million votes with the help of some progressive groups, there is message in those numbers. And we expect the voter turnout to truly reflect the voters’ intentions. Rejected votes, also known as spoilt votes, muddy such an assessment especially when the rejected votes amount to the third largest vote getter.
Why do we have such a large number of rejected votes? Rejected votes fall into two broad categories. One, a voter who is tired of the whole electoral process or each and every party in the fray, or the candidates running, may express his frustration by ruining the ballot by a means of his choice say, for example, by crossing all the parties. We call those protest votes. Then you get the voter who believe in the system and have a clear intention to vote for a party or a candidate of his choice but fail in the process of actual voting at the polling booth. He or she may cross more boxes than required, may draw the cross that goes over the margins thereby spoiling” the vote and the authorities would refuse to count it as a valid vote.
My initial reaction to the large number of rejected votes was that it was the former i.e., there may have been a substantial number of people, hundreds of thousands of them, lost faith in the electoral process and cast a protest vote. However, as I looked at the election results closer, the numbers did not fully support my own theory. As the district-wise breakdown of voting pattern shows (see Table 1) there is a wide disparity in the rejected votes by the districts. They range from around 4% (Digamadulla) to as high as 9% (Nuwara- Eliya). If the rejected votes were a result of protest movement it is unlikely to have such a variation as it should take some form of normal distribution across the districts. And to the best of my knowledge there wasn’t any organized campaign for a protest vote during the campaign. If so, what explains this phenomenon? The history of elections held over the past 70 plus years appear to provide some answers.
If you look at the presidential elections a totally different picture of the rejected votes emerges. Of the eight presidential elections held between 1982 and 2019 the percentage or rejected votes hover around just 1% (see Table 2). In the last presidential election held just a few months ago, the rejected vote was exactly one percent (1.01%) or 135,452 votes.
The 15 parliamentary general elections held between 1947 and 2015 also shed some light on to the rejected vote phenomenon. As seen in Table 3, there is a clear distinction between the general elections held before 1989 (under single member plurality voting system) and the elections held since 1989 (under proportional representation system) in terms of rejected votes. The percentage of rejected votes started at 2.6% at the 1947 election and precipitously came down to a sheer one-half percent during the elections of 1970 and 1977. It jumped to over six percent (6.13%) at the first election under the proportional representation system and stayed around five to six percent ever since. While I haven’t provided statistical evidence here, Provincial Council elections also shows similarly large percentage of rejected votes.
So the evidence suggests that it is the type of the ballot that generated the large amount of rejected votes. When the voters were presented with a simple task of voting for a candidate from a list of contestants, over 99 percent of the voters didn’t have a problem of doing so. But when they were presented with a more complex ballot with voting for a party followed by the option of voting for three more choices things seem to get complicated and a large number of votes got rejected. I don’t think I need to mention how challenging the ballot paper under proportional representation system is.
This is an unintentional, but avoidable, disenfranchisement of a segment of the population who have, for whatever reason, difficulty casting their vote. At the inaugural session of the Parliament the President thanked the voters who exercised their voting right at the election. Unfortunately, the government miserably failed to honour hundreds of thousands of those who exercised their constitutional right. What is clear is that the design of the ballot is flawed. It appears to disenfranchise the less sophisticated voter. What is not clear is how this flawed system might have affected the outcome of the election. For the latter further research is needed with honest collaboration of those who are responsible for holding elections.
I am baffled by the fact that the political parties have not made an issue of this large number of votes being rejected and call for the simplification of the voting process. This is not, and should not be, a partisan issue. The losers are not the ones who got elected or not elected but the public. Their votes got thrown out while they intended to vote. Politically speaking the most one has to lose in a participatory democracy is the vote and in the last election nearly three quarters of a million lost it and it seems like a pattern and not an aberration.
The Attorney General has assigned Additional Prosecutors to the Homagama, Kalutara, Matara and Negombo High Courts having considered the large number of cases pending in each High Court, AG’s Coordinating Officer State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne said.
She said over 600 cases are pending in these courts.
The Cabinet has decided to appoint an Expert Committee headed by Romesh de Silva PC to prepare the preliminary drafts for a new Constitution, co-cabinet spokesman and Minister Udaya Gammanpila said today.
The committee comprises of Romesh De Silva PC (Chairman), Gamini Marapana PC, Manohara De Silva PC, Sanjeewa Jayawardena PC, Prof. Nazeema Kamurdin, Dr. A Sarveswaran, Samantha Ratwatte PC, Prof. Wasantha Senevirathne and Prof. G.L. Peiris.
Though the government expects to introduce the 20th Amendment to the Constitution on a priority basis repealing the 19th Amendment, it will take another two months and the new Constitution will come after a minimum of two years, Minister Gammanpila said.
