A record 405 elephants were killed by humans in Sri Lanka last year, up from about 360 in 2018.PHOTO: AFP
COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s coronavirus lockdown has helped reduce the death toll from clashes between elephants and humans, conservationists have said.
A record 405 elephants were killed by humans in the country last year, up from about 360 in 2018. A total of 121 people were killed by elephants, up from 96 the year before, according to government data.
Speaking ahead of World Elephant Day on Wednesday (Aug 12), Mr Jayantha Jayewardene, a leading international expert on elephants, said: “We can say that the human-elephant conflict eased during curfews.
“But this is a temporary situation. Farmers will start defending their crops and the killings will resume.”
Most of the killed elephants are shot dead or poisoned by farmers trying to keep them off their land. The beasts are considered sacred in the majority-Buddhist island and are protected, but prosecutions are rare.
Most of the humans are killed by elephants who have seen their habitat drastically reduced, rampaging in villages looking for food.
Dr Sumith Pilapitiya, a conservationist and former director-general of the government’s wildlife department, estimated that the number of elephant deaths decreased by 40 per cent during the coronavirus lockdown, which started in March and officially ended in June.
Dr Pilapitiya said an average of 240 elephants were killed annually between 2010 and 2017 and the rate had accelerated since.
“The Asian elephant is classified as endangered, so we cannot afford to lose elephants at that rate,” he told AFP.
He expressed hope that a significant reduction during the shutdown – which included nationwide stay-at-home orders, with people only allowed out to buy essentials – would bring down the overall toll for the year.
Sri Lanka’s elephant population has declined to about 7,000 according to the latest census, down from 12,000 in the early 1900s.Related Story
Dr Pilapitiya said a new panel of experts on measures to reduce human-elephant conflicts in the country would have its first meeting on World Elephant Day.
“This may be an auspicious beginning and hopefully the government will implement the recommendations of this committee,” he said.
During the shutdown, Dr Pilapitiya accompanied wildlife trackers who reported spotting baby elephant twins at the Minneriya sanctuary northeast of Colombo, the first pair seen in the wild in Sri Lanka and a rare sight anywhere.
But the shutdown of wildlife parks during the pandemic saw an increase in poaching and illegal hunting of all wild animals, prompting the government to order a crackdown in July.
Environmental lawyer Jagath Gunawardena said law enforcement authorities were preoccupied with the coronavirus, which made poaching easier.
“Incidents of elephant-human clashes were few, but there was an increase in killing animals for their flesh,” Mr Gunawardena said.
While the lockdown officially ended on June 28, Sri Lanka’s borders remain closed to foreign tourists. And that has badly hit some residents who rely on the country’s elephants for their income.
The Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage closed during the lockdown, fearing that the animals might contract the virus. It opened again last month, but its 84 elephants are mostly undisturbed by visitors.
“Hardly anyone visits here during the week,” said shop operator Suneth Sanjeeva who runs a business outside the elephant orphanage, 80km east of Colombo.
A restaurant owner nearby said she served about 200 guests before the pandemic, but now she hardly has any customers.
China’s civil aviation regulator said today it has suspended three Shanghai-bound international air routes due to passengers on recent flights being infected with the coronavirus.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China said in a statement that it suspended an Etihad Airways route from Abu Dhabi and a China Eastern Airlines route from Manila for one week, as well as a Sri Lankan Airlines route from Colombo for four weeks, China Daily reports,
A total of six passengers on the August 3 flight from Abu Dhabi tested positive for the coronavirus, as well as six passengers on the August 5 flight from Manila and 23 passengers on the August 7 flight from Colombo, meeting the conditions for a “circuit breaker” suspension of the flight route, it added.
In keeping with an international flights adjustment policy announced in early June, the administration issued its “circuit-breaker” directive and announced the suspension of the three routes would begin on August 17.
The administration also noted that the three carriers can still operate their flights before the order takes effect. But the time of the suspension will be extended if more passengers test positive for coronavirus.
On June 4, China eased restrictions on international passenger flights contingent on epidemic risks being under control. Authorities highlighted the “reward and circuit breaker mechanism” for the carriers to increase or have flights suspended in accordance with the companies’ epidemic control work.
Under the policy, airlines must suspend flights on a route for a week if five passengers test positive for coronavirus. If the number exceeds 10, the airline must suspend the flights for four weeks.
As an incentive, carriers may increase the number of international flights to two per week on a route if for three consecutive weeks no passengers test positive for the virus in nucleic acid tests.
While the moderate TNA will have to do a lot of tight rope walking, the radical Tamil nationalist groups have to prove that it can do what TNA could not. And that’s going to be very hard and the consequence of failure will be total rejection in the next elections.
C.V.Wigneswaran, M.A.Sumanthiran and Angajan Ramanathan
Colombo, August 9: The August 5 Sri Lankan parliamentary elections have put the Tamil parties based in the Northern and Eastern provinces at the cross roads. In contrast to the past, voters in the Sri Lankan Tamil homeland, did not support any single party but had distributed their votes among a variety of parties, each with a different stock in trade. This makes it difficult to be precise about the overall future trend, though some surmises can certainly be made.
While one section represents Tamil radicalism, another is manifestly pro-government. However, the third and the single largest section is still made of the same mould as in the past – a section which is opposed to the government but is moderate in its demands.
The radical section is represented by C.V.Wigneswaran of the Tamil Makkal Thesiya Kottani (YMTK) and Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC). The pro-government section is represented by Douglas Devananda and Kulasingham Dileepan (Eelam Peoples’ Democratic Party); Angajan Ramanathan (Sri Lanka Freedom Party); Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan (Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal) and Sadasivam Vyalendran (Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna).
The moderately anti-government group is represented by Sivagnanam Sritharan, M.A.Sumanthiran, Dharmalingam Sidharthan, Rajavarodhaya Sampanthan; Era Chanakyan and Govindan Karunakaran (all Tamil National Alliance).
Wigneswaran and Ponnambalam are newcomers to parliament and are expected to voice their radical views stridently. And unlike the moderate Tamil nationalist TNAs, the duo will seek an internationally supervised referendum among the Tamils on the ethnic question and strive to drag the Lankan government to the International Criminal Court (ICC) even though Sri Lanka has not signed the Rome Statute which created the ICC.
The radicals will have to do their utmost in this regard as these demands have been their USP for long. They hope to carry on the campaign with the support of the UN Human Rights Council, the US State Department, the pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora in the West and Australia and Tamil radicals in Tamil Nadu.
Votes wise, G.Ponnambalam got 31,658 preferential votes and C.V.Wigneswaran 21,554. They were able to get elected with such small numbers because of the Proportional Representation System which enables small parties to get seats. But as MPs, they enjoy equal status and opportunities to voice their demands.
From the pro-government group are: Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (who got 54,1980- the highest secured by a Tamil candidate and that too while being in jail in a murder case); Angajan Ramanathan (36,365); Douglas Devananda (32,146); S.Vyalaendran (22,218); and Gunasingham Dileepan (3,223).
From the moderately anti-government TNA, the following won: S.Sritharan (35,884); Era Chanakyan (33,332); M.A.Sumanthiran (27,834); Govindan Karunakaram (26, 382); Charles Nirmalanathan (25,668); D.Siddharthan (23,840); R.Sampanthan (21,442); Selvam Adaikalanathan (18,563); Vino Nogarajalingam (15,190).
Of these the strongest group, with the largest voter base is the moderately anti-government TNA, followed by the pro-government group. The radicals are the smallest.
According to Premananth Thevanayagam, former editor of the Jaffna-based daily Uthayan, the votes that the radical and pro-government groups got were those of Tamils who were disillusioned with the TNA which had been in parliament in strength from its founding in 2001 under the auspices of the LTTE leader Prabhakaran. In the parliament elected in 2015, TNA had 16 elected MPs. This time its representation among the elected MPs has come down to nine.
Due to its strong links with the United National Party (UNP)-led Yahapalanaya government from 2015 onwards, the TNA promised that it would deliver a new federal constitution with substantial devolution of power to the Tamil-speaking Northern and Eastern Provinces. But despite its best efforts, majoritarian Sinhalese MPs, even from the UNP, backed out from their pledge at the last moment fearing a backlash from the Sinhalese majority.
Fixated on constitutional changes, the TNA’s lawyer-leaders failed to deliver on the economic development front also. Sinhalese leaders of the UNP also backed out of their promise to set up war-time accountability mechanisms leaving the TNA out in the cold.
Even as radical followers left the TNA, a section of Tamils, particularly the youth, began to see the futility of pursuing the radical political path and began to wonder if they could opt for economic development. These elements rallied around the pro-government Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (54, 198 preferential votes); Angajan Ramanathan (36,365); Douglas Devananda (32,146),S,. Vyalendran (22,218) and Gunasingham Thileepan (3,226).
As Premananth Thaivanayagam put it, the youth’s option of migrating to the West has ceased to exist with the West raising barriers to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The youth now feel that they will have to live here and make something of their lives with government support,” he said.
Knowing that a brazen association with Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) would be considered anti-Tamil, the pro-government group, except S.Vyalendran, fought under other banners like SLFP and EPDP with the tacit understanding with the SLPP, that it would work with it in parliament and accept ministerial posts, Thevanayagam said. This group got three seats while the radicals got only two.
TNA’s controversial second leader and spokesman, M.A.Sumanthiran, admitted that the alliance had not delivered on its promises and had therefore suffered serious damage. He said that the need of the hour is to sink differences, find a common platform, and purse the Tamils political and economic goals.
However, unity is unlikely to come about because the radical group would be eager to prove that it’s tough posture will help it push the Tamils’ case hard with Diaspora and international support. The TNA is equally sure that such radicalism has no chance of succeeding in a situation when a tough militarized, China-supported, Sinhala majoritarian government is in power in Colombo both in the Executive Presidency and parliament with a two-thirds majority. Traditional supporters of the Tamil cause like India and the US are now weak with domestic problems galore.
Furthermore, although the TNA has appealed to all Tamil parties to join, it will not give up its pre-eminent position in the united group, which it feels it is entitled to. The TNA will also not entertain unity with the pro-government group as it has to play on the anti-government sentiment of the majority of Tamils. It has been succeeding so far because the majority of Tamils have seen it as the most credible and safe voice of the Tamils on the issue of ethnic rights. It cannot go over to the government side wholesale.
The TNA will have to keep playing the Tamil nationalist card with its demand for federalism and war-time rights violation accountability mechanisms and foreign involvement in solving the ethnic issue. But on the other hand, it cannot bring about a federal constitution without the support of the Sinhalese parties because, for any constitutional change, it will need two-thirds support in parliament and perhaps even popular Sinhalese support in a referendum.
While the TNA will have to do a lot of tight rope walking, the radical Tamil nationalist groups have to prove that it can do what TNA could not. And that’s going to be very hard and the consequence of failure will be total rejection in the next elections.
The safest among the three groups is the moderate pro-government group. It has the greatest chance of delivering on its promises as both President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa want to set develop Sri Lanka economically through a centralized administration, with developmental benefits being distributed throughout the country irrespective of ethnic, religious and regional differences.
Economic development will take place within the framework of national sovereignty, the experts added.
Colombo, August 7 (Xinhua): A new government in Sri Lanka has been endowed with a mandate from the new parliament to stabilize and revive the national economy while defending the country’s sovereignty, local experts said here Friday.
Sri Lankan voters have given a clear mandate to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), which won 145 out of 225 parliament seats in the elections which were held on Wednesday, to find a solution to economic woes including low growth, unemployment and rising costs of living, President of the International Business Council Kosala Wickramanayake said.
The business community is expecting policy reform in order to boost the economy in the way of tax reform, ease of doing business and boosting local and foreign investment,” Wickremenayake said, adding that the SME sector which accounts for 75 percent of jobs and 50 percent of GDP was especially in need of support.
Wickremenayake added that the government should be commended for its efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and the successful holding of the elections.
This election victory is historic and comparable to the first post-war parliamentary election in 2010. People have given trust to the leadership of the president and prime minister to strengthen national security and protect the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty from both domestic and external threats,” said Asanga Abeygoonesekera, founding director general of the Ministry of Defence’s Institute of National Security Studies Sri Lanka (INSSSL).
A nearly two-third majority in parliament ensures political stability for the next several years and strengthens the ability of the government to regain the momentum of economic growth, Abeygoonesekera said.
Commenting on the historic win, political and economic analyst and former executive director of the Pathfinder Foundation Luxman Siriwardena said that voters were expecting greater state discipline, including elimination of corruption from government institutions and increased efficiency of government services, especially in rural areas.
The primary concern of the newly formed government will be to continue to protect the public from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government will have to create a conducive environment for foreign investment and negotiate with multilateral lenders in order to shore up foreign exchange reserves,” Siriwardena said.
Celebrated actresses and artistes have the capability to succeed in politics and prove the naysayers and sexists wrong, writes Gitanjali Marcelline
Sri Lankan actress politician Geetha Kumarasinghe
Can female celebrities from various fields face the rough and tumble of politics and make a mark in it? That is the question that the masses in Sri Lanka had been asking ever since the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) fielded actresses, including Geetha Kumarasinghe, in the recently concluded parliamentary elections.
I believe there’s much that celebrities can do in politics using their fame to fetch votes for themselves and the party they represent. Film and tele-drama actresses especially, are endowed with mass appeal. They are best suited to enact this role as acting is an essential ingredient in politics. Did not the bard say: All the world’s a stage and we’re all players in it?”.
By definition, politics is a field open to all: young and old, educated and uneducated, the rich and the poor, the famous and the ordinary. A talent for appealing to people on one ground or the other effectively is all that is needed to make a mark. However, simple as this may sound, not everybody has the talent, the grit and determination to survive and succeed in the unsparing man eat man world of politics.
Eva Peron of Argentina
Still, many who had no background of politics, including film and teledrama actresses, have succeeded in making it to the top and earned laurels in the process.
Leading the list is a radio artist turned political activist, Eva Peron of Argentina. In a 1996 interview, Tomás Eloy Martínez referred to Eva Perón as the Cinderella of the tango and the Sleeping Beauty of Latin America.” Martínez suggested she has remained an important cultural icon for the same reasons as fellow Argentine Che Guevara.
Although Eva never held a government post, she was the de facto Minister of Health and Labor in her husband Juan Peron’ government (1946 to 1952). As such, she earned the gratitude of the poor by awarding generous wage increases to the unions. Her own Eva Perón Foundation, which was supported by voluntary” union and business contributions plus a substantial cut of the national lottery and other funds, helped her carry out her mission. These resources were used to establish thousands of hospitals, schools, orphanages, homes for the aged, and other charitable institutions.
Eva was largely responsible for the passage of the Women’s Suffrage law and the formation of the Peronista Feminist Party in 1949. In 1951, although dying of cancer, she obtained nomination for the Vice Presidency, but the army forced her to withdraw her candidacy.
Alessandra Mussolini of Italy
Even after her death in 1952, Eva remained a formidable influence in Argentine politics. Her working-class followers tried unsuccessfully to have her canonized, prevented it.
Italy too has had its fair share of celebrities in parliament. Sex bomb Gina Lollobrigida took to photographic journalism after her acting career ended and made a bid for the European Parliament in 1999, but failed. Alessandra Mussolini, actress, model and grand-daughter of the Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, made a huge splash in Italian politics. Alessandra (b.1962) is a right wing conservative politician, who served as a Member of the European Parliament for Forza Italia. She was a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 2008 to 2013 and the Italian Senate from 2013 to 2014. She was the founder-leader of the national conservative political party Social Action”.
Llona Staller porn star cum Italian politician
The sensational porn star Llona Staller aka La Cicciolina was elected to the Italian parliament in 1987 with 20,000 votes. According to the website thelocal.it, Staller started out as a model in Hungary and later developed her career as a porn star in Italy. In the early 70s, she met pornographer Riccardo Schicchi with whom she co-hosted a radio show called Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?, which featured live calls from listeners about sexual matters.
Staller and Schicchi then co-founded Diva Futura, a pornography and erotica film studio. During the 1970s, Ciccoliona not only starred in porn films but also made several television appearances – the most infamous of which was in 1978, when she bared her breasts live on air in the show C’era due Volte.
Entering politics, she first ran for parliament as a candidate of Italy’s first Green party, the Lista del Sole, but lost. She continued to star in and produce porn films, the most famous being The Red Telephone, which she co-produced with Schicchi in 1983. In 1987, she finally won a seat in the Italian parliament as a member of the Radical Party. Later she championed human rights and supported campaigns against nuclear energy and NATO membership. Four years later, she abandoned the Radicals to set up her own protest party, the ‘Party of Love’, with another porn star.
Jayalalitha Jayaram actress turned Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
In 2012, Staller founded the Democracy, Nature and Love Party (DNA) with her partner Luca di Carlo, a criminal defense lawyer. Its objectives included: a guaranteed minimum wage for young people; a properly functioning judicial system for every Italian; and the elimination of the privileges of the rich political caste”, all commendable goals.
Closer home, there was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalitha Jayaram, who was a famous Tamil film star before she plunged into politics. Teaming up with matinee idol cum political bigwig M.G.Ramachandran aka MGR, Jayalalitha won laurels in Tamil Nadu politics too. She was an active Member of Parliament. As Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu several times, she initiated people-oriented welfare schemes which earned her the title Puratchi Thalaivi” or Revolutionary Leader”.
Bollywood actress Shabana Azmi became a famous social and women’s rights activist, a Goodwill Ambassador of UNFPA and a member of the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Indian Parliament.
Malani Fonseka of Sri Lanka
Last but not the least, at home in Sri Lanka, stars of Sinhala cinema have also made it big in politics. Rosy Senanayake, a former Mrs. World and an actress, rose to be High Commissioner in Malaysia, an MP, Mayor of Colombo and Leader of the Opposition in the Western Provincial Council.
Leading actresses Malani Fonseka and Geetha Kumarasinghe were also Members of Parliament. While Malani brought gracefulness to parliament, Geetha was a quintessential activist. Her dual citizenship (Swiss-Sri Lankan) unseated her in 2017 as per the 19th.Amendment of 2015. But being keen on a political career, she renounced her Swiss citizenship and contested the August 5, 2020 parliamentary elections from Galle District and won with 63,356 preferential votes.
Shabana Azmi Hindi film acress
I have great respect for Geetha for her acting, film production skills, activism and political abilities. She got the National film Festival and Sarasawiya awards. She had produced films such as Palama Yata, Salambak Handai, Loku Duwa, Anurgaye Ananthaya, Wasuli and Geetha., Her productions Palama Yata and Loku Duwa won her Best Film Awards at the Sarasawiya Awards Function.
Geetha’s portrayal of Dulcie in Pembara Madu and Dotty in Palama Yata won her critical acclaim. For Palama Yata, she actually lived the life of the subjects, the poor living under the Kelaniya Bridge. Geetha is said to be gender sensitive. She is also well positioned to promote the rights of migrant, garment factory, plantation, film industry and informal workers in the tourism industry.
Going by the foregoing facts, it can be surmised that celebrated actresses and artistes have the wherewithal to handle the rough and tumble of politics and prove the naysayers and sexists wrong.
MP-elects Maithripala Sirisena, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Susil Premajayanth, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, S.B. Dissanayake, Mahinda Samarasinghe and John Seneviratne did not receive cabinet or state ministerial portfolios at today’s (12) swearing-in.
Dissanayake received his appointment letter as the Nuwara Eliya district coordination committee chairman.
There was no oath-taking in the portfolio of State Minister of Educational Reforms, Open Universities and Distant Education Promotion.
Sources say Dr. Wijedasa Rajapaksa was due to take oaths in that portfolio, but he was absent on the occasion.
Ex-president Sirisena, who polled the highest preferential votes from Polonnaruwa (111,137) did not receive any portfolio.
Unconfirmed reports say Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena will be appointed as the speaker of parliament.
As per constitutional provisions, appointments can be made to two more cabinet portfolios and one state ministerial portfolio.
Ex-president Maithripala Sirisena has told heads of the new government yesterday afternoon (11) to grant to someone else in the SLFP the ministerial position proposed to be given to him, say party sources.
The proposal was to grant him the environment portfolio, according to the sources.
The former president was present at this morning’s swearing-in of the ministers.
SLFP’s Nimal Siripala de Silva and Mahinda Amaraweera received labour and environment cabinet portfolios respectively.
Also, its Duminda Dissanayake, Dayasiri Jayasekara, Lasantha Alagiyawanne and Sudarshani Fernandopulle received state ministerial portfolios.
Darshana Sanjeewa Balasurirya and Sheain Fernandopulle Courtesy The Daily Mirror
Former President and SLFP Leader Maithripala Sirisena did not receive any Cabinet portfolio at the swearing-in ceremony of the new Cabinet held in Kandy today.
He was elected to Parliament from the Polonnaruwa District under the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) garnering 111,137 votes, which is the highest number of votes from the district.
Meanwhile, two cabinet ministerial portfolios and three State Ministry portfolios were given to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) members who contested under the Sri Lanka People’s Freedom Alliance at the General Elections held last week.
A total of 13 candidates from the SLFP, who contested under the Sri Lanka People’s Freedom Alliance and one candidate who contested under SLFP at the General Elections have been elected to the country 9th Parliament.
Accordingly, Nimal Siripala de Silva and Mahinda Amaraweera have been appointed as Cabinet Ministers while Dayasiri Jayasekera, Duminda Dissanayake and Lasantha Alagiyawanna were appointed as State Ministers.
Cadar Mastan and Angajan Ramanathan have been appointed as District Coordinating Committee Chairpersons.
However, Shantha Bandara, Shan Wijayalal, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Saradi Dushmantha, Jagath Pushpakumara and Chamara Sampath have not been given portfolios in the new government.
Meanwhile, W. D. J Seneviratne, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, Susil Premajayantha, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Dilan Perera and Chandima Weerakkody, who were senior politicians contested under SLPP, did not receive any portfolios.
However, senior politicians including Keheliya Rambukwella, Gamini Lokuge, Nimal Siripala, Dullas Alahapperuma, Mahinda Amaraweera, Bandula Gunawardane, who contested under the SLPP, received respective portfolios.
Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, former ministers Champika Ranawaka, Mangala Samaraweera and JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake have been summoned to appear before the PCoI on political victimization on August 21.
The Cabinet of Ministers and State Ministers of the new Government led by Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) were sworn in before President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
The swearing in ceremony was held at the MagulMaduwa (Audience Hall) of the historic Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic premises in Kandy this morning (12).
The President has repeatedly stressed the requirement of an efficient Cabinet of Ministers dedicated to build a prosperous nation in the future, says the President’s Media Division (PMD).
According to Saubhagyaye Dekma” (Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour), policy statement the composition of the Cabinet has been formulated in a pragmatic and a realistic manner to implement the national programme. Special attention was paid to the areas of national security, economic development, infrastructure facilities, education, health and sports in the process of formulation of the ministerial structure.
The new Cabinet of Ministers comprised 25 Ministers including the Prime Minister. There are 39 State Ministers. 23 Members of Parliament have been appointed as District Coordinating Committee Chairmen.
Maha Sangha invoked blessings on newly appointed Ministers and Committee Chairmen.
Cabinet of Ministers
1. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa – Minister of Defence
2. PM Mahinda Rajapaksa – Minister of Finance
3. PM Mahinda Rajapaksa – Minister of Urban Development & Housing
4. PM Mahinda Rajapaksa – Minister of Buddha Sasana, Religious & Cultural Affairs
5. Prof. G.L. Peiris – Minister of Education
6. Nimal Siripala de Silva – Minister of Labour
7. Pavithradevi Wanniarachchi – Minister of Health
8. Dinesh Gunawardena – Minister of Foreign Relations
9. Gamini Lokuge – Minister of Transport
10. Dr. Bandula Gunawardana – Minister of Trade
11. R.M.C.B. Rathnayake – Minister of Wildlife and Forest Conservation
12. Janaka Bandara Tennakoon – Minister of Public Services, Provincial Council & Local Government
13. Douglas Devananda – Minister of Fisheries
14. Keheliya Rambukwella – Minister of Mass Media
15. Chamal Rajapaksa – Minister of Irrigation
16. Dullas Alahapperuma – Minister of Power
17. Johnston Fernando – Minister of Highways
18. Wimal Weerawansa – Minister of Industries
19. Mahinda Amaraweera – Minister of Environment
20. S.M. Chandrasena – Minister of Land
21. Vasudeva Nanayakkara – Minister of Water Supply
22. Udaya Prabhath Gammanpila – Minister of Energy
23. Ramesh Pathirana – Minister of Plantation
24. Prasanna Ranatunga – Minister of Tourism
25. Rohitha Abeygunawardena – Minister of Port and Shipping
26. Namal Rajapaksa – Minister of Youth & Sports Affairs
27. Mohamed Ali Sabry, PC – Minister of Justice
28. Mahindananda Aluthgamage – Minister of Agriculture
State Ministers
1. Chamal Rajapaksa – Internal Security, Home Affairs and Disaster Management
2. Piyankara Jayaratne – Foreign Employment Promotions and Market Diversification
3. Duminda Dissanayake – Solar, Wind, Grid Power Generation Projects Development
4. Dayasiri Jayasekara – Batik, Handloom Fabrics and Local Apparel Products
5. Lasantha Alagiyawanna – Cooperative Services, Marketing Development and Consumer Protection
6. Sudarshani Fernandopulle – Prisons Reforms and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation
7. Shehan Semasinghe – Development of Samurdhi Home Economy, Microfinance, Self-Employment and Businesses and Under-Utilized State Resources
8. Vidura Wickremanayake – Promotion of National Heritage, Performing Arts and Rural Artists
9. Arundika Fernando – Coconut, Fishtail Palm, Palmyra and Rubber product Promotion and Allied Industrial Production and Export Diversification
10. Nimal Lanza – Road and other Infrastructure Facilities
11. Jayantha Samaraweera – Container Warehouse Facilities, Container Yards, Port Supply Facilities and Boats and Shipping Industry Development
12. Roshan Ranasinghe – Land Management Affairs, State Business Lands and Property Development
13. Sanath Nishantha – Development of Rural and Regional Drinking Water Supply Projects
14. Dr. Sarath Weerasekara – Provincial Councils and Local Government Affairs
15. Anuradha Jayaratne – Development of Rural Paddy Fields and Associated Tanks, Reservoirs and Irrigation
16. Piyal Nishantha – Women and Child Development, Pre-School and Primary Education, School Infrastructure and School Services
17. Kanaka Herath – Company Establishment Reforms, Tea Estate Crops, Tea Factory Modernization and Tea Export Diversification
18. Prasanna Ranaweera – Cane, Brass, Clay Furniture and Rural Industry Promotion
19. D.V. Chanaka – Aviation Services and Development of Export Zones
20. Tharaka Balasuriya – Regional Cooperation
21. Indika Anuruddha – Rural Home Construction and Building Materials Industry Promotion
22. Senior Prof. Mohan de Silva – Regulation of Fertilizer Production and Supply, use of Chemical Fertilizers and Pesticides
23. S. Viyalendran – Professional Development of Postal Services and Mass Media
24. Thenuka Vidanagamage – Rural and School Sports Infrastructure Promotion
25. Sisira Jayakody – Promotion of Indigenous Medicine, Development of Rural Ayurvedic Hospitals and Community Health
26. Kanchana Wijesekara – Ornamental Fish, Freshwater Fish and Shrimp Farming Development, Multi-day Fishing and Fish Export
27. Wimalaweera Dissanayake – Wildlife Conservation Protection Programmes including Electric Fence and Ditch Construction and Re-Forestation and Wildlife Resources Development
28. D.B. Herath – Livestock and Farm Promotion and Dairy and Eggs Related Industries
29. Shasheendra Rajapaksa – Paddy and Cereals, Organic Food, Vegetables, Fruits, Chilies, Onions and Potatoes, Seed Production and High Tech Agriculture
30. Dr. Nalaka Godahewa – Urban Development, Coast Conservation, Waste Disposal and Public Sanitation
31. Jeevan Thondaman – Estate Housing and Community Infrastructure Facilities
32. Dr. Seetha Arambepola – Skills Development, Vocational Education, Research and Innovation
33. Prof. Channa Jayasumana – Pharmaceutical Production, Supply and Regulation
34. Ajith Nivard Cabraal – Finance and Capital Market and Public Enterprise Reforms
35. Vijitha Berugoda – Dhamma Schools, Bhikku Education, Pirivenas and Buddhist Universities
36. Janaka Wakkumbura – Development of Sugarcane, Maize, Cashew, Pepper, Cinnamon, Cloves, Betel Production and Promotion of Allied Products and Export
37. Dilum Amunugama –Vehicle Regulation, Bus Transport Services and Carriages and Automotive Industries
38. Lohan Ratwatte – Gem and Jewelry
39. Siripala Gamlath – Development of Common Infrastructure Facilities of Settlements and Canals in Mahaweli Zones
By Noor Nizam – Peace and Political Activist, Political Communications Researcher, SLFP/SLPP Stalwart and Convener – The Muslim Voice”, August 11th., 2020
The Rajapaksa
family is Stronger than the Sigiriya Rock. Because they have not done wrong and
no harm to others, they have come out of being pushed aside from governance by
the conspiracies of the minority politicians and the anti-Rajapaksa forces and
the R2R schemers and LTTE front lobby over the last 4 1/2 years. Loyal
SLFP/SLPP stalwarts and party sympathizers will always stand by President
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, Basil Rajapaksa and their family. The
recent general elections show the faith the Sri Lankans had in them by giving
the 2/3 majority in parliament as requested by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at
the August 5th., general elections. It was great of the National Organizer of
SLPP, Basil Rajapaksa to express gratitude to those who stood with them to form
the SLPP and during the local government elections in 2018 and in a surprise
result, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna led by former president and the new PM
Mahinda Rajapaksa, came first by winning 40% of the votes and securing the most
number of seats and local authorities.
That was the
begining of the “come back” to the Rajapaksa family. The
National Organizer of the SLPP expressed these gratitude during his apprearance
in the “SALAKUNA” TV programe broadcasted yesterday (10.08.2020), by
Hiru TV.
PM. Mahinda
Rajapaksa should at least now understand who the backstabbers” from within the
SLFP and those who surrounded him at his peak of power were. Opportunitic
politicians and individuals of all communities have already started to gather
around him and his family with selfish and ulterior motives, not with the
“TRUE LOVE” to dfefend our “maathruboomiya”, Sri Lanka.
PM Mahinda
Rajapaksa should have also known who the political cut-throats and
opportunistic individuals of the Muslim and Tamil communities are. President
Mahinda Rajapaksa should never, never, never ever tolerate them in the future.
The Rajapaksa brothers should also be alert to new faces who will now gather
around them and creep into the center of governance to benefit themselves and
their kith and kin at the expences of longstanding and loyal supporters of the
Rajapaksa family. In politics these things happen.
This
happened to late Madam Sirimavo Bandaranike, to J.R. Jayawardene, to Kamraj, to
Mujibu Rahuman, to Zulfikar Ali Butto and many other leaders who were loved by
their people.
Their
near kith and kin became victims of their opponents, both political and
otherwise.
Yet
they came back or their next of kin came back to power by the grace of God
AllMighty as long as they were clean. It was only a matter of time. The
Rajapaksa brothers/family are back in power to govern Sri Lanka for the next
decade by the Grace of God AllMighty.
The People have voted
overwhelmingly to support the President at the General Election. I stress
– to support THE PRESIDENT – and not the cabal of usual faces in Parliament who
may try to now hijack the administrative boat and take the nation on a
pointless procrastinatory Indian jaunt again. The President must now swiftly
act and GET THINGS DONE.
No excuse. The two-thirds is in place. No delays. No saying “give it time”. ACT NOW and do what should have been done the moment the war against the Indian terrorists ended:
The following must be done to save Sinhale/Ceylon once and for
all:
1. Abolish the 19A – This will restore the Presidency who is directly elected by the People and remove the atrocious elements of the 19A which were passed without a referendum.
2. ABOLISH the Indo Lanka Accord – No sovereign nation, nay a nation with any self-respect, would abide by an illegal treaty forced upon it that prohibits it engaging with other countries without the approval of India. At the moment, India has the final say over our Ports! What nonsense is this? We are not part of India and are meant to be independent! The Trincomalee Tank Farm must also be taken back from India. Any leases or ventures in future must be put out to a proper GLOBAL tender and not to third rate Indian companies. The Indo Lanka Accord is illegal and was forced upon us under duress. India’s interests, or “concerns” are of NO CONCERN to us.
3. ABOLISH 13th amendment AND Provincial Councils – The 13A contains DISASTROUS elements which mention ethnic homelands, ethnic laws and areas and encourage corruption and parochialism. The Provincial Councils waste the nation/taxpayer over $2-3 BILLION (approx. LKR 555,000,000,000) EVERY YEAR. That is money that can be put to far better use. The country only needs one accountable government and efficient Civil Service to get things done. Local authorities (i.e. village, or urban councils) should only be required to manage very minor matters such as refuse collection, or minor street repairs. 4. BAN ethnic parties and ethnic ghettos – No part of this nation should be mono-ethnic. The entire population should be mixed. No party or political entity/aspirant should campaign based on ethnicity, religion, caste or region. 5.BUILD public housing to settle people in mixed settlements islandwide. Settle Sinhalese and Burghers in the North – Implement an “ETHNIC INTEGRATION POLICY” islandwide like in Singapore. This is eminently feasible. For instance, the Gal Oya Schemes initiated by DS Senanayake settle populations of mixed settlements in the North and East, housing Sinhalese, Tamils, Moors, Burghers and Malays together. In Singapore, the National Housing and Development Board regulates the population by building public housing and mixing residents. It regulates sales to conform to bands that represent the overall demographics of Singapore. If you do this in Sinhale/Ceylon, there will be no more mono-ethnic North and no more ghettos.
6. ABOLISH unnecessary pointless public institutions (e.g. various boards that fix prices and are merely entities to fill with “jobs for the boys“). Government jobs should be extremely limited and confined to an elite, efficient and meritocratic corps of taskmasters who carry out government policy, irrespective of who is in power. Decentralisation of the Civil Service can occur, but there must be ZERO devolution. There needs to be a bonfire of RED TAPE that holds the People and businesses back. 7. RECREATE ONE school system with all children in one classroom learning in either Sinhala, and/or English medium in ALL districts without exception – There should be zero compulsion to force Sinhalese to learn in Tamil. Instead, the focus should be to teach the Sinhalese their mother tongue of Sinhala AND a first class knowledge of English. Teaching other languages like Korean, Mandarin and Japanese as an additional language should also occur. The focus at the primary, secondary and tertiary level should be the STEM education model to create PRODUCTIVE graduates. All children should be taught the ancient history of this country and history of the noble Independence Movement. 8. BAN INDIAN lorry buses, trains, three wheelers and Indian Modi jackets 9. INVEST in Chinese and Japanese electric trains nationwide (a bullet train can cross North to South in 70 minutes) 10. INVEST in electric buses nationwide – the city of Shenzhen in China is a good model for this where all transport is electric. 11. BUILD an MRT for Colombo and light rail/DLR systems for places like Kandy, Hambantota, Galle, or else electric trams (like we used to have in the 1950s). 12. ENFORCE THE RULE OF LAW – start from the top. Make the punishment for corruption a thorough CANING like in Singapore. In Singapore, after a Minister returned having gone a trip with a businessman (a conflict of interests), he was arrested the moment he landed back in the country. The criminals who committed high treason such as Sirisena and the architects of the Bond Scam should be fully prosecuted. Any present government-linked ministers to high crimes or corruption must be duly punished. WITHOUT THE RULE OF LAW, SINHALA CAN NOT BE A GLOBAL BUSINESS HUB. So get it done. 13. ENFORCE ONE LAW, ONE NATION, ONE PEOPLE.BAN madrassas. There should not be multiple ethnic laws. There should not be one law for politicians and another for the people. We should live as one Ceylonese people, under one national law with one indomitable destiny to achieve our full potential to be a first world paradise nation. 14. Tell India to go to hell when they issue diktats. This country was never part of India, is not now and never will be. We are not part of India’s sphere of interest, nor India’s backyard. 15. RE-TENDER the Trincomalee Harbour/oil farm to a mixture of domestic players – including the public CPC – and all global majors (e.g. Shell, Sinopec, Petronas, Total) and NOT the pathetic Indians 16. RE-ENFORCE a meritocracy on our island. No more cronyism and political yes men in positions. 17. Have SELF RESPECT and cane Indian fisherman who illegally plunder in our waters. – There is nothing to negotiate about fishing rights. These are our waters, our fish and our coral reefs that these Indians are destroying illegally entering our waters. 18. Make RAPID strides to join ASEAN (we were invited at founding) 19. RESTORE the national Lion flag raised in 1948 – This was rediscovered by the Independence movement in the Royal Chelsea Hospital in London. It was duly returned by the British and that was the flag that was raised on 4th February 1948. The original Lion flag should represent us all. There should be zero stripes, or demarcations for ethnicities. 20. RESTORE the name of the country toSINHALE and CEYLON and remove the Indianised “Sri Lanka”. The official name should be “Republic of Sinhale”. All citizens should be called Sinhaledeepans, or Ceylonese. 21. CODIFY the languages to either:
OPTION 1
National Language and anthem –
Sinhala
Official Languages – Sinhala and English
Working Languages/Mediums – Sinhala and English
OR
OPTION 2
National Language and anthem – Sinhala
Official Languages – Sinhala, Tamil and English
Working Languages/Mediums – Sinhala and English
What we have now under
the current constitution, is a disaster. Tamil is given
National Language status when it isn’t a national language. And English is
given the ridiculous Indian style title of “link language” which has
zero meaning. So the Language Laws must be corrected to one of the above
options.
24.
INSTITUTE PRO BUSINESS LAWS AND LABOUR LAWS – end this Marxist/Socialist
nonsense and end crony capitalism and crony socialism. The country needs to be
as productive as the competitor nations of Singapore, South Korea, Japan and
Malaysia.
24.
STOP PANDERING to India. You will notice how Indians derogatorily refer to us
as “Lankans” even omitting the Sri in our name.
25. BUILD,
MAINTAIN AND PRESERVE OUR BUDDHIST AND ANCIENT HERITAGE – I am glad to see the President is taking
a keen interest in this. There are ancient stupas, Buddhist relics and
monuments to ancient kings that must be preserved. Like in Buddhist nations
like Thailand and Burma, Sinhale/Ceylon must build Stupas nationwide. The
ancient tank system must be revived. All citizens should be taught their
history.
Additional suggestions:
26.) EXPAND
the Port City and EXPAND relations with China and ASEAN companies
27.) BUILD
a Changi/Hong Kong style International airport in Colombo and/or Trincomalee .
We cannot claim to be a “HUB” if we lack a Transit airport with less
than 100 million passenger capacity. Our competitors are Istanbul, Dubai,
Singapore and Hong Kong.
28.)
MOVE Mattala Airport (i.e. rebuild) to the Hambantota Harbour itself which is a
more appropriate location next to the Port.
29.) DO
NOT TOLERATE TOMFOOLERY. Any Minister who even suggests to
buy Indian should be publicly caned on the Galle Face.
31.) Rebrand and reset Sri Lankan
Airlines. Separate the debt of the carrier and create a NEW national airline
with a professional management team. Call it Ceylon Airlines which
will have a better brand name. Set the same standards as Singapore Airlines
where only YOUNG cabin crew serve (stewardesses have to retire after 10 years
and there is an age limit after 30-35 you give way to new recruits) and only
NEW aircraft are sourced and utilised. You need a young crew and young fleet of
planes.
32.) OFFER ONLY
young, vibrant and honest candidates at all future elections. No more
mankollakarayas and fat buffoons. I am aghast that Nimal Sirpala and Sirisena
were nominated as candidates. There are 21 million of our citizenry. There
are Sri Lankans even working at NASA. You cannot tell us that some of these
politicians are the best of us.
33.) Teach the good and bad of colonial rulers and of our post
independence leaders. Lee Kuan Yew recognised (like our own Independence movement)
that the colonials did terrible things and had no right to rule them. However,
whatever little that was good must be utilised and rightly acknowledged. He
also noted his disappointment that his fellow independent nations’ leaders
were corrupt and ruining their countries. Our own politicians for instance have
ruined our tea industry and brand image. HISTORY must be based on FACTS and
not based on the REVISIONIST HISTORY propagated by POLITICAL PARTIES (to
glorify themselves) or the INDIANS (who whitewash their crimes and control over
our island).
34.) Build Solar parks and store electricity from hydroelectric
and solar using Battery farms (e.g. the Tesla Battery Farm in Australia). BAN
Coal plants.
In short GET THINGS DONE. There is ZERO EXCUSE not to abolish
the 13A and Indo Lanka Accord now.
NO EXCUSES. DO WHAT MUST BE DONE.
The Sinhalese nation. Ceylon is Sinhale in English.
What our trains should be like. Would you rather have
Provincial Councils, or bullet trains?
The Lion flag of the Sinhalese nation, raised once more
in 1948
Nelson
called Trincomalee “the finest harbour in all the world”. Should it
be laying idle under Indian control? This should be a bustling metropolis like
Singapore, Hong Kong, San Francisco Bay etc.
TEN years since
we defeated the Indian LTTE. We should have already been like Singapore by now.
May the heavens grace our country and may this opportunity not be squandered.
Please Mr. President, be one of us – the people – and don’t let the politicians
ruin your term in office!
The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) yesterday finalised its national list nominees while arriving at a compromise with the minority parties, Harin Fernando said.
Those included in the SJB national list are, SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara, National Organizer Tissa Attanayake, Harin Fernando, Eran Wickramaratne, Imtiyaz Bakeer Markar, Mayantha Dissanayake and Dayani Gamage.
We have arrived at a compromise with the minority parties with regard to the national list slots,” Mr. Fernando said.
Meanwhile, SLMC Leader Rauff Hakeem had earlier told journalists that his party had requested for one national list slot.
Five new cases of COVID-19 have been identified hiking the number of virus-positive cases in the country to 2,880.
The new cases have been identified as recent arrivals from Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates the Department of Government Information confirmed.
Accordingly, a total of 9 new cases have been detected in the country within the day.
As per the Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry, 247 active cases are currently under medical care at hospitals.
In the meantime, the number of recoveries from the disease in Sri Lanka has moved up to 2,622 cases with 29 patients being discharged after recovery, today (11).
Sri Lanka has thus far witnessed 11 deaths due to the virus outbreak.
Russia has registered the world’s first coronavirus vaccine early Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin announced amid widespread concerns about the rapidly developed vaccine’s safety.
The state-run Gamaleya research institute last week launched Phase III trials of the Covid-19 vaccine involving thousands of volunteers. The Health Ministry has said it plans to begin mass production of the vaccine as soon as next month and launch a mass vaccination drive in October.
This morning, for the first time in the world, a vaccine against the new coronavirus was registered,” Putin said in a televised cabinet session broadcast.
I know that it’s effective and forms sustainable immunity,” he said.
Putin said one of his daughters, whose identity he has neither confirmed nor denied to date, has already taken the vaccine.
Experts, including an industry body representing multinationals that conduct clinical trials in Russia, have called the vaccine’s swift registration without completing Phase III trials a Pandora’s box.”
Russia has the world’s fourth-highest Covid-19 caseload with almost 900,000 infections.
Gamaleya’s vaccine is a so-called viral vector vaccine, meaning it employs another virus to carry the DNA encoding the necessary immune response into cells. It is based on the adenovirus, the common cold.
At the auspicious moment this morning on the ninth of August 2020,
when our Prime Minister is being inaugurated it is my humble request that he
considers the full development of the Hambantota District and a Youth
Development Programme for special implementation.
The Hambantota District has been a
district where I did work long ago. I have been struck with the
sincerity of its people and their sufferings. My first novel, Mukulita Piyumo
Ayi Vana Meda Me details the travails and tribulations of its innocent
people. I have hoped that someday the
people will be delivered from their poverty. My Paper tells it all. I propose
the development of its agriculture and industry. These thoughts come in my
Paper: Mattala Airport is not for sale.
The youth of a country has to be the prime concern of any
Government. I had the opportunity to beat hollow the ILO, the world reputed
organization, when I worked in Bangladesh as a consultant to the Ministry of
Labour and Youth way back in 1982. When the Military Government of General
Ershard took over the country he was disillusioned with the work done by the
Ministry of Youth Development where I served as the Consultant. The Minister for Labour and Manpower in his
Government, the Hon Aminul Islam, Air
Vice Marshall ordered me, What can you contribute for Bangladesh?” It was
delivered in a vein implying that foreign consultants were non grata. I
replied: Please consider approving a new self employment programme to enable
the 40,000 youths we trained in vocations annually.” The Secretary to the
Treasury the Highest Officer in the land objected stating that the ILO had
failed miserably to establish a self employment programme in the earlier three
years and said that self employment was not something that could be achieved
and that it would inevitably end in a
waste of funds. I vehemently contested this statement. A two hour verbal duel
ensued with my providing details of how it can be done while he contested every
idea. This slang battle went on for over two full hours, with the Hon Minister
painstakingly listening making notes.
The Minister finally had heard enough and ordered us to stop the verbal
battle. Then he ordered. I approve this Advisor implementing a Self Employment
Programme for our beloved country and I look forward to see it being done. He
has convinced me.” The Secretary to the
Treasury stumped at one stating that he will not provide any funds to which I
promptly replied that I needed no funds more than what was approved on the
youth training budget. I requested approval to find savings within our approved
budget and make variations and rewrite the remits of officers. He approved my
request. My task was to design and implement a self employment programme and
also train Bangladesh officers to continue it after my two year assignment was
over. The rest is history, Today it is a
Programme that is on going, This Programme is today the premier programme the
world has known and has guided over three million youths to become self
employed. This Programme is today the premier programme of youth development
the world has known.
I look forward to see two major programmes from the Government of
President Gotabhaya and Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has made the difficult decision
not to sell the Mattala Airport to India. It is the right decision
and he deserves to be congradulated.
I wrote about how the Mattala Airport and the Port of Hambantota
have to be activated back in 2014. That Paper is annexed because every detail
of what I then wrote will hold good for today. Nothing happened in 2014 and we
lost the Port during the regime of the UNP.
Let me hope that the contents of this Paper will reach our leaders
President Gotabhaya and Prime Minister Mahinda. To make the Mattala Airport
pay is very simple.
Firstly we must understand our resources. The Chena
cultivators in Hambantota and Moneragala have to be activated to plant melon,
red pumkin, ash pumkin. A Marketing Department has to be re established with
two of their earlier programmes- the vegetable and fruit purchasing scheme and
the Cannery. The MD can be created overnight. The cost of creating
it can be recouped within the very first year from the profits that come in by
the purchase of veg and fruit that is supplied to the Cannery.
A Cannery has to be set up. A medium scale Cannery has to be
imported and assembled. My take is that it can be done within three to four
months judging at the speed I worked at Matara in 1971..
The produce is already there the chena cultivators will produce
all the Red Pumpkin, Ash Pumpkin we need and Melon to make all the fruit Juice
and Jam and within one year we will be self sufficiuent in Jam and Juice. The
foreign exchange we spend to get imports of Jam and Juice today will easily
match the production we make in the very first year. We can grow Tomatoes and
be self sufficient in items like Tomatoe Sauce.
If we can find the equal of Assistant Commissioiner Oswald
Tillekeratne we can even export pineapple. He was in charge of the
Cannery. We then exported 8% of our pineapple products.
I have seen children in Lunugamvehera running behind my car to
sell us mangoes. Our crop of Mangoes is vast and half goes waste as we pluck to
the ground.
The Mattala Airport is to be used to export the products.
That is easily the way ahead. Someone in the Administrative
Service has to be put in charge.
If there is none to bell the cat I can undertake, though lingering
in my Eighties I can undertake that job.. A place in the Administrative Service
or an assignment will do that trick. Establishing a Marketing Department, a
Cannery and getting it going will be far easier a task than establishing the
Youth Self Employment Programme in Bangladesh which I did in 1983 when working
as a consultant.
If anyone confronts and tells that this cannot be done. I will be
there if intimated.- (garvin_karunaratne@ hotmail.com) Once I had a
two hours’ duel with the highest officer in Bangladesh- the Secretary to the
Treasury who contested my statement that I will establish a self employment
programme. He quoted the International Labour Organization’s failure to
establish a self employment programme after trying for three years and getting
down experts from all over. The Minister who presided at our duel Air Vice
Marshall Aminul Islam, the Minister for Labour and Manpower was convinced of my
arguments and immediately approved my establishing a self employment programme.
An entire Department of Youth Development took orders from me and within
nineteen months I established the programme and also trained the staff to continue
it. Today that Programme is the premium employment creation programme in the
world and has by now guided three million youths to become self employed.
Establishing a Marketing Department and a Cannery is a far simpler task. If I
had failed I would have been court marshalled for wasting funds, as it was a
military government
It will be a pleasure to work for my Motherland. and I am dead
certain that the task of establishing a Cannery can be accomplished and our
country can also be self sufficient in all jam, Juice, Sauce and many more
items that are imported today.
A Rural Renaissance in the
Offing
Posted on January 12th, 2014 in Lanka Web
By Garvin Karunaratne
My travel to Kataragama in December 2013 took me to the Mattala
Mahinda Rajapaksa Airport and via the new road that is being built through
Lunugamvehera Tank to Kataragama. .
I have worked stationed within Hambantota for over a year working
in the Agrarian Services and Marketing Department and have covered Hambantota
from Matara for another two years working on the Paddy Purchasing Scheme of the
Agrarian Services Department and the Vegetable and Fruit Marketing Scheme of
the Marketing Department. . I lived in a chummery with Vet Surgeon
Balachandran and Assistant Commissioner Nanayakkara. We had to have a bath
under the street tap at night or have a swim in the sea. Hambantota was easily
the worst district I worked in. There was hardly any decent restaurant
other than the Rest House . That District has to be developed. The travails of
the colonists at Meegahajandura detailed in my novel Mukulita Piyumo Ayi Vana
Meda Me”(Godages) and the poverty of the fishing settlements the subject
of my novel Landa Liyange Sihina Atare”(Godages) have to cease someday
My work has taken me to remote areas covered by the paddy
purchasing unit- the cooperative societies that were seething with life. In my
eighteen years’ of life in the Administrative Service I have seen the pulse of
the people in the Dry Zone marching from a peasant economy to a commercial
economy but the neglected areas were many. While the Mattala Airport has the
capability of breathing life to the Hambantota District in particular and
the entire South, the Lunugamwehera- Kataragama Road will breathe life to
a section of villages that were hitherto away from communication links with the
rest of the country.
To me the manner in which President Rajapaksa has dealt with
foreign aid- in using it to fund development projects- like the Mattala
Airport, the Hambantota Port the Lunugamwhera Road- the massive highways
tells me of a shift in the manner of using foreign aid. Hitherto, since the IMF
took over the development of our country in 1977 and dictated us to follow the
freemarket and the liberalization of foreign exchange, taking away the handling
of foreign exchange that comes into the country from the hands of the sovereign
government into the hands of the banks, the multinationals and their salesmen.
Instead of using the foreign aid and the foreign currency that we
earn for the development of the country and its masses we used it since
1977 to import everything for the rich in terms of luxury imports, to
fund the education of the rich children overseas, for luxury cruises and
endless foreign travel for the rich. The foreign aid and foreign income was
used to satisfy the luxury craze of a miniscule section of our population
instead of being use for the masses. The new Strategy of President Rajapaksa
heralds to me a shift in the use of foreign exchange.
Since 1977 foreign aid was not used for the masses except
in the Mahaweli Project, the brain child of the LTTE assassinated
Minister Gamini Dissanayake.
Driving along the Lumugamvehera- Kataragama mud track- which was
being built, I saw mangoes in plenty on the trees and the people, dressed
in rags in their attempt to get some income chased behind my car
with a few mangoes for sale. It was a sheer attempt to find an income.
Every year I spend a few months in the motherland I love. At
Katunayake Airport I slump into a roadworthy rental car sent to the
Katunayake Airport by King Rent a Car at Battaramulla and clock a few
thousand miles driving down the roads I drove once as an administrative officer.
Then I had the ability to listen to the people and do something for them.
In charge of the Tripoli Market, the headquarters of the Vegetable and
Fruit Marketing Scheme I often ordered a fleet of lorries to Producer fairs
where the entire produce was bought. In Colombo Oswald Tilekeratne another
Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Cannery turned Red Pumpkin into
Golden Melon Jam, Ash Pumpkin into Silver Melon Jam. Now I listen to them and
write about them in my endless Papers and novels, hoping that my writing will
reach the eyes of someone in power who will be spurred to action.
My recent travel tells me that easily half the crop of mangoes
goes waste today. The Marketing Department Cannery established by us,
when I served as an Assistant Commissioner, enabled that Department to offer
floor prices for Red Pumpkin and Ash Pumpkin. Mangoes and Oranges were
used to make fruit juice. Now the Cannery came under the axe of the IMF
in 1978 by the executioner of the Third World, the IMF that decided that
the Public Sector should not do commerce and the Cannery was privatized.
The people of the Dry Zone that drew high incomes for their produce now cannot
sell their produce. I have repeatedly suggested that Canneries be opened
in Tissamaharama and Dambulla and Anuradhapura to make fruit juice. We have
melon in plenty and tomatoes that go waste. Now we import fruit juice, tomatoe
sauce and jam from Developed countries like the USA, Australia. All this while
our produce is wasted; our people have no incomes. The IMF strategy is for
structuring the Third World to contribute to the Developed Country and we
have to follow the IMF because we are an indebted country. That was the legacy
of the UNP that accepted the Structural Adjustment Programme of the IMF.
Why do we not realize the folly of following the IMF following it so far for
over three decades.
Let me hope that this Writing gets to the eyes of someone in
power, The building of the Port, the Airport and the Highways is the first part
of progress. Let me hope that Canneries will be set up to bring incomes to the
masses that produce. Let me see Sinharaja Water for sale in Colombo. The
development infrastructure of Canneries, Small industries that was all
abolished by the IMF from 1977 by the United National Party has to be set up
once again.
This can be done fast- in a few months if the Government Agents
are activated. We established The Matara Mechanised Boatyard that made 40 foot
seaworthy fishing boats and Coop Crayon, a crayon factory that
supplied high quality crayons for a tenth of our requirements in 1971
within three months. Our administrators can do that job. They are used to
it. There was one of us that made Paper at Kotmale. Now we export Waste
Cardboard some 30,000 tons every month to India and buy Paper in return.
That senario must cease to bring employment and incomes to our
people. It is heartening to note that the 2014 Budget is emphasizing
import substitution, to make everything imported in Sri Lanka bringing
employment and incomes to Sri Lankan youth and not creating employment and
incomes to people in countries like the USA and Britain who are ranged against
us to take our leaders to the War Crimes, Coop Crayon, the Crayon factory
that I as the Government Agent and Sumanapala Dahanayake the member of parliament
struggled and established in Deniyaya in 1971 tells us that we can succeed in
import substitution. The quality of the crayons made by Coop Crayon equalled
the quality of Crayola and when I and Sumanapala showed the crayons we made to
the then Minister of Industries Mr. Subasinghe he was surprised and readily
volunteered to preside at the ceremony to open sales. That art of making
crayons was unearthed in the science lab at Rahula College. Matara in
1971 by my Planning Officer Vetus Fernando working with science teachers.
That success itself tells me that Sri Lanka can succeed in import substitution.
But the full blast of the IMF and their lackeys the Pathfinder Foundation in
Sri Lanka and their mouthpieces the economists shout from the tree tops that import
substitution will derail our economic effort.(See Sunday Times 29/12). Let us
ask any of them whether they have ever established any industry, import
substitution or otherwise in their entire life. Let them tell us of what
industries they have established before advising.
They all the economists as well as the IMF forget the man at the
helm , the personage of extreme courage who delivered Sri Lanka from terrorism,
a task that every Superpower said we could not ever achieve.
Let me live in hope that President Rajapaksa will now take full
charge of the economic development of Sri Lanka.
The Youth Self Employment Program of Bangladesh.
The Ministry of Youth
Development where I was working as a two year consultant from the Commonwealth
Secretariat was attending to traditional youth work and providing skills
training to 40,000 youths annually. The Military Government that took over in
1982 expressed dissatisfaction with the programmes and at an evaluation,
presided over by Air Vice Marshall Aminul Islam, the Minister for Labour and
Manpower, I was questioned as to what
contribution I could make for Bangladesh.
I replied that it would be
ideal to have a Self Employment Program which will guide and train the
youths undertaking skills programs to
become self employed. Then most of the trained youths remained unemployed. The
Secretary to the Ministry of Finance,
the highest official in the land, objected, stating that this was something
that can never be achieved because the ILO had miserably failed to establish a
self employment program in Tangail in the earlier three years. The Secretaries
of the Finance and other Ministries strongly objected, stating that it would
end up in a waste of funds and also that the Youth Ministry should not be
entrusted with the task of creating employment opportunities. I argued that
though the ILO failed, I had the ability to
succeed because I had established many employment projects in my work in
Sri Lanka. I also argued that youth work should concentrate on skills training
and guiding the trained to establish enterprises. The Hon Minister listened
carefully to an easy two hours’ arguments between me and the Secretaries of
some Line Ministries. Finally he ordered all of us to shut up and asked the
Secretaries for the number of drop outs of the education system in any one
year, those who would be searching for employment without any qualification.
The answer was in the millions. Then he asked for the number of youths who
would be guided to become self-employed through Government Programs. The answer
was none. He immediately ruled that I should be allowed to establish a youth
self employment program. The Secretary to the Treasury immediately vetoed it by
stating that there were no funds. I immediately said that I needed no funds,
but authority should be granted for the Ministry to re deploy officers, redraft
their work remits and to find savings within the skills training budgets for
expenses on holding workshops to train and guide youths to become self
employed. The Hon Minister granted that request.
The Ministry of Labour and
Manpower got cracking the very next day, identifying key areas where the work
will commence, drafting training schedules to train the staff who attended to
skills training on how to guide the youths to make their own assessment of how
they can be self employed in their habitat. The Ministry took over elements of
national planning, in identifying areas where there was a potential for youths
to become self employed. I with a core of officials addressed the 40,000 youths
in training on identifying areas where they could generate incomes, and how they should draft plans to be self
employed. It was to be a family basis where the parents and elders of the
youths were also consulted. All skills training institutes were activated till
late at night to enable youths to utilize the machinery to make something
that could be sold. What they made was evaluated
at the next days training and this took on a process of training to make
marketable products. The three Livestock and Poultry Training Institutes of the
Ministry established an extension
service to help youths who commence farms in their homes. The Deputy Directors
of Youth Development in charge of Districts took on the mantle of guiding the
youths to establish income generation activities and guiding them on a day to
day basis. In short the Ministry of Youth Development became in facto a Ministry creating
employment and providing training for that purpose/.
In 1982 I commenced training
the staff in economics and techniques of community development and non formal
education where the thrust was to enable youths to make their own
decisions and develop their abilities to
make them become successful entrepreneurs. I was training 2000 youths and also
training the staff to continue the program when I leave.
The design of the program and my accomplishment is recorded in the
certificates issued by the two Secretaries with whom I worked.
Mr Ayubur Rahaman, The Secretary to the Ministry wrote on
5/10/1983:
His contribution
towards successful launching of a number of skills development training programs to promote
employment of youths deserves special appreciation. His role as formulator of
the self employment project has been particularly commendable. Dr
Karunaratne applied his initiative,
skills, expertise and energy on training of youth officers, preparation of
business profiles for encouraging self employment and guding youths to
formulate small projects. It was mainly through his dedication and hard
work that the pilot program for self employment has now been formally accepted as one of the
most important development projects to be implemented by the Youth Development Department.”
Mr Md. Asafuddowlah, Joint Secretary on 28/8/1983:
Dr Karunaratne’s significant
contribution has been in the field of self employment to the drop out youths.
This Programme was not only designed by him but also guided by him. This
activity which was initially launched as
a pilot experimental project has been a great success and has now been adopted as a full fledged programme of the
Youth Development Department. This is a non subsidy programme in which the youths are subjected to non
formal education inputs while they are engaged in viable bur small scale
commercial ventures. The Government has
been successful in providing meaningful
employment to a large number of youths
on this programme.
Mr Md Asafuddowlah,
Secretary to the Ministry, on 20/2005, eihht years later, wrote to me:
You will be happy to learn that the Self Employment Program of
the Youth Development Department has
expanded across the country and attained great success. I have not forgotten
your valuable contribution to the success of this programme.”
In 1993, the Government of Bangladesh through the Commonwealth
Fund requested my service as an Advisor but I had to decline as I was in a
permanent post as an Assistant Professor at Westminister.
The Programme has been
expanded apace. On 19/2/2011, the Government of Bangladesh, in its Report to the 34 th Session of the
IFAD(FAO) stated that two million youths have found self employment on this
Programme. By now (2020) this Programme has guided over three million youths to
become self employed and derive incomes equal to the earnings of a clerical
officer in the Public Service. This target has never been reached in any other
programme anywhere in the world.
Today this is the largest
employment creation program the world has known. The Programme currently
guides 160,000 youths to become self
employed and the Youth Ministry has taken over the task of national planning to
create employment. Today, Ninety five
percent of the work of the Youth Development Ministry is to create employment
for the youth.
I am proud that I was able to
establish the Youth Self Employment Programme in Bangladesh on my own and to
have trained Bangladeshi administrators to
continue it after my assignment was over. The only Programme that can
stand comparison is the Comilla Rural Development Programme of Bangladesh,
implemented in 1958- 1969 which doubled the yield of paddy and achieved full
employment in the Kotwali Thana- a Division in Bangladesh. This was established
by Dr Akhter Hammed Khan with the help of a number of professors from Michigan
State University who were in residence in Comilla.through a decade.
The Youth Self Employment
Programme of Bangladesh stands out as a success that can be repeated in many a
Third World country
By Email_*84, Tambrook Drive Agincourt, Ontario Canada M1W 3L9 August 9, 2020
His Excellency, Gotabhaya Rajapakse President of Sri Lanka Presidential Secretariat Colombo 1, Sri Lanka
Your Excellency,
Whither Sri Lanka under your Leadership
Let me firstly congratulate you on your principled campaign and winning the Presidential election in November 2019, and able leadership demonstrated in winning the peoples’ mandate at the recent general election with an overwhelming majority.Your effective leadership in containing the Covid 19 pandemic and bringing same under control with the limited facilities available gives ample confidence in your capacity to lead the nation and bring her out of the grip of desperation to a positive direction of development and growth.
You must be currently inundated with advice from your own party caucus, various experts and other lobbyists who would want you to adopt particular policies and economic models to overcome various problems faced by the country.You have rightly chosen to give an impetus to local agriculture and provide incentives to those who could replace foreign imports with local products of nearly equal or better value.
I wish to seek your permission to submit a few proposals for your consideration which I trust would be Important and beneficial to the country we love which is our motherland.I am giving below some of the ideas that I have submitted to the Sri Lankan leaders from time to time for their evaluation and adoption:
1.*_New Constitution:_*
*(a)**Retain Presidential system under a unitary structure of government;*
*(b)**Make elected officials subject to judicial scrutiny for their* *actions*;
*(c)**Retain provisions per Chapter II, Article 9, which allows the foremost place and at the same time enjoins the state to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana as prevailing for the past 2300 plus years in order safeguard this vital civilizational pillar, while accommodating all other religious beliefs and practices that arrived later. *
*(d)**Enact Anti-Conversion Bill to prevent exploitation of the poor members of society through offerings of any form of allurement.Conversion only through conviction should be acceptable.*
2.*_13^th Amendment:_*
*(a)**As an interim measure*, *steps should be taken on an urgent basis to amend 13A by deleting Police powers, restoring rights over land matters by transferring the related powers to the Central Government, and revoking the right of two or more Provincial Councils from amalgamating to form a unified__**Provincial Council.*
*(b)**Revoke 13^th Amendment and Replace with Ten Multi-District Councils to which adequate powers may be delegated as opposed to devolved powers directly relating to matters of local interest, while sharing more power at the Centre with the minority communities.**The ideal unit needed to replace the Provincial **Councils would be Multi-District Councils tailored to deal with the common problems affecting neighbouring districts as grouped below:*
*i)Northern Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Jaffna, Killinochchi and Mannar;
*ii)North-Eastern Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Mullaitivu and Trincomalee;
*iii) North-Central Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Vavuniya, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa;*
iv) North-Western Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Puttalam and Kurunegala;*
*v)Central Hill Country Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Matale, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya;
vi) South-Eastern Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Ampara, Batticaloa and Kalmunai;*
*vii) Megapolis Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the* *districts of Gampaha, Colombo and Kalutara;*
*viii) Kegalu-Sabaragamuwa Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Kegalle and Ratnapura;*
*ix)Uva Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Badulla and Moneragala; and
*x)Southern Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Galle, Matara and Hambantota.
*Some of the powers to be decentralized to the District Councils amongst others to be determined by a competent authority, are listed below for your perusal*:
*·**Licensing of Automobile Vehicles in the district***
*·**General Health and Sanitation***
*·**Local power generation***
*·**Minor roads and bridges***
*·**Administration of District Courts, Family Courts and Local Dispute Arbitration***
*·**Junior Technical Colleges***
*·**Primary School Education***
*·**Special Police to handle Court duties, Traffic control and non-criminal offences***
*·**Welfare services***
*·**Sports and Cultural activities***
*·**Small scale industries***
*·**Agrarian services to localized farming communities*
*3._**_*_*Enhanced Sharing of Power at the Centre: *_***
**Allow for minority representatives to play a role in the decision making process by contributing to the development of policy, implementation and monitoring same through participation in Ministerial Consultative Sub-Committees.In addition, the following senior positions in government may be reserved for minority community representatives**
***. Minister of Tamil Language and Culture***
*·**Deputy Minister ofDisaster Relief and Re-Settlement***
*·**Deputy Minister of Community Development and Social Inequity Eradication***
*·**Deputy Minister of Education***
*·**Deputy Minister of Health Care and Nutrition***
*·**Deputy Minister of Local Government and District Councils***
*·**Deputy Minister of Justice and Law Reform***
*·**Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries*
4.*_Switching from Preferential Voting to First Past the Post on Electorate Basis:_*
*(a)**Political parties should nominate candidates for each electorate as in the past instead of a whole slate for each district*. *It would be useful to specify educational or other work experience requirements to be considered for eligibility to seek candidature for electoral office.***
*(b)**The bonus places or additional seats given to nominees in the National List to which the political parties become eligible could still be determined based on the overall voting strength of each party.*These additional seats could preferably be reserved for enlisting competent persons who are recognized for their outstanding knowledge, technical skills or volunteer services to the larger community.
*5.**_Political Party Names or Labels should not carry a Religious or Ethnic Connotation:_*
*(a)**Political parties with narrow religious or ethnic interests should by law be prohibited from standing for election to the National assembly, as they seek special treatment causing discord and disunity.*
*(b)**One law should apply to all citizens alike in matters of social conduct.*
*(c)**Establish proper guidelines for establishment of places of worship.*
**
*6.**_Ensure Protection of Archaeological and Historical Sites:_*
*(a)**Upgrade the laws relating to the preservation of all archaeological and historical sites in the island, and ensure adequate protection and imposition of severe penalties for desecration or destruction of such sites.*
*(b)**Make the teaching of National History a compulsory subject in schools.*
**
*7.**_Update Animal Welfare Laws and the Fauna and Flora Act:_*
*(a)**Take immediate steps to upgrade the Animal Welfare Laws with due penalties and the Fauna and Flora Act to safeguard the environment.*
*(b)**Strengthen the laws governing the conservation of forests and game parks to safeguard the limited forest cover needed to ease the harmful effect of Climate change.*
*(c)**Resolve the issue of constant clashes between humans and wild elephants due to theencroachment by human settlements obstructing elephant corridors and their foraging grounds. *
*8.**_ACSA, SOFA and MCC Compact:_***
*(a)**Take immediate steps to terminate the ACSA Agreement and re-negotiate terms more in accord with the national interest.*
*(b)**Reject SOFA as it is a direct threat to National security.*
*(c)**MCC Compact should not be signed as it could lead to the loss of sovereignty and *
*depletion of the country’s territorial boundaries.*
**
*9.**_Other Necessary Legal Steps to be Taken:_*
*(a)**Regulate all NGOs and INGO operating in Sri Lanka and auditing of all accounts as in the case of private companies.*
*(b)**Repeal orAmend 19A by eliminating objectionable clauses including the one that prevents dissolution of parliament even when there is no functioning government.*
*(c)**Amend the OMP Act by removing clauses granting excessive powers to the Commissioners, and delete clauses that grant compensation to wrongdoers that attempt to overthrow legally and democratically elected governments by violent means.*
*(d)**Ensure that the Supreme Court is the superior court and the arbiter of final appeal, and that all other courts are subordinate to it whether it be a special court such as the earlier proposed Constitutional Court.*
**
*10.**_Establishment of an Office of OMBUDSMAN_***
It is felt that a useful role could be played by an *Independent Ombudsmen *who may be authorized to look into complaints of abuse by the state sector or other establishment or person, as a large segment of the people are too poor to litigate or seek redress for wrongs done or perceived to have been done against them.
**
This is by no means complete.I trust you would give due consideration and take steps to implement what ever is possible based on national priorities. With best wishes for a successful term as the President of the nation which hopefully will make great strides in taking the country forward.
Mr.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the president of Sri Lanka stated at the final rally of the
election, held in Hambantota that the government of that he will form, has a
plan to develop four Mega Commercial Cities, Colombo, Jaffna, Trincomalee, and
Hambantota. This concept needs expanding to five cities including the North
Western Province, where is the best area to attract investment for tourism,
manufacturing, and agriculture development. Later the project could be expanded
to more cities such as Anuradhapura, Sothern Province, (Matara and Galle),
Polonnaruva, and Sabaragamuwa (Ratnapura), and Central Province (Kandy). If it leaves out Colombo, other cities have
land for infrastructure development, especially for a network of roads
connecting the entire country, Electric light rail systems, and development of
water reserves for agriculture, controlling floods and reserving excess water,
and hydropower generation within the area without depending on other areas. The
significance of the project would be it will ignore the federalism and uniting
the country integrating economic development. This system could be broadly
defined as economic federalism and political and administrative unitary system.
The
population of the country has distributed in cities (domains) containing ethnic
diversities, despite the expected ethnic integration, there is an ability to
mixing ethnic groups within the areas (domains). When five areas plan for
development Sri Lanka could be easily removed ethnic and religious issues, and
the country can be developed as an integrated community or a nation called Sri
Lankans. Politically, the implementation
of the concept will eliminate small political parties that are primarily based
on ethnicities such as Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala and nastic political
philosophies such as JVP and Marxists, integrating all into one nation, which
will support the country for an integrated nation, and one law for all ethnic
communities with a strong cultural design. This process will remove personal
laws such as Thesawalamai, Muslim, Kandyan, Mukkuwa, Buddhist Vihara, and
Property laws. One criminal, civil, and administration laws will be applied to
Sri Lankans as well as people living in the country from other countries. This was been the difficult and gigantic task
since independence in 1948. The political administration of the reign of Kings
and Queens in history succeed one law for all and was able to maintain unity
with one nation.
The
concept of Mega Cities (domains) began after 1978, and the World Bank granted a
small volume of funds for an integrated district development projects, but the
project was unsuccessful mainly due to LTTE terrorists, JVP terrorists, and the
apprehension politics of the ruling political movement. The project was purely
focused on infrastructure development and to introduce information technology
through education. The computer lab given to Southern people was destroyed by
JVP terrorists. The actions to eliminate terrorism had been accomplished by the
Rajapaksa regime, however, the yahapalana politics embarked after 2015 worked
against the uniting Sri Lanka, and aimed to create a psychological condition of
people that abases traditional values and cultural accoutres of Sri Lankan
society. The result of the unity of reactionaries in international politics and
domestic agents of international reactionaries, who were enjoying with bones and
secret grants as believed by the mass community in Sri Lanka, was temporarily
indisposed the expected development. People have been stimulated by the victory
of Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2019.
The
presidential election in 2019 and the general election in 2020 seem, have
eliminated reactionary forces and now people in Sri Lanka have a Herculean
opportunity to unite the country and indoctrinate projects for economic and
social development that is the desires of people. The effort of uniting the
country should not be a political game and a genuine effort to develop the
country with the unity of ethnic and religious communities.
The
concept of Mega Cities would be a cradle to national unity and redistribution
of the population that has been prime gist to create ethnic, social, and
religious issues in the country. This
idea can be further interpreted that the nature of population distribution
procured a ground for emerging and growing fertile land to grow ethnic, social,
and religious issues, and the redistribution of the current population would be
the point that should break the vicious circle of poverty and the cultural,
ethnic, and religious enthralment of the country. The development and
investments in various economic development-related projects will redistribute
the population creating a new equation of population configuration if the
Mega-Cities project will felicitous in the implementation process with massive
job creation. The proposed project should not be relegated to the fate incurred
to the district development project in 1978.
The
proposed mega-cities (domains) project should absorb excess population from the
Western, North-Western, Southern, and the central provinces to the Northern and
Eastern provinces through the employment of people. This means when investment
projects created with more employment opportunities people will come to the
North and East cities and reside with families supporting the new equation of
population distribution. Although the current
population apportionment seems or a reason to promote distorted racial
attitudes of ethnic communities if the economic prosperity of people in the
area and migrants from other provinces with the process of Mega-Cities
development, new developments would eradicate the negative feeling of people.
The
essential requirement to succeed in the aim of population redistribution will
relate to education expansion providing three languages teaching in schools and
giving more opportunities for kids to participate in a variety of education
such as TVET, medical, engineering, information technology, and other areas. The current education policy has, directly,
and indirectly supported the division of communities on ethnic, religious,
caste basis, and poor kids in North and East provinces have discouraged
participating in language learning and skills learning. The foundation political parties in North and
East have used the current education distribution to stick people to their
political parties and to promote ethnic and religious hate. Providing equal education opportunities to
kids would eliminate the vicious thinking or attitudes of all ethnic
communities, Sinhala, Tamil, and Muslim, and support and brace the community
together. The new policy promotes inter-marriages and creates a new generation.
Many
pass pupil associations in Colombo and schools in other cities might show
opposition to the new policy, and many members of the pass pupil associations
are politically heavy hands of all political parties that will work directly or
indirectly against the policy of educating three languages in rural schools and
providing medical, engineering, IT and TVET in rural schools. Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the president of Sri
Lanka needs to understand these disguise reactions and the point that people
have elected him to create a new society. Average people like to unite and
integrate into the new education policy, they like to gain abilities to
converse in three languages and mix through intermarriages. In Colombo and
provincial towns Schools merging or acquisitions need to create synergy in
school administration and to allow resources in schools to distribute and use
of all students. If we look at Kotahena (Colombo 13) there are many schools
which divided on religious, ethnic, and language basis, and merging these
schools to a few coeducation units the new policy would save resources and
expand quality and equity in education.
I
have written many articles on the need for balanced growth in the country. The concept of balanced growth had been a
popular theoretical idea of the world since the ideologies of classical
economists. Many developed countries have been able to allocate resources to
country areas and achieve the concept of balanced growth giving justice to
rural people. It can be seen the mean
earning of a person in rural and urban is closer and there is no feeling that
urban people and rural people have divided. The concept of balanced growth has
been ignored in many countries, and investments and markets have networked to
urban areas. A significant reason for the inequalities in developing countries has
been contributed by the attitudes of policy-makers. Similar attitudes have /had UNP policy-makers
and the new government of Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa must focus to achieve balanced
growth. Regional people in wide Sri Lanka voted for Sri Lanka Podu Jana
Peramuna in the presidential election 2019 and the general election 2020 with
hope achieving justice.
New
mega-cities project should distribute investments in the city area and except
Colombo city, all other cities could distribute investment throughout the area
as one unit, and in history, Sri Lanka operated as integrated mega-cities such
as Ruhuna, Pihiti, and Maya, there were no ethnic or religious issues in
history. Inter-cities relationship should be maintained with a good
input-output plan or an inter-industrial plan. The Inter-industrial plan
supports for the production-based economy that generates employment
opportunities for people in the area.
The
COVID pandemic has created labour force related problems in developed countries
and there will be a massive demand for educated and skilled migrants as many
skilled people have become unemployed, who have less potential for reemployment,
and developed countries would look for migrants with knowledge (qualified) and
skilled. Future potential for skilled labour in developed and the Middle East
countries would be higher and a considerable volume of qualified people will
leave Sri Lanka during the coming decade. The other vital point is Middle East countries
must offer high salaries to attract labour competing with developed countries
and to successfully attract knowledged and skilled labour. The Middle East
countries must offer higher wages but can those countries do it with heavily
dependent economies on petroleum products.
This economic environment will challenge Sri Lanka because the labour
forces of the mega-cities attempt to leave for green pastures in other
countries. It would be a giant problem for Sri Lanka and the education reforms
should be accelerated to provide quality technical and vocational education and
training. If it works well more foreign
exchange will inward and the foreign reserves could be increase to the US $ 20
billion within six years.
What happened on August 5 was an epic rout of the Opposition. No time since the proportional representation system was adopted under the 1978 Constitution, had the Opposition been relegated to oblivion as it was at the parliamentary election held last week. Not even before that. Many refer to the UNP landslide in the Parliamentary election in 1977 when it won 140 seats out of 168 in the National State Assembly, the then Parliament. The SLFP won just eight. However, the first-past-the-post system at the time was responsible for creating a greater disparity between the actual votes polled by each party and the number of parliament seats they secured. To secure 5/6th of seats at the National Assembly, the UNP won only 50.9% of the popular vote, whereas the SLFP which won 29.7%, had just 8 seats!
Proportional Representation system was introduced to avoid such imperfection, though it created its own problems. JR Jayawardene should now be turning in his grave. The system he introduced is producing results with the near resemblance to its predecessor. Worse still, the UNP and its fratricidal offspring are at the receiving end.
In electoral dynamics and voter impulses, this election has much in common with the General Election of 2010, which was held right after another disastrous presidential election, which Sarath Fonseka lost to Mahinda Rajapaksa by 1.8 million votes. Mahinda Rajapaksa-led UPFA won the subsequent Parliament election with 60% of popular votes, against the UNP’s 29%, and polling more than twice of the UNP vote tally, and securing 144 seats, six shy of the two-thirds majority.
This time, SJB polled only 2.77 million votes or 23.9% of total votes. Less than half of popular votes Sajith obtained barely nine months ago!
This election is still worse. During the last presidential election, Sajith Premadasa polled 5.56 million votes or 42% of total votes. This time, SJB polled only 2.77 million votes or 23.9% of total votes. Less than half of popular votes Sajith Premadasa obtained barely nine months ago!
Where did the missing 2.8 million votes go? Around 800,000 of that number went to a combination of the TNA(327,168), UNP (249,000) and SLMC (34,428), fringe Tamil nationalist parties, which ate into the TNA vote base (around 170,000) and the rest to other small groups.
Then where is the lion share of approximately two million missing UNP votes? One should look at the disparity between the voter turnout and number of rejected votes in the presidential election and the just-concluded parliamentary polls.
In the presidential election in November last year, 13.38 million (83. 72% of total votes) cast their franchise. Last week, only 12.34 million voters (75.89%) voted. One million voters who voted at the presidential election, chose to stay at home. The voter apathy is further vindicated by the number of rejected votes. There were 135,452 rejected votes at the previous presidential election. This time, there were 744,373 rejected votes (4.58% of total votes). That is 600,000 more than the presidential election. Effectively, 1.6 million voters (10% of total voters) who cast their vote in the presidential election did not either vote or spoiled their votes. These don’t indicate as just voter apathy, but of a heightened sense of resignation of the anti-government, anti-Pohottuwa voters.
It is natural that a Parliamentary election that follows a presidential poll, tend to produce identical results, the prospect of which also generated a sense of apathy in the voters who vote for the opposition. However, the result of the presidential election itself was a foregone conclusion; Gotabaya Rajapaksa was predicted to win with a double-digit margin and Sajith Premadasa was destined to lose. Still, despite the manifest asymmetry of electability, 5.56 million voted for Mr. Premadasa. This time, nearly half of them did not vote at all or spoiled their votes. Whereas, the SLPP and its allies; as a whole increased their fortune. Gotabaya Rajapaksa polled 6,924,255 votes. SLPP fell short by 100,000 of that number, but with the votes polled by its coalition partners, EPDP, TMVP, SLFP and Muslim Alliance, SLPP managed to obtain 150,000 more votes than its presidential candidate did. A fraction of that increase might have come from the traditional UNP vote base, but those numbers are statistically insignificant to set against the preponderance of the likely UNP/SJB voters who abstained from voting. The looming voter resignation of the traditional UNP voters, in effect enlarged the SLPP vote share. In the Presidential election, Gotabaya Rajapaksa who polled 6.92 million votes claimed for 52.25% of the total vote. In the just-concluded parliamentary election, SLPP, which polled 6.85 million claimed for 59% of total votes. The disparity translates into the number of parliamentary seats. SLPP alone has secured 145, and with the help of its allies, the two-third majority in Parliament.
If it was how it happened, why this happened? What explains the intense sense of resignation of the likely anti-government, anti-Rajapaksa voters? The answer is self-evident, and this prospect was feared and warned, including many others and by this writer. Only a dim-witted fool would have concluded that the split of the Grand Old Party, the UNP, right before the Parliament election, would have served the interests of either party, the UNP or the SJB. What happened was a classic case of mutually assured destruction.
During the election campaign, the two parties were more at each other’s throat, than campaigning against its common rival, the SLPP. The traditional UNP voters and the independent voters who might have voted to stop the government from getting a 2/3rd, were repulsed by this ugly spectacle. The UNP was reduced to insignificance and the SJB did not fare much better. There are those who derive a sinister satisfaction by the plight of the UNP. But, the UNP did not collapse alone, with it, the liberal, multi-ethnic, pluralistic camp also crumbled. There is no likely candidate who could fill that void in the years to come.
Before the election, I warned the looming prospect of the absolutism. It has become the reality and sadly though made possible to a great degree by the foolhardy nature of the opposition camp.
Elections-2020 will be remembered for very many reasons. The COVID-19 pandemic of course and the two-thirds majority that the SLPP obtained even under the inscrutable proportional representation (PR) system, for the first time ever since its introduction as far back as the 1978 Constitution.
Arguments are since being put forth that had it not been for the UNP split, the SLPP would not have done as creditably. Even this section does not claim that the Opposition combine would have won, even if not as handsomely.
Inaccurate and mischievous
Sections of the foreign Media and ‘international commentators’ especially go on to attribute the Rajapaksa & Rajapaksa victory to the increasing sense of ‘Sinhala-Buddhist Nationalism’, more after last year’s Easter Sunday serial-blasts, attributed to self-styled, home-grown ‘Islamists’. It’s again inaccurate, if not mischievous.
The sweeping SLPP victory is not inversely proportionate to either. Instead, it is directly proportional to the continued unpopularity of the Opposition, which could not hold itself together, even in the face of deep crisis in the aftermath of resounding defeat in the presidential poll last year.
Such a defeat came after the even more callous way they handled the Nation through the previous five years of Yahapalana regime, what they themselves entered into the Constitution through the ill-conceived 19-A as a ‘ Government of National Unity’ (GNU). There was neither governance, nor unity and none in the dis-united Government had any time for the Nation. Coming as it is after such a disastrous five years, for the UNP rebel to split the party in times of internal crisis and National recovery was the least that the Nation would have expected and wanted – least of all, three-generations of UNP loyalists.
Figure of speech
Figures don’t lie. Leave aside the percentages, which changes with the real numbers, but even real numbers tell a different story. To begin with, the voter turn-out, at 71 per cent this time, is at least five per cent lower than the usual 75-plus per cent on earlier occasions.
A specious argument is being put forth that most of the absentee voters belonged to the UNP, and were upset with Sajith Premadasa walking out and forming his SJB. Together, the parent and the breakaway parties put off the traditional UNP voters.
It is more than likely that the inherent fear of COVID-19 encouraged older people to stay at home – or, were discouraged thus by younger family members, like a son or a daughter, or sons and daughters, or sons-in-law and daughters-in-law. They definitely stayed at home, and across the country, in many cases.
Yet, in a country where older people have been casting their vote under the complicated PR system since the beginning and without much difficulty, to conclude that they are less intelligent and that the UNP’s ‘elite voters’ alone care for their lives and health is absurd. They belonged to every political party and group and their staying away may have added to the lower turn-out, but adding to disillusioned UNP supporters.
Going by published accounts, the SLPP polled 6,853,693 votes (59.09 per cent) against the runner-up SJB with 2,771,984 (23.9 per cent). Add UNP’s 240,436 votes (2.15 per cent), and then again, there was no way an undivided UNP would have made it.
Equally true
The argument that in select electorates and electoral districts, it would have made a difference may not also hold water. In terms of the vote-share difference between the SLPP and an undivided UNP is still huge in every electoral district; that whatever additions may have accrued would have only been in terms of the number of ‘National List’ MPs, say around five more – but definitely at the expense of the SLPP’s National List.
Whatever is true of the SLPP vote-share, the traditional UNP voter has enough of it, he wanted a re-oriented party that will not reflect the ideology and practices of the traditional SLFP rival and its offshoot in the SLPP. When Sajith and SJB came, they grabbed it.
If the SJB did not make it still, the polling figures tell the true story of the pre-split UNP’s voter-base. Together the two parties polled a total of 7,094,128 votes (23.9+2.15 = 26.05 per cent). There is no comparison with the SLPP’s 59.09 per cent.
It all becomes curiouser when compared to last year’s Presidential Election. Gotabaya Rajapaksa polled 6,924,255 votes (52.25 per cent). Sajith Premadasa as the undivided UNP candidate polled 5,564,239 votes (41.99 per cent). Back of the envelope calculations at the time showed that Tamil, Muslim and Upcountry Tamil allies may have contributed a minimum of 12 per cent vote-share to Premadasa.
Deducting it, the UNP vote-share at the time would have come to 30 per cent. It is also what the UNP got in the Nation-wide local Government polls in February 2018. This time round, the TNA contested alone, so did the SLMC and ACMC in a couple of constituencies. That should explain the combined vote of SJB and UNP getting stuck at 26-plus per cent.
It is another matter that the total SLT votes for the unified UNP candidate in the presidential poll was more than the TNA’s current vote-share of 327,168 (2.82 per cent). You take away say around 3-4 per cent of the Muslim and Upcountry Tamil votes in the SJB poll this time, and you now know the real strength – or, weakness? – of the UNP political family.
Interestingly, all this was for different figures of total votes polled between the Presidential and Parliamentary Polls. It was 3,387,951 (83.72 per cent) for the former. In the Parliamentary Polls, at the recorded 71 per cent, the real numbers should work out to 11-million-plus votes (rough, unofficial).
Granting that the average of five per cent voters who stayed away this time compared to earlier parliamentary polls were all UNP voters, no explanation has ever been sought and answered why the turnout in Presidential Polls has invariably been more than 80 per cent all along. It defies logic.
Discerning voter
Compared to Presidential Elections, the Parliamentary Poll candidates from every political party and group will be campaigning with a host of their national-level leaders, and go all the way down to the grassroots-level. Consider the Provincial Council Elections, and the poll percentage has invariably been around or above 70 per cent. In the normal course, it should have been even more than that for the Parliamentary and Presidential Polls.
There can only be one valid argument or reason. That the Sri Lankan voter is discerning. For him, he who rules him, as President matters the most. The rest of them all, including Ministers, MPs and PC administrators all could wait – or, they better wait.
Twin evaluations
In turn, this implies that the Presidential Poll comprises twin evaluations. One to assess the performance of the incumbent. The other is to evaluate the hopes and promises inspired by the rival, even when he is not in power to give any real hope or make any actionable promises.
Yet, if the Sri Lankan voter makes it as much a point as possible to vote in Presidential Polls in large numbers, it also means that they identify that much more and even more personally and politically with the candidate they vote for – or, vote against, likewise. There is again a discernible message for the political leaderships and the presidential candidates – particularly the one elected.
The message is even more so for the international community, in the contemporary Sri Lankan context. The message is that their President-elect is doing what they have endorsed him to do, and/or expect him to deliver. So, for ‘outsiders’ to attribute the victory of a presidential candidate to the soundness of Sri Lankan democracy, dating back to the Donoughmore days in 1931, and blaming an incumbent for decisions taken in respect of the popular mandate is just not on.
One, the elected President cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hound. Two, the international community or the local civil society and other critics of a President in the country too cannot expect him or her, hunt with the hare and run with the hound.
NOTA vote
Against this, in the Parliamentary Poll and also the local Government Elections, the voter is weighing the capacity and capability of the rival candidates standing at his door-step. It could well mean that he is dissatisfied with all, to a greater degree in the case of the latter and relatively lesser degree for the former.
The option in such circumstances for the voter is to stay away, or boycott the poll. A clearer picture can emerge, if as in neighbouring India, there is way for the unhappy voter to mark ‘None of the above’, or NOTA. In such a case, even the disgruntled voter will have a voice, and his silence will sound loud and clear, possibly even more.
Pre-poll, Ranil Wickremesinghe said that this would be the last Election under the PR system. Talks about reforming the poll system has been on for years now. Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena’s name became popular in the country as heading the committee that was looking into the matter for long.
There are good elements in the system, so reforming should look into ways to retain the name. For instance the ’Lst system’ combined with the ‘Preference Vote’ system has ensured that the number of members per party does not change between two Elections. It has also avoided the uncertainties attending on by- Elections, caused by the death or resignation of a candidate.
But if parties and politician are serious about it all, they should be seriously looking at an anti-defection law, to end horse-trading. At least for the next five years, no party or leader, especially those in this Government, have to worry about their numbers, two-thirds or not. Again, India in the immediate neighbourhood has an anti-defection law in force for a few decades now. The flaws in the scheme have also been exposed over the years. Sri Lanka can study and take off from there.
The writer is a Distinguished Fellow and Head-Chennai Initiative, Observer Research Foundation, the multi-disciplinary Indian public-policy think-tank, headquartered in New Delhi. Email: sathiyam54@sathiyamoorthy.com
Ven. Ellawala
Medhananda has drawn attention to the damage done by ‘non-Buddhists’ (Hindus
and Muslims), to the Buddhist monasteries, hermitages and ancient ruins in the
north and east. Medhananda says that more than five hundred sites with ancient
Buddhist ruins are either destroyed or are being destroyed in the north and
east.
Destroying
Buddhist ruins in the East started long ago, said Medhananda. Initially, it was done secretly and cleverly. The
activity has got speeded up and is now
done openly on a large
scale. Only Buddhist places face this destruction, not the other religions,
observed Medhananda.
In 1916, Ven. Kohukumbure Revata went into
thick jungle amidst many difficulties in search of the Dighavapi chaitya. He
had cleared the area around the Chaitya and lived there under great difficulty in
a small hut. He was shot dead by a Muslim, in 1950. This got great publicity at the time.
From 2015
onwards, the tactic used was organized encroachment by ethnic groups supported
by extremist elements. The reason given was landlessness of the local people,
the real reason was the need to erase evidence and symbols of Buddhist
habitations and cultural influence in the East, said Lakshman Wickremasinghe.
Hindus and Muslims have occupied many lands
and paddy fields that were owned by the Sinhalese, a few years ago. Through
this, Hindus and Muslims had taken physical possession of lands which were
sites of Buddhist worship in earlier times. Once they are on the land, they
erase the Buddhist remains and prevent Buddhist coming there, observed
Medhananda.
Sinhala names of
these places were then replaced by Tamil names. Veheragala became Verugal.
Kotthasara is now Kottiyar pattu. Tonigala and Kandakadu
wewa were Sinhala villages, they now have Tamil names. There
was a Sinhala village at Sakkam wewa near Pannal oya called Bodhianga now is no
longer Sinhala.
Medhananda in his explorations in the Eastern
Province found many instances where lands carrying Buddhist ruins were taken
over by non-Buddhists. At Paschimaramaya, Buddhist ruins including a stupa was
destroyed by ‘Suruttu mudalali,’ to grab the land. At Paravankandam the ruins including stupa
were destroyed in April 2002, to convert the area into a paddy field. Its
bricks can be seen at the site, reported Medhananda.
There are
Buddhist ruins at Maha oya, Veheragala, and Dambaliyadde gala. In 1972
it was planned to settle non Sinhalese there. Inscription at Piyakalutota vihara by Rugam wewa show that Yatalatissa
built it. In 1972 there was a plan to convert 18 acres to a wewa and settle non Sinhalese there, too said Medhananda.
Linemalai is now Muslim and Tamil. LTTE chased
away the few Sinhalese there, said Medhananda. Kombanacci, originally Somawathi vihara, in
Kiliveddi, Trincomalee, is now a Muslim area and one part of the ruins is now a
‘goat farm of a Mussalman’. At Mottayakanda the Muslims have
bulldozed all the Buddhist ruins.
Kokkadicholai had
ruins which showed that there has been an aramaya there, earlier. Guard stones,
parts of stupa could be seen. Villagers
had told Medhananda when he visited in 1968 that there had been an inscription
too. Kokkadicholai is now completely
Tamil, said Medhananda. They
have encroached over most of the 22 acres. Ruins
have been destroyed. The evidence is
still there. A kovil, named Kanakone
Ishwara Kovil, has been built over the aramaya.
The Kovil started small and is
now enlarged. There is a Pullaiyar kovil too, said Medhananda
Kuchchaveli
Maha vihara was ‘known earlier as Samudradevi vihara. There were
Mahayana ruins there, in 1966, in pleasing form but when Medhananda
visited in 1978 the upper parts of the most of them were destroyed. A Sanskrit
inscription was defaced in 1981 and a Hindu kovil was coming up in the
vicinity.
There had been a
planned programmed to hinder Buddhists in Sembumalai, observed Medhananda. Sembumalai
ruins also included a standing Buddha statue in limestone and a lotus pedestal.
When I visited in 1978, the statue was not there. Many more ruins were
purposely damaged. And in one place a Hindu kovil has been established. The Poosari’s statements that it was built in
1938 cannot be accepted as the materials were ‘so new’.
Ilankaturai was
earlier Lankapatuna. Many non Buddhist have encroached and Hindu kovils have
come up. Nelugala was once Piyangalu vihara. At Nelugala Buddhist evidence
has been destroyed. Buildings
were set on fire by non-Sinhalese, and the Sinhala settlers driven away. A
Hindu kovil was constructed there. Veheragama has 145 families of which
20 are Tamil. Veheragama ruins are being deliberately destroyed. Veheragama Stupa
can be dated to 6-7 AD.
Vilankulam
ruins contained a huge stupa 150 ft in circumference and 35 in height. Stupa was broken and bricks scattered all
over. This has been deliberately destroyed. When I saw it in 1978, at the top
of the stupa, Sellappa Nalliah and Inamuttusamy had built a house with toilet
and well. Viharagalkanda
had a thanitalawa with huge number of Buddhist
ruins. When we visited, a Tamil man was living there, farming
bananas. We explored the site, examined
the ruins and copied the inscription.
Medhananda found that ruins he had examined
earlier had vanished when he went a second time. I found that
ruins I had seen in 1966 had disappeared by 1976. What I saw in 1976 had
disappeared by 1986” said Medhananda.What we saw in 1964 at Veddikinarimalai had
disappeared by 1973.
Buddhist sites in good condition in
Trincomalee in 1960 had vanished when Medhananda visited
them in 1980. Hindu kovils had been built over many of them.
This continued in 2002. The stupa near Kinniya wells vanished after the
Ceasefire Agreement. Kovils were set up on Buddhist structures. In
our exploration at Digamadulla we found many inscription and ruins never seen
before. The ruins seen earlier have now vanished, said Medhananda.
Medhananda visited Mundikulammale ruins for the first time in
1964. Then there was fear of wild animals.In 1999 the fear was of the LTTE. To
visit we needed the support of the army and police. It is now
dangerous for Sinhalese to go there” he said in 2003. No Sinhalese can
go to Rugam now either.
When we visited
Gokanna vihara, Trincomalee (Koneswaran) in 1960, we faced much opposition from
the Hindus, said Medhananda. We had visited Girikumbara vihara,
Ampara earlier, but when we went in 1986 to see what had happened, no one
wanted to drive us there.
The plan to
eliminate all signs of an ancient Buddhist civilization was greatly helped by
the fact that most of these ruins are not registered in the Department of
Archaeology as archaeological monuments. Thottama, Manthottama, Pannala oya and
Ambalan oya has archaeological remains that which are not registered, said
Medhananda. Panama pattu forest range is full of archaeological ruins. There is
no protection for any of it, he said.
When records were
available in the Archaeological Department another tactic was used. The files
vanished. They went missing. There were 11 cave inscriptions near
Kundikudichchi aru. The Ampara Kachcheri held the file on this. This file is
now missing, said Medhananda.
Files also vanish
when new kovils
are constructed. There was a hill with a stupa, and eleven cave
shrines to the east of the Pannala oya.
Now there is a kovil there, said Medhananda. There had been a file at
the Ampara Kachcheri describing the Buddhist remains of the area, but with the
construction of the kovil those documents
disappeared, he said.
LTTE destroyed temples, killed monks and persons in
the Eastern Province. LTTE
had built a kovil at Nilaveli by 1981. At
Kalladi the LTTE had used a stupa to set up it communication tower. At
Paravankandam ruins, LTTE had bulldozed
the standing Buddha statue and destroyed it head complete, rest was rescued and
piece sent to Ampara museum. Kombanachchiya,
at its villu can see ruins of panchavasa .Moat and lots of ruins
scattered around. There was a a huge stupa on the rock. LTTE destroyed the stupa.
At Pulunkunawa,
LTTE had done much destruction to the stupa there. Brick have been taken to
build huts and there was manioc cultivation among the ruins. When
I last went in 1982 they had established an Eelam kingdom there. On all
hilltops there was the Eelam symbol drawn in color, house built on top of stupa
and the owner glared at me, said Medhananda.
The LTTE cadres were just onlookers when the Sihala
Urumaya led by Tilak Karunaratne accompanied Ven. Ellawela Medhananda to
inspect the archaeological sites at Ampara despite the Tiger threat that the
monk would not be allowed to set foot on that site, reported the media.
Medhananda has been driven away from that site
a few weeks ago when he went there and was warned not to return. The SU decided
to accept the LTTE challenge and taka the monk back to the site. The special
Task Force and the Police were on duty to provide security and prevent any
incidents.
Medhananda took the delegation to a spot close
to the site where a kovil was being constructed with the backing of the LTTE.
When Medhananda had visited the site in august 19 nearly 25 armed LTTE cadres
had threatened him with death if he ever came back to inspect the site, an
inscriptions found by the monk had been destroyed after the monk left. (I am unable to give the date as I have
mislaid the reference.)
Ven. Ellawala
Medhananda provides information on the Bhikkhus who bravely went into the
Eastern Province and tried to revive the Buddhist temples there. Bhikkhus have tried to save these
Buddhist ruins by setting up avasa on the premises.
Dambagalle Ratanapala, took up residence Malayadi
kanda vihara In 1912 . he died in 1931. The stupa at Bellagama Raja Maha viharaya,
was renovated in 1916 by Aralupitiye Sobhita.
It was redone by one of his pupils, Ven. Kekirihene Silavansa.
When I visited
Veheragama in 1986 there was one priest Baddegama Chandavimala residing there, with much difficulty, he
was reestablishing the shrine.
He started a daham pasala. Pallegalauda Mettananda set up an awasa in 1991 at Kuda
Sigiriya .
At Namalu vihara (near Heda oya, on boundary of Ampara and Moneragala) a
monk had settled by the stupa in a small hut.
I found
Bollagama RMV in 2011. This vihara has no support villagers too poor. Despite
all this, Kekirihene Seelavansa is
keeping the temple going. A monk has settled at Maha kachcha
kodiya vihara, Vavuniya and is struggling to survive. A
monk had once tried to live at Budu patum Kande.
When monks try to settle, they are harassed and
they run away, observed
Medhananda. Niyaguna kanda
vihara Ampara a monk had taken up abode in a lena and the villagers round were
looking after him, now he is not there. Monks had set up
an avasa at Girikurumbika vihara, but now there is nothing.
On Kopavela vihara Medhananda said, this area
is going under the LTTE. There was a monk there, he was a teacher at Serankada
Vidyalaya. He has left. The LTTE murdered a set of monks at the ruined
panchavasa monastery at Kombanachchi villu.
Dimbulagala priest
tried to revive Piyangalla vihara in 1971. Tamils burnt down the awasa and destroyed
the ruins. chased away the Sinhalese and
set up a kovil. Dimbulagala priest was
later killed.( continued)
Malinda
Seneviratne, the respected journalist, went to Budubava in 2020 and observed that
the Buddhist ruins in Eastern Province were getting destroyed. The jungles
around Panama are full of Buddhist shrines. There are remains of stupas and
monastic complexes. There are hundreds of caves. [They are now being
demolished]These were not destroyed by the elements, said Malinda. How else
could a place like Budubava have stupas razed to the ground?
The Wildlife
Department, the Forest Department, the Special Task Force, the Irrigation
Department and the Archaeology Department have jurisdiction over these jungles.
Could all these institutions be in the dark about the vandalism that is taking place?
All of them, all the time and together? asked Malinda.
Medhananda
had plenty to say about the way ruins were getting destroyed in the Eastern Province.
Stone pillars at Pulukunava were
broken into pieces. This vandalism is not natural it has been done by persons,
said Medhananda. Four siripatul from
Pulukunawa Maha vihara have been taken away as miris gal. The
Viharakadu region close to Dighavapi has been leveled recently using machinery.
At Dighavapi itself, a bulldozer had gone ‘by mistake’ through the
temple. In
1972, they were planning to shoot and destroy the Buddhist ruins
at Niyankullukama.
Nilaveli
has Mahayana Buddhist ruins. the vihara
was known as Kanikaravelli vihara. The
stupas were there in 1966, they had disappeared by 1978. The stupa and arama of Okanda vihara were in good
condition in 1978.They have now disappeared. At
Rugam too, the ruins have been deliberately destroyed. Jayarampala, a few miles north of Karanda
oya consists of many Buddhist ruins. These have been vandalized.
Veheragala
vihara near Araganvila is a monastery on a huge rock. All buildings, including
stupa have been destroyed. Inscription shows that kings worshipped here. Veheratenna which had ruins dated to 5th
century AD was heavily destroyed. Taravakulam
ruins have been damaged.
Galkulama had ruins stretching all the
way to Kiliveddi. An Inscription there showed that its name was Girimahalaka
Maha vehera and it had been built by Dutugemunu. This place has been completely
destroyed, said Medhananda. Its stupa
has been destroyed and bricks scattered for miles . Sunetra wewa (Tirumangala) had Buddhist ruins for 5 acres or so. They have been deliberately destroyed. Kalladi puda bima, in Batticaloa was
discovered and protected by the armed forces during the Eelam war.
When Buddhist remains
were destroyed, rock inscriptions
were specifically targeted. They were sought out and deliberately destroyed.
Mundikulammale Ampara had rows of caves with inscriptions. these had been shot and destroyed. The damage done is extensive. Buddhist ruins at Niyankullukama were shot and destroyed, while Medhananda was
there, exploring in 1972.
Buddhist ruins at Niyankullukama were shot and destroyed, while Medhananda was
there, exploring in 1972. Mahagirilla
Savarankeligala had a unique inscription relating to a ‘pase budun’. This was
recorded by the Department of Archaeology. Medhananda found the stone
containing the inscription smashed to pieces and the inscription destroyed.
Kadolupotana kanda, Eravur had three
inscriptions which showed that this area was under Kavantissa. These
inscriptions have been destroyed. Mundikulam malai site in Ampara, had an
inscription, discovered by Medhananda, which stated that Vihara Maha Devi lived
there after she became a nun. The rock and the inscription had been broken up.
An Inscription
at Dimbulagala cave dated to 2 century BC was found mutilated in 1980. Only two
words remained. Eeratiperiyakulam ruined vihara. Parker found an Inscription
says that arachchi vila donated to Thihadaya arama. This inscription has disappeared.
Kurundammalai known earlier as Kurathgama had an
inscription dated to Mahinda III (801-804) which said that the king had come to
settle a problem about water. C.W. Nicholas had seen this inscription.When we went it was not to be seen”,
announced Medhananda. Inscription
at Dimbulagala cave letters were mutilated in 1980, only two words remain. Nilaveli had a Sanskrit inscription, a sloka, dated to 6 AD. By
1981 the inscription had been tarred over.
Two inscriptions
at Lahugala, the Akuru ketu gala inscription on Karapavata vihara, and Galhitiode
inscription on Ayapavata vihara were
destroyed. Thannimuruppu wewa
inscription at Kurundammalai is now destroyed.
A Sanskrit Mahayana inscription at Kucceveli Maha vihara was defaced in
1981, said Medhananda. Kumachola inscription at Eravur said that the eastern coast was administered
in king Vasabha’s time (67-111 AD) by minister Asigira. some
letters in this inscription were erased.
Bodhi trees were
also considered religious objects which should be demolished. The Bo tree and shrine room at Sambaltivu in
Trincomalee was cut down and destroyed.
Sri Vardhana
Bodhi of Kiliveddi. Is In Muttur is about 150 yards from Kiliveddi ferry. When Medhananda
visited in 1952 he found a large Bodhi
tree, with stone pillars, moon stone, step slabs, etc. they were there
then
I went there again in 1965. When he visited in 1977 the tree and the ruins
were gone. Tamils living
near Tirumangala wewa moved to Kiliveddy and destroyed its Buddhist ruins and built
a kovil near the Bodhi. They extended this close to the Bodhi, and then cut
the branches of the Bodhi, supposedly for telephone wires. Then cut the
branches so that the trunk was affected. The
moonstone that I saw in 1965 was destroyed by 1977. Now there are no Buddhist ruins
there.
Stupas
have been
destroyed systematically. The stupa at Nilaveli was there in 1966, it had
disappeared by 1978.Medhananda saw a huge stupa, 300 by 33 feet, on the
Trincomalee- Kantalai road, near 246 km post. This has been cut in two and
bricks scattered all over the teak plantation nearby. Teak has been planted on
top of the stupa, as well, reported Medhananda.
Vilankulam stupa
was also huge 150 ft in circum, and 35 in height. This too
had been deliberately destroyed and bricks scattered all over. When I saw it in
1978, Sellappa Nalliah and Inamuttusamy had built a house at the top of the
stupa, with toilet and well, said Medhananda.
The
stupa near Kinniya wells vanished after the Ceasefire agreement of 2002. The media reported in 2002 that senior monks
of Seruwila and Tamankaduwa had said that the bricks unearthed while levelling
a mound near the hotwells at Kinniya belong to Anuradhapura era and the mound
was a stupa. This has been levelled to put up a Hindu temple. The monks had
complained to the authorities.
Buddha
statues were also
damaged. Statues at Mudu Maha vihara, Panama seen in 1990 have disappeared,
said Medhananda. Kucceveli Maha vihara
had Mahayana statues ‘in pleasing form’ when Medhananda visited in 1966.
When Medhananda visited in 1978 the
upper parts of most of the statues were destroyed.
The Buddha statues at Daluggala Raja Maha
Vihara was damaged and the pilima head taken as a lip galak. At Ridikanda the
statues had been dragged down from the hill and destroyed. Due to this, the Buddha statue found
Paravankandam was removed to the Police station for safety, and is now in
Ampara museum, said Medhananda.
The main strategy used to suppress Buddhism in
the north and east, was to promptly substitute Hindu kovils for the destroyed Buddhist ruins. Hindu kovils have been built over many of the
Buddhist shrines, said Medhananda.Many ancient Buddhist buildings have been
demolished and devala belonging to various Hindu gods have been built over
their ruins.
The Kankon isvarna kovil, at Kokkadicholai ,
has been built over a Buddhist aramaya and the signs
are still there. There are guard stones, parts of stupa. There was an inscription
Medhananda was told by those living there, in 1968, but
it has been destroyed. Kovil started
small and now enlarged. There is a second Pullaiyar kovil too. Tamils only there now.
When I visited
Sembumalai in 1978, the Buddha statue seen earlier was missing. Many ruins were
purposely damaged and a Hindu kovil has been established. The Poosari’s
statements that it was built in 1938 cannot be accepted as the materials used
for the kovil were new. There
is a kovil at Palamottai with a notice giving its ‘history’ in Tamil.
Rahatgala had 30 acres of Buddhist ruins including an ancient two
storied building. It is today known as
Shanthamalai, it has two kovils.The huge stone
ansana and asanaghara at Viharagalkanda has been deposited there.
Kandakudichci aru
ruins. There is now a Hindu kovil there. Used the stupa altars, one as a step
and the other as an altar. Okanda
devale at Panama has been renamed Murugan kovil. Sangaman kanda, was a Buddhist site, with two
cave inscriptions . Now it is a
Siva kovil.
Ridikanda ruins. Media
reported in 1978 that the statues had
been pushed off the hill dragged down and destroyed. A
Shiva devale is set up here, called Sembir
devale . Tamils said it was set up in 1938. Ruins
around the kovil had been destroyed.
At Tirumangala
the kovil had a Buddha statue. Ancient bricks, columns, stone tiles,
have been used for the kovil .There are Buddhist ruins for 5 acres or so with moonstone and
image stand. Taravakulama
in Batticaloa had a Buddhist vihara which is now converted to Hindu kovil.
Toppigala also now has a Hindu kovil.
In some kovils the Buddhist link is visible.
At Tirumangala the kovil had a
Buddha statue. Kantakonishwaran
kovil near Vellavali, built on a huge,
ancient Buddhist monastery, has used the ruins as altars. the
huge stone ansana and asanaghara at vihara gal kanda had been taken to Santamalai where a Hindu
kovil had been set up on the Buddhist site.
At Kandakudichchi aru where
the stupa was replaced by a kovil, one mal asana gala was placed before the Hindu statue and the other was used as a step. Villagers
in Veheragoda, Ampara, said that the
stone door frame belonging to the stupa had been taken away to a kovil at
Mandur.
There have been
knee jerk reactions in Colombo, to this kovil building. The media reported in 2002 that
All Ceylon Buddhist women’s Congress,
National council of Buddhist women and Success, Colombo jointly appeal
to the President, PM and Minister for Buddha Sasana to immediately order an
investigation into the alleged destruction of the ancient Samudragiri vihara in
Ilankathurai. Our information is that this temple has been torn down and its
stone pillars used to build a new Hindu kovil,. However, Medhananda observed in
2003 that stupa and pilimage at Samudragiri vihara,
Lankapatuna has been destroyed and the kovil set up. Samudragiri will be
completely destroyed very soon, he predicted. ( continued)
The Eastern Province was an integral part of the
Rajarata of the Anuradhapura kingdom. The Raja rata was
divided into uttara passa
(north) dakkhina, (south) pacina, (east) and pajjima (west) and ruled by king
nominees.
The Eastern Province
played a special role in the political life of ancient Sri Lanka. The
Province functioned as a refuge during
the period. Whenever they were in trouble, not only
princes but also monks ran to Ruhuna, said Medhananda. As
a result, the Eastern
Province nurtured a second independent kingdom, the Ruhuna kingdom ruled by the
Magama kings. These Magama kings were closely related to the Anuradhapura
kings. They were not a rival dynasty.
King Kavantissa of the Magama dynasty united
Ruhuna under him. The capital of Ruhuna south was Magama, Ruhuna north was
Dighavapi, said Medhananda. Saddhatissa was put in charge of Dighavapi. Medhananda also said that Gal Oya was
the boundary between Ruhuna and Pihiti that
Uva province extended to Pottuvil and
that Digamadulla in ancient times included Ampara and Batticaloa.
Dutugemunu, the
last Magama king, re-united Ruhuna and Anuradhapura, kicking out Elara, who had
done absolutely nothing for Anuradhapura in his time there. The
Eastern Province was an asset to the Sinhala king. Trincomalee was a major port. There was high
grade copper at Seruwila. Ilankaturai is now emerging as a possible
international port.
The Eastern
Province continued under the Sinhala king .Kumachola inscription at Eravur said that the eastern coast (pajinikara) was
administered in king Vasabha’s time (67-111 AD) by minister Asigira. At Kandakudichci
aru ruins Medhananda found two
cave inscriptions dated to 2 AD. The
script and language resembled that at Ritigala, Vessagiriya, Mihintale . Velendagoda Salavana vihara had
an inscription dated to Mahinda 1 (730-33).
An inscription
near Allai wewa is dated to Dappula IV (924-35). Vijayabahu I (1055–1110) fought
the Cholas from Ruhuna.Vikramabahu I
(1111-32) had hidden in Ruhuna. Kanichchigala in Beerihorowwa
division, Ampara
district, had an inscription by Nissanka Malla
(1187-96). Dathuvamsa (13 century) mentions 27 Sinhala
villages around Kotthasara. Kotthasara is present day Kottiyar pattu, in the
Trincomalee district. Kottiyar Pattu consists of Muttur, Seruwila and
Eechchilampattu.
The Eastern Province eventually became a part
of the Udarata kingdom. Udarata kingdom was huge, about three times the size of the
Portuguese and Dutch possessions. Baldeus (1632-72) writing during the
Dutch occupation, gave a list of places under the Sinhala king. It included
Trincomalee, Mannar, Batticaloa and Jaffna. Envoys
from Britain, Denmark, France and Netherlands entered the Udarata kingdom in
the 17th and 18th centuries, through the ports of Trincomalee and Batticaloa.
The Eastern
Province remained with Udarata until the kingdom came to an end in 1815.
Archaeologists (I think they were from the
Department of Archaeology) confirmed at a talk I attended, that the Eastern
Provinces had a long standing, substantial civilization. It had many
prehistoric settlements and at least 40 sites of the early brahmi period, they
said. There was an unbroken sequence of inscriptions from 3rd century BC to 13
century AD. There were a huge number of sites containing Buddhist ruins. There
have been many urban centers. There was evidence of many irrigation schemes.
Medhananda provided further information. The
Eastern Province was very suitable for agriculture, he pointed
out. It had flat land, water and excellent drainage. The
evidence indicates that there were at least 25,000 settlements in Ruhuna, he said.
Medhananda
estimated that there was a huge population at Piyangalla vihara. He said Arantalawa was
populated in ancient times. This whole area has been populated said Medhananda when he explored Mudugala pilima lena. The
area was partly under Ruhuna and partly under Wellassa.
Villages were established close to rivers, as
they needed water, observed Medhananda. Medhananda gave the
names of some of the villages. Kamboja gama, near Kumbukkan oya, Mayvelesa gama near Heda oya ,
Dighavapi near Gal oya, Dahadiya near
Verugal aru ( Vihara gala ara), Gonagamaya,
Uruvela, Magana near Mahaweli.There was alsoKasaba nagara, Giritisa gama, Karaginitisa
gama, Vilagama, Malu gama.
Inscriptions show that Eastern Province was
Buddhist said H.G Dayasiri and C.B. Ambanwela.
They found inscriptions at Kiripokunakanda, Lunubokke, Moralagommana,
Imbuldeniyagodakanda and Pahala mawela kande Raja Maha Vihara, which showed
this. Medhananda said that inscriptions at
Seruwavila, Kulankallumalai, and Ichcilanpattai showed that there were Buddhist
settlements there. Kulankallumalai is 3 miles from Ilankathurai. The
inscription near Allai wewa speaks of Kavudul Vehera, he added. Sipavata vihara inscription indicated that
this area was once a Buddhist agricultural area.
A list of Buddhist sites including those in
the Eastern province, were prepared in 1962 by M. H. Sirisoma, Assistant
Commissioner of Archaeology. Medhananda added further sites to this. 6 more for
Trincomalee, 4 more for Batticaloa and 22 for Ampara.
Buddhist
Times (2007) provided
its own list of Buddhist sites in north and east. Trincomalee had 81,
Batticaloa had 22 and Ampara had 41. Archaeological Department has listed 54
ancient religious places in the Trincomalee
district, but Medhananda says there are many more such sites.
Eastern Province was part of the Buddhist
civilization of Sri Lanka from the very beginning. The ashes of Ven. Mahinda
are interred in a stupa at Rajagala, in present day Ampara .Dighavapi is one of
the solosmastana of Buddhist worship. There is also Girihandu Seya at
Tiriyaya, considered the first stupa and Kukkuta giri parvataya which held Buddha’s
lalata dhatu.
The Eastern Province
today has three levels of Buddhist monuments. There is the national level. Pilgrims
worship at Dighavapi and Seruwila. They visit Tiriyaya and the forest
monasteries. Secondly, there are the temples which serve the local population. Lastly,
there are the ruins of the Buddhist temples which existed in the ancient and medieval
period.
Researchers have
gone to the Eastern Province to see what Buddhist ruins remain, and how the
remaining Buddhist heritage can be protected. Researchers, notably Medhananda, have found
many ruins of Buddhist monasteries and temples. Many ancient buildings were destroyed
when the Mahaweli scheme started said Medhananda.
if one travels north along the sea coast road,
starting from Trincomalee town, one can see many Buddhist ruins even at
present. Kucchaveli is one such place. It was once Kanikaravellika samudda
vihara. This area included present Sembumale, said Medhananda. Sembumale
monastery complex spreads over an area of more than hundred acres.
Many ruins can be seen at Ridikanda area in Trincomalee
district said Medhananda. Pulukunawa Maha vihara has ruins all
over” indicating that this whole area has been a developed Sinhala Buddhist
area. The Yan Oya valley is studded with many stupas
and other buildings. Panama
pattu forest range is full of archaeological ruins. There is no protection for
any of it, continued Medhananda.
The hills in the
belt between Karanda oya and Gal oya is full of viharas. Every paddy
field, empty land is full of archaeological
remains and inscriptions. Wewas and canals which were part of ancient
irrigation systems could be seen.
There are ruins at Kurundammalai or
Kurunvashoka vihara. I have not seen so many ruins in any
other place I have gone to,
said Medhananda. There are Buddhist
ruins over at least 600 acres around
Kudumbigala. Numerous stupas can be seen
today, on the rocks. Madakande Dalada vihara was full of ruins. There
are Buddhist ruins at Kusalana kanda, Kudulupothana malai and Othiya malai.
Diviyagala,
Damana and Timbirigolle have inscriptions and ruins in the vicinity. Kudimbigala,
Veheragoda, Panama vehera also had Buddhist ruins. These were watered by Kudimbigal
Ara, Halava oya, Vil oya and Heda oya. Medhananda
explored the Thoppigala ruins. He went
in 1983 With three others. Every hill
side around Thoppigala has a ruin
of an aramaya, he said.
Medhananda also found ruins at Nawinna Raja Maha Vihara and Kombanachchi or Ruhunu Somawathi
vihara. There are
hillocks full of old bricks around Verugal ara near Upparu lagoon, Medhananda
said.
Medhananda also
looked at the Buddhist ruins at Icchilanpathi, Kanchimalali, Kivulevatta,
Kulankallumalai, Moraha Pokuna, Naraka mulla, Ranankaduwa,
Ratugala and Thottama. Medhananda had explored
Boralukanda temple, Nilaveli, Illukpitiya
kanda Len vihara, Ampara, Malayadi kanda vihara, Digamadulla and Sri
Pana Raja Maha vihara, Pottuvil.
Medhananda
emphasized that many of the sites he had explored have not been seen by the
Department of Archaeology. No exploration as been done at Samangala forest
monastery. There are no reports in the Archeological Department as to the ruins
at Mahapattuva or the Ovagiriya temple complex. These places have been ignored
in archaeological investigations and it is difficult to get at any prior data,
complained Medhananda.
Thottama, Manthottama, Pannala oya and Ambalan
oya has archaeological remains which
are not registered. There are lots of
ruins at Vasi bandagala, Atubandagala, Iddagala,
Nelugala, Mavulivala, in Eravur area, which have not been explored before, said
Medhananda. Ruins at Pillumalai, Kopavali, Tamketiya have never been
investigated. The area north of
Badulla –Eravur has not been explored. There
are lots of Buddhist sites there in the forests,
Also ruins of irrigation schemes. The
ruins at Perillaveli are in thick forest. They have not been seen by the
Archeological Department. Sipavata vihara inscriptions have not been examined. There are no
reports in the Archeological Department
as to the ruins at Mahapattuva[1]
which are about 8 km from Timbirigolla Vidayalya.
There
has been no systematic explorations of Welikanda to Batticaloa , Batticaloa to
Badulla, Maduru oya area. these are now deep forest. Viharagal kanda at Trikonmadu
has ruins for 10 acres. These have not been explored before. Even the ruins around
Dighavapi have not been explored. Serupitiya ruins were examined for the first time
by me, no one had gone there before, said Medhananda. Pallewela ruins were also discovered by me, he said. Medhananda has
also visited the Bandaraduva and Balagala ruins, ruins
near Higurana sugar factory, Veheragala ruins, Mulgama kanda ruins, Koravanvadu ruins.
Medhananda has written extensively of his
findings in the Eastern Province. a selection of these are given here.
Neelagiri pilima lena was probably a very important aramaya. There is set of steps all the way up the
hill. there seem to be more than 200 steps.
It has breaks in it, for people to stop and rest every 50 feet or so. There are moon stones among
it. the only other flight of steps like this is at Hachikuchi. There are two
important caves at the top, both are shrines.
Walls are well built one of stones. They
have been plastered. And the plaster is still there, it was then painted over.
Omunugala len vihara, Ampara had astonishing
number of caves. They extended
from the foot of the mountain to a level little below the summit. One
cave is startling. The cave and the rock
in front have been combined to make something like a two storey house. The largest cave is about 120’ in length, with
walls on three sides and a window. Also an entrance. There is a flight of steps leading
to a door frame to enter shrine.
Bambaragastalawa vihara area is full
of ruins. This monastery has been over 450 acres. More than ten stupa, very old
bricks, rock cut steps, Buddha statues
and asanaghara. in one place there was a
rectangle of six rows of six columns each, with four feet four inches between
each column.
Kudimbigala has Ruins for about 600 acres. Numerous stupas on the rocks can be seen
today. The caves technique is amazing. Cave after
cave for 100 of acres. I counted 105 caves. 2 are worth describing. There is a
trident in one inscription. One cave is
called Mahasudarsana. The other cave is
Yoda lena. Kudimbigala also
has the only cylindrical stupa.
Veheragoda ruins, Ampara. There is stupa which shows the earlier style of
building with bricks and lumps of stone this is also seen at Buddhangala and
Rajagala. Veheragoda had
large bricks which are 2’1” by 1’2”.
Sastravela vihara had 22 stupa. The
name originally was Bodigiri naga
pabbata Vihara’
Tampitiya vihara had a very unique guard stone with 9 snakes
heads, pun kalasa, a woman bending down and collecting water.
Velgama vihara had a
new type of relic chamber.
Karandahela vihara. Ampara,. Moon
stone is only lotus petal. Bricks of the stupa are very old. There
is a rock carved gal vangediya circumference 7 feet. 2 inches deep middle one
foot deep. There is on huge
cave. 512 feet long, wide 30 ft, height 82 feet.
Konduvattavana ruins. The siripatula
is special. It is round, and siripatula is elevated in the middle of the sculpture. This is rare. Kodavattuvana
is Tamilised version of ‘Kandewattavana’
Malayadikanda
vihara had 27 caves and a ruined stupa.
There are ruins near Kodavattuvan army
camp. There is a siripatula there which is round. There is an
inscription which names this monastery
as Ahali Araba. Its tam lipiya names this area as Aram agama.
Diviyagala
vihara in Ampara district has a beautiful moonstone and umbrella stone in good
preservation. also three siripatula.
Punyadi ruins,stupa had ancient bricks, they were of different types.
Some had rounded edges.
Kappangamuyaye Kadurugoda vihara near
Namal oya had Stupa, columns, moonstone. More in the forest around.
One
and a half miles to the east of the present Devalahinda school, there are many
ruins of stupas, ponds, Buddha foot prints, asanagharas. There is a wall
fortification 7 feet wide stretching for a distance of about 600 feet.
In Punani Grama Sevaka division, there
is a ruined panchamaha vihara. 2 miles beyond ,
Padiettena malai also had
Buddhist ruins.
Etha bandi wewa ruins. there have been very attractive steps, judging by the decorative
bricks.
Samangala forest monastery provided an inscription where three
of the five Magama kings, namely,
Uparaja Mahanaga, the brother of
Devanam piyatissa, Gotabaya,Kavantissa
were listed together. Such inscriptions are rare, said Medhananda.
Inscriptions showed that Linemalai
originally had an aramaya known as Sipavata, hosting many monks. One
inscription stated that Mahadatika Mahanaga had donated two channels named
Dakapunaka and Girigamaka and its
taxes to the vihara.
Pulukunawa Maha vihara, all over the
hillside you see caves. With and without drip ledge and inscription. About 70
caves of different sizes. Medhananda
found 17 inscriptions, there may be
more. ( continued)
[1] Ven Ellawala Medhananda. The Sinhala Buddhist heritage in the east
and north of Sri Lanka.
p 112.
Sri
Lankans have once again endorsed the Rajapakse Regime, westerners notoriously
defined as Rajapakse Family Dynasty. Bandaranaike Dynasty, Nehru Dynasty,
Kennedy Dynasty did not last very long. The Rajapakses have laid
eggs on a wide spectrum of the island, perpetual succession by these rulers are
here to stay. Many anti-Sri Lankans dislike Rajapakse Octopus
spread, but average men and women of this beautiful island confide in
Rajapakses’ as their own family members.
The
new government must address the most urgent issues first, before embarking on
administrative issues.
A.
URGENT BREAD AND BUTTER ISSUES:
1.
Improve
national health system, free of charge;
2.
Improve
public transport system of road and rail
3.
Upgrade
at least one school in each district as a National School
4.
Establish
special unit within Army, similar to Farming Army ( Govi Hamudawa) to
undertake cultivation of traditional and non traditional products
5.
Immediate
restoration of Reservoirs ( Wewa) to store and ensure regular water
supply for farming and communities
6.
Ensure
prompt distribution of fertilizer and water supply
7.
Improve
internal roads , dilapidated bridges in villages, easily accessible in
remote villages
8.
Buy
farmers products at guaranteed price
9.
Establish
warehouses, including Silos for grain, in all farming communities to
stock pile harvest
10.Continue war
against Drugs
11.Provision of
affordable subsidised housing
The average men
and women demand solutions to these issues. This program will reduce cost
of living, improve employment, improve standard of living, enhance money
circulation with short and long term investment opportunities.
B.
ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS:
The
13, 18, 19 amendments to the Constitution must be repealed. But it
will not bring Sri Lanka to the higher rank of happiest living index”.
Sri Lanka currently rank 4468 position in world ranking, with Finland, Denmark
and Switzerland holding first 3 places as happiest living countries.
These
top countries have entirely different administrative systems, yet Bread and
Butter issues were solved first and continue to
receive top priority of the governments.
The
removal of 19 Amendment must receive urgent attention. The Sri Lankans have
voted for the introduction of an entirely new Constitution designed to embrace
the aspirations of all communities within a unitary state ensuring Sinhalese,
Tamils and Muslims to live peacefully in any part of the island with guarantees
for protection and enhancement of Buddhist philosophy.
C.
IMPLEMENTATION OF‘Visions of Prosperity and
Splendour’ (SAUBHAGYE DEKMA) of President Gotabaya Rajapakse:
The traditional
structure of Cabinet of Ministers very often incapable of delivering
Bread and Butter issues as well as Administrative Matters. With large
number of national minded highly educated and experienced
intellectuals entering the Parliament through rank and file of SLPP, VIYATHMAGA
AND YUTHUKAMA, a clear SPLIT of cabinet functions are needed.
One
team for Bread and Butter issues and the other for Administrative Matters.
The President and the Prime
Minister need not handle a large number of Ministers. The SPLIT
cabinet may take the shape of minimum number of
Ministers for each of the above two areas directly
responsible for the President and the Prime Minister. Smaller the
Cabinet, greater the effectiveness of Managing People and managing for
results.
In this manner,
both issues discussed above, can run concurrently, with the two small teams
with best span of control. Poor performing ministers must be sacked.
Sri Lanka, a nation troubled by decades of civil strife and a separatist war has just concluded a parliamentary election bringing back the war-winning government. Western observes have keenly focused on the North, with its Tamil population (5% of the Nations population) previously controlled by the separatist Tigers. Their MaVeer” (suicide fighters presented as heroes) are celebrated covertly and even overtly by hard-liner Tamil politicians in the North, and in Western diasporas.
An electoral battle emerged between moderate Tamils and hard-liners who follow the confrontational politics of remnant Tiger groups who operate mostly from Western countries like Canada. The hard liners are lead by Mr. C. Wigneswaran, the ex Chief Minster of the Northern Province. He championed the claim that Sri Lank has committed Genocide against the Tamils, and demands at least internal self-determination” for the Tamils. He decries Tamils who marry outside their race”, and calls for a re-writing Sri Lanka’s ancient history to emphasize Tamil history.
The moderates are led by Mr. Sumanthiran who rejected the Genocide charge, pointing out that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Hon. Zeid Hussein had rejected the Genocide charge in 2015 (Tamil Net, 19-10-20). Sumanthiran is the only Tamil leader to openly reject the violent politics of the Tigers. Consequently Sumanthiran has needed tight police protection (provided by the central government) from pro-Tiger adversaries who declared him a traitor” to be eliminated.
Mr. Sumanthiran’s party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) earned 10 seats, reduced from what they had when they had no competition. More significantly, Mr. Wigneswaran barely manged to elect himself, polling a mere 0.44% of the national vote. Mr. Gajendra Ponnambalam’s hard-liner outfit collected about 0.56% of the national vote, doing better than Mr. Wigneswaran. However, the striking news is the strong election in the Tamil heartland of an ex-Soldier Sinhalese, Ratna Priya Bandu, who fought the Tigers. Similarly, two Tamil parties that opposed the Tigers have elected three MPs, while the predominantly Sinhala parties elected two MPs in the Tamil heartland. The weakened TNA is likely to split further or adapt, and one can only hope that its more moderate members will seek to work pragmatically with other parties that are less ethnocentric and non-separatist in their objectives.
Electoral outcomes in the Eastern province have once again shown that the East has no desire to merge with the North and become a part of the Eelam” that Mr. Wigneswaran, and even the TNA have continued to demand, echoing the old TULF demands of 1976. It should be remembered that the East did not fall under the TULF even in the 1977, a point repeatedly made by Fr. Tissa Balasuriya during those times.
Compared to the changes in the North, the outcome in the rest of the country has been historic. A strong government independent of minority ethnic and religious groups, usual in Western democracies has emerged here for the first time. While this has the danger of running rough-shod over minority rights, it also opens up a historic opportunity for the new President, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, and ex- soldier and technocrat with a reputation as a doer”. Given the hard political problems as well as the post-Covid economic problems that face Sri Lanka, the strong vote reflects the public feeling that a strong government with management excellence is what is needed. The previous government had the strong backing of the West. But its proven track record of utter incompetence, mega corruption, fatal security lapses allowing Islamic fundamentalists to blast hundreds of people on an Easter Sunday, and its inability to work together resulted in the previous government to splinter their parties, and loose even their parliamentary seats.
Even the hard Leftist Wing, led by the National Liberation Front or JVP” suffered by its continual propping up of the previous Neo-liberal regime, and polled less than 4% electing just two candidates. The post-modernist sophistry used by the JVP to justify its support of Neo-liberalism parallels the gyrations of various Marxists” who could support General Sarath Fonseka, a Pinochet like figure, for the presidency of the country a decade ago.
In contrast to what is happening in Sri Lanka, the Canadian Legislators follow militant Tamil groups who control votes. Canada has shamelessly issued stamps commemorating Tamil activists like Navaratnam who vowed ethnic irreconcilability. Ontario is pushing to legitimizing an alleged genocide of Tamils already rejected by moderate Tamils, and by the UN-HC for Human Rights. The bill 104 will have the effect of legitimizing systemic discrimination, esp. within the school system, against Sri Lankan Canadians who are not ethnic Tamils.
Just as President Nixon could do what was unthinkable then and open up the USA to China, today Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has the mandate to use the opportunity exposed by the weakened Northern Hardliners and work for ethnic reconciliation in the troubled Island.
However, the new administration has many fires to deal with. The President will probably prioritize economic endeavors that will not antagonize extremist groups form either side, and push for jobs, jobs and jobs” within a framework of supporting local enterprises. The army will be increasingly transformed to act as a civilian workhorse, ignoring the protests of those who believe that the army should be in the Barracks if it is not fighting a war. The president can claim that the post-Covid world justifies a war-footing even in the economic front, and the public is likely to listen to him.
There is some likelihood that experienced hands who worked in Mr. Rajapaksa’s All Party Constitutional Council under Tissa Vitharana, boycotted by the then TNA and the Tamil Disapora which did not want a watered-down solution”, may get a new lease of life. The Prime Minister Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa will have to return to his old forte of political dealsmanship to keep the pot from boiling over, and balance the pressures from the West, China and India. The old corrupt set of politicians who have been elected back will no doubt once again attempt to look for ways to line their pockets. While President Trump has rejected the UN Human Rights council as a cesspit”, a new US administration may take up a stronger position against Sri Lanka at the next UNHRC sessions in Geneva.
Now
that the parliamentary elections are concluded, the focus of the new government
should shift to the serious business of fixing the economy. COVID-19 has hit
Sri Lanka’s economic outlook harder than expected. A gloomy prognosis suggests
a scenario of negative economic growth, high unemployment and rising foreign
debt in 2020 and 2021. Revenue from tourism, remittances and foreign investment
are all down. At all costs, one should guard against a pandemic induced
economic crisis from turning into a crisis in the financial system which would
be a double whammy for an already debellated economy. Although good weather may
help revive the agricultural sector, the economy faces a slower and longer road
to recovery from COVID-19.
The new government’s election
platform over the past few weeks put forward several useful policies to aid
economy recovery in Sri Lanka. The President’s proposal for accelerating
regional economic development through four multi-dimensional commercial cities
– Colombo, Hambantota, Jaffna and Trincomalee – will help spread the benefits
of economic development throughout Sri Lanka. The emphasis on improving
domestic agricultural production and reducing post-harvest losses will support
food security for the people in difficult times. Planned investments in
tertiary education and primary schooling will improve the quality of human
capital. Promoting digitisation and e-commerce can support dynamism in business
and government. Of course, economic recovery will be dependent on continuing
the success in combating the pandemic.
But, to ensure a sporting chance of
achieving economic success in a slower growing global economy beset by risks,
the Pathfinder Foundation recommends that three other things should be done by
the new government.
First, Sri Lanka needs to find
the resources to pay for the government’s agenda. Mobilising a large volume
of external financing is crucial to create the necessary fiscal space. So far
Sri Lanka’s fiscal stimulus has amounted to under 0.5% of GDP while the figures
in Malaysia and Thailand is between 12-15% of GDP and in advanced countries
between 15-20%. This means sorting out legacy issues which have clouded the
macroeconomy over decades. A coherent and predictable medium-term
fiscal-monetary policy framework needs to be adopted to ensure macroeconomic
stability. This has the advantage of giving confidence to investors, both
domestic and foreign; creditors; and rating agencies. Such a framework can also
serve as a basis for negotiating an agreement with the IMF. An IMF programme would
also unlock substantial multilateral and bilateral financing (possibly debt
relief as well); increase the prospects of improving the sovereign rating; and
open up the possibility of accessing international capital markets which would
be necessary to secure the debt roll-over which Sri Lanka requires until it
builds up capacity to earn and save sufficient foreign exchange to service its
debt on a sustainable basis.
Partnerships with the European
Union, India, Japan and the US should be looked at dispassionately and in
non-ideological terms. Accordingly, early decisions on bilateral agreements
with global and regional economies can provide clarity that will assist in
maximising international support and foreign direct investment for Sri Lanka’s
recovery. Furthermore, efforts to mobilise bilateral and multilateral financing
should be supported by leveraging government to government relations to attract
equity rather than debt. Public private partnerships for infrastructure
investment should be looked at seriously.
It also means stopping
haemorrhaging losses from state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and strengthening the
operations of others through better management. For instance, the cash
requirements of several hundred million US dollars for Sri Lankan Airlines is
unsustainable.
In addition, as the World Bank has
identified Sri Lanka as one of the countries that is most vulnerable to the
effects of climate change, attention should also be paid to tapping into
financing, both conventional and unconventional, to support the integration of
sustainability into the planning and budgeting processes.
Second, Sri Lanka needs to
continue to be linked to the rest of the world. As a small low
middle-income economy of only 22 million people, Sri Lanka lacks adequate domestic
demand, production capacity and home-grown technology to erect protectionist
walls and completely turn inwards for its development momentum. Doing so also
means squandering a strategic geographical location in the centre of the Indian
Ocean on the main East-West trade route. Naively opening up the economy to
foreign trade and investment may not be an answer either due to potentially
large trade adjustment costs. Instead, Sri Lanka could follow a managed opening
up strategy pioneered by China, Korea and Viet Nam other high-performing East
Asian economies. This means significantly cutting red tape affecting investors,
both local and foreign, as well as digitising all government services. It means
a joined-up approach to economic diplomacy by Sri Lanka’s overseas missions in
partnership with the EDB and the BOI. Building up trade negotiating capacity to
pursue Sri Lanka’s commercial interests in free trade agreements (FTAs) with
Asian countries like China, India and Thailand is another important area. The relaxing
of import restrictions should be calibrated to the recovery in foreign exchange
availability, business performance, and the country’s supply capacity. Economic
history suggests that gradual moves away from autarky to greater openness
provide significant economic benefits to small economies like Sri Lanka.
Third, Sri Lanka needs to set up
an inter-disciplinary group of experts to develop a recovery strategy.
These should be qualified and credible experts, with international experience,
who can provide the government with independent advice on formulating an
economic recovery strategy, monitor outcomes and suggest mid-course policy
corrections if needed. To be meaningful, discussions between these experts and
high-level policy makers should take place behind closed doors. Successful East
Asian and advanced countries continuously seek policy advice from such
independent experts to manage economic crises and formulate recovery
strategies.
The Pathfinder Foundation believes
that initial months of a new government offer the best possible opportunities
for serious policies to stabilize the economy and strengthen its growth
potential by increasing its productivity. The on-going pandemic and its impact
on the global and domestic economies constrain the options open to the new
cabinet. However, the government needs to formulate a bold package of measures
which combines the continuation of its success in containing the pandemic with
policies and programmes which focus both on stabilizing the economy and putting
in place frameworks which will stimulate sustainable and inclusive growth over
the medium term.
In April 2020, The Pathfinder
Foundation set up a study group of eminent persons from academia, research and
the private sector to examine the implications of COVID-19 for the Sri Lankan
economy. In May 2020, the Pathfinder study group presented President Gotabaya
Rajapaksa with a report containing a set of action-oriented recommendations
aimed at steering Sri Lanka into a post-COVID-19 era of economic recovery recently.
