Growth of the Sri Lankan economy has fallen to dismal levels over the past few years, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may result in severe stress on economic and financial system stability in the period ahead unless immediate remedial actions are taken. In this context, in support of the government’s efforts to revive the economy, the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, at its meeting held on 16 June 2020, decided to introduce new credit schemes under the Section 83 of the Monetary Law Act No. 58 of 1949.
Accordingly, in addition to the already disbursed Rs. 27.5 billion under the refinance scheme introduced on 27 March 2020, the Central Bank will provide funding to Licensed Commercial Banks (LCBs) at the concessionary rate of 1.00 per cent against the pledge of a broad spectrum of collateral, on the condition that LCBs in turn will on-lend to domestic businesses at 4.00 per cent, while ensuring the greatest possible distribution of this facility. This scheme along with the existing refinance Scheme will provide Rs. 150 billion in total to the businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, the construction sector enterprises will be provided with a facility to borrow from LCBs, using guarantees issued by the government equivalent to the amount due on account of contracts carried out in the past, under a new dedicated credit scheme funded by the Central Bank and made available at the aforementioned concessionary rates.
Operating instructions on these new credit schemes will be issued in immediate due course.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today slammed Sri Lanka’s Central Bank officials over their failure to put forward even ‘a single proposal’ to rebuild the economy amidst the prevailing global crisis, despite the fact that many tools have been introduced by the Central Banks in countries around the world.
We cannot let the health crisis develop into an economic crisis. What we are facing is a global crisis. The Central Bank and the Treasury are entrusted with the responsibility of formulating right monetary and fiscal policies that are instrumental in economic revival.”
Many tools have been introduced by the Central Banks in the countries around the world. We have not received such a positive response from our Central Bank. Let me know the measures that need to be taken to confront the crisis without delay”, President Rajapaksa told the top most officials of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
He emphasized that the Government had put forward its proposals for economic revival, and that however the Central Bank has not extended its support towards it thus far. The President asked them to explain reasons for their failure.
The President made these strictures during a meeting with the officials led by the Governor of the Central Bank, held at the Presidential Secretariat today (16).
He stated that Central Banks in leading countries such as the United States, Japan and Australia as well as in small countries have put in place required mechanisms to revive economies in their respective countries.
Sadly, the Central Bank of ours has not put forward a single proposal to rebuild the economy.” He said the Government owes a large sum of money to various institutes for the services and products they supplied during the past couple of years.
The Central Bank had ignored the proposal made by the President to provide Rs. 150 billion to banks by accepting the outstanding due as collateral. The Government will have to take the blame for the economic slowdown due to this serious negligence of duty on the part of the Central Bank, he said.
The President further charged that officials who worked at the Central Bank during the scandalous bond scam still hold their positions. The President expressed his displeasure for not receiving the cooperation of these officials who supported that fraud to rebuild the country.
While pointing out the massive mandate he received from the people of this country for the betterment of the nation, the President reiterated that he committed himself to fulfill the aspirations of the people.
Many sectors including health, security and intelligence made a great contribution to battle COVID–19 pandemic. The Central Bank bears the responsibility of rebuilding the country’s economy. Instead of performing its duty, the Central Bank had obstructed the implementation of the proposals made by him, the President said.
He informed the officials to identify the issues and forward their solutions or grant approval to his set of proposals. It needs to be done today,” the President stressed.
Secretary to the President P. B. Jayasundera, Principal Advisor to the President Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the Treasury S. R. Attygalle, Governor of the Central Bank Prof. W. D. Lakshman and officials of the Central Bank were also present during the discussion.
Views expressed by the President during the meeting:
We cannot let the health crisis lead to an economic crisis. Not only have Central Banks in big countries but also in small countries have taken many crucial steps. The Federal Reserve in the US has formulated a USD 600 billion programme. Today, the Central Banks in Australia and Japan too have joined. Similarly, Central Banks in small neighbouring countries of ours have commenced planned programmes.
Look at this headline. The AFED (Arab Forum for Environment and Development) commits to use a full range of tools to help the economy through unprecedented time”. What is the tool we have used? We have used nothing. Our Central Bank has not done anything towards this. Monetary and Fiscal Policy has been formulated by the Central Bank. That should be done in accordance with the economic policy of the President of the country.
You have several tools that can be used. Those tools have to be utilized. However, our Central Bank does not use a single tool. It just stays idle. We asked to release Rs. 150 billion to banks. This is not a fault of the business. The Government owes a huge sum of money to companies due to mismanagement in the past. Let this money be kept as a security for banks to release loans to them. Then they can run the economy. This is a money circulation process. This is a very simple tactic and this is a basic economic principle. But, what are you doing? The Governments have to take the blame for your conduct. You do not monitor. Look at the status of finance companies.
It is your responsibility to regularize and monitor these companies. However, you have failed in your task. Leasing companies too evade their responsibilities. The ETI is not in a position to repay the people. The Finance has been closed down without informing. How are we going to pay for that? There is no management there. All at the Central Bank are economic specialists drawing very high salaries. You have a responsibility. I have presented you a mechanism. If you are unable to follow it, present me your version of the mechanism by tomorrow morning.
Look at what governments of other countries have implemented to save their small scale and medium scale businesses. Do we see the same efforts over here? It looks as if you are here to hinder the government effort and are trying to impede my duties. I do not have to assume this tone if you stood by your duties. It has been 8 months since my appointment to the office, and I have been requesting you to revive this collapsed economy ever since.
I do not want to talk about mistakes of the previous government. As all of you know, you were there when the Central Bank bonds scam was executed. If you supported them to commit this crime, there is no reason for all of you to not to join hands with me to deliver justice. Public must be made aware of the issue of how we move forward with this kind of officials. The people of this country have bestowed a great power on me to build this country. I request all of you to allow me to build this country.
The Coronavirus has spread throughout the world. Now it has become a global economic crisis. Due to the firm commitment of our works in the health sector, Army, Intelligence and the Police we were able to return to normalcy before many other countries in the world. The restructuring of the country’s economy before it further collapses lies in your hands. Lend your support to me to achieve success in this enedvour. Either accept my suggestions in this regard or reveal your strategies.
In this context, a place like the Central Bank where the top economic experts are rendering their service, isn’t it your responsibility to present a proposal to conquer this situation. What have you submitted in this regard. What is the guidance you have given me? There is nothing and you have not come forward to support me.
If you are not on the same page with my suggestions please give me your strategies to revive our economy by tomorrow morning. Give me your suggestions on how to strengthen the economy, how to assist banks under these dire circumstances, how to categorically assist small scale and medium scale businesses. If what I say is wrong, do not hesitate to let me know.”
The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), at its meeting held today (16), decided to reduce the Statutory Reserve Ratio (SRR) applicable on all rupee deposit liabilities of licensed commercial banks (LCBs) by 200 basis points to 2.00 per cent, with effect from the reserve maintenance period that commenced on 16 June 2020.
This reduction in the SRR injects around Rs. 115 billion of additional liquidity to the domestic money market, enabling the financial system to expedite credit flows to the economy, while reducing the cost of funds of LCBs, the CBSL said in a statement.
With today’s decision, the Central Bank has reduced the SRR by a total of 300 basis points thus far during 2020, in addition to several other easing measures implemented already, including the reduction of policy interest rates by a total of 150 basis points and the reduction of the Bank Rate by 550 basis points.
The financial sector is expected to pass the benefit of the high level of liquidity and the reduced cost of funds to the economy without delay, by increasing lending to businesses and households at low cost, the CBSL added.
The Monetary Board will continue to monitor economic and financial market developments and will take further policy and regulatory measures to support a sustained revival of economic activity in the period ahead, the statement read further.
Two more individuals have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus today (16), the Ministry of Health said.
Thereby, the total count of coronavirus cases in the country has risen to 1,915.
Accordingly, a total of 10 virus-positive cases were confirmed yesterday, the Department of Government Information said.
These cases comprise 06 naval personnel at Kandakadu and Mihintale quarantine centres, 04 arrivals from Iran.
The four imported cases were identified among the 85 technicians from Iran who arrived in Sri Lanka yesterday to complete the Uma Oya Multi-Purpose Development Project. After undergoing the mandatory PCR test at the airport, they were directed to the quarantine centres by the Army.
In the meantime, the number of recoveries in Sri Lanka now stands at 1,371.
The Epidemiology Unit’s tally reads that 533 active cases are currently under medical care.
Sri Lanka has confirmed 11 deaths due to the COVID-19.
The Colombo Additional Magistrate has issued warrants on four directors of the Edirisinghe Trust Investments (ETI) holdings, for failure to appear before the court.
When the case filed by ETI depositors was taken up for hearing before the court today, the Additional Magistrate issued arrest warrants on ETI Directors Jeewaka Edirisinghe, Nalaka Edirisinghe, Asanka Edirisinghe and Deepa Edirisinghe.
The court ordered the police to arrest the aforementioned respondents and produce them before the court immediately.
Interpol has informed Sri Lanka that former Central Bank (CBSL) Governor Arjuna Mahendran, who is currently wanted over the Bond Scam, has changed his name.
Accordingly, Mahendran has changed his name to ‘Harjan Alexander’.
The Attorney General has informed this to the Special High Court, when the Bond Scam case was taken up before Justices Sampath Wijayakoon, Sampath Wijayaratne, and Champa Janaki Rajaratne this morning (16).
Representing the Attorney General, Deputy Solicitor General of the Government Parinda Ranasinghe told the court that the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) has reported that the first defendant of the case former CBSL Governor has legally changed his name to ‘Harjan Alexander’.
When the Attorney General had inquired the Singapore Attorney General if the extradition papers of Mahendran need to be amended accordingly, the AG Department of Singapore had informed that there is no need for such amendment.
Thereby, should there be any amendment needed with regard to the case, it will be informed to the court in the future, stated the Deputy Solicitor General.
Further, informing the court that the 10th defendant of the case, Ajahan Gardiya Punchihewa, currently resides in Singapore, Deputy Solicitor General Ranasinghe requested for a re-issuance of notice to appear before the court.
Accordingly, the High Court trial-at-bar reissued notices on Punchihewa.
The case was then postponed to the 17th of November.
Defence Secretary Retired Major General Kamal Gunaratne said that a special program has been launched to curb the crimes that are organised from inside the prisons.
The defence secretary stated this at a press conference today
Meanwhile, a new unit called the Prisons Intelligence Unit has been set up and the public can report any malpractices within the prisons to 0112678600
The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, has decided to reduce the Statutory Reserve Ratio (SRR) applicable on all rupee deposit liabilities of licensed commercial banks (LCBs) by 200 basis points to 2.00 per cent, with effect from 16 June 2020. <br /><br />This reduction in the SRR injects around Rs. 115 billion of additional liquidity to the domestic money market, enabling the financial system to expedite credit flows to the economy, while reducing the cost of funds of LCBs.
With today’s decision, the Central Bank has reduced the SRR by a total of 300 basis points thus far during 2020, in addition to several other easing measures implemented already, including the reduction of policy interest rates by a total of 150 basis points and the reduction of the Bank Rate by 550 basis points.
The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka states that the financial sector is expected to pass the benefit of the high level of liquidity and the reduced cost of funds to the economy without delay, by increasing lending to businesses and households at low cost. <br /><br />The Monetary Board will continue to monitor economic and financial market developments and will take further policy and regulatory measures to support a sustained revival of economic activity in the period ahead.
Growth of the Sri Lankan economy has fallen to dismal levels over the past few years, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may result in severe stress on economic and financial system stability in the period ahead unless immediate remedial actions are taken.
In this context, in support of the government’s efforts to revive the economy, the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, at its meeting held on 16 June 2020, decided to introduce new credit schemes under the Section 83 of the Monetary Law Act No. 58 of 1949.
Accordingly, in addition to the already disbursed Rs. 27.5 billion under the refinance scheme introduced on 27 March 2020, the Central Bank will provide funding to Licensed Commercial Banks (LCBs) at the concessionary rate of 1.00 per cent against the pledge of a broad spectrum of collateral, on the condition that LCBs in turn will on-lend to domestic businesses at 4.00 per cent, while ensuring the greatest possible distribution of this facility.
This scheme along with the existing refinance Scheme will provide Rs. 150 billion in total to the businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition, the construction sector enterprises will be provided with a facility to borrow from LCBs, using guarantees issued by the government equivalent to the amount due on account of contracts carried out in the past, under a new dedicated credit scheme funded by the Central Bank and made available at the aforementioned concessionary rates.
Operating instructions on these new credit schemes will be issued in immediate due course.
General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena, Venerable Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera says that the good governance regime that came into power in 2015, did not pay attention to what he said about Islamic extremism.
The Thero made these revelations when he gave evidence before the Presidential Commission appointed to probe into the Easter Sunday Attacks.
With the intention of further strengthening the process of ensuring law and order of Sri Lanka, the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers has been received on 19.02.2020 to reinstate officers of Sri Lanka Police (including Special Task Force], who have currently received orders of vacation of post, considering the appeals that they have made constantly.
Accordingly, the officers who have been issued orders of vacation of post shall be reinstated based on the recommendations of a three-member committee through a formal and transparent process with the agreement of National Police Commission and Election Commission.
Officers who have already received orders of vacation of post is scheduled to be considered for reinstatement subject to the following conditions.
Officers who have received orders of vacation of post as at 01.06.2009
This open letter to the Board of Trustees of Sigrid Rausing Trust is based on the SRT website & to seek clarifications regarding funding in particular as a large sum of funding is going to an entity that is on a smear campaign against Sri Lanka.
Your Trust, as per your websitecovers the Balkans, Central & Eastern Europe, former Soviet Union, Lebanon & Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia in North Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa. How is it that you are also funding ITJP Sri Lanka?
Is your Trust aware that Sri Lanka is not located in Eastern Europe or Africa but in Asia?
It is under 4thprogram – Transitional Justice that details of funding is given to the International Truth & Justice Project (Sri Lanka) which is administered under the Foundation of Human Rights South Africa which EU launched in 1996. Yasmin Sooka has been EU employee of FHR South Africa from 1996 to September 2019. Whether she continues to be Director of ITJP (Sri Lanka) functioning within FHR (South Africa) we do not know.
However, as per Sigrid Rausing Trust website your Trust has been paying ITJP (Sri Lanka) since its inception in 2014.
As per Your Trust’s website from 2014 to March 2019 your Trust has given £471,500 to ITJP (Sri Lanka)
While your Trust has given a further £300,000 from 1stApril 2019 to 2020
This means from 2014 to 2020 your Trust’s allocation for Yasmin Sooka & ITJP is £771,500
She has so far written over 70 reports against Sri Lanka from ITJP. But her association with LTTE fronts cannot be overlooked. She attended the conference of such a front as its Guest Speaker to be introduced as ‘comrade’. She has been associated with other entities linked to efforts to smear Sri Lanka as well. While she was a member of the personally commissioned Ban Ki Moon Panel which in its report said they had ‘credible allegations’ months later in an article co-authored by the same 3 member panel – they replace ‘credible allegations’ with ‘credible evidence’. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/03/opinion/revisiting-sri-lankas-bloody-war.html?_r=0
http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/28557
Your Trust as per your website your Trust claims to ‘not accept unsolicited applications for funding’. As such, we would like to know how much of Sri Lanka’s conflict Your Trust is actually aware of. Your NewsStories from 2013 to 2020 has not covered a single story on Sri Lanka.
This is to educate your Trust on what Sri Lanka suffered and who the real enemy should be.
Sri Lanka is an island in the Indian Ocean with a population of just over 20million of which 70% comprise the Sinhalese and the remaining 30% minorities that comprise Tamils & Muslims. Sri Lanka was occupied by 3 foreign invaders from 1505 to 1948 (Portuguese – Dutch – British). Their divide & rule policies created most of the existing problems as a result of marginalizing the majority and providing preferential treatment to the minorities. The divisions created were inflamed covertly post-independence.
In 1970s groups of minority Tamil youth obtained armed training & returned to Sri Lanka. The main reason for them to take up arms was against their own rigid caste system which resulted in assassinating Tamil leaders initially. In order to reign over their own, these low caste Tamil youth, chased away the Sinhalese & Muslims who were living in North Sri Lanka. Not many questioned LTTE about ethnic cleansing of the 2 communities by LTTE from North Sri Lanka to claim it a mono-ethnic area.
These armed militants went on to vanquish other militant groups to reign supreme. They became internationally known as Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam headed by Velupillai Prabakaran. LTTE went on to commit the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in his own country in 1991. LTTE has killed scores of Tamils though claiming to represent Tamils. LTTE has killed Sri Lankan politicians, public officials, academics, religious clergy, children, villagers, unarmed civilians virtually across 30 years via suicide missions, bombs and assassinations. LTTE was eventually vanquished in May 2009 after LTTE closed the sluice gates that supplied water to 40,000 farmers in the East. This was a war crime to deny water.
LTTE continues to be banned by US-UK-India and 32 countries around the globe even 10 years after its ground force was militarily eliminated.
Everyone is speaking of the last phase of the conflict and the crimes that ensued but no one seems to be bothered about what the 20million citizens went through since 1980s
LTTE butchered poor villagers living in border villages – cutting women, children & babies to death & scaring them from continuing to live in their homes. This was nothing but to expand their territory of rule
LTTE began killing members of all communities including Tamils who they claim to represent. Anyone going against LTTE was assassinated. LTTE has even killed foreigners
LTTE has bombed places of worship butchering people worshipping – no one was funding to count their tears or their dead
LTTE planted bombs in buses, trains, offices, cars and road sides killing innocent & unarmed civilians going about their daily lives. They had done no wrong to be killed by LTTE. Why did no one fund any program to reach out to these poor people?
When LTTE closed the sluice gates denying water, they were asked to re-open the gates. They refused and went on to attack adjoining villages killing innocent people. A Government is bound to safeguard the lives of the People and it was after 30 years of weathering terror, taking part in numerous peace talks, negotiations, ceasefires some which were mediated by foreign parties and even presence of foreign peace keepers and foreign monitoring missions failed to bring peace that the GoSL ordered to militarily defeat LTTE. The country had suffered 30 years of LTTE terror and unlike 9/11 which was one incident that ended up in bombing Afghanistan and Iraq where foreign troops continue to be present even after 20 years, Sri Lanka has not seen LTTE bombings or suicide missions since May 2009. So 20million people are happy that LTTE is no more because it is we who know what we suffered not anyone else.
Entities that chose not to do anything more than issue statements when LTTE murdered suddenly began to call for war crimes investigation when LTTE was defeated. We find this very strange. LTTE recruited children and turned them into child soldiers. There was no Trust to fund an end to children being trained to kill. The Australian nurse who trained these children to kill also trained them to commit suicide and she lives in UK – her name is Adele B.
As for war crimes – why is everyone silent on the 49 injured LTTE who LTTE leaders put into a bus and bombed in May 2009 lest they should spill the beans on LTTE? When UN Secretary General & UNSC as well as members of the international community also appealed to LTTE not to shoot the fleeing Tamils – who are asking how many fleeing Tamil civilians LTTE shot & killed. When LTTE forced Tamil civilians to accompany them as they retreated – who is asking why LTTE did not release the civilians and not put them in harm’s way by firing from among civilians and keeping military hardware among civilians? Isn’t this a violation under rules of war?
The numbers being quoted as dead contradicts the figures that can be proved with names. It’s really time these lies ended.
When LTTE was given 3 chances by the Government to give up, surrender and lay down arms and when LTTE refused and declared it would continue the battle – they chose their destiny. Of course, there is collateral damage. But no one should forget that the Sri Lankan Armed Forces physically saved some 300,000 Tamils and brought them to safety. Each of these have a name but the Sri Lankan Armed Forces are being accused of killing a number which is unsubstantiated. So many people are quoting civilian dead but none of them have provided names or details of the supposed to be dead. What needs to be clearly mentioned here is that anyone quoting dead figures or names cannot plug the names of LTTE combatants because they cannot be featured as civilian dead.
The Trust must also note that LTTE fought in uniform, in civilian clothing and LTTE had its own CIVILIAN ARMED FORCE. Any civilian fighting in this unit cannot be categorized as civilian dead either. There are a lot of complications. Obviously, your Trust has been misinformed to tap into your generous funding.
As a citizen of Sri Lanka, we are doing our best to educate the international community because they have been victims of lies and false propaganda. No member of the international community can point fingers because they failed to give us peace from LTTE terror. Our Armed Forces did. Your Board should find out how we lived in fear from 1980s to 2009. We couldn’t attend school or work. Our parent’s eyes were filled with tears each time we left the house not knowing if we would return. We can give you lists of acts of terror committed by LTTE every day, every week, every month, every year for 30 years. You cannot understand how happy we were when in May 2009 we realized we did not have to leave our homes in fear.
This organization that your Trust is funding has even presented LTTE terrorist dead as ‘civilians’ and LTTE asylum seekers as civilians too.
Your trust has spent £771,500 on Sri Lanka. Perhaps it is time that you do a proper audit on ITJP (Sri Lanka) as well as do your own homework on Sri Lanka’s conflict by finding out the terror committed by LTTE upon all of the communities, upon Tamil children turned into child soldiers, killing their own combatants who were of no use to them and even killing foreign leaders.
A philanthropic Trust should spend its money on worthwhile efforts and know exactly the nature of what they are spending for.
SPUR Media Release – 13 June 2020SPUR (Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka Inc) Reg: A 003 0777 M PO Box 4066, Mulgrave, VIC 3170, Australia Tel: (03) 97957143 Fax: (03) 97957142 Email: ranjiths@spur.asn.au Website: www.spur.asn.au
Australian Labor Party must reject Hugh McDermott’s mischievous claim of Genocide in Sri Lanka
The Society for Peace Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka (SPUR), as a long-serving organisation representing Australians of Sri Lankan origin, deplores the ethnically divisive and blatantly inaccurate statement made by Hugh McDermott, the Labor MP for Prospect, NSW on the 11th anniversary of Sri Lanka’s hard-won peace through eradicating terrorism and restoring the territorial integrity of the island nation.
McDermott also made outrageous allegations of a genocide that targeted the Tamil community in Sri Lanka resulting in the death of 160,000 innocent unarmed men, women and children” and that many were murdered because of their culture, faith, language and traditions”. This inflammatory statement is a blatant lie.
McDermott’s fanciful claims can be rebutted using numerous on-ground accounts and credible reports, some from within the Tamil community itself. An exhaustive study of casualty figures was done by Rt Hon. Lord Naseby, Chairman of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Sri Lanka. The House of Lords was informed on 07 January 2020 that Lord Naseby spent 10 years looking at reports by the UK’s Military attaché in Colombo Col. Anthony Gash, Tamil university teachers, census data and all the coverage that I could find. The net result is about 6,000 people killed, of which a quarter are Tiger Terrorists”. Referring to War Crimes allegations, he said, Colonel Gash’s reports made it clear that the army behaved admirably and looked after the civilians. If it had wanted to knock them off, then over 295,000 would not have been safely brought across the lines to safety, would they” end quote.
Obviously, McDermott has chosen to ignore facts and figures that do not fit the false narrative socialised by the Pro-LTTE lobby, which itself is a major obstacle to reconciliation in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, his inflammatory statements have caused tension and distrust among Australians of Sri Lankan background and damaged the good relationship between the wider Sri Lankan community and the Australian Labor Party.
19th May 2009 marks the end of a three-decade long tyranny of the Tamil Tiger Terrorists who had used suicide bombings, blowing up of public transport, assassinating political rivals including non-compliant Tamils, as well as ethnic cleansing of Sinhalese and Muslims civilians from Sri Lanka’s North and the East. This day is also remembered for the bravery and sacrifices of Sri Lanka’s Defence Forces and the determination of its people for collectively safeguarding the sovereignty, unitary state and the territorial integrity of the nation.
The Tamil community too suffered greatly at the hands of the LTTE, with the forcible conscription of child soldiers and the use of captive civilians as human shields. It is only the advancing Sri Lankan security forces that liberated large numbers of Tamil civilians used as human shields during the final phase of the conflict. Thousands of LTTE cadres who surrendered at the end of hostilities were rehabilitated, and provided skills for returning to civilian life. Tamil Sri Lankans in the North and East are now able to benefit from demining, resettlement, education, healthcare, transport and economic development as well as participate in Provincial Government elections. McDermott conveniently ignores that Tamil is a National Language and that the Tamil/Hindu community is specifically acknowledged by representing them on Sri Lanka’s National Flag.
In conclusion, we request the Australian Labor Party to reference one of its most respected leaders, the former Foreign Minister Hon Bob Carr who noted the 35 years of civil war and wondered why people don’t dwell on the Tamil Tigers’ human rights abuses, including inventing suicide bombing and using women and children as cannon fodder pointing out that if the Tigers had managed to carve out a ‘homeland’ in the north, it would have been pretty much like the Pol Pot Regime”. Hon Carr went on to rejected the notion that Australian foreign policy should be set by members of Diasporas that find their way here”.
We urge the Australian Labor Party to reject McDermott’s inflammatory and fabricated narrative on Sri Lanka.
The British High Commission says it is an inclusive &
diversity-friendly employer”.
The British High Commission says it encourages applications
from people of ALL BACKGROUNDS.
The British High Commission says We
do not DISCRIMINATE on the basis of RACE, COLOUR, ETHNICITY” but it places a
vacancy for a POLITICAL OFFICER that is purposely EXCLUDING THE ONE MAJORITY
COMMUNITY IN SRI LANKA (the Sinhalese)
The language proficiency that the
British High Commission seeks is an excellent command in written & spoken
English & Tamil. Clearly, Sinhalese is excluded.
Generally Political Officers appointed
by Foreign Missions are to provide the Mission inputs on ALL THE COMMUNITIES
but in this case the British High Commission is seeking someone who reports on
the LOCAL DYNAMICS IN THE NORTH & EAST, MINORITY POLITICS” MONITORING
NORTH & EAST” & ISSUES IMPACTING TAMIL & MUSLIM COMMUNITIES”
We are not stupid not to read the
intention behind this advert.
Prof. Malik Peiris says that public health systems were found wanting when COVID-19 hit because early warnings were not heeded
By Meera Srinivasan/The Hindu
Colombo, Jun 15: For decades, renowned virologist Malik Peiris has been researching emerging viruses at the animal-human interface, including influenza, coronaviruses (SARS, MERS), and is widely credited for his role in discovering that a novel coronavirus was the cause of SARS in 2003. The Sri Lankan-origin expert, who holds the Chair of Virology at the School of Public Health in Hong Kong University, detailed how COVID-19 is different from the other outbreaks and suggested that the world could have been better prepared but for its over-reliance on the pharma industry. Here are excerpts from an interview given to Meera Srinivasan of The Hindu:
Meera Srinivasan: What is your assessment of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began late last year and has now spread all over the world?
Malik Peiris: Well it has spread to most parts of the world. But it is inevitable that as a virus that is efficiently spreading from human-to-human, it is going to continue to transmit. It is also clear that the [SARS CoV2] virus behaves very differently from SARS and that is why it is much more difficult to contain it. This is particularly because of two reasons. One is that in the case of SARS, most of the transmission took place five or six days after the patient developed symptoms. So, the first few days after a patient was ill, there was very little transmission. But in the case of COVID-19, patients are transmitting immediately from the time they develop symptoms and even before. When they transmit even before they develop symptoms, it becomes very difficult to control.
The other big difference is that whereas with SARS most of the patients who got infected had symptoms, in the case of COVID-19, it is clear that quite a number of patients, who get infected, have no symptoms at all.
So, with these two things, it makes it very difficult to contain. In the case of SARS if you could detect, diagnose patients very early, after they develop symptoms, and get them into hospitals, then the transmission in the community can be stopped. That is how the virus was controlled, right? There was no vaccine or anti-virals, so it was purely diagnosis and isolation of patients.
But with this virus you can’t do that, because some patients are transmitting even before you know they are sick. Early diagnosis is important, but you have to get ahead of the virus. As I explained, just diagnosing the patient as soon as he or she gets symptoms by itself is not sufficient. You have to find out whom this person was exposed to and put those people in quarantine in advance, because there is usually an incubation period of about five days before they develop symptoms. Contact tracing and quarantine are very important to break the chain of transmission.
In different contexts, the response to the virus has been different. New Zealand has recently declared itself virus-free and is preparing to further open up. How can countries with large and dense populations, like you have in South Asia, where public health infrastructure is uneven, get ahead of the virus? Sri Lanka or Kerala seem more equipped than many other places…
Yes, this is really where the public infrastructure becomes so crucial because in order, first and foremost, to have the testing, contact tracing, quarantine, you really need a good public health infrastructure. In the absence of that the only other tools you have are the lockdowns.
Basically, what you are doing with the lockdown is you bottle the virus up into individual households. If one person in the household is infected, it may infect other people in the household, and then some people may get more seriously ill and will have to be looked after in hospital. But then, there is no transmission from one compartment to another. That is the logic of the lockdowns. China has shown that it does work if implemented very vigorously and aggressively.
Then again, for many Asian, South Asian countries, it can be very difficult to implement this effectively. On the other hand, even if it implemented effectively, as in the case of China, it could have very serious economic implications. Nevertheless, China shows us how after completely suppressing the virus, they could open up quite quickly.
So, it all depends on how effectively you do this and stamp out the virus more or less, like in New Zealand for example, and then you can relax to some extent. Even then, you do have to have in place surveillance measures at the population level to warn people of the re-emergence of the virus.
After all, the virus is there is many parts of the world. So even if you manage to stamp it down in your own area, it is likely to come back in. So many places like New Zealand and Australia have travel restrictions. People coming in from outside are restricted, and if they do come in, they have to be quarantined for 14 days. With these measures, you can reduce the introduction from outside, but again, for large South Asian countries, this certainly can be quite challenging.
MS: What is your view of the extent of testing needed? There is a call for random testing from some.
MP: I am advocating very aggressive testing of people who have any form of respiratory infection. First and foremost, all patients with pneumonia, with no other clear diagnosis. [Then] patients with fever and cough or flu-like illness, which can be caused by many viruses — but COVID-19 also presents like that. For many South Asian countries that will already be quite a lot of testing to be done. Understanding that, I would not go so far as to talk about random testing.
In Hong Kong, we were essentially able to control the disease. We went for about 23 days without a single local case. But then we had one cluster of a household where the husband and wife were affected. And after another two days, another separate cluster. This means the virus is spreading underground if you like, almost asymptomatically, and giving rise to these clusters. This is why in Hong Kong people have been arguing for random testing.
But the problem is, even in Hong Kong — our testing capacity is quite adequate — in this most recent cluster of cases detected, that patient had been to the GP three times, but not tested. So, although the testing is there, the healthcare providers are not using it effectively. For a start, what I would certainly say for South Asian countries is test all patients with pneumonia without any known diagnosis. Secondly, if you have capacity go down to what is called influenza-like illness. For this you have to mobilise the accident and emergency [wards] and the general practitioners to submit specimens. When you try to do that level of mass testing, it is quite difficult to collect swabs in the way that we normally do which is a nasopharyngeal swab, which requires a trained nurse or doctor.
In Hong Kong, we have found that saliva testing is very effective. You don’t even need a doctor to collect that specimen. All that a patient has to do is to collect a deep throat saliva – you clear your throat and just spit out into a container and send that to the laboratory. That can be certainly done. You have to use all these measures together.
MS: From your study of the viruses, do you see different strains of it that manifest with different intensities in patients?
MP: It is an RNA virus and RNA viruses undergo mutation as they spread. With that mutation, if you sequence the genome of the virus you can identify different patterns. When the virus is spreading in one particular area — obviously all the viruses are very closely related — they may acquire very characteristic mutations. In another area, they may acquire other characteristic mutations. These mutations can be used to try and trace who gave the virus to whom and also look at the virus that came into your country and trace which part of the world it came from, because of these signatures. But it does not mean that these strain variations are related to any difference in severity. There is no hard, scientific evidence showing there are highly virulent strains and less virulent strains — that is not the case.
The virus can be very mild in many people. In some people, particularly older people who have underlying heart or lung diseases or diabetes, it can be quite severe. This is the typical pattern of the disease and this hasn’t changed necessarily.
MS: The reason I ask is because we read reports, for instance, of a person aged over a 100 years recovering well somewhere, and a young patient with no known illness succumbing to the virus elsewhere…
MP: It is to do with the individual and also the infecting dose. If somebody gets infected with a very large dose, then the chances are that the person will get much more severely ill. Always, this is a race between the virus replicating as fast as it can and the body’s immune system trying to respond as fast as it can. If you get infected with a very low dose of virus, there is enough time for the body to start responding before the virus builds up to a large level. The body’s own immune system can cope with it.
A third variable is the type of infection. I don’t have proof for this, but I say this based on what we know about other viruses like influenza. If, for example, you get infected through very small air-borne particles, which you breathe in straight into your lungs, then the disease is likely to be more severe. Whereas if the virus gets just into your nose, say through your hands, the chances are that the disease may be less severe.
So, these are the factors — patients’ own genetic differences, but certainly, more importantly, underlying health issues, age; the dose of virus you get infected with, and the manner in which it infects.
This is why, as you say, we hear of this 100-year-old person who fortunately recovered and a younger person who unfortunately succumbed. But again, if you look at it at a larger scale level then you still have the pattern — if you look at 100 people over 65 people, who get infected, you will find 4% to 6 % of these people may die. Whereas if you look at 100 infected people who are 20 to 50 or 60 years, probably less than 1% would die. If you go even younger, all 100 might not only survive, but not show any symptoms at all. So, you have this gradation, but the case of the individual can vary very much, because all these factors come into play.
MS: Isn’t the treatment a fourth variable? Or is it generic, with few chances for lapses?
MP: Of course, good treatment is important. But that is particularly important in those patients who get severe disease. Doctors are under a lot of pressure to do something.
People are talking about chloroquine and this and that, and unfortunately, we don’t have any good evidence that many of these things work. Except for this drug Remdesivir, for which there is more and more evidence that it is beneficial for patients. There may be other drugs that are effective. A trial in Hong Kong showed that a combination of a drug called Kaletra, which is used to treat HIV patients, together with interferon beta is beneficial, but again it was not a completely randomized trial, meaning it was not compared with people who didn’t get any drug. I think it is important not to panic and think you have to prescribe something.
Obviously, there are a lot of things hospitals and doctors can do to make sure the patient is well — give symptomatic treatment, give oxygen when the patient requires, or if needed have ventilation when required. Those are all things that can be done. Depending on whether you do those things properly, treatment can improve or worsen a patient’s chances of survival.
MS: From your research on different viruses, what has Covid-19 shown us about the human body, our immune system and resilience? Is it telling us something we didn’t know before?
MP: To be honest, probably not. Many of us who have been studying these epidemics for quite some time, were predicting that we were going to get a very serious epidemic sooner or later. If you look at the last 25 years — in 1997 we have had avian flu H5N1, in 2003 we had SARS, in 2009 we had the swine flu–H1N1 pandemic, in 2013 we had MERS in the Middle East, in 2014-15 we had Ebola and in 2018 we had Zika.
Every two or three years we have had completely new epidemics. Until this one, every time, we have managed to dodge the bullet so to speak. In the case of SARS as I explained to you, it was possible, with great global cooperation and aggressive diagnosis and public health measures to stop it, which was amazing. In the case of the 2009 pandemic it just went like a bomb but luckily it was very mild. This is why many of us were saying we can’t keep on being lucky every time. Sooner or later, one of these viruses is going to be nasty, and this is it.
To that extent, I am afraid it is not a surprise. What is sad is that we have been warning that we need to take measures to prepare vaccines for coronaviruses — we already had SARS, we had MERS — so we knew that these viruses were quite dangerous.
We know that influenza causes pandemics, so for that at least, some measures have been taken. But I am afraid it is this lack of preparedness that has left the world vulnerable to this pandemic.
MS: When you say lack of preparedness, what specifically should have been done in your view?
MP: When SARS emerged, everybody was jumping up and down, the whole world was excited, it was a huge economic loss, and everybody was really very concerned. But then, it was controlled. In 2003, many groups across the world including ourselves in Hong Kong, we were developing drugs and vaccines for SARS.
We developed them in the test tubes, we tested them in animal models but then we needed to take the next step of human clinical trials, which is very expensive. By that time SARS had been controlled. There was no more funding or interest to take these experimental vaccines further. It all stopped there. If we had taken those further, we would have at least known how to make a vaccine for this group of viruses. And when COVID-19 came it would have been just a matter of using the same strategy.
But at the moment, we are basically starting from scratch. We don’t have a single vaccine for coronaviruses. As you know COVID-19 is not the only coronavirus that infects humans; there are a number of them and there are many coronaviruses that infect animals as well. We are starting afresh this time.
Until now, our model has been to rely on the pharmaceutical industry to make vaccines and drugs. But when you think about it, that model does not work with these types of novel emerging infectious diseases with pandemic potential.
How can a vaccine company, whose motive is profit, invest millions and millions? It’s a huge amount of money that you have to invest to take a vaccine all the way to clinical trial and efficacy trial – when there is no certainty that this vaccine is going to be needed? If you take SARS, no pharmaceutical company was interested in any of our vaccines because there was no demand. This is the problem.
This is why many of us were saying we need a different model to develop vaccines and anti-virals for these novel emerging infectious diseases.
Indeed, this was listened to [by some] and there was this organization called Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), it was coordinated by WHO, funded by Bill Gates and others – they started working, and they had prioritized a number of viruses for vaccines and anti-virals. One of them was MERS, a coronavirus, other one was Ebola. But this pandemic came before all those could provide results. This is where at the international level, we need to take more coordinated action, and we cannot just rely on the pharmaceutical industry to respond to these issues
MS: Do you mean national governments and international organizations have to work on such a response and preparedness with a public health focus?
MP: Yes, exactly.
MS: You spoke of an individual’s immune system and how that contributes to one’s chances of survival. We are constantly hearing different claims around boosting the immune system – from turmeric to ginger to tea. What do we make of these?
MS: I don’t think there is any evidence that ginger or turmeric or anything like that has any effect. Of course, leading a good lifestyle with a lot of exercise, fresh air, and outdoor activities are good for overall health. It is good for your cardiovascular strength, your respiratory system. If your heart and lungs are functioning well, then you are much better placed to fight a disease like COVID-1. We know that regular exercise enhances your immune responses as well.
MS: How do you see the next few months? It’s hard to predict, yes, but where are we headed in the latter part of this year and next?
MP: I must say that I don’t see much chances of COVID-19 disappearing on its own accord. It is a virus that is very well adapted to transmit in humans, so it will continue to transmit. Of course, we discussed in the beginning the measures that can be taken to suppress it. With these measures you can keep it at bay.
I think there are two major issues. One is you need to use these public health measures we talked about to prevent the virus from completely getting out of control. Because if it does that, then your hospital system will get completely overloaded. That means even patients who can be saved with simple things like oxygen and simple medical care, won’t get that. You need to keep the outbreak at a level that is within your hospital capacity. That is very important.
The other thing is we are all hopeful about all these vaccine developments that are taking place. That is not going to happen within this year, but possibly by early next year, we may be having one or more potential vaccines. That will have a huge impact if they are effective.
Irrespective of that, within the next few months as we go along, there will be better proven drugs that can be used to treat this. I am quite confident that that will also come along. These things will also help reduce the mortality from this outbreak.
In the context when you have very overcrowded slums and poor general hygiene also, the situation will be bad and will provide an opportunity for the explosive spread of the virus. As I told you, it is not just the infection, it is the dose of infection as well.
In those types of poor hygiene environments, not only is the risk of infection higher, its severity is also likely to be higher because of these factors. People’s general health in these environments may be poorer, their nutrition maybe poorer. This is certainly a challenge for many of our South Asian countries. We need sensible and prudent strategies to take this path forward in the next few months.
MS: Is there evidence to show us that an infected patient, who has recovered, can contract COVIDd-19 again?
MP: No, there is no evidence of that at all. In the people who get infected, the virus does seem to persist at a low level for quite some time. Even though they recover, if you look at very sensitive tests like PCR, you can sometimes find the virus in their respiratory track for weeks and weeks. This doesn’t mean they have got re-infected.
Upto now, there has been no clear example of a person getting re-infected. We and others have done experimental animal studies, where we show that when you infect these animals — we use hamsters as a model, they are very similar to the human disease — once they get infected and they recover, and you infect them again, they basically do not get sick. They can actually get infected again, you can have virus replicating in the nose, but it doesn’t cause any disease in the person. We don’t know for sure what will happen in humans.
At least from the animal studies, we do have every hope that at least after infection patients will be prevented from severe disease the second time around.
Colombo, June 15 – Fifty thousand more Sri Lankan citizens stranded overseas are waiting to be repatriated while 8000 have been brought back into the country since the COVID-19 virus spread in many countries including Sri Lanka March, a senior official at the President’s Office told the local Daily Mirror.
The repatriation plan which has been put together by the government and the health experts is going ahead without any hiccups and the government hopes to get back all local citizens in the next few months although a deadline is yet to be set to complete the repatriation process.
Yesterday a flight from Maldives carrying local citizens arrived at the BIA, and today a flight from Nepal is scheduled to arrive. On June 17, a flight from Dubai is scheduled to arrive, with a majority of passengers being pregnant women who had made an urgent appeal to the government to get them back home.
All passengers have and will undergo the PCR testing 48 hours before their flight schedules and upon arrival at the BIA, they will undergo another PCR testing by the medical officers stationed at the airport.
Diplomatic missions overseas are in touch with local citizens and are updating them on the repatriation process.
The senior official said that when the BIA opens up on August 1 for foreign tourists, the repatriation process will continue in parallel to tourist arrivals but those being repatriated from overseas will have to undergo the mandatory quarantine procedures. Tourists arriving will also have to undergo the PCR tests upon arrival but will be exempted from the quarantine procedures.We cannot delay opening up airport for tourists as the hotels need to open up and the tourism sector needs to resume operations as there are thousands of people who depend on this sector for their livelihoods.
Of course, strict health guidelines will be maintained even for the tourists. But we will continue the repatriation process in parallel to welcoming tourists,” the official said.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan nationals in Mumbai, have made an urgent appeal to the government once again to expedite the repatriation process saying they had been stuck there for months and were now facing financial issues.A Sri Lanka national who contacted the Daily Mirror from Mumbai said they had sent several messages to government officials and while the consulate in Mumbai was in touch with them, they were yet to receive a favorable response.
By Dr. Harold Gunatillake- FRCS, MBBS, FIACS, FICS, AM (Sing) Courtesy Asian Tribune
Fidgeting like shaking your legs can help you to lose weight- burn 350 cal. A day Sitting for more than six hours greatly increases your risk of a clot forming in your calf veins.
No matter how much you exercise, eat well, avoid smoking, excessive sitting will cause problems according to Tom Rath best-selling author of ‘Eat Move Sleep’ which is sold more than six million copies:
As soon as you sit down, electrical activity in your leg muscle shuts off! Enzyme production, which helps break down body fat, drops by 90 percent.
After two hours of sitting, your good cholesterol drops by 20%. Continuous body motion, including fidgeting, is a healthy use of daily calories and keeps your weight down.
In the interesting new study in Australia, researchers recognized that excessive sitting time is associated with worse health. Shaking your legs whilst being seated, tend to improve your health.
You are aware travelling for many hours in a plane you are reminded of rotating your ankles frequently to avoid deep vein thrombosis on flights.
Furthermore, there are positive associations between cancer risk and sedentary behavior.
Shaking your lower limbs vertically or from side inwards keeps the leg muscles active and calories are lost. Some, especially women tend to shake their feet cross legged while reading a book in bed.
You may lose more calories sitting down and shaking your legs continuously and rhythmically than walking.
You can now buy electrical shaking machines to do the same job. One issue with such machines is that the rhythmic motion of the foot plate tends to shake the feet and legs and may not improve circulation such as sending venous blood more rapidly towards the heart.
Shaking your legs rhythmically functions better than the machine, as far as movement of the blood flow.
When you are in a nervous state you may unintentionally shake your legs, and that sends a message to everyone around you about your feelings of anxiety or irritation or being bored.
Shaking your legs isn’t always a sign of boredom. Some people in the North of Sri Lanka, do it while they are concentrating on a task or problem.
I have seen personally many Jaffna people shaking their legs unknowingly when engaged in serious auditing work. Or for some people it is traditional to shake their legs -inwards and outwards whilst talking or just doing nothing.
It is a perpetual habit, while some others do it subtle, situational tremor.
Most old people in Sinhalese homes in the rural areas while chewing beetle and relaxing on the reclining chair called the Hansi putuwa’ seem to shake their legs, like no other business, most relaxing and satisfying.
Shaking your legs is beneficial to your health, especially if your job is sitting down long hours, say at the computer. Shaking your legs seems to increase blood flow significantly.
So, if you are not a leg shaker, you should take a break, get up and walk every few hours. In some cases, leg shaking goes beyond subconscious behavior and may be a cause of underlying disease.
There is a condition called restless legs syndrome (RSL) which has no connection to the habit of shaking your legs. RSL, occurs more in bed when you sleep.
It is a feeling to move your legs in order to alleviate crawling, itching, aching Leg tremors are different to leg shaking.
A person with leg tremors may notice their leg shaking while a muscle or group of muscles pulses or spasm out of control.
This situation is common in multiple sclerosis, stroke, traumatic brain injury. When your liver or kidney failure may also cause tremors. So, shaking the legs as in the Jaffna tradition is a healthy movement. It is not considered obnoxious and being involuntary may not be able to control.
Jaffna man has strong wiry legs and leg shaking gives good blood flow, better skin health, may be considered a factor for strong healthy legs for walking long distances. Strong healthy legs are linked with healthier brain aging.
Their brain health has influenced them to study well and become professionals. Now you know why Jaffna man is wiser.
Stay Safe, Stay at Home, Stay Informed, But Don’t Forget to Wash Your Hands.
Sri Lanka’s decision to impose stringent Covid-19 testing protocols when it reopens its doors to foreign tourists on August 1 has divided local tourism industry stakeholders.
Some industry players, who declined to be named, are up in arms over the stringent Covid-19 testing protocols. The chairman of a local hotel chain said: At this rate, tourists would prefer to stay home than come to Sri Lanka.”
Tourism players fear that stringent health protocols may deter foreign visitors to Sri Lanka
However, the heads of two key associations representing hotels and travel agents said such testing protocols are necessary to maintain Sri Lanka’s success in countering Covid-19. The country has seen 1,880 confirmed cases as at June 13, with a death toll of 11.
Sanath Ukwatte, president of The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka, said that those stringent measures help curtail pandemic spread. The best-case scenario would be no restrictions imposed on tourists. However, we need to respect the health authorities who are doing their utmost to contain this imported disease,” he said.
He projected tourist numbers to be low in the first few months, and urged authorities to revise those protocols as foreign arrivals gradually tick back upwards three to four months after reopening”.
Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators president Mahen Kariyawasam told TTG Asia that authorities had altered an earlier proposal to impose a visa fee on arriving tourists from US$100 to US$35, after they raised concerns that the high visa fee might deter visitors.
Earlier on, the US$35 visa fee was abolished after the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, to instead allow free-visa entry in a bid to revive the hammered tourism sector. But the authorities had initially planned to increase visa fee rates to US$100, as Sri Lanka had lost millions of dollars last year in revenue following the promulgation of the visa-free arrival scheme.
However, on top of the reinstated US$35 visa fee, arriving tourists will now also have to fork out up to US$65 for Covid-19 tests, depending on the length of their stay.
As per tourism guidelines issued on June 5, travellers need to stay for a minimum five nights and should reside in certified accommodation providers (hotels) which will be listed on the Sri Lanka Tourism website. Details of their hotel bookings are required for the online visa application.
Visitors are required to take a Covid-19 swab test on arrival at the airport, but need not serve quarantine unless symptoms are detected, the guidelines said. However, they would have to stay in the airport until test results are out within four to five hours.
The guidelines also state that a second test will be done four to five days after arrival by a mobile unit in coordination with the certified accommodation provider. Travellers staying for more than 10 days will be required to take a third test during their stay.
Asked whether the enforcement of multiple tests would be a deterrent to visit the country, Kariyawasam said that other countries are imposing compulsory quarantine periods on arriving travellers, whereas in Sri Lanka, visitors are allowed to check into their hotel after testing negative for Covid-19 upon arrival.
For the first few months, I think we would attract visitors from the Asian region, as there are very few inquiries from Europe,” he said, adding that the European traffic is expected to pick up by early next year. While India and China are Sri Lanka’s main inbound sources, Europe is the largest regional source.
Just like RRW’s appreciative comment on Rajeewa Jayaweera, yesterday, I, too, never met Rajeewa except through his essays to this newspaper and other news sites. He was a regular contributor to these pages, for many years, and it was a pleasure to read and I enjoyed them every time. The well-researched analysis, on many topics, too numerous to list, were factual, objectively composed and fair to everyone. He was a prolific writer on matters of public interest, providing knowledge and insights to inform and enrich our lives. His writings were always non-partisan. During the last two weeks, in June, he wrote, if my memory serves me right, two pieces, one on irresponsible Covid behaviour of bigwigs, limbering at Independence Square, and the second on misuse of public monies by Foreign Service officials, who seek overseas postings to secure health costs for existing chronic illnesses. He wrote on all sorts of public issues, ranging from corruption, in public places, to civil aviation. He was at his best on diplomatic issues, and foreign affairs, given his family background.
Rajeewa was born to fortunate circumstances, being the son of Stanley Jayaeweera, who was in the Foreign Service: the diplomat who served the nation with distinction. Neville Jayaweera, his uncle was the civil servant who found the bureaucracy, more supple than what many critics say, to serve the people. Both these public servants, as Rajeewa commented in the essay, on the third death anniversary of his father, were the embodiment of discipline and formalism, and on the occasion of leaving the Singapore posting, his father made sure that he returned the wrist watches, gifted to Rajeewa and his sister, by the Sri Lankan businessman in Singapore. His father left his last assignment for not supporting the decision of a President on the IPKF occupation. Mr Jayaweera rather stood by his firm convictions to resign his consultancy forthwith, to return home by bus, just the way he took up his first job at the Foreign Ministry.
Neville Jayaweera, his uncle, was also faulted for supporting Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake’s agricultural drive, about which Rajiv wrote that his uncle stood for his convictions. Neville Jayaweera has said ‘I was not a stooge of anybody, but I was convinced that the only way the country can progress is to achieve self-sufficiency in food and that all of us, as citizens, should contribute towards that noble objective. I did the job I was entrusted with to the best of my ability’. One can think of no better upbringing to a young person to become an upright citizen in the fullness of time. Browsing through his writings, the sentiments, he expresses, are testimony to that fortunate background.
He was a public intellectual in the proper sense of the term. It may be true, in general, that human beings have a spontaneous tendency to grow into the modes of thinking appropriate to and predominant in their society, class or set, just as they have a tendency to drop into associated modes of conduct. There are exceptions, of course, illustrious and otherwise to prove the rule. Rajeewa had been moulded into a prim and proper human being from young days. This philosophical foray into Rajeewa’s life, through his essays in the newspapers, over the last so many years, is penned as a tribute to a valued public intellectual who contributed ideas towards social progress, making good use of the conjuncture of social circumstances into which he was born, and the intellect of an upright citizen who served our reading community and society at large.
Though I have not the space to dwell at length, his writings, on Lord Naseby’s debate on war crimes, are still fresh in our minds. He wrote numerous pieces on the matter last year. He wrote with passion but objectively. It was in the pursuit of national interest. ‘With all due respect to the Minister, the false allegations of genocidal numbers of civilian casualties, in Sri Lanka, are repeated everywhere. The opportunity that has arisen due to The Naseby initiative is too valuable to be squandered away. Towards this end, a thorough spring clean at the Foreign Office would be a good start. Improvement of procedures to enable delivery of a letter from the Head of State to any major capital in the world, in no more than 72 hours, is a prerequisite for such a project, instead of 19 days.’
On the Swiss saga, he protested that ‘the government has failed to request an explanation from Ambassador Mock of discrepancies between several versions of the abduction given by the alleged victim to the CID, and his complaint on November 27. It was not right that GR received the Swiss Ambassador and even informed him that the Swiss were not under suspicion. It would have been appropriate for GR to decline to receive the Ambassador till the matter has been cleared up. He could have been directed to deal with the Foreign Secretary and Foreign Relations Minister. That is what any self-respecting country would do.
Rajeewa was a true Sri Lankan to the core. On a related matter, regarding the unity of our country, he wrote that we must never forget history, even ugly history, but need to live in the present, and should aim for everyone to be equal within the nation. Cancelling ugly history is a dangerous form of denial. Denying true history risks repeating it. Leave the ugliness in plain sight and learn from it. It is time for rational thought and robust discussion to take centre stage in national mayors.
We will miss his insights and this endnote be a ‘Thank you’ for posterity.
President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has decided to halt importing handloom and batik textiles.
The President has taken this decision with the intention of strengthening the existing local producers and attracting more producers to the industry.
This decision was taken at a meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat this afternoon regarding the problems faced by those who are engaged in the textile and garment industry.
Two (02) more persons have tested positive for Covid-19 (new coronavirus) infection.
The country total has increased to 1,905 according to the latest information by the Epidemiology unit of the Ministry of Health.
Covid-19 Situation Report as at 2020-June-15 | compiled according to the Health promotion Bureau and the Epidemiology Unit data
Total confirmed cases – 1,905 Recovered and discharged – 1,342 Patients under medical care – 552 New Cases for the day – 16 Observation in Hospitals – 46 Total Deaths – 11 Total number of PCR tests conducted – 87,083
Director of the State Intelligence Services of Sri Lanka (SIS) Major General Suresh Sallay has sent a Letter of Demand to Executive Director of the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) Ms. Yasmin Sooka and the ITJP for making various allegations against Maj.gen. Sallay, his Lawyer said.
The said Letter of Demand sent through Lawyer Pasan Weerasinghe, stated that on or about June 01, 2020, Ms. Yasmin Sooka, in her capacity as the Executive Director of the ITJP has issued a press statement making various defamatory remarks against Major
General Sallay. The press statement is said to be published via the ITJP Sri Lanka’s website.
The Letter of Demand highlighted the defamatory implications have resulted in parties with vested interests making attempts on the life of Major General Sallay. Further, the Letter of Demand goes on to mention the numerous awards and achievements of Major General Sallay and the resultant character and reputation he has thus garnered.
Further, it states that the defamatory remarks of Ms. Sooka published by the ITJP Sri Lanka website have caused unto the Major General’s character and reputation a significant damage, which the Major General has valued at one Billion Sri Lankan Rupees and in turn, demanded that Ms. Sooka and ITJP pay.
The Letter of Demand has also notified Ms. Sooka and the ITJP to cease and desist from issuing further defamatory remarks and the intention of Major General Sallay to seek litigation remedies, both Civil and or Criminal, if Ms. Sooka and the ITJP fails to adhere to said demands, it added.
Soon after Sally was promoted to the rank of Major General, Sooka issued a press statement on June 1, 2020 and charged that Sallay, allegedly forced a Tamil doctor in custody in 2009 to give false testimony by denying him medical treatment and threatening him.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said yesterday that he had never requested any bank to grant loans to his kith and kin, acquaintances or supporters.
The President made this remark during a progress review meeting of the Bank of Ceylon held at the Presidential Secretariat.
At the meeting, he said the State Banks should take the lead in providing the financial assistance expected by small to medium entrepreneurs and to investors.
The current global scenario is an unprecedented one. We will have to think out of the box to break free from this situation. Conventional methods cannot be used to revive the economy,” he said.
He reiterated that he is determined to meet the expectation of every community in the country by exercising the powers given to him by the people.
It is not at all for political gains but for the benefit of the country. I will not think twice to take the best possible decision notwithstanding the obstacles that come on the way,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said it is the responsibility of State Banks to put in place the mechanism to implement the policies of a government.
While pointing out the impossibility of fulfilling aspirations of a country with a two digit interest rate for loans, the President stressed the necessity of bringing it down to a single digit to assist the development of the country.
The growth rate of the economy which was 7% to 8% before 2015 had fallen even below 2% by 2019. The global economy which collapsed in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic has further worsened the situation,” he said.
President Rajapaksa emphasised that it is the responsibility of State Banks to comprehend all these factors and assist in implementing policies of the Government for the betterment of the country.
Secretary to the President P. B. Jayasundera, Secretary to the Treasury S. R. Attygalle, Chairman of the Bank of Ceylon Kanchana Ratwatte, Board of Directors and officials participated in the discussion.
The Egyptian Embassy in Sri Lanka says that Egypt has been wrongly associated with the name of the Qatari citizen, fundamentalist theologian and hate preacher Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, during the proceedings of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry probing the Easter Sunday attacks.
Issuing a statement, the embassy further stated that Al-Qaradawi has been residing in Qatar since the 1960s and holds the Qatari citizenship only.
Being one of the fountainheads of the banned terrorist Muslim Brotherhood organization, fanning religious hatred and promoting a cult of violence, Al-Qaradawi has been stripped of the Egyptian citizenship, banned from Egypt decades ago, and escaped a life sentence in absentia issued by Egyptian courts of law.”
The embassy noted that charges against him include the implementation of acts of terrorism and violence inside Egypt that resulted in the loss of dozens of lives, the preparation of terrorist schemes in cooperation with the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, embracing extremist Takfiri ideas, conspiring against the Egyptian people to perpetuate chaos and undermining the national security of Egypt.
His name appears on the terror list of Egypt and several other peace-loving countries.”
Egypt said that it is deplorable that he remains unchecked by his host country and continues to receive support and sponsorship. Egypt and other Arab countries have collectively designated 59 individuals and 12 institutions that have financed terrorist organizations and received support from certain countries in the region, including Al-Qaradawi and his so called International Union of Muslim Scholars”.
Egypt and its enlightened institutions will continue providing support to Sri Lanka in eradicating extremism. Both countries are facing the same threats and confronting the same enemy,” the statement said.
Read Full Statement Below…
Egypt and Sri Lanka on the Same Page in Combatting Extremism”
The Embassy of Egypt observed with much concern the local media coverage on Ada Derana of the first evidence given by prelate Ven. Galaboda Aththe Gnanasara Thero before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Easter Sunday attacks on 13 June 2020, where Egypt has been wrongly associated with the name of the Qatari citizen, fundamentalist theologian and hate preacher Yusuf Al-Qaradawi.
In this regard, the Embassy wishes to enlighten the Sri Lankan media and public opinion on a set of facts and clarifications. Al-Qaradawi has been residing in Qatar since the 1960s and holds the Qatari citizenship only. Being one of the fountainheads of the banned terrorist Muslim Brotherhood organization, fanning religious hatred and promoting a cult of violence, Al-Qaradawi has been stripped of the Egyptian citizenship, banned from Egypt decades ago, and escaped a life sentence in absentia issued by Egyptian courts of law. Charges against him include the implementation of acts of terrorism and violence inside Egypt that resulted in the loss of dozens of lives, the preparation of terrorist schemes in cooperation with the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, embracing extremist Takfiri ideas, conspiring against the Egyptian people to perpetuate chaos and undermining the national security of Egypt. His name appears on the terror list of Egypt and several other peace-loving countries. It is deplorable that he remains unchecked by his host country and continues to receive support and sponsorship. Egypt and other Arab countries have collectively designated 59 individuals and 12 institutions that have financed terrorist organizations and received support from certain countries in the region, including Al-Qaradawi and his so called International Union of Muslim Scholars”.
Along the same line, Al-Azhar, Egypt’s prestigious seat of enlightened Islamic education, has expelled Al-Qaradawi long ago, considering him an incendiary extremist ideologue. Al-Azhar and its renowned Observatory for Combating Extremism have been in the forefront of countering extremist ideologies and practices and rejecting acts of religious violence worldwide. Al-Azhar has condemned in the strongest terms the heinous Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka and expressed its full solidarity with the Sri Lankan government and people. Al-Azhar Sri Lankan graduates have previously confronted and refuted the extremist ideas of the National Tawheed Jamaat leaders in Sri Lanka on several occasions prior to the Easter Sunday attacks, one of which has been highlighted in the Sri Lankan press. It is worth mentioning that several Muslim and non-Muslim countries have approached Al-Azhar for assistance in modernizing education and confronting Islamic extremism, including Christian Buddhist- and Hindu-majority countries.
Egypt and its enlightened institutions will continue providing support to Sri Lanka in eradicating extremism. Both countries are facing the same threats and confronting the same enemy.
Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) investigating the incident of political victimization has issued summons to 17 individuals over a complaint lodged by Chairman of Avant-Garde.
Chairman of Avant-Garde Nissanka Senadhipathi had lodged on the alleged loss incurred by his company due to arbitrary takeover.
Seventeen parties have been asked to appear before the Presidential Commission on June 17, a spokesman said.
The following parties have been issued notices by the Commission:
Former Navy Commander Ravindra Wijegunaratne
Former MP Rajitha Senaratne
Former MP Patali Champika Ranawaka
Former MP Arjuna Ranatunga
Former MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake
President’s Counsel Dilrukshi Dias Wickremasinghe
Former Director of the CID Shani Abeysekera
Former DIG (Retired) S. A. D. Gunawardena
Lieutenant Commander W. H. P. Weerasinghe
Rear Admiral J. J. Ranasinghe
Rear Admiral Nilantha Heenatigala
President’s Counsel Upul Jayasuriya
Former OIC of Galle Harbor Inspector Induka de Silva
Inspector of Police Aluthge Senarath
ASP Lasantha Ratnayake
President’s Counsel Wasantha Navaratne Bandara
Senior State Counsel Janaka Bandara
This Presidential Commission of Inquiry was appointed earlier this year to look into the incidents of political victimization between 08 January 2015 and 16 November 2019.
බ්රිතාන්යපාලනයුගයේමෙරටසිටිජ්යෙෂ්ඨවිනිසුරුවරයකුවූඉංග්රීසිජාතිකආචිබෝල්කැම්බල්ලෝරි ‘ලංකාවේමධ්යමපළාත්ගැසට්’පත්රයේ(A Gazetteer of the Central Province of Ceylon) මෙසේපවසයි:
