Dr Sarath Obeysekera 

In the UK, people from BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) backgrounds are disproportionately affected by Coronavirus. For instance, the first 10 doctors named as having died from Covid-19 in the UK were all from BAME communities. Nobody can give a good enough reason for this yet and the UK government has already launched an investigation/inquiry to find out why.

Attached below are two newspaper articles on the subject, one from Guardian (left wing) and another from Telegraph (right wing) for your info.

Is there a similar trend/ finding in Canada, US and Why are people from BAME groups dying disproportionately of Covid-19?

Last month the Institute of Health Equity-produced a report reviewing Marmot’s Fair Society, Healthy Lives. The report highlighted two key findings; a growth in the health gap between wealthy and deprived areas and an increase in the number of people who will spend more of their lives in poor health.

The review also found that the health of a population was not entirely based on the strength, resilience, or functionality of the healthcare system but rather on the conditions in which people are born, grow, work and eventually age. Marmot coined this as the social determinants of health and the implications of this are evident more than ever when you look at the case prevalence, mortality rate and hospitalisation statistics by demographic in relation to Covid-19.

A recent report by the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre has found that the patients from black and ethnic minority backgrounds have shown more severe complications of the disease. The study looked at 2,249 patients in the critical care units participating in the Case Mix Programme. Individuals who identified as non-white makeup around 13 percent of the UK population but accounted for a third of the patients that were admitted to critical care. 

theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/22/why-are-people-from-bame-groups-dying-disproportionately-of- covid-19

Hannah Devlin April 22, 2020

One explanation for why people from black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are dying in disproportionately high numbers is demography. The virus hit London first and hit it hardest. But even when you take these regional differences into account there is a mismatch. In particular, if you take into account that ethnic minorities are generally younger – particularly important for Covid-19 where 90% of deaths are in people over 60 – the ethnic differences become even more stark.

Co-morbidities could certainly play a role. The black population, where the discrepancy appears to be greatest, is particularly afflicted with hypertension. Diabetes is three-fold higher in this ethnic group. Both of those conditions will increase your risk of death once you’ve got Covid. The added problem is that these conditions occur at a younger age in people of black descent. However, in mitigation against that, certainly older people of black African descent don’t smoke as much, so have less respiratory disease, have lower rates of cancers and coronary disease. 

With Asian populations, the story is a bit different, but again there is a four-fold excess in diabetes and blood pressure rises higher with age in South Asians compared to Europeans.

Genetics sounds like an easy get-out clause, but it isn’t. Ethnicity is a complex socio- cultural construct, it’s not a biology construct. There’s no gene for being Asian. There’s no gene for being black. People of ethnic group membership can change over time and with age, it’s not an immutable thing and it very poorly maps on to any biology you can think of. People have looked to see if there’s a genetic explanation for these ethnic differences in chronic disease and have been unable to find one, despite having looked quite hard in large numbers. So there’s no evidence that genes explain the excess risk of Covid susceptibility. It’s important to put a nail in that one because it feels as if we can abdicate any responsibility for sorting this out and this

Ethnic minorities are over-represented in high-risk occupations, including health workers, in the transport sector and essential shop work. Clearly, there’s a huge amount of heterogeneity, but overall ethnic minorities are more likely to live in deprived, dense, over-crowded urban areas and are more likely to be disadvantaged. In some cases, household composition could play a role, particularly in Asian households where you have multi-generational households living together.

 So both through occupation and residential reasons, they’re less able to socially isolate effectively and much more likely to be exposed to high doses of the virus. There’s some suggestion that the greater the dose you’re exposed to the more likely the disease is to prove fatal. That’s perhaps one reason why even quite young healthcare workers are succumbing to the disease.

The evidence on ethnic differences in healthcare-seeking behavior is quite messy, and we need to remember that these are quite heterogeneous groups. For instance, people of black ancestry have been found to be less likely to consult for chronic diseases like diabetes, but that doesn’t mean to say that if it’s an acute condition they won’t come forward. One study of people accessing antiviral flu treatments in the flu pandemic of 2009 found that ethnic minorities were less likely to ask and less likely to collect these. But whether this was due to reluctance, differences in access to healthcare, the way the message was put across or racism – it is difficult to pick apart because the healthcare-seeking process is so complicated.

Ultimately, this is about health inequalities, about deprivation and affluence and how important socio-economic status is in determining health outcomes. This isn’t just an ethnicity story, it affects all of us. Britain has a long history of health inequalities. It’s critically important to understand and I’m relieved that the government is taking this seriously.

Prof Chaturvedi is director of the MRC Unit for Lifelong health 

Why are so many black and ethnic minority people dying from coronavirus?

telegraph.co.uk/news/0/why-bame-people-dying-coronavirus-black-ethnic-minority/

 By Gabriella Swerling, Dominic

A review into why people from ethnic minorities are disturbingly” and disproportionately affected by coronavirus has been launched by the Government.In UK

The inquiry comes after weeks of pressure on ministers to launch an investigation into the issue. 50 BAME front-line health staff have now died of coronavirus.

Downing Street confirmed the NHS and Public Health England will lead the review of evidence concerning the impact on people black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.

How many BAME people have died?

Despite only accounting for 13 per cent of the population in England and Wales, 44 per cent of all NHS doctors and 24 per cent of nurses are from a BAME background. Of the 82 front-line health and social care workers in England and Wales that have died because of Covid-19, 61 per cent of them were black or from an ethnic minority.

Among them was Abdul Mabud Chowdhury, a 53-year-old consultant who warned the Prime Minister about the need for more personal protective equipment (PPE) to support NHS staff during the pandemic.

In a Facebook post last month, he warned Boris Johnson to ensure urgently personal protective equipment for each and every NHS worker”.

Mr Chowdhury, who worked as a consultant urologist at Homerton Hospital in east London, said in his post: People appreciate us and salute us for our rewarding job which are very inspirational but I would like to say we have to protect ourselves and our families/kids in this global disaster/crisis by using appropriate PPE and remedies.”

Manjeet Singh Riyat, who was the United Kingdom’s first Sikh A&E consultant, died on April 20. Mr Riyat was described as “instrumental” in building emergency services in Derbyshire over the last two decades, and was widely respected across the NHS.

Bhai Amrik Singh, the Chair of the Sikh Federation (UK) said: Manjeet had spent most of his life helping others as an A&E consultant, from treating the sick to training junior doctors. Something very much in line with his faith principles of being a devout Sikh.

 This is a true tragedy, as another frontline NHS worker falls victim to this deadly virus. His death comes as a huge loss to the Derby & Burton hospital, wider NHS family and to the whole Sikh community.”

The limited data available and images of those who have passed away suggests Covid- 19 is disproportionally impacting on Sikhs and wider BAME communities.”

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, British Medical Association (BMA) council chair, welcomed the review into BAME deaths, but stressed it must be informed by real-time data to understand why the virus appears to be disproportionately affecting BAME communities and healthcare workers.

This must include daily updates on ethnicity, circumstance and all protected characteristics of all patients in hospital as well as levels of illness in the community which is not currently recorded,” Dr Nagpaul said.

The government must send a directive to every hospital telling them to record the ethnicity of patients who are admitted and succumb to COVID immediately.”

Why are there more BAME coronavirus patients?

Black, Asian and minority ethnic patients are shown by new data to face a disproportionately high risk of death from coronavirus. Of the 13,918 victims who tested positive in hospital up to April 17, 16.2 per cent of these were of BAME background. BAME communities make up around 13 per cent of the total population.

Last week, data on patients with confirmed Covid-19 from the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC) also suggested ethnic minorities are over- represented compared with the general population.

Around 7.5 per cent of the population were Asian and 3.3 per cent black in the 2011 UK census.

The first 10 doctors named as having died from Covid-19 in the UK were from BAME communities – a figure that the Labour Party described as “deeply disturbing”.

Some analysts have suggested that the burden of coronavirus falls on poorer communities, in which BAME people are over-represented.

Are BAME communities more vulnerable?

Marsha de Cordova, the shadow equalities secretary, called for the Government to “urgently investigate why BAME communities are more vulnerable to this virus”.

Her call came after the chairman of the BMA, Dr Nagpaul, said it could not be random that the first 10 doctors named as having died from the virus were all from BAME communities.

 Those doctors have ancestry in regions including Asia, the Middle East and

Africa. However, the BMA chair said that even allowing for the over-representation of BAME staff in the NHS the fact that they were all from ethnic minorities was extremely disturbing and worrying”.

England’s Chief Medical Officer, Prof Chris Whitty, said it was critical to find out which groups are most at risk. He said it remains unclear why some ethnic groups appear to be more vulnerable. “I’ve had discussions with scientists about this in terms of trying to tease this apart today,” he said.

What about BAME patients outside of the UK?

It is not just in the UK that the number of BAME people affected by coronavirus has caused alarm.

In the United States, there has been growing concern over the rising number of coronavirus deaths among African-American communities.

The latest data suggests that people who are black or Hispanic in the US are twice as likely to die from Covid-19.

In states reporting fatalities by race, 34 percent of American victims were black, according to research from John Hopkins University, and black Americans also represent

Note

It is essential that Sri Lankan research organizations ponder into the fact that the rate of infection of high portion of a certain minority may be due to their life style 

One said that moor community attends the prayers and keep touching the floor by placing the temple on the ground and also place both unprotected hands on their face thus increasing the danger of getting infected ?

Dr Sarath Obeysekera 

Dr Sarath Obeysekera
CEO Walkers Colombo Shipyard
Colombo
Sri Lanka

By Garvin Karunaratne, former GA Matara

President Gotabhaya is interested in creating a new economic trend-  establish new businesses and industries”(From: Rebuilding a policy driven economy: Daily FT:17/4).

Let me hark back to my days in the Administrative Service, some five decades ago. Perhaps my experience as an Assistant Commissioner in the Marketing Department, aa a Deputy Director of Small Industries and my work as the GA at Matara working on the DDC Programme could  offer some ideas.

My subsequent achievement after eighteen years in the Administrative Service lies  in the international field. This  includes the Youth Self Employment Programme of Bangladesh, which I commenced from scratch, when the ILO attempt to create a self employment programme at Tangail, Bangladesh had gone bust. The Self Employment Programme I established, being implemented by youth workers who were recasted by me to become more economists has grown to become the premier  employment creation the world has known, having created three million youth entrepreneurs by now. It will be of interest to note that this Youth Self Employment Programme I established from scratch in 1982 in Bangladesh,  is now holding a prime place in the Five Year Plan of the Planning Commission. It is not only a major development programme of Bangladesh, but also the premier employment creation programme to be ever implemented in the world.

In rebuilding the lost economy may our leaders have the foresight to not only re establish the petty distribution systems that have been lost in the past few months, but to take one step ahead, and leave something for posterity, making a major change in creating new employment, bringing incomes, obviating imports and making a permanent contribution to national development. That is how I suggest to kill two birds with one stone.

Let me hark back to my days in the Administrative Service, some five decades ago. Perhaps  some of what I dared to do could  offer some ideas.

Let us consider making Paper as an industry. Sri Lanka does not make any Paper today. We happen to be the only country in the entire world that does not even make use of waste paper to make paper. A number of youths on my Self Employment Programme in Bangladesh make a living for the past few decades on making waste paper into  card board. When we were addressing hundreds of youths on self employment training workshops and providing them with lunch packets packed in  in cardboard boxes some youths carefully  collected the used cardboard to be used in their industry to 3make new cardboard. Go back to the days of the Divisional Development Council Programme of the days of Prime Minister Sirimavo and then  the Divisional Secretary at Kotmale established a Unit making Paper out of waste paper. Today the most evident industry in Colombo is the collection of old paper and cardboard and shipping it to India some  70 tons a month and buying back cardboard from India. Once we had the Valachenai Paper Factory. Around two years ago I went upto the gates and gazed at the Factory with its broken down  and overgrown buildings because I had been there several times in the Sixties. I gazed at the ruins remembering the nights I spent at their plush Circuit Bungalow on my circuits.  I have seen myself the straw being washed and being used to make paper. Valachenia made easily half our requirements and all from straw.  Farmers in Hingurakgoda made good money and I had to linger  behind lorries laden with straw as those were the non motorway days and overtaking any lorry was impossible. Later we established another Paper Factory at Embilipitiya. That is also closed now.

 Paper Making in Sri Lanka has an interesting history. The original Valachenai Factory was meant to use the illuk grass and that grass ran out and making paper stopped. Then it was our Valachenai scientists that did experiments and made paper out of straw. It is strange how Sri Lanka does not make any paper and straw is wasted and mostly burnt to get rid of.  However today in many countries like India and China Paper is made out of straw.

Let us get down a few small paper making machines  from India and  get them installed in the colonies. This can be easily done within two months and straw from our present Maha harvest in July and August this year can be made into paper.  The cost of the few paper making machines, cost of air flowing them, installing the units and the full out lay can be recouped within the sales of the paper that we make in the fist two years. I am certain of this.(For further reference: Let’s get back to the days when the colonists at Higurakgoda and Polonnaruwa  sold straw and made money: www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2018/04/26/lets-get-back-to-the-days-when-the-colonists-at-polonnaruwa-sold-straw-and-made-money/)

Let me suggest  another industry which we once did very successfully. That is Food Preparations making Jam, and Juice. When I was in charge of the Vegetable Purchasing Scheme at Tripoli Market in 1957 there were days when I would send off two lorries to Embilipitiya to purchase all the melon, red pumpkin and ask pumpkin the producers had brought for sale and feed it to the Canning Factory. We made Red Pumpkin into Golden Melon Jam, Ash Pumpkin into Silver Melon Jam. Chena cultivators all over the DryZone made good incomes selling to the Marketing Department. The MD always paid more than what the traders paid for produce.

Unfortunately under President Jayawardena who caved into the International Monetary Fund and accepted their conditions and we had to abolish this Canning Factory. Out went the Canning Factory privatized for a private entrepreneur to make money Earlier under the MD days the Canning Factory brought high incomes to chena producers and Sri Lanka was self sufficient in all Jam and Juice. It was then that we exported pineapple pieces .

All that, including building up an export trade in pineapple pieces and pineapple juice  had been established in three years 1955 to 1957

Let us  consider doing something phenomenal- a Perfume Factory. I saw on the television the inauguration of our President at the hallowed precincts of Ruwanweli seya. The flowers offered at Ruwanweliseya and Sri Maha Bodhi can be made into perfumes.  That will be a new industry. Once when I went to Lucknow I was asked to buy some perfumes from Sugandhika. There was a range of perfumes and I bought some. I then asked to be shown their perfume factory and was surprised when I was told that they did not have a permanent factory. They said that they had a few small scale portable plants which they took to the places where flowers were available. However I noted that they made a vast range of perfumes and have built up a world wide trade.. Getting back to the flowers we have being offered at Ruwanweliseya and Sri Maha Bodhiya and Dalada Maligawa and places like Kelaniya we can easily get down to make perfumes.

Some one has to take the initiative and when I went to Lazareotte I saw a full science laboratory they have established to make products from Aloe vira. We have to get a science lab to experiment on making perfumes and get a factory going.  It is not a new idea. It is a new idea to Sri Lanka.

It so happened that when I paid a visit  to Corrinth in Wales I saw a small distillery making all sorts of drinks. It was a small scale machine the type that will be required to make perfumes out of flowers.

That is a new industry. Get down a small distillery machine and get going and establish a laboratory to experiments on various scents and we have a full scale perfume  industry. This is not fanciful thinking. If small scale some even portable perfume manufacturers can have viable industries I am certain we can also make headway. Let me make a statement that if I had known of small scale distillery machines like what I saw at Corrinth, when I was GA at Matara I would have established a perfume making industry with the flowers offered at the Matara Bodhi. Perhaps this idea may be taken up and a perfume industry established in Anuradhapura in  the near future. (For further reference: A Perfume Making Industry t Anuradhapura & Kandy, Lanka Web, 20/11/2019: www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2019/11/29/a-perfume-making-industry-at-anuradhapura-and-kandy)

I have written at length on Making Paper, on a Canning Factory and making Perfumes and our economists whose approval will be sought would run down these ideas as impractical as old fashioned and not worth talking about. But those authorities may please note that I as an administrator have been successfully doing this type of thing for a few decades. If anyone wants to dare my ideas let them first tell us what industry they have ever implemented on their own.

Let me talk of the Crayon Factory that I established when I was the G.A. at Matara in 1971..  Under the Divisional Development Councils Programme as the G.A. I was entrusted with the task of establishing employment creation programmes. I did establish a Boat Making Industry that turned out 40 foot sea worthy fishing boats some 30 to 40 boats a year. This was established at Matara and was a successful industry that provided employment to around thirty youths. It worked successfully from 1971 to 1978.when on the IMF advice it was run down and abolished by the Government of President Jayawardena. In its heydays from 1971 to 1977 it was a successful thriving and viable industry.

I had suggested other viable industries but the Ministry of Plan Implementation wanted us to concentrate on smallscale  craft type of industries which actually duplicated the work done by the Small Industries Department. My suggestions of establishing a Butter Creamery in Deniyaya and a Water Colour Industry was turned down.  The view of the Ministry was that I should not venture into new fields. I was told to make tiles and bricks I disagreed because we were already making all the tiles and bricks we needed.

One day I summoned my Planning Officer a chemistry graduate of the University of Colombo and convinced him of trying to make a crayon.  I had worked for close upon a year as Deputy Director of Small Industry and I was in charge of registering small industrialits and allocating foreign exchange for them to buy raw materials and machinery.   Crayons to my mind would be akin to making water colours and I had seen a water colour making factory and had approved it. To my thinking making water colours was  similar but basic to making crayons.  We decided to have a go at it. We purchased some essentials and commenced experiments at my residence. In a few days we realized that we needed equipment and obtained the permission of the Rahula College Principal, Mr Ariyawansa to use the science lab at Rahula College. That was the largest school lab in Matara.  After school closed the school science lab was ours and we did a myriad of experiments for two long months every working day from six to mid night. It was our Planning Officer aided by the science teachers at Rahula College that  did experiments to make crayons. In two months of experiments what we made was never a perfect crayon. We had spent two months at least five days a week from six to mid night and never got a perfect crayon. Then our Planning Officer had a bright idea of consulting his professors in chemistry, the authorities that had taught him chemistry. I happily authorized him subsistence and off he went. Four days later he emerged a broken down man.  He had beseeched  advice from his professors and gone behind them for three full days to be told that they had no time to get involved with him and his fanciful ideas as they were busy lecturing and marking answer scripts. .  I and my team were not going to take this lying down. We recommenced experiments from six to mid night again at the school lab. Finally in another  month we mastered the art of  making  crayons. I sat with the Planning Officer and we together fine tuned the crayon to be  equal to the Reeves, which was the best crayon at that time.

Having successfully found out the method of making crayons it was decided to make it a cooperative venture. My team decided that it should be a cooperative industry directed by us.   I decided to entrust this task to Mr Sumanapala Dahanayake, the Member of Parliament for Deniyaya in. his capacity as the President of the Morawak Korale  Cooperative Union. Sumanapala could be trusted and he readily agreed. I authorized him to use cooperative funds to buy a few small scale items that were required and we, myself and my team the Planning Officer, Vetus Fernando, Development Assistant Daya Paliakkara, and a few others moved to Morawaka. There we did train some twenty youths to make crayons. It was a handmade crayon, as are most industries successfuly run in China and  our task was to train the youths to ensure that each crayon was of good quality. In three weeks, working day and night we filled two rooms with crayon boxes. I and Sumanapala took a few boxes of crayons to present them to Mr Subasinghe the Minister for Industries. He was surprised at the quality and readily agreed to open sales.  A day was fixed to have the sales opening ceremony and the industry came to be officially declared open. Within a month the crayons were sold islandwide.

In establishing this programme no Ministry approval was sought and so we had to buy dyes, the only item that required  to be imported, at a   high price in the black market.  I tried to get the Ministry of industries  to give an allocation of foreign exchange for the import of dyes, the type of allocation that I had a year ago given to the other industrialists when I worked as Deputy Director of Small Industries. We were refused.

In the mentime the Controller of Imports was allocating foreign exchange to import crayons. I met Harry Guneratne the Import Controller and convinced him hat by giving us a small allocation of foreign exchange to import dyes he could stop the import of crayons and make a big saving on foreign exchange. He wanted me to approach the Minister Mr Illangaratne and obtain his approval. Mr Illangaratne not only approved it but also insisted that a crayon factory should be established at Kolonnawa, his electorate.  The Controller of Imports cancelled all imports of crayons because we undertook to make crayons for the entire island. It was a massive saving on foreign exchange.

The Crayon Factory was a glorious success from 1971 to 1977. This Crayon Factory became the show piece industry of the DDC Programme. In fact the crayons were of good quality and the industry was well run, bringing great credit to the DDC Programme that President Jayawardena had a special investigation done to discredit Sumanapala and this industry. A  Deputy Director of Cooperative    N.T.Ariyaratne was entrusted with this investigation. After a lengthy investigation and audit Mr Ariyaratne had reported that the industry was well run and all the books were in order.

This Crayon Industry too was abolished by the Government of President Jayawardena on the instructions of the IMF.

I have provided details of establishing the Crayon Factory in the hope of inspiring any present Government Agent to make an attempt at establishing an industry.  My blood boils even today, whenever I see any foreign crayon- now Crayola crayons being sold in Sri Lanka. I  am sad to think of what Sri Lanka has lost.

The suggested industries, making Paper, a Canning Factory and a Perfume Factory are all far easier to establish than the Crayon Factory I established in 1971 which was a glorious success. I can assure anyone of this fact. 

It is hoped that the contents of this Paper will  convince our President a nd our Prime Minister that  new industries can be easily established.

I will be writing next week about the Youth Self Employment Programme of Bangladesh, the premier employment creation programme the world has known.

Garvin Karunaratne  Ph.D. Michigan State University

Former G.A. at Matara and Commonwealth Fund Advisor to the Government of Bangladesh 1981-1983

Author of:

How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development, Kindle/Godages, 2017

How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka and Alternate Programmes of Success, Godages, 2006

26/05/2020

Courtesy PressTV

• US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) attend a press conference in the East Room of the White House, in Washington DC, the US, on January 28, 2020. (Photo by AFP)

An Israeli TV network claims that US intelligence agencies knew of an emerging coronavirus outbreak in China and gave Israel an advance warning in mid-November 2019, more than a month before clusters of infection in China started to be globally reported.

US intelligence agencies had become aware of the outbreak as it spread early on in central China’s Wuhan City, Israel’s i24 news website cited a report by Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 as saying on Thursday.

The agencies decided to warn US allies, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries and Israel, after initially passing the information on to the White House, which did not deem it of interest,” according to the report.

The report did not specify when US intelligence agencies allegedly first learned of the coronavirus outbreak before notifying Israel in November.

The report added that the information reached Israel’s decision-makers and the Health Ministry” shortly later, but ultimately nothing” was done.

The revelation comes a week after the US-based ABC News published a report citing informed sources as saying that US intelligence services had been warning since November that a potentially cataclysmic” outbreak was unfolding in Wuhan.

US intelligence knew of China’s coronavirus outbreak as early as November: Report

US intelligence reportedly predicted COVID-19

The ABC report was, however, rejected by US President Donald Trump a day after its publication.

As of Friday, more than 2.14 million confirmed coronavirus cases have been reported across the world, and 143,744 people have died, according to a Reuters tally.

China, the initial epicenter of the global pandemic, reported its first coronavirus infection on December 31, 2019.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/04/17/623241/www.presstv.co.uk

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BY H. L. D. MAHINDAPALA

Each time the Rajapaksas win a legitimate mandate from the people the moralising mafia comes out howling mendaciously that it is going to be the end of democracy. Historical evidence, however, has debunked this canard of the hired fear-mongers. If the tumultuous post-independent years have proved anything, it is that the bitter battles to eliminate fascist dictators, whether they came from the South or the North, or from the Left as well as the Right, were fought and won by the fiercely independent – in fact, almost ungovernable – Sri Lankans. President Ranasinghe Premadasa crushed the Southern fascists who posed as ‘liberators.’

He removed the threat to democracy while strengthening the welfare state and, above all, resisting the overbearing neo-colonialists by sending them home. The Rajapaksa brothers crushed the Northern fascists ending the biggest threat to democracy and regional stability. These leaders were forced to fight with fire. Despite the punditry of the moral purists they had no alternative.

The telling testimony of their role as defenders of democracy is in the longest running war in living memory fought on Sri Lankan soil. The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) fought it within a democratic framework, however flawed it may have been, preserving one of the commendable welfare states that distributed social justice within its limited means and without any systemic discrimination thrust upon any community.

In other words, the secure foundations of democracy laid by the Founding Fathers, the Senanayakes, have not been shaken by multifarious pressures, devastating cataclysms and brutal violence that battered it. In an emotional cry let me proclaim as emphatically as I can: Long live the founders, defenders and protectors of democracy in Sri Lanka because the alternative would have been unbearable, intolerable and disastrous!

Despite the evidence staring in their faces, the moral mediocrities – synonymous with anti-Sinhala-Buddhist media critics — have rushed to pick on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, ever since he won the impossible victory. They project him as the latest manifestation of the ‘Rajapaksa dictatorial syndrome.’

They deliberately ignore that the greatest battle to restore democracy right across the nation was waged by the Rajapaksa brothers who dismantled decisively the killing machine of Tamil extremists kick-started in Vadukoddai in May 1976. It was the greatest threat to peace, democracy, security and stability of the whole of SAARC region, mainly India. By demolishing the one-man regime of the Tamil Pol Pot the Rajapaksa brothers had saved democracy, human rights and regional stability more than Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu – picking just one of the fake human rights activists — and his mercenary mafia could ever imagine.

It was the victory of the Rajapaksas in the battlefield that put history back on its democratic tracks. Everyone can agree that it is not the best democracy in the world. In the same breath, everyone can agree that they have provided a far superior political alternative to anything that the LTTE fascists could have ever offered to the nation.

Besides, the peace they won restored the dignity particularly of the Tamils’ basic political rights to act freely according to their political will and elect representatives of their choice. It was a right that either R. Sampanthan or Abraham Sumanthiram ever had under their Thalaivar (Leader).

The two brothers have restored the rights of all citizens of all communities to share the peace they won by eliminating Tamil tyranny from the political equation. As enunciated in the classic, Mahavamsa, the Rajapaksa brothers wrote their chapter in keeping with the historic mission of making the island a fit dwelling-place for men.” (MV-1:43). This is not hagiography written to boost the image of the Rajapaksas. This is to recognise in our time the hard facts that will fill the pages of historiography sooner or later.

But the moralising mafia, with their pretentious political prescriptions which have never worked to resolve any of the vexed issues of the nation, gang up to demonise the majority and their iconic figures. Presenting the majority as the enemy of the minorities has been the political mantra on which they have survived.

A typical representative of the moralising mafia is Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu. I will be focusing on him because he combines in his person all the characteristics of a habitual anti-national, anti-historical, pro-American, pro-Tamil, foreign-funded, NGO hack posturing as the liberal and democratic kokatath-thailaya (panacea) for national problems. Also he represents the kind of intellectual who failed to produce a single theory, strategy or formula to end the war and restore peace, stability and democracy. His biggest contribution to the local scene has been to amble like a fat cat living off the fat provided by his Western donors. His advertised job description though was to provide alternative policies and programs for good governance which must begin with restoring peace and stability. But he failed in every department. Hissing through his teeth, he mobilised his national and international links to prevent the victory of the national forces advancing to defeat Tamil fascist terror. The corrupt and the kakistocratic performance of defeated Yahapalanaya, of which he was a stakeholder and defender, speaks volumes of his ability to make a meaningful contribution to the well-being of the nation ever.

Who can ever forget how in the final days of the Vadukoddai War he was pole vaulting from one Western capital to another to protect, preserve and perpetuate the one-man regime of the Tamil Pol Pot – the inveterate and incorrigible enemy of human rights and democracy?

Of course, Paikiasothy, to his everlasting shame, rushed to save Prabhakaran proclaiming mendaciously that he was trying to stop the war in the name of rescuing the Tamil civilians facing annihilation. But he never ventured to stop the war from Prabhakaran’s end during the 33-years it raged in the North and the East.

In the early phase Prabhakaran was seen as a Tamil conqueror. Like any other Tamil leader, Paikiasothy saw no reason to stop the war from the Northern end as long as Prabhakaran was winning. He was quite content to let the war rage as long as the brain-washed Tamils were led to believe that Prabhakaran could establish the first Tamil state in the post-colonial period. Paikiasothy stepped in aggressively only when he saw Prabhakaran had put on his running shoes without taking the pill he had recommended for his followers facing defeat.

Besides, his argument of saving the annihilation of Tamils in the last stages of the war was nothing but hogwash. Prabhakaran had already annihilated the cream of the Tamil leadership. Paikiasothy didn’t lift a finger to stop the war from Prabhakaran’s end at a time when the threatened Tamil leadership was living under care and protection of the demonised Sinhala South.

Annihilation of dissident Tamils was seen as a necessity to achieve the Eelam promised in the Vadukoddai Resolution. Prabhakaran was also financed and encouraged, either overtly or covertly, by the Tamil Vellala elite, particularly in the Tamil diaspora, to wage his futile war until the last Tamil child was sacrificed to save his life. That didn’t move Paikiasothy to stop the war waged by Prabhakaran. All his theories, formulae, legalities, moralities, principles, strategies were drawn to tie the hands of the GOSL and give the strategic advantages for the Pol Potist forces to win. Even when he saw the futility of the Pol Potist war in the end he didn’t move to force Prabhakaran to accept the internationally guaranteed offers to end the war. At all times his international interventions were to put pressure on the GOSL to give into the extremist demands of the intransigent Pol Potists.

Behind the facade of his bogus cover of saving Tamils trapped in the final assault he knew that his attempts were directed at saving the notorious killer of Tamils ever in the history of Jaffna. His hidden objective was to keep him alive to fight another day when it was opportune for the Tamil terrorists to start their next round of violence. It was in his interests to keep Prabhakaran alive and kicking because he was the bargaining chip Paikiasothy needed to (1) rake in money from the Western masters and (2) to keep the flames of Eelam burning. Every available clause and theory in the books of human rights were exploited by Paikiasothy and his NGO mafia to strengthen the bargaining power of Prabhakaran. Saravanamuttu knew that he should, at any cost, keep alive the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Deflecting attention to the war casualties and human rights violations of the Security Forces was a common trick to divert attention from the horrors of Tamil terror. In the last days of the Vadukoddai War launched by the Tamil leadership in 1976 he also knew that the only way to save Prabhakaran was to stop the war from the GOSL end. So he threw in all his weight to save Prabhakaran – the most evil mass murderer that came out of Tamil culture after the first mass killer, Sankili who massacred 600 Tamil Catholics in 1544. Sankilli went down in a rage to massacre the Tamils in Mannar because they did not recognise him as the sole representative of the Tamils. They owed allegiance to the King of Portugal. History takes a long time to repeat itself in Jaffna.

But it does eventually. Prabhakaran massacred the 600 Policemen who surrendered in the East. Saravanamuttu knew all this. He knew that the peace, security, dignity and the human rights, particularly of the Tamil children were not going to be achieved as long as Prabhakaran was kept alive. V. Anandasangaree and S. C. Chandrahasan are on record saying that Prabhakaran had killed more Tamils than all the others put together. With all its imperfections, the Tamils found greater security and dignity under the Rajapaksa brothers than Prabhakaran. Yet Paikiasothy pursued the politics of saving Prabhakaran who was the sole intransigent obstacle to regaining peace and human rights.

For instance, the TNA (Tiger Nominated Agents” – EPDP) had to go on their bended knees to get nominations from their Thalaivar. Under the Rajapaksas they had the right to make their own choices without fear of being eliminated. Also how many TNA political heroes had the gumption / right to criticise their Surya Devan” the way they criticised the Rajapaksa brothers? Paikiasothy also had the right to take the Rajapaksas to courts for violations of his rights — and he did. But did he ever have the guts to take his Tamil Thalaivar to the Tamil courts in Vanni for dragging underaged Tamil girls and boys to fight in a futile Tamil war?

The Centre for Policy Alternatives aimed at changing only the democratic South where they had the right and the liberty to do so. They never had policy alternatives to change Prabhakaran’s one-man regime. As a Tamil – let alone his dubious role of a human rights activist — he never fought for the fundamental rights of the Tamils denied by the one-man regime of Prabhakaran. With all the resources he had he never fought for the oppressed Tamils – including Tamil children – in the de facto state of the Tamils. He paraded pompously only in the democratic courts of ‘the Sinhala state.’

Compared to loud-mouthed hypocrites like him, parading in the cocktail catwalk in Colombo, the Rajapaksa brothers fought tooth and nail in the tough terrains in the Vanni, to restore the democratic rights and liberties of the Tamils – and won. Paikiasothy, like most Tamil leaders who never dared to confront Prabhakaran, was a deplorable political coward who abandoned his own people when their children were plucked from their homes and thrown to fight in a war that was glorifying Tamil terror.

His posturing as a courageous champion of human rights was only confined to the independent courts of the Sinhala state.’ But this pompous hero of human rights has no record of fighting for the Tamil in the de facto Tamil state of Prabhakaran. Why? Isn’t it because the democratic, liberal, pluralistic and tolerant ‘Sinhala state’ gave the minorities (and their representatives like Paikiasothy) rights which they never got from their one and only Tamil state? Didn’t they win their rights from the courts of the vilified ‘Sinhala state’ – a right which they could never dream of getting from their Tamil Pol Potist state? Paikiasothy won because the Rajapaksa brothers won for him the right to step into independent courts which he couldn’t find in the only state established by the Tamils. The irony is that they denigrate the ‘Sinhala state’ which has given them the rights they had never enjoyed either in their Tamil feudatory or under the Vellala sub-agents of the colonial masters.

On any realistic scale of human rights can Paikiasothy point out to a period in Tamil history – from Sankili to Prabhakaran – when the Tamils had better human rights and dignity than under ‘the Sinhala state’? Not even ‘1983’ – deplorable as it is – can be compared to the horrors inflicted on the Tamil people by the Tamil leadership.

After wasting millions of foreign-funds in opposing and denigrating achievers like the Rajapaksa brothers what is it that Paikiasothy and his gang have to show as defenders of the oppressed people, or their rights? What can they show as their great victories for peace, democracy, and stability that has not been won by the Rajapkasas?

Which theory, formulae, strategy, national or international intervention of the Paikiasothy gang, with the blessing of the international community, helped to end the war and restore peace? Isn’t the victory won on the banks of Nandikadal far, far superior to Paikiasothy leaping from one Western city to another in a desperate bid to save Prabhakaran? What rights would the Tamils have today if Prabhakaran won the Vadukoddai War?

What peace would the nation have if Prabhakaran won the war? Paikiasothy has enough resources and researchers (e.g., Sanjana Hattotuwa blowing his megaphone) to prove his case with concrete examples. Having backed Tamil Pol Potism, either covertly or overtly, and with all their energies and resources, isn’t it a bit rich for them to accuse the Rajapaksas of being dictators?

Besides, the existential experiences of the two Rajapaksas, who had defended the greatest threats to the nation from abroad and at home, would have informed them that turning democratic Sri Lanka into a dictatorship would be as easy as transplanting the Himalayan range in the Horton Plains.

The fear-mongering to blacken the image of the Rajapaksas may help the American Ambassadress to write adverse reports to the State Department. But neither the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist pulp fiction of the NGOs nor the demonising of the Rajapaksas by the American Embassy was successful in preventing the stunning popular wave that swept Gotabaya Rajapaksa into the Presidency.

The new Sinhala-Buddhist middle class, particularly the English-speaking, trousered elite in the mushrooming urban and village marketplaces, is the new force that rallied behind Gotabaya’s viyath maga. Armed with Facebook and Twitter, they had replaced the traditional native ‘pancha maha balavegaya of 1956.’ They rose in unison on November 19, 2019 to throw the neo-liberals of the West allied to the International Democratic Union (IDU) led by Ranil Wickremesinghe into the dustbin of history.

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

            මෙලොව උපදින සෑම මනුෂ්‍යයෙකුම යම් කිසි ප්‍රකෘතියක් අනුව උප්පත්තිය ලබයි. මෙහිදී  සඳහන් ප්‍රකෘතිය යනු පංච මහා භුත තත්වයන් අනුව ජනිත ප්‍රකෘතියන්ය. ඒ අනුව කෙනෙක් සෙම් ප්‍රකෘතිකයෙක් බවටද තවකෙක් පිත් ප්‍රකෘතිකයෙකු බවටද ඇතැම් අය වාත ප්‍රකෘතිකයන් ලෙසටද නම් කළ හැකිය.සිංහල ජනතාව  මේ බැව්  දැන ගන්නේ කේන්ද්‍ර සටහනිනි. හඳහනේ ලියැවී තිබෙන මේ ස්වභාවය මේ රටේ කීයෙන් කීදෙනෙකු අධ්‍යනය කලාදැයි මම නොදනිමි. නමුත් ජ්‍යෙතිෂය පෙරදැරිව වෙදකම් කරන වෛද්‍යවරයෙකු නම් අදාළ රෝගියාගේ හඳහනද පරීක්ෂා කොට බලා ප්‍රතිකාර නියම කරලීම සිරිත වෙයි. වාත පිත්ත සහ සෙම යනුවෙන් පවතින මේ ප්‍රකෘතිය කෝප වීම නිසා දොස් කෝප තත්වයන් ජනිත වෙයි. මෙවැනි කෝප ලක්ෂණ ඇතිවූ කල්හි පුරුෂයෙකු ගේ නම් දකුණු අතේ නාඩිය පරීක්ෂා කිරීමෙන් ද කාන්තාවකගේ නම් වම් අතේ නාඩිය පරීක්ෂා කිරීමෙන් ද දැන ගත හැකිය. ඇතැම් විට වා සෙම් හෝ පිත් සෙම් රෝග ලක්ෂණද ජනිත වීම ස්වභාවිකය. පැරණි වෙද මහතුන් සියලු දෙන නාඩි ශාස්ත්‍රය ප්‍රගුණ කරනුයේ මේ දොස් කෝප තත්වය නිවරදිව විමසා බලා ප්‍රතිකාර නියම කරලීමටයි.එහෙත් අවාසනාවකට වර්තමාන ආයුර්වේද වෛද්‍යවරුන් පවා මේ ශාස්ත්‍රය ප්‍රගුණ කර නැත. ඒ වෙනුවට ඔවුන්ද බටහිර වෛද්‍යවරුන් මෙන් වෙද නලාව භාවිතා කරති. මෙයින් ගත හැකි සහාය අල්පය.

        සෙම කෝප වීම නිසා ශරීරයේ දියර ස්වභාවය වෙනස් වේ.සෙම්ප්‍රතිශ්‍යාව යනුවෙන් දක්වන්නේ එයයි. ඇතැම් විට නහයෙන් සොටු දියර ගැලීමට පටන් ගනී. වාත ප්‍රකෘතිකයෙකු නම් වාතය බලවත් වී සෙම නොයෙකුත් තැන් වල ට ගමන් කරමින් ඒ තැන් ආසාදනයට ලක් කරයි. උගුරේ වේදනාව හට ගන්නේ මෙවැනි විටකය. උගුරේ වියළී ගතිය මස් දලු ඉදිමීම රතුවීම ආදී කරුණු නිසා කැස්ස ඇති වීමට පටන් ගනී. සෙම්ප්‍රතිශ්‍යාවක්  ඇතැම් විට කෙනෙකුගෙන් බෝවන්නක් විය හැකිය. එවිට සෙම් කෝප වී පෙර සඳහන් කළ තත්වයම විවිධ අන්දමින් ඇති විය හැකිය.වෛද්‍යවරයා රෝගියා පරීක්ෂා කොට පවතින දොස් කෝප තත්වයන් සලකා බලා ප්‍රතිකාර නියම කරයි.වාතය සහ සෙම සමබර වූ වහාම මේ හෙම්බිරිස්සාව හෝ එයින් හට ගන්නා උණ බැසයයි. තරුණ ජවරයකදී (උණකදී ) උපවාසය කොට ලුණු කැඳ ලබා දීමෙන්ම ආමය පැසවීම කොට රෝගියාට සුවය සලසා දිය හැකිය.නමුත් සෙමත් සමග  විශේෂයෙන්ම පිතත් සෙමත් සමග ඇතිවන සෙම් කෝප තත්වයකදී වමනය අතීසාරය ආහාර අරුචිය කැස්ස සහ උණ දරුණුවට ඇති වීමට තිබෙන අවස්ථා බොහෝය. වා පිත් සෙම් තුනම කෝප කර තත්වයකදී සන්නිපාත ලක්ෂණ පවා ඇති විය හැකිය.අතැම් පාරම්පරික වෙද පොත්වල කෝලේගාය යනුවෙන් දක්වා ඇත්තේ මෙවැනි අවස්ථාවන්ය.

       ගොවිතැනෙහි නියැලී සිටින ගොවියන් නිතර සෙම් රෝග වලට ගොදුරු වීමට තිබෙන ඉඩකඩ බොහෝය.සහජ පීනස් ලක්ෂණද එවැනි විටකදී මතු විය හැකිය.එවැනි අවස්ථාවලදී පැරණි ගොවීහු සෙම් කෝප වීම වාතය විමාර්ග ගත සහ ඇඟ පත රුදාව වළක්වා ගැනීමට තොටිල පොතු මුරුංගා පොතු අමු ඉඟුරු සහ සුදු ලූණූ අඩංගු ඖෂධයක් භාවිතා කළහ.එසේම  කුප්පමේනිය ඔළිඳ කොළ ඉඟුරු ඇඹුල් දොඩම් ආදිය ඇතුලත් ඖෂධයක් භාවිතා කළහ.සාමන්‍ය සෙම් කෝප අවස්ථාවලදී බුද්ධ රාජ කල්කය යොදා ගැනීම ගැමියන් ගේ ප්‍රශස්ථ ප්‍රතිකාර විදියක් විය.එහි අනුපාන වශයෙන් ගැනෙන ශාක ඔසු විවිධය.විශේෂයෙන්ම ආඩතෝඩ නික ඇඹුල් දොඩම් කිරි අඟුන දළුවල යුෂ අනුපාන සහිතව ගැනිණ.වා සෙම්  ප්‍රධාන ව හට ගැනෙන ස්වාශ  උණ සහ සන්නිපාත අවස්ථාවලදී  වලදී කුඹූරු දළු අමුඉඟුරු යකිනාරන් දළු යකවනස්ස දළු දෙහි දළු නික දළු සහ සුදු ළුනු යොදමින් කල්කය ලබා දුන්හ.මැදින් මාසය ගෙවී බක් මාසය උදාවන සමයේ දී වසංගත තත්වයන් ඇති වෙයි. එවිට සෙම කෝප වීම සිදු වෙයි.බෝවන රෝග පැතිරීම සිදු වෙයි.ඒ නිසා පත්තිනි මෑනියන්ට පුද සත්කාර කිරීමද ගම්මඩු නටා ආශිර්වාද සපයා ගැනීමද සිදු කළහ.විපත් රෝග උපත්‍රායාදී යස කීර්ති තේජසං පත්තිනි දේවි සමින්දා පාද පත්මා බි වන්දේ යනුවෙන් පත්තිනි මෑනියන් වන්දනා මාන කලේ එනිසාවෙනි.දෙයියන්ගේ ලෙඩ වැළඳුන කල්හි බෙලි කොළ කොහොඹ කොළ නික කොළ ආදීයෙන් තම්බා ගත් දියෙන් සේදීමද පැපිළිය කටුවැල්බටු තැම්බුම ලබා දීමත් සිදු විය.මේ අතර ශරීර ප්‍රතිශක්තිය ජනිත වන ආහාර ගැනීම අනිවාර්ය විය.ජනවාරි පෙබරවාරි කාලයේ ලබා ගන්නා ලද වැල් අල අස්වැන්න තුළින් සිරුර ශක්තිමත් කරන අතර බක් මාසයේ වට වැස්සත් සමග දලුලන විවිධ කොළ වර්ග ආහාරයට ගැනීමෙන් ශරීර ප්‍රතිශක්තිය තවදුරටත් වර්ධනය වේ.(නව දලු ඇඹුල )කුඹූරු වැඩ වල නිරත ගොවීන් සිංහල අවුරුද්දට ප්‍රථම වපුරා අවසන් කරනුයේ බක් මාසය තුළ මඩේ බැස වැඩ කිරීමෙන් ගවයන් සහ ගොවියන් දෙපිරිසම රෝගී වන බැවිනි.එසේම වන පළතුරු සියඹලා දන් සහ දිවුල්  ආහාරයට ගැනීමට රජරට ගැමියන් ට ලැබීමද මෙහිදී දැක්විය හැකි මහඟු නිදර්ශනයකි..

       සෙම් රෝග නැසීමට භාවිත වන ප්‍රධාන ඖෂධ අතර පාවට්ටා නොහොත් ආඩතෝඩා ප්‍රධානය. එයට වෛද්‍ය මාතා යයි ද කියති. පෙර දැක්වූ පරිදි මෙහි දලු අනුපානය සමග ඉඟුරු සුදු ලූනු සමග ගුලි කල්ක යෙදීම තුළින් සෙම නිසා ඇතිවන විවිධ සංකූලතා නැතිකරගත හැකිය. විශේෂයෙන්ම සෙම නිසා ඇති වූ උගුරේ ලෙඩ වලට පිළීයම් කර ගැනීම පිණීස කණ්ඩමාල කල්කය නමින් අගනා ප්‍රත්‍යක්ෂ ඖෂධයක් වෛද්‍යවරුන් සකස් කරගෙන තිබුණී.උගුර ඉදිමීම උගුරේ ගෙඩි සෙම වියළීම නාසය ඇසිරීම ගිලීමට අපහසුව ගොළුවීම වැනි උත්සන්න අවස්ථාවලදී හිඟුරුපට ඉස්මෙන් කුකුරුමාන් ගෙඩි ඉස්මෙන් මෙන්ම දෙමට ගෙඩි ඉස්මෙන් කල්ක ලබා දීමෙන් අසීරු අවස්ථා මගහරවා ගනිති.අඩතෝඩා තිප්පිලි කුප්පමේනියා ඉඟුරු ඉරිවේරිය අරත්ත කලාඳුරු එලබටු යකිනාරන් කුඹූරු කරපිංචා ඔළීඳ වැල්මී නික යකිනාරන් යක වනස්ස සහ පිටවක්කා වැනි ඖෂධ ගෙවත්තේ වවා ගත හැකි අගනා ඔසු ශාක වෙති.අතැම් ශාක ඉබේ වැවෙන බව අප සිහිපත් කල යුතුය.මේ ඖෂධ මනා ලෙසට ප්‍රයෝග කර ගැන්මේ දැනුමක් අපගේ පැරණීයන්ට පිහිටා තිබුණි. එයට හේතුව ගමේ සිටි පාරම්පරික වෛද්‍යවරයා ගමේ ප්‍රධානියෙකු ද වීමයි. ඔහු දෙන උපදෙස් මත කටයුතු කිරීම සැම තැනකදීම දක්නට හැකි තත්වයක් විය. දෙයියන්ගේ ලෙඩක් හැදුණු විටදී එනිවෙස කිළීහරණයට ලක් කරන ලදී. ගමෙන් වෙන් කරන ලදී. නමුත් එම රොගීන් අරභයා ප්‍රතිකාර කිරීම ගමේ වෙදනාවන් ගේ උපදෙස් මත කිරීම සිදු විය

      කැස්ස හෙම්බිරිස්සාව දරුණූ රෝගයක් බවට පත් කරන්නට වර්තමාන නවීන සමාජය උත්සාහ කොට ඇත. වර්තමාන වසංගත තත්වය හමුවේ කිළිහරණය පැත්තකින් තබා නිරෝධානයට යොමු වී ඇත. සමාජ දුරස්ථකරණයට යොමු ව ඇත.කිළිහරණයට ඖෂධ ප්‍රතිකාරයන්ද ඇතුලත්ය එහෙත් නිරෝධානයට එය නැත. එහි දැක්වෙන්නේ මහජනතාව පාලනය කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය නීති රීති පමණකි.මෙය මහත්ම වූ දුක්ඛිත තත්වයකි. වසර දෙදහස් පන්සීයක් තිස්සේ අප වඩා ගත් පුරුෂාර්ථ පසෙක ලා රෝගයකට බිය වී ජන ජීවිතය අඩාල කර ගැනීම ඉතාම දුක්ඛිත තත්වයකි. නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනයේ වැරදි සහගත ප්‍රවේශයක් මගින් ඇති කළ මොළ සේදීම නිසා අද වන විට දේශීය ඖෂධ ගැන දැන හැදිනීමක් ජනතාවට නැත. යට කියන ලද ඖෂධ වලින් ගෙදර වවා ගන්නේ ඉඟුරු පඳුරක් කහ පඳුරක්  සහ කරපිංචා ගහක්  පමණකි එයද කුලු බඩු වලට අවශ්‍ය බැවිනි. නමුත් අප‌ගේ මුතුන් මිත්තන් විසින් යටකී ඔසු වර්ග රාශියක්ම ගෙවත්තේ වගා කොට ගෙන තිබුණි.අවශ්‍ය අවස්ථාවක දලු මිටක් කඩාගෙන ගුලියක් දියකර දී ලෙඩක් සනීප කරගන්නට මනා හැකියාවක් ඔවුනට තිබුණි.නමුත් අද වන විට සුලු හෙම්බිරිස්සා තත්වයකදී වුවත් දොස්තරවරයෙකු චැනල් කොට රෝගියා පෙන්වීමේ මෝස්තරතයක් ඇති වීම කණගාටුදායකය. මේ වසංගත තත්වයට නිවරදිව මුහුණ දෙන්නට නොහැකි වී ඇත්තේ මෙවැනි නොදැනුවත්කම් බිය ගුලු කම් සහ පරගැතිකම් නිසාවෙනි.

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

Chanaka Bandarage

General Spitting and expectorate (eg. phlegm, mucus)

People do not care about spitting in public places.  They have become accustomed to it. They will continue to do it freely and openly, without fear. 

It is very bad for sanitary and health reasons. Their actions cause environmental pollution/public nuisance.  It is very bad for tourism.

Given the Corono Pandemic, it is of paramount importance that public spitting is made illegal. 

Those who continue to spit publicly should be fined.

(In Arizona, USA spitting on sidewalks or in public buildings could bring a $500 fine).

Spitting out Betel chew

In the last 30 years or so a large number of people gave up cigarette smoking. Unfortunately, many of them  instead took up betel chewing

They chew betel leaves with areconuts, tobacco and lime. 

It is incredible that a very large number of young people have taken up this bad habit.

Betel chewing in big cities/towns is largely prevalent among people of ‘lower social strata’. They are mostly heavy duty labourers. These are people who do hard physical work.

Betel chewing operates as a stimulus.  It keeps people awake. Thus, it is ideal for heavy vehicle/bus drivers, three-wheeler drivers and bus conductors. They labour for many hours a day. One could often see them spitting out betel chew in to public from inside their vehicles.

Colombo streets are littered full of these red spills.

Literally, they are everywhere on our roads and sidewalks. During dry seasons, they last for long times. Only rains would wash them away.

As they have no other choice, people are compelled to walk on betel chew spit, all the time.

Like normal spit, betel chew spit also causes our cities and towns very unclean and unhygienic. They are a major source of environmental pollution. Tourists hate them.

Now with the deadly Corona Pandemic very much in, public spitting of betel chew and associated expectorate (eg. phlegm, mucus) can bring forth death and destruction to people. Hence, this practice must be banned with immediate effect.

If people want to publicly chew betel (with or without nuts/other ingredients), they should be asked to collect their own spit (in private containers), and safely dispose them; more preferably take them home with them.

Severe fines should be imposed on people who are found for violating the measures to stop betel chew spitting.

Those who dispose their containers irresponsibly (people may try to leave them in busy places, parks, public utility terminals); such people should face criminal sentencing.

(The betel chew is extremely addictive. Chewing of betel nut should be discouraged at every level – they cause oral cancer, throat cancer, and even cardio-vascular arrhythmias).

Way forward

Despite the curfew, many people still walk on our roads/streets. They include the armed forces/police personnel, and street cleaners. Because of the spits, these good, hard working people could easily become infected with the Corona Virus.

We should also not forget the homeless people, beggars who live on the streets.

There are many others who use the roads/streets.

Hence, the ban must be implemented immediately, to save lives.

It is important to launch a massive publicity campaign about the ban.

 (A chewinggum ban is successfully in place in Singapore since early 1990s).

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ

මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්තුමාට බලවත් වගකීමක් ඇත. ඒ සාධාරණ මැතිවරණයක් පවත්වා, මෙරට පරමාධිපත්‍ය බලය වූ ජනතාවගේ අපේක්ෂිත රජයක් පිහිටුවා ගැනීමට මහා මැතිවරණයක් පවත්වා, රජයක් පිහිටුවා ගැනීමට මග පෑදීමයි. ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම මෙරට සාධාරණ මැතිවරණ පවත්වන ලද්දේ වර්ෂ 1977 වර්ෂය තෙක් වන අතර, ඉන්පසු මෙරට බලයේ සිටි රාජ්‍ය නායකයින් සෘජුවම සිය බලය පා මැතිවරණ ජය ගැනීම හා මැතිවරණ අත්හිටවීම සිදු කරන ලදී. යලිත් සාධාරණ මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමය ඇතිවුයේ, මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අගමැතිවී, මැතිවරණයේදී හැදුනුම්පත බාවිතා කිරීම අනිවාර්ය කිරීමත් සමගය.

එයින් පසු මෙරට ප්‍රජතන්ත්රවාදියයි කියා ගනිමින් හොර චන්ද බාවිතා කරමින් බලයට ආ පහත දේශපාලනයට තිත තැබිණි. ඒ හේතුවෙන් 2015 තෙක් මෙරට රජය මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්ට බලපෑම්කර මැතිවරණ ජය ගැනීම සිදු නොකරන ලදී. නමුත් මෙරට තානාපති සේවාවන් හා NGO මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්ට බලපෑම් කිරීම ඒ සමගම ඇරඹිණි. එහි පලයක් වශයෙන් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ් මහතා 2015 ජනාධිපතිවරණයෙන් පැරදී, මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන බලයට පත්විය. ඔහුගේ යුගයේදී මැතිවරණ කොමිසම ඔහුට හිලා බවක් පා මැතිවරණ නවතා දැමු අතර, ජනාධිපතිවරණයද නවතාලිය නොහැකි තත්වයක් තුල ඔවුන්ට එය තැබීමට සිදුවූ අතර එයින් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ජයගත්හ.

මැතිවරණ කොමිසම හා එහි සාමාජිකයින් සෘජුවම රාජපක්ෂ විරෝධීන් වන අතර ඔවුන් තබාගෙන මේ මැතිවරණ පැවැත්වීමට සිදුව ඇත්තේ නිතිය විසින් මේ හොර තක්කඩි රළට රැකවරණයක් ලබාදී ඇති බැවිනි. නීතියේ රැකවරණය යටතේ මේ ලැබී ඇති රැකවරණය ඔවුන්ගේ ස්වාධිනත්වය රැක ගැනීමට උපකාරී කර ගන්නවා වෙනුවට මෙය තමන්ට ලැබුණු විධායක බලයක් සේ සිතා කටයුතු කිරීමට මැතිවරණ කොමිසම කටයුතු කරන බව මෙරට පරමාධිපත්‍ය හිමි ජනතාව දැක තිබේ.

පරමාධිපත්‍ය බලය හිමි ජනතාවට උරුම අයිතිය ලබා නොදීම තරම් ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී අයිතීන් උල්ලංගනය කිරීමක් අප දකින්නේ නැත. මිට පෙරද ජනතාවට රජයක් තෝරා ගැනීමට දුන් වරම අහෝසි කිරීමට මෙරට ජනතා මුදලින් නඩත්තුවෙන ආයතන කටයුතු කල අතර, මෙවරද ඒ සෙල්ලමම දමමින් කටයුතු කිරීමට සුදානම් වෙන බවක් මෙරට පරමාධිපත්‍ය විසින් නිහඬව බලාසිටී.

කොරෝනාව මැතිවරණය කල් දැමීමට ආයුධයක් කර ගැනීමට මැතිවරණ කොමිසමට කිසිදු අයිතියක් නැත. ජනාධිපතිතුමා නියම කල ආකාරයට ඒ ඒ දිනවල ඒ සිදුවීම් කිරීමට කටයුතු දීමට මැතිවරණ කොමිසම බැදී සිටි. නමුත් මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස් සිදුකලේ නාමයෝජනා බාර්ගනිමත් සමගම තම හිතුවක්කාර කමට යටවී දින නියමයක් නැතිව මැතිවරණය කල් දැමීමය.

අප රටේ මැතිවරණ ඉතිහාසය දෙස බලන විට මේ කොරෝනාවට වඩා ඇති භයංකර LTTE  යුද්ධය පැවතුන යුගයේද මැතිවරණ පැවැත්වූ රටකි මෙය. ඊට අමතරව, LTTE යුද්ධය හා JVP  භිෂණය යන තත්වයන් දෙකම තිබෙද්දිත් මැතිවරණ තැබූ රටකි මෙය. ඊට අමතරව රටෙන් 1/3ක පාලනය අහිමිව තිබු තත්වයකදී පවා මුළු රට පුරාම මහා මැතිවරණ තැබූ රටකි මෙය. ඒවා මලකදන්  ලක්ෂ ගණනකින් යුතු තත්වයන් සමග තැබූ මැතිවරණ වන අතර මේ මිනිසුන් 7 දෙනෙක් මියගොස් සිටින කොරෝනා වසංගතය මැතිවරණයක් නොපැවැත්වීමට තරම් සාධාරණ හේතුවක් නොවේ. මෙරට පරමාධිපත්‍ය හිමි ජනතාව තවත් වරක් තමන්ට උරුම ඒ අයිතිය බොරු රැගුම්පා උදුරා ගැනීමට මැතිවරණ කොමිසමට ඉඩදීමට සුදානම් නැත. අප ඔබ කොමිසම දෙස බලාගෙනම සිටින්නෙමු. මෙරට ජනතාවගේ පරමාධිපත්‍ය බලය ලබාදියව්! යන හඬ පතිවරණ කොමිසම වෙත මුදා හර්න්නෙමු.

Chanaka Bandarage

Article 70 (1) of the Constitution – ‘The President may by Proclamation, summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament’.

The law is very clear, the President has clear power to dissolve the Parliament (Article 33 (1) also provides this power.

Accordingly, the President issued a gazette notification on 2 March 2020 dissolving the Parliament.   

In the said gazette notification the President fixed 12 March 2020 to 19 March 2020 as the nomination period for the election of Members of the Parliament (MPs).

Unless there was a technical defect in the gazette notification (the writer could not find any), it is incomprehensible how one could seek a judicial declaration that the said gazette notification is null and void. 

Those who demand reconvening the Parliament state that Article 70 (7) compels the President to do the same:

Article 70 (7) If at any time after the dissolution of Parliament, the President is satisfied that an emergency has arisen of such a nature that an earlier meeting of Parliament is necessary, he may by Proclamation summon the Parliament which has been dissolved to meet on a date not less than three days from the date of such Proclamation and such Parliament shall stand dissolved upon the termination of the emergency or the conclusion of the General Election, whichever is earlier.

The language in the said Article is clear, that the President can reconvene the dissolved Parliament, and that will be at his sole discretion. 

There is no mandatory requirement for the President to reconvene the dissolved Parliament, owing to the current Corona Pandemic.

If Corono Pandemic has caused an emergency situation in the country, especially in relation to appropriation of funds for governance until the new Parliament is convened, Article 150 (3) provides the remedy. The President has power to act on his own:

Article 150 (3) – Where the President dissolves Parliament before the Appropriation Bill for the financial year has passed into law, he may, unless Parliament shall have already made provision, authorize the issue from the Consolidated Fund and the expenditure of such sums as he may consider necessary for the public services until the expiry of a period of three months from the date on which the new Parliament is summoned to meet.

The writer thus states that it is unnecessary to reconvene the Parliament. The government should concentrate on curbing the Corono Pandemic.

There is no public consensus for such a demand (reconvening the Parliament).

The writer believes that any judicial action seeking reconvening the Parliament is doomed to fail.

It is well known that owing to the President’s early dissolution of the Parliament 62 MPs lost their pension rights, as they failed to complete the full Parliamentary term of 5 years.  If the Parliament is reconvened now, those MPs may become eligible for pensions (if they manage to complete the full 5 years); as well as their salaries.  The daily cost of running the Parliament is enormous. These will be a huge unnecessary drain on tax payer funds.

The argument that these MPs are willing to forego pensions and salaries is immaterial; they are legally entitled to them:

(9^th Schedule – Appendix III, List II):

(o) Pensions, that is to say, pensions payable by the Government of Sri Lanka or out of the Consolidated Fund;

 (p) Salaries and allowances of Members of Parliament and the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Parliament;

They are no longer MPs, but former MPs.  But, many continue to act as MPs!  

Many of them have failed to vacate their parliamentary accommodation – bungalows, houses and flats (not by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Ministers; they are part of the government).

Given the Corona Pandemic, it is humane to allow them to remain in their accommodation until the lifting of the curfew.

Also, there is no public consensus in holding the general election on 20 June 2020. The people live in extreme fear of the Corono Pandemic.  They want the Government/Presidential taskforce to working full steam and take every possible action to eradicate the Pandemic. They are least concerned about an election.

An election can be conducted only after the Corono Pandemic is successfully defeated; as currently seen, definitely not on 20 June 2020.

by Professor Sunil J, Wimalawansa, MD, PhD, MBA, DSc.

Caption: Myths & Facts: Staying Healthy During V COVID-19 Pandemic

The common link to the U-Tube channel o COVID-19:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgcTivH1nGwymgX_cb0V4Mg

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Video 1:  Introduction – Staying Healthy

Video 2:  What is meaningful social distancing?

Video 3: Controlling COVID-19: Some countries are successful and others are not

Video 4:  Steps to be taken to control COVID-19

Video 5:  Community spread and quarantine: What should we aware of?

Video 6:  Who and how people should be quarantined

Video 7:  Fattening COVID-19 peaks with testing and proper segregating

Video 8:  Personal responsibilities and governmental actions needed

Video 9:  Taking steps to minimize risks: handling food and good nutrition

Video 10:  Importance of good nutrition and calming themed to boost the immunity

Video 11:  Vitamin D and other micronutrient adequacy to protect us from COVID-19

Video 12:  Changing patterns & trends of the spread of COVID-19 infection

Video 13:  Stronger immune system, lesser infection: new developments needed

Video 14:  Introduction of Prof. Wimalawansa by ven. Bodhi-Chitra Meheninvahanse, Nissala Arana:

Video 15:  It is time to normalize businesses in the country

Video 16:  Administrative actions that are needed to control the pandemic

Video 17:  Evidence needed to take right actions

Video 18:  Right vs. wrong administrative decisions

Video 19:  Bodhi-Chitra Meheninvahanse: Nisala Arana: Building up the immunity

Video 20: Bodhi-Chitra Meheninvahanse-Nisala Arana: Proper eating habits

Video 21:  Bodhi-Chitra Meheninvahanse-Nisala Arana: Importance of meditation & relaxation

Video 22:  Safe sun exposure and functions of vitamin D

Video 23:  Why respiratory viral infections are common during the winter

Video 24:  Vitamin D & COVID-19

Video 25:  How does vitamin D reduces the COVID-19 infection?

Video 26:  COVID-19 enters human cells through ACE2 receptor; what are they?  

Video 27:  How does COVID-19 kill us?

Video 28:  Who’s at high risk of getting COVID-19-Empirical therapies

Video 29:  Introduction to the speaker by Mr. Mahinda Lanerolle

Video 30:  COVID-19 වසංගතයට සඳහා ප්‍රතිශක්තිකරණ පද්ධතිය හොඳින් පවත්වාගැනීමේ වැදගත්කම

Video 31:  Introduction of Prof. Sunil Wimalawansa: මහාචාර්ය සුනිල් විමලවංස මැතිදුන් හඳුන්වාදීම:

Video 32:  COVID-19 හමුවේ ඇතිවන ආහාර හිඟයට සාර්ථකව මුහුණදීමට ගෙවතු වගාව පටන් ගැනීමේ ඇති වැදගත්කම

Video 33:  Staying Healthy: Facing COVID-19 without fear-importance of physical activities & breathing!

Video 34:  COVID-19 ජය ගැනීමට ගත යුතු පාන වර්ග.

Video 35:  COVID-19 වසංගතයටසඳහා ප්‍රතිශක්තිකරණපද්ධතිය පවත්වාගැනීමේ සහ විටමින් D

Video 35:  COVID-19 ජය ගැනීමට කල යුතු ව්‍යායාම.

Video 36:  COVID-19 ඇතිවනආහාර හිඟයට සාර්ථකව මුහුණදීමට ගෙවතු වගාව පටන් ගැනීමේ ඇති වැදගත්කම

Video 37:  COVID-19 ජය ගැනීමට කල යුතු ව්‍යායාම.

Video 38:  COVID-19 ජයගැනීමට භාවනා කළ යුතු ආකාරය

Video 39: 

Video 40:  COVID හමුවේඇතිවන ආහාර හිඟයට මුහුණදීමට ගෙවතු වගාව පටන් ගැනීමේ ඇති වැදගත්කම

Video 41:  Importance of exercise and proper breathing

Video 42:  තරඟකාරි මානසිකත්වයෙන් මිදී සැහැල්ලූවෙන්, සරළව ජීවත් වීමට පුරුදු වෙමු

Video 43:  හිඟන්නෙක් වගේ ආපු අපි, හිඟන්නෙක් වගේ යන අපි, අතරමැදදී කෙසේ ජීවත් වි

Video 44:  What we learned on COVID-19, during the past two weeks?

Video 45:  How vitamin D attenuates the COVID disease?

Video 46: The current trends in the spread of COVID-19

Video 47:  Herd immunity and community testing

Video 48: An simple way to avoid crowds at supermarkets & grocery stores

සමස්ත ලංකා වරාය පොදු සේවක සමිතිය

සෞඛ්‍ය සේවා අධ්‍යක්‍ෂ ජනරාල්,
සෞඛ්‍ය පෝෂණ හා දේශීය වෛද්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය,
සුවසිරිපාය,
කොළඹ 10.

සෞඛ්‍ය සේවා අධ්‍යක්‍ෂ ජනරාල්තුමනි,

අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සේවා යටතේ කොළඹ වරාය තුල කටයුතු කරන පිරිස් වෙත PCR පරීක්‍ෂණ සඳහා යොමු කිරීමට කෙරෙන ඉල්ලීමයි.

කොරෝනා වසංගතය හේතුවෙන් රට තුල මසකට වැඩි කාලයක් හදිසි තත්වයක් ප‍්‍රකාශයට පත්කර ඇත. මහජන අවශ්‍යතාවය වෙනුවෙන් අවදානම් තත්වය තුලද ආයතනය අඩපනවීමට ඉඩ නොතබා රටේ අවශ්‍යතාවය වෙනුවෙන් මැදිහත්ව වරාය සේවකයින් කටයුතු කරනු ලබයි.

මේ වන විට කොළඹ වරායේ ආශ‍්‍රිත ප‍්‍රදේශ තුල #කොරෝනා (#Covid- 19) ආසාධිතයන් හමුවී ඇති අතර, වරාය අවට අවදානම් කලාප ලෙසද නම්කොට එහි වෙසෙන පිරිස නිරෝධායන කටයුතු සඳහා යොමුකොට ඇත. මීට අමතරව වරායේ ප‍්‍රධාන ආරක්‍ෂාව ලබාදෙන නාවික හමුදාවේ මැදිහත්වීම සිදුකරනු ලබයි. නාවික හමුදාවේ රාජකාරියේ යෙදුනු පිරිස් මෙම වසංගතය වෙනුවෙන් කටයුතු කිරීමේදී #කොරෝනා (#Covid- 19) ආසාදනය වී ඇති බව තහවුරු වී ඇති අතර එමගින් වැලිසර හමුදා කඳවුර වෙතද බලපෑමක් සිදුව ඇත.

දැනට පවතින තත්වයට මුහුණ දීම සඳහා කොළඹ වරායේ කටයුතු අඛණ්ඩව සිදුකරගෙන යාමට අවශ්‍ය වේ. එම කටයුතු සම්පූර්ණ කිරීම සඳහා නාවික හමුදාව, වරාය පොලිසිය, ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා වරාය අධිකාරිය, SAGT සහ CICT සේවයේ යෙදෙන හා රාජකාරියේ යෙදෙන පිරිස මෙම තත්වය හමුවේ අවදානමට ලක්ව ඇත. මෙම අවදානම් තත්වය දුරු කිරීම සඳහා අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සේවා යටතේ කොළඹ වරාය තුලට පැමිණෙන නිශ්චිත පිරිස වෙත PCR පරීක්‍ෂණයක් වෙත යොමු කරන ලෙසත්, එමගින් කොළඹ වරාය පරිශ‍්‍රයේ සෞඛ්‍ය ආරක්‍ෂිත කලාපයක් බවට තහවුරුකොට රටේ අවශ්‍යතාවය වෙනුවෙන් කටයුතු කිරීමට වැඩපිළිවෙලක් ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කරවන ලෙස කාරුණිකව ඉල්ලා සිටිමි.

ස්තූතියි.

මෙයට,
විධායක සභාව වෙනුවෙන්
චන්ද්‍රසිරි මහගමගේ  
ප‍්‍රධාන ලේකම්

පිටපත් – ලේකම්තුමා – වරාය හා නාවික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය
ලේකම් සමස්ත ලංකා වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමය.    

සංවර්ධන නිලධාරී සේවා සංගමය

ගරු ජනාධිපති,
ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා,
ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලය,
කොළඹ 01.

ජනාධිපතිතුමනි,

#Covid-19  වසංගත තත්වය හමුවේ අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සේවාවන් වල යෙදෙන සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන්ගේ සේවය සාධාරණව ඇගයෙන පරිදි විශේෂ දීමනාවක් ලබාදීම හා සෞඛ්‍යාරක්ෂිත ඇඳුම් කට්ටල හා උපකරණ ලබාදෙන මෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

#Covid-19 වසංගත තත්වය හමුවේ දිස්ත‍්‍රික් පාලනය හා ප‍්‍රාදේශීය පාලනය අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සේවාවක් කළ දින සිට සංවර්ධන නිලධාරී සේවයට අයත් නිලධාරී මහත්ම මහත්මීන් මේ දක්වා විශේෂ කාර්ය භාරයක් ඉටු කරන බව පළමුව සඳහන් කරමු.

දිස්ත‍්‍රික් ලේකම්වරුන්ගේ හා ප‍්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම්වරුන්ගේ නියමයන් පරිදි සෑම රාජකාරියක්ම මේ දක්වා සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන් ඇතුළු සියලූ ක්‍ෂේත‍්‍ර නිලධාරීන් ඉටු කරන අතර එම කාර්යන් මේ මොහොතේ විශේෂ කාර්යක් සේ සලකමින් ඉටු කරමින් සිටිමු. ප‍්‍රදේශයේ ජනතාවට අවශ්‍ය ආහාර ද්‍රව්‍ය සැපයීම, ඖෂධ සම්පාදනය කිරීම, ප‍්‍රතිලාභී නාම ලේඛන සකස් කිරීම, එම ලේඛන පරිඝණකගත කිරීම, ප‍්‍රතිලාභ බෙදාහැරීම, පැය 24 ම රාජකාරියේ යෙදීම, රජයේ ප‍්‍රසිද්ධ නිවාඩු හා සති අන්ත නිවාඩුවල බොහෝ දේ කැප කරමින් අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සේවාවන් වල යෙදී සිටිති.

එවැනි මට්ටමක රාජකාරී ඉටු කළ ද මේ දක්වා ප‍්‍රාදේශීය පාලනය සඳහා නිකුත් වූ බොහෝ චක‍්‍රලේඛ තුළ සංවර්ධන නිලධාරී සේවය හා එහි නිලධාරීන් පිළිබඳ කිසිඳු සඳහනක් නොවීම පිළිබඳව ඔබතුමාගේ අවධානයට යොමු කරමු.

විවිධ දුෂ්කරතා මෙන්ම ප‍්‍රායෝගික ගැටළු පැවතිය ද මෙම වසංගත තත්වය හමුවේ. ග‍්‍රාම නිලධාරී, සංවර්ධන නිලධාරී, සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන නිලධාරී සේවාවන්ට අයත් සියලූ නිලධාරීන් සාමූහිකව වසම තුළ කටයුතු කරමින් ජනතාවගේ අවශ්‍යතාවයන් වෙනුවෙන් ක‍්‍රියා කිරීම සතුටුදායක මට්ටමක පවතී.

#Covid-19 වෛරසය පැතිරීම, ආසාධනයට ලක්වීම, ප‍්‍රතිකාර කිරීම, නිරෝධායනය මේ සියලූ කටයුතු සඳහා සෞඛ්‍ය සේවා අංශ, ආරක්ෂක අංශ, මූලිකත්වය ගෙන ඇති අතර තවත් රාජ්‍ය අංශයේ සේවාවන් කීපයක රාජ්‍ය සේවකයින් විශාල වැඩකොටසක් ඉටු කරමින් සිටී. මෙම කටයුතුවල ඔවුන්ගේ දායකත්වය අඛණ්ඩව පවත්වාගෙන යෑම සඳහාත්, ඔවුන්ව දිරිගැන්වීම සඳහාත් පහත සඳහන් ඉල්ලීම් ඉදිරිපත් කරමු.

02. 2020. 04. 23 දින සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට අයත් සියලූ නිලධාරීන් සඳහා විශේෂ දීමනා ඇතුළත් චක‍්‍රලේඛයක් නිකුත් කර ඇත. ඒ පිළිබඳව ස්තූතිවන්ත වෙමු. එමෙන්ම සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන් ඇතුළු සියලූ ක්‍ෂේත‍්‍ර නිලධාරීන් සඳහා ද ඊට සමාන ආකාරයකින් ඉන්දන දීමනා සඳහා රු.1000/- ක් ද දුරකතන දීමනා සඳහා රු.2000/- ක් ද දින 5 ක නිවාඩු දින වැටුප් ඇතුළු අදාළ දීමනා සමානව හා සාධාරණව ලබා දීම.

03. 2020. 04. 04 රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන චක‍්‍රලේඛය තුළ සඳහන් දීමනා අදාළ නිලධාරීන්ට විධිමත්ව නොලැබෙන බව වාර්තාවන අතර එම චක‍්‍රලේකයේ සඳහන් දීමනා විධිමත්ව සියලූ දෙනාට ලබා දීමට අවශ්‍ය උපදෙස් හා වසුවිපරම් ක‍්‍රියාවලියක් සිදු කිරීමට රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම්වරයා හරහා දිස්ත‍්‍රික් ලේකම්වරුවන්ට උපදෙස් ලබා දීම.

04. සෞඛ්‍ය හා පළාත් සෞඛ්‍ය ඇතුළු වෙනත් අත්‍යවශ්‍ය සේවාවන්වල රාජකාරියේ නියුතු සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන් සඳහා දීමනා සම්බන්ධයෙන් මේ වන විට නිකුත් කර ඇති කිසිඳු චක‍්‍රලේඛයක් බල නොපැවැත්වෙන අතර එම නිලධාරීන් සඳහා ද සාධාරණ හා පිළිගත හැකි දීමනා ක‍්‍රමයක් ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම.

05. #Covid-19 වෛරසය ආසාධිත පුද්ගලයින් ප‍්‍රදේශ මට්ටමින් මතුවීමේ ප‍්‍රවණතාවක් මේ වන විට දක්නට ඇත. එම ප‍්‍රදේශවල ජනතාවට සෘජුවම නිරාවරණය වෙමින් වසම් මට්ටමෙන් රාජකාරී කරන සියලූ ක්‍ෂේත‍්‍ර නිලධාරීන්ට රාජකාරී කිරීමට සිදුව ඇත. යම් හෙයකින් එම නිලධාරීන් අවධානමකට මුහුණ දීමට සිදුවුවහොත් ප‍්‍රාදේශීය පාලනය බිඳවැටීමේ අවධානමක් මතුවිය හැකි බැවින් සංවර්ධන නිලධාරීන් ඇතුළු සියලූ ක්‍ෂේත‍්‍ර නිලධාරීන් සඳහා සෞඛ්‍යාරක්ෂිත මුව ආවරණ, අත් ආවරණ, විෂබීජ නාශක දියර හා ආරක්ෂිත ඇඳුම් කට්ටලයක් ලබා දීමට කඩිනමින් පියවර ගැනීම.

ස්තූතියි.

මෙයට,
චන්දන සූරියආරච්චි සම්බන්ධීකරණය
ප‍්‍රධාන ලේකම්

Yasiru Ranaraja, Maya Majueran Courtesy CGTN

Yasiru Ranaraja is a maritime regulations and BRI developments expert. Maya Majueran is a Ph.D. candidate at the State University of Kalaniya researching the BRI. The article reflects the authors’ opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Sri Lanka is considered a vital part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) because of its strategic geographical location. However, due to the increase of commercial financing of BRI projects in Sri Lanka, the term ‘Debt Trap Diplomacy’ was coined in the last few years as a way to discredit the relationship between China and Sri Lanka.

The term ‘Debt Trap’ is now being disputed by numerous renowned academics since the general public has access to government’s debt portfolio. Prominent think-tanks have published a number of research articles after undertaking comprehensive analyses and concluded that none of these sources suggest China is ‘Debt-Trapping’ the island.

In recent years, China has expanded its support for global health, and in January 2017, China and the World Health Organization (WHO) agreed to jointly establish the “Health Silk Road” under the BRI. By August 2017, China made public financial commitments towards building a resilient health system at the BRI Forum for Health Cooperation, highlighting an initiative “Towards a Health Silk Road” by enabling its member states to further cooperate within the BRI.

China is not only one of Sri Lanka’s key trading partners and investors but has also been one of the most important donors by providing aid and technical assistance, which has contributed to Sri Lanka’s healthcare improvements.

Even though China officially established the “Health Silk Road” in 2017, China’s support in Sri Lankan healthcare can be traced back to 1967 as the two countries worked together on donating corneas. At present, around 1,500 corneas have been flown to China for transplant annually, and China is the second-largest recipient of cornea donations from Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa (R) meets with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Colombo, Sri Lanka, January 14, 2020. / Chinese Foreign Ministry

The present fight against the COVID-19 pandemic with a lack of resources and considerably limited capacity threshold in Sri Lanka led the Sri Lankan government to turn to the international community for aid and technical assistance. As a result, China was one of the countries to step up and coordinate with assistance, the first to respond was the companies that are involved in major projects in Sri Lanka, donating a large number of medical supplies such as masks, PPE, and test kits.

However, in terms of Chinese funding, Sri Lanka is considered as one of the countries to receive the largest quantity of Chinese aid, in which the healthcare sector receives around 20 million dollars annually. One of the landmark projects was completed when China provided a grant to the Sri Lankan government to build a nine-story new wing of the Lady Ridgeway Hospital which was opened in the year 2000.

Another landmark project is the Kidney Hospital in Polonnaruwa, initiated as result following a request by former President Maithripala Sirisena to the Chinese government in 2015. It is expected to be opened by the end of 2020. The new Chinese-funded hospital in Polonnaruwa will consist of a 200-bed ward complex, OPD with 100 dialysis machines and six modern operation theaters, which will be constructed at a total cost of nearly 80 million dollars.

Nonetheless, Polonnaruwa is an ancient capital of Sri Lanka and also known to have one of the world’s first hospitals back in the eleventh century. The “Alahana Pirivena” belongs to the reign of King Parakramabahu I in the Polonnaruwa era, which was a part of a wider network of medical practices along the region, and the Silk Road played an important role in spreading medical knowledge during these times. 

Also, some written sources from the fifth century and later centuries testify that acupuncture, the great healing art that came from China during ancient times was known in ancient Sri Lanka. This medical practice has been known to ancient monastic hospitals of Sri Lanka and indicates the diffusion of the science between South Asia and China.

This relationship between China and Sri Lanka started back in ancient times along the Silk Road. The reason why the relationship is quoted now with the propagated term “Debt Trap” diplomacy is mainly because China was a frontrunner in funding projects in Sri Lanka.

The untold fields of partnerships such as Health Silk Road between Sri Lanka and China could help people from both countries. Similarly, if these areas are under-reported in local media, it can also build a baseless narrative as a “Debt Trap” due to lack of research based on local primary sources of information.

(Cover image: The construction site of the Colombo Port City project in Colombo Port City, Colombo, Sri Lanka, March 5, 2018. /Xinhua)

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

An early start of the process of containment and subsequent innovative steps have helped keep the infection under control

Colombo, April 26 (President’s Media Division): In a TV discussion with his Principal Advisor, Lalith Weeratunga, on April 20, on some key concerns regarding the COVID-19 epidemic, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa explained the steps taken when a person tests positive for COVID-19 virus.

At the moment, we have minimized the spread of the virus in the country. This has been possible because, from the very beginning, Sri Lanka had a proper mechanism to collect information needed to stop the infection from spreading from one patient to another,” the President said.

When someone shows symptoms of COVID-19, that person is sent to the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) in Angoda and for a PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) examination, which is the best in the world. If the results are positive for the virus, the origin and source from which the person got infected is investigated.”

Every person that the patient had closely associated, casually met and places visited are identified. Then, the people who associated with those who had come in contact with the patient are identified. This method of identifying the first and second rings of contacts is known as contact tracing”. The group of people thus identified to have associated with the infected person is known as a cluster.”

Identification of clusters well in advance has enabled Sri Lanka to quarantine people before symptoms develop. Analysts have acknowledged, even in international forums, that Sri Lanka’s success in managing the crisis is because of contact tracing carried out methodically by the intelligence units of the country.”

The infected person’s immediate family members and people who closely associated with the patient are quarantined. Those who did not associate with the patient directly will be subjected to self-quarantine. Public Health Officers and Police Officers regularly monitor those under self-quarantine.”

If there is a possibility that a larger group of people had got compromised and are in danger of getting infected, then that entire area will be isolated. Most cases currently being reported are from such groups.”

It is clear that some carriers had entered the country before the quarantine program began. There had also been cases from countries like Indonesia where carriers had not been anticipated. They were identified as COVID-19 patients only after the symptoms appeared.”

Daily I receive all data pertaining to every one of these cases. Further decisions are taken after in-depth discussions with the Chief of Intelligence.”

Timeline of Action Taken

Sri Lanka has controlled the COVID-19’s impact because of the people’s commitment, the President said.

Everyone has played a part. In the health sector, from the laborer onwards to Public Health Inspectors (PHI), nurses, specialist doctors have rendered a huge service. The Tri-Forces, police and intelligence units have contributed tirelessly. It has been the commitment of the public sector, from secretaries to ministries, districts and divisions which had ensured essential services without interruption. Citizens have quietly borne the difficult times.

Mid-January 2020: The first case of the COVID-19 was reported from Wuhan in China. The Chinese Government warned the world about the new virus.

January 26, 2020: A National Task Force was established bringing the Health Ministry, Tri-Forces, Police, Intelligence and other related disciplines together. Their primary task was to advice the government on steps to control the epidemic.

January 27, 2020: The first COVID-19 patient in Sri Lanka was identified. She was a Chinese tourist.

February 01, 2020: A special flight was sent to bring back 34 Sri Lankans and their immediate families who were studying in Wuhan. As soon as they landed, they were quarantined in the Diyatalawa Army Camp. Thereby, the virus was prevented from spreading in the country.

February 10, 2020: It was decided that arrivals from Italy, Korea and Iran should be sent to a quarantine center.

February 16, 2020: It was decided that everyone who arrives in Sri Lanka must be quarantined.

February 19, 2020: The Chinese lady who was found infected with the virus on January 27 had fully recovered and left for China.

March 11, 2020: The first Sri Lankan infected with COVID-19 was identified. He was admitted to the IDH. Since then, almost every day new patients were identified. Out of them, 38 were those who had come from abroad and were already in quarantine centers. Since then, another 79 from quarantine centers had been tested positive for COVID-19. It was also found that another 139 outside quarantine centers, were infected in various ways.

March 12, 2020: Every school, university and education center was closed. But while the schools and universities were physically closed, a separate Task Force was established to facilitate distance learning.

March 18, 2020: All arrivals at the Airport were stopped. A special flight was sent to bring back home 900 pilgrims who got stranded in India. They were sent to a quarantine center.

March 20, 2020: An All Island curfew that was imposed.

March 27, 2020: The first work from home” week for public servants was declared from March 20 to March 27.

Since March 27 to date, Sri Lanka has lost seven to COVID-19. New cases continue to be added to the total number of infected cases almost on a daily basis. At the same time, a steady number of recoveries are also increasing almost daily.

Courtesy The Straits Times

COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka has reversed plans to end its virus lockdown on Monday (April 27), extending it for another week after a spike in coronavirus infections including at a naval base.

Within hours of announcing that the nationwide restrictions imposed on March 20 would be lifted, the government revoked the order and extended the restrictions until May 4.

Health officials said there had been a jump in cases, including in a densely populated area in the capital Colombo where 81 people tested positive.

There has also been an increase in the number of sailors found to be infected with the coronavirus at the Welisara naval base to 65, the officials said.

The entire naval base in the Colombo suburb of Welisara where 4,000 sailors and their families live was placed into quarantine late last week after 30 sailors tested positive.

One officer at the camp died late on Saturday night, but the cause of death was leptospirosis or “rat fever”, said navy spokesman Isuru Suriyabandara.

His body was still immediately cremated under the quarantine rules for coronavirus victims.

The island nation on Sunday reported 460 positive cases in total with seven deaths.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka has reported 18 more cases of coronavirus, taking up the total number of patients to 523, says the Ministry of Health.

According to the tally, 63 positive COVID-19 cases have been confirmed within the day. 

This is the highest daily surge reported in the country since Friday.

The Epidemiology Unit says 396 active cases are currently under medical at several selected hospital across the island.

In the meantime, 120 coronavirus patients have recovered completely, while 7 patients succumbed to the disease.

Courtesy Adaderana

The ongoing island-wide curfew will be in force tomorrow (27) to facilitate the Tri-forces personnel on leave to return to their respective camps, says the President’s Media Division (PMD).

Accordingly, the curfew in all districts, except for Colombo, Kalutara, Gampaha and Puttalam, will be lifted at 5.00 am on Tuesday (28) and re-imposed at 8.00 pm on the same day.

Curfew in these districts was scheduled to be lifted at 5.00 am on Monday (27), however, the government revised the decision after leave of all Tri-forces personnel was cancelled today.

The calls to reconvene Parliament come from the same coterie of people who orchestrated regime change in 2015 capitalizing on a Presidential Election victory to bring to power a minority UNP government and place Ranil as PM without removing the sitting PM. A hurriedly cobbled ‘national government’ was created to dish out various roles to their co-partners who were made Opposition Leader and Chief Government Whip. Little needs to be said of the Speaker’s role in the drama that unfolded. These actors used every trick in the book to delay elections and prevent holding of elections for 3 years. The Election Commission showed little teeth in upholding the people’s right for elections throughout and when the former Speaker now declares I am bound to uphold judiciary’s decision’ that’s like the cat popping out of the bag before schedule! The spilling of intent warrants the government to be alert to all avenues this bandwagon is likely to take and the influences they are likely to make tapping their powerful friends overseas. The drawback this time may be the difficulty in handpicking some for overseas jaunts in view of covid-19. Is a constitutional coup brewing to reconvene Parliament? Are those that filed cases against Oct2018 dissolution of Parliament about to do a repeat performance!  

When you see a pattern in the chorus demanding reconvening of Parliament, it is important to wonder, why! The calls to declare null & void the President’s dissolution of Parliament and reconvene Parliament is certainly not to do any favors to the People. We saw that when the same parties objected to the former President dissolving Parliament, declaring elections and allowing the People to vote who they wanted. The one’s that objected to that decision and dashed to file against the dissolution are the very same objecting to the dissolution by the current president. In both cases the reason for their knee-jerk reactions was to somehow ensure their boys and girls remained in power and inside Parliament. By their actions they impeded the people’s right to exercise their vote and decide who they wanted to elect and return to Parliament.

In October 2018, the shock came when the then President suddenly removed the PM. But the ‘democracy upholding’ PM refused to vacate and was encouraged not to do so by foreign envoys regularly visiting him to provide free international advice.

The irony & hilarious aspect was that among the 10 petitioners demanding re-instating the Govt of Ranil as PM was the country’s Opposition (TNA) and the Chief Govt Whip’s Party (JVP), SLMC, ACMC, TPA as well as the supposedly unbiased civil society entities CPA and even the election commission member Hoole.

The constitutional crisis in Oct2018 came about following the complications, contradictions and confusions by those that drafted the 19a.

Hailed as the world’s best constitutional amendment the 19a clipped powers of the President to summon, prorogue, dissolve Parliament by setting a limit of 4 ½ via amendment to Article 70(1) but then felt sorry for him and added new Article 33(2) C giving him the same powers in faded format! 19a was an attempt to slyly turn the title of President to a ceremonial role without the concurrence of the People and transfer powers to the PM.

The crux of UNP-TNA-JVP & NGO argument against October2018 dissolution and to protect the Govt they belonged to and the 19a they wrote was that new Article 70(1) ruled over Article 33(2) c.

But Article 33(2)c is in Chapter 7 under President while Article 70(1) is in Chapter 11 under Legislature. The People give power to the President directly, the Legislature is elected by the People but the PM is voted by within the Legislature and not directly by the People.

To dissolve Parliament, the President does have restrictions but to recommend the President to dissolve Parliament, the Legislature needed 2/3 majority as per new addition.

This is one of the architects of the 19a – surprisingly, he too is a dual citizen now gone to live in Switzerland and before leaving condemned the 19a too!

Therefore, the calls to reconvene parliament jolts our memories of Oct2018 court case decision, which to the surprise of all, went in favor of the petitioners against allowing the supreme will of the people to prevail.

The decision did raise many a question in particular the unanimous vote which was viewed with the startling revelations by MP Gammanpila in Parliament regarding a voice clipping in his possession that sought to influence the decision and even judgementshttp://www.adaderana.lk/news/55005/us-exerted-influenced-on-sl-judiciary-gammanpila?fbclid=IwAR1TL2y-CwLgHRDbG3ZY9HZ-5SUuEVid0uLa_7QFopqfJihmGokAQ5Gm_Rk

It is in this backdrop and within this background context of characters that we have to take stock of the current situation. These players are either holding roles or want to return to their roles but they were all part of the Jim band that totally ruined Sri Lanka since 2015.

The PM’s statement on 18^th April quite rightly pointed out how uncooperative the Opposition had been in helping support the Government with covid-19 and blocking every effort by the Government, therefore those that are appearing on youtube & talk shows claiming Parliament has to reconvene to lend support & to pass laws is all humbug and meant only to satisfy the international gallery.

What could Sri Lanka’s Parliament possibly do that is not currently being done by the Health Services and Armed Forces & Police involved in hands on covid-19 operation by simply reconvening Parliament & spending Rs.4.6million for a day’s Parliamentary sitting? The answer automatically comes in just picturing the scenario. Between January & August 2019, Parliament had convened 70 times and out of the 225 Members only 51 attended over 60 sessions.

http://www.themorning.lk/rallying-225-members-to-parliament-a-wasteful-necessity/

The Parliament was dissolved simply to enable the people to cast their vote and elect a new team of people. Let’s not forget the dissolved Parliament is full of people who were rejected by the People in the August 2015 elections and were brought in through the back door. No rejected contestant can be brought to Parliament via backdoor through the national list.

In Oct2018 the reconvene Parliament wanted to return Ranil to throne, what do the same players want this time round?

The current calls to reconvene Parliament is to undo a major faux pas that has arisen as a result of submitting separate nominations. With UNP still to announce who will lead UNP for the General Elections 2020, UNP-Ranil faction handed nominations separately and SJB-Sajith faction also handed separate nominations to contest all districts. What is likely to ensue from this is nothing but hara kiri and UNP votes is likely to get split and UNP may even lose its bloc vote. Having calculated the likely risk, the teams are obviously frantically pursuing all options to cancel nominations that closed on 19^th March 2020. By reconvening Parliament, the nominations that closed will be null & void and if President again dissolves Parliament fresh nominations will be called and SJB will get buried and Sajith will return to UNP to contest under UNP.

How can they build a case? For starters the Election Commission has declared a date that is inconsistent with the provisions that allow him to declare a new date if the date declared by the President is cancelled.

The elections commission had 3 options (all which required date to be maximum 14^th May)

1. Upon cancelling of the President’s declared date to give a new date 14 days from the date of cancellation
2. The EC gazette notification declared the new date would be 14 days from 30^th April
3. Section 10 of Parliamentary Elections Act gives EC maximum 7 weeks from closing date of nominations to declare new date

None of the 3 options fit into the 20^th June date EC announced and this allows any to challenge the decision as there is also a required date that Parliament must reconvene (3 months from dissolution of Parliament)

So the elections commissioner has erred in the issuing of dates which he needs to revisit & correct, the Elections Commission is fully aware that Sri Lanka is experiencing a situation not experienced previously. However, even in the thick of terror Sri Lanka has held elections with big turn outs.

South Korea held elections in April 2020 recording 66% turnout with 44m going to vote and the ruling party recorded the highest seats since 1987. South Korea has over 10000 covid-19 cases and 240 deaths. US is also going to polls in November and already primaries are being held. US has close to 1m covid-19 cases and over 53,000 deaths!

With everyone realizing that they need a change in mindset post-covid it is essential that the politicians also adjust their ways and depart from the bad behaviors that have become part and parcel of their lifestyle as a politician. This is applicable to politicians/political parties of all colours. The corrupt and incompetent manner that was a hallmark of rule since 1978 can no longer continue.

Shenali D Waduge

Sri Lanka is facing multiple issues. At a global & local level there is pandemic health crisis impacting the lives of all. Governance of country has fallen into the hands of the President & the Public Sector which is why it is important to have elections to enable a fresh government to join in the effort. No one really wants a failed & unsupportive government with a track record of corruptions & in competencies to reconvene & return to Parliament. The Elections Commission is not helping the issue by some of its dubious actions & statements.   

It is true Sri Lanka is facing a pandemic of unknown proportions. We suffered more than 3 decades of human viruses but still conducted elections during the most repressive years of killings.

Between 1979 to 2009 Sri Lanka held in:

5 Presidential Elections (1982, 1988, 1994, 1999, 2005),

5 Parliamentary Elections (1989, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2004),

7 Provincial Council Elections (1988, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2004, 2008-2009) &

10 local government elections (1983, 1991 1994, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009)

Elections were held & People voted inspite of JVP & LTTE threatening to kill the 1^st voter.

On 15 April 2020, South Koreans went to polls with 44million eligible voters. The voter turnout was over 66%. The highest turnout was 71% in 1992.

The ruling party won 180 of the 300 seats to the National Assembly – an increase of 60 seats recording the biggest win by a ruling party since 1987.

South Korea has over 10,000 covid-19 cases and 240 deaths.

US is also due to have elections in November this year. US has so far recorded the highest covid-19 cases – close to 926,000 and close to 53,000 deaths.

USA has not indicated even postponing elections.

Confusions & contradictions of 19a – Election Commission

Sri Lanka Constitution Chapter 7 – Article 41B(6) amendment by 19a says only the Election Commission is not answerable to Parliament (all other independent Commissions are answerable)

Sri Lanka Constitution Chapter 9 – Article 104B (3) states “The (Elections) Commission shall be responsible and answerable to Parliament in accordance with the provisions of the Standing Orders of Parliament for the exercise, performance and discharge of its powers, duties and functions and shall forward to Parliament for each calendar year a report of its activities for such year.”

Is Election Commission responsible to Parliament? Article 41B(6) says NO, Article 104B(3) says YES.

How will the Supreme Court answer the question?   

Article 103(1) was amended by 19a –

Elections Commission 3 members was to be appointed by the President ON RECOMMENDATION of the Constitutional Council.

Article 104(1) Quorum for Commission requires all 3-member present

Article 104(1) a) states, Chairman presides all meetings of Commission but in his absence another member can preside. Isn’t this contradicting Article 104(1) Quorum requiring all 3 to be present – if one is not present the meeting is illegal!

Article 104(2) b) states decisions by majority present and voting if equal votes (how is this possible with just 3 members)

Article 104 (3) says the EC ‘shall have to act notwithstanding any vacancy in the membership of the Commission, and no act or proceeding or decision of the Commission shall be invalid or be deemed to be invalid by reason only if such vacancy or any defect in the appointment of a member’. Quorum requires all 3 presence, but is contradicted in Article 104(3) which says a meeting without quorum is still legally binding and valid. Mind boggling English comprehension!  

Article 104A (a) and (b) states no court shall have power or jurisdiction to entertain or hear or decide or call into question on any ground and in any manner any decision, direction or act by the Elections Commission, made or done or purported to have been made or done under the Constitution or under any law relating to the holding of an election or conduct of a Referendum in which decisions, directions or acts shall be final and conclusive.

No legal suit or prosecution or proceeding shall be taken against any member or officer of the Commission for any act or thing which in good faith is done or purported to be done by him in the performance of his duties or discharge of his functions under the Constitution or under any law relating to the holding of an election or conduct of a Referendum.

Can Elections Commission be taken to Courts?

Under Article 104 A, Election Commission can be taken to court over fundamental rights issues under Article 126 of the Constitution – the writ jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal in the case of the Elections Commission will be exercised by Supreme Court and not Court of Appeal with regard to petitions pertaining to conducting of presidential elections, referendums or appeals relating to election petitions pertaining to Parliamentary elections.

No wonder the architects of 19a are fled the country while other architects are fishing in troubled waters they created!

Let us first look at the timeline of the dissolution of Parliament

02March 2020	President dissolves Parliament / Sets date for Polls & Sets date to convene New Parliament
11 March 2020	1st covid-19 patient confirmed
12March 2020	Acceptance of nominations for General Elections
19March 2020	Nominations Close
19March 2020	Election Commission calls press conference postponing elections without announcing date
20 March 2020	EC gazette notification 2167/12 refers to Parliamentary Election Act Section 24 (1) paras (a) and (c) and not (a) to (d)
21 March 2020	EC gazette notification 2167/19 states poll cannot take place on 25 April 2020 and the Commission will appoint a day after 14 days from 30 April 2020 as the new day of poll.
28 March 2020	1st covid-19 death / 7th covid-19 death on 8th April
31 March 2020	Elections Commissioner writes to President citing polls could be held on 27th or 28th May 2020
01 April 2020	Elections Commissioner writes to President to consult Supreme Court on new elections date
08 April 2020	President’s Secretary replies reminding EC that it is EC duty to announce fresh poll date and consultative jurisdiction (Article 129) does not apply & the President does not wish to interfere in duties of the EC while also highlighting shortcomings in EC’s gazette notification of 20 March 2020
18 April 2020	Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse issues statement reminding Elections Commission of its duty to announce new polls date
18 April 2020	TNA sends letter to Election Commission not to fix new date
20 April 2020	Elections Commission sets 20 June as new polls date

2^nd March 2020: The President dissolved Parliament / Declares elections for 25^th April & sets new date to convene Parliament as 14 May 2020

However, 9 days after the President’s declaration the 1^st covid-19 patient was confirmed (11^th March 2020). But the President did not have powers to postpone elections. The mandatory power to re-fix a polling date when the date fixed by the President cannot be held, falls on the Elections Commission via Section 24(3) of the Parliamentary Elections Act No. 1 of 1981. Amendment was made on 24 May 1988 to subsection 10.

Note: The Elections Commission has to fix a new date not postpone the poll without fixing a date.

Deaths from covid-19 in Sri Lanka:

1^st death – 28 March / 2^nd death – 30^th March / 3^rd & 4^th Deaths – 2^nd April / 5^th death – 4^th April / 6^th death – 7^th April / 7^th death – 8^th April (only 140 active cases and 42 recovered)

12^th March 2020: Acceptance of nominations for General Elections begin

http://www.colombopage.com/archive_20A/Mar12_1583993645CH.php

19^th March 2020: Nominations close / Election Commissioner delays elections without date

Nominations closed on 19^th March 2020. That very day Election Commission holds press conference and announces elections will not be held on 25^th April (date announced by President) citing the covid-19 situation. He says EC will continue to receive nominations.

The Elections Commissioner says the new date will be 14 days after the day on which elections was set to be held (25^th April was the date fixed by the President) He states that the new date would be announced on 26^th March after discussions with health authorities.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/No-General-Elections-on-April-25-EC/108-185323

(Note by 19^th March no Sri Lankan had died of covid-19)

31^st March 2020 – EC writes to President

Stating that the new Parliament should convene at least on 1^st April 2020 & that the latest dates on which the polls could be held was 27^th or 28^th May 2020.

1^st April 2020 – EC writes to President Rajapakse to consult Supreme Court on Holding Elections

The Election Commission states the new Parliament has to convene before 2^nd June (within 3 months of dissolution of Parliament) and citing the current situation in the country impedes holding of election by end May.

8^th April 2020 – President’s Secretary responds to Election Commission via letter

• Acknowledges letters received from Election Commission dated 31^st March and 1^st April

• Reminds that with proclamation of gazette 2165/8 (2 March) Parliament was dissolved and new Parliament was to meet on 14^th May and date of elections fixed for 25 April

• Consent to contest was given in letters by Political Parties and independent groups, deposits made and nominations commenced – this signaled acceptance of dissolution, acceptance of date for polls, and submission of nominations to Returning Officers.

• The Secretary highlights that the Election Commission published a gazette notification 2167/12 on 20 March 2020 referring only to sub paragraphs (a) and (c) of Section 24 (1) Parliamentary Elections Act – but OMITTED including sub paragraphs (a) to (d) of Section 24 (1). (In publishing only (a) and (c) the Election Commission drew attention to only poll taking place between 7a.m. and 4p.m. in each electoral district and electoral districts the election is contested

• Gazette 2167/19 on 21 March 2020 by Election Commission states poll cannot take place on 25 April 2020 and the Commission will appoint a day after 14 days from 30 April 2020 as the new day of poll.

• The President’s Secretary points out that as per Section 24(3) the Commission has to specify another day for polls in the Gazette issued under Section 24(3) if the poll cannot take place on 25 April 2020.

• The President’s Secretary states that the new date has to be 14 days after the date of gazette publication under Section 24(3) of the Parliamentary Elections Act

• The President’s Secretary reminds the Election Commission that it is NOT the President who is responsible for fixing new poll date but it is the role of the Elections Commission and that the President does not wish to interfere in duties of the Election Commission.

• The President’s Secretary also points out that as per Section 24 (3) of the Parliamentary Elections Act, though the time period given for postponement is not less than 14 days, polls could be held even on 15^th day.
• The President’s Secretary also reminds that it is the right of the people to exercise their franchise right to vote.

• The President’s Secretary ends letter by stating that Article 129 (Consultative Jurisdiction) in referring issue to Supreme Court by President does not arise as the duties to fix new polls date lies with the Elections Commission and not with the President.

On 18^th April the PM issues a statement conveying following:

• Compared the pandemic impact on strong economies of West against economic ruin following yahapalana rule from 2015 to 2019 with debt burden increasing by 71%

• Informed that Parliament functioned without a majority since November 2019 Presidential elections and without the support of the Opposition even for vote on account

• Informs that the saving grace was the financial powers vested in the President under Article 150(3) which has helped to deal with the pandemic since 11 March 2020 & discovery of 1^st covid-19 patient

• Reminds of the magnitude of the crisis is one Sri Lanka has never experienced and impacting the lives of all

• The PM highlighted how the Opposition had tried to scuttle the situation – encouraging protests against quarantine process, undermining Govt services claiming the President did not have powers to allocate funds for services after dissolution of Parliament, and present demand to rescind Parliament & reconvene it as the new Parliament has to meet before 2^nd June.

• The PM reminded how yahapalana delayed local govt elections for nearly 3 years by even moving courts.

• The PM says that ‘Sri Lanka is also the only democratic country in the world where political parties petitioned the Supreme Court to get the declaration of a parliamentary election annulled”

• The PM also cites that 11 of the 25 districts has no coronavirus patients. (The situation may have changed slightly since this statement)

• The PM highlights the mandatory obligation that falls on the Election Commission to fix a fresh date when the date decided by the President to hold the polls cannot be held (Section 24(3) of the Parliamentary Elections Act No. 1 of 1981)

18 April 2020: TNA writes to Election Commission not to fix new polls date until assurance by local and global health experts that it is safe to do so”

https://www.tamilguardian.com/sites/default/files/File/TNA/TNA%20-%20EC%20letter.pdf

20 April 2020: Election Commission gazettes notification 2172/3 notifying Parliamentary Elections to be held on 20^th June 2020.

The notification cites Section 24(3) of Parliamentary Elections Act 1 of 1981. As per this together with the amended Section 10 requirement to set a date not less than 5 weeks and not more than 7 weeks from closing date of nominations, the Elections Commission cannot set a date beyond 14^th May.

However, Elections Commissioner has put 20^th June 2020. WHY and does he have powers to do so? If not, he must revise this date to comply with the very sections he quotes in gazette.

Questioning the Actions of the Elections Commission/Commissioner

1. Why did EC not declare a fresh date for polls when he convened a press conference on 19^th March to cancel the elections scheduled for 25^th April declared by the President on 2^nd March 2020?

• Why did EC overlook section 10 when citing Section 24(3) of the Parliamentary Elections Act. (i) a day not less than 5 weeks and not more than 7 weeks from the closing day of the nomination period. Since nominations closed on 19 March, the Elections Commission had to set a new date not less than 5 weeks and not more than 7 weeks from 19^th March 2020 (which would be 27^th April or 14^th May)

• Why did EC via gazette cite Section 24(3) applicable to ‘ANY DISTRICT’ in which a poll cannot be held as Section 24(3) does not imply ALL DISTRICTS.

• Why does the Elections Commission need to write to the President of Sri Lanka asking him to consult the Supreme Court when the EC is well aware that it is empowered to declare a fresh date for elections?

• Why does the Elections Commission first write to the President on 31^st March informing him the latest date for elections is 27^th or 28^th May and then write again on 1^st April claiming that Parliament has to convene before 2^nd June and then claim the current situation in the country impedes holding of elections in end of May?

• If by letter to President on 31 March 2020, the EC informs that the latest date for elections can be 27^th or 28^th May, why did EC declare 20^th June as election date?

• As per letter by President’s Secretary in response to 2 letters sent by the EC – what explanation can EC give for issuing gazette 2167/12 (20Mar) citing only Section 24(1) sub paras (a) and (c) but omitting sub paras (a) to (d)

• The PM also reminds the EC of the powers vested in the EC to declare a fresh date for polls if the date declared by the President is cancelled. But there were certain rules to follow in declaring a fresh date. However, the EC declaring 20^th June violates those rules. EC must apologize and correct the error.

• The Election Commission had to declare a date 14 days from 25^th April or 14 days from 30^th April (as per EC gazette 2167/19 on 21 Mar claiming EC would appoint a date 14 days from 20^th April) – but EC declares 20^th June which is well beyond the 14 days he is mandated to follow.

Bottom-line is, the Election Commission had 3 options to fix a new poll date governed by these rules

• A date no less than 5 weeks and not more than 7 weeks from nominations closing date – meant he could have declared elections on 14^th May
• 14 days following the cancellation of President’s declared election date 25^th April
• 14 days after 30^th April as given in EC gazette notification.

Without following above – why did EC announce 20^th June as election date has to be officially responded by the Election Commission & Election Chairman.  

The Elections Commission does have an option via Section 24 (3) under emergency situation which allows Elections Commissioner to consider a staggered election over a number of days dividing electoral districts into high risk/low risk as some districts have no cases of covid-19.

Section 24(3) States: Where due to any emergency or unforeseen circumstances the poll for the election in any electoral district cannot be taken on the day specified in the notice relating to the election published under subsection (1), the Commissioner may, by Order published in the Gazette, appoint another day for the taking of such poll, and such other day shall not be earlier than the fourteenth day after the publication of the Order in the Gazette”.

Essentially this does not imply island-wide therefore option of a staggered election is possible)

What Elections Commissioner cannot do is DENY voters to exercise their franchise. If South Korea with higher cases of covid-19 including 240 deaths went to polls with over 66% turnout and completed an election, there is no reason why Sri Lanka’s Elections Commission cannot hold elections under the same circumstances.

Shenali D Waduge

By Gandara John

Battling COVID 19, the pandemic disease sweeping Planet Earth, Sri Lanka has done an excellent job thus far, in containing the spread of this highly infectious disease while limiting fatalities to a single digit.

 At the helm of Sri Lanka’s anti-COVID operations has been Gota, credited by most for the success achieved thus far.

 Gota’s successful strategy was based on the rationale that, as a poor country, Sri Lanka’s resources by way of hospitals, ventilators, medical personnel etc. are limited and that the number of COVID cases she could therefore handle, at any given time, is very small.

 If the number of patients exceeded this numerical limitation, those ‘excess’ numbers falling victim to the virus would not receive the medical attention their health-condition demanded and given the signal feature of this virus, to spread infection rapidly, Sri Lanka would conservatively have had, if not for the medical-lockdown measures taken, thousands dying per day. Gota’s strategy and the execution of that strategy very likely saved Sri Lanka a Million human lives. Sri Lanka undoubtedly owes a debt of gratitude to him.

 But then came the surprise. It caught many flat footed when Gota took an inexplicable decision to open schools and offices, while the virus continues to exist  unsubdued, while the medical exit-strategy from the current medical-lockdown, proposed and spelt out in detail by the medics, has been ignored and while measures have yet to be taken to expedite the process of testing and of cutting down the time duration between ‘test’ and ‘result’; this latitude has put at risk many people who have unwittingly exposed themselves to those unknowingly nurturing the  infection.

 Commenting on this decision, a shocked Gota loyalist said, This is absolute Hara-Kiri; hara-kiri for himself, hara-kiri for the family name and above all Hara-kiri for the Nation.”

 Shaking his head, this votary ruefully mumbled, All what Gota achieved is being brought to naught by this decision.”

 Why would Gota act in such a self-destructive manner? Gota says that he took this decision to revive the economy.

 Has Gota not come to terms with the stark reality that the old globalised economy is gone, gone forever; that it has collapsed in the wake of an attack by a microscopic bug and that we have to rebuild a new economy in a non-globalised scenario while taking precautions against COVID 19 and any other bug that may assail the world in the future.

 The question asked is ‘Why is Gota gambling with the lives of a million Sri Lankan people’? How did the caring man suddenly become an uncaring man? If the worst-case scenario were to happen, God forbid it ever should, the blood of the innocents will be on Gota’s hands.

 Gota needs to follow strictly the exit strategy spelt out clearly by his medical advisors.

 Attempting to rationalize Gota’s wafflly conduct, some analysts concluded that Gota is in a hostage situation and is being blackmailed by the Americans.

 In February this year, without a shred of credible evidence, the Americans categorised and declared the current Sri Lankan Army Commander a war criminal.

 This move appeared to be a warning shot across Gota’s bow. It is but a step away for the Americans to use the same yard stick and call Gota a war criminal.

The move appears to have frightened Gota no end, what with his wife being an American citizen and with Gota’s other interests in that country. The screws can be turned on the wife of a war criminal and on her assets in that country.

 Moragoda in the meantime unsolicitedly drew up and gave Gota for implementation, Sri Lanka’s National Security Doctrine and Sri Lanka’s Foreign Policy Doctrine; he is due to hand over to Gota, on 30 Apr 20, Sri Lanka’s Post-COVID Economic Policy Doctrine.

 Moragoda, exploiting Gota’s fears, has virtually taken over the Country. Some analysts say that while the de jure President of Sri Lanka is Gota, the de facto President is Moragoda.

 Moragoda has directly taken under his wings the Defence Ministry Portfolio, the Foreign Ministry Portfolio, the Central Bank Portfolio and the Finance Ministry Portfolio.

 With National Security, Foreign Policy and Economic Policy of Sri Lanka being the exclusive preserve of Moragoda, the notorious CIA funded US Contractor, some analysts argue credibly that the Americans have staged a soft coup d’état in Sri Lanka; and the Sri Lankans are yet, blissfully unaware of the situation.

 While Gota, the de jure President, was elected democratically by 6.9 Million Sri Lankans, Moragoda, the de facto President has been ‘para-dropped’ to the seat by an American soft coup.

 Gota does not have to be fearful; the 6.9 Million Sri Lankan people, and more, will ensure his safety and will lay down their lives for him.

/ to be continued

Gandara John is a freelance journalist

By Rohana R. Wasala

Three current unavoidable circumstances that only anti-national forces could exploit to stymie the government’s progress in its anti-Covid-19 drive thereby contributing to general oppositional efforts to destabilize the Sri Lankan state are   (1) the recent announcement of a new date for the next parliamentary elections by the Election Commission, (2) the mobilization of the health and national security departments for the containment of the spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 or Covid-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka, and (3) the arrest by the CID of a lawyer in the course of investigations into the Islamic terrorist bombings of April 21 last year (2019). These ‘issues’ have created an opportunity for the opposition to resort to the controversial sliding tackle move against the government, so to speak. (This is a personal thought for what it is worth. Open to criticism)

The Election Commission has declared June 20 as the new polls date. Earlier the opposition groups and individuals made an unnecessary ruckus raising unfair allegations that the government was anxious to hold elections in spite of the operation being deadly to the public because of the epidemic situation. Groups loyal to the government naturally favour as early an election as possible, but they are unlikely to subject people to lethal health hazards in achieving that end. The preference of the opposition elements, on the other hand, seems to be for cancelling the elections altogether. The still menacing Covid-19 situation, though so far the government has managed it with appreciable success, is the second issue that is being exploited by the election-phobic opposition to attack the government.  

The recent  arrest of a lawyer named Hejaz Hizbullah by the CID has also stirred up adverse commentary in some quarters. The online Colombo Telegraph (April 19, 2020) ran an article by Chamika Madiwake under the title ‘CID Abuses Covid-19 Surveillance To Detain Top Lawyer: Habeas Corpus Petition Reveals Terrifying Details’ (sic). Any reader looking for these so-called ‘terrifying details’ in the article will be disappointed. There is nothing to show that the CID officers resorted to any illegal methods to detain him. No less a person than His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith had repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with the way investigations were conducted under the Ranil-Sirisena government into the April 21 terror attacks (and this feeling was universally shared by ordinary people). Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, in his election manifesto ‘Vision GR’ as presidential candidate, pledged to re-investigate the bombings and bring to book the culprits behind the heinous crime irrespective of their status in society. The first anniversary of the multiple suicide terror bombings  in three Catholic churches and three 5-star hotels, has just passed; investigations have been speeded up with three more teams deployed to assist them. The Cardinal sounds confident that under president Gotabaya Rajapaksa the needful will be done. 

The arrest of the lawyer was no doubt a part of the investigative process; there cannot be any political interference in the matter. This lawyer (who is not so ‘top’ as Chamika M pretends) wouldn’t have been taken into custody unless there was enough information to justify his detention. After all, as a lawyer, he was allegedly legal consultant to Pettah trader in spices Mohamed Yusuf Mohamed Ibrahim, and the latter’s two sons blew themselves up in two 5-star hotels in Colombo killing some local and foreign patrons. Hejaz Hizbullah’s arrest was not an arbitrary one contrary to what the obviously ill informed or misinformed Chamika M alleges. He refers to a Jaffna lawyer in support of his view of the arrest of Hejaz Hizbullah: ‘Jaffna lawyer and academic K. Guruparan however called the arrest of Hizbullah and the way it came about atrocious”’. How much this quote helps Chamika M establish his case is not difficult to decide (that is, little). Chamika M must have been born yesterday. He appears to be completely unaware or deliberately forgetful of how the so-called Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID), illegally instituted according as some legal experts have been pointing out, was operating under the arbitrary direction of the then prime minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, whose government squandered almost all of its time on keeping political opponents at bay mostly through false litigation. People are confident that no such politicization of the law enforcement agencies will take place under president Gotabaya. 

Chamika M expresses scepticism about Hejaz Hizbullah getting justice. He concludes his potentially libellous article with this incredibly nasty comment: QUOTE ‘The Court of Appeal is currently led by Abdul Hameed Dileep Nawaz, a notoriously corrupt judge, and staunch supporter of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’. END OF QUOTE

(Note on the title for readers not familiar with the football term used in it: A sliding tackle, also called a slide tackle, is a usually controversial move in the game of football. When this tackle move is executed, a player slides along the ground with their leg extended to push the ball so the opposing player is prevented from doing what they want to do with it.) 

Postscript:

The above was completed on April 23. The factual situation regarding the lawyer’s arrest was explained to the media at a news briefing by Police spokesman Attorney-at-law SP Jaliya Senaratne as reported in The Island newspaper the next day (April 24): According to the Police spokesman there was irrefutable evidence to link Attorney-at-Law, Hejaaz Hisbullah, who had been recently taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombings……. SP Jaliya Senaratne denied accusations the arrest had been made without sufficient evidence”. The arrest was made a week before the first anniversary of the Easter Sunday carnage. The news report also mentioned the fact that the suspect’s father Naina Hizbullah had recently filed a habeas corpus application against Hejaz Hizbullah’s arrest. 

චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම, LL.B.,Ph.Ð.

කොරෝනාතන්ත්‍රවාදය

ඒබ්‍රහම් සුමන්තිරන්-මනෝ ගනේෂන් යන දෙන්නා ඉස්සරහට දමා උසාවිය මඟින් ලෝකයේ ප්‍රථම වරට අළුත් කොරෝනාතන්ත්‍රවාදයක් කෘතිමව නිෂ්පාදනය කොට ඒ හරහා 2015-19 යහපාලන සෙල්ලමට ආපසු යෑමට සජිත්, චම්පික, රාජිතලාගේ විපක්‍ෂය (හා මර්වින් සිල්වා පවා) ගෙන යන කූඨ ප්‍රයත්නය දැන් එහි රෙදි ගලවාගෙනම එලියට පැමිණ තිබේ. මෙහි පහතින් දැක්‌වෙන්නේ මේ කොරෝනාතන්ත්‍රවාදයේ රෝග ලක්‍ෂණ වල ප්‍රවෘති එකතුවකි. ඉන් ඉතාම නින්‌දිත රෝග ලක්‍ෂණය පෙන්වන්නේ සුපුරුදු පරිදි රාජිතමය. වෛද්‍ය සංගමය විසින් ජනාධිපතිට අප්‍රියෙල් 23 යැවූ ලිපියකින් රාජිතගේ කුමණ්ත්‍රනය අනාවරණය විය. මාධ්‍ය සාකච්චාවක් කැඳවා කොරෝනා ටෙස්ට් ප්‍රමාදකරනවා යයි රජයට දොස් පැවරූ රාජිත, එම ප්‍රමාදවලට ඍජුවම හේතුපාදක වූ නිලධාරින් තිදෙනෙකුට පක්‍ෂව කතාකලේය. මේ තිදෙනා නම් කරුණාතිලක, බෙල්ලන හා බෝවන රෝග අංශයේ ප්‍රධානියා වන සමරවීරය. මොවුන් මාර්තු 31 සිට අප්‍රියෙල් 19 දක්වා සති තුනක්ම මේ ප්‍රමාදය කලේ වෛද්‍ය සංගමය දුන් නිර්දේශ නොසළකා හරිමින්‌ය. මෙය රාජිතගේ කලින් කිඹුල් කතාවට සමානය. මොවුන් රාජිතගේ ඔත්තුකරුවන් වියහැකි නැද්ද? මොවුන්ට ඕනෑ කලේ කොරෝනාව වැඩි කරන්නද? රාජිත මඩ ගසන්නේ සමස්ත කොරෝනා මර්‌ධන ක්‍රියාදාමයටය. එහි යම් දුර්‍වලකම් ඇති බව සැබෑය. පාලිත තේවරප්පෙරුම විසින් පෙන්‌වා දෙන අයුරු දේශපාලකයින්ගෙන් තොරව නිලධාරීන්ට රජයේ දීමනාව දීමේ ලැයිස්තු සැදීමට ඉඩ දිය යුතුව තිබුණි. එහෙත් තමන්ට ප්‍රතිකාර සඳහා මහජන ටැක්ස් මුදලින් සිංගප්පූරු පණින මේ පරණ සුවපතිගේ වගකීම වංක ලෙස මහජනයාගේ හිත දුෂ්‍ය කිරීමද?

කොරෝනාතන්ත්‍රවාදයේ රෝග ලක්‍ෂණ

1. ලංකාවේ කොරෝනා අඩුවූයේ ඝර්‌ම කලාපයේ රටක් නිසාය- බිමාල් රත්නායක
2. නිරෝධායනයෙන් කොරෝනාව මර්‌ධනය කරන්න බෑ, යුද හමුදාවට මේක කරන්න බෑ- රාජිත
3. ජනාධිපතිට විරුද්‌ධව දෝෂාභියෝගයක් ගෙන ඒමට ඉඩ තිබේ- මනුෂ නානායක්කාර
4. පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවූ ගැසට්ටුව අවලංගුයි, පැවති පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කැඳවන්න, කිරි‌ඇ‌ල්ලේ, කරු ජයසූරියට දන්වයි.
5. චන්දය කල් දැමූනිසා, පරණ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ඉබේටම සක්‍රිය වනවා-අකිල විරාජ් කාරියවසම්
6. පාර්ලිමේන්තුව රැස්කල සැණින් විශ්වාසභංගයක්-
7. 5,000 මදි, අඩු ගණනේ පවුලකට 20,000 ක් වත් දෙන්න- ජේ‌වී‌පී
8. පරිප්පු සඟවන වෙළඳුන්ට මාස හයක සිරදඬුවම්-
9. පී.සී.ආර්. පරීක්‍ෂණ වලින් අපි සමානවන්නේ ඉතියෝපියාවට- රාජිත
10. ලෝක වෙළඳපොලේ මිල පහත ගිය නිසා දැන් තෙල් මිල අඩුකරන්න-චම්පික, හර්‌ෂ ද සිල්වා
11. කොරෝනා මැඩලන්න පුළුවන් දක්‍ෂ කණ්ඩායමක් සමඟි ජන බලවේගයේ ඉන්නවා- සුජීව සේරසිංහ
12. මැ.කො. සාමාජික හූල් ගේ හැසිරීම සවුත්තුයි- සුගත් හේවාපතිරණ, දේශප්‍රේමී එක්සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂයේ මහලේකම්
13. පාර්ලිමේන්තුවක් නැතිව කොරෝනා වසංගතයට මුහුණ දෙන ලෝකේ එකම ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී රට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවයි- හිටපු කතානායක කරු ජයසූරිය (හීතල හොරෙක්?)

මෙම රෝග ලක්‍ෂණ වලින් පෙනී යන්නේ, රටේ සිංහල බෞද්‌ධ බලවේගය විසින් ඇමෙරිකාව ප්‍රධාන අධිරාජ්‍යවාදී රටවලට එරෙහිව 2005 දී මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතාව (ඉතාමත් සුළු වැඩි චන්ද සංඛ්‍යාවකින්) දිණවූ අවස්ථාවේ සිට එම ජාතික බලවේගය යටපත්කිරීමට ක්‍රියාකර අන්තිමේදී, 2015 දී බලය අල්ලාගත් ජාතිද්‍රෝහී පිරිස, විෂ්මය ජනක ලෙස, 2019 දී ඔවුන්ට නැතිව ගිය <යහපාලන> බලය නැවත මොන අන්දමකින් හෝ ලබාගැනීම සඳහා ඇති පෙරේතකමට කොරෝනාව නමැති දොලපිදේනිය දිමට වලිකෑමේ උණකින් පෙලෙන බවය! කෙහෙල්මල් නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය හා බොරු තන්ත්‍රවාදය කොරෝනාව නමැති රෙද්දෙන් වසා ගන්නට හැදුවත් එය නග්න උත්සාහයක් බව ඉහත අංක 13 හොඳින් කියවන කළුසුද්දෙක් නොවන අයෙකුට ප්‍රත්‍යක්‍ෂ වන්නේමය.

රෝගයේ ඉතිහාසය

1. මේ යුද්ධය නම් කවදාවත් දිණන්න බෑ මිථ්‍යාව (2009 පෙර)
2. යුද අපරාධ චෝදනාව (2009 ට පසු සිට 2020, 21, 22……?)
3. සරත් ෆොන්සේකාගේ රාජයෝග මිථ්‍යාව හා රොබට් බ්ලේක්ගේ දිරච්ච ලණුව (2010 චන්දය)
4. මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ පාලනය බලයෙන් අන්දවීම නිසා සතුරාට හිල් පාදා දීම
5. මිචෙල් සිසන්ලා, රනිල්, චන්ද්‍රිකා, මංගලලා, සෝභිත හාමුදුරුවන් රවටා සිංහල බෞද්‌ධ චන්ද කඩා ගැනීම (2015)
6. මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේනට රැවටී 19 සංශොධනයට පක්‍ෂවීම (රෙයාර් අද්මිරාල් සරත් වීරසේකර හැර)
7. යහපාලනය අවපාලනයක් වීමත් සමඟ පක්‍ෂ දේශපාලන මඩ වඟුරෙන් ගෝඨාභය මතුවීම
8. ගෝඨාභය කරලියට ඒම වැලැක්‌වීමට ගත් විවිධ උත්සාහ (හිට්ලර් කෙනෙක්‌වෙයි යන භීතියක් මැවීම, මිග් ප්‍රශ්ණය, ලසන්ත වික්‍රමතුංග ප්‍රශ්ණය, යුද අපරාධ, ඇවන්ට් ගාඩ් හා පුරවැසි ප්‍රශ්ණය (ගාමිනී වියන්ගොඩ කුමන්ත්‍රණය) මඟින් අපේක්‍ෂකධූරය බකල් කිරීමේ අන්තිම සටන නොහොත් නූතන මාර යුද්‌ධය
9. හාමුදුරුවරු මැදිහත්‌ව, සුළු ජාතික චන්ද නැතිව දිණන්න බෑ යන මිථ්‍යාව ශුන්‍ය කිරීම
10. ජනාධිපතිට අධොමුඛයෙන් නොදැනම වාතයක් ගියත් එහි ඒකාධිපතිවාදී ගඳක්, ශබ්දයක් දැනීම හෝ ඇසීයාම!
11. කොරෝනාව මිලිටරි විනයකින් මැඩලීමේ උත්සාහය, නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍ය කතාවක් හරහා උසාවිය මඟින් කඩාකප්පල් කිරීමේ ප්ලෑන (නීතිය හැදූ ජේ.ආර්ලා, ප්‍රේමදාසලා, සුමන්තිරලා, ජයම්පතිලා දෙවිවරුන්ද?)

ගඳ ගැසූ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව

යහපාලනකාරයින්ට එල්ලීමට ඉතිරිව ඇති එකම පිඳුරුගහ නම්, මහජනයා විසින් ජනාධිපති චන්දය මඟින් ව්‍යංගයෙන් එලවා දමන ලද හොරු 225 ට (කීප දෙනෙක් හැර), උසාවිය මඟින් පිටිපස දොර අරවා ගෙන, ආපසු දියවන්නා හෝටලයට ඇතුළු වී කුණු හරුප කියමින්, නොමිලේ කා බී නිදා ගැනීමය. නැතිවී ගිය රක්‍ෂාව (රන් ආකරය) නැවත ලබා ගැනීමය. මොවුන්ට රට වෙනුවෙන් නීති පණවන්නට, දැණීමක්, දැකීමක් තිබෙනවාද, තිබුණාද? මෙම <ආශ්චර්යය> සිදුවීමට හොඳටම ඉඩකඩ ඇති බව පෙන්‌වාදීම මේ ලිපියෙන් කරණ අනතුරු ඇඟවීමය. මීට හේතුව, බුදු දහමේ මධ්‍යම ප්‍රතිපදාව මෙන්, කබර ගොයා තලගොයා කිරීමේ න්‍යාය බටහිර නීති විද්‍යාවේ මූලික පදනමක් වීමය. මෙය පෙන්වා දීම උසාවියට අපහාස කිරීමක් නොවේ. මේ සඳහා හොඳ හෝ නරක නඩුකාරයින්ට උපකාරවන අහිංසක නීතිවිද්‍යා (ජුරිස්ප්‍ර‌ැඩන්ස්) සංකල්පය නම් රීසනබල්නස් ඩොක්ට්‍රින් යන්නය. අවස්ථාව, කාලය, ස්ථානය, ඉතිහාසය, භූගෝල විද්‍යව, අවශ්‍යතාවය, රටක පැවැත්ම යනාදී නොයෙක් කාරණා සළකා බලා හැකිතාක් දුරට සර්‌ව සාධාරණ නිගමන වලට ඒමය. පොතේ ඇති නීතිය විග්‍රහ කිරීමය (ඉන්ටර්ප්‍රිට්). ප්‍රශ්ණය නම් නඩුකාරයින් කියන්නේද, කළු ලෝගුවක් දමා ගත් ලෝභ-ද්වේෂ-මෝහයෙන් පිරි පංචස්කන්‌ධ වීමය. ඓතිහාසිකව නම් ඒ ලෝගුවේ පිටපැත්තේ තිබෙන පොකට් එකට හේතුව නම් යම් සේවා දායකයෙකුට, නීතීඥයාට නොපෙනී, ඊට සල්ලිකාසි දැමීමටය! එහෙත් දැන් නම් උසාවියට ගියොත් දිණුවත් පරාදවී, දිණවන්නේ නීතීඥ වෘත්තියය.

පොතේ නීතිය හා ප්‍රායෝගික නීතිය (ලෝ-ඉන්-බුක් ඇන්ඩ් ලෝ-ඉන්-ඇක්‍ෂන්)

ඈල්ගෝර්-බුෂ් ජනාධිපති තරඟයේදී, 2000 වර්‍ෂයේදී, ඇමෙරිකන් සුප්‍රීම් උසාවිය බුෂ්ට පක්‍ෂව දුන් තීරණය දැඩි විවේචනයට ලක්‌විය. ඇල්ගෝර් කිව්වේ, අයි විල් ඇක්‍ෂෙප්ට්, බට් අයි විල් නොට් අග්‍රී යනුවෙනි! මෙම තීරණය දීමට මූලිකවූ ඇන්ටොනින් ස්කූලියා පසු කලෙක කියා සිටියේ එම තීරණය වැරදි බවත්, එසේ එවැනි තීරණයක් දුන්නේ රටේ යහපත සළකා, රටේ දේශපාලන අර්බුදයක් ඇතිවීම වැළැක්‌වීමට බව‌ත්‌ය. මෙය නීතියේ කාර්යක්‍ෂමතාව (එෆිකසි ඔෆ් ලෝ) පිළිඹඳ ප්‍රශ්ණයක් මිස, ලංකාවේ සුප්‍රිම් උසාවිය, ජනාධිපති සිරිසේන විසින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවූ අවස්ථාවේ දුන් තීරණය වැන්නක් නොවේ. ඉන්දියාවේ තීන්දු, පුස්කෑ නීති පොත් වල වාක්‍ය යනාදිය භාවිතා කරමින් උසාවිය කබරගොයා, තලගොයා කලේය.

එම නඩුවේ පැහැදිලිවම පෙනීගිය කරුණක් නම් සුමන්තිරන්-ජයම්පති වික්‍රමරත්න යනාදීන් විසින්, පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ගොන් රැළ නිදි කිරණ මහරෑ, සුප්‍රිම් උසාවියද රවටා 19 සංශොධනය පාස්කරගත් බවය. බලතල බෙදීම කියන න්‍යාය යටතේ සිතුවත්, පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ජනමත විචාරණයකින් තොරව සිය ධූර කාලය පිළිඹඳව වෙනසක් කල නොහැකිය. යම් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවක් පිස්සන් කොටුවක් නම් එය පාලනය කරන්නේ කවුද? මේ ගැන දෙවතාවක්ම උසාවිය ඊට කලින් කියා තිබියදීත්, උසාවිය රවටන්නට, 70(1) වන වගන්තියට අමතරව අළුතෙන් 33 (2) (සී) වගන්තියක් ඇතුලත් කරණ ලදී. මේ වගන්තිය දැමීමට හේතුව වශයෙන් උසාවිය දුන් තීරණය ලැජ්ජා සහගතය. උසාවියේ නිදහසට කරුණ වූයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව පැණවූ නීතියක හරි වැරදි බලන්නට තමන්ට නීතිමය බලයක් නැතිය කියාය. උසාවිය, මෙම ක්‍රියාව මඟින් ලංකාවට කල හානිය සුළු පටු නොවේ. නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය කියන්නේ කෙස් පැලෙන තර්‌ක වලට නොවේ. (මේ සම්බන්‌ධයෙන් මීට පෙර ලියූ ලිපියක ලින්ක් එක: GIGO: garbage in – garbage out = 19th Amendment.
https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2018/11/30/gigo-garbage-in-a-garbage-out-a-19th-amendment/ )

අවුරුදු හතරහමාරක් යනතුරු පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවන්නට ජනාධිපතිට බලයක් නැතැයි 2018 දෙසැම්බර් වල දුන් තීන්දුව මෙන්, ජූනි 2 කට පෙර අළුත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කැඳවන්නට නොහැකිනම් පරණ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවමින් ජනාධිපති නිකුත්කල ගැෂට් නියෝගය අහෝසිවී යනවා යන තර්‌කය විහිළුවක් සේ බැලූ බැල්මට පෙණුනත්, සුප්‍රීම් උසාවියට එය ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයේ උත්තරීතර අවස්ථාවක් සේ පෙනෙන්නට හොඳටම ඉඩකඩ ඇත. මීට හේතුව 2009 ප්‍රභාකරණ් විනාශයේ සිටම ඇමෙරිකාවේ අවශ්‍යතාවය වූයේ 13 සංශොධනය හරහා ලංකාව දෙකට කැඩීම වීමය. මේ සඳහා ඩොලර් වලට කල හැකි හැමදේම ලංකාවේ ඔවුන් කරන්නේ, ලෝකයේ වෙන රටවලද මේවා කරන්නේ යුද හමුදා නිලධාරීන්, නඩුකාරයින් හරහා වීමය. ලංකාවේ අධිකරණ ක්‍රමයට, නීති සංගමයට, මුදල් ආධාර දීම, නඩුකාරයින් සමඟ තානාපති නිලධාරීන් සාකච්චා පැවැත්‌වීම, රංජන් රාමනායකලා භාවිතා කිරීම, තානාපතිලා නඩුකාරයින්ට කිසි බයක්, චකිතයක් නැතිව නඩු ගැන උපදෙස් දෙමින් ලියුම් යැවීම, සුප්‍රිම් උසාවි නඩුකාරයින්ට විරුද්‌ධව නාගානන්ද කොඩිතුවක්කුගේ නඩු, සමහර නඩුකාරයින් ක්‍රිස්තියානී මූලධ‌ර්‍ම වාදීන් යන සැකය, බොදු බල සේනා ඥානසාර හිමියන්ගේ නඩුවේදී ඇපැල් උසාවිය හා සුප්‍රිම් උසාවිය නීති විරෝධී ලෙස ක්‍රියාකිරීම යන මේ තොරතුරු ඉදිරියේ, ලෝක මට්ටමෙන් සිතන විට සුමන්තිරන්-මනෝ ගනේෂන් තර්‌කය දිණන්නට හොඳටම ඉඩ ඇත. ඉන් රටේ ජනයාට මුහුණ දෙන්නට වන දුක ගැන සිතන ජාත්‍යාලය ඇති ඇන්ටොනින් ස්කූලා ලංකාවේ ඉන්නවාද?

2018 සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිට විරුද්‌ධව දුන් තීන්‌දුවේදී මුළු ලංකා විරෝධී බටහිර ලෝකය හා අල්ජසීරා, බීබීසී, සී.එන්.එන්, නිව්‌යෝර්ක් ටයිම්ස් යන ආයතන උදම් ඇණූ ආකාරය ගැන සිතන විට ප්‍රජා-තන්ත්‍ර-වාදය (නාස්ලණුවාදය), නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය යනු සුරංගනා කතා බව පෙනේ. මේ යුද්‌ධය නම් දිණන්න බෑ කියූ කළු සුද්දන් පිරිස රනිල් ආපසු අගමැතිවීම සැළකුවේ ප්‍රභාකරන් ආපසු අරලියගහ මන්දිරයට ආවා සේය. මේ පිරිස සිතන්නේ ගෝඨාභය දමණය සුප්‍රිම් උසාවියේ ප්‍රාණ 7 ක් 9 ක් හරහා ලබාගත හැකිය කියාය. කොරෝනාවෙන් රට ඉගෙන ගනිමින් ඉන්නා පාඩම නම් මේ සමස්ත ක්‍රමයම අතුගා නොදමා රටට ගැලවීමක් නැතිය යනුය. පන්සල හා යුද හමුදාව එක්ව ගම් මට්ටමින් රට සෝදා පිරිසිදු කල යුතුය යන්න යටපත් කල නොහැකි ආදර්‍ශ පාඨයක් වෙමින් පවතී. ලක්‍ෂ 69 ක තීරණය (මුන් 225 ම එපා), උසාවියක දුසිමකට අවලංගු කල හැකිද? ගෝඨාභය ඉඩම් නඩුවක විත්තිකරුවෙක් නොවේ. ඔහු ලක්‍ෂ 69 යේ පැතුම් හා හඬය. කිසිසේත් පරණ 225 යළි කැඳවන්නේ නෑ කියන්නේ ගෝඨාභය මේ ආයතනය සතුරෙක් ලෙස සළකන නිසා නොව රටේ ජනයා එසේ සිතූ/සිතන නිසාය.

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

The Sunday Times Political Editor wrote in his weekly column on 19^th April said that {President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa did not go to Medamulana this year to celebrate Avurudu (New Year) with his brothers and instead he held several meetings in Colombo on measures to be taken to curtail the spread of the Corona Virus, steps to be taken to ease the economic hardships of the people and on opening up the country for economic revival.   

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa discussed revitalizing the economy while containing the COVID-19 crisis with Principal Advisor to the President Lalith Weeratunga in an interview recently. Following are excerpts:

Q: Ayubowan, Your Excellency! are you satisfied with the course of action the State has taken over the past few months to suppress COVID-19 virus from spreading? As you have a good understanding of the progress of this course of action, I would appreciate an analysis from you in this regard.

From the labourer in the health sector’s lowest rank to Public Health Inspectors, nurses, specialist doctors, and other officers have rendered a huge service to control this virus. The Tri-Forces, Police, Intelligence units too are contributing tirelessly to these efforts. At the same time, it has been the commitment of the public servants including secretaries to ministries, district, and divisional secretaries that have ensured an uninterrupted continuation of essential services. 

Today, the reason we have managed to keep the situation under control is because of this difficult undertaking by all these personalities. I must also thank our citizens for bearing up with these difficult times. 

The first case of the coronavirus or COVID-19 was reported from Wuhan in China in December 2019. The Chinese Government understood the seriousness of this virus by mid-January and warned the world about it. 

This presented us with the challenge of bringing back 34 Sri Lankans studying in Wuhan and their immediate families. We then sent a special flight to China on 1 February to bring them back. As soon as they landed, they were subject to a carefully organised quarantine program in the Diyatalawa Army Camp. Thereby, we ensured that this virus did not enter our country.

I, as the President of this country and my Administration, understood the danger of this epidemic early on and took decisive steps to control it. On 26 January itself, under my leadership as the President, the National Task Force was established bringing the Health Ministry, Tri-Forces, Police, Intelligence, and other related disciplines together. Their primary task was to advise the Government on the steps to control the epidemic. 

On 27 January, the first COVID-19 patient was identified from Sri Lanka. She was a Chinese tourist. Even at that time, we observed that this virus had already spread to countries like Iran and South Korea where a large number of Sri Lankans were working. As many Sri Lankans were returning from these countries, there was a danger of this virus entering the country through them. Accordingly, we decided on 10 February that it is imperative for those arriving from Italy, South Korea and Iran to be quarantined in a quarantine centre. 

On 16 February, we decided that everyone who arrives in Sri Lanka must be quarantined. On 12 March, we closed every school, university, and education centre for vacations for if one child got infected, it can easily spread among the other children. While the schools and universities were physically closed, we established a separate Task Force to facilitate distance learning

By 18 March, we have decided to ban all arrivals from Airports.

 However, the administration sympathized with the 900 pilgrims who got stranded in India. Thus, a special flight was sent to bring them back home. They were also sent to a quarantine centre. The first ‘Work from Home’ week for public servants was declared on 20 March to 27 March. The reason for this was the all-island curfew that was imposed on 20 March. 

The Chinese lady who was found infected with the virus on 27 January made a complete recovery and left for China on 19 February. Thereafter, the next patient, the first Sri Lankan was identified on 11 March. He was admitted to the IDH. Since then, almost every day new patients were identified. Out of them, 38 were those who had come from abroad and were already in quarantine centres. Since then, another 79 from quarantine centres had been tested positive for COVID-19. We also found another 139 outside quarantine centres, who had got infected in various ways. 

Q: Your Excellency, you have a piece of very comprehensive knowledge about the State machinery. You just explained with the timeline the steps taken to contain this crisis. It is clear to us that the administration has tackled this issue with awareness. I would like to ask you, what steps does the Government take when a person tests positive for COVID-19?

I receive a lot of data daily. I make my decisions based upon them. The Chief of Intelligence plays a major role in this process together with me. Since we had a proper mechanism from the beginning to control the spread of the virus, we have all the information about infected people. We can identify early how he was infected, what are the places he visited, who he associated with as well as who are vulnerable to be infected. This way we can send them for quarantine on time.

Discovering patients outside quarantine centres later shows that infected people had arrived in Sri Lanka even before this process began. Also, people had come from countries such as Indonesia. We have been able to identify them only after they had come to hospitals with symptoms. If someone shows signs of corona we send that person to IDH hospital and conduct PCR examination. Once we identify a patient, we send his family members, people who he associated with and people in the areas where he visited for quarantine.

We examine all the information about the person such as how he was infected, from whom he was infected. This method is called contact tracing. After identifying the infected will be sent to a hospital. People who he had associated will be separated from the rest and send to quarantine centres. Those who had a distant relationship with the infected will be subjected to self-quarantine. Public Health Officers and the Police visit these people at their homes. 

If there is a threat that a large number of people to be infected we will have to isolate the area they live in. Most cases currently being reported are from these kinds of groups. We have been able to minimise the community transmission of the disease. This is due to the fact that we identify the infected earlier and direct for the quarantine process. I have read some articles which stated that Sri Lanka was successful in controlling the spread with the method of contact tracing with the support of Intelligence Services.

Q:  Your Excellency, although social distancing prevented people from getting infected with this deadly disease, there is a notion in society that people have to face numerous hardships due to the ongoing curfew. We saw how people gathered in large flocks to purchase essential food items and medicine when the curfew was lifted. We witnessed how you were moved by this. How do you see this situation?

We are all aware that the current curfew has an impact on day-to-day life. But we as a nation have to battle against an invisible enemy. We knew that people will face the issue of storing food once the curfew is imposed. Hence, the Government took several people-friendly decisions. We especially took measures to reduce the price of dhal and tinned fish, two very common food items in the country. We knew beforehand that imposing curfew was imminent. 

The Government took every possible measure to ensure the continuation of several sectors such as agriculture, which has a direct impact on the life of the people. We have granted permission to the farmers in Ampara, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, and other areas to continue their agricultural activities. We know many daily wage earners and self-employed people have been badly hit. That is why the Government took measures to grant Rs. 5,000 to them. 

We set up a task force under Mr. Basil Rajapaksa to look into the matters of the people during the curfew period and provide solutions to them. The Government took several measures to ensure maintaining normalcy in civilian life. Salaries were paid on time. Loan installments were suspended. Pensioners were paid on time. People were also exempted from payments of loan installments. The daily wage-earners were given many facilities. The entire country is aware of these steps.

Furthermore, those who earn a daily income as three-wheeler drivers, school van drivers, and bus drivers were provided with concessions on payment of the lease. We have also provided assistance to private companies that we’re unable to pay wages to their employees. Such benefits were given to the people who were faced with economic difficulties.

It is true that there were some difficulties. We are carrying out these tasks amidst those difficulties. Hence, I appeal not to make use of those difficulties in order to achieve some other objectives. Although there are criticisms against the public service, I believe we have been able to provide these services because of the ability of the State sector.

Q: Now Your Excellency will have to take a fresh look at the economy. When you presented the ‘Saubhagyaye Dekma’ (Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour), your economic strategies were outlined in it. If we had continued to work on those strategies, we could have reached someplace. Now, we have to think again about new strategies. The entire country is waiting to see what the Government led by the President will do now. This is an issue affecting our people. Could you explain your new vision?

Several spheres of our economy have been badly hit. Now, after a period of one month, we have to think as to how the economy could be revived. Areas such as tourism, small and medium industries, the apparel industry, and others that earned foreign exchange have faced severe setbacks due to the coronavirus. This is a good opportunity for us to change economic strategy and direct it towards the indigenous economy. In the past, we have imported even the goods that could be locally produced. Now we cannot only be self-sufficient in agriculture, but we can also export our agricultural products to other countries.

When the economies of all the countries collapse, our economy too will collapse. Even if we bring our economy to a satisfactory level through systematic measures, we will still face difficulties unless the global economy becomes normal.

Let us take the tourism sector as an example. We especially welcome many European tourists, but now we do not know when they will be able to come. This is a good opportunity for us to think new and see what countries would recover first from this crisis. We have to think about how we could attract tourists from those countries to visit us. 

Similarly, we may have to seek new markets for our exports. This is also a good opportunity to produce the protective clothing required in the health sector. Information technology is a sector that would continue unhindered. That is also a sector that could treble our export income while generating employment in the country. Food security is of immense importance. The entire world is keen to achieve food security. This is a good opportunity for us not only to be self-sufficient in food but also to export food items.

Then, there is the issue of increasing the income of farmers. This is a good opportunity for that. One is to introduce new technology to farmers. This is a good chance for us to introduce the latest agricultural technology to farmers and improve this sector. We can bring new technology and encourage the youth to enter the farming sector and develop agriculture-based industries. This is a good opportunity to build an indigenous economy.

This is a break to start farming every day. Public sector entities have large extents of State land. These companies are making losses. They must become profit-making ventures. There are also loss-making tea estates. We must ensure that these would become profit-making companies. We must make them efficient. They must grow in every unused cultivable land. They must also grow new crops under traditional crops.

We must be happy about the history of our Tea Board. It has, for the first time in history, conducted an online tea auction using modern technology. We have these types of indigenous economic models. We must change our strategies. We must seek new markets and develop them. 

Q: There are no foreign flights coming now. The airport has been closed. There are many Sri Lankans living in countries like India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia, England and Belarus waiting to come to Sri Lanka. What are the steps that could be taken regarding them?

There is a plan for that. It has been prepared to take into consideration the priorities of those who want to come back to the country. The first priority is to get the students. A plan has been set in motion. They will have to undergo a PCR test at the airport. 

After the PCR test, they will be sent to quarantine centers. Measures have been taken to ensure that nobody will get infected or infect others. However, we can bring only a limited number in a day. We have examined and prioritized them. We have already sought permission from those countries because their airports have also been closed. We have asked for our aircraft to land and once the permission is granted we bring them to the country.

Q: You have always expressed interest in preventing the economy from collapsing and bringing back normalcy to public life. What steps you will implement towards this end?

We have always taken into consideration the impact on the economy and the people when curfew has been imposed to keep the people indoors. We have discussed with economic experts, senior officials of the Central Bank, industrialists, and leading businessmen with sound knowledge on the economy and take these decisions. We have considered the requirement to contain the virus and the requirements when the country is opened again and balanced them in accordance with the situation and taken these decisions. 

We examined the areas in which the patients were detected. We did not lift the curfew in Puttalam, Gampaha, Colombo, and Kalutara. In certain areas, we tried to limit the closure to Police divisions. But in certain areas, it could not be limited to Police divisions. We have imposed curfew in entire districts to cover those affected areas. In some districts, there isn’t a single patient. In some districts, there are one or two. They too have been infected during their visits abroad. We can easily open those districts. That is why we decided to lift curfew in certain districts. We took this decision in order to give an opportunity to open the industries. This was also done to ensure the transport of local agricultural products.

The public sector has been closed down for one month. The public sector has a big responsibility for providing services to the public. We have lifted curfew not for the people to travel unnecessarily. We can get the maximum benefit from the steps taken by the Government, health authorities, and the Police if the people act with responsibility. We have seen in media about the instances of curfew violations by some people. Some people have been detained. Vehicles have been confiscated. I urge with the responsibility to adhere to the instructions given by the health authorities. The threat of the virus is not over. We have managed and controlled it. But we need the support of the people to continue this process.

Q: Your Excellency, so far we have discussed the steps taken to control the spread of new coronavirus, the results thereof, the effects of the virus on the public and the economy, and the short-term remedial measures. Some people ask, why can’t this be delayed further?

The Western Province contributes more than 50% of our economy. The economic experts are of the view that if we delay this further, the economy will face a massive problem. The daily wage earners in society have been very badly affected. Hence, we decided to take this measure. I would like to extend the closure for another month if possible. But we had to make a grave decision. What will happen if a country is completely closed for a month?

If there are certain doubts about the opening up this time, the people will be able to remove those doubts. Why did we impose curfew? It was to ensure social distancing. If people take responsibility and adhere to these regulations, we will not have to face any problems. Now the Police and Tri-Forces have been deployed in Colombo District to control this situation. Earlier they were spread across the country. But I instructed the Defence Secretary to ensure that the situation remains under control as it was during the war and ensure that people would not make unnecessary visits and that they act in a disciplined manner.

Q: Your Excellency, When considering the long-term aspect, there should be a stable government. The Election Commission states that although the Parliamentary Polls scheduled were to be held on 25 April with the aim of successful completion of all these initiatives, it will not be possible to hold the elections on the scheduled day. What is your point of view in this regard? 

I won the Presidential Election held on 16 November 2019 with a very clear mandate of 6.9 million votes. I have presented a manifesto called ‘Rata Hadana Saubhagyaye Dekma’ to the people. The majority of the people in this country have democratically elected their President to implement that manifesto. Even though the people had approved my vision for the country, I had to work with the Parliament elected in August 2015. That Parliament did not represent the present public opinion. Since there was no majority in Parliament, I had to form a minority government. 

When I took office as President, there was no budget passed for the year 2020. The previous Government was ruling the country through a Vote on Account. At that time, the country was already facing a major economic crisis. A new budget or else an interim budget was needed to implement my policies as people expected. As we promised, to allocate more funds to develop the fields of education, technology, and agriculture, to generate new employment opportunities, to rebuild the collapsed economy, the Government needs to possess the ability of handling finance.   

This is why I decided to dissolve the Parliament on 2 March at the first time I got the opportunity to do so according to the powers vested in me by the Constitution, and to hold an election on 25 April and to call the new Parliament on 14 May with the aim of depicting the true public opinion. Accordingly, the Election Commission was vested with the complete freedom and power necessary to conduct an independent election. The foremost obligation and duty of the Election Commission is to ensure the supremacy of the people by holding elections at the right time while respecting the democratic right of the people to elect their representatives by a vote. But all of you know that the Election Commission has taken steps to postpone the election indefinitely in view of the current epidemic situation.

According to the Constitution, the new Parliament should meet within three months after the dissolution of the Parliament. Consequently, the last date for the new Parliament to be convened is 2 June. It is the independent Election Commission that has to decide the date on which the elections will be held. The Independent Election Commission has the right to hold the election appropriately under the present circumstances. If they want, they can take several days for the election.

The Election Commission has wide powers regarding holding elections under the current constitution. I am not ready to pressurise the independent Election Commission to hold or postpone elections. I have done everything so far constitutionally and have announced the date for the new Parliament to be convened. Unless a new Parliament is elected by 2 June, I will not be able to summon it. It has to be done on a future date. Nevertheless, for whatever reason, I will not be able to recall the old Parliament. I don’t even have a legal right to do that.

To date, my Government has taken all the necessary steps to curb the new coronavirus. A number of groups including all the major parties in the country have submitted their nominations correctly for the election. Therefore, the responsibility of holding the elections is now with the Independent Election Commission. The Government has given it all the legislative support it needed in this regard. I am ready to call the new Parliament once the election is over and MPs are elected.

Q: Your Excellency, at the moment various Opposition groups are issuing statements to the effect that there is no environment to hold the elections and the Parliamentary Elections should be further postponed. They do not even state when it should be held. What is your opinion on this?

Today, the people have the opportunity to understand the disguised motives of those who dream that the country could be taken into a constitutional crisis by continuous calling for the postponement of the election. I remind everyone at this point that there is no special legal issue as to what the country needs and how it can be done and it is constitutionally very clear what should be done and who has the ultimate responsibility.

I hope to fulfill the promises made to the people by implementing policies included in the ‘Rata Hadana Saubhagyaye Dekma’ while successfully facing the threat of the new coronavirus which has brought the whole world to its knees. I expect all of you, who love the country, to render your valuable and necessary support in this regard.

UNICEF says that Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa is the leader who is very close to the hearts of children. UNICEF has initiated a program to enlighten the children of under 18 years of age about the Corona Virus.  Under this program, children are requested to send their queries on Corona Virus in a voice tape of a maximum of 10 seconds to Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s official Facebook account and for which Mr. Rajhapaksa would respond via his Facebook account.

 

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

EDB of Sri Lanka should offer Trinco Harbour facility to park oil rigs and oil tankers to generate foreign income 

A request to investigate thas been  sent to SLPA and to the Task Force 

IMPACT OF COVID-19 

Due to the adverse effect of Covid 19 virus to the economy of the countries in Asia. Africa and the Middle East, there will be an enforced lull period in Oil Exploration leading to vessel /drillships being laid up for longer periods until

the global economy recovers. Sri Lanka, having established effective control of Corona spread 

WHY TRINCOMALEE

The location of where to lay a vessel/ rig is essential to ensure its safety and protection with the following conditions considered. The location of where to lay up a vessel/rig is essential to ensure its safety and protection with the following conditions considered. 

1.​The lay-up site should be well sheltered from heavy wind, strong current and swell.

2.​The seabed characteristics should be such as to provide adequate anchor holding power.

3.​The sea bed should be free from obstructions, wreckage or other projecting objects.

4.​The depth at the site should give sufficient clearance

5.​Mooring  bollards of sufficient strength should be placed such to ensure proper lead

Trincomalee, is a natural deep-water harbour, is ranked as the 2nd best natural harbour in the world and is the only one of its kind in the Indian Ocean that is accessible to all types of crafts in various weather conditions.  

SCOPE AND BENEFITS 

Few companies are already involved in providing such facilities in Sri Lanka, in harbours such as Hambantota and Trincomalee. There are numerous inquiries from various operators worldwide requesting the lay-up facilities in Sri Lanka,

Health authorities can also impose a premium charge for treating and patients among the crew. Hotel Industry in the vicinity can also benefit by providing isolated facilities for Quarantine of the crew for a minimum period of 14/21 days. Insurance companies too can sell their products to the operators to cover such expenses.

Several oil exploration and drilling contracts have been suspended and in some cases vessels have not been able to find berthing facilities due to some ports having been placed under quarantine. 

SRI LANKA  AND ITS UNIQUE POSITION TO TAKE THIS EMERGING TIMELY BUSINESS 

Sri Lanka possesses the following key criteria to win the lay-up business opportunities from international vessel owners for short, mid and long-term lay-ups;

– Sheltered from open seas (e.g. Trincomalee Port/Inner Anchorage,

– Minimal tidal currents.

– Good holding grounds for anchors

– Free and open outside of a typhoon/cyclone belt.

– Sri Lankan lay-up locations (Trincomalee, Hambantota, etc) are located closer to major shipping routes – enables quick reactivation when business commences

– Sri Lankan service providers are equipped with all critical engineering, vessel husbandry, crew management, bunkering, repairs, servicing, inspection and certification, etc to cater to all kinds of lay-ups.

– Sri Lanka ability to give any vessel the best Security and Safety coverage

– Sri Lanka already has 100% Sri Lankan own companies able to provide all the lay-up services to international marine assets with experience and good track record.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera
CEO Walkers Colombo Shipyard
Colombo
Sri Lanka

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Curfew in Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara and Puttlam districts will continue to remain until May 04 while curfew in all other districts will be relaxed from April 27, the President’s Media Division said.

Accordingly, it said the curfew in Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara and Puttlam districts will be in force until 5.00 am on Monday, May 04.

Curfew in all other districts will be lifted at 5.00 am on Monday, April 27 and will be re-imposed at 8.00 pm on the same day.
 
Thereafter, the curfew in these districts will be in effect between 8.00 pm to 5.00 am every day until further notice.
  
The regulations have also be relaxed to open state and private companies from May 04 in Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara and Puttlam districts despite the curfew which could be in force.

All the state departments, corporations, statuary boards and private sector industries, working places, fish, vegetables and retail stores can also be operated under strict regulations.

The private sector entities should open to work at 10.00 am daily. The head of each organization has the freedom to decide who should report to work and the number of employees.

Only 1/3rd of the total workforce of the state organizations should report to work. All the employees of the state sector who are not required to report for work should work from home. 

The responsibility to decide who should come to office and who should work from home lies with the head of the companies.

These organizations should strictly follow the Coronavirus prevention measures endorsed by health authorities. 

Meanwhile, the PMD said public transport would only be allowed for the use of people who are travelling for work while others should stay at home.

People are permitted to go out only to buy medicines or essential goods to the places closest to their residence.Moreover, all schools, universities, tuition classes, other educational institutions and cinema halls should be kept closed until further notice.Earlier, the schools were scheduled to be opened on May 11.Meanwhile, the PMD said movement across Districts would only be permitted for essential services.All kinds of functions, pilgrimages, trips, meetings etc have been banned until further notice and religious leaders are requested to ban observances and events at places of worship.The Government requested the people to be humble enough to bear the inconveniences when implementing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. “Strick action will be taken against anyone who disrupts the well-being of the people and the society,” the PMD said.

Courtesy Adaderana

Three new persons have been confirmed to have contracted the novel coronavirus according to test results, says the Ministry of Health.

With 32 new cases reported today (25), the country’s total number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 452.

Sri Lanka reports 118 recoveries and 7 fatalities from the novel coronavirus.

According to the Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry, 315 patients are currently under medical care.

The country saw the highest daily total of positive cases on Friday (24) with 52 coronavirus cases including 30 from the Welisara Navy Camp.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has briefed the Maha Sangha on the measures taken by the Government to control the spread of COVID-19 virus and the progress made so far, the President’s Media Division (PMD) says. 

During a meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (24), the President has explained about the control of the spread, quarantine process, reliefs granted to people and future measures to revive the national economy.

The support rendered by every segment of the society including health, security and the entire state mechanism in the face of current challenges is enormous, President has said.

The President, stressing the necessity of a strong Parliament to fulfil the aspirations of the people bestowed on him with the landslide victory, has said that there are no Constitutional powers to reconvene the old Parliament but to convene a new one.

President also noted that he expects to meet Maha Sangha regularly on the third Friday of every month.

Nayaka Theros of all three Chapters have said that they approve the conduct of the President and the Government.

Stating that the country should not be put in jeopardy by reconvening the old Parliament, Maha Sangha unanimously agreed with the decision not to convene the dissolved legislature.

Ven. Niyangoda Vijithasiri Thero has emphasized that the previous Parliament should take the responsibility for the current financial crisis in the country, the PMD said.

Ven. Thrikunamale Ananda Thero, the Maha Nayaka of the Amarapura Sri Dharmarakshitha Chapter has said that when looking at the initiatives taken by the President to prevent the spread of coronavirus as well as for the future, it is clear that there is a new vision being implemented in the country.

Ven. Prof. Medagoda Abayathissa Thero was of the view that the measures implemented by the President to prevent the spread of the coronavirus could be an example for other countries in the world. The young generation of the country and other various groups have invented many new products. This is a golden opportunity for a better future”, the Thero further said. He also said that the Maha Sangha of the country will always support the steps being taken by the President.

Ven. Prof. Indugare Dhammarathana Thero presented a set of proposals comprising 12 points to make the island secure.

Ven. Dr. Diviyagala Yasassi Thero and Ven. Prof. TubulleSeelakkanada Thero pointed out the importance of creating an environment to celebrate the Vesak festival using electronic media while staying home. A decision was reached to appoint a Committee on the matter.

Maha Nayaka of the Asgiriya Chapter Most Ven. Wendaruwe Upali Thero said that the steps taken by the President to feed the hungry including the beggars are commendable.

The Maha Nayaka Theros and Anu Nayaka Theros representing the Tri-Nikayas and Maha Sangha participated in this meeting, the PMD said further.

Courtesy Adaderana

Ongoing curfew in Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara and Puttalam districts will continue until 5.00 am on the 4th of May, the President’s Media Division (PMD) announced.

In a press release, the PMD stated that the curfew in all other districts will be lifted at 5.00 am on Monday (27) and re-imposed at 8.00 pm on the same day.

Curfew in these districts will be relaxed between 5.00 am and 8.00 pm every day until the 1st of May.

However, the curfew in Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara and Puttalam districts will be eased from May 4 in order to facilitate the functioning of public and private sector institutions.

Departments, corporations and statutory boards under the purview of the government, as well as private sector factories, building constructions, other work places, vegetable/fish grocery stores will be permitted to remain open.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

කොවිඩ් 19 වසංගතය හමුවේ රට තුළ පවතින තත්ත්වය සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් පක්ෂ විපක්ෂ දේශපාලනඥයින් අදහස් පළ කළා

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

මෙරටින් වාර්තා වූ කොවිඩ් 19 හෙවත් නව කොරෝනා ආසාදිතයින් සංඛ්‍යාව 452 දක්වා ඉහළ ගොස් තිබෙනවා.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවෙන් අද දිනයේ මේවන විට වාර්තාවී ඇති ආසාදිතයන් සංඛ්‍යාව 32ක්.

මෙරටින් හඳුනාගෙන ඇති වෛරස් ආසාදිතයන් 452 අතරින් 327ක් රෝහල්ගතව ප්‍රතිකාර ලබමින් පසුවනවා.

එසේම, අද දිනයේ 9 දෙනෙකු ද ඇතුළුව ආසාදිතයින් 118 දෙනෙකු මේ වනවිට සුවය ලබා රෝහලෙන් පිටව ගොස් ඇති බවයි සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යංශය නිවේදනය කළේ.

මෙරටින් වාර්තාවී ඇති මරණ සංඛ්‍යාව 7ක්.

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane 

Today, about 21% of the global population are in the so-called Western industrialized countries and 79% in developing countries. This small % of excessively greedy white men of the Western industrialized consume about 80% of the world’s natural resources and are also responsible for the production of about 80% of all waste and pollutants in the world. Therefore, it is clear who is the biggest enemy of the earth, and of humanity. Nearly 70 percent of the accumulated emissions of carbon dioxide in the last 50 years have come from the excessive consumption of energy of industrial countries. Carbon dioxide emissions are among the main culprits of global warming, now threatening the stability of people and ecological processes all over the world, particularly in tropical developing countries.

Besides global warming, the greatest environmental challenges faced by humanity today, are nuclear war, biotechnology, genetic engineering, cell and tissue culture technologies aimed at modifying living organisms, including animals and plant life, in addition to artificial intelligence and ever-sophisticated algorithms are tapping into our values, habits, tastes, desires and the very thought patterns that define us — all to control how we shop, what we read, and whom we vote for. The notion of free will is defunct. With the rise of Big Data algorithms, it becomes increasingly easy to hack humans, manipulate their feelings, and control their desires. It means an external system can know you better than you know yourself. It can predict your choices and decisions. It can manipulate your emotions, and it can sell you anything, whether a product or a politician. Previously in history, the most important resource was land, the natural environment. Now data is the most important resource. Politics is becoming the struggle to control data, and the future belongs to those who monopolize the data. One of the biggest political questions of our era is. How do you regulate the ownership of data?

If we consider the long history of colonialism, slavery, abuse, exploitation, and misery that, for centuries, have been imposed on developing countries by the main industrial nations, we could conclude in a gigantic environmental, economic and social debt, with which industrial countries have so far got away with. Environmental devastation is directly related to international economic and political relationships. The depletion of resources, and the environmental and social costs involved, are deliberately ignored by the established economic system in the West. Developing countries are the most affected by the growing social and environmental damages derived from decades of imposition of the established international economic order. Most of their economies are based on the ruthless exploitation of both people and natural resources, to feed industrial processes mainly driven by industrial nations. The interpretation that the population growth in developing countries is the culprit of worldwide environmental damage is a total fallacy. Such interpretations are at the bottom of foreign policies of industrial nations, as part of the overall attempt to preserve the established international economic order, regardless of how profoundly unfair it may be too much of humanity.

Nearly three-quarters of all people in developing countries are already below the poverty line. Over 14 million children, under the age of 5, die each year from hunger, thirst, malnutrition, or from easily curable or preventable diseases. An average of 26 children per minute. At the same time, nearly 14 million hectares of natural tropical forests are destroyed every year, also in tropical developing countries. 

Massive and irreversible destruction, mainly due to the expansion of the agricultural frontier, in order to accommodate growing numbers of people in extreme poverty, practicing survival agriculture. The growing numbers of people involved are not only due to the increase in population. It is mainly driven by rampant unemployment and a dramatic economic impoverishment.

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane                                             daya.hewapathirane@gmail.com