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A total of 622 passengers who had arrived from coronavirus-affected countries such as Italy, South Korea, and Iran have been directed to the quarantine facilities in the country since yesterday (10).
Chairman of Airport & Aviation Services (AASL) G. A. Chandrasiri mentioned this at a press conference held this morning (11).
Four students from the University of Sri Jayawardenepura have been arrested over the alleged ragging incident which resulted in critical injuries to a first-year student at the university, stated the Police.
On March 05, Pasindhu Lakshan, a first-year student at the University of Sri Jayawardenapura was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Colombo National Hospital over injuries in an incident at the university premises.
The elder brother of the student claimed that senior students at the university had pushed a tractor tire at his brother which had resulted in critical internal injuries to his head. Reportedly, the incident had caused injuries to the student’s brain.
According to Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University Prof. Sudantha Liyanage, the final party marking the end of the ragging season had been held on March 05 and students had stayed back at the university premises until about 1 am.
Police had identified three students for being involved in the tire incident, and the Acting Vice-Chancellor stated that their studentship will be completely revoked if they are found guilty of the incident.
සමගි ජන බලවේගය වෙනම පක්ෂයක් ලෙස ගොඩනැගීමට කෘත්යාධිකාරි මණ්ඩලයේ අනුමැතිය හිමි නොවූ බව එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී වජිර අබේවර්ධන අද ප්රකාශ කළා.
ඒ, සිරිකොත පක්ෂ මූලස්ථානයේ අද පැවති මාධ්ය හමුවකට එක්වෙමින්.
කෙසේ වෙතත් ඊයේ කෑගල්ලේදි ජන හමුවක් අමතමින් සමගි ජනබලවේගයේ නායක සජිත් ප්රේමදාස කියා සිටියේ සමගි ජනබලවේගය මෙන්ම එහි නායකත්වයද තමාට ලබාගැනීම සඳහා කෘත්යාධිකාරී මණ්ඩලයේ අනුමැතිය හිමිවූ බවයි.
මේ අතර සමගි ජනබලවේගයේ පක්ෂ කාර්යාලයේදී අද පැවති මාධ්ය හමුවකට එක්වෙමින් හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී ආචාර්ය හර්ෂ ද සිල්වා කියා සිටියේ සමගි ජනබලවේගය ඉදිරි මහ මැතිවරණයට අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම දුරකථනය ලකුණ යටතේ තරග කරන බවයි.
මේ අතර පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී සුජීව සේනසිංහ සම්බන්ධයෙන් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ කෘත්යාධිකාරී මණ්ඩල සාමාජිකයෙකු වන ප්රියන්ත පත්බේරියද අද සිරිකොත පක්ෂ මූලස්ථානයේ පැවති මාධ්ය හමුවකදී අදහස් පළ කළා.
ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණෙන් එල්ලවන විවේචන හමුවේ ඉදිරි මහ මැතිවරණයට වෙනම තරග කිරීම පිළිබඳව නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ අවධානය යොමුව ඇති බව වයඹ පළාත් හිටපු ආණ්ඩුකාර පේෂල ජයරත්න පවසනවා.
පොළොන්නරුව ශ්රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ කාර්යාලයේ අද පැවති මාධ්ය හමුවකට එක්වෙමින් ඔහු මේ බව සඳහන් කළා.
මේ අතර කුරුණෑගල – හෙට්ටිපොල ප්රදේශයේදී මාධ්ය වෙත අදහස් දක්වමින් ශ්රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ මහ ලේකම් දයාසිරි ජයසේකර කියා සිටියේ තම පක්ෂයට එල්ලවන විවේචන වහා නතර විය යුතු බවයි.
කෙසේ වෙතත් ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ බත්තරමුල්ල ප්රධාන කාර්යාලයේ අද කැඳවා තිබූ මාධ්ය හමුවකට එක්වෙමින් හිටපු රාජ්ය අමාත්ය කෙහෙළිය රඹුක්වැල්ල ප්රකාශ කළේ ප්රබල දේශපාලන පක්ෂයක් නිර්මාණය වූ විට නාමයෝජනා සම්බන්ධයෙන් විවිධ ගැටළු මතුවන බවයි.
For the time being, we need to forget about arresting Arjun Mahendran through Interpol. Sri Lankan Police have not been able to arrest Aloysius and Ravi within Sri Lanka. As we understand, Aloysius was released on bail. Then why not arrest those who provided the bail for the release of Aloysius from Jail? Can this team extradite Arjun Mahendran ever?
The time of issuance of the arrest warrant was questionable. They obtained the arrest warrants on Friday 6 March 2020. With 9 March falling on Medin Poya, the culprits had a 3-day long period to make a mockery of law enforcement. Medin Poya celebrates Lord Buddha’s first visit to his father King Suddhodana’s Palace, after enlightenment. Thinking as a modern corollary, hopefully, Ravi is not hiding in his father’s palace??
By and large law enforcement has come under the spotlight, leaving room for several interpretations. In regard to Easter bombing, the former Defence Secretary and IGP have been arrested and released on bail, but their bosses are freewheeling.
The general public demand for justice and fair play. Continuous delay in law enforcement is more than an embarrassment for the new President and Prime Minister.
The Gunaruwan Committee handed its supplementary report on the MCC to both the President & Prime Minister of Sri Lanka on 17th February 2020 and had made some recommendations and comments that should awaken the government to the dangers at stake for Sri Lanka which $480m could never cover. However, various media reports from Government ministers claim MCC with amendments can be accommodated. While the Gunaruwan Committee has had the foresight to present the dangers in alongside the recommendations & comments, any amendments the Government proposes to suggest to MCC must cover some critical areas.
Prof. Gunaruwan describes the mandate of his team & the objective of their role ‘national interest’ will be the top priority of our study”
https://www.pressreader.com/sri-lanka/sunday-times-sri lanka/20200223/282553020266268
The MCC Review Committee comprises Dr. T L Gunaruwan, D S Jayaweera, President’s Counsel Nihal Jayawardena & Chartered Architect Nalaka Jayaweera.
The US ambassador to Sri Lanka in June 2019 said that $480m was a gift not a loan from the US to the People of Sri Lanka – if $480million is a gift
If US is giving $480m as a gift & not a loan
Is the GoSL considering to sign MCC with amendments?
This MCC agreement was peddled by the treacherous government previously in power. Therefore, their treacheries are known to all. However, with a change of Government it is obvious that the officials that helped draft the Agreement with the MCC & US Govt officials are still in office holding key portfolios.
We have every right to know who these officials who helped draft the MCC giving inside information and showing MCC where they can manipulate our laws. These unknown government officials are worse than the external enemies because they are obviously misleading the new Government into believing we are getting a ‘gift’ and totally ignoring the dangers in store given the track record of the US (illegal invasions/illegal interventions/foreign assassinations/interference in foreign elections/covert & overt operations/resource grabbing/coups & regime change etc). We are told that some Sri Lankan officials have even been flown overseas to draft the MCC! These need scrutinizing as obviously they are giving a false legal green light based on perks given to them!
GoSL has to look at MCC as part & parcel of US Govt strategy.
MCC from the point of view of the Sri Lankan citizen
MCC from a political point of view
Do politicians and political parties want to risk so much for a paltry $480million – it will be the end of their political careers when people begin to realize the sellout of the country no sooner any government signs on the dotted line.
Shenali D Waduge
In computer science, artificial intelligence” or AI, refers to intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence displayed by humans and other animals. It is the ability of a computer program or a machine to think and learn. AI is one of the major developments of our time. Machine learning, and the implications that go with it, are shaking up many aspects of how we do things, allowing us to deploy AI where we previously used a human or a more inefficient process.
AI can be quite helpful to businesses, educational institutions, and every-day life. Companies are implementing voice recognition and speech recognition software across their phone and internet-based customer service systems allowing people to interact with computers as if they were human. It’s one thing for people to talk to computers, but can computers talk to people and talk like people? That’s what developers of natural language generation software are trying to accomplish – create artificial intelligence that can generate text that reads with the same nuances of human speech.
Artificial Intelligence represents a huge opportunity across virtually every development sector. Developers are designing intelligent machines that make decisions based on logic and rules. Soon, these decision-making machines may be running major companies, military agencies, and government departments all by themselves. Recent advances in artificial intelligence are not likely to lead to world-dominating machines any time soon.
Some think that AI can be a real danger to humanity if it continues to progress at its current pace. An extreme goal of AI research is to create computer programs that can learn, solve problems, and think logically. Eventually researchers hope to create a “general artificial intelligence” which can solve many problems instead of focusing on just one. Researchers are also trying to create creative and emotional AI which can possibly empathize or create art. Artificial intelligence involves many different fields like computer science, mathematics, linguistics, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy among others.
Professor Yuval Noah Harari (https://twitter.com/harari_yuval?lang=en) is an Israeli historian who has written two bestsellers: Sapiens, which examined the course of early human history, and Homo Deus, which speculated on where we might be heading as a post-human species. His new book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, is an exploration of the difficulties that confront us at the present. Professor Yuval Nova Harari says that the race to develop artificial intelligence (AI) is gathering momentum, and as the United States and China pull ahead, other countries, especially in the developing world, are lagging far behind. If they don’t catch up, their economic and political prospects will be grim. AI already makes it possible to hack human beings—to collect data about individuals and then use it to decipher, predict, and manipulate their desires. All countries, regardless of whether they are tech superpowers or not, will feel the effects of the AI revolution. To hack humans, governments and corporations need access to enormous amounts of information about real-life human behavior, which makes data perhaps the most important resource in the world. But most of the world’s data is mined by the United States, China, and companies based there.
If this trend continues, the world could soon witness a new kind of colonialism—data colonialism—in which raw information is mined in numerous countries, processed mainly in the imperial hub, and then used to exercise control throughout the world. For example, data giants in San Francisco or Shanghai could compile the entire medical and personal history of politicians and officials in distant countries and use it to influence them or manipulate public opinion about them. Beyond that, those who control the data could eventually reshape not only the world’s economic and political future but also the future of life itself. The combination of AI and biotechnology will be critical for any future attempts to redesign bodies, brains, and minds. Elites in the United States and China who have access to those technologies could determine the course of evolution for everyone, according to their particular values and interests. Abilities they deem useful, such as discipline and rote intelligence, might be enhanced at the cost of attributes believed to be superfluous, such as spirituality.
Professor Yuval Harari, cautions us that artificial intelligence, biotechnology 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. And the grand project of liberalism, with its focus on the individual, is worn out. In past generations, when people talked about freedom they mostly meant the freedom to express your feelings and realize your desires. But 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. Then it was machines. 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?
Dr. Daya Hewapathirane
World consumer day
World consumer day is the opportunity for the consumer to show strength by flexing muscles agitating their power and rights of the consumer always in the receiving end worldwide- mostly in Sri Lanka with lack of powers to organize and agitate the legitimate needs of the consumer/citizen as every citizen is a consumer at some stage of life. Initiated by John Kennedy in 1963 and the process continues worldwide organizing consumer movement by world consumer movement and many other organizations including Sri Lanka led by the Consumer Affairs Authority the main Regulator in the country and other organizations. It is still not known what steps CAA has taken though celebrated this year whereas previously various programs were organized with the consumer, public, students and the citizen at large. A topic is chosen for this year to work around such as junk food generation, and the current topic discussed are current and timely benefits to the citizen and an eye-opener to the rest of the world including the governance and the trader. This agitation and the process by the consumer international and activism has benefited the citizen directly and indirectly in order to avoid exploitation and unfair trade practices of the trader and industrialist worldwide. The consumer must be alert and vigilant when the trader is expected to be fair and reasonable to strike a balance for a better world and society to live in. citizen/consumer is the most neglected group in the society as stated by Kennedy in 1963 in the USA which is in the lowest ebb in Sri Lanka and many parts of the world. Obviously the world action will have a ripple effect on the genuine needs of the consumer as a result of the worldwide organized consumer movement in which the zenith is on the 15th of March every year at various organized events worldwide.
Sustainable Consumer -Theme of the World consumer day 2020-
Emphasis and priority this year is given to global changes to avert environment breakdown where the consumer has to play a main and vital role to play to avoid the destruction of our global leading to slow and fast suicidal effects due to self-destruction by greedy politicians and industrialist’s consumers included. Consumer Education and organization are vital to avert the self-destruction of ourselves knowingly and unknowingly leading the slow death of the citizen and the globe with irreparable damages to the future mother of earth and the generation to see the daylight. This is a timely and current topic at the doorsteps of the destruction of the mother earth due to unplanned developments and it is the duty of the public bodies to engage in the world consumer movement in the organization of the movement for sustainable consumer movement in the process of saving the planet from destruction in addition to the movement to protect the consumer from exploitation by the enemies of the mankind. Culprits and those responsible are all over – worldwide in this sad destruction process. Forest cover in Sri Lanka is decreasing fast daily due to jungle clearing, forest fire and unplanned developments leading to floods uneven climatic changes disasters due to side effects of man-made disasters for which the man is responsible due to over greed. This could be averted by changing the lifestyle and style of governance. Sand mining is rampant with the assistance and patronage of errant and corrupt politicians and government servants. The Main regulator Consumer Affairs Authority appear to be in a deep sleep occasionally counting the price of vegetables with no vision for their main vision towards the nation! Other regulators such as the local authorities, ministries, appear to be engaged in political strategies and collection of funds for the future. World-famous attractions are in danger due to vandalism and damages by the owners of the land when destruction continues at random with the existence of the number of ministries and departments with enormous powers and funds available when the danger has reached the doorsteps faster than expected. Consumer goods are poisonous and no proper regulation by CAA and other regulators in the no-man arena. It is a sorry state which needs revival by a proper leader as the regulator with a vision and collective action by the consumer organizations and the public.
What is the possible remedy to prevent the imminent disaster and destruction?
The remedy is with us and among over selves to change the lifestyle and style of governance locally and globally. Efforts of the world consumer day and the world consumer movement are to organize the working citizen by education and other awareness devices to inform and warn to be careful and be in the preventive process. Consumer rights and duties are recognized by the United Nations, governments, and d organizations as inalienable rights and duties of the citizen and governments in the interest of the future generation to come. Act no 7 0f 2003 has provided a powerful tool as the Consumer Affairs Authority Act in order to mobilize the citizen and educate them in right directions via workshops and consumer organizations as provided by the Act and one wonders how many consumers have been formed by the CAA act to educate and organized the consumer and interact with trader and manufacturer on order to strike a balance among the groups known as the consumer, trader, manufacturer and the regulators. It is the duty and the practice of the CAA to organize the WCD event annually and one wonders what CAA has done or done at this end and if nothing is done let them start the process at least from next year. CAA and the regulators must mobilize all segments of the society in this direction and the best groups are NGOs, Schools, Universities, Places of work and religious centers media and generally the citizen included aiming at education and researched based movements and workshops. The finger is aimed at CAA as it has been given a lot of funds and power with a mission embodied in the act as a powerful tool with many precedents and examples from the world including the World Consumer movement ever prepared to help us. When Co Cola used water from Thames River it is media that came forward for the consumer to make Cola to kneel down. WHICH magazine in the UK is at the forefront of the consumer movement protecting the consumer and guiding the trader with powerful media colleagues? In Sri Lanka Media and NGOs have different priorities on political and human rights issues which are more lucrative and powerful than engaged on consumerism which is not lucrative enough.
Way forward
State media NGOs and the general public must give priority to consumerism movement as their savior to avoid the destruction of the lives, planet and the future generation by educating and organizing ourselves with the proper guidance of the CAA and other main regulators. It is the duty of all individuals, organizations, states, to be a part of this, the process of saving the citizen and the planet from destruction man-made as well as due to manmade disasters. The current trend of the young generation society and the governance is encouraging and the participation of the consumer individually and collectively is encouraged and admirable. It is a good sign that the media is also involved in many projects in small and large scale. Media is full of disturbing and destructive news on environment disasters with adverse trends and opposition form social media as FB and other means of communication. We wish and hope the trend to continue as a force with the blessings and encouragement of the Regulator headed by the Consumer Affairs Authority the consumer is dependent on.
(Reading materials -Today is World Consumer Day- 15/3/18/Mirror-Consumer Justice -15/3/2013 consumer justice now-Guardian-12/3/2115 Guardian Healthy Food- Guardian – 15/12014 Guardian Fix your Phones Right- Telegraph 15/3 /2016 Antibiotic off the Menu -Daily News Junk Food-Wise Consumer 19/ 12/2018mirror – Guardian 21/ 3 /2011Fair Financial service- Observer 6/ 1 /2008 Alert Consumer and powers of CAA all by the author who could be reached on sarath7@hotmail.co.uk)
ENGLISH EDUCATION IN SRI LANKA – AN OVERVIEW
Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel- former Ambassador to UAE and Israel
English inherited by British
English is a language inherited by The British currently used as a link language and a National Language which is commonly used in education and private sector in Sri Lanka fast spreading due to the unprecedented demand as a stepping stone on education and a symbol of social recognition with less resistance by the students and parents as in the decades 50/60/70 with less encouragement by the citizen. Today English has transferred to be a craze and a need with growing demand mainly by the younger generation in this competitive society at the doorsteps of the computer age. It is spoken in India (125million-Pakistan 94 million-and Philippines 95.46 million with percentages 95.46 in the USA, 10.60 in India, 56.72 in Nigeria indication how the language is spread in the English speaking world as a link and a working language showing to what extent the language is penetrated to the life of the citizen. Meyler who searched on spoken English in Sri Lanka says English spoken in Sri Lanka is clear and understood. The expression of the Sri Lankans living abroad especially in the west is clear and understood unlike other ethnic groups with mixed and complicated dialects’. It is said that 23.8 of the population could speak English with the least efforts whereas the young generation educated at international schools speak and perform day to day jobs at ease setting as an example to the unemployed graduates fighting on the road for government jobs in any capacity. Currently, there is a trend to learn English and classes and courses are conducted island-wide by schools and private institutions which need regularization and supervision and it is time for the Ministry of Education to draw up a program which is the need of the hour.
English Language – Origin
English was originated in the 5th century with the advent of the German Tribes introducing Old English Middle English and Modern English with developments from era to era. It is an official language in 38 countries including Sri Lanka and a world and a computer language which is an important tool to reach the world, trade commerce, international organizations, travel, and a mode of communication with the rest of the world spreading to 360 million citizens used as the first language. British invaded Sri Lanka in 1796 and in 1833 Colebrook Commission made recommendations for reforms and education when the entire system of Education was in the hands of the British Empire. Sinhala and religious education were in the hands of Bikkues” and Pirivanas and the British introduced educational institutions and Churches with state patronage creating a privileged class of citizens educated in English to serve the state and the governance. Education including English Education was in the hands of the government and churches were allowed to start schools with the patronage of the government. Emphasis was given to grammar in English Education as English was spoken wildly by the elite including a different class of strata in the society and English and Education was confined to a separate class with resentment from the rest of the population until 1956 changes brought about by SWRD transferring the medium of education to Sinhala and Tamil when India continued the system of Education in English and local languages with options to students to choose the medium of instructions. 1971 insurrection was created by a frustrated group of youth taking the country back to three to four decades with destruction deaths and destruction who were not in favor of English Education claiming to be a stepping stone to be in a different class of English Educated group of the privileged class. Under the 1978 constitution, Sinhala and Tamil were made official languages by the 13th amendment elevating the position of Tamil as a link language. From 2000 onwards much was spent and steps are taken to improve English Education with no success and today the English Language has reached the apex of the pyramid with a craze to learn English spoken and written.
Need and Craze of English today
Undoubtedly English is the passport and the stepping stone for education foreign employment and in-country job avenues further education included. International schools of no class and standards are doing a great service-producing students with reasonable knowledge of English and capable of conversing in English enable to obtain employment in private establishments setting as example to the unemployed graduates agitating for government jobs of any kind due to lack of vision exposure and a sound knowledge of English for exposure and capability to be employed in the private sector or self-employed as any other graduates worldwide not demanding employments from governments. Obviously it is not fair on their part to demand employment from the governance after having provided free education from childhood to university education which is a rare privilege given to Sri Lankan youth. Media is full of advertisements on classes conducted countrywide on residential, non-residential, classes at all levels by teachers attracted by the students on their talents and capabilities. Whether English is taught properly correctly are matters to be supervised by the regulators end educationists in order to regularize English Education which is the need of the hour to avoid misleading and exploiting the students in need to learn correct English to cater to their needs. There are more mobiles available than the population for Lanka and computer literacy is satisfactory and improving among the citizen which is a good sign.
Way Forward for the improvement of English Education as a grave need for the Nation
No doubt it is the priority as it will provide opportunities to improve education standards, employment opportunities locally and abroad, afford self-made opportunities as in the Philippine where English Education and training for employment are scientifically conducted by the government providing 30percent of the population in foreign employment of high standards. Thousands of students are studying abroad and many are exploring avenues to find opportunities worldwide for themselves which is the current need of the hopes and boom for the young with hopes and plans for them and the nation. Eglsi obviously a vehicle for development growth and future prospects individually and collectively a dit is the duty of the regulators, teachers, and Educationists to be more proactive and launch a collective effort in this exercise on providing better English to the needy for a better day for Sri Lanka.
දේශපාලන කෝළම් නිර්මාණය කර රංග දැක්වීම දැන් දිනපතාම සිදුවෙන, සිදුකරන කාර්යකි. මේවා පිරුපස සිටින්නේ සෘජුවම විදේශීය ඔත්තු සේවාවන්ය. මෙසේ රංග දක්වන අලුත්ම කෝළම වන්නේ නීතිපතිතුමා විසින් නිර්මාණය කර සමාජගත කරන ලද බැදුම්කර වන්නමයි. මෙය දේශපාලනය කරන යට ඉගෙන ගැනීමට ලැබෙන අලුත්ම පාඩම බැවින් සිදුවෙනදේ හොදින් නිරීක්ෂණය කර සත්ය වටහා ගන්න.
The Global Peace Congress of Australia Incorporated wishes to extend our heartfelt appreciation and congratulations to our Organisations Patron:
COLONEL RATHNAPRIYA BANDU
On his recent nomination for a seat in the Sri Lankan Parliament.
Colonel Bandu is held in the highest esteem amongst the Tamil population residing in the North-East of Sri Lanka, whilst being respected by all.
Upon reassignment to another position, the outpouring of tears from adoring citizens was quickly circulated around the world.
Sri Lankans living overseas were as equally touched by the citizens’ combined love and adoration.
Pivotal in the difficult process of reconciliation and rehabilitation post-war is an office that most would have reservations to fill, however that did not deter Colonel Bandu, as his passion for peace has been longstanding.
If it had not been for the Colonel’s due diligence to take command of his position, the people’s sufferings definitely would have been compounded instead of being alleviated.
The Executive Committee and members of our Global Congress, lift up with the utmost of confidence, our support for the candidate as a worthwhile, trustworthy, candidate of integrity above reproach.
Many accolades to those former rehabilitated cadres’ who have been able to turn their shattered lives around are true testimony by their support for this nomination.
Good luck Colonel Bandu, with the 2020 General Election.
You will be an incredible Politician to continue our democracy into the exciting progress of our country.
Authorized by the Executive Committee and signed by:
Ranjith Naranpanawa
President.
March 10, 2020, 8:44 pm
Historically, the West has always had an equivocal attitude towards China, not to mention the non-white world. A fear, a suspicion, a fascination, an uncertainty, a sense of superiority and even a loathing reserved for an undeserving competitor pervaded its dealings. Perhaps, resulting from perceptions that evolved on the basis of the writings of 19th century visitors, missionaries, diplomats, traders, et al who came to China pompously full of their own socio – religious values and found a wealthy society that simply did not fit into their preconceptions and that did not seem willing to accommodate their prescriptions. Instead the Chinese stayed with their own values. These prejudices have lasted to this day and self-serving commentators and politicians have not missed any opportunity to embellish them, even in the midst of the CORVID 19 epidemic which is now threatening the world.
Marco Polo’s travels along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295 and his tales of wealth and grandeur of China, Cathay of the Yuen Dynasty, were largely dismissed with disbelief as fantasy. His record The Travels of Marco Polo (also known as Book of the Marvels of the World and Il Milione, c. 1300, a book that described to an incredulous Europe the mysterious culture and inner workings of the non-white and non-Christian Eastern world, including its wealth, superior organisation and the great extent of the Mongol Empire, provided the first comprehensive look into China, India, Japan and other Asian cities and countries. Over the centuries, largely based on a lack of understanding, the common perception that took hold was that of the Chinese as a toiling, poverty stricken mass of untrustworthy sexual predators who needed to be treated with caution and suspicion. Prejudice relating to China and the Chinese has undergone a recent revival. Many commentaries, including from journalistic sources and hastily compiled messages on the electronic medium have not missed the opportunity to revive the image of the nasty untrustworthy Chinaman.
It took two centuries and the painstaking work of intellectual giants like Joseph Needham and many university studies to almost convince a self-absorbed Europe and later the United States that a sophisticated, complex and powerful culture had been existing in the East for millennia and much of what we take for granted today, paper, gun powder, silk, tea, porcelain, the compass, cast iron, the ploughshare, the stirrup, printing, clockwork escapements and even the passport (paiza or paizi or gerege in Mongolian) were known to the Chinese centuries earlier.
According to Professor Mahbubani, Singapore’s former Permanent Representative to the UN, China produced over 25% of the world’s production in 1840 and was incredibly wealthy but this share was to be reduced to less than 2% due to colonial depredations and the decline of the Chinese state.
The appallingly racist term “Yellow Peril”, which seems to be undergoing a revival, gained currency in the 19th century. This term became widely used in Europe and the US during the Boxer Rebellion. The Boxer Rebellion gained momentum in 1900 and Beijing fell to the Boxers. In July 1900, Kaiser Wilhelm II gave the Hunnenrede (Hun speech) exhorting his soldiers to barbarism, “Imperial German soldiers depart Europe for China and will suppress the Boxer Rebellion, by acting like “Huns” and committing atrocities against the Chinese (Boxer and civilian): When you come before the enemy, you must defeat him, pardon will not be given, prisoners will not be taken! Whoever falls into your hands will fall to your sword! Just as a thousand years ago the Huns, under their King Attila, made a name for themselves with their ferocity, which tradition still recalls; so may the name of Germany become known in China in such a way that no Chinaman will ever dare look a German in the eye, even with a squint!”
The Kaiser ordered the expedition-commander, Field Marshal Alfred von Waldersee, to conduct himself barbarously, because the Chinese were, “by nature, cowardly, like a dog, but also deceitful”. The Kaiser’s best friend, Prince Philip von Euenburg wrote to another friend that the Kaiser wanted to raze Beijing, and kill the populace to avenge the murder of Baron Clemens von Ketteler, imperial Germany’s minister to China. In August 1900, an international military-force of Russian, Japanese, British, French, and American soldiers captured Beijing, before the German force arrived in the city.
The Eight-Nation Alliance sacked Beijing in vengeance for the Boxer Rebellion; the magnitude of the rape, pillage, and burning indicated “a sense that the Chinese were less than human” to the Western armies. About the sacking of the city, an Australian writer said: “The future of the Chinese is a fearful problem. Look at the frightful sights one sees in the streets of Peking. … See the filthy, tattered rags they wrap around them. Smell them as they pass. Hear of their nameless immorality. Witness their shameless indecency, and picture them among your own people – Ugh! It makes you shudder!” The attitude of superiority, loathing and suspicion adopted then, seems to have persisted mostly below the surface and erupts not so infrequently. The façade of Western civilization appears to be only skin deep!
Despite this history, and the tribulations visited on China by Western Powers, today China having pulled itself up by its bootstraps, has become the second biggest economic power in the world but the Western world and its glassy eyed admirers in the East continue to look at China and the Chinese with the same historic mistrust.
Sinophobia, that is the feeling of being hostile to China, its people, overseas Chinese, or Chinese culture, including food habits, is alive and well and has been given a fresh boost since the outbreak of CORVID 19 and is thriving in the West with its colonial and imperialist legacies, and generations of racism. Today the Western media, and their outlets which depend on them, subtlely and not so subtlely pander to Sinophobia. The deeper prejudices and the ready willingness to blame the Chinese Government, its people, their food habits, etc, exposed by the coronavirus epidemic are symptomatic of a long history of demonising the Chinese people.
On 26 January 2020, two of Australia’s highest circulating newspapers, Melbourne Herald Sun’s headlined, “Chinese virus pandamonium”, an insensitive misspelling of “pandemonium” (alluding to China’s pandas), while Sydney Daily Telegraph’s headline read, “China kids stay home.” One of the outcomes of these headlines was a petition of over 51,000 signatures demanding an apology. Good people still inhabit this earth.
In France, Le Courrier Picard featured an Asian woman wearing a mask on its front page on 26 January with a headline “Yellow Alert”. The paper also titled an editorial “A New Yellow Peril”. The expression Yellow Peril has a long and wicked history. The publication drew condemnation from French Asians who started the hashtag #JeNeSuisPasUnVirus (“I Am Not A Virus”). One begins to wonder whether the liberal façade of the West is just skin deep.
Chinese businesses in the United Kingdom, including the busy Chinese takeaway segment and businesses in Chinatown, London, recorded significantly reduced customers in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak compared to usual elevated sales during the Chinese New Year celebrations, due to fears of coronavirus spreading through food or unhygienic working practices. In general, there was a widespread rise in anti-Chinese sentiment reported in all forms of public transport.
The racist commentary used following the COVID 19 outbreak, persisted despite the WHO reminding the world of the commitments that all countries undertook at its creation. On 30 January, the World Health Organization’s Emergency Committee issued a statement advising all countries to be mindful of the “principles of Article 3 of the IHR [the International Health Regulations],” which the WHO says is a caution against “actions that promote stigma or discrimination,” when conducting national response measures to the outbreak.
Britain’s first sustained attempt to build ties with the Qing imperial court, initially rebuffed, in the eighteenth century was focused primarily on trade. Over the next 150 years, Britain was at the forefront of some of the most painful experiences of Chinese encounters with the outside world, from the Opium Wars, the sacking of the Summer Palace, and the reparations imposed on China for the Boxer rebellion of 1900 and the rape and pillage of Beijing, to the maintenance of Hong Kong as a colony. The Chinese call this the century of humiliation. Since the return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule in 1997, while clamouring for democracy for Hong Kong which the British never conceded, policies of engagement have gradually replaced those of confrontation. As China’s economy has eclipsed that of the UK, the transformation of that relationship has become imperative for the UK. The roles having changed, now it is Britain that is the supplicant at the gates of Beijing.
Britain, nervous with Brexit jitters, is more anxious than ever to keep Chinese cash flowing. Critics have commented that London is already less willing to criticise Beijing because it is aware how much it will need Chinese funds.
The British sense of superiority, vis-a-vis China, began with the victory in the First Opium War 1839-42. After bombarding Canton from its fleet causing thousands of civilian deaths, Britain forced on the Chinese the Convention of Chuenpi, which was never ratified. In 1842, the Treaty of Nanking ended the war and Hong Kong Island was ceded to the British, and five treaty ports were opened to international trade. (For the British, it meant the right to sell opium to the Chinese). In 1843, the Treaty of the Bogue supplemented the Treaty of Nanking by granting extraterritorial status to British subjects in China and most favored nation status to Britain. 1856-60 consequent to the Second Opium War, the Treaty of Tientsin was signed by Lord Elgin on behalf of Britain (who, incidentally, took the Elgin Marbles to Britain). In October 1860, the Old Summer Palace was looted and burned by British and French troops, resulting in the Convention of Peking and the cession of the Kowloon Peninsula to Britain and Britain opened a Legation in Beijing (Peking). In the following years British consulates were opened throughout the Chinese Empire, including Hankou (Wuhan!), Takao (Kaohsiung), Tamsui (near Taipei), Shanghai and Xiamen.
Anti-Chinese sentiment in the US has existed at least since the mid 19th century when Chinese migrants began arriving in the United States and contributed significantly to building the First Transcontinental Railroad. Thousands died in this effort. It surfaced with a vengeance in the 1860s and culminated in the racist Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (repealed only in 1943), prohibiting Chinese immigration and naturalization. Its origins are traceable to the American traders, missionaries, teachers and diplomats who sent home from China relentlessly disparaging reports of the “inscrutable” people they encountered. These attitudes were transmitted to Americans who never left North America, triggering talk of the Yellow Peril, and continued through the Cold War during McCarthyism.
During this period, the phrase “yellow peril” was popularized in the U.S. by newspapers owned by newspaper moghul Randolph Hearst. It was also the title of a popular book by an influential U.S. American Adventist pastor, G. G. Rupert, who published The Yellow Peril; or, Orient vs. Occident in 1911. Based on the phrase “the kings from the East” in the Christian scriptural verse Revelation 16:12, Rupert, who subscribed to the doctrine of British Israelism, suggested that China, India, Japan and Korea will be attacking England and the U.S., but that Jesus Christ would stop them.
The Naturalization Act of 1870, extended citizenship rights to African Americans but barred Chinese from naturalization on the grounds that they and other Asians could not be assimilated into American society. Chinese immigrants were prohibited from voting and serving on juries, and dozens of states passed alien land laws that prohibited non-citizens from purchasing real estate. In particular, even in his lone dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), then-Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote of the Chinese as “a race so different from our own that we do not permit those belonging to it to become citizens of the United States. Persons belonging to it are, with few exceptions, absolutely excluded from our country. I allude to the Chinese race.”
The Trump administration has demonstrated an inexplicable hostility to China, but Beijing’s increasingly authoritative approach at home and assertiveness abroad has also alarmed many. The West is unfamiliar with Asians who strike back.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the administration’s most vocal China critic, took China to task for its apparent failure to be open and transparent when Corvid 19 hit, saying, “It took us too long to get the medical experts into country. We wish that could have happened more quickly.” The effort to gain propaganda mileage is obvious but the same reservations could be applied to the current lack of cohesion in the US policy approach and the uncoordinated response to the increasingly menacing spread of Corvid 19 in the US.
The China hawks say privately that they see the virus weakening the Party’s legitimacy (and hoping) but this may be a vain hope.
The expression of such hostility in the midst of a global health emergency was unfortunate. The Administration’s lack of sympathy for China was quickly picked up by the Western media and accusations of a lack of transparency, a belated and high handed response, paucity of medical care, etc, were freely bandied around in the media despite clear statements to the contrary issued by the World Health Organisation. Critical and derogatory videos produced for propaganda purposes were freely disseminated on the electronic media. Now that China appears to have brought the spread of Corvid 19 under control and the virus has begun to seriously affect Western countries, Western media has modified its commentary. It has begun not to use the same harsh, derogatory and unsympathetic commentary. On the contrary, the reporting has become more balanced and should have been used when China was first confronted with CORVID 19 in early December.
China’s rise as a major world economic and military power, which followed neither the economic nor the political prescriptions of the West, clearly appears to have contributed to the contemporary anti-Chinese sentiment. The emergence of China has been seen to be at the expense of countries such as the US.
In April 2019, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that China posed a “whole of a society threat”. In May 2019, Director of Policy Planning Kiron Skinner said that China “is the first great power competitor of the US that is not Caucasian. Of course, he appears to have forgotten Japan which not only challenged the US but was nuclear bombed in 1945. In the 1980s, Japan was the target of US ire for its relentless economic outreach.
The US position may sometimes appear to be contradictory and difficult to explain. It was the US that pushed for China (the Republic of China, ROC) to be given the status of a veto wielding member of the UN Security Council. The ROC had collaborated with the US in its war against Japan. But were there other factors. Did the US want a non-European state to balance the three veto wielding Europeans already in the UN Security Council? There were effective people to people and missionary ties with China. President Chiang Kai Shek was a Methodist. Did these factors influence American thinking at the time? However, Relations soured rapidly once the godless and non-cosmopolitan Communists under Mao Tse Tung took over China and evicted Chiang to Taiwan. Added to the pain, Communist China militarily thwarted US ambitions in the Korean Peninsula. The thought of nuclear bombing China did cross the minds of some US decision makers at the time. In Vietnam, Chinese support was a critical factor in the eventual defeat of the US backed South Korean regime in 1975. Despite the Nixon-Kissinger rapprochement with Communist China, essentially as a counter to the Soviet Union, suspicions appear to have remained. China used the warming up of relations to seek investments and technology from the US and the West and create the most impressive economic miracle in history. Not only that, it has deployed its newly gained wealth to create a zone of joint prosperity in the wider region, extending to Africa, expanding its diplomatic clout way outside its traditional sphere of influence. China is now a major economic competitor of the West. Unfortunately, this development has been openly interpreted as a threat to the West and the US, in particular. The thought of a non-European competitor on the world stage may be unbalancing the thinking of European and US policy makers. The US has begun to employ each and every means available to vilify and counter China. The US has now begun to identify China and Russia as strategic competitors making US relations with China a discomforting factor to others who wish to benefit from China’s munificence.
It is against this background that CORVID 19 has been used as another weapon to vilify China. David Fidler, Council for Foreign Relations, says, “we are seeing the weaponisation of the outbreak in the misinformation being circulated for different political purposes. For me, this outbreak is different in that the weaponisation has connected to the change in geopolitics, with the rise of China and worries about China’s growing power and influence sharpening and broadening criticism of China’s response to the outbreak. Here, unlike Ebola in Africa, we have the outbreak entangled with the increasing rawness of balance of power politics between the United States and China”.
The deterioration of relations between the US and China is unfortunate and is unlikely to benefit either country or, for that matter, the world. Both possess enormous potential to collaborate for the good of each other and the rest of the world. But history and deep rooted suspicions of ambitious politicians who play on the uncertainties and fears of ordinary people may result in misery for the vast majority who might get sucked in to an unfortunate confrontation unwittingly.
Twenty six former ministers had not vacated their official residences, and the Ministry of Public Administration would file legal action against them, in the coming weeks, Secretary to the Ministry S. Hettiarachchi told the media yesterday.
Hettiarachchi said that the former ministers were yet to vacate those official bungalows though four months had elapsed since the change of government. Ministers were usually given a three-month grace period to vacate their official residences, but the ministers concerned have outstayed that period.
Hettiarachchi said that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had been earlier informed of the issue. “However since Parliament has been dissolved, we have written to the Secretary General of Parliament stating that we will take legal action against the 26 former ministers if they do not vacate these official residences by the end of this week.”
The Mirihana Crimes Division is investigating into the incident where a first-year student of the Sri Jayawardenepura University was hit on the head with a tyre thrown at him by a group of senior students.
The victim, 20-year-old Pasindu Hirushan, was admitted to the ICU at the National Hospital, Colombo following the ragging incident on March 5.
Hospital sources said the student is suffering from brain injuries and internal bleeding.
The police said statements would be recorded from the students and medical officials of the ambulance who rushed the student to the hospital.
They said they would also inform the Nugegoda Magistrate over the incident.
PC Agency, a firm in UK has recommended Sri Lanka and the Caribbean’s as two of the safest places for UK citizens to travel to escape from the Coronavirus (Covid19) outbreak, foreign media reported.
The two countries where the heat is on, seemed to be reporting very few cases of coronavirus,” the Agency’s Chief Executive Paul Charles said.
The PC Agency provides expert, premium PR consultancy, trade representation and crisis communications to airlines, hotels, tourism boards, tour operators, cruise lines, spas and restaurants around the world.
Earlier today, it was reported that group of passengers who are being directed to the Batticaloa Campus and Kandakadu Rehabilitation Centre had raised objections over being charged a fee for daily provision of meals at the quarantine facilities.
According to reports, the expatriates and foreigners, who are being quarantined at these two centres for 14 days, were asked to pay a total amount of Rs 7,500 for the meals they are provided with during their stay.
However, the Army Chief assured that these individuals will not be charged any fee at the quarantine centres.
On Saturday, Director-General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe announced that Batticaloa Private University and the Kandakadu Rehabilitation Centre have been converted into quarantine facilities for passengers arriving in the country from coronavirus-hit countries.
Accordingly, all passengers from Italy, South Korea, and Iran will undergo mandatory 14-day quarantine at these two facilities.
A total of 179 Sri Lankan expatriates and 2 South Korean arrived in the island early this morning (10), and they were directed to the quarantine centre at Batticaloa Campus.
The Colombo Permanent High Court-at-Bar today re-issued an arrest warrant on the Secretary of the Presidential Commission appointed to investigate alleged incidents of political victimization, Pearl K. Weerasinghe.
The three-member judge bench ordered police to arrest the Secretary of the commission before March 12 and produced her before the court and warned that the Acting IGP will have to personally appear before the court and show cause if they fail to do so.
The arrest warrant was re-issued today when the when the case filed against ‘Ali Roshan’ and seven others over the alleged illegal possession of five elephants was taken up for hearing.
Chair of the bench Justice Vikum Kaluarachchci declared that it is a grave issue that the police are unable to arrest a public official and questioned as to how the Police Chief prevents serious crimes and terrorism when they are unable to even arrest a state official.
The court had initially issued the warrant on march 06 for police to arrest and produce her before the court, for ignoring the notice issued by the same court ordering her to appear before it on that date while the court also barred her from leaving the country.
The court issued this order when the case filed against Samarappulige Niraj Roshan alias ‘Ali Roshan’ and seven others over the alleged illegal possession of five elephants, was taken up for hearing.
The Attorney General had filed 27 charges against ‘Ali Roshan’ and six other defendants under the Offences against Public Property Act, with regard to the possession of five elephants without licenses and racketeering.
Based on a complaint filed by the defendants of this case, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed to probe alleged incidents of political victimization had commenced an investigation into this case and had taken the relevant documents into its custody.
However, the Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar had issued notice on the Secretary to the commission to present the documents before the court.
The Secretary to the commission had reportedly failed to appear before the court last week while the judge bench deemed this contempt of court and issued a warrant for her arrest.
ඒකාබද්ධ වීමට එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය තුලින්ම කුමන්ත්රණ දියත් වු බවට සිදුකරන ප්රකාශ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ප්රසිද්ධ විවාදයකට පැමිණෙන්නැයි හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී පාලිත රංගේ බණ්ඩාර, හිටපු විපක්ෂ නායක සජිත් ප්රේමදාසට අද අභියෝග කළා.
ඒ, සිරිකොත එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ මුලස්ථානයේ පැවති මාධ්ය හමුවකට එක්වෙමින්.
මේ අතර, සමගි ජන බලවේගයද අද මාධ්ය හමුවක් කැඳවා තිබු අතර ඊට එක්වු හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී සුජිව සේනසිංහ කියා සිටියේ නව සන්ධානය සමග එක්වීමට පක්ෂ ව්යවස්ථාව තුලින්ම යම් බාධාවක් පවතින්නේ නම් කෘත්යාධීකාරි මණ්ඩලය කඩිනමින් කැඳවා එය නිරාකරණය කර ගත හැකි බවයි.
කෙසේ වෙතත්, සිරිකොත පක්ෂ මුලස්ථානයේ අද දිනය පුරාවට සාකච්ඡා කිහිපයක්ම පවත්වා ඇති බවයි දේශපාලන ආරංචි මාර්ග ප්රකාශ කළේ.<
එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඇතිව තිබෙන අර්බුදකාරී තත්ත්වය පිළිබඳ දේශපාලනඥයින් අදත් මෙලෙස අදහස් පළ කලා.
හම්බන්තොට දිස්ත්රික්කයේ පොහොට්ටුවේ නාමයෝජනා ලැයිස්තුව චමල් හෙළිකරයි
ඉදිරි පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයේදී හම්බන්තොට දිස්ත්රික්කය සඳහා වූ නාමයෝජනා පිළිබඳ අමාත්ය චමල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ඊයේ පැවති බෙලිඅත්ත ආසන බල මණ්ඩල රැස්වීමේදී මෙලෙස අදහස් පළ කළා.
Modernization has been affecting the economic, social and cultural environment of Sri Lanka and it seems that the government policy framework also enthusiastic about going with modernization. Sometimes, people feel that modernization invaded many areas of the country creating distortion or a deformity in attitudes of people and the real behavior of them. The impact of modernization has brought a complexity in economic issues and policymakers have uncertainty on how to approach the productivity-related issues.
After the presidential election in 2019 people expect the president’s intervention for everything in the country and this situation may be a result of election disposition. The administrators and policymakers cannot depart from the election disposition and work on the reality of the economic condition of the country as it is a culture of Sri Lankan style of democracy that when parliament dissolved many uses the election environment to force the government for winning of various demands.
Administrators and policymakers need especially concentrating on the fact that the productivity of government and private sector both in Sri Lanka are lower than in many country countries. There is no equilibrium between the productivity of an employee and the payment for the employee. What is the contributing factor for lower productivity? It is involved in a range of factors and the major reason is the country has not developed a management culture that supports productivity enhancement.
The lower productivity is a historical issue in the economy and a general knowledge question popular among small kids in villages is that if a woman weaves 20 coconut branches in a day, how many branches would be weaved by 10 women in a day, the answer is zero. The reason for the answer is ten women will be talking gossips than working and no productivity will be generated in the workplace. It is not a skill or knowledge related problem, but a problem related to workplace values and management related questions. The changing this environment is a massive task.
The lower productivity has spread to the entire work environment in Sri Lanka which means that government and private sector spending are not productively using in the country. According to the Keynesian theory, it may positively impact the aggregate demand, however, the government considers productivity of employees spending macroeconomically more effective in the country. The government in fact needs to determine to generate productivity for each rupee spending and then only the country achieves its expectations. Despite many changes in workplace attitudes administrators of Sri Lanka are still in a conservative environment to get the service from employees without harming their behavior and it shouldn’t be the policy priority. Policymakers need clearly understand that have the cake and eat the is an impossible task.
If it looks back the policy management in Western countries after the cold war many countries used microeconomic reforms to increase productivity in organizations and operated effective plans in the individual organization according to the practical environment. The following practical policy actions were popular.
Politics and culture of Sri Lanka might restrain the application of the measures used in Western countries; however, such measures could be used in a different format. Some measures adapted to the country and the effectiveness of such measures seem to less effective.
Corruptions in public and private organizations remain higher and the president had to intervene such as in the motor vehicle registration office and other places.
The recultivating neglected paddy lands appear to be highly successful and the effort will positively impact the productivity in the country. A similar type of motivation in public and private office needs and building a movement would be an option for productivity in Sri Lanka.
Prabhakaran was hell-bent on distorting Sri Lanka’s history. He launched a campaign with Anton Balasingham in the helm to attack Mahavansa. The LTTE discounted Vijaya’s arrival (more than 2500 years ago) and stressed that Tamils are Sri Lanka’s indigenous people. According to them, Buddhism existed in Sri Lanka prior to Mahindagamanaya and that a Tamil Buddhist civilization existed in the ancient North and East of Sri Lanka. Though it is very well accepted that Ravana is mythology, the separatists stressed that Ravana did rule Sri Lanka (more than 4000 years ago) and that he was a Tamil King. Now, Wigenswaran et al propagate similar lies. The separatists have been successful in stressing their points of view; as a result, prominent websites worldwide have recorded the wrong Sri Lankan history that is favorable to Tamils.
Sadly, since recently some Sinhalese scholars seem directly or indirectly endorse what Prabhakaran and his cohorts were saying. They include prominent Archeologists, Historians, Buddhist monks, Journalists, and Politicians. Some academics receive financial grants/donations from NGOs and assistance even from the Sri Lankan governments to continue with their distortions, at great detriment to the motherland.
The patriotic Sinhalese’ complacency has greatly helped the separatists and history distorters to carry on with their ulterior motives.
It is universally accepted that Mahavansa depicts the correct Sri Lankan history. It is acknowledged that no other nation has a so well recorded history as Sri Lanka. Sri Lankans have been proud of the chronicle, Mahavansa. The colonial rulers acknowledged Mahavansa as the ‘gospel truth’ and translated it from the original Pali to such languages as Sinhalese, English, and German.
Closer to 2500 years we Sri Lankans have devotedly believed that we are descendants of Vijaya, the Prince from North India. The Sinhalese have been proud that they have a blood lineage to Lord Buddha (upon Vijaya’s death, his nephew Panduvasudeva became the king, and his wife was Princes Buddha Kachchayana of Shakya Wansha, who was a close blood relative of Lord Buddha).
Since recently, Vijaya’s arrival has been removed from our school history books. Instead, these books say that Sri Lanka was inhabited by ‘homo-sapiens’ who migrated to the land from Africa more than 125,000 years ago.
It is hard to believe that any country in the world would allow such a blatant distortion of their history, but Sri Lanka has allowed it. Darwin’s theory of evaluation, which has absolutely nothing to do with Vijaya, has been used to remove the true Sri Lankan history from school history books. It is Vijaya’s arrival that led to the beginning of the Great Sinhala Civilization that boasts Sri Lanka’s peaceful Buddhist way of life (upon Ven Mahinda’s arrival) and the advanced hydraulic irrigation system. But, our children have been denied the right to learn about them.
The fact that the world’s first human being was a homo-sapien should not be used as a reason to claim that therefore Sri Lanka’s foundation was laid by homo-sapiens.
But, this is exactly what the history distorters have successfully done in Sri Lanka.
Americans, Indians, British, Japanese, Chinese would never teach their student such a thing. It is a stupid argument. These nations would always teach their correct history to children – how those nations and their people ‘came about to be’. –
When we were history students we learned through books that Vijaya landed in Thambapanni. Today, this is fully eliminated from school textbooks/curriculums.
Today, schoolchildren learn that homo-sapiens landed in a place closer to Yala more than 125000 years ago (see Year 6 and 10 history books). This is a deliberate attempt to hoodwink the correct history of children – our future generation.
The distorters depict to our students that the unknown, unnamed homo-sapiens are the heroes, not Vijaya, Ven Mahinda, Ven Sangamitta, Pandukabhaya, Devanampiyatissa, Anuladevi, etc. Through advanced training methods, the country’s history teachers have been indoctrinated to follow and teach students with this false concept of history.
Those who distort our history stress/imply that:
(it is universally accepted that Kuweni’s people were primitive hunter-gatherers and they did not lead an advanced/ sophisticated lifestyle. During the Ice Age where Africa, Asia, and Australia were one continent, some Sri Lankan Aborigines walked eastwards, including Australia (thus, the Australian Aborigines).
Such far-fetched and fanciful claims include:
The distortions are very serious. They are being propagated by very powerful and influential people who also enjoy state patronage. They hold high state offices.
For 2500+ years with the entire world, we have accepted that Sinhalese who is descendants of Vijaya are the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka. The Great Sinhala civilization commenced after Vijaya’s arrival. But now, the proponents have successfully rebutted this.
Prior to Vijaya, like everywhere else, Sri Lankan people lived very primitive lifestyles (hunter-gatherer lives). This is the country’s correct history and it is so recorded in all historical texts like Mahavansa, Thupavansa, and Chulawansa. Our Great National Heroes intellectuals such as Ven Hikkaduwe Sri Sumangala, Ven Migettuwatte Gunananda, Anagarika Dharmapala, Walisinghe Harischandra, Piyadasa Sirisena, Ven S Mahinda, Gunapala Malalasekera, Professor Senarath Paranavithana, Professor Roland De Silva, Martin Wickramasighe, and Professor Ediriweera Sarathchandra fought very hard to preserve and uphold our history – the Mahavansa history.
It is this history that has given us the identity as Sinhalese (note, today we are confined only to 7/9 provinces of our tiny nation, and we are a ‘dying’ race).
Now, our history is under great and severe threat; not just by the separatists but by some Sinhala ‘intellectuals’ as well. The latter has been very successful in making adverse changes to our history in the school curriculums.
It is the patriots’ duty to carry out tasks to preserve our history just as our national heroes had done in the past. Just because a few individuals mainly those with Archeology and History qualifications want to proclaim an entirely different, false history that is so detrimental to us, we should not allow them to further deceive us.
A country’s history is a still, static component. It cannot be changed just per the whim and fancy of a few. If the history must be changed, it should be done only after very careful research/investigation and upon acceptance of the changes by the country’s intellectuals including the clergy and state instrumentalities. Extensive public consultation and discourse prior to acceptance is a must.
We must demand the authorities to urgently correct the history books where our children are learning incorrect history/where important aspects of our history have been omitted out.
Again, this is a very alarming situation.
The writer is an International Lawyer
Why is he hiding? If you have summoned by the court order to arrest, and if you are hiding; Mr. Ravi you could be charged; on top of the charges already in place against you. First, it could be disobeying to law and order of the country. The Second would be challenging the law of the country. If you are planning to appear and respect the judiciary of the country, you must let the court aware ASAP to protect its integrity. Sri Lankan people now have a better understanding of the people involved in this financial crime of robbing the central bank of Sri Lanka. who did the crime against to central bank and who benefited it as well? In one of the commissions, Mr. Ravi has said,” I don’t remember I have been offered property from Aloysius.” So these are quite childish answers you have been provided to commission and to the public. In this case, the public awareness of your behavior during that inquiry by this former so-called Asia’s best finance joker, who conspired to rob the central bank and one of the members of that infamous group which includes famous Bhaya Nathi Agamathi” Rani Wickramasinghe.
Ravi, Ranil Wickramasinghe the architecture of central bank crime, Kabir, Malik Samarawickrama, and many more involved in this crime and that is the public opinion and that is the plain truth. We request law and order authorities of Sri Lanka to work according to the legislature of the country to make it right for the democracy of the country. We want to see these culprits in jail for the crimes they have done to Sri Lankan Central Bank. Our economy suffers in many ways due to organized crime done by the politicians of this country.
It is only a tip of the iceberg of this crime, and it needs to become public to the nation. We are watching and expecting the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka will let the public know who did this crime, who plotted this, how it happens, and what damage has occurred to our economy. It is high time to eradicate criminals from the politics of our country. If any politician has done crimes to the country they must be trialed and justice needs to bring without delay. In our country justice is getting delayed, it is a sign of a malfunctioning system. Trust of Judiciary will remain locally as well as internationally if justice has been delivered within a cause of time in an efficient manner.
A blessing in disguise from the Yahapalana Maralaya was its deliberate attempt to kill the PC white elephant. Nobody wanted this death-trap then in 1987 or since then other than a collection of Colombo black-white and Marxists, who want Sri Lanka divided into two warring factions: Tamil Eelam and the Sinhala quadrant. Rajiv Gandhi, who forced JR to pass 13-A, stopped in Madras, on his return trip to Delhi, and boasted, that he delivered for Tamils what they never thought it possible to obtain!
It is so strange that all those protested and died in 1987 opposing PCs, are now behaving like silent mice, despite all possible evidence one could think of that the PC experiment has been a disaster for all except for a lonely philosopher like the Christian Marxist Dayan Jayatilaka (Lanka Guardian, 2/20/2020) or Jehan Perera. Some crook politicians have the nerve to say that 13-A is now part of the constitution and cannot be removed!
These bogus rule of law saints forget that Rajiv-JR pact was one-sided document like the 1815 Agreement, and all done for it in the parliament was a fraud in representative democracy. MPs were kept in a hotel and hurled into busses to vote for 13-A, except for one courageous MP, Gamini Jayasuriya of Homagama.
India did not fulfil its obligation of disarming Prabhakaran. There is no justifiable reason to respect this shameful decision and the way to break it is not what Rpremadasa and Paskaralingam did by secretly arming Prabhakarana against IPKF while entertaining Balasingham in five star hotels in Colombo, but by seeking a mandate from the people at the April 2020 election to get rid of it once and for all, whether the new parliament is going to enact a new constitution or not. This means that 13-A is so important to the country as 19-A is considered so relevant to the ruling party.
Behind the now prevailing debate about whether the MCC could be converted to a new bride as MCC+, just like 13-A supporters tried to soften the existential threat to Sinhale by distinguishing it as 13+ versus 13-, both 13A and MCC are trojan horses pure and simple. This was revealed by the American agent of MCC in Colombo, when he said that there is no such thing called a free lunch. Ranil and Sirisena betrayed Sri Lanka by gifting the Hambantota port for a pittance to China for 198 years. Similarly, President Gotabaya, should not listen to his black white friends” within and outside Pohottuwa, by abandoning his position against 13-A and MCC. The country did not expect a politician from him.
The essay below that I found surfing the internet is a comprehensive discussion on this 13-A debacle. It was written in 2011.
Colombo, March 9: Last week, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa met with the print and electronic media editors for an open forum discussion. The journalists were relentless, but the President remained cordial and never bluffed his way out. Following are few excerpts of the discussion.
The purpose of the meeting President had with the ICT was the first question.
Knowledge is the word of the century,” stated President.
Further explaining, he noted that technology is now the key to develop the economy. Therefore, though his Administration is focused on developing industries such as agriculture and tourism, the priority is given to developing IT based technology. It is on this basis he spoke to the ICT heads, he said.
Currently, the IT based industry in Sri Lanka is worth USD 1 billion,” he said. We can easily bring this to be a USD 3 billion industry, creating job opportunities for 300,000 people.”
However, he noted that skill is a very important factor in this industry. Thus, there needs to be a coherent plan to develop the skill level of the youth. The ICT heads were asked to suggest ways the government can help them to develop the industry, President revealed.
The President was asked as to the reasons for wanting a two third majority parliament.
I have been elected as the Executive President. The people have elected me with great expectations. However, I am prevented from using my executive powers,” noted President.
This has happened due to haphazard, short-sighted amendments to the Constitution. The 19th Amendment is a case in point, he observed.
This Amendment has put the whole country into a mess. I need to first remove the obstacles that are preventing me from fulfilling the expectations of the people. For this, I need a two third majority in the Government.”
Would the 19th Amendment be replaced by something like the 18th Amendment, questioned a journalist.
Keeping the term limit is not an issue,” reply came with a wry smile. Actually, I don’t even need a second term to execute my plans. But I should be allowed to work in these five years without a hindrance.”
However, with the 19th Amendment would the Independent Commissions also be removed, the journalist persisted.
Are these Independent Commissions independent?” asked the President in turn. Making a clear reference to Professor Hooles’ conduct at the Election Commissions, he said, We saw how one member in these Commissions was trying to promote his personal views as the Commission’s agenda. One can hold his own views. But as an office bearer, he cannot allow his personal objectives to get in the way of the Commission’s mandate. The country must be the beneficiary.”
Turning the tables around, he asked the journalists the reason for a Police Commission. The sudden change of roles stumped the journalists.
Was it to ensure that the Police force will be independent?” President asked again and got a few assents.
Does that mean that the IGP, who had served the Police Force for 35 years, is not a credible person? If we can’t trust someone after 35 years of service, how can we trust a Commission just because the members were appointed by the Constitutional Council? If we want the Police force to be independent, then we must identify the root of the problem and make sure that the IGP can work independently.”
Another journalist sought a clarification on the Election Commissioner’s directive to stop all training of graduates until the end of the elections.
Clearly perplexed by the Election Commissioner’s directive, the President said, I really don’t understand why the Election Commission took such a decision when even nominations have not been called yet. It might have been logical had he asked us to stop recruiting the graduates. But, it does not make any sense to stop the training of those already recruited. This affects the entire State administration. Once we hire new people, they have to be trained to do their job. How can they work without any training or wait without working for months until elections are concluded?”
President explained that the graduates were hired on the basis of their applications, without consideration to any other factor. We did not consider even from which village they came,” he said. It was noted that a letter expressing these concerns will be sent shortly to the Election Commissioner with a request to reverse the decision.
The Government’s stance at the UNHRC sessions dominated the discussion. The Government announced that Sri Lanka will no longer co-sponsor the inimical UNHRC Resolution 30/1 but also reiterated that Sri Lanka’s commitments to Human Rights remain unchanged. One journalist observed that the people in the North would be confident of a local mechanism. Therefore, he asked the strategy of the Government to win their trust.
President explained that the root of political issues is economic woes. Even the 1971 insurgency that erupted from the South was due to the prevailing economic issues. Unfortunately, politicians for their gain give these root causes their own interpretation.
He rejected that these issues are based on ethnicity. Are there not very affluent Tamils in this country?” he asked. At the same time, don’t we have Sinhalese that survive on murunga leaves?”
The only effective solution is to develop the economy and raise the living standards of our people. Irrespective of ethnicity, religion or any other parameter, all Sri Lankan citizens should have facilities for education, health care and other services to live with dignity.
The President was asked his response for families of the disappeared wanting reparations.
When you say, ‘disappeared’ what is the impression that forms in your mind? How have they disappeared? Have they been arbitrarily abducted? No. These disappearances had occurred during the war. We have studied and analyzed this issue very carefully. Even in the Sri Lankan Army, there are people who had disappeared.
I can tell you by experience that in a war, situations arise where we can’t recover the bodies. When I went to liberate the Jaffna Fort during Eelam War II, I saw bodies of our men strewed across – just 100 yards from us. Bodies of the terrorists were also lying on the same ground. But because of the intensity of battles, we can’t reach these bodies. In front of us, crows would fly and peck at these bodies and in a few days the bodies start to decay. The bodies could not be sent to the families and for them, he is still there – somewhere. Those days, when I was the Defense Secretary they would come and tell me that according to soothsayers their son is still alive. But we know he is not.
Even during the Muhamalai operation in 2006, we lost over 100 men. It was months after the ICRC could hand over the bodies to us. By that time the bodies had decayed so much, none of them could be recognized. So, we did not send a single body to their families. These families however have now come to terms with the fact.
Many do not know, but as soon as the war ended UNICEF did a study and asked the people in the area about the missing. Out of 2,600, about 60 said that they do not know what has happened to their loved ones, eight accused the military for their disappearances but the rest said that their loved ones were either willingly or forcibly conscripted by the LTTE.”
Answering the persistent question what kind of solution the Government has for these families, a death certificate could be issued if they are confirmed to be dead. In any case, such a certificate is issued after seven years. We had a program to address this issue earlier, but the last government had stopped it. The issue is when the missing people sometimes appear from places like Canada.”
A wartime veteran reporter asked, Why has your Government not highlighted in Geneva that the Commander of the Army that is accused of killing 40,000 civilians was endorsed as the 2010 Presidential Candidate by the TNA and that he won from all the Northern and Eastern provinces?”
The President acknowledged the question with a smile for it was obvious that the question was intended to highlight the ludicrousness on which the UNHRC Resolution 30/1 was based on.
ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com
The elaborate plans for the development of Trincomalee town and the associated Colombo-Trincomalee Economic Corridor (CTEC) drawn up the Ranil Wickremesinghe government in 2018 can be implemented only if the controversy over the US$ 480 million Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact (MCC) with the US is settled, an informed source said. The two are linked.
According to the highly placed source, the MCC, as it stands today, has clauses which violate the Sri Lankan constitution.
MCC projects will have to be administered jointly by the Sri Lankan government and the American MCC under a system enunciated by the MCC, which is a foreign entity. This cannot be accepted.
In the case of the Chinese-built Colombo Port (or Financial) City, the laws applicable are to be drawn up by Sri Lanka. But in the case of MCC projects, the laws will be drawn up by the MCC, which is a foreign entity. This is not constitutional,” the source said.
The committee appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to go into the MCC proposal has said in its interim report that the proposal has constitutional and national security issues which need to be addressed before MCC is accepted.
There has been political opposition to regularizing land deeds and making agricultural lands saleable, if these measures will make land saleable to foreigners. There has been opposition also to the Colombo-Trincomalee West-East Corridor dividing Sri Lanka at the middle, cutting off the Sinhala-majority South from the Tamil-majority North.
Udaya Gammanpila MP, an ally of President Gotabaya’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), said that while the transport and road improvement parts of the MCC (or 70% of it) are acceptable, the land registration part of it is not.
While Sri Lanka is all for giving secure land titles to individuals to enable them to put their land to productive use, any attempt to make them available to foreign buyers as result of a pact like the MCC, will not be unaccepted, Gammanpila said.
The MCC Compact, as approved by the previous government, says that one of the aims is to increase availability of information on private land and under-utilized State land in order to increase land market activity.
While the US Embassy has denied that the US will buy up any land under the MCC, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, a Leftist MP, said that the US will use its financial clout to get land released for foreign buyers. Sri Lanka will be obligated to accept such land transfers, having taken the US$ 480 million MCC as a grant from the US, he said.
Such land transfers will lead to the impoverishment of the rural masses, whose economy is land based,” he added. We want the land project to be dropped and the transport and road connectivity projects retained. But the US wants us to accept the entire package or forego the grant. That is not acceptable,” Gammanpila said.
Lost Priority Now
The second hitch in the Trincomalee development project is that it does not have the kind of priority it enjoyed when the UNP was in power. The UNP government not only got the MCC passed by the cabinet, but got the Singaporean town planning firm Surbana Jurong to do a feasibility study of the Trincomalee development project.
But going by Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election manifesto, Trincomalee development is not one of the highlighted goals. Importance and priority had been given to the development of the Colombo and Hambantota harbors not to the Trincomalee harbor, though it is acclaimed as a natural harbor with great potential.
After elaborating the development of Colombo and Hambantota ports, the manifesto equates Trincomalee with minor ports like Galle and Kankasanthurai and says that these ports will be developed according to the requirements of each region and to facilitate the needs of national economic corridors.”
Contrast this with former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s vision. When the Trincomalee development plan was launched, Wickremesinghe said: Countries in the Bay of Bengal region will develop greatly within the next 20 years. Populations in that region will reach three billion by 2050. Therefore, we will have to develop Trincomalee as the Eastern gate”.
According to Surbana Jurong Consultants Managing Director Philip Tan, the Trincomalee would witness the development of an international airport in Hingurakgoda (in North Central Province), a new City Centre, multi-story parking centers, an amusement park, an international cricket stadium, several highways, specialized highways such as dedicated freight highways, a cruise terminal, container terminal at China Bay, an oil refinery and an LNG power plant. He further said that the entire Trincomalee project is to be completed by 2050.
Trincomalee would be made an export hub by creating a clean industrial ecosystem, which can add value to the already abundant agriculture, aquaculture, minerals and resources in the area. Trincomalee will also be an Eastern Logistics Centre.
In keeping with the Sri Lankan government’s development strategy, Vision 2025, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had initiated a comprehensive development plan for the Colombo-Trincomalee Economic Corridor (CTEC) to address some of the development challenges faced by the country. An economic corridor development plan with a potential to generate 1.2 million new jobs by 2030 was proposed by the ADB.
Trincomalee is home to 99 giant oil tanks built by the British during World War II. In the 2000s, the Sri Lankan government handed the tanks to the Indian Oil Corporation to be used in collaboration with the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. However, only some tanks were refurbished and used. India has plans to refurbish more tanks to serve an emerging market in the Bay of Bengal area and South East Asia.
Defense Potential
The US appears to be more interested in the strategic value of the Trincomalee port, vis-à-vis an increasingly belligerent China.The Wickremesinghe government also wanted Trincomalee to be develop into a major naval base, a prospect in which the Americans, Japanese and Indians were keenly interested.
American and Japanese navies have sent ships to the Tincomalee harbour on goodwill visits. A Japanese Destroyer was in the Trincomalee harbour when the Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera was visiting it in August 2018.
Close on the heels of the visit of the Japanese Defense Minister Onodera to Trincomalee, the USS Amphibious Transport Dock USS Anchorage (LPD 23), along with the13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), arrived there for a visit on August 24.
The visit was an opportunity for the US Seventh Fleet to explore local logistics support services for visiting naval forces operating throughout the Indo-Pacific region.
This visit and training will build our shared capacity to respond to humanitarian emergencies in the Indo-Pacific region. We’re also excited to try out the air logistics hub concept which utilizes Sri Lanka’s strategic location in the Indian Ocean to ensure the quick availability of relief supplies, equipment and other material when needed by the US and partner militaries and humanitarian organizations,” said an US embassy official.
Colombo, March 9: A few who depend on a united and strong United National Party (UNP) to win seats in the April parliamentary elections, are still clinging to the hope that a split in the party will be averted even at the eleventh hour.
But most UNPers are expecting the split to be formalized any day now.
The UNP and the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) have sent separate letters to the Elections Commissioner telling him about their intention to contest. This is generally taken as a definitive sign of an impending split. But those still hoping to keep the party united argue that sending separate letters does not mean much. All parties do it, they point out.
This is a normal practice. It does not mean that the party has split,” a supporter of the unity move said.
However, most UNPers see the writing on the wall quite clearly: the party is heading for a split or has already split into two antagonistic groups, one headed by party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and the other led by Sajith Premadasa.
In fact, the Sajith faction has opened its headquarters. Crowds of supporters have begun congregating in Sajith’s office. Cutouts of Sajith have also come up. Likewise, Ranil’s followers are gathering at Sirikotha.
Party insiders say that about 80% of UNP’s leaders and cadres are with Sajith. Among the rest, some may not vote at all, and others may give their vote to another party, fed up with the UNP’s squabbling leaders and its non-performance while in government.
Sajith is entering the electoral fray confident of victory, citing the lackluster” performance of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) government led by Gotabaya and Mahinda Rajapaksa. But this may be wishful thinking. It is in fact too early to criticize the government of the Rajapaksas. It is only a few months old. Their supporters are aware of the time constraint. It is also generally accepted by the supporters of the Rajapaksas that the government can perform only of it ceases to be a minority in parliament. It has to get a majority in parliament. People still believe in the potential of the Rajapaksas to deliver if given the levers of power. The majority of Sinhalese voters are expected to give the levers of power to the Rajapaksas in the April elections.
Therefore, the SLPP and its allies are assured of a majority in parliament. But a two thirds majority through a vote is a pipe dream given the Sri Lankan election system. However, as indicated by SLPP leaders themselves, the SLPP will stitch together a two thirds majority after the elections, by getting defectors, preferably from the two factions of the UNP.
The SLPP has shut its doors to religious” parties like the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC). The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will also be out of the reckoning partly because it is racist” (Tamil) party, and partly because the TNA itself is ideologically against participating in governments at the Center before it gets a federal constitution.
The SLPP will find it easier to poach on UNP if it is split. A united and strong UNP will be difficult to poach on, as was seen in the October 2018 crisis when Mahinda Rajapaksa’s attempts to get cross overs from the then united UNP failed miserably. Therefore, the SLPP will be a major gainer if, in the coming parliament, the UNP is split and is collectively weak.
Contradictions in SJB
The Sajith-led SJB has internal contradictions, which some, who are now with him, hope to exploit to overthrow him or make him a puppet.
It is said that caste, support among the Buddhist clergy and Sajith’s style of functioning will be three key factors in this regard.
Sajith is not from the top two Sinhalese castes which is a handicap in Sri Lankan politics. Additionally, his links with the hardline Christian groups have been noted. The latter affects his claim to being a hardcore” Buddhist. These debilities could be exploited by some of his present-day supporters like Champika Ranawaka, who is a favorite of the Buddhist clergy cutting across party lines. It is also said that as a minister, Champika had cultivated India and China, two countries which have a direct interest in Sri Lankan political affairs.
Sajith’s arrogant style of functioning and his passion for exercising power might generate dissent. Not being from the traditional Lankan social elite, he would be forced to prove himself all the time to be in the same place. And in his anxiety to do that, he could step on sensitive toes.
Further, Sajith does not have the creativity and drive associated with his father Ranasinghe Premadasa who relentlessly battled social and political odds to win the Presidency. But Premadasa Sr. had to be continually ruthless to stay in the Presidency which made him unpopular among a large number of Sri Lankans.
It is noteworthy that the only major spilt in the UNP (after SWRD Bandaranaike left in 1951) took place at a time when Premadasa was battling against the traditional elite led by Gamini Dissanayake and Lalith Athulathmudali in 1992.
Many UNPers are with Sajith only to win the coming elections by getting a decent number of Sinhala-Buddhist votes. But actually there is big deficit on the Sinhalese side in his case, a deficit which had caused his defeat in the November 2019 Presidential election.
Having realized that Ranil Wickremesinghe cannot help win elections, his closest associates either crossed over or are planning to cross over to Sajith’s side. It is said that some of his closest friends are advising him to hand over the party to Sajith and take an assignment in the UN or any world body, which will be happy to take him, given his interest in, and knowledge of, international affairs.
Ranil himself had toyed with the idea of being an international roving lecturer in the past after one of his earlier defeats. But it is significant that he never actually left the leadership of the UNP. It is expected that he will want to continue to be the leader till at least 2025, when his current term officially ends.
Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa addresses the nation during the 72nd independence day ceremony in Colombo on Feb. 4. © Reuters
BANGKOK — Four months after an electoral triumph, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has set the stage to consolidate his political gains through a landslide victory at April’s parliamentary elections, which he called after dissolving the legislature last week six months before its current term ended.
The hawkish Rajapaksa is unequivocal about the work cut out for the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, a newly formed party that backed him during the mid-November presidential elections. “I need [a] two-thirds majority,” the famously blunt-talking Rajapaksa said on Thursday when he met Sri Lankan journalists in Colombo.
Such a high victory margin in the 225-member parliament is merely to amend the constitution, giving him a freer hand to drive his political and economic agenda. “People voted me with high expectations to deliver as the executive president. If the president can’t deliver what the people want, what is the use of the constitution,” Rajapaksa was quoted as telling local media.
The move represents his frustrations with the checks on his presidential power by a clutch of independent commissions and other limits on executive power in the constitution amended in April 2015, which have neutered the authority of a former all-powerful presidency. And seasoned observers in Colombo say that Rajapaksa’s push for a strongman-style rule enjoys wide support with the country’s Sinhala-Buddhist ethnic majority, who helped him win the presidency.
“The majority community will vote again for the SLPP, since Sri Lankan elections are by nature and tradition a winner-takes-all when one poll follows the other,” said a political insider in Colombo. “And the president is banking on the majority’s votes, since all his statements since his November win seek to appease Sinhalese interests over minority interests.”
But alienating the country’s Tamil and Muslim minorities could undermine Rajapaksa’s tall order for over 150 seats in the legislature at the April polls. “Statistically it is unlikely for the SLPP to get the two-thirds only on the Sinhalese-Buddhist votes,” said Aruna Kulatunga, a Colombo-based political analyst. “So the SLPP is working very hard to get the Muslim voters to their side — by sidestepping and completely ignoring minority Muslim political parties.”
Diplomatic sources in Colombo say that securing such a sea change among the minorities will pose a challenge for the Rajapaksa camp. After all, at the presidential elections last year, members of both minority communities voted in droves against Rajapaksa. The anti-Rajapaksa vote was stoked by fear of repression and human rights violations that would target minorities, given his record as the hawkish defense secretary during the 10-year presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa, his elder brother, that ended in 2015.
“The Rajapaksas cemented their credentials as champions of the Sinhalese cause during Mahinda’s term, and the minorities expected Gotabaya to follow in similar stride,” said a diplomat from a Western embassy. “But they need to offer concessions to secure minority backing in April.”
Both brothers were hailed by the majority for ending a nearly 30-year ethnic conflict, which pitted government troops against the separatist Tamil Tigers. The civil war resulted in over 100,000 people being killed, and ended in May 2009. It set the stage for Mahinda’s second term, which started with his sweeping victory at the January 2010 polls, fueled by his national security credentials.
Mahinda’s shock electoral defeat at the January 2015 presidential polls brought some reprieve — an end to the climate of fear, a drop in human rights violations and an open and free political culture. But bitter rivalry between the coalition government that succeeded him resulted in a dysfunctional and unstable administration, paving the way for a political appetite by the Sinhala constituencies for a stable and strong government under another Rajapaksa.
The infighting within the former coalition government has worsened since the November polls, enabling the Rajapaksa camp to enjoy an edge. A commonly held view by seasoned observers in Sri Lanka is that the opposition’s inexorable implosion into two opposing camps creates a scenario that makes it easier for the SLPP to win in the April polls.
Not surprisingly, foreign policy allies of the Rajapaksas use the squabbling opposition to drive home a diplomatic point. They say that a parliament packed with a large SLPP majority to bolster a Rajapaksa administration will affirm Sri Lanka’s stability in a time of geopolitical competition for influence in the Indian Ocean.
“With a commanding majority in the next parliament, the government will enjoy a strong hand to deal with external pressures,” said Palitha Kohona, a former Sri Lankan foreign ministry secretary. “The government’s view is that India is our relative and China is our friend.”
In the wake of Rajapaksa’s November victory, there are emerging signs that the diplomatic bonds are deepening with the two Asian powers who have been contesting to gain influence in strategically located Sri Lanka. Even Western governments who were critical of the Rajapaksa camp during Mahinda’s second term appear to be making amends — compensating for their strong ties with the pro-Western, dysfunctional administration that was defeated last year.
“Even the U.S. doesn’t want to lose influence with the country it has already developed ties,” added Kohona. “Western countries may not be happy with some policies of the Rajapaksa government, but they must respect the will of the people.”
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