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ශ්රී ලංකාවේ ජීවත්වන චීන ජාතිකයන් හට කරුණාවෙන් සලකන ලෙසත් අවශ්ය අවස්ථාවන්හි උපකාර කරන ලෙසත් ඉල්ලා සිටිමින් අස්ගිරි පාර්ශවයේ මහනායක අතිපූජ්ය වරකාගොඩ ශ්රී ඥානරතන නා හිමියන් සමස්ථ ශ්රී ලාංකිකයන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලීමක් කරමින් විශේෂ නිවේදනයක් නිකුත්කර තිබෙනවා.
අදාළ නිවේදනය පහතින්.
ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ පුරවැසිභාවය පිළිබඳ නඩුව මෙන්ම ස්විස් තානාපති කාර්යාල නිලධාරිනියගේ සිද්ධිය ද ලේක් හවුස් ආයතනය තුළ සැලසුම් කළ ඒවා බව මාධ්යවේදී චන්දන බණ්ඩාර මහතා චෝදනා කරනවා
ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට පැමිණිල්ලක් සිදු කිරීමට පැමිණි අවස්ථාවේදී ඔහු මේ කරුණු අනාවරණය කළා.
අභිමානවත් දේශයක අභිමානවත් ජනතාව අද 72 වැනි නිදහස් දිනය උත්කර්ශවත් ලෙස සැමරුවා.
රටේ අභිමානය ලොවට කියාපාන තවත් විස්මිත නිර්මාණයක නිමැවුම්කරුවන් වෙන්නට අපේ තරුණ පිරිසක් සමත්වුණා.
ඒ ලංකාවේ විශාලතම ලෙළදෙන ජාතික කොඩියේ හිමිකරුවන් වෙමින්.
ලංකාවේ විශාලතම ලෙළදෙන ජාතික කොඩිය නිර්මාණය කිරීමට මූලිකත්වය ගෙන කටයුතු කර තිබෙන්නේ අවිස්සාවේල්ල මානියංගම රජමහා විහාරයේ තරුණ බෞද්ධ සංගමයේ සහ එම ග්රාමයේ තරුණ පිරිසක්.
මෙම නිර්මාණය සඳහා රෙදි යාර 120 ක් යොදාගෙන තිබෙනවා.
කොඩියේ දිග අඩි 50 වන අතර පළල අඩි 30ක්.
ජාතියේ අභිමානය කියාපාන මේ ප්රතාපවත් ජාතික ධජය ස්ථාපිත කෙරුණේ මුහුදු මට්ටමේ සිට අඩි 1200ක් පමණ ඉහළින් පිහිටි යකහටුවාව කඳුමුදුනේයි.
මෙම නිර්මාණ කාර්යයට දායක වූ තරුණ පිරිස පසුගිය වෙසක් උත්සවය වෙනුවෙන් විශාලතම ලෙළදෙන බෞද්ධ කොඩියක්ද නිර්මාණය කිරීම විශේෂත්වයක්.
For a nation, to be politically ‘independent’ means, not to be subjugated, not to be under control, not to be living in fear, not to be harassed, plundered and exploited. However, political independence becomes less forceful and less meaningful in the absence of other important forms of independence, including economic independence, cultural independence, spiritual independence, freedom to lead a life that is safe and secure and to be led by and inspired by patriotic leaders who are selfless in their service to the nation.
TAMIL INVASIONS AFFECTING OVERALL INDEPENDENCE
Sri Lanka’s history provides ample evidence that this type of overall independence prevailed in the country, to a great extent, before the dawn of the colonial era in the early 16th century. Basically, this was during the golden age” of Sri Lanka or the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa period from the 3rd century BCE until about the 13th century CE – a period that exceeds 1500 years. This was a time when the country was ruled by Sinhala Buddhist royalty and when the large mass of people enjoyed overall independence, and when economic and cultural development of the country was at its peak.
The island’s recorded history including widespread archeological evidence and records of foreign travelers and traders in the past and the extensive ancient irrigation system bear testimony to the greatness of the country’s civilization that was based overall freedom generated by Buddhism which was the basis of the national culture. Political independence was stable and secure under the leadership of the nation’s royalty, nobility and Buddhist monks who were in the forefront as advisers to royalty. Governance was based on Buddhist principles and was focused on the welfare of the common man. The extensive irrigation system was developed during this time, which is still in use, is considered as engineering marvels today. It led to a sustainable farming system. Sri Lanka was able to develop a highly productive agricultural economy and was an exporter of food crops to other countries. Economic and social development went hand in hand with cultural advancement and spiritual development of the people at large. The peaceful way of life provided sufficient leisure time for people to pursue cultural and spiritual activities.
The enormous patronage provided by the royalty was the major driving force for cultural pursuits at that time. A rich language of our own – Sinhala, and a mass of equally rich literary works in the form of prose and verse developed within our island during this period. Development of fine arts attained great heights. Indigenous architecture, rock sculpture, wood sculpture, paintings on various surfaces and other forms of fine arts attained great heights. Some of the greatest Buddhist stupas were built during this time. Buddhism was the source of inspiration for this creativity and the products of this creativity which are still evident in the country are marked by serenity, peace and spirituality and are of extreme aesthetic appeal.
The greatness of the cultural development of this time is well evident in the remains of ancient cities and historic places of the past. The UNESCO has designated five of these historic sites as World Heritage Sites owing to the masterpieces of human creativity and imagination evident in these places – Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, Dambulla and Mahanuwara (Kandy).
There were occasional interruptions to the independence enjoyed by the country during the Anuradhapura-Polonnaruwa periods, owing to South Indian Dravidian invasions. These were periods marked by violence, atrocities and plunder by these ruthless invaders. Buddhist temples and places of learning were ransacked and destroyed. Monks suffered much harassment and hardship. Literary works were set on fire and irrigation systems were damaged. During the latter part of the 13th century, constant Dravidian South Indian invasions, atrocities and terrorist activities led kings to abandon their historic capitals and drift with their people to the southwest of the country for safety. Royal Capitals were changed constantly during the 13th to 17th centuries and finally consolidated in Kande-Udarata or the hill country with Mahanuwara (Kandy) as the royal capital. It is noteworthy that the overall independence enjoyed by our people was severely affected by the invasions and atrocities brought about by South Indian Tamil-speaking Dravidians.
EUROPEAN
INVASIONS / OCCUPATION AFFECTING INDEPENDENCE
European colonial powers arrived in Sri Lanka during the 16th to 18th century period. The Portuguese who arrived in 1505 occupied the coastal areas and soon became a constant source of aggression, annoyance and terror to the large mass of people. They had two major objectives – trade with maximum benefits to them, and to convert local people to the Catholic religion using force and other unethical means. It is reported that they came with a gun in one hand and the bible in the other. The destruction they caused to Buddhist temples and places of learning and the killing of Buddhist monks and people in the name of religion was unprecedented. Almost all Buddhist shrines in the coastal areas that they occupied were destroyed, including the Kelani Raja Maha Viharaya. Among seats of learning destroyed were the famous Totagamuwe Vijayaba Pirvena, Padmavathi Pirivena of Keragala and Sunethra Devi Pirivena of Pepiliyana.
The Dutch ousted the Portuguese in 1640 and occupied places under Portuguese control. Continuing similar trade activities like the Portuguese, they started converting people to Protestant Christianity. They too were instrumental in destroying Buddhist temples, monasteries and the royal palace at Hanguranketa. The Dutch were followed by the British who ousted the Dutch in 1796. Their well-planned program of activities, for a continuous period of about 150 years, led to the greatest of damage to the country’s overall independence, culture, social cohesion, unity and dignity. In 1815 the British captured the Sri Lankan king and the entire country came under their control. This ended Sri Lanka’s long history of royalty with some 295 kings. The British rule continued until 1948.
All colonial powers acted on pure and absolute self-interest”. British occupation of Sri Lanka was one of sheer exploitation and devastation. Whatever benefits that were derived by local inhabitants were merely incidental to their exploitation of the country’s natural and human resources in order to reap enormous benefits for the British government.
Often we have heard people saying that Sri Lanka did not shed blood for freedomunlike India. This is plain nonsense. Those who are conversant with Sri Lanka’s colonial history know that much blood was shed for freedom. Prior to the Kandyan Convention of 1815, thousands upon thousands of Sinhala people sacrificed their lives to free the country from colonial repression. More were killed during the rebellion of 1818 and 1848. During the Kandyan rebellion of 1818, every man over 14 years was ordered by the British to be killed and some sixty thousand Sinhala people were massacred. Large numbers of local leaders were annihilated by the British – – Veera Keppetipola, Veera Puran Appu and Veera Gongalegoda Banda are the better known.
DESTRUCTION OF ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE
The economic independence of the country was destroyed by the British by converting the self-sufficient sustainable economy to an outer oriented unstable commercial economy dependent on fluctuating external world markets. Sri Lanka’s economy was transformed to become a cheap source of agricultural raw materials such as coffee, tea, cocoa to be exported to Britain. The economy became totally outer- oriented, so much so, a greater part of essential food requirements of the mass of people had to be imported from other countries. Forested mountain slopes, were cleared in the most haphazard manner to be converted to commercial crops for export. Some of this land included farmlands of local inhabitants. This had a drastic impact on the natural resources base of the country leading to drastic changes in environmental processes resulting in excessive soil erosion, landslides, increased flooding alternating with severe drought conditions. These calamities mostly affected local inhabitants in rural areas. l slaves for the British in their newly opened coffee and tea plantations. This led the British to import Tamil labourers from South India who later became a new element in the demographic composition of the country. The excessively poor living conditions of the large mass of rural folk led to migration, especially of youth to Colombo and other big towns. Most were subjected to the influence of the extremes forms of undesirable urban culture that was gaining ground in urban areas. The use of alcohol was a common element of urban culture.
DECLINE OF TRADITIONAL FARMING
Traditional agriculture declined rapidly with vast areas of former productive paddy land either being abandoned owing to neglected irrigation facilities or because part of the agricultural land were bought over or taken over by the British for development of coffee, tea and rubber for export. Traditional agriculture was a way of life for the people. It had the influence bringing about togetherness among people. They worked jointly helping in each other in their farm activities. It provided them with sufficient leisure time to be engaged in other productive and creative pursuits including cultural and religious activities.
Royal patronage was the strongest form of motivation and support and Buddhism was the supreme source of inspiration for those involved in creative cultural pursuits in ancient times. These supports were no longer available to the people. Besides, most rural people were frustrated owing to great difficulties faced by them in meeting even their essential needs. Loss of freedom and privileges that they enjoyed under their kings and their traditional leadership had a strong psychological impact on people making them overly passive, subservient and backward. Traditional places of learning were the Buddhist temples where Buddhist monks were teachers of both religious and secular subjects. These centers and Buddhist monks were not accorded the same privileges and support accorded to Christian missionary schools and teachers in urban areas. The monks who were in the forefront with the royalty in affairs of governance, were now kept deliberately in the background with no special privileges. This situation did not permit the emergence of leaders from rural areas where the large mass of the dominant community lived.
DIVIDE AND RULE POLICY OF BRITISH
The vast changes that they brought about in almost all areas of life in the country, led to the disruption of the long-held culture, values and way of life of local inhabitants, particularly the Sinhala community. To serve their self-interests the British practiced the divide and rule” policy by setting one community against the other. The Tamil minority were given special privileges, were provided with better opportunities for education, employment and government services. The small Tamil community soon became a privileged community. Besides, all those who were converted to Christianity and those who subscribed to British interests and their administration, had preferential treatment in education and employment. When the British left Sri Lanka in 1948, they made sure that power remained in the hands of the English educated and English speaking few, who were toeing their line. The British also left a highly outer oriented and dependent economy at the mercy of the British and world market. The political party system that was introduced to the country helped to further divide and disintegrate the people, because the principles of party system was not fully understood by the people.
To make matters worse, power – political, administrative, and economic was inherited by those belonging to the Colombo sub-culture. Most of the qualified professionals also belonged to or subscribed to this sub-culture. During the colonial period, the British made sure that Tamils and Christians were placed in positions of authority and influence in the administration of the country and in major professions. Tamil leaders in various spheres including politics and Christianity were sponsored by these colonialists and some became agents of these foreign exploiters of the country, helping to undermine the interests of the dominant community of the country. This trend gained strength after the country attained independence owing to the enormous foreign funding that supported minority interests of Christians and Tamils. Among them were Tamil politicians leading racist political parties and later the racist’s terrorist LTTE organization whose leadership is Christian. These Tamils and Christians have been engaged in propaganda against the rights of the Hela Buddhist culture all along.
On February 4th, 1948, the country was accorded Dominion Status with the Queen of England as the Head of State and with the British maintaining military bases in Katunayake andTrincomalee. The country did not have true political independence. In 1957 with the initiative of then Prime Minister that these bases were taken over by the government. It was in the year 1968, or 52 years ago, that our country became a Republic without any links with the British crown and in every sense acquired political independence.
TAMIL TERRORIST MENACE AFFECTING NATION’S INDEPENDENCE
Until 2009, for about three decades, the most serious national problem affecting overall sovereignty and independence of the country, and for that matter, all aspects of life of our country was caused by the racist, separatist and extremist attitudes and actions of a powerful and privileged segment of the non-indigenous minority Tamil community. Social harmony and economic well-being of our nation was destabilized and threatened to an extreme extent by ideologies based on ethnocentric exclusivity propagated by this segment of the non-indigenous minority Tamil community. The terror, horror and violence that was brought about by Tamil LTTE terrorist went against all norms and ethics of the civilized world. Extremist Tamil groups living within and outside Sri Lanka were resorting to tribalistic rhetoric ostensibly to achieve their communal aspirations and engage in violence and terror. Sri Lanka’s overall independence and development, were severely affected for several decades owing to problems caused by misguided racist Tamil terrorists. The nation is indebted to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Secretary of Defense Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the popularly elected President of the country at present, to have provided the long-awaited leadership to eliminate the Tamil terrorist menace from the country and restoring security and territorial integrity and overall independence in the Sinhala Buddhist Nation Sri Lanka.
Dr. Daya Hewapathirane
I bequeath to my readers the Conclusion of my book: Wind Power for Sri Lanka’s Power Requirements.
It in unfortunate that our authorities in establishing wind turbines in Sri Lanka have so far ignored the mountainous areas where there is ample wind power.
My mind travels to a book by John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hitman, where he confesses that as an expert he had written feasibility reports with fabricated statistics which when implemented by the Government of Ecuador, became failures, with the loan as a debt to the country. Our country has been given the wrong advice. Go to Spain, to the USA the leading countries where wind power has been harnessed and they harness the wind on their mountains. It is only Sri Lanka that tries to catch the sea breeze.
In Sri Lanka we have failed to harness Wind Power which Mother Nature has bountifully provided to us.
Suffice it to state that Spain a country that was far behind in producing wind power has within two to three years spurted up the ladder to be the second country in the world. Travelling through the Pyrenees to Spain in my Motorhome I was surprised to see wind turbines perched all over even on makeshift angle iron posts, the type of things that I can myself make in a day(I am no engineer). Spain even sells power to France today.
On my last visit to venerate the Avukana Buddha, I spotted a canopy perched on very long concrete shafts constructed by the State Engineering Corporation.
It is my humble request to our excellency the President of Sri Lanka to summon the engineers who built the concrete shafts to support the canopy, and request them to design and produce the posts that can carry the wind turbines. They can easily produce these. Then import the wind turbine mechanism and set them up in our hills. We will provide employment for a few thousands. We can invite a specialist of the caliber of Paul Gipe, the mastermind of wind power in California. who actually constructed and guides the wind turbines in California today. This will provide all the power we need. I have no doubt about that. This task can be accomplished within a year at most. Considering the billions we spend to import coal and oil, we can easily make a saving.
That is the message in my book: Wind Power for Sri Lanka’s Power Requirements.
I enclose the Conclusion of my book in support for kind perusal.
10.Conclusion
I am pleased to submit the Papers I have so far written on Wind Power as a source of Energy, in a booklet in the sheer hope that someday this will be read by one of our leaders who will be convinced that Wind Power is the form of energy that Sri Lanka is blessed with in abundance and will get going all out.
In nostalgia, I can remember what did actually happen in Bangladesh in 1982, when I worked there as the Commonwealth Fund General Advisor on Youth Development to the Ministry of Labour and Manpower in Bangladesh., The Minister for Youth Abul Kasim was arrested on the charge of harbouring a criminal in his residency. A day later, the Military took over the country in a coup de etat. Immediately afterwards, the Military Government in a high powered conference chaired by Hon Aminul Islam, the Minister for Labour and Manpower assessed the programmes of the Youth Ministry. That included imparting vocational training to 40,000 youths a year. The Minister was not totally impressed with the work done. Suddenly realizing me as the only outsider, I was confronted:
”What is the contribution you can make for Bangladesh?”
I replied: It would be ideal to have a self employment programme to enable the 40,000 youths that are being trained every year to be guided to become entrepreneurs. Most of them are in the ranks of the unemployed even after training, today. ”
My reply created an uproar. The Secretary to the Treasury, the highest official in the land objected on the grounds that such a self employment creation programme can never be achieved. He added that the ILO had in the preceeding three years tried to establish a self employment programme in Tangail, Bangladesh and spent a massive amount of funds all in vain. I argued with the Secretary to the Treasury for over two hours, quoting definite instances where I had successfully established self employment projects for youths in Sri lanka. It was an intense battle between me and the Secretary with the Hon Minister intently listening. Finally the Minister stopped our battle. He immediately approved my establishing a self employment pogramme. The Secretary to the Treasury stumped with the words, that he will never be providing any funds for this wasteful task. I replied that I will find savings within approved training budgets which was approved by the Hon Minister.
I got cracking with the officials of the Youth Ministry and the Lecturers of the Vocational Training Institutes that provided the vocational training, providing them with a basic knowledge of national planning to identify areas within the economy where there was a propensity to create employment opportunities and training them in economic endeavour-structuring projects for self employment on a small scale-even with a cow or a dozen chicks and developing the enterprise. My task was to establish the self employment programme and to train the staff to continue after my two year consultancy ended. To a man the officers responded and today this Youth Self Employment Programme has by February 2011 guided over two millions to become self employed and it is an ongoing programme that trains and guides 160,00 youths a year to become self employed. Today, it is easily the premier programme of employment creation the world has known.
This experience of mine itself indicates that though wind power for the task of creating power is at an infancy today, we can easily develop it.
Let me hope that the contents of these papers which prove beyond all doubt that Wind Power can offer all the energy that Sri Lanka needs will someday find a Minister Aminul Islam” who will authorize it. I am certain that the administrators and engineers who will toil till it is a success can easily be found.
Firstly, the country will not depend on the supply of coal and oil for power plants and the country can save all the millions and billions being spent today to import oil and coal.
Secondly it will provide employment for thousands in erecting the turbine towers, in establishing the wind turbines and in the manufacture of the turbine mechanism itself at the later stages. In my travels in France, Spain and Portugal I have seen workers making the towers, blades, transporting them in long trucks, erecting the towers and maintaining them. That is no difficult task for our engineers and workers.
One of my readers happened to be an engineer, Mr Kanaga. who was involved with establishing the five wind turbines at Hambantota, the first to be built in Sri lanka. What is most interesting in his comment which I have totally enclosed in this book, is that the environmental lobby had decided that the turbines should only be erected on the coasts and not in the mountains where there is ample wind force.
It is sad that the environmentalists were silent when the entire Kotmale Valley was denuded of people and their activities all to create 200 MW of power. That could have been easily achieved with fifty wind turbines scattered within Kotmale itself and the inhabitants and the economy would have been spared extintion. The entirety of Kotmale is dead today.
Currently the Kitulgala Valley is being destroyed to build a dam to get some 38MW of power and the entire Kitulgala Valley for miles will face destruction. Why were the environmentalists silent when these two projects were approved and implemented?
Kanaga, that engineer supports my recommendation that we should use the wind in our mountain area to provide the energy we need.
To my mind it is a crime not to use the wind power available and to spend millions and billions to purchase oil and coal.
I am convinced that there is an Oil Lobby and a Coal Lobby well financed to prove that wind is not a dependable source.
Many opine that wind is undependable. To them my answer is that the wind is an utterly dependable source of energy. Spain has gone all out to build wind turbines and even sells power to France.
Thanks are due to engineer Kanaga for his comments which are immensely valuable so that I have quoted them as an attachment to my paper.
A reader of my Papers, Susantha Wijeytileke has even commented that once at Madugoda he saw a cyclist being blown off the road by the power of the wind.
I must mention that I am not alone in advocating the siting of wind turbines in the mountainous areas of Sri Lanka.
In Windfair, on line editorial journalist Trevor Sievert quotes Lakshman Guruswamy, Sri Lanka has the potential to generate 24,000 MW electricity from wind.” (http://w3.windfair.net/wind-energy/news/1q543-sri-lanka-high-wind-energy-potential) Professor Guruswamy further states that studies have shown that nearly 5000 square KM of windy areas are available for potential wind power generation in Sri Lanka.” (Dated 12/04/2018.)
In www.windpower.lk, it is stated that in wind power the potential for Sri Lanka is 20,740MW”
Wind Power in Sri Lanka,a publication by The Asia Business Office (//www.asiabiomass.jp/English/topics/1601_04.html) states that the wind potential in Sri Lanka is 20,740 MW. In its words there is strong potential for wind power in the North Western coastal regions of Northern Province, the highland areas of the Central Province, Sabaragamuwa and Uva.”
In Sri Lanka Wind farm Analysis and Site Selection Assitance, M. Young and R Vilhauer of The Global Energy Concept, Kirkland, Washington state:
Sri Lanka has considerable available land with wind resource potential sufficient for development. However, the wind power capacity expansion is limited by the electricity transmission infrastructure. CEB estimates that the grid cannot accommodate additional wind capacity more than 7% of the peak load. The CEB estimates that installing more than 20MW of wind capacity in any given region may adversely impact local grid instability and power quality.
This Study states that the windy land can provide 50,000 MW.”
It is important to note that it is not the lack of wind power that holds up the utilization of wind power to produce electricity. Instead it is the grid capacity. Tackling the grid capacity is another kettle of fish. This is an area that has to be addressed. I will not be surprised if our experts who yet think that wind turbines should be built to harness the sea breeze and not the wind power in our mountains will come up with another cock and bull story stating that a grid cannot be built.
In the construction of the wind turbines at the Senok Wind Farm in Puttlam, where four wind farms established have a capacity of 40MW, it was found that the existing port facilities in the main port of Colombo and the road network was found wanting for the import of the turbine towers and blades. Instead these had to be obtained through barges from India. The maximum height of the turbine tower is 90 meters and each blade is 50 meters in length. I have seen long towers and blades being transported by road in France and Spain. This needs special transport. In the hilly areas in Sri lanka it will be more feasible to construct the towers and blades on site. These are areas that have to be addressed in any development. Where there is a will, there is also a way.
My thanks are also due to the Editor of the Sunday Observer.lk who in Let there be Light” (Sunday Observer:06/09/2009) commented that my suggestions are very valuable. Referring tro my suggestion that the wind power in the Central Highlands should be harnessed says, This is a timely and valid proposal and the authorities should take appropriate action to locate wind turbines in areas which will enable them to reach their maximum potential.”
I am also thankful for Noor Nizam for his Wind Energy Electricity generation is a reality” (Sri Lanka Guardian:27/08/2009) In his words, Garvin should be commended for his boldness to take to task the lethargic and selfish bureaucrats on this issue of renewal energy development of electricity energy in Sri Lanka…. His message should be well taken by others too handling national planning and development strategies to assist the little island of 21 million to come out of the rut of poverty, misery, the destruction of the civil war and the dependence on foreign powers.” He adds in the affirmative, As Garvin Karunaratne wishes Wind Energy Electricity Generation will be a reality in Sri Lanka for the next generation”. It is my fervent hope that this will be realized.
The last paper states of how the new owner of the Hambantota Port has insisted on a massive payment as ground rent for the five wind turbines. The CEB has decided to dismantle the five wind turbines. This is a sad epitaph for wind power use in Sri Lanka.
However the contents of this book convinces any sane thinking person that wind power can be harnessed. We have to learn from mistakes, not make the mistakes rule us. As a country we have to find ways and means of forging ahead, heedless.
This study proves beyond all doubt that there is ample wind capacity in Sri Lanka for self sufficiency in our power requirements through harnessing the wind.. There is no question about this. However, as in any field of development, be it agriculture or industry, there are problems that have to be surmounted. As stated the national grid has to be developed to carry the power from areas where it is generated to the areas where the power is consumed. Perhaps there can be local grids to carry the power generated from a local wind farm to a local district capital. For instance if wind farms are located in Dela on the Kirigalpotta hillock, a grid can carry the power to the town of Ratnapura.
Sri Lankan engineers have in ancient times done wonders. The gradient of the Jaya Ganga that carried the waters of the Kala Weva to the tanks in Talawa and Anuradhapura has been constructed at a gradient of six inches in a mile, a gradient that baffles the irrigation engineers of today.
I am dead certain that Sri Lanka can become self sufficient in all its power requirements not for its present stage but also for its future development through using wind power. The wind power in the Central and Sabaragamuwa Hills is vast. Methods and systems have to be found to harness this energy. However as long as we build wind turbines on the coastal areas and ignore the areas where there is real wind power and satisfy ourselves with studies of the difficulties and constraints, our attempt will be like that of a squirrel trying to empty the water in the ocean , carrying a bit of water on its tail, endless.
THE END
Garvin Karunaratne Ph.D. Michigan State University
Author of How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka & Alternative Programmes of Success(Godages:2006), How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development(Kindle/Godages:2017)
04/02/2020
Singing or not singing Sri Lanka Matha/ apa Sri Lanka…..” in Tamil is not a problem for ordinary Tamils. Neither is it an issue for ordinary Sinhalese or other Tamil speaking Sri Lankan citizens. But, apparently, it is a crucial subject for some foreign NGOs, separatists among expatriate Tamils in the West, and some Tamil politicians and their fellow travellers of the opposition. Ironically, they are the ones who are hellbent on destroying the rapport between the majority and minority communities.The last mentioned are ready to exploit even a trivial matter like this or a really serious crisis like the feared novel coronavirus infection 2019 (2019 n-CoV) epidemic (though not a single new case has been reported by the time of writing, February 2, except the Chinese patient admitted to the Infectious Diseases Hospital at Angoda and now reported to be awaiting discharge after recovery) for political advantage ahead of the forthcoming April general election. They will do anything to win against the SLPP, which, on its part must gain a good parliamentary majority for the president to continue the development work he is determined to do. While that is the real motive of these promoters or purveyors of re-con-silly-ation, the truth remains that Sri Lanka’s national anthem is the last thing they would care about. They demand that it be sung in Tamil in addition to Sinhala on February 4 because they know that, whether their demand is conceded or not, the government’s response will prove a double edged sword for it either way, given the Yahapalanaya-induced division of opinion about the national anthem being sung only in Sinhala in accordance with the the still operative 1978 constitution, which gave it constitutional recognition. Since the country is in safe hands back again, we need not worry on this score. It is hardly likely that the government under the current president and prime minister duo will be bamboozled into doing something that it can’t later defend.
Composer and musician Ananda Samarakoon (1911-1962) wrote the lyrics and composed the music for the song Namo Namo Matha in1940, while he was a teacher at Mahinda College, Galle. He had returned to the island after following classes for only six months at Rabindranath Tagore’s Santiniketan in West Bengal, India. But he had been profoundly inspired by the great man. He served as music teacher at Mahinda College from 1938 to 1942. Samarakoon was a Christian by birth, but embraced Buddhism as an adult. He wanted to create an authentically local music tradition instead of the foreign dependent Sinhala music of the time, and composed a number of songs which later became still well known classics. He composed the song ‘Namo Namo Mata’ to inculcate patriotism in the young students he taught at Mahinda, who were the first to sing it. It was at the beginning of the next decade that the then minister of finance J.R. Jayawardane (to become president many years later) who requested the government (led by UNP’s D.S. Senanayake) to recognize this song as the national anthem. A committee was appointed to study the merit of the minister’s proposal. It listened to several other songs as well. After much deliberation, they selected Samarakoon’s song. But they added the part ‘nitina apa pubudu karan Mata’ to its 10th line ‘nava jeevane demine’, before officially adopting it as the national anthem on November 22, 1951. The national anthem was officially sung for the first time on the independence day of 1952. Almost ten years later, in 1961, the first line of the song ‘Namo Namo Mata…..’ was judged to be inauspicious by astrologers, and ‘Sri Lanka Mata …’ was added to the beginning. These changes were introduced despite Samarakoon’s strong disapproval. His disappointment at the ‘mutilation’ of his song led him to commit suicide on April 5, 1962, according to a note he had left before killing himself by taking an overdose of sleeping tablets. That shows the patriotic musician’s passionate devotion to his enduring gift to the nation.
A Tamil translation of the national anthem was made – with the same lyrics and music – by a popular patriotic Tamil poet of the day M. Nallathambi (1896-1951). Nallathambi won the first prize for his poetry collection titled ‘Maniththai Nadum Marathon Oddadum’ ‘Mother Lanka and the Marathon Relay’ at a poetry competition organized by the government in 1950 to commemorate the 1948 independence. Whether the Tamil version was simultaneously accorded the same official recognition in 1951 along with the Sinhala original is not clear, but it is claimed that it continued to be sung generally in the predominantly Tamil north and east provinces and Tamil medium schools in other parts of the country. However, it is strongly doubtful whether the above mentioned current agitators for the Tamil version to be sung at state functions along with the Sinhala original are eager to have all Tamils identify with the Sinhalese majority as children of the one and only Mother Lanka. The innocent school children who had been trained to sing it at independence ceremonies between 2016 and 2019 sang it with enthusiasm; they were untouched by the duplicity of the politicians. We were not surprised to see this, because we had already observed how school children from the north visited the south in the years immediately after the humanitarian operation ended separatist terrorism (i.e., the period 2009-2014) on government sponsored awareness raising tours and established perfect rapport with their counterparts there, and bade tearful goodbyes when they had to part company at the end of the tour duration. Those children experienced genuine mutual camaraderie and shared deep love for Mother Lanka because the authorities had created the circumstances necessary to generate such feelings in those young children. Yahapalanaya came and destroyed the surging national consciousness among the ideologically unspoilt youth of the country.
Nallathambi was a patriot. He translated ‘Namo Namo Matha’ to express his genuine love for Mother Lanka and his sense of solidarity with the Sinhalese majority. But these feelings were not shared by the leading Tamil politicians of the time, who probably did not share Nallathambi’s enthusiasm. They were a privileged lot under the ruling British who were ill disposed towards the Sinhalese generally whose ancient homeland they were despoiling. When the Donoughmore Commissioners recommended and the government granted universal franchise to all Ceylonese above 21, this casteist Tamil elite vehemently opposed it because the non-vellalas also were given the vote, and the concerned conservatives feared ‘mob rule’ and they, in addition, didn’t want the vote to be given to women (something on which Muslim politicians agreed with them). Some Sinhalese leaders also had different misgivings about universal franchise, but obviously, they were not so passionate objectors after all. They accepted universal suffrage on condition that communal representation (which favoured the racist Tamils) be abolished in favour of territorial representation (which was fair by all communities). The Tamil leaders were worried when the Westminster parliamentary system was offered by the Soulbury Commissioners that the Sinhalese majority (75% of the population) were going to dominate the legislature causing a disadvantage to Tamils (15%). Catholic Christian lawyer G.G. Ponnambalam (whose non-vellala caste origin was compensated for by his religion and his English), leader of the Tamil Congress, argued for a 50-50 allocation of seats in the legislature for the two communities before the Soulbury Commissioners, only to be countered and rejected by them with contempt. Separatism has deep roots, and it has persisted to this day. The communalist and casteist minority have dominated Tamil politics for too long. Ordinary Tamils, like ordinary Sinhalese and Muslims, are reasonable sensible people. But like minorities anywhere, they tend to yield to a siege mentality vis-a-vis the majority when misled by unscrupulous politicians. Elite Tamil politicians have managed to induce Tamil voters to look upon the Sinhalese as unreasonable rivals, not as equal partners.
Tamils and Muslims have generally taken part in every post-independence government, with the exception of the UNP government of JRJ, when the opposition was led by the TULF; it observed a boycott of parliament for some of its term. But no government has ever totally neglected the Tamils or the Muslims. Often, they have been in kingmaking positions because of divisions among Sinhala politicians. During the Yahapalanaya, Sampanthan and Sumanthiran, while nominally being in the opposition, led some UNP ministers by the nose to the great detriment of the country. It was clear from the beginning that they were focusing on bringing in a system of confederation for Sri Lanka, with eventual separation in view.
While the government they controlled initiated some development programs in the north and supplied funds, the NPC returned those funds unutilised, as a UNP member was heard complaining recently. Even during the LTTE reign of terror, government servants of the north and east were paid by the state. The Rajapaksas started developing the north and east destroyed by the LTTE, even before the war came to a proper end. But Tamil politicians in power in the north ignored this. Basil Rajapaksa once said that a hall that had been constructed in the north by his ministry was not made use of by the Tamil authorities, deliberately depriving the Tamil public of benefits of development offered by the then central government. The TULF leaders were at the beck and call of the terrorists. They were terrorised by Prabhakaran. It was thanks to the Rajapaksas, against whom they now show such hostility, at least publicly, that they were finally freed from that terror. Will these racist Tamil politicians and their innocent dupes give up their visceral hatred of the Sinhalese by having some school children sing the national anthem in Tamil version occasionally?
This call to sing the national anthem in Tamil is, to all intents and purposes, a hoax. The Indian national anthem in Bengali language ‘Jana gana mana adhinayaka jayahe bharata bhagya bidhata’, adapted from a poem written by Rabindranath Tagore in 1911 and set to music by him was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of India on January 24, 1950. It is written in a highly Sanskritised Bengali which sounds familiar and intelligible to Sinhala speakers. The Sinhala national anthem that his pupil Samarakoon composed also uses many Sanskrit words, which, however, belong to the common vocabulary of the Sinhala language. Bengali is very close to Hindi, the most widely used language in myriad-tongued India. The 80 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu sing ‘Jana mana gana’ in their Tamil accent without any complaint. Why can’t the 3 million Tamils living so close together with the Sinhalese in little Sri Lanka sing the national anthem in Sinhala, if they have no reason to particularly dislike the Sinhalese? The Sanskrit shlokas heard from kovils sound familiar to Buddhist ears because of the closeness between Pali and Sanskrit and Sinhala. Why can’t Tamil leaders look kindly upon ordinary Sinhalese, as ordinary Tamils always do in everyday life? In a national religious context, Hindu Tamils and Sinhalese Buddhists are natural allies. This does not mean that either should spurn the friendship of others. Solidarity between these two communities is indispensable for overall national unity.
The quote below is widely circulated in at least two, or three Sri Lankan mainstream newspapers. The government minister, a member of the President’s cabinet is making a statement on the singing of our national anthem at the 2020 Independence Day celebrations:
“Speaking to media at the Information Department, Public Administration and Home Affairs State Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said the event would be held in a manner that minimises inconvenience to the public.
Samarasinghe said the Government decided to sing the National Anthem only in Sinhala at Independence Day celebrations. However, he pointed out that those who wish to sing the National Anthem in Tamil will be able to sing at the celebration. The national anthem will be performed in Sinhala, but anyone can sing in a language they prefer. They may sing it in Tamil in celebrations in the North,” Samarasinghe said.
This time the National Anthem will only be sung in Sinhala at the official ceremony. But there is no restriction to sing the National Anthem. Anyone can sing it in a language they prefer. People in the north and east can sing the National Anthem the way they prefer,” he added.”
END QUOTE
I hope genuine patriots, irrespective of our ethnicity, and in a non partisan manner will vehemently condemn this pathetic statement by a Cabinet Minister. The Presidential spokesperson should clarify if this is the government’s position. If it is not, then Samarasinghe should be sacked, or resign in disgrace.
The national anthem of Ceylon (Sinhale) was written by the patriot Ananda Samarakoon and titled “Namo Namo Matha” which was chosen as our national anthem shortly after Independence.
As if the lyrics being changed to Sri Lanka Matha by the 1961 government of Ceylon was not insult enough to his creation, now we have divisive elements, Indian bootlickers and ethno centric lunatics trying to make a pig’s breakfast of our nation and its fabric by having us sing it in multiple languages.
The national anthem of this country should be the original song that was written. It should be sung accordingly in the language it was written in. Thus “Namo Namo Matha”, written by Samarakoon in Sinhala, and given the honour of being our national song, should be sung in the original Sinhala words by ALL people.
In Singapore, their national anthem was written in Malay and is sung by all citizens (i.e. Chinese, Malay, Tamil, Sinhalese, Eurasians etc) with patriotic fervour. In Ceylon (Sinhale), the anthem should be sung in Sinhala (the language it was written in) by all citizens (Sinhalese, Tamil, Moor, Burgher, Veddah etc). Countries which have anthems in multiple languages do not have a historical, cultural or societal context that is applicable to our island.
If our national anthem had been written in Swahili even, then every citizen should sing it in Swahili. This ridiculous notion that we should sing the anthem in multiple languages, or condone different parts of the country singing it in various languages is not only insane, but tantamount to propagating the very same Indian sponsored Tiger nonsensical rhetoric that was supposed to have been decimated in 2009 once and for all.
Samarasinghe’s reference to:
1. Being allowed to sing the anthem in another language (in this case Tamil)
2. Referring to using Tamil in the North and East
is equivalent to high treason, and advocating separate ethnic identities, regional identities, promoting a fabricated ethno centric history and is the stark opposite of one nation, one people and the principled ideals of one Ceylonese people that our Independence Movement fought for. It violates the sanctity of our anthem, disrespects its creator and demonstrative of an ad hoc policy by inept government.
The government, especially the President, should make its position clear on this matter. Given Samarasinghe is a Cabinet Minister, his idiotic words represent the government. Our nation needs no enemies when it has inept fat buffoons (who speak just because they have a mouth) in charge of the country.
It is extremely disappointing too that there was a statement by the Prime Minister that seemingly ran contrary to a statement by the President’s office, where the press reported the PM as saying that there would be no ban on singing the anthem in Tamil.
The national anthem should be sung in one language. It should only be translated for educational purposes, and transliterated (i.e. spelt out phonetically) into another language to assist those who wish to sing it (e.g. a foreigner who wishes to participate in singing it can read the pronunciation of the Sinhala words).
Truly disappointed in this government. This pandering to India and the Indian agenda is deeply disturbing and an insult not only to the nation, but to the sacrifices and struggles of all those who fought for our independence in 1948, as well as to the memory of those innocent citizens killed by the Tigers and the memory of the brave men and women of the armed forces who in some cases made the ultimate sacrifice to reintegrate the country.
When will we get a genuine patriotic government who will end these nonsensical policies, contrasting statements by government ministers, abolish the Indo Lanka Accord and abolish the 13th amendment?
It is also disappointing that some people are trying to belittle 4th February 1948. We were fully independent on that day. Becoming a Republic is totally separate from Independence. There is no question that the British did bad things. But that does not excuse twisting history and facts. We had a democratically elected government of the people in 1948 (indeed we were Asia’s oldest democracy). The name Ceylon was merely the English phonetic version of “Sinhale”. The name “Sri Lanka” is an artificial Indianised name which has no historical reference in our texts, or any colonial records. The Privy Council merely followed Ceylonese Law TO THE LETTER. Unlike today’s corrupt courts, which are supposedly sovereign, politicians had no bearing on judicial verdicts. The Privy Council ruled against Tamil racists who tried to challenge the legality of the Ceylon Citizenship Act. The Privy Council merely followed the law. Singapore similarly used the Privy Council for a considerable period of time to give business confidence to investors (it has since given that up, but certainly doesn’t mark that day as its Independence Day).
May 22nd if we wish can be commemorated as a “Republic Day”, but should not take away from what was achieved in 1948. Indeed, we lost our independence in July 1987 thanks to the political establishment licking the boots of India (the nation who created the Tigers and who still promotes their agenda here). Frankly the government of 1970 did not have a democratic mandate (over 50% of the vote) to change the constitution at the time. Furthermore, it is ridiculous to focus on “the role of Japan.” Japan committed barbaric atrocities across all of Asia, and would certainly have done the same in Ceylon had they managed to reach here. It is an insult to the peoples of China, Korea, Malaya, Singapore, etc, whose populations were subjected to unspeakable Japanese subjugation, slavery and executions, to try and condone what the Japanese did.
In short, our Independence Day and celebrations should be based on the truth, apolitical and established upon fact. The Anglo Ceylon Defence Treaty was a beneficial defence alliance mutually agreed upon and protected us from India. If that had remained intact, India would never have dared threaten us, much less set up a terrorist group to destroy our country. I hope politicians in the future do not make each Independence Day a political tamasha about their own party. This should be a NATIONAL day of unity just like in the United States, or Singapore, where the country unites beyond partisan lines and celebrates what was achieved and takes a moment to THINK about where we are going.
I wish you a Happy Independence Day and hope that sanity prevails upon our potential first world paradise!
#ScrapIndoLankaAccord #Scrap13thAmendment
Best wishes,
Stanley Gunaratne.
ආදී සිංහළුන් පිට දීප දේශ ජයගත්තා….//
තම රට දේවල් පිටරට පටවා
පිට කාසිය මෙහි ඇද්දා
පිට දීප දේශ ජයගත්තා
ආදී සිංහළුන්….
පිටරට සිරිතට දිව දික්කරනා අඳ සිංහල කළු සුද්දා…//
කන්ට අඳින්ටා පිටරටින් එනතුරු මුහුදට දත නියවන්නා…//
පිට දීප දේශ ජයගත්තා
ආදී සිංහළුන්…
හෙරළි බතල ටික සුපුරුදු අම්මා රටහාලේ බත කාලා…//
කිරි නැති හින්දා රටකිරි දීලා සිංහල දරුවො මරන්නා…//
පිට දීප දේශ ජයගත්තා
ආදී සිංහළුන්…
පිටරට හාලේ බත්ටික නැත්නම් බඩගින්නේ සිංහලයා…//
අන්තිමේදී බුදියන පැදුරත් දැන් දැන් පිටරටින් එන්නා…//
පිට දීප දේශ ජයගත්තා
ආදී සිංහළුන්…
-ලක්ෂ්මී බායි
2019 ජනාධිපති මැතිවරණය මගේ මතකයට ගේන්නේ, පලවෙනි විජයබාහු රජතුමා නිසා නොවෙන්නට ලංකාව දකුණු ඉන්දියාවේ කොටසක් වනවා යයි නීල කණ්ඨ ශාස්ත්රි නම් ද්රවිඩ ඉතිහාසඥයා පැමිණි නිගමනයය. දුටුගැමුණු, වලගම්බා, ගජබා, විජයබා ලේ (ජාන) පරපුර (ඩී.එන්.ඒ), සිය නෑයින් සියළු දෙනා ඝාතනය කිරීමෙන් පලවෙනි පරාක්රමභාහු රජු විසින් විනාශකල නිසා ඔහුගෙන් පසු සිංහල රාජධානිය පිරිහී ගියේය (මාඝ ආක්රමණයද, භූමි කම්පාවක් නිසා මහවැලි ගඟ හා ආශ්රිත වාරිමාර්ග පද්ද්ධතිය කඩා වැටුනාය යන මතයද මෙහිදී සඳහන් කල යුතුය). 1559/62, මායාදුන්නේ/ටිකිරි බණ්ඩාර (රාජසිංහ) මෙහෙයවූ මුල්ලේරියාව සටන යුරෝපීය ජාතියක් ආසියාවේදී පැරදුන ප්රථම අවස්ථාවය. ජපානය රුසියාව පැරදුවේ 1905 දීය. 1594 දන්තුරේ සටන හා 1602 බලන සටන කලේ පලවෙනි විමලධර්මසූරිය රජතුමාය (කලින් කොනප්පු බණ්ඩාර). සිංහලේ පෘතුගීසී ග්රහණයෙන් බේරුණේ අනූනමයෙන්ය. 2004 ජනාධිපතිවරණයෙන් ලංකාව බේරුණා වැනිමය. මෑතදී ලංකාව විනාශවීම නැවතුනේ 2009 මැයි 18 දාය. පාස්කු ප්රහාරය නිසා රටට අනාගතයේදී සිදුවන්නට නියමිතව තිබුණු මහා විනාශයක් වැළැකී ගියේය. දැන් රංජන් රාමනායකගේ හඬපට වලින් අනාවරණය වන්නේ, 2019 නොවැම්බර් 16 දින සිදුවී ඇත්තේ ඔහු කියන අන්දමට රනිල් කල්ලිය බලයට ආවොත් සිංහල බෞද්ධයාට උගන්වන්නට සිතා සිටි නරක පාඩම නතරවී, සිංහල ජාතිය ලෝක සිතියමෙන් අතුගෑවී නොගොස් ගැලවීමය.
ක්රිස්තු වර්ෂ 1505 න් පසු ලෝකයේ ව්යාප්තවූ යුරෝපීය යුදෙව් ක්රිස්තියානි යටත් විජිතවාදී යුගයේ එක් සුවිශේෂ සිද්ද්ධියක් වන්නේ 1815 වන තෙක්ම සිංහලේ නමින් මුළු ලෝකයම දැන සිටි පසුව ඉංග්රීසි භාෂාවෙන් සිලෝන් යයි හැඳින්වූ බ්රිතාන්ය යටත් විජිතයට එහි සුදු පාලකයින් විසින් 1931 වර්ෂයේදී සර්වජන චන්ද බලය ප්රදානය කිරීමය. මෙම විප්ලවකාරී තීරණයට හේතු සාධකවූ කරුණු මොනවාද යන්න වෙනම සලකා බැලිය යුතු කරුණකි. දීර්ග වීදි සටනකට පසුව එංගලන්තයේ ස්ත්රීන්ට එසේ චන්ද බලය ලැබුණේ 1928 දීය. බරපතල දේශපාලන අරගලයකින් පසුව ඇමෙරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදයේ ස්ත්රීන් එය ලබාගත්තේ 1920 දීය. ඉන්දියාවේ මෙම සර්වජන චන්ද බලය ක්රියාත්මක වුනේ ඊට දශක දෙකකට පසුවය. ලංකාවේ 1833 සිට පැවැති කෝල්බ්රෑක්-කැමරන් පාලන ආකෘතිය යටතේ පිහිටුවන ලද ව්යවස්ථාදායක සභාවට, ප්රථම වරට චන්දයෙන් නිල නොලත් නියෝජිතයින් හතර දෙනෙකු පත්වූයේ 1910 දීය. ඒ සඳහා අධ්යාපන මට්ටම හා/හෝ දේපල-ධනය අනුව චන්ද බලය හිමිවූයේ 3,000 කටත් අඩු සුළු පිරිසකටය. එවකට එංගලන්තයේ ප්රචලිතවූ, රජු, ඉඩම්හිමි රදලයින් හා වානිජ ධනවතුන් ගේ අතින් පොදු මහජනතාවට පාලන බලය මාරු විය යුතුය යන ලිබරල්වාදී අදහස් අනුව යමින් 1927 දී ලංකාවට පැමිණි ඩොනමෝර් කොමිෂම විසින් අවුරුදු 21 ට වැඩි සෑම දෙනාටම චන්ද බලය පැවරීමේ යෝජනාව ඉදිරිපත්කල විට, ඒ වන විට ලංකා යටත් විජිතයේ දේශපාලනය කරමින් සිටි ඉංග්රීසි කතා කල, සිංහල, දෙමළ, මුස්ලිම් පවුල් ඊට විරුද්ද්ධවූයේ, එය හරියට වඳුරන්ගේ අතට දැළිපිහි දෙනවා වගේ වැඩක් නොවේදැයි අවඥාසහගත මැසිවිලි නඟමිනි. මොවුන්ට වෙනස් මතයක් දරමින් ඊට පක්ෂව කොමිෂම ඉදිරියේ ශාක්ෂිදුන් එකම දේශපාලනඥයා වූයේ එවකට සිටි කම්කරු නායක ඒ. ඊ. ගුණසිංහ මහතා පමණය. කොමිෂමේ එක් සුදු සාමාජිකයෙක් මෙහිලා ඔහුව දිරිමත් කලේය.
1928 දී ඩොනමෝර් කොමිෂම විසින් ලංකාවට සර්වජන චන්දබලය දීමට යෝජනා කල විට, ඒ කාලයේ සිටි සිංහල-දෙමළ- මුස්ලිම් දේශපාලක කළු සුද්දන් ඊට දැඩිලෙස විරුද්ද්ධ විය. එය හරියට වඳුරන්ට දැළිපිහි දීමක් වැනියයි ඔවුන් පැවසුවේය. මෙසේ පැවසූ අයගේ ආරම්භය පටන් ගන්නේ 1551 දී කෝට්ටේ දොන් ජුවන් ධර්මපාල ක්රිස්තියානි රජු වශයෙන් පත්වූ දා සිට පැවත ආ සුද්දන්ට බැල මෙහෙවර කර, ස්ත්රීන් සපයා, ඔත්තු සපයා, රට ජාතිය පාවාදී තාන්න මාන්න ලබාගත් පිරිස ගෙන්ය. 1815 දී ද්රවිඩ රජු අල්ලා ගන්නා විට සුද්දන්ට උදව්වට එතැන සිටි බණ්ඩාරනායක හා තොම්බි මුදලි ජයවර්ධන යන දෙන්නා සහ යාපනේ (මන්නාරමේ) මුතුපර කැඩීමේ වෙළදාම කල කුමාරස්වාමි මුදලියාර් ප්රමුඛ, 1818, 1848 කැරළි හා 1883 කොටහේන බෞද්ද්ධ-ක්රිස්තියානි ගැටුමේදී සුද්දාගේ පැත්ත ගත්තේද මොවුන්ය. 1910 පමණ සිට ව්යවස්ථාදායක සභාව හරහා බෝවූ ඉංග්රීසි ඉගෙනගත් මේ පිරිසේ වැඩිහරියක් 1915 සිංහල-මුස්ලිම් කෝලාහලයේදී ආණ්ඩුකාරයාගේ ඔත්තුකරුවන් විය. 1835 දී මැකෝලි සාමි විසින් ඉන්දියාවේ ඉංග්රීසි අධ්යාපන ක්රමය හරහා ඇතිකල, හමෙන් දුඹුරු, සිතින් සුදු (යුරෝපීය), මේ දුඹුරුපාට බ්රිතාන්යයන්ට කළුසුද්දන් යන නාමය පටබැන්ඳේ අනාගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමා විසින් 1910-1920 දශක වලදීය. යුරෝපයේ මේ වර්ගයේ පිරිස් ගැන මුලින්ම පොතක් පලවුනේ 1960 දශකයේය.
අද වනවිට පක්ෂ දේශපාලකයින් හා නියෝජිත ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය හෙවත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව, පලාත් සභා හා ප්රාදේශීය සභා සම්බන්ධයෙන් රටේ පවතින්නේ ඒවා අශීලාචාර, අදක්ෂ, නූගත්, වංචනිකයින්ගෙන් පිරුණු දූෂිත මඩුය යන මතයය. බොහෝ විට පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රීවරුන්ද මේ මතය ප්රකාශකර ඇත. මේ නිසා 1948 සිට ගතවූ අවුරුදු 71 තුල රට පාලනය කලේ සුද්දන් විසින් දැලි පිහි කොට නොව කඩු අතට දුන් වානර පිරිස් යයි කීම ඉතිහාසය විසින් මේ රටේ බලය අල්ලාගෙන සිටිනා කළු සුද්දන්ට කල සරදමක් නොවේද කියා සිතේ. යම් නුදුරු දිනක සුද්දන් විසින් මේ රට ඔවුන් විසින් අමු කිරි පොවා බෝකල කළු සුද්දන් රංචුවලට භාරදී යනු ඇති බවත්, එවිට ඔවුන් විසින් රට මකබෑ කරණු නිසැක බවත් අනාගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමා 1920-40 දශකවල දිගටම කියා සිටියේය. මෙම අනාවැකිය සනාථ කරමින් පක්ෂ දේශපාලකයින් විසින් දැන් 2019 අග වනවිට ලංකාව කොට උඩ යවා ඇත. මේ වනවිට රට සුනු විසුනු නොවී කැබලි වලට කැඩී නොගොස් පවතින්නේ මේ දිවයින ආරක්ෂා කරණා යම් අදෘෂ්යමාණ බලවේගයක ආනුභාවයක් නිසාමය.
නා නා මාදිලියේ මන්ත්රී ප්රාණ තෝරණ රටේ දැනට ඇති චන්ද ක්රමය, විශේෂයෙන්ම සිංහල චන්ද දායකයාට පංගාදු කල කොටි වලිගයක් වැනිය. මෙම උගුලේ බැරෑරුම්කම 2019 ජනාධිපතිවරණයට අදාල ගාලගෝට්ටියෙන් හෙලිවිය. කොටියා පිටිපසින් ගහ වටේ යන ගැමියා මෙන් ජනයා චන්ද වටේ කැරකෙයි. ස්ථාපිත රාජ්ය පාලන ක්රමය නොහොත් මෙම බොරු ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදයේ නග්න හෙළුව නාගානන්ද කොඩිතුවක්කු මහතා විසින් එලිදරව් කරමින් සිටියේය. බලාගෙන යනවිට ඔහු කියන නීතියේ ආධිපත්යය කෙළසීම හා අධර්මිෂ්ට සමාජයක් මතුවීම යනු එකම කාසියේ දෙපැත්තය. යුරෝපීය රටවල් විසින් ඉංග්රීසි වචනයෙන් ලංකාව දැන් ෆේල්ඩ් ස්ටේට් (අසාර්ථක රාජ්යයක්) එකක් යයි කියන්නේත්, රටේ ගම් වැසියන් විසින් ලංකාවේ දැන් කොසොල් රජතුමාගේ සීන සැබෑවෙලා යයි කියන්නේත්, පක්ෂ දේශපාලන කළු සුද්දන් විසින් කල ජාතික අපරාධයටය.
මීතොටමුල්ල කුණු කන්දේ සිට ස්කොට්ලන්තයේ ඉස්පිරිතාලවල කුණු ජරාව ලංකාවේ ගොඩ ගැසීම දක්වා, ඉතාමත් සුළු දූෂිතයින් රංචුවකට හැර, සාමාන්ය රට වැසියාගේ හිතට සහනය ගෙනදෙන කිසිම දෙයක් අද ලංකාවේ සිදුවන්නේ නැත. 1917 රුසියන් විප්ලවයට පෙර 1903 දී ඇමෙරිකන් ලේඛකයෙක්වූ ජැක් ලන්ඩන් විසින් එංගලන්තයේ ඊස්ට් එන්ඩ් ලන්ඩන් කලාපයේ මුඩුක්කුවල ජීවත්වන මිනිසුන් ගැන රහසිගතව සමීක්ෂණයක් කර පීපල් ඔෆ් ද අබිස් යන නමින් පොතක් ලියුවේය. ලෝකයේ බලවත්ම, ධනවත්ම අධිරාජ්යයේ විශාල මන්දිර අතර මෙසේ සතුන් මෙන් මිනිසුන් ජීවත්වන්නේ කෙසේද යන්න ඔහුගේ කුතුහලයට ලක්විය. ඔහුගේ නිගමනය වූයේ එයට හේතුව මිස්මැනේජ්මන්ට් හෙවත් අදක්ෂ පාලනය (අවපාලනය?) යනුය. ලංකාවට සිදුවූයේද මෙයමය. බෞද්ධ රාජ්ය ප්රතිපත්ති නොදත්, හිරි ඔත්තප්ප නැති, ලෝභ-ද්වේශ-මෝහයෙන් පිරි පංචස්කන්ධ රාජ්ය බලය ඩැහැගෙන සිටීමය.
1931 දී ඇරඹුණ ඩොනමෝර් ආණ්ඩුක්රමය යටතේ, ආරක්ෂක, විදේශ කටයුතු හා මුදල් යන විෂය තුන සුද්දන් යටතේම තබාගෙන, සෙසු දේශීය රාජ්ය පාලන කටයුතු ස්වදේශික රාජ්ය මන්ත්රණ සභා නියෝජිතයින්ට පවරාදෙන ලදී. පොදු ජනතාවට සර්වජන චන්ද බලය දීමට විරුද්ධවූ සිංහල දේශපාලකයින් හැමදෙනාමවාගේ ඉන් පසුව කලේ, ඊට පෙර තම පුද්ගලික වාසිය සඳහා සිය ලබ්ධිය මාරු කල පරිදිම, එනම් බෞද්ද්ධව සිට කතෝලික, කතෝලිකව සිට රෙපරමාදු, හා රෙපරමාදුව සිට ඇන්ග්ලිකන් වූවා මෙන්, එම ක්රිස්තියානි නිකායවල සිට ආපසු නාමික බෞද්ද්ධයින් බවට පෙරලීමය. කොළඹ තම බංගලාව තුල ක්රිස්තියානී ක්රමයට දිගටම හැසුරුණු මේ ඩොනමෝර් බෞද්ධයින් ගමේ පන්සල්වල හාමුදුරුවරුන් ඉදිරියේ දණින් වැටුණ අළුත් උපාසකයින් විය. කැඩිච්ච සිංහලෙන් කතා කල මොවුන් බොහෝ දෙනා හා ගැමි චන්දදායකයින් අතර භාෂා පරිවර්තක සේවය ඉටු කලේද ගමේ පන්සලය. සමහර විට අගමැති බණ්ඩාරනායක මෙන් පරම්පරා ගණනාවකට පසු අවංකවම මිථ්යා දෘෂ්ටිය හා සම්යයක් දෘෂ්ටිය අතර වෙනස හඳුනාගත් යම් අයද මේ අතර සිටින්නට ඇත. මෙම ඩොනමෝර් බෞද්ධයින්ව, 2003 දෙසැම්බර් 12 ගංගොඩවිල සෝම හාමුදුරුවන්ගේ හදිසි වියෝවෙන් පසු ලංකා පක්ෂ දේශපාලනයේ මතුව සිටිනා පිරිත්නූල් බෞද්ධයින් සමඟ සංසන්දනය කරනවිට මේ දෙපිරිසගේ කාලානුරූප ව්යාජ (කුහක) හැසිරීම් රටා පැහැදිලි ලෙස එලිදරව් වන්නේය.
1924 වනවිට එවකට තිබූ ව්යවස්ථාදායක සභාවේ සාමාජිකයින් 49 දෙනාගෙන් 23 දෙනෙක් කොට්ඨාශ අනුව චන්දයෙන් පත්විය. 1931 දී සර්වජන චන්ද බලය යටතේ ජාතීන් අනුව නියෝජනය අහෝසිකර මුළු රටම වන්ද කොට්ඨාශ 50 කට බෙදන ලදී. 1931 ප්රථම මැතිවරණයට ඉදිරිපත්වූ අයගේ නම් ලැයිස්තු දෙස බලනවිට එය බැලූ බැල්මටම එවකට රටේ සිටි කළු සුද්දන්ගේ නාමාවලියක් සේ දිස්වේ (උපලේඛන අංක 1). එංගලන්තයේ සිට මුදල් උපයා ගැනීමට ලංකා යටත් විජිතයට පැමිණි සුද්දන් උඩරට කඳු කපා කෝපි හා තේ වවද්දී සුද්දන්ට දරදිය ඇද්ද දුඹුරුපාට කළු සුද්දන් කලේ වැඩිවශයෙන් රබර් හා පොල් වගාවල නිරතවීමය. දකුණේ මිනිරන් පතල් කරුවන්ද, අරක්කු රේන්ද කරුවන්ද, උතුරේ මුතුපර වෙළඳාම කල කුමරස්වාමි පවුල්ද සිටියේය. 1910 වන විට මේ අයගේ පුතුන් එංගලන්තයට ගොස් අධ්යාපනය ලබාගෙන සිටියේය. මෙය හරියට දැන් කාලයේ සිටින නූගත් දේශපාලකයින් තමන්ගේ දරුවන් පිටරටකට යවා ඉංග්රීසි උගන්වා ගන්නවා වගේය.
අවාසනාව නම් මේ සඳහා ඔවුන් යොදාගන්නේ අරාබිකරයේ ගෙවල්වල දාසකම් කරණ දුප්පත් ලංකා ස්ත්රීන් උපයා එවන ඩොලර් වීමය. ඒ කාලයේ ධනය හා බලය හිමිවූ මේ කළු සුද්දන් ගතකල ජීවිතය සමාන කල හැක්කේ ඇමෙරිකාවේ දකුණේ වහළුන් හිමි වතු හිමියන් ගත කල ජීවිතය සමඟය. වහල් හිමියා වහල් අන්ත:පුරයක හිමිකරුද විය. ලංකාවේ ධනහිමියන්ට හා වලව්කාරයින්ටද, වලව්වේ කුමාරිහාමිලා දැන හෝ නොදැන, ඔවුන්ගේ කුඩා වතුවල අනියම් සම්බන්ධකම් හා ඉන් බිහිවූ දරු පැටවුන් සිටියේය. අද වනවිට ලංකාවේ දේශපාලනය කල හැක්කේ ධනබලය සමඟින් මැරබලය ඇති අයට නිසා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තුල පවා එලිපිට හොර ගෑණුන් සිටීම ගැන උජාරුවෙන් කතා කරනවා අසන්නට ලැබේ. ඇමෙරිකාවේ 3 වන ජනාධිපති තෝමස් ජෙෆර්සන් හා වහල් ස්ත්රී සැලී හෙමින්ස්ගේ රහස් ආදර කතාව, කළු විරෝධී, 1948 ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක, ස්ට්රෝම් තර්මන්ඩ්ගේ වහල් අනියම් බිරිඳ, පානදුරේ සුසන්තා ෆොන්සේකා, මොලමුරේ, සර් ජෝන් යනාදීන් මේ ගනයට වැටේ. බාහිර පෙනීම, ගාම්භීර පෞරුෂත්වය හෙවත් ප්රතිරූපය යන කෘතිම මවාගත්, ව්යාජ ආටෝප හා යමෙකුගේ නියම අවංක චරිතය අතර ඇත්තේ අහසට පොළොව මෙන් වෙනසki
1912 දී පමණ සිට අනාගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමා මොවුන් කලින් සාදාගෙන සිටි ලංකා ජාතික සංගමය සමඟ සහයෝගයෙන් ක්රියාකරන්නට උත්සාහ කලත් එය යාදෙක නොරත රථ ගනයේ අත්දැකීමක් විය. 1931 චන්දයේදී අනුරාධපුර චන්දකොට්ඨාශයට තරඟකල හර්බට් ෆ්රීමන් මහතා කලින් ඒ පලාතේ දිසාපතිවද සිටියේය. ඔහුගේ පාටවූයේ කොල පාටය. ඔහු ගසක කොල අත්තක් පෙන්වා ඒ පාටට කතිරය ගසන ලෙස ගැමි ජනයාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියේ දිනුවොත් කොළඹ මන්ත්රණ සභාවට යනවා නැත්නම් එංගලන්තයට යනවා යයි කියමින්ය. ඔහු 1936 දී පත්වූයේ නිතරඟයෙනි. 1931 දී ඔහු හා තරඟකල සිංහල නීතීඥයාගේ ඇපයද රාජසන්තක විය. මෙම කරුණින් එලිදරව්වෙන්නේ අවංකව මහජන සේවය කරන මිනිසෙකු ඉදිරිපත්වුනොත් සිංහල ගැමියා ඥානාන්විතව චන්දය පාවිච්චිකරන්නට මුල සිටම දැන සිටි බවය. සිංහල මිනිහෙක් වෙනුවට ගැමි ජනයා ඔහුට චන්දය දීමෙන් ගැමි බෞද්ධ විඥානය හෙලිවිය. ආසන දෙක තුනක හැර සෙසු ප්රදේශවල චන්දය ඉල්ලුවේ සුද්දන් යටතේ ධනවත්වූ අය දෙකට බෙදීය. ඇමෙරිකාවේ වහළුන් හිමි වතුකාරයින් මෙන් මේ අය බොහෝදෙනා රබර්, පොල් වතුවල හොර ගෑණුන් තබාගෙන විනෝදයෙන් සිටි අයවිය.
අපේක්ෂකයින් වංක නම් චන්දදායකයා අතරමංවේ. ඇත්තවශයෙන් බලනවිට දැළිපිහිය දුන් වඳුරන්සේ හසුරී ඇත්තේ ඩොනමෝර් යුගයේ මන්ත්රීන් නොවේද යන්න ජේන් රසල් විසින් ඩොනමෝර් සමයේ ජාතිවාදී දේශපාලනය යන මාතෘකාව යටතේ කරන ලද ආචාර්ය උපාධි පර්යේෂණය කියවන ඕනෑම කෙනෙකුට පැහැදිලි වන්නේය. ඉංග්රීසීන් විසින් බෙදා පාලනය කිරීම ඉතාමත් පහත් ආකාරයටම ගෙන ගිය බව සැබෑය. ඔවුන් 1815 දී භාරගත් සිංහලේ 1948 දී කළුසුද්දන් රංචුවකට භාරදී ගිය බවත් සැබෑය. එහෙත් 1931-47 කාලයේදී බෞද්ධ මධ්යම ප්රතිපදාව අනුගමනය කර රට ගොඩගැනීමට යෝජනාකල එකම පුද්ගලයාවූ ධර්මපාලතුමාට අවමන්කර ඔහු රටින් එලවා ගන්නට මේ දේශපාලක වඳුරන් හා මාක්ස්වාදීන් ක්රියාකලේය. අද ගම බදාගෙන දඟලන දේශපාලකයින්ගෙන් කී දෙනෙක් 1940 ගණන්වල කළුකොඳයාවේ ප්රඥාශෙඛර හිමියන් ආරම්භකල දීප ව්යාප්ත අපරාධ මර්ධන හා ග්රාම ප්රතිසංස්කරණ ව්යාපාරය ගැන දන්නවාද? බිම් මට්ටමින් ඉතාමත් සාර්ථකවූ මෙම වැඩ සටහන සුදු හා කළුසුදු නිලධාරීන් හා දේශපාලකයින් විසින් කඩාකප්පල් කර දැම්මේය. දැන් 2020 වනවිට අවශ්යව ඇත්තේ ගම-වැව-දාගැබ යන ත්රිත්වය මත අවුරුදු දෙදාස් පන්සීයකටත් වඩා ක්රියාත්මකවූ මොඩලය නොවේද? ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභයගේ ප්රතිපත්ති ප්රකාශණයේ, ගම සමඟ පිළිසඳරක් යන කොටසේ සඳහන වන ජන මූල සභා මෙය අනුමත කිරීමකි.
සුද්දන් විසින් බෙදාපාලනය සඳහා කුලය හා භාෂාව යොදාගැනීම 1832 වනවිට එලිපිටම සිදුවිය. ක්රිස්තියානි ආගම අනුව කුලභේදයට ඉඩක් නැතත් කුලහීන යයි සලකන දෙමළ ජනයා පල්ලිය තුල ඉඳගත්තේ පුටුවල නොව මිටි බංකු හෝ බිමය. පරණම දෙමළ කළු සුද්දන් වූනේ කුමාරස්වාමි-රාමනාදන් නම් මන්නාරමේ මුතුපර කිමිඳීමේ ව්යාපාරය බදුගත් කට්ටියය. ඔවුන් විවාහ අවාහ මඟින් සුදු ජාතීන්ට ලංවිය. අද මහ බැංකුවේ ලොක්කා වන ඉන්ද්රජිත්ද, ඔහුගේ සොයුරී රධිකා කුමාරස්වාමිද, උතුරේ මහ ඇමතිව සිටි විග්නේශ්වරන් හා හින්දු ආගමික කටයුතු ඇමතිව සිටි ස්වාමිනාදන්ද මේ අයගෙන් පැවත එන අයය. දකුණේ සිටියේ බණ්ඩාරණායක-ඔබේසේකර පවුල්ය. මේ පවුල් අවුරුදු 60-70 ක් පමණ කාලයක්ම සිංහල හා මලබාර් (1911 සිට දෙමළ යන නම) වැසියන්ගේ නියෝජිතයින් සේ ආණ්ඩුකාරයා විසින් පත් කරණ ලදී. 1812 පමණ සිටම ඇමෙරිකන් මිෂනාරී පාසැල් මඟින් බිහිවූ ඉංග්රිසි උගත් ද්රවිඩ ජනයාට සුදු ආණ්ඩුවේ තනතුරු හිමිවිය. දකුණේ ඉංග්රීසි පසැල් ආරම්භවූයේ 1880 දී කර්නල් ඕල්කොට්ගේ ආගමනයට පසුවය.
ඉන්දියාව කියන්නේ මිථ්යාවක් යන අදහස වක්රව අනුමත කරමින්, පකිස්ථානයකින් කෙලවරවූ හින්දු-මුස්ලිම් අර්බුධයට වක්රව අනුබල දුන්නා වගේම ලංකාවේද සිංහල-දෙමළ සමතැනකට සුදු අණ්ඩුකාරයින් උල්පන්දම් දුන්නේය. 1921-24 කාලයේදී සුළු ජනවර්ග එකට ගත් විට මහජාතිය හා කරට කර සිටින ව්යවස්ථාදායක සභාවක් සැදීමේ යෝජනාව පිටිපස සිටියේ මැනිං ආණ්ඩුකාරයාය (සමානුපාතික චන්ද ක්රමය යටතේ පක්ෂයකට තිබිය යුතුවූ 12% දිස්ත්රික් චන්ද අවමය, 5% ට අඩුකිරීමෙන් 1988 දී ආර්. ප්රේමදාස විසින් සමබර වෙනුවට මහජාතිය දීන ලෙස සුළු ජාතිවල චන්ද හිඟන්නන් බවට (1994 චන්දයේ සිට) වට්ටා දැමීමය. ලංකාවේ දේශපාලන නායකත්වය තමන්ට නොලැබෙන බව පෙනීගිය විට පොන්නම්බලම් අරුණාචලම් මහතා ලංකා ජාතික (කොන්ග්රස්) යන සංකල්පය බැහැර කර ටැමිලක්කම් (දෙමළකම) යන කෝච්චියට නැඟ ගත්තේය. 1832 සිට ජාතීන් අනුව නියෝජනයක් මඟින් ජාති භේදයකට මඟපෑදු සුද්දෝ, 1931 දී සර්වජන චන්ද බලය දුන්නේ අවුරුදු සීයක් පුරාම ජාතිවාදී ලෙස සිතීමට පුරුදුවූ දේශපාලකයින් එක්වරම ශාන්තුවරයින් බවට පෙරලේ යයි සිතා විය යුතුය. එහෙත් ඩොනමෝර් ආණ්ඩුක්රමය නම් අත්හදාබැලීම යටතේ සිදුවූයේ ජාතිවාදී ලෙස සිතීම තව තවත් තීව්රවීමය. ජී. ජී. පොන්නම්බලම් විසින් ගෙනා පනහට පනහේ ඉල්ලීම, චෙල්වනායගම් යටතේ පෙඩරල්-ටැමිල් රාජ්ය පක්ෂයක්වී, අන්තිමේදී ප්රභාකරන් විසින් ඊළම සඳහා කල මාරාන්තික යුද්ධයක් වීමය.
1919 දී ලංකා ජාතික සංගමය හදාගත්, 1921 දී ඉන් ඉවත්වී ලංකා දෙමළ සමිතිය පිහිටුවාගත්, අරුණාචලම් ගෙන් පාඩමක් ඉගෙන නොගත්, ඩී. එස්. විසින් 1946 දී එක්සත් ජාතික යනුවෙන් සිංහල-දෙමළ-මුස්ලිම් එක්සත් පක්ෂයක් අටවා ගත්තේය. එහෙත් 1949 වන විට පෙඩර්ල් දෙමළ රාජ්ය පක්ෂය මතුවිය. සෝල්බරි ව්යවස්ථාවේ 29 වගන්තියෙන් සිදුවූයේ සිංහල ජාතියේ නැතිවූ අයිතිවාසිකම් ලබාදීම වෙනුවට, අරුණාචල්ම්ගේ ජාතිවාදය තවත් බල ගැන්වීමක් පමණය. යම් සංසිද්ධියක හේතුව හා ඵලය වටහා ගැනීමට බෞද්ධ ප්රවේශයක් ගැනීමට නොදත් ඩී. එස්ලාගේ වලිග අදටත් සිරිකොත බෙදා ගන්නට අරගල ජාම් බේරා ගෙන අගමැති පුටුවට යාම එදත් අදත් මොවුන්ගේ නිරුවත හෙලි කිරීමේ පිළිවෙතය. මෙවැනි වලිග පාගා ගත් අය පොහොට්ටුව පක්ෂයේද සිටී.
චන්ද බලය දීමට විරුද්ධවූ ඩී. එස්. ඇතුළු පිරිස කන්නන්ගර නිදහස් අධ්යාපන යෝජනාවටද විරුද්ධව ක්රියාකල බව අද ඉන්නා මන්ත්රී වඳුරෝ නොදනී. යූඑන්පී එක රටට නිදහස් අධ්යාපනය ලබාදුන්නා යයි තරුණ එජාප මන්ත්රීන් කියන්නේ ඒ නිසාය. මේ ලිපියේ සළකා බැලුවේ දෙමළ ප්රශ්ණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් කළු සුද්දන් ක්රියා කල අකාරයය. ඉන් ඔබ්බට ගියොත් මේ කොල-නිල්-රතු කාණ්ඩ විසින් බකල් නොකල කිසිම අංශයක් රටේ නැත. එය කලේ ඒ ගැන සෑහෙන අනතුරු ඇඟවීම් තිබියදී මය. ඩොනමෝර් හා සෝල්බරි කොමිෂම් එසේ අනතුරු ඇඟවූ බව ඔවුන්ගේ වාර්තා වල පේලි අතරින් කියවන විට පෙනේ. 1956 කාලයේ රොකෆෙලර් ශිෂ්යත්වලාභියෙකු ලෙස ලංකාවේ අවුරුදු දෙකක් ජීවත්ව සිට, පසු කලෙක (1977-9) ලංකාවේ ඇමෙරිකන් තානාපතිදවූ හොවාර්ඩ් රිගින්ස් විසින් ලියූ, සිලෝන්: ඩිලෙම්මාස් ඔෆ් අ නිව් නේෂන් (1960) යන පොතේ විදේශිකයෙකු විසින් ලංකාවට ඇති අභියෝග පෙන්වාදී තිබෙන අන්දම විෂ්මය දණවයි. ඉන් පසුව ඉතිහාස මහාචාර්යව සිටි කේ. එම්. ද. සිල්වා සමඟ 1988 දී ඔහු ලියූ ජේ. ආර්, ජයවර්ධන ජීවිත කතාව නම් යෝධ පොත, කළු සුද්දන් විසින් ලංකාවේ ඉරණම හා සමඟ කල සෙල්ලම පිළිඹඳ කතාවක් වැනිය. ලංකාවේ ප්රශ්ණ හා ඒවාට විසඳුම් ඒ කාලයේ ලංකාවේ සිටි අමාත්යංශ ස්ථිර ලේකම්ලා හොඳින් දැන සිටියේය. එහෙත් දේශපාලකයින් කලේ බලයේ සිටීම සඳහා ජනයා රවටමින් බොරු පැලැස්තර දැමීමය.
2019 ජනාධිපති චන්දය ලංකාවේ ඉරණම හොඳ අතට පෙරලාවීය යන්න මහජනයාගේ බලාපොරොත්තුවය. 1911 සිටම ලංකාවේ පවතින නියෝජිත මන්ත්රී ක්රමය අසාර්ථක බව රටටම පැහැදිලිය. මෙසේ නොසිතන්නේ දෙමළ බෙදුම්වාදීන් පමණක් වන්නේ ඔවුන්ටත්, ජේ.වී.පී කාරයින්ටත් පණනල රැකගත හැක්කේ අර්බුදකාරී පාලන ක්රමයක් තිබුණොත් වන නිසාය. මහජන නියෝජිතයින් සේ 1977 න් පසු ඉන්නා පිරිස් කෙතරම් වානර වූවාද යත්, 2019 චන්දය නුසුදුස්සන් අතරෙන් අඩුම නුසුදුස්සා තෝරා ගැනීමේ සටන් පාටයක් විය! ගෝඨාභය තෝරා ගැනීම 1931 දී සුදු ජාතික ෆ්රීමන් දෙවරක්ම අනුරාධපුරයේ මන්ත්රී කලා මෙන්, ජන විඥානය තුල ඇතිවූ උත්තේජනයක ප්රතිඵලයක් වන්නේ මේ නිසාය. කිසාගෝතමී අබ ඇටයක් හොයා ගියාමෙන්, දැන් 2020 පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයේදී සුදුස්සන්ව තෝරා ගැනීම උභතෝකෝටික ප්රශ්ණයක්ව ඇත්තේ චන්ද විප්ලවයක් කිරීමට කළු සුද්දන් විසින්ම ඇටවූ චන්ද නීති හරස් වන නිසාය. චන්ද ක්රමය වෙනස් නොකර තුනෙන් දෙකට වැඩි ආසන සංක්යාවක් දිනා ගන්නේ කෙසේද? මෙය තීරණය වන්නේ මේ දිනවල ගෝඨාභය ජනාධිපති විසින් ගන්නා තීරණ මතය. ඔහු දේශපාලකයාගේ සපත්තු දා නොගෙන රටට සුදුසු දේ කල යුතුය. නුසුදුසු අපේක්ෂකයින්ට විශේෂ සහනාධාර ක්රමයක් සළසා හෝ ඔවුන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඒම වැලැක්වුව හොත් දැන් තිබෙන මනාප බලු පොර චන්ද ක්රමය අභිබවා ආසන දිනා දීමට සිංහල බෞද්ධ චන්දදායකයා එක්සත් වනු නිසැකය.
මුන් 225 ම එලවන්න ඕනෑ කියමින් ආ පිරිස්, රට හදන්නට යෝජනා කලේ රටේ සිංහල බෞද්ධ පදනමට එරෙහිව යමින්ය. මේ නිසා පරණ වඳුරන් සමඟ සසඳන විට මේ අළුත් උගතුන් හා වෘත්තිකයින්, කොළඹ හතේ සිකුරාදා සමිතිය (ෆ්රයිඩේ ෆෝරම්) වැනිම අළුත් වලිග පාගාගත් වඳුරන් කොටසක්ම විය. නාගානන්ද, ශ්රී සද්ධර්මය ගැන කතා කලේ පන්සල, බෝගස හා හාමුදුරුවරු අමතක කරය. හිටපු යුද හමුදාපති මහේෂ් සේනානායක ඇමෙරිකන් ඒජන්ට් කෙනෙක් බව එලිවුනේ ඔහු ආපසු රට අත්හැර ඇමෙරිකන් රස්සාවට ගිය පසුය. මේ අතින් ඔහු හා ජීනීවාවලට පවුල පිටින් පැන ගිය රනිල් හා චන්ද්රිකාගේ මහ මොළකරුවූ, විභාග කොපිකර සරසවියෙන් නෙරපූ, මාක්ස්වාදී ජයම්පති වික්රමරත්න අතර වෙනසක් නැත. මාලිමා යන්ත්රයක් පෙන්නුවත් අනුර කුමාරලාට, 1935 මාක්ස්වාදීන්, 1971 හා 1988/9 ඝාතකයින් මෙන් පන්සල් විරෝධී, බෙදුම්වාදී මනසින් ගැලවීමට නොහැකිවිය. යහපාලන මරාලයට හේත්තුවී ඔවුන් කරගත් විනාශය, මේ යුද්ධය නම් කවදාවත් දිනන්න බෑ කියමින් රනිල් කරගත් දේශපාලන විනාශයට නොදෙවෙනිය. මේ රටේ සැඟවුනු බලවේගය රටේ මුර දේවතාවුන් වන හාමුදුරුවරු බව මේ අයට නොතේරේ. උපාධි තිබුණාට, ඉංග්රීසි කතාකලාට, ලොකු රස්සා කලාට, ජාත්යාලය නැත්නම් රටේ පාලනයට ඔවුන් නුසුදුසු බව චන්ද දායකයාට පෙන්වා දීම වැදගත්ය. රටේ ඉතිහාසය අමතක කරන අයට තිබිය හැක්කේ යුරෝපයට යටවූ ඔවුන් නොදැනම විකුර්ත වුන මනසකි (යුරෝසෙන්ට්රික් තින්කින්). අනිත් අතට වයසට ගිය අයගේ දැණුම හා අත්දැකීම් වලින් නිසි අයුරු රටට ප්රයෝජනයක් ගැනීමද දක්ෂ නායකයෙකුගේ හැකියාවය. ගෝඨාභයගේ පාලන ආරම්භය සමාන කල හැක්කේ ජෝන් එෆ් කෙනඩි ඇමෙරිකාවේ ජනාධිපතිවූ (1961-3) විට, ඔහු, ඔහුගේ පරිපාලනයට ගෙනා විෂ් කිඩ්ස්ලා පිරිසටය.
ජනාධිපතිතුමනි….!
ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ උල්ලංඝණය නොකරන්න…..19 නීතියක් බවට පත් වීමට පැවැත්විය යුතු ජනමතවිචාරණය පවත්වන්න….!
19 ව්යවස්ථා කුමන්ත්රණය කළ අයට දඩුවම් කරන්න…. !
2002 දී පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ගෙන එන ලද 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පතේ 5වන වගන්තිය අනුව ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථාවේ 70වන ව්යවස්ථාවට ඉක්බිතිව 70 (අ) ලෙස ව්යවස්ථාවක් ගෙන එමින් වසරකට පසු ජනාධිපතිවරයාට පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවීම අවශ්ය වන්නේ නම් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නොපැමිණි මන්ත්රීවරයන්ද ඇතුළුව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මුළු මන්ත්රීවරයන් සංඛ්යාවෙන් තුනෙන් දෙකක සංඛ්යාවකට නොඅඩු සංඛ්යාවකගේ සම්මතය ඇතිව යෝජනා සම්මතයක් මගින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ අනුමැතිය ලබා ගත යුතු බවට ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය කිරීමට යෝජනා කර තිබුණි. 1
එකී 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත 2002 සැප්තැම්බර් මස 19වන දින ව්යාපාර සංවර්ධන, කර්මාන්ත ප්රතිපත්ති හා ආයෝජන ප්රවර්ධන සහ ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථා කටයුතු අමාත්යවරයා විසින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබූ අතර 2002 සැප්තැම්බර් මස 11වන දින ගැසට් පත්රයේ පළ කර ඇත.
එම 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථාවට පටහැනිය යන පදනමින් ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ අභියෝගයට ලක්කරන ලද අතර සරත් නන්ද සිල්වා (අ.වි), වඩුගොඩුපිටිය (වි), බණ්ඩාරනායක (වි) ඉස්මයිල්(වි) එදිරිසූරිය (වි) සහ යාපා (වි) ද සිල්වා (වි) විසින් 2002 ඔක්තෝබර් 1 සහ 3 යන දිනවල ඒ සම්බන්ධව ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ විභාගයට ගන්නා ලදී.
එහි තීරණය අනුව ජනාධිපතිවරයාට වසරකට පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවීම අවශ්ය වන්නේ නම් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නොපැමිණි මන්ත්රීවරයන්ද ඇතුළුව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මුළු මන්ත්රීවරයන් සංඛ්යාවෙන් තුනෙන් දෙකක සංඛ්යාවකට නොඅඩු සංඛ්යාවකගේ සම්මතය ඇතිව යෝජනා සම්මතයක් මගින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ අනුමැතිය ලබා ගත යුතු බවට වන විධිවිධානය නීතියක් බවට පත් කිරීම සදහා අවශ්ය වන නීතිමය තත්ත්වය එම විනිසුරුවරු 7දෙනා විසින් දීර්ඝව විස්තර කර ඇත. වර්ෂ 2002 දී පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කළ 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පතේ 5වන වගන්තිය අනුව ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථාවේ 70 වන ව්යවස්ථාවට ඉක්බිතිව 70 (අ) ලෙස ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය කරමින් වසරකට පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසරවීම ජනාධිපතිට සීමා කිරීම ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථාවේ 3වන ව්යවස්ථාව උල්ලංඝණය කරන බවත් එය නීතියක් වන්නේ ජනමතවිචාරණයක් මගින් ජනතාව විසින්ද අනුමැතිය දීමෙන් පසුව බව අගවිනිසුරු ප්රමුඛ ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ විනිසුරුවරු 7දෙනෙකු විසින් තීරණය කර ඇත. 2
ඒ අනුව ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණයට එකගව කටුයුතු කරන්නේ නම් වසරකට පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසරවීම ජනාධිපතිට සීමා කිරීමේ ව්යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයක් සිදුකරන්නේ නම් ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථාවේ 80.2 ව්යවස්ථාව අනුව ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් නීතියක් බවට පත්කරන ආකාරයේ සහ 79 වන ව්යවස්ථාව යටතේ පනත් කෙටුම්පත හෝ ඒ විධිවිධානය ජනතාව විසින් ජනමත විචාරණයක දී අනුමත කරනු ලබන තෙක් නීතිය බවට පත් නොවිය යුතු බවට වන කථානායකවරයාගේ සහතිකයක් සදහන් සටහනක් තබා ජනමතවිචාරණයකදී තමන්ගේ ඡන්ද බලය ක්රියාත්මක කිරීමේ අවස්ථාව එළඹෙන තෙක් ජනතාව බලා සිටින අතර මේ වන තෙක් ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් ඒ අවස්ථාව ජනතාවට ලබා දී නැත. මෙය ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් සිදුකරන ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණයට පටහැනි තත්ත්වයකි.
2015 ගෙන එන ලද 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පතට ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය කියා ඇති පරිදි ජනතාවගේ කැමැත්ත විමසීමට ජනමතවිචාරණය නොපැවැත්වීම සහ ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ උල්ලංඝණය කිරීම සහ ව්යවස්ථා කුමන්ත්රණයක යෙදීම…..
අග්රාමාත්යතුමා සහ ප්රතිපත්ති සම්පාදන, ආර්ථික කටයුතු, ළමා, තරුණ හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්යතුමාගේ නියමය පරිදි 2015 මාර්තු මස 13 වන දින ගැසට් පත්රයේ 11 වන කොටස අතිරේකය (2015.03.16 දින නිකුත් කරන ලද) 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පතේ 19වගන්තිය මගින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසරවීමට අදාල ජනාධිපතිවරයා සීමා කරන විධිවිධාන දැක්වේ.
ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථාවේ 70 වන ව්යවස්ථාව එකී ව්යවස්ථාවේ (1) වන අනුව්යවස්ථාව ඉවත් කොට ඒ වෙනුවට පහත දැක්වෙන අනු ව්යවස්ථාව ආදේශ කිරිම මගින් මෙයින් සංශෝධනය කරනු ලැබේ :-
(1) ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් ප්රකාශයක් මගින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කැඳවීම, පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ වාරාවසාන කිරීම සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැරීම කළ හැක්කේ ය:
එසේ වුවද, පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවීම අවශ්ය වන්නේ නම් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නොපැමිණි මන්ත්රීවරයන්ද ඇතුළුව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මුළු මන්ත්රීවරයන් සංඛ්යාවෙන් තුනෙන් දෙකක සංඛ්යාවකට නොඅඩු සංඛ්යාවකගේ සම්මතය ඇතිව යෝජනා සම්මතයක් මගින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ අනුමැතිය ලබා ගත යුතු බවට එසේ නොවන්නේ නම් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ප්රථම රැස්වීම සඳහා නියම කරගනු ලැබූ දිනයෙන් අවුරුදු හතරක් සහ මාස හයක කාලයක් අවසන් වන තෙක් ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැරීම නොකල යුතු බව දක්වා ඇත.
ඒ අනුව 2005 දී ගෙන එනු ලැබූ 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත මගින්ද 2002දී ගෙන එනු ලැබූ 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත මෙන්ම ජනාධිපතිවරයාට වසරකට පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවීම සීමා කරන විධිවිධාන ඇතුළත් කර ඇත.
2015 දී ගෙනා 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත නීතියක් බවට පත් කිරීමට පෙර එනම් 2002 දී ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ විනිසුරුවරුන් 7දෙනෙකු විසින් තීරණය කළ පරිදි පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවීමෙන් ජනාධිපති වළක්වන විධිවිධානය නීතියක් බවට පත් කිරීමට පෙර ජනතාවගේ මතය විමසන ජනමතවිචාරණයක් පැවැත්වීමට ජනාධිපතිවරවයා කටයුතු කර නැති අතර පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නොපැමිණි මන්ත්රීවරයන්ද ඇතුළුව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මුළු මන්ත්රීවරයන් සංඛ්යාවෙන් තුනෙන් දෙකක සංඛ්යාවකට නොඅඩු සංඛ්යාවකගේ සම්මතය පමණක් මේ වන විට හිමි වී ඇත. නමුත් එය නීතියක් වීමට ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණය අනුව පැවැත්විය යුතු ජනමතවිචාරණය පැවැත්විය යුතු අතර වර්තමාන ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිවරයා ජනතාව විසින් බලයට පත් කරන ලද්දේ ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ උල්ලංඝණය කිරීමට නොව ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණවලට අනුව රට පාලනය කිරීමටය.
පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මුළු මන්ත්රීවරයන් සංඛ්යාවෙන් තුනෙන් දෙකක සංඛ්යාවකට නොඅඩු සංඛ්යාවකගේ ඡන්දයෙන් සම්ම්ත වී ඇති 2005දී පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කළ 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත සදහා ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණය අනුව නීතියක් බවට පත්කිරීමේ ඉදිරි පියවර ගැනීම ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් කළ යුතු වේ.
මෙහිදී යම් අයෙකු හෝ කණ්ඩායමක් ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ අයුතු ලෙස හා අන්තනෝමතික ලෙස යොදා ගනිමින් ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ අනුව කටයුතු නොකරමින් ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ උල්ලංඝණය කරන ආකාරයට 2015දී ඉදිරිපත් කළ 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත සදහා නීති විරෝධීව නීතිමය තත්ත්වයක් ආරෝපණය කරමින් සිටින හෙයින් ඒ සම්බන්ධව දැඩිව ක්රියා කිරීමද ජනාධිපතිවරයාට අයත් කාර්යයක් වේ.
ජනතාව විසින් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිවරයා බලයට පත්කරනු ලැබූයේ නීතියට අනුව රට පාලනය කිරීමට හෙයින් මේ වැරදි තත්ත්වය නිවැරදි කිරීමේ පූර්ණ වගකීම ඔහු විසින් දැරිය යුතු අතර මෙහිදී කිහිප දෙනෙකු විසින් ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථා කුමන්ත්රණයක් සිදු කර ඇති බවත් පැහැදිලිවන හෙයින් ඒ සම්බන්ධව පූර්ණ විමර්ශනයක් සිදුකර වැරදිකරුවන්ට දඩුවම් ලබා දීමද සිදු කළ යුතු වේ.
ආශ්රිත මූලාශ්ර
1. 2002 දී පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ගෙන එන ලද 19වන ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පතේ 5වන වගන්තිය.
2. ශ්රී ලංකා වාසී ජනතාව තවම ව්යවස්ථානුකූලව සම්මත නොකළ එම නිසා තවම නීතියක් වී නැති 19වන ව්යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පත සහ කළු සුදු කිරීමේ 21 සහ 22
(හර්ෂ කුමාර සූරියආරච්චි)
ගරු අග්රාමාත්ය, මුදල් අමාත්ය,
මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා,
මුදල් අමාත්යාංශය,
කොළඹ
2020 වර්ෂයේදී විශ්රාමිකයන්ට ලබාදිය යුතු විශ්රාම වැටුපෙන් කොටසක් කපා හැරීම
2006 වර්ෂයේ සිට වෘත්තීය සමිති ව්යාපාරය විසින් සටන් කර දිනා ගන්නා ලද දීමනා සියල්ල මූලික වැටුපට එකතු කරන ලෙස අරගල කරන ලද අතර ඒ පිළිබඳව යම් අවබෝධයක් ඔබතුමාට ඇතැයි අපි විශ්වාස කරන්නෙමු. එම අරගලවල ප්රතිඵලයක් වශයෙන් මූලික වැටුපට එල්ලා තිබූ දීමනා සියල්ල මූලික වැටුපට එකතු කර 2016. 01. 01 සිට 2020. 01. 01 දක්වා අදියර 5 කින් ගෙවීමට පසුගිය රජය විසින් අංක 3/2016 දරණ 2016. 02. 25 දිනැති චක්රලේඛය මගින් ක්රියාවට නගිමින් තිබුණි.
නමුත් 2016 වර්ෂයේ ජනවාරිවලින් පසුව විශ්රාම ගිය සේවකයින්ට වර්ෂයෙන් වර්ෂය මූලික වැටුපට එකතු කරන මුදල ලබානොදුන් අතර එම වැඩිවිය යුතු මුදල එකතු කර 2020 ජනවාරි මාසයේ සිට විශ්රාමිකයන්ට ලබාදීම සඳහා 2019. 11. 11 දින පැවති අමාත්ය මණ්ඩල රැස්වීමේදී තීරණය කරන ලදී. ඒ අනුව 35/2019 දරණ 2019. 12. 10 දිනැති චක්රලේඛය නිකුත් කරමින් එය ක්රියාවට නැගීමට ඔබගේ ආණ්ඩුව තීරණය කරන ලදී. එම චක්රලේඛය මුදල් අමාත්යාංශයේ එකඟතාව සහිතව නිකුත් කරනු ලබන බවද එහි සඳහන් කර තිබුණි.
එසේ තිබියදී අංක 35/2019 (1) දරණ 2020. 01. 20 දිනැති චක්රලේඛය නිකුත් කරමින් 2020 ජනවාරි සිට විශ්රාමිකයන්ට ගෙවිය යුතු මුදල අත්හිටුවා ඇත. එය බරපතල අසාධාරණයක් මෙන්ම විශ්රාමිකයින් නොසලකා හැරීමකි.
විශ්රාමිකයින් විශ්රාම යන අවස්ථාවේ විශ්රාම වැටුප් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව විසින් ලබාදෙන විශ්රාම වැටුප් ප්රදාන පත්රයෙහිද එම වැඩිවිය යුතු මුදල එකතු කර විශ්රාම වැටුප ගණනය කර 2020-01-01 දින සිට ගෙවිය යුතු බවටද සඳහන් කර ඇත.
ඒ අනුව සියලූම විශ්රාමිකයින් පාහේ එම වැටුප පදනම් කරගෙන ඔවුන්ගේ ජීවිත මෙන්ම ඔවුන්ගේ දරු මුණුපුරන්ගේ ජීවිතද ඉලක්ක කරගනිමින් තම වගකීම ඉටු කිරීම සඳහා විවිධ සැලසුම් සකස් කර තිබුණි. ඒවා සියල්ල ඔබ ආණ්ඩුවේ මෙම අසාධාරණ තීරණයත් සමග අහෝසි වන අතර එමගින් විශ්රාමිකයින් බරපතල මානසික කඩා වැටීමකටද ලක්ව සිටී.
එවැනි තත්වයක් තුල ඉහත කරුණු කාරණා මත ඔබතුමාගේ අවධානය යොමු කර කපා හරින ලද විශ්රාම වැටුප කඩිනමින් ලබාදීමට අදාලව ක්රියාත්මක වන ලෙසත් විශ්රාම වැටුප කපා හැරීමට ඔබ ආණ්ඩුව විසින් නිකුත් කරන ලද 35/2019 චක්රලේඛය අහෝසි කරන ලෙසත් ඉතා ඕනෑකමින් යුතුව ඔබතුමාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටින අතර එය ඉටු කිරීමට ඔබ ආණ්ඩුව කටයුතු නොකරන්නේ නම් විශ්රාමිකයන්ගේ හිමිකම වෙනුවෙන් සටන් කිරීමට අප පසුබට නොවන බවද ඔබට මතක් කිරීමට කැමැත්තෙමි.
ස්තූතියි.
මෙයට,
කේ. ඩී. ලාල්කාන්ත
සභාපති
An Indian Muslim boy has no right to fall in love with a Pakistani girl. Mohammad Rashid simply violated this rule; so he is being treated like a criminal. It was somewhere in 2017 when Mohammad Rashid, a resident of Banaras, India went to Karachi (Pakistan) to attend a family marriage function. There he fell in deep love with one of his cousins and decided to make her his life-partner but this decision was too early. His relatives in Pakistan advised him not to be so emotional and think a little more before taking any final step. Moreover his visa was also about to expire and he was supposed to report back to India within the permitted time limit. So he had to say good-bye to his beloved with a promise to come back soon. In 2018 he once again succeeded in coming to Pakistan. This was the point where his bad-luck started changing the whole scenario of his life.
Mohammad Rashid is now in the custody of the security agencies, every moment passing through an agonizingly painful process of investigation. The Indian security agencies say that he is an ISI agent, sending sensitive information to the ISI about movement and deployment of the military troops. Moreover on the instructions of his alleged handlers, he is involved in instigating the general public to add violence in protest against the CAA and NRC. Astonishingly his life style, his social and educational status and his mental level do not match with the blame levied upon him.
Mohammad Rashid is a 23 years old young man with school education only up to class 8. His parents got divorced and remarried in his very early childhood. In the beginning Rashid started working at a local tailoring shop and then at a medical store as a helper. The time when he went to Karachi, he was working as a panaflex and sign-boards fixer in Varanasi. Details released to the Indian media by the Indian intelligence agencies say that when he went to Karachi for the second time, one of his cousins there arranged his meeting with two ISI agents who convinced him to work for the ISI and pass on sensitive information regarding the movements of military troops and the future plans of the Indian army. He was allegedly promised that he would be paid for all his services and the way to his marriage with her beloved would also be paved. In short, the Indian intelligence agencies started keeping an eye on Mohammad Rashid when he came back to India and after a long and tedious surveillance he was arrested.
How stupid is the narrative of the Indian Intelligence Agencies that a young man with education just up to class 8, working as a helper at a tailoring shop and a medical store and then working as a panaflex fixer was assigned to gather information about military movement and future planning. If a young man with such an ordinary social, educational and financial status could have approach to such sensitive information and so secret matters, then the Indian Military hi-ups must review the security and secrecy standards of their set-up.
Dragging Pakistan into internal matters of India and blaming ISI for all that goes wrong there is not a new practice; it is a decades old story, repeated time and again. In the world of defence related affairs such activity is commonly known as ‘False Flag Operations’. From Mumbai Blasts to the Pathankot Incident and to Pulwama Attacks, such False Flag Operations have ever been a routine matter. The intensity of such activities increases whenever Pakistan is in some FATF like turmoil. The Indian conspirators simply start concocting new stories of Pakistan’s alleged support to terrorist’s activities particularly in the Indian Occupied Kashmir. But most of the times these stories are illogical and irrational same as the story of Mohammad Rashid. In their hostility against Pakistan, the Indian intelligence agencies even don’t spare their own people and sacrifice them ruthlessly at the altar of their foolish desire of defaming Pakistan.
Recent arrest of DSP Davinder Singh of J&K police is also one of such callous and brainless activities. Throughout his career as a police officer, DSP Davinder Singh has earned a reputation of a very honest and devoted officer. According to a report published in the India Today on 13th January 2020, the intelligence agencies have blamed that the DSP has very close links with the terrorists working for the liberation of the Indian Occupied Kashmir and he has been co-operating with them for a long time. It is astonishing fact that a few months back, the same DSP was awarded the National Police Medal for his gallantry by the Occupied State of J&K and was promised an out-of-turn promotion to the rank of SP as reward. Now the same ‘national-hero’ is behind the bars and facing investigations like a criminal.
In other words, Mohammad Rashid, a Muslim and DSP Davinder Singh, a Sikh; both are pushed to the same fate. Rashid’s linkage with the ISI has been ‘established’, now it is the time to prove that a National Police Medal holding officer of the Indian Police Department was also an agent of the ISI. This situation is horrible as well as ridiculous; it is expected that in near future, when Mr. Modi won’t be the Prime Minister, some day, someone from the Indian Intelligence Agencies would reveal that Mr. Modi had also been working for the ISI when he was the Prime Minister.
February 3, 2020, 10:28 pm
The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) yesterday said that UNP lawmaker Dr. Harsha de Silva couldn’t absolve himself of the responsibility for the Treasury Bond scams, perpetrated between Feb 2015 and March 2016.
Colombo District MP de Silva had been involved in the UNP defence, both in and outside parliament, and was a member of the foot note-gang that tried to protect bond racketeers.
The SLPP flayed the UNPer at the weekly regular briefing at its Nelum Mawatha Office. SLPP Chairman Prof. G.L. Peiris and State Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardena commented on a range of issues including the forthcoming Geneva sessions, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa’s proposal to cohabit with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa following the parliamentary polls in April 2020 and the wife of top SriLankan Airlines executive receiving US 2 mn bribe out of promised US 16.84 mn to influence the acquisition of 10 Airbuses and lease four additional aircraft during the Rajapaksa administration.
Former External Affairs Minister Prof. Peiris said that the co-sponsorship of the Geneva resolution was not acceptable to Sri Lanka under any circumstances.
About three hours after the briefing the Attorney General’s Department announced that AG Dappula De Livera instructed the police to obtain warrant to arrest former Sri Lankan Chief Executive Officer Kapila Chandrasena and his wife, Priyanka Niyomali Wijenayake.
Referring to media briefing given by MP de Silva at the Opposition Leader’s Office, on Sunday, Feb 02, Kalutara District MP Abeygunawardena alleged that the UNPer made a high profile bid to distance himself from Treasury bond racketeers, in vain. Lawmaker Abeygunawardena said that MP de Silva was now singing a different tune now.
Lawmaker Abeygunawardena recalled how the Joint Opposition had to plead with TNA leader R. Sampanthan to secure sufficient time to speak in parliament regarding Treasury bond scams et al. The State Minister urged President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to initiate action to track down as to how Treasury bond thieves spent ill-gotten money. The MP raised the question whether funds were spent on election/elections.
At the onset of his briefing, lawmaker Abeygunawardena praised President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for ordering immediate inquiry into alleged bribery case involving top executive of the national carrier and his wife. The MP emphasized that wrongdoers should be punished regardless of their political affiliations. The MP said that identities of those involved in the Sri Lankan case should be revealed.
Responding to a query, MP Abeygunawardena said they did not want to protect anyone. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa promptly ordered an inquiry therefore there was no issue in proceeding with this particular case, the MP said.
The Island sought an explanation from the SLPP as to how those now in power and in the Opposition and vice versa from time to time tackle massive corruption taking under the watch of parliament responsible for financial discipline. State Minister Abeygunawardena acknowledged that though they said the parliament was supreme and responsible for maintaining strict watch on public money, the reality was very different. The MP recalled how the then Premier Wickremesinghe side-stepped issues, particularly the Treasury bond scams raised by the JO in parliament, in some instances by making joke out of it.
Revealing that their parliamentary group had received instructions from both President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa that Ministers should respond to questions raised in parliament, MP Abeygunawardena alleged that the previous administration refused to table free trade agreement with Singapore as well as the agreement on the Hambantota port.
Responding to JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s claim that the US wanted Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the President as Ranil Wickremesinghe couldn’t achieve what the world’s solitary superpower desired, a smiling lawmaker Abeygunawardena said urged the media to inquire into various claims, accusations and allegations made by the JVPer previously.
Commenting on the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact, MP Abeygunawardena emphasized that the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government wouldn’t do anything inimical to national interests.
Commenting on the ongoing preparations for the parliamentary polls, SLPP Chairman Prof. Peiris threw his weight behind those pushing to contest the poll under the pohottuwa symbol. One-time External Affairs Minister emphasized that it wouldn’t be a prudent move to drop pohottuwa now. The former Law Professor said that the SLFP, too, is on record as having admitted that the symbol as not a big issue.
Both Prof. Peiris and State Minister Abeygunawardena dismissed recent claims that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former President and SLFP leader Maithripala Sirisena would function as leaders of the proposed alliance to contest the parliamentary poll. Pointing out that SLPP architect Basil Rajapaksa was back home from the US, lawmaker Abeygunawardena said they were ready to go flat out to secure a two-thirds majority at the next parliamentary poll.
Asked by The Island how President Gotabaya Rajapaksa positioned himself in the SLPP structure as he was not a member of the party though he successfully contested the last presidential poll on the SLPP ticket, lawmaker Abeygunawardena said that for the first time a person who had not served the parliament in any capacity was the President. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had received massive public mandate and the party received instructions and advice. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa would be on the SLPP stage for the general election, they said. Having examined how the presidential candidates were picked before, the SLPP described the situation as unprecedented.
Lawmaker Abeygunawardena lambasted JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake for urging the electorate to deprive the SLPP of required two-thirds majority. The Kalutara District MP said that the JVP work hard to at least retain the same number of seats in the next parliament without being a nuisance. The JVP group in the current parliament comprised six including two accommodated on the National List.
February 3, 2020, 10:25 pm
The CID, yesterday evening, launched a search for former SriLankan CEO Kapila Chandrasena and his wife, Priyanka Niyomali Wijenayake, over a questionable aircraft deal. A senior CID officer said an arrest warrant had been obtained and a special team deployed to look for the suspects.
Attorney General, Dappula de Livera, yesterday, directed the CID to obtain an arrest warrant and take Chandrasena and his wife into custody, on charges of money laundering, etc.
After perusing a report, submitted by the CID, the AG directed the Director of the CID to obtain an arrest warrant and take Chandrasena and his wife into custody on charges of money laundering in the SriLankan Airlines – Airbus deal, the AG’s coordinating officer Nishara Jayaratne said.
In his letter to the CID Director, the AG states that a reasonable suspicion has arisen that there is sufficient evidence to name Kapila Chandrasena and his wife as suspects for the charge of money laundering.
The AG has also instructed the CID Director to submit the investigative material and documents to the Director General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption with a report on necessary action to be taken as there is sufficient evidence to prove that Chandrasena committed offences under the Bribery Act.
A corrupt deal involving aircraft manufacturer Airbus and Sri Lanka was exposed last week.
Airbus reached a record 3.6 Billion Euro settlement with the US, the UK and French authorities following a four-year investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption.
A statement of facts issued, on Jan 31, as part of the Deferred Prosecution Agreement reached between Airbus and the prosecuting authorities, indicates that Airbus had agreed to pay out a sum of 16.84 Million US dollars to a company registered in Brunei under the wife of an executive at SriLankan Airlines. Furthermore, the statement says that Airbus had paid out a sum of 2 million US dollars of the agreed amount to the company.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered a probe into accusations of bribery by European planemaker Airbus to pave the way for the sale of aircraft to state-run carrier SriLankan Airlines, after the firm agreed to a settlement with regulators.
Sri Lanka was among the countries whose officials figured in a USD 4-billion settlement Airbus agreed with European and US regulators, as having been accused of getting bribes to clinch sales of its aircraft.
“Sri Lanka will conduct a comprehensive investigation into reports of allegations over financial irregularities”, the office of President Rajapaksa said in a statement, on Sunday.
In a separate statement, SriLankan Airlines said its chairman and board had directed the management to cooperate fully with any government agency regarding any investigation or prosecution.
The board has also told the management to “preserve and study all available internal documentation with a view to take all possible corrective future action,” it said in the statement.
Many moneylenders have expressed support and we will be in a position to comfortably roll over our debt service commitment for 2020, senior economic adviser to the Prime Minister Ajith Nivard Cabraal said.
“If we could shrink the amount in our debt servicing package for 2020, which amounts to some USD 4.5 billion (Rs.810 billion), we could make the rupee stable and prevent a devaluation which will contribute to national economic stability,” he said.
Mr. Cabraal, who is also a former Central Bank Governor, expressed confidence that Sri Lanka would be able to reduce the debt commitment through negotiations as it was now on the right track in its economic and monetary policies under a new regime.
In order to achieve this objective, we are in negotiations with foreign entrepreneurs to invest their dollars in our treasury bills and bonds. It is likely that we will have to secure large-scale investors coming to Sri Lanka and invest in government securities. At the end of 2018, we lost Rs.34 billion investments in our treasury bills and bonds. Foreign direct investments by December 31, 2019, stood a hopeless USD 600 million. This drop reflects the loss of confidence in Sri Lanka among foreign investors due to un-pragmatic, shortsighted and ad hoc macroeconomic fundamentals of the Yahapalana Government.
The Gotabaya Rajapaksa Government has made amendments to these disastrous policies with tax reforms, bringing down interest rates and introducing a slew of relief and benefits to investors. Budget 2020 which the government expects to present after the April general elections will offer a more investor-friendly agenda. Encouraged with new economic policies, low-interest rate and strengthened rupee, I believe Sri Lanka will attract a considerable amount of FDI thus easing the debt servicing management and also reduce the debt service commitment in 2020 to lesser than USD 4.5 billion.
However, over the years, Sri Lanka has been able to maintain confidence among global financial agencies like the IMF, World Bank, ADB and international commercial banks by paying our debts on time and never to default,” he said. (Sandun A. Jayasekera)
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa commended the SriLankan Airlines crew who flew to Wuhan, the epicenter of the Coronavirus, to bring back Sri Lankan students.
The crew joined a luncheon hosted by the President at the Presidential Secretariat today (03), stated President’s Media Division.
Led by the Chairman of the Airline Ashoka Pathirage, Board of Directors, engineers, and pilots and the crew who took part in the operation were present on the occasion.
President Rajapaksa said the commitment and courage exhibited by the entire group is a good example for the other sectors in the country.
Everyone worked towards a single objective. The risk taken by them is a historic milestone in the annals of SriLankan Airlines”, said the President.
President pledged his unwavering support to develop the national carrier on par with other international airlines while preserving our uniqueness.
Secretary to the President Dr. P. B. Jayasundara, honorary advisor to the President Lalith Weeratunga, Additional Secretary to the President on International Relations Admiral Jayanath Colombage, Commander of the Army and Chief of Defence Staff Lieutenant Gen. Shavendra Silva were also present.
The Fort Magistrate has issued arrest orders on former SriLankan Airlines Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kapila Chandrasena and his wife on charges of money laundering.
Previously, the Attorney General directed the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to obtain a warrant and arrest the former CEO of SriLankan Airlines Kapila Chandrasena and his wife Priyanka Niyomali Wijenayake.
The Attorney General after considering the investigative material submitted by the CID has directed the CID to name them as suspects, request and obtain a warrant from a magistrate’s court, record statements from the suspects and produced them before the court.
The AG also instructed the CID Director to immediately submit the investigative material and documents to the Director-General of the Bribery Commission with a report for necessary action as sufficient evidence has been presented to prove that Kapila Chandrasena has also committed crimes under provisions of the Bribery Act.
The President had ordered a probe into accusations of bribery by European planemaker Airbus to pave the way for the sale of aircraft to state-run carrier SriLankan Airlines after the firm agreed to a settlement with regulators.
Sri Lanka was among the countries whose officials figured in a US$4-billion settlement Airbus agreed with European and US regulators, as having been accused of getting bribes to clinch sales of its aircraft.
Sri Lanka will conduct a comprehensive investigation into reports of allegations over financial irregularities”, the office of President Rajapaksa said in a brief statement on Sunday.
Detailed findings from Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said Airbus had hired the wife of a Sri Lankan Airlines executive as its intermediary and misled export credit agency UKEF over her name and gender while paying US$2 million to her company.
In a statement, SriLankan Airlines said its chairman and board had directed the management to cooperate fully with any government agency regarding any investigation or prosecution.
The board had also told the management to preserve and study all available internal documentation with a view to take all possible corrective future action,” it added in Sunday’s statement.
The alleged corruption in dealings between Airbus and SriLankan Airlines took place between July 2011 and June 2015, the SFO added.
Saturday’s announcement of the Airbus settlement followed a nearly four-year investigation spanning sales to more than a dozen overseas markets.
-With inputs from agencies
2015 ප්රශ්නගත භාණ්ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කර නිකුත් කිරීමේ ක්රමවේදය සිදුකිරීමට හිටපු අගමැති රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ තමන්ට උපදෙස් දුන් බව හිටපු මහ බැංකු අධිපති අර්ජුන් මහේන්ද්රන් කෝප් කමිටුවේදී සාක්ෂි දෙමින් පිළිගත් බව එවක කෝප් කමිටු සභාපති ඩිව් ගුණසේකර මහතා පවසනවා.
කොළඹදී පැවති ප්රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවට එක්වෙමින් ඒ මහතා වැඩිදුරටත් කියා සිටියේ කෙසේ වෙතත් පසුගිය රජය එම සාක්ෂි සටහන් කොමිෂන් සභාවට යොමු නොකළ බවයි.
මේ අතර, ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණු ප්රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවේදී ද මහ බැංකු බැඳුම්කර ගනුදෙනුව සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදහස් පළ වුණා.
Direct State involvement is needed as conditions are unfavorable for self-employment and entrepreneurial development schemes
Sri Lanka’s post-war livelihood strategies for women in the Eastern Province have failed, necessitating fresh thinking based on the experience garnered so far and the findings of researches conducted there.
This is the impression one gets after reading Nayana Godamunne’s excellent monograph: Understanding Women’s Livelihood: Outcomes and Economic Empowerment in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka brought out by the Colombo-based International Center for Ethnic Studies in 2019.
Looking at the preference of the women themselves, it appears that it will best if opportunities for government employment are increased and the government becomes the principle development agent and employer in place of the private sector and individual private initiatives.
The current emphasis on self-employment generation and developing entrepreneurship has not yielded dividends. Conditions for these to thrive do not exist among the people of the war-affected Eastern Province (EP). Godamunne says that the population in EP does not have the requisite resources and skills. The surrounding economy is too weak to sustain and spur successful entrepreneurial efforts.
Government Policy
Delineating State policy since the end of the war in EP since 2007, Godamunne says: Livelihood rebuilding in the Eastern Province sits within a broader post-war reconstruction strategy which revolves around self-employment promotion, credit expansion and encouraging private capital investments to support two dominant sectors – tourist growth and enterprise development.”
But she adds that there is no convincing evidence that this approach has increased opportunities and incomes for women. The fact is that most war-affected women are still in survival livelihood strategies, driven by dire need rather than choice.”
There is also evidence that women’s engagement in livelihoods faces new constraints in the post-war era. For example, whilst improvements in infrastructure such as greater road connectivity and access to markets are visible, the influx of cheap new products is driving some women out of livelihoods due to their inability to compete. Moreover, the presence of the military has restricted and sometimes blocked women’s livelihood activities.”
The existence of High Security Zones in areas such as Sampoor, for example, has blocked women’s access to arable land and restricted their movement in pursuit of livelihoods. The military involvement in civilian activities has resulted in curtailing women’s engagement in certain types of livelihoods such as running food outlets and grocery stores,” Godamunne argues.
Indebtedness is another post-war problem. According to the author, the push towards self-employment and enterprise development has driven many women to be entrapped in debt. The micro-finance companies have entered the field in a big way replacing the formal banking institutions because micro-finance companies do not seek collaterals like banks and other formal financial institutions.
But this has, by no means, been an unmixed blessing. For various very understandable reasons, the borrowers (especially women) are not able to run their businesses profitably. They get into indebtedness. Being unsuited, or untrained, or incompetent or because of the absence of a favourable economic environment, the women spend the borrowed money, not on improving their businesses, but on consumer goods or on managing crisis situations in the family.
Search for Sustained Stable Incomes
Godamunne says that women are seeking stable incomes, dignity of work and decent working conditions. But she found that the women find that the opportunities they can access under the circumstances do not answer to their needs. These are informal and unpaid work that guarantees no regular income or stability.”
Therefore, like the men, women too are seeking access to jobs in the formal sector with regular and equal pay and benefits as men. And there is a preference for government jobs, Godamunne notes. She quotes a woman in Muttur who said: Women should earn money from permanent employment which, I think, most probably is from government jobs. I don’t like farming and other cultivation and self-employment since I think that those don’t give permanent and regular income.”
Government jobs are sought after because of the benefits, security of employment. Public sector jobs have well-regulated hours, clear worker’s rights such as paid leave, ample public holidays, and access to a state pension upon retirement,” Godamunne points out.
But the State no longer sees itself as an employer and is more and more relying on the private formal and informal sectors to provide jobs. It imagines that by promoting self-employment and individual entrepreneurship, it will provide and raise incomes and jobs. But in an under-development country, which is also war-devastated, privatization of this sort has not worked and will not work. The private sector is too weak to meet the basic needs of the people.
Neganahira Navodaya and Enterprise Lanka projects
After Eelam War IV ended in 2007, the Mahinda Rajapaksa government launched the Neganahira Navodhaya (Eastern Revival) program and the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe regime, which followed it in 2015, continued the strategy. In Rajapaksa’a time the focus was on infrastructure development. But between 2015 and 2019, the focus was on livelihood rebuilding initiatives through government-aided private initiatives.
However, despite the money poured into the Eastern Province, its contribution to Sri Lanka’s GDP has remained stagnant at around 6%, Godamunne notes. EP has lagged behind in other respects too. Whilst national poverty headcount figures have shown a steady decline, they are high in the Eastern Province. In 2017, it was 11.3% in Batticaloa district and 10% in Trincomalee district, she points out.
Impediments
The researcher cites cases in which the post-war situation has been worse than the situation before the war. For example, a woman who was running a successful hotel” in Trincomalee Town before the war escalated, had to migrate to another place. When she came back, after the war, she found that she had no money to restart the hotel. So she started a grocery which is not making the kind of money the hotel was making.
Godamunne refers to cases of the military taking over arable and pasture lands and preventing villagers from accessing them. Prior to the war, many women used the lands to graze cattle and for agro-based cultivation. However, since returning, they have had no access to those lands. In the construction projects in Sampoor, it is the military which gets the bulk of the work.
Female-Headed Households
It is said that 25% of households in Sri Lanka are female-headed. But the figure is significantly higher In the Eastern Province, Godamunne says and points out that the female heads of households face multiple challenges. They have to eke out a living, whilst caring for their children, the elderly, and the disabled.”
Then there is gender-oriented harassment and violence. Many young widows and girl children from women-headed households are frequently subjected to sexual violence by neighbors, family members, and strangers. Victimization of girl children of remarried women is a real problem now,” Godamunne says. Women are forced into prostitution by poverty and it is said that prostitution in EP is an essentially a post-war phenomenon.
Enterprise Lanka
It is in this context that the Yahapalanaya government started programs like Enterprise Lanka” which targeted young people who had not gained admission to higher education institutions. Enterprise Sri Lanka” offers government-backed guarantees for the new entrepreneurs. The National Action Plan on Women-Headed Households 2017-2019 focused on promoting self-employment and entrepreneurship amongst women-headed households in war-affected areas. Together with the Policy Framework for SME Development, the government aimed to provide a comprehensive policy framework to generate employment opportunities and reduce poverty.
However, in all the State schemes, the selection of beneficiaries, the kind of help rendered to them, and the release of funds on time have become major issues, Godamunne observes.
She quotes a Trincomalee man as saying: Some were given cattle, but they do not have pasture land to graze them and some were given water pumps for cultivation, but they do not have lands, since both arable and pasture lands are still occupied by the Navy.”
Admittedly, opportunities have opened up in EP in the new garments sector, leasing, retail and the tourism and hospitality sectors. But jobs prospects here for local women are very low”, partly on account of lack of qualifications and experience, Godamunne finds.
Local women are themselves reluctant to work in these sectors. Putting them off are long hours of work, and shift work often entailing work after dark. The lack of transportation deters women from taking up shift work, she points out. The lack of required skills and knowledge are other reasons for the low take up of jobs in the private sector.
Then there is labour and gender abuse in the hospitality industry. Women are subjected to delayed wage payments, non-payment of benefits such as service charge, and non-inclusion in government benefits like Employees’ Provident Fund (EFP) or the Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF). The lack of awareness of rights among local women has enabled resorts to avoid adhering to labour regulations, Godamunne says.
Colombo, Feb.3 (newsin.asia) – Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has granted a general amnesty for 512 prisoners to mark the Independence Day which fall on 4th of February.
The amnesty has been granted in accordance with powers vested in the President by Article 34 of the Constitution and on the recommendation of Nimal Siripala de Silva, Minister of Justice, Human Rights and Legal Reforms, President Media Division (PMD) announced.
Those who will be released have been serving jail terms after being convicted for minor offences such as theft, breach of trust and drunken driving says PMD.
No one imprisoned on conviction for major offences such as rape, robbery, grave sexual abuse and soliciting bribe is in the list.” PMD statement says.
The amnesty will apply only to those prisoners who were actually in prison on 31 January this year. The effective date of release is 4th of February.
One of the two workers from Sri Lanka who has been allowed to continue working.Share
A bakery in a small Romanian village says it will continue to allow a pair of Sri Lankan employees to make bread at its shop in the face of protests from local residents fearing an influx of immigrants.
Katalin Kollo, one of the bakery owners, said on February 3 that she would allow the workers to continue in their positions after initially apologizing to the local residents of Ditrau and pledging to move the two Sri Lankans to other sections of the company which did not involve direct contact with the dough or the final product.
Despite possessing the proper paperwork, the bakery owners’ hiring of the two Sri Lankans sparked outrage among the mainly ethnic-Hungarian community of some 5,500, with a couple of thousand residents signing a petition calling for measures to stop what they called the immigrant inflow.”
At a town hall meeting over the weekend, the villagers complained about the bakery owners’ treatment of local workers, who they said were forced to work long hours for low wages. Villagers accused the owner of choosing to bring in cheaper laborers from abroad rather than providing better conditions and higher pay for local workers.
They also voiced fears that the two qualified Sri Lankan bakers were the start of a much larger influx of Asian migrants who would alter the local culture and religion. One of the two Sri Lankans is a Catholic, as are most of the villagers.
Labor Minister Violeta Alexandru on February 2 told reporters she was deploying labor inspectors to clarify the situation of the two foreign laborers. Alexandru told Romanian media that she was surprised by the intolerant stance of the locals, “who forget that our fellow Romanians also work in large numbers abroad and deserve respect.”
Millions of Romanians work in European Union countries to help their families at home make ends meet. An estimated 1,000 residents of Ditrau have also left to find work abroad, mostly in Hungary.
“We need to be balanced in assessing this situation,” Alexandru said.
Before Kollo reversed her decision and allowed the two Sri Lankans to continue to make bread, several Romanian companies offered to relocate the employees to their bakeries in other parts of the country.
The then Sri Lankan government in 2015 started including the Tamil national anthem as a means of achieving reconciliation with the Tamil minority community.
For the first time since 2016, there will be no Tamil national anthem at the 72nd Independence Day celebrations in Sri Lanka and it will only be rendered in Sinhalese, the government announced on Monday, amply demonstrating the administration’s priority for the majority Sinhala community.
The then Sri Lankan government in 2015 started including the Tamil national anthem as a means of achieving reconciliation with the Tamil minority community.
This will be the first time since 2016 that there will be no Tamil national anthem at the Independence Day celebrations in the country.
The national anthem will be sung only in Sinhala, officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs said on Monday.
Sri Lanka’s Constitution provides for the singing of the national anthem in both Sinhala and Tamil.
The Tamil version ‘Sri Lanka Thaye’ is a direct translation of ‘Namo namo matha’ in the Sinhala language.
The national anthem in Tamil is not just another song but the Sri Lankan identity of the Tamil speaking community,” said Mano Ganesan, a Tamil politician who was the former minister of national integration and had been responsible for the Tamil version being accommodated during the previous Independence Day celebrations.
Home Affairs State Minister Maninda Samarasinghe said last week that although there will be only the Sinhala version of the national anthem at the main ceremony, at province based ceremonies, the use of Tamil version will be permitted.
Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa after his swearing-in ceremony in November thanked the powerful Buddhist clergy for backing his presidential bid and vowed to protect all communities, while giving foremost priority to Buddhism. He also thanked the Sinhala-majority people for electing him.
While the Tamils in 2016 appreciated the symbolic gesture of recognizing them by adding the Tamil version at the Independence Day celebrations, the opposition, then led by the Rajapaksas and a majority Sinhala community member, filed a fundamental rights petition against the move.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who describes himself as a rebel with a cause”, earlier served as the country’s president from 2005-2015, a period which was mired by allegations of human rights abuses, especially against the Tamils.
Muslims make up nearly 10 per cent of Sri Lanka’s over 21 million people, who are predominantly Sinhalese Buddhists. About 12 per cent of the population are Hindus, mostly from the ethnic Tamil minority. Some seven per cent of the population are Christians.
There are already concerns in the country that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s remarks may have led to apprehensions among the minority communities, who are already worried about the possibility of the return of an iron-fist rule under the Rajapaksa-duo’s regime.
One day after they had announced they will remove the two Sri Lankan workers from the manufacturing process of the bread at the bread factory in Ditrau, Harghita, following the locals’ protest, the owners of the plant changed their mind and gave in to criticism of the civil society, announcing the Sri Lankan are hired again.
Hundreds of villagers of Ditrau commune in Harghita county, Romania, staged protests last week because a bread factory in the locality had hired two employees from Sri Lank. The locals said they fear ‘a wave of refugees might come in their commune to impose their culture and jeopardize the safety of the villagers.’
Kollo Katalin, one of the owners, said that she had initially proposed a deal to the residents of the village for fear the conflict might degenerate and the men from Sri Lanka will get hurt, but, after seeing the locals do not accept their offer, they decided that the bakers can remain in the manufacturing process.
The woman said though that the two Sri Lankan bakers fear the locals’ anger, and also the other employees of the bread factory fear the villagers.We have other workers who have been threatened for working with the Sri Lankan men. We have other 90 people working in Ditrau”, Kollo stated.As two landlords who accommodated the two Sri Lankan workers in Ditrau had even received threats from the villagers, the owners of the bread company decided to relocate the foreign workers to another locality, Gheorghieni.In the villagers’ camp, the reasons why they don’t want the Sri Lankan are not quite clear. Some argue the arrival of the foreign workers to their commune will open the gate for more and even for refugees. Others claim they do not having anything against the Sri Lankan bakers, but they just don’t want Piumal and Amahinda touch the bread with ‘their black hands’.In his turn, the Roman-Catholic priest from Ditrau, Bírók Károly, criticised even by the Roman-Catholic Archbishop of Alba Iulia, who said the local had got involved in a conflict that exceeds his powers”, said he acted as his conscience had dictated him and that he had no regrets and assumed his stance. Priest Bírók Károly was the leader of the protesters from Ditrau who protested in front of the town hall.Moreover, Kelemen Hunor, the leader of UDMR, the political union that represents the Magyar community in Parliament, has somehow blamed the priest for inflaming things in the locality. He said that one cannot label an entire community in Ditrau because of an excited priest and of some persons whose stance cannot be endorsed and accepted. I tell the locals in Ditrau to stay calm, to reject manipulation and any for of extremism”, Kelemen Hunor added.During the weekend, the National Council for Combating Discrimination (CNCD) announced they are notified over this case over alleged racism and discrimination.Harghita Police has also announced that it had opened a criminal case for charges of discrimination and incitement to hatred in Ditrau.Moreover, the Labour Inspectorate from Harghita is conducting a check today at the bakery in Ditrau, following criticism launched by some villagers who had been former employees of the factory, according to which the wages were low and working conditions were bad.Labour minister Violeta Alexandru has also taken stand.I am surprised by the attitude of the local community regarding these two men who want to work, as locals forget our Romanians are also working abroad and maybe they are at risk of being treated the same. We have to be balanced in our views, like Romanian working abroad need respect, the same we must respect those who come to work in Romania,” the minister said.Asked if the two Sri Lankan should stay at this job, the minister replied that it is the decision of the factory owner, as it’s a private employer”.
Job offers for Piumal and Amahinda
After the initial announcement of the factory owners that the two Sri Lankan bakers will be removed from the manufacturing process, the leader of Cluj County Council, Alin Tișe, said he is considering to contact the two workers to offer them a job in one of the local institutions.
In his turn, Suceava-based businessman, Stefan Mandachi, owner of Spartan restaurant chain, known after a year ago he had built the first one metre” of highway in Moldavia, has also announced his availability to hire the two Sri Lankan in one of his restaurants. He revealed the first concrete steps to hire them had already been made, and that he’s only waiting for Piumal and Amahinda’s consent.
Even after the owners of the bakery announced the Sri Lankan will keep their jobs in Ditrau, Mandachi insisted for them to leave, arguing the two will not have a good life in Ditrau” despite the authorities’ intention to ‘welcome them with flowers.’
The entrepreneur also considers that the lack of education is the root of all evil in this country, including of the conflict in Ditrau.
Romanian authorities are investigating a case of incitement to hatred and discrimination after 350 villagers gathered to protest against the employment of two Sri Lankan workers at a local bakery.
The two bakers were hired legally through a recruitment agency at a bread factory in Ditrau, in central Romania.
But some of the village’s 5,000 inhabitants say they are afraid migrants will endanger the community’s safety and cultural traditions.
“Let’s pretend other entrepreneurs are hiring … say, six foreign workers in our village,” a blondwe woman told the crowd on Monday. “After two years, these six will bring their families and after four or five more years, we will find ourselves surrounded by black people.”
She added: “This is what we are afraid of. We are not afraid of the two Sri Lankan men, but of the consequences.”
Bende Sandor, an MP for the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians living in Romania, claimed the meeting was not about racism.
“I didn’t notice xenophobic tendencies at this gathering,” he said. “It looks more like a conflict between the factory owners and the locals.”
“The owner of the bakery is paying less money to all workers. They are all working too much, sometimes they work 24 hours per day,” a village resident told local media.
The Romanian National Council for Combating Discrimination (CNCD) filed a complaint for incitement to hatred and discrimination. Its president, Asztalos Csaba, called for tolerance and condemned discriminatory attitudes in Ditrau.
The Sri Lankan Embassy in Bucharest contacted the bakery to check on the two workers’ living conditions in the area and to provide them consular assistance.
Romania’s Labour Minister Violeta Alexandru also requested checks to be carried out at the bakery.
“What surprises me is the attitude of the local community regarding the fact that two people want to work here,” she said. “Maybe they forget that many Romanians are working abroad and they could be in danger of being treated in the same way?”
Tends of thousands of Romanians have left the country in recent years to find work, particularly in western Europe.
The factory said it wouldn’t give in to local pressure or dismiss its Sri Lankan employees. However, public anger may force the two to move to another village.
London, Feb 03: A man shot dead by the Scotland Yard after he went on a stab frenzy on a busy high street in south London was a convicted Islamist terrorist, with family links to Sri Lanka, who was recently released from prison after serving half of his sentence period for preparation of acts of terrorism, police said.
The Metropolitan Police said Sudesh Mamoor Faraz Amman, a 20-year-old British national with extended family in Sri Lanka, had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS).
In a statement in Arabic via its Amaq propaganda agency, the Islamic State on Monday claimed responsibility for the London attack and said Sudesh was a “fighter” with the group, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a US-based monitoring firm which monitors jihadist activities.
Amman was sentenced to three years and four months in prison in December 2018 after being charged with 10 terror-related offences. He was aged 18 that time. He was released under licence last month. He was under surveillance.
“The suspect had been recently released from prison where he had been serving a sentence for Islamist-related terrorism offences. We are confident that this is an isolated incident that has been contained,” said Met Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Lucy D’Orsi on Sunday night. Of the 10 offences under which Amman was jailed, seven were of making records of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism and three of dissemination of terrorist publications.
Police had been told of extremist material being posted on the social media app Telegram by an account called @strangertothisworld, which turned out to be of Amman.
He had used documents about making explosives, weaponry and carrying out terrorist attacks. Among them were manuals on bomb-making, knife-fighting and close combat. Reports at the time also said he had told his girlfriend she should murder her “kuffar” (non-believer) parents. Police found a notepad in his home, where he had listed his “life goals”.
“Top of the list, above family activities, was dying a martyr and going to ‘Jannah’ – the afterlife,” Alexis Boon, then head of the Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism command, said after he was jailed over a year ago.
On Sunday, Amman was wearing a hoax bomb vest as he was pursued by armed officers as part of a proactive counter-terrorism surveillance operation before they shot him dead at the scene. A man in his 40s, who suffered life-threatening injuries in the stabbing, is said to be out of danger and one woman in her 50s, who had non-life-threatening injuries, has since been discharged from hospital.
Another woman in her 20s who suffered minor injuries, believed to have been caused by broken glasses triggered from the discharge of the police firearm, continues to receive treatment at hospital, the Met Police said. “Detectives from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command continue to carry out fast-time enquiries into the circumstances of the attack in Streatham High Road at approximately 1400 hours on Sunday, February 2,” the Met Police said in a statement on Monday.
“Search warrants are being carried out at two residential addresses in the south London and Bishop’s Stortford (Hertfordshire) areas respectively. No arrests have been made and enquiries continue at pace,” the statement said.
In a statement from Downing Street after an emergency meeting with UK Home Secretary Priti Patel on Sunday night, Prime Minister Boris Johnson once again pledged tougher sentencing measures for dangerous terrorists.
“We will announce further plans for fundamental changes to the system for dealing with those convicted of terrorism offences,” he said. Patel said the government will be “announcing some fundamental changes, in addition to what we’ve already said, that we will do to deal with counter-terrorism and counter-terrorist offenders.”
It is thought that Amman may have realised he was being watched because he stole a 10-inch 3.99 pound kitchen knife from a store on the Streatham High Road at the time of the attack and, within seconds, stabbed a woman in the back. As he ran up the busy high street he stabbed a man.
At least two plain-clothed police officers who had been following Amman, dressed in hoodies and jeans and with balaclavas covering their faces, gave chase on foot after he attacked his first victim. It is thought that a third officer on a motorbike who had been part of the surveillance team may have been the first to open fire. In November last year, in a similar scenario, two people were killed after convicted terrorist Usman Khan went on a stabbing frenzy in London Bridge area of the UK capital. It later emerged that Khan’s family originated from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and he was out on parole after serving part of his sentence for plotting terrorist attacks on the UK.
Read more at: https://www.oneindia.com/international/man-shot-dead-in-london-stab-frenzy-was-convicted-islamist-terrorist-3026831.html
What do we think we are celebrating on 4th February every year? Our independence from colonial rule. But did we really get independence on 4th February 1948? We didn’t because we became by choice a dominion of the British Empire. It was only on 22 May 1972 that Sri Lanka shred all ties with the colonial British & became a true Republic. With 19 May 2009 becoming a significant milestone in view of our armed forces uniting the entire island under one national flag we should ideally hold 19 May as Victory Day, 22 May as Republic Day and the week covering this celebration as Heroes Week.
Our island nation was attacked over 17 times from South Indian invaders though no invader was able to take over and rule the entirety of the island.
Then came 3 western European colonial explorers. The Portuguese, Dutch or the British also failed to conquer the island. They tried but they failed. But they did eventually take over the island primarily as a result of our own people betraying the island. Our own betrayed the island & its people to the Portuguese, our own betrayed our island & its people to the Dutch and our own betrayed our island and its people to the British and that DNA of treachery & betrayal appears to be continuing. It was always a case of ‘inguru dee miris gaththa wage’ ඉඟුරු දීලා මිරිස් ගත්තා වගේ exchanging ginger for chillies.
With the signing of the Kandyan Convention the island of Sinhale came under British rule and Sinhale was christened Ceylon. The British ruled till 1948 when decolonization of other colonies led to Sri Lanka getting dominion status on 4 February 1948.
The Head of State of Ceylon remained first King George VI until 1952 his daughter Elizabeth II was crowned Queen.
Independence did not even change our name back to Sinhale. We continued as Ceylon with the Queen as Head of State and final judicial decisions decided by UK Privy Council. Britain continued to maintain air & sea bases in ‘Ceylon’ and British officers continued to fill the high ranks in the army!
The Citizenship Act of 1948 & the Official Language Act of 1956 were both introduced with the consent of the UK Privy Council. The British monarch held final authority on all legislation. No bill presented to the Ceylon Parliament could become law until the Monarch’s royal assent was given as the Constitution of Ceylon at independence made the British monarch part of Ceylon Parliament.
So what is the independence Sri Lanka enjoyed? What are we really celebrating annually?
True independence came only in 1972 with the Republican Constitution when the Queen was no longer head of State and Sri Lanka had its own judiciary to determine judicial matters.
Article 3 of the new constitution asserted Sovereignty was with the People and it was inalienable. Article 13 removed the British monarch from the legislature.
However, sadly the name Sinhale was again forgotten and instead Ceylon was replaced with Sri Lanka. Hon. William Gopallawa became the First Non-Executive President while Hon. Sirimavo Bandaranaike continued in office as Prime Minister.
If we are to be proud to be truly independent, it also questions why we remain embracing the Commonwealth where the Queen remains ceremonial monarch! Myanmar on the other hand left the Commonwealth when it became independent. It is not too late for Sri Lanka to leave the Commonwealth.
If we are to celebrate as a nation, we must celebrate with meaning and significance. There is nothing significant to celebrate of 4th February when realizing that the Queen was head of state, the UK courts had the final say and British bases remained on our island even after 1948. All that changed in 1972 with the Republican Constitution.
Thereafter, the island nation was plagued with 2 insurrections and terrorism by LTTE. LTTE held defacto territory even given to the officially via 2002 ceasefire. However, by order of the then Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces the National Army was ordered to militarily defeat the LTTE and reunite the country under one national flag. LTTE was vanquished on 19 May 2009 bringing Sri Lanka under one rule. That Victory Day must continue to be celebrated just as The Allies continue to celebrate V Day against Nazi Germany and end of World War 2. Every year key battles are enacted still. No one has any right to downplay Sri Lanka’s military defeat of LTTE terrorists by defining it as ‘triumphalism’. If so, the same must accuse the Allies of celebrating ‘triumphalism’ too.
Therefore, it is suggested that Sri Lanka celebrate Republic Day – 22 May together with Victory Day and declare the week as Heroes Week in honor of all the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives and limb to defend the Nation.
Shenali D Waduge
http://archives.dailynews.lk/2009/05/22/supstory.asp?id=s26
As a matter of way out of the subdued economic growth, the Sri Lankan government recognizes the need to increase the employability rates of the youth. To that end, the ministries in the subject of skills development, vocational training and youth affairs have been tasked with providing technical and vocational training to prepare youth for careers in a wide range of occupational fields. A well-known fact is that Sri Lanka’s university admission process is highly competitive where the students are ranked and admitted in accordance with a standardized scoring system based on their A-Level examination results. In 2018, about 60 percent of students passed the GCE A-Level examinations. Of this group, only about 17 percent were admitted into a university-level institution.
Looking at the technical and vocational education sector, abbreviated TVET sector, the allied education programs range from short-term certificate programs and apprenticeship training to bachelor’s degrees in ‘applied’ disciplines. In 2009, Sri Lanka established a National Vocational Qualifications Framework (NVQF). National Certificates (NVQF 1 to 4 entry-level programs typically have a strong practical focus concentrating in crafts and trade fields). National Diplomas (levels 5 and 6) entail one and two-year programs typically offered in technical fields and trades. Admission is typically based on O-levels or a NVQF level 3 or 4 certificate. The program length is clearly defined at 60 credits (one year) at level 5 and 120 credits (2 years) at level 6. The level 7 Bachelor’s degrees are basically the Vocational Bachelor of Technology degrees (3 years, 180 credits). The programs are designed to be entered on the basis of NVQF level 5, while holders of level 6 may be granted the first two semester exemptions. However, the entering schemes for a NVQ 5 and 6 are many.
The Department of Technical Education and Training (DTET) oversees 38 technical colleges offering various certificate and diploma programs in trades and crafts, such as automotive technology. Students over the age of 17, who have passed their O-level examinations, are eligible for enrollment, though many courses have an age limit of 29. The Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission (TVEC) accredit a number of technical and vocational institutions. The Vocational Training Authority (VTA) comprises 224 rural vocational training centers, 22 district centers, and 7 national training centers. VTA was established in 1995 with the aim to provide TVET in rural parts of the country. The National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA) offers around 150 apprenticeship training courses in 22 vocational fields across 25 district offices and 4 institutes. Apprentices while training at a work place may have the opportunity to sit for national trade tests in a number of occupations. Trainees may also apply to obtain NVQF certificate-level qualifications.
Amidst this backdrop, the University of Vocational Technology (Univotec) was established via the Parliament Act No 31 of 2008 with the functions under then the purview of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills Development. Subsequently, the university colleges came into being in a gazette notification in the year 2014 under the foregoing Act. It must be clear that although the university colleges are given power to admit students, conduct tertiary education, hold examinations, and determine with the approval of the Univotec the degree, diplomas, certificates, and any other academic distinctions to be awarded, they do not have full or independent university status though it is often part of a larger university.
Quite a few international examples would ease out the misnomer. The Latrobe University College of Northern Victoria is one such famous college that provides academic support such as tutorials. University College, Melbourne, formerly University Women’s College, is one such residential college affiliated with the University of Melbourne. In Belgium, the term University College is used to refer to state-funded institutions of higher education belonging to one of the three Communities of Belgium, that are specifically not universities. They can issue academic or non-academic Bachelor’s degrees or academic Master’s degrees, and they are performing practice oriented and artistic research. Even if they are at the same level, academic degrees issued from University colleges are different from University degrees. In Canada, the case is multi-dimensional. Their “University College” has three meanings: a degree-granting institution; an institution that offers university-level coursework; or a constituent organization (college) of a university, such as University College at University of Toronto or University College Residences at Laurentian University. Some Canadian university colleges are public institutions, some are private; some are regulated by government agencies, others are not. In Ireland, the Queen’s University Belfast initially had no university colleges and the first university college was created in 1985 (St Mary’s) and second in 1999 (Stranmillis), these two institutions previously were associated with the university, offering its degrees since 1968.
The term “University College” in Malaysia denotes institutions that are granted the authority to issue degrees in their own names within specialized fields and disciplines. Nearly all New Zealand universities were originally described as “University Colleges”, and were constituent parts of a Federal body, the University of New Zealand. All of these are now fully independent; for example, the former Canterbury University College is now the University of Canterbury. There is a specific university hall of residence named “University College” at the Otago University. In most cases students at university colleges took the external exams of the University of London, but the colleges of the University of Wales and the Victoria University took degrees of those institutes while the university colleges in Newcastle and Dundee were associated with the universities of Durham and St Andrews respectively. Not all of these university colleges used “University College” in their name. With the exception of colleges in London that remain part of the University of London, all have gone on to become independent civic universities. Examples include the University of Nottingham (which was University College Nottingham when D. H. Lawrence attended), the University of Southampton which was associated with the University of London until 1952, and the University of Exeter, which until 1955 was the University College of the South West of England; Keele University was founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire until it was granted its royal charter in 1962 and transformed into a university. This was the recognized route for establishing new universities in the United Kingdom during the first half of the 20th century, prior to the founding of the plate glass universities.
It is clear that the ability to offer degrees wholly depends upon how precise it has been worded out in the law. As “University College” is obviously less prominent title than “university”, institutes that meet the (stricter) criteria for university title normally apply for the latter. Historically, the term university college was used to denote colleges (as opposed to universities) that delivered university-level teaching. Unlike in the modern usage of the term, did not hold their own degree awarding powers. Instead, they were associated with universities, thus forming a larger institutional unit while being physically independent. An inference is that it becomes even more difficult with the term university college, which is being used in quite a few countries across the globe, ranging from Australia, Canada and Denmark, to the Netherlands, Norway, UK, the US, and many other countries. Very often it does not refer to the same type of institution.
Leaving aside the question of autonomy for the time being, the demands leveled by the students learning at the existing university colleges must be looked at from a holistic perspective. It must be left to the academics and university administrators to decide upon and come up with a strategic plan of action. Such an action plan must indeed be comprehensive and sustainable as it should not in any way impair the efficacy and equity associated with the overall delivery of technical education and training. Simply put, the efficacy and equity must be revisited in terms of admission criteria, hierarchy of delivery of modules and their curriculums, order of cognitive skills, national competency standards, effective utilization of resources, and most significantly, the potential vocational niches that are marketable in cross frontiers. It is no harm of elevating the colleges as degree awarding institutions, not just sake of producing a graduate on a demand but a true graduate with a spirit of optimism and genuine graciousness, which essentially warrants a carefully thought-out process, in spite of the name it may claim at the end of the day.
Ultimately, the country’s prosperity depends on how many of its people are in work and how productive they are, which in turn rests on the skills they have and how effectively those skills are used. Skills are a foundation of decent work. The cornerstones of a policy framework for developing a suitably skilled workforce are: broad availability of good-quality education as a foundation for future training; a close matching of skills supply to the needs of enterprises and labour markets; enabling workers and enterprises to adjust to changes in technology and markets; and anticipating and preparing for the skills needs of the future. When applied successfully, this approach nurtures a virtuous circle in which more and better education and training fuels innovation, investment, economic diversification and competitiveness, as well as social and occupational mobility – and thus the creation of more but also more productive and more rewarding jobs. Good-quality primary and secondary education, complemented by relevant vocational training and skills development opportunities, prepare future generations for their productive lives, endowing them with the core skills that enable them to continue learning.
The MCC is not just any ordinary agreement. It is an agreement that is signed between 2 Governments, passing 10 land registries to a newly created company called MCC Sri Lanka Pvt Ltd. So a government to government agreement creates a company to which funding is to be disbursed and this company whose aims & objectives have yet to be finalized is having its entity passed by Sri Lanka’s Parliament (God knows why), removes the role of the Judiciary to adjudicate and disallows the Citizens any legal remedy for grievance on account of the immunity that MCC/MCA will be given for 5 years.
The fundamental principle in a country is the functioning of Parliamentary supremacy and the Rule of Law exercised by the Constitution & the Judiciary. However, this one agreement is clipping the powers of both Rule of Law & Role of Judiciary for 5 years and in so doing it is negating the inalienable right of the citizens’ sovereignty. These are all violations of international code of ethics and laws.
How will MCC clip the Powers of Sri Lanka’s Parliament – Judicial – People?
MCC proposes to do so in 3 ways:
https://www.parliament.lk/files/pdf/constitution.pdf
Why does MCC need to be passed by Parliament?
Sri Lanka has had many foreign investments, there are many foreign companies with liaison offices operating in Sri Lanka but none of these companies have opened shop after having its operations passed by Sri Lanka’s Parliament – so why does MCC need to be passed by Parliament?
Why is Parliament ceding its powers to a private company administered by a foreign government for 5 years?
MCC Section 6.8 is devolving powers of the Parliament to the MCC/MCA for a period of 5 years to a totally private company to do what the State has been thus far elected to do. Is this not a frightening thought? Have Parliamentarians not realized the implications of such a hand over?
Why are the I Know the Law” legal fraternity in Sri Lanka silent?
Are they not in a better position to read the clauses and understand the implications & dangers for Sri Lanka’s sovereignty, for People’s sovereignty, for legal sovereignty of Sri Lanka?
If laymen can understand the impending dangers on 3 fronts – to Parliament – to the Judiciary and to the People’s Sovereignty why is it not being understood by politicians, the Judges, the lawyers and the advisors?
So MCC Agreement is in brief usurping Parliament’s powers for 5 years, Judicial powers for 5 years and People’s powers for 5 years because when passing MCC agreement in Parliament Section 80 will come into effect which means any Bill that comes into law cannot be challenged. So the people’s sovereignty is also usurped by MCC for the next 5 years.
Are we to revisiting 1815 with this handover of our sovereignty for a paltry $480million?
Sri Lanka’s leaders must answer if the premium for economic growth via a ‘gift’ is more valuable than protecting Sri Lanka’s Land Rights & Human Rights?
Shenali D Waduge
The shift of balance from West to East is nothing anyone can deny except that it also means the challenges for the East are all the more overwhelming unless policy formulators derive ways and means to handle, mitigate and foresee the threats their nations will experience both directly & indirectly in numerous forms & formats. The West is unlikely to watch as its economies weaken and would be using an array of soft power tools (cultural, economic, politics) as well as military and technology to rebalance its position. It is in this context that we must view MCC and its interlinked agreements ACSA and SOFA as well as US key strategic partners in Asia – India & Japan. Sri Lankan policy makers must not be ignorant of the bigger picture in all their diplomatic-economic-cultural dealings with the US/West/India & Japan including Australia. Sri Lanka’s genuine engagements with these nations cannot overlook the dangers that the overall partnerships can deliver to Sri Lanka vis a vis their bigger alliances and powerful strategic interests upon which Sri Lanka is only worth a pedestal and prop. How Sri Lanka balances these threats against its own development goals is one which will test the abilities and capabilities of Sri Lanka’s policy makers and advisors.
Why US is pivoting to Asia?
US Pivot to Asia is both a military and a diplomatic pivot launched in 2011 under Obama administration by Secretary Hillary Clinton. US Pivot to Asia will transfer US presence from Atlantic to the Pacific whereby 60% of US Navy will become based in the Pacific Ocean (US aircraft carrier, 7 destroyers, 10 littoral combat ships, 2 submarines & spy planes)
Global economic nerve centre is shifting to Asia with 20 emerging countries which can impact on global economy & politics. Asia is home to key trade lanes, mineral resources, half the world’s commercial shipping passes through Indo-Pacific region. Strait of Malacca is one of the most important shipping lanes and strategic chokepoints as it links Indian & Pacific Oceans and transports 25% of trade goods & oil & liquefield natural gas flows via sea. 80% of Japanese and 39% of Chinese oil imports pass through Indian Ocean from the Middle East. There is also untapped oil reserves and 60% of the global population live in Asia. In 2018, almost 40 percent of U.S. trade in goods was with Asia. Asia is home to nine of the world’s 10 busiest seaports and 60 percent of global maritime traffic. Seven of the world’s 10 largest standing armies are in Asia, including those of China, India, North and South Korea, Pakistan, Russia, and Vietnam. There is no equivalent of NATO in Asia – efforts to create one combining Five Power Defense Arrangement (United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Singapore) via Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) failed.
US-Indo Pacific Strategy: Curbing China Objective & Quad States (US+India+Japan+Australia)
The United States describes the Indo-Pacific region as ranging from the west coast of India to the western shores of the United States, aligned with the Indo-Pacific Command’s area of responsibility.
3 areas of significance: US bilateral alliances / cooperative frameworks between states / ASEAN connectivity.
US has alliances with Japan, Australia, South Korea, Philippines & Thailand (with troop presence) & now India. Terrorism has become an unpredictable player in the region resulting in various security cooperation agreements & strategic dialogues.
China’s BRI has strategically shaped its growing presence via Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, BRI Forum for International Cooperation, increased investments in Africa, Maldives, Hambantota Port, Myanmar Port, Bangladesh, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (Gwadar Port),
Role of Japan with US
Japan is a key alliance partner of US.
50,000 US troops in Japan & over 10,000 US marines are stationed in Japan under status of forces agreement. Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan in 1951 cement US-Japan ties. The 1960 US-Japan agreement granted US right to establish bases in Japan enabling US first foothold in Asia. Japan is responsible for providing host-nation support to the United States—the land, labor, and utilities for stationing U.S. forces throughout the country—the cost of which ranges from $1.7 billion to $2.1 billion per year, according to a 2019 report [PDF] by the Congressional Research Service. How much will Sri Lanka have to pay for compromising its sovereignty via MCC ACSA SOFA?
Role of India with US
India is America’s centerpiece of US pivot to Asia as seen by the increasing strategic deals & defense cooperation development between the 2 nations. US pivot to Asia and India’s ‘Look East’ policy are intrinsically tied. Notably, Indo-US closeness increased following India-assisted regime change in Sri Lanka in 2015. Strategic partnerships were forged, US provided billions worth military equipment to India, logistics, information-sharing and intelligence-sharing agreements have been signed (Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA). India was designated a major defense partner,” resulting in Indian US warships offering each other refueling and resupply services at sea. In 2018 several agreements was signed
However, India has its own ambitions in the region which do not necessarily align with that of US strategy. The recent purchase of Russian planes has resulted in US issuing threat to deliver sanctions against India. While India has its own international ambitions unlike Japan, India is also aware of the West’s expansionist and destructive record. India was quick to ban many Western-govt funded NGOs and are monitoring others closely, India knows too well that these western-government funded entities are the Wests footsoldiers for bigger plans in India and balkanization of India is on the cards and one which Indian policy makers realize will be more of a security threat to India than its concerns over China’s rising economic growth.
Are companies taking over sovereign nations?
An article by Lorenzo Marsili is relevant to this discussion. He says there is no America, no democracy and only IBM, ITT, AT&T and DuPont etc. Marsili says the world is a ‘collage of corporations’ and that ‘corporations have become the nations of the world’ and are increasingly acting so. He gives the example of Facebook announcing its own currency – LIBRA to its 2billion users ‘its citizens’ to pay for goods and services advertised on FB. China’s population is 1.34b and India’s population is 1.32b. Currency has been an element of sovereignty and now corporations like FB is taking on this role. Marsili also highlights role of corporations like Google & Amazon building global campuses like mini-states with their own ‘citizens’. According to Marsili Amazon has not paid federal taxes $11.2billon of profits in 2018. He also highlights the example of Cambridge Analytica scandal to showcase how corporations can manipulate personal information of billions of people for various reasons. What we should pick up from these examples is that the traditional concept of state sovereignty is dwindling and being usurped subtly and being transferred to corporations which are more ruthless and inclined to serve the interests of only a few globalists. However it does provide a wakeup call for nationalism and national politicians to realize the dangers knocking at their door.
Role of private think tanks in drawing US policy
In June 2013 American Enterprise Institute (AEI) released ‘Securing US Interests & Values in the Asia-Pacific’ a memorandum to President Obama & Congress. This was the blueprint by which US Govt was to promote economic integration & liberalization, strengthen alliances & security partnerships, reinforce US military posture in Asia Pacific. US policy is designed and funded by private think tanks who exert enormous pressure globally and US policy is more aligned to corporate profit & interest than interests or benefits to US citizens.
In total, there are 325,000 US military personnel in foreign countries.
Under Indo-USPacific Command
Replacing Diego-Garcia
In 1966, the UK leased to the US the remote, 17-square-mile Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia to be used as a military base for US air force missions in the Middle East & refueling for Air Force patrols to South China seas. UK chased out thousands of natives living in Diego Garcia to enable US to use it as a base. About 5000 US troops are stationed in Diego Garcia.
However, ICC has ruled that what UK did was illegal and Diego Garcia must be returned to the natives. Diego Garcia is the most strategic position for US – to the northwest of Diego Garcia is Middle East & South Asia to its East is Asia & West is Africa. Diego Garcia was used to launch attacks during the first Gulf War in 1991, then on Afghanistan in 2001, on Iraq in 2003 and targeting Al Qaeda & ISIS. Diego Garcia also has a deep port able to accommodate aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines & other ships. No one is allowed to enter Diego Garcia not even journalists. Diego Garcia is also used as a secret prison for ‘extraordinary rendition’ programs.
So where do 5000 US troops go? Sri Lanka is considered their alternate option
MCC-SOFA-ACSA interlinked
Daya Gamage’s article in the Asiantribune is pertinent as he quotes US State Dept Deputy Assistant Secretary Alice Wells describing Sri Lanka as a ‘real estate’ for the US in the Indo-Pacific region – it immediately questions whether $480m is the amount US is handing to buy Sri Lanka’s land with 10 land registries and handled via company that is to be agent for the US govt’s MCC project in Sri Lanka.
Leaving aside the many constitutional, legal, land ownership and judicial issues associated with the MCC, the present review committee cannot overlook MCC together with the ACSA signed with the US in August 2017 as well as the SOFA which will permit US boots into Sri Lanka virtually turning Sri Lanka into a US military hub. If the dangers of the unfolding scenario is difficult to imagine the humongous building coming up right infront of Temple Trees, the US Peace Corps already in Sri Lanka, the ‘schools’ being built in Eastern Province courtesy of the Indo-US Pacific Command are all clues as to what US has in mind and is pushing every button to secure approvals.
The many soft power arm-twisting includes hiring research firms to carry out favourable reports, engaging lobby groups to strike deals with even China offsetting any issues has been the bribe of Hambantota Port, engaging VVIP locals to show the ‘innocence’ of the ‘gift’ being offered by MCC to Sri Lanka. But if it’s a gift why have an agreement, why hire lobby groups, why hire research firms, why repeatedly send officials to push MCC through? These are ground realities that a committee must take stock of instead of reading only the lines and clauses of the agreement and completely overlooking case law, constitutional provisions, land law, rights of the peasants (bound by international treaty) issues like landlessness if land is privatized and bought by foreign companies – no committee can simply look at only the clauses of an agreement when the agreement is with a country that has illegally bombed nations, invaded and occupy nations, carries out regular regime changes, interferes in elections, used drones to kill even civilians and now assassinating and publicly claiming anyone going against their security concerns will also be eliminated. These are serious concerns that any sovereign country needs to take stock of.
Indian Ocean must remain a zone of peace and it is good for Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan and rest of South Asia to promote this instead of helping to militarize Asia and the Indian Ocean.
Shenali D Waduge
මහජනතාවගේ දේශප්රේමී චන්දයෙන් පත්වූ ජනාධිපතිතුමාත් එම නිසාම බලය ලැබුණු වර්තමාන රජයත් තවත් මැතිවරණයක් අත ළඟ තිබියදී ජනතා විරෝධයක් ඇති කර ගනිමින් නිදහස් දිනයේදී ජාතික ගීය දෙමල භාෂාවෙන් ගැයීමට ඉඩ දේවියැයි යම් හෝ දේශපාලන විග්රහයක් ඇති අයෙකු නොසිතනු ඇති. නමුත් අපේ ජාතික සංවිධාන එවන් සැකයන් මතු කරමින් සහ වෙනත් සරල කරුණු මතු කරමින් රටේ තිබෙන ජාතිකත්වයට, ඒකීය රාජ්යයට බලවත්ම තර්ජනය වී ඇති නීති විරෝධිව ව්යවස්ථාව වෙනස් කිරීමේ ක්රියාවලිය කෙරෙහි නිෂ්ශබ්ද වෙමින් දැනුවත්ව හෝ නොදැනුවත්ව ජනතා අවධානය නිසි තැනට ගෙන ඒම වලකමින් සිටිනු පෙනේ.
අප රටේ ව්යවස්ථාව යනු අප රටේ උත්තරීතර නීතියයි. එම උත්තරීතර නිතිය වෙනස් කිරීම පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට කල හැකි වුවත්, එහි සදහන් ඒකීය රාජ්යයක් යන වග, බුදු දහම ආරක්ෂා කර පෝෂණය කල යුතු බව, ජනතාවට පරමාධිපත්ය බලය ඇති වග වැනි වගන්ති කිහිපයක් ජනතාවගෙන් නොවිසා වෙනස් කළ නොහැකි බව ව්යවස්ථාවේ නීතිගත කර ඇත.මෙසේ ජනමතවිචරණයකින් ජනතාවගේ කැමැත්ත ලබාදුනහොත් මිස වෙනස් කල නොහැකි ව්යවස්ථාවේ නම් කර ඇති කාරණා අඩංගු වන්නේ එහි 1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 යන වහන්ති සහ 30(2), 62(2) යන උපවගන්ති වලය. මෙම වගන්ති සහ උපවගන්ති වෙනස් කිරීම හෝ ඒවායේ අර්ථයට හානි කරන ව්යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයක් ජනමතවිචරනයකින් සම්මත වීමකින් තොරව නීතිගත නොවන බව ව්යවස්ථාවේ 83 වන වගන්තියේ සදහන් කොට ඇත. එයට හේතුව එම වහන්ති රටේ පැවැත්මට ඉතාමත් ප්රභල ලෙස බලපාන බැවිනි.
නමුත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසින් ඉහත සදහන් 3 වන සහ 30(2) වගන්ති වල අර්ථයන්ට හානි වන ලෙස සැකසු 19 වන ව්යවස්ථා සශෝධන කෙටුම්පත සම්බන්ධයෙන් ජනමතවිචාරණයක් නොපවත්වා එය 19 වන ව්යවස්ථා සශෝධනය ලෙස සම්මත වී ඇතැයි කටයුතු කරමින් සිටි. 19 වන ව්යවස්ථා සශෝධන කෙටුම්පත තුල 83 වගන්තිය ප්රකාරව ජනමතවිචාරණයකට යා යුතු වෙනස්කම් අන්තර්ගත බව 2002 දී හා 2018දී ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය දුන් නඩු තීන්දු අධ්යයනය කිරීමෙන් පැහැදිලි වේ. 3 වන වගන්තියෙන් දැක්වෙන්නේ ජනතාව සතු පරමාධිපත්ය බලයයි. 30(2) වගන්තියෙන් දැක්වෙන්නේ ජනාධිපති ධුර කාලයයි. ජනමතවිචරනයක් පවත්වා මිස සම්මත කල නොහැකි ව්යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයක් ජනමතවිචාරණයක් නොපවත්වා ව්යවස්ථා විරෝධිව සම්මත කර ගැනීමක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව සහ විධායකයේ ආයතන විසින් සිදු කරමින් සිටියදී, එකදු හෝ ජාතික සංවිධානයක් ඒ දෙස් ඇස් ඇර නොබලා අන්ධයන් ලෙස කල් මරමින් සිටි.
මෙම නීති විරෝධී ලෙස ව්යවස්ථාව වෙනස් කිරීමේ පිළිවෙත නිෂ්ශබ්දව මඟ හැර සිටියහොත් කෙටි කලකදීම පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසින් ජනතාවගෙන් නොවිමසා වෙනස් කල නොහැකි අනෙක් වගන්තිද ජනතාවගෙන් නොවිමසාම වෙනස් කරනු ඇත. ඒ සදහා ඔවුන් ඊනියා 19 වන ව්යවස්ථා සශෝධන ක්රියාවලිය පුර්වාදර්ශයක් ලෙසද ගනු ඇත. එවිට ජනතාවට නොදැනීම ඒකීය ශ්රී ලංකාව ෆෙඩරල් රජයක් වනු ඇත. බුදුදහමට ඇති ප්රමුඛස්ථානය නැතිවී යනු ඇත.
අපේ ජාතික සංවිධාන වලට මෙම තර්ජනය නොපෙනෙන්නේ මන්ද? ඔවුන් සැබෑවටම ජාතික සංවිධාන නොවේද? ඔවුන්ගේ අරමුණ යම් දේශපාලන හෝ වෙනත් අරමුණු කෙරෙහි යොමුවී තිබෙන නිසාද? සැබෑ ජාතික සංවිධාන මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් වහ ක්රියාමක විය යුතුයැයි අමුතුවෙන් කිව යුතු නොවේ. මේ ඔවුනට ආරාධනයයි.
හර්ෂ කුමාර් සුරියආරච්චි
During the reign of President R.Premadasa in accordance with a directive of the Minister of Communications the broadcast of National Anthem in Tamil in the Tamil channels of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation was banned and instead onlythe musical notes were broadcast. When this directive was issued by Premadasa none of the so-called Although the hypocrite Chandrika nowspeaks veery much about and for the Tamils, when she came to power in 1994 even the broadcast of that musical notes were suspended and only the Sinhala version was broadcast. Then so-called Tamil separatists, and NGO cultures did noy utter a word against Premadasa’s measure as they knew that doing so would subject them to Premadasa’s death squad and they would get tyre [yre treatment or burn alive treatment meted out to Wijewwwea.
In the 1978 Republican Constitution Sri Lanka’sNational Anthen has been declared as the Sri Lanka Maatha” together with its musical notes. The constitution has also listed Tamil version Sri Lanka Thaaye” (Maathaa) translated by K.Kanagaratnam together with the English version.
The terroristproxy and the worst racist to fanction as the Tamil rcist gang withth eimminent death soon of racist grandpa the 86 ear old Sambandan has told the medua that the decision to sing the national anthem only in Sinhala during official functions was part of a plan to make Tamils second class citizens,
Instead of taking steps to promote unity and reconciliation; the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration was taking steps to widen the gap between the people, the MP said.
“When the Sirisena/Wickremesinghe administration came to power in 2015, the national anthem was sung bth in Tamil at the Independence Day for the first time. I took part in the independence day celebration with TNA leader, R. Sampanthan. It was the first time that ITAK representatives attended an independence day celebration in decades.”
During the 2015 Independence Day celebrations, a number of steps had been taken
to promote reconciliation, Sumanthiran said. However, after President Rajapaksa
had been elected a number of steps were taken to roll back the progress.
“The decision against singing the national anthem in Tamil was a part of
this. If the government wants the Tamils not to sing the national anthem, we
will be glad not to sing it.”
“The Tamil people have rejected a Sri Lankan identity because their just and democratic demands have not been met”, Sumanthiran said, adding that the Tamil people needed more political rights and then only would Tamils become equal citizens of Sri Lanka.
Mr. Ranjith Soysa, resident in Australia commenting on opposition of the Yamil Nadu racist political outfits DMK, and caste basedPMK said that it is not necessary to sing the Sri Lankan national anthem in Tamil at the forthcoming Independence Day celebrations.
While we reject the view point of the Tamil Nadu’s racist politicians interference in a Sri Lankan domestic issue, which the Sri Lankan Government has the capability of examining in detail and taking their own decisions for the benefit of the country. We have to reiterate that by making various strident noises concerning Sri Lankan Tamils the Indian politicians are attempting in vain to prove that they are the saviors of Sri Lankan Tamils which places the Sri Lankan Tamils in an awkward position in relation to Sri Lankan nation state.
With regard to the Sri Lankan Nataional Anthem, it was the blunder made by the previous Government which allowed a translated song to be accepted as a national anthem in Tamil whereas the country should have a single National Anthem, The translated Tamil version of the national anthem has number of words which are different to the original including the term, Sri Lanka Matha’ The action should be taken urgently to rectify this aspect and replace the original song, The national anthem can be written in Tamil ,but it should not be a translation. The government must get its teeth to this issue urgently without any delay.
As for the Tamil Nadu racists politicians Mr. Soysa said that we request them to look after their back yard by requesting or demanding the Central Government of India to get them the approval to sing a translated Indian Anthem in Tamil. We await to hear the response from the Central Indian Government.
The Canada based terrorist proxy scribe D.B.S.Jeyaraj ijn a recent article published on 4th January states that
He says the situation changed in 1956 when the coalition led by S.W.R. D. Bandaranaike gained power. Bandaranaike became Prime Minister and made Sinhala the sole official language. It was indeed noteworthy that the Tamil version of the national anthem continued to be in use even after Sinhala was made the sole official language in 1956. While the Sinhala version was sung in most official functions in Colombo and Sinhala-majority provinces, the Tamil version was sung in Tamil-majority areas and Tamil medium schools. This accommodative attitude was displayed even after Sinhala was made the sole official language and Tamil had no official status at all.
It was common in those days for
selected school bands and choirs to render the national anthem in Sinhala and
Tamil. What is remarkable is that though the Tamil language held no official
status then, the more enlightened governments of the day had no qualms about
the national anthem being sung in the Tamil language in Tamil-medium schools or
official functions in predominantly Tamil-speaking regions.
Jeyaraj states that the political landscape of the island began to change from
what it was at the time of independence. The parliamentary elections of 1956
were a watershed in the political history of the island. The UNP that was in
power from 1947 was defeated. As mentioned earlier, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party
(SLFP) led by S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike swept the polls as part of a coalition
known as Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP). Bandaranaike became the fourth Prime
Minister of Ceylon. It was a different story in the North and East. The
Illankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) led by S.J.V. Chelvanayagam won ten of the
sixteen seats in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Two of them were
Muslim majority constituencies.
The party known as the Federal Party(FP) in English espoused the goal of federalism. Even as the 1956 victory hailed as a people’s revolution ushered in a new government of the common people described as Apey Aanduwe” (our government), the state of ethnic relations in the country deteriorated drastically. Sinhala had been declared the sole official language of the country. Protests by Tamil politicians were disrupted through violence. Attempts to resolve the crisis through political arrangements like the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam Agreement were aborted because of extremist opposition.
One of the earliest casualties in this conflict-ridden atmosphere was the Tamil perception of independence. The advent of FP and rise of Tamil nationalism saw the Tamil polity being asked to treat Freedom Day as a day of mourning. The rationale was that independence from the British had only resulted in bondage under Sinhalese. There was only a change of masters. Hence, Independence Day was nothing to celebrate about, but only to be observed as a black day.
These protests underwent a change after the Republican Constitution of 1972. Thereafter, May 22 too was observed as a black day. February 4 lost a little of its significance. The UNP Government elected in 1977 ushered in a new Constitution in 1978 thereby doing away with Republican Day and Republican Constitution. The symbolism of black flags on Independence Day however continued. The escalation of the conflict and resultant suffering made the very concept of independence meaningless to Tamils.
The Constitution of 1978, ushered in by the UNP regime and led by J.R. Jayewardene, provided national language status to the Tamil language. It also granted Constitutional status to the national anthem. Clause 7 of the Constitution says: The national anthem of Sri Lanka shall be ‘Sri Lanka Matha,’ the words and music of which are set out in the third schedule.”
Tamil received national language but not official language status in the 1978 Constitution. The national anthem in Sinhala was given constitutional status through Clause 7 of the same Constitution. However, the Tamil translation was also given constitutional recognition by way of the third schedule to the seventh clause. The official gazette as well as copies of the 1978 Constitution published in Tamil had the Tamil words of the national anthem.
Tamil received elevation as an official language along with Sinhala by way of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1987. Tamil as an official language received further enhancement in the administrative and legislative spheres through the 16th Amendment to the Constitution in 1988. Sections 18 and 19 of the Constitution clearly state that Tamil is both an official and national language of Sri Lanka. The elevation of Tamil as an official language provided greater impetus for the national anthem to be sung in Tamil, but events had begun to overtake and these concessions on the language front were beginning to be seen as part of the too little, too late” syndrome in volatile politics.
In the evolving new situation of ethnic conflict, the practice of singing the national anthem went out of circulation in Tamil polity for more than three decades. The politics of ITAK and later the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) created an environment where alternative Tamil State” anthems were being sung at political meetings. At least three different songs were in use then.
English, Chinese (Mandarin), Malay and Tamil are recognised as official languages in Singapore but Malay is regarded as the national language. It must be remembered that independent Singapore was part of the ‘Straits Settlements’ during the British colonial rule .After gaining freedom from the British, Singapore remained part of Malaysia until it was expelled and attained independence somewhat reluctantly. Under those circumstances, it was considered appropriate that the national anthem be in Malay only. Translations are available in English, Mandarin and Tamil but only Malay could be used to sing the national anthem in official functions.
Thus, in Singapore where the national anthem is in a minority” language, there was an imperative need to debar translations and insist upon Malay alone being used officially to sing the national anthem. If translations were allowed, the Mandarin or English version could swamp the Malay version. But this is not the case in Sri Lanka where Sinhala is firmly entrenched as the language of the majority and primary official language. It is the Tamil language that requires special measures and guarantees in the present situation.
The Rajapaksa regime under Mahinda did not ban the Tamil national anthem legally but saw to it that singing the national anthem in Tamil was forbidden in day-to-day affairs. The subterfuge adopted was that of maintaining the status quo overtly while negating the practice of singing the national anthem on ground. It was stated that there was no change and that constitutional provisions remained. Thus, it was said that singing the national anthem was a right that prevailed and had not been taken away. An unofficial diktat however was strictly enforced by which schools and government institutions were discouraged” from singing the national anthem in Tamil.
Things however changed with the regime
change in 2015. The government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe restored the singing of the national anthem in Tamil.
It created a precedent in 2016 of ensuring the singing of the national anthem
in Tamil.
The so-called quasi-Independennce we received from the British Imperialists in 1948 retained in the hands of British imperialists the golowing:
The people;’s government of Prime Minister rescued from and annulled all rights of operation and administration of all our ports and airports in the hands of British government and declare tyhen as the properties belonging to the government of Sri Lanka. In order to get the rights of ownership of the Trinhciomalee Oil Tank Farm the Babndaranaike hovernment had to pay Sterling Poinds 250,000 to the British Government.
In addition tio this Britiain was in charge of mainting Sri LKanka’s Foreign Policy. Due to thism for instance Sri Lanka was unable to permit a Russian Football Team to come for playing a friendly match in Colombo during Sir John Kotalawala’s government. Yje Bandaranaike government took over the charge of Sri Lanka;s Foreign Policy and declared that the country will maintain friendly relations with all countries.
Another main obstavle was Queen if England remaining the Head of State of Sri Lanka. It was due to this handicap that Sri Lanka was unable to convict the culprits of those who staged a Coup against the government in 1962 and all the culprits got freed by aclemency extended by the Queen of England.
Similarly when the JVP carders staged 1971 rebellopn, tyhey were prosecuted as staging a rebellion against the Queen of England. This handicap remained until Madam Sirimavo Bandartaqnaike rescued and liberated the country from all foreign bondages and declared Sri Lanka a Republic under the Republic Constitution.
So the time has come now for us to restore our free and sovereign status and to put final end yo yhr quasi-Independence Day celebrations, Let 4th February this year as the last Quasi-Independence Day Celebration and consider 22nd May as our Republic Day from this twae onwards.
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