By Senaka Weeraratna

(Note: Mr. Senaka Weeraratna, Attorney – at – law, delivered the keynote address at a Symposium held on the premises of the Japanese Parliament (Conference Room No. 101 of the Diet) on 14th November, 2018 on the topic titled ‘ Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour ignited the liberation of Asia from Western Domination – Time for Asia to express gratitude to Japan’. The Symposium was organized by the Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact. 

Mr. Weeraratna was the first Sri Lankan and first Asian to thank Japan on the premises of Japan’s Parliament for making huge blood sacrifices of Japanese soldiers and thereby paving the way for the liberation of Europe’s Asian colonies including British occupied Ceylon.

The crux of his argument was as follows:

The time has come to challenge the hype that Sri Lanka won independence from Britain in 1948 exclusively by our own local efforts through an exchange of correspondence and political negotiations without any supportive foreign factor. This British centric – friendly narrative is increasingly unsustainable in the light of new evidence”.

This article is based on Mr. Weeraratna’s aforesaid paper)

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Sri Lanka gained Independence in February 1948, almost effortlessly (without blood letting) when compared to what other countries had to face. There was no mass-based independence struggle, civil disobedience movement or armed rebellion in Sri Lanka unlike that in India, Burma, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Indonesia and Vietnam. Sri Lanka failed to produce a single iconic global figure in the pre-independence period that the rest of the colonized world could emulate or look up to as an inspirational figure for their liberation struggles.

Asia has produced great freedom fighters such as Mahatma Gandhi, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (India), Mao Tse Tung, Chou en Lai (China), Ho Chi Minh, General Võ Nguyên Giáp,  Phạm Văn Đồng  (Vietnam), Sukarno, Mohammad Hatta (Indonesia), Aung San, U Nu (Burma), Jose Rizal (Philippines), among others. Africa had great anti- colonial leaders such as Patrice Lumumba (Congo), Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya), Nelson Mandela (South Africa), Julius Nyerere (Tanzania) and Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe).

Japan’s role

Japan was never a European colony before its defeat in 1945 to produce freedom fighters. Nevertheless, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour (Dec. 1941) and other western colonial possessions in Asia, had a great impact on the psychology and morale of the people of Asia then mostly under western colonial domination, and its battle success in the early phase of the War helped Asia’s freedom fighters to step up their campaign for liberation from foreign occupation and achieve independence.

In the early part of the 20th century, Japan was the only country in the world that stood out openly for the liberation of Asia from western colonialism and had the capacity and resources to take on the challenge. ‘Asia for Asians’ became a battle cry of the Japanese. No other Asian country including China and India, took up such a Pan–Asian slogan or was placed in such militarily strong position.

Japan’s war policy intended a total break from Western dependence, including a rejection of bankrupt Western cultural traditions, which had been slavishly adopted since the Meiji restoration, and a return to an Asian consciousness (as opposed to Western) and Eastern civilizational values as a source for national greatness. Critical to the nation’s survival in the midst of unbridled Westernization was political and cultural regeneration and a pan-Asian solidarity under Japanese leadership which was articulated as a new Order for Asia in resistance to Western imperialism.

Matsuoka Yosuke, then Japanese Foreign Minister, proclaimed the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” in August 1940. The idea of decolonization of Asia from European domination under Japanese leadership resonated with Asians widely because, in the words of former U.S. President Herbert Hoover in 1942, universally, the white man is hated by the Chinese, Malayan, Indian and Japanese alike,” due to his heartless and spiteful conduct as a colonial master over a few hundred years.

Japan’s military success in the Battle of Tsushima in 1905 prompted a young Oxford lecturer, Alfred Zimmern, to put aside his lesson on Greek history to announce to his class the most historical event which has happened, or is likely to happen, in our lifetime has happened; the victory of a non-white people over a white people.”

Japan’s spectacular military victories at the beginning of the 20th century and their impact on Asian intellectuals are well documented in Pankaj Mishra’s book titled, From the Ruins of Empire: The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia.”

This work is a survey of Asian intellectuals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and their role in pan-Asian, pan-Islamic, and anti-colonial movements. The book begins with an electrifying moment in Asia’s struggle for liberation from Western domination: the astounding Japanese naval victory over Russia at the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905, which stunned Asians and Africans living at the time under the yoke of colonialism.

Jawarharlal Nehru, Mohandas Gandhi, Sun Yat-Sen, Mao Zedong, the young Kemal Ataturk and nationalists in Egypt, Vietnam and many other countries welcomed Japan’s decisive triumph in the Russo-Japanese War with euphoric zeal. And they all drew the same lesson from Japan’s victory,” Pankaj Mishra writes. White men, conquerors of the world, were no longer invincible.”

Even Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, noted that the reverberations of that victory have gone like a thunderclap through the whispering galleries of the East.” The world wars that followed further shrunk Europe of much of what remained of its moral and political authority in Asian eyes. In the long view, however,” Mishra concludes, it is the battle of Tsushima that seems to have struck the opening chords of the recessional of the West.”

Japan’s defeat of Russia in 1905 was uplifting news for Asians. For the first time since the middle ages, a non-European country had vanquished a European power in a major war. And Japan’s victory gave way to a hundred- and-one fantasies – of national freedom, racial dignity, or simple vengefulness – in the minds of those who had bitterly endured European occupation of their lands. Mahatma Gandhi then made an astute far reaching forecast. He remarked that so far and wide have the roots of Japanese victory spread that we cannot now visualise all the fruit it will put forth.”

Japan’s proposal for equality of races at League of Nations

Japan had championed the cause of peoples under European colonial rule at the Treaty of Paris (1918–19) and the formation of the League of Nations. Japan proposed an amendment to the League’s covenant that would ensure equal and just treatment in every respect, making no distinction, either in law or in fact, on account of their race or nationality.” To their great shame, the western colonial powers rejected the notion of equality between human beings, fearing that it would become a challenge to white supremacy and the Colonial Order which suppressed non–white people. However, Japan by this proposal for recognition of equality of all, gained the esteem of Asians and Africans as the logical leader of all coloured peoples.”

In respect to the Second World war, Jawaharlal Nehru observed;
it became ever clearer that the western democracies were fighting not for a change but for a perpetuation of the old order, ” and both the Allied and Axis powers shared a common war interest, the preservation of white supremacy and the colonial status quo. Both sides, he noted, embraced legacies of empire and racial discrimination,” and in affirmation after the war, the old imperialisms still functioned….”

Japan’s stunning military victories in 1941 – 1942
Thirty-six years after its victory in the Battle of Tsushima, Japan struck the greatest decisive blow ever by any non – white country or non – white people to European power in Asia with the attack on Pearl Harbour. In about 90 days, beginning on December 8, 1941, Japan overran the possessions of Britain, the US and the Netherlands in east and south-east Asia, taking the Philippines, Singapore, Malaya, Hong Kong, the Dutch East Indies, much of Siam and French Indochina, and Burma with bewildering swiftness to stand poised at the borders of India by early 1942. All over Asia, subject people cheered the Japanese advance into countries forcibly held and occupied by western colonial powers.

Days before Singapore fell to the Japanese in early 1942, the Dutch Prime Minister-in-Exile, Pieter Gerbrandy, had conveyed his fears and anxieties to Churchill and other Allied leaders in the following words Japanese injuries and insults to the White population … would irreparably damage white prestige unless severely punished within a short time”.

Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s former Prime Minister, has said most Asians felt inferior to the European colonisers and rarely did we even consider independence a viable option.” The colonies, he explained, were structured to serve the European demand for raw materials and natural resources,” and were thus dependencies. But Japan’s expulsion of the British changed our view of the world,” showing that an Asian race, the Japanese” could defeat whites and with that reality dawned a new awakening amongst us that if we wanted to, we could be like the Japanese. We did have the ability to govern our own country and compete with the Europeans on an equal footing.” So despite the suffering under Japanese wartime occupation and the tremendous disappointment” over the return of the British after the war, Mohamad wrote, the shackles of mental servitude” had been broken.

Similarly, Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew testified that Japan’s defeat of the British completely changed our world”.

Expressions of praise and gratitude to Japan
The Japanese with their stunning military victories over a common foe had made Asian people proud and stand erect with their heads held high.
Britain was colonizing, enslaving Asian people before WW2. They ruled the Indian people for 180 years. It was Japan that got rid of the British from most of Asia and later all those countries gained independence.”

Japan lost WW2 but as the consequence of Japan’s entry to war all S E Asian countries and India achieved their long hoped for independence from the Western colonial powers within 15 years after the end of the War.”

British historian Arnold Toynbee said:
Japan put an end to West’s colonialism in Asia once and for all.”
Toynbee added In World War II, Japanese people left a great history. Not for their own country but for countries that achieved benefit from the War. Those countries were ones that were included in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, a short-lived ideal that Japan held out. The biggest achievement Japanese people left in history is that they succeeded in displaying the fact that Westerners who dominated the world were not Undefeatable Gods.””

Former Thai Prime Minister Kukrit Pramoj Expressed his Admiration for Japan
The former Prime Minister of Thailand, Kukrit Pramoj, who was Chief Editor of the newspaper ‘Siam Rath’ at the time and who took office as Prime Minister in 1973, stated:

It was thanks to Japan that all nations of Asia gained independence. For Mother Japan, it was a difficult birth which resulted in much suffering, yet her children are growing up quickly to be healthy and strong.

Who was it that enabled the citizens of the nations of Southeast Asia to gain equal status alongside the United States and Britain today? It is because Japan, who acted like a mother to us all, carried out acts of benevolence towards us and performed feats of self-sacrifice. December 8th (1941) is the day when Mother Japan – who taught us this important lesson – laid her life on the line for us, after making a momentous decision and risking her own well-being for our sake.
Furthermore, August 15th (1945) is the day when our beloved and revered mother was frail and ailing. Neither of these two days should ever be forgotten.”

http://www.japanese-greatest.com/mentality-culture/animation/kukrit-pramoj.html

Long accustomed to servility in colonial countries, western powers grossly underestimated the post-war nationalism that the Japanese had both wittingly and unwittingly unleashed. They had also severely miscalculated their own staying power among foreign subject people innately hostile to them. Despite futile counter-insurgency operations and full-scale wars, especially in Indochina, the spread of decolonisation was swift and extraordinary.

Burma, which hardly had a full blown nationalist movement before 1935, became free in 1948. The Dutch in Indonesia resisted with a rear guard defense and US and British assistance but Indonesian nationalists led by Sukarno finally overpowered them and pushed them out in 1953. Postwar chaos forced Malaya, Singapore and Vietnam into long periods of insurgencies and wars, but an ultimate European retreat was never in doubt.

No colonial country withdraws voluntarily from its colonies unless there are insurmountable ‘ push ‘ factors or except under compelling circumstances. The best illustration of this proposition is the shameful return of the Dutch and the French to regain their colonies in Asia after the end of the second world war. Japanese occupation during World War II had ended Dutch rule, and the Japanese encouraged the previously suppressed Indonesian independence movement.

Despite their opposition to the tyranny of Nazi rule of France and Netherlands (1940 -1944), and delight in being liberated by the Allies, these two colonial powers were not prepared to share the freedom they gained in Europe with the subject people in Asia ( and Africa). They were not welcomed when they returned. Indonesians under Sukarno with the help of Japanese volunteers that remained in Indonesia after the defeat of Japan, defeated the Dutch in a series of military battles to finally gain independence in 1949. Likewise the Viet Minh under Ho Chi Minh performed admirably to wrest control from the French by defeating them at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and finally resulting in their withdrawal from all colonies of French Indo – China under the Geneva Accords of 1954.

Japan’s unsung role in India’s independence struggle

British governance in India — three centuries of exorbitant taxation, unfair trade practices, rampant free-marketeering and deliberate starvation had led to the deaths of millions of Indians in preventable famines. It was a holocaust worse than the much publicized Jewish Holocaust in Europe.

Japan played a critical (largely unsung) role in India’s struggle for independence by supporting Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and assisting him to form the Indian National Army (INA). It is argued with vehemence by informed observers that without Bose’s INA, India might never have achieved independence.

This is because, although the INA failed militarily in the Battles at Kohima and Imphal along the India–Burma border in 1944 as part of the Japanese attempted entry to India, its troops (INA) got another opportunity to challenge the British Colonial Government in a Delhi courtroom in 1945.

Three INA Officers were put on trial for treason at Red Fort. This move backfired on the British. The accused a Muslim, Sikh and Hindu justified their roles as liberators of a colonized nation and won the sympathy of the Indian public.

This led to support for the defendants spreading throughout the nation — including among Indians serving in the British Indian Army. These newly radicalized troops staged strikes and mutinies across the subcontinent in 1946 against the British occupation. With its once-solid military foundation shaken to the core — and facing widespread, huge demonstrations and possible mutinies by the three forces, Army, Navy and Air Force, on a scale bigger than the Indian Mutiny in 1857 — the British authorities decided that it was time to pack up and leave. On August 15, 1947, they granted India its independence.

An unwise partition of the Indian subcontinent, which placed two new nation-states in endless conflict, marked Britain’s humiliating departure from India in 1947.

Europe,” Jean-Paul Sartre claimed in his preface to Franz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth, seemed to be springing leaks everywhere.” In the past we made history,” Sartre asserted, and now it is being made of us.”

New Book – ‘ Bose: An Indian Samurai’

In a new Book ‘ Bose: An Indian Samurai’ by military historian General GD Bakshi, claims that the former British Prime Minister Clement Atlee had said that the role played by Netaji’s Indian National Army was paramount in India being granted Independence, while the non-violent movement led by Gandhi was dismissed as having had minimal effect.

In the book, Bakshi cites a conversation between the then British PM Attlee and then Governor of West Bengal Justice PB Chakraborty in 1956 when Attlee – the leader of Labour Party and the British premier who had signed the decision to grant Independence to India in 1947 – had come to India and stayed in Kolkata as Chakraborty’s guest.

Chakraborty, who was then the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court and was serving as the acting Governor of West Bengal, is quoted as saying : When I was acting governor, Lord Attlee, who had given us Independence by withdrawing British rule from India, spent two days in the governor’s palace at Calcutta during his tour of India. At that time I had a prolonged discussion with him regarding the real factors that had led the British to quit India.”

My direct question to Attlee was that since Gandhi’s Quit India Movement had tapered off quite some time ago and in 1947 no such new compelling situation had arisen that would necessitate a hasty British departure, why did they had to leave?”

In his reply Attlee cited several reasons, the main among them being the erosion of loyalty to the British crown among the Indian Army and Navy personnel as a result of the military activities of Netaji,” Chakraborty said.

Toward the end of our discussion I asked Attlee what was the extent of Gandhi’s influence upon the British decision to leave India. Hearing this question, Attlee’s lips became twisted in a sarcastic smile as he slowly chewed out the word, ‘m-i-n-i-m-a-l’,” Chakraborty added.

Sri Lanka – a beneficiary of Japan’s war to end European colonialism in Asia

Sri Lanka’s Anagarika Dharmapala stood out as a global Buddhist missionary the first of its kind in the modern era. But Dharmapala never led a proactive swaraj (independence) movement anywhere near the scale of Gandhi or Subash Chandra Bose. Letter writing, essay writing and speech making which was the hallmark of our local national leaders never really disturbed or effectively weakened the resolve of the foreign occupier. Only armed resistance did. After the last two great Sinhala rebellions in 1818 and 1848, which were brutally crushed and which would constitute war crimes today under Nuremberg laws, the political will for any more such armed uprising against the foreign occupier for Lanka’s freedom simply disappeared.  Nevertheless freedom came to Sri Lanka one hundred years after the last shot was fired in the Matale rebellion in 1848, on a platter because of the blood sacrifices made by soldiers of other Asian countries led by Japan during and after the second world war.

Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian Prime Minister (1947 – 1964) when asked in the 1930s to name a likely date that India would win independence from Britain, replied by saying it would probably be in the late 1970s i.e. long after their time.

Major – General Mohan Singh, a pioneer of the Indian National Army (INA) in Malaya, has said The British had not given even an empty promise even in 1939 to grant us complete freedom after the war” ( The Reader’s Digest Illustrated History of World War II).

The fact that India gained freedom in 1947 much earlier than the date that Nehru thought was possible, followed by Burma and Ceylon in 1948, was largely due to impact of both external and internal factors.

S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, former Prime Minister of Ceylon (1956- 1959), never sought credit for a ‘freedom fight’ that never took place in Ceylon. He himself said that one morning he got up from bed to read in the daily newspapers that Ceylon had been granted independence by the British (without a true liberation struggle). There were no ‘freedom ’ related trials in Court, no long term incarceration of prisoners for ‘fighting’ the British, not a single Judgment from a British governed Court in Ceylon on ‘the independence movement’. Our ‘fight’ was basically confined to letter writing while always striving to remain in the good books of the colonizer. Our national leaders (some with knighthoods gained from the British) gleefully attired in three piece western clothes,  sought Dominon status not total independence like Burma did at the time of its independence on January 04, 1948. We preferred to retain links with the ‘mother country’ on the footing of a British colony and our people as British subjects, rather than seek total freedom.   

Therefore it is time to rewrite the grand narrative of how Sri Lanka achieved independence taking into account the external factors and Japan’s war against the Western colonial countries which ultimately sealed the fate of European colonialism in Asia. The retreat of the West from its colonies in the East may well be said to be the singular most important event of the 20th century.

We also have a moral obligation to right a great wrong done to Japan. In other words, to call on Asian countries to shun looking at Japan as an aggressor with criminal intent to plunder and loot other Asian countries a line pushed by massive western propaganda but to look at Japan as the real spark that ignited the fight all over Asia for independence from western domination. The time has come for fellow Asians who have benefited from Japan’s massive war effort and the blood sacrifices of Japanese soldiers to concede due acknowledgement to Japan.

To single out Japan for war crimes selectively while avoiding any mention of the crimes committed by western countries in third-world countries including calling for reparations which both Germany and Japan have paid, is anything but a travesty of justice.

What is surprising and morally repugnant today is the unrepentant nostalgia for western hegemony that has not only gripped many prominent Anglo-American leaders and opinion-makers but also several servile Asian politicians, NGOs and columnists writing as cheer leaders of neo–colonialism, who strive to see Asia through the narrow angle of protecting western colonial interests, leaving unexamined the historical memory and the collective experiences of Asian peoples during the dark period of western colonial rule.

Colonialism and foreign occupation constitute crimes against humanity. They represent some of the most serious violations of national sovereignty of states and breach of international law, and in almost all colonial territories in Asia, Africa, North and South America horrendous crimes against humanity have been committed by the occupying colonial powers. The perpetrators have yet to be held accountable and brought to book under international law for these genocidal crimes. The Nuremberg and Tokyo War Crimes type Trials have yet to be staged to bring western colonial crimes to book.

Japan rejected the Western Theory of Manifest Destiny

Japan was not prepared to accept the freezing of the World Order based on colonialism and making it the Status Quo that could not be challenged or changed except at the risk of being branded as committing crimes against peace. Japan led the world in rejecting the western theory of Manifest Destiny which held that the United States was destined—by God—to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent and there after the Asia – Pacific.

Japanese leaders have unfortunately paid the supreme penalty for their defiance of the West. They were brought before Tribunals which in the words of their own American judges were nothing but ‘ high grade lynch mobs’. In a sense these Tribunals were nothing but ‘ Kangaroo Courts’.

A survey of Courts set up by colonial authorities all over the world in European colonies to try freedom fighters, whether they be black, brown, yellow or even white, shows a remarkable consistency in the manipulation of justice to serve political ends of colonial rulers. 

Victor’s Justice was what was served to those who had fought for freedom of their people and were unfortunate to be defeated and then be brought before courts accused of committing crimes against peace, humanity and war crimes. 

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (also known as the Tokyo Trials) was a larger and more sophisticated manifestation of Kangaroo Court type trials held in European colonies during the last 500 years. 

The majority of Judges in the Tokyo Trials were European though the theater of war was exclusively Asian. In excluding Asians from the panel of Judges bar three out of the eleven judges the authorities displayed a crass colonial attitude of contempt and insensitivity to Asian claims for equality and like treatment. It was imperfect Justice in its most virulent form.

Only one Judge had the spine and moral backbone to challenge the legitimacy of the Trial. He was the legal luminary Justice Radhabinod Pal (India). In his 1, 235 page landmark dissent he condemned the trial as unjust and unreasonable, contributing nothing to lasting peace.

In Sri Lanka the rebels who fought in freedom struggles in 1818 and 1848 were executed and the entire communities in rebel controlled territories were subject to vicious reprisals e.g. Uva- Wellassa (1818) and Matale (1848) that were not very different to what happened to the innocent civilians in Lidice in Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia in 1942. 

Former Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara made the following observation in 1995 Many Westerners act as if Human Rights are their moral ace in the hole, until their abysmal record in Asia is cited, and their position collapses like a pack of cards. Pointing out their hypocrisy does not deter the Americans, however. They blunder on badgering Asian Governments …. ”

Ceylon opposed isolation of Japan

The defeat of Japan in 1945 was only aPyrrhic victory for the British, the French and the Dutch. Within a decade they lost their Asian Empire. Nevertheless, many Western nations demanded payment for reparations for damages caused during the war.  

J.R. Jayewardene (then Ceylon’s Finance Minister) was outspoken at the San Francisco Peace Treaty Conference in 1951 in opposing the isolation of Japan. He called for Japan’s re- integration into the international community, without imposing harsh punishment by way of reparations. The two other men who were closely associated with J.R. Jayewardene’s historic speech, were the then Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake (who gave instructions to J.R. Jayewardene to toe the line as preached by the Buddha –

“Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.”) and Sir Susantha Fonseka , then Ceylon’s first Ambassador to Japan (who was an ardent supporter of the Japanese cause, and even the influence behind the government’s decision not to ask for war compensation)

De-colonise Asian minds and show gratitude to Japan

The challenge before fellow Asians is to de-colonise our minds and look at Japan’s conduct before and during the Second World War afresh. Though Japan eventually lost the war its military effort was not in vain. It substantially weakened and demoralised the western countries then in occupation of large tracts of Asia, such as Britain, France, Netherlands, Portugal and the US, that they were forced to quit Asia in next to no time.

It is political correctness and revelations of Japan’s conduct in war-related atrocities during the Second World War that prevent Japan from being given due credit for its unique contribution towards hastening the liberation of Asia from western colonial rule.

Tragically today the legacy of Japan’s heroic contributions and sacrifices as the first Asian country that stood up and fought to drive out European colonialism from Asia in the 20th century, is seldom acknowledged, rarely celebrated, and hardly mentioned as a form of thanksgiving.

It is never too late to show Asia’s gratitude to Japan and re-write the historical narrative.

Senaka Weeraratna

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane  

Language is the defining element of any advanced culture and it gives the strongest form of identity to a community and a nation. The large majority of people of Sri Lanka are distinguished by their language, which is Sinhala. From about the 6th century BCE or more than 2500 years ago, until about the 16^th century or about 2000 years ago, Sri Lanka was inhabited almost exclusively by the Sinhala people. At present, they account for about 70% of the island’s total population and the large majority of them are Buddhists. Buddhism was introduced to the island in the 3^rd century BCE. What gives identity to this land is its rich and exclusive Sinhala Buddhist national culture. All salient aspects of the national culture–tangible and intangible, either grew or evolved within the borders of our country.

Their collective identity as a distinct nation and community was established by the unique language that developed within the island. From historic times, the primary distinguishing characteristic of the people of Sri Lanka  has been the Sinhala language. Sinhala language and literature evolved and developed within this island. All other languages used in the country today, originated in other countries and therefore belong to or associated with other nations and cultures. Sinhala language has not only been  a means of communication for our people but also a strong unifying influence providing solidarity and strength to the Sinhala community as a unique cultural entity in the worldSinhale” the legitimate historical name of the country is a Sinhala word, which means the land of the Sinhala people. Heladiva” (island of the Sinhala people), Helabima” (land of the Sinhala people) were the other names by which this island was known in the past, and these are Sinhala works. The name Sri Lanka was imposed on the island a few decades ago, and is not the legitimate historical name of the country and fails to  reflect the exclusive and long-standing Sinhala national culture of this island. From historic times virtually all place names of the country have been in the Sinhala language – in the North, South, East, West and Central regions.    

Sinhala is one of the world’s oldest living languages and as a vibrant language Sinhala has a celebrated history of over 2300 years. The Sinhala language grew out of Indo-Aryan dialects and exists only in Sri Lanka and has its own distinguished literary tradition. The script used in writing Sinhala evolved from the ancient Brahmi script used in most Aryan languages, which was introduced to the island in the 3rd century BCE. In 1999, the Sinhala script won international recognition from a group of reputed international scholars as one of the world’s most creative alphabets. It has been named as one of the world’s 16 most creative alphabets among today’s functioning languages, and some of them among the oldest known to mankind. The Sinhala language is a poetical language. It lends itself easily to metre and rhyme due to its grammatical flexibility and rich vocabulary comprising of a large number of synonyms. Sinhala is a mellifluous language with a smooth sweet flow, with high vowel content and is comparable to French and Urdu, widely regarded to be the two most romantic languages in the world.

This unifying effect brought about by the common language Sinhala, prevailed in the country from historic times, but was threatened to some degree with the arrival and impact of European colonial powers. The wide-ranging socio-economic changes to which the country was subject especially during the British period of occupation from about late 18^th century, and particularly  since the early 19^th century, had the effect of  undermining the Sinhala language.                                                                     

SINHALA LANGUAGE AND BUDDHISM                                                                          

The large majority of Sinhala people are Buddhists and the language of Buddhism in Sri Lanka is Sinhala. Buddhist culture and the Sinhala language are integral and inseparable components of our nation’s cultural heritage. The preservation and promotion of the Sinhala language is directly affected by the preservation and promotion of Sinhala Buddhist culture. Sinhala language in both its oral and written, informal and formal forms developed as the language of Buddhism in our country.

From historic times, Sri Lanka’s  Buddhist bhikkhus and royalty were responsible for the development, preservation and promotion of the Sinhala language. The patronage received from Sinhala royalty played a dominant role in the propagation and preservation of Sinhala language. There were kings who were outstanding Sinhala scholars compiling Sinhala literary works of high quality, both in prose and verse. Bhikkhus were in the forefront in the propagation of education in general, both religious and secular. The Mahavihara, Abayagiriya and Jetavanarama Buddhist fraternities and associated monasteries were outstanding places of learning. Having international students, they were equivalent to universities and had affiliations with reputed international educational institutions. It is noteworthy that the medium of instruction and all scholarly activities in these institutions were conducted in the Sinhala language. Large libraries were a part and parcel of these institutions. Scholar Bhikkus were involved in translation into Sinhala of Pali and Sanskrit literary works on Buddhism.  

Bhihhkus therefore, have been in the forefront in protecting and propagating the Sinhala language. All names and titles of our Bhikkus from ancient times have been exclusively Sinhala. All Buddhist functions and activities in Buddhist temples are conducted in the Sinhala language. The primary activity of Buddhist vihares, then and now, has been ‘dharma-desanaa’ or ‘bana’ (religious sermons) which were invariably conducted in Sinhala. All Buddhist temples and establishments have Sinhala names. Buddhist spiritual and cultural activities, ceremonies and festivals have been conducted in the Sinhala language from time immemorial. Sinhala terminology characterizes all tangible items and aspects associated of Sinhala culture.

EARLIEST SINHALA LITERARY WORKS 

According to Prof. Senarat Paranavithana the earliest specimens of Sinhala metrical compositions may be dated to the first century BCE. Four of the early Brahmi inscriptions of Sri Lanka have been identified as poetical compositions. The Mahavamsa composed in Pali in the 5th century CE was based on ancient Sinhala Commentaries known as Sihala-Atthakatha-Mahawamsa. The Sigiri graffiti scribbled on the mirror wall are dated to 7th-8th centuries, consists of Sinhala verses of an amorous or romantic nature. The Dhampiya-Atuva-Getapadaya is the oldest Sinhala prose work which dates back to the 9th century.

Sinhala literary work flourished during the Polonnaruwa and Dambadeniya periods from 10^th to 13^th century CE which is considered as the golden age of Sinhala literature. ‘Amawatura’ and ‘Dharmapradipikava’ by the famed Gurulugomi, are among prominent Sinhala prose written in the 13^th century. Gurulugomi’s works are characterized by the use of pure Sinhala (Elu) words and limiting Sanskrit and Pali loan words to the minimum. Other literary works of this period include the ‘Buthsarana’ by Vidyachakravarti, the ‘Pujavaliya’ and ‘Saddharma-Ratnavaliya’. The latter is renowned for the beauty of its style and the simplicity of its language. Other notable Sinhala prose work is the ‘Saddharmalankaraya’ by Jayabahu Dharmakirti composed in the 14th century, ‘Thupavansaya’, ‘Elu-Attanagalu Vansaya’ and the ‘Dambadeni Aasna’.

SINHALA POETRY

The ‘Pujavaliya’ of the 13trh century refers to twelve famous Sinhala poets who flourished during the reign of king Aggabodhi-I (568-601 CE). “Kavsilumina” a ‘Maha-Kavya”, composed in the 13th century by King Parakrama Bahu-II (1234-1269) is considered as one of greatest literary monuments of the nation’s medieval period.  The oldest Sandesha poem of which we have any evidence is The “Mayura Sandeshaya”  (Peacock’s message) dating back to the 13th century is considered as the oldest composition of  ‘Sandesha poems in the country. This work no longer exists, although examples from it are cited in the classical Sinhala grammar composition “Sidath-Sangarawa” of the 13th century.

During the Kotte period of 15^th-16^th centuries, Sinhala poetry received greater attention marked b y the development of Hatan Kavi” or war poems and Sandeshas” or message poems. This period marks the efflorescence of Sinhala poetry with secular “Sandesha” poems gaining much popularity. Among the popular Sandesha poems of this period are “Thisara Sandeshaya” (Swan’s message, dated 14th century), “Gira Sandeshaya” (Parrot’s message), “Hansa Sandeshaya” (Goose’s message), “Parevi Sandeshaya” (Dove’s message), “Kokila Sandeshaya” (Cuckoo’s message) and “Selalihini Sandeshaya” (Starling’s message) belong to the 15th century.

Jataka tales formed the thematic content of most Sinhala poetry of the medieval period. “Kavya-Sekharaya” written in mid 15^th century by Sri Rahula Mahathera narrates the “Sattubhasta Jataka” and Guttilaya of Vetteve Thera (15th century) is based on the “Guttila Jataka”. Other Sandesha poems include the “Sevul Sandeshaya” (Cocks message), “Hema Kurulu Sandeshaya” (Oriole’s message) “Ketakirili Sandeshaya” (Hornbill’s message), “Nilakobo Sandeshaya” (Blue dove’s message) and “Diyasevul Sandeshaya” (Black swan’s message).

THREATS TO SINHALA LANGUAGE

It is recorded that many Sinhala literary works of the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa period which extends to about 1500 years (until about the 13^th century CE), were lost by the South Indian Tamil-speaking Dravidian invaders during their several invasions during this period. They were instrumental in the destruction of royal palaces, Buddhist temples, monasteries, libraries and places of learning located in the ancient royal capitals. Vast libraries with thousands of ‘ola’ palm-leaf manuscripts were set on fire and destroyed. Similar destruction occurred again, with the arrival of the Portuguese in the  early 16^th century.  

The Portuguese period (1505-1658) constitutes a long and poignant chronicle of oppression and injustice meted out to Sinhala Buddhists. These Catholic Portuguese were the first colonial power to pave in this country the way to almost continuous religious tensions – the repercussions of which is felt to this day in Sri Lanka. The Portuguese period was a reign of terror with widespread killings and destruction and the undermining of Buddhist culture and literary activities. Among those killed were  Buddhist scholars including Bhikkhus. All Buddhist temples and places of learning in the maritime areas under Portuguese control were completely demolished. Monasteries were razed and their priceless treasure looted and huge libraries were set on fire.

In 1588, the renowned Buddhist educational institutions such as the Wijayaba Pirivena at Totagamuwa and Padmawathi Pirivena of Keragala  (which had carried on the traditions of ancient Taxila and Nalanda universities) were destroyed and their incumbents killed. The famous Weedagama Privena in Raigam Korala and Sunethradevi Pirivena of Pepiliyana Kotte were burnt down. The valuable books of the temple were destroyed. The great Poet monk Weedagama Maithree Thero who wrote Lowedasangarawa and Thotagamuwe Sri Rahula were living in that temple at the time of its demolition by the Portuguese. The Dutch, who ousted the Portuguese in 1640, occupied the places under Portuguese control. They continued similar trade activities and started converting people to their form of Protestant Christianity. They too were instrumental in undermining Buddhism, and destroyed many Buddhist temples, monasteries and the royal palace at Hanguranketa.

BRITISH PLUNDER AND CRUELTY

The British replaced the Dutch as the colonial power, and captured the entire country in 1815. The British  were responsible for the most catastrophic and shattering damage to the Sinhala Buddhist cultural heritage including the Sinhala  language. They not only introduced their language as the medium of communication in all affairs of governance and economic activities, but took direct measures to undermine the Sinhala language and culture. English was forced upon our people as the language of administration, the language in which justice was meted out, the language in which government records were kept. The Sinhala language and ordinary Sinhala people, suffered immensely during the British period of occupation.  

Temperance movementENGLISH LANGUAGE AND WESTERN CULTURAL NORMS

During the British colonial era from 1796 to 1948, and a good part of the post-independence period, the promotion of the English language and Western cultural norms was the order of the day as far as the political establishment of the country was concerned. The urban English education system had much to do with this undesirable development. School educational services were basically the monopoly of the Catholic and Christian missions and English was the medium of instruction. European cultural norms were promoted in these schools. The rural masses and bhikkhus studied Sinhala and other oriental languages whereas in the urban areas English was the medium of instruction and communication. Higher learning at this time was basically bifurcated between rural and urban where English education was confined to urban communities

Opportunities for advancement were limited to those with an English education. They  were better paid and enjoyed greater benefits from government. At this time, the influence and authority of the village temple was reduced to a level of parasite owing to willful neglect and undermining of these traditional institutions. The study of history was dropped from school curriculum thereby preventing children from being exposed to their history and cultural heritage.

In spite of being undermined and discriminated against, it is simply a miracle that Sinhala language was able to survive this tragic situation for over four and a half centuries. What could be cited as primary reasons for this is  the inherent strength of the Sinhala language, and also the dedication of the Sinhala scholars of that time, especially the Buddhist scholar Bhikkhus such as the Velivitiye Saranankara Mahathera, Hikkaduve Sri Sumangala Mahathera (the founder of the Vidyodaya Pirivena), Waskaduwe Sri Subhuti Mahathera, Kahave Sri Ratanasara Mahathera, Baddegama Sri Piyaratana Mahathera, Velivitiye Sri Sorata Mahathera and Panangala Sri Piyaratana Mahathera.

To serve their self-interests the British practiced the “divide and rule” policy by setting one community against the other. It is a well known fact that the British gave special privileges to the Tamil minority and those of the Christian faith. They were provided with better opportunities for education, employment and other government services. They soon became privileged communities. In terms of the density of schools per unit area, the Jaffna district had the highest density. In 1870 there were only two Buddhist schools left in the country – in Panadura and Dodanduwa, with an attendance of 246 children as against 805 Christian Schools with an attendance of 78,086 children. As far as the Sinhala community is concerned, for generations in the past, their 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/support accorded to Christian missionary schools and teachers. The social status and recognition at this time were based on one’s exposure to western culture and especially one’s ability to communicate effectively in the English language and familiarity with and often the observance of western cultural norms. Opportunities for advancement in fields such as education and professions were almost exclusively the monopoly of people with such exposure.

RISE OF A NEW COSMOPILITAN URBAN ELITE    

With the special privileges and opportunities for advancement provided to the English educated westernized locals, they soon evolved to be a community or class of their own. The undue privileges they enjoyed were not available to the large majority of those  without the knowledge of English and western exposure. It was a new elite that developed on the basis of its knowledge of the English language and was associated with the Greater Colombo region. A wider more cosmopolitan outlook differentiated this urban elite from the more ‘old fashioned’ predominantly Buddhist, Sinhala speaking rural folk. What developed here was a form of sub-culture which was referred to by some Sinhalayas as Thuppahi culture” which accorded a highly step-motherly treatment to Sinhala language and culture. This had a strong negative impact of undermining and decimating the commonly spoken indigenous language of the nation to an inferior position. The step-motherly treatment of the Sinhala language by the  government and the urban elite running affairs of the economy, business and private sector activities, and the Catholic and Christian missionary education establishment, continued even after the country attained political independence in 1948.

POST INDEPENDENCE DILEMMA

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. To make matters worse, power -political, administrative, and economic was inherited by those belonging to the westernized Colombo sub-culture dominated by Christians. Most of the qualified professionals at the decision-making levels in the public and private sectors and also in big businesses subscribed to this sub-culture. Their attitudes and actions either directly or indirectly had the effect of denigrating to an inferior state, the Sinhala language, the Sinhala cultural norms and the simple Buddhist way of life.  Most of the prominent people involved in administrative and professional fields at this time were products of a non-national education system provided by  the Christian Missionary establishment who were not conversant with the history and the culture of their country. Some were token Buddhists who could not relate to or  belong to the local culture. Among them were those who returned from education in Britain, influenced by leftist ideals and were known as leftists” or Marxists” of the time. These “intellectuals” were also inheritors of the Colombo urban sub culture.

It is unfortunate that Sri Lanka, especially at this time did not have leaders of the caliber of the Mahatma Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu, Rabindranath Tagore, Jawaharlal Nehru,  Ambekar and other nationally-minded leaders of India who were true representatives of Indian culture and dedicated to its promotion. Also, they were supported by a strong bureaucracy that was equally Indian and outlook, in spite of their western education.

CHANGES STARTNG IN MID 20^TH CENTURY

In the middle of the 20th century, Mr. W. W. Kannangara and a few others led a movement which made Sinhala the medium of instruction for all Sinhala children up to Grade V in all government schools. Subsequently, Sinhala and Tamil became the languages of government and higher education. In the 20th century, there were many Sinhala patriots who helped to enrich and save our language and culture. The late fifties and sixties in particular was a period when we saw the emergence of outstanding personalities and cultural pursuits. Among them, W. F. Gunewardena Martin Wickramasinghe, Senarath Paranawithana, Munidasa Kumaratungha, L.H. Mettananda, G. Malalasekera, Ediriweera Sarathchandra, Mahagama Sekera, Madawala S. Ratnayake, Gunadasa Amarasekera, K. Jayatilaka, Amaradeva, Premasiri Khemadasa, Chitrasena and Vajira, Solias Mendis, Lester James Pieris and a few others including their students.

Their literary works appealed to the hearts of a generation that was just beginning to shed the last vestiges of European socio-cultural domination in the island. The basis of their work which made them prominent was Sinhala language, Sinhala culture and Sinhala Buddhist values. Among outstanding Buddhist monks who assumed global status at the time were Venerables-Walpola Rahula, Ananda Maithriye, Narada, Piyadassi, and Madihe Pangnaseeha. One of the essential text books used in courses on Buddhism in most universities in the western world has been “What the Buddha Taught” by Venerable Walpola Rahula written initially in Sinhala.

With these developments after the mid 20th century, Sinhala language started to revive and books on diverse subjects were written by those competent in the language. New forms of poetry and drama were introduced and Sinhala songs and movies became popular forms of entertainment. Among positive trends during this period was the  official recognized of Sinhala as the national language, the establishment of a Cultural Affairs Ministry, the elevation of two Pirivena’s to University status, the take-over of Missionary schools by the government. It was the Sinhala Buddhist leadership, including leading Buddhist monks who were in the forefront in the initiative to take-over schools and making higher education accessible to all irrespective of religious affiliation. It is an accepted fact that this enabled rural youth to come to the forefront. Many were able to secure university education and excel in their professional fields.

This period of healthy growth which began in 1956, was short lived and with the passage of about two decades, there emerged distinct signs of a downward trend in the importance accorded to the Sinhala language and national culture in general. During the last few decades, it was the Sinhala Buddhist community who underwent traumatic experiences and all fatalities, owing to the efforts of the local Marxists to counterbalance the imbalance created by the outer-oriented Colombo clan. The situation in the country was worsened by the youth uprising in the south and the north and the widespread violence and bloodshed. Leadership at all levels – political, professional and secular – deteriorated during the past few decades. This was also a time which saw extreme divisiveness, animosity and criminal activity among people supporting opposing political parties. This was a time when bribery and corruption was institutionalized, and crime and underworld activities became rampant.

ATITUDINAL CHANGES WITH ENGLISH COMMUNICATION

During the past six decades, the language of government in our motherland has been English for all purposes, and not Sinhala or Tamil. Knowledge of English has been a big advantage and sometimes an essential requirement for better employment in both the public and private sectors. It was difficult to get ahead in society without a knowledge of English. In most urban settings in the country, teaching children to communicate in English has become quite fashionable even today. The western oriented education systems, media, television, tourist industry, foreign employment – all contribute to this peculiar change of attitude among our people in recent years. 

The most striking influence of all these developments and trends was the strong outer orientation of people, especially the youth. The heightened importance accorded to spoken English at the expense of Sinhala was clearly evident during this time, so much so, those who spoke English were considered by many as the more educated ones that should be emulated. Also, there is the tendency among some people to give undue importance to those who could speak the English language.  They are considered to be smarter, refined and better calibre as opposed to those who could not speak English. It is common observation and experience generally in the urban settings that people who communicate in English draw more attention and respect and find it easy to get things done as compared to those communicating in Sinhala.  Such disregard and disrespect for the Sinhala language has the tendency to push other aspects of Sinhala culture to the background. Owing to the lack of a strong exposure to their own cultural values, learning English has made these misinformed and misguided people to move further away from their culture and values.

It is not the language per se but its cultural dimension that has become a serious problem in our country. There is a tendency among some of the English educated folk, to observe western mannerisms and attitudes and consider themselves to be more refined, more cultured and a step above the others. Often in superficial ways, they tend to observe peculiar mannerisms and deportment that are different to or contrary to our long established cultural norms. This unwarranted and ridiculous attitudinal changes that learning English or being able to speak the language has brought about not only tends to alienate this group of individuals but also has led to divisiveness among our youth. This trend has made some of our youth to shy away from their own language and culture. Speaking English or mixing English with Sinhala, or adding English words while speaking in Sinhala became the fashionable and accepted practices. This we commonly observe in some television programs to the dismay of many.  

There is no question that there are many positive aspects and much to be learnt from other cultures. However, unfortunately it is those superficial, worthless and undesirable aspects of other cultures that have been of appeal to some people. Often the immature, naïve, careless and slapdash individuals get trapped in these western superficialities. The youth of this period – 1980’s and 1990’s grew up at a time when there were extreme forms of political unrest and violence in the south and north. There was polarization of ethnic communities. The economic and social trends and developments at this time such as globalization without a human face, introduction of television characterized by highly commercialized and often crude programs, expansion of tourism industry without restrictions, and increase in overseas employment encouraged outer oriented attitudes and lifestyles of most youth and the disintegration of many families.

There is no dispute that on many counts, knowing English is highly advantageous, especially for our youth. A working knowledge of English has become a requirement in a number of fields, occupations and professions such as medicine and computing. It is very helpful in learning and improving many useful skills. It is a global language and over a billion people speak English to at least a basic level. Besides, it is one of six official languages of the United Nations.

Most youth of last two decades were not conversant with the history of their country. They do not know that our country is the oldest continually Buddhist country in the world. They do not know that history and culture of our people have been shaped and mounded by Buddhism since its introduction to the island over 2200 years ago. Being unaware of the richness of their cultural heritage, most youth have become indifferent to their culture. Our youth did not have proper role models to follow and genuine youth leaders to guide them. It is the greatest tragedy that befell our nation, because youth are our greatest resource and they determine the future of our country and its cultural heritage.

There is definitely no case for not learning English. But what is necessary to emphasize is that the Sinhala language needs equal emphasis as English. Undue emphasis on learning English will have the effect of undermining the Sinhala language faster. Equal importance should be accorded to the learning and use of Sinhala language.  Otherwise it will be a cultural genocide much like the effects of the propagation of western culture and evangelism in our country, in the name of globalization. The learning of Sinhala literature, Sinhala culture and history by our children is fundamental to bringing about an attitudinal change in our younger generation. This will make them develop a sense of pride in their outstanding cultural heritage. They will begin to be appreciative of the wholesome values of their glorious culture. And, this will help them to develop a lifestyle and livelihood that is beneficial to them and the society in general. 

Among the encouraging developments in the country during the last decade was the  introduction of the teaching of the History of Sri Lanka in schools which was stopped by previous government in the late 1970s. It was made a compulsory subject for children from Grade I, right up to ‘GCE O’ levels. Also evident during this time was an increased interest in development and promotion of Sinhala performing arts, especially traditional dances. The teaching and study of Sinhala Aesthetic studies became popular in the school curriculum. Sinhala music and songs received a boost owing to the influence of  television, radio and the increased production of CD’s, DVD’s and associated electronic devices. The cultural pollution promoted by some of so called Super Star” programmes and tele natya” were subject to criticism during this time.

During this time, an extreme degree of popularity was attained by some Sinhala television programmes focused on discussions by reputed Sinhala professionals on important national issues and Buddhist issues. These had a definite positive impact on reinforcing our traditional cultural norms including the effective use of the Sinhala language.  Another blessing in disguise during the last stages of military action against LTTE Tamil terrorists was the popularly watched on-site Sinhala television programmes highlighting the untold sacrifices and heroic deeds of our Sinhala youth in the war front. People were made to realize that these gallant Sinhala youth were engaged in activities that were focused on protecting not only our land and people but also, most importantly, the glorious national culture that forms the foundation of this great nation of ours. Among Sinhala songs during this period that attained an exceedingly high degree of popularity were those on our gallant military personnel : api venuven api”…

The Sinhala community of Sri Lanka is being exposed to and subject to excessive influences of other cultures, both Western and Eastern, largely brought about by the globalization process, increased interactions with other cultures owing to foreign employment and travel for diverse purposes including education, business and recreation. The internet, foreign media and publications, tourism and the increased importance given and attention paid to the use of the English language are other means by which people are being subject to undue influences of other cultures. However, in spite of the varied cultural influences there appears to be no signs that the Sinhala culture or its integral component the Sinhala language, are in the process of decline and deterioration. No patriotic Sri Lankan will allow the defining element of their glorious cultural heritage to be sacrificed for the sake of ‘modernization”, westernization’ and globalization”.  

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane   

Courtesy Hiru News

President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has called for an investigation into alleged financial misappropriation that took place between Sri Lankan Airlines and Airbus Consortium.

Accordingly the president has instructed officials to expedite the investigation and prepare a comprehensive report in this regard and submit it.

Meanwhile the Chairman of Sri Lankan Airlines Ashok Pathirage has stated that the national carrier will cooperate fully with any investigation and or prosecution over the Airbus deal.

උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු නිව්ස්

MP Dr Harsha De Silva says that a loss of 9,000 Million rupees has been incurred to the government through central bank issued bonds according to the report of forensic audit.

උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු නිව්ස්

ජයගත නොහැකි බවට බොහෝ දෙනා මත පලකළ බෙහෝ දේ රටක් විදියට ජයගැනීමට අපිට හැකි වුණා.

රටක් විදියට අපි ලබා ගත් තවත් එවැනිම ජයග්‍රහණයක් ගැන අද මුලු ලෝකයේම අවදානයට ලක්වෙලා.

ඒ, කොරෝනා වෛරසයේ තිඹිරිගෙය වන චීනයේ – වූහාන් හි සිර වී සිටි ශ්‍රී ලාංකික පිරිස නිරුපද්‍රිතව යලිත් සිය මාතෘ භූමියට රැගෙන ඒමේ මෙහෙයුම සාර්ථකව නිම කිරීමත් සමගයි.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයේ මැදිහත්වීමෙන්, තවත් බොහෝ පාර්ශ්වයන්ගේ දායකත්වයෙන් සිදු කෙරුණු ඒ සුවිශේෂී මෙහෙයුම පිළිබඳයි මේ සටහන.<

නව කොරෝනා වෛරසය ව්‍යාප්තිය හේතුවෙන් චීනයේ වූහාන් නගරය සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම වසා දැමීමට චීන බලධාරීන් පියවර ගත්තේ පසුගිය දෙසැම්බර් 24 වැනිදා සිටයි.

එතැන් පටන් වූහාන් හි වෙසෙන මිලියන 11 ක් ඉක්ම වූ ජනතාවට දැඩි දුෂ්කරතාවයන්ට මුහුණ දෙන්නට සිදු වුණා.

ලෝකයේ රටවල් රැසකින් පැමිණි විවිධ ජාතීන්ට අයත් බොහෝ පිරිසක් මේ ආකාරයෙන් පීඩාවට පත්වෙද්දි ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයින් 33 දෙනෙක් ඒ අතර සිටින බව අපට දැනගන්නට ලැබුණේ එරට ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති කාර්යාලය හරහායි.

කෙසේ වෙතත් අවස්ථා රැසකදීම තමන් යලිත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ගෙන්වා ගන්නා ලෙස ඔවුන් රජයෙන් ඉල්ලීම් කළා.

>එම ඉල්ලීම්වලටත් පෙර සිටම ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය ඔවුන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ගෙන්වා ගැනීමට රාජ්‍ය තාන්ත්‍රික මට්ටමේ මෙහෙයුමක නිරතව සිටියා.

වූහාන්හි සිරවී සිටි මෙරට ජනතාව මුදා ගැනීමට  ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට මේ අවස්ථාව හිමිවුණේ ලෝකයේම සිව්වැනි තැනට පත්වෙමින්.

වූහාන් හි සිටි සිය ජනතාව මුදා ගැනීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පෙර චීන රජයේ අවසරය හිමිවුණේ අමෙරිකාව, ජපානය, ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාව, ප්‍රංශය වැනි ප්‍රබල රටවල් කිහිපයකට පමණයි.

ඇතැම් රටවල් සිය ජනතාව සිය රටවල්වලට රැගෙන ඒමට බියක් දක්වන, ඔවුන් චීනයේම රඳවා තැබීමට උත්සුකවන පසුබිමක ශ්‍රී ලංකාව මෙවැනි පියවරක් තැබීම සැබවින්ම ප්‍රශංසනාත්මකයි.  

මෙම මෙහෙයුම සාර්ථක කර ගැනීමට දායක වූවන් අතරින් ශ්‍රී ලංකන් ගුවන් සමාගම මෙන්ම එම ගුවන් ගමනට එක්වූ කාර්ය මණ්ඩලයද දැඩි කැපවීමක් සිදු කළා.

තත්ත්වය එසේ තිබියදීත් සමාජ ජාල හරහා අපට අද දක්නට ලැබුණේ මෙවැනි පුවතක්.

මේ පිළිබඳ සත්‍ය දැනගැනීමේ අරමුණින් අදාළ ශ්‍රී ලංකන් කාර්යමණ්ඩලයේ ප්‍රධානියෙකු අප සම්බන්ධ කර ගත් අතර අදාළ සිද්ධිය සත්‍ය බව ඔහු තහවුරු කළා.

තම රටේ පුරවැසියන් පිරිසක් විදෙස් රටක දරුණු වසන්ගත තත්ත්වයක් හමුවේ අසරණව සිටිද්දී ඔවුන් මුදා ගැනීම සඳහා ඉදිරිපත් වූ පිරිස වීරයන් සේ පිළිගත යුතුව තිබියදීත් ඇතැමුන් මෙසේ ක්‍රියා කිරීම පිළිබඳ කනගාටු වියයුතු නොවේද..?

මේ පිළබඳ මහා සංඝරත්නය ද මෙලෙස අදහස් පලකළා.

-කසුන් වික්‍රමගේ-

හීනයක් නෙමේ ඇත්තටම අපි ලංකාවේ!
-දියතලාව යුධ හමුදා පුහුණු මද්‍යස්ථානයේ සිට-

කොහෙන්කොහොම පටන් ගන්නද කියල හිතනව තාම.😊
අපි ලංකාවේ.😳

හීනයක් නෙමේ ඇත්තටම අපි ලංකාවේ.දේශයේ මුර දේවතාවන්ගෙ අඩවියක සැපෙන් සැහැල්ලුවෙන් නිරෝගීව.අප්‍රමාණ සැලකිලි හමුවේ🤩.මේ ලියන මොහෙතෙත් අපේ කිසිම කෙනෙක්ට කෙනෙක්ට නිදහසක් නෑ.ඇයි අපිව ආමි කෑම්ප් එකක නිසාද.නෑ අපිව එනකන් බලන් හිටපු,අපිව ලංකාවට ගන්න කැපවුනු,අපිව ආරාක්ශා කරල දෙන්න කියල ඉල්ලපු ආදර්ණීය හද්වත් තියන මනුස්සකමින් කිසිම රටකට නොදෙවෙනි මිනිස්සුන්ගේ ආදරණීය ඇමතුම්,කෙටි පණිවිඩ නිසා.

හැමෝටම නැතත් පුලුවන් විදියට හැමෝටම කතා කරනව තොරතුරු කියනව මහන්සිය නොබල.ඒ මිනිස්සුන්ගෙ කැපවීම නිසා අපි මෙතන ඉන්න බව දන්න නිසා.පැය 18ක පමණ වෙහෙසකර ගමනිකකින් පස්සෙවත් වෙහෙසක් නොදැන්නෙ අපේ මිනිස්සු අපිව පිලිගත්ත විදියට අපිට සලකපු විදියට,ඒක පුදුමාකාරයි.😌

අපිට පෙරේද රෑ වෙද්දි සුභදායක ආරංචිය එනව අපේ තානාපති කාර්‍යාලෙන්.”පුතාල බඩු ටික ලෑස්ති කරගෙන ඉන්න,බොහෝ දුරට හවස්වෙද්දි අපිට යන්න පුලුවන් වෙයි.” ඒ වචන ටික අපි ආයෙ ආයෙම අහනව.ඒ අහපු මිහිරිම වචනටික වෙන්නඕනෙ දවස්ගානකට පස්සෙ.ඒ සතුටට විශාල හේතුවක් උනා අපි වෙනුවෙන් අපේ පවුල් වලින් මෙන්ම චීනෙ ඉගෙන ගත්ත තවමත් ඉගෙනගන්න ශ්‍රී ලාංකික හිතමිතුරන් විදේශ කටයුතු අමත්‍යාංශයට කර ඉල්ලීම අපි වෙනුවෙන් ඒ අයගෙ දවස කැපකරගෙන.මිනිස්සු ඉන්නෙ අමාරුම කාලෙ අපිත් එක්කනම් අමාරුමකාලෙ අපි එක්ක නැති අය ගැන අපි හිතනව ආයෙ පාරක්.අපිව නවත්තන්න හදපු කෙනෙක් ඉන්නවනම් ඒ නිසා අපි තවත් ශක්තිමත් උනා.රටම අපිට ආශිර්වාද කරන්න ගත්තා.මිනිසත්කම හැමදාම ජයගන්නව. ඒක නියතයක්.
හැමෝගෙම මුහුණුවල අවිනිශ්චිතතාව ය පිරිණු සතුට.ඒ ආදරණීය ලස්සන වූහාන් නගරය තනි කරල යන එකට නෙමේ,මිනිසුන්ගෙන් ජීවිතේ උදුරමින් එන වෛරසයෙන් ජීවිතේ රැකගන්න ආදරණීය ලංකාවට යන්න ලැබෙන නිසා.🤗

යයිද නොයයිද.

උදේම පණිවිඩය ලැබෙනව තානාපති කාර්‍යාලෙත හවස් වෙද්දි එයාපෝට් එකට යන්න ලෑස්ති වෙන්න කියල බස් එකක් එනව ඒකට එන්න කියල.මොනව ලෑස්ති කරන්නද යන එකම මදිද.😍
අපි එනකොට මගේ එහා කාමරේ නේපල් යාලුව අහපු දේ මං සිංහලෙන් කියන්නම් “ඔයාල යනවද අපේ රටෙන් නම් අපි තාම ගන්නෑ, ඔයාලානම් වාසනාවන්තයි,පරිස්සමින් යන්න පුලුවන් උනොත් අපි ආයෙ දවසක හමුවෙමු” කියනව,මම අනිත් පැත්තට මොනව කියන්නද.ඒ අවිනිශ්චිත මූන බලගෙන.
අපේ අනිත් අය කියන්ව පාකිස්තාන අය අඩනවලු එයාලගෙ රටෙන් එයාලව ගන්න කැමති නෑ කියල.කොච්චර අසරණද.අම්ම දරුවන්ට එන්න එපා කියනව ඒ අය අම්ම ලගට එන්න අහද්දි.ඒ වෙලාවට අපේ රටේ වර්තමාන නායකත්වය ගැන නිහතමානී ආඩම්බරයක් එනව. බලගතු රටවල් වුනු ඇමරිකාව රුසියාවට පස්සෙ අපේ පුංචි ලංකාව චීන රජයෙන් ඉල්ලනව.දෙන්න අපේ ලමයි ටික අපි බලාගන්නම් කියල.අපි ඇමරිකාව තරම් තාක්ශණේ අතින් නොදියුණු ඇති,ඒ තරම් බලවත් නොවෙනවා ඇති ඒත් අපේ රජයට අපේ තානාපති කාර්‍යාලයට අපේ විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශයට අපි 33 ගෙ වගකීම ගන්න පුලුවන් තරමට විශ්වාස යක් තියනව.අපිට වඩා නොදියුණු රටවල් ඒ රටවල ලමයි ගන්න බෑ කියද්දි.එහෙම කියන්න ලොකු හේතුවක් වෙනව එකම හඩින් අපේම අම්මල තාත්තල අයිය අක්කල නංගි මල්ලිල අපිව ගෙන්නනන කියල කරන ඉල්ලීම්.ඉතින් අපේ රට වාසනාවන්තම රට නෙමෙයිද😍

බලාපොරොත්තු කන්දක් තියන් බස් එකේ නැගල 33ම ඉන්න තැන් වලට යනව වූහාන් නගරය පුරාම.පාරවල් පාලුවෙලා.ජනාකීර්ණ වෙදළසැල් අත් හැරල දාපු වීදි වගේ.ලස්සන වූහාන් තනිවෙලා.කොරෝනා අපි අවටම මිනිස් ගොදුරු සොයමින්.

අපි කොහොමහරි අපි 8 විතර වෙද්දි අපි tianhe ගුවන්තොටුපලේ.රටවල් ගොඩක් වූහාන් දාල යන්න පටන් අරන් ඒ වෙද්දිත්.ගුවන්තොටුපළට කාර්‍යමණ්ඩලය ඉතා සුලු පිරිසක් නිසා වැඩකටයුතු මන්දගාමී.ඒත් වැඩ කටයුතු පුලුවන් උපරිමයෙන් කරනව අවධානමක් තියාගෙනත්.චීන ජනතාව පුලුවන් උපරිමයක් කරනව රට වැටුනු වෙලාවෙ ගොඩගන්න.වෛරසේ මැඩපවත්වන්න සෑහෙන්න කැපවීමක් කරනවා.අපි චීනෙ දාලා අපේ රටට ගියාට එයාල චීනෙම ඉන්න ඕනෙ.අපි හැමෝම හිතින් දුක්වෙනව ඒ ගැන😥.මොනව කරන්නද අපි යන්න ඕනෙ අපේ රටේ මනුශත්වය හොයාගෙන.

අපි 33 දෙනාගෙ සියලු පරීක්ෂණ වලින් පස්සෙ 3.40ට වගේ අපි අපේ ගුවන්‍ යානයට ගොඩවෙනව.අපේම මිනිස්සු අපිව පිලිගන්නව අපි රටට ආව වගේ අපේ ජාතික කොඩියත් එක්ක ගුවන්යානය දකිද්දි.ලෝකෙ අවදානම්ම නගරෙට එනව අපේ ගුවන් යානය ස්වේච්ඡා සේවක මණ්ඩලේකුත් එක්ක අපිව ගන්න.එතන සමහර අය ගෙවල් වලට බොරු කියල ඇවිත් තියෙන්නෙ.මොකද ඒ තරමටම ඒ ගමන අවධානම්.ඉතින් ඒ මිනිස්සුන්ට දෙන්නෙ මොනවද අහිංසක ස්තූතියක් ඇරෙන්න(ඒ අයත් අපි නිසා දවස් ගානක් නිරෝධනයට ලක්වෙන්න ඕනෙ).පුදුම සැලකිල්ලක් ගුවන් ගමන පුරාවටම.
පැය හයහමාරකට පස්සෙ අපි එනව මත්තල මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ගුවන්තොටුපළට.උදේ 8ට විතර වෙද්දි අපි පිංබිමට පය තියනව.අපි හරිම වෙලාවෙ වූහාන් වලින් එන්නෙ.මොකද මේ වෙද්දි වූහාන් ආයෙම වහල.😥

ගුවන් යානෙන් එලිය දකිද්දි පොඩි ගැස්මක් ඇති නොවුනාම නොවේ.අපේ හමුදානිලදාරීන් සුදු ඇදුම් ඇදගෙන මෙන්ම යුනිෆෝම් වලින් ගිලන්රථ ඒ වගේම නිරෝධනයට අවශ්‍ය සියලු දේ හදල.විශාල වැඩපිලිවෙලක් ගුවන්තොටුපළ පුරාම .මේ සියල්ල අපි වෙනුවෙන් රට වෙනුවෙන්.ඒ මිනිස්සුන්ගෙ කැපවීම.නිරෝදායන ක්‍රියාවලිය ඉතාමත් සාර්ථකයි.අපේ සියලු විශබීජ නාශන ක්‍රියාවලියකින් පස්සෙ අපි එතනින් බස් එකට නැග්ගෙ ස්නානයකින් පස්සෙ එතනින් දුන්නු වෙනම ඇදුමක් ඇදගෙන.අපි ගෙනාපු කිසිම දෙයක් අපි අතේ නෑ .සියලුම දේ දැඩි පරීක්ශාවකින් මෙන්ම නිරෝධනයකින් පසුව අපි අතට පත් වෙනව(දියතලාවට ගෙන්ත් දුන්න අපි එහෙට ලගාවෙද්දිම).
අපි 12 විතර වෙද්දි දියතාලාවෙ.අපි දියතලාවට ආවෙ සම්පූර්ණ පොලිස් හමුදා ආරක්ශාවක් යටතේ.ඒ හැගීම වචනවලින් විස්තර කරන්න බෑ.ඉතා සුලුකාලයකින් අපි දියතලාවට ලංවෙනව.
අපිට හදපු අංගසම්පූර්ණ ගොඩනැගිලි,වෙන් වෙන්වූ කාමර සියලු පහසුකම් සහිතව.wifi,hot water,washing machine, ඇතුලු අවශ්‍ය සියලුම දේ දියතලාව හමුදා කදවුරේ අපි වෙනුවෙන් ඉදි වෙලා.මේ අපි බලාපොරොත්තු උනාටත් වඩා සෑහෙන්න දේවල්.පැය 48කින් මෙච්චර දේවල් ගොඩක්.ජපන්නු,චීන්නු රෝහල් හදද්දි ඊට කිසි ලෙසකින්වත් නොදෙවෙනි විදියට අපේ රණවිරුවො ජාතික මෙහෙවර කරමින් ඉන්නව.ඉස්සරහටත් කරමින් ඉදීවි.ඒ දීලත් අපෙන් හමුදා නිලදාරීන් අහනව තව මොනවද අඩුපාඩු.මේ ලෝකයේ හොදම මානුශීය හමුදාව නේද.ඒක අපි කියනන්දෙයක් නෙමේ ලෝකෙම පිලිගන්න දෙයක්.🙂
ඉතින් අපිව පිලිගන්න තිබුණු කිරිබත් කාල,කිරිබත් ඔව් ගෙදර ගියාම අපේ අම්මල අපිව පිලිගන්නව වගේ. අපි අපේ කාමර වලට යනව.දැන් අපි අපේම රටේ අපේම මිහිපිට දෙවියො ටිකක් එක්ක කිසිම සැකයක් බයක් නැතුව.

අපි ආපු එකේ සතුට අපිටත් වඩා අපි එනකන් බලන් හිටපු අපිට වඩා උනන්දු උන අපේම ආදර්ණීය මිනිස්සු.හැමෝම කතා කරනව ඒත් අපි කාටවත් ගොඩක් කොල් වලට පිලිතුරු දෙන්නවත් කෙටිපනිවිඩයක් යවන්නවත් වෙලාවක් වෙන්නෑ ආපු ගමන් අපිට මෙහේ සම්පූර්ණ කරන්න ඕනෙ වැඩත් එක්ක.කතා කරපු හැමෝටම කතා කරනව.ඒක ස්තීරවම කරනව.දුකේදි අපි ලග හිටපු මිනිස්සුන්ට පිං දීල විතරක් මදි වචනයක් හරි කියන්න මේ ඔක්කොම බලන් ඉන්නව.අපි එනකන් නිව්ස් එකක් එකක් ගානෙ අපිගැන අහලන්හොයල බලල අපිව දෙයියන්ට බුදුන්ට බාර කරල අපි වෙනුවෙන් පිංකම් කරල අපේ මානසික මට්ටම් හදල අපි වෙනුවෙන් බලාගෙන හිටපු පුන්චි රටේ හිත් ලොකු මිනුස්සු හැමෝටම ගොඩක් පිං.

ආපහු ඒවි නැත්තම් නොඒවි කියල අපි කලින් කිව්වම,නෑ උබල අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම එනව කියල කියපු ඒ මිනිස්සු හරියටම හරි.අපි ආව.මැරෙන්න හරි වරෙන් කියපු මිනිස්සු ඉන්න රටට අපි ආව මැරෙන්න නෙමේ හැමෝම බේරගෙන ජීවත් වෙන්න.දින ගනන් නොකා නොබී බලන් හිටපු අපේ අම්ම තාත්ත ලගට යන්න.අපේ පවුලේ අය හිතමිතුරන් ලගට යන්න කොටින්ම කිව්වොත් අපි වෙනුවෙන් කකියන ලේ තියන අපේ උන් ලගටම යන්න.🤗🤗

මේ පුණ්‍යහූමියෙ මිනිස්සු කරන ප්‍රාර්ථනා කවදාවත් වැරදෙන්නෑ.ඊයෙ කොරොනා වෛරසය හිතුමතේ පැතිරෙමින් තිබුනු වූහාන් වල ඉදල් අද අපේම මිනිස්සුන්ගෙ මනුසත්කම වටකරගෙන අපි 33 දෙනාම සුවෙන් ඉන්නෙ ඒ ආශිර්වාදාත්මක ප්‍රාර්තානාවෙ බලගතුකම නිසා.
මේ දින 14න් පස්සෙ අපි සම්පූර්ණ නිරෝගී පුද්ගලයො විදියට සමාජයට එනව.

ලාංකිකයෝ ඔක්කොම එකතුකරන් කොරෝන පරද්දල ලස්සන ලංකාවක් විදියට මිහිපිට දෙවියන් එක්ක ඉස්සරහටත් ඉන්න පිං තිබුණ අන්තිමේදි අපිටත්❤️.

-කසුන් වික්‍රමගේ-

By Garvin Karunaratne

While renewable energy should be the aim in power generation, it has so happened that we are currently walking in the opposite direction. We are ignoring the resources that Mother Nature has provided for us.

The news item: Small Hydro Power Developers Association calls on the President for protection”(FT:29/1/20)  tells me of the negative orientation that authorities have had towards generating power from renewable sources in recent years.

My interest in small hydro power plants comes from what I have seen walking through many small scale hydro power projects on my incessant irrigation inspections in the Districts of Kandy and Nuwara Eliya. It is actually a small masonry structure diverting water to turn a small generator.  In a few hundred feet the water having produced electricity  gets back to the main stream. Not a drop is lost. Mother Nature has provided this resource for us and it is sad that we do not realize it.

An uncle of mine owned such a hydropower plant on the road from Gampola to Ramboda and I have had the occasion to walk every inch of it. It provided power to run his tea factory and bungalow. Unfortunately the Electricity Board talked him to abandon it and obtain power from them. He discussed this with me once and I requested him instead to further develop the hydro power plant. The Electricity Board won the day and later my uncle regretted when the Electricity Board jacked up their prices. Earlier he was getting power totally free of charge.

My uncle is no more and that section of the hydro plant is somehow in foreign custody now and for the past many years it is being developed to provide more power and eventually to sell the power to our grid and make a fat profit which will get shunted in dollars from our foreign reserves to Germany. Sad to say it is a system where our water is turned into dollars and fritted away from our foreign exchange reserves.

I am told that in the Yahapalana Government days no approvals were granted for small hydro power projects. I hope the details I have given above will prove to anyone that we have gone in the wrong direction. It is up to us to get on the correct path to find the power that Mother Nature has provided for us totally free.

Once I recently I went through the  Kotmale dam and my mind went through the damage that has been done to the Kotmale Valley, a valley full of some one lakh  people, well developed homegardens, in production of paddy, kitul treacle, pepper, cardamoms and endless fruit because it was a developed area. Now it is all denuded to all to provide 201Megawatts of power.

In my book:Wind Power for Sri Lanka’s Energy Requirements(Godages:2019)  I have shown how the 201MW now turned out by the Kotmale dam could have been produced by around 50 wind turbines. Today there are wind turbines that turn 5 MW Power. When the Kotmale Dam was built there were wind turbines that produced 3 MW power. If only some seventy wind turbines had been sited in the Estates in the Kotmale Valley itself, the people in Kotmale Valley would have been saved.

It is unfortunate that we have totally ignored the power sources that Mother Nature has provided for us.

 A part of the problem is that Sri Lanka gave up National Planning in 1977. We do not have a Planning Commission that comprises patriotic thinking professionals to guide our development.

A case in point is what is happening today in the Kitulgala Valley where  a dam is being built across the Kitulgala River(later Kelani River) to produce 35 MW of power. The water is taken in an underground tunnel and depriving water to   13 of the 18 rapids which is today a Tourist attraction.  Untold damage is done to a three mile section where a tunnel is being constructed. Homes and land are being damaged. This 35MW of power can easily be produced by less than ten wind turbines at a fraction of the cost of $ 85 million that is being spent all obtained on a foreign loan.

Small Scale Hydro Power deserves immediate thinking and I urge  anyone in authority to read my book: Wind Power for Sri Lanka’s Energy Requirements. 

This paper commenced with Hydro Power and ends with Wind Power. Both Water and Wind are resources that Mother Nature has provided and it  upto us to harness them.

Let me conclude with stating that small scale hydro power plants and wind turbines can easily be constructed within  a year or two to provide all the power we require. We will see the DS Senanayake Development days in action at Gal Oya in the Fifties and the Land Development and Irrigation Department scenario in the Forties and Fifties in action once again. We can save the millions we spend today on importing oil and coal.

That is the message in my book: Wind Power for Sri Lanka’s Energy Requirements.

May I request our new Government  of President Gotabhaya and Prime Minister Mahinda to kindly consider my suggestions.  I am certain of their ability to do better.

Garvin Karunaratne, former GA Matara,

29/01.2020

By NAN LWIN 27 December 2019 Courtesy The Irrawaddy

Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (center) and Japanese Upper House MP Natsuo Yamaguchi (right) pose for a photo after a meeting in Yangon on Dec. 23. / Myanmar State Counselor’s Office

https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/japan-backs-myanmars-claim-no-genocide-occurred-rakhine-state.html

YANGON—Amid mounting international criticism of Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi over her denial of genocide allegations at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Japanese ambassador to Myanmar said his government firmly believes that no genocide was committed in the country, and expressed hope that the court will reject The Gambia’s request that provisional measures be taken against Myanmar.

Japan has become the first country to voice support for Myanmar since the Southeast Asian country’s legal team testified at the World Court, where The Gambia filed a case of genocide over the Rohingya crisis. Other countries including the Netherlands and Canada have stated that in order to uphold international accountability and prevent impunity, they consider it their obligation to support The Gambia before the ICJ, as it concerns all of humanity.”

I don’t think that the Myanmar Tatmadaw [military] committed genocide or [had the] intent of genocide. I also don’t think that they have intention to kill all the Muslim residents in Rakhine,” said Ichiro Maruyama, the Japanese ambassador to Myanmar, on Thursday.

He said the actions by the Tatmataw came in response to a series of attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on police outposts in 2016 and 2017.

Echoing what Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said at the World Court, the ambassador said Japan doesn’t rule out the possibility that human rights violations occurred in Rakhine State during clashes between the military and ARSA.

If there were human rights violations, it is important [that Myanmar conduct prosecutions] itself. We will urge the Myanmar government and military to take action seriously,” Maruyama added.

More than 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh in late 2017 after the government’s security forces launched clearance operations in northern Rakhine State in response to the attacks by ARSA. UN investigators said the operations had genocidal intent”. Both the Myanmar government and military have denied the accusations.

In November, The Gambia submitted the genocide case against Myanmar to the World Court. As a preliminary step, the African nation requested the court take provisional measures against Myanmar to prevent further violence.

During three days of initial public hearings in the case, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told the ICJ that no genocide was committed in Myanmar, as defined in international law, and described the Rohingya issue as an internal conflict”.

In her closing remarks on the last day of hearings, she asked the ICJ to reject either the Rohingya genocide case filed against the country or the provisional measures requested by The Gambia.

Since 2017, Japan has acted as a mediator in the Rohingya repatriation process and it continues to work closely with the Myanmar government on solving the problems in Rakhine State. Last year in October, during her trip to Japan, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi praised the country for its understanding and help during a time when tensions have been high between Myanmar and the rest of the world.

Japan’s official support of Myanmar’s stand in the genocide case followed a visit to Myanmar by Natsuo Yamaguchi, a member of Japan’s Upper House from the country’s Komeito party, which is a member of Japan’s coalition government. The top item on Yamaguchi’s agenda was to explain the Japanese government’s stand on the genocide allegation against Myanmar following the ICJ case.

During his stay in Myanmar from Dec. 21 to 25, Yamaguchi met Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. He promised Japan would continue to help Myanmar solve the problems in Rakhine State, according to the Japanese ambassador.

During his meeting with Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the Japanese Upper House MP urged the military to take serious action against those who committed crimes in Rakhine, in accordance with the final report of the Independent Commission of Enquiry (ICOE).

The senior general promised the Japanese MP that the military will take action against human rights violators, saying that if the ICOE found that rights violations occurred, the military will prosecute the offenders.

We fully believe that the Myanmar military will keep its promise. It is important to investigate and prosecute the people who committed the crimes,” Ambassador Maruyama told the media on Thursday.

Japanese Ambassador to Myanmar Ichiro Maruyama attends a press conference at his residence on Dec. 26. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

Following her defense of Myanmar against the The Gambia’s genocide allegations, human rights organizations and the international media have portrayed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as an apologist for the Myanmar military. Responding to the criticism, the ambassador said, We don’t see her that way. She made a decision to go to the court because she knows that it is important that the court identify what really happened [in Rakhine].”

I really respect her

. I am also very proud of her,” Maruyama said.

Since there is no genocide in Myanmar, the court has no reason to rule that Myanmar has committed genocide

. But it is possible [it will] take provisional measures against Myanmar,” he said.

We are praying that the court does not take provisional measures. If they [do], Japan will look at ways to help Myanmar handle the process smoothly. This is the Japanese government’s stand for Myanmar,” said the ambassador.

ICJ Presiding Judge Abdulqawi Yusuf said the court would take note of Myanmar’s final submission and render an order regarding the provisional measures as soon as possible”.

In late November, Myanmar’s military announced it had opened court martial proceedings against a group of soldiers accused of committing atrocities during the 2017 military-led crackdown on Rohingya Muslims. The announcement said the military is cooperating with the ICOE and if the final report found that the soldiers committed rights violations, they would be investigated and prosecuted. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told the World Court that there would be more courts martial when the report is released. The ICOE is set to submit the final report on its special investigation in January.

The ICOE is an independent special-investigation mechanism established by the President of Myanmar to handle allegations of human rights violations and other issues in Rakhine State in the period following the ARSA attacks. Chaired by a former deputy foreign minister from the Philippines, its three other members include a former under secretary-general of the United Nations from Japan.

The ambassador said Japan could not predict how the international community will respond, or whether it will question the credibility of the ICOE. However, the most important thing would be whether the Myanmar government and military take the final report of the ICOE seriously, he said.

The Tatmadaw will play a vital role in it. We will [hold] further discussions with the Tatmadaw to take against action the people who committed the crimes. We will urge them to do it,” he said.

By doing this, the final report of the ICOE will earn trust [from the international community],” he added.

If there is no trust from the international [community] and good relations with them, we cannot expect political stability and economic development in Myanmar. That is the reason that Japan … wants to help the Myanmar government have and rebuild good relations with the international community,” Maruyama stressed.

Despite Rakhine’s tarnished reputation due to the Rohingya crisis, Japan has backed the Myanmar government’s plan to invite both local and foreign investors to Rakhine State in February, as both sides believe improving economic development could solve the state’s issues.

Some Western countries are

more pressure on Myanmar due to the Rohingya crisis. But our approach is different from them. Our goal is for Myanmar to achieve a democratic transition and economic development,” the ambassador said.

I think that the West would also like to see it achieve that goal. I don’t think our goals are [so] different,” Maruyama said.

Courtesy: 

By KYAW PHYO THA 23 December 2019 Courtesy: The Irravaddy

When Daw Aung San Suu Kyi led Myanmar’s delegation at public hearings before the 17-member bench in the Great Hall at the International Court of Justice on Dec. 10, she was at the center of international media attention. Impassively” became the word of the day as, under their watchful eyes, she listened to the Gambian team argue its case that Myanmar committed genocide against the Rohingya; the international media frenzy had begun.

That frenzy reached its peak the next day, a few hours after she defended the country against the charges before the court.The Gambia accused Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention over military clearance operations in northern Rakhine State, which caused more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee the Southeast Asian country for Bangladesh. The African country asked the ICJ to order provisional measures” to prevent more violations.

In her nearly 25-minute oral argument, Myanmar’s de facto leader didn’t dispute that amid the armed conflict in Rakhine there may have been violations of human rights and infringements of universally accepted norms of justice and the rule of law during the military response to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army’s attacks on security outposts. But she announced firmly that those crimes didn’t amount to genocide and that those involved in war crimes would be tried by local military courts.

Only if domestic accountability fails, may international justice come into play,” she said.

It was no surprise to see international media crying out with headlines like Aung San Suu Kyi Defends Myanmar Against Genocide Claims”—it’s understandable that they would focus on this to grab readers’ attention, and it’s true that she denied genocide in her argument.

However, reading the news coverage of the hearings—from my random picks of the Financial Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Guardian and The Associated Press—left me with an uneasy feeling. It’s disappointing to see that nearly all of their coverage poorly reflected the intention of her testimony. It’s worrisome, because this negative portrayal in globally renowned media could fuel international misconceptions, further damaging Myanmar’s already tarnished reputation.

Most of the reports condemned Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as a failed human rights icon for not condemning the military for their atrocities against the Rohingya. The Economist named her an apologist for military brutality, an oppressor of ethnic minorities and an abettor of genocide.” The WSJ wrote that she expresses faith in the men in uniform who long ruled with an iron fist and whom she once fiercely fought. She accused those seeking international action of undermining local efforts to ensure people who she said may have used excessive force in some cases are prosecuted.” The Financial Times jumped on the bandwagon, asserting that she had failed to live up to her own Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in 2012, and had played down crimes committed by the military.

Nearly all of them said it was unnecessary for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to personally testify before the court. They insisted that her trip to The Hague was an effort to tap domestic support in her Buddhist-majority country ahead of elections due next year”, echoing some opponents at home. Even though the intention of her appearance may be controversial, it’s amusing to see The New York Times’ claim that her turn as the generals’ protector has only cemented her popularity at home, where her party, the National League for Democracy, faces elections next year.” The Associated Press was no exception: By taking on the mantle of protector of the nation, and even defending the military against international criticism, Suu Kyi can win over Myanmar nationalists, putting her party in a stronger position for next year’s general election.” Of course, it is out of the question that anyone who stands up for their country, especially in a time of difficulty, would earn local support!

It’s incredibly naïve to say that protecting the generals is a vote-winner. Everyone who follows Myanmar news knows how unpopular the military has been in the country—how does protecting those who are unpopular boost your popularity? The idea that defending the generals would win over nationalists” is a big joke as well. The nationalists are the most persecuted force under the NLD government for their far-right Buddhist ideology, and they hate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for what they view has her oppression of them. They are loyal to the military. Why would they vote for the NLD, rather than the army-affiliated and nationalism-tainted parties that have registered for the upcoming election? Any gratitude they might feel would take a back seat—especially for them—when it comes to politics.

Apart from their poor understanding of local politics, the international media cited above also failed to practice fairness” in their reporting of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s argument. While they all highlighted her denial of genocide; her defense of the generals and local court martial proceedings relating to human rights violations against the Rohingya; and more importantly, her rejection of the untimely application of international justice in the case, they all omitted the statement of Myanmar’s de facto leader to the court that, Only if domestic accountability fails, may international justice come into play.” The absence of this statement from their stories could lead international readers to the conclusion that Myanmar blindly rejects international justice. While it acceptable to insist that those responsible for the atrocities be held accountable, it is unfair and misleading to portray the country as neglecting its obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law, one of the fundamental objectives of the United Nations Charter.

The accuracy of their reporting on the public hearings in The Hague is also questionable. Enter The Guardian. The credibility of the British newspaper’s report might have been salvaged if its reporter had done some basic fact checking” before writing that his two Rohingya sources, Khatun, 50, and Ali, 46, voted for Aung San Suu Kyi in 2010….” If it really had happened, she should thank them for their support. Sadly, her party boycotted the general election held by the then military government nine years ago. The Guardian and other international media reporters should take what they hear with a few grains of salt.

Closer to home, for the Myanmar military, now is the time to show the world that it respects every aspect of human rights, not just on religious and racial grounds, but by bringing justice to those who suffered in Rakhine State. Importantly, the untimely pardon of the perpetrators of the Inn Din killings has cast serious doubt on the credibility of the military trials among the international community. Even Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told the court that, Many of us in Myanmar were unhappy with this pardon.” Of course, it is likely one of the main factors that resulted in Myanmar being brought before the World Court, and brought shame to the nation. So, to the military: Please prove that the ongoing trial and future legal proceedings result in the prosecution of those who are guilty, without fear or favor, and regardless of rank, and that there will be no more violations in Rakhine or elsewhere in Myanmar.

Above all, it should be kept in mind that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi didn’t dispute the fact that the military may have committed human rights violations against the Rohingya, and asserted that those found guilty will be prosecuted, as there is an ongoing court martial and there will be more to come in the near future. She assured the court that there will be no tolerance of human rights violations in Rakhine, or elsewhere in Myanmar.” The international community should wait to see the outcomes of the trials and then decide. Hasty measures imposed from outside at the moment will not benefit Myanmar, which is undergoing a fragile national reconciliation, including with the military. This is especially true in Rakhine, as the area today is still reeling from communal violence between Rakhine and Rohingya. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi clearly mentioned this in her speech during the last day of hearings. For those who didn’t see it in the coverage of the above-mentioned international media, here it is in her own words: Steps that generate suspicion, sow doubts, or create resentment between communities who have just begun to build a fragile foundation of trust could undermine reconciliation.”

Courtesy: The Irravaddy

https://www.irrawaddy.com/opinion/commentary/intl-media-shows-lack-fairness-ignores-state-counselors-message-icj.html

චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම, LL.B,. Ph.D. 

කොසොල් රජතුමා දුටු සීන දාසැය

සිංහල බෞද්ද්ධයින් ඇතුළු ලාංකිකයින් බොහෝ දෙනෙක් ඇමෙරිකාවට සංක්‍රමණය වීමට ප්‍රධානම හේතුව වන්නේ ඉන්දියාවේ පසේනදී කොසොල් රජතුමා විසින් දැනට අවුරුදු 2,500 කට පෙර දුටු සිහිනවලට දුන් අනාවැකි ඔවුන් උපන් රට තුල සැබෑවෙමින් තිබීමය. ආර්ථික දුෂ්කරතා වලට වඩා ඊට බලපාන්නේ රටේ දේශපාලකයින් රටට කරණ මහා විනාශය නිසා ඇතිවන මානසික අසහනය හා පීඩනය ය. බමුණන් කී පරිදි බිලි සහිත විශාල යාගයක් කරණවා වෙනුවට ඔහු දුටු සීන ගැන බුදුහාමුදුරුවන්ගෙන් අසා බලන ලෙස රජ බිසව යෝජනා කලේය. ඒ අනුව මේ සීන වලට බුදුහාමුදුරුවන් රජුට ලබා දුන් විවරණ, සූත්‍ර පිටකයේ මහා සුපින ජාතකයේ සඳහන්වේ. බුදුරදුන් පෙන්වා දුන්නේ මේ සීන අනාගතයේ ලෝකයේ සිදුවීමට යන විනාශ පිළිඹද පෙරනිමිති බවත්, රජතුමාට ඒ සිහින ගැන බිය වීමට හේතුවක් නැති බවත් ය.

බයිබලයේද නොයෙක් අනාගත වාක්‍ය (ප්‍රොපසීස්) විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක් දක්නට ලැබේ. අනාගත වාක්‍ය පිළිඹඳව යුරෝපයේ හා ඇමෙරිකාවේ ප්‍රසිද්ද්ධ වී ඇත්තේ ප්‍රංශ ජාතික නොස්ට්‍රාඩාමස් (1503-1566) ය. ඉතාමත් මෑතකදී සිදුවූ 2001 වර්ල්ඩ් ට්‍රේඩ් සෙන්ටර් විනාශය ඔහු විසින් යකඩ කුරුල්ලන්ගේ ප්‍රහාරයක් වශයෙන් සටහන්කර තිබේ යයි ප්‍රචලිත විය. එහෙත් සමහරවිට බෞද්ද්ධ සාහිත්‍යයේ සඳහන්වන එකම අනාගත වාක්‍යය විය හැකි මෙම සිහින දාසැය, මුළු ලෝක ඉතිහාසයේම සුවිශේෂ කරුණක් වන්නේ ලංකාවේ පමණක් නොව වර්තමාන ලෝකයේ අනෙකුත් රටවලද දක්නට ලැබෙන ව්‍යාධීන්, සමාජ, දේශපාලන, ආර්ථික අසහනකාරී ස්වරූප හා ඊට හේතුවන මූලික සාධකය වෙන කිසිම ලේඛනයක මේ අන්දමට අනාවැකි ලෙස සටහන් කර නොතිබීමය. ලෝභ, දෝෂ, මෝහ යන ත්‍රිදෝෂයෙන් පිරුණු පංචස්කන්ධ වන මිනිසා අධාර්මික වීමේ විපාක මෙහි හරයයි.

මෙම දෝෂ වලින් පාලකයින් වලක්වා, රාජ්‍ය පාලන තන්ත්‍රය රට වැසියාගේ ශුභ සාධනය උදෙසා යොදවා ගැනීමේ ක්‍රමයක් පිළිඹද කදිම නිදසුනක් ඉතාලියේ සියෙනා පුර රාජ්‍යයේ (1287-1355) පැවතියේය. එය 1338-39 කාලයේදී අම්බ්‍රොගියෝ ලොරෙන්සෙටි විසින් හොඳ පාලනය-නරක පාලනය වශයෙන් සියෙනා පුර පාලන ගොඩනැගිල්ලේ කන්තෝරුවේ සිතුවම් කර ඇත. එම නගරයේ පාලකයින් නමදෙනාගේ කවුන්සිලය, තමන් තේරීපත්වූ කෙටි නිල වාර කාලය අවසන් වන තුරු සභා ගොඩනැගිල්ල තුලම පදිංචිව සිටිය යුතු වන්නේ ඉන් පිටතට ගියොත් තීරණ ගැනීමේදී එල්ල විය හැකි අනිසි බලපෑම්වලට ගොදුරුවීමෙන් වැලැකී සිටීමටය. සිතුවම් වලින් පෙන්වන්නේ ඔවුන්ගේ රාජකාරිය කෙතරම් භාරදූරද යන්නය.

බලය දූෂණයට පොළොඹවයි, අසීමිත බලය අසීමිත ලෙස දූෂණයට පොළොඹවයි. මේ නිසා බලතල බෙදා එකිනෙකා බලය අවභාවිත කිරීම වැලැක්විය යුතුය යන අදහස් පසු කාලයකදී යුරෝපීය රටවල ප්‍රචලිතවූයේද මේ අනුවමය. රාජාණ්ඩු කාලයේ ලංකාවේ පැවතියේ රජුගේ අසාධාරණ බලය පන්සල් මගින් තුලනය කිරීමය. සමාජ, ආර්ථික හා දේශපාලනික වශයෙන් රට පුරාම ක්‍රියාත්මකවූයේ ගම-වැව-දාගැබ යන ත්‍රිත්ව සංකල්පයය. කොලම්බස් (1495) හා වස්කෝ ද ගාමා (1492-97) ගෙන් පසු, අවුරුදු 450 ක පමණ කාලයක් යුරෝපීය සුදු ජාතිකයින් විසින් සෙසු ලෝකය යටපත්කරගෙන, ඒ රටවල් සූරාකා, අබල දුබල කර, අන්තිමේදී ඔවුන් විසින්ම බෝකල, හීනමානයෙන් පෙළෙන කළු සුද්දන් පිරිස් වලට මේ රටවල් පවරාදී යාම නිසා ඇතිවුන අවපාලනය, අනාවැකි ලෙස අකුරටම කොසොල් රජුගේ සිහින වලින් පෙන්වා දී තිබේ.

විදේශිකයින් විසින් ජනතාව හා පන්සල අතර ඇති ගහට පොත්ත වැනි බැඳීම කඩා දැමීමට කෙළින්ම හා වක්‍රව නොයෙක් උපක්‍රම අනුගමනය කලේය. ඉංග්‍රීසි පාලකයින් පන්සල් හා සංඝ සමාජය පරිහාණියට වැටෙන ආකාරයේ නීති ක්‍රියාවට යොදන ලදී. සුද්දන් විසින් ඇරඹූ මේ ක්‍රියාවලිය කළු සුද්දන් විසින්ද දිගටම කරගෙන යාම කොසොල් රජුට පෙන්වාදුන් අනාගත අධර්මිෂ්ඨ පාලනයේ ආරම්භයයි. අනාගාරික ධර්‍මපාලතුමාට ස්ත්‍රොත්‍ර නොගයන සිංහල බෞද්ද්ධයෙක් අද නැතිතරම් ය. එහෙත් අධර්මිෂ්ඨ කළු සුද්දන් එතුමාට වටකරගෙන පහරදී රටින් එලවා ගත්තේය. ධර්‍මපාලතුමා අනුව යමින් කළුකොඳයාවේ ප්‍රඥාශෙඛර නාහිමියන් විසින් 1940 ස් ගණන්වල ගෙනගිය ඉතාමත් සාර්‍ථකවූ දීපව්‍යාප්ත අපරාධ මර්‍ධන හා ග්‍රාම ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ ව්‍යාපාරය කළු සුද්දන් විසින් කඩාකප්පල්කර දැම්මේය. ඩී බී ජයතිලක, ඩී ඇස් සේනානායක වැනියවුන්ද ඊට හවුල්විය. එසේත් නැත්නම් සුද්දන් කල භාධාකිරීම් වලට විරුද්ද්ධ නැගීසිටීමට ඔවුන්ට ශක්තියක් නොවීය.

අධර්මිෂ්ඨ දේශපාලකයින් විසින් ගම බදාගෙන නොයෙක් නම් දමාගෙන නටන නාඩගම දෙස බලා සිටින අසරණවූ ජනතාවට මේ ඉතිහාස කතාව පෙන්වාදීමට දන්නා කෙනෙක් දැන් රටේ ඉතුරුව ඉන්නවාද කියා සිතේ. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් 1948 සිට මේ දක්වා ලංකාවේ සිදුවන විනාශය වචනයක් නෑරම සීන දාසැයේ සටහන්ව ඇත. දාසැයවැනි හීනයේ කියවෙන දුෂ්ඨ පාලනයට බියේ මිනිසුන් වනාන්තරවල සැඟවීම, මිනිසුන් ලංකාවෙන් ගැලවී ඇමෙරිකාවට හා අනිත් රටවලට යාම නොවේද? මෙම ඛේදවාචකය ලෝකයේ සෙසු රටවලද සිදුවෙමින් පවතින්නේය. මේ රටවල් අසාර්‍ථකවුන රාජ්‍ය ලෙස කලින් මේ රටවල් විනාශ කල යුරෝපීය රටවල් විසින් හංවඩු ගසා ඇත.

15 වැනි සීනයේ සඳහන් බියගුළු පාලකයින් අද ලංකාව විනාශකරණ දේශපාලක කළු සුද්දන් නොවේද? මානව අයිතිවාසිකම් කඩකරනවා යන චෝදනාවකට යටවී සිටින මේ කළු සුද්දන් කල්ලිය, යුරෝපීය රටවල් ඉදිරියේ වැඳ වැටෙන්නේ ඔවුන්ගේ අධර්මිෂ්ඨ ක්‍රියා පිළිවෙල නිසාමය. මේ නිසා අහිංසක රටවැසියා බලවත් ආතතියකට, දුකකට වැටී ඇත. අධිකරණය, සංඝ සමාජය පවා පිරිහී ඇති අන්දම සීන වලින් පෙන්වා දී ඇත. මෙම අධර්මිෂ්ඨ පාලකයින්ගෙන් රට ගලවා ගත හැකි ආකාරය බෞද්ද්ධ දර්‍ශනයේ පෙන්වා දී ඇතත්, දුෂ්ඨ පාලන තන්ත්‍රය බොරුවෙන් මහජනයා රවටමින් සිටී. ධර්මිෂ්ඨ සමාජය, යහපාලනය, ලිච්චවි පාලනය යනාදී බොරු කතා සුලභය. පගාව හා දූෂණයෙන් රට වෙලී ඇත්තේ පාලකයින් අන්ත දූෂිතයින් වීම නිසාය. ඓතිහාසිකව, බෞද්ද්ධ සමාජ ආර්ථික ක්‍රමයට අනුව, ගොයම් කපන විට කුරුල්ලන්ගේ පංගුව යයි ලියදිකෑල්ලක් වෙන්කිරීමට තරම් ගොවියා පරිසරය කෙරෙහි සානුකම්පික විය.

රාජ්‍ය පාලන බලය අල්ලා ගන්නා සුළු පිරිසක් විසින් දේශපාලන පක්‍ෂ දෙකක් හරහා ඇමෙරිකාව පරිහානිය කරා ගෙන යන අන්දම, යටත් විජිතව සිටි රටවල සුද්දන් විසින් බෝකර ගිය කළු සුද්දන් විසින් ඒ රටවලට කරණ විනාශයට සමානය. ඇමෙරිකාවේ පදිංචියට ඒමට පෝලිමක් නැති රටක් ලෝකයේ නැත. ජපානයේ සිට ඇමෙරිකාවට එන කොම්පැනි නිලධාරීන්ගේ නෝනාවරු පවා ඉඩකඩ ඇති ලොකු ගෙවල්, ඉඩම් අතහැර ආපසු යාමට කැමති නැත. බුදු දහම මගින් ලෝකයේ ඇති ප්‍රශ්ණ වලට විසඳුම් සොයාගත හැකියයි ඉන්දියාවේ ජනාධිපති ධූරය දැරූ අබ්දුල් කලාම් හා ප්‍රතිභා පටිල් යන දෙදෙනාම පැවසුවේය. සිංහල බෞද්ද්ධයින් වශයෙන් අපට ලැබී ඇති මේ වටිනා උරුමය හා මේ සීන දාසැයේ ඇති කාරණා කෙතරම් දුරට ඇමෙරිකාවේද දක්නට තිබෙනවාද යන්න තම දූදරුවන් සමග සාකච්චාකර සසඳා බැලීම දැන්ම නොවුනත්, ඔවුන්ට වයස අවුරුදු 40 ක් 50 ක් වන විට වත් ඒවා මතකයට නැගී අනාගතයේදී ඔවුන් තම දූ දරුවන්ට කියා දෙනවා නිසැකය.

බුදුරදුන් විසින් සංක්‍ෂිප්ත වශයෙන් අවුරුදු දෙදාහකටත් කලින් සඳහන් කල පාලකයින් අධර්මිෂ්ඨවීමේ ප්‍රතිඵල, විශේෂයෙන් සුද්දන්ගෙන් පාලන බලය ලබාගත් කළු සුද්දන් අධර්මිෂ්ඨවීමේ ප්‍රතිඵල, නූතන දේශපාලන විද්‍යා දෘෂ්ටිකෝණයකින් බලනවිට එය ඔවුන් චතුරාර්ය සත්‍යයෙන් හා ආර්ය අෂ්ටාංගික මාර්‍ගයෙන් පිට පැනීම හෙවත් මධ්‍යම ප්‍රතිපදාව නොපිළිපැදීම ලෙස හඳුනාගත හැකිවේ. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන්, සුද්දන් සදාදී ගිය පරිපාලන ක්‍රමය සධාරණ ලෙස දේශීයකරණය කරණවා වෙනුවට ආත්මාර්‍ථකාමි ලෙස හැසිරී එය විනාශ කලේය. ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය හා බෞද්ද්ධ රාජ්‍යපාලන ක්‍රමය දෙකක් නොව එකකි. 1948 න් පසු ලංකාවේ සිදුවූයේ මූලික ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී මූලධර්‍ම එකින් එක ඉවත්කර දැමීමය. මෙය අධර්මිෂ්ඨ පාලනයේ ප්‍රතිඵලයක් විය.

එක අතකින් නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍යය, අධිකරණයේ ස්වාධීනත්වය, බලය බෙදා හැරීම, සුළු ජන කොටස් සඳහා තිබූ ව්‍යවස්ථාමය සුරක්‍ෂණ විධිවිධාන, සිවිල් පරිපාලන ස්වාධීනත්වය යනාදිය 1960 මුල සිට ක්‍රමයෙන් කප්පාදුකර දමන ලදී. අනිත් අතට, 1978 න් පසු භූමිය වශයෙන් තමන්ගේ නියෝජිතයෙකු තෝරාගැනීමට මහජනයාට තිබූ අයිතිය ඉවත්කර, කොළඹ සිටින දේශපාලන පක්‍ෂ නායකයින් විසින් එය සිය යටතට ගන්නා ලදී. මෙසේ ඇතිකල අධර්මිෂ්ඨ පාලන ක්‍රමය, ධනවාදී, ලොකු මාළුවා පොඩි මාළුවා ගිලගන්නා, මිනිසා විසින් මිනිසා සූරාකන ආර්ථික ක්‍රමයක් බවට පෙරලන ලදී. 1971 හා ඉන් පසු 1988/9 සිදුවු කැරළි දෙක මෙම දුෂ්ඨ පාලකයින්ගේ ක්‍රියා කලාපය වෙනස් කලේ නැත. තිස් අවුරුදු යුද්ද්ධය මගින් ජනයාගේ යටි සිත් තුලට ඔවුන් නොදැනම මරන භය ඇතුළ් කලේය. මේ නිසා කිසිවෙකු විශ්වාස නොකරණ, අතිශයින් ආත්මාර්‍ථකාමිවුණ, බොරුව, වංචාව රජයන, අපරාධ වලින් පිරුණ සමාජයක් ලංකාවේ බිහිවී ඇත. ලෝකයේ වෙනත් බොහෝ රටවලට දායාදයවී ඇත්තේද මේ අවාසනාවන්ත ඉරණමය.

භික්‍ෂූ ශාසනයේ පිරිහීම ගැන 10 හා 11 සිහිනවල ඇති අනාවැකිය අදවනවිට සැබෑවෙමින් පවතින්නේ පාලකයින්ගේ නොමනා ක්‍රියාකලාපය නිසාමය. බුදු දහමට ලැබෙන රාජ්‍ය අනුග්‍රයක් නැත. 1880 ඕල්කොට්තුමාගේ ආගමනයෙන් පසුව සිදුවූ එක් සැඟවුනු දෙයක් නම් 1840 ගණන්වල සිට රට වෙනුවෙන් පෙරමුණේ සිටි භික්‍ෂූන් (පන්සල්) පිළිකන්නට තල්ලුවී යාමය (තල්ලු කර දැමීමය). 1931 න් පසු ගමේ පන්සල්, සිංහල නොදන්නා දේශපාලකයින් විසින් තම වාසිය සඳහා යොදා ගත්තේය. දේශපාලකයින්ට රැවටීමේ මේ දුර්‍වලකමෙන් අද 2019 වනවිටවත් පන්සල් ගැලවී නැත. ඇමෙරිකාවේ සිටින වයසට යන සිංහල බෞද්ද්ධයින්ට ඇමෙරිකාවටත්, ලංකාවටත් යහපතක් වනලෙස අවම සේවයක් වත් කල නොහැකිද? කොසොල් රජතුමාගේ සීන ඇමෙරිකාව පුරාම සැබෑවෙමින් සිටිනු දිනපතාමවාගේ දක්නට ලැබේ. විශේෂයෙන්ම මැදිවියේ හා දුප්පත් ඇමෙරිකාණුවන් අතර මානසික අසහනය දැඩිලෙස පවතී. ඔවුන් ඉඳහිට පන්සල්වලටද එන්නේය. මෙය වර්‍ධනය කල හැකිවන්නේ හාමුදුරුවරුන් හා ඉංග්‍රීසි ප්‍රවීනතාවයක් ඇති සිංහල බෞද්ද්ධයින් එකතුව තම තමන්ගේ නගරවල බුදුදහමේ පණිවුඩය, මනස සිසිල් කර ගැනීමේ හැකියාව ප්‍රචලිත කිරීමෙනි. ඇමෙරිකාවේ ඇති ලංකාවේ පන්සලෙන් ලෝකයට යහපතක් සිදු කල හැක්කේ එමගිනි.

අන්තර් ජාල වෙබ් අඩවිවල හා ගූගල් මඟින් මෙම සිහින පිළිඹදව විස්තර ලබාගත හැකිය. පහතින් ඇත්තේ එසේ කොපිකරගත් සාරාංශයකි.

1 වැනි සිහිනය
සිහිනය: කලු ගවයින් සිව් දෙනෙකු එකිනෙකා සටන් කරන්නට යනවා සේ සිව් දෙසින් රාජාංගනයට පැමිණ, තප්පුලමින් සිට කිසිදු සටනක් නොකොට ආපසු හැරී යයි.
විවරණය (අනාවැකිය): මෙම සිහිනයේ ප්‍රතිඵලය මතු අනාගතයේ සිදුවන්නකි. මෙයින් කියවෙන්නේ අනාගතයේ රාජ්‍යපාලකයින් අධර්මිෂ්ඨ වන බවත්, එසේ වූවිට රටේ පුරවැසියන්ද අධර්මිෂ්ඨ වන බවය. මෙම අධර්මිෂ්ඨ භාවය නිසා සද්ද්ධර්‍මය පිරිහීයන්නේය. පැලෑටි ගොයම් ආදිය වියළී ගොස් මහා නියං ඇතිවන්නේය. රටේ ජනතාව මහත් පීඩාවට පත්වේ.

2 වැනි සිහිනය
සිහිනය: ඉතා කුඩා පැලෑටි හා පඳුරු පොළොවෙන් මතුවී පැමිණ වියතක් හෝ දෙකක් පමණ වැඩුණු පසු මල් පල දරයි.
‌විවරණය: බොහෝ කාලයක් ඇවෑමෙන් මිනිසාගේ ආයු පිරිහී යනවිට ඔවුන් ඉතා කෙටි කාලයක් ජීවත් වන අවධියක් උදාවන්නේය. එම කාලයේ මිනිසුන් බොහෝ රාගාධික වන්නේය. කුඩා ගැහැණු ළමයින් පිරිමින් සමඟ කාමසේවනය කරන්නේය. එබැවින් ළදරු වියේම ඔවුන් ගැබ්බරවී දරුවන් ලබන්නේය.

3 වැනි සිහිනය
සිහිනය: දෙන්නු එදවස උපන් වසු පැටවුන්ගෙන් කිරි උරා බොයි.
විවරණය: අනාගතයේදී මිනිසුන් තම දෙමව්පියන්ට නොසළකා පවුලේ දේපල සියල්ල තම යටතට ගනී. දෙමව්පියන් අසරණ වන්නේය.

4 වැනි සිහිනය
සිහිනය: ගැල නොබඳිනලද තරබාරු ශක්තිමත් ගොනුන් රැලක් පැටවුන් මතට බර පටවා ඇදගෙන යාමට සලස්වති. එම බර ඇදගෙන යාමට නොහැකිවූ පැටවුන් නිසලව සිටිති.
විවරණය: අනාගතයේ රජවරු අධර්මිෂ්ඨ වූ කල්හි එම රජුන් විසින් රාජ්‍ය පාලන කටයුතුවල නියැලී සිටින බුද්ද්ධිමතුන් නොසලකා හරිති. රාජ්‍ය කටයුතු, කර්‍මාන්ත කටයුතු කිරීමේ පළපුරුද්ද ඇති ඇත්තන් නොසළකා හැර අදක්‍ෂයින් තනතුරුවලට පත් කරති. මේ නිසා රාජකාරී කටයුතු අඩාලවී රට පිරිහේ.

5 වැනි සිහිනය
සිහිනය: මුඛ දෙකක් ඇති අශ්වයෙක් මුඛ දෙකෙන්ම ආහාර ගනී.
විවරණය: අනාගතයේ අදමිටු රජවරු වංචනික විනිසුරුවන් අධිකරණ සේවයේ යොදවනු ඇත. මෙම කපටි විනිසුරුවෝ චූදිත-චෝදක දෙපසින්ම අල්ලස් ගෙන යුක්ති ධර්‍මයට අවමන් කරති. මෙම මුඛ දෙකින් ආහාර ගැනීම යන්නෙන් පිළිඹිබු වන්නේ දෙපසින්ම අල්ලස් ගැනීමය.

6 වැනි සිහිනය
සිහිනය: මනාව ඔප දමන ලද කහවනු ලක්‍ෂයක් වටිනා රන් තලියක මහළු සිවලෙක් මුත්‍රා කරයි.
විවරණය: අනාගතයේදී අදමිටු රජවරු රජ පරපුර නොසළකා නීචයින්ට උසස් ස්ථාන ලබා දෙති. අනතුරුව නීචයින් උදෙසා තම රාජකීය දියණිවරු සරණපාවා දෙති. මින් උසස් රාජ වංශ කෙළෙසී යයි.

7 වැනි සිහිනය
සිහිනය: මිනිසෙකු ලණුවක් අඹරමින් සිටියි. ඔහු ලණුව අඹර අඹරා තමා සිටින පුටුව යටට දමයි. යට සිටින හිවල් දෙනක විසින් එය කොටසින් කොටස ගිල දමයි. මෙය සිදුවන්නේ ලණුව අඹරන මිනිසාගේ දැනුමෙන් තොරවය.
විවරණය: අනාගතයේදී ගැහැණුන් පිරිමින් සමඟ මත්පැන් බොමින් තම සැමියන් විසින් මහන්සිවී උපයන ධනය විනාශකර දමති. එය මහළු හිවලිය මිනිසා කොටස් වශයෙන් අඹරණ ලණුව ගිලදමන්නාක් මෙනි.

8 වැනි සිහිනය
සිහිනය: රජමාලිගයේ, මුවවිට දක්වා දිය පිරුණු සැළියක් ඇත. එය වටා කිසිදු දිය බිඳක් නැති හිස් කළ රාශියක් ඇත. සතර දෙසින් වැල නොකැඩී ගලා එන මහ ජනකාය ජලය පිරී ඇති දිය සැළියට ජලය බහා ලති. දිය සැළිය පිරී ඉතිරී යයි. එහෙත් කිසිවෙකු හිස් බඳුන්වලට දිය නොදමති.
විවරණය: කාලය ගතවත්ම ලෝකය පිරිහෙන විට රාජධානිද පිරිහෙයි. රජවරු දිළිඳුවී බලවත්ම රජුගේ ධනය කහවනු ලක්‍ෂය දක්වා පහල යයි. අනතුරුව රාජධානි වල වැසියන් රජුගේ කටයුතුවල පමණක් යොදවති. රජු ධනවත් වන අතර ජනතාව දිළිදුවී දුක්බරිත වේ.

9 වැනි සිහිනය
සිහිනය: හාත්පසින්ම බෑවුම් සහිත පස් පියුම් විලක් ඇත. දෙපසින් සිව්පා සතුන් දිය බීමට පැමිණෙත්. එහි මැද ප්‍රදේශය මඩ සහිතය. එහි නොයෙක් සතුන් දිය බීමට පැමිණ ඇත.
විවරණය: අනාගතයේ රජවරු අධර්මිෂ්ඨවී හිතූමනාපයේ රාජ්‍ය පාලනය කරති. අල්ලස් ගෙන ධනවතුන් ආරක්‍ෂා කරති. උක්දඩු මිරිකන්නාසේ ජනතාවගේ ශ්‍රමය සූරා ධනය උදුරා ගන්නේය.

10 වැනි සිහිනය
සිහිනය: කිසිවෙකුගේ මැදිහත් වීමකින් තොරව බතක් පිසෙනු ලැබේ. එම බත කොටස් තුනකට බෙදී, එක් කොටසක් බෙරිවී ඇත. අනෙක් කොටස අමුය. ඉතිරි කොටස මනාව පැසී ඇත.
විවරණය: අනාගතයේ අදමිටු රජවරු පහළ වීම නිසා වැසියෝද අදමිටු වෙති. ශ්‍රමණ බ්‍රාහ්මණයින් පවා අධර්මිෂ්ඨ වෙති. මෙසේ වන විට ඔවුන් රකින දෙවිවරුද අධර්මිෂ්ඨ වෙති. මේ අධර්මිෂ්ඨ රාජධානි හරහා හමායන සුළං ක්‍රමවත් නොවීම නිසා රටේ එක් ප්‍රදේශයකට දරුණු නියඟයද, එක් ප්‍රදේශයකට දරුණු ගංවතුරද ඇතිවී මහත් විනාශයන් ඇති වන විට තවත් ප්‍රදේශයක් බොහෝ සශ්‍රීක වන බව මෙයින් කියැවේ.

11 වැනි සිහිනය
සිහිනය: කහවනු ලක්‍ෂයක් වටිනා සඳුන් හරයක් ඇඹුල් රසැති කිරිමෝරු වලට හුවමාරු කරයි.
විවරණය: අනාගතයේදී ලජ්ජා බය නැති දුසිල් භික්‍ෂූහු පහළ වෙති. ඔවුන් තම බඩ වියත වෙනුවෙන් නිර්‍වානගාමී දහම විකෘති කොට ජනතාවට දෙසති. මහජන මුදල් ලබාගැනීමේ අරමුණින් විසිතුරු බස් කියමින් ජනතාව රවටමින් බුදු දහම විකුණා කෑමේ ව්‍යාපාර ආරම්භ කරති. ජනතාව නිර්‍වානගාමි දහමට යොමු කිරීමට ඔවුන්ට අවශ්‍ය නොවන්නේය. තෑගි බෝග සඳහා දහම වංචනික ලෙස කියමින් මහ වීදි වල, මැදුරු වල දහම් කියමින් යති.

12 වැනි සිහිනය
සිහිනය: ලබු කබල් දියෙහි කිඳාබසිනු දුටුවෙමි.
විවරණය: අනාගතයේදී නොයෙක් නීච කුල ජාතිකයන් රජ වෙති. එවිට පහත් ගති ඇත්තේ බලයට පත් වෙති. එවිට ලාමක ගති ඇත්තන් අධිකරණ සේවයේ යෙදවීම නිසා නීතිය වල් වැදී යන්නේය.

13 වැනි සිහිනය
සිහිනය: සුවිසල් පර්‍වත දියෙහි පාවී යනවා දුටිමි.
විවරණය: අනාගතයේදී සම්භාවනීය පුද්ගලයෝ තනතුරුවලින් නෙරපා පහත් පුදගලයින් සේවයේ යොදවත්. මෙමගින් සමාජ සංස්ථාව මහත් පීඩාවට පත් ව රාජ්‍යද පිරිහී යන්නේය.

14 වැනි සිහිනය
සිහිනය: කුඩා මැඩියන් විශාල නාගයින් ගිල දමනවා දුටුවෙමි.
විවරණය: අනාගතයේදී බොහෝ පිරිමින් වියපත් වුවද, තරුණ ගැහැණුන් සමඟ සල්ලාලකම් වල යෙදෙති. මෙම තාවකාලික අඹුවන් සොර සැමියන් වහළුන් බවට පත් කොට සලකති.

15 වැනි සීහිනය
සිහිනය: කපුටෙකු රන්වන් හංස රංචුවක් විසින් පිරිවරා සිටිනවා දුටිමි.
විවරණය: අනාගතයේදී කිසිදු යුද ශිල්පයක් නොදත් රජවරු පහලවෙත්. ඔවුන් බිය ගුල්ලෝය. ඔවුන්ගේ අණසක පවතින්නේ තම පරිවාර සේනාව සමග පමණි. රාජ්‍යත්වය පිරිහී තනතුරුවලට නීචයන් පත් වී එම නීචයන් හා එකට විසීමට රජවරුන්ට සිදුවන්නේය. එය කවුඩා පිරිවරාගත් හංසයන් මෙන් දතයුතුය.

16 වැනි සිහිනය
සිහිනය: එළුවන් විසින් අදුන් දිවියන් පසුපස හඹාගොස් ඔවුන් ගොඳුරු කර ගනිති. එළුවන් දුටු විට අදුන් දිවියන් බියවී වනාන්තරයේ සඟවෙති.
විවරණය: අනාගතයේදී අධර්මිෂ්ඨ රජවරු ලොව පහල වූ විට, ඔවුන් පහත්, නීච ගති ඇත්තන් තනතුරු වලට පත් කරති. අනතුරුව සම්භාවනීය පුද්ගලයන් තනතුරු වලින් පහකර හරිනු ඇත. ඉන්පසු උසස් පුද්ගලයන්ගේ ධනය කොල්ල කති. එවිට සම්භාවනීය පුද්ගලයන් දිවි රැක ගැනීම සඳහා ගේදොර අතහැර පලාගොස් සැඟවෙති.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකාසීනිවුස්

මහ බැංකුවේ බැඳුම්කර නිකුත්කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් වෝහාරික විගණන වාර්තා සකස් කිරීමට භාර දුන් ඉන්දීය සමාගමේ ප්‍රධානියා ධුරයෙන් ඉවත්කර තිබේ.

ඔහුට එල්ල වූ දූෂණ චෝදනා මත තනතුරෙන් ඉවත් කර ඇතැයි ඉන්දීය මාධ්‍ය වාර්තා විසින් වාර්ථා කරයි.

BDO sacks partner in corruption case

Courtesy The Economic Times

Audit firm BDO has expelled a partner after he was accused in an anonymous complaint of demanding bribes while working on a sensitive assignment with the central government’s income tax department.

An anonymous whistleblower accused two BDO executives of demanding bribes from a company that was being investigated by the income tax department in return for altering its report on the company. The company had captured evidence of one of the executives accepting bribes, according to the complainant.

The income tax department had officially assigned BDO the task of assisting in search and seizure operations in September last year, multiple sources told ET. The auditor provides forensic services to the tax department in various locations.

The Netherlands-headquartered BDO that ranks amongst the top 6 auditors globally was intimated of the allegations in April and an inquiry was instituted by appointing a law firm which eventually led to the termination of one of its partners involved in the assignment, the firm’s managing partner Milind Kothari told ET.

This is unprecedented action taken by the firm. This is the first time in the history of the firm that a partner has been expelled,” Kothari said. Kothari said another executive who was also accused in the complaint had voluntarily resigned on June 14.

The expelled partner had refused to cooperate with the law firm that was investigating the allegations, a BDO India spokesperson said in an emailed statement. One of the executives who was contacted by ET claimed that he was being ‘framed’.

No Action from Tax Authorities

The executive said he was being falsely implicated as he was part of a large number of people that were moving from BDO to a rival. This person, who did not wish to be identified, denied any knowledge of the whistleblower complaint or the investigation by the law firm.

The second executive did not respond to requests for comment. The two executives were part of a team that was hired by BDO from a Big 4 accounting firm last year.

This team used to do similar forensic engagements with the tax department for its earlier employer. The task assigned to BDO by the tax department included retrieving data from laptops and hard drives seized during such operations.

Typically, the tax department also farms out the work of data analysis to the auditor appointed to assist in such investigations. The evidence collected is used to prosecute those suspected of crimes of tax evasion.

A team from the audit firm was stationed in the income tax department in Delhi for the assignment that led to the departure of the two executives, according to people directly aware of the situation.

Sources close to the department say that the tax authorities have also investigated the matter and the role of the firm. A BDO spokesperson said the tax department has not taken any action against them and it continues to provide forensic services at various locations to the department.

Emailed queries to the chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Director General Investigations for Delhi Zone at the income tax department did not elicit a response.

The income tax department began aggressively farming out projects to audit firms and external investigating agencies in the aftermath of demonetisation as the drive against black money received impetus from the central government.

Read more at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/consultancy-/-audit/bdo-sacks-partner-in-corruption-case/articleshow/69951158.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

by C.A.Chandraprema Courtesy Island

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*  Forensic auditors facing fraud charges in India

February 1, 2020, 6:37 pm

The forensic audit into the issue of Treasury bonds by the Central Bank has been released in five volumes. What is of primary interest to Sri Lankans is the fourth volume which deals with the issuance of treasury bonds between 1 February 2015 to 31 March 2016. The three specific transactions that took place on the 27th February 2015 and on the 29th March and 31st March 2016 are the transactions that all Sri Lankans refer to as the ‘bond scam’. Even the Bond Commission that recommended that a forensic audit be carried out was established to cover the period from February 2015 to March 2016. With regard to the original scam that took place on the 27th February 2015, and set alarm bells ringing in financial circles, the forensic audit report states that the Public Debt Department (PDD) of the Central Bank received a request on 23 February 2015 for a funding requirement of Rs. 13 billion. The PDD accordingly, conducted an auction on 27 February 2015 for which the advertisement was released on 25 February 2015 where the value offered was Rs. 1 Billion.

Explaining why only Rs. one billion was offered when Rs. 13 billion was required, Ms. C.M.D.N.K Seneviratne the then Superintendent of Public Debt had stated that when investors know that he Government requirement is high, they will bid at a higher rate of interest. Therefore, the PDD offered Rs. 1 billion at the auction with the intention of raising the remaining Rs. 12 billion through direct placements. The forensic audit report observes that on 27 February 2015 at the closure of Auction when Rs. 20 billion worth of bids had been received, the PDD prepared the Option Sheet recommending that Rs. 2.608 Million be accepted at the Weighted Average Yield Rate of 10.75%. Thereafter, the then Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran had visited the PDD, looked at the Bids Received sheet and asked the PDD to accept entire Rs. 20 Billion bids received to which objections had been raised by Ms. C.M.D.N.K Seneviratne and Dr. M.Z.M. Aazim the Assistant Superintendent of Public Debt. Thereupon Mahendran instructed the PDD to accept bids for Rs. 10 Billion.

 It was further noted that Perpetual Treasuries Ltd placed a total of three bids, one for Rs. 3 billion and two bids for Rs. 5 billion each through the Bank of Ceylon at yield rates of 12.50%, 12.75% and 13% respectively on the day of the auction after 10:30 am, indicating that PTL was aware of the rates at which bids might be accepted by the PDD. It was observed that PTL was allocated only Rs. 27 Million in all the Auctions held since PTL started participation in auctions till February 2015. At the auction of 27 February 2015 however, PTL placed bids for Rs. 15 billion and was allocated Rs. 5 billion. Based on this high volume of bidding and allocation pattern in contrast to the results of previous auctions participated by PTL, it can be inferred that PTL was assured of high allocation in this Auction.

 Furthermore, the Bank of Ceylon had placed bids on behalf of Perpetual Treasuries Ltd (PTL) to the tune of Rs. 13 billion which led to PTL obtaining 50% of the Rs. 10 billion bond offer of 27th February 2015. How PTL was able to obtain this kind of credit from the Bank of Ceylon within a matter of minutes was the other aspect of the bond transaction of the 27th February 2015, which came to the attention of the public. With regard to this, the forensic audit says that it was noted that Arjuna Mahendran had a telephone conversation with Ronald Perera the Chairman of BoC on the date of Auction. Conversations were noted between Mr. J.K.D. Dharamapala, Chief Dealer of the BoC and Mr. Kasun Palisena of PTL which reveal that Mr. Dharmapala placed bids on behalf of PTL. Mr.Dharmapala however stated that no instructions were received from BoC Chairman Ronald Perera for the bids placed by PTL and neither did he inform Ronald Perera about the high bids placed by PTL. He stated that the BoC assumed that the bids placed by PTL were dummy bids.

Guilt established

 Even though this transaction of 27 February 2015 was what first sent alarm bells ringing, what the forensic audit report says about it is that the documentary and digital evidence available and the limited number of voice recordings of dealer rooms of Primary Dealers did not suggest that Arjuna Mahendran was directly involved in sharing insider information with Arjun Aloysius or PTL. The CBSL did not install a  voice record system at the PDD and significant limitations existed on the availability of email files. The data extracted from the mobile phone of Mr. Arjun Aloysius did not pertain to the review period. Hence, the involvement of Arjun Aloysius in any improper dealings related to the issuance of Treasury Bonds during the review period could not be established on the basis of data extracted from mobile phone.

 The forensic audit report states that on 28 March 2016, one day prior to the Auction of 29 March 2016,  senior officers from the state banks, namely, NSB, Bank of Ceylon and People’s Bank were requested to attend a meeting convened by Ravi Karunanayake the then Minister of Finance. The representatives of the three State Banks were requested to co-operate by bidding at low yield rates at the Auction to be held on 29 March 2016. Ravi Karunanayake prescribed a range of rates, lower than the prevailing market rates at the time, at which the three state banks should place their bids in coordination with each other. The State Banks raised their concerns with regard to the risk of losses to the state banks if bids at higher yield rates were accepted from other primary dealers. In response to these concerns, Ravi Karunanayake assured the state banks that bids at higher rates would not be accepted by the CBSL.

 PTL bid at substantially high yield rates as compared to yield rates of the State owned banks and PTL was allocated 39% of the bonds issued. Furthermore Pan Asia bank placed bids on behalf of PTL for Rs. 5,000 million due to which the PTL allocation ratio increased to 53%. The forensic audit report reveals that on review of copies of voice recordings, various conversations were noted between Mr. Kasun Palisena and Mr. Arjun Aloysius that reveals that Mr. Arjun Aloysius had access to information which was only known to the members present at the State Bank meetings. Arjun had informed Kasun Palisena that the state banks had been instructed to bid low and he said that he has a ‘magical sixty billion’ in his    mind  and this       will    be the opportunity of a lifetime. With regard to the bond issue of 29 March 2016, the forensic audit observes as follows. “Based on the available voice recordings and subsequent bidding patterns of PTL and Pan Asia, it can be concluded that Mr. Arjun Aloysius had access to insider information of instructions given to state banks to bid at low prices at Auction of 29 March 2016.” PTL used this insider information and placed bids at substantially higher Weighted Average Yield Rates and was allocated maximum bids in this Auction due to lower yield rates of bids placed by State Banks. 

The Ministry of Finance requested a second meeting with the senior officials of State Banks on 30 March 2016. At that meeting, Ravi Karunanayake once again, requested the State Banks to bid at low yield rates at the Auction scheduled to be held on 31 March 2016. The State Banks were reluctant to agree to this request as the cut off rate at the 29 March Auction had been much higher than the rates prescribed to the State Banks after a similar request by the Ministry of Finance. Ravi Karunanayake agreed that bids at higher yield rates would not be accepted at Auction of 31 March 2016 and prescribed the rates in respect of the bids to be placed at the Auction. In the Auction of 31 March 2016, the PDD offered Rs. 25 Billion against which bids aggregating to Rs. 50 Billion were accepted by the PDD. The PTL allocation ratio of PTL was 69%. The forensic audit report states that based on the telephone conversations between Palisena and Arjun Aloysius, PTL was already aware of the fact on 29 March 2016 that another auction was going to be held on 31 March 2016 even though it had not been advertised by the CBSL. 

Another aspect of the bond purchases of 29 and 31st March 2016 was that PTL bought Rs. 42 billion worth of bonds at the auctions held on 29 and 31 March 2016 and obtained the funding to purchase these bonds from the Central bank itself. The way this was done was that PTL participated in the Open Market Operations auction to borrow Rs. 22 billion at 8% and used the Intra Day Liquidity Facility to borrow a further Rs. 20 billion. They were unable to provide the required security for Rs. 11 billion of the funding from the Open Market Operations and were fined Rs. Rs 7.6 million. They were unable to settle Rs. 11 billion of the Intra-day liquidity facility and they were fined a further Rs. 13.7 million in order to legitimize the transaction. PTL thus bought Central Bank bonds using the money of the Central Bank itself after paying a small fine to the CBSL when they were unable to meet their commitments.

 The forensic audit report states that on 1 April 2016 at a reverse REPO auction of Rs. 30 billion, bids to the value of Rs. 22 Billion had been accepted from PTL. However, PTL failed to tender collateral for the Rs. 22 Billion at the end of that day. On 4 April 2016, Mr. Kasun Palisena (PTL) sent an email to Mr. Arjuna Mahendran at 5:21 p.m. that “all transactions have been cleared and settled. Apologies for making your life miserable for the past few days”.  

What had happened here was that PTL had bought treasury bonds with Central Bank money and then sold the bonds on the secondary market primarily to the EPF and settled the Central Bank. The forensic audit report observes that the email sent by Kasun Palisena to Arjuna Mahendran appears to be in response to Mr. Arjuna Mahendran’s action of avoiding strict action against the PTL for default of dues. Based on the analysis of call log records, available voice recordings, transactions in the secondary market and policy decisions taken by the CBSL in the month of March 2016, indicates that there is substantial evidence of leakage of insider information to PTL enabling it to purchase large amounts of securities in the primary market at low weighted average prices and generate substantial gains in the secondary market.

Handunetti’s view of forensic audits

 There never was any need for a forensic audit for this information because people already knew all this. The only new thing that the forensic audit tries to do here is to say that there is no evidence that Arjuna Mahendran gave inside information to his son in law with regard to the bond issue of 27 February 2015. However with regard to the bond issues of 29 and 31 March, the forensic audit admits that Arjun Aloysius did have inside information but has not named Arjuna Mahendran as the possible source of that information. The forensic auditors therefore seem to be at pains to keep Arjuna Mahendran out of the bond issues of 27 February 2015, 29 March and 31 March 2016. However, The Bond Commission which had recommended this forensic audit had concluded that Arjuna Mahendran had acted improperly and wrongfully by intervening in the bond issue procedure and instructing the PDD to accept Bids to the value of Rs.10 billion on 27 February 2015.

 Since Mahendran had perused the Bids Received Sheet prior to issuing his instruction to accept bids to the value of Rs. 10 billion, the Bond Commission observed that he knew that, PTL would succeed in obtaining the bonds at high yield rates. Mahendran directed that bids to the value of Rs. 10 billion be accepted for the improper and wrongful collateral purpose of enabling PTL to obtain a high value of Treasury bonds at low bid prices and high yield rates. PTL had inside information that a very large amount of bids would be accepted at that auction. PTL acted upon inside information when it placed bids for Rs. 15 billion though only Rs. 1 billion had been offered. Mahendran was the source from which PTL obtained this inside information. Mahendran had thus acted wrongfully, improperly, mala fide, fraudulently and in gross breach of his duties as Governor of the CBSL. 

JVP Parliamentarian Sunil Handunnetti who headed the second COPE investigation always had high expectations with regard to this forensic audit. The only thing he spoke about after his own COPE report was about this ‘voharika vigananaya’. He is probably the politician who has used this term most often in public. After the forensic report came out, he expressed his views on it in a video clip that has been reproduced in Chapa Bandara’s you tube channel on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgyWvKqpBek. 

What Handunnetti says in this video is that the very meaning of a forensic audit is to carry out an audit that is linked directly to a judicial process. He compared it to forensic autopsies and investigations ordered by courts in the case of murder investigations. Because this audit carries the name ‘forensic’, Handunnetti genuinely seems to be under the impression that this equal to forensic investigations ordered by a court of law. He states that there is no better evidence than this forensic report to report matters to courts. When the Bond Commission recommended that a forensic audit be done into the bond scam, they obviously meant an independent audit in which case it would have to be carried out under the supervision of the Auditor General’s Department which would select the auditors, instruct them and pay them. When a court orders a forensic investigation into a murder case, the investigation is carried out by the judicial medical personnel and institutions of the government.

 No court of law has ever told a murder suspect to get the forensic investigation into the murder done by a medical team selected by him, to instruct the forensic medical personnel on what has to be done, and to pay for the forensic investigation out of his own pocket, and to present the findings to court so that the court could decide whether he was guilty or innocent! Yet this is exactly what has happened with regard to the forensic audit into the Central Bank bond scam. The forensic audit has been carried out by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, which was controlled by the very government responsible for the bond scam. They have selected the auditors, instructed the auditors on what needs to be done and they have paid the auditors. The Auditor General’s Department has not been involved in the process at any stage. To make things worse, the Indian audit firm BDO India LLP which was contracted by the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to do the forensic audit is itself facing serious charges of corruption in India. The Economic Times of India reports that BDO which had been providing forensic services to the Indian tax department had sacked one partner and another partner had resigned due to an expose by a whistleblower that bribes had been demanded from a company that was being investigated.  

This had happened last year after BDO had been contracted by the CBSL to do this forensic audit. The other Indian audit firm KPMG India which was involved in this forensic audit under the supervision of BDO, has its own share of problems. The Indian government is planning on banning a KPMG India affiliate BSR & Associates for five years for auditing lapses while investigating a fraud at a financial company. Reuters claims that they have seen tribunal documents to the effect that KPMG India affiliate BSR & Associates had given clean audit reports and ‘deliberately’ failed to report fraudulent activities at the financial company under investigation. This scandal also happened to come out into the open when KPMG India was involved in the forensic audit of the CBSL Bond issues. The CBSL forensic audit which is said to have cost in excess of Rs. 300 million, is not worth the paper it’s written on.

 No court will accept a forensic audit commissioned and paid for by the very institution being investigated. Furthermore, the fact that the Indian audit firms hired by the CBSL to do the audit are themselves facing charges of fraud and corruption seriously compromises the credibility of the forensic audit they did for the CBSL. Both Indian audit firms had been carrying out work for the Indian government when the fraud and corrupt practices are said to have occurred. This makes their findings on the CBSL bond scam worthless in a court of law. The bond scam has been going round in circles for five years. The first inquiry into the bond scam was by the three member Pitipana Committee appointed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in March 2015. Then there was the COPE Subcommittee inquiry headed by D. E. W.Gunasekera in June 2015. This was followed by the COPE Inquiry headed by Sunil Handunnetti from January 2016 to July 2016. Then there was the Bond Commission from January 2017 to December 2017.

 Investigations have been carried out by the Commission to Inquire into Allegations of Bribery and Corruption and the Criminal Investigation Department as well. A wealth of information and evidence has been unearthed by design or by accident during the course of all these investigations, but nothing further has happened. One would think that it’s about time that some concrete action was taken with regard to the issues pertaining to the bond issues that took place on the 27th February 2015 and on the 29th March and 31st March 2016 instead of waffling over piles of useless paper work that seems to go round and round in circles.

Web Focus meadia

https://youtu.be/33bQZkW8UsA

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකාසීනිවුස්

චීන වූහන් නගරයේ සිටි ශ්‍රී ලාංකික සිසුන් 33 දෙනා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ගෙන ඒම සඳහා ගිය යානය මේ වන විට මත්තල ගුවන් තොටුපලට ගොඩබස්වා තිබේ.

එහි සිසුන් 33 දෙනා දෙසතියක කාලයක් නිරෝධායන මධ්‍යස්ථානයේ රැදවීමට නියමිත බව වාර්තා වෙයි.

රෝගය පැතිරීම පාලනය කිරීම සඳහා මෙම පියවර ගෙන ඇතැයි සඳහන්ය.

එමෙන්ම එම ගමන සඳහා සහභාගි වූ කාර්ය මණ්ඩලයටද ගුවන් යානය ද විශේෂ නිරෝධායන කටයුත්ත සිදුකිරීමට නියමිතව ඇත.

එය සාමාන්‍ය මගී ගමන් සදහා යොදා ගැනීම දින කිහිපයක් සිදු නොකරනු ඇතැයිද වාර්තා වෙයි.

 Editorial Staff   Courtesy  HotNews.ro

Two workers from Sri Lanka who have become the target of protests in a Central Romanian town were eventually removed on Saturday from the production process at the bread factory where they were working. The situation, prompted by a wave of xenophobic attitudes among the local population in the town of Ditrau, sparked both actions by authorities, interventions by influential religious and political bodies, and talk of Romanian state’s lack of action and malign influence from the Orban regime in Hungary.

Facing a lack of workforce among the local population, a bread factory in Ditrau, a town in the county of Harghita, which has a large Szekler (ethnic Hungarian) community, used a recruitment company to employ two workers from abroad. The two Sinhalese men started work there, but were met with resistance from the local population, led by the local Greek Catholic priest. More on the issue – here

As the case flared in national media this week, it drew little relevant reaction from authorities and political leaders.

As the townsfolk met this Saturday to discuss the situation of the Sinhalese men, the owners of the bread factory, who initially defended the two, announced they would be removed from the bread production process and moved to another process. The manager apologised to the local population for any inconvenience caused.

The manager was quoted as saying that local people did not want the Sri Lankan workers – who were appreciated by their colleagues – to “touch their bread”.

A report by news agency Agerpres quoted locals claiming they were not “racist”, but that where two migrants come more will come next and “we will find that a quarter of homes here are taken by people of colour”. Reports quoted them as saying that migrants, once more come, would try to impose their culture and even referred to a “high risk of contamination with the [new, China-originating] coronavirus”.

Following today’s events, the Hungarian Democrats (UDMR), who had voiced concern but did not made a fuss of the situation in Ditrau so far, criticised the xenophobic movement there, according to media reports. Also, a prominent Greek-Catholic Church authority in the area was also quoted as saying the priest who led the protests against the Sri Lankan workers was not entitled to do so in any way.

Meanwhile, the police opened an investigation over charges of incitement to hatred and discrimination in the town. And the National Council for Fighting Discrimination announced it would analyse the case following the bread factory decision to remove the two workers from production under racial criteria.

The situation also sparked talk of the influence of the Hungarian regime of Viktor Orban. The Szeklers, the community of ethnic Hungarians in Romania, have little to no access to other media or factors of influence than Hungarian media and Budapest-supported channels (religious, political) which for years have promoted a populist discourse against migrants.

The influence Budapest has on the issue was invoked, among others, by a former leader of the Hungarian Democrats, Marko Bela, in a Transindex article arguing everybody was to blame for allowing a “political science fiction” to deliver such major moral and political damage.

Courtesy Ada Derana

The 33 Sri Lankan students who were flew out of Wuhan in a special charter flight have arrived at the facility set up at Diyatalawa army camp’s Base Hospital for quarantine a short while ago, says Ada Derana correspondent.

The Sri Lankan Airlines flight (UL 1423) carrying a total of 33 Sri Lankan students in the Corona virus-affected Wuhan province in China landed at Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) early this morning (1), consequent upon emergency arrangements effected by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
                        
Sri Lanka Army’s members of the Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Response Squadron qualified to deal with such biological or chemical emergencies has received the and transported them to the Diyatalawa Army Base Hospital for quarantine purposes that would take up to 14 days.
                 
The Army, on the instructions of the acting Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, evening completed the construction of two 100 x 20 sanatorium-type new buildings by Friday (31).

The returned students will be quarantined by keeping them in incubation at least for 14 days under the close supervision of medical consultants, epidemiologists and other staffers, the Army has said.

During the quarantine period, they are to be provided with all day today requirements by the Army such as food, refreshments, sanitary requirements and all other amenities.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Cabinet spokesman, Minister Bandula Gunawardana said yesterday he would file a case in the Supreme Court challenging the economic and monetary decisions taken by Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Treasury officials under the Yahapalanaya government.

“The current economic disaster faced by the Rajapaksa government is the legacy of the previous government. I expect to file a case against the actions of the Yahapalanaya government to prevent such repetition by a future government,” he said. Not only Mangala but former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe must also take much of the blame for the destruction caused to the economy and the country. All these blunders, mistakes and shortcomings have taken place under Ranil’s nose. Therefore, he is the biggest culprit of this disaster.”

The minister said Ranil, Mangala and Treasury officials have misled Parliament with incorrect financial information and hoodwinked the legislature on this matter.

“In addition to seeking legal redress at the Supreme Court, I make a request to the legislature to appoint a select committee to go into these fraudulent acts,” the minister said.

He told a media conference that the Yahapalanaya government had offered contracts to thousands of development and reconstruction projects around the country without the approval of the legislature.

If the Yahapalanaya government keen on developing the country it should have gone first to Parliament. After all this is public money. The Yahapalanaya government had not obtained parliamentary approval to allocate funds for these projects. That is why these projects have collapsed,” the minister said.

The government is following the footsteps of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa by keeping public expenditure to the barest minimum. There will be no posters, cutouts, floats, tamashas, parties, new vehicles and private buildings for state institutions. (Sandun A Jayasekera)

Courtesy Ada Derana

Airbus, Europe’s largest aerospace multinational, is to pay a record £3bn (USD 4 billion) in penalties after admitting it had paid huge bribes on an endemic” basis to land contracts in 20 countries.

Anti-corruption investigators hailed the result as the largest ever corporate fine for bribery in the world after judges declared that the corruption was grave, pervasive and pernicious”.

The planemaker agreed to pay the penalties on Friday after reaching settlements with investigators in the UK, France and the US to end inquiries that started four years ago.

In the high court in London, Dame Victoria Sharp, the President of the Queen’s Bench Division, approved the settlement struck with the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

She said: The seriousness of the criminality in this case hardly needs to be spelled out. As is acknowledged on all sides, it was grave.”

She added that the scale of the wrongdoing demonstrated that bribery was endemic in two core business areas within Airbus”.

Allison Clare, for the SFO, told the court the company had paid bribes in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Taiwan and Ghana between 2011 and 2015.

Airbus, which admitted five counts of failing to prevent bribery, had used a network of secret agents to pay large-scale backhanders to officials in foreign countries to land high-value contracts.

This was run by a unit at its French headquarters, which its one-time chief executive Tom Enders reportedly called bullshit castle”.

French prosecutors examined bribes to other countries including China, Japan, Russia, Kuwait, Brazil and Turkey.

Hugo Keith, for Airbus, said the settlement will draw a line under the investigation and the grave historical practices” exposed by prosecutors.

Airbus hopes the settlements, approved by courts in the three countries, will end turbulence within its management which had led to scores of senior executives being sacked. The firm is one of the largest employers in the UK, with a workforce of 13,500.

The penalties will be paid to the governments of the three countries that investigated Airbus, with £1.7bn going to France and £820m going to the UK Treasury.

The settlement surpasses the previous UK record for a corporate fine for bribery – the £671m paid by Rolls-Royce, Britain’s leading multinational manufacturer, in 2017.

Under the deal, known as a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), Airbus will pay the penalties and promise to mend its ways. In return, any prosecution of the firm as a corporation will be suspended for three years.

Clare told the court the SFO was still considering whether to prosecute individuals involved in the bribery.

Sue Hawley, the executive director of Spotlight on Corruption, said:”Airbus’s egregious bribery around the world has rightly attracted the largest corporate fine for bribery in history. But this fine will ring extremely hollow if prosecutions of those responsible from Airbus senior management at the time of the wrongdoing do not follow.”

The SFO started its investigation in 2016 after evidence emerged of irregularities” involving Airbus’s secret agents. The French and American investigations started later.

The US settlement was approved in Washington by District Judge Thomas Hogan, who said: It was a pervasive and pernicious bribery scheme in various divisions of Airbus SE that went on for a number of years.”

Airbus also admitted violations of US export controls.

However, Friday’s deal left unanswered the fate of the SFO’s investigation into Airbus’s UK-based subsidiary, GPT Special Project Management, which allegedly paid bribes of at least £14m to win Saudi Arabian contracts.

The British government has taken at least 18 months to decide whether to approve the SFO’s request to start prosecutions over the GPT allegations.

In another aspect of the alleged corruption, Airbus started an internal investigation in 2017 after the Guardian uncovered a series of questionable financial transactions in hundreds of leaked bank records and internal memos.

Source: The Guardian

Courtesy Ada Derana

The female Chinese national, the first patient who was tested positive for 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Sri Lanka, has recovered completely, says the Director General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe.

Addressing a media briefing held today (01), Dr. Jasinghe added that the Chinese woman in question, who was admitted to the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), can be discharged.

Sixteen patients who are suspected to have been contaminated with the novel coronavirus are currently receiving treatment at the IDH, he said further.

The first confirmed case of novel coronavirus was reported in Sri Lanka on the 27th of January as a female Chinese national was diagnosed with the deadly virus, which rapidly spread across many countries just within days.

The 47-year old Chinese woman from Hubei Province in China was admitted to the IDH in critical condition.

The woman had arrived as a tourist with another group of travelers and had been screened at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) for having a high fever. The rest of the travelers accompanying her had already left the country and the hotels she and her travel companions had stayed at have been identified.

(A Paper Published by the Sri Lanka Geo-Political Study Circle)

You can delegate authority, but you cannot delegate responsibility”.   Byron Dorgan.

Given hereunder is just one of the many instances, in the draft MCC Agreement, which poses a major threat to the Sovereign State of Sri Lanka.

In Annex 1,  found on page 34 of the draft MCC Agreement, the Sovereign rights of the people, over Land Policy,  over all monies ‘gifted’ by the MCC and, over Management of Sri Lanka’s Land coming under the scope  of the MCC project, would be handed over to a Private Company called MCA (Millennium Challenge Account); this surrender of our sovereignty to the Americans had been pledged by the ousted Sirisena-Wickramasinghe Regime.

It was based on this secret pledge that the MCC drew up the draft MCC Agreement, after months of crafting same on the drawing boards.

The MCA is described in the draft MCC Agreement as an ‘Independent and Autonomous body’.

Reproduced here below is the pertinent section in Annex 1 (page 34). Quote:

 The Government shall appoint an accountable entity, MCA -Sri Lanka, as a company limited by guarantee that shall be created under the Companies Act No. 7 of 2007.”

MCA – Sri Lanka shall be the Government’s primary agent responsible for exercising the Government’s rights and obligations to oversee, manage and implement the Program and Projects.” 

MCA-Sri Lanka shall have operational and legal independence and full decision making autonomy, including, inter alia, the ability, without consultation with, or the consent or approval of any other party to (1) enter into contracts in its own name, (11) sue and be sued, (111) establish an account with a financial institution in its own name and hold MCC funding, in that account, (1v) expend MCC funding, (v) engage contractors, consultants and/ or grantees, including without limitation, procurement and fiscal agents and (vi) competitively engage one or more auditors to conduct audits of its accounts.”

The governance of MCA- Sri Lanka shall be set forth in more detail in the Program Implementation Agreement and the constitutive documents and internal regulations of MCA Sri Lanka (or as otherwise agreed in writing by the Parties).”

Unquote

Readers, see for yourself the disgraceful level to which the Sirisena- Wickramasinghe duo have dragged this country to. Without batting an eyelid, they have secretly pledged, to surrender this country’s autonomy to the Americans.

The Sirisena-Wickramasinghe Government had pledged to the Americans that it would appoint the Company, MCA (Millennium Challenge Account), to be in charge of the entire MCC operation in Sri Lanka.

It is oxymoronic that the Primary Agent of the Government of Sri Lanka is, as per the draft MCC Agreement, an ‘Independent and Autonomous body’.

This Company, as the Primary agent of the Government would be performing the functions of the Government of Sri Lanka; in short, the GOSL would be replaced by the MCA for all matters pertaining to the MCC project, particularly Land and Transport.

The special focus of MCC interest is the TCO-CBO Corridor; at one end of the Corridor is the Trincomalee Port and at the other end is the Colombo Port. The Sirisena-Wickramasinghe duo had pledged to cede control of our two major strategic Ports, to the Americans.

It is interesting to note that Gotabaya has appointed Daya Ratnayake to be in charge of Sri Lanka’s Ports. Ratnayake is a Director of ‘Pathfinders’, an ultra-Conservative American Organisation, set up by Gambol, that receives direct funds from the American Government.

The proposed MCC electrified railway line between the Port of Trincomalee and the Port of Colombo is planned to be done by Japan, the cornerstone  of the US Military alliance in the Indo Pacific; Japan, being also involved in the establishment of the Mono-rail system in CBO will be firmly entrenched in the Ports at TCO and CBO.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 If the draft MCC Agreement is allowed to be  inked, the MCA, would be assigned to represent the Government and would be granted operational and legal independence with full decision-making autonomy.

The Sirisena-Wickramasinghe duo had pledged to the Americans that the MCA would not require to consult or obtain the consent or approval of the GOSL or the people; they had pledged that the MCA would be empowered to bind the Country and the people to their decisions.

And what of the much hyped 480 Million USD? When tranches of money, from the pledged whole, are doled out by the MCC, the monies are put into the bank account of the MCA and NOT, to the coffers of the Government of Sri Lanka!!

The Sirisena-Wickramasinghe duo had also pledged to the Americans that the MCA could spend the money received as they deem fit, without consulting or seeking approval of the Government; furthermore, that  Sri Lanka Government would honour all  the contracts the MCA enters into and allow herself to  be sued for the actions of her Primary Agent.

Could the Auditor General, audit the MCA Accounts? No, the accounts would be audited by Companies selected by the MCA and the rules of audit would be American rules.

The Program Implementation Agreement (PIA), the constitutive documents and the internal regulations of MCA which would define in detail how the MCA should be governed are not included in the draft MCC Agreement circulated by the MCC.

In short, for discussion’s sake, if Sri Lanka had the misfortune to sign the draft MCC ‘Agreement’ she would be accepting terms and conditions unknown to her on how the MCA should be run. It would be akin to signing a document in blank.

Perhaps these documents have been deliberately omitted because whatever that is agreed upon can be readily changed, as per the draft MCC Agreement, if the parties, amongst themselves, make changes and record these changes in writing.

It is pertinent that the Sirisena-Wickramasinghe duo have pledged the above to the Americans, when Article 148 of the Constitution which they are required to uphold says, loud and clear, Parliament shall have full control over public finance.”

There is also violation of Article 154 of the Constitution, relating to the functions of the Auditor General

This is only just one instance, in the draft MCC Agreement, where a pledge has been made that Sri Lanka is willing to surrender her sovereignty; this Study Circle will identify and expose the other areas of treachery in the coming weeks running up to the General Election. The Study Circle will analyse the ramifications of each of these instances of treachery,

The draft MCC Agreement, if signed and implemented, would derail the Constitution, subvert Democracy, physically divide the Country and surrender Sri Lanka and her people to a Foreign Power.

 / to be continued

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

Curriculum and Teaching reforms would be the most considerable area in the education reforms process of Sri Lanka and the quality of education will be dependent on the success of the curriculum and teaching process. This is the secrecy that the success of education in Western countries.  Parents of Sri Lanka wish to send kids for education to Western countries as the expectations of them could not be achieved in the current education system and economic opportunities in Sri Lanka too limited for educated youth the education has not organized to relate with economic plans. The curriculum and teaching have not disposed to support economic development. It needs to understand that education and economic development are variable with higher positive correlation.  

If Sri Lanka’s education system well organized to achieve the best quality and attract foreigners to education it is proved that no point sending kids overseas for education.  The current practice in Sri Lanka shows that sending kids for education in overseas generate cost to country absorbing country’s foreign exchange and finally educated and trained people sending to developed countries out of the cost of Sri Lanka. Indirectly this environment polarizes the society as foreign educated people and locally educated people.

Sometimes, kids in Western countries will come to Sri Lanka for education if the quality of education, the education system supports the expectation of foreigners, the cost of education substantially lesser than the Western countries. The truth is that Sri Lanka has not been to practically maintained all these factors as the fiscal capacity of the country is limited.

There are arguments among education experts in Western countries about their education policies. Either Sri Lankans or many people in overseas have no idea about this arena and blindly believe that the best education system exists in the West.  The major reason to this perception is the offer of education is based on research and many education philosophers such as John Dewey and Charles Sanders Pierce contributed philosophical insights to change the education practice in the West.  Education policy makers in Sri Lanka are neither highly regarded philosophers nor they are good researchers in the field but political supporters of the ruling government and they have no good experience to determine curriculum and teaching applicable to the country. What kind of education should be gained by kids is based on individual preference and ambition, which are concerned with many factors.

When it talks about education the most popular term that goes along with the word education is the curriculum. No matter which context of education talking about curriculum is a vital term to education.  It clearly seems that no education exists without organized curriculum in the modern era. When parents are selecting a school for kids, when matured students selecting a program in a TVET institution or in a university the priority is to investigate or research what sort of curriculum is being offered by the school or TVET institution or the university for educational programs.  Sometimes, it has a feeling that a curriculum is an ever-emphasized term in schools or in society.  Now workplaces also concern about the curriculum learned at schools by employees.  Therefore, it is very clear that the curriculum has a different meaning to different people or organizations and curriculum is the strongest source of knowledge and skills to learners.

The curriculum would be specialized education or training or a source of education and the way of gaining education to different people.  The traditional school system in Sri Lanka, curriculum for exams such as G.C.E. (Ordinary Level) and G.C.E. (Advance Level) had a homogeneous choice in nature and it created issues in the dynamic world as kids had not been supported by school’s curriculum to achieve life expectations such as finding a job. The school administration has not authority to develop school curriculum and the authority of tertiary institutions also very limited.

Curriculum and teaching give impression that it is over-emphasis area in education, the truth regarding education in Sri Lanka, it is less accentuated area in education and after independence many attempts made for changes, but they were not successful achieving expectations of stakeholders. The contributing factor for the failure was lack of experience in how to change curriculum and lack of understanding the strategies that should be used in a complex society for curriculum developments, presentation and teaching methods used in schools illustrating in the national curriculum documents.  In addition to policy in the destitution of knowledge and practical skills gaining from curriculum and teaching, the failure of reforms also contributed to weak curriculum and teaching in Sri Lanka.

Reformists did not educate the public on the essential changes and they haven’t had effective alternative strategies if the reform process would turn to a fiasco and what would be remedial actions to correct mistakes, were not pre-planned by policy makers.  This means that there was not a successful monitoring process to identify weaknesses in policy implementation in the education field. When I was in primary school, I can remember curriculum and teaching methods began to change and give some values to TVET curriculum in Primary education under leadership of Minister Irriagolla, but such a positive change was abandoned as the left politics attempted to use positive changes to discreet it.

Curriculum and teaching are interrelated features in education and practically working together. The success of the curriculum would be achieved on the effectiveness of teaching methods that apply to teach the curriculum in schools. Ornstein and Hunskins (1988) expressed that curriculum as a field of study is elusive and fragmentary and what it is supposed to entail is open to a good deal of debate and even misunderstanding.” Therefore, it is required to clearly understand the meaning of curriculum within the context of education level or area.  Ornstein and Hunskins (1988) further expressed that curriculum approach reflects a holistic position encompassing the foundation of curriculum (the philosophy, view of history, view of psychology, learning theories and view of social issues), domain of curriculum (Common and Important knowledge within the field) and theoretical and practical principles of curriculum.

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

UNESCO defined curriculum is an organized education plan and curriculum in education in Sri Lanka has not become an education plan that leads kids to achieve future success and the national curriculum documents have not organized as an education plan. The weakness in curriculum in schools in Sri Lanka is that educational curriculum in all contexts has not carefully designed plan with education of students. When I was in secondary context, I found that some schools ignored teaching certain topics and the methods used were primitive than requirement of the era. A plan should have broader aims, objectives, specific objectives and the assessment to reflect the achievement of outcomes, however, it is not successfully working in the education system of Sri Lanka.

It is difficult to observe curriculum in schools, TVET systems and universities have organized accordance the definition of UNESCO, and presented in terms of an accepted way as a national curriculum document, which clearly expresses the accepted concept such as outcome-based or cognitive strategies.  Curriculum developers may have selected the necessary area of contents, but the curriculum has not developed organizing the programs with essential characteristics and the way of teachers to adapt to the method and to assess students in support of the method. In this environment, teachers have a predicament using appropriate teaching strategies and student assessment.  In this background tuition masters, who never obtained proper teaching and training qualifications have become heroes of students and parents must spend large sum of money for tuition masters while the government paying salaries and other benefits to teachers who do not play the role expected by stakeholders.

The philosophy of president Rajapaksa on education and training has already presented and adapting to the philosophy in the country has many impediments and substages as many people including school teachers, tertiary educators, tuition masters and, politicians directly or indirectly work against the philosophy and resist the reforms.

Curriculum and relevant teaching methods need to be changed according to aims of the changes, inventions, practices in the world. It needs wider consultation and continuous debate like in the western countries and in this debate desires of stakeholders cannot be ignored and the outcome generation from the education of students in primary and secondary contexts should be given the priority.  When talks about outcomes generation, the best place to demonstrate outcomes are the schools that should have a good environment for the purpose and some schools and teachers use the results of tuition masters’ efforts as their achievements.  tuition masters have good resources environment and resources; however, it is seen that kids are persuading tuition masters than attaching to schools and using the resources of schools. Why this situation created in the country? Many reasons contributed to this situation. 

The first contributory factor is the department of education has not trained teachers to use resources and implement the curriculum in schools to achieve educational outcomes, and the inspection and supervision process of the education department is weaker to assess the practical implementation of curriculum and rate teachers and teaching from the lowest level of education, which is the classroom. 

The education department has disappointed stakeholders without considering the expectations of stakeholders and allowing the promotion of tuition outside the schools, which an expensive method of gaining education despite the existing free education.  Tuition teachers were trained and tuition places have no resources like in schools, in such an environment why students attract tuition places because curriculum has not focused to generates outcomes (including theoretical, practical and qualitative), and schools have failed to achieve the expectation of stakeholders. The government spends money but the expected outcomes have not been generated by the education policy spending money.  Investigation to the problem should be a part of the curriculum and teaching reforms.

The second contributory factor is education assessment, which concerns on curriculum and teaching and they should base on the result generation from education. Outcomes are a combination of knowledge, practice, quality, values and many matters.  Students have a misguided perception that it they achieve knowledge outcomes at the exams it would be the achievement of stakeholders. It is an entirely misconception given to stakeholders’ mind.  This wrong perception must be changed by curriculum and teaching reforms and the achievement of outcomes in a broader area should be designed to focus on education results. The concentration of the achievement of outcomes will be supported to achieve expected results from education and to change the society.

While concentrating on policy developments in education reforms in early childhood, primary and secondary contexts, TVET contexts should be developed competency achievement of students, which relates to knowledge, skills, quality, values, adaptability to work environment and selected area of criteria.  Another significant point is that education policy makers should concentrate teaching from primary context a half of subject in Sinhala or Tamil medium and the other half in English medium, which promote competency in two languages. Knowledge of English has become a major reason to polarisation of society. Education should support to eliminate fallacious attitudes from the society.

TVET curriculum needs focusing on knowledge of the subject matter or trade area, skills in the application of trade competency, practice in the application of value and the ability to converse in Sinhala, English and any other international language such as German, French, Mandarin, Arabic, Korean or any other.  When organizing the curriculum for a broader area of subject and training for the achievement of competencies, there wouldn’t be unemployment in the country as such a trained trade personnel have demand in anywhere in the world.  However, curriculum and teaching in TVET context have not organized in the international qualification framework and the education policy makers need to consider offering TVET qualifications on international framework.

Certificate 1 and 2 level could offer to grade 10 and 12 students and if they do not achieve university entrance, they can continue TVET education in TVET institutions and after an advance diploma they can enter to the university and to obtain a degree within two years, otherwise they can engaged in workplaces as skilled trade personnel.

There is no doubt that education reforms in school contexts and TVET context have lots to do and a country with a small population reforms could be easily implemented with lesser costs. 

Ira de Silva Canada

The Editor,
Human Rights Watch
New York,N.Y.
U.S.A.

 At the outset it is important to state that the so-called “war” in Sri Lanka was one that was waged by the terrorist group known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which had the dubious distinction of being classed as the most violent terrorist group at the time, against the democratically elected Government of Sri Lanka, with the goal of dividing the country to establish a fascist, Tamil only state in the north and east of Sri Lanka comprising one third of the country. The LTTE was an internationally designated group banned by the UNSC and 32 countries. The protracted war was funded by LTTE supporters in Europe, Canada, the U.S. and Australia and supported by these countries just to get votes of LTTE supporters in their countries. Western countries never had any interest in helping Sri Lanka defeat the Tamil terrorists, Sri Lanka had to do it alone. This was at a time that the international community was broadcasting their “war on terrorism”!

When the security forces of the Government of Sri Lanka, without any help from these western countries, finally managed to engage the LTTE and forced it to retreat from west to east, the LTTE compelled Tamil civilians to move with them to be used for their labour and serve as a human shield. In the final stages when it became clear that the LTTE would be defeated, all that the western countries wanted was to negotiate a safe passage for the LTTE leader and his hard core fighters. This effort was led by the U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. R. Blake. This action merely confirmed the fact that the western countries supported LTTE interests, not the people of Sri Lanka who were the victims of Tamil terrorism.

Resolution Number 30/1 of October 1, 2015 was adopted by the UNHRC against Sr Lanka based on an imaginary figure of civilian deaths which were never proven or based of facts. The UN Resident Representative in Colombo reported a total of 7,721 killed between the end of August 2008 and May 13,2009 based on information from selected sources on the ground including Tamil employees of UN agencies whom the LTTE refused to release. TamilNet, the propaganda arm of the LTTE stated the number as 7398. Amensty claimed a total of 10,000 killed, the U.K. Sunday Times reporter, who only flew over the last battleground with Ban Ki Moon on May 25,2009 claimed 20,000 killed and later this figure increased to 40,000 killed. The pro-LTTE reporter Francis Harrison must be still be looking for the dead to count as she believed that 70,000 to 140,000 may have been killed but to  date has not indicated how many she has counted. The fact is that these numbers kept increasing based on the claimant’s need to exaggerate and dramatise but there was no substantiation or proven facts to back these claims. The number of genuine civilians killed is unknown because none of the published figures distinguish between combatants, LTTE auxiliary forces and non-combatant civilians.

The myth of 20,000, 40,000 killed is resurrected whenever the organizations and countries that supported the LTTE make representations at the UN in Geneva.  The pro-LTTE Yasmin Sooka, a Tamil from South Africa who is closely linked  with the Tamil lobby, attends propaganda meetings organized by the pro-LTTE groups, surfaces regularly in time for the Human Rights sessions in Geneva. She has benefited by her openly partisan approach and received a grant of twenty-five million Euros for a NGO headed by her in South Africa.

In 2012 the Government of Sri Lanka carried out  a census carried out by Tamil school teachers and public servants in the north  to find out the number killed in the last stages of the war. They established a number of 7,432 excluding those who had died of natural causes. TamilNet, the propaganda arm of the LTTE stated that the total killed during the period January 1,2009 to May 2009 was 7398. This proves that the figures from LTTE propagandists of 40,000 to 100,000 is merely a figment of their imagination. To date, there are no graves, no dead bodies to substantiate their fictitious numbers.

The question that the UN needs to answer is why Sri Lanka is being harassed by the UN  and orgsnizations such as yours and attempts continue to interfere in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs. Until the UN does and discredits your reports and opinions, Sri Lanka will be subjected to the same lies and myths for the next sessions in Geneva.

I. de Silva

Canada

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane 

Sinhala is the ethnic group native to Sri Lanka, forming the mainstream or the dominant indigenous community of the island for more than 2500 years. In fact, Sri Lanka is the only national sovereign motherland of the Sinhala people. Their culture, way of life and their Sinhala language originated and developed in Sri Lanka. Therefore, inevitably, the sovereign national rights of Sri Lanka rests with the Sinhala people who form the original dominant community of this country. Tamils, Muslims, and Malays are non-indigenous minority settler communities of Sri Lanka who settled in the island at different times in the past, coming from their own homelands or motherlands.

A good part of the long history of the island, has been recorded or written by its own people in an unbroken continuous manner. This written history goes back to over 2500 years and is described chronologically, in detail, in the ancient chronicles Deepavansa (3^rd-4^th century CE), Mahavamsa (6^th century CE), Chulavamsa, besides the Rajavaliya, Pujavaliya, Dhatuvamsaya, Elu-Attanagaluvamsaya, Elu-Bodhivamsaya, Maha Bodhivamsaya, Thupavamsaya, Daladavamsaya and Viharavamsaya. This written history is supported by archaeological evidence, and reports of foreign travelers of ancient times. Among archaeological evidence substantiating recorded historic information are rock inscriptions. The written history of Sri Lanka is regarded as the second-most remarkable recorded history in existence of an ancient and cultured civilization. It is second only to the records maintained by the Shang dynasty of Chinese emperors. The historical chronicles narrate in detail the history of the country since the arrival of Buddhism in 237 BCE or 3rd century BCE or about 2246 years ago.

These historic sources provide information on Sinhala Buddhist Kings who rescued the Sinhala race, the island and Buddhism from marauding Tamil armies of powerful South Indian Dravidian kingdoms. Also about its benevolent rulers who performed deeds of piety, who made the country self-sufficient in rice by way of irrigation engineering, promoted Ayurveda medicine and medical practice, build Buddhist temples, stupas and reigned with efforts to follow Dasaraja Dharma – the tenfold righteous path of a king. The accuracy of this historical record of ancient Sri Lanka is generally accepted by means of other numerous local and Indian edicts such as the  rock edicts of Indian Emperor Asoka and records of the Fa Hien the Chinese pilgrim monk, Roman historian Pliny and several others who have already been referred to. Also, by means of inscriptions, historical works, and literary works as well as by way of ruins, renovated historical and Buddhist monuments, ancient yet sophisticated irrigation networks, which extend the lifeline to date.

Sri Lanka is not the traditional name of the island. In ancient times, the island was referred to in many names but all implied that it is the land of the Sinhala. It was called Sinhaladveepa, Sivuhelaya, Heladiva, Heladveepa, Helabima, Seylan, Taprobane (by Greeks for the ancient name Tambapanni), Thunsinhale, Sinhale, Ceylon and Sri Lanka. Buddhist scholars of ancient times referred to the island as Dhammadveepa or the island of Buddhism. Fa-Hien’s (400 CE) writings & those of Xuan Zang and other ancient Chinese records refer to Sri Lanka as Simhala, Sinhaladipa or land of the Sinhalas. Ptolemy (2^nd century) although calls the island Taprobane, referred to inhabitants of the island as ‘Salai’. Sinhale (or Sinhalay) has been the legitimate historical name, for many centuries in the past, until about the early 19^th century when the people of the island were subject to European colonialism.  It was at this time that the name Sinhale was corrupted by the British as Ceylon. It was 44 years after gaining political independence from the British, in 1972, that the name Sri Lanka was imposed on the island.  It should be noted that in the Sinhala version of the Udarata Givisuma” or the so-called Kandyan Convention of 1815, by which the country fell into the hands of the British, the island is referred to as Sinhale. Excluding the roughly 150 years of British colonial rule, when the island was under colonial rule, Sri Lanka has existed as an independent sovereign nation for about 2500 years. In fact, it is, one of the oldest countries in the world within its present borders. The boundaries of most countries have changed in the past.   

Oldest Buddhist Country in The World

As much as 70% of the total population of Sri Lanka are Buddhists. Sri Lanka is the oldest Buddhist country in the world, where Buddhism was the dominant religion since 237 BCE or for more than 2250 years. It is noteworthy that until about the 16^th century, about 99% of the population of the island were Buddhists. In other words, for some 1800 years, Sri Lanka was an exclusively Buddhist country with almost the entire population being Buddhist. In terms of area and Buddhist population, Sri Lanka, is among the smallest of the 30 traditionally Buddhist countries in the world, which consist of substantial Buddhist populations. Also, it is the smallest among the six Theravada Buddhist countries, namely – Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and India. Although small in area and population, Sri Lanka is by no means ‘small’ in terms of its global significance as a Buddhist country. It has been the country where Buddhist teachings have been preserved in its original form or the Theravada tradition, for over 2200 years. Buddhists across the world respect Sri Lanka as the country where pure Buddhism prevails. It is the traditional Sri Lanka Buddhist flag that has become the acknowledged global Buddhist flag in recent years. It was the recent initiative of Sri Lanka that led the United Nations, to celebrate Vesak as an important global event.

The Buddhist way of life is based fundamentally on non-violence and peaceful co-existence with others irrespective of ethnic, religious, and other differences. For some 2500 years, the Sinhala people were organized in terms of their royalty, nobility, spiritual hierarchy, their Kingdoms and Royal Capitals, and their irrigation-based farming system.  Buddhist values are geared at developing a social ethic which, would contribute to co-existence, mutual understanding, co-operation, and total harmony. To strengthen impartiality, people are advised not to succumb to biases and prejudices not to give in to attachment, hatred, fear, confusion, but to rise above them and do what is righteous. This concept of righteousness, which is designated by the term ‘Dhamma’ in fact, provides the firm foundation for the whole of Buddhist culture. The general admonition is to do what is righteous (Dhamma) and avoid what is unrighteous (adhamma). On this basis, all that is beneficial to oneself and others is considered meritorious (Punna) and wholesome (Kusala) and their opposites as demeritorious (Papa) and unwholesome (akusala). As the Dhammapada (Stanza No.183) says: Not to do any evil, to cultivate good, to purify one’s mind – this is the Teaching of the Buddha. It is on this basic teaching that Buddhist values are developed, lives are molded, and social relations are cultivated. This explains why Buddhist culture attempts to nurture in the people a feeling for others, to mutually share with others moments of happiness and joy, to show respect to elders, to care for parents to attend on the sick and destitute, to honour and respect those who are deserving, to treat guests and visitors with friendliness and affection.

Sinhala Buddhist National Culture 

Sri Lanka’s identity as a nation is based on the Sinhala Buddhist culture and the Sinhala language which is the defining element of Sinhala culture. Buddhist norms and principles form the corner stones of this unique culture. With the arrival and spread of Buddhism in the island, there came an era of unsurpassed attainments and achievements in the country.The island’s civilization has achieved an individuality and identity of its own that distinguishes it from its neighbors.

All salient aspects of our national culture – tangible and intangible, either grew or evolved within the borders of our country. Sinhala language and literature originated in Sri Lanka. Sinhala language in fact is the most important defining element of our nation’s culture and heritage, from historic times. The Sinhala language grew out of Indo-Aryan dialects and exists only in Sri Lanka and has its own distinguished literary tradition. Sinhala is one of the world’s oldest living languages.  There have been a wide range of languages in the world, particularly in Asia which lived and died without leaving evidence of their existence, because they were never written down. This is not the case with the Sinhala language. All other languages used in Sri Lanka originated in other countries.  It is significant to note that the overwhelming majority of people of Sri Lanka are distinguished by their language – Sinhala, which even today has a strong unifying effect in our motherland helping to reinforce the solidarity of our people as a unique cultural entity in the world. Almost all place names of the country from historic times, are in the Sinhala language – in the North, South, East, West and Central regions.

Cultural heritage encompasses material culture, in the form of objects, structures, sites, architecture, sculpture, paintings, and other forms of fine arts, as well as living (or expressive) culture in the form of language, literature, customs, traditions, rituals, ceremonies, and festivals, performing arts, music and so on. These unique forms of cultural expression provide this country with its distinct national identity. They are the living evidence of the outstanding cultural heritage of this nation. It was Buddhism that fashioned lifestyles, fostered the arts, and inspired the nation’s architecture, sculpture, paintings, and other fine arts. It led to the creation of stupes (pagodas), temples, monasteries, statues, and a fascinating diversity of aesthetically pleasing artistic ventures and cultural activities.  It is important to note that all salient aspects of the national culture – tangible and intangible, either grew or evolved within the borders of Sri Lanka. This includes the Sinhala language and literature which originated in the island. 

The exceptionally rich heritage of visual arts of the Sinhala Buddhist people of Sri Lanka, extends to a period that exceeds 2300 years, from the 3rd century BCE to the 21st CE.  The Sinhala Buddhist culture is one of the World’s oldest, continuous, unchanged cultures in existence.  It is one of world’s important and exemplary cultures in existence. It is a civilization unique to Sri Lanka alone.  The simple and uncomplicated lifestyle promoted by Buddhist culture, is based on the five basic precepts of Buddhism. Non-violence, compassion, tolerance, morality, and peaceful coexistence with others and with nature are the cornerstones of Buddhist culture. 

                                                                                                                                     Despite foreign invasions, threats and various forms of challenges and atrocities, Buddhist culture has remained intact in the island, unlike the case with many ancient cultures in most other countries in the world.  Throughout most of its history, Sinhala kings and Buddhist institution of monks, played a major role in the development and maintenance of Buddhist culture and institutions in the island. The world recognition of the greatness of this unique Sinhala Buddhist culture is reflected by the UNESCO designating ancient sites, including the ancient royal capitals of the Sinhala people such – Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Mahanuwara (Kandy), Sigiriya and Dambulla as World Heritage Sites. Ancient irrigation system developed by the Sinhala kings is still operational and is considered as – Engineering marvels. The earthen and stone dams and reservoirs systems the canal network and related water control and management structures and techniques show the skills of the ancient Sinhala people.

There is only one nation in this island of Sri Lanka or Sinhale. A ‘Nation’ is a self-identifying group of people who share a common history, a common language, a common culture and most importantly a homeland. In other words, a nation is the most persistent alliance or organization of three main social components -people-culture- territory. Culture can be defined as the system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning.  In a broader sense, a subculture is any group within a larger complex culture who has interests that vary from those of the mainstream culture. In a more specific sense, it is a group with a distinct style and identity. Even though it is obvious that there are large number of subcultures within any given national culture, People live and think in ways that form finite patterns that can be mutually constructed through a constant process of social interaction. The country’s predominant culture is Sinhala Buddhist. Over the centuries, both Hindus and Buddhists have co-existed well despite occasional politically motivated power struggles. One should not be confusing the issue of citizens’ rights with that of a nation’s identity.

There were Tamils or Dravidians in Sri Lanka for several centuries in the past, most of them assimilated and appreciated the Sinhala Buddhist culture until the Europeans arrived and took control of our nation. Although we let them into our land and offered them hospitality, in return they acted to undermine our country, the Buddhist religion, and tried to destroy our culture and thereby break the harmony in our society. With the adoption of a policy of ‘divide and rule’ by the British, it has been a continuing saga against Sinhala people, especially the Buddhists. To serve their serf interests, the British were largely responsible for germinating mistrust among the various ethnic groups and among our own people.

Tamils cannot have a “right of self-determination” in Sri Lanka because the homeland of the Tamil nation is Tamil Nadu, and not Sri Lanka or ‘Sinhale’ as the island was known in early times. Only the Sinhala nation has the right to self-determination in Sinhale’. The real objective behind all this talk of a “Tamil Nation and Tamils’ Right to Self-Determination” (which even the Indian Constitution does not recognize) is to make way for the racist Tamil LTTE dream of creating a Greater Tamil Eelam linking Sri Lanka’s North and East with Tamil Nadu. The Tamils came from their motherland, the Tamilnadu where their culture and language originated. The Tamil nation of Tamilnadu is seven times bigger than Sri Lanka, where one needs to be a pure Tamil to hold any high official position. Tamils have their national heritage and aspirations protected within Tamilnadu. 

Violation of National Interests  

Hela nationals will not tolerate any community or person who whilst living in the Hela Nation and considering it their home, deliberately misusing such privilege by scheming and adopting violent and extreme actions or contributing to such actions violating the sovereignty, dignity, and territorial integrity of the Sinhala Nation. This includes the ridiculously false and unfounded claims made by Tamil and Muslim leaders in pursuit of carving out ethnic or religious enclaves within the Sinhala Nation, merely because some of them had lived in some specific places in the country for extended periods of time. Persons with such self-serving objectives and attitudes are traitors of the Nation and should be tolerated under any circumstances. There is no place in the Hela Nation for such traitors, double crossers, renegades, turncoats, collaborators of enemies, criminals and terrorists, conspirators, connivers, schemers and emissaries, spies, secret agents, undercover agents, and double agents of the enemies of the Sinhala Nation.

Maintaining the foremost place for Buddhism and protecting and fostering the Buddha Sasana should be essential components of any Constitution of Sri Lanka. The unitary character of the country and the supremacy of the Parliament should always be maintained thereby preventing any form of separatism including federalism or administrative units based on Race, Religion or Language. Police should operate within the entire territory of Sri Lanka under the direction and control of Inspector General of Police who is the head of Sri Lanka Police Force. State land must always be vested with the Republic of Sri Lanka. The Parliament should have full control over public Finance and no institution should be permitted to receive funds from any foreign source, without the approval of the President or the Cabinet of Ministers. 

In Sri Lanka, the granting of excessive rights to minorities in the form of alien-national rights of language and culture, land rights and police powers and so on, and thereby eventually enabling them to form separate ethnic enclaves in different parts of the island should not be permitted under any circumstances.  Such action as evident today, will be strongly resisted by the nation’s patriotic forces, including Buddhist monks who have from historic times been in the forefront in promoting and protecting the Sinhala Buddhist culture of the island. These patriotic forces will not tolerate any disintegration of the national sovereignty, the cultural integrity, and the long-established territorial integrity of the country. There has been serious deprivation of the legitimate rights of the Sinhala Buddhists, in recent times.  In Sri Lanka, many Bhikkhus have entered the political arena to ensure the protection of Buddhist heritage, the Buddha Sasana and Buddhist values which undermined and subject to threats in recent times. Their main motive is to safeguard the national heritage and culture and thereby to secure the rights of the Sinhala Buddhists.

Those settling down or have already settled down in host countries have a bounden duty to merge with the host nation into a single coherent nation of members.  It is basically, a state of mindset, not necessarily physical interaction. Within these host countries, human rights and civic rights of the host nation are what the settler minorities are entitled to and not the alien-national rights of the countries of their national origins they left behind for pastures anew. Their alien-national rights will shift to the private domain when in host countries and not to threaten the national sovereignty of the host countries either.

Sri Lanka wants all non-indigenous minorities of our nation such as the Tamils, Muslims, Moors and others of whatever label, to be a part of our Nation, to join the country’s mainstream, just the way how minority communities are expected to do in all countries of the world, especially in places like Canada, Australia, USA, UK, Norway and help to strengthen our nation founded on the noble principles of non-violence, tolerance, compassion, where peaceful co-habitation has been the cornerstone from historic times. Forgiving and forgetting” has been the attitude of our people, even to those who have harmed us repeatedly from historic times, because our people know that eventually justice and truth will prevail.

Sinhala Buddhist Leadership   

Our Bhikkhus, the traditional leaders of the nation, should necessarily be in the forefront in movements aimed at protecting and promoting the Buddha Sasana and important national interests, especially when they are under threat.  Many Bhikkhus have voluntarily made their choice to take an open public stand on issues surrounding Buddhism and Buddhist culture which is the greatest treasure that our country could offer to the world, to humanity. Our Bhikkhus have become a thorn in the flesh of racists, religious extremists, the recent breed of inter-faith dialogue facilitators, those in the ethnic and human rights businesses and above all those who are funded or backed by extremist foreign anti-Sinhala or anti-Buddhist elements.  Why should anyone feel uncomfortable when Bhikkhus, the traditional spiritual leaders of our country, take the initiative and provide necessary leadership to protect the greatest wealth of this nation – our Buddhist cultural heritage. Like anyone else, under a democratic system, Bhikkhus are eligible to exercise their rights, including political rights. Those who object to the initiative taken by our Bhikkhus appear to be those with ulterior motives, having their own self-interests and opposed to the strengthening and consolidation of Buddhist culture in this country. They in fact are resorting to devious unwholesome activities that are contrary to Buddhist norms and principles which have been preserved and promoted for thousands of years in this country, by the large majority of its inhabitants. These undesirable elements may be feeling uncomfortable about recent changes in the country, especially with the emergence of a political leadership that is representative of the aspirations of the mainstream Sinhala Buddhist community of the island. The recent election of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the President of Sri Lanka, with the overwhelming support of the Sinhala, the dominant community of the island, can be considered as a definite positive development in the country.

The forthcoming parliamentary election provides the opportunity for people to elect such upright, capable and patriotic individuals to work for the welfare of the country, and for the consolidation of the Sinhala Buddhist cultural legacy of the nation. Genuine and practicing Buddhists of our country, or in general, those who strictly follow the Five Precepts, should be more actively involved in politics either directly or indirectly. Most of the ills of our nation’s political life could be attributed to the absence or withdrawal of genuine Buddhists from the nation’s political arena and the domain of the media where they could be quite influential in bringing about necessary changes in public opinion of issues that are of national importance. Genuine Buddhists have a duty by the nation, which is founded on Buddhist principles, to be fully involved and participating in organizations working for the welfare of the nation. This is particularly relevant today because our nation is severely threatened at present by diverse negative forces both local and foreign.

It is the Buddhist perspective to public life and decision-making, that is most needed today, especially in the country’s political domain and administration. We need compassionate politicians and professionals with unselfish and mindful interest in the welfare of the country. This alone can bring about needed positive changes in public life which has been for decades, infected with dishonesty, crime, and corruption. The impact and influence of genuine, selfless patriotic Buddhist leaders, can make a big difference. They can help to generate a wholesome political culture, that is characterized by Buddhist approaches and attitudes and a truly Buddhist atmosphere, conducive to the development of a healthy political climate in our nation, so that all nationals will benefit irrespective of their diverse origins and cultural-religious inclinations.  

Politics in fact is simply about deciding how to live together peaceably while bringing together the wide variety of perspectives available in the human realm. It is something necessary and something creative.  Politics is part of our life. If we regard all life as sacred and politics is a part of life, then politics must be sacred. Politics is not an inherently unclean and base activity. It becomes dirty in the way that everything else becomes dirty. That is, through lack of attention, through lack of mindfulness, through ego, all of which resulting in greed, hatred, and delusion. The best kind of politics can take the profound viewpoints and virtues of spiritual practice and apply them in the public realm. Buddhism can be of fundamental help in this regard. If we do not bring spiritual virtues to the public arena, we are destined to both a selfish kind of spirituality and a selfish kind of government, devoid of vision and meaning. It is time that increasingly of our genuine and practicing Buddhists entered the political arena in various influential capacities.

Buddhism has always been engaged in various socio-political contexts. The idea of interdependence is widely associated with Buddhism. Buddhism is the religion of Human Ecology. Engaging in the lives of others through compassion, sacrifice and service is the worthy spiritual path that the contemporary world needs to observe.  Buddhists need to expand our approach or shift somewhat away from those traditional customs that excessively promote monasticism and individual salvation. They should become more socially engaged and be more concerned about service to the community, the human habitat, and the environment in general. Buddhists need to broaden their spiritual practices to include both family and community and the social and environmental concerns of the broader world. We need to be better able to identify and understand social hardships, misery, and perils, and can do something tangible to relieve them.  It is time that we as Buddhists involve ourselves in an organized manner, become socially engaged and apply Buddhism to matters of everyday life, individual work, family, politics, and the community.  It needs to be a direct application of Buddhist principles and concepts to the overall development of our motherland, to the varied social, economic, and political issues that have implications for the short and long term welfare and development of our motherland, the only country of the Sinhala community.             

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

The evil trio Sambandan/Sumanthiran/Wigneswaran who fervently desist the people’s victory in the presidential election and look at everything cynically and matters to defame and and discredit the government and thereby project Sri Lanka as a nation of discrimination, suppression and a despotic country have taken up National Anthem as their latest punching pad.  Their cohorts, the foreign based diaspora scribes, the pro-UNP Tamil/NGO elements and surprisingly the ignoramus and nincompoop Tamil Nadu politicians such as Stalin, the current leader of DMK (inTamil this party is known as Thi Mu Ka and some people say it represents for Thirutta Mudiyatha Kaluthaikal {The donkeys that cannot be tamed} as well have joined the chorusexpressing their objection to singing the National Anthem only in Sinhala at the forthcoming Independence Day on February 4^th.   

Before proceeding further it is important to say a few words to this Tamil Nadu fellow that he should keep his politics confined to Tamil Nadu and not attempt to meddle with Sri Lankan affairs and if he has any guts and gumption launch a demand to sing the Indian National Anthem of Bengali language Jana Gana Mana” in Tamil in the next Indian Independence Day.  If he made such a demand then this stupid will get a real and unforgettable treatment of cow dung bath from the ordinary street folks in Chennai, before the Indian government take appropriate action against him.

There are nearly 200 countries in the world and in all these countries, countries even with multiple official languages suchas India the National Anthem is sung by only in one language and in some countries it is sung by a language other than the official language of that country.

For instance :

In India  – in Bengali Language although the official language is Hindi.

In Singapore – in Malay language

In Malaysia – in the Indonesian language, Java

In Sri Lanka prior to 1948 the British National Anthem God save the King/Queen” was sung at official functions.  The Cabinet formed by the Prime Minister D.S.Senanayake in 1948 had a quandary of selecting an appropriate song to be sung at the 1949 first independence day.

Minister J.R.Jayawardene then suggested to use the Namo Namo Maatha” song sung by Mr. Ananda Samarakoon and his chorus at the National Congress of Sri Lanka in 1934.  However a Cabinet Sub-committee under the chairmanship of E.A.P. Wijeratne was appointed to select an appropriate song and Messrs. J.R.Jayawardene, G.G.Ponnambalam and C,Sittambalam served as members of thar Committee.  The Committee summoned Mr. Ananda Samarakoon and suggested some minor changes for which Mr. Samarakoon agreed. 

Accordingly Namo Namo Maatha” became the official National Anthem of Sri Lanka.  Many linguistic scholars objected to the term Namo Namo” saying that it is inauspicious and it was the reason for the sudden death of D.S.Senanayake and many other unexpected bad omens around that time and accordingly Namo Namo Maatha” was changed as Sri Lanka Maatha”. It is stated that Mr. Ananda Samarakoon was highly annoyed about this change and it contributed to his suicide.

A terrorist diaspora scribe has written in one of his articles that the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government did enact several constructive achievements favourable to Tamils and chief among them was the climate of ethnic amity and harmony it brought about. A key factor in this was restoring the practice of singing the national anthem in Tamil again. This change was best illustrated by the singing of the national anthem in Tamil at the annual day of independence celebrations. It has been the practice from 2016 to 2019 for the national anthem to be sung in both Sinhala and Tamil at the freedom day event. The ceremony began with singing the anthem

In 2016 the Tamil and terrorist diaspora servile government which blatantly and shamrlrssly igmore and neglect the aspiraions of other people created an unwanted controversy through singing the National in Tamil as well from 2016 Independence Day Celebrations. This stupid and myopic government believed that by singing the national anthem in Sinhala and Tamil, the country would step towards ethnic reconciliation.The question ewmains unanswered as to how does singing the national anthem in two different languages bring two ethnic groups together? On the contrary, it helped them to move further away from one another by singing the anthem as two separate groups?

As per a foreign based diaspora scribe thefirst Tamil political leader to react against the contemplated move to sing the National Anthem only in Sinhala was former Cabinet minister and Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) leader (the Indian descendent) Mano Ganesan. This Indian Origin Tamil (IOT) MP has expressed his criticism through posts on Facebook and Twitter. More importantly, He has also written to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa protesting against the proposed move and released the contents of the missive to the media. Ganesan has pointed out that Tamil was enshrined in the Constitution as an official and national language and urged the President to desist from such a course of action. He also reminded the President that sidelining Tamil was contrary to the pledge Gotabaya made at his swearing in where he said he would function as the President of all Sri Lankans. This nincompoop should be reminded that in his motherland India there are 22 constitutionally recognized lamnguages but their National Anthem is sung only in Bengali although Hindi is the all Indian official language. 

Ganesan followed up his letter to the President by participating in many meetings and televised programmes and expressing strong criticism of the proposed move to abolish the singing of the NA in Tamil at the Independence Day event. He has also been posing the question as to whether the government wanted to set up a Sri Lankan Rajya” or Sinhala Buddhist Rajya.” 
The main reason for Ganesan’s concern over the national anthem issue is perhaps due to the fact that the TPA leader played a constructive role in restoring the rightful status of the national anthem in Tamil. In fact, it was Mano Ganesan who started the ball rolling in gaining recognition for the NA in Tamil after the 2015 regime change. 

Media reports appeared in early March 2015 that Mano Ganesan – who was not evenan an MP then – had raised the issue of the national anthem being sung in Tamil at the National Executive Council in ehich he was member, and the then President Maithripala Sirisena had responded positively and reiterated the constitutional position that there was no bar on the national anthem being sung in Tamil. He had guaranteed that the NA would be sung in Tamil too. Now this IOT may be dreaming that he could manipulate President GR as well like he kept shameless and spineless Sirisena/Ranil under his hackboot.  He should understand that President GR has no obligation at all to listen to him and he is rightfully obliged to fulfil the aspirations of the people who worked and toiled day and night and under sun and rain to make him victorious in the election and to put an end to the foreign and terrorist servile neo-liberal government of Ranil Wickremasinghe..

 It is pertinent to ask this IOT that if he is so concerned about the National Antham Sri Lanka Matha why he remained silent and tongue tied when his swimmingpool paetner megalomanuiac Prabhakaran banned singing this National Amthem and instead sing songs praising and glorifyting terrorism and terrorists.  This IOT should also be reimded the Supreme Court rejection of the petition filed by his Colombno machan Pakyasothy Sarawanamuttu in 2016 pleading to declare tht NA should be sung in Tamil as well.   

The megalomaniac Prabhakaran in 2005 banned Sri Lankan Independence Day and decxlared it as a day of mourning and invited bards and Minstrels to write a national anthem” with patriotic flavour glorifying and extalling the Tamil liberation struggle and submit it to him within one month.  He said that the proposed national anthem should symbolise the history of their struggle and victories, and it should have a maximum of 18 stanzas in “immaculate Tamil.”

Further it was stated that the lyrics should extol the “virtues of those who sacrificed their lives in the Tamil struggle, celebrate the unique qualities of exclusiveness and resourcefulness of the Tamil homeland, and manifest the resoluteness, dedication and the aspirations of the Tamil people for freedom and dignity.”

Many extremely pro-terrorists, including the terrorist poet Kasinathan submitted their songs and they were feroxiously against war heroes, Sri Lankan securityforces, condemning the countryand calling thr Tamils to rise up against to destroy Sri Lanka. 

Accordingly from 2005 upto 2019 until the terrorists were vanquished it was only terrorist songs that were sung in the North and East and these songs were even distributed in foreign coubntries and why they have suddenly become Iinteresred in Sri Lanka Maath” national anthem and their demand to sing it Tamil as well is a well calculated ploy to disrepute the country internationally and hence the government should stand firm and unwavering in its decision. 

Prof. Sandagomi Coperahewa, Head of Department of Sinhala, University of Colombo opined that there may be two official languages, but the national anthem is one symbol and should carry the national significance of a country. If it is sung in another language there has to be a Constitutional Amendment as well. He further statedd that even in countries that have more than one language there is only one National Anthem. Take India for example, it has Hindi and English as official languages but its National Anthem is highly Sanskritised Bengali. It’s not even Hindi, but all Indians sing it. In Singapore there are Tamil, English, Malay and Chinese people, but their National Anthem is sung in Malay. Translations could be there for the purpose of understanding or interpreting, but everybody should sing it in one language,”. 

 Dr. Kalana Senaratne, Senior Lecturer, Department of Law, University of Peradeniya said it is clear that singing the national anthem in Tamil during the past few years hasn’t improved national reconciliation. It is also good to remember that whether we sing the anthem in Tamil or not, Sinhala is considered as the prominent language, because it is the language of the majority. Therefore, singing the national anthem in Tamil is simply a symbolic act, which is immaterial to the advancement of national reconciliation in Sri Lanka. 

Ven. Elle Gunawansa Thero enphasising that it is our foremost duty to protect the independence and sovereignty of the country said that the political parties in the North have deliberately started the demand for singing the National Anthem in Tamil to create chaos in the country to undermine the firthcoming elections. The Ven. Thero further stated similar to we jiuned to gether to get the independence abd similar to we joined together to liberate the country from the terrorists we must join together against these threats as well and explained that disgrunbntled foreign elements are behind these threats.

Rear Admiral Sararath Weerasekera said that the denabd for singing the National Anbthem was not something that originated from the Tamil o rMuslim in the North. It was something floated by racist politician and something that would violate our constitution.     It os a new attempt to create rivalry among the communities.  There should pme nayipnal anthem for a country.  In India swaspite they havng a large population and a large number of communities and languages they sing only one national anthem and that is also in NBengali langiage. He said that this is an unwanted stupid problem created Tamil amd foreign servile Sirisena/Ranil government.

Thw terrorist proxy Sumanthiran whose concerted efforts together with his rterrorist grandpa to segregate the country with theblessings of Ranul flopped has saiud that the attitude of the present gocwenment has become abn obstruction doenational reconciliation and the barrier imposed to sing the National Anthemin Tamil is one such example.  He has reminswsrhar rhey attended the Independence day celebeations in 2015 after several tears because that government made arrangement to sing the Anthem in Tamil as well.  He says the governmwnr promised to provide equal treatment to everyone and it is now being changed. Hehasfuerhwe stated that if the government says that the Tamil people should not sing the National Anthem theywould happily ewdeain from doing so. Going to his eacist and separatist agenda he has said that the main communitysidelined the Tamils several years ago and if that situation is to be changed there should be devolution of power amd then omly you could live in Sri Lanka as equal citizens.

The leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya MP Udaya Gammanpila has said that in Clause 7 of the constitution it is stipulated as to what our National Amthem is and singing the Anthem in the Tamil language will violate the constitution.  Accordingly the National Anthem of the Republic of Sri Lanka is the song Sri Lanka Maathaa” . The verses and the nusic are stipulated in the 3rs subchedule.  If verses other than what is stipulated in the 3^rd sub-schedule was considered as the National Anthem it becomes a violation of the constitution.  Hence singing yhe Anthem as Sri Lanka Thaate” will become a gross violation of the constitution..If the change to be done is a simple change it can be changed by a simpke majority in the Parliamentvut a fundamental change like this requires an approval in the parliament ratified in a eferendum.

Continued………………………….

W. Pathirana.

I am referring to the above titled article in Daily Mirror, p A9 of 6/1/2020 (kksperera1@gmail.com) and the article titled ‘Tamils Want to Sing National Anthem in Their Mother Tongue” on Daily Mirror, p A9 of 11/1/2020 (dbsjeyaraj@yahoo.com).

Material presented here without inhibitions is essentially directed at pathologically broad minded Sinhalese whose ideas in reality give a wrong message to the minorities. There are many articles that poorly reflect the 20 centuries old magnificent Sinhalese heritage and ownership to this island. This is in sharp contrast to the voicing for piling up rights incessantly demanded by the minorities. The issues raised here must be viewed with the back ground that Sri Lankan minorities assume for themselves a majoritarian mind set in that there is a larger Tamil population of 75 million in Tamil Nadu and that the Muslim world extend from Morocco in Atlantic ocean to Indonesia in Pacific ocean with an arch of Muslim countries over India and Sri Lanka (SL).

There is all the time news items for one to see as to how people stand up to protect and uphold their countries. The latest is how Swiss embassy staff and their government went all out to protect a staff member, despite her being a Sri Lankan citizen. One wonders if it has become a fashion to appease the Tamils in this country by many of our eminent journalist.

Not a word was said about a Tamil anthem by the journalists until Sirisena-Ranil government sang it as a vote catching ploy. None of the election manifestoes or even a cursory mention made before the event. There wasn’t any notable demand even by the Tamil leaders on the Tamil anthem issue.

The dire predicament of the Sinhalese are not realized by these journalists and the cocoon dwelling Sinhalese in general. The Sinhalese occupying just a small island and limited to a part of it, increasingly loosing the 20 centuries old territory, in the north by descendants of invading Tamil armies and labor force brought from Tamil Nadu by the Dutch for the tobacco cultivation, in the central hills by labor force brought by the English for tea cultivation, Tamil mercantile class establishing in Colombo area (Sinhalese now a minority in capital?), destroying and erasing Sinhalese cultural heritage in the north and east by the minorities, yet our able journalists split hair to paint a racial picture about the Sinhalese.

Despite using Tamil as their mother tongue, 60,000 Muslims in the north were chased out within 48 hours. Over the years 25,000 Sinhalese had been evicted from the north. Recently due to harassment as many as 80 undergraduates from the University of Jaffna had to be transferred to other universities. About two weeks back few Buddhist murals painted by Jaffna prisoners were prevented from displaying by Tamil politicians. There were minority protests about the burial of a Buddhist monk in the east. The idea is to set up a tribal Tamil racist state to their own peril and to everyone around them. This idea is probably based on the epic Ramayana where thirteen headed mythical Ravana of Lanka is viewed as a Dravidian and hence Tamil rights predate those of Sinhalese. However 20 centuries of recorded Sinhalese history with connections stretching from Rome to China meaning the whole world at that time, together with extensive literature, network of tanks and canals and over 100,000 ruins ever visible reflect the Sinhalese heritage of the island.

One must be concerned about the progressively restricting premise of the Sinhalese from every angle, one of the most accommodative people on earth. In the whole world only the Sinhalese are encouraged and driven to learn Tamil spoken by a very limited population, one more wasteful misguided exercise for Sinhalese in place of learning any one of the international languages. Tamil language had not evolved and refined stagnating for last so many centuries. Incidentally Tamil language too in a global scale is essentially confined to the very south-eastern tip of India at about 5% of Indian population. All the critics of Sinhalese including those Sinhalese themselves are sitting on the lap of Sinhalese and carry on Sinhalese bashing.

Nationally and Internationally the Sinhalese are taken to task by many as they have identified the mindless nature of the Sinhalese. There is a severe drought of ideas even when it is a matter of life and death. More often than not whenever there is a reaction it is misplaced and out of proportion complicating the issue. The international pogroms include: some sections of the Sinhalese themselves, certain SL political parties, by the SL Tamils, Tamil Nadu Tamils, Tamil diaspora with a government in exile, International Non-governmental Organizations who are actually governmental in providing funds and policy directions at the other end, India with the historical blunder in sponsoring Tamil terrorists, Ms. Suka of South Africa’s, Darusman of Indonesia (brought out a strange UN repot available to the accused SL only after 30 years, none had the presence of mind to say we shall respond after studying it at the end of 30 years”). British ruling and Opposition parties where their leaders selectively congratulated Tamils during new year and Thai Pongal without uttering once SL or Sinhalese, Norway, Canada, USA- Co-sponsoring a suicide pact and Hillary receiving Tamil election funds, later returned, France involved during last phase of civil war, Switzerland- courts releasing LTTE terrorists from prison saying they have the right to terror, Australia with a woman in charge of LTTE child soldiers putting on cyanide capsules necklaces, Argentina- for SL siding with UK during Folkland war, Hong Kong and Taiwan on Sri Lanka’s one China policy and by Germany as a pastime. However to their credit a former LTTEr for having indicated movements of late Mr Kadiragamer to the assassins was sentenced to 10.5 years imprisonment. Withstanding such an onslaught, no wonder that Sinhalese are the longest surviving culture in the world (Roman, Greek, Mesopotamian, Ottoman, Persian, possibly Indus all disappeared), that too with a smile despite such powerful adversaries.

On the face value of it and on good intentions in the tradition of Sinhalese, the article ‘Let’s Sing a 50:50’ appear acceptable. The reference to few countries that sing national anthem in 2-3 languages hides the horrendous facts about extreme racist nature of Tamils in SL and for that matter most Tamils as listed above. Those shared singing of anthems in the said countries are not with races who forever are aiming at the throat of the other party. The backwardness of dual/multi language anthems are reflected in the fact that majority of these are in backwrd African countries. Please see listing below on extremely anti SL racial nature of Tamils.

• Prior to racist Vaddukoddai Resolution there was the famous Tamil Conference in San Francisco, US attended by eminent Tamils from all over the world in which SL was identified as the soft target to set up a Tamil state.
• Then came the Vaddukoddai Resolution with the working idea of setting up a Tamil country in SL, All these were before Sinhala Only Act, which had been duly amended but racial slogans continue. Sinhala Only Act was not a demand by the Sinhalese but was a political ploy.
• Tamil population of 15% wanted 50:50 representation in the legislature, the world’s most warped political demand.
• Tamil Nadu has an enactment that all sign boards must have Tamil on top and there is a Tamil language day when only Tamil is used in government institutes including air ports.
• All north east based SL political parties have the word Tamil in their party name but none accuse them of being racial.
• Varadaraja Perumal declared a separate Tamil country in the east.
• Crude and rude mind set is symbolized in the LTTE flag with an angry tiger face surrounded by a string of bullets, number one brutal symbol for a flag.
• Drawing up a map of a separate country covering north-east not realizing how anybody could defend a ‘horse shoe shaped enclave’ with disproportionately long border in proportion to the land area. However upcountry Tamils may join them under ‘little now and more later on’ scheme.
• LTTE attacked all the major vital points in SL- Joint Central Command, Army Headquarters, Central Bank, Central Bus Stand, Central Telegraph Office, Bandaranayake Int. Airport, Fort and Maradana major Railway Stations, Yal Devi express train, Kollonnawa oil tank farm, air raids on Kelani-Tissa Power Generation Plant and Inland Revenue Building, the flight path of which suggest it was an attempted suicidal attack on prime minister’s residence 1-2 Km away, 35 story World Trade Center, Sri Maha Bodhi, Temple of Tooth, sword attacks killing 33 novice hungry Buddhist monks on their way to alms, many mosques attacked last being Akuressa area mosque following which terrorism was wiped out, 550 surrendered policemen massacred (all the mad men are inquiring armed forces for a made up story of killing surrendered LTTE carders. It was LTTE that shot carders of other militant Tamils while pleading on knees), killed 26,000 SL armed forces personnel and 1200 Indian soldiers total killings account for more than all the deaths on either side of Indo-Pak post- independence wars and these numbers are reflective of African ethnic warfare, Massacred countless people in passenger buses, trains, planes, one fell in to sea off Mannar that included a friend of mine Dr Paramasivam, men in agricultural farms, diplomats visiting north injuring Italian ambassador, otherwise vociferous diplomats mute on this occasion, stripped and pulled out fetuses from pregnant mothers, thrashed toddlers held by legs on tree trunks, split head in four from top with swords, drew blood from captured soldiers until collapsed to death, shut Mavil Aru aniquet depriving water , burst a dam causing floods to drown soldiers, extensively used banned Claymore bombs, used hundred of thousands anti- personnel mines, now make international efforts to dig them out without any contribution by Tamils.
• Blasted Chennai airport killing 45, blasted a Tamil Nadu bridge plunging a train load in to river, invaded Maldives islands.
• Killed two heads of states, SL and India and a third in SL escaped but with a lost eye.
• Thrive on smuggling, drugs and every kind of illicit deals. Dug tunnel under US-Canada border to smuggle drugs, Raj Rajaratnum in a 17 yr. prison sentence in US for money laundering.
• During natural disasters it is the Sinhalese who volunteer for action. During Tsunami Colombo Medical Faculty students were there in Trincomalee within 48 hours. These actions are not reciprocated by Tamils perhaps reflecting an inherent deficit in feeling the ownership to the island. Now and then Tamils are driven out of Bombay, Kerala and Andra Pradesh, a similar event took place in Malaysia around 1973.
• Suicidal nature is symbolized with suicide vests and cyanide capsule wearing carders.

For a small ethnic population, confined to a small strip of land, in a small island, to commit such disproportionately horrendous crimes on another group of ethnic population generally recognized as most friendly and graceful, there must be some nasty design by an agency that is yet to be identified. This is a phenomenon that certainly goes far beyond any body’s language rights. No Tamil has ever expressed regret on beastly acts.

One must ask, if there was a Tamil migration over the years in to Sri Lanka whether naturally the opposite too had happened, migration of Sinhalese in to Tamil Nadu (TN). There probably may not be a single Sinhala family, for that matter even a single sign board in Sinhala in TN. Further unlike in SL, there is no Tamil migration in to three states adjoining Tamil Nadu being only less than 1-3% (as against 15% In SL) as they resist Tamil migration. Tamils should have easily walked across overland unlike sailing in to SL but they are not welcome. The introvert nature of Tamils is reflected in the fact that Chennai is the least cosmopolitan and dull city in India as confided by a Tamil friend. However they are much more forward looking compared to SL Tamils in that they elected a non- Tamil/Indian?  Mr Ramachandran as the Chief Minister and A R Rahman compose world beating Hindi songs. Though out of context, I am failing in my duty if no mention is made about great Indian Tamils: mathematician Ramanujam, five times world chess champion Anandan and most humble and respected former president of India Abdul Kalam, the father of India’a nuclear program from Rameshwaran so close to SL are an inspiration to SL, graced SL with a lecture at University of Moratuwa. Also remembered with gratitude are the school teachers in1960s Mr. Cherion and Mr.Venayagam Pillai.

In TN, Buddhist monk was attacked, Sri Lankan airline office stoned, school boy cricket team turned back and Sri Lanka- India cricket encounters take place all over India except in Chennai. A former president of SL was not allowed to pray at a Hindu temple in TN and he had to find an alternative temple in Karnataka and was most welcome by the political leaders there. It is not the Sinhalese but the TN fishermen who rob billions of rupees worth of fish from northern sea symbolic of what is in store. Worst of all, the Kudankulam Atomic Power Generation Plant in TN is staring on the face just across the Polk Straits, an ever presenting symbol of TN big brotherhood?

All this Tamil howling is despite the fact that they were holding eminent positions in the government, business and politics, too long to list here. The climax should have been the appointment of Mr. Lakshman Kadiragaman as the Prime Minister when almost unanimously people were looking forward to, given little more time but was assassinated not by Sinhalese but by Tamils. Only Tamil politician working at present on the spirit of Sinhalese is Mano Ganeshan and is sure to win any seat in Sinhala constituents provided he represent a popular political party. Muslims are a way ahead in this regard.

The Sinhalese do not make eye to eye kind of abrasive replies to Tamil aspirations very likely because they do not see any reason to argue out as to why they live in their own country. The problem is the insurmountable aspirations of the Tamils in SL like crying for the moon. Aspirations and equal rights are to hide their secessionist movement and to belittle Sinhalese nationhood. The talk about second class by the Tamils is to mislead and win sympathy of the Sinhalese. There are no class stratification in SL and whatever is there is only in the minds of the Tamils.

 In Malaysia not a word is uttered about the official language Malay. In fact a Tamil cannot enter any university in Malaysia or outside if he has failed in Malay language as happened to brother of my Tamil roommate in India. Illogical attitude is seen in aspiration to separate and at the same time need to join northern and eastern provinces despite predominately heterogeneous origin of eastern population, a sizable Sinhalese and Muslim populations. Some time back Colombo Chettiyars requested not to classify them as Tamils.

The Sinhalese aspire to revive whole of its heritage in the entire country and live in all parts of the country. They are acutely aware of the fact that this island is the only patch of land on earth that they can claim ownership and live freely. Archaic Jaffna Thesawalamai land ownership rule must be rescinded. There is no purpose of Tamils pretending to umbilical connection to India because Sinhalese too are of north Indian origin, the first chapter of Sinhalese history is set in Vanga Desh (Bengal) from where King Wijaya Sing departed. Relationship to TN is well taken. Tamils are quite insignificant in India, 70 million in a population of 1300 million. You take any distance train or flight from Chennai there is hardly a Tamil to be found. In Kolkata, the next cosmopolitan city with a 10 million population not a single cinema shows any Tamil film, not a single Tamil word to be seen and fortunately there are about 4-5 Tamil restaurants for us to have a familiar meal. Vast majority of Indians cannot understand ondu, rendu, moolu. Pampered by the colonialists they continue to expect the same from others.

Three eminent gentlemen declared i) SL is the country that belongs to Sinhalese- Muththayya Muralidaran, ii) Sinhalese are the least racial people in the world- Lakshman Kadiragaman and iii) SL is a Buddhist country- Malcom Cardinal Ranjith. It may be mentioned here that the famous British prisoner Robert Knox in his treaty on SL not even once mention about a Tamil. It was Mahinda Rajapaksha who addressed the UN in Tamil language and during the recent Thai Pongal festival. Was there a reconciliatory response from the Tamils? None.

 Eternal fighting mood and demands by Tamils could be a result of influencing Tamils with the sickly habit in India to quarrel on every little issue often leading to separation of many states, Assam and Meghalaya, Punjab and Haryana, Andra Pradesh and Telengana. Language, religion, cast, economic disparity, Rama-Ravana are all firing quarrels in India. East of India except for Ache movement in Indonesia with over 600 ethnic groups and Islamists in Philippines all the countries live peacefully. Whatever the issues there are mostly political.

People with this kind of attitude surely cannot be a party to sing the national anthem 50:50. Considering the Tamil strategy of ‘little now and more later on’ it is not advisable to sing the national anthem in Tamil. You can see this craze in incessant demands for Tamil national anthem following singing it by Sirisena-Ranil government as a vote catching gimmick. National anthem in two languages is divisive not reconciliatory. In the ‘Sri Lanka Matha’ lyrics not once a mention of words Sinhala or Buddhist could be found. It is misleading to play down the hard realities and the predicament of Sinhalese or anybody else for that matter. There is an underlying truth in that LTTE heroics went on only until the southern politics patronized it with cash, arms, put them up in 5 star hotels, provided construction material and a wait and watch attitude. A Tamil confidant of President Premadasa blasted him to death.

Hope this article will bring some sanity to Sinhalese journalists and extreme Tamils. Tamil racism narrows down their own potential for larger engagements in the country and display of intellect to the fullest extent. One wonders from the time of King Elara until Tamil Conference in San Francisco in a span of 1500 years there were no issues between Tamils and the Sinhalese. When carefully analyzed it can be seen that it is the non- Hindu Tamils who are responsible for most of the issues. This realization prevented TN Tamils from extending large scale support to LTTE unlike the central government. If the Hindu religious culture of Tamils is revived there could be more peaceful times. The problem is not that of a minority but a minority wanting to rule like a majority. Thesawalamai law in Jaffna, their ability to chase away all other ethnic groups from Jaffna show that the Tamils have more rights than the Sinhalese in SL. Equal rights are already there and the talk of discrimination and multiculturalism is to deny the 20 centuries old rights of the Sinhalese. Sinhalese have every right to establish linguistically a parallel administration in line with Tamil Nadu for Tamils, Bangladesh for Bengalese, Russia for Russians, Malaysia for Malays. SWRD warned of the possibility of a tyranny of the minority which the majority has to guard against. Wish you share this article with the colleagues.

W. Pathirana.

Asanga Abeyagoonasekera

First, let me thank all of you for the tremendous support you have given me during the last few years to establish the National Security Think Tank of Sri Lanka, (INSSSL) under the Ministry of Defence. From the first email I sent to all of you from INSSSL in August 2016, it was a challenging uphill task. We had four Chairman’s starting from 2016 and it was a challenging environment faced with numerous significant national security threats. 

Although establishing a national security think tank was considered as a futile effort by some, each year the importance of a security think tank was felt essential when 250 lives were taken by the extremist terrorists in the Easter Sunday attack. This heinous crime I witnessed from my own eyes at the Shangri-la hotel. I am proud to say it was the National Security think tank INSSSL that forecasted the threat of growing violent extremism in the country from 2018 and warned multiple times that extremists could even target five-star hotels at a threat lens discussion at Ministry of Defence and the last documentation of the extremist terrorist threat was written by INSSSL monthly threat forecast in 2019 January. Unfortunately, all this went unheard and I hope in future that research and analysis conducted by think tanks will be taken much more seriously by our policymakers and government administrative staff. Most reports and observations we compiled were not shared with the higher authorities and was not given enough attention. 

From the time we launched the first research journal Defence Review” in 2017 to all the 74 successful events conducted and recognized regionally and ranked at the global think tank index, it was all of you who were a part of the success. We have built a resource pool of 100 experts from around the world to support INSSSL. I thank all of you for your kind support to be part of the national security think tank. I would like to acknowledge everyone including the distinguished military officers, senior diplomats, researchers, academics to all the resource persons who contributed their time for this endeavour.

From 1st February I will step down as the Director General of INSSSL and handover to Admiral (Retd.) Dr. Jayanath Colombage. While I wish my successor all success, I would like you to kindly support him to build this important institute to a much greater height during his tenure. 

My email and mobile remain the same. Let us keep in touch.

Thank you!

Best Regards,

Asanga Abeyagoonasekera

සිතුම් රාජකරුනා

ඒ ඒ විෂයන්හි වියත්, ස්වචින්තනයකින් යුත් ගුණවත් 
විෂය භාර ඇමතිලා සපිරි ගින්දර ආණ්ඩුවක
දේශ-පාලනය නොකර, දේශ-මෙහෙකාරකමේ යෙදෙන 
මහා සද්ධතිස්සලා නැවත රජ කරන
පින්බර දවස කවදා උදා වේවිද?

එතෙර නාකි ඇලඩින්ලාගේ ශුද්ධ වූ බුමුතුරුණු 
කඳුලින් දෝවනය කරන අපේම තැලුණු පිච්ච මව්වරු 
යළි මෙහි වඩම්මවා
ඒ අයට එකලාව සමෘද්ධ වීමට සමෘධිය නොව, 
අත, හිත වගේම නිදහසේ පිබිදීමට සැලසුම් සපයා දෙන
නිවහල් දවස කවදා උදා වේවිද?

රටේ හෙට දින පිපෙන්නට කල් බලමින් සිටින චූටි පොහො** වලට,
 කුජ ග්‍රහයා දෙස නෙත් යොමා සිටින දුරේක්ෂ කාච විවරයෙහිද 
හෙළ බොදු හැදියාව කියූ, ගවයා ඇති සඳකඩ පහනේ නෙළුමෙහි ද 
රැඳි පින්නෙන් දිය දෙන 
නිර්මල දවස කවදා උදා වේවිද?

දැනට ලොව සම්පතක් කරගෙන ඇති අපේම වැඩ්ඩන් ගෙන්වා, 
කළකිරීම් පහකොට, රටේ සම්පත් පොළොවෙන් ඔසවා, 
ජේතවනය සේ උසට ජාතියේ ‘සක්කෝ’ ගුණය නංවන 
අනුරපුර යුග දවස යළි කවදා උදා වේවිද?

දත් කුහර වන් රැස්වීම් වසන පිරවුම් ලෙස ජනයා නොසලකන, 
මිනිසාගේ ස්වෛරීයත්වයට ගරු කරන, 
ඔවුන් සමඟ වායු සමීකරණය නොකළ, බසයේදී, කෝච්චියේදී
කොණ්ඩය අවුල් කරන, 
සමීකරණ නොවූ සරල වූ හුළඟ ආඝ්‍රහණය කරමින් ගමන් කරන
අනතිමානී දවස කවදා උදා වේවිද?

ප්‍රභුත්වය සමාජ රෝගයක් ගණනට දමා ඒ ගැන ලජ්ජා වන, 
මාරයා විනිවිදින ආරක්ෂක භටයන් වෙනුවට, 
තම අවංක සේවයේ සුභ විපාක පළිහය පෙරමුණේ තබා දිවි ගෙවන
සුඛෝපභෝගීත්වය නිසා, 
තමාට ජනතා දුක නොහැඟෙන ලෙස මුළු සර්වාංගයම නිර්වින්දනය වෙන බව දැන,
 එය මුල් කැවුම සේ අහක ලන
බෝසත් දවස කවදා උදා වේවිද?

ජනතා ජීවයෙන් තැනූ ජාතික නිෂ්පාදන නංවන උපායන්හි වැහුම් අරිද්දී,
 අනුන්ව දම්මවා තමාට පුදාගන්නවා වෙනුවට, 
බුදුන්ට මල් පුදා, කැටපත් ඵලක වල අතිගරු නම් නොකොටා
 ශ්‍රී බුද්ධ වර්ෂය පමණක් දිලිසීමට සලසා දෙන
පැහැබර දවස කවදා උදා වේවිද?

කැමරාවන් ඇහැරීමට පෙර 
අඳුරු සීතල අළුයම පමණක් පන්සල් වඳින
තම ආර්යාවන්, දරුවන් හා ඥාතීන්
පළමු ආර්ය සත්‍යයෙන් කෘතීමව වසන් නොකෙරුන
සත්‍යවාදී දවස කවදා උදා වේවිද?

විදෙස් ආභාෂ උකහාගෙන මුත් 
බඩගැති පෙරාපරදිග යක්ෂයින්ගේ අමාශගත නොවී බේරෙන
නානාප්‍රකාර ආක්‍රමණික පිළිකා පළමු අවදියේම දැන හඳුනාගෙන
 මිලිටරි චිකිත්සා මාර්ගයෙන් මර්ධනය වෙන
සතිමත් දවස කවදා උදා වේවිද?

නැවතත් ඡන්ද සමය ලං වූ විට, ජනතා සේවයෙන් හෙම්බත්ව, 
කෙසඟ වූ ඇමති තුමා, ගෙයින් ගෙට යනවා තබා නැගිටගන්නවත් පණ නැතිව
 මඳ සිනහ රැඳී මුවින් යුතුව වැතිර හිඳිද්දී, 

පිරිපුන් ශරීර හෙබි ජනතාවම 
ගරා වැටුණු නිල නිවෙස කරා විත් තුටු පඬුරු දී,
හිරු බස්නා තෙක් ගුණ වයන

සිහින දවස කවදා උදා වේවිද?

Courtesy Ada Derana

Sri Lanka is well prepared to address any possible coronavirus outbreak, says World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative to Sri Lanka Dr Razia Pendse.

She stated this speaking exclusively to ‘@HydePark’ on Ada Derana. 

Dr Pendse stated that WHO works closely with Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health, the Disaster Preparedness Unit and the Disaster Management Center (DMC) to ensure that the country is well prepared to address any emergency of this sort.

We have all the necessary stockpiles what is needed in terms of equipment in this present situation. We are working very closely with the Ministry of Health to look at the preparedness in the hospitals, to also look at the different stockpiles and what could be the anticipated need, to see whether the country has it.” 

She stated that if required they can quickly mobilize their international networks to get the supplies that is needed. 

We don’t see any kind of huge gap here. The preparedness is very well. It is being monitored from the highest level,” Dr Pendse said. 

Courtesy Ada Derana

The Ambassador of China in Colombo Cheng Xueyuan called on Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa last evening (Jan. 30) at Temple Trees.

Mr. Xueyuan has assured the safety of Sri Lankan students studying in Wuhan Province, China, following the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The Ambassador has stated that the Government of China is taking every measure to contain the outbreak and meet the needs of the Sri Lankan students and families in Wuhan. 

He further noted that the two governments are working together closely to make arrangements to have a special flight land in Wuhan Province to evacuate the Sri Lankans as soon as possible.

The Prime Minister has conveyed the concerns of the parents of the students and other family members of those Sri Lankans living in Wuhan.

PM Rajapaksa has also informed the Ambassador that he has made an appeal to the general public in Sri Lanka, in particular, the media, to act responsibly when sharing information about the Coronavirus outbreak.

The Chinese Ambassador has added that Chinese nationals living in Sri Lanka should have no concerns in going about their day-to-day lives.

Mr. Xueyuan stated that the Government of China has confidence that it will be able to bring the outbreak under control and have life in Wuhan Province return to normalcy very soon.