UNP Colombo District MP Mujibur Rahuman, yesterday, said former health minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne, MP had conducted the controversial ‘white van’ press briefing in November, with the blessing of the UNP leaders.
Addressing the media at Sirikotha MP Rahuman said the government had, instead of probing the allegations of white van abductions, arrested those who made them. “They raised serious issues while exposing white van abductions. The government should have investigated those issues. Instead, the government took those who made the revelations and filed charges against them. That is political witch-hunting.”
Asked whether he would agree that Dr Senaratne’s press conference had adversely impacted on the UNP’s presidential campaign and whether he would not consider it an act of sabotage, the MP said that as far as he was aware, Dr Senaratne had conducted that press conference with the concurrence of the party leaders after discussing it with them.
Responding to a question whether MP Rahuman did not consider that Dr Senaratne had committed an offence by not informing the police of the two persons who claimed to have been involved in abductions, MP Rahuman said that no body still knew whether the suspects were criminals. “There is a case pending and at the end of the hearing we may know the truth. It is up to the court to decide whether those suspects are criminals or not.”
Asked to comment on the allegation that some UNP MPs harboured criminals and when the police moved to arrest them they mysterious fell sick, the MP said that he did not know any such thing.
Parliamentarian Rajitha Senaratne, who was set to be transferred to the Prison Hospital on a recommendation by a prison medical officer, was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Lanka Hospital this afternoon (29).
Accordingly, the prison ambulance which had arrived to escort MP Senaratne who is currently under remand custody left without the parliamentarian.
A prison medical officer examined the former Health Minister who has been remanded until December 30 over the controversial white van” media briefing he had called in November.
She recommended that the parliamentarian could be transferred to the Prisons Hospital or the Colombo National Hospital from the private hospital he is currently receiving treatment at.
Accordingly, an ambulance of the Prisons Department arrived at the Lanka Hospitals this afternoon to escort the former Minister.
Prisons Superintendent Samantha Alahakoon too visited the hospital shortly after, according to our correspondents.
However, it is reported that MP Rajitha Senaratne’s health has deteriorated by this evening; accordingly, he has been admitted to the ICU of Lanka Hospitals.
Meanwhile, former minister Patali Champika Ranawaka and several others visited the Lanka Hospitals to inquire about Rajitha Senaratne’s health.
UNP parliamentarian Mujibar Rahuman says that parliamentarian Rajitha Senarathna carried out the white van media briefing with the awareness of the UNP leadership.
He expressed this view at a media briefing held at the party headquarters Sirikotha today
Why religions emerged to this world and
when religions emerged are hard questions to answer because nobody can give
specific and clear answers to these questions. People can recollect that when
they born, religions were existing and some historians attempted to interpret that
the beginning of religions was to get a relief for the fear of human minds and
the practical results of the operation of religions in this world showed that
religions made a tremendous contribution to the human civilization, which
supported to change the culture (rules and regulations) as well as opened to
intervention for the benefits of people.
The most remarkable nature of religions
was they were operating and working with human minds to understand the right
behavior to perform good work in society. Therefore, religions also contributed to
create a peaceful world despite the conflicts between religions on various
matters such as faiths, practices and justice. While appreciating the services
of religions people should not ignore that religions have mythical beliefs that
cannot be seen by human eyes after death, which is an event ending the material
body of human life. Whichever religion to associated with a person, the outcome
expected by a human from religion is the liberation of humanness which is believed
to be associated with enjoyment of life that is not with the material body. As
Aristotle interpreted humanness is the feature that exists regardless of any
difference between humans and the way lead all humanity to equality. Humanness also shows the difference between
human and animal and human and any other materials which have a life. For example, when a human passed away, we
detect that a human died and when an animal or a plant died it doesn’t
recognize the way that a human passed away.
When people think in this way the
reconciliation between religions is not a hard task and is an essential
condition that is expected by the fundamental objectives of religions. Theoretical differences or faith-related matters
are parts of secular life and the purpose of any religion goes beyond the
secular aims and people with a conscious mind feel why religious reconciliation
could not be achieved in Sri Lanka. The founding philosophy of a religion is
that it should not go against humanity or human values. However, if we go to
the past, we can observe many occasions that recorded religious directions had
gone beyond humanity and human values.
The bomb attacks in churches on the Easter Sunday was a clear example
that religious beliefs of certain people have gone beyond the humanity and
human values and the acts cannot recognize as a religious event but it was an
act against the practicality of humanness or the purpose of human as
interpreted by Aristotle, who clearly explained the purpose of human.
In this environment how to initiate
religious reconciliation in Sri Lanka. might be an issue as the believers of
different religions operating in the country are not ready to sacrifice own
idea or mythical views of religions and lack of understanding of the benefits of
religious reconciliation to the country. Conflicts between religions or
religious extremists reflect that they have no understanding of the roles of
religions and benefits could be generated to society from working with the
concept of religions. It also seems that
many people in the country have affectioned politics than own religions and
this situation uses to promote conflicts between religions.
Politics is a secular matter, which
associates with individual gains or promoting desires despite the objectives of
religions to get away from desires and to align with the spiritual aims of the
human being. Politics also ephemeral
achievements that would not last long and the use of religions for such
temporary indulgence has been the clear nature of the country in the past.
The major impediment to religious
reconciliation in Sri Lanka appears to be pathetic operations of certain
Christian sects, which may have underhand objectives that could not be verified
from the official corporate church. Catholic church, Anglican church and
traditional Christian churches such as Methodist church, Baptise Church, etc
have corporate leaders to take responsibility for operational actions in the
country, but some church groups have not responsible leaders and many instances
revealed that people or the government or any other churches have no idea about
leaders of unknown churches and what are the policies of them and how they
receive finance for expenses. The
operational activities of these strange churches are issues to the Catholic
church and other traditional churches such as Anglican, Baptist, Methodist
churches.
These strange churches work against
traditional Christian churches and some secular matters such as offering money
or other benefits to convert people associated with other religions. The government of Sri Lanka has not developed
appropriate policies to control the roles played by strange churches and many
people view that strange churches associated with foreign NGOs and work to
achieve political objectives of foreign NGOs.
The Second Vatican Council in the early
1960s addressed the issues about the role of religion and religious
reconciliation and the national council conducted by the Catholic church in Sri
Lanka in 1967 authorized to religious reconciliation especially with
Buddhism. Since then the Catholic Church
of Sri Lanka and Buddhism have a good reconciliation and there are no problems
between the Catholic church and Buddhism. In this situation the government can
play a good role appointing a group to develop policies to inter-religious
reconciliation
The first three Presidents of
Sri Lanka made no effort to win the war, though victory was possible. J.R. Jayewardene halted the Vadamarachchi
operation (1987) which would have permanently ended the LTTE offensive.
.Premadasa handed over arms, ammunition, cement and cash to the LTTE. The LTTE
used the ammunition and arms to kill 600 policemen in 1990. In Kumaratunga’s
time, the army was almost wiped out at Mullaitivu (1996). A weeping soldier said
the men had nothing to resist the LTTE with except a pistol and few
grenades. Four years later,
soldiers died of dehydration at Elephant Pass.
These Presidents helped to
strengthen the LTTE and weaken the army.
LTTE was able to bring in large shipments of arms, ammunition and equipment
since coastal defence was neglected.Unsatisfactory military equipment caused
chaos in the battlefield. Sia Marchetti and Pucara planes bought in 1993 were soon grounded. By 2005, around
26,000 soldiers had died.
The person primarily responsible for Sri Lanka ‘s
victory over the LTTE in May 2009 is Mahinda Rajapakse, then
President of Sri Lanka and Commander in Chief of the armed forces.
Rajapakse did not get on an elephant and go to war, but he was the force behind
the war. He withstood enormous international pressure and pursued the
war with determination. .He monitored its progress
and took necessary decisions.
He managed international relations skillfully. He
strengthened diplomatic ties and persuaded
several countries to sell arms to Sri Lanka .Israel replaced two UAVs
shot down by LTTE without any charge. When India
refused to sell arms, Sri Lanka
turned to China. A bilateral body was set up to maintain
continuous dialogue with India and keep it
supportive. India was kept
briefed at all times Sri Lanka could
have won the war three weeks before May 19th. But this would have affected the
election prospects of India’s
Congress Party in Tamilnadu. Rajapakse
therefore held back the troops. Once Tamilnadu went to polls, he ordered the
army to finish the job before the next government was installed in New Delhi.
The next person responsible
for the victory was Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, brother to the
President. Lalith Weeratunga said that he had never seen such a tech-savvy,
resolute, no-nonsense Defence Secretary as Gotabhaya. Gotabhaya had been a
career officer in the Sri
Lanka army. He had received training in India, Pakistan
and USA
and had won two awards for bravery in action. .He had been a commander at Vadamarachhi and Operation Thrividabalaya
Gotabhaya was the mastermind behind the war .As
early as 2006 he had submitted a long list of expensive war equipment he wanted
purchased because he wished to be well prepared. He said I knew that if we had
a committed team, right planning, required numbers and the weaponry we could
achieve our goal .I was not ready to give in to anything or anybody.” He sued a
newspaper that made defamatory allegations regarding the purchase of MiG 27s
and refused a settlement out of court.
He had unreserved access to the President and was the link between the President and
the armed forces.He was a good tactician and personally handled intelligence.
Wiratunge observed that Gotabhaya cared about the lower ranks of the armed
forces. He said most Defense Secretaries did not know the plight of the
soldiers and did not bother about things like houses for them but Gotabhaya
did. He knew their problems and looked into them.
Gotabhaya selected the Service commanders
including Fonseka and ensured that the
three armed forces worked closely together.
He was in close contact with the ground commanders at all stages of the
battle. He sorted out their logistical problems and at times directly
intervened to facilitate coordination between the different forces. Details
were looked into and requests processed quickly.His leadership style included
supporting as well as directing.
For the
first time, the government followed a carefully planned strategy against the
LTTE .War operations, from 1976 to 2002 were studied to find what had gone
wrong. They found nothing wrong with the armed forces and concluded that they
could win. The
armed forces were increased to 450,000 with 300,00 for the army. A dozen new fighting formations were
created ”LTTE thought that we didn’t
have sufficient troops to hold the east and we lulled everyone into believing
this” said
Gotabhaya. When Mavil Aru was blocked, we were ready”.
The government somehow
managed to purchase the necessary military supplies despite cash flow problems
and the need to keep the economy afloat. It set up a company, Lanka Logistics
and Technologies for arms purchases. The directors were Secretary to Treasury,
Secretary for Defense, chief of defense staff, the three service commanders and
IGP. Local agents of foreign arms dealers were excluded.The company dealt
directly with foreign governments. Purchasing procedures were trimmed and
purchase approvals speeded up. This had
needed some heavy handed measures by Gotabhaya. Arms purchases were based on
recommendations of the military with Gotabhaya making the final decision.
Fighter aircraft were purchased. Also, different bombs for different targets.. Earlier there was
only one type of bomb for all targets. Sri Lanka could
have saved a lot of money if it had set up this organization decades earlier.
Defying accepted military strategy the army
attacked the enemy at their strongest points, not the weakest. This took LTTE
by surprise. The army fought on several
fronts simultaneously. Nearly all
assaults were made in heavily mined areas. The momentum was never allowed to
slacken. Instead of the large formations used in the past, the army was trained
to fight in small teams of four and eight. These teams were trained to go
forward on their own. They succeeded in advancing 8 to 12 kilometers per day.
Initially they did not go for territory but went
for the LTTE itself, killing and injuring as many
as possible. LTTE were harried in all
directions and eventually lost their
most experienced fighters and also their morale. The army then started taking territory. In
ten months, it reached Pooneryn in the north
west and neared Mullaitivu on the east. The air force
and navy were sent to hold this territory leaving the army free to go forward. Air
force was sent into the jungles, the navy to the coastal belt along
Trincomalee.
Modern
wars are not won solely on the ground. Navy and air support are essential. LTTE
had eight merchant ships that were bringing in ammunition. They were floating
warehouses carrying an arsenal which would have sustained the war for years. These ships were destroyed in 2006 and 2007.
This task which took years to plan was executed to perfection by the aging Sri Lanka
fleet. LTTE could not land a single shipment of arms thereafter and started retreating on all fronts.
The air force took on several LTTE targets from
the air. They destroyed strategic locations and artillery positions. They went
at bunkers, camps munitions dumps and fuel dumps. Some dumps had two or three
hundred thousand liters of fuel. They attacked Sea Tiger bases, hit concealed vessels and boat building yards. They forced the LTTE to shift
their daytime training to night.
LTTE leaders also had to go underground. Planes provided air support for
the ground attacks, clearing the way for advancing troops. At Puthukudirippu
the helicopter squadron flew many sorties, day and night. It was like 31st
night”.
The Air force never gave in. When LTTE attacked Anuradhapura air base in
October 2007, they went after Tamil Selvam and killed him. This stunned the
LTTE and damaged its morale. The LTTE acquired air capability, with light fixed
wing aircraft.This was the first ever air threat to a conventional air force by
a terrorist organization. Air force countered it with an air defense network,
put together within the record time of one year. It usually took 5 to 8 years.
After every LTTE attack in Colombo the facilitators and supporters who
provided intelligence, finance and housing for the attack team were arrested. The government set up checkpoints and
roadblocks, raided lodges, conducted cordon and search operations. These measures were unpopular at the start,
but they helped break the rich LTTE support network in Colombo and elsewhere. Collaboration between
the military, police, and intelligence service led to the strangling of the
LTTE in the south, reducing their ability to operate effectively specially in Colombo.
Sri Lanka took 2 years and ten months to
eliminate the LTTE Paranthan,
Oddusuddan, Elephant
Pass, the administrative
centre, Kilinochchi and the naval headquarters, Mullaitivu fell in 2009. LTTE leaders were cornered and killed. They
were not allowed to get away. There was
a navy blockade at Mullaitivu and planes were stationed at China Bay[1]to
prevent them escaping. On May 18 Army Commander,
Fonseka had told President that the end could not be achieved within the day. This
was contradicted by the field commanders and victory was declared on May 19
2009. ( continued)
Cultivation of sugar cane is the major sucrose extracting crop used
in sugar industry in Sri Lanka. Sugar is considered as one of the main food
items consumed in the country and hence sugar production and price directly
affects day-to-day life of people in the country.
The annual per capita consumption of sugar in Sri Lanka
is approximately around 30 kg and the total annual requirement of sugar in
the country is around 550,000 tons. In 2012 the country only produced 42,940
tons and imported 593,870 tons, with only approximately 7% of the annual
requirement produced locally. The balance requirement had to be imported. The
total annual expenditure on sugar imports is around Rs. 20 billion. In 2008,
575, 000 tons of sugar have been imported at a cost of Rs. 22.3 billion.
During the colonial occupation following the lifting of
the ban on the purchase of land by Europeans in 1810 and the elimination of
land tax on export crops by the Governor of Ceylon, Edward Barnes in 1824, there was a period of
experimentation (1823-1839) with a number of different cash crops, including
sugar. There were a number of potential reasons, primarily social and
environmental on why sugar production failed to become an established industry
although the southern coastal areas were most suited for sugarcane cultivation.
This land was being used extensively for rice cultivation and the owners of
these lands were unwilling to sell their land.
In the interior the soil was too wet and the lack of
available transport was a problem. The only sugar plantations that survived
from this period were in the south coast near Galle. In the early 1850s the country had
just become self-reliant in respect to sugar production but by the 1860s the
industry was virtually non-existent.
Due to high
temperature and dry condition available in Eastern part of the country,
Sugarcane is an ideal crop to cultivate for sugar production. Monaragala and
Ampara Districts are largely giving their contribution to sugarcane
cultivation for uplifting the country’s economy while declining annual
expenditure spent for sugar import. Four sugarcane plantations have largely
involved to sugar production in Sri Lanka. They are Pellwatte, Hingurana,
Sevanagala and Kanthale. Due to the terrorist war in the last few decades in
the country Kanthale sugar processing plant and the plantation was closed and
the production has not been started yet.
It is reported that the Government has taken
steps to reopen the Kantale Sugar Factory, and tenders have been called from
investors and the Sugar Corporation has received applications from 25
investors who are willing to reopen the Kantale Sugar factory.
It is believed that
more than 5,000 job opportunities could be created and a saving of nearly Rs.
4,000 million could be made on sugar imports by commencing production at
this factory. The Governor of the
Eastern Province Mrs. Anurahda Jayampath visited the Kantale Sugar Factory on
an inspection tour recently and said steps would be taken to re-open the
sugar factory under a new investor within the next three months.
She expressed hope
that the factory would be ready to start production within the next three
months.
It was observed
that the factory had remained out of commission for nearly 25 years thrusting
machinery and equipment valued at nearly Rs. 5,000 million to neglect and
ruin. The Kantale sugar factory which was received as a Czechoslovakian
government aid grant began production on October 2, 1960. It was commissioned
then by the first lady Prime Minister of the world Madam Sirimavo
Bandaranaike.
In 1993 the UNP
government handed it over in a private company and suffered closure by the
end of 1999. Although the factory was again taken over by the government in
1997 it did not begin production.The factory boarders the Mahaweli river,” Seruwila, Kithul
Uthuwa and Minneriya.
The factory was supplying quality sugar to the
market for more than three decades from 1960. During the first and second
decades since inception, the factory was running profitably. From 1980 to
1986, the factory earned a Rs. 70 million profit. It was considered as the
most prosperous period of the Kantale Sugar factory in its history.
The privatization adversely affected the
factory. The inefficient management and the issues of the workers reported to
have led to the eventual closure of the factory. LTTE activities in the area
also affected its operations.
The salaries, EPF, ETF and gratuity were also
not paid to employees properly by the then administration after
privatization. The workers staged a strike against the management demanding
their rights.
There was only one plantation zone in the
earlier period of the factory. After 1970 the plantation area was
decentralized. During the development processof the Kantale Sugar Factory and
Plantation, the plantation area was divided into four zones namely Zone 1, 2,
3 and 4.
Each zone had eight to 17 fields. Each field
comprised 2,000 to 3,000 acres.
During the prosperous period the factory
granted various benefits to its employees and labourers. A working Director
attached to the factory popularised the concept of planting coconut trees in
every field in Zones 1, 2 and 3. Quality mango trees were planted along the
approach roads of the factory. There was a bakery in the factory premises to
provide bread to factory workers. There were ten small tanks in the factory.
Small tanks were constructed at suitable places to facilitate the sugar cane
plantation during the drought period and to improve the living standards of
the workers. During the rainy period water was stored in the small tanks.
There were enough fish in those tanks for the workers’ consumption.
Sri Lanka Freedom Party which was proud to have established sugar manufacturing factoring and thereby curtailing expenditure on sugar imports severely criticized the UNP government for privatising thee sugar factories to hand them over to their political cronies including Daya Gamage for financing their election campaigns. This Gamage is alleged to have amassed undisclosed huge wealth and provides his own helicopter to UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe to facilitate his travel plans during elections. It has been found that these UNP cohorts who got these sugar factories heavily under-valued and almost free as political patronage instead of giving priority for the production of sugar were keen on producing Ethanol in these industries for production of alcohol in their liquor factories.
The government of Prime Minister Mahinda
Rajapaksa repealed the controversial Takeover Act in 2011 ans enacted the
Revival of Underperforming Enterprises of Underutilized Assets Act of 2011and
took over 37 institutions, including the two sugar companies that were
privatised in 2002 by Ranil Wickremasinghe with the concurrence of Chandrika Kumaratunge..
Most of the institutions that were taken over under the Revival of
Underperforming Enterprises of Underutilized Assets Act of 2011 have become
profitable entities. Sevanagala and Pelawatte sugar factories were the most
profitable business entities, and their
privatization directly affected the livelihoods of sugar cane farmers.
In 2002 Lanka Sugar Company Private Ltd. had a
fixed deposit of Rs. 985 million and it has been dwindled to a fixed deposit of
Rs. 781 million. However, the Lanka Sugar Company has not obtained funds from
the Treasury since it was taken over in 2011 and Rs. 700 million has been
transferred to Treasury annually since 2011.
Meanwhile, the Kantale Sugar Factory
which has been closed for nineteen years is falling into ruin.
Residents say that the closure of the factory has led to
them being deprived of numerous direct and indirect job opportunities. The
Kantale Sugar Factory, which in the 1960’s was considered as the largest sugar
production facility in Asia, provided about 10,000 direct and indirect job
opportunities for the people residing in the vicinity.
They say that following a conflict between the
administration and employees as a result of the privatisation of the company in
1994, the factory has been closed with no production whatsoever taking place.
The closure of the factory led to numerous residents losing
their jobs.From 1960 to 94 it was under government control. In 1994 it was
handed over to a private entrepreneur.. About 4000 people, 2000 permanent and
2000 non-permanent, were working in this factory. Rogues are reported to have
made off with about 50 percent of the factory’s assets.
The factory complex which once comprised of luxury housing,
a sports club, shopping complex and social club is now in a dilapidated state,
and has become a burden on the treasury, wasting public funds.
25,000 acres that were allocated for the cultivation of
sugar cane has now become a barren land that poses a threat of wild elephant
incursions and the factory premises remain as a graveyard of metal beasts with
abandoned trucks, tractors, and machinery rusting and becoming
unserviceable.
* No whinging and complaining * No daily rants about the previous government * Business of governing back on track
We
are now past the fifth week of the Gotabhaya Rajapaksa presidency
which officially began on November 18, but have not yet completed six
weeks. The six weeks will be completed only on January 2. That we are
now rid of the raving lunacy of the yahapalana regime seems almost too
good to be true. But it is true, the yahapalanites are no longer in
charge! We no longer have to switch on the TV and watch a demented
yahapalana leader screaming into the camera that the ‘Raaajapaksas’
will be be jailed, that they will be made to wear jumpers, that they
will be made to hang on to windows of the Medamulana walauuwa, that
they should be reborn as earthworms so that they can be cut in two with a
mammoty and more to that effect.
It was not just we
Sri Lankans who realized that Sri Lanka had been taken over by madmen
in January 2015. The whole world was aware of it. When Sri Lanka was
under siege in the UN Human Rights Council in 2012, 2013 and 2014,
there were a significant number of countries that supported us outright
and voted in our favour. Yet another group while sympathizing with us,
and even speaking in our favour in the Council refrained form voting
due to pressure from the Obama administration which they could not
resist because they were dependent on the USA for security or foreign
aid or trade. Both groups of countries were our friends. In 2015, when
the yahapalana government embarked on the self destructive course of
co-sponsoring resolutions against itself, not one of these friendly
countries joined Sri Lanka but chose to watch silently from the
sidelines while Sri Lanka proceeded to shoot herself in her own rear
end.
Normally, one would expect countries that were
friendly with Sri Lanka to support any decision that the elected
government of Sri Lanka takes, and if Sri Lanka’s elected government
decides to try its own armed forces for war crimes at the behest of
foreign powers, then Sri Lanka’s friends would be expected to shrug
their shoulders and say “well if that’s what you want, who are we to
think that we know better?” and help Sri Lanka do whatever she wants.
That however was not how our international friends saw things. They
could see that Sri Lanka’s new government was treading a path that
would not do Sri Lanka any good and indeed would even jeopardize the
interests of the entire bloc of non-aligned nations. Hence, not a
single friendly country joined in the co-sponsored resolutions that Sri
Lanka passed against herself in the UNHRC. Sri Lanka was surrounded
only by the traditional enemies of Sri Lanka when she co-sponsored
resolutions against herself in the Council after 2015. No votes were
taken because Sri Lanka was also a party to the resolutions. Our
international friends were acutely aware that lunatics had taken over
the reigns of power in Sir Lanka and they wanted no part in what Sri
Lanka was doing to herself.
Government by madmen
In
February 2018, on the day that campaigning closed for the local
government elections held that year, no less a personality than the
Auditor General of Sri Lanka called a press conference and announced
publicly that he does not know how much Sri Lanka owes to foreign
creditors. He said that foreign loans had been taken by the previous
(Rajapaksa) government in a haphazard manner with foreign debt being
taken on by certain state owned institutions as well in addition to the
debt taken directly by the government and therefore, nobody had kept
track of how much the country owed to outside parties. This was an
extremely dangerous statement for a responsible state official like the
Auditor General to make. This is the kind of statement that would make
existing investors panic and withdraw their investments from the bond
and stock markets and discourage any new investors from coming in.
After
listening to the Auditor General’s revelations, foreign investors in
Sri Lanka should have been girding their loins to flee. But the Central
Bank of Sri Lanka issued an immediate correction and said that even
though the Auditor General says he does not know how much Sri Lanka owes
foreign creditors, THEY knew exactly how much Sri Lanka owed and to
whom and that Sri Lanka had never defaulted on a payment and that that
there was no need to panic. It was not only the Auditor General who
said that he did not know how much Sri Lanka owes, the President and
Prime Minister of that government and many ministers were also in the
habit of making public statements to the fact that Sri Lanka was in
the midst of a huge debt crisis created by the previous government.
Statements
like these would have destroyed the economy of any other country. The
collapse in Greece was brought about as a result of the Greek
government admitting that they had fudged the budget deficit figures and
that their deficit was actually much larger than depicted officially.
But in Sri Lanka despite important functionaries of the government
ranging from the President, Prime Minister and Auditor General falling
over one another to say how much in debt the country was, we did not
suffer a similar fate.
The reason for this was because
everybody in the world, including friendly countries and investors knew
that Sri Lanka had been taken over by madmen after January 9, 2015 and
their statements need not be taken at face value. When prominent
members of the government kept trying to accuse the previous government
of taking on debt that could not be repaid, the Rajapaksa led Joint
Opposition was forced to react and to point out that it was not the
previous government that was responsible for the debt crisis and to
bring to the attention of the public the quantum of foreign loans taken
by the yahapalana government. Such matters have never been discussed
publicly to such an extent under any previous government that this
writer can remember. Truly there are guardian deities watching over
this country. We were ruled by raving madmen for five years and the
country is still here. The four guardian deities of Sri Lanka. Sri
Vishnu, Kataragama, Sumana Saman and Vibhishana, have to be among the
best there is in the world as far as guardian deities go.
After
the yahapalanites captured the Presidency in January 2015, they had to
face the inconvenient reality that they had lied and conspired their
way into power leaving the public reeling with shock and disbelief after
the result of the Presidential election was announced and they had to
do something fast, to consolidate their hold on power or risk defeat at
the Parliamentary elections that were to follow. So they set about
bribing the voter by increasing public sector monthly salaries by Rs.
10,000 and reducing the taxes on many essential foodstuffs. Thus at one
and the same time, government revenue decreased and expenditure
increased resulting in the government having to make up the shortfall
through borrowings.
The salary hike alone increased public
expenditure by about USD 1.1 billion a year without any concommittant
increase in government revenue. When the salary increase went into the
hands of the public with many families receiving an increase of Rs.
20,000 a month where both parents were state employees, this led to a
spending and importing frenzy leading to balance of payments problems.
Then inevitably, under the tutelage of the IMF, they started collecting
taxes to raise revenue to meet the increased government expenditure.
At last a govt. of doers not whingers
Within
about a year, the economic chickens had come home to roost and taxes
were increased all round. Ultimately, the public was actually made to
pay for the privilege of having the lunatics whom they had elected to
power, running the country! The total government debt which was Rs. 7.39
trillion at the time the yahapalana government came into power in
January 2015, had skyrocketed to Rs. 12.64 trillion by the end of July
2019 – an increase of 71%. This due to no other reason than the
expenditure incurred by the yahapalanites to get themselves elected to
power at the Parliamentary election of 2015. This is the worst crisis
in public finances ever experienced in this country. This country has
never experienced such recklessness and irresponsibility in the
management of public finances at any point in the past.
The
UNP government of 1977 when Ronnie de Mel was the Finance Minister had
been very careful with public finances. Even Chandrika Kumaratunga,
despite her ‘fish woman’ style of governance, was never as reckless as
the yahapalana government when it came to public finances. In
comparison to the yahapalanites even CBK was a paragon of probity and
circumspection. No government in its right senses would mess with
public fiances because finally it is those wielding power who will have
to deal with the consequences sooner rather than later and every
government wants to extend its stay in power for as long as is possible
– this was the factor that brought self discipline into the system.
That commonsense however did not apply to the yahapalana government.
That
is how government debt increased by over 71% in less than five years
during which no investment was made on any major projects. All that
happened during the past five years is the completion of some of the
projects that had been started by the previous Mahinda Rajapaksa
government. Public finances today are in the worst state ever. Yet we
have not heard any whinging or complaining by anybody in the new
government saying that the country is in debt and that the government
is helpless. Compare this with the persistent whinging by Maithripala
Sirisena, Ranil Wickremasinghe and virtually everyone else in the
previous government to the effect that the Rajapaksa government had
taken on debt which could not be repaid. Despite this whinging for
public consumption, what the yahapalanites had actually inherited from
the previous Rajapaksa government was one of the strongest economies in
Asia.
The growth rate was second only to that of China,
the stock market was at its peak, the Rupee had been holding steady for
years, interest rates were the in the single digits, development
projects that had been dreamed of by many governments but could never
be implemented were being built and the country was poised for an
economic take off. The change of government that took place in 2015 was
undoubtedly the most destructive in Sri Lanka’s post independence
history. It was like the sack of Rome by the Vandals. While sacking
Rome, and in the midst of the burning and pillaging, the Vandals were
loudly complaining that the Romans had been doing things the wrong way
and that they had come to put things right for the people of Rome! From
the time the yahapalana government came into power, they kept claiming
that the economy was in a bad shape when they took over and that it
was their job to put things right. This was obviously not true but they
kept repeating it in the Goebbelsian hope that if it is repeated often
enough, it will come to be accepted as the truth.
Envy of the Rajapaksas
The
yahapalanites came into power harbouring a visceral jealousy for what
the Rajapaksa government had achieved. They claimed that all the
infrastructure projects built by the Rajapaksa government were white
elephants. They claimed that the economy was not doing as well as the
Rajapaksas claimed and that the figures had been cooked. One of the
first things that the yahapalanites did after capturing power was to
redo the figures to show that the country had not been growing as fast
as claimed by the Rajapaksa government. A time when we experienced a
kind of insanity similar to that of yahapalana rule was when Chandrika
Kumaratunga came into power in 1994. Where the CBK government of 1994
to 2001 was closest to the yahapalana government was in the relentless
persecution of the opposition. However, the similarities end there.
Even
the persecution of the opposition by the CBK government never reached
the levels of the yahapalana government. The insanity in that
government was largely caused by the behavior CBK herself and her
closest henchmen. CBK however never claimed that the previous UNP
government had been cooking the books to make things look good. At one
TV appearance she in fact acknowledged that considerable development
had taken place under the 1977 UNP government. The yahapalanites
however came into power with the sole intention of claiming that the
Rajapaksa government had done nothing that was worthwhile. SLFP types
always held the view that the UNP was better than them in running the
economy and especially in achieving high growth. The UNP types for their
part always thought they were better than the SLFP at running the
economy. That in fact had been the actual historical experience until
the Rajapaksas took over the SLFP.
After 2005, for the
first time in history, the SLFP started running the economy better than
the UNP. This was obviously something that the UNP types simply could
not stomach. Even the terms used to describe the SLFP ‘baiyyas’ as
against the UNP ‘toyiyas’ shows a certain snooty attitude of mind. For
the first time in history the Rajapaksa led SLFP outdid the UNP in
economic development by a margin that could never be closed. This is
obviously the reason why the UNP expended so much powder and shot
trying to denigrate the Rajapaksa led SLFP’s achievements between 2006
and 2014. But the flatfooted, incompetent, ignorant and arrogant way
the yahapalana government went about running the country has now ended
up destroying for good the economic credentials of the UNP.
After
2015, for the first time in history, the economy went into a tailspin
after a UNP government took office. The growth rate plummeted, the
stock market crashed. Now the historic roles have been reversed. The UNP
have become ‘baiyyas’ the mere sight of whom sends the economy into
reverse gear, and the SLPP which has emerged out of the old SLFP have
become the new ‘toiyyas’ the doers, who can put the economy right. The
UNP might as well now stop speaking in English and use only the
vernacular. They might as well drop the traditional UNP attaire of
jacket and tie and wear a traditional ‘amude’ (loin cloth) instead. The
UNP is now not a party of economic managers, but a party of tree
climbers at best. What they are fit for, is to shin up trees wearing
amudes, to pluck coconuts.
Today, less than six weeks into
a new government, the difference is palpable. The English speaking
tree climbers have been defeated and the economic managers are back.
All complaining and whinging has stopped. Even though the new
government has inherited the biggest debt crisis that this country has
ever faced, no one has still spoken about it or complained. When Dr
Nandalal Weerasinghe of the Central Bank was asked at a press conference
last Friday, as to how much foreign debt will have to be paid back in
the year 2020, he said it was about 4.8 billion USD. Without any doubt
this country is in dire straits due to the debt crisis created by the
yahapalana government.
But the only sign that the new
government has given of a crisis are the austerity measures that have
been adopted by everyone from the President downwards. Despite the debt
crisis, drastic tax cuts have been made in order to get the economy
going again. There was no unavoidable global reason for the lack of
economic growth during the yahapalana government. The economy was doing
badly only due to their baneful presence as leaders of the country.
During the past five years, countries like India and Bangladesh were
growing at unprecedented rates while Sri Lanka stagnated. The
international conditions were propitious for growth. World crude oil
prices were less than half of what it had been before 2015 and yet the
yahapalana government failed to make any headway.
As of
now, the new government is engaged in an effort to jump start the
economy. If this government can’t do it, no one else can do it. Last
month’s election result showed that the people wanted the insanity of
the past five years to come to an end. The voters did ensure that it
came to an end, and how!
It has been observed today as to whether parliamentarian Rajitha Senaratne who is currently receiving treatment at the Lanka private hospital in Narahenpita subsequent to his arrest, could be transferred to the prison hospital.
The prison’s department said that this observation was made by a prison’s doctor this morning.
A report in this regard is scheduled to be given to the prison’s commissioner.
Parliamentarian Rajitha Senaratne is currently receiving treatment at the Lanka private hospital amidst security of prison officials.
Meanwhile several UNP Mps arrived at the hospital today as well to look into the wellbeing of the parliamentarian.
Meanwhile the New Sinhaley National organization lodged a complaint at the CID today regarding the details of the parliamentarian’s medical report which were revealed yesterday.
Meanwhile the Sinhaley organization lodged another complaint at the CID today requesting for legal action to be taken against those who encouraged parliamentarian Rajitha Senaratne to go into hiding following the issuance of the warrant.
Multiple venues were targeted on
21 April 2019 Easter Sunday causing death & mayhem across the island. What
is tragic is that Sri Lanka’s Govt were given not just 1 warning but over 90 warnings
over a period of 2 years. What is more baffling is that on the month of the
attack and hours before the attack names of the suicide bombers, their phone
numbers and even venues were given. Why were these venues not informed, why
were police not dispatched are not as important as knowing who planned this
attack and why?
We know who the suicide bombers were.
We need to know how connected
they were to big local names and whether they too were aware of the plans.
We know who in Govt knew of the
attacks but did nothing to stop it, but the other question we want answered is
whether they knew who planned the attack.
The most important question we want answered is not about who executed
the attacks and died but who thought of attacking Sri Lanka’s churches and
hotels on Easter Sunday, for what reason, what were their other objectives and
who else was involved in mapping out this plan.
Obviously those that plotted this
had arranged for the suicide bombers to be brainwashed into carrying it out –
who did the training, who acted as go-between and how much did every player in
this chain know of the ultimate goal?
Were there a foreign involvement –
if so whom? From what nation, what foreign intel agencies, where and how did
they carry out the plan that eventually materialized in so many innocent
deaths.
We are having in prison the IGP
and the former Defense Secretary for neglect of their duties and true that is a
major faux pas in their duties, but more important is that we identify the
players and individuals who had planned this attack because if we do not catch
them or at least identify them, there is more possibilities of them planning
more attacks in the future changing their modus operandi.
Therefore, the Commission and the new investigation teams appointed
must come to the bottom of this – we must know who planned the attack, why, who
they co-opted, how much was paid to each, what other payments for their silence
etc.
Without this all important question
unanswered there will be no justice for the innocent dead.
As Buddhists we do not believe in deities or spiritual powers. Qualities to be possessed by Leaders are contained in the Noble Eightford Path, viz.
1. Right understanding (Samma ditthi)
2. Right thought (Samma sankappa)
3. Right speech (Samma vaca)
4. Right action (Samma kammanta)
5. Right livelihood (Samma ajiva)
6. Right effort (Samma vayama)
7. Right mindfulness (Samma sati)
8. Right concentration (Samma samadhi)
President Gotabaya is a proud owner of a trained mind, for several years, in line with above eight concepts. He did not practice Buddhism for Glory. He did not practice Buddhism to win Votes. He did not practice Buddhism to become the President of Sri Lanka.
Several years ago, when a Media person asked Gotabaya what he would like to do in retirement, he replied with his famous offcut smile with his lips momentarily slightly moving to left horizontally: ” I like to go to the village, wear a Sarong. Meditate and have a quiet life with Gamay Minissu (Villagers)”.
But today, he is elevated to the highest rank in Sri Lanka and need to deal with Law-abiding citizens as well as Crooks. Except in Sri Lanka, there is no other better place to find majority Crooks wearing face-masks to deceive innocent people in your private life as well as public roles.
But, Venerable Sri Samanthabadra “Maha Arahat” Thero (Pitiduwe Siridamma at Sri Sadaham Ashramaya at Boralesgamuwa), Anura Kumara, Ranil, Sumanthiran, Sambandan, Mano, Rauf, Badudeen, Sajith, Maithree, Jayampathi W, Champika, Rajitha, Sarath F, Karu J, etc. are they Sri Lankans? They are scoundrels. Therefore, we need tobe cautious ofthese Puppet Sri Lankans, who are financed by anti-Sri Lankans and misguided followers.
We need to put an end to White Van saga once and for all. How much of mental pain must have been inflicted on President Gotabaya, before and after becoming the Leader of the Nation, for offences never committed by this true Sinhala Buddhist man. Gotabaya Rajapakse can be singled out as a Man above Politics.
President Gotabaya will never make under-hand Deals. He is a true Buddhist, perhaps a very rare true Buddhist, who strictly practice Buddhist principles, not just on Poya Days, but daily, including during working hours.
President Gotabaya is an exemplary character practising Buddhist principles as a laymen. We are nowhere near the standards of The Great man known as Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapakse.
Wishing you, your family and my country Samma Ditti under your leadership.
Eelam War IV was won
due to the dedication of those who participated in it. The
commanders of the armed forces were confident of victory and, for the first
time, the forces experienced a firm political commitment to win. Their morale
went up and they fought
with great dedication.
Unlike in previous years, there were no large scale desertions and
disobeying of orders.
Gotabhaya Rajapakse
said, the soldiers realised their
responsibility to the nation and fought without complaint. They fought day and
night, under continuous fire. They did
not ask for anything extra as a reward for their sacrifices. They knew their country depended on
them. Their perseverance and sense of
national duty won us the war”. This
came at a price. 6000 troops died, 5000 were disabled and 20,000 were
injured. Some soldiers are shell shocked and out of their minds.
There
were numerous acts of heroism which the public do not know. A monk who worked
with injured soldiers said that soldiers, even when disabled declared that they
wished to return to the front. They were ready to sacrifice their lives in the
final battle. There was a high standard
of discipline. There was not a single instance where the army was found wanting
in its conduct towards women. Soldiers have never been accused of rape. The
LTTE had raped many of its women. (Stephen
Long. Island 5.10.09 p 4).
Troops suffered
untold hardships in the battlefield. There was thirst and exhaustion. The Malaysian
army faced
insurgents armed only with rifles. The
Sri Lanka soldier faced an enemy equipped with sophisticated weapons. Army got its new ammunition only in 2008, even then they never had all the ammunition necessary. Soldiers fought in heavily mined territory and .many
lost their limbs. There were no mine plucking machines and the engineers had to de-mine the area.working
‘blind’, while LTTE fired at them. Touching
slowly with their hands, they detonated the mines using S-Lon tubes. This was done under fire almost every
day. Many engineers sustained injuries,
most lost eyes, arms and legs.
Air Force declared
that it had been stretched to the limit
and that what it had had achieved with available
resources was tremendous. The Indian Air Chief had admired the way they had
used its limited resources. The Air
Force fought the war by itself. Pakistani pilots were not involved. Pilots
performed under trying conditions. They carried out 1000 missions in the Vanni,
amidst civilians. They had to airlift 500 army personnel using helicopters
meant for 30 persons.
They underwent much
hardship. When they were short of pilots, available pilots went up 3 and 4
times a day. ‘This is very tiring for a pilot.’ Surveillance pilots risked
safety to obtain real time imagery. They burnt the midnight oil peering into
the screen to catch enemy moves on the grounds.
They were on surveillance for 6-7 hours at a stretch. Pilots
bravely went as low as 7000 feet to attack
targets. Around 38 pilots and 430 other officers and rankers died, around 350
were wounded.
The engineers and technicians
also responded magnificently.They forgot about 24 hours notice. In
an emergency, the time available for the technician was counted in
seconds. Aircraft were
returned to the flight lines in record time. If a plane was to fly
at 6 am the technicians
started loading bombs around midnight.
For each jet they had to load eight bombs each weighing 500 kg. Technicians worked round the clock to patch up damaged aircraft. They sometimes worked continuously for 3-4
days. They innovated when spare parts were delayed. Battle damage and unserviceability did not deter them. They once
took a badly damaged helicopter which was going to be destroyed and repaired it
within a few hours. They coaxed
tired engines back into fighting mode. They took a life expired engine,
stripped it, and put it together again.
The electronics
specialists kept the electronic systems going despite logistical and
maintenance problems.
The navy
also showed considerable dedication. During
the final blockade off Mullaitivu, Navy staff did not want to go on leave till
they had finished off the LTTE. The
sailors had to stay in great discomfort on the seas, in small boats filled with
equipment, with hardly any room to move. They had to swim to get there and stay
in their wet clothes all night. They endured all this discomfort willingly.
Military personnel
injured in the war were treated at the government hospitals of Colombo, Anuradhapura, Sri Jayawardenapura, Kalubowila
and Kandy. Anuradhapura teaching hospital had the biggest load. Anuradhapura staff nursed thousands of injured soldiers with great dedication. The army gave them
a special upahara award. Anuradhapura
sent its difficult surgical cases to Kandy.
They were looked after by the Kandy hospital staff with no additional
assistance. Routine operations were cancelled
and surgeons worked round the clock. All worked willingly, no one grumbled, though
their security was also under threat. The minor staff had their leave cancelled
but did not complain. The injuries were gruesome and required complicated surgery. In the
orthopedic wards, no one had to have a
higher amputation, no one died and there were no serious infections in spite of
the severely contaminated wounds. At times there were over 100 seriously
injured soldiers. Five beds in each ward were set aside for them and none of
them were ever put on the ground.
The dedication of the
Home Guards, now known as Civil Defence Force should not be forgotten. This
was a force made up of
youngsters from remote areas, who were given a single barrel shot gun and asked
to provide security for their villages, which had become soft targets for the
LTTE. Though poorly armed and outmanned the home guards refused to budge and
paid with their lives while trying to protect others from the LTTE .615 home
guards both male and females were been killed. ( CONTINUED)
By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Express Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who won the Sri Lankan Presidential election on November 16 emphatically, and formed a government with his brother and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister, appears to have two objectives at this point of time.
One is to put together a top-level team which will carry out his political and governance agendas, and the other is to secure two thirds majority or near two thirds majority in the April 2020 parliamentary elections in order to carry out the constitutional changes he has up his sleeve.
It is well-known that he is very keen on either repealing or drastically pruning the 19 th. Amendment which cut the powers of the President and increased the powers of other arms of the State in a haphazard manner making the government as a whole dysfunctional.
In his Council of Ministers, Gotabaya has had the gumption to keep some very senior party leaders who had been Cabinet Ministers earlier, away from the Cabinet. These leaders were made State Ministers without cabinet rank. From this it is clear that President Gotabaya wants to have his own handpicked group of Cabinet Ministers who will, by and large, owe their positions to him and not to any earlier President.
Senior leaders with years of cabinet membership like S.B.Dissanayake, Susil Premajayantha, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Mahinda Samarasinghe and John Seneviratne are now State Ministers.
Of course, there is a cap on the number of Cabinet Ministers and also coalition compulsions to contend with. But these are not the main reasons for keeping the seniors out.
Appointments to the top levels of the bureaucracy also show his interest in having a different kind of people, people who are technically qualified for the job. He has, as his Secretary, not a generalist, but an economist, Dr.P.B.Jayasundara. Gotabaya wants to put the Lankan economy on a sound and also a nationalistic footing. That is one of his top priorities apart from ensuring national security. Jayasundara is a nationalist.
Gotabaya has chosen as the Governor of the Central Bank, not a foreigner (like Arjuna Mahendran) or a foreign-oriented economist (like Dr.Indrajit Coomaraswamy) but a homegrown Colombo University economist Dr.W.D.Lakshman. Lakshman also has no links with the scam-ridden Central Bank. He can, therefore, start on a clean state.
For Provincial Governorships he has chosen persons of proven loyalty and expertise. The Governor of the Northern Province is P.S.M.Charles a nationalistic Sri Lankan Tamil and a distinguished and experienced administrator. The Governor of the Eastern Province is a politically loyal and successful woman entrepreneur, Anuradha Yahampath.
Since national security and experience in intelligence gathering and coordination is a key requirement after the Easter Sunday (April 21, 2019) suicide bomb attacks, Gotabaya chose Maj.Gen (Retired) Kamal Gunaratne to be Defense Secretary and General (Rtd) Daya Ratnayake to be Chairman of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA). It was intelligence failure and failure to act on available intelligence that led to the Jehadi attack in April which took more than 250 lives.
With world powers, US and China, and regional power India, looking at Colombo and Hambantota ports as strategic assets over which they would like to have control, the SLPA will have to acquire an economic cum political cum strategic orientation. And President Gotabaya himself has doubts whether the 2017 agreement with the Chinese on Hambantota port fully addresses the security concerns of Sri Lanka. This is why he openly said that he would like two or three more clauses added to it to address these concerns. Gen.Ratnayake is expected to pursue the President’s goals in this regard as a security expert.
Given the importance given to security in a security-obsessed Indo-Pacific environment, the President has taken onboard as his foreign affairs advisor ( of Additional Secretary-rank) a former Navy Commander-cum academic, Adm.Dr. Jayanath Colombage.
It is also expected that Lankan Ambassadors in various countries will be either professional and committed personnel from the Foreign Service or experts from various fields including the armed forces, who have proven organizational skills. It is very unlikely that man many of the new appointees will be people only with political connections.
On the political front, it appears that President Gotabaya will continue to keep the Muslims at bay in order not to alienate the Sinhala-majority on whose vote he came to power. This is one of the reasons why he has made no deal with any of the Muslim parties or leaders including Rauff Hakeem of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and Rishad Bathiyudeen of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress who had been hardy regulars in every Lankan cabinet.
In fact, Gotabaya has even refrained from appointing a Muslim to his Council of Ministers, even though his alliance group in parliament has two Muslims, Kader Masthan (elected) and Faiszer Musthapha (Nominated/ National List).
His government has now asked the CID to investigate Rauff Hakeem and Rishad Bathiyudeen in regard to the Easter Sunday blast. It has re-started the probe into Dr. Seigu Shihabdeen Mohammad Shafi of the Kurunegala government hospital who had allegedly made 4000 Sinhala-Buddhist women sterile in order to restrict the Sinhala-Buddhist population. The probe is being reopened even though the CID had found no evidence to sustain the allegation.
Again with an eye on the April 2020 parliamentary elections, Gotabaya has kept up the chant that he will not devolve more power to the Tamil-speaking Northern and Eastern Provinces, than already devolved. He has bluntly said that he will not devolve powers over the Police and Land. He has openly said that the majority Sinhalas will not approve of devolution over police and land. The Gotabaya government has made it clear that the national anthem will be sung only in Sinhala at the next Independence Day function in Colombo.
The government has also said that it will re-examine the co-sponsored resolution in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and tell the February-March session of the Council that Lanka has objections to some of the accountability mechanisms. This angers the Tamils and could anger the Western democracies too, but government cannot approve of the existing resolution and still hope to keep the Sinhala-majority vote with it. Any major concession to the Tamils may not be liked by Gotabaya’s Sinhala vote bank.
On the economic front, the Gotabaya regime has not brought about any fundamental changes yet, given the time frame, but it has made prices come down through a slashing of taxes over a wide range of articles of common use. The slashing of taxes is expected to stimulate demand for goods and services and get the slumbering Lankan economy moving.
While conservative economists and international rating agencies have warned about a looming financial gap and an inability to repay government debts, the Presidential Advisor and the Treasury Secretary have maintained that these fears are baseless and alarmist.
The IMF would want the government to cut recurring expenditure and slash government spending , but in the pre-election months, government cannot do these things. In fact, the government is vigorously doing the very opposite. The President said that over the next few years, he will create 100,000 new unskilled government jobs for the very poor so that they can stand on their feet and indirectly help generate demand for goods and services in the economy as a whole. Government is also going to spend billions of rupees on rural development from January 2020 without any prospect of getting immediate returns.
COLOMBO, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) — Sri Lankans today know China mostly for its economic assistance, but concertmaster and president of the Chamber Music Society of Colombo (CMSC) Lakshman De Saram hopes that a recent recital by a piano virtuoso will help showcase China’s wealth of culture and musical talent.
When Lu Yao, an award-winning graduate of the Beijing-based Central Conservatory of Music, walked on to the stage of the Lionel Wendt Theatre at the city center of capital Colombo, Some audiences were taken aback by his boyish appearance,” De Saram said.
Lu’s masterful interpretation of classics by Chopin, Mozart and Beethoven revealed a maturity and depth, and quickly drew the audience into his world. His explosive duet with host CMSC was described as inspirational” by De Saram, and a moment for artists from two civilized friends to display their musical prowess.
A performance by someone as skilled as (Lu) Yao is something many Sri Lankans have never experienced,” said De Saram. Describing the Chinese musician’s interpretation of Pi-Huang by Zhang Zhao, a Peking Opera classic, De Saram said, brings out all the elements of Chinese Opera through a single instrument.”
De Saram said that he is grateful for the sponsorship from the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China to Sri Lanka which enabled the CMSC to host Lu for a cultural exchange in Sri Lanka.
Maestro Lu Yao received a standing ovation from the audience in Colombo after performing with the Chamber Music Society of Colombo. Photo: Tang Lu/Xinhua
Chinese companies AVIC International and Huawei and Sri Lanka-China joint venture Port City Colombo were also sponsors.
Nineteen-year old Avishka Wikramanayake, an audience and budding pianist himself, praised Lu’s performance. It was both intimidating and inspiring to watch (Lu) Yao perform and dance on the edge of the abyss with every track,” he said.
The day after the recital, Wickramanayake was one of around 20 pre-selected advanced students participating in a free-of-charge master-class led by Lu.
Lu watched closely as Wickramanayake practiced a piece by Chopin. When he said, Stop,” the entire class held its breath. Lu’s interventions were firm but constructive. Don’t be nervous,” he said. Wickramanayake’s next attempt at the piece was audibly augmented by Lu’s instruction.
Lu Yao instructing Avishka Wikramanayake. Photo. Tang Lu/Xinhua
For Wickramanayake, who hopes to study musicology some day, a one-on-one with Lu was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It is great to interact with someone of that level of experience who makes you push yourself and aspire to be better,” he said.
Performing in Colombo was a new experience for Lu, who was visiting Sri Lanka for the first time and is more used to performing for audiences in China and the West. I think the Sri Lankan audience was unbelievable and better than a lot of those in Europe,” he said.
I am happy and honored to have played alongside the Chamber Music Society of Colombo who are at a very high level,” he added.
Lu had always wanted to visit Sri Lanka and try out the country’s famous tea, having heard many stories of his piano instructor’s travels to the scenic island. In China, many musicians want the opportunity to visit places like Sri Lanka and share our culture,” said Lu.
I hope more Chinese organizations sponsor cultural events like this and I hope I can come back as soon as possible.”
(The featured image at the top shows Chinese maestro piano Lu Yao instructing a Sri Lankan student.Photo: Tang Lu/Xinhua)
Today, the Tamil-speaking Jaffna peninsula is a bastion of orthodox Saivism – a Hindu sect based on the worship of Lord Siva. But according to Prof. Tikiri Abeysinghe, in the 16th and the 17th centuries, under Portuguese sway, the peninsula was entirely Catholic, though only nominally so.
In Jaffna under the Portuguese”, which was first published in 1986, Abeysinghe (who taught history in Colombo University) says: Portuguese documents reporting conversions in Jaffna do so invariably in multiples of thousands. Even allowing for exaggeration, natural to this type of document, the success achieved by the missionaries was striking.”
Abeyasinghe notes that in the period 1624-1626, the Franciscans alone converted 52,000 Jaffna Tamils. Taking that figure as a rough basis for the calculation of the total number of Christians in Jaffna under the care of the 42 parishes, one gets the figure 115,000,” he says. Antonio Bocarro’s report of 1634 states that in Jaffna, nearly all natives are Christians”. Fernao de Queiros, the renowned Portuguese chronicler of Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was then called) had described Jaffna as being wholly Christian”.
Why Mass Conversion?
The reasons for the en-masse conversion of Jaffna Tamils were many. The first was the proselytizing zeal of the Portuguese, who unlike the Dutch and the English who followed them, were hell bent on converting people to Christianity as much as they were interested in trade and territory. The second was the unquestioned military and political power that the Portuguese exercised over the population of Jaffna. The third reason was the strategic importance of Jaffna, especially the western port of Mannar, for trade as well as security of the Portuguese in Sri Lanka. The fourth was the anti-Christian stance of some of the powerful rulers of Jaffna, which infuriated the Portuguese. The fifth reason was the docility of the Jaffna man. Philip de Oliveira, who led the expeditionary force, which captured Jaffna in 1619, described the Jaffna man as being generally passive or weak”.
Statue of King Sankili II in Jaffna town.
Intrigues Against Portuguese
However, the Kings of Jaffna, in alliance with the Sinhala Kings of South Sri Lanka and the Nayaks of South India, did trouble the Portuguese at the initial stages. The Portuguese intervened in Jaffna for the first time in 1543, when Sankili, the King of Jaffna, seized some wrecked Portuguese cargo vessels and began persecuting Christian converts among the fishermen of the Parava caste in Mannar. In 1543, St Francis Xavier had visited Mannar and converted 600 Paravas. Since the converts were automatically deemed to be Portuguese subjects, Sankili was alarmed.He saw in this a grave threat to Jaffna’s economy and security. The immensely valuable pearl fisheries would be out of his control. The Parava area in Mannar could become a bridgehead for a Portuguese invading army.
Therefore, in 1543 itself, Sankili sent an expedition to Mannar and slaughtered the Parava converts. St.Francis Xavier appealed to the Portuguese state to punish the Jaffna King. But it was only in 1558 that Constantine de Braganca captured Jaffna. Sankili escaped to Trincomalee. Subsequently, he made peace with the Portuguese and came back to power, but without control over Mannar. He had lost control over the shipping and trade in the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait, a major source of revenue for his Kingdom.
The Jaffna Kingdom then went into a period of great political instability. As in other parts of Sri Lanka, rival claimants to the throne were using the Portuguese to press their claims. In 1570, the Portuguese put their protégé Periyapulle on the throne. But in 1582, Periyapulle was overthrown by Sankili’s son, Puviraja Pandaram. Like his father, Puviraja Pandaram followed an anti-Portuguese policy. He sought the help of the Zamorin of Calicut and attacked Mannar. But the expedition failed.
In 1591, the Portuguese took the battle to Jaffna and massacred 800 of Puviraja Pandaram’s soldiers who were South Indian mercenaries, including Muslims from Calicut. The Portuguese put Edirmanasingham, who took the title Pararasa Sekaran, on the throne. But under pressure from his Hindu subjects to break the shackles for the sake of their religion and culture, Edirmanasingham alias Pararasa Sekaran struck an alliance with the Nayak rulers of Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu and also the Kings of Kandy, Vimaladharmasuriya I (1593-1604) and Senarat (1604-1635) who were anti-Portuguese. He proceeded against the Catholic converts too.
When Pararasa Sekaran died in 1617, his chosen successor was assassinated by Sankili Kumaran, a nephew. Sankili Kumaran sought recognition from the Portuguese. But when there was no response, he invited the Nayaks of Thanjavur to help him get out of the clutches of the Portuguese. In 1619, the Portuguese marched on Jaffna and took it over completely.
Destruction of Local Leadership
According to Abeyasinghe, Sankili, his sister, his four nephews, and the heir to the throne, were exiled to Goa in Western India, the seat of Portuguese power in the region.
With the exit of the Sankili clan, the Jaffna man gave up all hopes of resisting the Portuguese. He accepted Portuguese rule, including the need to convert to Catholicism, though most unwillingly.
In Goa, these royal exiles lived under surveillance, many of the younger members being lodged with religious orders – males in the College of Kings at Bardez, and the females in the Convent of Santa Monica in Goa. Eventually, many of them, like the younger (Sinhala) royalty from Sitawaka and Kandy, entered holy orders,” Abeyasinghe says.
Baptism Under Duress
Although St Francis Xavier had begun conversion in 1543 itself, it was only after the complete take over of Jaffna in 1619, that conversions took on a mass character. The Franciscans were followed by the Jesuits in 1622. The Portuguese authorities fixed the number of parishes for Jaffna (minus Mannar and Mantota) at 42 to be divided among the Franciscans and the Jesuits.
In order to increase the number of converts rapidly, they resorted to what Abeyasinghe calls general baptism”. Quoting Trinidade and Queiros, he says that in a typical case of general baptism in a village, the announcement of the arrival of the Portuguese missionaries would be made by tom tom. The villagers in question would be asked to assemble and then a missionary would ask them to reject their false” gods and accept one true God”.
It was not a request; it was almost a command backed by the authority of the Portuguese government” Abeyasinghe notes. The missionary would invariably be accompanied by the local Portuguese officials and the native chiefs who supported them.
Fear of a fine or corporal punishment with cane and stock would ensure their regular attendance at church on Sundays and feast days,” Abeyasinghe adds.
Economic Ruination of Jaffna
But Portuguese rule ruined Jaffna, Abeyasinghe says. Though the Jaffna peasant was not dispossessed, he had to pay heavy taxes, which the Portuguese kept hiking from time to time. As Bocarro said: the land has little commerce. It has no merchandise. It has no water other than that from the sky”. In addition to the rapacious government, the Catholic priests were extorting money.
The cash from the Jaffna treasury was being used to fund Portuguese settlements elsewhere. Nothing was ploughed back into the local economy. According to Fernao de Queiros, the Portuguese chronicler par excellence the people of Jaffna had been reduced to the utmost misery” under Portuguese rule.
In the absence of the possibility of waging war or revolting, the only option for the people was to migrate to the Wanni. Some went across the Palk Strait to Rameswaram on the Indian side.
It is, therefore, not surprising that when the Dutch overthrew the Portuguese in June 1658, the people of Jaffna were immensely relieved. The refugees not only came back to Jaffna, but shed Catholicism and reverted to Hinduism en masse. Only the coastal Paravas, who apparently saw Catholicism as a liberation theology, stuck to Catholicism.
The two suspects remanded in connection with the white van media conference organized by MP Rajitha Senarathna were further remanded until January 6th.
They were arrested by the CID from a restaurant in Mahara on December 13th.
Meanwhile, responding to MP Senarathna’s lawyer, Navarathna Bandara, deputy solicitor general Dilipa Peries told the court that MP Rajitha Senarathna has been named as the 3rd suspect of the white van media conference.
He said the action was taken on the instruction of the Attorney general.
The Deputy Solicitor General further stated that a warrant has been obtained to arrest the Parliamentarian.
Rajitha Senaratne’s lawyer again questioned whether his client had been arrested at the time of the hearing of his case.
The Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne inquired from MP Rajitha Senaratne’s lawyer whether he was unaware of it, and he said he was not aware of it.
The Deputy Solicitor General stated that they have been searching for MP Rajitha Senaratne for several days after obtaining the warrant but he had been in hiding.
At the same time, the deputy solicitor general told the court that the person who provided make-up to the two suspects has also been questioned
In addition, he said that investigations have been initiated on an individual called Room Mohamed who paid the make-up artist.
Meanwhile, the lawyers who appeared for the two suspects told the court that his clients are requesting court permission to make a special statement before the court.
Later, Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayarathna said that they will be given an opportunity to do so after the CID filed charges against them.
Central Bank Deputy Governor, Dr Nandalal Weerasinghe says necessary legal actions are being taken with regard to the bond scam according to the forensic audit report that has been given to the Attorney General.
Dr Weerasinghe was addressing a media conference held at the Bank premise today.
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa says that a swift investigation will be done on the opinions which had planned to change the students’ mindset through school textbooks.
He was addressing a ceremony held at the Perakum Maha Vidyalaya at Iratta Periyakulam in Vavuniya.
The annual Christmas carols at Holy Family Convent (HFC) School highlight unity. The traditional nativity scene has been given further meaning by the addition of four characters representing Sri Lanka’s four main communities.
Colombo (Asia News) – Christmas carols are sung every year on the last day of class in all Sri Lankan schools. The Holy Family Convent (HFC) School in Colombo too holds its annual Christmas carol service before Christmas, but after school is closed.
This year, with an invitation open to all students, parents and alumni of the school, 200 students sang 12 carols in four languages: Sinhalese, English, Tamil as well as Latin.
HFC’s annual Christmas carols showed unity because We live in a multiethnic society where different religions and ethnic groups live and share their lives” during what was above all, an evening of praise for the Lord,” school principal Sister Deepa Fernando told AsiaNews.
Four characters representing the country’s Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim and Burger communities were added to the traditional nativity play, broadening its meaning.
“Our principal wanted me to think differently and meaningfully about the nativity play this year,” said dance teacher Deana Vilashini Hettiarchchi, who organised the performance. Sister Deepa wanted to send a message to society to avoid the misunderstandings, suspicions and hatred that followed the Easter Sunday attacks.”
We wanted to invite Christians and others to rethink and remove the distance between ethnic groups and welcome each other as sisters and brothers because Jesus was born for everyone, not just for Christians. It is about unity, not division.”
Speaking to, AsiaNews Sister Deepa noted that “We are in the Christmas season and Christmas carols are something very common in this period.”
More importantly, We organise them to show unity in the birth of Jesus, because we live in a multiethnic society in which different religions and ethnic groups live together. We symbolise our unity in diversity, showing the richness of our nation.”
In our nativity [play], we can see the arrival of the three kings and four other people who visit our Lord wearing their traditional costumes. This shows Jesus incarnate among people, beyond cultural differences.”
A student who took part in the play bemoaned that in our society the ethnic and religious harmony of the past no longer exist after the Easter Sunday attacks.”
In his homily, Father Quintus Perera OMI also focused on unity and sharing in a peaceful society.
Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador and other officers examine the 12-tonnes of cocaine seized from three containers at Bayan Baru Police Station September 20, 2019. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 27 — The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the continuing drug problems and smuggling at the country’s borders were among the crime issues of focus in 2019.
Apart from that, also receiving attention this year was the appointment of Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador as the inspection-general of police on May 4.
Abdul Hamid on August 21 exposed the involvement of police personnel and officers on drugs which led to the implementation of the Blue Devil Operation which saw the commitment of the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) to restore the image of the security forces.
Based on police statistics, as at November 14, 211 police personnel were held after being found positive for drugs via screening operations conducted nationwide.
On September 10, police also smashed an international drug smuggling syndicate when they seized 12 tonnes of cocaine with coal worth RM2.4 billion in three containers at North Butterworth Container Terminal, Penang, which was the largest seizure in the country.
From January to November, police also succeeded in uncovering 19 drug-processing laboratories throughout the country with most of them located in the rural areas.
Police also launched Op Damn Tokan in September and statistics showed 456 individuals were detained as small-time drug pushers in the country.
In this regard, a programme named Nurture for Betterment was also introduced by police to assist restricted drug offenders under the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) Act 1985.
The issue of terrorism also received focus this year when 12 people including Gadek assemblyman, G. Saminathan, 34 and Seremban Jaya assemblyman P. Gunasekaran were detained for having suspected links with LTTE.
Suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam sympathiser Kalaimughilan Arjunan is pictured at the Kuala Lumpur High Court October 31, 2019. — Picture by Ahmad Zamzahuri
On October 10 and 13, police via Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division arrested 12 individuals suspected of being involved in promoting, supporting, possessing materials and channelling funds involving LTTE.
Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter Terrorism principal assistant director Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pichay said the two assemblymen were apprehended after being suspected of attending an LTTE Warriors’ Day anniversary in Melaka in November last year.
Those detained were from Selangor, Perak, Penang, Kedah, Negri Sembilan, Melaka and Kuala Lumpur under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma).
They were charged in separate Sessions Court here and in several states on October 29 and 31 after being accused of having links with LTTE and re-mention of the cases were set in December.
Cross-border crimes involving smuggling cases also sent shock waves in the country when the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) revealed videos of smuggling activities at the border on Oct 18.
MACC claimed it has thousands of video clips on corruption at the border since 2017 which received various reactions from several parties.
Simultaneously, 14 officers and personnel of the General Operations Force (GOF) who were identified as those involved in corrupt practices on cross-border smuggling in Padang Besar, Perlis, had actions taken against them.
Police statistics on smuggling also showed the matter should not be taken lightly when it was reported that between 200 to 300 kilogrammes of goods were smuggled daily including ketum leaves and cigarettes seized by Perlis police since September 3.
According to Padang Besar police headquarters, seizure of ketum leaves rose 51.1 per cent at 81,851.54 kilogrammes between January and October this year compared to 40,037.3 kilogrammes last year.
Meanwhile, 1,968,654 litres of liquor of various brands and 10.32 million sticks of cigarettes worth RM12.41 million which were smuggled into the country with duty unpaid, were disposed of by the Malaysian Customers Department on November 8.
Its director-general Datuk Seri Paddy Abd Halim said both items were seized from two operations at Port Klang in Selangor and on April 7 and November 7 involving unpaid duties amounting to RM61.87 million. — Bernama
(Translation of the speech made by
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapksa at the National Dhamma School Convention and
Awards Ceremony held at Irattaperiyakulam in Vavuniya on 27 December 2019.)
Most Venerable Mahanayaka Theras,
Anunayaka Theras and members of the Maha Sangha, Hon. Ministers,
Parliamentarians, Secretary to the Ministry of Buddha Sasana, Cultural and
Religious Affairs, Dhamma School Teachers, and students of Dhamma Schools,
Students enrolled in the Dhamma Schools
today will be the generation that carries forward the Sinhala Buddhist national
identity. Over the past several years, we saw the destruction brought upon in
this country as a result of a significant section of the Buddhist population
being alienated from the Temple, from the Dhamma and the Maha Sangha. It became
fashionable for Buddhists to denigrate Buddhism and the Sinhalese. Even
politicians who were elected to power by Sinhala voters, openly insulted the
Maha Sangha.
People belonging to other religions and
ethnic groups in this country will never insult their own religion or ethnic
group in that manner. Even though a significant proportion of students from
Sinhala Buddhist families are enrolled in Dhamma Schools, the number actually
attending, is far fewer than the number registered. The present Sunday
Dhamma Schools system commenced in 1895. Even before these Sunday Dhamma
schools were instituted, the Temple imparted education to the laity. In
pre-colonial times, the Temple was the main centre of education.
A secular schools system came into
existence during the Dutch and British colonial eras. The world also became a
more complex place and an ever expanding formal education system came into
being. Today, the secular education system and the Dhamma Schools exist side by
side. Even though Buddhism is taught as a subject in the secular schools
system, it is through the Dhamma Schools that the younger generation is brought
close to the Buddhist philosophy, the Buddhist way of life, the Buddhist
traditions and the Temple. It is through the Dhamma schools that Buddhist
families are brought closer to the Temple. Sinhala Buddhist culture, and our national
traditions are based on the relationship between the lay community and the
Temple.
The Most Venerable Madihe Pannasiha
Mahanayake Thera once said that the purpose of the Dhamma Schools was not to
impart textual knowledge but to mould the character and way of thinking of the
students. The purpose of Dhamma Schools is not to prepare students
for examinations. Its purpose if to create an individual imbued with a Buddhist
way of thinking. Madihe Pannasiha Mahanayake Thera identified five modes of conduct expected of a dhamma school student as follows:
Firstly, adhering
to the Five Precepts and observing the Eight Precepts on Poya Days. Secondly,
respecting the Maha Sangha, parents, teachers and elders. Thirdly, leading a
simple life and maintaining a good relationship with one’s neighbours. Fourthly,
developing restraint, good behaviour, and a sound knowledge of the Dhamma.
Fifthly, devotion to the Buddha-Dhamma, and being motivated by national pride
and indigenous traditions. These words are valid even
today. We expect to improve the Dhamma Schools system and the programmes
offered in them in order to enable those institutions to produce the Buddhist
youth that the Ven Pannasiha refered to.
This is a time when we have to be very
vigilant with regard to what is being put into the minds of school children.
Foreign funded NGOs have influenced our education system in subtle ways. I
heard some leading academic bhikkus explaining how school textbooks now have
content that will have the effect of corrupting young minds. A lay organisation
explained how some school text books have depicted the Northern and Eastern
provinces of Sri Lanka as one province. It was also said that the Sinhala New
Year has been dropped from some school textbooks.
We should realise that there is a
concerted and
ongoing attempt to divide the country, to
destroy the Sinhala Buddhists, to disrupt the family as an institution among
the Sinhala, Tamil, Chritian and Hindu sections of the population and to create
divisions between children and their parents, between students and their
teachers, between children and religions. Programmes aimed at achiving these
objectives begin at the level of primary schools. After a few years, the way of
thinking of the Sinhala population would have changed without anyone even
realising it. An expeditious investigation will be carried out into the ideas
being put into the minds of school children through school text books.
We will put in place a programme to
attract more children and youth to Dhamma Schools under the guidance of the
Maha Sangha. What should happen is that children and youth should be motivated
to go in search of the temple and our national heritage. I believe that in
order to achieve that objective, our approach also has to change with the
times. A programme should be put in place to show appreciation for the
voluntary work done by Dhamma school teachers. The Dhamma schools depend on
their dedication. A special programme will have to be put in place to maintain
the Dhamma Schools located in remote areas.
We are gathered here today, for the
awards ceremony of an all island competion among Dhamma School students. I wish
to convey my best wishes to all Dhamma School students in the country, regardless of whether they participated in this competition
or not.
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