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හිටපු අමාත්ය රාජිත සේනාරත්න සංවිධාන කළ සුදු වෑන් මාධ්ය හමුවට සම්බන්ධ වූ ඕනෑම පුද්ගලයෙකුට තරාතිරම නොබලා නීතිය ක්රියාත්මක කරන බව තොරතුරු හා සන්නිවේදන තාක්ෂණ රාජ්ය අමාත්ය ලක්ෂ්මන් යාපා අබේවර්ධන ප්රකාශ කළා.
ඒ, කොළඹ අද පැවති මාධ්ය හමුවකදී මාධ්යවේදියෙකු නැගූ ප්රශ්නයකට පිළිතුරු ලබාදෙමින්.
තමන් ඝාතනය කිරීමට තැත් කළ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ කැළණිය හිටපු සංවිධායක බෙවන් පෙරේරාට නීතිය ක්රියාත්මක කරන්නැයි මෝටර් රථ ධාවන ශූර ඩිලන්ත මාලගමුව අද රජයෙන් ඉල්ලීමක් කළා.
තමන්ට එල්ල වී ඇති මරණ තර්ජන සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඩිලන්ත මාලගමුව 2018 වසරේ ජුලි මස 7 වනදා පොලිස් මූලස්ථානයට පැමිණිලි කර තිබුණා.
එ පාතාල කල්ලි සාමාජිකයෙකු තමන් ඝාතනය කිරීමට සැලසුම් කර ඇති බවට ලද තොරතුරකට අනුවයි.
නාවලපිටියේ පිහිටි තමන්ට අයත් ඉඩමක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඇතිවූ ගැටළුවක් මත එවකට එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ කැළණිය හිටපු සංවිධායක, ජනතා වතු සංවර්ධන මණ්ඩලයේ ක්රියාකාරි අධ්යක්ෂවරයාව සිටි බෙවන් පෙරේරා මෙම කොන්ත්රාත්තුව ලබාදී ඇති බවටයි ඔහු සිය පැමිණිල්ලෙන් සඳහන් කර තිබුණේ.
කෙසේ වෙතත් කොළඹදී මාධ්ය හමුවක් කැඳවමින් ඔහු කියා සිටියේ තමන්ගේ ජීවිතයට අවදානමක් පැවතුනද කිසිදු ආරක්ෂාවක් තවමත් ලැබී නොමැති බවයි.
Part one of this article focused on a basic requirement a Horizontal Model for Education Distribution in the country for education reforms. The structure for the model for a million population irrespective of where the population has networked or distributed, whether in rural or urban area, the proposed model designed to apply in entire country. It is a horizontal distribution of education irrespectively whether population distributed in rural or urban areas or in wealthy suburbs or in poor people’s ghettos. Recent television programs in Sri Lanka disclosed that although the department of education has been operating in the country since State Council era, finding a school for kids has become the most difficult task to parent. They should waste time and money for finding a school for kids despite the education considers a fundamental right of human.
The major reason for this predicament seems that distributing more resources for urban schools in the process of education distribution and neglecting rural and semi urban areas. Current education provision is a vertical distribution which means less than one million population in certain areas, many schools have established and they are based on nationality or religion or wealth, more than the requirement of population while large volume of population in outer Colombo and suburbs have less schools with less resources. A vertical distribution can be defined as giving more schools and resources to small area distributing upward. This situation could be eliminated only if the distribution of education makes horizontally, which forces the government to distribute schools and more resources to larger areas in rural Sri Lanka. Vertical distribution of education in the country is based on colonial attitudes, which has created many issues in education provision to the community and its principle seems against social justice. However, recent statement to press by Mr. Dallas Alahapperuma and Mr. Ramesh Pathirana clearly stated that national schools will be increased to 1000 from current 374, which means the acceptance of a horizontal model of education distribution. It is the social justice expected by people.
For example, if it gets Kotahena or Bambabalapitity or Madadana or Kollupitiya or Borella area, many schools have located in such areas for more than needed to the population actually living in the area whilst it is observable that no schools for kids in rural and semi-urban areas to gain education confirming to social justice. Locating too many schools to urban areas have also created problems such as daily movement of people in urban towns (Including Colombo), where generate motor and human traffic issues and daily movement of too many people incur cost to the government demanding more controls and facilities. The system incurs more expenses to Individuals expenses such as bus fee, pocket money for kids, accompanying persons with kids and many other expenses. It seems that people daily move from outer suburbs to Colombo metro area for schooling purpose than productive or trading purposes. Education must be a service that provides in residential area. It cannot not justify moving from far away to gain educational services and kids have additional pressure to concentrate on activities that are not related education.
I observed that some parent daily sends kids from Dankotuwa to Bambalapitiya for schooling, when I ask why it is happening, parent replied the reason to educate English, kids send far away. English is a communication media like other languages in the world whether it leans in Dankotuwa or in Bambalapitiya it shouldn’t reflect a difference. There may be a difference in accent, but it cannot be changed by teachers in Colombo schools. If a person can communicate in English, he or she must be able understand the message and give messages whether communicator learn English in the UK or in the USA, or in the East European countries or the Middle Eastern countries, or India, South Africa or in China or Japan. This is myth in Sri Lanka about English in Colombo which is different from English in other places. I observed that many kids studied in Colombo so-called superior schools cannot properly communicate in English Language and many policy makers and university educators in Sri Lanka are from regional areas.
Parent can save lots of money if schools located close to homes. This has been a problem for more than seventy years and the policy has not been corrected and now the education authority has a dogma as schools cannot relocate and the possible solution is opening new schools or upgrading schools in rural areas injecting more resources to them while reducing resources in schools of Colombo and suburbs.
Various allegorical acceptance have involved in searching for popular schools although the education is a qualitative substance despite where kids were educated and Sri Lanka’s environment has not changed to disregard points such as the school educated, who were teachers or any other allegorical points when selecting for jobs, for higher education and social acceptance if the person has required level of education and quality. The government needs launching a campaign against mythical views rooted in the society and make equity and justice for the quality of education irrespective of where it was obtained. This is a discrimination related issue and the government needs considering anti-discrimination laws like in Western countries, if any citizen has quality education, he/she must not be subjected to discrimination based on a point from where education was obtained. It is a rubbish if it considers to give priority for stupid points considering from where the education obtained, when selecting for a job.
Current education policy of the country has not organized the way given in the proposed horizontal model and some areas of the country have many educational institutions while rural or regional Sri Lanka is not consist of education institutions to accommodate students in the area or sometimes, there is no enough education institutions and resources to provide basic education to the community. This is a major disparity of existing education policy management and the proposed model indicated in part one could be used to each one million population without differences whether population located in urban or rural area. The model will bring equality in education distribution for people considering equity and justice equal opportunity without differences in gender, religion, regional, ethnic, language or any other such as where people networked in urban or rural areas.
After the acceptance of the proposed model for education distribution, it is necessary to address current major problems, which are associated with the past decision making in the existing system. The issues are varied and a considerable volume of young generation consider that they have difficulties entering to job market or higher education or skill training. The major point raised associated with issues such as wrong choice of study area, field, trade area or any other resulting unemployment. Bridging current unemployed graduates at university or higher education level or in any context of education to develop employable knowledge and skills or go to further education and training is an urgent requirement of education reforms. Kids had to encounter such problems not only because faults of them but also a problem within the education system, which has no guidance at school level to achieve ambitions and compare the ambition with economic environment. For this problem, parent, teachers as well as government policy makers are equally responsible.
Education and training could be widely used to solve the problem without creating any disadvantage to any person. However, the sensitive environment in Sri Lanka provokes attitudes of young generation pointing unrealized effects and the policy makers need to understand this sensitive environment, which is associated with politics. In the past, various steps took to reform curriculum structure in schools since 1960s, but it was failed and the major reason for the failure was politics and creating a wrong mental psychosis on the mind of people by politicians without understanding the timely needs and future requirements.
The report of Prof Dudley Seers in late 1960s (Matching Employment Expectation and Opportunities: A Program Action for Ceylon) clearly indicated the requirement of curriculum reforms and the government effort was bog down by politics. Therefore, when making education reforms, the government must not forget the traditional Sinhala saying if you go with knowing can reach Kataragama, travelling without knowing the way would leave you in the lurch”
The reforms in curriculum, teaching, training and flexibility in education could be used to eliminate the many problems in current environment. Looking at education in many countries Sri Lanka’s education could be expressed or firmly stated the exactly the right way, despite many opinions on educations especially curriculum reforms in schools. It is dependent on the future economic opportunities and trend of the job market and innovative features in other countries. This situation should be worked together with a view to solve problems, which were generated as results of past and continuing decisions.
With the given structure curriculum reforms is a broader aspect that eliminate unnecessarily aligning students to specific area of education such as science, commerce and arts. Many Western countries allow students to learn arts, science and commerce together and sometimes to select other pathways in health, engineering, agriculture, services, sports, and many other areas. In Australia, universities allow students to complete double degrees like Medicine and law or political science and arts, psychology etc. University education policy needs rapid changes and when students selected a study area, they should take the responsibility for selection and the university administration should give wider choices, however, current university management seems that they failed to give wider choices for students.
Curriculum reforms would direct to solve current major problems and it needs including key knowledge and skills education (value, health, environment and language education). Sri Lanka has many religions, but the behaviour of followers is not consistent with the policies of religions. It seems that religion has become a symbol and religion is not working in homes or workplaces or in the society. In this situation curriculum reforms need focus to offer value education in all educational contexts. In Western countries, value education is key in practical knowledge and application. For example, care and compassion are vital values which means care for self and others. In any education context, safety is a value, which broadly apply any subject area and when value education included, the behavioural pattern of students dramatically changed and the quality of knowledge and skills improve with a higher demand for knowledge and skills.
Value, health, environment and language education must be co area from primary education to university education and the university management has failed consider these area and next vital fact is university and TVET system in the country has no proper curriculum evaluation system, which is essential to perform once in two years. It is expensive and expert services demand for successful evaluation. When students learn a subject at school level, or technical or university level, the nature of outcomes achieved after learning neither students, nor parent not teachers nor employers have idea.
Next part will be in curriculum and teaching reforms.
The Maha Sangha worked hard on behalf of Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential election of November 2019. Ven. Elle Gunawansa said that the Sangha, 20,000 of them, went village by village to canvass for him”.
The Sangha were openly pleased when Gotabaya won. Elle Gunawansa said this is the first election after 1948 where the voters were called on to think of the country. ‘Rata gana, daruwo gana, Sambuddha Sasana gana hitana chande.
Ven. Omalpe Sobitha said that this was a victory for citizens who underwent untold hardships during the previous regime and for those who wish to bring back justice and democracy.
Ven. Devalegama Dammasena said the President’s political campaign would go down as one of the cleanest operations with no posters, banners and cutouts. There was no character assassination or slinging of mud on his stage.
President Gotabaya did not forget the Maha Sangha who had helped him win the election. He made it a point to visit Buddhist temples after his victory. These visits were televised. The chief priest of each temple was there to greet him, accompanied by a team of monks. Ven. Ittepane Dhammalankare met President Gotabaya accompanied by a team of bhikkhus, Dodampaha Nandimithra, Tirikunamale Ananda, Madampagama Assaji and Medawachchiye Dammajothi.
The Sangha gave lengthy speeches rejoicing in Gotabaya ‘s victory , with copious advice on what to do next. They spoke readily into microphones, to address persons seated before them! The microphones were there because these speeches were going to appear in the next day’s television news. The Sangha knew beforehand that they were addressing an island wide audience. This was nothing new for them. Bhikkhus regularly address lay audiences and advise them, during bana and pirit ceremonies. But this time they were talking politics, not religion.
The Sangha said they have great hope in President Gotabaya. They expect much from him. Akmeemana Dayaratana said we needed a leader with a vision . Elle Gunawansa said Gotabaya has vision, also he delivers any project he undertakes. Ven. Kotapitiye Rahula said that the Sangha were ready to work with Gotabaya.
Keppetiyagoda Siri Wimala of Getambe Rajopavanaramaya said ‘this time there is a good momentum. This momentum should be continued ’. Convert ‘Gotabaya bheetiya into Gotabaya neethiya,’.Vendaruwe Upali of Malwatte composed a short kavi then and there, ,which ended Janapathi vasanava me rata hadena thuru
Omalpe Sobitha , addressing a media conference at the Bodhiraja Viharaya, Embilipitiya said President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will usher in an era of prosperity and development in the country, for which he has already started work.
Devalegama Dammasena, Chief priest of the Tissamaharama Raja Maha Viharaya addressing a press conference in Tissamaharama said President Gotabaya has a vision and it was evident from the work he did as the Defence Secretary. ( I think he meant the urban development work). Ven. Dammasena said a period for the betterment of the country would dawn with the assumption of duties by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Keppetiyagoda Siri Wimala voiced something that all Rajapaksa supporters were thinking. ’See to your security,” he said, It may now be under threat. Like what happened to SWRD. We will be destroyed if we lose you both.
The Sangha did not confine their utterances to temple and media. They appeared on other platforms too. A line of bhikkhus were seated in the front row at a Jana hamuwa for President Gotabaya held at Dehiwela.
The Sangha were also there, when the intelligentsia held a seminar on the MCC at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, Colombo in November 2019 .Several bhikkhus spoke, including Vaturawila Siri Sujata, Paraduwa Jinaratana and Murungagasyaye Gnathissara from France, Malevana Dhammavijaya said we are not a nation that weeps, ‘andana jatiyak nevei’.
The Maha Sangha, it appears have no intention of abandoning politics. They intend to stay on and supervise the government . The Maha Sangha were on television the day after the election, right after the results were announced.( see Derana news 2019.11. 08)
Elle Gunawansa addressed the media soon after the Presidential election. He asked the media to support the government at this point of time, instead of criticizing, because ‘if we fail this time, that will be final’. There will be weaknesses in this government. We must try to correct them, he said.
At a Yuthukama gathering, Ella Gunawansa said ‘Now pressurize the government to do what you want them to do. Do not sit back and wait.’ ‘Me para hondata balagena inna’ he instructed , ‘however much they may get annoyed we will continue to voice our views.’ Ven. Kotapitiye Rahula said that the Sangha were ready to work with Gotabaya. If this government doesn’t perform well, we will get rid of it too, he concluded.
The Sangha pounced on several current issues. They held a press conference on the Swiss embassy matter. This was a plot to discredit the government and country, they said. We, the Sangha wish to advise these embassies. We may be a small country, but we must be allowed to run our country without interference and with dignity. ( ‘abhimanavat’) . Switzerland should not meddle in our affairs. Bhikkhus also went to the UN Human Rights Organization and made a complaint against the Swiss embassy.
The Sangha spoke before television cameras on the fine given out to Brig. Priyanka Perera in London. Bhikkhus including Kamburugamuwe Vajira spoke of Perera’s bravery in war and praised his patriotism. They spoke of supporting him and having a collection to pay the fine.
Jamburewela Chandraratana representing the People’s Responsibility Centre went to the Indian High Commission and handed over a letter to be given to the Prime Minister Modi asking him to discuss doing away of Provincial Councils during President Rajapaksa’s official visit to India.
Jamburewela Chandraratana thereafter spoke to the media, on the negative aspects of Provincial Councils. The Elections Commission stated that the cost of holding the last provincial council election was Rs. 874 million and the next election will cost Rs. 3, 180 million. Further, the Provincial Councils have not been function for months.
The North Central, Eastern and Sabaragamuwa Provincial Councils were inactive for two years and eight months. The Central, Northern and North Western Provincial Councils were inactive for one year and eight months, while the Western and Southern Provincial Councils were inactive for six months. But although the Provincial Councils were inactive, the country moved forward, he said..”
The Sangha commented on political issues, big and small, as they came up. Pahiyangala Ananda criticized the decision to abolish the permits system in transporting sand, granite and soil. Akmeemana Dayaratana spoke on the 13 points put forward by TNA. Kiri Ibbanare Vijitha said that all involved in the Bond Scam, including ministers must be arrested. Kotapola Amarakiththi said that USA intended to get their MCC passed after the Presidential elections.
Paraduwe Jinaratana spoke of irregularities in the cultural ministry. Bhikkhus commented unfavorably on officials such as Shani Abeysekera. Two bhikkhus were seen at the new demand for an inquiry against Dr. Shafie. Liyanwela Sasanaratana spoke.
Jumburewela Chandaratana said that the head of the Pharmaceutical Corporation had purchased a low grade cancer drug. This official and his Minister, Rajitha Senaratne should be arrested. Ven. Chandraratana also went to the Defence Ministry to ask that this person be stopped from leaving the country. The official concerned said that he was not going anywhere.
Ittakande Saddhatissa said they have evidence of malpractice in Sathosa by Rishard Bathiudeen and he must be arrested. Angulugalle Sri Jinanada, Magalkande Sudatta, Madille Pagnaloka and Akmeemana Dayaratna speaking separately said that there was illegal settlement of Muslims in Puttalam and that Rishard Bathiudeen was responsible.
At Walapane, there were four deaths in one family due to the collapse of a hill and the public were furious. They said this was due to illegal quarrying. Mailagasthenne Dhammananda, chief priest Galpotha temple, intervened and asked the family to please go ahead with the burial. They would agitate about the matter the next day. This was shown on television news.
Media reported that a group of Buddhist monks and supporters of Duminda Silva are planning on appealing to the government to re-commence an investigation into the shooting incident between two groups of Duminda Silva and Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra several years ago. They claim that the CID had allegedly concealed certain information from courts regarding the shooting of Duminda Silva which was unfavourable to him and eventually led to him being sentenced to life imprisonment.
The group appealing on behalf of Duminda Silva claim that while the CID was entrusted with the inquiry in to this incident, they had allegedly concealed information regarding the fact that it was Bharatha Lakshman’s group who had initially opened fire and injured Duminda Silva, and only had pursued investigations regarding Duminda Silva’s group opening fire on Bharatha Lakshman. The petitioners claim that the CID had allegedly concealed certain information from courts. Therefore, they have urged the new government to conduct a fair investigation into this incident, while respecting the verdict of the courts, and ensure that justice is done to both parties without favouring either of them.
The Sangha showed that they were very alert politically. Ittepane Dhammalankare among others, commented very accurately on the political situation. Devalegama Dammasena alerted the people of impending dangers to the nation and its citizens. Bengamuwe Nalaka speaking at a Gotabaya rally ( before the election) referred disparagingly to the ‘NGO karayo’ who were working against Gotabaya. They talked history too. There were several references to 1815 and to Dutugemunu.
Today’s Sangha are media savvy. Derana news 11.12.19 showed a bhikkhu holding his smart phone to the Derana microphone to convey information. They are knowledgeable and well informed. They cited relevant laws and acts. They pointed out that in the Swiss Embassy issue, the employee was not entitled to diplomatic immunity and that the whole incident was in violation of the Vienna convention.
The Sangha took a strong anti –UNP stance. Not other political party has harmed this country more than the UNP, said Elle Gunawansa. Earlier UNP had good people in it, he added. Ranil Wickremesinghe must resign said Medagama Dhammananda of Asgiri. If Ranil Wickremesinghe does not resign, then we will have to force him to resign, said Pahiyangala Ananda Sagara and Ittakande Saddhatissa, speaking separately.
Jamburewela Chandraratana commented on Ranil Wickremesinghe’s statement that UNP must now woo back the Sinhala Buddhist vote. Is this for religion or to gain political power, he asked. Elle Gunawansa said that this shows that up to now they have used the Sinhala Buddhist vote only to win elections.
It is well known that while electioneering was going on, and the Sangha were working for Gotabaya Rajapaksa , Mangala Samaraweera sent a Twitter message, where he omitted the Sangha and spoke of the Blessings of a Double Gem. This was an absurd, laughable utterance, but the Sangha, naturally were furious. This was the last straw.
They came before the public, via television, and specifically named Mangala Samaraweera, Rajita Senaratne, Patali Champika and Ranjan Ramanayake as persons who have criticized the Sangha. They must be removed from politics. Their behavior was shameless, said Alugalle Siri Jinananda of Buddhist information Center . They must apologize to the Sangha, said Jamburewela Chandraratana ,otherwise the UNP will not get votes. Paraduwa Jinaratana. and Vatinapana Somananda also spoke.
The Sangha did not stop at that. They went to Sri Kotha when a UNP was meeting was in progress. They handed over a written request that the UNP not give nominations to those who refused to accept that this was a Sinhala Buddhist country. If not, the Sangha will work against UNP not only at the next election but will also engage in a campaign against UNP, said Kotahene Narada. Mangala, Ranjan and Rajitha were specifically named in the letter.
The Buddhist public including the Maha Sangha had lost confidence in the government led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe which had belittled the country’s historical heritage saying that Sri Lanka is not a Buddhist nation. This distrust was amply demonstrated in the Presidential Election results, said Medagama Dhammananda of Asgiri. No ruler can govern Sri Lanka by disrespecting the Maha Sangha.
From the beginning Yahapalana government had insulted the Maha Sangha and nurtured extremist minority groups said Ven Dhammananda. They wanted to remove the monks and do what they want. Saying Sri Lanka is not a Buddhist country showed that they were planning a ‘vena gamanak’. We must understand this .
We have never been insulted like this before, said Elle Gunawansa. ‘They thought we were a spineless nation, that the Sangha had no power. But the Sangha are not the fools they thought we were, he added . The Sangha became very determined. When Mahinda Rajapaksa took office as Prime Minister , three long rows of bhikkhus chanted a lengthy pirit which sounded as though it would never end.
The battle between the fading Yahapalana government and the Maha Sangha is still going on. The Sangha realize that the game is not yet over. The country is still in danger from the west. The Sangha is now looking ahead to the General election and the Prime Minister stakes of 2020.
Kamaburugamuwe Vajira advised ‘rata beraganna nayakayek thora ganna. ‘Think ahead, think of the future generations and vote. Elle Gunawansa said, we need’ ratata jatiyata agamata garu karana ayomya nayakayek. Me rate gaha kola valata adaraya karana, sivurata adaraya karana, kandula handunana nayakayake ona.
Kotapola Amarakiththi said I am not attached to any political party. But having seen the fearful disaster we are facing, I thought that I must address these few words to you. Don’t think the way you thought for the last 70 years(sic) . You must think about the next election in a ‘kavadavat nohitu vidihata’ and vote intelligently.
Not everyone is impressed with the role played by the Sangha. The columnist Nan” has spoken of a ‘Scary Saffron Surge”. She said ‘ thoughts have been surging in my feared mind after seeing so many Buddhist monks in active politics and so much visiting of temples by those who won the recent election’. There was also a statement made by a monk loud and clear that the leaders who won the recent elections took their advice and should continue doing so now they are in power.
‘Nan’ speaks of the ‘dread and menace’ in Buddhist monks entering active politics. Monks increasing in numbers and stridency, monks who do not keep the Vinaya rules, monks who led assaults on minority groups
Political monks are definitely stepping out on the wrong path, said Nan” Their place is the temple and the monastery; their duty to interpret the Buddha Dhamma and lead the people they have influence over to better lives, striving to enter the Path shown by the Buddha as bringing deliverance, but before that enjoying the satisfaction in this life full of dukkha through meditation and improvement of their minds and sila. They get on the Path through renunciation and great effort and then they show us the Path and guide us.
We Buddhists are very fortunate to have had great good monks, continued Nan” and have such monks even now in considerable numbers, who [deliver] bana [having much] relevance to our lives. They lead their lives as prescribed by the Buddha.
‘Nan’ says that Ven. Dhammavihari has said that monks have duties to perform for lay people, as the latter provide them with all necessities to sustain life. Thus their readiness and willingness to advice lay people, visit homes for dana and pirit chanting, and offer solace when that is needed.
I must say that very many monks are true Buddhist monks in this land of ours, following strictly the Vinaya rules set down by the Buddha and wearing the robe he prescribed with solemnity, serenity and dignity. We also have monks in the forest tradition who spend their time in meditation with not much contact with ordinary life and lay people. In some abodes, people do not even see the monks,.; dane is left for them and they appear only to gather their food and return to their kutis and seclusion, said Nan”.
These observations call for a reply. Bhikkhus are citizens of Sri Lanka and they are entitled to all rights of citizens, including the right to vote and participate in political activity. This is now accepted. Island editorial of 7.12.19 said ‘Buddhist monks, no doubt, have political rights and, in fact, they have a history of playing a pivotal role in helping the country in times of crisis.’
Secondly, these ‘menacing, strident’ monks are often the chief priests of highly regarded temples. Finally,, if the monks had supported Sajith Premadasa, instead of Gotabaya Rajapaksa , would Nan” have spoken of a ‘wonderful saffron surge’ and not a ‘scary’ one. [Concluded]
Labour gaining ground. One in ten still undecided. Jeremy Corbyn is much closer to becoming Prime Minister than voters think, according to a Conservative party memo. Hung parliament will see Boris Johnson removed from No 10 Downing Street. Labour minority government likely. Opinion polls tightening — Corbyn might just become Prime Minister.
These were headlined claims in the run up to the British Parliamentary Elections. Change a few names and it is pretty much what did the rounds in Sri Lanka, especially among those who read, speak (and live?) ‘English’ a month ago. Check the following ‘clips’ from the pro-Sajith twitterati masquerading as political commentators and political scientists (crystal gazing quacks if you ask me!).
Sajith has the late starter advantage. Easy win for Sajith in Gota-Sajith race. Sajith is gaining ground. Sajith is bridging the gap fast. A tight race. It’s too close to call. Sajith slowly pulling ahead as Gota fails to gain traction. A poll has shown that Premadasa currently would narrow the margin considerably against Rajapaksa. Second-preference will decide things since no one will get 50%+1.
This is not exactly party propaganda posted by party-run websites and social media teams only to be liked and shared by party loyalists. No, we are not talking about career politicians such as those backing Sajith Premadasa or political activists like Shiral Laktilleka who until the very end maintained that Sajith could come through. Here’s a partial list of prophesy-pushers: Dayan Jayatilleka, Jayadeva Uyangoda, Victor Ivan, Harim Peiris and Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu. Some of them, like Dayan, were openly campaigning for Sajith while others may have done so on the sly. Some, like Kumar David didn’t exactly cheer Sajith, but waxed eloquent about the ‘real possibility’ of second-preferences coming into contention, indicating that he also believed in a close race.
Now their UK Election counterparts weren’t exactly Sumanadasas either. So how does one explain the fact that they got it all wrong? Is it enough to say ‘outcome preferences compromised analytical rigor’? Is it enough to say ‘they started believing their own propaganda?’
Maybe they just had no clue.
Many commentators, first and foremost, seemed to have read everything wrong. In 2015, they believed it was a battle between a clueless authoritarian Sinhala Buddhist nationalist crook and a coalition of good and competent guys who were peaceful, democratic, honest, tolerant and secularist. Come 2019, they believed (hoped, rather) that there would be a repeat. That belief/hope was predicated probably on that flawed reading of the 2015 result.
It can’t be the case that people had been ‘converted’ from revolutionary (‘low-intensity’ as Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri put it) to counter-revolutionary if you want that kind of terminology in the course of less than five years. It has to be something else. It was not about the electorate suddenly becoming ultra-progressive (as per THEIR understanding of the word) between 2010 and 2015. Simply, people were tired of the regime, they were tired of the arrogance and more so than the perceived corruption. If that was not the case, the above pundits would find it hard to explain how Gota not only won the districts that Mahinda lost or won by margins much slimmer than those of 2010 but won them handsomely.
So they were shocked. Naturally. Perhaps they should try self-reflection and ask themselves if they unconsciously extrapolated personal preferences and convictions to the entire electorate or at least a significant section of it.
In the UK (like in the USA), politics is dominated by the right wing. Yes, just like in Sri Lanka. Sure, the Democrats are ‘left’ but only in relation to the location of the Republicans on the Left-Right political continuum. Labour, in the UK, is ‘left’ but only in relation to the Conservatives. In terms of broader social, economic and political issues, both parties in both countries (yes, just like in Sri Lanka) are ‘right’.
In Sri Lanka, ironically, ‘The Left’ or rather the so-called Left Intellectuals that ‘The Left’ has dwindled down have identified the UNP as the preferred refugee camp. Now if these individuals were serious about taking on capitalism and if ‘class’ was their top political priority, they wouldn’t go anywhere near the UNP. Some of course backed the JVP and painted themselves as supporting program rather than a ‘lesser evil’. But ‘lesser evil’ seems to be the perennial fall-back option for these people, both in Sri Lanka and the UK.
Why is the Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna (SLPP) or the Conservative party the ‘greater evil’? It’s not about capitalism or class struggle. Such things are no longer in their vocabulary. The left pretenders are simply reluctant to acknowledge the truth that such ideological concerns no longer excite them. They simply want to retain the label. So they pick what have been peripheral to traditional left politics: self-determination, minoritarianism, environmental issues, women’s rights, human rights, reconciliation, liberal democracy (as an interim political project), carbon-neutrality etc.
And they must pick a political other. What’s easy? Well, ‘nationalism’ has always been the no-no for the Left. So it’s easy. They painted the Rajapaksas and the SLPP as ‘Sinhala Buddhist racists’ and happily sided with Sajith. But wait, read what Kumar David has to say about Sajith. Sajith’s mind, he paraphrases thus: ‘I will be as tough as Gota; mother Lanka is safe from separatist Tamils and terrorist Muslims in my custody.’ It was easy, one feels. If not wanting to side with a Rajapaksa was not reason enough, all they had to do was to move to where the nationalists were not.
Never mind all that. They needed to stand somewhere and they picked a default option, even though it meant they had to rub shoulders of Tamil racists and Muslim fundamentalists, not to mention of course champions of the ultra-right and out and out slaves of the global thugs led by the USA and UK . Interestingly, the same can be said of the ultra nationalists. It is not that Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the SLPP were in policy statement or rhetoric more nationalist than Sajith. Neither were they parroting the claims and aspirations of the nationalists. And yet, they were the lesser evil for the nationalists. It was easy, one feels. Just check where Mangala Samaraweera, Rauff Hakeem, Rishard Bathiudeen, M.A. Sumanthiran et al stand and pick the person opposed to them.
What comes out of all this is that while there are ideologies and ideologues, they either don’t have a party they expresses the particular ideology or else don’t have the will to build such a political force. And so those who picked the winner have things to say about what and who were defeated while those who backed the loser talk about what and who won.
This is not something that was peculiar to the recently held Presidential Election. It is a theory that can help explain the behavior of ‘ideologues’ of all kinds in every major election since 1965. That makes 54 years of default-option as far as those who are heavy on ideology are concerned.
Interestingly, they make such a tiny minority that their effect is considerably smaller than their profiles (and egos). In other words, had the self-labeled Leftists chosen to spend all their time away from laptops and pocket meetings and instead used armchairs, the results would have not been very different in both 2015 and 2019 (and of course other elections). The same would go for the nationalists.
Of course things are a bit different in Britain, considering Brexit, Johnson and deep-seated xenophobia coming out into the open, but one feels that electorate-temper has been as misread in that country as it was in Sri Lanka. Nevertheless, the commonalities of misreading, mis-extrapolation and missing the bus consequently are hard to deny.
One thing is certain. The November 16, 2019 election showed up many political scientists and political commentators for being utterly inept. Perhaps it was a sobering experience and we might see more informed and perceptive missives from them in the future. I am not betting on it though.
This article was first published in the Sunday Observer [December 15, 2019]
malindasenevi@gmail.com. www.malindawords.blogspot.com
December 16, 2019
His Excellency
U Win Myint
The President of Myanmar
Myanmar
Your Excellency,
We are deeply concerned with the allegations made against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice, and the denigration of Myanmar world – wide by the International Media working hand in glove with sinister NGO groups having a diabolical anti – Buddhist agenda. They are blatantly using the bogey of Human Rights and false and misleading accusations of Genocide to name and shame countries, that are truly independent, assert sovereign rights of free nations, and do not bow down to western diktat.
Today it is Myanmar. Tomorrow it will be Sri Lanka. Having destroyed Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan without being held to account for their crimes, the very same western countries are now strategically using Muslims to destroy the foundations of Buddhist countries.
Both Myanmar and Sri Lanka have a shared past linked to Theravada Buddhism running for over a thousand years. History shows that both countries had assisted each other in times of crisis when the survival of each country was at stake. An existential threat from a common source intending to displace Buddhism in both countries persists today. This trend is clearly visible in the narrative of the disappearance and replacement of Buddhism in several Asian countries during the last one thousand years.
The Dharmic (Indo – Buddhist) world must take cognizance of these historical developments and ask the question whether the current happenings in Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand (all Theravada Buddhist countries now besieged ) are but a continuation of a tailored process set in motion over a thousand years ago to dislodge and finally replace Buddhism from its traditional primacy in Buddhist Asia.
British colonial rulers must take blame for much of Myanmar’s contemporary troubles, having intentionally stoked tensions between its Bamar Buddhist majority and ethnic minorities through a strategy of divide and rule,” sowing seeds of resentment between the Bamar and minorities like the Rohingya.
Will the British also take responsibility for bringing most Rohingyas from Bengal in the 19th and 20th centuries as cheap labour to work in Burmese paddy fields, in a manner similar to bringing Indian Tamils as indentured labour to Sri Lanka then called Ceylon to work in tea plantations without the consent of the Kandyan Sinhalese people, and whose traditional lands were forcefully grabbed by the British under the draconian Waste Lands Ordinance, 1840 ?
We take the view that the elected Government of Myanmar with a mandate to protect the citizens of Myanmar, had no other choice but to send its armed forces to Rakhine in order to protect Buddhists, Hindus, and various indigenous Tribal Groups, who faced the wrath of ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) and the Bengali Muslims who had infiltrated Rakhine heavily with intent to grab land and dispossess the original inhabitants namely the citizens of Myanmar, from their traditional home land in Rakhine.
We further take the view that what the Government of Myanmar is doing is absolutely right, in protecting Myanmar’s interest in the face of OIC funded propaganda. The So called Rohingyas are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Where was ICJ and UN when Bangladesh was ethnic cleansing Buddhist tribes (Chakma, Marma, Tripura etc.) from Chittagong Hill Tracts?”
A propaganda war has been launched against Myanmar by the OIC and the highly prejudiced international media such as Al Jazeera that totally ignores the Bengali Muslim land grab that blights Rakhine, the Chittagong Hill Tracts (Bangladesh), and various parts of India including Assam.
A similar situation of organized and co -ordinated violence arose in Sri Lanka, when on Easter Sunday April 21, 2019, suicide bombers linked to radical Islamic terrorist groups killed 259 people and injured over 500 people. Three churches and three luxury hotels in Colombo were targeted in a series of coordinated terrorist suicide bombings.
The failure to counter aggressive Abrahamic incursions can only lead to the shrinking of Buddhist space and Territory in South Asia, South East Asia and the Far East.
We admire the moral courage of Myanmar in standing up to foreign invaders. Much of Asia was once under European colonial rule for centuries. People in Asian countries fought for their freedom and liberty from Western colonial occupation, and finally obtained independence. But this independence is now again under threat from neo – colonialism.
Organization of Islamic Co – operation (OIC) is in the picture via Gambia. The absence of the equivalent of an OIC in the Buddhist world such as a summit level League of Buddhist Nations, is worrisome. While European Christian heritage nations are protected heavily by the European Union (EU) and NATO, and Islamic countries have the powerful 57 member OIC to take up their cause at the drop of a hat, Buddhist countries unfortunately lack an effective international Buddhist organization with clout to adequately defend them at a time of crisis.
Between Turkey and Indonesia, there are only four non – Muslim countries, namely the pre-dominantly Hindu India, and three predominantly Buddhist countries, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand. They all face threats to their survival from armed violence and demographic change.
Hela Budhu Saviya wishes to express concern, at these developments which threaten the future of Buddhist nations. The people of Sri Lanka and Myanmar have a long history of friendship and solidarity. We express our continued support and admiration to an Asian Heroine namely the State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi for her great courage and perseverance in the face of continued threats and intimidation.
You are not alone.
Hela Budhu Saviya pledges support and backing to the Government and people of Myanmar in their hour of crisis.
May the Triple Gem Bless you
Ven.
Budugala Jinawansa Thera
President Hela Budhu Saviya
Sri Lanka
Ten Sri Lankan medical practitioners including three doctors and seven
nurses from the Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology (CKDu) affected areas
finished a 2-month training program at Peking University First Hospital (PUFH)
in Beijing. The commencement ceremony of the Training Program was held on Dec.
12, 2019. For two months, the trainees got full time training in the
hemodialysis center, the nephrology ward and the peritoneal dialysis center of
the PUFH, one of the best hospitals in China.
As a training program lasting for the third consecutive year, the training
program was sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in an attempt to
help tackle the CKDu issue in Sri Lanka. The program has trained thirty medical
practitioners for Sri Lanka up to now.
Please find the following report
by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) “Training Program 2019 for Sri
Lankan Medical Practitioners in Nephrology held in Beijing”
The two individuals, who were arrested over controversial statements made at a media briefing conducted by former Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne on the purported incidents regarding white vans”, have been remanded until the 27th of December.
The Colombo Chief Magistrate issued the order when the two individuals were presented before the court today (16).
The CID had commenced an investigation into a media briefing conducted by the former Health Minister in early November along with two other individuals, where they made controversial statements.
On the 10th of November this year, Senaratne had called two persons named Anthony Douglas Fernando and Athula Sanjeewa Madanayake for the said press conference, who made controversial statements and allegations regarding white vans” and purported incidents of certain abductions, assassinations, robberies and forced disappearances during the administration of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
One of them had claimed that he was a white van” driver involved in abducting people while the other claimed he once served as a driver to transport a stock of gold in previously LTTE-held areas.
On December 02, the CID presented a submission to the Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne regarding the said media briefing. Considering a request made by the CID, the chief magistrate had ordered several media institutions to submit the unedited video footage from this press conference to the investigators for onward probes.
The investigations in this regard were launched after a complaint was lodged by an individual named Kumudu Pradeep Sanjeewa Perera.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said that the local staffer attached to the Swiss Embassy was not abducted and, it has now been revealed that the incident was solely a calculated target on him.
Addressing the heads of media institutions this morning, he further said that CCTV footage, telephone conversations and other independent investigations have already revealed that such an incident had not taken place
The president also said that the behavior of the allegedly abducted Embassy staffer was suspicious as she did not cooperate with investigators.
He said the Swiss Embassy in Colombo has extended its full support towards the investigations, however.
Commenting on the alleged white van phobia that was brought to the election platform by the previous government, President Rajapaksa said such practices are fitting to the individuals such as former minister Rajitha Senarathna.
He further said that the media conferences convened by Senarathna to disseminate make-believe stories helped increase his final vote count.
Addressing the heads of media institutions, President Rajapaksa said that his only challenge in 2020 is to implement his election manifesto.
He said that all ministers and public workers should make full commitments towards his goal and attitudinal changes in the Public sector has to be done in this regard.
The employment task force will begin offering jobs next year and it will give priority to youth from low-income group families.
The President further said that the aim of the government is to inculcate different skills in unskilled youth to enable them to look for jobs locally and internationally.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said that no foreign worker will be employed in local jobs and said that his aim is to step forward with local intellectuals.<br /> <br /> Responding to participating heads of media institutions, President Rajapaksa said that a committee has been appointed to do a correct study on the controversial Millennium Challenge Corporation as well.
He also said that his government would never postpone due elections in the future.
At the same time, he said the media can make a big impact to put a government on the correct track, therefore, no form of pressure would be brought on the media.
He also said that an effective media office will be set up in the course of time, enabling it to make direct statements on relevant subjects instead of announcing government opinions.
he Swiss Embassy officer Garnier Banister Francis who was arrested by the CID, has been remanded until the 30
This was after she was produced before Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne.
2016 වසරේ රාජගිරියේදී තරුණයෙකු රිය අනතුරට ලක් කළ බව කියන සිද්ධියට අදාළව හිටපු අමාත්ය පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක නීතීඥයෙකු මාර්ගයෙන් අද අධිකරණය හමුවේ පෙනී සිටියා.
හිරු අධිකරණ වාර්තාකරු සඳහන් කළේ ඒ අනුව ඔහු කොළඹ අතිරේක මහේස්ත්රාත් කාංචනා නෙරංජනා ද සිල්වා හමුවේ පෙනී සිටි බවයි.
එහිදී හිටපු අමාත්යවරයා වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටි නීතීඥවරයා අධිකරණයට දැනුම්දී ඇත්තේ තම සේවාදායකයා සහ ඔහුගේ රියදුරාට අදාළව ලබාගෙන ඇති විදෙස් ගමන් තහනම ඒකපාර්ශවික කරුණු ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමක් මගින් ගත් තීන්දුවක් බවටයි.
එමෙන්ම, කොළඹ අපරාධ කොට්ඨාශයේ නිලධාරින් හිටපු අමාත්යවරයාගේ රියදුරාගේ ගාල්ල – ඉමදූවේ පිහිටි නිවසට ගොස් ඔහුගේ ඥාතීන් බලහත්කාරයෙන් කොළඹට රැගෙනවිත් ඇති බවට ද නීතිඥවරයා අධිකරණයට දැනුම් දුන්නා.
කෙසේ වෙතත්, කොළඹ අපරාධ කොට්ඨාශය කරුණු ඉදිරිපත් කරමින් කියා සිටියේ නිසියාකාරව කරුණු ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමෙන් පසු අදාළ විදෙස් ගමන් තහනම ලබා ගත් බවයි.
බලහත්කාරයකින් තොරව අමාත්යවරයාගේ රියදුරාගේ ඥාතීන් කොළඹට රැගෙන ආවේ ඔහු රැදී සිටින කොළඹ නිවස හදුනා ගැනීම සදහා බව ද කොළඹ අපරාධ කොට්ඨාශය අධිකරණයට දැනුම් දුන්නා.
එසේම පොලීසියේ ඉල්ලීම අනුව අධිකරණය නියෝග කළේ විමර්ශන කටයුතු සඳහා දුරකථන අංක 20ක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් විශ්ලේෂණ වාර්තාවක් කැදවීමටයි.
වැඩිදුර විමර්ශනය සඳහා නඩුව ලබන වසරේ පෙබරවාරි මස 14 වන දා යළි කැදවන අතර, එතෙක් හිටපු අමාත්ය පාඨලී චම්පික රණවකට සහ ඔහුගේ රියදුරාට විදෙස් ගමන් තහනම ක්රියාත්මකයි.
මේ අතර හිටපු අමාත්ය පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක මහතාට එරෙහිව එල්ල වී චෝදනා සම්බන්ධයෙන් ප්රතිචාර දැක්විම සඳහා එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී අකිල විරාජ් කාරියවසම් මහතා ඇතුළු පිරිසක් අද කොළඹදී විශේෂ ප්රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවක් පැවැත්වූවා.
Former Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka appeared before the Colombo Additional Magistrate Kanchana Neranjana de Silva today in connection with an incident involving a youth in Rajagiriya in 2016.
Former Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka and his driver were imposed an overseas travel ban in connection with the accident by the Colombo Additional Magistrate’s Court.
United National Bhikkhu Front states that the UNP MPs should seek tuition on politics from Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa
General Secretary of the organization, Thiniyawala Palitha Thera was addressing a media conference held at the UNP headquarters Sirikotha this morning.
Meanwhile, a meeting between the UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and the representatives of the Kurunegala District Local Governments was held at Sirikotha today.
විපක්ෂ නායකධුරය, පක්ෂ නායක ධුරය ඇතුළු තනතුරු කිසිවක් නොව තමන්ට අවශ්යව ඇත්තේ මිලියන ගණනක ණය ගෙවා ගැනීමට පමණක් බව හිටපු අමාත්ය සජිත් ප්රේමදාස මහතා පැවසූ බවට එක්සත් ජාතික භික්ෂු පෙරමුණේ සාමාජික භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේ පවසනවා.
ඒ, අද පෙරවරුවේ සිරිකොත පක්ෂ මුලස්ථානයේ පැවති ප්රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකට එක්වෙමින්.
Is the MCC Compact the only document that endangers the security of the Nation?
Should we not analyse our past experiences too to fathom our vulnerability to adopt foreign land statutes and systems when enticed with foreign aid? It is unfortunate that several intellectuals and advisers expect us to read only the MCC document, forgetting all the other agreements that had made costly mistakes with regard to our land rights. We are compelled to accept inroads to our land rights, simply to accommodate gifts and loans.
We had entered into several agreements in the past that required us to legislate foreign laws relating to land, simply to enable us to accept foreign grants. ‘All this for the sake of alleviating poverty’ , was how we were pacified. The World Bank suggested that we need to introduce a new law, an Australian law, which required the drawing of cadastral maps for 9 million blocks of land within a time frame of 25 years.
We could not find the trained professionals and completed about two hundred thousand blocks in the course of the last 20 years.
Now, with the project yet uncompleted, we are stranded without funds, the funding organisations refusing to continue with the funding. Funding so far given is supposed to be 5 million Dollars given when the dollar rate was Rs 87 and Rs 109
The World Bank Reports of 2001 and 2007 give a clear picture as to why they have refused funding. Presently, Sri Lanka is limping along with laws and procedures unknown to land owners and the legal professionals. On the other hand, we are compelled to complete what we have started as the Constitution does not allow us to obtain redress from court to repeal statutes.
Suddenly, some funding has arrived. We are instructed by the funders to privatise ownership of land, leapfrog from manual records to electronic records while half the manual records are corrupted with fraud; and to boot we are saddled with Colonial statutes which remain unrevised since 1863.
The proposed radical changes suggested by funding organisations will destroy our paper deeds, destroy all historical records of our land ownership; we will be reduced to a paperless deed environment and our current land ownership will be confined to a digital number toxic with corruption reflected in the manual register; this corruption will now be totally irreversible in the digital state.
It will be a Herculean task for the judiciary, lawyers and land owners to unravel the past frauds; the frauds that will occur in the future will be outside the scope of the judiciary. Perhaps the owners are not aware that they cannot obtain redress form court under the new digital laws .
For any land development project to be successful a comprehensive and compulsory land registry is a must. If privatisation, as advised by the MCC is implemented, millions of deeds will be entering the spatial domain of land registries which has seen better days when there were no leaking roofs and sufficient space. Today, the computers are pushed to corners not affected by leaking roofs.
The Registrar, early this year, had informed his hierarchy of this plight. When deeds are damaged lost or torn he justifies it, even to the judiciary, by adverting to the physical state of the Registry. [see picture re letters and the manner in which deeds are kept due to lack of buildings].
Land fraud inevitably is extremely pervasive; deeds are registered even if they are forged or invalid.
The data is being taken from the books of the land registry in to computers without first remedying this situation in the Manual register
The poor, who have leasehold rights to their land will, after privatisation, lose the government protection as they will have to keep their deeds in a registry which has 50% forged deeds according to the Registrar. The Government will no longer protect their rights; they will have to do so personally at their expense and time.https://www.newsfirst.lk/2019/03/17/50-of-land-deeds-in-sri-lanka-forged-registrar-general/.The.
The major issue will be that they will not be protected by the simple common law that that they were governed when lands were owned by the government. They will be governed by, Customary Laws such as Kandyan Law, Thesawalamai Law, Muslim Law.
To enter into land transactions investors will have to enquire whether a person is a Muslim Tamil or a Sinhalese [Kandyan or Low Country], a man or a woman as the customary laws did not grant men and women equal rights to property rights.
The World Bank reports of 2001 and 2007 specifically states that Sri Lanka lacks institutions and professionals to move forward. It is was their considered opinion that Sri Lanka was not ready for proceeding with digitalisation and other progressive steps relating to land. The World Bank lists a plethora of issues relevant in 2019 vis a vis the MCC Agreement:
If we have failed to address these issues highlighted by World Bank in 2001 and thereafter in 2007 under what protections are we entering in to further agreements.
The country requires a professional team to look in to the half-done land projects from which we cannot go back, presently requiring large funds and buildings. The most important factor is to investigate the administration’s inability mentioned in the reports, which the World Bank had pointed out as the cause for failure.
The MCC agreement has a ‘warning clause’ that they will exit the Agreement if we do not comply with all their requirements.
And another clause states that they will not fund beyond what they have offered; if we expend more it would be our liability.
If we proceed irresponsibly, merely receiving grants, knowing the situation we have placed ourselves in the past we will have to bear the inexorable cost. The land owners will not have any relief to prove their ownership specially in a paperless land registry without any safety measures to protect the rights of owners. There would be no protective hand of the Judiciary to give them relief as the Judicial powers are taken away by Act 21 of 1998.
The ground-breaking 1976 presentation by Prof. Weeramantry Equality and Freedom: some Third World Perspectives” at the 1976 Conference in the US of the World Association for the Philosophy of Law & Social Philosophy is the best example to showcase the status of Sri Lanka’s lands. Asia Week described the monograph as the ‘Magna Carta for the Third World”
‘Third World nations after independence suddenly found themselves released amidst currents raging so irresistibly, we were suddenly tossed into this maelstrom, before we could put our house in order.”
He explains that Third World citizens, subject or oppressed people for centuries were released into a world where wealth and technology had raced ahead. Their theoretical equality whether as states or citizens, tended year by year to sound increasingly hollow as economic and political power showed itself on the international scene to be prepared to turn these into empty shibboleths”
MCC did not suddenly evolve, seemingly to resolve our land rights , There was an evolutionary process for the past 60 years, which we have sadly ignored . The evolutionary process to offer the carrot of funding first came in 1952 with a report termed ‘The views of the International Bank For Reconstruction And Development [ 1952 report ] On Insecurity of Land Titles. This was very similar to the MCC agreement, which needed to privatize lands, repeal all the local laws and introduce the Australia law. The difference was we had an erudite lawyer who studied this report, worked single handedly for 3 years to stop the invasion, to save Sri Lanka ’s land rights, with laws suitable for the society
The UNP can never come to power unless they change their name UNP, present leadership, policies and their dependence on the west and the Tamil and Muslim minorities and get armed with a new policy that is more patriotic and inward looking and more appealing to the masses than what the Pohottuwa stands for.
(Continued from December 6th, 2019 Lankaweb The Birth and the Demise of the UNP (Un-patriotic non-National Party).
The UNP can never come to power unless they change their name UNP, present leadership, policies and their dependence on the west and the minorities and get armed with a new policy that is more patriotic and inward looking and more appealing to the masses than what the Pohottuwa stands for
Further to my previous essay on the above subject published on 6th Dec, I would like to add few more comments on the UNP that would be interesting to my readers. JR had carefully selected two young brilliant politicians Gamini Disanayaka and Lalith Atulathmudali as potential future leaders to fill the vacuum of the party after him. In fact JR was grooming Gamini as his successor Gamini to be the next President. But Premadasa, (Just like what Sajit did in 2019 against Ranil) deployed an Island wide campaign against JR against his move to nominate Gamini and he wanted the nominations for the Presidency. I remember the words JR MARAMU appeared overnight on the roads and instances where even school children wrote these words on their slates were reported. Finally JR gave in and Premadasa (Father of Sajit) who took over the leadership by force and intimidation from JR towards the end of 1988 became the President on 2nd Jan in 1989. From the day he became President he did not like Gamini and Lalith as he considered them to be a potential threat to him. So he sidelined them and demoted in their Ministerial positions. Gamini decided to leave politics under Premadasa and left the country to Cambridge for studies. Lalith remained behind as destiny wanted him to and he was finally assassinated on April 23, 1993 at an election meeting at Kirulapana by Premadasa’s goons. Premadasa himself was assassinated by the LTTE on 1 May 1993, perhaps in retribution for what he had done. He was succeeded by D.B. Wijetunga and got down Gamini to lead the Party. He was also assassinated the LTTE at an election meeting in Totalanga. while he was addressing Presidential meeting to Chandrikas luck.
The following two mews items that appeared in media narrate the conspiracy behind Lalith”s political assassination.
Athulathmudali was assassinated when he was shot by a gunman on 23 April 1993 after an election rally at Kirulapana. Initially, the government blamed the LTTE and produced the body of a Tamil youth named Ragunathan which was found near the scene of the shooting the following day. He had apparently died from taking a cyanide capsule. However, these claims were later proved to be false.
A Presidential Commission carried out by the Sri Lankan Government concluded that Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa was directly responsible for the assassination. It also concluded that the Tamil youth Ragunathan, was murdered by the same people who killed Athulathmudali, by forcibly administering him with cyanide.”
Does this not speaks volumes of Ranasinha Premadasa’s vicious plans to remove the most brilliant political leader JR had picked up to take the UNP forward and the irreparable damage he had done to the UNP in particular and the country at large
In this back drop what credentials Sajih can claim to lead the UNP at a crucial time of the Party like the present when it had fallen to the lowest level in its history with both in its anti-Sinhala Anti-Buddhist policies and the quality politicians it has brought to Parliament where there isn’t a single promising Potential leader of quality statesmanship.
I consider the assassination of Lalith in 1993 and the death of Gamini in 1994 as the beginning of the journey of UNP to its demise for which R Premadasa was solely accountable. He was directly responsible for Lalith’s murder, as it was later reported in the press, and of cause for Gamini’s, leaving the Party. These two young shining stars of the UNP would have definitely lifted the UNP to unbelievable levels had they lived. Of the two, having worked with him for one year and known very closely Lalith would have made this country a miracle in Asia if lived to lead the UNP. As a person who has worked closely with both, I can tell you with authority the story of UNP as a political party would have been completely different today if they lived to date.
Gamini being senior to Lalith in politics and more charismatic was certainly a popular politician who could attract crowds with his pleasant personality. But Lalith was a world class leader with his academic credentials from Oxford and Harvard with no peer either here or even in India. I worked with him very closely for one year under the Ministry of Agriculture and I rate him as the best politician and statesman I have ever met. I have devoted one chapter for him in my book ‘Deyata Ahimivana Ran Akara” a critique of public Administration of our time. Both of them revolted against Premadasa for which they had to pay dearly. Premadasa did not like both of them and finally got them removed from the party. That was the biggest damage Premadasa did to the UNP and the treachery to the country. In this backdrop those crazy young UNP MPP who expect Ranasinha Premadasa’s son (who does not inherit an iota of R Premadasa’s talents) to lift up the UNP that has already been dumped in to the dustbin of history by Ranil, in my opinion is only day dreaming on their part.
If the political forces those who are dying for the UNP, wants to rekindle it again the first thing they should do is to drop this illegitimate name UNP, baptized by Mason Moor, the colonial British to ruin this country and the Sinhala Nation, as I have discussed in detail in my previous article, and start with a new name, that goes with the spirit of the nation and that can attract and mobilize the Sinhala Buddhists populous and whole Sinhala nation including the s/Catholics and S/Christians. Second they have to reorganize the new Party under a new leadership, other than both Ranil Wickramasinha and Sajit Premadasa, both of whom have been rejected by the Sinhala Buddhists. As for me I don’t see anyone among all those who are already in Parliament, either among the so-called seniors or juniors who can command the respect and regard of the majority Sinhala Buddhist voters.
Anyway they have enough time till at least 2030 to begin a new political journey as the present Government will definitely be in power at least till then. Whoever is going to be the new leader, they as a party can never come back to power even after 2030 unless they change their policies on their dependence on the west and the minorities and get armed with a new policy that is more patriotic and inward looking and more appealing to the masses than what the Pohottuwa stands for as I have stated at the beginning.
(මේ ලිපියේ අරමුණ ලංකා ගුවන් විදුලි සේවයේ වැඩි දෙනා නොදන්නා කරුනු හෙලි කිරීමය).
මෙම දෙසැම්බර් 16 වනදාට මෙරට මුල්වරට ගුවන් විදුලි සේවාවක් පටන්ගෙන වසර 94 ක් සපිරෙයි. ඊට මග පැදුනේ කිසිවකු නොසිතු අයුරින්ය. ඒ පළමුවැනි ලෝක යුද්ධය (1914-1918) ඇරඹීම නිසවෙනි. එම යුද්ධයෙන් බ්රිතාන්යය ජර්මනිය පරදා ජයගත් පසු එවකට බ්රිතාන්යය යටත් විජිතයක් වූ මෙරටට බ්රිතාන්යයන් විසින් ඔවුන් විසින් අල්ලගන්නා ලද ජර්මන් සබ්මැරීනයක ගුවන් විදුලි උපකරණ කොටස් ගෙනෙන ලදී.
මෙරට විදුලි සංදේශ දෙපාර්තමේන්තු ඉංජිනේරුවෝ එම ජර්මන් නාවික උපකාර වල ආධාරයෙන් කුඩා ගුවන් විදුලි සම්ප්රේෂණ යන්ත්රයක් සාදා අත්හදා බැලීමක් වශයෙන් 1923 දී කොළඹ මධ්යම විදුලි පණිවුඩ කාර්යාලයේ කුඩා කාමරයක සිට ග්රැමෆෝන් තැටි සංගීතය විකාශනය කලහ. ඒ යුරෝපයේ මුල් වරට ගුවන් විදුලි සේවාවන් ඇරඹීමෙන් වසර තුනකට පසුවය. අත්හදා බැලීම සාර්ථක වූයෙන් වසර 1925 දෙසැම්බර් 16 වන දා මෙරට ප්රථම ගුවන් විදුලි සේවාව ඇරඹින.එවකට එය හැඳින්වුනේ ‘කොළඹ ගුවන් විදුලිය‘ යනුවෙනි. ඊළඟ වසරේදී ගුවන්ව්දුලි සංගීත විකාශන ස්ටුඩියෝවක් කොළඹ ලංකා සරසවි කොලීජියේ අරඹන ලදී. වසර 1927 දී ශබ්ද ශ්රවණයට ගැලපෙන විකාශන ස්ටුඩියෝවක් ටොරින්ටන් චතුරශ්රයේදී (අද නිදහස් චතුරශ්රය) පිහිටුවින.
ප්රථම සිංහල ගුවන් විදුලි නිවේදකයා වූ ඩී. එම්.කොළඹගේ මහතා සිංහල විකාශනය පටන්ගත්තේ “කොළඹින් කතාකරමි” යනුවෙනි. ප්රථම සිංහල නිවේදිකාව වුයේ ප්රභා රණතුංග මහත්මියයි.
වසර 1934 දී ගුවන්විදුලි විකාශන උපදේශක මණ්ඩලයක් පිහිටුවන ලදුව සැතපුම් 40 ක දුරක වටප්රමාණයේ පැහැදිලිව ශ්රවණයවීම සඳහා අත්හදා බැලීම් වශයෙන් කෙටි තරංග විකාශනයක් අරඹන ලදී. එවකට බ්රිතාන්ය අධිරාජ්යය සඳහා විසුරුවා හරින වැඩසටහන් ශ්රවණය කිරීම සඳහා මධ්යස්ථානයක්ද පිහිටුවින. වසර 1937 දී ශ්රී ලාංකික ඉංජිනේරුවෙක් කිලෝවොට් 3.5 ක කෙටි තරංග සම්ප්රේෂණ යන්ත්රයක් මෙම සේවාව සඳහා නිර්මාණය කලේය.
ඉන් දෙවසරකට පසු දෙවන ලෝක යුද්ධය ඇරඹීමෙන් ගුවන්විදුලි සේවාවේ ප්රගතියට බාධා ඇතිවිය. වසර 1942 දී ජපානය යුද්ධයට අවතීර්ණ වීමත් සමග ගුවන් විදුලි මූලස්ථානය තාවකාලිකව බොරැල්ල කොටා පාරේ බංගලාවකට ගෙනයන ලදී. කොළඹට සහ ත්රිකුණාමලයට ජපන් ගුවන් ප්රහාර එල්ල වුයේ එම වසරේ අප්රේල් මාසයේය. ටොරින්ටන් චතුරශ්රයේ ගුවන් විදුලි මධ්යස්ථාන භූමිය බ්රිතාන්යය රාජකීය ගුවන් හමුදාවට (RAF) පැවරින. මේ අතරතුර බ්රිතාන්යය–ඇමෙරිකන් අග්නිදිග ආසියා යුද මූලස්ථානයෙන් (South East Asia Command Headquarters) ආසියාවට ජපන්–විරෝධී ගුවන් විදුලි ප්රචාරයන් විසුරුවා හැරීම සඳහා කොළඹ කොල්ලුපිටියේ ටරට් පාරේ (අද ධර්මපාල මාවත) විකාශනාගාරයක් පිහිටුවන ලදී. එය හැඳින්වුනේ ‘රේඩියෝ‘ සියැක් (Radio SEAC) යනුවෙනි.’ ජපනුන් විසින් යටත් කරගන්නා ලද අග්නිදිග ආසියා රටවලට ප්රචාර නිකුත් කල මෙය ඉතාමත්ම බලගතු විකාශනාගාරයක් විය. එය මෙරට පිහිටුවීමට පියවර ගත්තේ එවකට අග්නිදිග ආසියා යුද මූලස්ථානයේ ප්රධානියා වූ ලුවී මවුන්ට්බැටන් අද්මිරාල් වරයාය. ඔහු 1944 දී නවදිල්ලියේ පිහිටි සිය කාර්යාලය මහනුවරට ගෙන ආවේය. ඒ බ්රිතාන්යය–ඇමෙරිකන් ආසියා යුද මූලස්ථානය වූ ලංකාවේ සිට ජපන්–විරෝධී යුද්ධය මෙහෙය වීම වඩාත් පහසු නිසාය.
ඊළඟ වසරේ යුද්ධය අවසන් වී 1948 දී මෙරටට නිදහස ලැබීමෙන් පසු ‘රේඩියෝ‘ සියැක් පිළිබඳව ගතයුතු පියවර පිළිබඳව බ්රිතාන්යය සහ ලංකාව අවධානය යොමු කලහ. දෙරට අතර ඇතිකරගත් ගිවිසුමකට අනුව 1949 මාර්තු පළමු වැනිදා එහි අයිතිය ලංකාවට පවරන ලදී. එහි කොන්දේසිය වුයේ බ්රිතාන්ය සඳහාද ප්රචාරක පහසුකම් එමගින් සැලසිය යුතු වීමයි. ඒ සමගම ‘රේඩියෝ‘ සියැක් සහ මෙරට ගුවන් විදුලි සේවාවන් ඒකාබද්ධ කරන ලද අතර ඒ අනුව 1949 දෙසැම්බර් පළමු වැනිදා ලංකා ගුවන් විදුලි දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව බිහිවිය. ඊට පෙර මෙරට ගුවන් විදුලි සේවාව ලංකා මුහුදු සීමාවෙන් ඔබ්බට විකාශනය කිරීමට නොහැකි විය. ගිවිසුමෙන් පසු තත්වය වෙනස් වුවද බලගතු සියැක් විකාශන වල තාක්ෂණික අයිතිය තවමත් බ්රිතාන්යයන් සතු විය වසර 1949 වන විට මෙරට ගුවන්විදුලි යන්ත්ර බලපත් හිමියන්ගේ ගණන 27000 ක් විය. (අද ගුවන්විදුලි ශ්රවණ යන්ත්ර තබා ගැනීමට බලපත් අවශ්ය නැත).
දෙරට අතර ඇතිකරගත් ගිවිසුමට අනුව ‘රේඩියෝ‘ සියැක් සේවාවෙන් කලා සේ ලංකා ගුවන් විදුලි සේවයද අග්නිදිග ආසියා රටවල රඳවා සිටි බ්රිතාන්ය හමුදා වෙනුවෙන් ගුවන් විදුලි විකාශන පවත්වා ගෙන ගියේය. බලගතු සියැක් විකාශන වල තාක්ෂණික අයිතිය තවමත් බ්රිතාන්යයන් සතු විය. එනිසා ලංකාව තවමත් ස්වාධීන රටක් නොවේ යයි තර්ක කල සෝවියට් රුසියාව අප රටට එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මණ්ඩලයේ සාමාජිකත්වය හිමිවීම වැලැක්විය
.
එවකට ලංකාව සහ රුසියාව අතර තානාපති සම්බන්ධතා නොපැවතිනි.
කෙසේ වෙතත් අවසානයේදී එකල ලකිසුරුව සිටි ශ්රීමත් ඔලිවර් ගුණතිලක මහතාගේ ශූර බුද්ධිය නිසා ස්ටර්ලිං පවුම් මිලියන තුනකට සියැක් විකාශන යන්ත්ර මෙරටට විකුණන්නට තැත් කල බ්රිතාන්යයට ඒවා නොමිලයේම අපට දීමට සිදු විය.මෙය ලංකා ගුවන් විදුලි ඉතිහාසයේ ඉතා වැදගත් ජයග්රහණයකි.
ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම ඔලිවර් ගුණතිලක කලේ සුද්දන් රැවටීමකි. ඒ කාලයේදී ඔහු – ලකිසුරු වීමට පෙර – ලන්ඩන් නුවර ලංකා මහ කොමසාරිස් විය. හිටපු රාජ්ය ඇමති ආනන්දතිස්ස ද අල්විස් මහතා පුවත්පත් කලාවේදී ටාසි විට්ටච්චි මහතාට පැවසු අන්දමට සිද්ධිය වුයේ මෙසේය එවකට ඔහු ශ්රීමත් ජෝන් කොතලාවල මහතාගේ (අගමැති වීමට පෙර) පුද්ගලික ලේකම් ලෙස මේ ගැන කතිකා කරගැනීම සඳහා බ්රිතාන්යට ගිය දූත පිරිසට එක් විය. එරටට ගොඩබැස රැස්වීමට යන අතරතුර ඔලිවර් සිය උපක්රමය සහ රඟපෑ යුතු අන්දම ගැන දූත පිරිසේ සෙස්සන්ට හෙලි කලේය. ඔවුන් ගමන් කල වාහනයේ රියැදුරා සුද්දකු වූ බැවින් ඔහුට නොතේරෙන ලෙස ඔවුන් කතා කලේ සිංහල බසිනි.
රැස්වීමේ මුලසුන හෙබවුයේ බ්රිතාන්ය පොදුරාජ්ය මණ්ඩල කටයුතු පිලිබඳ ඇමති ශ්රීමත් පැට්රික් ගෝඩ්න් වෝකර් මහතාය. රැස්වීමට බ්රිතාන්ය ගුවන් විදුලි සේවයේ සහ එරට මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරයේ නියෝජිතයෝද සහභාගී වූහ. රැස්වීම අමතමින් ශ්රීමත් පැට්රික් කියා සිටියේ ලංකා ගුවන් විදුලි දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව (සියැක් විකාශන යන්ත්ර සහිතව) ස්ටර්ලිං පවුම් මිලියන තුනකට විකිණිය හැකි බවය.
“මොනවා “? ඔලිවර් මවාගත් විමතියකින් ප්රශ්න කලේය.
“ඔව්” ඔලිවර් පැට්රික් පිළිතුරු දුන්නේය “ඉතා ලබෙටයි ඔබට අප මෙය ලබාදෙන්නේ“
“ලාබෙට?. අපට ඕක මිලට ගන්න ඕන නැහැ. කීයටවත් එපා. ඔයිට වඩා අපේ විදේශ විනිමය වැය කලයුතු දේ තියෙනවා“
එසේ කියමින් මවාගත් කෝපයකින් පුපුරමින් ඔලිවර් රැස්වීම් කාමරයෙන් පිටතට ගියේය. ජෝන් කොතලාවල ඇතුළු දූත පිරිසේ සෙස්සෝ එසේ රැස්වීමෙන් ඉවත් නොවන ලෙස ඔලිවර් ට බැගැපත් වූහ. ඊට සවන් දී ඔහු ඉතා අකමැත්තෙන් මෙන් නැවතත් අවුත් සිය අසුනේ හිඳ ගත්තේය. එවිට ටික වේලාවකට රැස්වීම කල් තැබූ ශ්රීමත් පැට්රික් මේ ගැන එවකට බ්රිතාන්ය අගමැති ක්ලෙමන්ට් ඇට්ලී ගේ මතය විමසා විනාඩි කිහිපයකින් නැවත පැමිණ කියා සිටියේ සියැක් විකාශන යන්ත්ර සහිත සම්පූර්ණ ගුවන් විදුලි මධ්යස්ථානය ලංකාවට නොමිලේ ලබා දීමට බ්රිතාන්ය රජය තීරණය කර ඇති බවයි. එපමණක් නොව හමුදා සඳහා කෙරෙන ගුවන් විදුලි ප්රචාර වෙනුවෙන් මෙරටට මුදල් ගෙවීමටද ඔව්හු පොරොන්දු වුහ.
ඊට බොහෝ කලකට පසුවය බ්රිතාන්ය පොදුරාජ්ය මණ්ඩල කාර්යාලයට ඔලිවර් ගේ උපක්රමය හෙලි වුයේ. සියැක් විකාශන යන්ත්ර ලංකාවෙන් ඉවත් කර වෙනත් රටකට ගෙනයාමට වැය වන මුදල පිළිබඳව ඔහු බ්රිතාන්ය අද්මිරාල්ත කාර්යාලයේ යම් කිසිවකු මාර්ගයෙන් රැස්වීමට පෙරාතුව දැනගෙන ඇත. ඒ අනුව එම විකාශන මධ්යස්ථානය තිබෙන තැනම තියෙන්නට හරිනවාට වඩා විශාල වියදමක් එය වෙනත් තැනකට ගෙනයාමේදී බ්රිතාන්ය රජයට වැය වන බව ඔලිවර්ට අවබෝධ වී ඇත. ඒවා නොමිලයේ ලබා ගැනීමට ඔහු සැලසුම් කලේ ඉන් පසුවය.
ඉන්පසු වසර 1950 සැප්තැම්බරයේදී වත්මන් ගුවන් විදුලි සංස්ථා ගොඩනැගිල්ල අංග සම්පූර්ණ ගුවන් විදුලි මධ්යස්ථානයක් ලෙස ඇරඹින. ඉන් පටන් ගත් 1950 දශකයේදී ලංකා වෙළෙඳ ගුවන් විදුලි සේවය ලොව පුරා එවැනි සේවා අතුරින් ඉතා උසස් මට්ටමේ සේවාවක් ලෙස නමක් දිනා ගත්තේය. එය අපේ අසල් වැසි ඉන්දියාවේ සමස්ත ඉන්දියා ගුවන් විදුලි සේවයට වඩා එරට අසන්නන් අතරද ජනප්රිය විය.
මෙරට ගුවන් ව්දුලි තාක්ෂණික නිලධාරීන් සහ නිවේදකයින් ප්රධාන වශයෙන් පුහුණු කරනු ලැබුවේ බ්රිතාන්ය ගුවන් විදුලි සේවය මගිනි.
ලංකා ගුවන් විදුලි සේවයේ ස්වර්ණමය යුගයේදී එහි වාර්තාකරුවෝ විදේශ රටවල සිදුවූ වැදගත් සිදුවීම් පවා වාර්තා කලහ. ඒවා අතර එවකට ඇමරිකා ජනපතිව සිටි ඩ්වයිට් ඩී අයිසන්හවර් ගේ ඉන්දීය සංචාරය සහ.එංගලන්තයේ මාගරට් කුමරියගේ විවාහ මගුල ද විය. ලංකා ගුවන් විදුලි සේවය තුලින් අසන්නට ලැබුනු වැදගත් කතා අතර මෙරට ප්රථම අගමැති ඩී. එස්. සේනානායක, බ්රිතාන්යයේ දෙවැනි එලිසබෙත් රැජින, බ්රිතාන්ය අගමැති හැරල්ඩ් මැක්මිලන්, ඉන්දියාවේ ප්රථම අගමැති ජවහර්ලාල් නේරු , කාම්බෝජයේ සිහනුක් කුමරු, ජපන් අගමැති නොබුසුකේ කිෂි, චීන අගමැති චෞ එන් ලායි සහ කැනේඩියානු අගමැති ආර්. ඩීෆන්බේකර් යන අයගේ කතාද විය.
මේ කාලයේ ලියුම් කරුට අමතක නොවන සිද්ධියක් වන්නේ දිවංගත අගමැති එස්.ඩබ්ලිව්.ආර්. ඩී බණ්ඩාරනායක මහතාගේ දේහය රැගත් අවමගුල් පෙරහැර කොළඹ සිට හොරගොල්ල දක්වා ගමන් කරද්දී කරුණාරත්න අබේසේකරයන් ගුවන් විදුලියෙන් කල විචිත්ර විස්තර කථනයයි. අසා සිටි අයට එය රූපවාහිනී දසුනක් මෙන් විය. එය මට තවමත් ඇසෙන්නා සේය.
රූපවාහිනී සේවාවන් මෙරට නොතිබුණු කාලයේ රේඩියෝ රඟමඬල අසන්නන් අතර ඉතා ජනප්රිය විය. නවසිය පණහේ දශකයේ තවත් ජනප්රිය වැඩ සටහනක් වුයේ රහස් පරීක්ෂක නාට්යයයි. ඒ සාජන්ට් පෙරේරාගේ වික්රම (පසුව ඉන්ස්පෙක්ටර් පෙරේරාගේ වික්රම) යි. මුවන් ප්ලැස්ස නාට්යය හැටේ දශකයේදී ජනප්රිය විය
ලංකා ගුවන් විදුලි සේවයේ කැපී පෙනුණු නිවේදක නිවේදිකාවන් සහ වෙනත් දැවැන්තයින් අතර ඩී. එම්. කොළඹගේ, ප්රභා රණතුංග, තේවිස් ගුරුගේ, ලිවී විජේමාන්න, ජිමී බරුචා, කරුණාරත්න අබේසේකෙර, ලලිත් එස් මෛත්රිපාල, එච්. එම්.ගුණසේකර, විජය කොරෙයා, පාලිත පෙරේරා,ප්රියා සමරවීර, සුමනා නෙල්ලම්පිටිය, මර්වින් ජයසුරිය, ආරියදාස පීරිස්, සිරිල් රාජපක්ෂ, ආරියසේන මිල්ලවිතානච්චි, ප්රොස්ප්ර් ප්රනාන්දු, සුධර්මන් ද සිල්වා, නන්දා ජයමාන්න අමරබන්ධු රූපසිංහ බර්ටි ගලහිටියාව හඩ්සන් සමරසිංහ, ප්රේමකීර්ති ද අල්විස්, ඇල්ෆ්රඩ් පෙරේරා. එච් ඩී. විජේදාස, තිස්ස ජයවර්ධන, චන්ද්රා වයිමන්, කුසුම් පීරිස් යනාදීහුද වෙති.
Two Sri Lankan television channels “Hiru” and ” Adaderana” carried an exaggerated news report quoting a video clip published by Tamil Guardian on the Election day (12 November 2019) as if Boris Johnson was thanking Tamil community for his landslide victory.
See the published date of the video clip https://youtu.be/fv2GcKi39g4
In this video clip the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson appealed to the British Tamils by thanking the Tamil community for their contribution to the United Kingdom.
Apparently this particular video was not released by the campaign group at the Conservative Party’s headquarters headed by Isaac Levido, the 36-year-old Lynton Crosby protégé who masterminded Scott Morrison’s victory in Australia this year.
The 36-year-old Australian was brought in by Boris Johnson to run Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) just ten days after he became prime minister. He won the position after masterminding what became known as the Miracle from Down Under” this year in Australia, when Scott Morrison became prime minister against the odds.
In the video Boris Johnson mentioned of their success in areas such as the National Health Service (NHS) and entrepreneurship. Moreover, he lauded their emphasis on education.
Johnson remarked, Vanakkam. I want to thank the Tamil community for everything they do for our country. And I think the values of the Tamil community and the contribution they make to the NHS, to the entrepreneurship in the country, the value they attach to education, educational achievement makes a fantastic difference.
That’s why we need to get Brexit done”
Thereafter, Johnson explained how Brexit could benefit members of the Tamil community.
He opined that the points-based Australian system would be introduced in a post-Brexit scenario whereby people from across the world would be treated equally for immigration to the UK.
Furthermore, the British PM exuded confidence that there would be reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka indirectly hinting at the alleged human rights violations on the Tamilians in Sri Lanka during the war with terror outfit LTTE.
The UK PM remarked, And that’s why we need to get Brexit done. Because when we get Brexit done, we can continue to support entrepreneurship, we can support our NHS, increase our investments in our NHS. And, of course, then, once we get our Brexit done, we can be fair in our immigration policy and put in the points-based Australian system that will treat everybody around the world equally for the purposes of coming to the UK.
So, thanks to the Tamil community and just want to say very much that I hope there will be reconciliation in Sri Lanka, accountability for what has gone before us, what’s happened in the past and long-term peace in Sri Lanka.
Nanri.”
Inside the Conservative Party’s headquarters, the chants began shortly after the exit poll was announced.
With the Tories heading for a landslide, the assembled staffers erupted in a chorus of oh, Isaac Levido” in tribute to the softly spoken Australian who had led them to victory.
Nobody in the CCHQ sweepstake had predicted that the Tories were on course for a majority of nearly 80.
The Tories’ slogan get Brexit done”, combined with their relentless determination to stay on message, had paid dividends.
Mr Johnson and his team settled on the slogan shortly before the party conference in September. In focus groups they found it appealed to both Brexiteers and those who were wanting to move on.
The Tories presented voters with a choice between getting Brexit done and more dither and delay. By contrast Labour presented voters with a variety of messages and policies designed to appeal to different groups.
When someone walks into a polling booth they’re answering a question,” Mr Levido said. The successful campaign frames the questions that voters are asking. What was the question that Labour was asking?”
From the off, the team had united behind Mr Levido. Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s most senior adviser, deferred to him along with the rest of the Downing Street team. Lee [Cain, the Tories’ director of communications] and Isaac hadn’t even spoken to each other before the summer,” said one adviser. But it wasn’t an issue. The line of authority was crystal clear, and it stopped with Isaac.”
The campaign had barely begun when the Tories had to show a ruthlessness that is fast becoming one of the cornerstones of Mr Johnson’s leadership. Alun Cairns, the Welsh secretary, was sacked hours after it emerged that a former aide had been accused of sabotaging a rape trial.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, was barred from doing interviews after appearing to suggest that the victims of the Grenfell fire should have used their common sense” and fled the building.
The Tories also knew there was a path to victory. Theresa May had first identified the Red Wall” of seats stretching across north Wales, the northwest, the Midlands and the northeast — seats that had historically voted Labour but backed Leave in the EU referendum.
They were effectively finishing the job Mrs May had started with a more charismatic candidate. They were also determined to avoid the pitfalls of 2017.
Their response to Labour’s policy announcements and a glut of retail offers such as free broadband typified the approach. Instead of engaging with the policies themselves, the Tories focused on the cost of Corbyn” and the catastrophic” risk they posed to the economy.
A lot of MPs are former barristers and think it’s all about winning the argument,” a campaign source said. It’s not. It’s about getting your message across as many times as possible.”
The Conservative Party’s manifesto was a deliberately slimmed-down affair. Sajid Javid, the chancellor, argued for tight fiscal rules and the publication of full costings.
Amid reports of tensions between the Treasury and Downing Street, Mr Javid and Mr Johnson met two days before the campaign began and signed off the approach. Mr Levido is said to have supported Mr Javid in his push for fiscal rules.
Contentious policies were ditched. An early draft of the manifesto included a commitment to a national care system, broadly similar to Labour’s plans for a national care service. In the end it was replaced with a broad commitment to cross-party talks.
SRI LANKA MUSLIM VOTE BANK MUST HAVE THE COURAGE TO FACE THE TRUTH. EACH MUSLIM VOTER SHOULD DECIDE TO VOTE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE COUNTRY AT LARGE.They should let go clining to the SLMC, ACMC, NC & UNP/NDF.
IT IS BETTER FOR THE SRI LANKA MUSLIMS TO SUPPORT THE GOVERNMENT OF HE. PRESIDENT GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSA AND PM. MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA FROM THE BEGINNING TO MAKE SURE THAT THE SLPP GETS A 2/3 MAJORITY AT THE APRIL/MAY GENERAL ELECTIONS IN 2020. This is what HE. Gotabaya Rajapaksa is asking for from the new government parliamentarians and the people of our “Maathruboomiya”. The Muslims should look at this political opportunity positively and this is the right time for Muslims to get organized to make sure that the Muslim Vote Bank will caste their votes to the SLPP candidates at the next general elections in April/May 2020.
What WE AS SRI LANKA MUSLIMS HAVE FORGOTTEN is about the aspirations and inspirations of the Sri Lanka Muslims and Muslim Vote bank. We/our votes are sold to either the UNP or SLFP (UNF, UPFA or NDF) for the benefit of the deceptive MUNAAFIKK” Muslim political leaders/party leaders. The Muslim Voice” believes that the country’s thinking that a CHANGE” should be brought in with minority communities supporting the SLPP is correct. It has been proved beyond doubt that the present PM Ranil Wickremasinghe is really involved in the Bond Scam and has always worked against the welfare of the poor and supported the capitalist elite with great interest in helping the foreign powers with whom governments headed by Ranil has been maintaining close dealings, against the interest of Sri Lanka – our “MAATHRUBOOMIYA”. Muslims should understand more what “MAATHRUBOOMIYA” has meant to the majority Sinhales people. Moreover, he has also betrayed the Muslims when ever he was in power after getting EN-BLOCK” Muslim. Since 2014,”The Muslim Voice” spoke in favour of the Sri Lanka Muslims supporting the MAHINDA PELA”, JO and now the SLPP, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (POTTUWA). “The Muslim Voice” is happy that 38% of the Muslim Vote Bank voted HE. Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the November 16th., Presidential Elections. What ever some of the Sinhala MP’s who say that the Muslims did not vote HE. Gotabaya Rajapaksa (SLPP/POTTUWA), the above is the political truth.
Why The Muslim Voice” advocated this view was because, the Sri Lanka Muslims would have worked out to win the confidence of the Mahinda/Gotabaya/Basil Pela and its Sinhala Buddhist Nationalistic supporters/voters. Today the Muslims, politicians and so-called civil society organizers (not the ordinary Muslim voter) trusting the UNP and flocking en-block and have traded nearly 600,000 Muslim votes to the UNP/NDF/TNA alliance, has betrayed and dumped the Sri Lankan Muslims in the political dustbin, beaten and penalized as a result of the conspiracies of the UNP/BBS/Rajitha Seneratne, Champika Ranawaka and the so-called Civil Society groups like the Puravasibalaya which is supported by our own Muslim Civil Society groups such as the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka (an ad-hock group gathered without a constitution and by-laws), the National Shoora Council and ACJU.
The political principle/ideology that The Muslim Voice” advocated and is advocating it even now is because it is based on the political vision shown to us by the late Dr. T.B.Jaya, viz-a-viz – NOT TO PUT ALL OUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET WHEN IT COMES TO POLITICS”. It is Time up that the Sri Lanka Muslims should rethink their stand to gain advantages for the future by supporting/negotiating with the SLPP or the Mahinda Pela. THEREFORE IT IS BETTER FOR THE SRI LANKA MUSLIMS TO SUPPORT THE GOVERNMENT OF GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSA AND PM MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA FROM THE BEGINNING AND HELP THE SLPP ALLIANCE WIN THE GENERAL ELECTIONS IN APRIL/MAY 2020 WITH A 2/3 MAJORITY IN PARLIAMENT, Insha Allah.
The Muslim Voice” is followed by many thousands of well-wishers supporters who have appreciated our NOBEL” cause in the struggle to get rid of the Sri Lanka Muslim Community of MUNAAFIKK” Muslim politicians, Civil Society groups and the deceptive ULEMA, the ACJU, Alhamdulillah. We will therefore continue our Nobel mission till we achieve the end political goal of creating a NEW POLITICAL FORCE that will be honest and sincere and FREE OF CORRUPTION willing to work with the majority community, to stand up and defend the Muslim Community politically and otherwise, especially from among the YOUTH. This will have to emerge from within the Sri Lanka Muslim Community to face any new general election expected to take place in April/May 2020, Insha Allah.
Muriel Weeraratna, my aunty, died on October 21 this year.
As the eldest nephew among the living I would like to share these thoughts of a gracious lady.
Aunty Muriel was the daughter of Don Elaris Weerasiri, only son of Don Theodoris Weerasiri, a leading jewellery and gem merchant at Chatham Street, Fort at the beginning of the last century. Don Elaris played for the Royal College 1st XI Cricket team when the S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia cricket team was captained by D. S. Senanayake who later went on to become the first Prime Minister of Ceylon, and later for the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) alongside D. S. ‘Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon’ by Arnold Wright (1908) carries a detailed account of Don Theodoris Weerasiri and his business, with a photograph of the young Don Elaris Weerasiri.
He married Nancy Thenuwara, whose parents donated the present land where the Sri Lanka Maha Pirivena is situated at Vipulasena Mawatha, Maradana, also known as the Ode Pansala”. This temple gained wide prominence, when the second head of the Temple Ven. Baddegama Wimalawansa Thero, became a Buddhist and National Leader in the 1950s.
In a family of 12 children, my mother Violet was the eldest. Aunty Muriel was the sixth in the family, which consisted apart from her, of six girls and five boys.
Aunty Muriel studied at Clifton Girls’ School and Musaeus College, Colombo.
On a proposal made in 1947, she married Dharmasena Weeraratna, a businessman from Galle (P.J. Weeraratna & Sons), at Stafford House, Maradana belonging to her grandmother Philomena Thenuwara, with the Police Band in attendance. I was present at the wedding. After the marriage she went to reside at Wackwella Road, Galle, to run the business carried on for four generations by her husband and his brother Asoka. In 1948 they came to Maradana and opened a shop called P.J.Weeraratna and Sons at No. 592 Second Division Maradana. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, P.J. Weeraratna and Sons were the leading wrist watch importers in Sri Lanka. They had about 60 employees.
This refurbished shop was opened on September 9, 1948 by Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake, and several other distinguished guests, namely, Sir John Kotalawela, C.W.W. Kannangara and Victor Ratnayaka, MP for Deniyaya. At that time she was residing at Avondale Road, Maradana, where the two sons Senaka and Tissa were born and later admitted to Royal College.
When I was about 16, during the weekends Aunty Muriel used to give me money to take her sons to see Tarzan and western films.
In 1952, her brother-in-law Asoka Weeraratna founded the German Dharmaduta Society with Dudley Senanayake as the Patron. Asoka later went on to establish the Berlin Vihara having bought the property ‘Das Buddhistische Haus’ in Berlin – Frohnau, from the relatives of Dr. Paul Dahlke, a leading German Buddhist. The Buddhist Mission to Germany is still functioning with monks from Sri Lanka in residence, coordinated by her son Tissa, who is resident in Germany.
Aunty Muriel’s husband Dharmasena and his brother, Asoka, gave up business in the mid – 1960s in order to engage in nationalist and Buddhist revival work. Asoka Weeraratna established the Mitirigala Nissarana Vanaya Meditation Centre in 1967, and entered the Order of the Sangha as Ven. Mitirigala Dhammanissanti Thera in 1972.
It was while living in Australia that Senaka was informed at the beginning of 2000 that his father felt breathless at times, ‘hathi danawa’. Senaka then decided to return to Sri Lanka to care for his parents in their old age. His father died on May 18, 2001. He stayed back to look after his mother giving up a relatively comfortable life in Australia. He was present by the side of his father and mother at the time when they passed away.
In 1994, Aunty Muriel was taken to Germany along with my sister Rani by her son Tissa for an eye operation and she stayed for nearly three months, travelling in Europe during her convalescence. As her two children were then abroad Aunty Muriel looked after her brother Robert and sister Florence till their deaths. Aunty Muriel also looked after with great devotion an adopted son and adopted brother to Senaka and Tissa, named Pathmasiri.
Aunty Muriel was well versed in painting, writing English poetry and making artificial flowers and gardening – growing cannas. All photos on the walls in her house had her sayings written at the bottom. There was poetry written on the inner walls in prominent places inside the house. She and her husband were Sai Baba devotees and visited India on three occasions and brought back Vibuthi (holy ash) and gifts from him. They used to have regular bajans at their house in Bambalapitiya with other Sai devotees. In Colombo, from 1949 she stayed at Avondale Road, Maradana and came to Bethesda Place, Bambalapitiya in 1958.
She was a vegetarian and an animal lover. She had four ferocious dogs and nine cats, all living inside the house. People in the neighbourhood and others used to throw unwanted animals into their compound knowing very well that they would be well looked after.
She also used to write newspaper articles on topics related to Buddhism, animal rights, keeping the city clean, etc. She and her husband were the most loving couple in our family. Though it was an arranged marriage, they were well suited.
Aunty Muriel was very popular among the family members. She was in contact with all her relations living in various parts of the world up to the third generation. Almost every week, she would give an update of the kith and kin and country affairs with humour.
She did this until about two months before her death. She used to continue her calls giving an update interpreted by her son Senaka. She was a loving aunt to all of us. Though she was a Sai devotee she was also a practising Buddhist in her daily affairs, kind to everyone including animals.
On January 22, her younger sister Dr. Theodora Munasinghe passed away and she visited the funeral house to pay her final respects, even though she was in frail health. I met her two days later and she told me Putha, I am next”. I told her not to be afraid that she will be able to reach her century . Unfortunately, forty days short of her 99th birthday which fell on November 30 this year, she passed away.
May she attain the Supreme Bliss of Nirvana.
Tudor Wijeratne
For secret- agents or for security personnel on mission, wine, women and money are considered the ever worst booby-traps. During their professional training, they are strictly forbidden to have any relationship with wine, woman and money particularly when they are on some very sensitive assignment. Unfortunately the spies and security personnel meet a very tragic ending when they ignore this very sensitive instruction intentionally or unintentionally. We find the situation at its worst when we cast a look at the record-files of the Indian secret-agents and security personnel who somehow or the other were fenced into such booby-traps. No need of going far back, just look at the record-files of the last five years; there are countless examples of Indian army and intelligence officers who were honey-trapped by wine, women and wealth. It seems a part of their nature and temperament.
Shivs Narayan Chandravanshi, 43, and Arjun Malviya, 35, of Bhopal district in Madhya Pradesh were arrested by the Ferozepur police in November 2014. They were from the Indian army and at the time of their arrest they were found conducting reconnaissance of the cantonment area. During the interrogation, it came to light that the accused were in contact with an ISI agent Jaya Mishra, who had honey-trapped the accused separately. At her instruction they had visited the Indo-Pak check post at Hussainwala twice. On 30th August of the same year, the Pathankot police had arrested an Indian Air Force employee on charges of spying and selling strategic information about the air force station to a woman, believed to be a Pakistani spy.
Four years later, in April 2018 the Sonipat police arrested a 22-year-old youth Gaurav Sharma on spying charges. He was also working with the Indian ministry of defence. According to the media reports he was in touch with two women who were allegedly ISI spies and whom he had met on Face book. The arrested young man told the investigators that the women lured him with sex chat and later asked him to supply sensitive information about Indian defence forces. Sharma admitted that he was in touch with the spy-women for the last one-and-a-half years. Astonishingly the arrested youth is a son of a retired army havaldar and his mysterious activities were known to his father. The investigation agencies were really shocked when they checked the Face book friend-list of these spy-women and found a lieutenant-general, three colonels, three majors, a captain, a commander, a sergeant, an NDA trainee and a jail superintendent in Jammu and Kashmir. These officers are still posted in various states like Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, New Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh.
From the Jodhpur railway station a few weeks back, two Indian soldiers were taken into custody. They were also accused of sharing crucial information with a Pakistan-based woman ISI agent. According to the details the jawans from the Indian army were going to their village from Pokhran when intelligence officials took them into custody. They were taken to Jaipur from Jodhpur where they are still being interrogated. The Indian investigation officials confirmed that jawans were sending crucial information after falling in a honey trap of Pakistani woman. All such news covey three different messages to the world; the first one is that Pakistan has a very strong ability of intruding the Indian boundaries; second is that the defence mechanism of India is so poor and so weak that anyone could destroy it and the third message is that Indian army personnel are so weak in morality that they could sell their national secrets to the hostile countries for the sake of their trivial desires. However the authenticity of all these incidents is called in question by different analysts. They are of the opinion that all these incidents of women-spies are nothing but intentionally concocted stories published and projected by the RAW supported media houses.
On the basis of these fishy stories, India has ever been dreaming of defaming Pakistan and creating hurdles for it at different international forums like FATF, though it has never been successful. In all such efforts of stamping Pakistan as a terrorism exporting country, India simply turns a blind eye to the agents like Kulbhushan Jadhav who is now in Pakistani custody and his case has already been decided by ICJ in favour of Pakistan. It is not only Kulbhushan, there are countless other terrorists also who were sent to Pakistan by the Indian authorities to create law and order problems for Pakistan. According to a news report in the last few months Pakistan has arrested many RAW operatives involved in anti-state activities and their cases have been sent to the courts for further legal proceedings. However projection and promotion of such false-news items about Pakistani women-spies is a proof of Indian acceptance and admittance that Pakistan has a very strong rather ‘muscular’ potential of reaching and hitting the ‘heart-core’ of the Indian defence system. From Pakistani point of view, this admittance is a matter of pride but for India it is vice-versa.
December 14, 2019, 12:00 pm
The Swiss Embassy drama continues to dominate the news bulletins. With each passing day the drama surrounding the alleged abduction of a Swiss embassy local staffer is beginning to look more and more like the drama that we saw in the late 1990s in relation to the Commission to inquire into the deaths of Maj Gen Denzil Kobbekaduwa, Brigadier Vijaya Wimalaratne and others. For months, the principal witness of that inquiry, named Rohini Hathurusinghe who claimed to be the wife of a soldier related a story of intrigue and conspiracies to kill Denzil Kobbekaduwa which was lapped up by the naïve Chairman of that Commission, retired Supreme Court judge Tissa Dias Bandaranayake. All the stories that Hathurusinghe related received a great deal of publicity especially in the government owned press.
According to Hathurusinghe’s convoluted story, her own husband a Gajaba Regiment soldier had been a part of the UNP conspiracy to assassinate Maj Gen Kobbekaduwa. While these sensational revelations were being published in the media, overzealous goons of the ruling People’s Alliance even pulled down the statue of Maj Gen Vijaya Wimalaratne in the Kiribathgoda town, because Hathurusinghe had told the Commission that Brigadier Vijaya Wimalaratne was the principal implementer of the plot to assassinate Kobbekaduwa. The idea conveyed being that Wimalaratne was UNP while Kobbekaduwa was SLFP. The following is what Maj Gen (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne has written about this sorry episode in his book ‘Road to Nandikadal’:
“Several years after these unfortunate deaths, a suspicious female character called Rohini Hathurusinghe suddenly made an appearance. This woman claimed that she was the wife of a Gajaba Regiment soldier and that the blast that caused these deaths was the result of a conspiracy. She stated that President Premadasa had got Brigadier Vijaya Wimalaratne to hatch a plot to kill Maj Gen Kobbekaduwa and that he had by mistake got into the vehicle that was fitted with the bomb and that they had both been killed as a result. The damage that was done by these lies was immense and it is painful even to dwell on that subject now. Some evil characters who believed these lies even destroyed the statue of Maj Gen Wimalaratne that was at the Kiribathgoda junction. By the time Rohini Hathurusinghe’s lies were proved to be just that, the damage had already been done. The police conducted an investigation which resulted in Hathurusinghe being exposed as a liar and after being charged in courts she was sentenced to a term in jail.
“Be that as it may, it is regrettable to note that that there are people among us who would believe the tall tales of a woman who had emerged from nowhere and destroy the statue of a hero who had done so much for this country. After Chandrika Kumaratunga became President, she appointed a Commission to look into these deaths. I was at that time stationed in Kayts as the Officer Commanding of the 6th Gajaba Battalion. Retired Supreme Court judge Tissa Dias Bandaranayake was the Chairman of this Commission and Appeal Court judge D.P.S Gunasekera, High Court judge Nimal Gamini Amaratunga and Wing Commander R.A.Ananda were its other members. I built up a close relationship with them when they came to Kayts and began investigations. Even though I tried my best to convince them that this blast was not the result of a conspiracy but the explosion of a landmine set by the terrorists, I got the impression that they were not prepared to accept it as such.”
Many yahapalana players
Ironically, we now have Kamal Gunaratne playing a different role as Defence Secretary and once again he is confronted with another Rohini Hathurusinghe in the form of Sriyalatha Perera and another Tissa Dias Bandaranayake in the form of Hanspeter Mock, the Swiss Ambassador. Will Kamal Gunaratne have better luck in convincing Mock that he is on the wrong track than he had with retired judge Tissa Dias Bandaranayake two decades ago? The general public in Sri Lanka has been skeptical from the very beginning about this story that a Swiss embassy employee had been abducted. Only die hard supporters of the yahapalana camp in general and of the UNP in particular, seem to attach any credence at all to this story.
Several Parliamentarians of the UNP including UNP general secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam and Parliamentarin Wijepala Hettiarachchi have gone public warning that this incident could lead to a souring of diplomatic relations with Switzerland and jeopardize Sri Lanka’s relations with the entire Western world. Parliamentarian Rajitha Senaratne created quite a stir in the early days of this drama when the alleged victim was still being held incommunicado in the premises of the Swiss embassy by telling the media that the alleged victim had had a pistol thrust into her mouth during the reported ordeal and that she was in a state of shock and was not talking even to members of her own family.
The lawyer appearing for the alleged victim claimed that there were two reports by a Swiss doctor and a Sri Lankan doctor to the effect that she had been sexually molested. According to the Sri Lankan foreign minister, they had been informed by the Swiss Embassy that the victim had been examined by a Swiss doctor on Skype. No one knows how the Sri Lankan doctor is supposed to have examined her. But these supposed medical reports had been rubbished by the fact that the victim had changed the entire abduction story when she was questioned by the CID in the presence of Swiss embassy officials and her lawyers.
In fact with each passing day, this whole episode appears more and more like a show stage managed by the UNP. Firstly there was the issue that members of the UNP appeared to be better informed about the condition of the alleged victim even when she was being held incommunicado by the Swiss embassy. The UNP has from the beginning, been fully backing the Swiss Embassy in their claim that this alleged incident actually happened. Then there is the question of the lawyers appearing for the alleged victim. One lawyer Upul Kumarapperuma is identified with the JVP having been on their national list in 2015. The other lawyer Sudarshana Gunawardene is closely identified with the UNP and had served as the Government Director of Information during the yahapalana government. Everything seems to be revolving around the yahapalana camp and the UNP.
Last Wednesday, the well known foreign funded NGO, the Centre for Policy Alternatives, another key yahapalana player, had put out a statement to the media expressing deep concern about the conduct of several media institutions, including State media that deliberately revealed the identity of the alleged victim. The CPA claims that this raises serious issues of privacy and protection and is a blatant violation of media ethics and disregard for the victim’s right to privacy. The CPA has also drawn attention to Section 365C of the Penal Code which makes it an offense punishable with imprisonment for up to two years to print or publish the name or any matter which may make known the identity of a person who is alleged to be a victim of sexual harassment. They have also pointed out that the Assistance to and Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses Act, No. 4 of 2015 gives victims of crime the right to be treated with equality, fairness and with respect for their dignity and privacy.
Caught in a web of lies
The CPA urged media institutions to respect and adhere to the law and ethics, including giving due attention to the victim’s rights. They have pointed out that continued disregard in this area raises serious concerns and ‘will require attention and necessary action by the authorities’. However, in the opinion of this columnist, the victimized party in this whole sorry episode is not this alleged victim who is living in the Swiss embassy, but the general public who have been subject to a flatfooted hoax. The CPA’s attempt to prevent the media from exposing this charade for what it is, by quoting law and mentioning ethics is about as flatfooted as the Swiss hoax itself. Everything that has happened since this allegation first came to the attention of the public indicates that there is no victim here other than the people of Sri Lanka.
Everyone knows that the Centre for Policy Alternatives is not a disinterested observer of events in this country. Apart from being a foreign funded NGO, they have a well known relationship with the defeated yahapalana government. It is painfully obvious that everyone even remotely connected to the UNP is trying their best to salvage what they can from the Swiss operation. Take for example, the following passage in the CPA’s media release last Wednesday:
“CPA also notes that certain public authorities and officers holding official positions have publicly accused the alleged victim of fabricating facts, despite ongoing investigations. Such statements cloud the partiality of investigations being carried out, and CPA urges authorities to remain independent when investigations are underway and to ensure there is no interference of such processes.”
The CPA seems to be banking on making a victim out of a non-victim by alleging that the investigation was not impartial! The Swiss Embassy and the authorities in Switzerland will have to decide whether they are going to go down this path of flatly refusing to acknowledge that this alleged victim has been lying, or they are going to come clean and admit they made a mistake? The CPA has called on members of the public to exercise ‘responsibility and compassion’ when publishing and sharing information on social media. They state that our society is plagued by a high occurrence of incidents of sexual harassment, and that it is important that victims are free and able to make complaints of the same without the fear of facing further harassment for doing so.
If the Rohini Hathurusinghe episode took place in an environment like the present day with the internet and the social media, just imagine what things would have been like when it came to the stage where things began unravelling and Hathurusinghe called a press conference and insinuated that she was carrying Tissa Dias Bandaranayake’s unborn child. The social media would have gone berserk! From the details that the CID has been able to unearth from the statements they had been obtaining from this alleged victim in the presence of her lawyers and Swiss embassy officials, it is very clear that things have indeed come to the stage where Hathurusinghe started talking about Tissa Dias Bandaranayake’s alleged unborn child.
There was that episode which was caught on camera by the TV stations where a person called Manjula Perera claiming to be the representative of the alleged victim had told the TV crews to come to a location at Barnes Place where the victim Sriyalatha Perera aka Garnier Banister Francis will be holding a press conference to explain things. However no one showed up for the press conference. The camera crews had then done some investigation on the person who had invited them for the press conference and found that he is the son of Gampaha District UNP politician Bevan Perera. Later this Manjula Perera has posted a facebook video stating that he does not know who Sriyalatha Perera aka Garnier Banister Francis is, and that she could have cooked up this story on her own and that he had stepped in only to help someone who appeared to be in distress.
This whole episode has all the hallmarks of a Rohini Hathurusinghe style fiasco. The Swiss embassy staffers who have been sitting in while the CID was recording a statement from the alleged victim will by now know whether the story that the alleged victim told the Swiss Embassy and the story she has been telling the CID tallies. Certainly what we outsiders have been hearing indicates the contrary. The original Swiss Embassy complaint had indicated that she had been abducted in a white car in the vicinity of St Bridget’s Convent. Now we hear that the story has changed and that the victim claims to have been threatened when she had visited someone in Kollupitiya. In any event, it has been well established that after the alleged incident she had made her way back home in the same Uber taxi that she had arrived in.
The original Swiss Embassy statement issued on 29 November 2019 about this incident went as follows: “On 25 November 2019, a serious security incident involving a local employee of the Embassy of Switzerland in Colombo occurred. The employee was detained against their will in the street, forced to get into a car, seriously threatened at length by unidentified men and forced in order to disclose embassy-related information. Several false pieces of information are circulating in the reporting of this incident. The Swiss Embassy in Colombo is issuing the following clarifications: 1. The Swiss Embassy immediately lodged a formal complaint and is fully cooperating with the Sri Lanka authorities in order to support police investigation and initiate an inquiry over the case, while duly considering the health condition of the victim and their relatives. 2. Due to a deteriorating health condition, the victim is currently not in a state to testify.”
Everything the Swiss embassy had been told about this incident has already been proven wrong. From day one, the Swiss embassy was in a headlong quest to get this alleged victim and her entire family out of the country in an ambulance plane without even revealing her identity to the Sri Lankan authorities. Was that because they knew that this was a concocted story? Was that because the Swiss embassy was also complicit in this drama of alleging an abduction in order to bring the new government into disrepute? Our sister paper the Divaina says that the Swiss Ambassador had objected to the appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister in October 2018 and that he is not an impartial individual. Everything that has been happening since 25 November certainly seems to bear out these suspicions. In any event, it’s up to the Swiss Embassy to come clean on what really happened. Let not what happened to Justice Tissa Dias Bandaranayake happen to Hanspeter Mock!
In any event the government should under no circumstances allow this lady to be taken out of the country until this is resolved and the people of Sri Lanka have been informed as to what really happened.
Boris Johnson’s victory
Boris Johnson’s comfortable victory at the British general election means that Brexit will take place as scheduled at the end of January 2020. The fact that the Conservatives won so convincingly in a situation where the Brexit vote was split between the Conservatives, the Brexit Party and the UK Independence Party shows that the British public had ignored factional disputes and political rhetoric and consciously voted for the party that could actually deliver Brexit. Boris Johnson’s victory is a major triumph for all nationalists the world over. For us Sri Lankans however, the proverbial spot of dung in the pot of milk was the passage in the Conservative Party manifesto which said “We will continue to support international initiatives to achieve reconciliation, stability and justice across the world, and in current or former conflict zones such as Cyprus, Sri Lanka and the Middle East, where we maintain our support for a two-state solution.”
As could be expected, this statement raised a great deal of ire in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Embassy in the UK sought a correction of this and what we got was a clarification from the party’s deputy chairman saying that the reference to a two state solution applied only to the Middle East and not to Sri Lanka or Cyprus. It was further stated that as far as Sri Lanka was concerned, the British government would only support peace and reconciliation. A clarification is not the same as a correction. There can be little doubt about what the above mentioned sentence in the Conservative Party manifesto actually meant. However Lord Naseby who has been a genuine friend to Sri Lanka has issued a statement on behalf of the Conservative Party stating as follows.
“I accept the reassurances given. Nevertheless, this issue should never have arisen in the first place. It is particularly poor that whoever wrote and checked the Foreign Policy part of the manifesto failed so badly to see the implications of the Manifesto as published. The leadership of the Conservative Party should understand that it is not the least bit surprising that the Sri Lanka High Commission as well as the Sri Lanka Government and British Sri Lankans were deeply concerned about this manifesto error. This has been compounded by sections of the Tamil Diaspora stating to their followers that the Conservatives were considering a two-state solution.
“I am now asking the Party Chairman to issue to the world at large that ‘The Party does NOT have or seek a two-state solution for Sri Lanka’. On top of this I shall, once Parliament is opened by Her Majesty the Queen on December 19th immediately put down a written Question seeking confirmation of the statements made so that The High Commissioner for Sri Lanka, The Government of Sri Lanka and all the people of Sri Lanka will see in writing that there is absolutely no policy for a two state solution. Furthermore, I expect to speak in the Debate of the Queen’s speech which will quickly follow the Opening and will ‘ram home’ to Her Majesty’s Government the need to reassure Sri Lanka that there is no two-state policy for Sri Lanka.”
Until the end of the UK election, the British Conservative Party Chairman had not issued that unequivocal statement on Sri Lanka that had been requested by Lord Naseby. We will now have to leave it to Lord Naseby to raise the matter in the UK Parliament. Clearly there are some issues that Sri Lanka still needs to get clarified from the Conservative government in Britain. Despite this, Boris Johnson’s victory is a triumph for the nationalist camp the world over and a resounding defeat for the global liberal mafia.
Colombo, December 13 (Xinhua): The Sri Lankan government is to begin trialling a special bacteria as part of a program to eradicate the dengue virus, local media reports, quoting Health Ministry officials said here Thursday.
Deputy Director General of the Health Ministry Paba Palihawadana said that a type of bacteria called Wolbachia” will be released in 25 local townships in Colombo starting February next year.
Households will be provided with mosquito eggs and a food capsule which must be sealed in water for two weeks, after which the mature mosquitoes will be released into the environment to spread the bacteria.
According to the World Mosquito Program, Wolbachia” decreases the ability of mosquitoes to transmit viruses between people and is self-sustaining at high levels. Wolbachia” competes with mosquito-borne viruses like dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika, helping to reduce transmission of the viruses.
Australia was the first country in the world to use Wolbachia” to control mosquito-borne diseases and no transmissions have been recorded in eight years.
In 2017, Sri Lanka suffered a severe outbreak of dengue with 186,101 reported cases and over 320 deaths. The unprecedented outbreak was met with significant government intervention to eradicate breeding grounds and educate citizens.
According to the Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry, the country has recorded 86,484 cases of dengue in 2019.
රාජිත සේනාරත්න සහ පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක යන හිටපු අමාත්යවරුන් පසුගිය සමයේ සිදුකළ අක්රමිකතා සම්බන්ධයෙන් වහාම නීතිය ක්රියාත්මක කළයුතු බව අමාත්යවරුන්ගේ ලේකම් සංගමය පවසනවා.
ඒ අද කොළඹදී පැවති ප්රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකදී.
සිද්ධීන් කිහිපයක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් චෝදනා එල්ලවන පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක හා රාජිත සේනාරත්න යන හිටපු අමාත්යවරුන් සම්බන්ධයෙන් දේශපාලනඥයින් හා සිවිල් සංවිධාන නියෝජිතයින් අදහස් පළ කළා.
පාස්කු ඉරිදා සිද්ධිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් හිටපු ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් හා අනිවාර්ය නිවාඩු යැවූ පොලිස්පතිවරයාට පමණක් නොව ඊට සම්බන්ධ සියලු පාර්ශ්වයන්ට එරෙහිව නීතිය ක්රියාත්මක කළ යුතු බව නව සිංහල රාවය සංවිධානයේ මහලේකම් පූජ්ය මාගල්කන්දේ සුදත්ත හිමියන් පවසනවා.
උන්වහන්සේ මේ බව සඳහන් කළේ කළුතර ප්රදේශයේ අද (15) පැවති ප්රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකට එක්වෙමින්.
අද හාඩ්ටෝක් විශේෂාංගය තුළින් සෘජුවම ප්රශ්න කෙරෙන්නේ කෑගල්ල දිසාව භාරව කටයුතු කළ හිටපු නියෝජ්ය පොලිස්පති පාලිත සිරිවර්ධන මහතාගෙන්
නොරොච්චෝලේ ලක්විජය ගල්අගුරු බලාගාරයේ දිගුවක් ලෙස මෙගාවොට් 300ක නව බලාගාරයක් තැනීම සදහා මහජන උපයෝගිතා කොමිසමේ අනුමැතියකින් තොරව විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලය කටයුතු කර ඇති බවට එම කොමිසම චෝදනා කරනවා.
විදුලිබල අමාත්යාංශය පවසන්නේ එවැනි බලාගාරයක් ඉදිකිරීම සදහා සැලසුම් පැවතියද එහි වැඩකටයුතු මෙතෙක් ආරම්භ කර නොමැති බවයි.
පසුගිය ජනාධිපතිවරණයට දින 10 කි තිබියදී නොරොච්චෝලේ ලක්විජය ගල් අගුරු බලාගාරයේ දිගුවක් ලෙස මෙගාවොට් 300 ක නව බලාගාරයක් තැනීම සදහා චීනයේ CMC සමාගම වෙත අභිප්රාය පලකිරීමේ ලිපියක් විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලය නිකුත් කර තිබෙනවා.
මහජන උපයෝගිතා කොමිසම සදහන් කරන්නේ අදාළ බලාගාරය ඉදිකිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් තම කොමිසම දැනුවත් කිරීමට විදුලිබල අමාත්යාංශය කටයුතු නොකල බවයි.
කෙසේ වෙතත් අප කළ විමසීමකදී විදුලිබල අමාත්යාංශයේ මාධ්ය ප්රකාශක සුලක්ෂණ ජයවර්ධන මහතා සදහන් කළේ අදාල නව බලාගාරය ඉදිකිරීම සදහා සැලසුම් පැවතුනද එහි වැඩකටයුතු මෙතෙක් ආරම්භ කර නොමැති බවයි.
මේ අතර විදුලිය පාවිච්චි කරන්නන්ගේ සංගමය චෝදනා කළේ පසුගිය කාලය පුරාවටම විදුලිබල අර්බුදයක් ඇතිවූයේ එහි බලධාරීන්ගේ නොමනා ක්රියා නිසාවෙන් බවයි.<
පාස්කු ප්රහාරය හා සම්බන්ධ වැල්ලම්පිටිය තඹ කර්මාන්ත ශාලාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව නිසි විමර්ශනයක් නොකළ බව ජනාධිපති පරීක්ෂණ කොමිෂන් සභාව හමුවේ අද අනාවරණ වුණා.
එහිදී තවදුරටත් අනාවරණ වුණේ තඹ කර්මාන්ත ශාලාවේ ආරක්ෂාව සඳහා අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව මගින් කර්මාන්ත ශාලාවේ හිමිකරුගේ නියෝජිතයින් දෙදෙනෙකු ද යොදවා සිටි බවයි.
පාස්කු ඉරිදා ත්රස්ත ප්රහාරය පිළිබඳ පරීක්ෂණ සඳහා පත් කෙරුණු ජනාධිපති කොමිෂන් සභාව හමුවට කැඳවූ කොටහේන පොලිසියේ එවක ස්ථානාධිපතිවරයාව සිටි ප්රධාන පොලිස් පරීක්ෂක මහින්ද කරුණාරත්න මහතාගෙන් නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටි රජයේ අධිනීතිඥ සංජීව ගුණවර්ධන මහතා තවදුරටත් ඊයේ ප්රශ්න කළා.
ඔහු විමසුවේ පාස්කු ප්රහාරයට පෙර ඒ පිළිබඳ දැනුවත් කරමින් පොලිස් ස්ථාන වෙත එවීමට තිබූ ලිපියක් ප්රහාරයෙන් පසුව ලැබුණු පසු එය පෙර දිනයක් යටතේ ගොනුගත කරන ලෙස තමන් පහළ නිලධාරීන්ට උපදෙස් දුන්නේද යන්නයි.
ජ්යෙෂ්ඨ පොලිස් අධිකාරී සංජීව බණ්ඩාර සහ ඔහුගේ පෞද්ගලික සහකාර උපේන්ද්ර මහතාගේ බලපෑම මත තමන් එසේ කරන ලෙස පහළ නිලධාරීන්ට උපදෙස් දුන් බව මහින්ද කරුණාරත්න මහතා එහිදී පිළිගත්තා.
අනතුරුව එවක ග්රෑන්ඩ්පාස් පොලිසියේ ප්රධාන පොලිස් පරීක්ෂක ප්රියන්ත ඒකනායක මහතාගෙන් කොමිසම සාක්ෂි සටහන් කර ගත්තා.
ඔහු සාක්ෂි දෙමින් සඳහන් කළේල පාස්කු ප්රහාරය පිළිබඳ පූර්ව දැනුම්දීමේ ලිපිය පෙර දිනයක් යටතේ ගොනු කරන ලෙස ජ්යෙෂ්ඨ පොලිස් අධිකාරී සංජීව බණ්ඩාර තමන්ට ද උපදෙස් දුන් අතර තමන්ද එසේ සිදුකළ බවයි.
එමෙන්ම ප්රියන්ත ඒකනායක මහතා පැවසුවේ ප්රහාරයෙන් දින කිහිපයකට පසු පොලිස් විශේෂ විමර්ශන ඒකකය සිද්ධිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ප්රකාශ ලබා ගැනීමට නියමිතව තිබූ අතර එහිදී අසත්ය සාක්ෂි ලබා දෙන ලෙස ද ජ්යෙෂ්ඨ පොලිස් අධිකාරී සංජීව බණ්ඩාර තමන්ට උපදෙස් දුන් බවයි.
ඊයේ දිනට සාක්ෂි විමසීම අවසන් කළ ජනාධිපති කොමිසම යලිත් අද පෙරවරු 10 ට රැස් වූ අතර පොලිස් නිලධාරීන් කිහිප දෙනෙකුගේ සාක්ෂි විමසීම ආරම්භ කළා.
ඒ අනුව ප්රහාරය සිදුවන අවස්ථාවේ දෙමටගොඩ පොලිස් ස්ථානයේ වැඩබලන ස්ථානාධිපතිවරයා ලෙස කටයුතු කළ, මේ වන විට තලංගම පොලිසියේ ස්ථානාධිපතිවරයා ලෙස කටයුතු කරන ප්රධාන පොලිස් පරීක්ෂක එම්.ඩී. අනිල් ජයන්ත මහතා කොමිසම හමුවේ සාක්ෂි ලබාදුන්නා.
ප්රහාරයට පෙර පූර්ව දැනුම්දීමේ ලිපියක් ලැබුණේදැයි කොමිසම ඔහුගෙන් ප්රශ්න කළා.
ඔහු සඳහන් කළේ, කිසිසේත් එවැනි ලිපියක් තමන්ට නොලැබුණු බවයි.
දෙමටගොඩ මහවිල උද්යානයේ මාස 9ක කාලයක සිට ත්රස්තක්රියා සිදුව ඇතත් තමන් ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් නොදැන සිටීම ගැටළුවක් නොවේදැයි අනතුරුව කොමිසම ඔහුගෙන් විමසුවා.
ඔහු සඳහන් කළේල ඒ වන විට මත්ද්රව්ය පාලනය කිරීම සහ පාතාලය මර්දනය කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමුකළ නිසා ත්රස්ත ක්රියා සම්බන්ධයෙන් වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමු නොවූ බවයි.
පාස්කු ප්රහාරයට පෙර දෙමටගොඩ පොලිසියේ වැඩබලන ස්ථානාධිපතිවරයා ලෙස කටුයුතු කළ ප්රධාන පොලිස් පරීක්ෂක අනිල් ජයන්ත මහතා පසුගිය ජූනි මාසයේදී වැල්ලම්පිටිය පොලිස් ස්ථානය වෙත මාරු කර යවා තිබෙනවා.
ඒ අනුව මතභේදයට තුඩුදුන් වැල්ලම්පිටිය තඹ කර්මාන්ත ශාලාව සම්බන්ධයෙන්ද ඔහුගෙන් කොමිසම ප්රශ්න කළා.
ඔහු සඳහන් කළේ, කඹ කර්මාන්ත ශාලාව සම්බන්ධ සියලු විමර්ශන භාරව සිටියේ අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව බවයි.
කෙසේ වෙතත් අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව කිසිඳු උනන්දුවකින් ඒ සම්බන්ධ විමර්ශන සිදුකරන බවක් හෝ ඔවුන් තඹ කර්මාන්තශාලා පරිශ්රයට හෝ පැමිණ විමර්ශන සිදු කළ බවක් තමාට නිරීක්ෂණය නොවූ බවද ප්රධාන පොලිස් පරීක්ෂක අනිල් ජයන්ත මහතා කොමිසම හමුවේ අනාවරණ කළා.
ඔහු වැඩිදුරටත් සඳහන් කළේල තඹ කර්මාන්ත ශාලාවේ ආරක්ෂාව සඳහා යෙදවීමට තමන්ට නිලධාරීන්ගේ හිඟයක් පවතින බව අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට දැනුම් දුන් අවස්ථාවේ එම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව පොලිස් නිලධාරීන් ද සමඟ තඹ කර්මාන්තශාලාවේ හිමිකරුගේ නියෝජිතයින් දෙදෙනෙකු ද එහි ආරක්ෂාවට යෙදවූ බවයි.
බරපතල ත්රස්ත ක්රියාවක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් චෝදනා එල්ලවී තිබෙන ස්ථානයක ආරක්ෂාවට එහි හිමිකරුගේ නියෝජිතයින් ද යෙදවීම නිවැරදිදැයි එහිදී කොමිසම විමසා සිටියා.
ඔහුගේ පිළිතුර වුයේ අදාළ තීරණය අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ තීරණයක් බවයි.
The Foreign Ministry is to begin talks soon with the Swiss Embassy in Colombo, seeking the extradition of Inspector Nishantha Silva, who is believed to have flown to Switzerland without prior notice, a top government source told Daily Mirror yesterday.
He is believed to have fled the country last month after the transfer of former CID Director Shani Abeysekara and is said to be taking refuge in Switzerland with his family.
The government source said Sri Lanka firmly believed in maintaining its strong relations with Switzerland but would request the Swiss authorities to extradite IP Silva because of his involvement in several high profile investigations.
IP Silva was handling several high profile cases including at least 60 crimes committed by the LTTE and the investigation into the assassination of editor Lasantha Wickremetunga and the attack on journalist Keith Noyahr. (JAMILA HUSAIN)
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