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ජනාධිපති ධුර අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට එරෙහිව ඉදිරියේදී දැවැන්ත මඩ ප්රචාරයක් දියත් කිරීමට අමාත්ය මංගල සමරවීර මහතා සූදානමින් සිටින බව සිංහලේ ජාතික සංවිධානය පවසනවා.
කොළඹ අද පැවැති ප්රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකට එක්වෙමින් එහි නියෝජිතයන් මෙම අනාවරණය සිදුකළා.
ශ්රී ලංකා මුස්ලිම් කොංග්රසය හිටපු මහලේකම්, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී හසන් අලි සහ පක්ෂයේ හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී බෂීර් සේගුදාවුද් යන මහත්වරුන් ශ්රී ලංකා පොදු ජන පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට සහය පළ කිරීමට තීරණය කර තිබේ.
ඉදිරි දින කිහිපයේදී ශ්රී ලංකා මුස්ලිම් කොංග්රසයේ තවත් මන්ත්රීවරුන් කිහිපදෙනෙක්ම ගෝටාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට සහාය පළ කරන බවවාර්තා වෙයි.
ඉදිරි ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී සහාය දිය යුතු අපේක්ෂකයා සම්බන්ධයෙන් ශ්රී ලංකා මුස්ලිම් කොංග්රසය තුළ මේ වනවිට උණුසුම් වාද විවාද ඇති වී තිබෙන බවද වාර්තා වෙයි.
ශ්රී ලංකා මුස්ලිම් කොංග්රසයේ මහ ලේකම් හා හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී හසාන් අලී සහ හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී බෂීර් සේගු ඩාවුඩ් නියෝජනය කරන එක්සත් සාම සන්ධානයේ සහය ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂට හිමිව තිබෙනවා.
සුඛිත මුදිත ජන සමාජයක් නිර්මාණය කිරීම තම අරමුණ බව නව ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදි පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක අමාත්ය සජිත් ප්රේමදාස පවසනවා.
ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියේ කිරුළපන ප්රදේශයේ ඊයේ පැවති ජන හමුවකට එක්වෙමින්.
නව ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදී පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති ධුර අපේක්ෂක අමාත්ය සජිත් ප්රේමදාස කළමනාකරණයේ මූලධර්ම නොදන්නා පුද්ගලයෙකු බවට ඔහු විසින්ම තහවුරු කර ඇති බව, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී සුසිල් ප්රේමජයන්ත් පවසනවා.
කොළඹ අද පැවති මාධ්ය හමුවකට එක්වෙමින් ඔහු මේ බව ප්රකාශ කළා.
එම මාධ්ය හමුවට එක්වෙමින් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී කෙහෙළිය රඹුක්වැල්ල කියා සිටියේ ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති ධුර අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂට එරෙහිව අසාර්ථක මඩ ප්රචාරයකට ආණ්ඩුව කටයුතු කරමින් සිටින බවයි.
>බැඳුම්කර ගණුදෙනුවට චෝදනා එල්ලවී සිටින පුද්ගලයන්ට එරෙහිව ක්රියාකිරීම ජනාධිපති ධුර අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ තම ප්රමුඛ කාර්යයක් ලෙස සළකනු ඇති බව, එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධාන මහ ලේකම් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී මහින්ද අමරවීර පවසනවා.
රාජගිරිය ප්රදේශයේ අද පැවති මාධ්ය හමුවකට එක්වෙමින් මන්ත්රීවරයා මේ බව කියා සිටියා.
ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කරමින් රට සංවර්ධනය කරා ගෙන යන බව ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ ප්රමුඛ ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ ජනාධිපති ධුර අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ පවසනවා.
රුවන්වැල්ල ප්රදේශයේ අද පැවති ජන හමුවකට එක්වෙමින් ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියා.
මේ අතර ජනාධිපති ධුර අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂගේ ජයග්රහණය තහවුරු කිරීම වෙනුවෙන් හඟුරන්කෙත ප්රදේශයේදීද අද තවත් ජන රැළියක් පැවැත්වුණා.
විපක්ෂ නායක මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ද එම ජන රැළියට එක්වුණා.
සජිත් ප්රේමදාස ජනාධිපතිවරයා ලෙස පත්වුවහොත් අග්රාමාත්යවරයා ලෙස කටයුතු කරන්නේ තමන් බව අග්රාමාත්ය රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ අද ප්රකාශ කළා.
ඒ, රජයේ සංවර්ධන වැඩපිළිවෙල පිළිබඳව කරුණු පැහැදිළි කිරීම වෙනුවෙන් අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ කැඳවා තිබූ මාධ්ය හමුවකට එක්වෙමින්.
තමන් විදේශ කටයුතු රාජ්ය අමාත්ය ධුරයෙන් ඉවත් නොවන බව අමාත්ය වසන්ත සේනානායක අද විශේෂ මාධ්ය හමුවක් කැඳවමින් ප්රකාශ කළා.
කොම්පඤ්ඤ වීථිය ප්රදේශයේ අද පස්වරුවේ පැවති මෙම විශේෂ මාධ්ය හමුවේදී ඔහු කියා සිටියේ හැකිනම් තමන් එම ධුරයෙන් ඉවත් කර පෙන්වන ලෙසටයි.
රාජ්ය අමාත්ය වසන්ත සේනානායකගේ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ සාමාජිකත්වය වහාම ක්රියාත්මක වන පරිදි අත්හිටුවන බවත්, ඉදිරියේදී ඔහු විදේශ කටයුතු රාජ්ය අමාත්ය ධුරයෙන්ද ඉවත් කිරීමට පියවර ගන්නා බවත්, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ මහ ලේකම් අමාත්ය අකිල විරාජ් කාරියවසම් ඊයේ ප්රකාශ කළා.
ඊට ප්රතිචාර දක්වමිනුයි රාජ්ය අමාත්ය වසන්ත සේනානායක අද මෙම අදහස් පළ කළේ.
Two of the three important presidential candidates have, by the time of writing, October 28, unveiled their election manifestos. SLPP’s Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and National People’s Power candidate JVP’s Anura Kumara Disanayake (AK) did so on October 25 and 26 respectively. Be that as it may, the contest is actually between two of the three, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa (GR) and Sajith Premadasa (SP), the UNP-led New Democratic Front (NDF) candidate; but the latter hasn’t yet made known the agenda he expects to implement in case he is elected as president. AK, obviously the lowest seeded contestant, seems to be playing for ensuring a return of the justly rejected. Funnily enough, the inane statements and gestures that SP has been making on the campaign trail so far do not suggest that he has any coherent vision or plan of action. He seems to be trying to compensate for this glaring lack by beginning to parrot some ideas (merely as meaningless slogans) stealthily adapted from GR’s meticulously drafted text. GR marks a clear path out of the present unholy mess to the prosperous future that the much harassed, but highly disciplined and patient, people of the natural-resources-rich Sri Lanka deserve.
The GR vision for dealing with the short term and long term crises the country is facing can be outlined in terms of ten points: strengthening national security, adopting a foreign policy that does not compromise Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and independence, eliminating corruption, developing an employment oriented education system geared towards training productive citizens, creating a people centred economy, building a society that is based on knowledge and technology, development and enhancement of physical resources, maintaining a stable environment management system, introducing constitutional reforms that are accountable to the people, and establishing a just society that is law abiding, disciplined and decent. While explaining his broad vision and mission, he stressed two key principles, one in positive terms, and the other in negative terms. He assured the patriotic people of Sri Lanka that none of the pledges he makes in the manifesto are empty political promises. What he put in positive terms was this: he pledges himself to a righteous mode of governance that will be compatible with the ethical principles advocated by the dominant Buddhist religious culture and other mainstream religions followed in the country. GR also emphasized that no extremism of any kind will be tolerated, and that there will be only one legal system for the whole country.
The upcoming presidential election on November 16 may be described as the most unusual and at the same time, the most decisive, presidential election ever held under the 1978 Constitution, that is, ever since the introduction of the the executive presidential system. It is going to be the most decisive presidential poll because on its result will depend the very survival of the country as an independent sovereign state of which the institution of the executive presidency is the lynchpin: If the UNP candidate wins, the incumbent dysfunctional parliament itself will be able to push through the legislation that is necessary to remove that vital constitutional safeguard; a change that involves the removal of the executive presidency will be irreversible. This presidential election is also unlike any other ever held during the past forty years because of a number of factors like the following: The ridiculous multiplicity of candidates – 35 – is one. This, however, is sure to be seen by the seasoned voting public as an ingenuous strategy designed to eat into the well known front runner GR’s vote bank, though obviously, the dummy tactic won’t work; it will probably be counterproductive instead. The outgoing president’s decision to keep out of the fray remains an unexplained matter; no one knows what’s up his sleeve; Sirisena is notorious for nasty surprises. The prospect of the incoming president having to work with a prime minister who is determined to challenge him as a supposedly emasculated executive (weakened as a result of the controversially passed 19A) is also an unusual situation; however, such a challenge is not likely to materialize if GR is elected in view of the precedent that the Yahapalana president Sirisena himself created when he unconstitutionally swore in, soon after his own taking of oaths, the then Opposition leader Wickremasinghe with only 44 seats in the 225 member parliament as prime minister, ignoring the incumbent pm Jayaratne supported by some 140 members. The apparently deliberate undermining of national security and the decline of economic development to beyond the pre-2005 levels reflects the unenviable legacy of the anarchic Yahapalanaya. These are some of the unique circumstances that make this presidential election one of its kind.
Just over nine years of Rajapaksa presidency (November 9, 2005 – January 9, 2015) left Sri Lanka a secure, peaceful country that was economically looking up with a healthy growth rate of over 6.5, having overcome three decades of terrorist violence. The end of the civil war in May 2009 brought the different racial and religious communities together. The majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamil and Muslim communities resumed their normal lives as citizens of one country as before, free from fear and mutual suspicion. Unprecedented vistas of progress opened before the nation. However, the euphoria lasted for a short five years. Perennial problems like corruption which need to be tackled through collaboration rather than conflict between the government and the opposition, false allegations levelled against the leaders by political rivals, and the anti-Sri Lanka actions taken by vested interests abroad exploiting these concocted issues led to an externally engineered regime change in January 2015. This was followed by the the installation of Yahapalanaya now on its last legs. Its abject submission to virtually unconcealed intimidatory foreign interference directed at subverting the public will characterized the Yahapalanaya. The leaders were beholden to those external forces for their hold on the levers of domestic power. The brand of democracy they boast of having protected is such that they felt obliged to please the agents of interventionist powers, while completely ignoring the interests of the ordinary Sri Lankans who were made to vote them into power.
The Island of October 9, 2019 carried, on its front page, a picture of Speaker of Sri Lanka Parliament Karu Jayasuriya at a discussion he had with Canadian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka David McKinnon at the Parliament Complex on Monday (07) in the company of Secretary General of Parliament Dammika Dasanayake and ‘Foreign Secretary and advisor’ to Speaker (Jayasuriya) Prasad Kariyawasam. The ‘advisor’ part of his designation offers no ambiguity. But the other part is not clear. Is Kariyawasam the current secretary to the ministry of foreign affairs doubling as advisor to the Speaker simultaneously, or does he serve as the latter’s foreign affairs consultant as well? What had a civil servant of one country to do with the the head of the august house of representatives of another sovereign country? These questions occurred to me on seeing that picture. Be that as it may, the caption to the picture notes that ‘The Joint Opposition protested both inside and outside (the Parliament) against Kariyawasam’s appointment as he was paid by the USAID’. Most Sri Lankans will tend to view what appears to be brazen interference in the country’s internal affairs (of which the picture is graphic proof) with a sense of outrage. The picture might remind them of how a number of foreign diplomats clapped from the parliamentary gallery when the Speaker, Karu Jayasuriya, announced the controversial passage of a no confidence motion by voice vote in 2018. Jayasuriya, a so-called champion of democracy, to his eternal shame, allowed the sovereignty of the Sri Lankan people to be thus slighted by some salaried civil servants from the West.
The SLPP’s assured anti-Yahapalanaya result is expected to lead to an inevitable change of the composition of the next parliament. The election of its candidate as president is already treated as a foregone conclusion. The sweeping victory of the SLPP at the Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha election held on October 11 reflects the public mood throughout the country.The Elpitiya verdict (all 17 wards won by the Joint Opposition led by the SLPP) is a harbinger of its eventual emergence as the ruling party at the parliamentary election that will follow around March in 2020.
That is the longer term indication of the October 11 Elpitiya PS election result. But its immediate effect was that it gave the lie to the costly pro-government Galle Face rally held the previous afternoon. The apparently large Elpitiya election eve gathering at Galle Face reminded me of the UNP demonstration held in the centre of Colombo on October 30, 2018 in which an effigy of the unexpectedly appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was burnt, and that of President Maithripala Sirisena was torn up, by party loyalists against the dismissal, four days before, of the then sitting premier UNP’s Ranil Wickremasinghe; Sirisena had appointed Rajapaksa prime minister after suddenly dissolving parliament in what came to be dubbed a ‘constitutional coup’ on October 26 last year. Like that seemingly impromptu protest event in 2018, the Galle Face gathering on October 10 a couple of days ago was not a spontaneous or convincing enough show of public support for the incumbent regime. From the public’s point of view there was absolutely nothing the government did to inspire such confidence in it in either case. The vast majority of common Sri Lankans breathed a sigh of relief when they heard about the sudden change of government and the appointment of Rajapaksa replacing Wickremasinghe. Although it was later successfully challenged in court by Wickremasinghe for him and his cabinet to be reinstated, Rajapaksa’s interim government of 51 days subsequently led to the achievement of some positive results including the long delayed recognition of Rajapaksa as the leader of the Opposition by the Speaker, and the suffocation of indecently hurried parliamentary legislations meant to placate global powers that are inimical to the country.
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is not a politician by his nature. He was drawn into the vortex of presidential politics due to popular demand in place of Mahinda Rajapaksa because the 19A deprived the latter of contesting for a third term. The people became suddenly aware of the deception played on them in January 2015 within a month of the event. Since the massive pro-Mahinda rally held at Nugegoda in February the same year, people have been demanding his return. But Yahapalanaya democrats have blundered on, while relentlessly carrying on their immoral unjustified campaign of demonising the Rajapaksas in order to keep them away from power in contradiction of the popular will. Several senior government officers revealed recently how they were pressured to incriminate them somehow and incarcerate them though there was no evidence at all to do so. One cabinet minister even asked the people to elect his party to power again so they would be able to complete avenging themselves on the Rajapaksas! This was probably a slip of the tongue, but it hints at what was really passing through his mind. The Yahapalana government did little more than Rajapaksa bashing, in addition to doing everything to undo what the country achieved under them in the ten years before the January 2015 regime change.
The fair minded Sri Lankans instinctively know that the Rajapaksas, with their traditional Buddhist upbringing will never think of paying their rivals in the same coin when they are elected to power again on November 16. They will exclusively expend their energies on the implementation of the GR Vision, while giving the highest priority to restoring national security in all its aspects, managing foreign relations without surrendering the country’s sovereignty, independence and national dignity, eliminating corruption and crime, and building a prosperous society through knowledge and technology. Education is going to receive unprecedented attention. No other presidential hopeful in history past or present has evinced so much interest in the welfare of the young as GR. He is the best by a mile compared to his closest rival in this contest to be president.
So the October 2018 ‘protest rally’ in Colombo was a fake event. The UNP traditionally has ways and means of attracting crowds in spite of themselves. On that occasion it inflated the numbers who attended nearly fourfold . The Australian of October 31, 2018 reporting on this demonstration, suggested a much lower figure: The party (i.e., the UNP) said about 100,000 people took part in the protests while police sources gave a figure of 25,000 before more arrived”. Information exchanged in the social media makes it clear that crowds for the rally in the Galle Face Green were bussed in from the provinces by the organizers. The established tradition is to transport its supporters to the venue of the rally and back, with their day’s upkeep looked after (Today’s young may not know that the nickname ‘bath gottas’ – rice-packet recipients – was used exclusively for UNP supporters in the past because of this demeaning practice). Provincial leaders of the party felt compelled to make this an opportunity to demonstrate their power and popularity among the people to the party hierarchy.
It is usually the Opposition that takes to the streets against an malfunctioning government in power. The absurdity of the government having begun to abuse that oppositional strategy in order to distract public attention from its own failures is part of the general topsy-turvydom that characterizes the state of anarchy that has come to stay under the Yahapalanaya. The speeches that the UNP presidential candidate makes and the election promises he dangles before audiences suggest that he has strategically forgotten that he is a powerful minister of the government with the ability to demonstrate his credibility by actually doing something about at least some of the problems that he pledges himself to solving (like looking into what is happening at Muhudu Maha Viharaya and Kuragala, or ensuring that workers on the Upcountry tea estates get the Rs 1000 daily payment they have been demanding for so long ).
Today Sri Lanka is facing, arguably, its worst survival crisis since independence, following the two armed JVP insurrections (1971 and 1986-90) and the long drawn armed LTTE separatism (1976-2009), both terrorist movements. A considerable number of good but ill-informed or misinformed young Sri Lankans believe that the past seven decades of independence have seen nothing but a steady degradation of the country as a nation (in terms of governance, economy, and social standards, etc.) due to something intrinsically wrong with the established (political) system and the alleged depravity of all the politicians of the country having been given to corruption and abuse of power without any exception. But the truth is that there have been and there still are good honest politicians, though they are surrounded by a host of very bad ones. Sri Lanka has achieved a number of positive changes through parliamentary democracy under both the original UNP- and SLFP-led governments, the most conspicuous of these being those made in 1956, 1970, 1978, 1994 and 2009. (The regime change engineered with foreign involvement in 2015 that replaced the best performing post-independence government Sri Lanka had had until then cannot be included in this list.)
The above negative assumption, therefore, is not totally valid, though superficially it may appeal to the young sections of the electorate who tend to generalize on the basis of what they have been experiencing in the name of ‘good governance’ during the past four and a half years. That is, this most pessimistic verdict on post-independence politics to date is largely a reaction to the Yahapalanaya, which may be described as an absolute kakistocracy (rule by the worst people) unmatched by any government that ruled before. Paradoxically, the indiscriminate judgement might make the democratic dislodgement of the most undemocratic and corrupt administration ever in post-independence Sri Lanka more difficult than it should be in the prevailing circumstances and it is being slyly promoted by the Yahapalanaya’s erstwhile supporters who are hellbent on preventing the patriotic forces now poised to replace it from doing so.
On the departure in 1948 of the British who had ‘possessed’ Sri Lanka as an imperial territory and exploited its resources, the country was deemed to have been returned to the people of Ceylon (as the country was then known internationally), the Ceylonese, comprising the majority Sinhalese and the Tamil, Muslim, Burgher and other minorities. The famous ‘Divide and Rule’ policy had created an English speaking, Westernized, almost totally Christian, ‘elite’ – a miniscule minority of colonial parasites – that was beholden to the colonizers for favours granted as a reward for their servile allegiance to the invader. With the grant of universal franchise in 1931 the numerical strength of the communities began to have an impact on deciding which community was to have the greatest share of ruling power. The minorities, particularly the racist Tamil leaders from the elite class, feared that the political ascendancy the Sinhalese majority acquired through the grant of universal franchise meant an inevitable loss of the special privileges that they had been enjoying under the British. Their attitude was reflected in the notorious 50-50 demand of G.G. Ponnambalam in the allocation of seats in the first legislature to be established under the Soulbury Constitution of 1948. That is, Ponnambalam wanted the seats in the new parliament to be equally divided between the Sinhalese and the Tamils ignoring the discrepancy between their percentages in the population (75% and 15% respectively), a ridiculously unconscionable demand that the Soulbury commissioners rejected with contempt. The Sinhalese leaders, like today, were never racist. D.S. Senanayake, the first prime minister, asked by them how many Tamils he wanted to have in his cabinet of ministers, replied that he didn’t mind if all of them were Tamils, provided they served as Ceylonese (as Sri Lankans in modern parlance). But Tamil leaders were different. SJV Chelvanagam founded the separatist Ilankei Tamil Arasu Kachchi – Lanka Tamil State Party – misleadingly called the Federal Party (to camouflage its unrealistic separatist agenda) in 1949. Ratnajeevan Hoole, a member of the three member Elections Commission, in a recent Colombo Telegraph article, described Chelvanayagam as the greatest statesman that Sri Lanka ever had!
Perhaps there is no other nation in the world that is more naturally inclined to protect and cherish secular democracy, the best (i.e. the most civilized and humane) form of government so far evolved, than the Sri Lankan people. This is because of its dominant Sinhalese Buddhist cultural tradition that has survived unbroken for over 2300 years. There is no other historic moral-spiritual tradition than the Buddhist establishment in Sri Lanka that is more compatible with secularism in governance that is so admired in the West. If ‘Christian nations’ like America and Britain can boast of being secular democracies, why can’t Sri Lanka with its long prevailing Buddhist culture be accepted as a secular democracy. (It is unfortunate that politicians who profess various religions equate secularism with rejection of religious values without bothering to find out what the ‘Western’ concept of secular governance really means.)
The simple truth about inter-communal relations in majority Buddhist Sri Lanka is that there is no better guarantor of the safety, the wellbeing and the peaceful coexistence of all communities, large or small, male or female, heterosexual or homosexual than this most humane unobtrusive Sinhalese Buddhist cultural background. Buddhist monks have been the traditional nonviolent protectors of the country, the nation, and the Buddhist establishment that has defined its binding, inclusive culture ever since Buddhism was introduced or established in Sri Lanka under royal patronage over 2300 years ago. It is natural that whenever these three ‘treasures’ are in danger as now the monks take it upon themselves as their historic responsibility to offer moral guidance to protect them in peaceful nonviolent ways. In the past, when peaceful approaches failed, they did not disapprove of responding to armed aggression in the appropriate manner. Sometimes monks temporarily or permanently disrobed to fight as warriors, and this happened during the recent civil war. It has always been the case that the majority Sinhalese fight for the country and its people without racial or religious discrimination.
It is the politicians who want a separate state, not the ordinary Tamils, who live scattered in all provinces of the country, with only less than half of their number concentrated in the north and east, where they wanted to establish their separate state. The majority of Tamils are Hindus, like the majority of Sinhalese are Buddhists. Both are peaceful, non-violent, non-proselytising religions. The recent advent of Islamic extremist violence will inevitably drive the Hindus and Buddhists into each other’s embrace for protection. The peaceful coexistence between the Buddhist and Hindu religious communities is the greatest force for national unity. Islamic fundamentalist violence targets people of all religions including Muslims who do not accept their version of Islam. The defeat of Tamil separatist terrorism brought all the communities together, and ushered in the dawn of a new era of peace and prosperity. But this was not to last. Strategic positioning of the geopolitical space where Sri Lanka is located by the global powers means trouble for Sri Lanka. The principal global power involved here, America is exploiting the so-called Tamil national problem and the surreptitiously introduced fundamentalist religious activity over the recent decades to destabilize the country in pursuit of its strategic ends in the region.
The success achieved by the previous government between 2005 – 2014 became a casualty of this trend. Sri Lanka’s survival as a sovereign nation with a written history of over 2500 years, indisputably a unique achievement in human civilization, which the whole of humanity can hardly write off overnight and consign to oblivion, is hanging in the balance. This is the biggest problem the country is facing at the moment, though it receives scant attention from the currently embattled politicians. Only two or three politicians (they are from the Joint Opposition) are articulating the problem. A former army commander with an excellent service record, the one before the previous one, well known for his uprightness as a military officer, his patriotism, and his non-partisan approach in discussing national problems made a special appeal through the social media to all adult Sri Lankans to understand this problem clearly and use their vote intelligently at the coming presidential election (so the correct person will be elected for dealing with it as a priority). It is the responsibility of ordinary voters to judge which of the two main contenders is capable of facing the challenge successfully. The present government seems to be inviting foreign meddling as a means of guaranteeing their own survival in power at any cost.
I am prompted to write about what was achieved in development since Sri Lanka achieved independence because some of our presidential aspirants have said that Sri Lanka had no development from the time we got independence 71 years ago. It is sad to note that some of our presidential aspirants happen to be that ignorant.
Industrial Development began in the early Fifties. It was a two-pronged programme with the Ministry of Industries pursuing large scale industries like Cement, Paper, etc, while the newly established Department of Rural Development and Cottage Industries established Handloom Training Centers in rural areas with the idea of training womenfolk in handlooms. With the appointment of Demonstrators in Handlooms, this Programme took off with many women taking to have handlooms in their homes. Instructions were also provided in traditional crafts. This activity was supervised by the Rural Development Officers and by the Divisional Secretaries. As the Additional Government Agent at Kegalla and as the Government Agent at Matara I have been in charge of the Department of Rural Development..
This industrial activity got a shot in the arm when the small industry functions of the Department of Rural Development and Cottage Industries were taken over by a new Department of Small Industries. I worked as a Deputy Director of Small Industries in 1970. This Department provided foreign exchange allocations to small industrialists to import any requirement for their production. At that time imports were restricted and special allocations were required to import.. This Department also imported yarn and gave it to handloomers.. The handloomers made bespoke textiles like sarees as well as elegant textiles for general sales and these were sold by Cooperatives.. The establishment of Lak Sala, a sales outlet run by the Department of Small Industries, with branches in many cities, gave a boost to the sale of small industrial items made by small industrialists.
This effort to create incomes in rural areas got a boost with the establishment of Powerlooms in the Sixties by the Department of Small Industries. These powerlooms were brought down from China and installed in many rural arreas. These functioned as cooperatives, managed by the Divisional Revenue Officers and these Powerlooms were helped in all technical matters by Velona a research and technical institute based in Moratuwa. The Power looms produced all sorts of textiles. The textiles produced were of high quality. Sri Lankans who had settled down in Britain, when they came to Sri Lanka for holidays were searching to buy suiting material made at the Hakmana Powerloom.
The Department of Small Industry had a few wood work training centers where furniture was made while also training youths to handle machinery for wood work.. Similarly there were a few ceramic centers which made porcelainware., In fact the ceramic centers produced high quality items which made me when I was Deputy Director try to embark on making cups, saucers, plates etc. This was not approved because the kilns at these centers were not firing to the required high degree to make tableware.
In large scale industry the Ministry of Industries pursued the establishment of many industries. A Paper Factory was imported and established at Valachchenai in Batticaloa District, It was meant to use illuk grass as a basic raw material. However as illuk ran out, our scientists did find the method of using straw as a base and in its heyday the Valachenai Paper Mill was functioning making around half the amount of paper that Sri Lanka needed. It was so successful that a second factory was established at Embilipitiya. Both Valachenai and Embilipitiya succumbed, the first due to the insurrection by the LTTE while Embilipitiya succumbed due to mismanagement. Industries were established to make high quality bricks and tiles. In Ceramics a Ceramic Corporation was established which initially made a host of ceramicware, like toilets and wash basins. However later on this Ceramic Corporation lost ground. In the private sector Noritaki came in and established a tableware factory, producing very high quality tableware that was sold worldwide. However in this case, it functioned on a tax holiday and paid no taxes to Sri Lanka but produced elegant ceramic items using our deposits. The country benefited only from the employment the industry created. Later the Government set up a Ceramic Factory at Dankotuwa which too turned out elegant tableware.
The Government also established a number of Textile Factories making textiles out of imported yarn. The Textile Factory established in the Sixties at Tulhiriya was hailed as a State of the Art Industry, the best in South Asia. By the Seventies Sri Lanka was making all its textiles..
The State Hardware Corporation made many hardware goods like knives, forks etc.
A Tyre Factory was installed with aid from Russia. This made tyres for local use.
Cement was made at the Kankesanturai Factory till it was taken over by the LTTE. A few other industries were established at Paranthan which too ceased after the LTTE took over the area.
In the rural areas the Department of Small Industries was able to encourage entrepreneurs to establish small scale industries making traditional items. Many industrialists made items which enabled the country to reduce imports. Import substitution industries were a success.
In the Seventies the Divisional Development Councils Programme(DDCP) was established to provide employment for the youth.. Many small industrial units were established under the DDCP which enabled employment to youths. Of significance were the Mechanized Boatyard making 40 foot seaworthy boats, a Paper Factory at Kotmale in the Nuwara Eliya District, a Crayon Factory at Morawaka in the Matara District. In addition there were many Smithys making tools, many small units like Batic and Sewing Centers. In detail, the Boatyard was established at Matara, making 40 foot inboard motor boats. This was the first attempt to establish a cooperative industry making seaworthy boats. Till then it was a stray carpenter making a boat and that happened all over the country. This was a great success making around thirty boats per year. The boats were sold to Fishery Cooperatives and was instrumental in increasing the fishery boat fleet.
Special mention is due of the Crayon Factory, established at Morawaka in the Matara District. This is important because of the sophisticated nature of the manufacture as well as its success. It was begun as a protest against the decision of the Ministry of Plan Implementation not to approve import substitutions type of industry. I instructed my Planning Officer a chemistry graduate to conduct experiments to unearth the art of making Crayons. The Science Laboratory at Rahula College the leading secondary school was obtained after hours. My Planning Officer aided by some of the science teachers at the Rahula College tried to find the art of making crayons every evening from six to around mid night. Even after attending to experiments for around five hours a day for two months we never got anywhere near making a good crayon. Then the Planning Officer decided to seek the assistance of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Colombo, from which he had graduated a year earlier. The Planning Officer beseeched his lecturers and professors for three days and was turned away, telling him that they had no time. We then sat down to continue our own experiments with greater zeal and finally found the art of making crayons of high quality.
Then the question of establishing the industry cropped up. As the Government Agent though I had a number of Departments under me I had no authority in anyone of them to establish an industry. I finally selected the most efficient Cooperative Union in the District, the Morawaka Korale Cooperative Union to finance and establish the crayon industry as a cooperative. It so happened that this Cooperative Union was headed by Sumanapala Dahanayake, the member of parliament for Deniyaya who was efficient and could be trusted. The Crayon Factory was established at Morawaka in three weeks’ time working day and night. The Minister of Industries Mr TB Subasinghe was surprised at the quality of the crayons and readily agreed to open sales. In a few months Coop Crayon was sold islandwide.
Currently Sri Lanka imports almost everything. Many doubt whether we can make import substitution type of industry. Making a Crayon is a sophisticated task and my Planning Officer succeed in it. It is a foregone conclusion therefore that we can make almost everything we import.
Import substitution type of industries serves to save foreign exchange. To make crayons, dyes have to be used and dyes are imported. Our Crayon industry was denied an allocation of foreign exchange to import by the Ministry of Industry because ours was a cooperative. At that time, the Import Control Department allowed allocations of foreign exchange to import crayons for sale. Sumanapala Dahanayake and I decided to meet the Controller of Imports Harry Guneratne. It did not take long for Harry to figure out that by giving us an allocation of foreign exchange he could stop the import of crayons, saving valuable foreign exchange. He wanted us to get the approval of the Minister of Imports, Mr Illangaratne, who readily agreed. Harry was able to stop the import of crayons and Coop Crayon was sold islandwide.
In the late Fifties and Sixties paddy production was increasing and the Government had to attend to the milling of paddy. The Government then imported a few rice mills and established them in certain areas. I was in charge of the Ambalantota Rice Mill one of the three largest rice mills established. These were state of the art rice mills. Re the Rice milling industry I was in charge of rice milling for over five years working as an Assistant Commissioner for Development of Marketing. A few of us Assistant Commissioners were trusted more than the Rice Milling Expert from Australia. By 1970 Rice Milling was a fully developed industry in the public sector-the Department of Agrarian Services and later the Paddy Marketing Board..
In addition, the Department drafted plans and specifications to establish rice mills and invited applications from local investors. Many people submitted applications and were given allocations of foreign exchange to import the machinery and the entrepreneurs had to construct the buildings according to the specifications that were laid down by the Department. In the Southern Province which I covered there were some one hundred and ninety entrepreneurs who established rice mills under my supervision. This was done very quickly and the rice mills established were very successful in milling paddy. This is in contrast to President Jayawardena handing over wheat milling to Prima, a foreign company. In the case of Prima, the full profit in wheat milling goes out of the country to Singapore, while in Rice Milling the full profit comes to local millers and they pay taxes while Prima works on a tax holiday. Many rice millers became industrial magnates. Harischandras is one of them.
Long ago in the late Forties and early Fifties, Sri Lanka was making all its lorries and bus bodies. Then we imported chasis of buses and lorries and thousands of carpenters were involved at the bus depots. At Ratmalana where the South Western Bus Company had its workshop the rattling and reverting noise could be heard for an easy quarter mile. At Moratuwa the Railway Workshop made all its coaches on imported chasis. There was a state of the art workshop at Werahera, Maharagama where buses were made. Never were any buses, rail coaches or lorries imported.
The Marketing Department established a Cannery that enabled Sri Lanka to become self sufficient in making fruit preparations like Jam and Juice. This will be dealt with later under Agricultural Marketing
Industries were pursued to the maximum and thousands were found employment.
Even though Governments changed hands, industries continued to be concentrated on.
The death knell of industrial development came to Sri Lanka with the IMF. When the government of President Jayawardena requested the IMF for financial assistance in 1978, the IMF insisted that Sri Lanka had to follow the Structural Adjustment Programme provisions.
The policies enforced under the Structural Adjustment Programme included the provision that the Government should not attend to any commercial undertakings. This meant that all Government commercial undertakings had to be either abolished or privatized. With this decision out went most of the industries that had been established with great care at a tremendous cost. In detail, the functions of the Small Industries Department importing yarn and having a technical support service in the Department at Velona was axed. Out went the 98,000 handloomers and the Powerlooms. The country was flooded with textiles from imports.
. The Crayon Factory that was run by the Morawaka Cooperative Union was a pain in the neck of the UNP Government. It was the best industry established by the DDCP and had to be discredited. The Government sent a Deputy Director of Cooperatives, A.T. Ariyaratne on a special mission to find fault with the Crayon Factory and to discredit the MP Sumanapala Dahanayake who established and guided it. The Deputy Director after days of fact finding had to conclude that the industry was well run and all documents were found perfect. Once in the Eighties when I went back to see the Ambalantota Rice Mill. I could not believe my eyes. I saw the five acre land in tatters, apportioned to a few Departments strewn with parts of the rice mill machinery which we had carefully maintained. It was a sorry sight that moved me. In its heyday it provided employment for over a hundred and milled 4000 bushels of paddy a day. That was also the fate of other Rice Mills at Anuradhapura and Amparai. In making rail coaches the Railway Workshop Industry at Moratuwa was closed down and thousands lost their jobs. Thenceforth till today all rail coaches are imported. In making buses and coaches, the Werahera Factory was shut down and its precious machinery was sold for a song and thousands were laid off. Henceforth busses were imported. The Hardware Corporation was closed down and I have seen knives and other metal products imported from as far as Mexico. The Weaving and Textiles Mills were privatized. The Tulhiriya Mill, once the best in South Asia was sold to Kabool a Pakistani firm that ran it to death and decamped leaving unpaid bank loans. The Tyre Factory donated to us by Russia, was privatized and now it is managed by CEAT an Indian multinational. Hector Perera the Chief Chemist who was trained in Russia, who established it once told me that the Tyre factory had the capacity to make all the tyres Sri Lanka needed. It is sad that though we produce the best rubber in the world we do not yet make all our tyres.
Following the IMF’s advice thousands were laid off, their lives were ruined and the State of the Art Machinery was neglected and left to be ruined. The full effort of administrators and technocrats to make Sri lanka self sufficient in industrial products and find employment for thousands achieved in three decades from 1947 to 1978 was totally sacrificed..
It is a sad story of losses and imports taking their place. Being very conversant with rice milling machinery and having handled major construction work I can figure out that the lost industries can never be replaced even if the funds are found.
I happened to have played a fairly major role in the planning and execution of a part of this great programme. In every case the machinery was built up over decades in a most painstaking manner by our administrators and engineers.. I was an essential part of the saga of industrial development and can assure that the industries worked efficiently. I can state emphatically and with certainty that there is no one on earth who can re establish the lost industries.
That is unfortunately the legacy of pillage and plunder President Jayawardena’s UNP Government left for our country. For the IMF and the Superpowers it was their victory to ruin our industries so that we have to import from them, become indebted so that we become ‘colonies’ once again. It is a burden that a country cannot bear, a burden to which we have to succumb.
A comparative assessment can be made with India and Bangladesh. I think that in Sri Lanka we did better in industry till the IMF came on the scene in 1978. But we totally succumbed to the IMF from 1978, while Bangladesh and India did not accept the Structural Adjustment Programme of the IMF. The IMF tried to get hold of Bangladesh to adopt the Structural Adjustment Programme in 1986 and again in 2007 but was totally rejected by the Government. In India some provisions of the Structural Adjustment Programme have been followed in 1991, but the full provisions have not been accepted as yet. In 1976, Sri Lanka was not an indebted country. Working on the IMF’s tutelage we have run up an international debt of around $ 56 to 60 billion due to curtailing local production, sacrificing our industries and getting in imports and liberalizing the use of foreign exchange which India and Bangladesh did not do. They continued to manage their economies with low interest rates-helping entrepreneurs, creating employment for their people with import controls and national planning. Sri lanka gave up its national planning in 1978. . In the early 1970s before the IMF stepped into Sri Lanka our currency the Rupee was on a par with the Indian Rupee and the Bangladeshi Taka. Today after following the IMF’s prescriptions, the Sri Lankan Rupee is devalued at Rs. 182 to the dollar while the Bagladeshi Taka is valued at Taka 85 to the dollar and the Indian Rupee is valued at Rs. 71 to the dollar.
It is a sad conclusion that the IMF ruined Sri lanka’s economy with Sri Lanka’s Government under President JR Jayawardena playing poodle, as documented in my Book: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka and Alternative Programmes of Success. (Godages)
2006.
Garvin Karunaratne, former Government Agent Matara, Ph.D. Michigan State University Author of How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development (Kindle/Godages, 2017)
29/10/2019
This appendix contains information which amplifies the observations in PART IV (A) AND PART IV (B)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS
Yahapalana tried but failed to prevent Local government elections, so Yahapalana distorted local government representation. The number of councilors and representatives in local government doubled and the cost too doubled. Multi-member wards were created for the first time, bringing in ethnic and religious factors into a segment that did not have this before. The media reported that Councils has encountered difficulty in forming the Council and electing the Mayor or Chairman.
RECRUITMENT TO STATE ADMINISTRATION.
From 2017 competitive examinations for the Sri Lanka Administration Service, Education Administration Service, Foreign Service, Competitive Examination to recruit officers for the Inland Revenue Department, Examination to recruit executive officers for the Central Bank, People’s Bank and Bank of Ceylon, Examination to recruit Assistant Superintendents of Police have not been held. The government delays competitive examinations designed to absorb graduates to public service. But to sit for those examinations, the applicants should be less than 28 years of age.
There is over 7500 personnel employed in government institutions above the Cadre positions approved by the Treasury. In July 2018 Yahapalana issued a circular that prohibited public and semi-government institutions from recruiting cadres and making payments to them without the prior permission of the Treasury. All ministries and public institutions, including institutions under the Provincial Councils, were to inform the Treasury about employees recruited outside the approved cadres.
CORRUPTION IN APPOINTMENTS
Friends were appointed to high offices of state and their corrupt activities were overlooked. Incompetent and corrupt persons were accommodated and a blind eye was shown to malpractice. Those who opposed corruption were removed from the office.
MINISTRIES.
The manner in which subjects were allocated to Ministries, defies all logic, said, critics. Examples are Ministry of Education and Highways; Ministry of Livestock Development Public Administration; Ministry of Higher Education, City Planning and Water Supply; Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Resettlement of Protracted Displaced Persons, Co-operative Development, Vocational Training & Skills Development.
A Yahapalana minister had said to eat manioc and Wattakka as they were cheap. The public suggested that new ministries be created such as ‘Thanakola Amethi’, ‘Bathala Amethi’, ‘manioc Amethi’.
19TH AMENDMENT
Yahapalana passed many laws in Parliament which were strongly criticsed by the public. The 19th Amendment, created two power centers. It reduced the power of the President and transferred them to the Prime Minister and created what Udaya Gammapila has delightfully described as a Bherunda Pakshiya.
The 19th amendment also created the outrageous Constitutional Council , consisting of on Parliamentarians. Chandraprema commented, what happened was that all ten members of the Constitutional Council were Yahapalanites and they, in turn, stuffed all the so-called independent commissions and high posts of the state with Yahapalanites. This was exactly the opposite of what was supposed to happen.
Dushana Vidu Nethin, (DVN) , condemned the appointment of Power and Energy Minister Ravi Karunanayake’s lawyer Sandun Gamage to the vacant position of Commissioner at the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka. Gamage’s name was approved by the Constitutional Council. Gamage represented Karunanayake multiple times during hearings into the Central Bank bond scam before the Presidential Commission appointed to inquire into the case, DVN said.
ENGINEERING COUNCIL BILL
Proposed Engineering Council bill inimical to the profession. Of the 17 persons, 13 are to be nominated by the PM, said the media.
SECURITY
The Prime ministerial security division took into custody a youth for videoing the motorcade of Ranil while was driving past Kollupitiya. He had done so with his cellular phone.
FINANCIAL CRIMES INVESTIGATION DIVISION
The establishment of the non-democratic and extra-judicial institution of FCID to carry out politically motivated investigations
WELFARE SERVICES
One way of crushing the people was by hitting the key social services. The social welfare state (free health and education, pensions, allowances for the elderly and disabled, the milk and mid-day meal for school children, etc.) is being dismantled, said Tissa Vitarana in 2018. In three years of the Yahapalana regime, the socio-economic conditions of the masses have rapidly deteriorated, said Tamara Kunanayagam in 2018. There is a general decline in welfare services said, analysts. Instead of strengthening public education and health, the government is moving towards privatizing education and health, pensions and social welfare funds.
The government had disrupted the payment of poor relief, distribution of school uniforms material and the fertilizer subsidy.
A large section of the people was unable to afford even essential food items. The poverty and malnutrition rates have gone up, and many people are having two meals a day and some only one. The poverty (over 30%) and malnutrition levels are soaring. Vegetable prices are going through the roof, complained to the public.
All Island Private Pharmacy Owners Association opposed the 400% increase in registration renewal fee.
Fishermen said that they have to provide files to obtain allowances given to them.
Health
Education
LOSS OF EMPLOYMENT
The second way to crush the people” was to take away their livelihood. They would then become impoverished and politically weak. Mass unemployment could be achieved quickly by hitting the whole industries. Yahapalana targeted the micro industries and the SMEs. The government was not allowing the local industrialists to survive, said the media..” Small businesses have been hit hard by the policies adopted by this government, said, critics. Here are some observations.
SOME TARGETED INDUSTRIES
RAIDS AND INSPECTIONS
*The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) Southern Regional Office Investigation Officials have earned Rs. 10,090,500 in court fines from fraudulent traders through raids and inspections conducted in 2018 in the South. The total number of raids carried out in the Southern region during that period was 2,584. The number of raids carried out in the Galle district was 793 and the revenue collected was 4,100,000. Raids conducted in the Matara district were 891 and the income was 3,144,000. The number of raids conducted in the Hambantota district was 900. Rs. 2,846,500 was obtained by way of court fines.
Errant traders were prosecuted in the Magistrates’ Courts of Galle, Matara, and Hambantota. Charges framed against them were selling rice at exorbitant rates, hoarding of essential consumer items, sale and display of food items unsuitable for human consumption, sale and display of expired food items, selling food decayed and eaten by rats, weevils and insects, altering set prices on labels and selling them at excessive rates, selling electrical appliances without issuing warranty cards, sale of cement above the set price, non-display of price tags and violating orders, rules and regulations imposed by the Consumer Affairs Authority.
* In Galle, in 2018, there was an inspection of vehicles transporting schoolchildren from home to school and back. 110 vehicles which were found to be not roadworthy were issued prohibition notices, Galle district Motor Vehicle Examiner said. The inspections were carried out in four Divisional Secretariat divisions during November and December 2018..Twenty-three such vehicles in Neluwa, 16 in Nagoda and 40 in Galle Four Gravets and 31 in the Tawalama Divisional Secretariat were issued prohibition notices. Many mechanical and maintenance defects including overused tires, faulty foot, and hand brakes, use of improper motor spare parts contravening the provisions of the Motor Traffic Act, corrosion on the body of the vehicle, and faulty signal lights were detected in the vehicles which were issued prohibition notices.
TAXES
The tax policy is one of placing the burden on the people, leading to a huge increase in the cost of living, while allowing the very rich, a small section of local and foreign multi-billionaires, to get richer and live a life of luxury.
The present government is unleashing a vicious cocktail of unconscionable taxes on struggling businesses and hapless people, while effecting major increases in prices of public utilities as well. .Increased taxes, loan interest, and debt have hit small producers and traders. The masses were severely burdened with excessive taxes and prices have increased manifold.
Yahapalana is hitting the public with taxes. In 2016, Yahapalana increased the value added tax (VAT). Small hardware, clothing, shoe and furniture shops, bakeries and eateries and shops selling mobile phones and other such consumer durables will be affected by VAT
In 2015, the taxes collected from the people were increased from Rs. 1,050 billion in 2014 to Rs. 1,355 billion in 2015 – an increase of Rs. 305 billion in a single year. Such an increase would have been spread out over at least three years under my government, said Mahinda Rajapaksa. As a matter of policy, we kept the year-on-year increase in taxes within the range of Rs. 50 to 100 billion a year so as not to oppress the public.
ENERGY
INDUSTRIES
WINKLER INTERNATIONAL Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) had committed a serious offense by granting permission to Winkler International Pvt. Ltd to export 294 MT of gold mixed soil, valued at USD 88,200 in July 2019, said the Presidential Commission of Inquiry probing alleged corruption in the current administration.
Managing Director of Winkler International had written to the head of the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) to determine whether they needed the permission of the GSMB to export a large quantity of gold mixed soil. Sri Lanka Customs had apprehended 15 containers of gold mixed soil that Winkler was trying to export. The answer was” yes”. GSMB approval was essential for exporting gold mixed soil. However, following several meetings at the Presidential Secretariat, the GSMB decided to give Winkler permission to export this consignment as a special case. Since Winkler had no mining or trade license we decided to get recommendations from the President’s Secretary also, GSMB said.
CEYLON GRAPHITE Foreign companies have been trying to get full mining rights to Sri Lanka‘s graphite mines several years.. In August 2019, under the Yahapalana rule, extensive mining rights were awarded to a Canadian company Ceylon Graphite. This company with headquarters in Vancouver was in the business of exploring and developing lump vein graphite mines in historic resource jurisdictions in Sri Lanka. The contract was awarded to Sarcon Development Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ceylon Graphite.
DEDURU OYA SCHEME
The government had stopped all ongoing development work of the old government when it took office. Said DEW Gunasekera. Yahapalana had failed to complete the Deduru Oya irrigation scheme to give water to the whole of Wayamba which he started said Mahinda Rajapaksa. ( CONCLUDED)
IT WAS NOT A STATEMENT OF PROBABLE THREAT BY THE SLPP/SLFP OR MAHINDA PELA TO THE MUSLIMS.
During the Presidential Elections and general elections of 2010, 20% of the total Muslim votes were polled in favour of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the UPFA. In the 2005 presidential elections, the Muslims played a major role in the victory of Mahinda Rajapaksa, it was reported.
The late T.B. Jaya said that the Muslims should not put all their eggs in one basket”. What did this mean? It meant that the Muslims should be represented in both the National Sinhala political parties. Today, for some reason, there is only one Muslim elected representation in the SLFP/ Mathri pela”, Hon. Fowzi and NONE in the Ekkabadde Vipaksaya” (the Mahinda Rajapaksa group) a political force of nearly 51 SLFP/UPFA elected” parliamentarians. Therefore the Muslims do not have a political voice. It is true that we have allowed the affairs of our community to be taken control of unscrupulous, dishonest, deceptive, self-motivated, selfish, corrupt and manipulating Muslim politicians, Muslim political party leaders, Ulema and Media personnel, that has led our community to be considered as a 2nd., class community in Sri Lanka. In politics, we are considered as the community of political naanaas who turn the way their Fez Cap turns” to support any political party that comes to power for the personal gains of the political leaders of the Muslim parties.
The Muslim politicians have hoodwinked and betrayed the Muslim Community wholesale. In the aftermath of the Aluthgama/Beruwela incidents, the decision taken by the Muslims to steer clear from these politicians and to take their own political moves was the most appropriate. But the Yahapalana government has betrayed the Muslim Community by still NOT making the probe on the violence of Aluthgama and Beruwela which happened as a result of the communal racist actions of the so-called nationalist Buddhist clergy organization and Sinhalese groups, which is suspected to have taken place with the connivance of a Rajapaksa family member, OR is the Yahapalana government was trying to cover-up the involvements of a prominent former Mahinda Government Minister of the UNFGG’s in the Kalutara District at the 2015, and left the country on the eve of the violence? Rumours say it was Dr. Rajitha Seneratne the most “violent opponent of Gotabaya” in the presidentail campaign 2019.
Mahinda might have been a bad example of a leader for the Muslims, between 2010 and 2015, but we cannot discard him as a political power and his brother now – a would be next President of Sri Lanka as Attorney-at-Law Ali Sabri had stated/states. The rest we have to leave to God AllMighty Allah. Therefore the decisions for the Muslims to support Gotabaya Rajapaksa fits correctly to the thinking of the late Muslim political leader at that time – late T.B. Jaya. Attorney-at-Law Ali Sabry had highlighted the need for the Muslim voters to think in the same manner and take the advice given by the late Muslim Politician Dr. T.B. Jaya that “The Muslims should NOT put all their eggs in one basket”, is what is appropriate for the present times, Insha Allah. Muslims should look for Muslim politicians with the “ROLE MODEL” of persons like late T.B. Jaya, S.L. Naina Marikkar, Cassim Ismail, Cassim Umar, Mactan Ismail, Ash Sheik Mohamedu Fazi, S.N. Ismail, L.M. Sapur, M.K. Saldin, N.H.M. Abdul Cader, Makan Makar and A.R. Razcik (later referred to as Sir Razick Fareed) in National/Local Politics, Insha Allah.
This is also what The Muslim Voice” was also advocating, since June 14, 2014, Insha Allah. This is what “THE MUSLIM VOICE” was striving to do from the wilderness of the Muslim political arena, Insha Allah. It is time up that a NEW POLITICAL FORCE that will be honest and sincere, to stand up and defend the Muslim Community politically and otherwise, especially from among the YOUTH, and safe guard the DIGNITY of our community has to emerge from within the Sri Lanka Muslim Community to face any new election in the coming future, Insha Allah. THE STATEMENT MADE BY ATTORNEY-AT-LAW ALI SABRY – ambanaikku kidaikkum” Ambanakata hambuwei” HAS TO BE SEEN AS A “METAPHORIC” STATEMENT. IT WAS NOT A STATEMENT OF PROBABLE THREAT BY THE SLPP/SLFP OR MAHINDA PELA, Insha Allah.
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 — Eight men, including two state assemblymen, were charged in the Sessions Court in several states today for their alleged connection with the LTTE terrorist group.
Two charges were filed by the prosecution for their alleged involvement, one of which is for giving support to the terrorist group, framed under Section 130J (1) (a) of the Penal Code which provides an imprisonment for life, or for a term not exceeding 30 years, or with fine, and shall also be liable to forfeiture of any property used or intended to be used in connection with the commission of the offence, if found guilty.
The other charge is for possession of items associated with the terrorist group, which is an offence under Section 130JB(1)(a) of the Penal Code whereby those found guilty shall be punished with imprisonment for up to seven years, or with fine, and shall also be liable to forfeiture of the items concerned.
At the Sessions Court in Melaka, Gadek assemblyman G. Saminathan, 34; Seremban Jaya assemblyman P. Gunasekaran, 60 and a chief executive of a corporation, S. Chandru, 38, were charged with giving support to LTTE during an event at Dewan Kasturi Ayer Keroh, Jalan Utama, Taman Ayer Keroh Heights here from 8.30 pm to 10.50 pm on Nov 28, 2018.
Saminathan was also charged with possessing items connected to the terrorist group in a handphone at the office of the State Executive Councillor (Exco) in charge of Unity, Human Resources and Consumer Affairs at the Chief Minister’s Office, Kompleks Seri Negeri here at 10.25 am last Oct 10.
At the Kuala Kangsar Sessions Court in Perak, technician S. Arivainthan, 27, and taxi driver V. Balamurugan, 37, were charged with giving support to the LTTE at an event held at Kuala Kangsar Municipal Council Hall between 6.30 pm and 11.45 pm on Dec 28, 2014.
At the Selayang Sessions Court here, scrap metal collector A. Kalaimughilan, 28, was charged with two counts of possessing items related to LTTE at a house and in a car at Jalan Anggerik 5D, Bukit Sentosa, Rawang at 9.30 am and 12.35 pm, respectively, last Oct 10.
The items included compact discs, video compact discs and stickers on the LTTE terrorist group.
In Segamat, Johor, dispatch rider S.Teran, 38, was charged with a similar offence, allegedly committed at an address, 10M, Jalan Genuang, Kampung Paya Pulai, about 6.30 pm last Oct 10.
In Selangor, an English and Physics teacher at a national secondary school in Telok Panglima Garang, Selangor, Sundram Renggan @ Rengasamy, 52, was charged at the Sepang Sessions Court, with a similar offence, allegedly committed at No. 21, Jalan 6, Taman Telok, Telok Panglima Garang in the Kuala Langat district at 2.30 pm last Oct 12.
No plea was recorded from all the accused as they were all detained under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA) which comes under the jurisdiction of the High Court.
As SOSMA detainees, they were also not allowed bail.
The Sessions Courts set either Nov 18 or Dec 16 for mention of the respective cases.
— BERNAMA
The United National Party (UNP) has decided to remove MP Wasantha Senanayake from the party with immediate effect.
UNP General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam stated that the UNP decided to strip party membership from Senanayake immediately and later remove him from his ministerial portfolio.
Wasantha Senanayake, great grand son of UNP founder D. S. Senanayake, is the current State Minister of Foreign Affairs in the UNP-led government.
He had recently written a letter to UNP deputy leader and NDF presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa, expressing his concerns with regard to the latter’s election campaign.
Holding a press conference recently, he also demanded answers from Premadasa for questions put forward by him regarding the role certain ministers will play in a future government.
Senanayake has also been visibly absent at the election rallies of Sajith Premadasa.
President Maithripala Sirisena is reported to have told the Cabinet today that he would not accept the report compiled by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) that probed the Easter Sunday carnage.
The PSC presented its report to parliament last week. In its findings, the PSC blamed the incident mainly on the lapses on the part of the State Intelligence Service and government leaders for failing to take action to prevent the attack that killed more than 250 people.
The PSC report was presented to the Cabinet at its meeting chaired by President Sirisena yesterday. According to informed sources, the President said he would not accept the report and asked the Cabinet not to record it as approved by the Cabinet whatsoever and instead asked the government to look into areas where security lapses had been highlighted.
United People’s Freedom Alliance Parliamentarian and Pivithuru Hela Urumaya Leader Udaya Gammanpila yesterday (29) alleged that the United National Party (UNP) has formulated a five phase conspiracy to transfer the blame over the 21 April, Easter Sunday, terror attacks, to Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Presidential candidate and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
He made this allegation at a Media briefing in Rajagiriya.
He said: “The UNP which is currently behaving like a mad dog over being unable to face up to its soon to become most humiliating election defeat ever in history, has thus planned to place the blame, over the Easter Sunday carnage, on the shoulders of Rajapaksa having titled it as the ‘Big Revelation’ and over five steps.”
Gammanpila alleged that as its first phase, a video has been made containing a confession made by a terrorist attached to the National Thowheed Jama’ath (NTJ) at a house owned by a person called Thushara in Battaramulla.
“This person in the video says that in the run up to the 16 November Presidential Poll, the country’s national security will be placed in danger and that the Easter Sunday attacks had been carried out by international terror groups at the behest of Rajapaksa,” he further alleged.
He further claimed that in the fraudulently produced video, the NTJ terrorist had further talked about the names of two Sri Lankans and that through them Rajapaksa had maintained links with terror groups in the Middle East and Europe.
Gammanpila also alleged that the second phase of the plot suggests that eight Catholic MPs had held a Media briefing and that they had charged that Rajapaksa should be held accountable over the Easter Sunday bombings and that he should be apprehended forthwith.
He further alleged that the third phase of the UNP conspiracy against Rajapaksa would consist of staging a protest demonstration opposite Catholic Churches here displaying banners ‘Arrest Gotabaya’.
He alleged further that the fourth phase of the plot will include Catholic Priests and Very Important Catholic Persons making requests to conduct an impartial and unbiased probe into last April’s carnage.
Also, he alleged that the fifth and final part of the conspiracy would include publicising a bogus letter to suggest that Rajapaksa has maintained close links with international terrorists.
UPFA Parliamentarian Mahindananda Aluthgamage, claimed three powerful UNPers will get on stage with Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Presidential candidate, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
He also alleged former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga is busy fulfilling the UNP’s personal agenda, instead of protecting the SLFP identity.
Criticising Kumaratunga’s planned SLFP Convention, which is to be held on 5 November, SLFP General Secretary, MP Dayasiri Jayasekara, told the Media yesterday (29) that those who participate in the Convention would be UNPers masquerading as SLFPers. He urged the people not to be fooled by Kumaratunga’s actions.
“Since it has been revealed that the New Democratic Front Presidential candidate, Minister Sajith Premadasa’s Presidential campaign is ruined, now he is trying to create unwanted tension within the community that is supporting Rajapaksa. The UNP-led team headed by Ministers Mangala Samaraweera, Premadasa and Malik Samarawickrama are preparing to ruin Rajapaksa’s campaign, by bringing out false videos and spreading rumours,” Aluthgamage alleged, adding that these plans will be activated from 1 to 14 November.
Five Northern groups yesterday (29) decided against voting for any Sinhala candidate at the forthcoming Presidential Election.
The groups that took such a decision were: Former Northern Province Chief Minister C. V. Vigneswaran’s Tamil Makkal Kootani (TMK), Suresh Premachandran’s Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF-Suresh Wing), Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam’s All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), University Lecturers and a Civil Society Organisation.
Vigneswaran, issuing a statement, said that since the postal voting for the Presidential Election is scheduled to be held tomorrow (31), he decided to announce his stand.
In the statement, he had emphasised that he cannot direct his people to vote for any Sinhala politician at the Presidential Election.
“We don’t have any ethical right to ask Tamil people to vote for Presidential candidates who, don’t want to discuss the 13 proposals that were put forward.”
“Under no circumstance will we give up those 13 proposals, which have been a need of Tamil people for a very long time,” Vigneswaran stressed.
An official statement from the five groups was scheduled to be issued last night.
Former head of the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) Retired Senior DIG Ravi Waidyalankara today issued a statement in response to the recent media reports on allegations of financial fraud and money laundering directed at him and his family.
He claims that there had been recent negative media publications by print and electronic media, subsequent to his revelation on the hazardous conditions” he faced during his tenure in office.
Thus, I have the right to reply in a legitimate manner, by issuing a statement prior to resort to any legal actions. I issue this statement for public consumption as well as to the entities who try to tarnish my image by resorting to character assassination,” he said.
The former FCID chief stated that his original statements pertaining to this matter appeared on the ‘Aruna’ newspaper on 27th October 2019 and on daily news broadcast on Derana & other television channels.
However, it is disappointing to note that some parts of these statements have been taken out of context to reinforce political strategies, he charged.
Subsequently, there had been allegations leveled against me, my wife and my son regarding a nexus between some of the individuals who are under the investigation by the FCID. Since this matter is still being investigated I don’t intend to elaborate any details as a former police officer and investigator who has handled over 300 investigations professionally.”
The retired Senior DIG said that his son, Mr Asela Waidyalankara has clarified his position very clearly with a public statement, and that he fully endorsed his factual position in this regard.
In relation with the company of SOORIYA FOUNDATION, an organization, where my wife is only a signatory, which was established for charity based activities not relating to any profit make businesses. Only the address of an asset under my son’s company was given for mailing purposes which is not contrary to the law,” he said.
He categorically stated that it was merely confined to a paper and not a single transaction, investment, any account, any economic transaction, or any transaction or activity was conducted since incorporation.
On this backdrop, myself, my wife and my son totally deny and reject any allegations of any illegal activity as published, and wish to state that we will extend our utmost co-operation to any investigations conducted by any agency, established under the laws of Sri Lanka.”
කාන්තාවන්ගේ මාසික ශුද්ධිය බරපතළ සෞඛ්ය ප්රශ්නයක් බව එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක සජිත් ප්රේමදාස මහතා පැවසීය.
කාන්තාවන් වැඩි පිරිසක් නිසි සනීපාරක්ෂක ක්රමවේද අනුගමනය නොකරන බවද කී ඔහු ඒ හේතුවෙන් භයානක වෛද්ය බලපෑම් ඇතිවී තිබෙන බවද පැවසීය.
තමන් ජනාධිපති වූ පසු නව රජය යටතේ මෙම ප්රශ්නයට විසඳුම් දෙන බවද ඔහු සඳහන් කළේය.
මේ ප්රශ්නයට ජාතික වශයෙන් විසඳුමක් දී කාන්තාවන්ගේ සනීපාරක්ෂක පහසුකම් ලබාදෙන බවද ඔහු පැවසීය.
මෙම ප්රශ්නය සඳහා ම විසඳුම් ලබාදීම සඳහාම වූ වෛද්ය ඒක පිහිටුවන බවද ඒ මහතා සඳහන් කළේය.
දිවුලපිටියේදී පැවති ජනාධිපතිවරණ ජන රැලියක් අමතමින් ඔහු මේ අදහස් පල කලේය.
මේ වන විට කාන්තා සනීපාරක්ෂක තුවා පැකැට්ටුයක් වෙළඳපොලේ රුපියල් 120ක් වැනි මිලකට ලබා ගත හැකි අතර වසරක් සදහා රුපියල් 1500ක මුදලක් සාමණ්යනේ වැයවෙයි.
New Democratic Front (NDF) Presidential Candidate Sajith Premadasa says the only complex” he has is superiority complex” and that he has the utmost belief in his own abilities, skills and intellect.
What I believe is that I take decision from the standpoint that ‘no one can compete with me’,” he said, during a meeting organized with lecturers and tuition teachers.
He also stated that those who criticize him and take digs at his comments of working tirelessly and without rest, they don’t like to make sacrifices and do not want to work hard. They can’t even get close to me.”
Addressing an election rally in Divulapitiya today (29), Premadasa assured that a government established under him would provide solutions to the women’s health and hygiene issues on a national level.
He promised to provide sanitary hygiene products free of charge to those unable to afford them, if elected. Premadasa said he remains committed to women’s rights and will not shy away from the conversation.
He said more than half of adolescent girls in Sri Lanka miss school when on their period and thousands suffer stigma and put themselves at risk every month.
Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Presidential Candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa today accused the ruling government of destroying the professionalism of the country’s police service.
He said that under the former government during his tenure as Defence Secretary the strength of the police department was increased to 75,000 personnel and that all their discrepancies were removed and promotions were given.
Addressing an election rally in Kantale, Rajapaksa said that police officers have presented to them certain requirements and existing discrepancies and that once again under their government these issues will be rectified as they have always taken care of security service personnel in the country.
He also said that they will bring glory to the police service once again.
Rajapaksa further said that the intelligence officers who have been arrested and imprisoned based on false accusations” will be released from those charges and that the intelligence services will be brought into action once again for the security of the nation.
October 29 (Reuters) – Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s underpants were obtained by an undercover source and DNA tested to prove his identity before an operation by U.S. forces to kill him, an advisor to the Syrian Democratic Forces said on Monday.
Polat Can, a senior advisor to the Kurdish-led SDF, gave details on Twitter about how SDF intelligence work had helped locate Baghdadi, whose death was announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday.
Our own source, who had been able to reach al-Baghdadi, brought al-Baghdadi’s underwear to conduct a DNA test and make sure (100%) that the person in question was al-Baghdadi himself,” Can said.
Trump has said that the Kurds provided some information helpful” to the operation.
Can said the SDF had been working since May 15 with the CIA to track Baghdadi, and managed to confirm that he had moved from Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria to Idlib, where he was killed.
Baghdadi had been about to change location to the Syrian town of Jarablus when the operation happened, he said.
All intelligence and access to al-Baghdadi as well as the identification of his place, were the result of our own work. Our intelligence source was involved in sending coordinates, directing the airdrop, participating in and making the operation a success until the last minute,” Can said.
Colombo, October 29 (AIR/DD): The former Chief Minister of Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority Northern Province C.V.Wigneswaran has said that his organization the Tamil Makkal Koottani (TMK) will be neutral stand at the upcoming Presidential election and will not ask people who to vote for.
In a statement issued in Jaffna on Tuesday he said that both the main candidates viz. Minister Sajith Premadasa and former Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa have not accepted the demands jointly put forth by the Tamil parties.
Wigneswaran said that he is asking the people to make the decision on their own and cast the vote considering the past history, and the present internal and external conditions.
A group of five Tamil political parties recently signed a memorandum containing 13 demands including a demand for self determination, political solution and abolishing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
It notes the acceptance of the political aspirations, recognition of the merged Northern and Eastern Provinces as the historical habitat of the Tamils and the realization of the fact that the Tamil People under the provisions of international law are entitled to the right of self-determination.
The parties had declared that their support to any candidate will be based on the support they receive for the demands but a meeting of these parties on the issues yesterday had remained inconclusive.
Illangai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), Tamil People’s Council (TPC) led by former chief minister and Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) signed the memorandum.
The statement by the TMK asked the Tamil voters to weigh and consider which of the candidates are likely to meet their 13 point demands and vote accordingly. It pointed out that in its efforts to get the demands accepted the TMK had failed to secure a positive response from any of the candidates.
However the TMK hopes to continue the talks with the winner in the election to get its demands met and expects the international community to stand by its commitment to safeguard the rights of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
වහාම ක්රියාත්මක වන පරිදි අමාත්ය වසන්ත සේනානායක මහතාගේ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ සාමාජිකත්වය අහෝසි කිරීමටත් ඉදිරියේදී ඔහු දරන අමාත්ය ධුරයෙන් ඉවත් කිරීමටත් තීරණය කළ බව එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ මහලේකම් අකිල විරාජ් කාරියවසම් මහතා සදහන් කළා.
හිරු රූපවාහිනි නාලිකාව වර්ජනය කරන ලෙස මංගල සමරවීර අමාත්යවරයා මෙරට ජනතාවගෙන් ඉල්ලීමක් කරනවා.
ඒ, ඊයේ පැවති ප්රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකදී.
ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ මැතිවරණ ව්යාපාරය කඩාකප්පල් කිරීම සඳහා කතෝලික ජනතාව යොදා ගැනීමට එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය කටයුතු කළහොත් ඔවුන් ඊට නිසි ප්රතිචාර දක්වනු ඇති බව ශ්රී ලංකා පොදු ජන පෙරමුණේ කතෝලික මන්ත්රීවරුන් පවසනවා
මීගමුව කොච්චිකඩේ ප්රදේශයේ පැවති ප්රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවකදී ඔවුන් මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදහස් පළ කළා.
ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂගේ ජයග්රහණය දරාගැනීමට නොහැකි එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ ජනාධිපති ධුර අපේක්ෂක සජිත් ප්රේමදාස, අමාත්යවරුන් වන මංගල සමරවීර, මලික් සමරවික්රම ඇතුලු පිරිසක් නින්දිත දේශපාලන කුමන්ත්රණයක නිරතවීමට සූදානම් වන බවට පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රි මහින්දානන්ද අලුත්ගමගේ චෝදනා කරනවා.
ශ්රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ – ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණු ඒකාබද්ධ මාධ්ය හමුවකට අද එක්වෙමින් ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියා.
එම මාධ්ය හමුවට පිවිතුරු හෙළ උරුමයේ නායක පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී උදය ගම්මන්පිල මෙන්ම ශ්රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ මහ ලේකම් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී දයාසිරි ජයසේකර එක්ව සිටියා.
තම හැකියාව හා දක්ෂතා ගැන තමන්ට සුපිරි විශ්වාසයක් පවතින බව නව ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදි පෙරමුණේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක අමාත්ය සජිත් ප්රේමදාස පවසනවා.
ඔහු මේ බව කියා සිටියේ උපකාරක පන්ති වෘත්තිය උපදේශකයින්ගේ හමුවකට ඊයේ බත්තරමුල්ලේදී එක්වෙමින්.
අග්රාමාත්ය රනිල් වික්රමසිංහද මෙම හමුවට සහභාගිවුණා.
මේ අතර දේශීය වෛද්ය සම්මේලනය කොළඹ නව නගර ශාලාවේදී අමාත්ය සජිත් ප්රේමදාසගේ ප්රධානත්වයෙන් අද පැවැත්වීමට නියමිතව තිබුණද ඔහු ඊට සහභාගිවූයේ නැහැ.
ජාතික නිවාස සංවර්ධන අධිකාරියේ සභාපතිවරයා ජනාධිපතිවරණය දිනයේ රටින් පලායාමේ උත්සහයක නිරතවන බවට එම අධිකාරිය සුරැකීමේ සංවිධානය අද අනාවරණ කළා.
කොළඹ පැවති මාධ්ය හමුවකදී ජාතික නිවාස සංවර්ධන අධිකාරිය සුරැකීමේ සංවිධානයේ සභාපති ධර්මශ්රී කාරියවසම් කියා සිටියේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක අමාත්ය සජිත් ප්රේමදාසගේ මැතිවරණ කටයුතු සඳහා නිවාස සංවර්ධන අධිකාරියේ වාහන යොදාගෙන ඇති බවයි.
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