MP Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said he would not contest the upcoming parliamentary election if there was no congenial political atmosphere in the country.
I, as a civilian, will do some social service and will continue my profession,” he said.
Mr. Rajapakshe said he would only support a presidential candidate after considering his past records, political maturity, education and added that he should be able to uphold democracy and work for the betterment of his own country.
The prospective candidate should have a programme to bring down the two million women employed in the Middle East as housemaids to Sri Lanka and support them develop their economy. And also he should have a programme to use the labour of two million youths employed as three-wheeler riders productively. He should guarantee to carry forward the policy of C.W.W. Kannangara,” he said.
When asked about the UNP presidential candidate, he said it was a waste of time to talk about it and said people had already rejected the UNP as a party which sells the country and divides it.
He told a news conference on Thursday that he was ready to face any disciplinary action taken by the UNP and that he was waiting for such a move by the party.
The UNP has a right to take disciplinary action and we also have a right to go to court. They have to do that with the party constitution prepared by me and Thilak Marapana.,” he said.
Last week saw United National Party (UNP) members aligning themselves into two camps – one supporting its long-time leader, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the other backing Party’s Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa.
Premadasa had been far from being subtle when it comes to his desire to contest the upcoming Presidential Election on the UNP ticket.
He started his campaign fairly early on, with the backing of a number of Party strongmen.
Yet, his plans were somewhat scuttled when Party Leader Wickremesinghe also expressed the desire to contest the Presidential Election, during a meeting with a few of his loyalists.
However, the last week was abuzz with the expectation of the two leaders meeting and the much-touted talks were finally held on Tuesday (10) night at Temple Trees, but unfortunately for the Party, the talks ended without a concrete agreement on the issues at hand. The discussion that began at 9:50 p.m. had ended a mere one hour later.
Premadasa, however, told the media later that further discussions will be held and a candidate, who can lead the Party to victory at the next Presidential Election as well as next year’s General Election, will be earmarked soon.
He added that he is optimistic about the outcome of the discussions.
However, unsurprisingly to many, on the following day, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had reportedly held a secret meeting with a number of UNP Working Committee and Parliamentary Group members loyal to him.
Several Party leaders had participated in this meeting on the invitation of the Premier and UNP General Secretary, Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam.
The meeting took place from 8 p.m. to midnight where they had reportedly evaluated the loyalties of all Parliamentarians and Working Committee Members of the Party.
According to internal political sources, it had been discussed at length that there is still a chance for the Premier to win the majority of the Parliamentary Group and the Working Committee and the steps that should be taken towards this end.
Furthermore, they had spoken about three MPs that are allegedly on the side of UNP Deputy Leader, Minister Sajith Premadasa. The Premier had allegedly said that those three MPs had gone beyond their limits and that they will be dealt with accordingly in time.
The sources said that Leader of the House, Minister Lakshman Kiriella, Ministers Daya Gamage, Navin Dissanayake, and Ravi Karunanayake had participated in the meeting.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had repeatedly emphasized that the leader who protected the Party during trying times, should be the one to contest the upcoming Presidential Election.
Wickremesinghe is apparently quite confident in his victory if he decides to come to the fray and highlighted his long political career during which he had held numerous positions.
However, he had also stressed that at the age of 70, he is not hesitant to hang up his hat and quit politics after long years of service to the Party.
While meeting a group of UNP members from the Biyagama and Kelaniya electorates Wickremesinghe had launched into a description of his long years of political career and reminisced on how he took over the Party leadership at a time when its leaders passed away one after another and how he resurrected the Party during difficult times. He had also stressed that it was his duty to ensure victory for the alliance to be set up under his leadership.
In another surprising move, last week Premadasa met President Maithripala Sirisena’s brother, business tycoon Dudley Sirisena, in secret.
The focus of the meeting was apparently to gain the Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s support to Premadasa, in the event he does not receive candidacy from the UNP or in the event leaders of the UNF or DNF which is to be formed under UNP leadership, refrain from supporting his candidacy.
Whatever happens in the next few weeks, and whoever wins the bid to contest the upcoming Presidential Election, cracks have already appeared within the once formidable United National Party.
If the leaders are not able to get their act together and unite for the sake of their Party and its future, it is inevitable that the Party that produced the first Prime Minister of Independent Ceylon, will be splintered into at least two groups.
According to political sources, the meeting between UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa and leaders of the UNF will be held at Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s residence tonight.
Political sources also revealed that the scheduled meeting tomorrow between Minister Sajith Premadasa and the TNA is likely to be postponed.
Meanwhile, the UNP disciplinary committee has recommended suspending the party membership of non-cabinet Ministers Ajith P Perera and Sujeewa Senasingha.
UNP Political sources stated that the decision of the disciplinary committee was handed over to Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasingha and General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam.
Non Cabinet Ministers Ajith P Perera and Sujeewa Senasingha are accused of violating party rules and regulations and discipline.<
Colombo, September 12: The Chairman of the Sri Lankan Election Commission, Mahinda Deshapriya, has reportedly decided to hold the Presidential election before December 7 and to call for nominations before September 30.
What is noteworthy this time round is that there is no clarity as to which of the candidates (tentatively in the field), is the front runner. There is no discernable wave” for or against any candidate, including Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is being touted by his Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) as a star contestant with a magic wand to set right everything that has gone wrong in Sri Lanka.
Most surprisingly, the ruling United National Party (UNP) is yet to decide on who it should field, even though one of the claimants to the party mantle, Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa, has been publicly campaigning as if he has been officially nominated.
The moods of the various politico-ethnic or politico-religious constituencies are still shrouded in mystery. For example, it is not certain if the Sinhala-Buddhist constituency, which is about 70% of the voter population, is predominantly behind the SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa who is being trumpeted as the Sinhala-Buddhist-nationalist icon. It is not clear if Gotabaya is under challenge from Sajith Premadasa, whose claims to be a Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist cannot be brushed aside.
The minority Tamils and Muslims are currently sitting on the fence having been let down by both the national mainstream Sinhala-Buddhist dominated parties, namely the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the ruling United National Party (UNP).
The minority parties have their wish-lists which they are discussing with the mainstream parties. But it is not certain which of the mainstream political parties would be able to accept them, and that too, publicly.
SLPP
The SLPP had a jumpy start with uncertainty over Gotabaya’s release from US citizenship but it has crossed the hurdle. However, he still has four problems dogging him: First, he has a case in court relating to alleged misappropriation of public funds for the construction of a memorial for his father D.A.Rajapaksa in his hometown. Apparently under directions from President Maithripala Sirisena, the Attorney General is pursuing these cases to weaken Gotabaya politically ahead of the Presidential election.
Secondly, Gotabaya is facing dissonance with the minorities. The Tamils blame him for the ruthless way in which he fought the last phase of Eelam War IV and allegedly sanctioned White Van” abductions of terror suspects during the 2006-2009 war. The Tamils are put off by the way Gotabaya brazenly surrounds himself with ex-Generals who led the war. The Tamils fear that he would behave like a military man as Lankan President. The Tamils also dislike his dismissive attitude towards their demand for devolution of power.
As for the Muslims, they see Gotabaya as the root cause of the intimidation and riots they were subjected to after the victory in the war against the Tamil Tigers in 2009. They fear repression if he became President. However it appears that the Catholics and other Christians have veered to Gotabaya’s side after the incumbent UNP-SLFP government failed to protect them against Muslim extremist terror.
The minorities are important in a Lankan Presidential election because together they are 30% of the population and to win, a candidate has to get 50 percent plus. Gotabaya undoubtedly has a strong Sinhala-Buddhist base, but he has to get at least 25% of the minority votes, especially if Sajith Premadasa, another Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist, is pitted against him by a united UNP.
The third problem that Gotabaya faces is his reluctance to campaign in the open. So far, he has spoken only to the business elite and intellectuals in closed door meetings. Even his popular older brother and former Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has not started campaigning.
The fourth problem Gotabaya is facing is the uncertainty about SLPP’s alliance with the SLFP led by President Sirisena. The SLFP, the mother party of the SLPP, has been reduced to a rump in parliament, but still it has loyal voters, albeit small in number. As Keheliya Rambukwella, spokesman of the SLPP, said, in a Presidential election every vote is valuable. However, the SLPP finds it difficult to accept the SLFP’s grandiose demand that the election be fought under the SLFP symbol and not the lotus bud of the SLPP. The SLPP believes that the lotus bud is now well recognized as the symbol its iconic leader Mahinda Rajapaksa who showed his mettle in the local bodies elections in 2018 in which he bagged 45% of the votes in the Sinhala areas. However, it is expected that, eventually, the SLFP will settle for less in order survive politically.
UNP
The UNP is badly divided between Leader and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremsinghe and the Deputy Leader and Housing Minister Sajith Premadasa. Uncharacteristically, Sajith declared his intention to contest without taking Leader Wickremesinghe into confidence and without going through the set procedure for nomination.
A majority of UNP MPs and even close confidantes of Wickremesighe jumped on to the Sajith bandwagon because, in their view, Sajith is the only top UNP leader with the common touch” in contrast to Wickremesinghe who is seen as being too uppity and aloof to swing votes of the hoi polloi. Wickremesinghe also has a proven track record of losing Presidential elections where personal charisma counts.
But Sajith and his backers found that Wickremesinghe is a hard nut to crack. Wickremesinghe is the acknowledged leader of the UNP with a fund of experience and with a firm hold on the party machinery. He used this to good effect by stubbornly refusing to endorse Sajith’s candidature. Finally, Sajith had to come down from the high horse and declare publicly that he wishes to become President with the blessings of seniors like Wickremesinghe and parliament Speaker Karu Jayasuriya.
Eventually, both Sajith and Wickremesinghe realized that a united the UNP might win the election, but a divided UNP will be defeated because in the coming election no constituency can be taken for granted. Every vote has to be fought for.
But Wickremesighe, who is still not convinced that Sajith is the best UNP candidate, put a few demands as a condition for his support. First, he asked him to agree to the abolition of the Executive Presidency and replacing it with the Westminster-style parliamentary system. Second, he wanted to be appointed Prime Minister. And third get the support of the minorities.
Sajith may have difficulty in rejecting the demand for abolishing the Executive Presidency outright as it is an unfulfilled election promise made in the last Presidential election and has a wide measure of support from the minority parties and also progressive opinion.
However, Sajith will have difficulty in meeting some of the other demands of the minority parties especially the Tamils’ demand for devolution of power beyond the 13 th.Amendment and on the lines of the recommendations of the committees formed to formulate a new constitution. The Tamil National Alliance would insist on the establishment of accountability mechanisms to address issues of human rights and alleged war crimes. The Muslim parties would demand stern action to curb Islamophobia among the Sinhalese majority. Firm commitments in these matters may adversely affect his prospects among the Sinhala-Buddhist majority. The minority parties prefer Wickremesinghe to Sajith, but would accept Sajith if he turns a new leaf.
Sajith and Wickremesinghe are expected to meet again. It is not clear if this will happen soon. The suspense thus continues.
The JVP is in the also ran” category. But it can take away some Sinhala-nationalist voters who are alienated from the non-performing mainstream parties. One Muslim leader even said a section of Muslims might vote for JVP’ s Anura Kumara Dissanayaka as a mark of protest against the SLFP, SLPP and UNP.
The cost of printing school uniform vouchers could have been reduced by about 25% if photos of the President, Prime Minister, Education Minister and State Minister of Education at the back of the vouchers were removed, it was revealed at the Presidential Commission on last Thursday.
General Manager of Printcare Secure Ltd., Ranga Sooriyaarachchi informed the Commission that their company printed over 05 million school uniform vouchers for 2019 and quoted Rs. 2.09 to print each voucher.
The size and weight of the voucher is given in the tender document and vouchers were oriented in a special paper including security features,” he said.
The cost of that paper covers to at least 80% of the printing of each voucher and he added that they calculate the amount of paper by inches and then convert it into kilograms. “Paper Mills sell by the weight,” he said.
Chairman of the PCoI, retired Supreme Court judge, Upali Abeyrathne asked the witness whether the size of the voucher could have been reduced if the photos were not included. Witness said that they could have reduced size.
Therefore the weight can also be reduced?” the chairman asked.
“Yes,” the witness said.
“Therefore could the cost too be reduced if the size was smaller?” Abeyrathne asked. The witness affirmed that statement and said that the price could be reduced by about 25%.
It was earlier revealed that the Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariayawasam had instructed the former Secretary to the Ministry of Education, W.M. Bandusena to place photos of the President, Prime Minister, himself and the State Minister at the back of school uniform vouchers in August 2016.
This is the first time that a photo of a politician was inserted into the school uniform distribution process.
This is not the first time that Kariyawasam got his photo printed on items distributed among schoolchildren. The PCoI had earlier investigated an allegation that Kariyawasam’s decision to insert his photo and his signature into school textbooks from 2018 had involved an extra cost.
In a major boost for Sri Lankan students, the UK has this week launched a new ‘Graduate Immigration Route’ for international students choosing the UK for their higher education.
This new scheme allows students pursuing their higher education in UK to stay and work, or to look for work, for two years following the completion of their education. It will provide greater opportunities for talented international students to remain in the UK for two years to work once they have successfully completed their studies.
The route will be available to all students who have successfully completed a course of study at undergraduate level or above at a recognised Higher Education Provider. The new scheme will be introduced from the 2020 – 2021 academic year.
The Graduate route demonstrates that UK is focused and committed to attracting the best students from around the world, and demonstrates the value we place on the contribution of international students to the UK and its economy.
Sarah Hulton OBE, British High Commissioner said: This is excellent news for Sri Lankan students who want to study overseas. It will give them the flexibility to build on a first-class UK education with the opportunity to work and get life experience. It’s a win-win for the UK and for Sri Lanka”.
British Home Secretary Priti Patel said: The new Graduate Route will mean talented international students can study in the UK and then gain valuable work experience as they go on to build successful careers. It demonstrates our global outlook and will ensure that we continue to attract the best and brightest”.
Often referred to as a ‘Post-Study Work visa’, the new Graduate Route will launch for the 2020/21 intake of students to UK universities. After the two years, they will be able to switch onto the skilled work visa if they find a job which meets the skill requirement of the visa. Further details will be announced in due course.
The visa will offer opportunities to work or look for work after graduating. This new visa will also include safeguards to ensure only genuine, credible students are eligible.
To
answer that question, it is essential to first know how successful Mrs. B was
in her foreign diplomacy and a comparison of the periods and scenarios during
her rule and that which Gotabaya is likely to inherit. Mrs. Sirimavo
Bandaranaike became the world’s first female prime minister and held power from
1960-65 and 1970-77. She was not only the PM but the Minister of Defense and
External Affairs too. This aligns to the recent policy declarations made by Mr.
Gotabaya Rajapakse. Sri Lanka had the best period of foreign diplomacy under
Mrs.B – countries of the world still fondly remember Sri Lanka because of the
relations Mrs.B nurtured while keeping national interest uncompromised. These
are ingredients the nations looks forward to in a Gotabaya Rajapakse
presidency!
Mrs.B & Non-Aligned Nations
The principle concept
of the non-aligned nations was that – nations may be small & militarily
weak but they too have a role to play in world politics. Non-involvement was
replaced with non-alignment alongside engagement.
1961 Belgrade: Movement of Non-Aligned Countries Summit wherein, Sri Lanka became one
of 25 founding nations of the Non-Aligned Movement.
1976 Colombo: Non-Aligned Summit
Dr. Vernon Mendis
appointed Secretary General of the Conference
Ms. Manel Abeysekera
in charge of protocol
Held in the BMICH gifted
to Sri Lanka by China in 1973
Mrs. B Chairperson of NAM
Outcome of that was
her ability to balance relations with both India-China /India-Pakistan and
maintain a neutrality during the regional wars and even playing role of
mediator. Her skillful use of personal diplomacy was seen in the manner she
negotiated bilateral agreements while also securing foreign aid. All this she
did while securing the national interests of the country and not an inch did
she compromise Sri Lanka’s national interests. Nationalizing petroleum
distribution, tea & rubber did not go too well with western governments but
she went ahead nonetheless. Whether LTTE & JVP are the gifts she received
for her nationalism is something to seriously think about. TNT/Prabakaran
emerged the same year Mrs.B made Ceylon a Republic. JVP
It is this ability
that has etched her place in history. She proudly stood and was proudly
welcomed among the other greats of the time – Tito, Jawahalal Nehru, Fidel
Castro, Sukarno, Nkrumah and Nasser.
She is far more
fondly remembered by even her advisories than those who have willingly
compromised the sovereignty of Sri Lanka.
Mrs. B did all this
as a virtual novice to politics. She was driven into politics following her
husband’s ghastly assassination in 1959. The situation is not the same for
Gotabaya Rajapakse. He has been very much involved in politics serving in a
formidable role as Defense Secretary outshining all his predecessors and being
the guiding light behind the war victory. Post-conflict his administrative
acumen was shown in turning Colombo to one of Asia’s finest cities. Both took
to their roles as a duck to water.
Petty politics has
been the downfall of Sri Lanka’s progress. Non-aligned policies failed as a
result of the UNP leadership taking a pro-West policy and successive UNP
governments have continued to adopt same strategy inadvertently distancing
themselves from good relationships within the Asian region.
Mrs.B & India
It is in first
realizing the potential advantage of Sri Lanka’s geopolitical positioning that
any leadership can adopt strategies to protect and enhance Sri Lanka’s
geopolitical advantage while meeting the aspirations of countries seeking
relations with Sri Lanka.
Not only did Mrs.B strengthen
Sir Lanka’s geopolitical advantage but struck cordial ties with the Nehru
family as well as other political counterparts. She ensured that they treated
her on par with them and not given any inferior role. What is noteworthy and
poignant is that she did not shirk an inch of Sri Lanka’s national interest and
she appointed the cream to be her nominees – Shirley Amerasinghe was High
Commissioner to New Delhi. When the Indians were stalling during the
Srima-Shastri repatriation pact, all she said was that she would leave Delhi
unless the agreement was ready for signature and that was that. (In October
1964 – 525,000 persons of Indian origin were repatriated to India while 300,000
were granted Sri Lankan citizenship). This is the type of leadership the nation
looks forward to in Gotabaya Rajapakse
Note: In 1974 of the
remaining 150,000, she agreed to grant 75,000 Sri Lankan citizenship &
75,000 Indian citizenship but the UNP for vote bank politics decided to grant
all 150,000 Sri Lankan citizenship.
Another fete of Mrs B
is the resolution of the maritime boundary between India & Sri Lanka
resulting in Kachativu being declared Sri Lanka’s as a result of research &
guidance of Foreign Secretary W T Jayasinghe and Legal Advisor Christopher
Pinto.
With the Ranil
Wickremasinghe government severing ties with China, Gotabaya Rajapakse will
find himself in no different a position Mrs.B faced during the Sino-India war
of 1962. For Mrs.B the animosity between India & China meant that it would
affect Asian solidarity and she organized a Colombo Conference to mitigate
& mediate. Fast forward with 21st century being Asia’s century
and the rising power houses of India & China showing growing tensions,
Gotabaya Rajapakse too finds himself in a similar position. Just as Mrs.B
thought rightly, advisors of Mr Rajapakse must also look at the larger picture
of the need to mediate to stabilize Asia.
Mrs.B & China
Sri Lanka began
post-independence diplomatic relations with China in 1957 under rule of SWRD
Bandaranaike though for centuries Sri Lanka has had ties with China previously.
The aid received by Sri Lanka from China during Mrs.B’s tenure came as soft
term aid for development. BMICH stands as a monumental gift from China to Sri
Lanka. She was much saddened when Premier Zhou En Lai could not attend the
opening in 1973 due to cancer to which he succumbed in 1976 but China’s respect
was shown by sending one of China’s 10 Marshalls who led the Chinese
Revolution. Many of Sri Lanka’s proud monuments are pinnacles of Sri
Lanka-China relations – Hambantota Port, Nelum Pokuna, Supreme Court Complex,
Norocholai coal power plant, Lotus Tower to name a few.
With US pivot to
Asia, renaming of United
States Pacific Command (USPACOM) to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command on 30 May 2018, increasing US military and
non-military presence in Asia, pressures to sign MCC, SOFA & ACSA – the
Indian Ocean has become a volatile zone.
Mrs. B
failed to make the Indian Ocean a zone of peace engraved in her NAM Summit in
Lusaka in 1970 as a strategy to prevent power rivalries and her response to the
expulsion of the indigenous natives by Britain to occupy Diego Garcia as a US
base. Noteworthy is the manner that a UN Resolution was proposed by Sri Lanka signed
by NAM countries but abstained by US-UK & France. Resolution 2832 (1971)
declared the Indian Ocean a Zone of Peace and it would be poignant for the
Gotabaya Rajapakse team to see the relevance of this declaration in the present
context of power rivalries.
At the
Viyathmaga Convention, Mr. Gotabaya Rajapakse clearly indicated that there has
to be a synergy in National Security Policy and National Economic Policy &
Nation’s Foreign Policy. Undoubtedly so.
Mrs.B etched her
place in economic diplomacy among the Group of 77 at a time when the UN
Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD) was formed her nominee Dr.
Gamini Corea went on to serve as its Secretary General.
Mr.
Rajapakse can take a leaf from Mrs.B – foreign policy under Mrs.B was the best
period Sri Lanka can proudly recall. Sri Lanka was respected by both West &
East. The West in particular respected her steadfastness and resolve despite
being a small nation. She steered foreign policy by ensuring a professional
foreign service. Career diplomats were those patriotic and who put the country
first. She appointed some of the best and respected personnel to head missions.
She made it a point to read every diplomatic dispatch sent to her and ensured
each had a personal comment and this is the type of direct involvement Mr.
Rajapakse should follow. President Premadasa was also one to follow up on every
instruction given and that ensured no lethargy or delay in carrying out orders
given.
The UNP
derogated her as ‘kusi-amma’ but her tenure remains the golden age of
diplomatic engagement and foreign policy successes.
Mr. Gotabaya Rajapakse need not follow anyone’s footsteps but in looking back to take a leaf or two out of any success story – he surely has to look at Mrs. B’s foreign policy and diplomatic relations for no government before or after has succeeded to outmatch what she achieved.
Unknown to most Sri Lanka is facing unprecedented interferences most of which when known will be too late to reverse. Every aspect of danger centres on the periphery of land, its ownership and its grabbing legally via statutes being drafted by non-Sri Lankans. These questions and answers from an attorney knowledgeable in electronic land laws and local and foreign land statutes provides readers an understanding of what is at stake and the need to demand that Parliament wakes up to the irregularities taking place and lawyers take a more responsible and pro-active role in land rights.
Why is land important to a sovereign country? Land provides the basis for political organization. There is currently no state without land. Land often constitutes the most important measure of the space where sovereignty is exercised. If the governing statutes are drafted by foreigners and without a land policy lands are alienated and leased out to foreigners, there will be no space to exercise sovereignty.
How many laws enacted during colonial rule continued after independence in 1948?
Most of the laws continue without any revision. Some of these laws date back to 1864. Serious note has to be made that they date back to 1864. As a result, land fraud and corruption are plausible as there are no laws governing land registries, land contracts etc. only a set of optional rules under the colonial laws which address these. The validity of this was seen recently when the Registrar General released a news item that 50% of lands registered in the Government land registry are fraudulent. This is shocking news.
Did independent Sri Lankan Governments attempt to change the land laws after independence, if not why?
No Government since independence has encouraged local research. Presently a new administrative process is adopted to allow foreign organisations, economists and foreign lawyers to be allowed to research and revise land laws merely to obtain a higher standard in the foreign Index called the Doing Business Index. [without any interest to safeguard and secure the land rights of owners in the country] We are simply dancing to international tunes without realizing the dangerous ramifications.
Were there attempts by lawyers to change the land laws after independence.
Amendments were introduced to the Conveyancing and registration system mainly to secure and protect land owners and their rights, to protect the identity of the owners and to protect the deeds and documents that are often reported lost in the registries. The successive governments have not considered the attempts of the local lawyers to adopt new modern localized laws in place of the colonial ones.
What are the implications of not changing the colonial land laws?
Serious obstacles are faced by land owners and the chaotic and iniquitous state of the land market in Sri Lanka as a result of the laws that date back to 1864.
How do prosperous nations legislate their lands
They progress by modernizing the laws and interacting with experts and professors of law of their countries and of other prosperous nations. Their land laws conform to local conditions and needs, such as community property rights and the protection of resources. What can be done with land or property and its usage is discussed with the people of the country, this is the principle rule they observe. They also maintain that all laws are strictly observed as the Rule of Law is synonymous with land rights. These are areas Sri Lanka has not ventured into. There is no proper dialogue between Parliament – People – Lawyers/Experts.
How have international agencies exerted pressure upon Sri Lanka’s land laws?
Before independence the colonial rulers governed our lands. Presently on the basis of the Atlantic Charter the governing system had moved to the UN agencies – Presently we continue with the post war world order created by the Atlantic charter, the FAO, World Bank, Global Land Tool Network [GLTN], International Federation of Surveyors [FIG] and a new organisation promoted by the USA Government called the Millennium Challenge Corporation [MCC] are engaged in our law making while our legislatures and lawyers remain clueless.
The frightening aspect of this was seen when a foreign embassy carried a paid paper advertisement Example Advertisement made by foreign Embassy for land titling in Sri Lanka. The Bim Saviya re-engineering report is made by a company selected by them to commence re-engineering and technology being introduced to land registries with foreign law.
What is the effect of long term leases?
The law requires the leases to be registered and copies of leases to be available in land registries for public inspection. These laws are not observed. The next generation will not be able to determine their rights once the 99 year lease period is over . –[All leases should be registered under The State Land act 8 of 1947 and the Act 21 of 1998]
How legal is the land privatization special provisions act and the Land Bank Act ?
They have been drafted without the knowledge of the existing statutes that are introduced recently by another set of foreigners restricting the land rights of owners and without the knowledge of the fact that the country has insecure land registries which do not safeguard the interest of the grantees.
Example the restriction on the right of grantees under Bim Saviya – Grantees cannot transfer land to spouses they cannot take loans from banks jointly with spouses, they have no access to court if their lands are taken by forgery or fraud. They cannot subdivide land without expensive procedure. They can obtain compensation from the Government under a statutory insurance scheme if they are affected by land fraud. The grantees will be affected by the personal laws the women will be deprived of their right to nominate their heirs.
They will be affected by unreliable land registries, Even when introducing the electronic register they failed to introduce the basic laws to protect the registered owners [preserve and archive the identification of owners to protect from forgery]. The grantees will be vulnerable, fraudsters can easily forge their signatures. Already the corruption level has increased, the lands are being blocked out and sold.
What is the Land Bank Act is a special register to be established to register lands.
Act 21 of 1998 had already introduced a comprehensive compulsory register which states that it is final and conclusive and does not have any room for another register –A violation of the law given in Act 21 of 1998
Who is drafting the present statutes?
It is strange that the lawyers and the people in the country remain silent when foreign agencies and foreign economists are making changes to our land laws since 1952 [vide Book on Title Insurance written by Dr A.R.B.Amerasinghe the International Bank For Reconstruction and Development [present World Bank] made their first research report about the land ownership of Ceylon. It was a report termed “Insecurity of Land Title’, required to introduce a foreign law to govern land rights.]
Are the statutes available to the public? No
It is strange that the public and lawyers are brain washed to the extent to be silently accepting the rules—
1] to wait until a bill is gazetted and within 7 days of the date of the gazette to rush to court [when bills are introduced by foreigners]
2] to accept the provision in the constitution that we cannot contest any of the statutes if they are passed even if they are in violation of the constitution.
How can foreign land grab under numerous investment nomenclatures be stopped if it means the land will be lost for posterity?
Land statutes should be drafted and considered with local research teams. They should immediately remove all restrictions that does not permit locals to interact and participate in the law making. Follow the prosperous nations where they prohibit foreigners from intervening.
What is the environmental impact of the land for foreign investments?
The usage of land rights for example as given in the land privatisation act is to ‘to do anything an owner requires‘ this is not permitted internationally as land does not belong to one generation vide the laws of International Federation of Surveyors and other UN organisations. Land must be kept for future generations with minimum pollution.
What is the role of the legal fraternity of Sri Lanka in assisting the Citizens uphold the sovereign land rights?
To immediately to commence legal education to include the modern subjects relating to property law with technology. The country does not have intellectual independence as the legal education system is limited to the colonial statutes both in the University and the Law College. The syllabus needs serious revision to conform to the needs, demands and threats that requires the legal fraternity to have the fundamental knowledge to address any threats on behalf of the Nation & its people.
Under the guise of development, on account of corruptions within the political system and the lack of knowledge regarding global transnational land grabbing nexus Sri Lanka’s legal fraternity are unable to address the threats legally and as a result the Nation and its Citizens are likely to suffer. The immediate need is to therefore stop foreigners drafting Sri Lanka’s legal statutes, changing Sri Lanka’s land laws and registries but in turn appoint a team of local lawyers & experts to immediately study where such interventions have taken place and where Sri Lanka is likely to find threats to its sovereignty & territorial integrity & immediately reverse these detrimental decisions while also studying all colonial statutes and relooking at ways to change them to suit Sri Lanka and not foreign investors or foreign governments.
Privatization
of government owned banks has been an issue in Sri Lanka since early 1990s and
many have no idea why the issue was emerged at that time, and it seems that now
the issue has involved in politics rather than considering the facts related to the requirement of privatization
or popularly called expanding the ownership of government banks. Why this issue emerged in an inappropriate
time in the country, where is preparing for elections, is difficult to
understand and the government had plenty of time since 2015 to openly talk
about the issue and educate people on the issue. The management of banks in Sri
Lanka had been associated with many problems since beginning of the organized
banking system in the country in 1800s and the appointing a banking commission
in 1930s was the best example to such problems. However, the recommendations of
the commission did not solve the issues and the problems in relation to the
banking and banks management in the country expanded to the future. The major
recommendation of the Pokkanavala Commission or popularly called the Banking
commission supported to establish Bank of Ceylon with a private and public
partnership, the ownership structure was changed when Mr. T.B.Illangaratne was
holding the portfolio of Finance and new trading bank called People’s Bank
under the fully ownership of the government was established during the tenure
of Mr. Illangaratne. Banking has considerable problems in many countries
worldwide and it doesn’t want to involve in petty politics and the problems
relation to the management of banks need to consider independently.
Late
1980s I participated in an exercise of risk assets review in (Corporate and
Medium Market) Bank of Ceylon with consultants of the World Bank and found
large scale misuse of bank loanable funds by bank executives granting credit
facilities to customers who had no credit quality. Based on findings I drafted a credit policy
manual for the bank and don’t know whether the manual is operative at this
time. I also advised to develop risk assets acceptance criteria for corporate
and medium market and gave the structure of criteria, I don’t know whether
successfully done the job. We also developed a case study named Contrite
Contractors” to train credit officers. When the COPE discussion was going on
about the audit report of People’s Bank, it revealed that the banks in Sri
Lanka is still providing credit facilities for contrite contractors
restructuring facilities have not settled within the framework of extension. The bad debt level of the bank had been in a
higher level compared to the level of trading banks in other countries and the
accounting practice of the bank was not consistent with international
practices. If the identified bad credits
were written off at that time, the net worth of the bank would have negative
and as the owners of the bank, the government had not abilities to allocate
funds from the annual budget to recapitalize the bank. The corporate and
executive management had not understood what should do to reform the management
of bank and most of them were dices of political chess board.
When
I was watching the program of government committee (COPE) about People’s Bank,
I was surprised about the management style of government banks and it was
reflected the stupidity of bank management using loanable fund and observed
that politics and political influences are destroying the public financial
institutions. The chairman of People’s Bank mentioned capitalization issue
which is the major issue of the banking system in Sri Lanka, but he did not
elaborate the issue people to understand the problem, which was unable to
convince people the nature and the size of the problem. Chairmen and the board of directors of
government banks have no idea what is the role of them as top managers and they
are working like cheeky monkeys or children playing with the capital of the
government and customer deposits.
Chairman of the COPE committee was talking about customer deposits and he never talked about government
capital, which is owned by public in Sri Lanka. The COPE chairman should have
explained the problem with a broader study of the issue to public as people of
the country was observing what was going on.
The
major issue of banks in Sri Lanka is difficulty to maintain required capital level
(combine of Ordinary Shares, Preference Shares, Convertible Notes, Retained
Earnings, General Reserves, Minority interests in Subsidiaries, Provisions,
Subordinated Debt, Perpetual Floating Rate Notes etc) for individual
operations. In early 1980s Bank for
International Settlements insisted to maintain capital adequacy based on risk
adjusted assets (Capital / Risk adjusted assets) and this international
regulation pressed the banking system in Sri Lanka to maintain capital
requirements with a view to demonstrate the international standards. The depreciating the domestic and foreign
value of Sri Lanka’s monetary unit with the introduction of market economic
system in 1978 clearly created a monumental demand for credits in the economic
system. To satisfy credit customers,
banks had problems without sufficient capital and liquidity, and increasing
non-performing credits in banks due to various reasons (Especially credit
frauds, granting credits on political
influence, Fat game at Citi style frauds in Hong Kong Citi Bank, unmitigated
corruptions in government banks and ignorance of bank management) created the
capital crisis.
Capital
crisis had many banks in the world after ending cold war in early 1990s, some
banks were closed and many banks were rescued by using various techniques and
managerial strategies. For example, many banks in Australia in early 1990s had
tremendous problems, using a variety of techniques (Making right issues, offering
shares for capital, privatizing government banks, merging banks etc) the
banking system was rescued and now banks have prudent management policies.
Capital crisis of bank must be solved educating people because bank employees
and ordinary people of Sri Lanka have no idea about this issue and when I tried
to settle the problem, I was threatened in late 1980s.
The
most important point is that there are plenty of strategies to resolve the
problem. However, in early 1990s the
government attempted solve the problem using stupid method and it would have
the style of Arjuna Mahendran or Paskaralingam or any non-Sinhala solution but
they were stupid and banks need finding a permanent and acceptable solution to
the people. There are active strategies
for capital problems.
Obtaining loan from
international financial institutions offering shares of banks to the value of
loan amount and the condition of the loan should be share buy back by each bank
using annual profits and gradually taking the ownership of banks to the
government. The use of this method would
help to learn management strategies under the guidance of international financial
institutions. This also supports for
disciplines in bank management.
Offering bank shares to
insurance and superannuation organizations in the country and implementation of
share buyback.
Offering shares to small
domestic companies and rural people to expand to share ownership to rural poor.
Offering shares to
deposit holders of the bank and reducing the cost of interest expenses. This strategy will increase the profitability
of banks and increase the ability to share buyback. And ensure the rights of
minority shareholders of banks.
Privatization
of public bans creates high risk to the government of Sri Lanka because it
could use to control the government policies as well as to money laundering
purposes. Therefore, lateral thinking
about the privatization program is vital.
Sri
Lanka desperate for capital and because of this condition the country should
not get caught to robbing banks programs.
(Next
I would like to write on liquidity issue and issuing relating to credit
management)
As reported in the media, Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe is to hold crucial talks with his deputy Sajith Premadasa amid a deepening crisis over their party’s presidential candidacy.
Although there were
disputes among the hierarchy of the UNP back in 1988 on similar matters the
issues were not taken out onto the streets like today. Whatever the outcome of
the meeting, the obvious question is what makes it different to the country whether
the presidential candidate is Ranil or Sajith. The easiest way to get some idea
is to compare the ruling periods of Ranil’s uncle J.R.Jayawardane (JR J) and
Ranil with those of Sajith’s father R.Premadasa.
Ranil’s political
ideologies are heavily in line with the west similar to JRJ. On the other hand,
Sajith is promising to follow his father’s footsteps if elected president.
UNP, under JRJ, which came to
power promising a Dharmista Samajayak”
cultivated a ‘bicycle chain’ culture to beat opponents, mass rigging of
elections, thuggery, an underworld, etc. and was said to have practiced same
with the full patronage of its highest level. We remember how civil rights of the late Prime
Minister and the leader of the SLFP Mrs. Bandaranaike were expunged using the
mammoth parliamentary powers and how she was kept out of the main political
stream throughout the UNP regime led by JRJ as President and R.Premadasa as PM).
One could ask the question, remembering
how personalities like Prof. Ediriweera Sarachchandra were beaten up when
participating in a protest rally, whether anyone had the freedom to protest
when the ‘bicycle chain’ culture was at its peak. One could also ask how the
Supreme Court judges were humiliated for exercising their judicial freedom by
delivering a right judgment in favour of Mrs. Vivienne Goonawardane and the
reaction of the JRJ regime at that time. The repercussions of the ‘kalu
juliya’ were quite evident and continued for several decades.
Due to the short-sighted policies of
the UNP led by JRJ and then followed by R. Premadasa, thousands of lives of
Sinhala youths, who were forced to take-up arms against suppression (among many
other things), were lost during the infamous ‘bheesana samaya’. People of this country remembered atrocities
committed under ‘bheesana samaya’ and since then the UNP (once considered as a ‘one party’
political giant) was rejected several times by the people of this until 2015,
except its narrow win in 2002 with the support of LTTE and other parties formed
on racial groupings.
During
the short period in power, 2002-2005, Ranil signed an unconstitutional and
hence illegal agreement with a murderer, Prabhakaran, who was wanted by the
Interpol and was sentenced to 200 years imprisonment by the high court of the
country. An enormous support was given to the terrorist outfit during his
tenure of office under this treacherous agreement. Fortunately, the people of
this country was clever enough to sense the danger posted on the national
security and the sovereignty of the country and to defeat the UNP and its
short-sighted leader twice, once in 1994 and then in 2005.
The entire country is now aware of what
the UNP regime (which came to power in 2015 promising a Yahapalanayak” ) has done, commencing from its notorious Bond Scam,
hunting political opponents, selling national assets, disrespecting rights of the people by not
holding elections, completely disregarding
country’s national security and the economy.
Both the presidential aspirants of the
UNP, Ranil and Sajith, who are confused and apparently depressed due to their
own failures, could not yet feel the heartbeat of the people and the dangers
facing the country today. Instead they are still singing the old songs of
maximum devolution” to please the extremist racial elements aiming their votes
to stay in power.
With the UNP (at the time of writing) yet to decide on their choice of candidate for the upcoming Presidential Election, former Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa, representing the SLPP seems to be leading the race for the presidency.
The will of the people should never be taken for granted, and this election may well swing either way – but it is worth considering the potential impact it could have on national security and best course of action for the country if the frontrunner, Gota, manages to win. The tragic events of 21 April have once again brought the subject of national security to the fore as the most pressing issue in this country.
Now Sri Lanka faces threats from groups few expected to manifest on this small island of ours. ACLED, the conflict monitoring body, has reported that ISIS has initiated an unprecedented emphasis on its global presence and operations in 2019, following their loss of territory in Iraq and Syria in 2018. Nearly 60% of Islamic State’s activity in 2019 has taken place outside of West Asia – mainly across South Asia and Africa.
Clearly, national security will be an utmost concern to those casting their votes in the upcoming election.
National Security policies
The current surge in popularity of Gota’s candidacy can to some degree be attributed to the people’s disgust at the apathy and sheer negligence by some in the current administration towards national security. The political dismantling of the security apparatus, coupled with a failure to address the warnings provided resulted in one of the most horrific acts of terrorist violence witnessed by this country in recent history. When the citizens of this country head to the polls, many will cast their votes to the candidate that can win their confidence in remedying the egregious failures and lapses of judgement that led to the horrors of the Easter bombings. Gotabaya’s head start in this regard and his (and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s) record of eradicating LTTE terrorism will place him in a strong position at this election.
Gotabaya has repeatedly emphasised that national security will be his top priority if he is elected.
National security is of course a continuing obligation, and what is more important than election-time platitudes, is the action taken once the next government is in office. The mistakes that led to the Easter attacks must be addressed. This will have to involve difficult, forthright and introspective analysis within the Government agencies. The rush to dismantle the security apparatus by the present regime was criticised by many, but few expected the consequences to present themselves so soon.
The overhaul of Sri Lanka’s national security strategy will be a difficult but vital process and must include;
Provision for the National Security Council to be established as a legal institution with a clear mandate and agenda – Its functions must be officially set out with consistent meetings to assess and strategise in relation to security. The NSC should have specialised national security advisors and a permanent secretariat to ensure that the functions of the agency are carried out systematically and efficiently.
Co-ordination of agencies
Different sectors of security such as the intelligence, police and civilian sectors often operate according to competing interests and rivalries. Such disunity is clearly inimical to the interests of security. Strong leadership is needed to harmonise the workings of these different sectors.
Move beyond reactionary policy-making
We often see an intransigent and short-sighted approach to making policy, which should never be the case for security. Concerns should not only be viewed individually, but as a whole with a long-term strategy. Policy development should be clear in its strategy and must have contributions from a wide range of expertise. It will not be enough to react, ad hoc, to each threat – but to analyse the root causes behind radical ideology. The focus should be on identifying risk factors and operating on preventative steps to pre-empt extremist activity.
Tackle corruption and inefficient at bureaucracy at all levels
This is a pervasive issue in Sri Lanka and one of the largest barriers to the nation’s progress and the citizen’s confidence in its security.
Ensure adequate expertise
Security is often viewed as the exclusive domain of the military, but it is in fact a multi-faceted issue that benefits from a wide range of input. Academics and professionals can provide invaluable contributions of expertise in areas such as international relations, law, economics, public relations, defence analysis, technology. Effective security policy requires a cumulative effort of combining all these different fields of research.
Business confidence
The steep drop in business confidence in Sri Lanka has been drastic. May 2019 saw the lowest level of business confidence in over a decade. There is an intrinsic relationship between a country’s economy and its national security. A stable country promotes investment, attracts foreign expertise, encourages domestic talent to remain, brings in tourists and boosts business confidence. On the other hand, a strong economy allows a country to invest in its people, to raise people out of poverty and to eliminate the harsh living conditions that allow violent extremism to fester.
Countries such as Singapore (which Sri Lanka often aspires towards) would never have experienced a fraction of their success without the stability they could offer potential investors. In half a decade, with negligible national resources, Singapore was able to transform their economy far beyond expectations. Whichever, side comes into power after the upcoming elections in Sri Lanka, they must ensure consistent economic policies and be able to win the confidence of investors through stability.
International relations
The failure of the present government to react to warnings provided by Indian intelligence clearly demonstrates a breakdown in communication. It also shows the importance of collaboration with international partners to counter extremism.
Undoubtably, many Western countries will not be thrilled at the prospect of a Gota presidency. This is the result of a mismanagement of international relations that must not be repeated. Countries such as the US have by far the most experience indealing with terror groups such as ISIS, much more than Sri Lanka. However, this does not mean that we have to capitulate to any infringement of national sovereignty. The first Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kwan Yew was famous for his integrity – once refusing to yield to the CIA who were discovered conducting illegal operations without governmental consent, who then tried to bribe him with millions of dollars to keep quiet. Instead they were forced to retract and apologise.
China has increasingly become one of Sri Lanka’s most important strategic partners. The UNP Government’s ill-advised decision to halt Chinese development projects backfired spectacularly in a clear demonstration of the perils of being too reactionarily political with international business. Both GR and MR are well-known to have better relations with China, and we may see increased investment if GR wins the Presidency. However, many people (both domestically and internationally) are concerned about increased Chinese presence in Sri Lanka. Whether or not these fears have merit, it is less than ideal to rely entirely on one country for development. Our partnerships with many other countries still hold much potential.
India will be closely watching this election, and their fears of Chinese influence in Sri Lanka must be assuaged. If they are diplomatically balanced, India can provide a much-needed boost to Sri Lanka’s economy with investment and trade. Furthermore, as our closest neighbour they will be highly concerned about the advent of fundamentalist extremism in Sri Lanka, and keen to collaborate to ensure security in both countries. Whilst Rajapaksas’ relations with India had decidedly cooled after the last Presidential elections, it seems that they have taken steps to remedy this – as seen in the concerted diplomatic push seen during MR’s visit to India.
It is clear that national security is given high priority on Gota’s agenda, and the current climate places him in a strong position for the Presidential Election. However, there is a long road to establishing security in this country – and we must prioritise a holistic approach to security. We should prioritise addressing past mistakes, eradicating inneficient bureaucracy/corruption and incentivise young educated Sri Lankans with international exposure to return and contribute their skills to the country.
The writer is a Lawyer with LLB (Hons), LLM (Public International Law), Barrister-at-Law (England and Wales), Partner at the West End Law Centre and Postgraduate (PhD) Researcher at the University of Durham.
By Noor Nizam – Convener “The Muslim Voice”, September 12th., 2019.
The behaviour of the
Bohara family/visitors shown in the video is “NOT” acceptable and
should not be tolerated.
The Bohra community
visitors to Sri Lanka should leave Sri Lanka alone. They should “NOT”
create unwanted problems to the Muslim community among the majority Sri Lanka
people. The behaviour of the Bohara family/visitors shown in the video is “NOT”
acceptable and should not be tolerated. It is very clear that one can
understand that these women and men seen in the video have had a hidden agenda
to “disgrace” Sri Lanka in the face of the international internet
viewers. The police should trace these characters through their pictures/video
stills and arrest them at the airport when they are leaving Sri Lanka and probe
further their unscrupulous intentions and nip it at the bud.
We cannot allow one or
two foreigner Bohars to create communal problems to the Muslims in Sri Lanka,
Insha Allah.
Anjula Mahika Weeraratna and Yohan Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said today, as the UNP leader who had protected the party during trying times, he would contest the upcoming presidential elections if he could win and if otherwise, he would opt out.
He said he held a myriad positions during his political career and and now at the age of 70 years it would not be difficult for him to opt out of politics.
The Prime Minister said this at Temple Trees when he met a group of veteran UNPers from the Biyagama and Kelaniya electorates before leaving to Mannar for the inauguration of school buildings under ‘the best school is the closet school’ project.
The Prime Minister recalled how he took over the party leadership at a time when its leaders passed away one after another and how resurrected the party during difficult times and added that it was his duty to ensure victory for the alliance to be set up his leadership .
Some of the seniors were seen with watery eyes when listening to him recall his political journey.
The Court of Appeal today directed the Colombo Magistrate’ Court to acquit all accused including former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa from the Avant-Garde case filed by the Bribery Commission.
The decision was announced by the judge bench comprising Justices Achala Wengappuli and Arjuna Obeysekara, after considering the appeal filed on behalf of the petitioner, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
https://youtu.be/btGBcML41HA
Earlier today the Court of Appeal had also allowed the revision application filed by former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Avant-Garde floating armoury case, setting aside the order of the Colombo Magistrate’s Court.
The order was delivered by Appeals Court Judges Achala Wengappuli and Arjuna Obeysekara today (12).
The Bribery Commission had filed the case against Rajapaksa alleging that he had incurred a loss of Rs 11.4 billion to the government by approving the maintenance of the floating armoury owned by Avant-Garde Maritime Services (Pvt) Limited.
The Colombo Magistrate’s Court had rejected the preliminary objections raised by the former Defence Secretary challenging the allegations levelled against him by the Bribery Commission.
He then lodged a revision application stating that the rejection of his preliminary objections is unlawful, which was allowed by the Appeals Court to proceed today.
The court stated that it is of the that prosecution by” the commission, as per Section 78(1) of the Bribery Act, has now become an obsolete or redundant function with no corresponding power being conferred upon the commission in this regard under the provision of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption Act No. 19of 1994.
The prosecution by” the commission is therefore clearly legislative residue from Section 78(1) from the statutory provisions that existed before the amendments brought in by Act Nos. 19 and 20of 1994, with no corresponding power conferred on the Commission to institute proceedings, it said.
In the circumstances, the orders of the Magistrate’s Court and the Provincial High Court are tainted with illegality and thereby subjected to be interfered with by the Court of Appeal in exercising its powers of revision, according to the Appeal Court decision.
Therefore the Court of Appeal set aside both the impugned orders and quashed the pending criminal proceedings before the Magistrate’s Court for want of jurisdiction.
The Appeals Court directed the Colombo Magistrate’s Court to discharge the petitioner and 2nd to 8th accused-respondents from the proceedings of the case forthwith.
Colombo, September 12 (newsin.asia): At the 42 nd. session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on Wednesday, Sri Lanka staunchly defended its decision to appoint Lt.Gen.Shavendra Silva as Army Commander in the face of criticism from Western countries and the human rights lobby that he has been accused of war crimes.
Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative A.L.A. Azeez said: With reference to the recent appointment of the Army Commander it must be noted that this is a sovereign decision taken by the Head of State. External attempts to influence decisions and internal administrative processes of public service promotions in Sri Lanka are unwarranted and unacceptable. Articulating a position of concern on this appointment by certain bilateral partners and international entities, based on allegations, is regrettable and contrary to the principles of natural justice.
On the rights situation in Sri Lanka as a whole, Azeez said: Subsequent to the most abominable terrorist attacks over 4 months ago on Easter Sunday Sri Lanka was put to test. However, we witnessed the continued resilience of Sri Lanka’s security forces to protect the country and its people, while ensuring fundamental rights, consistent with the pledges it has made before this Council. These range from the speedy restoration of security which has minimized the impact on the country’s socio-economic fabric and upheld its international reputation, the lifting of the State of Emergency within four months, providing the ICRC full access to individuals detained, engaging in an informed debate on seeking to upgrade the new counter terrorism legislation, and in deference to the sensitivities of the Muslim community, adjustment of the regulation banning full facial cover attire.”
The Government remains committed to combating hate speech and all forms of crimes directed against ethnic and religious communities and is taking steps to counter religious radicalization and violent extremism,”Azeez added.
Colombo, September 12: It appears that United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is ready to support the candidature of Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa for the Sri Lankan Presidency, if the latter agrees to abolish the Executive Presidency and makes him the Prime Minister in a parliamentary form of government, in which real power would lie with a Prime Minister enjoying majority support in parliament .
From the body language of Sajith and the brief statement he made after he emerged from talks with Wickremesinghe late on Tuesday, it appeared that the talks had been on the right track and that the consultations will continue. In other words, the indication was that the two sides were moving towards a meeting point.
Consultations will continue because a number of issues have to be settled. It was also reported that the minority parties and others in the Democratic National Front (DNF) would also be consulted.
Sources say that Wickremesinghe’s side had apparently out forward three conditions for support: 1. The Executive Presidency must be abolished by the next parliament to be elected in mid-2020. 2.Wickremesinghe should be retained as Prime Minister after the Presidential election at the end of this year with powers to function as per the 19 th.,Amendment of 2015. 3. The leadership of the UNP should continue to be vested with Wickremesinghe.
Since there is a widespread feeling within the UNP and its allies that Wickremesinghe cannot win a Presidential election, he ought to be happy if he is allowed to be Prime Minister and that with adequate powers. He is used to being Prime Minister, having been one for several terms. Though not a public figure who enjoys meeting people, he is an active parliamentarian and a knowledgeable leader well qualified to run a government in the modern world.
Therefore, being Prime Minister under Sajith’s Presidency may not be a bad bargain for him, besides being a practical solution to the current conflict in the party stemming from the need to win a Presidential election.
As for Sajith, a parliamentary system will enable him to become Prime Minister with executive powers any number of times. This is in contrast to the Executive Presidency which has a two-term limit. Sajith is only a little above 50 years of age, and therefore has many years to go before retirement from politics.
That Sajith’s followers are open to this arrangement was clear when one his top supporters said that many changes can be brought about, but the first task is to win the Presidential election, which can be done only with Sajith as the candidate.
Though Sajith had brazenly nominated himself as the candidate bypassing the official party process, in his heart of hearts, he knew that he needed the party’s stamp of authority. Only recently he said that he wants to be President with the blessings of Wickremesinghe.
In the past, several times, a ginger group of Young Turks in the UNP had pressed him to revolt against Wickremesinghe and take over the party. But he would always back out, sometimes at the last moment. He had always wanted to be in the good books of Wickremesinghe, the senior-most and the most experienced leader of the UNP. Quintessentially, Sajith is not a rebel, his recent utterances notwithstanding.
Minority Parties
In the coming Presidential election, the minority parties will be playing a critical role as Sajith, Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the JVP candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayaka will have divided the votes of the majority community, the Sinhala-Buddhists.
Sources in the minority parties say that their first choice for President is Wickremesinghe, but knowing that he will not be a winning candidate, they are ready to support Sajith though Sajith has not shown any interest in their problems and has on occasion, even portrayed himself as a dyed-in-the-wool, Sinhala Buddhist nationalist.
But for the minorities, he is UNP, and UNP has been their traditional ally among the mainstream Sinhala-Buddhist dominated parties. As one observer said, the minorities’ main aim in the coming election will be to defeat Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is seen as being quintessentially anti-Tamil and anti-Muslim.
Gotabaya has been talking about economic development as the panacea for Sri Lanka’s ethnic and religious conflicts. But the minorities say that the problem is not economic deprivation but a growing attitudinal hostility of the majority towards the minorities. This is why Gotabaya’s economic model of reconciliation does not appeal to the minorities.
But an essential condition for the minorities to vote against Gotabaya and for the UNP, is the unity of the UNP. Unity is seen as an essential condition for winning the election. A divided UNP may lead to many Muslims voting for the JVP or not voting at all, one Muslim leader said. The Tamils too will be less motivated to vote if the UNP does not close ranks backs one candidate.
In their talks with the UNP factions, the minority parties will of course bargain hard as each one of them has a list of demands, those of the Tamils being the longest. The Tamils’ wish list includes devolution of power beyond the 13 th.Amendment; investigations into and accountability for war crimes; release of occupied lands and political prisoners; and the tracing of the disappeared.
The Muslims want hate speech, physical attacks and harassment by the law enforcing agencies to be stopped. The Catholics want an independent inquiry into the April 21 blasts and adequate compensation for the life and limb they had lost. The Indian Origin Tamils want electoral constituencies to be re-drawn to give them greater number of seats in representative bodies. They also seek better working conditions and opportunities for education and advancement.
Minorities For Abolition of Executive Presidency
All minority parties want the Presidential system to be replaced by a parliamentary system. As Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesman M.A.Sumanthiran once said: In a parliamentary system, the minority parties can influence the government every now and then as decision making will be in the hands of a cabinet responsible to parliament and not in an Executive President. While a Presidential candidate needs the support of the minorities in an all-Island election, he or she can very well ignore them after getting elected.
In case the UNP leaders agree to abolish the Executive Presidency as part of their deal for party unity, the minority parties will welcome it and lend support to the UNP Presidential candidate.
They would do this also because Gotabaya Rajapaksa is firmly wedded to the continuation of the Executive Presidency as he thinks absolute power is necessary for the execution of new policies and radical economic development and for ensuring national security from ethnic and religious terrorism.
Dhaka, September 12 (The Daily Star): Bangladesh today hosts the biggest refugee camp in the world. It became so, suddenly and brutally. The flow of refugees was not a trickle but a monsoon flood.
But unlike many countries of the world, we (Bangladeshis) rose to the occasion. It was with the warmest of hearts and deepest empathy for human suffering that we welcomed nearly a million Rohingya refugees.
That warmth of heart is on the wane though our empathy remains just as deep.
https://youtu.be/OWiDI8lYpIc
This change came gradually as we saw no end to the problem in sight. The latest instance of the mockery of an exercise at repatriation came as a rude shock. Anybody with the slightest of knowledge of the ground reality appears to have known that it would not work and yet all went through the ritual as if it was a game.
Why is the world silent about the genocide of the Rohingya people? Why the wholesale removal of nearly a million Rohingyas from their homes and throwing them out of their country not a matter of greater international attention? Why the recommendations of Kofi Annan Commission are not reflected more on the UN’s agenda?
At least 31 people have been killed allegedly by fellow Rohingyas in the camps
At least 55 Rohingyas were arrested in connection with murders
Many others abducted for ransom
Clashes among Rohingyas take place often over establishing supremacy in the camps
At least 10 Rohingyas, including alleged Yaba (drug) peddlers and robbers, were killed in separate incidents of gunfight” with law enforcers
Criminal activities including drug and Yaba dealing, murders, abductions are on the rise in the areas where refugee camps are located
At least 328 cases have been filed against over 700 Rohingyas over various crimes since August 2017
Bangladesh authorities have deployed over 2,000 policemen in the camps
Rohingya traficking
Yaba
Yaba smuggling and drug dealing are on the rise since the exodus began in August 2017
Over 20 Rohingyas, including women, have so far been held with Yaba, hemp
Law enforcers have made numerous Yaba hauls during separate drives in Cox’s Bazar region
Local drug lords are involved in syndicates that exploit Rohingyas for smuggling Yaba
Gangs under transnational human trafficking syndicates operate from Teknaf to send the Rohingyas to different destinations via sea routes
Over 130 Rohingyas were rescued by law enforcers from being trafficked from the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar in separate drives recently
Rohingya trafficking in YabaTraffickers exploit Rohingya men, women, and children from refugee camps for both sex and labor trafficking, including domestic servitude, says a US report
Traffickers defraud and coerce Rohingya women and girls from refugee camps into sex trafficking through fraudulent job or marriage proposals, and abduction
Trafficking destinations include Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Middle East
Rohingya girls are also being exploited in child sex tourism in Cox’s Bazar and elsewhere
Speech by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Viyathmaga Chairman At Viyathmaga Annual Convention 2019,
September 12, 2019, 9:07 pm
Foreign Direct Investments across Asia is creating hundreds of thousands of jobs annually in electronics, information technology, automation, real estate and business services, adding value across the economy. This has attracted the global private equity industry to Asia, which has already surpassed Europe as the world’s second highest private equity destination after the United States.
However, what is important here are the policies we need to follow when accruing foreign investments. While strategically encouraging Foreign Direct Investment we must also safeguard our sovereignty, local entrepreneurs and businesses. We need an FDI policy that will attract investments which can transfer technologies and knowledge, and increase our productivity. We need to encourage investments into high tech industries such as Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Internet Of Things and Big Data, for otherwise it would take a long time if we were to develop our own expertise in these areas. By selectively bringing in foreign investments in such spheres, we will be able to leapfrog old technologies and adapt to new technological trends much faster. This will provide us what has been called by some economists, the “second mover advantage”.
Education
The greatest resource we have with us is our future generation. The development of this human resource is the primary responsibility of a government. To make our future generation productive citizens, we must pay special attention to nourish them with the required knowledge and cultivate their skills and talents. Instead of stranding them in the education field, we must broaden their opportunities to receive a higher education or a technical training.
In 2018 alone, about 280,000 students had failed their Ordinary Level and 99,000 had failed their Advanced Level exams. Universities had not been able to accommodate 170,000 even though they were qualified to receive a tertiary education. We cannot be happy with this situation. For a year, only 35,000 students can be accommodated into the 15 State universities and the five degree awarding non-State institutes. Even then, a majority are not following technical subjects.
If we are to face the 21 century that is centered on technology information, then we must make large investments in both our education system and its facilities. At the tertiary level, countries across South and South East Asia are trying to significantly increase university admissions – at times doubling, tripling or even quadrupling it. Sri Lanka should not fall behind this trend. We must establish the required infrastructural facilities for this purpose in a very short space of time. By utilizing the capacities of the State universities and other State higher education institutions efficiently the number of students admitted to tertiary education can be increased. We must also use modern technology to broaden the educational facilities. Distance learning must be promoted by establishing open universities where degree courses can be followed. In this manner students can easily accrue the knowledge and skills needed to engage in jobs such as information technology, management, service sector administration that are essential to the economy. Our closest neighbor, India is implementing this program very successfully.
India’s private education powerhouse NIIT has scaled onsite and online industry linked skills programmes to reach 500,000 students per year. Training is provided to them on demand, with tailored courses being offered to meet the needs of local and global companies. These companies range from oil rigs to tech parks, with curricular offerings expanding to service, insurance, supply chain management, programming and other sectors. Once students complete one assignment, they can return for others. This reflects NIIT’s motto: “the spirit of lifelong learning, without beginning, without end”. This industry linked education model is one that we should follow.
Furthermore, we need to raise the current diploma awarding institutes to degree courses. To do so, new curriculums need to be introduced with proper training given to the lecturers. In line with this thinking we are planning to advance the curriculums in teacher training and nursing schools to degree awarding levels. The inadequacy of degree qualified, well trained teachers is a lacunae that is already keenly felt in this field.
Today there is a great demand in the world for nurses. In Germany alone, there is a vacancy for about 200,000 nurses. A well trained and experienced nurse can easily earn more than Rs. 500,000 from most European countries. By advancing the current three-year diploma training our nurses receive to a four-year degree course and by providing them a proficiency in English, new opportunities can be created for them to work in foreign countries according to international standards. From a country’s perspective, providing skilled workers instead of unskilled labor for foreign employment is far better and more dignified, while also providing the country with an avenue to increase its foreign exchange.
To create employment opportunities for students who have completed their education to only either Ordinary or Advanced Level, we must establish technical and industrial colleges. This will uplift the moral of our young adults whilst providing a much needed skilled workforce to the economy.
We should also bear in mind that Education can also be a foreign exchange earner. Instead of sending Sri Lankan students abroad, we should find ways to attract foreign students to Sri Lanka. There are countries that have pursued such a strategy very successfully. For example, nearly 100,000 Chinese students are enrolled in schools across Australia, making education Australia’s third largest export. Malaysia has started following this model in recent years, and has more than 150,000 international students studying in its higher educational institutes. If we can make the necessary educational reforms, we too can attract foreign students.
We have already adopted a similar model at the Kotelawala Defence University. However, it is very important that we rapidly improve the standards of our other Universities to attract more students. All our State universities should strive to enhance their world rankings. Similarly, we should also encourage the private sector educational institutes in our country to gradually enhance their standards. They should introduce job specific educational programs.
It is important here is to understand the demand that exists for job specific qualifications in local and foreign market. Zoho University in India is following a very successful model.
This program provides “coding boot camps” for students who had not completed their secondary education so that they can be eligible for programming jobs. This is a model that can be adopted in Sri Lanka too to provide job specific training.
Developing Industries
We must also understand that our opportunities are only confined to the technology field. One of the industries that we can easily develop is our tourism industry. This sector, that earned about USD 4.4 billion in 2018 has the space to grow to generate an income of at least USD 10 billion. To achieve this target, we need to attract seven million tourists. We need to thus double the hotel accommodation capacity as well as build hotels meeting with the highest standards. We would also have to increase the skilled and unskilled workforce to meet the sectors needed to service the tourism industry such as new shopping complexes, domestic flights and other transport facilities. We would also have to identify new services to provide an innovative experience to our tourists.
The construction industry is another key growth sector that has huge potential. The domestic construction industry has already proved engineering capabilities that are on par with international standards.
When planning for our future, an industry that is of vital importance is our agriculture. One third of our people live on agricultural based sectors. We have to uplift the standard of living of this sector. Right now, we earn USD 2.6 billion from our agricultural exports, out of which USD one billion is earned by our tea. When we have a vast array of spices, fruits, vegetables, pulses, fish and many more delectables we should be able to earn much more from our food industry. Even our tea sector, according to the experts in the tea industry, can be developed further to earn an export income of over USD five billion.
If we want to develop our agriculture industry, we need to do more research, and use modern technology. We need to bring in technological solutions such as drip irrigation, vertical agriculture, and organic food production, all of which can generate higher incomes. Instead of using high levels of fertilizer and pesticides, we have to encourage and train our farmers to engage in organic farming for better revenue. It is time for the government and the private sector to work hand in hand to transform our agriculture industry.
The first step should be to reach self sufficiency in product categories where we can minimize or avoid imports of food products. The next step is to turn our farmers into agricultural entrepreneurs, and encourage them to enter global markets and find niche markets where they can thrive. ASEAN exports of meat, fruit, tea and other agricultural goods to the Gulf States has doubled in less than a decade, contributing to their 130 billion dollars in annual trade. This is an opportunity for us to explore.
It is not only in agriculture but we need to focus on value addition in all economic spheres. Instead of exporting raw materials, we need to now promote branded products and goods. We already have success stories like Dilmah Tea in this regard. As the Government, we will need to support by giving direction, appropriate and facilitating marketing.
Environment
Environment is the national heritage that we would be passing to the future generations. As such, we are duty bound to protect our environment. We must be conscious to invest in sustainable development that would benefit the generations to come. Therefore, we must be very sensitive to the effects of the decisions we take today. I believe we must explore further into renewable energy that can be used in both the power sector and the transport industry. Even countries that produce the most amount of oil and gas have understood their responsibility to the environment.
Saudi Arabia has planned to initiate seven renewable energy projects in 2019 to attract total investment of USD 1.5 billion US. Saudi Arabia’s ambitious renewable energy plans seek to achieve over 25 gigawatts of wind and solar power generation in the next five years, and close to 60 gigawatts over the next decade. Kazakhstan, another country that produces Oil and Gas is investing about USD 1.2 billion over the next 5 years to generate renewable energy using solar, hydro, wind and biomass.
We must constantly create public awareness on the importance of the management of forest conservation, coast preservation, waste management, sound and energy management while also making these responsibilities part of the national policies. I am of the view that the Government should be the enabler for society to prosper and meet its aspirations. In this context, the regulatory environment should be streamlined, and government administration should be made efficient. The Government should regain its credibility by placing an internationally reputed national procurement system and procedures, a contract management system, and a transparent and accountable public expenditure management system. Undertaking such systemic reforms and institutional strengthening initiatives will enable the private sector, public sector, international lending agencies and investors to make credible and sustainable decisions on economic issues.
Democracy
Sri Lanka is a democratic country. We were the first country in the Asian continent to obtain universal suffrage. It is through universal suffrage we gain our sovereignty. To protect the sovereignty of the citizens, rule of law becomes vital. Therefore, we have before us the responsibilities such as reviewing the constitution, revamping laws that have got obsolete with time and changing the election laws to meet the needs of today. There can only be one law in a country and that law must be equal to all.
Strengthening Democracy
We need the support of domestic and foreign investors to accelerate the nation’s economic development. For this, we need to demonstrate that we have an independent judiciary and an efficient legal system. We should also have properly functioning dispute resolution mechanisms such as arbitration. The role of professionals, civil servants and technocrats in managing foreign relations, national security, law and order, state enterprises and government services will be explicitly recognized and strengthened.
To achieve this goal, attracting professionals to the public sector, and rebuilding confidence and trust in public servants and institutions, must be given priority. Government officials who discharge their duties in good faith and with utmost integrity should be given necessary protection through an improved legal framework. It is paramount to ensure that such a legal framework would prevent officials from being subject to politically motivated witch hunting.
Even in developed countries, clever administrators do not emerge at the same rate as lawmakers. They too spend much time arguing about law, instead of implementing policies. It is thus the responsibility of the politician to understand the need of the people and to include it in to national policies. Those policies must be enacted by the technocrats, who are actually officers with a comprehensive knowledge on the subject and are tasked with the responsibility of administrating that that sector.
We need to marry the virtues of democratic inclusiveness with the effectiveness of technocratic management. Democratic feedback is crucial for governments to ensure that they are on the right track. To strengthen democracy, politicians must be supported by technocrats.
In a country with a well functioning democracy, people are provided with the opportunity to express their opinion of their government through timely elections. After assuming power, the politicians must be mindful in administrative matters. They must get the support of clever administrators who are well versed in their subject area. Failure occurs every time partnership is neglected.
I am convinced that investment and development can be fast tracked if a credible and firm decision making machinery is established within a transparent governance framework. The country has already seen the benefits of such a frame work in many flagship investments in tourism, ports and transportation, urban housing development, waste management, and city beautification during the 2010 -2014 period. We can repeat that speed and effectiveness by picking the right team to deliver the promises of a new Government. I am positive that the private sector will also be determined to contribute its best to help achieving our common objectives.
I love my country, I am proud of my country and I have a vision for my country. I seek your support to achieve that vision. Let us work together to create a prosperous country for our future generations.
The biggest mistake done by the
yahapalana regime was neglecting the economy and national security and these
two vital areas have clearly understood by Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The current unofficial presidential campaign
shows that except Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, all other buoyant presidential
candidates are reluctant to talk about the national security and voters especially
Sinhala voters doubt about these presidential hopefuls, why they are reluctant
to talk about the national security and why they are behaving like stupids
without ensuring the national security.
If these presidential hopefuls are reluctant to talk about the national
security people/voters of the country doubt whether they love to the country. Are
there powerful people behind them against the national security of Sri Lanka is
an unresolved question to voters when compared to Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa and
many have a strong question whether these presidential hopefuls talking for
money than working for the country. Therefore, people have strong confidence in
Mr. Rajapaksa’s policies as he practically demonstrated his abilities and the
strength of policy implementation process during the Rajapaksa regime.
Yahapalana advocates persistent with a
utopian state model, which was/is believed to achieve many irrelevant things in
the country, but ordinary people of the country are not interested in such
targets as they would not deliver caress benefits to them. The best example for this is the behaviour of
Lakehouse publications, which are publishing many irrelevant matters and people
who are intending to vote for candidates opposite Mr. Gotabaya will change the
mind not to vote for candidates against Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa as Lakehouse
publications make too many lies to the country like Arjuna behaved in 1970s.
The other real trend in Sri Lanka is that Sinhala people of the country is
uniting with Mr. Rajapaksa as the yahapalana advocates attempted to divide the
nation for political purposes and minor communities such as Tamil and Muslim in
the country supported to this division of Sinhala people as it bolsters them to
gain unreasonable advantages from politics and mess-ups the country. Yahapalana advocates love messing the country
focusing on unnecessary issues than achieving what people needs from firmed
policies on the economy and the national security would be a hindrance to them
making money and other benefits from foreign NGOs. The real experience in the country during the
past century indicated that political parties openly talked about unimportant
issues but people who did not listen to such useless points of armchair
criticism. People want active solutions for the issues, which are the economy
and national security.
The economy and national security is
the priority of all countries in the world including the USA, China, Russia,
India, Europe, Japan and South Korea and others. If any candidate ignores the two vital areas
voters in Sri Lanka will regard, she/he is not suitable to be president and
voting for such a candidate would be wasting votes. Thinking in this line Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa
is in front.
The right-wing politicians publicly
expressed that they will convert Sri Lanka to a Singapore without understanding
the realities. The main difference
between Sri Lanka and Singapore is the size of the population in each
country. Sri Lanka has 22 million
population, which is double compared to Singapore, where has a strong market
surrounding countries with a small population.
If Sri Lanka’s population is less than 10 million like in Singapore, the
per capita income of Sri Lanka would have the US $ 12000 per year and such a
situation is theoretically developed status with potential to a higher level of
growth. The other best example is the
size of Sri Lanka’s economy is equivalent to New Zealand but people of Sri
Lanka do not economically enjoy people like in NZ because of the higher
population of Sri Lanka naturally prevent the economic benefits of people. Late 1950s Sri Lanka identified issues about
the size population, the rate of population growth and skills related issues,
but the proposed plans to gradually resolve the issues were not successfully implemented
due to misguided policies of so-called left politicians’ attitudes or beliefs.
Karl Marx would have told a person born with one mouth and two hands it is not
practical in modern technologically advanced states. Although the idea of Marx was relevant to his
era it is completely irrelevant to the modern era. Now Sri Lanka is facing a
serious issue of an aging population and without the ability to deal with
related issues.
The liberal economic policies
introduced in 1978 identified the prime issue of opening the economy, despite
the requirement of essential disciplines for liberal policies and the economic
advocates failed to develop a regulatory framework for the stability of the
country. The national security should have given priority since the early 1980s
and the benefits of market economic policy expanded only to regional Sri Lanka
with a higher rate of inflation created by government spending, which helped to
give a reasonable price to products and services of rural people. The regime of Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa honestly
attempted to tackle issues facing with terrorism. During the regime of Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa
did many things but unable to control population, governance-related issues and
rapid modernization consistent with technology.
The Rajapaksa regime honestly attempted to expand the economic
development to the rural area, however, it was failed to convince people that
the government policy was to refocus economy to attract rural people after
defeating the terrorism. When the Rajapaksa
regime was defeated in 2015, the yahapalana people did not know what to do and
how to do. The advocates of yahapalana
behaved like ladies who were crying for money consuming local alcohol in
funeral houses without understanding the economic and security related issues.
What should do to get out of the issues?
In this background, policy-makers in Sri Lanka need lateral thinking to
find solutions and I would like to mention Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa to use his
team to develop policies and procedures for the following areas.
Sri Lanka needs developing own economic
system, which is not aligning to any country and the market of all countries
USA, China, India, Russia, Europe and all other countries of the world are
vital to make a strong export economy.
There is an intensive competition to capture the market and the
competition between the USA and China gain leadership of the world influences
forces Sri Lanka to stay non-align stand as the country shouldn’t play politics
with these countries. Managed capitalism
should be the prime strategy, which helps everyone to be rich if they work hard
and internationally competitive. There
is no doubt that Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa has good economic and security
policies, however, I like to point out vital areas that should be worthwhile
considering.
Modernization must be the slogan,
catchphrase or motto of the new government.
Modernization should expand to all activities including security,
economic, social and cultural activities concentrating on changing the
attitudes of people, focusing on creating a responsible community for all
activities of the country. People of Sri Lanka are highly irresponsible and
they are used to pass the bug but the country needs a disciplined society. The best example for this is Japan where had
been implemented modernization since Meiji restoration and modernization
entirely changed the attitudes of Japanese people. The world economic forecast doesn’t look
bright as IMF forecasted that the annual growth rate would be 3% and many
western countries may go to a global recession and Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa might
not able to do all what people are expecting, he must show he is capable of
doing not like Mr. Sajith Premadasa playing double game and talking bullshit in
front of an educated society.
Enhancement
of productivity. The productivity of employees in the
Public and Private sectors are lower and while increasing pay, productivity
enhancement must be used as a part of life. Employees of Sri Lanka are highly
satisfied with the increase in monetary wages than real wages and it needs
policy development for productivity enhancement and increases in real wages
based on the productivity of employees
Enhancement
of Product Quality. This is the biggest challenge. No body like to give hard earned money for
low quality products and services as what happened during the SLFP regime from
1956. Encourage people to produce
quality products and services using technology.
Development of product and service quality. Product development and product quality
development are essential factors in export development. This is not only for the industrial area, but
it should be in all areas including social, cultural and religious areas, where
quite behind and Sri Lanka has a difficult to attract tourists and the market
because of current weaknesses.
Enhancement
of competitiveness.
Why Sri Lanka has a difficulty to attract export market because products of Sri
Lanka are not competitive. For this
purpose, Sri Lanka needs learning many advises from China and working with
China to enhance the competitiveness of products and services. We can see that employees wearing clean
suites, but they no competitiveness like the dress. This is a problem with attitudes.
Expansion
of share ownership of the country creating regional stock markets in all districts and combine
value of regional markets should list in CSE.
This will boost employment opportunities and improve the stock ownership
of rural people in a process of converting rural poor to be wealthier. The
policy will create social democracy in the country. No capital should be involved in public
companies, but the government must observe the operations and provide advice in
various ways. This type of program
supports to promote products and services development and marketing related
activities. It would give ownership of
the rural economy to rural people without government spending. This program would create more than one
million new jobs to the country and stop sending women to the middle east.
Expanding
of the ownership of public enterprises offering shares of public corporations
to rural people through above mentioned public companies. A Considerable
percentage of shares of public companies should give to foreigners such as
people in China, India, Malaysia, Korea, Japan, Russia, and other countries. This will ensure gaining company management skills by regional people, who will become owners of the
wealth of Sri Lanka. The action improves
the foreign exchange earnings by US $10 billion and radically increase in
foreign assets improving Sri Lanka’s Rupee value to US 0.50 cents. And reduce
government spending and create an excess budget. (I will write further on how
to change the economy)
According
to an analysis, there are more than 1.8 Billion Muslims and more than 50 Muslim
majority countries but among this huge crowd, it is something very unfortunate
that there is only and only Pakistan to hold the hands of the helpless
Kashmiris in their miseries and distress. This selfish rather cowardly attitude
of the so-called Muslim Ummah (community) is simply a blob of shame on the serene face of the whole Muslim
community. Far better in courage and determination is the Sikh community which
is standing shoulder by shoulder with the Kashmiris everywhere from the valleys
of Sri Nagar to the streets of London, raising slogans against Indian
atrocities in the burning paradise of Kashmir. Recently when the Modi
government imposed restrictions on phone and internet services in Jammu and
Kashmir, just to counter the protest processions of the local people, a group
of 32 Muslim girl students from Sri Nagar was on a visit to Pune. Because of
the restrictions imposed on all communication tools, the girls lost all contact
with their family. They were facing shortage of money too as their tour could
not be completed within the planned period. So these girls approached the Sikh
Gurudwara Committee in Pune for help. The members of Gurudwara committees in
Pune and Delhi joined hands to arrange for their safe return to their homes. The
Pune committee arranged for their air-tickets to Delhi and from there the
members of another Gurudwara committee arranged for their transportation to
Srinagar. The way the Sikh community provided shelter, care and support to the
Kashmiri girls in trouble is no doubt marvelous.
Rajeev
Khanna penned down an article in ‘The Citizen’ in the second week of this
August 2019 with the title ‘Punjab Comes Out in Strong Support of Kashmiris’.
The article says, ‘One state that is vociferously raising its voice in support
of the people of Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and 35 A
by the central government is neighbouring Punjab. Right from the government to
various political organizations and civil society activists and organizations
both in India and abroad, there has been opposition to the step taken by the
Centre, particularly the manner in which it was done by silencing the voice of
the Kashmiris’. Same level of support and care for the Kashmiris from the Sikh
community is being observed all over the world. Analysts are of the view that
this support is reciprocal; it is an outcome of a mutual understanding between
the Kashmiris and the Sikhs. This year in the month of March a protest was
arranged by a host of Sikh organizations in central London. The protesters were
seeking release of Sikh prisoners in Indian jails. They also demanded end of
atrocities against Sikhs and Kashmiris by the Indian government. The protest
procession was joined by a large number of Kashmiri groups also who had flags
of Kashmir and Khalistan in their hands. Media reports said that the protest
was very much calm and peaceful but later on it turned violent as a pro-Modi
group arrived at the scene and started shouting abuses at the peaceful
protesters. The Scotland Yard had to intervene to normalize the situation.
There
is a big problem; it’s not a small thing that (special status) has been revoked.
We are extremely disappointed,” said Harbinder Singh talking to the Reuters
last week. Harbinder is a businessman from Srinagar belonging to the Sikh
community and his services for bringing Sikh-Muslim communities closer are well
known and widely acknowledged. President of the All Parties Sikh Coordination
Committee, Jagmohan Singh Raina also expressed his concerns over the present
situation in Kashmir in a recent statement. He said, They (Indian Government)
have committed a big blunder; they could have changed laws, but at least they should
have consulted us.” He further said expressing his grave fears for the future
of the Kashmiris We Kashmiris didn’t have much, we just had this special
status, and now this is also taken from us. This will mean that our people will
find it hard to get jobs here.”
The
Sikhs are just 2% of the total population in the Indian-Held Kashmir but are
spread across the state, says a recent report. From farming and government
services to running bakeries and provision stores, they are engaged in all
types of social and economic activities. They have a very cordial relationship
with the Muslims and interestingly the illegally deputed Indian forces treat
them with the same brutality and cruelty with which they treat the Muslims. In
short their common sorrows and joys and their common enemy has merged them into
a single identity. This Muslim-Sikh unity is not limited only to the Indian
Held Kashmir; all over the world the Sikh community is providing all possible
support to the Kashmiri Muslims and same passion for the Sikh community is
expressed by the Muslims. This unity demonstrated by the Sikhs and the Kashmiri
Muslims has become a pain in the neck of Modi governmentwhichis very much
misguided by its own created notion that by depriving Kashmir of its special
status, it would succeed in crushing the demand for an Independent Sikh state
Khalistan and that for an Independent state of Kashmir.
The
Modi government must keep in mind the fact that no independence movement could
be crushed with the help of such silly actions. Neither the Muslims nor the
Sikhs in Kashmir are like a ready-to-eat soft cake placed in show-case of some
bakery. If it was so easy to swallow them, the Modi government would not have
imposed such a long curfew in the valley. In spite of a very strict curfew, the
ongoing protest in the Indian Held Kashmir in itself is a proof that the voices
of the Kashmiris and the Sikhs could never be silenced; it is their
determination which is going to be the last nail in the coffin of Indian
hegemonic desires in near future.
SLPP Chairman Professor G.L. Peiris today extended an open invitation to the SLFP to join his party saying the most desired symbol to contest the presidential election was the lotus bud.
Addressing a news briefing held today at the party office in Battaramulla, Prof. Peiris said the SLPP was akin to the ancestral home of the SLFP and asked what practical obstacle the SLFP had to join it.
During the several rounds of discussions held, the two parties agreed upon more than 20 points based on principle. We have always been sensitive, accommodative and flexible in these talks. If decided to join, we welcome the SLFP with open arms,” he said.
He said the SLFP had stated it was a kingmaker but was incapable of living up to it.
“The bulk of votes the SLFP has is limited. Although it is not many, the SLFP is of the opinion that its voter-base is crucial. The issue is whether they will use it to strengthen the country. At the SLFP convention, MP Nimal Siripala de Silva said the SLFP should think to which party it was closer. We don’t think there will be a doubt about the final answer. Both parties have the same set of principles and share the same vision,” he said.
Furthermore, he said it was unlikely that the SLFP joined with the UNP which had governed the country for over four years in an irresponsible and ineffective manner.
Can the SLFP join a party accused of being irresponsible during the Easter terror? Is this what the SLFPers want? Its other option is to field one of its own as the presidential candidate, but it is clear that it doesn’t expect to win the election by doing so. Does that mean it is trying to back the UNP candidate? It seems such a decision will strengthen the UNP. The SLFP should think in-depth about this,” he said.
Responding to questions on the SLFP’s concern over the lotus bud symbol of the SLPP, Prof. Peiris said it was the most desired symbol among political parties. “This was evident at the previous local government elections,” he said.
President Maithripala Sirisena is in a mighty hurry to bring ex-Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran to justice, over the bond scams. One may recall that he went out of his way to help cover up the bond scams and take Mahendran off the hook, in 2015. He made a mockery of his commitment to good governance by dissolving Parliament before the first COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises) report on the bond scam was presented, and, thereby, prevented it from having an adverse impact on the UNP’s electoral performance. Today, in a dramatic turn of events, with only a couple of months to go for the end of his term, he is all out to have Mahendran brought back. If only he had gone hell for leather to make Mahendran stand trial for the bond scam in 2015 itself!
President, the other day, made a propaganda show of signing what was made out to be a document seeking the extradition of Mahendran. That was something he could have done in private. He seems to be twisting the poniard he has sunk into Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s back, up to the quillion, so to speak. Ranil has not recovered from the findings of the presidential bond probe commission, which has also ruined the UNP’s chances of winning elections.
Mahendran has become a huge embarrassment to PM Wickremesinghe, who brought him in as the Central Bank Governor. The President is aware that if Mahendran can be brought back to stand trial, the latter is likely to rat on the real masterminds of the bond scams in retaliation for having been thrown to the wolves by the UNP-led government. Mahendran would not have dared commit that offence, without political backing. Having Mahendran here is something the PM, troubled by an intraparty dispute, wants like a hole in the head. Has President Sirisena sought to give a leg-up to Deputy UNP leader Sajith Premadasa,who is on a campaign to secure presidential candidacy? The former, who is well disposed towards the latter, is apparently, trying to queer the pitch for Ranil, who is also desirous of running for President.
It has been reported that documents running into thousands of pages on Mahendran have been sent to Singapore. Hefty as the dossiers presented in support of Sri Lanka’s call for Mahendran’s extradition may be, it is not likely to carry much weight with Singapore, as some legal experts have opined. They maintain that Singapore is not likely to extradite one of its citizens simply because Sri Lanka makes a request to that effect.
Singapore will blot its copybook indelibly if it refuses to extradite Mahendran. The message it will send to the rest of the world, in such an eventuality, will be that its professionals can commit any fraud overseas, return home and enjoy legal immunity; the countries that choose to employ them will be left high and dry. The Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement provides for employing Singaporean professionals here. They, too, will be able to do anything wrong here and flee and live like Mahendran.
‘Waiting for Godot’ is the name of an absurd play by Samuel Beckett; two persons therein wait for the title character, who never comes. What shall we call the absurd drama directed by President Sirisena? Shall we call it ‘Waiting for Mahendran’, for the protagonist will never come and all of us will be tired of waiting?
About four and a half years have elapsed since the first bond scam was committed. The President ought to explain why he waited until the tail end of his term to initiate the process of bringing Mahendran to justice.
President Sirisena has to atone for the sin he committed by helping cover up the bond scams initially and keeping the public in the dark in the run-up to the 2015 general election. Let him be urged to fish or cut bait.
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