“Carnage: Swallowing the Past” is
an inspiring and uplifting film which allows us to imagine a future vegan
world, where humans no longer use animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.
The film is definitely a comedy, with a wry and understated sense of humour,
but it has a very powerful message. While some of us may think that the world
will never change, this film gives us a feel-good (and playful) picture of what
it might look like.
Set 50 years in the future, Carnage shows an
idyllic world where the idea of eating flesh and bodily secretions of animals
has become unimaginable. Young people are in touch with their feelings of unity
with each other and with other animals. “For these youngsters, the idea
that human beings like them were once complicit in a bloodbath of unnecessary
suffering is too absurd to imagine.” As one young person says tearfully
“Why would anyone eat a baby? Just a little baby. A little baby lamb”.
This theme, why people ate animals, is a thread explored throughout the film.
In this future world, older people, those who
used to eat animals, now suffer remorse and guilt. “There remain painful
memories of a time before empathy, before we realised we had to stop eating
each other.” It has become taboo to even talk about this shameful
animal-eating past. People have repressed these feelings for decades and
“a whole generation is being suffocated by shame.”
One of the characters in the film, a
psychotherapist, has written a “taboo-busting and deeply personal
book”, The Guilt Of Eating Your Brother, which suggests that former
meat-eaters are psychologically under threat. The therapist helps these people
by encouraging them to express their feelings of guilt and make apologies to
the animals. This lifts the shame they feel. “We couldn’t have known we
were active participants in the slave trade, because the language of the time
suggested we were just eating our dinner.”
The film is a “documentary” made in
2067, looking back at the history of veganism from 1944 to the
“present”. It also serves as a lesson to younger generations about
the brutality of the past and a reminder not to repeat it. Regarding the
animal-eating past: “history has been replaced with silence”. As one
character says, “If you try to explain the dairy industry to young people
today, they’d be traumatised.”
Much of the film is an examination of why
people believed it was OK to eat animals. It covers similar ground to Melanie
Joy’s concept of “carnism”, the invisible belief system that
conditions people to eat certain animals. For example, the film looks at how
fast food advertising made it acceptable for children to enjoy watching a film
like “Babe” and then celebrate afterwards with a “Happy
Meal”. And how television cooking shows helped normalise meat eating.
“Nobody is to blame. We were all victims. Our parents just did to us what
their parents had done to them.”
While the film concentrates on the ethics of
eating animals, it also looks at other issues, such as swine flu and mad cow
disease, the link between meat eating and cancer, heart disease, diabetes and
obesity, the environmental impact of animal agriculture, such as species
extinction, climate change and flooding, the rights of women and the English class
system.
A high point of the film’s narrative is when
the government passed the 2035 Bill of Animal Rights. This “criminalised
the enslavement, breeding and killing of all animals as well as the
manipulation or consumption of anything coming out of one.”
The future presented in the film is an
idyllic one, where people are peaceful and happy and “where violence has
been defeated with compassion, depression cured with intimacy”. The
implication is that ending meat production and consumption has improved people’s
mental and physical health and made the world a more peaceful place. While
idealistic, this view echoes that of Will Tuttle in The World Peace Diet. In
this book he looks at how historically violence towards non-human animals has
been normalised and how people fail to make the connection between the flesh on
their plate and the animal from whose body it was taken. This undermines their
capacity for compassion and teaches them that it is OK to oppress the voiceless
and weak to fulfil their desires. This can transfer into other areas of human
life and can kindle historical atrocities such as human slavery, conflicts and
war.
The film is valuable because it gives us a
vision of a vegan world. Vegan advocacy has come a long way in the last few
years. Until recently, vegans were limited to trying to persuade others to
become vegan. We are now working towards changing institutions and laws to pave
the way to a vegan world. Carnage is one more step on this road.
Let’s finish with
some memorable quotes (some humorous) from the film:
“It’s still
difficult to say it out loud. I ate animals.”
“What looks
to us now like a documentary about a lunatic was in fact a hit show about
cooking.” (Referring to a TV cooking show)
“Which, of
course, to us now sounds almost as offensive as Ethnic Cleansing-Free
Tuesday.” (Referring to Meat Free Monday)
“I even made
a feature film. But who wants to sit and watch an entire film about
veganism?”
“If you look
into a cow’s eyes, you can see there is a person in there. But who has the
time to get so busy with a cow?”
“Now, of
course, if a cow had a baby and you decided to drink its milk you’d be put
in a rehab centre for perverts.”
If you are not in the UK, another way to view
Carnage is to add an extension to your Chrome web browser which allows you to
watch BBC iPlayer from anywhere. The extension is: Beebs – Access BBC iPlayer.
After you have installed the extension, use the BBC link above to view the
film.
Several people have uploaded Carnage to
YouTube and other sites, but after a time these may be removed due to copyright
issues. Here are a couple of links that were working at time of publication:
Sri Lankan Ambassador to China Dr. Karunasena Kodituwakku today issued a clarification regarding the Lotus Tower Project allegations.
Since the Lotus Tower was declared open on Monday, the 16th of September 2019, various news versions have been shared regarding the companies that were involved in its constructions. I am releasing this interim statement to clarify the extent of the interventions in this matter by the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Beijing, as my name has also been mentioned in some of the reports.
The construction of the Lotus Tower had originally been assigned to two Chinese companies, namely the China National Electronics Importers & Exporters Corporation (CEIEC) and the Aerospace Long-March International Trade Co. Ltd. (ALIT). In mid 2018, His Excellency President Sirisena telephoned me in Beijing and requested that I look into the whereabouts of the second company (ALIT), as letters posted to it by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka had been returned to Colombo informing that no such company was at the given address.
I then entrusted the task of tracing the current location of ALIT (since the company was no longer located at the given address) to the Head of the Commercial Section of the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Beijing. After much effort, the Embassy found that the company had moved to a different location, as well as withdrawn from the Lotus Tower project without informing the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka. Once the company’s new premises were located, we visited it and met the officials who were present there at the time. They then informed us that their company (ALIT) was no longer involved in the Lotus Tower project.
Following this meeting, the Embassy prepared a report about our visit and the meeting, and this report was forwarded to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka for their information. Simultaneously, we were able to establish connections with the other company (CEIEC), and the Lotus Tower project went ahead to be completed this year.
The above information is given based on my recollections of the interventions made by the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Beijing regarding this project a few mouths ago. The names of those who were present at the meeting we attended, as well as the contents of the Embassy’s detailed report on what transpired at the meeting, will be issued for further clarification upon my return 10 Beijing on the weekend,” the statement issued by Dr. Kodituwakku said.
A common snide remark in the days
gone by used to say derisively that if there is a traffic jam somewhere there
is a cop in the middle of it. It means that an incompetent cop without any
sense of direction had caused an unwanted and avoidable problem to the public.
In contemporary times it can be said, without fear of being contradicted, that
if there is a political jam you can be sure that Ranil Wickremesinghe is in the
middle of it. You can also be sure that Ranil has been the cause of it partly
because he has shown no sense of direction in handling the grave national
issues.
Whether it is his disastrous
Ceasefire Agreement with Prabhakaran, or whether it is the
burning of the CBK-Neelan agreement in Parliament, or whether it is the kurundu
polu attack on marchers against him in Matara, whether it is the
undermining the integrity of sacred traditions of the Parliament, or whether it
is biggest bank heist in the history of Sri Lanka, Ranil was in the middle of
it. He has never been able to rise above his self-serving politics of plotting
and kuth-thufying, pitting one against another, which has
resulted eventually in dragging the nation down to its current perilous chaos.
The nation which ended one of the
longest running wars in Asia is still running desperately in search peace,
stability and security. When he took over in 2015 there was hope. He
promised to make a difference”. Today there is only despair without the
difference” he promised.. He will be remembered mainly as the man who dragged
the nation from hope to despair. But he sees himself as the solution when
in reality he has been the incorrigible problem. So like
most of our semi-literate and crooked
politicians he is under the delusion that the worst thing that can happen to
the nation is for him to lose his grip on power, particularly the UNP
leadership that keeps him going in politics..
Take the current crisis in the UNP
which is still running in search of a candidate for the coming presidential
election. With only a few days left for the declaration of the election date
Ranil’s party is still twisting in the wind without a presidential candidate.
As opposed to this, the main contender in the opposition has already declared
his candidacy. But the UNP, the oldest Party in the nation, is still teetering
without naming a candidate. Why? The answer is well-known:
Ranil wants to be nominated as the candidate of the UNP which has openly
declared its preference to Sajith Premadasa in so many clear ways. It is Ranil
who is in the middle of this latest political jam. His capacity to create
problems is far greater than his capacity to solve any of them.
The last remaining card for Ranil is
to nominate Karu Jayasuriya as the UNP candidate. This will put Sajith in a
dilemma. He can oppose Ranil but it will be difficult to oppose Karu as he has
a better image than Ranil in the electorate. In the meantime, the media is
having field day dramatising the rivalries between the UNP leader and his
Deputy.
With Ranil cornered by the forces
raging against him he is playing the role of King
Canute, sitting on shore and ordering the waves of the sea to stop moving. The
Premadasa camp, however, is out there in the open ever ready with sound bites
to dig their teeth into Ranil’s flesh. The rising popular waves within the UNP
— and outside it too — have signalled, quite unambiguously, that Ranilhas
been the unwanted and moos-pain-tu
Jonah of the UNP. Judgmental opinion believes that Ranil has lost
the popular vote of winning even the job of cleaning the toilet at Siri Kotha
because no one can rely on him to clean the droppings into it. They are right
when they think that Ranil do not have the capacity to clean up the rot that
has set into the political culture. From the Central Bank to Parliament his
self-defeating trick has been to appoint committees to cover up the smelly
toilets. Perhaps, the most remarkable feature is that, after all these years,
the top ranks in the UNP hierarchy have abandoned him. Never before has he been
in this situation where he has been publicly exposed as a loser by those at the
top and at the bottom of the UNP.
There are, of course, some die-hard
loyalists who are struggling to save him from his impending fall from grace by
applying some fresh paint on his ageing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde face. The
chances of these loyal desperadoes succeeding are as great as any Pamankada or
Alimankada cosmetician trying to lift the image of a pig by applying lipstick
on its snout. The visible anger and reaction of a critical section of the UNP
leadership indicates clearly that Ranil’s stature as a leader has lost all
credibility. The disillusionment with Ranil is almost universal. It has
come to a point where some of traditional Colombo 7 fashionistas, parading in high society cat walks, have come out
condemning him as a pig-headed” loser.
All political metrics indicate that
the time for applying cosmetics is over for Ranil. The time has come for him,
after his long innings at the UNP crease, to stand down honourably and admit
that he has failed to score the winning innings expected of captain. He has
been a perennial failure which has been forecast at birth by naming him
as Run- NIL”.
The problem with him is that he refuses to admit that he is a spent force. He
has never shown a capacity to score a century for his team and win the hearts
and minds of the nation. If the UNPers don’t
bowl Ranil out the people will whip his bails out if he steps out to bat in the
pitch that is being prepared for coming presidential elections. (Note for
the readers: Please don’t remove the ‘i” even accidentally and substitute
an ‘l” in the word bails”’)
Right now Ranil is playing the most
despicable role in his career. He is like the dog in the manger. As they say in
Sinhalese:”Balla piduru kanneth naha, kana gonata then-neth naha. It
is in this dizzying climate that the NGO , including Jehan Perera, the
Napoleon Boru-part of NGOs, have rushed to back him. Ranil is banking on
the depleted cadres of the civil society, (some have abandoned him publicly
disillusioned by his role as the scheming Ali Baba of the biggest heist in the
history of banking in Sri Lanka), depleted TNA, depleted Ranil-Party-licker
Champikaya, depleted Muslims (his own Muslim chairman is against
him), depleted Catholkic belt, and, of course, the JVP, the Sinhala
Prabhakaranists now posing as the born-again champions of democracy and human
rights. .
Ranil’s unprincipled and
self-centred politics is revealed in his choice of presidential candidates.
Twice he had gone all out to back two complete outsiders: Sarath Fonseka and
Maithripala Sirisena. Both occasions should be considered as a public
confession of his inability to win the confidence of the people to lead the
nation. He opted for the two outsiders because they had better chances of
winning than him. But it protected his leadership in the UNP. Clearly, on the
principle that he supported Sarath and Maithripala he should go for Sajith
because his deputy has better chances of winning than the leader. Besides, he
is an insider and not an outsider. But he is out to block Sajith’s path for the
simple reason that if Sajith wins the chances are that he will lose his power,
position and pakum. Those in politics will be looking up to
Sajith for leadership and not to Ranil.
If there was a chance for Ranil it
was in riding the anti-Rajapakse wave in 2015. Since then his chances have
declined dramatically. In 2019 the electoral pendulum has swung back
considerably to the Rajapakses. Considering all the available factors, this is
the time to back the most favoured candidate, Sajith, though Karu Jayasuriya is
flapping his wings on the sidelines waiting to be called. Instead Ranil is
still hoping that he has a chance at a time when his image has fallen to
the level of the dust under the heel of Arjuna Mahendra’s Central Bank-funded
boots in Singapore.
With his back to the human wall, put
up by Malik saha Mangala-young–gay gang, Ranil, is
playing his usual game of appointing committees, planting anti-Sajith stories
in the media, promoting rival candidates within the UNP to degrade the
potential of Sajith and, most of all dragging the date of announcing the
presidential candidate and holding out until the eleventh hour to present afait accompli to Sajith. Timing is of the essence now and Ranil
is aiming to cut off any time that could advantage Sajith to mount a counter
attack on Ranil’s nominee, which is most likely to be himself, or Karu
Jayasuriya.
However, the latest comments leaked
to media confirm that both are digging their heels in. Neither is willing to
yield to the other. Ranil is making a bid to denigrate Sajith’s image, having
failed to tempt him with bogus offers, as before, to keep him out of his way.
Deceived by the previous feint offers that took him nowhere Sajith seems to be
determined not to give in this time.
Ranil, however, knows that if he
gives in he will have no future in politics. As stated earlier, the nation and
the Party will look up to President Sajith Premadasa as the leader. Ranil will
cease to be the indispensable force in national politics or in the Party if the
President is Sajith. This inevitability would clip the wings of Ranil. The big
stick used by him to determine politics in the big league of political leaders
– and the American Embassy, of course — will be whittled down to a toothpick.
Ranil’s manoeuvres are to save his leadership role at any cost.. It is not a
move to save the nation, or the party. It is Ranil trying his best to save
Ranil.
Ranil is banking mainly on five
political sources in his presidential race. He hopes to win the support (1) of
his divided Party (1) the TNA (3) the Muslims (4) the civil society and (5) the
JVP. His latest tactic is to challenge Sajith to prove that he can win over
these groups. In other words, he is telling Sajith: These are my
people. How are you going to win them over to your side?” Ranil’s question is a
direct threat to undercut Sajith’s image and chances to win the backing of the
pro-UNP minorities. Ranil is telling his Deputy that he has the cards up his
sleeve to undercut him.
Clearly, Sajith is doomed mainly
because Ranil is not likely to throw his full weight behind Sajith, even if the
latter wins the nomination. Ranil will front up in public pretending to
support Sajith. But Ranil’s tendency so far has been to undercut Sajith and
prevent him rising to a position of commanding power that would undermine his
own leadership. Sajith is a Deputy Leader by name. On par with Sajith is Ravi
Karunanayake –Ranil’s doppelganger–as an Additional Leader with equal claims
for the leadership in the event of something happening to Ranil.
Besides, the visceral personal
struggle for power within the Party has gone far deep into the body politic of
the UNP that it will be almost impossible to stop the internal haemorrhaging in
time to present a credible image of unity before the election. Whether both can
sell a winning image, plastered with band-aids, to the voters is questionable.
The bitter division, fought openly in public, will only add to the deepening
crisis within the Yahapalanaya regime led by Ranil.
Both know that a divided UNP will
kill the chances of either of them winning the election. The other most likely
option is to present Karu Jayasuriya as the compromise candidate. He is waiting
on the sidelines hoping that a last minute compromise would throw him into the
ring. But internal bleeding has eroded the integrity and credibility needed to
present the UNP as a viable force to govern the country. Its stature has
dropped to almost the same level as it was in 1956 in the Sinhala-Buddhist
electorate. It has to lean heavily on the minorities to save its respectability
and future as a political party.
Ranil has fallen almost to the same
level as West-leaning Sir John Kotelawela, one of the despised figures of the
time. Ranil’s chances of rising from the stinking Meethotamulla politics of the
UNP under his stewardship is nil, even with the backing of the five forces
which are no longer formidable as it was in 2015. Besides, the anti- Rajapakse
pendulum of 2015 has swung back with a new momentum to give the Rajapaksas a
lead in the race to the next presidency. If the dictum that it is not the
oppositions that win but it is the governments that lose is valid then the
chances of the UNP winning either the presidential or the parliamentary
elections are zilch.
The incremental decline and fall of
Ranil’s image has one good silver lining: he will be thrown out of
politics for good. History will write him off as morally corrupt pimp of the
West who dragged the Grand Old Party, the Parliament and the people to the
lowest moral level in the post-independent era. He will never rise again. It
will be good riddance of bad rubbish that ruined the nation throughout his
failed career.
The knell of parting day will toll
for Ranil on election night. But how many UNP mourners will be there to follow
him to his political grave?
It was these two facts that caused the failure of Zimbabwe.
My Paper reproduced here tells the details.
The death of Robert Mugabe has brought a spate of writing which appears to portray him as a lost cause, due to his failings. However as my earlier writing of 2008 portray that the culprit was Tony Blair, the Prime Minister of the UK who failed to honour the Lancaster House Agreement which promised that the UK Government will pay compensation to the white farmers who would be dispossessed of their lands provided Mugabe did not dispossess the white farmers for ten years. True to his word, Mugabe for the first ten years abided by the Lancaster House Agreement and did not take over any land. After the ten years had elapsed Mugabe requested the British Government to honour the Lancaster House Agreement. Tony Blair did not honour the provisions of the Lancaster House Agreement and refused to pay compensation. Mugabe then commenced take over of white farmer’s land to distribute to the landless peasants. Here the culprit was not Mugabe. Instead, it was Tony Blair who refused to abide by the conditions of the Lancaster House Agreement who is to be blamed.
Thereafter the IMF came on the scene with sweeteners the Structural Adjustment Programme which Mugabe agreed to follow.Liberalizing the use of the foreign exchange, freeing imports and meeting the shortfall with loans led to disaster.
Garvin Karunaratne
September 13 th 2019.
Mugabe’s Zimbabwe Today: The Stranglehold of the Superpowers & the IMF in action. Lessons for Sri Lanka.(written in 2008)
Garvin Karunaratne
Many of my friends and contacts have been
surprised at my statement about President Mugabe, showing him as a victim of
the Superpowers- how they have actually strangled him in my paper:
Zimbabwe’s Election Results; The Double Standards of the Superpowers(Asian
Tribune 20/04/2008). I wrote:
Why are the Superpowers so angry with Mugabe? When
Mugabe came to power the Whites were ruling the economy. They had established
plantations on most of the ideal cultivable land which was taken over from them
virtually by force. Earlier this land was controlled by the communities and
worked for the welfare of the people. This happened in every country that was
colonized and this included countries like Sri Lanka and Kenya. The British did
this in a subtle manner by declaring all unoccupied land as belonging to the
Crown. In pre-colonial days the forest land near habitations belonged to the
villages as common land used for water retention, firewood collection, for
forest produce, for habitation as the populations grew, for cattle enclosures
during the cultivation season etc. The land was thereafter sold to the white
planters for a song and in Kenya, within the forest sold were entire villages,
including the people.
In Out of Africa Karen Blixen documents how the
planters sold their land including full villages with the people. In Sri Lanka
it is on record that the Police were used to throw out villagers when their
villages were situated in forest extents sold to the planters.
When we think of the Third World countries today
we tend to forget that the Third World was entirely conquered by the Colonial
Superpowers. In the words of Cecil John Rhodes, the aim of the British Empire
was to bring the whole of the uncivilized world under British Rule”. The
colonial masters changed the self reliant economies to become economies that
brought about an income for them. The colonies were made to produce raw
materials required for their industries and the goods manufactured were sold to
the masses in the colonies. In this process the Third World countries were
exploited with riches accumulating in the Countries of the Colonial
Superpowers. Zimbabwe, earlier Rhodesia, was thus exploited to the maximum.
Mugabe was a guerilla fighter who fought tooth and
nail against the colonial domination of his country. At last in 1978 the
guerilla forces forced the British to cede independence. Under the Lancaster
House Agreement of 1979, Britain, the country that had ruled Rhodesia from 1890
to 1965, when Ian Smith declared independence unilaterally, agreed to pay
compensation to white famers who will be dispossessed of their land when the
land will be taken over and distributed to the indigenous people. This was
argued necessary because the colonial ruler, the British had taken over these
lands from the communities that controlled these unoccupied commonly held lands
without the payment of any compensation and had thereafter sold these lands to
foreign-mainly British planters at nominal- very low rates and they had
established plantations and had thereby amassed fortunes over decades. The
prosperity of the UK was brought about by the profits that came from the
plantations The vast bulk of the cultivable land of Rhodesia was in this
process bought and occupied by 6000 white farmers. The dispossessed local
people had no employment. It was an attempt to make these impoverished landless
people farmers that made Mugabe argue for the plantations to be taken over for
distribution.
However this takes over of plantations was to be
done on a willing seller” basis. In fact the question of compensation payments
rocked and almost aborted the Lancaster House Agreement which took three months
of discussions to complete. An important premise of this agreement was that no
repossessions out side the willing seller concept could be done for ten years.
In 1981 Britain pledged to pay GB Pounds 630 million, but there was continuous
disagreement and haggling and ultimately in 1997, the British Government of
Tony Blair, reneged on its commitment and paid only pounds 44 million.
According to a Report from the Zimbabwe Government the amount actually paid was
only Pounds 17 million.
Independent Zimbabwe under President Mugabe did
well initially after independence. Little land was taken over because of the
terms of the Lancaster House Agreement to find willing sellers and the White
Farmers continued to work their farms. The indigenous population continued to
be landless. There was rapid growth in the Eighties. and then came the IMF’s
Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) which Mugabe embraced in 1990. However it
did not take long for Mugabe to realize that the Structural Adjustment Program
did not bring about any development and he ditched the SAP in 2001.. IMF
withdrew balance of payments support in 1999 and withdrew providing Aid in 1999.
During the period of the Structural Adjustment
Program loans were made available even for consumption. The tenet of the SAP
was to allow free trade, deregulate and reduce or abolish tariffs on imports on
the basis that the IMF will provide easy loans to bridge budget deficits. In
this process the foreign debt ballooned to $ 4,500 million in 2001 to the World
Bank, the African Development Bank and the European Investment Bank. Earlier
Zimbabwe was not an indebted country at independence. It was the IMF that
ruined Zimbabwe.
In the words of Richard Saunders, “Loan
agreements emanating from the Structural Adjustment Programme have stretched
Zimbabwe’s foreign and domestic debt to unmanageable
proportions.”(Saunders:30)
As explained by Patrick Bond and Richard Saunders:
1991 was the turning point… The US was suddenly the sole superpower and the
IMF, the World Bank and GATT(later WTO), wasted no time imposing a global
neoliberal iron heel. Zimbabwe had significant international debts and suddenly
new debt service was conditioned on yielding to the global neo liberal
dictatorship. The large State Sector and protected local industries inherited
from the prior regime were condemned as inefficient and an Economic Structural
Adjustment Program was adopted by Mugabe with considerable enthusiasm. The
results were disastrous.
Manufacturing output declined by 40% from 1991 to
1995 accompanied by a similar decline in worker’s real standard of living and
dramatic increase in inflation that ravaged savings and those in the informal
economy….Domestic Industry was destroyed in 1990 by the ESAP(Bond &
Saunders)
The Government however was under constant pressure
from the people to provide them with land and Mugabe had no alternative but to
take over the plantations without paying compensation. Mugabe commenced
repossession of plantations in 1997. In March 2002, all whites were ordered to
leave their land without compensation. The Current aim is to transfer 30% of
farmland to black ownership by 2014. Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth
in March 2002 Mugabe established a one party state but by 1990 changed his
ideas and held multi party elections.
Many world authorities are unaware of the real
reasons for the disaster that Zimbabwe faces today. Professor Paul Collier of
Oxford in his book: The Bottom Billion:Why the Poorest Countries are Failing
and What can be done about it(Oxford 2007) states: Mugabe must take
responsibility for the economic c collapse in Zimbabwe since 1998 culminating
in inflation over 100.000 %.”
If the British Government had stood by the
conditions that were agreed at the Lancaster House Agreement and had provided
the 630 million pounds to be paid as compensation, there would have been no
problem. But the British Government had reneged on its promise and President
Mugabe cannot be blamed for this decision to take over the plantations. It was
this act of President Mugabe that made the International Superpowers move
sanctions on Zimbabwe.
No country with a massive foreign debt can face
sanctions imposed. Though in the July 2008, G8 Meeting of the Superpowers, full
sanctions were not agreed on because Russia and China did not support it,
compliance with sanctions already imposed by Britain and Western Superpowers
have ruined the economy.
Paul Collier has taken Mugabe’s present Zimbabwe
out of context in castigating Mugabe. One has to castigate Tony Blair and his
British Government for reneging on the aid that was agreed at the Lancaster
House Agreement and also blame the IMF for implementing the Structural
Adjustment Program that ruined local industry and local production. Once the
development infrastructure in a country is abolished, it is an extremely
difficult task to rebuild. Go through the IMF annals of ‘development’ and the
Structural Adjustment Programme and one will find that each and every country
that followed it have had their economies ruined.
In today’s context once a country has a high
foreign debt which it cannot service and further its economy has been ruined by
following the tenets of the Structural Adjustment programme, it has to depend
on the grace of the International Superpowers for further Aid, if it is to pay
its dues and survive. Mugabe came to a point where he had to displease the
International Superpowers by his decision to take over the plantations without
the payment of compensation and by his decision to not implement the Structural
Adjustment Program. What happens is that through following the SAP the
development infrastructure that is there in the country is abolished, the
country’s assets are privatized and get into the foreign hands- hands of the
multinationals and further through privatization of paying assets, the
Government does not have a tax base to meet its development expenditure.
No country can face the sanctions of the
International Community for long. Initially a country can raise a few foreign
loans at high interest rates, through foreign banks, but this source dries up
particularly because the countries cannot service those loans taken at high
interest and further because the foreign banks eventually fall in line to the
tunes of the International Community and the IMF.
Mugabe could not face the sanctions of the IMF and
the International Superpowers. Thus his economy gradually got into ruins with
the inflation rate reaching 7,000% in 2007 and this rising further to 100,000%
in 2008. Today the unemployment rate is around 80% and about a fourth of the
population work in foreign countries, mainly in South Africa. The people have
their incomes from foreign funds remitted by the relatives working abroad.
What has happened to Mugabe and Zimbabwe is due
not to Mugabe’s inefficiency, but entirely due to the fact that Mugabe failed
to counter the machinations of the International Community that started
imposing sanctions. In today’s neocolonialist era, it is the foreign funded Non
Governmental Organizations (NGO) that are used by the Colonial Superpowers to
sabotage the development of the Third World covertly. Overtly the Superpowers
function as paragons of democracy and human rights and their educated Envoys in
their verbosity continue to pose as if they are helping our countries and our
leaders are snared. There is a catch in everything that the Superpowers tell
us, if only we can decipher it.
There are a number of lessons for Sri Lanka from
Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. The United National Party that ruled Sri Lanka from 1977
embraced the SAP and in the process the economy of the country was really
ruined. In 1977 when the SAP was embraced by President Jayewardene the Rupee
was immediately devalued by 100%. The continued implementation of the
Structural Adjustment Programme of high interest rates and free trade- allowing
a free flow of foreign exchange to everyone for everything and meeting the excess
with loans, increasing our debt is the easiest method of ruining any economy.
See my book: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka & Alternate Programs of
Success(Godages) for the process of ruination that took place. This is
exactly what happened to Mugabe.
Sri Lanka has been kicked by the IMF and the World
Bank. It is their refusal to give us aid that has made other financial
authorities discredit us and it is this that has forced us to get loans with as
high an interest as 8.25%. Why are we yet continuing to follow the IMF precepts
of the Structural Adjustment Program like high interest rates, which are the
highest in Asia and due to which no local production can emerge. Why have we
not commenced regulating the use of foreign exchange. Unfortunately Sri Lanka
even free floated the Rupee in 2001 under Chandrika’s Government with the
result that the Central Bank no longer is in charge of the foreign exchange
that comes to our country. We allow the Banks and this includes the foreign
banks to use the foreign exchange that comes in- it is supposed to be according
to the rules of supply and demand. In actual practice it has been proved that
the foreign banks hoard the foreign exchange that comes in and bids the value
of the foreign currency upwards as did happen on 25 th January 2001.( See pages
95-130 of my book: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka…)
Faced with sanctions by
certain foreign superpowers and the IMF Mugabe, failed to take total control
over the economy. He allowed the NGO to nibble at the economy and did not organize
production to take place. Sri Lanka too has to face a grim future unless it is
prepared to take total control over the economy, including its foreign exchange
and control the use of foreign exchange in the interests of the country
Very unfortunate are those who fail in protecting the places of worship belonging to other religions and in giving them due regard. Be it a temple, church, cathedral or a mosque; all places of worship are sacred and sublime. Honour and respect for all such places are strictly stressed upon by every religion. There have been so many examples in the recent history where holy places of worship belonging to other religions were brutally disrespected rather insulted but the demolition of the Babri Mosque in Uttar Pradesh India is the ever worst among all these examples though Hinduism in no way preaches and promotes violence, hatred or extremism. A large group of Hindu activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and allied organizations demolished the 16th-century Babri Mosque in the city of Ayodhya on 6 December 1992. Reports say that the demolition occurred after a political rally organized at the site by Hindu nationalists turned violent. An inquiry was held to look into the matter which found 68 people responsible, including several leaders of the BJP and the VHP. The inter-communal riots between India’s Hindu and Muslim communities resulted in the death of more than 2000 people. The act was widely condemned even by a large number of Hindus have a moderate approach towards religion; some NGOs also staged protest demonstrations against the incident but all these efforts proved in vain and futile because the Hindu extremists laid the foundations of a temple at the place of the Babri Mosque. Now seventeen years after the incident, once again, another incident of the same type is in the making. The Gyanvapi mosque in the Varanasi area of Indian province Uttar Pradesh is very soon going to be converted into a temple.
According to the details provided by the Indian media, Mr. Narendra Modi had promised to materialize the reconstruction of an old temple Kashi Vishwanath when he was addressing a political session in Varanasi (old name Banaras) on the eve of filing nomination papers for Lok Sabha 2019. In the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh along the River Ganges the city Varanasi is regarded as the spiritual capital of India. Every year thousands of Hindu pilgrims come to this city to have a sacred bath in the River Ganges. There are more than 2,000 temples in Varanasi; Kashi Vishwanath is the central one. Gyanvapi is a very ancient mosque situated very close rather adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. This mosque is a serious hurdle in the extension project of Kashi Vishwanath temple. This mosque was built by the Mughal King Aurangzeb somewhere in 1664. This area is in the constituency of Mr. Modi and he has directed Yogi Adityanath the Chief Minister to work as the caretaker of the project. Yogi Adityanath, an extremist Hindu monk is the founder of Hindu Yuva Vahini, a youth organization that has been involved in communal violence. In June 2017, an article of Dhirendra K Jha was published in Aljazeera which said, Although Yuva Vahini was registered as a cultural organization, the HYV worked like a Hindu nationalist militia, trying to create a fear of minorities – especially Muslims – among the majority Hindus. Its preferred tactic was to frame every argument and altercation between a Hindu and Muslim in religious terms and turn it into a mini-sectarian riot.” This organization headed by Yogi Adityanath has always remained engaged in a campaign to forcibly convert Muslims to Hinduism.
Reports say that in January 2015 the Vahini men forced nearly 300 local Muslims of Ghazipur village in eastern Uttar Pradesh to convert to Hinduism under the guidance of Yogi Adityanath. In February 2015, more than 80 Muslims of Bhibani village in Kushinagar were forcibly converted to Hinduism. Now the same Yogi Adityanath has been assigned the task of demolishing the Gyanvapi mosque. The work there is in the process; the aimed target is to clear up an area of 45000 meters and spare 50 feet wide pathways for the pilgrims. This area consists of more than 300 houses which are home to more than 1000 families. The Gyanvapi mosque is also one of the buildings supposed to be demolished. The people living in this area belong to a very poor class, doing odd jobs to keep them alive. They have no power or force to stop the Hindu extremists from throwing them out of their houses with all their bags and baggage.
The members of Yuva Vahini say that King Aurangzeb had demolished a temple to build this mosque; now the scenario is being changed to its original. To prove their stance some Hindu extremist activists had attempted to burry an idol of bull to claim that the mosque site was a Hindu site. Maulana Abdul Salam Nomani had been the Imam of the Gyanvapi mosque before his death in 1987. He had flatly rejected the blame of Hindu extremists that the mosque was built after destroying a temple. According to him, the foundation of the mosque was laid by the third Mughal emperor Akbar, and Akbar’s grandson and Aurangzeb’s father Shah Jahan started a madrasah called Imam-e-Sharifat at the site of the mosque in 1638. He said that the mosque never had anything to do with any temple. In fact, this is the same story that was narrated by the Hindu extremists in the case of the Babri mosque. The conflict on the Gyanvapi mosque is not a new one; for the last many decade’s extremist Hindu groups have been continuously claiming rights to the land of the Gyanvapi mosque. There had been serious disputes on this issue many times. In 1936, after disputes with the Hindu residents of the area, the local Muslim community filed a suit in a civil court of (Banaras) Varanasi. In 1937, the court decided in favour of the Muslims and allowed them to offer prayers in the mosque as they desired. In 1991, the government of Narasimha Rao passed ‘The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act’ which stated that all religious sites would be maintained as they were on 15 August 1947. Even after approval and implementation of this Act, Somnath Vyas; an activist of RSS, filed a case in a Varanasi civil court demanding that the mosque site be handed over to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. The tragic incident of demolition of the Babri Mosque in 1992 became a hurdle and the matter could not go further. Now things are again in a horrible situation. The Hindu extremists are eager to repeat the history of the Babri Mosque in Varanasi. But one thing must always be kept in mind; BJP, Yuva Vahini, Vishva Hindu Parishad, and Mr. Modi do not reflect the true face of Indian society which is a society of love and care for everyone. Such extremism simply mars the serene face of a peaceful society.
There was a bombshell in October 2018 when Premiere was sacked
Then we had another bong shell in April during Easter Sunday creating havoc in every front
Then premiere got another bond shell with indirect accusation related to the Bond sale
Last week one more bombshell was dropped from Nelum Tower with an accusation by the head of the government with a claim of a large amount been embezzled
By the time the presidential election is declared, we may be seeing many more bombshells coming
We are so used to bombshells for the last 40 years. And the people have become deaf and also DUMB
MEDIA RELEASE – Mahinda Rajapaksa Leader of the Opposition
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the
Colombo Lotus Tower, the President made a statement to the effect that back in 2012,
one of the Chinese contractors involved in the project – a company named ALIT –
had taken the advance payment of Rs two billion (Around 15
million
USD at that time) made by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRC) and
disappeared. The President also stated that the government had sent the Sri
Lankan Ambassador in Beijing to the address given by ALIT and discovered that
there was no such company at that address. This allegation was flashed around
the world by international news agencies including Reuters and it became a major
news story in many Asian countries.
At the time that this payment was made
in 2012,
the TRC which was in charge of this project was directly under me as the
President. Therefore I wish to make a clarification regarding this matter. In 2012,
the total cost of the Lotus Tower project was estimated at 104.3
million
US Dollars. The Exim Bank of China agreed to provide a loan facility of 88.6
million
USD or up to 85%
of
the total project cost. The remaining 15% of the cost had to be
borne by the TRC. The contractors for projects financed by the Exim Bank of
China are nominated by the Chinese government. Accordingly, the China National
Electronics Corporation and ALIT were nominated by the Chinese government. The
Lotus Tower was due to be completed by 2015,
but due to the yahapalana government causing delays in the project and due to
lapses on the part of the contractor, it could not be completed according to
schedule.
In projects of this nature the 15%
‘local
component’ has to be paid to the contractor upfront as an advance payment.
Documents confirm that on 9 October 2012,
the TRC had credited 15 million USD (Rs. two
billion) to the account of the main contractor China National Electronics
Corporation. The latter company is still the main contractor of the project. The
advance payment of Rs. two billion was never paid to the other contractor ALIT.
The relevant documentation will show that from day one all payments had been
made to the account of China National Electronics Corporation.
The two contractors recommended for the
Lotus Tower projects are 100% Chinese government
owned conglomerates. The active party doing the contract was always the China
National Electronics Corporation and not ALIT. To say that a major Chinese
government owned conglomerate had disappeared with Rs. two billion belonging to
the Sri Lankan government, is a horrendous insult to China. This insulting
statement was moreover made in the presence of the Chinese Ambassador. We can
understand why the government would want to sling mud at the political
opposition on the eve of a decisive presidential election. But to publicly
insult a major world power that has always been friendly and helpful to Sri
Lanka, is unconscionable.
From the time the present yahapalana
government came into power, all they have done is to declare open the projects
started by my government. The Colombo Lotus Tower is also one such project. The
Lotus Tower can generate enormous revenues for the government by providing
telephone, television and radio broadcasting services and also by attracting
local and foreign tourists. But its cost has been less than a seventh of the
cost for example of the privately owned Shangri La hotel project in Colombo.
The Lotus Tower is therefore, an excellent investment. This is also an edifice
that will symbolise Sri Lanka, much like the Eifel Tower in France.
This unfounded allegation of a Rs. two
billion fraud in the construction of the Lotus Tower was made at its opening ceremony
in order to prevent the credit for constructing such a national asset from
going to the SLPP and the Joint Opposition. What we saw happening was no
different to throwing stones at a neighbour’s new car out of sheer jealousy.
For more than five years we have heard a lot about golden horses, Lamborghinis
and bank accounts with a balance of 18 billion USD, but this
is the first time that anybody heard of a Chinese company that had disappeared
with Rs. two billion belonging to the TRC. In April 2019,
the Auditor General published a 670 page special report on
the Lotus Tower project, but it makes no mention at all of a Chinese contractor
who disappeared with Rs. two billion.
What this indicates is the remarkable
ability that the yahapalana leaders have to concoct complete falsehoods in a
manner that suits the occasion. If this statement was made due to wrong
information being conveyed, I expect the relevant individuals to move quickly
to issue a correction. Since all documents pertaining to the Lotus Tower
project are available with the TRC and the Auditor General, ascertaining the
truth with regard to this matter is not a difficult task at all.
The world has seen many examples of how progressive countries and Nations have become weak Nations, as a result of politically motivated witch-hunts by successive governments. The continent of Africa is a good example of how successive governments have been solely focused on eliminating political opponents, instead of focusing on the country and its citizens, which has led to disastrous consequences.
One of the prominent 100-day election promises made by the coalition Yahapalana Government during the Presidential and General Elections in 2015, was to investigate and reprimand those in the Rajapaksa Government, including the Rajapaksa family, for fraud and corruption, which included the alleged personal wealth of Mahinda Rajapaksa, amounting to over US$ 13 billion, alleged import of Lamborghini cars by the young Rajapaksas using public funds, and alleged money laundering, corruption, ill-gotten wealth, amassed by Senior Ministers and officials of the Rajapaksa Government. Despite not having any solid proof, the Yahapalana campaign promise was based on unfounded allegations – trillions of dollars of public funds wasted and scammed by the Rajapaksas and the Government. This election promise had to be made good by the Yahapalana Government – by hook or by crook!
Within a week of Sirisena taking oaths as the President of the Yahapalana Government, Premier Wickremesinghe was afforded the privilege of forming a government, passed a Cabinet Paper appointing the Secretariat established by a Cabinet Sub-Committee under patronage of the Premier, set up in accordance with the Cabinet decision taken by a Cabinet which constituted only one Cabinet Minister from the SLFP. This Sub-Committee was set up at the Premier’s official residence, Temple Trees. On 13 February 2015, just weeks after the Yahapalana Government took office, the Gazette establishing the FCID was issued. It should be noted at this point that the FCID was named as the Fraud and Corruption Investigation Division, and not as the Financial Crimes Investigation Division as known today.
In accordance with the Cabinet Paper presented by the Minister on 21 January 2015, under the topic “Establishment of Fraud and Corruption Investigation Division,” the below mentioned crimes committed in any part of Sri Lanka could be investigated by this Division:
i. Grievous financial crimes, corruption and massive unauthorised projects. ii. Crimes against public funds and property. iii. Grievous crimes against national security, public finance, health and environment. iv. Unlawful enrichment and misuse of official powers. v. Investigating into the money -laundering, funding of terrorists and illegal transactions.
This Division functions under a Deputy Inspector General of Police and a Director, under the supervision of the Inspector General of Police and, the Division was given the powers to investigate within all the jurisdictions established in Sri Lanka, and the complaints are forwarded to the IGP for investigation by the Secretariat established by the Cabinet Sub-Committee, under patronage of the Prime Minister, set up in accordance with the Cabinet decision and, in addition to that, the special complaints are forwarded by the Cabinet Sub-Committee directly to the DIG in charge of the Division.
It is clear that the priority of the Wickremesinghe Government was to eliminate all possible political opponents, especially the Rajapaksas, via a legitimate witch-hunt, by directly setting up this Sub-Committee under his purview, and at Temple Trees. In order to bring about fear within the security and government establishments, this witch-hunt was not limited to the Rajapaksas and Ministers of the Rajapaksa Government.
It extended to the security establishments of SL, including individual high-ranking Officers to lower ranks, government and State sector establishments and officials, and even the private sector. This witch-hunt was also for the purpose of pleasing Wickremesinghe’s Western allies, who supported the defeat of Rajapaksa in 2015. Sirikotha has been noted for similar witch-hunts in the past, including against Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1978, wherein JRJ amended the Constitution, to strip Mrs. B of her civic rights, preventing her from contesting in 1982, as Mrs. B was likely to make a comeback, defeating the JRJ Government.
However, Wickremesinghe was well aware that not a single honest and respectable high-ranking Police Officer would investigate allegations of fraud and corruption, sans clear evidence and proof. Hence, the appointment of DIG (subsequently suspended) Ravi Waidyalankara, an Officer with a questionable background as Director FCID. No sooner Waidyalankara took office as Director FCID in March 2015, Muhammed Fazl conducted a one-on-one hard talk interview with him at his office at the FCID. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5vNPS0axBw). In this interview, Fazl questions Waidyalankara about corruption in the Police Department indirectly, pointing fingers at Waidyalankara’s suspect background, and also asking if a radical approach is to be taken by the FCID to arrest as many as possible alleged suspects within the Yahapalana 100-day programme. A key factor mentioned during this interview is the possibility of arresting alleged suspects based on complaints, arresting these suspects and getting the alleged suspects to prove their innocence. The intention of Wickremesinghe and the Yahapalana Government is made obvious during this interview.
Citizens of SL are limited to information based on Media news reports and Media interviews by Police Media Spokesmen and politicians. In reality, the truth is far from what it seems.
Carlton Sports Network (Yoshitha Rajapaksa, Namal Rajapaksa, Rohan Weliwita) – Misuse of Public Property
In addition to the yet unfounded money laundering charge against CSN, one of the other charges filed by the FCID was the misuse of public property. The only proof to arrest the officials of CSN was a Rs 150.00 (one hundred and fifty) voucher issued by CSN to mend a tire patch of a vehicle belonging to the Presidential Secretariat. No further proof or evidence on misuse of PP has been found or exposed even after 4 years. However, the arrested persons were remanded on the request of the FCID for a lengthy period. Public opinion was created that Yoshitha, Namal and Rohan had used their ties with President Rajapaksa to misuse public property for the privately-owned CSN.
Lalith Weeratunga – Sil Redi
The FCID case against Lalith Weeratunga, former Presidential Secretary, the highest-ranking State sector employee, was a case that instilled fear in the Government and State sector, which has crippled the efficiency of the State sector since 2017, resulting in drastic consequences, bringing SL to its knees, and chaos. In the Sil Redi case, while the decision given by Courts is not challenged in any way in this article, it is a well-known fact in the State and private sector, that handwritten minutes and footnotes on an originated internal memo or external/internal originated letter, which is circulated for action, recommendations, approvals etc. are perceived as a valid mechanism of documentation in an efficient work environment. It is regrettable that these minutes and footnotes on all the correspondence related to the subject were disregarded by the FCID. This case against the highest-ranking State official brought about a ‘cover your behind’ attitude among all file and rank in the State sector, and as a result it is obvious that State sector employees lack the motivation to make decisions within their capacity, and one can clearly note the lack of innovation in a State sector since 2017.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa – MiG deal allegation, memorial museum misappropriation of funds, Avant Garde case
One of the first overseas fact-finding missions entrusted to Waidyalankara was to Ukraine, regarding the alleged corruption and fraud on purchasing of MiGs for SL. This was done by Waidyalankara almost soon after the revolution in Ukraine ended. As a result of the revolution in Ukraine and the country being in disarray, the relevant documentations on the procurement of the MiGs by the Rajapaksa Government was not available for scrutiny. On his return, Waidyalankara reported to the Sub-Committee that no contract or agreement is available in Ukraine, and assumptions were made that the MiGs had been purchased through a third party, without any tender process or agreements with suppliers, and that large amounts of commissions received would have been the reason for the high rate paid. During the process of the FCID filing the case against Gotabaya and Udayanga Weeratunga, who was Ambassador at the time, the VP of Ukrinmach, Mr. Strudenkin issued a statement through the authorities of Ukraine that he was responsible for the sale of the MiGs to SL, and forwarded the duly signed copies of contracts. Also proven, that the price per MiG was higher than what SL paid in the early 2000s was due to the reason that previously the MiGs were purchased by the previous SL Government on an “as-is condition” basis. However, under the Rajapaksa Government, it was decided to overhaul the MiGs prior to purchase and import. Further, the third party involved in the transaction was proven to be an international funding company who facilitated the procurement of the MiGs, as Ukrinmach was in no state to provide credit to the SL Government – reason for the additional charge. Similarly, in the recent weeks, we have seen Gotabaya being discharged from alleged cases on the Rajapaksa Memorial Museum and the alleged Avant Garde irregularity. However, the adverse publicity given against Gotabaya and others in these cases made the public believe that frauds had been committed with certainty.
FCID cases against Basil Rajapaksa, Gamini Senarath and Johnston Fernando Likewise, the allegations of Basil Rajapaksa’s violation of the Public Property Act is built solely on the Economic Affairs Ministry transferring flag poles to another government entity – The Ministry of Local Government. No charges of bribery or corruption have been filed in this matter. FCID cases filed against Gamini Senarath, former Chief of Staff to President Rajapaksa, and allegations of unlawful wealth against former Minister Johnston Fernando have been thrown out by the Judiciary. Special note to be made on the Johnston Fernando case is that during the interview in March 2015, journalist Fazl makes special mention of Johnston’s assets, and inquires from Waidyalankara if that is one of the cases the FCID plans to investigate. Despite having no concrete evidence to go by, the arresting of these individuals and remanding them seems to be the PR victory achieved by the Wickremesinghe Government.
It is not just the Rajapaksa family and the Rajapaksa Government Ministers and State sector employees who have been witch-hunted since 2015. The security forces have been betrayed by the Wickremesinghe Government in Geneva, and high-ranking Officers have been arrested and remanded, along with junior ranks, on various allegations, including alleged war crimes. Most of these allegations are based on unfounded, word of mouth witness accounts, as seen in the case of the disappearance of the 11 youth from Dehiwala. Reprimanding and arresting of SL forces rank and file seems to have pleased the Wickremesinghe Western allies and HR NGOs. The detrimental result of these actions was seen when suicide Islamic terrorists killed over 250 innocent civilians on Easter Sunday.
While the objective of setting up a Sub-Committee to advise the FCID, which allegations and against whom to be investigated seems to be politically motivated with the FCID having little or no proof to proceed with most allegations in a Court of Law, the impact of arresting, questioning and remanding Ministers, MPs, State Officials, Police and Security forces personnel, Senior and minor staff of the public and private sector has been the downfall of the Wickremesinghe Government, and that of SL, which was an economically progressive Nation State up to 2014. Following the defeat of the LTTE in 2009, SL prided itself as a sovereign Nation State. The economy grew by leaps and bounds, and the country became an efficient work ground in terms of investments, infrastructure development and private sector growth. The economic boom created an upper middle class sector in SL. Small and medium enterprises grew to an extent that it contributed 52 per cent to the economy of SL. The State sector became efficient, with speedy decision-making by public officers.
This work ground (in Sinhala Wedabima) was converted to a hunting ground (in Sinhala Dadabima) by the Yahapalana Government, resulting in the chaos and calamity within the Yahapalana Government itself, and now even the UNP. With this transformation of SL becoming a Yahapalana hunting ground, came along regular strikes and protests, the slow progress on infrastructure and other developments, the lethargy in the State Sector, and the slow decision-making process in Government institutions. This negative energy spread to the private sector, with the shutting down of over 900 SMEs since 2016, downsizing in the private sector, drop in profits in blue chips, cautious attitude of commercial banks overall resulting in the economic collapse in SL, with a loss of employment to over 600,000, and worst of all the failures in national security mechanism and the loss of over 250 innocent lives.
It has been proven around the world that any government that makes a country its hunting ground for political gain fails, and drags the Nation along with it to failure. The failed States in the world is proof of this. A 30-year LTTE-battered Nation has been battered once again since 2015. Wrongdoers should be punished without doubt. But it should not be politically motivated or based on the sole objective of eradicating strong political competition, or for gaining cheap popularity. It is the hope of all Sri Lankans that the President and Government elected in 2020 will once again transform Sri Lanka from the current hunting ground (Dada Bima) to a progressive work ground (Weda Bima)!
The growing presence of Chinese footprints in Sri Lanka has made India a bit of nervous and forced it to further strengthen its ties with Colombo. The Chinese involvement in Sri Lanka ranges from infrastructure development, economic aid, investments, trade, and strong diplomatic support to the island state, especially in the wake of human rights accountability issue that emerged after the end of the Lankan Civil War. This is a cause of concern for New Delhi as Beijing is encroaching on its sphere of influence in the region and eroding its commercial and cultural links with the island nation.
When it comes to infrastructure development Chinese footprint in Sri Lanka has attracted considerable attention of India and it has been proven by the former’s strong foothold in Hambantota. Even in terms of timely completion of projects, cost-effectiveness and quality of infrastructure, the island nation favours Beijing over India. Other reasons why Colombo backs China is that they not only bring in their labour workforce but also grant the leverage on structural adjustments, policy reforms, competitive biddings, or transparency attached to their loans” or even human rights which something India doesn’t give to its age-old friend.
While most Indian companies are privately owned, Chinese ones are state-owned and supported by state financial institutions like China Development Bank Corporation, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) etc. This political attitude of Beijing to look towards strategic advantages, diplomatic mileage provides it with an extra edge over New Delhi. Thus to improve the tie-ups with Sri Lanka, New Delhi should take the above-mentioned engagement on a serious note.
As far as economic engagement is concerned, the volume of trade between Beijing and Colombo reached nearly $ 2.1 billion in 2010 and grew further to $3.14 billion in 2011. Of this figure, Sri Lankan export was a mere $153 million as against China’s $2.989 billion. The balance of trade is hugely in favour of China.
Yet Sri Lanka is not complaining. Even in terms of foreign investment and lender China is the largest one. But contrary to that Indian rupee does not enjoy the same privilege, despite the loud stated fact that for decades India remains as Sri Lanka’s largest trading partner and one of the largest donors and investors.
During the Civil War, when no country was willing to supply arms and ammunition to Sri Lankan, India stepped in to provide only non-lethal weapons” considering domestic political implications.
Again Beijing sensed the opportunity and liberally supplied requisite arms and ammunition to Sri Lankan troops to defeat the LTTE. This behaviour of China fetched them tremendous goodwill from the Sri Lankan government and the Sinhalese in general.
In the words of Gen Sarath Fonseka, the then Army Chief of Sri- Lanka- India had told us they were not in a position to sell or send offensive weapons or even equipment like radars and basic communication equipment to meet our requirements. So we had no other option…. It was readily available and comparatively cheaper — almost half the price compared to Russia. I think we had no other option.”
Despite knowing the fact that Colombo will be appreciating China’s diplomatic support against the West-led call for an international investigation on war crimes committed against the humanity during the Civil War, India too supported Sri Lanka along with Russia in defeating UN resolution in May 2009 censuring Sri Lanka. However after 3 years, not happy with Colombo’s sincerity of maintaining resolution and establishing long term stable relations with India, Delhi decided to back the US-sponsored resolution. But China again came forward as a trustworthy friend and backs Colombo against the resolution.
In March 2013, India again voted in favour of UNHRC further disappointing Sri Lanka. China again sensed an opportunity and mobilised its support against UNHRC resolution in favour of Sri Lanka.
And as there is no free lunch: Sri-Lanka time and again supported Beijing’s ‘one-China policy’ — that the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory.” Sri Lanka has also supported China several times on human rights motions against it.
Keeping in mind, all the above-mentioned developments, New Delhi concern should be more about the possibility of the dual-use mode of certain infrastructure projects. For Instance, China is allowed to have storage and fuelling facilities at Hambantota, although India has also been offered to enjoy the same facilities.
Last but not the least New Delhi must list its strengths and weaknesses when it is participating in the third country on developments. Apart from that New Delhi must establish the neighbourhood constituencies and should have a dialogue with the concerned political, economic, social and cultural actors.
A sustain bilateral ties with Sri Lanka is the key to make up for the ground lost to China.
I have read the opinion column today’s paper written by a learned Uswatte Arrachi with brilliant opinion in perfect English parlance with an analysis which can cause the CB Bond Scam ( rather government bond. Scam ) legal case to collapse.
In my younger days I was told by my father who was a government Servant and also taught Sinhala to Tamil government servants and English to Sinhalese ,educated in a Missionary school and eloquent in Latin , about a legal case (which collapsed ) filed against a known landowner in our Neighborhood because of the error in defining the place where a certain act of crime was committed
The landowner shot and killed an intruder in the paddy field where paddy harvest is stored for drying prior to being crushed to retrieve rice This plot of land is called Kamatha”
A witness has given evidence that the offender stood behind Goyam Kolaya” which had a double meaning for a heap of rice plants cut and placed in Kamatha and the leaf of the rice plant
When the witness said that killer hid behind the Goyam Kolaya ” the shrewd witty lawyer proved to the ignorant judge that killer could not have been hiding behind a rice leaf” and commit such a heinous crime
I
was told that the charges were dropped and accused was released
Whether
you call this Government or Central Bank Bond Scam it is a horrendous
crime
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told the parliamentary group of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) yesterday that he was ready to introduce a new constitution within an year based on the consensus reached at the Constitutional Assembly (CA).
Flanked by Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, the Prime Minister called for a special meeting with the TNA MPs in the parliamentary complex in view of the presidential election.
After the meeting, TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran told Daily Mirror that his party made significant compromises on its position to reach consensus on constitution-making. He said the TNA would also agree to forge ahead based on a consensus reached to evolve a new constitution.
Mr. Sumanthiran said the TNA informed the Prime Minister that it was left to the United National Party (UNP) to sort out its internal differences as far as its presidential candidate was concerned and that theTNA would not be party it.
He said there seemed to be three presidential hopefuls in the UNP and his party would decide on whom to support only after holding talks with all those in the fray including those from other parties.
It
is my humble pride to write this mote of gratitude in memory to late Mr. D.J.
Wimalasurendra the Eng., the founder father of Hydro Electricity in
Ceylon.
Devapura Jayasena Wimalasurendra born 17 September 1874 (In Galwadugoda, Galle) – died 10 August 1953 with an unparalleled and invaluable service rendered to the Country and Nation which is in bleak memory now, but it is of my duty-bound to remember being a great-grandchild of the Vishwakula clan of which Late Mr. Wimalasurendra belongs is from Southern sect while I am of the Upcountry sect.
Those were the days the County under the Colonial rule that only the Colombo and few other major cities and places important to Colonials were powered by Diesel generating sets and that had been no electricity around the country.
It was my great-great-grandfather who immensely had thoughts and rendered and sacrificed his academic and ancestral talents to create the marvelous work of Laxapana hydropower station which is also known as Wimalasurendra hydropower station situated near Maskeliya.
Like any other such sons of the Hela nation, he too had several barriers to pass through with many obstacles of saboteurs and enemies that did not like him doing his endeavor, however according to family chronicles that he even had to contest the Ratnapura electorate and enter to the Parliament in order to get his project approved by the then govt.
The commendable initiative he had taken was so much excellent even the colonial rulers did not think about, thus Late Mr. Wimalasurendra deserves the same position of Michal Faraday of England and Thomas Edison of America.
The Nation is
indebted timelessly to Late Mr. Wimalasurendra for lighting up the nation.
Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana Courtesy The Daily Mirror
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said today he would consider contesting the forthcoming presidential election only with the political forces which had since 1995 had consistently stood for the abolishing of the executive presidency.
He said he would also do so together with those who stood for democratic reforms introduced by the 17th Amendment and further strengthened by the 19the Amendment to the Constitution.
Issuing a statement the Speaker said there were many who had requested him to contest for the presidency. Some met me personally and made the request, some others did it over the phone and a few others made the request at news conferences,” he said.
The Speaker said the main objective that was highlighted by them was that the country needs a trusted leadership to safeguard democracy and overcome the current political confusion and establish a civilized society.
He said if he decided to contest the presidential election, it would merely be for a limited period with the intention of laying the foundation for an economically and morally strong country with democratic values.
The Speaker said he would contest only if he received the blessings of the UNP and its allies and within the party’s constitutional framework.
Former Director General of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Anusha Pelpita says that certain officials have mislead the President by providing incorrect information that Rs. 2 billion in funds for the construction of the Lotus Tower have disappeared.
He made this comment while explaining the statement made by President Maithripala Sirisena at a function held yesterday on behalf of declaring opening the Lotus Tower
The Lotus Tower at Colombo the tallest tower in all of South Asia of which construction began in the year 2012 was declared open by the President yesterday. During a speech he made at this function the President revealed a fraud of Rs. 2 billion which took place during construction.
At present there is much talk in society regarding this statement made by the President yesterday.
Accordingly, the former Director General of the TRC Anusha Pelpita has posted an item on his Facebook Account as well explaining the facts regarding this statement made by the President
He has added a photo of the then Chairman of the Tender Board in this country Gotabhaya Jayaratne in discussion with the Chairman of the Alit Company’s office in Beijing, China. This discussion had been in connection with the construction of the Lotus Tower.
How complying with
MCC conditions would result in Sri Lanka gifting
the entire country on a platter to the US for ever, is dealt with further down
this piece
What is one word for
an Agreement where one party to an Agreement has to fulfil his part of the
Contract before the Contract is signed and, where the other party
fulfils his part of the Contract only after the Contract is signed? That
word is, ‘MCC-Compact’.
Controverting Edelman
who said that the ‘gift’ is unconditional another page of the MCC document was
shown
The conditions
imposed on Sri Lanka by the MCC are: All State Lands to be mapped out; All
State Lands to be inventorised; a parcel fabric of all State Lands to be
prepared; The Land Registry to be converted from the Deed system to the Title
Registration system; the Land Registry Records to be Digitalised; a new system
of Land valuation to be introduced; All government Grants (of Land) to be
Registered; A Land Policy Bodyto be Established;
pass new laws that support reforms under the Title system.
Sri Lanka has done
nearly ¾ of what MCC want Sri Lanka to do; only about a quarter remains to be
done. From Sri Lanka’s perspective there is now hardly any requirement to sign
an ‘Agreement’ Document as most of what the US wanted Sri Lanka to do, has been
done; from the US perspective, the balance quarter must mandatorily be complied
with if the MCC is to part with the money promised.
The Americans are
laughing all the way.
All State Lands have
been mapped out, inventorised and a parcel fabric of State Lands done. The Land
Registry has been converted from a Deed System to a Title Registration system
(this is the ‘Bim Saviya’ Act that was passed in 1998 by Kumaranatunge, a
member of another secret subversive organisation of the Whites – the Club of
Madrid – dedicated to breaking up Sri Lanka and other Nation States).
With Sri Lanka
responding subserviently to the crack of the MCC whip, MCC requires Sri Lanka
to digitalise the Land Registry, establish a new system of Land valuation,
register all Government Land grants, establish a Land Policy Body and pass new
laws that would support Land Reforms under the Title System.
On these conditions
which MCC requires Sri Lanka to act on and which remain to be completed, Sri
Lanka has already taken the initiative to have them implemented.
To digitalise the
Land Registry, the US advertised in the local newspapers and selected a Sri
Lankan contractor, Harin Gunawardena, to do the job of establishing the
infrastructure for digitalising the Land Registry, under US instructions. The
Registrar General of Lands, Gunasekera, and the Surveyor General, Udayakantha,
devotedly permitted the Americans access to their offices and work on the
process of digitalising the Register. The process is underway, with American
input, unsupervised.
A similar situation
exists in the Valuation department.
Gunasekera,
Udayakantha and their successors are put on notice; they could however redeem
themselves by assisting the State.
The double-speak of
the Americans is quite evident. In their ‘Constraints’ analysis a primary
concern of the Americans is their inability to access and buy-up land in Sri
Lanka.
Hence most, if not
all, of the conditions laid down by the MCC for Sri Lanka to comply with, is to
give the Americans easy access to buy-up or lease land in Sri Lanka.
What then is the
motive of the MCC compact? The objective of the MCC is to create the necessary
conditions in Sri Lanka to enable the United States to buy up Sri Lanka for a
song.
Where then is the
double-speak? The MCC tells Sri Lanka (and other poor nations) that they are
here to alleviate poverty. If they have access to Sri Lanka’s land and buy up
the land of the poverty-stricken farmer, the MCC does not alleviate poverty,
they only aggravate poverty.
The MCC slogan,
‘alleviating poverty’, is a good sell; poor countries, because of their
poverty, are vulnerable, malleable, and susceptible to economic blackmail; for
example, ‘if you do not conform to our conditions, we take our ‘gift’ and go to
a more appreciative country who would conform’.
Yes, there are many
poor countries in the world; and the world today is a predator’s market for
land-grabs. It could be argued that what motivates MCC is not altruism but
naked self interest.
In the last 70 years
Sri Lanka has been able to maintain sovereignty of her land, not through an
Army that would deter foreign aggression, but with Buddhism, a deeply engrained
culture, a supportive Constitution, an incorruptible judiciary, legislature and
Administration and, an Army that is excellently capable of dealing with the
internal proxies of foreign military powers.
Consequently, the
people of the country own 84% of the land.
Politicians, elected
by the people, are only the temporary custodians of that land; they have been
delegated the people’s authority to protect the sovereignty of that land and to
preserve the fundamental rights of the unborn generations.
To deprive the people
of Sri Lanka sovereignty over their land the foreign aggressor has to attack,
Buddhism, Sri Lanka’s culture, Sri Lanka’s Army, Sri Lanka’s supportive
Constitution, and the incorruptibility of Sri Lanka’s judiciary,
legislation, and administration.
The attack has begun
and the attack is on all fronts. The MCC is an integral part of that attack.
The Corridor from
Trincomalee to Colombo is mostly government land given on lease to farmers. One
of the conditions laid out by the MCC is to register all Land grants.
Why has the MCC
included this condition?
Until about three
years ago no foreigner could own land in Sri Lanka. But Wickramasinghe enabled
foreigners to own land in the country. However, this is restricted to the 14%
of private land available in the market and that too is restricted by extent,
to a limit of 50 acres.
The rest of the
country’s land, a 84%, is not available for sale; it is only available for
lease, only if the temporary custodian of the land, the President, deems
it fit to be leased.
This 84% of Sri
Lanka’s land is under the protective hand of the President of the country
despite amendments to the Constitution and despite interpretation of the
amendments being challenged in the Supreme Court of law.
How could America’s
impediment to access 84% of Sri Lanka’s land, as a result of the President’s
power, be overcome and how could these powers be devolved to the provinces as
is the demand of the TNA?
How could this
‘restriction’ on this 84% of land being available only for lease and not for
sale be removed and such land be made available for outright private sale?
How could the
limitation of ownership of land to a maximum of 50 acres be done away
with?
This is where the MCC, Wickramasinghe and Sirisena have colluded.
Wickramasinghe
promised the issue of a million deeds to farmers who already have lease
ownership to those lands; he and his hirelings have begun issuing deeds for
these lands.
Sirisena placed
the Presidential seal on each one of those million deeds issued, as is mandated
by law.
The MCC has made it
one of their mandatory conditions that all Land grants be registered under the
Title system; please see the box above captioned ‘Conditions precedent for
MCC land investment’.
In short, by issuing
a million Land Grants to the farmers, the land has been privatised; by the land
being privatised, the power to deal with those lands has been devolved to the
respective provincial councils along the MCC Corridor. The issue of land
grants therefore is not to alleviate poverty, as is proclaimed, but
a necessary ‘precedent’ condition – a condition that has to be met before the
MCC donates its ‘gift’ – that would enable the Americans to buy up land
while satisfying the Eelamists demand for power over ‘land’.
With the MCC electric
railway barrier (see map put out by the MCC in Part 1) dividing the North from
the South, with the Americans controlling the Corridor from Trinco to Colombo
and having the ability to hinder movement of the military between the North and
the South, with Land power devolved to the provinces, the separatists have got
what the American-backed terrorists fought for before they were wiped out at
Nandikadal; Eelam.
The farmers are poor
not because of a lack of land; they are poor because they do not obtain, at the
appropriate time, the fundamentals necessary for farming, such as seed, water,
fertiliser, warehouse facilities for their harvest, markets, price, etc.
Since the farmers
continue to be poor, they are encouraged to sell their land (for which they now
have deeds) or mortgage their land with lending institutions; when the farmers
default on their mortgages the lending institutions would seize the properties
mortgaged with them, and sell these properties.
And this is exactly
what the MCC wants and that is why the MCC requires, as a precondition, ‘the
registration of land grants under the title system’. The MCC would buy all this
land for a song.
When land deeds are
given to farmers, these lands now become private land; no longer do these lands
come under the control of the President (or the Centre); all land powers to
these million deeds issued are devolved to the respective provinces.
The Corridor from
Trinco to Colombo, approximately 1.2 Million acres of land, is replete with
Phosphate, Ilmenite, Monazite, Thorium – a nuclear fuel like uranium – and
other precious and rare metals.
Issuing of a million
Deeds – viz a million Land Grants – has removed the restriction on Government
lands being available only for lease; these lands are now available for sale,
as required by the MCC.
A geopolitical
analysis suggests that the US wishes to occupy Sri Lanka and that they propose
to do so by buying out the country; they are restricted in a way that there is
a limitation on ownership of land by an individual to a maximum of 50 acres.
This restriction and
many other restrictions to America’s easy access to buy Sri Lankan
Land have been done away with, in the draft laws prepared by the
MCC, unknown to the Sri Lankan public.
One such law was the
Land (Special Provisions) Bill presented in Parliament but put on hold by the
Supreme Court. This and the Land Bank Bill are some of the mandatory
preconditions adduced to in the ‘Conditions precedent to funding activities’
given in the ‘Box’ above as ‘passage of legislation that supports reforms in
the title registration system’.
The MCC has been
cajoling the Government to sign the MCC agreement before 17 Sep 19.
Wickramasinghe, Sirisena, the MCC and others are put on notice that they would
be in contempt of Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court should they sign the MCC Agreement
before the Supreme Court give its determination on the plaint filed
regarding the constitutionality of the Land (Special Provisions)
Bill.
The member of the
audience who publicly challenged Edelman for being economic with the truth
indicated another pernicious issue in the MCC Plan put out by the MCC; he said
that the MCC was planning to set up a Land Policy Body which would be the
cardinal authority on Land Policy in the country.
This Policy body is
empowered to override any decision relating to land made by the Government
which is the denouement of Sri Lankan people’s sovereignty and democracy.
And in this policy body
are entrenched the Americans and the NGOs, the paid hirelings of the Americans.
When Edelman denied this allegation, this individual calmly pointed to the
‘Conditions Precedent for MCC Land Investment’ where establishment of a Land
Policy Body is one of the conditions that should be done before the MCC ‘gift’
can be given.
Then turning to
another page in the document in his hand, he showed a wire diagram of this
supreme Land Policy making body, as portrayed by the MCC.
At the apex is the
MCC and subordinate to it is the Land Policy Research Council and further below
is the Land Policy Office of the Ministry of Lands!
With a very strong possibility of, an
Eelam, a terrorist caliphate in the East (see MCC map), Americans in
control of the entire island, of the littoral states in the Bay of Bengal and
the Bay being destabilised by the caliphate terrorists, Sirisena,
Wickramasinghe and the entire cabinet (collective responsibility) and are
put on notice.
At the end of the
sessions this writer interviewed the person who flustered Edelman and had her
red faced. He spoke of the MCC as a US Foreign Policy tool (about which Edelman
pleaded ignorance), the Atlantic Charter as the beginning of the American
Empire and interestingly about a reciprocal process where the boot is on the
other foot and Sri Lanka invests in Land in the US, on the same
conditionalities that the US has imposed on Sri Lanka. This writer shall report
on this in the next piece.
Yahapalana’s attacks on the Maha Sangha are
part of its attack on Buddhism, Buddhists and Buddhist worship. This
anti-Buddhist strategy has clearly been planned well ahead and given to
Yahapalana to implement.
Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka observed in 2016 we can
see that strategies are being discussed among various NGOs and the present
rulers seem to be going along with them, one instance is the Katikawata Bill,
the intention was to suppression of the sangha. There is no need for a Katikawata bill, the
Vinaya rules are sufficient.
Kiribathgoda Ananda has over a 1000 monks under him. They conduct
themselves well.”
Uduwe Dhammaloka continued, there is now a
move by NGOs to say that ordaining young boys as monks is child abuse. We know that as far as Buddhism is concerned
adult ordination will never work. Monks have to be ordained when they are young
otherwise they will never be able to conduct themselves in a manner required of
monks. We now see subtle attempt to portray the ordination of children as child
abuse. There was a video clip of a young samanera crying for his mother that
was shared on social media networks some time ago. These subtle campaigns which
strike at the very root of Sinhala Buddhist culture. If child ordination is
eliminated the sangha will be gone in one generation.
Derana news on 10.9.19 showed a young man
repeatedly slapping two samanera bhikkhus repeatedly for allegedly taking an
item from a shop. An onlooker came forward and stopped him but only after about
half a dozen slaps had been given. The next day Derana news showed the two
samanera in hospital. The man was arrested and the camera showed him
apologizing for his action.
Samanera bhikkhus are also featured elsewhere.
The popular teledrama ‘Sidu’ features a village temple, its chief priest, his
assistant Ven. Rahula and two little
samaneras, Soratha and Subhoda. ‘Sidu’ thus shows the three levels of bhikkhus
in the Sangha community, senior, middle and junior, their role and the
difference in attitude among them. The
samanera are shown to be normal, mischievous little boys, training to be
priests. Before it became a soap opera, Sidu” was a lovely film. Buddhist
philosophy was woven beautifully
into a relaxing film which offered, suspense, melodrama, excitement, ‘pight’,
‘comit’ and ‘luv’.
The international conspiracy leaders have
studied the Sangha as individuals and selected the most suitable bhikkhus for
what they had in mind. These handpicked monks talk and behave in a manner
designed to turn Buddhists against Buddhism. That is the nature of the
conspiracy. Getting the monks involved
is part of the conspiracy. This has also happened in Burma where monks were
brought into disrepute., said Uduwe Dhammaloka.
There is a small group of monks playing a
major role in creating disturbances in the country. They paved the way for the present government
to come to power. These monks were completely unheard of until they started
creating disturbances on the streets. This is a small minority of monks with
suspicious linkages to the west.
It is these monks who were arrested at
Homagama. They were brought to court
like criminals with their heads covered, Things that were not done even in
colonial times are being done now. Our
monks are now aware of what is going on, we discuss these matters, concluded
Uduwe Dhammaloka.
The pin
pettiya in temples is also targeted. Some time ago, the pin petti of Alutgama
and Dambulla viharas were sealed by the Department of Buddhist Affairs. The
public protested and the Department gave in. In
September 2019 another round of pin petti sealing started. The pin petti at Badulla raja Maha
vihara were sealed.
In September
2019, the audit Division of the Department of Buddhist affairs had come
Tissamaharama Raja Maha vihara to do a surprise check of its pin petti. The
petti were sealed to be taken for examination to the Department of Buddhist
Affairs. The auditors has said that the temple had not maintained proper
records of the pin petti money.
The
chief priests at Tissamaharama told Derana that they were unable to get the
money they needed for the next perahera due to the bomb blast. They needed
about 1.3 million .They needed another 50 lakhs or so, to keep the chaitya
whitewashed and pay the workers and feed
them for about two or three months. The Chief priest also observed that there
was a Christian Church in Tissamaharama which had about three hundred acres of
land. Are they checking there as well, he asked. ( This is an extract from the
revised version of Yahapalana versus
Maha Sangha Pt 4”)
