By Saeed Naqvi, The Milli Gazette Online

Prolific punditry on the Easter Sunday massacre in Colombo has taken a pause because investigations have reached a stage where all sides have to take a political call. Different interests would like investigators to be nosy in different directions.

A calamity on a scale where nearly 300 people were killed and 500 injured immediately causes Intelligence agencies to descend with angelic intent, armed with all the technologies. A mystery which Hercule Poirot would leisurely solve over delectable wines and gourmet food is, with the arrival of the agencies, not solved in one go but incrementally, leaving space for stings and hisses, hints and guesses.

The agencies from the US, UK, Israel, Australia and India have been in a scrum according to sources. Even though Intelligence and Security are the responsibility of President Maithripala Sirisena’s office, the direction of the inquiry by the group is more to the liking of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. China’s Belt and Road Initiative has taken Sri Lanka in its embrace. This is not what the agencies listed above are interested in promoting.

It remains a puzzle why Sri Lanka did not take action when Indian Intelligence (RAW) alerted them as early as April 4, weeks before the massacre. Have the differences between the President and the Prime Minister percolated down to Sri Lankan agencies too?

Clearly, Ranil is keen to sign the Status of Forces Agreement with the US before the elections next year. This would be anathema to the Chinese who share their confidences only with the President.

Opinion in Colombo is divided on India’s role. One view is that New Delhi and Washington would join hands to impede the Chinese. Others believe it is not in New Delhi’s interest to have the strategically located island transformed into a US base. New Delhi would prefer a drastically toned down, cooperative foreign presence.

How strategically important Sri Lanka is became clear to me during a visit to Mauritius some years back. My TV team did a feature on the tragic, homeless people from Chagos Island. The story is not easy to digest. An entire island was emptied of its population by the British along with the Americans to set up a base in Diego Garcia. The International Court of Justice ruled in February 2019 to return the island to its citizens. Has the Judgement been thrown in the waste-paper basket?

New Delhi has exerted its influence to keep Mauritius and Bhutan out of the Belt and Road project. Everything else in SAARC has gone the other way. Credit must go to the nimble, creatively ambiguous management of Foreign Policy. Modi-Xi Jinping summit in Varanasi in October may be the culmination of important developments.

The events of Easter Sunday have inspired important research. For instance, Weaponization of Religion as New Cold War Looms”. The paper has been written by Darini Rajasingham Senanayake, a Sri Lankan scholar and writer.

She wastes no time in coming to the point: China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative may well have been the prime target of the bombings that rocked the Indian Ocean Island caught in the crosshairs of super power rivalry”.

According to her, there is a clear effort to mislead Sri Lankans. She points to a video tape of Islamic State leader, Al Baghdadi purportedly speaking about the attacks on Sri Lanka. Arabic and French intelligence experts had no doubt that the tape had been doctored.

Hotels that were targeted were Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury. And there, says Darini, hangs a tale. These hotels were owned by Sri Lankan conglomerates which are into property development with the China construction company.

Four oceanic scientists who were staying at Kingsbury hotel were among the six Chinese who lost their lives. This has been confirmed by the Chinese embassy in Colombo. The deceased were from the South China Sea Institute of Oceanography. Chinese state-run Global Times reported that two other scientists from the First Institute of Oceanography, were scheduled to board the Chinese research vessel Shiyan 3. This was to be the start of an important China-Sri Lanka joint exploration mission in the East-Indian Ocean.

Darini sees a design in the venues that were attacked: Churches located among coastal communities with congregations whose livelihood depends on fisheries and other Indian Ocean resources in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa. As continuation of the pattern, even luxury sea front hotels also became targets. No town in the interior was targeted.

She concludes: Marine affairs and the ocean is the red threat that runs through the design and detail of the selected targets.”

It is puzzling that instead of following the leads Darini Senanayake has focused on, the foreign intelligence agencies have dwelt more on the clash of civilizations and religious strife” as their preferred theme of inquiry.

All sorts of conspiracy theories begin to claim attention. A single column story from Nepal, where also Chinese are influential, on the inside page begins to look significant as part of a larger design. Near Lumbini in South West Nepal, the birthplace of Buddha, five statues of Buddha are vandalized. Is someone trying to create Buddhism-Hindu strife in the Himalayan state? It is difficult to see what political spin can be given to this vandalism.

Likewise what earthly purpose would be served by promoting strife between two Sri Lankan minorities – Muslim and Christian.

There is another way of looking at Sri Lankan developments, exactly as Darini’s headline suggests. Since 2012 I have written consistently on Islamic terror being controlled by the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia as assets” to unsettle societies with sizeable Muslim minorities – Xinxiang in China, Caucasus in Russia. Since this is Salafi Islam, it may have its uses against Shia Iran too. There is that whole turf of Central Asia. And, why forget India? For an elaboration of Terrorism as an asset”

Courtesy CTV News

White glove tea service at The Rubens at The Palace (The Rubens at the Palace)

Have £500 (CAD$817) to spare on a cuppa tea? A luxury hotel in London has launched the U.K.’s most expensive afternoon tea service, featuring a pot of tea made with leaves handpicked at sunrise in the highlands of Sri Lanka.

It’s tea fit for a queen. The experience at The Rubens at The Palace hotel in London involves gold tweezers, gloved service, and a rare tea blend selected by specialist tea merchants at PMD Tea.

Guests take their tea in one of the most extravagant tea rooms in the city, overlooking The Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace.

RELATED STORIES

• What goes into a perfect cup of tea?

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• The Rubens at the Palace – Afternoon tea

What makes the Ceylon Golden Tips tea so expensive? To brew a pot of tea, expert tea pluckers have hand-picked the tips of the plant shoots at sunrise, when the leaves have been anointed by the sun.

The buds are then sun-dried on a velvet cloth. Under the sun’s heat and light, the buds turn from silver to gold in color.

As you would expect from a £500 (equivalent to about US$625) tea service, there’s a lot of pomp and circumstance to accompany the experience.

The dedicated tea master uses gold tweezers to pick the leaves and weigh them with precision. The tea is infused with still natural mineral water and poured from a silver tea set, in a “white glove” service.

The tea itself is described as “smooth, light and mellow” in texture, with hints of fruity notes. The leaves can be infused up to three times.

A pot of The Rubens Golden Tips Tea serves three cups and comes accompanied with scones, pastries and finger sandwiches.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The visiting UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Freedom of Association and Peaceful Assembly has appreciated the fact that Sri Lanka was able to recover and ensure the rule of law in the aftermath of the April 21 tragedy, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said.

It said in a statement that Special Rapporteur Clément Nyaletsossi Voule also expressed his condolences on the recent terrorist attacks that occurred in April.

Mr.Voule called on Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana at the Ministry on Thursday.

The minister said the freedom of association and peaceful assembly was guaranteed to the public under the present government which embarked on a new trajectory upholding the rule of law and democracy and engaging with the international community including the UN on the promotion and protection of human rights.

He said even with emergency regulations being effective, the rights of freedom of assembly and of association had not been restricted and observed that a number of protests/ trade union actions had been carried out in the country in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday attacks.

The Special Rapporteur and his team attended a stakeholders meeting of relevant Government officials, chaired by Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha.

Representatives of Government agencies including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Sri Lanka Police, the Attorney General’s Department, Department of Labour, Ministry of National Integration, official Languages, Social Progress and Hindu Religious Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Board of Investment (BOI) and Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) participated at the meeting.

The Special Rapporteur will visit Colombo, and several areas in the Northern, Eastern and South Provinces of the country.

During his visit, the Special Rapporteur will meet government officials, representatives of civil society, trade unions and the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.

He will also meet representatives of the United Nations system and other international organisations, along with other stakeholders in the country.

Following his visit, the Special Rapporteur will submit the Report of the country visit to the Human Rights Council at its 44th Session in June 2020.

The visit takes place on the invitation extended to the Special Rapporteur by the Government, at his request, in response to the standing invitation extended to all thematic UN special procedures mandate holders in 2015. S

Since then, Sri Lanka has received eight special procedures mandate holders and this year the Sub-Committee on Prevention of Torture visited Sri Lanka from 2-12 April 2019.

In addition to this visit, Sri Lanka will receive two more special procedures mandate holders this year — the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief from 15-24 August and the Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity from 28 October to 8 November this year.

Darshana Sanjeewa Balasuriya Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Acting IGP has written to the National Police Commission (NPC) yesterday saying it is not possible to remove the CID from investigating Dr. Mohammed Shafi’s case and hand it over to the Police Special Investigation Unit (SIU).

The NPC on Thursday called for a report from the Acting IGP over the possibility of removing the CID from investigating Dr. Shafi’s case.

Police Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekera yesterday said the Acting IGP has said in his letter that the CID has launched the investigation into the case in an appropriate manner in accordance with the Code of Criminal Procedure Act’ s clause 125.

The CID has informed the court in this regard and senior officials of the Attorney General’s Department had appeared on behalf of the CID in court. In this context, the Acting IGP said it is not possible to take the investigation away from the CID as it would create many legal and practical issues,” SP Gunasekera said.

It was reported that an attorney had lodged a complaint with the NPC stating that investigations carried out by the CID against Dr. Shafi should be withdrawn.

The lawyer had requested in the complaint that the investigations should be handed over to a Special Investigation Unit which should comprise police teams from the CID, the Kurunegala Police and the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD).

Accordingly, the NPC earlier inquired from the Acting IGP about the possibility of handing over the investigations to the SIU.  (

Courtesy Adaderana

Hayleys Free Zone Limited (HFZ) today denied that the company has any involvement with a shipment said to be containing garbage that is lying at the Port of Colombo.

Video footage of the piles of biomedical waste shipped from the UK, recorded during the observation visit made by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA), was released to the media yesterday (19).

The CEA has ordered to return the consignment of biomedical waste imported to Sri Lanka back to the United Kingdom.

Certain groups, media reports and social media posts had claimed that the shipment was imported into the country by Hayleys Free Zone Limited.

However, issuing a press release today, HFZ denied all allegations levelled against the company in this regard while clarifying that it is not an importer or exporter of goods. 

Statements to the effect that HFZ imported these goods are therefore baseless and false,” it said.

Full Press Release Issued by Hayleys Free Zone Limited:

In light of recent adverse media publicity in relation to a shipment said to be containing garbage, Hayleys Free Zone Limited (HFZ) wishes to categorically state that the company has no connection to the cargo that is lying at the Port of Colombo.

HFZ is a legal entity established to provide logistics services to importers and exporters mainly with the aim of providing value added services for re-exports, as done in other free zones across the Globe.

HFZ is not involved in any way or manner with the said containers presently lying at the Port of Colombo. It is not the importer nor consignee nor logistics services provider in respect of the said containers.

There has also been adverse media publicity with regard to an earlier shipment, which was also not imported by HFZ. The said shipments were sent to HFZ by the importer for the purposes of processing and re-export. Some such cargo has already been processed and re-exported. 

All others, once processed, would also be re-exported. The containers received by HFZ did not contain any garbage or other waste material as alleged in several media reports.

HFZ wishes to make it clear that it is not an importer or exporter of goods. Statements to the effect that HFZ imported these goods are therefore baseless and false.

HFZ denies all allegations levelled against the company in this regard and requests the general public not to be misled by these baseless allegations.

By C.A.Chandraprema Courtesy The Island

July 20, 2019, 7:28 pm 

Mahinda Deshapriya

One of the matters under discussion at this point in time is whether the long delayed Provincial Council elections should be held before the presidential poll this year. This debate is driven largely by one man – the Chairman of the Elections Commission Mahinda Deshapriya, who has said that he will resign from the Chairmanship of the Commission unless the PC elections are held before the Presidential election. Everybody else in the country, the politicians, the general public and even the provincial councilors who have lost their positions as elected representatives of the people, appear to have forgotten about the provincial councils altogether.

Even the northern Tamil lobby on whose behalf the provincial councils system was created as a consolation prize that stops short of a separate state, have not been vocally demanding that the delayed PC elections be held.  The Eastern PC ceased to exist on 30 September 2017, nearly two years ago. The Northern PC ceased to exist on 25 September 2018, nearly one year ago and there has been no demand for elections to be held either from the Tamil general public or even the politicians and political parties in that part of the country. One gets the feeling that even if the entire provincial councils system is allowed to die a natural death, there will be no outcry from the north and east asking for the PCs to be reestablished.

Be that as it may, we have to consider the question whether the PC elections can in fact be held before the next Presidential poll. According to Article 31(3) of the Constitution, the poll for the election of the President has to be taken not less than one month and not more than two months before the expiration of the term of office of the President in office. Since President Maithipala Sirisena was sworn in on the 9th of January 2015, under the provisions of Article 31(3), the next presidential poll will have to be held before the 9th December 2019. To see whether there is still time for the PC elections to be held, we have to calculate backwards from the 9th December date.

If President Sirisena desires to call for a snap presidential poll in the coming several weeks before the full expiry of his term of office, then under Article 31(3A) it is the President himself who will have to by Proclamation, declare his intention of appealing to the People for a mandate to hold office, by election, for a further term. Once such a declaration is made, the Commissioner of Elections will take over from that point onwards. If a declaration calling an early election is not made and the President remains in office till the end, under the provisions of Articles 31(3) and 31(5) of the Constitution read together with Section 2(1) of the Presidential Elections Act No: 15 of 1981, the Elections Commissioner is required to start the presidential election process by issuing a gazette notification fixing the dates for nominations and the poll.

Tight, but not impossible

Assuming that there is no snap presidential election called with the intention of trying to outmanoeuvre potential opponents, then the earliest date on which the Elections Commission can issue the gazette notification fixing the dates for nominations will be the 9th September 2019. The latest date on which the Elections Commission can issue that gazette notification will be 23 October 2019. What Section 2(1) of the Presidential Elections Act No:15 of 1981 says on this matter is that where the Commissioner of Elections is required by the Constitution to conduct the election of the President, he shall by Order published in the Gazette (a) fix the date of nomination of candidates being a date not less than sixteen days and not more than one month from the date of publication of such Order, and (b) fix the date on which the poll shall be taken, being a date not less than one month and not more than two months from the date of nominations.

Hence the Elections Commission will call for nominations for the presidential election on a date between the 9th September and the 23rd October. The question whether the provincial council elections can be held before the next presidential elections are called depends on how long the PC elections process will take. Under the provisions of Article 154E of the Constitution, a Provincial Council stands automatically dissolved five years from the date of its first meeting. As of now, eight PCs have stood dissolved under this provision but no election has been held. Only the Uva Province still has a functioning provincial council. Be that as it may, when a PC stands dissolved, Section 10 of the Provincial Councils Elections Act No: 2 of 1988 kicks in, and the Elections Commission has to call for an election to that provincial council within one week.

The notice issued by the Elections Commission in this regard has to specify the period during which nomination papers will be accepted by the returning officers of each administrative district in the provinces which will be going in for elections. The nomination period has to commence on the fourteenth day after the notice of elections is issued by the Elections Commission and end on the twenty-first day after the issuance of that notice. Thereafter the returning officers of the districts have to fix the date for the poll being a date not less than five weeks or more than eight weeks from the date of publication of the notice. What this means is that the earliest that elections to the PCs can be held is six weeks after the dissolution of a Council and the latest is nearly nine weeks. Going by this, it is possible that even if the provincial council elections are declared at the end of August this year, there will still be enough time to hold both the PC elections and the Presidential elections this year.   

It will certainly be a tight run, but it will not be impossible. Back in 2014, the Uva PC election was held on 20 September 2014 and the Presidential election was declared on 20 November 2014 just two months later. There is no need to have a gap between the conclusion of one election and the declaring of another. Elections can be held back to back if necessary. At the present moment, what the Chairman of the Elections Commission seems to have in mind are back-to-back PC and presidential elections. If this actually takes place we may experience the shortest gap ever between two elections in this country.

Why the PC elections were delayed

The reason why the provincial council elections could not be held when due was because the government hurriedly changed the provincial councils elections system in September 2017, just a day or two before the Sabaragamuwa, North Central and Eastern provincial councils were to stand dissolved. The immediate purpose behind this exercise was to put off the elections. The method by which this change was effected was by bringing sweeping committee stage amendments to a Bill that had originally been gazetted and introduced in Parliament to increase women’s representation in the provincial councils.

On the day that Parliament was to make changes to the system of elections to provincial councils, at around 5.00 pm the Attorney General by virtue of the powers vested in him under article 77 of the Constitution informed the Speaker that the Bill to increase women’s representation in parliament which had now been changed completely to become a Bill to change the system of elections to the PCs, could not be passed without a two-thirds majority in parliament. The government which was desperate to stop the provincial councils election from taking place at any cost, filibustered in Parliament until they were able to collect enough MPs to make up a two- thirds majority. Even when the two-thirds majority was assembled, that was not the end of the story. Some of the smaller political parties demanded that the proportion of candidates elected on the basis of the constituencies and proportional representation be changed from the stipulated ratio of 60%-40% to 50%-50%.

This major change to the elections law was made at the last moment literally on the floor of the house in order to prevent the smaller parties from voting against the proposed amendments. Thus, we have the anomalous situation where the proportion of constituency-based seats and proportional representation seats is 60%-40% at the local government level and 50%-50% at the provincial council level. So shameless was the government’s headlong scramble to avoid holding the provincial council elections.

According to the Act that was passed in September 2017 changing the provincial councils elections system, the delimitation report had to be completed within a period of four months and then tabled in parliament by the Minister in charge of the subject. Within one month of it being tabled in Parliament, the delimitation report had to be passed with a two- thirds majority. Even though the delimitation report was tabled in Parliament in March 2018, it was not passed within the stipulated period of one month. Thereafter, there was a long delay of several months during which the whole process was in abeyance. When it seemed as if the Joint Opposition was about to go to the Supreme Court to get a ruling that the amendments made to the Provincial Councils elections law were now defunct, the government suddenly placed the delimitation report on the order paper and after a debate, even the Minister who presented it to Parliament voted against it to buy further time.

Under the PC elections amending Act of September 2017 if Parliament does not pass the provincial councils delimitation report, the next step in the process was for the Speaker of Parliament to appoint a Review Committee comprising of the Prime Minister and four other members which would make recommendations within a period of two months to the President and the latter was to gazette the delimitation report with any changes made by the Review Committee. There was no provision in the law to extend the two-month period. This period expired on the 28th of October 2018 and no report was submitted by the Review Committee to the President. Thus, there is now no system of elections to elect representatives to the provincial councils.

Apprehensions about EC’s motive

If the PC elections are to be held, it can only be held under the previous system of elections as the new system was never put into place properly. This can be done only if Parliament annuls the PC elections amending Act of 2017 with a two-thirds majority or by invoking the provisions of Section 6(2) of the Interpretation Ordinance, which states that if an amendment brought to a law is for some reason inoperative, then the previous provisions of the law before amendment continue to apply. Even though getting Parliament to annul the amendment they made to the PS elections law in 2017 by a two-thirds majority, will be a complicated matter, invoking Section 6(2) of the Interpretation Ordinance is less complicated.

There are so many ways in which Section 6(2) of the Interpretation Ordinance could have been invoked. Firstly, the Elections Commission could have simply made a decision that since the PC elections amending law was inoperative that they were going to act on the basis of the provisions in the Interpretation Ordinance and proceeded to call for nominations for the provinces that had no Councils and told anyone who was against that decision to go to courts against the Elections Commission. In the alternative someone could have filed an FR case in the Supreme Court on the grounds that his rights have been violated due to the non-holding of PC elections. In the 1998 case of Karunatilleke vs the Elections Commissioner, Justice Mark Fernando said that the Constitution presumes that the country would have functioning provincial councils.

Another way would have been for the President to make an inquiry from the Supreme Court under Article 129 of the Constitution, as to whether the amendment made to the PC elections law in 2017 was operational or not. Even though the opinions given by the SC to inquiries made under Article 129 are non-binding, that would have provided the Elections Commission with the cover to proceed with the PC elections. Justice Fernando made it clear that the responsibility of the Elections Commission was to see that elections were held and not to play ball with the politicians in postponing elections. Going by that, what the Elections Commission should have done was to invoke the Interpretation Ordinance on their own, start the process of holding elections and tell whoever disagrees to go to court and obtain a stay order.

The question that begs an answer today is why the Elections Commission has wait for so long to press for the PC elections? Whatever they do now to have the PC elections held could have been done much earlier and the delay of the elections prevented.

One member of the Elections Commission even petitioned the supreme court against the dissolution of Parliament and the calling of a general election in November last year. Though a member of the elections has petitioned the SC against the holding of an election, they have never petitioned the SC to have a delayed election held.

Now Rip Van Winkle style the Chairman of the Elections Commission seems to have woken up from a two-year slumber and is demanding that the long delayed PC elections be held before the presidential polls to be held this year.

At a presidential election, the vote gets polarized between the two main contenders. However at all other elections the vote gets fragmented among many political parties. If a PC election is held immediately before a presidential election, the vote will get fragmented at the PC elections and when a presidential election is held immediately afterwards, they may be hoping that the fragmentation that pertained at the PC elections will be carried forward to the presidential elections. At the presidential elections, political parties that contest separately at other elections come together to back one candidate. The yahapalanites may be banking on collecting votes by fragmenting at the PC elections and to come together later at the presidential election and that the synergy of that coming together will help them to win the presidential election on the basis of block votes as what happened in January 2015.

This could, of course, backfire if the SLPP sweeps the board as it did at the local government elections last year and the trend set by that carries forward to the Presidential elections. Despite this risk factor, it is better for the yahapalana side to try even a desperate gamble rather than simply give up without a fight. This is a government that has consistently fought shy of facing elections. In August 2017 it introduced changes to the local government elections law in order to delay holding elections to local government bodies that had been dissolved more than two years earlier in March 2015.

As the pressure to hold the local government elections mounted, the government made changes to the local government electoral system creating constituencies and then prevaricated further by citing delimitation disputes. The manner in which the local government elections system was changed was also unprecedented. Instead of gazetting a Bill to change the system of elections and then giving the people an opportunity to have its constitutionality examined by the Supreme Court, the entirely new system of elections was brought as committee stage amendments to a Bill that had been gazetted and then introduced in Parliament to correct some technical glitches in the local government elections law.

Thus, the Bill that was gazetted and introduced in parliament and even read the second time, was not the Bill that was finally passed by parliament after the committee stage, but something totally different. After having run around in circles for several months and after dodging persistent questions from journalists about the delay in holding local government elections, the government then got some of their supporters to file action in courts against the delimitation of wards in a large number of local government institutions so as to delay the election further.

It has to be admitted that the only reason why we had a local government election in February last year was because the head of the Elections Commission Mahinda Deshapriya announced that they would go ahead and hold elections to the 93 local government institutions in respect of which there were no delimitation disputes real or contrived. At that point the government caved in and decided to have elections to all the local government institutions because the damage would be done anyway even if elections were held for a limited number of local government bodies. The reason why the Chairman of the Elections Commission forced the local government elections on the government was probably because of the expectation that the UNP would win by default due to the division of the UPFA vote between the SLPP and the SLFP.

The hope of the Elections Commission seems to be that the political parties that came together in January 2015 and then held together through thick and thin colluding with one another in delaying elections to the local government institutions and the provincial councils and blocking the move to hold a general election, will contest the PC elections separately and then come together for the presidential election uniting behind one common candidate. They also probably hope that the SLPP may not be able to obtain 50% of the votes at a PC election due to the fragmenting of the vote and that this will carry forward into the presidential election as well.

Editorial Courtesy The Island

UPFA General Secretary and MP Mahinda Amaraweera has gone on record as saying that he will move a private member’s motion for abolishing the executive presidency. Reflected in his statement is his realisation that the SLFP/UPFA has failed to secure the SLPP’s consent for fielding President Maithripala Sirisena as their presidential candidate. If Amaraweera goes ahead with his move, he might be able to receive the backing of the UNP-led government and its allies.

The next presidential election has become a huge problem for all political parties save the SLPP and the TNA. The SLPP is said to have decided to field former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa as its presidential candidate; it is expected to announce its decision next month though it has chosen to remain silent on the revocation of Gotabaya’s US citizenship and the ongoing court cases against him both there and in the US. As things stand, the TNA will throw its lot with the candidate who has the UNP’s blessings. The JVP wants to prevent the Rajapaksas from making a comeback, but cannot support a UNP candidate. It has said it will contest the presidential election, but as for its success, it has the same chances as a cat in hell.

The UNP has pledged to contest a presidential election after a lapse of about 15 years for want of a better alternative, but is in a dilemma as to who should be its candidate. There are three presidential hopefuls within its ranks and choosing one of them will be at the risk of a debilitating internal conflict.

Why is it that Amaraweera wants to present a private member’s motion for scrapping the executive presidency? Why can’t the UPFA do so as an alliance represented in Parliament?

Amaraweera and his boss, President Sirisena, are desperate to get out of the political mire they have got into. But it is only wishful thinking that they can achieve that goal through Amaraweera’s proposed motion, given the seemingly insurmountable obstacles in their path. Any motion aimed at abolishing the executive presidency is doomed to failure without the JO’s support for it in that it has to be ratified with a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Besides, it will have to be approved by the people at a referendum. This is an even bigger hurdle.

The UNP and the JVP may agree to do away with the executive presidency in principle or even support the motion to be moved. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who cannot seek another presidential term, may be well disposed towards the abolition to the presidency, but it is doubtful whether the SLPP will agree thereto.

An attempt to abolish the executive presidency will entail the process of introducing a new Constitution. The government has already undertaken to write a new Constitution but come up against a brick wall on the question of devolution. Its attempts have been abandoned to all intents and purposes. The proponents of the existing Constitution view the executive presidency as the only safeguard against secessionist forces that are using devolution to achieve their goal. The government has put its constitution making project on hold, unable to tackle this contentious issue. The JVP’s 20th the Amendment has also suffered a similar fate due to, more or less, the same reasons.

There are only a few months to go for the next presidential election and even if all parties agree to abolish the executive presidency, there won’t be enough time. Amaraweera cannot be unaware of these difficulties. If so, why is he trying to have the executive presidency abolished at this juncture?

A drowning person clutches at anything. Amaraweera and President Sirisena, out of sheer desperation, seem to be toying with the idea of having the presidential election postponed. Hope refuses to go away like flies and mozzies.

Dr M D P DISSANAYAKE

Like in many other countries, there are no mandatory academic or professional qualifications required by a person to be elected as President, Prime Minister or Cabinet of Ministers of Sri Lanka.  Late Mr D S Senanayake’s qualifications were never questioned when he became our First Prime Minister under independent Sri Lanka.

Unlike in 1948, now Sri Lanka has produced thousands of highly educated  and world renowned academics and professionals.  Yet, our political system continuing musical chairs with the same old seasoned politicians.

There are rumours that the former Auditor General Mr Gamini Wijesinghe might come forward as a Presidential caididate from JVP, as he continuously had close links with Sunil Handunhetti during Bond Scam investigations.  

Sajith Premadasa’s academic credentials are now being questioned in public.  Sajith entered Mill Hill School in London. In addition to normal  admission requirements of GCE OL, the Mill Hill School has a direct entry for those over 17 years of age, without GCE OL passes.  Sajith did enter the Mill Hill when he was just turned 17. 

From there he entered the prestigious LSE (London School of Economics) when his father was the President of Sri Lanka.  Sajith only completed the first year studies, he fell ill and could not complete  full course of studies.  However, the LSE      awarded Aegrotat Certificate, as a Bachelor of Science in 1991. Aegrotat is not Pass Degree certificate. It is an Unclassfied” degree, not recognised as equivalent to a Pass Degree. Towards end of first year, Sajith fell ill with Measles and paralysis of his legs. Aegrotat Degree is a pathway of an exemption from the rest of the course of studies, due to exceptional circumstances of the student, such as serious illness.  Aegorat is therefore is a Degree, but not classified as a Degree, a Clayton’s Degree. 

It is common politicians twist and turn their academic and/or professional qualifications.  A former Finance Minister of the current government claim FCMA signifying Fellowship of the Chartered Institute of Management Accounting (CIMA), UK.  However, his studies were in Certified Management Accountants, Sri Lanka, not CIMA UK.  However, CMA Sri Lanka is a well structured examination, but  recognised by CIMA UK to register as a student, with few exemptions.

Similarly, a former Power and Energy Minister who claim membership of Chartered Institute of Electrical Engineers, Sri Lanka is also under a cloud.  He did complete the degree from Katubedda ( now prestigious University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka), but did not complete the post qualification experience segment to qualify for the B.Sc.Engineering. 

The National List of Sri Lanka was originally introduced to fill the vaccum, to be able to recruit properly qualified men and women  to become Ministers of the Cabinet etc. But today Sri Lanka has not been able to make productive use of National List, as originally intended.  It is now a gateway for defeated candidates, Buddhist Monks like Rathana to enter the Parliament. Going forward, it would be most appropriate to restrict the National List nominees to Specialists, at least until mandatory minimum academic qualifications are stipulated in a future Constitution Assembly.

by Ambassador Cheng Xueyuan

Recently, I was surprised to notice that some politicians and media in the western countries continuously attacked China’s policy in Xinjiang, falsely claiming that a large number of concentration camps” violating human rights have been established there. But what is the true story?

The Grand Bazar (market) in Urumqi, Xinjiang, 2018

In Xinjiang have settled as many as 47 ethnic groups, including the Uygur, Han, Kazak, Hui, Mongolian, Tajik etc. Among the 24.4 million population of Xinjiang, nearly 13 million are Muslims. The Chinese government has attached great importance to maintaining the ethnic and religious harmony, as well as the economic and cultural development in Xinjiang. There are 24,400 mosques in Xinjiang by far, which means one mosque shared by every 530 Muslims, an even higher proportion than some Islamic countries. In Xinjiang, television programs are broadcast in multiple languages, and diverse ethnic groups are allowed to use their own languages in lawsuits and election. Chinese, Uygur and Kazak languages are equally available in The National College Entrance Examination. All the facts clearly prove the so-called oppression of Muslims” a total fake news.

a training center in Xinjiang, 2018

However, such stability and prosperity in Xinjiang is not what some external forces wish to see. Since the 1990s, under the combined infection of separatists, extremists and terrorists, both domestically and internationally, Xinjiang has seen thousands of violent and terrorist crimes, leading to huge casualties of innocent citizens and death of hundreds of policemen. Those terrorists such as East Turkistan Islamic Movement have already been identified by UN and many countries as international terrorist organization.

As a precaution measure to fight terrorism, the Chinese government has established vocational training centers in Xijiang, in accordance with the Constitution and the Counter-terrorism Law. These centers are in fact boarding schools, where lessons on national language, laws, vocational training and deradicalization are offered for free, so that trainees can master a skill and achieve self-reliance after the training. It is a common sense that any citizen, no matter in which country, should be able to use the national language; laws of all countries shall not be ignored or even overridden. Lack of access to necessary vocational skills will cause unemployment and poverty, which would become soil nurturing extremist ideas.

In Xinjiang, trainees sign agreements with the training centers, share free food and accommodation, and enjoy all fundamental rights. Trainees can have home visits on regular basis and can ask for leave for personal affairs. Families are also free to visit and to video chat with them.

What is most significant and important is that since the establishment of training centers, no violent or terrorist activity occurred in Xinjiang for more than 25 months, and the overall security has been largely improved there. In the year of 2018, tourists to Xinjiang, from inside and outside China, numbered over 150 million, with a 40 percent growth comparing to the year of 2017.

Riot in Xinjiang, 2009

The international community will no longer easily believe the rumors of western media. On 12^th July, 37 countries of diverse regions, nationalities, religions and social systems co-signed a letter to United Nations Human Rights Council, supporting China’s policy in Xinjiang and objecting politicizing human rights issue. They speak highly of China’s counter-terrorism and de-radicalization efforts in Xinjiang, including the establishment of training centers, which they believe will benefit the security and stability of China, the region and the world. It is worth mentioning that many among these 37 countries are actually Islamic countries. Because many countries also suffer from terrorism, extremism and separatism, they fully understand that the real problem in Xinjiang is the threat of terrorism, and strongly support China’s anti-terrorism practice in Xinjiang.

About two weeks ago, on 7^th July, I had an opportunity to visit Negombo, mourn in the St. Sebastian Church, and visit the children injured in the 21/4 terrorist attacks. I can strongly feel the pain of the Sri Lankan people from all ethnic communities. The attacks reminded us once again that terrorism and extremism are common threats for both China and Sri Lanka. We believe that people from all circles of Sri Lanka society can tell what is right from wrong, and can fully understand China’s efforts in fighting terrorism, extremism and separatism. Let us work together, enhance our cooperation on security and law enforcement, encourage more exchanges between different ethnic and religious groups of our two countries, and uphold peace and safety of our two peoples.

Ambassador Cheng Xueyuan Visiting St. Sebastian Church in Negombo, 2019

Mario Perera, Kadawata

Forever until the Sinhalese are no more – Dilrook

Dilrook’s comment must be printed in RED and posted in every street corner of this country. Read any and every article in our newspapers and journals. They all establish and confirm the stark reality that ‘we live in a fairytale’. Hope as regards the hopeless is not hope. It is delusion. The vast majority of our Sinhala writers are personifications of Nero playing his lyre and singing while Rome was burning. The core issue has not filtered into their consciousness. Even those who strike the alarm do not advance compatible solutions. Every remedy they foresee is from within the existing structure. It does not strike them that the prevailing frame-work is totally sterile and inapt to restore the status quo which is Sri Lanka – the land of the Sinhala.

Yes the Sinhalese need a Sinhala Buddhist nation. Both realities, Sinhala and Buddhism have undergone a massive erosion, so that calling this nation Sinhala-Buddhist is being taken by minorities with a pinch of salt. That the whole Island is NOT Sinhala-Buddhist is obvious. The North is exclusively Tamil. The East is predominantly Tamil and Mussie. What about the rest of the country? Well, it is fast being flooded by Tamils and Mussies. Wattala, Dehiwala, Mount Lavinia…name it: they are all gone. The others are fast gong…going. Hope that someone or something will fix this is day-dreaming at its worst. It must be called for what it is: ramblings of deluded minds.

We cannot expect the Buddha to visit this country again. If he does, the Hindus will brand him ‘Vishnu’: that is what it is in India. The mussies will declare him to be a prophet of Allah: that is how they consider Jesus. They will change the nature of Buddha and Buddhahood making him unrecognizable to even die-hard Buddhists. Indeed: how long are the Sinhala people going to tolerate this nonsense of the tyranny of minority politics? The answer cannot be evaded. The truth is before all eyes to see. It is: Forever until the Sinhalese are no more.

If one reads the Mahavamsa, it becomes obvious that Sri Lanka is a country under siege. The veritable symbol of this reality is the image of Duttu Gemunu lying curled up in his bed. How can I stretch myself when the enemy is all around? Nothing of that has changed today. It is even more fearful. They have penetrated into the Sinhala heartland from all directions. ‘‘This is the reality. House by house, road by road, school by school, shrine by shrine, village by village, later district by district go to Tamils and Muslims but the converse is not true.’’ (Dilrook). What is even more tragic is that ‘‘No one is interested in this and no one can fix this.’’

Indeed no one can fix it. Do not count on the Diyawanna Oya rulers of both ruling party and opposition. They all had their way and their say at some time, and .they all flopped. They will play the same old game until their chairs are pulled away from underneath their filthy backsides.

If history is a factor to go by there is something that should strike our minds. We know how SWRD died. He came into power with the same hands that took that power away from him. They gave their ballot for him, and fired their bullet into him. No doubt there was much intrigue and machination about which speculation will always be rife. Yet there is no mistake in the assertion that SWRD was bending backwards to accommodate the Tamils. Tragically yet symbolically the men who paid the ultimate price were ones in the yellow robe. They put him on the throne: they brought him down.

We all know the legend of the dying young rebel monk who entered the womb of Vihara maha Devi and emerged as Duttu Gemunu. The monks led the Sinhala regiments even incrusting Buddhist relics into their spear heads. And when the war was over, many of them, including famous Dasa Maha Yodayas donned the yellow robe. We saw how a monk assuming a fast unto death made the powers that are to tremble. We saw the immense gathering of monks in Kandy and heard their rumblings. What we are seeing could well be the tip of an iceberg.

The Theravada doctrine established by the Sinhala Sangha is not just another form of Buddhism. It is a radical version of the Buddhism known in India. It was conceived and elaborated specifically to meet the unique challenges faced by our island nation, Lanka. It was the threat of Indian invasions and the absorption of Buddhism into Hinduism. Theravada was like cannons placed on bastions and turrets pointing at the sea to safeguard that treasure. Did not Duttu Gemunu says that he agonized at being circumscribed by the ocean?  Theravada not only safeguarded Lanka, it also safeguarded the Buddha who left India and stepped into Lanka consecrating the land with his hallowed footstep.

What am I advocating? Is it violence? Is it killing? It is time to call a spade a spade. The blessed one never laid down commandments. Thou shall not kill is not a commandments ascribable to the Buddha, certainly not the Buddha of Theravada Buddhism. The Blessed One insisted on right thought and right action. It is for his followers to take right decisions and translate them into right actions. If that right action makes the Sinhala to kill and be killed then so be it.

The question is: how long are the Sinhala people going to tolerate this nonsense of the tyranny of minority politics? The answer predictably is: Forever until the Sinhalese are no more. But the Sinhalese being no more means Theravada Buddhism becoming extinct. It means sending the Buddha into oblivion. It means the Buddha becoming Vishnu and a prophet of Allah in the very land that once was the land of the Sinhala of Theravada Buddhism, of the chosen sons of the Buddha and in his chosen land.

What is happening in Sri Lanka is not a political upheaval. It is a crime against the Buddha. We know the following verse that sprang from the lips of a monk, a guardian of the nation. The sword is pulled from the scabbard, it is not put back unless smeared with blood. Our mothers turned their blood to milk to make us grow. Not for ourselves but for the country. My brave, brilliant fighter son leaving home to defend our cause. That act of merit is enough to reach Nirvana.

The tragic situation facing the Sinhala-Buddhist nation cannot be cured any more by the ballot. The presidential election will be just another farce. Is there an alternative? YES. Enlightened minds among Sinhala-Buddhist know it. It is NOW the time to have recourse to it. The treacherous rulers must go.

Mario Perera, Kadawata

Courtesy Empire Files

Abby Martin sits down with Peter Phillips, former director of Project Censored and professor of Political Sociology at Sonoma State University. His new book Giants: The Global Power Elite” details the 17 transnational investment firms which control over $50 trillion in wealth—and how they are kept in power by their activists, facilitators and protectors.

A wave of controversial agreements none of which anyone has seen are being drafted by foreigners and envoys are making open statements on them. US envoy recently claimed Sri Lanka’s land administration is poor & so MCC is recommending changes. MCC is an arm of the US government. Why has Sri Lanka’s legal fraternity not raised the issue of foreign interference in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs?

Citizens of Sri Lanka enjoying free education owe something back to the Nation and Sri Lanka is in a miserable situation for the lack of the legal fraternity exerting the need to play a role in the governance of the country. The legal fraternity & academics must now wake up to the reality that land law and the land policy is being changed simply because a country is handing out some money.      

How aware are Sri Lanka’s lawyers of new laws being introduced to the country by foreign lawyers? These new laws and electronic systems designed by foreigners claim to manage our land transactions but something our legal circles are all not aware of.  

The role of our lawyers have sadly got restricted to running to court every time a statute is suddenly presented in Parliament giving them just 7 days to not only read the Statute but to file arguments against it.

The Land Special Provision Bill is a good example. The Bill was presented without any lawyer having seen the statute. A Government minister thought it a big deal that the Bill was drafted by foreign economists with a few inputs by locals associated with them. However, how can a Bill that is meant to change the land policy and land law of Sri Lanka be kept hidden from the citizens?

There have been cases where Government has been cunning enough to pass Bills when Courts are about to face vacation or on a Friday which omits the weekends from the 7 days reducing citizens right to file petition to 5 days. Politicians cannot be allowed to get away by passing dangerous Bills that are a threat to the sovereignty of Sri Lanka and the land rights of future generations.

Prof. Suri Ratnapala Emeritus Prof of the University of Queensland, Australia was invited by the GOSL and claimed that both 1972 & 1978 Constitutions allowed existing laws to continue even if they were inconsistent with the constitution & were not to be challenged. http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/the-Constitution-s-tricky-issues-Prof-Suri-Ratnapala-118457.html

Let us wake up to some realities. Can our lawyers in this situation permit foreign hands to change the land policy and the land laws without their knowledge?

A senior lawyer when consulted pointed out .that as far back as 1970’s the World Bank made it pretty clear it was soon going to set standards for land reforms departing from the colonial statutes that existed. They wanted to introduce Title Registration, repealing the Common law and the deed system that was practiced in the country for 100 years.

Very fortunately timely legal solutions were suggested by Hon Justice Amerasinghe with help of the Governor of the Central Bank and the Government at that time. This law called Title Registration was introduced 20 years later without any further consultation with lawyers, when we had a draft of a better statute.

Today, we are all seemingly shocked about the Millennium Challenge Corporation proposal. However, the proposal is an outcome of numerous reports by World Bank & USAID that studied Sri Lanka’s land laws, colonial statutes and devised their solutions obviously based on what was advantageous to them

Where were Sri Lanka’s policy makers and legal academics when all this research and reports were being done by foreign parties. How did they visit all the official places such as land registries survey departments in Colombo and outstations to make these reports – why didn’t the State apparatus wonder what they were up to and they were studying our systems over several years! The outcome of their research are these reports

World Bank Group (2012) Doing Business – Measuring Business Regulations http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/sri-lanka#registering-property (accessed 10 March 2015)

World Bank (2007) Implementation Completion and Results Report (IDA-34960), Report no. ICR 0000190, The World Bank, USA

World Bank (2008) Land Reforms in Sri Lanka: A Poverty and Social Impact Analysis, http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPSIA/Resources/490023-1120841262639/PPP171_WB_SriLanka_Report_30-05-08.pdf

Why did we not improve the land administration and the land law before they could intervene & demand the changes?

Why did we remain with the statutes which were a colonial legacy? The academics in law had not played a role in Sri Lanka’s legal status relating to land statutes – which is a must.

If our legal fraternity were on the ball they would have seen the changes coming & would have known the dangers of all the statutes passed & raised the concerns before the Bills became enacted.

Presently the Land Bank Statute and Port City Act is prepared and is to be passed. The Land Bank Act was approved by AG & Legal Draftsmen – According to Act 21of 1998 can there be 2 land bank registers? Why didn’t lawyers come forward to raise this when the proposal was first made? Obviously none of them knew about the dangerous clauses.

How many lawyers have studied the Port City Act? Have they demanded that Government share these with the legal fraternity of Sri Lanka?

How aware are our lawyers about the Land bank Act which is approved by the AG and the Legal Draftsman. According to Act 21 can a new register is to be prepared under the Land Bank Act ? The register under Act 21 is final and occlusive, the Act specifically excludes any other statutes

In 1998 a top down legislation modeled on the Australian Torrens system was introduced by Act No 21 of 1998 known as Bim Saviya. How did this law that repealed the entire Common law that was practiced in this country for 100 years pass through the AG‘s department and the Legal Draftsman Department. Was it debated in Parliament? Can our lawyers practice the law of Australia to maintain property rights in Sri Lanka?

A senior lawyer pointed out that the Act 21 had confused the lawyers. The act has  repealed the entire Common law and the judicial precedence which existed for over 100 years relating to land law. 

Did our lawyers draft this statute or was it drafted by foreigners with the help of locals working for these foreigners? Unfortunately, this new law is questionably unconstitutional because it does not permit land owners their fundamental right to access court for grievances. The judicial powers to hear land cases have been repealed as well as laws such co-ownership law and law of prescription.

The legal fraternity did not take lessons from this and it is no surprise that the 2^nd dangerous act was drafted some 20 years later with the Land Privatization Act which the present government claims was drafted with assistance of local teams but by foreigners.

It is also revealed that the re-engineering process suggested to this Act by the Bar Association was not accepted. The electronic systems introduced that follows with the re-engineering process of Act 21 was attended to by an appointee made after an advertisement initiated by the foreign Embassy pushing the MCC & making very controversial public statements.

All this is taking place in the midst of land fraud which is presently extremely pervasive as the new law was superimposed upon the old laws that have plenty of loopholes t commit forgery of deeds. 

The Registrar General’s Department states that almost 40 – 50% of the land deeds in Sri Lanka are forged documents.  Foreign experts reiterated that before electronics was introduced this matter has to be cleared as land transactions will be registered within one day or few hours and this will be ideal for fraudsters. What are our lawyers doing about this?

The act 21 has also repealed the deed system and the owner today ends up with a computer print-out for his ownership document without deeds. Soon the government grantees will have the same law applying with a computer print-out for their ownership.

Rights of the grantees under the  land privatization bill with operation of Act 21 of 1998

The judiciary is made subordinate to the executive, by this Act Section 33 of the Act where judiciary is given no power to hear cases related to land ownership especially if the grantees ownership is affected by fraud. The grantee will have to seek compensation in lieu of his ownership. The judiciary cannot question the entries in the registry made by the Registrar General.

Soon the grantees rights will have to be moved to the new register by the Commissioner of Title (new title)

How did an the Act pass fthe judicial process to the executive to determine owners of our country’s 10 million blocks of land?. The new office known as the Commissioner of Title. The adjudication of ownership is made by untrained officials.

Under Act 21 a grantee under the new bill could not pass half share of the land  to his or her spouse or child to be a co-owner.

The banks cannot give them loans if the wife becomes a co-owner.  How can he obtain bank loans if a salaried family member was not  joined as a co-owner 

Were the lawyers aware that the law of co-ownership and the law of prescription was removed at the Bill stage of Act 21 of 1998?

When land is privatized the question of injustice to women surfaces. As personal ethnic laws apply to them (Thesawalamai, Muslim & Kandyan Laws ) Earlier when the lands belonged  to the Government all ethnic groups were Governed by one law .  Only issue was the superior inheritance right of a son which could have been repealed easily.  Women’s land rights without equality constitutes a violation of the principle of ‘equality’ assured to citizens in the constitution.

Do we have lawyers aware of the future scenario once the Land Bank Act & Port City Act becomes operational? Can lawyers afford to rely on the 7 days to study statutes & file complaint? Are the foreign lawyers not taking advantage of this?

These are the  news items published in the papers for lawyers to study  https://www.google.com/search?q=port+city+english+law+will+aplly&oq=port+city+english+law+will+aplly+&aqs=chrome..69i57.11636j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

1]A fully transparent Request for Proposals has been made from reputed UK based law firms to evaluate the draft CIFC law and the selected British law firm is being involved in drafting the detail rules regulations of the CIFC in accordance with the common law and in line with the constitution, he revealed.

2]This will take place before land is leased on 99-year basis to the project company.

3]  senior official of the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs said the zone will have its own legal, regulatory, tax and business infrastructure. And, this is where constitutional law experts see the problem. In Sri Lanka, unless you change the Constitution, you cannot have a separate law even in a newly created area of the country,” one President’s Counsel told the Business Times, noting that arbitration decisions and judicial rulings on commercial matters should be made under the existing Sri Lankan law.”

Sri Lanka although pushed by donor agencies to make over-night changes to land law, must tread cautiously.

The European Economic Committee have created the European Economic Area in 1994 to prevent their countries being exploited by land grab etc but these countries are attempting to what they are protective of in their countries to other countries! Should Sri Lanka also not have its own protective clauses in place?

Our ancient state land statutes already have enough of protective measures in place. The problem is that governments are getting influenced by money inducements & diplomatic arm-twisting.

Sri Lanka has stagnated with old colonial laws to manage the activates of the 21^st century with entry of electronics.This is where the vacuum of practicing lawyers, surveyors, legal academics, environmentalists are felt because there is no united front pooling their expertise to safeguard every inch of Sri Lanka’s land & resources. This vacuum has resulted in external forces manipulating the politicians to their advantage with no legal avenues to block them. We cannot go on like this in particular since we are at a very crucial juncture where the likelihood of statutes being passed which will apply foreign laws inside our own island nation looks more than a possibility questioning the risk to Sri Lanka’s sovereignty.

Had the BASL demanded a greater strategic role together with associated entities these dangers could have been avoided but it is not too late. We cannot be satisfied with BASL simply issuing statements. Their role has to be far more pragmatic & pro-active. 

The frequent references made by senior lawyers  raising the greatness of late Justice Dr A R B Amerasinghe who delivered the landmark Eppawela Phosphate verdict and the yeomen service by late Hon. Justice Christy Weeramantry should be the bible for all lawyers that are bound to protect the sovereignty & territorial integrity of Sri Lanka as Justice Amerasinghe did in his brilliant verdict quoting the Mahavansa & the great deeds of our nobel Sinhala Kings. Land cannot be a commodity. Land must remain for future generations & this must be enshrined in the constitution & the legal fraternity are beholden to uphold this.

Government must request from the affectionate wellwishers and donors for funding to set up Research Group. All statutes relating to our lands must be made available for the legal entities and academic supervision like in the prosperous nations like USA, UK Australia etc. The laws must be known to the public. There must be regional dialog as the donors are presently working in the entire Asian region and the 53 Commonwealth countries with their agendas.

Shenali D Waduge

Dilrook Kannangara

Another presidential election is around the corner. And that means the nation is forgotten once again and political clans take centre stage. 

There is a sinister side to all presidential elections.

All presidential elections after 1994 showcased internal divisions to the whole world. The ethnic group classified as ‘Sri Lankan Tamils’ demand Tamil Eelam – a hypothetical state making up the entirety of the north and parts of the east and the north western areas. This has been an election issue since 1977. Similarly since 2002 the ethnic group classified as ‘Indian Tamils’ have been demanding Malaya Nadu – another hypothetical state within the hill country in the middle of the island.

All presidential elections after 1994 divided voters into two main camps very clearly separated out on a map. The areas claimed as Tamil Eelam and Malaya Nadu are obvious on the election results maps. This is the perfect opportunity for external meddlers to interfere in local matters. What they see are three different countries within the island.

Politicians understand this very well but they don’t care. However, they do rely on this fact for their benefit. People demanded referendums for the 13A and the proposed new constitution. Politicians (including likely candidates for the 2019 presidential election) stated that it is dangerous as it will display to the whole world our internal divisions. Correct. However, why don’t they see the very same danger in presidential elections? Surely, it’s an attempt to hide their real views on 13A and the proposed new constitution. If a referendum is called they have to say their stand and people will know they are not different to TNA.

Sirisena won the 2015 presidential election. He had support of the two dissenting Tamil speaking areas. This calmed the international community down as the president was seen to have won the confidence of the pro-India and pro-West minorities. What will happen if the result is the opposite?

This happened in 1999, 2005 and 2010. In all these instances the international community put severe pressure on Lanka to come up with separatist political solutions, address sham human rights issues and downgrade the military. However, before 2009 it was a difficult choice for the international community. Accepting separatist territories was out of the question as one of them was controlled by a banned terrorist organization. Even the Chief Minister of the East was a former LTTE cadre accused of using child soldiers. The north didn’t have an elected Chief Minister.

This is not the case since 2013. There are governance mechanisms in place in each of these areas that have devolved powers now vested in them.

More than anything else, the 2019 presidential election will be a massive display of a fractured country, outright rejection of the winner with executive powers by the minorities and existing divisions will be exploited by foreign powers for military purposes. It is much worse than a referendum on 13A which federalist politicians of all shades of patriotism have cunningly avoided.

චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම

රාජ්‍ය ඇමතිකමක්ද දී රනිල් විසින් රන්ජන්ව නඩත්තු කරන්නේ, ඇමෙරිකන් තානාපති නෝනා ඔහු සමඟ සෙල්ෆි ගහන්නේ, බළල් අතක් වශයෙන් ඔහුගෙන් ලබාගත හැකි ප්‍රයෝජන නිසාය. කලින් සිටි තානාපති නෝනා මාදුළුවාවේ සෝභිත හිමියන්ට දුන් ලණුව භාර දීමට තරම් දඹර අමිල හිමිට රටේ තැනක් නැත. එසේ නොහැකිවිට කලහැකි හොඳම ඉත්තා ලෙස රනිල්-මංගලලා රන්ජන්ගේ සවුත්තු කට පාවිච්චිකරමින් සිටී. භික්‍ෂු අපචාර ගැන රන්ජන්ගේ මුල් යූටියුබ් ප්‍රකාශය, ඔහුගේ ශ්‍රී මහා බෝධි පන්සලේ හාමුදුරුවරු ගංජා බොන මුහුණු පොත් සටහන, අන්තිමට රනිල් හමුවූ පසු ඔහු මාධ්‍යවලට මුලින් කී දෙය හා පසුව අළුතින්ම ලන්ඩන්, පෝප් හා ඒඩ්ස් හැදුනු සාමනේරවරුන් ඈඳා කල වනා වෙඩිතැබීම යන මේ සියල්ල විශ්ලේෂණය කරන අයෙකුට මෙම සිද්ධියේ ඇති බරපතලකම හා ශූක්‍ෂම ප්ලෑන එලිදරව්වේ.
රනිල් හමුවූ පසු ඔහු ඒඩ්ස් හැදුනු සාමනේරයන් ගැනද කියයි.

ලෝකයට ථේරවාදී බුදුදහම හා ත්‍රිපිටකය රැකදුන් ලංකාවේ පන්සලට පහරදීම නොහොත් ලංකාවේ මහාවංශවිරෝධී ව්‍යාපාරයට, මාක්ස්වාදීන් හා හාවර්ඩ් සරසවියේ සිටි ස්ටැන්ලි තම්බයියාගේ පොත්‌වලට අමතරව, බලු ජාත්‍යන්තර මූණතක්ද ඇතිබව දැනට දශක දෙකකට පමණ පෙර මට තහවුරුවූයේ අහම්බෙනි. ඒ වනවිට ෂුනාමියක් මෙන් ඇමෙරිකාවේ පැතිර යමින් තිබුණේ කතෝලික පූජකවරුන් විසින් බාල වයසේ දරුවන් දුසිම් ගණනින් දූෂණය කිරීමේ (හා පසුව මතුපිටට ආ කන්‍යාරාමවල කන්‍යාතුමියන්වද දූෂණය කිරීම) ඛේදජනක පුවතය. මේ සම්බන්‌ධයෙන් ඇමෙරිකන් පුවත්පතකට, විස්කොන්සින් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ මහාචාර්යවරයෙක් ප්‍රකාශයක් කරමින් කියා තිබුණේ එවැනි ආකාරයේ අපචාර කතෝලික පල්ලිවල පූජකයින්ගෙන් සිදුවීම අසාමාන්‍ය කරුණක් නොවන බවත්, අතීතයේදී මෙන් දැනුත් බෞද්ද්ධ සංඝ සමාජයේත් එවැනිදේ සිදුවන බවත්‌ය. ක්‍රිස්තියානි අනිත් පූජකයින්ට මෙන් නොව කතෝලික පූජකයින්ට, ථේරවාද භික්‍ෂූන්ට මෙන් ස්ත්‍රීන් හා එකට ජීවත්‌වීම තහනම්‌ය.

මෙම විස්කොන්සින් පුද්ගලයා කල ප්‍රකාශය පලවී තිබූණේ එය එම විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේද මතය යයි යමෙකුට සිතෙන ආකාරයට, කපටි අන්දමටය. මොහු කලේ බලු ප්‍රකාශයක් නිසා එයට අභියෝග කිරීමට මට සිදුවිය. ඇමෙරිකාවේ කතෝලික පූජක අපචාරවල මූලික ගැටළුව වූයේ හුදෙක් ලිංගික අපචාර පමණක්ම නොවේ. එවැනි අපචාර සිදුවන බව දැන දැනම එසේ අපචාර කල පූජකයින් තවදුරටත් වංචනික ලෙස පල්ලිවලින් මාරුකරමින් සේවයේ තබාගෙන, ඒවා ගැන ආ චොදනා සඟවා, යට ගසා, රහසින් වන්‌දි මුදල් ගෙවා ක්‍රියා කිරීමට පල්ලි සංවිධාන හා ඉහල බිෂොප් වරු, කාදිනල්වරු කටයුතු කිරීමය. මේ කාලය වන විට පල්ලි වලට එන කතෝලික ජනයාගේ ශීඝ්‍ර අඩුවීමක් මෙන්ම පල්ලිවල සේවය සඳහා අවශ්‍ය පාදිලිවරුන්ගේ බලවත් හිඟයක්දවිය. බෞද්ද්ධ භික්‍ෂූ විනය නීති වල වනයේ දමා ගොස් ඇති මළ සිරුරු සමඟ ලිංගික ක්‍රියාවල නොයෙදෙන ලෙස පවා සඳහන් කර තිබෙන්නේ එවැනි ක්‍රියා මිනිස් සංහතිය තුල සිදුවන නිසාය. තම මරණ ශාලාවට ගේන මිනී සමඟ ලිංගික ක්‍රියාවේ යෙදී අසුවුණ මරණ ශාලා හිමියෙක් ඇමෙරිකාවේදී මෑතකදී අසුවිය. පව් සමා කිරීම යන රීතිය අනුව කතෝලික පූජකයෙකුට විශේෂයෙන් යම් ස්ත්‍රියකගේ චරිතය ගැන දෙවියන්ගේ නාමයෙන් නිලවශයෙන්ම දැනගැනීමට ඉඩ ලැබෙන අතර ඒ අනුව දූෂිත යම් පාදිලි කෙනෙකුට බැටලුවා වෘකයා ගෙන් වෙන් කරගත හැකිදවේ. යම් ස්ත්‍රියකගේ ස්වාමිපුරුෂයා නොදන්නා ඇගේ රහස් පාදිලිතුමා දැනගැනීමට ඉඩ ලැබේ.

මා විසින් ඊමේල් මගින් එම පුද්ගලයාගෙන් විමසූවිට මට දැනගත හැකිවූයේ ඔහු මහාචාර්යවරයෙකු නොවූබවත්, පුස්තකාලයක් භාරව සිටි සහකාරයෙකු බවත්‌ය. පත්තරයේ වාර්තාකරුට වරද පටවා (දැන් රන්ජන් ඉරාජ්ට නඩුදානවා මෙන්) ගැලවීමට ඔහු තැත්කලවිට ඔහු පිළිඹදව විස්කොන්සින් සරසවියේ උපකුලපතිට රිපෝට් කරන බව දැන්‌වූ පසු ඔහු වරද පිළිගත්තත් ඒ වනවිට ඔහුගේ බොරු ප්‍රකාශයෙන් බෞද්ද්ධයින්ට සිදුවූ හානිය සිදුවී හමාරය. මෙම සිද්ධිය හා රන්ජන් හැසිරීම අතර ඇත්තේ එකම අරමුණකි. දඹර අමිල හිමි වැනි කෙනෙක් වෙනුවට කතෝලික රන්ජන්ගේ බලුකට හරහා කරන්නට හදන්නේ පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරයෙන් පසු ඇතිවුන බෞද්ද්ධ ක්‍රිස්තියානි සිංහල සමඟිය පළුදු කිරීමත්, රටේ දැන් නැඟිිෙන භික්‍ෂූ බලවේගය මහජනයා අතර හෑල්ලුවට ලක්කිරීමත්‌ය. ඊට මැදිහත්‌ව සිටින භික්‍ෂූන් නොමරා මැරීමට බැලීමය. මෙවැනි උපක්‍රමයක් 1959 දී අගමැති මැරීමේදී සිදුවිය. ඔහුගේ ඝාතනය කලේ සෝමාරාමද, ඒ වනවිට හිසබූගා සිටි ඔසී කොරයාද යන සැකය, ඇමෙරිකාවේ ජෝන් කෙනඩි ඝාතනය පිළිඹද සැකය වැනිමය. කෙටි කාලයකට හෝ හාමුදුරුවරුන්ට පාරේ යා නොහැකි තත්‌වයක් ඇතිවිය. අවලංගු කාසි බවට දැන් වැටී සිටින පක්‍ෂ දේශපාලකයින්ගෙන් රටේ දේශපාලනය උඳුරා ගත යුතුය යන පොදු මහජන මතය ලැව්ගින්නක්සේ පැතිරෙමින් යද්දී ඊට පෙරමුණ දෙන්නේ ක්‍රියාකාරී භික්‍ෂූන් අතලොස්සක් විසිනි. මෙවැනි භික්‍ෂූන් 20 ක් පමණ සිටින බවත් ඉන් සියේට අනූවක්‌ම ලිංගික අපචාරකාරයින් යයි රන්ජන් කියන්නේ මේ නිසාය.

රන්ජන් හරහා රනිල් කලේ විස්කොන්සින් කපටියා කල දේමය. ජනයා නොමග යැවීමට බැලීමය. මිනිසුන් අතර සමලිංගික සේවනය, බලු පැටියෙක් ලොකුවූ පසු ඌ උගේ මවය කියා බැල්ලියකගේ වෙනසක් නොදකිනවා වැනි දෙයකට වෙනස්‌ය. යම් ස්ත්‍රියක හා පිරිමියෙකු අතර පමණක් නොව, පිරිමියෙකු-පිරිමියෙකු හා ස්ත්‍රීයක-ස්ත්‍රීයක අතර තොටගමුවේ ශ්‍රී රාහුල හාමුදුරුවන් කවියෙන් කී අන්දමට අවසර කල් රහස් තැන ලැබේ නම් ලේසියෙන් ලාභෙට ලබාගත හැකි වරදේ බැඳෙනා අය බොහෝය. මෙම පෘතග්ජන ස්වභාවය බටහිර රටවල නම් දැන් එලිපිටම මගතොටේදී පවා නීත්‍යානුකූලව සිදුවේ. ඔවුන්ට හැමදාම වැලන්ටයින් දිනේය. කසාද බැඳීමට ඉඩදෙන ක්‍රිස්තියානි නිකාය තුල පවා, ලංකාවේ කොළඹ මැතිව්ලා සිටියේය.

මිනිසුන් හාමුදුරුවරුන්ට වඳින්නේ ඔවුන් තුන්වන ශික්‍ෂාපදය රකිනවාය යන විශ්වාසය මතය. ලුනු, සීනි හා දෙහි ඇඹුල් නොකෑමෙන් රාගය අඩුකරගත හැකිවුවත්, මනසින් රාගය තුනීකරගත් සඟපරපුරක් ලංකාවේ හා ලෝකයේ සිටී. රාගය ඇතිවීම පෘතග්ජන ස්වභාවයක් බවත්, මනස දියුණුකිරීම මගින් රාගී හැඟීම් කළමනාකරණය කර තුරන් කරගත හැකිබවත් බෞද්ද්ධයින්ට උගන්වා දේ. මේ අතර බුද්ධරක්ඛිතලා-විමලා විජේවර්‍ධනලා සිටින බව සැබෑය. එහෙත් බුද්ද්ධ ශාසනයේ ඇති වෙනස නම් යමෙක් එසේ දුශ්ශීලයෙක් බව දැනගත් විට සමාජය, ගම ඔහුව වෙන්කර හඳුනා ගැනීමය. මේ අතින් කතෝලික පල්ලිය හා පාප්තුමා ප්‍රධාන සංවිධානත්, පන්සලත් අතර ඇති වෙනස නම් මධ්‍යම පරිපාලනයක් නොමැති හෙයින් භික්‍ෂූත්වයෙන් එවැන්නන් නෙරපීමට බෞද්ද්ධ සංස්ථාවක් නැතිවීමය. කාසි උසාවි ලබාදුන් බෞද්ද්ධ දේශපාලකයින් සංඝාධිකරණයක් ඉල්ලා බෞද්ද්ධ කොමිෂන් හරහා කල ඉල්ලීම් දිගටම පැහැර හැරියේය. සෑම ගමේ පන්සලකම ස්වාධිපත්‍යය සහිත භාරකරු විහාරාධිපතිය. මා උපන් පානදුරේ වලානේ මීට වෙනස් හාමුදුරුවරු දෙන්නෙක් සිටියේය. එක් අයෙක් ඔහුට අයත් ඉඩමක ඔහුගේම ආරාමයක් තනියෙන් ගෙන ගියේය. තවත් නමක් ඔහුගේ ආරාමවත්තේ ස්ත්‍රියකට හා කුඩා දරුවන්ට ගෙයක් සදා තබාගත්තේය. ඔවුන් ගිහියන්ගෙන් දාන මාන ඉල්ලුවේද නැත. ගිහියන් ඔවුන්ගේ නිවාසවලට ගල්ගසන්නට ගියේද නැත. පැල්මඩුල්ලෙන් ආ විනය වර්‍ධන ව්‍යාපාරය ගැන පවා පන්සල් කලබල වූයේ නැත. ආගමික සංස්ථා ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය ඇති ලෝකයේ එකම තැන ලංකාවේ පන්සල් ක්‍රමයය. තමන් බුදු කෙනෙක්‌ය කියා තමාගේම පිලිමයක් හදාගෙන ඉන්නා පන්සලක් ඇත්තේ ලංකාවේ පමණය.

රන්ජන්ලා, රනිල්ලා, තානාපතිලා විසින් දැනගතයුතු දෙයක් නම් අවුරුදු 550 ක විදේශ ක්‍රිස්තියානි ආක්‍රමණ හා ඊට පෙර දකුණු ඉන්දියන් යුද්ධ පරදවා ලංකාව දිගටම බෞද්ද්ධ රාජ්‍යයක්ව පවතින්නේ ලංකාවේ හාමුදුරුවරුන් නිසා බවය. ගනින්නාන්සේලා සිටි කාලයේ පවා ඔවුන් කට පාඩමින් ත්‍රිපිටකය රැක ගත්තේය. වැලිවිට ශ්‍රී සරණංකර සංඝරාජ හිමිඳුන්ට වසදීමට කොළඹින් චරපුරුෂයින් යැවීමේ සිට 2003 දී ගංගොඩවිල සෝම හිමියන්ගේ සැකසහිත අභාවය දක්වා තිබෙන්නේ පන්සල හා පාලකයින් අතර ඇති අරගලයේ සාහසික උදාහරණය. 1802, 1815 නෝත්-බ්‍රවුන්‍රිග් කාලයේ සිට පන්සල් හා ගම බෙදීම සුද්දන්ගේ සැලැස්ම විය. දෙවන ලෝක යුද සමයේ ජපන්නු ලංකාවට ආවොත්, ඒ කාලයේදී ඇමෙරිකාවේ සිටි ජපන් පුරවැසියන්ට රැසවේල්ට් ජනාධිපති විසින් කලාක් මෙන්, පන්සල්වල හාමුදුරුවරුන් එකතුකර යුදකඳවුරුවල නිවාස අඩස්සියේ තබන්නට ලංකාවේ සිටි යුද අඥාධිපති ලේටන් තීරණය කලේ මේ නිසාමය. 1948 සිට පක්‍ෂ දේශපාලක කළුසුද්දන්ගේ උපාය වූයේද පක්‍ෂ දේශපාලන විෂබීජය හරහා පන්සල්වල හාමුදුරුවරුන් තමන්ගේ රූකඩ කරගැනීමය. එල්ලේ ගුණවංශ හාමුදුරුවන්ගේ වචන වලින් කියතොත්, පක්‍ෂ දේශපාලකයින්ට කොඩි අරගෙන පෙරහැරේ ගිය පන්සල් වලට ඉතුරු වුනේ කොඩිවල පොලු පමණය. මේ සෙල්ලම, සිංහල බෞද්ද්ධයින්ට නායකයෙක් නැතිබව, රටට එලි කලේ 2012 මැයි මස බිහිවූ බොදු බල සේනාවය. ගලබොඩ‌අත්තේ ඥානසාර හිමිඳුන් හිරේ දමනවා නම් හෝ නිහඬ කරවනවා නම් අද ඉන්නා පිරිත්නූල් බෞද්ද්ධ පක්‍ෂ දේශපාලකයින් හිතයටින් වුනත් සතුටුවන්නේ මේ එලිකිරීම නිසා ඔවුන් තොග පිටින්ම ගලේ පැහැරූ බළලුන්‌වී ගිය නිසාය.

ඉංග්‍රීසි සිවිල් නිලධාරීන් හා හුදකලාව වනගතව දුක්‌වින්ඳ හාමුදුරුවරු ලංකාවේ අතීත බෞද්ද්ධ නටබුන්-සිද්ද්ධස්ථාන ජාතියට රැකදුන්නේය. මඩකලපුවේ මංගලාරාමයේ අම්පිටියේ සුමනරතන හිමියන් මුළු දිස්ත්‍රික්කයටම ඇති එකම පන්සල රකිමින් සිටින්නේ සහරාන්ලාගේ හා හිස්බුල්ලලාගේ මරණ තර්‍ජන මැදය. කුඩාකාලයේදී ඊලම් කොටි විසින් දෙමව්පියන් මරා දැමීම නිසා තනිවුන, අනාතවුන, උන්වහන්සේගේ එකම ආයුධය ලෙස ඉතිරිව ඇත්තේ පරුෂ වචනයෙන් හොර නිලධාරීන්ට බැණීම පමණය. වරක් පවිත්‍රා විදුලිබල ඇමතිනිය විසින් පන්සලේ විදුලිය විසන්ධි කිරීමට කොළඹ සිට එවූ නිලධාරියෙක් හාමුදුරුවන්ට හොර ගෑණියෙක් ඉන්නවා යයි කී කතාව හාමුදුරුවන්ට ඇසුණේය. එම නිලධාරියාට එය ඔප්පුකරන ලෙසටත් නැත්නම් ඔහුට පන්සලෙන් පණපිටින් යන්නට නොදෙන බවටත් හාමුදුරුවන් කල සටන්කාමී අභියෝගය උඩ ඔහු තමා කී වචන ඉල්ලා අස්කරගෙන පොලිස් නිලධාරීන් ඉදිරියේ සමාව ගෙන බලුකුක්කෙක් මෙන් පිටව ගියේය. අසරණව සිටින සිංහල ජනයා වෙනුවෙන් සෝම හාමුදුරුවන් මෙන් බණ කිය කියා ඉන්නට සුමනරතන හාමුදුරුවන්ට පිනක් නැත.

සෝම හාමුදුරුවන්ට රහස් ප්‍රේම සම්බන්‌ධයක් තිබුණා යයි කියමින් වික්ටර් අයිවන් විසින් 2006 දී පන්සලේ විප්ලවය කියා පොතක් ලිව්වේය. මෙය එන්ජිිෝ කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුවක් විය යුතුය. එය ලිව්වේ හාමුදුරුවන් අපවත්කර අවුරුදු තුනකට පසුවය. ලංකාව ආරක්‍ෂාකරණා යම් අදෘෂ්‍යමාණ බලවේගයක් පවතින බව පාස්කු ප්‍රහාර කුමණ්ත්‍රනය කොට උඩ යෑමෙන් පැහැදිලිවේ. එය ඉන්දියාවේ තිරුපති කෝවිලේ තරාදිය නොවේ. ලංකාවේ මුස්ලිම්-සිංහල ගැටුමක් ඇතිකරවීමට සිතා කල ප්ලෑන බකල් විය. ඊට දින දෙකකට පෙර ඇමෙරිකන් තානාපති නෝනා හිස්බුල්ලා සමඟ ගොස් සහරාන්ගේ සයින්‌දුමරිදුවල ඇමෙරිකන් නාවික බලaැනියෙන් සැදූ පාසැලක් විවෘත කරදීම පුදුමාකාරයේ අහම්බ සිදුවීමකි. පාසැල් අවතැන්වන ජනයාගේ නිවහන්ද වේ. මෙම පාස්කු බෝම්බ නිසා නුදුරු අනාගතයේදී මුළු රටම වෙලාගත් භයානක බෝම්බ-කඩු-පිහි ඝාතනයක් පිළිඹඳ සංඥාවක් සිංහල හා දෙමළ ජනයාට ලැබුණේය.

සදාම් හුසේන් කුවයිට් ආක්‍රමණය කලොත් ඇමෙරිකාව ඊට මැදිහත් නොවන්නේ යයි ඇමෙරිකන් තානාපතිනිය දුන් ලණුව කා ඔහුට විරුද්ද්ධව මුස්ලිම් රටවල් බෙදාගන්නට සදාම් ඇමෙරිකාවට මගපාදා දුන්නේය. මිචෙල් සෙසන් මාදුළුවාවේ හාමුදුරුවන් හරහා සිංහල බෞද්ද්ධ ජනයා දෙකඩ කලේය. මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ පැරදුනේ ඒ නිසාය. දැන් රනිල්ලා සදන්නේ ඥානසාර, රතන යන හාමුදුරුවරු දෙන්නා ඇතුළු සංඝ සමාජය විසින් රටේ ගොඩ නගමින් ඉන්නා 1956 දී සිදුවූවාටත් වඩා ප්‍රභල සිංහල-දෙමළ බලවේගයට රන්ජන් ලවා අපචාර කතා කියවා මඩ ගැසීමය. ටී එන් ඒ මන්ත්‍රී හොරුන්, බංකොලොත් ගජේන්ද්‍ර පොන්නම්බලම් වැනි අය කීනියා උණුවතුර ලිං, ගුරුකන්ද විහාරය වැනි අළුත් ප්‍රශ්ණ ඇතිකරන්නේද දෙමළ ජනයාගේ මේ වෙනස්වීමට ඇති භීතිය නිසාය.

පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය යම් කුමණ්ත්‍රනකාරීන්ට පාරාවලල්ලක්‌වුන පරිදිම, රන්ජන් පාවිච්චිකරමින් කරන්නට සිදූකරන්නට සිතූ උපායද දැන් අතේ පත්තු වෙමින් පවතී. රන්ජන් දැලිපිහියක් අතට දුන් වඳුරෙක් වැනිය. ඔහුට ඇත්තේ පිරිසිදු රෙකෝඩ් එකක් නොවේ. නඩුකාරයින් ගැන ඔහු කල ප්‍රකාශය නිසා සමස්ත උසාවි ක්‍රමයම හෑල්ලුවට ලක්‌විය. නඩුකාරවරු ඔහුට විරුද්ද්ධ නඩුව කල්දමමින් අතරමංව සිටී. ඉන් පසු ඔහු කිව්වේ මන්ත්‍රීලා ඇමතිලා කුඩු ගහන කතාවය. මෙම කතාවෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ කතානායක වෙව්ලා දණගසා ගියේය. රටේ ජනයා මෝඩයින් යයි මේ අය සිතන්නේය. රන්ජන් ගැන ඇමෙරිකන් තානාපති නෝනා නම් පැහැදී ඉන්නවාසේ පෙනේ. රන්ජන් නමැති කොට්ටෝරුවා දැන් කෙහෙල් ගහකට කොටා ඇත. පන්සල් ගැන, භික්‍ෂු විනය ගැන, පිරිමි ගණිකාවන්ගේ මනස ගැන රන්ජන් දන්නා කෙහෙල්මලක් නැත. විජය කුමාරතුංග මාමා, කාලෝ මාමා ගැන කියා ඔවුන්ගේ මොලේ ලබාගන්නට රන්ජන්ට බැරිබව රන්ජන්ට කියා දෙන්නට කෙනෙක් නැත.

රන්ජන් ඉස්සරහට දමා කතාවක් කියවා ඉන් පසු ඔහුගෙන් ලිඛිතව නිදහසට කරුණු විමසා, අගමැති කල සෙප්පඩවිජ්ජාව අගමැතිගේ බෙල්ලට වැටුණ උරචක්‍රමාලයක් කියා සිතෙන්නේ, කලාවැව හරහා ඇමෙරිකන් ඉරක් ගසන්නට වලිකන මොහු දැන් කලා වැව ගැන යෝද ඇල ගැන පුදුම ජාත්‍යාලයකින් කතා දෙන නිසාය. රන්ජන් හා රනිල් ලඟ දැන් භික්‍ෂූ අපචාර පිළිඹඳ ලිපිගොණුවක් ඇත. මෙහි ඇති නම් ගම් විස්තර පොලිසියට භාරදී හෝ කියවා බලා පොලිසියට භාරදෙන ලෙස ඔහු හැමවිටම සඳහන් කරන ඔහුගේ මල්වත්තේ මහනාහිමියන්ට භාරදීම රටේ අගමැති වශයෙන් රනිල්ට නීතියෙන් පැවරෙන වගකීමය. ලිපිගොණුවේ ඇති යම් භික්‍ෂුවක් විසින් සාමනේර භික්‍ෂූන් 9 කට ඒඩ්ස් රෝගය බෝකලා යන කරුණ පමණක්
වුවද සාපරාධි වරදක් යටතේ අත්‌අඩංගුවට ගැනීමට ප්‍රමාණවත්‌ය (මේ ගැන වෙන රටක නම් රටේ නීතිපති කෙලින්ම මැදිහත් වන්නේය). මෙසේ ක්‍රියා නොකරන්නේ නම් රන්ජන් හා රනිල් ඉන්නේ එකම බෝට්ටුවේය.

සංඝ සමාජයට මෙහිදී ඇති ජාතික වගකීම නම් රට වෙනුවෙන් එක් ධජයක් යටතේ ක්‍රියා කිරීමය. සංඝ සමාජයේ ප්‍රශ්ණ ඇති බොදු බල සේනාව 2012 දී සිටම කියා සිටියේය. තමන්ගේ වත්ත සුද්දකරගත යුතුයයි ඥානසාර හිමියෝ කියා සිටියේය. බොහෝ ගැටළු සුද්දගෙ නීතියෙන් බුද්ද්ධ ශාසනයට පැටවූ ගැටළුය. කාගම සිරිනන්ද හිමියන් ගම් වැසියන්ට පහදා දෙන අන්දමට සිවුර නමැති කැළයේ සැඟවී සිටීමට ඇති ඉඩකඩ බොහෝය. අනිත් අතට අඩුතරමින් 2002 බුද්ද්ධ ශාසන කොමිෂම් වාර්තාවත්, බුද්ද්ධ ශාසන ඇමතිවත් කියවා තිබෙනවාද? මාධ්‍ය හරහා රන්ජන්ට බනිනවා වෙනුවට හාමුදුරුවරුන් විසින් කල යුත්තේ සංවිධානගතව රන්ජන්-රනිල් කුමණ්ත්‍රනයේ හදවතටම පිහියෙන් ඇනීමය. රන්ජන් දමණය මේ අවස්ථාවේදී නොකලොත් ඉදිරි චන්ද වේදිකාවලදී රන්ජන් යකා නටනු නිසැකය.

අරුන උණවටුන

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණ නඩු තීන්දු සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් ලබා දීමට ජනමතය විමසන ලෙස ඉල්ලා අත්සන් ලක්ෂයක පෙත්සමක් ජනාධිපතිවරයාට ලබා දීමට අත්සන් එකතු කිරීමේ ආරම්භක උත්සවය ජූනි 18 කොළඹ මහජන පුස්තකාලයේ දී පවත්වන ලදී.

නීතිය නොදැනීම සමාවට කරුණක් නොවේ” යන නීති සිද්ධාන්තය අනුව රටේ බහුතර ජනතාව වෙනස්කමකට ලක් නොකල යුතු අතර නීතිය දැන ගැනීමට ඇති මාර්ග අවහිර නොකළ යුතු වේ. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පාලන ආයතන 3 අතරින් විධායකය සහ ව්‍යවස්ථාදායකය විසින් ගනු ලබන තීරණ රටේ බහුතර ජනතාවගේ භාෂාවෙන් එනම් සිංහල භාෂාවෙන්ද ගනු ලබන හෙයින් ඒවා ජනතාවට සන්නිවේදනය වුවත් අනෙක් පාලන ආයතනයේ ඉහළම ආයතන වන ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණය ගන්නා තීරණ ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවෙන් පමණක් ලබා දෙන හෙයින් බහුතර සිංහල ජනතාවට ඒවා සන්නිවේදනය නොවන බවට සමාජයේ කතිකාවතක් නිර්මාණය වී ඇත.

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණ විනිසුරුවරුන්ගේ අදහස් රටේ බහුතරයක් වූ සිංහල ජනතාවද දැන ගත යුතු බවට විවාදයක් තිබිය නොහැකි වුවත් ඒ සදහා පිළිගත් ක්‍රමවේදයක් නැති වීම ජනතාවට නීතිය දැන ගැනීමට ඇති මාර්ග වසා දැමීමකි. ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණයට ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවෙන් නඩු කටයුතු සිදුකිරීමට සහ නඩු තීන්දු ලබා දීමට ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 24 ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ ගැසට් පත්‍රයක් මගින් විධාන කිරීමට අධිකරණ විෂය භාර ඇමතිවරයාට විධිවිධාන සළසා දී ඇත.  මෙය ජනතාවගේ අධිකරණ බලය සම්බන්ධව ජනතාවගේ පරමාධිපත්‍යය නොව කිහිප දෙනෙකුගේ පරමාධිපත්‍යය වෙනුවෙන් අධිකරණ විෂය භාර ඇමතිවරයා සිදුකරන මැදිහත් වීමක් බව පෙනී යයි. එමෙන්ම ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණය ගන්නා තීරණ ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවෙන් පමණක් ලබා දීම ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ රාජ්‍ය භාෂාව, ජාතික භාෂාව, පරිපාලන භාෂාව, නීති පැනවීමේ භාෂාව සහ අධිකරණ භාෂාව සම්බන්ධව දක්වා ඇති විධිවිධාන සැළකීමේදී නොගැලපෙන තත්ත්වයක් බවත් එය ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 1 වන ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ දැක්වෙන ශ්‍රී ලංකාව නිදහස්, ස්වෛරී, ස්වාධීන, ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික, සමාජවාදී ජනරජය යන ලෙස නම් කිරීමටද පටහැනි තත්ත්වයක් වන බව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණ නඩු තීන්දු රටේ බහුතර ජනතාවට කියවිය හැකි පරිදි සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් ලබා ගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් වන වැඩසටහනේ සමායෝජක නීතිඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන ප්‍රකාශ කරයි.

රටේ බහුතර ජනතාවට සිදුකරන මේ භාෂාවේ වෙනස්කම වැළැක්වීම ජාතික වැදගත් කමකින් යුත් අවශ්‍යතාවය ක් බව පෙන්වා දෙමින් එයට ජනමතවිචාරණයක් මගින් විසදුමක් ලබා ගැනීම සදහා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 3, 4 සහ 86 ව්‍යවස්ථා යටතේ ජනාධිපතිවරයා වෙත ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්වෙන් බලතල ලැබී ඇති බව පෙන්වා දෙමින් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණ නඩු තීන්දු ලබා දිය යුතු භාෂාව සිංහල භාෂාව විය යුතුද?  යන කාරණය ජනමතවිචාරණයක් මගින් ජනතාව වෙත යොමු කරන ලෙස ඉල්ලමින් පුරවැසියන් ලක්ෂයක් විසින් කැමැත්ත ලබා දී අත්සන් කරන ලේඛනයක් ජනාධිපතිතුවරයා වෙත යොමු කිරීමට ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණ නඩු තීන්දු රටේ බහුතර ජනතාවට කියවිය හැකි පරිදි සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් ලබා ගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් වන වැඩසටහනේ සමායෝජක නීතිඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන විසින් කටයුතු ආරම්භ කර ඇත.

මේ වන විට නීතිඥවරු ඇතුලු විද්වතුන් සහ පුරවැසියන් දහසකට ආසන්න ප්‍රමාණයක අත්සන් ලබා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය කටයුතු කර ඇති බවත් අත්සන් විසිතුන් දහසක් අත්සන් ලබා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය පියවර ගෙන ඇති බවත් අත්සන් ලක්ෂය ලබා ගැනීම සංකේවත් කරන පළමු උත්සව අවස්ථාව ජූනි 18 දින කොළඹ මහජන පුස්තකාලයේදී පවත්වා ඇත. ඒ අවස්ථාව සදහා කැළණිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ සංස්කෘත අධ්‍යයන අංශයේ මහාචාර්ය පූජ්‍ය ඉදුරගාරේ ධම්මරතන හිමියන් සිය අත්සන අත්සන් ලේඛණයේ පළමුව තබමින් මේ කටයුත්ත ආරම්භ කරන ලදී.

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණ නඩු තීන්දු සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් ලබා ගැනීමට ජනතාවගේ ඇති අදහස ජනාධිපතිවරයා වෙත යොමු කිරීම සදහා මේ ගන්නා උත්සාහයට ඒ සදහා උනන්දුවක් ඇති පුරවැසියන්ට සිය අත්සන යොදා අත්සන් ලක්ෂයේ ඉලක්කය සපුරාදිය හැකි බව වැඩසටහනේ සමායෝජක නීතිඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන විසින් ඉල්ලීමක් කරයි.

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණ නඩු තීන්දු රටේ බහුතර ජනතාවට කියවිය හැකි පරිදි සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් ලබා ගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් වන වැඩසටහනේ දුරකථන අංක 0342256066, 0342256067 සහ 0712063394 අමතා වැඩි විස්තර ලබා ගත හැකිය.

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණ නඩු තීන්දු ලබා දිය යුතු භාෂාව සිංහල භාෂාව විය යුතුද? මැයෙන් ජනමතවිචාරණයක් පවත්වන ලෙස ඉල්ලා ගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම සදහා පුරවැසියන් ලක්ෂයකගේ අත්සන් එකතු කිරීමේ සමාරම්භක නිල උත්සවය 2019 ජූලි මස 18 වන දින සවස කොළඹ 07 මහජන පුස්තකාලයේ ප්‍රවේශාගාරයේ දී නීතිඥවරු ඇතුලු විද්වත් පිරිසගේ සහභාගීත්වයෙන් පවත්වන ලදී. එම අවස්ථාවට වැඩම කළ කැළණිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ සංස්කෘතික අධ්‍යයන අංශයේ මහාචාර්ය පූජ්‍ය ඉදුරගාරේ ධම්මරතන හිමියන් සිය අත්සන ලබා දෙන අවස්ථාව සහ සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණයේ නඩු තීන්දු ලබා ගැනීම රටේ බලය පිළිබද ප්‍රශ්නය තීරණය කිරීමක් බවට දේශනය පවත්වන අවස්ථාවත්, අත්සන් ලක්ෂය සදහා පුරවැසියන් සිය සහාය ලබා දෙන අකාරයත් භාෂා පරමාධිපත්‍යය පිළිබද ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ යෙදීම් පිළිබද දේශනය නීතිඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන සහ බුද්ධ ශාසනය සහ රටේ අනන්‍යතාවය පිළිබදව නීතිඥ ක්‍රිසන්ත නිස්සංක දේශන පවත්වන ආකරයත් මෙහි දැක්වේ…

Courtesy The Guardian

May and June are the low season in Sri Lanka, but this year, following the Easter Sunday bombings, tourism ground to a halt. Hotels were empty, beaches were deserted and popular attractions that had been starting to suffer from overtourism were eerily quiet. The UK Foreign Office’s warning against all but essential travel was issued on April 25, effectively forcing UK holidaymakers to either cancel or postpone bookings.

Visitors in May were down 70% year on year. After the FCO changed its advice six weeks later on 6 June – and other countries lifted their restrictions – visitor numbers rose a little but were still 57% down year on year.

We had four yoga groups in May and June – they all had to cancel,” says Kevin Abbott, owner of Jim’s Farm Villas in central Sri Lanka. We effectively closed the hotel. Last weekend we had our first guests since the attack.”

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2019/jul/19/sri-lanka-bombings-three-months-on-tourism-workers-tell-their-stories

KHALID KOSER LILLA SCHUMICKY-LOGAN Courtesy The Interpreter

New research suggests students themselves know the best
strategies to prevent violent radicalisation in universities.

A remembrance ceremony in Colombo in June, two months after the Easter Sunday bombings that killed 258 people (Photo: Ishara S. Kodikara via Getty)Published 19 Jul 2019 11:00

The Easter bombings in Sri Lanka killed 258 people, including two Australians among 46 foreign nationals, and injured 500 more. Its perpetrators according to Sri Lankan State Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene were well-educated and come from the middle or upper-middle class”, and were financially quite independent”. One of the bombers studied in the United Kingdom before going to Australia to complete a postgraduate degree.

This profile is almost completely at odds with the general perception that violent extremists, in developing countries in particular are deprived and marginalized. The much-cited reported from the United Nations Development Program Journey to Extremism in Africa”, for example, identifies lack of employment, healthcare, education, security, and housing as the main reasons for joining violent extremist and terrorist organisations. As a result, interventions that have gained traction over the last few years to prevent violent extremism have focused on education, provision of life-skills, and critical thinking. These are unlikely to be the most pressing priorities to address the frustrations of middle-class students.

Religion can distance
students from
mainstream culture,
but also buffer them
against radicalisation
to violent extremism.

How is the face of violent extremism changing? And what are more appropriate responses?

To some extent the Sri Lanka bombings resemble those in Bangladesh in 2016, when similarly, middle-class and educated extremists attacked a similarly soft target” (a bakery frequented by expatriates), although with far fewer fatalities (seven Japanese aid workers were among the fatalities). Shortly afterwards, the Global Community and Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF), where we work, surveyed over 2,000 students in public, private and religious universities in Dhaka, and have used the results to fund almost 1,000 activities reaching over three million people.

Some of the lessons we have learned may answer some of the questions now asked in Sri Lanka, as well as help prevent the radicalisation of university students elsewhere. In Tunisia, for example, our analysis of the socio-economic background of returning foreign terrorist fighters shows many of them are also university graduates, and left middle-class families to join ISIS.

First, who is at risk? We found that young women were as likely to be vulnerable to radicalisation to violent extremism as were young men (although all five suspects in Bangladesh were men and eight out of nine in Sri Lanka). In contrast to stereotypes, the statement that killing another person is against my moral beliefs” was mostly endorsed by students in religious institutions and least by students in private universities. The latter also exhibited the most limited sense of purpose. At the same time, students from religious institutions exhibited the lowest levels of cultural pride or connectedness to Bengali culture.

Second, what are the drivers? For most of the female respondents, their frustrations derived from gendered expectations of them in society as women, for example, getting married at an early age. Several also wanted retribution against gender-based violence. Many men spoke about the lack of, or troubled, relationships.

Male and female students were also concerned that they would be unable to fulfil their parents’ expectations. In this context, many also cited a lack of opportunities and limited prospects for gainful employment after finishing their studies as reasons to seek criminal or violent extremist alternatives. Overwhelming workloads as students, combined with a lack of extracurricular activities, also figured significantly in responses to the survey.

Third, where are the safety nets? Many of the same students who cited parental pressure to succeed as unbearable, also explained that a strong relationship with their parents and families was paramount. Others, both in religious institutions but also public and private universities, identified religion as one of the main factors in preventing them from becoming involved in violent extremist activities.

Fourth, what works? Working with students and universities, GCERF has funded hundreds of activities, to raise awareness, mobilize action, and identify constructive alternatives. A few common denominators have emerged.

The most effective activities have been student-centred and led. Separate programs for men and women have attracted greater participation than joint activities. It is critical to engage teachers, as well as students’ parents and families. Extracurricular activities focusing on art, theatre and sports generated the most positive feedback. Activities that combined students from different types of educational institutions (public, private, religious) generated the most friction but also the best outcomes. Online media extended reach, but often diluted the message.

Our early findings pose as many questions as they answer. Religion can distance students from mainstream culture, but also buffer them against radicalisation to violent extremism. The family can be a source of frustration as well as inspiration. Women are as at risk as men of radicalisation to violent extremism, sometimes for similar and sometimes different reasons. Universities are places of learning and loathing.

But what is clear is that governments and university authorities around the world need to do better to guard against the risk of radicalisation to violent extremism in universities. And the most effective way to do so is not through curfews or expulsions, or social media bans, but through interventions that resonate with students’ own hopes and fears.

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today

She lived in a faraway remote town, hundreds of miles away from the City of Colombo, and I was born in London. When the flower buds opened into beautiful blooms in her garden, they reached my olfactory glands automatically! Cool breezes swept across her garden in Sri Lanka, and moved thousands of miles, across the seas to bring me ‘love letters’ from her, my long-distance love! Neither had she seen me, nor had I seen her, the only bond between us was that I had heard about her from my parents quite often, from my young days in London.

Many professionals, doctors, lawyers, intellectuals, scholars, poets, renowned authors, journalists, and internationally reputed broadcasters all fell in love with her. Many artists captured beautiful portraits on her charismatic beauty, and the cameramen were eager to grip her splendour through their lenses. Poets wrote passionate poems about her, and songwriters equally composed romantic lyrics about her, and the singers echoed and projected her beauty in a most heart-rendering fashion, describing her mesmerizing beauty.

When I heard about all those, I too became more and more attracted to her on a daily basis. The metamorphosis of the sand grain turned it into a whole world, and a drop of water turned into a mighty ocean, and an infant child once, grew up to be an adult, and  an innocent heart managed to convert into something complex!

Her message to me, not so long ago, indicated her bond with me, when she said:

My dear…….! Although you and I live in two different countries separated by thousands of miles apart, your heart and mine beat always together!”
I responded to her sweet message in return by saying:

My dearest! I am willing to travel up to the seventh heaven in search of you and to reach you!”

When tropical birds migrated from Sri Lanka to other parts of the world, such birdies brought me information about her. When the moon shone on her, it shone on me as well, and when the sun went down for her, so did it for me too, perhaps within a few hours of difference.

However, at the end, I managed to work out a complex itinerary for a long-awaited journey to visit her. You (the reader), might think that I wanted to embark upon such a long and arduous journey single-handed….. No….! In fact, I decided to go with a group of others, who in their own minds had fallen in love with her, influenced by professionals, doctors, lawyers, intellectuals, scholars, poets, renowned authors, journalists, and internationally reputed broadcasters’ adulation.

The leader of our group was one of my best friends, whom I assessed as the one who knew where she lived exactly. In fact, he was the one who described to me in detail, and encouraged me, and organised this long trip, to have a meeting with her.

Anxiety

Days turned into weeks, weeks passed by into months, and finally, we ended up inside a SriLankan Airlines aircraft. It was very strange I thought, when I didn’t come into contact with any of the Government Cabinet Ministers, Prime Minister, or even the President of the Country inside the SriLankan aircraft. After a strenuous (11-hour direct flight) from Heathrow Airport, we landed at the Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo, in the middle of the night, yet my friend advised me we still had a few hundred miles to reach her. That wait seemed much longer now than the last twenty-five years of my life!

The feeling inside the aircraft was like a wedding without the bride. Lights inside the aircraft were turned off, except a few panel lights along the body of the fuselage, and the odd passenger, who could not rest peacefully inside the plane, started to read a magazine, by switching on his overhead light. I could hear thunder and lightning outside in God’s land! We finally landed at the Bandaranaike International Airport in the thick of night. 

Without paying much heed to the time factor, or the pitch darkness outside the airport building, I suggested to my friend that we started our journey to find her straightway.

Only the bright galaxy of stars in the sky over us were visible, a rare scene I had not witnessed all my life in London. There were hardly any streetlights on the main road, and the streets were entirely empty. Every now and then, I expected to see at least one, or two people on the road, but I could only see fireflies in the dark. As I said before, I was not alone on this long journey, but my best friend accompanied me. Although he had been a globetrotter, and was extremely familiar with places like London, Paris, Berlin, New York, Toronto, Sydney, Melbourne, and Chicago, this was his trip to Sri Lanka after a considerable period of time, and to his amazement the skyline of Sri Lanka had changed appropriately, that made him, I guess, to become rather confused.

We were chauffeur driven in the pitch darkness, along a dark road. After travelling a couple of hundred miles, we expected to see at least someone on the road! Occasionally, we did come across an odd person or two, from whom we made enquiries about her. Our Sinhala appeared to be Greek to them. Then their Sinhala was even worse than Greek to us!

In that unforgettable ominous night, we aimlessly walked on the main road, after getting down from the car at various places. It seemed like we were going in search of the horizon! Once, at long last, we came across a young man who spoke some Broken English. We tried to speak to him in our rusty Sinhala, and explained to him that we had come from London. 

Upon hearing the word London, a smile dawned on him. After a brief conversation with him, his countenance changed, and we gathered that he knew exactly where we were heading. Next, he voluntarily got into our car in an attempt to help us, which was totally a rare experience for us coming from London, and this young man’s offer to guide us in the middle of the night amazed us, which we could not have found anywhere in England, or anywhere in the world for that matter, especially in the early hours of the following morning, in order to guide us to where she was.

After few minutes of driving with the stranger, this young lad called her name aloud, screamed and shouted in order to wake her up. She seemed to be fast asleep. There were only memories of old castles, ruins of various buildings around us. The young man yelled in joy, to let her know that we had come all the way from London! Yet, I was wondering whether it would be proper for him to disturb the whole neighbourhood in such a manner, especially during unsocial hours. Alas! No door opened, no window unlocked, and not a single gate unfastened.

I then called aloud her name with ecstasy, to let her know that her long-distance love was there on her doorstep to tell her that I had come all the way from London, after all these years, to appreciate her beauty. At last, like a magnet attracts iron filings to it, our echoed voices attracted each other. The door opened to the one who kept on knocking! A cold breeze constantly blew. When the moon shone, it shone on both of us simultaneously. She cried and shed happy tears and welcomed me.

Who is she?

She is the one I had fallen in love with, from the days I was a young man in London. She was the one my parents used to tell me about, and described her as an unsophisticated, rural and healthy-looking damsel. 

Now, she has transformed into a sophisticated, beautiful lady!
My darling, the amount of trouble my friend and I had to undergo to find you in this unpromising night!” The other group members are fast asleep in a Colombo hotel, trying to get rid of their jet lag. Sure, they will come to see you tomorrow. The difference between them and me darling, is not only I have fallen in love with you, and I have finally found you, after all these years, and I am now in your lap! The dream I had from my childhood, having been born to Sri Lankan parents in England, from early ages, has now come true.

Dear old town Anuradhapura, once the Capital of Sri Lanka, the hub where hospitable, innocent, unsophisticated and harmless people live, and where my grandparents were born and bred, I have finally decided to get married to you, and spend the rest of my life with you, in your lap, in complete delight.

tilakfernando@gmail.com

By Lakshman I. Keerthisinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today

Let us never forget that government is ourselves, and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President, and senators, and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.”

-Franklin D. Roosevelt –American statesman and former President.
President Maithripala Sirisena recently called for the abolition of both the 18th and 19th Amendments of the Constitution ‘in order to strengthen freedom, democracy and ensure good governance in the future’, he said when speaking at the 40th anniversary celebrations of the National Housing Development Authority, at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo. The present article analyses the effect of the 19th Amendment on the next presidency.

The next election for the selection of the next President is required to be held between 8 November and 8 December this year. Since, the incumbent President has recently stated that he might not be seeking re-election, Sri Lanka’s next President will assume that office as soon as the result of that election is declared by the Commissioner of Elections. Quite a number of hopeful candidates have already emerged. Any Sri Lankan citizen, who has attained the age of 35 years, who does not hold the citizenship of any other country, has not been twice elected to the office of President by the people, and is not disqualified from being elected to Parliament, is eligible to be a candidate, provided if such person is nominated by a recognised political party, or such person has been an elected member of Parliament, by any other political party or by an elector.

Some of the candidates have already begun announcing their policies and plans for the future of the country at well-attended meetings, in five-star hotels, while others have posted in social media, to achieve their objective. These policies and plans deal mostly with economic, social, national security, and other similar issues crucial to the governance of Sri Lanka. 

Even the text of a new Constitution has been suggested by one such candidate. However, it is to be noted that under the 19th Amendment, the process of replacing presidential government with parliamentary government could be realised only on the day that President Sirisena ceases to hold office.  On and after that date, it will be the policies and plans of the political party securing a majority in Parliament that will be implemented throughout the country.

Article 42 of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution states that the Cabinet of Ministers is charged with the direction and control of the Government. It is the Cabinet that is collectively responsible and answerable to Parliament. Under Article 45, only a Member of Parliament may be appointed a Minister. It was an unprecedented transitional provision in the 19th Amendment that enabled President Sirisena to initially assign to himself the Ministries of Defence, Mahaweli and Environment. 

That transitional provision ceases to operate when President Sirisena ceases to hold the office of President. The next President will not be entitled to assign to himself any Ministry or any subject or function of government; not even the subject of Defence.

Next President

The next President, under the 19th Amendment will be the Head of State, the Head of the Executive (that is, the Government), and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. That is also the role played by then President William Gopallawa, under the 1972 Constitution. It may be recalled that even under the 1946 Constitution, executive power was vested in the Governor-General. The Governors General, including Sir Henry Monck-Mason Moore, Lord Soulbury and Sir Oliver Goonetilleke, were weekly informed of the Cabinet decisions by the Prime Minister. 

The only recorded instance of a Governor-General attending a Cabinet meeting is of Sir Oliver during the 1958 Emergency. The next President will continue to be the Head of the Cabinet of Ministers.” This probably means that the next President too may chair meetings of the Cabinet, as the Speaker does meetings of Parliament. Such President may offer his opinion on Cabinet Memoranda and even initiate a discussion on a subject that such President considers to be important. What such President will be unable to do is seek to implement his decision in respect of a particular subject, as President Sirisena wanted to reduce the powers of the Executive President found in the Constitution, the 19th Amendment has removed many such powers, including legal immunity enjoyed by the President.

In conclusion, the next President appointed under the 19th Amendment will be of a purely ceremonial nature. It may be better, if as President Sirisena has suggested to repeal both 18th and 19th Amendments, and to introduce a new Amendment which enables a national-minded person to be appointed as next President, with appropriate powers to be used in the advancement of the country.

About the writer:

The writer is an Attorney-at-Law with LLB, LLM, MPhil (Colombo)

Email: keerthisinghel@yahoo.co.uk

Courtesy Adaderana

State Minister Ranjan Ramanayake today (19) apologized to Mahanayake and Anunayake theros of Asgiri Chapter for the controversial statement he made regarding Buddhist monks.

The prelates had requested the presence of State Minister Ramanayake with regard to his statement, accordingly, the state minister visited the Asgiri Maha Viharaya in Kandy today.

Following a discussion held with Mahanayake and Anunayake theros and other monks of the Sangha Sabha, the state minister made an apology over his controversial statement.

Meanwhile, many religious leaders had deplored the state minister’s statement.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Defender vehicle, which was recently involved in the attack on a van at Kalagedihena, has been found at a residence in Maharagama area, says the Police Media Spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekara.

SP Gunasekara added that the Defender vehicle was taken into police custody.

The driver of the Defender and another individual have been arrested after the duo surrendered to the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD), the police media spokesperson stated further.

The Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chandana Wickremaratne today (19) directed the CCD to investigate into the incident where VIP security personnel attacked a van recently at Kalagedihena.

The investigations conducted on the matter had managed to uncover the Defender vehicle involved in the incident.

A video recorded on a mobile phone had been widely circulated on social media recently depicting a group of individuals, dressed in white shirts and believed to be VIP security officers, arriving in a white Defender and Prado and attacking a van in the middle of the road at Kalagedihena on the Colombo-Kandy main road.

The driver of the van said that the two vehicles in question came from behind him at high speeds and blocked his vehicle in the middle of the road before several individuals in white shirts got out of the vehicles and attacked his van door demanding that he step out.

He also said that they were dressed in clothing similar to VIP security personnel and that there were two other individuals sitting in the backseat of the Prado.

The incident was captured on a mobile phone by one of the passengers inside the van while the footage also shows the license plates (CAG-0550/CAD-8850) of the two vehicles involved.

Ada Derana learns that the Prado (CAG-0550) is registered under the name of Dinesh Nuwan Amaratunga from Ingiriya while the Defender (CAD-8850) is registered under a certain Udam Indula Sampath Bandara Amaratunga also from Ingiriya.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Permanent High Court-at-Bar today served indictments on 8 accused in the the Central Bank bond scam case including Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) owner Arjun Aloysius.

The defendants were subsequently granted bail by the court, Ada Derana reporter said.

The case was taken up before a bench comprising Justices Sampath Abeykoon, Sampath Wijeyaratne and Champa Janaki Rajaratne in the Special High Court today (19).

Ada Derana reporter said that no attorneys were present at the hearing on behalf of the first defendant in the case, former Central Bank governor Arjuna Mahendran, and the tenth defendant, Ajahn Gardiya Punchihewa, who also failed to appear before the court.

Following the service of indictments against the 8 accused, the court ordered that they be released on a cash bail of Rs 1 million each and two personal bails of Rs 2.5 million each.

The Trial-at-Bar ordered that one of the two bail signatories should be a relative of the defendant while all 8 of the accused were barred from leaving the country and were also ordered to handover their passports to the court.

Additional Solicitor General Priyantha Nawana requested the court to issue a warrant for the arrest of the chief accused in the case, Arjuna Mahendran, who is absconding and is believed to be in Singapore.

However, after long deliberations, the court announced a decision on the request would be delivered on July 24.

The defendants in the case include Lakshman Arjuna Mahendran, former Central Bank Deputy Governor Paththinige Samarasiri, Perpetual Treasuries Limited, PTL owner Arjun Joseph Aloysius, CEO Kasun Oshadhi Palisena, chairman Geoffrey Joseph Aloysius, directors Pushyamithra Gunawardena, Chitta Ranjan Hulugalle, Muthuraja Surendran and Ajahn Gardiye Punchihewa. 

The Attorney General filed indictment against former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran and 9 others before the three-member Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar last month.

The Special High Court had summoned the accused to appear before the court today (July 19) for service of indictment.

The Attorney General had present the indictments on 23 counts involving the charges against the suspects, under the Public Property Act and Registered Stocks and Securities Ordinance.

Earlier this month, the Attorney General had requested permission from the Chief Justice to file indictments against the 10 defendants over the Central Bank treasury bond scam, with the Permanent High Court-at-Bar.

On June 13, the AG received the approval of the Chief Justice to hear the case before the Permanent High Court-at-Bar in the Western Province.

Satisfied with the information filed by the Attorney General in the bond scam case involving the former Central Bank Governor, former Deputy Governor P. Samarasiri, Perpetual Treasuries Limited and its Directors, the Chief Justice had ordered that the Permanent High Court-at-Bar in the Western Province try the case in respect of the offences stated in the information submitted to him.

Issuing a statement, she said that having considered the information referred by the Attorney General under Section 12A(4)(a) of the Judicature Act as amended by Act No. 09 of 2018 and the Chief Justice being of the opinion that the information satisfied  criteria (i) (ii) (iii) and (v) specified in Section 12A(4)(a) has made Order under Section 12A(4)(b) of the said Judicature Act directing that Criminal Procedings in respect of the offences stated in the said information be instituted before the Permanent High Court-at-Bar in the Western Province against the suspects. 

The defendants include Lakshman Arjuna Mahendran, former Central Bank Deputy Governor Paththinige Samarasiri, Perpetual Treasuries Limited, PTL owner Arjun Joseph Aloysius, CEO Kasun Oshadhi Palisena, chairman Geoffrey Joseph Aloysius, directors Pushyamithra Gunawardena, Chitta Ranjan Hulugalle, Muthuraja Surendran and Ajahn Gardiye Punchihewa.

The indictments have been filed on charges pertaining to the Treasury Bond auction on February 27, 2015.

Seven of the charges laid against the suspects are as follows;

• Conspiracy to commit criminal misappropriation in respect of Treasury Bonds to the face value of Rs 10.058 billion. (against all suspects)
• Criminal breach of trust in respect of Treasury Bonds to the face value of Rs 10.058 billion (against Arjuna Mahendran and Paththinige Samarasiri, the first and second suspects) and thereby causing a loss to the government in a sum of Rs 688,762,100
• Abetting Arjuna Mahendran to commit criminal breach of trust in respect of Treasury Bonds to the face value of Rs 10.058 billion (against Paththinige Samarasiri)
• Criminal misappropriation in respect of Treasury Bonds to the face value of Rs 5 billion (against the Perpetual Treasuries Limited)
• Abetting the Perpetual Treasuries Limited to commit criminal misappropriation (against all the other suspects)
• Committing insider dealing by the Perpetual Treasuries Limited
• Abetting the Perpetual Treasuries Limited to commit insider dealing (against all the other suspects)

Dr. Sudath Gunasekara 

Immediate action is needed to arrest this arrogant minority terrorism on this Sinhala motherland to save the country, the 2500 year old Sinhala nation and the Buddha Sasana.

The onerous of arresting this blatant minority terrorism falls squarely on the two main Sinhala political Parties, the UNP and the SLPP. No Sinhala political party or leader should dream to come to power in this country if it continues to ignores these threats and remain deaf, blind and dumb as usual fearing losing minority votes. The whole Sinhala nation is seriously watching how these major Sinhala Political parties will react to these open and arrogant minority threats. Will they keep their eyes, ears and mouths shut as usual and betray the Sinhala nation and the motherland at the expense of the complete extinction of the Sinhala nation. The fate of these two parties decisively hangs on how they react and behave at this most critical juncture in the history of Mother Lanka.

I am posing this question to all Sinhala Political Parties and all Sinhala people in the country in the light of the following two public and arrogant declarations by ITAK and SLMC. The ITAK threat is nothing new as it had been the same old demand of all Tamils from State Council days. Chelvanayagam a Singapore born Catholic Tamil started it in 1947 with the founding of ITAK.  Prabhakaran took to guns and fought for 30 years to establish his dream EELAM and died in 2009.What the ITAK is asking now is the same thing,  Prabha failed to get through the bulle, which Mahinda Rajapaksa, the modern Dutu Gamunu, decisively defeated. Now the Western countries led by USA, who failed to submit MR to their vicious plans are conspiring to rekindle this disaster with the assistance of their local spy and proxy Ranil Wickramasinha, the sworn enemy of the Sinhala Buddhist nation, who is popularly dubbed as the modern Don Juwan Dharmapala. Looking at the way how this country had been run for the past 4 ½ years by Ranil with his band of anti-Sinhala and anti –Buddhist band of Ministers like Mangala, John Samaratunga, Rajitha Senaratna, Kiriella, Malik Samarawickrama and Ravi and the way he has betrayed the country and the Sinhala people jointly with the TNA and Muslim politicians with secret deals leave no room to have any hope on this man for realizing our national goals. Both Tamil and Muslim politicians have openly said and displayed in Parliament that they always stand with Ranil against the Sinhala Buddhists leadership in this country.

The SLMC is conspiring and planning to get their demands fulfilled through a dual approaches namely a) by presenting their own man to contest the forthcoming Presidential election   to polarize Muslim votes and show the world their fake political strength while at the same time shrewdly scheming to get their communal dreams fulfilled by asking the Muslims to cast their second preference to the candidate who wins the elections so that they can highjack him after the elections to get their exact pound of flesh. Whichever the way you look at it the objectives of both communities are identical. That is both minorities want to preserve and consolidate their communal and racial identities until the day comes for them to throw the Sinhala Buddhist nation  in to the Indian  Ocean and form their own Kingdoms, the Tamil EELAM and the Muslim Khalisthan, on this land of the Sinhala people. None of them are prepared to accept this as the land of a Sinhala Buddhist imprint that was founded and developed by their ancestors from the dawn of history.

The sad tragedy of a nation doomed

I put the whole blame for this tragedy of a nation squarely and directly on all unpatriotic, self- seeking and visionless Sinhala politicians who misgoverned this country from 1948 after the British left. It is a classic tragedy in world history that those who took over the country from the British in 1948 never had a national vision or a plan to take this country forward as a free, independent, sovereign, vibrant and prosperous nation. They never bothered, and never had the brain, to draw from the lessons of India or Burma who got Independence in 1947, both of whom rejected the colonial recipe and asserted as Independent and sovereign nations. Our leaders blindly accepted a made in England Constitution that was designed by Jennings to perpetuate the colonial rule and continue exploitation under a Westminster system of Government forever The whole system of government was British, except the people who manned it at home and who carried out its day to day operations as her Majesties obedient servants; a set of black–whites. In fact what happened thereafter up to 1972 until the country was declared an independent Republic, our politician only ran the show for the queen of England as her obedient and servile slaves?

They should have demanded at least to restore basic things like the name of the country handed over in 1815 (Sinhale instead of its Anglicized form of Ceylon). To repatriate the over 1 million Indians who were not there when British took over the country, deceptively in 1815, to allow them to form their own system of government based on native system of governance and restoring their native language and religion. If these things were done right at that time only, freedom over the motherland would have been made meaningful. Most of the communal problems we are faced with today also would never have been there.

What did they do instead? They embraced the British model hook, barrel and sinker, as if we were a barbarian set of people who never had a history or a civilization and civilized only by the British for the first time.

Above all this they embraced the political party system and the name UNP proposed by  Governor Henry Monk Mason Moor in 1947 by which they conceded that there are more than one nation in this country where as in 1815 we had only one nation in this Island, that was Sinhala. This crafty decision of Moor laid the foundation for communal and divisive politics that has ruined the country thereafter. The split in the UNP in 1951 with Bandaranayaka forming the SLFP divided the Sinhala nation in to two opposing political camps. Today they behave just like Jews and Muslims. This division of the Sinhala nation had been the bane and the curse of the nation ever since as it had provided room for minorities to be the critical factor in forming all governments. This has completely eroded the power of the Sinhala majority that forms 75% of the total population of the country even today.  As a result this country has become the only country in the world that is ruled by minority communities at the peril of it native majority.  

It is in this background that I call upon all Sinhala people to give up and discard all political and religious differences (Buddhist and Catholics) and form in to one strong group under the Lion Banner as Sihalese, to save this glorious Island nation of the Sinhala nation and its millennia old civilization from the imminent dangers arising from the serious threats by the Tamils and Muslims as given below. If you don’t do it right now, I can vouch that it will definitely put the curtain down the Sinhala nation,that once marveled the world as one of the greatest civilization on this planet.

As the first step towards this historic turning point in the history of this Island nation, I propose the following cause of action. Immediately forming

1. First a Clergy Front comprising,

All Mahasangha of this country led by the four Mahanayaka Theras of the three Nikayas and other peripheral sects as one group under the Buddha’s sacred yellow robe and the sacred Buddhist flag, giving up their Nikaya differences and political affiliations. Thereafter form in to an alliance with the Catholic and Christian priests led by Cardinal Malcom Ranjith. This will lay the foundation for the all Sinahla power nucleus around which the great future Sinhala nation will be built

• Laymen Front

 As the second step all Sinhala people should immediately discard all their blind and naïve political party affiliations and form one Strong national front to save the nation and the country. The English political parties have only helped politicians to prosper over the past 7 decades while pushing the country down the Gadarine slope to poverty, destitution and destruction without any hope for a tomorrow for posterity. I suggest the laymen should organize around the Temples and Churches under the guidance of Mahasanga and Reverend Priests

• Thereafter together these two groups should select a strong Patriotic leader  supported by patriotic janataahitawadii set of educated and honest men and women of high moral character who are prepared to serve the country and the people by swearing in front of the Sacred Tooth Relicts  at the  Sri Dalda Maligawa as the tradition stands in this country to implement the national programme prepared by  a group of national experts under the guidance and advice of a Supreme Advisory Council of clergy and selected lay experts
•  There after they should also renounce all political and religious differences, discard and totally reject the unpatriotic, anti- Sinhala and anti- Buddhist UNP under Ranil  and his Royal band of thieves and traitors at least until a pro-Sinhala patriotic leadership take over its leadership one day and canvas for one Strong, Patriotic Sinhala Buddhist leader and get him elected as the President.

This in my opinion is the only way to defeat the Tamil and Muslim minority tyranny and terrorism for good and save this great nation and its Sinhala Buddhist culture. It is also the only way to bring back true democracy under which the native majority will get back its legitimate place in this country restored. This however does not mean any discrimination to Tamils and Muslims as minority communities as traditionally it had never been in this country throughout history.  United as Sinhalese we stand, divided we fall and doomed to extinction as the lesson of history has proved over and over again.

A warning to all politicians who intend to capture political power in future

Those politicians who intend to run for power in the forthcoming elections must now respond immediately to the following two statements by the TNA and Muslim politicians in order to qualify to be elected in future. They must publicly denounce these minority attempts without any reservations and agree to abide by the National election manifesto prepared by nation and openly swear and agree to include the following 15 conditions in their manifesto in order to be considered by the people at any forthcoming election.

Among other things we expect them to declare that they stand by the following 15  Commandments and fully committed  to fulfill them if they need our votes.

1Protect the Territorial integrity, Sovereignty, freedom and Independence of this Island nation from all foreign invasions and interferences as it had been done by our ancient Kings.

2 One country, Sinhale and one Official State language as it had been in 1815 at the time of ceding to British and also from the inception of history

3 One Nation Sinhala / Sri Lanka (No Tamil and Muslim nations on this soil after that)

4 One Law for all the citizens and one judicial system (no Muslim Law and tribal Carthy courts and no Thesavalamei)

5 Island wide Law and Order will be restored and everyone will be treated equal before law, by restoring the Rule of Law

6 Lean Parliament and small Cabinet (150 and MPP and 15 Cabinet Minister)

7 People centered Independent and impartial Public Service and Judiciary (with a lean public service where meritocracy, independence and service to people should be the hallmark of public Service.

8 Ban all communal, religious and political parties like TNA,SLMS etc and have only national political parties.

9 Scrap 13 A and Rajiv/JR Accord 1987 immediately and declare all laws, administrative decisions and institutions set up under them like Provincial Councils, grant of Citizenship to Indian estate labour outside the Nehru/Kotalawala Agreement, recognition of the Northern and Eastern Provinces as traditional homelands of Tamils and recognition of Tamil as an Official Language as null and void.

10 Set up an Uttariitara Advisory Council of clergy and top citizens of 25 to advice the Government

11 A national Planning Council to be in charge of overall National Planning whose approval will be made mandatory for all projects in the country both local and foreign.

12A New Constitution within six months based on Home based traditions, true history of the Island and customs to govern the country according to the time tested Buddhist principles of Statecraft Dasaraaja Dharma.

13 Laydown minimum qualifications for politicians and a strict code of Conduct for politicians and   Public Servants.

14 An executive President elected by all people for six years

15 Limit the number of Ministries to 15 and set up fifteen Executive Committees with 15 chairmen to handle governance in the country from among whom, one Chairman will be elected by them as the Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministries, who will be the Prime Minister appointed by the President.

( Details of these 10 will be made available  before the policy statement is presented)

The two provocative Statements referred to in this article are given below.

(1) Illankai Tamil Arasu K adchi to present series of proposals to govt.

July 1, 2019   11:55 am

Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) has decided to present a series of proposals with 11 demands including

.The decision was taken at the general meeting of the party held under the patronage of party leader Mavai Senathirajah in Jaffna yesterday (30).

1 a political solution through a self-governing system to

2combine the Northern and Eastern provinces

3 to provide solutions for the issue of the disappeared persons in the north and the east

4 to remove security forces from the land plots belonging to the civilians in the north, ensuring the people’s land rights as well as

5 to halt the establishment of Buddhist religious shrines in the areas where Hindu people reside.

The ITAK seeks the government to provide solutions to these issues within 3 months.

They have also decided to support any political party, who would support these demands, in the upcoming elections

(2) Sri Lanka Muslims to field first separate Muslim candidate in coming Presidential Sri Lanka Muslims to field first separate Muslim candidate in coming Presidential elections

Fri, 2019-07-12 14:00 — editor

Colombo, 12 July, (Asiantribune.com):

For the first time in Sri Lankan Presidential elections history, a Muslim candidate who will not represent any mainstream political party but will only represent the Muslims of the country, is set to come forward as a candidate.

Well informed Muslim political sources said that all Muslim political parties will back a separate Muslim Presidential candidate who would likely be nominated by the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) on behalf of all Muslim parties.

The Muslim parties are likely to form a loose coalition at Presidential elections so that the Muslim voter-base would not split and would rally around only one nominated Muslim candidate, the sources added.

According to these sources, it was this consensus that also led to the sudden mass resignation of Muslim Ministers on June 3, who said they were all stepping down in protest against the targeting of a single Muslim politician, leader of ACMC (and former Minister) Rishad Bathiudeen.

“Even Muslim Ministers of UNP who were voted-in by the Sinhalese voters resigned unexpectedly on June 3 with Muslim Ministers who were voted in by Muslim votes. The undisclosed political development of a forthcoming separate Muslim candidate was the reason for their resignation, which was not known to the public at that time. Everyone was led to believe that all Muslim Ministers were standing in unity with Minister Bathiudeen when they resigned” sources added.

When it was asked that “Since a Muslim candidate separately contesting will not be able to secure sufficient votes to become the President of the country, what is the purpose of nominating such a separate Muslim candidate?”

The reliable source within SLMC said “It is well known that such a separate Muslim candidate cannot win the Presidential election alone. We clearly understand this. The expectation of the Muslim candidate is that he/she will show that he/she has the majority Muslim votes of the country, and he/she, representing the Muslims in the country, will start to bargain with the mainstream candidate who is most likely to be the winner in the Presidential election. He/she will therefore be able to do this negotiation for Lankan Muslims in a bigger capacity than a standard Muslim Cabinet Minister or a usual Muslim party leader.”

Sources further told that,

1Once the mainstream candidate who is likely to be the winner agrees to the demands of our Muslim Presidential candidate, then our Muslim candidate would either withdraw from his candidacy and

2 pledge his and his Muslim voters’ support to this mainstream candidate or, call all Muslim voters to mark “the mainstream candidate who is likely to be the winner” as their “second preference” in their ballot papers.”

– Asian Tribune -elections Asian Tribune 12.7.2019

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

Recent political analysis of Mr. C.A Chandraprema in Sunday Island on 14.07.2019 allowed understanding the truth about the achievement of millennium goals in Sri Lanka as it has been quite closed information that most of the population in the country including politicians have no idea about this test performance.  I associated with university students in Pacific countries to discuss UN millennium goals after the year 2000, however, I didn’t know that Sri Lanka also was a country covered by UN Millennium goals as the official statistics published by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka showed that it should not include achieving millennium goals as the economic status of the country was in above level than the targeted level of the united nation.  I critically discussed economic issues and related social cultural and education issues with students and understood that skills development was a key factor in achieving millennium goals in developing countries of the Pacific region.  I believed that Sri Lanka was a country with reasonably economic achievements and a country where was not expecting economic supports from developed nations to get out of poverty. The analysis of Mr. Chandraprema changed my assumption and encouraged to rethink about the original discussion as UN focus on the Millennium Goals and the views of Millennium Corporation seem to be contradicting or different from the original UN goals.  The UN discussions on the millennium goals strongly focused on debt reduction in third world countries and did Millennium Challenge Corporation support to debt reduction or to write off Sri Lanka’s debt to International Financial Organizations is not clear.

Inflation in Sri Lanka

Theoretically, inflation is defined and explained as cost-push or demand-pull, and in early 1950s Prof Milton Freedman added monetarists view on inflation that the increase in money supply (M1+M2) would impact on the increase in inflation. The traditional instruments of the monetary regulator and the authority, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka is to use interest rate as a controlling measure of inflation  with other controls such as open market operations and reserve ratio, however, they are not effective in Sri Lanka as they are working well in developed countries where have a higher level of access to formal financial markets. Sri Lanka is not such a developed financial market with information and information management. Other credit control measures such as selective controls used in Sri Lanka, but deregulation of financial markets had to put them away. Since the late 1980s printing money for fiscal purposes badly affected on inflation because treasury bonds issued to find funds for budget purposes were invested by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka printing money.  I don’t really know whether Sri Lanka had passed the test for inflation, but ordinary people especially rural poor states that they are facing economic predicaments because prices of goods and services are increasing day by day.  It is seen that the government has failed to control inflation and the general price level going up and up every day.

Inflation is a highly argumentative economic issue in developed countries as well as in developing countries. When we were learning macroeconomics in universities, it said that one person’s spending today would be a revenue of another in tomorrow and spending would be supported to increase in aggregate demand and Inflation is good for a certain extent.  Theoretically, it may be true or false, but need to ask poor people as they are practically suffered day by day and engage in never-ending hard work to cope with inflation. In this situation, it is quite difficult to believe that the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s view that Sri Lanka has passed the test for inflation.

In developed countries also produce prices have gone up and the prices of many electronic items have gone down when consider the average situation economists conclude that inflation is lower and successful in the management of the economy.  About to Sri Lanka also it is a truth that from the point of views of economists’ Sri Lanka may have passed the test of inflation, however, practically ordinary people cannot enjoy the pass of the test they cannot see any benefit.

When talking about inflation it needs keep in mind that declining the exchange value of the monetary unit in Sri Lanka has been contributed to increase in price level of Sri Lanka. The government has failed to control the declining Rupee value.  It is an internationally concerned issue and Sri Lanka has no economic power to control it.

Regulatory Quality

Deregulation was the popular idea since late 1980s and the idea has been accepted by Sri Lanka since the beginning of market economic system in 1978, however, it is questionable whether Sri Lanka has been maintaining a purely deregulated economy or an economic environment with regulatory quality.  The assessment of the quality of regulation management is a difficult task and the way of regulation management is also not acceptable to everybody.  Sri Lanka has appointed authorities for regulation management in various market areas such as health, education, finance, agriculture, technology and many others. The current problem is whether the regulatory authorities discharge the functions prudently and independently without political influences.

There is clear weakness in many areas and it seems that regulators have become market operators in Sri Lanka.  For example, Central Bank of Sri Lanka is the regulatory authority of the financial markets, but it is performing market operations about to superannuation and rural credit management.  I informed the president of Sri Lanka this late 1990s, the president acknowledged my points, so far nothing has been done.  The Central Bank allowed to market economic system and operations without quality regulations in various markets and it was the major reason for people to make negative criticism on the market economic system, which created many problems in the economic system of the country as well as benefits to poor people finding a right price for their produce. 

The main purpose of the regulator is to protect consumers in the trade or market operations.  I have a reasonable question, has regulatory authorities in various trade areas in Sri Lanka are successful in protecting consumers?  When I talk with ordinary people in the country the answer of them was that regulatory authorities have been unable to protect consumers and market operators have taken the power to their hand and consumers became slavers of market operators.  In this situation how can say Sri Lanka has a regulatory quality in market operations

This is a macro style issue and the response of public is that regulatory quality is not up to the expected level.

Trade Policy

Trade policy concerns with domestic trade policy and international trade policy.  Sri Lanka has no power to successfully make policies for international trade consistent to trends but it can make or adapt to trade trends developing responsive trade policies.  When developing trade policies Sri Lanka has not totalitarian style power like America or China has and it should act within the authoritative framework.  Many people and politicians in the country have no idea about this and they think that the country can change trade policy overnight. Domestic trade policies are also not open and the country needs a concrete domestic trade policy which means that what should do.  I haven’t seen a trade policy manuals and procedures manuals to pass a test for trade policy in Sri Lanka. What should be the trade policy for the country should be determined by practical outcomes and for this purpose, it needs continuous research on trade policy matters.

Business Start-Up

This is also a quite complicated area as an investor has many loop holes to go through to investment decision and corruptions are main constraints to business start-up. From the side of Sri Lanka allowing for investments should be made after careful consideration of investment projects, especially after 9/11 and the Easter Sunday attacks Sri Lanka must consider allowing for investment either domestic or foreign investments should be after intelligence analysis and sometimes, consultation with several countries.  Investments in modern era concern with many issues not just the returns   Honestly speaking I have no personal experience in business start-up, but I heard various complaints from potential investors. A significant constraint is investors or business people must go from one place to other compile to regulation and they must face with crooks.

It is indicated that Sri Lanka has failed the test on fiscal policy, land right and access to credit. These are highly complicated issues as they are involved in politics. The confabulation on three items is vital for policy makers in the country and they are broader area cannot discuss in a short paper. There may be thousands of papers written on these matters including thesis of university students.

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

Fiscal Policy

Fiscal policy became a vital issue after the conditions created Korean War in early 1950s and Sri Lanka was unable to design and develop a good fiscal policy to the country.  It seemed that the economic authority treated fiscal policy and monetary as alternatives despites in our university classrooms education in which we were educated that fiscal and monetary policies are not alternatives but complimentary to fix weakness in one by others.  Fiscal policy has been continued without a proper solution and all governments ruled in the country used borrowing as the way to cover budget deficit and it was inflationary and pushing the country to a debt trap. After 1995, many countries used different techniques to solve fiscal problems but Sri Lanka hasn’t opened a creative debate on this matter and stuck in a mud puddle.  Still Sri Lanka has good solutions to fiscal issues, however, politics in the country doesn’t allow to use right policies.  During the last several years of the Rajapaksa regime, there was a systematic strategy to gradually solve the problem and the yahapalanaya disturbed the strategies and fiscal policy entirely forced to house of yahapalana rouge and complicated the fiscal policy. 

Land Rights

This is highly complicated issue involved in legal, politics, ethnic and religious issues.  Land right is essential for business investments and how to decide the allowing land right for various business purposes and how to decide the value of lands for business purposes.  Sri Lanka has intense competition to gain land rights for business purposes and there are legal barriers for foreigners gain and access and local people to sell lands to foreigners for business purposes. The government has submitted the State Land (Special Provisions) Bill to the Parliament on 28.06.2019 and Mr Neville Ladduwahetty expressed legal opinion on that bill that it affects the sovereignty of people and with approval by people at a referendum it cannot be passed (Island: 17.07.2019).

The issue in relation to land rights need to be discussed in an open forum like making new constitution at least 2 to 3 years with the participation of all sort of people in the country and it should not be a decision like Don Juwan Dharmapala style decision in the past.

Access to Credit

Access to credit also a complicated issue and many people in the country has no clear idea about it without practically association with problems. As I had been involved in credit management and credit policy making in a government bank and doing practical research on this area, I understand practical, theoretical, policy issues as well as corruption issues about access to credits in Sri Lanka.  There are fundamental issues such as capital shortage of bank and financial system of the country and to solve this problem, politics in the country has become an impediment and this issue needs to be openly talked by relevant people and politicians. There are effective solutions to the problem but bureaucrats involved in credit management have no idea how to solve the problem.

Credit administration also a complicated problem in the country as it is involved in gigantic corruption of credit administrations of banks and non-bank financial intermediaries and politician’s involvement with it. I have seen that credit administration blames to politicians in many occasions they made decision because politicians influenced to them but it not truth. Credit administration made decision as a part of corrupt practices and they attempt blame politicians when the credit decision goes bad.  In this situation, credit administration must be able to educate credit policy and procedures to politicians and prevent bad credit decisions.

The other important thing is that Sri Lanka must allow good market player with strong capital base to play with strong controls.  Most probably Chinese banks can play a better role to increase access to credits.

International Politics in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka has been involved in international politics since 1990s and it appears that the country has difficulties to manage international politics with one voice of political parties.  In Western countries and many other Asian, African and Latin American countries have one voice on international relations but in Sri Lanka, policy on international relations is not clear and especially political parties have no clear ideas on what to do in this arena.

Why do we go along with a policy view of an international bloc need clearly understand considering the possible benefits to the country?  Many politicians have no knowledge, experience and skills to assess.  In this situation, many politicians can be brought by international powers with a small sum of money or benefits.  Recently I watched a TV program in Sri Lanka, which was a talk show with a lawyer.  I had difficulty to judge whether the layer is knowledgeable, skilful or experience person as he was talking bullshit to mislead people of Sri Lanka without knowing international politics.

I had a feeling that the person was a bait of international politics to mislead Sri Lankans. However, he was highly unsuccessful as he could not present the idea people to believe or accept.

International politics change quickly and friends become enemies and enemies become friends.  This is the dynamism and if this dynamism understands by political parties and come to uniform policies it can easily handle international politics.

ප්‍රවාහන හා සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා අමාත්‍යාංශය.

වසර 115කට වඩා පැරණි මහව – ඕමන්තේ දුම්රිය මාර්ගය සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම අලුත් කිරීම හෙවත් දැනට භාවිත වන පැරණි දුම්රිය මාර්ගය ඉවත් කර ඒ වෙනුවට නව දුම්රිය මාර්ගය සෑදීමේ  ව්‍යාපෘතිය අද නිල වශයෙන් ආරම්භ විය. ඒ එම ව්‍යාපෘතියේ ඉදිකිරීම් ගිවිසුම ප්‍ර‍වාහන සහ සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා අමාත්‍ය අර්ජුන රණතුංග මහතාගේ ප්‍ර‍ධානත්වයෙන් අත්සන් කිරීමෙනි. ගිවිසුම් අත්සන් කිරීමේ නිල උත්වය අද (18) කොළඹදී පැවැත්විණ. ගිවිසුම අත්සන් කළේ ප්‍රවාහන සහ සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා අමාත්‍යාංශය සහ ඉදිකිරීම් කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුව හිමි IRCON Intonational Limited  සමාගම අතර වේ.

උතුරු දුම්රිය මාර්ගයේ මහව – ඕමන්තේ දුම්රිය මාර්ගයට අයත් සම්පූර්ණ දිග කිලෝමීටර් 133කි. එහි මහව සිට අනුරාධපුර දක්වා කොටස ඉදිකරන ලද්දේ 1904 වර්ෂයේ වෙයි. අනුරාධපුරයේ සිට ඕමන්ත දක්වා කොටස 1905 වර්ෂයේදී ඉදි කෙරිණ. එතැන් සිට මේ දක්වා මෙම දුම්රිය මාර්ගයේ කිසිදු මහාපරිමාණ සංවර්ධනයක් සිදු නොවිණ. සිදු කෙරුණේ අතවශ්‍ය අලුත්වැඩියා පමණි. මේ හේතුවෙන් මහව ඕමන්ත දක්වා කොටසේදී දුම්රිය ධාවනය වන්නේ අතැම් විට පැයට කිලෝමීටර් 40කටත් වඩා අඩු වේගයෙන් වේ. එනිසාම එම කොටසෙහි දුම්රිය ධාවනයට පැය තුනක් පමණ ගත වෙයි. මෙම තත්ත්වය සැලකිල්ලට ගනිමින් මහව – ඕමන්ත දුම්රිය මාර්ගය සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම සකස් කිරීම මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතිය යටතේ සිදු කෙරේ.

මහව – ඕමන්තේ දුම්රිය මාර්ගය අලුතින් සකස් කිරීමට වැය කෙරෙන මුදල ඩොලර් මිලියන 91.2කි. ඉන්දීය ණය ආධාර ක්‍ර‍මය යටතේ එම ප්‍ර‍තිපාදන සැපයේ. ව්‍යාපෘතියෙන් දුම්රිය මාර්ගයට අමතරව හරස් දුම්රිය ස්ථාන 12ක් සහ දුම්රිය නැවතුම් පොළවල් 7ක් සහ කාණු පද්ධතියද සංවර්ධනය කෙරේ. නව සංඥා පද්ධතියක්ද ස්ථාපිත කෙරේ. මැදවච්චිය සහ වව්නියාව අතර මහනුවර යාපනය -මාර්ගය ආසන්නව නව දුම්රිය ස්ථානයක්ද ස්ථාපිත කෙරෙනු ඇත. නව දුම්රිය මාර්ගයේ වේගය පැයට කිලෝමීටර් 120ක් වීමද විශේෂත්වයකි.

වසර තුනකින් නිම කිරීමට අපේක්ෂිත මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතිය දියත් වන්නේ අදියර දෙකකට වේ. එහි පළමු අදියරේදී මහව සිට අනුරාධපුරය දක්වා කොටස සකස් කරයි. දෙවැනි අදියරේදී සකස් කරන්නේ අනුරාධපුරයේ සිට  ඕමන්තේ දක්වා වෙයි. එම ඉදිකිරීම් ක්‍රියාත්මක අවස්ථාවලදී මහව – අනුරාධ දක්වා කොටස මාස 6කටද අනුරාධපුර ඕමන්තේ දක්වා කොටස මාස 5කටද වසා තබයි. එම අවස්ථාවවලදී දුම්රිය ධාවනය අඛණ්ඩව පවත්වාගෙන යාමට වසා දැමෙන කොටස ආවරණය වන පරිදි බස් රථ යෙදවේ. ගිවිසුම් අත්සන් කිරීමේ උත්සවයට එක් වෙමින් ප්‍ර‍වාහන සහ සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා අමාත්‍ය අර්ජුන රණතුංග මහතා පැවසුවේ පසුගිය මාස කිහිපයේදී ප්‍ර‍වාහන ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ දැවැන්ත සංවර්ධනයක් ඇති කිරීමට වත්මන් ආණ්ඩුවට හැකි වූ බවයි. මුළු දිවයිනම ආවරණය පරිදි එම සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘති දියත් කෙරෙන බවත් ඒ යටතේ ඉදිරියේදී බෙලිඅත්ත කතරගම දුම්රිය මාර්ගය ඉදි කිරීමේ ටෙන්ඩරය කැදවන බවද අමාත්‍ය අර්ජුන රණතුංග මහතා පැවසීය. පලාලි ගුවන්තොටුපොළද සිවිල් කටයුතු සදහා නුදුරේම භාවිත කළ හැකි වනු ඇතැයිද අමාත්‍ය අර්ජුන රණතුංග මහතා විශ්වාසය පළ කළේය. එම ගිවිසුම් අත්සන් කිරීම සදහා ප්‍ර‍වාහන සහ සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් එල්. පී. ජයම්පති මහතා සහ IRCON Intonational Limited  සමාගමේ සභාපති එස්. කේ. චව්ද්‍රි (S.K. Chaudhary) යන මහත්වරුන් සහභාගි විය. සම්භාවනීය අමුත්න් ලෙසට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ඉන්දීය මහකොමසාරිස් කාර්යාලයේ ආර්ථික සහ වානිජ්‍ය අංශයේ ප්‍ර‍ධානී සුජා කේ මෙනන් මහත්මියද සහ දුම්රිය සාමාන්‍යධිකාරී ඩිලන්ත ප්‍ර‍නාන්දු යන මහත්ම මහත්මීන් එක් වූහ.

ම.ප. තමීර මංජු,

ගරු අමාත්‍ය අර්ජුන රණතුංග මැතිතුමාගේ මාධ්‍ය ලේකම්,

ප්‍රවාහන හා සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා අමාත්‍යාංශය.

ලංකා ගුරුසේවා සංගමය

ගරු ජනාධිපති,
මෛත‍්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මැතිතුමා,
ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලය,
කොළඹ 01.

ගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමනි,

පටු දේශපාලන වාසි වෙනුවෙන් අධ්‍යාපන ඇමති ජනතා මුදලින් ජනතාව නොමග යැවීම සම්බන්ධවයි.

අධ්‍යාපන ඇමති අකිල විරාජ් කාරියවසම් මහතාගේ උපදෙස් පරිදි අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශය විසින් ‘‘සක‍්‍රීය අධ්‍යාපන පද්ධතියක් වෙනුවෙන් ගුරු විදුහල්පති සේවාව ශක්තිමත් කළ වගයි.’’ යනුවෙන් ජාතික පුවත්පත්වල සම්පූර්ණ පිටුවක් පුරා ජනතා මුදල් වැයකරමින් පලකර ඇති ගුරු හා විදුහල්පති සේවාවල වැටුප් සංශෝධන දැනුවත්වම ජනතාව නොමග යැවීමක් බැවින් ඊට දැඩි විරෝධය පලකරන ලංකා ගුරුසේවා සංගමය මෙම මුදල් අවභාවිතාව සම්බන්ධව විධිමත් පරීක්‍ෂණයක් පවත්වන ලෙස ඉතා ඕනෑකමින් යුතුව ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.

1. 2016 වර්ෂයේදී සමස්ත රාජ්‍ය සේවයේම වැටුපට එල්ලා තිබූ සියලූ දීමනා අදියර 5 කදී මූලික වැටුපට එකතු කිරීම සඳහා නිකුත් කළ 3/2016 රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන වැටුප් චක‍්‍රලේඛය මගින් සිදුකළ වැටුප් සංශෝධන අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශය ගුරු හා විදුහල්පති සේවාවන්වලට පමණක් සිදු කළ එකක් බවට හුවා දක්වමින් ජනතා මුදල් ලක්‍ෂ ගණන් වැයකර මෙම පුවත්පත් දැන්වීම් පලකිරීමට කටයුතු කර ඇත.
2. ඒ අනුව උක්ත චක‍්‍රලේඛයේ සඳහන් වැටුප් සංශෝධන හැර 2015 වර්ෂයෙන් පසු ගුරු හා විදුහල්පති සේවාවන්ට වසර 22 ක් පවතින බරපතල වැටුප් විෂමතාවය විසඳීම සඳහා ගත් කිසිදු කි‍්‍රයාමාර්ගයක් මෙම නිවේදනයෙහි සඳහන්ව නොමැති බව ඉතා වගකීමෙන් යුතුව ප‍්‍රකාශ කරමු.
3. ඒ අනුව උක්ත චක‍්‍රලේඛය නිකුත් කිරීමෙන් පසුව මෙම පුවත්පත් නිවේදනයේ සඳහන් පරිදි ගුරු හා විදුහල්පති සේවාවන්ගේ මූලික වැටුප් වැඩිවීමෙන් අනතුරුවද පහත පරිදි වැටුප් විෂමතාවයක් නිර්මාණය වී ඇති බව පෙන්වා දීමට කැමැත්තෙමු.
   ගුරු සේවය විදුහල්පති සේවය
   1 වන පන්තියට රු. 31225/- ක් 1 වන පන්තියට රු. 29850/-
   2-1 වන ශ්‍රේණියට රු. 23420/- 2 වන පන්තියට රු. 24850/-
   2-2 වන ශ්‍රේණියට රු. 14315/- 3 වන පන්තියට රු. 22518/-
   3-1 අ. රු. 10304/-
   ආ. රු. 9696/-
   ඇ. රු. 9452/-
4. එමෙන්ම නව සේවා ව්‍යවස්ථාව ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමේදී 2008. 07. 01 දින සිට 2010. 12. 31 දින දක්වා උසස්වීම්වලට අදාලව ගුරුවරුන් විසින් උපයාගත් මාස 30 ක හි`ග වැටුප් කිසිදු වග විභාගයකින් තොරව කපා හැර දැමීමට ද අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශය කටයුතු කර ඇත.
5. එමෙන්ම 2016. 01. 01 දින සිට රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ පත්වීම් ලැබූ බහුතරයක් ගුරුවරුන් ඇතුලූ රාජ්‍ය සේවකයාගේ විශ‍්‍රාම වැටුප් මුලූමනින්ම අහෝසි කර දැමීමටද කටයුතු කළ ආණ්ඩුවක අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යවරයා තවදුරටත් ජනතා මුදල් නාස්ති කරමින් ජනතාව නොමග යවන පුවත්පත් දැන්වීම් පලකිරීම සම්බන්ධව දැඩි පිළිකුලෙන් යුතුව හෙළාදකින ලංකා ගුරුසේවා සංගමය ජනාධිපතිවරයා ලෙස මේ සම්බන්ධව ඔබට ඇති වගකීමද අවධාරණය කරනු කැමැත්තෙමු.

විධායක සභාව වෙනුවෙන්,

මහින්ද ජයසිංහ,
ප‍්‍රධාන ලේකම්,
ලංකා ගුරුසේවා සංගමය

සම්බන්ධීකරණය – 0718297022/

පිටපත්

1. අග‍්‍රාමාත්‍ය රනිල් වික‍්‍රමසිංහ මහතා – අග‍්‍රාමාත්‍ය කාර්යාලය
2. අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍ය – අකිල විරාජ් කාරියවසම් මහතා
3. අධ්‍යාපන ලේකම් – අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශය

අරුන උණවටුන

ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණ නඩු තීන්දු ලබා දිය යුතු භාෂාව සිංහල භාෂාව විය යුතුද? මැයෙන් ජනමතවිචාරණයක් පවත්වන ලෙස ඉල්ලා ගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම සදහා පුරවැසියන් ලක්ෂයකගේ අත්සන් එකතු කිරීමේ සමාරම්භක නිල උත්සවය 2019 ජූලි මස 18 වන දින සවස කොළඹ 07 මහජන පුස්තකාලයේ ප්‍රවේශාගාරයේ දී නීතිඥවරු ඇතුලු විද්වත් පිරිසගේ සහභාගීත්වයෙන් පවත්වන ලදී. එම අවස්ථාවට වැඩම කළ කැළණිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ සංස්කෘතික අධ්‍යයන අංශයේ මහාචාර්ය පූජ්‍ය ඉදුරගාරේ ධම්මරතන හිමියන් සිය අත්සන ලබා දෙන අවස්ථාව සහ සිංහල භාෂාවෙන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ සහ අභියාචනාධිකරණයේ නඩු තීන්දු ලබා ගැනීම රටේ බලය පිළිබද ප්‍රශ්නය තීරණය කිරීමක් බවට දේශනය පවත්වන අවස්ථාවත්, අත්සන් ලක්ෂය සදහා පුරවැසියන් සිය සහාය ලබා දෙන අකාරයත් භාෂා පරමාධිපත්‍යය පිළිබද ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ යෙදීම් පිළිබද දේශනය නීතිඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන සහ බුද්ධ ශාසනය සහ රටේ අනන්‍යතාවය පිළිබදව නීතිඥ ක්‍රිසන්ත නිස්සංක දේශන පවත්වන ආකරයත් මෙහි දැක්වේ…

පියන්ත රොහාන් මොරපිටිය.

( Status of Forces, Acquisition and Cross Service Agreements, and Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact )

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by Tang Lu Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

COLOMBO, July 17 (Xinhua) — Sri Lankan bride-to-be Aniya Perera was keenly enquiring about the glitzy exhibits at the Wedding Show-2019” held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo last weekend.

My wedding is in February 2020, but I have been visiting a number of wedding exhibitions to get the best of what is available. I started going to wedding exhibitions in Colombo last year. I am very clear about my needs and choices,” she told Xinhua.

Weddings in Sri Lanka, particularly among the majority Sinhalese community, are colourful, glamorous, artistically innovative and, of course, expensive.

Much thought, planning and money go into a Sinhalese wedding because weddings give opportunities to the families of brides and bridegrooms to showcase their social status and also their taste for the finer aspects of life.

No wonder that wedding shows” are so popular in cities like Colombo, both among the rich and the ambitious middle class.

In a typical wedding show held at posh hotels and convention centers, there are numerous stalls displaying bridal wears, jewelries, foods, sweetmeats, flowers and other decorative materials. Professional wedding organizers explain to visitors how they can make a wedding a painless and hassle-free affair.

Over 250 wedding industry professionals displayed their wares and services to thousands of visitors.

Holding a decent wedding is a top priority for any family,” a stall manager told Xinhua.

On display at the BMICH fair were retro or modern style wedding cars. There were high tables with different flower arrangements. Photographers and videographers displayed their productions as the wedding portrait and photographs of the bride and the bridegroom in various poses and in various locales are a must.

The range of jewelries, each one more gorgeous than the other, was amazing. They become part of the family heirloom to be inherited by successive generations of brides in the family.

Sunil Fernando is from a family of confectioners who had a stall at the BMICH exhibition. My family attends at least three or four wedding exhibitions a year,” he said.

No wedding is complete without music and wild dancing in Sri Lanka. Therefore DJs and dance bands also participated in the wedding show.

Some of the customers have already done a lot of research. They directly go to particular service providers to sign up. But most people just come to window shop, to observe and gather information. Sri Lankan people do not make decisions in a hurry,” a wedding supplier told Xinhua.

Leading five-star hotels in Colombo also participated in the wedding exhibition. Posh hotels are a preferred venue for weddings among the Sri Lankan elite. In fact, hosting weddings is a major part of the hotel trade in Sri Lanka.

The Cinnamon Grand and Galle Face hotels in Colombo said that they hold more than 300 weddings a year, which means almost one wedding a day.

The hotels also hold their own wedding shows every year. But we participate in other wedding exhibitions to broaden our customer base,” a hotel official said.

(Text, video and photos by Tang Lu)