Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, April 17 (newsin.asia) — Several Sri Lankan Airlines flights arriving at Sri Lanka’s Bandaranaike International Airport on Wednesday, were diverted to a southern airport due to adverse weather, local media reports said.Some of the flights included UL 315, which was arriving from Malaysia, UL 365 arriving from Jakarta and UL 303 arriving from Singapore.The flights were diverted to the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Hambantota, in the south, airport officials said as the adverse weather had caused a temporary closure of the runway at the Bandaranaike International Airport.

by Garvin Karunaratne

Message for Sri Lankan readers

Sri Lanka with other Third World countries has achieved a status of high indebtedness due to following the neoliberal policies embedded in the Structural Adjustment Programme of the IMF. . In that process its assets and riches are being sucked dry by multinationals, International banks  and Developed Countries. Earlier, the countries had established a development infrastructure to bring about production which has been abolished or made defunct by the machinations of the IMF. However details of that development infrastructure can be of use to develop ailing Great Britain. As far as readers in Sri Lanka are concerned this paper discloses the great value of that development infrastructure and the role that it can play again  in rejuvenating the development  of our Motherland, if that were to ever happen.

Lessons for ailing Great Britain from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

by Garvin Karunaratne

Gone are the days when Great Britain ruled the waves. Then it was truly an Empire where the sun never set. Money in gold and pounds sterling flowed from India-  when the East India Company defeated Shiraj Ud Daulah, the ruler of Bengal. the riches that poured to Great Britain were enormous- Pounds 2.7 million to Great Britain and 1.2 million distributed among the officials.. Between 1757 and 1815, 100 million pounds went from India to Great Britain. This was growth for Britain but destitution for India”(From: Karunaratne: How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development) The colonies were made to grow coffee,  rubber, tea and other products that were required for the industries in Great Britain and the goods so manufactured were sold back to the people in the colonies. Britain gained from the trade of tea and coffee. That was the principle on which the colonies were run- to keep the colonies clamped  in poverty with the riches accumulated in Great Britain. With the capital so created Great Britain  was able to build up a Social Security System and a first class National Health Service for its people.  The skyscrapers in London and cities like Liverpool were all built on the capital received from the colonies.

Then Great Britain had great politicians- that could rule the waves and also great administrators.  When the people in Sri Lanka rebelled in 1818  a scorched earth policy was put in force- destroy everything, cut off every tree in bearing and shoot to kill every man.  In my living memory- my holidays were spent on Estates owned by British imperial planters. My uncle was a Head Conductor- that was the highest rank a local could aspire to and I have seen the Superintendents at work. They worked with an iron fist- their word was law. Back in the UK too there were great rulers. It is on legend how Sir Winston Churchill acted to win the World War II. Once Great Britain did not have iron to make weapons. Out went the order, remove all iron gates, iron fences in London. That was done overnight. By the time the owners got up the iron was in the smelting pot being turned into weapons.

Sad to say, those days of action are gone. I have been a student at universities in Edinburgh and Manchester and have worked in London, in Manchester and Edinburgh . Today Great Britain is today full of professionals who can talk,  argue,  present facts in a most articulate manner but to get down to action it is NATO- no action talk only.

The Cities, once the doyen of the World, are now riddled with crime. Cressida Dick, The London Police Chief stated that there are “190 gangs fuelling the violent crime wave,” with 123 murders in 2017. As reported in The Telegraph of 20/10/2017, you are six times likely to be burgled in the British Capital than in New York”- both have a population of 8 million. Many are the No Go areas within Cities. This has been caused by the economic downturn- unemployment and also due to cuts in funding for the Police. Half the Police Stations are closed down and the police cadres  reduced.

When the British people voted to leave the EU because they have had enough of playing second fiddle to Germany and France and found that the EU system was only leading the country no where, the US President Trump advised Britain to go it alone- not to go on bended knees to the EU. Instead the Prime Minister Theresa May went for the last two years on bended knees to the Leaders of the EU and got no where.

Wither bound Great Britain?

In my own life as an automobile owner – all my earlier cars were made in Great Britain- a Hillman Minx,  a Humber Hawk, a Vauxhall Cresta, a Morris Oxford. The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in the Sixties, Mr Dudley Senanayake used a Humber Hawk. His Humber Hawk was  brand new. On official visits I as the  Commissioner of a District followed his new Humber Hawk in my ten year old Humber Hawk. That Humber Hawk was a dependable, comfortable great car, comparable to any BMW  today. Yet Britain lost its grip on manufacture. Now Britain does not make a single car. The Land Rover and a few other makes are all owned by foreigners. British workmanship has eroded to nothing. Britain has become a nation of talkers. As a Social Worker in Manchester, a Senior Community Worker in Edinburgh and as a Lecturer at Westminster we did well in providing services, but the economy has grounded to a halt. Today building homes and apartments is talked of as development. There is little talk of manufactures.

In 1980, in Edinburgh,   I was  the Senior Community Education Worker  in Wester Hailes, Edinburgh and  the Warden of Clovenstone Community Center. We then had a repertoire of youth and community development programmes. It is a crime ridden no go area today whereas when I was there I could travel all over even at midnight.

Then, I was also supervising a dozen  lads under the Youth Opportunity Programme(YOP) and the Special Temporary Employment {Programme(STEP) of the Manpower Services Commission, the one and only occasion when Britain tried to grapple with unemployment. The lads were to be acclimatized into community work. They acquitted themselves very well, were very useful and I was struck with their ability. They were all school leavers who failed to  enter the portals of higher studies. They were paid a stipend for two years and thereafter got lost.  The only job they found was to join the army and I later found that some lads had become cannon fodder in foreign countries- sent on gory  missions to boast the glory of Great Britain.

The  greatest programmes of the Manpower Services Commission- the YOP and STEP actually took away two of the most formative years of the life of a youth, leaving them nothing other than  to hog the queues of the Social Security System that gave them a meager living grant. I suggested that instead these youths should be guided to follow a special intensive course in a vocation of their choice- where they would be able to work towards making something that was imported. Many are the Colleges of Education  in Edinburgh that excel in providing  vocational and technical education which train youths for  a year and award them a certificate with pomp and pageantry. Left on their own to find a job in a free market economy with imports being the order of the day, they inevitably fail and have to submit to social security grants and end scraping the barrel for life.

My suggestion- and I  wrote two reports  detailing how the youths under the Manpower Service Programmes, instead of being introduced to all and sundry, should instead follow a few tailor made intensive but a short six months’ courses run by Colleges of Education in an area of their choice where they would after a grounding in basic skills and use of machinery identify  saleable items that can be made,  and make such items as a part of their course. Then the Marketing Lecturers, the professional in economics of the Colleges of Education who normally held courses in marketing on a simulated basis  with  paper and pen, chalk  and talk will take charge and get involved in actually  marketing the product made by the youths offering the chance to enable the youth to build up their abilities in the art of marketing. The Vocational Training Units in the Colleges of Education would continue to guide the entrepreneurs till they are a success. My Report was submitted to the Director of Community Education,  the late Peter Williamson, who full of enthusiasm submitted it for approval by the Education Committee of the Lothian Regional Council. It was intensely debated, but the Labour Party stalwarts wanted to put off its implementation till Labour ruled the country. That was the time when the Conservatives ruled for long.. I was given a commendation and that was all. This happened in 1981.  Labour was not elected for  a length of time. When Labour was in power again, close to a decade later,  and I was available in the UK I approached some Labour Councillors, The ones that were supportive of my ideas had left and those in charge were indifferent.

I thought I was wasting my time doing nothing worthwhile and quit to Bangladesh in two years.

Later,  back from Bangladesh, I was a Lecturer at Westminster Adult Education Institute in London- my job was in community education- to assess the needs of the community, draw up courses of study find suitable lecturers and implement them. The Institute had an array of vocational courses – in painting, ceramics, wood work etc and the trainees were trained and for practice purposes they made many a something that were never saleable. I prepared a Report where I urged that the trainees should be be more intensively trained and taught  to make a saleable product . Then the  econ lecturers of the Institute will guide them in the rigours of marketing and ultimately guide the student to become an entrepreneur.  My ideas were booted out  and that idea died a natural death.

Great Britain has in the meantime continued its way down hill.   It is no longer a manufacturing hub. Germany and France have taken over that role. Its main role is to educate others though its famous universities. These universities are more run with money flowing from foreign lands, mainly Third World countries which have been forced by the IMF to liberalize the use of foreign exchange and get into debt in the process of providing funds for educating children in foreign universities.

This liberalization of the use of foreign exchange and taking loans to pay the loans  was the method by which the Third World countries  were  brought into control as “colonies” once again. This story of how the sovereign countries were once again colonized” is detailed in my book: How the IMF Sabotaged the Development of the Third World.(Kindle/Godages)

Now  the Superpowers are fast losing ground.  . .Britain cannot cope with the hordes of EU immigrants from backward EU countries in search of gold-like the story of Dick Whittington. So are also immigrants from African and Asian countries that somehow struggle, come in boats and brave the seas to settle down. The administrative might of Britain is reflected in the fact that almost a million immigrants who were once documented cannot now be traced. Sadly immigration is out of control.

Little do the Superpowers realize that this mountain of immigration as much as two million to Germany, over a million to Great Britain and millions to other European countries and yet continuing was  really the result of the EU, stalwart countries, Great Britain and the USA(the Super Powers) imposing  the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programme on the Third World countries, liberalizing the use of foreign exchange, imposing the Structural Adjustment Programme of the IMF on those countries which  crippled the development causing  abject poverty with a mass of people who cannot find any means of income/employment. It is they that will go to any extent to get to the rich Developed Countries- they are all economic migrants.  This migration will never end.. (See my book: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka and Alternate Programmes of Success.

The  citizens of Great Britain decided to get away from  being a member of the European Union. Having joined later, Britain had to play a second fiddle  to both France and Germany.,  The people had got sick of Britain as a member of the EU because immigrants from the poor countries of Europe have swarmed in droves, enjoying the social security system  the health services, with Britain failing to cope.     Great Britain   voted to leave. Instead of acting on it in a straight forward manner, calling it a day and going it alone as advised by  President Trump, Prime Minister Theresa May went licking the boots of EU leaders to get privileges for Great Britain.. She came   back empty handed, ridiculed and ignored.

Is there a way out. Can Great Britain become great again and it is for this cause  that Lessons from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka become valuable.

Before the IMF purposely made the Third World indebted, these sovereign countries  were in good economic health- managing on a sustainable basis. The countries managed to run with the incoming foreign exchange, carefully handling it with foreign exchange and import controls and executing development programmes to enable  production and poverty alleviation..  The Super Powers  made them indebted by forcing them to liberalize the use of  foreign exchange- import everything, plush cars- live beyond their means and gave them loans at low interest with even periods of no payment- to entice them, leading them to become indebted, These countries were developing their infrastructure to bring about development, alleviating poverty.

There were many successful infrastructure development programmes, all in disarray today and abolished because the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programme banned the Public Sector from attending to development tasks. That was to be done by the Private Sector. That paradigm never worked because the Private Sector had as its motto to make profit.  Development of the country was not in their repertoire. Added was the provision that interest rates had to be high- as much as 25%- putting off all entrepreneurs. Imports from the Superpowers poured in  and development was put on the back burner.

There are a host of successful programmes to talk of.  The Agricultural Marketing Programme of Sri Lanka- purchasing produce at high rates- higher prices than what was offered by the traders, direct from producers and selling in the conurbations at low rates, compelling the private sector shop keepers to sell at low prices was an acclaimed success., It arrested inflation. It had a Cannery that produced many items that stalled imports.  There is the Handloom and Powerloom Industry of Sri Lanka and India that saw to make the countries self sufficient in all textiles.  Thre is the Comilla Pprogramme of Rural Development in Bangladesh which brought about full employment and doubled the yield of paddy in Kotwali Thana in the Comilla District of Bangladesh.  There are more such programmes which have become defunct due to the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programme.

:Let me detail two such programmes where I myself created and established them as successes.  This is important because none can say that I speak from hearsay- without facts. Here I was in sole charge in the design and implementation and no one can doubt the success recorded.

Onbe such programme is the Youth Self Employment Programme of Bangladesh. I left my post in Community Education in Edinburgh to assume duties as the Commonwealth Fund Advisor in Youth Development in Bangladesh. The Ministry had an array of youth activities in social,  and cultural areas and also provided vocational training to 40,000 youths a year in an array of some thirty vocations. It also had the political wing- the Jatito Juba Sangstha. Like in all countries youth work is highly tainted with politics. I was taken all over Bangladesh and became acquainted with the entire works.

An exact replica of the political upheavals that are currently happening in Sri Lanka there were fisticuffs in the Houses of Parliament in Bangladesh and Parliament  had not met for around a year.  The Minister of Youth hosted  a Chinese delegation with pomp and pageantry at a Five Star Hotel in Dhaka and I can remember the Minister singing Amar Desh, Bangladesh” with everyone joining in. The next morning he was arrested.  In another few days the Military took over the country n a bloodless coup d etat .in one night. The Military viewed youth work activities with scorn,  Within a day or two a meeting was held to abolish or scale down youth activities with The Minister for Labour and Manpower Mr Aminul Islam in the chair. He went through the programmes that were being implemented and was very critical. Realizing me as the only outsider he called for my designation  and when told that I was the Commonwealth Fund Advisor to the Ministry, asked me what contribution I could make for Bangladesh. I responded that with 40,000 youths being trained annually, with   most of them remaining unemployed at the end, we should have a self employment programme  as an integral part of vocational training to guide the trainees to become entrepreneurs The Secretary to the Treasury, the highest administrator in Bangladesh quoted the miserable failure of an ILO attempt to create a self employment programme  a few years earlier and said that I was suggesting something that could  never be achieved. I contested it and said that though the ILO failed I could assure success. My arguments with the Secretary to the Treasury and a few other Secretaries of key Minstries went on for over two hours till the Hon Minister had enough of it and  stopped all of us arguing. He said that I had convinced him and immediately approved my designing and establishing a self employment programme.  The Secretary to the Treasury said that he will not provide any funds to which I replied that I needed no new funds and will manage the additional work within the approved youth budget.  I started training the staff as well as the trainees the very next day. In the next 18 months, before I left I had established training 2000 youths and of my starter youths easily seventy five percent were all successful entrepreneurs.

I  had trained the entire staff of youth workers in economics and in the art of involving youths in self employment- building their abilities and capacity to struggle to become entrepreneurs.. This Programme is today the premier programme of employment creation the world has known and had guided two million youths to become successful entrepreneurs by 2011., This Programme today guides 160,000 youths a year. It is a hard programme that does not provide funds for nothing. It provided training and youth workers- now turned to be economic development  specialists guided them on a daily basis to success.

This was what I had suggested to implement in Edinburgh. Edinburgh’s failure was Bangladesh’s success.  Great Britain could do with a self employment programme on a national basis making what the country needs by marshalling its youths. Unfortunately youth development has been neglected in Great Britain and many cities have youth unemployment at 40%. . The Colleges of Education have talented lecturers and Community Education officials can provide expertise, but unfortunately that was not to  be.

Another true achievement comes from Sri Lanka. It happened when the Ministry of Plan Implementation refused to approve. Import substitution type of  programmes for implementation in my District. As the Commissioner(called Government Agent in Sri Lanka) of the District, I took over the leading school science lab in the evenings for experimenting  to find the art of making crayons. The Leader was my Planning Officer who was a chemistry graduate. We did a myriad of experiments for close upon three months  working locked up in the science lab and found the art of making crayons. ..

With this success I established a Crayon Factory Cooperative Industry at Morawaka in three weeks working day and night with my Planning Officer and a Development Assistant along with a few katcheri officers training youths in the art of making crayons and in quality control. It was a handmade crayon like most Chinese products today.  This Coop Crayon Factory  was a great success and became the flagship project of the Divisional Development Councils Programme , the major success of the 1970-77 Government of Prime Minister Sirimavo.

I can go on with other programmes of success but will confine myself to these  for now.

Great Britain with its excellence in expertise in Universities and Colleges of Education can easily take on the mantle to get the youths in training to get down to production and to guide them till they are successful. In the Youth Self Employment Programme of Bangladesh, the premier employment creation programme the world has known the basis was that the lecturers who train the youth  will also guide them if they are willing to venture out to make things for sale. To my own knowledge the Lecturers at Colleges of Education in Edinburgh as well as at Westminister do have the ability to guide their students to become entrepreneurs. I am doubly certain of this fact. The science laboratories in Colleges of Education are far more equipped that the Science lab that I used to find the art of making crayons.  It follows that the Colleges of Education can easily find the method of manufacturing imported items and get going with establishing production cooperatives manned by youths working under the guidance of the Lecturers.

It is necessary  to detail  another essential factor in the task of employment creation. . In Edinburgh, the most successful manufacturing industry was Edinburgh Crystal, a cut glass crystal manufacturer  at Peniquik. Established as far back as 1867, it was a show piece of Scottish workmanship. In 2006, Edinburgh Crystal was purchased lock stock and barrel by Waterford Wedgewood, another Crystal Manufacturer from out of Scotland who inherited its sales, but stopped the Edinburgh Factory. Its trained workforce of some one hundred or more were cast on the heap of the unemployed. On my numerous visits to Edinburgh Crystal I had seen the craftsmen at work. They were really skilled workmen who had been at the task for a large number of years. I consider the closure of such a vibrant and successful manufacturing industry as a national disaster.

On my inquiries I found that Edinburgh Crystal was an industry that was very hale and hearty. It was very profitable and that was the very reason why another multinational had its eyes on it. It was success for the intruder, but a great loss for Scotland.

A similar loss happened in Canada. That was Blue Mountain Pottery of Ontario beginning in 1953. Its animal figurines, vases and jugs etc adorned the show cases at Harrods and Selfridges. Though it was a profitable concern the owners were not satisfied with the profit and closed it down in 2004. I happened to visit it at its closure and spoke to the workers who were being laid out. They were  a hundred or more craftsmen destined to the scrap heap of unemployment though their products have today become well priced collectors items.. This was a great loss for Canada as Blue Mountain had finalized a rare process of fineness in pottery  which could have taken on like the  world famous Lladro of Spain.

The closure of Edinburgh Crystal and Blue Mountain Pottery, both extremely successful enterprises also brings to light the ills of the private sector. In neoliberal economics which UK follows. It has to be understood that the motto of the Private Sector is to make a profit and the development of the country comes second. That is what happened to Edinburgh Crystal. For systematic development of a lasting nature the Private Sector has to be guided by the State. It is the State that is interested in development. The State has to harness the Private Sector for development.

The answer lies in community cooperatives where the workers as well as communities tie up to establish and run manufacturing industries. Here with success the venture stays in the place of origin providing work for the people and the enterprise can be developed. It will not fall a prey to venture capitalists that may acquire and close it down.

In any attempt to bring about employment creation, it is also necessary to plan for the emergence of cooperatives where the community too will be involved as much as the youth of that community will be the workers. Then the industry that is created will have a community base where members of that community will take the lead to work with the workers to ensure success in manufacture and sales. This is found necessary because even worker cooperatives with success on their hands can  move from their area to areas of affluence leaving the area where they emerged.  In this task a major role has to be played by  Community Education as well as by Colleges of Education.

Then the emergence of successful cooperative entrepreneurs can also be assured of support from the community. In WesterHailes if by any chance my suggestions of 1980 had been approved to make entrepreneurs out of the youths in training, able experienced community members were always willing to offer a hand to make them a success. Then once an industry is established it will be the guarded treasure of the community.

An important aspect re cooperatives is that the profits go to the cooperative  and the cooperative workers. The funds in the cooperative are for future development of the cooperative enterprise. The current Model of enterprise development in the capitalist world is the public company, where the capital is provided by nonworking investors who hold shares and  the payment they expect is in the dividends. In the cooperative model there is no profit for non working shareholders.  And the total income is for the development of the enterprise. This is an important factor because in any new enterprise profit margins have to be kept low at the initial stages. Thus in  new enterprise development it is only the cooperative model that can be expected to hold water.

It was the cooperative enterprise model that was followed by Third World countries. In the cooperative model profit making is not the aim. Instead the aim is the development of the country, the creation of employment and bringing about production causing national development.

In development the private sector has to be harnessed for the achievement of development goals. In this connection a further  lesson can be quoted from Sri Lanka. In the Fifties and Sixties the Green Revolution was taking place apace in Sri Lanka and  the country did not have the capacity to mill the paddy to rice. The Department for Development of Agricultural Marketing that handled rice milling imported a few rice mills and installed them at vantage places in the producing areas. Next the Department drafted plans for the establishment of small scale rice mills and called for applications from investors.. The machinery that had to be imported was detailed and the Structures and buildings that had to be built like floor space for the machinery and drying floors were detailed. The private sector entrepreneurs were offered an allocation of foreign exchange to import the machinery. At this time foreign exchange allocations were required for imports. An investor  could come forward and was guided in the investment. I happened to be in charge of the Southern Province and many millers who came forward had to abide by the rules in installation. I supervised the rice mills being installed. The rice miller was given an allocation of paddy on a weekly basis for milling for which he got paid. This was a great success and overnight we built up a capacity to mill the paddy.

This details the  strategy for the State to play a major role in development, harnessing the investors in the country.  This leadership is essential as otherwise individual investors will not find the backing to forge ahead. 

It is also necessary that the different areas in Great Britain do decide on the  engines of growth, depending on available resources.  To start with Great Britain can be divided into England, Wales and Scotland and a group of experts covering industry, community work, engineering and education should undertake to arrive at the engines of growth for the area. For instance in Scotland, Wales and certain areas in England, tourism is an engine of growth. Accomodation has to be made available at reasonable rates. The equal of Premier Inn and Travelodge have to be opened in areas where  there are glorious views. There has to be parking places where tourists can park their vehicles and enjoy the scenery.  Further there have to be facilities provided to motorists to rent recreation vehicles, motor caravans, motor homes to tour the area. The services of institutions like the Caravan Club  with their caravan parks etc  can be enlisted. In every area a group comprising a few  community members, a civil  engineer, a representative of the Caravan Club a representative of the College of Education in the area could draw up what infrastructure has to be provided to encourage tourism.  Similar details have to be worked out on an area basis. Perhaps the City and Regional Councils  can take on this task  of development. 

Creating entrepreneurs out of the cadres that are being trained at Colleges of Education all over the UK be it at Wester Hailes or at Westminster and an attempt to establish Community cooperatives out of the trained with community expertise also playing a role perhaps is a path that can usher economic development, a long felt need.

The question of finding finance   crops up. It is my contention that money can be printed. A major drawback  if the created funds are from print, lies in the idea that this procedure can lead to inflation. Inflation has always to be avoided. It is the experience of the author that funds have to be used on a strict basis. There should not be free grants. Inflation can arise only when money is poured in freely.

An attempt should also be made to find savings in approved budgets. In the Youth Self Employment Programme of Bangladesh, designed and implemented by me, the most successful employment creation programme the world has known where two million youths were guided to be entrepreneurs by 2011,  the entire expenditure in the first five years was met from savings in approved budgets. The tasks were done by revising the remits of officers, making the lecturers who handled vocational training also handle the task of guiding the trained to become entrepreneurs. This is really feasible.

 In the suggestion I had made to redesign the training programmes of the Manpower Services Commission in Edinburgh,  the extra work in guiding the enterprises would have been undertaken by the staff of the Community Education Service as well as the Colleges of Education in addition to their duties.  It is my experience in handling development work in four countries including Britain, that when something worthwhile is being attempted officialdom in allied institutions willingly handle the new tasks. They are a patriotic lot and patriotism has to be harnessed for development goals to become a reality. 

Such an attempt will bring about production, will reduce imports and  equip Great Britain to face the problems that it will have to face from a departure from the EU.

Leaving the EU alone, such an attempt at employment creation will also put Great Britain on a path to become the manufacturing hub of the world, which it actually was in the last century.

It is my sincere contention that instead of pleading  and begging from the Garniers and  Merkels, an attempt should be made to revive the British economy and things will then move in the right direction.

May this Paper be debated and the ideas suggested be changed as appropriate and developed on to enable the creation of a sustainable economy. Let me hope this could commence in a few areas  like Edinburgh or London or where there will be interested officers in Colleges of Education or Universities.

To my thinking therein lies the path for Great Britain to be great again.

Garvin Karunaratne.

M.A. Sri Lanka, M.Ed Manchester, M.Phil Edinburgh, Ph.D.Michigan State University

KAMALIKA  PIERIS

SMART EDUCATION”

In April 2017 65 schools in the Western Province  were converted into ‘Smart Schools’ capable of deploying digital learning protocols. The project was  led by Guru.lk, Sri Lanka’s leading eLearning portal. The company collaborated with Commercial Bank of Ceylon, Microsoft Sri Lanka and the Western Province Education Ministry over a six month period to complete the project.

The objective of the project was to expose traditional classroom based teachers and students to the latest digital based learning technology and systems. This would enable students to make the best use of    the tablet computers which the Ministry planned to introduced to the government schools system.

The project involved providing the schools with content to use on computers, a learning management system, Microsoft Office 365 licenses and technical support. It included training more than 1,000 teachers in the use of the necessary hardware and software. Many of the teachers trained for this smart schools program became capable of creating digital content themselves for the purpose of teaching their students.

The Commercial Bank of Ceylon supported the project by funding the creation of the ‘Sipnena’ website registered under the .lk and .com domains, and hosted free on guru.lk servers.
.The website offers students free access to content carefully selected to support their educational needs in line with local curricula, via more than 170 IT labs donated by the Commercial Bank to schools around the country.

The Commercial Bank made substantial investments to develop lessons for all subjects in the GCE Advanced Level Mathematics and Bio Science streams and for Grade 10 Mathematics, Science and English. The Bank also made investments to create an online Maths Lab, Mathematics Revision lessons and even a section dedicated to vocational training.

Microsoft Sri Lanka provided its world class software free of charge and also invested in teacher training for the project. Guru.lk and its owning company Headstart Ltd. provided the student Learning Management System free of charge provided content, conducted teacher training and coordinated the implementation of the project. The company was also responsible for monitoring progress and activation at ground level in the 65 schools in the Western Province.

Headstart Ltd the company that owns Guru.lk was a tech start-up with a project named ‘Vidunena’ under which the GCE A/L Science curriculum was provided to schools in an E Learning format, through an ICTA grant. It had been developing content for the ICTA/Ministry of Education on school curricula since 2009. The company  owned the largest E Learning content portal www.guru.lk in Sri Lanka with more than 235,000 learners and 1,000 plus lessons to choose from. The content knowledge pool included university academics, teachers, business leaders, corporate trainers and soft skills trainers, and is the largest such education-related talent pool in Sri Lanka. 

In  July 2017.Microsoft invited Guru.lk, to present a case study  on the project to Microsoft country representatives from the Asia Pacific region, Microsoft education partners and officials from Microsoft’s head office in USA. Hasitha Dela, CEO of Headstart Ltd said in his presentation, that the project was completed in record time despite Sri Lanka’s digital literacy rate being just 26% .The project include schools of varying sizes, standards and locations. Teacher competitions were held and each teacher achievement was rewarded with Microsoft badges which enabled them to compete with regional countries. Sri Lankan teachers have earned more than 12,000 Microsoft badges, one of highest figures for countries in the Asia Pacific region.

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Sri Lanka’s first cloud-based Smart Classroom was set up in January 2017, at the Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte Maha Vidyalaya. Seventeen students  participated in the pilot project. Lessons were conducted in the English medium and the students  used tablet computers instead of textbooks for interactive learning. The individual tabs will mirror lessons from a large screen computer that replaces the blackboard as a teaching guide.

The first grade-wide deployment of Smart Classrooms    was thereafter  set up at the same school, Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte Boys School on February 2019.  These are not just classrooms with Smart Boards. They use an intuitive learning platform connecting teachers and students. These Smart Classrooms are powered by XOLO Smart Classroom platform developed and managed by CodeGen .

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The Ministry of Education  then embarked on a plan to establish Smart Classrooms for 342 schools. The progamme was first launched with 42 schools in 2016, 150 in stage II and 150 schools in the last phase in 2018. Altogether, 50,000 students  benefited, at a cost of Rs 1,000 million, for the purchase of tabs, laptops and infrastructure facilities. Schools needed access to basic facilities such as electricity and Internet. As facilities to other schools improved, the Ministry would provide  Smart Classroom facilities to other schools as well.

The Ministry embarked on a pilot project to  give free tablets to Advanced Level students and teachers in government schools. Yahapalana earlier planned to lease laptops from the private sector, which would be responsible for maintenance and repairs. Then they found that it was cheaper for the Ministry to purchase and supply Laptops.

Laptops would be purchase under a 3-year guarantee and the total project cost was estimated at Rs 12 billion, with which they could purchase around 160,000 Laptops, while repairs and maintenance were estimated at Rs 400 million. An estimated Rs 597.6 million  was  allocated for the project, under which 628 schools were to be provided with 14,230 Laptops. The Ministry will    provide laptops to selected schools in difficult areas as well. Schools that do not have electricity will have to get the laptops charged elsewhere. 

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 In 2018,  Yahapalana  approved a proposal to raise a US$ 56.9 million loan for the establishment of a National Centre for Creating E-Learning Resources, for teaching through Computers. Under the plan the Ministry of Education would formalize applying Information Technology  in Schools. The proposal is to provide Computers and Accessories to all Regional Computer Resources Centers, construct 2 Provincial IT Educational Centers associated with Addalachchena and Nilwala National Colleges of Education, and establish a National Level Software & Computer Application Design Center at Narangallawaththa, Kurunegala. The money  will be raised from the Economic Development Cooperative Fund and the Abu Dhabi Fund, through the Korean Import Export Bank.

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The Ministry has given instructions to weed the school libraries. The Ministry of Education  said that, in order to introduce digital and electronic Libraries into schools, weeding/discarding was necessary. Books printed over 20 years ago, highly academic material not suitable for schoolchildren, books that undermines national unity, containing outdated and misleading information, old annual reports and newspapers, books not used by students, are instructed to be removed immediately from school Libraries,

A circular has been issued including weeding instructions to all provincial and Zonal Directors of Education, school Principals, Principals of Teacher Training Colleges and National Education Colleges.. The Principal must appoint a 5-11-member committee to work with the school librarian/library committee. The committee will prepare a weeding list, make submissions/recommendations, indicating items for weeding, and finally decide on the removal.

Materials to be removed should be exhibited within the school premises, followed by an open negotiation with representatives from teaching staff, parent’s committee and students. Among those to be considered before weeding are dictionaries and encyclopedias, if the existing version is more than 20 years old, Central Bank annual reports and Budget proposals, subject books for Mathematics, Science and Technology, readers demand and preference, cost effectiveness of rebinding, availability of substitute material and conserving books with a historical or cultural value.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

When JR Jayewardene was President,  government decided to assist certain  Christian  schools which, having decided to   become private schools in 1960,  were now in financial difficulties.  A category called Government-approved Private Schools was created.  The government provided school uniforms and textbooks to the 80 Government-approved Private schools. 36 schools were given money to pay teachers’ salaries. The UNP government of the time was restoring ‘assisted school system’ which was eliminated in the 1960  ‘take over of schools ‘. Thanks to this new plan, some  Christian schools, moved out of the state sector and went  private. St Anthony’s College, Kandy was one of them, I think.

Yahapalana government  decided to  further extend this. In 2019, Yahapalana announced that  it intends to provide assistance to 13 more unaided Private schools, after  they were converted into Government-assisted Private schools,  following Education Ministry criteria. Yahapalana would pay teachers salaries to 13 private schools that do not currently receive assistance from the government. 381 teachers at these schools would be paid a colossal sum of Rs. 160 million a year.

The 13 schools  are Sri Sumeda Vidyalaya, Gampaha, Bolawalana Ave Maria Vidyalaya, Negombo, Nalanda Buddhist Vidyalaya, Kundasale, Suradithika Balika Vidyalaya Paiyagala, Siri Sumana Buddhist Vidyalaya Biyagama, N.C.E.F. Buddhist Vidyalaya, Mulleriya, Minerva Vidyalaya, Matara, Sri Rahula, Anuradhapura, Sinhala Buddhist Vidyalaya, Matale, Western Province Jaya Indrasiri Vidyalaya, Pitakotte, Mahamvenawa Buddhist Vidyalaya, Kurunegala and Vidyani Vidyalaya, Kelaniya. The Ceylon Teachers Union said  this was an additional burden for the cash-strapped Education Ministry and the money could be better used to upgrade and provide facilities for schools in rural areas.

 In 2018 Cabinet  approved a government proposal to allow popular semi-government schools to establish branches across the country..A total of 36 popular semi-government schools including St Peter’s, St Joseph’s College and Wesley College in Colombo, Maris Stella College and Loyola College in Negombo, Holy Cross College, Kalutara and Christ King College, Pannipitiya are allowed to build five branches each around the country, according to cabinet paper No. 18/0850/742/017 of April 26, 2018. By 2019, these schools had established nine branches in Negombo, Wattala, Katunayake, Bopitiya and Kalutara. Ceylon Teachers Union said allowing popular schools to build branches across the country would result in the  closure of  several existing schools.

FREE TEXT BOOKS

In 2018,  Yahapalana  had printed only a fraction of the free textbooks books needed for schools. The total requirement of textbooks for 2018  was over 41 million and Rs 4.385 billion was allocated. However they  printed just over 28 million (28, 210, 600) books. This  resulted in a severe shortage of text books . Teachers too are affected by the situation as the number of textbooks needed for the teachers has not been included in the printed textbooks.

out of the 28 million books that were printed, the government had printed 8,802,100 new books for Grade 1- 4, 6,432,000 new books for Grade 09 and 2,630,000 work new books, these had to be printed due to syllabus change. Students from Grade 6 to Grade 9 had been told to re-use about previously used books .  Some students were receiving new books while others were told to re-use the old books.

Most of the old books could not  be reused because  they were not in good condition.   They were  torn, damaged and written all over. Students who received these old books are now buying new ones. The past few weeks saw hundreds of parents standing in queues at the Education Publications Department bookshops, to buy  the books., complained Ceylon Teachers Union. The Ministry had created an artificial shortage  to make students buy the books. This has ensured that a large number of students are buying books from the Department.

In 2017 Yahapalana had started printing prices at the back of each textbook. The reason for printing the book price, the teachers unions were told was to show the students the value of books they were getting for free. This was not accepted. This was a move to reduce expenditure on free education, encourage the purchase of books and initiate a voucher system for textbooks similar to that for uniform material.

The Commissioner of General Education Publications, blamed the Government Press, which had delayed the matter,  due to the printing of election poll cards and the Bond Commission report. This  explanation  was  not accepted. School textbooks need to be given out before the school holidays and are  printed  much earlier. About 97% of school textbooks are printed by 26 private sector printers.  Education Publications Department advertised on January 30, 2018 calling for tenders for the printing of extra textbooks.

UNIFORMS

Yahapalana  had earlier decided to issue vouchers instead of material for school uniforms. This was heavily criticized.There has been criticism from various parties about the Voucher system, for school uniforms, but we have decided not to withdraw the scheme, said the Ministry. The Ministry  decided to continue with the Voucher system, despite protests, but will consider increasing the payment for material.  The scheme cannot be changed immediately, as it would take time to order the material and  issue it. There would  also be problems regarding storage, transportation, administrative, additional staff for distribution, the possibility of low quality material reaching the market and irregularities of tenders.

SURAKSHA

 In 2017 the Cabinet approved a proposal to introduce an insurance scheme, for all school children between the ages of 5 and 19 years  in both government and private school students,   at a cost of Rs. 2700 million to the government.   Around 4.5 million schoolchildren from all walks of life studying in government, private and international schools as well as student priests in Pirivenas are covered under this scheme. This scheme, named Suraksha commenced on 2.10.17 . The scheme  was facilitated by Sri Lanka Insurance, which offers the service through its extensive network of 150 branches island-wide.

Suraksha consists of three main areas – Health Insurance, Personal Accident Insurance and Special Benefits .The insurance cover includes surgical and hospitalization benefits of Rs. 200,000 per annum as well as outdoor patients’ benefits worth Rs. 10,000 for seven selected ailments. Further, there is a personal accident insurance benefit provided to both student and parents – Rs. 100,000 to be paid upon the sudden accidental death of the student as well as a cover worth Rs. 100,000 in the event of a total permanent disability and Rs. 50,000 to be paid upon partial permanent disability of the student.

The scheme also covers parents’ accidental death where a sum of Rs. 75,000 is paid to the student for such losses. Suraksha beneficiaries are also entitled to additional benefits such as discounts on hospitalization, consultants’ fees, etc.

 The scheme was successful, said the media. By May 2018 the government has paid Rs. 89 million in claims to 8,870 people said Daily News   over 1,600 claims were already paid by Sri Lanka Insurance said Island. The insurer has received over 4,300 insurance claims from schoolchildren during the last four months..

Several success stories  of Suraksha were given in the media. A school girl needed Rs 2.5 million for a spine operation at a private hospital. Her father found out about the scheme and applied for it. Within two to three days I was able to get Rs. 100,000. Though the cost was not recovered 100 percent, it was something.” A schoolboy got dengue twice, The first time, Suraksha helped meet part of the hospital bill, and the second time, we were able to recover the whole amount through Suraksha,” the father said

B.A. Rupika’s  husband in Wattemulla met with an accident and passed away. She is now the sole breadwinner in her family. As she struggled to make ends meet, her child’s school informed her that she could apply for a claim through Suraksha. The claim took 1.5 months, but she was able to get Rs. 75,000 for the death of her husband, It helped me a lot,” she said.

 One parent, Senadeera,  said that many  parents were reluctant to claim through Suraksha because either way they would have to foot the initial amount on their own and only later get it reimbursed. Many people cannot afford to put up that initial sum.

There must be a direct payment scheme where the insurance covers the cost without us having to pay it first. If you connect the hospitals directly to the insurance company, many more people will make claims.” Though government hospitals are meant to be free, in reality healthcare is not. There are many expenses people have to bear, from costs in care to tests, he added.

Also, there were many delays when applying for claims, especially when it was applied through a branch office of Sri Lanka Insurance, The first time we applied, we did so through the Kaduwela branch and we had to follow up so many times, because they told us that the claim has to be sent to their head office to be processed. The second time around, it took less time because we knew the system and applied directly at their head office,’  said Senadeera

He further asked that the amount given per day to the child admitted at a government hospital be increased. This scheme is most helpful to parents who can’t afford healthcare. So Rs. 1,000 per day is not enough, it should be more.”

The level of awareness about Suraksha  varies in schools. Some schools are doing a good job whilst others are not interested,” A parent found out that her child’s school had not registered with Sri Lanka Insurance, when she called them up to ask whether her child was eligible for the scheme. The school just sent us a leaflet about it once, but thereafter they did not collect my son’s information or tell us how we could apply for it,” she said.

Also though they had applied for the scheme, at first they were not aware of what exactly it covered. Admission charges to private hospitals are not covered. It is only when the child is going to be discharged that they tell us what is covered and what is not. They should inform the parents about this at the start,”  she observed. This is a  common problem with all  types of insurance.

 The Education Ministry said they had conducted an awareness programme for schools on December 7, 2017. They were having discussions with Sri Lanka Insurance to have more awareness programmes conducted in schools.  The Ministry has also asked whether the Insurance Corporation can look at a scheme to directly connect their services with the hospitals. We were hoping that at least some hospitals could be selected to do this at the start and later it could be expanded to all others,” said the Ministry. Sri Lanka Insurance is yet to agree to the proposal they said in 2018.

In 2019, the picture  changed. The   agreement with Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC) expired on November 30, 2018. The SLIC has paid only Rs 450 million as claims, while the total amount insured was Rs 2,700 million. Around 4,000 claims from schoolchildren, received by the Ministry under the Suraksha insurance scheme, remain unpaid, said the Ceylon Teachers Union  in 2019. The paperwork for the claimants was done  by the teachers. The children were automatically registered under Suraksha, but the responsibility of collecting the student’s information and registering them with the scheme and making parents aware of the benefits has been delegated to the school authorities by the Education Ministry.

The scheme has come to a halt in 2019 and the claims  put on hold,  due to a deadlock between the Ministry and the Presidential Secretariat, over the selection of the Insurance company. The Allianz Co. was initially awarded the contract,  they had made the best offer, but Sri Lanka Insurance appealed to the Presidential Secretariat Appeal Board. The Appeal Board decided that the Allianz . should be awarded the contract, but Presidential Secretariat directed the Ministry to halt the issue of the contract. objections were also raised by trade unions against awarding the deal to a foreign company.

Thereafter, no directive has been issued about the contract, thereby putting the entire project on hold, reported the media. Students who relied on the insurance scheme and entered hospitals or proceeded with medical treatment, have been affected.

the best course of action is for the Ministry to scrap the Insurance scheme and instead, establish an office which will make payments for the claims, said the Ceylon Teachers Union.  Then the government could save money and use it for the development of schools providing good buildings, water and other facilities. Alternatively, the funds could be used to establish children’s hospitals with all facilities.

The Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA)   also  urged the Government to reconsider the  proposal to introduce a health insurance scheme for all school children on the grounds that it lacked consultation with key stakeholders and impacted on the current free health service. Neither the Ministry of Health nor professional medical bodies have been engaged in planning or implementing the insurance scheme, which will have wide-ranging implications for the health sector.

while there already is a free national health service,  what is the justification for a new insurance scheme for school-going children, SLMA asked. This is an age group that generally requires very little curative care. If at all, this health insurance scheme should target children with critical and chronic illnesses. SLMA said. The major health issues afflicting the school-going population such as malnutrition, obesity, unhealthy eating patterns, insufficient physical activity, exam stress and broader mental health concerns will not be addressed by this insurance scheme.

The SLMA said the Government should direct funds set aside for the proposed new scheme  toward strengthening primary care. Developing a strong primary care system, encompassing preventive and curative services, will be beneficial to all Sri Lankans, including school-going children,” SLMA said. ( CONTINUED)

By Ifham Nizam Courtesy The Island

The government would go ahead with the proposed plan 2019 to establish 2700 MW of fossil fuel fired power stations by year 2020, a senior ministry official said.

Ministry Secretary Dr. Suren Batagoda said that there would be 300 MW new LNG Combined cycle at Kerawalapitya by WindForce Consortium, 300 MW new LNG Combined cycle Kerawalapitiya by Lakdanavi 300 MW new LNG Combined cycle plant at Kerawalapitiya with India, 300 MW new LNG Combined cycle at Kerawalapitiya with Japan, 300 MW new LNG Combined cycle at Hambanthota with China 300 MW new Coal power plant at Norochcholai and 300 MW new additional Coal plant at Norochcholai 600 MW new Coal power plant at Trincomalee. They would be given top priority considering country’s energy needs.

The Ministry is also planning to generate 750 MW of wind power in Mannar, Punarin and Siyambalanduwa and 1000 MW of solar power by 2025.

Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) Executive Director, Hemantha Withanage told The Island 1200MW of coal power plants could not be endorsed due to their adverse impact on the enviornment.

He also said that the country’s first coal-fired power plant at Norochcholai – plant 1 and 2 -operated without equipment to remove toxic Sulphur dioxide.

CEJ/IPEN research in late 2018 found that some women at child bearing age living around the Puttalam lagoon had very high levels of Mercury as high as 15 ppm -Parts Per Million in their hair.

Norochcholai coal power plant operated without an Environmental Protection License for the last two years and that was an insult to the Northwestern Provincial Environmental Authority and the Central Environmental Authority, he said.

“The government taxes even motorcycles for their carbon emission and also conducts emission tests on vehicles, failed to monitor and regulate the huge emission coming from this 900 MW dirty coal-fired power plant,” he added.

Withanage also said Minisater Karunanayake had forgotten that Sri Lanka had promised to reduce 4% of the Green House gas emission from the energy sector under the Nationally Determined Contribution submitted to the UNFCCC in 2018 and, instead it will increase SGHG emission by more than 30%.

The Hindu Business Line

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena being received by TTD authorities on his arrival at Tirumala on Tuesday, April 16, 2019.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena arrived here on Tuesday to offer prayers at the hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara near here, a temple official said.

Accompanied by his wife Jayanthi Pushpa Kumari and other family members and Lankan officials, Sirisena landed at Renigunta airport, 20 km from here, at noon.

Amid tight security, he reached the hills by road, the official told PTI.

The president would take part in the ‘Suprabhatha’ ritual and offer prayers to the presiding deity of Lord Venkateswara in the early hours Wednesday, the official added.

USA TODAY

Sri Lanka aims to boost its tourism efforts by giving away free visas to travelers from more than 30 countries. 

The small island nation off southern India will offer the promotion starting May 1 to travelers from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea, according to Lonely Planet and The Independent. 

The average U.S. tourist stands to save between $20 and $40 in visa fees, Lonely Planet says. 

The free-visa period initially will run for six months to help bolster tourism during the off-peak season – the Yala monsoon runs from May to August – but if successful, Sri Lanka may extend the free visas to tourists from other countries or make the arrangement permanent. 

Sri Lanka saw 2.1 million tourists in 2017, according to the nation’s Tourism Development Authority. Tourism numbers have been on the upswing since the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war in 2009.  

Ada Derana

Courtesy Adaderana

A speeding Canter truck has run over an Army checkpoint at Vattapalai Junction in Mullaitivu, killing a soldier and injuring another, stated Sri Lanka Army Media Division.

The truck had been traveling towards Nadunkarni Junction from Mullaitivu when the driver of the truck had lost control of the vehicle due to the high speed, revealed police investigations.

The accident which had occurred at around 5.30 this afternoon (16) had resulted in the death of soldier H. P. S. Pathirana, serving attached to the 6th Sri Lanka Military Police under the Sri Lanka army. He had been admitted to the Mullaitivu Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

Staff Sergeant S.D.R. Dissanayake, also serving 6th Sri Lanka Military Police, was injured in the accident and is currently receiving treatment at the same hospital.

Mulliaveli Police are conducting further investigations on the matter.

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

Candidature for the next presidential election has become a complex problem to all political parties in Sri Lanka as the party politics in the country has become corrupt, undercutting and involved in many disguise cunning practices.  It is a nature not only in Sri Lanka, but also in other democratic countries in the world. In USA political parties are given more than one-year time to select the next presidential candidate and the process is democratically designed to elect the candidate from the votes of party members. This procedure is to give people opportunities to consider broader spectrum of views in relation to policies, past behaviour of candidates and many other areas. It is an exemplary procedure for Sri Lanka to adapt in the process of selecting a presidential candidate.  In Sri Lanka the general practice was the leader of a major political party has been supposed, to select as the candidate for the presidential election.  This system had a possibility to continuing, but Mr. J.R. Jayawardena’s astute action after 1978 has radically changed the implied practice.

The UNP government elected in 1977 had a hidden intention to destroy the opposition SLFP and the easy way to do it was working against civil abilities of Mrs Sirimao Bandaranaike, whose behaviour had been subject to severe criticism of the right-wing as her government nationalised lands, newspaper organizations and some privately-owned companies.  The result of the civil disabilities case against Mrs Sirimao Bandaranaike and Mr Felix R. Dias Bandaranaike was creating serious problems to the leadership of SLFP.  Since then the issue of the candidature for the presidential election was arose and now, we can see that the problem is continuing without abiding rule or tradition.

The 19^th amendment to the constitution of Sri Lanka was a complex constitutional provision and when it was passed by the parliament, general public and the members of the parliament and the president had no idea or clear understanding of the hidden intention of the constitutional provision, now it has clearly revealed or come to light that hidden focus of the 19^th amendment was to taking revenge from the Rajapaksa family, but it was not to re-establish the good governance and democracy in the country.  There may had some democratic and good governance features, despite such good aspects, the manipulators of the 19^th amendment was to take revenge from the Rajapaksa family. The greedy people of NGOs and rejected members of Marxist political parties associated with the good governance movement, most probably gaining financial incentives (bribery) and with a view to gaining the political popularity of the Rajapaksa family to them. In fact, what happened was gaining unpopularity of the movement as yahapalana advocates in the country did not expect and they were not happened in the history.

However, people have realised the truth and now it is obvious from the actions of breakdown yahapalana politicians that the use of the candidature for the next presidential election as a talking point to coverup the corruptions in the regime. The dismissal of the aspirer candidature of Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa has become a failed strategy of yahapana advocates and the real experience in Sri Lanka has come to light Mr. Rajapaksa would be the strong candidate to attract votes of people without political, racial, religious and any other differences.

The incidents reported during the past several weeks and the return of Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa to Sri Lanka as planned and his reception by people at Katunayake Airport has strongly confirmed the candidature of Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa by people, despite political engineering of some political parties or personnel to disgrace Mr. Rajapaksa.  The vital fact about this short term experience is that Sri Lankans must not get deceived to fabrications in internet programs and it is a lesson to internet programs such as Facebook, utube and others to strict or restrict information publish about Sri Lanka as some people of the country use these internet programs to destroy the credibility of such programs.

Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa has strong respect from people in Sri Lanka and overseas as he had not associated with lower grade politics to gain political advantages. He won the hearts of people by his work related to military and civil work.  He has rich experience in military and civil work and has proven that he will be the choice of people without political difference.

Now, Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa has an opportunity to openly talk to people and tell that I will be a candidate for the next presidential election and address all political parties to give support without any difference. This is required because about 25% of floating votes of UNP is willing to support Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa as he is a firmed candidate with policy making abilities and positively considering issues in Sri Lanka to take forward consistent with modernization.  Other potential candidates cannot openly talk to people as they have no knowledge, experience, skills and attributes like Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa and people have no trust on them.

Statistically based on the census of 2012, 28.7% of voters in Sri Lanka are in Western Province, 12.6% in Central Province, 12.2% in Southern Province and 11.7% in North Western and 34.8% live in other provinces.  This means that Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa must focus on his campaign mainly in these provinces and reasonably convincing campaign should go to other provinces.  He must be with a uniform message that his priority is people to give equality without racial, religious and divisional differences.

Racial mix of voters are 74.9% Sinhala while 11.2% Sri Lankan Tamils, 4.2% Indian Tamils and 9.3% Sri Lankan Muslims.  Mr Rajapaksa needs attracting 80% of Sinhala votes, 6% of Lanka Tamil votes, 2 % Indian Tamil votes and 6% of Muslim votes to show a great victory of presidential election in the history. To attract such a huge vote base need giving a promise to create an equality to all races and religions with modernization, would be the strategy. The current government cannot do it because they are in the power, but they have not done it. The heavy weights of the current government have engaged in serious corrupt work creating tremendous problems to people.  How can trust a regime that mislead people again?

Sri Lanka’s population consists of 70.1% Buddhist, 12.6% Hindu and 9.7% Muslim and 7.6% other religions such as Christians and other.  If Mr Rajapaksa attracts 60% of Buddhist votes, 6% Hindu votes, 6% of Muslim votes and 5% Christian votes, it would be the greatest victory in the history.  This situation could be achieved only by giving equality to each religion and promising to make necessary legal provisions for anti-discrimination.  People in Sri Lanka needs to say we are Sri Lankans with different faces, but our aim is to construct the country to liveable place to everybody.

The statistics clearly indicates that Mr Rajapaksa’s policy must concentrate on the unity and a united Sri Lanka with equality for people in all races, castes and religions. This is the environment that we can observe in Western countries and Mr. Rajapaksa should promise to make legal provisions to eliminate discrimination.  The yahapalana regime has failed to enact laws to prevent discrimination because the main partner of the yahapalana regime, TNA did not agree with elimination of discrimination as they wanted to continue caste and religious differences in the country, with caste dictions TNA wants to establish power in Tamil dominating areas.

The reconciliation process was an essential role after ending the LTTE war, however, it did not effectively work and the reconciliation process under the yahapalana regime was a cheated activity of some members of the government that supported to gain financial advantages to selected people and it was not supported to a really established reconciliation between Tamil, Sinhala and Muslim communities.  Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa needs to initiate a true reconciliation process, which heals wounds between all three communities and it shouldn’t be a process attracting money to pockets of operators of the reconciliation process.

Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa should give strong economic policy focus to achieve per capita income of US $ 15000 in 2030, US$ 150 billion foreign reserves, stability of currency unit in domestic and foreign terms, a government budget surplus, positive outcomes in the balance of payment and a sustainable economic growth more than 8% rate.  Mr. Rajapaksa must be able to give leadership to maintain a balanced foreign policy reconciling India and China and attract foreign direct investments from all countries especially from USA, China, India, Japan, Korea, Middle East, EU and other countries.  When the economy is recording a higher rate of growth, debt is not an issue but the country needs to maintain total government debt at 60% of GDP.  The internal economic policy stress to balanced growth with a balance urbanization, which would create a large volume of employment opportunities and absorb local people to jobs, it is an essentially needed policy correction and reforming education and training for local people for employment-oriented education.  Mr. Rajapaksa has already talked about modernization like in Japan.

He must be vigilance on his own supporters and many of his supporters may have dishonest intention and corrupt elements. Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa did a good job for the country but it was outweighed by the malice propaganda and animosity of people with him.  Now those people are with Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe, Mr. Sajith Premadasa and Mr Karu Jayasuriya and any other potential candidate for the next presidential election. The crisis in UNP is how to find a right candidate with excellent experience in military and civil service.  People of Sri Lanka are knowledgeable and they don’t consider that playing cricket is the best qualification for the presidential candidate.            

By Garvin Karunaratne

Two years have passed and the meetotamulla garbage mountains are yet intact. 

Many attempts have been made at clearing but none have so far worked.

Two years ago I suggested that it be used as compost on coconut estates.

To me that seems the easiest solution and done in rupees and we do not need foreign exchange. If only it had been approved the garbage mountain would have vanished.

I enclose my earlier paper for kind consideration

Man Made Tragedies: The Garbage : Is there a way out.

Posted on May 16th, 2017

Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Michigan State University Former Government Agent, Matara District.

12/5/2017

The Garbage Disaster

The garbage pile at Meetotamulla erupted, took the lives of 32 or more and we are in complacency- now, we are talking. There are piles of Garbage at various places and some authorities state that they will not explode.  I am certain that those authorities were well aware of the Meetotamulla Pile before it erupted.

There are accepted methods of turning the garbage into power, and these are being looked into but it  will definitely take time. In the manner we now act, it may take a few years to have those systems going.

In the meantime the piles that are already there are dangers and what about the daily intake of garbage, we do not know where to dump it!.

I managed my family farm- a small coconut acreage for five years and took great pains to dig trenches and fill them with dried leaves and foliage turning them into compost to be nutrients. Today in the heart of London my home garbage is buried and we apply a chemical powder to enhance the process of the garbage becoming compost. We collect the dried leaves and make compost- it takes a year or so and that too with adding chemicals.

RANJITH SOYSA

Julain Assange who revealed sordid aspects of West ‘s diplomacy including on the ‘war on terrorism’ in keeping with the principles of investigative journalism is hounded by the British Police. If not for Assange and his indefatigable production of Wikileaks many political and diplomatic sins committed by the leading Western ‘democracies ‘ would have been remained as ‘rational’ and right decisions.

He commenced working on Wikileaks in 2006 creating a web-based ‘dead letter box’ for would be leaks. He was shifting from place to place in handling Wikileaks. Not only the numbers killed butmany other issues such as torture carried out by the US ,the British and the allied forces came to the light because of Wikileaks. The total number killed between 2004 and 2009  in Iraq were revealed factually as 109,032 by Wikileaks and was also reported that the US High Command refused to look into the reports of torture undertaken by the allied fores, Even little known stories of the British and the US exchange of messages on Sri Lanka’s war against Tamil Tigers are also reported in the Wikileaks. The detailed story of the expulsion of the natives from the Chagos islands too became known only thanks to Wikileaks.

Asssange was born in Townswille, Australia in 1971. Another, well known political commentator, John Pilger states ” The action of the British Police in literally dragging Julian Assange from the Eduadorean emassay and SMASHING INTERNATIONAL LAW by the Ecuadorean regime in permitting this barbarity are CRIMES AGAINST MOST BASIC NATURAL JUSTICE. This is a warning to all journalists.

RANJITH SOYSA

By Derrick Broze SOURCE: THEMINDUNLEASHED.COM

The U.S. government is still afraid to reveal the full extent of torture used on terror suspects in the years following the 9/11 attacks, but do the American people even care anymore?

A recent report by The New York Times explores the case of Majid Khan, a prisoner of the United States who plead guilty to being a courier for Al Qaeda. Khan is a Pakistani citizen who spent seven years in Baltimore before being kidnapped by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 2003, where he faced various forms of torture. Since Khan’s first court appearance in 2003, the U.S. government has sought to keep the details of his torture secret.

The Times reports:

Seven years ago, when a former C.I.A. prisoner, Majid Khan, pleaded guilty at Guantánamo to being a courier for Al Qaeda, his lawyers were warned that any mention of the word torture” would lead a court security officer to trigger a mute button so the public, listening on a 40-second delay, would not hear it.

This week the question of his treatment was front and center, this time in a pre-sentencing hearing. Mr. Khan’s lawyers asked a military judge on Monday to order prosecutors to produce evidence and witnesses about the secret prison network where the intelligence agency kept Mr. Khan incommunicado from March 2003 to September 2006.”

Khan’s case is only the latest in a battle between attorneys defending accused terrorists and both the CIA and the U.S. military. While th military now allows torture to be discussed without the 40-second delay, the battle now centers on how torture evidence can be gathered and whether or not it can be used in military tribunals at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The prosecutors cannot legally use evidence obtained via torture in the military court, but they are still reluctant to allow the details of the torture to become public. Khan’s attorneys are seeking data related to his torture so they may show his sentencing jury what exactly he was forced to endure.

During the Obama administration, some details of Mr. Khan’s torture at the hands of the CIA were made public. These include being beaten, hung naked without food for three days, kept in the dark for months on end, submerged into a tub of ice and water, and perhaps, most disturbing, being subjected to rectal feeding.” As part of that process, the CIA shoved a blended mix of pasta, sauce, nuts, raisins, and hummus up Khan’s rectum after he went on a hunger strike. Khan’s lawyer David Nevin said the term rectal feeding, or rectal rehydration, is a polite way of saying rape with the insertion of a foreign object into the rectum.”

The Times reports that Khan has agreed to a plea agreement and could be sentenced to 25 years. With credit for time served he could be released by 2037. Still, despite the potential plea deal, the military has prevented Khan’s attorneys from contacting former employees of the CIA black sites where Khan and other suspected terrorists have been held over the last two decades. The CIA has fought to keep secret the names of the employees and the locations of these black sites.

As we approach yet another anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the American people remain clueless as to the full extent of the torture, kidnapping, and killing carried out in the name of avenging those killed on September 11, 2001. Even worse, the psychologists who helped develop these sickening programs have been allowed to go free under secret deals. If the world is ever to heal from the tragedy of the 9/11 terror attacks, we must know the truth about what happened that day and we must know the truth about how the U.S. government and intelligence agencies violated international law when they chose to employ brutal, sick, and twisted methods of torture. Without these truths, the American people are simply living a lie.

Dilrook Kannangara

Team Sri Lanka should play the following squad for the WC2019 to achieve best outcomes.

Angelo Mathews, Niroshan Dickwella, Sandun Weerakkody, Kusal Perera, Upul Tharanga, Dasun Shanaka, Dinesh Chandimal, Kusal Mendis, Thisara Perera, Milinda Siriwardana, Asela Gunaratne, Dhananjaya de Silva, Ashan Priyanjan, Shehan Madushanka, Akila Dananjaya, Lasith Malinga, Suranga Lakmal, Isuru Udana, Shaminda Eranga and Wanindu Hasaranga.

This is based on batting efficacy (strike rate times average) and bowling effectiveness (economy rate times wicket taking average).

Wanindu Hasaranga is an exception. Although his performance does not warrant a place for him in the squad, his exceptional ability to give the ball a good spin is considered given dead pitches for spinners where World Cup matches are played. Other interesting selections include Shehan Madushanka who is an interesting fast bowler. Isuru Udana has not played enough matches. However, he has displayed a fighting spirit not found in many Sri Lankan players. He is also a moderate all rounder.

Sandun Weerakkody is a wicket keeper batsman who can be accommodated at a different fielding position given his good and fast batting. His batting is better than Dinesh Chandimal.

Lahiru and Jeffrey cannot make it to the team given their poor performance overall. However, if some of the players listed above are not going to be available, they can make it to the squad. Dilruwan Perera who is a Test player may be included in the squad in place of Amila Aponsu.

The format this year requires the team to make it to the top four to get ahead. There is no quarter final. That is a daunting task for Team Sri Lanka which currently ranks at the eighth position (may slip to the ninth position). There is no point playing slow batters as the Team is going to lose matches anyway if fast scoring batters fail. Net Run Rate cannot bring us within the top four. Only match winnings can bring us to the top four. Therefore, no harm in losing some matches badly as long as we win other matches. However, over the years, Cricket Sri Lanka failed to unearth many fast scoring batsmen. Focus was on the batting average and most finds are unsuitable for the ODI format. Unfortunately we have to play them as better talent is unavailable.

Matthews should not be made captain as he has not been successful. Malinga is the only current World Cup (T20I) winning captain but some senior players are not very receptive to his leadership. A tough decision must be taken on the choice of captain. However, bringing Dimuth into the ODI squad for his great captaincy skills is unwise as he has no place in the ODI squad.

Batting order must change. The crucial number three position must not go to Kusal Mendis who is a slow batter. Matthews and Thisara and Isuru must play higher up in the order where they can blossom without the added pressure of running out of balls. This is what worked for WC1996. Tharanga should also play down the batting order. Often times these slow batters cause the required rate to go up and the difficult task falls on latter batsmen who are also burdened with the ball. Contribution of Kusal Mendis and Tharanga is only in the batting department. As specialized batsmen they must be able to handle pressure down the order. Otherwise they are best kept out of the team.

A total of 300 runs is the norm today and mathematically it is a certainty that if a team loses if it makes up of batsmen with far less than 100% strike rate. 

Given the long and grueling format, it is a good idea to financially assist wives and girl friends of players to get there and be with them. This can be done by limiting administration officials and their family members. They don’t play matches and they need not be in England.

As a realist with an umbrella at hand, WC2019 will be an affair to forget for Team Sri Lanka fans. However, making the most of it should be the focus this time. Take each match as a winnable game and let the numbers do the trick.

By: PTI |Courtesy Financial Express

Riyadh and Kathmandu are two upcoming international destinations for the airline.

SpiceJet will launch direct flights from Mumbai to seven international destinations, including Colombo, Jeddah, Dhaka, Riyadh and Hong Kong. Direct flights would also be operated from Mumbai to Bangkok and Kathmandu.

The no-frills airline would start the services from the end of May. In a release on Monday, the carrier said it would be the first Indian budget carrier to launch daily direct flights on the Mumbai-Colombo, Mumbai-Dhaka, Mumbai-Riyadh, Mumbai-Hong Kong and Mumbai-Kathmandu sectors. Boeing 737 NG aircraft would be deployed in the new routes.

We are delighted to connect a large number of popular international destinations from Mumbai, a city that has always been a key and integral part of our network,” SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh said. Riyadh and Kathmandu are two upcoming international destinations of the airline. The airline already operates flights to Colombo from Chennai and Madurai, Dhaka from Kolkata, Dubai from Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kochi, Kozhikode, Mangalore, Amritsar, Jaipur and Madurai, Hong Kong from Delhi and Jeddah from Hyderabad besides an upcoming flight from Kozhikode,” the release said.

Courtesy joe.co.uk

Four men have been arrested on suspicion of belonging to a banned terrorist organisation

Police arrested four men on suspicion of belonging to a banned terror group after they arrived in the UK at Luton airport from Sri Lanka.

They arrived on Wednesday night and were taken into custody before being questioned at a police station in Bedfordshire.

All four are Sri Lankan nationals and were detained under the terrorism act.

Scotland Yard said: “Police at the airport were made aware of the men the next day, Thursday 11 April and subsequently stopped them under schedule seven of the Terrorism Act 2000.”

The men are yet to be identified as they have not been charged.

The only Sri Lankan organisation on the government’s list of proscribed terror groups are the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, described as”a terrorist group fighting for a separate Tamil state in the North and East of Sri Lanka” and listed in 2001.

Police inquiries are ongoing.

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

Mr Gotabaya Rajapakse has created his own political platform providing  a nation friendly economic and socially cohesive vision to integrate all ethnic groups of the island.  He has clearly identified to distance himself from the free-flow open market economy.  Instead, he is committed to provide leadership to accelerate investing capacity of local entrepreneurs  for  all goods and services which can be locally manufactured, instead of importing.     It is in this context local manufacturers will be provided further assistance by means of technological transfer from advanced industrial nations, taking into consideration opportunity costs.

Sri Lanka is a rich island, with vast untapped economic resources.  Projects such as Tyre, Steel, Engineering, Textile, Ceramics, Paper, Hardware, Mineral Sands, Cement, Timber were commissioned to kick start the economy, which filters to benefit directly and indirectly to the rest of the areas of economy. 

Sri Lankan economy is stagnating  or gradually moving backwards at the moment.  The taxation system is being changed in an ad-hoc manner, tax revenue is declining and at the same time tax revenue is  directed for consumption instead of capital investment. 

No short and medium term tax incentives are given to local entrepreneurs.  The financial institutions are reluctant to release long term loans to private sector, as local businessmen are unable to investing in modern technology to upgrade or replace existing plant and machinery. As a consequence their Business Plans fail to meet the required standards of Due diligence Tests.

During last four years, we have been pushed to those issues which further divided the nation instead of integrating.  Our current inefficient rulers with no positive action plan were pampered by Groups and Nations thus successfully elevated ethnic issues above economic and social issues. 

GR is the overwhelming future leader for Sri Lanka and Asia to change the direction and overall the economy.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Among certain segments of Colombo urban middle class, Mahinda Rajapaksa emerged as the most controversial and most hated ruler in post independent Sri Lanka, said Kusal Perera.  Yet in suburban and rural Sinhala south he ‘carried his charm over ordinary Sinhala people’ and polled a massive 5.78 million votes in 2015. How did he grow into this larger than life icon in Sinhala politics.

Kusal Perera in his book Rajapaksa the Sinhala selfie” tells us how. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s grandfather, Rajapaksalage Don Davith, originally from Halgahapotha in present Embilipitiya area, was vidane arachchi of Ihala Welikada korale now known as Giruwa Pattu. He married into the Weerakoon Ratnayake clan of Getamanna, Beliatta. This was a linking of two petty village nobilities.   Rajapaksa family was a landowning one with paddy fields and coconut plantations.

Don David Rajapaksa’s son Don Mathew Rajapaksa, Mahinda Rajapaksa uncle, was elected to the Hambantota seat in the State Council in 1936. Don Mathew died in 1945 and at the resulting by-election his brother D.A. (Don Alwin) Rajapaksa, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s father, was elected without a contest.D.A. Rajapaksa was thereafter elected MP for Beliatta in the 1947 General election. D.A. Rajapaksa was associated wih SWRD Bandaranaike when the SLFP was formed in 1951. DA was     a ‘quiet and unseen character’ in SLFP politics, said Kusal Perera.

 DA’s son Mahinda Rajapaksa is the third in a family of seven. He grew up in Medamulana, a hamlet in Weeraketiya, in the Matara district. He   attended Richmond College, Nalanda College and Thurstan College from where he did his O” levels and left school. ‘He was a popular youth idling in Colombo with many friends to roam with,’ said Kusal.

A relative who was the Registrar at Sri Jayewardenepura University took him in as a library assistant there. The JVP was firmly installed in that university. Mahinda knew this group, whowere also from villages in the south. According to Kusal Perera, Rajapaksa had participated in trade union work. He was made the Branch secretary of the Ceylon Mercantile Union. ( Kusal Perera p 15)

D.A. Rajapaksa , Mahinda’s father died in 1967.  Prime Minister Sirimavo  Bandaranaike,  attending the three months dane,  offered the now vacant post of SLFP  party organizer in Beliatte to the sons. Chamal was employed so their mother suggested that it be given to Mahinda. In 1968 Mahinda Rajapaksa took over his father’s position as the SLFP organizer. He was barely 21.  ‘Politics was nothing new to the Rajapaksas and to Mahinda’, observed Kusal.

Mahinda Rajapaksa was thereafter elected to Parliament in 1970 on the SLFP ticket,  as the youngest Member of Parliament, at just 24. He was carefully watched by his mother as he prepared for the 1970 election, said Kusal. Mahinda’s mother  had been the wife of a  rural politician and knew the culture.  She told Mahinda  not to drink in his new job.

While in Parliament, Mahinda , probably for the first  and last time in his life,  turned seriously to studies. He studied law at the Sri Lanka Law College and took oaths as an attorney-at-law in November 1977.  It appears that Mahinda Rajapaksa   has pursued a legal practice  running parallel to his politics.  We did not know this.

Throughout his parliamentary career, except for the period from 1994–2001 when he was a minister, he continued his law practice in Tangalle, said Wikipedia.  He  appeared in the Magistrates courts in Embilipitiya, Hambantota and Tangalle. He was in  close touch wih Colombo  lawyers such as CR de Silva and  Tivanka Wickremasinghe, said Kusal Perera. Mahinda had a  very close   personal relationship with Tivanka and often sought  advice for his own cases.

  In 1977 Mahinda Rajapaksa lost his Beliatta seat in the landslide defeat of the SLFP.  But by this time, according to Kusal,  Rajapaksa  had    cultivated  ‘for himself , a social space among influential personalities in Colombo as  an outgoing , young, friendly figure”. Till 1989, Rajapaksa was an obscure politician in the south, engaging in his law practice, said Kusal.

In 1983 Rajapaksa married the very pretty Shiranthi Wickremasinghe. She has been Miss Sri Lanka in 1973. Rajapaksa has been blessed with a happy marriage and a stable family life. When he took oaths as Prime Minister in 2004, the media commented on the demeanor of his three sons, who were very young at the time. The media said that they did not even know that Mahinda Rajapaksa had  three sons until the sons made an appearance at the father’s swearing in. At Rajapaksa first swearing in as President,  his wife and sons stood quietly as he signed and promptly returned to their seats as instructed.

In 1989, Rajapaksa was elected to Parliament to represent Hambantota District.  He started to develop contacts in Colombo. In the early 1990s Rajapaksa was making late night stopovers at different places In Colombo to meet different persons not necessarily directly involved in politics, said Kusal. At Sravasthi Rajapaksa met both government and opposition politicians. He mixed with politicians ‘of difference hues.’ He had a good rapport with the Communist Party politicians but not with the LSSP, said Kusal. He  also  met loyal SLFP business men.    

1991 and 1992 were important and successful years for Mahinda Rajapaksa as an Opposition MP, said Kusal Perera. They were the years that established Mahinda as a national political leader, within anti-UNP politics. He was sought after by numerous groups and trade unions to campaign against the Premadasa government. In the process, Rajapaksa was dragged into issues he was not familiar with but was compelled to take on, such as privatization of public enterprises, cost of living, inflation.  This would have been a  valuable learning experience for him.

He was not a very articulate speaker In Parliament, but  he was  a very provocative anti –Premadasa presence in the Opposition, said Kusal.  He obtained information from varied sources. Editor of Desathiya  ‘dropped in’ to give Mahinda some information for his speech in parliament on the    budget debate of 1992. He had very good rapport with journalists, and they gave good coverage to his outbursts in Parliament.

In 1992 Rajapaksa launched a very successful ‘Pada Yatra’ from Colombo to Kataragama. At Kataragama people had come the previous night and had camped along the route. A Saaravita betel seller who travelled the whole length of the Pada yathra from day one, gave Rs 200 for the Pada Yathra and went away saying he would pray for Mahinda mahattaya.

The ‘Kurahan satakaya’ which his uncle, D.M. Rajapaksa had introduced into politics,   was first worn by Mahinda  Rajapaksa at the Pada Yathra. ‘Kurahan satakaya’ was an earthy brown shawl  worn by Rajapaksa’s uncle D. M. Rajapaksa, State Councilor for Hambantota in the 1930s, to represent  the kurakkan cultivated by the people of his area.

This Pada Yathra energized the SLFP and the anti UNP voter.  it  transformed  Rajapaksa from a provincial leader to a national leader. Mahinda after Pada Yathra was a crowd puller in high demand at election rallies in all provinces.’ Rajapaksa followed up the  Pada Yathra with a successful Jana Gosha at Lipton square in Colombo.

The 1990s was period of conflict in the SLFP. The disagreements between Sirimavo, Chandrika and Anura helped Mahinda Rajapaksa. It ‘gave  him a leap within the party as one who strived to keep the party together ‘The southern SLFP voter looked towards Mahinda in the absence of leadership from  the Bandaranaikes.

By 1994 Rajapaksa had ‘his presence felt very much in the south’ and was certain of returning to Parliament as a formidable cabinet minister if the SLFP won. The SLFP won  and in 1994 Rajapaksa was appointed Minister of Labor. Rajapaksa proved ‘a very charming negotiator in handling labor disputes’ and a popular labor minister both among the trade unionists and the employers.’ He initiated a National Workers Charter.  He had EPF under him. He was also picking up ideas that could make him a popular minister among the public, added Kusal.

In 1997, following a cabinet reshuffle, his portfolio was changed to Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. He immediately set about using the Fisheries portfolio for his populist politics, said Kusal. He refused the position of General Secretary of SLFP saying it would make him a peon delivering statements of Chandrika. He focused instead on the Maha sangha. He was ‘working stealthily toward winning over the leading Buddhist monks,’ said Kusal.

In 2000, President Kumaratunga mooted a new Constitution, greatly influenced by Neelan Thiruchelvam, and promoting power sharing and devolution. It raised much concern among the Sinhalese.  The Maha sangha were getting ready to object to the draft.  According to Kusal, Rajapaksa led the opposition to this draft constitution. The draft was withdrawn and Rajapaksa‘s stature grew. ‘Within the Sinhala Buddhist psyche in the SLFP, both within and without the Parliament, Rajapaksa  was looked for as their leader” said Kusal.

 In 2001, Rajapaksa became Leader of the Opposition.  But he was not much in the spotlight, said Kusal. He was cultivating an image as a moderate Sinhala leader. SLFP was at the time in disarray under Chandrika. Mahinda played a very calculated game, neither supporting nor disturbing, said Kusal.  Mahinda stayed firmly with the SLFP. 

By 2004 the ‘Sinhala factor’ had got a new southern twist. Sinhala leadership should come from the south. The Sinhala business and trader community of the south  wanted this. This helped Rajapaksa stake a claim for the Prime Minister ship, said Kusal. After the Parliamentary Elections of 2004 Rajapaksa was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s 13th Prime Minister.

He was President of Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015.  He definitely made a lasting contribution to the country.  He ended the Eelam war, initiated and completed many major infrastructure projects. Rajapaksa was defeated in the  premature  Presidential elections called by Rajapaksa in 2015. The western powers which  were responsible for this defeat were relieved, they thought that was the end of Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brothers.

Then something unexpected happened. The public wanted Rajapaksa back.   Rajapaksa ‘s popularity grew  by leaps and bounds after his defeat, totally eclipsing the  position of Sirisena, Chandrika or Ranil. His admirers were  no longer  confined to the rural south. The urban elites also  recognized  his contribution.  A new political party,  created around  Mahinda Rajapaksa came into being in 2018, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna,  also known as  Pohottuwa.  Rajapaksa now had his very own political party.

The attitude towards Rajapaksa is ambivalent. He gets many  left handed compliments. D.B. Wijetunge did not create a heroic role around himself  with celebration and public speeches. when he  cleared the east, said Kusal Perera. Sri Lanka would have become another Iraq or Libya since MR had antagonized US, UK and EU said  S.B.Dissanayake. SB conceded that  Rajapaksa  was a great leader. ‘He ended terrorism and developed the economy between 2005 and 2010,  then went berserk.’

It must be admitted that there was  the usual political influence during Rajapaksa rule. I was told of certain appointments to a bank, (I think it was Bank of Ceylon),  where a set of new recruits had been interviewed and selected. Then a young member of the Rajapaksa family, ( name withheld) had turned up, ordered that the full  list be discarded and  his nominees be appointed.   On a visit to Anuradhapura ,  the young taxi driver who took us around said that he had been selected after interview for a particular position, They heard nothing thereafter, and on making inquires found that the project had already started  with a new set of appointees. ‘I  voted for Hansaya’ he said.

There are too many buildings carrying his name, said critics.  There is the  Mahinda Rajapaksa Port  at Magampura ,  Rajapaksa International Airport, Mattala  and the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium. This is sneered at as egoistical and low. But Sri Lanka also has Senanayake Samudra ( DS Senanayake) Bandaranaike international airport, Katunayake, ( SWRD) Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall ( Sirimavo). The profusion of ‘Mahinda Rajapaksa ‘ buildings is because  he completed more major  projects, in a very short time,  than all the other heads of state put together.

Rajapaksa’s success as a  statesman has not been  studied   academically,  ( it is too soon for this, anyway)  largely because in  elite circles he is seen as  a country bumpkin, an ignorant fellow, a  corrupt rogue,  incapable of delivering anything effectively, much less run a country. On the other hand,  the real corrupt rogues, suave, elite, westernized,  as well as politicians who for years have acted as agents of western countries, are  lovingly presented as  cultured, honest, statesmen who should be admired.

Here are some of  the qualities that made Rajapaksa  successful. Rajapaksa had the ability to   handpick suitable people. He brought  in Palitha Kohona, Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, 2006 to 2009. Kohona, who had a  doctorate  from University of Cambridge,  was  at the time Chief of the United Nations Treaty Section in New York. Earlier Kohona had worked in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia.  Kohona therefore had academic standing and international exposure. When interviewed   via satellite, Kohona once told BBC interviewer Stephen Sackur not to interrupt him till he, Kohona, finished  answering Sackur’s question. Sackur shut up.

Rajapaksa also  received much support from within his own family. His brothers, Chamal, Gotabhaya and Basil also participated in  government . They were members of Parliament, not by appointment but through popular elections. They made positive contributions. This is something very rare and should be recognized as such. It may be a world record.

Basil was considered a fine organizer, who improved Gampaha. Chamal was   a good Speaker of Parliament  ,and Gotabhaya is much admired for his military and civilian work. All the new foreign investments established in Colombo were Gotabhaya’s achievements, said Rohana Wasala. Dutch Hospital Shopping Precinct in Colombo is a flourishing modern shopping centre today.” People ran to Gotabhaya whenever they  had a problem. One example was the  ancient boat  found at Godawaya.  it  was going  on yet  another journey. This time to a western country.

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was interviewed by the New Indian Express in 2018. Tell me about your two brothers ,Mahinda and Basil, who served as advisor to Mahinda when he was President. How often do you talk to each other? What is the secret behind this relatively tussle-free relationship in power, the interviewer asked. We always work as a team replied Gotabhaya. We think about the country. During the war,we used to interact more often. This unity comes from our earlier days, what our father  taught us.

Rajapaksa interviewed by Island was also asked the same question. What is the role of  your two brothers Gotabhaya and Basil in your political and personal life. Rajapaksa replied “Ours has always been a very united family. Gotabhaya and Basil came from overseas to help me in my presidential election campaign in 2005 and on my request, they both stayed back to help me administer the country. I did not get them involved in my government simply because they were my brothers, but because they had abilities that the country could use. I think they both proved themselves in the tasks they undertook. Both have made their mark. We have never had any falling out among ourselves.  After I lost power in January 2015, both have faced persecution by this government.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, it appears, actually knows what is going on.  Nahil Wijesooriya said in interview, Interestingly, one day I met President Mahinda Rajapaksa who had come to the Inter Continental hotel for a wedding or conference and was coming out of the lift. He said I heard you are trying to sell the hotel, don’t do it, in another three months the price will go through the roof.” I took his advice – the war was over – and I made a packet. best Investment advice I have ever received! Puts my stock and bank advisers in the shade!”

Rajapaksa ‘s public relations is excellent. We last saw this at his son, Rohitha’s wedding. The wedding ceremony, which was attended by everybody who is somebody in Sri Lanka and the people of the area, had an estimated guest count of well over 5,000 — easily the largest in the past many decades, reported the media.  Rajapaksa had  invited a member of every household from the village. An emissary of his went from house to house to invite them. There was  also a separate enclosure for the drivers bringing in the guests.  The buffet tables for them had  the same  food as in the main hall. (Concluded)

Sugath Samrasinghe             

Pray why? May I ask? What wrong has Gotabhaya done to the TNA and the Tamil people?

It was the  LTTE that terrorized the Tamil people into submission for 30 years ironically claiming to fight for a Tamil cause. Most able and rich Tamils left the country and sought refuge in Western countries. Many others escaped to Colombo and other areas in the South. The LTTE then cleansed the Northern Province of the Sinhalese and the Muslims. They brought untold suffering to the Muslims and Sinhalese in the Eastern Province. It is said that more Tamils died at the hands of the LTTE than in the confrontations with the three Forces put together.

And what did Gothabhaya do?   He finished this 30 years old war with the LTTE. He thereby prevented Tamil children being snatched away from their parents and thrown into the jungles as cannon fodder, with a cyanide capsule hanging from their necks. The Tamil children are now happily back in schools; their parents no doubt are relived. Young Tamil women returned home from their jungle hideouts, to be married and running their homes.

On conclusion of the war, Gota had 285,000 Tamil civilians rescued from the clutches of the LTTE and had them accommodated in the IDP camps, had them sheltered, clothed, fed, treated for illnesses and; thereafter moved in due course to their homes. All this was done without an iota of assistance from the TNA or other Tamil political parties, other than alleging that security forces had killed civilians.

In addition, Gota had picked up 12000 ex LTTE combatants, had them rehabilitated and released to society. He had the Northern area de-mined, removing the land mines laid by the LTTE, and rendered those areas safe and habitable for civilians          

Gota has retrieved TNA’s self-respect from humiliation, being forced to acknowledge that LTTE was the sole representative of the Tamils and being told that TNA was the mouthpiece of the LTTE. They are now in a bargaining position with the present government on their own right. Is this not due to the effort of defeating the LTTE?

The defeat of the LTTE triggered off the return of train service to Jaffna beyond Vavuniya, electricity and telecommunications restored. In short, normal life denied to the Northern and Eastern Provinces now resumed throbbing with activity despite whatever other shortcomings. Political freedom was restored by holding Provincial Council elections. It is not easy to put back what was lost for 30 years; and TNA has not helped speeding this up other than raising some parochial political issues.

That government next embarked on the re-development tasks of the two Provinces when they were defeated at elections.  The situation does not seem to have improved significantly since then. Thus, the Tamil people and the TNA have evidently gained much from Gotabaya’s efforts, though they may not acknowledge it for whatever reasons.

Sritharan MP is said to have told the journalists that Gota had killed thousands of Tamil civilians. Then how come he saved over 285,000 civilians from the battle front? Incidentally, what were those people doing on the battle front? Who brought them there and why?

Besides, in 1988-90 we had the 2^nd JVP armed insurrection in the Southern parts of this country. The then UNP government put it down ruthlessly killing thousands including the top notches of the JVP. But no body claimed that the government had killed the Sinhala youth? It appeared that almost everybody in Sinhala society that those who sought to fight the government with arms had to be put down using force. In such circumtances, why is the TNA saying that Gothabhaya killed Tamil civilians? What about the Sinhala villagers slaughtered by the LTTE in the Dollar Farm and Kent Farm, a busload of Buddhist monks at Aranthalawa and villaggers of Kebithigollewa etc. who had nothing to do with the war over which even the UNHRC appear to be unconcerned?               

A census carried out by the government shortly after the war, through Tamil government officials had revealed that some 7000 odd people had died during the period under review and that included those who died of natural causes too. The figures given by the UN officials embedded in the war zone during this time too is reported to have come up with a similar number of deaths. Then the confidential reports sent by Lt. Col. Anton Gash then attached to the British High Commission had also come up with a similar figure, with a further rider that a good portion of these deaths were of LTTE combatants and that many LTTE cadres in the last stages were in civilian clothes. He is also reported to have remarked that if the Forces were not concerned for civilian deaths the final stages could have been finished much earlier. There is also photographic evidence that many Tamil civilians were killed by LTTE in their desperation to prevent them from crossing over to the government forces for protection, during the last days of the war               

There is also independent evidence that food and drugs were constantly supplied to civilians in the battle zone regularly under the supervision of and monitored by a panel of observers including the US Ambassador, Robert Blake. There is also pictorial evidence showing how the soldiers, both men and women helped Tamil civilians to cross over to government side safety. We saw some soldiers carrying both disabled and old women physically to safety. Where else have we ever seen this kind of thing in battle fronts?    

Besides all this, one would wonder how the forces were able to defeat LTTE in battle, by killing civilians as alleged!? Then they will still be left with the LTTE combatants to deal with? Also then who killed those 28000 odd soldiers and maimed so many others in the last battles?

If Gota could achieve all this successfully, couldn’t one surmise that he is a capable person who might be able to rescue this country from its present state of disaster?  We know that this country during the last 70 odd years has been struggling to find their way, fumbling and groping in the dark, not knowing in which direction to move forward. This man says that he is not a politician but says he is willing to try his hand at it. He does not seem to have much political baggage to shed unlike the predecessors whom we have had before and have now. His track record seems satisfactory, at least better than some contenders in the field. Of course we live in a corrupt country. We know that it is difficult for anyone to turn it around in the short run. We also know that power is intoxicating. Subject to all those realities, he too may fail after moving some distance. But even now we are going round and round in the same place! So why not the TNA too give him a fair chance?

Of course, the worst case scenario is that, being human he too may fail.  If he does fail we could throw him as we did with Mahinda R!

Sugath Samrasinghe             

තරංග රත්නවීර උපුටා ගැන්ම දිවයින

කොළඹ වරාය මෙරට ප‍්‍රධානතම ආර්ථික මර්මස්ථානයකි. ආනයන, අපනයන භාණ්ඩ වෙළෙඳාම සහ භාණ්ඩ හුවමාරුව සිදු කෙරෙන මෙරට ප‍්‍රධාන නාවික තොටුපළය. එමෙන්ම ඉන්දියන් සාගරයේ සුවිශේෂී ස්ථානයක පිහිටා ඇති කොළඹ වරාය භාණ්ඩ ප‍්‍රති අපනයනය කිරීම සඳහා ලෝකයේ විවිධ රටවල් බහුලව භාවිත කරනු ලැබේ. එහෙයින් කොළඹ වරාය අතිශය කර්යබහුල ස්ථානයකි. විවිධ අවශ්‍යතා සඳහා දිනකට පුද්ගලයන් තිස්පන්දහසකට වැඩි පිරිසක් පැමිණෙන බවත් දෛනිකව වාහන දසදහසකට වැඩි ප‍්‍රමාණයක් පැමිණෙන බවත් වාර්තා වේ.

රටක මෙවැනි ආර්ථික මර්මස්ථානයක් ආරක්‍ෂා කරගැනීම අතිශය වගකීම් සහගත කර්යභාරයකි. විශේෂයෙන්ම පැවති ත‍්‍රස්තවාදී යුද සමයේ එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ. යේ ප‍්‍රධාන ඉලක්කයන් අතර කොළඹ වරාය ඉදිරියෙන් තිබිණි. සැහැල්ලූ ගුවන් යානාවලින් (කුරුම්බැට්ටි මැෂින්* සහ මුහුදෙන් මරාගෙන මැරෙන බෝට්ටුවලින් පැමිණි කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් කොළඹ වරායට පහරදීමට උත්සාහ කළ අවස්ථා රැුසකි. එහෙත් ඒ සියලූ ත‍්‍රස්ත ප‍්‍රයත්නයන් දුර්දර්ශී යුද සෙන්පතියන් හමුවේ ව්‍යර්ථ විය. පැවති යුද ගිනියමේ කොළඹ වරායේ ආරක්‍ෂාව සුරක්‍ෂිතව පවත්වාගෙන ගිය ආකාරය ගැන එවකට හිටපු බටහිර නාවික ප‍්‍රදේශය භාර ආඥාපති රියර් අද්මිරාල් ආනන්ද පීරිස් අපට කීවේය. 

ඔහු හිටපු නාවික ප‍්‍රදේශයන් භාර ආඥාපතිවරයෙක් මෙන්ම සිවිල් ආරක්‍ෂක දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ හිටපු අධ්‍යක්‍ෂවරයෙකි. ත‍්‍රස්තවාදී යුද්ධයෙන් රට මුදාගැනීමට දිවි හිමියෙන් කැප වී සේවය කළ රණවිරුවෙකි. යුද ගිනි නිවී ගිය රටේ පන්සල් හාරසීයක් නැවත පිළිසකර කිරීමට මෙන්ම අලූතින් ගොඩනැඟීමට නායකත්වය ලබාදුන් පින්සාර නිලධාරියෙකි. දැන් විශ‍්‍රාම සුවයෙන් සැඳෑ සමය ගත කරන ආනන්ද පීරිස් මහතා අතිශය වගකීම් සහගතව සිදු කළ මේ හෙළිදරව්ව අපගේ වචනයෙන් කියනවාට වඩා ඔහුගේම වචනවලින් ඇසීම ඔබට වඩාත් සංවේදීවනු ඇත. මෙතැන් සිට පෙළගැසෙන්නේ හිටපු බටහිර නාවික ප‍්‍රදේශය භාර ආඥාපති ආනන්ද පිරීස් කියන ඒ කතාවය. 

‘‘2006 අවුරුද්දට කලින් මම හිටියේ දකුණේ ප‍්‍රදේශ භාර නාවික ආඥාපති විදිහට. අවසාන සටන පටන් ගන්න ඔන්න, මෙන්න තියලා එවකට හිටපු ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා නාවික හමුදාපතිවරයාගෙන් මාව කොළඹට ඉල්ලලා තිබුණා. ඒ අවසරයෙන් 2006 අවුරුද්දේ බටහිර ප‍්‍රදේශය භාර නාවික ආඥාපතිවරයා විදිහට මම පත්වෙලා ආවා…’’

‘‘දකුණේ වගේ නෙමෙයි, බටහිර නාවික ප‍්‍රදේශය භාරව කටයුතු කිරීම වගකීම වැඩියි. විශේෂයෙන්ම කොළඹ වරාය. රටේ ප‍්‍රධාන ආර්ථික මර්මස්ථානය. වරායට එන නෞකාවකට පහර දුන්නොත් සේරම ඉවරයි… නැව් එන්නෙ නැතිව මුළු ආර්ථිකයම කඩා වැටෙනවා. යුද්ධය නිකංම නතර වෙනවා. එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ ය යුද්ධය දිනුවා වගේ වෙනවා. ඔය කාලේ එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ. සංවිධානයත් පුහුණුකිරීම්, අභ්‍යාස කටයුතු වැඩි කරලා, ඉන්ධන, කෑම වර්ග එකතු කිරීම බහුලව සිදු කරන ගමන් රට පුරා යොදවා තිබුණු ඔත්තුකරුවන් ප‍්‍රමාණයත් වැඩි කරගෙන යන බව බුද්ධි තොරතුරුවලින් අනාවරණය වෙලා තිබුණා. දුර්දර්ශීව වැඩ කරපු ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම්තුමා කොළඹ නගරය සහ වරායේ ආරක්‍ෂාව වැඩි කරන්න කියලා එවකට හිටපු හමුදාපතිවරුන්ට උපදෙස් දීලා තිබුණා…’’

‘‘ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම්වරයාගේ උපදෙස් පිට කොළඹ නගරය සහ වරායේ ආරක්‍ෂාව සඳහා කළුතර, මතුගම, හොරණ, අවිස්සාවේල්ල, කෑගල්ල, කුරුණෑගල, හලාවත දක්වා සමස්ත ප‍්‍රදේශයම ආවරණය වන පරිදි විශේෂ ආරක්‍ෂක වැඩපිළිවෙළක් දියත් කළා. සෑම සතියකම සඳුදා බස්නාහිර පළාතේ ආරක්‍ෂක අංශ භාර අණදෙන නිලධාරිවරු සහ පොලිස් ස්ථානාධිපතිවරුන් සමඟ ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම්වරයා විශේෂ සාකච්ඡුාවක් පැවැත්වුවා. සමහර රැුස්වීම් උදේ 9.00 ට ආරම්භ කරලා සවස හතර, පහ වෙනකම් පැවැත්වෙච්ච අවස්ථා තිබුණා. ඒ හැරුණුකොට සෑම මාසයකම ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා හමුදාපතිවරුන්ගෙන් තොරව පළාත් භාර හමුදා නායකයන් සමඟ ප‍්‍රදේශයේ ආරක්‍ෂාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් සාකච්ඡුා කළා. පසුව ආරක්‍ෂක කමිටුව රැුස් කරලා එම 

රැුස්වීමේදී ඉදිරිපත් වෙච්ච ගැටලූ සාකච්ඡුා කරලා විසඳුම් ලබාදුන්නා. ඒ වගේම සමහර අවස්ථාවල ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම්වරයා කෙළින්ම මට කතා කරලා වරාය ආරක්‍ෂක කටයුතු ගැන සාකච්ඡුා කළා. ආරක්‍ෂාව තහවුරු කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය පිරිස් බලය, අවි ආයුධ ඉල්ලන පමණින් දුන්නා. ඒත් කොළඹ වරායට ආරක්‍ෂාව ලබාදීම අතිශය අසීරු කටයුත්තක් වුණා. මුහුද, ගොඩබිම, ගුවන තුන් තැනම දවසේ පැය විසිහතර පුරාම සෝදිසි කරන්න වුණා…’’

‘‘වරායට නෞකා ඇතුළු වන දොරටු දෙකයි. වරායට ගොඩබිමින් වාහන ඇතුළුවන දොරටු නවයක් තියෙනවා. අන්තිම දොරටුව තියෙන්නෙ මට්ටක්කුලියේ. කොළඹ කොටුව, පිටකොටුව, කොටහේන, මට්ටක්කුලිය සහ මෝදර ප‍්‍රදේශවලට දිවෙන ප‍්‍රධාන මාර්ග වගේම අතුරු මාර්ග රැසක් තියෙනවා. කොළඹ නගරයට එකතු වන වැසි ජලය පිට කරන්න විවිධ ප‍්‍රමාණයේ උමං මාර්ග දහනවයක් තියෙනවා. සමහරක් උමං මාර්ග කෙනෙකුට හිටගෙන ඇවිදගෙන යන්න පුළුවන් තරම් විශාලයි. ඒ වගේම දිනපතා විශාල නෞකා ප‍්‍රමාණයක් කොළඹ වරායට ඇතුළු වෙනවා. කොළඹ වරාය අවට මුහුදේ විශාල බෝට්ටු ප‍්‍රමාණයක් ධීවර කර්මාන්තයේ යෙදෙනවා. වරාය ආසන්නයේ මෝදර ධීවර වරායට දේශීය මෙන්ම විදේශීය ධීවර යාත‍්‍රා විශාල ප‍්‍රමාණයක් එනවා. කැලණි ගෙඟ් මෝයකට පිහිටලා තියෙන්නෙත් කොළඹ වරාය ආසන්නයේ. මේ හේතු නිසා කොළඹ වරායට ආරක්‍ෂාව සැලසීම සංකීර්ණ කටයුත්තක් වුණා. එතකොට වරායේ ආරක්‍ෂාවට හිටියේ දාහක්් වගේ පිරිසක්. ප‍්‍රථමයෙන් මම පිරිස් බලය වැඩි කළා. දෙවනුව වරායට ප‍්‍රහාර එල්ල කිරීමට ඇති ප‍්‍රධාන ඉලක්ක හඳුනාගෙන ඒවා වසා දැම්මා…’’

‘‘මරාගෙන මැරෙන යාත‍්‍රා, ප‍්‍රහාරක යාත‍්‍රා, වෙළෙඳ නෞකා ලෙස පැමිණ ප‍්‍රහාර එල්ල කිරීම, වරායට එන තෙල්, ගෑස් හෝ වෙනත් අන්තරායකර ද්‍රව්‍ය රැගෙන එන යාත‍්‍රා පැහැරගෙන යෑම, සැහැල්ලූ ගුවන් යානාවලින් පැමිණ බෝම්බ හෙලීම, ගොඩබිම මාර්ග ඔස්සේ පැමිණ ප‍්‍රහාර එල්ල කිරීමට ඇති සියලූ තැන් හඳුනාගෙන ආවරණය කළා. වරාය අවට ආරක්‍ෂිත කලාපය කොටස් හයකට බෙදලා ආරක්‍ෂිත රැකවල් දැඩි කළා. වරායට නෞකා ඇතුළු කරන දොරටු දෙකෙන් උතුරු දොරටුව සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම වසා දැමුවා. ඒ විතරක් නෙමෙයි ඒ දොරටුවේ ආරක්‍ෂාවට දවසේ පැය විසිහතර පුරාම නාවික යාත‍්‍රා කිහිපයක් යෙදෙව්වා. වරාය ආසන්නයේ මුහුද ආරක්‍ෂිත කලාපයක් කරලා ඩෝරා යාත‍්‍රා ඇතුළු ප‍්‍රහාරක යාත‍්‍රා ගණනාවක් යෙදෙව්වා. එම අධි ආරක්‍ෂිත කලාපයේ ධීවර කර්මාන්තයේ යෙදීම සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම තහනම් කළා. එම මුහුදු සීමාවේ ධීවර කටයුතුවල යෙදුණු ධීවර පවුල්වලට සෑම මාසයකම වියළි සලාකයක් ලබා දුන්නා. මෝදර වරායට එන යන සියලූ ධීවර බෝට්ටු පරීක්‍ෂා කළා. පානදුරේ සිට මීගමුව දක්වා මුහුදේ ධීවර කර්මාන්තයේ යෙදෙන සියලූ යාත‍්‍රා නාවික හමුදා මුරපොළකට වාර්තා කරලා පරීක්‍ෂා කළාට පස්සෙ තමයි, කර්මාන්තයේ යෙදෙන්න පුළුවන්. නැවත ගොඩබිමට යනකොටත් නවික හමුදා මුරපොළකට වාර්තා කරලා පරීක්‍ෂා කළාට පස්සේ තමයි පිටත් වෙන්න අවසර දුන්නේ. කැලණි ගෙඟ් වතුර බහින මෝයකට ළඟට මුරපොළක් දැම්මා. පානදුරේ මෝයකට ළඟ මුරපොළක් දැම්මා. බේරේ වැවේ වතුර මුහුදට එකතු වෙන තැනට මුරපොළක් දැම්මා. කොළඹ වැසි ජලය බහින සියලූ උමං මාර්ගවල කටවල් කම්බි දැලකින් ආවරණය කරලා උමඟ පේන විදිහට ලොකු ෆ්ලෑෂර් ලයිට් දාලා ?, දවල් දෙකේම ආරක්‍ෂාවට ඒ ස්ථානවල නිලධාරියෙක් තිබ්බා…’’

‘‘වරාය තුළ අනුඛණ්ඩ හයක් පිිහිටුවා ස්ථිර ලෙස භට පිරිස් ස්ථානගත කළා. යුද හමුදා අනුඛණ්ඩයක් වරාය තුළ ආරම්භ කළා. ගුවන් හමුදා භට පිරිස් වරාය තුළ ආරක්‍ෂක රාජකාරිවලට යොදාගත්තා. වරාය වටා ගුවන් නාශක අවි සීයක් විතර ස්ථානගත කළා. යුද හමුදාවට අයත් බර අවි කිහිපයක්ම වරාය වටා ස්ථානගත කළා. පානදුරේ ඉඳලා මීගමුව දක්වා නාවික අනුඛණ්ඩ අටක් ස්ථාපිත කළා. උස්වැටකෙයියාව ප‍්‍රදේශයේ නාවික කඳවුරක් ආරම්භ කළා. ගුවන් යානා පරීක්‍ෂා කිරීම සඳහා විශේෂිත රේඩාර් සවි කළා. වරායට ගොඩබිමින් ඇතුළු වන දොරටු නවයෙන් තුනක් සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම වහලා දැම්මා. දිවා, 

? වරාය වටා මීටර් සීයෙන්, සීය නාවික භටයන් ස්ථානගත කළා. මුහුදෙන් එන යාත‍්‍රා නිරීක්‍ෂණය කිරීමට පානදුරේ සිට මීගමුව දක්වා ගොඩබිම සහ මුහුදේ නාවික යාත‍්‍රා තුළ අධි තාක්‍ෂණික රේඩාර් යන්ත‍්‍ර විශාල ප‍්‍රමාණයක් සවි කළා. දිය යටින් පැමිණෙන කිමිදුම්කරුවන් නිරීක්‍ෂණයට සෝනාර් යන්ත‍්‍ර මෙන්ම ඔවුන් විනාශ කරන බෝම්බ සහිත නාවික යාත‍්‍රා ස්ථානගත කළා…’’

‘‘වරායට පැමිණෙන සහ පිට වන නෞකා ආරක්‍ෂිතව රැුගෙන යෑමට නියමුවන්ගේ සහායකයන් ලෙස නාවික හමුදා භටයින් යොමු කළා. ඉන්දියාවේ තූත්තුකුඩි වරායේ ඉඳලා කොළඹ වරායට එන පාරම්පරික රුවල් වෙළෙඳ නැව් පැය විසිහතරක් තබාගෙන විශේෂ පරීක්‍ෂාවකට ලක් කළා. වරාය අවට නැංගුරම්ලා සිටින නෞකාවලට ආරක්‍ෂාව වැඩි කළා. වරායට පැමිණෙන ගෑස්, තෙල් ගොඩබෑම සිදු කළේ දිවා කාලයේ විතරයි. ඒ කටයුත්ත සිදු කළෙත් අධි ආරක්‍ෂිත රැුකවල් යටතේ. ධීවරයන් විදිහට වෙස් වලාගත් නාවික භටයින් ධීවර කර්මාන්තයේ යෙදෙන මුවාවෙන් පානදුරේ සිට මීගමුවට යන තෙක් වරාය අවට මුහුදේ සෝදිසි කටයුතු සිදු කළා. සිවිල් පුද්ගලයන් මෙන් වරාය තුළ වගේම අවට ප‍්‍රදේශවල බුද්ධි අංශ නිලධාරීන් යෙදෙව්වා. අවශ්‍ය රාජකාරිවලට අවසර ලත් වාහන විතරයි, වරායට ඇතුළු කළේ. සෙසු සියලූ වාහන හරවලා යැව්වා. අවසර නොගෙන පැමිණි ප‍්‍රභූ වාහනත් හරවලා යැව්වා. එක් අවස්ථාවක අවසරයෙන් තොරව චන්ද්‍රිකා මැතිනිය ඇවිත් අංක එක දොරටුවේ ආරක්‍ෂාවට හිටිය නිලධාරීන් වාහනය ඇතුළු කරලා තිබුණේ නෑ. පස්සෙ ඒ සිද්ධිය ලොකු කතාන්දරයක් වුණා. ඒත් ඒ සිද්ධියට මුහුණ දුන් නාවික භටයව මම බේරගත්තා…’’

‘‘කොටුව, මෝදර දක්වා පාමුර සංචාර අඛණ්ඩව ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කළා. එම ප‍්‍රදේශවල සෝදිසි කටයුතුවලට යතුරුපැදි මුර සංචාරයක් ආරම්භ කළා. ඊට අමතරව ත‍්‍රිරෝදකරුවන් මුවාවෙන් නාවික භටයන් සෝදිසි මෙහෙයුම්වල යෙදෙව්වා. හැමදාම ?ට වරාය අවට කොළඹ නගරයේ සියලූම ලොජ් සෝදිසි කළා. හඳුනාගත් සැකකටයුතු පුද්ගලයන් ප‍්‍රශ්න කරලා ඔවුන්ගේ ගම්වලට පිටත් කර හැරියා…’’

‘‘වරායේ ආරක්‍ෂාව ගැන සොයාබැලීමට පෙර දැනුම්දීමකින් තොරව සතියට දින දෙකක් නාවික හමුදාපතිවරයා වරාය වටා රාත‍්‍රි සංචාරයක නිරත වුණා. මම හැමදාම රාත‍්‍රියට හිටි හැටියේ වරාය තුළ මෙන්ම අවට සංචාරය කළා. ගෙදර ඉඳලා ඒ රාජකාරිය කරන්න බැරි නිසා බටහිර ප‍්‍රදේශය භාර නාවික ආඥාපති විදිහට වැඩ භාරගත්ත දවසේ ඉඳලා මම ගෙදර ගියේ නෑ. අන්තිමේ මගේ බිරිඳයි, දරුවො තුන්දෙනාවයි මගේ නිල කාමරයේම නතර කර ගත්තා. පුංචි කාමරයක ලොකු පුතාලා තුන්දෙනෙක් එක්ක ජීවත් වෙන්න අසීරු වුණා. පස්දෙනෙකුට නිදාගන්නවත් කාමරය ඉඩ මදි. ඒත් වරායේ ආරක්‍ෂාව ගැන හිතලා ඒ කැපකිරීම අපි කළා. හැමදාම උදේ නවයට සියලූ අණදෙන නිලධාරීන් දැනුවත් කිරීමක් කළා. වරාය ආරක්‍ෂක නිලධාරීන්, පොලිසිය සහ වරාය සේවකයින් සමඟ සතියකට දෙවරක් පුහුණු වැඩමුළු පැවැත්වුවා. ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම්තුමාගේ, නාවික හමුදාපතිවරයාගේ දැනුවත්වීම මත සැකකටයුතු යාත‍්‍රාවක්, ගුවන් යානයක් දුටු සැණින් ප‍්‍රහාරදීමට ආරක්‍ෂක නිලධාරීන්ට උපදෙස් දීලා තිබුණා…’’ 

‘‘අවට ප‍්‍රදේශවාසීන් දැනුවත් කරලා ඔවුන්ගේ උපරිම සහයෝගය මත හැකි උපරිමයෙන් වරායේ ආරක්‍ෂාව තර කර තියෙද්දීත් එක දවසක් ?ක වරාය පැත්තට කුරුම්බැට්ටි මැෂිමක් එනවා රේඩාර්වලට වැදිලා තිබුණා. මමත් රේඩාර්වලින් දැක්කා. මීගමුව පැත්තෙන් එනකොටම ප‍්‍රහාර දෙන්න කියලා මම නියෝග කළා. මල් වෙඩි වරුෂාවක් වගේ වෙඩි උණ්ට අහසට විදිනකොට වත්තලට මඳක් එපිටින් යානය හැරිලා ගෙනාව බෝම්බ තැන, තැන හලාගෙන ගිහින් තිබුණා. එදා කොටි ඇවිත් තියෙන්නෙ වරායට ගහන්නම තමයි. ඊට පස්සෙ 2007 ජනවාරි 28 වැනිදා මරාගෙන මැරෙන කොටි යාත‍්‍රා හතරකින් වරායට ප‍්‍රහාර දෙන්න ආවා. පාන්දර හතරට විතර දෙහිවල පැත්තෙන් එනකොටම කොල්ලූපිටියේ මුහුද අයිනේ උස කුළුණේ හිටපු නාවික භටයෙක් යාත‍්‍රා හතර දැකලා තියෙනවා. ඒ මොහොතේම නාවික භටයා ප‍්‍රහාර දීලා. ඊට පස්සෙ අනිත් සියලූ මුරපොළවලින් ප‍්‍රහාර එල්ල කරලා. මුහුදේ තිබුණු ඩෝරා යාත‍්‍රාවලිනුත් 

ගැහුවා. ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්‍ෂ මහත්තයා සිද්ධිය බලාගෙන ඉඳලා මට කතා කරලා ‘ආනන්ද මොකද තත්ත්වය…’ කියලා ඇහුවා…’’

‘බොහෝ දුරට තත්ත්ව පාලනය වෙලා ඉවරයි…‘ කියලා මම කියනකොට ගෝඨාභය සර් කියනවා ආනන්ද පරිස්සමින් ගොඩබිමින් ඇටෑක් එන්න පුළුවන්…’ කියලා. ඒ කියනකොටත් මම අවශ්‍ය සියලූ තැන්වල ආරක්‍ෂාව තර කරලා ඉවරයි. පැය දෙකක් විතර ප‍්‍රහාරදීම සිද්ධ වුණා. අන්තිමේ එක යාත‍්‍රාවක් ගිහින් නැවක හප්පලා පොඩි හානියක් කළා. අනිත් යාත‍්‍රා තුනෙන් දෙකක් අපි ගහනකොට විනාශ වෙලා තිබුණා. එකක් උන්ම විනාශ කරගෙන තිබුණා…’’

‘‘පැය දෙකක් විතර මෙහෙයුම ක‍්‍රියාත්මක වුණා. හතට විතර මම ඇවිත් මහන්සියට ඇලවුණා. ඒ කාලය තුළ ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම්තුමා කොටි යාත‍්‍රාව මුලින්ම දැකපු නාවික භටය හමුවෙලා පෞද්ගලිකව ස්තූති කරලා තිබුණා. ඒ දිරිගැන්වීම තමයි අපිව ශක්තිමත් කළේ. යුද්ධය දිනන්න ප‍්‍රධාන හේතුවත් ඒකම තමයි…’‘ ආනන්ද පිරීස් දීර්ඝ කතාවකින් පසු අසුන මත හරිබැරි ගැසිණි. ඒ සමඟ යුද ගිනියමේ වරායේ ආරක්‍ෂාව සුරක්‍ෂිත කිරීමේ මෙහෙයුමේ කතාවේ ද අවසාන විය.

ආනන්ද පීරිස්ට තවත් අභියෝගයක් පැවරිණි. ඒ නැගෙනහිර ප‍්‍රදේශයන් භාර නාවික ආඥාපතිවරයා ලෙස වැඩ භාරගැනීමය. තවත් දිනක නැගෙනහිර මුහුදේ සිදු කළ වික‍්‍රමයන් 

ගැන කතා කිරීමේ අදහසින් අපි ඒ සොඳුරු කැදැල්ලෙන් සමුගත්තෙමු.

තරංග රත්නවීර

Nawagamu Deshabandu

Recently media reported that the government was considering to lower interest rates for business persons borrowing money from the banks. During this elections year, many politicians are talking about negatives of their political adversaries. But only few are brave enough to put forward a carefully written policies and plans to improve our economy.

What is needed is not only lowering interests for borrowing but also facilities for selling products on line for all Sri Lankans who intend to do business online.  Many Sri Lankans have talents and abilities to make all kind products, but they are very unfortunate in not being able to accept on line payments mainly due to our decades old financial mechanisms and procedures in the Central Bank. Because of this, very popular companies such as PayPal and Payoneer among others which facilitate International financial transactions cannot allow any Sri Lankan citizen transfer money person to person.

Besides this Individual entrepreneurs cannot afford to accept credit cards due to high cost charged by Sri Lankan banks when setting up an account which can accept credit card payments.

Our economy can be improved through tourism. Individual entrepreneurs offering services, such as small scale apartment or villa holders are unable to accept credit cards.

Many politicians and presidential hopefuls talk about big things such as making Colombo a Financial hub in the South East Asia, but it seems like no one has any solid plan to upgrade Central Bank financial mechanisms so that it will suit the standard international mechanism and procedures. Besides, the central bank has been inundated or implicit with corrupt deals, for example, bond scams and bankrupted financial deals such as ETI.

It is very essential that we have a strong financial mechanism to lift the economic and personal lives of all Sri Lankans through international business activities. Our politicians at present or in the past have failed to understand this. It can create many job opportunities for many people.  But, however many of our politicians have improved their skills on cheating and fooling us with mega talks and stealing money for themselves by under hand black money deals. We are a country that goes back!

SOURCE: ZERO HEDGE

While government whistleblowers and subversive journalists languish in prison or are on the run, state crimes — especially those perpetrated by western governments and high officials — not only go unpunished but don’t even warrant investigation apparently. International Criminal Court judges ruled on Friday to reject a request by the court’s prosecutor to investigate possible war crimes by the US-led coalition during the war in Afghanistan.

The ICC judge claimed a lack of evidence and a poor outlook for state cooperation — the latter reason essentially meaning the US and UK have already condemned the prospect of opening such an investigation.

The ICC had previously vowed to continue to operate “undeterred” by any US threat of punitive action against the ICC when it first considered examining allegations that US personnel committed war crimes, including instances of unlawful detention and torture of Afghans, as well as killing of civilians. The window of time ICC prosecutors considered for their investigation ran from May 2003, within the opening years of the US occupation, to 2017.

The chamber hereby decides that an investigation into the situation in Afghanistan at this stage would not serve the interests of justice and accordingly rejects the request,” the judges said in their decision, as cited by Reuters. But the obvious first question is: whose interests are being served here?

The ruling to reject inquiry into any misconduct by US or allied coalition personnel continued: Notwithstanding the fact all the relevant requirements are met as regards both jurisdiction and admissibility, the current circumstances of the situation in Afghanistan are such as to make the prospects for a successful investigation and prosecution extremely limited,” the judges stated.

Reuters cited an ICC court expert to note this essentially means the United States will never be investigated by these standards:

Kevin Jon Heller, associate professor of International Criminal law at Amsterdam University, said the decision appeared to impose significant hurdles on any case before the ICC in terms of the chances of a successful prosecution.

If these are the criteria they are never going to open an investigation”, he said.

Last month the US threatened to revoke visas for members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague should they so much as investigate any criminal actions of American military personnel. The United States has never been a member of the ICC and considers it without authority over matters related to Americans or allies conducting joint operations.

Direct US threats work wonders apparently… case closed:

The Hill✔@thehill

Sec. Mike Pompeo: “I’m announcing a policy of US visa restrictions on those individuals directly responsible for any ICC investigation of US personnel. This includes persons who take or have taken action to request or further such an investigation.” http://hill.cm/hUeep4w 367:01 PM – Mar 15, 201988 people are talking about thisTwitter Ads info and privacy

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a scathing rebuke on March 15 following initial ICC statements that the world court would look investigate US crimes in Afghanistan, and as pressure also mounted for the court to bring cases against Israel for human rights crimes against Palestinians. We are determined to protect the American and allied military and civilian personnel from living in fear of unjust prosecution for actions taken to defend our great nation,” Pompeo said at the time.

Pompeo also went to far as to specifically address ICC members and employees: If you are responsible for the proposed ICC investigation of U.S. personnel in connection with the situation in Afghanistan, you should not assume that you still have or will get a visa or will be permitted to enter the United States,” he said during the March statements.

He also warned about potential economic sanctions against member and host nations “if the ICC does not change its course.”

But Friday’s bombshell decision to close the door on any ICC case brought against western coalition forces in Afghanistan was perhaps to be expected, as the pattern has long been of only third world, African, and Balkan warlords actually being brought to justice at the Hague, and never western officials.

My past experience in marine sector worldwide and direct involvement in installing the BARGE MOUNTED POWER PLANT in the Colombo port near Colombo Dockyard ,I can render some timely advise to CEB In finding a suitable location for the barge mounted power plants

Following locations are suitable 

Panadura Fishery Harbour

Oluvil Fishery’s Harbour 

Modera beach next to Mutwal Harbour

Trincomalee  Harbour 

Panadura harbour is hardly used due to sand bank formation and there are no mores than 25 fishing boats currently using the harbour

CFHC can seek advance for building a small breakwater and accommodate them

Oluvil harbour is having same problem CEB can help smaller fishery harbour by placing a dredger to clear annual sand bar formations and remove sand 

Next to  Modera Fishery harbour there is an illegal encroachment who can be relocated and make way for the Barge

Trincomalee near Sampur is ideal and no obstruction 

Like in Bangladesh government shall invoke a Marshal Law type rule and hand over the premises to the Navy who should  import or build them in Sri Lanka 

. SPECS OF A BARG MOUNTED POWER PLANT 

The Function of Barge is to contain and deliver 1(one) combined cycle barge mounted floating in  power plant of nominal net capacity 220 MW, consisting of 4(four) Once Through Steam Generator (OSTG), 1(one) steam turbine generator (STG), 4(four) combustion gas turbine generators auxiliary equipment condensers, chilling system for air intake and the remaining balance of plant. Thebasic design is to include the barge and the connections to the mooring system, together with the power plant equipment 

The Design data of the barge

a) Barge size (length x wide x depth).  106m x55m x 6 m

b) Barge draft for towing.                        2.4m

c) Total barge weight.                               14000 tons   

(barge itself including steam turbine hall, control building and above  deck foundations: approximate 6,000 tonnes)

Stability

a) The barge is designed to comply with the intact stability regulation of US 46 CFR Chapter I, Section 174.015 for river and harbor service.

b) The barge is designed to comply with the one compartment damage stability regulations of US 46 CFR Chapter I, Section 172.065. The Barge shall comply with g a wind heeling moment as I g defined in CFR Chapter I, Section 174.055

c) The Barge is designed to comply with IMO International Convention on Load  Lines

Four(4) ramps are designed to access the barge from shore, one(1) main ramp 6m wide

one(1) ramp 4.5m 

two(2) auxiliary ramps 3.5m wide respectively.

Barge Ventilation

Below deck spaces are ventilated according to the recommended practices of SNAME T&R 4~16 o

Calculation Merchant Ship Heating, Ventilation and Air Condition Design”.

Fans are sized to limit the temperature rise in the ventilated spaces to be less than 5oC and to Provide sufficient ventilation air to ensure noxious fumes are below accepted occupational Safety regulation levels.

There will be so many objections and government should place country in emergency footing and implement above

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Courtesy latestbuzztoday.com

Scientific studies show that sleep is one of the most crucial parts of living a happy and stress-free life, but many adults are still sleeping with inferior pillows.

If you find yourself feeling tired or discouraged throughout the day even after a long sleep the night before, it’s probably due to you unknowingly experiencing some kind of discomfort when you’re asleep. 

Similar to sleep apnea (where your body has to stay partially awake to breathe) – if your posture is even partially incorrect, your body has to correct for it all night long, never getting a chance to truly rest. More than often, all these issues are due to the usage of old and inept pillows.

Not only that, but ask yourself: When was the last time you really changed pillows? According to many studies, pillows found in our bedrooms tend to be these are older than 3 years. This generally means that are infested with millions of germs and in some bad cases, even harmful and dangerous mold.

Bottom line: Bad sleep affects millions of humans worldwide every year. Due to the lack of information and data, few ever hear about it. This revolutionary anti-allergenic bamboo memory foam pillow helps you overcome bad sleep, for a fraction of the usual price. You can get it now here for 50% off…

Because of this concept, you may get 8+ hours of sleep every night but still feel tired throughout the day. This is troubling, because a lack of energy despite plenty of sleep is one of the single largest contributors to depression and anxiety. 

Difficulty completing tasks, lack of interest in socializing, and depression are all symptoms of a lack of real rest.

Many resort to harmful sleeping pills through a doctor or over the counter. Unfortunately, many of these sleeping pills are known for being highly-addictive, largely ineffective, and always overpriced.

This bamboo memory foam pillow could change all that

Called Sleepsy”, this futuristic pillow utilizes the cutting-edge technologies of memory foam and refined bamboo to create a pillow that’s comfortable, breathable, and compatible with any sleeping position. 

The cool and breathable memory foam pillow has been meet with excitement worldwide – equally from the medical community which has been recommending it strongly and also by its users who can finally enjoy more relaxing and refreshing sleep quality.

How it works:

Sleepsy makes sure your neck stays in a neutral position, throughout all the night

Scientists at Sleepsy have ingeniously wrapped memory foam in bamboo-derived material, combining the benefits from both into a truly superior pillow.

The memory foam allows for a comfortable and even sleep from any angle or position, while the breathable, antimicrobial, and hypoallergenic bamboo fibers allow for a clean and cool sleep.

The memory foam composition makes the pillow comfortable for sleeping at every angle and position. Regardless of your sleeping position, your back, hips, and joints will be able to fully relax and rest, which makes for great recovery after a busy day.

From what we’ve seen, the Sleepsy does a fantastic job in supporting the back, hips, knees, or any other joints that may need extra support. We brought this up to the creators, and they agreed to include an extra free Sleepsy for anyone who buys two at the same time! Support of your entire body after a long day is much easier when you have multiple memory foam pillows to help.

And for frequent pillow flippers”, the bamboo material is also highly absorbent, making for a much cooler night’s sleep. The natural fibers from the bamboo make it much more breathable.

How does this advancement help you?

Amazing for your neck, your sleep and your daily mood

Research shows that only a small percentage of the world population sleep well at night. Scientists at Sleepsy have found the two main causes to be discomfort from the angle/position of your body, and the lukewarm temperature of your pillow (causing your head and body to have a slightly uncomfortable temperature).

Sleepsy is designed to fix both problems at once. By using memory foam, the pillow allows your body to rest at any angle, without having to adjust for your posture. And by wrapping the memory foam in breathable bamboo material, the pillow is able to circulate air and remain cool all night.

Features

• Versatile and portable – Take it anywhere!
• Extra protection against bacteria & non-allergenic
• Convenient and relaxing
• Invented by neurologists and sleep experts

Your pillow may be packed with germs

Bamboo Memory foam adapts itself to the form of your head perfectly

Using an old pillow? You’re probably sleeping with millions of germs in your face. Unfortunately, it’s near impossible to get rid of the countless amounts of dust mites that live and breed there.

Luckily, bamboo is a natural antimicrobial, and prevents bacteria from adhering to the surface of your pillow! Plus, the hypoallergenic properties of bamboo fibers are treated with much less harmful chemicals during their production, and thus are less likely to have allergic sensitivities.

Courtesy The Daily Mail

• Laurence Fox visited the Barberyn retreat in Beruwala, on Sri Lanka’s west coast  
• The Victoria TV star met with an Ayurvedic doctor as part of his ‘no-frills detox’
• He was surprised how tasty the food was – he sneakily had the odd beer or two

The month began with gin, and it wasn’t long before strange, melancholic headaches became a regular feature. By the third week of this particular month (I’m not saying which), things needed to change.

That’s how I find myself at the Barberyn retreat and spa in Beruwala, an unfussy little town on Sri Lanka’s west coast, a two- hour drive south from the capital Colombo.

I’m having a first meeting with my Ayurvedic doctor and sheepishly responding to questions about my vices. The doctor surveys me with kind, non-judgmental eyes, takes my pulse and blood pressure and fills in a form as the roof fan wobbles drunkenly from the ceiling above.

Healing: Laurence Fox visited the Barberyn retreat in Beruwala, on Sri Lanka’s west coast (stock image)

My room at Barberyn is a hexagonal number with views out over the golden mile, the name the locals use to describe the beach the colour of burnt caramel that stretches south and disappears beyond the horizon.

Small numbers of tourists roam by day and if the internet is to be believed, smugglers chance their luck by night.

I think it’s fair to say that they don’t go for mega creature comforts here, but that’s half the point. Wi-fi only can be found in the area around reception. I don’t see any TVs. No one rushes, staff congregate in the shade, waiting for their sunburned charges to arrive for their next treatment. I get the impression that not much has changed in the 50 years the hotel has been in operation.

On my first day, I saunter off past the smiling staff to the buffet. I’m hungry and need, to quote from Withnail & I, ‘something’s flesh’. But I am going to be a vegetarian, or pescatarian if I fancy, for a week.

I select a plate full of bits and trudge back to my seat. And wow! My tastebuds don’t know what’s hit them. Mint, zest, lemon, spice. Each of the tiny bowls holds some secret invigorator. After a few days of this, I feel lighter and much more energised.

Laurence Fox as Lord Palmerston in ITV drama Victoria. He said he felt ‘rejuvenated’ after his ‘no-frills detox’

Sri Lanka is a thrilling place. I was here in 2005 to visit a friend who was helping rebuild the shattered coastline after the Boxing Day tsunami.

I saw a steam locomotive that must have weighed hundreds of tonnes, perched high up in palm trees. I was left in awe, not only by the disaster itself, but of the great courage of all those devastated by that horrific event.

Chari, a local who arranged some fishing for me, says that as the sea was sucked back to fuel the coming waves, all seven of the offshore reefs became visible and before finding shelter in the second floor of a hotel, he had dashed towards the ocean and collected a sizeable barracuda that flipped and flapped on what was the seabed moments before.

WHAT IS AYURVEDA?  

• Known as the Science Of Life, Ayurveda dates back to 1,000 BC and has been recognised as a medical system since Indian independence in 1947.
• From the Sanskrit terms Ayur (life) and Veda (knowledge), it aims to balance mind, body, senses and soul, seeing each person as an individual with unique physical, mental and emotional needs. The goal is to be in harmony with your true nature as an antidote to the effects of modern living.
• To prevent illness, you need to maintain perfect balance between mind, body and spirit: any imbalance — believed to ‘deviate from nature’ — will create disharmony. Disease is treated by working on reversing these imbalances.
• Digestion and gut health are key to Ayurveda, as is living alongside nature and the flow of the seasons. The elements of ether/space, air, fire, water and Earth give rise to three energetic forces (doshas), with each person’s constitution, body type, physical and mental characteristics corresponding to either Vata (ether and air), Pitta (fire and water) or Kapha (water and Earth).
• Ayurvedic spa treatments include wraps, massage and body scrubs. They often involve massage — tapping, kneading and squeezing as well as the more traditional massage strokes — with therapeutic natural essential oils to suit your dosha. Ayurvedic herbal baths relax and revitalise, with flowers added to the water along with herbs and oils. Christy Turlington, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston and Julia Roberts are devotees.
• To find out your dosha and lifestyle guidelines, see euroved.com/en/ayurveda/test/

He watched the devastation unfold while clutching this fearsome predator to his chest. He was 12 years old.

The Barberyn retreat clientele are a kindly bunch. I’d forgotten to bring sunscreen and, after two days applying Sri Lanka’s answer to Ambre Solaire, I am medium rare. That’s when a gentle, sophisticated German lady gives me her suncream and tells me I must look after myself. That’s why I’m here, I dutifully reply.

The days consist of being massaged and covered in oils and pressed with hot towels. The evenings I spend reading or walking down the beach to watch the deep red sunsets. I must confess, I do imbibe the occasional Lion Lager towards the end of the week in one of the many little bars that dot the beach.

Detox: Digestion and gut health are key to Ayurveda, as is living alongside nature and the flow of the seasons

I leave feeling at peace and rejuvenated. A rarity for me with any form of short break. I think two weeks would serve better, but I still have a bounce in my step.

I now try to eat vegetarian once a week and have discovered some tasty recipes. If you’re interested in a no-frills detox, the Barberyn is the place for you.

Panos Mourdoukoutas Courtesy forbes.com

In dealing with China, Malaysia has dared to do something Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and the Philippines didn’t: bring Beijing back to the negotiating table to cut the cost of the investment projects assigned to Chinese contractors.

This week, China agreed to cut the cost of East Coast Rail Link project by one-third.

The new deal is a big win for Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. He made good on his election campaign promise to re-negotiate China’s investments in the country, which served the interests of Beijing more than they served the interests of Kuala Lumpur.

The East Coast Rail is one of the dozens of China’s infrastructure projects around the world – a bid to write the next chapter of globalization and advance Beijing’s geopolitical agenda.

China has political and military ambitions to fill this void,” says  Xiaomeng Lu, China practice lead at Access Partnership, a global public policy consultancy for the tech sector. Chinese President Xi aims to realize the ‘great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation’ by projecting power overseas through the Belt and Road” initiative, which covers both Southeast Asia and Africa. This political economy effort is paired with China’s growing military might in the South China Sea and the African continent, posing a growing challenge to the U.S. security umbrella worldwide.”

The trouble is that many of China’s infrastructure projects aren’t economically viable, as they are built at inflated costs and leave countries involved heavily indebted to Beijing.

That’s what happened to Sri Lanka.

Courtesy Machinery Market.

Rolls-Royce Power Systems (www.rrpowersystems.com) and Chinese company Dongfang Electric International Corporation have reached agreement on the supply of four MTU 12V 4000 R41 rail engines to be installed in ‘railcars’ made by CRRC (based in China and the world’s largest train manufacturer), and operated by Sri Lanka Railways. 

This is the fourth time since 2007 that Sri Lanka Railways has chosen MTU drive systems. 

The four additional engines will bring the total number of Sri Lanka Railways’ CRRC railcars with MTU engines to 60. The vehicles ordered in 2007, 2010 and 2018 to date are S10, S12 and S14 railcars that are in service throughout the country. 

CRRC and Rolls-Royce Power Systems agreed a strategic partnership in November 2017; this sets out, among other things, that CRRC will continue to consider MTU engines as a drive solution for diesel railcars and locomotives in the future. 

The agreement references China’s infrastructure plan to expand and enhance the connections between Asia, Europe 
and Africa, with the aim of improving the movement of goods. 

It is said that China plans to invest the equivalent of hundreds of billions of euros in the infrastructure of many countries in these regions, and that CRRC plays a central role in this. 

Rolls-Royce has been partnering with CRRC for many years: CRRC has to date ordered over 500 MTU Series 4000 engines for locomotives and railcars for use in Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, Sri Lanka and South Africa.

By P.K.BalachandranCourtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, April 12 (Daily Express): Earlier this week, the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Dayasiri Jayasekara, told the media that the chairman of his party and Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, intends to seek the opinion of the Supreme Court on the plea that his term of office should be deemed to have begun on June 21, 2015 and not January 9, 2015.

President Sirisena was sworn-in on January 9, 2015. But Jayasekara pointed out that the nature of the Presidency was altered by the 19 th.Constitutional Amendment which was signed into effect by the Speaker of parliament on June 21, 2015.

Therefore, Sirisena’s term should be deemed to have begun on June 21, 2015 and not January 9, 2015. It should be deemed to be ending on June 21, 2020 and not on January 9, 2020.

Sirisena has been wanting to be a joint Presidential candidate of the SLFP and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) in the coming Presidential election. He has been working hard launching popular campaigns on various issues to build up his image among the masses – an image which had suffered a beating because of his association with the right-wing and pro-West party, the United National Party (UNP) since 2015.

But the SLPP, which is but a breakaway group of the SLFP, is insisting that the Presidential candidate should be from its ranks. It feels that its candidate has the best chance of winning going by the stunning victory it attained in the local bodies elections in February 2018.

Given this situation, the next best thing to do for Sirisena, was to try and stay on in office beyond January 9, 2020 to June 21, 2010 so that he can use the time to execute his political projects and buttress his claim to be the joint opposition candidate.

With the prospective SLPP candidate, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in a spot of trouble over getting release from US citizenship because of two civil suits filed against him in a US court, there is an off chance that the SLPP might be forced to field Sirisena instead of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Earlier, in January 2018, Sirisena had wanted to know from the Supreme Court if his term was for five years or six. The Attorney General had told the court that since Sirisena was elected in January 2015 for six years, its reduction to five would be a violation of the people’s sovereignty. The 19th.Amendment which came into effect in June 2015 had reduced the Presidential term from six to five years. The court, however, ruled that as per 19A the five-year cap applies to him too.

Sirisena’s Bid Not Unique

While this is so, Sirisena’s bid for a longer term is not unique. Almost every Sri Lankan President except R. Premadasa and D.B.Wijetunga, had sought extension, though no one other than J.R.Jayewardene had succeeded.

Ironically, Chandrika Kumaratunga, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena had all come to power with a pledge to abolish the Executive Presidency and go back j to the pre-1978 Westminster-style parliamentary system.

The Executive Presidency was brought to Sri Lanka by Prime Minister J.R.Jayewardene, through the promulgation of a new constitution in 1978. The new constitution gave a directly elected President a six year term and not five as before. Parliament also got a six year term instead of five.

Jayewardene named himself the first Executive President in 1978. Subsequently, the first direct vote to elect a President of Sri Lanka was held in 1982. Jayewardene, who was a candidate, got 52% of the votes cast and was declared elected.

In order to maintain the UNP’s parliamentary super-majority obtained in the 1977 elections, Jayawardene decided to extend the life of parliament without holding direct elections.

In order to do this, his government presented the 4th constitutional amendment in 1982, which proposed to extend the life of the parliament by six years to August 4, 1989. The bill was found to be constitutional by the Supreme Court but it had to be passed by a two thirds majority and ratified through a referendum. Both were done successfully by Jayewardene.

Jayewardene’s plea was that such measures were needed to turn the Sri Lankan economy around. The State had to be powerful and stable.

Sri Lankans, who were tired of the shortages and strikes which marked the socialist regimes headed by Mrs.Sirimavo Bandarnaike of the SLFP, went along with Jayewardene.

Kumaratunga’s Bid

The next bid to extend the term of the President was made by President Chandrika Kumaratunga. Her term was to end in 2005 but she argued that because she had called for a Presidential election one year ahead of time in 1999, she should be able to get one more year in office over above the normal six years.

To be able to make this claim, she said that she had taken oaths for the second time at the end of 2000 albeit secretly. The idea in taking the oaths for the second time was to be able to count the beginning of her term from 2000 and not 1999, and be President till 2006 and not 2005.

This was challenged by the prospective Presidential candidate and fellow SLFP member, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

When the matter was taken to the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva ruled that Kumaratunga’s claims were untenable and that her term would end in 2005. The constitution had clearly stated that the term of the President begins on the date he or she is sworn-in. And there had been a public swearing in immediately after her victory in 1999.

Constitutional expert Prof. G.L.Peiris said that the second swearing-in that is alleged to have occurred was absolutely unique in any democratic country” and raised grave issues of credibility.”

Sharply criticizing the President’s position in a Sinhalese language interview over State TV, Peiris said: That degree of arrogance is unacceptable with regard to the tenure of any public position. No one who holds public office is in a position to say that they will decide for themselves when their office comes to an end.”

But Kumaratunga had said that she was constitutionally empowered to continue her present term of office until 2006, whatever arguments were advanced to the contrary. She said it was her prerogative to step down before or otherwise.

According to Kumaratunga, the oath of office taken in December 1999 was done in an abundance of precaution in the wake of an attempt on her life.”

She pointed to the constitution and said that Where a poll for the election of a President is taken, the term of office of the person elected as President at such election shall commence on the expiration of the term of office of the President in office.”

But the Supreme Court thought otherwise.

Rajapaka Removed Cap on Number of Terms

When he came to power in 2005, again on the promise that he would abolish the Executive Presidency, Mahinda Rahapaksa tried to be President for more than the constitutionally stipulated two terms.

He brought in the 18 th.Amendment to the constitution to remove the two-term cap. But this was annulled in 2015 after he was defeated by Maithripala Sirisena in collaboration with the UNP.

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government brought in the 19 th.Constitutional Amendment which restored the two-term limit set by the 1978 constitution which brought in the Executive President. The 19 th.Amendment also reduced the terms of the President and parliament from six to five years.

However, for his personal political reasons, President Sirisena is now trying to get the Supreme Court’s approval for an extension of his term from January to June 2020. But success is likely to elude him as it did in the case of Kumaratunga and Rajapaksa.

by Editor Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo/Los Angeles, April 12 (newsin.asia/Ada Derana/Republicnext ) Former Sri Lankan Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa was given an enthusiastic welcome when he arrived here from Los Angeles on April 12. At Los Angeles, he had been given notices of two cases filed against him for alleged violation of humanitarian law during the war against the Tamil Tigers. A

But Gotabaya has dismissed the two lawsuits filed against him as baseless” and insisted that the cases would only motivate him and his supporters to push for political change in Sri Lanka. He said that the cases were meant to delay renunciation of US citizenship so that he will not be able to fight the coming Sri Lankan Presidential election. As a dual citizen he cannot contest. Therefore, he had taken steps to renounce US citizenship. Gotabaya told news persons at the airport that he had completed the formalities in regard to this successfully.

tHe is planning to contest the coming ri Lankan Presidential election as a candidate of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) founded and headed by his brother and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

To contest the election, as stipulated by the 19 th. Amendment of the constitution, he cannot be a dual citizen as he is till date. He has to renounce his US citizenship and be exclusively Sri Lankan.

Commenting on the two law suits against him in the US alleging complicity in the torture of a Sri Lankan Tamil and in the murder of a Sri Lankan newspaper editor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa said that these lawsuits have been filed to delay the US citizenship renunciation process and discourage him from contesting.

I have handed the matter to my lawyers [in Los Angeles] to take care of and I’m looking ahead to what needs to be done for our country,” Gotabaya Rajapaksa said. He met with his attorneys in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Legal Process

The first step Rajapaksa’s attorneys will take is to determine if the lawsuits are within the statute of limitations. Depending on the type of case, California’s statutes of limitations range from one year to 10 years. The clock starts to click on the date of the incident or the date of discovery of the harmful action.

Initially, they may also file a demurrer,” which is essentially a pleading in state court to have the case dismissed, challenging the sufficiency of the complaint. While not disputing the facts of the case, a demurrer argues on the grounds that there is no legal claim even if the facts presented by the plaintiff are true.

Thousands of civil cases are filed in the California’s sprawling court system which serves a population of more than 39 million people—about 12% of the total US population. In 2016, a total of 610,627 cases asking for damages over $ 10,000 were filed. State Government statistics show 95% to 96% of personal injury cases being settled pre-trial.

Finding Jury and Judge

Finding a jury or even a judge knowledgeable enough in Sri Lankan matters to rule on the cases against Rajapaksa will be particularly challenging, say experts.

One of the cases has been filed by the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) based in South Africa and the US law firm Hausfeld on behalf of Sri Lankan-Canadian Roy Samathanam who claims he was tortured while in custody in 2007-2010 by a terrorism investigation unit reporting to the Defense Secretary.

The second case has been separately filed by another organisation on behalf of Ahimsa Wickrematunge, daughter of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge, assassinated in January 2009.

Rajapaksa, widely expected to run at the presidential elections later this year, told Daily FT the lawsuits were a tactic to distract him and his supporters and that the charges against him would not stand up in a court of law.

These are baseless allegations made by people outside our country to delay the process because I’m a strong candidate,” he said. Let them attack, I’m prepared.”

He added that far from being discouraged, he and his supporters would be more motivated by these tactics of foreign-based agencies.

People in Sri Lanka are disgruntled and want a change. When we were in power, we achieved great things. We were able to deliver, not just talk. We want to solve common problems people in the north and the south are facing. These type of attempts by outsiders will get our people more motivated to bring our country back under proper leadership.”

Rajapaksa was on a short visit to attend a wedding and spend time with his son who lives in the area. Process servers presented him with papers for the two lawsuits last on 7 April at a Trader Joe’s in Pasadena, about 10 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The city, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, is home to a large number of Sri Lankan expats and houses the oldest Sri Lankan Buddhist temple on the west coast.

In its press release, ITJP calls on other survivors of torture” to come forward, expressing to possibly turn the ITJP’s lawsuit into a class action”.

Mr. Rajapaksa has to give up his US citizenship to be able to stand in presidential elections so this is probably the last chance for a long time to begin to hold him accountable. We hope other survivors of torture will join the suit and make this a class action.”

A class is also a civil lawsuit, but brought by a group of people who are similarly situated,” usually a group of people harmed in a similar way by a business entity.

But Class actions are very complex and must first be certified by a judge before they can proceed.

Fonseka Can’t Stop Gotabaya

Newsin.asia adds:Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan media has been putting out reports that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will be asking President Maithripala Sirisena to appoint Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka as Internal Security Minister with the intention of preventing Gotabaya Rajapaksa from becoming a Sri Lankan citizen and contesting the coming Presidential election.

But sources close to Gotabaya said that this cannot be done because Gotabaya is already a Sri Lankan citizen. He is a citizen of Sri Lanka as well as the US, a dual citizen. When he is finally allowed by the US to relinquish US citizenship, he retains his Sri Lankan citizen. No government or minister can take away his Sri Lankan citizenship.

The ruling United National Party and some sections of President Sirisena’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party are keen on preventing Gotabaya from contesting. The court cases in the US and threats of some hostile actions at home in Sri Lanka are seen as attempts by his opponents to keep him away from Sri Lankan politics and demoralize his followers.

Colombo Telegraph carried transcript of speech by TNA leader R Sambanthan on 5 April 2019 titled Mullaitivu 2009: 400,000 Lived, 290,000 People Came Out, What Happened To The Balance? – Sampanthan Asks”.  Sambanthan claims that on 21 January 2009 he highlighted plight of some 400,000 but as per press release on 21 January 2009 published by Tamilnet, TNA claims there are over 360,000 IDPs out of a total population of nearly 500,000 people in LTTE controlled areas. This entire population is living within an area of about 400 square kilometers”. Sambanthan cannot give press releases and then say something else in Parliament on the same day!  

LTTE kills fleeing child – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOEwN58UVys&fbclid=IwAR0O8ZjhHoHfs-LWvqHCCTrOUXssRRESgMvnF9JxkaATivYlp1e7qa6To04

LTTE snipers kill Tamils fleeing to Sri Lanka Army https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ7zlRiijfM

Tamils used as human shields by LTTE

Australian Govt condemns LTTE for terror tactics & asks release of Tamil civilians

Rajeswari Balasubramaniam from London says LTTE is violating human rights

Sambanthan claims he protested on 21 January 2009 regarding Tamils being fired at and ‘running helter-skelter’ however as per Tamilnet website TNA press release addressed to the international community claimed ‘over 360,000 IDPs out of a total population of nearly 500,000 people’ were in a 400 sq.km area.

https://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=28090

Based on what evidence is the TNA placing a population figure of 500,000?

How many LTTE were there to herd this many people with them?

There would be no civilians with LTTE, if the LTTE did not herd them. Can Sambanthan answer this simple hypothetical question.

TNA press release quotes 66 civilians killed – how many of these died while trying to flee LTTE?

Sampanthan claims 40,000 people have been killed – who claimed this & on what evidence? Even the Ban Ki Moon Panel report says 40,000 may have been killed” which is not the same as 40,000 was killed. While those that claimed less than 10,000 dead can produce names & details of every person dead, those that claim 40,000 & more are only throwing numbers.

Its now 10 years since LTTE defeat. No one claiming 40,000 dead has produced names of 40,000, details of their families and no one has even filed police ‘missing’ or sought death certificates. There are no skeletons either and its no easy fete to be digging graves to stuff 40,000 dead bodies (not even in skeleton stage) while engaged in hostilities with LTTE who were in uniform, in civilian clothing and civilian LTTE force as well as civilians forced to take up gun dying for which LTTE must take full blame for putting non-LTTE combatants in harms’ way.

Sambanthan claims probably around 400,000 based on our own investigations’ were with LTTE. What investigation was this? How many of them were LTTE cadres, how many were civilian LTTE & how many were really civilians?

Sambanthan claims food, medicines and other supplies were sent only for 60,000 – 70,000. The Government & the UN agencies sent supplies. It was obvious that bloating up of numbers were given as LTTE needed provisions for their cadres & families lest the conflict dragged on. There is enough evidence to highlight that Tamils that were not associated with LTTE were denied food & essentials sent by the Govt.

Connecting the dots of allegiance – it was no coincidence that TNA supported the regime change that took place in 2015, it was for that reason that TNA with just 16 MPs in a 225 Parliament became the Opposition & TNA leader the Opposition Leader. For the first time the TNA supported the budget. TNA supported the government at every crucial juncture inspite of being in opposition. TNA leader was not vocal for the Opposition except to promote the demands of Tamils aligned to TNA. UN & UNHRC conducted 2 investigations and they have found absolutely no evidence to substantiate their claims except continue to quote 3^rd party / 4^th party ‘invisible witnesses’.

On 21 January 2009 the Sri Lankan military declared a 32 square kilometres (12 sq mi) Safe Zone 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north-west of Puthukkudiyiruppu, between the A35 highway and Chalai Lagoon (this safe zone has no legal binding as it was created by only one party & was not agreed by the other party)

On 12 February 2009 the military declared a new 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi) Safe Zone in this area, north-west of Mullaitivu town.

Let it be noted that Navi Pillay publicly stated on 13 March 2009 that 2800 may have been killed & over 7000 wounded since 20 January 2009 (this implies from 20 Jan to 13 March Navi Pillay quotes 2800 as dead & 7000 as wounded)

http://www.peaceinsrilanka.lk/for-the-record/the-relentless-posturing-of-navi-pillay

All of these UN heads & international agencies quote from sources outside of the war terrain and thus they cannot be accepted as witness accounts. As for those claiming to be ‘eye witnesses’ they must first establish they were actually in the war terrain.

Sambanthan is quoting various international parties questioning Sri Lanka’s dead but why has Sambanthan not asked – the lost generations of Tamils because of LTTE that created TNA?

• How many Tamil children did LTTE kidnap since 1980s
• How many of these kidnapped Tamil children died during training, trying to flee LTTE camps & return home, engaged in hostilities
• How many young men, women were denied their right to educate, work and make a career for themselves & ended up holding a gun & wearing a cyanide capsule?
• How many LTTE cadres & child soldiers died following orders to commit suicide by biting cyanide capsule – LTTE must take full accountability for these suicides.
• How many LTTE cadres were trained to commit suicide – taking one’s life is a crime, training people to commit suicide must be far worse a crime.

Sambanthan is quoting the US Constitution – the Colonial British invaded the Americas and colonized it initially with prisoners from British prisons in 1607. It took just 169 years for the 13 colonies to severe ties with Britain and declare independence adopting confederal constitution in 1776. When 7 out of the 34 confederates attempted to secede the confederacy was abolished and replaced with the present constitution in 1790.

Confederacy which ITAK/TNA promotes did not last even 20 years in US.

Sambanthan quotes Indira Gandhi on Bangladesh & asks the question ‘how long has the Tamil question remained unresolved”? We would like to know what is the Tamil question first and we have been asking this for 70 years! All that we have been given is a bucket-list of solutions without knowing what the problem is.

We would like to challenge Sambanthan’s statement that Tamils are ‘second-class’ citizens – Tamils & Muslims constitute the larger populations in Colombo 1 to 15 capital of Sri Lanka. Tamils & Muslims run the main wholesale business in Sri Lanka. Tamils have the most jewellery outlets, communication outlets pharmacies in Colombo. Both the present & past governors of the Central Bank were Tamil. There are over 30 Tamils in the 225 member Parliament representing all political parties. Tamil political party held the post of Opposition in 1978 and 2015.

Our question for Sambanthan & any others who claim to fault the Sinhala Buddhists this simple question

What is it that the Sinhalese enjoy because they are Sinhalese that the minorities do not enjoy because they are not Sinhalese”?

What is it that the minorities do not enjoy because they are the minority that which the majority enjoys because they are the majority”?

What is legally, constitutionally & legislatively given to the majority that is not given to the minorities”?

Name a single country that has changed its original national anthem, national flag just to please & appease the minorities & have these afforded any reciprocity by the minorities?

Tamil was made official language by India’s Indo-Lanka Accord in 1987 and there are less than 2million Tamils physically residing in Sri Lanka. India with over 70million Tamils and a separate Tamil only state has not even made Tamil an official language or including anything Tamil in India’s national flag.

Name a single country where Tamils are the minority which have declared Pongal as a national holiday, Maha sivarathri, Deepavali as public holidays.

Name countries where Tamil minorities are given cabinet rank positions in government representing minority political parties, top post in Police, foreign minister, chief Justice (Sri Lanka has had 3 Tamil chief justices), judges & ambassadors.

Name countries that have issued stamps for Tamil minorities

Name any country that will allow laws like Thesavalamai to exist when everyone chants equal law – equal justice for all.

Tamil minority are powerful in many ways – Largest supermarket chain is Cargills and recently the Govt gave state funding to it. The largest brewery is Carsons owned by Tamil family. Largest media network is owned by the Maharajah family who also own the largest hardware – SLON, Kevilton.

The largest construction conglomerate St Anthony’s is owned by the Gnanam family.

Examples of discrimination by Sinhalese against Tamils

If Tamils have left the country, it is by their own free will & as a result of them leaving and being domiciled in Western countries they are helping their families back home. We would like by affidavit for TNA MPs to confirm that they themselves are not dual citizens as many of their children are studying overseas.

Sambanthan refers to the North-East development – we like to remind him that LTTE ran a defacto rule for almost 30 years in full control of these areas while LTTE was making annual profits of $300m so the better question is what did LTTE do with this money if it really stood for the needs of the Tamil people. Immediately after LTTE defeat those that visited the North-East could see for themselves that other than posh bunkers for LTTE and fancy homes for LTTE families all others were living in horrible conditions. Some areas of the North-East did not have electricity, were not allowed to watch tv even. These people were living in the cave-days under LTTE rule.

The Sambanthan-Sumanthiran letter to Finance Minister Mangala regarding a special fund takes us back to the PTOMs where a similar proposal was made for even direct funding to come to LTTE held areas without going through the Central Govt. The very areas Sambanthan covers are identical to the proposals suggested by the PTOMs and ISGA.

Why should there be a special fund starting with Rs.5billion only for the North which is the least populated of all the provinces in Sri Lanka? Allocation is given to each of the provinces based on the funding requested by the provinces and the Northern budget is almost always 2^nd to that of the Western province but it is never spent & returns to the Treasury while there is a separate budget allocation for each province spent by the Central Govt to develop the provinces & this gets spent and is accounted for. What audacity for Sambanthan to ask Rs.5b only for the north when 7 out of 10 people are Sinhalese tax payers and Sambanthan & TNA are eternally accusing Sinhalese of treating Tamils as second-class citizens. What right does the Finance Minister have to create such a fund only for the North & camouflage that by calling it ‘Palmyrah Fund’ and open it for ‘donations’ obviously serving as an outlet for money-laundering and we like to question why the PM is also the Minister for Northern Development too – does the PM function only for the Northern Province?

Sambanthan or TNA cannot be allowed to get away spreading lies & distortions when successive governments should have investigate TNA for links with LTTE and applied 6^th amendment against TNA for there is ample evidence by TNA statements and photos to depict the TNA’s gameplan.

Shenali D Waduge

DHARSHAN WEERASEKERA

10^th April 2019

There can be no better endorsement of Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa (‘GR’) for the Presidency of Sri Lanka than the fact that his enemies have already begun a campaign to scuttle his chances of running for that office, even before his candidacy has been officially announced. 

I refer to the reports in a number of newspapers that two civil cases have been filed against GR in the U.S., one allegedly by the daughter of slain journalist Lasantha Wickrematunga and the other by the NGO International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) representing a victim of purported torture by the Sri Lankan security forces.[1]

In this article, I shall briefly discuss what one can reasonably expect the enemies of Sri Lanka to do in the coming weeks and months to scuttle GR’s chances of running for the Presidency.  I write as a Sri Lankan citizen and a concerned voter who will vote for GR if he runs, and I hope that his campaign staff will address the concerns below, which I think are shared by many others in my position. 

THE CONCERN

If GR runs, he will run as the candidate of the SLPP.  At the 10^th February 2018 local government elections, the SLPP stunned a lot of people by trouncing the UNP as well as Sirisena’s SLFP.  To the best of my knowledge, the final results of those elections were:  45% SLPP, 33% UNP and 13% SLFP.[2]  The election had a 65% voter turn-out.[3]   

If there is a similar high turn-out at the next Presidential Election, and under normal circumstances there will be, it is reasonable to suppose that the SLPP will be able to get its candidate roughly 44% percent of the vote.

In order to win a Presidential Election, one needs to get over 50% of the vote.  Therefore, GR must get a minimum of 5-7% of the vote either from the SLFP, the traditional UNP vote-base, or the minorities.  I have no doubt he is capable of getting such a portion, especially if he runs a campaign focused on the factors that most Sri Lankans today find to be essential, starting with the economy.

GR brings to the table a combination of service to the country, experience and proven administrative skills that no conceivable candidate that the UNP or the minorities can conjure up against him can match.  Therefore, all things being equal, if the Presidential election is held tomorrow, or a month from now, or six months from now, and GR is a candidate, he will win.

Conversely, from the point of view of GR’s enemies, the best way to scuttle his chances of winning the Presidency is to reduce the number of SLPP voters who will turn out to vote.  And one of the best ways to do this is to create the impression that GR is saddled with many lawsuits, each capable of annulling his candidacy, or if elected, prevent him from functioning, that a vote for him is tantamount to throwing away one’s vote.

Therefore, it is essential that if GR is running for President his campaign staff now itself take steps to reassure voters that they (i.e. the staff) are aware of the aforesaid threats, and have formulated counter-measures or are in the process of doing so.  I am not saying that they should publicize what the counter-measures are; that would be to inform the enemy unnecessarily.  But, it is important to let voters know that the relevant threats have been identified, and efforts are underway to address them.

At present, a number of persons purporting to represent GR’s interests have made public statements denying that any cases have been filed against GR in the U.S. More disturbing, to the best of my knowledge, these persons have in general dismissed the possibility that cases may be filed, whether in Sri Lanka or abroad, to obstruct GR’s from running for President of Sri Lanka. 

Unfortunately, in the eyes of most voters, these persons have very little credibility to comment on legal issues.  This is especially so because, if I am not mistaken, the same persons were at the forefront in defending Sirisena’s dissolution of Parliament in late October 2018.  They claimed that, Article 33 of the Constitution permitted such an action.  The Supreme Court made short shrift of that argument.

If at the next Presidential election SLPP voters were to put all their hopes on GR, and at the last moment hear that his candidacy has been cancelled or suspended pending the outcome of one or more lawsuits, it would absolutely devastate the morale of those voters.  In such a situation, it is reasonable to suppose that a fair number of them will avoid going to polls, and this will no doubt throw the election to the UNP candidate. 

The last thing that SLPP voters need is a ‘surprise’ such as what happened in the weeks prior to the August 2015 Parliamentary elections.  At that time, UPFA voters (today’s SLPP voters) were ecstatic that Mahinda Rajapaksa had a chance to become PM.  But, Sirisena yanked that possibility away at the last moment by announcing that he would never make MR Prime Minister, leaving many voters devastated.

Therefore, to repeat, if GR is running for President, his campaign staff must address the issue of these cases, if indeed they have been filed.  More importantly, they must address the possibility that cases may be filed in the future, whether in the U.S. or Sri Lanka.  Among other things, they must address the following issues:

1. It is well known that a U.S. citizen can relinquish his or her citizenship by informing the U.S. Government of that purpose, and normally the cancellation is granted without any difficulty.  However, under extraordinary circumstances, are there instances where the U.S. Government has prolonged cancelling a person’s citizenship, and if so, what are the remedies available to such person?

• Under Sri Lankan law, how would the fact that a cancellation of a citizenship is pending (as opposed to being granted) affect an attempt by that person to run for the Presidency of this country?

• Would an elections officer be able to reject the nomination of a particular candidate at such officer’s discretion, and if so what are the remedies available for the rejected candidate?

• Would it be possible for petitioners to obtain ‘interim relief’ preventing a candidate from contesting elections until cases against such candidate, cases challenging his/her eligibility to contest the Presidency, are heard.  And if so, what are the possible appeals against such a ruling and how long will they take?

Depending on the answers to such questions, voters can make up their minds as to whether it is in their interests to support a run for the Presidency by GR.  The 10^th February 2018 LG polls proved beyond a doubt that the Sri Lankan voter is an intelligent and perceptive voter. 

In the run-up to the LG polls, though most pundits predicted that the SLPP would win, no one predicted that they would win by such a lopsided margin, especially against the SLFP.  Also, recall that, in the run-up to the elections, Sirisena and Ranil, who were as ‘thick as thieves’ at the time, tried to make the elections turn on the issue of corruption, that is, they asked the voter to choose the party that would be able to fight corruption the best. 

However, the voters, especially UPFA voters, correctly understood that the real issue was not corruption but rather Sirisena’s hijacking of the SLFP and the resulting loss of their (i.e. the voters’) ability to influence the way that the country was being run.  And they made both Sirisena and Ranil pay. 

In a similar way, the voters will correctly identify the relevant issues for the Presidential elections.  They will vote for GR if they think it is in their interests to do so.  I am sure they will vote GR President with an overwhelming majority if and when they get a chance.  No doubt this is the fear that is driving GR’s detractors.   So, GR has to level with the voters also.  If there are threats to his candidacy, he must let the voters know what those threats are, and what his campaign intends to do about them.  

[1] See ‘Two lawsuits against Gota in U.S.’ Daily Mirror, 9^th April 2019; also, ‘GR faces legal action in U.S.’ The Island, 9^th April 2019 

[2] LG polls results, Daily Mirror, 12^th February 2018

[3] ‘65% voter turnout  at today’s election:  EC,’ Daily Mirror, 10^th February 2018