Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, March 11 (newsin.asia) – Sri Lanka’s Meteorology Department, on Monday issued an ‘extreme heat’ advisory as temperatures in several districts across the island is expected to rise further in the coming days.

The Department, in a statement, cautioned the public to take appropriate precautions to avoid any health-related issues caused by the severe heat condition and the high level of moisture in the air and low wind speed had been the result of the rising temperatures.

The Meteorology Department warned that the situation would prevail until the beginning of the south-west monsoon in May.

The Natural Hazards Early Warning Center forecasted ‘Extreme Caution’ levels for most parts of the Northern, North Central and the North Western provinces.

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

The budget Speech with the proposals for 2019 presented to the parliament clearly reflected that the government has failed to develop or open right policies to take the country to a right path for rapid development and a sustainable growth. Since 1957 Sri Lanka has been sticked to wrong budget policies and during the President R. Premadasa the budget policy was seriously poisoned by spending with printed money.  Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa, during his the last few years of presidency attempted to correct budget policies but he lost power in 2015.

The main reason for this comment is, the Minister of Finance should clearly understand that the budget policy must focus to get away from the traditional Keynesian theory which was based on more government spending to increase aggregate demand of a country with a view to expanding national income and employment. This was a conditional strategy for developed countries but not for developing countries to competitively uplift the economy.  The improvement of international competitiveness, improvement of productivity, lowering inflation and many other factors are the fundamental requirement for Sri Lanka. The Keynesian theory-based policy was successful after the Second World War as there was an excess capacity of the economy of countries involved in the World War.

The economy of Sri Lanka is not in an excess capacity to pouring money with a view to increase production and employment. In fact, it has overutilized the capacity and required to improve more investment in productive fields by non-government organizations.  The Keynesian theory was awkwardly criticised later when spending more money in an economy with a lower capacity, the multiplier process will create an inflation, which is to be controlled by increase in the rate of interest by the Central Bank. It would negatively impact on the expectation of development and growth. The Gamperaliya is also a highly inflationary measure in addition to budget spending and has Gamperaliya got excellent bank policies to prevent pouring money to increase regional inflation and increasing indebtedness of rural people is the main issue.

After the cold war, the World Bank and Associated Monetary Organizations identified that the policy correction is the most important policy direction for the countries like Sri Lanka where there is a nature of highly depending on injecting debt and printed money to the economy.  Has the Minister of Finance understood this simple economics when the minister was preparing the budget for 2019 or he was sticked to a mental strategy to winning elections?  What was the aim of the Finance Minister protecting the economy turning to the right path or indulging money spending for winning elections?  Finding right economic policies is the job of the government and the Minister of Finance should give leadership to the government educating the members of the government.  A son of Khema may not such a skilled and educated person for a broad policy education to his colleague.  That may be the reason Mr Wickremasinghe passed public hint at his anniversary celebration.

After 1956, the socialist pathway of strategies obviously failed and Sri Lanka faced to serious macroeconomic problems, which complicated politically created and motivated micro economic issues in public enterprises. Late 1960s Professor Dudley Seers pointed out in his report of Matching Employment Expectations and Opportunities a Program Action for Ceylon that export promotions through diversification of exports, reducing capital intensive projects, population controls, less investment in public enterprises, enhancement of productivity, logical and indirect foreign exchange controls such as FEECS and promoting private sector participation in the economy were vital policy initiatives than taking stress to the government increasing debt and taxes which are not affordable to the community.

After the 1970 election, the new government attempted to go back to old socialist strategies without considering the weakness of budget strategy in Keynesian system and Dr N. M. Perera gradually aligned to monetarist strategy for budget management and taxation. During this period, the world oil crisis emerged creating serious problems to the capitalist world as well as to Sri Lanka and other countries and the budget strategy of Sri Lanka was structurally changed by increase in taxation such as business turnover tax, wealth tax and many other taxes, which discouraged the private investments and the budget policy began to worsen the macroeconomic problems. Socialist strategy gradually became a bitter swearing word to common people in Sri Lanka as the government did not initiate essential reforms in education to open and attract developing international labour market for Sri Lankan graduates under the international labour movement, after the oil crisis in Middle East.

If the government developed Technical Vocational Education and Training policies to convert increasing arts graduate production from the universities with a view to diverting the traditional literacy-based arts education to promotion of entrepreneurial education and skills training, it would have used as the best budgetary strategy in the country. Instead of productive education policy, a vicious ideology was promoted among rural poor to take weapons into hands to change social fabric of the country and to destroy the imperialism and to achieve the liberation to poor people.

Although the government had a good foreign policy and a political strategy to confirm the sovereignty of people through constitutional reforms, the government failed to persist the right economic policy to solve macroeconomic problems such as unemployment, trade problems, debt, exchange rate, investment and many others. While cheating public, the government attempted to show off that the right thing could be done by misguided political authority, which divided people at regional level on political party basis.  Vicious economic and political rhetoric ignored the essential micro economic reforms in public enterprises and promoted rural educated poor to demand government jobs and nationalise good private enterprises.

After the election in 1977, people of Sri Lanka agreed with economic liberalization with a view to attracting private sector for investment and to give a right price to rural products and services, however, the foreign policy of the government misguided liberal economic policies and open the way for LTTE terrorism, which was the mouth of shark, which ate all benefits of liberal economic strategies and promotion of corruption for providing war services. The budget strategy of 1978 was focused on elimination of corruption, which has been developing little by little in Sri Lanka.  The budget speech for 1978 was commenced by Mr Ronnie de Mel singing a poem of John Milton against the corruption.  In order to gain good benefits from the liberal economic policies excellent economic discipline, authoritative political leadership, understanding the operation of liberal economic policies, respecting the law and order and change in education policy to promote entrepreneurial education and training were required but they were not happened.   Tax reforms and administration to attract more tax revenue and idea to achieving a balanced budget massively cutting expenditure and develop rural infrastructure should have been the priority of budget strategy. The government advisors are not practical people who have real experience in understanding the economic issues and capable persons to manipulate actions to reactions.

After 1978 budget policy presentation, I as a government bank in rural area met Mr Ranjan Wijeratne, who was a powerful person of the government and trusted person in private entrepreneurial business to present an idea and business plan to successfully promote private investment, elimination of corruption and obtain greater participation of rural educated youth to economic policy implementation.  My idea was to create peoples’ companies in each electorate with investment of rural people and the government and to decentralize the Colombo Stock Market to district level and list shares of people companies in regional stock market with a view to listing district level stock exchange Colombo Stock Earket and creating strong 25-30 regional people companies and educating daily stock deals among rural poor with strong government monitoring.  My idea was highly appreciated by the World Bank consultants and accepted the best policy strategy for elimination of corruption, promoting capitalism among rural poor with ownership of company shares and changing the social fabric of the country without politics and give dignity to rural poor.  However, Mr Wijeratne had not understanding of stock market operations, finance business and entrepreneurship and his surrounding officers did not understand economic policies, financial operations, stock market operations and they were uneducated estate superintendents, who never know about policy development and implementation. I did not further go about the plan.

The Major weakness of the 2019 budget is that it has not focused on the correcting past economic policies and elimination of corruption in the country.  The government consists of a group of corrupt people, which have become a barrier to correct economic policies.  Sri Lanka needs a fresh start with a general election and empower rural people with right policies and structural changes are needed without a publicity.

I would like to discuss the Gamperaliya and politics in this article. Gamperaliya is a credit project and this type of projects have been implemented in Sri Lanka since 1950s but they were not successful due to weak bank credit policies, political interferences and weaknesses in the project framework.  First it requires elimination of corrupt practices of bank staff, who were the origination of corruption in Sri Lanka.

By Udaya P Gammanpila Courtesy Ceylon Today

Sudath Gunasekara

10.3.2019.

The whole nation wants the President to declare the US Ambassador persona non grata immediately as she is clearly and blatantly interfering with our domestic politics in which she has no business as a Diplomat. Only last week she visited Hambantota port with a CIA Agent and now it is followed by another visit to Palali in the North.  What the hell the Government is doing while these foreign Diplopmuts are nakedly fiddling with the domestic affairs of the country like this. Of cause no one can expects RW to do it as he may have even planned these visits

Therefore the whole country wants the President to intervene and do this.

Firstly, to arrest the ongoing mad war against Sri Lanka’s independence and freedom by the Western and Indian Diplomuts who blatantly violate Diplomatic norms by nakedly interfering with the domestic matters of this country in this manner with impunity.

Secondly, to teach a lesson to all foreign Diplomats as to how they should behave towards the countries not belonging to them. There should be an end to this Diplomatic nonsense.

Thirdly, such action will prevent these diplomatic missions in Colombo who are working overtime to change the political destinies of Sri Lanka

Fourthly, to stop their coming to dictate terms to you on anything in future in matters like appointment of Ministers, assigning subjects to Ministers in carrying out your legitimate duties under the Constitution of the country.

I am sure his Secretary and advisors on foreign affairs can surely find enough precedents from other countries as examples and advice the President on this matter.

I just quote two such instances from our own country.

The late President J.R. Jayewardene who earned the sobriquet of Yankee Dickey did not hesitate to declare persona non grata Kenneth Munro Scott, the Political Officer of the US embassy in Colombo in 1982. He had made critical remarks on Sri Lanka’s internal affairs.” Similarly, in 1991, the then British High Commissioner David Gladstone was declared persona non grata by President Ranasinghe Premadasa for interfering in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs.”

Mr President the ball is in your court. As such you ball them out before they do that to you in dire desperation as the situation is extremely dangerous and unpredictable. Please remember what they did to Sadam Hussein in Iraque and Kernal Gadhaphi in Lybia. These Western enemies and the Indian Raw have no limits of crime and murders when it comes to issues that affect their interests. They even surpass all the Machiavellian and Kautilyan tactics of State craft to fulfill their neo-colonial sadistic goals.

By Palitha M Senanayake

The recent utterance about the sanitary facilities in Hambanthota district during the Budget speech by Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister Hon. Mangala Samaraweera is typical of his flippant character and political opportunism. He stated that ‘even though the roads of Hambanthota district are paved beyond expectations there are 15,000 houses without toilet facilities in that district’ and this was targeted to ridicule the development efforts of former President Rajapakse.

The writer, as the official Editor of the last Population & Housing report 2012 of the Department of Census Statistics of Sri Lanka, wishes to state that this statement about sanitary facilities in Hambanthota is a diabolical lie spun to suit the occasion with no basis on the accepted statistics of the country.   On the contrary the number of households that do not use toilet facilities in Hambanthota district is only 600 which represent 0 .4 % of the households (155,294) in the district and it is well within the national average of 1.7 %. Comparatively the only districts out of the 22, that are doing better than Hambanthota are the districts of Colombo (0.1%) Gampaha(0.2%) & Kalutara (0.2 %) and Matara(0.2%). On the other hand the country has a serious situation in this regard with districts like Jaffna (5.3%), Batticaloa  (12.6 % ), Mannar( 11.1 %), Vavunia (9.7 %), not to speak about Mullaitivu ( 20.4%) and Kilinochchi (22.3 %). Thus, it should now be clear to everybody that the Minister Mangala Samaraweera has made yet another one of those utterances to serve his political ends smacking of any national relevance.

The problem with Minister Samaraweera is that he seemed to take pride in his charade of flippancy. In September 2018 Minister Mangala Joining the debate in Parliament against the Motion of No Confidence against the Prime Minister, attempted to portray the current Prime Minister, as the most erudite political personality that held sway over the island’s politics during the last two decades.  Citing examples from the past, he mentioned that while he was with the current PM’s political bete noire, the former President Chandrika Kumaranethunge, he commenced all the SLFP political campaigns by pasting posters proclaiming that ‘Ranil Can’t’. This, he said was a strategy designed to imbibe in the minds of the public that Ranil W is not a capable leader because in the Minister’s own conviction he knew Ranil to be the most threatening influence Chandrika K was facing.  The Minister came out with the same argument at a recent press conference when the media wanted to know who the 2020 Presidential candidate of the UNP would be. The message Mangala S was trying to convey was, that Ranil W is the most capable man and it was an act of sophistry on the part of Mangala that made him portray Ranil as ‘incapable’ when he was in the opposite political camp!

Tru to Mr Samaraweera’s record we know that he has always made serious proclamations and then, have subsequently acted quite to the contrary of those proclamations.  As examples, we could cite what he said about his current ministerial colleague, Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka, when he was with the previous regime.  No sooner Sarath Fonseka was appointed to the post of Army Commander Mangala was on record stating that SF was not even suitable for the post of Commander in the Salvation Army.  Judging by how he now eulogizes Sarath Fonseka and during the Presidential campaign he conducted for SF in 2010,  we take it that it is the same ‘strategy’ applicable there as well; Mangala had been slighting SF back in 2006 because he knew that SF was capable of living up to the expectations of the Army Commander at the time.

These statements however, should not be construed as ‘sophistry’ because sophistry is the use of clever arguments to convince that something is true when in fact it is not so. Thus, there is no clever argument in the case of Minister Mangala’s utterances and therefore those statements that he had made are, but downright degradations of a person’s n character or capability to gain a political advantage. In other words, these statements are, but plain political lies.

However, what matters here is not this act of uttering a lie but rather the impunity with which that lie is publicly admitted by the same person who uttered the lie as if it is a special talent that he is endowed with.  What is even worse is that it is now becoming an accepted trend among politicians to lie and also to act in breach of the policies the voters expected them to standby.  The public too has often adopted a very dismissive attitude towards these treacherous acts of politicians saying, Oh that is politics” or  all the politicians are the same” etc.

If Minister Samaraweera now admits that he lied to the public back in 1995, then the issue is, with what credibility should the public treat the statements he is making now? Thus, when he states that former President Mahinda Rajapakse has amassed a fortune worth of US $ 17 billion during his 9-year rule, could we be sure that it is not another flagrant lie that he will retract in a few years?  Judging by his admission of this perfidy, the public could well expect Miniter Samaraweera to come out with a statement in a few years hence, maintaining that, former President Mahinda Rajapakse is the ‘cleanest’ politician ever to govern Sri Lanka and it is because he wanted Maithreepala to win that he lied in 2015”.  Does Mr Samaraweera think that the voting public in this country are damn fools because they continue to vote the likes of him to power?

As pontificated recently, the high point in Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s political career is getting down the former US Ambassador to the UN Ms Samantha Power to deliver the keynote address on the event marking his thirty-year political career. Well,  Samantha Power campaigned against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC and brought two unsuccessful resolutions against the country for eliminating the LTTE. This was done as a punitive measure by her as the Sri Lankan Government dis not accede to her request back in February 2009 to suspend its war against terrorism. It is well documented that she discussed with Richard Armitage, the Deputy US Secretary of State and Roberto Blake, the Under Secretary for South East Asia and decided to frame war crimes against Sri Lanka back in March 2009 ( i.e. before they were alleged to have been committed in May 2009). In addition her record as the Senior Advisor on  Foreign policy to Obama Administration is as follows.

• Power spearheaded the US strategy to undermine the Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood at the United Nations thereby preventing peace in the Middle East.
• Samantha Power consistently stood on behalf of Paul Kegaman, the head of the Ruwanda Patriotic Front, who was responsible for the large scale genocide in Ruwanda.
• In 2012, Power turned her attention to Syria, convincing the White House to establish an Atrocities Prevention Board (APB) thereby creating a situation where US got fully involved in the Syrian crisis killing thousands and displacing millions of Syrian
• The Obama administration that pledged to withdraw from Afganistan at the strat continued to kill civilians, under Power’s advise, calling those ‘necessities of peace’ in a peace bid that never saw the dawn of peace up to today.
• In 2015 Samantha Power paved the way for the US to take the Sadi Arabian side in the Yemeni conflict which is continuing to inflict untold sufferings on the Yemeni women and children even today.
• In 2016 Samantha Power betrayed public trust by using her security clearance as a U.N. Ambassador to review private conversations by U.S. citizens. She was brought before the House Intelligence Committee to explain her actions. Thus she is now the ‘former US Ambassador to the UN’.

Mangala Samaraweera by electing to choose a person of the caliber of M/s Samantha Power to make the keynote address at his all-important political milestone has made his message very clear; ‘power is the be all and end all in politics while deception, treachery, betrayal and lies are the means to it’.

Sugath Samarrsinghe

This country has been on a quest to find a system of government since the State Council days, that will best suite the genius of the people, since the change in 1815. We came by the executive presidential system, whatever its original motives were, and it has been with us for the last 4 decades. The campaign to abolish this system seems to be reaching a culmination now. Usually our tendency is not to see the good side of anything that we have but  te to talk of its demerits. This exercise is therefore to look at the other side of the coin.

Newspapers reported recently that President Sirisena as well as The Prime Minister and the leader of opposition seem to have come to some agreement that Executive Presidency could be abolished. It looks like that all three of them seem to be so inclined owing to their personal agendas and not, thinking of the people. The fact is that all three of them have no sure prospect of becoming the next President. And they are scared at the prospect of Gothabhaya Rajapaksa may succeed, now that many academics, professionals and technocrats are rallying behind him, as a future prospect. I am reminded of mood of the people swelling around Lt. Gen. Denzil Kobbakaduwa before he was killed. The apprehension that Gothabhaya may succeed, in the manner he ended the war and headed effectively the UDA also may be behind this move. Thus, it is clear that this trio may not be having people’s interest at heart here.

Now what are the merits of the Presidential system for our country?

Firstly, unlike in the parliamentary system this is one office which is decided upon by the individual direct vote of every voter. To that extent it could be described as the most democratic choice where everyone had his /her say. To win here is not easy because the winning candidate needs the support and confidence all communities, to make it to the inning post. Of course the incumbent President can engage in many abuses to get re-elected. But we saw last time how all that could be in vain if people reject him.

The argument is that too much power concentrated on one person could be a menace, again as we saw last time. This could be minimizeded by setting up effective checks and balances and through accountability mechanisms as well as by making his actions justiciable, except during a state of emergency. After all, no system is perfect as lomg as human beings operate it.

What is the alternative to Executive Presidency that we are talking of? Obviously, it is empowering the legislative and executive powers in the Parliament, like in the Westminster system, they say. Let us take a hard look at that prospect. Let us examine our Parliament. It is not the British Parliament. Most people will agree that except for a very few, our Parliament is corrupt to the core. MPs selling themselves and crossing over is common. That from top to bottom they act irresponsibly. The list of instances is too long. The way they behaved in the impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranaike stands out like a sore thumb. Their behavior in the recent ‘Constitutional’ crisis is still fresh in our memory. A large number of MPs are academically ill qualified to be in Parliament; one wonders whether they are able to read and understand a Bill presented in Parliament. The integrity of all of them is so low. Can any sensible people entrust the Legislative and Executive powers of a country to such a group of people?

The country saw how the integrity of the Parliament striking the lowest ebb during the organized Central Bank ‘robbery; where the involvement of Prime Minister, Finance Minister and even the government representatives in the COPE Committee was patently visible. The shameless way the Government Party tried in vain to cover up this fraud was there for all to see. They seemed to assume that people in this country are knaves and fools. Is it to such an assembly that we want to entrust the executive powers of the People?

In these circumstances, the Presidential commission of Inquiry into the Central Bank fraud was a silver lining in this dark cloud. Whatever Mr. Sirisens’s personal motives were, his action opened up an opportunity for the people to have a look at the way their wealth was defrauded. I think here lies the best argument for the continuation of the Executive Presidential system. It was because this arrangement was available that Peoples’ interest could be served. On the other hand, if both Legislative and Executive powers was lying in this corrupt parliament, it would have been a case of naduth Pansale, baduth Pansale in the reverse!

Thus, this is a case for the retention of the Presidential system in the Sri Lankan context. There is no guarantee that the integrity of Sri Lankan Parliament will be any better in the future either. In fact there is every possibility that it may become worse in time to come, judging by the people who are elected to Parliament.

It could be argued of course, what if both the President and the Government happens to be from the same political party. We saw what happened in the 2014 elections when that happened. It is the People who decide. No Party can take the People for granted just because it may enjoyed the majority.

The more serious problem that will be generated if the Presidential system is abolished at this stage is the situation created by the 13^th Amendment. It provided for the appointment of the Provincial Governors to be left in the hands of the Executive President. It was thereby that the Unitary character of the Sri Lanka state was preserved, if not for which, this country would have been a federal state already. This was well illustrated when Chief Minister Vardharajah Perumal announced a unilateral declaration of Independence for the North-East. This measure could be swiftly nullified then because the President could exercise his Executive Power. If we abolish the Executive Presidency what could we do in a future such situation, for they say, history repeats itself. This country will automatically become a federal state even without the intended Constitutional reforms by the UNP.

As for the JVP who is the prime mover of this proposal as a Private Member’s Motion, their intentions could best be summarized as: The JVP has a history of bringing chaos out of order and not the other way around.” in the words of the ‘Island’ editor in one of his editorials the other day

Therefore my plea is not to throw away the baby with the bath.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Revised 12.34.19

This essay examines two aspects of the Tamil language issue, language rights” and the support of the Marxist/Leftist political parties for the Tamil language.

The Tamil language lobby argued that the Tamils of Sri Lanka had ‘language rights’. However, the UN  Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities,  (1992) says   that   only minorities in ‘their own territories’ are entitled to enjoy their own culture, the right to use their own language in private and in public, freely and without interference or any form of discrimination. This convention seems to be referring to minorities kept in enclaves within a   sovereign state. (Articles 1, 2, 4/2)

This Declaration permits minorities to enjoy their own language only within their indigenous territory. The Ceylon Tamils are descendants of landless, probably illiterate, Tamil laborers who   migrated to Jaffna from India, leaving their ‘territory’ behind, but bringing their language with them. The ‘Ceylon Tamil’ does not qualify under this Convention and has no language rights as a ‘minority’ in Sri Lanka.

There are other restrictions also at UN level.  UN human rights instruments permit a state to curtail rights and freedoms in the interest of the ‘general welfare in a democratic society.’ Member states of the UN are expected to ‘refrain from doing anything which will strengthen racial division”.

There are two other relevant instructions. Firstly, member states are expected to provide an education which promotes friendship and understanding among racial groups.   ‘Educational provisions should ensure that the minorities are not prevented from understanding the majority culture and majority language’. There is nothing in the UN declarations about minority languages becoming state languages either. ( Bill of Rights article 4, ECOSOC article 4, Convention against Discrimination in Education, (1960) article 5, International Convention on Elimination of Racial Discrimination, (1965) article 2.)

The Tamil lobby   argues however that they have local language rights. Article 12(2) in Chapter III of the 1978 Constitution recognizes the right to language as a fundamental right.

Clause 12/2 said  No citizen shall be discriminated against on the grounds of race, religion, language, caste, sex, political opinion, place of birth or any one of such grounds : Provided that it shall be lawful to require a person to acquire within a reasonable time sufficient knowledge of any language as a qualification for any employment or office in the Public, Judicial or Local Government Service or in the service of any Public Corporation, where such knowledge is reasonably necessary for the discharge of the duties of such employment or office : Provided further that it shall be lawful to require a person to have a sufficient knowledge of any language as a qualification for any such employment or office where no function of that employment or office can be discharged otherwise than with a knowledge of that language”

The Tamil language lobby argued that   Article 22 of the 1978 Constitution which  says the language of administration includes Tamil ,  also provides ‘language rights’ and any person can apply to the Supreme Court if  language rights  under this Article   are violated by administrative or executive action. In 1998 the media reported that The Law and Society Trust had in 1998 appointed Nimalka Fernando as ‘Language Monitor’. She will initiate legal action against the authorities   if language rights are violated.

The Tamil Lobby stated that language rights in Sri Lanka should be   approached from a ‘rights based’ perspective.  A rights based approach is the best course of action for language rights, said N. Selvakumaran.  The rights-based approach means The government should provide its services in the language of the citizens irrespective of the sector in which the services is demanded or the geographical area in which it is required, every citizen should be in a position to obtain services from the government in the language of his or her choice. Similarly he or she should be in a position to go about his or her business in the language of his or her choice concluded Selvakumaran.

A human rights approach concentrates on informing linguistic minorities of their rights and in educating public officers, companies, non-governmental organizations and social associations of their duties, said B. Shanthakumar  A rights approach will identify the institutions accountable, and which need reform. Further a rights based approach will ‘alert us to those who are most vulnerable, whose needs are ignored or suppressed and thereafter direct resources there.

Shanthakumar looked at the language memorandum prepared by the Official Language Commission, in 2005. In order to establish   bilingual administration, at all levels, throughout the country.  This memorandum suffers from a bureaucratic administrative perspective on language policy, he said.  The purpose of this memorandum   is to reform the administrative service so that it will implement the official languages law and provide a better service to the public. It treats Tamil speakers as beneficiaries or users of public services. A rights based approeach would have been better.

In a rights based approach the minoirites beocme rights-holders with claims on state and society. The service provider then has obligations to the rights holder and is directly accountable, culpable and responsible’.  Using a rights based approach; it will be possible to see who is responsible for delivering language rights and whether they have instead contibuted to rights violations.  If so, then, using the Rights   argument, steps can be taken to remedy the situation.

A distinctive feature of the Tamil language issue in Sri Lanka is the ardent support given to it by the Marxist/ Leftist, parties.  The Marxist parties were loyal supporters of Tamil language rights in Sri Lanka. They spoke up for them in the 1956 debates and continued to support the issue right into the 21 century.

The LSSP officially supported Tamil language rights. The LSSP issued a formal declaration in 1955, where it said that the LSSP wanted parity” for Sinhala and Tamil. The LSSP said people should be governed in a language they understand  and both Sinhala   and Tamil should be state languages.  LSSP wanted     equal use of Sinhala and Tamil in administration.

This does not mean that Tamil will be imposed on the Sinhala speaking areas or vice versa. The Sinhala speaking areas will be administered in Sinhala, but a Sinhalese in a Tamil speaking area and a Tamil in a Sinhala speaking area would however have the right to transact his business with the government in his own language. The LSSP said that its interest in the matter flowed from a very real concern for the speakers of these language and not from any academic interest in these languages.

The LSSP declaration said that the question of an official language is not simply a  language  question but  a  question which involves the building of a Ceylonese nation and the fusion of the Sinhala  and Tamil  speaking sections into the Ceylonese nation ‘that is coming into being’. This can be accomplished only through parity. The LSSP observed that Sinhala and Tamil are the languages of different and separate parts of the country. Therefore separatist tendencies could arise. And divide the country into two separate states.

In the debates about Sinhala Only in Parliament in 1955 and 1956 the Marxist speakers shone. They were the loudest and strongest supporters of Tamil language rights. They were noisier that the Tamil language lobby.

The Marxists firmly believed that a brand new nation made up of Sinhalese and Tamils   had been created in 1948. We are all members of one nation, the Ceylonese nation. We are Sinhalese only after we are Ceylonese, they said. This was a howler. The LSSP did not seem to be aware that the word ‘Ceylon’ came from the word ‘Sinhala’ and   therefore this statement was nonsense.

The Marxists took a rights approach. The LSSP proceeds from the rights of a linguistic group within the nation to determine its future said Colvin R de Silva.  The right of every Tamil in this country to be ruled by his government in his language, the Tami language. Every person in this country whether Sinhala  or Tamil  speaking should feel that he can get his business with government done through the language which he speaks. The Tamil language was   functioning as an   informal state language at the time added Colvin.

NM elaborated on this. We do not feel justified in imposing the language of the majority on the minority community, he said. No minority can be forced to study a language which it does not want to learn, said NM. There would have been no problem if the Tamils agreed to be administered in Sinhala, but they were not. The Tamils were not prepared to be governed in Sinhala and a majority could not compel a minority to accept their language. The Tamils were entitled to be governed in the language they understood, and anything less was a denial of democracy.

What does the government expect the minorities to do? Sit down and accept, asked. NM If you compel the people in the north and east to accept Sinhala Only as the state language and Tamil as a regional language it will lead to so much rioting bloodshed and   civil war. The north and east will break away if the Tamil minority is compelled to swallow Sinhalese, while enforcing Tamil as a regional language.

Having Tamil as a regional language in north and east province will mean having federalism in the country. They will have a separate government, why should they agree to be a portion of Ceylon if they are to be confined to those areas. ] There is validity] in the claim by Chelvanayagam that federalism is the only solution to the present language problem said NM.

Do our people want a single nation or do we want two nations, asked Colvin. Do you want two languages and one nation, or one language and two nations?  [Can we] administer the country in one language in the face of the resistance of a linguistic group 23 lakhs strong.   What is cheaper, to impose a single language on an unwilling section of the people    or offer parity.  Otherwise, two torn little bleeding states may arise from one little state, Colvin warned. There is no solution in a multilingual country except parity.

At one point the Marxists seem  have taken the position that that Sinhalese will be the state language throughout the country, with Tamil as the regional language of the north and east. But eventually, N.M. Perera moved the resolution that Sinhala and Tamil should be state languages with parity of status throughout the island. Parity means that both languages would be treated as official languages, for administration, judicial and legislative purposes the two languages will have equal status.

In parity all that I am concerned is to ensure that when a Tamil where he may be writes a letter in Tamil, as to a local Kachcheri or a government department he should receive a reply in Tamil as of right. A Sinhalese living in Jaffna should b able to get a reply in Sinhalese whether in Jaffna or Batticaloa. He must be able to get his birth certificate or any other official doc if he so wants in Sinhalese. A Tamil should get a reply in Tamil and a Sinhalese in Sinhalese said NM.

NM Perera accepted that there would be difficulties in administering such a scheme. But pointed out that there was a ‘satisfactory scheme’ in the 1946 report of the Committee on national language. A list of the departments   where correspondence should be in both language was given in this report, such as registrar general, police, excise and so on. Even the question on of interpretation is mentioned.

With regard to judicial administration the laws will certainly have to be translated into both languages. All our laws, the Law Reports etc may have to be in both Sinhala and Tamil. A certain amount of duplication will result. But in a predominantly Tamil area you need not conduct proceedings in Sinhalese merely because the litigant happens to be Sinhalese. He must be provided with an interpreter.

I do not deny that use of two language will create complications certain department in purely Sinhala areas will have to employ one or two clerks with a knowledge of Tamil able to translate Tamil docs into Sinhalese. Translators will have to be employed in practically every department. Minutes may be put up in Tamil by Tamil clerks and these minutes when they go up before Sinhala head of department will have to be translated into Sinhalese. These difficulties will be there [but this is] the price we have to pay for the conditions under which we are living, conditions brought about by history. A special committee will have to be appointed to work out the details, said NM.

In the 21 century, the government of Sri Lanka    appointed Marxists sympathetic to the ‘language issue’ to the agencies dealing with the subject. DEW Gunasekera of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka was Minister of Constitutional Affairs and National Integration in 2008. Raja Collure  of the Communist party was Chairman of the Official Language Commission in the same year.

Shanthakumar  said  in 2008  ‘The current Government has made it compulsory for new entrants to the public service to acquire an adequate level of competence in the second official language other than their own. It has increased the material rewards for serving public officers to learn a second official language other than their own. It has also created a new institution for training of language educators. These measures owe not a little to the political convictions and personal commitment of the Minister for Constitutional Affairs and National Integration, [DEW Gunasekera} and the Chairman of the Official Languages Commission.[Raja Collure]’

DEW Gunasekera speaking at a Consultation on Enforcing Tamil as an Official Language organised by the Law & Society Trust in 2008 said he wanted Tamil used in a wide range of services. The fundamental law of the land should recognise the full range of linguistic rights of all Sinhala-speaking, Tamil-speaking and English-speaking citizens of the country irrespective of the geographical area one is situated in and /or the sector from which he or she is seeking the service. Language rights should be stated from the perspective of the rights of citizens who are service receivers, said DEW.

This is what should have been done in 1957 or 1987. We were able to make a dent into the problem only in 2007 he said.   He was referring to Public Administration circular no 7/2007”. He observed that   the implementation of Sinhala as the official language, had also taken time. ‘I went through the past records and found that it took 14 years (1956 – 1970) for Sinhala to be enforced as the official language and that too in four phases’ said DEW.

At this seminar, DEW Gunasekera spelled out the needs in various service departments. Name boards, designation boards, notices and instructions should be displayed in all three languages in all police stations. Similarly all announcements made to the public should be in all three languages.

Police stations must have Tamil speaking officers to conduct investigations, to receive and record complaints, to record statements from people relating to the maintenance of law and order, said the Tamil lobby. This is urgent in areas where linguistic minorities live in a considerable number. All police stations in major cities must have sufficient number of police officers who are capable of functioning in Sinhala and Tamil. Recording of statements must be in the language of the person who is making the statement. If it is to be recorded by the police officer in another language other than the language in which it is made, the original statement must also be maintained in the language in which it was made.

Name boards, designation boards, notices and instructions should also be displayed in all three languages in all hospitals, continued DEW.  Similarly all announcements made to the public should be in the three languages. Forms issued to collect data from the public must be issued in all three languages or at least in Sinhala and Tamil. Doctors must be competent to converse in all three languages and communicate with their patients in the language of the patient. At least they should have adequate knowledge of Sinhala and Tamil to find out from their patients details relating to the illness the patients complain of. Nurses and other support staff in hospitals too should be competent to communicate with their patients in Sinhala and Tamil at least.

Steps should be taken immediately to address the similar issues in other service sector areas such as postal service, pensions, education, and registration of persons, electricity board, water supply and drainage board, state banks etc as well as at the level of district secretary, divisional secretary, grama niladhari, and local authorities.

The notices and instructions displayed in their offices or issued to the public must be in all three languages. Forms and other instruments supplied to the public for their use must also be in all three languages. In all these institutions, a Public Relations Officer who is capable of functioning in all three languages must be available at all times to assist the clients who turn up or call in for help. There should be sufficient number of Sinhala, Tamil and English speaking officers in these institutions so that they could serve all the customers in their own language. This should be so particularly in areas and cities where there is a multi lingual population concluded DEW.  (Continued)

ජනමාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයය ලංකා ගුරුසේවා සංගමය. – Ceylon Teacher’s Services Union. Ctsu Lanka

2019. 03. 08

ගරු අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍ය,
අකිල විරාජ් කාරියවසම් මැතිතුමා,
අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශය,
ඉසුරුපාය,
බත්තරමුල්ල.

අමාත්‍යතුමණි,

ජාතික පාසල් විදුහල්පති තනතුරු පුරප්පාඩු සම්බන්ධවයි.

ජාතික පාසල් 354 න් 302 ක විදුහල්පති තනතුරු පුරප්පාඩුව පැවතීම සම්බන්ධව අප සංගමය විසින් දිගින් දිගටම පෙන්වා දුන් අතර ඒවා කඩිනමින් පිරවීමට අවශ්‍ය පියවර ගන්නා ලෙස ද ඉල්ලා සිටින ලදි.

2. මෙලෙස ජාතික පාසල් වල විදුහල්පති තනතුරු පුරප්පාඩු කරමින්, තම හිතවතුන් එම පුරප්පාඩු තනතුරු වල රඳවා ගනිමින් ඔබ විසින් පටු දේශපාලන අරමුණු ඉටුකර ගැනීමට කටයුතු කරන බවට අප නැගූ චෝදනාව මේ වන විට ඉතා හොඳින් තහවුරු වී ඇත.

3. අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශය විසින් ඉල්ලූම්පත් කැඳවා සම්මුඛ පරීක්‍ෂණ අවසන් කොට රාජ්‍ය සේවා කොමිසම වෙත යවන ලද ලේඛනය සම්පුර්ණයෙන්ම වැරදි සහගත එකක් බවත් එමගින් වඩාත් සුදුස්සන් තෝරනවා වෙනුවට තම පටු දේශපාලන අරමුණු ඉටුකර ගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් අඩු සුදුසුකම් සහිත අය එම තනතුරු සඳහා තෝරා ගැනීම නිසා රාජ්‍ය සේවා කොමිසන් සභාව විසින් එම ලැයිස්තුව ප‍්‍රතික්ෂේප කර ඇත. ඒ බව 2019.02.05 වන දින හා 2019.02.06 වන දින මාධ්‍ය මගින් ද වාර්තා කර තිබුණි.

4. ඒ අනුව අධ්‍යාපන පරිපාලන සේවයේ ෂ පංතියේ නිළධාරීන් සිටිය යුතු පාසල් 64 ක් සඳහා ඊට අඩු සුදුසුකම් සහිත නිලධාරීන් විදුහල්පතිවරුන් ලෙස තෝරා යැවුයේ කාගේ උවමනාවටද යන්න ඉතා හොඳින් පැහැදිලිය. අධ්‍යාපන පරිපාලන සේවයේ ෂ පංතියේ නිළධාරින් සිටියදී ඔබගේ පටු දේශපාලන උවමනාවන් මත මෙම පුරප්පාඩු සඳහා පුද්ගලයින් නම් කිරීම සිදුවී ඇති බව තව දුරටත් තහවුරු වේ.

5. එබැවින් මෙම පාසල් වල පරිපාලනය තව දුරටත් බිඳ වැටීමට ඉඩ නොතබා කඩිනමින් එම පුරප්පාඩු පිරවීමට රාජ්‍ය සේවා කොමිසන් සභාවේ උපදෙස් හා නියමයන් නිවැරදිව අනුගමනය කරමින් කටයුතු කරන ලෙසත්, පටු දේශපාලන උවමනාවන් පසෙකලා දරුවන්ගේ අධ්‍යාපනය හා අනාගතය ගැන සැලකිල්ලට ගනිමින් කටයුතු කරන ලෙසත් ඉතා වගකීිමෙන් යුතුව ඉල්ලා සිටිමු

ස්තූතියි.

මෙයට,
විධායක සභාව වෙනුවෙන්,
මහින්ද ජයසිංහ – Senaka Mahinda Jayasinghe
ප‍්‍රධාන ලේකම්
ලංකා ගුරුසේවා සංගමය. – Ceylon Teacher’s Services Union. Ctsu Lanka

පිටපත් – 01. ලේකම් – රාජ්‍ය සේවා කොමිසන් සභාව
02. ලේකම් – අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශය

සම්බන්ධීකරණය – 0714437205 / 0777685038
Coordinate – +94714437205/+9477768503

මාර්තු මස 13 වන දින ගුරු ගැටලු විසඳීමට බලකරන, උද්ඝෝෂණය හා රැලිය පිළිබදව දැනුවත් කිරීමේ මාධ්‍ය හමුව අද(03-10) පැවැත්විණ.

මේ මාධ්‍ය හමුව සදහා

ලංකා ගුරු සංගමය

ස්වාධීන අධ්‍යාපන සේවක සංගමය

ඒකාබද්ධ ගුරු සේවා සංගමය

නිදහස් ලංකා පුරෝගාමී ගුරු සංගමය

ලංකා ප්‍රගති ගුරු සංගමය

ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් ගුරු සංගමය

ශ්‍රේණිධාරී විදුහල්පති සේවා සංගමය

ගුරු විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ

සමස්ත ලංකා එක්සත් ගුරු සංගමය

අධ්‍යාපන වෘත්තිකයන්ගේ සංගමය

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජාතික ගුරු සංගමය

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජාතික විදුහල්පති සංගමය

සමස්ත ලංකා උපාධිධාරී ගුරු සංගමය

ලංකා ගෘහ විද්‍යා හා ඩිප්ලෝමාධාරී ගුරු සංගමය

ශ්‍රී ලංකා අධ්‍යාපන සමාජ සම්මේලනය

යන සංගම් නියෝජනය කරමින් ගුරු සංගම් 06ක් සම්බන්ධ විය.

බී.සී පෙරේරා කොමිසමෙන් ඇති කළ ආරම්භ කර ලයනල් ප්‍රනාන්දු කොමිසමෙන් තීව්‍ර කළ සමස්ත වැටුප් විෂමතා වහා ඉවත් කර ගුරු- විදුහල්පති වැටුප් වැඩි කරනු!

ගුරුවරුන්ට බලපෑම්කරමින් සිදු කරවන කොළ පිරවීම් හා වාර්තා සකස් කිරීම් ඇතුළු පීඩාකාරී කටුයුතු වහා නවතනු!

අධ්‍යාපනයට දළ දේශීය නිෂ්පාදිතයේ ප්‍රතිශතයක් වශයෙන් 6%ක් වෙන් කරනු! යන සටන්පාඨ මුල්කරගනිමින් 13 වන දින ලෙඩ නිවාඩු දමා ඉහත සටනත් සමග ඒකතුවන ලෙස මෙහිදී ගුරු සංගම් විසින් ගුරුවරුන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියේය.

1997 දී හඳුන්වාදුන් ඊක්‍ පෙරේරා වැටුප් කොමිසම විසින් ගුරු හා විදුහල්පති සේවාවන්හි සේවා තත්ත්වය හා වැටුප් තල පහත හෙළමින් ලාංකේය ගුරු පරපුරට හා විදුහල්පතිවරුන්ට සිදුකරන ලද බරපතල අයුක්තියට මේවන විට වසර 22 කට අධික කාලයක් ගතවී ඇත.

1997 පැවති ආණ්ඩුව විසින් සිදුකරනු ලැබූ මෙම අයුක්තිය ඉන්පසු බලයට පත් කිසිඳු ආණ්ඩුවක් සැලකිල්ලට බඳුන්කොට යුක්තිසහගත කිරීමට කටයුතු නොකරන ලද්දේ ගුරු හා විදුහල්පතිවරුන් විසින් සිදුකරන ලද අඛණ්ඩ අරගලයක් මධ්‍යයේ වීම බරපතලව සැලකිල්ලට ලක්කළ යුතු කරුණකි. එමෙන්ම 6/2006 චක්‍රලේඛය මඟින් පැවති විෂමතා තිව්‍රර කිරීම දෙස බැලීමේදී බලධාරීන් හා පාලකයන් මේ කෙරෙහි දක්වන සැලකිල්ලේ තරම පැහැදිළිවේ.

ඉහත තත්ත්වය එසේ තිබීයදී තවදුරටත් ගුරු විදුහල්පති වෘත්තීය සමිති මඟින් කරන ලද බලපෑමට යටත්ව බී.සී පෙරේරා කොමිසම විසින් සිදුකරන ලද වැරැද්ද නිවරදි කරන තෙක් අතුරු වැටුප් යෝජනාවක් අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේඛම්වරයාට ඉදිරිපත්කර ඇති මුත් මේවන තෙක් එය වුවද ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට ආණ්ඩුව අසමත්වී ඇත. එවැනි තත්ත්වයක් යටතේ ගුරු විදුහල්පති වැටුප් වැඩිකරගැනීමත්, කොළ පිරවිල්ල ඇතුළුව ගුරුවරුන් මත පටවා ඇති විවිධ පීඩාකාරී තත්තවයන් ඉවත්කරගැනීමටත්, අධ්‍යාපනයට ප්‍රතිපාදන ද.දේ.නි ප්‍රතිශතයක් වශයෙන් 6%ක් වෙන්කරගැනීම සඳහාත් වන අඛණ්ඩ උද්ඝෝෂණ ව්‍යාපාරයක් අප විසින් ආරම්භකර ඇති අතර එහි ඉදිරි පියවරක් ලෙස එළඹෙන 13 වන දින සියලුම ගුරුවරුන් හා විදුහල්පතිවරුන් ලෙඩ නිවාඩු දමා සේවයට වාර්තා නොකිරීමේ ක්‍රියාමාර්ගයකට අවතීර්ණයවීමටත්, එදින පෙ.ව. 10.00 කොළඹ දී උද්ඝෝෂණයක් හා රැලියක් පැවැත්වීමටත් අපි ඉහත සියලු ගුරු සංගම් විසින් ඒකමතිකව තීරණය කොට ඇත.

Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nation Geneva

Sri Lanka has a longstanding history in preserving and nurturing the environment, and has made considered policies and programmes making the environment an enduring aspect of its sustainable national development”, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative in Geneva, Ambassador A.L.A. Azeez stated.

Addressing the 2019 World Wildlife Day celebration in Geneva held under the theme ‘Life Below Water: For People and Planet’, Ambassador Azeez said that, in this context, Sri Lanka was proud and honoured to be the host of the 18^th Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), in Colombo, from 23 May to 3 June this year.

We are pleased to note that the Conference has received a record number of working documents and species-listing proposals, making it the largest Conference of Parties in the history of CITES to date. Interestingly, it is the mako shark, wedgefish, and guitarfish proposals submitted for the CoP18 that have received major support from Parties to the CITES. .Sri Lanka is proud to cosponsor all 3 of these proposals at the upcoming Conference, which will also be conducted in a carbon-sensitive manner”, he said.

Ambassador Azeez noted that, as an island nation endowed with rich biodiversity both below water and on land, where the livelihoods of a sizeable portion of the population are inter-twined with the sea, the rivers and the inland reservoirs, Sri Lanka fully subscribes to the notion that ‘challenges to life below water were in fact challenges for our planet and its people’.

From a global perspective, Sri Lanka stands firm in its commitment to preserving life below water under different international instruments. Among the global initiatives where Sri Lanka maintains stakes are the Clean Seas Campaign, the International Coral Reef Initiative, the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Alliance, and a declaration of intent with France aimed at protecting the Oceans and enhancing Blue economy cooperation. Sri Lanka also champions the Commonwealth Blue Charter Action Group for Mangrove Restoration”, he added.

The 2019 World Wildlife Day celebration in Geneva was organized by the CITES Secretariat, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, UN Environment and the Geneva Environment Network. Panelists from these organisations as well as from the World Trade Organisation contributed to thematic discussions that followed.

Sustained economic advantages arising from preservation of biodiversity and equitable sharing of benefits, technological cooperation to contribute to carbon-sensitive industry and trade, and strong preventive measures against trade in endangered species, received substantive coverage in the deliberations at this event.

Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nation

Geneva

RANJITH SOYSA

March 8, 2019, 12:00 pm
The UN’s highest court recently ruled that the UK’s claim of sovereignty over the Chagos Islands is illegal. It was stated that the UK’s continued administration of the islands “constitutes a wrongful act entailing the international responsibility of that state”. Mauritius reported to the courts that the UK forced her to give up the territory of Chagos islands in exchange for her rightful claim for Independence from the UK in 1968. The UN court accepted the position of Mauritius and rejected UK’s claims.

The sad story of the people of Chagos Islands began in 1965 when the UK “purchased ” the Islands, and then signed an agreement in 1966 for 50 years with the United States for them to build an airbase in Deo Garcia the largest of the Islands. The onus of getting rid of the inhabitant population fell on the British as per the agreement. In fact the indigenous people who lived for centuries in these islands were treated disdainfully, when the UK high official referred to the ‘acquisition’ as an “exercise was to get some rocks which will remain ours: there will be no indigenous population except sea gulls who have not yet got a committee”. This naked aggression took place in 1960s when there was a compendium of human rights and concept of a civilized world!

In 1968 the British, with covert support of the USA, began the driving away of the islanders who have been living there for centuries. The islanders were threatened with being shot, bombed and gassed. Finally this epic human rights violation of ethnic cleansing resulted in about 5000 islanders moving away and settling down in Mauritius as paupers and homeless. Meantime, Deo Garcia became one of the largest naval bases, being the center for launching attacks in the Middle East by the USA and also being used as operational base for the notorious rendition program. The US government does not want any native people to be resettled in Deo Garcia, as indicated in a diplomatic cable to the UK in 2006.

ICJ order to the UK to hand back the Islands to Mauritius as rapidly as possible was a landmark ruling with the judgment reached with a 13 to 1 majority and obviously the USA voting against. The UK government in its determination to hold on to the airbase rather than considering the just rights of its native people, has rejected both the ICJ’s order and the overwhelming majority ruling. We should now get back to Samantha Power who was hoping Sri Lanka to be a civilized society, to tell us the essence of the story of the Chagos Islands, and why the UK and the US do not want to display their decency when the highest UN court had given a clear order in keeping with the principles of justice.

We get another chance to examine Samantha Power’s insistence on Sri Lanka’s decency, when we consider how the people in Okinawa voted last month to relocate the US Naval base, which many Japanese in Okinawa do consider as a burden on the small islands. They voted for relocation. But, the US will stay put against the majority wish registered at the polls.

Again, we are faced with the dilemma of the Western mindset.

“The ides of March, Yes but they are not gone”

RANJITH SOYSA

Britain our advice is not to judge Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces by the way your soldiers acted on instructions of the British Colonial Governor. If we thought theses atrocities carried out were only during colonial rule, we have been sadly mistaken as the Bloody Sunday massacre in Ireland in 1972 & the British crimes in Iraq reveal. The question is can the British Government without setting standards & taking punitive action against its own soldiers be allowed to pin blame on other countries & their army? We think not. Put your house in order first, Britain.

Let’s not forget that Britain was never an invited guest. Britain was an invader occupier. What legal right do invader occupiers have to draft Treaties & force natives to sign appeasement to their conditions. Where do we even go to question these illegalities – the law is in their hands as they have written the laws!

Lt. J. Maclaine of 73rd Regiment hung Sinhalese for breakfast

Col.Braybrooke (Assistant Commissioner for Badulla) reported to the House of Commons Committee on Ceylon 1849/50 that he hung Kandyan prisoners without trial and relished watching them being hung while he was having breakfast.

Raid & Destroy Policy (1803) / Scorched Earth Policy

Attacking innocent civilians by indiscriminate killing.

Maj MacDonald was the first to resort to arson in the Badulla district.

To avenge the death of Govt. Agent Wilson, Maj. MacDonald burnt to the ground all peaceful villages near Hausanwella simply because they lived near where Wilson died. He plundered, killed cattle, grain & destroyed their property. He then wrote to the Governor this act of severity, I trust will not be disapproved” (CO 54/56 – 7^th November 1817)

Maj. MacDonald destroys village of Wilbawe killing cattle and every man over 14 years and raped Sinhalese women, scorched houses and destroyed food crops.

This constitutes a war crime & crime against humanity in today’s legal context.

Campbells’ memo

Soldiers wonder about the value of what they destroyed……..! We were under orders to destroy all coconut trees, all fruit trees and paddy fields. We were also ordered to destroy the bunds of the water reservoirs. This water was essential to them for cultivation. We wondered how long it must have taken for them to build these giant reservoirs and how long it would take them now, without having any engineers or the equipment, to rebuild or repair them.”

1818 Major Forbes memo

We met so many military patrols who had been dispatched for burning the villages and their property. They were not looking for the enemy. The natives who survived our fire would definitely get perished in sickness and in famine as we had destroyed all their cultivation, lakes and villages.”

• 1818 diary of Sergeant Calladine
• Not a single day passed without burning a village and killing the Chingalese men. We didn’t take prisoners.”
• British captured wives and children of patriots and held them as ransom until patriots surrendered. These same dirty tactics continue to be repeated.

Kill anyone without trial (1817)

Col. Hook orders Sinhalese to be hung without trial

(Mawatagama Nilame a close relation of the Mahanayake of Asgiriya was hung without trial)

Capt. Fraser, Brownrigg’s personal assistant killed 19 Sinhalese & too 10 prisoners. 7 of them were executed without trial, other 3 forced to work as his guides. The 7 executed Sinhalese were hung on the roadside in Godamunne and the blood of their corpses polluted the nearby river making it unusable to the natives the next morning.

Even London Times on the 7 of Oct. 1818 declared Brownrigg’s brutal “method of conflagration” (a term used by his Gazette) as “dreadful measures”.

Diary of Dr. John Davy (British Army Surgeon) Indiscriminate killing of civilians

We didn’t manage to kill the enemy. But we killed a lot of villagers. We must have killed at least 10,000 men in the villages”

When a district rose in rebellion, one or more military posts were established in it; martial law was proclaimed; the dwellings of the resisting inhabitants were burnt; their fruit-trees were often cut down and the country was scored in every direction by small detachments, who were authorized to put to death all who made opposition, or were found with arms in their hands… In candour… it must be remarked that our government was hardly answerable for the irregularities committed on our side…….”

On 9^th December 1817 a few Kandyans waylaid a convoy of provisions escorted by Malay soldiers near Tibbottugoda resulting in the British losing both provisions & soldiers. The British suspected Andavala Mohotalla who lived nearby & his property and neighborhood was destroyed, fruit trees were cut down as revenge by the British.

In Madulla the next village, following 5 men being executed and houses of 6 headmen burnt down, the villagers went to hide in the caves. Brownrigg’s General Report on 6^th January 1818 describes what happened having got information of the hiding place of the villagers, it was decided to surprise and seize them the same night. The rebels, as is supposed, to the number of fifty men were in the cave—which being silently approached by our detachment, small divisions, under Lt. L. and sergeant Murray, of 73 regiment were posted in the pathways at each end of the cave, while Capt.C. proceeded with the remainder of his brave soldiers, for the front. The alarm being given within, the inhabitants set up a hideous yell and rushed from the cavern. Twenty of them were killed by our troops and the remainder precipitated themselves down the deep declivity of the mountain, by which they must have severely suffered. In the darkness that prevailed, one woman and child were also killed”. The British soldiers had shot innocent civilians on site in what is today known as ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy.

Diary of Dr. John Davey: Killing of children of Patriots

Dr. John Davey of the British Army declares that by 1821 there were no children of patriotic families in Uva-Wellassa.

Dr. Davey estimated at least 7% of the population of the entire Central province was killed by the British Army.

British Colonial Army rape

Understanding the British Empire” by Ronald Hyam on Sergeant Calladine

• When Calladine’s regiment left Colombo after 25 years in 1820, a great crowd of Sinhalese women saw them off, some of them with 3 or 4 children by the regiment”

Clearly, the British colonial army were taking mistresses. VD can become a serious issue too.

Wellington declared in 1914 that the British Army represented the ‘scum of the earth”

Flexner described the British army as ‘recruited from the adventurous & derelict”

With US exiting UNHRC calling it a cesspit of bias, Britain has decided to step in where US departed by championing the UNHRC Resolutions against Sri Lanka. What moral right does Britain have to speak a word on human rights & rule of law as ample evidence prevails of British crimes in Sinhale during colonial rule. Until & unless these are accounted for, apologized & compensated Britain has no right to be pointing fingers at Sri Lanka.

Shenali D Waduge

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

There is no doubt that the grave yard uncovered by Sri Lanka’s government in Mannar, was a sacrifice of Catholic faith during the Dutch era.  When we attended to Catholic festivals in the Madu Church in the past, the incident was publicly memorised by the Catholic Church and special prayers were conducted by the Catholic Church on account of these martyrs.  I think late Chilaw Catholic Bishop, Reverend Edmond Peiris conducted historical studies on this martyrdom. Most probably these martyrs were lower caste Tamils, who converted to Catholic religion against the suppress of the high caste Vellalala people in Jaffna. Buddhists were not associated with this crime against humanity and they demonstrated an exemplary standard.

As we understood, the Dutch administration directly supported to kill innocent Catholics and Hindu Tamils (so-called Tamil provincial administrator, Sankili and his supporters) also extended the support to the Dutch administration for this type of killing.

If we further trace the history a Catholic Convent in Manner was very famous during the Portuguese era.  Princes Dona Katarina who was a daughter of King Karaliyadde, was studied in that convent and it is believed that King Rajasinghe the Second also studied there.  He was fluent in protégées and the Dutch languages. King Karalliyadde also died in Mannar suffering from smallpox epidemic and he may have buried in the same grave yard.

This might be a case for the crime against humanity of the Dutch rulers and high caste Tamils.

It is required to further investigate with documents.  The government of Sri Lanka should not coverup this and disclose to the United Nations.

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, March 8 (newsin.asia): Gotabaya Rajapaksa, former Sri Lankan Defense and Urban Development Secretary and younger brother of the country’ fifth President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is confident of getting elected as President of Sri Lanka at the end this year.

He said in an interview here on Wednesday, that his confidence rests on his belief that Sri Lankans are yearning for a non-mainstream, ethnically unbiased and an economic and social development-oriented leader” to wrench the country from the morass it has been stuck for three decades.

Known to be a hardliner on the ethnic issue dividing the majority Sinhalese from the minority Tamils and Muslims, Gotabaya however believes that he can get the votes of the minorities on the basis of his ethnically non-partisan and economic development agenda.

People are tired of mainstream politicians who only think of votes and care little for the genuine development and progress of the people. I am not a mainstream politician and that is the advantage I have,” he said recounting his achievements in the developmental field as a top administrator in the Mahinda Rajapaksa government from 2005 to 2014.

Even if the minorities, especially the Tamils, are swayed by ethnic considerations, he could win with enhanced support from the Sinhalese majority, Gotabaya believes.

It is not essential to get the votes of the minorities to win a Presidential election. In 2010, Mahinda Rajapaksa won by 1.8 million votes without Tamil support. He lost in 2015 not because he did not get Tamil and Muslim support but because the Sinhalese urban middle class in key districts like Gampaha and Colombo did not vote for him. But still, Rajapaksa lost the election by only 449,000 votes. And even under the unfavorable conditions of that time, Rajapaksa got more than 100,000 votes in the Tamil North,” Gotabaya pointed out.

Since his dual citizenship bars him from contesting elections, Gotabaya said that the process of getting release from American citizenship is on, and that this is not an issue at all.

Ability to Implement Plans

Nice plans alone are not enough. A Presidential candidate must have the ability to implement the plans. After the war ended in 2009, I took over as Secretary Urban Development in addition to having Defense. I renovated roads, pathways and buildings to make Colombo and other towns livable. After the end of the war in 2009, we wanted to develop infrastructure in the country as without infrastructure no investor, whether local or international, will invest.”

Since we did not have the funds, we borrowed. But we did not fall into a debt trap as it is alleged. We got the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) to take the Chinese loan for building the Hambantota port because SLPA was a profitable organization and could re-pay the loan. In fact, the SLPA had paid the first installment of the loan taken for the Hambantota port by the time Rajapaksa demitted office,” Gotabaya recalled.

Releasing Lands in War Zone

Detailing his achievements in the field of ethnic reconciliation he said that during the war, Jaffna peninsula was bristling with military camps but when the war ended, he cleared lands up to Keerimalai, Vasavilan and Thondaimannar and kept only the Palaly High Security Zone.

I had handed over 90% of the private land which the military had taken over. Only that area under the Palaly High Security Zone was retained for security reasons. If we needed some private land we purchased them,” he said.

Another step he took on the reconciliation front was the infrastructure the Rajapaksa government built – roads, railways and schools and 100% electricity from the national grid.

Demining was done to settle 300,000 people. The present modern hospital in Kilinochchi was an army camp during the war. And all this was done within a short period of time from 2010 to 2014. Above all, we gave back to Sri Lankans their most important right – the right to live,” Gotabaya said.

Tamils’ Demand for Dignity

Regarding the Tamils oft repeated yearning for living in dignity” Gotabaya said: Where does dignity come from? I don’t believe it comes from political power alone. A man with no means will have no dignity, whether he is a Tamil, Muslim or Sinhalese. Therefore to give dignity to people we must raise their incomes and living standards. That was what we were doing within the short time available to us.”

Economic Roots of Separatism

According to Gotabaya, the Tamils’ struggle for devolution had economic and not political roots as Tamil politicians would like others to believe.

When the Sirima Bandaranaike government imposed restrictions on imports on agriculture products, the Jaffna farmer producing onion, potato, chilli and tobacco gained a lot. But when the J.R.Jayewardene government liberalized imports, Jaffna famers were badly hit. No wonder then, that in the 1982 Presidential election, the Northern Tamils voted massively for the SLFP candidate Hector Kobbekaduwa, who got few votes in other parts of Sri Lanka,” Gotabaya pointed out.

Alienated farmers joined the ranks of other alienated sections to struggle for separate Tamil country Eelam”.

Tamil politicians should ask themselves if devolution would actually solve their problems, Gotabaya said.

Is it not the truth that no province in Sri Lanka will survive without links with the Western Province which generates all the income? Therefore, our agenda had been to develop other regions in the country and not just the Western province. This is why the Hambantota port was built and roads and railways were laid in the North and other provinces. If there is all round development of the country, and there is economic equality, a Tamil person could be Prime Minister of Sri Lanka,” Gotabaya said.

The Tamil parties are going in the wrong direction, he pointed out.

They do not want to participate in governance and develop their people. What have they gained by staying out of power and being only in the opposition? And when put in charge of the Northern Province they did not do any development work but returned the money sent for development schemes.”

The Tamil parties do not know what the Tamil people really want. Tamil parties demand police powers for the province but the people there do not want locally recruited police. So much for the demand for a provincial police force,” Gotabaya pointed out.

Ethnic Politics A Drag

Ethnicity-based politics has only delayed political settlements and economic development, he argued.

In the early 1980s, the District Development Council were agreed upon, but the UNP scuttled the scheme. In 1987, India got involved and the 13 th.constitutional amendment was brought about .But the LTTE rejected it. Where is the end to all this? When will people get a chance to develop and lead happily?” he wondered.

Failure of Good Governance Government

The failure of the Good Governance” regime works to his advantage, he believes.

It has been four and a half years since the United National Party (UNP) led government was set up, and yet nothing has been achieved. The UNP came to power on the platform of anti-corruption and the establishment of the Rule of Law. Businessmen felt that the UNP will help businesses as the party is thought to be business-friendly.”

But they have failed in all the areas. They said they will punish people who were corrupt. But they ended up taking revenge against rival politicians. The UNP said that Mahinda Rajapaksa’s family had huge amounts of money in foreign banks. But four and a half years down the line, they have not been able to find anything though it is very easy for governments to get details of foreign bank accounts. Most international banks are controlled by the US and other Western countries, which follow strict laws to prevent money laundering.”

In the guise of investigating Chinese projects, they put these projects on hold for two and a half years. The stoppage led to embarrassment as these were government-to-government projects. The Chinese companies involved had to pay heavy demurrage. Local contractors and suppliers suffered as they were out of work and business for two and a half years. The total loss was to the tune of LKRs.2.5 billion. The whole economy collapsed.”

Then they gave Hambantota port to a Chinese company on a 99 year lease. When Mahinda Rajapaksa was President he did not do that.”

Harassment of Govt.Servants

Thousands of government servants are being investigated by the Finance Crimes CID, Gotabaya alleged.

This has broken the morale of government servants who are a vital element in the development of the country. It is unfair to go after government servants because they only carry out orders from their political superiors. Demoralized government servants are now afraid of taking decisions, hampering development work.”

Unstable Govt.

The other matter of great concern is the absence of stability in the government, Gotabaya said.

The President and the Prime Minister are at loggerheads. Coming from an SLFP background, the President is against privatization but this runs counter to the UNP’s policy. The President finds it difficult to work with the UNP. Decisions taken are countermanded.”

Lack of unity of purpose at the top has led to policy instability which in turn has adversely affected local and foreign investment. The lack of consensus and continuity on policy has led to problems with India and even China,” he said.

He pointed out that promises were made to India in regard to the Eastern Container Terminal in Colombo port and the Kerawelepitiya LNG plant. The government had initially agreed to give the LNG plant project to a consortium with only one plant envisaged. But now there is a tender for another one. The same kind of confusion hampered Chinese projects.

Abolition of Executive Presidency

As regards the move to abolish the Executive Presidency through the proposed 20 th.Amendment, Gotabaya said that abolition should not be done piecemeal.

The Executive Presidency should not be discarded before changing the election system. The present Proportional Representation System should be abolished before the Executive Presidency is done away with. The PR System creates instability in parliament. You can’t have a divided and weak parliament as well as a ceremonial Presidency. I don’t think that there are many takers for the abolition of the Executive Presidency,” he said.

Relations With India and China

On the question of relations with India and China, Gotabaya said that any Sri Lankan government would need to be non-aligned.

The Rajapaksa government did not want to get involved in geo-political rivalries. May be China had geo-political interests in investing in Sri Lanka, but Sri Lanka was only interested in the commercial aspect of the Chinese investments. We did not seek a geo-political relationship. We wanted a commercial relationship.”

On relations with India, he said that Sri Lanka should keep India’s friendship and be mindful of the island’s environment. It should not jeopardize India’s security.

India does not have to worry about us. We will not do anything against it. But at the same time we do not want to get involved in big power rivalry,” Gotabaya said.

Sudath Gunasekara

8.3.2019.

Sirisena: Looking at the world map to find the next county he should visit before expiring his term while dreaming as to how he could become the President for a second term

Rnil W: Scheming and dreaming to oust or eliminate Sirisena to become the President as he knows that he can never get elected by the people as the President of this country and also waiting to fulfil his contract to the West to destroy this country, Sinhala nation and the Buddha Sasana

MR: ????????

TNA: with 16 seats in Parliament  dreaming for the EELAM with International help

JVP: With 6 seats and heads in the dream world waiting for the proletariat to carry them on their shoulders by mass revolution to make Sri Lanka a Communist country as Russia is no more Communist.

SLMS Hakeem: dreaming for the Muslim kingdom in the East where he could reign as Agha Khan of Lanka.

Rchard Badurdeen: Darling of both SLFP and UNP hierachy  dreaming for the Wilpattu Islamic Kingdom, in  the national sanctuary he destroyed

Public Servants: scheming how to get their own things done by going after politicians and picking  up few crumbs like duty free car permits falling from the political table

NGOO: Fattening their bags  and bank accounts in a country where there is no government  fully enjoying the state of anarchy and blatant political bungling by our crazy politicians

Thieves, thugs and drug barrons:  running the country at will, directed and manipulated from abroad while bribing politicians and law enforcing authorities to prevent arrest and punishment

The 33 kotiyak devivaru saha jatiye muradevatavo: okkoma mara ninde, never to wake up until this paradise Island is sunk to the botttom of the Indian Ocean.

Rate Mahajanatawa: Ira besa yanaturu ada re 12 ta monava gananyaida, Sanda besa yanaturu heta dawasa gewaganne kohomada, adu ganane heta udeth apata irawath payaida kiyala hoollamin panatika yanakan ahasa desa balagena innawa.

Janaka Perera

President Maithripala Sirisena will be the Chief Guest at the ceremonial opening of the Buddha Shrine of the International Cambodian Buddhist Centre Kaduwela on Saturday March 9.

The distinguished Cambodian guest will be Her Eminence Mahopasika Sok Im.

The event will be Co-Chaired by the Most Venerable Napana Pemasiri Mahanayaka Thera, Chief Sangha Patron of the Sri Lanka Ramanna Maha Nikaya and the Most Venerable Am Lim Heng Maha Nayaka Thera, Deputy Sangharaja of Cambodia

To mark this event an alms giving will held for five thousand monks.

The Buddhist Centre, a symbol of Sri Lanka-Cambodia Buddha Sasana relationship, provides residential facilities for Cambodian Buddhist monks, in a Cambodian and Sri Lankan environment, pursuing their primary, secondary and tertiary education in Sri Lanka. It can comfortably accommodate 100 Cambodian monks at a time. The first two storey sanghawasa of the centre was opened on November 25, 2013 by the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

This institute and residing monks provide a service for the ‘David Rodrigo’ Child Development Center which is operated at this temple premises.

The Centre was constructed under the patronage of the Venerable Dr. Omalpe Sobhitha Nayaka Thera, Chief Sangahanayake of the Southern Province who is also the President of the Sri Bodhiraja Foundation and Founder of the Bodhiraja Buddhist Society of Singapore and Malaysia.  The construction was made possible with the generous contributions from the late Mrs. Indrawathie Rodrigo (who donated the large property) and Khmer devotees from Cambodia and other countries. Their contributions were facilitated by the Ven. Dhammavipassana Mun Say and other Cambodian monks.

The centre has been specially designed to enhance the Sri Lankan – Cambodian historical relationship. Its architecture displays the depth of Cambodian arts and crafts and Buddhist traditions nurtured by genuine Buddhist life-styles. This center attracts the world-wide Khmer community for its beauty and opportunity to experience Cambodian Culture in Sri Lanka.

Before the Cambodian Buddhist Centre was constructed Dr. Hema Goonatilake was conducting the only program in Sri Lanka for educating young Cambodian monks. She was the pioneer in introducing Ven. Dr. Omalpe Sobhitha Thera’s services to Cambodia, where he was working in the Cambodian Capital of Phnom Penh in 1998 on the invitation of the UNDP (United Nations Development Program).

It was then that he realized the extent of the extent of the decline of Cambodia’s moral and social values, resulting from the mass murderer Pol Pot’s monstrous Khmer Rouge’s rule (1975-1979) – one of the darkest chapters of human history – in a mad, violent attempt to build an ‘exemplary communist society’.

(Khmer Rouge means Red Khmer in French)

During the Khmer Rouge’s four-year reign of terror, they had turned the entire Cambodian society upside down. The biggest damage was done to the Buddhist social, moral and cultural values.

Temples, monasteries and Dhamma halls were used as poultry and pig farms where animal slaughter occurred daily.  Buddha statutes which until then were objects of veneration were used as objects of target practice for training youth in the use of firearms. Monks who disobeyed the Khmer Rouge’s orders were killed in their thousands.  Hundreds and thousands of other Bhikkhus disrobed unable to bear the humiliation and harassment any longer.

It was this deep realization that prompted the Ven. Sobhitha Thera to undertake this project of training young Cambodian monks (samaneras) in Sri Lanka for the revival of Buddhism in Cambodia.

Now it has borne fruit

The International Cambodian Buddhist Centre, Kaduwela.

RANJITH SOYSA

The UN ‘s highest court recently ruled that the UK’s claim of sovereignty of the Chagos Isands is illegal. It was stated that the UK’s continued administration of the islands ” constitutes a wrongful act entailing the international responsibility of that state”. Mauritius reported to the courts that the UK forced her to give up the territory of Chagos islands in exchange for her rightful claim for Independence from the UK in 1968.

The UN court accepted the position of Mauritius and rejected UK’s claims. The sad story of the people of Chagos Island began in 1965  when the UK ” purchased ” the Island and then signed an agreement in 1966 for 50 years with the United States for them  to build an airbase in Deo Gracia the largest of the Islands. The onus of getting rid of the inhabitant population fell on the British as per the agreement.

In fact the indigenous people who lived for centuries in these island were treated  disdainfully when the UK high official referred to the ‘acquisition’ as an ” exercise was to get some rocks which will remain ours: there will be no indigenous population except sea gulls who have not yet got a committee”. This naked
aggression took place in 1960s when there was a compendium of human rights and concept of a civilized world!

In 1968 the British with covert support of the USA began the driving away of the islanders who have been living  there for centuries. The islanders were threatened with being shot. bombed and gassed. Finally this epic human rights violation of ethnic cleansing resulted in about 5000 islanders moving away and settling down in Mauritius as paupers and homeless.

Meantime, Deo Gracia became one of the largest navel base being the center for launching attacks in the Middle East by the USA and also being used as operational base for notorious rendition program. The US government does not want any native people to be  resettled in Deo Gracia as indicated in a diplomatic cable to the UK in 2006.

ICJ ordered the UK to hand back the Islands to Mauritius as rapidly as possible was a landmark ruling with  the judgement reached with 13 to 1 majority and obviously and decently USA voting against. The UK government in its determination to hold on to the airbase rather than considering the just rights of its
native people, has rejected both the ICJ ‘s order and the overwhelming majority ruling. We should  get now back to Samantha Power who was hoping Sri Lanka to be a civilized society to tell us the essence of the story of the Chagos Island and why the UK and the US do not want to display their decency when the highest UN court had given a clear order in keeping with the principles of justice.

We get another chance to examine Samantha Power’s insistence on Sri Lanka’s decency when we consider how the people in Okinawa voted in the last month to relocate the US Naval base which many Japanese in Okinawa do consider as a burden on the small islands. They voted for relocation.But, the US will stay put against the majority wish registered at the polls. Again, we are faced with the dilemma of the Western mindset.

” The ides of March, Yes but they are not gone”

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ ප්‍රමුඛ විපක්ෂයේ ඒකාබද්ධ මැයිදින රැළිය මෙවර බොරැල්ල කැම්බල් පිටියේ පැවැත්විමට තීරණය කර ඇත.

මේ සදහා ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොලීසියේ එකගතාවය මත කොළඹ නගර සභාවට මුදල් ‌ගෙවා පිටිය වෙන්කර ගැනීමට ද ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ පියවර ගෙන තිබේ.

මැයි දින පැවැත්වීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ප්‍රධාන දේශපාලන පක්ෂ නියෝජිතයින්ගේ සහභාගීත්වයෙන් කොළඹ දිසාව භාර නියෝජ්‍ය පොලිස්පති ලලිත් පතිනායක මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්නවයෙන් අද කොළඹදී රැස්වීමක් පැවැතිනි.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ නියෝජනය කරමින් සබරගමුව හිටපු පලාත් සභා මන්ත්‍රී කාංචන ජයරත්න, ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ නියෝජනය කරමින් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී නලින්ද ජයතිස්ස , එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය නියෝජනය කරමින් එක්සත් ජාතිකපක්ෂයේ පාලක ලේකම් ෂමාල් සෙනරත්, පෙරටුගාමී සමාජවාදී පක්ෂය නියෝජනය කරමින් දුමින්ද නාගමුව, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය නියෝජනය කරමින් මහින්ද සමරවීර මහතාගේ පුද්ගලික ලේකම්වරයාත් මේ අවස්ථාවට එක්විය. කොළඹ නගරයේ ක්‍රිඩාපිටි අයත් වන කොළඹ නගර සභාව හා වරාය අධිකාරිය නියෝජනය කරමින් විධායක නිලධාරීන් කිහිප දෙනෙක්ද මේ අවස්ථාවට එක්විය.

එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය වෙනත් වර්ෂවල කැම්බල් පිටියේ මැයි දින රැළිය පවත්වන නමුත් මෙවර මැයි දිනය සම්බන්ධව අවසන් එකගතාවලට පැමිණ නැති බැවින් පක්ෂය සමග සාකච්ඡා නොකර මැයි දිනය පැවැත්වෙන ස්ථානයක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ප්‍රකාශ කළ නොහැකි බව එක්සත් ජාතිකපක්ෂයේ නියෝජිතයා සදහන් කලේය.

මෙහිදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණත් සිය පක්ෂවල මැයි දින රැළිය පැවැත්වීම සදහා කැම්බල් පිටිය ඉල්ලා සිටියේය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ මේ වන විටත් කැම්බල් පිටියේ මැයි දින රැළිය පැවැත්වීමට අවසර දෙන ලෙස කොළඹ නගර සභාවෙන් ලිඛීතව ඉල්ලීමක් පවා කර ඇති බව එහිදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ නයෝජනය කරමින් සහභාගි වූ කාංචන ජයරත්න මහතා පෙන්වා දුන්නේය. අවසනායේ සියලු පක්ෂ සමග සාකච්ඡා කිරීමෙන් අනතුරුව මේ වන විටත් මැයි දිනය පැවැත්වීමට කැම්බල් පිටිය වෙන් කරවා ගැනිම සදහා ඉල්ලීම් කර ඇති ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණට කැම්බල් පිටිය වෙන් කර ගැනීමේ බාධාවක් නැති බව නියෝජ්‍ය පොලිස්පතිවරයා සදහන් කර ඇත.

ඒ අනුව අප්‍රියෙල් මස 29, 30 හා මැයි 01 යන දිනයන් සදහා මුදල් ගෙවා කැම්බල් පිටිය වෙන් කර ගැනීමට කාංචන ජයරත්න මහතා පියවර ගෙන තිබේ.

ඒ අනුව ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ, මහජන එක්සත් පෙරමුණ, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කොමියුනිස්ට් පක්ෂය, ලංකා සමසමාජ පක්ෂය, ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී වාමාංශික පෙරමුණ ඇතුලු විපක්ෂයේ පක්ෂ රැසක සහභාගීත්වයෙන් මෙවර මැයි දිනය කැම්බල් පිටියේදි පැවැත්වේ.

මානව හිමිකම් මුවාවෙන් කෙරෙන රණවිරු දඩයමට, මැතිවරණ කල් දැමීමට, ඒකිය රට දෙකඩ කරන ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝදනවලට එරෙහිව හා සියලු ජාත්‍යන්තර මැදිහත්වීම්වලට එරෙහිව ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් ‌කොමිෂම ඉදිරිපිට මාර්තු 10 ඉරිදා සවස 1ට පැවැත්වෙන උද්ඝෝෂණය සදහා මහාචාර්ය චන්න ජයසුමන මහතා සහභාගි වෙයි.

ඒ සදහා චන්න ජයසුමන මහතා  හෙට පිටත්ව යන අතර ශ්‍රී ලාංකිය දේශප්‍රේමි ජනතාව සමග අත්වැල් බැදගනිමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට එරෙහි ජාත්‍යන්තර මැදිහත්විම් වලට විරෝධයදැක්වීම සදහා එළැඹෙන බදාදා රියද් අද්මිරාල් සරත් වීරසේකර මහතාද පිටත්වීමට නියමිතය.

මාධ්‍ය සාකච්ඡාව  ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ

අද දින (08* මාධ්‍යහමුවට සහභාගි වූ නියෝජිතයින්
පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී කනක හේරත් මහතා
 පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී ඩි. වි. චානක මහතා
 පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී කාංචන විජේසේකර මහතා

 පාසල් දරුවෝ 14ටත් ඉටුනොවෙන සිහිනයක් පෙන්නලා
 කෘෂිකර්මය විනාශ කරපු මොඞ් ගොවියා කියනවා පරාක‍්‍රමබාහු රජුට පස්සේ තමන්ලූ රට ස්වයංපෝෂිත කලේ.
 ජැක් පොට් වගේ කැස්නෝ ගමට ගෙනිහින් ගමේ සූදුව නිතිගත කරලා ගමේ සුදුවෙනුත් බදු ගහන්න රැුජිනෝ කියලා එකක් ගේන්න සූදානම් වෙන්නේ.
ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ වැය ශීර්ෂය පරාජය කලොත් වෙන දේ දන්න නිසා අගමැතිවරයා ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ වැය ශීර්ෂය පරාජය කරන්න දෛන්නේ නැහැ

 පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී කනක හේරත් මහතා
මංගල සමරවිර මුදල් ඇමැතිවරයා කිව්වා මේ අයවැය මැතිවරණයක් ඉලක්ක කරගත්ත අයවැයක් නොවන බව. ආණ්ඩුව මේ කපේට මැතිවරණයක් තියන සුදානමක් නැති නිසා අපිටත් ඒකට එකග වෙන්න සිද්ධ වෙනවා. ඔක්තෝම්බර් මාසයේ ප‍්‍රකාශ කිරිමට නියමිත ජනාධිපතිවරණය කල් දාන්නත් නොයෙකුත් උපක‍්‍රම භාවිතා කරමින් ඉන්නේ. මේ අයවැය තරුණ පරපුර සිහින ලොවකට ගෙන යන අයවැයක්. රටේ ණය බර වැඩි වෙනවා වගේම ජනතාවගේ ජිවිතත් ණය බරින් පුරවන අයවැයක්. හෝම් ස්විට් හෝම්, සිහින මාලිගා, වගේ සුන්දර වචනවලින් පිරුණු අයවැයක්. දරුවෝ 14ට ලෝකයේ ඉදිරියෙන්ම තියෙන විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවලට යවන්න මිලියන 500ක් වෙන්කරලා. මෙහෙ උසස්පෙල ඒ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවල පිළීගන්නේ නැහැ. එහේ තියෙන විභාගවලට පෙනි සිටින්න අවශ්‍යයි. දරුවා විභාගයට පෙනී හිදලා අමත් වුනොත් ඒ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවලින් අවස්ථාව ලැබෙන්නේ ඊළග දරුවාටයි. අපේ විශ්ව විද්‍යාල තියෙන්නේ ශේණිගතවල පහළ මට්ටමක. මේ මුදල් අපේ විශ්ව විද්‍යාල දියුණු කරන්න යෙදවූවා නම් මීට වඩා හොදයි. මේකත් දරුවෝ 14කට ලබා දෙන පොරොන්දුවකට සීමා වුනු සිහිනයක්.
කෘෂිකර්මය විනාශ කරපු මොඞ් ගොවියා කියනවා පරාක‍්‍රමබාහු රජුට පස්සේ තමන්ලූ රට ස්වයංපෝෂිත කලේ. රටේ කෘෂිකර්මය මුලූමනින්ම විනාශ කලා. ජැක් පොට් වගේ කැස්නෝ ගමට ගෙනිහින් ගමේ සූදුව නිතිගත කරලා ගමේ සුදුවෙනුත් බදු ගහන්න රැුජිනෝ කියලා එකක් ගේන්න සූදානම් වෙන්නේ. 2019 අයවැයෙන් බදු බර සියයට 21කින් වැඩිවෙලා. ජනතාවගෙන් ආදායමක් උපයාගන්නවා මිස ජනතාවට කිසිම සහනයක් නැති අයවැයක්.
එජාප පසුපෙල කණ්ඩායම කියනවා ජනාධිපතිගේ වැය ශීර්ෂය පරාජය කරනවා කියලා. අපිට මේකට සහාය දීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවයක් කොහෙත්ම නැහැ. අපි දන්නවා අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ වැය ශීර්ෂය පරාජය නොකරන බව. අගමැතිවරයා දන්නවා මේකට විරුද්ධවුනොත් වෙන දේ. අපි මේ චන්ඩි මන්ත‍්‍රීවරුන්ට අබියෝග කරනවා පුලූවන්නම් පරාජය කරලා පෙන්වන්න කියලා. දෙමල සන්දානය අයවැයේ තීරණාත්මක සාධකයක්. ආන්ඩුවට බහුතරයක් නැහැ. අයවැයෙන් උතුරේ ජනතාවටත් බදු ගහලා. උතුරේ ජනතාව ගැන හිතලා ඡුන්දය දෙන්න කියලා අපි දෙමල ජාතික සන්ධානයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා. ඒ වගේම ටොරිංටන් නෝනා ශ‍්‍රීලනිප මන්ත‍්‍රීවරු 6ක් එක්ක අයවැයට සහාය දෙන්න සූදානම්වෙන බව අපිට සාක්ෂි සහිතව ඔප්පු වෙලා තියෙනවා. ඊ.ටී.අයි ගිවිසුමේ ඩොලර් කුට්ටිය ගිලීමේ ප‍්‍රතිවිපාක තමයි මේ ගිලින්නේ. අපි ශ‍්‍රීලනිප මන්ත‍්‍රීවරුන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා මේ සහගහන අයවැයට සහාය දෙන්න ගිහින් තමන්ගේ දේශපාලන ජිවිතය විනාශ කරගන්න එපා කියලා ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා. අද වරප‍්‍රසාදවලට මුදලට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ඉන්න නායකයෝ එහාට මෙහාට වෙනවා. ඊ. ටි. අයි ඩොලර් ටික නිසා මන්ත‍්‍රීවරු වෙන දිහාකට ගෙනියනවා. සම්බන්ධන් මහත්තයාට නිවාස වාහන දීලා ඡුන්ද ගන්න බලනවා. දැන් මෙහෙම නම් විධායක ජනාධිපතිධූරය අහෝසි කලාම පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ තියෙන තත්ත්වය මොකක්ද. අගමැතිවරයාට වෙන්නේ රට ඉදිරියට ගෙනියන්න නෙවෙයි. පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රීවරු පිනවිමට කටයුතු කර කර ඉන්නයි වෙන්නේ. මේ අයවැය හදලා තියෙන්නේ කොකේන් ගහලා ඒකට මත්වෙලා සිහින ලෝකෙක ඉන්න වෙලාවක. ඒ නිසා මම මේක නම් කරන්නේ කොකේන් අයවැයක් විදියටයි.
ඩි. වි. චානක මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයා තංගල්ල පොලිස් අධිකාරී ලක්ෂිත ගීතාල් කියන මහත්මයා ගැන පැමිණිල්ලක් කළා. මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයාගේ වාහනයට පොඩි දෙයක් දාන්න කියලා ඔහු තරුණයෙක්ගෙන් ඉල්ලිමක් කරලා තිබුණා. මේ පොලිස් නිලධාරියාම තිලිණ කසුන් කියන තරුණයා අනිසි ලෙස රදවා ගෙන ගහලා ජි. වී. චානක හා ඔහුගේ පියා ඝාතනයකට සම්බන්ධයි කියලා රජයේ සාක්ෂිකාරයෙක් විදියට සම්බන්ධ වෙන්න කියනවා. මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අපි පැමිණිලි කළා. මෙවැනි කටයුතු වලට පොලිස් බලතල භාවිතා කිරීම සම්බන්දයෙන් පරික්ෂණය කරන තුරු හෝ මේ පොලිස් අධිකාරිවරයා ඒ ප‍්‍රදේශයෙන් ඉවත් කරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.

x අයවැයෙන් කරලා තියෙන්නේ තරුණයා රැුවටීමයි
x ගුවන්තොටුපලේ වී ගබඩා ගරපු අයට සංවර්ධනය පිළීබදව දැක්මක් නැහැ.
x හම්බන්තොට දිස්ත‍්‍රික්කයේ ලක්ෂයකට වැසිකිලි පහසුකම් නැති කතාව සෘජුවම සජිත් ප්‍රෙමදාස මහතාට කරපු චෝදනාවක්.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී ඩි. වි. චානක මහතා
රණවිරුවන් 30000 ජිවිත දීලා 60000ක් ආබාධිත වෙලා, දේපල හානිවෙලා ලබපු යුද්ධයකින් අපේ රට ජය ගත්තේ. එදා රණවිරුවා දෙවියකේ ලෙස සැලකුවා. අද ඒ රණවිරුවාව මිනි මරුවෙක්කියලා හංවඩු ගහලා මානව හිමිකම් කඩපු කණ්ඩායමක් ලෙස නම් කරන්න මේ ආන්ඩුව උත්සාහ කරනවා. ආන්ඩුව දුන්න පොරොන්දු ඉෂ්ට කරන්න රණවිරුවන්ගෙන් පලි ගන්න හදනවා. ලෝක ඉතිහාසයේ පළමු වතාවට තමන්ගේ රටට විරුද්ධව මානව හිමිකම් කොමිෂමට ඇමරිකාවත් එක්ක එකතු වෙලා යෝජනාවක් ගෙනාව. දැන් ඇමරිකාව යෝජනාවෙන් ඉවත් වෙලා. ලොව අංක එකට බලවත් රාජ්‍යයක් අස්වෙනවා නම් ඇයි අපි අස්වෙන්නේ නැත්තේ. ඒ වෙනුවට ඇමරිකාව නැත්නම් එංගලන්තය එක්ක එකතු වෙලා යෝජනාව ගේන්න හදන්නේ ජනාධිපතිවරයා විරුද්ධ වෙලා තියෙන අවස්ථාවකයි.
සුමන්දිරන් මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයා මාස තුනකට කලින් රටේ අධීකරණය ස්වාධීනයි කිව්වා. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට විරුද්ධව ජනාධිපතිවරයා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරවිමට ගත්ත තිරණයට විරුද්ධව කටයුතු කරන කොට අධීකරණය ස්වාධීනයි. ඇයි අපේ රට තුල පරීක්ෂණ නොකර පිටරට සහාය ගන්නේ. මේවා තමයි කුමන්ත‍්‍රණ. ආන්ඩුවට අයවැය සම්මත කරගන්න දෙමල සන්ධානයේ සහාය අවශ්‍ය වෙලා තියෙනවා. ඒ සදහා කරන්නාගොඩ හිටපු නාවික හමුදාපතිතුමා බිල්ලට දෙන්න හැදුවත් අධිකරණයේ මැදිහත් වීම නිසා ඒකත් කරන්න බැරි වුනා. දැන් එංගලන්තය එක්ක හරි රටට විරුද්ධව යෝජනාවක් ගෙනත් සම්මත කරගන්න හදන්නේ දෙමල සන්දනාය පිනවන්න. ජනාධිපතිතුමාගෙන් ජනතාවගෙන් අපි ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා මෙයට විරුද්ධ වෙන්න කියලා. අයවැය පාස්කරගන්න රට පාවාදිමක් විදියටයි අපි මෙය දකින්නේ.
අයවැය එනකල් ජනතාව බලන් ඉන්නවා.මෙවර අයවැය කතාවවත් ජනතාව ඇහුවේ නැහැ. ගියවර අයවැයේ වැඩපිළීවෙලේ ක‍්‍රියාත්මකවීම සියයට 50යි. එහෙම නම් මාස හයට ගේන අයවැයෙන් සියයට 25ක්වත් ඉෂ්ට කරගන්න බැහැ. එදා දුන්න ෆී වයි ෆයි පුංචි කාර් සිහින අද නිවාස සිහින ගෙනත්. කරන්නේ තරුණයාව රැුවටිමයි. රැුකියා විරහිත උපාධීධාරින්ට රැුකියා ලැබෙන වැඩපිීලවෙලක් මේ අයවැයේ නැහැ. එහෙම නම් සාමාන්‍ය පෙල උසස් පෙල සමත් වෙන අයට මොකද වෙන්නේ. අද 2500කින් පඩු වැඩි කරද්දි බදු වලින් රු.6000ක් විතර ආපහු ගන්නවා. පඩියෙන් ලබා ගන්න පුලූවන් භාණ්ඩ හා සේවා බැලූවම එතන 20000ක් විතර බදු. ඒ නිසා මුර්ත වැටුප අඩු වෙනවා. මේකට හේතුව ට‍්‍රිලියන 2කින් බදු වැඩිවිමයි.
සභානායකවරයාගේ අයවැය පිළීබද කතාවෙන් උත්සාහ කලේ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සංවර්ධනය කලේ නිවසට යන්න හයි වේ එකක් හදාගන්න. හයිහම්බන්තොටට වරායක් හදාගන්න. එතුමාගේ දිස්ත‍්‍රික්කයට ගුවන් තොටුපලක් හදාගන්න. ඒක තමයි මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ වැඩපිළීවෙල කියලා කියන්න උත්සාහ කළා. නමුත් කිරිඇල්ල මහත්තයා දන්නේ නැති වුනාට 2004 දි රනිල් වික‍්‍රමසිංහ මහත්තයා හම්බන්තොට වරාය පිළීබද සක්‍යතා වාර්තාව ගන්නවා. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහත්තයා නැවතත් 2007 දි සත්‍යතා වාර්තාවක් ගන්නවා. ඒ අනුව සුදුසුයි කියපු නිසයි හම්බන්තොට වරාය හදන්නේ.
දිර්ඝකාලින වැඩපිළීවලෙක් තිබුණ නිසයි හයිවේ එක ගියේ. එහෙම නැතුව මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහත්තයාට යන්න නෙවේ. මේකේ පළවෙනි අධියර විදියටයි බෙලි අත්තට හයිවේ එක ගියේ. ගුවන් තොටුපල කර්මාන්ත පුරය වරාය යා කරලා තමයි මේ හයිවේ එක හදන්න ගියේ. කිරිඇල්ල මහත්තයාලාට මේවා තේරෙන්නේ නැහැ. ගුවන්තොටුපලේ වී ගබඩා ගරපු අයට සංවර්ධනය පිළීබදව දැක්මක් නැහැ. අද යාපනයට හයිවේ එක හදනවාලූ. අද වෙද්දි කඩවත ඉදන් හයිවේ එක දිගු කරගන්න බැරිවෙලා ඉන්නේ.
මංගල සමරවීර කිව්වා හම්බන්තොට දිස්ත‍්‍රික්කයේ ලක්ෂයකට වැසිකිලි පහසුකම් නැතිලූ. හබ්න්තොට දිස්ත‍්‍රික්කයේ ජනතාවගෙන් සියයට 50ට වැසිකිලි නැති බවයි මේ කියන්නේ. සජිත් පේ‍්‍රමදාස මහත්තයාගේ දිස්ත‍්‍රික්කයේ මේ ප‍්‍රශ්නය වසර හතරක් තිස්සේ විසදුවේ නැත්තේ ඇයි. එදා සජිත් ප්‍රෙමදාස මැතිතුමා ප‍්‍රචාරණ කටයුතු වලට වියදම් කරපු මිලියන 600 පාවිච්චි කළා නම් වැසිකිලි 25000ක් නොමිලේ හදලා දෙන්න තිබුණා. මේ ආන්ඩුවට ජනතාවට වැඩ කරන්න වුවමනාවක් නැහැ. මේක මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට කරපු චෝදනාවක් නෙවෙයි. සෘජුවම සජිත් පෙුමදාස මහතාට කරපු චෝදනාවක්.
උපාධීධාරින් බදවා ගැනීමේ ක‍්‍රමවේදයකට මුදල් වෙන්කරලා තියෙන්නේ කොතැනද කියලා අපි ආන්ඩුවෙන් අහනවා.

x විදෙස් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවල ශිෂ්‍යත්ව දෛන කතාව ජාත්‍යන්තර පාසල්වල ඉගෙනුම ලබන සිසුන් ශිෂ්‍යත්ව හරහා විදේශ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවලට ඇතුළත් කිරීමේ ක‍්‍රමවේදයක්ද කියලා අපිට සැකයක් තියෙනවා.
x දේශපාලනීකරණය වුනු පොලිසිය ස්වාධීන කරන්න කියලත් අපි ජනාධිපතිවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.
පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී කාංචන විජේසේකර මහතා
ආන්ඩුවේ අවසාන අයවැය යෝජනාවෙන් තරුණ ඡුන්ද දිනාගැනීම හා තරුණයින් ඉලක්ක කරගනිමින් යෝජනා ගෙනත් තියෙනවා. මේ යෝජනා ක‍්‍රියත්මක කරන්න මුදල් හැකියාවක් ආන්ඩුවට නැහැ. වසර 5ක් තිස්සේ තරුණ පරපුරට දුන්න පොරොන්දුම තමයි මෙවරත් ඉදිරිපත්කරලා තියෙන්නේ. රැුකියා දසලක්ෂයක් බිහි කරනවා කිව්වට ඉදිරිපත් කරපු අයවැය ලේඛණ පහ ඇතුලේ ඒ සදහා මුදල් වෙන් වෙන්නේ කොහොමද රැුකියා උත්සාදනය වෙන්නේ කොහොමද කියලා සදහන් වෙලා නැහැ. අපේ ආන්ඩුව 2013 වන විට හිටපු සියලූ උපාධිධාර්න පාට පක්ෂ බේදයකින් තොරව රාජ්‍ය යාන්ත‍්‍රණයට ඇතුළත් කර ගත්තා. මේ ආන්ඩුව බලයට පත්වුනාට පස්සේ තවත් උපාධීධාරීන් 70000ක් පමණ බිහිවෙලා. පළාත්පාලන මැතිවරණයට පෙර සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡුෘවලට ගෙනත්, අගමැතිවරයා හා ජනාධීපතිවරයා පසුගිය වසර අවසානයට පෙර උපාධීධාරින් රාජ්‍ය සේවයට ඇතුළත් කර ගන්න බවට පොරොන්දු වුනා. නමුත් රාජ්‍ය සේවයට ඇතුලත් කර ගත්තේ පක්ෂ පාට අනුව බලලා 5000ක් පමණ පිරිසක්. මේ අයවැයේ උපාධීධාරින් බදවා ගැනීමේ ක‍්‍රමවේදයකට මුදල් වෙන්කරලා තියෙන්නේ කොතැනද කියලා අපි ආන්ඩුවෙන් අහනවා.
විශිෂ්ට ප‍්‍රතිඵල ලබන 14කට වදේශ විශ්වවිද්‍යාල දෙනවලූ. අපේ උසස්පෙල විභාගයෙන් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවලට ඇතුලත් කර ගන්නවා වගේ විදේශ විශව විද්‍යාලවලටත් අනන්‍ය වු ළමුන් ඇතුළත් කර ගැනීමේ ක‍්‍රමවේදයක් තියෙනවා. මේ කරන්නේ ජාත්‍යන්තර පාසල්වල ඉගෙනුම ලබන සිසුන් ශිෂ්‍යත්ව හරහා විදේශ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවලට ඇතුළත් කිරීමේ ක‍්‍රමවේදයක්ද කියලා අපිට සැකයක් තියෙනවා. රවි කරුණානයක ඇමැතිතුමත් මිට පෙර මේ විදියට මේ යෝජනාවම ඉදිරිපත් කළා. එක ශිෂ්‍යයෙක්ටවත් ඒ ශිෂ්‍යත්වය දුන්නාද කියලා අපි අහන්න කැමැතියි. විශෟව විද්‍යාලයට ඇතුලත් වෙන ශිෂ්‍යයන්ට ගිය අවුරුද්දේ ලක්ෂ 8ක ණයක් දෙන යෝජනාවක් ඉදිරිපත් කළා. ඒ යෝජනාවම මේ පාරත් ගෙනත්. එක දරැුවෙක්ට ඒ ණය දිලා තියෙනවාද. හෝම් ස්විට් හෝම් ණයයෝජනා ක‍්‍රමය මගින් කරන්නේ තරුණ තරුණියන් මුලා කිරීමයි. අයවැය කතාවේ පිටු අංක 72 යටතේ හෝම් ස්විට් හෝම් ණය යෝජනා ක‍්‍රමයගැන කියැවෙන තැන තියෙනවා උපරිම ණය සීමාව ලක්ෂ 100යි. වාර්ෂික පොලී අනුපාතකය පළමු වසර පහ සදහා සියයට 12යි. සහනාධාර පොලි අනුපාතිකය පළමු වසර පහ සදහා සියයට 40යි. ණය ලාභින් සදහා ගෙවිය යුතු පොලිය සියයට 5යි. වරහන් ඇතුලේ තියෙනවා සහනාදාරය ගෙවන්නේ පළමු වසර 5 සදහා විතරයි කියාල. ඉතිරි වසර 20 රටේ තියෙන පොලී අනුපාතය අනුවයි ගෙවන්න වෙන්නේ. ණය පහුකම අරන් වසර 5කින් වෙන් වෙන්නත් මේකෙන් ප‍්‍රතිපාදන තියෙනවාග ණය ගෙවා ගන්න බැරිව. අපේ ආන්ඩුව දෙන වෙලාවේ හම්බන්තොට වරාය, මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපල , නොරොච්චෝලේ බලාගාරය වගේ දේවලූත් රටට දායාද කරලා තිබුනේ ණය තිබුනේ රු. බිලියන 7391යි. අද වෙද්දි ණය බිලියන 12000ට ආසන්නයි. ඒත් කරපු දෙයක් නැහැ. මුදල් ඇමැතිතුමා පහුගිය අයවැයේදි විශේෂ ප‍්‍රකාශයක් කරමින් කිව්වා අපු සහන දෙනවා නෙවෙයි බිලීපිත්තක් දෙනවා මාලූ අල්ල ගන්න කියලා. මේ අයවැයෙන් කරලා තියෙන්නේ බෙල්ලට තෙන්ඩුවක් දා ගන්න කඹයක් දිපු එකයි.
ඞී. වි . චානක මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයාට සජිත් ප්‍රෙමදාස පාර්ශවයෙන් චෝදනා එල්ල වෙන්න ගත්තා. තොරතුරු පනත යටතේ නිවාස අමාත්‍යංශයේ තොරතුරු සෑහෙන ප‍්‍රමාණයක් ඩි. වි චානක මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයා එළි කළා.
එජාපයේ පසුපෙල මන්ත‍්‍රීවරු හිතාගෙන හිටියේ සජිත් ප්‍රෙමදාස කියන්නේ ඊලග පක්ෂ නායකයා කියලයි. සත්‍ය හෙළිදරව් වෙද්දි චානක මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයාට එරෙහිව පොලීසිය යොදාගනිමින් කුමන්ත‍්‍රණයක් දියත් වුනා කියලා අපිට සැකයි. ජවිපේ දේශපාලන මණඩල සභික ලාල් කාන්ත ඇප ලබලා එළියට ඇවිත් මේ රටේ පොලීසියට අවහ්‍ය නම් ගොරකා දඩ මස් කරන්නත් දඩ මස් ගොරකා කරන්නත් පුලූවන් කිව්වා. ඒ ජවිපේ දේශපාලන මණඩල සභිකයෙක් කරපු ප‍්‍රකාහ්‍යක්. ජනාධිපති හා හිටපු ආරක්ෂක ලේකම් ඝාතන කුමන්ත‍්‍රණයක් ගැන එළියට එන වෙලාවෙදි ආන්ඩුවේ පාර්ශවයෙන් කිව්වේ මඩ ගහන්න කියන දේවල් කිව්වා. නමුත් නිතිපතිවරයා කියනවා ත‍්‍රස්තවිමර්ශන ඒකකය භාරව හිටපු පොලිස්පතිවරයා හිටපු ආරක්ෂක ලේකම්වරයා හා ජනාධීපතිවරයා ඝාතන කුමන්ත‍්‍රණයක් ක‍්‍රියාත්මක වුන බවට තොරතුරු තියෙන බව .ඒ නිසා පොලීසිය ගැන අපිට සැකයි. මේ වගේ තත්ත්වයක් යටතේ අපිට සැකයි චානක මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයා විතරක් නෙවෙයි ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ සියලූම මන්ත‍්‍රීවරැුන්ට එරෙහිව පොලිසය ඇතුලෙන් මේ කුමන්ත‍්‍රණය දියත් වෙයිද කියලා. අපේ මන්ත‍්‍රීවරුන්ගේ ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කරන්න. දේශපාලනීකරණය වුනු පොලිසිය ස්වාධීන කරන්න කියලත් අපි ජනාධිපතිවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.
සුමන්දිරන් මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයා අගමැතිවරයාගෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී ඉල්ලීමක් කළා. ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ හිතේ තියෙන සත්‍ය මතයත් මේ වෙද්දි නිකුත් වෙලා තියෙද්දි අය වැය දිනාගන්න සහාය දෙන්න අල්ලසක්ද දුන්නේ කියලා. ඒ වගේම ඇමරිකානු තානාපතිවරයි උතුරු නැගෙනහිර සංචාරයකින් පස්සේ කිව්වා යෝජනාවේ තියෙන කාරණ ඉෂ්ට කරන්න බැදිලා ඉන්න බව. ඇමරිකාවට එරෙහිව පරික්ෂණ කරද්දි ඔවුන්ට එරෙහිව ස්වාධින පරීක්ෂණ වෙන්නේ නැහැ කියලා ඉවත්වුනු ඇමරිකාව යි මෙහෙම කියන්නේ. ඇමරිකාවට ඉවත් වෙන්න පුලූවන් නම් ජනාධීපතිතුමාගේ නියෝජිතයින් හරහා ලිඛිත ඉල්ලීමක් කරන්න ලංකාව යෝජනාවෙන් ඉවත් වෙන බවට. හිටපු විපක්ෂ නායක සම්බන්ධන් මහතාට නිල නිවාස වාහන දෙකක් දෙන්න කැබිනට් පත‍්‍රිකාවක් නිකුත් වෙලා. අපි 54ක් විපක්ෂයේ කතා කිරීමේ අයිතිය ඉල්ලූවත් අපේ අයිතීන් පිළීබද කතානායක හෝ එදා විපක්ෂ නායක අවධානය යොමු කලේ නැහැ. පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයෙක් විදියට පහසුකම්දීම ගැන අපේ විරෝධයක් නැහැ. නමුත් මේ පහසුකම් නිසා ජනාතවගේ අයිතීන් පාවා දෙන්න එපා. ආන්ඩුවෙන් පත් කරපු විපක්ෂනායකවරයෙක් කියන හැගීමයි පුහුගිය කාලයෙ එතුමා සම්බන්ධයෙන් තිබුනේ.
මාධ්‍ය -උපාධීයක් අරන් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයෙන් පිටවෙන ශිෂ්‍යයින්ට රජයේ රැුකියා දිය යුතුද
කාංචන විජේසේකර – නැහැ . එහෙම දෙයක් නැහැ. නමුත් අපි කතාකරන්නේ ආන්ඩුවෙන් දුන්න පොරොන්දුවක් සම්බන්ධයෙන්. ජනතාවට ඒ පොරොන්දුව දුන්නේ ආන්ඩුව. 2017 රනිල් වික‍්‍රමසිංහ අගමැතිතුමා කිව්වා උපාධීදාරීන් රාජ්‍ය සේවයට අන්තර්ග‍්‍රහණයකරන බව කිව්වා. රජයේ රැුකියාවක් දෙන්න කියලා දෙයක් නැහැ. නමුත් ඒ පොරොන්දුව ගැන තරුණ තරුණයින් තුල බලාපොරොත්තුවක් ඇති වුනා.
කනක හේරත් – සියයට 70ක් කලා විෂයන්ගෙන් උපාධිය ගත්තාම පාරට බහින්න වෙන්නේ. ඒ නිසා අපි 2015ට පෙර මේ ක‍්‍රමය වෙනස් කරලා තාක්ෂණ විෂයන් පාසලට ඇතුලත් කලා.තාක්ෂණ විෂයට වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමු කලොත් මේ රටේ විතරක් නෙවෙයි විදේශ රටවලත් රැුකියා තියෙනවා. මහින්දෝදය නම නිසා පාසල් 1000 වැඩපිීලවෙල නතර කලා.විද්‍යා අංශය හා ඉංජානේරු කියලා තාක්ෂණ විෂයන්ද මහින්දෝදය විද්‍යාගාරවල තිබුණා.
මාධ්‍ය – මේ සියල්ලට මුල නිසි ප‍්‍රතිපත්තියක් නොතිබීම නේද
කනක හේරත් – අපි ආන්ඩුවක් හදන්න කලින් ප‍්‍රතිපත්ති මාලාවක් හදනවා. අධ්‍යාපන, සෙක්‍ය, ගමනාගමන හැම අංශයක්ම ගැන විශේෂඡුයෝ මේ වෙද්දි සාකච්ඡුා කරනවා. ඊට පස්සේ ඔවුන් හා දේශපානඥයෝ සමග සකච්ඡුාවක් පැවැත්වෙනවා. සැම දෙයක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ප‍්‍රතිපත්තියක් තිබුය යුතුයි කියලා අපි විශ්වාස කරනවා.
කාංචන විජේසේකර – දැන් තියෙන්නේ ආන්ඩු වෙනස් වෙනකොට වෙනස් වෙන ප‍්‍රතිපත්තියක් විතරක් නෙවෙයි. ඇමැතිවරු වෙනස් වෙද්දිත් වෙනස් වෙන ප‍්‍රතිපත්තියක්. මේ ක‍්‍රමවේදයන් නැති විය යුතුයි.

By  D.B.S. Jeyaraj Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Gota would’ve been a political casualty if MR-MS’ Oct. 26 coup succeeded
Imperative for Rajapaksas to pick candidate with best chance of winning

Is former President Mahinda Rajapaksa playing fair by his younger brother Gotabaya as far as the presidential election candidate issue is concerned? This question has popped up in the minds of many observers of Sri  Lanka’s political landscape in recent times. Although the Rajapaksa brothers present an outward image of monolithic unity, the political grapevine has hummed many times about strong political differences existing within the ‘Kurakkan Sataka’ clan. This has been particularly so in the case of a family decision on publicly announcing the candidate for the presidential election this year.

While it is unofficially” presumed that Gotabaya Rajapaksa is the chosen candidate, the fact remains that the former defence secretary is yet to receive the green light from sibling Mahinda officially.” This is all the more striking because Gotabaya has been going ahead resolutely with the spadework necessary for being a presidential contender in 2019. This gives rise to the belief that Mahinda has already sanctioned Gota’s candidacy and will announce it at the right time. What jars however are some acts of commission and omission by Mahinda that seem to run contrary to the ‘Gota as presidential candidate’ project. This makes many feel – though few have dared to express it openly – that the Medamulana Machiavelli” may be having other ideas and is not playing fair by Gota in a political sense.

Of course it must be said that a powerful segment of pro-Rajapaksa loyalists would pooh-pooh” these doubts. They would say – and are saying – that there are no chinks in the Rajapaksa armour and that the family is marching to a single drum.” There may be minor points of disagreement among family members but they are all firmly united on the presidential candidacy issue. Mahinda being politically astute is only biding his time to make the announcement at the right time. He may be wanting to protect Gotabaya from being politically persecuted” by delaying the announcement. Furthermore, there are some who opine that the Rajapaksas are projecting an image of dissension and division as a political tactic to put opponents off their guard. At the right time the Rajapaksas would announce Gota’s candidacy and close ranks behind him.

With the ex-President being debarred from contesting the presidency again, it is of utmost importance that the candidate endorsed by him should romp home the winner. A defeat would result in the eventual decline and fall of the Ruhunu Rajapaksas 

One obvious factor that cannot be ignored in the current scenario is the political desperation of the Rajapaksa dynasty, particularly Mahinda. With the ex-President being debarred from contesting the presidency again, it is of the utmost importance that the candidate endorsed by him should romp home the winner. A defeat would result in the eventual decline and fall of the Ruhunu Rajapaksas. Right now, the Rajapaksa camp candidate with the best possible chance of winning the poll seems to be Gotabaya Nandasena Rajapaksa. A Gotabaya victory would ensure the consolidation and preservation of the Rajapaksa family’s political fortunes. Hence, the family has no option but to rally around Gotabaya in the final analysis. Those rooting for Gota would subscribe to the above stated view. Indeed, Gota himself has been operating on that premise.

THE TREE DESIRES TO REMAIN STILL BUT THE WINDS WON’T STOP” 
In fairness to Gotabaya, it must be said that the ex-defence secretary was not a person who wanted to contest the presidential elections willingly. Having lived in the USAfor many years and gained citizenship there was every chance that Gota may have opted to retire” peacefully to California and fade away gradually from Sri Lankan politics. That did not happen. There is a Chinese idiom; The tree desires to remain still but the winds won’t stop.” In Gotabaya’s case, his decision to enter active politics was greatly influenced by the political adversaries of the Rajapaksa family. The 19th Constitutional Amendment was the primary cause.

19A reversed the 18th Amendment by restricting the presidential terms of office to two. Since Mahinda Rajapaksa had served two terms as president, he was disqualified from contesting the elections again. This was the first blow. The 19th Amendment also debarred dual citizens from contesting presidential and parliamentary polls. This rendered Mahinda’s brothers Basil and Gotabaya ineligible to contest. This was the second blow. 19A also raised the age limit to be President. Earlier, it was 30 but now it was 35. Mahinda’s eldest son Namal was born in 1986. As such, he would only be 33 in 2019 and therefore cannot seek the presidency even if he wanted to. This was the third blow.

The 19th Amendment was seen by the Rajapaksas as one that targeted the family. With Mahinda being Constitutionally debarred from contesting the presidency again, it appeared that the political fortunes of Ruhunu Rajapaksas were on the wane. A number of inquiries probing the alleged corruption and abuse of power by various Rajapaksa family members were initiated. Cases were filed in court and a few Rajapaksas like Basil and Namal were even imprisoned for short periods. Gotabaya continues to wage many legal battles to ward off arrest and potential detention.

The pre-emptive strike by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government of yore to prevent the potential presidential candidacy of Gota proved counter-productive. In a rather convoluted sense, it amounted to a self-fulfilling prophecy. There was pressure on Gotabaya to enter the political fray directly by family and party. This mounting pressure was further enhanced by an influential section of society consisting of retired defence services personnel, administrators, professionals, mercantile sector bigwigs, academics and Sinhala Buddhist ultra-nationalists. The cumulative result of all this was the willingness of Gota to contest the presidential poll. He was prepared to renounce his US citizenship in order to contest the presidency poll. His decision resulted in the launching of a well-coordinated campaign by a powerful segment of Sri Lankan society to project Gotabaya as a potential candidate at the next presidential elections. Gota was portrayed as a visionary and strong leader who would cure Sri Lanka of its troubles and lead the country towards a bright future.

ORGANISATIONS LIKE VIYATH MAGA,” ELIYA” AND HARI MAGA” 
Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the first potential presidential contender for the 2019 hustings apart from the incumbent President Maithripala Sirisena. Gota’s campaign however had to be somewhat restrained as he had not been promulgated or acknowledged as candidate by any party. So organisations like Viyath Maga,” Eliya” and Hari Maga” were set up to promote the undeclared candidacy of Gota. Gotabhaya himself did not make any declaration in public of his candidacy and maintained a non – committal stance for quite some time. However, the contender recently confirmed that he was prepared to throw his hat into the ring by declaring publicly I am ready.” Gota has also been meeting with different sections of society in different parts of the country with the emphasis on youth.

While pro-Gota organisations like Viyath Maga” and Eliya” promoted his candidacy at one level, there was another support group within MPs, provincial councillors and local authority representatives too. While vociferous MPs like Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila have been hogging the microphone in this regard, Gotabaya’s sources of support are much wider and deeper within UPFA-SLPP and even SLFP folds. These sections have been promoting Gotabaya’s candidacy at what may be termed as a subterranean level. It could be seen therefore that Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidential candidacy is being pulled” externally by organisations like Viyath Maga” and Eliya” while his supporters among MPs and other elected representatives are pushing” for it within party folds.

Mahinda being a seasoned politician would have realised or will soon realise that his tentative moves to make common cause with the UNP and other parties to abolish the executive presidency will backfire on him

In spite of all this, Mahinda Aiya is yet to give the go ahead to Gota Malli. This delay by itself would not amount to a serious problem or give rise to doubts but for Mahinda Rajapaksa’s questionable conduct in matters relating to this issue. Watch what we do, not what we say,” was the famous saying attributed to former US President Richard Nixon’s first Attorney General John Mitchell who later fell from grace due to the Watergate scandal. Against the backdrop of Mitchellian wisdom watching what Mahinda Rajapaksa has been doing in recent times sheds much light on the question of Gotabaya’s presidential candidacy.

Two courses of action by Mahinda Rajapaksa in recent times raise grave doubts about the Medamulana Machiavelli’s real intentions on fielding Gotabaya as the presidential candidate. While Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s camp followers and fellow travellers go about the country promoting Gota’s candidacy, Mahinda has engaged in and is currently engaged in attempts to seek power through alternative methods thereby negating the rationale behind Gota’s presidential candidacy. In short, Mahinda has been trying to change the rules and nature of the game while his brother practises ardently to play the game as determined earlier. The two courses of action pursued by Mahinda in this regard are the abortive October 26 anti-constitutional coup and the on going attempts to abolish the executive presidency.

MAHINDA’S OBJECTIVE WAS TO GRAB POWER THROUGH BACKDOOR 
In the political crisis triggered off on October 26 last year, Mahinda Rajapaksa’s objective was to grab power through the backdoor by getting appointed prime minister without a majority and then cobble together a majority by enticing MPs through various incentives. When that failed he and President Sirisena opted to dissolve Parliament unconstitutionally and hold elections earlier than scheduled. Resistance by a majority of MPs and commendable rulings by the Supreme Court thwarted those plans. Had Mahinda succeeded in that attempt, he would have ended up as prime minister with a viable majority in Parliament after elections. Thereafter, presidential elections would have been held with Maithripala Sirisena as the SLPP-SLFP-UPFA combine candidate. Sirisena would have been a puppet President with Mahinda wielding real power. If possible, Mahinda may have tried to procure a two-thirds majority and restore the 18th Amendment after negating 19A. If that happened, Mahinda had the option of becoming President for the third time. Mercifully for the country and democracy that did not happen.

What is important however is to note that Gotabaya too would have been a political casualty if the Mahinda–Maithripala duo’s October 26 coup had succeeded. Gota’s presidential ambitions would have been foiled. It may be recalled that Gota remained rather aloof and quiet during the 52-day crisis apart from paying lip service to the need for having fresh elections. Most of Gota’s non–MP supporters were also conspicuous by their deafening silence at that time. Parliamentarians from the Gota camp did accept ministerial portfolios in that illegitimate government.” What may have happened if Mahinda had seized power as premier and nominated Sirisena as presidential candidate at the expense of Gota is hard to tell and merely of academic interest now. But if Gotabaya had protested vehemently and encouraged dissent, Mahinda may have had a revolt on his hands.

The second course of action by Mahinda Rajapaksa that has the potential to dash Gotabaya’s presidential hopes once again is the current exercise of attempting to abolish the executive presidency. Mahinda Rajapaksa, Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe are all on the same page in this for different reasons. Mahinda debarred from contesting the executive presidency by the 19th Amendment would like to abolish it altogether and become a powerful executive” prime minister with a ceremonial President. Ranil whose chances of winning a presidential election against an ultra-nationalist” opponent are rather slim also would like to do away with the presidency and opt for prime ministership where his prospects are much brighter. Maithripala is the least important in this calculation but he too would prefer to be a ceremonial President without power than to hold no post at all. Sirisena already a lame duck President has no hope at all of winning a presidential election. In the context of such a triangular configuration, the executive presidency could easily be done away with if the JVP sponsored 20th Amendment is fully supported.

The abolition of the executive presidency would also abolish the presidential aspirations of Gotabaya. It is highly unlikely that Mahinda Rajapaksa would be having this ulterior motive in trying to abolish the executive presidency. What impels Mahinda in this regard is the compulsion to seize power completely as a full-fledged premier and not play second fiddle to an executive President downsized by the 19th Amendment (In any case Maithripala Sirisena has demonstrated through his shameful and shameless conduct how even a lame duck President with restricted powers could wreak havoc and obstruct the progressive work of a duly elected government). By the same token, Mahinda’s abortive October 26 coup too was more of an attempt to seize power rather than deprive Gota of a chance to become President.

MAY VERY WELL TRIGGER OFF AN INNER-PARTY AND INTRA-FAMILY CRISIS 
Nevertheless, the fact remains that both these attempts in general and the current exercise in particular will have the – unintended perhaps – consequence of eliminating Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s likelihood of becoming the president of Sri Lanka. Whatever the motives of Mahinda Rajapaksa in toying with the idea of abolishing the executive presidency, there is no doubt that he is not being fair by his brother Gota in this regard. After encouraging Gotabaya Rajapaksa to prepare himself as a presidential stakes contender and then abolishing the executive presidency itself amounts to meting out shabby treatment by Loku Aiya to Podi Malli. It is like getting an athlete to train for an event and cancelling it when the person concern has peaked physically. Gota withdrew into silence during the October 26 coup but it is highly improbable that the ex-defence secretary would take the abolition of the executive presidency lying down. If Mahinda Rajapaksa persists with his efforts to collaborate with the UNP and JVP to abolish the executive presidency, he may very well trigger off an inner-party and intra-family crisis.

Gota himself has not confronted his brother Mahinda publicly over the question of abolishing the executive presidency but it is crystal clear that the ex-defence secretary is opposed to the idea. This is not merely because Gota’s presidential aspiration would evaporate but also due to a conviction that abolishing the executive presidency is inappropriate at this juncture. Gota’s mindset on this matter is clearly revealed in a recent interview to P.K. Balachandran of NewsIn Asia” website. Here is the relevant excerpt – As regards the move to abolish the executive presidency through the proposed 20 th Amendment, Gotabaya said that abolition should not be done piecemeal. The executive presidency should not be discarded before changing the election system. The present Proportional Representation System should be abolished before the executive presidency is done away with. The PR System creates instability in Parliament. You can’t have a divided and weak Parliament as well as a ceremonial Presidency. I don’t think that there are many takers for the abolition of the executive presidency,” he said.

Mahinda Rajapaksa being a seasoned politician would have realised or will soon realise that his tentative moves to make common cause with the UNP and other parties to abolish the executive presidency will backfire on him. The Rajapaksa camp has for long been supportive of the executive presidency and critical of attempts to undermine it or abolish it. Thus it would appear to be a complete U” turn if Mahinda collaborates with other parties to do away with the executive presidency. Furthermore, if suspicion gains ground that Mahinda is trying to abolish the executive presidency to prevent Gotabaya from becoming President, it would go badly against the elder brother. Mahinda Rajapaksa is certainly the single-most popular mass figure in the seven provinces outside the North and East. However, the popularity of Gotabaya is not to be underestimated. Although untested so far in hurly-burly politics there is a strong possibility that Gota may come a close second to Mahinda in mass popularity. Even the slightest suspicion that Mahinda is undercutting Gota may therefore cause an unexpected upheaval.

Already such signs are beginning to be visible. The firebrand Wimal Weerawansa has openly stated that the move to abolish the executive presidency is a sinister plot to deprive Gotabaya Rajapaksa of the executive presidency. He has threatened to break away from the UPFA if the moves to abolish the executive presidency continue. Weerawansa’s outburst and threat should not be taken lightly as he seems to be voicing the inarticulated opinion of the silent majority within the Rajapaksa camp. Already Mahinda seems to have realised the implications of the prevailing volatile situation. The meeting with the JVP proved to be a damp squib without any forward movement on the executive presidency abolition issue. It appears that Mahinda the consummate politician is extricating himself from the executive presidency abolition exercise.

GOTA HAS BEEN LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR HIS CANDIDACY 
The recent political turns and twists indicate that Mahinda Rajapaksa cannot keep the presidential candidate carrot dangling in front of Gotabaya for long. The elder brother must play fair by the younger one and confirm the candidacy formally and officially soon. Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been laying the groundwork for his presidential candidacy so far. He has been patient as it was not his intention to launch an election campaign too early because it would have been difficult to sustain the momentum. So Gota and his campaign planners have been engaged in preparatory efforts. But what they seem to be aiming for is an intensive ,whirlwind campaign lasting for about 4 to 6 months and culminating with the presidential election that has to take place on or before December this year. Time therefore is running out and a formal announcement confirming Gota’s candidacy is needed soon. Gota has to launch his campaign by June this year. Therefore Mahinda will have to give the green light anytime after the April New Year.

It is also very likely that Mahinda may not be able to proceed at his own, leisurely pace in this matter. Gotabaya so far has never been overtly critical of his elder brother and it is unlikely that he will depart from this practice now. But it seems highly improbable that Gota will simply watch and wait patiently for Mahinda to make the announcement. Gotabaya’s strength has been his quiet confidence in the inevitability of his candidacy. Despite the many political storms threatening his potential candidacy and the prolonged delay by Mahinda, Gotabaya has not lost his cool. He has not faulted Mahinda publicly and is never likely to do so in the future either. Gotabaya’s strength lies in the confidence that he and he alone has the capacity to harvest votes in the absence of Mahinda as a presidential candidate. Gota perceives himself as a winner and knows that if the Rajapaksa camp has to have a winning candidate then it is he Gotabaya Rajapaksa who would be the only choice. It is this supreme confidence that has enabled Gota to wait patiently so long for the decisive announcement.

In spite of the stoic patience displayed so far by Gota, he cannot afford to continue with this state of affairs. With time’s winged chariot drawing near” Gota needs to force the pace and is now engaging in initiatives to do so. It is noteworthy that the Gotabaya Rajapaksa who remained outwardly non – committal about his presidential candidacy bid changed his approach after the October 26 political crisis. It was after the crisis that Gota said in January this year I am ready if you are ready.” This was to show that he was still ready, able and willing to be a contender despite the October 26 crisis generated confusion. With Mahinda’s ill-advised abortive attempt to abolish the executive presidency it is very likely that Gota too will take steps to pressurise Mahinda into announcing the presidential candidate soon.

One such initiative is the staging of meetings in different districts with UPFA/SLPP political representatives in attendance. Gotabaya’s candidacy is endorsed by these politicians at these meetings. The candidacy campaign gathers momentum steadily. On the other hand, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has also demonstrated firmly that he was not prepared to tag along without his candidacy being endorsed and authorised. When a series of political meetings were organised in different districts by the SLPP with the expectation that Gota would be on stage the ex-defence secretary refused point blank. He made it known that he should not be taken for granted and that he would not mount a political party platform without being officially recognised as the presidential candidate.

GOTA AWAITS HIS INEVITABLE TRYST WITH DESTINY 
All this shows that matters are drawing to a head in the Rajapaksa camp. Mahinda Rajapaksa has to act speedily and dispel the impression that he is not playing fair by Gotabaya Rajapaksa in the presidential candidacy issue. It is time to formally announce the UPFA/SLPP presidential candidate also. It is imperative for the Rajapaksa camp to pick the candidate with the best chance of winning. Many opine that Gota is the winning candidate. It is in this evolving situation that Gotabaya Nandasena Rajapaksa awaits his inevitable tryst with destiny!

dbsjeyaraj@yahoo.com

Courtesy Adaderana

The Presidential Commission of Inquiry has decided to investigate a complaint lodged against a financial irregularity committed through the ‘Suraksha’ insurance operated by the Ministry of Education.

The complaint was filed by UNP Parliamentarian Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe yesterday (07).

He claims that this insurance has not drawn any benefit for school children and irregularity of Rs 2300 million has taken place as a result.

The minister further says that Rs 29 million has been misappropriated by printing school textbooks, which contained the image of the Education Minister, for the year 2018.

Furthermore, an additional Rs 538 million has been spent for the distribution of vouchers for school uniforms to students, the parliamentarian has mentioned in the complaint.

Accordingly, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry has assigned the complaint to its special investigation unit for probing.

The commission stated that it has received nearly 522 complaints and the deadline to accept the complaints was extended to March 14th.

Courtesy Adaderana

The CID officer arrested in the act of accepting a bribe of Rs 80,000 has been remanded until March 22nd by the Colombo Magistrate.

The suspect, who was arrested by the Bribery Commission yesterday (07), was produced before the Colombo Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne.

The Bribery Commission informed the court that the officer in question has initially solicited a bribe of Rs 513,000 from a businessman to prevent a purported lawsuit against him over a cheque fraud committed by an intermediary acquainted to him.

He has later solicited another bribe of Rs 100,000 from the said businessman saying that it was to be given to Maligakanda Magistrate and had accepted Rs 20,000 from the promised amount at a previous occasion.

The Bribery Commission had arrested him in the act while he was accepting the rest of the amount yesterday (07).

The Bribery Commission informed the court that investigations into the incident have not yet concluded and sought an order to further remand the suspect.

Courtesy Adaderana

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet says the lack of progress” shows that the situation of human rights in Sri Lanka should remain firmly on the agenda of the UN Human Rights Council.

In the latest report on Sri Lanka by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the High Commissioner therefore urges the Council to remain closely engaged with the Government of Sri Lanka and to continue to monitor developments in the country.

The report said that in 2015, by co-sponsoring Human Rights Council resolution 30/1, the Government of Sri Lanka recognized the need to address the past in order to build a brighter future, grounded in accountability, respect for human rights and the rule of law.

The lack of decisive steps to that end, and of appropriate communication, has generated widespread frustration,” it said.

The lack of accountability for past actions likely contributed to the return of violence against minorities in March 2018, and played a role in undermining the principles of democracy and the rule of law in October and November 2018.”

The High Commissioner notes the constructive engagement of the Government of Sri Lanka with OHCHR and United Nations human rights mechanisms since January 2015.

The report said that the Government has made progress in human rights issues and its engagement with civil society in some areas. Progress in its commitments to transitional justice has, however, been inconsistent and subject to considerable delay, partly because of the lack of a time-bound comprehensive strategy.”

Such important achievements as the establishment of the Office on Missing Persons and the Office for Reparations, and the national consultations have been neither adequately supported by the political leadership nor sufficiently linked to the accountability and truth-seeking components that should be at the core of the reconciliation and accountability agenda, it said.

The High Commissioner nonetheless praises the commitment of and efforts made by some officials, particularly in several ministries, the Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms, the Office on Missing Persons, the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation and the Human Rights Commission, who have relentlessly endeavoured to push the human rights and reconciliation agenda forward.

The lack of progress shows that the situation of human rights in Sri Lanka should remain firmly on the agenda of the Human Rights Council. The High Commissioner therefore urges the Council to remain closely engaged with the Government of Sri Lanka and to continue to monitor developments in the country.”

The High Commissioner also expresses concerned that, despite its lengthy preparation and the consultation of expert advice, the final bill on counter-terrorism law might not comply fully with international human rights norms and standards.

Even in its present form, the bill contains problematic features, such as an overly broad definition of terrorism,” it stressed.

The High Commissioner also urges Sri Lanka to continue to uphold the moratorium on the death penalty and to work towards prohibiting the practice altogether, recalling the fact that the United Nations opposes the use of capital punishment in all circumstances.

The High Commissioner encourages the Government to seek the opinion of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka when drafting legislation, bearing in mind the mandate of the institution to advise on human rights compliance of draft legislation.

The report also states that the regular criminal justice system in Sri Lanka continues to suffer from serious structural weaknesses, which are reflected in lengthy delays in investigations and in judicial processes in general, also characterized by long periods of detention on remand and a bail system that is applied inconsistently and in a discriminatory way.

Consequently, while prisons are overcrowded with petty criminals (even minor drug possession charges, which are not subject to bail, can lead to pretrial detention), individuals charged with serious crimes, including enforced disappearances, are able to obtain bail,” the report said.

The High Commissioner stresses that the risk of new violations increases when impunity for serious crimes continues unchecked. To date, Sri Lanka has failed to seize the opportunity provided by the Human Rights Council to establish a trustworthy domestic mechanism to address impunity or to show, by consistent progress in emblematic cases, that such a mechanism is not necessary.”

It said that some segments of civil society have continued to call for international investigations and for the Security Council to refer the situation in Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court for international prosecutions and adjudication of those most responsible for these crimes.

The High Commissioner once again encourages Member States to prosecute Sri Lankans suspected of crimes against humanity, war crimes or other gross violations of human rights, in accordance with universal jurisdiction principles.”

OHCHR says it has continued to receive credible information about cases of abduction, unlawful detention, torture and sexual violence by Sri Lanka security forces, which allegedly took place in 2016 to 2018.

A preliminary assessment of the information received indicates that there are reasonable grounds to believe that accounts of unlawful abductions and detention and of torture, including incidents of sexual violence against men and women, are credible, and that such practices might be continuing in northern Sri Lanka.”

Such allegations should be the subject of prompt, effective, transparent, independent and impartial investigations,” the report said.

The High Commissioner also expresses her concern at the appointment, on 9 January 2019, of Major General Shavendra Silva as the Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army.

The High Commissioner is deeply concerned” at the aggravation of intercommunal tensions, in particular at several attacks conducted by militant Buddhist groups targeting cultural, religious (including the Muslim community and evangelical Christians) or sexual minorities, the report said.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights will formally present the report to the UN Human Rights Council on March 20.

BY IDAH Z. PSWARAYI-RIDDIHOUGH Courtesy http://blogs.worldbank.org

It’s International Women’s Day today, and there is a lot to celebrate in Sri Lanka and beyond.

Being a woman, mother, sister, aunt – name it, it’s something women wake up to daily and they love it.  None of them question about being enumerated for these roles.  We marvel and revel in the roles.

But make no mistake. Women are also very capable breadwinners, contributors to the economies, innovators and entrepreneurs amongst many other roles.

Women want to work, and they want to stay in the workplace.  

What they seek is balance: a gender-balanced workplace, a gender-balanced management, and more gender-balance in sharing wealth and prosperity.

In that sense, it’s heartening to see some of the proposals put forth in the government of Sri Lanka’s budget: more daycare centers, flexible work hours, and incentives to promote maternity leave.

A Sri Lankan woman is hand painting fabric in a local Batik fabric factory. Matale, Sri Lanka. Credit: Shutterstock. January 3, 2017.

These are very welcome changes to think equal, build smart, innovate for change—the 2019 International Women’s Day campaign theme—and we encourage those with jobs to implement these policy changes.

This year, let me share with you a quick analysis of five laws that Sri Lankan women and their advocates have identified as constraining for joining the workforce and staying there! 

1. What the law says to support part-time work: Under the Termination of Employment of Worker Act (TEWA) (Special Provisions) Act No. 45 of 1971, employers must give part-time and full-time workers the same compensation on retrenchment (termination), making them less likely to hire women who may need flexi-hours.

What Sri Lankan women and their advocates say: Advocates consider this ‘low-hanging fruit’ – simply addressing this issue could bring many more homemakers into the workforce and help both businesses and their employees. 

2. What the law says to address the challenges for women working at night: The Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children Act No. 47 seeks to prevent female employees from being forced to work at night. It has a tough set of provisions – requiring that employers who want to hire women to work after 10pm must get written sanction of the commissioner of labor for women. Employers must also hire female wardens to ensure the safety of female employees at night. Another provision is that no woman can be employed for more than ten days on night work per month. 

What Sri Lankan women and their advocates say: There are certain exemptions and this law was clearly formulated to protect women from exploitation. Unfortunately, it now works against women, discouraging them from seeking employment in fields such as ICT, where offices often work odd hours for the convenience of their international customers. 

3. What the law says to provide pregnant women legal protection from dismissal: The purpose of the Maternity Benefits Act No. 32 is to provide pregnant women legal protection from dismissal based on pregnancy.

What Sri Lankan women and their advocates say: Currently, the amount of maternity leave a woman receives is based on how many children the couple already has – a couple about to have their first or second child are entitled to 12 weeks of paid leave, while a woman who has two or more children, is only entitled to 6 weeks of maternity benefits.

Under this legislation, fathers are only allocated three days for paternity leave, which further discourages men from taking on roles as caregivers and active parents. 

Finally, different provisions in the Maternity Benefits Ordinance No.32 and the Shop and Office Employees’ Act, mean that maternity benefits are not uniform but different for white-collar and blue-collar workers, with shop and office employees receiving more days than factory workers due to different clauses regarding the inclusion of holidays.

Human rights advocates have responded to this law by arguing that pregnancy-related needs should be conceptualized as a right and not a benefit. The same benefits should be offered to women regardless of the sector they work in, while paternity leave should be increased to allow fathers to spend more time with their infants.

4. What the law says to protect the rights of domestic workers: The Registration of Domestic Servants Ordinance of No. 28, focuses on ensuring that ‘masters’ and domestic workers provide a registrar with details of the latter’s employment history, criminal record, and duration of employment.  

What Sri Lankan women and their advocates say: However, advocates argue that law is insufficient and needs to be revised. It should be updated to cover the challenges domestic workers, many of whom are women, face today by promoting measures such as the establishment and enforcement of laws pertaining to minimum wages, maximum work hours, and equal pay for equal work, as well as safe working conditions for some of the most vulnerable women workers in Sri Lanka. 

5. What the law says to address sexual harassment: The Penal Code Act No. 2 of 1883 and its subsequent amendments were put in place to recognize, define and criminalize sexual harassment. However, despite media campaigns, there is inadequate understanding of sexual harassment. 

What Sri Lankan women and their advocates say: This law is quite sound, but victims say they are reluctant to complain to the police. Organizations can support their employees by creating a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment which treats such complaints with seriousness, utmost confidentiality and a genuine desire to create safe workplaces for all. 

It’s true that many of these laws are clearly well-intentioned and meant to protect women.

Unfortunately, some are also very outdated and play heavily to gender stereotypes. Why do we need an age limit on a job application? Doesn’t that block women from coming back into the workforce?

Moreover, implementation of the laws remains a challenge, and monitoring and compliance with existing laws has been lacking for years, particularly when it comes to the provision of crèches and washing facilities at workplaces.

In the end, advocates argue that what is required is not protectionist laws, but laws that substantially address issues around violence, safety, health and working conditions in the workplace – and then enforce them.  Share your thoughts in the comments thread below!

BY IDAH Z. PSWARAYI-RIDDIHOUGH  http://blogs.worldbank.org

This International Women’s Day I chose to have a conversation with a lady who is recognized as the leading Sri Lankan woman entrepreneur, Mrs. Aban Pestonjee.

Her story is an inspiration to youth (male and female) and women who are afraid of failure and taking risks.

Starting from a modest home-based business, 50 years ago, today Aban is a household brand name that is island wide in Sri Lanka.

The company employs people from different walks of life in diverse jobs from street cleaners to those employed in a mega mall. The business ranges from Electronic Retailing to Sri Lanka’s most Modern Mall, to Logistics, Manufacturing, Environmental Services, and even City Cleaning Services.

All this started with a young lady who dared to dream big and defeated the fear of failure.

In our conversation, Mrs. Pestonjee said that many ask her if she had to face challenges because she is a woman and her response is No”. She told me that as long as a woman has mastered her line of work and has proven she is capable of her job, she can overcome all other obstacles.YOU LEARN WHEN YOU MAKE MISTAKES, AND THEN YOU COME OUT STRONGER BECAUSE YOU KNOW MORE ABOUT THE BUSINESS EVEN AFTER THAT.” – Aban Pestonjee

Interview with Aban Pestonjee, interviewed by Geoffrey Jones, Mumbai, India, July 13, 2017, Creating Emerging Markets Oral History Collection, Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School. 

Read more here.

Watch our conversation here: