By

Kishali Pinto -Jayawardene

In truth, President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s admonition that, ‘the future cannot be built on falsehood’ this Wednesday (February 8th, 2023) as he formally opened the fourth session of the ninth Parliament, must be addressed to the political leadership (himself included), not the nation as such.

Quaint Throne Speeches and Presidential promises

In fact, the temptation is acute, in the best traditions of fairy tales long fed to the Sri Lankan people, to murmur, ‘mirror, mirror on the wall…’ For it is the President, the Prime Minister and their legion of fawning sycophants who stand first accused of uttering falsehoods, persistently and deliberately as it were, not citizens. This has been the primary factor in precipitating the country into bankruptcy and condemning her people to desperation, despair
and doom.

So when the President affirms in a quaintly termed ‘Throne Speech’ that, ‘he is not here to be popular,’ in the backdrop of foisting staggeringly increased taxes on the populace, the question must be asked, ‘popular to whom?’ Certainly, President Wickremesinghe finds himself resoundingly popular with the political and the privileged classes, praised by his ‘Pohottuwa’ fellow mates in the House for holding the barricades of the State steady as it were, against bearded barbarians at the gates.

Doubtless, it would have been manna from heaven to the stricken Government last year when an impertinent rabble broke down the gates to the Presidential abode last year, violating its sanctum sanctorum, dancing about on luxurious beds and marveling over stacks of cash ferreted away.

Now we hear that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, that ‘chosen Sinhala-Buddhist President’ who fled through the back door when the public rose against him and stealthily returned in the dark, is claiming this money as his own.

Continue reading ‘The President and his Govt lacking a popular mandate to govern, face off against a people bitterly refusing to bite with good grace on the bitter pill of deprivation while the privileged prosper.’ »

(Text of Press Release Issued by the High Commission of India in Colombo on February 11th 2023)

T..he iconic Jaffna Cultural Center (JCC), which was built with grant assistance of Government of India (GOI), was dedicated to the people on 11 February 2023 at a colourful event in the gracious presence of President of Sri Lanka H.E Ranil Wickremesinghe, Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying and Information & Broadcasting, GOI Dr. L. Murugan, High Commissioner of India Gopal Baglay, Hon. Douglas Devananda, Minister for Fisheries, Hon. Vidura Wickramanayake, Minister for Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, Hon. Kadar Masthan, Minister of State for Rural Economy, several Parliamentarians and dignitaries from various walks of life.

2. Describing JCC as a gift from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President H.E Ranil Wickremesinghe thanked him and GOI for the Center. He thanked India for the support extended to Sri Lanka during the economic challenges. Highlighting cultural similarities between the two countries, he noted that India and Sri Lanka were the two sides of the same coin.

Continue reading ‘The Jaffna Cultural Center (JCC), constructed with grant assistance of the Indian Govt dedicated to the people by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in the presence of Indian Minister of State Dr. L. Murugan; Ranil Thanks Indian PM Modi for Gift.’ »

By Rajasinghe

It was R.G. Senanayake, a Minister of Trade and playboy, who first promoted tourism in Sri Lanka. He would spend weekends in the old rest houses in Bentota and Hikkaduwa with his friends and talk about the beauty of the sea and the fabulous beaches there, which he compared favourably to resorts in Thailand.

He was especially fond of Hikkaduwa with its coral reefs and the large variety of tropical fish living amidst them. You could hire a flat-bottomed boat and see the wonderfully colourful marine life a short distance away from the beach. He persuaded Dudley as PM to renovate the Hikkaduwa and Bentota rest houses to encourage local tourists, who at that time came mostly from the upper class.

RG fell in love with Trincomalee. He sang its praises as a holiday destination and persuaded many of his Colombo friends to buy up parcels of land for beach cottages. When the Government did not heed his call to acquire lands there for domestic tourism, he spent his own money to buy up swathes of land in Uppuveli and Nilaveli, which he devoted to growing red onions, thereby providing a new source of income for the farmers in the area.

Up until then, as Minister of Trade, he imported Bombay onions for domestic consumption. The Agriculture Ministry had said that onions could not be grown in our climate. It also said that potatoes could not be grown in this country till one maverick agricultural officer, Goonetilleke, grew it in his bailiwick in Uva. Initially he was interdicted for his pains. Today potato farming is a major occupation in Uva and Nuwara Eliya.

Continue reading ‘President Wickremesinghe Depends on Energetic Man of Action Harin Fernando to Revive the Tourism Sector to Earn Desperately Needed Foreign Exchange for the Country’ »

By

Ranga Jayasuriya

During the weekend, when Sri Lanka marked the 75th anniversary of its independence, it was a sober, sad, and indeed a bitter affair. Most of the public was bitterly critical of the celebrations. The police confronted silent protests. National flags were conspicuously missing in the city corners and houses. The police obtained a court order to cordon off the Galle Face green and its vicinity, the venue of the state event. The party went on without the people.

That was an astonishing about – the – turn of the collective psyche. Not long ago, they watched with almost religious zeal as the vintage military tanks paraded when the successive governments, especially of the Rajapaksas, marked the independence and the day of the military victory against terrorism, and also any other day that could be useful to prop up a skewed version of national pride.

The North held a black day. A protest caravan that took off from Jaffna is now heading to Kilinochchi. This time around, not many in the South seemed to have disagreed.

That reckoning is not altogether bad. During their social evolution, communities have moved away from parochial nationalism and the conventional wisdom of national pride, some due to national misadventures, others due to a protracted process of wider social transformation.

That change may be as varying as the shift in the American perspective on Columbus Day or the terming the founding of America in 1619, the day the first slave ship arrived in America or the seismic shift of dominant ideologies of post-war Germany or Japan. Though none of that offers a direct comparison to the Sri Lankan experience, the legacy of the independence of Sri Lanka needs to be evaluated dispassionately.

But that intellectual and social exercise was too late to come. Since its independence, this country has made tremendous gains by building a welfare state and redistributing wealth – a few countries, after their independence, have undertaken drastic land reforms as extensively as Sri Lanka or committed to free education and universal health care.

But it has failed miserably and, in fact, walked back on creating wealth. That failure was monumental considering Sri Lanka’s relative position at the independence. It has now come full force as the country grappled with the worst economic crisis ever.

Continue reading ‘Ranil Wickremesinghe’s opponents do not want to see him succeed. To deprive Ranil of his success, which might lead to a very credible presidential candidacy, they are ready to let the country fail. This is cringeworthy opportunism that does not make you a patriot or a social justice worrier, but a scumbag.’ »

It took a little over seven days for a corporate titan to be cut down to size. Only weeks ago Gautam Adani was the world’s third-richest man and the self-proclaimed Rockefeller of India. Then a short-seller questioned his company’s finances, investors took fright and $100bn in market value evaporated. Tens of billions have been wiped off the tycoon’s personal wealth. Today the company is racing to show it can meet its debt payments.

The humbling in the markets calls into question Mr Adani’s pharaonic ambitions. It is also a political embarrassment for Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India and a close associate of Mr Adani. And it confronts Indian capitalism with its sternest test in years.

Mr Adani’s sprawling empire touches hundreds of millions of Indians’ daily lives. It runs some of India’s biggest ports, stores a third of its grain, operates a fifth of its power-transmission lines and makes a fifth of its cement. It was among India’s top ten biggest non-financial firms, by assets, and had been projected to grow rapidly.

The prospects for that growth are now uncertain. In a report published on January 24th Hindenburg Research, an American short-seller, alleged that opaque entities based in Mauritius linked to the Adani family were manipulating the group’s stock price. Although Adani denied the claims, it did not convince investors. Share prices plunged and financing plans were disrupted. Yields on bonds issued by the company have risen; those of the group’s renewables arm trade at an eye-watering 19%.

Continue reading ‘“World’s Third Richest Man Gautam Adani Cut down to size in 7 days with tens of billions being wiped out from the Tycoon’s personal wealth; It is also a political embarrassment for Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India and a close associate of Mr Adani.” -The Economist’ »

Popular Toronto Mayor John Tory has stepped down from his post in an unexpected turn of events. Tory resigned after admitting to an affair with with a former member of his staff.

John Tory, who has been married to his wife Barbara Hackett for 45 years, blamed the affair on a “serious error of judgment” and requested privacy as he wants to spend time to spend with his wife and family. Tory has four children and five grandchildren.

Mayor John Tory

John Tory’s announcement was made during an evening press conference at Toronto City Hall. Declining to answer questions, Tory issued a brief media statement . The statement was as follows –

Continue reading ‘Toronto Mayor John Tory steps down from his post after admitting to an affair with with a former member of his staff that ended early this year by mutual consent’ »

(Text of Speech made by TNA Jaffna District MP Mathiaparanan Abraham Sumanthiran in Parliament during the adjournment debate on 09th February 2023)

Thank you presiding officer for the opportunity to say a few words on the adjournment debate. On the Throne speech made by the President yesterday in this house, I am saying throne speech because in the English version of the printed document of his speech it actually says Throne speech.

The Sinhala and the Tamil don’t have it but the English says Throne speech. Knowing the president as I do, he probably drafted his speech in English first, and he thought he was actually making a Throne speech, those who translated it into Sinhala and Tamil knew better than to call it anything like that.

And the title says Policy statement; Policy statement by the His Excellency the president.

But this betrays what the president has in mind or what he thinks, who he is, to say throne speech.

Now, in this speech, the president deals with people who criticize various acts of the government, various policies and says, but when they come into office, they continue with that.
They don’t act any differently, and he has criticized them quite strongly in his throne speech.

But I would like to remind in his throne speech. I would like to remind him that he is also doing the same thing. In 1996, it is said that the United National Party at is convention resolved to Abolish, the executive presidential system. And that was a position they have held on to until now or said to be their official position.

In the last Parliament, when we had a constitutional assembly when this issue of Executive Presidency came up, the President who was Prime Minister then, quite categorically said that’s the UNP Stand, we are for abolition of the Executive Presidency.

Continue reading ‘“We are not asking for a separation of the County. We are for a united undivided even indivisible country. Don’t divide the country, but share power in a meaningful way, maximum devolution of power cannot happen in a unitary model”- M.A.Sumanthiran MP’ »

(Full Text of Government’s Policy Statement delivered by President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the inauguration of the fourth session of the ninth Parliament on 6 February 2023)

The moment the school children sang the National Anthem and Jayamangala Gatha during the last Independence Day Celebration, I was convinced of the need to secure their future. Are these children confident of their future?

Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland who visited Sri Lanka for the Independence Day Celebration, had discussions with groups of youth in our country. They had pointed out that their confidence of the future has been eroded due to the developments over a long period of time. Do they have full confidence on their future?

The day after Independence Day, a special supplementary was published in the Sunday Times newspaper, where some youth had expressed their opinions regarding the present situation in our country.

Mathisha Udawatta says,

While leaving the country is a constant resonating thought, there is still a smallest spark inside me that’s holding me close to home. I intend not to let it die. I have not given up on my Sri Lanka yet.

Clifford Fernando has the idea that,
I won’t migrate, but I sincerely hope there will be a change in the situation in Sri Lanka. All our attitudes need to change, better discipline is needed, people need to obey rules and show more empathy towards each other.

Cilani Wijesinghe says,
I don’t want to leave my country – I wish to help it come out of the situation it is in, currently. I also don’t want the people leaving at a time the country needs them the most, only to come back when things are better.

While reading these comments, I was reminded of the twins who came to meet me recently in Anuradhapura. These girls met me at the end of the ceremony of awarding credentials to Atamasthanadhipathi, Ven. Pallegama Hemarathana Thero. Namadi and Chenuti Perera are studying in Year 5, at Maliadeva Balaka Vidyalaya, Kurunegala. The rendition of their song ‘I will not leave the country’ was presented to me in a CD. I request the television channels to broadcast that song after my speech today.

These children and youth are the future generation of our country, who wish to rebuild the nation, without leaving. It is our responsibility to create a country where they can live freely. Therefore, this is your responsibility, the Honorable Members of the House. This is also the responsibility of every Sri Lankan.

I believe everyone remembers the situation the country was in when I addressed the opening of the previous Session of the Parliament. You may recall the country’s situation when the last budget was presented and also seven to eight months ago.

Continue reading ‘“Let’s unite consensually and move forward democratically to support the recovery of the nation from the current crisis. If anyone wishes to have a political agenda, let’s consider it after we rescue the nation.”-President Ranil Wickremesinghe’ »

By Chandani Kirinde

President Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday said there would be no change to the Government’s newly introduced tax policies insisting he is ready to take unpopular decisions on behalf of the country.

“Introducing new tax policies is a politically unpopular decision. I’m not here to be popular. I want to rebuild this nation from the crisis situation it has fallen into. I’m ready to make unpopular decisions for the sake of the nation,” Wickremesinghe said while delivering the Government’s Policy Statement to Parliament.

Yesterday’s ceremonial sitting of Parliament was boycotted by the main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) as well as National Progressive Party (NPP) while a group of SLPP MPs who now sit in Opposition came to the Chamber and walked out as the President entered the Chamber, jeering on their way out.

The President who opened the new session of Parliament after the recent prorogation outlined Government plans for the future which included addressing the problems faced by the people of the north as well as introducing new legislation to deal with corruption and recovery of stolen assets, and a National Security Act to replace the PTA.

He said if the PAYE tax is abolished, the country will lose Rs. 100 billion and if the tax limit is raised to Rs .2000,000, the economy will lose Rs. 63 billion amounting to Rs. 163 billion in total. “We are presently not in a position to lose this income,” he said.

Continue reading ‘“Introducing new tax policies is a politically unpopular decision. I’m not here to be popular. I want to rebuild this nation from the crisis situation it has fallen into. I’m ready to make unpopular decisions for the sake of the nation,” Declares President Ranil Wickremesinghe in Govt’s Policy Statement to Parliament.’ »

Despite a Court injunction preventing protests near the entrance to Parliament, a section of the Buddhist clergy marched towards the Parliament entrance yesterday (8) during President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Statement of Government Policy speech following the inauguration of the fourth session of the ninth Parliament, protesting against the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

However, the Police placed barricades to block the protestors, but unlike in previous protests and processions staged near the Parliament vicinity, there was no usage of tear gas or water cannons. Hundreds of Buddhist monks gathered near the Parliament to burn a copy of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution by stating that they would not permit the implementation of Police and land powers through the said Amendment.

Continue reading ‘Despite Court Order Forbidding Protests near Parliament Entrance, Mob of Buddhist Bhikkus Stage Demonstration and Burn Copy of 13th Constitutional Amendment; no Tear gas or Water Cannon used by Cops to Disperse Illegal Protest’ »

Pandemonium reigned on the streets of Colombo yesterday as trade unions across all sectors took to the streets to protest against the Government’s new tax regime forcing the Government to call for Police riot squads and military reinforcements to maintain law and order.

At least 2000 Sri Lanka Port Authority workers marched towards the Fort Railway station in protest. The group held a demonstration in front of the railway station blocking the road and forcing the Police to order the group to disperse. However, the group refused to disperse and continued to protest, giving rise to a tense situation between the agitators and the Police.

The protestors threatened to stop all services at the ports if they were assaulted by the Police. CEYPETCO trade union workers also joined the port workers’ protest to shout slogans against the Government’s decision to hike PAYE taxes.

Continue reading ‘Police Riot Squads and Military Reinforcements Brought in to Control Massive Trade Union Demonstration Protesting in Colombo against Taxation’ »

The Presidential Secretariat claimed that a sum of approximately Rs. 11 million had been spent for the 75th Independence Day, despite Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Governments Neel Bandara Hapuhinna confirming to The Daily Morning on 1 February that the expenses for same was Rs. 196 million.

“The Government spent only Rs.11,130,011.29 on the 75th National Independence Day celebrations this year,” the President’s Media Division (PMD) noted in a press release, adding that the sum was significantly lesser than estimated.

The Daily Morning exclusively reported last week that the allocations made for the 75th Independence Day celebrations had been reduced by Rs. 4 million to Rs. 196 million from its earlier allocation of Rs. 200 million.

On 10 January, The Daily Morning also exclusively reported that a sum of Rs. 200 million has been allocated for the celebrations. Hapuhinna confirmed to us at the time that the Treasury had made the necessary budgetary allocations for the ceremony, adding that the Ministry was attempting its best to cut down on the costs of organising the said event.

Continue reading ‘“The Government spent only Rs.11,130,011.29 for the 75th National Independence Day celebrations this year,” Claims the President’s Media Division (PMD) and refutes what it termed “false news” circulated on social media regarding the expenses of the state ceremony.’ »

By

Tisaranee Gunasekara

“Our challenge is to devise some arrangement which enables us to coexist if not in amity then at least in forbearance.” Jawaharlal Nehru (quoted in Andre Malraux’s Anti-Memoir).

During Black July, marauding mobs, when uncertain about the ethnic identity of a potential victim, would order him/her to recite the five precepts in Pali or the chant Itipiso Bhagawa. (The irony is grotesque in the extreme; the first precept is a pledge not to kill any living being; Itipiso mentions the nine qualities of the Buddha, starting with araham, a composite which includes eradication of hatred). The assumption was that no Tamil was a Buddhist or would even know the basics of Buddhism.

The Buddhist renaissance of the 19th century departed from the Buddha’s teachings in two significant ways. It accepted and accommodated the caste divide which was imposed on the Sangha by Kandyan kings. It also ghettoised itself within the Sinhala race, developing a perspective towards minorities that was suspicious, fearful and inimical.

Had the Buddhist renaissance stayed loyal to the Buddha’s own teachings, we might be spending the 75th year of independence in a different Sri Lanka.

The Buddhist reformers of the 19th and early 20th centuries could have addressed the caste issue within the Sasana and within Sinhala society. Both the need and the opportunity were present.

Doing so would also have been in accordance with the Buddha’s teaching and practice. But the subject stayed off limit, a compromise to which all three nikayas seemed to have given their tacit consent.

So caste division within the Sangha was and remains the elephant in the room. Everyone knows it is there, yet no one talks about it. Many probably assume it has been there for millennia instead of a couple of centuries. It is not so much a taboo subject as an impolite o

ne. Washing one’s dirty linen in public might be apposite idiom.
The new Buddhism, which came into being in the 19th century evolved a system similar to the separate but equal formula used by white racists in the American South to justify Jim Crow laws. Had the plan by Kandyan kings and upper caste monks to limit higher ordination to members of the Govigama caste worked, there could have been an internal revolt against this egregious departure from one of the most basic tenets of the Buddha’s teachings.

Continue reading ‘The hysteria surrounding the full implementation of the 13th Amendment is the clearest possible indication that Sinhala-Buddhist supremacism is not a spent force. How can a truly Lankan nation be born when the majority extremists remain wedded to the idea of a Sinhala-Buddhist nation?’ »

By

Kishali Pinto -Jayawardene

I wonder what a mother, struggling to find medicine for her child in Colombo (one does not have to go into rural areas to witness the abject desperation of those caught up in Sri Lanka’s spiralling financial crisis) would have thought of the pomp and glamour paraded at the Galle Face Green on Saturday, 4th February?

Needless cruelties inflicted on the people

Certainly nothing of this was much out of the ordinary, just the same grandiose balderdash that is spun each Independence Day. Perhaps there was a wee nod to minimum political correctness this time with the National Anthem being sung in Tamil as well as in Sinhala. Earlier, the refusal to allow this was just one of many needless cruelties inflicted under the Rajapaksa Presidencies of both brothers (Mahinda and Gotabhaya) on (minority) citizens.

In tandem with other entirely unavoidable petty hostilities, including a state policy not to bury the covid-affected Muslim dead, these constituted the core of a ‘majority game’ played with glee by political rulers at the time. Vicious majoritarian supremacy rhetoric masked the fact that the Sinhala majority itself did not gain any noticeable benefit therein, except to be used as fodder by politicians in their power grabs.

In remote reaches of the deep South, Uva, Central and its adjacent regions, the abject poverty of the Sinhala villagers continued much as usual even as they bowed and worshipped at the Medamulana shrine, jostled in cheering crowds at elections and partook of milk rice with relish as their beloved ‘deities’ won. To be clear, that delusion extended to the tri-services and the police, supposedly proud defenders of the nation but who underwent untold indignities, including serving as virtual domestics in the palatial mansions of their superiors.

Continue reading ‘When the State pits itself against the collectivity of its citizens, the State cannot win.We need to realise this truth, even at this late stage’ »

By

Rajasinghe

On Independence Day 1948, all eyes of the people were on Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake (DS) and his Deputy, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike. Both were leaders of the recently-constituted United National Party (UNP).

DS in top hat and tails hoisted the Sri Lankan National Flag on Galle Face Green on 4 February while the Union Jack was hauled down amidst cheers and fireworks. Later, in the newly-opened Independence Hall, Bandaranaike addressed the Royal Duke who represented his brother, the King.

Wearing a ‘national suit’ made of homespun khaddar in contrast to DS’s morning dress, Bandaranaike spoke with a clipped Oxonian accent, which must have surprised the Duke, not especially known for his intellectual achievements. Bandaranaike spoke about the promise of newly-won freedom and the then leadership’s commitment to public welfare.

His speech was compared favourably by journalists to Nehru’s epochal ‘When midnight comes’ speech. Both speeches were in the English language, which was unintelligible to almost all of their recently-emancipated people.

D.S. Senanayake could justifiably be proud that he had obtained independence without shedding blood unlike his neighbours – the leaders of newly-created sub continental giants India and Pakistan, which had seen the worst communal massacres in recent history. His sagacity was hailed by friend and foe alike.

Continue reading ‘D.S.Senanayake disenfranchised estate Tamils and thereby created a human tragedy for a group of people who had helped in ensuring prosperity for the country through their labour.’ »

By

Ram Manikkalingam

(Ram Manikkalingam is Director of the Dialogue Advisory Group. He was an adviser to then President Kumaratunga and was a Visiting Professor at the University of Amsterdam)

On its 75th birthday Sri Lanka is divided. There is a stand-off between the people and the political institutions. The people reject Parliament and the President. And Parliament and the President fear the people. This standoff cannot last indefinitely. It will lead to authoritarianism, anarchy or reform. The decisions made, not only by politicians who control our political institutions, but also by the people who want them changed, will determine where we end up.

If there is one person, who has a decisive role in where our country will be in 25 years, it is President Wickremesinghe. While parliament and the people can no doubt make a difference, their decisions must come through political persuasion and mobilization. But President Wickremesinghe can act on his own.

He was picked by the Rajapaksas to protect their interests. But he is not of the Rajapaksas. He protects the Rajapaksas indirectly, by protecting the system that they, and other politicians have benefited from. This system is a combination of rentier capitalism and majoritarian democracy. Businessmen make their money from permits, contracts and quotas provided by politicians. In turn, these businessmen fund the politicians, who run campaigns that favour the majority. Breaking out of this is not what the leading politicians of Sri Lanka want. When the Aragalaya peaked, and the Rajapaksas found themselves rejected, they looked for the next best leader. Someone who would maintain the system the Rajapaksas required for their survival. So Ranil Wickremesinghe was chosen. But he also has a choice.

Continue reading ‘Ranil Wickremesinghe has a choice.He can hang onto the Rajapaksas and let the Rajapaksas hang onto him. Or he can begin a serious process of reform that by its very definition will require ditching the Rajapaksas and their ilk.’ »

(Text of media release issued by “JUSTICE FOR ALL” on 5th February 2023 under the heading “ An Independence Day of Reflection, Reckoning and Reform 5th February 2023)

Sri Lanka is yet again at cross roads when marking 75 years of independence. A spiralling economic crisis has resulted in over 9 million fellow citizens slipping into poverty, with over 30% of families food insecure and 56,000 children facing acute malnutrition.

These startling figures are in the context of shortages of essential items, rising prices and continuing power cuts impacting the most vulnerable communities and exposing Sri Lanka’s deepening inequalities.

Despite the hardships faced by so many in Sri Lanka, the Government of President Ranil Wickremasinghe marked independence with pomp and pageantry reportedly costing Sri Lanka nearly Rs200 million, funds that could have been used to meet basic needs of Sri Lankans.

Such extravagance must be juxtaposed to the government’s claim of financial difficulties to hold the local government election. Further, Sri Lanka is yet again confronted with renewed repression. 4th of February dawned with reports of brute force used by the police and thugs against those who participated in a peaceful and non-violent Satyagraha in Colombo and attempts to prevent protests in other parts of Sri Lanka.

Continue reading ‘“Fresh initiatives needed urgently to form a broad democratic movement that can eventually build a robust and inclusive democratic alliance between the politically awakened citizens, political parties and the civil society movements.”- -JUSTICE FOR ALL.’ »

President Ranil Wickremesinghe said regardless of the obstacles the anarchist political forces seek to create, he will continue the new reform program with the majority of people who love this country.

“We can become a developed country by 2048 if we work and move forward in a united and planned manner envisioning peace and reconciliation. There is the potential to become a developed country which is not begging from any other nation in the world. True freedom can be achieved and it is possible,” he said addressing the nation.

“There are those who want to keep perpetuating this wound forever, though I don‟t wish. Let’s seek to heal this wound though it’s difficult and painful. If we endure the suffering and pain for a short period of time, we can get the wound healed completely. We have no way out of this crisis with short cuts as that some political parties are pointing out,” he said.

The Full Statement:

Most Venerable Maha Sangha and the clergy, my fellow citizens, all Sri Lankans abroad, dear children,

Today, I will not be delivering a traditional Independence Day statement. I am not going to dwell on the freedom we gained. While honouring those who were dedicated and worked hard for the country‟s freedom, including the late Mr. D.S. Senanayake, I will focus on regaining the freedom that we have lost today.

Around 75 years ago, the esteemed “London Times‟ newspaper carried an editorial stating that “It is our desire to see Sri Lanka become a Switzerland in the East, very soon.”

Continue reading ‘“Politicians who spoke the truth were rejected by the people. Those who pointed out the real situation of the country and sought related remedies were hardly given a place. Yet, those who satisfied people with their lies gained greater acceptance.We got trapped in a consensual political culture.”- President Ranil Wickremesinghe’ »

By

Jayadeva Uyangoda

(Jayadeva Uyangoda is Emeritus Professor of Political Science, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka)

Controversy looms over Sri Lanka’s celebration of the 75th anniversary of its Independence (February 4, 1948), with a question having been raised on whether it is worth wasting Sri Lankan rupees 300 million on this event.

Why has the Sri Lankan government decided to have an expensive official celebration? The country is facing ruinous economic collapse and thousands of poor citizens could be facing starvation. So why waste so much public money when there is absolutely nothing to celebrate as achievements after Independence?

There is another controversy brewing too. Nationwide local government elections are to be held before the end of February. But there is a debate on whether it is prudent to spend public money on an election while also facing an economic crisis. It is a case of narrow interests of the ruling elite versus democracy and public welfare. The President’s office has been making the claim that the Treasury has no money to spend on an election which is not an urgent public need. The Opposition points out that this is an excuse put out by the ruling coalition to avoid electoral humiliation.

Although the elections have been scheduled by the Election Commission, whether they will be held at all is another issue. Meanwhile, the Independence day celebrations will go on as planned, irrespective of the absence of public enthusiasm.

In Sri Lanka, 1948 as an event has hardly struck a chord outside official circles. Some of the reasons are rooted in Sri Lanka’s specific path to Independence. The others are linked to what has been achieved or not by the governments after the colonial rulers left.

The main point in any celebratory discourse is that Sri Lanka’s ‘national heroes’ won political independence from the British without any bloodshed — in contrast to other countries where the path to independence was, in many cases, a violent one. This thesis, of ‘independence without bloodshed’, is not universally admired in Sri Lanka, due to its inherent limits.

Continue reading ‘Key Reasons as to why the ‘thesis’ of ‘independence without bloodshed’ is hardly admired in Sri Lanka’ »

By

Col R Hariharan

Sri Lanka will be celebrating its 75th Independence Day on February 4, 2023. As a republic the country has come a long way from the dominion it was at the time of independence. The shaky step with which President Ranil Wickremesinghe steps into the 75th year of independence, tells that his job to mend the fractured country left in disarray by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is far from over. His government has to survive at least one more year to ensure the economic recovery process is started as per IMF norms.

The former president Gotabaya’s flight to safety from the country to escape from the wrath of the people has a lesson for all political leaders. They cannot afford to take popular support for granted. That includes President Wickremesinghe, though he is not elected President by popular mandate. Embers of Aragalaya struggle are still smouldering; a small number of vested interests, nihilists and ultra-left wingers are trying hard to keep alive the protest movement. They have been indirectly helped by the government’s continued lack of accountability. People cannot afford the resurgence of another Aragalaya upsurge as it would shift the national focus from economic recovery. It is the government responsibility to get its act together to ensure the popular discontent is handled with sympathy, sensitivity and fair play.

Apparently, the government has shown signs of getting its act together. It has just released Wasantha Mudalige, Convenor of the Inter-University Students Federation and one of the leaders of the Aragalaya protests, after holding him in custody under the infamous Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) for nearly nine months. But much more needs to be done by the government to gain public confidence. It is in this backdrop that events in the month need to be understood.

Economic recovery

The seamless connectivity between external relations and the economic recovery of the country came into full play during the month. Early in the month, President Wickremesinghe addressing businessmen in Colombo, briefed them on the state of economic recovery. He had said Japan and the Paris Club, two of Sri Lanka’s major creditors, had expressed their willingness to assist. Talks had begun with India and China. “We discussed with China’s EXIM Bank and are currently debating on how to restructure our debt. The Chinese side has agreed to move quickly” he added. Japan’s State Minister of the Cabinet office Satoshi Fujimaru, China’s Vice Minister of the International Department of the CCP’s Central Committee Chen Zhou and India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Colombo in that order. The US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs is currently visiting Sri Lanka to “offer continued support for Sri Lanka’s efforts to stabilize the economy, protect human rights and promise reconciliation” according to the State Department.

The Paris Club is said to have proposed a 10-year debt moratorium and a 15-year debt restructuring programme. Japan’s minister Fujimaru came with a delegation of Japanese businessmen and his discussions with the President focused on investment opportunities available in Sri Lanka in hospitality and tourism, mining and training of Sri Lanka’s workforce. Chinese Vice Minister Chen led a delegation with the avowed aim to meet leaders of the government and political parties to brief them “on the CPC National Congress decisions and enhance cooperation with friendly developing countries under President Xi Jinping’s policies.” On debt restructuring, he assured PM Dinesh Gunawardena that “several ministries and financial institutes of China are working closely on this issue for quite a long period. I’m confident that Sri Lanka will have good news very soon.” But “the good news” that China’s EXIM Bank agreeing to a two-year moratorium on Sri Lanka’s debts may not satisfy the IMF programme.

In contrast to China, India – the third largest creditor – validated its “neighbourhood first policy” by writing to the IMF Chief of its support to restructuring of Sri Lanka’s debts on the eve of EAM Jaishankar’s visit to Colombo. In its letter to IMF, India has said it will support medium to long term treatment of debts through maturity extension and interest rate reduction or any other financial operations that would deliver similar relief. India also said that it expects Sri Lanka to seek equitable debt treatments from all commercial creditors and other official bilateral creditors.

After bilateral talks, EAM Jaishankar addressed a joint press conference at the Presidential Secretariat along with President Wickremesinghe and Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Sabry. He said in Colombo that India will stand by Sri Lanka in its hour of need and expressed confidence in overcoming challenges. His words that India “felt strongly that Sri Lanka’s creditors must take proactive steps to facilitate its recovery” and extended financial assurances to the IMF to clear the way for Sri Lanka to move forward. Our expectation is that this will not only strengthen Sri Lanka’s position but ensure that all bilateral creditors are dealt with equally,” must be heart-warming to the beleaguered President.

He also said India will encourage greater investments in the Sri Lankan economy, especially in the core areas like energy, tourism and infrastructure. Apart from the use of rupee settlement for trade, he also suggested strengthening connectivity, encouraging Indian tourists to make RuPay payments and the use of UPI payment as helpful to Sri Lanka.

Implementing 13th Amendment

The Indian EAM’s talks with Sri Lankan leaders in Colombo seem to have nudged President Wickremesinghe to walk the talk on unfulfilled promises on ethnic reconciliation and implementing 13th Amendment (13A) to the Constitution in full.

The President informed an all-party leaders conference on reconciliation that the Cabinet was agreeable to fully implement 13A. In a statement issued by his secretariat, he said “The 13th Amendment has been in existence for over 30 years. I must implement it. If anyone is opposed, they can bring in a constitutional amendment to change it, or abolish it.” Explaining his stand, he said he was working according to a supreme court decision on 13A.

“We are still in the bounds of a unitary state. I am against a Federal state but I support the devolution of power to provinces. The provincial councils don’t even have the powers enjoyed by the City of London. So, we can’t call this a federal state,” he said.
It is clear that the President has left the decision to implement or scrap the 13A on political leaders from all parties. it might be a political ploy to tide over a tricky political issue for a short time. But, his credibility as President is likely to be tested when he attempts to implement 13A. His statement has already received negative reaction from Tamil National Alliance as well as Sinhala right. And we can expect more political flak on this issue across parties.

This adds yet another rider to the political stability of the government, which does appear to be clear about conducting the local government elections(LG) in March. Already, the uneasy ruling coalition of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) is divided over the conduct of LG elections in March. Lack of clarity on the issue is already causing scepticism about the government’s intentions among the public . In the face of a brewing political turbulence, it will be a tough call on the President to take decisive action even at the best of times. Now, when the country is trying to save itself, it is going to be tougher.

Tailpiece: Sri Lanka’s annual bilateral naval exercise ‘CARAT’ (Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training) was held on land and at sea in Colombo, Trincomalee and Mullikulam for a week from January 19. The exercise aims to promote regional cooperation, maritime partnerships, enhance maritime interoperability and maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific. These aims coincide with that of the four-nation Quadrilateral framework. The Japan Self Defence Force (SLDF) and the Maldives National Defence Force joined the Sri Lanka armed forces in the last leg of the exercise. These details reflect the changes taking place in the strategic narrative of Indo-Pacific theatre after the Quad. China is sure to take not of the strong strategic message CARAT is sending.

******************************************************

By Tisaranee Gunasekara

“I saw them erect the guillotine again tonight” – Alejo Carpentier
(Explosion in a cathedral)

Call it a no brainer. Whatever Queen Viharamahadevi, the legendary mother of King Dutugemunu, wore, it wouldn’t have been a Kandyan sari (osariya). So why dress up her statue in that garb, jewellery included?

Not just any statue, but the one by the Ruwanweli Seya, her son’s most famous construct, and the place Gotabaya Rajapaksa chose to take his presidential oaths in 2019. When the story broke over the social media, the director general of the Archaeology Department took steps to divest the statue of the anachronistic attire ( ඔසරියක් අන්ද විහාරමහා දේවී | Carbon News).

Who dressed the statue (securely placed inside a glass enclosure) in a white Kandyan? Did the chief incumbent of the Ruwanweli Seya and other monks not notice this sudden change?

Could enacting such a radical sartorial transformation have been possible without an official wink and a nod?

More pertinently, why do it? Why now, in January 2023?

Dressing up the past in a garb that is profitable in the present has been a Lankan political staple in the last 75 years. Harking back to Dutugemunu is the favourite form in which this politics of redux finds expressed. In this ‘save the nation’ narrative, Queen Viharamahadevi plays a part that is second only to her warrior-son. She is his confidant, mentor, and, advisor, his fellow in the struggle to vanquish the Tamils (we have only Mahawamsa’s word for all this, a tale penned by a monk about 700 years after these events).

Continue reading ‘Who Dressed up the Statue of King Dutugemunu’s Legendary Mother Queen Viharamahadevi at Ruwanweliseya in a White Kandyan Saree(Osariya) and Jewellery?More pertinently, why do it? Why now, in January 2023?’ »

By

Jagriti Chandra

Tamil is the oldest language of the world, and is a big treasure and source of pride, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his address to students at the sixth edition of the Pariksha Pe Charcha event held on Friday, while urging them to learn languages other than their mother tongue.

PM Modi

“Did you know Tamil is the oldest language of the whole world, not just of India? Shouldn’t such a country be proud? We have such a big treasure, a big source of pride. Our chest should swell with pride and we must tell the world this,” Mr. Modi said during the event, remarking that he had spoken in Tamil during an address at the UN General Assembly in 2019 in order to spread this message.

Continue reading ‘“Did you know Tamil is the oldest language of the whole world, not just of India? Shouldn’t such a country be proud? We have such a big treasure, a big source of pride. Our chest should swell with pride and we must tell the world this,” – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’ »

by Jehan Perera

By proroguing parliament President Ranil Wickremesinghe has given the parliamentarians, and the country at large, a reminder of the power of the presidency. There was no evident reason for the president to suddenly decide to prorogue parliament. More than 40 parliamentary committees, including important ones concerning public finances, enterprises and accounts have ceased to function. The president’s office has said that when parliament reconvenes on February 8, after the celebration of the country’s 75th Independence Day on February 4, the president will announce new policies and laws, which will be implemented until the centenary celebrations of Sri Lanka’s independence in 2048. Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew transformed Singapore from a relatively underdeveloped and impoverished agrarian society into one of the world’s most developed countries in the same 25 years that the president has set for Sri Lanka.

President Wickremesinghe has been getting increasingly assertive regarding his position on issues. Recently he attended a large gathering of Muslim clerics, where he was firm in saying that society needs to modernise, and so do religious practices. He has also held fast to his positions on reviving the economy and resolving the economy. There have been widespread protests against the tax hikes being implemented which have eroded the purchasing power of taxpayers. First they had to absorb the impact of inflation that rose to a rate of 80 percent at the time the country reneged on its foreign debt repayments and declared bankruptcy. Now they find their much diminished real incomes being further reduced by a tax rate that reaches 36 percent.

Continue reading ‘On February 20, President Wickremesinghe will acquire the power to dissolve parliament at his discretion. By proroguing p’ment, the president has sent a message to parliamentarians and society that he will soon have the power to dissolve parliament with the same suddenness that he prorogued p’ment.’ »

by Dr Jayampathy Wickramaratne PC

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution (13A), which introduced devolution of power to the periphery, is again in the news, this time on the need to fully implement it. President Ranil Wickremesinghe first raised the issue in Parliament, asking the various parties whether they are for 13 Plus, meaning improving on 13A. SJB’s Lakshman Kiriella, an avowed supporter of devolution, while saying that his party is for it, asked the President whether Mahinda Rajapaksa’s SLPP, which provides the President with the Parliamentary majority he needs for his legislative agenda, was supportive. Pressed by the President and Kiriella for a response, Rajapaksa, who had promised India to improve on 13A, rose reluctantly and said ‘13 Plus’.

President Wickremesinghe’s attempt to get a consensus on a constitutional settlement of the national question did not get off the ground. The SLPP is unlikely to abandon its Sinhala-nationalist platform. Opposition parties were sceptical. Realising the impossibility of a far-reaching amendment, the President has changed his strategy to one of fully implementing 13A, without changes, or with minor changes, that could muster SLPP support.

Several Opposition parties, that attended the previous meetings of the All-Party Conference (APC), stayed away from the meeting, held on January 27. While the SJB said that the APC was a mere ‘talk show,’ its ally among the Hill Country Tamils, the TPA, said that the President had not considered the issues facing them. The SJB’s Muslim allies did participate. MP Harini Amarasuriya clarified that while the NPP supported the 13A, in principle, it did not consider the President’s statement, on fully implementing the13A, credible.

The main areas in which the 13A has not been implemented are law and order (Police powers) and land. To add to this, successive governments have, over the last 35 years, taken back several subjects, and functions, that legitimately belong to the Provincial Councils (PCs) – agrarian services being one of them. The high point of central intrusion was the Divineguma Act of 2013, under which several functions of PCs, related to rural development, were taken over, using the two-thirds majority that the Government possessed.

Continue reading ‘It must not be assumed that President Wickremesinghe’s declared intention to implement the 13th Amendment could be put into practice easily.’ »

By Mirudhula Thambiah

During a discussion with Tamil and Muslim political parties yesterday (1), Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs of the US Victoria Nuland had suggested that the parties resolve their issues based on a joint roadmap, especially when addressing land-related issues with President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Speaking to The Daily Morning, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Spokesman, Opposition MP, and President’s Counsel (PC) M.A. Sumanthiran said: “All the Tamil-speaking parties met her together. There were concerns from the Muslim community with regard to land, concerns from the upcountry parties and us, so she told us to jointly put down our land related concerns and to push that together. She said that while there may be different concerns, we should stay united to push all those matters that must be resolved. They will encourage the Sri Lankan Government to deliver on that.”

Sumanthiran also said that Nuland had told the parties that President Wickremesinghe had promised her that the Local Government (LG) election will be held. “She also told us that the President had promised her that the LG election will be held. We said that is important as they have been trying to scuttle it. Democracy is important and as far as we are concerned, accountability is important, and the US has led the process at the United Nations Human Rights Council, Geneva, Switzerland, and therefore, must do more than that now in order to take it to the next stage”.

Continue reading ‘US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland Advises Parties Representing the Tamil Speaking People to Prepare Joint Roadmap and work Together to Resolve Issues Faced by Minorities’ »

By

Kshama Ranawana

At long last, he is begging for forgiveness.

After doggedly refusing to acknowledge responsibility for any part of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed and maimed hundreds, and ruined many families, Maithripala Sirisena wants to be forgiven.

Why this sudden about-face, nearly four years later?

Clearly, there are two issues on the former President’s mind; the recent court verdict ordering him to pay, from his private funds a hundred million rupees as compensation to the victims, and his plans to contest the presidency in 2024. Regarding the latter, he even likened himself to Nelson Mandela, stating that despite the setbacks, he is certain of being, like Mandela, elected President.

What audacity! What an insult to Mandela!

Continue reading ‘After doggedly refusing to acknowledge responsibility for any part of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed and maimed hundreds and ruined many families, Maithripala Sirisena wants to be forgiven.’ »

BY Mirudhula Thambiah

Following President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s assertion on Thursday (27) that he is opposed to federalism in Sri Lanka, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) stated that there can be no meaningful power sharing under a unitary model and that if President Ranil Wickremesinghe has taken the stance that there is no federal solution, then his effort for reconciliation has failed.

Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday (30), TNA’s spokesman, Parliamentarian and President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran said that there had been instances in the past since 2005, when President Wickremesinghe had supported a federal solution.

“But, if he has taken this stance now, that there is no federal solution, then his effort concerning reconciliation has failed. There can be no meaningful power sharing under a unitary model. Until now, he stood for a federal solution, so we negotiated. Now that the final and permanent solution is not possible, is he not willing to cross the line into a federal structure? But, because of that, we will not oppose him implementing all the provisions with regard to power sharing that are already in the Constitution. Implementing all the powers of the Provincial Councils that are contained in the Constitution anyhow is no final solution to the ethnic issue,” he said.

Continue reading ‘MA Sumanthiran MP states the plan to resolve the national issue before the 75th Independence Day celebrations on 4 February has failed.”That is why we have said that we are opposed to the celebration of the Independence Day as we have not got our independence.”says TNA Spokesperson’ »

By Express News Service

Uthiramerur, a quaint village about 85 km from Chennai, suddenly found itself embedded into the foundation of democracy on Thursday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about the grassroots-level governance that was practiced there during the Chola period in the 10th century.

Soon after laying the foundation stone for the new Parliament building in New Delhi, Modi sprang a surprise by making a reference to the Uthiramerur model of democracy, saying how that unique principle had been a characteristic feature of governance in India even during ancient times.

He said the stone inscriptions clearly described how every village was categorised as kudumbu, which we call a ward in modern day parlance. “One representative from each of these kudumbus was sent to the general assembly, as it is today. The mahasabha, which used to be held thousands of years ago, is still there,” he said.

Continue reading ‘Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Cites the Chola-era Stone Inscriptions of Uthiramerur in Tamil Nadu as Proof of Democracy Being Prevalent in India Durinf Ancient times before the Advent of Western Colonialism’ »

By

Kishali Pinto-Jayawardene

What has a nation, which cannot guarantee uninterrupted power supply to students sitting the Advanced Level examination, where large swathes of the populace go hungry, where the sick do not have access to essential medicine with many hospitals announcing that they have run out of supplies, have to ‘celebrate’ on its ‘75th Independence Day’?

Making ‘the world’ laugh if not cry

This is an important question to ask. Reportedly, President Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared that it is important to mark that day in a ‘grand and proud manner…for otherwise, the world will say that we are not capable of celebrating even our independence.’ That claim is nonsensical in the first instance. From where do politicians acquire such grandiose notions, we may ask with force? Certainly ‘the world’ (whatever that may mean) will be less than bothered if Sri Lanka ‘celebrates’ an independence day or not.

In fact, there is a marvellous irony here which the President seems to be deaf, dumb and blind to. A bankrupt country teetering on the brink of a complete financial meltdown, begging from all and sundry for handouts, whose legal systems and justice institutions have been mercilessly pilloried as irredeemably politicised, can scarcely afford to waste millions on a single day ‘celebration’ of independence. That will perchance make ‘the world’ laugh and not kindly at that. This is a truth that a child will recognise.

Indeed, the day would have been better marked by solemn prayers from the North to the South, for repentance and reformation of its rulers and citizens. There cannot be a more fitting time than now for collective repentance in accordance with the abiding precepts of the four great religions observed by the people of this land, Buddhism, Hindusim, Christianity and Islam. Our ‘rulers’ should repent for multiple violations of the Constitution, for precipitating the country to economic ruin, for thousands of named and nameless Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim victims killed on this soil.

Continue reading ‘No political party can wash its hands of responsibility for the label of the ‘beggar of South Asia’ that Sri Lanka has been foisted with. ‘We the People’ have played our part in that calamitous road to perdition.So on this 75th Independence Day, what do we ‘celebrate’?’ »

(Text of Press Release Issued by the President’s Media Division)

President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that he is bound to implement the existing law in accordance with the executive powers of the President.

He said further that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution should be implemented accordingly or the Parliament should abolish the 13th amendment.

President Wickremesinghe also pointed out that any parliamentarian could move a private member’s bill to abolish the 13th Amendment to the constitution and the same amendment would have to be implemented provided that the bill was voted against by the majority of the House.
The President stressed that he was not ready to divide the country at all and would not betray the Sinhalese nation as well.

President Wickremesinghe made these remarks at the All-Party Conference, which was held at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (26).

The statement made by the President is as follows.

Continue reading ‘“I am acting in accordance with the Supreme Court decision regarding the 13th Amendment. I oppose a federal state but not devolution of power. The provincial Councils in Sri Lanka haven’t even the powers that are vested in the London City Council. Hence we can’t define this as a federal state.”- President Ranil Wickremesinghe’ »

From meagre beginnings in the 1980s, Gautam Adani has emerged as India’s richest citizen. Now, in just a few days, the foundations of his sprawling empire have been shaken.

On January 24th a small New York investment firm, Hindenburg Research, published a report calling the Adani Group “the largest con in corporate history”. In a series of statements, the group responded by saying that the report was “maliciously mischievous”, “unresearched” and intended to “sabotage” a secondary share offering of the group’s flagship listed company, Adani Enterprises.

The group also said that Hindenburg had published its report “without making any attempt to contact us or verify the factual matrix”. “We are deeply disturbed by this intentional and reckless attempt by a foreign entity to mislead the investor community and the general public,” wrote the group’s top lawyer, Jatin Jalundhwala.

These fierce denials have not averted a sell-off of shares in Mr Adani’s seven listed companies, first right after Hindenburg’s report was published, then again when markets reopened on January 27th after a public holiday. In two trading days the collective market value of the Adani Group’s listed firms fell by $47bn, or 22%.

Mr Adani’s personal fortune declined from $122bn at the end of 2022 to $93bn, according to the Hurun Report, a research firm. The episode has also drawn the world’s attention to one of India’s corporate success stories—and a significant motor of the country’s recent economic growth.

In targeting Mr Adani, Hindenburg could not have selected a bigger whale. After dropping out of school at the age of 16, the entrepreneur moved through a succession of jobs, trading first in diamonds, then in metals and cereals, before entering the infrastructure business.

Continue reading ‘New York investment firm Hindenburg Research Targets India’s Richest man Gautam Adani; publishe detailed report that describes the Adani Group as “the largest con in corporate history”.-The Economist”’ »

Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi

The Indian government has invoked emergency laws to block a BBC documentary examining the role of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, during riots in the western state of Gujarat in 2002.

Controversy has erupted in India over the first episode of the two-part programme, India: The Modi Question, which tracked his rise through the ranks of the Bharatiya Janata party and his appointment as chief minister of Gujarat.

The BBC also uncovered memos showing that Modi’s conduct was criticised at the time by western diplomats and the British government, including in a government report which found that the riots had “all the hallmarks of an ethnic cleansing”.

Modi has been haunted for decades by allegations of complicity in the violence that took place during the Gujarat riots, which broke out after 59 Hindu pilgrims died on a train that had been set on fire. The fire was blamed on the state’s Muslim population.

Continue reading ‘India invokes emergency laws to ban BBC documentary about Narendra Modi’s Alleged role in the Anti-Muslim violence during 2002 Gujarat riots; Govt accused of ‘censorship’ for imposing ban on film about PM’s role’ »

By

Buddhika Samaraweera

The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court yesterday (25) ordered Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chandana D. Wickramaratne to make an explanation regarding the investigation related to the sum of Rs. 17.85 million, which was found at the President’s House in Colombo when it was taken over by the public in July 2022, being removed from the Police Special Investigation Unit (SIU) and being handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), and the Police’s failure to comply with a court order to record a statement from former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa regarding the said sum.

When the relevant case was taken up before Colombo Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage, the SIU informed the court that the IGP had ordered it to hand over the investigation into the incident to the CID.

The officers who appeared for the SIU also stated that when the IGP was asked for permission to record a statement from Rajapaksa in accordance with the court order issued in relation to this incident, he (the IGP) had informed the SIU that the relevant investigation had been handed over to the CID.

At this point, the Magistrate said that the court orders made so far should be implemented regardless of which officer investigates the incident. Informing that legal action will be taken against the officers who act contrary to those orders, he ordered the IGP to make an explanation about handing over the investigations to the CID without following the order to record a statement from Rajapaksa.

Continue reading ‘Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage Orders IGP Wickramaratne to Explain why Police have not Imlemented Court order to Record Statement from Ex-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa about the Rupees 17.85 million found by the public at the Presidents House in July 2022.’ »

By Madhusha Thavapalakumar

Despite the receipt of a letter from the Export-Import Bank (EXIM) of China offering Sri Lanka a two-year moratorium on its debt to support efforts to secure a $ 2.9 billion loan from the the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Sri Lanka is awaiting financial assurances from China to the IMF, similar to what was provided by the Government of India last week.

Continue reading ‘Despite Letter from the Export-Import Bank (EXIM) of China offering Sri Lanka a two-year moratorium on its debt, Sri Lanka is awaiting financial assurances from China to the IMF, similar to what was provided by the Govt of India; “Once received, a maximum of 4 weeks to get IMF Board approval” says Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe.’ »

By Tisaranee Gunasekara

“A tangle within, a tangle without…”
Jata Sutta – Samyutta Nikaya

In July 2020, Indika Rathnayake, a non-theistic online activist, was summoned to the Organised Crimes Prevention Police Division and questioned for three hours. ‘Propagating fictitious ideas’ was his organised crime. The monk-director of the Buddhist Information Centre had complained about Mr. Rathnayake’s facebook posts claiming that Buddhism originated from Jainism. Why a police division set up to prevent ‘organised crime’ should take such a complaint seriously is not even a question in Sri Lanka.

Mr. Rathnayake was fortunate; he got off with a warning not to speculate about the origins of Buddhism. Unlike that unnamed 43-year-old woman who was arrested less than three months later for insulting Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, thereby ‘sowing discord among Buddhists and Christians.’

According to Pew Research, 40% of world’s countries and territories have blasphemy laws, including Sri Lanka. Our blasphemy laws were bequeathed to us by the British. Britain abolished its own blasphemy laws in 2008. We still cling to ours and resort to them more than ever before.

The irony is obvious. The concept of blasphemy is alien to the Buddha’s teaching. His attitude to verbal abuse, including the vilest slander, is well known, Akkosa Sutta being an excellent case point. A Brahmin called Akkosa Bharadvaja scolds the Buddha in “foul and harsh words.” The Buddha waits until the tirade is over and asks what Akkosa does when he has visitors. Akkosa says he offers refreshments. The Buddha asks what happens to those refreshments if the visitors refuse them. Akkosa says then they will return to him. Says the Buddha, “You are abusing us who do not abuse, you are angry with us who do not get angry, you are quarrelling with us who do not quarrel. All this of yours we do not accept. You alone, Brahman, get it back; all this, Brahman, belongs to you.” He then explains that when someone “returns the abuse, the quarrelling, anger in kind, it is called ‘associating with each other and exchanging mutually. This association and mutual exchange we do not engage in.”

The British-introduced blasphemy laws seemed to have been observed more in the breach for close to a century. Until the early 1970’s there seemed to have existed in the island an environment conducive to free thinking, debate, and dissent. The response to myth-busting activities by Prof. Abraham T Kovoor, Prof. Carlo Fonseka, and the Rationalist Association indicate a public relatively open minded even about age-old superstitions, such as fire-walking associated with God Kataragama.

Continue reading ‘Mahawamsa’s claim that there’s no sin in killing non-Buddhists in a war to protect Buddhism has seeped deeper into Sinhala consciousness than Buddha’s First Precept.’ »

By

Kshama Ranawana

He refuses to accept responsibility for the greatest carnage that occurred under his watch and now wants the people to help pay the compensation ordered by the Supreme Court.

Maithripala Sirisena, President and Minister of Defence was also the Head of the Security Council and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, when three churches and three hotels were bombed on April 21, 2019, Easter Sunday.

Sirisena was out of the country when the bombings occurred and took his time returning to Sri Lanka, though the nation had been plunged into total disarray. Close to three hundred lives were lost while hundreds more were injured, some crippled for life by bombings carried out by so-called radicalised Muslims.

On January 12 this year, a seven Judge Bench delivered its verdict on the 12 fundamental rights petitions filed in relation to the bombings; Maithripala Sirisena must pay compensation to the tune of Rs 100 million. The Court also ordered then Inspector General of Police Pujitha Jayasundera and then Chief of State Intelligence Nilantha Jayawardena to pay Rs 75 million each, then Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando to pay Rs 50 million and the former Chief of National Intelligence Sisira Mendis to pay Rs. 10 million. The compensation must, according to the court order, come out of their personal funds.

Continue reading ‘“Man Up Maithripala Sirisena, don’t Trivialise the Easter Bombing!.Apologise and pay the fine out of your pocket or take responsibility and suffer incarceration.”’ »

By

Ranga Jayasuriya

Sri Lanka’s professional classes are paragons of virtues at normal times. But, their bruised sense of entitlement at the new personal income tax revisions is nothing but a callous display ofrent-seeking opportunism.

Last week, a group of professional organisations representing government doctors, university dons, engineers and banking employees took to the street against the government’s new progressive income tax.

They warned that paying the personal income tax at a reduced tax threshold of Rs. 100,000 per month would wreak havoc, leading to an exodus of professionals. As if the greener pastures of the West are waiting in open arms, with jobs lined up. Try that!

In the meantime, for a self-sponsored developing world professional to get a job remotely on par with his native professional qualifications is two to three years – or probably never. Not to mention language requirements, not just as an entry requirement but also to land a decent job and cultivate personal circles. Again, assuming that these good fellas would land in one of those greener pastures, for instance, Australia, their preferred destination. Unless they live off the government subsidies or toiling at a pump earning a pittance, they would be paying 19% of earnings starting at AUS $ 18,201 (US$ 12,750).

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka’s economy crumbled not just because its ex-president is an egoistic fool but because successive governments bankrolled a low-tax economy with public debt, subsidising everything from fuel to electricity.’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has confirmed receiving India’s written financing assurance in support of Sri Lanka’s economic revival, Reuters news agency reported, while Sri Lanka has expressed hope of completing talks on debt restructuring in six months’ time.

“We confirm that India has indicated to the IMF management that it is committed to deliver financing/debt relief consistent with restoring the sustainability of Sri Lanka’s public debt under the prospective IMF-supported programme,” a spokesperson of the IMF, who welcomed India’s assurance, was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, speaking at an event in Colombo on Tuesday, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka P. Nandalal Weerasinghe said: “There has been good progress this month with India already pledging financing assurances. We expect assurances from China and Japan soon.”

Continue reading ‘The International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirms receipt of India’s written financing assurance in support of Sri Lanka’s economic revival, while Sri Lanka expresses hope of completing talks on debt restructuring in six months’ time.’ »

Indian Minister of External Affairs, S. Jaishankar, said in Colombo on Friday that the energy security is one of Sri Lanka’s most serious challenges and a solution must encompass the larger region.He said Sri Lanka has enormous renewable energy potential that can become a sustainable source of revenue while Trincomalee can be an energy hub.

“In its support for Sri Lanka, India is prepared to be a reliable partner on such initiatives. We have today agreed in-principle on a renewable energy framework that would take this cooperation forward,” he said.

The statement also made reference to Colombo’s ongoing engagement with the IMF without specifics. It said: “We extended financing assurances to the IMF to clear the way for Sri Lanka to move forward. Our expectation is that this will not only strengthen Sri Lanka’s position but ensure that all bilateral creditors are dealt with equally.”

Given below is his statement in full:

Continue reading ‘“I would like to underline that India is a reliable neighbour, a trustworthy partner, one who is prepared to go the extra mile when Sri Lanka feels the need.”- Indian External Affairs Minister Dr.S.Jaishankar’ »

By

By Ashish Ray

That the British government found Narendra Modi culpable in the 2002 Gujarat riots is the most significant takeaway from the first episode of the two-part BBC television investigative documentary, India: The Modi Question, which was broadcast in Britain on January 17.

Soon after the riots, the British foreign office had undertaken an investigation. The BBC documentary claims that the probe’s conclusions—hitherto classified—are being disclosed for the first time.

According to the show, the inquiry carried out by a United Kingdom diplomat was headlined: “Subject: Gujarat Pogrom”. Its summary read: “Extent of violence much greater than reported. At least 2,000 killed. Widespread systematic rape of Muslim women. 138,000 internal refugees. The targeted destruction of all Muslim businesses in Hindu and mixed Hindu-Muslim areas.”

It went on to state: “Violence planned, possibly months in advance, and politically motivated. Aim was to purge Muslims from Hindu areas. Led by VHP (Hindu extremist organisation), under the protection of the state government. Reconciliation impossible while Modi remains Chief Minister.”

The report then entered into detail: “Their (the Hindu mobs’) systematic campaign of violence has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing.” Furthermore: “The VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) could not have inflicted so much damage without the climate of impunity created by the state government.”

Finally, and most devastatingly, the British Foreign Office report stated: “Narendra Modi is directly responsible.”

Continue reading ‘New BBC television investigative documentary Aired on 17 Jan 2023 titled ” India: The Modi Question” reveals Classified Documents on Stating then Gujerat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was Directly Responsible in the Anti-Muslim Violence of 2002.’ »

By

Kishali Pinto – Jayawardene

It says much for Machiavellian type political audacity, that the hype surrounding Sri Lanka’s Regulation of Elections Expenditure Bill disguised one starkly glaring absurdity.

Disgraceful failure to cover ‘political parties’

Leaving aside the flap over the Opposition claiming (not without reason) that the Bill was just another tactic by a Government under siege to delay the forthcoming local government elections, its contents were problematic at several levels. The Bill sought to address the regulation of expenditure by individual candidates across the broad spectrum of the country’s electoral process, through recording of ‘donations, contributions’ and the like and framing parameters for expenditure thereto.

However and most predominantly so, ‘political parties’ were absented from its ambit. Indeed, the very fact that its clauses were unblushingly framed in this way in the first instance speaks to the impunity which political parties in Sri Lanka claim as their birthright, enabling them to operate over and above the law as they think fit.

The reality is, of course, that ‘political parties’ is the very large (collective) elephant in the room pertaining to the regulation of campaign finance.

Our unpleasant history of stupendous party corruption across the political divide demonstrates very well. That is the very source from which gross perversion of the democratic process flows, where black money funneled into election campaigns bring down regimes for their own gain, often framing the making of state policy against the national interest. We may recall one noteworthy scandal not so long ago, Arjun Aloysius of Perpetual Treasuries ill fame was reported to have funded the 2015 election campaigns of politicians in the Government and the Opposition.

Continue reading ‘The decades long failure to curb political, state and corporate corruption has propelled the nation into bankruptcy.This pattern continues in the face of the great and grievous travails that afflict this nation, just a tad stealthier perhaps than earlier.’ »

By

Rajasinghe

Hardly had the ink on the coalition pledge signed by the new Nidahas alliance chiefs dried on the expensive parchment paper supplied by Thilanga Sumathipala, its new General Secretary, when a ballistic missile hit their symbol – the helicopter.

A unanimous verdict of a seven-member bench of the Supreme Court – the highest in the land – held that star Nidahas member Maithripala Sirisena of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) had neglected his duties as President of Sri Lanka apropos the terrorist attack on Catholic churches and five-star hotels on Easter Sunday on his watch.

Sirisena’s statement that he was unaware of any prior warning received through a foreign intelligence agency did not absolve him of his responsibilities as Minister of Defence, opined the learned judges. The former President had earlier gone on record that he had learnt of many decisions about his administration through the daily newspapers.

Continue reading ‘Former President Maithripala Sirisena Seems to have reached the end of the line mow and has also brought his recently-formed party down with him.’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

If an Indian leader or top official makes a statement on Sri Lanka, it would invariably mention one piece of legislation in Sri Lanka’s Constitution — the 13th Amendment. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who was in Colombo earlier this week, said he shared India’s “considered view” with President Ranil Wickremesinghe that the full implementation of the 13th Amendment was “critical” for power devolution.

Sri Lanka’s current Constitution, adopted in 1978, has had 21 amendments to date, but arguably, none as controversial as this. Passed in November 1987, months after Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene signed the Indo-Lanka Accord, the 13th Amendment is the only legislative guarantee of a measure of power devolution to the island’s provinces. It provided for setting up provincial governments across the country — there are nine provincial councils — and made Tamil, too, an official language, and English, a link language.

It was, in some measure, an antidote to the ‘Sinhala Only Act’ of 1956, one of the most discriminatory laws passed targeting the island’s Tamil minorities, after the Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948 that rendered Sri Lanka’s Malaiyaha Tamils of Indian origin stateless. It also sought to address the Tamils’ right to self-determination which, by the 1980s, had become ing a raging political call. With the 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom laying bare violent Sinhala majoritarianism and racism, it was hard for the world and India not to appreciate a legitimate demand.

However, for successive governments, devolving power to the provinces as per the 13th Amendment, including in the Tamil-majority north and east, was hardly on their ‘must do’ list. Despite public promises, leaders from the Sinhala-majority south failed to implement in letter and spirit what was already in the Constitution. Detractors construe the 13th Amendment as an “Indian imposition”, despite it being an outcome of a bilateral Accord signed by J. R. Jayewardene, one of the island’s most powerful Presidents.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka’s failure to fully implement the 13th Constitutional amendment is a reminder of the Sinhalese establishment’s apparent insecurity over sharing power’ »

The final rites of veteran Sri Lankan filmmaker Sumitra Peries, who passed away on Thursday (19 Jan.), were performed with full state honours 21 Jan 2023 afternoon.

The procedure took place at the Independence Square in Colombo, prior to which the body was being brought from the late filmmaker’s sister’s residence to the National Film Corporation of Sri Lanka at 03:00 p.m. today, where several artists and cinematographers came to pay their respects.

She passed away at the age of 88 while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Colombo.

Sumitra Peries as a filmmaker, contributed to the development of Sinhala cinema through “Gehenu Lamai”, “Ganga Addara”, “Yahaluvo”, “Maya”, “Sakman Maluwa”, “Vaishnavee” and many other cinematic creations.

Continue reading ‘Renowned Sri Lankan Filmmaker Sumira Peries Bids Adieu! Last Rites Conducted with Full State Honours at Independence Square on 21 January 2023’ »

China responded to Sri Lanka’s long-standing request for a commitment on rescheduling its debts as a prelude to a bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with an offer for a two-year moratorium, the Sunday Times learns.

In a letter to President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as Finance Minister, the Exim Bank of China responsible for much of the loans given to Sri Lanka said the two-year moratorium would be a short-term suspension of the debts owed to China while asking all parties, i.e. Sri Lanka’s creditors to get together to work out medium-term and long-term commitments.

It is learnt that the letter also extends China’s support to the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and requests the IMF to go ahead with the discussions on debt restructuring that will lead to an IMF programme.

The letter giving China’s assurances arrived on the eve of a Paris Club meeting of Sri Lanka’s creditors scheduled for next week where Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring measures are to be discussed as a prelude to a US dollars 2.9 million IMF programme to bail out Sri Lanka from its current economic crisis.

Continue reading ‘China offers Sri Lanka support with two-year moratorium on debts: President Wickremesinghe gets Exim Bank’s letter supporting IMF’s loan programme’ »

(Text of Press Release Issued by the High Commission of India in Colombo On 20 January 2023 under the heading “Visit of External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar promises prosperity for the people of Sri Lanka)

!.External Affairs Minister (EAM) of India Dr. S. Jaishankar paid an official visit to Sri Lanka on 19-20 January 2023. In his fourth bilateral visit to Sri Lanka as EAM, he was accompanied by a four-member official delegation from the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi. It may be recalled that EAM has visited Sri Lanka earlier in November 2019, January 2021 and March 2022.

2. During the visit, EAM called on President H.E Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister H.E Dinesh Gunawardena and had detailed discussions with his counterpart, Foreign Minister Hon. M.U.M Ali Sabry. The delegation-level meeting hosted by the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka included Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation Hon. Nimal Siripala de Silva; Hon. Keheliya Rambukwella, Minister of Health; Hon. Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Industries, Hon. Dilum Amnugama, Minister of Investment Promotion; Hon. Kanchana Wijesekara, Minister of Power and Energy; and Hon. Tharaka Balasuriya, State Minister of Foreign Affairs, among others, and reflected the breadth and depth of the growing partnership between India and Sri Lanka in diverse spheres.

3. Interaction of EAM with the leadership of the Government of Sri Lanka provided an opportunity to review the whole gamut of bilateral relations between the two countries. He stressed that his presence in Sri Lanka at a time when the country was going through multiple challenges sends a clear and strong message of continued support from the Government and the people of India to the people of Sri Lanka.

Continue reading ‘Decks Cleared at last for Ranil to Visit New Delhi! Visiting Indian External Affairs Minister Dr.Jaishankar Conveys Greetings and hands over Official invitation from PM Modi to President Wickremesinghe Inviting him to visit India at an early mutually convenient date.’ »

By
Meera Srinivasan

India did not wait for other bilateral creditors but did “what is right” for Sri Lanka’s economic recovery, visiting External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said on Friday, following talks with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe in Colombo.

“We felt strongly that Sri Lanka’s creditors must take proactive steps to facilitate its recovery. India decided not to wait for others but to do what we believe is right. We extended financing assurances to IMF to clear the way for Sri Lanka to move forward,” Mr. Jaishankar said.

On January 16, India sent written financing assurances to the IMF, becoming the first bilateral creditor of the island nation to officially support its crucial debt restructure programme after last year’s economic meltdown. The Fund’s provisional $2.9 billion package will be cleared only after Sri Lanka’s official creditors — China, Japan and India — have provided adequate financing assurances.

The decision, Mr. Jaishankar said, was a reassertion of India’s belief in the principle of “neighbourhood first”, and “not leaving a partner to fend for themselves,” which also drove the nearly-4-billion-dollar assistance extended last year, by way of credits and roll overs.

Continue reading ‘“Full implementation of the 13th amendment and early conduct of provincial elections are critical” in regard to political devolution says visiting Indian External Affairs Minister Dr.Jaishankar; also speaks of need to “pay special attention to the requirements of the Indian origin Tamil community”’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

If it’s a conversation on Sri Lanka’s economy, talking points on China and India are inevitable. ‘What about China?, What will India do?’ are questions that invariably come up in casual chats, as well as official meetings and briefings.

Watching the escalating China-India contest in Sri Lanka is a preoccupation for Sri Lankan columnists and diplomats stationed in Colombo. With the crisis-plagued island’s imminent debt restructuring programme in focus, the interest in the two big powers’ responses has only grown.

For context, China is a close partner of Sri Lanka and its largest bilateral creditor. At the end of 2021, the island owed about $7.4 billion or 19.6% of its outstanding public debt to China. For Sri Lanka watchers, especially those based in the West or India, that’s a “Chinese debt trap”.

Continue reading ‘Ordinary Sri Lankan People see projects not merely as Indian, or Chinese assisted. They evaluate it on the basis of whether a development project works for them, or not.’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

India sent financing assurances to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday, becoming the first of Sri Lanka’s creditors to officially back the crisis-hit island nation’s debt restructuring programme.

The development comes days ahead of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s scheduled visit to Colombo on January 19 and 20, and just as Sri Lankan leaders concluded talks with a visiting high-level delegation of the Communist Party of China.

“The written financing assurances from India were sent to the IMF Monday evening,” a top official source in Colombo confirmed to The Hindu. This takes Sri Lanka one step closer to getting a crucial $2.9-billion package from the IMF, made contingent on “receiving financing assurances from Sri Lanka’s official creditors and making a good faith effort to reach a collaborative agreement with private creditors.”

Continue reading ‘India sends financing assurances to the International Monetary Fund (IMF and becomes the first of Sri Lanka’s creditors to officially back the crisis-hit island nation’s debt restructuring programme.’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

At the close of 2022, crisis-hit Sri Lanka had recorded nearly 7.2 lakh tourist arrivals — more than three times the number seen in 2021, even if nowhere close to the country’s pre-pandemic mark of nearly 20 lakh visitors.

While authorities and the tourism industry pitched the modest, yet promising, figure as a sure sign of economic recovery, many in Galle, a tourism hotspot along the island’s southern coast, say their trade and lives have not looked more uncertain.

On a recent weekday, the usually thriving fort — also a functional heritage site with district courts, government museums and offices — was hardly teeming with visitors.

Continue reading ‘Tourist Arrivals in Sri Lanka Increasing but Tourism is yet to Pick up in Southern Hotspot Galle’ »

(Text of Press Release Issued by the Presidents Media Division on 17 January 2023)

President Ranil Wickremesinghe invited the opposition to join hands through a new political system to provide relief to the people and free them from oppression.

He made this request in parliament today (17).

Despite the difficult economic background in the country, the President emphasized that the government is working to provide relief to the people, adding that he will take steps to allocate Rs. 30-40 billion for medicines this year.

The President said that due to the prudent agricultural policies of the government, the country has seen a bountiful paddy harvest and the government has commenced a program to provide 02 million low-income families with 10 kilograms of rice per month over a period of 02 months.

Continue reading ‘“As we celebrate our 75th Independence, we will not allow our people to starve. We will invest the funds required to feed them.”-President Ranil Wickremesinghe States in Parliament’ »

BY Mirudhula Thambiah

In the wake of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) giving an ultimatum of one week from 10 January to yesterday (17) for the Government to decide regarding the issues of the release of Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act (PTA) prisoners, considering the issue of missing persons, and the release of lands in the North, the Party’s Spokesman and Parliamentarian, President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran said yesterday that no response was received from the side of the Government and that the party will not meet with President Ranil Wickremesinghe or the Government again.

Speaking to The Morning, Sumanthiran also noted yesterday that the President himself gave a timeframe regarding the matter but that there was no progress at all. “Now, he comes to Jaffna and says that he needs one to two years to implement what is already in the Constitution. There is no progress in the land release and prisoner release so far. We gave him that allowance. We gave our support to resolve it.

Now, that is not being done. We knew and we had our own suspicions. Nevertheless, we are not to be blamed as we co-operated and now we are proved right that he is not able to, or he is not willing to do it,” he added.

Sumanthiran noted that the TNA will adopt their own course of action and said that it would be decided in the upcoming days.

Continue reading ‘One week Deadline Given by TNA to Govt for Resolving Three Key Issues Expires without any Response;‘TNA wont Engage in Reconciliation Talks with Govt any more”says Party Spokesman MA Sumanthiran MP’ »

President Ranil Wickremesinghe stated that the Government is considering the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution within the next few years.

“We are looking at full implementation of the 13th amendment within the next few years,” he said, while attending the State Thai Pongal Festival held at the Jaffna Durga Hall yesterday (15), the President’s Media Division (PMD) said.

He added that the Social Justice Commission will be established in order to build a country where everyone can live in harmony, by solving the problems of the people belonging to all sections of the population.

The President, who was escorted to the venue by a Tamil cultural procession, was received in line with Hindu rituals.

Continue reading ‘Ranil Visits Jaffna First Time After Becoming President to Attend State Thai Pongal Festival on Jan 15; Govt Contemplates Full Implementation of 13 th Constitutional Amendment within next few years he says’ »

By
Suhasini Haidar and Meera Srinivasan

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s visit to Colombo on Thursday will focus on “supporting Sri Lanka” in its current economic crisis, government sources said, adding that talks are ongoing in the field of energy security, food security, currency swap arrangements as well as talks about restructuring Sri Lanka’s debt. The two-day visit is expected to see some announcements.

“India is expected to give a positive response to Sri Lanka’s requirements, in keeping with India’s support last year as well,” said a source, citing India’s combined package of about $4 billion including loans, credit lines for the purchase of essentials and a loan deferment through the Asian Clearing Union.

In addition, talks are expected on two possible MoUs— on the Trincomalee development project and the long-pending plan for a cross-strait transmission line that would allow Sri Lanka access to India’s plans for an energy grid along with other countries like Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Continue reading ‘Indian External Affairs Minister Dr.S.Jaishankar may Deliver Positive Message from India to Sri Lanka on its Debt Re-structuring Efforts During Two day Visit ; support in the form of “written financial assurances” likely from India sources said’ »

By P. Krishnaswamy

After the Christmas and New Year festivities, the focus is now on the Pongal harvest festival, popularly known as Thai Pongal, celebrated in the first four days of the month of Thai in the Tamil-Hindu calendar.

Traditionally, it is the festival of farmers who depend on Mother Earth, the sun, rain, other natural elements and cows and buffaloes for a bountiful harvest of their staple food, rice.
Continue reading ‘‘Thai Pongal’ the Harvest Festival of Tamils’ »

By

Kishali Pinto-Jayawardene

Thursday’s judgment by a Divisional Bench of Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court unanimously finding that a former President and his intelligence, defence and police heads grossly neglected imperative duties of safeguarding the nation with the consequent order to pay millions in compensation to victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, asks a fundamental – and yet unanswered – question.

A gruesome and familiar tale

Examining extensive prior warnings from domestic and overseas intelligence that ‘homegrown jihadist’ Mohammed Zahran was intent on perpetrating the attacks, it was established that the State had ‘the wherewithal to trace Zahran and arrest him because he had been around for too long a time for any police officer to feign ignorance.

If so, the judges asked pertinently as to why, that had not been done long before the fateful day when bombs ripped through the country’s churches and ho-tels?

This is ‘a question that goes a-begging,’ the Bench observed in somewhat uncharacteristically colourful terms. That is precisely the same question that continues to be asked by the nation which joins the Supreme Court in declining to believe various fairy tales of innocence spun by those in charge of the security and defence establishment at the time.

As the then Defence Secretary (who is among the respondents feeling the sting of Thursday’s decision) blurted out at the time, ‘we knew something was going to happen but not that it was this big.’

Therein hangs a gruesome tale which is familiar to us, where Buddhist, Hindu, Christian or Muslim innocents have been used as cannon fodder to feed the ever unsatiated and monstrously cruel political cum security-state behemoth.

Indeed, this ‘failure to act’ emerges at all moments of grave crisis in Sri Lanka.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Delivers an Undeniably hard and well deserved judicial knock on an Irresponsible ex-President and his Inefficient Quartet of Defence Officials’ »

By Namini Wijedasa

The magnitude of the bribes solicited from an Indian businessman by two senior Sri Lankan public officials–including former President Maithripala Sirisena’s one-time Chief of Staff–to unblock a legitimate project were “unimaginable”, the Supreme Court (SC) observed this week.

The Court stressed that “it would be difficult for this country to revive itself as long as high officers like the accused-appellants would hold such high offices in the Government”.

The first accused-appellant is I.H.K. Mahanama, who was Secretary to the Ministry of Lands before he retired and was made Chief of Staff to then President Sirisena. The second is Piyadasa Dissanayake, the former Chairman of the State Timber Corporation.

In December 2019, they were found guilty by the Permanent High Court (HC) at Bar of several charges under the Bribery Act. This included demanding Rs 20mn from the Indian representative of a foreign company that won a build-operate-transfer deal for the Kantale Sugar Factory (KSF).

Both officials appealed. But the SC on Wednesday upheld the HC verdict and affirmed the sentences imposed. For Mr Mahanama, this amounts to an aggregate of 20 years rigorous imprisonment (RI) with a fine of Rs 65,000 and compensation of Rs 20mn in terms of the Bribery Act. And for Mr Dissanayake, it is an aggregate of 12 years RI with a fine of Rs 55,000.

Continue reading ‘Supreme Court Upholds High Court Conviction of former -President Sirisena’s Chief of Staff Mahanama and Ex-Timber Corporation Chairman Dissanayake for Soliciting Mega Bribes from an Indian Businessman Over a Deal Relating to the Kantalai Sugar Factory’ »

By

Rajasinghe

President Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW) in a new, well-cut, powder blue suit, which would have fitted a rock star admirably, met former UK Prime Minister David Cameron for a tête-à-tête in his office some days ago and later hosted a lunch for him at The Kingsbury.

He was accompanied by their mutual friend Nirj Deva alias Niranjan Deva Aditya – ex-Member of the British Parliament and ex-Member of the European Parliament, who on both occasions represented the Conservative Party of the UK. Deva is also a Foreign Affairs Advisor to the President and a member of his inner circle of friends.

Cameron’s career

Cameron has had many ups and downs in his political career. Born in 1966, he did not belong to the traditional upper crust of English society, which dominated the Conservative Party – particularly before the advent of Margaret Thatcher, who came from the middle class.

Cameron’s father was a stockbroker and not a very efficient money manager, which excluded him from the social cabals of the High Tories. The son however was determined to climb the social ladder and looked on the Tory Party as the natural expression of the elite circles he wanted to join.

After an Eaton education he entered Oxford and obtained a first class pass in PPE (Politics, Philosophy, and Economics). With a natural sense of superiority, he gravitated to the Conservatives and with communications as his special skill set he entered the Research Department of Tory headquarters, which was considered an incubation centre for future party leaders with modern-day skills.

It was an initiative of modernists like Rab Butler, who realised that the party leadership could scarcely be found through traditional Tory criteria like land ownership and club affiliations.

Cameron was one of the new breed of young Conservatives who rose in the party through merit and hard work. He worked in the Research Department of the party and was elevated to be a Special Advisor to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He entered Parliament through a safe seat in Whitney, West Oxfordshire.

Continue reading ‘Former British Premier David Cameron’s visit can well be a harbinger of greater global interest in our Colombo Port City, which is now entering its main development phase. President Wickremesinghe is on the right track in enlisting global support to pull the country out of its economic mess.’ »

By

Dr.Rajni Gamage and Nimendra Mawalagedara

(Dr. Rajni Gamage is a researcher in Political Science at the National University of Singapore.Nimendra Mawalagedara is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Georgia State University.)

In the first parliament sitting for 2023, the discussion on the parliament floor touched on the issue of hate speech versus freedom of speech. The televised proceedings on 5 January concerned a controversial video shared on social media, where a popular YouTuber, Sepal Amarasinghe, made disrespectful remarks about the sacred Tooth Relic of the Lord Buddha. Amarasinghe identifies as an atheist, and among other things, alleges misconduct in organised religion, especially Buddhism, followed by the country’s majority.

Amarasinghe was arrested the following day and charged under Section 3(1) of the ICCPR Act of 2007 and Article 291 (B) of the Penal Code. On 7 January, President Wickremesinghe shared that measures were underway to introduce a law similar to Singapore’s Social Media Regulation Act. The misuse of the ICCPR Act of 2007 in Sri Lanka has long been criticised by human rights defenders, as it has enabled arbitrary arrest in the past, especially of ethno-religious minorities.

The recent arrest of Amarasinghe and steps taken towards State regulation of social media must therefore be examined closely, as it can inform us about the present nature and future trajectory of Sri Lankan politics.

The parliamentary debate cannot be examined in isolation from the deep democratic deficit that the current leadership and Government is trying to improve in the backdrop of a debilitating national crisis.

How politicians approach the question of Sepal Amarasinghe’s speech and the variety of nationalism each political party invokes in their response is important.

The issue can serve as a litmus test for political parties to determine which type of nationalist messaging resonates with voters in post-Aragalaya Sri Lanka.

Continue reading ‘The Sepal Amarasinghe case, Sinhala Buddhist nationalisms, and party politics in Sri Lanka’ »

(Text of Editorial Appearing in the “Daily FT”of 12 January 2023 under the heading ” International noose tightens against human rights abusers”)

For the first time in the history of Sri Lanka, two of the country’s former Heads of State have been sanctioned by a foreign state. Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly announced this week that former Presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa have been placed under targeted sanctions under the Special Economic Measures Act.

Joly’s order noted that the two men have been responsible for “gross and systematic violations of human rights during armed conflict in Sri Lanka.” In addition to the Rajapaksa presidential brothers, Staff Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake and Lieutenant Commander Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi have also been singled out for targeted sanctions.

Continue reading ‘Canadian sanctions against ex-Presidents Gota and Mahinda is the strongest indication yet that the international justice system is beginning to work against even the highest levels of the Sri Lankan State accused of grotesque warcrimes and gross human rights abuses.’ »

By Suhasini Haidar and Meera Srinivasan

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will travel to Sri Lanka next week, sources told The Hindu. This will be his first trip to the country since President Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn-in last July after street protests forced out the previous Rajapaksa regime.

Officials said that while a full review of bilateral ties is on the agenda, the visit comes amidst efforts by the Sri Lankan government to get “written financial assurances” from their closest and biggest creditors — India and China — on restructuring their debt. This is needed to make progress on their bailout plan being discussed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Mr. Jaishankar’s two-day visit to Colombo, scheduled for January 19-20, will follow a visit by a ministerial delegation of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The visits, coming back-to-back, are crucial for Colombo to avail itself of the $2.9 billion IMF package under its Extended Fund Facility.

The Sri Lankan government has said that it hopes to borrow more money once the IMF programme kicks in, to set its economy on a path to recovery following last year’s crushing meltdown. China, Japan, and India are Sri Lanka’s three largest bilateral creditors, and Colombo is counting on their cooperation for economic revival.

Continue reading ‘Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to visit Sri Lanka for two days on Jan 19 and 20 for the first time after President Wickremesinghe assumed Office in July 2022’ »

By

Susitha Fernando

“On the ill-fated day of 21st of April 2019, this island home was awoken rudely to witness one of its most tragic events in the annuls of its history and in a series of bomb explosions that sent the nation reeling in shock and disbelief, scores of innocent worshippers at several churches as well as citizens in several locations were plucked away from their loved ones in the most macabre and dastardly acts of terrorism that this country has ever seen.

In what has now come to be known as the Easter Sunday Attack or the Easter Sunday Tragedy in its melancholy sense, there was desolation and despair all-round the country and it may not be denied that it took a long while for this country to limp back to normalcy from the ravages of this tragedy. The trail of destruction and dislocation that the Easter Sunday Attack has left in its wake is a memory that this country will long live with and this Court is not spared its reverberations,” the seven-member Supreme Court states in its 122-page judgement after taking into account 13 fundamental rights petitions filed by a group of petitioners, including victims and survivors whose family members faced one of the most tragic deaths in front of their own eyes.

Having endured a 26-year-long war with bombs, suicide attacks, landmines and even aerial attacks in the heart of Colombo, Sri Lanka was never used to a multiple coordinated attack where several bombs went off during almost the same moment of time. Though the method of the attack was new to the shocked Sri Lankans, the news of the plan to be carried out was known before hand by the intelligent agencies and those responsible from the top most positions.
The Supreme Court’s unanimous judgement was issued by the Chief Justice, Jayantha Jayasuriya, Buwaneka P. Aluwihare, L.T.B.Dehideniya, Murdu N.B. Fernando, S. Thurairaja, A.H.M.D.Nawaz and A.L. Shiran Gooneratne. The judgement amply and evidently displayed the serious state of affairs with regard to a set of people; the so called state intelligence to whom the security and protection of 22 million people in this country had been handed over to.

“We must express our shock and dismay at the deplorable want of oversight and inaction that we have seen in the conduct of affairs pertaining to Security, Law and Order and Intelligence. There are glaring examples of a lack of strategic co-ordination, expertise and preparedness that need a critical examination as to the way forward. The failures that eventuated in the Easter Sunday attacks and the concomitant deaths and devastations have left behind an indelible blot on the security apparatus of the Country and this Country which is blessed by a multi-cultural and multi religious polity cannot be left to the vagaries of these follies and made to suffer leading to violence, fear, apprehension and uncertainty. These events must recede into oblivion, but they remind us starkly of the necessity to effect legislative, structural and administrative changes,” the bench stated while expressing its shock.

Continue reading ‘Will Stern Disciplinary Action be Taken against Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardena over his Deplorable Conduct in the April 19 Terror Bombings in the Aftermath of Judgement by Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court?’ »

By

Lakmal Sooriyagoda

The Supreme Court today ordered former President Maithripala Sirisena to pay a sum of Rs.100 million as damages to the victims of Easter Sunday attacks.

Former IGP Pujith Jayasundara and former SIS director Nilantha Jayawardhane were ordered to pay Rs.75 million each as compensation. Former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando was ordered to pay Rs. 50 million and former Chief National Intelligence Sisira Mendis was ordered to pay Rs.10 million.

The Court held these respondents have violated the fundamental rights of petitions filed in connection with Easter Sunday attacks.

Courtesy:Daily Mirror

By

Meera Srinivasan

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Thursday ordered former President Maithripala Sirisena to pay a compensation of LKR 100 million (roughly ₹2.2 crore) to victims of the April 2019 Easter Sunday terror blasts, while pointing to a “reckless” intelligence failure on the part of the Executive.

“A Victim Fund must be established at the Office for Reparation, which must formulate a scheme to award the sums ordered as compensation in a fair and equitable manner to the victims and families,” the island’s top court noted. Further, the former IGP, former Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, former head of the State Intelligence Service, former Chief of National Intelligence and the State were also ordered to pay compensation totalling over LKR 200 million.

On April 21, 2019, Sri Lanka witnessed serial blasts across churches and luxury hotels in the capital Colombo, nearby Negombo, and the eastern city of Batticaloa. A total of 279 people died and hundreds were injured in the incident that shook the island, a decade after its brutal civil war ended.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court orders former President Maithripala Sirisena to pay a compensation of 100 million rupees to victims of the April 2019 Easter Sunday terror blasts, while pointing to a “reckless” intelligence failure on the part of the Executive.’ »

By

Mirudhula Thambiah

Noting that there was no progress at the meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat on Tuesday (10) between the Tamil political parties and the Government representatives including President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) noted that a timeframe of one week has been provided to the Government to examine the issues relating to missing persons and the release of Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act (PTA) prisoners and lands in the North, depending on which reply, they would decide on whether or not to meet again.

Addressing the media on Tuesday (10), TNA Spokesman and MP President’s Counsel (PC) M.A. Sumanthiran said that his party will not be meeting Government representatives from Tuesday to tomorrow (13) to discuss devolution-related matters as decided earlier since there had been no progress on the above-mentioned issues.

“During the meeting with the Government, we discussed the current issues of our people. Issues relating to missing persons, PTA prisoners, and the release of lands were discussed. We discussed varying actions in regard to these three issues. However, the situation was the same as the last time; there was no progress,” he added.

Continue reading ‘Envisaged Govt- TNA 4 day talks Suspended on First day;TNA refuses to continue Talks without implementation of decisions taken; 7 day deadline given to Govt to show tangible progress in Resolving 3 issues’ »

(Text of media release issued by Canada’s Global Affairs ministry on 10 January 2023 under the heading “Sanctions imposed on Sri Lankan state officials”)

Canada is imposing sanctions against the following individuals who committed gross and systematic violations of human rights during Sri Lanka’s civil conflict, which occurred from 1983 to 2009.

The Special Economic Measures (Sri Lanka) Regulations impose on listed persons a prohibition on any transaction (effectively, an asset freeze) by prohibiting persons in Canada and Canadians outside Canada from engaging in any activity related to any property of these listed persons or providing financial or related services to them.

The individuals listed in the Schedule to the Regulations are also rendered inadmissible to Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Continue reading ‘Canada Imposes Sanctions Through Special Economic Measures (Sri Lanka) Regulations on Former Sri Lankan Presidents Gotabaya and Mahinda Rajapaksa, Army Staff Sgt Sunil Ratnayake and Navy Lt.Commander Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi’ »

(Text of media release issued by Canada’s Global Affairs ministry on 10 January 2023 under the heading “Canada imposes sanctions on Sri Lankan state officials for human rights violations”)

The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced Canada imposes targeted sanctions under regulations pursuant to the Special Economic Measures Act against four Sri Lankan state officials responsible for gross and systematic violations of human rights during armed conflict in Sri Lanka, which occurred from 1983 to 2009.

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly

The regulations pursuant to the Special Economic Measures Act impose on listed persons a dealings prohibition, which would effectively freeze any assets they may hold in Canada and render them inadmissible to Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

Despite continued calls from Canada and the international community to address accountability, the Government of Sri Lanka has taken limited meaningful and concrete action to uphold its human rights obligations. This jeopardizes progress on justice for affected populations, and prospects for peace and reconciliation.
Victims and survivors of gross human rights violations deserve justice. That is why Canada continues to call on Sri Lanka to fulfill its commitment to establish a meaningful accountability process.

Continue reading ‘Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly Announces Targeted Sanctions on Four Sri Lankans Including two ex-presidents to send a clear message that Canada will not accept continued impunity for those that have committed gross human rights violations in Sri Lanka.’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

For most of its two decade-existence, Sri Lanka’s Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has been engaged in talks with the southern Sinhalese leadership, to negotiate a durable solution to the island nation’s lingering national question.

It has sought every opportunity that came its way, braving disappointment and brickbats from rival Tamil parties and critics in the diaspora that viewed its optimism as misguided or at best, naïve.

Much of this optimism comes from the TNA’s leader Rajavarothyam Sampanthan and his resolve for a political solution within the framework of a “united, undivided, indivisible” country. “We can’t despair, we can’t abandon things,” Mr. Sampanthan told The Hindu in 2018, when the Alliance joined a Constitution drafting process initiated by the President Maithripala Sirisena-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe administration. The exercise was not completed.

The TNA is in talks again. This time with President Ranil Wickremesinghe who, in November 2022, appealed to all parties in Parliament to come together and solve the unresolved ethnic problem before February 4, 2023, when Sri Lanka marks its 75th year of independence.

Continue reading ‘Succession Stakes in the Tamil National Alliance: TNA spokesman and Jaffna MP Sumanthiran is widely seen as heir apparent to Leader Sampanthan but some within the Alliance resent him.’ »

By

W.A.Wijewardena

Veteran public servant Eric J. de Silva has taken time to pen some of his experiences in the service in a brief publication titled ‘A Peep Into the Past: Stories from the Life of a Public Servant’ released recently. It is not an autobiography but some selected incidents during his career which culminated in being the Education Secretary before leaving for a position at UNESCO.

He has experience in both Sri Lanka and abroad as a developmental bureaucrat handling human resource development. His lenience into this area of public service is not a surprise because he had graduated from Ceylon University with an honours degree in economics in 1958. But most of the work commenced by public servants is left unfinished because they are transferred from place to place frequently on service needs.

One time Finance Secretary Charitha Ratwatte has noted this perennial deficiency in Sri Lanka’s public service in his foreword to the publication as follows: “Eric’s work on education policy, vocational training, at the Ministry of Education and Labour, and the training of public officers at SLIDA can be described as unfinished symphonies. It is a pity that he could not spend more time at SLIDA which plays a critical role in the training of the Administrative and Planning Services. In the same way, that it is a great pity that Life Skills (on which Eric worked) is no longer a part of secondary education. The lack of vocational skills and the negative attitude to ‘blue collar’ technical work is a major constraint to the country’s development, especially at a time like this when we are trying to come out of the dislocation caused by the Covid pandemic” (p iv).

Continue reading ‘Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Eric J de Silva and the Controversy over Martin Wickramasinghe’s “Bawa Tharanaya”.’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

Sri Lanka’s recovery from last year’s devastating economic crisis will need its creditors to “share the burden” of debt restructuring, leading global economists have said, calling all lenders to cancel the debt of the cash-strapped island nation.

In a statement issued on Sunday, eminent economists and scholars world over observed that amid Sri Lanka’s crucial debt negotiations, “all lenders — bilateral, multilateral, and private — must share the burden of restructuring, with assurance of additional financing in the near term.”

However, Sri Lanka cannot ensure this on its own, they noted. “It requires much greater international support. Instead of geopolitical manoeuvring, all of Sri Lanka’s creditors must ensure debt cancellation sufficient to provide a way out of the current crisis,” the statement said.

The nearly 200 signatories to the statement included economists Jayati Ghosh, Thomas Piketty, Yanis Varoufakis, Prabhat Patnaik, Utsa Patnaik, Jean Drèze, Ha-Joon Chang, Jomo Kwame Sundaram, and writer Amitav Ghosh.

Continue reading ‘Nearly 200 World Renowned Economists and Scholars Issue Statement Calling upon all “Lenders” to share the burden of Debt Re-structuring by Cancelling all Debts of Cash-strapped Sri Lanka’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

Sri Lanka’s recovery from last year’s devastating economic crisis will need its creditors to “share the burden” of debt restructuring, leading global economists have said, calling all lenders to cancel the debt of the cash-strapped island nation.

In a statement issued on Sunday, eminent economists and scholars world over observed that amid Sri Lanka’s crucial debt negotiations, “all lenders — bilateral, multilateral, and private — must share the burden of restructuring, with assurance of additional financing in the near term.”

However, Sri Lanka cannot ensure this on its own, they noted. “It requires much greater international support. Instead of geopolitical manoeuvring, all of Sri Lanka’s creditors must ensure debt cancellation sufficient to provide a way out of the current crisis,” the statement said.

The nearly 200 signatories to the statement included economists Jayati Ghosh, Thomas Piketty, Yanis Varoufakis, Prabhat Patnaik, Utsa Patnaik, Jean Drèze, Ha-Joon Chang, Jomo Kwame Sundaram, and writer Amitav Ghosh.

Continue reading ‘Nearly 200 World Renowned Economists and Scholars Issue Statement Calling upon all “Lenders” to share the burden of Debt Re-structuring by Cancelling all Debts of Cash-strapped Sri Lanka’ »

By Chandani Kirinde

(Chandani Kirinde is a senior political and history columnist and a long-serving parliamentary correspondent in Sri Lanka).

What prompted the US government to put in place a “Buddhist policy” in Southeast Asia during the Cold War and how successful were these clandestine efforts at using a predominant religion of the region to counter the spread of communism? And did Sri Lanka play a role in shaping the US policy of co-opting Buddhists into an anticommunist program during the Cold War?

These are questions which Eugene Ford, a Yale University historian, raises in his book “Cold War Monks: Buddhism and America’s Secret Strategy in Southeast Asia.” To find the answer, the author has carried out exhaustive research using both US and Thai archival material and has brought to light the little-known aspect of the “Buddhist Policy” adopted by the US which Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) too, most probably unwittingly, played a role in shaping.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, relations between the US and the USSR had turned frosty, and the common front put together to fight Germany and its allies had given way to the Cold War. The two superpowers, having curved out for themselves parts of Europe after the end of the war were eager to ensure that in Asia too their spheres of influence remained strong.

With the influence of communism gaining a foothold in countries in Southeast Asia, the US was hard pressed to come up with a new strategy to keep the influence of the Soviet Union and China at bay. With Buddhism being the dominant religion in several countries in the region, the “Buddhist Policy” was put in place to co-opt Buddhists into an anticommunist program. The program was to be implemented through the Asia Foundation; an organization covertly backed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

While the Asia Foundation’s role in Thailand, Myanmar (Burma) and several other Southeast Asian countries are the focus of Ford’s book, Sri Lanka, which mooted the idea of a global fellowship of Buddhists in the aftermath of the WWII, seems to have unwittingly, assisted the US strategy with the establishment of the first “truly international” Buddhist organization, the World fellowship of Buddhists (WFB), the origins of which lay in the All-Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC).

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka’s Role in the US strategy of Countering Communism By Fostering a “Buddhist Policy” in South East Asia During the Cold War era.’ »

By

Rajasinghe

What was Lenin’s New Economic Policy (NEP) which was introduced by the Bolsheviks in 1921 and how is it relevant to the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) of 2023 which is poised to seek power for its own distinctive economic policies in a forthcoming General Election?

The Bolsheviks, who were engaged in a civil war from 1918 to 1921, expropriated or nationalised private ventures on the grounds that their war economy needed the resources to equip and maintain the Red Army. However, in reality, it retarded the Soviet economy and brought the country to a breaking point.

The masses and armed services began to revolt as seen in the Kronstadt uprising. There followed an internal debate among the Bolshevik leaders as to the means of facing this crisis. Bukharin and the ‘Right Oppositionists’ called for relief for the peasants and small businessmen while the ‘Left Oppositionists’ led by Trotsky called for more centralisation under the Gosplan.

Lenin, who ruled the roost, decided to take a step back and introduced the NEP, which he described as “State capitalism”. Many of the expropriated ventures were returned to be once again private enterprises. As a result, production increased, the Red Army was fed, and the revolution was saved.

The NEP has been a bone of contention among later Communist ideologues who have lined up on either side of the NEP debate. In China, finally it was the ‘revisionists’ like Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping who defeated the Maoist orthodox economic thinkers and laid the foundation for their country’s prosperity and resulting world leadership. Let us now turn to the JVP.

Continue reading ‘The time has come for the JVP to come clean about its economic plans. Popular speechmaking must give way to hard facts. Economics-savvy leaders must emerge just as brave Zhou and Deng, challenging primitive Maoists in Red China.’ »

By P.K.Balachandran

The Sinhalese, who are the majority community in Sri Lanka, have been changing their names through history to suit existing conditions and meet their aspirations.

Sinhalese names have always had a socio-cultural and historical basis. Often they indicate the caste of the bearer. But changes have been taking place in this sphere as a result of social and economic mobility. High-status family names are being taken in place of low-caste names, says cultural anthropologist Dr. M.W.Amarasiri de Silva of the University of California in his study of name changes among the Sinhalese of Sri Lanka published in 2016.

Dr. de Silva says that the phenomenon of changing one’s name is a sign of the emergence of a “class system” where one’s name is seen as a “status reflector” rather than as a “caste identifier”. This has been facilitated by economic and spatial mobility, and the simultaneous loosening of traditional community, locality and caste ties.

The “individualized” modern Sri Lankan now tends to overlook traditional social structural factors or family and cultural expectations that restrict his life choices in matters such as marriage, employment and residence. This has enabled (and often necessitated) a change in the name.

Name-changers are often “consensually” married outside the traditional framework of parents arranging the marriage. Sometimes consensual marriages are across caste lines. The name-changers seek employment away from their original village, and typically, in an urban area. They are also engaged in non-traditional occupations.

Continue reading ‘Why the Sinhalese Keep Changing their Names; signs of an emerging class system where “Caste Identifier”names are Transformed into “Status Reflecter” Names by Upwardly Mobile sections says Cultural Anthropologist’ »

By

Kishali Pinto -Jayawardene

Sri Lanka’s publicity hogging Chair of the Public Utilities Commission is distinguished (not positively) by twin evils of a ghastly sartorial choice in the wildly varied waistcoats that he sports and exhibiting great volubility in speech not accompanied by much precision or clarity of thought.

Extreme burdens imposed on the public

In recent weeks, he has chosen to adopt the improbable role of a knight on a white charger, riding into battle against the Government’s plan to increase electricity tariffs. This is the second proposed increase in recent months, closely following upon the heels of a previous tariff increase that has put small businesses in peril and brought the Sri Lankan consumer one step closer to being erased from existence as the country’s economic meltdown bites home with a vengeance.

This time around, the massive tariff hike will potentially hit the country’s poorest segments, the hardest. For all President Ranil Wickemesinghe’s blustering that we have only three options to avoid catastrophe, namely to print money, to increase Value Added Tax (VAT) and to increase electricity tariffs, there is more than a touch of profound inequity regarding the proposals that his Power Minister has been trying hard to justify. These measures will surely precipitate the middle class into poverty and the poor into starvation.

Just after the dawn of the New Year, a mother poisoned herself and her five year old infant in Thalahena, unable to cope with the debt burdens that she was struggling with. This was one reported tragedy, there are very many more such horror stories, the ‘silent’ killer that stalks Sri Lankan society as poor and low income families become the first victims of gross political corruption which has sent the economy into a tailspin.

Regardless, more and more burdens are being heaped on the public for the sake of recovering the minimum possible to continue essential services.

Continue reading ‘The Government must take immediate steps to stop the haemorrhaging of public money and opt for restructuring of unmanageable state entities.’ »

By
Meera Srinivasan

Citing the “lack of any action” by the government on Tamils’ urgent demands, Sri Lanka’s Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said it would “rethink” its decision to engage in talks with President Ranil Wickremesinghe, unless his government reports “actual progress” at the next scheduled discussion on January 10.

“We have been highlighting three specific areas for immediate action – the release of political prisoners, answers to families of [forcibly] disappeared persons, and the persisting land grabs in the north and east. Despite making promises, the government is yet to take any action,” TNA spokesman and Jaffna legislator M.A. Sumanthiran told media on Thursday, following the third meeting between the Alliance and the President.

While the contours of a political solution are to be discussed in the next meeting on January 10, the TNA said it would rethink its decision to engage beyond that, if there is still no progress in the government’s response to the three critical issues.

Continue reading ‘TNA Accuses Govt of Inaction in Implementing Decisions Arrived at Regarding Three Critical Issues/may pull out of talks if no actual progress is achieved by Jan 10’ »

By

Mirudhula Thambiah

At a meeting held yesterday (5) at the Presidential Secretariat between the TamilNational Alliance (TNA) and Government representatives, including President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, the TNA expressed dissatisfaction regarding the lack of progress pertaining to the release
of Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act (PTA) prisoners and the lands originally owned by Tamils that are occupied by security forces.

Speaking to The Morning, TNA Spokesman and MP President’s Counsel (PC) M.A.Sumanthiran said yesterday that there has been no progress in addressing therelease of PTA prisoners and lands owned by Tamils.

“They are telling us the verysame thing that they told us on 21December 2022. That was discouraging.”

Continue reading ‘TNA Dissatisfied with Govt Over Lack of Progress in Release of Political Prisoners and Return of Private Lands Seized for High Security Zones; will reconsider participation in talks if there is no progress by Jan 10’ »

By

Mirudhula Thambiah

The Election Commission (EC) yesterday (4) published a notice calling fornominations for the Local Government (LG) polls 2023, in 340 LG authorities,while the poll for the Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) in the Galle District will not be held.

According to the notice calling for nominations, the nomination forms should be handed over from 18-21 January to the relevant District Secretary. The deposits for the nominations would be accepted from yesterday to 20 January.

Political parties will have to pay a deposit of Rs. 1,500 for each candidate, whileindependent groups will have to pay a deposit of Rs. 5,000 per candidate.

The EC will also accept applications for postal voting for the upcoming electionfrom today (5) to 23 January.

Continue reading ‘Nominations Called by Elections Commission for Island wide Local Govt Elections to 29 Municipal Councils, 36 Urban Councils, and 275 Pradesheeya Sabhas; No poll for Elpitiya PS in Galle District’ »

BY Mirudhula Thambiah

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will meet President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the PresidentialSecretariat today (5) to discuss the release of prisoners held under the Prevention of Terrorism
(Temporary Provisions) Act (PTA), the possibility of releasing lands from high security zones(HSZs), and finalising the agenda for the meetings scheduled from 10-13 January to seek a
solution to the national ethnic question via a Constitutional process.

Speaking to The Morning, TNA Spokesman, MP and President’s Counsel (PC) M.A.Sumanthiran said yesterday (4) that during the last meeting held with PresidentWickremesinghe in December 2022, the possibilities pertaining to the three above-mentioned
important issues had been discussed, adding that those would now be finalised at today’smeeting.

“We will be meeting the President at 5 p.m. tomorrow (5). We will take stock of the situation withregard to the release of PTA prisoners, and we will look at the development, if any, on the land
issue, and we will finalise an agenda for our meetings with the President from 10-13 January,”he added.

Continue reading ‘TNA led by Sampanthan MP meets President Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Gunewardena on January 5th for further discussions on Release of Tamil Prisoners and Private lands from High Security Zones; Agenda for marathon session talks from Jan 10 to 13 to be Formulated.’ »

By Tisaranee Gunasekara

“Ranil Wickremesinghe is a tool…”

– Deputy Minister Sanath Nishantha (Interview – 2.1.2003)

The first breach was a hoot.

One year ago, Gotabaya Rajapaksa was booed when his convoy passed a milk powder queue in Mirihana. Rajapaksa went off in a huff. Within minutes, the police arrived in force, dispersed the people who had been waiting for hours to buy milk powder and forced the shop to close.

That unprecedented hoot was an omen of the popular uprising that would hound Gotabaya Rajapaksa from the presidency just seven months later. Had he paused to consider hoot’s ominous message, instead of giving into his outraged sensibilities, he may not be reduced to pleading with the US to restore his citizenship now.

Some turning points can be comprehended only with hindsight. Others are identifiable in real time. Like President Wickremesinghe’s plan to increase electricity rates, again, by a massive 50%. It is the kind of measure that would devastate the people economically and the rulers politically. And wide open a door to another coalition of anger (as in April-July 2022) transcending racial, religious, and class barriers.

Interestingly, the resistance to the rate increase is being spearheaded not by the Opposition but by the chairman of the Public Utilities Commission (PUCSL). Janaka Ratnayake is a Rajapaksa acolyte-businessman; he seemed to have been awarded this chairmanship not because of qualification or capacity, but because of the favours he rendered Candidate Gotabaya. With the Opposition focused on demanding LG elections, opposing direct taxes, or driving buses, Ratnayake is free to dress for Lone Ranger, taking on the outlaw-president in a do-or-die duel.

Would Ratnayake, a businessman, take such a pugnacious stand publicly, on his own initiative and without serious political backing? Given the Opposition’s scant attention to the issue, any backing is likely to come from only one source, the Rajapaksas.

Continue reading ‘If President Wickremesinghe persists in pushing through the 70% rates increase, he may end up by electrocuting not just the Lankan public and the economy, but also himself.’ »

BY KRISHNADAS RAJAGOPAL

The Supreme Court on January 3, 2023 held there is no reason to impose “additional restrictions” on the right to free speech of Ministers, and the government is not vicariously liable for disparaging remarks made by them, even if the comments are traceable to state affairs or meant to protect the government.

“A statement by a Minister, even if traceable to any affairs of the state or for protecting the government, cannot be attributed vicariously to the government by invoking the principle of collective responsibility,” Justice V. Ramasubramanian held in the main judgment of the Constitution Bench. The judgment was endorsed by Justices S. Abdul Nazeer, B.R. Gavai and A.S. Bopanna on the Bench.

“It is not possible to extend this concept of collective responsibility to any and every statement orally made by a Minister outside the House of the People/Legislative Assembly… The Prime Minister or the Chief Minister does not have disciplinary control over the members of the Council of Ministers… in a country like ours, where there is a multi­-party system and where coalition Governments are often formed, it is not possible at all times for a Prime Minister/Chief Minister to take the whip whenever a statement is made by someone in the Council of Ministers,” Justice Ramasubramanian observed.

Continue reading ‘State not vicariously liable for hurtful statements of Ministers; no need for greater restrictions on Ministers’ right to free speech rules Indian Supreme Court.’ »

By Krishantha Prasad Cooray

2023 will be a challenging year for the whole world. Between economic uncertainty, violent weather and the ravages of war, there is no country that does not face tough decisions and uncertainty in the year to come.

Malaysia is no exception. But unlike many countries, Malaysia is fortunate enough to have a new government, with a new, mature leader who is respected and trusted worldwide. This is a privilege that few countries enjoy today.

But it is a small miracle that Malaysia emerged with this privilege, thanks solely to its new Prime Minister’s ability to unite political allies and enemies alike to work together and serve Malaysians.

Unfortunately, it seems that some senior political leaders are intent to find ways to scuttle and sabotage the government at any cost.

The essence of democratic governance is that it puts the people in charge of their destiny. Political parties build platforms, take them to the people, and those with the most persuasive arguments are, rightly or wrongly, chosen by the people to govern. When they fail, it is again up to the people to decide whether it is worth giving them another chance, or whether it is time to try something new.

In theory, such a Darwinian method of selecting rulers should tend towards better leadership. In practice, rulers often abuse their power to distort the process and in doing so, erode the sovereignty a democracy needs to succeed.

Continue reading ‘No opposition should give a govt a free pass. But Malaysians deserve a mature opposition that will engage on an intellectual level with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s policy proposals and give him time to deliver on his promises’ »

By Shamindra Ferdinando

About a year before violent protests erupted outside the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s Mirihana residence, over the crippling shortages of essential services and supplies, possibly exacerbated by some hidden hands, like the way Aragalaya was mainly bank rolled from abroad, or the mysterious forces who torched several dozen private homes of the then government politicians across the country, in a very systemic manner, on the night of May 09, the seventh executive President said that the people would decide whether he contest the next presidential election.

President Rajapaksa was addressing a gama samaga pilisandara programme at Yombuweltenna, Walapone, where he declared that only 14 months had been completed of his 60-month term. The President said that as he had plenty of time no one should be concerned about him not contesting again.

The then Senior Presidential Advisor, Lalith Weeratunga, sat on the President’s right. A confident Gotabaya Rajapaksa wore a light purple t-shirt, black trousers and a facemask as Covid-19 was raging. Referring to the last presidential election, in Nov 2019, Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared that the next time, too, the public would decide the outcome. It was not to be.

President Rajapaksa launched the gama samaga pilisandara programme on Sept 25, 2020, in the Badulla district. Yombuweltenna was the venue for the 15th programme in President Rajapaksa’s ambitious political project, meant to consolidate the electorate by going to the people at the grassroots. It was not to be.

Having won the presidency comfortably, just over a year earlier, President Rajapaksa was on a powder keg as a result of the rapidly deteriorating financial situation, primarily caused by the unprecedented pandemic in living memory, and some foolhardy and hasty decisions. Slashing of taxes, running into billions, after the presidential election, to give an impetus to the private sector to make the economy roar, drying up of Lankan worker remittances, for the first time, and the failure on the part of the government to initiate talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an urgently needed loan facility, had caused irreparable damage. Had President Rajapaksa realized the implications of that disputed decision, he could have avoided the humiliating exit from the Presidency. It was not to be.

About five weeks after the Walapane programme, President Rajapaksa imposed ban on the importation of fertiliser and agro chemicals. That move was perhaps meant to save USD 300-400 mn annually spent on the importation of fertiliser thereby ease pressure on the Treasury. It was not to be.

Continue reading ‘Ranil Wickremesinghe has turned the political environment upside down. The ruling SLPP, struggling to cope up with internal dissent, has been compelled to play ball with Wickremesinghe, who shrewdly changed the political landscape. Ranil has achieved the unthinkable.’ »

By

R.K.Radhakrishnan

Kanniya hot springs, a set of wells about 10 kilometres from Trincomalee town along the A-12 highway, is a sacred spot for Hindus in Sri Lanka. But the Sri Lankan Army’s ubiquitous presence in Tamil areas extends to this site as well.

A Buddha statue, built after the Sri Lankan Army won the civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009, can be seen a short distance away from the well. Aided by the Sri Lankan archaeological department, efforts are on to convert the area into a Buddhist heritage site, said a long-time resident of Trincomalee, who did not wish to be named.

Sinhala websites proclaim that the place was once a Buddhist monastery. One English website, amazinglanka.com, claims that “these wells belonged to a great Buddhist monastery” that spanned a vast area. It added that “Eelamisation of the North and East” had destroyed most of the Buddhist remains and that “Eelamists” had been “erasing all signs” of an ancient Buddhist civilisation in these areas for the last 30-40 years.

Thiru Koneswaram

A short distance away, the Thiru Koneswaram temple, located on Swami Rock, and accessed through the Sri Lankan Army-controlled Fort Fredrick, has a different but easily relatable problem. “Thiru Koneswaram is a place of worship for Hindus. We want that place to be holy and [it] should not be converted into a tourist destination. When it becomes a tourist destination, then it loses sanctity. It should remain a pilgrimage destination,” said a prominent member of the local Hindu community.

The temple, which was repeatedly destroyed during the war and in earlier times, is considered one of the most holy sites for Hindus. Ever since the civil war ended, believers have contributed to the construction of a makeshift structure that now houses the temple. The local residents want the Indian government’s help to build a path around the temple so that some of the rituals can be performed. As of now, even local efforts are thwarted by the archaeological department, which claims that tampering with the hilltop, where the temple is located, is not desirable.

In fact, when the High Commissioner of India visited the temple on October 2, the temple trust president Thusyanthan briefed him on the temple’s history and submitted a proposal for its restoration as a pilgrimage destination for devotees from near and far.

Continue reading ‘.Sri Lankan Tamils in the North and the East hope that India will intervene and stop the destruction of Hindu religious sites and help in the rebuilding of several temples’ »

By

Meera Srinivasan

Colombo’s seafront is lit up. Fairy lights, reindeer, and Christmas trees dot the stretch that leads to the Presidential Secretariat, the colonial-era building that served as the Parliament until the early 1980s.

On the steps before its 14 giant pillars, a choir sings popular carols — an initiative of the military and the tourism board — against multi-coloured beams projected on the brownstone facade. It is festive and cheerful, alright — that too coming at the end of what has been a particularly bleak year for Sri Lanka.

The adjacent plot of land, once a designated demonstration site for public protests and that became a tent city of resistance this year, has its share of Christmas cheer. A bright display of lights screams ‘Visit Sri Lanka’, not far from where a ‘Gota Go Gama’ name board stood some months ago.

Journalists who visited the island to cover its worst economic crisis since Independence, as well as those of us stationed here, spent much time capturing the sounds and sights on the same stretch. It was here that scores of angry citizens converged beginning April, mounting what proved to be the biggest show of public fury in the country’s history. Giving their rage creative expression, they lit up the same Secretariat with the slogan “Go home Gota”, while chanting in chorus for “system change”.

Continue reading ‘Despite its limitations and internal contradictions, the Janatha Aragalaya’ (people’s struggle) offered rare hope and idealism’ »

The lynching began with an announcement over the loudspeaker of the local temple: a calf had been slaughtered. It was 28th September 2015, around the Eid holiday, and Hindu-Muslim tensions were running high in the village of Bisara in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (up). The broadcast roused the village’s Hindu residents, who consider the cow sacred. They were convinced one of a handful of Muslim families in Bisara, the Akhlaqs, had slaughtered the cow for Eid.

Late in the evening, dozens of rioters broke into the Akhlaqs’ home and found meat in the refrigerator. They could not be sure it was beef, but that didn’t matter. They smashed a sewing machine over Danish Akhlaq’s head. Then they grabbed the patriarch, Mohammed, and dragged him outside, his head crashing down 14 stone steps to the street. By the time the police arrived half an hour later, he was dead.

Justice is yet to be served. Most of the 18 accused are out on bail. Four were given front-row seats at a rally held by Yogi Adityanath, the fiery Hindu priest who runs up. One died in custody and received a martyr’s send-off, Hindu nationalist politicians descending on Bisara to pay their respects. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not taken much notice. His first remark on the murder, eight days after it took place, was a call for Hindus and Muslims to unite.

India’s prime minister has a fixation with cows. Under his Bharatiya Janata Party (bjp), they have become a symbol for the struggle to remake India as a Hindu state. To eat beef or not to eat beef has become the question dividing the country’s billion Hindus, who protect cows because they revere them, and its 200m Muslims, whose religion permits them to eat beef and sacrifice cows. More than class or caste, this distinction stirs passions and wins votes.

Continue reading ‘“The Myth of the Holy Cow”; After millennia of slaughter and sacrifice, worship and protection, India’s cows have become pawns of the Hindu right.- The Economist’ »

HE WAS JUST a kid, aged 17. Yet in the World Cup final of 1958 Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known by his nickname of Pelé, showed the poise and supreme skill that would become the hallmarks of his career.

With Brazil leading Sweden, the hosts, 2-1 he received a high pass in the penalty area. With a defender on his shoulder, he controlled the ball with his chest, took one pace and nonchalantly looped it high over another before running to meet it and drive an unstoppable volley low into the net. In all he scored six goals in four matches in that tournament.

It was the first of three World Cups he was to win, more than any other player. It might have been four but, insufficiently protected by referees, he and Brazil were kicked out of the 1966 tournament by brutal defending by Bulgaria and Portugal.

Three Argentines—Alfredo di Stefano, Diego Armando Maradona and Lionel Messi—all have a claim to be the world’s best footballer. But many of the game’s shrewdest analysts, and many former players, believed the greatest of all was Pelé, who has died in a hospital in São Paulo aged 82 after a long battle with cancer. Apart from anything else, his 1,279 goals in 1,363 matches is a world record that is unlikely to be surpassed.

Continue reading ‘Brazil’s Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known by his nickname of Pelé, was the greatest Footballer because he could do anything and everything in a Soccer Game’ »

By
W.A.Wijewardena

President Ranil Wickremesinghe is noted for reminding fellow Sri Lankans that at the time Ceylon gained independence from Britain in 1948, it was a prosperous country which the British had left. Noting the positive stock of foreign reserves which Sri Lanka had inherited, he had said that during the Second World War, the country had even lent the colonial master (visit: https://www.news.lk/fetures/item/10674-economic-policy-statement-made-by-prime-minister-ranil-wickremesinghe-in-parliament). This was true because the bulk of foreign reserves had been invested in the UK.

His other elaboration was that the Gal Oya project, the biggest infrastructure project which the country had undertaken immediately after independence, had been completed purely out of the savings of the country without depending on foreign funding. This is mostly true because at the time of the commencement of the project in 1949 Ceylon had a comfortable foreign reserve balance sufficient for financing 17 months of future imports and the budget had a sizeable surplus in its revenue account which could, in theory, be used to finance the construction of the dam and irrigation canals. However, toward the end of the completion by 1955, the country had foreign exchange problems and to seek foreign funding for settling colonists. But this was a minor component of the total cost and hence, the project was substantially completed with local resources.

Continue reading ‘Sri Lanka unable to get the consent of all the creditors for a possible debt restructuring because of the intransigence of the leading creditor, China, which holds about 52% of the bilateral debt of the Government.’ »

BY Shehara Ratnasinghe

In response to allegations that his recent visit to India was funded by an Indian pharmaceutical company, thus leading to a conflict of interest, Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella claimed that his visit was funded by a friend due to the Minister’s credit cards having reached their credit limits, and that he has since reimbursed his friend.

Rambukwella, addressing a media briefing convened yesterday (28) at the Health Ministry premises, claimed he had reimbursed his friend upon landing in India.

“I have travelled to 86 countries. This is my 17th passport. I have even travelled to England with my parents when I was eight years old. Due to my extensive travel schedule, I maintain close relationships with certain travel companies. Because of these relationships, there are two or three travel companies that grant me massive discounts.

As I am a Cabinet Minister, I could have used Government funds for this trip. However, I purchased the ticket myself, as the Government advises us to be economical. My secretary tried booking the flight ticket from online travel agencies using my credit cards, but the cards were rejected due to the recent imposition of a weekly spending limit of Rs. 140,000.

Therefore, I informed a friend of mine to place the booking on my behalf. The very first thing I did upon landing in India was to repay my friend in cash,” he said.

Continue reading ‘Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella Tells Media that his Visit to tndia was funded by a Friend Due to his Credit Cards Reaching Credit Limits; Says he has re-imbursed his friend and Refutes Allegations that an Indian Pharmaceutical Company Funded Trip’ »

By

Mirudhula Thambiah

Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) Leader and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Opposition MP Mano Ganesan yesterday (28) noted that President Ranil Wickremesinghe should appoint three separate, high-powered committees to examine the proposals of the North and East (N-E) Tamil community, the Muslim community, and the hill-country Tamil community, where common positions reached through these committees should be taken up at the upcoming all-party conferences that are scheduled for next year (2023), and thereafter adopted as Constitutional amendments.

Ganesan also proposed the establishment of a constitutionally mandated non-territorial community council for the hill-country Tamil community, as deliberated under the previous all-party conference established by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, with a mandate on selected affairs of the community that is living on a geographically concentrated basis in Nuwara Eliya and in a dispersed manner in other parts of the country.

“Once an agreement is arrived at by the high-powered committees from the proposals presented by the three communities, Constitutional amendments could be adopted. This would be a way forward for the all-party conferences. We will not agree to be sidelined in this process,” he added.

He pointed out that talks on the national ethnic issue are not restricted to any particular area, but that it is an islandwide issue.

Continue reading ‘Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) Leader and MP Mano Ganesan wants President Ranil Wickremesinghe to appoint three separate, high-powered committees to examine the proposals of the North and East (N-E) Tamil community, the Muslim community,and the hill-country Tamil community,’ »

By

Mirudhula Thambiah

Minister of Fisheries and Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) Leader Douglas Devananda yesterday (28) said in Jaffna that he had urged President Ranil Wickremesinghe to devolve all powers to the provincial level.

While addressing a media briefing, he further stated that all the powers of the provinces that were taken over with the Executive power granted to the President should be handed back to the Provincial Councils.

Furthermore, Devananda stated that he has a dual role in this regard, as both a representative of the Cabinet sub-committee to resolve the Tamil national ethnic question, and as a leader of a political party at the all-party conference.

Continue reading ‘Minister of Fisheries and EPDP Leader Douglas Devananda Wants President Ranil Wickremesinghe to give back to the Provincial Councils all the powers of the provinces that were taken over earlier by Past Presidents with the Executive power granted to them’ »

By Namini Wijedasa

Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella—who returned yesterday (Dec 24) from a three-night trip to Chennai undertaken on the invitation of a medical supplier he is promoting for a lucrative Health Ministry contract—ignored Finance Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s instructions to follow established guidelines and submitted two consecutive unsolicited proposals from locally unregistered Indian companies to buy drugs under the Indian credit line.

According to Cabinet memoranda and other documents, he also attempted to broaden the scope of unsolicited proposals to include, not just two selected Indian suppliers (one of which is the company that invited him to India) but “other selected suppliers” and “other funding sources”.

If this is approved by the Cabinet, it will grant Health Ministry officials—and the Minister—widespread discretion to make medical purchases from favoured entities bypassing the competitive tender process.

Continue reading ‘Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella Submits to Cabinet two consecutive unsolicited proposals from locally unregistered Indian companies to buy drugs under the Indian credit line; Returns after 3 Day trip to Chenna paid for by one of the Indian companies Backed by him for the Lucrative Deal’ »

By

Sreedhar Pillai

The year 2022 has been the best ever in the last two decades or so for Tamil cinema. Two Tamil films, Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan:1 ( PS1) and Kamal Haasan’s Vikram find a place among the top five worldwide blockbusters from Indian cinema. PS:1 has grossed Rs 495 crore and Vikram Rs 440 crore worldwide from theatricals, which is phenomenal by any yardstick. And there have been at least 20 out of the 215 odd releases (slated till Dec 31) which have been profitable for its producers from theatrical, digital and satellite rights.

Trisha in ‘Ponniyin Selvan’

However, it is the big-star driven movies that have given Kollywood a global presence. The other top grossers of the year include KGF: Chapter 2, RRR (both dubbed inTamil), Beast, Valimai, Thiruchitrambalam, Don, Sardar and Love Today (the only small film in the chart).

PS:1 is the second highest all-time Tamil theatrical gross worldwide, after Rajinikanth’s 2.O (2018); many state that it would have beaten the gross of the latter if it had not premiered on OTT five weeks after its theatrical release. In Tamil Nadu, however, it has created a new record, for being the first film to collect a theatrical share of Rs 105 crore. No other Tamil film has done it before, with Vikram its nearest competitor and also a film released this year, taking a theatrical share of Rs 80 crore from Tamil Nadu.

PS:1 and Vikram have created new benchmarks in Tamil cinema as critics and audiences lapped it up with a never-seen-before fervour. In fact, both these films brought back audiences back to theatres in the state.

Continue reading ‘2022 is best year in 20 Years for Tamil Cinema with at least 20 of 215 films released making Huge Profits Including Worldwide Blockbusters “Vikram” and “Ponniyin Selvan -1”.’ »

By

D.B.S.Jeyaraj

The first part of this article published last week narrated certain aspects of the life of Sivashankar alias “Pottu Ammaan” the much-dreaded intelligence chief of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE). Although my original intention was to write a two -part article, I have been compelled to make it a three-part article in order to do justice to the information that I have been able to gather about Pottu Ammaan.

Sivashankar known as Pottu and Pottu Ammaan joined the LTTE in 1981. He obtained Indian arms training after July 1983 in Uttar Pradesh as part of the first batch of tiger trainees. After getting Indian training ,Pottu functioned as one of Prabhakaran’s bodyguard. It was during this period that Pottu became a fanatical follower of his leader. He served the tiger “numero uno” with slavish devotion. Pottu’s personal loyalty to Prabhakaran was unswerving and unquestionable.

After a stint as the boss’s bodyguard, Pottu was sent to be in charge (poruppu) of the “Karai” (shore) operations in Vethaaranyam area on the Tamil Nadu coast. The LTTE had set up camps in this area. Pottu was in overall charge.

Coastal operations were of paramount importance in the eighties of the last century as the LTTE was heavily dependent on Tamil Nadu as a rear base.Arms, medicine,fuel and other vital supplies were sent to Northern Sri Lanka via sea from the Tamil Nadu coast. There was also a steady flow of cadres to and from Tamil Nadu by sea.

Continue reading ‘The Cruel and Diabolical Mindset of LTTE Intelligence Chief Sivashankar alias “Pottu Ammaan”’ »

By
Dr.Radhika Coomaraswamy

(Text of keynote address delivered at the launch of the Junior Bar Journal on the theme ‘Law in context: Current trends and future projections’ held on 16 December 2022)

We live in precarious times. But precarious times are also times of great opportunity. The end of World War Two gave birth to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the end of Apartheid gave birth to the South African constitution, a constitution that has inspired the legal community for decades. A great deal is happening in the world and in Sri Lanka in particular, creating a fog of ideas and desperation to see our way out of the darkness.

This fog of ideas is based on the fact that there is a fundamental struggle taking place on the kind of society people wish to construct for themselves. This struggle over very basic ideas animates the most virulent hate and bias that we see throughout the world. What I am going to do in this lecture is to spell out some of those struggles, especially those relevant to young lawyers, and see what the future holds for their resolution.

The first debate in this fog of ideas relates to the debate on human rights. For my generation of lawyers working in public law at the international level, the most inspiring documents were those related to human rights – the universal declaration, the covenants and many other conventions relating to torture, women and children among others. Though today human rights and humanitarian law are dismissed as Western, at the Bandung conference in the 1950s, the Non-Aligned movement openly embraced human rights and it would be the driving force in getting rid of apartheid in South Africa and challenging disappearances in Latin America. Third World progressive activists were strong supporters of human rights during this period writing personally to heads of state when prisoners of conscience were taken in.

Amnesty International’s first visit to Sri Lanka in the 1970s was fully supported by everyone who worked on issues of social justice. Leading personalities like Suriya Wickremesinghe, Kumari Jayawardena, Professor Sarathchandra, and Raja Goonesekere formed the civil rights movement after the 1971 insurrection basing their founding principles on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Today both the edifice and the norms are under a great deal of challenge especially from universities and think tanks many of them situated in the Western world.

The challenge to human rights is twofold. The first is that it is a Western structure created around the values of the Enlightenment where the individual is valued over the community and where reason is given prime of place over social values of cohesion and harmony. The second argument is about process and the double standards in the application of human rights. The rich and powerful countries are not held accountable while smaller countries may face the full force of the international political and legal process.

Continue reading ‘“For minorities one creates a constitutional and legislative framework to ensure equality at the Centre with mechanisms for implementation. For a territorial minority the textbook solution has always been power sharing agreements. “’ »