Ceylon Today Editorial

Handling talent with care

01 October 2016

 

The under fifteen inter-provincial cricket tournament was played over two days and can be heralded as a filling of a long-standing vacuum. It is something that should have taken place as soon as Sri Lanka began their Test cricket in 1982. Without this most needed training since 1982 for Sri Lankan schools to have kept on producing such talent is highly incredible. It is only playing a two-day game that gives the schoolboys the opening to think on their feet instead of getting wins on points.

Of course the system was such, that there was always those opportunities open to all talented Sri Lankan schoolboys to join clubs playing in the Premier Tournaments. But this opening with a few more adjustments and additions could make these players much better in future. Both with their choosing with bat and ball and leadership qualities these players coming out of the school system will become more matured.

This provincial tournament was played on a league basis as one-day matches coming down to the final and that was played as a two-dayer. These games were played in two groups with twelve provincial teams participating in the 30 matches that were played against each other of the group that the teams were allotted to. This could be seen as done for the convenience of the organizers.

All matches were played in Colombo and its suburbs, when it began on 17 September. We feel, that here that all the five Colombo based teams were at an advantage. It could be seen how it went on to favour them when both teams in the final came from the Western Province.

This inter-provincial tournament is a good way to get the youngsters exposed to many aspects of the game. The more important areas could be building relations at a different and more important level that such a tournament would be aimed at. As they usually come out after playing in inter-school cricket where the game impacts them at a lesser degree, the provincial level cricket makes a big difference. This is due to the fact the youngsters now represent their province and the teams are made up of players from other schools as well. In the thoughts of these youngsters, it gives them more responsibility and its importance placed on their talent.

When it is the first time they get exposed to such and it is the time to have a closer look at their whole make-up of a player. This is why it is important to make them feel more at home. That is why these tournaments have to have those humane thoughts around them. It is, therefore, our feeling that the game itself has to be played around the country giving the youngsters the ability to showcase their talents to home crowds also. The feedback coming out of the home crowd plays a big role in the building of their morale and talent, instead of them fading off into non-existence in a place foreign to them that they are not comfortable in.

While these games are on, there is another happening in its backdrop. That is the hunt for talent which is now a given because it is one way that paves the way for youngsters to get into the so-called big schools of Colombo. While it gives cricket, as a whole, the chance to develop good upcoming youngsters, it should be turned around for that to take place in the wilds where the talent is robbed from.

These tournaments where these youngsters are given the chance to have their talent go under the gong can be seen as non-interference but in actuality it slows up the process of developing the game itself in those areas. The best analysis could show how certain Colombo clubs were made to survive with them losing talent to the bigger clubs. And they were made to fulfil their obligations with talent flowing into Colombo from the outstations. This ultimately resulted with places like Kandy, Galle, Kurunegala, Matara and in many more areas that had clubs ready for the premier tournaments dropping to lesser levels.

No game can sustain that kind of evaporation for too long and the end result is the game that is finally going to suffer, as seen from the Sri Lankan experience. In Sri Lanka people take things for granted hoping the next would be a better day, which sadly is taking place here in this under-15 cricket tournament that ended yesterday. It happens when people look at the game from different perspectives that fulfil their agendas. Talent like the environment should be handled with care.

Daily News Editorial

Critical times for SAARC

01 October 2016

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is clearly facing a crisis with the cancellation of the next Summit. In the wake of India’s decision to stay away from the Summit which was to be held in Islamabad, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan followed suit. Nepal, the current SAARC Chair, has confirmed the cancellation.

India cited “cross-border terrorist attacks in the region” as a reason for not attending the summit. Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan too expressed concern about the same issue in official notes to Kathmandu.

“We wish that a diplomatic breakthrough could be found with a possible change of venue but no one can guarantee success of such steps as four countries have already declared their inability to attend the summit without seeking an alternate venue,” a Nepali SAARC spokesman said. These countries have stepped up diplomatic pressure on Pakistan after the September 18 attack on the military base in Uri. Several members of the International Community outside SAARC have also expressed their concern over the SAARC stalemate.

The cancellation of the summit is unprecedented, as the four member-states have cited “terrorism” and “imposed violence” while withdrawing from the summit. All eight countries had earlier accepted Pakistan’s invitation to attend the Summit.

This is a watershed moment for the SAARC, which was established in 1985 on a proposal made by Bangladesh and several other countries. The grouping initially consisted of seven countries – India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal. Afghanistan was added later. South Asia is home to 1.8 billion people and covers almost 11 percent of the wider Asian continent. Despite the various advancements over the past 30 years, South Asia is still one of the most impoverished regions in the world home to 50 percent of the world’s poor.

When SAARC began more than 30 years ago, the founders envisioned a South Asia which was politically united and where people moved across freely across borders. There was even a suggestion for a single currency. Although there have been previous instances where the SAARC Summit has been postponed to another time slot or even to a different country, on this occasion the circumstances are much different. The spectre of terrorism has cast a shadow over the event with most SAARC countries with the exception of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, facing terror acts frequently.

While the SAARC Charter expressly prohibits bilateral actions in its deliberations, it is somewhat ironic that such bilateral concerns form the very basis of the present cancellation. SAARC was envisaged on the lines of the European Union (EU) which is still the single most successful union of different nations despite its recent troubles over immigration and terrorism. Thirty years later, it is doubtful whether SAARC has achieved any of those goals. If citizens of one South Asian country still need visas to go to another South Asian country, little progress has been achieved in the meantime.

Today, SAARC is facing multiple challenges. The biggest challenge is terrorism. All SAARC countries, with the possible exception of Bhutan, have faced terrorism and acts of violence. Only Sri Lanka has seen an end to terrorism while most other countries are still fighting it. However, no country can be completely immune from the effects of global terrorism.

It is a global problem as much as it is a South Asian one. It is clear that SAARC cannot go forward without addressing this problem in the region. Both India and Pakistan, the two nuclear powers in the region, must resolve their differences and address mutual concerns. An unstable South Asia is clearly not in the interests of the wider world.

Poverty is another major issue confronting the entire region. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said South Asian countries should wage a different kind of war – a war against poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, infant mortality and maternal deaths. This is essential in the light of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which Sri Lanka and other South Asian countries have been committed to achieve by 2030, just 14 years away. Sri Lanka which recorded excellent progress with regard to the earlier Millennium Development Goals is well on track to achieve the SDGs as well. In fact, international affairs commentators have urged other South Asian countries to take a leaf out of Sri Lanka’s free health and education initiatives, as exemplified by its recently awarded Malaria-free status.

Economic development and trade remain elusive in South Asia. The South Asian Free Trade Area envisaged in 2004 has not been a raging success. Trade within the South Asian bloc is minimal and its trade with the outside world has seen only minimal gains. This picture should change.

South Asia must forego strife and discord – instead, there should be an accord on eliminating the factors that hold it back from becoming a leading member of the global community. We hope SAARC would soon be able to recover from this blow and give its populace greater prospects ahead.

The Island Editorial

Jekyll vying with Hyde

01 October 2016

 

Humanity is dual in nature as one sees in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Jekyll maintains that man is not truly one but two and human soul is a battleground for an angel and a fiend, engaged in a fierce contest to assert dominance over each other. This kind of duality is present in governments as well.

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration did a Dr. Jekyll immediately after capturing state power last year; it provided much-needed economic relief to the public and took some progressive steps to strengthen democracy. It slashed fuel prices drastically and increased the public sector salaries unprecedentedly. Thereafter, Mr. Hyde asserted supremacy and taxes were jacked up and not even the sick were spared when the unconscionable VAT increase was effected at the behest of the IMF.

Yesterday, we reported another instance where the government demonstrated its Jekyll-Hyde duality. Our news item said Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne had imported a stock of stents to be used to repair damaged hearts free of charge at state-run hospitals. This, the government has done while taxing the sick. Our report must have warmed the cockles of many a sick heart. It is in deed a meritorious act which should be appreciated by one and all.

Our report quoted Health Ministry spokesman Nipun Ekanayake as having said that Dr. Senaratne’s decision to make available stents free of charge had been consequent to a series of discussions the latter had had with cardiologists. Let the good doctors also be thanked for being so concerned about poor patients most of whom cannot afford costly heart operations and stents.

The Health Ministry’s announcement of free stents for heart patients has come at a time the Joint Opposition is screaming from the rooftops that the government is fleecing the sick. The Opposition MPs point out that heart patients are also burdened with higher taxes though treatment for kidney diseases has been exempted from VAT. The government needs to be told that hearts are as precious as kidneys.

The Health Minister is said to have been irked by huge profits being made from stents in the private sector at the expense of hapless patients. His consternation is understandable. Private companies and some unscrupulous doctors are thriving on the suffering of the sick. Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity as Bernard Shaw has said.

It is alleged that instances abound where unsuspecting patients are made to undergo operations unnecessarily so that private hospital owners and doctors working for them can laugh all the way to the bank. Most babies are born by Caesarean section as doctors make the most of the present-day mothers’ fear of labour pains.

Nuts, bolts, screws and other such things used in orthopaedic and reconstructive surgeries cost patients an arm and a leg. There is no state mechanism to control the prices thereof and doctors pocket huge commissions. Worse, after expensive operations patients have no way of knowing whether what they have got is the real McCoy. In this country, patients are without rights—they cannot even ask doctors questions—and the government ought to ensure that the sick are not exploited in this manner.

The quality of some drugs purchased by the government has been called into question. The Health Ministry and oncologists have locked horns over a new cancer drug imported from Russia. The latter say they cannot vouch for the efficacy of the drug concerned. It is hoped that the stents imported by the government conform to the international standards and they are good enough to be inserted into the hearts of ministers and other government grandees as well.

Ceylon Today Editorial

VAT on doctors’ fees, trade

30 September 2016

 

Government opens itself to be cheated from collecting legitimate revenue by unscrupulous traders because of the introduction of the deemed VAT input clause in the proposed VAT hike Bill.

Cheating the government is cheating the ordinary people of the country. Nonetheless, deemed VAT from other sectors has been removed.

Under the proposed VAT hike Bill, where the VAT rate is planned to be increased from the current 11% to 15% and which will also encompass the wholesale and retail trades and the health sector, which, currently is exempted from VAT, the Bill is expected to be submitted to Parliament next month.

Suresh I. Perera, Principal Tax and Regulatory, KPMG Sri Lanka (an audit firm), speaking at a tax seminar organized by CGMA at its Colombo office yesterday said in most jurisdictions VAT is not charged on the wholesale and retail trades and also on the health sector.

The proposed amendments however, make such categories liable to VAT, with certain exemptions in the health sector.

Perera said under the VAT jurisdiction deemed VAT is bad in law. Deemed VAT input tax has come about after traders protested against the proposed VAT hike. Deemed VAT input tax under the proposed new regime, however, makes it possible to claim VAT input tax from non VAT registered suppliers, who, ipso facto are not liable to pay VAT.

Under the proposed amendment, traders who make a quarterly turnover of Rs 12.5 million will be liable to pay VAT. And, under normal VAT laws, even if a VAT registered retailer buys a good from an unregistered supplier for say Rs 90, adds a profit of Rs 10 to that purchase, thereby making his sales price sans VAT Rs 100 and if the new VAT hike has come into force, then his selling price including the new VAT would be Rs 115. Of this price, Rs 15 will go to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) and the balance to the retailer's pocket.

But under the deemed VAT input tax law, where the retailer would only have to remit the difference between the VAT output tax and the VAT input tax, if in the event the item is purchased from an unregistered VAT supplier for Rs 90, it is still presumed that the price of Rs 90 for which it was procured from the supplier would have a VAT input component of Rs 11.74 (15% of Rs 90).

After adding the profit of Rs 10, thereby taking the retail price up to Rs 100, followed by the inclusion of the VAT output tax of 15% on the Rs 100 value, the item then would be sold to the consumer for Rs 115. Whereas under the normal VAT law, Rs 15 from this transaction would be remitted to IRD, however, under the deemed VAT law, if the original supplier is an unregistered VAT supplier, then only a mere Rs 3.26 will be remitted.

This would deprive the government of legitimate VAT revenue of Rs 11.74, or 78.27% of legitimate VAT revenue. The Rs 3.26 figure is the difference between the VAT output tax (Rs 15) and the VAT input tax (Rs 11.74).

Similarly, in respect of the health sector which currently is non VATable, nonetheless, under the proposed amendments, doctor's charges will be liable for VAT. Under the proposed amendments, OPD, dialysis and diagnostic services as well as medical drugs will however, be VAT exempt.

Perera further said under the proposed VAT amendments, retrospective laws are also included in the agenda. Retrospective legislation is bad in law, he said. The proposed VAT hike will be retrospective from 2 May 2016, on which date it originally came in to effect, but which was invalidated by the Supreme Court (SC) on the grounds that it hadn't been passed in Parliament.

Perera also said that retrospective legislation would also apply in respect of the VAT threshold for other business activities other than the wholesale and retail sectors. For instance, the threshold of VAT on other supplies such as services and manufacturing is planned to be changed from Rs 3.75 million to Rs three million per quarter with retrospective effect from 1 April 2016.

That means that once the new VAT law comes in to effect such suppliers in the interim will be out of pocket.

One good piece of legislation is that the deemed VAT, other than on the VAT input tax on trade has been removed in the proposed new law.

Previously, there was a maximum limit of 25% on supplies under the deemed VAT tax regime. Deemed VAT is against VAT principles, said Perera. It's the duty of the IRD to make each and every assessment and not presume anything to be deemed, he said.

Daily News Editorial

GL, the political weathercock

30 September 2016

 

Former Minister Prof. G.L Peiris has taken up cudgels on behalf of our security forces these days. Peiris claims that our war heroes are going to be compromised through an alleged reversal of the Sinnarasa verdict. He also seems to say that they (war heroes) would be an endangered species once foreign judges are brought down to sit in judgement over them. Peiris who had been a regular caller on the Malawatte Mahanayake is not convinced on the advise proffered by the prelate to fellow JO comrade in arms Wimal Weerawansa that the President and the Prime Minister had assured him that nothing of the kind is being contemplated. He (Peiris) also said that there is also already a mechanism to lodge anonymous complaints against the war heroes. The former law professor’s, concern for the war heroes is touching indeed but for the fact that in a different avatar he didn’t give a tuppence for the safety and security of the country’s war heroes.

Peiris was a powerful Minister in the UNP government when he led a delegation to conduct talks with LTTE representatives in world capitals. Rightly or wrongly these parleys were dubbed ‘peace talks’. The UNP government may have had a genuine feeling that these talks would succeed, given that it was underwritten by the Co-Chairs and, what is more, in anticipation of the US 4.5 billion dollars aid promised if the talks bore fruit. The rest, as they say, is history. But Peiris, now taking a holier than thou stance, is the last person who can claim to speak on behalf of the security forces. He cannot take the position now that there is a foreign conspiracy to punish our security forces when these were the very foreign forces that comprised the Co-Chairs when he led the government delegation for ‘peace talks’.

It was the perennial accusation of the then Opposition that the compromises arrived at these ‘peace talks’ were heavily weighted in favour of the LTTE. His current boss Mahinda Rajapaksa was among the most vociferous critics of these ‘peace talks'. That he (Rajapaksa) too continued for a while from where Peiris left off is entirely another matter.

Peiris, who now laments the fate that awaits our war heroes at the hands of foreign powers, nevertheless, soldiered on, jetting from one world capital to another to hold discussions with the Tiger representatives that included Anton Balasingham, Pulitheevan and Rudrakumaran. That was only for starters.

One of the conditions laid down by the LTTE at these ‘peace talks’ was that the security forces should be confined barracks leaving the LTTE cadres free movement to do, what they called, political work. GL as the chief government negotiator had no qualms of agreeing to this condition that compromised the honour and stature of our security forces, a much worse ignominy than being taken before the Hague for war crimes. Peiris may now claim that he was doing the bidding of the government. But given his hardline position adopted now, on behalf of the war heroes, what the good professor should have done is tender his resignation.

Peiris, who is today weeping buckets for the dire fate awaiting our war heroes at the hands of foreign judges, maintained a deafening silence when the war winning army commander was summarily thrown behind bars by a local kangaroo court. Prof Peiris speaking to the media, referring to the demand of the Chief Minister Wigneswaran to evict the security forces from the North and put a halt to Buddhist shrines being built in the North stated no one would have dared to make such statements under the Mahinda Rajapaksa rule.

But he conveniently forgot to mention how his former boss took to his bosom an LTTE mass murderer who was not only responsible for the gunning down of a bus load of novice Buddhist monks and the massacre of 600 policemen but also the attack on the Sri Dalada Maligawa, the holy of holies of the Buddhists.

Peiris, who today has posited himself as the virtual spokesman of the security forces, kept mum when the Milennium City Long Rangers safe house harbouring intelligence officers who provided vital information to the security forces that saved many of their lives, was raided and the whole operation exposed. How many members of the forces perished subsequently, as a result of this betrayal, one can only guess. One cannot also recall Peiris making even a murmur of protest when the LTTE positioned their heavy artillery within the range of the Trincomalee harbour, in Manirasakulam, that gravely endangered national security, about which, Peiris today is showing great concern.

The former Minister, as all Sri Lankans by now know, is a ‘seasonal’ politician or what is known as a weathercock. He keeps changing and shifting positions depending on whose side he is on. It is no secret that GL was entertaining hopes of entering Parliament on the UPFA National List and in fact made overtures to the present government after the general election. Had he been accommodated there is no doubt that the former law professor, who had earned the sobriquet kokatath thailaya (the oracle) would certainly have been singing a different tune today.

The Island Editorial

Sinners stoning one another

30 September 2016

 

Northern Province Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran has apparently got setting the cat among the pigeons down to a fine art. This time around, he has drawn heavy flak for some incendiary remarks he made at a recent agitation campaign in the North.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which is at loggerheads with Wigneswaran and his allies, has dissociated itself from the protest. But, the question is whether the TNA does not subscribe to Wigneswaran’s main demand—a federal set-up in a re-merged North-Eastern Province.

Big guns of the Joint Opposition (JO) also lost no time in tearing into Wigneswaran for his espousal of extremism and what they call anti-Sinhala rhetoric. There is no way anyone can justify his deplorable utterances reeking of racism and it is only natural that he has drawn so much of flak. However, where were those who are now bashing him when southern extremists unleashed ethnic violence in Aluthgama in 2014? If only they had condemned and taken action against the sick elements responsible for that incident, which was one of the reasons why the Rajapaksa government came crashing down a few months later!

Some UNP heavyweights have also taken on Wigneswaran. They have seen red because their reconciliation project has suffered a heavy blow from his campaign. Interestingly, as one may recall, these UNPers once grovelled before Prabhakaran and granted all his wishes, having shamelessly recognised him as the sole representative of Tamils. They did not utter a word in protest against his mindless terrorism which snuffed out thousands of lives and turned the entire country into a hellhole. It was also on their watch that the 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom was carried out. Never have they tendered an apology for that carnage which they did precious little to stop. Now, flaying the Northern Province Chief Minister for advocating separatism they are promising to bring about racial amity through reconciliation! The JVP, which plunged the country into two bloodbaths in the name of a macabre cause, is also fulminating against Wigneswaran for his recent statements.

Here, one sees sinners stoning one another!

It is hoped that the critics of Wigneswaran will not lose sight of the bigger picture. The LTTE is active in many parts of the world in spite of its defeat here seven years ago. Its fronts are operating openly in the developed world having as they do key politicians and opinion makers in their pocket. Tamil Nadu is a hotbed of LTTE activity.

The real problem is not Wigneswaran, who is only a ventriloquist’s dummy. Maneka Gandhi, in her column in this newspaper, recently wrote about some parasites which turn their hosts into malleable Zombies willing to do as they say. Extremists are capable of doing that to mainstream politicians. Several Tamil politicians once acted just like Wigneswaran. Time was when TNA leader R. Sampanthan functioned as Prabhakaran’s de facto spokesman.

Wignewaran is only part of the problem which is a collective of separatist outfits bent on achieving their Eelam dream. This secessionist movement is far more powerful than individual politicians or even political parties. That’s why it has survived even the decapitation of the LTTE. Unless Wigneswaran does as he is told, he will lose his position to someone else. This is what the government ought to take cognizance of without barking up the wrong tree, if it is to ensure that national security won’t be jeopardised.

President Maithripala Sirisena, in his recent address to the UN General Assembly, declared that his government would never allow the county to be plunged into another war. How does the government propose to tackle a possible situation where the genie Wigneswaran et al are trying to release gets out of the bottle? It will have to remain eternally vigilant and refrain from lowering its guard and demoralising the armed forces for political reasons. Mere rhetoric and bashing Wigneswaran won’t do!

Ceylon Today Editorial

Good Day for Justice

29 September 2016

Former Editor Lasantha Wickramatunge's death brought about a new age in Sri Lankan journalism. There is no doubt about it. Writers, reporters, editors and journalists witnessed an epiphany in Wickramatunge's death and brought about the free media struggle of the country, of which we have become a part.

After seven-and-a-half-years of Wickramatunge's unsolved death, the current government has been able to successfully arrest suspects in the incident under a plausible and believable Court case. Earlier this week, remains of the slain journalist were exhumed under a Court Order to be analysed in a new post-mortem.

When Wickramatunge was murdered in 2009, the government's response was expected. With condolence messages and a shock that should have only been taken at the mere face value, the government was unable to solve the case. After two post-mortems, the government and the then authorities were unable to find the cause of death or figure out whether this was murder or not. Of course, all allegations made against the government and those who allied themselves with the government were refuted and ignored at all costs.

Wickramatunge died on 8 January 2009. Common Candidate Maithripala Sirisena was voted in as President of the country on 8 January 2015 – on Wickramatunge's sixth death anniversary. For the family of Wickramatunge, that must have been a sign of God, finally promising justice to the victimized.

Exhumation of Wickramatunge's remains was a good move – hopefully it proves to be worthwhile in the CID investigation. The last controversial exhumation was when former national ruggerite Wassim Thajudeen's body was exhumed in a complete political move, with a week for the 2015 General Election. That case is still underway and hopefully, it won't be reported in the future that Wickramatunge's remains have also been misplaced.

As journalists we can welcome this move and have the fullest expectation that this will put the perpetrators behind bars and that victims of this heinous crime will see justice. But if ever the situation turns sour just like last time, we are ready with our pens and paper to fight for what is right.

Under no circumstances should the murderers of Lasantha Wickramatunge be allowed peace of mind or a life in freedom, once they are found guilty in a Court of law. Nothing more than a death penalty is satisfactory for this crime.

When we said Wickramatunge brought about the new age of Sri Lankan journalism, we meant that he inspired many to take the mantle of a watchdog in his wake. In his death, he became a martyr – something his murderers could not predict. Among those journalists who are share hungry and fame minded, among the marketed writers and subjugated editors who are controlled by politicians, there is always a struggling writer trying to do the right thing.

The immortal words of David Bowie come to our mind: "Though nothing will drive them away, we can beat them, just for one day". Yes, one day, we might be able to overcome all atrocities, all enemies that degrade and befoul our lives, corrupt us our bodies and minds. We can redeem ourselves someday. This is what we should strive forward for and for days where others do not dictate our actions, where we do not have to live with the consequences of others' actions. We can be heroes, that way. Just for one day even.

Daily News Editorial

MR and the kalu suddhas

29 September 2016

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has called the UNP a party of the pukka sahibs kalu suddho and bemoaned the fate that has befallen the Sri Lanka Freedom Party who he said had thrown in their lot with such a party, going against the principles of the founders of the SLFP which represented the pancha maha balavegaya, in stark contrast to the highly westernized UNP which pursues the capitalist doctrine and anti-people policies.

Speaking at a temple ceremony in Yatinuwara, Rajapaksa said, as a party that rose against the oppression, the lifestyles and policies of the pukka sahibs the SLFP should be the last party to have anything to do with the UNP who has been identified with the kalu suddhas from its very inception. Rajapaksa no doubt may be harking back to the UNP of the days of the Senanayakes and Kotalawalas who no doubt were epitomes of the wealthy capitalist class whose demeanour and way of life were not much different to the colonial rulers who had only just left our shores. That is primarily the reason why SWRD Bandaranaike broke away with the UNP (so it was said), founded the SLFP and won an overwhelming mandate in 1956 to usher in his social revolution and Rajapaksa, it could be verily said, was one of the children of 56 panas haye daruwo.

This set the benchmark for all subsequent SLFP governments to ride to power exploiting the zombie like psyche of the rural, illiterate and the uninitiated electorate. Rajapaksas was no exception picking up the threads from where his predecessors left off continuing to din into the largely brainwashed electorate more of the same nationalist diet, taking the flood of the subsequent war victory at its tide.

That was of course Rajapaksa the politician. But Rajapaksa the layman was not exactly averse to savouring at least some of the aspects of the culture of the kalu suddhas he readily labeled the UNP as being, in the same way that Wimal Weerawansa who raves and rants over the designs of Uncle Sam on Sri Lanka had no misgivings of reveling in the delights of Disney Land, with spouse in tow, sometime ago.

To begin with, Mahinda Rajapaksa who was an Old Boy of Richmond, Thurstan and Nalanda had no qualms of admitting his offspring to the elite Anglicised School by the Sea. Neither did he frown upon them taking into an elitist sport such as Rugby (essentially a game of the kalu suddhas) of which later on, as President of the country, he went out of his to lend patronage, even naming a tournament after his ancestral home in the deep south, for his trio of sons to indulge in to their hearts content.

Rajapaksa the Sinhala Buddhist nationalist, untainted by the influence of the pukka sahibs also had no hesitation in looking the other way when his offspring took to the speed track, and what is more, stage night races in close proximity to the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy in defiance of the advise of the chief prelates. The former President to whom anything western was anathema also had no compunction in meeting former British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the latter’s holiday retreat and also being the chief guest at his (Rajapaksa's) son’s naval passing out parade at Dartmount, an event replete with colonial trappings so repugnant to Rajapaksa’s indigenous tastes.

One also recalls the former President's aborted bid to deliver a lecture at the Oxford Union, of course at the invitation of the world renowned university. Why undertake such a venture at the very institution that produced a long line of Sri Lankan leaders from the UNP which he described as kalu suddhas. True, his own founder leader S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, was also a product of Oxford and so was Felix. But can MR honestly say that they did not have the attributes and lead lifestyles of the kalu suddhas, he so abhors?

It is time the former President sheds his hypocrisy and admit to himself that he was not honest when he labeled the UNP kalu suddhas while leading a similar lifestyle or at least following in the same vein, out of the public eye. The UNP had won landslide electoral victories despite such labels being attached to the Grand Old Party.

True, the UNP had this handicap of being identified as a party catering only to the privileged class in the past. But it has long shed this veneer. The party had undergone significant reforms, especially under the late President Premadasa that has made it a truly people oriented entity today. The UNP under Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has a wide acceptance among the larger electorate which may be a worrisome prospect for Mahinda Rajapaksa. The former President has already lost the minority vote by his rabid nationalist stance and now stands to lose the not inconsiderable vote of the English educated minority through his kalu suddha remark.

The Island Editorial

Beggars’ at-home

29 September 2016

President Maithripala Sirisena has become a spoilsport of sorts for some politicians. Troubled by colossal amounts of public funds being spent on politicians’ foreign junkets, he has ordered that the Central Provincial (CP) Council members’ tour of Russia scheduled for mid October be cancelled forthwith. He has asked CP Governor Niluka Ekanayake to explain why councillors are allowed to see the world without his permission in this manner.

The Provincial Council system has been a massive drain on state resources with their recurrent expenditure accounting for almost all their revenue plus financial allocations from the government. It serves only the purpose of politicians whose progeny use it as a training ground and a stepping stone to Parliament.

We at present have 380 sitting provincial councillors in addition to 225 parliamentarians and 4,414 local government members. These numbers are bound to increase owing to electoral reforms.

Travel is said to broaden mind. If so, how come our politicians are so narrow-minded? Their foreign junkets cannot be justified on any grounds. They never learn from their hosts how to tackle problems this country is faced with. We have so many politicians visiting Singapore, but they haven’t cared to learn how the city state handles its municipal waste, which is detoxified and used to reclaim land from the sea. Here, we see many a mountain of garbage, which is a monument to the crass stupidity of globe-trotting politicians and officials.

The government is reportedly planning to set up an office for ethics and morality. We don’t question the wisdom of those behind this project. Suffice it to say that ethics and morality cannot be brought about by government fiat. However, there is no harm in providing some entertainment, through such projects, to the public in these difficult times. What the country is badly in need of is a Ministry of Crabs, as it were, in that government leaders are like crabs which urge their offspring to walk straight while they themselves are moving sideways.

Will the public be told how many foreign trips the President, the Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers have been on since the change of government last year? Most of them, we believe, have been more overseas, pressing flesh with powerful leaders, than here. These tours only help boost their elephantine egos. As we keep saying in these columns, at the rate they are junketing at the expense of the hapless taxpayer they, while going out of the BIA, must be knocking against themselves returning from overseas.

Politicians, at all three levels of government, are having a whale of a time with public funds. This, they are doing while asking Citizen Perera to tighten his belt for the sake of the country. Shame on them!

ETCA: To ink or not to ink

Minister of Commerce and Industry of India Nirmala Sitharaman has, at a media briefing in Colombo, sought to allay fears in the minds of concerned Sri Lankans about the controversial Indo-Lanka Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement (ETCA). She has said the pact won’t be signed in a hurry and Sri Lanka will benefit therefrom in that it will be able to tap the huge Indian market.

However, the question is whether the discerning Sri Lankans, especially local professionals, will buy into the visiting Indian minister’s claims. Once bitten, twice shy, as they say. Going by the chaos the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord has plunged this country into one may be justified in looking askance at the ETCA, which the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government is going hell for leather to ink.

Gift bearing Greeks may be more trustworthy, in the eyes of Sri Lankans, than Indian diplomats and politicians undertaking to solve this country’s problems. For, their solutions are usually far worse than the problems. The provincial council system is a case in point.

The day may not be far off when the Modi jackets some politicians here put themselves in, to curry favour with New Delhi, in a desperate bid to effect last year’s regime change will turn out to be straitjackets. They will find themselves in the same predicament as the person who sold his soul to the devil.

Diplomats and politicians of powerful nations dealing with smaller countries, where resistance emerges to their schemes, act like the ancient mounted Parthian archers who would pretend to flee from battle and then suddenly turn around at full gallop and shoot at the pursuing enemies and have the last laugh. So, the opponent of ETCA had better brace for Parthian tactics.

Ceylon Today Editorial

JR’s creation in flames

28 September 2016

Yesterday, this newspaper reported that two British constitutional experts were in town this week to help the government to formulate a new Constitution.

A new Constitution has been in the pipeline since the advent of the new Unity Government comprising President Maithripala Sirisena from the UPFA/SLFP coalition and Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe from the UNF/UNP coalition, last year.

As reported on a daily on its 11 December 2015 issue, which, quoting Wickremesinghe, said, that the pivots of the new Constitution would be power devolution, electoral reform and the replacement of the executive presidential system.

Due to space constraints, this editorial will dwell on the replacement of the executive presidential system.

Replacement of the executive presidential system would be driving the final nail on the coffin of Wickremesinghe's uncle J.R. Jayewardene's workmanship, who 50 years ago, outlining his vision for an executive presidential style of government, said, "....The executive is chosen directly by the people and is not dependent on the legislature during its period of existence, for a specified number of years. Such an executive is a strong executive seated in power for a fixed number of years, not subject to the whims and fancies of an elected legislature; not afraid to take correct but unpopular decisions because of censure from its parliamentary party...."

Jayewardene made this statement in 1966 as the guest of honour at the then Ceylon Association for the Advancement of Science annual sessions, where, Jayewardene, was the Minister of State of the Dudley Senanayake Government.

However, he had to wait for 12 years till 1978, with the enactment of the Second Republican Constitution that year, to see his dream realize, with he himself being at the helm, as Sri Lanka's first Executive President.

Nevertheless, his nephew Wickremesinghe is now trying to tear down this Constitution and replace it with it a brand new one.

Nonetheless, Jayewardene's dream of an executive presidency was due to the ruination caused to governments, which since independence and at least up to 1965, in which year the Senanayake Government was elected to power,were ruled by coalitions, thereby having to bend to the 'whim and fancy' of coalition partners in order for the lead parties which formed such coalitions, merely to stay on in power.

Nevertheless, the executive presidential system of government, since its introduction in 1978, was subjected to abuse and reached the zenith of such abuse, especially during the time Mahinda Rajapaksa, the immediately preceding President, was in power during the period November 2005 to January 2015.

However, the call for the replacement of the Executive Presidency is not something new. It was on the premise of this promise, that Ms. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga's coalition was elected to power in August 1994. But once in power, Kumaratunga, enjoying the plums of office, continued to retain the Executive Presidency.

Similarly, in 2005, Rajapaksa was elected to power with the promise of abolishing the Executive Presidency. But once in power, he not only retained that system of government, but further reinforced its powers.

In fairness to Sirisena, no sooner he was elected to power in January 2015, he brought in a series of laws to whittle down the Executive Presidency, by restoring its two terms (which Rajapaksa had changed to virtual perpetuity) and also the independent commissions.

There is a school of thought which believes that 19 amendments to the present Constitution are enough and the country, to 'go forward', needs a new Constitution. It's with that thinking that a new Constitution, sans an Executive Presidency, has been parroted by the Unity Government.

Daily News

Pot calling the kettle black

28 September 2016

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader and Colombo District UPFA parliament cum Joint Opposition spokesman Udaya Gammanpila wants the Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Vigneswaran arrested for inciting racism. The remark couldn’t have been funnier if not for its serious connotations. Because if the Chief Minister were to be arrested on the basis of inciting racism Gammanpila and his comrades in the JO should necessarily follow suit. Nay, they should have thrown behind bars many moons ago.

In this column, the other day, we admonished the CM in no uncertain terms for playing with fire, so to speak. We also mentioned that the more he holds the type of demonstrations that was witnessed in the Jaffna town, the more he would be giving ammunition to the likes of Gammanpila to set the south on fire. In fact UNP Colombo District MP S. M. Marikkar commenting on the Jaffna demo voiced his concern if in fact Vigneswaran had cut a deal with the Joint Opposition with a view to place the government in an awkward position. Perhaps uppermost in his mind would have been the deal reached by Mahinda Rajapaksa with Prabhakaran in 2005 that saw an enforced boycott by the Northern electorate that denied Ranil Wickremesinghe the coveted prize of the Presidency. Hence deals are nothing new to the Rajapaksa clan and by extension, it is presumed, to the Joint Opposition.

Be that as it may, Gammanpila is the last person who can point the finger at others for inciting racism, having thrived on it during the length of his brief political career. It is this self same Gammanpila who even went to the extent of attempting to redefine the National Flag by replacing it with another, with a design bearing only the Lion and shedding those features depicting minority representation. Gammanpila, it was, who went ballistic at the idea of singing the national Anthem in the Tamil Language when this was permitted in the Constitution to which he swore allegiance when he took his oaths as an MP. Who can forget the rowdy scenes at a court house some time ago when the Colombo District MP arrived to secure the release of some Buddhist monks who were taken into custody for misbehaving in courts. Why only this special affinity for Buddhist monks who had fallen foul of the law, unless the gesture was pregnant with racist overtones.

Gammanpila and his ilk who accuse the Northern Province Chief Minister for inciting racism should bear in mind that this is exactly what his boss is guilty of doing in the south. Can he deny that all the speeches made at the temples by Mahinda Rajapaksa are devoid of racist overtones. The difference is only in degree. The former President who boasts of vanquishing the LTTE is today lamenting the release of land occupied by the army to their original owners, giving the lie to his boasts. Are not such remarks with a racist tinge to them? What about the claim by MR in the immediate aftermath of his defeat on January 08 that he was done in by the votes of the Tigers? This, after shouting from the roof tops that the LTTE was now history. If this is not racism can Gammanpila explain what is? The PHU leader who these days is hitting all round the wicket in a frenzy also claims that Vigneswaran could be arrested by the FCID for using state property for the controversial Ezhuga Tamiz (rise ye Tamils) on the basis that an official letter head was used with Government seal to invite people to the protest. It is well known that all political parties in the south abuse state property to bring crowds to their May Day rallies and political party conventions. The recent Pada Yatra held by the Joint Opposition saw a number of state vehicles belonging to the UPFA controlled Provincial Councils being used. Is Gammanpila suggesting that using state resources - on this occasion a government letterhead and some vehicles belonging to the Northern Provincial Council - is strictly the preserve of the South and a cardinal sin if they are used by the Northern Provincial Council, wrong and a punishable offence as it may be?

Let the likes of Udaya Gammanpila know that the Northern Province Chief Minister is as much a politician as Mahinda Rajapaksa, and like the latter, is not averse to whipping up communalism to garner votes at elections as does the politicians in the North who like their counterparts in the South are wont to whip up communalism for political gain. Hence this is not a state of affairs confined to the North. All actors are in the game of politics. What is needed is to offer all sides a level playing field, in the realm of human rights, allaying suspicions and the right to live as equals in a united undivided Sri Lanka. That alone is the solution that would cut into all differences between the communities enabling all to live as equal citizens in an undivided Sri Lanka.

The Island Editorial

Gestapo!

28 September 2016

 

Those who read yesterday’s lead story in this newspaper about a very serious complaint that the CID had tapped a senior judge’s telephones and hacked his personal email may have wondered whether they were rereading an extract from George Orwell’s dystopian novel, Nineteen Eighty Four, where Big Brother controls everyone and everything.

President’s Counsel Hemantha Warnakulasuriya deserves praise for having drawn the attention of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) to the Gestapo style operations allegedly carried out by the CID, which is apparently doing full-time political work these days. He has called upon the BASL to take up the cudgels for the judges who are under surveillance and suffering affronts to their dignity at the hands of some pro-government propagandists.

When the Trial-at-Bar judgment in the so-called White Flag case was delivered in 2011 some politicos in the garb of lawyers who could not stomach it went berserk, heaping as they did abuse on the two judges who found former Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka guilty. They even smashed up furniture in the court house and abused a beleaguered lady judge in raw filth. The police had to escort her to safety.

The BASL did not care to act against the rowdies within its ranks while urging the then government to respect the independence and dignity of the judiciary. We, in this space, called upon the BASL to have the incident thoroughly probed and the culprits punished, but its bigwigs let the thugs in black coats get away with that serious offence. If an ordinary person ever so much as lets out an ostentatious yawn in a court he is thrown behind bars immediately! Are lawyers above the law?

True, there are some judges of easy virtue, so to speak, who have sold their souls to the powers that be. They keep their courts open on Poya Days and till midnight to release government politicians on bail and remand Opposition activists. But, vilification is certainly not the way to deal with any member of the judiciary. Every institution has its share of such bad eggs tarnishing its image.

A drug baron had upright High Court Judge Sarath Ambepitiya gunned down by contract killers in 2004. Some politicians and their henchmen are contracting propaganda hit men masquerading as media personnel to carry out character assassination operations against judges who refuse to toe their line.

The BASL was one of the professional outfits instrumental in paving the way for the formation of the present administration last year. It cannot absolve itself of the responsibility for protecting judges from its friends in power, who promised to ensure the judicial independence.

Safeguarding judges’ right to hear cases, deliver judgments and dissent without fear or favour is a prerequisite for protecting judicial independence. Nobody must be allowed to stage protests anywhere near courts and the practice of dashing coconuts, on the pretext of invoking divine intervention, in a bid to influence judges must be banned forthwith. Those who are responsible for intimidating judges must be severely dealt with.

When the self-appointed campaigners for good governance, after capturing power last year, set up what they called the National Executive Council to restore, inter alia, judicial independence, we called some of its members’ eligibility into question. We pointed out that one of them had threatened a judge and his supporters had stoned a court. Rishad Bathiudeen is his name. Now, the ‘yahapalana’ guys have laid bare their true faces!

The present government has earned notoriety for its shameless efforts to sweep mega rackets such as the Central Bank bond scams, a multi-billion-rupee coal tender, fraudulent release of more than one hundred SUVs from the custody of the Customs, under the carpet. It is shielding lawbreakers unashamedly. Therefore, it is not likely to probe the intimidation of judges and vilification campaign against them unless pressure is ratcheted up. Will the BASL rise to the occasion by way of making atonement for its past sins? Appointment of committees which will drag on until the issues concerned die down or are eclipsed by others won’t do.

In 2012, the BASL staged a countrywide strike demanding the arrest of Minister Bathiudeen and others over the attack on the Mannar court complex. Will it resort to similar action in respect of vilification campaigns against judges, the tapping of their phones and the hacking of their emails as well?

Ceylon Today Editorial

ARISE, TAMILS! TOTALLY UNNECESSARY!!
27 September 2016

 

There's something always that sways for rebellion in the hearts of all of us when a crowd gathers under a common cause. That is why there's power in numbers and strength in unity. We are, inherently, creatures of passion that need to be motivated and driven toward a common goal and we have known our share of rebellions and revolutions.

Last Saturday's Ezhuga Tamizh rally organized by the Tamil People's Council in Jaffna was no doubt a revolution. It was a movement that called for immediate solutions to the war grieved north of the country, the immediate demilitarization of the provinces as well as the move against the Sinhala colonization.

Northern Province Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran who spearheaded the rally/revolution had clearly not thought it through before actually giving approval to the said rally/revolution because it clearly received a severe backlash from others.

Tamil National Alliance and Chief Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan straight away denied any involvement in the rally that took the town by storm. He had acknowledged to the media that it is anyone's right to protest in any part of the country but denied that his coalition had anything to do with the protest.

What stirred most people's pots were the controversial slogans that had been chanted in the protest. The protest theme that made a clarion call to Tamils of the country to "wake up" gained notoriety in the media in a matter of days and continues to kick the proverbial hornet's nest.

Such slogans are unnecessary; that is undeniable. "Arise, Tamils!" not only reeks of segregation, but also borders on alienating an entire ethnicity apart from the country which is struggling to achieve reconciliation after a 33-year long terrorist/separatist war. This is when the rally becomes a revolution and will eventually break into a rebellion asking for a separate State.

Little would have Chief Minister Wigneswaran or any one of his lackeys, known when they came up with this slogan. Either they do not realize they are contributing to the same vicious cycle that made this country a living hell up to seven years ago or they simply have a really low understanding of English.

Regardless, this protest was something completely unnecessary that can have severe implications in the long run. In a situation of this magnitude, one would expect the government to take intelligent and well thought out decisions to address this matter. But, the reality is far from it.

State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene had been adamant that the government will not be enkindled by extremist groups that make obnoxious requests. He had also assured that regardless of the demands, the government will not take any steps to remove the military from the North.

The government promises the continuation of the reconciliation process at the face of the international bodies. Yet, the government or clueless ministers who are part of it are making obnoxious claims which can only be compared with the ridiculous demands made by Chief Minister Wigneswaran and his lackeys.

It is high time these so-called public representatives realized that military camps do not hinder a reconciliation process nor does it affect issues of the war grieved. Perhaps the military occupation has an adverse effect on the populace's psyche and instils a fear of the military. But then again, 'don't these protests that demand the removal of the 'big bad army' reinforce such fears? Wouldn't preaching of Sinhala colonization make things worse for the reconciliation process?

The South has its own extremists who the government rarely addresses and implicates. But the government is quick to make rather stupid decisions when it comes to addressing extremism in the North. In the process of reconciliation, we cannot help but wonder, whether the government has forgotten one extremist group over the other.

Daily Mirror Editorial

Senaka Bibile dies again

27 September 2016

 

Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, speaking at the Senaka Bibile Commemoration meeting last Friday,proclaimed that after some 40 years the spirit of Bibile had come alive with the decision to slash the prices of 47 drugs. 

The National Medicines Regulatory Authority’s (NMRA) new Chairman Asita de Silva whose appointment has been challenged by some Bibile policy movements, also spoke at Friday’s event to explain the price reduction formula. Over the weekend the media gave wide publicity to the announcement and most people were happy about the minister’s claim that they would be able to reduce their medical expenses by about 50 per cent a month. 

The Daily Mirror spoke to pharmacologists, medical specialists and veteran working-pharmacists who have worked hard to revive the Bibile policy. They say that though the Minister announced that prices of 47 drugs will be slashed by about 50 per cent, it would not be a real price reduction but a determination of maximum retail prices (MRPs) for these drugs. 

They say that according to Prof. Asita, the brands of a particular drug with a market share of more than 2% were selected and the median price of these were taken as the MRP of that particular drug. He mentioned few examples. Losartan 50 mg has 23 brands in the market and when these prices are listed in ascending order, the 12th one has the median price, which is Rs.10.30. This will be the MRP for Losartan 50 mg. Similarly, Atorvastatin 20 mg. has 18 brands and the median price of those is Rs.17.63. Therefore, this will be its MRP. 

That means 11 Losartan brands with prices below the MRP of Rs.10.30 will not have any price reduction. Similarly, nine atorvastatin brands below the MRP will not have any price reduction. 

What is important is to see what impact this price determination will have on the people and how scientific this method is. Is it going to actually benefit patients or is it only a political gimmick? 

Prof. Asita showed an example, a prescription with six drugs and put maximum prices for those. The cost for a month was around Rs.4,785. Then he put the MRP for those drugs and the cost came down close to Rs.2,371.50. A 50% reduction indeed but is this going to be true for any prescription. No. Prof. Asita forgot or deliberately did not tell the people that this is true only if all the drugs are bought at higher prices in the market. If patients are now buying these at a price less than the MRP there will not be any reduction. 

Prof. Priyadarshini Galappaththi, Professor of Pharmacology at the Faculty of Medicine in Colombo delivered the Senaka Bibile oration at this function. That was before the talks by Prof. Asita and the minister. She presented the findings of a countrywide study on pharmaceuticals. According to these findings, the median price of losartan is Rs.9.54 and not Rs.10.30 as mentioned by Prof. Asita. But other findings of this study are more important. Prof. Priyadarshini showed the example of Losartan. The most commonly prescribed brand of Losartan was Losarcar which was Rs.3.75. The most widely available brand of Losartan is Zaart and the price was Rs.9.54. With the MRP proposed by Prof. Asita, neither the price of the most widely prescribed brand of Losartan nor the price of the most widely available brand of Losartan will come down. In other words, a majority of patients on Losartan will not have any benefit from the price reduction. 

We urge President Maithripala Sirisena, who as Minister of Health from 2010 to 2015 worked hard to implement the Bibile policy to look into what appears to be another attempt to kill Prof. Bibile in terms of his policy. For the reductions, the prices considered were the present market prices which were decided by importers without a scientific basis. The prices are highly inflated. Unlike other importers, drug importers are getting huge profits due to this. If the price determination was based on the rational prices of available brands, the method would have been more scientific.

Daily News Editorial

Vigneswaran Vs Sampanthan

27 September 2016

 

TNA and Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan should be commended for distancing himself from the protest agitation launched in Jaffna under the leadership of Chief Minister C.V. Vigneswaran to drawn the attention of the government towards the alleged grievances of the Tamil community in the North. The hartal under the theme Elunga Tamil, or “rise ye Tamils” brought to a virtual shutdown the Jaffna town. Among the grievances highlighted were the Sinhala colonization of the Tamil homeland, the need for an international investigation into atrocities committed against the Tamil people, the continued detention of Tamils under the PTA and the need for a political solution based on the federal model which recognizes the right to self determination. The CM also objected to the construction of Buddhist temples in areas in the North predominated by Tamils.

Sampanthan who disassociated himself and his party with the protest, expressed the view that they were hopeful of reaching agreement with the government on critical issues. The octogenarian politician, with the wealth of experience as a parliamentarian, who earlier was accused of being the mouthpiece of Prabhakaran it appears has come to terms with reality and is today conducting himself as a true Leader of the Opposition, acting with circumspection and good judgement taking cognizance of the sentiments of all Sri Lankans without confining himself to be the spokesman of only the Tamils of the North like his one-time predecessor A. Amirthalingam did.

Sampanthan is well aware that he is now dealing with moderate leaders at the helm of affairs and the best way to win over at least some of the demands of his people is to act likewise, with moderation, dispensing with the extremist option some of his colleagues in the TNA is wont to adopt. The Opposition Leader is also aware that in President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, they have leaders who are not Sinhala nationalist hardliners pandering to the whims of the lunatic fringe, but those who are accommodating and amenable to reason. Hence he knows the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe duo are the best bet to at least coming half away in granting the reasonable demands of the Tamils. Sampathan is only too well aware of the shabby treatment he and fellow his TNA MPs were subjected to under the former President whose primary objective was pandering to the chauvinist elements in the South. He is aware of the dilatory tactics adopted by Rajapaksa in getting a Parliament Select Committee to decide on the unit of devolution which anyway was a non starter.

Vigneswaran, for his part, should act with circumspection and good judgement. He is after all a former Supreme Court judge. He should refrain from playing into the hands of extremist elements in the South who are waiting for just such an opportunity to set the ball rolling. As UPFA General Secretary Minister Mahinda Amaraweera noted Vigneswaran is giving plenty of ammunition to the racists in the South to stir up anti Tamil feelings, which in turn would be turned into political capital by Mahinda Rajapaksa, who will not miss this opportunity to go to temples and selected Buddhist monks to apprise them of the dangers awaiting the country. Already a pro Rajapaksa television channel is in overdrive highlighting the incidents in the North, its host, in the morning programme devoted to daily newspaper accounts, giving his own twist and interpretation to events bordering on the inflammatory.

The CM should take cognizance of the fact he wouldn’t have had a chance of a snowball in hell to act so freely as he is doing now had Mahinda Rajapaksa still being the President. His demonstration would have been brutally suppressed, with the deployment of the military, even before they got started. Whatever leeway he enjoys today is due to the moderation practised by the Yahapalanaya government which is already taking heavy stick from its critics due to what they see as giving into Tamil demands. Certain provocative acts such as vandalizing of a Buddha shrine and the attack on the Sathosa lodging in Kilinochchi had not helped matters. The recent clashes at the Jaffna University where some Sinhala students were attacked during a freshers ‘induction ceremony also sent feelings high.

Of course, there may those holding moderate views and look at things dispassionately, who may ask what is wrong in people of Jaffna holding demonstrations when there are agitations of various kinds in the South, some violent, that are treated as commonplace. But those in the Southern parts tend to view all protests and agitations in the North to have the backing of separatist elements or the Tamil diaspora, rightly or wrongly. Even the violent protests in the North that followed the rape and murder of an 18-year-old schoolgirl was viewed by elements of the Joint Opposition as a sign of the resurgence of the LTTE. Hence any incident in the North is being viewed with blinkers here in the South and the Chief Minister cannot be unaware of this fact. That is all the more reason for him to act with foresight, following in the footsteps of his leader.

The Island Editorial

O tempora! O mores!

27 September 2016

 

In most action flicks, heroes and villains in flight topple trash bins without breaking stride so as to distract and obstruct their enemies in close pursuit. This modus operandi is, however, not confined to the celluloid world. Sri Lankan politicians who mismanage vital issues and get into hot water act in a similar manner in a bid to distract the public.

Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, who is being troubled by many issues and pursued by the government doctors who want their children admitted to state-run schools, has done likewise. He is reported to have banned schools from imposing dress codes on parents. He has thus stirred up a real hornets’ nest with his backers and critics locking horns. The focus of public debate is likely to be on this issue for some time instead of the many ills the education sector is afflicted with.

The Education Minister has obviously got his priorities mixed up. There are many burning issues he ought to address as a national priority before taking up the cudgels for parents’ right to wear anything when they visit their children’s schools. The education system is rotten to the core, to say the least.

A few moons ago, no less a person than President Maithripala Sirisena lamented that there were many schools without toilets. A National Water Supply and Drainage Board survey revealed a few years ago that about 1,300 primary and secondary schools lacked proper sanitary facilities. Two NGOs have disclosed that there are schools where students are discouraged from drinking water for want of toilets and this has rendered those hapless children prone to renal diseases. Absenteeism is common among girls in such schools during menstruation, they have pointed out. This is a damning indictment on the two main parties which have closed ranks to (mis)rule the country jointly, having done so severally, ably assisted by their allies since Independence.

Rural schools are being closed down at a rate and underprivileged children are thus denied easy access to education. Many schools are faced with shortages of teachers for vital subjects such as mathematics, science and English. The state-run school system is not equipped to cater to the ever increasing demand for Grade One admissions, and private schools are mushrooming to accommodate children who are left out. Most government schools have outsourced teaching to private institutions for all practical purposes. Although education is said to be free, private tuition, donations to schools etc., cost parents an arm and a leg.

True, all these problems are not of recent origin. But, the incumbent government which came to power offering to bring about a change and to allocate as much as 6% percent of the GDP for education is duty bound to set off at a cracking pace to make good on its pledges and revitalise the education sector, the be-all and end-all of the country’s progress. The question is whether it is keen to make an effort to achieve this goal. If it had been really serious about developing vital sectors such as education it would have got very senior Cabinet members to helm the relevant ministries without turning them into playpens for politicians still wet behind the ears.

Meanwhile, what is this world coming to when dress codes have to be imposed on parents? Schools are places where the proprieties are inculcated in children and not their parents. However, they cannot be blamed for treating parents like children and telling them what to wear. Some mothers and fathers visiting schools look awful combinations of sartorial disasters and tonsorial misadventures; it looks as if they mistook all school events for fancy dress parades. O tempora! O mores!

Let such parents as well as politicians with a streak of infantilism be urged to grow up!

The Island Editorial

Uncle Sam’s coulrophobia

26 September 2016

 

These are bad times for the US. It has managed to protect its nerve centres from terrorist strikes, but it has had to contend with micro terror attacks like pressure cooker bombs, shooting and stabbing incidents.

As if its gnawing fear of terrorist attacks and the unfortunate Hobson's choice awaiting it at the next presidential polls with the prospect of having to elect one of the two hopelessly bad candidates in the fray were not enough the US is now troubled by clowns, of all people. It is reported that many persons dressed as clowns have been sighted in different states of the US.

A wave of clown reports is said to have emanated from at least six states, giving the creeps to the ordinary public, especially parents and their little ones. These clowns are believed to lurk in lonely places to lure children. (American sugary drink and fast food manufacturers also use clowns to lure children by way of gimmicks, don’t they?) It was reported at the time of writing that the Kentucky police had arrested a youth roaming in a wooded area for being dressed as a clown.

The knee jerk reaction of the US law enforcement authorities to the reports of supposedly creepy clown sightings which have gone viral on the Internet has been to ban people from moving about in clown costumes. Anyone who defies this ban is liable to be arrested, the police have warned. We thought the US, which elected two members of a particular Texas family to rule the nation thereby allowing them to have their fingers on the nuclear button had no abnormal fear of clowns or coulrophobia.

The clown phobia in the US reminds us of the seldom seen but much feared local 'grease yaka' (or ‘devil daubed with grease’), which used to grab headlines and send a chill down many a spine a few years ago. There were reports in some parts of the country that people would remain indoors after nightfall not wanting encounters with the grease yaka. Some women swore blind, so to speak, that they had seen that devil, but there was no evidence to substantiate their claims. Unfortunately, two strangers were beaten to death in the hill country as they were suspected to be grease devils. Strangely, Sri Lankans feared an unseen yaka after electing far worse devils to represent them in the national legislature etc .

We have also had our share of evil-minded jokers like the one in Batman comics. They were a protected species under the previous government. A joker with a violent disposition from Kelaniya used to wreak havoc wherever he went with impunity. He controlled the nether world of crime and narcotics and was responsible for many a land grab. He rose above the law by playing the role of the court jester and licking his political bosses’ sandals and boots. There was another joker who also had a method in his madness. Hailing from Galle, he was also a pet of the then ruling clan. Both these jokers have now joined the incumbent government championing good governance!

Sadly, the US which used to be a role model for the rest of the world where freedom of choice and action were concerned is resorting to bans at the drop of a hat. It should learn from us how to suffer clowns gladly without going on a witch-hunt against them. We pay through the nose to maintain about 5,000 clowns at the national, provincial and local government levels; some of them meet on the ‘Lake Isle’ in Kotte, eat, fight and disperse. They may not be clad in clowns’ costumes as such, but their kapati suit is funny enough and they act like clowns during debates cloyingly. Anything they touch becomes a joke. The so-called national budget they passed for the current year is a case in point.

Daily Mirror Editorial

With friends like these,who needs enemies

26 September 2016

In March 2011 a simple pro-democracy protest rally shook the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The crude mishandling of a simple protest saw the conflict spiral out of control and turn into a hydra headed monster. Today sectarianism divides the country internally, diverse international and regional forces fight ‘to protect their interests’ in Syria, while a hapless civilian population is are caught in the cross-fire of forces fighting proxy wars for different causes. The Syrian Civil war began as a peaceful protest against the ruling Assad family, Alawites by religion (a little-known liberal branch of Islam) who had been ruling Syria –a country where the majority belong to the Sunni sect of Islam- since 1971.

The uprising during its initial stages was against the failure of the Assad dictatorship,to provide long-promised economic and political reforms. But in April when regime troops opened fire on demonstrators, peaceful protests turned into a full-scale armed conflict. As the conflict progressed, hundreds of civilians lost their lives, thousands of others began to flee the country. By June in response to armed attacks of the state, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) -a combination of local area tribal groups and deserters from the military took shape. The rebels ill-armed and under equipped were brutally hammered by regime forces who indiscriminately attacked unarmed civilians as well.

Soon Jihadists from the Islamic State and al-Queda began joining the FSA. Ill-armed and undermanned, the FSA had little choice but to form a loose coalition with the incoming jihadists. Soon the FSA became a melting pot of genuine Syrian freedom fighters and others with particular Islamist agendas. As the conflict dragged on, the US and a coalition of western states plus Kurdish militias backed the rebels, while Russia,Hezbollah from Palestine and Iran backed the regime.

Today, the Syrian conflict has moved beyond the struggle of the Syrian people and their rulers. It has taken a sectarian turn pitting the majority Sunni Muslims against the Alawite sect. It has drawn in regional and world powers. The rise of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) has added a new dimension to the conflict. 

The Islamic State has used the chaos and captured large parts of Syria. Foreign jihadists are involved in a “war within a war” in Syria, battling the FSA, regime forces, Kurdish forces as well as rival jihadists. In 2014, a US-led coalition launched air strikes inside Syria, in support of Syrian rebels. Meanwhile Iran and Russia back the Assad regime. All interventionists keep pouring money, weapons and personnel into different sides of the conflict. Earlier this year (2016) Russia commenced air strikes inside Syria against the regimes foes. 

According to UN estimates around 250,000 Syrians have been killed, 4.5 million are refugees, 13.5 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance inside Syria and more than 50% of the country’s population is displaced. According to the Wall Street Journal four out of five Syrians live in poverty. Two-thirds are unable to secure basic foods and essentials for daily life, and Syria “has become a country of poor people. The number of injured has reached 840,000, while the death toll almost doubled in 2014 and is nearing a quarter-million people—with no end to the conflict in sight…” The latest ceasefire brokered by the Russia and the US in September 2016, broke down when US led coalition forces ‘mistakenly’ bombed Syrian regime forces killing a large number of troops and injuring over a hundred others, while they were under attack from the IS.

Two days later on 23 July the Syrian army announced the start of a new offensive in Syria’s Aleppo. The same day Russia’s Foreign Minister announced “…we cannot allow terrorists to benefit from a stalled ceasefire…” The truth is neither the US nor the Russians or the Iranians, or jihadists, Kurds or Hezbollah are interested in the well-being of the Syrians. They all have their own private agendas and the fate of Syria and Syrians is secondary... if at all. Russia’s only naval base in the Mediterranean -Tartus- is in Syria and regime change will endanger that base. 

U.S. government’s main interest in the region which stretches from the eastern Mediterranean to the Arabian Sea is to ensuring that oil flows freely out of the Gulf countries. Syria has at least 2.5 billion barrels of oil in its fields of Deir Ezzor and the Rumeilan region, making it the next largest Middle Eastern oil producer after Iraq. Israel, the US’s only ally in the Middle East, is illegally occupying the Golan Heights on the Syrian border and extracting their resources. The US involvement in Syria is to monopolize its oil assets, while simultaneously beating its competitors – Iran and Russia– in the race for the Syrian black gold.

Daily News Editorial

Police and Sanga’s “pep talk”

26 September 2016

IGP Pujith Jayasundera should be commended for getting cricketing legend Kumar Sangakkara to ‘lecture’ to a group of his officers the other day. The former Sri Lankan captain was present at the Mirihana police, where the119 service is based, on the request of the IGP to give the officers there his views on how the service could be improved and generally share his thoughts on his experiences on the cricket field and the examples that could be drawn from these to making the service an efficient one.

Who better than Sanga, who always played with a straight bat, to offer the kind of counsel to make honest police officers out of his audience. Perhaps the IGP would have been inspired by Sanga's Lords lecture sometime ago where he pulled no punches and ruffled a few feathers in the process. Hopefully the officers present would have gained from Sanga's valuable insights. In his address to them the former Trinitian said that he was just an average cricketer during his school days and certainly not the material who one would have predicted would one day go on to wear the Sri Lankan cap. But hard work and dedication brought him to where he eventually came.

The pep talk, as it were, was indeed timely, given that the police department in recent times had not exactly endeared itself to the general public. Media reports abound about heavy handed acts of the police targeting the innocent public. The Police has also down the years become notorious for graft. During the war years there were accusations that the police arrested Tamil businessmen and released them only upon the payment of ransoms. Current investigations into ex police officers have also shown how evidence had been tampered with in high profile murder cases. The massacre of escapee prisoners in Welikada several years ago was among the blackest episodes in the history of the police. The parading of one time high ranking police officers in manacles before court houses and their being taken away in prison buses no doubt had sullied the image of the once prestigious police force.

All this no doubt impacted on the public confidence in the police. The IGP no doubt is trying to rebuild the lost image and prestige of the police force and pep talks like the one delivered by Sanga it is hoped would turn around things sooner rather than later. The ex skipper in his address to the police officers said; “Remember when people call you they are in distress. You must respect the caller and know that they depend on you. Be courteous. You are responsible to make the public happy and safe. When you do these good deeds you will feel happy”. What Sanga meant is even handedness in dealing with the public. Because today some members of the public are more equal than others. We see how easily sons of politicians who have smash ups after driving under the influence of liquor being simply released on police bail while ordinary folk have to face dire consequences.

The Sanga lecture also comes in the wake of rapid transformations and reforms being effected to the police which has now dropped its hitherto used Department tag to be renamed “Police Service”. The police, like the three armed services, dispensed with exacting standards in its recruitment drive during the war years in order to augment manpower. Invariably the bad eggs got in which may well be the reason for the police to find itself in its present bind. There is therefore an urgent need for the police o make a clear break from the war years’ mentality if it is to play the role expected of it by the public. Needless to say police service needs to undergo a complete overhaul if its honour and prestige enjoyed in the distant past is to be preserved.

With the terrorist war now only a distant memory, it is hoped the IGP would initiate measures to “humanise” the police service after shedding the war mentality that affected the police too like the military, in order to make it an essentially civilian entity. Ideally the the Police should go back to its good old days where the Khaki uniform was an object of awe and respect. For this, discipline in the service is vital.

It is true that the 30 year war saw the police force shed its law enforcement role and be sucked into the vortex of militarization. The carryover was evident in some of the third degree methods that are being used to deal with suspects in police custody and also the incidents such as that witnessed recently in Embilipitiya. The war is now long over and it is time to see the police slip back into its normal role as guardians of the law with increased rapport with the public. The IGP should resume the public relations events that were common in the prewar days, such as sporting events and other activities with public participation. He should also enlist more reputed sportsmen to have Sanga like interactions with his men, to inspire them to greater deeds.

Ceylon Today Editorial

TEACHING THE ECJ ABOUT TERRORISTS AND IMBECILES

 25 September 2016
 

The European Union Court is either made up of nincompoops, IMBECILES, or there are men and women within it who are in the pay of the 'Tamil Diaspora' egging them on to get the LTTE out from the EU list of terrorist organizations.

The ad nauseam cry of the pro-LTTE men and women in the EU Court is that the LTTE was proscribed by the EU and listed as a terrorist organization purely on the basis of statements placed before it by the Government of Sri Lanka and on impression formed from news gathered from the media. The demand for delisting the LTTE from the EU's terrorist list is beginning to become as raucous as the cry for war crimes charges to be pressed against the government and armed forces of Sri Lanka.

Delisting will create the precedent for numerous other moves aimed at the ultimate recognition of the Tamils' 'right' to cession or at least approximating that by way of legitimizing a demand for an autonomous 'state' by way of an effectively extra-legally truncated North-East Province.

So it's time the international community told the EU to dismantle its 'learned advocates general' structure and instead set up a Court made up of intelligent instead of stupid practitioners of international law.

We say this after much deliberation because it does not take a super intellectual to define what terrorism is although the weak-in-the-mind EU Court, or at least its Advocate General Ms. Sharpston, seems to be taking ages to decide who/what constitutes a terrorist/terrorist organization.

The ECJ has said it would study the issue once again and give its final ruling in the very near future.

That makes the ECJ a dimwit organization if it needs all of 37 long years to make up its mind about who/what a terror/terrorist organization is. We believe the people at the ECJ were on this planet while the world's television services were focusing on the unprecedented wrath and terror unleashed by the LTTE... unless most of them were in sympathy with the LTTE's cause of separatism even at the end of a gun and bombs.

This is meant to be an indictment of the ECJ in the global court of human conscience. We know that with Britain's exit from the EU, Sharpston's own peculiar ten-year run at the ECJ stands in immediate peril of ending. It's a matter for thought that her run at the ECJ has been parallel to the LTTE listing on – and efforts to delist from – the EU terror list.

Ten years is a long run for a woman at the top of such an influential organization and it's a peculiar coincidence that the efforts to delist the LTTE from the EU terror list have run parallel to this period. Her being in that position is of a mammoth magnitude of importance to the LTTE and Hamas which need people in influential positions to legitimize terrorism and rubbish the naked truth.

So then, it's amazing, but not incredible, that she seeks to influence the EU Council to delist a terrorist organization and thus whitewash it. Would to God that Sharpston speaks to the victims of LTTE terror, instead of trying to run a tar brush over the truth! She'd be well advised to relinquish her post at the ECJ and seek the Tamil vote to enter the British Parliament at the next general election...but then the LTTE will lose its backing at the ECJ, would it not?

So who's a terrorist/terror organization...that's supposing that the world is full of ignoramuses as the lot at the ECJ, who seem to need to know what the definition of terrorism is.

What's an act of violence against innocent civilians, a legitimate government and society at large when that violence has as its objective the unleashing of terror of such, that it will compel a government under the endless compulsion of armed attack to agree to a bifurcation of a country and thus violate the right to total territorial integrity of its peoples. How does one define a terrorist/terror organization except by the fact that his/its actions of violence present the elements which imbue terror into a populace and State, forcing into realization an objective that traduces every facet of sovereignty, of human freedom, security of the individual and of society at large and the economy.
Come off it Ms. Sharpston! Your slip is showing.

The next stage should the EU Council act on your advice, will be the legitimization do the TGTE and a claim by it for a rightful place within the UN membership and the glorification of terrorism with a metamorphosis with the blessings of the ECJ, under you, into FREEDOM FIGHTERS and thereon to legitimize the demand for a 'self-governing autonomous, Tamil North-Eastern Province' .

Weekend Nation Editorial

Get at the root of the school issue

25 September 2016

Every parent has the desire to give his or her child the best possible education. The platform to give such primary and secondary education is the country’s school network. It is a well-known fact that there is a huge disparity between urban and rural schools when it comes to facilities for learning and sports.

The current fight by the government medical officers to get popular schools for their children is part of that issue. There is a great demand for the few well-established and popular schools both in Colombo and in provincial cities.

In a country where an organized system of education has a long history and education is widespread and sought by the majority of the people as the only means of climbing up the social ladder, competition for quality is fair and understandable.

As a result many criteria have been formulated for school admission and what is in force today are area rule which entitles children living within a certain radius from a school to be admitted and old boys union or old girls union quotas and entry through year-five competitive exam.

The stiff competition has resulted in many other ways of entry to popular schools some of which are unethical and illegal like bribery, political influence and bogus residential certificates to come within the mandatory radius from a school.

In the developed countries the facility gap among schools is not so wide and while very prestigious schools are there for the cream of the elite, most people seem to be happy with the nearest school.

If we are to bring about that kind of situation in our country, as a first step we need to provide equal facilities in schools at least for learning English language skills, information technology and science and sporting activities which are very much in demand. That seems to be the only way to reduce the undue competition which otherwise becomes worse in the future.

The country’s International schools network although much criticized by various quarters has resolved this problem to a great extent and that shows simultaneous expansion of private sector education is much needed especially in the context the State finds it difficult to allocate more resources for the education sector.