Ceylon Today Editorial

Trumpism, Geneva & exports

01 December 2016

In a globalized world, operating in the aftermath of the Cold War, three central themes dominate. Those are terrorism, economics and China (the world's second largest economy after the USA), perhaps,not necessarily in that order. Sri Lanka won its war against Tamil terrorism 7½ years ago, after waging war for 26 long years. Therefore, it's free from terrorism at least at this juncture.

But, not so, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, particularly with the rise of Islamist terrorism, threatening to destabilize the world order, with their guns aimed at the volatile Middle East and also at the West led by the USA, because of its belligerent policies towards lslamist terrorism.

Islamist terrorism targeting the West first came to a successful fruition 20 years ago in 1998, after their successful bombings, carried out almost simultaneously, of the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania respectively, that year.

The USA is important to Sri Lanka for two reasons. Firstly, it's Sri Lanka's biggest export market and secondly, its attitude towards Sri Lanka politically has global repercussions. Space, constraints making comments on China, therefore, this Editorial is restricted to the USA only and its influence on the island both politically and economically.

In that context, US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Atul Keshap speaking at the inaugural Sri Lanka-USA Business Council (SL-UBC) meeting (formed under the auspices of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC)) that took place at a Colombo hotel on Tuesday (29 November) said that Sri Lankan exports to the USA led by apparel and rubber products, grew by 7% year-on-year last year to comprise 27% of the island's total export basket. SL-UBC has a mandate to foster exports to the USA.

He further said that Sri Lanka needs to rise beyond apparel to high paying knowledge economy exports, where such Sri Lankan skills passed out from local universities were being made use of by companies such as Google and Facebook catering to this need, by operating from centres not based in Sri Lanka, but in Hyderabad!

Keshap also said that US-Sri Lanka relations are at an all time high, especially after 8 January 2015. But, there is a catch, despite all of Keshap's postulations and there were several of such made in his speech, such as his references to visits to Sri Lanka by officials from the Millenium Development Corporation and USA's Exim Bank and a visit by a US admiral and so on, since.

The rider however, is the so called US-Sri Lanka co-sponsored resolution adopted in Geneva last year to investigate alleged war crimes committed by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and of its agents in their war against LTTE terrorism which was successfully prosecuted to a close 7½ years ago in May 2009, after 26 years of bloody conflict against LTTE/Tamil terrorism.

This resolution has both economic and political ramifications to the island. Economic, because the West led by the USA, where one may but fairly say was behind this so called joint resolution, is Sri Lanka's key export market in terms of merchandise and tourism and knowledge services exports.

Possible sanctions as a threat, by Colombo not fulfilling this mandate will be disastrous to the local economy. However, Colombo, conforming to this resolution may agitate the country's 70% Sinhala-Buddhist majority who consider the protagonists behind this successful prosecution of the war, as heroes.

With the seemingly surprising regime change in the USA after President-elect Donald Trump's victory at last month's election, President Maithripala Sirisena wrote to the US administration to rescind these investigations.

When this newspaper asked Keshap what was Washington's response to this plea? An apparently agitated Keshap in response said that he hadn't studied this plea as he had been travelling. Therefore, this island may be waiting with bated breath until such time that he studies this plea and possibly make his recommendations to Washington!

Trumpism promised protectionism to the US voter. So, in that aspect, Sri Lanka's exports to the USA may be in danger, even if the Geneva question is sorted out. In response to this query, Keshap said that Trump will officially assume duties only on 20 January 2017. And, he hasn't named his economic team yet, the Ambassador said, inferring that USA's economic policies will be known, only then.

But, giving a gleam of hope, he said that the USA has always been a trading country. Therefore, will the USA's new economic policies be skewed protectionism, targeting only China? That, however doesn't appear to be so as Trump said that the USA will withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade pact involving and including several Asian countries, but not China and Sri Lanka.

Japanese Premier Shinzō Abe recently said that without the USA there is no TPP. Japan was also the first country with which the CCC formed its first trade council way back in 1979.

One wonders why, it took 37 years since, for the CCC to form a trade council with the USA, the island's biggest export market? Anyway, better late than never! Perhaps, the CCC/SL-UBC may add weight to Sirisena's plea, by also making a similar plea to Washington?

Daily News Editorial

The different face of GMOA strike

01 December 2016

The doctors are at it again. The GMOA yesterday downed its tools or rather stethoscopes in what was called a token strike, all on account of issues quite outside its remit. Hospitals countrywide were chock-a-block with unattended patients enduring hardships in various stages of agony, as shown on TV. The good doctors are protesting against certain budget proposals. They are opposing the abolition of the pension scheme for new recruits to the state sector, taxing public servants, violating fundamental health policies and exposing the domestic job market to foreigners.

Except for the so-called Health Policy issue, one is at a loss to fathom how, the issue of pensions, and the question of the so-called threat to the domestic job market, can concern the doctors who have taken the Hippocratic Oath to pursue a much more noble task- the healing of the sick. We did not see the doctors protesting when swarms of Chinese nationals were employed in the Hambantota harbour project during the Rajapaksa era. Is it because Indian nationals are much less in the scale of existence to the Chinese that the doctors looked the other way, never mind that India is the birthplace of the Noble One.

It cannot be a coincidence that the strike was staged on the eve of a private bus strike planned by certain private bus unions in the south. Coming on top of the doctors strike, it is clearly meant to cause the maximum impact on the general public and thus create the most damage to the government. Allay this to the demonstration launched on Tuesday by university students and that of Samurdhi officers at the entrance to the parliament drive, there can be no question that a sinister plot is afoot to bring about disruption in the administration with the hope of tripping the Yayapalanaya government.

This is more so, since there was hardly any strike by the doctors in the entire decade long rule of Mahinda Rajapaksa, except a feeble attempt against the recruitment of Indian doctors at the Lanka Hospitals, which eventually fizzled out without much ado. Was it because Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was at the helm of Lanka Hospitals that the doctors acted lukewarm, if not chickening out altogether? Ditto for the private bus operators. What in fact are these private bus owners demanding by urging the government to withdraw the Rs. 25,000 fine for serious road offences? That they be allowed to go their merry way breaking all highway rules with impunity and kill or maim more road users and commuters?

What will be the doctors demand next? They have already had their way with regard to admission of their children to selected government schools, with the President granting some leeway in this regard. The doctors had better realize that a national budget is a fiscal plan of any government that charters its future economic path. ECTA or any other trade agreement is part and parcel of this economic plan for the country. The GMOA cannot dictate to the government on how it should run the country or its economy. There are certain trade pacts entered into by governments in order to boost economic growth. There may be negative fallouts, which is left to the government to cope with. Even when the open economy was initially introduced there were negative fallouts, like the indiscriminate imports and the flooding of the local market with substandard goods. For all that, the open economy was pursued with by all successive governments after JRJ, including governments that had more than a sprinkle of socialist ministers who once railed against the open economy.

Besides, a budget is not a document to be amended or trifled with, once presented to parliament, on the whims and fancies of doctors, or anyone for that matter, lest the fiscal plans go haywire. The doctors union should not get involved in matters that are the sole prerogative of the rulers of this country, whether they are good or bad for the country.

None will know how many patients did have their conditions worsen due to the callousness of doctors. Equally, there will be no knowing if the delay caused by the strike in the treatment if a particular ailment would lead to the death of a patient.

Time was when our medical fraternity were deified by the public and treated with near reverence. The kindness shown and comfort given by doctors of yore, it was said, went a long way towards healing a patient than any medication. The remarks and comments made by some of the suffering patients, interviewed on TV, demonstrated the contempt in which our present day doctors are held, a far cry from the reverence shown to our medical practitioners in the good old days.

The government should wake up to the reality that what is being played out in the open today is a concerted effort by sinister political forces to cripple the essential services, that have a direct impact on the general public. By this means, it is intended to make the government unpopular, and what is more, show its ineffectiveness to govern.

The Island Editorial

MPs have all the luck!

01 December 2016

Santa seems to have got his wires crossed. Else, he would not have landed near the Diyawanna Oya several weeks ahead of Christmas. Usually, he favours children, but this time around he seems to have given priority to those who have torsos of adults and brains of children. Parliamentarians have received a massive increase in their allowances and a huge pay hike is said to be in the pipeline.

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government came to power, promising economic relief to the masses. Initially, after the change of government, the prices of some commodities were slashed and public employees were given a substantial pay hike. But, what was given with one hand was taken away with the other after the self-proclaimed messiahs had been ensconced in power. It was a case of swings and roundabout for the people.

Less than two years on, even the trade unionists who threw in their lot with the present-day leaders at the last two elections claim the people are now in a worse predicament. Marcus Antony, who leads a trade union, representing the export promotion zone workers, has recently told the media that the present administration is facilitating the exploitation of workers as never before.

The unconscionable VAT increase has sent the prices of essential commodities into the stratosphere. Even the sick have not been spared. Any sensible government would have reduced taxes on private health care and education as those who opt for them, albeit for want of an alternative, do the cash-strapped administration a big favour. Now, thanks to the VAT hike it is a double whammy for those who pay for their health care and children’s education without being a burden on the impotent state which cannot develop hospitals and schools. Those who should be rewarded have been penalized! The ruling politicians must be descendants of legendary King Kekille, who was bovinity personified!

The government declared on Tuesday it was ready to face a doctors’ strike. That the government leaders don’t care two hoots about disruptions to public health institutions is only too well known. For, they are not dependent on free health care; they rush overseas if they ever so much as develop a tooth ache. It is the ordinary people without wherewithal who worry about doctors’ strikes.

President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe never miss an opportunity to wax eloquent on the virtues of reconciliation and the need to solve problems through negotiations. But, they have not met the protesting doctors, according to the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA).

Parliamentarians have all the luck. (No wonder the ordinary people have none of it!) They have just received another bonanza. Rs. 100,000 each has been added to their allowances and they will be paid Rs. 2,000 more for attending Parliament. It has been argued that MPs are invited to various functions; they have to buy wedding gifts etc and, therefore, they must be paid more. One is intrigued. Attending weddings etc is not among the official duties of an MP. He or she may accept invitations to such events in his or her private capacity. It is nothing but unfair to make the taxpayers who are struggling to dull the pangs of hunger pick up the tab.

Another absurd argument being peddled in favour of increasing MPs’ allowances and salaries is that unless they are paid well they will depend on moneybags for funds. They will be dependent on financiers anyway and it is only wishful thinking that an MP will choose to paddle his or her own canoe if he or she is paid more.

People try to propitiate devils they fear by making various offerings. A government, troubled by a gnawing sense of insecurity, showers bribes on lawmakers lest they should rock the boat. The government and the Joint Opposition are usually at daggers drawn, but when it comes to feathering parliamentarians’ nests, they get on like a house on fire.

The government seems to think that if it cannot fulfil its promise to grant economic relief to the people it should at least look after their representatives. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration has proved that it is a government of politicians by politicians for politicians.

Ceylon Today Editorial

2nd wave of apparel investments

30 November 2016

Recent poverty statistics dished out by the Census and Statistics Department (CSD) shows that 56% (14 districts) out of the island's 25 districts, as per a 'poverty census' carried out last month, are mired in poverty.

This figure is unchanged from the previous month's (September's) poverty numbers. CSD for this purpose has taken the poverty cut off point as Rs 4,064 per capita.

On the assumption that all of the country's 25 districts have an equivalent number of people (which for practical purposes however is not) and that all of the districts which have been identified as being 'poverty districts' have all of its people's mired in poverty (which for practical purposes is not the case), that means of the island's 21 million population (as at middle of last year), 12 million are living in poverty.

The figure of 12 million is just a million short of Sri Lanka's total population of 13 million in 1971, according to CSD. The year 1971 was a significant year for the country. That was the year the island faced its first youth insurrection which emanating from the south, where undergraduates played no meaner part, and which in its wake left 13,000 mainly Sinhala youth dead.

The faces of the dead were tarred beyond recognition by the organs of the State and burnt, not cremated, in tyre pyres and if buried, more often than not, in unmarked mass graves, unsung and unmourned.

If the 12 million 'poverty' figure is a gross exaggeration, on the assumption that 10% of that number are in actual poverty, that means 1.2 million or 5.7% of the country's total population is in poverty...Currently the CSD is engaged in a poverty survey covering the period January to December of this year, so as to come up with an annual poverty number.

In the last of such survey done, which was in 2012/13, the country's poverty headcount figure was 6.7%. Therefore, if it's assumed that the poverty headcount for this year is 5.7%, then it's a one percentage point (15%) improvement over the previous survey figure.

If, on the assumption, that, of that 12 million number, 20% are mired in poverty, that will throw up a 2.4 million or a 11% poverty figure, a reflection that poverty in the country is on the rise, thereby reversing the gains the island made 'in its fight against poverty,' in the 10-year period from 2002 to 2012/13, where the poverty headcount fell from a massive 22.7% to 6.7%, a 16 percentage point (70%) gain.

In the context that the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) raised the VAT rate by a massive four percentage points (36%) to 15% only this month to appease the IMF, in a bid to enhance revenue and thereby regain the heldback second tranche of US$ 168.1 million of its $ 1.5 billion Extended Fund Facility, such an increase will however, boomerang on the'poverty' battle because VAT, an indirect tax, is no respecter of persons, hitting the poor and the rich alike.

The IMF Board in Washington DC, was expected to make a favourable decision in this regard at their meeting recently.

Another piece of an indirect tax, as proposed in Budget 2017 presented by Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake in Parliament recently week was the levying of a 0.05% tax for every cash withdrawal above Rs 10,000. This works out to a Rs five tax per such withdrawal, equivalent to a similar charge levied by certain banks on ATM withdrawals, thereby doubling total charges to Rs 10 on such withdrawals.

With 1.4 million or 1.8 million of the country's population working overseas, the bulk of whom are engaged in blue collar jobs, or even worse, as lowly housemaids, their families in Sri Lanka live off the remittances sent by such persons. It's, such indigent beneficiaries who will be hit by this indirect bank tax. Though such a tax may not drive them 'further' into poverty, neither will this tax help them to be alleviated from poverty.

Meanwhile, a recent World Bank (WB) study on 'exports and South Asia' argued that the best way for South Asia to get out of the poverty trap is by enhancing its garment exports to the markets of the West, the main consumer, not only of garments, but virtually of every consumable under the sun.

Its hypothesis was that rising costs in East Asia would wean away Western buyers to the South Asian market. This hypothesis was a fact nearly 40 years ago in the Sri Lankan context. When the island opened up its economy in 1977, to take advantage of Sri Lanka's cheap, but educated labour, garment factory operators in East Asia translocated their businesses here, because of rising costs in East Asia even then.

Subsequently, these shifts also benefited Bangladesh, where that country enjoys duty free access in its exports to the West (USA and EU) as it's identified as an indigent State. The difference between 1977 and now, however, wasthat China was not in the game then. China, according to the WB, accounts for nearly 50% of total garment exports currently.

Therefore, the island may have to create the necessary conditions to entice a second wave of garment investments, similar to that which took place in 1977.

Daily News Editorial

The media and its travails

30 November 2016

Media freedom and threats to the media figured prominently in parliament on Monday when the subject came up for discussion at the Committee Stage debate on the media of Budget 2017. Attacks were also directed at Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for allegedly making comments that were perceived as being threats to certain media institutions and editors, by the JVP and members of the Joint Opposition.

The Premier countered these with the argument that he was only verbally responding to the material that appeared in the media and never resorted to physical attacks on journalists or burning down media institutions.

The reference of course is to the many physical attacks on media personnel and the burning down of the Sirasa studios and the destruction of the Siyatha television station. Perhaps, the blackest episode in the persecution of media personnel was the killing of Sunday Leader Founder Editor Lasantha Wickrametunga. It is being sought to be implied in certain quarters that the investigation into the Lasantha murder is being hushed up today. Little thought is being given to the fact that no investigation, whatever, was carried out into the murder, when the individual who is implied to be behind the killing was within the Rajapaksa fold. Wickrametunga was killed in January 2009 and a full six years elapsed before the government changed. Why was no investigation carried out, except for dragging on the matter with endless court appearances that got nobody anywhere?

True, the UNP gave out the name of the alleged mastermind in parliament as has been mentioned right along. But why wasn't the matter being pursued with during those six years? Why wasn't the then Chief Opposition Whip not asked for any information in his possession implicating the name that was being mentioned?

Be that as it may, the media and media personnel were persecuted under all governments since 1970. The murder of journalist and human rights activist Richard de Soysa was the most horrendous incident that cast a gloom on the then UNP government, which was rightly or wrongly, accused of being behind the incident, while many journalists came under physical attack, with columnist Taraki killed and his body discovered near parliament, under the watch of the Chandrika government.

Attacks on journalists were turned into a fine art under Mahinda Rajapaksa, beginning with the Rupavahini incident, where a rambunctious politician, who was then the pet of the Rajapaksas, stormed the state run television station to manhandle a programmes officer for omitting a speech of the politician that vilified an opponent. The incident was not without a sequel, with some female journalists attached to Rupavahini being slashed with razors while traveling in public transport, by the goons of the politician in question, who was himself manhandled by the employees of the television station, for his trouble.

What followed thereafter was a journalists’ nightmare, when scribes were abducted in the notorious white vans, to be roughed up and tortured, for rubbing on the wrong side of the administration,.with the murders of Lasantha and Prageeth Ekneligoda capping up things for the leaders of a regime that portrayed themselves as being friends of the media.

Not just governments, but non state actors too harassed and persecuted the media in this country. The LTTE killed many media personnel in the North, who did not toe the line, and attacked media houses, for the same reason.

JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake was vociferous in his attack on the government, for what he claimed was media suppression.

The JVP is hardly in a position to speak about media freedom and harassment of the media by governments, having threatened newscasters of the state run TV channels with death, if they failed to desist from reading news, during the outfit's second bloody uprising in 1989-90. That was a time when journalists feared to live in their own homes and sought refuge in the homes of strangers. An intrepid TV personality defied the threat, only to be shot dead in front of his residence in cold blood. Premakeerthi De Alwis is his name.

Hence the media has come to be the whipping boy of all comers. It is not just in Sri Lanka. In the recent US Presidential Election, the media that was seen to be partial towards Hillary Clinton came under scathing attacks from Donald Trump, while in more repressive regimes journalists have to undergo severe ordeals and have even paid the ultimate price for their efforts to inform the public. The situation in Sri Lanka, where media freedom is concerned, has not come to such a sorry pass - at least with the regime change in January 8, though there is scope for improvement.

The Island Editorial

Of those cyber hit men

30 November 2016

 

The Professional Web Journalists’ Association (PWJA) has lashed out at the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government for adopting the same repressive policies as its predecessor in handling the web-based media. It has taken exception to action against two web publications, which, it says, should have complete freedom to continue their operations.

We both agree and disagree with the PWJA. We agree with it that the government is trying to tar all web publications with the same brush and introduce draconian laws and regulations to keep them under its thumb. This move must be resisted with might and main. You don’t kill all dogs to tackle rabies, do you?

But, we don’t agree with the PWJA that web publication should be able to enjoy the freedom of the wild ass. Anyone who feels that a website has violated his or her rights must be able to seek justice as in the case of the excesses committed by the mainstream media. Regrettably, some of the web publications are behaving like sickos who, under cover of darkness, hurl stones at vehicles on expressways or moving trains, hurting people. Their victims suffer in silence.

The onus is on the PWJA, which has rightly taken up cudgels for media freedom, to ensure that web publications end the unspeakable practice of defaming people without facilitating the government efforts to muzzle the media.

The PWJA says that although the leaders of the present government complain of unfair criticism they encouraged the web-based media to mete out the same treatment to the Rajapaksa regime while they were in the Opposition. In other words, the powers that be are now condemning the brand of journalism they promoted for political expediency while struggling to capture power. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!

It is said that the media, in providing information to the public, should act like a caring mother who nurses her baby rather than a crow that feeds its offspring. A mother picks her food carefully, consumes it and turns it into milk to feed her baby. A crow swallows rubbish and regurgitates it for its chicks. Sadly, most of the news-oriented web publications specialising in Sri Lankan affairs act like crows. (It needs to be added in the same breath that the so-called mainstream media is far from perfect!)

The mainstream media are much easier to control than their web counterparts. A government does not have to resort to violence to do so. It can bring pressure to bear on media owners in numerous ways including the cancellation of licences issued to television stations. Web publications are like guerrillas; they are difficult to tackle and certainly have a vital role to play in a society where freedom of expression is under threat. It is incumbent upon them to desist from abusing their freedom and conduct themselves responsibly. Power or freedom sans responsibility is synonymous with disaster.

Sri Lankan media practitioners ought to turn the searchlight inwards. There is something terribly wrong with the local media culture, where anything apparently goes. Boosting hits and sales has come to take precedence over the standards of journalism and professional ethics. The media have chosen to cater to low, vulgar taste of a section of the public so as to attract more viewers or listeners or readers and thereby advertising. They like the sellers of soap and shampoo tend to target the so-called bottom of the pyramid at the expense of quality, ethics and social responsibility. True, popularity is a yardstick for the success of a media outfit, but it should not be confused with quality.

Those who visit the websites which evince a voyeuristic interest in people’s lives and specialise in character assassination are also responsible for the deterioration of the web-based media. Socrates it was who famously said, "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events and small minds discuss people."

People, addicted to the nauseously scurrilous websites, are as sick as those who run them!

Ceylon Today Editorial

PRODUCE THE CONSTITUTION AS A COMPLeTE DOCUMENT!

29 November 2016

 

The new Constitution that was promised by the United National Front for Good Governance when coming to power, earlier last year is still yet to be produced as a complete document. However, regardless of its lack of appearance, like the omnipresent devil that seduces into committing our daily quota of sins, has already reared its ugly head and scared several sections of our country.

During the latter part of last week, several members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) visited the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy in order to obtain blessings and also met the Chief Prelates of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters who had advised the present SLFP members to be done with the new Constitution immediately.

We share the same sentiments with our religious leaders as we believe that the longer it takes, the more the paranoia and fear towards the new Constitution also rises. As mentioned before, the Constitution has already gained a bad reputation due to several misplaced comments which were given unsavoury and unnecessary attention by the media.

Major changes to the Constitution of Sri Lanka are still in the pipeline, with the government encouraging citizens to submit their own suggestions for constitutional amendments that seek to, among other things, abolish the Executive Presidency, change the electoral system, and bring about meaningful and lasting reconciliation.

The Constitution of Sri Lanka has seen numerous amendments throughout the years, the latest and most important of which was the 19th Amendment. This Amendment, that was passed following Common Candidate Maithripala Sirisena taking the control of the nation's power seat, sought to dilute some powers of the much maligned Executive Presidency and establish a Constitutional Council that could set up the long overdue Independent Commissions.

Adopting a new Constitution will requires a two-thirds majority in Parliament followed by an islandwide Referendum as well. The abolition of the Executive Presidency is one of the major priorities in the new Constitution – something that every President since Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga promised but failed to deliver, for various reasons (some valid - like the impending war- and some not so much).

Another contentious issue that is expected to be taken up is the country's electoral process: Sri Lanka currently uses a proportional representation system where each contesting party is allocated a number of seats from the quota for each district.

This quota is calculated according to the proportion of the total vote that party obtains in the said district. A mixed electoral system that combines proportional representation and first-past-the-post voting has been in the national discourse for some time now and will likely be adopted going forward.

Although the details are unclear at present, one of the more crucial changes will be one that seeks to establish a pluralist Sri Lankan identity that will hopefully provide a lasting solution to the ethnic issue.

Regardless of the government's attempt to stop all speculations surfacing in order to barricade and hinder the process. One such speculation is that the new Constitution would recognize the country as a secular country – where the religion and the State become separate.

This proposal which was made by two individuals of the public, as reported later, became the butt of speculation and eventually the battle cry for hate mongers who claimed that the current government has finally started showing their true colours by endangering the Sinhala Buddhist sovereignty which was given full priority by the nation's governing body since the dawn of time.

The hate went out and spread to the ignoramus racists who prefer to be recognized as nationalists and eventually the rest of the populace of the country. What started out as a mere public proposal – the mole hill – in the end became a mountain due to the unnecessary speculation.

Yet, this is not the one and only tattle tale that has spread suspicions with regard to the new Constitution. There are so many others. The only way to stop all this drama is to finally take some quick steps in drafting the Constitution.

It may be easier said than done, we know. But once the draft becomes available in the public domain, it will be easier to refute all baseless and false allegations against it. It will be the ultimate sucker punch to the naysayers. This is why it is necessary and essential at the same time.

Daily News Editorial

A welcome suggestion

29 November 2016

The proposal made by Southern Province Governor Hemakumara Nanayakkara for a common commemoration day where ALL those who died during the 30 year war was remembered no doubt would be welcomed by moderates across the ethnic divide. The Governor was responding to a call by Northern Provincial Councillor M.K. Sivajilingam to commemorate “Great Heroes Day” or Mahaveerar Day, a practise followed by slain LTTE leader Prabhakaran to commemorate dead members of his outfit.

Nanayakkrara told journalists at a media briefing that all sides lost their loved ones during the war. “Whether it were soldiers, civilians or LTTE combatants, lives were lost and people can commemorate the dead”, the Governor said.

Coming from Nanayakkara, who was at one time a hard line nationalist, it is hoped, will have a sobering effect on those with a similar bent to look at things from a different perspective and be accommodating.

Sivajilingam's bone of contention was that if the JVP has reserved a day in the year to commemorate their dead, why not for the LTTE. But as is always been pointed out, the LTTE is still a proscribed organisation while the ban against the JVP was lifted a long time ago with the outfit today even represented in parliament. But, now that the Governor has been forthright in this connection, it is worthwhile for the authorities to ponder on this question and be a bit more liberal. After all, not all the LTTE combatants were volunteers. A sizable segment among its cadres were conscripted and had to do the bidding of the leaders. Among the LTTE youth who were killed by the forces there would no doubt have been those who were similarly conscripted and sent to the battlefront as cannon fodder. A good many of them also died at the hands of the LTTE for straying from the path chosen for them. Hence there can be nothing wrong in permitting parents and relatives to commemorate their dead.

But there can be no question of marking the event under the tag “Mahaveerar” which implies the commemoration of Prabhakaran and his bloodthirsty band of terrorists. As stated by Minister D.M. Swaminathan; “If someone in your family has died, it is common to remember them. You can pray for their souls and that's about it”. But the problem with persons like Sivajilingam is their desire to resurrect the memory of Prabhakaran under the guise of commemorating the dead. Here again is a parallel with the JVP whose “Martyrs Day” event is merely a cover to eulogise Rohana Wijeweera.

One could say that the JVP too, particularly during it second uprising, committed acts of barbarism. It not only killed, but even mutilated its victims who were tied to lamp posts. It went to extremes, where even Buddhists monks were beheaded. Countless number of innocent civilians, local government politicians, artistes and government ministers lost their lives at the hands of the outfit. The government too got into the act and paid the JVP with the same coin matching the barbarism it unleashed. Yet, it is today permitted to commemorate its “martyrs”, with all things forgotten. Perhaps Sivajilingam's grouse may be based on this thinking.

Be that as it may, the present government did the right thing by toning down the war heroes commemoration event in the South. Instead, it has decided to have a commemoration of all the war victims, across the ethnic divide, on the lines suggested by the Southern Province Governor. Prior to that, the war heroes’ commemoration was used as a cover for the self aggrandizement of a few, while the real war heroes who fought it out on the battlefield were relegated to the background. The event also had all the ingredients of triumphalism where a particular ethnic group was made to feel a vanquished race. Hence the change in tone is to be welcomed. It will also assist in the reconciliation effort that is now being pursued in earnest.

Probe this planned bus strike

A section of the private bus operators are poised to strike, in protest against the proposed minimum fine hike to Rs. 2,500 and the 25,000 to be fined for specific road offences, it is reported. However President of the Private Bus Owners’ Association Gemunu Wijeratne said his Association has refused to join the strike since the fines have yet to be approved by parliament. The whole affair, on the face of it, appears to be a political battle between rival bus unions. It is well known that Gemunu Wijeratne is a sympathiser of the government and even contested the 2010 general election from the UNP, albeit unsuccessfully. The bus associations which are planning the strike are mostly based in the Southern Province from where the SLFP, or Joint Opposition, derives its support. Earlier too the battle between the two factions took on political overtones with Gemunu coming for some heavy flak from the rival unions. Hence the government should investigate if the unions planning the strike are backed by a political grouping and take appropriate action if that be the case. The travelling public, on no account, should be made to suffer due to political rivalry by private bus operators.

The Island Editorial

The identikit circus

29 November 2016

 

Police have released to the media another sketch of a suspect allegedly responsible for killing The Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunga in January 2008. There seems to be no end in sight to the process of identikits being publicised and public assistance sought to apprehend the killers of Lasantha.

There is reason to believe that the government and the police are not so keen to go all out to solve the crime. For, they have stopped short of doing what must be done to ascertain vital information about the killers of journalists, including Lasantha.

Former Rivira editor Upali Tennekoon and his wife Dhammika, who courageously grappled with an armed assailant and saved her husband’s life, in January 2009, came here a few months ago and identified the suspect arrested and produced before court.

Upali and Dhammika saw the assailant only briefly while struggling for life, but there is a senior journalist who suffered at the hands of a group of abductors for long enough to figure out who had ordered his abduction. In May 2008, the then Associate Editor of The Nation Keith Noyahr was abducted near his home and taken to a hideout where he was tortured and grilled for hours. So, being the experienced journalist that he is Keith must have been able to guess from the kind of questions he was asked and what his abductors discussed among themselves who was behind that operation. Keith is now living in Australia, where he fled, fearing further attacks here. Why the police have not contacted him, requesting his assistance to nab those who harmed journalists is the question.

The government has taken the trouble of tracing some Australian citizens and securing their help to arraign one of its bêtes noires, Udaya Gammanpila, on charges of a financial fraud. It has also launched a worldwide search in a bid to trace its opponents’ offshore accounts. Strangely, that kind of high octane performance is conspicuous by its absence on its part when it comes to investigating the Lasantha assassination.

It is also puzzling why the CID has not yet sought former UNP MP Joseph Michael Perera’s help to bring the killer/s of Lasantha to justice. In 2008, Perera as the then Chief Government Whip, making a special statement in Parliament, called for the arrest of the members of a special army unit which, he said, operated under the then Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka and carried out attacks on journalists. The CID got cracking on the Thajudeen murder and made some high profile arrests. Why has it ignored Perera’s revelation?

The present-day leaders who benefited from Lasantha’s newspaper which promoted their interests should prove that they are not a bunch of hypocritical ingrates by having his assassination properly probed.

We think the police are purposely barking up the wrong tree to have the public believe that they are doing something about the killing of journalists. The Rajapaksa government stood accused of ordering the Lasantha assassination and other attacks on journalists and, therefore, it is only natural that the Joint Opposition is silent on the issue. The UNP is wary of ordering action against the suspects it once named in Parliament as the killers of journalists because they are now within its ranks. The TNA, which leads the ‘pro-government Opposition’, has a history of turning a blind eye to tens of thousands of atrocities committed by the LTTE against civilians and its silence on the killing of journalists is understandable. The JVP also finds it difficult to live down its ugly past and is, therefore, wary of flogging the issue of politically motivated assassinations. The government has media rights groups eating out of its hand; and their bark is worse than their bite!

Police act like a gypsy’s monkey which turns somersaults when its master tugs at the rope tied to its waist and then goes into slumber thereafter. So, the identikit circus, as it were, is likely to go on until other issues crop up and eclipse the ‘investigations’ into the attacks on journalists.

Ceylon Editorial

TNA’s diplomacy

28 November 2016

An important meeting between President Maithripala Sirisena and Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarians, led by Leader of the Opposition R. Sampanthan, took place in Parliament last Thursday (24).

The TNA played a tremendous role in ousting the Rajapaksa regime and establishing the National Unity Government, led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in January 2015. Later, with the guidance of R. Sampanthan, the TNA as the main Opposition in Parliament played a responsible role to deal with Tamil political issues as well as voicing on national issues.

Last Thursday's meeting saw various unresolved issues in the Northern and Eastern Provinces being discussed. Unlike during the separatist war, the TNA's approach to deal with political and humanitarian issues in the North and East remains non-confrontational.

By learning a bitter lesson in adopting a tough stance in the past, the present TNA leadership is cautious in spearheading its political activities and in the past year, the alliance has proved its commitment to strengthening peace and reconciliation in the island.

The meeting took place a couple of days after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe submitted the reports of six subcommittees to the Constitutional Assembly. With TNA already making its suggestions to draft the new Constitution, it expects that the longstanding ethnic crisis could be settled in the new Constitution.

Based on the reports of the six subcommittees to the Constitutional Assembly, an interim report is expected to be released in Parliament on 10 December and the report is likely to outline how far the new Constitution would be drafted in favour of fulfilling the political aspirations of the people in the North and East.

The present political atmosphere in the North and East, with several unresolved humanitarian issues such as the prolonged detention of Tamil political prisoners, delays in resettling Internally Displaced Persons, excessive military presence, ignoring investigating into disappearances and alleged war crimes, remain thorny issues for the Tamil National Alliance with civilians affected directly due to the separatist war even expressing their disappointment over the present National Unity Government.

Northern Chief Minister, C.V. Wigneswaran, at his Colombo media briefing last week, even pointed out that the 'Arise Tamil' (Eluha Tamil) demonstration held a month ago in Jaffna, was a reflection of the government's negligence in solving political and humanitarian issues in the North and East.

A mass demonstration was also held last week in Batticaloa against the communal outrage of Ampitiye Sumanaratana Thera of the Mangalaramaya Vihara, Batticaloa.

Despite the negative conditions gradually snowballing in the North and East, the Tamil National Alliance, under the able leadership of R. Sampanthan, is determined to safeguard its commitment to strengthening peace and reconciliation, while averting any confrontational approach with the National Unity Government.

Another meeting between the TNA leadership and President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe is due to take place in a week's time before the interim report of the Constitutional Assembly is to be released on 10 December.

In the meantime, the government should prepare itself to face the 34th session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission which will evaluate extensively Sri Lanka's pledges made in October 2015 as co-sponsor to the UNHRC resolution on resolving various issues.

At the 34th session, which is scheduled to take place from 27 February to 24 March, around four reports are expected to be submitted on the findings and the progress made to strengthen peace and reconciliation in the island along with resolving humanitarian issues since Sri Lanka became a co-sponsor to the UNHRC resolution.

Therefore, at this juncture, the government should not underestimate the non-confrontational approach of the TNA and take its stand for granted.

The able leadership of R. Sampanthan, as Leader of the Opposition and as TNA Leader, has given a good opportunity to the government to deal with minority issues in the country. The ball is now in the government's court!

Daily News Editorial

The incomparable revolutionary

28 November 2016

With the possible exception of South African icon Nelson Mandela, no other leader in living memory has made such a lasting impression on his country and the world than Fidel Castro Ruz, the Cuban revolutionary who died in Havana on Friday night. “El Comandante” Fidel was a towering figure who dominated news headlines for much of the 20th Century and polarized public opinion throughout the world. To many in Cuba, Latin America and elsewhere, he was a saviour who liberated the Cuban people from the tyranny of the Fulgencio Batista region. To others, especially Cuban exiles and many leaders in the US, he was a dictator who kept his people in the iron grip of communism. But they all agree on one thing – Fidel Castro was simply incomparable.

Fidel, who once said that “destiny produces the man of the hour”, ascended to power in a popular revolt led by him that ousted the Batista regime in 1959. He never looked back for the next 49 years – 10 Presidents would rule the US by the time he ceded power to his younger brother Raul in 2008. During the same period, he would also survive hundreds of assassination attempts engineered by the US intelligence community and Cuban exiles.

Fidel’s life was very eventful to say the least - he defeated the invasion at the Bay of Pigs; sparked off the Cuban Missile Crisis which was eventually resolved at the last minute; inspired several Marxist insurgencies in Latin America and Africa; dispatched Cubans to fight South African troops in Angola which helped weaken the apartheid regime; survived the collapse of the Soviet Union and kept Cuba’s communist system intact for another quarter century. He held sway over Cuba and remained extremely popular at home despite the crippling sanctions imposed by the US that retarded economic growth. Incidentally, no other country, not even the staunchest allies of the US, supported these sanctions. He however lived long enough to see the restoration of full diplomatic ties between the two nations that are only around 150 Km apart and a State Visit by a sitting US President. Most of the sanctions still remain, though commercial passenger flights between the US and Cuba began recently. US President-elect Donald Trump has been a harsh critic of Fidel and it is not very clear what is in store for US-Cuba relations in the future.

It is easy to think of his enmity with the US as the centrepoint of his administration, but his enduring legacy was actually his intense focus on health and education. To this day, Cuba is one of the few developing countries that has excellent health and education indices across the board that can match, if not surpass, the relevant statistics of the Western world. Even when Cuba received the double blow of the withdrawal of Soviet support upon its breakup in the 1990 and crippling US sanctions, he somehow managed to foster these two sectors amidst great difficulties. Perhaps the only other developing country that can match this “free education and healthcare for life” promise is Sri Lanka itself.

Fidel, who remained true to his statement that he would be a Marxist-Leninist until his last breath, defended the Cuban Revolution of 1959 at every turn. “Within the Revolution, everything; outside the Revolution, nothing”, he once said. He described communism as “a great step forward in the fight against colonialism and its inseparable companion, imperialism.” Even as Communist states such as China, Russia and Vietnam more or less embraced a market economy, Fidel firmly believed in the ideals of communism. His political vision inspired many other Latin American leaders including Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Evo Morales of Bolivia and Rafael Correa of Ecuador to follow a similar path.

Brother Raul has chosen a more middle of the road option, opening up more avenues for private enterprises and engaging in other economic and social reforms. While Fidel’s vision will always be the bedrock of his brother’s plans for Cuba, there is the distinct possibility of more reforms being introduced in every sector. His final hurdle will be working towards a lifting of US sanctions, but this also depends to a great extent on the policy direction of Washington’s new administration from January 2017.

Cuba will forever be associated with the Castros – both Fidel and Raul – but just two years from now, someone who is not from the days of Revolution will be at the helm. Miguel Diaz-Canel, the man named as Raul’s successor was born one year after the two brothers emerged from the Sierra Maestra Mountains near Santiago de Cuba to lead a rebellion that changed the face of Cuba. But whoever comes to the seat of power in Havana, it will be impossible to ignore the legacy of the man who almost single handedly steered Cuba amidst turbulent waters of the Florida Straits for nearly 50 years. In the words of his younger brother Raul, it will be a case of “hasta la victoria siempre” (Ever onward to victory)”.

The Island Editorial

Castro: The last of the Mohicans

28 November 2016

 

Another great leader has left the world stage. Fidel Castro’s demise has diminished right thinking people the world over though some Cuban immigrants who are trying to be more American than Americans themselves are reported to have celebrated his death in the US. These events have received undue publicity from the western propaganda hit men who failed to destroy Castro’s iconic image for five decades.

Castro was perhaps the last of the Mohicans among world leaders, so to speak. His greatest achievement, in our book, was not so much the emergence as a charismatic leader after ousting a repressive regime through a revolution and turning Cuba into a source of inspiration for the developing world but surviving numerous assassination attempts to live for his country. He was 90 at the time of his death. While living to struggle, he had to struggle to live, given the hostility of neocons in particular and the Global North in general towards him and his socialist administration.

Threats from imperialists only steeled Castro’s resolve to remain dedicated to his cause unwaveringly and opposing American hegemony with might and main. He defied and outlasted ten US presidents. Uncle Sam on Obama’s watch chose to ‘kiss that hand that he could not bite’.

The US unwittingly facilitated Castro’s rise to power. It is said that but for the Eisenhower administration’s decision to suspend arms shipments to Cuban dictator Batista in 1958, Castro’s revolution would perhaps have had a different ending. The 1962 Cuban missile crisis gave a new lease of life to the nascent socialist regime in Cuba in that the US was compelled to stop invasions in return for the Russians’ missile pullout. However, covert CIA operations to topple Castro continued albeit in vain.

Castro stood up to the US and walked tall while most of his counterparts in the developing world stooped so low as to lick the boots of not only US presidents but also American envoys in their respective countries.

It was only the other day that the US government and the Sri Lankan Parliament entered into a pact to promote what is being described as good governance here and the project is to cost the American taxpayers Rs. 1.9 billion, we are told. It may not be advisable for a small country to ruffle the feathers of the Eagle unnecessarily, but one’s gorge rises when the lily-livered leaders of smaller nations make a public display of their servility to foreign powers.

Interestingly, the Sri Lankan government is panhandling to the US while colossal amounts of borrowed money are being wasted on feathering the nests of political leaders. A supplementary estimate was presented to Parliament on Saturday to the tune of about Rs. 800 million for purchasing super luxury vehicles for ministers and their deputies! This, the government has done unashamedly and unconscionably while the hapless people who lost their houses and shops due to the blast of the army’s central armoury at Salawa are demanding compensation and public assistance is being sought to build a hospital to save children who have to undergo heart operations.

President Maithripala Sirisena declared, at an SLFP event the other day, that he had written to the US President elect, Donald Trump, seeking the latter’s help to protect Sri Lanka’s interest. Why should the head of state of any nation make such a plea? Ironically, President Sirisena has done so while claiming to be a great admirer of Castro!

Many political pundits predicted that the Castro administration would suffer a Humpty Dumpty style fall soon after the collapse of the mighty Soviet empire. But, Castro proved them all wrong despite US sanctions aimed at making the Cuban economy scream.

The Cuban economy suffered heavy blows repeatedly at the hands of imperialists, and Castro had to make course corrections vis-à-vis geo-political vicissitudes, threats and challenges that the new world order threw up. There was a discernible rethink on the dyed-in-the-wool utopian dirigisme after the baton was passed on to Castro’s brother Raul. But, Cuba remains resilient and continues to inspire the Global South.

That said, it needs to be added that Cuba is far from perfect. Castro was not infallible either. But, they have amply demonstrated that a country is capable of facing threats and challenges even from the world powers whose efforts to dominate the globe are governed by Rafferty’s rules if it is blessed with the leadership of an intrepid statesman who has only the national interest at heart.

Ceylon Today Editorial

CASTRO – THE SAGA CONTINUES

27 November 2016

From femme females to poisoned milkshakes, Fidel Castro ran the gamut of hundreds of assassination attempts (much of it romanticized exaggeration) since he became (rather made himself!) the Prime Minister of Cuba in February of 1959. He would have well been reminiscing in his years in retirement, Havana cigar clutched between tobacco-stained teeth, with his made-for-drama belligerent and almost Churchillian glare, and guffawing at the CIA's failed attempts to kill him through the US presidencies of Eisenhower (38 tries), Kennedy (42 tries), Johnson (72 tries) and an unconfirmed 184 times during the Nixon presidency.

Fidel, who unleashed a global scare with the Russian-Cuban missile crisis lived to however see the impossible happen – normalization of relations with the US in July 2015...a far cry from the volcano cusp heat of relations that existed since the US slapped a crushing embargo on him back in 1960.Was he satisfied with the fruits of his revolution? History could be mixed up on that score.

Suffice it to say, due to lack of space, that he did, with telling impact, change the course of Cuban history forever, when in 1958 Batista failed to snuff out the uprising that Castro managed to drum up...much or most of it successful exclusively because the then Soviet Russia found it 'expedient' to finance and arm the revolution. The impossible happened. January 1, 1959, Castro grabbed control with a string of counter-attacks against everything that Batista could throw at him and found, himself marching into Havana where he took over as Prime Minister...leaving it to a slew of revolutionary tribunals which tried and executed members of the Batista regime for supposed war crimes.

Castro then rolled back every pro-US 'advance' made under Batista, beginning the next year, 1960, to nationalize all US-owned businesses, including oil refineries, factories and casinos, compelling the US to sever all diplomatic relations and clap the massive trade embargo on Cuba.The catastrophic Bay of Pigs CIA planned invasion needs no mention here except to add that the few who survived of the trained Cuban exiles used by the CIA were released by Castro in April 1961, in exchange for US$ 52 million worth medical supplies and baby food items. Friends were apparently not coming to Castro's aid, post-revolution. That did not stop him declaring himself a Marxist-Leninist in late 1961...a move that was stoke similar but pie-in-the-sky revolutionary stunt from Sri Lanka's local Marxists-Leninists, many of whom are now quite well reformed and honourable devotees at the shrine of parliamentary democracy at the Diyawanna Oya! Their comrades did not have it as good as Castro did simply because they had no method to their madness. Castro, supposedly an intellectual of sorts, however failed to foresee reality...and fortunately too, global changes brought about pragmatic rationalism to the fore ending the embargo and restoring US-Cuban relations.

The Soviets used Castro's need for aid, financial and military, to stealthily send, all the way from Russia, nuclear missiles to Cuba, just 90 miles across the bay from Florida triggering fears of WWIII. The world knows all about how Khrushchev blinked first before Kennedy and removed the nukes, against Castro's wishes, who was left out of the negotiations. In return Kennedy consented not to reinvade Cuba.... And...as an irony of history would have it consented to take American nuclear weapons out of Turkey...a region into which the US is today sending in more weapons and men as the old 'Soviet' spirit personified in Putin seeks to resuscitate the long-dead USSR.

Yes, Castro abolished legal discrimination, went about some development as best as he could, creating a little employment here, electrification there, improving education and healthcare. But commentators are agreed that all that or more would have happened to make life for the Cubans a better lot even under Batista or someone else. Like other repressive Marxist States however, Castro, though he came short of the white van and hooded motorcycle killer culture in Sri Lanka of recent years, did ruthlessly shut down all opposition newspapers, jailed thousands of political opponents and that was the end of democratic elections in the truer essence of the phrase...much of it persisting to this day. His policies were to leave their mark on governance by the Marxist-Leninist friends in Sirima Bandaranaike's Cabinet that almost plunged the nation into economic chaos.

In Sri Lanka, many salute the great man at his death, if only for his sincerity of intent, albeit lacking realpolitik rationale. But Castro himself would probably laugh at the absurdity of the concept of NAM, with Sri Lanka in recent years the very antithesis of its founding principles.

Weekend Nation Editorial

Hardly used referendum comes to the fore

27 November 2016

As the debate over a new constitution for the country progresses through the Constitutional Council and its Steering Committee, the idea of having a referendum on a new Constitution has been much favoured by the stakeholders. At the initial stages some argued that a mere two-thirds majority in Parliament was sufficient for the promulgation of a new constitution while others insisted that a referendum was a must.

Strange enough this time over it’s none other than the Leader of the Opposition and TNA leader R Samapanthan who has strongly backed the idea of an island-wide referendum. He said the sovereignty is vested with the people and hence it was essential to get the people’s support. He elaborated his position by saying: “There can be a new Constitution for the country only if it is approved by the people of the country.”

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also endorsed this saying that the leader of the TNA accepted that the support of the majority community was essential to enact a new Constitution. Across the board there had been general agreement among parties represented in Parliament that a referendum was necessary.

The provision for referenda which was introduced for the first time in our country by the 1978 Constitution was believed to be an enhancement on democracy that existed up to that time. In a representative democracy, elected members legislate on behalf of the people. However, when it comes to a matter of utmost national importance a referendum enables the people to get involved directly and approve or disapprove it.

However, ironically this provision was used by its architect President J R Jayewardene in 1982 to extend the life of Parliament by another term without holding a general election because he wanted to preserve the two- thirds majority he enjoyed at the time. An idea for a referendum never came up thereafter.

Thirty-four years later it has surfaced again and the difference this time is that for the first time it is going to be used for its original intended purpose – to decide a matter of great importance to the country because there cannot be anything more important than a Constitution, more so when it is intended to resolve some vital long-standing national issues.

Sampanthan is right in favouring the idea of a referendum because even if everything is agreed upon in Parliament some parties are likely to challenge the constitutional bill in the Supreme Court on the basis that it is not possible to amend or replace some of the sections of the current Constitution without a referendum. A court ruling in favour of such a petition would be a definite disadvantage for the proponents of such a Constitution.

The country has already tested two homemade Constitutions but none of them has succeeded in resolving the vexed national issue. Both these documents were drafted to suit the needs of the governments at the time, hurriedly passed in Parliament and therefore lacked adequate public discussion or general approbation of the people.

This is going to be independent Sri Lanka’s third Constitution and now it is time for the country to agree on a permanent document. Sufficient public discussion and extensive involvement of all political parties in Parliament are a sine qua non if we are to come up with the right document.

A referendum will be the best way to ensure such debate and discussion while any piece of legislation directly approved by the people in that manner will have the legitimacy that is needed to solidify some sense of permanency for such a document in the minds of the people.

Sunday Times Editorial

Take middle path on foreign policy

27 November 2016

The Government received a reality check last week in Geneva when the Attorney General (AG) and the chief of National Intelligence (CNI) got a rude shock at a UN committee monitoring torture when they were cross-examined to the point that they had to beat a hasty retreat from the floor.

That some of the UN agencies are now agents of the West and its double-standards is a given. Russia has just pulled out of the International Criminal Court on these grounds; one hopes it is not like Hitler pulling Germany out of a Disarmament conference in Geneva in 1933 as a prelude to withdrawing from the League of Nations before unleashing World War II.

The torture at the US prison at Guantanamo is well documented, but there is nary a UN investigation into it. And yet, the US is in the forefront of UN agencies on torture. That is the world right now, and the Government of Sri Lanka made a serious error of judgement recently by abstaining in a Western triggered UN vote on the human rights situation in Iran, a longtime friend of this country.

India and Pakistan both have close relations with the West, yet voted against the resolution and in support of Iran. Only a month or so ago, Sri Lanka abstained in voting in UNESCO, hurting Palestine’s sentiments. On November 29, we celebrate Palestine Solidarity Day. Is our foreign policy drifting in a different direction?

We have dumped the Non Aligned Movement and are seemingly gravitating towards the Western orbit. There again, in Britain we miscalculated and supported the wrong side in the ‘Brexit’ vote. In the US, we seem to have put all our eggs in the Democratic Party basket and have some catching up to do now with the newly elected President. At least the UNP kept a line open to the victorious Republicans.

While we get bashed in Geneva ourselves we showed no solidarity with those at the receiving end of the same stick. Back in Colombo, the Government remains on the defensive over its human rights record with a draft law on counter-terror causing concern on the basis that its proposed contents are even more draconian than the Prevention of Terrorism Act which it seeks to replace. The draft, much of which has already been written on, denies the right of independent legal counsel to a detainee until the Police statement is recorded; a similar provision having crept into a proposed amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code, raising a storm of protests and forcing the Government to backtrack.

That draft is wide-ranging and even defines “an act of terror” as attempting to “illegally cause a change of the Government of Sri Lanka” through inter-alia, “endangering of the lives of the public”. This can cover a wide range of political activity.

There is little doubt that stringent laws are required at times when the nation-state is under siege. What Sri Lanka needs for its contemplated counter-terror legislation is to strive for a midway point between being idealistic and merely bowing to external pressure and being pragmatic because people exploit loosely drafted laws – on either side of the divide. Achieving that essential balance should be up for public discussion rather than left to be conceived behind closed doors. That would arouse fear and suspicion and is contrary to transparency which still remains the avowed policy of this Government.

Special commission to try former CB Governors

A month after the Parliamentary COPE report findings and recommendations on the Central Bank bond issues of 2015, the Government is still grappling with what to do next, i.e. if it really wants to do something at all.

After several efforts at sweeping the dirt under several carpets, the Prime Minister has sent the report for the Attorney General’s opinion, while the President is seeking independent legal counsel. The JVP, the JHU and a section of the SLFP are howling for urgent action to book the culprits – at least to freeze the bank accounts of those involved, pending the next step. That the usually vociferous former President is studiously silent on this matter has also raised suspicion about the nexus between the Central Bank Governors past and present and their connections with Dubai bank accounts held by one party and managed by the other.

In any event, the COPE report is only an extension of the Auditor General’s findings, but whether even this is sufficient to file criminal proceedings on those responsible for a mega deal, or further investigations are required is for the AG to say.

While the AG studies his brief, there is a prima facie swindle that has taken place at the expense of the people of this country and the funds accrued therefrom have already found their way into local private commercial banks through the purchase of shares; these being a text-book case of money laundering.

Ordinary folk justifiably ask why the COPE report was not given to the Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID), and if the basic laws of the country on issues such as Cheating, Money Laundering and Insider Dealing are insufficient to indict those involved or whether a specific legal mechanism like a Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry is needed simply because the sums involved are big. The other burning question is whether smalltime crooks are thrown to ravenous wolves while everything is done to protect those with political patronage.

One suggestion has been the creation of a Criminal Justice Commission-like special tribunal where the laws of evidence are reversed, but while the CJC was designed to try persons accused of conspiring to overthrow the Government in 1971, it was misused for the trial on exchange control offences.

Unless existing laws are to be used by the AG, the best option has to be a strong Commission of Inquiry with appropriate Terms of Reference assisted by a Special Independent Prosecutor and a team of investigators, lawyers – and accountants and bankers. The Act, however, has to be amended so that while it has powers to call for bank accounts and tax files, it also can empower the Commissioner or Commissioners to inter-alia, order the freezing of bank accounts pending the inquiry because that seems to be the immediate priority.

The ill-gotten monies are quickly seeping into the ‘white economy’ as the Government either procrastinates, or wilfully vacillates. The World Bank’s Stolen Assets Unit has the expertise to assist in the recovery of the loot wherever it exists. Either the former Central Bank Governors must be acquitted or found guilty — quickly. The Government cannot do nothing if it wants Sri Lanka to be a Financial Hub. There must be credibility that Sri Lanka is not a place where underhand business deals are covered up. There is always a way, if only there is a will.

Sunday Observer Editorial

Gifts to School Teachers

27 November 2016

Is it Pandam or, Santhosam? Sri Lankan society is yet debating whether gifts to officials of various kinds – in the public as well as private sectors – are gifts of appreciation of an amicable relationship and service by the gift receiver or, whether such gifts are just plain bribery.

The Minister of Education has announced that gifts to school teachers by parents of students will be banned forthwith. Exactly how the ban will be enforced will, likely, be defined by the official Ministry circular that is expected to be issued in execution of this ban. It is such a definition that will help dispel the confusion that still exists in the cultural practice of gifting.

Sri Lankan society, whatever the ethnicity, is noted for its warmth, especially, between people in their deep sense of community and social togetherness. Thus, the exchange of gifts has been normal in social relations, virtually, throughout the period of our island civilization.

However, the current prevalence of the market as the prime mover in modern economic activity and the marketization of much of social life - including education - as we get increasingly caught up in a globalized system of ‘value chains’, means that much of human relationships has begun to be valued in ways over and above simple moral and emotional appreciation.

Gifting, especially, between people that have no personal or family relationship, is today one that increasingly implies a two-way exchange of favour rather than a one-way expression of moral appreciation. But, our yet neo-feudal society, has yet to shake off the definitions of social values of the past.

Thus, gifts, although clearly implying a value of exchange of favour, are still overtly described as ‘santhosam’ rather than ‘pandam’.

And our society is currently replete with this practice – in most spheres of life, from government and administration to business deals to industry, and in even such socially crucial sectors as, Education and Health.

School teachers – underpaid as they continue to be – are, nevertheless, highly valued by the parents of students. As education continues to evolve as a highly competitive process of skills and knowledge accumulation, as attainment of qualifications continues to be the basis of much social upward mobility, school teachers and their professional service to students have high value.

Ironically, this rising value of school teachers is yet to be recognized in terms of their salaries and professional standing. Teachers remain probably the most underpaid technical and professional workers in this country. Is it any surprise, therefore, that parents have resorted to gifting in order that the professional appreciation of school teachers is enhanced at least in this informal fashion?

The spectre of an intensely competitive future adult life for their children drives parents to resort to gifts of various kinds to teaching staff. The annual gift to class teachers has come to be a custom that is considered well within the generic Sri Lankan social custom of ‘santhosam’. Such gifting does not stop with teachers. It also extends to the school’s ‘extra-curricular activities’ ranging from aesthetics and arts training to sports.

It is not uncommon for trainers and coaches to favour some students over others in inclusion in school sports teams and arts troupes based on how much ‘support’ they receive from fawning parents. Whether a student remains merely in the ‘pool’ of a school sports team or actually gets to play in a match, often depends on parents’ gifting of various kinds, from bottles of whisky to even jobs for coaches’ own children or other favours.

Minister Kariyawasam’s initiative is indeed welcome, but the mere issue of circulars, even if they attempt to define ‘gifts’ precisely, is only the first step in an enormous task. After all, the mechanisms and regulations required to ‘police’ such gifting could become as expensive as a budgeted tiny salary hike for the country’s teachers.

The latest annual Government budget does not indicate any serious intent of expanded investment in Education (contrary to that election promise of “six per cent of Budget”). But, it is obvious to all that, without such increased investment, especially, in the financial gain to teachers, there will continue to be efforts by parents to make their own, informal and ‘private’ complementing of the school system budget allocation via gifts to their children’s teachers.

Cocaine again!

This time it was almost predicted! Last week, again, the Sri Lanka Customs and the Police Narcotics Bureau made a detection of a major smuggled consignment of cocaine.

News media first reported that the authorities were to further search freight shipping containers for possible new loads of smuggled cocaine. And, sure enough, they found hidden in the containers a large stock of this globally reviled narcotic substance – not just a few ounces of this expensive and potent narcotic, but 200 kgs of it.

This is the third detection, within months, of a large stock of illegal cocaine brought into the country in containers coming all the way from Brazil. And the containers seem to be part of the regular shipment of sugar exported from Brazil, a major sugar producer.

It is time that the authorities deepen their investigations and raise the veil of secrecy on what they are finding.

Sri Lanka is proudly touted as ‘the trans-shipment hub of South Asia’. But, the public needs to know how much this fame is being exploited by underworld elements in cahoots with unscrupulous business groups to trans-ship illegal narcotics on a massive scale to the rich consumer markets, both, east and west of Colombo port.

Sunday Island Editorial

Unpopular and wrong

27 November 2016

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe admitted he was making an unpopular proposal and knew that he would be criticized when he said a few days ago that salaries of MPs are grossly inadequate for the work they are required to carry out in their constituencies. He said he was proposing substantially higher wages to reduce corruption and attract better talent to parliament. Nobody shouted him down when he said what he did because if there is anything on which all legislators agree without demur, it is on pay and perks for themselves. But we must say in fairness that is not a trait exclusive to parliamentarians. It is true for all human beings. Whatever the prime minister may think about MPs needing better compensation, public opinion will run strong against any proposal to increase the emoluments of legislators. As it is, the large majority of the people resent MPs pay and perks which are unrelated to average incomes of ordinary people. Some time ago there was an attempt to link parliamentarians pay to those of judges so that when judges got an increase, MPs too would get one.

When Wickremesinghe said his wife earned more than he did, most people who read his remarks would have smiled. It is quite possible that the premier’s wife, a university professor, gets a larger pay cheque than her husband. But what the taxpayer of this country spends to maintain their prime minister bears no comparison to what the universities spend to maintain an academic. Comparison on this score is no doubt akin to comparing apples and oranges. But it is the prime minister who in passing made that comparison. Wickremesinghe is rather fond of comparing his pay with those of others. Speaking at the 30th anniversary of the Ravaya newspapers a few days earlier, he said that editors of most newspapers ("I don’t know about Ravaya" he qualified)and news directors in the electronic media earned more than he did. While there are many people in the country paid more than their president, prime minister, ministers and other elected representatives, there are many more that are paid far less. 

The prime minister is right that we do need to attract better people to parliament, people who will not loot the public purse as many have done in the past and continue to do at present, and make useful contributions to both the legislature and good governance. In the early post-Independence years, the parliamentary allowance of an MP was a meager Rs. 750. They came in their own vehicles to sittings of the House – some like Dr. W. Dahanayaka came by bus or train because they did not own a vehicle – and nobody got duty free permits to buy vehicles. They paid for their own petrol which in those days cost about Rs. 2.50 a gallon. Undoubtedly many of those elected to the then House of Representatives were people who had private means – landowners and the like – as well as professionals who did nicely as lawyers and doctors. But others were by no means rich or comfortably off and did not ask for more. LSSP leader Dr. N.M. Perera, despite his very high qualifications, did not practice a profession and was among the earliest to urge that MPs be paid pensions. NM did however engage in some private business and older readers would remember his being pilloried over the Giridara Mill in the sixties and references in newspapers to plantations he had owned – Oakfied and Moragolla. While he could be attacked for being a capitalist in a capitalist system while professing socialism, none would dare accuse him of ever making a dirty rupee.

There would be a substantial body of opinion in the country that paying MPs better will not reduce corruption or in any great measure attract better people to the legislature - a few maybe, but not all that many. As it is, the existing pay and perks and the opportunities that abound for politicians to make crooked bucks have attracted many undesirables to the legislature. Exigencies of politics have made those who were rejected by the electors to be appointed on the National List. President Sirisena says that the Mahinda Rajapaksa faction of the SLFP strived might and main to have party candidates they labeled as "Sirisena supporters" defeated and he made these appointments to have people he trusted in the House. However that may be, the principle of such appointments does not bear examination and it is to be hoped that the National List is abolished in the new constitution. It is hard to think of anybody but the late Lakshman Kadirgamar who deserved to come unelected to parliament in accordance with criteria set out for National List nominations. There have been some worthies who have enjoyed ministerial appointments by coming into parliament on the national lists of both major parties!

We are now a middle income country according to the official classification of international multilateral lending agencies. But like in most developing countries, most wealth here is concentrated in the upper strata of the population. There was a report in yesterday’s The Island that the richest one percent of Indians own over half that country’s wealth. This is very true of very many countries in the world although the figures may be less dramatic. Given conditions that prevail here, the majority of our people would feel that our MPs do not do badly in terms of pay and perks in comparison to most of their countrymen (and women). Granting legislators increased emoluments in the context of prevailing country conditions will be both unpopular and unfair. Maybe some honest legislators who might do better outside politics (we do have a few of them) have persuaded the prime minister that a wage revision is appropriate. Given that he is more fortunately placed than most of his parliamentary colleagues, Wickremesinghe may well view such requests sympathetically. But acting on such sentiment, however well intentioned, will not only be unpopular but wrong.

Ceylon Today Editorial

Go minister Go!

26 November 2016

The recent issues that the Minister of Sports had with the Secretary of the National Olympic Committee have given quite an insight to happenings regarding cravings of people for overseas trips. It is very clear now most of the authorities in sports associations get into those positions with ulterior motives and one, of the most desired privileges, is foreign travel.

The parties concerned with the process looked quite a bunch of amateurs and immature in this instance acting on such a simple matter of sending two athletes to a training workshop. More than their being pleased with the offer of the training for these two beach volleyball players and the experience they would gain from it, not forfeiting the sending of the coach involved with these players would have been important. This trip would have helped gaining from the training along with the acclimatizing but instead, the immediate response of the Secretary AASL looked one to be securing his position first of all.

Holding a position in a sports organization in a country that has a long history with sports and its operations, his thinking, instead of taking it as his privilege, he should have been more responsible in his action. The fact of, beach volleyball being a new sport, coming in lately to the main stream, itself should have alerted the Secretary to be mindful. He should have been aware of the importance of the proper people making it to Australia where the Commonwealth Games event would finally be taking place.

Here, the thing to be learnt is the fact what these irresponsible official's actions indicate. To someone who has been following the patterns of operations between the authorities of the NOC and Sports Associations, these have a long history of bindings. The fact the NOC secretary telling off the two players and their coach to get it done by politicians as he was not prepared to follow such orders, clearly makes the point how power has been in operation in those realms. Earlier ministers would have been enticed to play ball with these officials but this minister shows he is made of other stuff.

This type of thing would have been quite prevalent and the reaction here with this incident shows things were swept under the carpet in the past, easily. Remember the NOC President getting tough with a telling off of the Sri Lanka captain of the national Olympic team just before taking off to Rio. There was no action taken. There have not been tough issues where the athletes were able to gain from complaining.

At the meeting where the minister faced the media with the President of the NOC, statements made by him were prompted to be scrutinized, with the minister keeping on inciting the pressmen on this. The NOC President guessed where he was being taken and opted out with his sudden departure, jokingly indicating that he was irresponsible. The minister should play their own game better with such officials who had the situation captured to have everything going their way and no other, making certain they got everything covered. They had all those from associations, media and where it mattered at their beck and call. We have in the past seen it happening but this minister is lucky as those that matter at the helm are interested in clearing up the mess that had been heaped on sports from the past rulers.

As we see it, the minister patiently did allow the authorities to play the game their way. He waited patiently to reach conclusions with understanding, not getting all excited as did the bull in the China shop. It is patience that is going to work if the minister is going to clean the slate. This slate has not seen the duster for ages, and when it clears up, much more messy things from the past may begin arising as happens with proper meditating.

When looking at what is going on at present in Singapore one can notice the improvement that has taken place in sports there. They already have pocketed one gold medal at the Olympics. Their football is improving and they know the value sports add on to a country. The minister only has to have that clean slate to start things anew, for things to work out just the way this country deserves its sports to get the limelight it has been missing for centuries. We see this minister to have proper thoughts and may end up as the man not only to clean the mess but give fillip to a deserving and justifiable cause.

Daily News Editorial

War against narcotics

26 November 2016

In spite of the various measures announced and undertaken by the authorities to curb the smuggling of illicit drugs, the trade seems to be thriving. Just a couple of days ago, Customs agents and Police Narcotics Bureau personnel seized 200 Kilos of cocaine concealed in a container stored at the Orugodawatte yard.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that the stock of cocaine had been brought to the island under the guise of importing sugar from Brazil. The total street value of the seized drugs has been estimated to be over Rs. 2 billion. Incidentally, this is not the first time that cocaine was found in a sugar container from Brazil.

In July this year, a similar raid conducted at a private container yard in Peliyagoda yielded 274 Kg of cocaine in two sugar containers imported from Brazil. The PNB recently detected 31 kilogram of cocaine inside another sugar container at a warehouse in Pethiyagoda, Kelaniya. The seizures are the biggest since August 2013, when police found 260 kg of heroin hidden in a shipping container that had arrived from Pakistan.

It is still not clear whether all these stocks were intended for local distribution or for transshipment to a third country or region, especially Europe. Sri Lanka is apparently being used as a midway point by certain narcotics smugglers. Drugs continue to be illicitly trafficked from South-West Asia to India and then from India to Sri Lanka, Maldives and other western countries, according to a recent report compiled by the Narcotics Control Board of India. The report notes that cocaine also comes to South Asia from South American countries like Brazil, Peru, Chile and Bolivia, and is re-routed to Europe and North America from South Asia.

The intricate web of drug smuggling routes could explain the presence of the contraband in the containers, but further investigations will be needed to find out the exact details. Indeed, the latest detection was the result of an intensified search of sugar containers from South America following the July incident. Sri Lanka is not the only country targeted by the smugglers – similar detections were made in Kenya in recent times. More than 9,000 Kg of narcotics have been seized from traffickers in the Indian Ocean region in the past three years alone. This shows the sophistication and regional nature of the drug trafficking syndicates.

President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have vowed to wage war against drug traffickers. However, this is not a battle that Sri Lanka can wage alone, given the global presence of drug traffickers. The fact that one of Sri Lanka’s leading drug barons Wele Suda was nabbed in another country shows the truly global nature of this illicit business.

Sri Lanka must essentially work with other countries in the region and the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to combat the drug menace. In one such example of international cooperation, the Indian and Sri Lankan navies have apprehended several boats that tried to bring in narcotics to Sri Lanka. The PNB has already sought Interpol assistance on several occasions to track down narcotics kingpins and smuggling routes. Our officials must also work closely with their counterparts in Brazil and South America to trace the origins of these consignments.

It is even more important for the international community to share intelligence on drug trafficking. This assumes greater significance in the light of revelations that most terror groups also engage in narcotics smuggling to finance their operations. International action is the need of the hour to nab drug traffickers due to the global nature of the operations of drug cartels.

At national level, all precautions must be in place to ensure that illicit drugs do not reach the society. It should be a multi-pronged attack on the narcotics trade, with the positive involvement of Police, Armed Forces, Customs, PNB and the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board. The Finance Ministry has also stepped in, establishing an anti-narcotics unit. These units must be given all facilities to discharge their duties effectively.

The Police are often blamed for catching the small fry and letting the big fish go scot free when it comes to narcotics. While it is important to catch the small-time drug pushers and users, it is more important to net the bigger players in the narcotics trade. Recently, the PNB, STF and Police have managed to track down some of the kingpins, but much more needs to be done.

Illicit drugs continue to remain among the highest-value illicit commodities trafficked in the Asia-Pacific region - fueling violence, corruption, conflict, addiction and societal decay. The International Community must thus come together to rid the world of illicit drugs. Sri Lanka successfully waged a war against terror, but narcotics could be an even bigger threat to our nation, especially our youth, if we do not take corrective steps now. There is no time to lose in intensifying our battle against narcotics. Otherwise, our very future would be at stake.

The Island Editorial

A damning indictment

26 November 2016

 

JVP leader and Chief Opposition Whip Anura Kumara Dissanayake saw red the other day when a parliamentary committee report on the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) was presented to the House. Taking exception to the committee’s recommendations, which ran counter to the JVP’s position on the issue, he opposed a government move to have a debate thereon; he cited an ongoing court case pertaining to the issue as the reason. The government was, however, convinced otherwise; it said it saw nothing wrong with a parliament debate on the report at this juncture. It is apparently in a hurry to make Parliament’s position on the issue known to the judiciary while the case is on for obvious reasons. However, we believe that the matter is best left to the learned judges.

The JVP, which is usually seen to be playing political footsie with the UNP, has taken the government to task in Parliament on some issues the higher education sector is faced with such as drastic fund cuts and bureaucratic and political bungling. Its arguments sound convincing.

One, however, should not be so naïve as to believe that the JVP is opposing private universities out of any genuine love for free education. It and its offshoot, the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP), fear that they will lose their grip on the seats of higher learning which have become a fertile recruiting ground for them if the state monopoly on universities is done away with and private universities proliferate, providing students a viable alternative.

Given half a chance a large number of students who qualify for admission to state-run universities will opt for higher education at private institutions because the JVP and others of its ilk have ruined the national university system through lecture boycotts, bloody clashes, ragging and other such disruptive methods. By the time a Sri Lankan undergrad passes out the prime of his or her life has passed him or her by and students of his or her age in other countries have completed their postgraduate studies and/or are gainfully employed. The blame for this sorry state of affairs should be apportioned to successive governments and the ultra radical political elements with Marxist posturing who disrupt universities. Any political party which really feels for free education and is desirous of protecting it should ensure that universities function smoothly.

The JVP has, however, shed light on a serious violation of students’ right to education. The public ought to take serious notice of JVP MP Bimal Ratnayake’s allegation against the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the government, during the recent committee stage debate on Budget 2017 under the expenditure heads of the Ministry of Higher Education and Highways. He told the House that more than 2,000 deserving students who passed the GCE A/L examination were deprived of their right to university education every year owing to lapses on the part of the UGC and the government. The state universities could accommodate 24,000 students a year but only 22,000 were enrolled, he said. This is a damning indictment on the guardians of universities.

JVP MP Ratnayake deserves praise. His suggestion that Parliament be informed of the number of slots available at each university annually must be heeded. It will be interesting to see the reaction of the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) to the JVP’s claim. Bureaucrats and government politicians cannot be expected to own up to their lapses and the university dons who have rightly called for an increase in fund allocation for education should look into the JVP’s allegation that a serious injustice is caused to as many as 2,000 students annually. The university teachers should go public with their findings and, if the JVP’s allegation is true, pressure must be brought to bear on the government and the UGC to increase the university intake forthwith.

We suggest that Parliament have a separate debate on the issue raised by the JVP. It is a crime to deprive students of their right to education.