Ceylon Today Editorial

Best Interest of SL Cricket Prime Need

24 September 2016

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe recently felicitated the Sri Lankan cricketers and was heard saying that their next task was winning the 2019 Cricket World Cup. The Premier emphasized here that the President, he and the Cabinet were ready to give the fullest support to develop cricket. From his statement he showed he had knowledge that cricket in the schools, the cradle of Sri Lankan cricket, needed boosting and said he would get the Education Minister to implement a programme soon. It is a great move for cricket that there will be the Prime Minister himself looking closely into the game.

Cricket is the most popular as well as recognized game that was ever played in the country's history of sports. There being no restrictions the game grew wherever there were Englishmen around, even in the outstations where conditions were yet at primitive levels. The game was played and the men who played it were pioneering Englishmen who were not the best liked in areas with large local gatherings. Yet, they managed to get the game to be popular with locals as well. The result of it all was, as far back as 1912 we heard of the likes of Dr. C.H. Gunasekera playing English County Cricket.

Earlier known as Ceylon Cricket Association since 1914, by the year 1948 with the independence gained in the country, there was the creation of the Ceylon Board of Control for Cricket. After the country's name change in 1972 that became the Board of Control for Cricket Sri Lanka (BCCSL). It was under the name Ceylon that the development of the game internationally began and by the year 1975 as Sri Lanka played their first international tournament, when they took part in the very first Prudential Cricket World Cup. By the year 1982 they were in the Test arena. That was due to then President of the BCCSL Gamini Dissanayake having close English connections and being able to make the ICC lend an ear to benefit cricket in the island of Sri Lanka.

This was when politicians were involved with the game from club level to the high positions in the Board of Control for Cricket. Yet, politics had no place in the game except for the betterment of it. It was under these circumstances that the game developed further and the country had a strong set up to go international though the country never had the opportunity earlier.

Then things were happening connected to economics in countries where the game was played. Economies all over were opening up and there were signs that there was money to be made from sports such as cricket, too. This was going to be the current thinking of ways to boost economies and status and opportunities were plentiful in the sports world.

It was seen at the time when South Africa was banned due to apartheid, importing cricketers paying large amounts of monies began, to keep cricket going. With that came the Packer series which saw the fall of Australian cricket. England always had the shorter version on their soil and spectators enjoyed it. There were the knock outs and limited overs going on. At this very moment the ICC began the search and came up with the Cricket World Cup. They organized it and introduced it as the Prudential Cricket World Cup in 1975.

In 1996 Sri Lanka won the World Cup in the shortest time frame compared to those who were in the international scene long before them. Now they have two World Cup winnings, the 50-over and T20, at the highest level. At one time they were number two in the rankings in Test cricket too. To keep up the momentum there have to be strong people involved in the upkeep of the game, respected by officials in the other countries playing it. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has stepped in at the correct time where the game has begun a need for uplifting.

Cricket will survive in Sri Lanka because of the players and its long-standing followers. It is a given that no sport can improve unless it is fostered and that is where loyalty to the game and the country came into play as the PM addressing the matter said. Little bits and pieces of it bitten off at various stages, is what has left it with a limp today. It seems to be growing but needs salvaging before turning into a crisis.

Daily News Editorial

A solid reassurance

24 September 2016

In a landmark address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Maithripala Sirisena has outlined his vision and ambitions for Sri Lanka’s future. The crux of his address was that there would be no more wars or conflicts in Sri Lanka.

Addressing the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly, President Sirisena stressed that his Government has taken effective measures to strengthen democracy, rule of law and good governance in the country paving the way for a positive change to ensure that there will be no more wars on Sri Lankan soil.

This statement, made before top world leaders and the International Community, will hopefully lay to rest the fear psychosis being created by the Joint Opposition and several other factions that the separatist war could recommence in Sri Lanka soon. He told the gathering of eminent world leaders that “the reconciliation process underway has learnt from the bitter experience of a brutal war of three decades” and that he would guarantee “my country will not see the cruelty of war and terrorism again”. For this noble purpose, Sri Lanka welcomes the collaboration and the blessings of the whole world, he noted.

Lest racist and divisive elements interpret this in different way, the President reassured that Sri Lanka being a free, independent and a sovereign nation with territorial integrity, will find its own home-grown recipe for the reconciliation process. Both the President and the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have emphasized time and again that there will be no foreign element in the ongoing accountability and reconciliation process.

It is not possible to heal the wounds of conflict overnight. Indeed, some countries which resolved their conflicts decades ago are still searching for lasting peace. This is why Sri Lanka has asked for more time and space for its reconciliation process after a war that traumatized the nation and sowed the seeds of discord for three long decades. The complex process of reconciliation and nation building has to be done step by step.

“We have no hurry. We tread each wise step with care, vigilance, patience and persistence,” said the President, alluding to this pragmatic policy. The present exercise of drafting a new Constitution with the agreement of all political parties is part of this initiative of achieving a Sri Lankan identity and lasting reconciliation among the different communities and religious groups that call Sri Lanka home.

The other major thrust of the President’s speech was the importance of eradicating the menace of narcotics from the whole world. Stressing that illicit drugs have become the most serious challenge faced by all societies today, the President drew the attention of the audience to the importance of fighting the menace both collectively and individually.

Describing narcotics as “a great obstacle” for the progress of the world community, the President agreed with several other world leaders who had previously spoken of the subject that illicit drugs have become the most serious challenge faced by our societies. The President’s clarion call to the United Nations and the International Community to fight illegal drugs collectively and individually through a robust, more organised international programme received a very favourable response from the august gathering.

The President also referred to the importance of eliminating poverty, one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, noting that 2017 has been declared in Sri Lanka as Poverty Alleviation Year. He observed that economic development and poverty alleviation should go hand in hand. He rightly highlighted the nexus between economic prosperity and free education (as well as free healthcare), to which all post-independence Governments in Sri Lanka were committed.

His speech also touched on an aspect that most world leaders did not mention – the lack of moral values in today’s society which he said had led to a plethora of societal problems including crime and terrorism. In the President’s own words “in many parts of the world, we see the unfortunate proliferation of anger, hatred, and brutality. I would call that the contemporary society is experiencing a crisis of morality. I believe that all states should pay heed to the cry for moral values”. The world should recognize the role that can be played by the leading religions in moulding a morally righteous society, he added.

Pointing out that the future belongs to the youth, President Sirisena outlined his Government’s commitment to giving them better educational and vocational opportunities that would one day propel Sri Lanka to the ranks of developed nations. His reference to a knowledge-based economy is timely as Sri Lanka is poised for a major economic and social transformation in the next few years.

The warm reception accorded to the President’s UN speech and to the President himself by the International Community is indicative of how far Sri Lanka has come on the world stage after the fall of the previous regime under which Sri Lanka almost became a pariah state. It is only by becoming key player in global affairs that we can march ahead, not by isolationism.

The Island Editorial

Enemies of reconciliation

24 September 2016

President Maithripala Sirisena has, in his address to the recently concluded United Nations General Assembly, reaffirmed his government’s commitment to bringing about national reconciliation. He has also ruled out the possibility of the country being plunged into another war. His commitment to the reconciliation process and safeguarding minority rights cannot be called into question. In fact, he is duty bound to protect the rights of minorities who overwhelmingly backed his presidential bid.

However, one may have doubts about his assurance that there will be no war. He should not allow himself to be lulled into a false sense of complacency anent national security. There is, of course, no need for him or his government to tilt at windmills without demilitarising the former war zone, where people are struggling to rebuild their lives devastated by a protracted war. But, the country and governments must remain eternally vigilant and prepared to face any eventuality.

Terrorism is like cancer. There is always the danger of recurrence.

No sooner had President Sirisena extolled the virtues of reconciliation in New York than a group of northern politicians, sympathetic to the LTTE’s cause, announced their decision to hold a mass protest campaign, which will only help boost the morale of the lunatic fringe. Whether they will be able to muster adequate popular support for their project remains to be seen, but they are sure to continue to organise such events in a bid to gain political traction and eat into the TNA’s vote base.

The present government abused its power to enable the TNA and the JVP to secure the control of the official Opposition so as to prevent former President Mahinda Rajapaksa from becoming the Opposition Leader. It made a mockery of its commitment to good governance. But, as a result, the aforesaid two parties—one with a history of justifying LTTE terrorism and the other responsible for unleashing southern terrorism—now have to play a different role with some restraint as the democratic Opposition.

The incumbent administration has, either wittingly or unwittingly, neutralised extremists in the southern parts of the country politically. The fall of the former government left some of them without political clout and the attendant impunity. They have chosen to lie low. Others who fell out with the Rajapaksa government and joined forces with its opponents to engineer last year’s regime change have had to behave. For, if the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government, dependent on minority support to win elections, shows them the door, they will fall between two stools.

President Sirisena should have stressed at the UNGA that if the LTTE’s military muscle had been spared there would have been no room for reconciliation efforts. If the Rajapaksa government had given in to international pressure and sought to appease terrorism instead of defeating it decisively, no one would have been safe today; the TNA would still have recognised the LTTE as the sole representative of Tamils; it would also have been making statements on behalf of Prabhakaran in Parliament and elsewhere the way it announced the Tiger leader’s decision to boycott the 2005 presidential polls. The LTTE would have continued to suppress democratic dissent violently besides committing other crimes such as child abductions, massacres, bombing of civilian targets and extortion if Prabhakaran had been alive.

In short, defeating terrorism is a prerequisite for rekindling democracy. But for the crushing of the JVP insurrections democracy would have perished in the southern parts of the country and the outfit would never have taken to democratic politics. It was the defeat of the LTTE which saved democracy in the North and the East. Those who are trying to revive the LTTE ideology are the worst enemies of the fragile reconciliation process. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the western diplomats have only helped legitimise their despicable cause by meeting them.