Sunday Leader Editorial

Racial Reconciliation: Hound The Scoundrels Out!

02 October 2016

It is over seven years since the horrendous terrorist conflict that went on for a near three decades ended and the Tamil community that faced the ravages of the war – death of those near and dear, destruction of their property including the roofs over their heads and all their possessions – have been remarkably quiescent in their suffering in the post conflict period.

Last week they came out en masse under the slogan ‘Eluga Thamil’ in a rally organized by the Tamil Peoples’ Council (TPC), headed by the Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C. V. Wigneswaran, to air their grievances and make demands. The TPC is a splinter group of the main Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), led by R. Sampanthan who is also the Leader of the Opposition. Reports said that leaders of all former and present constituent parties of the TNA except the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) participated in the demonstration.

It is only natural that a community that had faced the brunt of the war for long years and suffered in silence after the defeat should come out into the open and make their demands. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government was able to triumph over the Rajapaksa regime, which was considered invincible, partly because of the Tamils in the North and East as well as in other parts of the country, voting overwhelmingly for them. It should not surprise or cause alarm to any government leader if they are called upon by Tamils known or unknown to fulfill their election pledges.

Reports said that the demands made from the government were democratic and reasonable. The main demand was for a political solution to the ethnic problem. Other demands were: Amalgamation of the Northern and Eastern provinces as a single administrative unit; release of Tamil political prisoners who had been detained for many years under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), release of lands taken over by security forces during the war to their rightful owners and an end to construction of Buddhist Temples and statues in places where Buddhists do not live. The government had positively responded in various ways to most of these demands.

A demand made for removal of all security forces from the North and East however will not be possible in the immediate future but reductions could be made over a period of time with the easing of the situation. Of course security forces cannot remain in the North and East forever.

Land taken over by the security forces too have been handed back to the owners and where it is not possible for security needs, fair and immediate payment of compensation is called for.

The demand for release of prisoners for long years without trial is a blot not only on the country’s judicial system but on entire democratic Sri Lanka.

It is unfortunate that the demands made have resulted in the typical knee-jerk reaction similar to responses to such requests or demands made in times before terrorism began to gather momentum.

Nimal Siripala de Silva, Senior Vice President of the SLFP and Cabinet Minister had taken objections to some of the demands made by C. V. Wigneswaran and called upon him to withdraw the statements made. Wigneswaran, de Silva had said, had overstepped his mandate as Chief Minister to incite ethnic tensions and thus empower extremists in the north and south.

This is certainly the wrong way to go about bringing reconciliation among Sinhalese and Tamils. What Wigneswaran and others have said should be studied in earnest and considered in further deliberations. They are sentiments that have been bottled up for years and needs to be vented for consideration. All of it need not be implemented.

Minister de Silva probably fears Sinhala extremists of the South exploiting these demands as demands made by LTTE terrorists for a separate state. No doubt extremists will attempt to do so and it is a challenge for Sinhala politicians like de Silva to challenge these extremists and prove them wrong to the public.

This country has been going down the slippery rope because rabid communalists under the guise of patriots and even elder statesmen have been blackmailing governments with threats of communal backlashes. The tail has been wagging the dog for long and if this continues we will be having another ‘Suriya Theivam’ holding a gun at our heads.

There are many proposals being made to bring about reconciliation and amity between the two races. Whatever the laws available they have to be implemented by political leaders and if political leaders do not have the guts and commitment to put their beliefs into practice, all legislation written for the purpose will not be worth the paper it is printed on.

Power hungry politicians are on the rampage trying to exploit racism and use it as the trump card for their victory. Such despicable characters have been with us and will be there in the future. The future of the country will be with those decent politicians – who always outnumber scoundrels – who do what they think is right.

Ceylon Today Editorial

Kashmir, Economy and Wiggy

02 October 2016

Thinking up solutions to lift the nation out of the Rs 9 trillion debt it was bequeathed by the former regime with a series of hectic visits to Asian-Paciific nations to forge trade agreements which will not only sell Lanka products in those markets but also bring in the vital revenue needed to clip budget deficits to 3 per cent of GDP is one heck of a battle on the hands of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Forging close trade links with the US and EU, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Australia and Arab Gulf nations and promoting FDI inflows keeps Malik Samarawickreme on a 24x7 rote routine that could be so hectic in mere terms of travel and planning and discussion that ministries under them could well be manned by officials working themselves to the bone.

This is the real tired face of what governance looks like behind the scenes where the cameras don't go.

On the other side is President Maithripala Sirisena grappling with an endless sate of invective and destabilization launched against him personally, and against the unity government in general. This keeps him eternally tangled up with the massive task of conferring day and night with advisors – and that includes ex-President Chandrika Kumaratunga – to come up with ways and means of negating these destabilizing forces mainly spearheaded by the MR camp. Least of all is not his concern about how destabilizing the planned new political party, supposed to be spearheaded by Mahinda Rajapaksa, will prove to be. Certainly, going by the Joint Opposition's track record, one can expect mounting pressures through series of strikes and anti-government demonstrations...all of which will coalesce into one huge destabilizing element.

At a glance then, what one sees in Parliament, and without it, are far too many destabilizing forces which can merge...and which the JO will merge...into a collective assault on the government. As most balanced observers will tell you, the destabilization drive lacks moral or ethical substance. In short, it's destabilization for the sake of destabilization aimed at causing maximum harm to what most citizens and the international community have come to hail as good governance. This was underscored by the many plaudits which President Sirisena received on his recent visit to the US to attend the UN General Assembly sessions.

Into this political maelstrom, have entered two major potentially crisis-ridden factors which add to the government's over-abundant share of woes, both uninvited and inevitable, both at home and abroad.

The government plays its cards close to its chest on the explosive Kashmiri crisis and is yet to say anything about Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif who said officially on prime time TV: "We have not made an atomic device to display in a showcase. We will 'eliminate India' with nuclear weapons if the country 'dares to impose war' ".

India and Pakistan are on the very brink of war but the Lankan President and Premier, as far as we all know, have not thought it fit to call a Security Council meeting to work out a response to a conflagration, even after India quickly evacuated more than 10,000 villagers living near the border with Pakistan, amid concerns that there could be a military escalation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government on Thursday ordered federal and state security forces to upgrade surveillance along the frontier in Jammu and Kashmir state, part of the 3,300-km (2,100 miles) border between the nuclear-armed neighbours, where the major Chinese extended Silk Road cross-border 300 kilometre highway, traverses the mountain region, making access by Chinese troops very easy.

The balance has tipped in India's favour with the absence of Mahinda Rajapaksa who would certainly have favourably considered access to Lankan sea ports by Chinese maritime military forces to help Pakistan against India.

This is the extent to which Sirisena had tipped the balance of power in India's favour. Under his regime there will be no question of anti-Indian forces getting access to Lankan waters and bunkering and other facilities. Just last week, the US and Sri Lanka inked an MoU for US ships to access bunkering facilities in the Hambantota Port. That will obviously include US military vessels, surface and submarine, a statement of intent to China and Pakistan.

The Kashmiri crisis was expected in advance. Measures have been taken to add to the pro-US-India military architecture. One needs to read between the lines here. Hambantota's relevance only surfaces in the event of a maritime/air combat scenario.

To top it all off, Northern CM C.V. Wigneswaran (Read TNA!) timed his move demanding federalism knowing well that pressure at this moment in time will draw the maximum benefit, though short of federalism. All those US ship visits to the North can be leveraged and Sirisena will know that for a fact...

Weekend Nation Editorial

Safeguard sanctity of the judiciary

02 October 2016

Much has been said in the electronic media in particular over the past few days concerning the slandering, criticizing and threatening of judges in the online media on judgments delivered by them. Among them was the allegation that telephone lines of a judge who had given a dissenting judgment in a politically-sensitive case had been tapped and his email hacked. Even the Bar Association of Sri Lanka had taken the matter up with due seriousness and had even indicated their willingness to pursue legal action against the wrong doers.

One thing that we all should bear in our minds is that in a multi-judge bench any judge has a right to differ in his opinion for which he gives his reasons. That is the very reason why there are panels consisting of several judges where verdicts are given according to the majority opinion. The traditions have been part of our judicial system for centuries. Whether a judge is right or wrong is a matter of opinion and no outsider should have the authority go into that except a higher court in appeal.

As pointed out by the Bar Association, judges unlike politicians or other officials are not supposed to come out and defend themselves when they are attacked through the media. Like others, judges are also subject to all human frailties and there have been enough incidents both here and abroad where judges have even been removed or punished for wrong doings. But there is a well-established procedure for doing so without damaging the entire institution.

Merely opening the gates of the media to bring unsubstantiated and baseless allegations against the judges will only bring the entire judiciary into disrepute in the eyes of the ordinary people who often look up to the institution for relief whenever they are wronged. A free judiciary is an important element in a democracy and safeguarding the sanctity of that institution is a sacred duty of all the people.

Sunday Times Editorial

Criminal law amendments need to be reviewed

02 October 2016

A proposed amendment to Sri Lanka’s criminal law has caused a furore among human rights activists and lawyers. The amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code, affords legal assistance to a suspect detained by the police, but then it seems, only after the suspect’s statement is recorded.

The objection to this giving a concession with one hand and taking away with the other has come from those working with detainees — and the National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, no less. They argue this will be an open licence to the police to continue torturing and ill-treating suspects and thereby violate the country’s international obligations. Torture; to extract involuntary confessions, occurs at the stage of taking down the statements. Giving legal assistance thereafter will practically be ‘after the damage has been done’ as it were.

The Constitution explicitly guarantees every citizen the right to a fair trial. A fair trial begins at the stage when a statement is recorded at the police station, not necessarily in a court of law. Sri Lanka’s international commitments and other national laws have stressed the importance of early legal assistance for suspects in the custody of the police. Having the Criminal Procedure Code deviate from this standard will be unacceptable, activists maintain. No amendment would be better than an amendment of this nature because it can even legitimise the police from preventing legal assistance prior to a statement being recorded, they say. The counter-argument is that crime is on the rise and suspects will be ‘coached’ to utter falsehoods if lawyers are given early access to them. Then again, cops are famous for ‘cooking the evidence” themselves. False cases are lodged in the Magistrate’s Courts often against poor people who refuse to give into requests of bribes from cash to liquor and other favours demanded. The Supreme Court itself has castigated the police for torturing suspects during interrogation. But even holding individual officers personally liable and having to pay damages to victims of police brutality has not stopped or lessened this practice even after Fundamental Rights cases came into vogue. So, we still continue to have grisly police cell deaths. A novel suggestion by the Government to put in close-circuit TV cameras inside police stations may come up against Sri Lankans’ penchant for inventiveness. It does not take much imagination to predict that these cameras may not work when they are supposed to.

Advanced democracies have the provision in their criminal law where a suspect is given the option of calling a lawyer once arrested and before his statement is recorded. In some countries the suspect is entitled to remain silent. The onus is entirely on the police to prove their case. This, however, is made a mockery as we can see in the United States of America where African-Americans are publicly revolting as members of their community get shot in the street by policemen. In the Philippines, their President has asked the police not to worry about human rights as they go on a ruthless bloody crusade against drug dealers and drug pushers. But still, the provision of allowing a suspect to have access to a lawyer once taken into custody prevails in their laws. This may be cold comfort to the victims, but the importance of having a principle upheld as the highest standard must be recognised.

Of course the elite will use influence when in a police station. Some, more equal than others are not even taken to a station and have ruling party MPs defend them in Parliamentary Oversight Committees. Yet, the issue needs to be seen in the wider picture of increasing crime and the lack of proper policing in Sri Lanka. Community policing is non-existent in Sri Lanka today. A typical police station will have more men detailed for VIP security and traffic duty than crime busting. Short staffed and under pressure to solve rising crime they resort to torture tactics. The Prime Minister recently admonished the police for their lacklustre performance in preventing crime and said that rather than chasing suspects after a crime has been committed, crime prevention is a better option.

For this, the entire framework of policing has to change. Community policing needs to be re-introduced. These serious issues must be addressed at the policy level rather than with ‘quick fix’ solutions. Today we can see policemen going about in their private scooters, sergeants having three-wheelers and DIGs owning buses under the names of relatives – no prizes for guessing where the extra income comes for such ventures. It seems that the Government needs to think through this amendment. Even belatedly, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka has made public its objections as communicated to the President. Sober consideration is needed before changes of this nature are sought to be made when Sri Lanka is desperately trying to regain its rightful place in the comity of decent, democratic, human rights respecting nations.

SAARC ship torpedoed

 

It was only the other week that we mentioned in this space that for all intents and purposes, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) was on the verge of extinction. Only a handful of world leaders attended last month’s NAM summit in Venezuela. The recent exit of Britain from the European Union also does not bode well for regional cooperation. Now closer home, we have the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) tottering with the synchronized boycott of its summit in November in Pakistan over incidents in Kashmir.

SAARC has always had a troubled existence. Bilateral issues are specifically excluded from its agenda, but the more than half century-long Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan is often at the core of the problems that have dogged the group’s 31 year existence. Sri Lanka too had its differences with India in the 1980s over cross-border terrorism issues that almost derailed the group.

This week, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Bhutan said they would not participate in the November summit. Sri Lanka was forced to follow. The summit cannot be held even if one leader pulls out though a Head of Government can deputise someone in his or her place.

Excuses to duck a summit are limitless. Any member-state wanting to torpedo the ship that sailed from Dhaka in 1985 with the noble ideals of ‘in unity there is strength’, representing nations that have one-fifth of the world’s population can do so with the utmost ease. The more difficult task is to sit down and work out solutions.

The fact that the eight sisters of SAARC are unequal partners does not help. Neither does the trend of member-states seeking bilateral trade agreements and embarking on individual journeys. These merely spell doom for regional cooperation. Today, within SAARC member-states, travel, trade and people-to-people exchanges are minimal. This week’s funeral of Israeli elder statesman Shimon Peres offers SAARC leaders a lesson or two. Peres was a founding father of the state of Israel and vehemently defended its sovereignty. Later, however, he realised that the historical aberration in West Asia created by the colonial powers of the last century had to be rectified by the two state solution with the creation of the state of Palestine as well.

India and Pakistan are already two sovereign states, but Kashmir stands between them as the bone of contention ever since their Independence in 1947. The parallels are telling. There will be no peace and prosperity in West Asia, or in the Indian sub-continent unless these twin legacies left behind by the colonial powers are resolved.

Sunday Observer Editorial

Sounds of anger or, paper lions and tigers?

02 October 2016

The North of Sri Lanka, or at least Jaffna, last week reverberated to the cries of demonstrating political activists and their followers articulating, firstly, the frustration over the slow progress of post-war recovery and, secondly, the yearning for the presumed dignity of self-rule - of greater autonomy, if not independence. Within days, the South heard angry voices protesting the perceived reawakening of secessionism in the North. The anger was clear in their harsh expressions of hostility to minority ethnicity and minority ethnic politics.

The protest in Jaffna was led by politicians, including the Chief Minister of the Northern Province, no less. The protest demonstration initiated in the South - and reaching Vavuniya, but no further - was led by clerics, the most notable being the leader of the Bodu Bala Sena.

The theme of the well-planned march in Jaffna, 'Elugha Thamil', echoed the theme of a similar annual event, 'Pongu Thamil', conducted by the now-defunct secessionist insurgent movement, the LTTE, a movement that struck terror in the hearts of many non-Tamils, and even some Tamils. Unsurprisingly, the responding Southern protest march in Vavuniya voiced threats of retaliation that echoed the raging threats associated with the terrifying attack on Muslim townships in Aluthgama. Indeed, some protestors openly invoked the tragedy of Aluthgama. It was the same organisation prominent in Vavuniya last week that was also prominent in Aluthgama during the racist pogrom there.

That violence begets violence, if the beings concerned fail to transcend baser instincts, is a truism well understood by the participants in both rival protests, most of whom were adherents of either Buddhism or Hinduism. This country has experienced that vicious cycle of violence and counter-violence many a time in its modern history.

More importantly, this country has learnt the lessons of failure to respond civilly, rather than violently, to civil expression of social and political frustration - whether ethnic community frustration or social class frustration. To the credit of Sri Lankan society overall - no thanks to those who persisted in the un-civility - there has been much regret over that failure in civility and corresponding huge efforts to redress that failure by constitutional and administrative reform. Partial regional autonomy, in the form of moderately empowered provincial councils, is already in place, although much after the calls for such devolution were first articulated.

Sadly, many years of strife and suppression of civilian political agitation by violent State action, followed by waves of armed insurgency against the violent State, had to pass before the nation undertook political reform that addressed the root causes of the conflict.

The bloodletting on all sides reached a crescendo in the past decade with events so gory that society would rather forget than recount. Forgiveness is needed but not forgetfulness.

The measure of civilisation is not so much in the non-occurrence of barbarity but in the transcending of barbarity and, in the creativity that can arise from the actual (and awful) experience and understanding of such extremities. It is when society successfully meets the test of evil and, overcomes it, that civilisation shines forth, lighting up the world.

The test, then, is for political leaderships to dig deep for understanding, inspiration, dialogue and, finally, consensual action to heal rather than wound, to unite and reconcile rather than divide and alienate.

The Tamil leadership has big challenges. It must deal intelligently with political immaturity and amateurish tactics by aspiring politicians on the one hand. On the other, it must retain the faith of the mass of Tamils by a dual strategy of close, empathetic interaction with its constituency that parallels its ongoing, if tortuous, negotiations with the other national political leaderships for a constitutional settlement of the ethnic problem. The mass base should not be forgotten in the course of top-level negotiations.

Those leftovers of the 'guerilla' struggle must learn that any progress towards future political success should not and cannot come through a resort to reviving old terrors. After all, their constituency seeks to move on towards stability and prosperity quickly, and are not likely to be nostalgic for much longer over past, short-lived and, bloodily-won, makeshift glories recalled, momentarily, with 'Elugha Thamil'. Those diasporic remnants of a defeated insurgency need to be seen in their real form: remnants.

The national political leaderships also face complex challenges of riding such outbursts of impatience as last week's demonstration in Jaffna while being firm with attempts by pseudo-nationalist has-beens to rig the political arena with paper tigers.

Certainly, the pace of ground level post-war recovery measures must be quickened. The speedy release of lands to former owners and support for the many poorer people of the North and East who have no capital at all is critical if the constituencies in the former war zone are to remain patient. And this will include putting an end to any illusions of empire-building and land grabbing via religious icons and installations. Since many of these implanted religious icons and installations have no sustaining community of adherents, it is only the illusion that stands in the way of firmly dealing with such patent pseudo-religion.

Those 'paper lions' who raise their voices must be seen as what they are so that they are not given a significance they cannot command.

Finally, the micro-politics of impending local elections should not deter or slow down national level actions on any side, north and south, for long term peace and prosperity.

'In flesh by fire inflamed, nature may thoroughly heal the sore; in soul by tongue inflamed, the ulcer healeth never more.' (Tirukkural, verse 129)

Sunday Island Editorial

Revenue and expenditure

02 October 2016

 

The Lankan people are too well aware that government revenues are woefully inadequate to meet government expenditure. This situation which gets worse with every passing year is dinned into any and everybody by political leaders who harp on their predecessors’ profligacy while doing precious little to correct the situation. They are more than willing to do the grand themselves at public expense while ensconced in office. The political class has progressively fattened itself from state coffers as well as pita vaasi (fringe benefits) from illegal gratifications, commissions, kickbacks and what have you for the past several decades. While we hear incessantly about the need to increase revenue, there is little or no talk at all about reducing expenditure; extravagance in the government sector, highlighted now and again in the national press like the story of sandwiches from a five star hotel costing Rs. 1,200 each to be served at the Police Day celebration are examples. That was stopped in the nick of time, thank goodness. Jumbo-sized cabinets costing more than a mint are the norm today and a few days ago there was a report, not refuted up to now, about secretaries of ministries being entitled to lease high-end cars like Mercedes Benzes and BMWs at Rs. 500,000 a month! While leasing them would certainly cost less than buying and maintaining them, cannot our senior officialdom ride in less ostentatious luxury? But their political bosses have already set the bad example with their vehicles bought at taxpayer expense!

We know all about the debt/GDP ratio. We have been treated with a welter of facts and figures of how much of government’s revenue must be spent to service the national debt, never mind capital repayments. There have been functionaries who held high office who dismissed extravagances like the big bucks that were spent in the bid to host the Commonwealth Games here as a mere drop in the ocean in terms of GDP. That was no doubt true. But the fact is that ordinary people look at who spends that money and how much of it is spent on themselves. They highly resent that those who presented themselves at elections as coming forward to serve the people are only serving themselves. The so-called unfinished Lotus Tower rising obscenely into the Colombo skyline must surely rankle. What earthly use is this white elephant, like those created at Hambantota, going to be for the people of this country except cost them plenty? What do they care if we have the tallest building in South Asia, albeit at a cost of over 100 million dollars, and how many of them are going to be able to afford the various luxuries it will offer once completed? For a country our size, we have enough television and radio stations today and the available communication facilities of the tower risk the fate of the port without ships and the airport without planes.

Politics, it is said, is the art of the possible. So we have defeated candidates appointed on the National List to Parliament and anointed with cabinet office to boot so that a so-called unity government can have a parliamentary majority; that plus the balancing act between President Sirisena’s SLFP and ex-President Rajapaksa’s Joint Opposition require the conferring of office on various politicians for support comes at a price. The lame excuses that we have heard ad nauseam notwithstanding, the much postponed local elections will have to be held sooner than later. Whether the president’s SLFP faction and the UNP which is its partner in government will be able to reach some practical accommodation that will help each other, or whether both parties will field their own slates, remains to be seen. As has almost always been the case, a united opposition has always been able to overcome the UNP while the greens have benefited from a divided opposition. Will history repeat itself at the forthcoming local elections? Local bodies too cost the taxpayer. But they too, like other elected institutions like the provincial council white elephant, add to burden on the public purse. Both can play a role in the administration of the country. While it can be said that the older local councils, be they municipalities, urban councils or humble village committees (now pradeshiya sabhas) despite many weaknesses have played a useful role, have the provincial councils?

Let us hope that Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, when he presents the 2017 budget next month, take cognizance of government expenditure which is way too high for a country of our size and resources. Our public service is bloated and carrying far too many passengers that the economy can ill afford. But reducing the numbers is not politically possible. Everybody knows that last year’s public service pay hike which the former president has called a "bribe" was intended to win the election. Rajapaksa too offered a less generous "bribe" along with sil redhi and other inducements to win votes before losing the presidential election. It’s easy enough to lavish pre-election largesse on the electorate and neither the winners nor the losers last year can plead ‘not guilty’ on this score. Given the current cost of living which can only rise further, nobody can grudge a pay increase to any sector of the population. But the question is whether the beneficiaries, or the large majority of them, earn their pay in terms of productivity? The answer sadly is ‘No’. How many state owned enterprises have had voluntary retirement schemes (VRS’s) to downsize their payrolls to acceptable levels, but after paying the incentives to retire added to the original numbers? SriLanka Airlines is one such. Jobs for the boys (and girls) are very much a part of the political credo which seekers of elected office freely indulge in at cost to the taxpayer. We can’t see it ending in the foreseeable future.