Ceylon Today Editorial

Will Integrity at UN stand up?

12 October 2016

Just after the UN announced that ex-Portugal Prime Minister Antonio Guterres had been appointed as the new UN Secretary General, what, asked one man from another, is the best way to reform the United Nations?

The man's glib quip was "Shut it down".

International media respected for their journalistic integrity, including the respected Deutsche Welle, quotes Johannes Beck the political scientist as saying that "the new Secretary-General must urgently reform the United Nations. However, Antonio Guterres' time as Portuguese Prime Minister gives reason to doubt that he is the right man for the job". As Premier, he first spoke stridently against giving jobs to 'party men' but ended up dishing out thousands of jobs to his party's men, and not just the youth.

So here's a man who has not a very exciting track record on political integrity. But we will not pre-judge.

Beck's opinion deserves in-depth consideration in the context of an organization that exercises such far reaching global socio-political clout as does the UN. We in Sri Lanka have seen how the outgoing UNSG Ban Ki-moon softened up just that little bit on war crimes issues only after the current government took power in Colombo. As everyone knows, never did he take the side of the Lankan Governments or the Lankan people who suffered under LTTE terrorism.
Is that integrity, we might well ask.

All that ended with us losing export access to several capitals, especially the GSP-Plus of the EU whose President was none other than another former Portuguese Premier, Mr. José Manuel Barroso, under whom the EU's foundational Constitution insisted on refugee intakes by member nations. That led to the UK's exit from the EU. The problem globally has been that even terrorists have been extended sympathy when their followers wear the "refugees from Genocide" mask which is not to be confused, but is, with refugees from the wars in the Sudan and Syria, which is used by terrorists to blur the lines of definition. Sri Lanka still struggles with the effects of that blurred definition.

What's relevant in Gutteres' appointment as UNSG is that he has in his capacity as head of the UN Refugee apparatus until recently, been pro-refugee and that has not gone down too well especially in the UK where the BREXIT vote was a sound denunciation of refugee intake imposed on EU Member States by the EU, irrespective of whether they were genuine, fleeing genocide or were terrorists and terror supporters fleeing just arrest and punishment for unleashing death and destruction in countries such as Sri Lanka.

The reason why an UNSG's credentials need to be above scrutiny and seeped in integrity is because nations such as Sri Lanka need men of sheer integrity in key UN positions if the nation's conduct in ending the 30-year terrorism splurge is to be seen in its correct perspective, namely, a war by terrorists, a war that is even at this very moment under the UN's unrelenting probe to lynch leaders here for alleged war crimes when it should be the other way around.

Can Sri Lanka depend on integrity and an objective look at what's on the table at the UNHRC sessions come March 2017... or will he be merely, like Ban Ki-moon before him ... be just an extension of the 'big four' who, through funding the UN, control its destinies....and Sri Lanka's?

We are up against a powerful presence of men and women lacking integrity at the helm of powerful bodies such as the EU, UN, UK and USA. This issue cannot be confused with other issues where paradoxically these organizations and governments are proving to be of immense importance in helping Sri Lanka get on her feet economically as well as socio-politically.
But this confusing, this paradoxical, duality must end.

Until recently, Jose Manuel Barroso, whose controversial decision to join the investment bank Goldman Sachs as its President came under a strong demand by European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, who objected to Barroso's decision to work for Goldman because of the US investment bank's role in mortgages which unleashed the global financial crisis.

It's fearful to know that such powerful bodies, even such as the EU, have been led by men lacking integrity.

Sri Lanka's chances of getting a fair hearing against terrorism when the UNHRC meets this coming March to review the US engineered resolution that hangs like the Sword of Damocles over Sri Lanka.

Daily News Editorial

PM’s assurance sufficient guarantee

12 October 2016

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has assured the country that the preeminent place accorded to Buddhism will remain intact as ensured in the present constitution. He said all political parties in parliament and religious leaders in the country have no issues in giving the foremost place to Buddhism. He said, not only have political parties expressed their readiness to protect the religion, Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith as well as Islamic and Hindu leaders in the country have also accepted the Article in the constitution. Hence individuals need not create unnecessary issues over the future of Buddhism under the proposed new constitution, the Premier said at the opening of the Bodhimaluwa, Bodhi Prakaraya and Dagoba of the Sedawatte Vegheragoda Viharaya in Kolonnawa on Sunday. “As a state, the President, I, and all of us, protect Buddhism, not through words but through action”, the PM told the gathering.

Perhaps, there is no present leader, as Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, who is more qualified to speak on the subject of Buddhism, not just due to his rich pedigree, that links his family as benefactors towards the development and the upliftment of Buddhist temples, viharayas, restoration of Buddhist artefacts, archaeological sites other and meritorious acts to foster and promote the Buddha Dhamma, but also his wide in-depth and profound knowledge on the Buddha Dhamma. It is perhaps this confidence in the Premier, that he would never act to the detriment of Buddhism, that may have prompted the Mahanayake of the Malwatte Chapter to deliver short shrift to the likes of Wimal Weerawansa who went to meet the prelate to apprise him of the dire consequences awaiting the preeminent status enjoyed by Buddhism in the proposed new constitution.

The prelate, no doubt, is also aware that Premier Wickremesinghe is not an individual who makes an ostentatious display of his devotion to the Buddha Dhamma but one who has the religion firmly embedded in his heart. His close rapport with the leading members of the Maha Sangha, his family’s close links with the Kelaniya Rajamahaviharaya, Gangarama temple and a host of other places of Buddhist interests no doubt will persuaded genuine Buddhists to shed any misgivings they may have on this score.

The Premier said all political parties, including the TNA, have no issue on this score. Hence why members of the Joint Opposition, such as Udaya Gammanpila, are making a big hue and cry about the ‘dangers to Buddhism’ under the new constitution is not difficult to fathom. With 70 pent of the country’s population being Buddhist, what better opportunity to sow the seeds of doubt in the uninformed and uninitiated among the Buddhist majority that their religion is going to lose its foremost position, at the instance of the West or the Tamil diaspora? This, despite the Ministry of Buddha Sasana being a creation of the UNP government and also the Poya weekend, which was scrapped by the United Front Government.

President Sirisena, the other day, invited those who claimed the country was going to be divided and Buddhism is to lose its place under the new constitution, to meet him and point out where has this happened. This, at a time that member of the Steering Committee on Constitution making Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne stating that not even a single clause of the new constitution had still been written.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa should at least now rein in his members, particularly the monks, now that assurances have been given by both, the President and Prime Minister, that no harm would be caused to Buddhism. He (Rajapaksa) has already seen the consequence to the country from the three decades long ethnic conflict caused due to the racist politics on both sides of the divide. There is no knowing the nature of the conflagration, that may erupt, as a result of the rousing of religious sentiments.

Drawing a Red Herring?

Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa has filed two cases in the Colombo District Courts claiming damages to the tune of Rs.200 million against the FCID, for tarnishing his image as a politician by taking him to remand custody over an alleged cheating in a sum of Rs.70 million granted by the Krrish Company for the development of rugby. Rajapaksa claimed that he was taken into custody without a proper investigation, to fulfill a political need.

Is this going to be a forerunner for an avalanche of cases to be filed before courts by others of the former regime under investigation for alleged fraud and corruption? It is now clear that investigations into these cases are on the verge of being concluded and the public are awaiting the climax.

Is there a plan to stampede the courts with similar cases in order to prolong proceedings, while the suspects escape prison? Or, in the alternative, is this an attempt to intimidate the investigators and discourage them from proceeding with the cases by showing the futility of continuing (with the cases) since their findings will any event be challenged in court.

The authorities should stand by the investigating officers and allow them to continue with investigations, unhindered, if the aim is to eliminate bribery and corruption from the body politic.

The Island Editorial

Aiyo!

12 October 2016

 

An exclamation with Sinhala and Tamil roots is reported to have been assimilated into the English language. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has recognised ‘Aiyo’ as a legitimate English word, we are told. It has been etymologically categorised and defined as a word ‘expressing distress or regret or grief’ and described as a substitute for the English phrases, ‘Oh no!’ or ‘Oh dear!’ This polysemous exclamation has other meanings and nuances as the native speakers of Sinhala and Tamil are aware.

Anyway, let’s be happy that we have loaned another word to the English word stock, which is a chain of borrowings with a miniscule Celtic core and more non-English than English, given the sheer number of words being borrowed from many other languages such as Greek, Latin, French and German. Interestingly, some of the oft-used loanwords are mistakenly thought to be English. ‘Jungle’, which is of Hindi/Urdu/Sanskrit origin, is a case in point.

The remarkable flexibility, adaptability and readiness to borrow from other languages have made English what it is today—a vehicular language or a lingua franca. Ironically, these attributes were once considered weaknesses of the language even by some famous English writers and poets. Edmund Waller wrote:

‘Poets that lasting marble seek

Must carve in Latin or in Greek;

We write in sand, our language grows,

And, like the tide, our work o'erflows.

How mistaken Waller and others of his ilk were! The works carved in Latin or in Greek are today as good as dead and English continues to flourish; it looks as if lasting marble could be sought only by carving in English.

Meanwhile, some of the Sinhala words assimilated into the English language are of interest. Cynics may argue that they are associated with some of our national traits. Several of them come to mind: ‘beriberi’ or vitamin deficiency (weakness), ‘tik polonga’ or a kind of viper (aggressiveness and venom) and ‘kitul’ or a palm from which toddy and treacle are obtained (inebriation). ‘Anaconda’, meaning a large constricting snake, is derived from the etymon, ‘henakandaya’.

It goes without saying that the OED has rendered an invaluable service to the English lexicon as a repository of words. There are, of course, other English dictionaries whose service to the English word stock should also be appreciated. The fact, however, remains that none of them, the OED included, will ever be able to store the entire English lexis at the rate new words are being adopted, especially in the field of science and technology. Interestingly, some of the longstanding monosemous words are now becoming increasingly polysemous. ‘Meme’ which, of relatively recent origin, meaning ‘an idea, behaviour, style or usage spreading from person to person within a culture’ now has gained another meaning as ‘netizens’ will tell you—‘a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc. that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users’.

Words are like muscles as it were; unless regularly used they get afflicted with what is known as the disuse atrophy; they tend to go out of circulation. But, they never get lost because lexicons also serve as linguistic catacombs; they have to retain the dead words. And, there is no way of knowing whether a word is dead or not!

Hereafter, thanks to the OED, no one will be able to laugh up his or her sleeve when you use ‘Aiyo!’ while conversing with someone in English as most Sri Lankans do. It is hoped that phrases such as ‘Ane apoi’ and ‘Budu Ammo’ with a similar range of collocation will also find their way into the OED as calque is not simply possible.

Now that the government is going hell for leather to effect an unconscionable VAT hike, having already caused the cost of living to go through the roof, folks, let’s say, ‘Aiyo!’ for the whole world to hear. And louder!