Ceylon Today Editorial

From SAARC to BRICS

17 October 2016

Pakistan's attempt to stage the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit has fizzled out following the recent tense situation between Pakistan and India in the Kashmir region.

However, India has staged the 8th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit in Goa with a positive response even from some of the SAARC countries which have kept away from the SAARC Summit in Pakistan.

As the BRICS countries have several things in common, the member countries in the organization have transformed themselves politically as well as economically in a remarkable manner in dealing with global challenges in the past two decades.

The BRICS countries have nearly half of the world population and their engagement in world trade has been rated as seventeen per cent.

SAARC member countries, including Sri Lanka, which have refrained from attending the SAARC Summit in Islamabad, have been invited by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to participate in the Goa BRICS Summit as observers. On the sidelines of the BRICS Summit the Indian Prime Minister also held talks with his SAARC counterparts, in Goa, on regional relations and the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) countries have also gathered in Goa to make the BRICS Summit a platform to discuss issues which they have in common.

The presence of iconic Burmese Leader Aung San Sun Kyi for the BIMSTEC gathering on the sidelines of BRICS has also highlighted the significance of the BRICS and BIMSTEC and the need for member countries of the two associations to be supportive of each other to face the challenges, politically as well as economically.

India being a premier country in the SAARC, should play a responsible role in accommodating all other South Asian countries and solving problematic issues in an amicable way.

India's membership in BRICS has clearly indicated how far the country has developed economically despite being a prominent member of SAARC.

By staging 8th BRICS Summit, India should be more accommodative of all SAARC countries including its arch rival Pakistan.

The continuity of the tussle between India and Pakistan should not lead to unpleasant political developments in the South Asian region.

Terrorism cannot be tolerated in any form in any country and all member nations in BRICS have firmly denounced terrorism as a tool to deal with crucial issues.

Pakistan itself has been affected by turbulent political situations. BRICS being an organization of powerful countries it must initiate moves to ensure regional relations to prevent any division among the SAARC countries.

Staging the BRICS Summit as well as convening BIMSTEC gathering shouldn't be a show of strength for India.

It's unfortunate to see India and Pakistan remain as arch rivals due to border disputes from the time the two countries gained independence.

Therefore, a durable solution to the Indo-Pak conflict could only pave the way for greater regional cooperation, politically as well as economically, in the South Asian region.

In the backdrop of India and Pakistan having engaged in cross border clashes in recent days, the participation of powerful countries such as China and Russia in the BRICS Summit in Goa has sent a message to Pakistan to think of its future in nation building and reforming itself to be more accommodative in the international community.

The BRICS Summit in India remains exemplary in many ways in highlighting the success story of the countries which had overcome their political and economic problems in remarkable ways and expressing their willingness towards assisting countries which are still striving for political and economic stability.

Daily News Editorial

Let the status quo prevail

17 October 2016

President Maithripala Sirisena's controversial speech the other day, taking issue with the various investigation arms and Independent Commissions probing mega corruption has set the cat among the pigeons in more ways than one. While it has ruffled government politicians to some extent the President's remarks has come as manna from heaven for some of the worse crooks in the Joint Opposition now under probe.

We are here not commenting on the merits or demerits of the President's stand. President Sirisena as Head of State is well entitled to voice his opinion on what he perceives to be an irregularity. Of course some may disagree with the President who pledged to weed out corruption from the body politic and on which basis his Yahalapalanaya platform was conceived. These elements will no doubt point that the investigation arms and the Independent Commissions should be allowed unfettered authority to continue with their investigations to bring the crooks, who swindled public money, to book.

There will also be those who will contend that wrongdoers cannot be simply dragged before a court of law without a prima facie case being established against them and this is the function of the investigation arms such as the CID, FCID, Presidential Commissions and the Bribery Commission. The Bribery Commission cannot act without receiving a complaint against the alleged offender and it is unfair to expect the Commission to go in details to ascertain the political leanings of the complainant. Ditto for the other investigation arms which necessarily have to act on complaints.

The President himself has made reference to the mind boggling profligacy and corruption under the rule of his predecessor on several occasions. As such, not all complaints that have been lodged with the investigative arms can be said to have political motives or aimed as a political witch-hunt. Hence there is need for these investigative bodies to be allowed sufficient leeway to carry out their investigations without unnecessary impediments from any quarter if the mandate received by the President to root out corruption is to be honoured.

The CID, FCID or the Presidential Commissions certainly does not have the last word. That will be the task of a court of law which has many layers of appeal (the courts recently released all suspects in the ITN vilification case against the President himself). But the investigations leading up to a prosecution in the courts will have to continue in the ordinary way, if not for anything else, but to maintain a level playing field in terms of the adage that everyone is equal before the law as against some people being more equal, be they are members of the security forces or service commanders.

Be that as it may, members of the Joint Opposition, particularly those against whom corruption cases are pending, are having a ball in the aftermath of the Presidential bombshell. They view the President's remarks as a rap on the knuckles of the investigation commissions who they claim were acting to a political agenda. “We told you so”, seems to be their line of argument at the numerous press conferences they have been holding after the President's statement. Interestingly, almost all those presiding over these media shows are those who have already been hauled before the commissions to answer charges of mega swindles. There was one among them while praising the President had even volunteered to help him unearth corruption against government ministers.

Wimal Weerawansa, a prominent Minister in the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government and who is neck deep in investigations directed not only against him, but also his spouse and sibling says that; "if the conduct of any State body is directed according to a political agenda, it is the worst form of abuse". Weerawansa has perhaps forgotten how his former boss got the Attorney General's department to drop the case against a politician charged for rape, or a kangaroo court functioning under the guise of a Parliament Select Committee to impeach former Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranaike. Were these not based on political agendas?

The JO also has seized on the President's admonition of the Investigation Commissions to drive home their recent claim of an implosion within the government that would make it change the power balance in Parliament.

Be that as it may, the status quo has to be restored and the Independent Commissions and investigation arms allowed to proceed with their tasks without impediment. The President of course should be kept informed as Head of State and Commander-in-Chief, of all high profile arrests and those of past service commanders. He (the President) would naturally feel bad on this score given that the finger of blame would naturally be pointed at him, the issue being a sensitive one with the public. The JO celebrations though, from all accounts, is premature. Now that all doubts have been cleared and the cobwebs blown away, indications are that investigations will be carried out with added vigour to bring the swindlers, fraudsters and crooks of all political shades to book.

The Island Editorial

Winged leaders

17 October 2016

 

It looks as if the government politicians were vying with one another to visit the most number of countries in the least possible time. More abroad than here, they seem to be making up for lost time. Most of what they do overseas can be easily left to the Foreign Minister. Why keep a dog and bark yourself?

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi may not take kindly to the Sri Lankan leaders’ globetrotting cynics say. For, he seems determined to set a world record as the most travelled leader in the world and does not want competition from lesser ones in neighbouring countries, especially those who don his trademark jacket.

President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Speaker Karu Jayasuriya are currently overseas and there is no political leader to helm the ship of state at present. Don’t they keep each other informed of their foreign travel schedules so as to ensure that all three of them won’t be away from the country at the same time? 

One may argue that the present-day leaders’ foreign travel costs the public purse much less than those of Mahinda Rajapaksa, who used to take planeloads of politicians, officials and cronies wherever he went. Had he travelled as much as Sirisena-Wickremesinghe duo, the cost of his junketing alone would have plunged the country’s economy in a far worse crisis than the one Greece finds itself in at present. But, the question is whether the country has gained anything from the government leaders’ overseas travel and the plethora of much-publicised agreements they ink with their foreign counterparts. If so, how would one explain the financial difficulties of the government due to lack of foreign aid and investment?

A few weeks ago President Sirisena took the members of the Central Provincial Council to task for seeing the world at the expense of the taxpayers. If there is one thing that people’s representatives at all three levels of government do without fighting among themselves it is junketing. The President’s consternation is understandable; people’s money must not be wasted.

Politicians learn nothing during their foreign trips. They do not care at least to study how other countries dispose of municipal waste without polluting the environment. They often go to Singapore for shopping, medical treatment and, according to their opponents, hatching plots. It is a pity that they do not visit the trash processing plants in the city state and make a serious effort to learn how to tackle the seemingly intractable garbage problem here. Instead, they apparently prefer to dump municipal waste in suburbs of Colombo and other cities and wait till fires erupt thereon. We are not so naïve as to expect our politicians to learn from other countries how to achieve progress in fields such as science and technology.

It is a crime to spend public funds on politicians’ foreign junkets. The same goes for their bosses who preach vedi bana (or what they do not practise themselves) to one and all. A fish, as we keep saying in this space, rots from the head down.

In a way the developed nations cannot be faulted for not helping this country financially. Going by the colossal waste of public funds our politicians indulge in unflinchingly their foreign counterparts may be wary of granting us aid lest their taxpayers’ money should go down the gurgler. You don’t want to give any money to spendthrift beggars, do you?

The government, in a bid to justify increasing the tax burden and curtailing public welfare, keeps telling the people that it is in dire financial straits. If so, its leaders must adopt austerity measures and set an example for others to follow.