Ceylon Today Editorial

Jaffna incident

24 October 2016

The untimely deaths of two Jaffna University students have sent shock waves throughout Jaffna and the Inter University Students' Federation has also expressed its dismay over the incident.

Preliminary investigations have revealed that Nadarasa Gajan and Pavunaraj Sulakshan were killed when they were speeding on a motorbike. However, the autopsy report of the Jaffna Judicial Medical Officer Dr. U. Mayurathan has confirmed that the rider of the motorbike was hit by a bullet on the right side of his chest and the pillion rider had injuries on the back of his head and died of head trauma.

The incident occurred late in the night around 10:45 p.m. last Thursday near the Kulappiddy Junction at Kokuvil on the Kankesanthurai (KKS) road when they were returning to their boarding house after visiting a friend at Kantharodai.

In recent weeks security in various parts in Jaffna and the suburbs have been increased following complaints of robberies, sword fights and hooliganism on the directive of Jaffna High Court Judge M. Illanchelian.

However, the incident resulting in the deaths of two innocent university students was unfortunate and the President has ordered an impartial investigation into the incident. Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara being onetime Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police in Jaffna paid personal attention to the incident assuring that the probe would be carried out effectively to find out what really went wrong.

Five policemen who were on duty at the scene have been remanded in connection with the incident by the Jaffna Magistrate till 6 November.

Thorough and impartial investigation over the incident is the need of the hour to calm the situation and to console the aggrieved families of the two dead students seeking justice.

Seven years ago the Jaffna Peninsula and the North and East Provinces at large had been regions of all sorts of firearms and a ruthless civil war. With the end of the war and with the change of government in January last year, people of Jaffna were living in peace despite several humanitarian issues still being unresolved.

The opening of the A-9 Highway followed by the end of the civil war has paved the way for the increase in motorized transportation in the Jaffna Peninsula. Until recently, push bicycles remained the popular mode of transport in Jaffna.

It is important to note that even the late legendary Engineering Professor A. Thurairasa who had been the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jaffna in the late nineties came to the University on a bicycle from his hometown Uduppiddy.

It was not only him, but even several leading academics of the Jaffna University extensively used bicycles to move around in Jaffna.
However, the influx of motorized vehicles particularly motorbikes and scooters have increased significantly in the past seven years leading to fatal accidents almost everyday in the Peninsula.

Despite the introduction of effective measures to streamline traffic in Jaffna, the 'breakneck' speed of motorbikes, cars and auto rickshaws have created a fear psychosis among road users in Jaffna.

Unscrupulous elements also use motorbikes extensively for nefarious activities.

As Police Stations have been reopened, after several years to maintain law and order, the stations in the Northern Province are flooded with complaints not only of accidents but on motorists involved in criminal activities.

Following the increase in Court cases with regard to criminal activities, drug related incidents and reckless driving, Jaffna High Court Judge M. Illanchelian faces an arduous task in dealing with those cases. He had frequent meetings with law enforcement officials to maintain law and order.

As an unbiased investigation into the deaths of the two Jaffna University students is inevitable, Jaffna civil society and the university circle should pay more attention to build a law-abiding, and civilized healthy future generation in the North.

Daily Mirror Editorial

The times they are a changing

24 October 2016

 

The US presidential election will be held in November this year. There are major differences between the US presidential election and elections held in most other countries. 

In SL the president can call for an election at any time in his 5-year term. He can call a snap election before his period of office is completed if he feels that an impending down-turn in events could dampen his chances of re-election. 

In the US date of each presidential election is fixed and has to take place in the first week of November. 

Otherwise the forthcoming US presidential elections will not differ from elections held elsewhere, albeit much more costly. During the 2012 US presidential election, the Democratic and Republican parties used up a sum of around $1,325.4 million in contribution funds -the Democrats $722.4 million and the Republicans $598.3 million. 

To put this massive sum in context, while Sri Lanka’s total expenditure and net lending in its 2015 budget was Rs.2, 990 billion or around a mere US $ 26 billion, the two candidates at the US presidential election used up a sum of around $1,325.4 billion! 

In other words when President Obama stepped into the Oval Office in the White House, after the last election he owed at the least US $ 722.4 million in favours to those who contributed to his campaign funds. It is not surprising, as rt.com puts it, that after Obama’s victory in 2008, since Goldman Sachs was never prosecuted for its part in the financial crash as it was Obama’s largest single contributor.

Today the US still is the world’s leading economic and military power. Therefore whatever happens in the US has an impact on the rest of the world. 

So, how will the election of either the Democrat nominee Ms Hilary Clinton (ex Secretary of State and wife of former president Bill Clinton), or Donald Trump (A billionaire, also known to constantly brag about the size of his organs) if elected, affect countries outside of the US? 

For the people of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East the election of a new US president will not bring about earth-shaking change. The bombings and numbers of civilian deaths and injuries from US interventions from Afghanistan to Pakistan to Iraq, Libya and Syria will continue and perhaps increase. 

The war in Afghanistan will not come to an end. Despite being one of the main planks of President Obama’s election platform to bring back all troops from Afghanistan, this has not happened. In fact the reverse is seen to be happening. After reducing the numbers of troops in Afghanistan, president Obama has once again sent more troops back into that country. 

Though President George Bush famously declared ‘mission accomplished’ in Iraq, the intervention in that country has only given birth to one of the most ruthless terrorist organizations the world has ever seen –the Islamic State (IS). Today the IS, which has spread its tentacles into all countries around the world including Asia, the US and Europe. 

We are therefore likely to see a spate in the number of terrorist attacks in the US and Europe and the resultant counter-attacks will only lead to more loss of life. 

The refugee crisis –a direct result of US regime change intervention in the Middle East- still continues. 

With calls within the US for greater involvement in the affairs in these countries, the changeover of US presidents will not make any major difference to the victims –the people of these regions. More innocents will be blown up via drone strikes, aerial bombings, suicide attacks and continued ground fighting. 

We can expect to see US stirring up problems in Taiwan, Hong Kong and in the South China Sea where the US regularly sends its battleships and aircraft into sea and airspaces claimed by China, though the ASEAN nations themselves have called for talks rather than confrontation to settle the disputes. 

Unfortunately all US presidents are in the end controlled by diverse power brokers and lobbyists like the US gun lobby, giant oil companies, banks and other vested interests, that invest heavily in both the Democratic as well as the Republican parties. 

In the end what the world will see is name change, not foreign policy changes or peace in the region. The world waited in hope and bated breath when president Obama was elected. Sadly nothing really changed; the killing of civilians did not stop. All US troops were not withdrawn from Afghanistan and Iraq. Poor Mr. Obama could not even close down the Guantanamo Bay facility or control even the US National Rifle Association.

Daily News Editorial

At 71, UN at a crossroads

24 October 2016

Seventy one years ago, on October 24, 1945, the world had just seen the end of World War II at a massive human and material cost. There was a general understanding that the world needed a new union of States to stop World War III and establish lasting peace. Thus the United Nations (UN) was born out of a collective desire to make the world a better, peaceful place.

Seventy one years on, the world has fortunately not seen World War III, but many conflicts are still raging around the world. Nearly one billion people suffer from extreme poverty and the majority of them do not have enough to eat. Easily preventable diseases still claim millions of lives a year. Millions more do not have access to drinking water and sanitation facilities. Education is out of reach for many children in the developing world. The gap between the haves and have nots, the rich and poor countries is widening.

This does not necessarily mean that the UN has failed in its mission. The UN and its multitude of agencies have accomplished much around the world. Some diseases have been eradicated while many countries have made vast gains in the health and education sectors with UN assistance. The UN is acting as a peace keeper in many countries and regions, preventing outbreaks of violence and conflict.

Perhaps the UN’s biggest contribution is the ongoing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) programme – 17 goals which encompass health, education, peace, climate change, poverty eradication, hunger, gender equality, clean water, clean energy, employment, economic growth, sustainable cities, marine life and resources, land-based life and resources and of course, international partnerships that will make these goals happen. Under this initiative, all Member States have pledge to accomplish these goals by 2030.

This is a major challenge for the UN, for which the incoming UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres, a former Prime Minister of Portugal, will have to strive hard. Being the UN Secretary General is no easy task - Trygve Lie of Norway, the UN’s first Secretary-General, warned his successor Dag Hammarskjold in 1953: “Welcome to the most impossible job on this Earth.” Even though the UN failed once more to elect a female Secretary General, the UN will no doubt be in good hands as Gutteres who is a veteran of the UN system with 10 years experience as head of the UN Refugee Agency. Gutteres will be heading the UN from January 1, 2017, which is likely to be a very challenging year. With the theme “71 (Years) and 17 (Sustainable Development Goals)”, the UN has already encapsulated the challenges ahead.

The other major challenge for Gutteres and the UN is conflict resolution. The world has watched in horror the unfolding events in Syria but the situation is no better in scores of other countries such as Yemen, Afghanistan, Libya, South Sudan and Somalia. “I believe it is the international community's first priority is to be able to end this conflict in Syria and use this momentum created by it to try to address all the other conflicts that are interlinked,” Gutteres recently told the media. “That is absolutely central if you want to live in a world where a minimum of securities are established, where people can live a normal life,” he added. The immigration and refugee crisis is another issue that he will have to devote time on.

Climate change will be another major challenge, with the UN climate change treaty already operational by January 1. Yet, getting all the countries to fall in line with emissions benchmarks will not be easy. Since this a question that threatens the very existence of our planet, Gutteres will have a lot on his hands in terms of climate change. The UN can indeed lead the world on this vital issue.

However, there are many who question the UN’s power, leverage and relevance in a world where a few powerful nations actually call the shots. These countries routinely bypass the UN Security Council and take action on their own regarding various issues. The UN thus needs reforms to keep pace with a changing world and ensure that all countries act only within the UN systems and structures. There have also been growing calls for the UN to do away with the veto power of the five Permanent Member States to make all countries equal at the forum. This is easier said than done, but there is no doubt that the UN must be drastically transformed to be a more effective player on the world stage. Internally too, the UN must free itself of the vast bureaucracy and shed its image as a talking shop where nothing much happens. But the UN must never lose focus of the vision of its founding fathers and the core principles that must always govern it: Economic development, human rights and peace. Let’s hope the next 71 years will be much more fruitful for the UN.

The Island Editorial

COPE, Licchavis  and King Kosala

24 October 2016

 

Parliamentary standards continue to fall and space for political dissent is rapidly shrinking in spite of last year’s regime change, whose architects promised a radical departure from the past. Members of the ruling coalition are already intoxicated with power; they think they are omniscient, and always lord it over others as evident from media reports on the proceedings of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) on the Central Bank bond scams.

The knights in shining armour who vowed to slay the hydra-headed dragon of bribery and corruption and obtained a popular mandate for that purpose have now turned out to be buccaneers and defenders of rogues. They are flaying this newspaper for exposing their sordid operations. Nothing pleases us more than to get under the skin of the hypocrites in the garb of champions of good governance.

Thankfully, the COPE Chairman’s report has been completed at long last. It was endorsed by a majority of MPs present on Friday. But, it is doubtful whether this vital document will be allowed to be made public because it reveals malpractices and irregularities of serious nature in the bond auctions at issue and calls for action against the culprits as well as the recovery of losses from them, as we reported on Saturday. All signs are that the government will do its damnedest to prevent the damning report from being presented to Parliament and deprive it of its credibility. The onus is on the numerous self-appointed crusaders for good governance to crank up pressure on those they helped bring to power to release the report to the public forthwith.

The government and the Joint Opposition have locked horns over the constitutional provision granting the foremost place to Buddhism. Pooh-poohing allegations against them, the ruling party politicians insist that the status quo shall remain. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has declared umpteen times that in addressing crucial issues in Parliament and elsewhere his government emulates the Licchavis, who in keeping with the Buddha’s advice, met, deliberated and dispersed peacefully.

Government MPs’ conduct at COPE proceedings has been antithetical to the Licchavi method of handling contentious issues. On witnessing the sorry state of affairs one may wonder whether what King Kosala once feared in his sixteen premonitory dreams which the Buddha interpreted has come to pass in this land, where Buddhism is said to have been preserved in its pristine form. All those dreams are of relevance to this country but we will make brief mention of only some of them.

In one of his dreams, King Kosala saw a group of men replacing strong draught-oxen with some young steers which could not pull heavy wagons. Interpreting the dream the Buddha said that in the distant future rulers would overlook the wise and shower high positions on ignoramuses, who would make a mess of the affairs of the state, without seeking assistance or counsel from their capable seniors. (What is happening in fields such as education and finance in this country may serve as an example.)

In another dream the king saw a long line of people coming from all directions and pouring water into a big pitcher which was already full to the brim without caring to fill many other empty vessels around it. The Buddha said a situation would one day arise, where selfish rulers reduced to penury owing to their own foolish actions, would fleece the people by making them toil harder and fill the state coffers at the expense of public wellbeing. (The unconscionable VAT increase even on health care and education is a case in point.)

King Kosala was also disturbed by a dream in which a crow was being escorted by swans and the Buddha’s interpretation thereof was that in the remote future there would emerge weak, cowardly rulers who fearing revolt, would promote footmen, barbers, bath attendants et al to high positions and the capable others would find themselves in the same predicament as the swans. (A case in point is academics and professionals having to do as mediocre politicians say.)

In the last dream, the king saw goats hunting panthers and devouring them. The Buddha said that in the future misfits would grab the positions of the prominent members of society and when the latter sought justice they would be ridiculed and frightened into submission. (The appointment of political rejects as Cabinet ministers and indignities the Auditor General and senior Central Bank officials suffered at the hands of some self-important COPE members may be considered an example.)

It is a pity that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has not fulfilled his pledge to open COPE proceedings to the press. Else, the media would have been able to report extensively on the watchdog committee’s last few sessions characterised by fireworks with the ruling party MPs going berserk. At least now, the media should be given access to the proceedings of all parliamentary committees; the public has a right to know what goes on there because it is their sovereignty that conceited lawmakers exercise. After all, the present administration makes a public show of its commitment to right to information, doesn’t it?