Ceylon Today Editorial

CASTRO – THE SAGA CONTINUES

27 November 2016

From femme females to poisoned milkshakes, Fidel Castro ran the gamut of hundreds of assassination attempts (much of it romanticized exaggeration) since he became (rather made himself!) the Prime Minister of Cuba in February of 1959. He would have well been reminiscing in his years in retirement, Havana cigar clutched between tobacco-stained teeth, with his made-for-drama belligerent and almost Churchillian glare, and guffawing at the CIA's failed attempts to kill him through the US presidencies of Eisenhower (38 tries), Kennedy (42 tries), Johnson (72 tries) and an unconfirmed 184 times during the Nixon presidency.

Fidel, who unleashed a global scare with the Russian-Cuban missile crisis lived to however see the impossible happen – normalization of relations with the US in July 2015...a far cry from the volcano cusp heat of relations that existed since the US slapped a crushing embargo on him back in 1960.Was he satisfied with the fruits of his revolution? History could be mixed up on that score.

Suffice it to say, due to lack of space, that he did, with telling impact, change the course of Cuban history forever, when in 1958 Batista failed to snuff out the uprising that Castro managed to drum up...much or most of it successful exclusively because the then Soviet Russia found it 'expedient' to finance and arm the revolution. The impossible happened. January 1, 1959, Castro grabbed control with a string of counter-attacks against everything that Batista could throw at him and found, himself marching into Havana where he took over as Prime Minister...leaving it to a slew of revolutionary tribunals which tried and executed members of the Batista regime for supposed war crimes.

Castro then rolled back every pro-US 'advance' made under Batista, beginning the next year, 1960, to nationalize all US-owned businesses, including oil refineries, factories and casinos, compelling the US to sever all diplomatic relations and clap the massive trade embargo on Cuba.The catastrophic Bay of Pigs CIA planned invasion needs no mention here except to add that the few who survived of the trained Cuban exiles used by the CIA were released by Castro in April 1961, in exchange for US$ 52 million worth medical supplies and baby food items. Friends were apparently not coming to Castro's aid, post-revolution. That did not stop him declaring himself a Marxist-Leninist in late 1961...a move that was stoke similar but pie-in-the-sky revolutionary stunt from Sri Lanka's local Marxists-Leninists, many of whom are now quite well reformed and honourable devotees at the shrine of parliamentary democracy at the Diyawanna Oya! Their comrades did not have it as good as Castro did simply because they had no method to their madness. Castro, supposedly an intellectual of sorts, however failed to foresee reality...and fortunately too, global changes brought about pragmatic rationalism to the fore ending the embargo and restoring US-Cuban relations.

The Soviets used Castro's need for aid, financial and military, to stealthily send, all the way from Russia, nuclear missiles to Cuba, just 90 miles across the bay from Florida triggering fears of WWIII. The world knows all about how Khrushchev blinked first before Kennedy and removed the nukes, against Castro's wishes, who was left out of the negotiations. In return Kennedy consented not to reinvade Cuba.... And...as an irony of history would have it consented to take American nuclear weapons out of Turkey...a region into which the US is today sending in more weapons and men as the old 'Soviet' spirit personified in Putin seeks to resuscitate the long-dead USSR.

Yes, Castro abolished legal discrimination, went about some development as best as he could, creating a little employment here, electrification there, improving education and healthcare. But commentators are agreed that all that or more would have happened to make life for the Cubans a better lot even under Batista or someone else. Like other repressive Marxist States however, Castro, though he came short of the white van and hooded motorcycle killer culture in Sri Lanka of recent years, did ruthlessly shut down all opposition newspapers, jailed thousands of political opponents and that was the end of democratic elections in the truer essence of the phrase...much of it persisting to this day. His policies were to leave their mark on governance by the Marxist-Leninist friends in Sirima Bandaranaike's Cabinet that almost plunged the nation into economic chaos.

In Sri Lanka, many salute the great man at his death, if only for his sincerity of intent, albeit lacking realpolitik rationale. But Castro himself would probably laugh at the absurdity of the concept of NAM, with Sri Lanka in recent years the very antithesis of its founding principles.

Weekend Nation Editorial

Hardly used referendum comes to the fore

27 November 2016

As the debate over a new constitution for the country progresses through the Constitutional Council and its Steering Committee, the idea of having a referendum on a new Constitution has been much favoured by the stakeholders. At the initial stages some argued that a mere two-thirds majority in Parliament was sufficient for the promulgation of a new constitution while others insisted that a referendum was a must.

Strange enough this time over it’s none other than the Leader of the Opposition and TNA leader R Samapanthan who has strongly backed the idea of an island-wide referendum. He said the sovereignty is vested with the people and hence it was essential to get the people’s support. He elaborated his position by saying: “There can be a new Constitution for the country only if it is approved by the people of the country.”

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also endorsed this saying that the leader of the TNA accepted that the support of the majority community was essential to enact a new Constitution. Across the board there had been general agreement among parties represented in Parliament that a referendum was necessary.

The provision for referenda which was introduced for the first time in our country by the 1978 Constitution was believed to be an enhancement on democracy that existed up to that time. In a representative democracy, elected members legislate on behalf of the people. However, when it comes to a matter of utmost national importance a referendum enables the people to get involved directly and approve or disapprove it.

However, ironically this provision was used by its architect President J R Jayewardene in 1982 to extend the life of Parliament by another term without holding a general election because he wanted to preserve the two- thirds majority he enjoyed at the time. An idea for a referendum never came up thereafter.

Thirty-four years later it has surfaced again and the difference this time is that for the first time it is going to be used for its original intended purpose – to decide a matter of great importance to the country because there cannot be anything more important than a Constitution, more so when it is intended to resolve some vital long-standing national issues.

Sampanthan is right in favouring the idea of a referendum because even if everything is agreed upon in Parliament some parties are likely to challenge the constitutional bill in the Supreme Court on the basis that it is not possible to amend or replace some of the sections of the current Constitution without a referendum. A court ruling in favour of such a petition would be a definite disadvantage for the proponents of such a Constitution.

The country has already tested two homemade Constitutions but none of them has succeeded in resolving the vexed national issue. Both these documents were drafted to suit the needs of the governments at the time, hurriedly passed in Parliament and therefore lacked adequate public discussion or general approbation of the people.

This is going to be independent Sri Lanka’s third Constitution and now it is time for the country to agree on a permanent document. Sufficient public discussion and extensive involvement of all political parties in Parliament are a sine qua non if we are to come up with the right document.

A referendum will be the best way to ensure such debate and discussion while any piece of legislation directly approved by the people in that manner will have the legitimacy that is needed to solidify some sense of permanency for such a document in the minds of the people.

Sunday Times Editorial

Take middle path on foreign policy

27 November 2016

The Government received a reality check last week in Geneva when the Attorney General (AG) and the chief of National Intelligence (CNI) got a rude shock at a UN committee monitoring torture when they were cross-examined to the point that they had to beat a hasty retreat from the floor.

That some of the UN agencies are now agents of the West and its double-standards is a given. Russia has just pulled out of the International Criminal Court on these grounds; one hopes it is not like Hitler pulling Germany out of a Disarmament conference in Geneva in 1933 as a prelude to withdrawing from the League of Nations before unleashing World War II.

The torture at the US prison at Guantanamo is well documented, but there is nary a UN investigation into it. And yet, the US is in the forefront of UN agencies on torture. That is the world right now, and the Government of Sri Lanka made a serious error of judgement recently by abstaining in a Western triggered UN vote on the human rights situation in Iran, a longtime friend of this country.

India and Pakistan both have close relations with the West, yet voted against the resolution and in support of Iran. Only a month or so ago, Sri Lanka abstained in voting in UNESCO, hurting Palestine’s sentiments. On November 29, we celebrate Palestine Solidarity Day. Is our foreign policy drifting in a different direction?

We have dumped the Non Aligned Movement and are seemingly gravitating towards the Western orbit. There again, in Britain we miscalculated and supported the wrong side in the ‘Brexit’ vote. In the US, we seem to have put all our eggs in the Democratic Party basket and have some catching up to do now with the newly elected President. At least the UNP kept a line open to the victorious Republicans.

While we get bashed in Geneva ourselves we showed no solidarity with those at the receiving end of the same stick. Back in Colombo, the Government remains on the defensive over its human rights record with a draft law on counter-terror causing concern on the basis that its proposed contents are even more draconian than the Prevention of Terrorism Act which it seeks to replace. The draft, much of which has already been written on, denies the right of independent legal counsel to a detainee until the Police statement is recorded; a similar provision having crept into a proposed amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code, raising a storm of protests and forcing the Government to backtrack.

That draft is wide-ranging and even defines “an act of terror” as attempting to “illegally cause a change of the Government of Sri Lanka” through inter-alia, “endangering of the lives of the public”. This can cover a wide range of political activity.

There is little doubt that stringent laws are required at times when the nation-state is under siege. What Sri Lanka needs for its contemplated counter-terror legislation is to strive for a midway point between being idealistic and merely bowing to external pressure and being pragmatic because people exploit loosely drafted laws – on either side of the divide. Achieving that essential balance should be up for public discussion rather than left to be conceived behind closed doors. That would arouse fear and suspicion and is contrary to transparency which still remains the avowed policy of this Government.

Special commission to try former CB Governors

A month after the Parliamentary COPE report findings and recommendations on the Central Bank bond issues of 2015, the Government is still grappling with what to do next, i.e. if it really wants to do something at all.

After several efforts at sweeping the dirt under several carpets, the Prime Minister has sent the report for the Attorney General’s opinion, while the President is seeking independent legal counsel. The JVP, the JHU and a section of the SLFP are howling for urgent action to book the culprits – at least to freeze the bank accounts of those involved, pending the next step. That the usually vociferous former President is studiously silent on this matter has also raised suspicion about the nexus between the Central Bank Governors past and present and their connections with Dubai bank accounts held by one party and managed by the other.

In any event, the COPE report is only an extension of the Auditor General’s findings, but whether even this is sufficient to file criminal proceedings on those responsible for a mega deal, or further investigations are required is for the AG to say.

While the AG studies his brief, there is a prima facie swindle that has taken place at the expense of the people of this country and the funds accrued therefrom have already found their way into local private commercial banks through the purchase of shares; these being a text-book case of money laundering.

Ordinary folk justifiably ask why the COPE report was not given to the Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID), and if the basic laws of the country on issues such as Cheating, Money Laundering and Insider Dealing are insufficient to indict those involved or whether a specific legal mechanism like a Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry is needed simply because the sums involved are big. The other burning question is whether smalltime crooks are thrown to ravenous wolves while everything is done to protect those with political patronage.

One suggestion has been the creation of a Criminal Justice Commission-like special tribunal where the laws of evidence are reversed, but while the CJC was designed to try persons accused of conspiring to overthrow the Government in 1971, it was misused for the trial on exchange control offences.

Unless existing laws are to be used by the AG, the best option has to be a strong Commission of Inquiry with appropriate Terms of Reference assisted by a Special Independent Prosecutor and a team of investigators, lawyers – and accountants and bankers. The Act, however, has to be amended so that while it has powers to call for bank accounts and tax files, it also can empower the Commissioner or Commissioners to inter-alia, order the freezing of bank accounts pending the inquiry because that seems to be the immediate priority.

The ill-gotten monies are quickly seeping into the ‘white economy’ as the Government either procrastinates, or wilfully vacillates. The World Bank’s Stolen Assets Unit has the expertise to assist in the recovery of the loot wherever it exists. Either the former Central Bank Governors must be acquitted or found guilty — quickly. The Government cannot do nothing if it wants Sri Lanka to be a Financial Hub. There must be credibility that Sri Lanka is not a place where underhand business deals are covered up. There is always a way, if only there is a will.

Sunday Observer Editorial

Gifts to School Teachers

27 November 2016

Is it Pandam or, Santhosam? Sri Lankan society is yet debating whether gifts to officials of various kinds – in the public as well as private sectors – are gifts of appreciation of an amicable relationship and service by the gift receiver or, whether such gifts are just plain bribery.

The Minister of Education has announced that gifts to school teachers by parents of students will be banned forthwith. Exactly how the ban will be enforced will, likely, be defined by the official Ministry circular that is expected to be issued in execution of this ban. It is such a definition that will help dispel the confusion that still exists in the cultural practice of gifting.

Sri Lankan society, whatever the ethnicity, is noted for its warmth, especially, between people in their deep sense of community and social togetherness. Thus, the exchange of gifts has been normal in social relations, virtually, throughout the period of our island civilization.

However, the current prevalence of the market as the prime mover in modern economic activity and the marketization of much of social life - including education - as we get increasingly caught up in a globalized system of ‘value chains’, means that much of human relationships has begun to be valued in ways over and above simple moral and emotional appreciation.

Gifting, especially, between people that have no personal or family relationship, is today one that increasingly implies a two-way exchange of favour rather than a one-way expression of moral appreciation. But, our yet neo-feudal society, has yet to shake off the definitions of social values of the past.

Thus, gifts, although clearly implying a value of exchange of favour, are still overtly described as ‘santhosam’ rather than ‘pandam’.

And our society is currently replete with this practice – in most spheres of life, from government and administration to business deals to industry, and in even such socially crucial sectors as, Education and Health.

School teachers – underpaid as they continue to be – are, nevertheless, highly valued by the parents of students. As education continues to evolve as a highly competitive process of skills and knowledge accumulation, as attainment of qualifications continues to be the basis of much social upward mobility, school teachers and their professional service to students have high value.

Ironically, this rising value of school teachers is yet to be recognized in terms of their salaries and professional standing. Teachers remain probably the most underpaid technical and professional workers in this country. Is it any surprise, therefore, that parents have resorted to gifting in order that the professional appreciation of school teachers is enhanced at least in this informal fashion?

The spectre of an intensely competitive future adult life for their children drives parents to resort to gifts of various kinds to teaching staff. The annual gift to class teachers has come to be a custom that is considered well within the generic Sri Lankan social custom of ‘santhosam’. Such gifting does not stop with teachers. It also extends to the school’s ‘extra-curricular activities’ ranging from aesthetics and arts training to sports.

It is not uncommon for trainers and coaches to favour some students over others in inclusion in school sports teams and arts troupes based on how much ‘support’ they receive from fawning parents. Whether a student remains merely in the ‘pool’ of a school sports team or actually gets to play in a match, often depends on parents’ gifting of various kinds, from bottles of whisky to even jobs for coaches’ own children or other favours.

Minister Kariyawasam’s initiative is indeed welcome, but the mere issue of circulars, even if they attempt to define ‘gifts’ precisely, is only the first step in an enormous task. After all, the mechanisms and regulations required to ‘police’ such gifting could become as expensive as a budgeted tiny salary hike for the country’s teachers.

The latest annual Government budget does not indicate any serious intent of expanded investment in Education (contrary to that election promise of “six per cent of Budget”). But, it is obvious to all that, without such increased investment, especially, in the financial gain to teachers, there will continue to be efforts by parents to make their own, informal and ‘private’ complementing of the school system budget allocation via gifts to their children’s teachers.

Cocaine again!

This time it was almost predicted! Last week, again, the Sri Lanka Customs and the Police Narcotics Bureau made a detection of a major smuggled consignment of cocaine.

News media first reported that the authorities were to further search freight shipping containers for possible new loads of smuggled cocaine. And, sure enough, they found hidden in the containers a large stock of this globally reviled narcotic substance – not just a few ounces of this expensive and potent narcotic, but 200 kgs of it.

This is the third detection, within months, of a large stock of illegal cocaine brought into the country in containers coming all the way from Brazil. And the containers seem to be part of the regular shipment of sugar exported from Brazil, a major sugar producer.

It is time that the authorities deepen their investigations and raise the veil of secrecy on what they are finding.

Sri Lanka is proudly touted as ‘the trans-shipment hub of South Asia’. But, the public needs to know how much this fame is being exploited by underworld elements in cahoots with unscrupulous business groups to trans-ship illegal narcotics on a massive scale to the rich consumer markets, both, east and west of Colombo port.

Sunday Island Editorial

Unpopular and wrong

27 November 2016

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe admitted he was making an unpopular proposal and knew that he would be criticized when he said a few days ago that salaries of MPs are grossly inadequate for the work they are required to carry out in their constituencies. He said he was proposing substantially higher wages to reduce corruption and attract better talent to parliament. Nobody shouted him down when he said what he did because if there is anything on which all legislators agree without demur, it is on pay and perks for themselves. But we must say in fairness that is not a trait exclusive to parliamentarians. It is true for all human beings. Whatever the prime minister may think about MPs needing better compensation, public opinion will run strong against any proposal to increase the emoluments of legislators. As it is, the large majority of the people resent MPs pay and perks which are unrelated to average incomes of ordinary people. Some time ago there was an attempt to link parliamentarians pay to those of judges so that when judges got an increase, MPs too would get one.

When Wickremesinghe said his wife earned more than he did, most people who read his remarks would have smiled. It is quite possible that the premier’s wife, a university professor, gets a larger pay cheque than her husband. But what the taxpayer of this country spends to maintain their prime minister bears no comparison to what the universities spend to maintain an academic. Comparison on this score is no doubt akin to comparing apples and oranges. But it is the prime minister who in passing made that comparison. Wickremesinghe is rather fond of comparing his pay with those of others. Speaking at the 30th anniversary of the Ravaya newspapers a few days earlier, he said that editors of most newspapers ("I don’t know about Ravaya" he qualified)and news directors in the electronic media earned more than he did. While there are many people in the country paid more than their president, prime minister, ministers and other elected representatives, there are many more that are paid far less. 

The prime minister is right that we do need to attract better people to parliament, people who will not loot the public purse as many have done in the past and continue to do at present, and make useful contributions to both the legislature and good governance. In the early post-Independence years, the parliamentary allowance of an MP was a meager Rs. 750. They came in their own vehicles to sittings of the House – some like Dr. W. Dahanayaka came by bus or train because they did not own a vehicle – and nobody got duty free permits to buy vehicles. They paid for their own petrol which in those days cost about Rs. 2.50 a gallon. Undoubtedly many of those elected to the then House of Representatives were people who had private means – landowners and the like – as well as professionals who did nicely as lawyers and doctors. But others were by no means rich or comfortably off and did not ask for more. LSSP leader Dr. N.M. Perera, despite his very high qualifications, did not practice a profession and was among the earliest to urge that MPs be paid pensions. NM did however engage in some private business and older readers would remember his being pilloried over the Giridara Mill in the sixties and references in newspapers to plantations he had owned – Oakfied and Moragolla. While he could be attacked for being a capitalist in a capitalist system while professing socialism, none would dare accuse him of ever making a dirty rupee.

There would be a substantial body of opinion in the country that paying MPs better will not reduce corruption or in any great measure attract better people to the legislature - a few maybe, but not all that many. As it is, the existing pay and perks and the opportunities that abound for politicians to make crooked bucks have attracted many undesirables to the legislature. Exigencies of politics have made those who were rejected by the electors to be appointed on the National List. President Sirisena says that the Mahinda Rajapaksa faction of the SLFP strived might and main to have party candidates they labeled as "Sirisena supporters" defeated and he made these appointments to have people he trusted in the House. However that may be, the principle of such appointments does not bear examination and it is to be hoped that the National List is abolished in the new constitution. It is hard to think of anybody but the late Lakshman Kadirgamar who deserved to come unelected to parliament in accordance with criteria set out for National List nominations. There have been some worthies who have enjoyed ministerial appointments by coming into parliament on the national lists of both major parties!

We are now a middle income country according to the official classification of international multilateral lending agencies. But like in most developing countries, most wealth here is concentrated in the upper strata of the population. There was a report in yesterday’s The Island that the richest one percent of Indians own over half that country’s wealth. This is very true of very many countries in the world although the figures may be less dramatic. Given conditions that prevail here, the majority of our people would feel that our MPs do not do badly in terms of pay and perks in comparison to most of their countrymen (and women). Granting legislators increased emoluments in the context of prevailing country conditions will be both unpopular and unfair. Maybe some honest legislators who might do better outside politics (we do have a few of them) have persuaded the prime minister that a wage revision is appropriate. Given that he is more fortunately placed than most of his parliamentary colleagues, Wickremesinghe may well view such requests sympathetically. But acting on such sentiment, however well intentioned, will not only be unpopular but wrong.