Ceylon Today Editorial

The failing of multiculturalism

09 February 2017

In the play The Ivory King who "created a kingdom in the north" we are told that Aava , a saber-toothed tiger, was one of the king's three pets. Some attribute the story as being inspired by Hindu mythology. Aava was one of the seven beasts who served the Ivory King. Each of these beasts was given a specific task. Those who have analyzed the story line contend that "we know of only 3 beasts that remain of the seven : Aava, Lud and Zallen.

Aava's task was to protect the King's 'beloved child' Alsanna who was rescued from a deadly attack that left her near death.

The Aava saber wielding gangs in the north on Monday attacked a trade stall in Nallur with a petrol bomb and used swords to cut off a part of the name board of the Indian Consulate office in Jaffna. Aava has often used swords in their northern attacks , as Aava the Ivory King's pet used his sword-like fangs to rip the life out of his victims. No guns or bombs so far.

According to the script, Lud and Zallen were tasked with the mercy killing of exiles. Since the Ivory King was served by 7 of these beasts, he must have been very powerful, as Prabhakaran was. But at this point any comparison to any of the characters in the story ends. The choice of the name Aava can then be the child of a mere juvenile whim in someone's mind...or it could mean more. In that mind who could be Lud and Zallen ? And who could the exiles in the story represent in the northern context, on the presumption that there is a connection between the former Tigers in the North and Aava of the story ?

Does the attempt to kill TNA MP Sumanthiran tie into this scheme of things? He certainly has acknowledged the 'crimes' committed by the LTTE, a fact played down by the Northern Chief Minister Wigneswaran in his plan to woo Muslims into joining up with his grand plan of a merged North-East Province.

Meanwhile, in the South, there was the attempt to kill or scare the SAITM CEO, by hoodlums on motorcycles. That they failed even at short range would suggest they shot to frighten him...for whatever reason...and not to kill him.

We have consistently been drawing attention to the fact and warning the government that the spate of near-violent protest demonstrations mounted against the government will sooner or later become absolute. Forces of destabilization in the South have always exploited any surge in destabilization in the North. The JVP, broken once as the LTTE was, had no option readily available than to enter the so-called democratic mainstream just as the TNA was broken into that same decision. The more violence-prone elements in the SLFP fall in to that same category. Take the veneer off and what you get are the faces of Aava-like personalities.

What these forces are clamouring for in the South is being exploited by Wigneswaran and his LTTE handlers in the Tamil Diaspora in India and the West, with a stronger attempt to press on for Eelam's euphemism called 'federalism' ...now further refined into an arrangement to deceive the Muslims into closing ranks with "A Tamil Speaking People's Province." That bodes evil because the Muslims, especially the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress led by the shrewd and astute Rauff Hakeem, know that Lud and Zallen in the Ivory King's tale are the Tamil Diaspora led by Nedumaran and Viswanathan Rudrakumaran... The Ivory King here, presumably being the spirit of Prabhakaran, if the story is anything to go by.

The week also saw Navy Commander Vice Admiral Ravindra (Ravi) Wijegunaratne telling the media in India that Chinese nuclear submarines were once again being allowed in Sri Lanka on purely commercial considerations and that the number of their visits will be curtailed unlike in the days of the Rajapaksa regime. There's a vast difference between a sub from a friendly country and a sub that's not from a friendly country, especially when that sub is equipped with nuclear capability and the ability to locate Indian and other subs in the entire Indian Ocean and Arabian Gulf seas to which Pakistan has through the Gwandahar Port given China a massive command of the entire western flank of that combined expanse. A sub that calls here in so-called peace at evening, can in a sudden conflict situation the next morning, be translated into a huge weapon of war right at India's footsteps, with a missile range of between 800 to 300 kilometres.

In that context, India can but only scoff at our protestations. Sincere though they may be, they are far too naïve in today's global power shifts.

Daily News Editorial

Palace ‘Advisors’

09 February 2017

Politicians, whichever party they belong to, have no qualms about spending public funds indiscriminately on their behalf, especially, on ego boosting exercises and the sky is the limit. Rulers representing both major political parties have some monument or other, a sports stadium, airport or port named after them, all of which were built by public funds. Not only that, some of them even use public funds for personnel projects. Critics of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa held that the late leader’s Gam Udawa programme was meant to promote his image and that he used public funds to build a Piya Gama and Maugama named after his parents. The public are aware as to how the Rajapaksas spent millions of public funds to build a cenotaph to commemorate their long departed parents, in Hambantota. It was also revealed that public funds were spent even for an overseas stint at a prestigious Defence Academy of a young Rajapaksa. The list goes on.

It is hoped that with the establishment of the Right to Information Act the public will get an opportunity to ascertain the extent to which politicians had used public funds for uses other than that which directly benefited the public. The same goes for the squandering of public funds to reward relatives, friends, and lackeys of the rulers. We say this because it is being revealed that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had spent over Rs. 90 million of public funds to pay the salaries of 196 “advisors”. State Minister Niroshan Perera replying to an Oral Question in Parliament on Tuesday, while naming four advisors currently serving President Sirisena, said there were no personnel secretaries and only six coordinating secretaries in the employ of the President.

There is no argument that all leaders have their own choices for the post of ‘advisors’ and they are, needless to say, individuals who have won the confidence of the leader or those with close links. But there has to be a rationale for these appointments, since public funds are involved. Those functioning as ‘advisors’ should posses the ability and capacity to provide the right counsel to the ruler so that what would ensue from this advise would be beneficial to the country and its people.

But this certainly was not the case under Rajapaksa where “advisors” were a dime a dozen, a good majority of them with dubious credentials, their only qualifications being their obsequiousness and fawning servility to the powers that be. These “advisors” not only had the ear of the then President but also the run of the Temple Trees, with some of them even becoming more powerful than Ministers. It was plain to one and all in the know that these appointees had no inkling as to what was expected of them and occupied the post purely for the salary and other perks that included luxury vehicles. Rajapaksa had a good assortment of these ‘advisors’ who were repaid for their loyalty by the public purse. Among these “advisors” were a good many Bikkhus who were in the thick of Rajapaksa’s election campaigns in the past.

It is difficult to fathom what qualifications did a whole caboodle of Buddhist monks have to advise the former President who looked as if he did not need any advise on Buddhism. These ‘advisors’ were also seen among the throngs that comprised the delegations that accompanied Rajapaksa overseas and put up in expensive Seven Star hotels, their bills paid for by the public. Not just Buddhist clergy, there were ‘advisors’ representing all religions - some of them imposters- who had virtually pitched camp at Temple Trees. What counsel these men of the cloth offered Rajapaksa in spiritual guidance is difficult to comprehend when one considers the state repression, white van abductions, the murder of journalists etc. that were common at this time. Equally, what guidance had an oracle who doubled as an ‘advisor’ and paid for by the public had to offer the former President that would have positively impacted on people is hard to fathom since Rajapaksa himself was duped by this palace seer.

Be that as it may, the Yahapalanaya government should seriously consider the role of ‘advisors’ in its fold. They should be made productive or the post done away with. Only those with proven ability and professional and intellectual capacity in a particular subject, assigned to Ministries and government bodies dealing with that subject. The post of ‘advisor’, which bears significant stature within the ruling circles in the developed countries should not be devalued through the hiring of stooges, political rejects and sycophants. Above all, this post should not be made a refuge for jobs for the boys and gals. A means should also be sought for limiting the number of ‘advisors’ in government and criteria specified for the post of ‘advisor’. Fore long, the post of ‘advisor’ had been abused by all rulers to reward their friends, relatives and henchmen to earn a living, paid for by the public. Besides, a ruler who employs a large contingent of ‘advisors’ is not doing himself much credit and runs the risk of being called an incompetent.