Ceylon Today Editorial

TWIXT TRUTH AND TREACHERY

09 March 2017

It's the most incredible thing one could ever hear of at any level of politics in this country!

We've heard of the 'theatre of the absurd', we've heard of descending from the sublime to the ribald, from sense to crass stupidity and so on.

We know that the original Colombo Port City blueprint included provision for 20 hectares of land free and gratis to the Chinese.

The Hambantota Project, being totally land-based, involves no deep dredging and excavation of the sea bed for filling up the huge area to be reclaimed from the sea and hence held no hidden provision for creation of marine space for submarine use, as in the Colombo Port City Project. It's common knowledge that China's similarly massive excavations to shore up the islands of the South China Seas are exclusively for military purposes. One hopes the government does not make the blunder of not insisting on knowing exactly what the Chinese will construct on every square foot of land in the amended Colombo Port City Project and what gets installed inside the buildings which come up on that city.

The US$ 1.5 billion project covers some 279 hectares and is undertaken by the China Communication Construction Company which is also now negotiating a similarly huge project with Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal that has enhanced India's security fears once again.

We now are exposed to the hilarious protests of the Joint Opposition against the land being given to the Chinese in Hambantota plus the Hambantota Port project sans any military component factored in to it, ever!

It does sound as though the Joint Opposition is merely trying to create a 'precedent case' for its objectives so that at a later date this precedent could be used to argue against giving any such land anywhere else, in Jaffna, Trincomalee and Batticaloa for example, to the US or to India.

Beyond this possible intention, the Joint Opposition is merely exhibiting the fact that it is insulting the intelligence of the common man who knows, apparently, much more about geopolitical affairs than anyone within the Joint Opposition seems to know.

Any dunce would still have adequate common sense to know that the Mattala Airport was always going to have far more military implications than civil ones, to it. It's been the laughing stock in every world capital, especially in aviation circles. Mattala is just 100 kilometres to any shipping, military or trade, in the Arabian sea where the US 6th Fleet is and the same distance to the Bay of Bengal where the 7th Fleet and India fleets move to enhance to address their security fears. Now by moving into the Bay of Bengal via agreements with Bangladesh, China is merely finding more naïve collaborators to extend her hegemony in the Indo-Pacific and Arabian Sea regions where Pakistan is her staunchest ally.

Government on the other hand accommodated China in these projects to ensure it had a sound argument if challenged as to why it accommodated the US and India elsewhere, in key sea ports and virtual promontories to the Indo-Pacific and Arabian Sea expanses.

The Joint Opposition and a wide section of a knowledgeable public know that this is all about political arm-twisting behind the scenes and that it is no less a pawn in China's hands than the government is an ally that's going along to extend security objectives of the US and India in the same areas. There's a huge difference in being a knowledgeable ally and in being a pawn.

That in fact is the real story behind the split in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. The two camps are now fast becoming more clearly defined as the pro- US/India club and the Pro-Beijing camp. Chandrika Bandaranaike hence has the immense problem of not merely sweeping out elements of bribery and corruption in the SLFP, but of also helping President Sirisena restructure the Party in line with new global realities based on not what is merely expedient for the SLFP, but on remolding that Party into a responsible regional and global player in the legitimate power dynamics taking control of the regional and extra-regional reaches of Sri Lanka.

The choice is clear for the UNP, SLFP and the government. Do they back the free world or the forces opposed to it?

The simple fact is that the Opposition is clutching at straws in a desperate bid to retain the individual and collective socio-political relevance that was lost in the 2014/15 elections. All that was totally unexpected happened and what we are seeing is a dying struggle by the vanquished to deceive the populace once more and return to power to ensure that the terrifying bribery and corruption probes can be ended ... before those probes begin to really make inroads into the truth and come up with incriminating evidence.

Daily News Editorial

Ven Rathana's shadow boxing

09 March 2017

JHU stalwart and UNP National List MP Ven Athureliye Rathana appears to be running with the hare and hunting with the hound. While there is a demand from the JHU hierarchy calling for the Ven. thera's ouster from the party, the latter continues making controversial statements, causing embarrassment to the government while staying put as a UNP parliamentarian. The Ven. Athureliye has taken exception to the government arresting Military Intelligence personnel, claiming that such a move would be a threat to national security. Addressing the media on Tuesday the thera said that President Maithripala Sirisena expressed his views to the country clearly that he would not permit the arrest of Military Intelligence personnel in an arbitrary manner and if there are reports of wrong doing by Military Intelligence personnel action must be taken after a PROPER investigation (emphasis ours). In other words, the thera is hinting that the Military Intelligence operatives, now in custody, were taken in without a proper investigation.

How has the Ven.Athureliye come to such a conclusion? Was the war winning Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, unceremoniously thrown behind bars after a PROPER investigation? During that time, the Ven Athureliye, was an MP in the Rajapaksa government. Why did he not raise objections when Sarath Fonseka was brought before one court after another, almost on a daily basis, and prevented even from speaking to the media by the din raised by his police security, at the instance of a top Defence official, in the court premises? Does all this tally with the Ven. thera's idea of a proper inquiry?

This is not the first time Military Intelligence operatives were taken into custody after the coming into power of the Yahapalanaya government. Such officers were arrested in connection with the Lasantha murder and the Ekneligoda disappearance long before the present arrests. Why did not the thera raise objections then and waited until he parted ways with the government, to be an “Independent” MP to voice his protest? Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka responding to Ven. Rathana, on the same day, at a media briefing, rightly made the point that the thera was expressing the views of the Joint Opposition and if the latter was of the same wavelength as the JO he should resign from parliament and join forces with his new found pals.

Fonseka also expressed the view that nobody was above the law and members of the armed forces and Buddhist clergy should face the music under the country's laws for offenses committed, implying that being on the battlefield did not give one the license to commit criminal acts. He also dismissed the suggestion, made by the Ven Rathana to have Military Intelligence officers probed by a separate investigations board, saying that ALL offenders, should face the consequences if they had breached the country's laws.

To begin with, the constitution does not provide for the appointment of investigations bodies, other than that prescribed under it, and going by the thera's tone and tenor, even the verdicts given by such a body is likely to be rejected by the likes of Ven.Rathana, for whom our soldiers, read war heroes, can do no wrong. The thera also goes onto take up cudgels with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who appointed him on the National List from the United Front of Good Governance, saying the latter did not appreciate the consequences of arresting members of the security forces. Why did he not make the same claim when his then leader, Mahinda Rajapaksa, threw Sarath Fonseka in the slammer? Is the thera saying that only Ranil Wickremesinghe will look bad, in the eyes of the public, by resorting to such a course of action and it is well and good for the Rajapaksas to do this?

Besides, the Intelligence officers were arrested following a proper investigation, during the course of which, it was revealed that they were part of a clandestine unit which targeted journalists and critics of the Rajapaksas, and what is more, operated from a Safe House at a location in the city. Is Ven Rathana suggesting that all these investigations be halted and a Special Board allowed to determine if, they were in fact guilty?

Be that as it may, in our book, Military Intelligence officers will constitute a threat to national security only if they are allowed to go on the loose and commit criminal acts. Besides, having such officers in the Military Intelligence with criminal tendencies is likely to corrode the entire apparatus. Such men are also very likely to be corrupt, if they, so much so, had done the bidding of their political masters by engaging in criminal acts such torturing and abducting journalists. No reasons can be adduced in extenuation that military officers be spared the full force of the law, just because they fought a war.

As for Ven. Rathana, the good thera should make up his mind if he is going to remain with the Yahapalanaya government or join forces with the Joint Opposition, instead of shadow boxing for the latter.

The Island Editorial

Rumpus in the House

09 March 2017

Parliament was thrown into turmoil once again yesterday following Speaker Karu Jayasuriya’s order that Joint Opposition Leader and UPFA MP Dinesh Gunawardena be removed from the Chamber. Tempers flared when the Speaker ruled that National Freedom Front (NFF) could not leave the UPFA and act independently in Parliament. That ruling caused NFF leader Wimal Weerawansa to let out a stream of invective and Gunawardena to launch into a diatribe against the Chair. Police were called in to assist the Sergeant-at-arms and his staff in the task. Joint Opposition (JO) members circled the wagons. MP Gunawardena was, subsequently, suspended for one week. Rs. 4.6 mn, being the cost of one parliamentary sitting, thus went down the gurgler.

It was some moons ago that Weerawansa first made known his intention to break ranks with the UPFA. The government chose to drag its feet on the issue because it saw through the NFF strategy, which was inimical to its interests.

There are arguments for and against the NFF move to leave the UPFA. Those who endorse the Speaker’s ruling point out that the NFF did not sign an MoU with the UPFA prior to the last election. However, if the NFF cannot be officially recognised as a constituent of the UPFA due to the absence of a formal agreement between them, then one may argue that the legality of the present government is also in question. For, the basis for the formation of the so-called national unity government is an agreement between the UNP and the SLFP and not the UPFA, which contested the 2015 parliamentary polls. The 19th Amendment provides for a coming together of the winner and the runner-up in a general election to form a national government so as to overcome the constitutionally prescribed limit on the number of ministers. The party which obtained the second highest number of seats was the UPFA and not the SLFP, which did not contest the last general election as a separate party.

Why the ruling politicians are opposing the NFF move to leave the UPFA is understandable. The disintegration of the UPFA is bound to weaken President Maithripala Sirisena’s position in the SLFP greatly and strengthen that of the JO loyal to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. True, the UNP is bent on clipping the President’s wings, but it, at the same time, wants him to remain strong enough to shore up the present government till 2020. If the President is seen to be weak, more of his backers will defect to the Rajapaksa camp, which is striving to regain control of the SLFP. This is a worrisome proposition for the UNP and hence it is all out to prevent the UPFA from falling apart.

So, it is only wishful thinking that any of the UPFA constituents will be able to act independently in Parliament. Similarly, if the government thinks it can remain in power by manipulating Parliament instead of facing and solving the problems it is beset with, it is mistaken.

 Cake-cutting privilege

National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa has got into another controversy. On Tuesday, having been taken from remand prison to Parliament, he was seen celebrating his birthday in a parliamentary restaurant. The event has not gone down well with some people; the cake cutting has, in fact, left a bad taste in their mouths.

The matter has already been raised in Parliament and referred to the Speaker; it is best left to him. Courts will decide whether Weerawansa’s birthday party amounts to a violation of the conditions on which he is allowed to attend Parliament.

Birthday celebrations are common in prisons though it is doubtful whether Opposition MPs behind bars are allowed to throw parties. We have reported some instances where rich inmates celebrated their birthdays. They are never short of expensive liquor, cigarettes and tasty comestibles in their cells. Only the poor prisoners languish in prison.

Meanwhile, the question is why those who have welcomed Weerawansa’s prolonged stay in remand prison for allegedly abusing public property and are demanding severe action against him for his birthday party don’t call for the arrest of pro-government lawbreakers. Those responsible for the biggest ever financial crime, the Central Bank bond scam, which has caused a loss of billions of rupees to the state are moving about freely and even sighted in the exalted company of government leaders while the Opposition politicians are remanded for lesser offences. Are the government politicians and their cronies ‘more equal’ than others before the law?

Weerawansa must be made to face the consequences of his action if he has been on the wrong side of the law. Likewise, the law has to apply equally to the government politicians and their backers who have committed far more serious offences than he.