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by D.B.S.JeyarajAnton Stanislaus Balasingham the political strategist of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) and political adviser to tiger leader Veluppillai Prabhakaran died 14 years ago in his South London residence, His death was not unexpected as it was known, the doctors had given him four to six weeks to live. Bala Annai (elder brother) as he was generally known among Tamils was diagnosed with bile duct cancer , a rare and aggressive malignancy of the biliary system. LTTE supremo Prabhakaran conferred the title “Thesathin Kural” (Voice of the nation)upon him posthumously. “I am proud to bestow the title of Voice Of The Nation on Bala Annai. Stated the LTTE chief and went on to say Bala Annai has not left us. He will live permanently in our thoughts. Anton Balasingham Adele BalasinghamThe life and times of Balasingham is interesting . He was a colourful yet controversial figure. He was admired by some and despised by others. This writer s relationship with Balasingham too has had its up s and down s. I have both criticised and praised him depending of course on the issue at hand. I have written about this man and his role in Tamil affairs on several occasions. I shall rely on some of these writings while focusing on the occasion of his 14th death anniversary. I shall however abide by the dictum “De mortuis nil nisi bonum dicendum est” (of the dead nothing is to be said except good!) while writing about him at this point of time. Continue reading Life and Times of Anton Stanislaus Balasingham the LTTE Political Strategist D.B.S.JeyarajTamil Nadu, the Indian State closest to Sri Lanka, is gripped by a great deal of political excitement these days. Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections are due in May 2021. All political parties active in the State – from the ruling All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (AIADMK/ADMK) to the chief opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK) – are gearing up in election mode to face polls next year. Polls will be held on the first past the post winner system to 234 Constituencies. One more MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) will be nominated to represent the Anglo-Indian community. The advent of a general election always leads to much enthusiasm and anticipation. The forthcoming election however has been enlivened further by an additional factor. The leading Tamil actor Rajinikanth known as “Superstar” has indicated that he would be forming a new political party in January 2021 to face the hustings in May. Rajinikanth has said that the name of the party and its official launch date in January would be announced on 31 December this year. Since Rajinikanth would be celebrating his 70th birth anniversary on 12 December there is speculation that the popular actor may reveal more details about his future political plans on that red letter day ahead of 31 December. Continue reading Tamil Cinema Superstar Rajinikanth s Political Party Plunge By Col R Hariharan Indian troops have brought Kailash range in eastern Ladakh under their operational control by occupying heights and thereby dislocated Chinese plans to grab territory to gain strategic advantage. For the first time, India has gained tactical advantage to disrupt any Chinese military adventure in the region.This unexpected move by India, which had generally been bending backwards not to provoke China, has probably caught PLA troops by surprise. But the Chinese leadership had probably factored this while assessing the strategic reset of the Indo-Pacific security scene after the Quad Alliance gained more traction.This was evident when Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed PLA members of the National People’s Congress on May 26, 2020. According to Xinhua, Xi “ordered the military to be prepared for the worst case scenario, scale up and promptly and effectively deal with all sorts of complex situations and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests”.Xi’s utter disregard for India’s sensitivity after 20 Indian troops were killed in an unarmed skirmish with intruding Chinese troops at Galwan on June 15 triggered widespread anti-China sentiments among Indians. This added to the urgency of the government to rework its China strategy. India’s burgeoning new China narrative was evident in the operations to secure the Kailash range. It was also probably a moment of truth for Prime Minister Narendra Modi; during the last five years, he made relentless efforts to build a win-win relationship with China, but to little avail. Continue reading The Great Helmsman President Xi Jinping Seeks to fundamentally revise world order by placing the People’s Republic of China at the centre to serve its authoritarian and hegemonic goals. D.B.S.JeyarajAn overwhelming feeling of relief has descended upon the world not merely the US- after the Presidential elections of the United States of America ended. Joseph Robinette Biden jnr known as Joe Biden is the new US President-elect. Biden’s creditable, credible electoral triumph has ensured that decency, dignity and decorum will once again return to the Oval office of the White House. A double delight in the 46th US President to be’s victory is that of the shattering of glass ceilings by his running mate Kamala Harris. The new US Vice President- elect would not only be the first US woman vice-president but will also be the first person of Afro-Caribbean origin and South Asian descent to be elected to that post. 56 year Kamala Devi Harris known as Kamala Harris will be the 49th Vice President of the USA on January 20th 2021. She was born on October 20th 1964 in Oakland,California as the daughter of a Jamaican father and Indian mother. Both her parents were immigrants . Her mother Shyamala Gopalan came to the USA in 1958 while her Father Donald Jasper Harris did so in 1961 . They were post- graduate students at the University of California, Berkeley where they met, loved and married.Kamala Harris, right, with her mother Shyamala Gopalan at a Chinese New Year parade in San Francisco in 2007. via FB: Kamala Harris) Continue reading US Vice President Elect Kamala Harris s Key Sri Lankan Tamil Aide Rohini Lakshmi D.B.S.JeyarajNovember 27th 1989 was the day on which the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE)first observed its annual “Maaveerar Naal” or Great Heroes Day (GHD). The LTTE and its leader Veluppillai Prabhakaran are no more after the military defear of the tigers in May 2009. Yet the Great Heroes Day(GHD) continues to commemorated on a low scale in different forms by tigerish elements.Nowadays Nov 27 is being propagated as the “Thamizhar Theseeya Ninaivaenthal Thinam” or Tamil National Remembrance Day. Several Tamil political parties claiming to espouse Tamil nationalism aided and abetted by sections of the Tamil media have been engaging in the political game of commemorating the “Maaveerar Naal”(GHD) as “Ninaivaenthal Thinam”(Remembrance day). Tamil politicians lead a team of volunteers to clean up cemeteries in advance , make speeches on Nov 27th and thereafter light lamps to commemorate the “lives of those who gave up their lives” for the Tamil people. Continue reading Gotabaya Govt s Pre-emptive Strike Against LTTE Maaveerar Naal Kishali Pinto JayawardeneGiven deeply worrying abuse of power historically by the Sri Lankan State under states of emergency with national security as justification, the covid-19 global pandemic must not be employed, much like conflict in the North and the South was utilised, as a cover to trample on civil liberties.A rare and brave interventionWhen a so-called medicinal man (less politely referred to by some as a witch doctor) touts a syrup to ‘cure’ covid 19 for which large numbers of desperate human beings queue, sans social distancing outside his house in Kegalle, he escapes unscathed despite bringing about a clear violation of quarantine regulations. Not only that, this worthy is later entertained in Parliament with the Speaker and sundry Ministers sipping this ‘miracle’ tonic. What then, is the point of forbidding large gatherings or arresting people walking on the streets on the basis that they are not wearing masks?And why is that same latitude afforded to shifty-eyed witch doctors with political patrons not given to Tamil parents protesting the disappearances of their children in the Wanni, who are told that they will be quarantined if they do not stop their protest? Or more empathy shown to the parents of a covid-19 infected (Muslim) baby, who had endure the child being cremated contrary to their religious beliefs as well as being accused of negligence by the authorities? For Muslims to protest against such treatment, their Ministers, MPs and community leaders must speak up, must resign from Government, not parrot commands from above while safeguarding positions of power and privilege. Continue reading From a pro-UNP Bar (then) we have a pro-Rajapasksa Bar (now) which seems to be deaf, dumb and blind, even though injustice is caused to a member of its own tribe. Lucien RajakarunayakeIt is not the upcoming solar eclipse on December 14, which will not be seen here, that has brought any new interest, but the major solar eclipse on June 1955 that is now remembered by many; especially with the “Bivva Neda Vadakaha Sudiya” baila beat and the tale of “Emali Paney” being revived in the minds of many from this honey trap of Covid cure. . Those who take special delight in drinking the new “Kali Amma Corona Paniya” (Divine Corona Healing Honey or Vasangatha Suva Paniya), must be having their own songs and dances, as Covid-19 spreads worldwide and we have a syrup to save our people from this global disaster. This is the height of indigenous syrup era, which has nothing to do with any vaccines developed elsewhere in the world, be it in the US, the UK, Russia or China. We are in the Hela Suvaya era, which may soon take us more than 2000 years ahead from the rest of the world. Continue reading Bivva Nedha Kali Amma Corona Paniya ?” ( Have You not Imbibed Goddess Kali s Divine Corona Healing Honey?) Veeragathy ThanabalasinghamIndian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, who visited Sri Lanka last week, met with TNA leader R Sampanthan at the India House for about half an hour prior returning to New Delhi.It is learned that the two talked about the future of the provincial councils which would give some devolution to the Tamils and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution which led to it and agreed to keep what they discussed in secrecy owing to the sensitivity of the issue.During the meeting with Sampanthan, Doval had expressed interest in the economic development of the northern and eastern provinces and had advised Sampanthan that the Tamil National Alliance should focus more on economic development.The fact is, in the current context, India does not want or is unable to put pressure on the Sri Lankan government regarding domestic political issues, such as the constitution and devolution. Though Indian Primer Minister Narendra Modi,during his official meetings with Rajapaksa brothers , made it a point to insist that SriLankan Tamils aspirations must be addressed through the full implementation of the 13th amendment but to no avail.They (Rajapaksa brothers )always maintained a studied silence in front of PM Modi and later used to give lengthy interviews to Indian prominent English news papers in Delhi itself proclaiming that they were unable to grant anything against the will of the Sinhala majority.That was their response to Modi s request regarding Tamil problem,But, no doubt,India would certainly continue to raise the issue. Continue reading If the TNA is willing to cooperate with the government India is ready to provide assistance for development projects in the Tamil areas. If the TNA does not cooperate they cannot expect anything else from India. This is India s current approach to the Tamil issue. (Text of Speech made in Parliment by TNA Jaffna District Parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran on 09th December 2020 on Budget Votes of Ministry of Justice)Thank you Honourable presiding member. I am glad to speak on the 3rd Reading, particularly on the votes of the Ministry of Justice today when my good friend at the Bar Hon. Ali Sabri is the minister of Justice. We’ve had a long association. He occupies a very prestigious post that of a Minister of Justice, In the olden days it was occupied by somebody who was from the Senate from the upper house because it was a prestigious office to hold. However I think he may feel like the Minister of ports and shipping of Afghanistan today. I say this, because having listened to the exchange that took place when the former Minister of Justice was speaking: between the government benches and the main opposition party, one couldn’t escape wondering if they were both letting down the Judiciary, because when you accuse the other side of meddling with the Judiciary and cite Judgments that have been delivered by the Judiciary and imply that those judgments were wrong were influenced by the executive of the day, then you are both actually letting down the Judiciary. Perhaps that is the true state of affairs of the country because Judges continue their tenure. Governments come, Governments go but they continue and if you in the House today argue as to which point of time a particular judgment was given and what the political implication of that is, then you are both pointing a finger at the Judiciary and I am only worried that what you were doing was perhaps even justified. Continue reading The Minister of Justice in Sri Lanka Today Must be Feeling Like the Minister of Ports and Shipping in Afghanistan says MA Sumanthiran MP in Parliament D.B.S.JeyarajNovember 17th 2020 was the birth centenary of popular Tamil cinema actor Gemini Ganesan. In a career spanning more than five decades Gemini Ganesan made his mark in Tamil films as the romantic hero par excellence. Gemini Ganesan was regarded widely as the greatest romantic lover in Tamil cinema. In fact he was dubbed “Kaadhal Mannan,” meaning “King of Romance” or “Romance King”. . Though he played a number of diverse roles , it was as a lover on screen that Gemini shone brightly. This earned him the evergreen laurel “Kaadhal Mannan”. This article denoting his birth centenary intends reviving pleasant memories of a man who gave me and millions of others immense pleasure through his movies.What is most interesting about Gemini Ganesan is the fact that his on-screen and off-screen persona got intertwined in relation to Romance. While the evergreen actor Gemini crooned and danced his way into the hearts of many lovely heroines on screen, the off-screen hero too romanced many women in real life. Gemini had four wives plus several liaisons including live -in relationships with attractive women. He himself admitted to his numerous affairs with other married women to an Indian magazine in an interview . When the magazine wanted more details, Gemini declined to elaborate saying, “Gentlemen don’t tell!” Continue reading Gemini Ganesan the Romance King of Tamil Cinema: Birth Centenary of Kaadhal Mannan D.B.S.JeyarajPatabandi Don Nandasiri Wijeweera known to the world at large as Rohana Wijeweera was killed 31 years ago on 13 November 1989.The revolutionary leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) or People’s Liberation Front was 49 years old at the time of his death.Patabendi Don Jinadasa Nandasiri Wijeweera (14 July 1943 – 13 November 1989)The mastermind behind two bloody insurrections – in 1971 and from 1987 to 89 – was taken into custody on 12 November in the Kandy District and brought to Colombo. With Wijeweera’s capture and execution, the second JVP insurgency petered down gradually and ended.The second JVP insurgency lasting for more than three years resulted in thousands of people being brutally killed by both the JVP as well as the counter insurgency forces comprising Police, paramilitary and security personnel. While no reliable estimates are available of the number of killings done by security personnel and other agents of the state, there are official figures of the killings done by the JVP. Continue reading Sensational Capture and Unofficial Execution of JVP Leader Rohana Wijeweera. D.B.S.JeyarajNandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the Presidential Elections on 16 November 2019. He was formally sworn in as President two days later at the Ruwanweliseya in Anuradhapura. Today 18 November is the first anniversary of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa assuming office. Incidentally the President’s elder brother, former President and current Prime Minister Mahinda Percy Rajapaksa will also be celebrating his 75th birthday today (18).The proverbial saying about blood being thicker than water was very much evident as “Mahinda Aiya” embraced “Gota Malli” tightly and hugged him speechlessly for more than a minute when Gotabaya arrived safe and sound at Temple TreesWhile extending wishes to the two Rajapaksa brothers on their respective mile-post anniversaries, this column focuses this week on another important anniversary in the life of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa 14 years ago. It was on 1 December 2006 that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) made an attempt in Colombo to assassinate Gotabaya Rajapaksa serving as Secretary of Defence under his brother and then President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Gotabaya miraculously escaped that attempt and went on to forge his inevitable tryst with destiny. Continue reading LTTE’s Abortive Attempt to Assassinate Gotabaya Rajapaksa 14 Years Ago. By Shamindra FerdinandoPresident Gotabaya Rajapaksa, yesterday (10) faulted the Government Analyst’s Department, the Attorney General’s Department and the Police over the simmering crisis in the ‘prisons system.’The President’s Office quoted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa as having said at a meeting summoned to discuss shortcomings and problems in the ‘prisons system’ that due to inordinate delay on the part of the Government Analyst, the AG and the police, a large number of suspects were held in prisons pending investigations. Continue reading President Gotabaya Rajapaksa blames inordinate delay on the part of the Government Analyst, the Attorney-General and the police for the remandee crisis in the Prisons System where a large number of suspects are being held in jail pending investigations. Detained Attorney-at-Law Hejaaz Hizbullahs’ lawyers yesterday filed a writ Petition before the Court of Appeal seeking access to Hizbullah. When the matter was taken up yesterday, Romesh De Silva PC, appearing on behalf of the Petitioner said that the lawyers have not had any access to Hizbullah since September. He said they could not obtain instructions from Hizbullah as to what other remedies must be pursued with regard to his detention. Continue reading Writ Petition Filed before the Court of Appeal seeking access to Detained Attorney-at-Law Hejaaz Hizbullahs with Romesh de Silva PC Appearing on behalf of Lawyer; Appeal Court President ustice Arjun Obeysekara recused himself from the hearing, By Uditha Jayasinghe The Government appears to have changed track on scrapping the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) with moves being made to appoint new commissioners, a top official said yesterday. Following the present commissioners decision to step down after a call from Treasury Secretary S. R. Attygalle on Tuesday, the Government is said to appoint a new set of commissioners shortly with the commission’s Chairman already earmarked. The decision to continue with PUCSL has been welcomed though some are wary about whether the regulatory body will be independent and effective. The move also came under heavy criticism by the Opposition, professionals and civil society. The incumbent Commissioners who were requested to step down were Chairman Prof. Kithsiri Liyanage, Prof. Kapila Perera, Chandra Ekanayake, Dr. Nishan De Mel and Sadun Gamage. PUCSL commissioners are typically appointed for a five-year term. PUCSL sources confirmed Prof. Kapila Perera and Chandra Ekanayake have already handed in their resignation letters, while the rest are expected to do so within this week. Continue reading Gotabaya Govt Replaces Idea of Abolishing the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka with New Plan to Create a Compliant PUCSL by Appointing Supportive Rubber Stampa to fill Vacancies Caused by Forced Mass Resignation of Earlier Commissioners By S.S. Selvanayagam Former Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Director Shani Abeysekara (59), who is incarcerated in Mahara Remand Prison, yesterday filed a Fundamental Rights violation petition, seeking his safety and compensation of Rs. 3 million. Attorney-at-Law Gowry Shangary Thavarasha filed the petition on his behalf in the Supreme Court.She cited IGP C. D. Wickramarathne, ASP Neville Silva, and IP S. P. D. J. Nishantha, as well as Senior DIG Deshanbandu Tennakoone and the Attorney General as Respondents. Continue reading Attorney-at-Law Gowry Shangary Thavarasha files Fundamental Rights violation petition on behalf of Former CID Director Shani Abeysekara (59) who is incarcerated in Mahara Remand Prison eeking his safety and compensation of Rs. 3 million. “We are not living an era of change, but a change of era” – Pope FrancisThere is a contradiction between the needs of recovery and progress on all fronts, and the regime’s restrictive framework and retrogressive ideas.The COVID-19 proliferation and the Mahara massacre are but manifestations of the ideology of denial and the failure of the organisational doctrine-cum-model introduced by the GR regime.There is a contradiction between the propaganda of the regime and the basic requirements of public credibility. The rebuttal by the College of Psychiatrists of the story of riot-inducing drugs, mysteriously stocked in the dispensary of Mahara hospital and supposedly ingested en masse by the prisoners, is an example. (The Sunday Times –http://www.sundaytimes.lk/201206/news/college-of-psychiatrists-disputes-claims-connecting-pills-with-violent-behaviour-424708.html)There is a contradiction between the ideology of the regime and the requirements of resuscitating the macroeconomy as distinct from corporate profits.There is a contradiction between the regime’s self-image (another Israel) and its reality.There is a contradiction between the openness, kaleidoscopic patterning, and democratic DNA of Sri Lankan social consciousness and behaviour, and the harsh, rigid, brittle, stubborn, insensitive, monarcho-militarist mode of the regime. Continue reading There is a contradiction between the democratic DNA of Sri Lankan social consciousness and behaviour, and the harsh, rigid, stubborn, insensitive, monarcho-militarist mode of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime. By Uditha Jayasinghe All five commissioners of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) stepped down yesterday following a call from Treasury Secretary S. R. Attygalle.It is unclear how the PUCSL will continue to function following the resignations of the five commissioners. The Commissioners were Prof. Kithsiri Liyanage, Prof. Kapila Perera, Chandra Ekanayake, Dr. Nishan De Mel and Sadun Gamage. PUCSL commissioners are typically appointed for a five-year term. Continue reading All Five Commissioners of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka Tender Their resignations Jointly Following Telephone Call from Yreasury Secretary S.R. Attygalle By Tisaranee Gunasekara“People slide by degrees…. Each of the early steps may seem too small to be counted” – Jonathan Glover (‘Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century’)It was a day in July 2020. The Grand Hotel, Nuwara Eliya, presented former cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya with a bat made of Swiss chocolate. With it, he shattered an ostentatious chocolate dessert fashioned in the form of a cricket ball (http://www.newswire.lk/2020/07/26/watch-striking-shot-by-master-blaster-had-the-chocolate-desserts/).Such outbursts of bling, silly and vulgarian in general, become abhorrent in times of national distress. In July 2020, Sri Lankan had just emerged from a nearly three-month lockdown, with both the economy and a large swathe of Lankans facing an uncertain future. A Swiss-chocolate blast at such a time is not just bad optics; it provides a hint of bad economics which, if not remedied, can morph into deadly socio-politics.In September 2020, a mother removed her three children from a school in Ginigathhena because she couldn’t feed them, a story that symbolised life in the time of pandemic for many Lankans. Since then, a new wave of infections had hit, heaping further devastation on national and household economics. The Government’s economic policies are adding to this distress. For example, the interest rate gamble can undermine the financial security of even middle class families. The resultant drop in private consumption can have a knock-on effect on businesses, especially of the small and medium variety.Worsening inequality can stymie the Government’s attempt to boost growth. Even the IMF, once a mainstay of the neo-liberal Washington Consensus, has publicly accepted the fundamental incompatibility between durable growth and high income-inequality. The change was propelled in part by the work of such IMF researchers as economist Jonathan D Ostry. The IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva recently identified progressive taxation as a “key component of effective fiscal policy. At the top of the income distribution, our research shows that marginal tax rates can be raised without sacrificing economic growth” (Reduce inequality to create opportunity – IMF blog – 7 January 2020). Continue reading Devanagala Being Turned into a new Sinhala-Muslim flashpoint; rabblerousing monk, Galagoda-Aththe Gnanasara visit to Devanagala last week revives fears of a new “Aluthgama” By Asiri Fernando The recent move to abolish the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) by senior public officials will open the door to corruption and is contrary to the policies presented by the President, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) parliamentarian Eran Wickramaratne charged yesterday. Addressing the press at the opposition leader’s office, Wickramaratne said that the move by two civil servants was unlawful and that those involved should be questioned as to what basis they made the call. He was joined by SJB MP Manusha Nanayakkara. “We have seen a letter sent by Secretary to the President P.B. Jayasundara, to the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance S.R. Attygalle, informing him that the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) should be dissolved. What have they done? They are creating a dictatorship,” Wickramaratne said, pointing out that dissolving the PUCSL is in contrast to what was stated in the Prime Minister’s budget speech. Continue reading Rajapaksa Govt Moves to Abolish the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka Will Open the Door for Corruption and Create a Dictatorship Warns Eran Wickramaratne MP SJB Gampaha District MP Field Marshal Sarath told Parliament yesterday that it was he who had got Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera the post of Commandant of the Civil Defence Force, when the latter was without a job.Participating in the third reading debate on Budget 2021, Field Marshal Fonseka said: “When then Secretary Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa wanted to appoint a commandant to the CDF, I named Sarath Weerasekera. Then Navy commander Karannagoda opposed it. After Weerasekera was appointed the CDF commandant, Karannagoda did not give him a vehicle, driver or escort. So, Weerasekera came in tears to my office. It was I who gave him a vehicle, driver and an escort. I also gave him army officers to run the CDF. Now, he is showing how ungrateful he is after I criticised him for hugging his son in police uniform after assuming duties as the Minister of Public Security.” Continue reading Sarath vs Sarath: Field Marshall Fonseka Says it was he who got Rear Admiral Weerasekera the post of Civil Defence Force Commandant and Provided him with Vehicle and Escort and Accuses Public Security Minister of Being Ungrateful Prof. S.Ratnajeevan H. HooleThe position of our Government is that no war crimes were committed by our forces at the end of the war. In the light of the evidence made available by the UN and world media to deny it at this point of time would be to fool ourselves. Last week (22 November) I wrote on our responsibility for crimes on the battlefield in May 2009 and of how Australia has approached its own charges of war crimes. I commended its example for our Government beginning trials, asking for forgiveness, and rescinding the medallions, promotions, and high offices given to military personnel.Subsequently news is that Rear Admiral Dr. Sarath Weerasekera on taking oaths as Minister of Public Security had committed himself to protecting all peoples of Sri Lanka. If that is sincere and true, then to protect Tamils, he must embark on punishing all war criminals identified by due process and withholding promotions from those, inquiries against whom, as in the five students and ACF cases, have been suppressed. So long as the Government fails to do so, those alleged to have committed grave human rights abuses would remain in high office. Recently it was reported that those mourning their dead, who had not opened their shops to remember their murdered loved ones, were forced by the Army to open their shops closed to commemorate their dead. Therefore it would appear that by “all communities” Dr. Weerasekera meant that protection would only be offered to the majority community… From abjuration of any responsibility to commitments on prosecuting war crimes, the Government is totally mendacious. Continue reading We now need to ask openly for the full implementation of UNHRC Resolution 30/1. Our MPs must ask for these in Parliament. As things are, no one asks for these out of fear of a repressive state and judicial machinery, so the world thinks we are happy with allowing the crimes to go unpunished. Victor IvanThe entire State of Sri Lanka in general and the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary in particular, i.e. the three main constituent elements of the State, are in a state of deterioration and complete breakdown caused by excessive degeneration and resulting impotence and incompetence.The entire State has reached a level where it cannot be revitalised by simple reforms without recreating the entirety of systemic apparatus. In this backdrop, Gota appears to be failing not only because of his incapacity, but also the failure of the State which he has inherited to govern, which is beyond revitalisation, has contributed to this situation.Therefore, changing the operator alone is not the solution to the problem. What the country needs today is not a competent operator, but an innovative trendsetter who dares to reconstruct and recreate the machinery which is rendered completely inactive. Yet, not only the public, but also the political parties of Sri Lanka are used to perceive the problem as an outcome of not having a good operator rather than a problem of not having a competent trendsetter to redesign the machinery. Continue reading The criminal investigations conducted by Shani Abeysekera during the Yahapalana regime were not based on false or fabricated crimes. The Lasantha Murder,Prageeth Disappearance,Keith Abduction were crimes actually committed in the country at that time. Kishali Pinto JayawardenePresident Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his Minister of Justice who went charging into Parliament this week to pontificate or plead for judges to be protected ‘from criticism’ may well be advised to reflect on some salutary truths.Truly remarkable Ministerial idiocyIn South Asia’s less than salubrious context of the separation of powers being limited to constitutional theory rather than evidenced in practice, ruling party politicians defending the independence of the judiciary is the surest sign that the judicial institution is not in a happy state. The Minister justified the wheels of justice turning in fortuitous ways towards Government politicians in recent weeks by arguing that these were all cases filed to extract political vengeance by the previous administration.His most peculiar logic, (or rather, the absence thereof), was that, as a lawyer appearing in many of these cases, he knew that they were trumped up accusations. Far be it from me to waste valuable column inches on asinine politicians but this truly remarkable idiocy belongs in a class of its own. As the President’s personal lawyer once upon a doubtlessly beneficial time not so long ago, the Minister may well believe in his brief that his client, other members of the Rajapaksa family and their sundry supporters including public servants, indicted variously on serious charges ranging from misappropriation to abuse of public property, were innocent.Even so, that is a subjective belief, not to be pressed upon the public as an absurd justification for the propriety of court verdicts which (apparently) the Minister was trying to uphold. Surely those decisions, of the trial court or the appeal court as the case may be, should be defended or critiqued for that matter on an objective assessment of their merits or demerits? Indeed, this Ministerial tilting at the windmills of Opposition parliamentarians who pounced on recent acquittals of the Government’s men to question the legitimacy of the rulings, does far more damage than good to their own cause. Continue reading Sri Lankan Judges Must Resist the ‘onslaught’ of racism, militarism, and political opportunism of politicians who subvert the Constitution and not the ‘onslaught of criticism’ that President Rajapaksa refers to. By Namini WijedasaWaWter Supply Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara has slammed moves by the President’s office to dissolve the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), pointing out to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa that the independent regulator is under the Premier’s purview and not the President’s.“As the Public Utilities Commission is an institution under your Ministry, any decision related to it must be taken by you,” Minister Nanayakkara, whose subject matter, water, is also regulated by the PUCSL, said in a letter to the Prime Minister on Thursday. Continue reading Water Supply Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara Wants Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa to Stop Moves by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s Secretary PB Jayasundara to Dismantle the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lank by Sujeeva Nivunhella Despite a strong protest by Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in London, Ms. Saroja Sirisena to the British authorities, pro-LTTE groups in London went ahead with the planned ‘Great Heroes Day’ commemoration on a grand scale in the United Kingdom last Sunday.The High Commissioner asked the British authorities whether a proscribed terrorist organization like Al-Qaeda would be allowed to have its own way and act with impunity the way LTTE groups were openly doing in London.“The LTTE remains a banned terror group in the UK”, she noted. Continue reading Despite a strong protest by Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner Saroja Sirisena to the British authorities, pro-LTTE groups in London went ahead with the planned ‘Great Heroes Day’ commemoration on a grand scale in the United Kingdom. Suresh PereraThe sacking of the president and four members nominated to the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) by the previous government has triggered an uproar, with medical professionals slamming Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi’s move as “completely flawed” and “an attempt to undermine the autonomy and independence of the apex regulatory body”.Expressing consternation over his sudden dismissal as the president of the statutory body, eminent Specialist Consultant Paediatrician, Prof. Harendra de Silva, said he was contemplating legal action against his removal by the Minister.“I will be challenging my dismissal in the Court of Appeal”, he said.In terms of the Medical Ordinance, there is no provision to remove the president or any of the four council members nominated by the serving Health Minister of the time, he asserted.“Before I was informed of my termination, some Health Ministry officials urged me to resign, but I declined to do so”, Dr. de Silva told The Sunday Island.Pressure was also exerted on the other four members of the council to step down, he noted. “However, we collectively stood our ground and refused to throw in the towel”.“It was after I dismissed the overtures calling for my resignation that a letter indicating that I have been removed as SLMC president was sent across”, he further said.Prof. Narada Warnasuriya and Dr. Pushpika Ubesiri, two of the other council members who were dismissed, said that they will also be seeking legal redress over their removal in “contravention of the Medical Ordinance”. Continue reading Sacking of the president and four members of the Sri Lanka Medical Council has triggered an uproar with medical professionals slamming Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi’s move as “completely flawed” and “an attempt to undermine the autonomy and independence of the apex regulatory body”. Lucien RajakarunanayakeThe Mahara Prison and its 11 inmates who have died, or were killed by gunshots or other means, is certainly in the mind of the people. As the Covid-19 pandemic spreads beyond the often declared expectations of hopes of the government, the Mahara Prison has raised the question of how Covid infected persons, whether symptomatic or not, are actually handled by the State, or the Prison authorities. What cannot be forgotten, as the State would like us to, is the reality that the responsibility for convicted prisoners and remanded persons lies wholly with the Government. Continue reading What cannot be forgotten, as the State would like us to, is the reality that the responsibility for convicted prisoners and remanded persons lies wholly with the Govt. By Chandani Kirinde Opposition lawmakers yesterday raised questions in Parliament about the Mahara Prison shooting that left 11 dead and scores of prisoners injured as a committee headed by a retired High Court Judge began an inquiry into the incident by visiting the prison.Justice Minister Ali Sabry said that the five-member committee headed by retired Judge Sarojini Kusala Weerawardena was to visit the prison as part of the inquiry. Its other members include U.R. De Silva PC, who is an Adviser to the Justice Ministry, Justice Ministry Additional Secretary Rohana Hapugaswatta, retired DIG D.R.L. Ranaweera and retired Prisons Commissioner Gamini Jayasinghe. The Committee began its work admits growing concern about what led to the unrest which resulted in the shooting. Continue reading Opposition MPs ask Govt to clarify why over 100 prisoners were transferred from the Welikada Prison to Mahara amidst the spread of the coronavirus and why video footage that was released to the media did not include scenes of the shooting. By Lakna ParanamannaLast week India, Maldives and Sri Lanka revived trilateral maritime talks after six years. It was soon after the Quad nations staged the two phased Malabar 2020 exercise in the Bay of Bengal. The U.S. led alliance has upped its game against Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific waters, but the question remains if these measures will suffice to withstand rising Chinese power that is already consolidated in the region. The answer to these queries, can be explored in the theory of sea power argued by Alfred Thayar Mahan the renowned American Naval officer and strategist, whose 1890 book ‘Influence of Sea Power upon History’ extensively wrote on the use of enhancing maritime prowess to elevate America as the next hegemon to replace the waning power of Great Britain at the time. Continue reading India, Maldives and Sri Lanka revived trilateral maritime talks after six years. It was soon after the Quad nations staged the two phased Malabar 2020 exercise in the Bay of Bengal but the question remains if these measures will suffice to withstand rising Chinese power that is already consolidated in the region. (Twenty civil society groups have issued the following press statement on the forced cremation of COVID dead as against respecting burial by people of certain faith. The statement said that of the 124 persons dead due to COVID-19 as at 3 December, 50 were Muslims.)On Tuesday the country’s Supreme Court, by a majority decision refused to grant leave to proceed to the 11 applications filed by petitioners belonging to Muslim, Christian and Catholic communities challenging the Sri Lankan Government’s forcible cremation policyThe faith the victims of forced cremation of COVID-19 or COVID-19 suspected dead had in the highest court in Sri Lanka has been shattered. Victims and communities are now left without a recourse in Sri Lanka for the continued injustice they suffer. Continue reading “We will continue to struggle for justice and the right to bury our dead” Joint Statement by Twenty Civil Society Groups The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) in its interim recommendations on the incident at the Mahara Prison on 29 November said that the protests were sparked by the transfer of prisoners infected with the COVID-19 virus from Welikada Prison to Mahara and had the authorities responded to prison officials’ concerns over this proposed transfer and set up a separate treatment facility for prisoners, this clash and the subsequent deaths could have been completely avoided.HRCSL officials who undertook the visit to the prison a day after the clashes also said in its interim report that all new admissions must be first subject to PCR testing before being included in the prisons, quarantine facilities be provided for new intakes, and a separate treatment facility be provided for all prisoners and remandees who are infected with the virus.The HRCSL also recommended that all prisoners at Mahara be tested for COVID-19 while there should also be regular testing and treatment for officials. Continue reading Transfer of COVID-19 infected prisoners from Welikada to Mahara sparked unrest States Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. By Saman IndrajithThe recent Mahara Prison riot erupted as 120 inmates afflicted with COVID-19 had been taken there from the Welikada prison at the behest of a Doctor in charge of prisoners’ health, who was a Viyathmaga member, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa told Parliament yesterday.“Many explanations have been given by ministers about the riot at Mahara Prison. The number of deaths is not yet known and around 120 are wounded. One minister said that there was an invisible hand behind the clashes. Another said the motive was to bring the government into disrepute internationally. A theory was concocted that prisoners had taken some narcotic tablets called Reverse and they and fought because they wanted to see blood. But the truth is otherwise. The real cause is that 120 inmates infected with coronavirus were transferred to Mahara from the Welikada prison at the behest of a doctor in charge of prisoners’ health. That director is a member of the Viyathmaga. Those who were transferred to Mahara prison caused a cluster of 183 persons. As the infection spread fast there was unrest and tension. That was the reason for Mahara riots Continue reading Transferring 120 Corona Infected Inmates from Welikade to Mahara at the Behest of of a Doctor who was a Viyathmaga Organization Member and in Charge of Prisoners Health was the Cause of the Riot States Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa in Parliament. Sri Lankan civil society organizations agitating for the Muslims’ right to bury those of them who had died of COVID have declared that they will explore options to secure their inalienable religious right to bury their dead.“The faith the victims of forced cremation of COVID-19 or Covid-19 suspected dead had in the highest court in Sri Lanka has been shattered. Victims and communities are now left without a recourse in Sri Lanka for the continued injustice they suffer,” said a joint statement issued by 20 leading civil society organizations after the Sri Lanka Supreme Court summarily dismissed eleven petitions seeking an order to the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government to reverse its decision to ban the burial of COVID dead.The statement quoted one of the victims who challenged the offensive regulation in court as saying: “We placed greater hopes in the courts. However, for reasons unknown, our applications have been rejected. Now we feel dejected, let down and abandoned.” Continue reading Sri Lankan civil society organizations agitating for the Muslims’ right to bury those of them who had died of COVID have declared that they will explore options to secure their inalienable religious right to bury their dead Hours after announcing that he would launch a political party in January 2021, actor Rajinikanth on Thursday said that political change is the need of the hour and that he was just an instrument of the people.Citing the COVID-19 pandemic, he told journalists outside his Poes Garden residence that he was thinking about how this [fighting elections] was possible to do, without meeting people. “But then…when I was ill in Singapore, I came back alive because of their (people) prayers. I will be more than happy now if I lose my life for the people. Political change is very important and the need of the hour. If it doesn’t happen now, it won’t happen ever. Everything needs to be changed,” he said. Continue reading “I am just a small instrument. If I win, it is people’s victory. If I lose, it is people’s loss. I request people to be with me.I will be more than happy now if I lose my life for the people Says Tamil Film Star Rajinikanth On Thursday, actor Rajinikanth announced that he will start a political party in January 2021 to contest in the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections and the date will be announced on December 31.In a tweet in Tamil, Mr. Rajinikanth said, “In the upcoming elections, we will achieve a big victory with the support of the people. A Spiritual politics will emerge in Tamil Nadu that will bring transparency, honesty a politics with no corruption and one that is free of caste and religious bias. Continue reading Tamil Superstar Rajinikanth Will Start a Political Party in January 2021 to Contest Forthcoming Tamil Nadu State assembly Elections Mext Year; Party Launch Date to be Announced on December 31st 2020 Meera SrinivasanAt least 12,000 residents of Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern provinces were severely affected as heavy rain lashed the region while cyclone Burevi made a landfall on Wednesday night. The maximum rainfall — 279.8 mm in the last 24 hours — was recorded in Kilinochchi district.Incessant rainfall continued on Thursday as the cyclone moved towards Mannar district located on the island’s northwest coast, before heading towards south India.Thousands living in Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Vavuniya and the eastern Trincomalee district were badly affected, and nearly 200 homes were damaged, according to Pradeep Kodippili, spokesman of Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre. Continue reading Over 12,000 People Affected as Heavy rain lashes Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka Following Cyclone Burevi By Dr. Dayan JayatillekaThe substantive foreign policy debate during this Budget was between the SLPP and the Tamil Opposition. More specifically it was between Ministers Dinesh Gunawardena and Prof. G.L. Peiris on the one hand, and Parliamentarians M.A. Sumanthiran and Gajan Ponnambalam on the other. That debate, though superficially Sinhala/Tamil, south/north, was not simply that. It was an important and civilised clash of perspectives. Each side said much that was correct but was partial, one-sided. Though the trees were of valuable timber, each side missed the wood for the trees. What Sri Lanka’s foreign policy lacks is the ability either to bridge the two perspectives or chart a middle path between them.The keyword in the debate was sovereignty. Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and former Foreign Minister, currently the Minister of Education, G.L. Peiris argued strongly for the sovereign equality of states and non-interference, while Sumanthiran took the sovereignty of peoples—including, in Sumanthiran’s argument, the pre-existing, pre-colonial sovereignty of the Tamil statelet—as their ground. That latter point is untenable because when the kingdoms were brought together non-federally, and at the founding of independent Ceylon, the state form opted for was a unitary one as distinct from the separate referenda that the British insisted upon in India, yielding a quasi-federal compact.Of the speakers in the debate on foreign affairs, Gajan Ponnambalam was something of an outlier, as he almost always is, but this time, he enunciated a most challenging, dialectically reasoned proposition which made his the most interesting single contribution to the discussion. Little wonder then that his speech was totally ignored.The problem with both sides in the sovereignty debate was that they were standing on principles rather than practice, matters ‘de jure’ rather than ‘de facto’, the ‘ought’ of things rather than the ‘is’. Taken together, their contending discourses would bring us to a closer approximation of the reality of how the world works—but they aren’t taken together. Continue reading The Rajapaksa regime of Today is the most hawkish, absolutist, militarist, ethno-hegemonistic, unilateralist , ideologically rigid and extremist ever in the island’s post-Independence history. Meera SrinivasanThe Supreme Court of Sri Lanka on Tuesday dismissed petitions, including those filed by Muslim civil society members, challenging government regulations mandating cremation for all COVID-19-related deaths.The gazette notification issued in April, a month after Sri Lanka detected its first local case of the coronavirus, set off concern among the island’s Muslims — they make up about 10% of Sri Lanka’s 21 million population — who sought a policy revision as the practice of cremations goes against their religious beliefs. Continue reading Sri Lanka s Supreme Court Dismisses Fundamental Rights Petitions Filed by Muslim Civil Society Members Challenging Govt Regulations Stipulating Compulsory Cremation of all COVID -18 Victims Instead of Burial Meera SrinivasanThe death toll from the recent prison riots in Sri Lanka, sparked by fears of a raging second wave of COVID-19, rose to 11 on Tuesday.Over 100 prisoners were injured when guards opened fire to contain the unrest on Sunday, as inmates at the Mahara prison, near Colombo, demanded to be freed after at least 1,000 prison inmates in the country tested COVID-19 positive. Prison guards “used force in order to bring under control an unrest”, police spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana had said. Continue reading Death Toll Rises to 11 in Mahara Prison Riot in which Over a 100 Inmates were Hospitalised due to Firing by Prison ;Guards to bring unrest under control Amnesty International Urges Thorough and Impartial Investigation Into Incident By T. Farook ThajudeenColombo High Court yesterday released Basil Rajapaksa and three others from a case of misappropriating public funds without calling for defence evidence as pleaded by the defence counsel.High Court Judge R. Gurusinghe acquitted the four accused, which was former Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, former Ministry Secretary Dr. Nihal Jayathilaka, Divinaguma Development Department former Director General Kithsiri Ranawaka and Divinaguma Development Department former Deputy Director General Bandula Thilakaratna from the charges of misappropriating public funds. Continue reading Colombo High Court Judge R.Gurusinghe Acquits Basil Rajapaksa and three others from five charges of misappropriating Rs 2,291 Million Divaneguma funds without calling for defence evidence as prosecution had not proven the charges against the accused beyond reasonable doubt MP Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle has been appointed as the State Minister of Primary Health Services, Pandemics and COVID Prevention.The new State Minister was sworn in before President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday.The State Ministry for Primary Health Services, Pandemics and COVID Prevention is a new portfolio. Continue reading Dr.Sudarshini Fernandopulle Sworn in as Stste Minster of Primary Health Services, Pandemics and COVID Prevention; President Creates new Ministry to Cope with COVID -19 Pandemic Threat By Asiri FernandoThe Justice Ministry, Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Prisons Department are set to launch three separate inquiries into the incidents at the Mahara prison that took place on Sunday evening. The riot resulted in the deaths of eight inmates, sixty-two injured, and parts of the prison being set ablaze. The CID probe follows the Inspector General of Police (IGP) C.D. Wickramaratne, being instructed by the Defence Ministry Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne, to initiate an inquiry into the incident. State Minister of Prison Reforms and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation Dr Sudarshini Fernandopulle, told Daily FT that an internal investigation will also be carried out. Continue reading Mahara Prison Riot Quelled by Firing;8 Inmates Killed and 62 Including 3 Prison Officials HospitalisedlBuildings Set Ablaze; Three separate Inquiries Launched by Justice Ministry, Prisons Dept and CID Kishali Pinto JayawardeneAs Sri Lanka hurtles down the precipice of covid-19 contagion coupled with unprecedented economic devastation, bitter and biting anger at our plight can scarcely be contained.‘Organised propaganda’vs public opinionState health agencies tasked with handling the pandemic stamme and stutter while a militarised command continues to elbow out a professionally coordinated public health-led effort. In one sense, this is not all that remarkable. What we are facing is the common or garden path consequence of misrule where one set of self-serving authoritarians replaced another set of self-serving ‘democratic’ nincompoops who were too busy fighting with each other to govern properly while many on Colombo’s ‘liberal’ gravy train cheered, oblivious to danger signals early on.In both cases, what is common to these two sets of truly irrepressible rogues is not only self-interest but also imperviousness to admitting one’s faults and changing direction in consequence thereof. Thus when President Gotabaya Rajapaksa proclaimed, in his Address to the Nation, on 18th November 2020 that the yardstick he would use to assess his success or failure one year into office, would be ‘public opinion’ and not ‘organised propaganda on social media platforms’ by political opponents, that begs the question as to what precisely is this ‘public opinion’ that he is referring to? Continue reading President Gotabaya Rajapaksa must scorn crawlingly subservient Sycophantic creatures lest he fall into the very same trap that his brother, ex- President Mahinda Rajapaksa was caught in. By Kumudini HettiarachchiThe head and four others of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) were sacked on Friday afternoon by Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi with the removal letters being delivered halfway through the SLMC’s monthly meeting which had started at 1 p.m.The dramatic removal of SLMC President Prof. Harendra de Silva and others came following a report by a five-member committee appointed by the minister to inquire into complaints against the SLMC, the state watchdog body of medical education and professionalism.Prof. de Silva and the four others removed were appointed by the former Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne. The new President of the SLMC is Prof. Vajira H.W. Dissanayake. Continue reading Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi sacks Sri Lanka Medical Council President Prof, Harendra de Silva and four others while Monthly SLMC Meeting was in Progress;medical community divided over dramatic move By Ranjith Padmasiri and S. RubatheesanIn the North and East, courts have issued orders preventing any form of commemorative events to mark the ‘Maveerar Naal’ or Great Heroes’ Day, a day declared by Liberation of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to remember its cadres who died in the near-three-decade separatist war.On Thursday, the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court issued an order after Kopay and Jaffna Police moved motions separately seeking to stop preparations by Tamil political parties and civil society groups in cemeteries where LTTE cadres had been buried.Taking into consideration detailed submissions made by Senior Additional Solicitor General Harippriya Jayasundara, the Court banned any collective commemorative events in public on the basis that they would pose a health risk in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.In Mallakam, Chavakachcheri, Trincomalee, Mannar, Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Batticaloa, courts issued similar orders this week.Police named 51 persons in these cases as respondents after filing separate B reports. The courts were told that the military and police intelligence services had reported that plans were underway to hold public gatherings and commemorative meetings across the Northern Province from November 21-27. Continue reading Low key ceremonies held in homes to remember LTTE cadres killed in the war as Court Rulings in North and East Forbid Public Commeoration of Maaveerar Naal (Great Heroes Day) Dr.Asanga WelikalaWith the enactment of the 20th Amendment, Sri Lanka embarks yet again down the fraught path of authoritarian presidentialism. Whether this latest adventure ends in a democratic nightmare, or is as fleeting as its two predecessors, the 18th and 19th Amendments, remains to be seen. The legitimacy of both these previous constitutional reconstructions were undone by their own creators within a single term of office. The potential for the 20th to go the same way is already visible, although far too early to tell. But for the moment, it is what we have, and it is therefore an appropriate time to reflect on the arguments that are advanced, usually without challenge, as the justification for this system of government. There are three types of theories that explain how societies – or more accurately, elites – choose the institutional form of government when restructuring the state through constitutional amendment or replacement. The first is by reference to ideas, the second by reference to functions, and the third is by reference to self-interests. Unless we are able to account for how all three factors have combined to determine design choices at a particular moment of formal constitutional change, we are unable to fully understand what is going on. Continue reading Exposing Myths and Fallacies About the Importance and Value of the Executive Presidency in Sri Lanka. Hanging above the desk of Emmanuel Arnold, the mayor of Jaffna, are images of three Hindu deities, as well as the Buddha, Jesus and the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina. He has to respect all the religions of his city, he explains. Most Sinhalese, the country’s biggest ethnic group, are Buddhist; Tamils, who predominate in the north, including Jaffna, tend to be Hindu, and there are also small Christian and Muslim minorities. (Mr Arnold himself is Christian.) The ecumenical display, however, prompted griping from his staff: there is little sense of unity in Jaffna these days, even among the Tamil majority, let alone between religions and ethnicities.Tamil hopes for an independent homeland were dashed in 2009, when the government defeated the Tamil Tigers, a ruthless separatist insurgency. But many in the north still hanker for autonomy, as promised by amendments to the constitution adopted in 1987 but never fully implemented. Anxieties about majority rule have swelled since the election last year as president of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who as number two in the Ministry of Defence presided over the defeat of the Tigers in a campaign in which many Tamil civilians also died. Continue reading Badly Fractured Tamil political Parties May be Spurred to Unity by new Rajapaksa Govt’s Chauvinist Discriminatory Policies – The Economist Meera SrinivasanMany Tamil families living in Sri Lanka’s north and east on Friday marked ‘Heroes Day’ — an annual commemoration of LTTE cadre who died in the civil war —by lighting lamps in the quiet confines of their homes, after the government obtained a court order banning the remembrance.Petitioning different courts in the war-affected districts in the last week, Sri Lanka’s Attorney General Department sought prohibition orders on the commemoration. Government lawyers and police argued that such an event could lead to the “revival of the LTTE” or potentially cause disharmony among communities. In a submission — that drew wide criticism on social media — an inspector told the court: “we [the government] made it possible for those [referring to northern Tamils] who ate pittu and vadai those days to eat pizza now,” referring to the opening up of the area after the armed forces defeated the separatist LTTE in 2009. Continue reading Sri Lankan Courts ban events forCommemorative LTTE cadre on ‘ Heroes Day’ (Text of Jaffna District TNA Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran’s Speech in Parliament on the 25th of November 2020 during the budget vote for the Foreign Affairs Ministry.)Honourable Presiding Member, I am happy to follow the Minister himself as we discuss the votes on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Minister is an experienced parliamentarian and able person and I’m glad to discuss a few matters with regard to Sri Lanka’s foreign policy while he is present together with also a very able and dynamic young parliamentarian, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. It was rather comical to witness the spectacle this morning as we started the debate the bickering between the government benches and the main opposition each trying to absolve themselves from responsibilities they had undertaken in the international arena. Honourable Lakshman Kiriella blaming President Mahinda Rajapaksa, for agreeing with the Secretary General of the UN on the 26th of May 2009 in Kandy, undertaking to inquire into the allegations of human rights violations. And for his part, the Honorable Minister blaming the main opposition when they were in office for co-sponsoring resolution HRC 30/1 before the UN Human Rights Council. These acts are not acts of certain governments that are in office at a particular point in time, these undertakings are given on behalf of the state and in the international system these obligations are taken very seriously. The Minister read out the letter sent in February this year claiming to withdraw from the co-sponsorship of resolution HRC 30/1. All of us know that you can’t withdraw from an act that is already done. The Minister was heard to say in this House that that co-sponsorship happened without the knowledge of anyone not even the President of that time. I want to ask a question: if that be so, how did Sri Lanka co-sponsor resolution 34/1 and 40/1 several months thereafter both of which were merely roll-over resolutions of 30/1. 30/1 was done on the 1st of October 2015. 34/1 was in March 2017 and 40/1 was in March 2019. Three times over! same contents and how does a responsible Minister stand up here and say nobody knew about the contents. These undertakings are on behalf of Sri Lanka. Of the state! There are serious repercussions if you resile from international commitments. I want to post another question: on the 29th of July 1987 Sri Lanka entered into an international bilateral agreement with India, commonly known as the Indo – Lanka Accord. Various speakers in this House at various times will say various things about this agreement. Mr. Foreign Minister, would you have the courage to write a letter to India like you did to the UN Human Rights Council and withdraw from the Indo- Lanka Accord? If you don’t and if you haven’t done that over several decades of your party in office, you must honour it. No point saying this was thrust down our throat; if it was thrust down your throat withdraw write a letter to India like you did to the UN human Rights council. Are you brave enough to do that? Continue reading “Mr. Foreign Minister, would you have the courage to write a letter to India like you did to the UN Human Rights Council and withdraw from the Indo- Lanka Accord? -MA Sumanthiran MP D.B.S.JeyarajMore than eleven years have passed since the War between the Sri Lankan Armed Forces and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) organization concluded. The lengthy conflict described at one time as South Asia’s longest war came to an end after the military defeat of the LTTE in May 2009. Many of the military triumphs achieved by both sides at different times during the course of the war are now being relegated to the realm of the forgotten.This column intends to focus this week on an incident that grabbed worldwide attention when it happened thirteen years ago.Suppiah Paramu ThamilselvanOn November 2nd 2007, the former political commissar or political wing head of the LTTE , Suppiah Paramu Thamilselvan (spelled also as Tamilselvan and Thamilchelvan) was killed along with some other tiger operatives in an airstrike conducted by the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF). Thamilselvan was to a very great extent the public and political face of the LTTE as he frequently represented the LTTE at negotiations with national and international delegations, issued press statements, granted media interviews and engaged in talks with dignitaries on behalf of the LTTE. Since the LTTE’s reclusive numero uno Veluppillai Prabhakaran and other senior military leaders usually kept out of the limelight, it had been the lot of Thamilselvan to exercise a monopoly over media publicity. Continue reading When the LTTE s Smiling Cobra Thamilselvan was Targeted by the SLAF in an Air Strike Victor IvanThe process of the old stock of political leaders and their parties losing the recognition they have enjoyed so far can be described as an integral part of the historical process of ending the old era of the political history of Sri Lanka. The loss of recognition enjoyed by Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Leader of the UNP, and his party can be seen as an outcome of this historical process. Even the Samagi Jana Balawegaya which has made a critical impact on the downfall of the UNP and its Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has not been able to secure adequate Parliamentary representation to establish itself as a powerful alternative force. Perceived from this angle, it appears that in symbolic sense the political movement of the UNP has come to an end.Nepotism and family bandyism The UNP is the second oldest party, next only to the Lanka Sama Samaja Party. The UNP was established in 1946 while the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) was founded in 1935. It has ruled the country alternately for almost half of the post-independence period, the remaining period being ruled by the SLFP. Under the circumstances, both parties, the UNP and the SLFP, are equally responsible for the defeats suffered and victories gained by the country. The UNP can be considered as the biggest party that Sri Lanka had.It is mostly the Rajapaksa family being referred to when nepotism or family bandyism in politics is talked about. Similarly, the UNP also can be described as a party founded and maintained by a strong family cartel closely linked by kinship. The strong and influential members of this family cartel can be considered as a close-knit family network which had become affluent through various commercial ventures including the arrack trade during the British rule and had achieved prestigious status in the society. So much so, in the early years of its rule the UNP was known as the ‘Uncle-Nephew Party’ because of the close blood ties between its major leaders. Continue reading If Ranil Wickremesinghe had contested the 2015 Presidential Election; he would probably have won it in a close contest; Instead Ranil became an inescapable prisoner of the Yahapalana trap By Charumini de Silva Cinema owners yesterday described 2020 as the worst year while lamenting that they were still in the dark over reopening, as delay was piling up financial losses.On 15 October, the Government announced that all cinemas would be closed till 31 October, as a measure to deal with the COVID-19 second wave. Thereafter, the Government is yet to give a timeline on the reopening of cinemas to the general public. “We are eagerly awaiting the green light from the Government to resume operations post-COVID-19,” industry sources told the Daily FT. Upon inquiry from the Cultural Affairs Ministry, a top official pointed out that they too were awaiting approval from the public health authority to resume operation of film theatres. Continue reading Closure of Cinema Halls in Country Until Dec 31st Hits Cinema Industry Hard.Importers in Quandary about Procuring New Films from Hollywood, Bollywood and Kollywood. By Rathindra KuruwitaNational Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) and its leader Zahran Hashim supported Former President Maithripala Sirisena and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) at the 2015 elections, former Eastern Province Governor M.L.A.M Hizbullah, on Tuesday night, told the PCoI probing the Easter Sunday attacks.Hizbullah was giving evidence before the PCoI for the second day.“Zahran supported the SLMC at the 2015 general election. After the UNP-led coalition won the election, NTJ members fought with our supporters. Several people were injured during the clash, including Zahran’s brother. SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem visited Zahran’s brother at the hospital.” Continue reading Representatives of UPFA,UNO, Muslim Congress, Democratic Party and National Front for Good Governance signed agreements with Easter Bomber Zahran Hashim in Kattankudi in exchange for National Thowheed Jamath support at the 2015 Parliamentary Elections Meera SrinivasanNational Security Adviser will hold talks with Sri Lanka and MaldivesNational Security Adviser Ajit Doval will be in Colombo on Friday for trilateral discussions among India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.Maldivian Defence Minister Mariya Ahmed Didi will also travel to Colombo, while the Sri Lankan side will be represented at the highest levels by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lankan newspaper Daily Mirror reported on Thursday. Continue reading Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Maldivian Defence Minister Mariya Ahmed Didi will be in Colombo on Nov 27 for trilateral discussions among India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives;Sri Lankan side will be represented at the highest levels by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen was released on bail by the Fort Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Fort Magistrate Priyantha Liyanage released Bathiudeen on cash bail of Rs. 100,000 with two sureties of one million rupees each.The Magistrate also imposed a travel ban on Bathiudeen and said that the guarantors should be his close relatives.The Magistrate granted bail to the MP considering the risk of him contracting COVID-19 as two inmates in cells next to his had recently tested positive for coronavirus. Continue reading Rishad Bathiudeen Released on Cash Bail of Rs 100,000 and Surety bail of Rs Two Million by Fort Magistrate Priyantha Liyanage to Prevent Risk of Ex-Cabinet Minister Contracting COVID -19 in Jail; Travel Ban also Imposed on ACMC party Leader K.K.S.PereraAn article published in a popular Sinhala daily by a prominent political monk prompted me to respond. Verse 9 in the Yamakavagga of Dhammapada, Anikkasàvayo vattha paridahessati…., The pure are worthy of the yellow robe but not the impure. Whoever, unstainless, without self-control and truthfulness, should don the yellow robe, is not worthy of it. He who is purged of all stain, is well-established in morals and endowed with self-control and truthfulness, is indeed worthy of the yellow robe.”-Buddha Mapitigama Buddharakkitha, always claimed that without him SWRD wouldn’t have come to power. The head priest of historic Kelaniya temple where the Buddha visited 25 centuries ago and according to folklore the place where he enjoyed the refreshing water of the Kelani River., [and remember, “a Maha Naga Rajah” carrying a casket of ‘sacred relics’ appeared on the eve of Presidential Election a year ago?] who financed Bandaranaike’s election campaign in 1956, hated Bandaranaike for refusing to grant illegal favours for his shipping company deals and business ventures in large scale import of provisions devoid of tender procedures. While Buddharakkitha’s motive for the assassination of PM was business, Somarama the assailant monk, an Ayurvedic physician had other motives: Bandaranaike realizing the injustices caused to Tamil-speaking citizens signed a pact with their leader, S.J.V. Chelvanaikam, for the Buddhist priests who backed him on Sinhala onlymotto demonstrated against it and demanded its abrogation. “It’s we who made you the PM, hence you are obliged to listen to us.” Somarama was one such member of ‘sick’ saffron-robed clergy, a born racist, selected and brainwashed by conspirator Buddharakkitha for carrying out the heinous crime. Continue reading There is a section of Sangha with racist leanings, who think, it’s they who put Rajapaksas on the pedestal, hence they only should call the tune. Will the president have the courage to discipline Buddhist monks? Prof. S.Ratnajeevan H. HooleAustralians and the world had much to celebrate. More than 26,000 Australian uniformed personnel were sent to Afghanistan to fight alongside US and allied forces against the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and other Islamist groups. Australian troops inducted into the Afghan War as allies of the US after the 9/11 attack in New York in 2001 were accused of massacring Afghan civilians. That is bad. However, the good news is that in Australia, the accused killers are not being celebrated as heroes but are being charged.Australia and Sri LankaSri Lanka and Australia bear nominal similarities. Our population is about 21.67 million; Australia’s is about 24.99 million. We are both democracies. Australia extended its adult suffrage to all in 1967, regardless of ethnicity. We extended our restricted suffrage to hill country Tamils much later in 2003 with the passage of ‘The Grant of Citizenship to Persons of Indian Origin Act’. What is common now is that Sri Lankan troops and Australian troops stand accused of war crimes. But parallels end there. How we have handled war crime accusations is riddled with common features and major differences. Continue reading If Sri Lanka persists in resisting accountability over War Crimes Allegations, it is likely that in the present rights milieu, we will ultimately be cornered and forced into trials by the world Gehan GunatillekeWhen he was taken into custody on 14 April, his friends and family, and some within his fraternity, decried the obvious injustice. They were quickly told to quieten down and ‘let the justice system do its work’. They were told not to interfere with the investigation. They were told to be patient, as the truth would eventually emerge, and perhaps set Hejaaz free.Seven months have passed. The investigations continue with no indictment in sight. If law enforcement authorities and prosecutors actually had a case against Hejaaz, wouldn’t they have framed charges by now? Should we let the authorities investigate in perpetuity?Seven months have passed, and the media circus has dissipated, making clowns out of all those who prejudged Hejaaz’s guilt. The media callously aired so-called ‘damning’ evidence, and set out to make a monster out of Hejaaz. They have only made him a martyr, as none of the evidence appears to be credible. Continue reading Seven months have passed since the arrest and detention of human rights lawyer, Hejaaz Hizbullah; time for the Sri Lankan Bar to reevaluate its position and take a stronger stand against this grave injustice. By Chandani KirindePresident Gotabaya Rajapaksa is to take over as the Minister of Defence and a newly created Ministry of Technology shortly.A new subjects and functions Gazette was issued by the President, bringing several institutions under these ministries while a new Ministry of Public Security too, has been created.State Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government Rear Admiral Dr. Sarath Weerasekera, is expected to be appointed as its Cabinet Minister, the Daily FT learns. This new Ministry will have four institutions under it, including the Police and the Civil Defence Department. Continue reading President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will Take Charge as Minister of Defence and Newly Created Technology Ministry; Sarath weerasekera to be Elevated as Cabinet Minister of Public Security. The Government said on Saturday a mechanism for the regulation of websites is to be implemented within the next two weeks.The upcoming move was made public by Keheliya Rambukwella during the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Mass Media.He also said the Press Council Act should be amended in a way that would protect the dignity of the citizens and said the media should be regulated.Minister of Education Prof. G.L. Peiris said that a new law has been passed in Singapore to control such matters and having studied such, the formulation of a new mechanism should be done. He added that such laws must first be referred to a technical committee. Continue reading Govt Intends Regulating Media Websites Through a New Mechanism in Two weeks says Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella; Press Council act to be Amended also The Jaffna Magistrate Court was tense on Friday when Jaffna’s Headquarters Inspector explained to the court why the Police were seeking an order to ban commemorative events to remember the ‘war’ dead.During his submission, Inspector Prasath Fernando said that “we (government) made it possible for those who ate pittu and vadai those days to eat pizza now,” referring to the change in the peninsula’s social fabric following the end of the ‘war’ eleven years ago. Continue reading Jaffna Police HQI Prasath Fernando Says in Court that” Govt made it possible for those who ate Pittu and Vadai those days to eat Pizza now”: MA Sumanthiran PC Responds Angrily that Officer was was disrespecting the people of Jaffna as a whole under the ICCPR Signed by Sri Lanka. Kishali Pinto JayawardeneOut of the welter of distasteful controversy surrounding the transfer of a colossal sum of Rs. 600,000,000/= from the public fund of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL), to the account of the Secretary to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to distribute ‘sil redi’ or white cloth to Buddhist devotees just prior to the 2015 Presidential Elections, a few facts stand out.‘Sil redi’ packages on the eve of an electionAs we may recall, the packages of ‘sil redi’ handed out to temples contained a leaflet stating that this was a religious offering made by Mahinda Rajapaksa in pursuance of Mahinda Chinthanaya policies,’ as was publicly justified by the former President himself as (merely) indicating the ‘provenance’ of the cloth, whatever he may have meant by that. The transfer took place during 30th October 2014 and 5th January 2015 on the written request of Lalith Weeratunge (Secretary to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Chairman of the TRCSL) to Anusha Palpita who was Director General.This is the general context to the convictions by the Colombo High Court of Weeratunge and Palpita in 2017 of inter alia, criminal misappropriation with those convictions being overturned this week by the Court of Appeal. The two decisions are sufficiently important in the context of examining alleged transgressions of Sri Lanka’s public purse to warrant analysis in the spaces of this column, though a more detailed legal treatment must be kept for later. Suffice to say at the outset that neither of these individuals had ‘personally’ taken the moneys as blared to the high heavens at the time by their defenders. Continue reading Overturning of High Court Convictions of Weeratunge and Papita by Appeal Court in “Sil Redi”Case:Multi-million Rupee Question is Whether the colossal sum of Rs 600,000,000 or even a part thereof has been reimbursed to the public fund of TRCSL? Lucien RajakarunanayakeFrom cremation calls, to a huge ban on imports, we are moving to the Rajavasala Vimukthiya. Those who still use the Vimukthi line in politics had better be on the watch. Amidst all the burdens of the Covid-19 pandemic that has now taken hold in Sri Lanka, there is a raging debate about burial, or cremation, of the bodies of Covid-19 deceased.This is fast moving to a debate that is isolating one ethnic minority, against a combination of the majority, and several minorities, which can have painful consequences.The call for cremations is becoming increasingly strident, against the burial callers. What is surprising is that the cremation criers – from politicians, the Sangha, academics, business people, intellectuals and social movers – have not thought of, or said the obvious. Continue reading Will Mahinda Rajapaksa present the 80th Budget too or will his brother Basil Rajapaksa move in from the 76th or 77th?Keep Guessing! Ambika Satkunanathan‘…on the 18th of September (2010) the deceased was taken out of the police station at night to recover a weapon hidden in the deceased’s plantain grove…on the way the deceased had struggled with (the police officer) to snatch his rifle and he was killed as a result of a single shot that went off during the struggle’ – Excerpt from the Supreme Court decision in Rathnayake Tharanga Lakmali v Niroshan Abeykoon decided on 17 December 2019 In 2020, according to media reports, five persons were killed in ‘shootouts’ with the police, one while allegedly trying to flee police custody, two when allegedly trying to wrestle weapons from the police when they were taken to retrieve drugs or weapons, and two men died while in police custody at the police station. State violence: the permanent normal The phrase ‘new normal’ is commonly used to refer to the post-COVID-19 context, but even in this new normal there exists a permanent normal we cannot escape, i.e. State violence. State violence against persons thought to be a threat to the State, such as dissenters, human rights defenders, journalists and those arrested for drug offences, has been the permanent normal in Sri Lanka for decades. I refer to it as the ‘permanent normal’ because deaths in custody and persons being killed in encounters with the police are not unique to a particular political regime, but instead are systemic. For instance, in October 2016, during the Yahapalana regime, two Jaffna University students were killed when they reportedly failed to stop at a police checkpoint. The police initially denied responsibility and claimed that they had died due to an accident that was caused when they lost control of the motorbike because they were speeding while under the influence of alcohol. The post-mortem report however, discovered bullets lodged in the body of one of the victims and did not find any trace of alcohol in their blood. To date, no one has been held accountable for their deaths.What is the connection between the new normal and the permanent normal? Conditions that existed in the permanent normal, but were largely ignored as they did not directly affect the majority of Sri Lankans, became entrenched and normalised, and have taken new and more menacing forms during the pandemic. Continue reading State violence against persons thought to be a threat to the State, such as dissenters, human rights defenders, journalists and those arrested for drug offences, has been the permanent normal in Sri Lanka for decades. (Following is the full text of the address to the Sinhala nation by Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa broadcast over all television and radio channels on November 18th 2020)Ayubowan.A year ago, more than 6.9 million voters in this country elected me as your new President. It is no secret that the majority who voted for me then were Sinhalese. They rallied because they had legitimate fears that the Sinhala race, our religion, national resources and the heritage would be threatened with destruction in the face of various local and foreign forces and ideologies that support separatism, extremism and terrorism.The main appeal made by the people to me was to ‘protect the country’.During this short period of time we have taken steps to ensure the security of the country as requested by the people. The public should not have apprehensions on this issue any longer. An administration that protects the rights of all citizens regardless of racial or religious differences will be established during my tenure. I have always acted in accordance with the pledge I made in front of Ruwanweli Maha Seya to protect the unity of the country and to safeguard and nurture the Buddha Sasana as per the Constitution, the supreme law of this country. I meet with an advisory council comprising leading Buddhist monks of three chapters every month to seek their advice on matters pertaining to governance. Prior to my assumption of office, many lives have been lost in this country to the activities of religious extremists. The underworld had become powerful and a wave of killings had begun throughout the country. Sri Lanka had become a haven for international drug traffickers. The country was becoming insecure due to the weakening of the intelligence and security forces. Historic sacred sites of archaeological value were being encroached by extremists. After I came into power, I appointed suitable officials in charge of security apparatus of the country and gave them the required authority to carry out their responsibilities without any compromise. The intelligence services that had collapsed in the past were restructured and revitalised. Accordingly, we have managed to control the possibility of a resurgence of extremism in any form. A very effective and robust program has been implemented to control the drug menace. There is no room anymore to engage in drug trafficking or operate the underworld from inside of prison cells as in the past. People of this country no longer have reasons to live in fear of underworld gangs, extortionists and racketeers. We will strive to further strengthen this initiative in the future. I have now set up a special Task Force to protect sites of archaeological value and to preserve our Buddhist and national heritage. Continue reading A year ago, more than 6.9 million voters in this country elected me as your new President. It is no secret that the majority who voted for me then were Sinhalese. They rallied because they had legitimate fears that the Sinhala race, our religion, national resources and the heritage would be threatened with destruction President Gotabaya Rajapaksa “When I am president…human rights will be at the core of US foreign policy” – Joe Biden, The New York Times In its first year the Gotabaya Rajapaksa Presidency has made avoidable strategic blunders, tracing a trajectory which when extrapolated, indicate that it will wind up a one-term wonder, like the otherwise widely-disparate administrations of the Trump Presidency (2016-2020), Yahapalana (2015-2019), and the Samagi Peramuna (1970-1977). The Trump template should not be underestimated. Back in June, GR insider, author of the inaccurately titled Gota’s War (2012) and Sri Lanka’s new ambassador/PR to the UN-Geneva, dedicated his regular Sunday Politics sermon to a ferocious full-page assertion of why Trump will win and a rousing endorsement of that prospect. His article dated 19 June 2020 and entitled ‘Trump and Civil Unrest in America’ argued assuredly that polarisation around the ‘law and order’ vs. ‘anarchy’ issue guaranteed a white majoritarian tsunami for Trump.(http://archive.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details page=article-details code_title=223828)In a fascinating coincidence, this was the core of the successful GR game-plan of 2019. Expect it to be remixed and recycled. The psychological and ideological identification of the GR project with Trump and Trumpism is/was total but not exclusive – “we’ll always have Beijing” being the Gotabaya administration’s subconscious, entirely unintended salute to Bogart and Casablanca. On the occasions of the first and second anniversaries of the Sirisena presidency, public seminars of evaluation were organised at which I was a speaker. On both occasions President Sirisena was in the audience and sat through the proceedings. Dr. Suren Raghavan and Prof. Rohan Samarajiva as fellow panellists at the first, and Ambassador Palihakkara, Dr Manikkalangam and Prof Uyangoda among the panellists at the second.At both these seminars (which are on YouTube) I made the same point: the Government is heading rapidly in the wrong direction, which will prove unsustainable, result in unfavourable polarisation, and crash and burn unless there’s a drastic course-correction back to the moderate centre. The political adherents of sticking dogmatically to the 2015 mandate or rather, their neoliberal-reformist spin on it, have ended up exiled from Parliament or reduced to a single-digit splinter, while Sirisena’s SLFP which tried belatedly to hit the brakes, has at least a double-digit presence in Parliament.On the first anniversary of the Gotabaya Presidency, my diagnosis is the same: this won’t end well, but it will end sooner rather than later. Continue reading On the first anniversary of the Gotabaya Presidency, my diagnosis is the Govt is heading rapidly in the wrong direction, which will prove unsustainable, result in unfavourable polarisation, and crash and burn unless there’s a drastic course-correction By Krishantha Prasad CoorayWhen Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban said in September that rooting for the re-election of Donald Trump was his “Plan A”, he was probably echoing the sentiments of most of the world’s populist, autocratic leaders. They hoped for four more years of Donald Trump because he made the world a safer place for them.The last decade saw the rise of populist movements on every continent, each helmed by a very specific type of leader – men wrapped in a cult of personality, defined more by flamboyance than substance, men who insisted they had to be above the law for their countries to prosper. These leaders blamed setbacks and societal ills on some mysterious enemy lurking in the shadows, often an ethnic or religious minority group. Their rhetoric was divisive and self-centred. Every positive claim they make, every compliment they utter is in the first person. “I” did it. Only “I” can fix it. “I” won. “I” have the answers.This narcissism stands in stark contrast to the tone we heard from President-Elect Biden and Kamala Harris in accepting their victory. Continue reading Defeat of Trump and Victory of Biden Shows that the Sun is Setting on the Age of the Strong Man and the Age of the Strong Leader is Dawning *Aims at 5.5% growth in 2021 amidst COVID-19 impact*Increase Govt. revenue from 9.7% to 14.1%*Budget deficit 8.9%, up from 7.9% for 2020*VAT unchanged at 8% for biz with turnover of Rs. 25 m or above *Personal Income Tax to apply on earnings only if it exceeds Rs. 250,000 per month*Income and profits from farming exempt from income tax from 1 April 2019*First phase of Colombo Port City to commence in 2021*Port City legal framework to Parliament in Jan.Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa presented what he described as a “development Budget” for 2021 to Parliament yesterday aimed at steering Sri Lanka to 5.5% growth in 2021 and overcoming the severe setbacks to the COVID-19-hit economy.Presenting the Government’s first Budget since its election in August and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election last November, the Prime Minister said the medium term vision of the new administration was to reduce the Budget deficit through increasing the economic growth up to 6% over the medium term and increasing Government revenue from its current level of 9.7% to 14.1%. However, in Budget 2021 the deficit will be 8.9%, up from 7.9% in 2020. “This is a development Budget presented to elevate an economy that has been shattered. It covers all sectors under a macroeconomic vision aimed at fulfilling the ‘Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour’. This is a Budget that will open up numerous special investment opportunities to our business community for production of local goods and services under the competitive setting of the global economy,” Rajapaksa, who is also the Minister of Finance, said. Continue reading Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa presents “development Budget” for 2021 to Parliament aimed at steering Sri Lanka to 5.5% growth in 2021:estimated Revenue for 2021 is Rs. 1,961 billion while the total expenditure is Rs. 3,525 billion with Rs. 1,564 billion difference between revenue and expenditure. Ranga Jayasuriya When your country is doing something totally different from what the rest of the world does, literally in exact opposition to the common sense practised and adopted by 194 countries in the world, things aren’t just right. That is what the government should reckon of its flawed policy of compulsory cremation of dead bodies of Muslims. According to the religious belief of Muslims, the burning of the dead is tantamount to desecration. And the rest of the world has taken note of it and made allowances. The World Health Organisation (WHO) also permits both cremation and burial for the disposal of Covid-19 related death bodies. Whereas the Government of SriLanka has defended its policy on the basis of scientific advice by an expert committee, but this isn’t science. This is demagoguery. During the early stage of the Covid -19 pandemic, when the first deaths were reported in March, there existed a degree of uncertainty on the proper way of doing the last rites. The initial health ministry guidelines allowed for both cremation and burial, but the cremation was favoured as the safer way. Then, when the first Muslim died on March 31, the victim’s family insisted on burial. Instead of reaching out for wider discourse, the Ministry of Health issued a circular- Ministry of Health (MOH) Circular No. EPID/400/2019 n-cov on 1 April 2020, which required that all COVID-19 victims be cremated. Continue reading Sri Lanka’s compulsory cremation of Covid-19 related dead bodies is not a case of extra-caution or science. It is proof of scientific ignorance, callousness and an overwhelming lack of enlightenment. Lakmal SooriyagodaThe Court of Appeal yesterday ruled that deforestation of the northern sanctuary of the Wilpattu National Park Forest for the re-settlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) had been made contrary to law and ordered former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen to bear the full the cost of the tree planting programme in these areas based on the ‘Polluter Pays’ principle.The Court of Appeal two-judge-Bench comprising Justice Janak de Silva and Justice Nissanka Bandula Karunaratne delivered this judgment pursuant to a writ petition filed by the Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ).Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal Court issued an order in the nature of mandamus ordering the Conservator General of Department of Forest Conservation to take action to implement a tree planting programme in accordance with the provisions of the Forest Ordinance in any area equivalent to the reserve forest area used for the resettlement of IDPs.Accordingly, Court of Appeal issued a consequential order directing Rishad Bathiudeen, the seventh respondent in the petition to bear the full cost of such a tree planting programme applying the polluter pays principle as according to the evidence before Court he was instrumental in using the reserved forest land for the re-settlement of the IDPs. Continue reading Court of Appeal rules that deforestation of the Wilpattu National Park Forest for the re-settlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) had been made contrary to law and orders former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen to bear the full cost of the tree planting programme in these areas based on the ‘Polluter Pays’ principle. By S Venkat Narayan Kenya is one of China’s largest trade partners in Africa. It owes $6.5 billion to China, which is 22 percent of its total external debt. China’s interest payments represent 87 per cent of the cash used to service debt expenditure in 2019. Kenya is yet to work out an arrangement with China, but has been reluctant to seek debt relief amid reports that it was concerned it could hurt its ability to tap capital markets.Kenya and neighbouring Ethiopia, according to the World Bank’s international debt statistics, are among the world’s most indebted countries. Kenya’s external debt rose four times over the last decade, only second to Ethiopia that saw its debt increase five-fold during the decade. Analysts say the $3.2-billion contract with China in 2014 to build the standard gauge railways connecting Kenya’s capital Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa symbolised the problem. The railway line was expanded in 2015 to Naivasha town 75 miles northwest of Nairobi, raising the project cost by another $ 1.5 billion. The railway line made a loss of $ 90 million in its first year. The government promised a profit in 2019. It ended up in the red again. The government has been forcing businesses to move their cargo on the railway to ensure it generates enough cash for operations but the project still recorded a loss of $200 million over three years. In September, a panel of lawmakers nudged the government to renegotiate the loan deal and cut operating expenses by half. Kenya hasn’t had its way yet. Continue reading Kenya Owing $ 6.5 Billion to China Gets Caught in Chinese Debt Trap:Caught in Chinese Debt Trap; May Have to Cede Control of Mombasa Port and Inland Container Depot Pledged as Collateral to Beijing if Nairobi is Unable to Repay Loan Kishali Pinto JayawardeneThe fearsome sight of armed motorcycle riders, clad in black, complete with sunglasses and masks completely obscuring their faces conducting covid-19 temperature checks on the public in Colombo and then roaring away in a concerted cloud of darkness as it were, raises an unfortunate analogy to mind.Symbolism is important in messagingAt the height of the terror-ridden years of Haiti’s Papa Doc Duvalier, his all-black masked Tonton Macoutes used to roam the capital city in much the same way, grabbing and ‘disappearing’ opponents of the regime. Interestingly, the Haitian Creole explanation of the name ‘Tonton Macoutes’ derived from our familiar ‘goni billa’ or as the Haitians rather hilariously put it, ‘uncle gunnysack.’ In both cases, these were scare tactics resorted to by annoyed parents to frighten children into obedience.But Sri Lanka and Haiti share a further common and more sinister piece of history; these versions of ‘uncle gunnysack’ did not remain confined to storybooks but were used variously to deal with inconvenient critics. During the conflict years in the North and South of this country, the ‘goni billa’ was the way in which ‘insiders’ identified ‘terrorist suspects’ who were thereafter disposed of. Unsurprisingly, that less than foolproof method also caught up those who were entirely innocent in the process, Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim nonetheless. Guilt, innocence, these all became words to be casually tossed aside, not weighed with solemn precision in a court of law to determine a human being’s fate. Continue reading The militarised approach to handling the global pandemic has now run into serious roadblocks. It is the Govt alone which must take the responsibility for an ill-thought out militarisation of the public health response. Kshama Ranawana Environmentalists, Conservationists and the political opposition are strenuously objecting to the decision by the government to hand over the management of “Other State Forests (OSF)” to Divisional/Districts Secretaries alleging the move would be disastrous for the forest cover and biodiversity in the country.It was in July this year that the Cabinet first mooted the idea of handing the management of these lands earlier referred to as “State Residual Forests” by abolishing circular 05/2001 which had transferred the management of these lands from the Divisional/District Secretaries to the Forest Department.The July Cabinet decision was forwarded to the then Minister of Environment to study the matter and present a mechanism that could vest such lands back with the Divisional/District Secretaries, so they could be released for “economically productive purposes.”Fears were raised at that time that Divisional/District Secretaries would come under undue pressure to release these forest lands for purposes that would harm the environment.In a letter dated July 3, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna wrote to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa urging him to revoke the planned abolition of circular 05/2001. Continue reading Govt handing over management of “Other State Forests (OSF)” to Divisional/Districts Secretaries would be disastrous for forest cover and biodiversity in the country while paving the way for private parties and friends of politicians to grab land. Victor IvanThis is not an issue which has received adequate attention. Yet, I am of the view that one era of the history of Sri Lanka which commenced since independence in 1948 has come to an end in 2020. It simply means that the State and its associated socio-political system that was bequeathed to us by the British when Sri Lanka was granted independence, by ending the long period of colonial rule, has completely collapsed and ceased to exist. Our limitationsAlthough there may have been shortcomings in the system that we inherited from the British, it can be considered as a very modern and better system based on liberal ideology than the feudal system that we had previously, before the advent of the British. India, in contrast to Sri Lanka, reformed the system that it inherited from the British in order to comply with the needs of the newly-gained independence and did it in a manner that would further strengthen and enhance the democratic nature of the mechanism. It was only after 24 years since independence that Sri Lanka ventured upon reforming the system of governance it inherited from the British. Unlike India the reforms were not carried out the way they would have strengthened the democratic foundations of the system, but rather debilitated and weakened it. The damage that can be caused to an edifice constructed by liberal architects is immense when it is modified and repaired by a group of architects consisting of Marxists, adherents of Anagarika Dharmapala and several others without any vision at all. In fact, we did not possess an adequate democratic vision or discipline required to pursue an effective system of self-governance by the time the country gained independence. India possessed a far-reaching vision and discipline for that. The freedom struggle of India served as a source of education, a university capable of producing mature leaders that India needed. On the contrary, the freedom that we gained was not an outcome of an independent struggle, but a thing received as a gift. Consequently we did not have the opportunity to produce mature leaders. Continue reading Gotabaya came to power without a proper understanding of the crisis the country was facing and an appropriate package of reforms to resolve it, but has the conviction that all issues could be resolved by creating an atmosphere of dictatorship Alan Keenan and K. MudiyanseSri Lanka, long-plagued by political violence and near-complete impunity for crimes by the state and pro-state forces, now faces a new assault on justice and the rule of law. There is a systematic attempt to rewrite the history to make politically-connected criminal suspects into victims, and investigators and legal reformers into criminals.The unprecedented efforts of the government of Gotabaya Rajapaksa – most strikingly through his presidential commission of enquiry into so-called “political victimisation” – threatens to do more than just eliminate the possibility of justice in the specific cases it is considering. These specific cases relate to that of political allies of the state, and in instances where Rajapaksa family members are being rescued from prosecution. In doing so, it risks distorting judicial and police procedures, by which the very existence of a meaningful justice system is cast into doubt.International human rights watchdogs have understandably expressed concerns about the return of the Rajapaksa family to power, given the grave crimes committed during the years of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidency from 2005–15. A year into the presidency of his brother, Gotabaya, however, the signs suggest that the threat to dissenting voices and political opponents will, at least at first, be through more subtle means than the murders, assaults and enforced disappearances used to silence critics during their first regime. Legal attacks and legalised lies – not bodies in the street – seem likely to be the preferred means of destroying their opponents. The world needs to be alert to this and to find ways to respond. Continue reading The 20th Constitutional Amendment and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s Presidential Commission of Enquiry Together put Sri Lanka on a Dangerous Path of Authoritarian and Family Rule. (Summary of Speech Made by Tamil National Alliance Jaffna District Parliamentarian Mathiaparanan Abraham Sumanthiran in Parliament on 12.11.2020) Rule of law, it has been said is the bedrock of democracy. Even rule by law is undesirable. But what we have now is far worse: it is rule by executive diktats! That is what we have today. M. A. Sumanthiran MP, speaking on the Appropriation Bill 2020 in Parliament today, exposed the government s flagrant violation of the law across a range of matters. He alleged that the Appropriation Bill 2020 is an attempt to cover up illegal activities that the government has carried out in respect of public finances. Parliamentary resolutions can only be used to draw from the consolidated funds for specific public services expenditures such as the paying of government servant salaries. The constitution does not permit the levying of taxes or government borrowing under this arrangement. Similarly, the constitution does not permit spending on developmental activities under parliamentary resolutions or presidential authorisation. For such necessities, an appropriation act must be passed in advance. Continue reading “There is no legal basis for the Army Commander s recent announcement prohibiting travel out of the Western Province until November 15 and for Imposing the so called quarantine curfew”states TNA Jaffna District MP Sumanthiran in Parliament Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” – John (1:5)Let us remember George Floyd. Now the American people can begin to breathe. So can humanity. When Obama won, I wrote a piece from Geneva entitled ‘Barack Obama: History’s High Note’ (https://groundviews.org/2008/11/06/barack-obama-historys-high-note/) Maybe I should call this ‘Joe Biden: History’s High Noon’. The victory of Joe Biden, Gary Cooper-like cool, calm, yet principled American moral hero, was a triumph for civility and moderation, decency and dignity, humanism and pluralism, social empathy and social fairness, anti-racism and anti-supremacism. With Biden begins the end of American decline. Those who think that in the past week, the USA demonstrated its weakness and the debility of democracy as a system of governance, are much mistaken. History will show that this was the turning point, where the world saw democracy alive, in real-time, from the inside; how the values of democracy were fought for, even at this moment of ‘dual power’ marked by Trump’s institutional obstructionism and polarising incitement of far-right passions. A second American Revolution, this time a replay of the 1960s and ’70s, may be inevitable.If a low-intensity Civil War is waged against the Biden-Harris administration by neofascist militia, drawing support from the ‘Confederate’ white supremacist constituency, future history will show that this only strengthened American democracy as did the Civil War of the 1860s, enhancing the moral strength of the American idea, ideals and system throughout the world. As I entered my teens I read a new book (in 1970) which an American friend had gifted my father, titled ‘The Greening of America,’ by Charles A Reich. It contemplated the shift of consciousness of the 1960s, dubbing it Consciousness III. The Biden-Harris victory marks the birth of a new American consciousness, with globalised resonance because the USA is more a mirror of the world, of humanity in all its plurality, than is any other country, and its ideals as demonstrated by the vote for Biden-Harris, are more universalist than the message and model of its rivals and competitors. The gravitational centre of global consciousness could shift, creating a new global centre-space, a new democratic consensus, a new middle-ground and Middle Path.History will indelibly etch the charismatic Kamala Harris, who is in part, OUR Kamala: not only the first woman Vice-President of the USA, but also the first woman of colour and of “South Asian descent” (Biden’s victory speech) to hold that post, who will also be the most powerful woman in the history of the most powerful nation in history. Continue reading Psychologically powered by Trump’s 2016 Victory ,the Gotabaya regime came into being as the last victory of global Alt-Right ultranationalism, the parabola of which has begun its descent with Trump’s defeat. – Yeats (The Stare’s Nest by my Window)What kind of government reduces expenditure on health in the midst of a global pandemic?In the first week of October, the Lankan Cabinet approved the Appropriations Bill for 2021. Of a total estimated expenditure of Rs. 2.68 trillion only a paltry Rs. 159 billion was set aside for health. Defence got Rs. 355 billion. Highways got Rs. 335 billion. Health didn’t get even half of what the Highways got. In 2019, with no global pandemic, the Sirisena-Rajapaksa administration set aside Rs. 188 billion for health. In 2020, amidst a global pandemic with no seeming end, the Gotabaya-Mahinda regime reduced it by Rs. 29 billion. Imagine the level of ignorance, the depth of self-delusion, the degree of myopia required for such a decision. Imagine the same ignorance, self-delusion, and myopia informing and shaping governance for four more years and beyond. Imagine where Sri Lanka will be in 2025, ruled with such blind certitude and strategic incompetence.A newspaper report published on 1 November illustrates the woeful state of unpreparedness in which the Government wallowed. The Ministry of Health has not ordered a single new ventilator since 1 March, or increased the number of ICU beds.It is a dangerous thing, to believe in one’s own propaganda, especially when the gap between hype and reality is of abysmal proportions. The Gotabaya-Mahinda Government proclaimed the battle against the pandemic won, conclusively and forever. Government leaders acted in gross violation of health regulations, eschewing masks, ignoring social distancing. Final victory was declared sans random community testing, the only way to discover if the virus is present in the larger society or not. Annihilating the virus became a key propaganda theme in the Parliamentary Election campaign. Post-election, the pandemic turned into a non-issue, as the Government focused all its energy on getting the 20th Amendment through, with the dual-citizenship clause intact, a necessary precondition to ensure dynastic succession. Continue reading Amidst a Raging Pandemic the Gotabaya-Mahinda Regime Reduces Allocations to Crucially Important Health Sector by Rs 29 Billion; Imagine the level of ignorance, the depth of self-delusion, the degree of myopia required for such a decision? Sanja de Silva JayatillekaA glass ceiling shattered in the United States of America just after 8:30 p.m. on 7 November, as Kamala Harris, Vice President-elect walked on stage in Wilmington, Delaware to thunderous applause to deliver her acceptance speech, just ahead of her boss, President-elect of the USA, Joe Biden.The sound of that shattering glass will reverberate across the world as it begins to experience the multidimensional consequences of a woman in power in the second highest office in the most powerful country on earth.Here in South Asia, we have seen powerful women Prime Ministers such as Indira Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto. In Sri Lanka, which produced the first woman head of government in the world, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, we also voted for a woman President, Chandrika Kumaratunga twice, her daughter. Continue reading For the average Sri Lankan woman, making her own choice is challenged in numerous ways by the cultural, political and systemic impediments that are insistently placed in her way. P.K.Balachandran US-Lanka relations will have to be seen in the context of US-China relations because as in the case of Trump, containment of China will be Biden’s focus in his policy on Asia, including South Asia. Therefore, Sri Lanka, with its growing economic ties with China, may continue to feel the pinch. But Biden’s approach to China is expected to be more nuanced than Trump’s, and this could work in Sri Lanka’s favour. Biden sees China’s rise as a serious challenge, but he does not see China as a sworn enemy which deserves an urgent regime change. Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been openly campaigning for the overthrow of the “predatory” Chinese Communist Party. In contrast to Trump, Biden sees China as a “competitor” albeit an unruly competitor. He has riled against China’s “abusive” practices in the trade, technology and financial sectors, but he will counter it with better US technologies and the willing cooperation of America’s “democratic allies”. Biden is pledged to take America’s democratic partners along with him in his campaign to make China realise that change will be in its own interest. Biden has acknowledged that China is making massive investments in energy, infrastructure, and technology that threaten to leave the US behind. He would attempt to reverse this trend to be able to face China credibly and peacefully. According to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Biden believes that “remaining competitive with China hinges on US innovation and uniting the economic might of democracies around the world.” This involves economic cooperation with other countries, including Sri Lanka. Continue reading USA Relationship With Sri Lanka is Likely to Take a Turn for the Better Under a Joe Biden -Kamala Harris Administration by D.B.S.JeyarajThe Government of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa achieved a significant victory last week when the 20th Constitutional Amendment was passed in Parliament with 156 MP’s voting in support and 65 Voting against. The 20th Amendment which has now become law restores full-fledged powers to the executive presidency. Earlier the 19th Constitutional Amendment passed in 2015 had circumscribed some of the presidential powers. However critics allege that the 20th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution has empowered President Rajapaksa To a very great extent in the same manner in which the 2nd Amendment to the 1972 Constitution made former President JR Jayewardene a “Constitutional Dictator”. Although news items pertaining to the 20th Amendment hogged much of media limelight, there had been another interesting development also last week that made quite a media splash. The well informed political Editor of our sister newspaper the “Sunday Times” stated in the weekly political column that the office of the Chief Government whip had circulated among MP’s a petition calling for the pardon and release of former MP Duminda Silva who is currently a murder convict. The petition appealing to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for clemency towards Duminda Silva was distributed on October 20 at the Govt Parliamentary Group Meeting presided over by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. “The fact that the Chief Government Whip’s office staff circulated the petition and almost all MPs who attended the group meeting placed their signatures makes clear the exercise had official blessings. When the petition goes to President Rajapaksa, the release of Duminda Silva is thus a strong likelihood” opined the “Sunday Times” report. It later transpired that several Govt MP’s had not signed the petition while a few opposition Parliamentarians had also endorsed the document in a surprise move. Continue reading Murder of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and Conviction of Duminda Silva By Ranjith PadmasiriAttorney General Dappula de Livera has raised objections over ignoring senior members of his department for vacancies in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal which are to be expanded in terms of the 20th Amendment.The move came as President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who is now empowered to make appointments to the Superior Courts after the 20th Amendment was approved, sent in names of six Court of Appeal judges to the newly established Parliamentary Council to be considered to the vacancies in the Supreme Court where the bench is to be expanded from 11 to 17. Continue reading A-G Dappula de Livera Protests against Move by President Rajapaksa to Appoint Additional Judges to Supreme Court and Appeal Court Overlooking Senior Officials of Attorney -Generals Dept and Conveys Objections to Prime Minister Rajapaksa Asela Premachandra and sistersWhen the five-bench apex court confirmed the death penalty on Duminda Silva and his criminal cohorts for killing Bharatha Laksman Premachandra and three others, his political supporters screamed saying that they would bring “sir” to the presidency and get their leader released from prison.There was also a relentless and effective campaign to get him released through some sections of the media. This helped ensure a change of government that was to follow. Continue reading Murdered Ex-MP Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra s Brother and Sisters Condemn Move to Release Murder Convict Duminda Silva From Prison Despite Northern health authorities expressing severe concerns over the conducting of a meeting with ministers and officials visiting from Colombo, a high-level meeting was held on Friday at the Jaffna District Secretariat (DS), disregarding COVID-19 health regulations. Continue reading Over 200 Persons Including Ministers,MP;s, Governor and Officials Participate in High Level Meeting in Crowded Auditorium in Jaffna Violating COVID -19 Health regulations And Disregarding Objections by Health Authorities Kishali Pinto JayawardeneAs the world watches transfixed in amazed horror, the spectacle of ‘these United States’ seemingly heading into a meltdown over the peaceful transition of power with the 2020 Presidential election racing to an unnerving photo finish, the clash here is not purely of civilizations a la Samuel Huntingdon, (Christianity versus Islamic).A clash of ideologiesEven with the underplay of racism intertwined with cultural and religious tensions as stoked by inflammatory rhetoric of US President Donald Trump, this is fundamentally a clash of competing ideologies; antipathy to democracy versus the energy behind democracy, as flawed and as dysfunctional as it may be on occasion. Already the American boast of a historically peaceful electoral system has been put to shame with reports of attempted attacks on counting centres by armed men in military vehicles.These attacks have followed inflammatory rhetoric by the US President calling on his supporters to rally around him and are thus, no coincidence. With opposing crowds shouting war cries in the streets as election officers continue the torturous process of counting the votes, boutiques in the most exclusive parts of Manhattan in New York City had already boarded up their shutters in anticipation of election violence. The Democratic camp, emboldened by the electoral performance of Joe Biden, once looked upon as ‘lacking charisma’ but now soothingly cloaked in the garb of a ‘unifier’ and a ‘healer,’ has said that it is fully within its rights to eject ‘trespassers’ from the White HouseThis is amazingly combative language.Closer at home, India is in the grip of a worsening pandemic amidst a cult-like fixation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Each of these examples, the US, India and tinpot versions of the same scattered throughout the world teach us the same lesson; obsession with a single source of overweening power is infinitely dangerous.Manipulation of democracyIt is dangerous for routine governance minus checks and balances. It is even more so in extraordinary situations of emergency such as a health pandemic. And what the US tells us is that just because democracy itself or indeed liberal democracy has come to be manipulated and subverted as a result of weak or corrupt leaders, that does not mean that the values it embodies should yield to the ‘autocrat,’ the ‘authoritarian’ or as a trenchant critic of US President Donald Trump put it, ‘ a lying, blustering bully.’Astute political observers have also blamed Democratic for the bitter divisions in which the American people find themselves, fuelled by easy condemnation of liberal elites of the ‘deplorables,’ as rural Trump voters were once typified by Hillary Clinton. Absent strategies for finding common ground or understanding the reasons why desperation is rampant in (white)communities ravaged by poverty and lawlessness and rift by hate of (black) communities, it is no surprise that terms such as ‘endemic racism’ and ‘white supremacists’ are now part of normal commentary in the United States.This speaks to an irreversible shift in social behaviour that may have a far longer shelf life than President Trump himself. But the astounding shenanigans that the President is up to has led observers in his own country to draw comparisons with African dictators. This makes for risque humor no doubt for citizens of the global South, too long the target of solemnly hypocritical pontification on the Rule of Law by the United States, who now poke fun at their tormentor. Certainly, notwithstanding who wins or who loses in these elections and even if the process is salvaged by a miracle of reason dawning on the impossibly infantile incumbent in the White House, the road to recovery in the US will not be easy or pleasant even as the global health pandemic sees its highest numbers.Warnings that the US elections hold outNonetheless, the warnings that the US elections hold out for us are very real. In particular, the interplay of judges with the legal cum constitutional process, is of immediate interest. At the moment, multiple law suits challenging the ongoing election process have been filed in the state courts by Republican lawyers. Propelled by the frenzied whip lashings of President Donald Trump which reminds one of the death throes of a wounded wild boar, whether fatally or not we have yet to see, these cases have not met with any noticeable degree of success so far.Some cases have already been tossed out summarily by irritated judges who have found no evidence to substantiate a wild Presidential claim of election fraud. In the rare case or two, procedural safeguards such as a closer watch by election observers on the vote counts, have been ordered. But as to how this unedifying drama of legal challenges to the vote count is finally played out in the US Supreme Court is anybody’s guess. The Court, as critics have contended, has been ‘packed’ by appointees of the President. This includes a recent appointee who was pushed into the Court most unbecomingly at the very edge of the Presidential election to fill the place left by liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg.Several vacancies in the federal courts, including the circuit courts of appeals have similarly been filled by conservative appointees. Even so, the US judiciary had held firm to its judicial function so far despite blustering and bravado from the Office of the Presidency. Judges serving on state courts have been particularly robust in ruling against executive overreach. On this occasion as well, they will, no doubt remind themselves, as should the members of the Bench in this part of the world, that history is a harsh judge of judicial character under pressure.Look listen and learn from the agonies of the US peopleIndeed, the record of our countries will tell us that, regardless of how a particular political moment may shape a judicial response, a reckoning will come at some point or the other. In some cases, these reckonings have been acknowledged by judges themselves. Thus, the line of Indian judges who justified Indira Gandhi’s trampling of civil liberties in the seventies, including declaring that the right to life was not available during a time of emergency, came to profoundly regret their decisions. Some even wrote open apologies to the nation in a spirit of sincere regret, decades later.In Sri Lanka, some judges who had sat on the Bench which approved the 18th Amendment giving judicial carte blanche to (then) President Mahinda Rajapaksa to demolish the institution of the Constitutional Council under the 17th Amendment to the Constitution and reduce the constitutional commissions to caricatures, had reason thereafter to question themselves. Ironically, one of those very same Justices was later impeached when she was not found to be sufficiently servile to the Rajapaksa (the First) Presidency at the time.This is the inexorable manner in which ‘judges are judged,’ finally and irrevocably, by history. That is the most fitting answer to the vexed question posed by Juvenal echoing in the millennia of human history, ‘quis custodiet ipsos custodes’ (who will guard the guards themselves?). The corrupt judge and the ‘political’ judge will undoubtedly find their place in the historical record to be shameful, regardless of profits or positions that may momentarily be held, in Sri Lanka, the US or India as the case may be.Above all. look, listen and learn from the US. Its agonies should surely teach us something.Courtesy:Sunday TimesBy Gamini WeerakoonIt is a matter of grave doubt whether any national leader or scoundrel would have had a varied and colourful record of achievements and debasements as Donald Trump in contemporary history. Trump confounded critics when he contested the American presidency four years ago, ridiculing and slandering what had been considered the sacred pillars of the American establishment — the media, the Washington establishment, Intelligence Agencies (CIA, FBI and NIA), his outrageous behaviour towards women and refused to declare his income tax returns.An American critic says Trump has survived: One Impeachment, one divorce, six bankruptcies, 26 accusations of sexual misconduct and an estimated 4,000 lawsuits. As the President of the United States, he continued in the same style regardless, taking on the national intelligence agencies, rejecting some of their basic findings, sacking the director of the FBI and granting presidential pardons to cronies incarcerated on decisions of American courts. Continue reading Donald Trump has not been written off history as anticipated by his critics because 40 to 50 percent of American voters have endorsed his gamut of outrageous actions by voting for him. Tassie Seneviratne (The writer is a Retired Senior Superintendent of Police) On September 26, the President decreed: “It is the law because I say so.” And he went on to explain that his verbal orders must be considered as circulars coming from the ‘Executive President.’ Public Administration circulars that may contravene his verbal orders, were ignored. In the time of ancient kings whatever the king said was law. People of Sri Lanka were quick to recall the mythological king Ravana of Lanka.Ravana is chronicled in mythology as a stubborn and incredibly powerful king with untamed passion that leads him to extremes in behavior. In Sri Lankan mythology, Ravana is depicted as a king of Lanka and the chief antagonist of Rama in the Hindu epic Ramayana and its adaptations. In Hindu mythology, Ravana is widely considered to be a symbol of evil. In Sri Lankan mythology, however, he is considered as a great ruler. It is, of course, with these mythologies in mind that the people of Sri Lanka likened the President to King Ravana. Continue reading President has undermined the Constitutional checks and balances for good governance, which he described as obstacles to his drive for delivering the people’s needs.Has the much needed ‘delivery’ to the people, become a reality? by Dr. Ravi Rannan-EliyaThe increasing COVID-19 deaths in the past few days is a sign that the outbreak may be larger than our current constrained PCR testing is able to track. As I and others warned six months ago, we needed to ramp up PCR testing to keep the virus at bay and prevent future outbreaks. The President and PM gave instructions to that effect, but in reality this did not happen. Why remains a mystery, but the current outbreak is the inevitable consequence.Increasing PCR testing reduces COVID-19 transmission (Reff). In combination with contact tracing and isolation, it is the most effective intervention we have to control the virus. Better by far than lockdowns, masks, school closures and asking people to wash their hands… Other countries that were doing well back in May did continue to ramp up PCR testing, despite in some cases having no local cases. All these countries have managed to avoid a second wave. Continue reading The increasing COVID-19 deaths in the past few days is a sign that the outbreak may be larger than our current constrained PCR testing is able to track. If we want to avoid lockdowns we need to replace it with widespread PCR testing on a routine basis . The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC) in a statement has expressed concern at reports of the continued detention of prominent human rights lawyer, Hejaaz Hizbullah, under Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and urged his release.“BHRC urges the Sri Lankan Government to release Hejaaz Hizbullah from detention, to uphold the rule of law and its international legal obligations and to take all necessary steps to ensure that lawyers in Sri Lanka are able to carry out their professional duties without fear of reprisal, hindrance, intimidation or harassment,” the statement said. Following is the full text:“We note that Mr. Hizbullah is a member of the Muslim minority in Sri Lanka. He has been involved in a number of significant constitutional cases against the government and has acted for the rights of Muslim minorities in the country. He is known for his moderate and reformist views within that community. Continue reading Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales urges the Sri Lankan Government to release Lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah from detention and to uphold the rule of law and its international legal obligations The Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) on Wednesday held an advanced seminar on governance via video, strictly abiding by the health guidelines of both countries. Minister Song Tao of the International Department of Central Committee of CPC, Party Secretary Liu Cigui of CPC Provincial Committee of Hainan Province, SLPP Chairman Professor G.L. Peiris, Secretary General Sagara Kariyawasam, SLPP MPs including Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Namal Rajapaksa and Ramesh Pathirana together with some State Ministers and Mayors from the Western Province participated in the meeting. Ambassador-designate Qi Zhenhong joined the discussion in his self-quarantine and delivered a speech on behalf of the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka. Continue reading Communist Party of China and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna are committed to jointly promote regular exchanges, engage in in-depth experience sharing on governance and enhance collaboration during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. What a great nation we are!We have a Cabinet Minister – the one in charge of health – offering to sacrifice herself to the sea, to save this country from the Covid pandemic. Shouldn’t we feel safe?Is she in fact offering to make this self-sacrifice to atone for the overall failure of the government, with the power of 20A too, to control this virus spread? Let’s keep that for its 145 plus members to decide.Does this Pavithra from Sabaragamuwa, with an Aratchi heritage from the Vanniya, have hopes of being our next Vihara Maha Devi? Does she know that the daughter of King Kelanitissa, made her sacrifice for her father burning an innocent monk in a cauldron of oil?Is she ready to tell us what faults, crimes, or sins of her own leader/leaders she is willing to make this sacrifice for, when the sea had not yet flooded the country, as happened when the princess was ceremonially cast into the sea to save the land?The near insanity of this politically catchy offer of a sacrifice has already given her the name of Vikara Maha Devi. I think Maha Vikara Devi would be closer to reality. Continue reading Will Maha Vikara Pavithra aand Govt Colleagues Usher in a new era that will move away from the Maha Sangha and give a towering place in society and governance to the Manthara Guru Kendraya? Lasanda KurukulasuriyaUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s whirlwind visit last week has left in its trail many unanswered questions. It’s clear that for the US, this trip was all about signing up allies in its all-but-declared war against China, under the rubric of what it calls a ‘free and open Indo Pacific.’ The messages coming across from the two governments revealed a certain disconnect. Concluding his visit Pompeo tweeted that his meetings with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunewardena “reaffirmed Sri Lanka’s pivotal role as an Indo Pacific partner.” But there is nothing endorsing this assertion from the government. President Rajapaksa tweeted that he appreciated Pompeo’s stance on “the need to strengthen the bilateral relationship and support for defence cooperation” and valued Pompeo’s views “on assistance for investment and our development needs.” Pompeo engaged in China-bashing at every turn, calling the Chinese Communist Party a ‘predator’ and accusing it of bringing “bad deals, violations of sovereignty and lawlessness on land and sea.” The United States “comes in a different way … as a friend and as a partner” he said, according to a US embassy transcript of a joint media briefing. Continue reading Dissonance in language used by the two sides About President Rajapaksa s Meeting With Mike Pompeo has led to questions as to what really transpired in the meetings and whether any understandings were reached. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday said it was both impractical and difficult to close down the country until a cure for COVID-19 is found and therefore the public should be ready to return to normal lives while following health guidelines. The President made these remarks while participating at the launch of a new digital platform to help in contact tracing at the Presidential Secretariat, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said. The new platform titled ‘Stay Safe’ provides a QR code to organisations or companies logging onto the website staysafe.gov.lk which can be displayed on their premises. Continue reading President Gotabaya Rajapaksa says it is impractical to close down the country until a cure for COVID-19 is found and urges the public to be be ready to return to normal lives while following health guidelines Dr.Dayan JayatillekaSri Lanka is currently experiencing two crises which will trigger the third. They stem from a common source and therefore can be resolved only if rectification takes place at that source, that root. One crisis is the second wave of COVID-19. It is manifest and acknowledged but its dimensions are played down and the sins of commission and omission which led to it are unspoken. Another is that of our external relations. That crisis is latent, but not entirely invisible, and is completely unacknowledged. The third crisis, which is building up, is the economic.The common root of the failure to prevent or manage these crises is the error in policy perspectives, stemming from the error of policy paradigms, sourced in wrong thinking, wrong attitudes and outlook. Continue reading The quintessence of the model and ethos of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime is weaponised Jathika Chinthana or Jathika Chinthana militarised. Never say Gotabaya Rajapaksa leaves things to chance. After decisively winning the presidential election last November, putting family in charge of important government departments, suspending Parliament and finally winning postponed elections in early August in a landslide for his Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (slpp) and supporting parties, still the president insisted that “obstacles” to his authority remained. Changes to the constitution were the only solution. Parliament has granted his wish, creating a near-absolute presidency with the 20th amendment.pic via: The EconomistAs so often in Sri Lanka’s turbulent history, the amendment in effect annuls its predecessor. The 19th amendment was a reaction to the overweening rule of Gotabaya’s brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, president from 2005 until his surprise defeat in 2015. Continue reading Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa s martinet notions of a “disciplined society” risk dashing dreams of a plural, devolved Sri Lanka in which the Tamils and Muslims are as much a part of the polity as Sinhalese -The Economist Meera SrinivasanPooling their manpower and expertise in a joint overnight operation, Sri Lanka’s navy, coast guard, local volunteers and conservation experts have rescued nearly 120 stranded whales back into the deep sea.On Monday afternoon, residents of Panadura — some 25 km south of Colombo on the island’s west coast — reported sighting a school of whales by the shore. Within hours the Sri Lankan navy and Coast guard deployed nearly 70 personnel to the spot. “With conservation experts guiding us and many local volunteers helping, the team was able to pull back the whales into the deep waters, using jet skis,” Navy spokesman Captain Indika de Silva told The Hindu. Continue reading 120 Short -Finned Pilot Whales Stranded Along the Panadura Beach Pulled and Pushed Back Into Deep Sea in Combined Rescue Operation by Navy, Coastguard and Civilian Volunteers Guided by Marine Conservation Experts Prof. S.Ratnajeevan H HooleSri Lanka’s 1978 Constitution kept the existing immoral foremost position for Buddhism and introduced a strong presidency that every government promised to abolish but once elected, never did. It allowed the Rajapaksa family – Mahinda, son Namal, brothers Basil and Gotabaya – to do egregious wrongs. Mahinda had a deal with the separatist Tamil Tigers to prohibit Tamils from voting in the 2005 Presidential Elections. The then Election Department under a Commissioner failed to declare the low-turn-out elections in Tamil areas void. Mahinda became President. His family held most key offices in 2005-2015. By civil war’s end in 2009, the UN estimated that 40,000 minority Tamils were disappeared. White vanning disappeared the Sinhalese opposition too. Looting of State coffers and disappearances increased. The tired people turned out the Rajapaksas in the 2015 elections with the help of Tamils and Muslims. Continue reading Hypothetically If Parliament passed a constitutional amendment with two-thirds majority saying all Tamils and Muslims must be lined up and shot unless they became Sinhalese-Buddhist and then the people approved this in a national referendum, Would the Supreme Court approve the change? OverviewThe month of October was an eventful one for Sri Lanka. The 20th Amendment to the Constitution (20A) empowering the President was passed in parliament with two-thirds majority. The Covid-19 pandemic made a dramatic comeback in a second wave, to boost the virus-affected numbers which stood at 9,791 with 19 deaths as on October 31, 2020. Evidently, the second wave had caught the administration flat footed. In spite of these preoccupations, the worsening relations between two giant Asian powers –India and China – who have close relations with Sri Lanka, churning up the strategic environment in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) became a cause of concern. The visits of high power dignitaries – first the Chinese and then the US – brought home the reality of Cold War 2.0 threatening to jeopardize Sri Lanka’s efforts to recover from economic woes. It showed Sri Lanka’s economic recovery in times of Covid pandemic is very much linked to the increasingly difficult task of managing its international relations.20th AmendmentDuring the first half of the month, the passing of the 20A occupied Sri Lanka’s political centre stage. The controversial 20th Amendment to the Constitution (20A), aimed at restoring the powers of the executive president, deprived by the previous government. In fact, it has replaced the ten-member constitutional council with five-member parliamentary council, bringing the independent commissions under the control of the President. This generated a lot of heart burning between parties and behind the door manoeuvres before the bill was fielded in parliament. However, in spite of international concerns, political speculations, opposition from some of the Buddhist and Catholic clergy and internal rumblings among ruling party leaders, the 20A had a smooth passage in parliament on October 22, 2020. In the 225-memer House, 156 members voting in favour and 65 against, while four abstained. Continue reading Whether it Likes it or not ,as a strategic pivot in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) Sri Lanka is likely to find itself in the eye of US -China Cold War 2.0 s strategic storm in the Future . Harsha GunasenaUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Sri Lanka after the recent visit of a high-powered Chinese delegation, led by senior Chinese leader and top foreign policy official Yang Jiechi, who is a member of the Communist Party of China’s Politburo and the Director of the Central Committee’s Foreign Affairs CommissionUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the press conference with Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena called the Chinese Communist Party a predator. The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka tweeted that China was not interested in his Alien vs. Predator game invitation. Secretary Pompeo visited Sri Lanka after the recent visit of a high-powered Chinese delegation, led by senior Chinese leader and top foreign policy official Yang Jiechi, who is a member of the Communist Party of China’s Politburo and the Director of the Central Committee’s Foreign Affairs Commission.As a precursor of the visit, Dean Thompson, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs of the State Department, said: “We urge Sri Lanka to make difficult but necessary decisions to secure its economic independence for long-term prosperity,” to which Chinese officials responded that it was cold war mentality and bullying of weak nations. Continue reading If Sri Lanka moves towards China With the national problem remaining unresolved the country may inherit the same fate of President Jayewardene. Acknowledging the need to restrict freedom of movement and liberty of people in the interests of public health and public order during an extraordinary health emergency such as that facing the country at present, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has in a letter addressed to Health Minister Pavitra Wanniarachchi and Army Commander Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva, head of the National Operations Centre for Prevention of COVID 19 Outbreak, made a series of recommendations to address public concerns.HRCSL Commissioner Ramani Muttettuwegama said that the Commission appreciated the efforts that were being made to curb the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the country. The Commissioner said: “The Commission continues to recognise the need to restrict freedom of movement and liberty of people in the interests of public health and public order during an extraordinary health emergency such as that facing the country at present. The Commission has observed that a large number of persons have been subject to quarantine processes in view of the resurgence of the fear of spread of COVID-19 pandemic and has received a variety of complaints and expressions of concerns relating to the process.” Continue reading Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission Chair Ramani Muttetuwegama Writes to Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi Recommending Guidelines to Regularie the Quarantine Process Under the Law While Ameliorating Hardships Imposed On the Public. by Saman IndrajithOpposition Leader Sajith Premadasa was told in Parliament yesterday not to play the race card with the sensitive issue of cremating Muslim COVID-19 victims to score political points by rousing communal disharmony.Justice Minister Ali Sabry said that the issue had been very sensitive to Muslims as cremation was in violation of Islamic burial rights, and asked the Opposition Leader not to play politics with such issues.Minister Sabry said so after Opposition Leader Premadasa raised the issue of cremating Muslims, during the debate on two new regulations under the Medical Ordinance. Continue reading Justice Minister Ali Sabry Tells Sajith Premadasa not to Play Politics and Create Communal Disharmony When the Opposition Leade Raised the Isuue of Cremating Muslim COVID -19 Victims in Violation of of Islamic Burial Rights By A Senior Lawyer(The writer is attached to the Sri Lanka Study Circle)I refer to the article appearing in the Daily FT on 22 October titled ‘History repeating – Are we going to lose MCC or not?’ by an international development expert.It is understandable if a non-lawyer does not understand the legal packages included in the MCC to change the land policy of the country and to change the land law of the country to the Australian law to suit the expansion of large-scale industrial farming complex The Australian law is known as Torrens law or Title registration. The law which took away the rights of the indigenous people of Australia in 1858, where farming and grazing lands were often used and managed communally under customary laws. Sri Lanka has given a Sinhala name, ‘Bim Saviya,’ to the law, curiously repeated in the MCC. This is a misnomer as this law makes lands untenable for owners, especially farmers, and accessible for sale and mortgage with the elimination of traditional land rights that have existed in the country for 100 years. Continue reading The name, ‘Bim Saviya,’ is a misnomer as this law makes lands untenable for owners, especially farmers, and accessible for sale and mortgage with the elimination of traditional land rights that have existed for 100 years. By Tamara Kunanayakam(Former Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva)In fact, a military alliance between the US and Sri Lanka already exists. By signing ACSA in 2007, and renewing it in 2017, Sri Lanka committed its strategic entry points – ports and airports, our armed forces, our military installations, food, oil, and spare parts, to the US for its war against China. The current regime seems to be pursuing the same policies as Yahapalana, but is doing so by resorting to coded language, because before the elections certain members of the present government stood up against the US defense agreements – ACSA, SOFA, and MCC – and because the majority of our people are clearly against engaging their country, their armed forces, their people, and their resources to fight America’s war against China. In fact, by being given positions in government, the loudest opponents to America’s military project have been neutralised and effectively silenced, making it even easier for Washington to accelerate its agenda. Continue reading Sri Lanka’s commitment to America’s “Indo-Pacific” strategy is a violation of the United Nations Charter and of the principles of the Non-Aligned Movement. D.B.S.JeyarajThe Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) forcibly expelled the Tamil-speaking Muslim people from the Northern Province in October 1990. Within a few days the Muslims were chased out of their homeland where they had lived for many, many centuries. This year 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of this cruel, inhuman episode in the history of Tamil-Muslim relations in Sri Lanka.The mass expulsion of Muslims from the north in 1990 was a human catastrophe. Uprooting a people from their habitat at gun point and driving them away after depriving them of their cash and jewellery was despicable and unpardonable. I have often written about this tragedy in the past. I now intend to focus upon this mass expulsion on the occasion of its 30th anniversary.I shall be drawing on some of my earlier writings in a bid to revive memories of this mass expulsion by relating in brief the tale of this terrible tragedy. I also want to trace the sequence of events that led to this sordid exercise in which the Tamil-speaking Muslims were chased out by their gun-toting linguistic brethren of a feline hue. Continue reading Mass Expulsion of Muslims From The North By The LTTE Thirty Years Ago D.B.S.JeyarajThe controversial 20th Amendment to the Constitution has been passed with a two-thirds majority. 156 MP’s voted in favour while 65 voted against. Among those who voted for 20 A were eight MP’s from the opposition. Widespread speculation about the possibility of some dissidents within Govt folds voting against it and preventing a two-thirds majority has come to naught. The projected storm of revolt was transformed into a tea-cup tempest after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa addressed them in a late night meeting. Hey Presto! The grand wizard Gotabaya turned ferociously growling (paper)tigers into meekly mewing,mildly purring pussy cats. With the smooth passage of the 20th Amendment being ensured, Sri Lanka will once again have a full-fledged executive presidency with a powerful president at the helm. The elitist supporters of Gotabaya Rajapaksa like those of the “Viyathmaga” and “Eliya” are not people who would march jubilantly on the streets shouting slogans. But if they did, Gota’s golayas could adopt and adapt a slogan shouted out by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna(JVP) of Rohana Wijeweera in the days before the April 1971 insurgency. In those days Wijeweera’s JVP comrades were referred to as “Che Gue asvarists” as they idolized the fiery Marxist Leninist revolutionary leader. A favourite slogan was “Api Yanney Koi Paarey?Che Guevara Giya Paaret!(Which road do we trek on?the road where Che Guevara trekked on !). Continue reading From JR s 2nd to Gota s 20th: A Tale Of Two Constitutional Amendments By Krishantha Prasad CoorayThe upcoming presidential election in the United States of America has brought the world to the edge of our seats. It has exposed the dark underbelly of the American political system and left us all wondering whether America, the world’s oldest modern democracy, will indeed prove to be a democracy at all?Four years ago, America fell under the spell of a strongman. Donald Trump took the stage with masterful control of the media. He hijacked a democratic system and bypassed the customary scrutiny of presidential candidates by hiding his tax returns, silencing people through non-disclosure agreements and defining the narrative of his political opponent.By the measure of an election in any normal democracy, he failed. He garnered 2,868,686 fewer votes than Hillary Clinton, losing the vote by a margin of 2.23%. To put that margin in a context that Sri Lankans would understand, Ranil Wickremasinghe lost the Sri Lankan presidential election in 2005 by a slimmer margin of only 1.86%. However, under the American system, it is the combination of states you win that counts, not the number of votes, and Donald Trump became president on that technicality.For decades, the battle for the right to vote has been a feature of American politics. Politicians and partisan judges frequently succeed in preventing ethnic minorities, youth and other liberal demographics from voting, even divining ways to exclude the ballots of those who did vote. On more than one occasion, the politicized American Supreme Court has backed these efforts, further divorcing the American political system from what we in Sri Lanka understand as democracy.Sri Lankans can take pride in our system. For all the political turmoil that our country has suffered in 72 years as an independent democracy, none barring the LTTE has even tried to deny the franchise to a Sri Lankan constituency or sought to prevent Sri Lankans from voting. It would be unthinkable for Sri Lankan courts to even entertain a case that sought to discriminate against Sri Lankan electors.What remains unthinkable in little Sri Lanka is the only path before America’s Donald Trump to secure his re-election. A president who came to power on a technicality seeks to cling to power by unleashing a torrent of technicalities. His acolytes have sabotaged the postal service to scuttle the postal vote and filed over 300 court cases across America to prevent valid votes from being counted. They have shuttered polling places in urban areas to dissuade the poor from voting. They have adopted a flurry of similar strategies not to increase their own vote count, but to reduce the number of votes counted for their opponent, all of which would be unthinkable in Sri Lanka or any civilized democracy.To those of us who treasure democracy and the institutions that defend it, there is solace to be found in the fact that Donald Trump is the first incumbent American President running for re-election who has not been endorsed by a single former President. Avowed institutionalists in his Republican party, from former Speaker Paul Ryan to the late Senator John McCain, have disavowed Trump. McCain went so far as to request that Trump not be allowed to attend his funeral.Hundreds of retired senior military, intelligence and law enforcement officials in America have spoken out not just to oppose Donald Trump but to warn that his re-election would pose a grave threat to the national security and integrity of the United States of America. Continue reading When strongmen bluster their way into high office on a façade of glitzy propaganda and magical promises, the reality is that they loot their nation’s coffers, flounder and spend their time making excuses and blaming others as to why they could not deliver. Don ManuThe levelled playing fields of Lanka were queered this week when two titans – one the world’s superpower, the other its regional counterpart – chose to turn the tended turf to a muddied battlefield where invective missiles against each other were fired at will from their local silos, with scant regard to the much vaunted sovereignty of independent Lanka.It also chillingly revealed that, beneath its proud, patriotic, defiant, flag waving, pseudo nationalistic bravado and inane rhetoric, there lay skulking the stark reality of this nation’s tenuous existence perilously dancing on a razor blade, torn between competing, irreconcilable interests of two ruthless, intransigent forces boiling with ire and hotly determined to shake the plum tree for itself without giving a fig about violating Lanka’s sovereign status with brash impunity.Twenty four hours before the American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo touches down at the Bandaranaike International Airport on Tuesday night as the honoured guest of Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, the Chinese Embassy in Colombo issues a statement that, taken by its insidious import and underlying vituperative comments, is tantamount to no less than declaring him a persona non grata in Lanka or a person not welcome.It is the highest form of censure that can be levelled against a diplomat by a host country, not by a third party country merely because its riled that a rival suitor had stepped on what she evidently perceives to be her exclusive turf bought for millions of yuan or is deadlocked as collateral for the loans liberally given. But strict observances of the niceties involved in diplomatic protocol is rashly cast aside along with its slothful panda disguise, and for a moment the sharp fangs of the Chinese tiger is bared for all to see and fear. Continue reading How can China debase Lankan sovereignty by abusing an invited guest and tacitly state his visit as unwelcome And issue statements on Lanka’s behalf as if this independent island is another Hubei Province or Beijing’s Forbidden City? Kishali Pinto JayawardeneEyebrows are being raised over the 20th Amendment to the Constitution’s inclusion of provisions at committee stage to increase the number of judges in Sri Lanka’s superior courts of record, the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal.Justified by the Justice Minister on the floor of the House on the rationale that the increase was due to a heavy backlog of cases in both courts, this clause was however not previously in the Government’s package of amendments presented to the Supreme Court by the Attorney General during consideration of the 20th Amendment Bill. It was inserted into the 20th Amendment in Parliament despite the Minister’s categorical assurance to Opposition parliamentarians that, no new amendments, apart from amendments in the public domain, would be brought to the Bill at committee stage.However that may be, the 20th Amendment is a fait accompli. Questions have been asked by opposition parliamentarians as to whether this last minute inclusion of the amendment of Article 119 and Article 137 of the Constitution may lead to ‘packing’ the Court with friendly appointments in order to minimise the possibility of potentially adverse court rulings. This allegation will only be proved or disproved as the case may be in the future. Speculation at this point is hardly advisable. Continue reading What Sri Lanka needs are not seminars and conferences on the Rule of Law and the independence of the judiciary replete with the usual pontifications by Ministers and their acolytes. What we should see instead are powerful symbols of integrity in public life and a healthy public demand for effective systems of accountability at all levels, including the judiciary Vanessa ThorpeSean Connery, one of Britain’s greatest screen stars, has died at the age of 90. The Scottish actor, forever linked with the role of James Bond and regularly saluted as the best to play the famous part, was mourned by the entertainment industry and his many fans on Saturday as the news broke.Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, said she was “heartbroken” to learn of the loss of the actor, also one of the most prominent campaigners for an independent Scotland: “Our nation today mourns one of her best loved sons. Sean was born into a working-class Edinburgh family and, through talent and sheer hard work, became an international film icon and one of the world’s most accomplished actors.”Dame Shirley Bassey, who sang the theme to Goldfinger, spoke of her fond memories of watching him play football, adding: “Well, I will always be there to cheer you on, Sean!” Continue reading Sean Connery one of Britain’s greatest screen actors forever linked with the role of James Bond and regularly saluted as the best to play the famous part dies at the age of 90. By Shamindra FerdinandoPresident Gotabaya Rajapaksa had assured the Cabinet of ministers that his government wouldn’t sign the MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation) agreement, National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa yesterday (29) said. The Cabinet had received that assurance before US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo arrival in Colombo on Tuesday, 27, he added.Addressing the media at the NFF party office at Pitakotte, Minister Weerawansa said the issue had been discussed at length at the Cabinet before the arrival of Secretary of State Pompeo.Weerawansa said the NFF wouldn’t remain in the govenrment if it signed MMC agreement, which he said, was detrimential to Sri Lanka’s interests. Continue reading President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has assured the Cabinet of ministers that his government wouldn’t sign the MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation) agreement Says National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa DBSJeyaraj.com Articles by D.B.S. Jeyaraj Articles by D.B.S. Jeyaraj – dbsjeyaraj.comLife and Times of Anton Stanislaus Balasingham the LTTE Political Strategistby D.B.S.Jeyaraj Anton Stanislaus Balasingham the political strategist of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) and political adviser to tiger leader Veluppillai Prabhakaran died 14 years ago in his South London residence, His death was not unexpected as it was known, the doctors had given him four to six weeks to live. Bala ‘Annai’ (elder [ ]Tamil Cinema Superstar Rajinikanth’s Political Party PlungeBy D.B.S.Jeyaraj Tamil Nadu, the Indian State closest to Sri Lanka, is gripped by a great deal of political excitement these days. Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections are due in May 2021. All political parties active in the State – from the ruling All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (AIADMK/ADMK) to the chief opposition Dravida Munnetra [ ]US Vice President – Elect Kamala Harris’s Key Sri Lankan Tamil Aide Rohini LakshmiBy D.B.S.Jeyaraj An overwhelming feeling of relief has descended upon the world – not merely the US- after the Presidential elections of the United States of America ended. Joseph Robinette Biden jnr known as Joe Biden is the new US President-elect. Biden’s creditable, credible electoral triumph has ensured that decency, dignity and decorum will once [ ] Special Feature D.B.S. Jeyaraj’s Journey Home: Journalist in Exile Visits Sri Lanka for the First Time in 25 YearsMarianne David Interviews DBS Jeyaraj for DailyFTPix by Dushiyanthini KanagasabapathipillaiForced into exile 25 years ago and compelled to stay away in order to stay alive, journalist D.B.S. Jeyaraj always dreamt of returning to Sri Lanka. That flame of hope flickered occasionally, as the war dragged on and then escalated despite intermittent ceasefires, but he never let it go out entirely. Articles by D.B.S. Jeyaraj – dbsjeyaraj.comLife and Times of Anton Stanislaus Balasingham the LTTE Political Strategist December 14, 2020Tamil Cinema Superstar Rajinikanth’s Political Party Plunge December 13, 2020US Vice President – Elect Kamala Harris’s Key Sri Lankan Tamil Aide Rohini Lakshmi December 13, 2020Gotabaya Govt’s Pre-emptive Strike Against LTTE “Maaveerar Naal” December 13, 2020Gemini Ganesan the Romance King of Tamil Cinema: Birth Centenary of “Kaadhal Mannan” December 11, 2020Sensational Capture and “Unofficial” Execution of JVP Leader Rohana Wijeweera. December 11, 2020LTTE’s Abortive Attempt to Assassinate Gotabaya Rajapaksa 14 Years Ago. December 11, 2020When the LTTE’s “Smiling Cobra” Thamilselvan was Targeted by the SLAF in an Air Strike November 26, 2020Murder of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and Conviction of Duminda Silva November 8, 2020Mass Expulsion of Muslims From The North By The LTTE Thirty Years Ago October 31, 2020From JR’s 2nd to Gota’s 20th: A Tale Of Two Constitutional Amendments October 31, 2020Charismatic Actor -Politician Vijaya Kumaratunga: 75th Birth Anniversary Tribute October 25, 2020How CP de Silva Voted Against the “Unadulterated Totalitarianism” of His Own SLFP-led Government. October 7, 2020Murder Most Foul: Assassination of Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike October 7, 2020Sivaji Ganesan: Tamil cinema’s versatile actor par excellence October 7, 2020Rajini Rajasingham Thiranagama: Unforgettable Symbol of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tragedy September 22, 2020Legendary Muslim Congress “Thalaiver” MHM Ashraff and the Tamils of Sri Lanka September 22, 2020ஆற்றல் மிகு தமிழ்த் தலைவர் அப்பாப்பிள்ளை அமிர்தலிங்கத்தின் வாழ்வும் காலமும் September 14, 2020Attempt by “Gang of Four” to Remove Thurairajasingham From Gen-Secy Post Through No Confidence Motion Foiled At ITAK Committee Meeting in Vavuniya September 5, 2020Internal Strife Within Ilankai Thamil Arasuk Katchi (ITAK) Takes Disturbing Turn September 2, 2020 Twitter Feed Tweets by @dbsjeyaraj Custom Search Follow @dbsjeyaraj Special Feature D.B.S. Jeyaraj’s Journey Home: Journalist in Exile Visits Sri Lanka for the First Time in 25 YearsMarianne David Interviews DBS Jeyaraj for DailyFTPix by Dushiyanthini KanagasabapathipillaiForced into exile 25 years ago and compelled to stay away in order to stay alive, journalist D.B.S. Jeyaraj always dreamt of returning to Sri Lanka. That flame of hope flickered occasionally, as the war dragged on and then escalated despite intermittent ceasefires, but he never let it go out entirely. Recent Posts Life and Times of Anton Stanislaus Balasingham the LTTE Political Strategist

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